2014 2015 Annual Report

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

Jewish Federation of NE Pennsylvania Perspectives on the Federation & its UJA Campaign

By Michael Greenstein (President) and Mark Silverberg (Executive Director) As Charles Dicken’s wrote well over a century ago in his book “A Tale of Two Cities”: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” So, too, in our community, in the U.S., in Israel and around the world, in economic and political terms, it has been truly “the best of times and the worst of times.”

We would like to extend our thanks to our 2015 UJA Campaign Co-Chairs Mark and Joan Davis for all their work in completing this year’s annual UJA Campaign, and to all our solicitors, men and women, without whose support, and without whose efforts neither our schools, nor our agencies, nor our commitments to Israel and world Jewry could have been fulfilled.

Over the past year, Israel has shown the world that it remains a leader in the fields of science, technology, agriculture and medicine. It has weathered the world recession and has actually seen its economy grow dramatically over the past

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania continues to define our role as the parliament of the Jewish communities of Northeastern Pennsylvania. That Mission is to “rescue the imperiled, care for the vulnerable, support Israel and world Jewry and to revitalize and perpetuate the Jewish communities of Pike, Wayne, Monroe and Lackawanna counties.”

As the parliament of the Jewish communities of our region, the Federation has a broad mandate that transcends the interests of any one of its agencies or affiliates. Its role is to plan for the future well-being of our greater Jewish community – both here and abroad.

There is a metaphor we use to define this Mission.

The Federation’s responsibility is to revitalize and perpetuate our “communal garden” while our agencies, affiliated organizations, synagogue religious schools, Israel and world Jewry represent the “flowers” within that garden. As such, our responsibility is to enhance the quality of Jewish life throughout our region, Israel and the Jewish world by providing the UJA funding and the guidance necessary to deliver the highest quality programs and services through our local, national and internationally-funded agencies and affiliates.

several years even as the Western world struggles through a global economic downturn.

Israel’s contributions to virtually every field of human endeavor have been noted in syndicated columns by world-renown journalists, and the virtues of its work, especially in the field of medical technology have been Michael Greenstein President, Jewish written about in several recent books that have commended Federation of NEPA the Israeli people for their culture of research and education that contrasts sharply with that of many Western countries – even our own.

As this article extolling the virtues of Israel’s contributions to the world is being written, the U.S., Britain, China, Japan and India have contracted with Israel Aircraft Industries for its advanced drone aircraft, its Iron Dome missile defense system that operated so successfully during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer, and its military robots that can analyze targets and potential battlefields from great distances, thereby avoiding unnecessary loss of life on both sides of the line of battle. Israel’s agricultural breakthroughs, combined with its mastery of developing water resources, are being shared with many countries around the world where drought and famine continue to claim hundreds of thousands of lives.

Even as it transfers its technological achievements to other nations, Israel has proven, through its own bitter experience, that the tragedies flowing from natural disasters or the consequences of terrorist attacks can be minimized through detailed advanced planning and preparation. If anything, Israel has proven that, if peace with its neighbors could be achieved, the technology that would flow from that region could truly light the world.

The Canary in the Mineshaft

This attitude, however, has not been reflected in the general world Jewish condition. This past year saw the final aliyah to Israel from Yemen and Ethiopia and a massive French and Ukrainian Jewish aliyah (9,000 French Jews – with another 10,000 expected during 2015 – and 5,000 Ukrainian Jews) that could well mark the beginning of the end of the Jewish presence in these countries within a decade.

Over the past year, 60,000 French Jews have asked the Jewish Agency for Israel (or JAFI) for information about immigrating to Israel and the aliyah numbers from the Ukraine have increased nearly 100% this year as well.

Europe’s lax immigration policies of the 1960s and 1970s (based on policies dictated by the desire for cheap Arab oil) brought millions of North African Muslim immigrants to European shores, but the governments of Europe failed to integrate them into European society and culture. This has resulted in the disenfranchisement, radicalization and unemployment of millions of Europe’s

Mark Silverberg Executive Director, Jewish Federation of NEPA

Muslim youth (as reflected in the high proportion of Muslims in European prisons – 50% of French prisoners come from its 7% Muslim minority), and accounts for the nearly three-quarters (73%) of Dutch Muslims who believe that Muslims who travel to participate in the ISIS jihad in Syria are heroes.

In addition, a survey of global attitudes towards Jews conducted by the Anti-Defamation League recently found that 24% of western Europeans (37% in France, 29% in Spain, 27% in Germany and 69% in Greece) and 34% of eastern Europeans (41% in Hungary, 45% in Poland and 38% in Ukraine) harbor antsemitic views. That is, they agreed with six or more classical stereotypes about Jews from a list of 11 including “Jews have too much control over the U.S. government,” “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars” and “People hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.”

Today’s antisemitism differs from the old antisemitism in three ways. First, during the Middle Ages, Jews were hated for their religion. In the 19th and 20th centuries, they were hated for their “race.”

Today, they are hated for their nation-state. Israel, now 67 years old, still finds itself the only country among the 193 nations represented in the United Nations who’s right to exist is routinely challenged and in many quarters denied. Seventy years ago, with the end of World War II and the revelation of the horrors of the Holocaust, some believed that humanity would discard one of history’s oldest hatreds – antisemitism. Yet today there is no doubt that we are living in an age of resurgent antisemitism. Now, contemporary antisemitism

In Memoriam Rae Magliocchi The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania extends it condolences to the Magliocchi family on the passing of Rae Magliocchi in November 2014 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Rae was a dynamic and talented woman who was loved and respected by the hundreds of volunteers with whom she worked over the past 20 years in her capacity as Secretary for the Federation and, specifically, with our Holocaust Education and Resource Center (H.E.R.C.) for which she devoted months to ensure that all aspects of our annual Holocaust Symposium were covered. May her memory be a blessing, as was her presence among us.

Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

doesn’t just slander, vilify and target the Jewish people. It first and foremost today targets the Jewish state.

There are 102 nations in the world where Christians predominate, and there are 56 Islamic states. But a single Jewish state is deemed one too many. And the targets of terror in Europe are all too often not Israeli government offices but synagogues, Jewish schools and museums, and even kosher supermarkets as in Paris – places not of Israeli policy-making, but of ordinary Jewish life.

And such beliefs are now translating into support at the European ballot box. In the November 2014 European elections, three countries – Greece, Hungary and Germany – elected neo-Nazi MEPs. Germany’s NPD openly describes itself as national socialist (Nazi). In 1914, Europe was home to 10.5 million Jews; today, there are 1.5 million and the ongoing pogroms are causing 29% of European Jews to consider emigrating, no longer trusting that anyone in the Diaspora is willing to help them – except Israel.

Why should they? Antisemitic attacks on Jews across Europe are increasing dramatically. They have included: • worshippers in a French synagogue being surrounded by a howling mob claiming to protest Israeli policy; • the desecration of Jewish cemeteries across the continent; • a deadly attack on a synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark in mid-February; • vandalisms and fire-bombings of French and German synagogues; • the murder of three children and a teacher at a Jewish day school in Toulouse, France by an Islamic extremist; • the murder of four French Jewish civilian hostages in a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015 by Muslim terrorists; • observant Jews being beaten in the streets of Lyon and Marseilles by Muslim gangs; • thousands of European Muslim youth joining the ranks of ISIS; • four murders by a French Islamic extremist in the Brussels Jewish Museum in Belgium; • the stabbing of a Jewish man in Antwerp, Belgium; • “Kill the Jews” graffiti written on Jewish school buildings in Kharkov; • the torching of a Jewish-owned pharmacy in Sarcelles, France; • a popular French comedian (Dieudonné M’bala M’bala) lashing out at Jews and playing down the Holocaust as part of his “comedy” routine – with impunity; • a Turkish shop owner in Liège posting a sign saying he would serve dogs but not Jews; • a voice on the intercom of a commuter train in Belgium that announced a stop as “Auschwitz” and ordered all Jews to get off; • in Italy, extreme right-wing activists were blamed for a flurry of anti-Jewish graffiti, including Nazi swastikas on buildings in various cities; • an UNWRA exposition in Turin stating that the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in Lebanon was committed by the Israeli army, and demonizing the Israeli protective fence (which has stopped suicide bombing attacks in Israel since the Second Intifada); • the president of Rome’s Jewish community receiving a pig’s head in a box; • a former U.K. foreign minister (Baroness

The crowd outside the kosher supermarket Hyper Cacher in Paris on January 12, 2015, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid his respects to the victims of the terrorist attacks a week earlier. (Photo

by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)

Sayeeda Warsi) tweeting a message implying equivalence between the Har Nof synagogue murderers and Jews protesting over Temple Mount and the increasing number of minarets overshadowing the churches and basilicas of Europe (not to mention the fact that European mosques are full and its churches are virtually empty).

In Britain, sharia law is appearing in more and more of its public sectors, including the disappearance of the Holocaust from British history curricula in many British public school districts (according to a report titled “Teaching Emotive and Controversial History,” commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills) so as to avoid offending Muslim students; the introduction of “no pork” policies in hundreds of British schools (according to a recent report by the London-based Daily Telegraph); the disappearance of pig-centered children’s books like the “Three Little Pigs” and many others from public library shelves; the removal of ‘piggy banks’ from the shelves of major shopping outlets, and the sudden rise of no-pork aisles in British supermarkets. In London, a major supermarket said that it felt forced to remove kosher food from its shelves for fear that it would incite a riot and a London theater refused to stage a Jewish Film Festival because the event had received a small grant from the Israeli embassy.

According to the Community Security Trust, the number of antisemitic incidents in Britain has reached the highest level ever recorded, with reports of violence, property damage, abuse and threats against members of Britain’s Jewish population more than doubling in 2014, with 1,168 antisemitic incidents compared to 535 incidents in 2013. This was emphasized in another survey conducted by Chatham House in January 2015.

That survey documented British attitudes toward the United Kingdom’s international relations policies. In a section titled “General public attitudes toward other countries” respondents were asked to name the countries they “feel especially unfavorable towards” Thirty-five (35%) answered Israel, second only to North Korea with 47%. Even Iran scored lower than the Jewish state with 33%.

In Birmingham, England, four Asian men tried to storm a former synagogue shouting: “Kill the infidels, you are Satan-worshipers, are there any effing Jews in there?” On the same day, a rabbi driving through London reportedly had “Slaughter the Jews” shouted at him in Arabic by a man running his finger across his throat in a cutting action. Even remarks about Jews controlling the media or U.S. foreign policy have become commonplace amongst mainstream politicians and commentators.

Given all this, it should come as no surprise that the number of attacks on Jews in Britain was higher in 2014 than in any year since 1984. The record number of incidents includes everything from violent assaults to verbal abuse, hate-mail and attacks in the social media. The director of BBC Television (Danny Cohen) told a conference in Jerusalem in late December: “I’ve never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the U.K. as I’ve felt in the last 12 months. And it’s made me think that it may not be our long-term home.

You feel it. I’ve felt it in a way I’ve never felt before. You’ve seen murders in France. You’ve seen murders in Belgium. It’s been pretty grim actually. And having lived all my life in the U.K.,

Demonstrators carrying a sign reading “We Are Charlie” marched in a Paris square during a unity rally on January 11, 2015, following the recent terrorist attacks in the French capital. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/ Getty Images)

Lithuanian ultranationalists marched in Kaunas on February 16, 2015. (Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz) I’ve never felt as I do now about antisemitism in Europe.”

And he’s not alone. A January 2015 survey revealed that half of British Jews fear they have no long-term future in Britain or Europe. The poll of 2,230 British Jews by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (or CAA) found that 45% feared Jews may have no future in Britain and 58% were concerned they have no long-term future in Europe.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is considered to be the spiritual leader of virtually all Egyptian Muslims, and his rulings are considered authoritative by practically every Sunni fundamentalist in the Middle East. In one of his sermons, he predicted that Europe will soon be conquered by Muslims, not by the sword, but through the wombs of its women. Europe is now home to 25 million to 30 million Muslims, twice the world’s entire Jewish population. Given that the most common first name in 2014 in Marseilles, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Malmo, Sweden and Barcelona, Spain, for new-born male children was Mohammed, it is becoming clearer by the day that the general demographics of the continent are slowly and inexorably morphing Europe into Eurabia, and we are witnessing a cultural change in European countries where Jews have lived and made enormous contributions for centuries.

That time is now nearing its end.

In 2012, Israel’s ambassador to Denmark advised travelers “to wait to don their skullcaps until they enter the building and not to wear them in the street, irrespective of whether the areas they are visiting are seen as being safe,” as well as not to “speak Hebrew loudly” or openly wear Star of David jewelry.

Over half of French Jews now think that “Jews have no future in France” and British, Danish, Swedish, Belgian and Ukrainian Jews are also having second-thoughts. Many have already made aliyah and more are contemplating it. Ten years ago, in

Above and below: In the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, pro-Palestinian rioters broke shop windows and set fires on July 20, 2014. (Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz)

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

addition to Hebrew, English and Russian could be heard everywhere in Israel. Today, it is increasingly French, Danish, Swedish and Ukrainian.

The fact that every single European Jewish communal event has to be guarded is accepted as a fact of life. The fact that there are Jewish schools that look like fortresses and Jewish schoolchildren being taught self-defense to protect themselves against street attack is considered normal.

As Melanie Phillips has written: “Jews are the conscience of the world. Those who want to destroy the Jews want to tear out their own heart as Judaism’s moral codes lie at the very core of Western civilization. The Jews gave it those values.

Europe, without the Jews, had lost part of itself.

If Europe fails to protect its Jews, it will have also failed to protect itself.”

The Cost of the European Jewish Exodus

The estimated $46 million cost of this massive European Jewish aliyah will be funded by the proceeds of North American UJA Campaigns like ours in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Israeli government.

Both the Jewish Agency and the JDC have dramatically increased their staffs in Europe and Israel to accommodate this influx, and they have expanded their absorption programs in Israel to meet the needs of thousands of European Jews seeking a new life in their new home – Israel.

These funds will result in an increase in the number of aliyah emissaries in France, Belgium and Ukraine, create French and Russian-language websites to provide information on immigration procedures, and increase budgets for youth groups and organizations promoting aliyah.

It will also promote Hebrew language instruction, raise the number of immigration fairs that will held throughout Europe, and will focus on lowering barriers to the transference of professional accreditations (for doctors, lawyers, scientists, etc.) and other incentives necessary to bring a highly mobile and educated population to Israel... ... and it will all be done because of the funds we donate to UJA.

Conclusion

We are one family that derives its heritage from a common culture and its moral code from Mt. Sinai. As a result, these events impact us here in Northeastern Pennsylvania just as they are impacting our brethren around the world.

In that respect, we are one people who share a common history and (whether we choose to believe it or not) a common fate.

The lessons of history are clear. As it has gone with Jews, so it has gone with democracy as we know it in the Western world, and as it has gone with Western democracy, so has it gone with the Jews.

In a very real sense, as we are witnessing in Europe today, we are the barometers of the societies in which we live. If we have learned anything from our history, it is that we are truly our brothers’ keeper, and nothing affirms this commitment more than the continuing success of our annual UJA Campaign.

Am Yisroel Chai.

UJA Campaign 2015 report

By Mark and Joan Davis, UJA Campaign 2015 Co-Chairs

gross UJA Campaign for this purpose – one of the highest percentages in our nation.

This year, our UJA Campaign raised $891,676 in support of Israel and local, regional, national Joan and Mark Davis, and world Jewish needs. Included UJA Campaign 2015 Co-Chairs in this total is $174,956 thanks to the foresight of many members of our Jewish communities throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania who established Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowments (P.A.C.E.) during their lifetimes, a portion of the income from which ensures that there will always be vibrant Jewish communities in Northeast Pennsylvania long after our time here has passed.

For their foresight and generosity, we are eternally grateful.

Even under these difficult economic circumstances, our community has done what Jews have always done to preserve their communities and to support Israel and world Jewry in times of great hardship.

There is a reason for our being near the top of our fundraising category nationally and much of that reason has to do with the quality of our volunteer base. We have pulled together as a community and distributed our Campaign dollars as best we could under difficult circumstances. In that regard, as we all know, our annual UJA Campaign could never have succeeded without dedicated volunteers willing to commit their time and energy to solicit UJA gifts for our people here, in Israel, and around the world.

