April 25, 2013 Edition of the Reporter by Becky Schastey

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Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania APRIL 25, 2013

VOLUME XI, NUMBER 9

Kotel compromise notwithstanding, Israel facing uphill battle over religious pluralism NEWS ANALYSIS By Ben Sales JERUSALEM (JTA) – Natan Sharansky’s recent proposal to expand the space for nonOrthodox prayer at the Western Wall could be historic. But for most Israelis, changes at the Western Wall are of only trivial interest. Far more pressing are state restrictions on marriage and conversion, Sabbath bans on public transit and haredi Orthodox exemptions from Israel’s mandatory draft. The haredi draft exemption was a central issue in January’s elections for the Knesset, and it has been a hot topic of debate for the last year or so. A comprehensive bill is now in the works to draft haredi men, providing financial incentives to those who enlist and

penalizing those who don’t. A few political parties – notably the large, centrist Yesh Atid – have promised reforms on marriage, conversion and public transportation, too. But with the government’s coalition agreement giving each party veto power over any change in the state’s religious policy, sweeping changes on marriage and conversion are unlikely because the nationalist Jewish Home party is unlikely to approve such reforms. The Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate nearly has a monopoly over marriage and conversion in Israel. Non-Orthodox wedding ceremonies, interfaith marriages and same-sex marriages are not recognized in Israel unless such couples wed and obtain a valid marriage certificate overseas. See “Kotel” on page 10

An illustration of Natan Sharansky’s proposal, which will expand the Western Wall and create a permanent egalitarian space in the Robinson’s Arch area. (Photo by Creative Commons/Graphics by Uri Fintzy)

SHDS to hold memorial tribute to David and Norma Harris at 65th anniversary dinner

In conjunction with the Scranton Hebrew Day School’s 65th anniversary dinner, to be held Sunday, May 12, at the Jewish Community Center, a memorial tribute will be paid to David and Norma Harris. The reception will begin at 4:30 pm, with Mincha at 5 pm and the dinner at 5:30 pm. “As their first yahrzeit approaches, it is most fitting that their devotion and dedication to the day school be remembered,” said an SHDS representative. David served as chairman of the board

in the 1960s and then became school president, following the passing of his brother, Philip, in 2008. The son of Harry and Fanny Harris, David and his brothers ran David Harris Sons Co. as part of Sugarman’s Eynon Drugstore for many years. Norma, a transplanted New Yorker, spent her time raising their family of four children, all day school alumni, and participating in various leadership roles in both the Scranton Hebrew Day School PTA and Women’s League. Known for “her wit and lilting

laugh,” Norma was also regarded as a talented poet. She wrote many poems for day school and shul events, such as Chanukah dinners, testimonials and more. A day school spokesman called their passing “a tremendous loss for both the Scranton Jewish community and the day school, and it is therefore most appropriate that this memorial tribute be paid to them.” To place an ad in the memorial section of the commemorative journal to be distributed that evening, or to make reservations, call

Chasidic Jewish rock band 8th Day to perform at Scranton Cultural Center By Chaim Davidson Organizers at the Jewish Discovery Center have announced that their annual summer benefit event to be held on Sunday, July 21, at the Scranton Cultural Center, will feature the music group 8th Day. Launched in 2004, the Chasidic music group was co-founded by brothers Shmuel and Bentzi Marcus from Los Alamitos, CA. Their YouTube hit, “Ya’alili,” posted last spring, received more than one million views within days of appearing on the Internet. Their debut album was released in 2005. It was followed by four additional albums, including their latest, “All You Got.” The band frequently travels to visit Jewish communities around the world, including recent visits to Sydney, Australia, and Jerusalem, Israel. The two brothers compose, write and sing their own original music with lyrics mostly in English, with some Hebrew and Yiddish; and create vocal harmonies and hooks. Their performances blend together

L-r: Shmuel and Bentzi Marcus, 8th Day members. the styles of folk, blues and rock and roll. Fans worldwide have given this new sound various titles, such as “Chasidic-rock” and “Jewish-indie-folk.” One media outlet called their work “a brand new genre in Jewish music.” “This sort of diversity definitely contributes to their appeal,” said organizers of the program, “as does their incredible energy and bouncy, positive style. And,

not to mention, their positive message that inspires and uplifts.” In a recent interview, Shmuel, the band’s composer, lyricist and main vocalist, said that he never anticipated how their musical style would reach the masses. “We started the band six years ago doing a fund-raiser for our Hebrew High. From then on, it just exploded,” he explained. “Now we’re on an Australia tour, having become one of the hottest Jewish bands. We’re very blessed and very excited about that.” Younger brother Bentzi, who is the band’s guitarist, vocalist and arranger, also spoke about their music style. “We grew up in Orange County and our music, we definitely feel that it’s universal; our message is about joy, unity [and] good art, and we hope everyone enjoys it. Our music appeals to a wide variety of people, regardless of age or religious affiliation,” he said. Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, May 1. For more information, visit www. JewishNEPA.com or call 587-3300.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Lag B’Omer

Ghana and Israel

Israel’s biotech field

346-1576, ext. 2. The ad deadline has been extended to Monday, May 6.

2013 UJA paign Update Cam

Pay it forward & give to the 2013 Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania Annual Campaign!

$803,382

as of April 23, 2013 For information or to make a donation call 570-961-2300 ext. 1 or send your gift to: Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA 18510

Goal:

880,500

(Please MEMO your pledge or gift 2013 UJA Campaign)

Federation on Facebook

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania now has a page on Facebook to let community members know about upcoming events and keep connected.

Candle lighting April 26.............................................7:37 pm May 3.................................................7:45 pm May 10...............................................7:52 pm

A look at the multiple layers Ghana is building preschools Although Israel’s biotech field is of meaning in the story of Lag with advice and assistance from blossoming, some worry the pace of PLUS B’Omer. Israel. clinical trial approval is too slow. Opinion...........................................................2 Story on page 6 Story on page 7 Story on page 14 D’var Torah.................................................10

THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

a matter of opinion Engage Russian-speaking Jews on their own terms By Abby Knopp NEW YORK (JTA) – In 1993, one of the great scholars of Russian Jewry, Zvi Gitelman, noted that “since the 1880s, no group of Jews has migrated as often, in as great numbers, and with such important consequences as the Jews of Russia and the FSU. The mass immigration of Russian/Soviet Jews played a great role in shaping the character of the two largest Jewish communities in the world, those of the United States and Israel. American Jewish and Israeli politics, religion, culture and economics have been, and are still, profoundly influenced by those who came and are coming from the FSU.” Twenty years later, I read Gitelman’s statement as a reminder of what should be, but not of what is. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that North American Jewish educational and spiritual frameworks – the places where Jews live and learn Jewishly – have yet to be profoundly influenced by Russian-speaking Jews who arrived in the immigration of the second half of the 20th century. Why? It’s because too many American-born Jews continue to view them as either charity cases or in need of our brand of Jewish wisdom. We still have not figured out how to listen and really hear what Russian Jews are saying about Jewish identity, peoplehood and education, and the Jewish community is suffering and continuing to pay the price of disengagement. With Russian speakers comprising at least 15 percent of the U.S. Jewish population – many researchers believe the number is much higher – we need to care deeply about their engagement. To be sure, there are some notable figures from the Russian com-

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Opinions The views expressed in editorials and opinion pieces are those of each author and not necessarily the views of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Letters The Reporter welcomes letters on subjects of interest to the Jewish community. All letters must be signed and include a phone number. The editor may withhold the name upon request. ADS The Reporter does not necessarily endorse any advertised products and services. In addition, the paper is not responsible for the kashruth of any advertiser’s product or establishment. Deadline Regular deadline is two weeks prior to the publication date. Federation website: www.jewishnepa.org How to SUBMIT ARTICLES: Mail: 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA 18510 E-mail: jfnepareporter@jewishnepa.org Fax: (570) 346-6147 Phone: (570) 961-2300 How to reach the advertising Representative: Phone: (800) 779-7896, ext. 244 E-mail: bonnie@thereportergroup.org Subscription Information: Phone: (570) 961-2300

munity who have translated their particular language of Jewish identity into successful literary careers, careers in Jewish communal service or even, dare I say, leadership roles on Jewish boards. These individuals often are touted as examples of how successfully Russian Jews have integrated into North American society. But how many others are active in Jewish life – walking the halls of our JCCs, sitting next to us at our board meetings or sending their children to our camps and schools? Happily, there are success stories – and more emerging all the time. Great things happen to engage the Russian community when institutions understand that they must invest in hiring Russian-speaking and Russian-thinking staff. As with most communities, a little familiarity goes a long way. The Russian-speaking community will always be more likely to trust and be influenced by someone who understands their history, background and values. Of course, this makes absolute sense. Take overnight camp, for example. Most Jewish camps are filled with the children of those who experienced wonderful summers at camp themselves or grew up hearing such stories from friends and family. These parents have a cultural and social legacy that is suffused with an inherited familiar-

ity of camp. But even Russian-speaking Jews who were born here – let alone those that arrived as youngsters – do not have that touch point. Therefore they must, in a very real sense, take a leap of faith and send their children into an unknown environment away from home. Who better to help them feel comfortable with that choice than a peer who understands what they need in order to feel at ease with such a decision? More often than not, once Russian Jews choose a Jewish destination for themselves and their children, they bring along their social network and become great advocates. Even better, when an institution builds programs with Russian-Jewish cultural inclinations in mind – and that often must happen to retain them – the institution itself evolves and grows. Success is easy to demonstrate. Jewish Community Centers that offer high-level lectures or literary events are seeing a significant uptick in Russian-Jewish participation; family programs that provide high-level arts projects for children, and historical or literary context for their parents, are succeeding in meeting the needs of Russian-speaking Jews. And camps that add specialties in the arts or dance are doing infinitely better at recruiting campers from Russian-speaking

backgrounds than their counterparts. As more Jewish communal professionals and volunteers take notice of the significant opportunity that this population sector represents, our institutions will see growth, expansion and innovation. This was the approach proposed at the first Think Tank on Russian-Jewish Engagement at Camp held recently in New York City. The three dozen camp and community professionals from across North America who attended left prepared to make the right kinds of investments to increase engagement with Russian-speaking Jews. Change takes time. Mainstream Jewish institutions have certainly started to make headway toward engaging this important and still under represented group in Jewish communal life. I am heartened because I believe that this is only the beginning of substantive growth in this arena as we continue to work hand in hand with Russian-speaking Jews to build our institutions and our programs in such a way that they become more vital and, ultimately, more interesting to a broader audience. The results are what we are all striving for: building a stronger and more vibrant Jewish community. Abby Knopp is the vice president for program and strategy at the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

Full inclusion ensures Jewish continuity By Jay Ruderman JNS.org Jewish funders today are focused on the issue of Jewish continuity and ensuring the future survival of our community. Summer camps, day schools, Birthright, youth activities and the like are on the radar of Jewish philanthropists. But if these programs do not support the full inclusion of people with disabilities, then our community will cease to appeal to our youth – the very group funders are currently fixated on. An inclusive Jewish community is an attractive one, especially for the younger generation. They value diversity, are socially active, work tirelessly for social justice and believe firmly in tikkun olam (repairing the world). They fight and strive to achieve full inclusion everywhere. An exclusionary community is not an option for them. An inclusive Jewish community is also strategic. Disabilities affect a significant portion of our community – not just those with disabilities, but their families and friends as well. We cannot afford to leave many members of our community on the outside, looking in.

The government estimates that almost 60 million people across the U.S. have a form of disability – approximately 20 percent of the population. Within the Jewish community, you probably know a family member, a neighbor or a friend with some form of disability. Is your community inclusive? Or are there barriers preventing people with disabilities from participating and becoming active members? The full inclusion of people with disabilities is of paramount importance to the continuity and future of Jewish communal life. The upcoming ADVANCE: Ruderman Jewish Disabilities Funding Conference aims to put this issue on the agenda of Jewish funders. The annual conference brings together philanthropists from around the world who want to build a stronger Jewish community by making their funding more inclusive. This year, on May 8 in New York, they will learn how to support individuals, parents, families and friends of those seeking to live a full, inclusive Jewish life. The goal is not to change their funding strategies, but to make their funding more inclusive.

The conference partners with some of the largest Jewish organizations in North America, so they can ensure their funders hear the inclusive message as well. Their commitment to engaging their funders in this effort will help make our community a more inclusive one, for everyone. As a community, we champion numerous social causes and are proud of our work to ensure social justice, a term rooted in Jewish tradition and literature. But there are still many members of our own community who feel excluded because of a lack of knowledge or pre-existing prejudices. The work of full inclusion of people with disabilities in communal life needs to begin today to ensure the continuity and survival of the Jewish community tomorrow. Jay Ruderman is the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. The upcoming ADVANCE conference on May 8 is a partnership of the foundation with the Jewish Funders Network, Jewish Federations of North America, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston.

