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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 2
January 15, 2015
More than 225 attend the JCC’s Chanukah Extravaganza
Nuchem Gober, “The Parrot Rebbe,” presented his birds.
Children prepared to participate in the dreidel-a-thon.
The Jewish Community Center of Scranton held its community Chanukah Extravaganza on December 23, with more than 225 people in attendance. The event featured food and entertainment, including a glatt kosher Chinese buffet from Chop Chop of New York City. Entertainment was provided by Nuchem Gober, “the Parrot Rebbe,” who presented an interactive and comic parrot show. He brought a collection of more than a dozen exotic birds from around the world, and used his show to educate people about the birds he has grown to love. The show included parrot races, bird tricks, flying and dancing. Children and adults also had an opportunity to hold and interact with the birds. One winner took home a parakeet. The evening also included a special performance by the Scranton Hebrew Day School Junior Choir. There were many activities for children, such as face painting, spin art and a dreidel-athon. The dreidel-a-thon winners were Beinish Weinreb, Yaakov Brotsky and Emily Kessler. JCC representatives thanked Leah Laury, Janice Cutler, Alma Shaffer and Mindy Grossman for serving as chairwomen of the event. They also thanked the students of Bais Yaakov, members of the JCC’s BBYO Teen Leadership Group and the JCC staff who volunteered their time. Additionally, they thanked Louise
At left: The event featured a glatt kosher Chinese buffet.
JCC Executive Director Dan Cardonick posed with a parrot on his shoulder. McNabb, JCC director of adult services and community outreach, for organizing the event in conjunction with the chairmen and volunteers. The event was sponsored by Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company, as well as the Foundation for the Jewish Elderly of Eastern Pennsylvania. “It was a wonderful evening of fun, friends and Chanukah,” said organizers of the program.
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More than 225 people attended the Jewish Community Center’s Chanukah Extravaganza.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Israel and Japan
In Los Angeles
News in brief...
Candle lighting January 16....................................4:41 pm January 23................................... 4:49 pm January 30................................... 4:58 pm
After decades of keeping its The Grand Central Market in Los Paris Jews are on high alert; the PLUS distance, Japan is now establishing Angeles has Jewish roots in its P.A. will join the International Opinion........................................................2 closer ties to Israel. past and in its current revival. Criminal Court; and more. D’var Torah................................................8 Story on page 4 Story on page 6 Stories on page 11 Book Review..............................................9
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THE REPORTER ■ january 15, 2015
a matter of opinion From the Holocaust to Darfur, war criminals elude justice By Rafael Medoff JNS.org The most notorious living perpetrator of genocide can sleep a little easier. The International Criminal Court, which five years ago indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for organizing the genocide in Darfur, recently suspended further action on Darfur because of the failure of the United States and other countries to help bring Bashir to justice. Ironically, the ICC’s announcement came just before the 70th anniversary of a long-forgotten double-cross by the Roosevelt administration of its own ambassador to the Allied commission on Nazi war crimes. Bashir was indicted in 2009 for sponsoring the Arab militias that have slaughtered an estimated 400,000 members of non-Arab tribes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. He became the first sitting president to be charged with war crimes. But when it came to actually arresting Bashir, neither the U.S. nor any other country has stepped up. It’s not that the U.S. is incapable of capturing fugitive terrorists and tyrants: recall how American commandos intercepted the murderers of American tourist Leon Klinghoffer and how they brought Panama’s Manuel Noriega to justice. The problem, rather, is that the Obama administration has not wanted to offend Bashir’s allies: Russia and China, which are Sudan’s main suppliers of military and economic assistance; the Arab League,
“ The Reporter” (USPS #482) is published bi-weekly by the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA 18510.
President: Michael Greenstein Executive Director: Mark Silverberg Executive Editor: Rabbi Rachel Esserman Layout Editor: Diana Sochor Assistant Editor: Michael Nassberg Production Coordinator: Jenn DePersis Graphic Artist: Alaina Cardarelli Advertising Representative: Bonnie Rozen Bookkeeper: Kathy Brown
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
which embraces Bashir as kin; and the African Union, which sees him as a victim of Western colonialism. As a result, the Obama administration has almost never even criticized governments that have hosted visits by Bashir – even when they were countries that are major recipients of U.S. aid, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Iraq. The administration also blocked a congressional effort to penalize countries that invite Bashir. It’s not the first time political considerations have interfered with prosecuting perpetrators of genocide. In 1942, as World War II and the Holocaust raged, the American and British governments established a War Crimes Commission. Former Ambassador Herbert Pell was named as the U.S. representative to the commission. He headed for the opening session in London, thinking that the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration favored prosecuting all Nazi war criminals. In fact, however, the State Department was determined to limit postwar trials to only the most prominent and notorious war criminals, out of concern that prosecuting large numbers of Germans could harm America’s relations with Germany after the war. A State Department lawyer shadowed Pell, contradicting him at policy meetings and sending negative reports about him back to Washington. In late 1944, Pell flew from London to Washington for the wedding of his son,
future U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell. He also took the opportunity to see President Roosevelt. Seventy years ago this month – on January 9, 1945 – Pell met with the president in the Oval Office. A few days earlier, the British chairman of the War Crimes Commission had resigned. A seemingly friendly and supportive FDR told Pell, “Get back to London as quick as you can and get yourself elected chairman.” But even as he was saying those words, Roosevelt knew that Pell wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t mention what he already knew, but was not going to prevent: the State Department was about to fire Pell, on the pretext of not having sufficient funds in its budget to pay him. Acting Secretary of State Edward Stettinius gave Pell the shocking news that same afternoon. “I offered to serve for nothing,” Pell later recalled, “but he said this could not be done either.” Pell and FDR never spoke again, and his letters to Roosevelt requesting a meeting went unanswered. Pell did not give up easily. With the aid of the Jewish activists known as the Bergson Group, he held a press conference to blow the story wide open. Embarrassed by the negative publicity, the State Department reversed its position and agreed that all Nazi murderers of European Jews should be prosecuted. Those who wanted to go easy on war criminals had the last laugh, however.
By the time the war ended, many U.S. officials believed that with the Cold War looming, repairing America’s relations with Germany was more important than prosecuting Nazis. Thus, while the top Nazi killers were tried at Nuremberg, many thousands of other Nazi war criminals were either not prosecuted or were given sentences “light enough to please a chicken thief,” as one Nuremberg prosecutor put it. Moreover, many of those who were convicted and jailed were soon set free, thanks to former Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy, who became U.S. high commissioner for Germany in 1949. One-hundred and four German industrialists were convicted of war crimes and 84 were still in jail when McCloy arrived in Germany. Of those 84, McCloy reduced the sentences of 74 to time already served, thus setting them free immediately. After the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur, one would think the Free World would have finally learned that prosecuting perpetrators of genocide is essential to deterring future mass killings. Yet 70 years after the Nazis, too many world leaders continue to put political considerations above the pursuit of justice. Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and author of 15 books on the Holocaust, Zionism, and Jewish history.
