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Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania JANUARY 17, 2013
VOLUME XI, NUMBER 2
Ahead of March deadline, Jewish groups bracing for sequester cuts By Gil Shefler NEW YORK (JTA) – A pregnant Darfuri woman at a refugee camp in Chad, a Latino senior citizen living below the poverty line in the Bronx and an elderly Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union living in Boston. They may not know it, but these individuals are all beneficiaries of programs run by Jewish organizations with public money. And if Congress can’t reach a deal to avoid the so-called sequester by Friday, March 1, many of these programs could be severely scaled back – if not terminated. “Both our international and national work can be impacted,” said Mark Hetfield, the interim president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which provides medical kits to mothers of newborn children in Chad, among other services. “It could cause some really serious cuts to the programs, but we have still no idea what they might be.” HIAS is among the dozens of Jewish
organizations grappling with the potential loss of federal funds from the so-called sequester, a measure adopted by the U.S. Congress last year to force itself to confront a hemorrhaging national debt and return the country to sound fiscal footing. Unless a budget compromise could be found, draconian across-the-board cutbacks of 8.5 percent were to have automatically taken effect on January 1. The impact of those cuts was designed to be so devastatingly painful that Congress would in effect force its own hand. Despite the self-imposed deadline, however, intense negotiations failed to produce the desired outcome. In late December, Congress agreed to raise new revenue by increasing taxes on affluent Americans, but put off decisions on spending cuts. The lawmakers also pushed the sequester deadline back to March 1. As the new deadline nears, some Jewish
Snow in Jerusalem
Young Israelis played in the snow, with the snowy Jerusalem neighborhood Mishkenot Sha'ananim in the background, on January 10. See page 9 for story and more photos. (Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90/JTA)
organizations are preparing for the worst, identifying non-essential services to be axed while lobbying federal officials to protect vital programs. Hetfield says HIAS’ most vulnerable operations are in Ecuador, where the agency helps refugees who fled fighting between government and rebel forces in Colombia, and Chad, where it provides aid to refugees from Sudan’s neighboring war-torn Darfur province. “These are programs I think will be targeted more deeply because they are not emergency refugee maintenance programs,” Hetfield said. “But cutting a program might create an emergency.” Other HIAS operations, such as the agency’s refugee resettlement program, also are in limbo. Robert Marmor, executive director of HIAS’ Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, says his staff recently helped an Iraqi mother and her three daughters file a request for reunification with the family’s father. The successful completion of that process would depend on continued funding from the federal government. “The worst-case scenario would mean no new refugees,” Marmor said, “and that would be the worst, especially for families that are waiting for relatives.” Budget cuts have forced Valeriya Beloshkurenko, the director of the Met Council’s Home Services Department in New York, to let more than half her staff go in the past two years. Approximately 50 percent of her remaining budget comes directly from the federal government, and the other 50 percent that comes from city and state sources is at risk, too. Beloshkurenko manages a team of three handymen who help low-income seniors with everyday home maintenance tasks throughout New York City – things such as installing door knobs and locks, changing light bulbs, putting grab bars in bathrooms and opening clogged drains. “When our team shows up the people we help, whether they are Latinos in the South Bronx or Russian Jews in Brighton Beach, are so grateful,” Beloshkurenko said. “I cannot tell you how many thank you letters we receive.”
Annual Theme Night Supper to be held at Scranton Hebrew Day School The Scranton Hebrew Day School Women’s League will hold its annual Theme Night Supper and a drawing for a trip to Israel on Tuesday, January 29, from 5:30-7 pm, at the school. Shanie Davidson is chairwoman of this year’s dinner, whose theme will be an “All You Can Eat Pasta” bar. The dinner will include a choice of chicken soup or minestrone; a main dish of chicken or meatballs; a side dish of pasta and vegetables; and dessert. The pasta bar will include a variety of shapes and types, including
whole wheat, low-carb and more, with a choice of sauces. The drawing for a trip to Israel and a second prize, a $100 Israel Bond, will be held at 7 pm. Tickets cost $10 each or three for $25, and may be purchased by calling the school office at 346-1576. For more information
and reservations, call the school. A donation to the Federation’s United Jewish Campaign helps the Scranton Hebrew Day School to fund programs such as the Theme Night Supper. To find out more about ways to personally make a difference, visit www.jewishnepa.org.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE In Israel
Susan Rack, the director of Covenant House, a B’nai B’rith-run home in Boston for the elderly, has a staff of 10 nurses and maintenance workers caring for more than 300 tenants, mostly Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Although the home is in relatively good financial standing thanks to a recently awarded $3 million grant, the current cutbacks might force Rack to reduce salary costs. “Do we do it by cutting everybody’s hours or by cutting one person?” she said. “I’m not sure.” B’nai B’rith runs 38 such homes across the United States and their directors are likely to face similar dilemmas if federal spending on the elderly is cut. “If the sequester were to go into effect two months from now, that could affect our ability to serve residents we already have as well as bring new residents,” said Rachel Goldberg, B’nai B’rith’s director of aging policy. In the buildup to the March 1 deadline, B’nai B’rith, the Jewish Federations of North America and many other Jewish groups are lobbying lawmakers in a bid to blunt reductions. In those efforts, Goldberg said, they have found friends and foes on both sides of the aisle. “At this point, parties themselves have pretty interesting patterns within their caucuses,” she said. “We’ve seen within the Republican Party there were disagreements. We’ve walked into Democratic offices and found less friendliness than expected and the other way around.” When approaching politicians, Goldberg says, the most important thing to stress is that “spending cuts do not fall disproportionately on low-income citizens and elderly-spending programs.”
Jewish film notes
Saving Yiddish
Candle lighting January 18.......................................4:44 pm January 25.......................................4:52 pm February 1....................................... 5:01 pm
Israel is celebrating education Two films look at the legacy of Jew- A look at Aaron Lansky, who PLUS gains; Golda Meir’s chicken soup ish boxing and the journey of “Hava founded the Yiddish Book Center to Opinion...........................................................2 recipe is declassified; and more. Nagila” from shetl to cliché. help save the Yiddish language. Jewish Community Center News............6 Stories on page 4 Stories on page 12 Story on page 15 D’var Torah...................................................8
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013
a matter of opinion German law won’t stop debate on ritual circumcision By Deidre Berger (JTA) – German parliament passage of legislation to protect male circumcision for religious purposes occurred, coincidentally, during Chanukah. The holiday celebrates the Jewish uprising against the Syrian Greeks more than two millennia ago. It was a revolt triggered by religious persecution, including punishment by death for performing circumcisions. By contrast, at no time in the 1,700year history of Jews in Germany has the practice been forbidden – not even by Hitler – despite repeated attempts, particularly during the post-French Revolution era of emancipation. What a shock, therefore, when a court in Cologne last May determined criminal liability for those who perform circumcisions without medical indication on children below the age of consent. Following the ruling, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle affirmed religious circumcision in Germany. The German parliament vowed to pass legislation intended to quell the legal uncertainties stirred up by the Cologne ruling. Despite this swift political response, public controversy ensued. Secular humanists, anti-abortionists, human rights activists and medical and legal professionals vociferously demanded a ban on circumcision. Their well-financed campaign included newspaper ads, Op-Eds, letters to the editor and cartoons mocking practitioners of circumcision. Using a
body of flawed evidence, opponents alleged that circumcision is a high-risk and irreversible procedure, intimating that Jews and Muslims cause irreparable harm to their children. The depiction of Jews and Muslims as societal outcasts with primitive practices, not surprisingly, unleashed crude antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiments in hate mail, reader’s comments and the Internet. Parliamentarians were bombarded with antisemitic hate mail on circumcision. Ostensibly respectable German groups devoted to public health, some of them doctors’ organizations, cited alleged clinical proof that circumcision endangers a boy’s health, interferes with his later sexual functioning and causes long-term psychological damage. Interestingly, the anti-circumcision groups dismiss U.S. data claiming that circumcision is an “industry” with American pediatricians earning enormous profits by performing unnecessary circumcisions. Accusations behind closed doors are that American medicine is in the hands of profitgreedy Jews. These and other spurious assertions were refuted categorically in an AJC Berlin Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations report that was praised by Merkel and numerous members of parliament and government. In fact, there is ample evidence that circumcision has no deleterious effects
and may even lessen the odds of contracting HIV and other diseases. Both the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend circumcision on health grounds. Israel, a country with well-documented records on circumcision, reported complication rates in 2011 of less than a tenth of 1 percent. Given the overwhelming body of evidence, the question arises as to why Germany came so perilously close to becoming the first country to ban circumcision for religious purposes? What made German leaders and the German public susceptible to arguments of a small, vocal group of opponents? The spread of secularism and anticlericalism is one element. Another is that post-war Germany, whose historic identity is being challenged by a growing minority population, is searching for its role in an expanding Europe. Perceived threats within and without its borders prompt some to clamber to traditional German ways; antisemitic and racist stereotypes flourish in such discussions. Although Jews have been part of German life for nearly 2,000 years, this debate revealed the degree to which the Jewish minority is understood by many as “the other,” with demands that Jewish rituals be reformed to an allegedly more modern era. Interestingly, even though there are four million Muslims in Germany
and approximately 250,000 Jews, the controversy focused mostly on Jews, revealing the continued discomfort with the subject of Jews in Germany nearly 70 years after the Holocaust. There were even twisted attempts to posit opposition to circumcision as a human rights issue based on the lessons of the Holocaust. Could it be an attempt to hide behind the discourse of human rights as a way to avoid confronting responsibility for the Holocaust? In the end, the Bundestag remained true to democratic values and affirmed the religious rights of minorities – exactly the message of the Chanukah holiday. If there is a silver lining in this unfortunate debate, it was – as pointed out by several lawmakers during parliamentary deliberations – an opportunity to learn more about Jewish and Muslim practices. Nonetheless, circumcision opponents are likely to challenge the legislation. A German parliamentarian has vowed to bring her fight against circumcision to the Council of Europe. Countering fears and perceived threats to national and religious identity will remain a challenge on a continent facing historic challenges of expansion and integration. Debate over circumcision, a test of democracy and religious tolerance, is likely to continue in Europe. Deidre Berger is director of the American Jewish Committee’s Berlin Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations.