As a result, the Jewish Federation of NEPA was able to allocate $891,676 in the midst of the most severe economic crisis our country has experienced in recent decades. Yet, even under these difficult economic circumstances, we have come forward to do what Jews have always done to preserve their communities in times of great hardship.

Without their support, there would have been no UJA Campaign; there would be no funds raised for our Jewish social service agencies or the Jewish poor and imperiled; there would be no funds for assisting Jews in Israel or those seeking to make aliyah to live in a Jewish state free from persecution, threats or worse because of their religion; and there would be no funds for the Jewish educational, cultural, social, recreational and capital programs and projects to carry forward our traditions into the future. We are here because of these traditions, while our historical contemporaries have long-since been relegated to the dustbin of history.

We would like to share some national UJA Campaign statistics with you so you will better understand what makes Northeastern Pennsylvania Jews so special.

For all this, we owe a great debt of gratitude to those who donated to our annual UJA Campaign and to those 90 solicitors who assisted us in soliciting UJA gifts this year.

A “Small Federation” is considered one with an estimated Jewish population under 5,000 persons.

There are 62 such Federations our size in North America. Ours is one of them. Of the 62 Small Federations in North America, our UJA Campaign of ranks as one of the highest Campaigns – an amazing achievement for a Jewish community our size given the current state of our economy.

Our 2015 UJA Campaign solicitors included (and we apologize if we’ve missed anyone):

So, to be clear, our community has one of the most successful Federation Campaigns per capita in the United States and Canada. Our donors have performed remarkable acts of kindness privately and publicly, on scales large and small. Some of these acts have been nothing less than heroic.

Our Federation also provides one of the highest percentages of our gross UJA Campaign dollars to Israel and Overseas Jewish needs.

With a national average of 17% of gross UJA Campaign dollars being allocated to “Israel and Overseas Jewish needs” by the 62 other Federations our size, this Federation contributes 31.63% of its PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER � PURSUING JUSTICE � REPAIRING THE WORLD � TAKING RESPONSIBILITY ONE FOR THE OTHER �

Times have changed.

Our responsibilities haven’t.

Federation and its agencies work together to rescue Jews and to transform lives.

Federation is your connection to Jews in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Israel and around the world.

It’s the safety net for our local and global Jewish community.

No gift touches more lives.

Campaign 2015 FEDERATION/UJA CAMPAIGN

It’s never been more important to support the Federation/UJA Campaign.

If you haven’t yet pledged, do it today.

Please give generously to the 2015 Campaign.

Contact Mark Silverberg at 961-2300 or mark.silverberg@jewishnepa.org

Copenhagen’s main synagogue, where a guard was shot and killed early February 15, 2015. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510

Esther Adelman Naomi Alamar Jim Alperin Phyllis Barax Rick Bishop Jean Blom Phyllis Brandes Maggy Bushwick Charlie Cahn Harris Cutler Mark & Joan Davis Lainey Denis Sue Diamond David & Gail Dickstein Don & Joyce Douglass Bernice Ecker Esther Elefant Jim Ellenbogen Rosalie Engelmyer Vera Epshteyn Ruth Fallick

Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

David Feibus Richard Fine Doug Fink Moshe Fink Joe Fisch Nancy Friedman Alex Gans Jeff & Dassy Ganz Ruth Gelb Alan & Laurel Glassman Ken & Bonnie Green Michael Greenstein Seth & Sheryl Gross Dolores Gruber Susie Herlands Sandy & Janet Holland Susan Jacobson Joel Joseph Gloria Jurkowitz Harold Kornfeld Barry Kurtzer Leah Laury Iris Liebman Jill Linder David Malinov Dale Miller Mel Mogel Ed & Ann Monsky Sam Newman Lou & Barbara Nivert Sheila Nudelman Abdo Pete O’Donnell Howard Pachter Lynn Pearl Herb Rosen Rabbi Dovid Rosenberg Filmore Rosenstein David & Molly Rutta Rabbi Samuel Sandhaus Ben Schnessel Elliot Schoenberg Richard Schwartz Steve Seitchik Margaret Sheldon Mark Silverberg Henry Skier Alan Smertz

Barry & Sue Tremper Rebecca Tschampel Marcia Ufberg Ed Utan Steven Vale Paula Wasser Millie Weinberg Jerry Weinberger Jay & Tova Weiss

2015 UJA COMMUNITY

opening

We extend our thanks to each of them for their help in carrying out our 2015 Annual UJA Campaign.

Ed and Ann Monsky, UJA Campaign 2016 Co-Chairs We are also pleased to announce that Ed and Ann Monsky from Scranton have accepted the chairmanship of our 2016 UJA Campaign. Both are veteran leaders of our community, and we are fortunate to have them lead such an important effort next year.

2015 UJA POCONO

Dinne�

We would be remiss if we failed to thank Dan Cardonick and the JCC Board of Directors for allowing the Federation to use the Koppelman Auditorium for our Campaign Opening Event; Bob and Laney Ufberg for the use of their home last year for our annual Major Gifts Brunch; Temple Israel of the Poconos in Stroudsburg for the use of their synagogue for our Annual Pocono UJA Dinner; Lou and Barbara Nivert

2015 UJA POCONO

Dinne�

2 0UJA 1 5 U POCONO J A C A M P ADINNER IGN 2015 Please join the Jewish Federation of NEPA on Sunday, when internationally respected analyst, Micah Halpern, will address us.

Major Gifts Event

Sunday, September 14 • Buffet Dinner at 5:30 PM • $15/pp at Temple Israel of the Poconos, 711 Wallace St., Stroudsburg, PA

Micah D. Halpern has a track record. He is a frequent analyst on network television and radio in the areas of terror, the Middle East and Muslim Fundamentalism. He is the author of the recently released, best selling, book THUGS. His voice is recognized by listeners to talk radio across America and to his weekly feature, A Safer World, on USA Radio Network.

His face is familiar to viewers on CBS, FOX, MSNBC and to those who watch documentaries on PBS, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, Discovery and the Food Network. Following 9-11 he was the CBS-2 commentator on terror. On 9-11, 2003 he was the guest expert on ABC's The View. He is the author of What You Need To Know About: Terror (Toby Press, 2003) an accessible book that clearly and succinctly answers the questions we are afraid to ask.

Halpern, a syndicated columnist, is also a well-known social and political commentator, educator, and historian. He lectures frequently, both in the United States and Israel, on issues relating to terror, foreign affairs, Israel and the Middle East, as well as wine history, and popular culture. In 1997, Micah Halpern was appointed Israel columnist for America Online and continues, until today, to write a weekly, now syndicated, column on foreign affairs, the Middle East and terror.

Micah's weekly column is read by hundreds of thousands if not millions on the internet and in papers and websites around the world from the American Enterprise Institute to Israelinsider.com. His weekly radio spot is featured on 28 radio stations nationally on the USA Radio Network.

An expert on terrorism, Halpern has been invited for consultations in the White House with terror analysts and has addressed conferences sponsored by the Justice Department. His expertise as a historian was called on by PBS for their 4 part series on Herod and by The History Channel for the documentary film entitled Masada in which he also appears. He has also contributed religious commentary for CNN and ABC television.

His essays, published in book form, heralded the millennium and are entitled On-Line with Israel at the Millennium: Insights into Life and Religion (Urim, 2000). Halpern also conducted a weekly radio program entitled This Week in History for Jerusalem Radio.

Micah was a lecturer at Yale University and a long-standing educator with Young Judaea. He has also taught at Brandeis University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Halpern continues to lecture to student groups in the fields of political terror and world terrorism, Middle East dynamics, Jewish history, Holocaust, Zionism and philosophy and Israeli society and politics.

For fun, Micah Halpern writes a column on Kosher wines. He is the only exclusively kosher wine reviewer in the Western world. A native of Annapolis, he currently divides his time between Jerusalem and New York City.

2015 UJA CAMPAIGN

Major Gifts Event

2015 UJA CAMPAIGN Major Gifts Event

An Evening With News Correspondent Linda Scherzer The Media and the Middle East: Biased or Balanced?

Thursday September 18, 7PM

At the home of Bob and Laney Ufberg, 1312 N. Abington Rd., Waverly, PA LINDA SCHERZER is a former Mideast correspondent for CNN and Israel Television with extensive experience covering the Arab-Israeli conflict. During her years with CNN, Linda covered the first Palestinian uprising or "intifada," the Gulf War and the Mideast peace process. She is probably best remembered for her interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through a gas mask during an Iraqi scud missile attack.

Linda was the only North American ever to work as an on-air correspondent for Mabat, Israel Television’s Hebrew news program, where she covered Arab and Palestinian affairs. She traveled to Damascus twice to report on Syrian attitudes towards the peace process and produced a one-hour documentary, "Through the Eyes of Enemies: Is the Middle East Ready for Peace" which explores opinion in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt towards Israel.

Today, Linda is the director of a program called "Write On For Israel," which trains top high school students how to become defenders of Israel when they get to college. She is also a media and public relations consultant and advises the Jewish community on how to engage in constructive dialogue with the press.

Please RSVP to 570-961-2300 x2 or dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org

For further information or to make your reservation please call 570-961-2300 x4

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

for the use of Nivert Metal Supply for our annual Super Sunday Phone-a-thon, and all our volunteers who worked so hard on our Campaign.

In addition, we would like to thank our Chairman Jim Ellenbogen whose annual Super Sunday efforts at Nivert Metal Supply made it the success that it was.

Super Sunday Jim Ellenbogen, UJA Super Sunday 2015 Chairman

UJA Community/Corporate Division For more than five decades, Christians and Jews in Northeastern Pennsylvania have worked together to assure a better quality of life for all residents, irrespective of race or religion.

Over the years, our Community/ Corporate Division has contributed to Family-to-Family, St. Francis of Assisi Kitchen, Ronald McDonald House, Friends of the Poor, WVIA, Make-AWish Foundation, Allied Services, Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, Christmas Peter O’Donnell, Holiday Bureau, Bread Basket, United Chairman, Neighborhood Center Food Drive and Community/ Jewish-Catholic Interfaith programs. Corporate Division In fact, our Community/Corporate

Division was the forerunner of such Campaign Divisions which have since been developed around the country. This aspect of the Federation’s annual UJA Campaign reflects what a community of concerned people is all about – not just talking, but practicing interfaith brotherhood and unity every day of every year.

Gifts to this Division serve as an inspiration to younger generations who need positive role models. This year, our Community/ Corporate Division raised $14,237 for our annual UJA Campaign.

Our sincerest thanks to all who contributed.

2015-2016 ALLOCATIONS REPORT

(left to right) Sheila Abdo - Jewish Family Service, Esther Adelman - Temple Hesed and Alex Gans - Scranton Hebrew Day School - are holding the gift certificates donated by Krispy Kreme and given to the agencies that gave us the most volunteers for Super Sunday!

thank you

The Jewish Federation gives thanks to all of the Super Sunday volunteers who made telephone calls and helped in other ways to raise the much needed funds for our local Jewish Community and for our brothers and sisters in Israel and other areas of the world.

The volunteers include: Campaign 2015 Co-Chairmen Mark & Joan Davis, James Ellenbogen, Super Sunday Chairman, Sheila Abdo, Esther Adelman, Jean Blom, Maggy Bushwick, Bernice Ecker, Esther Elefant, Vera Epshteyn, Nancy Friedman, Alex Gans, Ruth Gelb, Harold Kornfield, Barbara & Louis Nivert, Rabbi Dovid Rosenberg and Mildred Weinberg.

A huge thank you to Lou Nivert, who graciously allows the Federation to use his business office, as a base for making the telephone calls for this annual fund raising event.

Two years ago, the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania introduced the “Team Analysis Approach” to its Allocations process. In doing so, it moved from the “Sessions Approach” (wherein funded agencies submitted their Fiscal Year and Calendar Year budget requests to the Allocations Committee and made their presentations during several May sessions that were held at the Jewish Home) to the “Team Analysis Approach” (wherein Allocations Teams were established to review and analyze their assigned agencies’ budget submission, conduct site visits, set up meetings with their assigned agencies to clarify any aspect(s) of their budget submission, and meet for the Final Plenary at the Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company to recommend final budget amounts for their assigned agencies for the next Fiscal Year).

This year, the process was simplified even further by the introduction of a single unified budget form that required each agency to list its actual expenses for 2013 and 2014 with a final column listing its projected expenses for Calendar Year 2015.

2015-2016 Allocations As a result of the discussions, meetings, deliberations and site visits conducted by our Allocations Teams with their assigned agencies, the following agency allocations have been approved by the Federation Board of Trustees:

Local and Israel/Overseas Allocations Israel/Overseas Allocation (for Israel and world Jewish needs)........................................$282,000 Scranton Jewish Community Center (JCC).........................................................................$130,000 Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania (JFS)..................................................$66,000 Scranton Hebrew Day School (SHDS)..................................................................................$64,000 Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos (JRC).....................................................................$13,200 Chabad of the Abingtons/Jewish Discovery Center...............................................................$9,000 Yeshiva/Beth Moshe/Milton Eisner Institute.........................................................................$7,500 Temple Hesed Religious School..............................................................................................$7,120 Temple Israel of the Poconos Hebrew School........................................................................$4,000 Bais Ya’akov (Scranton)............................................................................................................$3,000 Scranton Ritualarium (Mikvah)...............................................................................................$3,000 Jewish Fellowship of Hemlock Farms Religious School.........................................................$2,000 B’nai Harim Religious School..................................................................................................$1,800 Jewish Heritage Connection....................................................................................................$2,000 TOTAL........................................................................................................................ $594,620 Our thanks is extended to Doug Fink and the Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company for the use of their facilities during the Final Plenary Session, and to the Team members of our 2015-2016 Allocations Committee. The Team members include: TEAM 1 Larry Milliken (Chairman) Joe Fisch Janet Holland Natalie Gelb TEAM 2 Eric Weinberg (Chairman) Karen Pollack Margaret Sheldon Irwin Wolfson

Check out the Federation’s new, updated website at www.jewishnepa.org or find it on Facebook

TEAM 3 Esther Adelman (Chairwoman) Lainey Denis Lynne Fragin Mark Davis Elliot Schoenberg TEAM 4 Phyllis Barax (Chairwoman) Ann Monsky David Malinov Barry Tremper Alan Glassman

TEAM 5 Phyllis Brandes (Chairwoman) Laney Ufberg Barbara Nivert Lynn Pearl

Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

By David Fallk, Esq., Chairman, Community Relations Committee

Community Relations

The CRC has also sent detailed information on our regional synagogues and religious services Our Community Relations to each major hotel in Committee (or CRC) Northeast Pennsylvania as continues to work with an added service for their our regional public Jewish clientele who may school principals and wish to pray with their superintendents making fellow Jews on Shabbat or them aware of the Jewish during a Jewish holy day students who attend their and who may be far from schools and who would home. The message behind David Fallk, Esq. be expected to be absent Chairman, Community this service is to tell these d u r i n g m a j o r J e w i s h Relations Committee (CRC) visitors that they are at religious holidays. Materials to this home with us here in Northeastern effect were mailed in February 2015 Pennsylvania. to each and every school principal and school district superintendent in The most significant development Northeast Pennsylvania listing each of the CRC in 2014 has been and every major Jewish Holy Day the coordination of a massive through the summer of 2016.

Israel Emergency Campaign and Community Rally held during While there are occasional conflicts Israel’s war with Hamas during in the school districts across the the summer of 2014 – Operation region each Rosh Hashanah and Yom Protective Edge. As part of the Kippur, these conflicts are based more preparatory work undertaken, on ignorance or internal scheduling community members from Greater problems than on apathy, insensitivity, Scranton and our regional affiliates or any anti-Jewish bias. in the Poconos were primed to

submit a series of pre-prepared Letters to the Editor in the event any anti-Israel letters or Op-Eds columns appeared in the Scranton-Times, the Pocono Record, News Eagle or the Wayne Independent – even as Israel was being attacked by the international media for using “disproportionate force” in defending itself from hundreds of missiles fired at its civilian population centers by Islamic extremists based in Gaza – not to mention the tunnels dug by these terrorists that were used to kidnap and murder Israelis at checkpoints and kibbutzim bordering Gaza.

The large Stop-the-Sirens Rally held at the Scranton JCC during the conflict was testimony to our communities’ commitment to Israel’s continuing security and survival.

The $91,901 in emergency funds raised during the Campaign were allocated to Kibbutz Saad (bordering Gaza) for the purchase of several portable bomb shelters ($41,400) and to numerous Israeli relief organizations that were directly

involved in providing medical and other relief services to soldiers and civilians alike during Operation Protective Edge ($50,501).

