Jewish Standard 2-2-18

FEDERATION TRAINS EMERGENCY VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL page 8
TWO DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM JULIUS LESTER page 10

TEANECK SHULS SAYS BYE BYE TO YAHOO page 14
SYNAGOGUES RETHINK SHLOMO CARLEBACH TUNES page 52
FEBRUARY 2, 2018
VOL. LXXXVII NO. 20 $1.00 86 2017
7
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Fired up
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saves lives in Tel Aviv page 22
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Page 3
SOPHIE WEINSTEIN/OHSOARTY.COM
Yaacov Agam in the Israeli museum

dedicated to his works. BRUNO ART GROUP
Bright and beautiful Candlelighting:

Friday, Feb. 2, 4:57 p.m.
● The colorful works of artist Yaacov often have moving parts and invite the to be able to see the paintings from
Agam now have their own museum. viewer to change how they look by in- every angle, so it’s also changing the Shabbat ends:
The Yaakov Agam Museum of Art teracting with them or by seeing the im- approach to viewing art.” Saturday, Feb. 3, 5:59 p.m.
recently opened in Rishon LeZion, age from different angles. Examples in- “The colorful, dynamic and infinite
the birthplace of the 89-year-old artist, clude his Fire and Water Fountain in Tel works of Yaacov Agam grab children
whose career has spanned 65 years Aviv’s Dizengoff Square or his “Agamo- and adults alike, and just as the artist
so far. gram,” which dominates the entrance himself continues to create and regen- CONTENTS
Twenty multicolored pillars at the hall at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. erate, so the museum in his hometown NOSHES ...............................................................4
entrance, and nine more inside, are “Usually, when you see a painting in will also aspire to become a center for BRIEFLY LOCAL .............................................. 18
dedicated to Agam’s late wife, Clila. a museum, you stand in front, you look disseminating his unique worldview, COVER STORY ................................................ 22
Exhibitions run the gamut from two-di- at it, and then you move on,” the art- and will serve as a home for the chang- JEWISH WORLD ............................................30
mensional drawings to stained glass to ist told the Jerusalem Post. “With my ing exhibitions of his works,” said Dov KEEPING KOSHER......................................... 36
interactive digital displays. work, you will never see everything. I Tzur, the mayor of Rishon LeZion. OPINION ........................................................... 38
Agam’s signature optical creations want people who come to the museum ISRAEL21C.ORG D’VAR TORAH ................................................46
DEAR RABBI ZAHAVY................................. 47
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ...................48
New paint transforms sun’s rays CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................48

CALENDAR ......................................................49
into cool air-conditioning

OBITUARIES .................................................... 53
CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................54
REAL ESTATE.................................................. 56
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 2, 2018 3

Noshes “I am celebrating the birthday of the
several hundred worms that currently
live in my pantry.”
— Gabriela Geselowitz, explaining in Jewcy how she is marking Tu b’Shvat by
celebrating her worm-based kitchen composting system. The worms, she also
notes, are the ultimate “low-maintenance” pets.
SHOWDOWN SUNDAY:
Injuries sideline
2 from the Tribe
The 52nd Super paper products com- man of the year by the
Bowl takes place pany (Kraft Group). His Harvard Theatricals Club
on February 4. many philanthropies and they were going to
The New England include Israel, education, be feted on January 25. I
Patriots, last year’s and health care. His son also noted that activists
winner, are looking for a JONATHAN, 53, is the wanted Kunis to speak
repeat win. The Philadel- president of the Kraft up about the fact that
phia Eagles were the Group and also president the Club didn’t cast
surprise team of the of the Patriots. women in their shows
playoffs and are looking The Eagles are owned (men play the female
for their first Super Bowl by JEFFREY LURIE, parts and have done so
win in franchise history. 66, and his ex-wife since 1844). Well, late on
The Eagles have ap- CHRISTINA WEISS LU- the 25th, the Club
peared in two Super RIE, 57. Lurie’s wealth Nate Ebner Joey Kramer Max Weinberg announced that women
Bowls (most recently in stems from a movie will be cast (playing
2005, when they lost to theater chain that his women) in their shows
the Patriots). The grandfather founded. He starting next year.
Patriots have appeared grew up in the Boston The Freeform
in nine Super Bowls, area and tried to buy cable station
winning five (all wins the Patriots in 1993 — (formerly ABC
came in 2002 or later). but Bob Kraft won out. Family) has a few good
Sadly, the Patriots’ Lurie then bought the shows aimed at a
special teams’ super- Eagles in 1994. Jeffrey younger audience. Here’s
star NATE EBNER, 29, and Christina divorced in one worth finding the
suffered a knee injury in 2012 and she retains sub- channel and checking
November and is out for stantial ownership in the out. “Alone Together,”
the season. Patriots’ star team. Despite her first which began on January
receiver Julian Edelman name, Christina’s par- 10, is about Esther and
suffered an ACL tear last ents both were Jewish. Roy Bittan Mark Ronson Esther Povitsky Benji, two 20somethings
September that ended In a 2010 interview, she in Los Angeles who are
his season. As I noted said both she and Jef- Super Bowl makes (this groups. In 1987, the Bowl ish entertainer again got aspiring comedians. They
last year, Ebner grew frey come from secular year it is Justin Timber- went a bit more show- solo credit as a perform- have a strong platonic
up in a religious Jewish Jewish homes and their lake). The NFL says that it biz; the named perform- er — MARK RONSON, friendship. They are
home. Edelman had one practice of Judaism was does not pay performers, ers were showbiz vets now 42, played guitar as played by real-life
Jewish great grandfather, limited to Passover sed- but it does cover costs, GEORGE BURNS, then Bruno Mars sang “Up- stand-up comedians
but has called himself ers. Both have academic which can range up to an 91, and Mickey Rooney, town Funk” (a song they ESTHER POVITSKY, 29,
Jewish and he’s gone out backgrounds in film and astonishing $10 million. In then 67. In 2001, the co-wrote). I dare say that and BENJI ALFARO,
of his way to emphasize she was a documen- return for their “free” per- band Aerosmith was the nobody at a Bowl party 29ish. Alfaro is Jewish
his ties to the Jewish tary maker. Jeffrey is formance, entertainers headliner (its drummer, will guess that George and Povitsky alternately
community (including an active film producer, get the biggest commer- JOEY KRAMER, now 67, Burns was the first Jew calls herself Jewish and
visiting Israel). mostly of documentaries. cial of the year, enhanced is Jewish). In 2009, Bruce to be a credited halftime half Jewish (her mother
ROBERT KRAFT, 76, He briefly appeared as recordings sales, and the Springsteen and the E entertainer at a Super isn’t Jewish). The show
has owned the Patri- himself in “Jerry Magu- opportunity to charge Street Band performed Bowl. Take bets and see isn’t laugh-out-loud
ots since 1994. Kraft ire,” the hit fictional film more for concerts and (the band includes drum- what happens. funny, but it is often
grew up in an Orthodox about pro football. endorsements. Until 1987, mer MAX WEINBERG, I noted last week amusing in a gentle way.
home and is an obser- I was curious, so I Super Bowl perform- now 66, and keyboardist that MILA KUNIS The stars kvetch funny.
vant Jew whose family looked up what the ers mostly were march- ROY BITTAN, now 68). and PAUL RUDD New episodes air Wednes-
fortune stems from a halftime entertainer at a ing bands and choral Finally, in 2016, a Jew- were named woman and days at 8:30 p.m. –N.B.
California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

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Local
Thurnauer gala to celebrate anniversary
of public school partnership
Concert at Kaplen JCC will pay tribute to Leonard Bernstein’s musical mission
LOIS GOLDRICH who has been studying at the school for many years, learn-
S
ing violin, piano, and saxophone.
ome things simply fit together so well that it’s hard to Thurnauer’s orchestra will participate in the concert as
ignore their connection. Take the Thurnauer School well. That will bring the number of participants to more than
of Music’s upcoming Gift of Music benefit concert, 250, including children as young as 4 as well as adults. The
BY PAUL DE HUECK; COURTESY OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN OFFICE

scheduled for February 11. This year marks the 20th guest artist will be mezzo-soprano Naomi Louisa O’Connell,
year of the school’s partnership with the Englewood public winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition. In addition
school district and is a hallmark of Thurnauer’s commitment to Bernstein pieces, the orchestra will play the Hoedown
to bring music to as many people as possible. from Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo.”
Then, of course, there is the 100th anniversary of Leonard “Bernstein was influenced by Copland,” Ms. Roffman
Bernstein’s birth — celebrations are taking place around the said, noting that there’s a reason behind each piece cho-
world all this year — commemorating, among other things, sen for the concert. A movement from Dvorak’s “New
the great composer’s commitment to bring music to as World Symphony” will be dedicated to Ms. Blumberg,
many people as possible. she added, noting that Dvorak was brought to the United
A connection? Absolutely. States to be the director of a music school founded by
Which is why the two anniversaries will be celebrated Jeannette Thurber. That school, she said, may be consid-
together at the school’s annual benefit concert, said Dorothy ered the predecessor of Julliard, and Thurber certainly
Roffman, founding director of the Thurnauer school. The might be viewed as a visionary.
school is part of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, Robert Kravitz, the superintendent of the Englewood
and Ms. Roffman is completing her 34th year with the school. public school system, will deliver a few remarks, hailing
“Teaching was the central foundation of Bernstein’s life,” the success of the Music Discovery partnership. Begun by
Ms. Roffman said. “That’s what we are also all about. He Thurnauer administrators as a small outreach program to
believed that ‘to teach is to believe in continuing.’ When Leonard Bernstein establish music education as an essential element of the
Michael Reingold” — the school’s associate director — “and I classroom in several public school communities, it originally
sat down to talk about what is most meaningful, we thought the Englewood public schools, and one chorus based at consisted of a series of free, informal in-school music educa-
about both anniversaries. It seemed to all make sense. Thurnauer include more than 160 young people — are enjoy- tion classes presented by a string quartet of artist-teachers.
“Bernstein was not only a brilliant American Jewish coming Bernstein’s music thoroughly. The program continued to grow in Englewood; in 2005 it
poser, but he was also a great educator, as we can see from “He wrote such beautiful music that still connects to audi- formally was named the Music Discovery Partnership.
his videos, and he really had a passion for explaining and ences today and to children,” Emma Brondolo, the artistic Beginning with just eight children in 1997, the program
bringing his love of music to as many people as possible,” director of Thurnauer’s young people’s chorus, said. “They now serves more than 2,000 students from second through
Ms. Roffman added. “That’s the mission of our school. We love it. They’re having a really good time, especially with 12th grades. Classes are held at the Englewood schools and
do it in our way, and treasure his legacy.” ‘Spring Will Come Again.’” The students — many of whom at the Thurnauer school and include instrumental classes,
Ms. Roffman said that her daughter, violinist Sharon are first- or second-generation immigrants musicianship, and ensembles. Chorus is
Roffman, has created a website to honor the composer — also enjoy the discussions surround- offered at Thurnauer and at Grieco and
and soon will perform Bernstein’s “Serenade” with the ing the song “America” from West Side McCloud elementary schools.
Kansas City Symphony Orchestra. The conductor will be Story. They’re particularly interested in the Ms. Roffman, who pioneered the pro-
Michael Stern. His father, Isaac Stern, was the first to pre- notions of who they are and where they’re gram, said she felt that community music
miere the piece, in 1954. from that the song embodies. schools and public schools’ music programs
For their part, the students who will participate in the The chorus program began with some could help each other. “The music faculty of
Thurnauer Gift of Music concert — the three choruses from 16 students. The next year it doubled, and a public school can’t give each child private
then it grew from there. Participants have lessons,” she said. “We can inspire a love of
“a high level of artistry,” Ms. Brondolo said. music and a desire to learn. My dream was
“It’s always wonderful to see kids push to work together with the public schools to
themselves as artists and then perform and see what we could do.”
share that joy. Every child has an audition The February 11 concert “celebrates our
to [ensure that they can] match pitch and Dorothy Roffman reason for being,” she continued. “Music
we spend about one-third of the time talking connects us all as people.” We communicate
about vocal development, finding one’s breath, and getting best through the arts, “which is especially helpful now. It’s
clear sound. They’re not allowed to just come in and sing. If positive communication.”
they weren’t learning, it wouldn’t be as joyous.”
Ms. Roffman said the Gift of Music concert is “the only Who: The JCC Thurnauer School of Music
benefit we have each year. It raises funds for scholarships,
What: Will hold its annual Gift of Music gala benefit
for which there is always a great need.” Thurnauer also concert
will use the occasion of the concert to present its Visionary
When: On Sunday, February 11, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Award. This year, it will go to parent and supporter Tracy
Blumberg, “who has been instrumental in helping us build Where: At the Bergen County Academies in Hacken-
sack
our orchestra. It’s given to someone connected to the school
who contributes something special, with an awareness of Cost: $25 for students; $50 for adults; $90 for pre-
how they can help young people grow as musicians.” Ms. miere seating; and $250 for VIP (including premiere
seating and pre- and post-concert meet-the-artists
Blumberg, who has created the Audrey Blumberg Orches-
receptions).
Tracy Blumberg and her son William tral Development Endowment, is the mother of William,

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Local
Emergency volunteers train for work in Israel

Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey to hold training day in March
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
P
hysicians, nurses, paramedics,
firefighters and others who are
willing to drop everything and
fly to Israel in times of need
now have a formal program through which
to volunteer their services.
“We’re partnering with an Israeli orga-
nization, Emergency Volunteers Project,
which is authorized by, and works with,
the Israeli government to organize and cer-
tify American first-responders to serve in
Israel in times of emergency,” said Ethan
Behling, director of the Center for Israel
Engagement at the Jewish Federation of
Northern New Jersey.
A one-time full-day training session for
interested volunteers, sponsored by JFNNJ
and led by trainers from Israel, will take
place on March 11. (See box for details.)
“We wanted to focus on an initiative to
help the security of Israel, which is one of
our goals,” Mr. Behling said.
Although JFNNJ’s Partnership2Gether
program has sponsored exchange trips
to Israel for North Jersey first responders,
this is the first time it is participating in
EVP, and it is the first EVP session for New
Jersey residents. This first responder delegation from the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey went to Israel in 2016. The delegation
Since its inception in 2009, EVP has included local police officers, ER doctors, and a firefighter.
trained and certified about 1,000 emer-
gency volunteers and professional first practice in Israel; nurses and paramedics the ground,” said Franci Steinberg, chair She emphasized that “responding to
responders in the United States and Israel, will be authorized to provide assistance of JFNNJ’s Partnership2Gether Committee. crises in Israel is something the federa-
including many response teams in Ari- at hospitals and bomb shelters; firefight- “Our federation wants Israel to know that tion hopes we won’t have to do, but it’s
zona, California, Colorado, Florida, Mary- ers will work alongside Israeli counter- if they face threats or disasters at home, we extremely important that certified volun-
land, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, parts responding to emergency calls; will be there. We support Israel in times of teers can have the ability to help in case
and Texas. The training also counts toward and general community volunteers will need and in good times, and always want of conflict, earthquake, or wildfire, and
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management be trained to serve in emergency depots, to keep the lines of communication open.” EVP also provides an opportunity for
Agency) certification. deliver food and water to shelters, and The t ype of volunteers needed people to learn critical skills from expe-
In 2016, during a period when there provide support services. depends on the nature of the emergency, rienced Israelis.”
were widespread forest fires in Israel, In case of deployment, each volunteer which can range from forest fires to wars.
EVP deployed 39 American firefighters to would be paired with an Israeli counter- The federation would decide whom and What: Emergency Volunteers Project
the Jewish state to provide support and part. Therefore, knowledge of Hebrew is how many to send from among the certi- training and certification class
relief services. helpful but not required. EVP arranges fied volunteers, who would join EVP vol- When: Sunday, March 11, 8 a.m.
The federation is aiming to recruit 20 all logistics, including flights and hous- unteers from other communities. to 7 p.m.
medical personnel, 20 firefighters, and ing. EVP volunteers generally remain in Ms. Steinberg explained that when, Where: Law and Public Safety Institute,
20 general volunteers. “The more people Israel for a week to 10 days, depending for example, a military conflict arises, 281Campgaw Road, Mahwah
we have certified to respond, the better,” on the situation. many Israeli medical professionals are
How much: $60 (waived for
Mr. Behling said. “Whenever there’s a crisis anywhere called for reserve duty. “So it can hap- firefighters)
Participating physicians of any spe- in the world we all know Israel is the first pen that hospitals are short-staffed and
Registration: www.jfnnj.org/evp
cialty will receive a temporary license to country to have emergency personnel on our responders would fill those needs.”
Save the date! Father’s Day, Sunday June 17th

Wheels-for-Meals Ride to Fight Hunger
Raising Funds and Awareness to
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Local
Julius Lester in Northampton

Rabbi Joseph Prouser of Franklin Lakes
remembers the African-American Jewish writer
JOANNE PALMER being “sinners in the hands of an angry
T
God,” as one of his most famous sermons
he writer Julius Lester died on put it, and warned about being “overrun
January 18. by Jews and papists,” Rabbi Prouser said.
An African American, he was “In my American history classroom
the son of a Methodist minister in Northampton High School, I could sit
and, as he learned, the great grandson of back in my chair and see the church where
a Jewish man. He was a vocal supporter of Edwards preached,” he added.
the Black Power movement in the 1960s, Eventually Mr. Lester left Northampton
an essayist and writer, a musician and pho- and therefore, necessarily, B’nai Israel; he
tographer, an academic who retired as a moved to Vermont and joined a congrega-
professor emeritus at the University of tion there, Beth El Synagogue in St. John-
Massachusetts at Amherst, and the author sbury, where he became a lay leader. But
of, among many other works, including he kept his ties to the Northampton shul.
many for children, “Lovesong,” the 1988 “During one of the rabbinic interregnums,
memoir subtitled “Becoming a Jew.” when the lay leaders had to do everything,
He was, in other words, very complicated my father often would do unveilings,”
and quintessentially American. He was at Rabbi Prouser said. “He had Julius Lester
the center of a debate about anti-Semitism record El Moleh Rachamim” because his
— he had a radio program and allowed the father particularly loved the way Mr. Les-
reading of a seriously nasty, undeniably Julius Lester ter did it, and wanted to learn how to do it
anti-Semitic poem on the air during the New that way himself.
York City teachers’ strike in 1968. as professor emeritus of Judaic and Near there. It was the gabbai, Mr. Prouser, The problem, Rabbi Prouser said deli-
He also became more and more sure Eastern studies. who offered it to him, by asking if he was cately, was that his father’s voice was not
that his soul would be most fulfilled were Joseph Prouser, the rabbi of Temple a kohen or a levi. That question told Mr. particularly good. Or, as he put it, “My
he to become Jewish — he realized that Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes, Lester that Mr. Prouser was assuming that father taught me to daven, so his davening
on the most profound level it already was was particularly touched by Dr. Lester’s this clearly African-American stranger was sounded great to me, but it was somewhat
Jewish — so he converted. “Lovesong” death because he had been touched by a Jew. That act of pure kindness told Mr. … uh… somewhat atonal. He was all but
is the story of his Jewishness, and it is Mr. Lester’s life. Mr. Lester’s affiliation was Lester that he was at home. tone deaf.”
deeply beautiful. with the Conservative movement. That’s Later, Mr. Lester wrote, he often led Mr. Lester, on the other hand, “had a
Mr. Lester never left his identity as a black because, as Rabbi Prouser said, “He was parts of the service, and he writes about beautiful voice, the voice of a real baal tef-
man behind, and he filtered what he saw an intellectual and spiritual searcher and what it felt like the first time he led Hallel ilah,” the singer who voices the congrega-
through that identity. He also took on his he came to Judaism both for its spiritual at B’nai Israel. tion’s prayers. “A rich, deep voice, and
identity as a Jew, and once he recognized richness and community and because it “I know now,” he wrote, in his memoir’s the El Moleh Rachamim he recorded was
it for what it was, he filtered everything he provides room for free thinking and criti- last page. “At long last I know what my very beautiful.
saw through that vantage point as well. cal analysis.” That’s what he found in Con- voice was meant to sing. All those years I “So for my father to say, as he often did,
What he saw was idiosyncratic, impor- servative Judaism, Rabbi Prouser, who is sang folk songs, spirituals, blues, work that he was doing the Julius Lester version
tant, and true. Conservative, said. songs, and always knew that something of El Moleh carried a bit of irony.
His changes can be traced throughout Rabbi Prouser knew Mr. Lester because was absent, that as much as I loved spiri- “The one mercy to it was that Julius
his academic career at UMass; he joined Mr. Lester had been a member of Congre- tuals, I was not wholly present when I sang never heard my father do it, because if
its department of Afro-American studies gation B’nai Israel in Northampton, Mas- them. Now I know why. It was this music Julius was there, then Julius would do it.”
in 1971 and became an associate professor sachusetts. That was Rabbi Prouser’s shul; my voice was meant to sing.” Rabbi Prouser did get to hear Mr. Les-
in 1975. In 1977, he became a full professor his father, Mel Prouser, was the gabbai And it was Rabbi Prouser’s father who ter’s version. When his mother, Anne, a
there. From 1982 to 1988, he had a joint there for 34 years. helped open that world to him. high school math teacher, died, “Julius
appointment in that department and the At the end of “Lovesong,” Mr. Lester It is a gabbai’s job to know who to ask; did the El Moleh at her funeral,” he said.
department of Judaic studies; he retired wrote about the first time he had an aliyah it’s a sense that the gabbai can develop “It was a great comfort to my father. It
and refine over the course of many years. was beautiful.”
“He had an instinct to know who to ask for He knew Mr. Lester; in fact, when he
what,” Rabbi Prouser said of his father. “It wrote his own first book, “Noble Soul: The
is both recognizing who should be hon- Life and Legend of the Vilna Ger Tzedek,”
ored because of events in their lives or a study of an 18th-century Polish count
experiences the gabbai knows they are who converted to Judaism — and was mar-
going through, and also being sensitive tyred for it — he sent the manuscript to Mr.
Rabbi Prouser’s to when someone feels the need to be Lester early in the process. The connec-
parents, Mel included for any reason. Those are two tion between reader and subject was obvi-
and Anne. different skills.” ous, and Mr. Lester “was very encouraging
Northampton was a progressive com- about the project,” Rabbi Prouser said.
munity, Rabbi Prouser said; egalitarian- Rabbi Prouser tells one more story
ism came early to the shul there, and there about Mr. Lester. “In his autobiography, he
weren’t racial issues. It is an academic gives his Hebrew name as Yakov ben Avra-
town. But there is some irony in that. It ham, but later in life he called himself Lev
was the home of Jonathan Edwards; it’s Sameach.” In English, that’s Joyous Heart.
where the 18th-century Protestant theo- Not a conventional name, but then noth-
logian thundered about his congregants ing about Julius Lester was conventional.

