Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FEBRUARY 1, 2019
VOL. LXXXVIII NO. 20 $1.00 88 2019
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Jerusalem’s Mayor Lion to feed the cats
● It promises to be the cats’ meow. The feeding program comes in re- “The Jerusalem Municipality will in the number of cats could inflate the
But zoologists and urban nature sponse to a garbage crisis. In many maintain the balance between the population of other unfavorable animals
experts are hissing that a new pro- neighborhoods, the city has re- quality of life of the residents and and contribute to the spread of disease.
gram by the Jerusalem municipal- placed aboveground garbage bins, that of the street cats, through care The zoologist said studies have shown
ity to feed the city’s thousands of long a feeding center for the cats, rather than neglect. We will soon that programs to spay and sterilize
stray cats will merely exacerbate with underground spaces for trash put in place organized feeders and street cats have been proven ineffective,
the problem. cans. That leaves the streets cleaner the budget will provide backup for and limiting the availability of food is the
This new pro-feline measure — but the cats hungrier. those who do sacred work with the only way to cull the cat population.
comes only weeks after Jerusalem Under the new program, feeding animals of the city.” The Jerusalem Municipality responded
swore in its new mayor, Moshe Lion. stations will be set up around the Haaretz, however, spoke to to Haaretz, saying: “The feeding sta-
Jerusalem’s feral cat population city in areas where trash cans now experts about the plan, and the tions will be set up in coordination with
dates back to the 1930s, when the are buried underground, and resi- experts were not purring. They said professionals, with public participation
British Mandate imported dents are wel- that the program could lead to an and cleanliness, and prevention of the
cats to help deal with a come to add increase in the number of street creation of nuisances. At the same time,
rat problem. food and water cats, and also could endanger other the veterinary service continues to steril-
to supplement wild animals. “When you provide ize street cats and make efforts to find
the supplies a constant and continuous food additional money within the budget to
the municipality source, you prevent the system increase that program.” TIMES OF ISRAEL
the televised singing competition work, she decided to record her ver- The Jewish Standard assumes no responsibility to return
unsolicited editorial or graphic materials. All rights in letters
based on the Rising Star franchise. sion of “Karma Police” profession- and unsolicited editorial, and graphic material will be treated
The show’s winner will be posi- ally as a way of finding an audience. as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright
purposes and subject to JEWISH STANDARD’s unrestricted
tioned as Israel’s Eurovision hopeful. She set up a Kickstarter cam- right to edit and to comment editorially. Nothing may be
Shefita’s approach to perfor- paign with a friend, a cellist named reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from
the publisher. © 2019
mance is entirely different from Leah Sabbat; they collected $1,900
that of Netta Barzilai, Israel’s 2018 and transformed Shefi into an Arab- Candlelighting:
Eurovision winner. She sings covers posted a campaign opposing the styled diva, complete with horse-
Friday, February 1, 4:55 p.m.
to a selection of alternative rock possibility that Shefita might repre- driven carriage and a trio of a cellist,
classics (Nirvana’s “Lithium,” Aero- sent Israel in Eurovision, writing that darbuka drummer, and oud player. Shabbat ends:
smith’s “Pink,” “Karma Police” from “Shefi enjoys and ignores the cultur- When it was posted to YouTube, Saturday, February 2, 5:57 p.m.
Radiohead, for example) in Hebrew al appropriation. For her, it’s a game, not everyone loved the concept, and
with an Arabic accent. a way to make cultural capital and a some viewers accused Shefi of ap-
But Shefita is 100 percent Jew- lot of money, all by means of mock- propriating Arab culture. Shefi has Call 201-837-8818
ish, born and raised in the northern ing and imitating an Arab woman.” said in interviews that she did not in- or bit.ly/jsubscribe
city of Carmiel. Her act is funny, The story of Shefi’s performance tend any disrespect or undermining. for convenient
but not everyone is laughing, be- began at the Rimon School of Mu- Shefi is a trained singer, with the home delivery.
cause it feels more than a little bit sic, where she studied singing. voice, skills, stage presence, and
inappropriate. At the time, she performed with musical choices of a professional,
There are viewers berating it all an ensemble that covered the a combination that has impressed ON THE COVER: A father and
over social media, comparing it songs of the English alternative the “HaKochav Haba” judges. child hug in hope at a Larger Than
to blackface. One website, Drove, rock band Radiohead, and some- JESSICA STEINBERG/TIMES OF ISRAEL
Life preschool in Israel.
COURTESY LARGER THAN LIFE
Noshes
“I don’t go into my home and gardening
store on Sukkot and say hey, do you have
lean-to for God’s camp out? No. I say I
need a succah for Sukkot…”
– Podcast host Mike Pesca of the Gist, talking about the NFL’s
insistence that unless you have paid for the licensing privilege,
ON NETFLIX AND HBO:
you must refer to the upcoming near-holiday ritual as the “big
A doll, a stalker, game.” You cannot use the words Super Bowl. (Whoops!)
and two writers
An original Netflix dark place because of of two famous New of State Colin Powell,
black comedy her father’s death that York City newspa- and, yes, Elvis.
series, “Russian year. (Her father was per columnists, Pete
Doll,” premieres Jewish; her mother Hamill, 76, and the late
on February 1. It has isn’t.) The novel fol- Jimmy Breslin, pre- Another Yiddish
kind of a “Groundhog lows Joe Goldberg, miered last Monday, word in the
Day” premise. It stars a 30ish bookstore January 29, and now is mainstream?
NATASHA LYONNE, manager, who stalks available on demand. “Alta kakas”
39, who co-created the and then dates Beck, “Breslin and Hamill: (politely, “old
series with Amy an attractive and intel- Deadline Artists” fart”), a Yiddish
Poehler. Lyonne plays ligent female college was co-directed by term, recently
Nadia, a 36-year-old student. He quietly journalist JONATHAN burst into the main-
chain-smoking coder gets rid of anything or Natasha Lyonne Caroline Kepnes ALTER, 61. stream when
who is the guest of anyone who interferes As I write this, the MICHAEL DOUGLAS,
honor at a party. Nadia with his obsession documentary has 73, used it when
finds herself going to with Beck. not aired, so I don’t accepting a Golden
this same party over Joe, a good look- know if it will include a Globe award, and
and over again, dying, ing and deceptively biographical footnote when it was used as
being mysteriously charming fellow, is de- about Pete Hamill that the title of a “Law and
revived, and doing it all scribed as being Jew- I often think about Order: SVU” episode.
again the next day. As ish on his father’s side when I hear his name. Now “tucas” seems to
you might imagine, in the novel. Although It’s a small thing, so follow. I was stunned
Nadia has doubts the TV series leaves his I doubt it will be in when I stumbled on a
about her sanity and religious background the HBO film. Hamill “Preparation H” TV ad
she is obsessed with unmentioned. was one of a surpris- about the sheriff of a
trying to figure out Last fall, the 10-epi- ing number of famous town called Tookas.
why she’s in this loop. sode first season of Sera Gamble Jonathan Alter people who was a There were a lot of
Lyonne told the NY “You” aired on Life- shabbos goy when he puns about how “Prep
Post: “We set out to time, which generally born in New York and usual stalking-story was a kid. In 1997, he H” protects his tucas
make an existential is not known for high grew up in Cincinnati characters. When first even wrote a best- the way he protects
adventure show, the quality shows. The and California. She encountered, they selling novel inspired Tookas. I have to
likes of which you series was developed had a Jewish religious remind a viewer of the by that experience. assume that Prep H ad
rarely see a woman in and mostly co-written upbringing. types of characters Called “Snow in Au- men think enough
the lead of.” by Greg Berlanti and Lifetime decided that appear in a charm- gust,” the book follows non-Jews know tucas
“You,” a surprise hit SERA GAMBLE, 35. not to renew the series ing romantic comedy. the friendship of an to get the jokes. You
Netflix series, has an Gamble’s parents, despite good reviews But Joe’s dark side 11-year-old Irish Catho- can watch it on
interesting premise both doctors, left (ratings were so-so). takes that rom-com lic boy — who was a YouTube — enter
and backstory. “You” Poland in 1968 after Netflix, however, opted trope into a wholly un- shabbos goy — and a “Preparation H
began as a 2014 novel an anti-Semitic cam- to rerun the first sea- expected and morbidly refugee Czech rabbi. commercials.” You’ll
of the same name by paign by the Com- son last December, and fascinating place. A It was made into a also see other funny
CAROLINE KEPNES, munist government it found a really big second Netflix season, Showtime movie of the Prep H ads. One has
42, a former Entertain- that drove out most of audience. I understand probably based on the same name in 2001. By the song “Ring of Fire”
ment Weekly writer. the 20,000 Jews who the appeal: the “You” Kepnes’ sequel novel, the way, other famous in the background and
Kepnes said that when chose to return to main characters are “Hidden Bodies,” now shabbos goys include another is about a
she wrote the novel, Poland after the Ho- much more vivid and is being made. the late Governor Ma- town called Kiester.
in 2012, she was in a locaust. Gamble was multilayered than the An HBO biography rio Cuomo, former Sec. –N.B.
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Sharsheret partners with Moishe House
Talking about cancer risks with twenty-somethings
MIRYAM Z. WAHRMAN PH.D. With the advent of online and a $400 program budget every month.
O
direct-to-consumer genetic testing Mr. Cygielman, who lives in Char-
ne mission of Sharsheret is to support, edu- it is more common for young people lotte, N.C. — that’s where Moishe
cate, and advise young women with cancer to be interested in genetic testing, House has its east coast office — with
and others at high risk for cancer. The mis- for ancestry as well as health related his wife and 2-year-old daughter, said
sion of Moishe House is to help young “post information. “If they go for genetic that the houses have “representation
college, pre-family” Jews organize community activities screening, we encourage young across the spectrum” with regard
promoting Jewish culture, knowledge, and tradition. adults to reach out to Sharsheret to Jewish observance. “It is peer-
The two organizations once again are teaming up to to talk to our genetic counselor,” driven,” he said. “The largest group
raise the awareness of young Jewish adults about hered- Ms. Kleinhaus said. “When they get is culturally Jewish, secular. Because
itary issues in breast, ovarian, and other types of cancer. results, they can learn what the next it is home-based it makes it easier for
Together, they’re working on “Pink Shabbat” programs steps are. We do know that we’re people to come and bring friends.”
for breast cancer and “Teal Shabbat” programs for ovar- making a difference in their lives.” He reported that a large number of
ian cancer for this month. On the other side of this partner- Eliza Carney Moishe House participants went on
Ashkenazi Jews carry mutations of the cancer genes ship, Moishe House provides funds Birthright Israel, which supports
BRCA1 and BRCA2 at significantly higher levels than the to establish and guide young post- educational trips to Israel for tens
general population does. Approximately 1 in 40 Ashke- college Jews in community- based of thousands of young Jewish adults
nazi Jews may carry a variant of BRCA cancer genes asso- homes. Moishe House residents every year. “People want to continue
ciated with an elevated lifetime risk of breast and ovarian develop and run Jewish-themed pro- the Jewish experience after Birth-
cancer. For many years, Sharsheret has offered educa- grams for their peers. right,” he said.
tional material and programs to young couples, families, Moishe House was founded in Cali- “It’s a great space for people to
and Jewish college students. There is one demographic fornia in 2006, by philanthropist Mor- come and explore and determine how
group that has received less attention — the single post- ris Squire (that’s Moishe) and David Jewish they wish to observe in the
college twenty-somethings, some of whom are not for- Cygielman, who saw the need to con- future,” Eliza Carney, Moishe Houses’
mally affiliated with synagogues or other Jewish institu- nect young Jewish adults to Jewish marketing director, said. “Each house
tions. Those young Jews may slip through the cracks and life and community more actively. It determines for themselves the level of
miss out on programs offered in schools and shuls, and started with one Shabbat dinner, and observance. Even the less traditional
by other mainstream Jewish organizations. as described on its website, it grew David Cygielman will do Shabbat candles and challah,
Sharsheret originally was founded to educate and into “a wide variety of peer-led Jewish at Friday night dinners.”
counsel young women with cancer and their families, programs.” The Moshe House concept was to help sup- Last year, 20 Moishe Houses participated in the
and to raise awareness of the issues that Jewish popula- port “a group of young Jewish adults, living together in Pink Shabbat Sharsheret program, Ms. Carney said.
tions at high risk for cancer face. The spectrum of medi- a house, hosting Jewish programming for their friends Sharsheret now is accepting applications for 2019
cal choices available now is vast, and more confusing and community.” Pink Shabbat grants from individual Moishe Houses.
than ever before. Part of the new landscape of medical “The number of Moishe Houses is growing — cur- “Sharsheret provides program ideas, discussion cards,
treatment involves genetic screening, which in many rently there are 110 Moishe Houses in 27 countries,” screening guides, FAQ sheets, and other resources for
areas of medicine has become a critical part of the medi- Mr. Cygielman, the organization CEO as well as its co- residents planning the programs,” she continued. “The
cal workup; knowledge of a person’s genetic risk factors founder, said. “We provide [guidance on] best prac- programs are centered and focused around breast can-
for cancer can be essential to determining proper treat- tices, a rent subsidy, and a program budget. The young cer and cancer awareness in general.”
ment for that person. For example, some people with leaders create programs. About 20 people participate “Young adults are working longer and longer before
higher genetic risk may need close surveillance in order in each event, and each house schedules about six they settle down and have kids, maybe in their mid-thir-
to ensure early detection of cancer. That is why Ashke- events each month.” ties and early forties,” Mr. Cygielman said. Because of
nazi Jews are encouraged to be screened for BRCA muta- Mr. Cygielman reported that the 110 Moishe Houses this shift in demographics, the collaboration between
tions so they may learn if they are at an elevated risk for ran more than 11,000 programs last year. “They are Sharsheret and Moishe House, raising awareness of
breast and ovarian cancer. young adults, a pre-married population, so we have cancer risks in post-college young adults, is critical. “To
The Sharsheret team reaches out to organizations in quite a few weddings and engagements, and Moishe catch cancer on the early side would be a matter of life
the Jewish community to connect with as many people babies,” he added. or death,” he said.
as possible. In this spirit, they have teamed up with Moishe House helps set up home-based programs in “Partnerships are really important for us,” he added.
Moishe House, an organization that establishes mini- communities the world over. There are three Moishe “We encourage people getting involved in Jewish life
communities of young Jews. The goal of this partner- Houses in Israel (in Be’er Sheva, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem) outside Moishe House. Our goal is to build bigger Jewish
ship is to raise awareness and educate that popula- and others in London, Madrid, Prague, Buenos Aires, life and community.”
tion on issues in cancer biology that affect the Jewish Kiev, Moscow, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as in For more information about Moishe House, go to
population. other cities around the globe. www.moishehouse.org. Sharsheret’s website is www.
Ellen Kleinhaus of Englewood, Sharsheret’s director There are two Moshe Houses in New Jersey, in sharsheret.org, and the joint programs are showcased
of campus and community engagement, explained that Hoboken and Montclair, and six more in Manhattan at sharsheret.org/moishe-house/
the partnership was initiated in 2010. “We have a mutual and Brooklyn. Each Moishe House, a subsidized home
motivation — to educate young adults, safeguard their with two to four residents, runs programs focused on Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman, the Jewish Standard’s
health, and save lives,” she said. “Twenty-somethings Jewish holidays, Jewish culture, Jewish learning, and science correspondent, is a professor of biology at
are at the point in their lives where they are taking on tikkun olam, and also hosts other social events. In the William Paterson University of New Jersey and the
responsibility for their own healthcare as they’re living Hoboken Moishe House, the two women and one man author of “The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled
independently. If we can equip them with resources who live there run programs for young Jews in the World” and “Brave New Judaism: When Science and
they will need, then we’ve done our job.” area. The organization pays half the rent and provides Scripture Collide.”