Our communities’ efforts on behalf of Israel at its time of great peril are a tribute to our many donors from Lackawanna, Pike, Wayne and Monroe counties and beyond who donated generously to Israel’s war effort further consolidating the bond between our communities and the Jewish state.

In November, celebrations broke out in the Gaza Strip after the news that two Palestinian terrorists stormed a Jerusalem synagogue during morning worship services, murdering four religious Jews and a Druze policeman who came to their rescue. The tragedy is that, despite everything the Israelis have done, despite every concession the Israelis have made for peace, Jews continue to die at the hands of Islamic extremists who refuse to accept the existence of a Jewish state. The hatred and incitement continues. Our work is not yet done.

“Stop the Sirens” Israel Emergency Campaign August 2014 - $91,901 raised The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania raised $91,901 in its Stop-the-Sirens – Israel Emergency Campaign during the summer of 2014 in response to the Israel-Gaza War (Operation Protective Edge).

The funds were divided into three parts: • $41,400 was specifically designated for the purchase of portable bomb shelters for Kibbutz Saad – a small agricultural kibbutz situated less than a mile from the Gaza border. The

kibbutz was not protected by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense shield that was reserved for protecting Israel’s larger population centers.

As a consequence, the kibbutz endured constant rockets attacks from Hamas terrorists based in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

These bomb shelters have now been purchased and have been delivered to the kibbutz should future emergencies require their use.

The Federation recognizes and thanks the following members of At left: On July 11, the fourth day of Operation Protective Edge, Israelis in the southern town of Nitzan sat and prayed together inside a street-level bomb shelter in anticipation of a code red siren for incoming rockets. The government of Israel has asked Jewish Federations to intensify their efforts in providing humanitarian support to the people of Israel during this time of conflict. (Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The scene of a gas station in Ashdod that was hit directly by rocket fire from Gaza on July 11, the fourth day of Operation Protective Edge. The rocket caused explosions and three people were injured, one of them critically. (Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90)

our communities who made gifts to the “Stop the Sirens” Campaign to provide humanitarian assistance to Israelis who were affected by the missile attacks from Gaza.

disorder) for an estimated 15,000 Israelis, and flexible medical and social service assistance to thirteen Israeli communities hit hardest by the conflict.

Donors to our Israel Emergency Campaign – Kibbutz Saad Designated Fund included Maurice Auerbach, Mr. & Mrs. Robert Belfer, Mr. & Mrs. Ron Biala, Judy Brodman, M. Bross, Inc., Rabbi Yisroel Brodsky, Geoff Cutler, Harris Cutler, Janice Cutler, Joseph Cutler, Marcus Cutler, Max Cutler, Gary S. Davis, Sheera Graber, Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Knobel, M. Levine & Company, Rabbi & Mrs. Joshua Levy, David J. Marciano, Michael Penzer, Lee Salins, Marcia Ufberg, Robert Ufberg, Cori Wagner, Michael Weiss, D.D.S., Temple B’nai B’rith Sisterhood (Kingston, PA), and The Laura Sonneberg& Werner Brodman Foundation, Inc.

• $20,845 was distributed through the Jewish Federation of NEPA to several Israeli charitable organizations that were directly involved in relief efforts relating to Operation Protective Edge. These

• $29,656 of the emergency funds raised were specifically designated to the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) as part of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s fair-share commitment for Israel emergency support in providing relief from the line of fire for more than 40,000 Israeli children, 20,000 elderly citizens, long-term trauma support (post-traumatic stress

The Iron Dome missile defense system battery launched an intercepting missile near the Gaza border in southern Israel during the Israeli army’s Operation Protective Edge. (Photo by David Buimovitch/Flash90)

Israeli tanks crossed through a field in southern Israel near the border with Gaza, the day after Israel began its invasion of Gaza, on July 18, 2014. (Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash 90)

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report organizations included American Friends of Magen David Adom, Friends of the IDF, American Friends of Yad Eliezer and Friends of Yashar LaChayal.

Donors to our Israel Emergency Campaign – General Fund included: Dr. Neill Ackerman Ms. Esther Adelman Mr. Irwin Adler Mr. & Mrs. Vladimir Aronzon Dr. & Mrs. Shaya Barax Mr. & Mrs. Richard Berkof Atty. & Mrs. Richard Bishop Mr. & Mrs. Merwyn Blatt Mrs. Jean Blom B’nai B’rith Amos Lodge B’nai Harim Mr & Mrs Steve Bram Mr. Edwin Brandes Mr. & Mrs. Alan Brilliant Mr. & Mrs. Seymour Brotman Mrs. Marguerite Bushwick Chatiner Hatikvoh Ferein Mr. Jerry Chazan Mr. James Clauss Ms. Heidi Cohen Mr. Sanford Cohen Mr. Marcus Cutler Atty. Donald Douglass Ms Deborah Eisenberg

Mrs. Syvia Eisenberg Mr. James Ellenbogen Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Engel Mrs. Rosalie Engelmyer Mrs. Ruth Fallick Atty. & Mrs. David Fallk Rabbi Mordechai Fine Mr. Moshe Fink Mr. Shlomo Fink Atty. Joseph Fisch Mrs. Carole Fishbein Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Friedman Mr. & Mrs. Milton Friedman Mrs. Nancy Friedman Mr. Alex Gans Mr. Jeffrey Ganz Ms. Natalie Gelb Mr. Ricky Gelb Ms. Rose Gelbard Mr. Eugene/Art Glantz Mr. & Mrs. Alan Glassman Mrs. Marion Glassman Mr. Ken Green Mr. & Mrs Samuel Green Dr. & Mrs. Jonathan Greenfield Mr. Michael Greenstein Mr. Seth Gross Mrs. Dvora Gruber Ms. Iris Grubler Dr. Sanford Holland Mrs. Helene Hughes Jewish Fellowship of Hemlock Farms

Mr Mel Kaplan Mr. Harold Kornfeld Ms. Dahlia Laury Dr. Joel Laury Mr. Jeffrey Leventhal Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Levy Mr. & Mrs. Saul Levy Dr. & Mrs. David Malinov Dr. Kenneth Miller Mr. & Mrs. Larry Milliken Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Mogel Mrs. Joanne Aronsohn Monahan Atty. Edward Monsky Mrs. Sara Morris Ms. Rochelle Myers Atty. Samuel Newman Mrs. Shirley Nudelman Mrs. Sheila Nudelman-Abdo Dr. Frances Olick Mr. & Mrs. Benard Plotkin Mr. & Mrs. Harold Plotkin Mr. Marvin Pollack Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Pollock Ms. Ellen Raffman Mr. & Mrs. Herb Rosen Mr. & Mrs. Martin Rosenberg Atty. & Mrs. Michael Roth Mrs. Ilise Rubinow Mr, & Mrs, Kenneth Rudin Dr. & Mrs. David Rutta Mrs. Roselyn Rutta

Rabbi Dovid Saks Rabbi & Mrs. Moshe Saks Rabbi Samuel Sandhaus Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Schneider Mr. & Mrs. Phil Schneiderman Mr. & Mrs. Paul Schuchman Mrs. Malca Shapiro Mr. Mark Silverberg Mrs. Shira Silverberg Dr. Gary Silverstein Dr. Paul Solomon Dr Meredith Stempel Ms. Naomi Teppich Mr. Al Tragis Mr. & Mrs. Barry Tremper Mr. & Mrs. Robert Trudnak Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Trumpaitzky Mr. & Mrs. Allan Trynz Atty. Robert Ufberg Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Waite Ms. Mary Lil Walsh Mrs. Paula Wasser Mr. Neil Weinberg Mr. Barry Weiss Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Wizwer Cantor/Mrs, Marshall Wolkenstein The Federation expresses its sincerest gratitude to all members of our Jewish communities who contributed to our Israel Emergency Campaign.

A check for $10,000 was presented to the Israel Emergency Fund by representatives of the Sisterhood of Temple B’nai B’rith in Kingston. The funds will be designated for the purchase of several portable bomb shelters for Kibbutz Sa’ad, a small agricultural kibbutz that borders Gaza and has been subjected to continuing Hamas rocket attacks. Front row (l-r): Federation Assistant Director Dassy Ganz, Teena Wrubel, Pat Dobrowolski, Sisterhood of Temple B’nai B’rith in Kingston representative Jane Knobel and Federation President Michael Greenstein. Back row: Federation Executive Director Mark Silverberg and Harris Cutler, a liaison to Temple B’nai B’rith who represented several family contributors to the designated gift.

Israelis gathered in a public bomb shelter in the southern city of Ashkelon on July 18, 2014. (Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash 90)

Photos from the Israel Emergency Campaign Rally, July 24th

Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

A delegation of 15 members of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania visited the state capital on April 28. The mission was organized and presented by Hank Butler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, with a full agenda for the participants.

2014 Mission to Harrisburg

Upon arrival, coffee and cakes Senator John Blake, H a n k B u t l e r, Secretary of Aging were served as the group settled in senator for Lack- executive director Brian Duke spoke the Democratic caucus room for awanna County, of the Pennsylvania to the visitors to Jewish Coalition.

Harrisburg. a series of presentations by state spoke to visitors. senators and representatives. Butler introduced Senator John Blake, state senator for Lackawanna County, Other visitors included Jewish members whom participants had met before of the state legislature, Senators on other missions. Blake greeted Andrew Dinniman and Judy Schwank everyone and gave an overview of and Representative Dan Frankel. topics currently under discussion and vote, including a potential mandate Sid Michael Kavulich, from the for Holocaust education in the Northeastern Pennsylvania region, Commonwealth public schools. He visited to attend the Pennsylvania also took questions and comments State Civic Holocaust Remembrance from the group. held in the governor’s office.

Secretary of Aging Brian Duke spoke next. He discussed the current status of Pennsylvania’s commitment to its aging population, noting that Pennsylvania is the fifth “grayist” state in the country. He also mentioned a documentary made by a University of Scranton professor, Dr. Herbert Hauser, about the issue of “aging in place.” Jewish Family Service was featured in the film, as well as interviews with some of the JCC Senior Adult Club members.

At the memorial, participants reflected on the Holocaust and remarked on the passing of Sam Rosen, who always attended the program. His son, Ray, lit a candle in his memory.

Participants then had a boxed lunch before heading out on a tour of the capital building, which one visitor called, “Probably the most beautiful state capital building in the country.”

Organizers of the program noted,

Kyle Mullin, assistant to Senator John Blake, met with visitors.

David Fallk, chairman of Federation’s Community Relations Committee.

Joe Fisch, Federation representative to the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition.

Members of the Northeastern Pennsylvania delegation posed for a group photo.

Back row (l-r): Rachel Laury, Leah Laury, Phyllis Malinov, Dr. David Malinov, David Fallk and Joe Fisch. Front row: Irwin Wolfson, Dahlia Laury, Pauline Wolfson, Dr. Basya Marcus, Joyce Friedman, Steve Natt, Nancy Natt and Jerry Friedman. Not pictured: Dassy Ganz.

“All who participated enjoyed the company, appreciated the education and marveled at the tour.” They also

expressed their appreciation to the Federation and to Dassy Ganz for organizing the trip.

2014 Celebrate Israel Parade

On June 1, 2014, the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania joined thousands of Israel supporters who marcheddownManhattan’sFifthAvenue for the annual Celebrate Israel Parade.

Participants, both old and new, rode by busfromScrantonandEastStroudsburg for the parade. Many people have marched with the Federation since it began participating in the parade in 2008, and they commented that this

one was “the best ever.”

The theme of the parade was “50 Years of the Parade.” The group’s sub-theme, “Jubilee and Gold” was based on the verse in Leviticus announcing the 50th year as a time “to proclaim liberty throughout the land and its inhabitants.” Federation T-shirts depicted the Liberty Bell, on which this verse was etched. Participants

L-r: Joe Fisch, Gene Schneider and Richard Kelman participated in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade on June 1.

L-r: Benny, Becky and Shlomo Schastey, with Al Shivers in background, posed for a photo during the Celebrate Israel Parade.

also carried photos of many of the medical and technological innovations developed by Israel. Additionally, Israeli flags could be seen everywhere.

After marching and spending time watching the parade from the sidelines, the group departed for Teaneck, NJ, where participants visited a kosher restaurant and shopped along Cedar Lane.

Marchers included Jeanne Blom; Phil Cutler; Dassy Ganz; Rick Gelb; Asher and Mindy Grossman and family; Linda Grossman; Dr. Joel and Leah Laury and family; Michael and Miriam Litvak and family; Gwen Pole; Becky Schastey and family; and Mark Silverberg, executive director of the Federation. The Poconos marchers included Bernie Driller, Joe Fisch, Lily Harter, Mel Kaplan, Richard Kelman, Elisheva Kosmerl, Lois LaBarca, Sara

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania members attended the annual Celebrate Israel Parade on June 1.

L-r: The Laury family – Dr. Joel, Rachel, Dassy, Leah, Shira and Dahlia – participated in the Celebrate Israel Parade.

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

Visit of Israeli ConsulGeneral Yaron Sideman to Scranton

McGowan and family, Rabbi Baruch Melman, Gene Schneider, Al Shivers, Al and Carol Sitroon, Donna Waite and Frank Wholey.

The Jewish Federation thanks longtime Federation supporter Barth Rubin, of the Budget Inn and Suites, for his continued support of the event.

Also thanked were Rabbi Moshe Saks, Leah Laury and Becky Schastey for helping prepare materials for the parade, as well as Mark Silverberg, Dassy Ganz and the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania “for presenting an excellent program.”

L-r: Al Shivers and Rabbi Baruch Melman marched in the parade.

At right, l-r: Lexy Novitski and Miriam, Laura and Michael Litvak marched in the parade.

At right, l-r: Three generations of Grossmans – Linda, Ella, Asher, Sara and Mindy – participated in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade on June 1.

By David I. Fallk

establish a global Islamic caliphate.

Israeli Consul General for the MidAtlantic Region Yaron Sideman addressed Jewish leaders at the Scranton Jewish Community Center on September 3. He spoke about the issues facing Israel on its southern, northern and eastern borders, with emphasis on the efforts Israel made in its recent war with Gaza to avoid civilian casualties to the fullest extent possible.

Sideman likened Hamas to alQaida and ISIS – the radical Islamist organization that has captured much of Iraq and Syria and executed many people in the process, including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff – as well as the Muslim Brotherhood (of which Hamas is the Palestinian branch), Hezbollah in Lebanon and Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist organization that is currently massacring thousands of innocent civilians in Nigeria. He cautioned that like ISIS, Hamas’ jihadism, seeks to violently and brutally impose its ideology, manner of thinking and way of living not only on the entire region, but on “the entire world.”

H e e x p l a i n e d t h a t I s r a e l ’s humanitarian efforts in that regard were obstructed by Hamas, a terrorist organization that has “no qualms” about using civilians as human shields, and stored and fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian population centers from, in, or near residential homes, hospitals, schools, cemeteries, mosques and even U.N. facilities as part of its propaganda war to demonize the Jewish state in the eyes of the world. “It would appear,” Sideman noted sarcastically, “that Hamas cares as much about protecting its civilian population as it does about abiding by the Geneva Conventions, the provisions of which are meaningless to this Islamist terrorist organization.”

He stated that if Gazans are suffering, the fault lies not with Israel, but with the Hamas government that currently rules Gaza. He pointed out that cement and steel allowed into Gaza for building homes, hospitals and schools was spent on weaponry and building tunnels into Israel to slaughter and/ or kidnap Israeli civilians as part of Hamas’ genocidal war tactics.

He explained that if Israel failed to retaliate against Hamas’s actions, terrorist organizations would be emboldened to use this tactic in Europe, America and throughout the world in furtherance of their goal to

He also noted that, during the conflict, Hamas actually prevented Palestinians from vacating civilian residences that the terrorist organization used as weapons depots, even as Israel warned such civilians in advance of an attack.

By dropping leaflets and contacting the residents by cell phone calls

Israeli consul general for the MidAtlantic Region Yaron Sideman met with Lackawanna College President Mark Volk.

L-r: Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright met with Yaron Sideman, Israeli consul general for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

L-r: Sara McGowan, Shoshana McGowan, Lily Harter and Andre McGowan marched during the parade.

Seth Gross, Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvannia Executive Director Mark Silverberg, and Federation President Mike Greenstein attended the luncheon preceding the briefing at the Jewish Community Center.