Golem story warns of dangers of “intelligent” machines By Rabbi Benjamin Blech (JTA) – Stephen Hawking is much in the news these days. His personal story, the subject of the recently released film “The Theory of Everything,” is already spoken of as an Oscar contender. Diagnosed in 1963 with the dreaded Lou Gehrig’s disease and given two years to live, he went on to a brilliant career, became the author of international bestsellers, received dozens of honorary degrees and gained broad recognition as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Einstein. Hawking is clearly someone undaunted by personal fears. Yet in a recent BBC interview, Hawking confided that he was deeply concerned for the future of humanity. The cause of his concern is artificial intelligence, or AI, the creation of intelligent machines able to “outthink” their creators. What began with IBM’s Watson supercomputer, capable of handily beating chess grandmasters and the best players on “Jeopardy!,” may in the near future, Hawking warned, checkmate its designers to become the Earth’s ruler. “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Hawking said. Science fiction already has prepared us to contemplate such a scenario. Films like “The Terminator” and “The Matrix” pit puny humans against AI-driven enemies. The upcoming “Avengers” movie depicts superheroes forced to battle Ultron, an AI machine determined to destroy mankind. There’s a world of difference between the ability to create and the power to control. As Google’s director of engineering, Ray Kurzweil, has put it, “It may be hard to write an algorithmic moral code strong enough to constrain and contain supersmart software.” The greatest danger of
scientific progress is the possibility that what we bring into being realizes a life of its own and is no longer subservient to its maker nor human values. That is what has been the subliminal message for centuries of the famous legend of the golem of Prague. In Jewish tradition, Judah Loew, the 16th century rabbi of Prague, used his knowledge of Jewish mysticism to magically animate a lifeless lump of clay and turn it into a super human defender of the Jewish people. On its forehead he wrote the Hebrew word for truth, “emet,” which mystically gave the creature its power. Much to his consternation, however, Loew soon realized that once granted its formidable strength, the golem became impossible to fully control. Versions of the story differ. In one the golem fell in love and, when rejected, turned into a murderous monster. In another the golem went into an unexplained murderous rampage. In perhaps the most fascinating account, Loew himself was at fault – something akin to a computer programmer’s error – by forgetting to deactivate the golem immediately prior to the Sabbath, as was his regular custom. This caused the golem to profane the holiness of the day and be guilty of the death penalty. Whatever the cause, Loew came to conclude that the golem had to be put to rest. The rabbi erased the first letter of emet – the aleph with a numerical value of one, representing the one God above who alone can give life. That left only the two letters spelling the Hebrew word for death, “met.” No longer representing the will of the ultimate creator, nor bearing the mark of God on his forehead, the golem turned into dust. Many scholars believe that it was the legend of the golem that inspired Mary Shelley to write her famous Frankenstein
novel about an unorthodox scientific experiment that creates life, only to reap the horrifying results when the achievement goes terribly wrong. Creation without control is a formula for catastrophe. The history of scientific achievement bears ample testimony to the simple truth that progress detached from the restraints of moral and ethical considerations may grant us the knowledge to penetrate the secrets of nuclear fission, but at the cost of placing mankind in danger of universal annihilation. The story of the golem of Prague is a paradigm for the hazard of permitting what we create to go far beyond our intent. Artificial intelligence, as an extension of our intellectual ability, certainly has many advantages. Yet it cannot really “think.” It has no moral sensitivity. It does not share the ethical limitations of its programmer. And it is not restricted by the values of those who brought it into being. Stephen Hawking has done us a muchneeded favor by alerting us to the very real dangers of AI. But what I find striking – and highly serendipitous – is the other major revelation just recently ascribed to him: Hawking publicly admitted that he is in fact an atheist. In response to a journalist questioning him about his religious leanings, he said unequivocally, “There is no God.” Perhaps the biblical God in whom I and so much of the world believe must also deeply regret the “artificial intelligence” with which he imbued mankind. Perhaps we are the greatest illustration of the fear we now verbalize for our technology – creations capable of destroying our world because we doubt our creator. Rabbi Benjamin Blech is a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University.
january 15, 2015 ■
THE REPORTER
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community news SHDS melave malka scheduled for January 31 The Scranton Hebrew Day School will conduct a melave malka for men and women on Saturday, January 31, at 8:30 pm, in the Eisner Social Hall of Machzikeh Hadas, 600 Monroe Ave., Scranton.
A full dairy buffet – including soup, lasagna, blintzes, salmon, salad and dessert – will be served. Reservations will be required and can be made by calling the Hebrew Day School by Wednesday, January
28, at 570-346-1576, ext. 2. The cost will be $20 per person or $36 per couple. All proceeds will benefit the school’s scholarship fund.
B’nai B’rith Americanism Award Committee
Amos Lodge 136 of B’nai B’rith hosted on December 17 the annual meeting for the selection of the Americanism Award, presented annually at a dinner in honor of the recipient. In 2015, the dinner for the 63rd award will be held on Sunday, May 17, at the Jewish Community Center. The Americanism Award is said to be recognized as Lackawanna County’s “highest and most prestigious award recognizing a lifetime of community service best exemplify-
ing the American way of life.” While Amos Lodge sponsors the award, the recipient is chosen by the representatives of the community’s leading service organizations, as well as all of the past recipients of the award. This year, the Selection Committee luncheon was held at the Radisson Hotel and 28 people participated in the process, including a record number of past recipients and also including representatives from the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, the Greater Scranton
Chamber of Commerce, Scranton Tomorrow, the Scranton Area Foundation, the JCC, the Jewish Federation, Unico Club and Amos Lodge. The recipient will be announced in March and, as usual, is said to have “an outstanding record of community service.” Amos Lodge expressed its gratitude to all members of the Selection Committee and to the members who assisted in the selection process.
All members of Selection Committee were (sitting, l-r:) Monsignor Constantine Siconolfi, Honorable William Nealon, Andrea Mulrine, Jeanne Bovard, Gary Drapek, Mary Marrara, Joyce Tressler, Ann Moskovitz, Kathleen Graff and David Wenzel. Standing: James McLaughlin, Joseph Corcoran, Dr. Harmar Brereton, Joseph Albert, Mark Silverberg, David Fallk, Richard Bishop, Dan Cardonick, Jane Oppenheim, Robert Durkin, Donald Douglass, Jay Schectman, Mary Lou Burne, Dr. James Burne, Austin Burke, Morey M. Myers and Edward Monsky.
S E N I L D A E D The following are deadlines for all articles and photos for upcoming Reporter issues.
DEADLINE
ISSUE
Thursday, January 15................... January 29 Thursday, January 29................. February 12 Thursday, February 12............... February 26 Thursday, February 26................... March 12 The representatives of the community’s service organizations who participated in the Selection Committee were (l-r): Mark Silverberg, Jewish Federation; Robert Durkin, Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce; Richard S. Bishop, Amos Lodge of B’nai B’rith; Andrea Mulrine, Scranton Tomorrow; Kathleen Graff, Scranton Area Foundation; Dan Cardonick, Scranton Jewish Community Center; Mary Marrara, Unico Club; and Gary Drapek, United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties.
