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2 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Jerusalem’s Mayor Lion to feed the cats
● It promises to be the cats’ meow.
But zoologists and urban nature
experts are hissing that a new pro-
gram by the Jerusalem municipal-
ity to feed the city’s thousands of
stray cats will merely exacerbate
the problem.
This new pro-feline measure
comes only weeks after Jerusalem
swore in its new mayor, Moshe Lion.
Jerusalem’s feral cat population
dates back to the 1930s, when the
British Mandate imported
cats to help deal with a
rat problem.
Will Shefita follow Netta?
● Meet Shefita, the latest in a long
line of Israel’s Eurovision Song Con-
test hopefuls.
Shefita, otherwise known as
Rotem Shefi, is the glammed-up
singer sweeping “HaKochav Haba,”
the televised singing competition
based on the Rising Star franchise.
The show’s winner will be posi-
tioned as Israel’s Eurovision hopeful.
Shefita’s approach to perfor-
mance is entirely different from
that of Netta Barzilai, Israel’s 2018
Eurovision winner. She sings covers
to a selection of alternative rock
classics (Nirvana’s “Lithium,” Aero-
smith’s “Pink,” “Karma Police” from
Radiohead, for example) in Hebrew
with an Arabic accent.
But Shefita is 100 percent Jew-
ish, born and raised in the northern
city of Carmiel. Her act is funny,
but not everyone is laughing, be-
cause it feels more than a little bit
inappropriate.
There are viewers berating it all
over social media, comparing it
to blackface. One website, Drove,
JS-3*
The feeding program comes in re-
sponse to a garbage crisis. In many
neighborhoods, the city has re-
placed aboveground garbage bins,
long a feeding center for the cats,
with underground spaces for trash
cans. That leaves the streets cleaner
— but the cats hungrier.
Under the new program, feeding
stations will be set up around the
city in areas where trash cans now
are buried underground, and resi-
dents are wel-
come to add
food and water
to supplement
the supplies
the municipality
will leave.
With a bud-
get of around
$27,000 for the
year, Jerusalem will
supply seven sacks
of dry food per day
for the city’s felines
— an annual total of
2,500 bags of feed.
“When I understood
the magnitude of the
problem and the great
distress caused, I de-
cided to take up the task
immediately,” Mayor Lion
said in the statement.
posted a campaign opposing the
possibility that Shefita might repre-
sent Israel in Eurovision, writing that
“Shefi enjoys and ignores the cultur-
al appropriation. For her, it’s a game,
a way to make cultural capital and a
lot of money, all by means of mock-
ing and imitating an Arab woman.”
The story of Shefi’s performance
began at the Rimon School of Mu-
sic, where she studied singing.
At the time, she performed with
an ensemble that covered the
songs of the English alternative
rock band Radiohead, and some-
Page 3
“The Jerusalem Municipality will
maintain the balance between the
quality of life of the residents and
that of the street cats, through care
rather than neglect. We will soon
put in place organized feeders and
the budget will provide backup for
those who do sacred work with the
animals of the city.”
Haaretz, however, spoke to
experts about the plan, and the
experts were not purring. They said
that the program could lead to an
increase in the number of street
cats, and also could endanger other
wild animals. “When you provide
a constant and continuous food
source, you prevent the system
from regulating the size of the pop-
ulation,” said Amir Balaban, director
for urban nature at the Society for
the Protection of Nature in Israel.
“Feeding is not the solution.”
Prof. Yoram Yom-Tov of the Zool-
ogy Department at Tel Aviv Univer-
sity also criticized the initiative.
“It’s really crazy,” he told Haaretz.
“The density of cats in Jerusalem is
the highest ever recorded anywhere
in the world — about 2,000 cats
per square kilometer. That’s around
1,000 times the density of cats in
the wild. The more cats are fed, the
more cats there will be.”
Yom-Tov also said the increase
times would fool around by sing-
ing “Karma Police,” one of its hits,
with an Arabic accent — but just for
friends, according to several profiles
in the Hebrew press. But then, after
she graduated and was looking for
work, she decided to record her ver-
sion of “Karma Police” profession-
ally as a way of finding an audience.
She set up a Kickstarter cam-
paign with a friend, a cellist named
Leah Sabbat; they collected $1,900
and transformed Shefi into an Arab-
styled diva, complete with horse-
driven carriage and a trio of a cellist,
darbuka drummer, and oud player.
When it was posted to YouTube,
not everyone loved the concept, and
some viewers accused Shefi of ap-
propriating Arab culture. Shefi has
said in interviews that she did not in-
tend any disrespect or undermining.
Shefi is a trained singer, with the
voice, skills, stage presence, and
musical choices of a professional,
a combination that has impressed
the “HaKochav Haba” judges.
JESSICA STEINBERG/TIMES OF ISRAEL
in the number of cats could inflate the
population of other unfavorable animals
and contribute to the spread of disease.
The zoologist said studies have shown
that programs to spay and sterilize
street cats have been proven ineffective,
and limiting the availability of food is the
only way to cull the cat population.
The Jerusalem Municipality responded
to Haaretz, saying: “The feeding sta-
tions will be set up in coordination with
professionals, with public participation
and cleanliness, and prevention of the
creation of nuisances. At the same time,
the veterinary service continues to steril-
ize street cats and make efforts to find
additional money within the budget to
increase that program.” TIMES OF ISRAEL
CONTENTS
NOSHES .........................................................4
BRIEFLY LOCAL ........................................ 18
COVER STORY ...........................................22
JEWISH WORLD .......................................27
OPINION .....................................................40
KEEPING KOSHER................................... 44
DEAR RABBI ZAHAVY........................... 46
ARTS & CULTURE .....................................47
CALENDAR ................................................ 48
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ...............51
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ............................51
OBITUARIES ...............................................53
CLASSIFIED ADS ..................................... 54
REAL ESTATE.............................................56
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ON THE COVER: A father and
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COURTESY LARGER THAN LIFE
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 3
 JS-4*

Noshes
“I don’t go into my home and gardening
store on Sukkot and say hey, do you have
lean-to for God’s camp out? No. I say I
need a succah for Sukkot…”
– Podcast host Mike Pesca of the Gist, talking about the NFL’s
insistence that unless you have paid for the licensing privilege,
ON NETFLIX AND HBO:
you must refer to the upcoming near-holiday ritual as the “big
A doll, a stalker, game.” You cannot use the words Super Bowl. (Whoops!)
and two writers
An original Netflix dark place because of of two famous New of State Colin Powell,
black comedy her father’s death that York City newspa- and, yes, Elvis.
series, “Russian year. (Her father was per columnists, Pete
Doll,” premieres Jewish; her mother Hamill, 76, and the late
on February 1. It has isn’t.) The novel fol- Jimmy Breslin, pre- Another Yiddish
kind of a “Groundhog lows Joe Goldberg, miered last Monday, word in the
Day” premise. It stars a 30ish bookstore January 29, and now is mainstream?
NATASHA LYONNE, manager, who stalks available on demand. “Alta kakas”
39, who co-created the and then dates Beck, “Breslin and Hamill: (politely, “old
series with Amy an attractive and intel- Deadline Artists” fart”), a Yiddish
Poehler. Lyonne plays ligent female college was co-directed by term, recently
Nadia, a 36-year-old student. He quietly journalist JONATHAN burst into the main-
chain-smoking coder gets rid of anything or Natasha Lyonne Caroline Kepnes ALTER, 61. stream when
who is the guest of anyone who interferes As I write this, the MICHAEL DOUGLAS,
honor at a party. Nadia with his obsession documentary has 73, used it when
finds herself going to with Beck. not aired, so I don’t accepting a Golden
this same party over Joe, a good look- know if it will include a Globe award, and
and over again, dying, ing and deceptively biographical footnote when it was used as
being mysteriously charming fellow, is de- about Pete Hamill that the title of a “Law and
revived, and doing it all scribed as being Jew- I often think about Order: SVU” episode.
again the next day. As ish on his father’s side when I hear his name. Now “tucas” seems to
you might imagine, in the novel. Although It’s a small thing, so follow. I was stunned
Nadia has doubts the TV series leaves his I doubt it will be in when I stumbled on a
about her sanity and religious background the HBO film. Hamill “Preparation H” TV ad
she is obsessed with unmentioned. was one of a surpris- about the sheriff of a
trying to figure out Last fall, the 10-epi- ing number of famous town called Tookas.
why she’s in this loop. sode first season of Sera Gamble Jonathan Alter people who was a There were a lot of
Lyonne told the NY “You” aired on Life- shabbos goy when he puns about how “Prep
Post: “We set out to time, which generally born in New York and usual stalking-story was a kid. In 1997, he H” protects his tucas
make an existential is not known for high grew up in Cincinnati characters. When first even wrote a best- the way he protects
adventure show, the quality shows. The and California. She encountered, they selling novel inspired Tookas. I have to
likes of which you series was developed had a Jewish religious remind a viewer of the by that experience. assume that Prep H ad
rarely see a woman in and mostly co-written upbringing. types of characters Called “Snow in Au- men think enough
the lead of.” by Greg Berlanti and Lifetime decided that appear in a charm- gust,” the book follows non-Jews know tucas
“You,” a surprise hit SERA GAMBLE, 35. not to renew the series ing romantic comedy. the friendship of an to get the jokes. You
Netflix series, has an Gamble’s parents, despite good reviews But Joe’s dark side 11-year-old Irish Catho- can watch it on
interesting premise both doctors, left (ratings were so-so). takes that rom-com lic boy — who was a YouTube — enter
and backstory. “You” Poland in 1968 after Netflix, however, opted trope into a wholly un- shabbos goy — and a “Preparation H
began as a 2014 novel an anti-Semitic cam- to rerun the first sea- expected and morbidly refugee Czech rabbi. commercials.” You’ll
of the same name by paign by the Com- son last December, and fascinating place. A It was made into a also see other funny
CAROLINE KEPNES, munist government it found a really big second Netflix season, Showtime movie of the Prep H ads. One has
42, a former Entertain- that drove out most of audience. I understand probably based on the same name in 2001. By the song “Ring of Fire”
ment Weekly writer. the 20,000 Jews who the appeal: the “You” Kepnes’ sequel novel, the way, other famous in the background and
Kepnes said that when chose to return to main characters are “Hidden Bodies,” now shabbos goys include another is about a
she wrote the novel, Poland after the Ho- much more vivid and is being made. the late Governor Ma- town called Kiester.
in 2012, she was in a locaust. Gamble was multilayered than the An HBO biography rio Cuomo, former Sec. –N.B.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

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

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4 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019

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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 5


Local
Sharsheret partners with Moishe House
Talking about cancer risks with twenty-somethings
MIRYAM Z. WAHRMAN PH.D.
O
ne mission of Sharsheret is to support, edu-
cate, and advise young women with cancer
and others at high risk for cancer. The mis-
sion of Moishe House is to help young “post
college, pre-family” Jews organize community activities
promoting Jewish culture, knowledge, and tradition.
The two organizations once again are teaming up to
raise the awareness of young Jewish adults about hered-
itary issues in breast, ovarian, and other types of cancer.
Together, they’re working on “Pink Shabbat” programs
for breast cancer and “Teal Shabbat” programs for ovar-
ian cancer for this month.
Ashkenazi Jews carry mutations of the cancer genes
BRCA1 and BRCA2 at significantly higher levels than the
general population does. Approximately 1 in 40 Ashke-
nazi Jews may carry a variant of BRCA cancer genes asso-
ciated with an elevated lifetime risk of breast and ovarian
cancer. For many years, Sharsheret has offered educa-
tional material and programs to young couples, families,
and Jewish college students. There is one demographic
group that has received less attention — the single post-
college twenty-somethings, some of whom are not for-
mally affiliated with synagogues or other Jewish institu-
tions. Those young Jews may slip through the cracks and
miss out on programs offered in schools and shuls, and
by other mainstream Jewish organizations.
Sharsheret originally was founded to educate and
counsel young women with cancer and their families,
and to raise awareness of the issues that Jewish popula-
tions at high risk for cancer face. The spectrum of medi-
cal choices available now is vast, and more confusing
than ever before. Part of the new landscape of medical
treatment involves genetic screening, which in many
areas of medicine has become a critical part of the medi-
cal workup; knowledge of a person’s genetic risk factors
for cancer can be essential to determining proper treat-
ment for that person. For example, some people with
higher genetic risk may need close surveillance in order
to ensure early detection of cancer. That is why Ashke-
nazi Jews are encouraged to be screened for BRCA muta-
tions so they may learn if they are at an elevated risk for
breast and ovarian cancer.
The Sharsheret team reaches out to organizations in
the Jewish community to connect with as many people
as possible. In this spirit, they have teamed up with
Moishe House, an organization that establishes mini-
communities of young Jews. The goal of this partner-
ship is to raise awareness and educate that popula-
tion on issues in cancer biology that affect the Jewish
population.
Ellen Kleinhaus of Englewood, Sharsheret’s director
of campus and community engagement, explained that
the partnership was initiated in 2010. “We have a mutual
motivation — to educate young adults, safeguard their
health, and save lives,” she said. “Twenty-somethings
are at the point in their lives where they are taking on
responsibility for their own healthcare as they’re living
independently. If we can equip them with resources
they will need, then we’ve done our job.”
6 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-6*
With the advent of online and
direct-to-consumer genetic testing
it is more common for young people
to be interested in genetic testing,
for ancestry as well as health related
information. “If they go for genetic
screening, we encourage young
adults to reach out to Sharsheret
to talk to our genetic counselor,”
Ms. Kleinhaus said. “When they get
results, they can learn what the next
steps are. We do know that we’re
making a difference in their lives.”
On the other side of this partner- Eliza Carney
ship, Moishe House provides funds
to establish and guide young post-
college Jews in community- based
homes. Moishe House residents
develop and run Jewish-themed pro-
grams for their peers.
Moishe House was founded in Cali-
fornia in 2006, by philanthropist Mor-
ris Squire (that’s Moishe) and David
Cygielman, who saw the need to con-
nect young Jewish adults to Jewish
life and community more actively. It
started with one Shabbat dinner, and
as described on its website, it grew David Cygielman
into “a wide variety of peer-led Jewish
programs.” The Moshe House concept was to help sup-
port “a group of young Jewish adults, living together in Pink Shabbat Sharsheret program, Ms. Carney said.
a house, hosting Jewish programming for their friends
and community.”
“The number of Moishe Houses is growing — cur-
rently there are 110 Moishe Houses in 27 countries,”
Mr. Cygielman, the organization CEO as well as its co-
founder, said. “We provide [guidance on] best prac-
tices, a rent subsidy, and a program budget. The young
leaders create programs. About 20 people participate
in each event, and each house schedules about six
events each month.”
Mr. Cygielman reported that the 110 Moishe Houses
ran more than 11,000 programs last year. “They are
young adults, a pre-married population, so we have
quite a few weddings and engagements, and Moishe
babies,” he added.
Moishe House helps set up home-based programs in
communities the world over. There are three Moishe
Houses in Israel (in Be’er Sheva, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem)
and others in London, Madrid, Prague, Buenos Aires,
Kiev, Moscow, Sydney, and Melbourne, as well as in
other cities around the globe.
There are two Moshe Houses in New Jersey, in
Hoboken and Montclair, and six more in Manhattan
and Brooklyn. Each Moishe House, a subsidized home
with two to four residents, runs programs focused on
Jewish holidays, Jewish culture, Jewish learning, and
tikkun olam, and also hosts other social events. In the William Paterson University of New Jersey and the
Hoboken Moishe House, the two women and one man
who live there run programs for young Jews in the
area. The organization pays half the rent and provides
a $400 program budget every month.
Mr. Cygielman, who lives in Char-
lotte, N.C. — that’s where Moishe
House has its east coast office — with
his wife and 2-year-old daughter, said
that the houses have “representation
across the spectrum” with regard
to Jewish observance. “It is peer-
driven,” he said. “The largest group
is culturally Jewish, secular. Because
it is home-based it makes it easier for
people to come and bring friends.”
He reported that a large number of
Moishe House participants went on
Birthright Israel, which supports
educational trips to Israel for tens
of thousands of young Jewish adults
every year. “People want to continue
the Jewish experience after Birth-
right,” he said.
“It’s a great space for people to
come and explore and determine how
Jewish they wish to observe in the
future,” Eliza Carney, Moishe Houses’
marketing director, said. “Each house
determines for themselves the level of
observance. Even the less traditional
will do Shabbat candles and challah,
at Friday night dinners.”
Last year, 20 Moishe Houses participated in the
Sharsheret now is accepting applications for 2019
Pink Shabbat grants from individual Moishe Houses.
“Sharsheret provides program ideas, discussion cards,
screening guides, FAQ sheets, and other resources for
residents planning the programs,” she continued. “The
programs are centered and focused around breast can-
cer and cancer awareness in general.”
“Young adults are working longer and longer before
they settle down and have kids, maybe in their mid-thir-
ties and early forties,” Mr. Cygielman said. Because of
this shift in demographics, the collaboration between
Sharsheret and Moishe House, raising awareness of
cancer risks in post-college young adults, is critical. “To
catch cancer on the early side would be a matter of life
or death,” he said.
“Partnerships are really important for us,” he added.
“We encourage people getting involved in Jewish life
outside Moishe House. Our goal is to build bigger Jewish
life and community.”
For more information about Moishe House, go to
www.moishehouse.org. Sharsheret’s website is www.
sharsheret.org, and the joint programs are showcased
at sharsheret.org/moishe-house/
Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman, the Jewish Standard’s
science correspondent, is a professor of biology at
author of “The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled
World” and “Brave New Judaism: When Science and
Scripture Collide.”
JS-7

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 7


Local
Teaneck activist rabbi
joins AJWS mission to Guatemala
LOIS GOLDRICH
W
hen you want to help
the victims of injus-
tice, it is not enough to
hear about their suffer-
ing secondhand and then decide what
they need, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster of
Teaneck said.
Instead, it’s more effective to speak
directly with people who already are
addressing these problems on the
ground, and to find out what they are
doing and what they need.
“It’s important that the action always
roots back to the partnership with the
persons being affected by injustice,” said
Rabbi Kahn-Troster, the deputy director
of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human
Rights. She’s been with the group since
2007, and recently returned from a trip
to Guatemala. T’ruah includes 2,000
rabbis and cantors “using their moral
voices to speak out against human rights
abuses in the U.S. and Canada, Israel and
the West Bank,” she added.
Rabbi Kahn-Troster was part of a rab-
binic delegation that visited Guatemala
in January as part of the Global Justice
Fellowship run by the American Jewish
World Service. AJWS — which works to
fight poverty and promote human rights
in the developing world — brought 15
rabbis to Guatemala to meet with leaders
of nonprofit groups working to advance
human rights there. Guatemala is one
of the Central American countries that
residents are fleeing, looking for work or
asylum in the United States.
Rabbi Kahn-Troster has been inter-
ested in the work of AJWS for a long
time. She believes that what she learned
from her first trip with the group in
2004 — a visit to El Salvador for rabbini-
cal students — “really had an impact on
what I did as a rabbi.” She applied for the
Global Fellowship after hearing “great
things about the program as an opportu-
nity to see AJWS’s work on the ground. I
wanted to see what they do.” She now is
in the middle of the fellowship program,
which runs from October to March.
In Guatemala, the rabbinic fellows
met with advocates fighting for legal
protections for human rights activists
whose work puts them at risk of vio-
lence, midwives who provide maternal
health support for indigenous women,
and members of an independent jour-
nalism collective led by young Guatema-
lans who work to expose human rights
abuses. The rabbis, who were joined
on the trip by AJWS Global Ambassador
Ruth Messinger, also met with top lead-
ership at the U.S. embassy.
8 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-8*
These five rabbis — from left, Aderet Drucker, Jill Perlman, Rachel Kahn-
Troster, Barbara Penzner, and Jessica Graf — all are AJWS global justice
fellows. 
Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster is
flanked by two Guatemalan citizen
journalists.
“I learned a tremendous amount,”
Rabbi Kahn-Troster said. It was particu-
larly helpful not just to hear about their
efforts, “but to meet the people mak-
ing the change. AWJS grantees in Gua-
temala are extremely inspiring,” she
said, noting that protests were going
on throughout their visit in response
to the government’s expelling a United
Nations-approved team of corruption
investigators.
She also appreciated the diversity of
her colleagues. “There were only two
from the New York City area,” she said.
“It was a nice cross-section, a good geo-
graphic spread.”
The trip, she noted, “wasn’t just
about civil or political rights. We met
with midwives who are holding on
to their cultural rights to work with
women. This is human rights on a dif-
ferent level — advocating for the health
of women. We also met with younger
women working to fight patriarchy in
their traditional societies, for example,
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE HAN PHOTOGRAPHY
From left, global justice fellows
Rabbis Eve Posen, Rachel Kahn-
Troster, and Phillip “Flip” Rice
stand together.
by getting elected. Change happens on
a lot of levels. This was a really compre-
hensive way to see how AJWS is working
to protect human rights.”
In March, the rabbinic fellows will go
to Washington, D.C., to talk to members
of Congress and other government offi-
cials about international human rights
issues. According to an AJWS statement,
“these fellows will play a key role in edu-
cating the public and elected officials
about the importance of U.S. leadership
on the global stage in standing up for
human rights and ending poverty.”
Rabbi Kahn-Troster said that if one
thing surprised her, “It was the way
in which people had hope. There’s a
museum in Guatemala City about the
history of resistance. I’m coming to
understand that pain is a part of heal-
ing. There’s so much pain among peo-
ple whose communities are being dis-
placed. But there’s a sentiment that
change is possible.
“Sometimes insisting on your right
to life is a form of resistance,” she con-
tinued. “It should remind us to keep
the long view of the struggle ahead
even when the immediate future seems
bleak. After all, our ancestors didn’t
cross the Sea of Reeds and immediately
end up in the Promised Land. They
ended up in the desert, with sand and
more struggle.”
She also was struck by the fact that
“as a human rights advocate, I don’t face
the same kind of danger” as the Guate-
malan activists do, but she fears “the
criminalization of activists” even in our
own country. For example, she cited the
accusation during the hearing for now-
Justice Brett Kavanaugh that protestors
against his confirmation were paid for
their dissent. “The targeting of activists
doesn’t start with violence,” she said.
“It’s making people suspicious of those
who make changes.”
Emotions ran high throughout the
Guatemala trip, “hearing so many sto-
ries and seeing so many people,” she
said. “One lawyer we met with talked
about not just taking people’s cases
but being partners in the work. There’s
a dedication to bringing forward the
voices of the people most affected.
There was a painful moment when
one indigenous man talked about his
people being displaced. He cried, and
then he apologized.”
Rabbi Kahn-Troster said she is not
sure what will happen to the refugees
who are turned away from the United
States. “If we want to think about solu-
tions, we must understand the factors
causing them to flee,” she said. “No one
leaves home because they want to.” She
recalled seeing a statue on the way to
Quetzaltenango. “The statue is dedi-
cated to an emigrant, someone who is
leaving. It’s of a man waving goodbye.
It’s heartbreaking.”
She is looking forward to the Wash-
ington visit in March. “We’ll help elected
officials understand the fight against cor-
ruption,” she said. “It’s more powerful to
have met with the people — not just vis-
iting but hearing from the people most
affected.” She also is eager to strengthen
the partnership between T’ruah and
AJWS, stressing the “importance of fight-
ing for democracy at home and abroad.
“Democracy is under attack here and
in other places,” she said. “We have to
speak out against laws that criminalize
activism, and we have to support free-
dom of the press.”
Rabbi Kahn-Troster and her husband,
Paul Pelavin, have two daughters, Leora,
11, and Aliza, 9.
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Local

China and the United States

East Asia specialist to explore complicated relationship at JCC U in Tenafly
JOANNE PALMER

S
o what’s the deal with China?
The relationship between the
United States and China seems
to be changing. What did it used
to be? What is it now? Why is it changing?
And what can we expect?
Dr. Tom Grunfeld will try to answer
these questions at the Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades, although, as he acknowledges,
his understanding of what that relation-
ship used to be, and what changes it is
undergoing now, are clear and evidence-
based. His crystal ball, on the other hand,
is a bit cloudy.
Dr. Grunfeld, a SUNY distinguished teach-
ing professor at the Empire State College of
the State University of New York, specializes
in Eastern Asia studies; last year, he talked
about the United States’ relationship with
North Korea, which was much in the news
then, at the JCC University. (Although that
relationship continues to be fraught, it has
receded a bit, although it is revived as an
issue every few months, and its most recent
return was just about a week ago.)
This year, Dr. Grunfeld will talk about
China.
“I’ll talk about how our relationship Dr. Tom Grunfeld stands in the Panda Reserve in Chengdu, Sichuan Province; sadly, no pandas are visible here.
with China goes through stages,” he said.
“The most recent one was from 1972 to adopted the same policy. That was true for veto anything in the U.N. Vigilance,’ about that disillusionment.”
2016.” Although there had been “subtle every president; there often were different “So except for January to September So what happened? “In 1972, China’s
changes in the relationship” as American reasons, but the policy stayed the same.” 2003, there was no change in American biggest trading partner was Albania,” Dr.
history moved from the presidencies of There was one almost exception that policy toward China.” Grunfeld said. “China was completely iso-
Richard Nixon to Barack Obama, it wasn’t proved the rule, he added. That was Why was that? “There were two factions lated from communist countries and from
until Donald Trump took office that “we George W. Bush’s administration. “In the in Washington, inside the Beltway, on the capitalist countries. Its economy was at
saw a radical change in U.S policy. beginning, the Bush administration was issue of China policy,” Dr. Grunfeld said. the bottom 10 percent of all the world’s
“Until then, the policy was roughly the much more belligerent toward China. But “One supported close relations, welcom- countries. If anything happened in China
same,” Dr. Grunfeld said. “In that period, then they made the decision to invade ing students, engagement in general. Those then, it would not have affected anyone
every presidential candidate accused the Iraq, and the policy changed 160 degrees, were the people who had the influence. The else. Only China.”
sitting president of being soft on China. And and then went right back to the same poli- other side said that China was a threat.” Today, on the other hand, “there is
then as soon as they came into office, they cies as before. They needed China not to Those people, he said, those influenc- hardly a country in the world that is not
ers, are the academics and experts and intertwined with China.” If there were to
Who: Dr. Tom Grunfeld think tank and State Department pro- be some kind of economic collapse there,
fessionals — and they are the same elite, we’d all feel it, he said.
What: Will talk about the relationship between the United States and China
because those institutions are connected Given that, is the White House making
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Avenue, Tenafly by revolving doors. decisions on China based on that under-
When: On Thursday, February 7, at 10:30 a.m. They once believed that China would standing? “My personal opinion is that
Why: For the JCC U become more like the United States, he it is not,” Dr. Grunfeld said. “I think that
said. “The people who supported that there is a struggle in the White House, but
AND ALSO
argued that China would become more for now the hardliners seem to have influ-
Who: Janine DeFeo, a teaching fellow at the Whitney Museum democratic if we allowed students and tour- ence, and as a result they are going with a
What: Wil talk about the Whitney’s new Andy Warhol exhibit, in a talk called ism and trade. But that clearly hasn’t hap- policy of threats and retaliation.
“Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again” pened, and so they are disillusioned.” Their “They are right in the issues they raise —
When: Also on February 7, after lunch, for the second half of that day’s JCC U disillusionment has not led them to join the cybersecurity, intellectual property theft,
other group, the China-is-a-threat side, but the trade balance. Nobody disagrees that
How much: The whole day, from 10:30 to 2, costs $35 for JCC members and
$42 for non-members; there is a break for lunch, and students are invited to buy “they are no longer promoting the policy they are problems. The question is how to
or bring food. that they promoted for the last 40 years.” solve those problems.”
In fact, he added, “they wrote a 200-page Since 1972, China has changed in many
For more information or to register: Call (201) 408-1454 or go to www.jccotp.
report, called ‘Chinese Influence and Amer- ways, Dr. Grunfeld said; it’s become both
org and follow the links to the JCC U.
ican Interests: Promoting Constructive SEE CHINA PAGE 29

