BREAKING GROUND AT ROCKLEIGH’S JEWISH HOME page 6

MEET KOL DOROT: A REFORM JEWISH COMMUNITY page 8

SEARCHING THE GALAXY ON A NASA INTERNSHIP page 10
‘THE ANGEL’ ON NETFLIX IS NOT QUITE HEAVENLY page 42

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

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 Page 3
Paul McCartney says he never
meant to offend Jews with ‘Hey Jude’
● In 1968, the Beatles put the title to
their upcoming single, “Hey Jude,” on
the front of their record label’s boutique
store in London. The idea was to intrigue
passersby before the release, Paul
McCartney told GQ in a new interview.
But the song’s name didn’t go over well
with everyone. McCartney said a furi-
ous Jewish man called him up about the
name (because this was the ‘60s, when
celebrities apparently were reachable by
phone) and threatened to send his son
over to beat the Beatle up.
The word “jude” (Jew in German) con-
jured up bad memories in the post-Nazi
era, and Jews in London had enough to
deal with, the man fumed.
“I said ‘hey baby, let’s cool it down,
nothing to do with that,’” McCartney said.
“You’ll hear when you hear the record, it’s
just a name in a song and it’s all cool.”
The man relented.
McCartney explains in the video that
the song originally was called “Hey Jules,”
a reference to John Lennon’s son Julian.
McCartney was feeling bad for young
Julian at the time, just after Lennon had
divorced his first wife Cynthia Powell.
But in the end, he just liked the name
Jude better.
These days, McCartney — who is about
to start a tour after recently releasing
his 18th solo album — sees the iconic
tune, which he plays at every one of his
concerts, as a way of bringing people
together.
“In these times, when it’s a little dark
and people are sort of separated by poli-
tics and stuff, it’s so fantastic just to see
them all come together singing the end
of ‘Hey Jude,’” he said.
GABE FRIEDMAN/JTA WIRE SERVICE

CONTENTS
Abu Dhabi says Jews can do judo NOSHES ...............................................................4
BRIEFLY LOCAL ..............................................14
● Israeli athletes will participate in COVER STORY .................................................16
JEWISH WORLD ............................................. 21
an international judo competition
OPINION ........................................................... 28
in the United Arab Emirates HEALTHY LIVING &
under the Israeli flag. Its national ADULT LIFESTYLES...................................... 33
anthem will be played at the medal D’VAR TORAH ................................................40
ceremonies. THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ....................41
The announcement was made CROSSWORD PUZZLE .................................41
earlier this month by the Interna- ARTS & CULTURE .......................................... 42
tional Judo Federation. CALENDAR ...................................................... 43
In July, the federation, known OBITUARIES ....................................................44
as the IJF, canceled two interna- CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................46
tional tournaments, the Abu Dhabi REAL ESTATE..................................................49
Grand Slam and the Tunis Grand
Prix, “until governmental guarantee
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tional Judo Federation and received Tal Flicker of Israel at the Judo World Championship in Budapest, Aug. 28, 2017. The Jewish Standard assumes no responsibility to return unsolic-
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to the IJF that all nations participating in the Abu Dhabi promoting peaceful relationships between all nations of the
Grand Slam will do so under identical conditions. world,” the statement also said, adding that “IJF remains ON THE COVER: “This is what
“The historic decision will thus allow all nations to display committed to the fight against any discrimination in sport democracy looks like — Three
their national insignia and national anthem, including Is- and to using sport as a tool for reconciliation and promo- generations marching,” Charlotte
rael,” the IJF statement said. tion of peace and moral values in the world, inspiring the Bennett Schoen says; here, at the
“The International Judo Federation salutes the efforts of new generations.” 2016 Women’s March in Washington,
the UAE Judo Federation as well as the fair-play and mu- The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2018 will take place Oct. 27-29. she’s joined by her daughter Lindsay
tual friendship and respect shown by the UAE authorities, JTA WIRE SERVICE Schoen and her granddaughter
Capri Gigante.

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JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 3

Noshes
“I heard Roseanne is actually moving to
Israel. I mean, damn. How messed up is
your life when you have to go to the
Middle East just to get peace of mind?”
— Emmy co-host, ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Michael Che
AT THE MOVIES:

A haunted house
and sisterly brothers
“The House with reviews early this month lead singer Gary Brook-
a Clock in Its when it premiered at er wrote the band’s
Walls” is a the Venice Film Festival music — including the
magical, and it received a stand- Bach-influenced “Whit-
spine-tingling film about ing ovation from the er Shade.”
the adventures of a audience. Frenchman The “Whiter Shade”
10-year-old boy who Jacques Audiard won lyrics are maddening:
goes to live with his the Silver Lion for best they are evocative and
uncle (JACK BLACK, director at the festival. beautiful even as they
49) in a creaky old Veteran actors Rut- confuse. In a recent in-
house with a mysterious ger Hauer and CAROL terview, Reid explained
tick-tocking heart. Not KANE, 66, have small- the origin of the song’s
long after he arrives, the ish supporting roles as, title and how he worked
boy accidentally awak- respectively, the Com- Jack Black Eli Roth Joaquin Phoenix in general: “People at
ens the dead and learns modore and the Sisters a party talking about
a lot about the secret brothers’ mother. someone being pale
world of witches and and I turned that into
warlocks. Cate Blanchett The new TV ‘whiter shade of pale’
co-stars and ELI ROTH, season begins — always interested in
46, directs. “The Good Cop” cinema, painting, always
“The Sisters Broth- is a 10-episode been interested in visual
ers” is a dark comedic comedy/drama stuff. You try and come
Western. The title refers Netflix series, up and express [those
to two gunslinger broth- based on an Israeli TV images] in words…like
ers — their last name series, that premieres on a painter with a few
is “Sisters” — who are Friday, September 21. brush strokes…I liked the
hired by a rich man The American version Surrealists very much…
(called “The Commo- (which may have a I wanted the song to
dore”) to kill a Mr. Warm, second season if viewers Jake Gyllenhaal Jonah Hill Brad Garrett feel like a Dali paint-
a prospector who the like it) was created by ing looks.”
rich man thinks stole ANDY BRECKMAN, 63. premieres on September a single father of a young whose father fled Oy! Rap star MAC
from him. The broth- (He was the creator of 21. They play people with daughter. His friends Nazi-occupied Austria in MILLER died on Sep-
ers are played by John “Monk,” which remains differing mental prob- urge him to get back in 1938. Reid, now 71, wrote tember 7, at 26, of an
C. Reilly and JOAQUIN his biggest hit). Tony lems who independently the dating game. BRAD all the lyrics for the overdose. I won’t sing
PHOENIX, 43. The rich Danza plays a disgraced are drawn to participate GARRETT, 58 (Robert British band Procol his praises, but just
guy also hires Morris, a former NYPD officer who in a mysterious pharma- Barone on “Everybody Harum, which still is best sadly note that too
private detective (JAKE never followed the rules. ceutical trial. They hope Loves Raymond”), has a known for “A Whiter many Jewish rockers
GYLLENHAAL, 37), to Josh Groban (who has the drug used in the trial regular role as Douglas, Shade of Pale,” a mon- have preceded him in
find Warm and tell the Jewish ancestry but isn’t will cure their problems a wealthy widower with ster 1967 hit. The tune dying in the same stupid
Sisters brothers his loca- Jewish) plays Danza’s almost instantly. JULIA young twin daughters. and the lyrics are way: AMY WINEHOUSE,
tion. But Warm, who is straight-arrow son, a GARNER, 24 (“Ozark”) He urges Cooper to “hire haunting and they still HILLEL SLOVAK (Red
a trained chemist, may NYPD detective. The two and JEMIMA KIRKE, 33 a babysitter” and get resonate. More than 93 Hot Chili Peppers), great
have a way to find gold become unofficial (“Girls”) appear in recur- out there. million people have the guitarist MIKE BLOOM-
easily, and that possibil- partners and ring roles. 1967 “A Whiter Shade of FIELD, HOWIE EPSTEIN
ity makes Morris think solve crimes. “Single Parents” pre- Rock and roll notes Pale” video on YouTube. (Tom Petty and the
about chucking his as- Emma Stone and mieres on ABC on Sep- Few people Reid was unusual — Heartbreakers), and
signment and going into JONAH HILL, 34, co-star tember 26 at 9:30 p.m. know the name he just wrote lyrics for KEVIN DUBROW
business with Warm in- in “Maniac,” a Netflix It’s a comedy about Will KEITH REID, a the band but didn’t (Quiet Riot).
stead. This film got rave limited series that also Cooper (Taram Killiam), British landsman play with it. Pianist and –N.B.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard Middleoftheroad1@aol.com

4 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

 Dana C.
Montclair, NJ

TH I S I S WHAT
A N E W LE A S E ON LIFE
L O O K S L I K E.

When a bigger cancer center let Dana fall through the cracks,
we showed her that we wouldn’t. When they made her feel
overlooked and neglected, we made her feel heard and cared for.
And when she asked for her options, we gave her a solution.

ThisPlaceIsDifferent.org
JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 5
Local

The Jewish Home at Rockleigh breaks new ground

It begins work on the Charles P. Berkowitz Center
for Rehabilitation Excellence with a celebration
JOANNE PALMER

A
s we often are told, Jewish continuity
is a chain. Each one of us is a link,
connected to the generation before
us at one end, and the generation
after us at the other.
It’s a sweet abstraction, but it’s not necessarily
so easy to embody when it leaves the realm of
the ethereal and comes down to earth.
How do we care for our elders? How do we
treat them with dignity and respect, and also
with the cutting-edge treatments that will
improve their lives, even as those lives draw
nearer to their close?
The Jewish Home at Rockleigh, like the rest of
the Jewish Home Family of which it is perhaps
the most visible part, takes its mission to serve
the community seriously. It’s provided care
where care is needed the most since 1912, when
it opened in Jersey City as an orphanage, pro-
viding homes to children who otherwise would
have had none. Although the care it provided
would seem horrifying to us today, it was state-
of-the-art then.
Our understanding of the kind of care people
need most, along with breakthroughs in the tech- From left, building committee co-chair Ary Freilich, JHAL president Peter Martin, Jewish Home Family president and
nology and biotechnology that can provide that CEO Carol Silver Elliott, president emeritus Charles P. Berkowitz, Jewish Home At Rockleigh president JoAnn Hassan
care, keeps evolving. The Jewish Home — which Perlman, building committee co-chair Bob Peckar, Jewish Home Foundation president Jon Furer, and Jewish Home
had changed both its focus and its address as Family chair Carol K. Silberstein.
demographics changed — moved up to Rock-
leigh in 2001. The building and the care it pro-
vided was cutting-edge then. Today, not so much;
it’s still really good, but it’s perhaps a bit dated.
Things have changed.
That why the Jewish Home at Rockleigh had a
groundbreaking ceremony for its new building
on Sunday.
The story started when the Jewish Home was
able to buy the land next to it, giving it room not
only to dream but also to expand. After exten-
sive studies, its leaders decided on a three-phase
project. The groundbreaking represents the
start of the first phase.
The new Center for Rehabilitation Excel-
lence will offer state-of-the art facilities and
therapies; as we reported when it first was
announced, it will include not only speech,
occupational, and physical therapies — all From left, Elaine Adler, Chuck Berkowitz,
necessary but not at all new — but also warm- From left, Jewish Home Family board member Elaine Adler, Rachel and Jewish Home Family board member
water therapy. Two therapy pools will allow Berkowitz and her husband Chuck, and Peter Martin. Maggie Kaplen.
patients to enter on wheelchairs that run on
underwater tracks; underwater cameras will record come here after surgery, or after an illness, when they in the main building.
underwater movements. had been hospitalized and become debilitated,” Ms. Elliott Then, once the short-term rehab patients are in the
The new two-story building will include 60 private said. “Some come as the result of an accident. There are other building, the space can be reconfigured for the long-
rooms — four units of 15 beds each — for short-term in- many reasons for people to come here.” The average time nursing home residents. The plan eventually is to
house stays. “What is wonderful is that we will have the stay is about 16 days, she said, but that varies widely and house them in small clusters, where neither they nor their
opportunity to provide outpatient services in a way that depends on the underlying reason for that stay. caregivers will have to trek down long unwelcoming halls
we hadn’t had before,” Carol Silver Elliott said. Ms. Elliott Just as the chain of Jewish continuity is interwoven with for the services they need, and where people with various
is the Jewish Home’s CEO and president. “Until now, our links, so too are the phases of the building at the Jewish diagnoses can take heart and hope for at least friendship
space has been really tight. This will allow us to have really Home. Once the 60 rooms are open for business — the from each other.
robust inpatient and outpatient programs.” plan is to be ready by the end of 2019, although that timing And that chain?
Although most of the rehab patients are over 65 years is dependent on how long it takes the various necessary Another link was forged when the new center was
old, not all of them are, and they need not be; “people legal approvals to come through — that will open up space named. It will be the Charles P. Berkowitz Center for

6 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

 Local

Rehabilitation Excellence. It’s named for Chuck Berkowitz
of Glen Rock, Ms. Elliott’s predecessor as president and
CEO, who led the organization for 45 years.
“We wouldn’t have the foundation to build on for the
future without Chuck,” Ms. Elliott said. “I think that his
leadership and his commitment to this organization,
which continues to this day, are really a hallmark of who
we are as a Jewish home.
“It is a very fitting tribute to him to name this significant
part of our future in his honor.”
Mr. Berkowitz is thrilled by the honor. “It was wonder-
ful,” he said. “Such a nice expression by the board and
the staff.”
Mr. Berkowitz, who grew up in Newark and graduated
from Rutgers and then earned a degree in social work
from Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School, came to
the Jewish Home through the legendary George Hantgan,
the master social worker and community builder who
founded the JCC — now the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
in Tenafly, but then the just-plain JCC in Englewood.
Mr. Berkowitz worked for Mr. Hantgan and then moved
on to become the executive director of the Sister Mary
Eugene Foundation, a Bergen County social service and
adoption agency. “Then, about four years later, I got a
call from George, asking if I was ready to come back to
Jewish communal service,” Mr. Berkowitz said. “I asked
what was available, and he said ‘a job as the assistant
administrator of the Jewish Home in Jersey City.’ I said,
‘That’s interesting.’”
So Mr. Berkowitz went to Jersey City, interviewed with
Charlotte Simon, the Jewish Home’s head, and Joe Gross,
the president of its board, and after the interview, “Char-
lotte said to me, ‘I want to retire in four or five years, and I
would like to offer you the opportunity to step up.’”
So that’s what happened. “It was a wonderful opportu-
nity,” Mr. Berkowitz said.
Carol Silberstein of Tenafly is the chair of the Jew-
ish Home Family. “The dedication was lovely,” she said.
“It was a beautiful day” — in fact it was the first blue-sky
white-cloud day after a week of ceaseless drizzle. The
speakers were brief and to the point, she said, and Cantor
Alan Sokoloff of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley,
who sang both “Hatikvah” and “The Star-Spangled Ban-
ner,” did a moving and beautiful job, she reported.
“The highlight was the dedication for Chuck Berkowitz,”
she said; it was even more powerful because most people
there did not know that it was coming. “This is his legacy,”
she said. “He started everything.”
The expansion is important, Ms. Silberstein said,
because at its heart is the need to make the Jewish Home a
real home for its residents. On the one hand, of course it is
a home — people live there, and “most of them have pretty
much figured out that they are not going back home,” she
said. “So we have to make sure that we give them the dig-
nity that really makes it feel like home.
It is not cheap to build the kind of facility the Rockleigh
is planning. Its leaders are spearheading a $30 million
campaign. They’ve already raised $20 million. “We are
still working very hard to get money from foundations
and individuals,” Ms. Silberstein said. “It will not be easy.
But there is no question that the Center for Rehabilitation
Excellence will be done.”
Ary Freilich is a past Rockleigh board president and
a member of its board now. “The groundbreaking was
pretty perfect,” he said. “It is great to see a well-run
event that is a celebration by a well-run organization that
is doing real good, that this is attended by a tightly con-
nected and supportive group of people who understand
the institution and what it does, and who are ready to
help it move into the 21st century.
The way people age is changing, Mr. Freilich said; for
one thing, people live longer, and so their bodies fail in
ways that they did not use to have time to do. As physi-
cal needs change, as mental states vary, the ways the rest
of society deals with those needs must change too. Rock-
leigh is intimately involved with understanding those chal-
lenges and meeting them.
“Rockleigh was created by people who said that we
should build a place that we would be prepared to live
in,” Mr. Freilich said. “Over the last 25 years, we have
tried to do that, and we should base all our decisions on
that perspective.
“The world does not need a new nursing home. We
need a Jewish home that embodies all the values and
empathies that are at the heart of the Jewish tradition as
regards the elderly. That is the overarching goal of this
institution.”