“May all our dreams and prayers come true”
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February 25, 2018
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Jacob Weinstein, A"H
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12 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 2, 2018
SHATTERING STEREOTYPES ABOUT CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
OVERCOMING
DISABILITIES AND
PAINFUL LOSS,
HE ROSE TO CREATE
HIS OWN DESTINY
SINAI SCHOOLS PRESENTS
PREMIERING 2.25.18 AT THE SINAI DINNER

Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 2, 2018 13
Local
Return to sender
TeaneckShuls mailing list leaves Yahoo Groups for Groups.io
LARRY YUDELSON
R
uthie Levi doesn’t want this story to be about
her.
Ms. Levi is one of the four people who
oversee the electronic mailing list called
TeaneckShuls.
TeaneckShuls has more than 14,000 members and it
sends out dozens of messages a day. As of Monday, it has
sent a total of 414,846 messages since it was launched in
October 2000.
One of the moderators reviews each one of the mes-
sages sent to the list, to make sure it adheres to poli-
cies designed to ensure that they are both useful and
focused. The messages approved on a recent evening
included requests — for a Mahjong set, for a freezer, for
a recommendation for a handyman who repairs decks,
for a ride to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and for
teachers for a preschool in West Orange. There were
also offers to sell — an iPhone, a drum set, and diapers
all were available for the right price. And there was an
announcement that a canvas sukkah and outdoor furni-
ture all were available for the taking.
The moderators are not in it
for the glory. A sampling of the inbox at TeaneckShuls.
“If I could change some-
thing from when we started, a return home. The list was
we should have been anony- launched on the eGroups plat-
mous moderators,” Ms. Levi form in October 2000, shortly
said. “The name recognition is after Yahoo bought eGroups The hardest part is the
beyond crazy.”
The other three moderators
and before it was rebranded as
Yahoo Groups. Mark Fletcher,
continuous nature of it.
are Bryan Alter, Kevie Feit, and the programmer who started People expect you are
Bernie Suskewicz.
Now, though, they seek a
eGroups in the first place (and
who posts on Twitter and else-
going to post their
bit of publicity because of the where under the less-than- request for a babysitter
biggest transition in the list’s
17-year history. As of last week,
kosher moniker of WingedPig)
launched Groups.io in 2014.
in FedEx time. Every
TeaneckShuls no longer is hosted by Yahoo Groups. The transition was years in the making. Those who time you sit down at
Instead, it runs on Groups.io, an email service created by
the original inventor of Yahoo Groups. And while behind-
follow the rise and fall of internet companies know the
story of Yahoo’s rise in the 1990s as a curated guide to
your desk there are
the-scenes magic ensured that the messages continue to everything worth viewing on the World Wide Web. But pending messages.
flow, that all the subscribers migrated, that inboxes that the 21st century brought many corporate acquisitions
and restructurings, culminating in Verizon’s purchase of “We decided to let it fly,” Ms. Levi said.
Yahoo last year. Throughout this time, Yahoo’s various Now, Yahoo Groups is back up — which means the
internet services, including Yahoo Groups, languished. TeaneckShul moderators can see the errant posts sent to
For Ms. Levi and her fellow moderators, this was the old email address and reply with a request to repost
The moderators had immensely frustrating. to the new address.
planned for the “About two years ago, we noticed that Yahoo Groups
was starting to deteriorate in terms of service and abil-
“If the message is super important, we won’t delay
that,” she said. “People are learning. We had about five
transition to take ity to deliver messages in a timely fashion,” she said. “It messages to the old list today. The daily message load is
place this weekend — was clear to us, though this was not evident to the end
user member.”
40 to 50.”
Ms. Levi likes the new service.
until a Yahoo outage So the moderators — the “Mod Squad,” as they call “A lot of the cosmetic things appear nicer,” she said.
last week led them to themselves — started researching alternatives to Yahoo.
By December, they were ready to try out Groups.io. They
“The creator is hands on. He responds to our emails. We
noticed some bugs. I wrote to Mark — and presto! he fixed
move up the timetable. shifted an announcement only list to which only 20 or so them. His responsiveness is off the charts.”
synagogue administrators posted and only about 1,000 It doesn’t hurt that TeaneckShuls is the largest group
once overflowed with messages from TeaneckShuls-nore- readers received, to the new service. That worked well on his platform.
[email protected] now are being filled by messages — though it was relatively easy to retrain such a small Unlike Yahoo Groups, the new platform charges a fee:
from [email protected], there still is the more dif- group to use a new email address. $100 a year for each list. Rather than collecting a penny
ficult matter of changing human behavior. “That will be a little more difficult for TeaneckShuls,” from each subscriber, the moderators are paying for it
So, a week into the transition, there’s still the need to Ms. Levi said. themselves. Compared to the hundreds of hours they vol-
get the word out: Posts to the mailing list should be sent The moderators had planned for the transition to take unteer, the money isn’t very much. And the new platform
to [email protected]. place this weekend — until a Yahoo outage last week led has time-saving features, like an easy way for the modera-
For TeaneckShuls, the move to Groups.io is a bit of them to move up the timetable. tors to send out detailed form letters when they reject a

Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
Interior Designer
(former interior designer of model
rooms for NY’s #1 Dept. Store)
post for violating the list guidelines. For a totally new look using
Ms. Levi joined the Mod Squad back in 2000, not
long after Nathan J. Lindenbaum and Chaim Shulman your furniture or starting anew.
started the group.
“I had some criticism and I said at the same time, if Staging also available
you need help, I’m eager to help,” she said. “Famous
last words. 973-535-9192
“The hardest part is the continuous nature of it.
People expect you are going to post their request for
a babysitter in FedEx time. Every time you sit down at
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to a movie for two hours and the other guys are on
vacation, you feel the pressure. People expect their
messages will be approved or rejected in real time.”
Also unpleasant: Having to reject people. For every
60 posts that go out on a typical day, there might be
another 15 or 20 that are rejected.
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“I too had a home for sale. I made sure to post it
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long list of rules, because there are a lot of situations
that come up. We can’t possibly think of every sce-
nario and codify it. There are judgment calls. At the
end of the day it’s only an email list.”
The list is named Teaneck Shuls, but subscribers
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“We’re not here to help every Jew everywhere,” she
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and New Milford. Those are the only towns whose Four Seasons Grand Hotel Hilton
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If you’re looking for a housekeeper, on the other
hand, you can post from anywhere in Bergen County.
“We don’t want there to be a hundred messages a
day,” she said. “We want to be readable.” In fact, the
list traffic has dropped steadily. In 2010, 32,156 mes-
sages went out. Last year, there were only 16,479. Ms.
Levi attributes this to stronger moderation, and drop-
ping occasional “business weeks” that allowed for the
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Instructions on how to subscribe are at www. [email protected]
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Local
Puppy love kids were donating their hair [to a charity], I took
before and after photos at no charge.” She also
composed an ad for the Jewish Standard many
years ago, showcasing Orthodox families in the
Activist-photographer puts community. (Citing another Jewish Standard con-
adoptibles in the picture nection, she pointed out that community editor
Beth Chananie is a big supporter of dog adoption.)
LOIS GOLDRICH “I try to do good in the world,” Ms. Ofrane said.
W
She helps people find dogs to adopt, whether from
atch out, Super Bowl. There’s another Bowl RBARI or from other reputable shelters. “It’s my per-
— far cuter and more meaningful (except sonal goal,” she said. “I helped about 10 families in
to avid football fans, I guess) — coming our Teaneck adopt.” She explained that a large part of
way, and this year it will be bigger than ever. her dog advocacy is educational. Families can get
“Every year, the channel Animal Planet runs a Puppy any kind of dog from a shelter, she said, but many
Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday, featuring puppies from differ- people are misled into thinking that shelter dogs
ent rescues and shelter,” Lyn Ofrane of Teaneck said. “This necessarily are damaged.
year, on the day before, they will also have a Dog Bowl, fea- “Dogs are put down that shouldn’t be,” she said.
turing senior dogs that need a home.” “So many people buy dogs at a pet store. It breaks
Talking to Ms. Ofrane on the phone is somewhat of a chal- my heart.” There are really pitfalls to buying pup- Lyn Ofrane holds Scooter, left, and Harley. Both are
lenge. Not only does the photographer and animal activist pies bred in puppy mills and that means that “so available for adoption.
volunteer at RBARI, the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge in many dogs are thrown away. It’s beyond belief.”
Oakland, but she also dog sits, often hosting as many as six Ms. Jurovitsky said that at any given time, there are about love it and teachers love it. It’s a great mitzvah for everyone.”
canine guests. 35 or 40 dogs at the shelter and others that are in foster care. She said that she would like to begin visiting Sinai Schools,
According to RBARI president Arlene Jurovitsky, Ms. Ofrane, The group has been called by animal control to intervene but the program needs more volunteers. “We’re dying for
a board member, “donates her valuable time to photograph in hoarding situations, or to help with dogs that are surren- volunteers,” she said. “I talk to everybody about this.”
all of the shelter animals at their time of intake, in order for us dered because their owners no longer can take care of them. Her own pet is a therapy dog, and she has taken him to
to be able to showcase RBARI cats and dogs on our website, Some dogs are brought in because they are severely dam- the Teaneck library. While she would love to expand such
social media outlets, and websites that potential adopters are aged and need a good deal of help. visits as well, “we run on a wing and a prayer,” she said. “We
searching when looking for a new family member.” The group is funded entirely by donations and receives don’t get government help. We need more volunteers. We
That description is accurate, but does not convey the pas- no government help. used to take high school kids, but now they have to be 18 or
sion Ms. Ofrane feels for the shelter and its rescue animals. RBARI, which takes in animals from the tristate area, runs older for insurance reasons.”
While Lyn and husband, Avi, have grown twin sons, Josh a number of valuable community programs, Ms. Ofrane Ms. Ofrane is proud of her reputation in the community as
and Etan, and Etan and his wife Becky have added children said. Paws in Hand, for example, brings together “gentle and a talented photographer. “I’ve had a studio in my home for
Mazie and Leon to the family — all of whom, she said “are kind dogs” with special needs children. It began by visiting 30 years,” she said. She began by photographing people in
the most important part of my life” — her commitment to only one school, but now it sends representatives to pub- their homes, and then, almost against her will, branched out
help animals and people in need is clearly evident. lic and private schools almost every day. “We bring retired to cover larger events, such as b’nai mitzvah. Much of her
Using her skills as a photographer, “I have always donated teachers, or whoever loves children and dogs, and visit work has been in the local Orthodox community, and she
time to anything or anyone in need,” Ms. Ofrane said. “If schools for several hours,” Ms. Ofrane said. “The children now finds herself photographing the children of people she
Preparing for the inevitable

Local chevrei kadisha bring in national expert in Jewish approach to death
LARRY YUDELSON to end-of-life issues, as well Other end-of-life issues burial practices and “encourage them to
W
as refresher lessons for the come along later, but “cer- make those decisions appropriately.”
e’re all gonna die. chevra kadisha volunteers. tainly, once they’re married A growing issue is the rise of popularity
That’s a sentiment that As Rabbi Zohn sees it, you and raising a family, plan- of cremation, which Rabbi Zohn strongly
has been expressed in should start thinking about ning for your burial and condemns.
song by musicians as var- your inevitable death as you beyond is an appropriate “Besides the fact that burial is very much
ied as the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist turn 18. “Every person over thing to do.” a biblical requirement, it’s a matter of
known as Slash, and the folk rocker Tay- the age of 18 should have These include making a respect,” he said. “The things we respect,
lor Goldsmith from the band Dawes. Or, as a living will and therefore will, which Rabbi Zohn said the things we treasure, that are valuable, we
Shel Silverstein put it, “Eliminate everything a halachic living will,” he “has to be written within bury. Things that are not valuable, we burn.
fatty or fried / And you get real healthy, but said. “There are issues deal- halachic guidelines. We burn the trash.
you’re still gonna die.” ing with end-of-life medical Rabbi Elchonon Zohn “From a Torah perspec- “We believe in an afterlife. We bury peo-
Rabbi Elchonon Zohn strongly agrees preparedness. tive, the male children ple because we believe the body will be
with that settlement. “These are things that people very often inherit and the eldest child receives a dou- resurrected, hopefully. Many Jews believe
And he wants you to be prepared. don’t think about. We’re encouraging them ble portion. If someone wishes to distribute those are Catholic concepts, but they’re not.
Rabbi Zohn is the president of the to do so. We encourage living wills, which their estate differently there are ways to do “Burial in a family plot is part of continu-
National Association of Chevra Kadisha designate not only a person to make medi- it, but it needs to be done in accordance ity. Judaism is built on traditions that are
and director of the Queens Chevra Kadi- cal decisions, but a rabbi that person will with Jewish law. Without a will, it sometimes handed down from parents to children.
sha. A chevra kadisha — Aramaic for sacred reach out to when questions arise as to the ends up in court or a beit din and can some- The fact we are part of a chain going back
society — is the group responsible for pre- appropriate medical decisions to make from times tear families apart.” to Abraham is a very important part of our
paring dead bodies for burial in the tradi- a halachic perspective. We offer a card that In addition to making sure that you have faith, our value system. Burial is part of
tional Jewish fashion. On Sunday, the four people carry like a credit card that lists the a grave prepared for yourself, Rabbi Zohn that. The custom is to be buried where your
chevrei kadisha serving Teaneck’s Ortho- proxy and the rabbi to call and all kinds of would like to encourage people to spread parents are. We look at the monuments of
dox synagogues are hosting Rabbi Zohn as statements that are important to know in a the word among their family, friends, and our forebears and the fact that they were
a keynote speaker for a study day devoted medical emergency,” he said. acquaintances about traditional Jewish good people encourages us to be the same.

Local Sign up for the
Jewish Standard
photographed when they themselves were young. She daily newsletter!
pointed out that one advantage of working in a tight-knit
community is the power of personal recommendations.
“I’m devoted to using photography to change the
world,” Ms. Ofrane said. “If I can help someone by tak-
This year you can send Mishloach Manot
ing a photograph, I’m happy to help. If there’s a kid Visit to the Jewish American Soldiers
who’s doing amazing things or a family in need, I will do For just $18 a Jewish soldier can receive a beautiful box
something special for them.” www.thejewishstandard.com filled with Hamentashen, Groggers and more...
She learned to care about animals when she was a and click on Go to our website Koshertroops.com
child; her mother also loved them. Ms. Ofrane’s own to sponsor a Mishloach Manot
dog, “the love of my life,” was adopted after her children
You can also send your friends
were grown. “He was from a puppy mill and very sick,” SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY and family a Purim Card
she said. “He had no medical care, little food, and was
$18 for 10 cards
skin and bones. Now he’s a therapy dog.” She also has $36 for 22 cards
JewishStandard
N E W J E R S E Y R O C K L A N D
an older dog, which one of her children was no longer
[email protected]
able to care for. [email protected]
The RBARI shelter is extremely proud that two of its
845-354-7763
dogs will be showcased in the Dog Bowl, its executive
director, Megan Brinst, said. The dogs, Lexi and Kody,
OVERWHELMED
both since have been adopted. Ms. Jurovitsky said the
connection with the Dog Bowl came about through the
shelter’s partnership with Grey Muzzle, which, accord-
ing to its website, “believes no senior dog should die
alone and afraid.” The group provides grants and other
funding to pay for expenses, such as medical care, “so
the wonderful organizations that give these dogs a sec-
ond chance can focus on their care.”
by home financing options?
When it planned this year’s Dog Bowl, “Animal Planet
contacted Grey Muzzle,” Ms. Jurovitsky said. “Since they
were filming in New York, they recommended that we
be part of it.” The program, she said, is not only impor-
tant but “very entertaining. They film dogs doing differ-
ent things, related to the Super Bowl.” For example, she
said, some dogs will be cheerleaders, while others will
run with a ball. They’ll be playing their own game.
The Dog Bowl will air on Saturday, February 3, at 8
p.m. For more information about RBARI, call (201) 337-
5180 or go to RBARI.org.
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Briefly Local
Women supporting women

Members of the Bergen County sec-
tion of the National Council of Jewish
Women took part in women’s marches
in Morristown and Manhattan last
weekend. NCJW members have
marched en masse for goals ranging
from the idealistic to the pragmatic.
Usually it’s a mixture of both — they
have marched for the right to vote, the
choice about when to give birth, fam-
ily leave, and equal pay, among others.
“Jewish women across the country
will march to proclaim our values,”
Nancy Kaufman, CEO of NCJW, Inc.
the local group’s national organization, Rabbi Aaron Katz led services on January 20 at Hamilton House.Photo provided
said last week. “We will march against
the racism, anti-Semitism, sexism,
homophobia, and xenophobia actively Marilynn Friedman is the co-vice-
B’nai Jacob holds services
promoted by this administration. We will president of advocacy and education in downtown Jersey City
for the NCJW Bergen County section. Congregation B’nai Jacob will hold a Tu
march against the cruelty of this admin- is to reach the growing population of
istration’s agenda — cuts to the safety Courtesy NCJWBCS
b’Shvat celebration, with music, wine, young families and millennials in that
net now and attacks on Medicare and cheese, and other snacks, at Hamilton area. The shul’s other programs and ser-
Social Security sure to come. We march The National Council of Jewish Women House in downtown Jersey City tonight, vices, including lunch and learn, Jewish
to empower and energize ourselves and is a grassroots organization of volunteers February 2, at 7 p.m. It is supported by philosophy, and Hebrew, remain in its
others for the battles still to come.” and advocates who turn progressive ide- the Shuster family. West Side Avenue building
According to Marilynn Friedman, als into action. Inspired by Jewish values, The shul’s leadership recently decided Hamilton House is at 255 Bruns-
pictured, “I’m standing up for a better NCJW strives for social justice by improv- to host a series of monthly Shabbat ser- wick St. The entrance is on 10th Street
America, I’m so proud to be with my ing the quality of life for women, chil- vices, one Friday night and one Satur- where free parking is available. For
sisters on this wonderful day of making dren, and families and by safeguarding day morning each month, led by Rabbi more information, call Rabbi Aaron
our voices heard.” individual rights and freedoms. Aaron Katz, in downtown Jersey City. Katz, (305) 607-9062, or email him at
The first one was in January. The goal [email protected].
Look who’s new Novelist gives lecture at YU

Internationally bestsell- a Room” was a Los Angeles
on Cedar Lane
ing Jewish novelist Nicole Times Book of the Year final-
Krauss will deliver this ist and “The History of Love”
year’s Hillel Rogoff memo- was a New York Times best-
rial lecture on February 6 seller and winner of the Sar-
in Teaneck
at 7 p.m. for Yeshiva Univer- oyan Prize for International
sity. She’ll be at YU’s Israel Literature. Her books have
Goni Riskin
Henry Beren Campus, in been translated into more
the Koch auditorium at 245 than 35 languages.
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It is with deep sadness that the Board and Staff of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
mourn the loss of
Dr. Arnold Gold

a great humanitarian and loyal and devoted friend to the JCC.
Arnold and his wife Sandra – a deeply inspired JCC past president,
who serves on the JCC Board of Trustees – were founding leaders of the JCC
and championed many efforts that shaped its mission. To support under-served
populations in our community, they established the Sandra and Arnold Gold Fund for
Rehabilitation Services at the JCC to ensure that people with disabilities could receive
the therapy they needed. They brought the Therapeutic Nursery from Albert Einstein
College of Medicine to the JCC, which has been bringing hope and promise to families
with children struggling with developmental delays for more than thirty years.
They instituted JCC programs for the developmentally disabled and helped
the JCC establish its Special Services Department that now brings quality of life
to thousands of people with special needs each year. And as lifelong patrons of the arts,
they were instrumental in making the JCC the rich and thriving cultural center it is today.
They established the JCC’s Cultural Arts program and were the inspiration behind the
establishment of the Thurnauer School of Music, which continues to bring the gift
of music to thousands of students and unparalleled cultural enrichment
to the community at large.
Dr. Gold will be remembered for his devotion to the betterment

of the human condition. He embodied the finest qualities and characteristics
of the human spirit and his generosity and goodness have made this world a finer place.
We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife Sandra, our beloved friend, and
their five children, Dara Silver, Stephen and Michele Silver, Jeni Arnold, Amelia Gold
and Brian Benson, and Maggie Gold Seelig; and their 13 grandchildren.
May his memory be for a blessing.
JOJO RUBACH JORDAN SHENKER

Chair, Board of Directors Chief Executive Officer
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades

Briefly Local
Closter shul honors its music director Rabbi will preside

Temple Beth El invites the for the dedication of the Flight at tuneful Shabbat
community to a special Shab- 93 memorial in Shanksville, Congregation Gesher Shalom/JCC of Fort Lee and mem-
bat Unplugged Band service Pa., on its 10th anniversary. bers of Sha’ar communities celebrate will a “musical-
on Friday, February 9, at 7:30 Recently, he sang the “Mozart relatable-inspirational” Shabbat together with Rabbi
p.m., when it will honor Jim Requiem” with members of Adina Lewittes, on Friday, February 9 at 7 p.m. , at the
Rensink, its music director. the Vienna Philharmonic, had JCC of Fort Lee.
The special evening will his arrangements premiered After the service, there will be a wine bar and small
begin with a congregational in Vienna with the Pitten Clas- bites buffet. The shul is at 1449 Anderson Ave. For infor-
dinner at 6:30. The service, sics festival, sang “Scarpia” in mation, call (201) 947 1735 or go to GesherShalom.org.
led by Rabbi David S. Widzer Tosca, and played “Rhapsody Rabbi Adina Lewittes
and student cantor Julie Sta- Jim Rensink in Blue” with the New York
ple, also features congregants Wind Symphony.
and clarinetist Benjamin Baron. Mr. Rensink curtailed his worldwide trav-
James Rensink, a world renowned musi- els to raise his triplet sons, Nate, Jake, and
cian, has performed in more than 25 coun- Alex; they are the only set of triplets ever
tries and each of the 50 United States, to be admitted to the Juilliard School Pre-
playing with many of the world’s best College Division. They all went on to study
known artists. He has performed at venues at McGill University in Montreal with princi-
including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy pal brass players in the Montreal Symphony.
Center, and is one of the only artists ever Mr. Rensink has appeared in solo recital
to be heard at Lincoln Center as a leading with each of his sons at Lincoln Center.
baritone, pianist, composer, and conduc- For more information, go to www.tbenv.
tor. He was chosen as the classical artist org.
Courtesy BChsJs
BCHSJS students are ‘super’ callers
Sunday, BCHSJS Bergen County High Northern New Jersey’s Super Sunday.
School of Jewish Studies students Super Sunday is JFNNJ’s largest phone-a-
including Annabelle Simhon, left, and thon — a day when volunteers, donors,
Brianna Leopold, joined its principal, and community leaders come together
Fred Nagler, right, and board members, to make a difference.
to make calls at Jewish Federation of
Courtesy BChsJs
JFCS/Wayne pantries seek

emergency food donations
Young leadership trip to Israel The Jewish Family & Children’s Services organizations in the greater Wayne area
A delegation of 14 students who partici- visiting Israel’s Independence Hall, the of Northern New Jersey’s food pantry that provides non-perishable food and
pated in a yearlong Young Leadership Michael Levin Lone Soldiers Center, and needs donations. Items most needed other basic necessities for area residents
course sponsored by Partnership2Gether the Carmel Market. They went to northern include canned tuna and sardines, pea- who are in need. Bags of non-perishable
of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Israel, visiting Rosh Hanikra, the Lebanon nut butter, canned beans (black and red), food and other basic necessities (paper
Jersey, and hosted at the Bergen County border, the city of Acco, and the Golan canned vegetables, fruit, tomato sauce, goods, toiletry items, and cleaning prod-
High School of Jewish Studies, just returned Heights. The students also went together and soups, shelf stable milk, dry cereal, ucts) can be brought to one of the drop
home from a weeklong mission to Israel. to the Israelis’ high schools to learn about oatmeal, and white rice. Make sure all off areas in town: the Wayne YMCA, 1
The students met their Young Leader- going to school in Israel. The group spent items are unopened, unexpired, and Pike Drive; donors can use the Jewish
ship counterparts from their sister city of its last day in Jerusalem, visiting Ammuni- undamaged. Donations can be dropped Family Service entrance; the Preakness
Nahariya; the Israelis hosted the travelers tion Hill, the Knesset, Mount Herzl, the off at the JFCS offices, 1485 Teaneck Road branch of the Wayne Public Library; or
from New Jersey in their homes. Together, Jewish Quarter, and the Western Wall in Teaneck. For information, call (201) the Wayne Municipal Building at 475 Val-
the Americans and Israelis toured Tel Aviv, before heading home. 837-9090 or go to www.jfcsnnj.org. ley Road.
• Anyone in need of food can call (973)
Donations for the WIN (the Wayne Inter- 694-1800, ext. 3281. Groups and orga-
faith Network) food pantry are needed. nizations planning to collect items
More than 412,000 likes WIN is a coalition of volunteers from can call (973) 595-1900 or email info@
local houses of worship and service winfoodpantry.org.
Like us on Facebook
facebook.com/jewishstandard
20 Jewish standard FeBrUarY 2, 2018

UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
Family Fun Day R
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Wear your team jersey and join us for a fun evening
with strolling dinner and live auction featuring
priceless sports experiences, awards, and more.
Tuesday, February 13, 6 pm
For tickets visit jccotp.org/sportsnight
Gift of Music Tickets on Sale!

Join us in celebrating Leonard Bernstein at 100
and the Music Discovery Partnership with the
Englewood Public School District at 20 at the
Annual Thurnauer School of Music‘s Benefit
Concert supporting scholarships for music
education. Honoring Tracey Blumberg and
Photo Courtesy of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.
GET YOUR featuring Mezzo- Soprano Naomi Louisa

O’Connell and outstanding Thurnauer Ensembles.
TICKETS Sun, Feb 11, 4 pm,
TODAY
Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
Visit jccotp.org/gom for tickets
The Gift of Music was established by Drs. Joan and Alan Handler
KIDS SENIORS COMMUNITY
The Leonard & Syril Rubin Nursery Social Adult Day Care for People Saturday Night Zumba Party
School Registration is Open! with Alzheimer’s and Dementia FOR AGES 12+, BEGINNERS WELCOME
AGES 3 MONTHS-KINDERGARTEN KAPLEN ADULT REACH CENTER Your feet will feel as light as air when you dance with
Your child will enjoy a solid foundation Montessori-style social day care program us at our FREE annual cardio fitness event at the J.
of education and exploration in a warm promotes independence, self-esteem and Expert instructors lead a fun Zumba Party featuring
environment, with a developmentally- cognitive abilities for those living with dementia, Latin, African, hip-hop, and pop music.
appropriate, child-centered approach to in a vibrant, community center atmosphere. Sat, Feb 10, 7:30 pm,
learning, and a progressive curriculum Aides and companions are welcome. FREE and open to the community
rooted in Jewish values. Half day, full day Mon-Fri, 9 am-4 pm, Sun, 11 am-4 pm
and extended day (7:30 am-6 pm) options (Partial day options available)
available. TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO
Ask for a FREE 3 day trial!
Open House: Feb 9, 9 am
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Cover Story
Putting out
fires
Sinai School’s honoree, featured in video,
talks about his trajectory from rage to the
IDF to Tel Aviv’s fire department
Y
Joanne Palmer therapists, its teachers and counselors Few students come to Sinai with Yaa- take care of her children, and then, eight
and administrators, see each child as com- kov’s history, and so far none have come months after his brother-in-law died, Mr.
aakov Guttman’s life has pletely individual. Because it is based on to them who have made Yaakov’s career Saks died too.
been about putting out and housed in day schools, it models both choices, but every student who comes to Yaakov had been in a mainstream day
fires, both metaphorically inclusion and specificity, both community Sinai is different from every other student school, but his learning issues, now com-
and literally. and individuality. there. (In fact, of course, every student bined with a burning anger, made it hard
We understand that the The children Sinai serves come to the who comes to every other school in the for him to do the work. “I hated school,”
word literal often doesn’t school with different needs. Some of them world is different from every other stu- he said. “I really just hated everything. I
mean literal any more, but here we are are visible — some students have physi- dent there, but it is easier to generalize an withdrew from everything. I just hated
using it in its classic sense. Yaakov Gutt- cal disabilities, and some have the sort of education when there are no special needs everything.”
man runs into burning buildings, rescues developmental delays that make them- adding another layer of complication.) So, he said, “My mom and the educators
people, and even their pets, and fights the selves obvious to most careful observers Yaakov Guttman was born in Bergenfield thought it would be best for me to go to
fire until it is out. Most of us run away from pretty quickly. in 1984, the second of four children. When Sinai.”
fires. He runs toward them. And then some come to Sinai as Yaakov he was 10, his father, Sruli, died suddenly, Sinai was a different place then too, he
You look at him now and you see a pro- did, with dyslexia and ADD, issues that are collapsing as his wife, Shelly, and their said; “there were maybe four or five of us
totypical firefighter, not only strong but expressed through behavior but can be children looked on, wheeled out by med- who had learning disabilities, and we just
also handsome, a firefighter straight out of and often are misdiagnosed, misunder- ics as they watched. His mother’s brother, needed a lot of extra education and then
central casting. But the truth of his life is stood, and mistreated. Jeffrey Saks, helped his grief-stricken sister we’d be fine.” Now, Sinai educators know
more complicated than that. Long before
he was able to fight literal fires, Yaakov had
to fight the metaphorical ones that burned
inside him.
He was an angry child, battling both
learning disabilities and personal tragedy.
Sinai Schools is featuring Yaakov in this
year’s video; it will premier at the school’s
annual dinner later this month (see box).
This video is different from Sinai’s other
documentaries. Usually those videos fea-
ture close-ups of faces, faces with emo-
tions clear on them, delicate, intimate
shots of despair and hope and transfor-
mation. Those videos are beautiful, pro-
foundly moving, deeply true.
But what Sinai does is take children with
a wide range of special needs and tailor
the education each of them needs specifi-
cally to that child. There is no one model
for education at Sinai; its range of art
and music and speech and occupational Yaakov’s unit stands in front of its truck at one of Tel Aviv-Yaffo’s fire stations.