David Brooks discovers the Orthodox 1-percenters By Shai Franklin (JTA) – Probably no more than the top 10 percent of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jews will ever shop at Pomegranate, the luxury kosher supermarket recently featured by The New York Times columnist David Brooks in a column titled “The Orthodox Surge.” Brooks chose the upscale kosher version of Whole Foods as the fulcrum of an admiring piece on Orthodox Jewish life in America, writing of the Orthodox “sense of collective purpose” and the “external moral order” that governs Orthodox Jewish lives. It’s nice of Brooks to give Orthodox Jews some positive press after so many scandals within our community and among other religious denominations. But his praise is misguided at best and agenda-driven at worst. Personally, I wish social critics would look elsewhere for their ideological ammunition and leave us alone. Brooklyn now has enough upper-middle-class Orthodox Jews that a gourmet mega-market like Pomegranate can be an overnight success. But as in general society,

and maybe more so, the upper stratum is just cream floating on a sea of workingclass and working-poor parents struggling to get through each week and blessing the Almighty for each day. The average Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn cannot afford Pomegranate, and thousands each week rely on food pantries stocked by organizations like the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and Sephardic Bikur Holim. Approximately two-thirds of New York’s needy Jews live in Brooklyn. The average Orthodox family, including those living in the suburbs and on Manhattan’s swank West Side, lives on a tight budget and that includes many of those 10-percenters. They struggle to keep up with household bills, yeshiva tuition for their numerous children, support for community needs and extravagances like any other American. By extolling the “trendy” minority of Orthodox Jews, Brooks not only misrepresents who most of us are and where we are headed as a community. He also reinforces the peer pressure so many already feel to keep pursuing that brass ring rather than

owning our material limitations and imbuing them with sanctity and purpose. Behind Brooks’ column is the notion that if people are successful in their careers and fortunes – say, enough to afford fancy meats and artisanal kosher cheeses – then they must be worthy of admiration and emulation. Had Brooks asked Pomegranate’s owner, he might have heard about how he provides food every week to the community’s free kosher restaurant for those without cash to spare. The well-heeled Orthodox have every right to spend where they like and they probably donate more than most of their non-Orthodox and non-Jewish peers. And most of them are decent and devoted. But so are most Americans. Maybe we pray three times a day, put on tefillin (at least the men), and educate our children in the tradition and laws of our Jewish heritage. This, however, does not mean that general society is morally bankrupt. Are secular Americans less worthy or less serious than their religious compatriots? See “Brooks” on page 8

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

community news B’nai B’rith Americanism Award to Jane Oppenheim

Amos Lodge No. 136 of B’nai B’rith has announced that Jane Oppenheim will receive the 61st annual Americanism Award at a testimonial dinner to be held at the Scranton Jewish Community Center on Sunday, May 19. The event will include a cocktail hour at 5 pm and dinner at 6 pm. The award is given annually to “an outstanding person” for his or her lifetime of community service. The award winner is selected annually by past winners of the award and representatives of several community organizations, including the United Way of Lackawanna County, the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, the Scranton Area Foundation, the Lions Club, Kiwanis and Amos Lodge. Tickets cost $75 per person or $675 for a table of 10. Tickets may be purchased or a congratulatory greeting may be placed in the dinner Program Book by calling Richard Bishop at 346-8414 or 905-0177, or Ed Monsky at 343-1197.

At right: Members of the Scranton Chapter of BBYO recently helped with the mailing of hundreds of invitations to the Americanism Award Dinner sponsored by Amos Lodge No. 136 of B’nai B’rith. L-r: Murray Fallk, Becky Fallk, Casey Friedman and Ellie Sullum.

University of Scranton to be honored

Students to highlight Jewish Home volunteer luncheon Alan Glassman, president of the Jewish Home, announced that the Volunteer of the Year Award will recognize student volunteers from the University of Scranton. The annual volunteer recognition luncheon,

co-sponsored by the Jewish Home and its Auxiliary, will be held on Thursday, May 30, at 1 pm. The cost for the lunch will be $10. “Accounting for more than 2,000 volunteer hours, our

Bais Yaakov students help with mailing At right: Bais Yaakov students, with Esther Elefant, helped with the Friends of The Reporter mailing. The effort was one of the recent volunteer projects that the students from Bais Yaakov have undertaken.

student neighbors spent more than 2,000 hours visiting and interacting with residents,” Glassman said. “As part of the university’s overall community outreach initiative, these energetic undergraduates enliven and brighten the lives of many of the Home’s residents.” Appearing at the luncheon will be Father Kevin Quinn, S.J., president of the university, who will accept the award on behalf of the student body. Since his arrival at the university, Quinn has advocated on behalf of the nonprofit community and has extended the university’s resources to many of these organizations. The Jewish Home has been one such beneficiary. The awards luncheon will also recognize the high school students of Bais Yaakov and others who interact with the residents. Many of the students perform the service of assisting with the dining and feeding program. The students encourage residents to eat and offer them companionship during meal times. For reservations for the luncheon, contact Lynn Klemick at 344-6177, ext. 109, or lklemick@jhep.org.

S E N I L D A E D

Holocaust survivor seeks help in search for brother

A recent Arutz Sheva article has asked people to help spread the word about Holocaust survivor Menachem Bodner’s search for his twin brother, from whom he was separated upon liberation from Auschwitz 68 years ago at the age of 4. According to the article, “Bodner has discovered from the records that his number and real name was A-7733 Gottesman, Elias. His brother’s number and name was A-7734 Gottesman, Jeno.” Additionally, the Red Cross gave him hope that his brother may still be alive. Those possessing relevant information should contact Ayana Kimron at FamilyRoots2000@gmail.com.

The following are deadlines for all articles and photos for upcoming Reporter issues.

DEADLINE

A request has been made for people to tell to friends and acquaintances about Bodner’s search.

ISSUE

Thursday, April 25................................... May 9 Thursday, May 9.................................... May 23 Thursday, May 23.................................... June 6 Thursday, June 6.................................... June 20

You are cordially invited to the

A M

of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania Thursday, June 13th, 2013, 7:00 PM Linder Room, Scranton Jewish Community Center 601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton Dessert reception will follow the meeting. Dietary laws observed • RSVP to 961-2300 (ext. 4) Welcome & introductions.......................... Jeff Rubel, President Invocation .................................................. Rabbi Moshe Saks, Temple Israel (Scranton) State of the Federation Address ................ Jeff Rubel, President ainavlysnneP nretsaehtroN fo noitaredeF hsiweJ 2012-2013 UJA Campaign Report ........... Don Douglass, Barbara Nivert margorP gniteeM launnA 3102 Presentation of Campaign Awards ............ Mark Silverberg, Exec. Director Nominating Committee Report ................ Michael Greenstein, Chairman Installation of Officers and Trustees ......... Rabbi Moshe Saks, Temple Israel (Scranton) Closing Remarks Jeff Rubel, President Reception

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

25th Annual Holocaust Symposium Sponsorship Packages May 21 & 22 • Marywood University •Sponsorship Packages• Sponsors will receive the following beneﬁts based upon their sponsorship category.

Levels of sponsorship are:

PLATINUM • $3,000+

• Platinum sponsor recognition from the podium during the Cocktail Buffet/ Dessert evening program. Those in attendance will be asked to stand. • 6 free tickets to the sponsoring organization for the Cocktail Buffet/ Dessert evening program at the JCC • Publicity in the local print media • Honor Roll recognition (to be published, by sponsor category, as a Centerfold in the June issue of The Reporter - our regional Jewish newspaper that is delivered to 1,800 Jewish households in Pike, Wayne, Monroe and Lackawanna counties) • Honor Roll poster (to be displayed prominently by category during the Holocaust Symposium and at the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program) • Platinum sponsors will receive 3 courtesy advertisements in The Reporter

State of the annual Symposium on the Holocaust As of a week before the registration deadline, the number of students and teachers registered for the 25th Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust is among the highest ever. Symposium Coordinator Mary Ann Answini announced that just more than 1,300 participants are on board, with more expected. A large number of the schools are “repeaters” – schools that have sent teachers and students in the past – but there are several first-time participants as well. “It is extremely gratifying to know that the program has become so well-known and interested schools are coming despite

budget cuts, which have limited busing for trips in many schools,” said Tova Weiss of the Holocaust Education Resource Center. “It is a testament to all the volunteers and guest speakers who have helped to make the event successful throughout the last quarter century. It also makes obvious that interest in the subject is growing, as is the wish to hear first-hand testimony while it is available.” The symposium will be held at Marywood University from Tuesday-Wednesday, May 21-22, and will be co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation and Marywood University.

GOLD • $1,500 - $2,999

• Gold sponsor recognition from the podium during the Cocktail Buffet/ Dessert evening program. Those in attendance will be asked to stand. • 4 free tickets to the sponsoring organization for the Cocktail Buffet/ Dessert evening program at the JCC • Publicity in the local print media • Honor Roll recognition (to be published, by sponsor category, as a Centerfold in the June issue of The Reporter - our regional Jewish newspaper that is delivered to 1,800 Jewish households in Pike, Wayne, Monroe and Lackawanna counties) • Honor Roll poster (to be displayed prominently by category during the Holocaust Symposium and at the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program) • Gold sponsors will receive 2 courtesy advertisements in The Reporter

SILVER - $1,000 - $1,499

• Silver sponsor recognition from the podium during the Cocktail Buffet/ Dessert evening program. Those in attendance will be asked to stand. • 2 free tickets to the sponsoring organization for the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program at the JCC • Publicity in the local print media • Honor Roll recognition (to be published, by sponsor category, as a Centerfold in the June issue of The Reporter - our regional Jewish newspaper that is delivered to 1,800 Jewish households in Pike, Wayne, Monroe and Lackawanna counties) • Honor Roll poster (to be displayed prominently by category during the Holocaust Symposium and at the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program) • Silver sponsors will receive 1 courtesy advertisement in The Reporter

BRONZE - $500 - $999

• Bronze sponsor recognition from the podium during the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program. Those in attendance will be asked to stand. • 2 free tickets to the sponsoring organization for the evening program at the JCC • Publicity in the local print media • Honor Roll recognition (to be published, by sponsor category, as a Centerfold in the June issue of The Reporter - our regional Jewish newspaper that is delivered to 1,800 Jewish households in Pike, Wayne, Monroe and Lackawanna counties) • Honor Roll poster (to be displayed prominently by category, during the Holocaust Symposium and at the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program)

GENERAL - $75 - $499

• 1 free ticket to the sponsoring organization for the Cocktail Buffet/ Dessert evening program at the JCC • Publicity in the local print media • Honor Roll recognition (to be published, by sponsor category, as a Centerfold in the June issue of The Reporter - our regional Jewish newspaper that is delivered to 1,800 Jewish households in Pike, Wayne, Monroe and Lackawanna counties) • Honor Roll poster (to be displayed prominently by category, during the Holocaust Symposium and at the Cocktail Buffet/Dessert evening program)

Posing for a group photo were several members of the two committees that are separately planning the 25th Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust at Marywood University and the Silver Anniversary event at the JCC on Tuesday, May 21. Standing (l-r): Phyllis Malinov, Antanine Kane, Jim Kane, Laura Santoski, Bill Burke, Tova Weiss, Barbara Nivert (co-chairwoman of the Anniversary event) and James Connors. Seated: David Malinoff, Carol Burke, Susie Connors and Dassy Ganz. Not pictured: Jerry Chazan, advisory board member.

The Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition

State Capitol news 2012-2013 Volume 6, Edition 11 – April 9, 2013 PJC mission statement: The Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, working individually and collectively with others, represents Pennsylvania’s Jewish communities before state government and with other Pennsylvanians. Jewish values guide the PJC’s focus on issues of importance to these communities, including public social policies and funding and regulation of the delivery of human services. Iran-Free Procurement passes the State House of Representatives Due to the efforts of Representative Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny), Representative Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) and Senator Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia), Iran-Free Procurement passed the State House of Representatives and is now before the Pennsylvania Senate for consideration. The April 9 press release from Frankel’s office stated: House Democratic Caucus Chairman Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) welcomed today’s House passage of his “Iran-Free Procurement” legislation. Frankel’s legislation would bar any company that invests more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector from entering into a state procurement contract worth more than $1 million through the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. His

legislation was included as an amendment to H.B 201, which passed the House today. “This legislation presents a clear choice: Either companies can do business with the terror-sponsoring state of Iran or they can do business with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania – but they can’t do both,” Frankel said. “With this language as law, Pennsylvania would join the leading edge of states that have decided to stop doing business with companies who invest in Iran.” Under the legislation, DGS would be required to keep and maintain a list, using the best credible information possible, of companies that invest $20 million in Iran’s energy sector, including but not limited to oil and natural gas tankers, or equipment used to make pipelines that transport oil or natural gas out of Iran. To enter into a DGS contract worth more than $1 million, a company would have to file an affidavit with the department certifying that it is not on the list of companies that do business with Iran. The penalty for false certification would be a civil penalty of $250,000 or twice the amount of the investment, whichever is greater. An additional penalty would be levied – termination of the existing contract for three years. After three years, DGS could terminate the contract permanently. “This legislation is the second part of a two-stage plan for Pennsylvania to take See “Coalition” on page 6

Jewish Federation of NEPA

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APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

Scholar: Emerging China admires the Jews By Susan Bloom Reprinted with permission of New Jersey Jewish News When Chinese people use “Jew” as a metaphor for wealth or success, it is not meant as a slur: With little to no history of persecution or hatred of Jews, the Chinese have instead developed “an interest in, respect for and appreciation of the Jewish people, their historical significance and the positive impacts of Judaism on the world.” Such attitudes, said Chinese scholar Dr. Lihong Song, are based on what they perceive as the Jews’ demonstrated influence and ingenuity throughout history. “For a society focused on economic growth and technological advancement, the Chinese regard Jews as a model of success,” said Song, speaking at the JCC

Dr. Lihong Song, in a talk at the JCC of Central NJ, said, “Understanding the Jews is key to helping the Chinese understand themselves.” (Photo by Susan Bloom) of Central New Jersey in Scotch Plains on March 7. “The Chinese acknowledge the Jews’ exceptional contribution to world

Among other Jewish landmarks in Shanghai, the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue has been meticulously restored.

civilizations and are interested in studying Jewish culture in order to better understand their own transformation.” An instructor from Nanjing University’s Department of Religious Studies and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Song spoke as part of the JCC’s fourth annual University Lecture Series. According to Song, the Jewish presence in China can be traced back as early as 960, when a Jewish community – likely originating from either Iran, India or Yemen – established a settlement in China’s trade city of Kaifeng. While the Kaifeng Jews succeeded as merchants and developed a distinctly Jewish culture, evidence shows that they were also fully assimilated, carrying out the binding of women’s feet and other Chinese cultural practices of the day.