6 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
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W
to life is a form of resistance,” she con-
hen you want to help tinued. “It should remind us to keep
the victims of injus- the long view of the struggle ahead
tice, it is not enough to even when the immediate future seems
hear about their suffer- bleak. After all, our ancestors didn’t
ing secondhand and then decide what cross the Sea of Reeds and immediately
they need, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster of end up in the Promised Land. They
Teaneck said. ended up in the desert, with sand and
Instead, it’s more effective to speak more struggle.”
directly with people who already are She also was struck by the fact that
addressing these problems on the “as a human rights advocate, I don’t face
ground, and to find out what they are the same kind of danger” as the Guate-
doing and what they need. malan activists do, but she fears “the
“It’s important that the action always criminalization of activists” even in our
roots back to the partnership with the own country. For example, she cited the
persons being affected by injustice,” said accusation during the hearing for now-
Rabbi Kahn-Troster, the deputy director Justice Brett Kavanaugh that protestors
of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human These five rabbis — from left, Aderet Drucker, Jill Perlman, Rachel Kahn- against his confirmation were paid for
Rights. She’s been with the group since Troster, Barbara Penzner, and Jessica Graf — all are AJWS global justice their dissent. “The targeting of activists
2007, and recently returned from a trip fellows. PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE HAN PHOTOGRAPHY doesn’t start with violence,” she said.
to Guatemala. T’ruah includes 2,000 “It’s making people suspicious of those
rabbis and cantors “using their moral who make changes.”
voices to speak out against human rights Emotions ran high throughout the
abuses in the U.S. and Canada, Israel and Guatemala trip, “hearing so many sto-
the West Bank,” she added. ries and seeing so many people,” she
Rabbi Kahn-Troster was part of a rab- said. “One lawyer we met with talked
binic delegation that visited Guatemala about not just taking people’s cases
in January as part of the Global Justice but being partners in the work. There’s
Fellowship run by the American Jewish a dedication to bringing forward the
World Service. AJWS — which works to voices of the people most affected.
fight poverty and promote human rights There was a painful moment when
in the developing world — brought 15 one indigenous man talked about his
rabbis to Guatemala to meet with leaders people being displaced. He cried, and
of nonprofit groups working to advance then he apologized.”
human rights there. Guatemala is one Rabbi Kahn-Troster said she is not
of the Central American countries that Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster is From left, global justice fellows sure what will happen to the refugees
residents are fleeing, looking for work or flanked by two Guatemalan citizen Rabbis Eve Posen, Rachel Kahn- who are turned away from the United
asylum in the United States. journalists. Troster, and Phillip “Flip” Rice States. “If we want to think about solu-
Rabbi Kahn-Troster has been inter- stand together. tions, we must understand the factors
ested in the work of AJWS for a long “I learned a tremendous amount,” causing them to flee,” she said. “No one
time. She believes that what she learned Rabbi Kahn-Troster said. It was particu- by getting elected. Change happens on leaves home because they want to.” She
from her first trip with the group in larly helpful not just to hear about their a lot of levels. This was a really compre- recalled seeing a statue on the way to
2004 — a visit to El Salvador for rabbini- efforts, “but to meet the people mak- hensive way to see how AJWS is working Quetzaltenango. “The statue is dedi-
cal students — “really had an impact on ing the change. AWJS grantees in Gua- to protect human rights.” cated to an emigrant, someone who is
what I did as a rabbi.” She applied for the temala are extremely inspiring,” she In March, the rabbinic fellows will go leaving. It’s of a man waving goodbye.
Global Fellowship after hearing “great said, noting that protests were going to Washington, D.C., to talk to members It’s heartbreaking.”
things about the program as an opportu- on throughout their visit in response of Congress and other government offi- She is looking forward to the Wash-
nity to see AJWS’s work on the ground. I to the government’s expelling a United cials about international human rights ington visit in March. “We’ll help elected
wanted to see what they do.” She now is Nations-approved team of corruption issues. According to an AJWS statement, officials understand the fight against cor-
in the middle of the fellowship program, investigators. “these fellows will play a key role in edu- ruption,” she said. “It’s more powerful to
which runs from October to March. She also appreciated the diversity of cating the public and elected officials have met with the people — not just vis-
In Guatemala, the rabbinic fellows her colleagues. “There were only two about the importance of U.S. leadership iting but hearing from the people most
met with advocates fighting for legal from the New York City area,” she said. on the global stage in standing up for affected.” She also is eager to strengthen
protections for human rights activists “It was a nice cross-section, a good geo- human rights and ending poverty.” the partnership between T’ruah and
whose work puts them at risk of vio- graphic spread.” Rabbi Kahn-Troster said that if one AJWS, stressing the “importance of fight-
lence, midwives who provide maternal The trip, she noted, “wasn’t just thing surprised her, “It was the way ing for democracy at home and abroad.
health support for indigenous women, about civil or political rights. We met in which people had hope. There’s a “Democracy is under attack here and
and members of an independent jour- with midwives who are holding on museum in Guatemala City about the in other places,” she said. “We have to
nalism collective led by young Guatema- to their cultural rights to work with history of resistance. I’m coming to speak out against laws that criminalize
lans who work to expose human rights women. This is human rights on a dif- understand that pain is a part of heal- activism, and we have to support free-
abuses. The rabbis, who were joined ferent level — advocating for the health ing. There’s so much pain among peo- dom of the press.”
on the trip by AJWS Global Ambassador of women. We also met with younger ple whose communities are being dis- Rabbi Kahn-Troster and her husband,
Ruth Messinger, also met with top lead- women working to fight patriarchy in placed. But there’s a sentiment that Paul Pelavin, have two daughters, Leora,
ership at the U.S. embassy. their traditional societies, for example, change is possible. 11, and Aliza, 9.
8 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
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o what’s the deal with China?
The relationship between the
United States and China seems
to be changing. What did it used
to be? What is it now? Why is it changing?
And what can we expect?
Dr. Tom Grunfeld will try to answer
these questions at the Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades, although, as he acknowledges,
his understanding of what that relation-
ship used to be, and what changes it is
undergoing now, are clear and evidence-
based. His crystal ball, on the other hand,
is a bit cloudy.
Dr. Grunfeld, a SUNY distinguished teach-
ing professor at the Empire State College of
the State University of New York, specializes
in Eastern Asia studies; last year, he talked
about the United States’ relationship with
North Korea, which was much in the news
then, at the JCC University. (Although that
relationship continues to be fraught, it has
receded a bit, although it is revived as an
issue every few months, and its most recent
return was just about a week ago.)
This year, Dr. Grunfeld will talk about
China.
“I’ll talk about how our relationship Dr. Tom Grunfeld stands in the Panda Reserve in Chengdu, Sichuan Province; sadly, no pandas are visible here.
with China goes through stages,” he said.
“The most recent one was from 1972 to adopted the same policy. That was true for veto anything in the U.N. Vigilance,’ about that disillusionment.”
2016.” Although there had been “subtle every president; there often were different “So except for January to September So what happened? “In 1972, China’s
changes in the relationship” as American reasons, but the policy stayed the same.” 2003, there was no change in American biggest trading partner was Albania,” Dr.
history moved from the presidencies of There was one almost exception that policy toward China.” Grunfeld said. “China was completely iso-
Richard Nixon to Barack Obama, it wasn’t proved the rule, he added. That was Why was that? “There were two factions lated from communist countries and from
until Donald Trump took office that “we George W. Bush’s administration. “In the in Washington, inside the Beltway, on the capitalist countries. Its economy was at
saw a radical change in U.S policy. beginning, the Bush administration was issue of China policy,” Dr. Grunfeld said. the bottom 10 percent of all the world’s
“Until then, the policy was roughly the much more belligerent toward China. But “One supported close relations, welcom- countries. If anything happened in China
same,” Dr. Grunfeld said. “In that period, then they made the decision to invade ing students, engagement in general. Those then, it would not have affected anyone
every presidential candidate accused the Iraq, and the policy changed 160 degrees, were the people who had the influence. The else. Only China.”
sitting president of being soft on China. And and then went right back to the same poli- other side said that China was a threat.” Today, on the other hand, “there is
then as soon as they came into office, they cies as before. They needed China not to Those people, he said, those influenc- hardly a country in the world that is not
ers, are the academics and experts and intertwined with China.” If there were to
Who: Dr. Tom Grunfeld think tank and State Department pro- be some kind of economic collapse there,
fessionals — and they are the same elite, we’d all feel it, he said.
What: Will talk about the relationship between the United States and China
because those institutions are connected Given that, is the White House making
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Avenue, Tenafly by revolving doors. decisions on China based on that under-
When: On Thursday, February 7, at 10:30 a.m. They once believed that China would standing? “My personal opinion is that
Why: For the JCC U become more like the United States, he it is not,” Dr. Grunfeld said. “I think that
said. “The people who supported that there is a struggle in the White House, but
AND ALSO
argued that China would become more for now the hardliners seem to have influ-
Who: Janine DeFeo, a teaching fellow at the Whitney Museum democratic if we allowed students and tour- ence, and as a result they are going with a
What: Wil talk about the Whitney’s new Andy Warhol exhibit, in a talk called ism and trade. But that clearly hasn’t hap- policy of threats and retaliation.
“Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again” pened, and so they are disillusioned.” Their “They are right in the issues they raise —
When: Also on February 7, after lunch, for the second half of that day’s JCC U disillusionment has not led them to join the cybersecurity, intellectual property theft,
other group, the China-is-a-threat side, but the trade balance. Nobody disagrees that
How much: The whole day, from 10:30 to 2, costs $35 for JCC members and
$42 for non-members; there is a break for lunch, and students are invited to buy “they are no longer promoting the policy they are problems. The question is how to
or bring food. that they promoted for the last 40 years.” solve those problems.”
In fact, he added, “they wrote a 200-page Since 1972, China has changed in many
For more information or to register: Call (201) 408-1454 or go to www.jccotp.
report, called ‘Chinese Influence and Amer- ways, Dr. Grunfeld said; it’s become both
org and follow the links to the JCC U.
ican Interests: Promoting Constructive SEE CHINA PAGE 29
Local
I
me to explore it because it was
t is safe to say that most of us dangerous. The punishment for
can look back at our lives with apostacy is execution.”
some surprise at the turns Does that really happen?
they’ve taken. It’s likely that “The Iranian government has
few of us have followed exactly in the no problem with killing infi-
paths that we laid out for ourselves dels,” he said. It’s not immedi-
when we were kids, much less the ate, and it’s not inevitable; the
paths that our parents fantasized for apostate is given some time,
us when we were infants, all fuzzy maybe six months, to repent
and cute and entirely undefined. and return. “But that means
But it also is safe to say that few of that you have to live a life full of
us, at 26, could have found ourselves lies.”
as far from our expected places as A s fo r exe c u t i o n s , M r.
William Mehrvarz, a slightly-older- Mehrvarz remembers passing
than-typical Yeshiva University by a body hanging on a con-
undergraduate. He started out not as struction girder. He was a little
William but Reza, born to an upper boy then; his mother tried to
middle class family in Tehran, Iran. shield him from seeing it, but he
To the Jewish world, he’s a nice saw it anyway, and it haunts him
Jewish boy. To the Muslim world, he’s still. “The Iranian government
an apostate. doesn’t let women into stadi-
How did that happen? ums to watch soccer games, but
Mr. Mehrvarz will tell his story at it does let him in to see public
the Clifton Jewish Center next Sun- executions,” he said.
day. (See box.) But before that, he So he kept his interest in Juda-
tells some of it here. ism to himself. He didn’t tell his
He was born on October 18, 1992 parents about it — but he was
— that was the 21 of Tishrei, 5753, he a normal teenager, and “why
said, and it also was Shmini Atzeret, would I talk to my parents about
a fact that gives him joy. He was born it anyway?” he asked.
premature, his parents’ first child This May, William Mehrvarz walked with the Manhattan Jewish Experience at the “But I continued to study
to survive childbirth, and his par- Celebrate Israel parade on Fifth Avenue. Judaism in private. Sometimes
ents treated him with the care that I would talk to my cousins or
a much-longed-for child can evoke and also can grow the original. “It was very moving to me that I was con- my classmates about it, though. And eventually I also
to resent. Both of his parents trained as attorneys; his necting to a holy book in my own language,” he said. became interested in history, and I learned about the
mother became an elementary school teacher but his And he was fascinated by the stories, because they were Holocaust.”
father practices law. “He is a successful lawyer, and he both familiar and strange; Islam uses many of Judaism’s Because he mistakenly believed that Auschwitz was in
is a hero of mine,” William said. “He is a veteran of the Germany, he tried to go to Germany for high school. “My
Iran-Iraq war; he lost a leg and most of his arm. He’s father didn’t want me to go,” he said. “He didn’t want to
been on crutches all of my life and most of his. He went lose me physically, and we already were on precarious
through law school like that, and he fought his way ground emotionally, so he made certain that I wouldn’t
through and built a career. I really admire that, and I
really admire him.”
To the Jewish get in.”
That meant that he was in Iran in 2009, during the
The family was religiously observant. “You could call world, he’s a nice Green Revolution, when popular protests against what
them the equivalent of Conservadox, or maybe modern
Orthodox,” he said.
Jewish boy. To the was seen as a corrupt presidential election ended in
death and despair. “I witnessed the Green Revolution
When he was 13, William went to summer camp, Muslim world, he’s and its failure with my own eyes,” he said. “I cried from
“and like many others, I recall reading from the Torah
for the first time then. But in my case I was not leyn- an apostate. tear gas. I heard gunshots, and I saw people getting shot.
It was traumatic.”
ing from a great sefer Torah for my bar mitzvah. I was As a direct result, he dropped out of high school in his
flipping through the pages of a Farsi-language Bible that foundational stories, but changes them to reflect its own last year; he moved to Kish, an island in southern Iran.
an Armenian Christian friend at camp was showing me. theology and history. That was why, he said, he was not “I told my parents I needed some space,” he said. They
I was perusing the Five Books of Moses, starting with attracted to Christianity, which was almost entirely did not abandon him, and he did not live as a hermit;
Genesis. foreign to him. It was the tension between the known they visited frequently. “And they found me a job,” he
“This was explicitly forbidden to me because I was and the unknown that he found in Judaism that first said. He’d taken some maritime courses, and was certi-
born a Muslim. attracted him. fied to work on ships. That’s what he did. He finished
“And it was love at first read.” “I never felt connected to Islam, but I was attracted high school in Kish.
Part of William’s excitement was the chance to read to this new thing and I wanted to study it,” Mr. Meh- Then he moved back to his parents’ house in Teh-
a religious text in Farsi. The Koran generally isn’t trans- rvarz said. He felt both an intellectual and an emotional ran and went to college, where he studied French and
lated out of its original Arabic; the most help readers pull toward it. “But when I brought the idea home to linguistics.
get is when the vernacular is interleaved underneath my father, he was upset. That’s probably because Iran is He became involved in an international organization
Local
called AIESEC, a Montreal-based youth movement with ‘lo yilmadu oh milchama.’” The words means “not learn
a French acronym that “provides an international plat- war anymore,” and Liam is made of the first letters of
form for young people to explore and develop their those four words.
leadership skills. It sends us on international exchanges “I resonated with that,” Liam Avraham said. “And I
and summer leadership courses.” Those connections also like that my story is connected with Abraham, who
helped him later. also had to leave home.” And of course Liam is the sec-
“I also did something that some millennials did,” ond half of William.”