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Local
Merging congregations take on
a new building and a new name
Beth El and Beth Or commit to ‘reimagining’ the Jewish community
Lois Goldrich
Last year, Temple Beth Or’s synagogue
board endorsed a move to sell its build-
ing and merge with Temple Beth El of the
Northern Valley, Beth Or’s president, Lee
Ann Luing, reminded the congregation
in her yom tov speech to the Washington
Township congregation this year.
“We recognize that the model of tem-
ples and the needs of Reform Jews living
in our area is changing,” Ms. Luing said.
“With the growth of interfaith partners
and infusion of technology in our lives, we
must take a new look at how Jews are living
and practicing Judaism today.”
Now, one year later, Ms. Luing
announced that integration of the two
communities is going well, “and we have
begun to develop real relationships with
our Beth El partners beyond the meeting
room as we’ve shared worship, education,
and social events.”
Meanwhile, in Closter, Temple Beth
El’s co-presidents, Joel Rubin and Angela
Schuster, were delivering the same mes-
sage to their congregants. “We’re barrel-
ing ahead,” Mr. Rubin said, noting that the
target starting date of September 2019 for
the opening of the new congregation is
still realistic. Beth El, like Beth Or, already
has sold its building, and the two formerly
separate communities will come together
in a new home in Oradell.
“Together with our TBE partners, we
searched all potential real estate options,
agreed on and executed the purchase of
our new home at 660 Kinderkamack Road
— just 2.8 miles away — in Oradell,” Ms.
Luing told her congregation. (The new
building is about 4 miles from Beth El.)
“For the first time in our history, we have
a building that is mortgage- free as a major
step toward financial stability,” she said.
In addition to finalizing its new location,
the two congregations announced their
new name — Kol Dorot: A Reform Jewish
Community.
“We put together a survey that went
out to both congregations, asking what
they want from a name,” Mr. Rubin said.
“Should it be Hebrew? English? Both?
Should it reflect our location? — all the dif-
ferent components that might go into it.
“We got about 325 responses,” he con-
tinued. “The name was revealed Monday
morning at both congregations. It was very
well received in both places. Even people
we thought might have a problem said
they loved the name, and that it’s exactly
what we should have.”
Noah Fabricant, Temple Beth Or’s rabbi,
8 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
From left, Beth El’s Cantor Elizabeth Goldmann and Rabbi David Widzer and
Beth Or’s Rabbi Noah Fabricant and Cantor Sarah Silverberg.
communities feel engaged.”
Rabbi Fabricant said that
the new name, which may be
translated as Voice of Genera-
tions, “is really an important
symbolic step in bringing the
communities together. We
have a similar task. To honor
the 60 years of Temple Beth
Or” — and the 68 years of
Beth El — “and, when the time
comes, to say an appropriate
goodbye to this building. But
while we’re honoring the past,
we’re building and prepar-
ing and getting ready for the
From left, Beth El’s co-presidents, Angela Schuster future.”
and Joel Rubin, and Beth Or’s president, Lee In his Rosh Hashanah ser-
Anne Luing. mon, Rabbi Fabricant said
that “the idea of dorot stands
said “what we have done in the past year is at a pivot point.” When the congregation
astonishing to me.” In addition to finding was asked what they hoped a new name
a building and choosing a name, the two would embrace, “the top responses were
congregations have been working toward words like family, community, tradition,
“social integration.” welcoming, but also modern and open.
A joint slichot service hosted by his syn- We needed something about grounding
agogue was followed by a service held at us in our history, our tradition, but very
Beth El on the second day of Rosh Hasha- importantly signaling that we are creating
nah. “It was wonderful,” Rabbi Fabricant something new.
said. “We’ll be doing more and more of “The name is modern,” he said. “Not
that. Some people are already starting to using ‘temple,’ ‘synagogue,’ or ‘congre-
recognize each other. We can’t just open a gation’ is deliberate. Rather, we call it ‘A
new synagogue building and expect every- Reform Jewish Community.’ As connected
one to feel like one community. as we are to the word ‘temple,’ it’s ulti-
“The story of this year is really going mately a building, and we weren’t trying
to be to expand this experience beyond to name a building.”
the circles of leadership. We’ve had a lot “The path we are on is wonderful,”
of leadership and committees working said David Widzer, Beth El’s rabbi. “Not
extremely hard together. Now we need only for our congregation but for the
to widen the circles so the rest of both broader community that we’re forming,
the broader Reform Jewish community.
We’re expecting to be an open, inclusive,
warm, and welcoming center for Reform
Jewish life.
“Congregations are changing. The Jew-
ish world is changing. Rather than taking
two congregations and merging and doing
the same things, we have a commitment
from our two communities to reimagine
what it means to be a Jewish community
in the 21st century.”
“Everything is a possibility,” Rabbi Wid-
zer continued. “We envision a process
over the next year of further integration
and having the opportunity to imagine,
what does a religious education program
look like? How can we reach people in
meaningful ways? What about social jus-
tice, expressing a sense of Jewish identity,
and learning for adults?”
He said that the service held on the sec-
ond day of Rosh Hashanah — involving
clergy from both congregations — mani-
fested “the palpable energy of new begin-
nings, connection with our past, and antic-
ipation of our future — good themes for
Rosh Hashanah.” The new name, he said,
reflects the desire to be “the voice of the
Jewish community for now and the posi-
tioning of ourselves to be the Jewish com-
munity of the future — not just to continue
to survive, but to thrive.”
Neither rabbi could speak to the posi-
tion of clergy in the new synagogue.
“It’s not yet established,” Mr. Rubin said.
“We’ve opened conversations, in the same
way we approached the naming. We’re
looking at every possibility,” whether that
involves co-equal rabbis, one senior rabbi,
or any other arrangement. Both rabbis, he
said, are equally well respected in their
congregations. “We don’t have a deadline,
but we hope to have a solid direction by
mid-year.”
Mr. Rubin said it is expected that plans
for the new building — now an office build-
ing — will be submitted to the town of
Oradell this month. Various committees
have researched and hired architects and
engineers, and both land use and traffic
surveys have been conducted.
“It’s on pace, as we anticipated,” Mr.
Rubin said, although once the package —
including plans, renderings, and architec-
tural drawings — has been submitted to the
town, “it’s a little bit out of our hands.”
Both congregations did the “big reveal”
on Monday, he said, displaying poster
boards of the proposed new structure. But
“It’s not finalized,” Mr. Rubin cautioned,
adding that “hearing and seeing are two
different things.”
JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 9
Local
Where no Tenafly High
student has gone before
Israeli with local roots interns at
NASA and helps find exoplanets
LARRY YUDELSON
Before she set out to find planets in other
solar systems, Noa Yechezkel-Lubin lived
in Tenafly. She was 14, and she went to
Tenafly High School. Her family had moved
to the town from Belgium. After a year, the
Yechezkel-Lubins returned to Israel.
All that was half a lifetime ago for Ms.
Yechezkel-Lubin, who now is 28. “It taught
me a lot about myself and different cul-
tures and living in different places and
seeing other parts of the world,” she said.
This summer, she was back in the United
States, on a three-month internship at the
Ames NASA research center outside San
Jose, California, helping the space agency
see other parts of the galaxy. More spe-
cifically, she used cutting-edge computer
science to help a brand-new satellite find
planets orbiting distant stars.
To date, nearly 4,000 planets have
Noa Yechezkel-Lubin during her
summer internship with NASA.
Top, the TESS satellite will expand
knowledge about exoplanets.
10 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
been detected around stars as near
as Proxima Centauri (four light
years away) and as a dis-
tant as 27,710 light years
away. At such dis-
tances — even
the relatively
close ones — we can-
not see planets directly.
But telescopes, on the ground or in space,
can observe the periodic dimming of the
light of the distant stars and from that
extrapolate that the
dimming is caused by
a planet passing before its
star and blocking part of its light.
Until now, the majority of the discov-
ered planets has been spotted by the
Kepler satellite, which has been finding
new exoplanets, as the planets orbiting
other stars are called, since 2009. As of
this July, however, there is a new watcher
in the sky: the Transiting Exoplanet Sur-
vey Satellite, known as TESS.
TESS will watch a wider section of the
sky, using stronger cameras than Kepler:
In the course of two years, it is scheduled
to observe 200,000 stars and is expected
it to find 20,000 exoplanets. That’s five
times more exoplanets than have been
discovered until now. Amid those many
exoplanets, “The main goal is to find 50
planet candidates that are Earth-like and
could be explored in further missions to
find a planet similar to ours,” Ms. Yechez-
kel-Lubin said.
Finding those needles in the galactic
haystack would require either a whole
new army of astronomers to analyze
TESS’s data— or it would demand help
from machines. And that’s where Ms.
Yechezkel-Lubin came in. Her project for
NASA was to apply deep learning methods
— computer science algorithms from the
field of artificial intelligence — to identify
the signs of a planet in the mass of data.
The internship was funded by the Israeli
Space Agency’s Asaf Ramon scholarship
program, which gave a $20,000 stipend
for the three-month internship.
This intersection of space science and
computer science is the logical place to
find Ms. Yechezkel-Lubin these days. She’s
studying for a master’s degree at Bar Ilan
University in data science, with a focus on
natural language processing. She’s also
working for an Israeli subsidiary of Ama-
zon that makes computer microchips. This
follows a bachelor’s degree in electrical
engineering from the Technion.
And she also is a
veteran rocket sci-
entist. She worked
as a satellite opera-
tor for the Israeli
Defense Force, and
then after her army
service she worked
for Israel Aerospace
Industries, where she
helped develop satellites.
“If you would have asked
me when I was a little girl
what I wanted to be when I grew
up, I probably would have answered
‘An astronaut!’” she said. “I always loved
physics. I was very intrigued by space, and
everything beyond it.”
She got to meet astronauts during a trip
to Houston this summer, as part of a del-
egation led by Ofir Akunis, Israel’s minister
of science, technology, and space. While
there, she spoke to a Jewish group. And
she told a story about a close encounter of
a different kind.
“We as Israelis and Jews are all ambassa-
dors of Israel,” she said. “Whether we like
it or not. We will get asked questions and
what we say will matter.”
She said that her mentor at NASA is an
Iranian. He told her: “Noa, I am so happy I
hired you. You changed my opinion about
Israel.”
Ms. Yechezkel-Lubin lives in Kiryat
Ono, which she says in some ways is like
Tenafly. “It’s also a quiet town,” she said.
“It’s pretty small. It has one high school,
just like in Tenafly. Both are close to a big
city” — in Kiryat Ono’s case, Tel Aviv.
“But the weather is different. It never
snows here. And it’s more apartment
buildings as opposed to houses.”
She has another year left before she
earns her master’s degree. After that, she
might continue for a doctorate — or per-
haps she might go out and start a company.
“I love entrepreneurship,” she said. “It’s
something I really see myself doing some
day. My dream is to found a company
that’s space-related and artificial intelli-
gence-related and to make it successful
here in Israel.”
Meanwhile, TESS has just sent back its
first set of data, the report of the bright-
ness of stars it observed over the course
of about two weeks. Next month, Ms.
Yechezkel-Lubin hopes to apply the pro-
grams she developed over the summer to
analyze the data.
“It’s coming pretty soon,” she said. “We
hope to find some exoplanets.”
JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 11
Local
FIRST PERSON
Dating in Jerusalem
What it’s like to work with a matchmaker in Israel
RACHEL OLIKER
Simply anticipating a visit to Israel generates
waves of happiness throughout my whole
being. Savoring the chance to inhale the
Jerusalem air, always cool in the evening,
and to walk along the white stone paths of
this city, where every prayer is elevated.
In the early 1970s, when I was a child, my
family emigrated from Russia to Israel, and
we lived in Jerusalem. At that time, neigh-
borhoods were being constructed, and our
home was in a new building, one of only
two, on Stern Street in Kiryat Yovel. Later,
a zoo was built in the mountains, behind
our apartment building.
As I would recall being awakened by the
rooster’s crow, joined by the lions’ som-
nolent yawn under a pale pink sunrise,
my anticipation would grow. A harmony
resounded with the early morning prayers
of new immigrants from India, Morocco,
and Yemen. These tones were joined by
the morning calls of an Arabic woman,
exclaiming, “Anavim, Anavim,” selling
grapes from a large wicker basket that
was balanced on her head. As buses nois-
ily groaned their early morning routes in
pairs along the street, men wearing kippot
rushed to synagogues for morning prayers.
While I was preparing for a trip to Israel,
I decided to add diversity to my visit by
arranging a date with the assistance of a
matchmaker.
When we visit Israel, my family lives
with relatives who live in Kiryat Yovel.
Once we arrive, we need a few days to
overcome the jet lag. On the third day
after we got there, the matchmaker con-
tacted me, proposing a meeting with Stan-
ley, an immigrant from London. Stanley
and I agreed to meet in the evening, at an
address suggested by my Israeli relatives.
Because the place we were to meet is hard
to find, a procession consisting of Aunt
Miriam, Uncle Shmulik, my parents, and
I set out to meet Stanley.
Stanley, we learned, was a 54-year-old,
who made aliyah from his native London.
He was a runner, and he lived in Ramat
Eshkol, a quiet suburban neighborhood
in northern Jerusalem, near Mount Sco-
pus and French Hill that is popular among
Orthodox Jews. When we met him, Stanley
appeared to be exhausted. He had a back-
pack slung over his left shoulder and his
hair was in disarray. He had walked from
Ramat Eshkol to Kiryat Yovel — it took him
an hour and a half.
We decided to visit a miniscule mall
adjacent to a Super Sol grocery store,
where we drank neither coffee nor tea.
12 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
Rachel Oliker
Instead, we ate ice cream, my suggestion,
as dairy products in Israel are exception-
ally delicious, and I treasure every oppor-
tunity to enjoy this delight.
After locating a round outdoor table
surrounded by a few plastic chairs near
the ice cream shop, we sat and spoke.
Stanley is a taxi driver in London, where
he returns once a month to earn money,
because he still does not have an Israeli
license to work. He didn’t attend college,
but worked in his father’s shop; he can
While
exchanging
personal details
about our lives, I
decided to
disclose my
diagnosis with
multiple
sclerosis.
work with a hammer and nails. He also
uses his skills to provide services at a local
synagogue, and he earns a small salary
from that work.
Stanley is a person of short stature,
with brown hair and kind, understanding
hazel eyes. His parents are deceased, and
his brother lives in Scotland. When he
returns to London to work, he usually is
greeted at the airport by friends; he stays
at Bowling Green.
While exchanging personal details about
our lives, I decided to disclose my diagno-
sis with multiple sclerosis. Revealing the
truth is best performed as soon as possi-
ble, I’ve learned from my previous dating
experiences. While enjoying the vanilla and
chocolate ice cream, I recounted that when
I was in medical school, during the pedi-
atrics rotation, I was infected with a virus.
That later led to a neurological complica-
tion. When my condition improved, I hap-
pily continued with medical school. A few
years later, I was diagnosed with MS. This
diagnosis led to discontinuing my work as
a resident in the third year. I don’t work as
a doctor now.
Stanley’s eyes widened and his eyebrows
raised. He said that he’d heard of MS; in fact,
he knew someone who had MS and uses a
wheelchair. Because of that, he confessed,
he always thought that if you have MS, you
must always need a wheelchair.
“Oh, so you don’t work as a doctor?” he
inquired, his tone an octave lower than it
had been.
“No, I don’t,” I answered. “I’m on dis-
ability, and in order to stay on my feet and
maintain my present condition, exercise
is an essential part of every day for me.”
Stanley slowly nodded, looking reflective.
“Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune dis-
ease, and each person can vary in the man-
ner in which this disease presents,” I contin-
ued. “People may have various diagnoses,
but they usually don’t speak about them. I
decided to be honest, because the truth is
the best way to approach any relationship.”
After discarding the ice cream wrappers
that remained from our feast, we decided
to return to my relatives’ house. While we
were walking, Stanley noticed my slightly
awkward gait, and asked if I needed any
assistance walking. Courteously and hap-
pily, I declined any help.
When we got close to my family’s home,
we saw them out on the wooden veran-
dah, drinking tea and eating cake. Joyfully
waving their arms, they invited us to join
the group. Stanley reacted reluctantly at
first, then agreed to stay. My father intro-
duced each member at the table to him.
After learning that Stanley is a handy-
man specializing in repairs, my father
showed him his injured forefinger, black
after being struck by a hammer as he per-
formed various repairs around the house.
Stanley and I smiled at each other, recall-
ing our recent conversation on this topic.
Stanley refused to eat cake because he
had eaten ice cream, filling his daily sugar
allowance. I ate cake, experiencing slight
pangs of guilt, fondly recalling my dietary
low-sugar regime, gladly left behind as a
relic on this vacation.
Our jovial group escorted Stanley to the
bus, which would take him back to Ramat
Eshkol. My father offered Stanley money
for the fare, but Stanley declined. After he
found some change in his wallet before he
boarded the bus, I wondered if he could
truly afford to take it. We waited with him
until the bus arrived, then walked home.
The following day, Stanley called to
thank me for meeting with him and I like-
wise expressed gratitude for our encounter.
He enjoyed meeting my family, comment-
ing on their friendly, warm nature. Miriam
observed that at first glance, he was com-
When I asked
about the
woman who
answered the
phone, he
proudly told me,
“Finally, I found
my beshert. My
wife’s name is
Malka.”
patible with me by height. Everyone under-
stood that he is a “floater” through life.
Stanley and I exchanged email addresses.
After I returned to the United States, Stanley
and I contacted each other a few times by
email, exchanging holiday greetings.
Not too much time passed before another
invitation arrived for a bar mitzvah of a fam-
ily friend in Israel. Once again, I returned
to Jerusalem, and in the midst of the visit I
decided to call Stanley, although we had not
communicated over the past year.
After dialing his number, I was surprised
when a woman answered the phone. Iden-
tifying myself as Stanley’s friend, I asked to
speak with him. When he took the phone,
his voice revealed his surprise at hearing
from me.
When I asked about the woman who
answered the phone, he proudly told me,
“Finally, I found my beshert. My wife’s
name is Malka.”
“Mazal tov! Congratulations!” I happily
replied.
Rachel Oliker of Montvale was born in the
USSR, made aliyah in 1972, and moved
to Skokie, a Chicago suburb, in 1977. She
graduated from Stanford University, went
to medical school at the State University of
New York at Stony Brook, was diagnosed
with MS during her residency there, and
writes about her experiences to help others
with disabilities.
 Nearly 150 years of experience

Five generations of family heritage

Millions of bottles enjoyed

One commitment to quality

JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 13

Teperberg history commitment ad.indd 4 2/19/18 2:05 PM

Briefly Local

Sukkot in Teaneck
Bris Avrohom
rabbi visits
Jersey City
Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky of Bris
Avrohom visited Jersey City’s Mayor
Steven Fulop and brought him

COURTESY BRIS AVROHOM

honey and a round challah for a
happy and sweet new year on behalf
of the Russian Jewish community.

Participants of all ages gathered at the Jewish Center of Teaneck to decorate

the sukkah there on Sunday.  MICHAEL LAVES

Renoir stolen by Nazis returned to rightful owner

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States
Attorney for the Southern District of New
York, and William F. Sweeny Jr., the assis-
tant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New
York field office, announced that a paint-
ing the Nazis stole from a bank vault in
Paris in 1941 was returned to its owner.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted “Deux
Femmes Dans Un Jardin” in 1919; in 1941 it
belonged to Alfred Weinberger, a prominent
art collector in prewar Paris. His last remain-
ing heir, Sylvie Sulitzer, saw the painting for
the first time when it was unveiled at a cer-
emony last week at the Museum of Jewish
Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holo-
caust in lower Manhattan.
“Today, as we celebrate the just return of
this painting to its rightful owner, we also
remember the uniqueness of the Holocaust
and reaffirm our commitment to ensure
that the words ‘never forget, never again’
never ring hollow,” the museum’s presi-
dent and CEO, Michael S. Glickman, said at
the ceremony. “Hopefully this event brings
some measure of justice to Madame Sylvie
Sultizer and her family.
“The Museum of Jewish Heritage is
the museum’s chairman emeritus, said,
“All of us who have never forgotten about
the Nazi lootings are grateful for United
States Attorney Geoffrey Berman’s inter-
est in seeing that the stolen art is returned
to its rightful owners.”
During World War II, the Nazis cre-
ated a division known as the Einsatzstab
Reichsleiter Rosenberg in order to “study”
Jewish life and culture as part of the Nazis’
propagandist mission against the Jews.
The ERR confiscated artworks and other
cultural holdings of the enemies of the
Reich on a massive scale, and meticulously
registered and identified those artworks —
even photographing them — thus leaving
behind a detailed record of the works that
they stole.
In December 1941, during the Nazi occu-
pation of Paris, the ERR seized the Renoir,
along with many other works, from a bank
vault where Alfred Weinberger had stored
his collection when he fled Paris at the
outset of the war. In the decades that fol-
lowed, Mr. Weinberger sought to recover The Renoir painting “Deux Femmes Dans Un Jardin” was taken from a Paris
his property, registering his claim to the bank vault during World War II. Last week, it was reuinted with its righful owner
Renoir with the French restitution author- at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. JOHN HALPERN, COURTESY MOJH

proud to be the venue for this restitution,
in furtherance of our mission as a living
memorial to the Holocaust. We applaud
the tireless efforts of those who worked to
see this painting justly restored to Sylvie
Sulitzer and the Weinberger family.”
The former district attorney for New
York, Robert M. Morgenthau, who also is
ities in 1947 and with German restitution
authorities in 1958.
The Renoir resurfaced at an art sale in
Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1975. Then
it found its way to London, where it was
sold again in 1977, and then appeared at
a sale in Zurich in 1999. Eventually the
painting ended up in Christie’s in New
York, where it was put up for auction by
a private collector in 2013. It was then that
Ms. Sulitzer learned of a pending sale and
made a claim to the work as part of her
grandfather’s collection. Christie’s alerted
the FBI, and the purported owner of the
work voluntarily agreed to relinquish its
claim. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the
FBI now are returning the painting to Ms.
Sulitzer.
The case is being handled by the office’s
money laundering and asset forfeiture
unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Falk is
in charge.

Temple Emeth offers study groups
The Mini University of Jewish Studies at
Temple Emeth is beginning its fall ses-
sion. Ongoing programs include Torah
study with Rabbi Steven Sirbu on Satur-
days at 9 a.m. in the shul’s library, with
coffee, bagels, and spreads.
“Lunch and Learn” with Rabbi Steven
Sirbu is on Wednesdays at noon, begin-
ning on October 3. It will focus on the
textbook “Seven Days, Many Voices,”
edited by Rabbi Benjamin David. Bring
lunch; coffee and tea are provided.
The “Speak, Laugh, and Enjoy Yid-
dish” class begins on Monday, October
15, at 10:30 a.m. It will focus on conver-
sation using materials including multi-
media, songs, and stories.
The synagogue is at 1666 Windsor
Road. For information, call (201) 833-
1322 or go to www.emeth.org.
JFCS gala set for November
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of
Northern New Jersey will hold its annual
gala on Sunday, November 18, at the Edge-
wood Country Club in River Vale. The
party will celebrate another year of JFCS
programs and services. Shira Feuerstein,
Jayne Petak, and Alan Scharfstein will be
honored for their leadership, support, and
dedication. Ms. Feuerstein, the group’s
immediate past president, has devoted
many years to JFCS, and Ms. Petak and
Mr. Scharfstein have helped JFCS create a
stronger and healthier agency.
JFCS helps thousands of people who are
struggling by offering mental health and
senior services, career and after-school
childcare programs, and emergency sup-
port, including a food pantry.
Go to gala2018.jfcsnnj.org for sponsorship
opportunities, tickets, or journal ads. For
more information, call Jaymie Kerr at (201)
837-9090 or email JaymieK@jfcsnnj.org.

14 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
New! Reclaiming My Time
For Ages 45-60
WE’VE ARRANGED IT, YOU DO IT.

TAKE IN ART ON THE BOWERY

Visit the latest galleries and see murals by edgy street artists
with Ronnit Vasserman.
Thu, Sep 27, 9:30 am-3:30 pm, $90/$110
UPCOMING: Hike the Hudson River Valley & Taste Wine at
Trendy Grape D’vine
visit jccotp.org/adults-do

JCC U—Fall Term PA

Top professors and experts present on a variety of subjects.

OCTOBER 11 TOPICS:
MORNING: How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them
with Yale professor Jason Stanle
AFTERNOON: How Luck Happens with New York Times
bestselling author of The Gratitude Diaries Janice Kaplan.
For more info on other topics go to
jccotp.org-adult-jcc-university
Thursdays: Oct 11 & 25, Nov 8, 10:30 am-2 pm;
3 Thursdays $95/$115; 1 Thursday $35/$42
First 20 to register for full term receive Janice Kaplan’s book.

Viva Mexico, ole!