Today, said Song, 126 residents of Kaifeng trace their lineage to this historic Jewish community; several have even made aliyah and are currently studying for the rabbinate. After 1933, some 17,000 German and Austrian Jews trickled into China, followed by another large influx of Jews after Kristallnacht in 1938, establishing a Jewish enclave in Shanghai during and after World War II. Synagogues, cemeteries and other historic Jewish sites in Shanghai have been meticulously restored, including the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in the former Ohel Moshe Synagogue and the Ohel Rachel Synagogue, which reopened in 2008 to host the first Jewish wedding in a Shanghai synagogue in 60 years. Shanghai’s current population of 5,000 Jews includes three Chabad rabbis. See “China” on page 8

Built in 1917, Shanghai’s Ohel Rachel Synagogue reopened in 2008 to host the first Jewish wedding in a Shanghai synagogue in 60 years.

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

Lag B’Omer: Rethinking the Rabbi Akiva narrative

Rabbi Akiva’s life coincided with a period of vioBy Binyamin Kagedan lent upheaval that resulted in the fall of the Judean JNS.org state. Beginning in the year 70 C.E., radical Judean As is the case for many holidays in the Jewish militias staged a series of revolts against the Roman calendar cycle, Lag B’Omer (April 28 this year) Empire, on the basis of religious repression, heavy carries within it not one, but multiple and distinct taxation and the desire for independence. Each layers of meaning. Mystical significances, historical time, the rebellions held out successfully for a few memories and moral reflections all meld together years, only to be eventually overwhelmed and put into the contemporary notion of what makes this down by Rome’s determined leaders and immense day special, the product of nearly two millennia of military machine. overlaid and interwoven innovations in tradition It is said that Rabbi Akiva began his rabbinic career and observance. at the late age of 40, but his brilliance, charisma and One of the most prominent themes describes that creative interpretation of the law propelled him to the 33rd day of the Omer period brought the sudden fame, wealth and a spot in the highest echelons of cessation of a calamity of national proportions in Jewish leadership. He was also, it seems, an ardent ancient Judea – the death of 24,000 students of the Jewish nationalist. The Jerusalem Talmud depicts sage Rabbi Akiva. The mourning practices that have Rabbi Akiva as throwing his influential support bebecome a standard part of counting the 50 days behind the leader of the final revolt, known as Bar Kotween Passover and Shavuot likewise cease on Lag chba, and publicly designating him the long-awaited B’Omer for most traditional Jews, corresponding to messiah who would restore Israel to political and the end of the catastrophe. The Rabbi Akiva narrative can be traced back to In Tiberias, Israel, the tomb of Rabbi Akiva, who according to the religious freedom. A tradition associated with Rabbi a single, rather ambiguous passage in the Talmud Talmud saw 24,000 of his students die during the Omer period until Akiva’s death is that he was executed for continuing that identifies neither the timing of the event nor the 33rd day, now known as Lag B’Omer. (Photo by Almog/Wikimedia to teach Torah publicly, defiantly flouting a Roman prohibition against it that came in the aftermath of how the scholars died. It does, however, specify a Commons) the last revolt. cause – namely, that Akiva’s students had made a In light of the fact that talmudic lore associates Rabbi habit of treating each other with disrespect. The talmudic the immensity of loss of life it describes, demands that we narrators reviewing the anecdote then supply more detail, think critically about what is being conveyed. It seems quite Akiva with the Jewish rebellion movement, we might conplacing the event chronologically between Passover and unlikely that the rabbis would have contented themselves sider an alternative reading of the story of his dying pupils. Shavuot, and attributing the mode of death to a divinely with explaining such unthinkable devastation as an act of Not every rabbi in Rabbi Akiva’s day supported armed ordained plague, punishment for the pupils’ collective divine justice necessitated by widespread academic hubris. resistance against Rome, some seeing the probability of Instead, it is helpful to understand the narrative against the Roman retribution as too great a cost. But we can conjecture lapse in behavior. While it has often been interpreted at a literal level, the social and political backdrop of the times and the persona that Rabbi Akiva’s many students across Judea would have been loyal to him and would have taken up arms against vague and mystifying nature of the account, coupled with of Rabbi Akiva. the imperial forces at his suggestion. In that case, the sudden deaths of so many thousands of his disciples can be thought of as casualties of Emperor Hadrian’s push to crush Jewish revolutionary activity once and for all. Hadrian was largely successful, and no effort was made to reclaim the province as a Jewish state until modern times. Why, then, would the Talmud be so sparse with detail and why would later rabbis composing the Talmud come up with such a different explanation? Francince Klagsbrun, in her book “Jewish Days: A Book of Jewish Life and Culture,” offers the idea that since those compilers may still have been living under Roman rule, it would have been unwise to refer openly to Jewish rebellions in the recent past. Another possibility is that changing or leaving out the details of the true cause of the students’ demise was a silent repudiation of Rabbi Akiva, or alternatively an effort to protect his reputation from being tarnished by a connection to a failed war and a false messiah. In any case, whatever actually happened to Rabbi Akiva’s students, Lag B’Omer continues to be celebrated as the day on which the tragedy ended and the hope of peace was restored. Binyamin Kagedan has an M.A. in Jewish thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Coalition

Continued from page 4 a stand against Iran. In 2010, we passed Act 44, which requires the four state retirement funds – PSERS, SERS, PMRS and the Treasury Department – to divest from companies doing business with Iran or Sudan. A report this year from the state Treasury Department shows that almost 25 companies have ceased business with Iran as a result of Act 44,” Frankel said. Frankel said his legislation also has bipartisan support in the House as HB 940 and the Senate as SB 500, and that he has worked closely with Sen. Mike Stack, D-Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition on the language. “Time is of the essence for Pennsylvania to take a stand against Iran. This legislation would do just that,” Frankel said. For any questions, call Hank Butler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, at 717-330-4574 or e-mail at hank@pajewishcoalition.org.

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

Ghana builds preschools with an Israeli touch By Maxine Dovere JNS.org NEW YORK – They are two women divided by age, background and personal experience. But Janette Hirshmann and Gladys Amaning, of Israel and Ghana, respectively, have jointly developed a visionary program to provide this and future generations of Ghanaian preschoolers with the initial tools needed to achieve their full potential.   Hirshmann, 82, made aliyah from apartheid South Africa in 1953. She is a master teacher of children, the former director of the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center in Haifa. She has taught children with special needs and the hearing impaired, and she has planned courses for educators from around the world. She now works with MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) to create outreach programs. Amaning, more than three decades younger than Hirshmann, is the director of education for the Metropolitan District of Kumasi in Ghana. She holds a B.A. in home economics and a master’s in education. She came to Israel to learn from Hirshmann, an educator nearly two generations her senior. They are colleagues, partners and friends. “It was love at first sight,” Hirshmann tells JNS.org. Hirshmann and Amaning recently brought news of their preschool education project in Ghana, the Kumasi Haifa Training Program, to an event at the Consulate General of Israel in New York. Kumasi is Ghana’s second largest city. In 2002, Kumasi recognized the importance of preschool education and set a goal of providing primary education for every child. Then, in 2006, the city was designated to be a Millennium Initiative City, which allowed it to move forward with its ambitious plans.   “Until then, national early childhood education was a bone of contention,” Amaning tells JNS.org. “Teachers were not trained. The setup was a mess.”  The MCI designation provides a framework, advice and connections, but does not provide financial assistance – that is where Israel came into the picture. The head of MCI in West Af-

rica, Abenaa Aboateng, met with MASHAV and came to the Golda Meir Training Center at Israel’s Mt. Carmel. After reviewing the program and visiting Israeli kindergartens, Aboateng invited MASHAV to partner in developing in the Kumasi Early Childhood Education project. The state of Israel agreed to participate and fund the training programs. Hirshmann and her Israeli colleague, Aviva Ben-Hefer, eventually visited Kumasi to “find out what was on the ground.” What they saw was not encouraging. Very young children seated on hard benches, spending long days in dark, stark, overcrowded classrooms, harshly disciplined by a teacher equipped with a whipping cane. Hirshmann and Ben-Hefer asked what Hirshmann called a “simple” question in Ghana: “What can we do to help?” The answer is more complex. In 2008, five Ghanaian educators, led by Amaning, took part in the Kumasi Haifa Training Program, under the auspices of the MCI. For three weeks, they learned both theory and practical application at the Mt. Carmel Center with a group of 25 African educators, including Nigerians, Kenyans and Ethiopians. Participants, explained Hirshmann, pay only for airfare, while the Israeli government pays for everything else, including touring throughout Israel. The teaching is “very practical, very diverse,” she says.   “For many, it was a first exposure to preschool education – a new experience for the teachers,” Hirshmann says. For more than 25 years, the Mt. Carmel Center has brought Israeli expertise to countries all over the world. Still, even with teacher enthusiasm, implementing an educational program across cultures is not easy. Amaning says, “We have to plan very well, to send the whole concept and adapt it to use in Kumasi.” She and her colleagues photographed Israeli classrooms “to let the public know what we have seen.” Upon her return to Kumasi, she called directors and head teachers who had been chosen to lead the program. “They became excited and interested – and decided to adapt and implement the program… It was not easy. This was an entirely new concept,” she says.

Janette Hirshmann (left) and Gladys Amaning (right), of Israel and Ghana, respectively, have jointly developed a visionary program to provide this and future generations of Ghanaian preschoolers with the initial tools needed to achieve their full potential. (Photo by Maxine Dovere) When the teachers saw the pictures of Israeli classrooms, Amaning says, “They thought they were in a different world.” “Is that what kindergarten looks like?” the teachers asked, according to Amaning. The teachers had to understand that children learn by playing. “Teachers put theory to the test and practiced by acting like children,” Amaning says. “The teachers had a great time laughing and talking, doing role playing, then setting up classrooms. They got the concept.” Teachers returned to their classrooms in Ghana and began setting up a new environment. Despite their enthusiasm, they were terrified of losing control. But the reaction of the children – enthusiastic, cooperative and involved – convinced the teachers of the value of their new approach. “The children had a ball, so did the teachers,” says Amaning. “There is a total turnaround in Kumasi’s

early childhood education,” she adds. Although the joint Israel-Ghana program remains underfunded – teachers have incorporated new teaching methods into the classroom using mostly local materials – absenteeism, both of teachers and children, has dropped dramatically. “Everybody is interested,” Amaning says. “Children want to come to school; teachers want to teach. The program has changed the community. Parents got to know their children; teachers are better able to communicate and establish better relationships. Children talk about what goes on at home.” Hirshmann andAmaning agree that change does not happen instantly. In four years, 130 teachers of the Kumasi metropolitan area have been trained through the Israel-Ghana program, but there was no foundation on which to build. Many of the concepts the program brings are new and complex to Ghana. “We are still in the process,” Amaning says. Asked what was most needed to advance the preschool program, Amaning says, “We need money in Kumasi. The children don’t have books or materials. What we need is material support.” She explains that most classroom materials in Kumasi are self-created by teachers, who pay out of pocket. “We need help,” she says. “We need a resource center, a library. Our dream is that all the children in Ghana will have the opportunity to have a good start in life.” By February 2013, the number of Ghanaian professionals who have participated in Israeli MASHAV training courses had reached such a critical mass that the Embassy of Israel in Accra (Ghana’s capital) launched a MASHAV alumni network in Ghana, the “Shalom Club,” to encourage the continuing exchange of ideas and experiences.   “We love Israel,” Amaning says. “Israel is changing children’s lives.