Mr. Mehrvarz said. “I was very young, and it was very Once he got to the United States, Mr. Mehrvarz real-
stupid. ized that he was not Jewish, that longing for something
“I got married.” does not make it so. But he remedied that. “I’m a dou-
He and his, wife, like him a 22-year-old undergrad- ble dip,” he said. His first conversion was Conservative,
uate, met online. “Not on a dating app,” he said. “On through the Town and Village Synagogue in Manhattan;
Facebook.” She also “had a secret,” he said. She came now he is working toward an Orthodox one.
from a very conservative Muslim family “and she didn’t He feels deep connections toward both movements,
really believe any of it, but she had to do it. and is not ready to choose one over the other. He revels
“So because we both had a situation, we decided in the opportunity YU afford him to study Torah all day.
we should get married. We didn’t really think things And also “I am a feminist,” he said. “I love the fact that
through. We just did it.” I have a congregation that is egalitarian.” So for now he
The pair married. Both their families were happy at lives happily in those overlapping worlds.
their children’s apparently conventional choices. Their He is applying for asylum in the United States; it’s a
parents helped support them, and he also did some long process, and it won’t be over until it’s over, but he
part-time work as the Iranian equivalent of an Uber feels some degree of cautious optimism. He needs docu-
driver. “But we ran into multiple problems,” Mr. Meh- mentation of the claim that he will face certain danger if
rvarz said. “We were both hiding so many things, not he returns to Iran, but as an apostate Muslim-turned-Jew
only from our parents but also from our relatives. Some that documentation is easy to provide. He’s happy here.
of our friends knew, but I would always have to hide my “As an asylum seeker, I am allowed to work, I pay taxes,
Judaica — my menorah, my Shabbat candles. We were I have a driver’s license,” he said. “I’m here legally.”
very overwhelmed. He has plans. “I have a very common aspiration
“We thought that we could take our relationship to a among Jews,” he said. “I want to be a lawyer. I will grad-
different level. We decided to have a baby.” His wife got He spoke to meeting of the World Jewish Congress. uate with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and I
pregnant, and then, after three months, she had a mis- want to apply to law school.”
carriage. The marriage also died. a 45-minute drive but I did it in 25 minutes. There was He’s also a public speaker, and he writes about his
It all exploded on the night before William’s wife’s no traffic. It was right after I had visited Auschwitz” — he beliefs both on his website, www.williammehrvarz.com,
sister’s wedding. The pair, who had decided to divorce got there with an AIESEC trip — “and I had read those and on his public Facebook page, called “From Tehran
but had not agreed on the timing, was staying with her stories where people had very limited time and space to to the Torah.” He is clear about his love for Judaism,
parents, when they began to argue. They got louder and pack. The first thing I packed was all my warm clothes. and the way that he thinks God guided him toward it,
louder, until her mother, who until then had no idea I filled the whole suitcasae. And then I realized that I making it more and more obvious that the Jewish world
that they were anything other than a happily married am not leaving to have warm clothes but because of my always was meant to be his home. He is also clear about
couple, heard them screaming about divorce. “So her values. Because my Jewishness had been threatened. his complicated feelings about Iran and Islam, and his
mom was trying to calm her down, and she was yell- Because my identity had been threatened. discomfort with having his very personal story recast as
ing and shouting. I never expected her to say what she “So I took my Judaica — my books, the menorah — and an anti-Islamic cautionary tale. It’s far more complicated
said — it was her key to getting divorced, and I didn’t my passport and birth certificate — and then I filled the than that, he writes.
think she thought it through — but she said ‘He’s not rest of the space with warm clothes. He is passionate about human rights, about how hard
even Muslim.’” “My documents were in the safe, and when I went to it is to leave home, about how important it is to help
Completely total betrayal. get my stuff there I saw that our savings and her docu- people who have to leave home in order to be able to
He’d posted cryptic things on social media that made ments were gone, and I realized that she really wanted live. He is passionate about how helping asylum seekers
sense now that they knew of his apostasy, and his sister- to end this. She had planned that part of it out. She did find safety and hope is necessary if you are to live by
in-law had followed him, so soon everything made sense not want to go back to that house ever again. either Jewish or American values.
to his wife’s family. “And I do not blame her. I don’t hold any grudges He also is clear about his love for his parents, and his
“Her sister said ‘You are a filthy Jew,’ and I felt a little against her. admiration for them, and he is clear-eyed about how his
bit of release because finally someone is seeing me as “Then I drove to the bus station, and thanks to AIE- choices hurt his family. In fact, it is hard to talk to Wil-
a Jew,” William said. “But I realized immediately after- SEC, which had introduced me to lots and lots of young liam Mehrvarz while always remembering that he is only
ward what that meant for me.” people around the world, I went to Armenia, and then 26. He seems to have lived many more lives than can be
Of course, he was not yet a Jew, but he didn’t really I went to Georgia, and then back to Armenia, and then, stuffed into such a short time. It’s astonishing to think
know it then, William said. It is far easier to become a on November 9, 2016, I went to New York. about how much more he will do.
Muslim than it is to become a Jew, and those were the “I landed right after the presidential election. It was
rules that he knew then. He wasn’t then entirely clear very stressful, because I was afraid that I would be sent
about what he was. right back.
“They took my phone and they took my bag and they “I had only $200 with me when I moved to the United Who: William Mehrvarz
locked the door of the apartment and they threatened States.” But the friends he’d made helped him; in fact, it What: Will talk about his life, and the fight for hu-
to call the police and my parents.” His parents, who until was a friend who bought his airplane ticket. man rights
then had thought “that I was a happy Muslim guy mar- Now, Mr. Mehrvarz lives in New York. His English is Where: At the Clifton Jewish Center, 18 Delaware
ried to a happy Muslim girl.” flawless and nearly accent-less. His name is now Wil- Street
His in-laws did call his parents. “It was around dawn. liam, for a whole set of interconnected reasons. His
When: On Sunday, February 10, at 10 a.m.
And when they opened the door to my parents, I father’s father, an interesting man with an interesting
grabbed my phone and my bag and I pushed everyone past, whom he adores, speaks English, and sometimes How much: It’s free if you register before February
6, and after that it’s $10. Donations are welcome
away and ran through the door and I ran through the would call his grandson William, after Shakespeare, in
street and I ran for my car. I didn’t know where I was honor of young Reza’s facility with the language. Registration: Is necessary for security. Call (973)
going but I knew that I had to leave. “My Hebrew name is Liam Avraham,” he said. “Liam 772-3131 or (973) 449-9117.
“I drove as fast as I could back to my apartment. It was as a name comes from the book of Isaiah, where it says
Local
This program is supported by The Jewish Education visit jccotp.org/pickleball VISIT jccotp.org
Project, with generous funding by Genesis STAY IN THE KNOW! LIKE US ON
Philanthropy Group, and is presented in coordination
with COJECO.
PA Program offered as part of the JCC Patron of the Arts
Program. Find out more at jccotp.org/patrons.
facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 15
JS-16*
Local
“In the past,” he said, “we lived with Soldiers, Mr. Gases said, “are the
more fear. Now we have the IDF as our best spokespeople. They talk from the
protectors. If something happens here, heart. All the stories are from mod-
we have Israel, and the IDF protects ern-day heroes.” Ms. Azarvar added
Israel.” He suggested that if people want In July 2018, Staff Sgt. Hilla (left) saved the life of Maj. Yehuda (right) after he that while the February 7 program
to help those soldiers, working through was struck in the chest by shrapnel during conflicts along the Gaza border. is meant to raise funds, it also will
his organization “is the best means of showcase “two incredible stories. We
doing so. We talk to the IDF and hear about their organization and the New and her commander, whose life she want both to raise money and to build
what their needs are.” Jersey chapter’s upcoming program, saved, will discuss their story at a pri- lasting bonds between the American
Ms. Gases and Aliyah Azarvar, FIDF’s set for February 7. There, an Israel vate home in Cresskill. Jewish community and the Israeli
tri-state marketing coordinator, talked Defense Forces active-duty paramedic According to a statement from the community.”
16 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-17
Local
PASSOVER 2019
But what is the cost to the consumer of all these
mergers ?
Advocates say that efficiencies keep costs down.
Mr. Stoller, however, says that mergers lead to
decreased wages for workers and fewer choices for
consumers. “Even if you accept that a large bakery
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A WALDORF ASTORIA RESORT
conglomerate is more efficient at baking bread, it’s • Gorgeous half-mile stretch of Private Beach • 2 Championship Golf Courses
only because they’re not baking kosher bread,” he • 30 Clay Tennis Courts • Enjoy the exciting Surfing Simulator
said, before Bimbo announced that some lines would • Fantastic Scholars- in-Residence • 40,000 sq. ft. World Class Spa
again be kosher, though fewer than before. “What do • Haute Gourmet Cuisine by the Waldorf Astoria Resort Chefs
you mean by efficiency? & Prestige Caterers
• Scholar in residence Rabbi Shai Finkelstein, Baka, Jerusalem
“You can map this out to the general economy.
• International Kosher Mehadrin (IK) Glatt Kosher Supervision
There’s increasingly poor selection. It’s true for
African Americans and hair products. You get new
entrants that come into the market, specializing in PALM BEACH, FLORIDA PGA National Resort
hair products for African Americans. Procter and • Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach • AAA 4-Diamond Resort
Gamble bought one of those companies. Eventually • All Rooms Have Private Balconies
they shut them down because the person who runs • 5 Tournament-Ready Golf Courses
it doesn’t have political juice inside Procter and Gam- • 19 Har Tru Tennis Courts
ble. You see this in a lot of different subgroups.” • Fantastic line up of Scholars-In Residence
SEE BIMBO PAGE 31 • Exceptional Cuisine by Foremost Caterers
• ORB Glatt Kosher Supervision
Briefly Local
Dr. Robert and Shari Alter of Penina and Dr. Bin Goldman of
Englewood Passaic
Briefly Local
JFNNJ visits a Sinai School Among the dignitaries were, from left, James J. Tedesco, Bergen
program at RYNJ for Tu B’Shvat County Executive; Brian Agnew, Bergen Community College Executive
Vice-President; Gurbir Grewal, NJ Attorney General; and Gurbir Grewal,
Visitors from the Jewish Federation worked with pre-bat mitzvah girls on a and Tracy Silna Zur, Bergen County Freeholder/event founder.
of Northern New Jersey visited Sinai Tu B’shvat program. JFNNJ funds pro-
School programs at Rosenbaum Yeshiva
of North Jersey. During the visit, they
gramming at Sinai Schools, including
its bar/bat mitzvah program, which it
Freeholder Zur spearheads MLK
sat in on an art therapy session and funds fully. celebration at Bergen Community
Students gathered for the third County Sheriff ’s Department, and
annual Martin Luther King Day of the BCB Bank of Rutherford.
JNF welcomes new area director Service, “We The People; Embrace.
Empower. Engage,” on January 21,
Students worked at various commu-
nity service projects, including creat-
Jacqueline Yehudiel of Fort Lee She was the president of at Bergen Community College in ing dog toys for the Bergen County
is Jewish National Fund’s new the campus Israel Alliance Paramus. The 501c3 was founded Animal Shelter and blankets for senior
Northern New Jersey direc- and local Chabad chapter. by Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur in citizens, as well as assembling hygiene
tor. She hopes to help con- Next, she earned a mas- 2016 to combat divisive rhetoric and kits for residents at the Bergen County
nect Israelis living in the area ter’s degree from Tel Aviv encourage unity. Last year, 200 stu- shelter, activity bags for children in
to each other and to support University. dents participated; this year, the day hospitals, and bags for CASA and Cen-
unique projects that enhance Ms. Yehudiel joins Jew- drew more than 400 students from ter for Hope and Safety.
COURTESY JNF
the lives of Israelis. Before ish National Fund and is more than 60 communities and “I started this organization and day
coming to JNF, Ms. Yehudiel engaged in its very ambi- from different geographic, ethnic, of service because I felt like our chil-
was the New Jersey director tious One Billion Dollar and religious backgrounds. Fifth-to dren needed to learn not just a sense
for Teach NJS and the New Jer- Roadmap for the Next eighth-graders from the Academies of civic duty, but an understanding
sey associate director for the Jacqueline Yehudiel Decade campaign, which @ Gerrard Berman Day School were that we should build bridges, not
American Israel Public Affairs already has raised $570 there. Primary sponsors included the walls,” Tracy Zur said. “It is the orga-
Committee. million. The plan for Israel’s future encom- Jewish Federation of Northern New nization’s hope that we will have at
“I am so excited to join this wonder- passes building new communities in the Jersey, Inserra Supermarkets, Bergen least two more events this year, and
ful organization,” Ms. Yehudiel said. “I am Negev and Galilee, expanding the scope Community College, Kenneth Cole, that next year will be an even bigger
amazed at all the work JNF is doing in Israel of river rehabilitation and water research, Spark Freight Services, the Bergen homage to Dr. King’s legacy.”
— from building safe playgrounds in Sderot exploring energy production, creating
to making hiking trails accessible for people opportunities for people with special needs,
with disabilities to helping farmers in the working on heritage preservation, bringing
Negev make the desert bloom — it’s all part thousands of people to Israel every year on
of a bigger picture that I am thrilled to be a missions and trips, and growing future lead-
part of. It’s a privilege to join a team of pro- ership among young people through Zionist
fessionals and lay leaders across the coun- education and advocacy programs.
try that is committed so deeply to aiding Ms. Yehudiel and her husband, Shalom,
and developing communities across Israel own Teaneck’s new kosher restaurant, the
and helping the country thrive in revolu- Humble Toast, and belong to the Sephardic
tionary ways.” Congregation of Fort Lee.
Ms. Yehudiel’s Israel connection started For more information, call Ms. Yehudiel
when she was a Penn State undergradu- (973) 593-0095, ext. 823, or email her at JYe- Students from schools including GBDS created fleece blankets for
ate and saw the BDS movement in action. hudiel@jnf.org. senior citizens at We The People’s annual MLK Day of Service.
Briefly Local
is pleased to welcome
Raffaella Kalishman, M.D., M.P.H.
Internal Medicine
Women’s Health
Infectious Disease
and Travel Medicine
1 DeGraw Avenue, Suite B • Teaneck, NJ 07666 NCJW volunteers work with swimmers at “Swim-In,” a unique aqua-
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
therapy program for people with multiple sclerosis. More volunteers
14-01 Broadway, Suite B • Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 are needed to help the swimmers both in and out of the pool. NCJW
Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Call for more information today: 201-855-8480 Seeking volunteers
Or make an appointment online via ZocDoc: for MS swim program
https://www.zocdoc.com/doctor/raffaella-kalishman-md-275317
“Swim-In,” a unique aquatic therapy Volunteers are responsible for
program for people with multiple the intricate logistics of bringing
sclerosis, is looking for both men the group of swimmers in wheel-
and women to work as volunteers, chairs through all stages of the
who push wheelchairs, assist clients two-hour program. Volunteers
in the locker room, or become swim who choose to work in the pool
buddies in the pool. The group must be able to swim.
meets on Wednesdays at noon from The program was founded in
September to May at the Kaplen JCC 1976 by Ruth Cowan, a licensed
on the Palisades in Tenafly. physical therapist and past presi-
Swim-In, which has been recog- dent of the local NCJW section.
nized nationally, is the only water- From the beginning, Ms. Cowan
therapy program in the United was determined that the program
States run by volunteers at no would be run to the highest pro-
charge to participants. The Ber- fessional standards. “Individuals
gen County section of the National with MS can do many things in the
Council of Jewish Women supports water, thanks to the buoyancy it
the program and provides many of provides, that are impossible to do
its volunteers, and the MS Society out of the water,” she said. “The
provides financial and administra- exercise makes them stronger and
tive assistance. Weekly sessions provides a feeling of elation that
give people with MS improved can last for hours.”
body movement in the water and “There is no question that both
Join NJ Eye and Ear for a offer pleasant socialization for the social and exercise aspects of
Featuring
Netta Barzilai
Israel’s Reigning Eurovision Champion
In Concert
Carnegie Hall
March 28th, 2019
Tickets extremely limited. Available now on wvngala.eventbrite.com
Cover Story
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY LARGER THAN LIFE
Larger
than life
Local organization, like parent group
organization called Larger Than Life
(there it’s called Gdolim Me-Hachaim);
its volunteers provide both emotional
and practical support to parents as they
navigate their new lives in a world whose
even more heart and soul than most vol-
unteer work, as emotionally demanding
as much volunteer work is, they create
bonds that strengthen the children, their
families, and themselves.
in Israel, helps children who come known coordinates seem to vanish.
In the United States — and particularly
On a recent Friday morning, a group
of Larger Than Life volunteers — Sara
here for treatment to fight cancer in northern New Jersey and the rest of Golomb, Yifat Yechezkell, and Harel
the New York metropolitan area — Larger Nahar, along with its one paid profes-
Than Life USA helps those families, both sional, its executive director, Netta
I
JOANNE PALMER parent to receive for a child. in Israel and here. A group of volunteers Nathaniel — met in Sara’s dining room
It leaves a parent wounded, vulner- based in Tenafly has devoted itself to to talk about their work. The four, all of
t is terrible to have your child able, unsure where to turn, what to guiding Israeli families — and that’s all whom live in Tenafly, are good friends;
diagnosed with cancer. believe, what to do. There is a whole Israeli families, not only Jewish ones — their mutual affection is clear. Sara’s an
It is not necessarily a death new list of demands to be taken care of when they come here to pursue the often interior designer, and her house is full of
sentence. It does not mean that at once, on top of the regular stresses of last-chance treatment options that top light, with white walls and sharp angles
you never will laugh again, or pre-diagnosis life. doctors and institutions here can offer. that made the bright colors of an Israeli
that joy and hope have left your life alto- What do you do? How do you order As they do that, as they organize and breakfast on the table look even more
gether. But there is no sugarcoating the your life so you can help your child? translate and shop and hug, as they pro- jewel-like. (If Israelis were to eat a break-
truth that it is a terrible diagnosis for a In Israel, you c an turn to an vide the volunteer work that demands fast like that every morning, Israel would
Cover Story
Every year, Larger Than Life provides two Dream Trips to Disney.
be a country of very happy, very sated, works better in Hebrew than it does in Eng-
extremely large people.) lish — was created in in 1999. That was a
The light — and the food — made it far time, Harel said, when Israeli culture stig-
easier to discuss some of the darkness of matized, even shunned, people with cancer,
the work they do, and to realize that there to the point where many patients could not
is hope, love, and even at times active joy in even bring themselves to name the disease
that work. from which they suffered in public. Cancer
“In Israel, Larger Than Life is very well was seen as somehow shameful, potentially
known,” Netta said. (It was a group discus- contagious (even when people knew ratio-
sion, so at times it was hard to identify who nally that it was not), most likely a reflection
said what, but everyone agreed not only on the patient’s underlying worth as a per-
about the importance of the organization son, and certainly not anything to talk about.
but also about the deep emotional connec- “Larger Than Life was founded by par-
tion they feel to it, and to the sense of doing ents who had kids with cancer, because
something real and necessary that they draw they knew their children’s needs,” Sara said.
from it.) Because of the shame associated with can-
Larger Than Life — whose name, intended cer — and because even without that shame,
to give children with cancer the understand- there’s something intimidating about a child
ing that they are strong, even heroic, and going to the hospital to visit a friend who
that they fight back, and which probably may be bald, who may be attached to an IV
Cover Story
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Cover Story
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There’s a waiting list for the school, from about 11 up to 18 years old,” Netta Torah and
Its (Dis)contents
and the group is building another one said. “Everyone is there, because cancer
in the Negev. does not discriminate. They got to know
Larger Than Life has a long list of each other for the first two days. Some
services that it provides; with outposts wore wigs. Some needed help because Friday, Feb 8 – Saturday, Feb 9
in almost all Israeli hospitals, it offers they were in wheelchairs. And after a
playrooms and patient liaisons there, few days, they’re friends for life. They
as well as retreats and summer camps, take off the wigs. Everyone accepts each
22 Classes in 24 Hours
and financial aid to pay for medications other.
when necessary. “It’s a journey. A journey for life, not Taught by Beth Sholom’s Own Members
It also brings groups of children and just a trip to Disney.”
teenagers with cancer to Disneyland In 2008, Larger Than Life’s American Closing Session with
and Disney World. Those kids — who affiliate was formed. The children and Rabbi J.J. Schacter
have to be cleared by their doctors families it helps also make journeys;
as being up to its joyous rigors — are they come here from Israel in search of
accompanied not by their own parents, medical help. Here’s an opportunity to delve into You’re invited to
but with parents whose children either Why is there any need to travel here traditional texts and adventurous join Congregation
have recovered or have died from can- from Israel, a country storied for its discussion and study, focusing on the Beth Sholom for
cer. It’s transformative, they say. advanced healthcare? “Because Israel complexities of Jewish history and our extraordinary
It also forms bonds. is a small country,” Harel said. “Doctors identity, and our relationship to the Shabbaton where we
“I was amazed to see a group of reli- here have wider experience. Probably broader secular society and to Israel. offer a wide array of
gious and secular kids, Jews and Arabs, more than 95 percent of the children’s classes taught by our
Just some of the classes offered:
own congregants,
• Reading the Talmud in the Era of including Professor
#MeToo Eitan Fishbane, Rabbis
• Is Holocaust Cinema Good for the Julia Andelman,
Jews? Eliezer Diamond,
• Did the Rabbis Rewrite the Torah? Stephen Garfinkel,
Rachel Kahn-Troster,
• Milton as Midrash
and our own
• The Cleaving of the American Jewish Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky.