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The members of the Selection Committee who are past recipients of the Americanism Award were (seated, l-r): Monsignor Constantine Siconolfi, Mary Lou Burne, David Wenzel, Joyce Tressler, Ann Moskovitz and Honorable William Nealon. Standing: Austin J. Burke, Dr. James Burne, Jane Oppenheim, Dr. Harmar Brereton, Jeanne Bovard, Richard S. Bishop, James McLaughlin, Joseph Corcoran and Morey M. Myers. JFS VEHICLE DONATION PROGRAM
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THE REPORTER ■ january 15, 2015
After decades of distance, Japan and Israel establish closer ties
By Cnaan Liphshiz TOKYO (JTA) – Reading his Japanese-language newspaper over breakfast, Rabbi Mendy Sudakevich spotted an ad for a self-help DVD titled “Get rich like the Jews.” “Almost anywhere else in the world, such an ad – published in several widely read Japanese dailies – would have been deemed antisemitic incitement,” noted Sudakevich, an Israel-born Chabad emissary who settled in Tokyo in 2000. But in Japan, he and others said, it’s something akin to a compliment. “[T]he takeaway is that Jews, and Israel by extension, should be emulated and embraced,” said BenAmi Shillony, a historian and lecturer on the Far East at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Indeed, Japan’s government – buoyed by the population’s generally positive bias toward Jews – has been actively seeking stronger economic ties with Israel. That’s especially true now that the nation’s decades-long dependence on Arab oil is waning due to America’s increased energy production and Japan’s decreased reliance on fossil fuels. In 2014, trade between the two nations rose by 9.3 percent to $1.75 billion, according to Israel’s Ministry of Economy. Warmer relations also yielded several recent joint memoranda on enhancing cooperation on research, trade, tourism and even security cooperation – an area that successive Japanese administrations regarded as taboo for fear that it would anger oil-rich Arab nations. And in Japan, government policy has a substantially larger impact on private firms than in the West, Shillony said. This was evidenced in the decisions by nearly all the large Japanese carmakers not to enter the Israeli market until the 1990s, when the Arab oil boycott – a set of sanctions applied against nations that did business with Israel – began to loosen, he added. Japan’s new certainty owes to the arrival in October of U.S.-produced shale oil, which is expected to put the United States ahead of Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest exporter of black gold. As production in the United States nears
that Israel still has much stronger trade with some of Japan’s strongest competitors,” Lewi said. “At a time when giants like Samsung, Intel and Google are operating research centers in Israel, Japan is beginning to feel left out.”
At right: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on May 14, 2014. (Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO)
the projected rate of 11.6 million barrels a day by 2020, exports to Japan are expected to grow far beyond the current level of 300,000 barrels a month. At the same time, Japan is increasingly relying on green energy. More evidence of warmer ties between Israel and Japan: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Tokyo in May, where he and his wife, Sara, dined with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie, at Abe’s residence. Their meeting exceeded its allotted time – unusual for a state visit in Japan. Abe, a center-right politician whose career and worldview in many respects align with that of Netanyahu, is heading to Israel later this month in the first state visit of its kind in nine years for a Japanese leader. Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, visited Japan in 2008. “I am determined, together with Prime Minister Netanyahu, to make further efforts to strengthen Japan-Israel relations, so that the potentials are fully materialized,” Abe told the media in Tokyo during his meeting with Netanyahu. The feelings appear to be mutual. On January 4, Netanyahu’s Cabinet approved a series of measures aimed at boosting trade to the tune of several tens of millions of dollars. Israel will open an Economy Ministry office in Osaka and increase by 50 percent government grants for joint Israeli-Japanese research projects. For Abe, strengthening ties with Israel is part of a larger vision for enhancing innovation and diversifying Japan’s highly
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centralized industries and markets in an attempt to reverse its declining economy and creeping inflation, according to Shillony. In Abe’s Japan, the historian added, Israel is a particularly valuable partner because its unique expertise in defense and military technologies fits his plan for beefing up Japanese military capabilities against an increasingly defiant North Korea. The Arab Spring of 2011 also changed Japan’s view of the region in Israel’s favor, according to Naoki Maruyama, a professor of history at Japan’s Meiji Gakuin University. “With the region falling into chaos and internal strife, Israel stands out as the exception – and the place in which to invest,” he told JTA. Abe’s economic doctrine of openness, which analysts often call “Abenomics,” already is changing the reality of doing business in Japan as a foreigner, according to Yoav Keidar, an Israeli businessman who has been working in Japan for the past 25 years. “Once the main bottleneck for foreign firms, the government is now actively helping those firms overcome other blockages,” he said. “In Japanese terms, this is nothing short of a revolution.” In Keidar’s case, the government fast-tracked permits for his telemedicine service – a vetting process that would have taken years in the past, he said. Despite the dramatic increase in trade between the two nations, it’s still some 30 percent lower than Israel’s trade with South Korea, one of Japan’s main competitors. That competition is another factor enhancing Israel’s appeal in Japan, according to Peleg Lewi, head of mission of Israel’s embassy in Tokyo. “It did not escape Japanese industrialists and officials
The Jewish Communal Fund has announced “Clink!: Making Change by Giving, a new app to help teens and tweens discover their very own giving style. Available to download for free on iTunes, Clink! is an interactive app designed to help young adults determine which issue areas are most important to them when it comes to making a charitable contribution and volunteering their time. It presents teens with 27 topics ranging from poverty, hunger and bullying to Jewish education, women’s rights and substance abuse. Users swipe the screen of their device until they are left with the top three categories of need that resonate most with them. Teens then shuffle a range of activities (such as organizing a food drive for a local food bank or participating in a walkathon to raise funds for juvenile diabetes) in each of their three target areas to reflect their own personalized giving style. Young donors can also learn how closely they are aligned with the “Giving Ladder” – the eight levels of charitable giving recommended by the 12th century sage Maimonides. Upon completion, teens receive a badge they can share on social media platforms and via e-mail, which showcases their preferred charitable giving style.
Dani Gal video installation
The Jewish Museum in New York City presents the U.S. premiere of Dani Gal’s video installation “As from Afar.” It will be shown at the museum until February 1. The video, which is 26 minutes long, explores the relationship between Simon Wiesenthal, the Jewish Holocaust survivor who devoted his life to hunting Nazis, and Albert Speer, Hitler’s chief architect and armaments minister. For more information, visit http://thejewishmuseum.org or contact the museum at 212-423-3200 or info@thejm.org.
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NEWS IN bRIEF From JNS.org
BDS movement fails to derail Israeli economy, Knesset committee report says
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) – The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has not harmed the Israeli economy, and in some cases Israel’s exports have grown in the regions in which the movement has the most traction, according to a recent report commissioned by the Knesset Finance Committee. “So far, the attempts to boycott Israel have not hurt the Israeli economy on the macro scale. ... The boycotts are able to hurt largely the end products of certain Israeli brands. However, since the majority of Israeli exports are intermediate goods, there has not been significant harm done to them,” the report said. The study analyzed the economic effects of the BDS movement from 2000-2013. The study showed that during that time, Israel’s gross domestic product rose by 54 percent and its exports rose by 80 percent. In Europe, home to the majority of the BDS efforts, exports surged by 99 percent since 2000. Israel’s success in Europe indicates the ineffectiveness of the European Union boycott and tariff placement on products made beyond the 1949 armistice line. Direct investment in Israel has also risen over the past decade, and that investment’s percentage of Israel’s GDP is higher compared to most developed nations. Perhaps most surprisingly, despite BDS efforts, the share of exported goods originating in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights has grown from 0.5 percent to 3.1 percent – and an overwhelming majority of that growth is from exports to the European Union.
Israeli-developed ALS treatment shows promise in clinical trial
The Israeli company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, revealing results from a clinical trial for its stem cell treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in adults, said most patients in the trial displayed improvement in the form of slower progression of the disease. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects 5,600 people in the U.S. alone, according to the ALS Association. Physicist Stephen Hawking has a slow-progressing form of the disease. BrainStorm’s stem cell treatment, called NurOwn, was administered to 14 patients as part of the trial at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. Eleven of the 12 patients with three or more months of follow-up showed improvement in slowing the disease’s progression. The study provides “a consistent and highly promising picture of NurOwn’s efficacy,” said BrainStorm CEO Tony Fiorino. “In particular, I would highlight that we observed not only a highly meaningful reduction in ALS progression... but we saw subjects with prolonged stabilization and even improvements in function, and all this was achieved with just a single dose of NurOwn,” he said. “We are excited to proceed to a multi-dose study to see if these positive results can be amplified and extended by administering repeated doses.”