Cover Story
From left, Shelly Guttman with two of her children,

Yaakov and Elana, and her brother, Jeffrey Sachs.
moment of connection so profound that his downward

trajectory suddenly began soaring upward, but things did
begin to change for him.
Shelly and Sruli Guttman with their four children, Sruli Guttman with his son Yaakov. He is particularly grateful to Judi Karp, now Sinai’s asso-
Elana, baby Yahuda, Shlomi, and Yaakov. ciate dean. “She taught me how to read,” he said. “Once I
could read, I could pretty much do everything else.”
far more about how to educate children with dyslexia and said. “But luckily, I had the basketball team, and the coach, It wasn’t easy learning to read in middle school. “It was
ADD; then, they still were figuring it out. And Yaakov was Lenny Friedman.” Even then, Yaakov’s path through anger the Wilson program,” he said. “It was the most embarrass-
very angry. to hope was a physical one. “Thank God I had basketball,” ing thing I had ever gone through. It teaches you how to
He went to school at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Acad- he repeated. read syllables, and I had to sit there and read these cocka-
emy in Livingston. It was a long ride there from Bergen- He was a hard kid to reach, he says; his anger kept boil- mamie words, these nonsense words. It was teaching me
field. “I was getting up at 5:30 to get there,” he said. And at ing. But they kept at it. There was no one Helen Keller- about sounds. And it taught me to read.
first he just didn’t want to be there. “It was a tough go,” he Annie Sullivan moment, when he and a teacher had a “There was never a moment when I turned around
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Cover Story
and said ‘Holy cow, this is great!’” he her supervision. later he was drafted into the RAF.” That was still during the
said. “I just did it, and it was just, ‘Okay Yaakov was at Sinai from fifth through British Mandate.
already, yalla, this is fine, let’s go on to ninth grades (with a one-semester failed Mr. Saks’ father had gone to the United States at some point,
the next thing now.” attempt at mainstreaming at the begin- his grandson recounted, and therefore the son had U.S. citi-
As Sam Fishman, Sinai’s managing ning of ninth grade). After that, he went on zenship. “The RAF knew about his time in the Haganah, and
director, said, “Perhaps in hindsight, to MTA, and graduated from high school they told him ‘You could go to America — or you could go to
had we gotten Yaakov in first grade there. jail.’ So he went to America.”
rather than in fifth, it would have been After high school, he went on a gap year Yaakov reversed that move.
easier, but it is what it is. program in Israel, and there his life changed After his year in a yeshiva, “I stayed in Israel, and I went into
“When we got him, he had com- once again. the army on August 24, 2004,” he said.
pletely shut down. He was not func- “Growing up, my plans were to join the “I went through the Machal program,” he said. Machal —
tioning in a regular environment any Navy Seals,” Yaakov said. “A friend of mine the Hebrew acronym for Mitnadvei Hutz LaAretz, volunteers
more. The way our educators describe Judi Karp — who just retired from the Seals after a from other countries — was the main program for what today
it, we have a lot of kids who are in pain 14-year stint there — and I were going to go are called lone soldiers. “There wasn’t a lot of help for lone
by the time they get to us, because they are dealing with together.” soldiers then,” he said. But Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, the head of
the emotional issues that come from not fitting in. We But some of the rabbis who taught him in high school Nefesh B’Nefesh, was a mentor, role model, and inspiration
are good at dealing with children who are hurting, and suggested that he go to Israel first, and his mother
we thank God that we were able to break through to agreed. “And my girlfriend at the time also was pushing
Yaakov.” this religious card on me,” Yaakov said. “So I said maybe
Mr. Fishman said that what Ms. Karp was able to teach
Yaakov, along with how to read, was that “we were not
there is something there.” So he went to Israel.
When he was in Israel, Yaakov’s desire to join the
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Now, Yaakov relies on his body, as well as his brain; tary,” he said. “It is a passion of mine. There is a greater
his physicality is one of his main assets as a firefighter. calling when you can serve your country, and serve the Traditional. Modern.
Then, though, “our educators who knew him said that Jewish nation.
he was like a lost and angry child in an enormous body,” “My father was an ish chesed,” a man who did good Contemporary.
Abigail Hepner Gross, Sinai’s director of communica- works, an inherently good man. “He emanated chesed
tions, said. “He was very big for his age, and he had a in the community.
tough, intimidating exterior, but they all say that under- “My dad never talked about what he did to help peo-
neath that surface was mush. He was such a loving, kind ple. He was a food distributor, and he never talked about
boy, protective of other students — a wonderful boy — helping to run Tomchei Shabbat at Roemer.
but he put up a terrible show. “He never talked about any of what he did, but he just
“And he was so big.” helped people. And after he died, and people didn’t get
His size helped him at Sinai in Kushner, Mr. Fishman the chesed, then they realized. That’s the best way to do
said. “By the time that Yaakov was beginning to trust us, chesed — keep your mouth closed, and just do it. Don’t
and to advance educationally, he was invited to join the talk about it. Don’t do it for the glory. Just do it.
mainstream basketball team at Kushner. Despite all the “I can never hit my dad’s level, but I figured that
other issues, he was big, and he was well-coordinated. what I could do is use my strengths. I have very specific
He was a natural. So he went on to become the star of strengths — my physical ability, and my mental capacity
the team, and that did so much for his self-esteem, to to push through hardships. That’s something you need
find something that he was really good at. in the military.”
“He had other kids look up at him, both figuratively He also felt history and destiny calling to him. His
and literally.” connection to Israel wasn’t only metaphor. It was very
Mr. Fishman has good reason to know a great deal personal.
about Yaakov Guttman, and Ms. Hepner Gross has even Yaakov’s mother’s father, Avi Saks, was born in Pal-
more reason; the two of them made the video together, estine around 1912, Yaakov said, “and I believe that he
as they have made all the school’s videos for many years, was a third-generation Yerushalmi. I would have been a
and last summer Ms. Gross went to Israel to oversee the fifth-generation Israeli. He was born in Mea Shearim, he
filming there. The firefighting footage was made under fought in the Haganah when he was 14 or 15, and then
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While he was at Sinai, Yaakov was a star of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy’s basketball team.
Decorators & Designers Welcome!
Cover Story
e Ms. Hepner Gross explained the story. “There’s part of

the training where they do hand-to-hand combat,” she
said. “You start, and then they send one guy, and if you
- throw him they send two, and then three, and then four.
By the time it was up to five guys, and Yaakov threw them
o all, he was Grizzly.”
Yaakov has strong feelings about the IDF. “You don’t
want heroism or any of that other junk,” he said. “You
o don’t fight because you like fighting. You don’t fight
because it is glorious. You do it because you gotta do it.
You do it because your brothers are standing next to you
s and your country is counting on you.
y “It is not called the Israeli army. It is the Israeli Defense
Forces. We protect our people. We don’t go out to kill. I
did what I had to do.”
n Yaakov’s IDF career ended with a rescue that other
people, including Mr. Fishman and Ms. Hepner Gross,
call heroic, but he will not. He will not talk about it, and
he does not want details released. He does not want to be
Shelly Guttman’s father, Avraham Sachs, in the Royal Air Force, above, and in the Haganah. seen as a hero, he said, because he is not one. He just was
doing his job. He saved someone’s life, and ended up in
for him. “He helped me every step of the way,” Yaakov name was Shalom. the hospital for a long time with serious injuries. (Whether
said. “I was a ben beit by him; his kids called me their “I got the junk kicked out of me again and again. I the reader agrees with Yaakov that it is not heroic to act as
older brother. He opened his home and his heart to me.” started out as one of the worst soldiers, and I graduated he did is up to that reader.)
When he entered the IDF, Yaakov was at a great at the top of the unit. I was a sniper commander — I was “I would do it again,” Yaakov said. “I wouldn’t change
disadvantage. a sergeant and I commanded a team of snipers. I didn’t it. I would rather not have to do it — I got badly hurt — but
“I didn’t know a stitch of Hebrew then,” he said. know how to shoot before the army, but I adapted very at the same time…”
“Remember, I didn’t want to learn. I didn’t care — and quickly.” Once he was out of the hospital, Yaakov worked at
that bit me in the tachat pretty badly. When I got to my “In the IDF, he was given the nickname Grizzly,” Mr. a series of jobs as he tried to figure out what to do next.
unit, the guy said ‘What’s your name?’ in Hebrew, and I Fishman said. “People still call him that. Greezly,” he said, “They were all blue collar,” he said. “Office is not meant for
said ‘Shalom.’ For the first couple of days, he thought my with an Israeli accent. “He’s a grizzly bear.” me. An important thing was doing something meaningful
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5 26 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 2, 2018

Cover Story
Yaakov and his IDF unit. Yaakov Guttman was a sniper commander in the IDF.
for other people. for a short time, looking for his path, but his the Arab quarter of the Old City, doing “I was doing that, and at the same time I
“Some people are okay with working 9 heart was in Israel, and soon he was back. undercover security,” he said. “It was a was trying to get into the fire department.”
to 5, putting food on the table, and hav- But he was back with a goal. He had real- very interesting dynamic. I was respon- Israel’s fire department is centralized,
ing great houses and great cars, but that ized that he really wanted to use his gifts, sible for helping the police and taking and it has been since the Carmel fires in
wasn’t what I was looking for. I made ali- passion, and desire to help others as a fire care of the people we worked for. Most of 2010, Yaakov said; you join that main
yah for a reason. Not to make money, but fighter. Now he just had to figure out how the time it was Ateret Cohanim, a yeshiva body, and then you are assigned to a spe-
to make a difference. And God gave me to reach that goal. based in the Arab shuk. We did security cific place. “It is a boys club,” he said.
certain gifts. I know how to use my hands.” “I moved back to Jerusalem, and I for them and the other Jewish residents “Guys bring in guys they know and trust.
Yaakov moved back to the United States worked for a private security firm in in the Old City. It’s a very close-knit group.
We honor the memory of
Arnold P. Gold
Dearest Sandra,
We share together with you and your family, the sadness
our music school community feels on the loss of your beloved Arnold.
May you find comfort from the many people you have touched in creating
a music school at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades.
With love,
DOROTHY KAPLAN ROFFMAN MICHAEL REINGOLD

Founding Director Associate Director
Music School Committee, Staff, Faculty and Families of the

JCC Thurnauer School of Music

Cover Story
“At the time, I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t and between parents and grandparents
know anything. I didn’t have any connec- about how to treat it.
tions. But I worked very hard, I broke down “And often parents wonder if they
a lot of doors, I called people and went for are doing everything they can to help
interviews and asked and talked and talked their child. That is a lot of pressure.
and talked and went at it as best I could. They think ‘I take my kid to all of the
“I started volunteering in the Herzlia fire therapies I possibly can — spend all that
department in 2012, and that helped me money, all that time — and I still am ask-
break down the door. Those guys helped me. ing myself if I’m doing the right thing.’
“Five years after I started trying, I got “There is a lot of pressure. There is a
accepted. In March 2014. Just by being a lot at stake. Parents come to us with a
stubborn horse. lot of hopes and dreams.”
“When you have a dream, if you really So Yaakov’s story is both unique and
believe in it, you have to go forward and get basic. “The underlying theme to the
it,” Yaakov said. “My mom and my dad and story is the power of community,” Rabbi
my mentors, they gave me that example. Rothwachs said. “Here you have a fam-
“Everyone told me to forget it, to give up, ily unit that was terribly shocked, and
to try to do something else, and I did try the community came together in lots of
other things. I worked at other places, I did different ways to make sure that Shelly
every blue collar job you could imagine, but and Yaakov and all the children had all
I was always working at it.” the support they needed.”
Why does he love fighting fires? “In the Dahlia and Yaakov Guttman are the glowing parents of one-year-old Jon Jon. One of the lessons of Yaakov’s story
police, you deal with some very bad people, is that you can’t always look at a child
and you have to arrest them, and God forbid “It is about saving lives, helping people, The fire department actually is fire and know that he has problems, or what
you have to use your weapon. In the military not hurting them. I want to be able to turn and rescue, he added. “We also do things those problems might be. You also can’t
you have to use your weapon. In fire fight- around in 40 years and say that I made a dif- like get cats out of trees. We rescue dogs look at a child and know what his prom-
ing, you’re just saving people’s lives. There ference,” Yaakov said. that have fallen into holes, and people ise is, what his potential is, or where
can be a downside, if you lose a victim, if you He works in the fire department in Tel who are too drunk to find their keys. We his path might take him. Sinai Schools
can’t get to someone in time, if you show up Aviv; most of his work is with urban fires, rescue anything that has a soul.” knows that. But Sinai also knows that it is
and the person is already dead, but you are although he is deployed to fight wildfires He is married, “and my wife is my big- only if you understand that every child,
just going to be doing good. too, when it is necessary. gest supporter, and she is always behind no matter how angry or withdrawn or
me, saying ‘Don’t worry. You can do it!” troubled, has potential, that you possi-
His wife, Dahlia, is a graphic designer; bly can begin to unearth it.
Yaakov and Dahlia are the parents of Or, as Yaakov put it, when he was diag-
a one-year-old, Jon Jon, “the cutest, nosed with dyslexia and ADD, “I could
smiley-est kid in the world,” Yaakov have said ‘I have dyslexia and ADD, and
said. “He just smiles all the time. Noth- boo hoo, cry me a river,’ or I could have
ing bothers him. My wife is an amazing said ‘I have dyslexia and ADD, and I can
mother.” The family lives in Raanana. use it to my advantage.’
Rabbi Dr. Yisrael Rothwachs is Sinai’s “I was very skilled at social skills. And
dean. He came to the school after Yaa- then later I decided to face my crap and
kov left, but he sees Yaakov Guttman’s start doing something with it.
life trajectory as impressive, at the same “If I can give any message to people,
time specific and symbolic. it’s that we all have issues. We all have
“Yaakov’s story is anomalous — and it problems. But the people who will suc-
isn’t,” Rabbi Rothwachs said. “What he ceed are the people who can stand up
had to overcome, both the special needs and face them.
and the biography, and then going into “All you need is a little bit of cour-
the IDF and then becoming a commander age and drive. You don’t have to be the
of a unit there and then becoming a fire- smartest. You don’t have to be the most
fighter — all that is unique and anomalous. talented. I wasn’t. I’m not the greatest at
“On the other hand, we have many anything. But what I did is that I said, ‘All
At Brightview we believe everyone thrives on fun, social, and intellectual stimulation. In that spirit
students who look different and have right. It is time to man up.’ And that is
Brightview Tenafly is sponsoring a series of “Community Lectures” aimed at helping families aging different profiles and biographical what it takes to succeed.
with seniors navigating through Dementia. This month’s lecture will be held on February 7th at sketches, and who come to our school “At Sinai, I learned how to overcome,
6:30PM in the Private Dining Room.
with so many challenges and with so and that gave me a foundation for the
“Feeding the Heart: Maintaining Physical and Emotional Health” much potential. With so much promise. rest of my life,” Yaakov Guttman said.
Presenter: Stacey Maines, MSW, Care Manager at Generations Counseling & Care Management, LLC
It is hard for them to take those steps —
Stacey Maines received her Master of Social Work from New York University in 1998. She started
to make friends, to become a leader. Who: Yaakov Guttman is among the
her career as a Director of Social Services in various long term care systems throughout northern “Life is about taking risks, but so many honorees
New Jersey on a full time and consulting basis. She had a private practice as a geriatric care of our students have been burnt. Many
manager for several years prior to joining the team at GENERATIONS in January 2015. What: At the Sinai School’s annual
of our students have had so many years benefit dinner
of failure before they come to us.”
When: On Sunday, February 25; the
Few families face the dramatic chal- buffet opens at 4:45 and the pro-
Please RSVP to Richard or
lenges that the Guttmans had to deal gram starts at 6:30
Lindsay by February 6th
with, but the strains of having special- Where: At the Marriott Glenpointe
[email protected]
needs children often harm families. Hotel in Teaneck
[email protected] There are many strains, among them
201.510.2060
Why: To honor the school and to
“the financial and the social,” Rabbi raise funds to support it
Rothwachs said. “It can be embarrassing
For more information and reservations,
for parents to go out, and often there are
go to or call (201) 833-1134, ext. 105.
familial disagreements between spouses

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Jewish World
Poland wants to ban

the term ‘Polish death camps’
T
here are historical inaccuracies
on both sides of the debate.
Cnaan Liphshiz
The Polish parliament’s bill
to criminalize the use of the term “Polish
death camps” prompted an avalanche of
criticism in Israel by officials and individ-
uals who warned that it is excessive and
risks stifling research on the Holocaust.
Following the bill’s passage last week in
the Sejm, or the lower house of the Polish
parliament — it awaits the approval of the
Senate and the president — Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it
“baseless.” Historians, including some from
Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial
museum, joined him in opposing it.
In a statement, Yad Vashem said that
whereas “there is no doubt that the term
‘Polish death camps’ is a historical misrep-
resentation,” the intended law nonethe-
less is “liable to blur the historical truths
regarding the assistance the Germans
received from the Polish population dur-
ing the Holocaust.”
Less guarded protest in Israel alleged
that some of Poland’s critics of the term
Polish death camps are blurring historical
truths, and that there is a need for better
understanding of sensitivities around the
issue in Poland, Israel, and beyond. The main gate of Auschwitz, the extermination camp in Oswiecim, Poland. CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
Israeli centrist politician Yair Lapid,

head of the Yesh Atid opposition party because “there was no Poland” under Ger- the bill is part of a larger effort by Poland’s Jedwabne by Princeton historian Jan Gross
— and according to recent polls, the law- man occupation. Polish sovereignty was right-wing government, led by the right- triggered a public debate on the issue. In
maker likeliest to replace Netanyahu if dismantled and the country’s territory was wing Law and Justice party, to dismiss 2016, he was summoned to appear before
elections were held now — had a lot to say co-opted under Nazi rule. “any criticism of how Poles behaved dur- police for saying that Poles killed more Jews
on the topic on social media. He said the claim that hundreds of thou- ing the Holocaust.” than they did Germans during the Holo-
In a series of posts, Lapid said, “There sands of Jews died in Poland without see- According to Zuroff, with the exception of caust. Gross was suspected of insulting the
were Polish death camps and no law can ing a German is “absurd,” adding “I don’t the Netherlands, Poland was the only coun- honor of the Polish nation, which is illegal in
ever change that.” He added: “Hundreds of know where Lapid got that figure from.” try in occupied Europe where resistance that country. The case remains open.
thousands of Jews were murdered without According to Polish Chief Rabbi Michael activists set up a special organization dedi- In a separate but not entirely uncon-
ever meeting a German.” Schudrich, no more than 2,500 Jews died cated to saving Jews. But at the same time, nected debate, some leaders of Polish
“Poland was a partner in the Holocaust,” at the hands of Poles during the Holocaust Polish resistance groups, such as the Home Jewry have accused the Law and Justice
Lapid also wrote. or immediately after it. Zuroff disputes the Army, refused to accept Jews in many cases party of ignoring the rise of ultranation-
His statements were historically inaccu- estimate: He believes the correct figure is — and in other cases killed them. alists in Poland, which they said creates a
rate on several levels, according to Efraim “many thousands” of people, including “Everybody knows that many, many security concern for the community and
Zuroff, a prominent historian on the Holo- in at least 15 towns and cities in eastern thousands of Poles killed or betrayed their a “low point” in its history. Other Polish
caust and the Eastern Europe director of Poland, where non-Jews butchered their Jewish neighbors to the Germans, causing Jewish leaders have dismissed the claims
the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Jewish neighbors. them to be murdered,” Zuroff said. “The as part of a “political war” against the
“I understand his anger, but Lapid fell in Zuroff said Lapid’s claim is also offensive Polish state was not complicit in the Holo- government.
the trap that the Poles made for him, in a to many Poles because in addition to kill- caust, but many Poles were. The country “Before Law and Justice won the elec-
sense,” Zuroff said. ing 3 million Polish Jews, the Nazis killed was a hotbed of anti-Semitism before the tion, there was a feeling that progress had
The claim that there were Polish death 3 million Polish non-Jews. The remaining Holocaust, too. It’s foolish to ignore it.” been made, with successive Polish heads
camps is “misleading,” Zuroff said. The millions of Jewish Holocaust victims were If that’s true, it hasn’t stopped Polish his- of state recognizing that alongside the her-
statement is true only in that there were killed either in the former Soviet Union or torians and officials from doing just that. oism of some Poles who saved Jews, oth-
Nazi death camps on Polish soil. in camps outside Poland. In 2016, a year after Law and Justice’s ers murdered them and betrayed them,”
“Polish individuals may have been “The Nazis considered the Poles lesser big election win, Polish Education Minis- Zuroff said. “But it seems that now the
responsible for the death of many thou- humans,” Zuroff said. Which is part of the ter Anna Zalewska said there are “differ- Polish government is reversing course and
sands of Jews,” he said, “but Polish state reason that the “Polish opposition to the ent scenarios” about what happened in it’s generating a lot of anger, as is visible in
apparatuses were not integrated into the term Polish death camps in justified,” he Jedwabne, a town in eastern Poland where Lapid’s reaction.”
Nazi machine of genocide against the Jews, added, though he also said he does not locals butchered 1,500 to 2,500 of their Poland’s embassy in Israel, for its part,
and in that Poland is actually an exception support criminalizing it. Jewish neighbors in 1941, reportedly with- quoted on social media what they called
to many other countries in Nazi-occupied So why are Israeli politicians and author- out interference from the Germans. (Revi- Lapid’s “unsupportable claims.” They
Europe.” ities on the Holocaust so outspoken in sionist historians in Poland have disputed show, an embassy spokesman said, “how
Claiming that “Poland was a partner in opposing it? this for decades.) badly Holocaust education is needed, even
the Holocaust” is also untrue,” Zuroff said, The reason, according to Zuroff, is that In 2001, the publication of a book on here in Israel.” JTA WIRE SERVICE

Jewish World
Briefs Israel-Jordan border crossing in 2014. Israel also offered that a “gradual reopening” of the Jewish state’s embassy in
financial compensation to the families of the Jordanians Amman is underway.
killed in the incidents. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and
Ireland postpones bill Israel is expected to appoint a new ambassador to Jordan maintain significant security and economic cooperation,
banning settlements trade in the coming weeks. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman despite Jordan’s large Palestinian population that is gener-
The Irish Senate postponed a vote on a controversial Emmanuel Nahshon told the Associated Press on Tuesday ally disdainful of Israel. JNS.ORG
bill that would have criminalized trade with Israeli set-

tlements just hours after the Israeli government pro-
tested the measure.
During a debate on the measure last week, Irish
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, while con-
SUITS
demning Israeli settlements as “unjust,” recom-
mended that the government oppose the bill and
adjourn a vote on it.
Earlier that day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-
yahu summoned Ireland’s ambassador to Israel over
the bill.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the
legislation’s “sole purpose is to support the BDS move-
ment and harm the State of Israel.”
first PLACE
The Israeli Embassy in Ireland also denounced the men’s shop
bill, saying that it “only offers an incentive to those
who wish to boycott Israel and stands in stark contrast
to the guiding principles of free trade and justice.” The finest selection of
The legislation, titled “Control of Economic Activ-
ity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018,” acts to “prohibit
Italian designer men’s &
the import and sale of goods, services and natural boy’s suits, sport jackets,
resources originating in illegal settlements in occu-
pied territories,” according to Senator Frances Black, coats, car coats, pants,
the bill’s sponsor.
“This is a chance for Ireland to stand up for the
sweaters, shirts, ties,
rights of vulnerable people — it is about respect- shoes & accessories.
ing international law and refusing to support illegal
activity and human suffering. We condemn the set-
tlements as illegal but support them economically,”
Black said before the vote. “As international law is
absolutely clear that the settlements are illegal, then Visit the
SHOES
the goods they produce are the proceeds of crime.
We must face up to this.” Boy’s Store
European Union law stipulates that Israeli prod-
ucts originating from beyond the pre-1967 lines can-
at Emporio
not be labeled as “Made in Israel.” Israel considers
the West Bank to be disputed territory, whose bor-
ders will be determined in any peace negotiations
with the Palestinians. JNS.ORG
Israel implements
‘gradual reopening’ Scarpa
of embassy in Jordan
Israel is implementing the reopening of its embassy in
Jordan this week, after the Israeli and Jordanian gov-
ernments earlier in January announced an agreement
to restore the diplomatic office. The embassy had
been closed since July 2017, when an Israeli security
guard at the site fatally shot two Jordanians in what the
Israeli government described as an act of self-defense.
The guard, Ziv Moyal, shot a Jordanian who attacked
him with a screwdriver, and a second Jordanian was
killed by a stray bullet. As part of the compromise to BORO PARK: FLATBUSH: LONG ISLAND: LAKEWOOD: TEANECK:
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Jewish World
Brief
S aam m yy’s’s
S m m
U.S. envoy blasts Hamas for building terror tunnels
instead of using the funds to benefit Gaza residents
North Jersey’s Premier Italian U.S. Special Representative for International Negotia- and the remains of IDF soldiers killed near the Israel-
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Jewish World/Purim
Netanyahu is trying hard to court Putin. Is it working?