Time to adopt a healthier lifestyle “ The Reporter” (USPS #482) is published bi-weekly by the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA 18510.
President: Jeff Rubel Executive Director: Mark Silverberg Advisory Board Chair: Margaret Sheldon 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
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
By Aliza Wadler Solomon (JTA) – As we become a society of couch potatoes, our health declines. Americans are eating more and moving less, and unfortunately, these habits are rubbing off on our children. Food marketing has led to increased portion sizes and added sugars, salts and fats, while the advent of new technologies has had the unintended effect of decreasing physical activity. More than ever, American kids eat loads of junk food and spend much more time texting, watching television and playing video games than running around and being active. Researchers estimate that only about 20 percent of children meet basic activity level recommendations and 25 percent are completely sedentary. At the same time, the foods we eat have become larger and more calorie-dense over the past 20 years. Bagels and pizza slices are almost double the size they used to be, and certain beverage cups can now hold an entire bottle of soda. These changes in the American lifestyle have increased children’s risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many other health conditions. Indeed, children are increasingly succumbing to adult diseases – so much so that doctors have changed the term adult-onset diabetes to type II diabetes because so many children have the disease.
The Jewish community is not immune to this trend. Original research by Dr. Mendel Singer, director of the Jewish Community Health Initiative and a professor at Case Western Reserve Medical School, shows that Jewish children are almost as likely to be obese as their nonJewish counterparts. In fact, Singer found that Jewish children in certain pockets of the community are substantially more likely to be obese. Part of the reason for these troubling findings is that children who attend Jewish day schools study a joint Jewish and secular curriculum, which means 10 hours per day sitting in school, and then going home and sitting for a few more hours of homework. Physical education is often deemed less important than other subjects, so kids are sedentary for most of the time they spend in school. Moreover, in many Orthodox day schools, fitness activities are further restricted because of limitations on coed exercise. Unfortunately, Jewish adults are not doing any better. We have a food-centric culture in which the highlight of each week is often an elaborate Shabbat meal that is rich in fat and calories and can last late into the night – it’s like having Thanksgiving dinner every week. We justify these meals by saying things like “calories don’t count on Shabbat,” but it’s time that we become honest with
Letters to the editor 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.
ourselves. As a community, we like to cook and eat, but we don’t like to exercise very much. The average Jewish family is more likely to eat a lavish meal together than go for a walk or kick around a soccer ball. Parents should set an example for their kids by adopting healthy lifestyles for themselves. This means more fruits and vegetables, less oil, salt and sugar, and a far more active lifestyle. Instead of watching television as a family, parents should encourage walking, hiking and other healthy activities. At the same time, our Jewish day schools should recognize that physical activity is just as important as Hebrew and algebra, and should modify their curriculums to make physical activity a major part of the day. This can be as simple as creating a schedule that makes children walk across the school to get from one class to another, or shortening every period by a few minutes to make more time for organized physical activity. Schools also might consider bringing in professional dieticians and exercise instructors to teach children about exercising at home and making smart food choices. Summer camps are also great places for children not only to be active, but to learn how to lead a healthy lifestyle at home. It’s up to all of us to make sure that today’s Jewish children grow up to be tomorrow’s healthy adults. Aliza Wadler Solomon, a graduate student in public health, is working closely with Camp Zeke, a new Jewish overnight camp that immerses kids in pure foods, fitness activities and culinary arts.
JANUARY 17, 2013 ■
THE REPORTER
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community news Organizers stand behind series with a “money-back guarantee”
Scranton JCC and Jewish Discovery Center to offer Hebrew reading course plained, “As we grow from youth into By Chaim Davidson adulthood, learning a new language The four-part CAP IT!® program that requires memorizing new shapes “Learn to Read Hebrew” will be ofand sounds presents more of a chalfered on four Thursdays, starting on lenge. This system can teach anyone February 14, at the Scranton JCC and to read Hebrew because it uses symbol at the Jewish Discovery Center in the imagery – every sound is tied to an Abingtons. Organizers of the class easily-identifiable image, so not only have guaranteed that “it will work.” is it easy, it’s actually fun!” The Hebrew Reading Series will be Dan Cardonick, executive direcheld Thursdays, February 14, 21 and tor of the Jewish Community Center, 28, and March 7, at 1 pm, at the Jewish Discovery Center and at 5:30 pm at the Each CAP IT!® kit includes a full-color was reportedly “very enthusiastic” Scranton JCC. The instructor will be workbook, a progress chart, educational about the CAP IT! system for learning Hebrew. “Hebrew education is more Rabbi Benny Rapoport. The program toys, flash cards and more. effective when it’s an experience,” he will cost $149, which includes a CAP said. “CAP IT! will give students an experiential education IT! Reading Kit. For JCC members or the Chai Club, the like no other. You’ll learn Hebrew in ways that you would class will cost $99. According to Rapoport, the program works because it never imagine and gain a faster knowledge!” A representative from CAP IT! explained, “While most teaches sounds using “a unique system of visuals.” He ex-
B’nai B’rith hosts Americanism Award Selections Committee meeting Amos Lodge #136 of B’nai B’rith recently hosted the Americanism Award Selections Committee meeting on December 20 at the Radisson Hotel. The Selections Committee is comprised of past recipients of the award and representatives of many community organizations, including the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, Scranton Jaycees, Scranton Area Foundation, UNICO, United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, the Scranton Rotary
learning methods are linear, catering to only one kind of learner, CAP IT! caters to all kinds of learners (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.), engaging their mind, heart and gut instinct, thus involving all three centers of the human personality.” The CAP IT! program’s Tactile Visual Mnemonics™ allows students to match images and sounds to letters, a sensory-cognitive function essential for visualizing symbols and establishing sound-to-symbol correspondence. “This See “Hebrew” on page 4
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Club, Lions Club and Amos Lodge officers. The award is presented annually to an individual in recognition of his or her lifetime of community service. The 61st annual Americanism Award Dinner will be held on Sunday, May 19, at the Scranton Jewish Community Center. The 2013 award recipient will be announced in March. For more information, call Richard Bishop at 3468414 or Edward Monsky at 343-1197.
At right: B’nai B’rith hosted the Americanism Award Selections Committee meeting on December 20. Seated (l-r): Monsignor Constantine Siconolfi, William J Nealon, Jeanne Bovard, Joyce Tressler, Mary Lou Burne and Sondra G Myers. Standing: Harold Thorpe, Morey M. Myers, Richard S. Bishop, Ray Angeli, David Tressler, James McLaughlin, Austin Burke and Dr. James Burne.
Members of service organizations posed for a group photo. Seated (l-r): Elizabeth Shechner, Scranton Jaycees; Laura Ducchesi, Scranton Area Foundation; Paula Rochon, Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce; and Karen Clifford, UNICO. Standing: Donald G. Douglass, Amos Lodge; Karl Pfeiffenberger, Lions Club; David I. Fallk, Amos Lodge; Robert Yanover, Amos Lodge; Richard S. Bishop, Amos Lodge; Dan Cardonick, Jewish Community Center; Gary Drapek, United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties; Jeff McLaughlin, Scranton Rotary Club; and Edward Monsky, Amos Lodge.
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Thursday, January 17........................ January 31 Thursday, January 31...................... February 14 Thursday, February 14.................... February 28 Thursday, February 28........................ March 14
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013
News from around Isr ael Israel under the radar
Chicken soup, horse-drawn carriages and more by MARCY OSTER JERUSALEM (JTA) – Here are some stories from Israel that you may have missed: Golda’s chicken soup recipe a secret no longer Golda Meir’s chicken soup recipe was declassified. The Israel State Archives released the late prime minister’s recipe, which was typed in English on a Foreign Ministry letterhead. The upper left-hand corner of the page reads “Incoming Cable – Classified,” which the state archives says is an optical illusion – someone copied the chicken soup document along with an unrelated one behind it in the file. “Boil the chicken with parsley, celery, cut-up carrots, peeled onion, salt, pepper a pinch of paprika until the chicken is tender,” the recipe begins, with no quantities listed. According to the archives, Meir hosted her closest allies for important discussions in her kitchen. Whether they got to taste her chicken soup is unknown. Hold your horses... and donkeys The not-so-unusual sight of horses and donkeys hauling items on some Israeli streets and highways may soon be a thing of the past. Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz has agreed to push for a nationwide ban on the practice, which has led to the mistreatment of the animals. Israel would be the first country to impose such a nationwide ban. The Ministry of Transportation’s new regulations, which are awaiting approval by the finance minister, were suggested by Hakol Chai, or Everything Lives, the Israeli
Hebrew
ensures accurate reading and self-correction,” the representative noted. “The patented Tactile Visual Mnemonics™ system provides symbol imagery, giving the student a hold on all the Hebrew sounds, both consonants and vowels. Students literally hold the ‘sound’ in their hand. The system then provides logical and comprehensive explanation of the structure of the Hebrew language.”
sister charity of the U.S.-based Concern for Helping Animals in Israel, or CHAI, which is part of the International Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages. The animals typically haul furniture, scrap metal, rocks from construction sites, heavy produce such as watermelons to market and old clothing. All the world’s a stage – including the no smoking sign Snuff out those cigarettes on stage. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in a classaction lawsuit led by a frequent theatergoer that the strict no smoking laws here also must be observed on stage in order to protect the public health. The right to health takes precedence over the right to freedom of expression, according to the court. The suit was brought against the Haifa Municipal Theater over popular actress Orly Zilbershatz-Banai’s smoking during a 5 1/2-minute monologue during the play “Hamakom Mimenu Bati,” The Jerusalem Post reported. A photo of Zilbershatz-Banai during the smoking scene was featured in an announcement for the play on the theater’s website. The theater said it should be exempt from observing the no-smoking rule due to “freedom of expression.” While the court sided with the complainants, it did not issue a fine to the theater. Her life is a winner at Poetry Slam Charity, breastfeeding and couplehood were among the subjects of the winning entry at the popular Poetry Slam competition in Tel Aviv. Zvia Margaliot, an Orthodox Jewish woman from Jerusalem, won the See “Radar” on page 8
Continued from page 3 Space for the series will be limited to 10 students per course. To register, call the JCC at 346-6595 or the Jewish Discovery Center at 587-3300. For more information, visit www.jewishnepa.com. Adonation to the Federation’s United Jewish Campaign helps the JCC and Jewish Discovery Center to fund programs such as this. To find out more about ways to personally make a difference, visit www.jewishnepa.org.