L-r: Holding the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania banner was Rick Gelb, Donna Waite and Betsy Kosmerl.

L-r: Alex Lipton, spokesman for Consul General Yaron Sideman; David Fallk; Sideman; Congressman Matt Cartright; and Bob Morgan, district director for Cartright, posed for a group photo.

10

Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

and text messages, Israel indicated that, for their own safety, civilians had 20 minutes to vacate the property before it would be attacked by the Israeli air force.

that may have arisen, and noted that Iron Dome and other military projects have repeatedly been funded by Congress and supported by the Obama administration.

“Hamas is fully responsible for civilian casualties and civilian suffering in Gaza,” he said. “Israel does not deliberately target civilians…Hamas does.

Criticism of Israel for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza should be directed at the organization that uses its civilian population as shields and as a propaganda tool against Israel.”

Sideman’s visit was motivated by an increased Israeli effort to build relationships on a more grassroots basis with Jewish communities throughout America, and also with public officials and business leaders on the local level.

He concluded by noting that the “major roadblock to ending the ongoing strife remains the refusal of Palestinians to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.”

During the question-and-answer session, Sideman noted that Iran still posed an existential threat to Israel and that only monitoring Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons would be an insufficient outcome of the ongoing negotiations. He stated that the only secure result of negotiations would be to adopt the same treatment that had been applied to Syria’s chemical weaponry: dismantling the facilities that give Iran the ability to construct weapons.

Sideman also noted that the United States remained Israel’s strongest ally, despite differences

At the Scranton Times-Tribune, reporter Borys Krawczniuk (left) and editor Pete McKenna (right) met with Yaron Sideman (center), Israeli consul general for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Sideman had a meeting with Congressman Matthew Cartwright, of the 17th Congressional District, and engaged in a conversation about Israel’s security and the mutual concerns of Israel and the United States. Cartwright first expressed his full support for Israel and sympathy for the rocket attacks and threats that its people have had to endure. He stated that he expects to visit Israel during the next year to see for himself the security problems facing Israel, and also the progress Israel has made in building itself into an economic powerhouse.

In furtherance of building mutually beneficial economic, scientific and business relationships, Sideman met with Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright and discussed the new four-year contract the city had signed with the Israeli company Pango to do high-tech monitoring of parking meters.

L-r: David Fallk, State Senator John Blake and Israeli consul general for the Mid-Atlantic Region Yaron Sideman at Blake’s local office.

L-r: Rabbi Moshe Saks, David Fallk and Natalie Gelb attended the luncheon preceding the briefing at the Jewish Community Center.

Another conference was held with Lackawanna College President Mark Volk, during which drilling and water technology were explored. Lackawanna College has been training drilling technicians in its satellite campus in Susquehanna County to deal with the Marcellus Shale boom. Israel has an interest in developing its recently found natural gas deposits.

Also on the itinerary was a meeting with State Senator John Blake, who engaged in an explanation of economic development opportunities within the state and the different agencies and departments that could be looking to contract or partner with businesses and projects that involve Israeli companies. Emphasis was placed on clean water technology that Israel could offer.

Sideman also had interviews with WNEP and WBRE-TV news reporters in the Federation office, and was given an interview with the editorial board from The Scranton Times-Tribune.

David I. Fallk is the chairman of the Community Relations Committee.

Project KosherTroops.com

By Dassy Ganz, Assistant Federation Director

In November 2014, the Federation joined KosherTroops.com in its charitable work for the 2014 Chanukah season.

Koshertroops.com was founded

by Sara Fuerst and Ava Hamburger of Monsey, NY, to help improve the morale and welfare of Jewish members of the armed forces of the United States of America by showing our appreciation for their commitment.

Dassy Ganz, Assistant Director, Jewish Federation of NEPA

The Federation accomplished its mission by sending holiday care packages that included items that helped these soldiers celebrate the Jewish holidays and Shabbat so that they felt connected to the Jewish community while away on duty.

The packages provided the tastes and smells of home, as well as personal messages of support that demonstrated care, honor and respect for their service to our country.

Connecting in this way to our troops helped meet both their physical and spiritual needs.

How did the Jewish Federation of NEPA help?

The Federation collected Hershey’s chocolate miniatures as well as letters for the troops. The back of each letter identified our Federation and provided an e-mail contact for return e-mails.

Federation collection boxes were located in the reception areas of the Scranton JCC and the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos in Stroudsburg.

Many thanks are extended to all those who brought chocolates and letters to both locations.

Special thank-yous go out to Rika Shaffer and the JCC preschool for the pretty Chanukah pictures they colored, and to the students of the Scranton Hebrew Day School and their teachers for the many thoughtful letters they crafted for our brave soldiers.

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania is proud to have been a part of this charitable drive.

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition

By Joe Fisch, Esq. (Chairman, Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition – NEPA Federation Chapter) and David Fallk, Esq. (Community Relations Committee, Chairman)

The Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition (or PJC) represents the interests of Pennsylvania’s Joe Fisch, Esq. Jewish communities and is based in Harrisburg. It deals with issues of importance to Pennsylvania Jewry including public social policies, funding relating to private and public educational institutions, the delivery of human services, expansion of grants and loans to these institutions, and co-sponsors the Annual Civic Holocaust Commemoration in Harrisburg.

The PJC has also taken a leading role in the passage of Act 149 of 2014 – the Iran Free Procurement Bill which divests state funds from companies operating and investing in Iran and prohibits Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services from entering into contracts with companies investing in Iran’s energy sector.

It has also assisted in making significant advances at the State level in the area of Holocaust education in Pennsylvania public schools. In June 2014, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed into law specific legislation designed to encourage Pennsylvania schools to teach the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations. House Bill 1424 (now Act 70 of 2014) encourages schools to teach their students about the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations by having the state develop strong curriculum options to teach these subjects, distribute these curriculum options to all school districts, train teachers to teach this subject effectively, assess schools’ use of these resources, and assure that every school district is offering these subjects to their students.

The new law ensures that Pennsylvania students will receive the best possible education about the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations.

The curriculum will be developed with experts in the field and teachers will be trained to use it well.

11

The PJC was also instrumental in supporting House Bill 91 (now Act 194 of 2014) which extended Educational Improvement Tax Credits (or EITC) to assist our non-profit agencies in Pennsylvania.

It is currently working on the expansion of the Pennsylvania David Fallk, Esq. Human Relations Act by Chairman, Community adding “sexual orientation” Relations Committee (CRC) and “gender identity or expression” to the list of prohibited factors to assist individuals who are experiencing unlawful discriminatory practices relating to employment, housing and public accommodations due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

It is also lobbying for state legislation that would make ethnic intimidation an offense by expanding the definitions of ethnic intimidation to include a “person who commits the offense of ethnic intimidation with malicious intention toward the actual or perceived race color, religion, national origin, ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity of another individual or group of individuals....”

Finally, the PJC is supporting the passage of House Bill 1018, which would withhold state funds from colleges and universities that boycott Israeli commercial interests. Currently, there is a great deal of political pressure on some U.S. colleges and universities to boycott or divest from Israel’s commercial interests with the United States. As a result, a bipartisan Bill has been introduced that would bar state funding to any Pennsylvania school that bows to such demands. House Bill 1018 would implement the Standing with Israel Act, which would define a boycott or divestment as politically motivated actions that are intended to penalize Israel or otherwise limit commercial activities.

On Thursday, February 26, Lt. Gov. Mike Stack and other Pennsylvania state officials met with Directors of the Israeli Defense Corporation in Harrisburg.

The attending Israeli delegation included leaders of SIBAT - a Division of the Israeli Ministry of

Pennsylvania state leaders met with Israel Defense Corporation officials in Harrisburg.

Defense. Among the Pennsylvania officials present were Richard D. Finn (junior director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency); Lt. Col. George Bivens (Pennsylvania State Police); and Col. Marc Ferraro (acting deputy adjutant general of the Pennsylvania National Guard).

SIBAT is an international defense cooperation directorate within the Israeli Ministry of Defense that is responsible for identifying opportunities for potential business-to-business areas of mutual interest and industrial collaboration between Israel and Pennsylvania.

The February 26 meeting was the first of its kind and jumpstarted Governor Tom Wolf’s desire to strengthen ties between Pennsylvania and Israel especially in the areas of defense collaboration. Wolf’s administration hopes to establish a Memorandum of Understanding between Pennsylvania and Israel, similar to one recently established between Ohio and Israel. The Memorandum will be the state’s gateway into an economic relationship with Israel.

Yaron Sideman, consul general of Israel to the MidAtlantic Region, who was in attendance (fourth from the left at the top of the photo on this page), commented that: “It has been proven that a robust business portfolio with Israel can strengthen local economies by providing jobs and increasing revenue. It is truly a win-win for both Israel and Pennsylvania to explore advancement opportunities in these sectors.”

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Thursday, April 23, 2015 – Award-winning film – “Beneath the Helmet” The Jewish Federation Celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day – throughout NEPA.

evening on Sunday, April 26.

On April 23, 2015, the state of Israel celebrated its 67th birthday, and the Jewish Federation helped to bring the celebration to Elan Gardens, JCC Senior Adult Club, the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos and Webster Towers.

On Thursday evening, the Federation hosted the newly-released film “Beneath the Helmet”–- a coming-of-age story of Israeli high school graduates entering the Israeli Defense Forces. Audience members called it “a serious and moving look into an integral part of growing up in Israel - defending our homeland and its citizens.”

Each of these locations had scheduled senior lunch programs for that day and the Federation highlighted Israel Independence Day with a gift of blue and white cookies for the participants at each location to enjoy. The Federation donated blue and white cookies to Temple Israel of Scranton which hosted a post-Yom Ha’atzmaut

Dassy Ganz informed the group of a number of members belonging to our own Federation family who have served and are currently serving in the IDF. The evening closed with Cantor Aronzon of Temple Israel (Scranton) leading the audience in the singing of “Hatikvah,” and then all enjoyed a “blue and white reception.”

The Jewish Community Center screened the film “Beneath the Helmet.”

Jewish Community Center Senior Adult Club members Katherine Smith, James Ellenbogen, Patricia Gates and Shirley Nudelman enjoyed cookies made in celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Members of the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos gathered for Yom Ha’atzmaut.

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Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

INVESTMENTS COMMITTEE REPORT

By Ben Schnessel, Esq., and Margaret Sheldon, Co-Chairs

As of December 31, 2014, the Federation’s endowment portfolio was constituted and valued as follows:

The Federation’s Investments Committee is responsible for the management of $9.6 million in Federation-endowed assets through its Endowment Fund. These Funds include Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowments, Lion of Judah Margaret Sheldon, Ben Schnessel, Esq., Endowments, Restricted Co-Chairwoman, Co-Chairman, Investments Funds, Philanthropic Funds, Investments Committee Committee Unrestricted Endowments, and bequests in testamentary documents. The Committee manages the Federation’s endowment portfolio to insure that it achieves the maximum return possible on its investments while still maintaining the integrity of the funds for the future.

Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment Funds (P.A.C.E.):...$4,107,984 (1) Unrestricted Endowment Funds (U.E.F.): ................................$4,333,280 (2) Restricted Endowments:.................................................................... $553,663 Philanthropic Funds:......................................................................... $571,000 TOTAL......................................................................................$9,565,927 (1) 4.5% of the fair market value of these funds is gifted to the Federation’s UJA Campaign each year.

(2) 4.5% of the fair market value of these funds is made available to the Federation as income for the purpose of offsetting its general operating expenses and issuing program and capital grants to its affiliated agencies.

Members of the Committee include Ben Schnessel, Esq. (Co-Chairman), Paul Alamar, Doug Fink, Alan Glassman, Michael Greenstein, Seth Gross, Mel Mogel, Steve Seitchik, Margaret Sheldon (Co-Chairwoman), Eric Weinberg and Irwin Wolfson.

GRANTS COMMITTEE REPORT

By Esther Adelman, Chairwoman, Grants Committee

The Grants Committee’s role is to provide nonbudgeted shortterm funding for important capital repairs, Esther Adelman, e m e r g e n c i e s , Chairwoman, Grants Committee and/or creative and innovative programs and projects submitted by its affiliated agencies – programs and/or projects that support the greater Mission of the Federation which is to rescue the imperiled, care for the vulnerable, support Israel, and revitalize and perpetuate the Jewish communities of Lackawanna, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties and the world.

Members of the Grants Committee

P A C E

included Esther Adelman (Chairwoman), Don Douglass, Natalie Gelb, Leah Laury, Jill Linder, David Malinov, Edward Monsky, Barb Nivert, Karen Pollack and Jay Weiss.

Federation grants awarded during 2015 included: • Congregation Beth Israel (capital grant for $4,000) The grant was awarded to CongregationBethIsraelofHonesdale for work required on its synagogue building. The work involved moving old plumbing pipes and replacing them with new pipes; installing a critical valve as well as six basement pillars necessary to stabilize the congregation’s 160 year-old building.

Decayed joist ends were reinforced, as was a cracked main beam that also needed to be reinforced and supported. Additional construction work is required for the electrical

What will be your Jewish Legacy?

Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment

Your gift to the Annual Campaign DOES A WORLD OF GOOD. Endowing your gift allows you to be there for the Jewish community of NEPA forever. m of the A Progra Program

A Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE) is a permanent fund that endows your Jewish community Annual Campaign gift as a lasting legacy. A PACE fund will continue to make an annual gift in perpetuity on your behalf.

To determine the amount you need to endow your entire campaign gift, multiply your current annual gift by 20.

You can fund your PACE by adding the JEWISH FEDERATION OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA to your will, or by making the Federation a beneficiary of your IRA. All contributions to establish a PACE are tax deductible.

Let your name be remembered as a blessing.

Endowments can be created through a variety of vehicles, some of which do not necessitate funding during your lifetime yet still provide your estate with considerable tax benefits.

They also enable you to perpetuate your commitment to the Annual Campaign in a way that best achieves your own personal financial and estate planning goals.

Examples Of Ways To Fund Your Pace Gift Are: * outright contribution of cash, appreciated securities or other long-term * capital gain property such as real estate * charitable remainder trust * gift of life insurance * charitable lead trust * gift of IRA or pension plan assets * grant from your foundation * reserved life estate in your residence * bequest

Using appreciated property, such as securities or real estate, affords you the opportunity to eliminate the income tax on the long-term capital gain, will in some instances generate a full income tax charitable deduction and will remove those assets from your estate for estate tax purposes.

For more information contact Mark Silverberg at Mark.Silverberg@jewishnepa.org or call 570-961-2300, ext. 1.

For more information about leaving your legacy, legacy gifts or bequests contact:

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania TEL: 570.961.2300 (ext. 1) E-Mail: Mark.Silverberg@Jewishnepa.org With the true spirit of kehilla and our commitment to tikkun olam, the Jewish Federation’s CREATE A JEWISH LEGACY Initiative is a community-wide partnership established between the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania and its many UJA-funded educational, social service, cultural and recreational agencies and institutions including the State of Israel and the needs of world Jewry – all with a shared vision of ensuring a strong and sustainable Jewish future.

TODAY. TOMORROW. TOGETHER These include world-wide Jewish needs (JDC), the State of Israel, Scranton JCC, Jewish Family Service of NEPA, Scranton Hebrew Day School, Scranton Mikveh, Temple Hesed Religious School, Scranton Temple Israel Religious School, Yeshiva Beth Moshe/Milton Eisner Institute, Bais Yaakov of Scranton, B’nai Harim Religious School, Jewish Fellowship of Hemlock Farms Religious School, Jewish Discovery Center/Chabad, Bnos Yisroel of Scranton, Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos, Jewish Heritage Connection and Temple Israel of the Poconos Hebrew School

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report system, the foundation, plumbing, heating system, air conditioning, basement, windows, attic and steeple and the building’s exterior.

• Temple Israel of the Poconos (program grant of $5,000 for Concert – “From Shtetl to Broadway to Israel – A Celebration of Jewish Peoplehood”) The concert (which is currently scheduled for Sunday, August 9, 2015, at Stroudsburg High School and cosponsored with the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania) will have three musical acts designed to document the voyage of the Jewish people from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to America and finally to Israel, where the voyage actually began with the creation of the Diaspora. The klezmer segment will represent the survival of communities destroyed by pogroms and the Shoah; the Broadway segment will represent the rebirth of the soul of these vanished communities on the American stage in one particular musical; and finally the Israel segment will celebrate Jewish peoplehood from biblical times to the present.