10 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019

JS-11

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 11


Local
From Tehran to the Torah
William Mehrvarz tells his story of apostasy and conversion in Clifton
JOANNE PALMER
I
t is safe to say that most of us
can look back at our lives with
some surprise at the turns
they’ve taken. It’s likely that
few of us have followed exactly in the
paths that we laid out for ourselves
when we were kids, much less the
paths that our parents fantasized for
us when we were infants, all fuzzy
and cute and entirely undefined.
But it also is safe to say that few of
us, at 26, could have found ourselves
as far from our expected places as
William Mehrvarz, a slightly-older-
than-typical Yeshiva University
undergraduate. He started out not as
William but Reza, born to an upper
middle class family in Tehran, Iran.
To the Jewish world, he’s a nice
Jewish boy. To the Muslim world, he’s
an apostate.
How did that happen?
Mr. Mehrvarz will tell his story at
the Clifton Jewish Center next Sun-
day. (See box.) But before that, he
tells some of it here.
He was born on October 18, 1992
— that was the 21 of Tishrei, 5753, he
said, and it also was Shmini Atzeret,
a fact that gives him joy. He was born
premature, his parents’ first child This May, William Mehrvarz walked with the Manhattan Jewish Experience at the
to survive childbirth, and his par- Celebrate Israel parade on Fifth Avenue.
ents treated him with the care that
a much-longed-for child can evoke and also can grow
to resent. Both of his parents trained as attorneys; his
mother became an elementary school teacher but his
father practices law. “He is a successful lawyer, and he
is a hero of mine,” William said. “He is a veteran of the
Iran-Iraq war; he lost a leg and most of his arm. He’s
been on crutches all of my life and most of his. He went
through law school like that, and he fought his way
through and built a career. I really admire that, and I
really admire him.”
The family was religiously observant. “You could call
them the equivalent of Conservadox, or maybe modern
Orthodox,” he said.
When he was 13, William went to summer camp,
“and like many others, I recall reading from the Torah
for the first time then. But in my case I was not leyn-
ing from a great sefer Torah for my bar mitzvah. I was
flipping through the pages of a Farsi-language Bible that
an Armenian Christian friend at camp was showing me.
I was perusing the Five Books of Moses, starting with
Genesis.
“This was explicitly forbidden to me because I was
born a Muslim.
“And it was love at first read.”
Part of William’s excitement was the chance to read
a religious text in Farsi. The Koran generally isn’t trans- rvarz said. He felt both an intellectual and an emotional ran and went to college, where he studied French and
lated out of its original Arabic; the most help readers
get is when the vernacular is interleaved underneath
12 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-12*
the original. “It was very moving to me that I was con-
necting to a holy book in my own language,” he said.
And he was fascinated by the stories, because they were
both familiar and strange; Islam uses many of Judaism’s
To the Jewish
world, he’s a nice
Jewish boy. To the
Muslim world, he’s
an apostate.
foundational stories, but changes them to reflect its own last year; he moved to Kish, an island in southern Iran.
theology and history. That was why, he said, he was not
attracted to Christianity, which was almost entirely
foreign to him. It was the tension between the known
and the unknown that he found in Judaism that first
attracted him.
“I never felt connected to Islam, but I was attracted high school in Kish.
to this new thing and I wanted to study it,” Mr. Meh-
pull toward it. “But when I brought the idea home to
my father, he was upset. That’s probably because Iran is
a theocracy, and he didn’t want
me to explore it because it was
dangerous. The punishment for
apostacy is execution.”
Does that really happen?
“The Iranian government has
no problem with killing infi-
dels,” he said. It’s not immedi-
ate, and it’s not inevitable; the
apostate is given some time,
maybe six months, to repent
and return. “But that means
that you have to live a life full of
lies.”
A s fo r exe c u t i o n s , M r.
Mehrvarz remembers passing
by a body hanging on a con-
struction girder. He was a little
boy then; his mother tried to
shield him from seeing it, but he
saw it anyway, and it haunts him
still. “The Iranian government
doesn’t let women into stadi-
ums to watch soccer games, but
it does let him in to see public
executions,” he said.
So he kept his interest in Juda-
ism to himself. He didn’t tell his
parents about it — but he was
a normal teenager, and “why
would I talk to my parents about
it anyway?” he asked.
“But I continued to study
Judaism in private. Sometimes
I would talk to my cousins or
my classmates about it, though. And eventually I also
became interested in history, and I learned about the
Holocaust.”
Because he mistakenly believed that Auschwitz was in
Germany, he tried to go to Germany for high school. “My
father didn’t want me to go,” he said. “He didn’t want to
lose me physically, and we already were on precarious
ground emotionally, so he made certain that I wouldn’t
get in.”
That meant that he was in Iran in 2009, during the
Green Revolution, when popular protests against what
was seen as a corrupt presidential election ended in
death and despair. “I witnessed the Green Revolution
and its failure with my own eyes,” he said. “I cried from
tear gas. I heard gunshots, and I saw people getting shot.
It was traumatic.”
As a direct result, he dropped out of high school in his
“I told my parents I needed some space,” he said. They
did not abandon him, and he did not live as a hermit;
they visited frequently. “And they found me a job,” he
said. He’d taken some maritime courses, and was certi-
fied to work on ships. That’s what he did. He finished
Then he moved back to his parents’ house in Teh-
linguistics.
He became involved in an international organization

called AIESEC, a Montreal-based youth movement with
a French acronym that “provides an international plat-
form for young people to explore and develop their
leadership skills. It sends us on international exchanges
and summer leadership courses.” Those connections
helped him later.
“I also did something that some millennials did,”
Mr. Mehrvarz said. “I was very young, and it was very
stupid.
“I got married.”
He and his, wife, like him a 22-year-old undergrad-
uate, met online. “Not on a dating app,” he said. “On
Facebook.” She also “had a secret,” he said. She came
from a very conservative Muslim family “and she didn’t
really believe any of it, but she had to do it.
“So because we both had a situation, we decided
we should get married. We didn’t really think things
through. We just did it.”
The pair married. Both their families were happy at
their children’s apparently conventional choices. Their
parents helped support them, and he also did some
part-time work as the Iranian equivalent of an Uber
driver. “But we ran into multiple problems,” Mr. Meh-
rvarz said. “We were both hiding so many things, not
only from our parents but also from our relatives. Some
of our friends knew, but I would always have to hide my
Judaica — my menorah, my Shabbat candles. We were
very overwhelmed.
“We thought that we could take our relationship to a
different level. We decided to have a baby.” His wife got
pregnant, and then, after three months, she had a mis-
carriage. The marriage also died.
It all exploded on the night before William’s wife’s
sister’s wedding. The pair, who had decided to divorce
but had not agreed on the timing, was staying with her
parents, when they began to argue. They got louder and
louder, until her mother, who until then had no idea
that they were anything other than a happily married
couple, heard them screaming about divorce. “So her
mom was trying to calm her down, and she was yell-
ing and shouting. I never expected her to say what she
said — it was her key to getting divorced, and I didn’t
think she thought it through — but she said ‘He’s not
even Muslim.’”
Completely total betrayal.
He’d posted cryptic things on social media that made
sense now that they knew of his apostasy, and his sister-
in-law had followed him, so soon everything made sense
to his wife’s family.
“Her sister said ‘You are a filthy Jew,’ and I felt a little
bit of release because finally someone is seeing me as
a Jew,” William said. “But I realized immediately after-
ward what that meant for me.”
Of course, he was not yet a Jew, but he didn’t really
know it then, William said. It is far easier to become a
Muslim than it is to become a Jew, and those were the
rules that he knew then. He wasn’t then entirely clear
about what he was.
“They took my phone and they took my bag and they
locked the door of the apartment and they threatened
to call the police and my parents.” His parents, who until
then had thought “that I was a happy Muslim guy mar-
ried to a happy Muslim girl.”
His in-laws did call his parents. “It was around dawn.
And when they opened the door to my parents, I
grabbed my phone and my bag and I pushed everyone
away and ran through the door and I ran through the
street and I ran for my car. I didn’t know where I was
going but I knew that I had to leave.
“I drove as fast as I could back to my apartment. It was
JS-13*
He spoke to meeting of the World Jewish Congress.
a 45-minute drive but I did it in 25 minutes. There was
no traffic. It was right after I had visited Auschwitz” — he
got there with an AIESEC trip — “and I had read those
stories where people had very limited time and space to
pack. The first thing I packed was all my warm clothes.
I filled the whole suitcasae. And then I realized that I
am not leaving to have warm clothes but because of my
values. Because my Jewishness had been threatened.
Because my identity had been threatened.
“So I took my Judaica — my books, the menorah — and
my passport and birth certificate — and then I filled the
rest of the space with warm clothes.
“My documents were in the safe, and when I went to
get my stuff there I saw that our savings and her docu-
ments were gone, and I realized that she really wanted
to end this. She had planned that part of it out. She did
not want to go back to that house ever again.
“And I do not blame her. I don’t hold any grudges
against her.
“Then I drove to the bus station, and thanks to AIE-
SEC, which had introduced me to lots and lots of young
people around the world, I went to Armenia, and then
I went to Georgia, and then back to Armenia, and then,
on November 9, 2016, I went to New York.
“I landed right after the presidential election. It was
very stressful, because I was afraid that I would be sent
right back.
“I had only $200 with me when I moved to the United
States.” But the friends he’d made helped him; in fact, it
was a friend who bought his airplane ticket.
Now, Mr. Mehrvarz lives in New York. His English is
flawless and nearly accent-less. His name is now Wil-
liam, for a whole set of interconnected reasons. His
father’s father, an interesting man with an interesting
past, whom he adores, speaks English, and sometimes
would call his grandson William, after Shakespeare, in
honor of young Reza’s facility with the language.
“My Hebrew name is Liam Avraham,” he said. “Liam
as a name comes from the book of Isaiah, where it says
Local
‘lo yilmadu oh milchama.’” The words means “not learn
war anymore,” and Liam is made of the first letters of
those four words.
“I resonated with that,” Liam Avraham said. “And I
also like that my story is connected with Abraham, who
also had to leave home.” And of course Liam is the sec-
ond half of William.”
Once he got to the United States, Mr. Mehrvarz real-
ized that he was not Jewish, that longing for something
does not make it so. But he remedied that. “I’m a dou-
ble dip,” he said. His first conversion was Conservative,
through the Town and Village Synagogue in Manhattan;
now he is working toward an Orthodox one.
He feels deep connections toward both movements,
and is not ready to choose one over the other. He revels
in the opportunity YU afford him to study Torah all day.
And also “I am a feminist,” he said. “I love the fact that
I have a congregation that is egalitarian.” So for now he
lives happily in those overlapping worlds.
He is applying for asylum in the United States; it’s a
long process, and it won’t be over until it’s over, but he
feels some degree of cautious optimism. He needs docu-
mentation of the claim that he will face certain danger if
he returns to Iran, but as an apostate Muslim-turned-Jew
that documentation is easy to provide. He’s happy here.
“As an asylum seeker, I am allowed to work, I pay taxes,
I have a driver’s license,” he said. “I’m here legally.”
He has plans. “I have a very common aspiration
among Jews,” he said. “I want to be a lawyer. I will grad-
uate with a bachelor’s degree in political science, and I
want to apply to law school.”
He’s also a public speaker, and he writes about his
beliefs both on his website, www.williammehrvarz.com,
and on his public Facebook page, called “From Tehran
to the Torah.” He is clear about his love for Judaism,
and the way that he thinks God guided him toward it,
making it more and more obvious that the Jewish world
always was meant to be his home. He is also clear about
his complicated feelings about Iran and Islam, and his
discomfort with having his very personal story recast as
an anti-Islamic cautionary tale. It’s far more complicated
than that, he writes.
He is passionate about human rights, about how hard
it is to leave home, about how important it is to help
people who have to leave home in order to be able to
live. He is passionate about how helping asylum seekers
find safety and hope is necessary if you are to live by
either Jewish or American values.
He also is clear about his love for his parents, and his
admiration for them, and he is clear-eyed about how his
choices hurt his family. In fact, it is hard to talk to Wil-
liam Mehrvarz while always remembering that he is only
26. He seems to have lived many more lives than can be
stuffed into such a short time. It’s astonishing to think
about how much more he will do.
Who: William Mehrvarz
What: Will talk about his life, and the fight for hu-
man rights
Where: At the Clifton Jewish Center, 18 Delaware
Street
When: On Sunday, February 10, at 10 a.m.
How much: It’s free if you register before February
6, and after that it’s $10. Donations are welcome
Registration: Is necessary for security. Call (973)
772-3131 or (973) 449-9117.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 13

Local
‘Alexa, play zimiros’
Rabbi to explore the boundaries of Shabbat in AI in Teaneck
LARRY YUDELSON
“Alexa, can I use you on Shabbat?” The
journalist spoke into a small glass-and-
metal device he held in his hand, which
connected him to a distant supercomputer
in a place known only as “the Cloud.”
It was not an unreasonable question to
ask in the 21st century. Science and tech-
nology march on, and halacha — Jewish
law — has to keep up. Talking into an invis-
ible microphone wasn’t really the same
thing as dialing a telephone dial and con-
necting a circuit across town — or was it?
It was, however, unreasonable to ask it
of Alexa. In the year 2019, Alexa couldn’t
provide a sensible answer to the ques-
tion. For all that the previous paragraphs
read like a short story by Isaac Asimov, or
some other 20th-century science fiction
writer, Amazon’s voice-controlled com-
puter program hasn’t reached Star Trek
levels of intelligence yet.
“Hmmm. I don’t know that one,” was
all Alexa was able to offer.
(Asked the less abstract question of
“What time is Shabbat,” Alexa provided
an excerpt from Wikipedia: “Shabbat
is observed from a few minutes before
sunset on Friday evening until the
appearance of three stars in the sky on
Saturday night.”)
Truth be told, though, you don’t have
to be a machine not to know the answer
to that once science fictional, now emi-
nently practical halachic question. It’s
still an open question.
“We’re at a crossroads at this point
in terms of halachic history,” is how
Rabbi Yehuda Susman puts it. Rabbi
Susman grew up in Teaneck and now
heads Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi in Jerusa-
lem. On Sunday morning, he will speak
at Teaneck’s Congregation Rinat Yisrael.
His topic: “Alexa, Can I Use You On Shab-
bat? Thoughts on Shabbat in the Age of
Artificial Intelligence.”
“The same way decisions made 130
years ago or so determined the way peo-
ple would treat electricity for more than a
century, decisions made in the next cou-
ple of decades will inform the way people
view artificial intelligence and advancing
technology,” Rabbi Susman said.
In addition to artificial intelligence, the
questions of lab-grown meat and new
medical advances are creating a conflu-
ence of halachic responses to technol-
ogy “that are going to dwarf the type of
issues that were dealt with 50 years ago,”
he added
Rabbi Susman is an expert on those old
20th-century questions. In addition to
14 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-14*
rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva Univer-
sity and the Israeli rabbinate, Rabbi Sus-
man has a master’s degree from Bar Ilan
University in the legal methodology of
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the premiere hal-
achic decisor of 20th-century America.
As for the 21th-century questions,
Rabbi Susman first encountered the
Alexa conundrum a few years ago in a
rabbinic chat group.
“It was when Alexa was something
pretty new and exotic,” he said. “Some-
one at their Shabbat table was explaining
how ‘With Alexa, I can say play Carlebach’
and suddenly Carlebach came pouring
out of the speaker,” having mistaken the
description for a direct command.
This sparked a lively back and forth on
the chat group — and it piqued Rabbi Sus-
man’s interest.
We’re probably
not too far
away from
when people
are going to
have chips
inserted in and
you will be
directly wired
into a network.
On Shabbat, can you interact with
Alexa — or with a smart home — or with
a real artificial intelligence? Must you
actively avoid the machine ghost in the
home on Shabbat?
“It’s an issue that’s only going to
grow in intensity in the next few years,
whether it’s a question of speaking to the
machine, in terms of the network being
aware and cognizant of what your likes
and dislikes are, what your expectations
when you walk into a room are,” he said.
“We’re probably not too far away from
when people are going to have chips
inserted in and you will be directly wired
into a network. There are issues that
have to be addressed.”
“Theoretically, you can run away from
it, say it’s all asur” — forbidden. “Not nec-
essarily become a Luddite, but discon-
nect from certain aspects of technology.
Today it’s not that hard not to have an
Alexa in the house if you don’t want one.
Rabbi Yehuda Susman
It’s not something I’ve seen the need for
in my personal life. But maybe the first
time I’ll get it I won’t understand how I
managed without it, any more than I can
imagine life before smartphones.”
The discussion has begun. “There
have been articles written about it in
Israel. The Zomet Institute in Jerusalem is
very involved in trying to deal with these
technological advances,” he said. “So
far, it’s been looked at piecemeal. Ask-
ing if different devices, different gadgets,
are a problem in terms of electricity on
Shabbat. They’re dealing with the techni-
cal halachot — which are obviously very
important — but without taking a look at
the larger framework.”
Rabbi Susman wants to take a “holistic
perspective.
“People have to be asking, what is the
nature of Shabbat? How does Shabbat
adapt — or does it need to adapt — to a
culture where machine intelligence is
commonplace? Does Shabbat need to
adapt to a society where there’s more
and more leisure time at people’s dis-
posal? Should we be looking at the dif-
ferent devices only under the magnifying
glass of what is permitted and prohib-
ited in a very narrow technical sense, or
should we be looking at what is beneficial
for fostering an atmosphere of what we
want Shabbat to be?”
Answers to these questions can come
from two directions — top-down, through
rabbinic leadership and education, and
“also grassroots in terms of what a com-
munity’s sense is.”
Of course, the group of people who
look to halacha to guide their Shabbat
activities comprise more than one com-
munity. “There are multiple communi-
ties,” Rabbi Susman said. “There might
be different branches of Orthodox around
Amazon Alexa-powered, voice-
activated Echo device
this question. Today, some people might
not eat in other people’s homes because
of practices like only drinking chalav yis-
rael,” milk that is supervised by a Jew
from the time it left the cow. (One of Rabbi
Feinstein’s most notable halachic rulings
was his decision that in America, govern-
ment regulation that prohibited the adul-
teration of cow milk meant that the for-
mal supervision of chalav yisrael was not
required. In contrast, his contemporary,
the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Men-
del Schneerson, required the traditional
supervision.)
With different kitchen standards, “it’s
relatively easy to sidestep that and attain
communal unity,” Rabbi Susman said. “If
it’s a question of people not being will-
ing to walk into other people’s homes on
Shabbat because they don’t think their
smart home is acceptable on Shabbat —
that’s something that could create seri-
ous rifts in the community, and that’s a
serious danger.”
Who: Rabbi Yehuda Susman
What: “Alexa, Can I Use You on
Shabbat?” a talk on Shabbat in the
age of artificial intelligence
When: 8:45 a.m., Sunday, February 3
Where: Congregation Rinat Yisrael,
389 West Englewood Ave., Teaneck

UPCOMING AT KAPLEN
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TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
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Award and Gerard Schwarz, Distinguished Artist Award.
Sun, Feb 10, 4 pm, Bergen County Academies
Auditorium, Hackensack
jccotp.org/gom
JCC U Winter Term—Keep Learning
On Feb 7 in the morning Professor Tom Grunfeld
will present US/China Relations and in the afternoon
Whitney Teaching fellow Janine Defeo will talk about
the exhibit Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again.
On Feb 21 the morning talk is The Drama of Celebrity
with Professor Sharon Marcus and the afternoon is
The Challenges of Grandparenting with author Jane Isay.
Thur, Feb 7, 10:30 am-2 pm, $35/$42
Visit jccotp.org/JCCU
SUN, FEB 3, 1-3 PM
FREE AND OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY
FILM
Movie Screening: Stateless PA
Join us for a special screening of the
acclaimed documentary film, Stateless,
about the emigration of Soviet Jews during
the late 1980’s. The evening includes a
personal introduction and Q&A by the
movie’s director and producer, Michael Drob,
recipient of the prestigious COJECO BluePrint
Fellowship. Program is appropriate for both
Russian and English speakers.
Sat, Feb 2, 7:30-9:30 pm, $10/$12
This program is supported by The Jewish Education
Project, with generous funding by Genesis
Philanthropy Group, and is presented in coordination
with COJECO.
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JS-15
JCC on the Palisades
PA
Family Fun Day
Enjoy fun activities in sports, dance, drama, art,
science and technology. Plus face painting, balloon
making & moon bounce! Meet camp directors and
specialists, find out about our incredible Neil Klatskin
Summer Camps for 3-14 years olds, get entered to
win 1 week of camp free just for joining us, and SAVE
BIG when you sign-up at the event!
• $50 off/week Neil Klatskin Day or Specialty Camps*!
• Returning campers save an extra $50/week off
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• Join the J as an annual member & receive $200
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• NEW! All our camps are now open to the
community! Ask about our Public rate!
Sun, Feb 3, 1-3 pm, Free and open to the community
*Offers valid Feb 3 only. Restrictions apply, call for details.
ADULTS MOMS
New! Pickleball at the J Movin’ Momas, Winter Session
WITH STAVRI TENNIS ACADEMY WITH ADEENA CSILLAG
Learn how to play the fastest growing Join us for a 45-minute fun and challenging indoor
sport for adults — Pickleball — a game workout filled with cardio, strength training and core
that combines elements of badminton, work — while your baby is by your side in the stroller.
tennis, and table tennis, played with a Meet new moms too!
wiffle-like ball. 10 Mondays, Feb 4-Apr 8, 10:45-11:30 am, Free to
FREE Pickleball Open House: members/Public $15 per class
Mon, Feb 4, 10-11:15 am or
11:30 am-12:45 pm, gymnasium
For more info and class listings, TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO
visit jccotp.org/pickleball VISIT jccotp.org
STAY IN THE KNOW! LIKE US ON
PA Program offered as part of the JCC Patron of the Arts
Program. Find out more at jccotp.org/patrons.
facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 15

Local
Bimbo backs down
Despite trend toward consolidation, kosher consumer power prevailed — this time
LARRY YUDELSON
The calls and letters worked.
The Orthodox Union reports that in
the near future, Arnold brand ham-
burger and hot dog buns again will be
pareve, and bear the appropriate label.
Last year, Bimbo Bakeries, which is based
in Mexico but dominates the U.S. bread
market and owns Arnold and several
other brands that were under kashrut
supervision for a long time, announced
changes to its recipes that would have
rendered the products dairy. Generally,
dairy bread is not certified as kosher,
since a dairy hamburger bun combined
with a meat hamburger is a kashrut disas-
ter just waiting to happen.
“They’re looking to accommodate our
community,” Rabbi Menachem Genack of
Englewood said. Rabbi Genack is the CEO
of OU Kosher that, along with Teaneck-
based Kof-K Kosher Services, certified
many of Bimbo Bakeries products.
Restoring certification was a priority for
Rabbi Genack. “It’s especially important
When the paramedic saved the commander
New Jersey FIDF program will highlight the story of two soldiers
LOIS GOLDRICH
Howard Gases, the New Jersey/Tri-State
Director of Friends of the IDF, has a
ready answer when people ask him why
they should support his organization.
“I feel very strongly about it,” he said.
“Without a strong IDF, we can’t have a
strong Israel. I also question whether
we could have a strong Jewish commu-
nity here,” he added, noting that Israel’s
fighting force “also cares about Ameri-
can Jews and Jewry around the world.”
This, he said, is something to take seri-
ously at a time when we see “an uptick in
anti-Semitism.
“In the past,” he said, “we lived with
more fear. Now we have the IDF as our
protectors. If something happens here,
we have Israel, and the IDF protects
Israel.” He suggested that if people want
to help those soldiers, working through
his organization “is the best means of
doing so. We talk to the IDF and hear
what their needs are.”
Ms. Gases and Aliyah Azarvar, FIDF’s
tri-state marketing coordinator, talked
16 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-16*
Rabbi Menachem Genack Matt Stoller
for consumers outside areas where there
are kosher bakeries,” he said.
In a statement, Bimbo said that ““After
hearing from our loyal kosher consum-
ers and after productive meetings with
our kosher certifiers, Bimbo Bakeries
USA is pleased to announce that we will
once again be offering kosher products
under the Arnold, Sara Lee and Ball Park
brands.”
But none of this would have been a
problem in the first place, Matt Stoller
In July 2018, Staff Sgt. Hilla (left) saved the life of Maj. Yehuda (right) after he
was struck in the chest by shrapnel during conflicts along the Gaza border.
about their organization and the New
Jersey chapter’s upcoming program,
set for February 7. There, an Israel
Defense Forces active-duty paramedic
Louis Brandeis
said, if America hadn’t stopped listening
to Louis Brandeis.
Mr. Stoller is a fellow at the Open Mar-
kets Institute, which works “to expose
and reverse the stranglehold that cor-
porate monopolies have on our coun-
try.” He also is writing a book for Simon
and Schuster about the rise and fall of
antitrust law in the 20th century.
Louis Brandeis is best known today
for becoming the first Jewish Supreme
Court justice and a Zionist leader, but
COURTESY IDF
and her commander, whose life she
saved, will discuss their story at a pri-
vate home in Cresskill.
According to a statement from the
from when he began as a young attor-
ney in the 1890s, he fought monopolies
and corporate power. “He updated our
anti-monopoly traditions for the indus-
trial age,” Mr. Stoller said.
That was part of the rise of antitrust
law. The decline came in the 1970s,
when American monopoly law “all fell
apart,” Mr. Stoller said.
To Mr. Brandeis and his fellow anti-
monopoly reformers, the concentra-
tion of economic power was inherently
dangerous. As a result, the law regulates
companies’ ability to buy other compa-
nies. In recent decades, however, anti-
trust enforcement has been weakened
by the courts and regulators.
Courts have insisted that the only
valid purpose of anti-monopoly laws is
to keep consumer prices low. And gov-
ernment officials, led by William Bax-
ter, who led the antitrust division of
the department of Justice under Presi-
dent Ronald Reagan, decided to ignore
Supreme Court precedent and stop pre-
venting mergers.
FIDF’s New Jersey office, the program
“will provide FIDF supporters with a
first-hand look into the lives of two sol-
diers who risk their lives protecting the
Jewish homeland. Staff Sgt. Hilla, who
began her military service in 2016 and
joined a special paramedics course,
last year saved the life of Maj. Yehuda
after he was hit in the chest by shrap-
nel and couldn’t breathe. Yehuda’s life-
threatening injury occurred while both
soldiers were serving along the Gaza
border during a period of heightened
tension and protests.” (IDF soldiers on
active duty go by only their first names
when they do promotional work.)
Soldiers, Mr. Gases said, “are the
best spokespeople. They talk from the
heart. All the stories are from mod-
ern-day heroes.” Ms. Azarvar added
that while the February 7 program
is meant to raise funds, it also will
showcase “two incredible stories. We
want both to raise money and to build
lasting bonds between the American
Jewish community and the Israeli
community.”
 JS-17

Local

The result has been decades of consolidation. It

was this Reagan-era shift that allowed Facebook to
buy up social media rivals including Instagram and
WhatsApp.
In 2011, Bimbo Bakeries bought its number 3 rival,
Sara Lee Bakeries, and consolidated its offerings —
its holdings include Arnold, Freihoffer’s, Sara Lee,
and Entenmann’s. Bimbo had planned to stop baking
pareve bread on many of its lines as a result of that
consolidation.
When Bimbo bought Sara Lee’s bakery business in
2011, regulators did force it to sell some of its assets.