Israel celebrates education gains, but challenges remain By Ben Sales HOLON, Israel (JTA) – Just before 1 o’clock on a sunny afternoon, students streamed out of the Amirim Public School and headed for home. But for their teachers, the workday was far from over. Some would stay late to attend faculty meetings and prepare upcoming lessons. Others would help small groups of students in subjects like math and science, Hebrew and English. The extended hours are but one aspect of sweeping changes instituted by the Israeli Ministry of Education in 2009 after the country’s students posted disappointing results in several international achievement tests in 2006 and 2007. Israeli fourth-graders had ranked 24th among some 60 countries in math, while eighth-graders came in 25th in science and 31st in reading comprehension. In an effort to improve performance, the Education Ministry urged teachers to focus their classes on the international tests and develop precise lesson plans and curriculums. The education budget was upped by hundreds of millions of dollars – $100 million more was allocated in 2012 alone – and teachers were compensated for lesson planning time and teaching small-group enrichment classes. “I’m happy that we have these resources,” said Orly Bahat, Amirim’s principal. “We never had a situation where, when the kids went home, we could stay here and they would pay us. The kids got this new help.” The results have been significant, both across Israel and at Amirim. In 2011, Israeli fourth-graders had improved to seventh place in the math section of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study test given to students in approximately 60 countries including the United States, China and several European countries. Eighth-graders came in 13th on the science portion of the test. Israelis also finished 18th in the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which tested students in about 40 countries. At Amirim, students taking the math test moved up from an average grade of 64
percent in 2007 to 80 percent, placing them in the top 10 percent of Israeli schools. Its students also moved into the top fifth of Israeli students in Hebrew, an improvement of 10 percentile points. “We had a clear measurable goal; every teacher and every employee knew what was expected of them,” said Dalit Shtauber, the director-general of the Education Ministry. “We [previously] talked about process and we [moved] to an emphasis on results at every level, from the general staff through individual schools.” The improvement in test scores paints only a partial picture, at best, of Israeli education. Low-income students performed far worse than wealthier ones. Arabs lagged behind both Israeli Jews and the international average in math and reading. Class size in Israel, which is about 50 percent higher than the U.S. average of 24 students, remains a cause for concern. Haredi Orthodox students, who don’t learn the country’s core curriculum, did not take the test and thus were not factored into Israel’s averages. Shtauber says that test scores in all socioeconomic sectors have improved since 2007, though the Education Ministry’s statistics show the gap in scores between rich and poor had shrunk only slightly in that period and have widened on the reading comprehension test. But on the whole, the improvements have been dramatic. And Israeli teachers, who initially opposed the increased demands on their time, seem to have come around. “We know what’s expected and we’re very precise,” said Orly Barel, a Hebrew teacher at Amirim who described the initial reaction of her colleagues as “antagonistic” to the new requirements. Teachers are now expected to work longer hours and they bemoan the size of Israeli class sizes, which range from 32 to 40 students per class. And like teachers in other countries where standardized testing has been made a crucial part of accountability in education, they resisted infringement on See “Education” on page 6
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Orly Bahat, center, principal of the Amirim Elementary school, sat with six of her teachers during a faculty meeting. (Photo by Ben Sales)
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JANUARY 17, 2013 ■
THE REPORTER
Can Natan Sharansky fix the Western Wall? By Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA) – He brought unprecedented attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. He stood up to the KGB. He survived nine years in Siberia. He served in Israel’s fractious government. Now, Natan Sharansky is facing his next challenge: finding a solution to the growing battle over women’s prayer restrictions at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. In recent months, Diaspora Jewish activists have grown increasingly incensed by the arrests and detention of women seeking to pray publicly at the site in keeping with their religious practices, but in violation of the rules of the wall under which women may not sing aloud, wear tallit (prayer shawls) or read from the Torah. The controversy threatens to drive a wedge between Diaspora Jewry, where egalitarian prayer is common, and Israel, which has upheld Orthodox rules at the wall, also known as the Kotel. American Jewish leaders in the United States say the rules alienate Reform and Conservative Jews. Within Israel, too, the wall has become a flashpoint for nonOrthodox religious activists and the Kotel’s haredi Orthodox leadership. Two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, to look into the controversy and propose solutions. The question is whether the former refusenik leader and human rights advocate can resolve a dispute that pits Jew against Jew. “Will it happen through Sharansky?” asked Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, a group that organizes monthly women’s services at the Kotel. “That I doubt, but I’m willing to give him a chance. Sharansky will understand how much traction this issue has.” Hoffman was arrested in October for wearing a tallit at
Men prayed in November at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site and the center of an escalating battle over women’s prayer restrictions. (Photo by Ben Sales) the site, and several more of the group’s members have been detained at subsequent services. Sharansky declined to comment on the issue until he gives his recommendations, but activists on both sides of the issue say the gaps between the site’s leadership and pluralism advocates may be too wide for Sharansky to bridge. Shmuel Rabinowitz, the wall’s chief rabbi, would like to maintain the status quo, where men and women are separated by a partition and only men may wear tallit and tefillin, and convene a minyan (prayer quorum) with Torah reading. Hoffman and her allies have proposed alternatives that involve the religious streams sharing time
and space in the Kotel Plaza, with each praying according to its own precepts. Hoffman says her minimum demand is for women to receive one hour at the beginning of every Jewish month – excluding Rosh Hashanah – when they can pray as a group with tallit and tefillin, and read the Torah. Ideally, Hoffman says she would want the Kotel’s partition between men and women to be removed for several hours each day so that women and egalitarian groups can pray there undisturbed, but she acknowledges that such a scenario has virtually no chance of being approved by Rabinowitz. Other activists say the solution lies in adding a partition rather than removing
one. Yizhar Hess, the CEO and executive director of the Israeli Conservative movement, Masorti, advocates dividing the Kotel Plaza into three sections: one for men, one for women and one for egalitarian groups. Hess also told JTA that he would like to see the rear section of the plaza opened to cultural activities such as concerts and dancing, which are prohibited now. “There are many egalitarian groups who come to the wall and view it as the peak of their emotional and spiritual experience in Israel,” said Uri Regev, a Reform rabbi who runs Hiddush, an Israeli religious pluralism nonprofit. “The fact that they can’t express that spiritual experience in a spiritual way is a missed opportunity.” According to a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, non-Orthodox and women’s prayer groups can pray at Robinson’s Arch, an archaeological park adjacent to the Kotel Plaza where an admission fee is required. Regev suggested that Sharansky may recommend improvements to Robinson’s Arch, including an expanded prayer area and free admission for prayer groups. That may be the maximum compromise that Rabinowitz would make. “I think what’s happening today at the Kotel is the best for all viewpoints of the world,” Rabinowitz told JTA. “No one gets exactly what they want – not haredim and not Women of the Wall. If someone thinks they can bring something better, I’d love to hear it.” Rabinowitz declined to comment on time- or space-sharing proposals. Meanwhile, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which controls the Kotel, announced recently that women are no longer allowed to bring tallit or tefillin into the Kotel Plaza. The Prime Minister’s Office, one official there told JTA, hopes Sharansky will bring See “Wall” on page 7
Sign up today! The Jewish Federation is proud to give a helping hand to the businesses, business professionals, and non-profit organizations of NEPA during these difficult economic times by creating the NEPA Jewish Federation Business & Trade Alliance.
It will allow people from Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Wayne and Pike counties 24/7 access to: . Exchange Business Leads . Promote your Business . Develop Critical Business Skills and Solutions
. Post Job Opportunities and Receive Resumes . Increase Search Engine Optimization . Socialize and Network with Other Successful Business people
Sign up for membership at http://JewishNepaBTA.org If you have not yet registered your business on our new Alliance web site, please contact Mark Silverberg at 570-961-2300 (ext. 1) or mark.silverberg@jewishnepa.org with your contact person, business name, business phone number, business e-mail address, and regular business postal address to ensure further Business and Trade Alliance communications and event invitations.