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sova, Devorah Weinreb, Necha Weinreb, Leah Klein, Leah Pion, Naomi Lopez, Nancy Ben Dov and Adina Elefant. Organizers expressed their thanks to several sponsors of the event, including Molly Rutta in memory of her mother, and Gary Davis, as well as others. “We greatly appreciate their support,” said a Bais Yaakov representative. Chanukah brunch Students attended a Chanukah brunch with guest speaker Vera Epshteyn. She spoke about the challenges the Jews faced under Syrian-Greek rule, and how they were willing to give up their lives for the survival and victory of the Torah and Judaism over Hellenist influence and cruelty. Bais Yaakov MELAVE MALKA to benefit KEDOSHIM of Har Nof Bais Yaakov High School of Scranton recently hosted a melave malka for women in the community in order to raise funds for the families of the kedoshim in Har Nof. Attendees noted that special guest speaker Rabbi Dovid Saks “inspired” them with “moving words of chizuk” (emotional or spiritual encouragement). Close to $1,000 was raised and given to Kupat Hair for the families. More fund-raisers have been planned for the future.
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Chanukah lunch The students, staff and families of Bais Yaakov attended a Chanukah lunch at the home of Rabbi Mayer and Esther Elefant on December 24. The special guest speaker for the last day of Chanukah was Rabbi Mordechai Dov Fine, as well as Dr. Neill Ackerman, who represented the staff. Both discussed the need and importance of Bais Yaakov in the community, as well as the need for Klal Yisroel. Chai Lifeline Chanukah toy drive Once again, Bais Yaakov of Scranton organized a toy drive for children with serious illnesses who were hospitalized during Chanukah. Gifts were distributed to family members as well. This year, more toys were donated than ever. Toys may be donated throughout the year as well. Chanukah dinner and carnival called “huge success” Many families attended the annual Chanukah dinner and carnival on December 15 at the Beth Shalom social hall. Students and friends ran the booths while the food was prepared and served by women from the community. The organizer of the event was Leah Laury. Her crew included Vera Epshteyn, Sandi Raven, Atara Raven, Esther Pincha-
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Bais Yaakov news
january 15, 2015 ■
Prices effective Sunday, December 28, 2014 thru Saturday, January 31, 2015.
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THE REPORTER ■ january 15, 2015
In downtown Los Angeles, everything old is new again
By Anthony Weiss LOS ANGELES (JTA) – At 97 years old, Grand Central Market has become one of the hottest destinations in this city, drawing long lines of foodies eager for the finest in artisanal cheeses, coddled eggs and pour-over coffee. In August, the historic food market in downtown Los Angeles was named by Bon Appetit magazine as one of the country’s 10 best new food venues. Long a bustling bargain mart that catered to the city’s poorer denizens, the market has been reborn as a gourmet spot and tourist attraction. At the heart of the market’s cavernous, industrial-era space sits one of the stars of that revival: Wexler’s Deli,
Micah Wexler, with Wexler’s Deli, has brought classics such as pastrami and corned beef back to the Grand Central Market after a decades-long absence. (Photo by Anthony Weiss)
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the latest offering from wunderchef Micah Wexler, who has brought deli classics such as pastrami and corned beef back to Grand Central after a decades-long absence. Wexler’s, along with the rest of the eclectic fare newly arrived at Grand Central, reflects the upscale, diverse crowds – including a burgeoning Jewish population – that is moving downtown, drawn by the historic architecture, urban street life, newly converted lofts, and thriving bar and restaurant scene. But Wexler and his deli are also the most visible and recent symbols of the market’s deep Jewish roots, which weave continuously through its history from its earliest days to its current renaissance. The primary author of Grand Central’s latest chapter is Adele Yellin, a spry 67, the owner and hands-on manager of the market. An interior designer by trade, she took over the market after her husband died and is in the process of overhauling it even as she seeks to retain its charm. On a recent morning, Yellin shakes off a lingering cold to lead a brisk tour of the market, describing its history, newest vendors, recent upgrades and plans for further renovations. She points out the raw bar under construction, the expansion of a successful juicery and the brisk business at the combination butcher shop and grilled meat counter. Yellin’s late husband, Ira, purchased Grand Central Market in 1984 for $5.5 million as part of an effort to restore the historic core of the then-moldering downtown. A lawyer who had studied urban planning, Ira believed that Los Angeles needed a thriving center if it were to survive as a world-class city. He poured money into some of the iconic buildings downtown, including
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sibility for funding the enterprise at a cost of $26,400 per year and asks only that we undertake a small letter writing mail campaign to our recipients in the hope of raising $10,000 from our readership to alleviate a share of that responsibility. We would be grateful if you would care enough to take the time to make a donation for our efforts in bringing The Reporter to your door.
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Adele Yellin is in the process of overhauling the Grand Central Market even as she seeks to retain its charm. (Photo by Anthony Weiss) Grand Central Market, the Bradbury Building and the Million Dollar Theater. The market opened in 1917 to serve the mansions of the adjacent Bunker Hill neighborhood near the iconic Angel’s Flight funicular railway, which took passengers up and down the steep hill. As wealthy residents moved away and downtown expanded, Grand Central became a hub for the German, Italian, Russian and Jewish immigrants flooding into the growing city. The immigrant communities were both the customers and the vendors. According to Grand Central’s website, the market in the 1920s featured some 90 stalls of fishmongers, dry goods salesmen and Jewish delis. By the time Filomena Eriman arrived at the market in 1969 to work as an accountant for the family who owned it, the customer base had changed to reflect the new immigrant populations of the downtown area – East Asians and Latin Americans. Still, Eriman estimates, roughly half the vendors were Jewish, including a holein-the-wall deli that sold some very tasty pastrami, as she recalls. As the vendors grew older and retired, they sold their businesses to a new generation of owners who were increasingly Korean, Chinese and Mexican. One of the last of the older generation who hung on was Bill Dolginow, who into his 90s would take the bus downtown to the market to oversee his deli, even when he could barely walk. By the time Ira purchased the market, architect Brenda Levin says, there were “lots of burritos and tacos, but not much pastrami.” The market had become a haven for Latino shoppers looking to stretch their food budgets. Its main selling point, as a 1985 Los Angeles Times article put it, was that “the prices can’t be beat.” Vendors specialized in items that could be sold cheaply, such as day-old bread, overripe fruits and vegetables, and deli meats that had passed their sell-by dates, alongside fresher fare. Despite the downscale reputation, the market was still booming. By some estimates, it drew about 25,000 shoppers on a weekday and 60,000 on Saturdays. Adele Yellin said that the rents of $8 per square foot were comparable to Beverly Hills. Ira, aided by Levin, spruced up the market, uncovering skylights that had been painted over, moving the truck loading docks to make space for diners, and setting design standards for vendors’ signs and stalls. He also built an adjacent parking garage and brought in a few new eateries, including a juice bar owned by co-investor and television comedian Flip Wilson (named “Geraldine’s” after Wilson’s signature character). Adele took over in 2002 after Ira died of lung cancer at 62. At that point, the market’s fortunes were in decline. Competition from other Latino-oriented markets cut into its customer base, she says, and the recession that began in 2008 forced a number of the vendors to close, leaving the market some 40 percent vacant at its nadir. See “New” on page 10
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
january 15, 2015 ■
THE REPORTER