PASSOVER 2019
But what is the cost to the consumer of all these
mergers ?
Advocates say that efficiencies keep costs down.
Mr. Stoller, however, says that mergers lead to
decreased wages for workers and fewer choices for
consumers. “Even if you accept that a large bakery
conglomerate is more efficient at baking bread, it’s
only because they’re not baking kosher bread,” he
said, before Bimbo announced that some lines would
again be kosher, though fewer than before. “What do
you mean by efficiency?
“You can map this out to the general economy.
There’s increasingly poor selection. It’s true for
African Americans and hair products. You get new
entrants that come into the market, specializing in
hair products for African Americans. Procter and
Gamble bought one of those companies. Eventually
they shut them down because the person who runs
it doesn’t have political juice inside Procter and Gam-
ble. You see this in a lot of different subgroups.”
SEE BIMBO PAGE 31
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• Scholar in residence Rabbi Shai Finkelstein, Baka, Jerusalem
• International Kosher Mehadrin (IK) Glatt Kosher Supervision
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• Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach • AAA 4-Diamond Resort
• All Rooms Have Private Balconies
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• Exceptional Cuisine by Foremost Caterers
• ORB Glatt Kosher Supervision

According to its website, the FIDF is “a non-

political, non-military organization that provides
for [the] well-being of the soldiers of the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF), veterans, and family mem-
bers…. FIDF is committed to providing these sol-
diers with love, support, and care to ease the bur-
den they carry on behalf of the Jewish community
worldwide.” The nonprofit organization, with 20
regional offices, was established by a group of
Holocaust survivors in 1981.
On its site, the New Jersey office says that three
lone soldiers met in 1970, when they were in the
IDF. Reuniting after their return to the United States,
“they decided they wanted to provide for other Lone
Soldiers. That commitment was realized in 2004
when they founded the chapter…. Today we are
approximately 25,000 strong.”
In addition to its commitment to lone soldiers, the
New Jersey chapter supports the Legacy B’nai Mitz-
vah program, through which bar and bat mitzvah- RYE BROOK, NEW YORK
age children support IDF soldiers with their tzedakah
programs, and helps fund the Goodman Market-
place, centrally located at the IDF’s training center.
According to the NJ FIDF website, the marketplace
“allows the soldiers to take a break from their mili-
tary activities, catch up with their friends, and enjoy
a snack.” The chapter also holds annual galas to raise
funds for its activities.
FLORENCE, ITALY Four Seasons Florence
• Entire La Villa building Kosher for Pesach • Luxury 5-star Resort
• Hotel set amidst a 350,000 sq.m. Botanical Gardens
• Gourmet cuisine by Michelen rated Four Seasons chefs
• Professional Day Camp
• Scholar-in-Residence: Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau,
Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv
• Glatt Kosher Supervision by Rabbi G.M. Garelik
FIUGGI (ROME), ITALY
Grand Hotel Palazzo Della Fonte
• Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach
• Haute Gourmet Italian Cuisine
• Beautiful Spa, Indoor & Outdoor Pools
• Free Daily Shuttle to Rome • Optional Amazing Day Trips
• Professional Day Camp
• Scholar-In-Residence: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
• Glatt Kosher Supervision by Rabbi G.M. Garelik of Milan
Hilton Westchester
• Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach
• Only 30 Minutes from New York City
• Hotel Beautifully Renovated
• Spectacular Lineup of Scholars-in-Residence
• Fantastic Entertainment & Daily Activities • Professional Day Camp
• Exceptional Gourmet Cuisine by Prestige Caterers
• ORB Glatt Kosher Supervision

LEISURE TIME TOURS

“We do a lot of wonderful things for lone soldiers,”
Mr. Gases said, pointing to a recent event in Israel. OUR
Working with Nefesh b’Nefesh, FIDF organized a 61ST
YEAR
fair/forum for 1,600 lone soldiers “where they could
come and take care of all their administrative needs.” www.leisuretimetours.com 718-528-0700 info@leisurett.com
SEE IDF PAGE 31
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 17
 JS-18*

Briefly Local

Dr. Robert and Shari Alter of Penina and Dr. Bin Goldman of
Englewood Passaic

Jewish Standard editor

among JNF honorees
The Jewish National Fund held its 51st annual Teaneck Reception with din-
ner and dessert last month at the Jewish Center of Teaneck. Jewish Standard
editor Joanne Palmer, center, the Community Service award recipient, stands
between Helen Levine, left, who is one of the dinner’s founders, and State
Senator Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck, who presented Ms. Palmer with a special
state proclamation. Sandee Brawarsky and Barry Lichtenberg of Congregation Ayelet and Rabbi Michael Rachel Schulman A”H
Rinat Yisrael and Nechama and Isaac Student of the Jewish Center of Teaneck Hoenig of Fair Lawn
— all from Teaneck — were the Circle of Excellence awardees. Rabbi Yehoshua
Fass, the co-founder of Nefesh B’Nefesh, was the guest speaker, and Michael
“Buzzy” Green was the event chair.
Sinai Schools annual
dinner benefit is February 24
Sinai Schools will hold its annual ben-
efit dinner on Sunday, February 24,
at the Marriott Glenpointe Hotel in
Teaneck. This year’s honorees are Dr.
Robert and Shari Alter, Dr. Bin and
Penina Goldman, and Rabbi Michael
and Ayelet Hoenig. Cross River will
accept Sinai’s Community Partnership
award, and Sinai will present a special
tribute in memory of its beloved asso-
ciate director, Rachel Schulman, a”h,
and dedicate the Rachel Schulman
Memorial Fund.
Sinai has run seven inclusive special
education schools across New York
and New Jersey for more than three
decades, working with children who
have a wide range of developmental,
Rabbi Yosef Orenstein, the director of Valley Chabad’s Teen Leadership Initia- intellectual, and complex learning
tive, holding check, center, with Rabbi Dov Drizin, Valley Chabad’s executive disabilities. Sinai is recognized for
director, to his right, at a Friendship Circle program. COURTESY VALLEY CHABAD its excellence in special education,
providing highly individualized pro-
gramming and extensive therapies to
meet each child’s individual needs, all
in the context of a Jewish education.
The costs Sinai takes on each time it
accepts a new student are extraordi-
narily high.
Sinai’s annual benefit dinner is its
single largest fundraiser of the year,
and it is critical to the school’s ability
to educate the children who need it,
regardless of their parents’ financial
resources. The dinner draws crowds
of more than 1,000 supporters from
far and wide, who attend to show
their support and to be inspired by
the powerful program and films.
For more information or to make
reservations or a donation, call (201)
833-1134, ext. 106, or go to www.
sinaidinner.org.

Valley Chabad announces

teen leadership raffle winners
Valley Chabad’s Teen Leadership Initia-
tive recently presented the grand raf-
fle prize of $10,000 to Paul Bardach of
Woodcliff Lake. It was awarded during
a Friendship Circle Sunday Circle pro-
gram, where teens volunteer with chil-
dren and teens with special needs.
Masha and Robert Lyubman of Ridge-
wood won second prize, diamond ear-
rings courtesy of F. Silverman Jewelers.
Julie and Emil Yunaev of Woodcliff Lake
won four VIP loge suite Devils tickets.
Leah and Yisroel Teitlebaum of Orange,
Conn., won silver candlesticks, and Lisa
and Dan Hines of Woodcliff Lake won
two Yankees tickets.
All the prizes were sponsored by
friends of Valley Chabad. The annual
community raffle fundraiser helps sup-
port the year-round teen activities of Val-
ley Chabad, most of which are offered at
no or little cost to the teens.
Life care planning
for special needs children
The Jewish Association for Developmen-
tal Disabilities offers an ID/DD informa-
tional workshop, “Lifespan Advocacy
Issues for Children and Adults with Spe-
cial Needs,” Tuesday, February 12, at 7
p.m. Lawyer Maria Fischer, the guest
speaker, will talk about service needs,
rights to services, and access to services
and entitlements. She will describe the
laws, which begin with diagnosis and
early intervention, through special edu-
cation services, and into adult services,
that protect people with special needs.
The program is at J-ADD’s new office,
50 Eisenhower Drive in Paramus. To
register, call (201) 754-1835 or email
Rnewman@j-add.org.

18 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019


PHOTOS COURTESY SINAI SCHOOLS
JFNNJ visits a Sinai School
program at RYNJ for Tu B’Shvat
Visitors from the Jewish Federation
of Northern New Jersey visited Sinai
School programs at Rosenbaum Yeshiva
of North Jersey. During the visit, they
sat in on an art therapy session and
JNF welcomes new area director
Jacqueline Yehudiel of Fort Lee
is Jewish National Fund’s new
Northern New Jersey direc-
tor. She hopes to help con-
nect Israelis living in the area
to each other and to support
unique projects that enhance
the lives of Israelis. Before
coming to JNF, Ms. Yehudiel
was the New Jersey director
for Teach NJS and the New Jer-
sey associate director for the Jacqueline Yehudiel
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee.
“I am so excited to join this wonder-
ful organization,” Ms. Yehudiel said. “I am
amazed at all the work JNF is doing in Israel
— from building safe playgrounds in Sderot
to making hiking trails accessible for people
with disabilities to helping farmers in the
Negev make the desert bloom — it’s all part
of a bigger picture that I am thrilled to be a
part of. It’s a privilege to join a team of pro- ership among young people through Zionist
fessionals and lay leaders across the coun-
try that is committed so deeply to aiding
and developing communities across Israel
and helping the country thrive in revolu-
tionary ways.”
Ms. Yehudiel’s Israel connection started
when she was a Penn State undergradu-
ate and saw the BDS movement in action.
JS-19*
Sinai’s art
therapist, Sarah
Tarzik, right,
leads a group
art program
with students
and visitors.
Sinai teacher
Chaviva Alter,
standing left,
listens as a
student talks
about the
Tu B’Shvat
fruits that were
used for the
project.
worked with pre-bat mitzvah girls on a
Tu B’shvat program. JFNNJ funds pro-
gramming at Sinai Schools, including
its bar/bat mitzvah program, which it
funds fully.
She was the president of
the campus Israel Alliance
and local Chabad chapter.
Next, she earned a mas-
ter’s degree from Tel Aviv
University.
Ms. Yehudiel joins Jew-
COURTESY JNF
ish National Fund and is
engaged in its very ambi-
tious One Billion Dollar
Roadmap for the Next
Decade campaign, which
already has raised $570
million. The plan for Israel’s future encom-
passes building new communities in the
Negev and Galilee, expanding the scope
of river rehabilitation and water research,
exploring energy production, creating
opportunities for people with special needs,
working on heritage preservation, bringing
thousands of people to Israel every year on
missions and trips, and growing future lead-
education and advocacy programs.
Ms. Yehudiel and her husband, Shalom,
own Teaneck’s new kosher restaurant, the
Humble Toast, and belong to the Sephardic
Congregation of Fort Lee.
For more information, call Ms. Yehudiel
(973) 593-0095, ext. 823, or email her at JYe-
hudiel@jnf.org.
Briefly Local
JFNNJ book event
features noted speaker
Temple Emeth in Teaneck held its Jewish Federation
of Northern New Jersey’s “One Book One Community”
Shabbaton on Saturday, January 12. Joseph J. Levin, Jr., co-
founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, addressed
“Hate in America, Then and Now”; he talked about his Jew-
ish upbringing in Alabama during segregation, the events
that led him to co-found the Southern Poverty Law Center
in 1971, and the work the center does today combatting hate Joseph J. Levin, Jr.
groups and promoting tolerance.  BARBARA BALKIN
PHOTOS BY DAVID WRESKI
Among the dignitaries were, from left, James J. Tedesco, Bergen
County Executive; Brian Agnew, Bergen Community College Executive
Vice-President; Gurbir Grewal, NJ Attorney General; and Gurbir Grewal,
and Tracy Silna Zur, Bergen County Freeholder/event founder.
Freeholder Zur spearheads MLK
celebration at Bergen Community
Students gathered for the third County Sheriff ’s Department, and
annual Martin Luther King Day of the BCB Bank of Rutherford.
Service, “We The People; Embrace.
Empower. Engage,” on January 21,
Students worked at various commu-
nity service projects, including creat-
at Bergen Community College in ing dog toys for the Bergen County
Paramus. The 501c3 was founded Animal Shelter and blankets for senior
by Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur in citizens, as well as assembling hygiene
2016 to combat divisive rhetoric and kits for residents at the Bergen County
encourage unity. Last year, 200 stu- shelter, activity bags for children in
dents participated; this year, the day hospitals, and bags for CASA and Cen-
drew more than 400 students from ter for Hope and Safety.
more than 60 communities and “I started this organization and day
from different geographic, ethnic, of service because I felt like our chil-
and religious backgrounds. Fifth-to dren needed to learn not just a sense
eighth-graders from the Academies of civic duty, but an understanding
@ Gerrard Berman Day School were that we should build bridges, not
there. Primary sponsors included the walls,” Tracy Zur said. “It is the orga-
Jewish Federation of Northern New nization’s hope that we will have at
Jersey, Inserra Supermarkets, Bergen least two more events this year, and
Community College, Kenneth Cole, that next year will be an even bigger
Spark Freight Services, the Bergen homage to Dr. King’s legacy.”
Students from schools including GBDS created fleece blankets for
senior citizens at We The People’s annual MLK Day of Service.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 19
 JS-20*
Briefly Local
is pleased to welcome
Raffaella Kalishman, M.D., M.P.H.
Internal Medicine
Women’s Health
Infectious Disease
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1 DeGraw Avenue, Suite B • Teaneck, NJ 07666 NCJW volunteers work with swimmers at “Swim-In,” a unique aqua-
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
therapy program for people with multiple sclerosis. More volunteers
14-01 Broadway, Suite B • Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 are needed to help the swimmers both in and out of the pool. NCJW
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Or make an appointment online via ZocDoc: for MS swim program
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“Swim-In,” a unique aquatic therapy
program for people with multiple
sclerosis, is looking for both men
and women to work as volunteers,
who push wheelchairs, assist clients
in the locker room, or become swim
buddies in the pool. The group
meets on Wednesdays at noon from
September to May at the Kaplen JCC
on the Palisades in Tenafly.
Swim-In, which has been recog-
nized nationally, is the only water-
therapy program in the United
States run by volunteers at no
charge to participants. The Ber-
gen County section of the National
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its volunteers, and the MS Society
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give people with MS improved
body movement in the water and
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20 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
Volunteers are responsible for
the intricate logistics of bringing
the group of swimmers in wheel-
chairs through all stages of the
two-hour program. Volunteers
who choose to work in the pool
must be able to swim.
The program was founded in
1976 by Ruth Cowan, a licensed
physical therapist and past presi-
dent of the local NCJW section.
From the beginning, Ms. Cowan
was determined that the program
would be run to the highest pro-
fessional standards. “Individuals
with MS can do many things in the
water, thanks to the buoyancy it
provides, that are impossible to do
out of the water,” she said. “The
exercise makes them stronger and
provides a feeling of elation that
can last for hours.”
“There is no question that both
the social and exercise aspects of
this special community service
are rewarding on multiple levels to
swimmers and volunteers alike,”
Bergen County NCJW Swim-In pro-
gram co-chairs Ina Miller-Silver-
stein and Roxanne Reff said. “The
loving, caring bond that is formed
between a participant and his or
her volunteer buddy and the rest of
the group is a very important factor
in the success of the program.”
For information, email Leta
Arad at leta_arad@hotmail.com
or call Michael Silverstein at (201)
692-1334
 JS-21

The 7th Annual

Champion of Jewish Values
International Awards Gala
An evening celebrating
Heroes of the Jewish People & Jewish Values

Featuring
Netta Barzilai
Israel’s Reigning Eurovision Champion
In Concert
Carnegie Hall
March 28th, 2019
Tickets extremely limited. Available now on wvngala.eventbrite.com

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 21

 JS-22

Cover Story
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY LARGER THAN LIFE

At left, volunteers meet at the Tenafly home of Merav

and Harel Nahar, who co-chair the annual gala; inset,
4 1/2 year-old Yotam paints a thank-you to New Jersey
at Larger Than Life’s preschool in Tel Hashomer.

Larger
than life
Local organization, like parent group
organization called Larger Than Life
(there it’s called Gdolim Me-Hachaim);
its volunteers provide both emotional
and practical support to parents as they
navigate their new lives in a world whose
even more heart and soul than most vol-
unteer work, as emotionally demanding
as much volunteer work is, they create
bonds that strengthen the children, their
families, and themselves.
in Israel, helps children who come known coordinates seem to vanish.
In the United States — and particularly
On a recent Friday morning, a group
of Larger Than Life volunteers — Sara
here for treatment to fight cancer in northern New Jersey and the rest of Golomb, Yifat Yechezkell, and Harel
the New York metropolitan area — Larger Nahar, along with its one paid profes-
Than Life USA helps those families, both sional, its executive director, Netta

I
JOANNE PALMER
t is terrible to have your child
diagnosed with cancer.
It is not necessarily a death
sentence. It does not mean that
you never will laugh again, or
that joy and hope have left your life alto-
gether. But there is no sugarcoating the
truth that it is a terrible diagnosis for a
parent to receive for a child.
It leaves a parent wounded, vulner-
able, unsure where to turn, what to
believe, what to do. There is a whole
new list of demands to be taken care of
at once, on top of the regular stresses of
pre-diagnosis life.
What do you do? How do you order
your life so you can help your child?
In Israel, you c an turn to an
in Israel and here. A group of volunteers
based in Tenafly has devoted itself to
guiding Israeli families — and that’s all
Israeli families, not only Jewish ones —
when they come here to pursue the often
last-chance treatment options that top
doctors and institutions here can offer.
As they do that, as they organize and
translate and shop and hug, as they pro-
vide the volunteer work that demands
Nathaniel — met in Sara’s dining room
to talk about their work. The four, all of
whom live in Tenafly, are good friends;
their mutual affection is clear. Sara’s an
interior designer, and her house is full of
light, with white walls and sharp angles
that made the bright colors of an Israeli
breakfast on the table look even more
jewel-like. (If Israelis were to eat a break-
fast like that every morning, Israel would

22 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019


Every year, Larger Than Life provides two Dream Trips to Disney.
be a country of very happy, very sated,
extremely large people.)
The light — and the food — made it far
easier to discuss some of the darkness of
the work they do, and to realize that there
is hope, love, and even at times active joy in
that work.
“In Israel, Larger Than Life is very well
known,” Netta said. (It was a group discus-
sion, so at times it was hard to identify who
said what, but everyone agreed not only
about the importance of the organization
but also about the deep emotional connec-
tion they feel to it, and to the sense of doing
something real and necessary that they draw
from it.)
Larger Than Life — whose name, intended
to give children with cancer the understand-
ing that they are strong, even heroic, and
that they fight back, and which probably
JS-23
Cover Story
Right, Nurit and
5 1/2-year-old
Ran Gofen at
summer camp for
toddlers; below, a
mother and child.
works better in Hebrew than it does in Eng-
lish — was created in in 1999. That was a
time, Harel said, when Israeli culture stig-
matized, even shunned, people with cancer,
to the point where many patients could not
even bring themselves to name the disease
from which they suffered in public. Cancer
was seen as somehow shameful, potentially
contagious (even when people knew ratio-
nally that it was not), most likely a reflection
on the patient’s underlying worth as a per-
son, and certainly not anything to talk about.
“Larger Than Life was founded by par-
ents who had kids with cancer, because
they knew their children’s needs,” Sara said.
Because of the shame associated with can-
cer — and because even without that shame,
there’s something intimidating about a child
going to the hospital to visit a friend who
may be bald, who may be attached to an IV
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 23
 JS-24

Cover Story

or some other medical device — Larger Than Life has started

children with cancer often were
isolated. They were lonely, and
with good reason. Except for their
families and the professional staff,
they were alone.
The point of Larger Than Life
was to demystify childhood cancer,
to convince parents of healthy kids
to let them visit their friends, to
provide children with cancer with
some fragments of normal life.
It’s hard to say how much of it is
due to Larger Than Life and how
much to shifting cultural assump-
tions, but although cancer still is
feared, it’s no longer stigmatized in
Israel as it used to be just 20 years
ago, Netta said.
Volunteers visit sick children in
Israeli hospitals, bringing toys and
balloons along with a taste of the
outside world. “Sometimes when
we bring toys, a kid will say, ‘It’s
not my birthday,’” she continued.
“But we celebrate life. It’s optimistic; we
say you will fight and you can win.”
She and all the other volunteers
Larger Than Life participants can have fun and look forward on their trip to Disney.
frequently noted that hope helps. Hope
alone cannot conquer disease. Science is us, often the mixture yields better results
necessary. But when you add hope and
a school in Tel Hashomer, in
Israel, for about 45 children
with cancer, ranging in age
from newborns to first-graders.
“It’s state of the art,” Yifat said;
it’s built with an air filtration
system that keeps it safe for
fragile children and still allows
them to be with other children,
and to play with enticing toys,
surrounded by bright colors.
And of course to play with each
other. It offers therapies and is
accessible to children in wheel-
chairs or who may be immobi-
lized in some way or other as
a result of illness or treatment.
“Some parents drive an hour
and a half each way to get their
children to school there,” Yifat
continued. “But what’s the
alternative? Your only other
option is to sit at home, lose
your job, and park the kid in
love to science, scientists themselves tell front of the television.”
Larger Than Life volunteers are a real-
than science alone can give. istic bunch. They have to be.

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 JS-25

Cover Story

Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
Interior Designer
Minnie Mouse (former interior designer of model
helps give the rooms for NY’s #1 Dept. Store)
kids some happpy
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Annual Shabbaton

There’s a waiting list for the school,
and the group is building another one
in the Negev.
Larger Than Life has a long list of
services that it provides; with outposts
in almost all Israeli hospitals, it offers
playrooms and patient liaisons there,
as well as retreats and summer camps,
and financial aid to pay for medications
when necessary.
It also brings groups of children and
teenagers with cancer to Disneyland
and Disney World. Those kids — who
have to be cleared by their doctors
as being up to its joyous rigors — are
accompanied not by their own parents,
but with parents whose children either
have recovered or have died from can-
cer. It’s transformative, they say.
It also forms bonds.
“I was amazed to see a group of reli-
gious and secular kids, Jews and Arabs,
from about 11 up to 18 years old,” Netta Torah and
Its (Dis)contents
said. “Everyone is there, because cancer
does not discriminate. They got to know
each other for the first two days. Some
wore wigs. Some needed help because Friday, Feb 8 – Saturday, Feb 9
they were in wheelchairs. And after a
few days, they’re friends for life. They
take off the wigs. Everyone accepts each
22 Classes in 24 Hours
other.
“It’s a journey. A journey for life, not Taught by Beth Sholom’s Own Members
just a trip to Disney.”
In 2008, Larger Than Life’s American Closing Session with
affiliate was formed. The children and Rabbi J.J. Schacter
families it helps also make journeys;
they come here from Israel in search of
medical help. Here’s an opportunity to delve into You’re invited to
Why is there any need to travel here traditional texts and adventurous join Congregation
from Israel, a country storied for its discussion and study, focusing on the Beth Sholom for
advanced healthcare? “Because Israel complexities of Jewish history and our extraordinary
is a small country,” Harel said. “Doctors identity, and our relationship to the Shabbaton where we
here have wider experience. Probably broader secular society and to Israel. offer a wide array of
more than 95 percent of the children’s classes taught by our
Just some of the classes offered:
own congregants,
• Reading the Talmud in the Era of including Professor
#MeToo Eitan Fishbane, Rabbis
• Is Holocaust Cinema Good for the Julia Andelman,
Jews? Eliezer Diamond,
• Did the Rabbis Rewrite the Torah? Stephen Garfinkel,
Rachel Kahn-Troster,
• Milton as Midrash
and our own
• The Cleaving of the American Jewish Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky.
Community
• Jewish Power, Jewish Responsibility Children and teen
• The Civil Rights Movement in Jewish programs and childcare
Perspective are available.