• Temple Israel of Scranton (program grant of $6,000 for Family Education Programs to be held throughout 2015 and 2016 which will be open to the entire Jewish community.)

Temple Israel of Scranton will be introducing a series of new, creative and innovative programs under its Family Life Education Program Series. These programs will include monthly Shabbat dinners, a Scholarin-Residence Program, a Chanukah celebration, an Israel Independence Day celebration, a Purim adult costume party, weekly Israel History classes, a trip to the National Jewish Museum in Philadelphia, an educational program titled “Genizah” – the burial of Jewish books and their holiness (at Temple Israel Cemetery), a Family Shabbat Retreat at Camp Ramah in the Poconos and a Jewish Film Festival in the fall.

• Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania (sponsorship grant of $2,000).

JFS plans to hold a special kosher event celebrating the milestone 100th

Annual Meeting of the organization at the Colonnade in Scranton in mid-June. The fundraising materials and invitations have been outsourced for printing and mailing as was the commemorative Anniversary Report that was widely distributed. Catering services have been retained and the Colonnade has been rented for the program. Music from a professional entertainment trio will be provided as well.

• Scranton Hebrew Day School (capital grant of $25,000 for establishing a security apparatus for the school) Events in the Jewish world over the past few years have (unfortunately) taught us that our safety is no longer a basic right. We have to be proactive in insuring the safety of ourselves and of those for whom we are responsible.

Our responsibility as a school with close to one hundred children must be taken seriously.

This grant was given to provide the funds necessary to resolve several safety issues at the Hebrew Day School by funding the installation of the

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following systems: ° Completion of the security fence, thereby enclosing the property on all sides with an 8’ high boundary. This includes all appropriate gates and locking measures. ° Installation of access control on all exterior doors with restricted electronic access given to appropriate staff members. This system will enable the School to log all entries, as well as to schedule open access for certain times or even for specific doors (arrival, dismissals, etc.). Additionally, the school will be able to constantly monitor the doors and determine whether they are open or closed. ° Installation of 16 surveillance cameras – 8 indoor and 8 outdoor, with the capability of being remotely viewed, live and ex post facto, by administrators and office personnel.

This will provide the day school with “eyes” throughout the building and all around the property. In addition, it will have the capability to share the Day School’s live feeds with the Scranton Police Department giving the school’s personnel the ability to monitor school property, further enhancing its security.

BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

By Steven Seitchik, Chairman, Budget and Finance Committee Members of the Budget and Finance Committee included Steven Seitchik (Chairman), Natalie Gelb, Alan Glassman, Michael Greenstein, Seth Gross, David Malinov, Lynn Pearl, Elliot Schoenberg and Barry Tremper.

after a detailed analysis of the projected Federation budget for FY 2015-2016, it recommended a final budget (subsequently approved by both the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees) of $269,839.36.

Our thanks is extended to members of the Committee for the time and effort they spent in determining the Federation budget

Steven Seitchik, Chairman, Budget and Finance Committee

The Committee met on March 24 and,

Thanks to the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

The Federation is especially indebted to the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation for having awarded it a general operating expense grant for 2014-2015 in the amount of $125,000.

This grant was used to offset the Federation’s 2014-2015 budgeted general operating expenses as well as some of its general operating expenses

BYLAWS COMMITTEE REPORT

By Irwin Schneider Esq., Chairman, Bylaws Committee

been materially changed since the ScrantonLackawanna Jewish Federation evolved into the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania more than 15 years ago.

Members of the Bylaws Committee included Irwin Schneider (Chairman), Esther Adelman, Don Douglass, Alan Glassman, Alan Goldstein, Michael Greenstein, David Malinov, P a u l a Wa s s e r, J e r r y Weinberger, Jay Weiss and Irwin Wolfson.

Many sections are outdated, some are overly restrictive, while others Irwin Schneider Esq., (such as those requiring Chairman, Bylaws Committee an actual physical presence for voting members) are recommended for an amendment The Committee met on numerous – the effect of which will be to reoccasions and reviewed a series define the term “present” to include of significant amendments to the “by conference calls or other Bylaws – the text of which has not teleconferencing methods.”

By Seth Gross, Chairman, Nominating Committee

for the coming Fiscal Year.

Some of the amendments being considered include: • defining the membership, term limits, and powers of the Board of Trustees • empowering the Executive Committee to borrow money, issue grants and/or allocate up to a specific dollar amount without board approval should the interval between board meetings exceed one month • eliminating term limits of past Federation presidents serving on the Board of Trustees and allowing them to remain as voting members of the Board of Trustees • defining a “member-in-goodstanding” of the Federation

incurred during 2014-2015 and traditionally paid from the income of its unrestricted endowment funds.

This general operating expense grant is expected to the first of three such grants the Federation hopes to receive from the Foundation over the next two years.

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania expresses its sincerest gratitude to the Foundation for its continuing support of Federation activities.

• modifying the manner in which Trustee vacancies are filled • empowering the Federation president to be ex officio on all Federation committees • setting quorum limits for regular, special, board and annual meetings, and • expanding the role of the Nominating Committee by empowering it to recommend individuals to fill Board vacancies on an annual basis These and other important Bylaw amendments will be presented for approval to the Executive Committee and the Federation Board of Trustees in the late summer or early fall.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

Members of the Nominating Committee i n c l u d e d Seth Gross Seth Gross, Chairman, ( C h a i r m a n ) , Nominating Committee Phyllis Brandes, Richard Fine, Alan Glassman, Michael Greenstein, Leah Laury, David Malinov, Ed Monsky, Ann Monsky and Barbara Nivert.

The Committee met on Thursday, March 26, and presented the following slate of Officers and Trustees to the Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania on Thursday, June 11:

Officers

President.................... David Malinov Administrative Vice-President..........

Douglas Fink Vice-President..... Elliot Schoenberg Vice-President........... Eric Weinberg Treasurer...................Barry Tremper Assistant Treasurer....Jerry Weinberger Secretary..................Mark Silverberg Assistant Secretary Donald Douglass

Board of Trustees

Elected to serve a one-year term ending June 30, 2016: Alex Gans, Karen Pollack, Filmore Rosenstein, Stan Rothman, Jay Schectman and Irwin Wolfson Elected to serve a three-year term ending June 30, 2018: Esther Adelman, Susie Blum Connors, Mark Davis, Eli Deutsch, Lynn Fragin, Dale Miller, Larry Milliken, Gail Neldon and Molly Rutta.

Trustees whose terms of office are

continuing include: Three-year term expiring in June 2016: Jim Ellenbogen, Joseph Fisch, Leah Laury, Phyllis Malinov, Mel Mogel, Geordee Pollock, Alma Shaffer, Suzanne Tremper and Eric Weinberg Three-year term expiring in June 2017: Sandra Alfonsi, Phyllis Barax, Shlomo Fink, Susan Jacobson, Dan Marcus, Ann Monsky, Barbara Nivert, Eugene Schneider and Ben Schnessel

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Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) 27th Annual Holocaust Symposium

The 27th Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust, held on May 56, was hosted at Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. More than 1,350 students, teachers and administrators from both public and parochial schools traveled from 26 school districts in five counties, including two schools from Sullivan County, NY. Several home-schooled children and their parents also participated in the events of the day.

David Malinov, Chairman

Another major highlight attached to the Symposium was an assembly on May 6 at Tunkhannock Area Middle School. Frida Herskovits spoke with more than 400 attentive middleschool students, who welcomed her with a song and original poems.

Special thanks to Sara Ergott and Debbie Johnson – middle school language arts teachers, and Jim Timmons (Tunkhannock Area Middle School principal) for arranging this wonderful event.

The Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust reached more than 1,750 students and teachers with a program that works to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust, to promote the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect, and to encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice.

Although planners were initially concerned with the Pennsylvania State testing window for the Keystone Tests and recent school budgets cuts, we were extremely pleased with the level of participation. Area superintendents, principals, and school board members made every effort to work around these important tests so their students would be able to participate in the Symposium. We are humbled and extremely grateful for their outstanding support.

The Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust is a two-day program that was held at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. Each day different schools participated from 8:50 am-1:30 pm on programs focused on the Holocaust, the causes, the development and the consequences.

The overwhelming highlight for all attendees was the personal faceto-face meetings with survivors of

Mary Ann Answini, H.E.R.C. Consultant

the Holocaust and two liberating soldiers. Intimate groups were created rather than large venues for the students to hear the testimony of the survivors. They candidly shared their experiences and followed up with a question and answer session. Each guest speaker has his/her unique testimony, which often encompasses memories of close family and friends.

Some remained sole survivors, others were lucky to survive and reunite with one or more surviving family members. The program provided all participants with the increasingly rare ability to hear “living history” in a very personal setting, rendering a moving and emotional impact.

Educators, who have attended in the past, felt strongly about the importance of the personal setting for their students. It allowed a closer connection and was a very unique learning opportunity for their students. Many teachers were impressed that despite private pain and great trauma, each speaker tried to impress on their young listeners the need to shy away from prejudice, bullying, labeling, and negative behavior toward their peers and other individuals. Each of the speakers truly serves as a positive role model for the young people who hear their words. The survivors built new lives, after living through unimaginable hardship, and they have become contributing members of society, who share messages of hope and light.

Each day of the Symposium began with registration and the distribution of a materials kit for each student.

Teachers were gifted with a six-book Holocaust series: Kristallnacht, Rescuing the Danish Jews, Saving Children, The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Auschwitz, and Liberation.

The books were a gift made possible through the generosity of Joanne Aronsohn Monahan. Teachers also received a donated booklet, “Unwelcomed Words”, from the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, located at Queensborough Community College.

The United States Holocaust Museum donated a resource DVD for each educator highlighting the theme, “What You Do Matters.” Mr. Paul Bachow, the writer, director and producer of “A Journey into the

Holocaust,” donated 100 copies of the film for each teacher. The film is detailed with a deeply personal exploration into genocide and how something this atrocious happened – and continues to happen repeatedly even today. Finally, the Museum of Jewish Heritage provided valuable links from which we gleaned several teachers guides, designed to aid teachers with lessons for their students. Copies were reproduced and donated through the generosity of several anonymous donors.

The program itself began with a welcome and the “Pledge of Allegiance”

by Susie Connors, who graciously served as the master of ceremonies for the Holocaust Symposium. She is a retired Scranton School District teacher and director of the Planning Committee for the Holocaust Education Resource Center.

The poignant film “Children Remember the Holocaust” was then introduced and screened. It is a film that uses photographs and footage from the Holocaust years with voiceovers that are strictly words of children and teenagers taken from personal diaries and memoirs. Narrated by Keanu Reeves, the film begins with life prior to the Holocaust, and continues through the post-liberation period.

In the last part, it touches on survivor guilt syndrome, how difficult it was to find and reunite family members, the hospitalization and recuperation of the ill. It concludes with the vow by those who survived, to tell the story for the many who perished in the Holocaust.

The first presenter was Alan Moskin, a World War II combat veteran who served in the 66th Infantry, 71st Division of General Patton’s 3rd Army.

Beyond serving in heavy battles, Alan became a liberator of the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp, a sub-camp of Mathausen. Alan is particularly skilled in transporting his listeners back in time to feel and see what he is describing, whether telling stories of his war buddies or of the horrors the soldiers encountered when they entered the camp. These were, he said, unmatched by anything previously encountered in the worst of combat. He described the help these unprepared young men were able to offer the compassion and care with which they tried to treat people who barely looked human after their mistreatment, and credited medics with doing the greatest job. He also enumerated and stressed positive actions people can take to prevent such atrocities from occurring. His talk was moving and extremely well-received.

The presentation was followed by many questions from the audience and concluded with a thunderous ovation.

Next, participants were divided into groups and guided by facilitators to various conference rooms of

the Hilton Hotel, where they were introduced to their guest speaker. On May 5 and May 6t there were a total of 16 separate groups, with students from each participating school represented in the various venues.

Student attention and emotion was clearly evident in every room. Sessions concluded with applause and hugs for survivors from many of the students.

This part of the day is carefully crafted, so that the survivors can share these very personal testimonies with the students and in turn, those children return to their respective schools to share those stories of struggle, sacrifice, and survival. The learning experience continues in their classrooms, as they connect the testimonies to historical events in social studies and in their English classes with poetry, historical fiction and non-fiction.

The survivor testimony session was followed by lunch in the Casey Grand Ballroom and the closing event, also known as the Abe Plotkin Memorial Lecture on the Holocaust and Social Justice. For the 27th Annual Symposium, we were very proud to present the play “Lida Stein and the Righteous Gentile.”

The 50-minute play followed “ordinary” people from “ordinary” families, who were caught up in the extraordinary political and social upheaval of the Nazi era. It focused on the relationship between Lida Stein, a Jewish teenage girl, and her best friend Dora Krause, a German teenage girl. Lida’s parents were forced by Nazi decrees, which were announced throughout the play by a Nazi officer, to give up their daughter to the Krause family, who agreed to hide them. Lida continued to learn her school lessons from Dora’s mother. Gradually, Dora became a staunch Hitler supporter, and became extremely racist and anti-Semitic against her once-best friend.

The play probed all of those issues during exceedingly difficult times from the perspective of teenagers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who were swept up in life-altering decisions about friendship, politics and family loyalty. The audience discussion that followed addressed two key aspects of the Holocaust era: the gradual intimidation and eventual segregation of the Jewish community from the

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report larger society, and the characters, motivations, and consequences of the decisions of friendly and nonfriendly German adults and youth. The audience discussion focused on peer pressure and its impact on decisionmaking, family loyalty, and personal responsibility and personal safety versus moral strength and commitment.

The wrap-up at the conclusion of the day included a reminder to all participants to fill out the evaluation forms, which are exceedingly important as a source of feedback to the Planning Committee from the Holocaust Education Resource Center. The Hilton Scranton and Conference Center and the Jewish Federation were warmly thanked for their dedication, generosity, and commitment to this program, which has reached some 20,000 young people for 27 years.

Perhaps the following can provide insight into the breadth of the experiences for students and teachers in attendance. It is our sincere hope that all of the participants continue to share the knowledge, wisdom, and testimonies of the seventeen survivors and liberators with their peers, siblings, and parents.

Our honorable guest speakers included: • Annie Bleiberg was born in Oleszye, Poland. Soon after the Germans occupied Poland in1939, they established ghettos and forced Jews, including Annie and her family into them. When the ghetto was liquidated, the Jewish inhabitants were crammed into a train and sent to Belzec, an annihilation camp in the Lublin District. Annie escaped from the moving train and began a brief life in hiding. She was betrayed by a classmate and ultimately was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After the war, Annie came to the United States and settled in the Bronx.

• Ronnie (Renate) Breslow, a native of Germany, is a survivor of the Holocaust and was a passenger on the ship, the St. Louis. She relates her experiences to the public as a personal insight into an unimaginable part of her own life and in the larger perspective of Jewish history. Mrs. Breslow is a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia, and a senior member of the JCRC Board of Directors.

• Sonia Goldstein, was born in Vilna, Poland (now called Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania) – a very prosperous and

cultured city of about 200,000 people – about 55,000 of whom were Jews.

Sonia was educated in private schools and attended an excellent high school with plans to become a pharmacist.

When the war began, Vilna became under Russian control and the family’s comfortable life changed drastically.

In 1941, the Nazis occupied Vilna and all the Jews of city had to endure harsh laws and restrictions along with constant fear. Sonia and her family were later forced into the Vilna Ghetto, and after enduring many hardships, the family was transported to the notorious Stuthof Concentration Camp. Sonia and her mother survived the camp, but were forced on a grueling Death March.

• Trudy Klein Gompers was born in Vienna, Austria in 1937. On March 12, 1938, the Nazis annexed Austria and life for her family immediately changed for the worse. Trudy’s mother was personally humiliated when members of the Nazi party demanded that she scrub the streets in preparation for a visit by Adolf Hitler. Trudy, along with her father, mother, and brother, boarded a train and left Vienna for London, England where they survived the war and then sailed to New York City in 1946.