Take Center Stage! Sponsorship Opportunities Available. Capture the leading role and benefits as an Event Sponsor. For more information, please call Mark Silverberg at 570-961-2300 (ext. 1). NEPA Jewish Federation Business & Trade Alliance
NEPAJFedBTA
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NEPA Jewish Federation Business & Trade Alliance in Groups
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013
jewish community center news JCC names 2013 More than 200 attended JCC’s Rosenstein Golf La Fiesta Chanukah Celebration
Tournament chairmen
The JCC has announced the chairmen for the 2013 Eugene and Dorothy Rosenstein Memorial Children’s Benefit Golf Tournament. The chairmen will be Peter Danchak and his wife, Maggie Koehler Danchak, both of whom have participated in the tournament for several years. “They are both past chairmen whose participation promises Peter Danchak to keep the fun and success of the tournament alive,” noted a JCC representative. A donation to the Federation’s United Jewish Campaign helps the JCC to fund programs such as the golf tournament. To find out more about Maggie Koehler ways to personally make a difference, visit www.jewishnepa.org. Danchak
More than 200 people attended the JCC’s annual community Chanukah celebration on December 12. The event was themed, “La Fiesta Chanukah!” Participants enjoyed a glatt kosher Mexican buffet from Carlos and Gabby’s of New York City. The event featured a performance from the Scranton Hebrew Day School Junior Choir and a juggling show by Rob Smith, also known as Rob the Juggler. There were many children’s activities, including face painting, a “dreidel-a-thon” and several crafts, such as one where children could decorate their own maracas. Adults and children also enjoyed a menorah candle lighting, Chanukah themed word puzzles and various desserts, including ices, Chanukah cookies and clementines. The JCC expressed its gratitude to all of the volunteers and staff who helped make the event “a tremendous success.” The JCC also thanked event Chairwomen Janice Cutler, Leah Laury, Alma Shaffer and Molly Rutta. A donation to the Federation’s United Jewish Campaign helps the JCC to fund programs such as this celebration. To find out more about ways to personally make a difference, visit www.jewishnepa.org.
Children enjoyed games at the JCC’s annual community Chanukah celebration on December 12.
• OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY •
Purim Fun For Everyone Sunday, February 24th • 1-4 pm at the JCC ADMISSION IS FREE
Ice cream sundaes! Hamantaschen! Basketball Mini-Golf Football Passs Tic Tac Toe
Haman Toss Ring-A-Bottle Shuffleboard Bowling Slapshot
Games, prizes & more - come in costume! Questions? Please call the JCC front desk at 346-6595, ext. 100 or 102.
Kids Yoga! Yoga, adapted for pre-school children, develops body awareness, language, good listening skills, cooperation and powers of observation. It teaches pre-school children about nature, their environment and inspires their imaginations. It prepares them for breathing techniques used in yoga. They learn by playing, singing, movingand imitating. This is an ideal time for children to begin a yoga practice. Yoga with school aged children balances quiet and active poses with game playing, singing, storytelling, drawing, simple breath meditations and rest. Children can easily follow the teacher’s instruction’s by learning the names of different body parts, their locations and function. As children learn the names of the postures and movements, they develop a yoga vocabulary. They can use their yoga poses to play games, take on the qualities of different animals or use their imaginations to make up stories about animals on a farm, climbing a mountain or trekking through a jungle. They can each assume the role of leader and teach their classmates a yoga posture or breathing exercise. Their yoga improves very quickly. Pre-teens learn about anatomy and physiology in greater depth. We discuss how muscles and joints allow bones to move; how yoga and meditation affect digestion, immune and neurological functions and the nervous and glandular systems; how yoga and meditation can help them study for exams and cope with the stress and pressures of daily life. The classes are physically challenging and provide a complete workout for young bodies.
Ages 4 - 12 Mondays, 5-5:45pm Continuing in January and February Location: Activity Room, JCC Scranton Free to members/$5 Drop In Fee for Non-Members Led by Mindy Hill
The crowd in attendance at the festival on December 12 watched children perform.
Education
Continued from page 4 their classroom autonomy. “The teachers need to adjust themselves to the system,” said Ran Erez, who heads Israel’s high school teachers union. “If you’re teaching one way for 20 years and they say to do it differently, it’s hard.” The funding increases also have allowed schools to hire more teachers to teach specific subjects, as opposed to having one teacher teach several subjects. “It’s just like when you break a leg, you go to an orthopedist, not a general practitioner,” Bahat said. “Parents and kids know they have expert teachers.” The chairwoman of Amirim’s Parents’ Committee, Nava Levy, says the additional resources have led students to perform better. “A lot of things have changed,” she said. “Now the teachers help kids more, listen to parents better. They help us help our kids at home.” Amirim is one of Israel’s luckier schools, located in an upper-middle class neighborhood of Holon, a city of 184,000 south of Tel Aviv. The ministry hopes to close the achievement gaps between schools like Amirim and those in lower income areas in part by reducing class sizes and providing students more opportunities for small-group learning. Teachers who choose to work in low-income towns also receive financial incentives. But Shtauber says the ministry “can’t solve the whole problem” of economic inequality. “If a kid comes from a good home, he has a computer, his parents read,” Bahat said. “Parents with no time or money, their kids come from a tough background. Their upbringing isn’t the same.”
JANUARY 17, 2013 ■
THE REPORTER
At London charity, Orthodox Jews are helping wider community with job placement By Miriam Shaviv LONDON (JTA) – Shraga Zaltzman has spent years building up his network of business contacts. So when a young man stepped into his London office last month looking for a job, despite having a relatively empty resume, Zaltzman was able to help. Noticing that the man had taken a three-week course in invoice discounting, Zaltzman phoned a senior executive at General Electric. Within three days, the man had a meeting and an unpaid internship in their invoicing department. “Now he will have GE on his CV and if he does well, they won’t let him go,” Zaltzman said. “The network is everything.” Zaltzman is an unusual business mentor. Like his six colleagues at TrainE-TraidE, a rapidly growing Jewish charity that helps Jews find employment and build businesses, he is haredi Orthodox. Many of those he serves are not. In Israel, getting haredi Jews into the workplace is a pressing issue for the secular majority, which has grown concerned about the community’s drag on the national economy. But in Zaltzman’s organization the situation is often reversed, with the haredi staff shepherding hundreds of secular Jews into employment. “I don’t see it as an irony,” said Zaltzman, 36, the group’s managing director. “I’ve never viewed the Jewish community as ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ A significant part of the problem is that people pigeonhole each other too much. If we work together, it doesn’t make any difference.” TrainE was set up in 2006 to provide vocational training specifically to Orthodox women. A registered charity, the organization does not charge for most of its services and the companies that hire its clients are asked only to make a donation. In 2007, founding trustee Mark Morris brought in Zaltzman, a South Africa native who was educated at the prestigious Gateshead and Mir yeshivas who earned his master’s degree in business from Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. At the time, Zaltzman was working as business development manager for a multinational distributor of telecommunications equipment. TrainE was appealing, he says, because he had always believed that “the highest level of tzedakah, or charity, is helping people to help themselves.” He soon decided to broaden the charity’s target clientele. “The idea that all the need is in the Orthodox community is a misconception,” he said. “People think that all Jews are well connected and affluent, and it’s not true. It’s not all as green and leafy as people think.” Zaltzman aims to help clients find a job in which they can make a living, as opposed to a typical recruitment agency that serves the needs of its business clients. TrainE’s main services include career advice, resume writing and interview skills, arranging job placements and networking opportunities. The organization also runs a student internship program and a business incubation project. In 2011, it served 1,700 clients, up from 730 in 2009. While demand has certainly increased due to the economic crisis, Zaltzman emphasizes that his is not a “recession business.” “We started in 2006 when money seemed to be abundant,” he said. “People will always need these services.” One such group is new university graduates, who in the United Kingdom face an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, compared to a general unemployment rate of 7.8 percent. Together with the Union of Jewish Students, TrainE last year placed 86 students in internships across 54 companies ranging from multinationals to small firms. “There is a
A Google representative met students at TrainE-TraidE's career networking event in April 2012. (Photo by Daniel Morris photography) lost generation of 18- to 25-year-olds who don’t get the work experience and opportunities they need,” said Martin Leuw, a British businessman named Ernst and Young’s
Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 and a strategic adviser to TrainE. “Shraga and his team are fantastic for this age group and beyond.” A Reform Jew, Leuw said he was very aware of Zaltzman’s religious affiliation, but that only made his work more appealing. “They have a really broad perspective on what is needed for the whole community, and it’s refreshing,” Leuw said. Approximately 80 percent of the students in the internship program are not religious. They are, like Josh Fraser, looking for an advantage in a competitive job market. Fraser, 21, who studies history and international politics at the University of Nottingham, said TrainE put him through a mock interview that was “brutal.” But the experience helped him find a place at the Jewish National Fund designing newsletters. Subsequently the organization helped him secure a part-time job running a social media campaign for a leadership training company. See “London” on page 10
Wall
Continued from page 5 to bear his “unique experience and abilities in serving as a bridge for all streams within the Jewish people” as he approaches the problem. One potential bridge between Rabinowitz and Hoffman are Modern Orthodox rabbis who believe both in Orthodoxy and pluralism. The Kotel “is a holy place, but needs to belong to all of Israel,” said Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, who co-founded the Modern Orthodox rabbis’ organization Tzohar. Cherlow says he isn’t throwing his backing behind any particular solution, but that a time-sharing arrangement may work. Daniel Goldman, chairman of the religious-secular nonprofit Gesher, says the only way to reach a compromise is to find figures who occupy middle ground who can foster some sort of accord. “If Natan Sharansky could broaden the people involved in that debate beyond Rabbi Rabinowitz and Women of the Wall, it’s possible to use this issue to create a more constructive dialogue,” Goldman said. “If you get Anat Hoffman and Rabbi Rabinowitz in a room, it’s quite obvious and clear that there will be no compromise solution.”
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 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.
BETH SHALOM CONGREGATION
Rabbi Yisroel Brotsky 1025 Vine St., Scranton, PA 18510, (corner of Vine & Clay Ave.) 570-346-0502 • fax: 570-346-8800 Weekday – Shacharit: Sun 8 am; Mon, Thurs. & Rosh Chodesh, 6:30 am; Tue, Wed & Fri, 6:45 am; Sat & Holidays, 8:45 am. Mincha during the week is approx. 10 minutes before sunset, followed by Maariv.