Register at our website

We look forward to
www.cbsteaneck.org
welcoming you.
to sign up for meals, for a complete
schedule of classes and more
information about our entire
Congregation Beth Sholom
Shabbaton.
354 Maitland Avenue,
Teaneck, NJ 07666
201-833-2620
The annual Disney trips are accessible and fun. Learning, Inspired. www.cbsteaneck.org

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 25


Cover Story
cases are resolved in Israel, but the
extreme ones have to come here.”
“If there is a surgery that a doctor in
Israel did only once or twice, a doctor at
Sloan Kettering may have done it hun-
dreds of times,” Sara added.
That means, they said, that “the fami-
lies who come here are in terrible situ-
ations. They know that this is the last
chance.”
That means that families — sometimes
one parent and a child, sometimes one
parent with both the child and one or
more siblings, sometimes a grandparent
with the child, sometimes the whole fam-
ily — need help.
Sometimes they do not speak English,
so they need translations. Sometimes they
do speak English, but they don’t under-
stand the medical terms the health care
providers use. Sometimes they are fluent
in English, but even those families — like
all families everywhere — need another
person, ideally somewhat more distanced
and therefore somewhat more dispassion-
ate, to listen, understand, and remember.
Larger Than Life does that.
Its volunteers also help families find
KLATSKIN SUM
EIL
N ME
R
BY
D
E
FAMILY
OR
NS
SPO
SUN, FEB 3, 1-3 PM
FREE AND OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY
26 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-26
places to stay, food to buy and eat, activi-
ties for the other children. They offer
emotional support and friendship. They
help make the formidably foreign a bit
less offputtingly strange.
“You meet the parents at the hardest
times of their lives,” Yifat said. “You feel
that you have to be there for them, just to
hold their hands, even if they don’t need
anything else. Just to let them know that
they are not alone.
“I think that working with these fami-
lies gives you strength, a burst of energy,
a kind of power, because if you can give
them a smile, even for a minute, you are
giving them something real and valuable.
“The soul and the body go together,”
Netta said. “When you think I am sick, I
am lonely, then the healing will be slower.
But when you are surrounded by love and
optimism, when you celebrate life, the
healing process is so much faster.”
So far most of Larger Than Life’s vol-
unteers have been Israeli, because they
tend to hear about it from each other or
from friends and family back home, and
then from their network in northern New
Jersey, but the group would love to get
Enjoy an afternoon of fun camp activities
CA including SPORTS, DANCE, DRAMA, ART,
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY.
M
PS
Plus face painting, balloon making, moon bounce
& more! A great way to meet our camp directors,
leaders and specialists, and to find out about all
the incredible summer opportunities the JCC
offers for campers 3-14 years.
more American Jews involved as well. 13, another gala, this one for the young
Larger Than Life USA also helps raise leaders Larger Than Life is nurturing,
money for the twice-yearly Disney trips, will raise money and celebrate hope and
which are even more expensive than such life at Sony Hall in midtown Manhattan.
trips normally would be because of the (See the box for more information on
travelers’ special needs. The group is very both galas.)
proud that most of the funds it raises goes Until then — and after the galas are
directly to support children and their over — Netta, Yifat, Sara, Harel, and their
families rather than to overhead. Netta is friends will continue to visit families, orga-
its only paid employee, a statistic about nize meals, translate both bad and good
which all the volunteers are proud. news, and bring connection, light, and
On Sunday, March 3, Larger Than Life love to families of children with cancer.
USA will hold its annual gala; it’s at the Go to largerthanlifeusa.org to learn
Rockleigh Country Club. On February more.
What: Larger Than Life USA’s annual gala
When: On Sunday, March 3; dinner is at 6:30, and the program follows
Where: At the Rockleigh Country Club, 26 Paris Avenue in Rockleigh
What else: A performance by Lior Suchard, billed as a “world-renowned master
mentalist”
To buy tickets: Go to www.largerthanlife.org or call (888) 644-4040
What: Larger Than Life’s Young Leadership Gala
When: On Wednesday, February 13, at 7 p.m.
Where: At Sony Hall, 235 West 46th Street, in Manhattan
To buy tickets: Go to www.largerthanlife.org or call (888)644-4040.
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 JS-27

Jewish World

Leading Democrats launch group

to counter Israel disenchantment on the left
RON KAMPEAS that what’s a very small problem doesn’t of the Gaza Strip. The group plans to launch a political
metastasize into a bigger problem.” Joining Mellman in the leadership will action committee to protect friendly
WASHINGTON — Prominent Demo- A centrist pro-Israel Democratic be Jennifer Granholm, the popular former Democrats from primary challenges;
crats are launching a pro-Israel group to group, the Jewish Democratic Council of governor of Michigan; Henry Cisneros, a Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), a moder-
counter a drift away from Israel on the America, already exists and fundraised Housing secretary under President Bill ate who is the fourth-ranking Democrat
party’s left. for Democrats in the 2018 midterm elec- Clinton; Ann Lewis, chief of communica- in the U.S. House of Representatives and
The Democratic Majority for Israel tions, although its ambit was broader tions under Clinton and a longtime lead- who according to reports faces a chal-
will be led by Mark Mellman, a longtime than Israel issues, extending to domestic ing supporter of Hillary Clinton; Todd lenge from progressives, said he wel-
Democratic Party pollster who has been policy. More than half the Democratic Richman, a J.P. Morgan executive who is comed the new group.
active in the pro-Israel community. caucus in Congress has accepted the also a major donor to the party; Paul Beg- “I look forward to working with the
“Our mission at Democratic Majority endorsement of J Street, a group that ala, a former top Clinton adviser who has Democratic Majority for Israel as it
for Israel is to strengthen the pro-Israel defends Israel’s existence but encourages become a leading cable TV combatant for advances the unbreakable US-Israel bond
tradition of the Democratic Party, fight for robust criticism of its settlement policies. Democrats; and Shelley Berkley, a former into the future,” Jeffries said.
Democratic values and work within the Polls have shown declining support congresswoman from Las Vegas. Other lawmakers welcoming the new
progressive movement to advance poli- for Israel among younger Democrats. Mellman, Granholm, Begala, and group include Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.),
cies that ensure a strong U.S.-Israel rela- This year for the first time, two freshmen Lewis are regulars at American Israel the majority leader; Rep. Ted Deutch
tionship,” Mellman said in a press release. Democrats, Reps. Ilhan Omar. (D-Minn.) Public Affairs Committee events. Rich- (D-Fla.), the chairman of the House
The New York Times first reported the and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), have man is a former AIPAC staffer who Middle East subcommittee; Sen. Robert
story. embraced the Boycott, Divestment and lashed out at fellow Democrats in 2016 Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking
“Most Democrats are strongly pro-Israel Sanctions movement targeting Israel. for criticizing the lobby for hosting then- Democrat on the House Foreign Rela-
and we want to keep it that way,” Mellman Leading Democrats, including Sen. Ber- presidential candidate Donald Trump. tions Committee; and freshman Sen.
told the Times. “There are a few discor- nie Sanders of Vermont, have criticized Mellman told the Times that the group is Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
dant voices, but we want to make sure Israel robustly, particularly its treatment independent of AIPAC. JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

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Jewish World
Kamala Harris, launching her presidential bid,
lashes out at Trump on race, anti-Semitism
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON — In her first appearance on national TV
as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomina-
tion, California Sen. Kamala Harris lashed out at Presi-
dent Donald Trump for “fueling division,” including on
28 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-28*
anti-Semitism.
“Racism is real in America, sexism, anti-Semitism,
transphobia, homophobia — these things exist in Amer-
ica,” Harris said last Monday at a CNN town hall broadcast
from Iowa, where the first presidential nominating contest
is held. “We have seen when Charlottesville and a woman
Sen. Kamala Harris in the Russell Senate Office
Building on Capitol Hill November 13, 2018.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
was killed that we’ve had a president who basically
said, well, there were equal sides to this,” she said,
referring to the deadly August 2017 neo-Nazi march
in Virginia, and Trump’s comments following it.
“We have seen what happened at the Tree of Life
synagogue,” Harris said, referring to the massacre in
October of 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue
complex.
“The vast majority of us have so much more in
common than what separates us, and we need lead-
ership in this country that recognizes that,” she said.
“There’s a lot of work to do, and certainly it’s going
to start with the top and not fueling the division we
have seen.”
Harris formally launched her campaign over the
weekend in Oakland, adopting the slogan, “America,
we are better than this.” She is the daughter of an
Indian mother and a Jamaican father, and her hus-
band is Jewish.
The Pittsburgh shooting was carried out by a gun-
man who blamed a Jewish group, HIAS, for help-
ing refugees resettle in the United States. While the
Charlottesville protests were organized by a white
supremacist group and dominated by neo-Nazis,
anti-Semites, and white supremacists, Trump
insisted that there were “very fine people” who had
joined the protests to defend a statue of Confederate
general Robert E. Lee.
More than 411,000 likes.
Like us on
Facebook.
facebook.com/jewishstandard
 JS-29

Local

China
FROM PAGE 10
capitalist and more repressive. That
wasn’t supposed to happen.
The American understanding of China
was shaped by the Protestant missionar-
ies who went there, and even more by
their children, he said. (Those children
were called “mishkids,” he added.) The
most prominent of those one-time chil-
dren was Henry Luce, the extraordi-
narily powerful creator and publisher of
Time Magazine. They assumed that as
China modernized, it necessarily would
democratize. But the Chinese did not
see it that way; they classified the United
States as just another Western colonial
power, not as a moral force for good.
Instead, China has become both more
capitalist and more repressive, Dr. Grun-
feld said.
His first trip to China was in 1977, and
he’s gone many times since then, he
said. “The first time I went, the Cultural
Revolution was still going on. It was just
a few months after Mao died.”
That was then; now in some ways
China is almost unrecognizable. “It has
changed with phenomenal speed,” Dr.
Grunfeld said. New York City has grown
enormously since 1789, “when Canal
Street was its northern boundary. That
took 200 years. China has done the
same thing in 30 years.
“There is a village on the Hong Kong
border, and in those days you had to
go through that village to get to China,”
he said. “It was a farming and fishing
village then. There were no two-story
buildings. Today it is a city of 12 million
people, with a subway with 100 stations
and 40-story buildings.
“Until the 80s, it was the only way to
get to China from Hong Kong. You would
take the train to the border, where it
stopped.” The line ended there. “You
would walk across the border with your bag,
and you’d wait for the train on the other side.
“It was very exciting to be in China,” he
continued. “We’d been hanging out in Hong
Kong, but being in China…
“Imagine that you had been studying to
be a mechanic for years, but you had never
seen a car. You’d just studied books. It’s hard
to learn that way. And then all of a sudden a
car drives up to your house and you actually
can see it. You can hold a carburetor in your
hand. You can hold a spark plug.
“The first time I was there — I was leading
a group of graduate students from NYU — it
was for a couple of weeks, but it was very
restricted. We had minders. We couldn’t talk
to people on the street. Those restrictions
were lifted very slowly over 15 years.
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“Now it’s different. It’s totally open. You
just go get a visa. You can go on your own,
or with a tour group. The only problem is
the language.” And Chinese people also are
free to travel; they too are constrained only
by how expensive foreign travel can be. In
China, they can live where they want, take
whatever jobs they want, have as many chil-
dren as they want. (They are choosing not
to have children, and that’s a problem, Dr.
Grunfeld said, but it’s a different problem.)
But despite the capitalism in which they
now live, and despite their new personal
freedom, the Chinese do not have political
freedom. And that affects us, as Americans,
in our country’s relationship with China.
Dr. Grunfeld plans to address that and
other complications at the JCC U.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 10 A.M. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 12 P.M.

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 JS-30*

Jewish World

2 political power players

Benny Gantz, right, with Moshe Yaalon at the opening campaign of the Israel
Resilience Party in Tel Aviv, January 29, 2019.
The Most Excit ing New Retirement Community
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join forces to take on
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upcoming elections
MARCY OSTER
JERUSALEM — There’s a new political
power team in Israel, and it hopes to
defeat longtime Prime Minister Benja-
min Netanyahu in upcoming elections.
Benny Gantz, a former head of the
Israeli army, announced that he will
combine his new political party, Israel
Resilience, with one led by fellow for-
mer Israel Defense Forces chief of staff
Moshe Yaalon.
This is a significant partnership.
Since its formation last month, and
before he issued any kind of political
platform, Gantz’s party has been poll-
ing second behind Netanyahu’s ruling
HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90 Likud party. Yaalon, Netanyahu’s for-
mer defense minister, is, like Gantz, a
popular figure. Together, they hope to
unseat Netanyahu from power.
Netanyahu’s Likud party could take
as many as 30 seats in the April 9 elec-
NOW OPEN tions. Gantz’s party looks to garner up
to 15 seats, polls show. Yaalon’s Telem
party has not polled above the elec-
toral threshold to gain a seat.
Gantz made the announcement on
Tuesday night while officially launch-
ing his Israel Resilience Party’s cam-
paign in Tel Aviv. Yaalon, whose nick-
name is Bougie, joined Gantz at the
end of his speech. Gantz called Yaalon
“a man of values, my former boss, and
my new partner.”
Gantz told a crowd of supporters
chanting “Benny, Benny” and waving
Israeli flags that he will not let a new
government be formed by a prime min-
ister with an indictment hanging over
his head. He thanked Netanyahu for
his years of service in the position and
added: “We will take over for him.”
Gantz added that his government
would have zero tolerance for corrup-
tion, another swipe at Netanyahu, who
is at the center of at least four corrup-
tion investigations, and faces indict-
ment in at least one of the cases either
before or immediately after the April
9 elections.
Gantz also said that Jerusalem will
remain Israel’s “eternal capital,” that he
will strengthen settlement blocks, and
that Israel will not give up the Golan
Heights. He also said his government
would pursue making peace with the
Palestinians and Israel’s Arab neighbors.
“There is nothing more dear to me
than the state of Israel. For me Israel
comes before everything else,” he said.
“The Jewish people and the Zionist
state is a great story, unparalleled, big-
ger than any leader. We are one nation,
we have one flag, one anthem and one
army,” he also said.
On Monday, the party released a
campaign jingle, which states: “There
is no right wing or left wing, there is
only Israel, before everything else.”
Gantz, 59, served in the IDF as a
paratrooper and became a career army
official. He commanded several units,
including special operations units,
before serving as the head of Israel’s
military from 2011 to 2015. Several
existing parties courted Gantz to run
with them in the upcoming election
before he decided to make his own.
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30 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
 JS-31

Local

Bimbo
FROM PAGE 17
While Bimbo has partially reversed course,
there has so far been no response to Jewish con-
cerns raised about another consolidated industrial
player: Amazon.
Last month, Amazon moved customers of Cre-
ateSpace, a print-on-demand printer it bought
in 2005, to a new service, Kindle Direct Printing.
While the printing presses are the same, the pro-
cedures used by customers to create the books are
slightly different. And the new system won’t pub-
lish books in Yiddish or Hebrew.
Yiddish writer Zackary Sholem Berger hopes
that a public backlash will get Amazon to change
bases and get to see the country through the eyes of
the IDF.”
The New Jersey FIDF has raised about $6 million,
according to Mr. Gases. “People want to know where
their money goes,” he said, adding that in the case of
FIDF, “their money is well used.” He cited the find-
ings, noted on the group’s website, that “FIDF has
consistently received the highest ratings for account-
ability and transparency from two of the leading
independent charity evaluators: Charity Navigator
and Charity Watch. FIDF received the highest 4-star
rating from Charity Navigator for the 8th year in a row
now—a feat accomplished by only 3 percent of chari-
ties in America, and Charity Watch has bestowed FIDF
with their ‘Top-Rated’ seal.”
For more information about the February 7
program, email Howard.Gases@fidf.org or call (646)
274-9650.

Join us!
these new policies, which threaten Yiddish publi-
cations and authors. “Let Amazon know that Yid-
dish — and Hebrew — ought to be reinstated onto
the list of languages, in which one can publish new
titles on KDP,” he wrote in an article appearing on
the Forward’s Yiddish and English websites.
Mr. Stoller, for his part, is optimistic that anti-
BEN PORAT YOSEF
monopoly fervor is experiencing a comeback. Not
only is there the think tank that employs him; its
ideas are being picked up by politicians.
“The Federal Trade Commission is investigat-
ing Facebook,” he said. “In 2016, the Democrats
had an anti-monopoly plank in their platform for
the first time since 1988. David Cicilline of Rhode
Island, who just took over the anti-trust subcom-
mittee of the House Judiciary Committee, has been
talking about the need to reinvigorate anti-trust.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has been talking about
it. So has Cory Booker.”
Saturday, February 23, 2019
‫י״ט אדר א׳ תשע״ט‬
8:00 pm
Montammy Country Club
Montammy Drive, Alpine, NJ
IDF
FROM PAGE 17
In addition, each lone soldier is provided with one
Celebrating our 18th Anniversary
flight home during his or her term of service.
Mr. Gases also talk about the Impact program, Honoring
which grants four-year academic scholarships to
combat and combat support soldiers from low
socioeconomic backgrounds. Donors get to meet
the students they support, he said, and often
develop close relationships with them. And, he
added, “the program is changing the fabric of
Israel because each recipient needs to devote 130
hours to community service.” The Impact office
in Israel works with dozens of nonprofit organi-
zations, providing opportunities for the grant-
ees to work in a variety of fields, whether volun- Jessica Liz & Alan Cheryl Weiner Ilana
teering with Holocaust survivors or helping the Kohn Mitrani Rosenberg Tachauer
underprivileged.
Mr. Gases also talked about the FIDF’s Dignity
program, which provides soldiers in need and For reservations, ad packages and to learn more about
their families with such essential items as furni- our honorees, visit BPYdinner.org
ture, electrical appliances, and other necessities.
The FIDF provides monetary assistance in cases of
or contact development@benporatyosef.org.
special needs through special grants, and it distrib-
utes holiday gift vouchers twice a year.
The FIDF also sponsors missions to Poland
and Israel. “Our Young Leadership missions to
Israel are unlike any other,” Mr. Gases said. “Par-
ticipants spend 90 percent of their time on army

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 31


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32 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-32*
More than 411,000 likes.
Jewish World
Like us on Facebook.
ABC orders pilots based on
two Israeli television series
MARCY OSTER
facebook.com/jewishstandard
ABC has ordered pilots for two shows based on Israeli
television series.
“Until the Wedding,” a romantic drama based on the
Israeli series of the same name in Hebrew — “Ad HaHa-
tuna” — aired on Israel’s Reshet 13. It’s about the way
that a couple’s decision to get married affects everyone
in their lives. It is being produced by Sarah Timberman
and Carl Beverly, Alon Aranya, Israel’s Reshet Media
and ABC Studios, according to Deadline Hollywood.
ABC also ordered a pilot for the romantic comedy
“The Baker and the Beauty,” based on the Israeli series
“Lehiyot Ita,” or “Being With Her,” by Keshet Broadcast-
ing, according to Deadline Hollywood. The show aired
with English subtitles on Britain’s Channel 4, and the
two seasons were picked up for streaming by Amazon.
The Israeli series is the story of a supermodel who
falls in love with a Yemenite-Israeli baker. The remake
is a romance between a blue-collar baker and an inter-
national superstar. JTA WIRE SERVICE
Hank Greenberg batting for the Detroit Tigers
in 1935. TSN ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
Hank Greenberg’s
bat is up for auction
MARCY OSTER
HATE
Want a bat used by Jewish baseball legend Hank Green-
berg? You’ll need more than $8,000.
The Hall of Famer’s wood bat, which was signed by
the 1937 Detroit Tigers, is up for auction on the website
of Lelands-Sports Memorabilia and Card Auctions. The
starting bid was $5,000, but as of Wednesday morning
the number was over $8,000. Bidding ends Friday.
The lot description notes that “there is a deep ball
mark near the crack at the top of the handle” and rates
its use as “moderate.” The bat is signed by 34 team
members in black fountain ink, with Greenberg signing
right above his name on the barrel of the bat.
Greenberg, a first baseman and outfielder for the
Tigers for 12 seasons in the 1930s and ‘40s, hit 331 home
runs in his career. Known as “Hammerin’ Hank” and
the “Hebrew Hammer,” he had 1,276 runs batted in and
a .313 lifetime batting average.
Though he was not religiously observant, Greenberg
sat out a game in 1934 during Yom Kippur at the height
of the American League pennant race. He finished his
career in the 1947 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
His playing days were interrupted by more than four
years serving in the Army Air Corps, including during
World War II.
Greenberg died in 1986. He was 75. JTA WIRE SERVICE
 JS-33*

Jewish World

5 things to watch in
another Bernie Sanders
presidential campaign
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders has
dropped hints that he’s ready to run for
president again, and the one thing we
know for sure is that Bernie, the sequel,
will not be a retread.
Much about Bernie 1.0 was attention-
getting precisely because of the way his
campaign defied convention. The Inde-
pendent senator from Vermont attached
“socialist” to his name; he hadn’t done
foreign policy, and it showed; and his
campaign overall was a seat-of-its-pants
mess because it didn’t occur to any-
one that he possibly could win until he
started to win nominating contests.
At 75, Sanders was the oldest candi-
date ever to win primaries in the dou-
ble digits, and as we’ve typed countless
times, he was the first Jewish candidate
to win major-party nominating contests.
This time around, Sanders will have
popularity and name recognition on his
side, and he’s also likely to have a bet-
ter organization.
Here are five things to look out for in
Bernie 2.0.
The Israel thing
Sanders was the stand-out at both of
the post-election annual conferences of
J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East Sen. Bernie Sanders at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Dome
SEE BERNIE PAGE 34 event in Columbia, S.C., January 21, 2019.  SEAN RAYFORD/GETTY IMAGES

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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 33
 JS-34

Jewish World

Bernie
FROM PAGE 33
policy group. His message jibed perfectly with the group’s:
You can support Israel while criticizing its government for
its settlement policies and for neglecting opportunities
for peace.
Sanders has become a forceful and outspoken critic of
the way Israel handles its relationship with the Gaza Strip,
posting many online videos packed with facts and figures
about the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip and why he
believes Israel is partially to blame.
That marshaling of facts and figures is quite a contrast
with the Gaza-related foreign policy fumble that drew
attention in 2016 to his lack of foreign policy cred: He
vastly overestimated the number of Palestinian civilians
killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
Sanders has become the de facto leader of progressives
in the Democratic party, and his willingness, at times eager-
ness, to criticize Israel may be a signal of where the party
is headed in terms of its relationship with the Jewish state.
Sanders also spent months on a kibbutz in his 20s and
harbors an affection for Israel. If there’s one aspect of pro-
Israel dogma that he has embraced, it’s that it is ridiculous
to attack the country and not note the real threats posed
to it by radical neighbors, and the worse human rights
records in those countries.
He’s been consistent in decrying what he sees as a dou-
ble standard applied to Israel. In 2017 he excoriated an
Al Jazeera interviewer who challenged him for signing a
Senate letter that called for fairer treatment of Israel at
the United Nations. In the same interview he also firmly
rejected the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement
targeting Israel. (He also is outspoken opposing bills
that would penalize boycotters, saying they infringe
on speech freedoms.)
That’s Sanders off the cuff. The left that Sanders
represents has lost patience with Israel, and says
that comparing Israel to its neighborhoods is classic
“whataboutism.” It will be interesting to see if his
campaign highlights the tough-love critic who sup-
ports Israel, or plays to a disinterested, even non-
Zionist left. Interestingly, one of the Gaza videos
Sanders posted includes the criticism of Israel he
offered in a J Street speech — but omits his defense of
the country. He clearly gets along with even the par-
ty’s strongest critics — Rep. Rashisa Tlaib (D-Mich.), a
Palestinian American who embraces BDS, calls him
Amo (Uncle) Bernie.

The Jewish thing

Sanders historically did not like talking in public
about his Jewish upbringing, although his two best
friends in Vermont are strongly identified Jews and
he is involved in the Jewish community there. He
isn’t the first Jew of his generation to not make his
Jewish identity front and center in his politics.
Times have changed, and politicians are encour-
aged, even expected, to describe how culture and
ethnicity imprint their beliefs. At a point during the
campaign, Sanders started talking about how being
MONDAY raised Jewish had shaped him.
10:15 AM - 12:30 PM It’s a trajectory that has continued post-campaign,
with Sanders showing emotion in considering fami-
lies who were murdered during the Holocaust.

MONDAY
1:00 - 2:15PM
It will be interesting
to see if his
TUESDAY
campaign highlights
9:15 - 11:00 AM the tough-love
TUESDAY critic who supports
8:00 - 9:15 AM
Israel, or plays to a
TUESDAY
9:30 - 10:45 AM disinterested, even
WEDNESDAY
non-Zionist left.
10:15 - 11:45 AM
The identity thing
WEDNESDAY Sanders campaigned for the candidate who defeated
10:15 - 11:30 AM him for the nomination, Hillary Clinton, but wounds
from the primary campaign remain. In her campaign
biography, “What Happened,” Clinton said that
THURSDAY
Sanders was not committed enough to the party.
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
More significant was the rift that opened up
between the candidates’ supporters over whether
THURSDAY
12:30 - 1:30 PM
Clinton’s embrace of identity politics among women
and minorities was the party’s future, or whether
THURSDAY it alienated the working class whites who eventu-
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM ally voted for Donald Trump. Sanders, despite a
11:00 AM - 1:30 PM
12:30 - 1:30 PM
strong civil rights history, appeared allergic to what
he called pandering, especially to African-Amer-
icans. It cost him, especially in southern states,
Join us for a Women's Melava Malka & Kumzitz on February 16 in a private home. where, he notes in his campaign autobiography, we
Details to follow! Email lamdeinu@aol.com for more information. “got decimated.”
He has worked hard to make up for the support
he lost among minorities. He chose South Carolina,

34 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019

 JS-35

Jewish World Let us mind your business -

we just might see what you are missing
Steven Morey Greenberg, Esq.
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Sanders will be 79
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What’s worth watching is whether he backslides
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to distinguish himself from other Democratic candi-
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minorities, like fellow senators Kirsten Gillibrand of
New York and Kamala Harris of California.
And he may be falling into old habits. His initial
response to recent allegations that sexual harass-
ment proliferated during his 2016 campaign was
wanting: He said he’d been too busy to notice. In a
recent deep dive by GQ, he once again denounced
identity politics in less than sensitive terms, earning
more rebukes from the party’s Clinton wing.
“There are people who are very big into diversity
but whose views end up being not particularly sym-
pathetic to working people, whether they’re white
or black or Latino,” he said. “They think that all that
we need is people who are candidates who are black
or white, who are black or Latino or woman or gay,
regardless of what they stand for, that the end result
is diversity.”

The age thing

Sanders will be 79 when he runs again; if he should
he win the nomination, that would make him the old-
est major party nominee ever.
Democrats are loath to appear ageist, but the issue
already has reared its head in the campaign of Pete
Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indi-
ana. Buttigieg once lionized Sanders for daring to call
himself a socialist, but gently suggested in a recent
Washington Post profile that perhaps it was time for
the senator to make way for the next generation.
“The politics of conviction that appealed to young
people, with Bernie in 2016, can also be articulated
successfully by the next generation,” Buttigieg said.