CNAAN LIPHSHIZ military deployments by both countries.
Russians know, Putin added in his
MOSCOW — The story behind the huge address, “that Israel carefully maintains
Victory Monument that was unveiled in gratitude to the Soviet Army and our sol-
2012 in the Israeli city of Netanya is not diers for saving Jews and Europe from total
exactly common knowledge, even there. extermination. We appreciate the fact that
Featuring two stone slabs, each 50 feet a monument is planned in Jerusalem in
high and shaped like wings, the seaside honor of the feat of the defenders and res-
statue honors the Russian Army’s enor- idents of besieged Leningrad.”
mous contribution in defeating Nazism. It His praise for Israel was aimed in part
is known colloquially in Netanya as “the at former Soviet nations where revision-
sharks” because the statue reminds many ist state historians, backed by govern-
locals of dorsal fins. ments wary of Russia and its expansionist
But if Israelis sometimes forget its sym- politics, are downplaying or denigrating
bolism, Russian President Vladimir Putin Soviet contributions — what Putin in his
does not. Putin attended its unveiling, and speech at the Jewish museum made more
in a speech last week welcoming Israeli explicit with references to what he termed
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to this “Russophobia.”
capital city, he referred to the statute as a In Hungary, Ukraine, and the Baltic
significant sign in the renaissance of bilat- states, displaying both Soviet and Nazi
eral relations between Israel and Russia. symbols is illegal due to laws against
“I remember going to the opening of “totalitarian imagery.” Monuments for Red
the monument to the Red Army soldiers,” Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Army saviors are routinely vandalized or
Putin said. “It was a very touching event. Netanyahu at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow on January removed in those countries.
We are grateful to the leadership of Israel 29, 2018. ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES And even the commemoration of the
and the people of Israel for their respect Holocaust at times is eclipsed by Russia’s
for history.” latest visit to Moscow took place, unusu- to how goodwill, symbolism, and rhetoric narrative wars with its former client states.
Officially scheduled to discuss Israeli ally, at the city’s Jewish museum and fea- is coinciding, and maybe even facilitating, To punish Russia for its 2014 invasion of
concerns about Iran and Syria — two allies, tured a Holocaust commemoration event. horse trading on more practical things, Ukraine, the next year Poland disinvited
if not client states, of Russia — Netanyahu’s But the speeches at the event attested including weapons deals and controversial Putin from the 70th anniversary of the
Sinai Schools offers colorful Purim cards;

Purim cards send holiday cheer send them to family and friends and support
Sinai at the same time. To order, call Sinai at
(201) 833-1134 or go to www.sinaischools.
Send friends and fam- org/purimcards. Or buy them at Ma’adan
ily a Koshertroops Purim Caterers and Holy Name Medical Center
card that sponsors a Gift Shop, and at Sinai’s offices at its partner
mishloach manot pack- schools — Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jer-
age for Jewish American sey, Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Torah
troops stationed abroad. Academy of Bergen County, Heichal HaTorah
It costs $18 for 10 cards High School, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School,
and $36 for 22. Proceeds and SAR Academy. Each card is $1.
will be used to send holi-
day packages filled with
hamantashen, groggers,
and other goodies, to
the soldiers. For informa-
tion, email Sara@Ko-
shertroops.com or Ava@
Koshertroops.com, or call
(845) 354-7763. Leket Israel, Israel’s National
Food Bank and largest food res-
cue network, is selling superhero-
In lieu of mishloach manot, order
themed printed Purim cards. Be a
Sharsheret Purim cards to honor
food rescue superhero — unleash
friends and loved ones. Cards will help
the power of healthy surplus food
Sharsheret support Jewish women
for Israel’s needy. It costs $36 for
and families facing breast and ovarian
18 cards and envelopes, $70 for
cancer nationwide. Packs of 12 cards
36, $90 for 54, and $170 for 108.
are $36. Cards can be shipped directly
Unlimited Purim ecards, picture
until February 21 at $39 per pack; or-
cards, and video cards are avail-
ders can be picked up until February
able online for $18. To order, call
28 from Sharsheret’s Teaneck office.
Elena at (201) 331-0070, ext. 2, or
Cards are also available for purchase
go to purim.leket.org. Donations
at The Judaica House in Teaneck. For
support the rescue and distribu-
information, call (201) 833-2341 or go
tion of fresh produce and hot
to www.sharsheret.org.
meals to people in need through-
out Israel.

liberation of Auschwitz. The move infuriated even
Holocaust scholars and commemoration profession-
als, who are not known for their sympathy to Russia.
At the time, Poland’s then-foreign minister, Grze-
JUDAICAHOUSEOFTEANECK
knows how to use historic symbols to drive home politi-
cal messaging.
Directly after their two-hour meeting, both men
attended a ceremony at the Jewish Museum and Toler-
Jewish World
extremist ideologies when they are still small, to hit them

on time and forcefully, as part of our responsibility for the
future.”
Sobibor, Netanyahu said, “was the turning point” in the
PRESENTS
gorz Schetyna, said that Ukrainians, not Russians, lib- ance Center here honoring the 75th anniversary of the Jewish people’s history and led to their having “a strong
erated the Nazi death camp in Poland. Sobibor Uprising, a prisoners’ rebellion at the death camp country with considerable offensive capabilities that can
Appreciation for Israel’s recognition of Russia’s role in northeastern Poland where 11 Nazis were killed and 300 defend itself against fanatics who openly say they aim to
in defeating Nazism “is especially important amid the Jews escaped. destroy us. They won’t succeed. But we need to under-
destruction and desecration of monuments to Soviet It provided the perfect backdrop for Netanyahu’s stand the danger they pose is not limited to us, but you,
soldiers who gave their lives to liberate prisoners of thinly veiled warnings of Israel’s low tolerance for Iranian too.”
Nazi concentration camps, and save Europe and the threats. He ended his speech with these words: “There will not
entire world from Nazism,” Putin said. “If you don’t check hatred toward Jews, it will spread be another Holocaust.”
The politics of memory, as they are called in this to other peoples quickly enough,” Netanyahu said, invok- JTA WIRE SERVICE
part of the world, command an importance that ing the lessons of the Holocaust. “Our mission is to fight
may surprise outsiders. Struggling with stagnant or
ruined economies amid rampant corruption, some of
these countries might seem to have more immediate
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“We never forget the crucial role of the Red Army
in halting the Nazi machine,” Netanyahu said in his
speech at the Jewish museum, addressing Putin. “You
mentioned the monument in Israel: I initiated its erec-
tion in Netanya as a symbol of the appreciation we THE INTERNATIONAL
think must be eternalized for the Red Army,” Netan-
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Keeping Kosher
Food and wine show in Manhattan
is prepping for big turnouts
E
nthusiastic crowds are expected at the KFWE is sponsored by New Jersey-based
12th annual Kosher Food & Wine Expe- Royal Wine Corp. The Royal Wine Corp. is the
rience New York on Monday, February largest producer, importer, and distributor
5, at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers (23rd Street of kosher wines and spirits in the world. New
and the West Side Highway in Manhattan). Doors York’s premier kosher event of the year will
open to the public at 6:30 p.m. showcase some 700 intriguing kosher wines
Visitors to the KFWE will savor the latest in fine and spirits from around the world. A high-
kosher wines, spirits, and creative cuisine from light of KFWENY will be the release of high-
top local kosher caterers, restaurateurs, and end wines from the exceptional 2015 vintage
PHOTO PROVIDED
gourmet specialty companies. in Bordeaux.
Among the featured products are new wines for For more information, go to thekfwe.com.
Passover, and kosher for Passover LVOV vodka dis-
tilled from beets and tequila from wild agave. From last year’s KFWE.
Cedar Market features new items and more

Kosher Market Think Cedar Market in Teaneck for last min- with a sauce or two.
ute items for the big game on Sunday. Be sure to sign up for Cedar Lane’s
Meats ✡ Chicken ✡ Deli ✡ Appetizing There is a checklist — from meats to emails and watch for details. Moni-
Prepared Foods ✡ Groceries ✡ Frozen Foods ✡ Catering condiments, to utensils, appetizers, tor its Facebook and Instagram
sides, desserts, breads, garnishes, pages for flash deals, giveaways,
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and even items for clean up — so you contests, and more. You always
201-262-0030 don’t forget anything and can enjoy can find some of its amazing
www.harolds.com
MON-WED 8-6; THURS 8-7; FRI 8-4; SUN 8-3; CLOSED SATURDAY watching the game with family and super deals on the back page
UNDER RABBINICAL SUPERVISION
friends. The CM weekly ad also has of the Jewish Standard.
fresh Miami ribs. (See recipe below.) Cedar Market delivers your
Serving The Kosher Way Since 1976
Items from the Wandering Que are orders. Let its friendly staff
back in stock. And check out the store’s shop it and deliver it for you. For
expanded selection of sushi, with the information, email orders@thece-
same daily promotion — buy two darmarket.com.
rolls, get one free. A custom sushi platter for the Big Game. Cedar Market is at 646
DELI • RESTAURANT • CATERING Also look for the new “poke Cedar Lane in Teaneck. For
menu” in the store and choose your own bowl. Start more information, call (201) 855-8500, email info@
1
Annual
Readers # with a choice of rices for the base, add a protein (or thecedarmarket.com, or go to www.thecedarmarket.
Choice New Jersey
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Proprietors Glen Rock, NJ
Under Rabbinical Supervision Tel: 201-445-1186
www.koshernosh.com Fax: 201-670-5674
Kosher.com marks first anniversary

In honor of Kosher.com’s first birthday, the team took “Most Popular Recipes” was Last-Minute Miami Ribs —
stock of some first-year milestones to determine how to the recipe is included below, as a idea to make for the
keep the momentum going. Among the “Top Picks” for big game.
Last Minute Miami Ribs

By Estee Kafra
Courtesy Kosher.com
FIRST PLACE FIRST PLACE
BAKERY CHALLAH “This is one of my favorite last minute, never-fail
6 Time Winner 8 Time Winner sauces and tastes terrific on Miami ribs. It couldn’t
be simpler to prepare.” EK
W A N F
INGREDIENTS
12 Miami-style ribs•
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup honey pour evenly over meat, making sure all the meat is
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 4 cubes Gefen covered with sauce. Cover pan tightly with alumi-
frozen garlic num foil.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place meat in the bot- Bake for two hours.
Challah · Pastries · cookies · bobkas · pies & More... tom of a greased baking dish. Do not pile the ribs •Miami ribs are beef short ribs (flanken) that have
WHERE QUALITY AND FRESHNESS COUNT! more than two high. been sliced into thin strips across the bone by the
www.zadiesbakeshop.com · [email protected] Mix all ingredients for sauce together in a bowl and butcher. They’re about 1/2-inch thick.

Keeping Kosher
Estihana Challah baking in Woodcliff Lake

can cater Members of Temple
in-house Emanuel of the Pascack
Valley in Woodcliff
Estihana Asian Restaurant and Lake gathered for the
Sushi in Teaneck, under RCBC synagogue’s second
supervision, welcomes patrons annual Challah Bake 4
to celebrate all occasions at the Women. From left are
restaurant. It also offers full cus- Elyse Solomon, Jen
tomized catering for any occa- Charnow, Rabbi Loren
sion, big or small. Call owner Monosov, and Rachel
Yamin Dayan to discuss your Baskin. PHOTO PROVIDED
simcha or celebration. The res-
taurant is at 515 Cedar Lane.
Call (201) 530-5665, email info@
Estihana.com, or go to www.esti-
hana.com.
Yamin Dayan, Estihana owner, sets up

a luncheon party for a local Teaneck
business.
A super-sized Teaneck Super Bowl

The men’s club of the Jewish Center of The party, for those ages 13 and older,
‘Big Game’ cocktails a game-changer Teaneck is relaunching with a kickoff “Super includes a full buffet. The shul is at 70
with beet mixers and berry sangria Bowl” party on Sunday, February 4, at 6:30
p.m. Watch the game on a 10-foot by 10-foot
Sterling Place. For information, call
(201) 833-0515 or go to www.jcot.org/
Hand-crafted Beetology mixers bring screen with an amazing sound system. payment.php.
sweet, nutritious goodness to the party
with today’s superfood trend, beets.
Beetology starts with farm-fresh, certi-
fied organic beets, cold presses them
for maximum nutrition, and blends
PE N !
them with nourishing organic fruits and
OW O
veggies like antioxidant-rich tart cher-
ries, kale, and ginger. The result: a mix- N Thousands of Combinations
ologist’s fantasy of cocktail starters that Unique and Healthy Toppings * Homemade Dressings
Choose a Delicious
deliver a tasty punch of vitamin C, iron,
fiber, magnesium, and other elements
essential for good health. It is also deli-
cious served chilled on its own.
You’ll also need a strategy for guests Fresh Salad from our Menu
or Create Your Own
who aren’t into mixed drinks. Keep some Beetology Blends and Joyvin Sangria
crisp sangria on hand to serve straight up together can make drinks for the big
or garnished with a few pieces of fruit. game fun and refreshing. This year,
Joyvin Sangria, from Royal Wine, is a sat- serve your guests versatile beverages,
isfying sip of fresh citrus and berries with alone or mixed together.
just a touch of fizz for some festive fun.
Sangria makes a refreshing, light ‘Big

Game’ beverage sure to please game
time guests.
Fresh and Healthy Garden Salads,

Tropical Beet-a-colada Grain Bowls, Soups, and Sandwiches
4 oz. Beetology Beet + Tropical Fruit
2 ounces coconut cream
2 ounces dark rum
2 ounces coconut rum
1 1/2 cups ice
Pineapple slice for garnish
Put the ice, Beetology, coconut cream, and rums into a 182 West Englewood Avenue, Teaneck, NJ 07666
blender. Blend until smooth and frosty. Pour the drink into 2
glasses and garnish with pineapple slices. Makes 2 drinks.
201-837-9900
E mail: [email protected]
ORDER ONLINE www.vinaigrette-nj.com
under supervision of RCBC

Editorial
Thank you, Beth Sholom
Truth regardless of consequences
To my daughter in her last

H moments of singlehood
ow do they do it? Dr. Eitan Fishbane, a professor of
L ast Shabbat, my Jewish thought at JTS. Dr. Fishbane
S
husband and I went began by asking everyone to sing
to Congregation Beth a niggun; he said that he does the haina, these are my last words to you Today, you have been chosen by Moshe to
Sholom’s annual Shabbaton. same thing at his seminary classes. as the most important man in your stand together beneath the chuppah. The
It was our fifth year there, and for Those niggunim break down the life. In a few moments, it will be your ancient rabbis say that a chuppah is also a rec-
the fifth time we marveled at what wall between the mysticism he husband who replaces me. reation of Eden, which is why it is covered in
one congregation can do. teaches and the dispassion of the When you were born, your mother and I beautiful flowers and other natural ornaments.
In between meals in the social students. It does not remove the named you Shaina Brocha, and you have been That is especially poignant because today is
hall and davening in the syna- analytic content but it shows by just that, a beautiful blessing to us throughout Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish new year for trees. In
gogue and music by the choir and example that passion and intellect your life. But now, under the chuppah, you a sense, you are both the primordial couple:
the children’s choir and the cantor, can work together, and that study- will embrace a new future with your married Moshe, you are the first man, and you, Shaina,
the shul’s talented and charismatic ing works best when it joins heart, soul mate. are Eve, the first woman, in this new world
music director, Ronit Wolff Hanan, mind, and soul. It’s an amazing thing that parents put on you both are building. Together, you are ful-
there were classes, all taught by I took a session taught by Dr. Ben parties called weddings to celebrate their filling the biblical injunction that a man must
Beth Sholom members, a wild Sommer, who teaches Bible at JTS. newly minted secondary status to their chil- leave his father and mother, marry, and “they
range of opportunities presented by We looked at some psalms, focusing dren. It is humbling for parents to be forced shall become one flesh.”
scholars who are good teachers to a on the switch many have between to acknowledge that they cannot provide what Seeing you join a fine young man with
group of students, their peers, who the plea with which they begin and their child seeks most in life, which is not to be whom you will build a life makes me feel like
also are also breathtakingly smart the thanks to God that end them. loved but to be chosen. I have reversed some of the wounds I have
and well-educated, comfortable Is that switch internal, as most tra- Love makes us feel protected. endured as a child of divorce. I
in their practices and knowledge, ditional scholars say, or is it exter- But chosenness makes us feel have been given the privilege of
happy to be together, eager to make nal, a function of the way in which special. To be loved is to be seeing love come alive from my
their brains work. psalms were used at the temples cherished. To be chosen is to own flesh and blood.
It is, to be clear, not a model that once stood before the system be rendered irreplaceable. Love In the Torah, we learn that
that many synagogues can follow. was centralized in Jerusalem? And is warm. But chosenness is Adam and Eve owned absolutely
Beth Sholom has what probably is before he did that session in Eng- electrifying. nothing, not even clothing. And
an intimidating number of rabbis lish, Dr. Sommer also presented it Your wedding falls during the yet they found paradise in each
— people say about 30 — and Jew- in Hebrew, and more than 15 peo- Torah reading of Yitro, with its other. Their only possession was
ish professionals among its mem- ple joined him. recounting of the giving of the love, and they reveled in the full-
bers. Many of them work at the I also went to a session by Dr. Torah at Mt. Sinai. At that place, Rabbi ness that their companionship
Jewish Theological Seminary, right Steve Garfinkle, who gave us texts God selected the Jews as His cho- Shmuley provided. Adam, whose first
over the bridge from the shul. And showing the interplay of ancient sen people. The Jewish wedding Boteach emotion, the Torah says, was
those rabbis and Jewish profes- near eastern concepts with the ceremony reflects that awesome loneliness, discovered fulfill-
sionals have attracted other inter- Jewish concepts we know, point- experience, with the groom wait- ment in the wife at his side, and
ested, well-educated, serious Jews ing out both the similarities and ing under the canopy for his bride, just as God Eve, too, found happiness in her penniless
to the community. the differences that make our own waited for the Israelites with thunder and light- husband.
Beth Sholom also is an answer tradition Jewish. ning. And the bride and groom stand under We commemorate that tradition till today
to the critics of the Conserva- It was all so very smart! the chuppah, just as God, according to legend, by having a bridegroom empty his pockets
tive movement, who say that it’s And those were just three of draped Mt. Sinai over the Jewish nation as a prior to his arrival at the chuppah, so that his
middle-of-the-road, boring, not the 30 or so courses on offer. The sign of protection. And then he uttered the wife accepts him for who he is without any
authentic enough for the modern hardest part of the entire Shabba- Ten Commandments, with the first two being accouterments. With Eve believing in him,
Orthodox world on its right and ton, in fact, was deciding which to the very essence of marriage: Adam gained confidence. He felt his existence
too stodgy and tradition-bound for go to, because that meant deciding I am the Lord Your God. You shall have was sufficient to make his wife blissful. She
the Reform Jews on its left. What I which to skip. no other Gods before me. Make me the One. laughed at his jokes. She snuggled at his side.
see is a shul glorying in both tradi- And of course it was fueled not Make me the Only. Eve, too, felt desirable and essential. She truly
tion and scholarship, which means only by food and song, but also by In marriage we choose each other by giving was Adam’s one and only. There was no one
that it is open to new ideas and new cookies. So very many cookies! So each other primacy and exclusivity. When it else in the entire world to distract him, and
understandings, always marinated much chocolate. comes to love there can be many. But when it he loved her with every molecule of his being.
in the tradition but also spiced by The Conservative movement comes to being chosen there can be only one. Last summer, Shaina, our family embarked
science and open to art. might be in trouble in some places,
My husband went to a session but it is flourishing at Beth Sholom. Shmuley Boteach has written books, including “Kosher Sex” and “Ten Conversations You Need to
on Nachman of Bratzlav taught by —JP Have with Yourself.” Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
Jewish Editor
Joanne Palmer
Correspondents
Warren Boroson
Advertising Coordinator
Jane Carr
Production Manager
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Founder
Morris J. Janoff (1911–1987)
Standard Associate Editor
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Editor Emeritus
Meyer Pesin (1901–1989)
1086 Teaneck Road Abigail K. Leichman Bob O'Brien
Community Editor Miriam Rinn Brenda Sutcliffe City Editor
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Beth Janoff Chananie Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman Administrative Assistant Mort Cornin (1915–1984)
(201) 837-8818
Fax 201-833-4959 About Our Children Editor Advertising Director Jenna Sutcliffe Editorial Consultant
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Marcia Garfinkle Fax: 02-6249240 Editor Emerita
Israeli Representative Rebecca Kaplan Boroson
thejewishstandard.com