BICHOR CHOLEM CONGREGATION/ CHABAD OF THE ABINGTONS Rabbi Benny Rapoport President: Richard I. Schwartz 216 Miller Road, Waverly, PA 18471 570-587-3300 • Website: www.JewishNEPA.com Saturday morning Shabbat Service 9:30 am. Call or visit us online for our bi-weekly schedule
CHABAD LUBAVITCH OF THE POCONOS Rabbi Mendel Bendet 570-420-8655 • Website: www.chabadpoconos.com Please contact us for schedules and locations.
CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL
Affiliation: Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Allan L. Smith President: Henry M. Skier Contact Person: Ben Schnessel, Esq. (570) 222-3020 615 Court Street, Honesdale, PA 18431 570-253-2222 • fax: 570-226-1105
CONGREGATION B’NAI HARIM
Affiliation: Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum President: Phyllis Miller P.O. Box 757 Sullivan Rd., Pocono Pines, PA 18350 (located at RT 940 and Pocono Crest Rd at Sullivan Trail 570-646-0100 • Website: www.bnaiharimpoconos.org Shabbat Morning Services, 10 am – noon; every other Saturday Potluck Shabbat Dinner with blessings and program of varying topics, one Friday every month – call for schedule.
JEWISH FELLOWSHIP OF HEMLOCK FARMS
Rabbi Steve Nathan President: Steve Natt Forest Drive 1516 Hemlock Farms, Lords Valley, PA 18428 570-775-7497 • E-Mail: jfhf@enter.net Friday evening Shabbat service 7:30 pm, Saturday morning Shabbat Service 9:30 am.
MACHZIKEH HADAS SYNAGOGUE Rabbi Mordechai Fine President: Dr. Shaya Barax 600 Monroe Ave., Scranton, PA 18510 570-342-6271
OHEV ZEDEK CONGREGATION
Rabbi Mordechai Fine 1432 Mulberry St, Scranton, PA 18510 Contact person: Michael Mellner - 570-343-3183
TEMPLE HESED
Union of Reform Judaism Rabbi Daniel J. Swartz President: Eric Weinberg 1 Knox Street, Scranton, PA 18505, (off Lake Scranton Rd.) 570-344-7201 Friday evening Shabbat, 8 pm; Saturday morning Shabbat, 11:15 am
TEMPLE ISRAEL OF DUNMORE
President: Isadore Steckel 515 East Drinker St., Dunmore, PA 18512 Saturday morning Shabbat 7:30 am; also services for Yizkor
TEMPLE ISRAEL OF THE POCONOS
Affiliation: United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Rabbi Baruch Melman President: Suzanne Tremper Contact person: Art Glantz 570-424-7876 711 Wallace St., Stroudsburg, PA, 18360 (one block off Rte. 191 (5th Street) at Avenue A) 570-421-8781 • Website: www.templeisraelofthepoconos.org E-Mail: tipoc@ptd.net Friday evening Shabbat, 8pm; Saturday morning Shabbat, 9 am
TEMPLE ISRAEL OF SCRANTON
Affiliation: United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism President: Michael Mardo 918 East Gibson St., Scranton, PA, 18510 (located at the corner of Gibson & Monroe Sts.) 570-342-0350 Fax: 570-342-7250 • E-Mail: tiscran@epix.net Sunday, 8 am; Mon & Thurs, 7:15 am; Tue, Wed & Fri, 7:25 am; Rosh Hodesh & Chagim weekdays, 7 am; Shabbat Morning Service, 8:45 am; evening services: Sun – Thurs, 5:45 pm; Friday Shabbat and Saturday Havdalah services, call for times.
Counting with “Jewish time” by RABBI BENNY RAPOPORT, DIRECTOR, JEWISH DISCOVERY CENTER Bo, Exodus 10:1-13:16 A story is told about a man and woman on a dinner date together. For more than two hours the gentleman talks all about his hobbies, his great accomplishments, his travels around the world and his wonderful personality. Finally, after all of this time, he looks up at her and says: “Enough of me talking about me, I’d like to know... what do you think about me?” In our Torah portion this week, the Jewish people are on the cusp of redemption. They are set to leave Egypt and journey into the desert – with the land of Israel their final destination. In Exodus, chapter 12, the Jewish people receive their first Divine commandment, the instruction to establish a lunar calendar. God instructs Moses and Aaron to command the Jews to begin counting time based on the moon’s 29.5day cycle and to no longer use the solar calendar, which was the method used by the Egyptians. Indeed, God shows Moses a vision of the moon’s silver crescent, and tells him that the Jewish months shall now be determined based on the appearance of this new moon. Thinking about this for a moment, it does seem somewhat unexpected that God would choose this particular mitzvah – important as it is – as the first to command to His people. One would expect that there would be a more fundamental law – perhaps the belief in God, rejection of idol-worship or the commandment to love one’s fellow. Why is the formulation of a new calendar the first Divine commandment? Chasidism teaches that the calendar shift from solar to lunar was meant to signal a major shift in the spiritual orientation of the Jewish people. As they were set to experience liberation from a spiritual bondage, this reorientation would prepare them to receive the Torah, the divine legacy and mandate, just seven weeks later at Mount Sinai. The commandment to adopt a new way of counting time was meant to teach them to adopt a new way of thinking, a new of way of living, a new philosophy of life. Let’s take a moment to explore ancient Egypt. A central objective of the ancient Egyptian culture was material prosperity and power. The sun represented the beneficence of nature, as it provided heat and light and promoted agricul-
Radar
event held at the trendy Tel Aviv nightclub Levontin 7. Margolit’s two original selections were “Charity Will Save From Death,” about her complex relationship with the poor of Jerusalem, and “A Third Breast,” about breastfeeding, couples and family, according to Haaretz. Margaliot, 29, studied acting and works as a tour guide in Jerusalem, according to the newspaper. She also sings and plays the guitar, but mostly for women only. School for future prophets opens A school to train new Jewish prophets opened in a gentrified neighborhood of southern Tel Aviv. The Cain and Abel School of Prophets is run by Rabbi Shmuel Portman Hapartzi, who is affiliated with Chabad-Lubavitch’s messianic stream, Ynet reported. Ten students have registered for what Hapartzi calls the basic course, according to Ynet. Prophecy historically ended with the destruction of the Second Holy Temple and is not supposed to return until the messianic age. Hapartzi told Ynet that the beginning of the messianic age has arrived and that prophecy is now permitted. The future prophets will take courses in face reading, dream interpretation and how angels communicate, and will learn how to achieve divine spirit, Ynet reported. The students may not necessarily become prophets upon completion of their course work. “It won’t just happen without a person being chosen from above,” Hapartzi said. Flocking to see “Fill the Void” – just not on Shabbat Even without Shabbat screenings, “Fill the Void” has become the most popular Israeli movie of 2012. In Israel, more than 182,000 people have seen the film – Israel’s
tural growth. The Egyptians deified the sun and developed many rituals that they believed would make the sun gods happy and ensure an uninterrupted flow of material blessings. Perhaps we can say that their relationship with the sun was like a child’s view of an ATM machine: you push the right button, out comes the cash! This same philosophy is seen in their worship of other gods: the Nile River was a deity as it irrigated their crops; the constellations were worshipped as Egyptians believed they influenced their fate; and they also deified the lamb and the zodiac sign of Aries, as the docile and subdued animal was the perfect example of trouble-free material abundance. In a sentence, the way the ancient Egyptians looked at everything was for its subsidiary benefits: “What’s in it for me?” The moon, on the other hand, represents a philosophy that symbolizes the exact opposite. The moon represents a relationship that does not seek the sun’s light for its own benefit, but only to reflect that light to a world that sits in darkness. The moon is a symbol of malchut, Kabbalah’s term for a selfless identity, one whose ultimate concern is not ones own personal needs, but rather the focus on others, the ability to see the Divine intent in creation; the Godly purpose in all of life’s blessings. By commanding the Jewish people to reorient the way they kept time, the Torah establishes a fundamental principle of what life is all about and what lies at the heart of our very purpose. God wanted to remove the notion of a self-centered existence. God sought to wean the Jewish people from expecting a relationship based on material returns and instead to value the relationship itself. As our ancestors left Egypt, God crushed the self-serving deities of the Egyptian people. He smote the Nile River and instructed the Jews to slaughter the lamb for the Passover offering. At the dawn of the Exodus, God taught the Jewish people to reject the selfish worship of the sun and instead to embrace the selfless characteristics of the moon. This week’s Torah-portion teaches us to view our material resources not as an end to itself, but as a means to end – as a means to serve God and bring perfection to all of creation. May God bless each of us all with an abundance of material blessing – and increased spiritual sensitivity.
Continued from page 4 entry in the Academy Awards’ foreign language category – though it is not shown on Friday nights and Saturdays in order to adhere to halachah, or Orthodox Jewish law. The independently distributed film was directed by Rama Burshtein, who is haredi Orthodox. The movie, about a young haredi Orthodox woman from Tel Aviv who must decide whether to marry her brother-in-law when her sister dies in childbirth, premiered in Israel in October. It won seven Ophir Awards, the Israeli equivalent of the Oscars, including best film and best director. “Fill the Void” has been sold for distribution in 15 countries, including the United States, France, Holland, Britain, Spain and Australia.
Chess is king among research projects Better living through chess – that’s the idea of an initiative to establish a project at the University of Haifa in collaboration with Boris Gelfand, an Israeli grandmaster. The Grandmaster Chess Research Project is taking shape to develop an original academic approach to the skills and culture of chess playing that its creators believe will contribute to social and scientific development. It will include research on the correlation between chess and cognitive enhancement, as well as establish an international program for training chess instructors and coaches. The project also is slated to develop the first Hebrew-language educational software program for teaching chess in schools and kindergartens. “I am sure this will make our society better,” Gelfand, the vice world chess champion, said of the project. “I know people leading in intellectual professionals who succeeded thanks to their playing chess in school and continued playing alongside their professional development.”