Community
• Jewish Power, Jewish Responsibility Children and teen
• The Civil Rights Movement in Jewish programs and childcare
Perspective are available.
Cover Story
cases are resolved in Israel, but the places to stay, food to buy and eat, activi- more American Jews involved as well. 13, another gala, this one for the young
extreme ones have to come here.” ties for the other children. They offer Larger Than Life USA also helps raise leaders Larger Than Life is nurturing,
“If there is a surgery that a doctor in emotional support and friendship. They money for the twice-yearly Disney trips, will raise money and celebrate hope and
Israel did only once or twice, a doctor at help make the formidably foreign a bit which are even more expensive than such life at Sony Hall in midtown Manhattan.
Sloan Kettering may have done it hun- less offputtingly strange. trips normally would be because of the (See the box for more information on
dreds of times,” Sara added. “You meet the parents at the hardest travelers’ special needs. The group is very both galas.)
That means, they said, that “the fami- times of their lives,” Yifat said. “You feel proud that most of the funds it raises goes Until then — and after the galas are
lies who come here are in terrible situ- that you have to be there for them, just to directly to support children and their over — Netta, Yifat, Sara, Harel, and their
ations. They know that this is the last hold their hands, even if they don’t need families rather than to overhead. Netta is friends will continue to visit families, orga-
chance.” anything else. Just to let them know that its only paid employee, a statistic about nize meals, translate both bad and good
That means that families — sometimes they are not alone. which all the volunteers are proud. news, and bring connection, light, and
one parent and a child, sometimes one “I think that working with these fami- On Sunday, March 3, Larger Than Life love to families of children with cancer.
parent with both the child and one or lies gives you strength, a burst of energy, USA will hold its annual gala; it’s at the Go to largerthanlifeusa.org to learn
more siblings, sometimes a grandparent a kind of power, because if you can give Rockleigh Country Club. On February more.
with the child, sometimes the whole fam- them a smile, even for a minute, you are
ily — need help. giving them something real and valuable.
What: Larger Than Life USA’s annual gala
Sometimes they do not speak English, “The soul and the body go together,”
so they need translations. Sometimes they Netta said. “When you think I am sick, I When: On Sunday, March 3; dinner is at 6:30, and the program follows
do speak English, but they don’t under- am lonely, then the healing will be slower. Where: At the Rockleigh Country Club, 26 Paris Avenue in Rockleigh
stand the medical terms the health care But when you are surrounded by love and What else: A performance by Lior Suchard, billed as a “world-renowned master
providers use. Sometimes they are fluent optimism, when you celebrate life, the mentalist”
in English, but even those families — like healing process is so much faster.”
To buy tickets: Go to www.largerthanlife.org or call (888) 644-4040
all families everywhere — need another So far most of Larger Than Life’s vol-
person, ideally somewhat more distanced unteers have been Israeli, because they What: Larger Than Life’s Young Leadership Gala
and therefore somewhat more dispassion- tend to hear about it from each other or When: On Wednesday, February 13, at 7 p.m.
ate, to listen, understand, and remember. from friends and family back home, and Where: At Sony Hall, 235 West 46th Street, in Manhattan
Larger Than Life does that. then from their network in northern New
To buy tickets: Go to www.largerthanlife.org or call (888)644-4040.
Its volunteers also help families find Jersey, but the group would love to get
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Jewish World
3D Hero logo
Dr. Robert & Shari
Refer to the 3D hero logo as the default for most cases.
Dr. Bin & Penina Rabbi Michael & Ayelet
ALTER GOLDMAN HOENIG
Jewish World
facebook.com/jewishstandard
Local
China said. “The first time I went, the Cultural would walk across the border with your bag, “Now it’s different. It’s totally open. You
FROM PAGE 10 Revolution was still going on. It was just and you’d wait for the train on the other side. just go get a visa. You can go on your own,
capitalist and more repressive. That a few months after Mao died.” “It was very exciting to be in China,” he or with a tour group. The only problem is
wasn’t supposed to happen. That was then; now in some ways continued. “We’d been hanging out in Hong the language.” And Chinese people also are
The American understanding of China China is almost unrecognizable. “It has Kong, but being in China… free to travel; they too are constrained only
was shaped by the Protestant missionar- changed with phenomenal speed,” Dr. “Imagine that you had been studying to by how expensive foreign travel can be. In
ies who went there, and even more by Grunfeld said. New York City has grown be a mechanic for years, but you had never China, they can live where they want, take
their children, he said. (Those children enormously since 1789, “when Canal seen a car. You’d just studied books. It’s hard whatever jobs they want, have as many chil-
were called “mishkids,” he added.) The Street was its northern boundary. That to learn that way. And then all of a sudden a dren as they want. (They are choosing not
most prominent of those one-time chil- took 200 years. China has done the car drives up to your house and you actually to have children, and that’s a problem, Dr.
dren was Henry Luce, the extraordi- same thing in 30 years. can see it. You can hold a carburetor in your Grunfeld said, but it’s a different problem.)
narily powerful creator and publisher of “There is a village on the Hong Kong hand. You can hold a spark plug. But despite the capitalism in which they
Time Magazine. They assumed that as border, and in those days you had to “The first time I was there — I was leading now live, and despite their new personal
China modernized, it necessarily would go through that village to get to China,” a group of graduate students from NYU — it freedom, the Chinese do not have political
democratize. But the Chinese did not he said. “It was a farming and fishing was for a couple of weeks, but it was very freedom. And that affects us, as Americans,
see it that way; they classified the United village then. There were no two-story restricted. We had minders. We couldn’t talk in our country’s relationship with China.
States as just another Western colonial buildings. Today it is a city of 12 million to people on the street. Those restrictions Dr. Grunfeld plans to address that and
power, not as a moral force for good. people, with a subway with 100 stations were lifted very slowly over 15 years. other complications at the JCC U.
Instead, China has become both more and 40-story buildings.
capitalist and more repressive, Dr. Grun- “Until the 80s, it was the only way to
feld said. get to China from Hong Kong. You would
His first trip to China was in 1977, and
he’s gone many times since then, he
take the train to the border, where it
stopped.” The line ended there. “You THE GROSS CENTER FOR
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Jewish World
Local
Bimbo bases and get to see the country through the eyes of independent charity evaluators: Charity Navigator
FROM PAGE 17 the IDF.” and Charity Watch. FIDF received the highest 4-star
While Bimbo has partially reversed course, The New Jersey FIDF has raised about $6 million, rating from Charity Navigator for the 8th year in a row
there has so far been no response to Jewish con- according to Mr. Gases. “People want to know where now—a feat accomplished by only 3 percent of chari-
cerns raised about another consolidated industrial their money goes,” he said, adding that in the case of ties in America, and Charity Watch has bestowed FIDF
player: Amazon. FIDF, “their money is well used.” He cited the find- with their ‘Top-Rated’ seal.”
Last month, Amazon moved customers of Cre- ings, noted on the group’s website, that “FIDF has For more information about the February 7
ateSpace, a print-on-demand printer it bought consistently received the highest ratings for account- program, email Howard.Gases@fidf.org or call (646)
in 2005, to a new service, Kindle Direct Printing. ability and transparency from two of the leading 274-9650.
While the printing presses are the same, the pro-
cedures used by customers to create the books are
slightly different. And the new system won’t pub-
lish books in Yiddish or Hebrew.
Yiddish writer Zackary Sholem Berger hopes
that a public backlash will get Amazon to change
Join us!
these new policies, which threaten Yiddish publi-
cations and authors. “Let Amazon know that Yid-
dish — and Hebrew — ought to be reinstated onto
the list of languages, in which one can publish new
titles on KDP,” he wrote in an article appearing on
the Forward’s Yiddish and English websites.
Mr. Stoller, for his part, is optimistic that anti-
BEN PORAT YOSEF
monopoly fervor is experiencing a comeback. Not
only is there the think tank that employs him; its
ideas are being picked up by politicians.
“The Federal Trade Commission is investigat-
ing Facebook,” he said. “In 2016, the Democrats
had an anti-monopoly plank in their platform for
the first time since 1988. David Cicilline of Rhode
Island, who just took over the anti-trust subcom-
mittee of the House Judiciary Committee, has been
talking about the need to reinvigorate anti-trust.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has been talking about
it. So has Cory Booker.”
Saturday, February 23, 2019
י״ט אדר א׳ תשע״ט
8:00 pm
Montammy Country Club
Montammy Drive, Alpine, NJ
IDF
FROM PAGE 17
In addition, each lone soldier is provided with one
Celebrating our 18th Anniversary
flight home during his or her term of service.
Mr. Gases also talk about the Impact program, Honoring
which grants four-year academic scholarships to
combat and combat support soldiers from low
socioeconomic backgrounds. Donors get to meet
the students they support, he said, and often
develop close relationships with them. And, he
added, “the program is changing the fabric of
Israel because each recipient needs to devote 130
hours to community service.” The Impact office
in Israel works with dozens of nonprofit organi-
zations, providing opportunities for the grant-
ees to work in a variety of fields, whether volun- Jessica Liz & Alan Cheryl Weiner Ilana
teering with Holocaust survivors or helping the Kohn Mitrani Rosenberg Tachauer
underprivileged.
Mr. Gases also talked about the FIDF’s Dignity
program, which provides soldiers in need and For reservations, ad packages and to learn more about
their families with such essential items as furni- our honorees, visit BPYdinner.org
ture, electrical appliances, and other necessities.
The FIDF provides monetary assistance in cases of
or contact development@benporatyosef.org.
special needs through special grants, and it distrib-
utes holiday gift vouchers twice a year.
The FIDF also sponsors missions to Poland
and Israel. “Our Young Leadership missions to
Israel are unlike any other,” Mr. Gases said. “Par-
ticipants spend 90 percent of their time on army
Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey in their lives. It is being produced by Sarah Timberman
and Carl Beverly, Alon Aranya, Israel’s Reshet Media
and ABC Studios, according to Deadline Hollywood.
welcomes ABC also ordered a pilot for the romantic comedy
“The Baker and the Beauty,” based on the Israeli series
Teachers and Educators “Lehiyot Ita,” or “Being With Her,” by Keshet Broadcast-
ing, according to Deadline Hollywood. The show aired
with English subtitles on Britain’s Channel 4, and the
to an two seasons were picked up for streaming by Amazon.
The Israeli series is the story of a supermodel who
Hank Greenberg’s
bat is up for auction
MARCY OSTER
BIAS HATE
Want a bat used by Jewish baseball legend Hank Green-
berg? You’ll need more than $8,000.
The Hall of Famer’s wood bat, which was signed by
the 1937 Detroit Tigers, is up for auction on the website
of Lelands-Sports Memorabilia and Card Auctions. The
starting bid was $5,000, but as of Wednesday morning
the number was over $8,000. Bidding ends Friday.
The lot description notes that “there is a deep ball
mark near the crack at the top of the handle” and rates
its use as “moderate.” The bat is signed by 34 team
members in black fountain ink, with Greenberg signing
right above his name on the barrel of the bat.
Greenberg, a first baseman and outfielder for the
Tigers for 12 seasons in the 1930s and ‘40s, hit 331 home
runs in his career. Known as “Hammerin’ Hank” and
the “Hebrew Hammer,” he had 1,276 runs batted in and
a .313 lifetime batting average.
Though he was not religiously observant, Greenberg
sat out a game in 1934 during Yom Kippur at the height
of the American League pennant race. He finished his
career in the 1947 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His playing days were interrupted by more than four
years serving in the Army Air Corps, including during
AriellaN@jfnnj.org | 201.820.3946 World War II.
Greenberg died in 1986. He was 75. JTA WIRE SERVICE
32 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-33*
Jewish World
5 things to watch in
another Bernie Sanders
presidential campaign
RON KAMPEAS At 75, Sanders was the oldest candi-
date ever to win primaries in the dou-
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders has ble digits, and as we’ve typed countless
dropped hints that he’s ready to run for times, he was the first Jewish candidate
president again, and the one thing we to win major-party nominating contests.
know for sure is that Bernie, the sequel, This time around, Sanders will have
will not be a retread. popularity and name recognition on his
Much about Bernie 1.0 was attention- side, and he’s also likely to have a bet-
getting precisely because of the way his ter organization.
campaign defied convention. The Inde- Here are five things to look out for in
pendent senator from Vermont attached Bernie 2.0.
“socialist” to his name; he hadn’t done
foreign policy, and it showed; and his The Israel thing
campaign overall was a seat-of-its-pants Sanders was the stand-out at both of
mess because it didn’t occur to any- the post-election annual conferences of
one that he possibly could win until he J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East Sen. Bernie Sanders at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Dome
started to win nominating contests. SEE BERNIE PAGE 34 event in Columbia, S.C., January 21, 2019. SEAN RAYFORD/GETTY IMAGES
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 33
JS-34
Jewish World
Bernie Sanders has become the de facto leader of progressives targeting Israel. (He also is outspoken opposing bills
FROM PAGE 33 in the Democratic party, and his willingness, at times eager- that would penalize boycotters, saying they infringe
policy group. His message jibed perfectly with the group’s: ness, to criticize Israel may be a signal of where the party on speech freedoms.)
You can support Israel while criticizing its government for is headed in terms of its relationship with the Jewish state. That’s Sanders off the cuff. The left that Sanders
its settlement policies and for neglecting opportunities Sanders also spent months on a kibbutz in his 20s and represents has lost patience with Israel, and says
for peace. harbors an affection for Israel. If there’s one aspect of pro- that comparing Israel to its neighborhoods is classic
Sanders has become a forceful and outspoken critic of Israel dogma that he has embraced, it’s that it is ridiculous “whataboutism.” It will be interesting to see if his
the way Israel handles its relationship with the Gaza Strip, to attack the country and not note the real threats posed campaign highlights the tough-love critic who sup-
posting many online videos packed with facts and figures to it by radical neighbors, and the worse human rights ports Israel, or plays to a disinterested, even non-
about the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip and why he records in those countries. Zionist left. Interestingly, one of the Gaza videos
believes Israel is partially to blame. He’s been consistent in decrying what he sees as a dou- Sanders posted includes the criticism of Israel he
That marshaling of facts and figures is quite a contrast ble standard applied to Israel. In 2017 he excoriated an offered in a J Street speech — but omits his defense of
with the Gaza-related foreign policy fumble that drew Al Jazeera interviewer who challenged him for signing a the country. He clearly gets along with even the par-
attention in 2016 to his lack of foreign policy cred: He Senate letter that called for fairer treatment of Israel at ty’s strongest critics — Rep. Rashisa Tlaib (D-Mich.), a
vastly overestimated the number of Palestinian civilians the United Nations. In the same interview he also firmly Palestinian American who embraces BDS, calls him
killed in the 2014 Gaza war. rejected the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement Amo (Uncle) Bernie.