Opinion
on a painful journey of Holocaust memory, visiting

many of the killing fields of Europe. It was almost too Silence drowns out self-respect
T
much to bear, as we traveled to Auschwitz, Maidanek,
Treblinka, and Dachau. By the time we reached Buda- he NBC series “This Is Us” has become a ritual they must visit Germany. My father’s response was cordial
pest, the capital of a country that saw 500,000 Jews in our home. It is reminiscent of “Thirtysome- yet direct. “I will go if you will take me to the lampshade and
murdered in just five months, your younger sister, thing” in its cadence and examination of relation- soap factories.”
Rochel Leah, said to you, “This is shaking my relationships, which may not be surprising considering The executive was stunned into silence.
ship with God, who remained silent while so many that Ken Olin, one of the main actors from “Thirtysome- From that moment on, this senior executive would work
innocents perished.” And you responded, “But we did thing,” is a director and executive producer on the series. with no one but my father, even though two of the part-
not come to these places for God. We came to remem- Rather than exploring friendships, however, the overarch- ners were of German heritage, and one had been born in
ber the lost six million, so that they are never forgot- ing storyline in the current series primarily is focused on the Germany. This man respected my father. He, like my dad,
- ten. Even if it causes momentary distance from God.” Pearson family. Jack and Rebecca Pearson are the parents of had lived through World War II, and from this interaction
It was then that I knew that you had absorbed the triplets — Randall, Kevin, and Kate. Randall was adopted but he understood that my father was principled and couldn’t
. central lesson in the life of Moses. When he receives born on the same day as Kevin and Kate (and to get more be bought, either as an American or as a Jew. They both
the Torah in this week’s parsha, events quickly spiral details, you will need to tune in). Right now, fans are waiting knew that a luxury car meant nothing compared to Mer-
out of control, as the Jews build and worship a golden for an episode that will air immediately after the Super Bowl cedes’ support of the Nazi dictatorship and exploitation of
: calf. Rather than preserving the Torah, Moses quickly that finally will reveal how Jack, their dad and Rebecca’s hus- forced laborers.
, destroys the Ten Commandments so the Jews cannot band, died just before the kids finished high school. This Think about how the world would be different if we
be held accountable for a law which they have now episode should result in impressive ratings. spoke about countries having respect for each other. What
- broken. He puts the people before God. In the most recent episode, the brothers were talking about respect deals rather than peace deals? Sound silly?
t And God loves him for it. Because a parent loves his about mortality, and Randall made the point that they now When is the last time you heard of someone who willfully
y children more than he loves himself. have lived longer without their father than they had with murdered someone they held in esteem? How different
The Lubavitcher rebbe, too, lived by this maxim, so him. Seems like a simple, almost throwaway line but the might the world be if governments respected their peo-
often arguing with God in front of thousands of people gravity of this simple statement of fact is palpable if this is ple’s opposing opinions rather than suppressing them
at his public discourses, demanding that God send the part of your own life story. with the threat of terror and murder, as we see in too many
Messiah and put a permanent end to human suffering. My dad died suddenly just as I finished my sophomore year countries around the world, from Iran to Cuba and Russia,
I I knew then, in Europe, surrounded by all this hor- in college. His death was so unexpected that his to name just a few?
f ror, that its remedy lay in God finding you your soul own doctor was in as much disbelief as were And what about standing up together
y mate, with whom you could rebuild the destroyed we. And though life continued, there is not a as American Jews, calling out anyone who
house of Israel. After we returned, just a few weeks day that I don’t think of my father and all the stands with the anti-Semitic, anti-American,
t later, you began dating Moshe, a young Chabad sha- lessons he taught my brothers and me in those racist leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis
y liach who devotes his life to providing inspiration and brief 19 years. And I clearly remember that Farrakhan?
guidance to youth. seemingly innocuous and yet consequential day Askia Muhammad is the photographer who
And here we are, blessed by God to be at your wed- that Randall was talking about — the moment shot a photo of then-Senator Barack Obama
ding, with so many people who love you in attendance. when you now are living longer without your smiling with Farrakhan at a meeting of the
- And why are we all here? Why is marriage — so loved one than you had with them. It was a Congressional Black Caucus. According to
private and personal a commitment — celebrated in very strange feeling, as so many of the things Martha Mr. Muhammad, the photo was taken in their
t public? he taught me, both through both words and by Cohen room at the Capital in 2005. When he was
Because love is never meant to be private. The exclu- example, fill my head. There were so many les- asked why the photo never appeared until this
- sivity you have for one another leads to the inclusivity sons about living life to its fullest, about never month, Mr. Muhammad said that he didn’t
of a home that is built to welcome in guests and share giving up, and about survival if the world goes dark. publish it after receiving an urgent request from a member
your blessings with strangers. That’s why you marry There isn’t a week that goes by that issues my father of the Congressional Black Caucus immediately following
under a chuppah, the tent of Abraham, which has only talked about decades ago are not in the news, but I think this meeting. Thus far, there have been no denials about the
y a roof and no walls, so that no one can be locked out. the most important lesson I learned from him was not to be meeting taking place, nor the request. The question now is
Today we look to you for inspiration. Those who are afraid to stand up for who you are, whether as a woman, an what are we going to do?
in less than loving marriages, or who were hurt by love, American, or a Jew. He showed us in so many ways that if Are we going to be silent, or are we going to stand up
y want to believe again that they too may be chosen. All you don’t respect yourself, no one else will. And respect is and ask the Congressional Black Caucus about this story,
, those whom life has beat up and who felt superflu- key to any relationship, professional or personal. and whether anyone in their caucus has a relationship with
ous or discarded are looking to you to heal. All those Though words are important, actions convey so much Farrakhan now or has hosted him or the Nation of Islam in
whom relationships have let down are looking at you more, as it was with this life lesson. My parents decided the years since this photo was taken? And which member
. to feel ennobled. Inspire us. Move us. Free us from to invest in a business that sold and repaired trucks in the issued this urgent request to bury the photo years ago? If the
y cynicism and despair. Give us hope. By witnessing the 1970s. The firm had been my father’s client for many years, caucus invited Farrakhan to a meeting room in the Capital,
two of you dedicating yourselves to each other, you and when one of the original partners died, he was offered don’t we have the right to full disclosure?
offer us all a taste of paradise. the opportunity to buy in. At that time, the business had Was Congressman John Lewis present? Did he know
. I bless you tonight, Shaina. May you embody your an arrangement with Mercedes Benz in Germany for the about the meeting? What about Congresswoman Maxine
mother’s beauty, selflessness, righteousness, and lov- trucks, but they used American-made Leach chassis. My Waters? Or James Clyburn, the current assistant Democratic
ing kindness. May you be all she is and more. May you father’s stipulation was that his location wouldn’t sell any of leader in the House of Representatives?
also be like the matriarchs of the Jewish people. May the trucks, but that they would repair them. All the partners Hosting someone in the Capital who spews hatred is
you have the fortitude of Sarah, who drew a line and agreed, and the deal was signed. abhorrent. If it were a congressional meeting with David
protected the exclusivity of her relationship with Abra- When the executives at Mercedes in Germany learned of Duke, we would demand answers. If we don’t find out why
ham. May you have the wisdom of Rebecca, who saw the new partner, they wanted to send my father a Mercedes- this event took place, who supported it, and what the cur-
aspects of character in her children to which even her Benz car as a gift. He thanked them but declined the offer. rent relationship between the Congressional Black Caucus,
husband remained blind. May you have the industri- The person offering the car, however, was a persistent senior their members, and the Nation of Islam is now, how can we
ousness of Rachel, to whom we are first introduced as executive who wouldn’t quit. He kept offering the car and — as Americans and as Jews — respect ourselves?
a shepherdess and entrepreneur. And may you have my father continued to decline graciously. Then one day the
the perseverance of Leah, who understood that rela- man came from Germany to visit my parents’ shop in Mount Martha Cohen is an award-winning producer and creative
tionships are built rather than created. Vernon. During their conversation, he told my parents that executive. She lives in Fort Lee with her husband and son.
Go forth and build an eternal home among Israel
and the Jewish people. Go forth and turn the ordinary
The opinions expressed in this section are those of the authors, not necessarily those
into the extraordinary, the natural into the miraculous,
of the newspaper’s editors, publishers, or other staffers. We welcome letters to the editor.
and the darkness into a sunlit paradise.
Send them to [email protected].

Opinion
Does the Obama-Farrakhan photo matter? Does anything?
N
“ othing matters.” That photograph, of Barack
You hear that a lot Obama and Louis Farrakhan, sur-
these days. faced last week when the photog-
Yo u h e a r i t rapher who took the shot released
when the Wall Street Journal it to Politico. Many agree that had
reports that the president’s the photo seen the light of day
personal lawyer paid a porn before the 2008 election, there
actress $130,000, at the height would have been no President
of the presidential campaign, Obama. It may have cemented
so she would stay silent about Andrew later accusations that he had con-
an alleged affair she’d had with Silow-Carroll sorted with radicals, including his
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Donald Trump. Or when the own pastor, who was a Farrakhan
president uses a vulgarity to apologist and a racist in his own
refer to African countries. Or right. Although Obama the can-
when the president is credibly reported to have demanded didate was eloquent in distanc-
the firing of the man investigating obstruction of justice ing himself both from the Rev.
claims concerning the president’s firing of another man Jeremiah Wright and Farrakhan,
investigating obstruction of justice claims. a picture is worth, as the saying
That was the premise of a “Saturday Night Live” skit last goes, thousands of beautifully
week in which Jessica Chastain hosted a putative game crafted words. Former President Barack Obama speaks at a Newark rally for then-guberna-
show called “What Even Matters Anymore?” When a con- Of course, there is plenty we torial candidate — and now Governor — Phil Murphy on October 19, 2017.
testant suggests that Trump’s Africa comment must mat- don’t know about the circum-
ter, an exasperated Chastain responds: “Actually, it does stances of the photo. Although reportedly taken at a Con- Farrakhan at all. The New Yorker’s Vinson Cunningham
not matter. Zero consequences and everyone moves on.” gressional Black Caucus event in Chicago, we don’t know notes that “it’s a sign of Farrakhan’s oddly lasting hold
I bring this up not to vilify Trump, but to remember who else attended, and whether the room was filled with on popular influence that he was even invited to clink
with wistfulness a faraway time — 2005 — when things other clergy and African-American power brokers, or drinks with the members” of the caucus. Like Wright, the
still mattered. When a U.S. senator from Illinois could be if it was some sort of tete-a-tete. Is Obama smiling with obscenely flawed Farrakhan represented a constituency
photographed with a wildly anti-Semitic black national- Farrakhan, or was he caught on camera smiling near that politicians felt could not be ignored.
ist, and other members of the Congressional Black Cau- Farrakhan? Or you might be inclined to reject the photo as mere
cus would suppress the photo so as not to sink his presi- If you are inclined to exculpate Obama, you might ask guilt by association. There is a style of gotcha journal-
dential chances. what the Congressional Black Caucus was doing hosting ism and opposition research that turns dumb gestures or
Acknowledging friends and foes: A (further) liturgical proposal
S
ome years ago, I pro- I have come to believe that yet another often neglected reflected in history than the statement that those who
posed that a new “Ha- group merits recognition among the Ha-Rachaman bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse it will
Rachaman” prayer be prayers in Birkat haMazon: loyal and principled friends be cursed. The decline of a nation can often be clearly
added to Birkat haMa- of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. There are related to the way it has treated the Jew.”
zon (the series of blessings or nations, religious groups, political organizations, promi- The friends of the Jewish people and significant acts of
“grace” offered after meals), nent national leaders, and public figures who demon- friendship and moral courage directed toward the peo-
acknowledging the unique role strate friendship and support for the Jewish people and ple Israel are many and varied. Consider the performing
of the United States both in the causes we hold dear, who are deserving of our grati- artists and bands who have defied the BDS movement to
world affairs and in the Jewish tude, yet whom we too often neglect. Perhaps we are sus- perform in the Jewish State: The Rolling Stones, Jethro
national experience. Rabbi Joseph picious of their motives or sincerity. Perhaps we disagree Tull, Madonna (who wrapped herself in an Israeli flag on
I argued that the standard, H. Prouser with other religious principles or political positions that stage), Alicia Keys, Guns ‘N Roses, Britney Spears, Nick
generic petition asking God those proffering their friendship have adopted. Perhaps Cave, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Ringo Starr,
to bless “ha-aretz ha-zot” — we are so preoccupied with other pressing issues that we and others.
“this country” — represented a simply have allowed sustained acts of support, kindness, Think, too, of tennis great Venus Williams, who took a
neglectful injustice to the exceptional quality of the United and affection to go unrequited. principled stand when the United Arab Emirates barred
States. (The same blessing just as well could be recited by The cosmic implications and theological significance an Israeli athlete from a tournament. Her sister Serena
devoted citizens of Canada, Chile, or Uganda on behalf of of befriending the Jewish people is stated in the Torah and tennis (and feminist) icon Billie Jean King added
their nations, and “ha-aretz ha-zot” does not have the same repeatedly, and lies at the very heart of our historic mis- their voices to the protest, and succeeded in changing
meaning when recited by Americans abroad.) Drawing upon sion and covenant. In the very first moments of Jewish the tournament host nation’s visa policy.
the words of Abraham Lincoln, the new blessing asks: “Ha- history, God assures Abram: Va-avaracha mevarchecha Consider the principled support for the state of Israel
Rachaman, Hu yevarech et Artzot Ha-Brit, she-memshalah u-mekalelcha a-or — “I will bless those who bless you by political and governmental leaders such as former U.S.
shel ha-am, al yedei ha-am, u-l’maan ha-am lo tikached min and curse whoever curses you” (Genesis 12:3). Isaac Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, who wrote (and
ha-aretz” — “May the Merciful One bless the United States of transmits this divine promise to Jacob: “Cursed be they at a massive Washington D.C. rally in support of the Jewish
America, that government of the people, by the people, and who curse you, blessed they who bless you” (Genesis State, proclaimed to his fellow Americans from the Capi-
for the people shall not perish from the earth.” 27:9). Balaam, too, repeated God’s covenantal blessing tol steps): “Keeping faith with the people of Israel in their
I was gratified by the response to my liturgical innova- to Israel: “Blessed are they who bless you. Accursed they still unfinished confrontation with evil is, to me, a species
tion, and by the correspondence I received from those who curse you” (Numbers 24:9)! of keeping faith with ourselves; breaking faith, a species
who shared my sentiments and had adopted my pro- Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut affirms this fundamental arti- of self-negation. It is exactly that simple, and exactly that
posed prayer. cle of faith: “Few biblical dicta have been more clearly difficult, and exactly that consequential.”

Opinion
sloppy planning into political felonies. Last week, Rep- Democratic president attacking
resentative Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) took heat when it was the FBI? Can you imagine if Hillary
learned that in 2006 he gave an interview to a publication had won the election and there
that peddles in Holocaust denial, and that a year later he were unmistakable signs that the
headlined a rally that also heard from a musician with his Russians had gamed Facebook in
own interesting theories about the Shoah. Barletta was a her favor? (It works the other way,
small-town mayor at the time, and last week he blamed too: Can you imagine, ask Trump’s
his staff for bad vetting. I’d want to know a lot more before defenders, if Hillary had protected
dismissing Barletta as soft on Holocaust denial. a campaign adviser accused of
Whether events like these do, or should, sink a politi- sexual harassment — oh, wait, that
cian’s career depends on a number of things. Fairly or actually happened.)
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
unfairly, bad things stick to politicians if they somehow Had the Farrakhan photo come
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

reflect something that the public has suspected all along. out before the election, it just
When Mitt Romney griped about a parasitic “47 percent,” might have ended Obama’s pres-
it matched his image as an out-of-touch one-percenter. idential ambitions, and there’s
When John Kerry flip-flopped on his support for the a strong case to be made that it
use of force in Iraq, it sealed an impression, pushed by should have. Even if he shared
his opponent, that he’d say anything to win. And when none of Farrakhan’s ideas, Obama
George H.W. Bush checked his watch during a debate with would have lent the Nation of
Bill Clinton, it provided an unfortunate — and unfair — con- Islam leader — and by extension Louis Farrakhan speaks at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., on
trast between the sturdy if unexciting Washington insider his penchant for anti-Semitic November 16, 2017.
and the energetic if sometimes undisciplined challenger. scapegoating — a senatorial hech-
Trump, it has been noted time and again, has obliter- sher. It may have confirmed an impression of Obama as gaffe and ignoring a pattern of disqualifying behavior —
ated the whole idea of the political gaffe. Starting with his opportunistic, transactional, and — perhaps worst of all the middle of a scale between, let’s say, Howard Dean’s
“Mexican rapists” campaign launch, gaffes have become — hypocritical. Scream and James Traficant’s Entire Career (look it up).
his brand. He’s shown that if you flood the zone with Yet had one photo done him in, America may have been We can only hope that Trump hasn’t inured us to outrage,
enough gaffes, distractions, and downright lies, they all denied a gifted leader who was able to embody, on the or lowered the bar to a degree that a politician’s bad, boor-
but cancel each other out. Twitter users love to use the largest possible stage, a daily rebuke to Farrakhan’s hate- ish, or unethical behavior just doesn’t matter.
“Can you imagine if” construction to point how any one ful, racially polarized version of minority empowerment. JTA Wire Service
of the daily outrages associated with Trump would have There has to be a way of thinking about our leaders that
sunk a normal politician. Can you imagine if it were a falls somewhere between overreacting to an inexpedient Andrew Silow-Carroll of Teaneck is JTA’s editor in chief.
Recently, genuine friendship toward the state of But God’s promise in Genesis was twofold. Those who David Freedman (Sefer Shalmei David) which, notwith-
Israel was demonstrated by Guatemala, in that Cen- bless us will be blessed and those who curse us will be standing the actual etymology of the term, homileti-
tral American nation’s recognition of Jerusalem as the cursed (mekalelcha a-or). It seems patently improper cally links the execrable “a-or” of Genesis 12:3 to “or,”
capital of Israel. (My congregation now gratefully dis- and unseemly to introduce a curse into our blessings meaning light: “The Holy One’s blessing suggests that
plays a Guatemalan flag next to that of the Jewish State of gratitude. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik taught that God will enlighten and open the eyes of Abraham’s
in our sanctuary.) cruelty “desecrates the very essence of prayer, since it enemies, so that they will curse him no more.” Such a
Further, let us not forget the thousands of Christian encases man in an ugly little world into which God is sentiment is worthy of Jewish prayer — if not necessar-
Zionists among the evangelical community, of whose unwilling to enter. If man craves to meet God in prayer, ily of earnest students of Hebrew grammar.
motives and friendship many Jews remain deeply sus- then he must purge himself of all that separates him During Birkat haMazon, we thank God for our sus-
picious, but whose concern for the Jewish state often is from God.” Our new Ha-Rachaman blessing must not tenance. During Birkat haMazon, we articulate our
more impactful on national policy, and more faithfully petition a merciful God to curse our enemies. gratitude for the State of Israel (“reishit tzemichat
translated into voting patterns, than our own. They Rather, let us more discreetly invoke God’s covenantal ge’ulateinu” — “the beginning of a still unfolding pro-
explicitly cite the covenantal promise to Abraham as assurances through prayerful wordplay: “Ha-Rachaman cess of Jewish national redemption”). During Birkat
the basis of their principled political posture and bib- Hu yevarech et mevarecheinu, v’et mekaleleinu yancheh haMazon, we offer our gratitude for our own excep-
lical fealty. la-or” — “May the Merciful One bless those who bless us, tional nation, as well as for many other blessings and
The long history of persecution and exclusion, and lead those who curse us toward the light.” (Yancheh aspirations in our lives. It is only right that in the light of
hatred and betrayals endured by the Jewish people — “May God lead” is the same verb used in Psalm 23: God’s covenantal promise to Abraham and his heirs, we
does not excuse continued ingratitude, nor does it “Yancheini b’maglei tzedek l’maan Shemo” — “You lead also gratefully acknowledge true friends of the Jewish
relieve us of the moral obligation of hakarat ha-tov me on paths of righteousness, for Your Name’s sake.”) people and the Jewish state. We thereby effectively rise
— the duty to acknowledge the good and honorable The Hebrew la-or — “to the light” (root: alef-vav- above a historic pattern of pain and cynical suspicion,
acts of others, especially when we are the recipients resh) — evokes through assonance the famous term and declare our determination to embrace the hand of
of such gestures of friendship and support. in Genesis: A-or — “I will curse” (root: alef-resh-resh). friendship when it is extended to us.
If we are to translate this increasingly grateful sen- Yet it does so without allowing our mealtime petition “Ha-Rachaman Hu yevarech et mevarecheinu, v’et
sibility into words of prayer, it makes sense to tie our to descend into the very expressions of hate from mekaleleinu yancheh la-or.” “May the Merciful One bless
efforts to the scriptural record of a merciful God’s cov- which we yearn for salvation. Such a Ha-Rachaman those who bless us, and lead those who curse us toward
enantal promise to our founding generations. “Ha- maintains the language and the poetic resonance of the Light.”
Rachaman, Hu yevarech et mevarecheinu — May the the covenantal original, while elevating our postpran-
Merciful One bless those who bless us” provides a suc- dial prayer to a peace-loving, worthy, and optimistic Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of
cinct but unmistakable literary echo of Genesis. vision. It also revisits the lovely interpretation of Rabbi North Jersey in Franklin Lakes.

Opinion
Moving toward a garden to nurture human understanding
A
number of years
ago, when we
started to campaign
for a Holoc aust
memorial and education cen-
ter, it seemed that the memorial
would be a standalone project
in a park setting. We envisioned
it as a place that would give the
community a way to memorial- Steve Fox
ize family members who were
killed during the Holocaust and
be a Shoah education center for the surrounding area.
As the project progressed, we were offered a place
on the Teaneck municipal green, an area that would be
open to other memorials as well. We accepted the offer,
and called the place “The Garden to Nurture Human
Understanding.”
Why is this significant?

For the last year, we have been meeting and working with
the only other group who has reserved one of the three
other possible places on the green. That group is working
to memorialize enslaved Africans. We, along with them, Steve Fox, left, and Holocaust memorial co-chair Bruce Prince, holding a design of the proposed center on
believe that having both memorials close to each other the Teaneck municipal green, are joined by architect Alan Hantman.
will encourage people who are visiting one memorial to
go to the other as well. That will draw some people to Hollywood.” Not only were members of the Enslaved
a memorial that they otherwise would not have visited. African Memorial Committee in attendance, but the Localized Holocaust education
More importantly, it would help each community better head of that group, Patricia Butler, addressed the crowd Some people ask why there is a need for a Holocaust
understand the travails that the other has endured. In this and talked about how the Jewish and African American memorial and education center in Bergen County when
era of racism and increasing polarization, this understand- communities historically worked together. She talked we already have a museum in Battery Park, in Manhattan.
ing is nothing to be overlooked. about the many Jews who marched with Dr. King. She The reality is that our community is so large, and there
Two weeks ago, we held an event at the Teaneck library, also noted the young Jewish volunteers who were killed are so many families of Holocaust survivors, that it is good
which is partnering with both groups to house and facili- in Mississippi, where they went to work for the civil to also have someplace that is local and easily accessible.
tate parts of our exhibits. This meeting was the first in rights movement. The audience not only appreciated But there is more. We plan to allocate significant space
a series of events that the library will host; each of our the excellent educational lesson in Holocaust cinema for community members to memorialize family members
groups will sponsor an event on alternate months. We but was impressed that our groups are working together who were killed during the Shoah, and to dedicate pro-
had an overflow crowd who came to hear Professor for the betterment of the community. As one longtime grams and portions of the outdoor area to loved ones. We
Eric Goldman of Teaneck, a film historian, give a won- resident put it, “It is beautiful to see both groups coming also plan to create an extensive technology-guided educa-
derful lecture about “The Shoah Through the Lens of together for a positive reason.” tion program that will begin with the outdoors exhibits
Just say thanks . . . in a nonpartisan manner
T
he magic words we would share in its peace
were taught as chil- and prosperity. The Mishna and Talmud require
dren were please
and thank you.
Ezra expressed a simi-
lar sentiment in requiring
that a person pray for the welfare of
Who doesn’t remember a that the community pray the government. This includes the
parent or teacher insisting on
this basic courtesy? Gratitude
for the life of the king and
his sons. The Talmud had
king and the others who comprise
is a fundamental value, and no illusions about the self- the governmental apparatus.
expressing it is a virtue.
Jewish law and custom ele- Leonard
ish motives of the Persian
government in allowing
Absent this vital function in the
vates this principle to a com- Grunstein Jewish exiles to return to society, there would be anarchy.
munity mandate in a variety Jerusalem and build the
of circumstances. Thus Jer- Second Temple. This, The Mishna and Talmud require that apparatus. Absent this vital func-
emiah enjoined the exiles in Babylon to though, did not detract from the require- a person pray for the welfare of the gov- tion in the society, there would be anar-
seek and pray for the welfare of the city ment to be gracious and to demonstrate ernment. This includes the king and the chy, and as the Mishna notes so vividly,
in which they resided, so that they too our gratitude as a community. others who comprise the governmental people would swallow each other alive.
Blessing the monarch or other leader
Leonard Grunstein of Teaneck, a retired attorney and banker, founded and served as chairman of Metropolitan National Bank of the government and praying for his or
and then of Israel Discount Bank of NY. He also founded Project Ezrah and serves on the board of Revel at Yeshiva University and of her welfare became a customary part of
AIPAC’s Bergen Council. He has published articles in the Banking Law Journal, Real Estate Finance Journal, and other publications. the Sabbath prayer service. I remember
[headshot Steve Fox]

Opinion
Toward a more perfect union
S
and continue inside the library. There While everyone has their own charities eeing my high poverty, expand access to
will be space both inside and outside for and schools to support, we believe that school in national health care, promote envi-
group discussions and lectures. Part of this the importance of this project cannot headlines last week ronmental protection, and
project is to create a video library that will be overemphasized. This sentiment has was mildly surreal. fight racism? It’s difficult to
include Holocaust testimonies of relatives been expressed by clergy of all faiths who The Frisch School, a mod- imagine a modern Ortho-
of people from Bergen County. The change we have been in contact with, as well as ern Orthodox high school dox school organizing a let-
to bring their children and grandchildren by community and political leaders. The in Paramus, was my home ter-writing campaign about
to see their ancestors honored at our educational and moral benefits that this for four formative years. any of those issues, and we
memorial and education center is some- project will bring to its visitors (about 70 It also is the alma mater of should ask ourselves why.
thing that we believe families will cherish. to 80 percent of the visitors to most Holo- Jared Kushner, currently an Alexander These issues, and many
Giving schools, synagogues, churches, and caust memorials and museums are non- adviser to his father-in-law, Lichtenberg more, ought to be as con-
other organizations the opportunity to Jews) can affect generations to come in President Donald Trump. cerning to any civic-minded
experience what we believe will be an eye- an extremely positive way. These improbable facts Jew as the well being of the
opening, emotional visit will help us make To do all of the things for the physi- collided last week when a story broke in Jewish state.
sure that the lessons of the Holocaust are cal as well as the educational parts of Haaretz that some parents of students The problem with politics in modern
not forgotten, and that the stories of the the project requires serious funding. at Frisch were upset at the school for Orthodox communities is even more
survivors are kept alive. We have received seed money from the instructing students to write letters of acute today. The specter and disaster of
state of New Jersey but we have a long thanks to Trump for recognizing Jerusa- Trump’s presidency and what it symbol-
Designing an exhibit way to go. (Please go to our website, lem as the capital of Israel. The letter-writ- izes should act as a wake-up call for all
To help us navigate the important www.nnjholocaustmemorial.org, for ing campaign was initiated by NORPAC, a religious Jews. President Trump has made
exhibit/educational program, we have more details.) pro-Israel group that fundraises for candi- clear his contempt for democratic norms
contracted Ralph Applebaum Associates, dates who take certain positions on Israel. and his admiration for white suprema-
one of the world’s leading exhibit design- Continuing education NORPAC has long had close relationships cists. His administration has made itself
ers. Our architect, Alan Hantman, FAIA, As we work on raising the funds for our with many schools and synagogues across the enemy of the poor, the widowed, and
who was the 10th architect of the Capitol project, we will continue to sponsor northern New Jersey, including Frisch. the orphaned, precisely those people
in Washington from February 1997 until educational programs for the commu- That a teacher at Frisch was encourag-
February 2007, worked with Applebaum nity, like the one we had at the library. ing students to participate in a NORPAC-
on that project. Applebaum also designed We will work with Holocaust educators led campaign is itself entirely unremark-
the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Cen- and exhibit experts to produce an effec- able. Many other groups of Orthodox
ter in Moscow, the Newseum in Washing- tive and memorable exhibition and will Jews are doing the same thing. The fact Trump’s
ton, the Holocaust Museum in Washing-
ton, the Clinton presidential library, and
continue to work with the Enslaved Afri-
can Memorial Committee to create a
that there was some parental backlash is
somewhat surprising, but hardly the stuff
presidency
many of the high profile museums and true “Garden to Nurture Human Under- of a viral news story. and what it
exhibits around the world. So we really
have a top-notch team working with us.
standing” that will be a model for others
to emulate.
Except, in this case, the point of the
campaign is to express gratitude to an
symbolizes
unpopular and problematic president, should act
Communal involvement
Creating a lasting Holocaust memorial
Steve Fox is the president of Fox Marketing
& Video Productions and co-chair of the
and the group in question is his adviser’s
high school.
as a wake-up
and education center is a daunting proj- Northern New Jersey Holocaust Memorial I was surprised to see this story in the call for all
ect and needs lots of communal support. and Education Center. news, and I was reminded of my own
political activism in high school. I have
religious Jews.
fond memories running Frisch’s Israel
advocacy club, including editing its news- whom the Torah repeatedly commands
letter and organizing a trip to Washington, us to care for. Now more than ever, it is
D.C., so that high school seniors could crucial to educate the next generation of
lobby members of Congress on issues religious Jewish voters about the danger
related to Israel. Frisch did a service to Trump and his allies pose for anyone who
me and my politically minded classmates supports liberal democracy, abhors rac-
by encouraging political activism and civic ism, and looks after the most marginal-
well as a child, in the synagogue on the and urged others to do so as well. engagement at a young age. ized in our society.
Sabbath, hearing the gabbai read the In reflecting on the importance of I thought about these past events in I am grateful to Frisch for supporting
special prayer for the welfare of the gov- expressing our gratitude to governmen- light of last week’s story. The problem goes my political activism before I could even
ernment of the United States of America, tal leaders, I am reminded of ancient beyond the few modern Orthodox Jews vote. I hope that Frisch, and other modern
including the blessings for the president times and an incident involving another whose support for Trump is, and opposi- Orthodox schools, continue to educate
and vice president. This was a nonpar- leader of a superpower at the time. The tion to Obama was, rooted in racism. The their students on the importance of civic
tisan matter. It made no difference who Talmud reports that the Roman Caesar bigger issue is the myopic focus on Israel engagement. The question is not whether
served in the office of the president at made a gesture. It took the form of a sac- whenever modern Orthodox Jews discuss these schools should encourage politi-
the time, or how many members voted rifice to be offered in the Second Tem- national politics. It’s not only a matter of cal activism. It’s a matter of which poli-
for that person. Always, the congregation ple. It was intended as a test, to see if the using Israel as a proxy for which candidates tics should be discussed and promoted.
joined in the prayer by answering amen. sacrifice would, in fact, be brought and to support. Virtually all political activism in Will schools continue to talk only about
The need to publicly express our grati- thereby honor the Roman Caesar and modern Orthodox communities centers politics in the context of the U.S. govern-
tude to our governmental leaders is an his government. The Talmud goes on to around pro-Israel advocacy. ment’s stance on a handful of Israel issues?
important duty we all share as members relate how Bar Kamtza (of the notorious Concern for, and prioritization of, Isra- Or will schools educate students on acute
of the Jewish people. This is especially so incident of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza) art- el’s welfare is not by itself problematic. It issues facing our country, and how, even
when a governmental leader reaches out fully blemished the animal to prevent becomes a problem when that concern as minors, they can work toward a more
and takes courageous action, like Presi- the sacrifice. His object was to subvert comes at the expense of thinking about perfect union for all Americans?
dent Trump did, in formally recogniz- the relationship between Rome and the any other political issues. How many times
ing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I, Jewish people. The Sages considered have modern Orthodox schools organized Alexander Lichtenberg of Teaneck is a
therefore, wrote him a thank-you note See Thanks 44 in support of policies to alleviate chronic student at New York Medical College.