• Elly Gross (formerly Berkovits) was born in Romania. Her father perished early in the war. Elly and her remaining family, her mother and younger brother Adalbert, were taken to a ghetto in 1944 along with most other Jews in her area. Six weeks later, her family, along with thousands of other Jews, were transported via cattle cars to Auschwitz Concentration Camp where she was separated from her mother and brother. Elly credits her survival of the camp to “miracles” noting that few others of her age group survived the ordeal. She was transferred to Fallersleben, a part of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp, where she worked as a slave laborer for Volkswagen until liberation by the Allies on April 14, 1945. Elly is a painter, a poet, and the author of four books.

• Mr. Jack Gruener, originally from Krakow, Poland, is the sole survivor of his family. He began to face the Nazi terror as a child of 12, and experienced virtually every hell in the Holocaust years, including imprisonment in 10 concentration camps. At Auschwitz his arm was tattooed with a number and he escaped several roundups. He asks of his listeners that they act with consideration toward each other.

His story is included in the Scholastic

book, “Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust.” Today, Jack lives in New York with his wife Ruth, and is a father of two sons and grandfather to four.

• Ruth Gruener was a hidden child in Poland under extraordinary circumstances. She was hidden in a home in which the rest of the family would have turned her over to the Nazis, if they knew the mother and grandmother were hiding her in a trunk under their noses. She conveys clearly the fear that she faced daily as a seven year old and tells of a harrowing day of nearly being turned over to the

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Nazis. However, her focus was one of hope and kindness to one another.

• Ruth Hartz was a 4-year-old hidden child during the Holocaust in southern France. During that time she had to change her name to Renee to hide her Jewish identity. In addition to being sheltered by an ordinary French farm family, she spent six months in a small Catholic convent to avoid capture by both the Vichy French Police and the Gestapo. When informants told the authorities that the nuns were hiding Jewish children, the Mother Superior was forced to lie to keep Ruth and the other children safe. Only the Mother

IN MEMORIAM SAM ROSEN

By Seymour Brotman, Executive Director Emeritus, Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania Sam Rosen, of beloved memory, was Lackawanna County’s Elie Weisel. Like Weisel, Sam chose not to remain silent after the Shoah (Holocaust), but to speak out, even when still employed, to people of all ages on the importance of knowing and remembering the details of the Shoah and working on behalf of all peoples, regardless of race, religion or nationality – to prevent and eradicate the bigotry, intolerance Sam Rosen and victimization they were experiencing. Sam was fortunate that benevolent Christian friends risked their lives to protect and hide him from the Nazis so that he could survive. Nonetheless, he was the only one of his family to live as dozens were massacred. He came to America an orphan, but found family with Melba and the late Al Nathan.

Although he lost so many loved ones, he spited the Nazis by developing a new and vibrant family that will carry on his legacy. He thrived in America, but he had a greater mission than marriage to his beloved late wife, Olga, or success in business. His destiny, which is why he believed his life was spared, was to share his story and inspirational words to future generations.

He was tirelessly involved, even as he grew older, in speaking to many public schools on the importance of Holocaust education and represented a gradually-diminishing core group of survivors and liberators who spoke at the Holocaust Education Resource Center’s annual Holocaust Symposium.

He was also honored by succeeding Governors of Pennsylvania to attend the Annual Holocaust Memorial Service at the Capitol Building in Harrisburg. It was Sam and Olga, together with Robert and the late Barbara Ballot, who purchased and dedicated an old Torah Scroll rescued from the Nazis along with other artifacts that began the Federation’s Holocaust Memorial Exhibit in the Goodman Lounge in beautiful showcases donated by Phyllis and Jerry Chazan.

He worked on an almost daily basis to assure widespread contact with high school students and even adults with Tova Weiss, former Director of the Holocaust Education Resource Center, Dr. David Malinov (HERC chairman and a Federation VP from Hemlock Farms), Mary Ann Answini (Holocaust Symposium director) and current Assistant Federation Director Dassy Ganz. He recognized, and it was clear to all, that for as long as he lived, his goal was to assure remembrance of those who did not live, and he was supported in this effort by his steadfast companion, Ruth Gelb.

Internally, however, he suffered throughout his life as he relived the memories of the family he lost and how cruelly they perished. No doubt it was G-d’s will that although his death was sudden and totally unexpected he did not suffer pain or a lingering illness. He had suffered enough, and it was time for him to pass peacefully as he sought peace and comfort for so many others.

On a personal note, Sam and my family spent many wonderful summer hours together at Lackawanna State Park where we spoke of Scranton, Jewish life, Israel and, of course, the Shoah. It was inspirational to be with this articulate, intelligent man who made certain our conversations would always be augmented by pretzels he brought with him including enough to take home.

Although he reached an age which many do not, it is never time to say good- bye to such a good and decent man. In a very real sense, however, we are not. Sam remains alive and will for generations to come as his words and heartfelt stories will be remembered by thousands who will become parents, doctors, teachers, lawyers, politicians and more who will be in a position to assure that what he stood for and urged us to do will be done. Millions will live and live better lives thanks to the inspirational life of Sam Rosen that we were privileged to share.

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Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

Superior knew that the children were Jewish. The other nuns thought they were just orphans. In the days of the French Vichy Government and the Gestapo, it was anything but ordinary to rescue a Jewish child. Her testimony is one of courage, goodness, and gratitude. She and her family saw to it that the rescuers were honored

by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and she has directed and produced a DVD about them – “A Legacy of Goodness.” Her message of gratitude was eloquently expressed.

• Michael Herskovitz was born and raised in Czechoslovakia. Life changed very drastically for him at age 15 when the Nazis marched into his small town. Young Michael went through a series of experiences that he shared including ghetto life, being shipped by cattle car to an infamous concentration camp, forced into labor and much more. His story of survival, including post-liberation, was remarkable.

• Frida Herskovits was born in Czechoslovakia and was taken to the first of three concentration camps she endured at the age of 17. After the war, like many other survivors, Frida tried to get to Palestine. However, the British, who were then in control, turned away the boatload of refugees and sent them to Cyprus. She eventually got to Palestine in 1948, and lived in Israel. In 1955, she came to America with her husband and son to join relatives here. Many would be bitter after such hardships, yet Frida continues to espouse a message of friendship, kindness and love.

• Sol Lurie lived through hell in the Kovno Ghetto starting at age 11, and survived Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a young teen. It is because he loved his nuclear family so dearly, and he lost all of them, that he initially agreed to speak at a grandchild’s school. Since then, he travels all over the United States spreading messages of respect and love for parents and all people. His motto is “Love, don’t hate.”

• Anneliese Nossbaum was born in Germany. She was imprisoned by the Nazis and placed in several concentration camps during the Holocaust, including two years in Terezin and time as a slave laborer.

She was eventually liberated from Mauthausen, Austria. Mrs. Nossbaum has lectured for the past 25 years, primarily to high school students throughout the Philadelphia area.

She was recently invited to go to Germany to speak with students about the Holocaust.

• Manya Perel was born in Radom, Poland and is a survivor of the

Holocaust. Mrs. Perel was 15 years old at the beginning of the Holocaust and was a prisoner in four concentration camps in Poland and four more in Germany. She survived deportation to the death camp of Treblinka, where the remainder of her family perished.

Manya speaks of her experiences at the Annual Youth Symposium on the Holocaust in Philadelphia and has done so for many years, and is a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia.

• Judith Sherman was born in Czechoslovakia. She is a survivor of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, where she was imprisoned at age 13.

She was in hiding prior to betrayal, capture, and imprisonment. Judith authored her recently published memoir, “Say the Name – A Survivor’s Tale in Prose and Poetry.” She is a retired social worker, who spends much of her time in Holocaust education projects.

• Dr. Micha Tomkiewicz, a survivor, hadthedistinctionofasharedclassroom with his liberator, Scrantonian Walter Gantz. Tomkiewicz was one of the many young children packed on a train with their mothers, traveling for most of a week with very little food and water, unaware that they were headed toward Theresienstadt.

When the Germans heard that the Americans were approaching, they simply abandoned the train with the prisoners. Gantz, a medic with the 95th Medical Battalion, traveling with the 30th Infantry Division, discovered the abandoned train. It was a train of cattle cars, filled with survivors of Bergen-Belsen discovered on April 14, 1945, about a month before the end of the war. The American soldiers, who discovered the train, opened the doors to horrors. They encountered “people packed in like sardines” and immediately called for medics to set up a field hospital to tend to the sick and dying. Young Walter, who was among the medics, treated these survivors for seven weeks. First, they were tended to at the train site, then in a building in a nearby town that was converted into a hospital. Each gentleman made the special effort to speak together at the Symposium. Students in this room heard their personal story from two different perspectives.

Micha Tomkiewicz is now a professor of physics at Brooklyn College;

professor of physics and chemistry in the School for Graduate Studies of the City University of New York; and director of the Environmental Studies Program and the Electrochemistry Institute at Brooklyn College. He has published regularly in science publications and recently published a book on climate change.

• Ela Stein Weissberger was taken to the Terezin Concentration Camp in 1942 at the age of 11. She was among the handful of children who survived.

Ela was among the children who performed in the children’s opera Brundibar, which was performed in Terezin 55 times. She played the cat, and was one of five or six children who were kept throughout the years.

The rest of the cast, a large choir, was constantly changing as children were transported to Auschwitz. Ela was absolutely lucky to be in a children’s home with the great artist, Friedl Dicker Brandeis. He worked tirelessly with the children on art and poetry, in order to bring some structure and joy to their lives, and to allow them to express themselves.

The success of the Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust is attributed to the dedication and generosity of a great number of individuals, organizations, institutions, corporations, and foundations.

There are many thanks due to many people: Coordinator: Mary Ann Answini Executive Director of the Federation: Mark Silverberg Dedicated Federation staff: Mary Ann Mistysyn, Dolores Gruber and Dassy Ganz Planning Committee: Esther Adelman, Katheryn Bekanich, Bill Burke, Carol Burke, Maggy Bushwick, Jerry Chazan, Phyllis Chazan, Jim Connors, Susie Connors, Christine Eagan, Steve Feuer, Dassy Ganz, Santina Lonergan, Dr. David Malinov, Phyllis Malinov, JoAnn Martarano, Gail Neldon, Marion Poveromo, Ellen Raffman, Carol Rubel, Alma Shaffer, John Stagen and Kelly Stagen Hilton Scranton and Conference Center: John Argonish, General Manager, Ryan M. Alpert, Director of Sales and Marketing, Paul Junas, Director of Conference Services, Aleiza Yasin, Executive Group Sales Manager, and Steve Wesley of JP Lilley.

A very special thank you is also extended to the Dining and Reception staff, as well as the Bell Staff for their assistance with the buses. Together, they made the experience at the Hilton a stellar event for survivors, liberators, faculty, students, and adult participants.

Photographer at the Holocaust Symposium: Carol Huff Hughes of Carol Hughes Photography Security: Chief Carl Graziano and the Scranton Police Department Guest Speakers: Annie Bleiberg, Suzanne Blieberg-Seperson, Ronnie Breslow, Sonia Goldstein, Trudy Gompers, Elly Gross, Jack Gruener, Ruth Gruener, Ruth Hartz, Frida Herskovits, Michael Herskovitz, Sol Lurie, Anneliese Nossbaum, Manya Perel, Judith Sherman, Micha Tomkiewicz, and Ela Weissberger all survivors of the Holocaust, as well as WWII veteran and medic, Walter Gantz and Liberator Alan Moskin Facilitators: Esther Adelman, Katheryn Bekanich, Kyle Brown, Bill Burke, Carol Burke, Maggy Bushwick, Phyllis Chazan, Jim Connors, Susie Connors, Christine Eagan, Atty. David Fallk, John Farkas, Steve Feuer, Seth Gross, Santina Lonergan, Dr. David Malinov, Phyllis Malinov, JoAnn Martarano, Gail Neldon, Marion Poveromo, Ellen Raffman, Arlene Rudin, Laura Santoski, Alma Shaffer, John Stagan, Kelly Stagan, and Anne Marie Zenie Volunteers: Jean Blom, Jerry Chazan, Phyllis Chazan, Antie Kane, Jim Kane, Carol Rubel, Naomi Alamar, and Philip Answini Facilitator Training Workshop Leader: Carol Rubel Drivers: Neil Weinberg, Alan McKay, Necha Weinreb, and Ron Kozak Support: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The Deutsch Family Foundation, The Pennsylvania Holocaust Education Council for generously funding the Abe Plotkin Memorial Lecture on the Holocaust and Social Justice, and the Rosen Family Holocaust Education Fund.

Individuals who have rendered their support are Joanne Aronsohn Monahan, Jim and Susie Connors, Jerry and Phyllis Chazan, Dr. David

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report and Phyllis Malinov, Christine Eagan, and Kathy Bekanich The Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center along with its president, Chuck Feldman, and Philip Holtje, program director Marisa Berman, assistant director of the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives at Queensborough Community College for gifting educational resources for teachers Michele Shulman, program coordinator of the Levine Institute on the Holocaust of United States Holocaust Museum, for DVDs for educators Amanda Lanceter, manager of curriculum and teacher programs for the Museum of Jewish Heritage, for Holocaust Resource Guides for the classroom.

Paul Bachow, the writer, director, and producer of “A Journey into the Holocaust,” for gifting copies of the film for every teacher Susan Herlands, of My Mother’s Delicacies, for her generous donation which embellished lunch for the students, facilitators, and survivors Courtside Document Ser vices for assisting with the printing of Holocaust Education Handbooks for each participating teacher James Devers, associate VP for facilities operations at the University of Scranton, and Susan Falbo for allowing school buses to park and to be staged for pick up on campus As always, a very special thank you to all school superintendents, principals, and teachers, who remain committed to this program.

Finally, we are exceedingly grateful to the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania for its sponsorship of and overwhelming support for our 27th Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust.

We sincerely hope that we’ve given thanks to the many people who made this event possible. If a name was inadvertently left out, please accept our most sincere apologies and our gratitude.

Notes of Congratulations Over lunch, I had the pleasure of attending the Holocaust Symposium at the Hilton. The event was attended by our middle school students and coordinated through the efforts of many local support groups. I attended the play session that involved the steady progression of the persecution of a young Jewish girl and her family.

It was an extremely emotional event, but practical in today’s society. They connected it with recent events in the news and the students were completely involved in the play and post-play discussions. This was an event that we should be proud that our students attended.

Bryan McGraw, Superintendent of Schools North Pocono School District ----------------------------------It is an experience I will never forget. I spoke last night with my friend’s daughter Dana – a North

Pocono student who attended the Symposium. She told me that she “will never forget the stories I heard or the people I met” and she will “tell the stories forever and ever.” She also shared that the students retold the other survivors’ stories as they travelled home on the bus. The results of this experience go on and on.

As a former Catholic school teacher I experienced the closing of my school and saw my church shut its doors on rich educational opportunities.

I am in awe of my Jewish brothers and sisters who have put a priority on educating all of our children in a profound and unique way.

Mary Ann and her team are to be commended for their hard work and dedication. As a new facilitator, I experienced two days which I will never forget. And I will tell the stories to my last day, because I learned firsthand that it is a duty for all of us to share them. May God bless you and the entire Symposium for many, many years to come. Whatever way we can help in the future, let us know.

Kelly Stagen ----------------------------------I want you to know that yesterday was an amazing experience for all involved. Just to watch the expressions on the students’ faces was so unbelievable and how they bonded with the survivors was so heartwarming. I was so honored to meet Freida and listen to her story. I felt like I’ve known her forever.

You did a more than a spectacular job on this Symposium. Your professionalism and dedication was mirrored through the whole Symposium. It was like no other. I admire and respect you. In today’s world, it is so important for young people to realize that this horrific deed happened and as we say ……….

“NEVER AGAIN.” Thank you for asking me to be a part of this worthwhile event.

Alma Shaffer

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Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

Jewish Film Lending Library

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania wishes to express its sincerest thanks to Carol Nelson Dembert whose time, effort, determination Carol Nelson Dembert and creativity allowed our Federation to sponsor two NEPA Jewish Film Festivals, the films of which were comparable to those featured by the major Jewish Film Festivals held annually throughout this country.

The establishment of our NEPA Jewish Federation Film Loan Library

Dassy Ganz, Assistant Federation Director

is a tribute to her efforts and those of the twenty working Film Festival Committees that she managed in bringing this entertainment bonanza to N o r t h e a s t Pennsylvania.

In doing so, Carol and her volunteers brought honor to our community, to our People and to Israel for which she has our deepest gratitude.

The Film Library is constantly maintained and updated by Assistant Federation Director Dassy Ganz.