MONDAY
1:00 - 2:15PM
It will be interesting
to see if his
TUESDAY
campaign highlights
9:15 - 11:00 AM the tough-love
TUESDAY critic who supports
8:00 - 9:15 AM
Israel, or plays to a
TUESDAY
9:30 - 10:45 AM disinterested, even
WEDNESDAY
non-Zionist left.
10:15 - 11:45 AM
The identity thing
WEDNESDAY Sanders campaigned for the candidate who defeated
10:15 - 11:30 AM him for the nomination, Hillary Clinton, but wounds
from the primary campaign remain. In her campaign
biography, “What Happened,” Clinton said that
THURSDAY
Sanders was not committed enough to the party.
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
More significant was the rift that opened up
between the candidates’ supporters over whether
THURSDAY
12:30 - 1:30 PM
Clinton’s embrace of identity politics among women
and minorities was the party’s future, or whether
THURSDAY it alienated the working class whites who eventu-
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM ally voted for Donald Trump. Sanders, despite a
11:00 AM - 1:30 PM
12:30 - 1:30 PM
strong civil rights history, appeared allergic to what
he called pandering, especially to African-Amer-
icans. It cost him, especially in southern states,
Join us for a Women's Melava Malka & Kumzitz on February 16 in a private home. where, he notes in his campaign autobiography, we
Details to follow! Email lamdeinu@aol.com for more information. “got decimated.”
He has worked hard to make up for the support
he lost among minorities. He chose South Carolina,
Jewish World
Noah Solomon (right) and Rabbi Naftali Citron sing chasidic melodies at
the closing of a conference on Kabbalah at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in
Manhattan on Sunday, January 27. BEN SALES
ONGOING called the Annual Day of Kabbalah For centuries, the study of Kab-
and hosted at the Marlene Meyerson balah was restricted to Jewish sages.
REGISTRATION Jewish Community Center on the But the founding figure of chasi-
Upper West Side. “Is Judaism part dism, an 18th-century Polish rabbi
of the progressive part of the Demo- known as the Baal Shem Tov, sought
cratic Party, or is there a part of Juda- to bring its mystical insights to the
ism that nourishes my inner world? masses. Jewish Renewal, a move-
I think there’s so many Jews of all ment founded in the 1970s by Rabbi
denominations who are seeking spiri- Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, also
tuality in every corner.” employs Kabbalistic concepts.
Ask about Kabbalah describes how God cre- An esoteric Jewish literature
our year-round ated and operates in the world, and crossed over into pop culture
how earthly actions are imbued with thanks to the Kabbalah Centre,
programs holiness. Some of its main concepts which teaches the philosophy at 40
include sefirot, or what scholar Dan- branches around the world. It has
iel Matt calls aspects of the divine per- attracted celebrities like Madonna
sonality, and the idea that the male and Ashton Kutcher, and derision
and female aspects of God can be from rabbis and Jewish scholars who
unified through the performance of think it has separated Kabbalah from
For information Jewish commandments, or mitzvahs. its roots in Judaism.
For some, it is a poetic commentary Today, there are many translations
contact Matt at
on the Torah. For deep mystics, it is a of the Zohar, the multi-volume work
matt@blackboxnynj.com
key to understanding no less than the in Aramaic from 13th-century Spain,
or meaning of life. that limns the mystical meaning of
201-357-2221 “God is understood to be the the Torah and other books of the
everything, or all of existence, the Bible. Its scholars and proponents
great breath of all life, the great say its wider popularity waxes and
source of spiritual energy in the uni- wanes with the popularity of medita-
verse,” said Dr. Eitan Fishbane of tion and spiritual practice.
Teaneck, a professor at the Jewish “It’s so popular to do meditation,”
BlackBoxPAC.com Theological Seminary and author of said Dr. Matt, who recently com-
No refunds of deposits are available, yet they can be redeemed for future BBS/BBPAC
workshop credit in cases of unexpected withdrawal. No refund of balances are available due
the recent “The Art of Mystical Nar- pleted his 18-year translation of the
to any objections to material or final show choice(s). rative: A Poetics of the Zohar.” “To Zohar from Aramaic manuscripts
the mystic, everything is intercon- and is teaching the online class on
nected and part of the one God.” it. “In business and finance, you find
36 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-37
Jewish World
meditation groups. So people wonder, does this you or the chair is bothering you. Check inside to see sexuality. Dr. Matt — who was not at the conference
exist in our tradition? So then you find out there how your body feels in the chair.” — said that one of Kabbalah’s greatest innovations is
is this tradition, but it’s been too well hidden.” Chaya Rivka Zwolinski, who writes and teaches on the describing God in terms of the shechinah, a feminine
The crowd at the conference was mostly mid- Breslov chasidic tradition, taught the meditation session. form, rather than with strictly masculine language.
dle-aged, and included academics and New Age “When you open your mouth and speak to your “One of the radical contributions of the Kabbalah is
enthusiasts searching for spiritual enrichment. Creator, you tell Him what’s in your heart and in your insisting that God is equally male and female,” he said.
People there said they appreciated the spiri- mind,” she said. “What comes out is a sense of peace “All of Western religion is so dominatingly patriarchal,
tual practice offered by Kabbalah. While others and deep appreciation. This kind of meditative prayer so to see a medieval Jewish tradition that emphasizes
may view Jewish mysticism as esoteric, they felt through speech is something very precious and rare.” the feminine is very startling and very attractive.”
Kabbalah offered a Judaism that felt fulfilling Many of the sessions touched on gender and JTA WIRE SERVICE
and accessible.
“I did a lot of searching and reading non-Jew-
ish stuff that felt somehow familiar to me,” said
Devorah Segall, who attended the session on Jew-
ish meditation. “Then I started learning about the
Baal Shem Tov’s teaching and chasidic learning
and I felt like that’s how I could finally relate to
being Jewish.”
Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, the spiritual leader
of Ansche Chesed, a large Conservative syna-
gogue on the Upper West Side, said that Kabbalah
could serve as a gateway into Judaism for people
who are uninterested in strict ritual observance
on the one hand or social activism on the other.
Kabbalah describes
how God created
and operates in the
world, and how
T RUNK SHOW
earthly actions
are imbued
with holiness.
T RUNK SHOWT RUNK SHOW Israeli Designer
FEBRUARY T 7TH,
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Rabbi Kalmanofsky taught a session on the Kab-
SHOW
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7TH,9TH8TH & 9TH
FEBRUARY 7TH, 8THFEBRUARY
9TH
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balistic interpretation of the “Sh’ma” prayer on
Sunday — but said he treads lightly when teach-
SHOW
7TH, 8TH & 9TH
FEBRUARY 7TH, 8TH & 9TH
ing Kabbalah at his synagogue because it’s “an
FEBRUARY 7TH, 8TH & 9TH
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acquired taste.
“I’m happy that for some people, the Jewish
themes that they’re all about is a social justice Thursday 4-8, Friday 10-6 & Saturday 10-4
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and vocabulary and set of texts about spiri-
tual reflection.” Hors D’oeuvres provided
At another session, Rabbi Esther Azar by Olive R Twist - Ridgewood, NJ
described how the traditional Jewish morn-
ing prayer followed an ABC-CBA structure. She
taught with her shoes off, and invited the class to
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close their eyes as they listened to the folk song
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“If I Had a Hammer” sung by Peter, Paul and
Jewish World
A
t a Manhattan conference on Jewish life in
Africa, Magda Haroun talked about being
only one of a handful of Jews left in Egypt,
a country that was once home to a Jewish
community of 80,000.
Abere Endeshaw Kerehu shared the struggles faced
by the approximately 8,000 Jews still living in Ethiopia
who face anti-Semitism at home but have not yet been
allowed to immigrate to Israel.
But others offered a more optimistic picture. Rabbi
Levi Banon said Casablanca, Morocco, is home to “a
small but very vibrant” Jewish community that oper-
ates 22 active synagogues, while Remy Ilona urged
acceptance of a growing community of Nigerian Igbo
people whom he says are practicing rabbinic Judaism.
The conference, hosted by the American Sep-
hardi Federation and the Morocco-based Association
Mimouna from Sunday through Tuesday, is notewor-
thy not only because of the range of perspectives it
offered but also because it included speakers from
emerging Jewish communities in Africa, such as Ilona’s
group, alongside those from established communities
in countries like Egypt and Morocco.
Though there is an increasing number of people
seeking to practice Judaism in sub-Saharan Africa, Rabbi Capers Funnye, left, and Martha Leah Organizers El Mehdi Boudra, left, and Jason
they mostly have been ignored by the mainstream Williams are at the Jewish Africa Conference in Guberman at the Jewish Africa Conference in New
Jewish community and Israel. Organizers say that this New York on January 29, 2019. JOSEFIN DOLSTEN York, January 29, 2019. JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
is the first conference to focus on Jewish Africa that is
not exclusively for academics. community conversions in countries such as Madagas- [Hoenlein] said yesterday, we have an open door, we
Marla Brettschneider, a professor at the University car and Cote d’Ivoire. would love to welcome some of these communities
of New Hampshire who researches Jewish communi- Critics of such work in Africa say that groups and have them join the Jewish people in a meaningful
ties in Africa, said it was significant that the confer- should not be converted en masse when there is no way,” he added.
ence was being hosted by the American Sephardi Fed- local Jewish community or infrastructure to support El Mehdi Boudra, the president and founder of
eration, a mainstream Jewish group. them. Many of the people Kulanu work with believe Association Mimouna, sees the conference as a way
“It’s potentially huge,” she said. “Most of the work they have Jewish roots, claims that have not been to think ahead. “This is the goal of this conference,
that I know of in the area is super marginalized, and corroborated. to bring an emerging circle of leaders to promote and
I’m one of the few people in that field as an academic Jason Guberman, the executive director of the Ameri- think about the future of African Judaism,” he said.
who has a relationship to the rest of organizational can Sephardi Federation, said that the conference grew Boudra flew in from Rabat for the conference,
and mainstream Jewry. The divide is a big gulf, so it’s out of his work with Association Mimouna, an orga- but next year he won’t have to go as far. Boudra and
really interesting to me to see that there’s work gener- nization founded by Moroccan Muslims to educate Guberman are already planning a second conference
ated from organizations that have infrastructure, that about Jewish history in their country, as well as from for next year, which they say will take place in Africa,
are long term organizations, trying to bridge the gap.” an increased interest in Africa in the Jewish community. most likely in Morocco.
Some 250 people attended the conference, includ- “This idea of Jewish Africa grows out of [our con- The conference not only strengthens ties between
ing ambassadors and representatives from Morocco, nection with Association Mimouna] and our work- the mainstream Jewish community and Jews in
South Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel, Egypt, and Nica- ing together and the recent pivot to Africa of many Africa, but also between white and black Jews, said
ragua. Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman in the Jewish community, of many in the Moroccan Rabbi Capers Funnye, the chief rabbi of the Interna-
of the Conference of Presidents of Major American community, of Israel of course, looking to Africa and tional Israelite Board of Rabbis, an African Hebrew
Jewish Organizations, and Adama Dieng, the United seeing both some of the oldest and some of the new- Israelite body.
Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the est Jewish communities,” he said. “It means a great deal to the African American Jew-
Prevention of Genocide, delivered opening and clos- Guberman sees his community as a connector ish community and the Jewish community of West
ing remarks, respectively. between the mainstream groups and African Jews. Africa, because we’ve been a long time in saying we’re
Bonita Nathan Sussman, vice president of the Jewish The traditional Sephardic diaspora includes Jews who here,” said Funnye, who leads the Chicago-based Beth
outreach group Kulanu, said the conference was a sign trace their lineage to Spain and Portugal, as well as Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation.
that the larger Jewish community is paying attention the Mediterranean basin, the Balkans, the Middle East, Although the Hebrew Israelite movement usually is
to Africa. “What this conference is doing is showing Africa, and Asia. “It’s the natural role of the Sephardic considered outside the mainstream by Judaism’s main
that mainstream Judaism is beginning to notice them,” community, that has the experiences in these coun- denominations, Funnye has undergone a conversion
she said. “This is a huge accomplishment and a huge tries,” he said. by Conservative rabbis and is eager to build bridges
gift to be seen and spoken about in the same breath as That includes some of the emergent groups on the with the mainstream Jewish community. He said that
they do North African Jews, because for the most part continent. he was planning to reach out to both Ashkenazi and
North African Judaism really had very little to do with “It’s the greater Sephardic umbrella, and it’s this Sephardi Jewish communities after the conference.
newly emerging communities. “ idea that we have in some cases these communities “They have done their part, we have to reciprocate,
The New York-based group, which organized a film that are claiming biblical descent, in other cases new we have to reach out to the Sephardi community, to the
festival that was part of the conference, has facilitated communities that are coming to Judaism, as Malcolm Ashkenazi community,” Funnye said. JTA WIRE SERVICE
38 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-39*
Jewish World
DENTAL CLEANING
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201.837.3470
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Editorial
Reflections on survivors
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
I
in Poland in 1939, to an Orthodox family; ries, which many of them did not tell
he was its only survivor. He refused to for decades, but are telling now because ’ve been on a tour of Israel for Yes, Roseanne is a controversial fig-
wear a yellow star, he evaded deportation, the imperative not to let the world forget the past week with Roseanne ure. She is a comic, after all, and all
he escaped to the forest, he lead other what happened is stronger than the pain Barr doing public speeches and great comics, indeed, all great artists,
partisans as their platoon commander, he it causes them to tell it, evokes the cour- media appearances. The trip are controversial. But Roseanne has
devised effective, clever, devastating ways age that Mr. Blaichman personified, that was designed to coincide with our son consistently stood up for Israel when
to escape and even to attack. every single survivor possesses. Dovid Chaim’s bar mitzvah and it’s almost no one else in Hollywood has.
He married another partisan, Cesia People jumped off trains. They been nice, on this occasion, to mix fam- And the people in Israel know this and
Pomeranc, and the two came to New impersonated Poles and Germans, ily, business, and pleasure. they are showing her their love.
York in 1951. They thrived; he was a even as the Nazis came to examine their It’s been interesting to say the least. Which begs the question, why are
developer, and they lived on Fifth Ave- documents. They stole dead Nazis’ uni- Last May Roseanne lost her TV show Jews in Hollywood so silent when it
nue. Ms. Blaichman died in 2015; the two forms and wore them. They went on on ABC after her now infa- comes to Israel? Worse,
are survived by two children, six grand- the selection line they sensed would be mous tweet about Valerie they’re usually critical of
children, and two great-grandchildren. safer, even when others were shunted Jarrett. The Nielsen ratings the Jewish state.
It is impossible to read Mr. Blaich- off to the death line. They kept going in published in December Take Natalie Portman,
man’s obituary without awe. It is impos- the camps. They staggered through the confirmed that Roseanne’s who was born in Jerusa-
sible to understand how he did it. None death marches. They lived on no food. show was the number one lem and protected by the
of us ever should know how he did it, They lived on no hope. They lived. rated program in America IDF as a young girl, yet
because the only way truly to under- Most of all, I remember Eta Wro- in 2018. And still she lost chose to boycott the Jew-
stand that level of courage and determi- bel, who lived in Fort Lee. She’d been her show after the tweet. ish state just as soon as
nation is to have to use it. Most people, it blonde, with braids; impersonated a This despite the fact that she didn’t need Israel any
seems, wouldn’t have the guts — or the Pole; retreated to the woods, where she offered a lengthy and Rabbi Shmuley more. Natalie would go on
luck, which always is part of it too — to she fought courageously and victori- tear-filled apology on my Boteach to compare the Holocaust
do what he did, but it’s impossible to ously; survived, and eventually moved podcast in the aftermath. and the murder of six mil-
know how you’d react unless you actu- to New Jersey. Yet in Israel the crowds lion Jews to the slaughter
ally have to. She had so much charisma and feroc- for our joint speeches have been huge of chickens and animals, which is both
Because of my job, I have had the great ity and charm and pure vibrant life that and enthusiastic. People are cheering offensive and incredibly stupid.
good fortune to meet many Holocaust her apartment, with all its light and Roseanne all over the country and the But I don’t need to use the extreme
survivors. It always is a terrifying honor. windows, seemed barely big enough media interest and coverage has been example of Natalie Portman to make my
They each have lived through unimagi- for her. And I will never forget — as overwhelming. We can barely walk into point. The silence on Israel from most of
nable hell, unimaginable loss, and man- we are told never to forget, but this is the halls where we are speaking, and Hollywood’s Jewish community is posi-
aged to stay alive. They have learned organic, this remembering — her tell- swarmed by fans afterward, we can tively deafening. This despite at times
how to stay human, even after enduring ing me that whenever there is a fam- barely leave. dominating the areas of acting, produc-
extraordinary inhumanity. ily simcha, a party, with dancing, that I attribute this to two factors. The ing, directing, and studio-owning.