The Trump thing

Sanders waited in 2016 until the end of the campaign
to focus his energies on Trump, perhaps because,
like many others, he did not believe the reality TV
star had a serious shot until it was too late.
That’s changed. In addition to calling Trump a
racist, he has articulated his foreign policy as the
anti-Trump: embracing and emphasizing human
rights in dealing with other countries, and confront-
ing autocrats.
As for Trump, we have an idea of what his anti-
Sanders gambit would be: The nicknamer in chief
refers to the senator from Vermont as “Crazy Bernie.”
 JTA WIRE SERVICE

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 35

 JS-36*

Jewish World

Kabbalah finds a home in

Judaism between the mystics and Madonna
BEN SALES
When Jews recite a core hymn welcoming
the Sabbath on Friday night, they’re also
singing about the holiness of sex.
That was part of the message delivered
by Reuven Kimelman, who teaches Jewish
studies at Brandeis University and is the
scholar in residence at the Kaplen JCC on
the Palisades in Tenafly, at a conference
last Sunday about Kabbalah, the Jewish
mystical tradition. Rabbi Kimelman took
the crowd through the words of “L’cha
Dodi,” the poetic prayer sung at the open-
ing of Shabbat — and explained its Kabbal-
istic significance.
The 16th-century prayer, on its face, is
about welcoming the Sabbath as a bride.
But Rabbi Kimelman explained that it’s also
about rebuilding the holy city of Jerusa-
lem, unifying the masculine and feminine
aspects of God above, and implicitly unify-
ing male and female on Earth as well.
“The function in Kabbalah is to take
two things which have been separated
and reunify them,” Rabbi Kimelman said.
“The one flesh is not something new. It’s
the restoration of the original unity. So
every sexual act is an act of restoring an
original unity.”
That kind of mystical interpretation of
Judaism, long the province of scholars,
chasidic rabbis, Jewish hippies, and some
celebrities, is making inroads among a
wider audience. A new online class on
the Zohar, the core book of Kabbalah, has
drawn 350 students. Sunday’s conference
on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, now in
its 15th year, drew more than 150 people.
Romemu, a mystically oriented Jewish
Renewal Manhattan congregation, just
launched a study program for the upcom-
ing summer.
“There’s still an increasing sense of
‘what about my soul?’” said Rabbi Naftali
Citron, who organizes the conference,

Noah Solomon (right) and Rabbi Naftali Citron sing chasidic melodies at
the closing of a conference on Kabbalah at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in
Manhattan on Sunday, January 27. BEN SALES

ONGOING called the Annual Day of Kabbalah
and hosted at the Marlene Meyerson
REGISTRATION Jewish Community Center on the
Upper West Side. “Is Judaism part
of the progressive part of the Demo-
cratic Party, or is there a part of Juda-
ism that nourishes my inner world?
I think there’s so many Jews of all
denominations who are seeking spiri-
tuality in every corner.”
Ask about Kabbalah describes how God cre-
our year-round ated and operates in the world, and
how earthly actions are imbued with
programs holiness. Some of its main concepts
include sefirot, or what scholar Dan-
iel Matt calls aspects of the divine per-
sonality, and the idea that the male
and female aspects of God can be
unified through the performance of
For information Jewish commandments, or mitzvahs.
For some, it is a poetic commentary
contact Matt at
on the Torah. For deep mystics, it is a
matt@blackboxnynj.com
key to understanding no less than the
or meaning of life.
201-357-2221 “God is understood to be the
everything, or all of existence, the
great breath of all life, the great
source of spiritual energy in the uni-
verse,” said Dr. Eitan Fishbane of
Teaneck, a professor at the Jewish
BlackBoxPAC.com Theological Seminary and author of
No refunds of deposits are available, yet they can be redeemed for future BBS/BBPAC
workshop credit in cases of unexpected withdrawal. No refund of balances are available due
the recent “The Art of Mystical Nar-
to any objections to material or final show choice(s). rative: A Poetics of the Zohar.” “To
the mystic, everything is intercon-
nected and part of the one God.”
36 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
For centuries, the study of Kab-
balah was restricted to Jewish sages.
But the founding figure of chasi-
dism, an 18th-century Polish rabbi
known as the Baal Shem Tov, sought
to bring its mystical insights to the
masses. Jewish Renewal, a move-
ment founded in the 1970s by Rabbi
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, also
employs Kabbalistic concepts.
An esoteric Jewish literature
crossed over into pop culture
thanks to the Kabbalah Centre,
which teaches the philosophy at 40
branches around the world. It has
attracted celebrities like Madonna
and Ashton Kutcher, and derision
from rabbis and Jewish scholars who
think it has separated Kabbalah from
its roots in Judaism.
Today, there are many translations
of the Zohar, the multi-volume work
in Aramaic from 13th-century Spain,
that limns the mystical meaning of
the Torah and other books of the
Bible. Its scholars and proponents
say its wider popularity waxes and
wanes with the popularity of medita-
tion and spiritual practice.
“It’s so popular to do meditation,”
said Dr. Matt, who recently com-
pleted his 18-year translation of the
Zohar from Aramaic manuscripts
and is teaching the online class on
it. “In business and finance, you find
 JS-37

Jewish World

meditation groups. So people wonder, does this you or the chair is bothering you. Check inside to see sexuality. Dr. Matt — who was not at the conference
exist in our tradition? So then you find out there how your body feels in the chair.” — said that one of Kabbalah’s greatest innovations is
is this tradition, but it’s been too well hidden.” Chaya Rivka Zwolinski, who writes and teaches on the describing God in terms of the shechinah, a feminine
The crowd at the conference was mostly mid- Breslov chasidic tradition, taught the meditation session. form, rather than with strictly masculine language.
dle-aged, and included academics and New Age “When you open your mouth and speak to your “One of the radical contributions of the Kabbalah is
enthusiasts searching for spiritual enrichment. Creator, you tell Him what’s in your heart and in your insisting that God is equally male and female,” he said.
People there said they appreciated the spiri- mind,” she said. “What comes out is a sense of peace “All of Western religion is so dominatingly patriarchal,
tual practice offered by Kabbalah. While others and deep appreciation. This kind of meditative prayer so to see a medieval Jewish tradition that emphasizes
may view Jewish mysticism as esoteric, they felt through speech is something very precious and rare.” the feminine is very startling and very attractive.”
Kabbalah offered a Judaism that felt fulfilling Many of the sessions touched on gender and  JTA WIRE SERVICE
and accessible.
“I did a lot of searching and reading non-Jew-
ish stuff that felt somehow familiar to me,” said
Devorah Segall, who attended the session on Jew-
ish meditation. “Then I started learning about the
Baal Shem Tov’s teaching and chasidic learning
and I felt like that’s how I could finally relate to
being Jewish.”
Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, the spiritual leader
of Ansche Chesed, a large Conservative syna-
gogue on the Upper West Side, said that Kabbalah
could serve as a gateway into Judaism for people
who are uninterested in strict ritual observance
on the one hand or social activism on the other.

Kabbalah describes
how God created
and operates in the
world, and how

T RUNK SHOW
earthly actions
are imbued
with holiness.
T RUNK SHOWT RUNK SHOW Israeli Designer

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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 37
 JS-38*

Jewish World

African Jewish communities get some

mainstream recognition after years on the margins
JOSEFIN DOLSTEN

A
t a Manhattan conference on Jewish life in
Africa, Magda Haroun talked about being
only one of a handful of Jews left in Egypt,
a country that was once home to a Jewish
community of 80,000.
Abere Endeshaw Kerehu shared the struggles faced
by the approximately 8,000 Jews still living in Ethiopia
who face anti-Semitism at home but have not yet been
allowed to immigrate to Israel.
But others offered a more optimistic picture. Rabbi
Levi Banon said Casablanca, Morocco, is home to “a
small but very vibrant” Jewish community that oper-
ates 22 active synagogues, while Remy Ilona urged
acceptance of a growing community of Nigerian Igbo
people whom he says are practicing rabbinic Judaism.
The conference, hosted by the American Sep-
hardi Federation and the Morocco-based Association
Mimouna from Sunday through Tuesday, is notewor-
thy not only because of the range of perspectives it
offered but also because it included speakers from
emerging Jewish communities in Africa, such as Ilona’s
group, alongside those from established communities
in countries like Egypt and Morocco.
Though there is an increasing number of people
seeking to practice Judaism in sub-Saharan Africa, Rabbi Capers Funnye, left, and Martha Leah Organizers El Mehdi Boudra, left, and Jason
they mostly have been ignored by the mainstream Williams are at the Jewish Africa Conference in Guberman at the Jewish Africa Conference in New
Jewish community and Israel. Organizers say that this New York on January 29, 2019. JOSEFIN DOLSTEN York, January 29, 2019. JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
is the first conference to focus on Jewish Africa that is
not exclusively for academics. community conversions in countries such as Madagas- [Hoenlein] said yesterday, we have an open door, we
Marla Brettschneider, a professor at the University car and Cote d’Ivoire. would love to welcome some of these communities
of New Hampshire who researches Jewish communi- Critics of such work in Africa say that groups and have them join the Jewish people in a meaningful
ties in Africa, said it was significant that the confer- should not be converted en masse when there is no way,” he added.
ence was being hosted by the American Sephardi Fed- local Jewish community or infrastructure to support El Mehdi Boudra, the president and founder of
eration, a mainstream Jewish group. them. Many of the people Kulanu work with believe Association Mimouna, sees the conference as a way
“It’s potentially huge,” she said. “Most of the work they have Jewish roots, claims that have not been to think ahead. “This is the goal of this conference,
that I know of in the area is super marginalized, and corroborated. to bring an emerging circle of leaders to promote and
I’m one of the few people in that field as an academic Jason Guberman, the executive director of the Ameri- think about the future of African Judaism,” he said.
who has a relationship to the rest of organizational can Sephardi Federation, said that the conference grew Boudra flew in from Rabat for the conference,
and mainstream Jewry. The divide is a big gulf, so it’s out of his work with Association Mimouna, an orga- but next year he won’t have to go as far. Boudra and
really interesting to me to see that there’s work gener- nization founded by Moroccan Muslims to educate Guberman are already planning a second conference
ated from organizations that have infrastructure, that about Jewish history in their country, as well as from for next year, which they say will take place in Africa,
are long term organizations, trying to bridge the gap.” an increased interest in Africa in the Jewish community. most likely in Morocco.
Some 250 people attended the conference, includ- “This idea of Jewish Africa grows out of [our con- The conference not only strengthens ties between
ing ambassadors and representatives from Morocco, nection with Association Mimouna] and our work- the mainstream Jewish community and Jews in
South Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel, Egypt, and Nica- ing together and the recent pivot to Africa of many Africa, but also between white and black Jews, said
ragua. Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman in the Jewish community, of many in the Moroccan Rabbi Capers Funnye, the chief rabbi of the Interna-
of the Conference of Presidents of Major American community, of Israel of course, looking to Africa and tional Israelite Board of Rabbis, an African Hebrew
Jewish Organizations, and Adama Dieng, the United seeing both some of the oldest and some of the new- Israelite body.
Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the est Jewish communities,” he said. “It means a great deal to the African American Jew-
Prevention of Genocide, delivered opening and clos- Guberman sees his community as a connector ish community and the Jewish community of West
ing remarks, respectively. between the mainstream groups and African Jews. Africa, because we’ve been a long time in saying we’re
Bonita Nathan Sussman, vice president of the Jewish The traditional Sephardic diaspora includes Jews who here,” said Funnye, who leads the Chicago-based Beth
outreach group Kulanu, said the conference was a sign trace their lineage to Spain and Portugal, as well as Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation.
that the larger Jewish community is paying attention the Mediterranean basin, the Balkans, the Middle East, Although the Hebrew Israelite movement usually is
to Africa. “What this conference is doing is showing Africa, and Asia. “It’s the natural role of the Sephardic considered outside the mainstream by Judaism’s main
that mainstream Judaism is beginning to notice them,” community, that has the experiences in these coun- denominations, Funnye has undergone a conversion
she said. “This is a huge accomplishment and a huge tries,” he said. by Conservative rabbis and is eager to build bridges
gift to be seen and spoken about in the same breath as That includes some of the emergent groups on the with the mainstream Jewish community. He said that
they do North African Jews, because for the most part continent. he was planning to reach out to both Ashkenazi and
North African Judaism really had very little to do with “It’s the greater Sephardic umbrella, and it’s this Sephardi Jewish communities after the conference.
newly emerging communities. “ idea that we have in some cases these communities “They have done their part, we have to reciprocate,
The New York-based group, which organized a film that are claiming biblical descent, in other cases new we have to reach out to the Sephardi community, to the
festival that was part of the conference, has facilitated communities that are coming to Judaism, as Malcolm Ashkenazi community,” Funnye said. JTA WIRE SERVICE
38 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
 JS-39*

Jewish World

Holocaust scholars worry that memory

is a victim of Israel’s warming ties with Eastern Europe
SAM SOKOL
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s efforts to establish close ties with the
European Union’s Central European members has
met with pushback from a perhaps unlikely source:
Holocaust historians and activists protective of Israel’s
role in preserving the memories of the Nazis’ victims.
Netanyahu has justified his outreach to leaders in
countries like Poland and Hungary as a way to coun-
terbalance the E.U.’s more Palestinian-friendly west-
ern states. But his critics say he may be sacrificing
efforts to counter Holocaust revisionism, especially by
leaders who are trying to downplay their countries’
complicity with the Germans in World War II.
“In recent years, some European governments try
to present, and even force, a historical picture which
is very different than the one well known based on
documentation and on historical research,” Havi Drei-
fuss, a historian of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe at
Tel Aviv University, said. “We see those phenomena
mainly, but not only, regarding the assistance of locals
The increasingly close relations between Jerusalem
and countries such as Hungary and Poland have liber-
als here worried because both countries’ governments
have taken steps to undermine independent institu-
tions and the press. Both European countries are seen
as rolling back the process of democratization begun
after the fall of communism.
But the specter of World War II casts a distinct
shadow in the Jewish state. According to a study
released last week by researchers from Yale Univer-
sity and Grinnell College, Holocaust revisionism has
been on the rise in Europe. Some of the worst offend-
ers were found in Poland and Hungary.
“Holocaust remembrance is under clear threat in
Poland,” according to the report.
Netanyahu has taken notice. Responding to the pub-
lic outcry in Israel and around the world over Poland’s
“Holocaust law,” Netanyahu condemned the legisla- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with
tion, saying that Israel had “no tolerance for distorting Polish president Andrzej Duda at the United Nations
the truth, historical revisionism, or Holocaust denial.” on September 26, 2018. AVI OHAYON/GPO
As relations between Warsaw and Jerusalem hit a
new low, however, Netanyahu became more concil-

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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 39

Editorial
Reflections on survivors
L on Israel from
ast week, Frank Blaichman
died.
Mr. Blaichman was a Holo-
caust survivor, a partisan, and
he led an extraordinary life. He was born
in Poland in 1939, to an Orthodox family;
he was its only survivor. He refused to
wear a yellow star, he evaded deportation,
he escaped to the forest, he lead other
partisans as their platoon commander, he
devised effective, clever, devastating ways
to escape and even to attack.
He married another partisan, Cesia
Pomeranc, and the two came to New
York in 1951. They thrived; he was a
developer, and they lived on Fifth Ave-
nue. Ms. Blaichman died in 2015; the two
are survived by two children, six grand-
children, and two great-grandchildren.
It is impossible to read Mr. Blaich-
man’s obituary without awe. It is impos-
sible to understand how he did it. None
of us ever should know how he did it,
because the only way truly to under-
stand that level of courage and determi-
nation is to have to use it. Most people, it
seems, wouldn’t have the guts — or the
luck, which always is part of it too — to
do what he did, but it’s impossible to
know how you’d react unless you actu-
ally have to.
Because of my job, I have had the great
good fortune to meet many Holocaust
survivors. It always is a terrifying honor.
They each have lived through unimagi-
nable hell, unimaginable loss, and man-
aged to stay alive. They have learned
how to stay human, even after enduring
extraordinary inhumanity.
By the time I’ve met them, the sur-
vivors are old. They’ve not only lived
through the Holocaust, but managed to
stay alive than a half-century beyond it.
They tell me their stories, and I use all
my will power not to cry, because among
the uncountably huge number of things
they deserve is the right not to have to
watch someone who can’t imagine what
they’ve survived sniffle and drip as they
relive fragments of hell once again.
Last Sunday was International Holo-
caust Remembrance Day, a day whose
Jewish Editor
Joanne Palmer
Standard Associate Editor
Larry Yudelson
1086 Teaneck Road
Community Editor
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Beth Janoff Chananie
(201) 837-8818
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Heidi Mae Bratt
Publisher
James L. Janoff
Associate Publisher Emerita
Marcia Garfinkle
thejewishstandard.com
40 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-40*
bland, deracinated name masks horror.
I think on that day, as I do on Yom
HaShoah, and on so many other entirely
random days, about the survivors I’ve
met. Those stories they tell. Those sto-
ries, which many of them did not tell
for decades, but are telling now because
the imperative not to let the world forget
what happened is stronger than the pain
it causes them to tell it, evokes the cour-
age that Mr. Blaichman personified, that
every single survivor possesses.
People jumped off trains. They
impersonated Poles and Germans,
even as the Nazis came to examine their
documents. They stole dead Nazis’ uni-
forms and wore them. They went on
the selection line they sensed would be
safer, even when others were shunted
off to the death line. They kept going in
the camps. They staggered through the
death marches. They lived on no food.
They lived on no hope. They lived.
Most of all, I remember Eta Wro-
bel, who lived in Fort Lee. She’d been
blonde, with braids; impersonated a
Pole; retreated to the woods, where
she fought courageously and victori-
ously; survived, and eventually moved
to New Jersey.
She had so much charisma and feroc-
ity and charm and pure vibrant life that
her apartment, with all its light and
windows, seemed barely big enough
for her. And I will never forget — as
we are told never to forget, but this is
organic, this remembering — her tell-
ing me that whenever there is a fam-
ily simcha, a party, with dancing, that
she was the last one on the floor. And
I could believe it. She was the embodi-
ment of life.
So as we read the obituaries of Holo-
caust survivors, as we mourn them, we
should remember that if there was any-
thing that was essential for their sur-
vival — as well as the little bit of unex-
pected luck with which every survivor
was graced — was courage and resilience
and life. We never can live up to them —
we never ever should have to live up to
them — but we can honor that. —JP
Correspondents
Warren Boroson
Lois Goldrich
Banji Ganchrow
Abigail K. Leichman
Miriam Rinn
Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman
Advertising Director
Natalie D. Jay
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
The deafening silence
Hollywood’s Jews
I
’ve been on a tour of Israel for Yes, Roseanne is a controversial fig-
the past week with Roseanne ure. She is a comic, after all, and all
Barr doing public speeches and great comics, indeed, all great artists,
media appearances. The trip are controversial. But Roseanne has
was designed to coincide with our son consistently stood up for Israel when
Dovid Chaim’s bar mitzvah and it’s almost no one else in Hollywood has.
been nice, on this occasion, to mix fam- And the people in Israel know this and
ily, business, and pleasure. they are showing her their love.
It’s been interesting to say the least. Which begs the question, why are
Last May Roseanne lost her TV show Jews in Hollywood so silent when it
on ABC after her now infa- comes to Israel? Worse,
mous tweet about Valerie they’re usually critical of
Jarrett. The Nielsen ratings the Jewish state.
published in December Take Natalie Portman,
confirmed that Roseanne’s who was born in Jerusa-
show was the number one lem and protected by the
rated program in America IDF as a young girl, yet
in 2018. And still she lost chose to boycott the Jew-
her show after the tweet. ish state just as soon as
This despite the fact that she didn’t need Israel any
she offered a lengthy and Rabbi Shmuley more. Natalie would go on
tear-filled apology on my Boteach to compare the Holocaust
podcast in the aftermath. and the murder of six mil-
Yet in Israel the crowds lion Jews to the slaughter
for our joint speeches have been huge of chickens and animals, which is both
and enthusiastic. People are cheering offensive and incredibly stupid.
Roseanne all over the country and the But I don’t need to use the extreme
media interest and coverage has been example of Natalie Portman to make my
overwhelming. We can barely walk into point. The silence on Israel from most of
the halls where we are speaking, and Hollywood’s Jewish community is posi-
swarmed by fans afterward, we can tively deafening. This despite at times
barely leave. dominating the areas of acting, produc-
I attribute this to two factors. The ing, directing, and studio-owning.
first is that Israeli society is more for- Even people like Steven Spielberg,
giving than American society. People who are excellent — beyond excellent
screw up. They say dumb things. They — on the Holocaust are silent when it
should be allowed to take responsibil- comes to speaking up for Israel.
ity for their words, correct them, and The only two celebrities in Hollywood
move on. whom I know to be stalwart defenders of
This is especially true — and here I Israel at great personal expense is Rose-
cite the second thing — if they are seen anne Barr and Jon Voight, whom I have
as having put themselves on the line known for nearly three decades. And Jon
for Israel. isn’t even Jewish!
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the author of 30 books, including his most recent, “The
Israel Warrior.” Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
Advertising Coordinator
Jane Carr
Production Manager
Jerry Szubin
Founder
Morris J. Janoff (1911–1987)
Account Executives
Peggy Elias
Graphic Artists
Deborah Herman
Editor Emeritus
Meyer Pesin (1901–1989)
Bob O'Brien
Robin Frizzell City Editor
Brenda Sutcliffe
Mort Cornin (1915–1984)
Administrative Assistant Editorial Consultant
Jenna Sutcliffe Max Milians (1908-2005)
International Media Placement Secretary
P.O. Box 7195 Jerusalem 91077 Ceil Wolf (1914-2008)
Tel: 02-6252933, 02-6247919 Editor Emerita
Fax: 02-6249240 Rebecca Kaplan Boroson
Israeli Representative

What accounts for Jewish recalcitrance to speak up
for the Jewish state?
Three things.
The first is the culture of conformity in Hollywood.
Think about it. In Hollywood everyone tries to look
alike and think alike. Take an actor who will get up at
the Academy Awards and call Trump a jerk. Everyone
will clap. Everyone.
Now, surely there is one person there out of a thou-
sand who supported Trump, no? But they would
never admit it. And the same is true of anything else
which is controversial, like Israel.
Israel is controversial because the world is not used,
nor comfortable, to seeing Jews fight back. Indeed, the
world is mystified that Jews are currently fighting back
so ferociously. Whether it’s pushing legislation in the
United States to boycott supporters of BDS, or watch-
ing the IDF now attack Iranian bases in Syria, Israel
and the Jews are tired of being targets.
Hollywood loves making films about Jews as dis-
empowered victims. But willful Jews who fight back,
unless they’re in the Warsaw Ghetto, died in Holly-
wood depictions along with Paul Newman in “Exodus.”
The second factor is that Hollywood loves consen-
sus and shuns controversy. A politician can win an
election with 51 percent of the vote. But an actor or
actress feels that they need 85 percent approval rating
in order to win at the box office. The last thing they
want to do is lose audience numbers by putting their
neck on the line for the Jewish state.
And the third reason suffers from a severe case of
underdogma. Hollywood loves the underdog, the
weak victim who is persecuted. And amazingly, Hol-
lywood has decided that the 400 million oil-rich Arabs
who surround Israel are the underdogs to Israel, the
superpower. Now normally this could be seen as a
compliment. Wow, the Jews finally have power. But
Hollywood depicts Israel as abusing its power.
Of course, Hamas is not an innocent victim but a
vile and genocidal group of terrorists who persecute
the Palestinians under their authoritarian rule even
more than they menace Israel. Hezbollah is nothing
but an Iranian proxy army and to believe that Iran —
with its nuclear ambitions and vast oil reserves — is
anyone’s victim is just silly. As for the Palestinians,
they are brutalized by their dictator Mahmoud Abbas,
who is now 10 years past the date he was supposed to
face an election, and has made his sons oligarchs of
Palestinian wealth.
Which leads to the following conclusion. Israelis
appreciate people like Roseanne Barr because they
are amazed that they actually exist. That the occa-
sional Hollywood celebrity who will speak up for
Israel regardless of the consequences actually exists.
Thousands of stories have now been written about
my trip to Israel with Roseanne. A huge number have
appeared in the Israeli press.
Which just proves the point. That even if you make a
mistake, as long as you sincerely apologize and repent,
and as long as you fight for a great cause, good people
will support you and salute you.
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.
JS-41*
Opinion
Jewish values are American values
M
y son began singing “Happy Birth- tzedakah, giving to those in need, from their allow-
day” when we lit the Shabbat candles ances, and we can talk openly about the places where
at home a couple of weeks ago, and I we donate. Judaism gives us guides for how and where
added a mental check mark to my guilt to give money. Let’s enable our children to come up
list. I couldn’t get it together enough to ensure that with a #GivingTuesday list. The procrastinators among
the ritual of lighting Shabbat candles happened every us can spend New Year’s Eve with our children creat-
week in front of my toddler. When the female rabbi’s ing a list of organizations where we want to make our
kid does not recognize candle lighting as a Jewish rit- year-end donations. Set aside birthday or b’nei mitz-
ual, we have a problem. vah money so our children can decide where to send
Rather than continue to beat myself up about this, it. In Mishneh Torah, Matanot L’Aniyim 9:3, Rambam
however, I saw it as an opportunity to connect to other wrote, “We have never seen or heard of a Jewish com-
parents who are doing their best to bring Jewish ritu- munity without a tzedakah fund.” Giving money to
als into the home while scheduling playdates, math benefit others in need is most definitely a Jewish value.
tutors, dance, and soccer. The experience helped me When we see our children reading, whether it’s a
to realize how our modern liberal values tend to be in children’s book, a graphic novel, or Teen Vogue, we
concert with and driven by Jewish values. We can find can comment casually that Jews, as a literature-based
ways to live both sets of values at the same time. people, have great respect for books. We can say this
While balancing the demands of a full life in Amer- at story time with our little ones, whether the books
ica, we can fall into the trap of viewing Judaism and are Jewish or not. The Torah is our core and the rab-
secular life as separate, when they really bis created bodies of literature to help
can and should work together. When we us better understand the meaning of the
delegate Judaism to the synagogue, we Torah. The Jewish love of literature and
miss opportunities to show our children commitment to literacy provides us with
how we live Jewishly. In fact, the origins many rich texts.
of many of our values stem from our Jew- We can teach our children to pause
ish heritage. Identifying everyday occur- before they post on social media or
rences as steeped in Jewish practices share a negative story that bolsters them
integrates our Jewish identities with our momentarily. The Babylonian Talmud,
secular identities. When we articulate in Arachin 15b, teaches us that gossip
our values and how we allocate our time, Rabbi Ariel kills three people, “the one who speaks
we often find that our modern liberal val- Russo the gossip, the one who accepts (hears)
ues tend to be in concert with and driven the gossip, and the one about whom it
by our Jewish values. is said.” Gossip or bullying of any kind
Here are a few examples of ways in which we can is expressly condemned in the Jewish tradition. Point
bridge the Jewish/secular divide and teach our chil- out gossip, lashon harah in Hebrew, when you hear it,
dren that our religious identities drive our actions. and try to avoid it at all times and especially when our
When scheduling playdates and celebrations, artic- children are listening.
ulate that family and friendships are core to Jewish Bring our children with us to cook for a kiddush
practice and some practices are impossible without luncheon or to help prepare a Shabbat or weekday
it. We celebrate joyous occasions together, as a com- meal. Almost every Jewish gathering involves food.
munity, or in Hebrew a kehillah, to reinforce the idea We observe the mitzvah, commandment, of partak-
that there is a social component to Judaism. We need a ing in a festive meal at a brit milah as well as the
gathering of 10 people, in Hebrew a minyan, to say cer- practice of bringing food to the mourner. Food is one
tain prayers and to read from the Torah. At life cycle of the first ways we nurture our babies outside the
events, houses of mourning, and prayer services, we womb. It taps into our primal instinct to care for the
welcome friends to become part of our community. people we love. Just as God provided the Israelites
Friendships are a Jewish value. with manna in the wilderness, we too use food as a
When bringing your child to a protest, rally, or a way to nourish one another.
community vigil, emphasize that our core Passover When we take a good look at our daily “secular”
narrative of having once been in slavery drives us to activities, we acknowledge that our actions often are
want to protect all marginalized groups. Rabbi Abra- rooted in Jewish tradition, and that Judaism does not
ham Joshua Heschel’s famous axiom, “my legs were have to be confined to the synagogue between 9 a.m.
praying,” which he said to describe his march from and 1 p.m. on Saturdays. We can turn to God and
Selma to Montgomery with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Judaism without giving up Western humanism. The
King Jr., has biblical and rabbinic support as we Jewish faith is full of morals and rituals that affirm
read “do not stand idly by the blood of your neigh- modern culture.
bor” in Leviticus 19:16 and “you too must befriend The next time my toddler sings “Happy Birthday”
the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of at candle lighting, I will affirm that we celebrate
Egypt.” in Deuteronomy 10:19. The history of Jews Shabbat and birthdays with our family, because both
from ancient times protecting the ger, the stranger, to are Jewish values.
modern protests with signs like “This is the moment
I trained for in Hebrew school” — a sign displayed at Ariel Russo, the rabbi of CSI Nyack, was educated
an aiport protest in response to an executive order by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and
on immigration in 2017 — reaffirm the Jewish com- inspired by Camp Ramah. In her spare time she
mitment to human rights. wrangles her kids into car seats and explores the lower
We can help our children to set aside money for Hudson region with her husband.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 41