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Continuing Terms Esther Adelman, Herb Appel, Jeanne Atlas, Phyllis Brandes, Mark Davis, Lainey Denis, Jacques Deutsch (replaced by Eugene Schneider), Atty. Richard Fine, Natalie Gelb, Laurel Glassman, Alan Goldstein, Jill Linder, Atty. Ed Monsky, Molly Rutta, Laney Ufberg, Paula Wasser, Steven Weinberger and Jay Weiss Our thanks is extended to the following Trustees whose terms of office are expiring Shlomo Fink, Robin Jacobson, Michael Mardo, Ann Monsky, Sam Rosen, Atty. Ben Schnessel and Alan Smertz

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

Remembering Jackie Robinson’s fight with black nationalists over antisemitism

By Ami Eden NEW YORK (JTA) – Moviegoers who head to the AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9 to watch “42” will see the story of how Jackie Robinson displayed legendary courage, class and talent in the face of immense pressure and racial hatred as he broke down baseball’s color barrier. Less well known is Robinson’s role in a controversy that erupted just a few blocks away, at Harlem’s most famous theater, and underscored his commitment to fighting all bigotry, including prejudice emanating from his own community. It was 1962, a decade-and-a-half after Robinson first took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers and just a few years after he retired. Day after day, an angry crowd marched outside Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater protesting against its Jewish owner, Frank Schiffman, and his plan to open a lowcost restaurant with prices that potentially would threaten the business of a more expensive black-owned eatery. The demonstrators carried antisemitic posters and hurled racial epithets, reportedly denouncing Schiffman as a Shylock who wanted to extract a pound of flesh from the black community. Schiffman turned to several black leaders for help, but despite the increasingly hostile acts of antisemitism that were taking place, they all remained silent – except for Robinson. “I was ashamed to see community leaders who were afraid to speak out when blacks were guilty of antisemitism,” Robinson wrote in his 1972 autobiography, “I Never Had It Made.” “How could we stand against anti-black prejudice if we were willing to practice or condone a similar intolerance?” Never one to back down from a cause he believed in, Robinson used his syndicated newspaper column to condemn the protesters’ blatant use of antisemitism and compared their actions to events that had occurred in Nazi Germany, drawing the ire of many black nationalists in the process. The nationalists, who had adopted a separatist agenda, retaliated by protesting in front of a nearby Chock Full O’ Nuts coffee shop – Robinson had worked for the chain after his 1957 retirement from baseball – and outside a dinner honoring Robinson’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Chadwick Boseman playing Jackie Robinson getting ready to take the field in the new film “42.” (Photo by Legendary Pictures) In turn, several mainstream black leaders – including Roy Wilkins, the longtime leader of the NAACP – quickly came to the defense of Robinson and Schiffman. “In their fight for equal opportunity, Negroes cannot use the slimy tools of antisemitism or indulge in racism, the very tactics against which we cry out,” Wilkins wrote in a telegram to Robinson. “We join you in your straight statement that this is a matter of principle from which there can be no retreat.” Other leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Philadelphia Tribune Publisher Dr. E. Washington Rhodes, also offered their support, according to Robinson. Major League Baseball’s first black player also managed to pry a condemnation of antisemitism from Lewis Micheaux, the owner of Harlem’s National Memorial African Book Store, though Micheaux had sympathized with the marchers and denounced Robinson’s initial criticisms. Soon after, the protests ceased. Some Jewish communal officials have noted that Robinson’s strong stance during the 1962 Apollo incident stood in stark contrast to the silence from black leaders

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during the 1995 protests outside Freddy’s clothing store on 125th Street. For months, large crowds gathered in front of the Harlem store to protest the efforts of its Jewish owner, Fred Harari, to expand into an adjacent storefront that was occupied by a black-owned business. The condemnations came only after one protester, Roland Smith Jr., shot and killed seven store employees before burning down the building and taking his own life. Robinson was always quick to criticize antisemitism in the black community, according to Stephen Norwood, a professor at the University of Oklahoma who co-wrote a scholarly article on Robinson’s relationship with Jews. In a 1997 interview timed to the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s integration of baseball, Norwood pointed out that Robinson was the first to condemn and call for the removal of a Congress of Racial Equality official in 1966 after he shouted at a group of Jews, “Hitler made a mistake when he didn’t kill enough of you.” See “Robinson” on page 14

China

Continued from page 5 Today, Song said, “after many years of upheaval, China is reopening to many foreign influences and turning westward. Understanding the Jews is key to helping the Chinese understand themselves and enhance their position on the international scene.” The student protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 helped inspire an openness to beliefs other than the “secular” religion of Marxism, he said. “Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Catholicism have been revitalized, and there’s a growing quest for spirituality in China,” Song said. He cited as evidence a recent rise in the number of religion departments established in universities across China. Nanjing University is believed to house the largest Judaica library in Asia (except Israel) – it has 18,000 volumes – as well as a graduate program with a major in Jewish studies. “Our institution promotes understanding between Chinese and Jewish people, and we welcome Jews to China to see the many distinguished landmarks of Jewish faith,” he said. Susan Bloom is a contributing writer to New Jersey Jewish News.

Brooks

Continued from page 2

Are all Orthodox Jews, or most adherents of any religious doctrine, more moral or trustworthy than others? Many of my fellow Orthodox Jews are proud and flattered by Brooks’ praise, but what is he praising? It’s the equivalent of being interviewed on TV and told your tie looked perfect. What about the substance beyond a truly magnificent store and the standard-issue minivan? By playing the prosperity card to prove our moral superiority, Brooks actually undermines that claim. The holiest Sabbath chulent stew I’ve ever tasted, more than 25 years ago, did not contain the requisite red meat, but rather chicken parts. A struggling family that couldn’t even afford a couple pounds of flanken was nevertheless hosting college students for a meal. When shared with guests, these meager fixings express the genuine meaning of Shabbat hospitality and the Divine presence. And yet, Brooks judges Orthodoxy’s success by how those with the means choose to spend their disposable income. The value of the Jewish way of life is in our ethics and not our prices. This is most readily evident among those with little money or power. We extol the observance of mitzvahs – religious commandments – with elegance, but not with extravagance. Shai Franklin has served in executive capacities with several national Jewish organizations.

Notice to our Pocono Readers 911 Emergency Management Services has been updating mailing addresses in Monroe County and Lehman Townships in Pike County. Please don't forget to notify the Federation so you will continue to receive The Reporter. Thanks, Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

On Birthright, building Jewish identity and finding love likely to marry Jewish spouses.” Of course, young couples finding love in Israel is nothing new. But Birthright’s scale, and its success in targeting participants who normally would not participate in an Israel trip, make its reach potentially far greater. The organization offers dozens of niche programs targeting particular interests and backgrounds, including cycling enthusiasts, fraternity brothers, foodies and recovering addicts. Not all the romantic Birthright traffic heads east. Michal Ezekiel moved from Israel to Los Angeles in 2010 to be with Max Simon, whom she met on the Tel Aviv beach in 2008. Simon was a recent graduate of the University of San Diego; Ezekiel was one of eight Israeli soldiers who accompanied his group on its Birthright tour. “I was one of those people who went on Birthright just looking to get away from my life in L.A. and I had no idea what I was walking into,” Simon said. A few months later, Ezekiel joined her family on a trip to California, where the two were reunited. He took Simon out for dinner on her birthday, followed by a romantic walk on the beach. In 2012, they were married in Israel. “That was the first time we hung out outside of the trip,” Simon said. “We saw each other and we realized there was something there.” For those who find love on Birthright, meeting their significant other is the main reward. For years, it was widely reported that Michael Steinhardt, one of the program’s main funders, promised Birthright couples a free honeymoon in the Caribbean or Israel. On its website, the Birthright organization makes clear that it does not provide honeymoons to couples who meet on the trip.

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By Gil Shefler NEW YORK (JTA) – Meredith Ross will never forget when she first laid eyes on Lior, her partner for the past seven years. Lior, an infantryman in the Israel Defense Forces, was escorting Ross’ Birthright Israel group on a free tour of the Jewish state when his friend, a fellow soldier, was killed. Lior was leaving to attend his funeral and had come to say goodbye. The two 18-year-olds spoke for just five minutes, but it was enough. “I remember borrowing someone’s phone to call my mother in the U.S., crying and telling her that I was in love,” said Ross, now 26. Seven years later, they live together in Ramat Hasharon, a leafy suburb of Tel Aviv. The Chicago native completed her undergraduate degree in Israel and now works for a local start-up company. “Birthright was an eye-opening experience for me,” Ross said. “And on top of that it made me so proud to be Jewish.” Now entering its 13th year, Taglit-Birthright Israel’s goal is to strengthen the Jewish identity of its participants and their connection to Israel. Yet the popular program also has provided a platform for untold numbers of young singles to form lasting partnerships. No data exists on just how many participants have met their spouses on the trip. Birthright knows of several dozen marriages, though anecdotal evidence suggests the number could be much larger. “Because our main goal at Taglit is to strengthen Jewish identity and bring Jews closer together, we consider it a privilege that we’ve allowed hundreds of couples to meet and build Jewish homes around the world,” said Doron Karni, the vice president of international marketing for Birthright. “This is also in line with the findings of a study by Brandeis University that showed Birthright participants are 45 percent more

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

d’var torah ABINGTON TORAH CENTER

Rabbi Dovid Saks President: Richard Rutta Jewish Heritage Connection 108 North Abington Rd., Clarks Summit, PA 18411 570-346-1321 • Website: www.jewishheritageconnection.org Sunday morning services at 8:30 am Call for other scheduled services throughout the week.

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Conferring a sense of identity By RABBI PEG KERSHENBAUM, CONGREGATION B’NAI HARIM, POCONO PINES Emor, Leviticus 21:1-24:23 Emor is not a portion known for its narrative interest. However, there are few more gripping vignettes than that of the nameless blasphemer and his mother (Leviticus 24:1023). You might think that this tale serves as a warning not to curse God’s name or treat it as something contemptible. Surely, this is what brings down the wrath of the people and of God, and causes the stoning of the culprit. But I think there is a more contemporary warning. There are a few midrashim, traditional explanations, that are attached to this episode. One blames the mother, Sh’lomit bat Divri, of the tribe of Dan, for the bad behavior of her son. She is seen as a prattling flirt who smiles and chats with everyone before the Exodus. Indeed, she ultimately consorts with an Egyptian (or is forced by him) and brings forth this unnamed son. But that’s such a nasty take on poor Sh’lomit! Her name actually means something like “Peace Bringer, Daughter of My Word from the Tribe of the Judge.” There is a midrash about the son, too. He is a quiet boy who identifies with Moses, whom he sees as another boy who didn’t speak at first; a boy whose upbringing was at the Pharaoh’s court among Egyptians like his own father; and later as a man whose wife was taken from outside the tribes of Israel. When Moses orders everyone to camp according to tribe, the young man and his mother pitch their tent among the Danites. They had, after all, been traveling among his mother’s tribe ever since the Exodus and those imagined connections with Moses gave the young man a sense of identity. You can imagine his shock, anger and confusion when the other Danites object strenuously that he doesn’t belong and drag him off to Moses. But can you imagine his sense of betrayal when Moses, his hero, sides with those who will not grant him recognition? Egged on, in addition, by some other Israelite who just happens to have two Jewish parents, the son of the Jewish mother and

Kotel

Egyptian father most publicly rejects God, blaspheming God’s name and rejecting his mother’s heritage. These days, there are still some who treat intermarriage as a problem rather than as an opportunity, as a threat to Jewish continuity rather than as a way to foster it. For a long time, marrying “out” was seen as a great calamity, especially when a son left the fold. Because a child’s religion was determined, in Judaism, to derive from the mother, many Jewish couples demanded that their future daughters-in-law convert in order to assure the acceptance of future children as Jews. In a controversial but compassionate way, the Reform movement, following the early lead of the Reconstructionist movement, found substantial biblical and talmudic support for the acceptance of the child of a Jewish father as Jewish. To guarantee the Jewish upbringing of a child of one Jewish parent, the Reform movement added the proviso that children of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother could be considered Jewish if they celebrated Jewish lifecycle events and were educated exclusively in Judaism. That is, a boy was expected to have a brit milah, a girl to have a Jewish baby naming. The family was to celebrate Jewish holidays. The children were to go to religious school, become bar or bat mitzvah and be confirmed. In that way, it was hoped that other branches of Judaism would also accept the children as marriage partners for children with two Jewish parents. It is still the case that conferral of identity is primarily the responsibility of one’s family, while validation of one’s status is in the hands of one’s community. This week’s Torah portion shows the impact of the denial of a person’s Jewish status upon the Jewish community as a whole. May we never cause such pain to one who identifies with our people. Rather, let us work together to educate, to embrace and to enable acceptance of Jewish children of interfaith families in the wider Jewish world. In this way we honor our mothers and fathers, love our neighbors as ourselves and glorify God’s name.

Continued from page 1 When it comes to conversion in Israel, there is only one kind: Orthodox. Non-Orthodox converts to Judaism from overseas may be granted citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return, but the Rabbinate can prevent them from marrying, divorcing or being buried as Jews once they are in Israel. Perhaps a milder issue by comparison, many secular Israelis chafe against Sabbath-day limitations on public transit and commerce. While not entirely banned on Saturdays, they are subject to severely restrictive laws. There have been some reforms in all three areas in recent years. In 2010, the Yisrael Beiteinu party, which draws from a secular Russian immigrant support base, led a push for civil marriage. In a compromise, the watered-down bill passed by the Israelis on a motorcycle piqued the interest of haredi Orthodox Jews in the Knesset legalized civil unions only haredi Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. (Photo by Serge Attai/ for couples with no religious faith, Flash90/JTA) not for Jews or interfaith couples. Yesh Atid hopes to use that law as a template for allow“Who is a Jew is an issue that will come back,” predicted ing civil unions for any Israeli. “We plan to work together Uri Regev, a Reform rabbi and chairman of Hiddush, an on these issues,” Yesh Atid Knesset member Dov Lipman, Israeli nonprofit that advocates for religious pluralism. an American-born rabbi, told JTA. “There’s already been “The courts making it a headline issue will happen within significant discussion with all of the religious bodies on a few months.” compromising on these issues. I do believe we can make Public transit may be the issue most conducive to comsignificant changes.” promise because it does not involve questions of Jewish But Yesh Atid’s coalition partner, Jewish Home, re- identity or continuity. Public buses long have run on Shabportedly opposes expanding civil unions. Instead, Deputy bat in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, and private shared Religious Services Minister Eli Ben Dahan is proposing taxis run in Tel Aviv on the Sabbath. Lipman said Yesh measures to streamline the Orthodox marriage process – for Atid backs running buses on Shabbat in non-Orthodox example, allowing couples to marry with the Orthodox neighborhoods on a limited schedule. rabbi of their choosing. The one wild card in Israel’s religion and state debate By some measures, the conversion issue has been is David Stav, a Modern Orthodox rabbi who will run for thornier. In 2010, a Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset member, David the position of chief rabbi in June. If he wins, supporters Rotem, proposed a bill meant to give would-be converts of the reform-minded rabbi say he will put a friendlier face more leeway in choosing where and how to convert in on the Rabbinate and help unite a divided society. Israel. But the bill also would have consolidated control But in an interview last year with JTA, the reforms over conversions under the office of the Rabbinate, further outlined by Stav were mostly procedural. For example, weakening Reform and Conservative conversions. he supports the drive to allow couples to marry under a Following an outcry from Jewish leaders in the United rabbi of their choice. States, the bill was shelved. Sharansky was tasked with Regev says the best chance for bringing about farfinding a solution to the dispute, but nothing has material- reaching reforms lies outside the country – in the form of ized. In the meantime, Israel’s Supreme Court was subject the American Jewish community. “At this point, it’s all a to a freeze on hearing any cases relating to conversion. The question of applying sufficient pressure,” Regev said. “This high court freeze expires at the end of April. subject can’t be pushed under the rug.”