By the time I’ve met them, the sur- she was the last one on the floor. And first is that Israeli society is more for- Even people like Steven Spielberg,
vivors are old. They’ve not only lived I could believe it. She was the embodi- giving than American society. People who are excellent — beyond excellent
through the Holocaust, but managed to ment of life. screw up. They say dumb things. They — on the Holocaust are silent when it
stay alive than a half-century beyond it. So as we read the obituaries of Holo- should be allowed to take responsibil- comes to speaking up for Israel.
They tell me their stories, and I use all caust survivors, as we mourn them, we ity for their words, correct them, and The only two celebrities in Hollywood
my will power not to cry, because among should remember that if there was any- move on. whom I know to be stalwart defenders of
the uncountably huge number of things thing that was essential for their sur- This is especially true — and here I Israel at great personal expense is Rose-
they deserve is the right not to have to vival — as well as the little bit of unex- cite the second thing — if they are seen anne Barr and Jon Voight, whom I have
watch someone who can’t imagine what pected luck with which every survivor as having put themselves on the line known for nearly three decades. And Jon
they’ve survived sniffle and drip as they was graced — was courage and resilience for Israel. isn’t even Jewish!
relive fragments of hell once again. and life. We never can live up to them —
Last Sunday was International Holo- we never ever should have to live up to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the author of 30 books, including his most recent, “The
caust Remembrance Day, a day whose them — but we can honor that. —JP Israel Warrior.” Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
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Opinion
M
Three things.
The first is the culture of conformity in Hollywood. y son began singing “Happy Birth- tzedakah, giving to those in need, from their allow-
Think about it. In Hollywood everyone tries to look day” when we lit the Shabbat candles ances, and we can talk openly about the places where
alike and think alike. Take an actor who will get up at at home a couple of weeks ago, and I we donate. Judaism gives us guides for how and where
the Academy Awards and call Trump a jerk. Everyone added a mental check mark to my guilt to give money. Let’s enable our children to come up
will clap. Everyone. list. I couldn’t get it together enough to ensure that with a #GivingTuesday list. The procrastinators among
Now, surely there is one person there out of a thou- the ritual of lighting Shabbat candles happened every us can spend New Year’s Eve with our children creat-
sand who supported Trump, no? But they would week in front of my toddler. When the female rabbi’s ing a list of organizations where we want to make our
never admit it. And the same is true of anything else kid does not recognize candle lighting as a Jewish rit- year-end donations. Set aside birthday or b’nei mitz-
which is controversial, like Israel. ual, we have a problem. vah money so our children can decide where to send
Israel is controversial because the world is not used, Rather than continue to beat myself up about this, it. In Mishneh Torah, Matanot L’Aniyim 9:3, Rambam
nor comfortable, to seeing Jews fight back. Indeed, the however, I saw it as an opportunity to connect to other wrote, “We have never seen or heard of a Jewish com-
world is mystified that Jews are currently fighting back parents who are doing their best to bring Jewish ritu- munity without a tzedakah fund.” Giving money to
so ferociously. Whether it’s pushing legislation in the als into the home while scheduling playdates, math benefit others in need is most definitely a Jewish value.
United States to boycott supporters of BDS, or watch- tutors, dance, and soccer. The experience helped me When we see our children reading, whether it’s a
ing the IDF now attack Iranian bases in Syria, Israel to realize how our modern liberal values tend to be in children’s book, a graphic novel, or Teen Vogue, we
and the Jews are tired of being targets. concert with and driven by Jewish values. We can find can comment casually that Jews, as a literature-based
Hollywood loves making films about Jews as dis- ways to live both sets of values at the same time. people, have great respect for books. We can say this
empowered victims. But willful Jews who fight back, While balancing the demands of a full life in Amer- at story time with our little ones, whether the books
unless they’re in the Warsaw Ghetto, died in Holly- ica, we can fall into the trap of viewing Judaism and are Jewish or not. The Torah is our core and the rab-
wood depictions along with Paul Newman in “Exodus.” secular life as separate, when they really bis created bodies of literature to help
The second factor is that Hollywood loves consen- can and should work together. When we us better understand the meaning of the
sus and shuns controversy. A politician can win an delegate Judaism to the synagogue, we Torah. The Jewish love of literature and
election with 51 percent of the vote. But an actor or miss opportunities to show our children commitment to literacy provides us with
actress feels that they need 85 percent approval rating how we live Jewishly. In fact, the origins many rich texts.
in order to win at the box office. The last thing they of many of our values stem from our Jew- We can teach our children to pause
want to do is lose audience numbers by putting their ish heritage. Identifying everyday occur- before they post on social media or
neck on the line for the Jewish state. rences as steeped in Jewish practices share a negative story that bolsters them
And the third reason suffers from a severe case of integrates our Jewish identities with our momentarily. The Babylonian Talmud,
underdogma. Hollywood loves the underdog, the secular identities. When we articulate in Arachin 15b, teaches us that gossip
weak victim who is persecuted. And amazingly, Hol- our values and how we allocate our time, Rabbi Ariel kills three people, “the one who speaks
lywood has decided that the 400 million oil-rich Arabs we often find that our modern liberal val- Russo the gossip, the one who accepts (hears)
who surround Israel are the underdogs to Israel, the ues tend to be in concert with and driven the gossip, and the one about whom it
superpower. Now normally this could be seen as a by our Jewish values. is said.” Gossip or bullying of any kind
compliment. Wow, the Jews finally have power. But Here are a few examples of ways in which we can is expressly condemned in the Jewish tradition. Point
Hollywood depicts Israel as abusing its power. bridge the Jewish/secular divide and teach our chil- out gossip, lashon harah in Hebrew, when you hear it,
Of course, Hamas is not an innocent victim but a dren that our religious identities drive our actions. and try to avoid it at all times and especially when our
vile and genocidal group of terrorists who persecute When scheduling playdates and celebrations, artic- children are listening.
the Palestinians under their authoritarian rule even ulate that family and friendships are core to Jewish Bring our children with us to cook for a kiddush
more than they menace Israel. Hezbollah is nothing practice and some practices are impossible without luncheon or to help prepare a Shabbat or weekday
but an Iranian proxy army and to believe that Iran — it. We celebrate joyous occasions together, as a com- meal. Almost every Jewish gathering involves food.
with its nuclear ambitions and vast oil reserves — is munity, or in Hebrew a kehillah, to reinforce the idea We observe the mitzvah, commandment, of partak-
anyone’s victim is just silly. As for the Palestinians, that there is a social component to Judaism. We need a ing in a festive meal at a brit milah as well as the
they are brutalized by their dictator Mahmoud Abbas, gathering of 10 people, in Hebrew a minyan, to say cer- practice of bringing food to the mourner. Food is one
who is now 10 years past the date he was supposed to tain prayers and to read from the Torah. At life cycle of the first ways we nurture our babies outside the
face an election, and has made his sons oligarchs of events, houses of mourning, and prayer services, we womb. It taps into our primal instinct to care for the
Palestinian wealth. welcome friends to become part of our community. people we love. Just as God provided the Israelites
Which leads to the following conclusion. Israelis Friendships are a Jewish value. with manna in the wilderness, we too use food as a
appreciate people like Roseanne Barr because they When bringing your child to a protest, rally, or a way to nourish one another.
are amazed that they actually exist. That the occa- community vigil, emphasize that our core Passover When we take a good look at our daily “secular”
sional Hollywood celebrity who will speak up for narrative of having once been in slavery drives us to activities, we acknowledge that our actions often are
Israel regardless of the consequences actually exists. want to protect all marginalized groups. Rabbi Abra- rooted in Jewish tradition, and that Judaism does not
Thousands of stories have now been written about ham Joshua Heschel’s famous axiom, “my legs were have to be confined to the synagogue between 9 a.m.
my trip to Israel with Roseanne. A huge number have praying,” which he said to describe his march from and 1 p.m. on Saturdays. We can turn to God and
appeared in the Israeli press. Selma to Montgomery with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Judaism without giving up Western humanism. The
Which just proves the point. That even if you make a King Jr., has biblical and rabbinic support as we Jewish faith is full of morals and rituals that affirm
mistake, as long as you sincerely apologize and repent, read “do not stand idly by the blood of your neigh- modern culture.
and as long as you fight for a great cause, good people bor” in Leviticus 19:16 and “you too must befriend The next time my toddler sings “Happy Birthday”
will support you and salute you. the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of at candle lighting, I will affirm that we celebrate
Egypt.” in Deuteronomy 10:19. The history of Jews Shabbat and birthdays with our family, because both
from ancient times protecting the ger, the stranger, to are Jewish values.
The opinions expressed here are those of the modern protests with signs like “This is the moment
authors, not necessarily those of the newspaper’s I trained for in Hebrew school” — a sign displayed at Ariel Russo, the rabbi of CSI Nyack, was educated
editors, publishers, or other staffers. We an aiport protest in response to an executive order by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and
on immigration in 2017 — reaffirm the Jewish com- inspired by Camp Ramah. In her spare time she
welcome letters to the editor. Send them to
mitment to human rights. wrangles her kids into car seats and explores the lower
jstandardletters@gmail.com. We can help our children to set aside money for Hudson region with her husband.
Opinion
T
his year, an additional month of of the barley crop and fruit trees, and the appear only in biblical books written during or after the
holiday whitespace separates condition of the roads leading to Jerusalem Babylonian exile.
the usual four weeks between on which Passover pilgrims depended. In But beyond month names, the entire underlying
Tu B’Shvat and Purim. theory, the court could decide to add an framework of our lunisolar calendar appears to be —
We are in a Jewish leap year, with 13 Adar II as late as the final day of Adar I, only from a narrow perspective — of “foreign” origin. There
instead of 12 lunar months, one of seven in 15 days before the expected date of Pass- is no reference in the Bible to a second Adar, and while
every 19-year cycle. (The technical term is over. (Ttoday, depending on your shopping the calendar’s rules are halachically motivated, it is
“embolismic” or “intercalated” year, but habits, that decision might either be a bless- implausible that the Metonic cycle was an indepen-
the traditional Hebrew, “shana me’uberet” ing or a nightmare.) dent rabbinic innovation.
— a pregnant year — may be the most David S. It’s virtually impossible to maintain such Still, the story of the 13th month is a uniquely Jewish one.
user-friendly.) Zinberg a high level of calendrical uncertainty, and Like the lunisolar calendar itself, its months in a per-
The need for an occasional 13th month we long since have moved to a fixed calen- petual state of falling behind and running ahead of the
arises from a major discrepancy between dar that includes a perpetual intercalation seasons, Jewish society always has been engaged in the
solar and lunar cycles. On average, there cycle. According to a Geonic tradition, in push and pull of resisting and embracing its surround-
are roughly 29 1/2 days between new moons. But 12 lunar 359 CE the patriarch Hillel II revealed and mandated those ing cultures. Over the centuries, the calendar — like many
months add up to only 354 days, 11 short of the (again, rules, once and for all, for Jews around the world. (The aspects of Jewish life — has been the subject of periodic
roughly) 365 1/4 of the solar year. Without periodic adjust- reality is more complicated, as controversies continued refinement, and occasional controversy, as it adapted
ment, the lunar months would march relentlessly back- well into the 10th century.) to new scientific, economic, and social realities, while
ward through the seasons, making it difficult for ancient Hillel’s calendar was based on the Metonic cycle, already remaining loyal to religious tradition.
Near Eastern farmers to prepare for critical events on the in use for centuries in neighboring civilizations. In ancient “With the arrival of Adar, we increase our rejoicing,”
(solar) agricultural calendar like when to sow grain. Babylonia, for example, Nisanu, Ayaru, Simanu, Du’uzu, goes the talmudic adage. We celebrate Purim in Adar II,
Furthermore, the Torah dates the holidays — except Abu, Ululu, Tishritum, Arakhsamna, Kislimu, Tebetu, Sha- because it is considered the true Adar, while Adar I is the
for Shavuot — by the day of the month. On an uncor- batu, and Adaru made up the regular 12-month year, with bonus month. Although 14 Adar I appears on some calen-
rected lunar calendar, the festivals might fall in any a second Adaru intercalated in six of every 19 years. (In the dars as “Purim Katan” (Minor Purim), the full observance
season. Backsliding months especially would inter- 17th year of the cycle, a second Ululu was added instead of and joy of Purim belongs to Adar II.
fere with the observance of Passover, whose first day Adaru.) The Metonic cycle is named after the mathemati- But there is good reason to celebrate early this year, and
always must fall in the spring. cian Meton of Athens (fifth century BCE), who tried but every leap year, in honor of the unsung Adar I. We can
The solution is to insert a second Adar into the calen- failed to convince the Athenians to use it. This system later take great pride in our intercalated month, designed to
dar — to intercalate — to compensate for the lagging lunar was officially adopted by the Seleucid Greek empire. synchronize the moon with the sun, and Jerusalem with
months. In rabbinic times, before the wide adoption of That the Hebrew months sound conspicuously like Babylon, if only temporarily and imperfectly.
a fixed calendar, intercalation was determined by a Jew- their Babylonian counterparts is no coincidence. The Jeru-
ish court each year, as needed, based on multiple factors salem Talmud already recognized that “the names of the David S. Zinberg lives in Teaneck with his wife and three
including the (predictable) first day of spring, the ripening months came up with them from Babylonia,” since they sons. He works in financial services.
W
hile we were away on Discourse apparently no longer is on If the government shutdown has taught us any-
vacation, my son decided the table in political life. If there is some- thing, I hope it has taught us that name-calling and
to conduc t a soc ial one whose ideals butt against with our stubbornness benefits no one. Personal attacks and
experiment. own, instead of working through it like gossip serve only to degrade important conversa-
He is going to tell certain people a spe- the professionals we were elected to be, tions to a level where nothing can be gained and no
cific, detailed story, and he is going to many of us take the low road of spread- one comes out clean.
track the way it spreads, based on how ing lies and rumors or worse, threats, to It is my sincere hope that our children will do bet-
the information makes its way back to get what we want. Personally, I would ter than we have in improving peace in the world, but
him. His theory is that there is much to rather lose the battle and keep my integ- they will have only the tools that we give them. I wake
learn about how people talk about people Cheryl Weiner rity intact fighting for my values than up every day hoping to model for my children how to
and situations when you study the path Rosenberg attack someone’s reputation rather than achieve our goals while maintaining our values, a bal-
that information takes, and how a story that person’s ideas. It is my duty as a ance that I hope they struggle far less to realize than
morphs as it makes this journey. trusted leader, as well as a human being, I do. I welcome each of you — debate me, challenge
As a community lay leader and an to understand that I will be judged on my me, disagree with me. Help me refine my thinking
elected official, I no longer am shocked by the rumor actions and not on the points I earned for my team. while working through the important issues that will
mill. Unfortunately for all of us, it is much easier to try to After hearing my son’s elaborate plan to find the improve our world. Help me show the next generation
influence situations and discredit people with personal path of information-sharing that gossip can take, I that we can disagree with one another and still work
gossip than it is actually to debate the important issues am even more acutely aware that the next genera- toward a better future.
at hand. We see this all the way up the ranks, as even tion is watching. Our children learn how to navigate
the president prefers to tweet about his opponents’ the complexities of debate, dialogue, and hopefully Cheryl Weiner Rosenberg lives in Englewood, where she
personal lives rather than take on issues of real grav- values-based compromise from us. We can teach our is a council member representing Ward 1 and a member
ity, issues that once they are debated and fleshed out children — the next generation of leaders—to fight of Kehilat Kesher Synagogue. She’s the senior director of
have the potential to affect real change. Though most dirty no matter the cost, or we can teach them to marketing and communications for Prizmah: Center for
complex issues take compromise on both sides to solve, respect everyone, even their opponents, and main- Jewish Day Schools, the immediate past president of Ben
surely this is preferable to mud-slinging in the name of tain the chance that they will find common ground Porat Yosef in Paramus, and a long-time activist in the
staunchly protecting ideals. for the good of all. areas of civil liberties, equality, and women’s rights.
Opinion
T
oday, when everything you When the school day first started, I
do revolves around technol- was perfectly fine without my phone,
ogy and your smartphone, though as the day continued, I found
can you believe that someone
could give up her phone for more than
myself challenged because everyone
else had their phones and technology.
As I disconnected
one day? My friends were on social media and on from my phone and
Well, surprisingly, the answer is yes.