May 2015 t /PO 'FBUVSF 'JMNT t *NEW* American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise - After more than 60 years in show business, Mel Brooks has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer. A comedy force of nature, Brooks is very private and has never authorized a biography, making his participation in this film a genuine first. Showcasing the Brooklyn native’s brilliant, skewed originality, American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise features never-before-heard stories and new interviews with Brooks, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Cloris Leachman, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Tracey Ullman and others. This career-spanning documentary of the man behind Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Spaceballs and of course the 2000 Year Old Man journeys through Brooks’ professional and personal ups and downs, providing a rare look at a living legend, beloved by millions. *NEW* Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy - Engaging, humorous, and provocative... examining the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists in the creation of the modern American musical. The film showcases the work of legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. Interviews with songwriters and luminaries including Sheldon Harnick, Stephen Schwartz, Harold Prince, Arthur Laurents, Charles Strouse, and Mel Brooks provide insight, alongside standout performances and archival footage.

Everything is a Present: The Wonder and Grace of Alice Sommer Hertz - This is the uplifting true story of the gifted pianist Alice Sommer Hertz who survived the Theresienstat concentration camp by playing classical piano concerts for Nazi dignitaries. Alice Sommer Hertz lived to the age of 106. Her story is an inspiration.

Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story - Yoni Netanyahu was a complex, passionate individual thrust into defending his country in a time of war and violence. The older brother of Benjamin Natanyahu, the current Israel Prime Minister, Yoni led the miraculous raid on Entebbe in 1976. Although almost all of the Entebbe hostages were saved, Yoni was the lone military fatality. Featuring three Israeli Prime Ministers and recently released audio from the Entebbe raid itself.

Hava Nagila (The Movie) - A documentary romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard.

Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy and more, the film follows the ubiquitous party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America.

Inside Hana’s Suitcase - The delivery of a battered suitcase to Fumiko Ishioka at the Tokyo Holocaust Museum begins the true-life mystery that became the subject of Karen Levine’s best-selling book Hana’s Suitcase. The film follows Fumiko’s search to discover the details of Hana’s life, which leads to the discovery of her brother George in Toronto.

Israel: The Royal Tour - Travel editor Peter Greenberg (CBS News) takes us on magnificent tour of the Jewish homeland, Israel. The tour guide is none other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The viewer gets a chance to visit the land of Israel from his own home!

Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (narrated by Dustin Hoffman) - This documentary portrays the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning that baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. More than a film about sports, this is a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry, heroism, the passing on of traditions, the shattering of stereotypes and, most of all, the greatest American pastime.

Nicky’s Family - An enthralling documentary that artfully tells the story of how Sir Nicholas Winton, now 104, a British stockbroker, gave up a 1938 skiing holiday to answer a friend’s request for help in Prague and didn’t stop helping until the war’s beginning stopped him. He had saved the lives of 669 children in his own personal Kindertransport.

Shanghai Ghetto - One of the most amazing and captivating survival tales of WWII, this documentary recalls the strange-but-true story of thousands of European Jews who were shut out of country after country while trying to escape Nazi persecution. Left without options or entrance visa, a beacon of hope materialized for them on the other side of the world, and in the unlikeliest of places, Japanese-controlled Shanghai.

The Case for Israel - Democracy’s Outpost - This documentary presents a vigorous case for Israel- for its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism, and to defend its borders from hostile enemies.

The Jewish Cardinal - This is the amazing true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, who maintained his cultural identity as a Jew even after converting to Catholicism at a young age, & later joining the priesthood.

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - As baseball’s first Jewish star, Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg’s career contains all the makings of a true American success story.

Unmasked: Judaophobia - The Threat to Civilization – This documentary exposes the current political assault against the State of Israel fundamentally as a war against the Jewish people and their right to self-determination. *NEW* When Jews Were Funny is insightful and often hilarious, surveying the history of Jewish comedy from the early days of Borsht Belt to the present. t 'FBUVSF 'JMNT t Fill the Void - This is the story of an eighteen-year-old, Shira, who is the youngest daughter of her family. Her dreams are about to come true as she is set to be married. Unexpectedly, her sister dies while giving birth to her first child.

The drama of the story reaches its peak when the girls’ mother proposes a match between Shira and the young widower. Shira will have to choose between her heart’s wish and her family duty.

Footnote - The winner of the Cannes Film Festival (Best Screenplay) is the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son, two eccentric professors, who have both dedicated their lives to work in Talmudic Studies. Each has a need for recognition in his chosen field and the day comes when father and son must look deeply inside themselves for the truth- advancement of his own career or of the others.

Hidden in Silence - Przemysl, Poland, WWII. Germany emerges victorious over the Russians and the city comes under Nazi control. The Jews are sent to the ghettos. While some stand silent, Catholic teenager, Stefania Podgorska, chose the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic.

Noodle (compatible only on PAL – DVD players - Hebrew with English subtitles) This film was a beloved entry in the Jewish Federation of NEPA’s Jewish Film Festival. It tells the heartwarming story of an Israeli stewardess, Miri, whose personal life as a war widow leaves her without much joy. Everything changes for Miri when her Oriental housemaid disappears one day leaving her with her young Oriental child!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Based on the best- selling novel, this movie is unforgettable. Set during WWII, the movie introduces us to Bruno, an innocent eight-year-old, ignores his mother and sets of on an adventure in the woods. Soon he meets a young boy and a surprising friendship develops.

The Concert - Andrei Filipov was prodigy- at 20 he was the celebrated conductior for Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Orchestra. Thirty years later, still at the Bolshoi, he works as a janitor. Ousted during the communist era when he refused to fire the Jewish members of the orchestra, a broken Andrei now cleans the auditorium where he once performed in front of thousands.

The Debt - In 1966, three Mossad agents were assigned to track down a feared Nazi war criminal hiding in East Berlin, a mission accomplished at great risk and personal cost- or was it?

The Other Son - As he is preparing to join the Israeli army for his national service, Joseph discovers he is not his parents’ biological son and that he was inadvertently switched at birth with Yacine, the son of a Palestinian family from the West Bank. This revelation turns the lives of these two families upside-down, forcing them to reassess their respective identities, their values and beliefs.

AGENCY PROFILES American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (J.D.C.) The JDC, utilizing our Israel/Overseas UJA allocation, finances programs that assist impoverished Jewish communities in many Central and South American countries as well as in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the Far East. It does so by providing them with food, shelter, medicines, home care and other critical aid especially for elderly Jews and children in need.

It also enables these small, isolated Jewish communities to maintain essential social services and cultural programs through Hesed Centers and insures a Jewish environment for their youth.

The JDC has also contributed funding and expertise for humanitarian crises such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Myanmar cyclone of 2008, the genocide in Darfur, the escalating violence in Georgia, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, not to mention the disaster left on our east coast in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and similar disasters that have destroyed lives and property in Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Haiti, Kenya, Uganda, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

Following the April 25, 2015, massive earthquake in Nepal, the JDC actively assessed the situation and worked to provide support where it was needed JDC, which did not have a presence in Nepal, sent medical equipment to the IDF field hospital, including two neonatal incubators. At right: Israeli soldiers worked to establish a field hospital together with the Nepalese army on April 29 in Nepal. (Photo by IDF Spokesperson/Flash90)

most.Itworkedwithotherhumanitarian aid organizations to meet immediate needs, including emergency shelter, cash assistance, temporary learning spaces and other community-based support programs for women and children. JDC’s team coordinated closely with Nepalese and Israeli staff and volunteers on the ground and assisted in transporting medical and shelter supplies to Nepal to support its hospitals and health care providers.

It partnered with Heart to Heart International to provide medications, and sent emergency medical teams into periphery areas once road access was secured. It supported Magen David Adom’s medical assistance work which was coordinated with the Nepalese Red Cross and partnered with UNICEF to provide emergency supplies for children responding to their need for shelter, nutrition, water and sanitation.

In short, through JDC, the Federations of North America (including the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania)haveprovidedimmediate relief and long-term assistance to victims of natural and man-made disasters around the globe.

Jewish Agency for Israel (J.A.F.I.) JAFI is the primary Jewish organization responsible for the immigration (aliyah) and absorption (klitah) of Jews and their families from the Diaspora into Israel. Since 1948, the Jewish Agency for Israel has been responsible for bringing more than three million immigrants to Israel, and offers them transitional housing in absorption centers throughout the country that are funded by UJA in partnership with the government of Israel.

Physical threats to Jews have once again become commonplace as radical Islam and antisemitic propaganda continue to increase throughout Europe. As a result, our partner – the Jewish Agency for Israel – is playing a significant role in providing services to the Jewish communities of Europe.

In the weeks and months ahead, it will be broadening its day-to-day efforts to offer an even wider range of comprehensive services required by the increased European aliyah.

It has been estimated that this will cost Israel more than $46 million as it must not only pay for the transportation costs of these new immigrants to Israel, but increase the size of and staffing for new absorption centers around the country whose responsibility it

will be to house, feed, shelter, provide Hebrew immersion classes and assist in finding suitable employment and housing so these new immigrants will become productive members of Israeli society.

Jewish Agency staff is currently working with the SPCJ (the French Jewish community’s security agency) to assess the expanded security needs for the hundreds of Jewish sites throughout France including Jewish schools, centers, synagogues and other institutions. The professional team with direct responsibility for security operations includes the Jewish Agency, the government of Israel and UJA/ UIA personnel – all of whom have security clearance.

France is home to approximately 500,000 Jews, making it the third largest Jewish community in the world.

In 2014, 9,000 French Jews made aliyah – a 100% increase from the previous year. The estimate of olim for 2015 is 10,000, although predictions are now running as high as 60,000 (as noted above) as virulent antisemitism sweeps the country. Aliyah efforts in general are part of the core budget of The Jewish Agency, a large percentage of which comes from our North American UJA Campaigns.

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

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Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania (JFS) New Name. New Office. Same Mission.

By Sheila Nudelman Abdo, JFS Executive Director It’s hard to believe that just a few months ago, Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania (or JFS) embarked upon the beginning of a major renovation project.

Nudelman Abdo, Our facility was aging, our office Sheila JFS Executive Director was outdated and a deterrent to providing adequate services to our clientele. Years of planning and today the JFS renovation is completed and the office has been totally updated and transformed. We changed our name for the third time in our 100-year history as part of our strategic plan to reflect the expansion of our programs and services and to meet the needs of those in our local and surrounding communities.

Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania is one of the primary human service agencies in northeastern Pennsylvania whose mission seeks to enhance and strengthen the quality of individual, family and community life for all people in need and has been helping to make a positive difference serving both the Jewish and the broader community for almost a century.

L-r: Ben Anderson, Grimm Construction; Bill Calpin, trustee of Myer Davidow Foundation; Mark Silverberg, executive director of Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania; Jeanne Bovard, trustee of Myer Davidow Foundation; Larry Davidow, trustee of Myer Davidow Foundation; Natalie Gelb, JFS board member; Sheila Cutler, JFS board member; Barbara Nivert, JFS board member; Lou Kahanowitz, president of Foundation for the Jewish Elderly of Eastern Pennsylvania; Sheila Nudelman Abdo, JFS executive director; Mayor Jim Connors, JFS board member; Susan Blum Connors, JFS board president; Joel Joseph, JFS board member; Alan Smertz, JFS board member; Alan Goldstein, JFS board member; Tom Horlacher, project architect; Rabbi Samuel Sandhaus, executive director of Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania; and Rick Bishop, Esq., JFS board member.

JFS programs and services address many needs within our community with specialty areas to include Mental Health Services, Financial Assistance, Case Management, Guardianship of Person Service, the Mae S. Gelb Kosher Food Pantry and our unique Dental Care Center which is one of only two such programs affiliated with JFS agencies in the country. Additional service areas are Family Life Education, Holocaust Survivor Assistance Service, Kosher Meals on

Wheels, Passover and Holiday Assistance and Volunteer Services.

JFS thanks the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Myer Davidow Foundation, the Foundation for Jewish Elderly of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Oppenheim Foundation and many generous private donors for their support and commitment to those we serve and for helping to make the JFS renovation a reality.

Scranton Jewish Community Center (JCC)

By Dan Cardonick, JCC Executive Director More than 225 people attended the JCC’s Chanukah extravaganza The Jewish Community Center of Scranton held its community Chanukah extravaganza on Dan Cardonick, JCC December 23 with more than Executive Director 225 people in attendance.

The event was filled with wonderful food and entertainment that included a delicious glatt kosher Chinese buffet with all of the trimmings provided

by Chop-Chop of New York City.

Entertainment was provided by the Parrot Rebbe, Nuchem Gober, who amazed the crowd with an interactive and hilarious parrot show. He brought his collection of more than a dozen exotic birds from around the world. He puts on his show to educate people about the birds he has grown to love. Parrot races, bird tricks, flying and dancing highlighted the show.

Children and adults also had an opportunity to hold and interact with the birds. One lucky winner got to take home their own parakeet! The evening also included a special performance by the Scranton Hebrew Day School Junior Choir.

There were many activities for children, such as face painting, spin art and a dreidel-a-thon.

It was a wonderful evening of fun, friends and Chanukah!

Congratulations to our dreidle-a-thon winners: Beinish Weinreb, Yaakov Brotsky and Emily Kessler.

The JCC would like to thank Leah Laury, Janice Cutler, Alma Shaffer and Mindy Grossman for serving as chairs of the event. Special thanks to the students of Bais Yaakov, members of the JCC’s BBYO Teen Leadership Group and the JCC staff who volunteered their time to help make the program a tremendous success.

Also, special thanks to Louise McNabb, JCC director of adult services and community outreach, for organizing the event in conjunction with our chairs and volunteers. The event was sponsored

by Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company and the Foundation for the Jewish Elderly of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Purim at the Scranton JCC The Jewish Community Center of Scranton held its

annual Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 8, with almost 200 people in attendance. The Carnival included a variety of Purim-themed games, prizes, bounce house, face painting, music, an ice cream sundae bar and hamantaschen cookies. Many children came in costume for the contest, and two winners were selected. The JCC Koppelman Auditorium was turned into Shushan for the day as fun was had by all.

Above and below: More than 225 people attended the JCC’s Chanukah extravaganza.

Above and below: The JCC’s annual Purim Carnival had almost 200 people in attendance.

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Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

Scranton Hebrew Day School

By Yitzchok Elchonon Rich, SHDS Director of Administration The mission of the Scranton Hebrew Day School is to prepare the children of the greater Jewish community for success in life. Each child is provided with a quality Torah and secular education with emphasis on spiritual, moral and social Yitzchok Elchonon growth. We impress upon each Rich, SHDS Director of Administration child the beauty and splendor of the Jewish way of life.

Above and below: Scenes from classes and events at the Scranton Hebrew Day School.

This past year has been a critical year in our history -– one in which we have experienced tremendous growth on every level. We have brought together a wide diversity of Jewish families from Central and South America, Israel, and many locations in the United States; we have seen 14 new families join the day school in the past 20 months. These families have diverse Jewish experiences and backgrounds.

They are coming to the Scranton Hebrew Day School to receive a quality Torah and first-class general studies education. The beautiful tapestry of Jewish families we now call “The Day School Family” has added to the beauty and attractiveness of our school as we become a more welcoming and friendly school, inviting and accommodating.

Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos

By Rabbi Yehuda Salkow, JRC Director This year, the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos continued to offer resources for a broad range of cultural, educational and social Jewish experiences. In keeping with its mission of Jewish continuity, these experiences always connect and inspire all that participate.

Early last summer, a fire broke out in one of the JRC’s neighboring stores. Due to the fire and heavy smoke damage which spread throughout the building, the JRC was unfit for use and had to temporarily relocate. Despite the numerous difficulties and setbacks that were encountered over the course of almost an entire year, the JRC functioned continually and provided its constituents with inspiration and education.

Rabbi Yehuda Salkow, JRC Director

The JRC’s events and programs are designed to offer stimulating and enjoyable content for all ages, irrespective of political or religious affiliations.

Friends of The Reporter Dear Friend of The Reporter, Each year at this time the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania calls upon members of our community to assist in defraying the expense of issuing our regional Jewish newspaper, The Reporter.

The newspaper is delivered twice of month (except for December and July which are single issue months) to each and every identifiable Jewish home in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

columns that cover everything from food to entertainment.

The Federation assumes the financial responsibility for funding the enterprise at a cost of $26,400 per year and asks only that we undertake a small letter writing mail campaign to our recipients in the hope of raising $10,000 from our readership to alleviate a share of that responsibility.