Opinion
The thirteenth month: An appreciation
T
his year, an additional month of
holiday whitespace separates
the usual four weeks between
Tu B’Shvat and Purim.
We are in a Jewish leap year, with 13
instead of 12 lunar months, one of seven in
every 19-year cycle. (The technical term is
“embolismic” or “intercalated” year, but
the traditional Hebrew, “shana me’uberet”
— a pregnant year — may be the most David S.
user-friendly.) Zinberg
The need for an occasional 13th month
arises from a major discrepancy between
solar and lunar cycles. On average, there
are roughly 29 1/2 days between new moons. But 12 lunar
months add up to only 354 days, 11 short of the (again,
roughly) 365 1/4 of the solar year. Without periodic adjust-
ment, the lunar months would march relentlessly back-
ward through the seasons, making it difficult for ancient
Near Eastern farmers to prepare for critical events on the
(solar) agricultural calendar like when to sow grain.
Furthermore, the Torah dates the holidays — except
for Shavuot — by the day of the month. On an uncor-
rected lunar calendar, the festivals might fall in any
season. Backsliding months especially would inter-
fere with the observance of Passover, whose first day
always must fall in the spring.
The solution is to insert a second Adar into the calen-
dar — to intercalate — to compensate for the lagging lunar
months. In rabbinic times, before the wide adoption of
a fixed calendar, intercalation was determined by a Jew-
ish court each year, as needed, based on multiple factors
including the (predictable) first day of spring, the ripening
Tracing the path of gossip — and learning from it
W
hile we were away on
vacation, my son decided
to conduc t a soc ial
experiment.
He is going to tell certain people a spe-
cific, detailed story, and he is going to
track the way it spreads, based on how
the information makes its way back to
him. His theory is that there is much to
learn about how people talk about people Cheryl Weiner
and situations when you study the path Rosenberg
that information takes, and how a story
morphs as it makes this journey.
As a community lay leader and an
elected official, I no longer am shocked by the rumor
mill. Unfortunately for all of us, it is much easier to try to
influence situations and discredit people with personal
gossip than it is actually to debate the important issues
at hand. We see this all the way up the ranks, as even
the president prefers to tweet about his opponents’
personal lives rather than take on issues of real grav-
ity, issues that once they are debated and fleshed out
have the potential to affect real change. Though most
complex issues take compromise on both sides to solve,
surely this is preferable to mud-slinging in the name of
staunchly protecting ideals.
42 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
JS-42*
of the barley crop and fruit trees, and the
condition of the roads leading to Jerusalem
on which Passover pilgrims depended. In
theory, the court could decide to add an
Adar II as late as the final day of Adar I, only
15 days before the expected date of Pass-
over. (Ttoday, depending on your shopping
habits, that decision might either be a bless-
ing or a nightmare.)
It’s virtually impossible to maintain such
a high level of calendrical uncertainty, and
we long since have moved to a fixed calen-
dar that includes a perpetual intercalation
cycle. According to a Geonic tradition, in
359 CE the patriarch Hillel II revealed and mandated those
rules, once and for all, for Jews around the world. (The
reality is more complicated, as controversies continued
well into the 10th century.)
Hillel’s calendar was based on the Metonic cycle, already
in use for centuries in neighboring civilizations. In ancient
Babylonia, for example, Nisanu, Ayaru, Simanu, Du’uzu,
Abu, Ululu, Tishritum, Arakhsamna, Kislimu, Tebetu, Sha-
batu, and Adaru made up the regular 12-month year, with
a second Adaru intercalated in six of every 19 years. (In the
17th year of the cycle, a second Ululu was added instead of
Adaru.) The Metonic cycle is named after the mathemati-
cian Meton of Athens (fifth century BCE), who tried but
failed to convince the Athenians to use it. This system later
was officially adopted by the Seleucid Greek empire.
That the Hebrew months sound conspicuously like
their Babylonian counterparts is no coincidence. The Jeru-
salem Talmud already recognized that “the names of the
months came up with them from Babylonia,” since they
Discourse apparently no longer is on
the table in political life. If there is some-
one whose ideals butt against with our
own, instead of working through it like
the professionals we were elected to be,
many of us take the low road of spread-
ing lies and rumors or worse, threats, to
get what we want. Personally, I would
rather lose the battle and keep my integ-
rity intact fighting for my values than
attack someone’s reputation rather than
that person’s ideas. It is my duty as a
trusted leader, as well as a human being,
to understand that I will be judged on my
actions and not on the points I earned for my team.
After hearing my son’s elaborate plan to find the
path of information-sharing that gossip can take, I
am even more acutely aware that the next genera-
tion is watching. Our children learn how to navigate
the complexities of debate, dialogue, and hopefully
values-based compromise from us. We can teach our
children — the next generation of leaders—to fight
dirty no matter the cost, or we can teach them to
respect everyone, even their opponents, and main-
tain the chance that they will find common ground
for the good of all.
appear only in biblical books written during or after the
Babylonian exile.
But beyond month names, the entire underlying
framework of our lunisolar calendar appears to be —
from a narrow perspective — of “foreign” origin. There
is no reference in the Bible to a second Adar, and while
the calendar’s rules are halachically motivated, it is
implausible that the Metonic cycle was an indepen-
dent rabbinic innovation.
Still, the story of the 13th month is a uniquely Jewish one.
Like the lunisolar calendar itself, its months in a per-
petual state of falling behind and running ahead of the
seasons, Jewish society always has been engaged in the
push and pull of resisting and embracing its surround-
ing cultures. Over the centuries, the calendar — like many
aspects of Jewish life — has been the subject of periodic
refinement, and occasional controversy, as it adapted
to new scientific, economic, and social realities, while
remaining loyal to religious tradition.
“With the arrival of Adar, we increase our rejoicing,”
goes the talmudic adage. We celebrate Purim in Adar II,
because it is considered the true Adar, while Adar I is the
bonus month. Although 14 Adar I appears on some calen-
dars as “Purim Katan” (Minor Purim), the full observance
and joy of Purim belongs to Adar II.
But there is good reason to celebrate early this year, and
every leap year, in honor of the unsung Adar I. We can
take great pride in our intercalated month, designed to
synchronize the moon with the sun, and Jerusalem with
Babylon, if only temporarily and imperfectly.
David S. Zinberg lives in Teaneck with his wife and three
sons. He works in financial services.
If the government shutdown has taught us any-
thing, I hope it has taught us that name-calling and
stubbornness benefits no one. Personal attacks and
gossip serve only to degrade important conversa-
tions to a level where nothing can be gained and no
one comes out clean.
It is my sincere hope that our children will do bet-
ter than we have in improving peace in the world, but
they will have only the tools that we give them. I wake
up every day hoping to model for my children how to
achieve our goals while maintaining our values, a bal-
ance that I hope they struggle far less to realize than
I do. I welcome each of you — debate me, challenge
me, disagree with me. Help me refine my thinking
while working through the important issues that will
improve our world. Help me show the next generation
that we can disagree with one another and still work
toward a better future.
Cheryl Weiner Rosenberg lives in Englewood, where she
is a council member representing Ward 1 and a member
of Kehilat Kesher Synagogue. She’s the senior director of
marketing and communications for Prizmah: Center for
Jewish Day Schools, the immediate past president of Ben
Porat Yosef in Paramus, and a long-time activist in the
areas of civil liberties, equality, and women’s rights.

Living without a smartphone for two full weeks
T
oday, when everything you
do revolves around technol-
ogy and your smartphone,
can you believe that someone
could give up her phone for more than
one day?
Well, surprisingly, the answer is yes.
I am a 14-year-old girl who just started
high school in September of 2018. As I
started high school, I was on my iPhone Felicia Stendig
constantly. Every time I got a break
from class, I always found myself on my
phone. I honestly didn’t realize how often I was play-
ing games or on social media until one day when we
received a one-hour break from class.
I didn’t want to be on my phone because I had been
on social media practically the whole day, and I had
caught up with all my friends. Shockingly, I found
myself bored, and I tried extremely hard not to look
or notice that I even had my phone in my possession.
This was tremendously challenging for me to accom-
plish, so within five minutes into the hourlong break,
I asked one of my friends who I trusted to hold my
phone for the 55 minutes we had left in the break.
My friend replied, “Sorry, I don’t want to be in
charge of it, in case something should happen to it.”
After that response I was a little discouraged,
although to my surprise my principal was listening.
She volunteered to hold onto my phone for me for the
remainder of the break. I said “sure” to her kind offer, answered, “You’ll have your phone back soon.” The
but of course I was a little hesitant about giving my
phone up. But what was the worst that could happen?
As I relinquished my phone, I was tentative, but I
knew I had to occupy myself with anything except my
phone. For the rest of the hour, I started to talk to my have it for one single night, but the entire weekend!
teachers and let them learn a little about me, while I
learned a little more about them.
Finally the hour was over, and I could receive my
phone, although when I asked for it, I didn’t really feel continue my streaks on Snapchat and be up to date
that I wanted it. It was more the peer pressure that
made it seem to me as though I wanted it, so I asked
my principal if she could hold it until the end of that
day, and she was more than happy to do so. At the end
of the day I felt so accomplished!
The following day my principal asked if she could
hold my phone. This time, though, instead of my not
having it for a couple of hours, I wouldn’t see it for
the complete school day. My school day is about nine
hours, so this was a big deal for me.
Sometimes we need walls
I have two comments about last week’s editorial
(“Bridges and walls”).
Firstly: I think Joanne’s son-in-law’s invitation to a
brilliant and righteous man is very laudable. However,
I believe that the guest should not be asked to “share”
ethical connections (similarities) between our two dis-
tinct faiths. Several faiths have adopted our unique
Jewish ethics. The distinguished guest can describe his
JS-43*
When the school day first started, I
was perfectly fine without my phone,
though as the day continued, I found
myself challenged because everyone
else had their phones and technology.
My friends were on social media and on
games, while I had none of that sort of
entertainment to occupy myself with.
Once I successfully completed one
day without having my phone, I kept
handing it over to my principal for the
entirety of my school day. This became
a common routine for me, and I had to start thinking
of other ways to keep myself busy while we were on
breaks, so I started drawing, reading, and even revis-
ing some of my uncompleted work while my other
classmates were on their phones.
As I disconnected from my phone and other tech-
nology devices, this routine of occupying myself dur-
ing school hours started to become more natural, and
I had to be reminded by others around me to take my
phone home. One ordinary day of school, I was off
my phone and occupied with other work until the end
of the day. I left the school building and was heading
home, when suddenly I had realized I forgotten my
phone! At this point in my trip home, it was too late to
turn back. I was shocked and scared, and as soon as I
got home, I rushed to my computer and emailed my
principal, who still was holding my phone for me. She
following day — a Friday — was extremely busy with
school work, and I forgot to take my phone back again
for the second day in a row. I was extremely frustrated
with myself, because this time not only would I not
I emailed my principal for the second time, but
even though I was upset about forgetting my phone,
I started to understand that yes, I wouldn’t be able to
on Instagram. But I decided that social media wasn’t
going to run my life, and that I would survive without
my phone for a few days. It was a great way for me to
unplug from what’s trending and going viral.
When Monday came along, I was refreshed by not
having my phone and excited to tell all my friends that
I had accomplished the dreadful feat of not having a
phone for more than 100 hours! Now, as I have proven
to myself that I can live the typical life of a 14-year-old
without a phone, I leave it with my principal overnight
admiration and acceptance of them. He can accurately
point out that his faith incorporated and canonized the
Hebrew Bible (Torah). Besides Jewish ethics (see Ethics
of the Fathers) there is no commonality between the
two separate theologies.
In all sincerity, I do not mean to imply any hostility
(disrespect) towards the guest or his faith.
Secondly: I share Joanne’s love of bridges. But I believe
that bridges can only connect mutually loving realities.
Opinion
As I disconnected
from my phone and
other technology
devices, this routine
of occupying myself
during school hours
started to become
more natural, and I
had to be reminded
by others around
me to take my
phone home.
during the week and the weekends. In the evenings,
since I don’t have my phone, I pursue my love and pas-
sion for gymnastics, tumbling, flipping, and stretching
all night long.
Although I may not have my phone, I do have an iPad
and a Macbook, so I can still go on Google and YouTube,
but I can’t Snapchat, check Instagram, call, text, or
WhatsApp my friends. Throughout this journey of relin-
quishing my phone for hours, days, weeks — and possi-
bly even months — I learned that you may not realize or
understand the severity of peer pressure and how much
it can affect your decision-making as a person.
In the beginning of this self-experiment with not
having my phone my friends and classmates said, “You
should get your phone back. You need it. What do you
do without it?” I respond — and I believe — that you
don’t need a phone to survive in the 21st century. All
you need is a loving, caring atmosphere, where you
can be yourself and let your inner self shine, and not
hide behind your phone on social media. If you do
this, if you do hide behind your phone, you can miss
out on life’s biggest opportunities.
Felicia Stendig of Riverdale, N.Y., is a freshman at
the Idea School at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
in Tenafly.
Letter
When (hidden or obvious) enemies are present they
must be held apart by an effective barrier (wall) until
they are neutralized. I recall in Homer’s Iliad that the
ancient Trojans were lethally threatened by the Grecian
enemy. They foolishly tore down their defensive wall to
allow access to the magnificent horse. Their enemy then
prevailed.
Jerrold Terdiman MD
Woodcliff Lake
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 43
 JS-44*

Keeping Kosher

Shop at Cedar Market

for all your Super Bowl needs
Kosher Market Cedar Market in Teaneck has everything you need to throw an epic Super
Bowl party this weekend. That includes lots of meat, chicken wings, slid-
Meats ✡ Chicken ✡ Deli ✡ Appetizing ers, and hot dogs, all perfect for the sports lover in your family. The
Prepared Foods ✡ Groceries ✡ Frozen Foods ✡ Catering sushi department will make football-themed Super Bowl platters, pic-
67 A. East Ridgewood Ave. · Paramus, NJ 07652 tured, and there’s a huge selection of breads, dips, drinks, and snacks.
201-262-0030 You’ll find everything you need there.
www.harolds.com Cedar Market has a variety of new items in every department. The
MON-WED 8-6; THURS 8-7; FRI 8-4; SUN 8-3; CLOSED SATURDAY
UNDER RABBINICAL SUPERVISION team strives to go above and beyond their customers’ needs and offer
great customer service. Fruit, vegetable, cake, and sushi platters always
are available to order.
Follow Cedar Market on Facebook and Instagram to see new items, tast- Super Bowl sushi platter
ings, flash sales, and more. If you are not already signed up for its weekly COURTESY CEDAR MARKET

Foster Village DINE

IN OR
savings email, sign up at www.thecedarmarket.com. Cedar Market is at 646
Cedar Lane in Teaneck. For more information, call (201) 855-8500 or email
Kosher Delicatessen TAKE
OUT info@thecedarmarket.com.

APPETIZERS · SALADS
SOUPS · ENTREES
SIDE DISHES · DESSERTS
Hawthorne bakery is kosher dairy and nut-free
Isaura Bakery owner Nanci Neves
Great Food, Great Service, Reasonable Prices Kriney understands how hard it
469 S. Washington Ave. • Bergenfield, N.J. is to find quality fresh-baked
201-384-7100 gluten-free items and she works
hard to give her customers the
best. That is why Isaura Bakery’s
production kitchen now is kosher
dairy certified by OK Kosher; it is
Serving The Kosher Way Since 1976
also nut-free.
In order to better serve the local Flavored bialys.
Jewish community, the bakery
offers a wide variety of traditional
sweets and breads, including bagels, challah, and linzer
tarts. Isaura’s bakers test recipes every day in order
DELI • RESTAURANT • CATERING
to bring new and delicious items to their customers —
croissants will be available soon.
Avi & Haim 894 Prospect Street
New and trendy items include bialys, focaccia, and
Proprietors Glen Rock, NJ
Under Rabbinical Supervision Tel: 201-445-1186
www.koshernosh.com Fax: 201-670-5674
bread boules. Bialys and focaccia
are available in three flavors on
Friday and Saturday: ricotta with
fresh tomatoes and basil, onion
and poppy seed, and a vegetar-
ian option that changes every
few weeks.
Isaura Bakery also offers red
velvet cupcakes, designer cook-
ies, red velvet/vanilla cake pops,
COURTESY ISAURA BAKERY red velvet brownies, cake for
two, and red velvet/chocolate
parfait cups. Call ahead for large or special orders.
Isaura Bakery is open Wednesdays to Saturdays
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is at 204 Diamond Bridge Ave-
nue in Hawthorne. For information, call (973) 304-
4500 or go to www.ibglutenfree.com.

CSI Nyack cooks seven grain granola

for local soup kitchen
Congregation Sons of Israel in
19-09 Fair Lawn Ave.
Upper Nyack held a Tu B’Shvat
Seven Species Granola
BRIAN DALTHORP, POPSTUDIOS

fair lawn, nj 07410

201 796-6565 tel
201 796-8501 fax celebration focused on giving 1 cup barley flakes
back to the local community. 2 cups rolled oats
The synagogue teamed up with 2 cups puffed wheat cereal
1/3 cup date syrup
Tamara Duker Freuman, origi-
1/3 cup olive oil
nally of Teaneck. Ms. Duker,
2 tablespoons pomegranate powder
a local author and dietitian, of 2 teaspoons vanilla
FIRST PLACE FIRST PLACE
BAKERY CHALLAH the Bloated Belly Whisperer, 2 teaspoons cinnamon
7 Time Winner 9 Time Winner
cooked and donated 7 Species Tamara Duker 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
We Are Nut Free! Granola to Grace’s Kitchen, a
volunteer operation housed
Freuman 1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
8 dried figs, chopped small
and supported by Grace Epis- 1/2 cup raisins
copal Church in Nyack. The organization provides a
healthy hot breakfast to the Nyack community every Combine barley, oats, wheat cereal, olive oil, date
syrup, pomegranate powder, vanilla, cinnamon,
Thursday morning. Volunteers serve food on china with
and salt in a bowl. Stir until grains are well coat-
linen. Members of CSI Nyack felt that one way to con-
ed. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 35 minutes.
nect to the holiday of Tu B’Shvat was to give back to the Set aside and cool. Combine pumpkin seeds, figs,
greater community. By making granola, it deepened the and raisins with the baked grains. Toss well until
Challah · Pastries · cookies · bobkas · pies & More... connection of the holiday to Israel in a tangible way. The well combined. Store in airtight container.
WHERE QUALITY AND FRESHNESS COUNT! seven species — wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegran- RECIPE COURTESY TAMARA DUKER FREUMAN MS, RD, CDN

www.zadiesbakeshop.com · zadiesbakeshop@yahoo.com ates, olives, and dates — are agricultural products native
to ancient Israel, as outlined in Deuteronomy 8:8.
44 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
 JS-45*

Keeping Kosher

Kosher food and wine experience in Manhattan

Throngs of people are expected to
attend the 13th annual Kosher Food &
Wine Experience hosted by Royal Wine
Corp. on Monday, February 11, at Pier
60, Chelsea Piers (21st Street, west of
the West Side Highway, in Manhattan).
The doors will open to the trade from
noon to 4 p.m., and to the public from
5:30 to 9:30.
Known as a destination for wine and
food lovers alike, the KFWE offers a
sneak preview of the trendiest restau-
rants and the latest innovations from
the kitchens of today’s hottest chefs
and caterers — plus an opportunity to
be among the first to sample hundreds
of new top-shelf wines and spirits from
around the world, many with 90+ rat-
ings. The KFWE will include Israeli
wines from six-time NBA All-Star and
Israeli League All-Star Amar’e Stou-
From last year’s KFWE.
PHOTO PROVIDED
began in 2006 as an intimate wine-tast-
ing for a handful of guests. It quickly
exploded by popular demand and
grows every year in terms of atten-
dance, exhibitors, venues, and the
variety of products on offer. Today’s
KFWE spans New York and Miami to
more than 2,500 industry professionals, force behind the kosher wine industry.
consumers, and press. Winemakers are more skilled at their craft
Josh Greenstein, head of the Israeli — many hold degrees in enology from
Wine Producers Association, says, “While highly respected universities — producers
Israel has been making wines for over are focusing on their particular region’s
4,000 years, it’s only been in the last 10 unique characteristics, and famous estates
years or so that they’ve started to become are seeking out kosher partners to produce
more mainstream. Feature articles in Wine kosher vintages of their famed wines.”
Spectator and Wine Enthusiast have cer- As a result, he notes, “Kosher wines
tainly helped, as well as the consistent from around the world are on par with
release of 90+ rated wines from many of their non-kosher counterparts and main-
the producers.” stream America is taking note.”
Gabe Geller, director of PR and wine edu- The event is expected to sell out; a lim-
cation for Royal Wine Corp., adds, “While ited number of VIP tickets are available.
maintaining kosher certifications is of the For more information or to buy tickets,
utmost importance, quality is the driving go to TheKFWE.com.
GLUTEN FREE, NUT FREE KOSHER BAKERY!

demire and new award-winning wines
from Israel, California, and France.
The Kosher Food & Wine Experience
♥ ♥
Place your Valentine’s Day order by Saturday, Feb. 9
Los Angeles and London. In New York
Cupcakes · Heart-Shaped Cookies · Cake for Two
alone last year, KFWE showcased more
than 500 wines and spirits, attracting
Parfait Cups · Red Velvet Cake Pops & Brownies and more...