I am a 14-year-old girl who just started
games, while I had none of that sort of
entertainment to occupy myself with.
other technology
high school in September of 2018. As I Once I successfully completed one devices, this routine
started high school, I was on my iPhone Felicia Stendig day without having my phone, I kept
of occupying myself
constantly. Every time I got a break handing it over to my principal for the
from class, I always found myself on my entirety of my school day. This became during school hours
phone. I honestly didn’t realize how often I was play-
ing games or on social media until one day when we
a common routine for me, and I had to start thinking
of other ways to keep myself busy while we were on
started to become
received a one-hour break from class. breaks, so I started drawing, reading, and even revis- more natural, and I
I didn’t want to be on my phone because I had been ing some of my uncompleted work while my other
on social media practically the whole day, and I had classmates were on their phones. had to be reminded
caught up with all my friends. Shockingly, I found
myself bored, and I tried extremely hard not to look
As I disconnected from my phone and other tech-
nology devices, this routine of occupying myself dur-
by others around
or notice that I even had my phone in my possession. ing school hours started to become more natural, and me to take my
This was tremendously challenging for me to accom-
plish, so within five minutes into the hourlong break,
I had to be reminded by others around me to take my
phone home. One ordinary day of school, I was off
phone home.
I asked one of my friends who I trusted to hold my my phone and occupied with other work until the end
phone for the 55 minutes we had left in the break. of the day. I left the school building and was heading during the week and the weekends. In the evenings,
My friend replied, “Sorry, I don’t want to be in home, when suddenly I had realized I forgotten my since I don’t have my phone, I pursue my love and pas-
charge of it, in case something should happen to it.” phone! At this point in my trip home, it was too late to sion for gymnastics, tumbling, flipping, and stretching
After that response I was a little discouraged, turn back. I was shocked and scared, and as soon as I all night long.
although to my surprise my principal was listening. got home, I rushed to my computer and emailed my Although I may not have my phone, I do have an iPad
She volunteered to hold onto my phone for me for the principal, who still was holding my phone for me. She and a Macbook, so I can still go on Google and YouTube,
remainder of the break. I said “sure” to her kind offer, answered, “You’ll have your phone back soon.” The but I can’t Snapchat, check Instagram, call, text, or
but of course I was a little hesitant about giving my following day — a Friday — was extremely busy with WhatsApp my friends. Throughout this journey of relin-
phone up. But what was the worst that could happen? school work, and I forgot to take my phone back again quishing my phone for hours, days, weeks — and possi-
As I relinquished my phone, I was tentative, but I for the second day in a row. I was extremely frustrated bly even months — I learned that you may not realize or
knew I had to occupy myself with anything except my with myself, because this time not only would I not understand the severity of peer pressure and how much
phone. For the rest of the hour, I started to talk to my have it for one single night, but the entire weekend! it can affect your decision-making as a person.
teachers and let them learn a little about me, while I I emailed my principal for the second time, but In the beginning of this self-experiment with not
learned a little more about them. even though I was upset about forgetting my phone, having my phone my friends and classmates said, “You
Finally the hour was over, and I could receive my I started to understand that yes, I wouldn’t be able to should get your phone back. You need it. What do you
phone, although when I asked for it, I didn’t really feel continue my streaks on Snapchat and be up to date do without it?” I respond — and I believe — that you
that I wanted it. It was more the peer pressure that on Instagram. But I decided that social media wasn’t don’t need a phone to survive in the 21st century. All
made it seem to me as though I wanted it, so I asked going to run my life, and that I would survive without you need is a loving, caring atmosphere, where you
my principal if she could hold it until the end of that my phone for a few days. It was a great way for me to can be yourself and let your inner self shine, and not
day, and she was more than happy to do so. At the end unplug from what’s trending and going viral. hide behind your phone on social media. If you do
of the day I felt so accomplished! When Monday came along, I was refreshed by not this, if you do hide behind your phone, you can miss
The following day my principal asked if she could having my phone and excited to tell all my friends that out on life’s biggest opportunities.
hold my phone. This time, though, instead of my not I had accomplished the dreadful feat of not having a
having it for a couple of hours, I wouldn’t see it for phone for more than 100 hours! Now, as I have proven Felicia Stendig of Riverdale, N.Y., is a freshman at
the complete school day. My school day is about nine to myself that I can live the typical life of a 14-year-old the Idea School at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
hours, so this was a big deal for me. without a phone, I leave it with my principal overnight in Tenafly.
Letter
Sometimes we need walls admiration and acceptance of them. He can accurately When (hidden or obvious) enemies are present they
I have two comments about last week’s editorial point out that his faith incorporated and canonized the must be held apart by an effective barrier (wall) until
(“Bridges and walls”). Hebrew Bible (Torah). Besides Jewish ethics (see Ethics they are neutralized. I recall in Homer’s Iliad that the
Firstly: I think Joanne’s son-in-law’s invitation to a of the Fathers) there is no commonality between the ancient Trojans were lethally threatened by the Grecian
brilliant and righteous man is very laudable. However, two separate theologies. enemy. They foolishly tore down their defensive wall to
I believe that the guest should not be asked to “share” In all sincerity, I do not mean to imply any hostility allow access to the magnificent horse. Their enemy then
ethical connections (similarities) between our two dis- (disrespect) towards the guest or his faith. prevailed.
tinct faiths. Several faiths have adopted our unique Secondly: I share Joanne’s love of bridges. But I believe Jerrold Terdiman MD
Jewish ethics. The distinguished guest can describe his that bridges can only connect mutually loving realities. Woodcliff Lake
Keeping Kosher
APPETIZERS · SALADS
SOUPS · ENTREES
SIDE DISHES · DESSERTS
Hawthorne bakery is kosher dairy and nut-free
Isaura Bakery owner Nanci Neves bread boules. Bialys and focaccia
Great Food, Great Service, Reasonable Prices Kriney understands how hard it are available in three flavors on
469 S. Washington Ave. • Bergenfield, N.J. is to find quality fresh-baked Friday and Saturday: ricotta with
201-384-7100 gluten-free items and she works fresh tomatoes and basil, onion
hard to give her customers the and poppy seed, and a vegetar-
best. That is why Isaura Bakery’s ian option that changes every
production kitchen now is kosher few weeks.
dairy certified by OK Kosher; it is Isaura Bakery also offers red
Serving The Kosher Way Since 1976
also nut-free. velvet cupcakes, designer cook-
In order to better serve the local Flavored bialys. ies, red velvet/vanilla cake pops,
Jewish community, the bakery COURTESY ISAURA BAKERY red velvet brownies, cake for
offers a wide variety of traditional two, and red velvet/chocolate
sweets and breads, including bagels, challah, and linzer parfait cups. Call ahead for large or special orders.
tarts. Isaura’s bakers test recipes every day in order Isaura Bakery is open Wednesdays to Saturdays
DELI • RESTAURANT • CATERING
to bring new and delicious items to their customers — from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is at 204 Diamond Bridge Ave-
croissants will be available soon. nue in Hawthorne. For information, call (973) 304-
Avi & Haim 894 Prospect Street
New and trendy items include bialys, focaccia, and 4500 or go to www.ibglutenfree.com.
Proprietors Glen Rock, NJ
Under Rabbinical Supervision Tel: 201-445-1186
www.koshernosh.com Fax: 201-670-5674
www.zadiesbakeshop.com · zadiesbakeshop@yahoo.com ates, olives, and dates — are agricultural products native
to ancient Israel, as outlined in Deuteronomy 8:8.
44 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-45*
Keeping Kosher
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demire and new award-winning wines Los Angeles and London. In New York
Cupcakes · Heart-Shaped Cookies · Cake for Two
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Monica Unikel
Arts & Culture
Roma, the Mexico City setting of Alfonso Cuaron’s
Oscar frontrunner, used to be a Jewish neighborhood
Alan Grabinsky Circo Orrin — received permission
from the city’s government to urban-
MEXICO CITY — Alfonso Cuaron’s ize the area. He called the region
film “Roma” already has won two Roma, in honor of Rome, the ancient
Golden Globes, and many people birthplace of the circus, and named
think it will be the first Netflix film to its streets after the Mexican cities he
win the Oscar for best picture. had visited with his show.
It is set in the Roma neighborhood During those early decades of
of Mexico City, where Cuaron grew development, the neighborhood
up, and follows a well-off family and became a stage where the global
its beloved housekeeper as they navi- architectural trends of the early 20th
gate life there in the 1970s, a politi- century — gothic, neogothic, and
cally fraught time for the country and later, art nouveau and art deco —
the city. were given a tropical twist. Initially
Cuaron’s autobiographical film does conceived for a European-influenced
not mention that Roma used to be an aristocracy, the neighborhood even-
important center of Mexican-Jewish tually became home to an emerging
life. Thousands of Syrian Jews lived in middle class, after the Mexican Revo-
the area from the 1920s to the 1950s, lution of 1910 to 1917.
creating a small version of their Middle That’s when Syrian Jews started to
Eastern homeland within its streets Mexican Jewish children at the Monte Sinai school, established in 1943 on Zacatecas move in.
and plazas — and their legacy lives on Street in Mexico City by Jews from Damascus, Syria. Zihronot Archive/Monte Sinai Community Mexico City’s Syrian Jewry is
there today. Viewers of Cuaron’s film unique in that in the 1930s it was
would have no reason to know it, because tenements around the La Merced neigh- begun moving into middle-class Roma. divided into two separate communities,
most Jews had moved out of the neighbor- borhood and worked as peddlers in the The Roma neighborhood had been those who were initially from Aleppo (the
hood by the ’70s. city’s downtown. By the late 1920s, when home to a small Aztec town called “Maguen David” community) and those
The first Jews to arrive in Mexico City poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Aztahauacan, in the outskirts of colo- who came from Damascus (the “Monte
were Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, and Europe started arriving, this first wave nial Mexico City. On Jan. 24, 1902, Walter Sinai” community). Both communities
Syrian Jews fleeing the crumbling Otto- of immigrants had already established Orrin — an Englishman who created Mex- thrived in Roma, according to a specialist
man Empire in the 1910s. They settled in their businesses, saved some money, and ico’s first circus powered by electricity, See roma page 52
Calendar
Community Torah
Friday learning in Wyckoff:
FEBRUARY 1 Sweet Tastes of Torah,
the North Jersey
Shabbat in Wyckoff: Board of Rabbis’
Temple Beth Rishon annual community-
hosts Shabbat Kulanu wide evening of study,
— a new Shabbat music, and celebration,
experience for with breakout sessions
everyone — on the first with local rabbis, is at
Friday of each month, Temple Beth Rishon.
at 6:13 p.m. (to evoke Doors open, 6:30 p.m.,
the 613 mitzvot). Music musical Havdalah at
and a story will replace 6:50. 585 Russell Ave.
the sermon. 585 Russell (201) 652-1687, or
Ave. Reservations, sweettastesoftorah. Myron Sugerman
(201) 891-4466 or weebly.com.
Jews and the mob:
www.bethrishon.org. Valley Chabad Center
for Jewish Life
Saturday presents “The Mob,
The Jews, & Israel — an
FEBRUARY 2 evening with Myron
Sugerman, the last
Jewish gangster, at
a private home in
Woodcliff Lake, 8 p.m.
(201) 476-0157 or www.
valleychabad.org.
Sunday
FEB. Staff Sergeant Hilla, an IDF active-duty FEBRUARY 3
Tanya Garzia
paramedic, and her commander, Major
7
Prof. Jeffrey
Yehuda, whose life she saved, will discuss Rubenstein Dancing in Pearl River:
Beth Am Temple hosts
their remarkable story of heroism and PHOTO PROVIDED
“Dancing With Our
perseverance. They will give FIDF supporters a Shabbat in Englewood: Stars,” 7 p.m. Friendly
firsthand look into the lives of two soldiers who risk NYU’s Dr. Jeffrey dance competition
Rubenstein discusses pairs shul members
their lives protecting the Jewish homeland. Last his new book, “The Land with professionals
year, Staff Sgt. Hilla, who began her military service of Truth: Talmud Tales, from the Fred Astaire
in 2016 and joined a special paramedics course, Timeless Teachings,” Dance Studio of
during a lunch and learn Bardonia, who also
saved Maj. Yehuda’s life after he was hit in the at Congregation Kol will demonstrate
Rabbi Yehuda Susman
chest by shrapnel. Yehuda’s life-threatening injury HaNeshamah. Services their skills in a special Thoughts on tech
occurred while both soldiers were serving along the are at 9:45 a.m. rsvp@ performance and lead equipment: Rabbi
khnj.org. a group lesson. The
Gaza border during a period of heightened tension 18-piece Reflections
Yehuda Susman,
founding rosh
and protests. “FIDF’s New Jersey chapter has Shabbat in Emerson: Jazz and Swing hayeshiva of Yeshivat
always supported the brave men and women who Rabbi Debra Orenstein Orchestra featuring Eretz HaTzvi, explores
and certified yoga Tanya Garzia will “Alexa, Can I Use You
risk their lives protecting Israel,” FIDF NJ’s director, teacher Andrea Collier play. Raffle, desserts, on Shabbat? –Thoughts
Howard Gases, said. “This event provides a unique offer the chance to wine, and beverages. on Shabbat in the Age
incorporate Jewish (845) 735-5858 or
opportunity for our local supporters to hear first- mindfulness and yoga www.bethamtemple.
of Artificial Intelligence”
for an adult
hand the incredible, heroic story of one young soldier into the traditional org. The snow date is education program at
saving the life of another. Meeting soldiers in person Shabbat service at Saturday, March 2. Congregation Rinat
Congregation B’nai
builds bonds between our local Jewish communities Israel, 10 a.m. Wear
Yisrael in Teaneck,
8:45 a.m. 389 West
and those in Israel, and confirms why we must comfortable clothes Englewood Ave.
support those who protect the Jewish homeland.” and bring a yoga mat (201) 837-2795.
or towel. 53 Palisade
(646) 274-9650 or Howard.Gases@fidf.org. COURTESY FIDF Ave. (201) 265-2272 or
bisrael.com.
Calendar
Calendar
Women’s health
and fitness
social night
in Tenafly
The Kaplen JCC on the Palisades of
Tenafly and Englewood Health offer
“Mind, Body, & Sole” on Wednesday,
February 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the
Kaplen JCC. Participants are asked to
wear their “most chic sneakers” and
casual clothing.
The evening includes food and
“mocktail” tastings, the chance to
meet Englewood Health Physician
Students in a recent Midreshet class. COURTESY ROCKLAND FEDERATION Network providers and JCC trainers,
aromatherapy, acupuncture, chair
Jewish learning in Rockland massages, fitness and yoga demos,
meditation, nutrition consults, and
The Jewish Federation & Foundation of Torah, philosophy, and life experience. Finkelstein stress management. It’s free, but reg-
Rockland County continues its Midreshet Classes begin Wednesday, February 6, For information, c all Rober t a istration is requested; it’s online at
classes — Jewish education for adults — and Thursday, February 7. They include Seitzman, (845) 362-4200, ext. 130, email EnglewoodHealth.org/calendar.
at Jewish Federation, 450 West Nyack “Not Your Zayde’s Prayer Book,” led by adulteducation@jewishrockland.org, or
Road. Local rabbis and educators will Rabbi Jill Hackell, and “Israel in Theory go to jewishrockland.org.
teach classes covering Jewish history, and Practice,” taught by Rabbi Joshua
and each showcases the creative talents of school-aged rabbi for 13 years, and lives in Bergenfield with his wife, Rabbi Dr. Ari Sytner
children, teens, or adults. Chana ,and their four children. COURTESY BETH AARON
The show will feature a special interactive exhibit, Rabbi Dr. Ari Synter asks “When a Marriage is Fine,
“Wings of Inclusion,” created by participants of the Is It Really? — What Science and Torah Teach Us About Making a Good Marriage
JCC’s Guttenberg Center for Special Services programs. Great,” on Monday, February 11, at 8 p.m., at Teaneck’s Congregation Beth Aaron,
Gallery visitors can pose with handmade wings and take 950 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck. For information, call (201) 836-6210 or go to
a photo to share with friends and family to celebrate the importance of inclusion. Pho- www.bethaaron.org.
tos can be shared at: #jccwingsofinclusion or facebook.com/kaplenjccotp.
For information, call Shelley Levy at (201) 408-1489 or go to jccotop.org.
I
t seems that I haven’t them, let him wear them
made fun of husband in good health. For that
#1 in a few weeks. price, he could buy five
Some of you probably pairs of shoes. So certain
have been happy about this things are OK.