Letters
Thank you, President Trump be proud that Frisch and many other Jewish day schools dozen New Yorkers around him. His driver was nowhere
I write in disappointed incredulousness regarding the ‘less know how to motivate their students’ recognition of the in sight — I assume he went into one of the bodegas. I
than a molehill made into a mountain’ Frisch H.S. letters blessings bestowed upon us and to give thanks to those stood there for a few minutes then nodded to the future
issue (“Was a thank-you note a breach of etiquette?” Jan- who deserve it. president and continued on my way. As I walked away
uary 26). Let’s face reality; while the Standard’s article Leonard Fuld I remember thinking that if I was one the richest men
provided valid background information to the non-issue, Teaneck in New York I wouldn’t be standing around like that. I’d
the anonymous and attributed quotes reflect nothing be inside that car with the doors locked. I believe the
but the continued whining of liberal sore-losers. The fact Shame on you, Trump haters! President is a people person. He genuinely enjoys being
that Jared Kushner went to Frisch many years ago is irrel- According to the Book of Ezra, 2500 years ago the around people.
evant, and speciously used to generate headlines. Taking great Persian king, Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return It is refreshing to finally have a president that tells
it another step, Shammai Engelmayer, in his weekly edito- to their homeland and rebuild the second Temple. In you what he is thinking without having to turn to his
rial of supposed Talmudic wisdom, felt the need to chime his honor, they dedicated the Eastern gate of the outer pollsters to find out what to believe or say. It is remark-
in with distorted and irrelevant references to saving lives walls of the Temple Mount, the Shushan Gate facing able to have a president that is not afraid to do things in
and spilling blood. Does he seriously believe that letters Persia. Fast forward to the present and for the first time his first year in office that other presidents do in their
of thanks from high school students to the President of an American President proclaimed Jerusalem as the eighth year as they walk out the door!
the U.S. will lead to loss of life or spilling of blood? His dis- eternal capital of Israel. Rabbi Ciner, thank you for the amazing job you are
ingenuous use of our beloved Sages’ words to bolster his As a token of appreciation, Frisch students (the First doing and please ignore Facebook and this fake contro-
own unhappy prospective is disappointing and not worth Son-in-Law’s alma mater), were urged to write thank-you versy. What happens on Facebook should stay on Face-
refuting, especially given the innumerable citations in our notes to the President. The reaction: a few token parents book. Most of it goes against Jewish values anyway.
history to the expressions of thanks given to our non-Jew- (needless to say, Trump Haters) objected and the rest I also hope Frisch will continue to invite people like
ish rulers. Will he next call for a discontinuance of our was left for the media to pounce upon. To add salt to Jason Greenblatt to speak to the students, and not turn
weekly prayer for the government, which we have said in the wound, Rosh Yeshiva and teacher of Talmud Ozer into another Rutgers. A wonderful quality of the Orthodox
one form or another since Jeremiah’s time? Oh, and let’s Glickman weighed in by stating “that the timing of the community, as a recent Pew Research poll shows, is the
not ignore Neal Borovitz’s “shock” in his letter, upon read- letter writing campaign was unfortunate.” Seriously! The varied and balanced opinions and political viewpoints in
ing about this issue in the always even-handed reporting timing? When would be the correct timing? On another our community (about 50-50 as contrasted with the Con-
of Haaretz. Isn’t it astoundingly ironic that a reform ‘rabbi’ front, various so-called Jewish leaders invoked separa- servative and Reform movements where it is skewed 70-30
would call for a protective fence (gezeirah) for secular tion of Church and State! and 80-20 respectively towards liberal viewpoints).
legal principles? Shame on these parents. Shame on Ozer Glickman. Mr. Greenblatt’s message is truer in our time as ever.
So now, let’s consider the realities from a nonpolitical per- Shame on self-hating Jews. Perhaps these individuals As a community we know how Israel is often the vic-
spective. This President has undoubtedly raised the world- should take a moment to open the Book of Ezra and glean tim of this biased reporting. How many times has a false
wide stature of Israel. He has fulfilled long-made promises of some sense of spiritual guidance. story been splashed across the headlines of the “news-
recognizing the reality that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Herbert Burack paper of record” only for a retraction to be buried
He has and continues to shift the U.N.’s and, for that mat- Teaneck deep inside the paper days later. How many times has a
ter, the world’s attitude toward Israel. All of this is good for story that puts Israel in a positive light been completely
the Jews. We must also be concerned by a number of the Thank you, Rabbi Ciner ignored by the popular media.
negatives ascribed to President Trump that are incessantly As a current Frisch parent, I completely support the The media’s biased treatment of the president should
reported by the press, but that should certainly not counter- school’s decision to ask their students to thank the pres- be evident to every thinking individual. Just a look at Time
mand our appreciation for all the good. ident. “Was a thank-you note a breach of etiquette?” is magazine’s recent covers is enough to tell you that this is
Accordingly, the idea that Frisch students, who appreci- the headline of your article. Seriously? Shouldn’t we no longer a news magazine put a propaganda tool. On Feb-
ated his Jerusalem stance, should voluntarily send a note be teaching our children if someone does something ruary 16, 2017, just a month after the president took office,
of gratitude to the President seems absolutely proper and nice for you to say thank you? Not saying thank you is a Time printed an article by Maya Rhodan titled: “Trump’s
apolitical. After eight years of a president who was decid- breach of etiquette! immigration crackdown seems designed to spread fear”.
edly unfriendly to Israel, it is truly refreshing to finally In recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, our Every law enforcement official interviewed said it would
have a U.S. leader who is willing to publicly recognize president stuck his neck out with this monumental be impossible to plan and implement this type of oper-
Israel’s correctness, especially in contrast to its adversar- gesture and went against the advice and threats of the ation in under a month and that this was planned well
ies. There is no question that we should be a light onto entire world. before Mr. Trump’s election. So, is this honest and bal-
the nations, but not to the detriment of our own people. Our community should be most grateful to the presi- anced journalism or propaganda?
As my former professor, Elie Wiesel, aptly stated, “When dent — regardless of how you voted! As citizens of this great nation we should support our
a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in In full disclosure I am a fan. I came across Mr. Trump president and wish him continued success and teach our
his or her humanity” and silence or protest is certainly not around 12 years ago as I was walking up Broadway near children to do the same.
the way to reflect that thankfulness. the Letterman theater. Mr. Trump was standing next to Sam Rappaport
Frisch H.S did nothing wrong, and in fact, we should all his limousine with a random mishmash of about a half Teaneck
The talmudic text concludes with a course of history have been different? our gratitude, as a community, by writ-
Thanks resounding criticism of the overly virtu- We must be mindful of these lessons, ing to the president and expressing our
from page 43
ous pronouncements of Rabbi Zechariah even as we treasure the right to have hon- thanks for his brave decision to recognize
the matter and thought to consummate ben Avkulas. While he didn’t intend to est and vigorous debate and to vote for the Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While
the sacrifice, despite the animal’s blem- slight the Roman emperor, the effect was candidate of our choice. The exercise of we’re at it, we might also thank Vice Pres-
ish, to maintain peace with the Roman the same; the emperor’s goodwill gesture these freedoms does not displace the duty ident Pence for his inspirational remarks
overlords. However, Rabbi Zechariah was rejected. The Talmud notes this was we have to express our gratitude to the sit- before the Knesset and the announce-
ben Avkulas, one of the Sages, protested the precipitating cause for the destruction ting president. He is the leader of the gov- ment that the U.S. embassy soon will be
that this would send the wrong message of the Second Temple and the exile. Imag- ernment, which assures our protection, moved to Jerusalem.
to the people. As a result of his protesta- ine had the dictates of extreme piety been including our right to free speech. As we approach the 70th anniversary
tions, the Sages did not intervene, and rejected, and instead practical consider- I, therefore, urge everyone, men, of the State of Israel, let’s show our grati-
the sacrifice was aborted. ations had prevailed. Might the entire women, and children, to demonstrate tude. Just say thanks.

Opinion
Israel cannot deny the reality of a BDS in decline
R
ecently, I’ve been
nursing some con-
cerns about the
way the Israeli
government is handling its
response to the BDS campaign
against the Jewish state, and
with it the wider challenges of
anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism
in the Western world. Ben Cohen
Some of my concerns already
have been expressed with envi-
able clarity by two other commentators, my JNS colleague
Jonathan Tobin and the Times of Israel’s Haviv Rettig Gur.
In response to Israel’s decision this month to ban 20
BDS-related organizations from entering the country,
Tobin made the broader point in his column that the
material impact of the BDS campaign upon Israel has been
gratifyingly minimal. The true danger of this campaign, he
continued, lies in its persistent targeting of Jewish commu-
nities in the diaspora.
Meanwhile, Rettig Gur’s critique of the official Israeli
response to BDS included a wryly amusing account of how
Israel has generated a handful of boutique-sized govern-
ment ministries during the last decade. These ministries
have no clear mandate, but are staffed by bureaucracies
whose “primal” goal is survival. This drive, Rettig-Gur
argued, explains to significant degree why the Israeli gov-
ernment’s own campaign to counter BDS is escalating.
I want to amplify some of these concerns, and then offer a Bds movement protest against Israel in Melbourne, australia. moHameD oUDa vIa WIkImeDIa commonS
a few of my own.
As a general rule, governments engaging in campaigns major concern for Jewish communities in the diaspora? Israel and its people.
to defend their own records, or to project a certain image To my mind, the greatest error of all here is the denial of Meanwhile, Israel is now positively enjoying life as a
of their country, is rarely a good idea. That’s particularly a basic reality that we should all welcome. The BDS cam- member of the international community—the world’s
true if the ultimate goal is to win over skeptics and adver- paign is in decline. That is not to say that BDS has failed 10th-most-innovative country, according to a Bloomberg
saries — or at least persuade them to consider a given situ- definitively; merely to note that by its own very specific News index released this week, respected and embraced
standard of political success, it has performed miserably. in the worlds of technology, television drama, food, and
That standard is the global movement that opposed wine, as well as its more traditional spheres, like agricul-
apartheid in South Africa. ture and defense.
The BDS campaign is in That was an explicitly racist form of government, based
upon the formal segregation by the state authorities of
All this makes the idea of a government ministry that
is dedicated to countering a political demonization cam-
decline. That is not to white and non-white peoples. BDS proponents lie when paign seem even more incongruous. It suggests that the
say that BDS has failed they say that this shameful system has been resurrected
in Israel, but that lie allows them neatly to adopt the fight
NGOs involved with this hateful campaign represent such
a threat to Israel’s national security that a government-
definitively; merely to against apartheid in South Africa as their inspiration and backed response suddenly is warranted. More seriously, it
note that by its own campaign model.

By the end of the 1960s, within a few years of form-
compromises the independence of Jewish and pro-Israel
civil society organizations when they do the vital job of
very specific standard ing anti-apartheid groups in university campuses and pushing back, with all the setbacks and periodic victories
of political success, it churches in Europe and America, the anti-apartheid

movement had succeeded in indelibly linking the name
that this work has involved, and will continue to involve.
Most of all, it sends a message of fear to the Jewish com-
has performed of South Africa with racism of the most backward kind. munity. Fear that the fight against BDS is being lost, that
miserably. The notion of South Africa as an affluent, leafy white sub-

urb on the African continent was devastated by images of
more and more of our friends and work colleagues are
uncomplicatedly embracing the Iranian fantasy of a world
the suffering visited upon the large black majority by the without Israel, and that BDS is inflicting the kind of dam-
ation from more than one point of view. That is particu- small white minority. age on Israel that South Africa experienced from the anti-
larly true, I think, when the bone of contention is not the By the 1980s, banks in Europe and the United States apartheid movement.
record of the elected government in power, but the deeper were looking at South Africa as a reputational risk, super- The Israeli government should see that the reverse is true.
reputation and legitimacy of the nation that government markets noticed that consumers were shunning South Nothing can hide the BDS movement’s abject failure to per-
represents. African fruit and vegetables in growing numbers, and mil- suade the citizens of Western democracies that Israel is the
In the Israeli case, a campaign of this nature is so unnec- lions of people heard Nelson Mandela’s name in anthe- new South Africa. There are many activists, writers, and
essary that it’s counterproductive. Why, in effect, nation- mic songs demanding the jailed ANC leader’s freedom. By political leaders inside and outside the Jewish community
alize the counterattack that already is being waged by the 1994, when South Africa held its first multiracial elections, who can claim credit for this heartening reality.
myriad of community-based Jewish and non-Jewish orga- there simply was no need any more for an international The challenge now is to consolidate their success.
nizations, of varying sizes and addressing different demo- anti-apartheid movement. That was perhaps the greatest JnS.orG
graphics, that represent grassroots opposition to BDS and indicator of success for a political campaign whose goal is
its claims? More troublingly, what kind of credibility is to end a particular example of injustice. Ben Cohen writes a weekly column on Jewish affairs and
there in a government ministry that was repurposed hast- Even with an entire world of social media that didn’t Middle Eastern politics. His work has been published in
ily to confront the BDS campaign only in 2015, more than exist 30 years ago at its disposal, the BDS movement can Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, the Wall Street
a decade after the campaign to boycott Israel became a only dream of inflicting similar reputational damage on Journal, and many other publications.
Jewish standard FeBrUarY 2, 2018 45

D’var Torah
Yitro: Leadership for the people
T
he Torah portion this week is are doing is not right! You will intermediary between God celebrate the rebirth of Jewish Inde-
called Yitro and is named after surely wear yourself out and and the people, nor his pendence. I suggest to you this Shab-
Moses’ father-in-law, also known these people as well. The task willingness to be the arbi- bat that the whole story of the political
as Jethro. While the highlight is too heavy for you; you can- ter of disputes between battle to establish and build the Jewish
of this parsha and the climax of the entire not do it alone.” the people, are healthy for State of Israel is a very Yitro-like story.
Torah is the Ten Commandments found in Yitro criticizes Moses for him or the community. As Each time that any one leader, be it the
Exodus 20 with which it concludes, I believe offering total commitment to I reflect back upon my rab- British Jew Chaim Weizmann or the
that the opening narrative in Exodus 18 has communal service without binic career, I can see that American Jew Louis Brandeis, sought
a very salient message to we 21st century even asking the people for a often I took on the Moses- to take total credit and total control
Jews on the issue of national and communal contribution. He teaches his Rabbi Neal like approach that is criti- for the Zionist enterprise, there were
leadership. son-in-law a lesson: that the Borovitz cized here by failing to heed setbacks. When Jewish leaders over
To refresh our memories: The dialogue best thing for a communal Rabbi emeritus, the advice of Yitro. Our best the past century have been willing to
Temple Avodat
between Moses and his father-in-law takes leader to do is to delegate Shalom, River
leaders are not those who work together in partnership as did the
place after Yitro has brought his daugh- and share both authority and Edge, Reform do things for us, but rather diametrically opposed Prime Minister
ter and grandsons to meet Moses and the responsibility. those who inspire us to Menachem Begin, z”l, and the leader of
Israelites in the wilderness following their Yitro’s admonition of Moses help ourselves and to join American Reform Judaism, Rabbi Alex-
dramatic Exodus from Egypt. After a brief sets the stage for the reader to hear the mes- together to help others. ander Schindler, z”l, in the 1970s and
description of the happy reunion, Yitro, in sage later in this week’s Torah reading that Yitro’s advice to Moses to share power 80s, Jewish unity was preserved and
a manner that is certainly less than tactful, God makes His covenant not with Moses and responsibility is a message that is not Jewish life prevailed.
criticizes Moses’ leadership style and his but with “We the People.” Yitro points out only applicable to contemporary Jew- 2017 was a difficult year in diaspora–
authoritarian manner of governing the com- that self-centeredness can emanate from ish leaders, both lay and rabbinic, but Israeli relationships. I am sure that 2018
munity. In verses 17 and 18 Yitro bluntly crit- even the most altruistic of leaders. Nei- to we the people of the world. Democ- is going to be a year in which there will
icizes his son-in-law by saying: “What you ther the good intentions of Moses to be the racy works only when we all participate. be new challenges to the national rights
Abdicating responsibility leaves power of the Jewish People. I am also certain
vacuums that too often get filled by peo- that the internal battles over the ques-
ple who care more about the “me” than tion of who is a Jew, as well as the rights
the “we.” of all Jews to worship and to live in the
“Speaking Truth to Power” happens land of Israel, are going to challenge our
to be the theme for the North Jersey Jewish unity and sense of community.
Board of Rabbis’ Sweet Taste of Torah My question is: How are our leaders
program on Motzei Shabbat Yitro, (Feb- going to deal with these challenges?
ruary 3, at The Fair Lawn Jewish Center). I began this D’var Torah with a teach-
It is a Jewish tradition that dates back to ing from a great non-Jewish, Biblical
our Patriarchs in Genesis, is echoed by figure, Yitro. Allow me to conclude this
Yitro in this week’s Parsha, and through with a challenge from a post Biblical Jew-
our Prophets and Sages across the ages ish teacher, who lived some 1,200 years
has been incised into our Jewish com- after Moses, a Sage named Hillel. In Pirke
munal soul. Over the last century when Avot, we are taught in the name of Hillel:
we Jews have been willing to speak truth- “If I am not for myself who will be for
fully to each other and to share power me? If I am only for myself what am I? If
and responsibility even with those with not now, when?”
whom we disagree, we have accom- On this Shabbat Yitro I ask myself and
plished amazing feats. Conversely, when each of you to rephrase Hillel’s question
we have allowed our differences to divide and ask of ourselves and of our commu-
us, we too often paid a costly price. nal and societal leaders:
Beginning with the Balfour Declara- If I try to do it all myself who will be
tion issued 100 years ago on November with me? If I am unwilling to share power
2, 1917, and continuing with the U.N. and responsibility what am I? And then,
Partition Plan approved on November to echo Hillel’s rhetorical retort: “If not
29, 1947, and culminating on April 19, now when?” In an age when totalitarian-
2018, when we will celebrate the 70th ism is making a political comeback, may
anniversary of Israel’s Independence, we all remember Yitro’s admonition to
we are blessed this year with multi- Moses here in this week’s parsha that
ple anniversaries upon which we can bears his name.
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Dear Rabbi Zahavy
Your talmudic advice column

Dear Rabbi Zahavy, computational process. And there is an The authorized interpretations of rabbis contents of our authentic Judaic traditions.
My friend says I should buy bitcoin. He absolute limit on the number of authentic create a large record of transactions — a
bitcoins that can ever be created. The limit
predicts I’ll make a big profit. He says that chain of our traditions — that is authenti- Dear Rabbi Zahavy,
even though the value of the cryptocurrency of 21 million bitcoins will be reached in cated by all the nodes — all the indepen- I recently experienced a sudden major medi-
recently has risen dramatically relative to 2140. About 1800 bitcoins are being mined dent rabbinic authorities of our religious cal episode. I was hospitalized and treated
the dollar, it’s not too late to buy. Shouldeach day between now and 2020. system — agreeing to accept as true the and now I am recuperating. I opted at first
I trust his advice? And honestly, I do not Loosely analogous, the content of our contents of the latest chain of transactions not to make my issues public, by neither tell-
understand how the currency works. Can Judaic faith already was revealed long ago. — the current set of interpretations upon ing my friends directly, nor by posting about
you give me some insights? Should I trust In Judaism we say that after the events and which all concur. it on social media.
bitcoin? ages of the divine direct revelation of the This is contained in those works of our However, I do see that some of my friends
Taking Risks to Get Rich in Ridgewood Torah and of ancient prophecy, no more rabbinic literature — commentaries, codes, post information about their medical tra-
basic faith content (“currency”) can ever and responsa that are deemed authori- vails on Facebook. What’s your advice on
Dear Taking Risks, be issued. tative by the majority of our rabbinic this matter?
I checked thoroughly and want to let you The main productive analogy, as I see it, “nodes” with the greatest computational Recuperating in Ridgefield
know that my research shows that the Tal- is how each system controls the authentic power — with the highest expertise in tal-
mud has no teachings about bitcoin. The use of its valuable core materials — the bit- mudic learning. Dear Recuperating,
Talmud is an ancient literature. Bitcoin coins and the Torah — and how both realms Wait. You say that this sounds like You know by your experience that serious
was invented quite recently. Never the deter fraudulent misrepresentation. an imprecise and stretched analogy. A illness can be dramatic and terrifying to
twain shall meet. In the founding document of the bit- soft cultural system like a religion can- the sick person and to his or her family.
And although I worked for years in the coin system in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, not in fact be compared point-by-point You realize that in the hospital you lose
financial services industry, at big banks its mysterious founder, set forth several with a hard-numerical ledger system of a control of your freedom of movements, of
and at hedge funds, I did principles. He proposed a cryptocurrency. your repose, and potentially of your des-
so as a technology expert, solution for authentication I totally agree. tiny. You face your mortality.
not an investment adviser. of the use of the currency. My main claim here is that there is a For many people, the last thing they
I have no credentials to give The main fraud challenge basic similarity between the blockchain want, or need, is an onslaught of inquiries
financial or investing advice. to that system — is what he that governs the authenticity of bitcoins from friends and acquaintances about their
And if the truth be told, I am called the “double-spending and the Judaic-chain that regulates the health and well-being. They want the space
not very good at following problem” — the risk that peo- validity of Judaic traditions. I hope you to begin to heal and to resume normal life.
the sage advice I received ple will spend the same coin will accept that as a helpful comparison to We all realize that there are many vari-
over the years from the real twice for different purposes. start with — subject now to many further ants to the situation that you bring up.
money experts. Accordingly, To guard against this, the thoughts and discussions. Some health issues are quickly resolved
please do not construe any- Rabbi Tzvee system uses a peer-to-peer I suppose you still would like to know for the better. Others take extended time
thing I say here as guidance Zahavy network that keeps track of what I think about you buying bitcoins. I to be treated. Still others sadly have no
for your investing. I will not all records of an authentic admit that I have converted some of my dol- positive prognosis. Much of what you
and cannot tell you what to buy or sell or chain of the transmissions of the units of lars to bitcoins. It wasn’t easy to figure out need to consider depends on your medi-
when to do so. the currency. how to set that up. And when I did my ini- cal circumstances.
But while I researched and pondered The bitcoin network timestamps trans- tial purchase of bitcoins, my bank flagged And keep in mind that there are many
what the Talmud might say about your actions by adding them into an ongoing that as a fraudulent transaction, on the contrasting personality profiles in our
inquiry — as if prophetically the Talmud chain of “hash-based proof-of-work” — assumption, I suppose, that I really would world. If you are a private person, you may
could know about bitcoin — I did real- essentially, a list of coded transactions of not be silly enough to go ahead and buy want to keep your issues private, to help
ize there are some striking similarities every coin, a list that cannot be messed cryptocurrency. I had to call my bank and yourself keep your balance. If you are a
between the two systems — between tra- with. The record cannot be changed with- confirm to them that I did want to do that. person who thrives on attention, you may
ditional religion and the blockchain tech- out redoing the “proof-of-work.” Whatever you do, please consider these find that publicizing your situation is more
nology that underpins all cryptocurrency. So the longest bitcoin chain of records known facts. Bitcoins are a volatile cur- beneficial for your equanimity.
I see a few analogies between faith and serves as the authentic proof of the rency. Because they are an e-currency, In either case, the Talmud says that
bitcoins. In both realms people face risks, sequence of bitcoin transactions (events) they are especially exposed to cyber- when people visit the sick, that helps them
as they are frequently beset by fraudulent that were witnessed in the world. And the fraud. Multimillion-dollar losses have get better. You may not easily accept this
claims and actions. In both realms people chain has proof that it came from the larg- been recorded in nefarious bitcoin hack- generalization, preferring your privacy.
need to establish and identify ironclad est pool of computer CPU power. ing attacks. If you buy in, because of these But you ought to consider that it has some
trust in the authenticity of claims. Majority opinion rules in the system of vulnerabilities, you may lose your money common-sense merits to allow your social
I’ll give you a few illustrations of my bitcoins. The authenticity in the system quickly. Or you may gain significantly. If connections to continue as previous.
evocative analogy between the bitcoin is guaranteed, as long as a majority of the you are a risk-averse person, you for sure And you may want to consider the mat-
cryptocurrency blockchain and the Judaic computer power is controlled by nodes should shun this area of investment. But if ter of timing. In the first acute phase of an
chain of traditions. that are not cooperating to attack the bit- you are a gambler, you may want to inves- illness, it may be best to keep control and
Consider first the limitations on the coin network. tigate it further. tell as few people as necessary. After things
quantity of the objects we are look- The majority of members participat- As I said, I give no buy or sell advice in have stabilized, it may be good, helpful,
ing at. Bitcoin is mined by a complex ing in the system will generate the longest this column. But I do hope you will find reli- and comforting to know that you have told
blockchain transaction records and out- able monetary gains in your investments your friends and that they come to see you
The Dear Rabbi Zahavy column pace all attackers. In this network, mem- in currency — and find authentic spiritual or send you their support.
offers mindful advice based on ber nodes can leave and rejoin at will. wealth in your investments in the eter- And all this discussion pertains whether
Talmudic reasoning and wisdom. When they rejoin, they accept the longest nally valuable and stable currencies and See dear rabbi page 54
It aspires to be equally open and proof-of-work-records-chain as proof of
meaningful to all the varieties and what happened while they were gone. Tzvee Zahavy received his Ph.D. from Brown University and his rabbinic ordination from
denominations of Judaism. You can
So what kind of a loose analogy can I Yeshiva University. He taught advanced Talmud, halakhah and Jewish law codes, Jewish
find it here on the first Friday of the
make from this system to Judaism? Here’s liturgy, Jewish history, and religious studies at seminaries and at major research universities.
month. Please mail your questions
to the Jewish Standard or email my shot. The revealed Torah — both writ- He is a prolific author and published numerous articles and books about Judaism and Jewish
them to [email protected] ten and oral — constitutes our coins. And texts. Visit www.tzvee.com for links. He also worked for 20 years for major banks and hedge
the rabbis make up our network nodes. funds as an information technology expert. See www.zahavy.com for details.