COOKING, WITH CHEF MERAV DAHAN

We are so excited to welcome back Chef Merav

Dahan this fall. Chef Dahan of Merav’s Cuisine
will take you on a journey to Mexico, teaching
you how to make some Mexican staples such as
fish tacos, Kale nachos, Fiesta Salad, Churros with
dipping sauce and Sangria. Chef Merav’s class
sold out in the spring-so grab your spot early.
Wed, Oct 17, 7-9:30 pm, $65/$78

FILM CHILDREN ADULTS

The Museum PA
IAC CINEMATEC SCREENING
The Museum is a film about Israel’s most important
institution, the Israel Museum.
The film follows the visitors, the guides, and
documents the human aspects of the museum:
the museum director, the singing security guard,
the kashrut inspector, the Palestinian guide and,
the visitor who lost her vision are some of the
characters that the film follows.
Guest Speaker: Director, Ran Tal
Sun, Oct 14, 7 pm reception, 7:30 screening.
$12/$14/$17 at the door.
New! Child Success Center Beginner Bridge with
We are excited to announce the opening of our Andrea Hershan
FIRST LESSON IS FREE!
incredible new center, which features on-site
support services for children who can benefit from For those who have never played bridge before, here’s
Speech & Language Therapy, your chance to join the 25 million Americans hooked
on the game. Our hands-on approach will have you
Occupational Therapy and individual consultations.
playing bridge before you know it. The first lesson is an
Includes social skills groups and parent counseling.
absolutely free trial with no obligation.
Session fees are highly competitive.
8 Wednesdays, Oct 10-Nov 28, 1-3 pm, $170/$205
For more information please visit jccotp.org/csc or
contact us at 201.408.1439 or csc@jccotp.org.
TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO
VISIT jccotp.org
PA Program offered as part of the JCC Patron of the STAY IN THE KNOW! LIKE US ON
Arts Program. Find out more at jccotp.org/patrons. facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP

KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 15
Cover Story
A force of
nature in
Englewood
Charlotte Bennett Schoen talks about her
life as a social justice and community activist
I
JOANNE PALMER
f you wanted to illustrate a dictionary’s
definition of the adjective “indomi-
nable” with a little line drawing, you
would do will to commission one of
Charlotte Bennett Schoen.
Ms. Bennett Schoen, who lives in
Englewood, is a lifelong fighter for
social justice; that fight has taken her
as close to home as the Englewood
City Council, where she represented her ward for
five years and also was council president.
It also has taken her as far from home as India,
Thailand, and Burma, where she worked on global
justice advocacy both for the American Jewish
World Service and for other organizations.
Most recently, it takes her to Elizabeth, where she
volunteers for First Friends, a group that fights for
rights for immigrants and asylum seekers.
And in October, it will take her to the Kaplen JCC on
the Palisades in Tenafly, where she will offer a pop-up
exhibit, “ Faithspace USA Images on Canvas: Stories
of Worship and Interfaith Tolerance.” The exhibit will
be up all month; on October 4 she’ll screen a movie
about the project. (See box for more information.)
Ms. Bennett Schoen, straight-backed, blue-eyed,
and 75, sat for an interview in an outdoor café on a
recent not-too-hot, not-too-wet late summer morn-
ing. She wore a blue embroidered shirt and a blue
scarf, with its ends flowing back over her shoulders.
“You always wear a scarf with Indian clothing,” she
said, but she adapted the way she draped it for her
busy Western life.
Just to look at her resume is to be awed. She is,
16 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
it tells us, an “experienced administrator, program
developer, teacher, and community activist”; she
has traveled to India, South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Botswana, Nepal, Tibet, Turkey, Israel, Iceland, and
various European countries. In most of those places,
she has worked, either on small-scale projects or
larger social-justice efforts. And in between, she’s
worked at home.
Ms. Bennett Schoen grew up in Philadelphia, the
daughter of “a Jewish family of doers,” she said. Her
family was active in a Conservative shul. “I was not
bat mitzvahed, and that helped me form my femi-
nist thinking,” she said. “I remember thinking about
it when my own two girls had their bat mitzvahs in
Temple Sinai,” in Tenafly.
She went to Temple University, where she earned
first an undergraduate and then a master’s degree,
in teaching. (She also spent a year at the Sorbonne,
in Paris.) “I taught sixth grade in Pennsylvania for
seven years,” she said. “Everything you possibly
need to know you learn there. Everything is in it.
“If you can run a classroom with 30 kids, and
develop programs, then there is nothing that you
cannot do.”
But she got married, to Dr. Paul Schoen, and the
couple moved to Englewood, and Ms. Bennett Schoen
ran her husband’s office for 14 years. (Dr. Schoen, who
was a family practitioner, died 26 years ago.)
During her time as a mother of young children
— she is the mother of two daughters, Lindsay and
Ava, now both lawyers, and she is a grandmother
— Ms. Bennett Schoen worked in property man-
agement; but as entrepreneurial as she was, she
felt the pull of community service more and more
strongly. She worked in a program called “court

Charlotte and friend from Rotary go to the Irrawaddy Delta from Yangon for a Rotary
International water project — wells are installed to serve villages, not individual households.
accompaniment,” through Bergen County’s anti-
domestic violence agency, where she provided
company, reassurance, and a degree of calm to
domestic violence victims as they waited in the
courthouse for their time before the judge. She
became the program’s paid coordinator, and
“one thing led to another,” she said. She worked
there for more than a decade. She also founded
Englewood’s Community Mental Health Organi-
I am passionate about
people — especially women
— stepping up to run.
zation (which now is called Vantage) and was on
its board from 1979 to 1984, and she sat on the
city’s board of health board of directors (yes, the
word “board” really does occur twice there) from
1979 to 1984.
In 2005, Ms. Bennett Schoen ran for Engle-
wood City Council, and won; she represented the
city’s Second Ward until 2010, when she decided
not to run for re-election. “I was passionate about
women stepping up,” she said. “When I went
onto the council, there hadn’t been a woman on
it for 20 years.” During that time, she instituted
programs in sustainability. She’s also deeply
involved in the Englewood Historical Society,
Cover Story
From left, Sophie Stone of Paramus Rotary, Charlotte, and
Neerja Chandiramani, a friend from Paramus, are at the first
display of FAITHSPACE USA, which was held at the Rotary
Peace Park behind the Paramus Library.
where she has been co-president since 2014.
“I am passionate about people — especially
women — stepping up to run,” she said. “Women
tend to wait to be asked to run, although I see this
as changing in the last few years.” But women
cannot afford to wait. They may never be asked,
and anyway why should they wait? “If you are
not at the table, you won’t be in the conversa-
tion,” Ms. Bennett Schoen said.
Once she decided that her
work on the city council was
over “I went to Southeast
Asia,” she said. She became
a volunteer with the Ameri-
can Jewish World Service,
which used to send volun-
teers around the world;
they were asked to commit
to stints of at least three
months, so they were not do-gooding tourists but
visitors with some understanding of the rhythms
of daily life in the places they visited.
In 2010, Ms. Bennett Schoen went to India,
where she worked with village women to help
keep marginalized girls in school; whether or
not they were educated and literate could mean
a huge difference in the lives the girls could lead
after school.
India was beautiful, she said, brightly colored
and vibrant. But of course there is a great deal At Smile’s office in Yangon, Charlotte and office manager Aye
of darkness as well. “I learned that although the Aye Moe stand in front of its library. “I brought a suitcase of
caste system has been outlawed, rural places still books that I bought from the Englewood Friends of Library
have it,” she said. “And darker-skinned people book sale,” she said.
JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 17
Cover Story

In 2007, the representives of District 37 in the state legislature
— clockwise from left, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle,
Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, and Senator Loretta Weinberg —
surround Charlotte, the president of Englewood’s city council.
are treated worse and worse and worse. They are
raped, and the rapists get away with it.”
But she took heart from the people she worked
with, and marveled at their strength, and took
pleasure in the beauty around her.
The next year, Ms. Bennett Schoen went to Thai-
land, where she worked with sex workers.
“I only use the term sex workers now,” Ms. Ben-
nett Schoen said; it affords these women the dig-
nity that they did not discard when they went to
work in the trade most accessible to them. “They
are people who are making money for their
families.”
Over the next two years she went to work twice
in Burma, a country whose recent history of dic-
tatorship, combined with the ongoing violence —
perhaps genocide, depending on who you listen
to or whose definitions you accept — against the
Rohingya demands that foreign volunteers be very
careful. In Burma, Ms. Bennett Schoen worked
with Smile, a small nonprofit agency there.
There is a small shul, Musmeah Yeshua Syna-
gogue, in Rangoon, Burma’s capital, she said.
“A mayor of Rangoon was Jewish; the Silk Road
brought some Jewish merchants there during Brit-
ish colonial rule, and later Baghdadi Jews escaped
there, and some Indian Jews joined them. More
recently, “Israelis have kept it going,” she said.
Ms. Bennett Schoen’s work with Smile was not
through the AJWS, which had discontinued its
Asian programs. Instead, she got to it through the
Rotary club.
The Rotary club? Really?
Yes, Ms. Bennett Schoen said firmly.
“It found these wonderful people in Rotary,
doing good work.” She’s now chair of her chapter’s
Peace and Conflict Resolution group. She spreads
the word about much of the work she’s done in
Asia through Rotary.
Although Ms. Bennett Schoen found a great
deal of satisfaction in her work in Southeast Asia,
I learned that
although the caste
system has been
outlawed, rural
places still have it.
the 2016 election told her that there was work to
be done at home; subsequent events made that
increasingly clear.
She now is a trustee of First Friends of New
Jersey and New York, a faith-based group whose
mission is to help refugees, immigrants, and asy-
lum seekers. It is a serious group that does hard,

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 Cover Story

unsung work, she said; the group is 20 years

old, and it not as well-known as she wishes
it would be. It also does not include as many
Jews as she hopes that eventually it will.
As the situations in which immigrants find
themselves grow more dire in this unwelcom-
ing political climate, she hopes that organi-
zations like First Friends will be able to help
more and more.
Meanwhile, the exhibit at the Kaplen JCC is
from Burma; like all of Ms. Bennett Schoen’s
projects, it’s about tolerance and mutual
understanding. It is unsafe to be in favor of
such things in Burma, she said, but none-

t theless this exhibit, and the accompanying

film, have made their way out of that coun-
e try and into this one. It includes interactive
panels where people are encouraged to add
their comments, fears, and hopes. Ms. Ben-
nett Schoen has shown the exhibit and the
film across the state and the region, with help
from Rotary.
“She’s definitely a role model,” Cheryl
Rosenberg said of Ms. Bennett Schoen. Ms.
Rosenberg is another Jewish woman on Engle-
wood’s City Council. (She represents the First
Ward; Michael Cohen, the director of the east-
ern region of the Simon Wiesenthal Center,
represents Ms. Bennett Schoen’s Second.) Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian leaders walk together in Yangon, which has a history of good interfaith
“We have worked together on several relations. This is a key image for FAITHSPACE USA, which will be on display at the JCC.

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JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 19

 Cover Story
B R AT I N G
CELE

The OU Women’s Initiative is proud to announce

Celebrating Simchat Torah Together 5779. This Scholars
Program launched Shavuot and continues monthly
with Rosh Chodesh webinars. The WI is partnering with
synagogues nationwide to sponsor the Simchat Torah
TOGETHER morning aliyot shiur given by local female scholars. Join
the growing list of participating synagogues!

A volunteer makes
matzah balls for the
Rebbetzin Dr. Deena Mrs. Geraldine Rebbetzin Ilana Ms. Sarah Rebbetzin
Ariela Davis Grant Wiener Weiss Robinson Shira Schiowitz
vegetarian seder in
Chang Mai, Thailand.

Rebbetzin Dr. Deena Morah Erica Rebbetzin Sara Mrs. Sara Mrs. Stacey
Aviel Brodkin Rabinovich Yadlovker Fayge Twerski Wolfe Goldman

Dr. Ayala Mrs. Devorah Mrs. Elyssa Mrs. Rochelle Mrs. Ruchama Tal Gilboa
Zoltan Rockoff Cohen Goldschmiedt Garfield Alter

Rebbetzin Miriam Mrs. Rachel
Schwartz Bodner
Dr. Jessica Mrs. Batyah
Kalmer Brander
OU WOMEN'S INITIATIVE SPONSORED SPEAKERS & HOST SYNAGOGUES
⊲ Rebbetzin Sara Fayge Twerski
Beth Joseph Congregation
Phoenix, AZ
⊲ Mrs. Batyah Brander
LINK
Los Angeles, CA
⊲ Mrs. Geraldine Wiener
Young Israel of Century City
Los Angeles, CA
⊲ Mrs. Sara Wolfe
East Denver Orthodox Synagogue
Denver, CO
⊲ Dr. Deena Grant
Young Israel of West Hartford
West Hartford, CT
⊲ Dr. Ayala Zoltan Rockoff
Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner
Overland Park, KS
⊲ Ms. Blima Maged
Maimonides Kehillah
Brookline, MA
⊲ Elena Medvedovski
The Adams Street Shul
Newton, MA
⊲ Rebbetzin Miriam Schwartz
OU JLIC at University of
Maryland Hillel
College Park, MD
⊲ Rachel Tessler Lopatin
Kehillat Etz Chayim of Detroit
Detroit, MI
Mrs. Mindy Rebbetzin Tamar
Schwartz-Zolty Livingstone
Mrs. Elianna Rachel
Mitnick Tessler Lopatin
⊲ Rebbetzin Ilana Weiss
Sons of Israel
Cherry Hill, NJ
⊲ Mrs. Rachel Bodner
JEC Elmora Ave Shul
Elizabeth, NJ
⊲ Morah Erica Yadlovker
Anshe Chesed
Linden, NJ
⊲ Rebbetzin Shira Schiowitz
Congregation Shaare
Tefillah of Teaneck
Teaneck, NJ
⊲ Ms. Sarah Robinson
Congregation Beth Aaron
Teaneck, NJ
⊲ Mrs. Elianna Mitnick
Riverdale Jewish Center
Bronx, NY
⊲ Dr. Deena Rabinovich
Congregation Etz Chaim
of Kew Gardens Hills
Flushing, NY
⊲ Mrs. Channah Glatt
Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills
Flushing, NY
⊲ Mrs. Ruchama Alter
Congregation Shaaray Tefilla
Lawrence, NY
⊲ Rebbetzin Yael Axelrod
Young Israel of New Rochelle
New Rochelle, NY
⊲ Mrs. Mindy Schwartz-Zolty
Congregation Ohab Zedek
New York, NY
Rebbetzin Dr. Yael
Yael Axelrod Muskat
⊲ See the complete list at
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⊲ Dr. Yael Muskat
Young Israel of Oceanside
Oceanside, NY
⊲ Mrs. Tova Alt
Golf Manor Synagogue
Cincinnati, OH
⊲ Mrs. Elyssa Goldschmiedt
Congregation Sha’arei Torah
Cincinnati, OH
⊲ Rebbetzin Aviel Brodkin
Congregation Kesser Israel
Portland, OR
⊲ Mrs. Stacey Goldman
Lower Merion Synagogue
Bala Cynwyd, PA
⊲ Tal Gilboa
Congregation Beth Tikvah
Ahavat Shalom Nusach Hoari
Dollard des Ormeaux, QC
⊲ Rebbetzin Ariela Davis
Brith Sholom Beth Israel
Charleston, SC
⊲ Mrs. Devorah Cohen
Mrs Rochelle Garfield
Congregation Beth Rambam
Houston, TZ
⊲ Rebbetzin Tamar Livingstone
Keneseth Beth Israel
Richmond, VA
⊲ Dr. Jessica Kalmar
Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah
Glendale, WI
⊲ Mrs. Rivky Hoffman
Congregation Beth Jehudah
Milwaukee, WI
things already. One is the historical com-
mission” — because history and historic
renovation are deeply held passions of
Ms. Bennett Schoen’s. “She has been
trying to get it established. It’s been in
the works for years and years, but we’ve
never gotten there yet. We’ve always
had a historic advisory committee, but
she wants it to be state sponsored or
authorized, so that it would have control
over preserving the historic structures
in Englewood. She’s been a real cham-
pion on that.
“And then also she is so active with
immigrant rights. Our council in Engle-
wood is very Democratic and very pro-
immigrant. Last year, before I joined the
council, it passed a resolution basically
mandating that the police force and
the city staff update their practices and
training with regard to undocumented
individuals. But although the council
passed it, the staff and the police sort
of felt that they were okay without it,
so I have worked with her to follow up,
to make sure that they really are updat-
ing their practices, and that we have the
right policies and procedures in place.
“Charlotte is a very powerful person,
but she is also a very calm person,” Ms.
Rosenberg concluded. “When you are
with her, you always feel that every-
thing is going to be okay. But you also
always know that she is a force to be
reckoned with.”
What: An exhibit, FAITHSPACE USA:
Images on Canvas — Stories of Wor-
ship and Interfaith Tolerance. Orga-
nized in Burma (Myanmar)
When: From October 3 to October 30
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades in Tenafly, 411 East Clinton
Ave.
And also: On October 4, at 8 p.m.,
the opening reception will feature an
18-minute screening of a 2017 Bur-
mese peace documentary, SITTWE,
which features two teens — one
Moslem and one Buddhist. The $10
entry fee includes the film, a Q&A,
and a cookie and coffee reception.
Proceeds support the JCC Patron of
the Arts program.
The is part of
the interactive
display at
the JCC; the
sentiment
pervades the
exhibit and
Charlotte’s life.

20 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

 Jewish World

Why Stephen Miller’s childhood rabbi

singled him out in his Rosh Hashanah sermon
Josefin Dolsten
Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels didn’t mince
words when he criticized Stephen Miller,
a senior adviser to President Donald
Trump and a former congregant of his
Southern California synagogue, in his
Rosh Hashanah sermon.
“Honestly, Mr. Miller, you’ve set
back the Jewish contribution to mak-
ing the world spiritually whole through
your arbitrary division of these desper-
ate families at our southern border,”
Comess-Daniels said.
The rabbi, who leads Beth Shir Sha-
lom, a Reform synagogue in Santa
Monica, devoted his Monday sermon
to denouncing Miller’s role in crafting
Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy, which
separates migrant children from their
parents at the border.
“The actions that you now encourage
President Trump to take make it obvi-
ous to me that you didn’t get my, or
our, Jewish message,” Comess-Daniels
said of Miller.
Miller’s family joined the synagogue to speak about a “pressing moral and ethical reasons why he decided to focus on the
when he was 9 or 10 but left after a year issue,” and that he was met with applause Trump adviser this time, including that
or two, the rabbi said. Miller attended during his sermon. many congregants had “expressed despair”
Hebrew school, and though Comess- Though he has talked about Miller before over the president’s immigration policies
Daniels worked there at the time, he in his sermons, this time the rabbi spoke and “because Judaism believes in individual
does not remember Miller. Miller’s fam- about him personally instead of just address- responsibility.”
ily also belonged to the Santa Monica ing his policies. Comess-Daniels cited many He picked Rosh Hashanah, he said,
Synagogue, the Reform temple where
he was confirmed in 2001, when he was
in the 10th grade.
Comess-Daniels said he has not
been in touch with Miller or his family
since they left Beth Shir Shalom, which
describes itself online as a “Progressive
Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
Reform Synagogue.”
His sermon on the first day of the Jew-
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who may not share their views. Staging also available
Comess-Daniels said in a phone inter-
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Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 21

 RCBC

Jewish World

Celebrate Sukkot With Us!

We are open
Chol Hamoed
Come Dine in our
Large Succah (in the back)

Chag Sameach! Stephen Miller arrives before the start of a news conference by President Donald Trump and Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Fla., on April 18, 2018. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
515 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
201-530-5665 because “I wanted as many people to hear this mes- Simchat Torah, an LGBTQ synagogue in Manhattan
Sun-Thur 12-10pm sage as possible.” who is a vocal critic of the president, sees no issue
www.estihana.com Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Congregation Beit with focusing on Miller in such a direct and personal
JS

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22 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

 Jewish World

way. Like Comess-Daniels, she has taken
part in protests over the Trump admin-
istration’s travel ban targeting various
Muslim countries.
“I imagine many rabbis know things
that congregants have done that are
less than ideal, and they’re working it
through with their rabbis in the appro-
priate way,” she said. “In this case, how-
ever, when Stephen Miller is advocating
a public policy which so deeply violates
our Jewish values, I applaud his rabbi for
calling him out on it.”
Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple, a
Conservative congregation in Los Ange-
les, sees the issue differently.
“I understand why a rabbi might want
to specify someone who is a [former]
member of the congregation, but my
own inclination would be that that is
less helpful than telling people what they
ought to do,” he said. “I prefer that as a
mode of High Holiday speaking rather
than telling them why what someone
else did is bad.”
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Sha-
lom Synagogue, an Orthodox congrega-
tion in Washington, D.C., is an activist
who has taken part in protests against
white supremacists, gun violence,
anti-Semitism, and, in a memorable pro-
test at a pro-Israel conference in 2016,
then-candidate Donald Trump. He said
the subject of calling out individual peo-
ple from the pulpit is nuanced but that
he prefers speaking about issues.
“I actually think that rabbis are more
effective when we talk about issues and
not about people, but each situation is
different,” he said.
When a rabbi chooses to criticize a
specific person, Herzfeld said it was
important to present “a space for a pos-
sibility of redemption, of allowing peo-
ple to return.”
Comess-Daniels, who said he was “sur-
prised” by the media coverage of and
interest in his sermon, seemed to pres-
ent Miller with that option in his sharply
worded speech.
“You can choose to accept responsi-
bility for the havoc you’ve created and
the wounds you’ve inflicted — or not,” he
said. “You can feel that you have indeed
wronged these people and apologize to
them — or not. You can take some action
that seeks to heal and rectify the injury
you’ve caused — or walk away, wrap-
ping yourself in the deflecting guise of
‘national security.’” JTA Wire Service

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Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 23

 Time Will Tell
Since 1976
More than 411,000 likes.
Jewish World
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All Types · Old & New · Bought & Sold
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6.5x9.5.pdf 6 8/21/18 12:36 PM

WAShinGTon — Bur-
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ish Public Policy Institute

ScoTT olSon/GeTTy imAGeS

report on the Israel-dias-
pora relationship: Presi-
dent Donald Trump wants
NEW JERSEY NCSY GOES TO more credit for his pro-
Israel policies.
“Israel and U.S. Jew-
ish organizations should
sharpen their awareness Seth Klarman
of a trend of growing frus-
tration within the Trump
administration that the

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president’s pro-Israel
moves (especially the trans-
fer of the embassy to Jeru-
salem) are not sufficiently
appreciated by large seg-
ments of the American
Jewish community,” said
the report, which was Les Wexner
drafted by a group known
for its ties to the elites in Israel and the United States.
It’s become the Trump anomaly: Israeli Prime Min-
ister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the U.S.-Israel
relationship never has been so close. Trump has moved
the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, maintained levels of
defense assistance to Israel while cutting spending else-
where, pulled out of the Iran deal reviled by Netanyahu,
and thoroughly defunded the Palestinians.
The Jewish divide on these moves is on one hand not
surprising: The majority of Jews typically vote Demo-
cratic, although there are about 20 percent of mostly
Orthodox and right-leaning Jews who vote Republican.
FREE PARKING Most other Jews tend to poll well to the left of Netan-
Park Hours: 12PM-7PM yahu and his government. But the trend was thrown
into sharp relief this week when two Jewish billionaires
said they were switching from supporting Republicans
to backing Democrats before the midterm elections.
Even a hawkish pro-Israel agenda, they seemed to sig-
nal, doesn’t justify the damage they feel Trump is doing
to America and its democratic institutions.
The switch by Seth Klarman and Les Wexner, coming
the same week, is a big deal. More than any midterm
election in recent memory, November 6 may change the
course of a presidency. If the U.S. House of Representa-
tives goes to the Democrats, Trump may face impeach-
ment. If the House and Senate both go, his agenda is
officially dead.
How significant are the switches? Here’s an examina-
tion according to how involved they are in pro-Israel pol-
icies, how Republican they are, and how far they have
distanced themselves from Trump and his policies.
Klarman, 61, is a hedge fund manager based in Bos-
ton whose net worth has been put at $1.5 billion. His
investment advice is considered so sound that “Margin
of Safety,” an out-of-print book he wrote in 1991, goes for
$950 on Amazon.