Wines for Purim and Pesach NEW! 3 Varieties of Bialys

The men’s club at the Jewish Center
of Teaneck hosts an Israeli wine sale
and tasting on Saturday, February 9, at
7:30 p.m. Israeli winemakers will be on
hand to answer questions. Taste doz-
ens of Israeli wines, nosh on assorted
fine cheeses, and order wine at a
special JCOT discount through Wine
Country of Bergenfield. Open to every-
one 21 and older. There will also be an
art fair with Israeli artists on site. The
shul is at 70 Sterling Place. For informa-
tion, call (201) 833-0515 or go to jcot.
org.
All baking from scratch
and done on premises
204 Diamond Bridge Ave., Hawthorne, NJ • 973 - 304 - 4500
www.ibglutenfree.com • Wed. – Sat. 9 am – 6 pm
Production kitchen is certifi ed kosher dairy by OK Kosher
Store supervised by Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg/Kosher supervision
Only prepackaged pastry products bearing OKD symbol are certified by OK Kosher. All breads are kosher dairy but not certified by OK Kosher

R.C.B.C

24-28 Fair Lawn Ave, Fair Lawn, NJ STORE HOURS

Sunday 8:15am – 8pm
201-475-0077 Mon – Tue 8:15am – 7:30pm

Bring the taste of Italy to your table info@food-showcase.com Wednesday 8:15am – 9pm
Thursday 8:15am – 9:30pm
Follow us on and Friday 8:15am – 3:30pm

Tuscanini Foods is importing a new

lineup of gourmet food products from
foods from Tuscanini include organic
sparkling beverages, bronze cut Ital-
SPECIALS
Italy that use only the best quality ian pasta, balsamic vinegar glaze, and Near Pikante Classic
Platinum
Mikee
East Hummus Fruit Butternut
ingredients. All of the products, dis- pasta sauces. Look for them at local Rice 25oz. Water Classic Squash/
Instant Heirloom/
tributed by New Jersey-based Kayco, kosher markets and in supermarkets. Pilaf $5.99 All flavors
$2.29 Coffee French Onion
Original $4.79 $9.99
are produced with natural ingredi- This recipe is from Kosher.com: $1.69 Soup $6.29
ents and are certified OU kosher. New Pardas Tam Tams Of Tov Tenli
Heinz
Balsamic roasted potatoes and shallots Chocolates
Container $5.99 Squeeze
Ketchup
Original/
Everything
2 for
Thin Sliced
Turkey
Breast
Gummy
Dolphin/Lip/
Strawberry
44.oz Oven Roasted/
3–4 tablespoons Gefen Olive Oil coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper $5 $4.99
$3.89 Mexican/Smoked
$3.99
2 pounds fingerling or small Yukon and bake uncovered for 40 minutes. $2.99
gold potatoes, skin on, scrubbed Halfway through cooking toss the Wissotzky Gefen Blinzi Cheese Amstelvelder Crispy
6 shallots, peeled potatoes to ensure even browning. Tea Soup Blintzes 4 pk. Premium Green
2 for $5 Mandel $6.99 Gouda Fruits
3–4 fresh sprigs thyme (leaves only) Bake until fork tender and crispy 2 for Cheese 0.36oz
2 tablespoons Tuscanini Balsamic golden brown. $5
4.4oz 4 for
$5.99 $5
Glaze, plus more for drizzling Remove from oven and sprinkle
kosher salt with a dash more salt and pepper Garlic & Herbs Turkey Roll White Spatchock
Marinated $6.29lb Chicken
freshly ground Gefen black pepper, and drizzle with balsamic glaze as Thin Sliced Only
Only
to taste desired. Serve piping hot. Chicken Beef $2.99lb
Cutlet Chulant
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Note: Can be prepared and re- Only Pastrami Raw
Toss the olive oil with the shal- heated up to three days in advance. $6.99lb Only $10.99lb
‫בס”ד‬
lots and potatoes and place on a Store covered in the fridge and re- Chicken Wings
Chicken Wings Chicken
Chicken Wingets Chicken
Chicken Drummets
Drummets
(Family
(Family
$1.59 lb.
$1.59 lb.only
only $.99
$.99lb.
lb. only
only $2.35
$2.35 lb. onlyPack
large cooking sheet or baking pan. heat uncovered till warmed through. lb. only PackOnly)
Only)

Beef Patties Buffalo Wings

Buffalo Wings Buffalo
Buffalo Drummets
Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the Shushy’s variation: Don’t limit $5.99
$5.99 lb.
lb. only 2.49 lb.
lb. only
Drummets
$3.49 lb.
$3.49 lb.only
only
Specials, Sunday February 3 only. While supply last.
potatoes and drizzle the balsamic yourself to potatoes — try any root
Our specialty is customer service • Specials are good until February 17th
glaze over as well. Toss again to vegetable here. RECIPE BY SHUSHY TURIN No returns unseasonable items

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 45

 JS-46*

Dear Rabbi Zahavy

Your talmudic advice column

Dear Rabbi Zahavy, many lists of the top apoc- an alternate date. “And many peoples shall go and say:
When will the world come to an end? alyptic movies of all times. The leaders of the Bo ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the moun-
Counting Down in Cresskill The recent Netflix film in and Peep sect, known tain of the Lord,
this genre, “How it Ends,” also as Heaven’s Gate, To the house of the God of Jacob; And
Dear Counting, recounts a mysterious sci- for example, went on for He will teach us of His ways, and we will
At first glance, that’s a good question. As ence fiction apocalypse, years making predictions walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go
you may know, that question is a popular but it leaves the ending to their followers of end- forth the law, And the word of the Lord
meme in imaginative literature, drama dangling with an unfulfill- times, resurrections, and from Jerusalem.
and films, and a prominent theme in ing and ambiguous secular heavenly ascent. When “And He shall judge between the
religious teachings. It’s not automatically vision of the end of days. Rabbi Tzvee each phase passed and no nations and shall decide for many peo-
an outlandish question. But it raises my During the Cold War era, Zahavy salvation ensued, they did ples; And they shall beat their swords
concerns that you ask it. end-of-time movies cen- not disband and go back into plowshares, and their spears into
My first trepidation is that you ask this tered around global con- to their towns. They recal- pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up
question because you are in a depressed flicts and inevitable battles. Sometimes culated and continued their frenetic cul- sword against nation, neither shall they
or agitated disposition and looking for an this took on a quirky, comical form, as in tic anticipations. learn war anymore.”
escape. Take a look in the mirror. Intro- the classic 1964 film starring Peter Sell- Finally, after more than two decades This vision has such universal over-
spect about your own state of mind. Ask ers and George C. Scott, “Dr. Strangelove of activities, in March 1997 police dis- tones that you can see it inscribed on a
people close to you if they have any con- Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and covered the bodies of 39 members of wall outside of the United Nations build-
cerns about your mood. Love the Bomb.” In that film one insane the Heaven’s Gate sect. They had par- ing in Manhattan.
Are you unhappy at work or at home? general activates a path to the nuclear ticipated in a mass suicide — believing A more complete picture of our mes-
Are you facing medical challenges and destruction of the world and a host of this was their way to reach the salvation sianic visions also includes our dramatic
seek escape from them? Are you looking politicians and generals try to avert it. of an extraterrestrial spacecraft follow- extra-biblical belief in the resurrection
for some sort of ultimate external reso- We Jews have produced our own seri- ing the Comet Hale–Bopp. This extreme of the dead. This always has been a dif-
lutions to your problems? If you detect ous classic stories over the centuries of example shows the terrifying power of ficult notion for me to visualize (even
any of these circumstances in your life, apocalypses and end-times. the apocalyptic imagination of end-times after I saw Michael Jackson’s music video
it would be good for you to see a thera- For instance, in the book of Ezekiel and redemption. “Thriller” in 1982).
pist, and not seek to calculate the num- we are told of the future conflict — how Given numerous such past examples, Hence, unlike our apocalyptic visions
ber of hours left in the existence of Gog of the land of Magog and his multi- I’m worried about anyone who asks of the end-times, our more moderate
the universe. tudes will threaten the restored kingdom about and calculates and believes in the messianic hope in a better age — not cal-
Now it may be that you are sound of Israel. Ultimately, the prophet assures imminent end of days. Because when the culated with that much precision and not
in your mood levels, but perhaps you us that the enemies will be destroyed, expected outcome does not materialize, describing violent upheavals — gives peo-
are looking around at the world and and God will establish a new Temple and the seekers of salvation may choose a sad ple solace in times of distress.
see things that genuinely trouble you, dwell among his people in a time of last- and tragic ending of their own making. Bottom line. I’m not big on prognos-
and that you feel you are powerless ing peace. The messianic followers of Jim Jones, tications. I believe we need to live for
to control. Now — coming back to your question. for instance, committed mass suicide in today and plan carefully for tomorrow.
I remember from when I was quite You want me to calculate the end date of 1978 in Jonestown in Guyana. As you may Live then as a good citizen. Take good
young that my grandmother told me the world for you, correct? recall, more than 900 members of the care of yourself. And try to make your
one day in a calm and reassuring voice Let me tell you that even if I could do Peoples Temple died by drinking a pow- worries less global and terrifying.
that she was sure the moshiach — the that (and I cannot), and even if it was dered Kool-Aid mix laced with cyanide. So, to help you tune in to the needs of
redeemer messiah that we Jews have coming up real soon, and even if you sold In our history we have our dramatic immediate life and put away your omi-
been awaiting for millennia — soon will all of your possessions or made other sectarian episodes of false messiahs, nous trepidations and ruminations on
come to redeem us. serious plans for the end of times, that like the Turkish Sephardic rabbi-Kab- the end of the world, I offer you this clos-
What made her sure were the signs of still might be disappointing to you. balist Shabbetai Tzvi, who proclaimed ing thought.
the times that she detected all around us The predicted day and hour could himself as our messiah in 1648, but ulti- Remember that your quarterly New
— particularly what she judged was the come, and the world still could continue mately died in controversy in 1676 after Jersey home property taxes are due
precipitous decline of morality among on as usual. And then what? You would apparently converting to Islam. In his today, February 1. Pay them on time,
young people in our culture. think that then you ought to forsake your heyday many Jews believed he was the and then prepare to pay them again for
End-of-days narratives come in many anxiety-ridden anticipation of the finality authentic messiah. But as we know, his the next quarter on May 1. I’m confi-
forms. Often, they seek to be reassuring, of things and come back down to Earth activities did not result in the salvation dent enough to say that you won’t find
in a strange, unsettling way. In the genre and resume some ordinary form of day- of the world. the world ending before the next pay-
called apocalyptic (meaning: revealing to-day existence. Among the classic Jewish predictors ment is due, and you should plan your
the end), the story told often relates to us But social scientists have studied mil- of end-times we have our prophets, who life accordingly.
that upheavals or cataclysms soon will be lennialists and other messianic cults and mostly are more moderate messianists,
upon us, followed by a change in the way found that when those who predict a spe- predicting not an abrupt end to time but Tzvee Zahavy of Teaneck is a prolific
the world is run. After that, we powerless cific end-time reach that hour and noth- a new era where impressive transforma- author who has published many books
people, who face suffering now, soon will ing changes, they may simply declare tions of human conditions make all of liv- and articles about Judaism and Jewish
be in power. that a calculation error was made and ing better. law. Tzvee has served as professor of
Out on the Internet you can find readjust their ultimate expectations to The prophet Isaiah’s vision is irenic world religions, Talmud, Jewish law
and peaceful, not full of upheaval and codes, Jewish liturgy, Jewish history, Near
The Dear Rabbi Zahavy column offers mindful advice based on talmudic apocalypse, as this passage shows: Eastern and Jewish studies at major U.S.
reasoning and wisdom. The author aspires to be equally open and “And it shall come to pass in the end research universities and seminaries. He
meaningful to all the varieties and denominations of Judaism. You usually of days, that the mountain of the Lord’s received his Ph.D. from Brown University
can find the column here on the first Friday of the month. Please email house shall be established as the top of and his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva
your questions to zahavy@gmail.com the mountains and shall be exalted above University. See his web site www.tzvee.com
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. for more details.

46 Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 1, 2019


Arts & Culture
Roma, the Mexico City setting of Alfonso Cuaron’s
Oscar frontrunner, used to be a Jewish neighborhood
Alan Grabinsky
MEXICO CITY — Alfonso Cuaron’s
film “Roma” already has won two
Golden Globes, and many people
think it will be the first Netflix film to
win the Oscar for best picture.
It is set in the Roma neighborhood
of Mexico City, where Cuaron grew
up, and follows a well-off family and
its beloved housekeeper as they navi-
gate life there in the 1970s, a politi-
cally fraught time for the country and
the city.
Cuaron’s autobiographical film does
not mention that Roma used to be an
important center of Mexican-Jewish
life. Thousands of Syrian Jews lived in
the area from the 1920s to the 1950s,
creating a small version of their Middle
Eastern homeland within its streets
and plazas — and their legacy lives on
there today. Viewers of Cuaron’s film
would have no reason to know it, because
most Jews had moved out of the neighbor-
hood by the ’70s.
The first Jews to arrive in Mexico City
were Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, and
Syrian Jews fleeing the crumbling Otto-
man Empire in the 1910s. They settled in
JS-47*
The interior of the Monte
Sinai synagogue in Mexico
City, built in 1953.
Monica Unikel
Circo Orrin — received permission
from the city’s government to urban-
ize the area. He called the region
Roma, in honor of Rome, the ancient
birthplace of the circus, and named
its streets after the Mexican cities he
had visited with his show.
During those early decades of
development, the neighborhood
became a stage where the global
architectural trends of the early 20th
century — gothic, neogothic, and
later, art nouveau and art deco —
were given a tropical twist. Initially
conceived for a European-influenced
aristocracy, the neighborhood even-
tually became home to an emerging
middle class, after the Mexican Revo-
lution of 1910 to 1917.
That’s when Syrian Jews started to
Mexican Jewish children at the Monte Sinai school, established in 1943 on Zacatecas move in.
Street in Mexico City by Jews from Damascus, Syria. Zihronot Archive/Monte Sinai Community Mexico City’s Syrian Jewry is
unique in that in the 1930s it was
tenements around the La Merced neigh- begun moving into middle-class Roma. divided into two separate communities,
borhood and worked as peddlers in the The Roma neighborhood had been those who were initially from Aleppo (the
city’s downtown. By the late 1920s, when home to a small Aztec town called “Maguen David” community) and those
poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Aztahauacan, in the outskirts of colo- who came from Damascus (the “Monte
Europe started arriving, this first wave nial Mexico City. On Jan. 24, 1902, Walter Sinai” community). Both communities
of immigrants had already established Orrin — an Englishman who created Mex- thrived in Roma, according to a specialist
their businesses, saved some money, and ico’s first circus powered by electricity, See roma page 52
Jewish Standard FEBRUARY 1, 2019 47
 JS-48*

Calendar
Community Torah
Friday  learning in Wyckoff:
FEBRUARY 1 Sweet Tastes of Torah,
the North Jersey
Shabbat in Wyckoff: Board of Rabbis’
Temple Beth Rishon annual community-
hosts Shabbat Kulanu wide evening of study,
— a new Shabbat music, and celebration,
experience for with breakout sessions
everyone — on the first with local rabbis, is at
Friday of each month, Temple Beth Rishon.
at 6:13 p.m. (to evoke Doors open, 6:30 p.m.,
the 613 mitzvot). Music musical Havdalah at
and a story will replace 6:50. 585 Russell Ave.
the sermon. 585 Russell (201) 652-1687, or
Ave. Reservations, sweettastesoftorah. Myron Sugerman
(201) 891-4466 or weebly.com.
Jews and the mob:
www.bethrishon.org. Valley Chabad Center
for Jewish Life
Saturday  presents “The Mob,
The Jews, & Israel — an
FEBRUARY 2 evening with Myron
Sugerman, the last
Jewish gangster, at
a private home in
Woodcliff Lake, 8 p.m.
(201) 476-0157 or www.
valleychabad.org.

Sunday 
FEB. Staff Sergeant Hilla, an IDF active-duty FEBRUARY 3
Tanya Garzia
paramedic, and her commander, Major
7
Prof. Jeffrey
Yehuda, whose life she saved, will discuss Rubenstein Dancing in Pearl River:
Beth Am Temple hosts
their remarkable story of heroism and PHOTO PROVIDED
“Dancing With Our
perseverance. They will give FIDF supporters a Shabbat in Englewood: Stars,” 7 p.m. Friendly
firsthand look into the lives of two soldiers who risk NYU’s Dr. Jeffrey dance competition
Rubenstein discusses pairs shul members
their lives protecting the Jewish homeland. Last his new book, “The Land with professionals
year, Staff Sgt. Hilla, who began her military service of Truth: Talmud Tales, from the Fred Astaire
in 2016 and joined a special paramedics course, Timeless Teachings,” Dance Studio of
during a lunch and learn Bardonia, who also
saved Maj. Yehuda’s life after he was hit in the at Congregation Kol will demonstrate
Rabbi Yehuda Susman
chest by shrapnel. Yehuda’s life-threatening injury HaNeshamah. Services their skills in a special Thoughts on tech
occurred while both soldiers were serving along the are at 9:45 a.m. rsvp@ performance and lead equipment: Rabbi
khnj.org. a group lesson. The
Gaza border during a period of heightened tension 18-piece Reflections
Yehuda Susman,
founding rosh
and protests. “FIDF’s New Jersey chapter has Shabbat in Emerson: Jazz and Swing hayeshiva of Yeshivat
always supported the brave men and women who Rabbi Debra Orenstein Orchestra featuring Eretz HaTzvi, explores
and certified yoga Tanya Garzia will “Alexa, Can I Use You
risk their lives protecting Israel,” FIDF NJ’s director, teacher Andrea Collier play. Raffle, desserts, on Shabbat? –Thoughts
Howard Gases, said. “This event provides a unique offer the chance to wine, and beverages. on Shabbat in the Age
incorporate Jewish (845) 735-5858 or
opportunity for our local supporters to hear first- mindfulness and yoga www.bethamtemple.
of Artificial Intelligence”
for an adult
hand the incredible, heroic story of one young soldier into the traditional org. The snow date is education program at
saving the life of another. Meeting soldiers in person Shabbat service at Saturday, March 2. Congregation Rinat
Congregation B’nai
builds bonds between our local Jewish communities Israel, 10 a.m. Wear
Yisrael in Teaneck,
8:45 a.m. 389 West
and those in Israel, and confirms why we must comfortable clothes Englewood Ave.
support those who protect the Jewish homeland.” and bring a yoga mat (201) 837-2795.
or towel. 53 Palisade
(646) 274-9650 or Howard.Gases@fidf.org. COURTESY FIDF Ave. (201) 265-2272 or
bisrael.com.

48 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019


World Wide Wrap
in Closter: Temple
Emanu-El participates
in the Federation of
Jewish Men’s Clubs’
World Wide Wrap to
spread the mitzvah of
tefillin, 9 a.m. At 10, the
religious school will
assemble snack packs
for the Center for Food
Action. 180 Piermont
Road. (201) 750-9997.
Nitsana
Darshan-Leitner
COURTESY ISRAEL BONDS
Israel Bonds at
Rockleigh: Israel
Bonds Rockland
County’s Women’s
Division holds the
annual Lila Stern
Premiere brunch at the
Rockleigh, 9:30 a.m.
Nitsana Darshan-
Leitner, an activist
Israeli attorney and
a leader in the fight
against Palestinian
and Islamic terror
group financing,
is the speaker.
(845) 405-4028.
Bob Klapisch
Columnist in Teaneck:
Bob Klapisch, formerly
of the Record, gives
a preview of 2019
baseball season,
discusses the Red
Sox World Series
victory, the Hall of
Fame voting results,
and his upcoming
book, for the men’s
club of Congregation
Beth Aaron, 9:30 a.m.
Light breakfast. 950
Queen Anne Road.
(201) 836-6210 or
www.bethaaron.org.
JS-49*
Calendar
of Passaic County offers “Open Heart Viewpoints is a shul
in Wayne leads “Is and Mind: Softening Israeli wine sale and committee that was
Our Criminal Justice Bias and Racism in tasting: The Jewish formed to celebrate
System Fair?” a six- Ourselves and Our Center of Teaneck’s the diversity of the
session course by Teaching,” an anti-bias men’s club hosts an Jewish community.
the Rohr Jewish and diversity training Israeli wine sale and 1666 Windsor
Learning Institute, session for teachers tasting, 7:30 p.m. Road. Reservations,
7:30 p.m. 194 Ratzer and educators, Professional Israeli (201) 833-1322 or
Road. (201) 454-8857, 4:30 p.m. Light dinner. winemakers will be viewpoints@emeth.org.
Rabbi@jewishwayne. Co-sponsored by on hand to answer
com. Rockland’s Holocaust questions. Taste dozens Book brunch: The
Museum & Center of Israeli wines, nosh on United Synagogue
COURTSY JCCOTP
for Tolerance and assorted fine cheeses, of Hoboken hosts
Education. 50 and order wine at a a book brunch
Family fun in Tenafly: special JCOT discount about “Springfield
The Kaplen JCC Eisenhower Drive,
Paramus. AriellaN@ through Wine Country Confidential” with
on the Palisades in of Bergenfield. Open author/ four-time
Tenafly welcomes jfnnj.org, jfnnj.
org/training, or to everyone 21 and Emmy-winner Mike
the community to older. 70 Sterling Place. Reiss, 10:30 a.m. A
join Family Fun Day, (201) 820-3946.
(201) 833-0515 or jcot. hilarious look at the
1- 3 p.m. This year, org. legendary TV show
summer camps at the Thursday  “The Simpsons,” by
Kaplen JCC on the Rabbi Mordechai Shain Dance party in
Palisades will be open
FEBRUARY 7 Nanuet: The Nanuet
its longest-serving
writer and producer
to the public. At the Crime and Hebrew Center Brunch. 115 Park Ave.
event, families can consequence: Winter learning in welcomes Forever
Tenafly: The Kaplen (201) 659-4000.
enjoy an afternoon of Lubavitch on the Young, a golden oldies
Neil Klatskin Summer Palisades in Tenafly JCC on the Palisades and doo wop party and
continues its JCC Film in Fair Lawn:
Camp activities presents “Crime dance band, featuring The Fair Lawn Jewish
including sports, dance, and Consequence,” University sessions NHC’s Bruce Pollack on
with a morning session, Center/Congregation
drama, art, science, a six-week course drums, 7:30 p.m., 411 B’nai Israel screens the
and technology, face exploring the Jewish “U.S./China Relations South Little Tor Road.
Today,” with SUNY’s documentary “From
painting, balloon view on conviction, (845) 708-9181 or www. Swastika to Jim Crow,”
making, moon bounce, sentencing, and Dr. Tom Grunfeld , nanuethc.org.
10:30 a.m., lunch, and 4 p.m. Refreshments.
and more. Participants criminal rehabilitation, 10-10 Norma Ave.
will also get to meet led by Rabbi Mordechai an afternoon session, Comedy in Wayne:
“Andy Warhol: From Reservations,
camp directors, leaders Shain, 8 p.m. It. Congregation Shomrei (201) 796-5040.
and specialists. Special CLE accredited for A to B and Back Torah offers a night
incentives for those attorneys. 11 Harold Again,” 12:45 p.m. of laughs featuring Book discussion in
who register at the Street. Registration, (201) 408-1454 or critically acclaimed Teaneck: The Jewish
event. (201) 567-8963 chabadlubavitch.org or JCCOTP.org. crowd-pleasing Center of Teaneck’s
or www.jccotp.org. (201) 871.1152, option 5, comedians, 8 p.m. Leaves of Faith
Big game party in
ext. 512. Friday  Tickets include show,
hors d’oeuvres, and
Book Club discusses
Cynthia Ozick’s “The
Teaneck: The men’s FEBRUARY 8 dessert. 30 Hinchman
clubs of the Jewish Wednesday  Ave. (973) 696-2500.
Puttermesser Papers:
Puttermesser: Her
Center of Teaneck and FEBRUARY 6 Shabbat in Teaneck: Work History, Her
Congregation Beth Congregation Beth Speakeasy in Ancestry, Her Afterlife”
Aaron host a Super Sholom holds its annual Ridgewood: Temple and “Puttermesser
Bowl party, 6:30 p.m. Shabbaton, “Torah Israel & JCC in and Xanthippe,” 8 p.m.
Watch the game on a and Its (Dis) contents,” Ridgewood transform 70 Sterling Place.
10'x10’ screen. Chopstix throughout Shabbat, into a speakeasy with (201) 833-0515.
Chinese buffet. with 22 classes, all an evening of dancing
Everyone 13 and older taught by congregants, to two bands, the Fir
performances by Kashes-Fire Catchers
is welcome. 70 Sterling
Place. (201) 833-0515 Tzipporei Shalom of Temple Israel and
the Sub-Bourbonites of
Singles
or mensclub@jcot.org. and Tavim, sessions
for children, teen
programs, and
the Glen Rock Jewish
Center. The evening Sunday 
Tuesday  Oscar Israelowitz childcare provided; and includes a scotch FEBRUARY 3
FEBRUARY 5 a closing session with tasting, light bites
Lunch and learn: The Rabbi J.J. Schacter. 345 and dessert, a trivia Seniors meet in West
Criminal justice and Dor L’Dor group at Maitland Ave. Dinner contest, and a 1920s Nyack: Singles 65+
the Jews: Valley Congregation Ahavath and lunch reservations, costume competition, meets for a social
Chabad Academy Torah in Englewood (201) 833-2620 or with prizes for the get-together at the
of Jewish Studies offers a discussion www.cbsteaneck.org. best gentleman’s and JCC Rockland, 11 a.m.
in Woodcliff Lake with author/guide lady’s costumes. Adult Everyone is welcome,
offers “Crime and
Consequence,” a six-
and travel columnist
Oscar Israelowitz, Saturday  and other beverages
served. 475 Grove St.
particularly singles
from Hudson, Passaic,
session course on “The Secrets of Jewish FEBRUARY 9 (201) 444-9320. Bergen, or Rockland
the Jewish approach New York,” a journey counties. Refreshments.
to criminal justice
taught by Rabbi Dov
through the once-
thriving and diverse
Shabbat in Franklin
Lakes: Temple
Sunday  450 West Nyack Road.
Gene, (845) 356-5525.
Drizin and attorney Jewish neighborhoods Emanuel of North FEBRUARY 10
Jeffrey M. Eilender, of New York City, Jersey offers its Scout Singles brunch/puzzle
7 p.m. Accredited including its many Shabbat program, Breakfast in Teaneck: mixer in Clifton: North
for Continuing synagogues. 240 Broad 7 p.m., including an Temple Emeth’s Jersey Jewish Singles
Legal Education. Ave. Reservations, exotic animal program Viewpoint group 50-60s+ at the Clifton
100 Overlook Drive, Eileen, (201) 568-1315 or at 7:30, Havdalah, and sponsors a breakfast Jewish Center hosts a
Woodcliff Lake. dorldor@ahavathtorah. desserts. All Boy, Girl, featuring author brunch with a puzzle
(201) 476-0157. org. and Israeli Scouts are Jane Larkin, who will mixer; switch tables
welcome, including explore the “Oys and and table mates every
Crime and Anti-bias and Scout families of all Joys of being a parent 20-25 minutes, 11:30
consequence: Rabbi diversity training: The faiths and alumni. 558 or grandparent of a a.m. 18 Delaware St.
Michel Gurkov of Jewish Federation of High Mountain Road. child in an interfaith (973) 772-3131.
the Chabad Center Northern New Jersey (201) 560-0200 relationship,” 10 a.m.
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 49
 JS-50*

Calendar

Students in a recent Midreshet class. 
Jewish learning in Rockland
The Jewish Federation & Foundation of
Rockland County continues its Midreshet
classes — Jewish education for adults —
at Jewish Federation, 450 West Nyack
Road. Local rabbis and educators will
teach classes covering Jewish history,
Torah, philosophy, and life experience.
Classes begin Wednesday, February 6,
and Thursday, February 7. They include
“Not Your Zayde’s Prayer Book,” led by
Rabbi Jill Hackell, and “Israel in Theory
and Practice,” taught by Rabbi Joshua
COURTESY ROCKLAND FEDERATION
Finkelstein
For information, c all Rober t a
Seitzman, (845) 362-4200, ext. 130, email
adulteducation@jewishrockland.org, or
go to jewishrockland.org.
Women’s health
and fitness
social night
in Tenafly
The Kaplen JCC on the Palisades of
Tenafly and Englewood Health offer
“Mind, Body, & Sole” on Wednesday,
February 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the
Kaplen JCC. Participants are asked to
wear their “most chic sneakers” and
casual clothing.
The evening includes food and
“mocktail” tastings, the chance to
meet Englewood Health Physician
Network providers and JCC trainers,
aromatherapy, acupuncture, chair
massages, fitness and yoga demos,
meditation, nutrition consults, and
stress management. It’s free, but reg-
istration is requested; it’s online at
EnglewoodHealth.org/calendar.