Jewish ballplayers go to bat for charities By Hillel Kuttler (JTA) – At the first Detroit Tigers game he attended, in 1940, Bob Matthews saw slugging first baseman Hank Greenberg play. Now a retired orthodontist living in Farmington Hills, MI, Matthews can gaze each day at his hero’s image on visits to the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit in nearby West Bloomfield. On a wall by the facility’s fitness room hangs a framed print showing a baseball field’s dugout and a “team” of uniformed Jewish players surrounding a bat-gripping Greenberg. The print and 499 just like it – each signed by the 26 living major leaguers past and present who are depicted (Greenberg, a National Baseball Hall of Fame member, died in 1986) – is the brainchild of Greg Harris, a Chicago-area attorney who in 2011 hit upon the idea of merging sports fandom, a for-profit venture and charitable giving. About 100 of the 500 signed prints have been sold for $6,500 each and higher. Harris hopes that sales, along with portions of the players’ fees, will help raise $500,000 for Jewish and general charities. So far, he said, about $120,000 has gone to charity. Matthews, for example, said he chose to divert $500 of what he paid to benefit the JCC. Harris’ approach “is making a contribution” to the work charities can do, especially those still trying to recover from a drop in donations resulting from the 2008 recession,” said Rick Cohen, communications director for the National Council of Nonprofits. “We applaud efforts like that. Anytime that happens, especially as nonprofits continue to struggle with depleted resources, it’s a wonderful thing.” The venture also comes during a pe-
Sandy Koufax is out front in the Ron Lewis painting of Jewish major leaguers and others. The sale of 500 autographed prints is partly for profit and charity. (Photo by JewishBaseballPlayer.com) riod of heightened interest in the exploits of Jews in baseball that includes the 2013 publication of a 491-page oral-history book by retired lawyer Larry Ruttman, this year’s update to a popular baseball card set, an Israeli team competing in the World Baseball Classic qualifiers and a major museum exhibition on baseball’s role in the enculturation of Jewish immigrants. The original painting, executed in 2012 by artist Ron Lewis of Pocatello, ID, includes legends like Greenberg and fellow Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. The American League’s 1953 Most Valuable Player, Al Rosen, and 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun are shown, too. Joining Braun, current major leaguers on
the painting’s roster are Ian Kinsler, Craig Breslow, Scott Feldman, Ike Davis and Sam Fuld. Kinsler’s manager with the Tigers, Brad Ausmus, is shown in his playing days. The rest of those in uniform features a hodgepodge of eras and ability levels: Ruben Amaro Jr., Ross Baumgarten, Ron Blomberg, Craig Breslow, Mike Epstein, John Grabow, Adam Greenberg, Shawn Green, Joel Horlen, Jason Marquis, Norm Miller, Richie Scheinblum, Art Shamsky, Norm Sherry, Steve Stone, Steve Yeager and Kevin Youkilis. Many more past and present Jewish players do not appear in the work, either for reasons of space or because, as in the case of Ken Holtzman, a deal could not be reached. Holtzman certainly is worthy
of inclusion – his 174 wins remains the record for a Jewish pitcher. Some prominent Jewish nonplayers are depicted in the grandstand and also autographed the prints: Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig; Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf; Chicago Cubs general manager Theo Epstein; Arizona Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall; two late former heads of the MLB Players Association, Marvin Miller and Michael Weiner. Also, talk show host Larry King, Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Charlie Steiner and actor-director Rob Reiner. Jewish symbols are sprinkled throughout the piece: a Star of David scratched into the dirt, a tallit hanging in the dugout, a chai carved into the dugout’s bench, Israel’s flag on the lineup card and a box of matzah. Shamsky, an outfielder who batted .300 for the New York Mets’ World Series championship team in 1969, said the “subtle touches” hold appeal to him. They include Shamsky shaking hands with Davis to symbolize the linking of Jewish members of the Mets across generations. “It’s a coming together, a celebration, of Jewish baseball players,” Shamsky said. Blomberg, a contemporary of Shamsky’s who also played in New York, spoke in similar terms. “Being a proud Jew like I am and to be able to be on a portrait of great ballplayers and to be up on a lot of Jewish walls – these portraits are going to be passed down from one generation to another,” said Blomberg, who reached the majors with the Yankees in 1969 and four years later became the game’s first designated hitter. Blomberg and Shamsky have made several appearances with Harris to promote See “Ballplayers” on page 10
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THE REPORTER ■ january 15, 2015
d’var torah To teach them diligently, first you have to study By Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum, B’nai Harim, Pocono Pines Exodus 10:1-13:16 Parashat Bo contains in it many troubling and many uplifting details of our early history as a people. Midrash Bereshit Rabbah teaches that the Torah itself begins with the letter bet rather than with aleph to show that creation (bereishit) is for a blessing (bet for brachah) rather than a curse (aleph for arirah). Bo, bet-aleph, the word and the sedra contain both. One theme that runs through this portion also runs through the haggadah, which draws on it rather heavily. This is the importance of children. Had Moses been willing to leave the children behind, Pharaoh hints, he might not have balked at Moses’ request to go off to worship God. (Exodus 10:10) His predecessor knew the importance of children to a population. This is why he sought to destroy the boys. This Pharaoh will learn, to his horror and to the horror of his people, just how precious children are when the Tenth Plague causes the death of all the first born sons in the land. Without children, there is no future. They cannot be omitted from the whole people lest they fail to develop an attachment to the group that will provide a significant part of their identity. Pharaoh is skeptical about Moses’ plan to include the young because he cannot fathom that they might serve a purpose during the worship, even if they do not participate directly. Our children learn how to behave by watching us. Although you may not believe it if you are busy
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wrestling with tots or sparring with teenagers, we are their greatest influence – yes, even more than their friends! Moses understood that our joy and future rest with our youth; but at the same time he knew that our traditions are stored within the memories and wisdom of our elders. For the past 30 or 40 years, the active interest that parents lavish on their children has been on the rise. Psychologists deal with “helicopter moms” and teachers confront homework or projects prepared by parents. Highly educated parents channel their learning and sophistication into helping their children succeed. Like the blessings and curses contained in Bo, this tendency to “over help” is not entirely good and not entirely bad. This is especially true when it comes to religious school training. For, unlike in public schools where parental assistance may not be welcome, in our religious schools, we’d love parents to play the most active role possible! Over and over, the Torah instructs us that we are to teach our children. It is ironic that in the one area where parents are encouraged to help their children in school, they feel they cannot. So, here is what I suggest: wherever possible, parents and children should learn together. The materials available for religious school classes are easy to understand and many projects are family oriented. Open your classrooms to adults, as well as children, or offer “Sunday School for Adults” if parents are willing to learn at a higher level. Intergenerational learning is not just a modern phenomenon. It is the quintessential Jewish method of keeping knowledge alive. If you want to turn the plague of low enrollment into a blessing, sit down and study with your child. You aren’t cheating anyone if you help in these studies; rather, you are cheating yourself and your child if you don’t help. Don’t just pay tuition; pay attention!
P A C E
Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment
Your gift to the Annual Campaign DOES A WORLD OF GOOD. Endowing your gift allows you to be there for the Jewish community of NEPA forever. A Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE) is a permanent fund that endows your Jewish community Annual Campaign gift as a lasting legacy. A PACE fund will continue to make an annual gift in perpetuity on your behalf. To determine the amount you need to endow your entire campaign gift, multiply your current annual gift by 20. You can fund your PACE by adding the JEWISH FEDERATION OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA to your will, or by making the Federation a beneficiary of your IRA. All contributions to establish a PACE are tax deductible.
Let your name be remembered as a blessing. Endowments can be created through a variety of vehicles, some of which do not necessitate funding during your lifetime yet still provide your estate with considerable tax benefits. They also enable you to perpetuate your commitment to the Annual Campaign in a way that best achieves your own personal financial and estate planning goals.