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Klarman’s interest in Israel appears to
be fairly recent — but very strong. Sparked
by his concerns about terrorism after the
9/11 attacks in New York and Washington,
he went to Israel and became convinced
that it was getting short shrift in the press.
That led him to donate money to pro-
Israel media monitoring groups like CAM-
ERA and MEMRI, and culminated in 2012
with working with former Jerusalem Post
Scott Olson/Getty Images
editor David Horovitz to found the online
daily the Times of Israel. (The Jewish Stan-
dard is a partner of the Times of Israel.)
“As a longtime student of the history
of anti-Semitism, I know that this blind
hatred is never the fault of Jews,” Klarman
said at the time. “Moreover it is clear to
me that anti-Zionism is simply the newest
form of anti-Semitism. When the Jewish
state is singled out above all others for crit-
icism, such as it is at the United Nations,
Screenshot from YouTube
this is anti-Semitism.”
Publishing the Times of Israel repre-
sented a slight shift left — Horovitz, like
Klarman, is critical of Israel’s settlement
movement — but Klarman remains firmly
in the pro-Israel mainstream. A Times of
Israel gala in New York in 2015 highlighted
“good news” stories out of the country.
Klarman never liked Trump. A longtime
donor to Republicans, he split the differ-
ence in 2016, backing the Democrat Hill-
ary Clinton for president while funding
GOP congressional campaigns.
“His words and actions over the last sev-
eral days are so shockingly unacceptable in
our diverse and democratic society that it
is simply unthinkable that Donald Trump
could become our president,” Klarman said
in August 2016. The trigger was Trump’s
claims then that the election, which Clin-
ton was favored to win, would be “rigged.”
Klarman never was a registered Repub-
lican, but he backed an array of other can-
didates for the GOP nomination and has
backed GOP lawmakers.
But no longer. The main item on the
agenda must be to thwart Trump, he said
last weekend in a rare interview with Bari
Weiss, an op-ed writer for the New York
Times. And he faulted Republican law-
makers for not standing up to the presi-
dent. “People should be asking them-
selves: Why are we writing checks to these
same people who are cowards?” he said.
Klarman even had kind words for Alex-
andria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York nom-
inee for Congress who is a democratic
socialist and has had sharp words for Israel.
“In a lot of ways I’m actually excited about
somebody like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
coming along because it’s a way of younger
people and people of color and people who
are different finding their voice and being
part of the process,” he said.
Leslie Wexner, 81, is a fashion mogul
based in Columbus, Ohio. Until he quit
the party, he was considered the richest
Republican in his state, with a fortune
worth $4.7 billion. Through the Wexner
Foundation, Wexner has long supported
a series of programs meant to develop
Jewish World
pro-Israel leadership among teens, adults,
volunteers, and Jewish communal pro-
SAVE THE DATES · SEPTEMBER 2018
fessionals. He is also a founding funder
of Birthright, the program that pays for SUKKOT
Israel tours for young Jews, and a major
giver to Ohio’s Jewish federations.
Erev Sukkot:
Like Klarman, Wexner never really Sunday, September 23rd
liked Trump. He backed Trump’s fiercest
rival in the 2016 GOP nomination stakes,
former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. His
SHEMINI ATZERET
wife, Abigail, backed the equally anti-
Trump Ohio Governor John Kasich. Monday, October 1st - 7:30 am
Last year, after Trump equivocated
about condemning a neo-Nazi march in
(Yizkor)
Charlottesville, Virginia, Wexner told staff-
ers at L Brands, which he heads, that he
felt “dirty” and “ashamed.”
SIMCHAT TORAH
But unlike Klarman, Wexner always Monday, October 1st - 7:30 pm
was unmistakably Republican. He joined
Come dance with us!
President George W. Bush on his 2008
visit to Israel to mark the country’s 60th We would love to
anniversary. have you join us.
And he was harsh in explaining why he
was cutting out of the party and becom- For more information please
ing an Independent, speaking last week at call Cathy at (201) 391-4620
an event on political civility in Columbus
sponsored by the Columbus Partnership,
a business and civics group he chairs. Like Temple Beth Sholom of Pascack Valley
Klarman, he was fed up with Republicans 32 Park Avenue · Park Ridge, NJ
for not standing up to Trump. “I won’t
support this nonsense in the Republican
Party,” Wexner said. “I’ve been a Repub-
lican since college, joined the Young
Republican Club at Ohio State.”
And like Klarman with Ocasio-Cortez,
Wexner ventured into once unthinkable
territory for a Republican, lavishing praise
on former President Barack Obama. “I
was struck by the genuineness of the man;
his candor, humility and empathy for oth-
ers,” Wexner said of Obama.
Much of the coverage of Klarman and
Wexner’s defections has focused on their
disaffection with Trump, but a few observ-
ers have said that both may be well aware
of the way Trump’s Israel policies are
dividing Jews.
“The subtext here is that both Wexner
and Klarman have stellar records of sup-
port for transformative Israeli and Jewish
communal initiatives,” tweeted Shalom
Lipner, a former adviser to Netanyahu who
now is with the Brookings Institution’s Cen-
ter for Middle East Policy. “That they would
break with the GOP over Trump speaks vol-
umes about how they perceive his impact
on both Israel and the Jewish community.”
By contrast, Matt Brooks of the Republi-
can Jewish Coalition said that loyal Repub-
licans ultimately will reward the adminis-
tration for its support of Netanyahu. “Very
few are neutral on the Trump Administra-
tion,” Brooks told Haaretz. “As such, it’s
not surprising that some GOP donors have
decided not to give.
“However, we are also seeing many new
donors and people significantly increasing
their support to the GOP because of the
strong pro-Israel actions of this president,
including moving the embassy, ending the
Iran deal and cutting off funding” for the
Palestinians. JTA Wire Service
Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 25
Jewish World

Justice Elena Kagan

describes how she
had ‘a very strange
Jewish upbringing’
Josefin Dolsten Senesh Community Day School.

S
upreme Court Justice Elena
Kagan, appearing at a Jew-
ish day school in Brooklyn last
week, spoke about her Jewish
background and how her family jumped
from synagogue to synagogue.
“I had a very strange Jewish upbring-
ing actually,” Kagan, 58, told Slate jour-
nalist Dahlia Lithwick, who is a parent at
the school and moderated the conversa-
tion. “You would think Lincoln Square
Synagogue, she comes from a modern
Kagan said her mother grew up in
“an extremely, extremely religious fam-
ily,” but had abandoned many aspects
of Jewish observance by the time she
had children.
“We kept a kosher home so that my
grandparents would eat there, but oth-
erwise we were the kind of Jews who
kept a kosher home and then went out
and ordered shrimp at the Chinese res-
taurant,” she recalled. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, left, talks to journalist Dahlia Lithwick at
Before they joined Lincoln Square, the Hannah Senesh Community Day School in Brooklyn on September 12, 2018.
the family were members of Congrega-  Matthew Sussman for Hannah Senesh Community Day School

Orthodox family. Actually my family tion B’nai Jeshurun, which belonged to

didn’t really know what it was.”
Though Kagan had her bat mitzvah
at that modern Orthodox synagogue
on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, she
did not grow up in a strictly observant
household, the associate justice told an
audience of about 280 at the Hannah
the Conservative movement, and Con-
gregation Rodeph Sholom, a Reform
synagogue. Those two synagogues also
are on the Upper West Side.
“My mother’s view was that every-
thing depended on how good the rabbi
was, and she would go from synagogue

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26 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018


to synagogue to synagogue to find a
rabbi she liked,” Kagan said.
Kagan said she “loved” going to
Hebrew school at Lincoln Square, but hit
a snag when she realized that the syna-
gogue, then led by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin,
had not allowed a girl to have a bat mitz-
vah ceremony.
“It was 1973 and they’d never done
such things, and it was this kind of pro-
cess of negotiation to try to get them to
even get it into their heads that this was
a possibility, and it was sort of a disap-
pointment because I didn’t get to do all
the stuff my brother had done,” she said.
In the end, Kagan had a bat mitzvah
ceremony on Friday evening rather
than the typical Saturday morning,
and she chanted from the Book of Ruth
instead of reading the haftarah and
Torah portions.
“It was a little bit not exactly what
I wanted,” she said. “But I have to say
that they came a super long way even
to do that in those days at that sort of
synagogue, so I give them a lot of kudos
for that.”
At the day school meeting, Kagan noted
that she is one of three Jewish justices
now sitting on the Supreme Court — Ruth
Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer are
the other two. Some people had thought
that President Barack Obama would not
nominate Kagan in 2010 because she
would be the third Jewish justice on a
nine-member court, she said.
“As far as I know it never came up
in the decision-making process that he
used, and it really never came up as I
went through the process that leads to
confirmation, so I think it’s something
that’s kind of a great thing,” Kagan said.
The jurist mostly skirted political
Brief
Hillel philanthropist Michael Steinhardt
faces new allegations of sexual misconduct
Michael Steinhardt, one of Hillel Inter-
national’s biggest donors, made inap-
propriate sexual remarks to a female
employee of the organization, according
to The Jewish Week. As a result, Hillel
has launched an investigation, as a sec-
ond female employee stepped forward
to accuse Steinhardt.
The initial complaint was filed in 2015,
when the organization began a protocol
that ensured no female employee would
interact with Steinhardt alone.
With the ongoing internal probe, sev-
eral weeks ago Hillel quietly removed
Steinhardt’s name from the board of
governors list on its website.
“I can confirm that my client did raise
concerns regarding Michael Steinhardt
to Hillel, and that she is cooperating
fully with Hillel’s investigation,” Debra
Katz, a Washington attorney specializing
in these types of claims, emailed to the
Jewish World
topics at Wednesday’s discussion, but
RCBC
she did address what she described as a
“danger” for the Supreme Court today.
In the recent past, Kagan said, the court
has been seen as split between the left
and right, with one jurist in the middle.
Glatt Kosher Caterers
“It prevents anybody from thinking
that the court is on some team because
the court just wasn’t acting as if it was on
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Kennedy. Kavanaugh would be Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s second appoint-
ment to the court and represent an
expected 5-to-4 conservative majority.
Kagan, who is part of the court’s lib-
eral wing, worried about a court being
seen as merely political, especially in the
big cases that “people care about.
“I do think it’s a dangerous thing if it
really does seem like the divisions follow
ineluctably from political divisions and
one side is winning,” she said.
 JTA Wire Service
Jewish Week.
In a follow-up email, she said: “My cli-
ent is not in a position to comment at this
time given Hillel’s ongoing investigation.”
Steinhardt, a former hedge-fund man-
ager whose net worth is $1.1 billion, told
the publication that Hillel has not noti-
fied him of the investigation, although
his daughter, Sarah Bloom, vice chair
of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish
Life, and Rabbi David Gedzelman, presi-
dent and CEO of the foundation, have
been notified of Hillel’s probe.
Hillel also has told the Steinhardt
Foundation for Jewish Life that it is
not soliciting the foundation’s annual
$50,000 grant this year to support Hil-
lel’s Springboard Fellowship, according
to sources within Hillel. The Fellowship
is a national project that places recent
college graduates at Hillel campuses
nationwide.  JNS.org
Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 27
Editorial
A new nursing home
keeping the faith

The month to fully

paradigm at Rockleigh
I T
t’s really hard to be old.
I go to visit my very old mother in her
Long Island nursing home every week,
and I despair. She knows who she is and
she knows who we are, but I see her having
to rummage through the bundles of thick gray
wool that now surround and drown her mem-
ories before she can pull up that information,
and almost before she retrieves it, it slips back
down into the wool.
There is no joy left to her, as far as I and my
siblings can see, and very little pleasure, and
no hope. On the other hand, there also seems
to be no fear. All those things take self-aware-
ness, and she seems to have lost that.
We love her, and we look at her, and we
try to see the smart, funny, alive person who
used to be our mother, and we can’t find her.
We miss her all the time, but we miss her
most fiercely when we are with her, because
that makes us remember what it is that we
have lost.
But we get to leave that malodorous place
where she lives, and she doesn’t, because as
grim as it is — and this is a place that has a
good reputation, and that I genuinely believe
is much better than most — we cannot care for
her ourselves. We do not have the resources —
not the financial resources, nor the practical
resources, nor the emotional resources. All we
can do is ward off the guilt and try not to lose
ourselves in the sadness.
When I visit my mother in her nursing home
prison — no, not fair, her new home, where
caregivers take care of her, where we, her
children, do what we can but her caregivers
take care of her — I think of the simulation cen-
ter at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck.
There is a room in that center set up to help us
understand what it feels like to have dementia.
Participants put on shoes with things dig-
ging into their feet, because often old people
have neuropathy. They put on thick gloves,
because often old people lose their fine motor
skills. They put on goggles that simulate the
yellowish world that is all that often the elderly
can see, and they put on headphones that
pump in noises that often fill our elders’ ears.
And then the room’s managers send these par-
ticipants into the dimly lit space, with a set of
jumbled instructions that would stymie the
most clear-eyes among us.
I did not participate in that simulation. I just
sat behind the glass and watched, observing
the volunteers as I observe my mother, from
the outside, with a combination of horror and
pain and gratitude at not being inside.
It is a powerful exhibit that teaches neces-
sary lessons; it’s meant for caregivers, health-
care workers, and the rest of us who under-
stand that our senses and our relationship to
the world around us will change, should we
live long enough.
There are more old people now than there
used to be. People are living longer. Many hor-
rific diseases still are not curable, but they
are slow-able. We do not yet have good ways
to provide our elders with good lives, so we
warehouse them.
And that is where the Jewish Home at Rock-
leigh comes in.
The Jewish Home is a beautiful place. Its
windows let light blaze in, golden in the sum-
mertime, sharp in the winter. It not only is
clean, it looks clean; it does not have the
ghastly trick of being sterile but still looking
dirty that most nursing homes have.
And that’s now. Once its new state-of-the-
art building is done, and the short-term rehab
patients moved from the main building into
the new one, with its cutting-edge technology,
the nursing home will be reconfigured.
And then we get to the question of what
makes a home. Is a home where you live?
Do prisoners with long sentences come to
think of their cells as home? Probably they
do. And nursing home residents are at home
in the institution. That’s it for them. They
are home. So anything that anyone can do
to make that institution feel homey is doing
actively good work.
Rockleigh will never be for everyone. It’s
not big enough — and if it were, it would be
an institution in which no one ever could feel
at home.
The leaders at Rockleigh are working hard
to make their residents feel at home in their
home. We hope that they succeed, and that
other nursing homes are able to use the model
they develop.
It will be too late for my mother, but I hope
in time for many other people. —JP
contemplate creation
he month of Tishrei begins in Genesis 2:15]: ‘And the Lord God
with “the birthday of the took the man, and put him into the
world” on Rosh Hashanah Garden of Eden to till it and tend it.’”
and runs through to Cre- All of the Torah’s legislation regard-
ation itself, with the environmentally ing the care we must take to protect
focused observance of Sukkot sand- the natural world flows from Genesis
wiched between them. 2:15 —including caring for its flora and
This is as it should be, because one fauna, the air we breathe, the water
of Sukkot’s main focuses is its environ- we drink, and the natural resources
mental message. I have written about buried beneath our feet. The mandate
that message in previous “to till it and tend it” is a
years. As we approach focus of the harvest fes-
Sukkot, it is appropriate tival that is Sukkot.
to review why we have There is more, how-
such a festival, but it is ever, buried in the ear-
perhaps equally impor- lier verse, Genesis 1:28,
tant to focus on what as the modern com-
else emerges from that mentator Nechama Lei-
“why.” Our role, after bowitz, among many
all, reaches far beyond others, has noted. The
protecting the natural Shammai phrase “have dominion
world and all it contains. Engelmayer over,” she said, includes
In every sense, our job “harness[ing] the forces
is to make this world an of nature for human
even better place tomorrow than it good, and exploit[ing] the mineral
was yesterday. wealth around,” also for human good.
Three times each day during Rosh That is why the “birthday of the
Hashanah we recited the same verse, world” is the sixth day of Creation.
“hayom harat olam. Today is the birth- We humans were created in order to
day of the world.” That birthday, how- continue the process of Creation that
ever, is not the anniversary of the Big God began. No other creature can
Bang. Rather, it is the anniversary achieve what we can. Without the
of the sixth day of Creation, when human being, Earth today would be
humanity came into being. much like it was on the morning of
According to Genesis 1:28, after the sixth day, before humanity came
creating ha-adam, “the human,” God into existence. Everything we know
commanded humans to “subdue” the and take for granted about our world
Earth “and have dominion over” it. would not exist.
That does not mean what peo- Well, not quite, because everything
ple think it means. As the medieval we know and take for granted about
commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra our world in fact did exist before
explained, this means that “man is humans walked the Earth. Every
God’s steward over the earth, and invention, every innovation, that
must do everything according to ever was or ever will be comes about
God’s word [because steward is a spe- because someone unlocked one of
cific term, referring to a commission the secrets of Creation, and then used
for a specific task. That task is found in a new way materials that came into
Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades, now
in Fort Lee.

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28 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018