Art by special needs people Making marriages great

Waltuch Gallery at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades offers Art for All: An Exhibition Fea- Rabbi Dr. Sytner is a licensed social worker and couples
turing the Artistic Talents of Differently-Abled Children, Teens & Adults In recognition therapist with a private practice in Teaneck. He is a
of Jewish Disabilities and Inclusion Awareness Month, professor at Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of
which is celebrated in February across the country Social Work, the author of “The Kidney Donor’s Jour-
every year. The show will be on display through Febru- ney,” and the director of leadership and community
ary 28, with a meet-the-artist-reception on Sunday, Feb- development for Yeshiva University’s Center for the
ruary 3, from 1 to 3 p.m. This year, more than 130 pieces Jewish Future. He provides trauma intervention for Chai
were submitted for the exhibition, coming from 11 dif- Lifeline, frequently lectures for Shalom Task Force, and
ferent schools and programs. Works include framed speaks extensively about dating, marriage, and divorce,
drawings and paintings, as well as ceramics, cube sharing his unique doctoral research on marital relation-
sculptures, digital paintings, photography, and more, ships within the Orthodox community. He was a pulpit
COURTESY JCCOTP

and each showcases the creative talents of school-aged rabbi for 13 years, and lives in Bergenfield with his wife, Rabbi Dr. Ari Sytner
children, teens, or adults. Chana ,and their four children. COURTESY BETH AARON
The show will feature a special interactive exhibit, Rabbi Dr. Ari Synter asks “When a Marriage is Fine,
“Wings of Inclusion,” created by participants of the Is It Really? — What Science and Torah Teach Us About Making a Good Marriage
JCC’s Guttenberg Center for Special Services programs. Great,” on Monday, February 11, at 8 p.m., at Teaneck’s Congregation Beth Aaron,
Gallery visitors can pose with handmade wings and take 950 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck. For information, call (201) 836-6210 or go to
a photo to share with friends and family to celebrate the importance of inclusion. Pho- www.bethaaron.org.
tos can be shared at: #jccwingsofinclusion or facebook.com/kaplenjccotp.
For information, call Shelley Levy at (201) 408-1489 or go to jccotop.org.

Reducing stress and anxiety

Bingo in Pearl River
Beth Am Temple in Pearl River holds
bingo games in the ground-level social
hall. Bingo fans can play every Tuesday
and two Sundays per month through
September. Doors open both days at
5:45 p.m., with games running from 7:30
to 9:45 p.m. Bingo sessions feature 15
games. All game boards are paper with
electronic verification.
The synagogue provides free coffee
and tea; players can bring their own
food but no pork products or shellfish
are permitted. On Sundays, food items
are sold.
The building is handicap accessible
and has a large, lit parking lot. Beth Am
Temple is at 60 East Madison Ave. in
Pearl River. For information, call (845)
735-5858 or go to www.bethamtemple.
org/calendar.
in West Nyack
On the first Wednesday of each month,
Rockland Jewish Family Service offers
mindfulness and meditation and other
techniques that work to reduce stress
and anxiety. Experience deep relax-
ation and peace with music, mindful-
ness, and other simple tools you can
use in daily life. Participants at all levels
of experience are welcome.
Meditative practices have been
deeply rooted in Judaism for thousands
of years. Mindful Mornings are on the
first Wednesday of every month at the
Jewish Community Campus. The next
class is set for February 6 at 11 a.m.
RJFS is at 450 West Nyack Road in West
Nyack. All proceeds support RJFS’ mis-
sion. Call (845) 354-2121, ext.142.

50 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019

 The Frazzled Housewife Kosher Crossword
“EVERYTHING IS AWESOME” BY YONI GLATT
KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: EASY

And I still married…

I
t seems that I haven’t them, let him wear them
made fun of husband in good health. For that
#1 in a few weeks. price, he could buy five
Some of you probably pairs of shoes. So certain
have been happy about this things are OK.
— particularly his mom, his The things not OK?
lifelong friend who lives in When it is 82 degrees in
Englewood, and some other the house and you won’t
random readers. Since writ- put the air conditioning
ing for the Jewish Standard, Banji on. That is bad and pos-
a job that I absolutely love Ganchrow sibly unhealthy. Keeping
because I absolutely love my the heat at a tempera-
editor, mentor, and friend, ture that enables you
I haven’t been privy to any of the com- to see smoke come out of your mouth
plaints I had received in the past about when you talk, and if you throw a cup of
referring to my spouse as “husband #1” water in the air, it comes down as snow.
instead of “the absolute love of my life” That is very bad. (OK, I am embellish-
or “Ari,” which is his actual name. Have I ing with the snow, but not the smoke
ever revealed that before? His real name? out of the mouth. That actually has
Was it worth waiting for if I haven’t? happened.)
Anyway, one of the things I often say But when do you know that you have
about husband #1 is that he is, stingy/ hit bottom? When do you really realize
frugal, let’s be honest, he is cheap. Now that man oh man is your husband cheap?
you might ask, “If he is so cheap, why I will tell you. For son #3’s winter break,
did you marry him?” Well ladies and we were fortunate enough to be able to
gentlemen, I was duped. When we go to Florida for a week. Just the three of Across Down
were dating, he wined and dined me. us, heading down to sunny weather and 1. Home or first 1. Homophone of 1-Across
5. What people sing when they can’t 2. Tiniest bit
Well, not actually “wined” because he a boardwalk that makes me as happy as
remember the words 3. Couch
doesn’t drink any alcohol of any kind, a dolphin in water. (I am assuming that a 11. Big inits. in health products 4. Nora who could really write
but he definitely dined me. And that dolphin is really happy in water because I 14. Above 5. “Inc.” relative
isn’t a euphemism for anything else. I am really happy on the boardwalk.) Hus- 15. Marvel character who famously 6. “Excuse me”
am a big girl and I love being dined. band #1 had told me that when you book snapped his fingers 7. Logan and Flynn Boyle
We went out to eat all the time and he the flight, there is an extra charge to pick 16. Chanukah liquid 8. “It’s the end of ___”
17. “Awesome” 9. Fix permanently, as an interest rate
always paid and it was never an issue. your seat. Well, assigned seats are over-
19. “... sat ___ tuffet” 10. Fire residue
And it was lovely. Right before we offi- rated so just put us wherever you want. 20. Not dumb 11. Almost awesome
cially started dating, he had come up to After all, the baby we were to travel with 21. Question or Ronson 12. Vessel of 1492
the Concord Hotel for July 4th weekend is 18 years old, and I am pretty sure he 22. Genesis man 13. Chowder kosher keepers avoid
to visit me and he stayed for lunch. For can handle sitting next to strangers. So I 23. “... man ___ mouse?” 18. Airy lobbies
those of you not familiar with this hotel, was fine with that. 25. Some boats have them 22. Titanic victim John Jacob ___
27. “Awesome” 24. Adidas alternative
their lunches were epic. They were Then we get our boarding passes at
30. “Pretty good” 26. “No” in 45-Across
scrumptious. They were really, really the airport, and I notice husband #1’s 34. N.L. West team, on scoreboards 27. MGM name
good. On this particular day, I ordered face going a little paler than usual. “Is 35. Lobbying org. for 45- Across 28. “He’s ___ breed!” (backhanded
the lasagna, the vegetable loaf with hol- everything OK, honeybuns?” I ask out 39. Villain in “Split” and “Glass”, with compliment)
landaise sauce, and a third main dish that of deep concern. Well, he shows me the “The” 29. Dreidel letter
I seem to have blocked out of my mem- boarding pass and on the bottom of it, 40. Turkey dinner side dish 31. Israeli singer David
42. “Awesome” 32. Bit of improv
ory. And I ate every bite on each plate. in big block letter, it says, “NO CARRY
44. Wad of cash 33. American competitor
Husband #1 was very impressed. “That ON LUGGAGE.” I am sorry, what did you 45. ___ Yisrael 36. Not macs
gal can really put it away,” he thought say? NO CARRY ON LUGGAGE. Hmmm, 47. Gas brand 37. “That’s the stuff”
to himself and then said out loud. And this is quite the dilemma. And it is also, 49. Bit of acne 38. Cavs, on the board
I didn’t take offense to it because he was um, really really cheap. 50. Depends 41. Mixes
right. Food is love and I love food. But I took it in stride and I started 52. “Awesome” 43. Plus
54. Scarlet’s man, for a time 46. This, in 45-Across
So the “cheap” element didn’t really emptying out my carry on and putting
57. Like G-d 48. Carpool places
start until after we were married. One of things in different pockets — now that’s 58. Uninvited Sukkot guests 51. 1997 J. Lo biopic
the many delightful characteristics that classy! OK, I am embellishing again and 61. Symbol of Judah 53. Walled city, once
you learn about your spouse after the we were able to sneak our carry-ons on 63. Bert’s bud 55. Southeast Asian nation
wedding is over and it is just the two of the plane… 67. Partner of 22-Across 56. The Velvet Fog
you to fend for yourselves for the rest But in the end, we had such a lovely 68. 17, 27, 42, and 52-Across, e.g. 58. Videotape format, once
70. “... ___ the cows come home” 59. Opposite of 11-Down
of your lives. The cheapness has played vacation, that I let the no carry on thing
71. Blood ailment 60. Wrigglers in reefs
out in different ways. Only buying Fanta go, well sort of, as I have just written 72. “China” intro 62. Simon and Diamond
when it is on sale — which is a reason- about it and shared it all with you… 73. Michaels and Jolson 64. “Peter Pan“ dog
able thing to do. I was a big fan of dou- 74. In recent days 65. Steve Spielberg featured him in
ble coupons — which I don’t think the Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck wishes to be 75. “No” votes four movies (so far)
supermarkets do anymore. Shopping Banji Ganchrow of Florida. Maybe one 66. Banes of many men
The solution to last week’s puzzle 68. Yankees owner Steinbrenner
for $15 shoes at Burlington Coat Factory- day when all of her boys leave her she is on page 54. 69. Yes or no follower
it might pain me, but if he is OK wearing will get her ocean view…

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 51

 JS-52*

Arts & Culture

Roma
FROM PAGE 43
on Mexico’s Jewish neighborhoods, Mon-
ica Unikel.
From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Roma
was the epicenter of Syrian-Jewish life.
The second oldest synagogue of Mexico
City, Rodfe Sédek — colloquially known
as Cordoba, after the name of its street,
and which now houses a library and
archive documenting 100 years of Jew-
ish life in Mexico — is a small replica of
the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, and was
established by the Maguen David com-
munity in 1931.
“By the 1930s, the tight-knight commu-
nity of Syrians coming from Aleppo were
already reproducing the habits of their
homeland in Roma with their very own
bakeries and shops,” Unikel said. “As a
matter of fact, Arabic could be heard in
la Roma up until the late 1930s.”
Eventually, schools that catered to
both Syrian communities were estab-
lished in the area, and a series of syn-
agogues were built to cater to their
religious needs. (The Maguen David com-
munity was more rigidly Orthodox than The Maguen David community,
the Monte Sinai.) from Aleppo, celebrates in Roma’s
By the mid-1950s, at a time when Cordoba street synagogue, 1945.
the sister Condesa neighborhood was “THE JEWS OF ALEPPO IN MEXICO” BY LIZ HAMUI
becoming the center for Ashkenazi Jew-
ish life, a Syrian-Jewish exodus from the both its cosmopolitan vibe and its central
Roma neighborhood began. Scaling fur- location. A Moishe House — where young
ther up in society, Syrian Jews moved Jews can live rent-free in exchange for
into the up-and-coming Polanco neigh- hosting Jewish events, like Shabbat din-
borhood and by the early ‘70s — the time ners — recently opened in la Roma, and
when Cuaron’s movie is set — few Jews it has a Facebook group of 800 follow-
lived there anymore. ers. It draws about 200 people a month
In 1985, the Roma neighborhood was to its events.
devastated by a massive earthquake that One of the house’s co-founders, Jaime
cost the city billions of dollars, and for Azrad — a fourth-generation Mexican
a couple of decades the area remained Jew from the Monte Sinai community —
run down. But over the last 10 to 15 years recalls growing up hearing his parents
the district has been revived as Mexico speak all the time about Merida, the
City’s epicenter of cool: Today la Roma, street where his grandmother lived. But
as it is called in everyday slang, is one of he grew up in Polanco and Interlomas,
Mexico’s trendiest neighborhoods, full of and he couldn’t say where the street
hipster cafes and boutique fashion stores “Roma” director Alfonso Cuaron, center, with two of the film’s stars, Marina actually was.
on every other block. It caters to many de Tavira, left, and lead Yalitza Aparicio at the 75th Venice Film Festival, According to Azrad, there’s a group of
international tourists. August 30, 2018. VITTORIO ZUNINO CELOTTO/GETTY IMAGES young, mostly Ashkenazi Jews who have
As for the rest of the Mexican Jewish moved to the Roma and Condesa neigh-
community, their exodus from the area shortage of supplies during World War Escaba, whose family was part of that borhoods, married, and established
has intensified since the 1980s, mirroring II) the massive building, which seated up first wave of immigrants, was born in la organizations like a kindergarten and
a trend of suburbanization begun in the to 900 people during the High Holidays, Roma in 1954. Although he moved to the repurposed synagogue to cater to Jewish
United States decades earlier. Now most was for many years the center for Damas- suburbs when he was 14, he was nostal- family life. But this is not a general trend.
of Mexico City’s Jewish life takes place cus-Syrian Jewish life. gic about the neighborhood. “The film The bulk of the community is in the sub-
in the far away Bosques and Interlomas Inside, an impressive glass chandelier brought back memories of when I used urbs, and most are not moving back into
neighborhoods, accessible only by car. hangs from a white dome across from to go up to the rooftop of my house and the city.
There are estimated to be about 50,000 a golden mural showing God handing listen to the church bells ringing,” he The Moishe House now sits a couple
Jews in Mexico today. down the Ten Commandments. On a said. “I loved that.” of blocks away from the old building that
But despite the geographical distance, recent Saturday, the prayers extended for Restaurant Miguel, once a favorite spot housed the school Azrad’s grandmother
some older Syrian Jews are committed more than three hours. During a break- for Jews of all backgrounds, has been in attended as a child. The building is now
to keeping Jewish Roma alive. Every Sat- fast afterward at the synagogue, Jaime the same place since local Jews estab- part of the city’s University of Communi-
urday, a group of 10 to 20 Jews drives Escaba Mesdraje — who for 40 years has lished it in the 1950s. Despite a dwindling cation campus.
up to an hour to attend Shabbat morn- worked in a 70-year-old Lebanese res- Jewish clientele, Jaime, who now owns it, “It’s strange,” Azrad said. “I live on
ing shacharit (or shajarit, in Spanish) in taurant called Miguel, a block from the has no plans to move it. the same street where my grandmother
Roma’s Monte Sina’ Synagogue — collo- Cordoba Synagogue — talked about the But it’s not only older Jews who are went to school. It was an important Jew-
quially known as Queretaro. Although glory days of Jewish Roma. He has seen visiting Roma. Some younger Jews have ish institution, but there’s no sign or any-
it wasn’t finished until 1953 (due to a Cuaron’s film three times. entered the neighborhood, attracted by thing to mark that spot.” JTA WIRE SERVICE
52 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
 JS-53

Obituaries

Harvey Brody
Harvey Brody, 90, of Boynton Beach,
Fla., formerly of Tenafly and Jersey
City, died January 24.
A Navy veteran, he was an NYU
graduate, president/owner of New
York/New Jersey-based garment
trucking companies, founder/board
member of Congregation B’mai
Jacob in Jersey City, president/board
member of Alpine Country Club,
and a Man of the Year of the garment
industry chapter of ORT America.
He is survived by his wife of 67
years, Rita; children, Jan ( Julia),
Jill (Richard) and Dean (Debra);
brother, Edmund (Lucille); eight
grandchildren; nieces and nephews.
His funeral was at Congregation
B’nai Jacob, where donations can
be sent. Arrangements were by
Gutterman and Musicant Jewish
Funeral Directors.
Obituaries are prepared
with information provided
by funeral homes.
Correcting errors is the
responsibility of the
funeral home.
Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Inc
Jewish Funeral Directors
Family Owned & managed
Generations of Lasting Service to the Jewish Community
• Serving NJ, NY, FL & • Our Facilities Will Accommodate
Throughout USA Your Family’s Needs
• Prepaid & Preneed Planning • Handicap Accessibility From
• Graveside Services Large Parking Area
Gary Schoem – Manager - NJ Lic. 3811
Jordan E. Schoem – Funeral Director - NJ Lic. 5146
Conveniently Located
W-150 Route 4 East • Paramus, NJ 07652
201.843.9090 1.800.426.5869

Federal grand jury adds hate crimes charges

to indictment against alleged Pittsburgh shooter
MARCY OSTER
A federal grand jury has added hate crimes charges to
the indictment against the alleged gunman in the shoot-
ing attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 worship-
pers dead. The new indictment adds a total of 19 charges,
including 13 for hate crimes, to the 44 federal charges
already filed against Robert Bowers. Twenty-two of the
charges are punishable by death, the Pittsburgh Tribune-
Review reported. Federal prosecutors reportedly are seek-
ing approval to pursue the death penalty.
Bowers has requested a jury trial, and he pleaded not
guilty to the original charges. Along with the hate crimes,
the new indictment includes six firearms charges. He is
accused of opening fire on worshippers at the Tree of Life
synagogue building on Oct. 27 during Shabbat morning
services. He was armed with an AR-15 and three hand- Funeral Planning Simplified
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Florida puts Airbnb on notice over removal of Jewish settlements

MARCY OSTER
Airbnb has been put on Florida’s list of scrutinized com-
panies over its decision to remove listings of rooms and
homes for rent in West Bank Jewish settlements.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet voted to
place the company on the list, as the state Board of Admin-
istration recommended. The company has 90 days to
respond. The state could move to ban its pension fund
from investing in Airbnb if it goes public, as reported, by
as early as June or at least by 2020.
“This is not a policy that applies to all these disputed
territories evenhandedly,” DeSantis said. “It singles out
Israeli Jews in the West Bank. It does not apply the same
de-listing to Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, and that
is wrong and that runs afoul of Florida law.”
DeSantis has ordered state employees not to stay at
Airbnb homes while traveling on state business.
Airbnb responded to the vote. “We unequivocally reject
and oppose the BDS movement and are disappointed by
today’s vote,” the company said in a statement while not-
ing that more than 20,000 Airbnb hosts in Israel have wel-
comed 1 million guests.
Airbnb announced in November that it would
remove the listings of some 200 apartments and
homes for rent in the settlements, but not in Palestin-
ian communities. The company said it consulted with
experts to learn about the historical disputes in the
region to decide whether it should be doing business
in “the occupied territories.”
Airbnb operates in 191 countries and regions and more
than 81,000 cities. Recently it announced that it would
delist two contested autonomous areas in the republic of
Georgia, South Ossetia and Abhkazia. JTA WIRE SERVICE

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Real Estate & Business
Trunk show at NJ Eye and Ear
NJ Eye and Ear is happy to announce that they will be
hosting a private trunk show at their new Englewood
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trendiest designers on Thursday, February 7, from noon
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‘Significant Other’
at Black Box
Black Box PAC’s first main stage show of 2019 is
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the hit Bad Jews.
Significant Other follows the perpetually single
Jordan Berman and his trio of girlfriends as they
2018
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The show ran on Broadway in 2017, beginning
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cant Other is “a tenderly unromantic romantic
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stirring” (The New York Times) and “as funny as
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they’re bruised” (Time Out New York). The Black
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Alex Hughes stars as Jordan Berman. Hughes
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members Sara Giacomini, Danielle MacMath, and
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show is directed by Artistic Director Matt Okin.
Significant Other will run Thursdays through
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ing Arts Center (200 Walraven Drive, Teaneck, NJ
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Real Estate & Business/Local

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Students in the JCC of Paramus/CBT Hebrew School worked on projects to

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seeds and beans, as shown here. SANDRA ALPERN

The Academies @ Gerrard

Berman Day School in Oakland
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The morning continued with a
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019 57
 JS-58

Real Estate & Business

Holocaust memory
FROM PAGE 39
they commemorated the Shoah. This
is the problem. Israel and Netanyahu
have knowingly abandoned their role
as the defenders of the memory of the
Holocaust.”
Israel’s failure to protest the passage of
a 2015 bill honoring Ukrainian national-
ists who murdered Jews was disappoint-
ing, said Eduard Dolinsky, the Kiev-based
director of the Ukrainian Jewish Commit-
tee, an advocacy group. While it was a
“big deal” when Israeli President Reuven
Rivlin spoke out against honoring collab-
orators during a speech a year and a half
later, Dolinsky believed that more should
have been done.
“Israel should react stronger when the
Holocaust is distorted and Nazi collabora-
tors are glorified,” he said. “We expected
that Israel would react. The matter is
that Ukrainian government agencies and
organizations involved in the process of
glorification are closely watching what
Israel would say. Therefore when Israel is
silent they can go forward and ignore the
Jewish community statements. I don’t
want to criticize Israel, but her reaction
could be stronger and sharper.”
Yehuda Bauer, one of Israel’s most
respected Holocaust scholars, said that
“the distortion of Holocaust memory
and the facts of the Holocaust by official
authorities in Poland, Hungary, Ukraine
and Lithuania in different forms has been
accepted by the Israeli government.”
Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar
at Atlanta’s Emory University and the
author of a memoir about her own fight
against Holocaust denial also, is wary of
the new alliances.
“I think that, possibly for reasons of
realpolitik, Israel has been a bit mallea-
ble when it comes to overtly anti-Semitic
actions by countries such as Hungary
[and] Poland,” she said. “These coun-
tries may vote in favor of Israel in inter-
national bodies, but I think it is a danger-
ous game to give them a pass on their
anti-Semitic actions.”
Closer to home, a Knesset member
who chairs a lobby on anti-Semitism in
the former Soviet Union says it is incred-
ibly difficult to get the government to
speak out on such issues. “I’ve sent
dozens of letters that were addressed
to heads of embassies and heads of
states and not even once did the Foreign
Ministry became active and join me in
[my] condemnation,” Ksenia Svetlova
of the opposition Zionist Union said. “I
would hate to think that anti-Semitism
and Holocaust and historical memory
became nothing more than cheap change
in the political game but it seems to me
that it is increasingly becoming so.”
Such sentiments are far from univer-
sal, however. Some analysts insist that
the issue is more nuanced than Netan-
yahu’s detractors believe.
“The state of Israel, like every other
state, often has little choice but to estab-
lish ties with countries with less-than-per-
fect human rights records such as Egypt,
which allows an uncomfortable amount
of anti-Semitism in semi-government-
controlled media,” Tom Gross, a journal-
ist and Mideast analyst, said. “I would say
that from what I know of Netanyahu, he
is not insensitive and cares greatly about
anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and is
fully aware of the minefield he is in. The
government of Israel has to balance all
kinds of considerations.” One of those
primary concerns is its own security.
However, Gross added, that does not
mean that issues of commemoration
necessarily should fall by the wayside
and in the case of a country like Ukraine
“the Netanyahu government should have
done more.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry disagreed.
A spokesman said that “broadly speak-
ing, and this is Israel’s policy, we will not
relinquish historical memory in favor of
other interests. This has always been our
position.”
This position was echoed by Joel Lion,
Israel’s recently appointed ambassador
to Ukraine. Notably, he has been signifi-
cantly more outspoken on revisionism
than most other officials on this issue.
Dore Gold, a former director-general
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under
Netanyahu and now the president of the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, also
defended the government. “My view is
that the memory of the Holocaust is a
constant Israeli policy, whether it’s for-
eign or educational policy, and it’s not an
issue we can compromise on in any way,
shape or form, but whether the accusa-
tions made about Israel somehow sacri-
ficing that memory for purposes of real-
politik are highly questionable,” he said.
But even some on the moderate right
who support realpolitik in foreign pol-
icy have expressed reservations about
Netanyahu’s approach. While “one does
not shy away from necessary things,” pol-
itics cannot be “totally devoid of moral
values,” said Dan Meridor, who served
as Netanyahu’s Deputy Prime Minister
between 2009-2013. He now heads the
Israel Council on Foreign Relations, a
Jerusalem think tank affiliated with the
World Jewish Congress.
In extreme cases where anti-Semitism
is perceived, such as Orban’s anti-Soros
campaigns, “you should say something
about it.” JTA WIRE SERVICE

“People who grew up with social

App
FROM PAGE 57
couldn’t consult with them or ask them for
advice, leading him to create a platform
where such interaction could take place.
The app lets users select the experience
they’d like to connect over. There are more
than 100 options, including “coping with
depression,” “heartbreak,” “being body
positive” and “increasing happiness.”
They then get to choose from a number
of steps within that experience to find the
exact stage that they’re at in order to join a further improve their skills.
media, who grew up online, there’s a
group discussion on the topic or to begin a As for reactions to the app, Gaon says,
sense of loneliness,” he explains. “They
one-on-one chat with a “helper,” a commu- “We’ve been bombarded with thank-you
nity member who’s been through a similar
are a generation that grew up connected notes. If you look at the reviews you’ll
particular experience.
to 3.5 billion people through the Inter- find things like, ‘You saved my life,’ ‘You
net and still feel that no one understands
The majority of users – mostly young changed my life.’
them. They’re looking for more mean-
adults aged 18 to 24 – opt for “anxiety,” “get- “It’s been very, very moving and
ting motivated” and “relationship advice.”
ingful connections. We seem to have reminds us we’re tapping into some-
The app is restricted to over the age of 17.
tapped into that sentiment.” thing very powerful and that it’s on us to
The fact that most users are young adults
“So what we see on the platform is provide the best solution that we can,”
is very telling, Gaon says, noting how social
many young adults connecting to oth- he concludes.
ers who will help them thrive through
media use can leave people feeling lonelier The company is mostly based in
than ever. loneliness,” he adds.”People feel less Ramat Gan in Israel, and is comprised
alone the more they use our app. It’s of both mobile developers and content
very encouraging.” and marketing people. Gaon himself

Jimmy
The app was launched a year ago in has a background in journalism and

J
Jim
im
the US, and most of its 500,000 users storytelling.
originate from English-speaking coun- The company first got funded some
tries. The matching between users, three years ago, and is planning more
groups and helpers is done using an rounds in early 2019.

the Junk Man

algorithm. “Our goal for the next two years is
According to Gaon, “it’s a combina- to really more deeply tap into the age the
the
RESIDEN
tion of a shared past and helpfulness, groups that we seem to be clicking with,”
RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL activity – how quickly they can offer help Gaon says. “We would want to become
WE CLEAN OUT: to others – and a host of other factors.” a go-to brand and WE go-to platform for
The community is closely super- young
Basements •Basements Attics • Garages • Fire Damage • taking
adults who are
Att on mean-
vised by moderators who ensure that ingful life experiences.”
Construction Debris • Hoarding Specialists
Construction D
no harmful content is uploaded and Then, he says, the goal is to expand
WE RECYCLE to include as many different people as W
CALL TODAY
that anything requiring involvement
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE by authorities is dealt with offline. possible. “The dream is to be a guide for

201-66•1845-600-5941
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Certain search words and keywords life. An app that everyone has on their
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receive training by a crisis expert and
phone that helps them thrive through
everything they go through in life.”
We do not transport solid or hazardous waste
We do not trans
participate in monthly sessions to All while keeping it real, of course.
58 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 1, 2019
 JS-59

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