Examples Of Ways To Fund Your Pace Gift Are:
* outright contribution of cash, appreciated securities or other long-term * capital gain property such as real estate * charitable remainder trust * gift of life insurance * charitable lead trust * gift of IRA or pension plan assets * grant from your foundation * reserved life estate in your residence * bequest
Using appreciated property, such as securities or real estate, affords you the opportunity to eliminate the income tax on the long-term capital gain, will in some instances generate a full income tax charitable deduction and will remove those assets from your estate for estate tax purposes. For more information contact Mark Silverberg at Mark.Silverberg@jewishnepa.org or call 570-961-2300, ext. 1.
january 15, 2015 ■
THE REPORTER
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Book review
Russian Jews in Brooklyn By Rabbi Rachel Esserman Some critics claim that the Golden Age of American Jewish fiction occurred in the 1950s and ‘60s due to a combination of the horror of the Holocaust and the struggles of second- and third-generation immigrants. They even suggest that Jewish American writing is passé – that everything produced today is a rehash of old themes. However, these critics have obviously not read the exciting novels and memoirs by a new group of immigrants: Russian American Jews. While not all the literature produced is equally successful, it’s almost uniformly interesting and provocative as demonstrated by two recent first novels: “A Replacement Life” by Boris Fishman (Harper) and “Panic in a Suitcase” by Yelena Akhtiorskaya (Riverhead Books). For Slava Gelman, Fishman’s main character, the American dream includes living in Manhattan and working as a successful writer. Slava is only partly successful: although he has an apartment in the city, the magazine he works for has yet to let him write a feature article. However, as hard as Slava works to escape his family – to create distance between them – he finds himself drawn back to the Russian Jewish community in Brooklyn, especially after his grandmother dies. What changes Slava is his realization of just how little he knew about his grandmother. Although she survived the Holocaust, she refused to speak about her experiences. After the funeral, Slava’s grandfather, Yevgeny, shows him the reparation form his wife never used. Yevgeny has an interesting idea: Slava should fill out the form so he can receive money from the German government. At first, Slava refuses, but his imagination soon takes hold. Perhaps he can learn to understand his grandmother by inventing her life. When his grandfather offers his services to other Jews in similar situations, Slava grapples with the realization that truth might not be totally objective – that Russian Jews “lied about everything so the one truth at the heart of it – that abused people might flee the place of abuse – could be told.” Slava must learn whether his heart
and soul belong to an America that sees the world in black and white, or to his Russian heritage that accepts many shades of grey. At first, “A Replacement Life” seemed like yet another novel about a confused young Russian in the U.S. Yet, as the novel progressed, it began to raise some fascinating questions about how people endure during times of persecution, particularly the need to bend the truth in order to survive hostile conditions. The work had far more depth than originally expected and I came to care deeply about Slava’s fate. Although Fishman’s novel occurs in contemporary times, Akhtiorskaya focuses on two time periods: 1993 and 2008. When “Panic in a Suitcase” opens, the Namertov family is divided between the U.S. and Russia. Parents Esther and Robert – along with their daughter, Marina, her husband, Levik, and granddaughter, Frida – emigrated from the U.S.S.R. and live in Brighton Beach. Their son, Pasha, and his family remained in Russia, although during his visit to Brooklyn in 1993, the family does its best to convince Pasha to emigrate. Pasha originally planned his visit around Esther’s surgery for breast cancer, although the family postpones the operation in order to show him why he should join them in the U.S. Part two of the novel is set in the U.S. and Russia. Frida, who is now in her mid-20s, is confused and unhappy about the course of her life. While the family assumes she will continue her medical studies to become a doctor, Frida dreams of pursuing life in the arts – although she has no idea what she would actually do. To postpone thinking about her future, she travels to Russia to attend the wedding of Pasha’s son, although her visit takes some unexpected turns. Akhtiorskaya – who was recently named one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” – does an excellent job portraying the Russian psyche, something American culture is unable to conquer. Unfortunately, her stream-of-thought prose was sometimes difficult to read and the points she was trying to make
became lost in the verbiage. While individual parts were interesting and intriguing, her characters were often unlikeable – cranky, irritable and argumentative – which made it difficult to care about them. I felt as if I was missing something, some connection other readers might find. What both novels have in common is a similar view of Russian Jewish culture in the U.S.: that rather than adjusting and becoming American (as other novels have proposed), the first generation of immigrants seeks to reproduce the life they lived in Russia. For example, Fishman notes that Slava’s relatives and their neighbors chose “to live among those who said ‘we don’t go to America,’ except for the DMV and Brodvei.” Their stores carry European products: “birch-leafed switches to whip yourself in the steam bath and rare Turkish shampoos that reverse baldness.” Also available are a variety of Russian-style services, including someone to break your arm so you can pretend you fell on the ice and receive disability payments. In Akhtiorskaya’s novel, Pasha finds America depressing because “his fellow countrymen hadn’t ventured bravely into a new land, they’d borrowed a tiny nook at the very rear of someone else’s crumbling estate to make a tidy replication of the messy, imperfect original they’d gone through so many hurdles to escape, imprisoning themselves in their own lack of imagination.” Both writers see their countrymen as unable to adjust to American life. In Fishman’s work, Slava, who represents the next generation, is one of the few who wants to become American, although in the end, he acknowledges it’s impossible to escape his own Russian psyche. Frida, in Akhtiorskaya’s novel, finds it difficult to know her own mind and is unsure if she wants to be Russian or American. The demands of their parents and grandparents exert a pull that continually draws them back into the fold. Taken together, “A Replacement Life” and “Panic in a Suitcase” offer an in-depth view of Russian American Jewry.