Crossword
“Groundhog Day” by Yoni Glatt
The Frazzled Housewife
[email protected]
Difficulty Level: Easy
Chasidic vampires and
other Florida musings: Part I
W
inter break, January family has no desire to eat in a restaurant
2018. Husband #1 and that requires a reservation, so we did the
I are taking a leisurely “Ganchrow method” of eating dinner in
stroll on the board- Miami Beach, with all of the Jews. What’s
walk in Miami Beach. The weather is the method, you ask? Well, husband #1
beautiful, the sun has set, the Vikings and son #3 attend the afternoon and eve-
have lost, son #3 has left us ning prayer service at the
for his friends, and we have local synagogue, while
decided that we had to stay I read a little and then
awake past 8 p.m. Together. change my already stylish
A rare occurrence, but who outfit for the exciting eve-
knew that what we were to ning out. And you know
experience would be even me, ball gown, Manolos,
more unique? hair and make up….ya,
As we are walking down so three minutes later, I
the boardwalk, it is around was ready. I walked from
9:30 to 10 p.m. There are Banji the hotel, they walked
hundreds of black-hatted, Ganchrow from the synagogue, and
bekeshe-wearing men. Payis we scoped out which res-
curled to perfection, beards taurants had no or very
gently waving in the wind. They’re little line. I have got to say, it worked out
with their wives. Some wives are in pretty well. And we didn’t have to book
their sheital/pillbox hat finest. Some in it months ago! (And you people wonder
snoods. Some in chupkas. Housecoats. why I think people are nuts.)
Stockings with seams in the back. Some We tried to do something touristy
Across Down
with strollers. Some with walkers. All each night. One night, we went to Wyn-
1. “Shalom” 1. “For ___ a jolly ...”
ages. All sizes. All speaking Yiddish. wood Walls, which is a new art district.
6. ___ Shalom 2. Samuel’s High Priest teacher
10. ___ Shalom 3. One might be said for peace in the Have they been in hiding all day? Do Amazing murals painted on warehouse
14. David’s oldest brother family they not come out because of the heat? walls, sculptures, and two galleries with
15. Basic rhyme scheme 4. ___ B’Omer Do they not come out so they won’t be
16. A written reminder 5. Having a lot to lose? exposed to the women running in biki-
17. The Romans laid one on Jerusalem 6. Southern Jerusalem neighborhood
nis? Husband #1 would not let me ask,
18. Rav Yosef of note 7. “Voice of Israel” author Abba
and I don’t speak Yiddish, but it was
19. Kill, biblically
20. Mount Sinai CAT
8. Black gunk no good for lighting shab-
bat candles quite the sight!
Chasidim on the
22. 4, on a phone keypad 9. Streaming app for Simon’s “The Wire” The next night, it was the same boardwalk. I
24. “Shalom, ___” — Bill Clinton 10. Short NFL kick scene. I had to find out what was going
28. “Shalom” 11. Note after fa
on. Husband #1 had gone upstairs a
think it could be
32. Yom Kippur tractate
33. ___ many words
12. El Al announcement, for short
13. “Shalom” few minutes earlier and I found myself a new type of
36. Says Shalom, perhaps
37. Starting point?
21. Peninsula in 2014 headlines with
Russia
in the elevator, with two chasidic cou-
ples. “Excuse me,” I asked hesitantly.
Twilight Series.
38. American desert 23. Prefix before -pathic “Why do you go out only at night?
40. ___A (March Madness org.) 24. Larry David’s show, initially
Is it the heat or the bikinis?” One of incredible exhibits. I was having the
41. Like the experience of Phil Connors 25. ___ HaSharon, Israel
in “Groundhog Day”...or several of 26. Where Trump is the leader the husbands looked at his wife, she best time, because I love stuff like that. I
this puzzle’s clues 27. Weather ___ looked back at him and nodded. “It’s was texting my sister pictures and really
44. 2016 Oscar winner Mahershala 28. Hairy chin look the bikinis,” they responded together. enjoying the culture. Unfortunately, I
46. Nadal of tennis 29. Hellenistic Jewish scribe I knew it!!! Shmeerat ayenayim. Simple was with two boys who could spend four
47. 1993 Tom Cruise-Sydney Pollack 30. Initials of Jewish schools in
translation? The guarding of the eyes hours at the college basketball hall of
legal thriller, with “The” Jerusalem, Miami, and Denver
50. Chocolate source 31. ___ Einai (from something immodest). Appar- fame, but couldn’t last very long at this
52. “Got it” 34. Unsuitable ently, my very religious sons had not cultural hotspot. Oh well, guess I should
53. OU-D sandwich cookie 35. LaBeouf, and others made that expression up! So this is mus- have brought them some toys and snacks
54. “___ Shalom” 39. Most repellent ing #1. chasidim on the boardwalk. I to keep them busy. I will know for next
56. “Shalom ___” 42. Look into
think it could be a new type of Twilight time. (And, to be clear, the boys were 47
58. Guitarist Paul 43. Spielberg ships
59. Letter after epsilon 44. Home coolers, briefly Series. Discuss amongst yourselves. and 17, respectively.)
61. Actress Fisher who converted to 45. “Well, ___-di-dah!” Vampires that dine only on blood with But in the end, what makes a good
Judaism 48. “Man on the Moon” band kosher certification… vacation? Being able to look at the ocean
64. Band whose members are Este, 49. A Stooge And then we have the restaurants. and not have anyone ask you to take
Danielle, and Alana 51. On fire
Now, husband #1 and son #3 are not them to the bathroom — but I miss that
66. English 101 subject 55. Kind of korban
71. King after Jotham 57. Wolf down foodies. I eat everything that doesn’t stage too. Tune in next week, when we
72. Yeshiva Boys Choir member 59. Last pasta, alphabetically eat me first, but that is another story. explore why you always have to be nice
73. Outfitters clothing brand 60. Parsha after Kedoshim and before Apparently, there is no kosher food in to people and if you aren’t when you are
74. ___ Shalom BeHar the tristate area (well, the Five Towns younger, you will have to fake it when
75. Shalom ___ Tower 61. Actor McKellen who played a Nazi in
and Teaneck, because I do not think that you are older….That is Part II…
76. Shalom “Apt Pupil”
62. Her anyone visiting Miami Beach was from
63. Restroom, for short anywhere else). People felt the need Banji Ganchrow would like to move to
65. Drink in Jerusalem? to make reservations for their Florida Miami Beach. The boardwalk is her new
The solution to last week’s puzzle 67. “Able was I ___ …”
is on page 55. dining experiences, weeks in advance. happy place, during the day with the
68. Adam Silver’s sports org.
Nope, you cannot make this stuff up. bikinis and at night with the chasidim. It’s
69. RBI fly by Green or Greenberg
70. Tel Aviv to Tsfat Dir. Fortunately for me, I know that my all good….

Calendar the guest speaker for a
Jewish National Fund Pancakes in Washington
Paramus community Township: Temple
breakfast for Israel Beth Or hosts its annual
at the JCC Paramus/ pancake breakfast,
Congregation Beth 11 a.m. Proceeds will
Tikvah. Breakfast, support the religious
9:30 a.m.; program at school’s technology-
10. 304 East Midland related programming.
Ave. (973) 593-0095, 56 Ridgewood Road.
ext. 823, or JNF.org/ (201) 664-7422 or
ParamusBreakfast. templebethornj.org.
Football party in
Teaneck: The men’s club
of the Jewish Center of
Teaneck is relaunching
with a kickoff Super
Bowl party, 6:30 p.m.
Watch the game on a
10’x10’ screen with an
amazing sound system.
Sumptuous buffet.
Everyone over 13 is
welcome. 70 Sterling
Bob Klapisch Place. (201) 833-0515 or
www.jcot.org/payment.
Columnist in Teaneck: php.
Bob Klapisch, formerly
of the Record, gives
a preview of the 2018 Monday
baseball season, FEBRUARY 5
discusses the Astros
winning the World Series, Networking in Teaneck:
the Hall of Fame voting The Jewish Business
results, and the future of Network meets for
sports coverage in print breakfast at Five Star
media., for the men’s club Premier Residences,
of Congregation Beth
FEB. Tizmoret, the Jewish a capella group from Queen College’s Aaron, 9:30 a.m. He also
8:30 a.m. Hosted
by Shelley Edelson.
Hillel, performs at Temple Israel & JCC in Ridgewood at 6 p.m.,
11
will answer questions. 655 Pomander Walk.
to benefit the Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School’s Light breakfast. 950 www.jbusinessnetwork.
Queen Anne Road. net.
8th grade Israel trip. Tizmoret is joined by the GBDS choir and (201) 836-6210 or www.
features music by Solar Sound Band. All proceeds benefit the trip. 475 bethaaron.org. Lunch and Learn in Fort
Grove St., Ridgewood. (201) 337-1111 or www.SSNJ.org/tizmoret. Lee: Rabbi Zev Goldberg
of Young Israel of Fort
Lee discusses “Eternal
Impact, Six Defining
including repentance,
Wine and whiskey Moments in Jewish
Saturday wisdom, righteousness,
civil disobedience, in Englewood: Sunday History” at the shul, for
FEBRUARY 3 forgiveness, and protest The sisterhood of FEBRUARY 4 the Teaneck Orthodox
Congregation Ahavath Retiree Association
is at the Fair Lawn Jewish
Torah offers a night (TORA). Lunch at noon,
Center/CBI. Doors open
of wine and whiskey talk at 12:45 p.m. 1610
at 6:30 p.m., Havdalah
tastings by Wine Country Parker Ave. Michael,
at 7. Keynoter Rabbi
Stores, 8 p.m. Light (201) 741-7774 or
Barry L. Schwartz of
bites and and music. [email protected].
Adas Emuno in Leonia
will discuss “Truth to 240 Broad Ave. www. Saving rare books in
ahavathTorah.org/wine- Torah tales: Stu
Power: Prophetic Ethics WWII Lithuania: Dr. Lehrer continues
in Troubled Times.” whiskey-event-2018. David Fishman talks “Torah Twists: the ‘Ah’
Evening ends with Comedy in Teaneck: about his book, “The Moment,” a six-week
Israeli folk dancing Congregation Bnai Book Smugglers,” about course at the JCC of
and refreshments. Yeshurun presents the Vilna Ghetto slave Paramus/Congregation
10-10 Norma Ave. “Stayin’ Alive: An laborers who smuggled Beth Tikvah,
(201) 652-1687,
Gil Hoffman precious documents, at
Israeli Comedy Show,” 8:15 p.m. , through March
Sweet Tastes in Fair sweettastesoftorah@ in English, by Gady JNF breakfast in the United Synagogue 5. 304 East Midland Ave.
Lawn: Sweet Tastes gmail.com, or Weissbart and Noam Paramus: Gil Hoffman, of Hoboken, 10:30 a.m. (201) 262-7691.
of Torah, a community sweettastesoftorah. Jacobson, 8:30 p.m. 641 the Jerusalem Post’s Brunch. 115 Park Ave.
night of study and weebly.com. West Englewood Ave. political correspondent (201) 659-4000 or office@
breakout sessions with (201) 836-8916 or www. and author of its hobokensynagogue.org.
local rabbis on topics bnaiyeshurun. org/events. Frontlines column, is

Calendar
Blood Center, 3:30-8 p.m. Abraham Lincoln’s Shabbat Unplugged
Tuesday , 1666 Windsor Road.
(800) 933-2566 or www.
second inaugural address
at the Englewood
Band with congregants
and clarinetist Benjamin
Sunday Tuesday
FEBRUARY 6 nybloodcenter.org. Library, 7 p.m. Rabbi Baron, honoring its FEBRUARY 11 FEBRUARY 13
Genack, a lifelong Lincoln musical director, Jim
Rigged presidential Paint and wine night aficionado, is leader of Rensink. Dinner at Origami workshop in Café Europa in Fair
elections: Dumont in Paramus: Women’s Congregation Shomrei 6:30 p.m.; services at Teaneck: Congregation Lawn: Café Europa,
historian Dick Burnon Philanthropy of Jewish Emunah in Englewood, 7:30. 221 Schraalenburgh Beth Aaron hosts an a social program
gives a two-part Federation of Northern a teacher at Yeshiva Road. (201) 768-5112. introductory origami sponsored by Jewish
lecture, “Four Rigged New Jersey and University, and the class, 10 a.m., taught Family & Children’s
Presidential Elections,” Sharsheret join for “Paint by origami artist Services of Northern
at meetings of REAP and Sip,” an opportunity
rabbinic administrator
of the Orthodox Union’s
Saturday and congregant New Jersey for Holocaust
(Retired Executives to paint, schmooze, and Kashrut Division. 31 Engle FEBRUARY 10 Yaacov Metzger. All survivors with generous
and Professionals), at drink some wine, 7-9 p.m. St. (201) 568-2215 or materials supplied. 950 funding from the Claims
the Kaplen JCC on the All proceeds donated www.englewoodlibrary. Zumba in Tenafly: Queen Anne Road. Conference, meets at the
Palisades in Tenafly, to Sharsheret. 50 org. The Kaplen JCC on (201) 836-6210 or www. Fair Lawn Jewish Center/
10:45 a.m. Part one, “1824 Eisenhower Drive. www. the Palisades hosts a bethaaron.org. CBI, 11 a.m. Kosher lunch
John Quincy Adams jfnnj.org/paintandsip. and a musical program
vs. Andrew Jackson Thursday Zumba party with Latin,
hip-hop, African, and
Film in Franklin Lakes: with Shlomo Haviv. 10-
and 1876 Rutherford B. FEBRUARY 8 Temple Emanuel of 10 Norma Ave. Shari
Israeli music and easy-
Hayes vs. Samuel Tilden.” North Jersey screens the Brodsky, (201) 837-9090,
to-follow moves, for
Second part, February 27, last Yiddish film made ext. 237, or sharib@
Networking in Glen everyone 12 and older,
“2000 George W. Bush in Poland before the jfcsnnj.org.
Rock: The Jewish led by a team of skilled
vs. Al Gore and 2016 Nazi invasion, “Without
Business Network group JCC Zumba instructors,
Donald Trump-Hillary a Home,” featuring Film in Teaneck:
meets at the Kosher 7:30-8:45 p.m. 411
Clinton.” 411 East Clinton renowned stage actress Temple Emeth’s adult
Nosh Deli, 11:30 a.m. East Clinton Ave.
Ave. (201) 569-7900 or Ida Kaminska and education group screens
894 Prospect St. www. (201) 569-7900 or
www.jccotp.org. comic duo Dzigan and a Jewish-themed movie,
jbusinessnetwork.net. www.jccotp.org/
Schumacher, 1:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m., as part of a
saturdaynightzumba.
Slavery in America: English subtitles. Ice “Movies That Matter”
Erik L. Burro The CSI Scholar Fund Comedy in Emerson: cream and popcorn. series. Refreshments.
of the JCC of Fort Lee/ Congregation B’nai Cancelled if the 1666 Windsor Road.
N.J. war monuments: The Congregation Gesher Israel hosts a comedy weather is bad. 558 (201) 833-1322.
Passaic County Historical Shalom presents Janet night with Steve Shaffer, High Mountain Road.
Society welcomes (201) 560-0200 or www. Jewish music in
DiNardo, continuing Rodney Laney, and Mick
historian/photographer tenjfl.org. Paramus: The JCC of
a series, “Slavery in Thomas. Doors open,
Erik L. Burro, who Paramus/Congregation
America.” Refreshments 7:30 p.m.; comedy
presents “New Jersey’s Klezmer music in Beth Tikvah continues
at 12:30 p.m.; lecture, at 8:30. Admission
Great War Monuments: A Teaneck: The David a five-session series,
“Slavery Evolves,” at 1. includes beer, a
Legacy of Remembrance” Glukh Klezmer performs “Favorite Moments
Rabbi Ezra Frazer Series concludes Feb. 15. cocktail, soft drinks,
at Lambert Castle in at the Teaneck Public of Jewish Music,” led
1449 Anderson Ave., Fort snacks, and desserts.
Library as part of the by Cantor Sam Weiss,
Jewish learning in
Teaneck: Lamdeinu,
Paterson, 7 p.m. 3 Valley
Road. (973) 247-0085 or
Lee. (201) 947 1735. Bring your own kosher
wine. 53 Palisade Ave.
Music on a Sunday
Afternoon concert series,
8:15 p.m., through Feb.
27. East 304 Midland Ave.
Y
lambertcastle.org. Hadassah meets in Park (201) 265-2272 or www.
a center for Jewish
Ridge: Pascack Valley/ bisrael.com.
sponsored by the Friends (201) 262-7691. T
learning that meets of the Teaneck Library,
at Congregation Beth Northern Valley chapter S
of Hadassah meets at 3 p.m. 840 Teaneck
Aaron, offers a two-part 2
Purim series, “The Purim Temple Beth Sholom for
an interactive program
Road. (201) 837-4171 or
teaneck.org. In New York J
Story: A Case Study in
that explores our Jewish b
diaspora Jewry,” taught
by Rabbi Ezra Frazer, values at 1:30 p.m.
Benefit concert in
Hackensack: The Kaplen
Monday a
10:30 a.m., for women Refreshments. 32 Park FEBRUARY 5
JCC on the Palisades
and men. 950 Queen Ave. (201) 880-4614.
Thurnauer School of
Anne Road. Register at Music celebrates its Kosher food and wine:
Life care planning: Cabaret night in
lamdeinu.org. annual Gift of Music The annual Kosher Food
Nili Couzens Jewish-Association Ridgewood: Temple
for Developmental Israel in Ridgewood gala benefit concert, & Wine Experience is at
Wednesday Success and failure: Nili
Couzens, a motivational
Disabilities offers an holds “Cabaret Night”; featuring mezzo-
soprano Naomi Louisa
Pier 60, Chelsea Piers,
6:30 p.m. The popular
FEBRUARY 7 ID/DD informational performers include
speaker/entertainer, workshop, “Creating magician Jonathan Blair, O’Connell, at the Bergen showcase features fine
comes to Temple Beth and Funding a Special Ridgewood-based Irish County Academies in wines, spirits, gourmet
Tikvah in Wayne to Needs Trust and Will,” for dance troupe the Jig Hackensack, 4-6 p.m. It restaurants, caterers, and
share “If at First You parents and caregivers, Factory, pianist Sarah celebrates both Leonard chefs, hosted by New
Don’t Succeed….” It is with lawyer Ira M. Fingles, Diamonds, Macaroon Bernstein at 100 and Jersey-based Royal Wine.
sponsored by the Wayne 7 p.m. 50 Eisenhower 5 (Glen Rock Jewish the 20th anniversary KFWE is open to the
Women 10, who represent Drive, Paramus. Register, Center’s house & rock of the Music Discovery public, 6:30– 9:30 p.m.
all three of Wayne’s shuls (201) 754-1835 or email band), singer Bill Scher, partnership with Tickets at thekfwe.com.
and recently went to [email protected]. violist Dr. Tamara Englewood’s public
Israel with the Jewish Freeman, and blues/ schools. Tracey Blumberg
Women’s Renaissance
Project. 950 Preakness Friday rock band Di Fir Kashes,
8-11 p.m. Admission
will receive the Gift of
Music visionary award. Singles
Ave. (973) 800-2619 or FEBRUARY 9 includes entertainment, (201) 408-1406 or www.
Rabbi Arthur Weiner
Jewishwayne.com. hors d’oeuvres, wine, jccotp.org/gom. Sunday
Shabbat in Fort Lee: beer, and dessert. 475 FEBRUARY 4
Jews of Iraq: Rabbi Congregation Gesher Grove St. (201) 444-9320 Monday
Arthur Weiner continues Shalom/JCC of Fort Lee or cabaret@synagogue. Senior singles meet in
and members of Sha’ar org. FEBRUARY 12
“Jews of Iraq,” a six- West Nyack: Singles
session class at the communities celebrate 65+ meet for a social
Shabbat with Rabbi Whiskey tasting: Film in Tenafly: The
JCC of Paramus/ Kaplen JCC on the get-together with
Adina Lewittes at the Shomrei Torah of Fair
Congregation Beth Palisades screens refreshments at the JCC
JCC of Fort Lee, 7 p.m. Lawn holds a whiskey
Tikvah, 2:30 and again “Brick” as part of a new Rockland, 11 a.m. 450
Wine bar and small bites tasting with B&B Liquors,
at 8:15 p.m. Classes monthly JCC Film Forum, West Nyack Road. Gene,
buffet after the service. food by the Wandering
continue February 14, 21, 7:30 p.m. Film critic, (845) 356-5525.
1449 Anderson Ave. (201) Que, gourmet herring,
and 28. 304 East Midland radio/TV personality,
947-1735. hors d’oeuvres, and
Avenue, Paramus. and writer-producer-
Rabbi Menachem desserts, 8 p.m. 19-
(201) 262-7691. director Mike Sargent
Genack Shabbat in Closter: 10 Morlot Ave. www.
Blood drive in Teaneck: Temple Beth El holds shomrei-torah.org/event/ leads a discussion.
Temple Emeth holds a Lincoln’s inaugural services led by Rabbi whiskey. (201) 408-1456 or
blood drive with New address: Rabbi David S. Widzer and JCCoTP.org.
Jersey Blood Services, Menachem Genack of student cantor Julie
a division of New York Englewood will discuss Staple, featuring the

Calendar
Areyvut chesed fair on Monday

Areyvut will host a chesed fair at Yeshivat how they can volunteer and get involved.
Noam in Paramus on Monday, February The school is at 70 West Century Road.
5, from 8 to 9 p.m. Attendees will meet For information, call Daniel Rothner at
representatives from a variety of local (201) 244-6702, email [email protected],
and Israel-based organizations to learn or go to www.areyvut.org.
COURTESY JCCOTP
Zumba party in Tenafly
The Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in exercise director, said. “Zumba is one
Tenafly offers its free Zumba party on Sat- great option, because it provides great
urday, February 10, from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. music and dance routines that are fun to
Beginners are welcome. Participants, who learn. It also offers a great cardio workout
must be at least 12 years old, will dance that incorporates high and low aerobic
nonstop for 75 minutes to Latin, hip-hop, intervals and an appealing routine that
African, and Israeli music, with a high- keeps people motivated. And keeping
energy blend of music and great dance people motivated is our goal.”
moves. The session will be led by a team Registration is encouraged. For more
of expert JCC Zumba instructors. information, call (201) 408-1448 or go to
“In an effort to encourage people to jccotp.org/saturdaynightzumba. Facility
engage in more healthful activities, we tours and one-week guest passes will be
always look to feature a wide variety of available so the entire family can try out
Shopping at last year’s Seforim Sale at YU. COURTESY YU fitness options,” Hagit Tal, the group the JCC.
YU books annual seforim sale

This year’s annual Yeshiva University
Seforim Sale will be from February 4 to
the planning, promotion, ordering, set up,
and sales transactions. Organizers expect
Emerson shul to plan Israel trip
25 in Belfer Hall on the Wilf Campus. The the sale to draw 15,000 visitors. Last year On Sunday, February 11, from 1 to 2 p.m., tour, which will be led by Rabbi Debra
Jewish book sale, which is considered to the Seforim Sale generated $750,000 in Congregation B’nai Israel in Emerson will Orenstein and a top local tour guide in a
be the largest in North America, is man- revenue. All profits go toward student life host an informational meeting about its deluxe touring motor coach. Stops include
aged entirely by 100 YU students, who do programming. upcoming Israel trip, which will run from the Western Wall tunnels, Masada, the
June 27 to July 9. A representative from Dead Sea, Yad Vashem, and the Ein Gedi
Israel Tour Connection will be at the meet- Nature Reserve. Options to extend the trip
ing to discuss the itinerary and answer are available. For more information, call
questions. Families, couples, and singles Rabbi Orenstein at (201) 265-2272 or go to
Dog whisperer are welcome on this multigenerational www.bisrael.com.
coming to
Englewood
Cesar Millan, the original host of the “Dog
Whisperer” series and the star of the new
“Cesar Millan’s Dog Nation” series, will
reveal the secrets of happier, healthier
relationships between human beings and
their beloved canines in his exciting live
show. It’s set for Saturday, February 24,
at 8 p.m., at the Bergen Performing Arts
Center. Mr. Millan will share training
secrets in his funny and entertaining way
and the audience will see him demon-
COURTESY BCHSJS
strate his techniques with dogs from local

rescues. Tickets are available at www.tick-
etmaster.com or through the box office,
(201) 227-1030. Cesar Millan PHOTO COURTESY bergenPAC
Announce your events BCHSJS students head to Urban Air

We welcome announcements of upcoming events. Announcements are free. Accompanying photos
must be high resolution, jpg files. Send announcements 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Not every release will
Students at the Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies went to Urban Air
be published. Include a daytime telephone number and send to: Adventure Park in South Hackensack. Among the activities they tried were tram-
[email protected] • 201-837-8818 x 110 polines, a ropes course, and wall climbing.