— particularly his mom, his The things not OK?
lifelong friend who lives in When it is 82 degrees in
Englewood, and some other the house and you won’t
random readers. Since writ- put the air conditioning
ing for the Jewish Standard, Banji on. That is bad and pos-
a job that I absolutely love Ganchrow sibly unhealthy. Keeping
because I absolutely love my the heat at a tempera-
editor, mentor, and friend, ture that enables you
I haven’t been privy to any of the com- to see smoke come out of your mouth
plaints I had received in the past about when you talk, and if you throw a cup of
referring to my spouse as “husband #1” water in the air, it comes down as snow.
instead of “the absolute love of my life” That is very bad. (OK, I am embellish-
or “Ari,” which is his actual name. Have I ing with the snow, but not the smoke
ever revealed that before? His real name? out of the mouth. That actually has
Was it worth waiting for if I haven’t? happened.)
Anyway, one of the things I often say But when do you know that you have
about husband #1 is that he is, stingy/ hit bottom? When do you really realize
frugal, let’s be honest, he is cheap. Now that man oh man is your husband cheap?
you might ask, “If he is so cheap, why I will tell you. For son #3’s winter break,
did you marry him?” Well ladies and we were fortunate enough to be able to
gentlemen, I was duped. When we go to Florida for a week. Just the three of Across Down
were dating, he wined and dined me. us, heading down to sunny weather and 1. Home or first 1. Homophone of 1-Across
5. What people sing when they can’t 2. Tiniest bit
Well, not actually “wined” because he a boardwalk that makes me as happy as
remember the words 3. Couch
doesn’t drink any alcohol of any kind, a dolphin in water. (I am assuming that a 11. Big inits. in health products 4. Nora who could really write
but he definitely dined me. And that dolphin is really happy in water because I 14. Above 5. “Inc.” relative
isn’t a euphemism for anything else. I am really happy on the boardwalk.) Hus- 15. Marvel character who famously 6. “Excuse me”
am a big girl and I love being dined. band #1 had told me that when you book snapped his fingers 7. Logan and Flynn Boyle
We went out to eat all the time and he the flight, there is an extra charge to pick 16. Chanukah liquid 8. “It’s the end of ___”
17. “Awesome” 9. Fix permanently, as an interest rate
always paid and it was never an issue. your seat. Well, assigned seats are over-
19. “... sat ___ tuffet” 10. Fire residue
And it was lovely. Right before we offi- rated so just put us wherever you want. 20. Not dumb 11. Almost awesome
cially started dating, he had come up to After all, the baby we were to travel with 21. Question or Ronson 12. Vessel of 1492
the Concord Hotel for July 4th weekend is 18 years old, and I am pretty sure he 22. Genesis man 13. Chowder kosher keepers avoid
to visit me and he stayed for lunch. For can handle sitting next to strangers. So I 23. “... man ___ mouse?” 18. Airy lobbies
those of you not familiar with this hotel, was fine with that. 25. Some boats have them 22. Titanic victim John Jacob ___
27. “Awesome” 24. Adidas alternative
their lunches were epic. They were Then we get our boarding passes at
30. “Pretty good” 26. “No” in 45-Across
scrumptious. They were really, really the airport, and I notice husband #1’s 34. N.L. West team, on scoreboards 27. MGM name
good. On this particular day, I ordered face going a little paler than usual. “Is 35. Lobbying org. for 45- Across 28. “He’s ___ breed!” (backhanded
the lasagna, the vegetable loaf with hol- everything OK, honeybuns?” I ask out 39. Villain in “Split” and “Glass”, with compliment)
landaise sauce, and a third main dish that of deep concern. Well, he shows me the “The” 29. Dreidel letter
I seem to have blocked out of my mem- boarding pass and on the bottom of it, 40. Turkey dinner side dish 31. Israeli singer David
42. “Awesome” 32. Bit of improv
ory. And I ate every bite on each plate. in big block letter, it says, “NO CARRY
44. Wad of cash 33. American competitor
Husband #1 was very impressed. “That ON LUGGAGE.” I am sorry, what did you 45. ___ Yisrael 36. Not macs
gal can really put it away,” he thought say? NO CARRY ON LUGGAGE. Hmmm, 47. Gas brand 37. “That’s the stuff”
to himself and then said out loud. And this is quite the dilemma. And it is also, 49. Bit of acne 38. Cavs, on the board
I didn’t take offense to it because he was um, really really cheap. 50. Depends 41. Mixes
right. Food is love and I love food. But I took it in stride and I started 52. “Awesome” 43. Plus
54. Scarlet’s man, for a time 46. This, in 45-Across
So the “cheap” element didn’t really emptying out my carry on and putting
57. Like G-d 48. Carpool places
start until after we were married. One of things in different pockets — now that’s 58. Uninvited Sukkot guests 51. 1997 J. Lo biopic
the many delightful characteristics that classy! OK, I am embellishing again and 61. Symbol of Judah 53. Walled city, once
you learn about your spouse after the we were able to sneak our carry-ons on 63. Bert’s bud 55. Southeast Asian nation
wedding is over and it is just the two of the plane… 67. Partner of 22-Across 56. The Velvet Fog
you to fend for yourselves for the rest But in the end, we had such a lovely 68. 17, 27, 42, and 52-Across, e.g. 58. Videotape format, once
70. “... ___ the cows come home” 59. Opposite of 11-Down
of your lives. The cheapness has played vacation, that I let the no carry on thing
71. Blood ailment 60. Wrigglers in reefs
out in different ways. Only buying Fanta go, well sort of, as I have just written 72. “China” intro 62. Simon and Diamond
when it is on sale — which is a reason- about it and shared it all with you… 73. Michaels and Jolson 64. “Peter Pan“ dog
able thing to do. I was a big fan of dou- 74. In recent days 65. Steve Spielberg featured him in
ble coupons — which I don’t think the Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck wishes to be 75. “No” votes four movies (so far)
supermarkets do anymore. Shopping Banji Ganchrow of Florida. Maybe one 66. Banes of many men
The solution to last week’s puzzle 68. Yankees owner Steinbrenner
for $15 shoes at Burlington Coat Factory- day when all of her boys leave her she is on page 54. 69. Yes or no follower
it might pain me, but if he is OK wearing will get her ocean view…
Roma
FROM PAGE 43
on Mexico’s Jewish neighborhoods, Mon-
ica Unikel.
From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Roma
was the epicenter of Syrian-Jewish life.
The second oldest synagogue of Mexico
City, Rodfe Sédek — colloquially known
as Cordoba, after the name of its street,
and which now houses a library and
archive documenting 100 years of Jew-
ish life in Mexico — is a small replica of
the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, and was
established by the Maguen David com-
munity in 1931.
“By the 1930s, the tight-knight commu-
nity of Syrians coming from Aleppo were
already reproducing the habits of their
homeland in Roma with their very own
bakeries and shops,” Unikel said. “As a
matter of fact, Arabic could be heard in
la Roma up until the late 1930s.”
Eventually, schools that catered to
both Syrian communities were estab-
lished in the area, and a series of syn-
agogues were built to cater to their
religious needs. (The Maguen David com-
munity was more rigidly Orthodox than The Maguen David community,
the Monte Sinai.) from Aleppo, celebrates in Roma’s
By the mid-1950s, at a time when Cordoba street synagogue, 1945.
the sister Condesa neighborhood was “THE JEWS OF ALEPPO IN MEXICO” BY LIZ HAMUI
becoming the center for Ashkenazi Jew-
ish life, a Syrian-Jewish exodus from the both its cosmopolitan vibe and its central
Roma neighborhood began. Scaling fur- location. A Moishe House — where young
ther up in society, Syrian Jews moved Jews can live rent-free in exchange for
into the up-and-coming Polanco neigh- hosting Jewish events, like Shabbat din-
borhood and by the early ‘70s — the time ners — recently opened in la Roma, and
when Cuaron’s movie is set — few Jews it has a Facebook group of 800 follow-
lived there anymore. ers. It draws about 200 people a month
In 1985, the Roma neighborhood was to its events.
devastated by a massive earthquake that One of the house’s co-founders, Jaime
cost the city billions of dollars, and for Azrad — a fourth-generation Mexican
a couple of decades the area remained Jew from the Monte Sinai community —
run down. But over the last 10 to 15 years recalls growing up hearing his parents
the district has been revived as Mexico speak all the time about Merida, the
City’s epicenter of cool: Today la Roma, street where his grandmother lived. But
as it is called in everyday slang, is one of he grew up in Polanco and Interlomas,
Mexico’s trendiest neighborhoods, full of and he couldn’t say where the street
hipster cafes and boutique fashion stores “Roma” director Alfonso Cuaron, center, with two of the film’s stars, Marina actually was.
on every other block. It caters to many de Tavira, left, and lead Yalitza Aparicio at the 75th Venice Film Festival, According to Azrad, there’s a group of
international tourists. August 30, 2018. VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES young, mostly Ashkenazi Jews who have
As for the rest of the Mexican Jewish moved to the Roma and Condesa neigh-
community, their exodus from the area shortage of supplies during World War Escaba, whose family was part of that borhoods, married, and established
has intensified since the 1980s, mirroring II) the massive building, which seated up first wave of immigrants, was born in la organizations like a kindergarten and
a trend of suburbanization begun in the to 900 people during the High Holidays, Roma in 1954. Although he moved to the repurposed synagogue to cater to Jewish
United States decades earlier. Now most was for many years the center for Damas- suburbs when he was 14, he was nostal- family life. But this is not a general trend.
of Mexico City’s Jewish life takes place cus-Syrian Jewish life. gic about the neighborhood. “The film The bulk of the community is in the sub-
in the far away Bosques and Interlomas Inside, an impressive glass chandelier brought back memories of when I used urbs, and most are not moving back into
neighborhoods, accessible only by car. hangs from a white dome across from to go up to the rooftop of my house and the city.
There are estimated to be about 50,000 a golden mural showing God handing listen to the church bells ringing,” he The Moishe House now sits a couple
Jews in Mexico today. down the Ten Commandments. On a said. “I loved that.” of blocks away from the old building that
But despite the geographical distance, recent Saturday, the prayers extended for Restaurant Miguel, once a favorite spot housed the school Azrad’s grandmother
some older Syrian Jews are committed more than three hours. During a break- for Jews of all backgrounds, has been in attended as a child. The building is now
to keeping Jewish Roma alive. Every Sat- fast afterward at the synagogue, Jaime the same place since local Jews estab- part of the city’s University of Communi-
urday, a group of 10 to 20 Jews drives Escaba Mesdraje — who for 40 years has lished it in the 1950s. Despite a dwindling cation campus.
up to an hour to attend Shabbat morn- worked in a 70-year-old Lebanese res- Jewish clientele, Jaime, who now owns it, “It’s strange,” Azrad said. “I live on
ing shacharit (or shajarit, in Spanish) in taurant called Miguel, a block from the has no plans to move it. the same street where my grandmother
Roma’s Monte Sina’ Synagogue — collo- Cordoba Synagogue — talked about the But it’s not only older Jews who are went to school. It was an important Jew-
quially known as Queretaro. Although glory days of Jewish Roma. He has seen visiting Roma. Some younger Jews have ish institution, but there’s no sign or any-
it wasn’t finished until 1953 (due to a Cuaron’s film three times. entered the neighborhood, attracted by thing to mark that spot.” JTA WIRE SERVICE
52 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-53
Obituaries
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‘Significant Other’
at Black Box
Black Box PAC’s first main stage show of 2019 is
Significant Other by Joshua Harmon, author of
the hit Bad Jews.
Significant Other follows the perpetually single
Jordan Berman and his trio of girlfriends as they
2018
navigate dating, relationships, and supporting
those you love.
The show ran on Broadway in 2017, beginning
performances on February 14 which the pro-
Award Winning
duction called “Singles Awareness Day.” Signifi-
cant Other is “a tenderly unromantic romantic
comedy, as richly funny as it is ultimately heart-
stirring” (The New York Times) and “as funny as
Joshua Harmon’s breakthrough play, Bad Jews,
V&N REALTORS
Significant Other makes you slap your knees until
they’re bruised” (Time Out New York). The Black
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delight with audiences who may have missed its
NYC run.
Alex Hughes stars as Jordan Berman. Hughes
is joined by Tevin Barnes, Cassandra Guglielmo,
Sean Mannix, and Black Box Repertory Company
members Sara Giacomini, Danielle MacMath, and
Larissa Terese as Jordan’s trio of best friends. The
show is directed by Artistic Director Matt Okin.
Significant Other will run Thursdays through
Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
through February 10 at The Black Box Perform-
ing Arts Center (200 Walraven Drive, Teaneck, NJ
07666). For tickets and more information, visit:
ESTHER DEBRA LINDA HELENE blackboxpac.com or call: (201) 357-2221. Signifi-
SHAYOWITZ BOTWINICK STAMKER STEIN cant Other is sponsored by Hallak Cleaners.
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 57
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Holocaust memory and the facts of the Holocaust by official that it is increasingly becoming so.” Israel’s recently appointed ambassador
FROM PAGE 39 authorities in Poland, Hungary, Ukraine Such sentiments are far from univer- to Ukraine. Notably, he has been signifi-
they commemorated the Shoah. This and Lithuania in different forms has been sal, however. Some analysts insist that cantly more outspoken on revisionism
is the problem. Israel and Netanyahu accepted by the Israeli government.” the issue is more nuanced than Netan- than most other officials on this issue.
have knowingly abandoned their role Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar yahu’s detractors believe. Dore Gold, a former director-general
as the defenders of the memory of the at Atlanta’s Emory University and the “The state of Israel, like every other of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under
Holocaust.” author of a memoir about her own fight state, often has little choice but to estab- Netanyahu and now the president of the
Israel’s failure to protest the passage of against Holocaust denial also, is wary of lish ties with countries with less-than-per- Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, also
a 2015 bill honoring Ukrainian national- the new alliances. fect human rights records such as Egypt, defended the government. “My view is
ists who murdered Jews was disappoint- “I think that, possibly for reasons of which allows an uncomfortable amount that the memory of the Holocaust is a
ing, said Eduard Dolinsky, the Kiev-based realpolitik, Israel has been a bit mallea- of anti-Semitism in semi-government- constant Israeli policy, whether it’s for-
director of the Ukrainian Jewish Commit- ble when it comes to overtly anti-Semitic controlled media,” Tom Gross, a journal- eign or educational policy, and it’s not an
tee, an advocacy group. While it was a actions by countries such as Hungary ist and Mideast analyst, said. “I would say issue we can compromise on in any way,
“big deal” when Israeli President Reuven [and] Poland,” she said. “These coun- that from what I know of Netanyahu, he shape or form, but whether the accusa-
Rivlin spoke out against honoring collab- tries may vote in favor of Israel in inter- is not insensitive and cares greatly about tions made about Israel somehow sacri-
orators during a speech a year and a half national bodies, but I think it is a danger- anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and is ficing that memory for purposes of real-
later, Dolinsky believed that more should ous game to give them a pass on their fully aware of the minefield he is in. The politik are highly questionable,” he said.
have been done. anti-Semitic actions.” government of Israel has to balance all But even some on the moderate right
“Israel should react stronger when the Closer to home, a Knesset member kinds of considerations.” One of those who support realpolitik in foreign pol-
Holocaust is distorted and Nazi collabora- who chairs a lobby on anti-Semitism in primary concerns is its own security. icy have expressed reservations about
tors are glorified,” he said. “We expected the former Soviet Union says it is incred- However, Gross added, that does not Netanyahu’s approach. While “one does
that Israel would react. The matter is ibly difficult to get the government to mean that issues of commemoration not shy away from necessary things,” pol-
that Ukrainian government agencies and speak out on such issues. “I’ve sent necessarily should fall by the wayside itics cannot be “totally devoid of moral
organizations involved in the process of dozens of letters that were addressed and in the case of a country like Ukraine values,” said Dan Meridor, who served
glorification are closely watching what to heads of embassies and heads of “the Netanyahu government should have as Netanyahu’s Deputy Prime Minister
Israel would say. Therefore when Israel is states and not even once did the Foreign done more.” between 2009-2013. He now heads the
silent they can go forward and ignore the Ministry became active and join me in Israel’s Foreign Ministry disagreed. Israel Council on Foreign Relations, a
Jewish community statements. I don’t [my] condemnation,” Ksenia Svetlova A spokesman said that “broadly speak- Jerusalem think tank affiliated with the
want to criticize Israel, but her reaction of the opposition Zionist Union said. “I ing, and this is Israel’s policy, we will not World Jewish Congress.
could be stronger and sharper.” would hate to think that anti-Semitism relinquish historical memory in favor of In extreme cases where anti-Semitism
Yehuda Bauer, one of Israel’s most and Holocaust and historical memory other interests. This has always been our is perceived, such as Orban’s anti-Soros
respected Holocaust scholars, said that became nothing more than cheap change position.” campaigns, “you should say something
“the distortion of Holocaust memory in the political game but it seems to me This position was echoed by Joel Lion, about it.” JTA WIRE SERVICE
Jimmy
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