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THE REPORTER ■ january 15, 2015
New
January 2015 • Non-Feature Films • *NEW* American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise - After more than 60 years in show business, Mel Brooks has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer. A comedy force of nature, Brooks is very private and has never authorized a biography, making his participation in this film a genuine first. Showcasing the Brooklyn native’s brilliant, skewed originality, American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise features never-before-heard stories and new interviews with Brooks, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Cloris Leachman, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Tracey Ullman and others. This career-spanning documentary of the man behind Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Spaceballs and of course the 2000 Year Old Man journeys through Brooks’ professional and personal ups and downs, providing a rare look at a living legend, beloved by millions. *NEW* Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy - Engaging, humorous, and provocative... examining the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists in the creation of the modern American musical. The film showcases the work of legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. Interviews with songwriters and luminaries including Sheldon Harnick, Stephen Schwartz, Harold Prince, Arthur Laurents, Charles Strouse, and Mel Brooks provide insight, alongside standout performances and archival footage. Everything is a Present: The Wonder and Grace of Alice Sommer Hertz - This is the uplifting true story of the gifted pianist Alice Sommer Hertz who survived the Theresienstat concentration camp by playing classical piano concerts for Nazi dignitaries. Alice Sommer Hertz lived to the age of 106. Her story is an inspiration. Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story - Yoni Netanyahu was a complex, passionate individual thrust into defending his country in a time of war and violence. The older brother of Benjamin Natanyahu, the current Israel Prime Minister, Yoni led the miraculous raid on Entebbe in 1976. Although almost all of the Entebbe hostages were saved, Yoni was the lone military fatality. Featuring three Israeli Prime Ministers and recently released audio from the Entebbe raid itself. Hava Nagila (The Movie) - A documentary romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy and more, the film follows the ubiquitous party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America. Inside Hana’s Suitcase - The delivery of a battered suitcase to Fumiko Ishioka at the Tokyo Holocaust Museum begins the true-life mystery that became the subject of Karen Levine’s best-selling book Hana’s Suitcase. The film follows Fumiko’s search to discover the details of Hana’s life, which leads to the discovery of her brother George in Toronto. Israel: The Royal Tour - Travel editor Peter Greenberg (CBS News) takes us on magnificent tour of the Jewish homeland, Israel. The tour guide is none other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The viewer gets a chance to visit the land of Israel from his own home! Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (narrated by Dustin Hoffman) - This documentary portrays the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning that baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. More than a film about sports, this is a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry, heroism, the passing on of traditions, the shattering of stereotypes and, most of all, the greatest American pastime. Nicky’s Family - An enthralling documentary that artfully tells the story of how Sir Nicholas Winton, now 104, a British stockbroker, gave up a 1938 skiing holiday to answer a friend’s request for help in Prague and didn’t stop helping until the war’s beginning stopped him. He had saved the lives of 669 children in his own personal Kindertransport. Shanghai Ghetto - One of the most amazing and captivating survival tales of WWII, this documentary recalls the strange-but-true story of thousands of European Jews who were shut out of country after country while trying to escape Nazi persecution. Left without options or entrance visa, a beacon of hope materialized for them on the other side of the world, and in the unlikeliest of places, Japanese-controlled Shanghai. The Case for Israel - Democracy’s Outpost - This documentary presents a vigorous case for Israel- for its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism, and to defend its borders from hostile enemies. The Jewish Cardinal - This is the amazing true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, who maintained his cultural identity as a Jew even after converting to Catholicism at a young age, & later joining the priesthood. The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - As baseball’s first Jewish star, Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg’s career contains all the makings of a true American success story. Unmasked: Judaophobia - The Threat to Civilization – This documentary exposes the current political assault against the State of Israel fundamentally as a war against the Jewish people and their right to self-determination. *NEW* When Jews Were Funny is insightful and often hilarious, surveying the history of Jewish comedy from the early days of Borsht Belt to the present. • Feature Films • Fill the Void - This is the story of an eighteen-year-old, Shira, who is the youngest daughter of her family. Her dreams are about to come true as she is set to be married. Unexpectedly, her sister dies while giving birth to her first child. The drama of the story reaches its peak when the girls’ mother proposes a match between Shira and the young widower. Shira will have to choose between her heart’s wish and her family duty. Footnote - The winner of the Cannes Film Festival (Best Screenplay) is the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son, two eccentric professors, who have both dedicated their lives to work in Talmudic Studies. Each has a need for recognition in his chosen field and the day comes when father and son must look deeply inside themselves for the truth- advancement of his own career or of the others. Hidden in Silence - Przemysl, Poland, WWII. Germany emerges victorious over the Russians and the city comes under Nazi control. The Jews are sent to the ghettos. While some stand silent, Catholic teenager, Stefania Podgorska, chose the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic. Noodle (compatible only on PAL – DVD players - Hebrew with English subtitles) This film was a beloved entry in the Jewish Federation of NEPA’s Jewish Film Festival. It tells the heartwarming story of an Israeli stewardess, Miri, whose personal life as a war widow leaves her without much joy. Everything changes for Miri when her Oriental housemaid disappears one day leaving her with her young Oriental child! The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Based on the best- selling novel, this movie is unforgettable. Set during WWII, the movie introduces us to Bruno, an innocent eight-year-old, ignores his mother and sets of on an adventure in the woods. Soon he meets a young boy and a surprising friendship develops. The Concert - Andrei Filipov was prodigy- at 20 he was the celebrated conductior for Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Orchestra. Thirty years later, still at the Bolshoi, he works as a janitor. Ousted during the communist era when he refused to fire the Jewish members of the orchestra, a broken Andrei now cleans the auditorium where he once performed in front of thousands. The Debt - In 1966, three Mossad agents were assigned to track down a feared Nazi war criminal hiding in East Berlin, a mission accomplished at great risk and personal cost- or was it? The Other Son - As he is preparing to join the Israeli army for his national service, Joseph discovers he is not his parents’ biological son and that he was inadvertently switched at birth with Yacine, the son of a Palestinian family from the West Bank. This revelation turns the lives of these two families upside-down, forcing them to reassess their respective identities, their values and beliefs. *Just added to the Jewish Federation’s Film Lending Library!
Continued from page 6 At the same time, downtown was finally beginning to fulfill Ira’s vision, as other developers raced to convert historic buildings and the once-sparse residential population exploded to 52,400 as of 2013, according to a study by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. The prosperous new residents, in turn, were eating at a host of hip new eateries that were opening in the neighborhood – but not at Grand Central. “The population that was actually living downtown never came in here,” Adele recalls. Adele set out to change that. She reached out to more upscale vendors, bringing in a place specializing in Thai street food and one focused on coffee. Another specialized in eggs, from egg salad to steak and eggs to a coddled egg poached on top of a potato puree. She also reached out to Wexler, whose Middle Eastern restaurant, Mezze, had drawn rave reviews, but nonetheless closed in 2012 after only a year. Wexler, a Los Angeles native, decided to switch gears and revive the deli foods that he loved as a child. He smokes his own meats and fish onsite, and on a recent afternoon was busy behind the counter wrapping sandwiches and conferring with his cooks. “Obviously Wexler’s Deli is a new school Jewish deli, but I don’t think of it as a Jewish restaurant,” Wexler told JTA in an e-mail. “To me, it’s an L.A. restaurant. It’s urban, it’s soulful, it’s in the place of the people and it’s for the people.” For Yellin, Wexler and the new crop of restaurants reflect her vision of a Grand Central Market that is a busy and welcoming place for all, where immigrants and businessmen and tattooed artists can shop and eat alongside one another, partners in the perpetual urban dance. “It’s exactly what Ira and I always talked about the city of L.A. needing,” Adele says. “This is a place to gather, and that’s what we have to keep working on – creating more reasons for them to gather here. It’s family giving back. It’s tzedakah.”
Ballplayers
Continued from page 7 the artwork. At an event during last summer’s All-Star Game festivities in Minneapolis, Blomberg said, he was gratified by the interest shown by many non-Jewish passers-by, several of whom purchased the print. For his charitable contribution, Blomberg selected the ALS Foundation for Life because Jim “Catfish” Hunter, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was Blomberg’s teammate for two seasons in New York and died in 1999 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, “was one of my best friends,” he said. As for Matthews, the game he attended as a 5-year-old would be the only time he watched Greenberg play. Over the years he’s purchased a Greenberg bat, a Koufax-autographed Dodgers uniform, baseballs signed by Rosen and Green – even a 1934 tax form signed by Moe Berg, a longtime catcher who spied for the Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA. Those and other items can be seen at the Bloomfield facility in a display called “Jewish Heroes and Other Legends.” But the painting is the main draw. “It’s almost like a magnet. It pulls people down the hall,” Matthews said. “I thought this would be the most graphic way to tie all the baseball players together.”
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THE REPORTER
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NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA
Paris Jewish institutions at maximum alert following Charlie Hebdo attack
Jewish institutions in the Paris region have upped their level of security to the maximum following the deadly attack at the Charlie Hebdo offices. More uniformed and non-uniformed police officers will be stationed outside Jewish institutions and in areas with large Jewish populations, according to Chlomik Zenouda, vice president of the National Bureau for Vigilance against antisemitism, or BNVCA, in response to the Jan. 7 slaying of 12 people at the satirical weekly. Also, Jewish volunteers have been asked to provide security inside the perimeters of synagogues and Jewish schools, Zenouda told JTA on Jan. 8. “We are past red alert at this stage, it’s all hands on deck because, sadly, the question is not whether the French Jewish community will be targeted but when,” he said. “There are indications that this may happen in the near future.” The attack on Charlie Hebdo, which published many satirical cartoons about Islam, was believed to have been carried out by jihadists. In 2012, an Islamist who trained in Pakistan killed four Jews at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Another French Muslim is standing trial in Brussels for the slaying of four last year at the Jewish Museum of Belgium. Those attacks prompted a major increase in security of Jewish communities across Western Europe, where Israel’s summer conflict with Hamas in Gaza triggered an uptick in antisemitic violence. Zenouda said BNVCA is looking into the Jan. 8 attack in Montrouge, south of Paris, in which an unidentified man killed a police officer with what witnesses said was an automatic rifle. “One of the options being investigated is that the assailant was on his way to a nearby Jewish school when police intercepted him,” Zenouda said.