Jerusalem paralyzed by snowstorm
By JTA staff JERUSALEM (JTA) – Jerusalem was paralyzed as the largest snowfall in 20 years closed roads, trains and buses and schools. At least six inches of snow reportedly fell in the center of Jerusalem and more in the surrounding areas. Snow fell heavily in the north, with at least three feet dropping on Mount Hermon. Route 1, the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, was closed for the second time on the morning of January 10 after being closed the previous evening for several hours. Route 443 to Jerusalem also was closed for part of the morning on January 10. Power outages were reported in areas in Jerusalem, most due to trees falling on the power lines. Electric company workers said they were having trouble reaching the problem areas due to road closures. Jerusalem schools and the city’s courts were closed due to the bad driving conditions. Schools also were closed in Dimona and other southern municipalities, as well as in
Safed and municipalities in northern Israel due to snow and flooding. Israel has been plagued by wild weather, including high winds and flooding, for several days. As of January 10, the water level in the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s main freshwater source, had risen more than two feet since rain began over the January 6 weekend. On Janaury 8, traffic stood at a standstill for several hours in Tel Aviv after flooding closed a major highway, the Ayalon Highway, which remained closed throughout that day, as the Ayalon and Yarkon rivers overflowed in the city. The Ayalon is usually a dry riverbed. Trains running in the Tel Aviv area also were disrupted by flooding and the city’s train stations shut down. Israelis were asked to avoid traveling to Tel Aviv except in emergency situations. Two Palestinian women riding in a car swept away by flooding near Nablus on January 8 were found dead in Tulkarem on January 9. The driver of the car was rescued and hospitalized.
Israeli President Shimon Peres and a snowman in the garden of Peres' residence on January 10. (Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO/FLASH90/JTA)
A view of the Tower of David and the Old City walls in Jerusalem covered in snow on January 10. (Photo by Mendy Hechtman/FLASH90/JTA)
Save the date!
March 7 at 7:30pm University of Scranton, Brennan Auditorium The Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute of the University of Scranton announces a lecture by Matt Seinkiewicz, Boston College "Just Strange Enough: Jews, American Popular Culture and the Politics of Identity"
JANUARY 17, 2013 ■
THE REPORTER
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013
book review
Solving the puzzle of Job by RABBI RACHEL ESSERMAN One of my favorite interpretations of the Book of Job is a decidedly offbeat one: Robert Schlobin compares Job to a horror story (“Prototype Horror: The Genre of the Book of Job” in volume 6 of the journal Semeia). His analysis works in a quirky way, with the God-Job relationship mirroring that of the monster-victim relationship found in the genre. While thought-provoking, it doesn’t deal with the theological questions the book raises, though. Fortunately, there are two new works that offer interesting insights into this atypical biblical book: “The Book of Job: Annotated and Explained” translated and annotated by Donald Kraus (Skylights Publishing) and “The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happen to a Good Person” by Harold S. Kushner (Schocken Books), the latest work in the Jewish Encounter Series. Unlike the first five books of the Bible, with their promise that God will reward good behavior and punish bad, Job raises the question of why terrible things might happen to a righteous person. While each book works well on its own, reading them together reminded me of just how complex and stimulating a discussion of Job can be. The two authors approach the book from different perspectives. Kraus, who is not Jewish and serves as an executive editor for Oxford University
London
Press, views Job from an academic point of view. In his introduction, he discusses the history of the work, placing in its appropriate time frame and outlining its different sections, before offering his translation and commentary. That makes his book an excellent starting place for those either unfamiliar with Job or looking to refresh their memory. Kushner, on the other hand, is a retired pulpit rabbi who views Job from a Jewish theological standpoint. Although he’s written more than a dozen books, Kushner is best known for “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” a work inspired by his search for meaning after the loss of his 14-year-old son to a rare disease. In his new book, he mines insights from Job into the nature of good and evil in order to find a satisfying answer to the question of how God can allow good people to suffer. Although Kushner quotes extensively from Job, his assumption is that readers are already familiar with its storyline and characters. Both authors comment on the basic set-up of the book, noting that the first and last prose sections come from a later period than the central poem. The plot is relatively simple: the first two chapters describe a bet made between God and a member of heaven Kraus calls a “Provoker,” the result of which is that Job loses his possessions, family and health. In the final chapter, Job is given a new family,
Continued from page 7
“Not only is it extra income, it’s given me a leg up for my future career,” Fraser said. “I think all students would benefit from something similar.” In TrainE’s business incubation section, it seems to be a different story. More than a dozen men in white shirts and black velvet yarmulkes work out of TrainE’s offices on businesses as diverse as an events company, a rental agency and a social networking consultancy. In a back room, two Orthodox women in their early 20s are discussing plans to set up their own beauty businesses. They are working part-time in a salon that TrainE helped to set up recently to provide work experience for graduates of its beauty vocational training course. “We’re learning how to promote products, how to sell,
how to get customers into the salon,” said Rifkoh Fonteign, 21, of Stamford Hill, a heavily Chasidic area of London. “We are gaining business skills, not just beauty skills.” Yet despite the religious distance between the organization and many of its beneficiaries, Zaltzman says there has never been friction with the people who walk through its doors. A religious Muslim eager to study in a modest environment once took one of TrainE’s vocational courses. One of the incubated businesses was a partnership between a Jew and a non-Jew. “The need to make a living overcomes all barriers,” Zaltzman said. “It’s not our primary objective, but to my personal satisfaction, a byproduct of the work we’re doing is that the community works better together. It’s a fantastic result.”
Friends of The Reporter Dear Friend of The Reporter, Each year at this time the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania calls upon members of our community to assist in defraying the expense of issuing our regional Jewish newspaper, The Reporter. The newspaper is delivered twice of month (except for December and July which are single issue months) to each and every identifiable Jewish home in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
columns that cover everything from food to entertainment. The Federation assumes the financial responsibility for funding the enterprise at a cost of $26,400 per year and asks only that we undertake a small letter writing mail campaign to our recipients in the hope of raising $10,000 from our readership to alleviate a share of that responsibility. 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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and his wealth and health are restored. The central poem has no direct plot; it is instead a series of poetic dialogues that discuss the nature of God and God’s relationship to the world. Kraus examines the entire book, while Kushner focuses on the poem. Kushner dismisses the prose sections (which he calls a fable) since he believes few people still accept a theology of a direct reward-and-punishment manner. That makes the fable irrelevant to his search for meaning, particularly since he believes the poetic sections of Job also dismiss this theological approach. Kraus, on the other hand, writes that the fable sets the tone of Job, showing us that we are not meant to take it as fact. For Kraus, the book serves as a “what if?” tale: “What if there were a truly just man who suffered greatly?” The poetic dialogues then explore several potential answers to this question. They include discussions between Job and several friends who visit him after his many losses, in addition to a long speech by God about the nature of creation. One fundamental point on which the authors disagree is Job’s reaction to his friends’ initial comments. Kraus claims that Job wants his friends to sympathize with him, to acknowledge the horrible things that happened to him. Instead, they start lecturing him, trying to convince him that he’s done something wrong. The translation of the verse 19:21-22 helps make this clear: Job says, “For pity’s sake, my friends, pity me! Why do you, like God, chase me down? Haven’t you gotten enough of my flesh?” Job wants his friends just to listen, to acknowledge his tale of woe, rather than trying to find a reason behind his troubles. He’s mourning for his life and his family, and he hears his friends saying he brought this on himself. Kushner, however, views this interaction in a different light. He believes Job’s friends are trying to comfort him. When they first speak to him, they use a theology they expect Job to share, one that says everyone makes mistakes and must pay the price. What Job does is jump down their throats for suggesting he has done anything to deserve this. As the conversation continues, Job’s friends lose patience with him and their dialogue deteriorates. Kushner notes that Job is angry with God, something his friends don’t see as acceptable, but which Kushner considers “heroic.” Unlike a great deal of rabbinic commentary, which condemns Job’s reaction, Kushner believes that being angry with God “may be one of the hallmarks of a truly religious person. It puts honesty ahead of flattery.” Job is open and honest with God when he demands that God explain the reason behind his afflictions. The breakdown in the conversation between Job and his friends helps Kushner explain sections of the text that have been traditionally difficult to translate. Kraus, like many scholars, feels that these chapters contain corrupted text: scribes made mistakes in their handwritten documents, which were then passed down to the next generation. See “Job” on page 18
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 17, 2013 ■
When it comes to eating local, kosher consumers are split By Chavie Lieber NEW YORK (JTA) – The sun was shining over the Union Square farmers market on a recent chilly morning as Chris Mitchell, a 34-year-old chef at the fashionable kosher eatery Jezebel, loomed over a table of Jerusalem artichokes. The six-foot-something Georgia native carefully inspected the exterior of the root vegetable before buying a handful to serve as dried chips. Mitchell comes to the downtown Manhattan market every morning to buy Jezebel’s produce as part of the restaurant’s commitment to purchase locally produced food.