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

Commomwealth Civic Commemoration of the Holocaust held in Harrisburg The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hosted the annual Civic Commemoration of the Holocaust on April 8. The event was a cooperative effort of the Office of the Governor, the state legislature and the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition. The venue was the Governor’s Reception Room, located in the Main Capitol Building. Governor Tom Corbett was unable to attend this year. He was out of state, participating in a trade mission in Brazil. In his stead, attendees heard from Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley. Matthew Handel, chairman of the board of the PJC, and Michael Sand, immediate past chairman, introduced presenters Rabbi Eric Cytryn, of Beth El Temple, Harrisburg; Cawley; Senator Michael Stack; Representative Daniel Frankel; and Francis Vigletta, of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. The program included a tribute to living survivors of the Holocaust Freda Lederer, Fira Kaganovsky, Rose Machelmacher, Kurt Moses, Sam Rosen, Sam Sheron and David Tuck, some of whom participated in lighting six candles that each candle memorialized one million Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazi-led Germans. Additionally, students from Silver Academy read excerpts from their essays on the lessons learned by their study of the Holocaust. The program concluded with a rendition of “Zog Nit Keynmol” by vocalist Susan Leviton. The remarks of the presenters were called “powerful and insightful, meeting the high standard of the Harrisburg program.” Cawley’s presentation was called “exceptional and particularly inspiring.” Organizers of the program were also pleased about the bi-partisan support indicated by the presence in the audience of many elected officials of both parties. “It is imperative that we remain vigilant, we remember, we speak out and we challenge,” said a program representative. “If we do so there is reason for optimism, if we do not we can expect dire consequences.”

Reporting by Joseph Fisch

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

It’s Parade Time!

Mark Silverberg, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania, has announced that the Federation will once again join the thousands of marchers in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade, this year on Sunday June 2, 2013. The theme of this year’s parade is PICTURE ISRAEL (THE ART AND THE CRAFT). In keeping with the theme, our Federation’s banner will reflect the mosaic of diversity in the Jewish population of the State of Israel. We thank Becky Schastey, our Federation webmaster, for creating a photographic mosaic superimposed over the flag of Israel. Cost to participate in this always exciting program is only $10.oo per person with a family cap of $25.00. This covers snacks, the official parade T-shirt and, of course, a day trip to New York City & a stop in Teaneck, N.J. for shopping & dinner.

Celebrate Israel’s 65th Birthday

Join the Jewish Federation as we march along New York’s Fifth Avenue In the Celebrate Israel Parade Sunday June 2, 2013 (time to be announced)

Pick up points- Scranton JCC, Budget Inn and Suites Stroudsburg Cost - $10.00 per person with a $25 family cap. Includes trip to NY, snack on the bus, official parade T-shirt. As always, we will stop in Teaneck, NJ after the parade for shopping and dining in kosher establishments. Call or email with your reservation to Dassy Ganz 961-2300 x2 dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org

THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

Israeli biotech field blossoming, but held back by slow approval process, experts say

By Rachel Marder JNS.org JERUSALEM – While Israel is fast becoming a leader in the biomedical and biotechnology fields, industry experts say the Israeli Health Ministry may be unduly hindering its growth. Famously called a “start-up nation,” a nickname coined by Dan Senor and Saul Singer in their 2009 book about the Jewish state’s economic miracle, today Israel proudly parades that title, proving to be a fertile ground for thousands of tech start-ups. But Steve Rhodes, CEO and chairman of the Trendlines Group, a company that helps young Israeli companies developing medical devices, biotech and pharmaceutical products get off the ground, says the book overlooked certain industries. In the last 15-20 years, thousands of biotech and meditech companies have opened in Israel, and the country ranks fourth in the world for patents filed on medical devices, he says. But all too often, says Rhodes, the Israeli Health Ministry takes an inordinate amount of time to approve companies for clinical trials. As a result, many companies travel to Eastern Europe or elsewhere to conduct this testing, losing Israel untold dollars. “The system here is overly cautious,” Rhodes says in an interview with JNS.org. “I’m in favor of being careful, but when the FDA and the Europeans give approval faster than we do here, it really means there’s something not right in the process here. It’s a lost opportunity for Israel in many respects.” While the Health Ministry says it takes an average of six months to approve a medical device for clinical trials, Rhodes and others say it takes much longer. “I’ve seen devices where it took almost a year to get approval, where the only real risk to the patient would have been if it had fallen off the table and hit them in the foot,” he says. According to Dr. Mitko Shoshev, the head of Bulgarian Operations for Global Clinical Trials, it can take 60-90 days to get approval on drug treatment clinical trials in Eastern Europe, depending on the country. In 2009, he says, Russia approved 577 trials, Ukraine 340 and Poland

498. In Israel, both the medical institute’s Helsinki Committee (the Israeli name for an institutional review board) and the Health Ministry must give approval for a trial. Drug and medical device companies invested NIS 367 million in Israeli hospitals for clinical trials in 2012, an increase of 17 percent from 2011, according to a 2012 Health Ministry report. In 2007, just over 300 FDA-regulated clinical trials were conducted in the U.S., and fewer than 100 were held in the Middle East, according to a 2010 study by the Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development. Rhodes attributes Israel’s approval pace to a fear of risktaking, one which he says also costs Israeli hospitals business from companies abroad who would come to Israel for their trials if it were more feasible. “Everyone is so afraid of liability and of taking risk and of accepting responsibility that the process takes a long time,” Rhodes says. “At a time when the health system needs financial help, the ability to perform clinical trials could bring in a lot of revenue for our health system. There are a lot of U.S. companies that go to the U.S. to do clinical trials, and I’m sure they would prefer to come to Israel [for the quality of the hospitals].” Depending on the country in which the trial is conducted, the type of trial, the nature of the device, the number of patients, the follow-up time and other factors, the cost will vary. Eran Feldhay, the CEO of Misgav Venture Accelerator, estimates that costs of $3,000-$15,000 per patient will cover most trials, but says costs can be below or above that range in some cases. Rhodes even suggests Israel could become a world center for clinical trials, which would bring in foreign capital, forge ties with those companies and strengthen local hospitals. AHealth Ministry spokeswoman counters that the approval process is reasonably cautious and always depends on the product. Whether it’s for a drug, vaccine or device, the length of approval time varies, the spokeswoman tells JNS.org. Trendlines operates some 60 companies, half of which are medical device companies and the other half agro-tech and

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clean tech, with “a smattering” of other technological fields, and starts about eight companies in Israel each year, according to Rhodes. Trendlines only invests in Israel, housing the young companies in its Gush Etzion or Misgav facilities. Rhodes says his companies would prefer to stay local to conduct clinical trials, a necessity before receiving market approvals, because it’s costly and inconvenient to go abroad. “It’s much better to do the clinical trials in your backyard so you don’t have to be traveling and spending money on hotels,” says Rhodes, who made aliyah from Chicago in 1985. If a problem arises, it’s much easier to fix it if you’re nearby, he says. Andrew Schiffmiller, the CEO of BioHug Technologies, says he has found Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist in the Economy and Trade Ministry to be encouraging of innovation, and Israel’s culture of informality to allow access to people and organizations that would not be possible in other countries. But he agrees with Rhodes that approval for clinical trials takes a longer time than he expected. BioHug, which launched in 2007, has just begun selling its stress management vest targeting individuals on the Autism Spectrum Disorders, or people simply dealing with extra anxiety. The calming device worn over clothing gives the wearer comforting squeezes to reduce stress and can either run on manual mode or automatic depending on the individual’s needs. BioHug received approval from the Israeli Health Ministry for clinical trials after nearly 10 months of waiting. Today, it is selling in Israel and the United Kingdom directly through the company, but is waiting to be granted several patents and for FDA approval. “Oh boy,” Schiffmiller tells JNS.org, in response to a question on how long the approval process took for the BioHug. “In our experience, it took a very long time.” Schiffmiller explains that even before the ministry gave its approval, BioHug also had to receive approval from the hospital in Nazareth where the trials were conducted. “We thought it would take less time because it wasn’t invasive. It wasn’t something you implant surgically or something that restrains you,” he says. On the other hand, IonMed, which is readying to launch its plasma-welding device for closing post-operative incisions in the next several months, conducted several successful clinical trials in Armenia, says Ronen Lam, co-founder and vice president of business development for the company. The regulatory process was much faster there, he says, than in his native Israel. “Here in Israel, when you apply to get an approval it can take you between six months to one year. In Armenia, maybe one month is enough,” Lam tells JNS.org. Lam and his brother, Amnon, a co-founder and CEO of IonMed, aim to obtain their CE mark (mandatory for products sold in the European Economic Area) in the next few months and start the regulation process with the FDA by 2014. But they would prefer to stay in Israel for the clinical trials. “We are going and spending millions of dollars outside of Israel and this is just because of bureaucracy and nothing else,” Ronen Lam says. “I believe that most of the Israeli start-ups would prefer to do them in Israel.” Ronen Lam says IonMed will be the only company on the medical market offering a product that uses cold plasma technology for wound closure, a procedure with improved aesthetic results compared to staples and stitching, which also reduces the risk of infection.

Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton

Binghamton, NY Issue • May 24 Deadline • May 13

Continued from page 8 While raising funds for the NAACP and bail money for imprisoned civil-rights marchers, Norwood said, Robinson witnessed the valuable contributions that Jews were making to the black community’s struggle. When Robinson took part in the legendary march on Washington and stood by King in Birmingham, AL, he saw that some Jews also were placing their bodies on the line for civil-rights causes. According to Norwood, when black nationalism emerged as a powerful force during the 1960s, Robinson rejected its separatist agenda and continued to include Jews in his major efforts to economically empower the black community with the Freedom National Bank and the Jackie Robinson Construction Company. Roger Kahn, whose “Boys of Summer” chronicled Robinson and his teammates’ multi-year road to winning the World Series in 1955, would write later that Robinson’s actions during the Apollo protests should not have come as a surprise. “He hated antisemitism just as he hated prejudice against blacks,” Kahn wrote. “Without qualification and from the gut.” This piece was adapted from an article that first appeared in the Jewish Exponent.

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

Kosher scandals like Doheny are rare, but not unheard of By Gil Shefler NEW YORK (JTA) – Less than a day before the start of Passover, the phone rang at the Brooklyn home of Rabbi Yisroel Belsky. On the line were concerned members of the Rabbinical Council of California, a rabbinical association in Los Angeles that provides kosher certification, among other services. The RRC had just discovered that Mike Engelman, the owner of Doheny Glatt Kosher Meats, had smuggled uncertified meat into his store, and the West Coast rabbis needed the guidance of their East Coast colleague. “It was obvious to all of us that we needed an unbiased decision from an expert outside the community, with vast knowledge and experience, to give an authoritative decision that the members of this community would rely upon,” Rabbi Avrohom Union, the rabbinic administrator of the RCC, told JTA in an e-mail. Now Belsky, a well-respected arbiter of religious law, had a big decision on his plate. If he determined all the meat was tainted, observant Angelenos may have been forced to toss all the foods they prepared for Passover, which started on the evening of March 25. “People would have been served salad on Passover night,” said Rabbi Meyer May, the RRC president. After weighing the information, Belsky made a ruling: All meat sold prior to March 24, the day news of the alleged transgressions came to light, was kosher – even though a small portion was not properly certified. Passover was saved – barely. Kosher violations like this are rare, but not unheard of. News emerges occasionally that a trusted vendor sold clients food that either intentionally or unintentionally did not comply with the strict dietary stipulations of Jewish law. Police in London in 1928 had to prevent an angry mob from storming a café that sold unkosher meat as kosher. In 1986, a court fined Rachleff Kosher Provisions in Brooklyn more than $1 million for selling thousands of pounds of non-kosher tongue and brisket. In 2006, in one of the worst violations in recent memory, Shevach Meats, a supermarket in the largely Orthodox community of Monsey, NY, was discovered to have intentionally sold non-kosher items to its unsuspecting clientele. Some rabbis in Monsey and nearby Spring Valley – though not all – told followers they had to remake their kitchens as kosher, an arduous process that involves boil-

Doheny Glatt Kosher Meats will open under new management soon after being shut down because its owner smuggled uncertified meat into the popular Los Angeles market. ing pots and pans and passing utensils over an open flame. Some kitchenware that comes into contact with unkosher food is considered irredeemable and thrown out. “It was extremely shocking because many, many people really viewed this grocery as the most reliable place to get your chicken,” said Rikki Davidson, a 28-year-old homemaker from Monsey. “All the caterers purchased chicken from him.” What exactly happened at Doheny Market is still unclear. On March 12, Engelman was caught on videotape directing his employees to unload boxes of meat from his car while the market’s kosher supervisor was absent. Engelman reportedly claimed the meat wasn’t unkosher, just not glatt – a higher kosher standard. But the RRC revoked the shop’s kosher certification on March 24 and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched an investigation. Within days, the market was sold to businessman Shlomo Rechnitz, Belsky’s son-in-law, who vowed to ensure it strictly complied with dietary laws. Still, for the untold numbers who bought meat from Engelman, the scandal constituted a profound betrayal of trust. “I’d say hello to Engelman if I saw him on the street, but I would not invite him to dinner,” said May, who also is the executive director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “I don’t have people I don’t trust in my life.” Avrom Pollak, the president of Star K, a kosher certifier

in Baltimore, said his outfit frequently dealt with clients who tried to cut corners. His supervisors recently caught a caterer trying to sell non-kosher turkey to clients. “The rabbi remembered the kosher butchers in the area don’t kill turkeys that size,” Pollak said. “We asked to see the invoices and saw the top was torn off, so the name was not available.” Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of the Orthodox Union’s Kosher Division, the largest kosher certifier in the world, said his organization was looking at new technology to help uphold dietary regulations. “Over the last few months, we’ve been talking to people about whether products at slaughterhouses can be given a unique label,” he said. “There is a specific scanner that will be able to check each number assigned to each piece of meat.” The RCC said Doheny Market will reopen with new management and increased scrutiny over the next couple of days. Still, May said even with the best practices in place, errors can occur. “Greed exists in the world, so you always have the potential for it and anyone can circumvent the system and make a little bit of money,” he said. “The system was very good and exceeded the national standard. But we had a human failure.”