existence when God said “let there be light.” The “Big Bang” God
called into being contained the ingredients for everything that
could ever exist.
This is not a new thought. Many of our Sages of Blessed Mem-
ory actually said that the only act of Creation God did was to say
“Let there be light.” The rest of Creation flowed from that light.
In the midrash, for example, Rabbi Berachiah, quoting others,
said that God created the world “only by a word —‘Let there
be light.’” The Zohar said this light was “the medium for the
creation of the world…; all the generations of heaven and earth
were produced” by it.
At the end of day six, the Torah declares, “God saw everything
that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
The principal role God gave us humans is to unlock the secrets
of Creation He put “in the air,” so we can improve on Creation,
and make the world even better than when God ceased from His
creative labors at the end of day six.
What do I mean by the secrets of Creation? Perhaps the most sig-
nificant medical advance in our lifetime came in the early days of
this century, with the mapping of the human genome, literally the
building blocks that allow human beings to be human beings. That
human genome existed from the moment the first human came
into being. It is the building material that made that human being.
It took $1 billion and 13 years to determine the sequence of the
3 billion “letters” in a human being’s DNA, and that was only pos-
sible because someone had discovered DNA in the first place 150
years earlier — although he did not know it at the time. The myriad
secrets buried within the secret that was DNA are leading us to
cure the incurable, to slow the aging process, and to extend quality
of life, and so much more.
Gene therapy is being used to reverse certain types of blood
cancers, including leukemia, and it shows considerable promise
in defeating breast cancer.
One of the most promising developments — and maybe the most
dangerous, but that is for another column — is the ability to take
each cell of a genome apart to see what it is made of, and then to
recreate that cell synthetically. That actually was done about eight
years ago, when researchers synthesized the full genome of a bac-
terium. In other words, they recreated one of the earliest lifeforms.
The possibilities emerging from that are almost endless, for bad as
well as good.
Then there is 3-D printing, which is being used successfully to
create such working body parts as an outer ear, blood vessels, a
trachea, and even skin cells imprinted on wounds to speed up
healing.
Revealing the secrets of Creation about how the body works also
has led to understanding how to better deal with some truly debil-
itating conditions, such as blindness. There now exists a bionic
eye that is restoring sight to some. Then there is the artificial cor-
nea developed in Israel in 2017, and now undergoing clinical trials.
Many of the 30 million people who suffer from diseases of the cor-
nea will get sight back because of that development.
Israeli researchers even have developed a way to regenerate
bone, something considered impossible until now.
There are all kinds of secrets of Creation being unveiled almost
every day. God put those secrets “in the air” for us to find and it is
our job to see to it that they are found, but because they each come
at a price — a very high price in almost every case, like the billion
dollars it took to map the human genome — we offer no protest
when politicians strip funding from the very researchers and insti-
tutions doing the work to uncover those secrets.
Many of these secrets of Creation have saved countless lives,
and have the potential to improve the quality and the longevity
of everyone’s life. There are even greater secrets waiting to be
revealed, but they will stay hidden if we stay silent.
During Sukkot and especially on Simchat Torah, when the first
chapter of Genesis is read, and then again on the following Shab-
bat when the entire first portion of Genesis is read, we need to give
serious thought to next Rosh Hashanah, when we will face another
“birthday of the world,” and will have to explain what we did to
make it the world a better one.
G’mar tov and chag Sukkot sameach.
Opinion
I’VE BEEN THINKING
The importance of memory:
the good, the bad, the ugly
I
read in shul.
Though my father wouldn’t have approved,
it minimizes my talking during services and
helps me keep up with once-inaccessible mate-
rial that now is available with a simple click or two.
My weekly shul reading includes articles only on
Jewish topics from sources ranging from the Times
of Israel, the Forward, and the New York Jewish
Week to the Lehrhaus website (highly recommended
to those interested in what modern Orthodox intel-
lectuals — especially young ones — are thinking), to
academic journals that embrace footnotes, to the
Seforim blog (and especially Marc Shapiro’s almost
stream-of-consciousness but always
fascinating musings), and even to the
Wall Street Journal (so I’ll know what
the other side is thinking).
But there always are four regulars:
The Israel Report (thanks to Murray
Sragow for understanding, unlike Fox
News, what “fair and balanced” really
means); the original typescript of a
Rabbi Norman Lamm sermon with his
handwritten editorial revisions (the Joseph C.
only homiletics course any rabbinical Kaplan
student will ever need); a weekly Torah
portion commentary from the Hadar
Institute (originally written by Rabbi Shai Held and
recently compiled into book form entitled “Heart of
Torah” — buy it!; now written by Dena Weiss); and
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’s weekly Covenant and
Conversation (C&C) essay on the parsha.
I first started reading C&C the week after Rabbi
Sacks served as scholar-in-residence at our syna-
gogue a number of years ago, packed the house to
overflowing, and simply blew us all away with his
powerful oratory, wit, and substance. And if I were
to rate his weekly C&C essays, I find that out of every
four one is spectacular, two range from very, very
good to excellent, and one is good to very good (usu-
ally very good).
There’s no C&C on Yom Tov or the Yomin Nora’im,
but this year Rabbi Sacks posted a transcript of a talk
he gave titled “Why the World Needs Rosh Hasha-
nah.” Like his C&C essays, it was eloquent, erudite,
and enlightening, and, indeed, much of it resonated
with me. But not all of it.
Rabbi Sacks spoke about a “thesis” he recently
tested in a series of BBC discussions; namely, “that
for the past 50 years the West has been engaged in a
fateful experiment: that we can do without a shared
moral code. Words that once guided us — like ‘right,’
‘wrong,’ ‘ought,’ ‘should,’ ‘duty,’ ‘obligation,’ ‘loyalty,’ inaptly named justice system, or of those poor and
‘virtue,’ ‘honour’ — now have an antiquated air about
them, as if they come from an age long dead.
“Instead, we’ve outsourced morality to the mar-
ket and the state. The market gives us choices; the
state deals with the consequences; but neither passes
any kind of judgment on those choices. So long as we
don’t directly harm anyone else, we are free to do
whatever we like.
The opinions expressed here are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the newspaper’s editors, publishers,
or other staffers. We welcome letters to the editor. Send them to jstandardletters@gmail.com.
“This was experienced at the time as a huge lib-
eration. We were freer to be whatever we choose
to be than humans have ever been before. But we
can now count the costs in broken families, loss of
community, a rise in depression, teenage suicides
and loneliness, a loss of trust in big corporations and
governments, the new tribalism of identity politics,
and the vitriol that passes for communication on the
internet…. The result, in contemporary terms, is irre-
sponsible banks, greedy corporations, exploitative
politics, sexual predators, and neglected children.
There’s nothing in our nature to make the rich care
for the poor, or the powerful for the powerless.”
Rabbi Sacks strongly implies that the
problems he refers to were not pres-
ent when the West purportedly was
governed by the lofty words and val-
ues he puts in quotes. I don’t disagree,
of course, that we have many serious
problems today, including those listed
by Rabbi Sacks. In many ways, there-
fore, Rabbi Sacks’s analysis is on point.
But to someone like me, who has
vivid recollections of society 50 and 60
years ago (and am quite knowledgeable
about the previous decades as well),
Rabbi Sacks’s version strikes me as a
glorification of a history that is belied by reality.
Is it only now that we have greedy corporations
we’ve lost trust in? What about those corporations of
years past that spewed toxins into our rivers and car-
cinogens into our air, and knowingly lied to us hun-
dreds — make that thousands — of times every day on
every medium that cigarettes are good for us, result-
ing in untold illness and death? Or electric companies
that violated criminal laws by secretly setting prices,
and when they finally were caught, were amazed that
criminal penalties had been imposed?
Sexual predators? “Mad Men” quite accurately
depicted how women were treated (read harassed)
in the 1950s and 60s and earlier, a time when marital
rape also was condoned. And “casting couch audi-
tions” go back to the beginning of cinema.
Neglected children? I remember the ways in which
many special needs children were treated when I was
young: receiving no schooling or useful therapy and
hidden at home behind closed doors in communities
that found it easier to pretend they didn’t exist, or
warehoused in prison-like state institutions.
As for caring for the poor or powerless, ever hear
of Jim Crow, segregation, lynchings, depriving Afri-
can Americans of even a modicum of justice in an
powerless who gave their lives fighting against these
injustices?
Right, wrong, ought, should, duty, obligation, loy-
alty, virtue, and honour apparently didn’t work that
well in many important areas before the new moral-
ity experiment began. Rather, the old “moral code”
gave us much to be ashamed of.
See memory page 32
Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 29
Opinion
Allies in the fight to reclaim college campuses
I
n his column about the
growth of anti-Semitic
sentiments and acts on
college campuses, occur-
ring even those in schools and
communities where the mere
number of Jews would sug-
gest an unfavorable environ-
ment for such overt acts, Rabbi
Shammai Engelmayer calls for Bob Peckar
thought on how to prevent this
modern-day threat. I would
suggest that in addition to a concern about the blatant
acts of anti-Semitism (such as the vandalized mezuzah
at Lynn University in Florida) there is an equally serious
threat posed by the highly organized and well financed
anti-Israel campaign on American campuses which is not
only directed against Israel but against Jewish students
and Jewish institutions as well.
We only have to look to what has occurred in New Jer-
sey’s own state university, Rutgers, and at Columbia and
NYU, right across the river in New York, to recognize that
we Jews are under attack on college campuses, and as a
result our children and grandchildren are facing a hostile
environment if they want to express their Jewishness or
their support for Israel on their campuses.
If only this situation were a reflection of individual acts
of religious hatred or extreme political activism — but it
is not. The current situation is a reflection of a well-orga-
nized program supported by ample financing that must,
indeed, be met head-on, as Rabbi Engelmayer suggests.
But is all the news coming from college campuses bad
news? No, it is not.
Good vibrations, exultation — experience Sukkot joy
I
t was nonstop partying,
day and night, for days
on end.
There was pageantry,
with musicians playing count-
less musical instruments. The
greatest rabbis danced before
the assembled crowds of men,
women, and children. They also
juggled torches and performed Leonard
daring acts of acrobatic prowess. Grunstein
That was how it was done
at the Beit Shoeva celebration
during the Sukkot festival, in the Temple period.
Our celebrations today are more subdued, but they are
no less joyful. We gather family and friends to partake in
festive meals al fresco, in the temporary booths — called
sukkot — that we’ve erected outdoors. The occasion is
an experience of pure joy. There is much for which to be
grateful. We’ve prayed, fasted, performed acts of contri-
tion, confessed, repented our sins, and through God’s
perennial gift of Yom Kippur, been forgiven.
We survived and have a new lease on life.
Gratitude is a powerful emotion. It may be defined
as a person’s recognition that the good he or she expe-
riences is due, at least in part, to something outside of
his or her self. It is the subject of a number of scientific
studies, which analyzed some of the benefits resulting
30 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
There are many Jewish institutions, from local actions to
national programs, that are addressing this threat to Jew-
ish college students Five of them deserve special attention.
The American Jewish Committee is an exceptional orga-
nization that advocates for and supports Jews around the
world. It has one program called LFT (Leaders for Tomor-
row) that helps high school students develop a strong Jew-
ish identity and trains them as advocates for Israel and
to be voices against anti-Semitism. LFT gives students the
tools to talk about the issues impacting world Jewry today,
and the confidence to stand up for these issues in college
and throughout their lives, no matter how difficult the sit-
uation. As the AJC says, “Our work has demonstrated that
the best way to inspire young Jews is to prepare them with
information, tools, and skills before they start college.
Once Jewish students go off to college, they have greater
demands on their time and often find themselves on the
defensive when it comes to many of these subjects, espe-
cially Israel. LFT proactively equips them to meet these
challenges.” (Go to https://www.ajc.org/lftinfo/ )
StandWithUs works vigorously to meet the challenge of
campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israel campaigns. One of
its initiatives is to support both Jewish and non-Jewish stu-
dent leaders as they stand up to the misinformation upon
which these campaigns rely. In its brochure, StandWithUs
refers to an all-too-common situation on campuses today
— the focused anti-Israel and anti-Jewish campaign of Stu-
dents for Justice in Palestine, which presents itself as the
Boycott, Divestiture and Sanctions movement aimed at
Israel’s Palestinian policies.
In fact, this movement has embraced other “progres-
sive” movements to join them in what has become a
broad-based anti-Israel and anti-Semitic movement.
from expressing and feeling gratitude. They include bet-
ter physical and mental health; greater mental strength
and resiliency; a sense of overall well-being, happiness,
and reduced depression; forming and building stronger
relationships; and connecting to something larger than
the person, like a higher power.
One of the studies found scientific evidence that these
positive effects of gratitude are long lasting and sustain-
able. Interestingly, this required more than just an unex-
pressed feeling of gratefulness; it had to be combined with
some action. The study relied on the act of expressing
gratitude by recording it in a journal. It found that repeat-
edly expressing gratitude and the resulting good feelings
experienced, in effect, caused the brain to be rewired. In
essence, the more gratitude practiced, the more attuned
the person becomes to it; and correspondingly, the more
the person could enjoy the psychological benefits it engen-
dered. It became a self-perpetuating feature.
These are extraordinary benefits. Who would have
thought that by simply expressing gratitude such over-
whelmingly good results could be achieved? Is it any won-
der then that we are commanded to begin the new year
by showing our gratitude through the joyful celebration of
the holiday of Sukkot?
I remember well when we first arrived in New York
City, in the late 1950s. We lived in an apartment on East-
ern Parkway, in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighbor-
hood. We didn’t have our own sukkah and shared the use
StandWithUs, in partnership with other Jewish organi-
zations, has successfully confronted SJP head-on with
alternative and accurate messaging that informs the
local community that is “impacted by the slanderous
messages.” It also publishes a pamphlet, “Know Your
Rights,” for students, which addresses the challenges
these kids will face and what they can legally do when
confronted by them. (Go to https://EndBDS.com and
https://StandWithUs.com/)
The Anti-Defamation League also has been actively
involved in addressing these campus issues with its “A
Campus of Difference” program. It reports that to date,
more than 56,000 faculty, staff, administrators, and stu-
dents in 900 colleges and university campus nationwide
have participated in the program. (Go to https://www.adl.
org/programs-for-colleges-and-university-campuses)
Now let’s get local. Rutgers in New Brunswick has one
of the largest percentage of Jewish populations in a U.S.
college. It’s estimated at 25 percent. Yet two professors
on that campus engaged in some of the vilest slander of
Jews and Israel, and the university’s response to the strong
call from individual and organized Jews around the state
to remove those professors from the college was tepid.
Eventually the university took action and the issue of the
two professors affecting students with their hatred seems
somewhat under control. That is the unfortunate side of
the Jewish experience at Rutgers.
But then there is Rutgers Hillel, right in the middle
of the campus, in a big, gorgeous building that stands
proudly as a resolute statement that Jews, Judaism, and
Jewish culture are alive and well on campus. Every Fri-
day night the huge dining hall at Hillel is filled with sev-
eral hundred Jewish students and their guests as they
of communal sukkot with others. There we would meet
members of our extended family, friends, fellow members
of the synagogue, and strangers. Everyone was cordial,
in keeping with Sukkot’s festive nature. We all became
one happy family, enjoying the setting, the holiday atmo-
sphere, and each other’s company.
The simplicity of the setting fostered an informal and
relaxed atmosphere. As children, we much appreciated
the freedom it afforded. Apartments were small and eat-
ing areas even more so. We would feel so constrained
when our parents entertained company and we had to sit
quietly and not spill or break anything at a formal meal.
In the sukkah, there was no wallpaper to stain or fine fur-
niture to scratch. We were encouraged to sing and enjoy
the occasion, like everyone else.
Sometimes we visited the great sukkot of the
Lubavitcher and Bobover rebbes nearby. These were spe-
cial occasions. As young children, it was difficult to see
above the crowd. My father, of blessed memory, would
raise us up above his head to glimpse a peek of the rebbe
and take in what was going on around us. The rhythmic
swaying and singing of the masses of people gathered to
celebrate mesmerized us.
I also remember the presents that my dad, of blessed
memory, gave to mom and each of us on Sukkot and
the other Jewish holidays. It was only much later when
I studied Talmud, that I learned that this was an ancient
custom. It was designed to provide a tangible means for

gather for a festive Shabbat dinner. Jewish life in
all its forms, from religious to cultural, thrives
at Hillel. SJP is not dead on the Rutgers College
campus, but Jewish students have their anchor
in Rutgers Hillel and that strength will allow
them to face anti-Semitism on their campus as a
united and strong body and they will prevail. (Go
to https://rutgershillel.org/) And Rutgers Hillel is
not alone. Hillel connects with Jewish students
around the world at more than 550 campuses.
(Go to https://www.hillel.org/)
Last but not at all least, there is the Jewish Federa-
tion of Northern New Jersey. As the central Jewish
agency in our community, the federation supports
a broad spectrum of Jewish institutions serving our
community, but also actively engages with the prob-
lem of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli action on cam-
pus together with many of those institutions. When
the Rutgers problem became acute, the federation
was there, arm in arm with other New Jersey Jewish
institutions, advocating for our Jewish students. (Go
to https://www.jfnnj.org/)
My answer to Rabbi Engelmayer’s call to “con-
sider what we must do as individuals and as a com-
munity” is simple enough: financially support
these and other organizations that are addressing
the problem. The “enemy” has endless financial
support coming from certain Gulf countries —
endowing “Middle East Studies” departments at
many universities in the United States (or at least
they are disguised as such, but really they are
nothing more than propaganda outlets for their
messages of hate toward Jews and Israel).
If we are to fight this enemy by supporting our
children in the college environment we must meet
them head-on with equal resources. Shaking our
sharing the joy and creating a spirit of happiness
in the home. It gave everyone a reason to rejoice
on the holiday.
The meals also were special and included wine
for kiddush, gefilte fish, meat, and a cake mom
baked for dessert. On Simchat Torah, during the
second day of Sukkot, there was also homemade
stuffed cabbage. Mom also stocked up on nuts,
dried fruits, chocolates and other store-bought
sweets for the holidays. We didn’t get treats like
this every day and we were very grateful. It fos-
tered our sense that the holidays were a special
time and encouraged our observance. It created
an atmosphere of excitement and helped bring
joy into the home.
Maimonides discusses the special command-
ment to be exceedingly joyful on Sukkot. It cer-
tainly is about enjoying the festive meals, but he
cautions that there is more than just that. It is
important to invite the less fortunate to share in
the holiday meals. Limiting the experience to the
personal pleasure of digesting a good meal is not
the joyful observance of the commandment; it’s
about sharing the joy with others.
There are also other boundaries on behavior
that must be observed. Thus, drunkenness, levity,
and foolishness are inappropriate. At the same
time, he cautions that a person not be too haughty
and dignified to express joy. Each day of the holi-
day observance should also be divided so that a
part is devoted to prayer and Torah study too. The
Opinion
heads in dismay at this horrible development on
our college campuses is not enough. We need
to act with our financial support for the organi-
zations that are doing something about it. I have
listed five organizations and there are more. Don’t
shake your head — go on line and make a contri-
bution now!
I would offer one last suggestion. Learn if anti-
Semitic and anti-Israel activities on the campus of
your alma mater are making it tough for Jewish
students to live a Jewish life on campus without
an adequate response by the administration. If so,
when the yearly envelope arrives asking for your
annual contribution to the university, write and
explain that you are withholding your contribu-
tion this year and will consider renewing your con-
tributions when the university properly addresses
and solves the problem of anti-Semitic and anti-
Israel activities on campus. University administra-
tors listen very carefully to supportive alumni, and
it makes a difference. And then take the money
you were going to send your alma mater and make
a contribution to AJC, StandWithUs, the Hillel on
campus, or the Jewish Federation of Northern
New Jersey.
Each of us can and must make take action by
making a contribution in support of our students.
They are the future of our people.
Bob Peckar, who lived in Alpine and now lives in
Boca Raton, Florida, has been actively involved
with Jewish organizations in Bergen County for
many years and is a member of the National Board
of Governors of the American Jewish Committee. He
is the Founder of Peckar & Abramson, a national
law firm headquartered in River Edge.
combination of all these wonderful experiences is
a part of what makes Sukkot so special.
The Talmud states if you do something whole-
heartedly, then God will help you to succeed. The
divine presence rests on a person because of his or
her joy in performing a commandment. The psy-
chic reward of doing something joyfully, with all
your heart, is enormous.
I do believe that this is one of the distinguish-
ing characteristics of Torah observance. It requires
that both the mind and body be engaged in doing
something. Thinking about it alone doesn’t do the
trick. Mindlessly doing something is also not as sat-
isfying. It’s the combination, which yields a won-
derful feeling of accomplishment and pure joy. It
truly is one of the secrets of life.
Let’s spread the good vibrations by inviting one
and all to share in festive meals in the sukkah.
Spice it up with a pithy d’var Torah and the singing
of upbeat holiday tunes. When we were young, we
participated in sukkah hops, walking from sukkah
to sukkah to bring the exultation of song and good
cheer to everyone. Don’t miss the opportunity to
experience the joy of Sukkot.
Leon Grunstein of Teaneck, a retired attorney
and banker, founded and was chairman of
the Metropolitan National Bank and the Israel
Discount Bank of N.Y. He also founded Project
Ezrah and serves on the board of Revel at Yeshiva
University and the AIPAC National Council
Letters
In defense of Donald J. Trump
Unlike other Trump haters, opinion writer Jay Bernstein acknowledges
the many positive accomplishments of the Trump presidency so far (“A
balance sheet on Trump,” September 14). Then, because of political dif-
ferences, not accusation of crimes, he says Trump must be impeached
and removed. Removing a legitimately elected head of state who has
committed no crime solely for political reasons constitutes a coup
d’état. Ours is a country based on the rule of law. To even suggest a
coup is unthinkable.
Hate Trump all you want. But the correct way to remove him is to
defeat him in the next election. By the way, Bernstein says Trump should
be removed “in any way possible.” Does this mean he is advocating the
assassination of the president? To quote an earlier sentence in Bernstein’s
article: It is anathema to basic American values and repulses me.
Alan Lewis, Fair Lawn
Gold and Simon at it again
Gold and Simon are at it again, holding Israel to unreal double standards,
negating legitimate security concerns, and hiding their hard left ideol-
ogy the entire time (“‘Cry, the Beloved Country,’ with apologies to Alan
Paton,” September 14.) I cannot recall ever seeing an article from them
that did not criticize Israel. Don’t they ever have anything nice to say
about the miracle of the Jewish state from their comfortable chairs here
in America?
First let us look where they are really coming from. Gold is a represen-
tative of a Meretz affiliate. Meretz is a microparty in Israel that is the ideo-
logical descendant of the Israeli communist party. You remember com-
munism, that failed ideology that caused the deaths of millions of human
beings and hundreds of thousands of Jews, right? Today this group of
leftist agitators consistently votes with the Arab parties in their feeble
attempt to dismantle the Jewish state. Look up the website of Meretz and
also Simon’s Ameinu. See if you would invite those people and whom
they associate with over to your house or your synagogue. I think not.
Gold and Simon then decry the legitimate acts of a sovereign nation in
defending itself. Leftist NGOs in Israel get the bulk of their funding from
anti-Israel countries and groups. They have been causing trouble in Israel
for years as foreigners use Israel’s democratic processes to undermine
the state. Shouldn’t the Israeli public know who is funding these lobbying
groups? Progressives here are unhappy about Russia behind the scenes,
so imagine how Israelis would feel if Iran or the Saudis are funding groups
to destroy the Jewish state! What is wrong with transparency, I wonder?
Then they complain about the “Nation-State” bill which finally codi-
fied Israel as a Jewish state. Old news and big surprise! Perhaps they had
not noticed the big Jewish star on the flag of Israel. The entire concept
of peace in the region must rest on the respect of the Arabs for Jews as
a legitimate national group with a state of their own. As such, this law
codifies reality and sets the appropriate stage for proper negotiations.
Nothing has changed. Arabs can still walk through Jewish neighborhoods
unafraid while Jews would get maimed, burned or murdered if they went
through Arab neighborhoods.
Simon and Gold’s biggest complaint is that hard-core leftist Jews are
getting stopped at the Israeli border and correctly turned away. The state
of Israel considers the BDS movement an existential threat. Therefore,
the sovereign state of Israel has the right to bar entry to anyone who
assists the enemy of the state. They have the right to interrogate anyone
they see fit prior to arrival, Jewish or not. To do otherwise would be irre-
sponsible. For years certain Jews have used their Jewishness to lambaste
Israel and gained instant credibility just because they were born Jewish.
Those days are now over. There are limits to behaviors now. If you are
outside the boundaries of acceptability you do not get the privilege of
going to Israel and aiding and abetting the enemies of the Jewish people.
No other nation would tolerate this, but there we go again with the outra-
geous double standards. And since it is their country, the Israelis get to set
the standards. Not Americans.
The majority of the Jews in the world live in Israel. The majority of
the Jewish children in the world are born in Israel. The American Jew-
ish community can no longer pontificate to the Israelis. It is their nation
and their Jewish democracy, as they see fit. They have certain unique
problems and we as Jews need to appreciate them. Obviously, Gold and
Simon and their hard core leftist elite do not get that, but I am sure the
Standard readers do!
Scott David Lippe, M.D., Fair Lawn
Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 31
Opinion
Kurds remain first in Iran’s firing line
I
ran’s regime is defying
the newly found U.S.
resolve to counter its
malign influence with
whatever means it has at its dis-
posal. On September 8, seven
missiles were launched against
the headquarters of an Iranian
Kurdish rebel group in Koysin-
jaq, close to the border with Ben Cohen
Iraq. They claimed the lives of
at least 15 people — a death toll
that the mullahs in Tehran found most satisfying.
The attack on the Kurds was designed carefully to send
the region a message. “With a range of 2,000 kilometers
(1,200 miles), our missiles endow the Iranian nation with
a unique ability to fight against arrogant foreign powers,”
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps, told the semiofficial ISNA
news agency.
“All those that have forces, bases and equipment
within a 2,000-kilometer radius of Iran’s sacred bor-
ders should know that (our) missiles are highly accu-
rate,” Jafari continued pointedly. (Tel Aviv, of course,
lies 1,900 kilometers to the west of Tehran.) “Our recent
vengeance upon terrorists,” he went on, using the offi-
cial regime term Iranian Kurds seeking autonomy, “had
a very clear message for enemies, especially superpow-
ers who think they can bully us.”
The message is that Iran is not afraid to resort to mili-
tary force, either through its ongoing ballistic missile pro-
gram or through interventions on the ground carried out
by Iran’s own forces or their local proxies. As the missile
attack on the Kurds demonstrated, that is not idle talk.
It is the Kurds, in fact, whose experiences over the last
year are the best — and therefore, the grimmest — evidence
of what happens when Iran occupies your territory. The
latest ordeal facing this nation of 25 million — by far the
Memory
from page 29
Moreover, there have been serious improvements in the
last 50 years under the new morality, and I’m not talking
only about cleaner air and water. (I can’t remember the last
smog warning I heard on the radio.) To take a few exam-
ples, disabled people have all sorts of access, opportunities,
protections, and guaranteed rights they never had before;
special education teachers and therapists help their clients
maximize their individual potentials; those whose sexual
orientation is different aren’t jailed and, indeed, have been
granted legal rights and protections; fewer Americans are
deprived of their constitutional rights, including their pre-
cious right to vote (though that’s being put into danger but
not by any new morality); casual racism is on the wane
(though, unfortunately, it hasn’t been eliminated in our Jew-
ish community).
Similarly, I have an uncomfortable feeling when I hear the
phrase “greatest generation” applied to the WWII genera-
tion. I have no doubt that many of that generation showed
immense courage in fighting bravely for freedom in Europe
and the Pacific — including my Uncle Moshe, who lost his life
off Normandy in the D-Day invasion, and my Uncle Chaim,
who received a Bronze Star for heroic achievement in the
Battle of the Bulge. And for that they deserve great praise
and our deepest appreciation.
But let’s be honest about our history.
32 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
largest stateless nation in the Middle East, but receiving
only a fraction of the media coverage enjoyed by the 5 mil-
lion Palestinians — was conceived in Tehran after the inde-
pendence referendum of September 2017 in the Kurdish
region of Iraq. That vote resulted in a 93 percent major-
ity favoring independence, but what should have been a
cause for celebration for their Kurds and their allies ended
up as a disaster.
Many countries, especially those with Kurdish popu-
lations, issued barely veiled threats of invasion before
the vote even took place. Turkey, Iran, and the Iranian-
backed Iraqi government all denounced the vote as an
attempt to create a “second Israel” in the region, with the
term “fifth column” frequently deployed in the media to
describe the alleged status of the Kurds within Israel’s
strategic calculations.
An Iranian-backed military offensive, involving Iraqi
government forces and the Hashd al-Shaabi paramili-
tary organization — the Iraqi equivalent of Lebanon’s
Hezbollah — smashed through Kurdish-controlled areas
of Iraq throughout October and November. That opera-
tion was directed by Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the
IRGC’s “Quds Force,” the notorious military agency that
co-ordinates Iran’s regional interventions in Iraq, Syria
and Lebanon.
By the time the offensive ended, more than 50 percent
of the territory liberated from ISIS by Kurdish Peshmerga
fighters, including the city of Kirkuk, lay in the hands of
the Iraqi government in Baghdad and Hashd al-Shaabi.
“This attack, waged by the Iraqi government, Hashd al-
Shaabi and forces associated with the Headquarters of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force, is in retaliation
against the people of Kurdistan who have asked for free-
dom,” a Peshmerga statement declared at the height of
the fighting.
Yet the outside world remained shamefully disinter-
ested in the Iraqi Kurdish plight last year. That is a key rea-
son why Iran now believes it can make an example of its
Unfortunately, too many of those heroes came home
and fought on our shores — not bravely at all — against free-
dom for some of their fellow citizens. So were they really
the greatest generation? Were they greater than the genera-
tion of the Freedom Riders? Or those who tried to cross the
Edmund Pettus Bridge and were beaten within an inch of
their lives? Or of those who sat in at the Woolworth coun-
ters, where they were debased and degraded?
Were they greater than the generation of the children —
yes, children — who were jailed for marching and protesting,
who were spit upon and threatened for, of all things, try-
ing to go to school, and who were bombed while praying in
church? Were they greater than the generation of those who
risked their lives (and sometimes tragically lost their lives —
remember Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman) in attempt-
ing to register African Americans to vote?
And finally, let me turn to our own community. Immigra-
tion is an incredibly complex issue in our country, a problem
that continues to engender great emotion and debate. But one
comment I’ve seen many times on social media by members
of the Jewish community is problematic. It goes something
like this: I know we’re a nation of immigrants and I’m all for
legal immigration. But as for the illegal immigrants, why can’t
they do it legally, like our grandparents did?
That seems to be a fair question except for one disturb-
ing historical fact: From 1924, when the first racial quota
immigration law was enacted, until 1965, Jewish illegal
immigrants to the United States numbered in the tens of
own 7 million Kurds with impunity. “We have always con-
sidered Iran a danger to us,” Mustafa Muludi, the general
secretary of the Kurdistan Independence Party of Iran told
the Kurdish news outlet Rudaw after the Sept. 8 missile
attacks. “This bombardment has made our fear stronger.”
Their fear should be our alarm bell. The sorry record of
international betrayal of Kurdish aspirations dates back
to the end of the First World War, and frankly, betrayal
remains at the heart of our policy. The Iranian-led assault
last year used artillery and armored vehicles supplied
by the U.S. government to the Iraqi government. Our
response, as the Iranians openly mocked us by using
American-made weapons to attack one of our closest
regional allies, was to have the State Department confirm
its “One Iraq” policy, effectively closing the door on the
Kurdish bid for national sovereignty.
Only Israel came out of last year’s disgrace with any
honor, as the one country to welcome the referendum
result warmly, and to express the hope that the Kurds
would join the Jews as a free nation in the Middle East. Yet
as much as Israel has aided the Kurdish national move-
ment covertly over the years, it is not in a position to fight
on their behalf. As Kurdish leaders repeatedly say, the task
of allies is to ensure that their own seasoned warriors can
do that for themselves.
Last year, sadly, the Trump administration helped to
tie the Kurds’ hands by equivocating over the referendum
and the Iranian onslaught that followed. Iran now seeks
to test our resolve by continuing its campaign against the
creation of a Kurdish state that would be far more open,
far more democratic and far more pacific than any of its
neighbors. As yet, there is no sign that our shameful policy
is changing. JNS.ORG
Ben Cohen writes a weekly column for JNS on Jewish affairs
and Middle Eastern politics. His work has been published in
Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, the Wall Street
Journal, and many other publications.
thousands, possibly higher. (“After They Closed the Gates:
Jewish Illegal Immigration to the United States, 1921-1965”
by Libby Garland.) And in the context of the current debate,
we sometimes tend to forget the tragic fates of those who
were denied legal immigration and did not resort to illegality
(e.g., the Frank family or the passengers on the St. Louis).
One of the perhaps most overused aphorisms regarding
the past is philosopher George Santayana’s statement that
“those who cannot remember the past are condemned to
repeat it.” But it’s overused because it teaches an important
lesson; one that is valid, however, only if we are remember-
ing what actually happened and not what we wished had
happened.
In the Zichronot prayer of Rosh Hashanah, we ask God
to recall only the good that we did and do. But selective
memory is part of our prayer to God as God judges us, not a
maxim for humans to live by.
We mortals must remember it all, and we must remem-
ber it accurately, if we wish to live up to that part of our
mission set forth in the Malchiyot prayer: letaken olam be-
malchut Shaddai. To perfect the world under the reign of
the Almighty.
Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular columnist, is a longtime
resident of Teaneck. His work also has appeared in various
publications including Sh’ma magazine, the New York Jewish
Week, the Baltimore Jewish Times, and, as letters to the editor,
the New York Times.