Some have been running on a year-round basis, while others pertain to specific calendar events.

• TSE – The Summer Experience: Under the direction of Rabbi Salkow, our experienced counselors provide our local youth with a funpacked day camp experience. The activities focus on a Jewish theme, and include trips to local attractions, swimming and lots of recreational summer fun!

• The Lunch Club: The lunch club is for seniors 60 and over and meets every Thursday. Lunch is provided by The Jewish Home and everyone enjoys the opportunity to socialize, as well as the activities and programs which often follow lunch.

• Passover: The Passover three day retreat is one of the big undertakings of the year as more than 100 people are hosted for the seders and holiday meals.

These are accompanied by stimulating lectures on varied topics, a packed program around the clock and lots of delicious food and socialization.

• Holiday Celebrations: As each holiday approaches, the JRC holds an event, class or related activity to educate about the historical background and customs. Practical tips are offered and invitations are often extended. The most

We would be grateful if you would care enough to take the time to make a donation for our efforts in bringing The Reporter to your door.

As the primary Jewish newspaper of our region, we have tried to produce a quality publication for you that offers our readership something on everythingfrom opinions and columns on controversial issues that affect our people and our times, to publicity for the events of our affiliated agencies and organizations to life cycle events, teen columns, personality profiles, letters to the editor, the Jewish community calendar and other

As always, your comments, opinions and suggestions are always welcome.

With best wishes, Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Jewish Federation of NE Pennsylvania 601 Jefferson Avenue Scranton, PA 18510

A snapshot photo of Purim celebrations at the JRC.

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Name (s) (as you wish to appear on our list of “FRIENDS”) _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________________________________________________________________ __Check here if you prefer your name not to be published Please write and send tax deductible checks to Jewish Federation, 601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510

CLOSER program at Congregation Beth Israel (Honesdale) featured speaker Atty. Ed Monsky.

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

21

recent event was a Lag B’Omer picnic/barbecue at Mountainview Park in Tannersville.

• CLOSER: CLOSER is an acronym for Cultural Outreach, Socialization and Education for Retirees.

This is a program that the JRC runs as part of its mission to reach out to the community on behalf of the Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Generally, bi-weekly meetings are held in various locations in Pike and Wayne counties. The meetings consist of a delicious warm kosher meal, prepared by the Jewish Home, and a program.

Guest speakers, musical entertainment and other interesting activities are announced in advance of the meetings.

• Life-Long Learning: The Life-Long Learning program offers several educational classes that are held weekly and at other intervals. The classes cover topics of Judaism and Torah ranging from text-

Lighting the menorah at the JRC during the Chanukah celebrations.

Preparing for the JRC’s Passover seder in Stroudsburg.

based Tanach and Talmud to “Jewish Philosophy” and “choose your topic and question” series.

education interactive classes and activities for children from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Hebrew reading and writing are main items on the curriculum as well as holidays, weekly Torah portions, stories from the prophets, and arts and crafts.

• Junior Scholars Club: Every Sunday morning during the school year, the JRC provides Jewish

Temple Hesed of Scranton

By Rabbi Daniel Swartz The year 5775 has been an exciting year at Temple Hesed’s Shabbat and Hebrew schools.

We’ve highlighted two different themes over the course of the year – “One People, Many Faces,” looking at the variety Rabbi Daniel Swartz of communities and customs of Jews around the world, and “Our Journey Through Life,” learning about Jewish life cycle rituals.

The year started off with the Sephardic custom of a Rosh Hashanah “seder,” eating a wide variety of foods that are symbolic (often through Hebrew or Aramaic puns) of different sorts of blessings.

Since the traditional Rosh Hashanah seder involves foods that many children would shy away from, we decided to get a “sweet” start to the year through some candy variations on traditional themes. Thus, we ate “Swedish fish” candies and green licorice as substitutes for the more traditional fish heads and leeks, symbolizing respectively our wish to be “heads” and not “tails,” and to have friends and not enemies. Jelly beans took the place of black-eyed peas (for a blessing of prosperity), pumpkin candies and pumpkin bread for gourds (for a blessing of “good decrees), and we even added some rabbit-shaped candies with the hope that our mitzvot would multiply like rabbits! Our students also headed up our annual High Holy Day food drive, collecting and sorting nearly two tons of donations!

After joining with Temple Israel in a “Sukkah Hop” and Sukkot fireworks, (in honor of Mishnaic descriptions of the festivities of Sukkot in the days of the Temple, which included rabbis juggling fire), we had our first ever “Rainbow Celebration,” based on the story of Noah, the ark and the animals.

Everyone dressed in colors of the rainbow, we had a rainbow-colored siddur, and we even had pets – in pictures and in real life! – join us for the service.

Next came our World Communities Celebration.

Students researched unusual Jewish communities around the world, and we all got a chance to learn about the Jews of Uganda, Curacao and in many other fascinating communities. We also had special recipes of spicy hot chocolate and sweet rice pudding from the Jews of Mexico and India respectively. Families shared stories of where their own ancestors came from and brought objects that reminded them of their journeys.

As we neared Chanukah, we put our creative kippot

on and began writing lyrics and choreographing our own Chanukah music video. We transformed the song “Life is a Highway” into “Eight Nights Long,” a song about the struggles of the Maccabees against Antiochus IV and Greek-Syrians. Here are some snippets of the lyrics: ““A long time ago in Syria/ there was a king who put fear in ya/ He was Antiochus Number 4/ and his favorite thing was to start a war… Then, Mattathais and his five sons/ Reminded the people that God is One/ Became a band called the Maccabees/ And fought for freedom for you and me/ At Sukkot they’d been in the hills/ and ran and hid like animals/ So when they won, they said, ‘Amen’/ And made it Sukkot all over again.” Check out the video on YouTube when Chanukah 5776 comes around next year!

on the change of inscriptions and monuments through the years. We helped clean up parts of the cemetery, searched for the oldest markers, traced family histories, and found that cemeteries are not only not spooky, but are beautiful places to remember those we have loved and lost.

We had a fabulous Tu B’Shevat seder with Temple Israel, led by Rabbis Marjorie Berman, Moshe Saks and Daniel Swartz, with music led by Cantor Aronzon.

We followed it with a special celebration of trees and nature in our Shabbat school, including the tradition from many Ashkenazic communities of feeding the birds on Tu B’Shevat and Shabbat Shirah. We invited preschoolers to join us for the day, and one of them enjoyed his time with us so much that he was singing Tu B’Shevat songs for weeks afterward – which made for a very cute Facebook video clip!

Thanks to the support of the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Scranton JCC, we have brought the wonderful PJ Library to our area, providing free Jewish books and CDs to children from 6 months through 8 years of age. We hope to have more and more children sign up and to have additional fun and educational programs for all PJ Library participants.

Preschoolers joined with our students and about 100 adults to put on our very special Purimshpiel – “Frozen: That ‘70s Shpiel” with music and characters not only from the Book of Esther, but also the hit movie “Frozen,” and music (and bell bottoms and smiley faces) from the ‘70s, ranging from “YMCA” to “I am Woman” to “Hooked on a Feeling,” all set to Purim lyrics. At our Hamentashen Bake-off, we had the usual fillings, joined by gingersnap-lemon hamentashen and chocolate mint hamentashen – the taste of Girl Scout Thin Mints in hamentashen form!

At our Passover workshops, we made varieties of charoset from around the world, learning about the Jews of Syria and Morocco along the way.

Our students also played a “Seder of the Seder” game, with challenges to meet for each step of the traditional seder as they raced around Temple Hesed on their quest for answers.

Our school year is closing with special programs on two very different aspects of our life cycle – marriage and death.

First, we visited the Temple Hesed cemetery, learning about funeral customs and doing research

Then, we held a model “wedding,” with one of our students, Mia Novak, serving as the m’seder kidushin, the officiant at the “wedding.” Different students played the parts of the bride, groom, parents of the wedding couple, and more. The whole school helped write the ceremony and the text of the ketubah (the wedding covenant), learning about traditions, customs and their evolution as they put the ceremony together.

We welcome anyone from the community to come visit our school to see our students and teachers in action. And we look forward to another exciting year of Talmud Torah in 5776!

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Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

Bnos Yisroel High School (Scranton)

By Rabbi Yusef and Tziporah Guttman Bnos Yisroel High School is dedicated to the highest principles of Torah education and philosophy.

Our Jewish studies curriculum includes an in-depth study of Torah, a four-year comprehensive Jewish Law Program, as well as philosophy classes. Our Hebrew language classes help our students develop written and conversational Hebrew skills. Our excellent Jewish studies teachers have been hand-picked for their pedagogic skills. They demonstrate expertise in subject matter as well as warm, caring student-teacher relationships.

Our secular department, comprised of a group of acclaimed and professional teachers, has been designed to give our students a well-rounded education. Our classes include English literature and composition, history, civics, math, science, computers, physical education and home economics.

We offer college level credit classes

in the 11th and 12th grades as well.

Accounting, psychology and public speaking, to name a few, enable the girls to get a head-start on furthering their education after seminary. Our graduates are at the top of their respective classes, and can attest to the fact they were very well-prepared.

We have also made a positive impact on the community of Scranton.

Residents of Webster Towers enjoy our monthly programs as part of our “Adopt-a-Bubby” program. The girls contribute their time to the Jewish Home of Northeastern Pennsylvania and help local families with children and homework.

Because extra-curricular activities are an important part of a well-rounded education, we have developed exciting activities that further enhance our program. The tangible excitement in the room during our recent holidaythemed get-togethers; the girls’ sense of accomplishment as they presented our production titled “Shortchanged”;

the positive vibes following our school trip to New York for the national assembly commemorating the 80th anniversary of the passing of Sara Schneirer – the founder of the Beth Jacob movement; our monthly G.O. activities with varied themes which

inspire the girls – all serve to create feelings of togetherness among the students, teachers and community. It is our hope that the girls will cherish the relationships and the bonds they form will help them mature into true Bnos Yisroel.

Bais Yaakov of Scranton

By Esther Elefant Sarah Schenirer, founder of the Bais Yaakov School, 80th Yahrzeit Commemorated in Bais Yaakov of Scranton on March 17, 2015

raised in religious homes, they lacked the fire of a Jewish education which their brothers attending yeshivas were privileged to receive.

The Bais Yaakov High School of Scranton held a commemorative event for students, staff and mothers of students in memory of Sarah Schenirer. Special guest speaker Rabbi Mordechai Dov Fine, morah d’asra of Machzikeh Hadas, Scranton, PA, began the program by giving some background on Sarah Schenirer – who she was, and what she accomplished.

Sarah realized that our Jewish girls would be lost if they were not given this education as well. She received the blessings of three great leaders of the time – the Belzer Rebbe, the Gerrer Rebbe and the Chofetz Chaim – and with great determination she began recruiting. She opened her first kindergarten class with 25 students and from then it mushroomed to 300 schools in Poland alone, before the outbreak of World War II.

With great enthusiasm, he portrayed why she felt strongly about the need for a Torah education for girls. In 1917 in Crackow, Poland, girls only attended public schools and received no formal Jewish education. Although

Hence, the Bais Yaakov movement was born. From there, schools opened throughout Eastern Europe.

After World War II, a number of her students came to America and under the leadership of Rebbetzin Vichna

You are cordially invited to the

ANNUAL MEETING

of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania Please join us as we elect Officers and Trustees, celebrate the achievements of the past year and honor several individuals for their leadership contributions to our community and to Israel

Thursday, June 11, 7pm Koppelman Auditorium, Scranton Jewish Community Center 601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton Dessert reception & film will follow the meeting.

RSVP to 961-2300 (ext. 4)

Front row (l-r): Esther Malka Pion, Dovid Hernandez and Hadassah Lopez. Back row: Tzilah Pion, Michele Ackerman, Rebbetzin Sossa Pernikoff, Rayzel Pion, Esther Elefant, Chana Valencia, Miriam Chodosh, Avigayil Lopez and Raizel Valencia.

Kaplan (obm), they continued her legacy. Today, there are numerous Bais Yaakov schools around the world.

Our special guest speaker, Rebbetzin Sossa Pernikoff, portrayed her own life experiences growing up in Montreal.

Rebbetzin Pernikoff (or as she is fondly known as the “Geveret”) grew up in Montreal where most girls attended public school. At the very young age of 12½, with great determination, she announced to her family that she wanted to attend the Bais Yaakov High school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. Unheard of at that time, especially for someone so young, she got her family to agree and went by train to New York

City. She was not greeted by anyone with any grand fanfare, but she was determined to succeed. In spite of the challenge of being so far away from home, she made up her mind to learn as much Torah as she could, and grow as a young Jewish woman. Determined to marry a Talmid chochom (Torah scholar), she married Rabbi Meir Pernikoff who attended the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland and became a very well- known mohel.

Together, they went out-of-town to Plymouth PA, and began a Talmud Torah School. Rebbetzin Pernikoff has been teaching both young and older students in UHI in Wilkes-Barre, as well as Talmud Torah and adult education for more than 60 years.

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

2015 ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM Welcome & introductions.....................Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President Invocation................................................Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed Federation Perspectives .........................Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President Presentation of Presidential Award .....Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Presentation of Campaign Awards ......Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President 2015 UJA Campaign Report ................Mark and Joan Davis Nominating Committee Report ...........Seth Gross, Chairman Installation of Officers and Trustees....Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed Closing Remarks Dr. David Malinov Reception

Rabbi Mordechai Dov Fine addressed the attendees of a commemoration of the yahrzeit of Sarah Schenirer on March 17.

Jewish Federation of NEPA • Annual Report

23

24

Annual Report • Jewish Federation of NEPA

You are cordially invited to the

ANNUAL MEETING of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

Please join us as we elect Officers and Trustees, celebrate the achievements of the past year and honor several individuals for their leadership contributions to our community and to Israel

Thursday, June 11th, 2015, 7:00 PM Koppleman Auditorium, Scranton Jewish Community Center, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton Dessert reception will follow the meeting. Dietary laws observed - RSVP to 961-2300 (ext. 4)

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

2015 Annual Meeting Program Welcome & introductions..................................... Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President Invocation ............................................................ Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed Federation Perspectives......................................... Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President Presentation of Presidential Award........................ Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Presentation of Campaign Awards ........................ Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President 2015 UJA Campaign Report ................................. Mark and Joan Davis Nominating Committee Report............................ Seth Gross, Chairman Installation of Officers and Trustees ...................... Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed Closing Remarks - Dr. David Malinov

Dessert Reception & Film Will Follow the Meeting: “Israel Inside: How a Little Nation Makes Such a Big Difference”

Proposed Slate of Officers & Trustees 2015 - 2018 Officers*

President ..............................................................David Malinov* Administrative Vice-President..............................Douglas Fink* Vice-President......................................................Elliot Schoenberg* Vice-President......................................................Eric Weinberg* Treasurer ..............................................................Barry Tremper* Assistant Treasurer ...............................................Jerry Weinberger* Secretary ..............................................................Mark Silverberg Assistant Secretary ...............................................Donald Douglass*

Board of Trustees

Elected to serve a 1-year term ending June 30th, 2016* Alex Gans, Karen Pollack, Filmore Rosenstein, Stan Rothman, Jay Schectman and Irwin Wolfson *Trustees to be elected at the Annual Meeting

3-year term expiring in June 2016

*Officers to be elected at the Annual Meeting

Elected to serve a 3-year term ending June 30th, 2018* Esther Adelman, Susie Blum Connors, Mark Davis, Eli Deutsch, Lynn Fragin, Dale Miller, Larry Milliken, Gail Neldon and Molly Rutta. *Trustees to be elected at the Annual Meeting

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Jim Ellenbogen, Joseph Fisch, Leah Laury, Phyllis Malinov, Mel Mogel, Geordee Pollock, Alma Shaffer, Suzanne Tremper and Eric Weinberg

3-year term expiring in June 2017 Sandra Alfonsi, Phyllis Barax, Shlomo Fink, Susan Jacobson, Dan Marcus, Ann Monsky, Barbara Nivert, Eugene Schneider and Ben Schnessel

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania expresses its gratitude to those Trustees whose terms of office will expire in June 2015. It is hoped that each of them will continue to serve the Mission of our Federation by participating in its many important committees, programs and projects. Our appreciation is extended to Herb Appel, Phyllis Brandes, Lainey Denis, Richard Fine, Natalie Gelb, Laurel Glassman, Ed Monsky, Laney Ufberg and Jay Weiss