Biotech

Continued from page 14 Dr. Michal Ben-Attar, the CEO of SciGen Israel, which produces the only third-generation vaccine for Hepatitis B, says the biotech field is blossoming in Israel, but that many young companies looking to undergo clinical studies need more support in producing their materials. “In Israel, there are about 100,000 companies in a bit more advanced phase that need support for the clinical phase,” Ben-Attar tells JNS.org. SciGen built a facility to house five to six companies and provide them with support. Ben-Attar says she wants to help those companies “reach a better place in Israel and not have to go outside.” SciGen conducted clinical trials in Israel, Singapore, Thailand, Poland, Hong-Kong and Vietnam on neonate, adults, healthy non-responders and the immune suppressed population, according to Ben-Attar. “From the end of research and development stage it took about seven years for getting the approval from the Ministry of Health in Israel,” she says.

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

Book review

Life lessons from the Bible by RABBI RACHEL ESSERMAN While the biblical book of Ecclesiastes (known in Hebrew as Kohelet) suggests that study wearies the body, the opposite is true for those who love to contemplate the Torah. Learning something new and interesting about the text is invigorating. In contemporary times, many commentaries focus on one particular aspect of the material, rather than offering a general overview of the Bible. For example, two recent works explore how to improve our lives through Torah study: “The Artist’s Torah” by David Ebenbach (Cascade Books) discusses ways each parasha can inspire artists and writers, while “Passing Life’s Tests: Spiritual Reflections on The Trial of Abraham” by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, D.H.L. (Jewish Lights Publishing) uses the story of the Akedah (the binding of Isaac) to teach coping strategies for dealing with life’s challenges and sacrifices. Collections of essays on the parasha aimed at specific groups are not uncommon; recent works for women, men, GLBTs and teens come immediately to mind. What is unusual about “The Artist’s Torah” is that Ebenbach is the sole author. Readers may wonder if he’s set himself an impossible task, something he discusses in his introduction: “Could I really find ideas and stories relevant to the artist’s life through the Torah? Not just in Genesis, that is with its explicit interest in creation, but also the wanderings of Exodus and Numbers, the focus on the Priesthood in Leviticus, the repetition in Deuteronomy?” My answer is a resounding yes: Not only did Ebenbach find enough material, but the more difficult sections – the last three biblical books – contained the most inspiring work. Drawing on the collective wisdom of Jewish writers, painters, composers, sculp-

tors, dancers and choreographers, he offers insights to artists’ experience and perceptive interpretations of the Torah text. One of my favorite essays looks at tumah (ritual impurity), which is explored in the combined parashot Tazria-Metzora. The section discusses what makes someone tamei (impure) – for example, a dead body, menstruation and childbirth – and how the person who is impure must isolate himself from the community. Ebenbach connects the biblical requirement of separation to the artist’s need to sequester himself when working on a project, which can also make it difficult for an artist to reconnect to the more mundane aspects of his life. The Torah portion teaches the artist an important lesson by noting that this separation should only be temporary. Just as the Bible outlines ways people can rid themselves of ritual impurity, Ebenbach suggests ways for artists to reconnect to everyday experiences after the emotional high of creation. Other selections offer wonderful insights into the parasha itself. For example, Ebenbach believes the story of the Akedah represents two different types of God and two ways of looking at the world: “Left to his own devices, still listening to the voices of the past, Abraham might have killed his son.” However, instead of following the cruel gods of his ancestors, Abraham hears “a new divine voice,” which opens a “new religious path – one in which he is most definitely not called on to sacrifice his son.” In looking at the opening parasha to Devarim, Ebenbach relates how embarrassed the Israelites must have been when Moses recited all the wrongdoing and mistakes they made over the course of their travels. Yet this recitation frees us in contemporary times: If God was willing to protect our imperfect

JCC PreCamp 2013

It might still be Winter, but we’re

ancestors, so, too, will God help us during our trials. These and others insights will inspire artists and non-artists alike to open themselves to the Torah text and the creative impulses found within us all. While Ebenbach offers comments on the first Five Books of the Bible, Artson focuses on only one story – the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. In order to explore the implications of this difficult and controversial tale, the author offers his own translation with four levels of commentary based on the plain meaning of the text, allegorical interpretations, emotional explorations and mystical readings. Artson then offers ways for readers to use the text to learn about their own lives and discover holiness in the world. To do so, they must first free themselves from “the structure of the narrative itself and read the story not from the outside in (with the Bible’s priorities at the forefront) but from the inside out (with our own personality, issues, shortcomings and strengths at the center).” Different chapters explore the Akedah through the lens of morality, priorities, solidarity, integrity, mindfulness, suffering and more. When looking at the paradoxes life offers, Artson notes the one Abraham faced. How can God’s promise of a lasting covenant through Isaac come true if this same God demands that Abraham sacrifice his son? The author reconciles the difficulty by declaring Abraham a man of faith, one who trusted that God would not abandon him or the covenant. We, too, face paradoxes and challenges in our lives and Artson believes that we can – like Abraham – connect with God “by refusing to abandon hope in the face of bleak reality, by refusing to wish away a challenging reality in favor of simplistic beliefs and wishful stories.” This path is not an easy one, but the author sees it as an authentic one. Artson also examines whether or not it’s possible to articulate a theological response to suffering. Although he is unable to offer one himself, he does suggest several guidelines for a successful religious response: It must acknowledge that evil is real. It must help the person in pain – offering comfort, not judgment. It must include elements of our Jewish heritage. For Artson, the path to this theology will

be through a modern approach to Kabbalah, one showing “God suffers when we do, [that] God is in need of human mending and able to contribute to human and spiritual empowerment.” Artson believes, that together, God and humanity will be able “to oppose” suffering and repair the world. While Artson does an excellent job explaining his theological approach to the biblical text, it was Ebanbach’s work that inspired me. This speaks more to my personal theological approach than it does the worth of either book. “Passing Life’s Tests” reminded me of bibliodrama, which seeks to integrate biblical stories into our lives, something that makes me uncomfortable. “The Artist’s Torah” challenge was a different one: it reminded me not only of my love of Torah, but my connection to the arts. Which book appeals will depend on the spiritual path individual readers seek.

Bronfman haggadah on exhibit

The Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion Museum in New York City is holding an exhibit on the Bronfman haggadah through May 30. A collaboration between Jewish leader Edgar M. Bronfman and artist Jan Aronson, the haggadah tells of the Exodus, the Jews’ dramatic journey from slavery to freedom. Bronfman tells the story through the lense of his Jewish experience. Aronson’s watercolor paintings seek to heighten the text and amplify a story. These images – both abstract and figurative – artfully illustrate the seder plate’s symbolic foods, the parting of the Red Sea, the 40-year journey through the desert, the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and other events pivotal to Passover. Also included are readings from such notables as Frederick Douglas, Ralph Waldo Emerson and poet Marge Piercy. For more information, visit http://huc. edu/news/article/2012/the-sexuality-spectrum or contact the museum at 212-824-2298 or hucjirmuseum@huc.edu.

already getting set for this year’s PreCamp! The best way to start Summer!

June 10-21, 2-13 Prices TBA For members and non-members For children in grades K-7 CITs are welcome Days go from 8:30am-5pm Extra-care from 8-8:30am 5-5:30pm available Refer a friend and sibling discount offers

What is PreCamp? PreCamp is held for two weeks before the start of JCC Camp Daleville. While it is held at the JCC, we also go on field trips all over Scranton. Some of these have included water parks, local parks, museums, and community service opportunities. It is a fun, safe way for children to reconnect with their camp friends, make new ones, and start their summer right. For more information contact Aaron at 346-6595 ex:116 or aaron@scrantonjcc.org

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APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

NEWS IN bRIEF from israel From JTA

Israeli airlines end strike after agreement with Finance Ministry

Three Israeli airlines ended their two-day strike following a deal struck between the Finance Ministry and El Al. The ministry agreed to fund 97.5 percent of the airline’s security costs, up from 70 percent, in order to keep the domestic carrier competitive under the new “open skies” agreement with the European Union. The airlines also agreed to undergo a streamlining process in order to further cut costs. El Al, as well as Israir and Arkia, on April 21 launched an open-ended strike hours before the European-Mediterranean Sea aviation agreement was approved by Israel’s Cabinet. The agreement, which allows European airlines to increase their flights to Israel for five years, could substantially decrease the costs of airline tickets for Israeli travelers to Europe. Ben Gurion Airport workers had been set to launch a sympathy strike on April 23.

Home for lone soldiers dedicated in Ramat Gan

A home for lone soldiers in Israel opened in Ramat Gan. The home dedicated in an April 19 ceremony was a $5 million Friends of the Israel Defense Forces project headed by Elias and Lila Kalimian and family of Great Neck, NY. Each of the 42 apartments in the Kalimian Lone Soldiers’ Home has four beds. Thousands of young men and women from around the world serve in the IDF at any given time with no family or other support system. The Lone Soldiers’ Home will provide a place for them to stay during their time off. The Friends of the IDF also sponsors lone soldiers’ homes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Three generations of the Kalimian family joined “From Holocaust to Independence,” the FIDF delegation to Poland and Israel, prior to the dedication.

Thirteen EU ministers favor labeling settlements goods

Foreign ministers from 13 European Union member states have asked the union to form guidelines for labeling products made in what they regard as Israeli settlements. According to a report on April 19 in El Pais, the Spanish daily, the request was made to Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, in a letter co-signed by ministers from Spain, Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Malta. “This is an important step to ensure correct and coherent application of EU consumer protection and labeling legislation, which is in fulfillment of our previous commitments and is fully consistent with long-standing EU policy in relation to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” they wrote on April 12 to Ashton. The ministers also wrote: “We stand ready to assist you in taking forward this important work,” in reference to guidelines published in 2012 after a meeting by the EU’s 27 foreign ministers that said “the European Union and its members are obligated to fully and effectively implement existing EU legislation and agreements with Israel regarding products from the settlements.” The European Union considers as illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, and some of its members have said that labeling products from such settlements as “made in Israel” is misleading. “The correct labeling of products is necessary to assure that our consumers are not misled by false information,” the ministers wrote. Israel annexed eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, both areas captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, and does not consider the areas as settlements. The final status of the West Bank, also captured during the ‘67 war, has yet to be determined.

Israeli gymnast Alexander Shatilov takes European gold

Israeli gymnast Alexander Shatilov won a gold medal in the men’s floor exercise final at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Moscow. Shatilov shared the first-place podium on April 20 with Max Whitlock of Britain. It was the first gold medal in international competition for Shatilov, 26, who finished sixth in the floor exercise finals at the London Olympics and 12 th in the individual all-around final. Shatilov won silver medals in 2011 and 2012 at the European competition after taking bronze medals in 2009 in the floor exercise at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He said he plans to compete at the Rio Olympics in 2016, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Russian paper claims Israel injects Palestinian prisoners with viruses

An Israeli official has accused the Russian newspaper Pravda of spreading “sick, racist lies” after it published an article accusing Israel of injecting Palestinian prisoners with “dangerous viruses.” The online edition of Pravda reported on April 19 that Israeli authorities injected the prisoners with the viruses ahead of their release, and that they cause “bladder cancer and liver disorders.” The alleged practice has been “brought to light” by a Palestinian released from Israeli jails identified as Rania Saqa, the Moscowbased publication wrote in the article, which refers to Israel’s government as “the Tel Aviv regime.” “This is a racist, lowly and repulsive lie based solely on its authors’ sick imagination,” Yigal Palmor, a senior spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told JTA. “Those who know fascist propaganda will easily recognize its distinct characteristics in this crude lie spread by Pravda.” Founded in 2012, Pravda – which means “truth” in Russian – served as a mouthpiece for the communist regime until its fall in 1991, when it was shuttered before reopening in 1997. Its print edition has approximately 100,000 readers.