Jewish World
In the #MeToo era, these synagogues

are banning Shlomo Carlebach
BEN SALES name to gain access,” said Sharon Weiss-Greenberg,
W
executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist
h e n R a b b i A n ge l a B u c h d a h l Alliance, who advocates a hard ban on using Carle-
announced how her synagogue bach’s music. “There’s a difference between one’s
would respond to the #MeToo choice to attend a movie screening and one’s show-
moment, she singled out a man. But ing up to services at shul and having the choice taken
he wasn’t one of her congregants, synagogue clergy away from them.”
or staff members. Other clergy see a Carlebach music ban as an oppor-
He was Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, perhaps the most tunity to expand their repertoires. A Facebook group
prominent 20th-century composer of American Jew- called Anything But Carlebach, with more than 1,200
ish music. Carlebach wrote a vast body of songs and members, has banned discussion of his behavior and
liturgical melodies, which are used in worship ser- serves as a clearinghouse for new or obscure melo-
vices, summer camps, and sing-alongs. His music is dies to prayers. Large segments of American Jewry
sung in synagogues from nearly every denomination. — including many Sephardic and chasidic commu-
But in the years after his death in 1994, many nities — have their own musical traditions that pre-
women came forward to allege that he sexually date Carlebach.
assaulted them. “Jewish music has a rich, varied, and long tradition
In her January 19 sermon to Manhattan’s Central well before Shlomo Carlebach’s music,” said Cantor
Synagogue, one of the largest congregations in the Jessica Leash, who runs Silicon Valley Jewish Meetup,
country, Buchdahl announced that the Reform syn- an independent community in Northern California. “If
agogue would not sing his melodies for a year. The we keep working in this material, not acknowledging
moratorium is taking effect across the synagogue, in its origin and not making any room for new material to
services, in Hebrew school, in nursery school. come forward, we’re basically shutting a door.”
“We hope this communicates to those who have Despite the allegations, some of Carlebach’s follow-
been victimized by Carlebach that we hear you and we ers still see immense value in his teachings and music.
are not indifferent,” Buchdahl said in the sermon. “In His daughter Neshama, a singer who has carried on his
this coming year, we will see what new music emerges legacy, wrote an essay in the Times of Israel in January
in the vacuum that is created with Carlebach gone.” in which she said she supports “the countless women
Central Synagogue is one of several in the United who have suffered the evils of sexual harassment and
States, across denominations, that has stopped using Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, seen in a 1989 photo, was assault” and acknowledged that her father had hurt
Carlebach’s name, his teachings, or his melodies in a perhaps the most prominent 20th-century composer of some women. But she defended her father as a kind and
debate that precedes but has been intensified by the American Jewish music. caring spiritual leader who advanced women’s rights.
#MeToo moment. The decisions mostly are a response DAVE BURESH/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES “I do not recognize the version of my father that
to the sexual assault allegations that first appeared in some people describe,” she wrote. “To me, he was the
a 1998 article in Lilith, the Jewish feminist magazine, and said the misconduct allegations mean that Carlebach no kindest, most respectful, most loving person to my friends
have continued to surface since then. longer should be revered as a personal example. and me. I myself witnessed him as a deeply passionate
Because they were aired publicly only after his death, “The allegations about him were sufficiently credible supporter of the role of women as leaders.”
Carlebach never responded publicly to the claims, which and sufficiently serious and sufficiently numerous that Another Carlebach follower, Aryae Coopersmith,
range from dry humping and groping to unwanted kiss- he did not deserve to be treated as a rabbi, as a religious believes the allegations and included them in his book on
ing. Some of the women were underage at the time of authority figure,” Wolkenfeld said. “I also realized that if Carlebach’s movement. But he said it would be wrong to
the incidents. there were victims or their children or grandchildren in erase Carlebach’s music and stories, which have served as
“Essentially it felt like it was time to listen and take a the congregation, what would it mean to them to hear an inspiration for many people.
reckoning to people we ignored who came forward with someone who abused them being referred to as this “His songs for so many people have opened our hearts
their tales of sexual assault,” Buchdahl said. “We should great rabbi?” to what our tradition, what our grandparents, have been
not be in the business of banning any kind of art. I knew It’s also technically difficult to ban Carlebach’s music, teaching us for so long,” said Coopersmith, who co-
that was not the right option for us, but continuing to do said Rabbi Barry Kornblau of the Orthodox Young Israel founded the House of Love and Prayer, Carlebach’s syna-
nothing was also not an option.” of Hollis Hills-Windsor Park in Queens, New York. Kornb- gogue-cum-commune in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury
To excise Carlebach is no easy endeavor. His melodies, lau also has not used Carlebach’s name for years, but said district, the neighborhood known for birthing the 1960s
recorded from 1959 until his death in 1994, often are the people do not always know which tunes are Carlebach’s, counterculture movement. “They open our hearts to
most recognizable tunes to common Jewish prayers — and that it is difficult to manage every melody in Orthodox connecting with Hashem, with Torah, with other human
particularly the Friday night service welcoming Shabbat. services, which often are led by lay members. beings. They’re so much a part of who we are today
Synagogues often host “Carlebach services” comprised “I’m dealing with real human beings in a communal set- as Jews.”
largely of his tunes. ting,” Kornblau said. “If I were to use language like ‘prohi- Carlebach will endure as a major influence on Jewish
For a time, Carlebach based himself out of San Fran- bition,’ I would have to take some prayer leader who goes music despite the allegations, Joey Weisenberg, a Jewish
cisco, and his music, which combines chasidic and folk into a song and, A, know it was from Carlebach, and B, composer whose Americana-inspired melodies are grow-
influences, was a Jewish touchstone of the 1960s coun- stop him in public. I’m not going to do that.” ing in popularity, said. Weisenberg said that “it’s not pos-
terculture. His song “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The Nation of These rabbis are, in a way, confronting the same ques- sible to ignore the melodies and the spirituality and the
Israel Lives”) served as an anthem for the movement to tion that has occupied the creative world since the wave community empowerment and the beauty that Carlebach
free Soviet Jewry. He also developed a personal mythol- of misconduct allegations against industry figures began unleashed in the world,” but that Carlebach also betrayed
ogy and a dedicated following, and at concerts he would last year: Is it possible to separate the art from the art- his responsibility as an iconic Jewish musician.
intersperse his songs with intimate stories. ist? Some say yes. Other activists, however, believe that “When we open our hearts in song, we have to take
Recognizing the pervasiveness of Carlebach’s music, because Carlebach was a spiritual leader who wrote melo- care of each other,” Weisenberg said. “The story we really
some synagogues continue to sing his songs but don’t dies for prayers — and worshippers use those melodies in tell is about the power of music and spiritual life in the
refer to him by name or share his stories. The modern the act of prayer — his work carries more moral weight world, and how we need to treat that power with extreme
Orthodox Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation in Chi- than a movie. care. Shlomo Carlebach had an immense musical spiritual
cago still hosts a Carlebach service but has not used his “I think there’s a huge difference between Woody Allen power, and clearly he misused and abused that power.”
name for years. The synagogue’s rabbi, David Wolkenfeld, and someone who used spirituality and religion and God’s JTA WIRE SERVICE

Obituaries
Barbara Brodsky Predeceased by her husband of 67 years, Bernard, Carol Strauss

Barbara Brodsky, née Blaustein, 87, of Emerson, formerly of she is survived by sons, Kenneth ( Judy) and his children Carol Strauss, 77, née Rubinson, of Englewood Cliffs,
Elmwood Park, died January 25. Alex (Patterson) and Leah (Michael), Brian (Nancy) died January 29.
Before retiring, she was a teacher for the Englewood and their children, Danielle, Jessica, and Joseph, and a She was the co-president/managing director of Travel
Board of Education and was a longtime member of the JCC great-grandson. Four/Altour.
of Paramus. Donations can be sent to a charity benefitting She is survived by her husband, David, daughters,
Predeceased by her husband, Alan, and a sister, progressive neurological disorders. Arrangements were by Margie (Michael) and Julie (Todd); a brother, Richard
Elaine Davidovsky, she is survived by a son, Randy Nies Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Paramus. Rubinson; grandchildren, Jesse, Caleb, Jane, and Kate;
(Paula Cottigham); a niece, a nephew, a great-niece, and nieces, and nephews.
great-nephews. Edgar Redbord Donations can be sent to Leukemia & Lymphoma
Donations can be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Edgar Redbord, 86, of Midland Park, formerly of Fair Society, MS Society, or the ASPCA. Arrangements were
Hospital, Memphis, Tenn. Arrangements were by Louis Lawn, died January 25. by Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Paramus.
Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn. He volunteered for Fair Lawn All Sports for more than
20 years and, before retiring at 80, he worked in the
Etta Cohn insurance business.
Etta Cohn, née Gutin, 96, of Tinton Falls, formerly of He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Lucette, children, Obituaries are prepared with
Paterson, died January 25. Louis (Susan) of Ocean, Annette Dalton (Brian) of Franklin information provided by funeral homes.
Predeceased by her husband, Frederick, and sisters, Lakes; sister, Sylvia Best; brother-in-law, Jonas Gerard, and Correcting errors is the responsibility
Sylvia Streit and Lillian Lieberman, she is survived by nieces, five grandchildren.
of the funeral home.
nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel,
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Fair Lawn.
Shirley Siegel
Melanie A. Fraiman-Siegel Shirley R. Siegel, 100, of Teaneck died January 28. Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Inc
Melanie Fraiman-Siegel, 43, of Montvale, died January 25. She was a former longtime member of the Jewish Center Jewish Funeral Directors
She graduated from Douglass College and Pace University of Teaneck. Family Owned & managed
and earned a master’s. She was a nurse at NYU Medical Predeceased by her husband, Aaron, she is survived Generations of Lasting Service to the Jewish Community
Center and at Meadowbrook School in Hillsdale. by sons, Barry (Barbara), and Steve, both of Texas; • Serving NJ, NY, FL &
Throughout USA
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She is survived by children, Ilyssa, Hilary, and Jeremy; grandchildren, Debra Psifidis (Demo), and Nicole Warren • Prepaid & Preneed Planning • Handicap Accessibility From
parents, Linda and Russel; siblings, Howard (Kara), Jodi (Brett), and five great-grandchildren. • Graveside Services Large Parking Area
(Dave), and Mitchell (Nicole); nieces and nephews, and Donations can be made to United Jewish Appeal. Gary Schoem – Manager - NJ Lic. 3811
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friend, Wayne Reisner. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Conveniently Located
Donations can be sent to www.gofundme.com/melanie- W-150 Route 4 East • Paramus, NJ 07652
children-fund. Arrangements were by Robert Schoem’s Samuel Sternberg 201.843.9090 1.800.426.5869
Menorah Chapel, Paramus. Samuel Myron “Mike” Sternberg, 80, of Monroe
Township, formerly of Bayonne, died January 29.
Marilyn Hillman Born in Bayonne, he was a manager in fast
Marilyn Hillman, née Heller, 89, of West Orange, formerly food restaurants.
of Florida, New Milford, Bergenfield, and Teaneck, died He is survived by children, Charles of Monmouth
January 29. Junction, Mark of Marlton, Alan of Forked River,and Shari
She worked at Huffman and Boyle Furniture and Crystal of Maryland, and seven grandchildren.
Clear Importing. Arrangements were by Eden Memorial Chapel, Fort Lee.
Super Bowl airport hosts

Holocaust photo exhibit
Anyone who’s going to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Interna-
tional Airport on the way to the Super Bowl will have the
chance to see photos of Holocaust survivors at the airport.
They’re in a traveling exhibit, “Transfer of Memory,”
showing photos of Holocaust survivors, mostly from the
Twin Cities. Organizers placed it in the airport’s two termi-
nals, starting last month so it would overlap with Interna-
tional Holocaust Remembrance Day and also Super Bowl We continue to be Jewish family managed,
LII on February 4. knowing that caring people provide caring service.
“Given the incredible amount of people who will be com- The “Transfer of Memory” exhibit at the
ing through the Twin Cities area, it’s an issue that needs Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. GUTTERMAN AND MUSICANT
increased awareness, not just in the Jewish community but DAVID SHERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY JEWISH FUNERAL DIRECTORS
in society in general,” Mark Wilf, the co-owner of the Minne- 800-522-0588
sota Vikings who is funding the exhibit at the airport, said. providing services to Holocaust survivors.
The game will be played in U.S. Bank Stadium, which Wilf “People seeing these beautiful, colorful photographic WIEN & WIEN, INC. MEMORIAL CHAPELS
and his brother Zygi built as the home of the Vikings. portraits can get a visual sense of the humanity of the sur- 800-322-0533
Mark Wilf, whose parents survived the Holocaust and vivors,” said Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Twin 402 Park Street, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601
went on to establish a major real estate business in New Cities’ Jewish Community Relations Council, which helped
Jersey, said he hopes the exhibit personalizes an abstract organize the exhibit. “The single best teacher of the les- ALAN L. MUSICANT, Mgr., N.J. Lic. No. 2890
concept and teaches people about the need to fight big- sons of the Holocaust has been our survivor community. MARTIN D. KASDAN, N.J. Lic. No. 4482
otry and prejudice today. Photographing them, telling the stories of their lives and Advance Planning Conferences Conveniently Arranged
Last week, the Jewish Federation of North America’s making an exhibit is a great vehicle for teaching the les- at the Funeral Home or in Your Own Home
National Holocaust Survivor Initiative, which Wilf chairs, sons of the Holocaust in a different medium.”
announced $2.2 million in grants for organizations JTA WIRE SERVICE
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Real Estate & Business
Public transportation will grow One and done

for Ramat Givat Zeev neighborhood Single procedure eliminates weeks of radiation
Israel’s Ministry of Transportation and for select women with early-stage breast cancer
Road Safety has confirmed plans to
increase public transportation for the new Physicians at Valley-Mount Sinai Com- “The IORT procedure uses a min-
Ramat Givat Zeev neighborhood. prehensive Cancer Care have begun iaturized X-ray source to deliver a full
Plans include increasing the frequency offering women with early-stage breast course of targeted radiation from inside
of transportation to, from, and within cancer a breakthrough treatment that the body, directly within the tumor
the neighborhood, which is already well delivers an entire course of radiation cavity where the cancer is most likely
on its way to a completed infrastructure. therapy to the patient in the operating to recur,” said Dr. Michael Wesson, co-
With houses nearly complete, there are room following a lumpectomy, thereby director of radiation oncology at Valley-
already numerous amenities in place to eliminating the need for what is typi- Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer
greet approximately 150 families expected cally weeks of post-surgery radiation. Care and clinical assistant professor at
to move into their new homes in the com- Most breast cancer patients require the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
ing months, many of whom are new olim. six to eight weeks of daily radiation Sinai (ISMMS). “This destroys cancer
Fully functional amenities that are ready New Ramat Givat Zeev playground therapy after undergoing a lumpec- cells while reducing the risk of damage
to accommodate the family-friendly neigh- tomy. Breast intraoperative radiation to nearby healthy tissues, including the
borhood include four parks, including bas- housing prices expected to increase sig- therapy (IORT) provides the option to heart, lungs and ribs.
ketball and tennis courts. nificantly in the future. deliver a full course of radiation in a “This helps minimize potential side
Experts in the real estate field are call- Visitors who came on a recent trip to single dose at the time of surgery. effects, which are more common with
ing Ramat Givat Zeev, “one of the most the neighborhood were thrilled to see the For patients this means shorter whole breast irradiation,” said Dr.
attractive neighborhoods in Israel,” with progress of the homes and infrastructures. treatment times, fewer side effects, Chad DeYoung, co-director of radia-
reduced costs, added convenience tion oncology at Valley and clinical
and an improved quality of life. The assistant professor at ISMMS.
procedure also limits radiation expo- To learn more and to find out if you
sure to the heart. Candidates for are a candidate for breast IORT, call
TM
breast IORT include selected patients Valley’s Breast Cancer Navigators at
with early-stage breast cancer who are (201) 634-5557.
age 50 and older.
We Thank and Congratulate Our

2017 NJ REALTORS®
CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE® RECIPIENTS Valley receives the 2018 Women’s
GOLD AWARD SILVER AWARD Choice Award as one of America’s
best hospitals for obstetrics
The Valley Hospital has received the
2018 Women’s Choice Award as one of
America’s best hospitals for obstetrics
for a fourth consecutive year. Our staff and
According to the Women’s Choice
Miriam Lambert Award, Valley is one of 400 hospitals physicians at The
Michelle Shim
Sales Representative
Nini Wong
Sales Representative
Broker- Salesperson
Alpine Office
that women feel confident in choosing Center For
for their maternity needs. This designa-
Cresskill Office Tenafly Office
tion identifies the country’s best hospi- Childbirth deliver
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consider female satisfaction and clinical
excellence. compassionate
“We are very pleased to be recognized care to mothers
as a hospital that’s highly regarded by
women for providing high-quality and and their babies.
patient-friendly obstetric services,” said
Michalia Day Nick DeCandia
Paul Quinn, director of inpatient women’s that each family has individual needs
Sales Representative Broker-Salesperson and children’s services at Valley. “Our staff and desires concerning childbirth on
River Vale Office Cresskill Office and physicians at The Center For Childbirth emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and
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essential for delivering the best patient out- ronment, which includes private labor
comes and overall experience.” delivery recovery rooms that combine
“Pregnancy is one of the most special a beautiful homelike environment with
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Nicole Idler Skip Kelley Travis Waller
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NY Broker/ NJ Sales Representative Sales Representative Sales Representative Award. “Our award gives a woman the ery rooms and a level 3-intensive 15-bed
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TENAFLY The Center for Childbirth at Valley For more information on The Center
ALPINE/CLOSTER RIVER VALE TENAFLY CRESSKILL
Orna Jackson, Sales Associate 201-376-1389
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Jewish standard FeBrUarY 2, 2018 57
Real Estate & Business
New Chinese-Israeli incubator

SELLING YOUR HOME? will support eight joint projects
Brian Blum
A new Chinese-
Israeli incubator
has opened in Xia-
men, a city in Chi-
na’s southeastern
province of Fuijan.
The incubator is
run by Innovare,
a partnership
founded in 2015
by Jiang Baroqi of
Innovation Con-
nect (Xiamen)
Technologies and
Gabriel Simons, Consul General Nadav Cohen and Vice Mayor Li Huiyue
who divides his at the inauguration ceremony.
time between
China, Israel, and London. The incubator’s launch last week, at Xia-
The incubator is different than others in men’s Software Park, was attended by
Call Susan Laskin Today
both China and Israel in that it focuses Israel’s Consul General for the Guang-
To Make Your Next Move A Successful One!
on projects rather than startups. zhou region Nadav Cohen, Xiamen’s
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com Cell: 201-615-5353 Startup incubators “work very well in Vice Mayor Li Huiyue, and leaders of
©2018 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Israel because Israel has developed the Xiamen municipality and local busi-
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC.
a startup ecosystem which feeds and nesses. The building has 650 square
feeds off of these incubators,” Simons meters of floor space and a large exhibi-
NVE-3490 1Q Mug Mortgage Ad 5x6.5_NVE-3454 Fall Mortgage Ad 5x6.5 1/24/18 11:15 AM Page 1 says. “In China however, many of these tion hall.
startup incubators have simply become “With a huge market, strong capital
property plays, with landlords subletting and production capabilities, China
to startups and seeing a rental return as will become a perfect partner for tech-
Warm up to our sweet mortgage rates. their main source of income.”

The Innovare incubator currently is sup-
savvy Israel,” Cohen said during the
launch event.
porting eight joint projects between sev- The new China-Israel incubator in Xia-
eral large Chinese companies (Aonong men joins others operating in the coun-
Group, Torch Development, Vanke try’s bigger cities. Some have opened
Group and Hongxing Erke) and more offices in Israel, as well. China’s Tech-
than 100 smaller Israeli technology sup- code has a Tel Aviv-based incubator
7-YEAR 15-YEAR 25-YEAR pliers in the areas of smart cities, medi- focused on Israeli medical equipment
MORTGAGE MORTGAGE MORTGAGE cal devices, agritech, and cleantech. companies interested in operating in
Among the specific projects to be China. There’s also the EastMakers Pro-
2.800% Rate 3.250% Rate 3.875% Rate explored are those in genetic testing,
robotics, automation, artificial intelli-
gram for IOT and hardware startups, and
the Chengdu-Israel Incubator in Haifa.
2.893% APR* 3.301% APR* 3.922% APR* gence, agriculture, and big-data analysis. Xiamen is located just across the East
The incubator will offer support services China Sea from Taiwan, providing addi-
(translation, conference calls, market tional benefits to Israeli startups who
research) as well as help with negotia- want to make the most of their time in
tions and partner matching. Asia.
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[email protected]
www.MironProperties.com Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 2, 2018 59
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FEDERATION TRAINS EMERGENCY VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL page 8

TWO DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM JULIUS LESTER page 10

NORTH JERSEY THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM

2 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 2, 2018

EHMC_NLLA_H&V_11x14_REV.indd 1 1/18/18 12:08 PM

Yaacov Agam in the Israeli museum

Bright and beautiful Candlelighting:

New paint transforms sun’s rays CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................48

into cool air-conditioning

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 2, 2018 3

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

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BY PAUL DE HUECK; COURTESY OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN OFFICE

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warm night in!

BALTIMORE • CLIFTON • LAKEWOOD • LAWRENCE • QUEENS • SCARSDALE • MANHATTAN • LAWRENCE

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Emergency volunteers train for work in Israel

Save the date! Father’s Day, Sunday June 17th

Our fresh roasted coffee is

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Fairway Kosher roasted Kosher • Roasted in house

FAIRWAY MARKET PARAMUS

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Julius Lester in Northampton

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Yaakov Guttman Shimmy Stein

Jacob Weinstein, A"H

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PREMIERING 2.25.18 AT THE SINAI DINNER

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Preparing for the inevitable

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Our belief is that a cemetery is a place where the souls

3.125% 4.100% 4.250% 4.353%

Who: Rabbi Elchonon Zohn, president, National

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Women supporting women

Look who’s new Novelist gives lecture at YU

Sponsored by The Cedar Lane Management Group · www.cedarlane.com

Dr. Arnold Gold

Dr. Gold will be remembered for his devotion to the betterment

May his memory be for a blessing.

JOJO RUBACH JORDAN SHENKER

KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades

Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 2, 2018 19

Closter shul honors its music director Rabbi will preside

JFCS/Wayne pantries seek

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Sign up for any JCC Camp or JCC Membership

Gift of Music Tickets on Sale!

GET YOUR featuring Mezzo- Soprano Naomi Louisa

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From left, Shelly Guttman with two of her children,

moment of connection so profound that his downward

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