Healthy lunch ideas to energize your day
JANET BRANCATO
THE VALLEY HOSPITAL
D
o you bring or buy your lunch
most days? The trend is moving
away from eating out daily due to
the cost and concern over health
or weight. Some people are just choosing to
avoid it entirely; working through their lunch
or running errands. Skipping meals is usu-
ally not a good move on a daily basis because
somewhere in the day, the hunger will kick Janet Brancato
in and then it can be hard to control choices.
Planning for lunch is a better move with long-term,
positive health results. Give yourself 10 minutes at night protect our cells against aging, damage, disease, and they
to prep for the next day. Even a mini-meal can count
toward keeping our energy up, appetites controlled,
and improve concentration for the busiest part of the
day. Buying lunches daily can add up with costs ranging
from $5 to $15 per day. This means that, at the end of the before and use the extras for lunch the next day. Leftover
month, buying lunch daily can run you approximately
$100 to $200. Bringing your lunch or eating at home is
a real money saver, with the average brown-bag lunch
costing only $2 to $4.
Let’s look at the components of a healthy lunch:
• Include complex carbohydrates like whole grain
bread, or crackers, with a lean protein, vegetables, and
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fruit, hydrating with an unsweetened bev- include peppers, onions, mushrooms, celery, carrots,
erage (preferably water or flavored seltzer) asparagus, and sugar snap peas. For added convenience,
• Complex carbohydrates provide you can use frozen vegetables. Just add low-sodium soy
us with energy, fiber that fills you up, sauce and ginger for increased flavor!
and many nutrients, vitamins, minerals • Salad in a jar: A salad in a jar is a creative way to trans-
and antioxidants. port your salad if you are working, going to a picnic, or
• Lean protein enhances mental alert- to the beach. Build a better salad using a variety of leafy
ness and appetite control, helping us to greens (the darker the green the better), lean protein,
feel fuller longer (try to keep it lean like sprinkle on a 1/2 cup of whole grain like quinoa, top with
chicken, fish, lean meat, tofu, or beans) berries and go lightly on the dressing.
• The vegetables are nutrient dense, Creating a salad in a jar:
meaning they are very high in nutrients • Start with a mason jar with a lid
that we need to fuel our body for fewer • Layer your ingredients from wettest to driest in the jar
calories. Veggies and fruit have many antioxidants that • At the bottom of the jar, pour in your favorite salad
dressing (hint: use an olive oil vinaigrette type dress-
are very hydrating, high in water content. ing and just drizzle to moisten without over-drenching
Some delicious and creative lunch ideas for home the leaves)
or office: • The next layer should be something that absorbs the
• Leftovers: Make a little extra food at dinner the night dressing, such as quinoa, faro, tofu, or bulgur
• Next, add some veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers,
grilled chicken or meat and vegetables can turn into a peppers, beans, and berries
healthy wrap. The wrap filling can be any protein — just • Add extra protein if needed like chicken or tuna
add vegetables, vinaigrette or mustard and a sprinkle • Lastly, add your leafy greens, and close the lid
of cheese. • When you are ready to eat it, carefully remove just the
• Build a bowl: Stir-fry meals are a perfect one-pan meal leaves and place on a plate or bowl
which includes protein, veggies, and usually some brown • Reseal the jar, shake the remaining ingredients, add on
rice or other whole grain. Versatile stir-fry vegetables top of the greens and enjoy!
Discover
at
more ways
to live well
home.
Call for a free consultation
201.750.3077
Do you want to live independently and stay in your
own home? We can help. Whether it’s stimulating
social activities at our Gallen Center, an aide to help
with housework, a care manager to help plan for
the future, or guidance to keep your home safe —
we’re here. Talk to one of our experts today.
We accept
all insurances A Member of The Jewish Home Family
jewishhomeathome.org
Jewish Home at Home is a not for profit, non-sectarian program
open to all seniors regardless of race, religion or ethnic origin.
JH@H Ad 2k16 CL v2.indd 1 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER8/26/16 33
2:14 PM
21, 2018
Healthy Living & Adult Lifestyles
Serving the Jewish community
of Bergen County for 12 years Is sitting or standing
All certified home health aides
licensed, bonded and criminal
better for back pain?
Serving the Jewish community
background checks MICHAL PORATH AND JESSICA LOWY

F
of Bergen County for 12 years

• C Serving the Jewish

Allertified home health aides
certified home health community
aides or most of us, the High Holy
RN supervision & coordination
licensed,ofbonded
Bergenand
County for 12 years
criminal Days mean attending syna-
background
• L checks
icensed and bonded gogue for services. For many
AllHourly,
certifiedlive-in
home health aides care
and respite of us, the prospect of sitting for
• R licensed,
supervision bonded and criminal
RNN supervision and coordination
& coordination long periods of time during services is a
background
24/7 live checks
on-call service frightening one, due to fear of neck and
Hourly, live-in and respite care back pain with sitting. At our clinic, we
• Hourly, live-in and respite care have many patients asking us “Would it
RN supervision & coordination
Complimentary
24/7 live on-call service social work be better to sit or stand for the services?”
• Complimentary
services Most people who suffer from gen-
Hourly,
Complimentary live-inwork
social and respite care eral back pain will have a diagnosis of
lifestyle support services
services degenerative disc disease, arthritis,
Linkages
24/7 to other
live on-call elder care
service bulging discs, or stenosis. Each of these
• C oordination of services with
Linkages options
to other elder care diagnoses require different treatment
other elder care providers
optionsComplimentary social work approaches. However, there are guide-
services lines that you can follow that will help
regardless of the diagnosis.
Our first recommendation is to try to
Linkages to other elder care
1.866.7FREEDOM
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mix sitting and standing. Just as it’s pain-
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mind is to get up and move every 20-30
minutes. Varying your postures by occa-
Life! sionally standing and moving around at
least every half hour will help to keep
your spinal joints, muscles, tendons, and
ligaments loose and pain free.
Taking frequent breaks to move
around helps stave off pain, and walk
breaks are among the best ways to
reduce your symptoms. Take a walk
through the synagogue by walking to
the front door or to the bathroom and
then back to your seat. Those are good
ways to incorporate walk breaks during
prayer services. The key is to not stay in
one place for too long.
Our second recommendation is to
remember your posture. When sitting
for long periods of time, we often col-
lapse our bodies into a forward bent pos-
ture, rounding our backs and leaning our
heads forward. This puts a tremendous
amount of stress on the low back and
stretches and strengthening exercises
that target your core and back muscles.
Finding a balance between forward
movements (lumbar flexion) and back-
wards movements (lumbar extension)
can help reduce much of the symptoms
both from sitting and standing. For indi-
viduals with a bulging or herniated disc,
performance of standing backbends
after sitting for long periods of time can
produce relief in the low back. Adding
gentle spinal movement in sitting, such
as pelvic tilts, can help prevent stiffness
while sitting as well.
A physical therapist can evaluate your
back and teach you some practical ways
to specifically help reduce your pain,
including directional preference exer-
cises that can eliminate back pain, leg
pain, as well as proper lifting and walk-
ing techniques. By incorporating these
simple exercises and taking regular walk-
ing breaks, your back pain may be kept

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bath towel to place behind your low back
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When standing, It is important to pay
Call Richard to schedule attention to how you are standing. Stand
your personal visit. in a stable posture with feet shoulder
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55 Hudson Avenue • Tenafly, NJ 07670 sure your whole body changes together
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As physical therapists, we would also
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Michal Porath, PT, MPT, and Jessica
Lowy, PT, DPT,CMTPT, are the owners
of Prime Orthopedic Rehabilitation at
111 Dean Drive, Suite 1N, Tenafly. They
have been working in Bergen County
treating patients with orthopedic
and neurological diagnoses for over
20 years. They treat a number of
neck and low back problems, as well
as other ailments such as arthritis
in all joints, strains and sprains,
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appointment, call (201) 503-7173 or
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34 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

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 A Reason to Smile Healthy Living & Adult Lifestyles

Cedar Crest hosts Passion Walk on campus

Residents and staff
raise money for
their favorite charity

On September 7, Cedar Crest, an Erick-

son Living retirement community in
Pompton Plains, hosted a Passion Walk
on campus. More than 30 employees
and residents participated in the special
event to support a charity of their choice.
TEANECK DENTIST The event included a half-mile walk on
campus as well as an Awareness Health
Fair, featuring music, raffles, chair mas-
We put the Care sages, games, aromatherapy, coloring
into Dental Care! station, and memory quilt table where
people decorated a quilt square to pay
Richard S. Gertler, DMD, FAGD tribute to a friend or family member.
Ari Frohlich, DMD The quilt will be displayed on campus
Sami Solaimanzadeh, DMD throughout the month.
All proceeds from the walk will be
1008 Teaneck Road • Teaneck donated to local charitable organiza-
tions, including the American Cancer Society and Cedar Crest, one of 19 continuing care retirement
201.837.3000 Alzheimer’s New Jersey. communities managed by Erickson Living, is situ-
www.teaneckdentist.com “This is a fantastic event for our residents and staff to ated on a scenic 130-acre campus in Pompton Plains,
come together to honor and support several charitable Morris County, and is home to 1,800 residents. Addi-
Visit us on Facebook
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Convenient Morning, Evening & Sunday Hours here,” said fitness manager Jennifer Schweizer. CedarCrestCommunity.com.

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36 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

 “I can walk, when other doctors said
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pain and specialty orthopedics to brain disorders, such as
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• NEUROLOGY:
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JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 37
Healthy Living & Adult Lifestyles
Why does one need a will? Some very specific reasons
Aretha Franklin reportedly died leaving an $80 million There are several good reasons. Without a will: more often have to be resolved by the court.
estate with no will. It is shocking to know that neither How- 1. You have no say who is appointed to handle the money Every adult benefits from having a will. You don’t
ard Hughes ($546 million) nor Pablo Picasso ($290 million) and assets and money you leave. The court will appoint have to have $80 million in assets like Aretha. A will
had a will. Nor did President Abraham Lincoln. As a lawyer, someone. protects those who inherit and makes the process
he should have known better. 2. The estate is charged money in the form of a bond. work more smoothly.
Some might say: “What’s the fuss? Under New Jersey law, 3. You lose the power to leave different amounts to dif- For further information, contact Michael L. Prigoff
if I die without a will, it all goes to my wife and kids, right? ferent people — state law will govern all of those decisions. at (201) 568-4000, or mlp@njlaw.com.
Why should I hire a lawyer to prepare a will?” 4. Finally, issues that arise in handling your estate will

SUBACUTE CARE AT
Foundation teaches
the art of aging
The Defining Moment Foundation works with at-risk
children and senior adults to reverse and eradicate a
culture of widespread substance abuse and bullying.
The essential work of the Defining Moment Founda-
tion in the fields of substance abuse prevention, anti-
bullying, relapse therapy, and educational health
awareness programs has helped thousands of chil-
Trust the team that knows your needs dren, senior adults of all ages, and their families since
1998. The Defining Moment Foundation has been
Daughters of Miriam Center/The Gallen Institute has provided care to the seniors of recognized and awarded by both The Bergen County
our community since 1921. Who better then to understand their specialized needs? Our Board of Chosen Freeholders and The New Jersey
State Legislature.
experienced postacute care team uses the latest advances in therapies to provide the
Conscious Eldering: Our program is dedicated to
highest quality care. Individualized care plans are designed for each patient. Whether teaching senior adults how to live with purpose, joy, and
getting back on your feet after a fracture or recovering from surgery or a stroke, DMC has curiosity as a loving approach in later years. It promotes
the most experienced staff to help seniors achieve the best results. the theory that we can live continuously improving as
we get older, and that we can add value through being
The rehabilitation team at Daughters of Miriam Center/The Gallen Institute of service to others. We teach how to create and sustain
authentic intergenerational relationships.
is here to bring you the best in rehabilitation and subacute care. Graduates of our Conscious Eldering programs
learn to:
Our interdisciplinary team of physicians, therapists, nurses Remain curious about the world.
and social workers can meet all of your rehabilitation needs. Profoundly acknowledge themselves and others.
Live with gratitude.
Accept other people and are open to multigenera-
We offer intense short-term rehab for:
tional friendships.
• amputations
Be radically committed to new possibilities.
• hip and knee fractures
Listen generously.
• hip and knee replacements
Seek joy.
• post stroke recovery
Vision: To teach senior adults how to understand
the principals of conscious eldering as a loving
Our team can also provide you with approach in later years.
medically complex services such as: Mission: To have all senior adults acknowledge how
• cardiac rehabilitation special and precious their lives are, and recognize and
• comprehensive wound care honor the contributions they have made throughout
· enteral nutritional therapy their lifetime.
• extended IV therapy Our philosphy: to live with vibrancy at every stage
• nutritional diabetic counseling of life.
• pain management For further information, call (201) 364-4322.
• PICC line management
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38 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
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dementias have on those affected and serves as a call
to action to raise awareness and research.
A dementia diagnosis can be frightening and daunt-
ing. Below is a slightly edited list of tips from The
National Institute on Aging’s Caregiver Guide.
• Ask the doctor any questions you may have about
dementia. Discuss treatment approaches that focus
on helping maintain mental function, manage behav-
ioral symptoms, and slow or delay the symptoms of
the disease.
• Contact organizations, like the Alzheimer’s Asso-
ciation, for information on the disease treatment
options and caregiver resources.
• Find a support group where you can share your
feelings and concerns. Members of support groups
often have helpful ideas or know of useful resources
based on their own experiences. Online support
groups make it possible for caregivers to receive sup-
port without having to leave home.
• Study your day to see if you can develop a routine
that makes things go smoothly. If there are times of
the day when the person with dementia is less con-
fused, plan your routine to make the most of these
moments. Keep in mind that the way the person func-
tions may change from day to day, so try to be flexible.
• Consider using adult day care or respite services
to ease the day-to-day demands of caregiving. These
services allow you to have a break while knowing that
the person with dementia is being well cared for. “Anytime of the day or night,
• Begin to plan for the future. This may include get-
ting financial and legal documents in order, and inves-
tigating long-term care options.
they were there for me.”
It is interesting to note that the majority of these rec-
ommendations include accessing the many resources
available to families. One such resource is hiring an
aide through a home care agency like Freedom Home
Healthcare. An aide in the home and the support pro- Valley Health System is giving patients like Carol
vided by the agency can greatly improve the quality of Carol access to the most innovative lung cancer Battled lung cancer
life for the individual with dementia and family care- treatments. That’s because our cancer care team
givers. The agency can also be a resource to connect collaborates with the Mount Sinai Health System
you with other providers such as local geriatricians, — leaders in cancer research — to bring the most
eldercare attorneys, adult day centers, and more. advanced options to our region. With these
World Alzheimer’s Month is a good time to offer breakthroughs, along with our focus on each
support to friends and neighbors who may have been patient’s needs, we’re able to take our care to
diagnosed with dementia. It is also an opportunity the next level. Here’s Carol’s story.
for those affected with dementia to evaluate whether
they are taking advantage of the supports available. A
wonderful place to learn about Alzheimer’s and other At 43 years old, Carol was finally fulfilling her dream of
opening a women’s boutique. Her dream was about to
dementias is the National Institute on Aging’s website,
become a reality, but instead of feeling energized, she
www.nia.nih.gov.
felt unusually tired. She knew something was wrong.
Freedom Home Healthcare, located in Hackensack, As someone who hasn’t smoked a day in her life, she
is a CHAP accredited Health Service Firm. Founded never expected to hear she had lung cancer.
in 2003 by a group of experts in geriatrics, Freedom
represents more than 200 years of professional expe- See how Carol fiercely battled cancer with Valley
rience in aging and provides care in private homes, at MyStory.ValleyHealth.com. Or, to reach a lung
hospitals, and facilities. Call (201) 883-1200 or www. cancer specialist at Valley, call 201-634-5339.
freedom-homehealthcare.com.