Five charged with planning attacks on Jews at Temple Mount

Five residents of eastern Jerusalem were charged with planning a shooting attack on the Temple Mount. The Palestinian men, aged 20 to 25, were charged on April 17 with attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, aiding the enemy at a time of war, contact with a foreign agent and weapons charges, according to Ynet. The indictment filed in Jerusalem District Court said the men planned to kill Jewish worshipers at the Temple Mount and to throw a grenade into the Israel Police station in eastern Jerusalem, as well as kidnap a Jewish man and kill him with his own weapon. The indictment said they abducted a Jewish man hitchhiking near Givat Zeev in March, but released him since he did not carry any firearms. The men, who met several times in February and March, had turned to terror groups in the West Bank and Gaza for weapons and explosives training, according to the indictment. They have been remanded to police custody for the duration of their trials. Also on April 17 Likud lawmaker Miri Regev said she would visit the Temple Mount to examine the possibility of Jews being allowed to pray there. “I don’t understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place for him, the Temple Mount,” Regev said shortly after being elected chair of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee. Jews generally are not permitted to pray or bring any ritual objects to the Temple Mount, which is considered Judaism’s holiest site, in order to avoid confrontation with Muslim worshipers at the Al-Aksa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. The site is overseen by the Muslim Wakf. Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin has been denied access to the site, and he has been arrested for praying there. Feiglin visits the Temple Mount once a month on the 19th of the Hebrew month, and often brings visitors with him.

Terminally ill Palestinian granted early release from Israeli prison

A terminally ill Palestinian was granted an early release from an Israeli prison. Kamal Mohammed al-Taj, a security prisoner who had served two-thirds of a 14-year sentence, was granted the early release on April 17 by Israeli President Shimon Peres, the President’s Office said. Peres was acting on the recommendation of Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. Taj is set to be transferred from the Israel Prison Service’s medical center to the government hospital in Ramallah in the West Bank. His release follows the death earlier in April of Maysara Abuhamdieh, 64, a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail who died of esophageal cancer. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of withholding appropriate medical treatment.

Israeli journalism institute in memory of Daniel Pearl opens

An Israeli college opened a journalism institute named for slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The Daniel Pearl International Journalism Institute, part of the Sammy Ofer School of Communications at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, was launched on April 17. Pearl’s father, Judah, and Daniel’s widow, Mariane, participated in the opening ceremonies. One of the institute’s goals is to promote balanced reporting from the Middle East, according to reports. It also will provide fellowships for journalists. Daniel Pearl, The Wall Street Journal’s south Asia bureau chief, was researching a story about Islamist militants when he was kidnapped in Karachi in January 2002. He was murdered a month later. His final words as he was about to be beheaded – an act that was captured on camera and widely distributed – were “My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish.”

Education chief at Israel Prize ceremony warns of “brain drain”

Israel’s education minister, Shai Piron, at the Israel Prize ceremony expressed his concerns about a “brain drain.” Piron was one of nine winners of the annual award, which was given out on April 16 at the close of Israel Independence Day celebrations. The prize is generally regarded as Israel’s highest honor. He said Israel must allocate more money for research and intellectual pursuits. “We must do everything in our power so that the names of Nobel laureates, Israel Prize winners, scholars and intellectuals, writers and revolutionaries are celebrated in our culture,” Piron said. He expressed concern that Israeli intellectuals and scientists would emigrate from Israel for more profitable careers in the Diaspora. The Israel Prize committee awarded lifetime achievement awards to Hebrew music scholar Eliyahu Hacohen and the late mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, who died in January. Nachman’s wife, Dorit, accepted the award on his behalf. Other Israel Prize awards were presented to architect and urban planner Adam Mazor of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in the architecture and design category; Gideon Dagan, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, in the Earth sciences research and study of the atmosphere category; Tel Aviv University Professor Nathan Nelson, in life sciences; Yosef Kaplan, professor emeritus at Hebrew University, for the study of the history of Israel; Chava Turniansky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Jewish languages and literature; Yoram Bilu, in sociology and anthropology; and Nola Chilton of the Department of Theater Arts at Tel Aviv University, in performing arts.

Israel to buy new U.S. missiles, aircraft

Israel is set to become the first nation to buy the V-22 Osprey, an American-made military aircraft that combines helicopter maneuverability with airplane speed and range. The sale, which according to The New York Times will be finalized during the Middle East visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel the week of April 21, also would supply Israel with new missiles designed to take out an adversary’s air-defense radars. Israel also would buy new KC-35 refueling tanker planes. Israel will pay for the supplies with aid money it receives from the United States, according to the report. The transaction is part of a $10 billion weapons sale to Middle Eastern countries to help them counter any future threat from Iran, the Times reported. The United Arab Emirates would buy 26 F-16 warplanes, a package that could reach $5 billion, along with precision missiles that could be launched from those jets at distant ground targets. Saudi Arabia would buy the same class of advanced missile. The newspaper said the arms sale, which was outlined to Congress on April 18, will encounter little opposition from lawmakers.

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

New Season of

Films!

Jewish Upper West Side Walking Tour

April 2013 • Non-Feature Films • A Film Unfinished, a harrowing look at the devious art of a propaganda film made by the Third Reich, is a rich and well-researched investigation into the filmic history of the Warsaw Ghetto. As A Film Unfinished aims to set the record straight, it furthers a political resistance that Jews undertook during the war. In other words, this documentary is a tribute, a correction of history to honor those who died, witnessed, or survived atrocities prior to their move to Treblinka, Warsaw’s affiliate death camp. Blessed is the Match - In 1944, 22-year Hannah Senesh parachuted into Nazi- occupied Europe with a small group of Jewish volunteers from Palestine. Theirs was the only military rescue mission for Jews that occurred in World War II. Budapest to Gettyburg - The past and present collide as a world-renowned historian confronts a history he has refused to study-his own. Gabor Boritt is an expert on Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War. But it took his son’s urging to get him to return to his native Hungary and learn about the Jewish experience there from the time of his childhood until, together with his family, he escaped to the United States. Constantine’s Sword, is a 2007 historical documentary film on the relationship between the Catholic Church and Jews. Directed and produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Oren Jacoby, the film is inspired by former priest James P. Carroll’s 2001 book Constantine’s Sword. Inside Hana’s Suitcase - A real-life Japanese schoolteacher, who appears throughout the film, sparked this entire story by gathering artifacts for a Holocaust educational center she was developing along with a group of girls and boys called The Small Wings. After applying to receive Holocaust artifacts, a large box arrives with a handful of artifacts, including a battered brown suitcase labeled with Hana Brady’s name. The teacher and her students begin searching for the story behind the suitcase. What they discover will surprise you. They wind up unlocking--and showing us in the film--a whole series of deeply moving memories and other related artifacts and photos. Finally, Hana’s surviving brother George travels to Japan to meet the Japanese students. I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal - Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor who lost 89 family members, helped track down over 1,100 Nazi war criminals and spent six decades fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people. Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story - This excellent documentary, narrated by Dustin Hoffman, portrays the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning that baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story was shown at the Opening Event for the 2012 UJA Campaign. The Case for Israel: Democracy’s Outpost - Famed attorney, Alan Dershowitz, 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 Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - As baseball’s first Jewish star, Hammering Hank Greenberg’s career contains all the makings of a true American success story. • Feature Films • A Matter of Size - Winner of numerous international awards, this Israeli comedy is a hilarious and heart-warming tale about four overweight guys who learn to love themselves through the Japanese sport of sumo wrestling. (not rated) A Woman Called Golda - Ingrid Bergman plays Golda Meir, the Russian born, Wisconsin raised woman who became Israel’s prime minister in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Crossing Delancey - This is a warm comedy taking place in New York City. Isabella Grossman desires to rise above her family’s Lower East Side community but her grandmother has other matchmaking plans. Footnote - The story of a great rivalry between a father and son, both eccentric professors who have both dedicated their lives to work in Talmudic Studies departments of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Though the father shuns overt praise for his work and the son is desperate for it, how will each react when the father is to be awarded the most sought after prize, the Israel prize? This Oscar nominated film will entrance from the start. Frisco Kid - It’s 1850 and new rabbi Avram Belinski sets out from Philadelphia toward San Francisco. Cowpoke bandit Tom Lillard hasn’t seen a rabbi before but he knows when one needs a heap of help. Getting this tenderfoot to Frisco in one piece will cause a heap of trouble- with the law, Native Americans and a bunch of killers. Good - In an attempt to establish its credibility, the new Nazi government is seeking out experts to endorse its policies and they come across Johnnie Halder’s novel of a husband who aids his terminally ill wife in an assisted suicide. Because of this the Nazis flatter Johnnie arranging for high paying and prestigious positions. Never evil, Johnnie Halder is an Everyman who goes along, accepts what he is told without question until he is an unwitting accomplice to the Nazi killing machine. Hidden In Silence - Przemysl, Poland, WWII. Germany emerges victorious over the Russians, and the city comes under Nazi control. The Jewish are sent to the ghettos. While some stand silent, Catholic teenager Stefania Podgorska chooses the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic. Every day, she risks detection--and immediate execution--by smuggling food and water to the silent group living above her. And when two German nurses are assigned to her living quarters, the chances of discovery become dangerously high. This is the true story of a young woman’s selfless commitment and unwavering resolve in the face of war. Noodle (PAL version- can only be played on computer NOT regular DVD players) - At thirty-seven, Miri is a twice-widowed, El Al flight attendant. Her well regulated existence is suddenly turned upside down by an abandoned Chinese boy whose migrant-worker mother has been deported from Israel. The film is a touching comic-drama in which two human beings- as different from each other as Tel Aviv is from Beijing- accompany each other on a remarkable journey, one that takes them both back to a meaningful life. Nora’s Will - When his ex-wife Nora dies right before Passover, Jose is forced to stay with her body until she can be properly put to rest. He soon realizes that he is part of Nora’s plan to bring her family back together for one last Passover feast, leading Jose to reexamine their relationship. (not rated) Operation Thunderbolt - The true story of the Entebbe hijacking and rescue. “Operation Thunderbolt,” was filmed in Israel with the full cooperation of the Israeli government, and is an exciting re-creation of the events of those tense days. We see the full scope of the story, from the original hijacking to the passengers’ captivity in Uganda to the agonized debates at the highest levels of the Israeli government over a diplomatic vs. a military solution. “Operation Thunderbolt” is the thrilling and true story of how one small country refused to let their people be killed by terrorists and took action to prevent it. People who claim that Israel is a “terrorist state” should see the film and be reminded who the real terrorists are. Orthodox Stance (documentary-2007) - Dimitriy Salita, a Russian immigrant, is making history as a top professional boxer and rigorously observant Jew. While providing an intimate, 3-year long look at the trials and tribulations faced by an up and coming professional boxer, ORTHODOX STANCE is a portrait of seemingly incompatible cultures and characters working together to support Dmitriy’s rare and remarkable devotion to both Orthodox Judaism and the pursuit of a professional boxing title. Playing for Time - An outstanding cast brings life to this Fania Fenelon autobiography about a Jewish cabaret singer and other Jewish prisoners whose lives were spared at Auschwitz in exchange for performing for their captors. Rashevski’s Tango - Just about every dilemma of modern Jewish identity gets an airing in this packed tale of a clan of more or less secularized Belgian Jews thrown into spiritual crisis by the death of the matriarch who has held all doubts and family warfare in check. (not rated) Sarah’s Key - Julia Jarmond, an American journalist is commissioned to write an article about the notorious Vel d’Hiv round up, which took place in Paris, in 1942. She stumbles upon a family secret which will link her forever to the destiny of a young Jewish girl, Sarah. The Angel Levine - Things couldn’t get worse for Jewish tailor Morris Mishkin (Zero Mostel). His shop has gone up in flames, his daughter has married outside the faith and, worse yet, his wife is slowly dying. But just when he decides to give up on God, a mysterious man (Harry Belafonte) appears, claiming to be his Jewish guardian angel! Doubtful that the stranger is Jewish, never mind an angel, Mishkin must overcome his skepticism if he wants one last chance at redemption. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Set during World War II, this is the story of Bruno, an innocent and naïve eight-year old boy who meets a boy while romping in the woods. A surprising friendship develops. The Couple - Based on the true story of a Jewish Hungarian’s desperate attempts to save his family from the Nazi death camps. Mr. Krauzenberg (Martin Landau) is forced to hand over his vast wealth to the Nazis for the safe passage of his family out of occupied Europe, only to find his two remaining servants are left trapped in a web of deceit and danger. Their only hope for survival relies on the courage of Krauzenberg. The Debt - Academy Award winner Helen Mirren and two-time Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson star in 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? Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story - Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story is an incredibly riveting, Emmy award-winning, fact-based story about a hero who helped over 100,000 Hungarian Jews escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust. Ushpizin - A fable set in the Orthodox Jewish world in Jerusalem, Ushpizin tells the story of a poor childless couple, Moshe and Malli, whose belief in the goodness of the Almighty follows a roller coaster of situations and emotions but leads to the ultimate happiness, the birth of their son.

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will hold “Jewish Upper West Side Walking Tour” on Sunday, May 26. During the 1930s, a significant number of Jewish refugees escaping Europe moved to Manhattan’s Upper West Side to join an already diverse community. The 2.5 square mile neighborhood has some of the most outstanding 19th century row houses in New York City. Bordered by Central Park on one side, and Riverside Park on the other, it contains a wealth of cultural history and a variety of architectural styles: Beaux Arts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The Upper West Side is now home to a cross-section of Jewish culture, with dozens of synagogues, Jewish style restaurants and educational institutions. Marty Shore, urban historian, will explore the sites in the area, including Congregations Ohab Zedek, Shaare Zedek, Rodeph Shalom, Young Israel (formerly Temple Israel) and Shearith Israel. The tour will also visit Zabars. The tour will being at 10:45 am and last approximately three hours. Participants will meet at the northeast corner of Broadway and 96th in front of Citibank. The cost is $18 for adults and $16 for seniors and students. There is an additional charge of $2 additional day of tour. To sign up for the tour, visit www.nycjewishtours.org/calendar. htm#041413 or contact LESJC at 212-374-4100 or info@ nycjewishtours.org.