Chris Mitchell, chef at the new Manhattan restaurant Jezebel, buys his ingredients at a local farmers market, where the produce comes from neighboring farms. (Photo by Chavie Lieber)
“If you care about what you’re eating, and who you are feeding your food to, you’ll want to know where it comes from,” said Mitchell. “That’s the beauty of buying locally.” The locavore movement has become one of the hottest food trends in recent years, propelled by advocates who see it as a conscientious and environmentally friendly alternative to industrial food trucked in over long distances. Produce from local sources often keeps longer and helps keep dollars in the local economy. But for many kosher consumers, both individuals and restaurants, limiting themselves to local food makes neither practical nor financial sense. “It seems to me like another layer of worry I have to tack onto my food shopping,” said Erin Reichner, a Brooklyn mother of seven. “The price of keeping kosher means I want to pay less for my produce. I buy plenty of fruit for my children and I don’t care where it comes from.” Such declarations aside, interest in local food has exploded in recent years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farmers markets in the country has more than quadrupled since 1994 and grew by nearly 10 percent in 2012 alone. That’s in addition to the growth of Community Supported Agriculture programs, or CSAs, in which consumers purchase a farm share for a fixed price in the spring and receive a weekly box of produce during the season. Basically none of these existed in the United States in the early 1980s; today, See “Local” on page 14
Ancient temple, rare ritual tools discovered near Jerusalem From Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org Archeologists got a rare glimpse of religious life in the days of Israel’s Judean kings when they discovered an ancient temple and tools apparently used in rituals around 2,750 years ago at the Tel Motza excavation site west of Jerusalem. The project, which is being managed by the Israel Antiquities Authority, began recently ahead of construction on part of Route 1 between Shaar Hagai and Jerusalem. Anna Eirikh, Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily and Shua Kisilevitz, who are in charge of the project on behalf of the authority, pointed out that the shape of the ancient temple found at the site was unusual. “It is a rare find in light of the lack of other such discoveries dating back to the time of the Kingdom of Judah and the First Temple. The temple is also an outstanding find due to its proximity
to Jerusalem, which served as the Judean kingdom’s ritual center at that time,” Eirikh said. “Among other items, pottery with male figures etched on them, one with a beard, were also found, though we are unsure as to their meaning.” Tel Motza has been known as an important archeological area for some time. Many items have been discovered there dating from various ancient periods. At the beginning of the 1990s and 2000s, the site was excavated as part of the work being done on Route 1. At that time, excavators asserted that the site was associated with the biblical city of Motza, which is mentioned in the book of Isaiah as a city in the tribe of Benjamin, bordering the tribe of Judah. Among the findings was a public structure, a large warehouse, and a large number of granaries.
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Honorial & Memorial Contributions August 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012 Regular UJA Honorial Get well to Phyllis Malinov from Dassy & Jeff Ganz
Condolence to the family of Naomi Enoch from Steve, Eleanore, Brett, Marissa & Nicole Rosen
Happy 101st Birthday to Hilda Gardner from Marion Gardner-Saxe
Condolence to the family of Susan Cutler from Steve, Eleanore, Brett, Marissa & Nicole Rosen
Happy Chanukah to Shoshana, Sandy, Adin & Avi Bodzin from Sheryl & Seth Gross
Condolence to the family of Joe Brown from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Happy Chanukah to Rachel, H.P. & Elle Baker from Sheryl & Seth Gross
Condolence to Judge Edwin Kosik in memory of beloved wife from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Memorial
Condolence to Lois Dubin & family in memory of beloved husband, father & grandfather from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Condolence to Carol Dembert in memory of beloved mother from Rae & Fred Magliocchi Condolence to Kathy Brotman in memory of beloved sister from Rae & Fred Magliocchi, Lil Walsh Condolence to Nancy & Mark Silverberg & family in memory of beloved father & grandfather from Alan Goldstein, Rhonda & David Fallk, Lil Walsh, Tova & Jay Weiss, June & Herb Appel, Sheryl & Seth Gross, Bnai Harim Board, Anita & Gene Schneider, Laney & Bobby Ufberg
Frank & Esther Seitchik Memorial Honorial Congratulations to Dr. & Mrs. Bernie Kelberg on the birth of their granddaughter from Ellen & Steve Seitchik Congratulations to Dr. & Mrs. Ricky Lamb on Rachel & Jared’s wedding from Ellen & Steve Seitchik
Milton & Arline Swartz Endowment
Condolence to Eve & Henry Skier & family in memory of beloved mother from Sheryl & Seth Gross
Honorial
Condolence to the family of Joe Brown from Judith Atlas & Barry Jackson
Happy anniversary to Iris Liebman & Mike Mardo from Arline Swartz
Condolence to James Linder in memory of beloved father from Laney & Bobby Ufberg
Happy birthday to Lil Levy from Arline Swartz
Condolence to the Dubin family in memory of beloved husband, father & grandfather from Laney & Bobby Ufberg
Happy anniversary to Naomi & Paul Alamar from Arline Swartz
Happy birthday to Rosalie Engelmyer from Arline Swartz Happy anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. Ward Goodman from Arline Swartz
Condolence to the family of Sam Nudelman from Dolores Gruber
Congratulations to Jan & Barry Weiss on daughter’s marriage from Arline Swartz
Condolence to Sheila Abdo in memory of beloved father from Rae & Fred Magliocchi
Memorial
Condolence to the family of Abe Zilberberg from Tova & Jay Weiss Condolence to Margaret Sheldon in memory of beloved mother from Rae & Fred Magliocchi
Condolence to the family of Ann Goldberg from Arline Swartz Condolence to the family of Joe Brown from Arline Swartz Condolence to Carol Dembert in memory of beloved mother from Arline Swartz
Condolence to the family of Lucille Plotkin from Tova & Jay Weiss
Condolence to Lola Schwartz in memory of beloved husband from Arline Swartz
Condolence to Lois Dubin in memory of beloved husband from Lil Walsh, Claire Dubin & family
Condolence to the family of Bernardine Kaplan from Arline Swartz
Condolence to Barbara Barr & family in memory of beloved husband and father from Dassy & Jeff Ganz
Honorial
Glassman Family Fund Get well to Lou Nivert from Laurel & Alan Glassman
Bessie Todres Starr Memorial
Memorial
Honorial
Condolence to Fran Childers & family in memory of beloved father & grandfather from Laurel & Alan Glassman
Congratulations to Kathy & Seymour Brotman on their granddaughter’s Bat Mitzvah from Iris & Irving Meltzer
Memorial Condolence to Kathy Brotman in memory of beloved sister from Laurel & Alan Glassman, Alan Goldstein, Beverly Snyder, Susan Vitale, Renee & Archie Pearlman, Jim Alperin, Yvette & Jerry Kramer, Lois & Bernie Dubin, Roberta Shulman, Tamara Marcus
Holocaust Education Resource Center Memorial Condolence to the family of Abe Zilberberg from the HERC Advisory Committee, Charlotte & Hank Wile Sam & Olga Rosen Family Holocaust Fund
Honorial Get well to Lou Nivert from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb Get well to Joe Hodin from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Condolence to Nancy & Mark Silverberg & family in memory of beloved father & grandfather from Laurel & Alan Glassman, Marion Glassman Condolence to the family of Ann Harriet Goldman from Laurel & Alan Glassman Condolence to the family of Milton May from Laurel & Alan Glassman Condolence to Margaret Sheldon in memory of beloved mother from Laurel & Alan Glassman, Marion Glassman
Leonard Kriger Memorial Memorial Condolence to James Linder in memory of beloved father from Laurel & Alan Glassman Condolence to Nancy & Mark Silverberg & family in memory of beloved father & grandfather from Jill & James Linder
Happy 90th birthday to Millie Weinberg from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb, Sheldon Goldstein
Condolence to Shirley Nudelman & family in memory of beloved husband & father from Jill & James Linder
Get well to Ed Brandes from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Allen Schwartz Memorial
Get well to Marilyn Wolk from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Condolence to the Schwartz family in memory of beloved uncle from Laurel & Alan Glassman
Congratulations to Robbie Pollock on special award for the Torah from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb Congratulations to Cantor Marshal Wolkenstein on special award for the Torah from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb Happy birthday to Anaka Sanders from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
The archeological find at Tel Motza. (Photo by Israel Antiquities Authority)
THE REPORTER
Get well to Carole Fishbein from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Memorial Condolence to the family of Sidney Lebowitz from Steve, Eleanore, Brett, Marissa & Nicole Rosen
Memorial Condolence to Lola Schwartz in memory of beloved husband from Laurel & Alan Glassman
Bernice Dubin Memorial Memorial Condolence to Lois Dubin & family in memory of beloved husband, father & grandfather from Patricia Cembalest, Ronnie Pertnoy, Laurel & Alan Glassman, Gerry & Lewis Sare, Carol & Don Dembert, Sudhir Kondisetty, Gary Lee Rathsmill & Barbara Bright, Brian Cohn & family, Mr. & Mrs. Earle Maiman & Barbara Maiman, Rosalyn Friedman
Condolence to Sheldon Goldstein in memory of beloved sister from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Condolence to Mike Dubin in memory of beloved father from David Feldman, Janet Carroll, Colleen & Jim Williams, Kimberly & Louis Hirschberg, Monica Repino, McGrail, Merkel, Quinn & Associates, McGladrey
Condolence to Lola Schwartz in memory of beloved husband from Sam Rosen & Ruth Gelb
Condolence to Alan Dubin in memory of beloved father from Barbara & Michael Gordon
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013
Jewish film notes
“Hava Nagila” film chronicles Film tries to make Jewish boxing a song’s journey from shtetl to cliché hit again By Chavie Lieber NEW YORK (JTA) – You’re at a wedding or bar mitzvah, mingling at the bar or catching up with a distant relative, when you hear it – the opening notes of a familiar tune that as if by some invisible force carries you and other guests to the dance floor for the rousing dance circle ritual. Does “Hava Nagila” work this kind of magic because it was handed down at Sinai and thus encoded in the Jewish DNA? Or is it a tale from the European shtetl, albeit one with a timeless message and an irrepressible melody? It is these questions that Roberta Grossman addresses in her new film, “Hava Nagila (The Movie),” which will screen at the upcoming New York Jewish Film Festival before hitting theaters nationwide in March. The film, three years in the making, explores the phenomenon behind the iconic folk song and seeks to explain why the melody has been so beloved over the years. “When I first started doing research for the film, people thought I was crazy and I was worried I wouldn’t find anything substantial enough,” Grossman told JTA. “But what I really found was that this song is a porthole into 200 years of Judaism’s culture and spirituality.” Grossman’s inspiration for the film came from memories of dancing to the song at family affairs. A product of what she calls a “religiously assimilated but culturally affiliated” background, Grossman said twirling with family members while “Hava Nagila” blared in the background was a tribal moment with spiritual resonance. Part of a generation raised on the 1971 film adaption of “Fiddler on the Roof,” she knew the song cold, but understood little about its origins. Turns out, it doesn’t go back nearly as