Record number visit Anne Frank House for fifth straight year
The Anne Frank House had a record number of visitors in 2014 – the fifth straight year the Amsterdam museum has set a new mark. The museum, located at the site where the young diarist hid from the Nazis with her family, had nearly 1.23 million visitors last year, 32,006 more than in 2013. The majority of the visitors came from outside the Netherlands. Some 140,000 of the visitors in 2014 were Dutch. “It is inspiring that so many people from all around the world visit this place and learn about its history,” said Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House. Also last year, the international traveling exhibition “Anne Frank – a history for today” was presented in more than 30 countries.
Polish university to restore Ph.D.s stripped by Nazis
A Polish university will symbolically reinstate 262 doctorates, mostly of Jewish academics, annulled by the Nazis almost eight decades ago. The University of Wroclaw, in the Polish city of the same name, announced on Jan. 5 that it will restore the degrees at a ceremony on Jan. 22. The announcement is somewhat complicated by the fact that the degrees were issued by a university that no longer exists, the French news agency AFP reported. Under German rule, the city and the university had been known under the German name of Breslau. After World War II ended in 1945, the city became a part of Poland and the university was dissolved. Its students and teachers became a part of the University of Cologne in Germany, while the university campus was reorganized as the University of Wroclaw. “It’s a symbolic gesture,” University of Wroclaw spokesman Jacek Przygodzki told AFP. During the Nazi regime, universities regularly stripped degrees and titles from Jews and other scholars seen as hostile to the Nazis, and the then-University of Breslau stood at the forefront of this dubious practice. “By the standards of Germany, Wroclaw University was at the forefront when it came to withdrawing titles: its senate was extremely zealous,” German historian Kai Kranich said, according to The Telegraph, citing the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.
Google Street View returns to Israel
Google Street View returned to Israel three years after it first photographed the nation’s streets. The Google cars and tricycles, fitted with 360-degree cameras to take panoramic images, will visit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and other cities in order to update the online mapping tool. Google Street View provides a 3-D view of buildings, landmarks and streets around the world. The images from Israel were posted on the Internet in April 2012. Israel’s Justice Ministry set several conditions for its approval to photograph city streets, including the right for Israelis to request further blurring of residences and license plates. Israeli officials reportedly had been concerned that terrorists would use the service to plan attacks in Israel.
U.N. head sets date for Palestinian membership in ICC
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that Palestine will join the International Criminal Court on April 1. The accession to the court will allow the Palestinians to press war-crimes charges against Israel. Ban made the announcement late Jan. 6, days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty under which the signatories accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the international war crimes tribunal. Ban also approved the Palestinian’s membership in 16 other international treaties, conventions and agreements. The Palestinians also filed an ad hoc declaration for the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes as of June 13. The date is one day after the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens by Palestinians from Hebron. The massive operation to find the teens and Israel’s 50-day military operation in Gaza over the summer would be covered under the retroactive date. The declaration would start proceedings against Israel even as the Palestinians wait for the April 1 accession date, becoming the court’s 123rd member state. Israel is not a member of the court. An ICC investigation could also lead to war crimes charges against the Palestinians. The Palestinian’s move to join the ICC and other international treaties came after the United Nations Security Council on Dec. 30 failed to pass a Palestinian statehood proposal. In response, Israel froze some $125 million in tax revenue that it collects for the Palestinian Authority.
Sweden’s foreign minister postpones visit to Israel
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem has postponed a planned visit to Israel following her
country’s recognition of a Palestinian state. “The foreign minister has decided to postpone her visit to Israel and Palestine,” Wallstroem’s spokesman, Erik Boman, told the French news agency AFP on Jan. 7. “Instead of next week, it will take place later. No date is yet decided.” Sweden officially recognized the state of Palestine in October, days after new Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced that the government would make that recognition. In response, Israel recalled its ambassador to Sweden, Isaac Bachmann. Wallstroem’s visit had been announced in December by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said in December that he would not meet with Wallstroem while she was in Israel.
France to Palestinians: Don’t resubmit U.N. statehood resolution
France warned the Palestinians against antagonizing Israel by resubmitting a statehood resolution to the United Nations Security Council. France, which voted for the resolution on Dec. 30, was reacting on Jan. 6 to the announcement made two days earlier by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he would soon resubmit the resolution, Reuters reported. The resolution before the 15-nation council came up one vote short of the necessary nine needed for passage. “While we think the Palestinians have the right to move the status quo, at the same time there has to be an effort to find a consensus solution,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters, according to Reuters. “Once you set this cycle off, you get results that you don’t want one way or another.” Fabius indicated that France likely would vote for a new Palestinian resolution provided the wording remains basically the same. Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned Patrick Maisonnave, France’s ambassador to Israel, on Jan. 2 to explain his country’s vote.
Quick Reference Guide to
Planned Giving
Use this planned giving quick reference guide to help determine the best strategy for achieving your philanthropic and financial goals. For more information or to discuss these planned giving options, please contact Mark Silverberg, Executive Director, Jewish Federation of NEPA, 570-961-2300 (x1) or mark.silverberg@jewishnepa.org.
If Your Goal is to:
Then You Can:
Your Benefits May Include:
Make a quick & easy gift Simply write a check now
An income tax deduction and immediate charitable impact
Avoid tax on capital gains
A charitable deduction plus no capital gains tax
Contribute long-term appreciated stock or other securities
Defer a gift until after your lifetime Put a bequest in your will Exemption from federal estate tax on (gifts of cash, specific property, or donations a share or the residue of your estate Receive guaranteed fixed Create a charitable gift annuity income that is partially tax-free
Current & future savings on income taxes, plus fixed, stable payments
Avoid capital gains tax on the sale of a home or other real estate
Donate the real estate or sell it to a charity at a bargain price
An income tax reduction plus reduction or elimination of capital gains tax
Avoid the two-fold taxation on IRA or other employee benefit plans
Name a charity as the beneficiary of the remainder of the retirement assets after your lifetime
Tax relief to your family on inherited assets
Give your personal residence or farm, but retain life use
Create a charitable gift of future interest, called a retained life estate
Tax advantages plus use of the property
Make a large gift with little cost to you
Contribute a life insurance policy you no longer need or purchase a new one & designate a charity as the owner
Current & possible future income tax deductions
Receive secure, fixed income for life while avoiding market risks
Purchase a charitable gift annuity or create a charitable remainder annuity trust
Tax advantages & possible increased rate of return
Give income from an asset for a Create a charitable lead trust period of years but retain the asset for yourself or your heirs
Federal estate tax savings on asset & income tax deductions for deductions for donated income
Create a hedge against inflation Create a charitable remainder unitrust over the long term
Variable payments for life plus tax advantages
Make a revocable gift during your Name a charity as the beneficiary Full control of the trust terms during lifetime of assets in a living trust your lifetime
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THE REPORTER ■ january 15, 2015