Hazon 2013 bike rides

Hazon, which seeks to create healthier and more sustainable communities in the Jewish world and beyond, will hold several bike rides next year, including: The Golden Gate Ride from Marin County to San Francisco will be held Memorial Day weekend, May 2427. It is a fully-supported fund-raising ride. Participants will have the opportunity to enjoy local food, educational workshops and outdoor activities while learning about and supporting Jewish environmental causes. This year’s ride will travel along the edge of Tomales Bay and Point Reyes National Seashore, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco. The Hazon Cross-USA Ride from Seattle to Washington, DC, which will be held from June 13-August 16. It is a nine-week cycling adventure covering 3,300 miles through 14 states. The ride is semi-supported, with luggage transport, all meals provided and planned overnights. Along the way, participants will have the opportunity to learn about cycling culture across America and will visit nearly two dozen Jewish communities. The Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride from Jerusalem to Eilat, which will be held October 29-November 5. It includes routes for beginner, intermediate and advanced cyclists. All routes are fully supported with rest stops, mechanics and lead riders. For more information, visit www.hazon.org/programs/ cross-usa-ride/.

Photo exhibits in NYC

The International Center of Photography in New York City will present two retrospective exhibitions on Jewish photographers Roman Vishniac and Chim (né Dawid Szymin) until May 5. “Roman Vishniac Rediscovered” explores four decades of Vishniac’s work and offers what has been called “the most widely recognized and reproduced photographic record of Jewish life in Eastern Europe between the two World Wars.” Only a fraction of his work was published during his lifetime, most notably in “A Vanished World” (1983). Over the course of his career, Vishniac witnessed the artistic and photographic innovation of Weimar Berlin, the rise to Nazi power in Germany and immigrant life in America during and after the war. His work, much of which will be shown for the first time, is said to “reveal a compositional acuity, inventiveness and surprising stylistic range that solidifies his place among the 20th century’s most accomplished photographers.” “We Went Back: Photographs from Europe 1933-1956” by Chim, follows the development of Chim’s career as a photojournalist, placing his life and work in the broader context of 1930s-50s photography and European politics. Born Dawid Szymin in 1911 in Warsaw, Chim, who after World War II published under the name David Seymour, began his career in 1933 photographing regularly for leftist magazines in Paris. His most celebrated reportages include the rise of the Popular Front in prewar France; the Spanish Civil War, which he covered alongside Capa and Gerda Taro; the postwar reconstruction of Europe; and the birth of Israel. In each of his images, he is said to have combined “rare intellectual acumen and emotional intelligence.” For more information, visit www.icp.org/museum/ or contact visitor services at 212-857-0000 or visit@icp.org.

APRIL 25, 2013 ■

THE REPORTER

NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA

Hundreds of Jewish markings catalogued in Portuguese town

Portuguese researchers have catalogued hundreds of secret markings that Jews left on structures in Seia in the 16th century following their forced conversion to Christianity. A three-member team said it found 500 markings in Seia, a north Portugal municipality, including coded Hebrew letters and words carved into walls of homes where converted Jews used to live. Alberto Martinho, Jose Levy Domingos and Luiza Metzker Lyra, the research team, said they also found distinctive indentations in stone door frames where the residents would have placed mezuzahs. Martinho told Portugal’s Lusa news agency on April 19 that the findings “elucidate the Jewish presence” in the region. According to Jose Oulman Carp, the president of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, Portugal had a Jewish population of about 400,000 Jews in 1536, when the Portuguese Inquisition officially began. Many of the Jews in Portugal were refugees from neighboring Spain, where the Inquisition – an organized campaign of persecution led by the Catholic Church – began in the late 1400s. Persecution in Portugal forced many Jews into exile. Those who stayed became known as “New Christians,” though many of them continued to practice Judaism in secret and developed special customs to set themselves apart in discrete ways from the rest of the population. Earlier in April, the Portuguese parliament passed a law entitling the descendants of Jews who left to citizenship. A similar bill is being prepared in Spain. According to the researchers, who are scheduled to publish their full study within two weeks, they found 42 marked houses in the small village of Santa Marinha alone. They said the town of Trancoso has many more marked houses.

English shul to close due to dwindling numbers

A synagogue in the northern English city of Bradford has given away its Torah scrolls as it prepares to shutter due to dwindling numbers. One of the five scrolls that used to belong to the Orthodox synagogue on Springhurst Road was given to the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, Poland, according to a report on April 19 on The Tetelegraph and Argus, a local daily and news site. The last of the scrolls was removed in April during the final service of the Bradford Hebrew Congregation. The city used to have many Jewish families, but many younger members moved away and older members have died. Former Bradford Hebrew Congregation President Albert Waxman, 88, told the paper that the small congregation no longer has the minimum of 10 men necessary for some prayers in Orthodox Judaism. In March, the Bradford Council for Mosques said it would try to help the city’s Reform synagogue raise enough funds to avoid closing down as well. Bradford, where one in every five residents has Pakistani origins, had a Jewish population of roughly 500 in 2008, according to the BBC.

Ikea pulls ad from Swedish antisemitic blog

Ikea has removed ads from a Swedish antisemitic blog and is investigating how its online advertisement banner came to be placed there. “We have stopped all advertising for this package pending an investigation into what happened,” Sara Paulsson, a press officer for the Swedish home design and furniture giant told the local daily Aftonbladet on April 20. The ads for Ikea and the other companies have been removed from the “Gothic team” blog, which features antisemitic and other racist texts. Ikea has two stores in Israel. Paulsson said the company purchased “advertisement packages” from a third party that provides placement. Aftonbladet found ads for several companies, including Ikea and Western Union, on Gothic team. The blog recently featured an interview with a leader of a Swedish Nazi movement. In another article, Jewish-Swedish journalist Anita Goldman is described as “a super Jewess” who promotes “ideas that will benefit the Jewish elite clan’s own purposes and achievements” with “ethno-centric chauvinism that shines like the cold steel of a camp guard.”

German probe sparks internal Jewish debate on circumcision-related ritual

A Chabad-affiliated rabbi criticized a rival group for its public disapproval of a circumcision-related ritual being investigated in Germany. Some Jewish leaders “decided to align themselves with those who are working against Jewish interests,” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, wrote in an editorial on April 18 in the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper. The editorial by Margolin, who is affiliated with the Chabad movement, followed a statement by the Conference of European Rabbis that said the practice of metzizah b’peh – oral suction of blood from the circumcision wound – carried risk of disease. The statement was made in connection with complaints filed by an anti-circumcision activist against Yehudah Teichtal, the Chabad rabbi in Berlin, for allegedly allowing metzizah b’peh at the brit milah of his son in March. Margolin wrote that Jews critical of metzizah b’peh may have been acting out of hope “to restore peace to the Jewish community. This is a miscalculation to the extreme,” he said, adding, “It won’t be long at all before governments will once again accuse Europe’s Jews of inhumane and uncultured practices.” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the Moscow-based president of the Conference of European Rabbis, told JTA he had wanted to be “supportive of [Teichtal] without endangering the whole issue of brit milah,” and to make clear that “Orthodoxy is on the side of medicine in this issue.” Teichtal said his son’s brit met the highest medical standards. Germany’s circumcision law, passed in December, requires that medical standards be upheld. The head of the Central Council of Jews In Germany, Dieter Graumann, issued a statement supporting the Conference of European Rabbis’ criticism of metzizah b’peh.

Planning on leaving town for a few months? Going on a long vacation? Moving any time soon? You can help save the Jewish Federation money by informing us of your plans and preventing the U.S. Postal Service from charging us for returned mail and address change notices. Before you go, call the Federation office or send us an email and let us know if you would like the mail sent temporarily to a different address, at no charge to you, or halted for a certain number of months. Give us a chance to get it right for you on the first mailing.

Dutch bounty hunters preyed on Jews during Holocaust, study shows

Dozens of Dutchmen preyed on Jews for cash during the Holocaust, according to a new study. The research by Pinchas Bar Efrat showed that as many as 80 bounty hunters roamed the Netherlands during the German occupation during World War II. Led by two men, Wim Henneicke and Willem Briede, authorities paid the bounty hunters five guilders for every Jew they brought in – the equivalent of a week’s pay for unskilled laborers. The research by Bar Efrat, 82, a Dutch native who two years ago received his doctorate in philosophy from Hebrew University, showed that authorities raised the bounty to 7.5 guilders and later to 40 toward the end of World War II. Some of Bar Efrat’s findings were published earlier in April by the Israeli daily Maariv and are based on months of research he conducted at the Dutch national archives in The Hague. The group, known as the Henneicke Column, also extradited Dutchmen who hid Jews from the Nazis, the research showed. The group extradited thousands of Jews, many of whom were murdered by the Nazis. Bar Efrat’s research added new details about the Henneicke Column to previous studies, including one by Dutch journalist Ad van Liempt. Wim Henneicke was assassinated by the Dutch resistance in 1944. Briede was sentenced to death in absentia after he escaped Holland in 1945 and settled in Germany, where he died of natural causes in 1962.

Canadian police dismiss hate crime charges against Muslim group

Police in Calgary dismissed accusations that a local Muslim group was guilty of antisemitic hate crimes. B’nai Brith Canada said recently that two antisemitic articles posted on the Muslim Council of Calgary’s website could cause violent hostility toward Jews and possibly amounted to a hate crime. The charges were dismissed by Calgary police, the Canadian QMI news agency reported. “The Jewish and Muslim communities in Calgary have a very good relationship,” Calgary Police hate crimes coordinator Eric Levesque said. “I don’t know what B’nai Brith’s motivations are.” Levesque said that while the material might be offensive, it did not reach a criminal level. The articles in question accused Jews of “debauchery and immorality” and of “deviating from the Torah” when it came to Israel. One of the articles quoted the antisemitic text “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” citing a Jewish plot to destroy religion. The post was removed the week fo April 19, according to QMI. “This is anti-Jewish rhetoric,” B’nai Brith Canada’s Anita Bromberg told QMI. “In this case, it’s so blatant.”

Holocaust “part of Hungarian history,” lawmaker says

A Hungarian lawmaker called the Holocaust “part of Hungarian history” during ceremonies marking the country’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Those who were killed were Hungarians, and those who killed were also Hungarians,” said Zoltan Pokorni of the ruling Fidesz party on April 16 at the Shoes on the Danube Promenade, a memorial site in Budapest. Exhibition openings, conferences and theater performances were held throughout the country in memory of Holocaust victims. The Budapest National Theater on April 16 staged “The Investigation,” a 1965 play by the German playwright Peter Weiss that depicts the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-1965. The play had not been staged in Hungary since the 1960s. Hungary marks its Holocaust Remembrance Day each year on April 16, the day in 1944 that Jews began to be forced into ghettos in the country. The deportation of Hungarian Jews from the countryside started in mid-May 1944, and within two and a half months, more than 500,000 Jews were sent to extermination camps, including 440,000 Jews to Auschwitz. In total, 600,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Magda Haroun elected head of Egyptian Jewish community

Egypt’s Jewish community elected a new leader, Magda Haroun. The announcement on April 16 follows the death of former Jewish community head Carmen Weinstein on April 13. Weinstein led the community for more than 20 years. “My goal is to preserve the cultural heritage of the Egyptian Jews so that when we are gone it will endure, because it belongs to all Egyptians,” Haroun, 60, told the Daily News Egypt. Haroun was unanimously elected to head the Egyptian Jewish Community Council, the Associated Press reported. She told the AP that there are about 40 Jews remaining in Egypt, mostly elderly women, split between Cairo and Alexandria. “I will continue taking care of them, socially, medically, gathering them for the holidays and burying them with dignity,” Haroun told the AP. Haroun told the AP that she considers herself Egyptian before Jewish. Her father, Chehata Haroun, was a nationalist politician who was anti-Zionist, according to the AP.

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THE REPORTER ■ april 25, 2013

See why everyone describes this as Unforgetable, the trip of a liftime!

Tel Aviv Caesaria Army Base Tiberias Sea of Galilee Jerusalem Tzfat (Safed) Golan Heights Masada Dead Sea Haifa

We’ll arrive Sunday evening into Israel and stay overnight in Tel Aviv. The next morning we’ll travel up the coast of the Mediterranean to Caesaria, and then travel to the city of Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where we’ll stay for two nights. We’ll travel throughout the Galilee, and we’ll visit the mountaintop city of Safed, and there we’ll go up to the Golan Heights. Then it’s off to Jerusalem, a truly magical city. We’ll go through the Old City, go to the Western Wall, and see many other sites throughout the city that are so special and so sacred. One day will take us down to the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth, and a visit to the mountain fortress of Massada. You will also have the chance to become “Archeologists For a Day”, as we take part in an active archeological dig, which is one of the most productive digs in the country! Near the end of the trip we will go to an IDF Army Base. We’ll have an opportunity to meet and talk with some of the youngsters who are serving in the Army today. We’ll also visit Tel Aviv, where we’ll sit in the actual place where Ben Gurion declared the state, in May, 1948, & then it’s off to the airport for our trip home. The cost of the trip is $3895 or $2965 for the land portion only. To sign up for the trip call Mark Silverberg at 570-961-2300 xt1. Questions? Call Barry Weiss, 570-650-0874 or Jay Weiss, 570-565-9515, or email bjtravel4@ gmail.com.

ISRAEL, 2013 Home to the World’s 3 Great Religions!

This journey will touch you spiritually, no matter who you are. Come and share an experience so unique, it will be like nothing else you’ve ever done!