18-VHS-0484_Carol_JewishStandard_6.5x9.75_v1.indd 1 9/17/18
JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 10:37 AM
21, 2018 39
D’var Torah
Haazinu: The poem is a port in any storm
T
his week’s Torah
portion, Haazinu,
is mostly a farewell
poem by Moses,
with an appendix that speaks
of Moses’ death on Mount
Nebo, where he could see the
Promised Land but not enter
it. The poetry uses beautiful
metaphors to delineate the Rabbi David
relationship of the people with Bockman
God, the Torah/teachings that Congregation
Beth Shalom of
the people are to learn and Pompton Lakes,
use, and the inevitable prob- Conservative
lems brought about through
human nature.
The second verse of the poem reads “let
my instruction drop as rain, my words dis-
till like dew; as droplets upon the lawn,
hard rain upon shrubs.” We might not blink
at such a sentence, but for people who
have been travelling in the desert for forty
years, such an abundance of water imag-
ery must have been shocking! The Torah
and teachings of Moses come from the sky,
40 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
like water to a parched land,
flowing in rivulets through dry
washes, bringing verdant life
wherever it can be success-
fully controlled, but alarm-
ing and overwhelming floods
of destruction where it over-
flows uncontrollably.
These words mean a great
deal to me as I write this, hav-
ing lived for many years in New
Orleans and North Carolina
and bearing the brunt of hur-
ricanes and tropical storms
that overwhelmed the land’s
ability to channel their water.
Hurricane Florence has just made landfall
at Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, but
with the topography of Carolina, the flood-
ing could continue or worsen over the com-
ing weeks as mountainous watersheds in the
western part of the state send their floodwa-
ters eastward, back towards the already bat-
tered coastal plain. My heart goes out to res-
idents whose houses will be washed away,
whose lives will be lost, or whose ances-
tral burial grounds will be inundated and
wiped off the face of the earth.
The Torah Temimah (published in
1902) quotes the Sifre (Talmudic era
collection of midrashim) in the name
of Rabbi Simai, who understands the
four clauses of our verse to correspond
to the four different types of wind that
come from the four cardinal directions,
pressed into service by Moses’ poem:
The West Wind that always brings blessing;
The North Wind that distills the sky, mak-
ing it shine with clarity;
The East Wind that brings storms to the
world, chaotic like a billygoat;
The South Wind that brings gentle drizzle.
The specifics of each directional
wind are, in a certain sense, unimport-
ant, because the characteristics of each
change depending on one’s location: if
you are west of a desert, an eastern wind
will portend something entirely differ-
ent than for someone who lives west of
a lake or a swamp, mountains, or a vast
forest. More significant to me, today,
is that residents of a certain locale can
almost all tell you what a north wind or
an east wind will bring, because while
weather may not always be predictable
in advance, it usually is understandable.
The real difficulty comes when, due
to the Coriolis effect brought about by
the rotating earth, winds are deflected,
Netanyahu aide takes leave after accusations
David Keyes, a spokesperson for Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
announced that he was taking a leave of
absence to defend himself against accu-
sations of sexual misconduct by at least
14 women.
The development comes after four
Knesset members called on the prime
minister to suspend Keyes until the
reports about the allegations had been
investigated.
“In light of the false and misleading
accusations against me, and in order not
to distract from the important work of
the Prime Minister, I have asked to take
time off to clear my name,” he said in a
statement. “I am fully confident that the
truth will come out.”
Netanyahu’s office “accepted David
Keyes’ request to take time off.”
It is unknown how long Keyes will be
out of the office.
Keyes’s move came just after the Times
of Israel asked him about a new allega-
tion that he made an “aggressive, sex-
ual” advance toward a woman in Israel
causing cyclonic storms characterized
by winds from every direction. In a hur-
ricane or monsoon or tornado, all the
normal rules people can tell you about
wind are thrown out the window and
the destruction that follows depends on
minor variations in windspeed, the track
of the storm, the shape of the land and
other factors.
Unlike in the “Hunger Games,”
weather phenomena are not intention-
ally thrown at specific people to boost
television ratings by characters in a con-
trol room. We understand in advance
how these things work, but their specific
effects are impossible to predict. Who
shall live and who shall die, who by fire
and who by water… But we learn on the
High Holy Days that t’shuva, t’fila and
tzedaka (repentance, prayer and chari-
tability) can help us through, whatever
the winds may blow our way. And the
upcoming Sukkot holiday forces us —
as we live outside in the lap of nature
itself — that we are subject, more than
we often acknowledge, to the vagaries of
ruach metzuyah, any wind that finds its
way into our fragile hut.
May this Shabbat and the coming
holiday increase our awareness of and
appreciation for the complexities aris-
ing in the world that surrounds us, and
may we learn Torah appropriate to any
exigency that might come our way. Ulti-
mately, our lives and our world depend
on it!
in 2016, weeks after he became Netan-
yahu’s spokesperson. A second woman
also contacted the news outlet, providing
a detailed complaint against him.
The Times of Israel published an inves-
tigation citing 12 women who described
a trend of inappropriate behavior by
Keyes against themselves and other
women in the United States in the years
before he worked for Netanyahu.
For example, New York State Sen-
ate candidate Julia Salazar detailed her
alleged sexual assault in 2013 by Keyes.
Keyes has denied the allegations. “All
of the accusations are deeply mislead-
ing, and many of them are categorically
false,” he told the Times of Israel.
Keyes is not the first person to leave
Netanyahu’s office over sexual miscon-
duct allegations. Netanyahu’s chief of staff
Gil Sheffer, was accused in 2013 of sexual
harassment. The previous year, top aide
Natan Eshel was forced out over allega-
tions he used a secretly placed camera to
film under a female colleague’s skirt.
 JNS.ORG
 The Frazzled Housewife
A man and his sukkah
BANJI GANCHROW
T
he concept of God has been
up for discussion since the
beginning of time.
For a little kid, the thought Christmas Tree shop, and she attempts to
of God can be quite overwhelming.
“Hashem is here, Hashem
is there, Hashem is truly
everywhere. Up, up, down,
down, right, left and all
around. Here there and
everywhere, that’s where
he can be found!” Please
tell me who wrote that song.
(I apologize for writing all
the words down because
now that little ditty will be Banji
singing in my head all day Ganchrow
long.) I remember wonder-
ing if God was under my
bed, in the closet, hiding in the refrigera- the posters with the pictures of the rabbis
tor when I went to sneak a snack. How
could He possibly be everywhere? Is He
there when I am taking a test? When I
am shopping? And is He, an actual He?
Many believe that God is a woman. As
a woman, I should believe that as well.
Unfortunately, I do not.
There are too many coincidences
in our religion for God to be a female.
For example, the holiday of Sukkot is
upon us. The whole theme of this holi-
day centers around the actual sukkah.
The locating the sukkah, the finding the
tools to build the sukkah, and then the
fun really begins. We start with the con-
struction of the sukkah. Husbands all
over the world are being mildly nudged
by their wives to “Get off the couch and
go build the sukkah, darling!” Wouldn’t
you know it, but the beginning of the
football season coincides with the build-
ing of the sukkah. If God is a woman,
she has some sense of humor. If God is
a man, he totally forgot about the foot-
ball situation because he happens to be
a hockey fan and hockey season doesn’t
start for another few weeks.
That being said, when the man of the
house finally decides to put his sukkah
up (or have his neighbors help him com-
plete this arduous task) the empty suk-
kah needs to be decorated. Hey, wait a
second, where did everybody go? Yup,
they are back on the couch and it is a
woman’s responsibility to make sure the
sukkah is tastefully adorned with various
tchachkas. Unfortunately, the woman of
this house decorates the sukkah based
on her mood on that specific day. If this
woman is in a bad mood, the sukkah is,
well, pretty poorly decorated. There is
one lone early childhood project hang-
ing from the ceiling along with a light
fixture (which we hope we won’t have
to use too often because it uses electric-
ity and the Monsey man of this house
would prefer us eating in the dark. After
Kosher Crossword
“SPRING TIME?”
BY YONI GLATT, KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: MEDIUM
all, that’s how they did it way back when,
and we like being really authentic).
If the woman of the house is in a good
mood, well, out come the pretty twin-
kle lights that we bought on sale at the
cover the walls and ceiling of the sukkah
with these beautiful lights.
Who am I kidding, I usu-
ally can’t figure out how
to untangle them and we
have one or two wayward
strings of light hanging in
strange places. And I make
sons 1,2, and 3 tell me how
beautiful they look. I hang
up the homemade chains
made the night before
(even though they will fall
down in the rain) and I let
my beautiful sons hang up
on them…. Live and let live, I always say.
OK, I never say that, but they really like
the poster so there it is.
This year, we learned from one of
our children that you shouldn’t put the
sukkah up until after Yom Kippur. This
Across Down
1. Foe of Wonder Woman 1. The ___ (great Tsfat kabbalist)
5. Anastasio of Phish 2. “Arabian Nights” bird
If the woman of 9. Huge hit
14. Old City (with 59-Down)
3. Resident of 65-Across
4. Goldman’s partner
the house is in a 15. Part of a play?
16. Prickly plants
5. Arnold committed it
6. “___ Perdition” (Hanks-Newman film)
good mood, well, 17. *Häagen-Dazs and Edys, e.g. 7. Stately trees
out come the 19. Ready for drawing?
20. Toss call
8. Ken, in Israel
9. *Chivas Regal, e.g.
pretty twinkle 21. I-95, e.g.: Abbr.
22. Like a best friend
10. Like lions
11. Make like David Mazouz
lights that we 25. He killed Macbeth
29. Pluralized “y”, often
as Bruce Wayne
12. “Come ___?” (Italian greeting)
bought on sale at 30. Scholarly
32. Shabbat wear, for many men
13. *Cool
18. Pump brand
the Christmas 33. Kind of guitar 21. Talk like Harvey Fierstein
Tree shop. 35. Gym unit
36. Made like a stereotypical politician
22. Cancer causer, often
23. What Shabbat should be for
37. *One that often goes missing 24. “One of Us” singer Joan
works out well for us because it prolongs 38. Sukkah activity... or a word 25. Gies who protected Anne Frank
that can connect to the 26. Make use of
the fighting that will occur when it is
starred clues in this puzzle 27. Cecil or Prince of baseball
time to put the sukkah up. What’s a few 39. *Liberty, for one 28. Made like a quintessential bubby
more days for a family that has no idea 40. Doctor Zhivago 31. Dough in Iceland
what it is doing? Is it actually a true mir- 41. Trump imposed a travel one 34. Geol., e.g.
acle that our sukkah has not fallen down 42. Mamet and Larry 36. O.T. book before Num.
44. One might be filled before Shabbat 38. ___ Negila
on guests who have been eating there?
45. Syria, in 1948 39. It comes between Tzafun and Hallel
But every year, the men of this house 47. Middle of a calzone? 40. 10, in gematria
(and some of the men from the house 48. Kind of diving 41. Israel preceder?
down the block) do their very best to 50. Titanic hazard 42. 10-sided figure
make sure that our sukkah is up to code 52. Muhammad whose grandson had a 43. Line part: Abbr.
bar mitzvah 45. *Solomon part
and ready to help us fulfill the mitzvah
53. Come in second 46. Make wine lighter
the God intended….whether it’s a He or 54. Adopted mom of Moshe 49. One getting a check
a She. It doesn’t really matter. 57. *Chanukah treats 51. Name derived from Jacob’s twelfth
Just remember, people walking out- 61. Film’s most prolific (living) writer- 53. Duck’s home
side your sukkah can hear what is being director 54. *Kind of Mitzvah?
62. Enthusiastic about 55. ___ mode
said inside your sukkah.
63. Biblical king who slew Joram 56. Where many Jews have kissed the
Have a wonderful holiday! 64. Went on and on about ground; Abbr.
65. Starting point? 57. What Moses did on Mount Nevo
Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is hoping 66. “Makes sense” 58. Where KJ can be found in NYC
to decorate with the twinkle lights this 59. See 14-Across
60. WNBA great Bird with
year since she has become so much more The solution to last week’s Israeli citizenship
positive! puzzle is on page 46.
JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 41
Ashraf Marwan — played by Marwan Kenzari — calls the Israeli Embassy in London.
Arts & Culture
‘The Angel’
A
Curt Schleier
shraf Marwan was a
kind of Middle Eastern
Herbert Philbrick.
Philbrick, a Boston
advertising executive,
infiltrated the U.S. Com-
munist Party on behalf of the FBI. His
exploits as a double agent were immor-
talized — actually exaggerated — in a long-
running 1950s television series, “I Led
Three Lives.” Those lives? Citizen, com-
munist, and counterspy.
Marwan is the subject of “The Angel”
— his codename — the new Netflix flick
about a man who may have had even
more than three lives. He was President
Gamal Abdel Nasser’s son-in-law, a close
adviser to his successor Anwar Sadat, a
notorious gambler, and a spy who spied
for Israel and perhaps worked as a spy
for Egypt as well.
The film largely is based on Uri Bar-
Joseph’s book, “The Angel: The Egyptian
42 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
Spy Who Saved Israel.” But as with any
film “based on real events,” there are two
significant problems: the need to embel-
lish for cinematic purposes, and, worse,
the internet, where all these exaggerations
are laid out.
Nasser was not a fan of his son-in-law,
and asked his daughter to divorce him.
Marwan (the excellent Dutch actor Mar-
wan Kenzari) overhears this, and shortly
thereafter, while in London, calls the
Israeli embassy to offer himself as a spy.
His motivation is unclear. The timing
suggests it was a kind of payback for Nass-
er’s comments. There also is speculation
that he wanted cash to fuel his penchant
for gambling. But though he was only a
low–level bureaucrat, he was one of the
few members of the Nasser team to urge
the Egyptian president not to go to war
with Israel. So perhaps at least part of his
initiative was altruistic.
But he never got through to the embassy
intelligence staffer he wanted to reach.
Shortly thereafter, Nasser dies and is
Marwan eludes a tail in the London Underground.
replaced by Anwar Sadat (Sasson Gabay),
who promotes him into a position of author-
ity — ironically increasing his value to Israel.
Israeli intelligence taped Marwan’s ini-
tial call, and now that he was a position
of greater importance, used that tape to
insure his cooperation. Over the course of
the next several years, he provides impor-
tant info, often at great personal peril.
Sami Sharaf, a Nasser loyalist who led
a failed coup against Sadat, suspects Mar-
wan of spying and had Marwan followed
— from his jail cell. Ashraf is almost caught
red-handed passing classified information
several times, adding moments of heart-
beating tension to an already exciting film
— without going overboard into Mission
Literally Impossible territory.
Director Ariel Vromen smoothly moves
the many pieces around with consider-
able elan. Until the end, that is, when he
and screenwriter David Arata muddy the
waters a bit.
Bar-Joseph’s book lends little credence
to the rumors that Marwan was working
PHOTOS BY Netflix
both sides of the border. But speculation
from the Egyptian side suggested he had,
and in fact he is considered something of
a hero there.
When Marwan warned Israel of the
impending Yom Kippur invasion, he was
not taken seriously, because two similar
alerts in the months leading up to the inva-
sion proved incorrect.
He’s shown telling Sadat to prepare
Egyptian troops the way he’d done on
the faux invasions. Israelis, he assured
him, would think he was crying wolf. And
while there was some precautionary mobi-
lization in reaction to Marwan, the nation
remained woefully unprepared.
Did Marwan set up Israel? Not clear
from the film, and we will likely never
know. Marwan dies under mysterious cir-
cumstances; he either fell or was thrown
off a high balcony.
At the end, Vromen almost did the same
thing to his film. But for the unclear con-
clusion, this was a film that deserved a
smooth landing.
 Calendar
Sunday  Monday  Monday 
SEPTEMBER 23 SEPTEMBER 24 OCTOBER 1
Religious school in Sukkot in Teaneck: Erev Simchat Torah in
Closter: Temple Emanu- Temples Beth El of Closter: Temple Emanu-
El opens its religious Closter and Sinai of El invites the community
school and has its “Meet Bergen County in to celebrate and
the Teachers” breakfast, Tenafly join Temple dance with the Torahs,
9 a.m. 180 Piermont Emeth in Teaneck for a 6:30 p.m. Special treats
Road. (201) 750-9997 joint community Sukkot follow. 180 Piermont
service, 10:30 a.m. 1666 Road. Reservations,
Spa time in the Windsor Road. www. (201) 750-9997 or www.
sukkah: Temple Emanu- emeth.org. templeemanuel.
El of Closter offers
“Pampering Day In The Erev Simchat Torah in
Sukkah” at the shul, Tuesday , Glen Rock: The Glen
3 p.m. Participants SEPTEMBER 25 Rock Jewish Center
should bring women’s pays tribute to its
clothing in good Film in Teaneck: Simchat Torah honorees,
condition to donate to Temple Emeth’s adult 6:30 p.m. 682 Harristown
the Center for Hope & education group screens Road. (201) 652-6624 or
Safety. 180 Piermont a Jewish-themed movie, office@grjc.org.
Road. (201) 750-9997 or 7:30 p.m., as part of its
templeemanu-el.com/ “Movies That Matter” Erev Simchat Torah in
sisterhood. series. Refreshments. Emerson: Congregation
1666 Windsor Road. B’nai Israel celebrates by
(201) 833-1322 or emeth. unfurling a handwritten
org. SEPT. Israeli concert star Isaac Sutton returns Torah scroll, holiday
treats, and Israeli dancing
to Feinstein’s 54 Below in Manhattan to
29
led by Rabbi Lisa Vernon,
Thursday  perform “Broadway Israel” at 9:30 p.m.; 7 p.m. 53 Palisade Ave.
SEPTEMBER 27 doors open at 8:45. Rachel Gold and (201) 265-2272 or www.
bisrael.com.
Concert in Park Ridge:
DeLaney Westfall will accompany him. Use code
The free Bergen County ISAAC5 for $5 off the main dining room cover charge.
Summer Music Concert
series at the Wortendyke
254 West 54th St., Manhattan. 54Below.com or (646) Singles
Barn Museum, a county
476-3551.
historic site in Park Sunday 
Ridge, continues with OCTOBER 7
the Reggie Pittman/ sukkah after 7 p.m.
Erev Simchat Torah/
Loren Daniels Quartet minyan. 180 Piermont
Road. Reservations,
Saturday  consecration in Closter: Senior singles meet
(rhythm & blues/jazz),
(201) 750-9997 or www. SEPTEMBER 29 Temple Beth El offers in West Nyack: 65+
4 p.m. Limited seating Tami Luchow consecration and erev Singles meet for a social
is available; bring templeemanuel.com/
COURTESY NCJWBCS
scotchandsteak. Shabbat in Wayne: The Simchat Torah services get-together at the JCC
chairs/blankets; a food senior daytime series at led by Rabbi David S. Rockland, 11 a.m. 450
vendor is on site and Being different: Tami Temple Beth Tikvah has Widzer and Cantor West Nyack Road. Gene,
the museum is open Luchow, a diversity Elizabeth Goldmann,
brunch in the sukkah, (845) 356-5525.
to visitors at noon and consultant, inspirational 6:30 p.m. Simchat Torah/
noon. 950 Preakness Ave.
during intermission. speaker, writer, and Yizkor morning service Singles brunch in
(973) 595-6565 or www.
The free outdoor music former NBC News on Monday at 10:30 a.m. Clifton: North Jersey
templebethtikvahnj.org.
series continues October journalist, will discuss 221 Schraalenburgh Jewish Singles 50s+
28, at 1, with the eighth “Dare to Be Me” for Road. (201) 768-5112. at the Clifton Jewish
annual Bluegrass & Cider the National Council of Sunday  Center hosts a brunch,
festival. (201) 336-7292 Jewish Women Bergen SEPTEMBER 30 with ice breakers,
or email glucente@ County Section’s general Kenneth Ehrenberg trivia, and socializing,
co.bergen.nj.us. meeting at Temple 11:30 a.m. 18 Delaware St.
Paramus police chief’s Children’s program:
Emeth in Teaneck, (973) 772-3131 or join the
Erev Sukkot in Closter: Jewish connection: The JCC of Paramus/
12:30 p.m. Ms. Luchow group at www.meetup.
Temple Beth El has Pascack Valley/Northern Congregation Beth
was born two months com.
a family fun night Valley Hadassah Tikvah’s Hebrew school
premature and has
and dinner, led by meets to hear Kenneth begins its Sunday Special
lived a full life despite
series for 4- to 10-year-
Rabbi David Widzer
and Cantor Elizabeth
physical challenges.
(201) 385-4847 or www.
Ehrenberg, Paramus’s
police chief, discuss his olds and their families, Announce your events
Goldmann, 6 p.m. “Jewish Connection” at 9:30-11:30 a.m. Program We welcome announcements of upcoming events. Announce-
ncjwbcs.org.
221 Schraalenburgh Temple Beth Sholom in on Sukkot with activities ments are free. Accompanying photos must be high resolution,
Road. Reservations, Sukkot in Closter: Park Ridge, 7:30 p.m. and brunch in the sukkah. jpg files. Send announcements 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Not every
(201) 768-5112. Temple Emanu-El Men’s Husbands welcome. 32 East 304 Midland Ave. release will be published. Include a daytime telephone number and
Club hosts “Scotch Park Ave. Refreshments. (201) 262-7733, or send to:
& Steak” in the shul’s (201) 889-4614. www.jccparamus.org.
pr@jewishmediagroup.com • 201-837-8818 x 110

JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 43

Jewish World
Ari Fuld’s widow, Miriam, clasps hands with one of their four children at the funeral for the Amercan-Israeli activist.
Ari Fuld, American expat slain in West Bank,
remembered as combative activist and caring friend
Ben Sales
W
hen Ari Fuld first approached him, Josh
Weixelbaum was a 20-year-old soldier
visiting friends in the West Bank settle-
ment of Efrat.
Fuld had heard Weixelbaum speaking English, so he
introduced himself and asked Weixelbaum about his time
in the army. Fuld soon learned that Weixelbaum, an Amer-
ican immigrant from New Jersey, was serving near Nablus,
in the northern West Bank, and that his posting got chilly
during the long winter nights.
Within a couple weeks, Weixelbaum recalled, Fuld
arranged for the regiment to receive blankets and fleeces
inscribed with their military unit’s logo. Fuld drove up to
the posting to deliver some of the supplies himself.
The two stayed in touch as Weixelbaum finished his ser-
vice, attended college, and took a job. He said that Fuld,
a prominent pro-Israel activist who worked at a nonprofit
that supported Israeli soldiers, became a “free-of-charge,
volunteer mentor” in how to fight in a different role: as an
advocate for Israel online and in person.
“The thing is not to fear them and really not to ever be
ashamed of who I am and what I believe in,” Weixelbaum
said, recalling Fuld’s main piece of advice. “Ari and I didn’t
always agree on everything. That, to him, was secondary.
The important thing was don’t be ashamed.”
Fuld, 45, was killed by a Palestinian terrorist in a stab-
bing attack Sunday near his hometown, Efrat. An Ameri-
can immigrant to Israel, he served in its army and worked
at Standing Together, a nonprofit that provides food and
supplies to the Jewish state’s soldiers.
His friends said that he embodied a dual persona: The
pugnacious activist for his country, eager to defend a right-
wing perspective on Israel, and the warm, loving, funny
father of four, who never hesitated to lend a hand.
“The arguments were tough,” said Yariv Oppenheimer,
the former general director of the left-wing organization
Peace Now, who co-hosted a political talk show with Fuld.
“He had very sharp right-wing opinions. He didn’t yield
and it was tough.
“But when the cameras turned off, he was a character
who was fun to talk to, fun to laugh with, a little sarcastic.
A man so full of energy and optimistic, it’s hard to talk
about him in the past tense.”
44 Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
Obituaries
Ethel Solomon
Ethel Solomon, 98 of Teaneck died
September 16.
Precedeased by her husband, Albert,
she is survived by children, Dr. Michael
Solomon, Janet Greenberg, and Diane
Honig; grandchildren, Andrew, Amy,
Scott, Larry, Lisa, Benjamin, Marc,
and Leanne, and great-grandchildren,
Emma, Abby, Will, Rosa, Loretta,
Mauricio, and Alexandra.
Arrangements were by Gutterman
and Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors,
Hackensack.
A member of the right-wing National Union party, Fuld
was a full-throated advocate for the right of Jews to control
and settle in the West Bank. He took on not only anti-Zion-
ist activists, but also Israeli left-wingers whose views were
the opposite of his own. The two taglines for a speaking
tour scheduled for November were “Why the world has
given up honesty for the sake of diplomacy” and “Why the
2-state solution was always part of the problem.”
His statements — including claiming that “All terrorists
who have murdered Jews in Israel have been Muslim” —
occasionally saw him banned from Facebook.
“Today’s war is an information war and it must be
known that we have people from within who are simply
misinformed and causing tremendous harm to Israel,” he
wrote in a 2016 post for the Jewish Press titled “Confront-
ing the Left at the Jerusalem Day Parade.” “We must not be
silent! We must stand up and shout the truth.”
Friends said that his ideological commitment was real
and that he never shied away from a debate.
“He asked a question, and he would expect an
answer,” Weixelbaum said. “At the same time, when
he got asked a question, he would give an answer. He
was always careful to not let someone get away without
answering the question.”
And in the day after his murder, friends have said that
he practiced what he preached through his final moments.
Video of the stabbing shows Fuld chasing after the teenage
terrorist and firing a gun at him before collapsing.
“He died as he lived; a selfless hero who wanted to help Ari Fuld
and protect others,” wrote Sarri Singer, a victim of terror-
ism in Israel who founded Strength to Strength, a non- community member. He remembered one “small thing”
profit that brings together terror victims, in a column for Fuld did for him: When Friedman’s cellphone broke,
Britain’s Jewish News. “His first instinct after a terrorist Fuld immediately lent him his own.
stabbed him in the back was to neutralize the threat and “He was ALWAYS willing and offering to help
make sure everyone else was safe.” friends,” Friedman wrote in a Facebook message. “He
Fuld grew up in Queens and after graduating from was someone you wanted around and just loved joking
high school in 1991 he moved to Israel to go to Yeshivat around with.”
Hakotel, a yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Old City. After his army Weixelbaum said that Fuld’s softer side could surprise
service, he stayed on for decades in reserve duty — even his ideological rivals. At a recent event in Jerusalem, he
after he was exempted when he turned 40. In addition said, some people with whom Fuld had debated online
to his work with Standing Together, Fuld taught karate met him in person for the first time.
in and around Jerusalem. “You seem so tough on social media and you’re a
But he wasn’t only a fighter. Aaron Friedman, a close teddy bear in real life,” he remembers them saying. “He
friend and neighbor of Fuld’s who last saw him over was incredibly normal ... warm and genuine and loving.”
the weekend, recalled Fuld as a loving and dedicated  JTA Wire Service
 Gwenn Kuskin Feldman
Obituaries Gwenn Kuskin Feldman, 71, from Deal, NJ; North
Caldwell, NJ; and Wellington, FL, on September
Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Inc 12, 2018. Mother to Josh and Emily, grandmother
Jewish Funeral Directors to Ellie, Ben and Ruby, sister to Leslie and Louis.
Family Owned & managed Daughter of Ida and Manny Kuskin.
Generations of Lasting Service to the Jewish Community Though small in stature, Gwenn was a big presence,
• Serving NJ, NY, FL &
Throughout USA
• Our Facilities Will Accommodate
Your Family’s Needs and her death is a giant loss for those who loved her.
• Prepaid & Preneed Planning • Handicap Accessibility From
Funeral Planning Simplified Gwenn was a committed mother and grandmother, a
BergenJewishChapel.com dedicated teacher, and a loyal friend. She was full of
• Graveside Services Large Parking Area
Gary Schoem – Manager - NJ Lic. 3811
life and love. Gwenn surrounded herself with friends
Jordan E. Schoem – Funeral Director - NJ Lic. 5146
Conveniently Located 201.261.2900 | 789 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666 and family and always lit up the room with her
W-150 Route 4 East • Paramus, NJ 07652 vivaciousness, sense of humor and spunk.
Owner/Manager Daniel W. Leber, NJ Lic. No3186
201.843.9090 1.800.426.5869
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James Janoff & Beth Chananie & family

GAIL
MARKOWITZ
JENNY
August 28, 1939 - August 17, 2017

It’s been a year since you passed away.

We love and miss you more than any

words can express. We thank you for
always being the greatest and most
devoted mother and grandmother.

You are forever with us.

The Gersh Family

Kellie and Paul
Gary, Ali and Andrew

Jewish Standard SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 45

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Jewish World

How a Herman Wouk novel shaped debate

over removing an unfit president
RON KAMPEAS

WASHINGTON — It’s hard to follow the news these last

weeks without running into a reference to the 25th Amend-
ment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the
removal from office of a president unfit to serve.
Questions about Donald Trump’s capacity to govern arise
in “Fear,” Bob Woodward’s chronicle of the Trump presi-
dency, which was released last week. Also last week, an
anonymous senior administration official writing in an op-ed
in the New York Times described a mercurial and danger-
ous president and said that whispers of triggering the 25th
Amendment suffuse the workings of the administration.
Vice President Mike Pence, who would become presi-
dent were the amendment to be triggered, denied that it
was under consideration.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, an adviser to Trump who
was fired earlier this year and has written her own book
about administration dysfunction, claims that other offi-
cials tag #TFA in texts to each other about Trump’s mental
peregrinations.
What’s less known is that the amendment owes its exis-
tence in part to a riveting scene of Jewish angst in a popular
novel, play, and movie, “The Caine Mutiny.”
Spoiler alert for the three people in the universe who have
not seen an iteration of the “Mutiny” on late night TV, at
their high school theater, or on “The Simpsons.” Herman
Wouk’s 1951 novel is about a group of Navy officers who
remove a volatile captain from his command of a mine-
sweeper when he freezes up during a typhoon. The officers
are tried for mutiny and acquitted. The Pulitzer Prize-win-
ning book, the subsequent play, and the 1954 movie made Humphrey Bogart, center, flanked by Van Johnson, left, and Fred MacMurray, right, in a stateroom scene
“Captain Queeg” a byword for erratic leadership. from the 1954 film “The Caine Mutiny.” COLUMBIA PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES

Humphrey Bogart earned an Oscar nomination for his

performance as Queeg, who nervously spins a pair of ball
bearings in his hand and obsesses about missing strawber-
ries before breaking down on the witness stand.
The twist at the end is less well remembered, though.
At a celebration of the mutineering officers’ legal victory,
Lt. Barney Greenwald, their defense lawyer, dresses them
down for undermining Queeg before the typhoon. Green-
wald insists that had the crew given Queeg the loyalty he
deserved, he would have had the confidence to take control
during the storm.
In the novel and the play, Greenwald’s Jewishness is made
explicit. He was played memorably by José Ferrer.
“Greenwald’s Jewishness is at the moral heart of the
piece, drama that rings true every moment,” a New York
Times critic said in a positive review of the 1981 revival.
Men like Queeg, Greenwald tells the acquitted officers,
protected the country from fascist invasion before the
United States entered World War II, while the officers pur-
sued lucrative careers until they were drafted.
The final scene of the film — Hollywood! — denudes Green-
wald’s speech of its Jewish content but preserves the power
of its message: The men who protected Americans from fas-
cism deserved better consideration.
“The Germans aren’t kidding about the Jews, they’re
cooking us down into soap over there,” Greenwald says
in the novel. “I just can’t cotton to the idea of my mother
melted down into a bar of soap.... I owed [Queeg] a favor,
don’t you see? He stopped Hermann Goering from washing
his fat behind with my mother.”
Wouk, who is Jewish, based the novel on his World War
II experiences in the Navy. He served aboard two mine-
sweepers, including the USS Zane. In addition to “The Caine
Mutiny,” he wrote “The Winds of War,” a popular 1970s
novel that made the plight of Europe’s Jews central to its
sweeping account of U.S. involvement in World War II. He
also has written a primer on Judaism, “This is My God.”
Greenwald’s agonized plea that commanders deserve
fuller consideration of their ability to lead before they are
removed informed the process that led to the passage of
the amendment in 1967, as the Washington Post reported
last week.
John Sutherland, a Harvard law professor asked to
advise on the issue, told the U.S. House Judiciary Commit-
The Germans aren’t
kidding about the Jews,
they’re cooking us down
into soap over there.
tee in 1956 about how he stayed up all night reading ‘The
Caine Mutiny.’”
“Did you finish it in one night?” asked Emmanuel Celler
(D-N.Y.), the chairman of the committee, who eventually
drafted the 25th Amendment with Senator Birch Bayh (D-Ind).
“I finished it about 2 o’clock in the morning,” Sutherland
said. “It is a bully novel.”
Sutherland apologetically added that he did not mean to
“depreciate the solemnity” of the hearings by comparing
the deliberations of Congress to a popular novel, but Celler,
who was Jewish, appreciated the mention of Wouk’s work.
“It is an excellent analogy,” Celler said.
Sutherland likened a vice president who assumes the
presidency simply by declaring the president incapable to
Napoleon, who crowned himself emperor.
“Didn’t he seize the crown and put it on his own head?”
he asked, before adding that would not be acceptable to
Americans.
John Feerick, a revered New York lawyer who helped
draft the amendment, told the Post that the film was a “live
depiction” of a constitutional crisis. The “Caine” analogy
was not new to Feerick: He cited it in a 1965 book on presi-
dential successions.
“A Vice-President would be on precarious ground in a
case where a President had become insane, refused to
declare himself disabled, or disagreed with the decision
of the Vice-President,” he wrote at the time. In those cir-
cumstances, Feerick wrote, a vice president might be
“too reluctant to act or, if he did act, he might be labeled
a usurper.”
The solution in the amendment is a complicated formula:
A vice president must muster a majority of the Cabinet to
declare to Congress that the president is no longer fit to
govern, whereupon the vice president assumes the presi-
dency. Should the president declare himself fit to govern,
he reassumes the presidency, and the vice president and
the Cabinet have four days to reassert to Congress that the
president indeed is unfit. The vice president then reassumes
the presidency for up to 23 days while Congress considers
whether the president is fit to govern. Ousting the president
requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate and the House
of Representatives.
Three weeks and a two-thirds majority to consider
whether a commander deserves the humiliation of ouster.
Barney Greenwald would approve. JTA WIRE SERVICE

48 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018


Good wine enhances the holiday joy
GABRIEL GELLER
S
uukkot, along with Simchat Torah, is the holiday
that most symbolizes and highlights the impor-
tance of serving God and follow his Torah with
joy. Our Sages write that wine causes the heart
of man to rejoice. Sukkot and Simchat Torah include mul-
tiple celebratory meals, inside and outside the sukkah.
We will soon share more than 25 meals over the coming
yamim tovim with friends and family. Most of them will
require good food as well as good wine.
There is a concept known as “hidur mitzvah,” to
embellish a mitzvah, rather than just sticking with the
elementary rules dictated by halacha. We usually aim
to build the most beautiful sukkah, with high-quality,
good-looking materials and tasteful decorations. As
well, we aim to purchase the nicest lulav and etrog
set we can afford with a flawless etrog. Hidur mitzvah
applies also to our holiday meals, with the most deli-
cious dishes inspired by the recipes of our grandmoth-
ers, cookbooks, or kosher.com. Therefore the same
should apply with the wines we choose to share with
our guests and hosts.
Great kosher white
wines have started to
blossom since then,
with a diverse array
of delicious, complex
and intriguing
examples that
have been
recently released.
Making Kiddush on rosé wine is always a cheerful
and refreshing way to start a meal on Shabbos and Yom
Tov. This past summer was an especially hot one. Most
rosé wines are already gone from the stores’ shelves,
yet some are still available, including the Château Rou-
bine 2017, a classified growth from the world-renown
Côtes de Provence region in France. That is quite for-
tunate as the Roubine happens to be arguably one of
the best rosé wines out there, as well. This supremely
elegant wine boasts fragrant aromas and flavors of
summer fruits such as peaches and apricots, as well as
notes of red cherries and currants. Its refreshing acid-
ity makes it also a fine match to some appetizers such
as gravlax or roasted eggplants with tahini.
I have been advocating for white wines for many
years, notably in DiVine Magazine of Pesach 5777. Great
kosher white wines have started to blossom since then,
with a diverse array of delicious, complex and intrigu-
ing examples that have been recently released. Château
Guiraud, a first-growth Sauternes came out with a bang
in the early 2000’s with its kosher run. Back then it was
the first and only kosher Sauternes of that level on the
market. Sixteen years after the legendary 2001, Châ-
teau Guiraud is making its comeback with G de Guiraud
2017, a fabulous dry blend of Sémillon and Sauvignon
Blanc. Showcasing notes of orange blossom, lime, pear
and eucalyptus with vibrant acidity this wine would
complement a baked halibut in a lemon and butter
 Real Estate & Business
sauce wonderfully.
Herzog Wine Cellars released a very
unique white wine, as well. The Herzog
Special Reserve Albariño 2017 is the first
kosher wine of its kind. It was a long-time
dream of Joe Hurliman, the head wine-
maker at Herzog. Joe’s dream finally came
true after he was able to source the grapes
from a very much sought-after vineyard in
California’s Edna Valley. Albariño is a grape
variety that originates in Spain’s R’as Baixas
region. It has a restrained profile with notes
of citrus pith, earthy minerals, and spring
flowers. I had it last week with a delightful
carrot, sumac and coconut milk soup and
it was like a true bashert. I am very excited
for more Albariño wines to come out soon.
Jezreel Valley winery has taken the lead on
an indigenous Israeli grape variety, Argaman. Argaman was
created in Israel in the 1970’s as a hybrid of Sousão and Cari-
gnan, grapes varieties originating in Portugal and Spain. The
name Argaman refers to the color of the wines it produces.
The term comes from the Torah and describes the deep red
toward purple color that was part of the ritual garments
wore by the kohanim in the Beis Hamikdash. The Jezreel
Happy Sukkot
Argaman 2016 is a big, bold, complex wine with concen-
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finish. It would accompany a tender French roast perfectly.
A traditional dish on Sukkot for many Jews is stuffed
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Real Estate & Business

Black Box Arts Center presents

‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’
The Black Box Performing Arts Center con-
tinues to emerge as a Tri-State area destina-
tion for both cutting-edge professional the-
ater and collaborative arts education in the
heart of Teaneck.
Black Box Studios kicks off its third sea-
son with Dale Wasserman’s “One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” from the novel
by Ken Kesey.
Heralded as “One of the finest, most
meaningful and most moving play of recent
times,” (WPIX TV), “One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest” follows criminal Randle
P. McMurphy to a mental institution as he
hopes to receive a lighter treatment than
he would in prison. While institutionalized,
he clashes with the head nurse Ratched,
befriends the presumed deaf and speech
impaired Chief Bromden, and meets a host
of other “crazy” characters.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” pre-
mieres Thursday, September 20, at 8 p.m.,
with further performances on Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, and
Sunday matinees, through October 7.
Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for stu-
dents and seniors. Tickets can be purchased
online or at the door. Visit www.BlackBox-
PAC.com for more info. Black Box is located
at 200 Walraven Drive in Teaneck. (GPS:
290 Walraven Drive)

Five-star premium Inbal Hotel

Lester Senior Housing Community
plans open house for memory care
and assisted living on October 24
Many older adults wish to maintain their
independence in their home for as long
as possible. However, this often brings
challenges and can be potentially danger-
ous without taking certain precautions or
without help.
Companion services and home health
aides offer important, hands-on assistance
but they don’t provide the 360-degree sup-
portive and active lifestyle that an assisted
living community offers.
Assisted living offers a new lease on
life, with the support needed to maintain
a healthy level of independence. Life is
renewed — free from the responsibilities of
keeping up a home. It also eases the fam-
ily’s worries about their loved ones’ welfare
and well-being on a daily basis, knowing
that there is a wellness team on staff, aides
to help with tasks of daily living, meals in
a beautiful dining room with others, and
plenty to do as desired — all under one roof.
At the Weston Assisted Living Resi-
dence, part of the Lester Senior Housing
Community in Whippany, seniors enjoy
a social circle of peers, new hobbies or
interests to explore, a range of programs
and events, glatt kosher dining, and just
the right amount of daily support they
need in distinctive surroundings. There
is also an intimate Memory Care Suite for
those who require a different level of per-
sonalized care.
Seniors and family members interested
in learning more about the assisted living
or memory care options available at Lester
Senior Housing are invited to an open house
on Wednesday, October 24, from 3 to 5 p.m.
To reserve a spot or arrange a tour, contact
David Rozen at DavidR@jchcorp.org or
(973) 929-2725.
The Lester Senior Housing Community is
located at 903-905 Route 10 East in Whip-
pany on the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish
Community Campus. For more information
On Wednesday, September 26, Adler
about Memory Care at Lester or the assisted
Aphasia Center will celebrate its 15th
and independent living options there, visit
anniversary at its annual gala at Sea-
http://jchcorp.org.
sons in Washington Township from 6
to 9 p.m. This year’s theme, “A Fifteen
in Jerusalem celebrates new wing
and fully renovated public areas
The new wing comprises 51 luxury suites
with wet and dry area bathrooms as well
as private access elevators. Architect
Michal Shwartz excelled in giving the
hotel a modern, refined design while
preserving its unique Jerusalem ethnic
definition. The hotel has also welcomed
chef Moshiko Gamliel and team, accom-
panied by the chief chef of the Inbal,
Nir Elkayim, who will be opening an
authentic modern Israel cuisine restau-
rant overlooking Jerusalem’s breathtak-
ing views.
The Inbal’s general manager, Rony
Timsit, cut the ribbon at the opening
Adler Aphasia Center will mark
its 15th year of helping others
Koury Family of Chatham.
Center founder Elaine Adler will
serve as this year’s honorary gala chair.
Steve Adubato, Emmy Award-winning
anchor, will once again serve as master
event alongside many VIP guests. Hotel
owner Jack Sasson gave an opening toast
at the event.
The hotel was awarded a five-star pre-
mium status by The Israeli Ministry of
Tourism earlier this year. “We look for-
ward to welcoming back our loyal clien-
tele and greeting new faces and inviting
them to come and experience Jerusalem
in a unique and pampering luxury envi-
ronment,” said Timsit. With its newly
renovated health spa, fully equipped
sports facilities, and heated pool, the
Inbal’s guests are set to feel refreshed
and indulged during their visit.

J J
J
Year Journey to Reconnection, Recov- of ceremonies.

immy im
im
ery and Rediscovery,” will showcase The gala will offer a cocktail buffet
the journey that center stroke survivors and open bar, with networking oppor-
with aphasia and their families have tunities for Bergen County. All proceeds
embarked on to build a better quality support the center’s programs and ser-

the Junk Man of life.

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Elaine Adler and family, Myron
Corp., a global enterprise located in
Maywood that manufacturers and
sells promotional items, and Fernando
Garip, regional president of Wilm-
Specialists ington Trust, will share the Mike and 50/50 raffle will be held.
Elaine Adler Humanitarian Award. The
CALL
2018 Karen Tucker Advocacy Award
honorees are Barbara and Steve Kessler
vices for people with aphasia and their
families and the center’s Scholarship the
the
RESIDEN
Fund, established so that no one with
aphasia is turned away from participat-
ing in aphasia WE programming. Cost is
$275 per
• person. A silent auction and
Att
De
For more information about the
W
TODAY
Gala, sponsorship opportunities,
and to place an ad, contact Amy May

201-66•1845-600-5941
201-661-4940 - 4940 201- 6
of Scarsdale, N.Y. And the center’s Shin-
ing Star Award will be presented to the
at (201) 368-8585 or email amay@
adleraphasiacenter.org.
We do not transport solid or hazardous waste
We do not trans

50 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

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