far as Sinai. The song was first sung as a Chasidic niggun, or wordless melody, in the court of the the Ruzhiner rebbe, Israel Friedman, who lived in the Ukrainian town of Sadagora in the 18th century. A Jewish shtetl in the Pale of Settlement, Sadagora often was subjected to pogroms and Chasidic leaders encouraged music as a way to combat the tragedies of everyday life. When a wave of European immigrants moved to Israel in the early 1900s, they took their niggun with them, where it later became representative of Zionist culture. In 1915, the musicologist Abraham Zevi Idelsohn adapted the song with Hebrew lyrics. Three years later, he unveiled his new variation at a Jerusalem concert. “Hava Nagila,” literally “let us rejoice,” went on to hit its peak popularity in the 1950s and ‘60s, and became a favorite pop tune for American Jews. “It’s unclear if Idelsohn really knew the extent of how far his song would go, but after that concert celebrating the British victory in Palestine, the streets of Jerusalem erupted and the song took off,” said Mark Kligman, a professor of Jewish musicology at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “Israel was a vacuum at that point, with immigrants from all over who had very little in common. They were dealing with their identity and the need for music, and this song unified them.” Decades later, the same is true. The song is widely covered – Bob Dylan, Ben Folds and Regina Spektor have performed it. Last summer, it was the soundtrack for U.S. Olympian Ally Raisman’s gold medalwinning performance in the floor exercise at the London Games. And though The Wall See “Song” on page 12
By Matt Robinson JNS.org These days, the once-proud sport of boxing has fallen on hard times. With so many weight classes and (corrupt) managers, the fighters may make millions – yet often lose their way. Simply put, the “sweet science” is no longer a “haimische” (homey) activity. There was a time when strong young men from quality families entered the ring – not so much for the fame and glory, but to show they could fight to help themselves and their families make it in the world. Those men had names like Leonard, Ross, Goldstein and Rosenbloom, and in the 1920s, they ruled boxing as few other groups of boxers from the same cultural group have. Today, more Jews are in management and promotion than in the ring itself, but there are a few exceptions like Yuri Foreman and Dmitry Salita (both of whom refuse to fight on Shabbat), former World Boxing Council
Orthodox Jewish boxer Dmitriy Salita fought Ronnie Warrior Jr. on April 14, 2011. (Photo by Alex Gorokhov)
Jewish boxer Yuri Foreman (on the left) and Miguel Cotto at an official weighin on June 4, 2010. (Photo by Akira Kouchiyama) (WBC) champ Dana Rosenblatt, and Ron Aurit (who went by the name “The Yid Kid” when he fought Sugar Ray Leonard). James Ford Nussbaum is seeking to uphold the legacy of Jewish boxing not in the ring itself, but through the big screen. The award-winning film producer is about to release “Impact: Jewish Boxers in America” (www.impactthefilm.com). Nussbaum says his grandfather, Newton Ford, a candy salesman and avid boxing fan in Philadelphia, was the inspiration for the film. But while Nussbaum had an affinity for boxing in his Jewish blood, few others seemed to share that. “The amazing thing about doing this film was that many people, when told about this project, would react in awe asking, ‘There were Jews who boxed?’” the director tells JNS.org. “It’s a part of our Jewish history that not many See “Boxing” on page 16
JANUARY 17, 2013 ■
THE REPORTER
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WONDERING WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP? DONATE NOW! The tragedy of Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath has devastated the lives of millions of people in NY, NJ and CT. Hundreds of thousands are without food, water, medical supplies, shelter and the basic necessities of life.
HELP US HELP THEM!
AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA:
SUPERSTORM RELIEF FUND
The tragedy of Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath has devastated the lives of millions of people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Hundreds of thousands are without food, water, medical supplies, shelter and the basic necessities of life. Their lives hang in the balance. As Jews, we must do our part in relieving their suffering as we have always done when faced with national catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina. The lives of millions of Americans hang in the balance. We must be there for them.
Please donate… Tax-deductible contributions made out to the Jewish Federation of NEPA/Hurricane should be mailed to our office at 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA 18510. You can also donate online by visiting http://jewishnepa.org/site/hurricane-sandy-donations/
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013
Local
there are estimated to be more than 6,000. “The best way to cook is to have the farm dictate what your menu should be by buying local produce that’s in season,” said Gabriel Garcia, the chef at Tierra Sur, a renowned kosher restaurant at the Herzog Winery in California that purchases all its produce and meat from local sources. Garcia said his restaurant’s New Year’s resolution is to procure all its food from suppliers within 200 miles. “Food tastes better if it’s naturally available,” he said. “Like why would you eat berries in the winter from a grocery store when they are not in season if the winter veggies are hearty, delicious and available?” In the Jewish world, the trend is manifest in the growth of Jewish CSAs over the past eight years, 58 of which now exist across the country, diverting $7 million in Jewish purchasing power from grocery stores to local farmers, according to the Jewish environmental group Hazon. “Our traditional laws can inspire us to think how we want to approach agriculture,” Hazon’s Daniel Infeld said. “The root of kosher means ‘fit to eat,’ and eating locally should coincide with kashrut.”
Song
Continued from page 12
Street Journal noted recently that some see it as cliché and avoid having it played it at their affairs – Grossman refers to these folks as “Hava haters” – it may be the most popular Jewish song on the planet. In the film, which includes a hora dancing tutorial, Grossman journeys to Sadagora as well as other obscure places where the song hit. The film notes how popular “Hava Nagila” became with non-Jewish music lovers and features musicians such as Lena Horne, the CubanAmerican salsa performer Celia Cruz and the pop singer Connie Francis. Grossman skillfully portrays “Hava Nagila” as a symbol of American Jewish identity and postulates that future generations will continue to see the song as iconic – with or without the eye rolls. Through the film, she seeks to give the song some depth beyond the overplayed ditty at bar mitzvahs. Viewers must decide if the song can still be redeemed. “I believe that Hava has actually accrued a great deal of meaning and depth on its long journey from Ukraine to YouTube,” Grossman said. “Hava’s journey is our journey. By understanding where Hava has come from, we understand where we have come from and more.”
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Most kosher restaurants, however, are not on board with the move toward local suppliers. A Chicago restaurateur said he was struggling enough to cover rent, kosher certification and the premium necessary to buy organic produce that adding the additional limitation of local just wasn’t in the cards. “I’ve been told that local produce lasts longer, but I can get a much better price if I’m buying in bulk from other countries,” said the owner, who asked that his name not be used. “Plus, I’m in that category of local businesses and I need to take care of myself. I’m not in the position to spend that extra money right now.” Others say the issue is the hassle. With all the additional requirements of running a kosher eatery, local food is seen as an unnecessary headache. Moreover, kosher meat from local sources isn’t readily available in many places. “It’s just not a realistic ideal,” said Moshe Wendel, the chef at the celebrated kosher restaurant Pardes in Brooklyn. “It’s not a feasible thing to do and I would never recommend it to anyone who keeps kosher because it’s a hassle when you have so many other things to worry about.” For many locavores, the impulse to shun national brands goes beyond mere environmental considerations. Consumers are increasingly conscious of their food’s provenance and knowing the grower is often the most straightforward
Continued from page 11 way to ensure that what they put in their mouths comes from a trusted source. “If you are already keeping kosher, then you know strict discipline for dietary customs,” said Jezebel’s Mitchell. “So why not aim for the best quality? If you care about kosher and organic, you should care about local.” But that kind of approach is also limiting. For caterers, who are called upon often to provide customers with an array of options, refusing to provide tomatoes in January could have a detrimental impact on business. “Buying from areas other than where you live will supply you with a wider range of food,” said Alison Barnett of Celebrations Kosher Catering in New Jersey. “As a caterer, I need to have the freshest produce, but I also need a secure and stable supply coming to the kitchen.” At Shopper’s Haven, a kosher market serving the largely Orthodox community of Monsey, NY, Darren Klapper held up a package of kosher meat selling for $25.99 that ultimately would become part of his Thanksgiving meal. “I can’t keep up with kosher prices and then you want me to eat organic because the world is scared of a little pesticide spray and in addition to that pay for peppers from a neighboring farm that are double the price?” Klapper said. “It’s a bit much.”
Dozens of Jewish Community Shared Agriculture food programs throughout the United States are providing locally grown produce, like the kale and potatoes seen above, at the Union Square farmers market in New York. (Photos by Chavie Lieber)
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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.
The Yiddish language’s literal and figurative rescuer By Paul Foer JNS.org AMHERST, MA – Aaron Lansky’s decades-long mission is typified by an “emergency” call he once received on a wintry night, summoning him to New York to rescue thousands of Yiddish-language volumes from a dumpster. Lansky springs into action, barely gets to the city and gathers a crew of volunteers. Despite the difficulties, he manages to safely remove the precious books – only to end up with a 104-degree fever. That anecdote opens Lansky’s 2004 book “Outwitting History” – whose title is apt, given that this recipient of a McArthur “genius” grant is at least partially responsible for the fact that Yiddish is more secure now than at any time since World War II. One can easily find Yiddish’s strengthening pulse at the National Yiddish Book Center, which Lansky founded. The NYBC – housed at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where Lansky was a student in the 1970s – recently announced a partnership with The National Library of Israel to digitize 20,000 titles in Yiddish. Lansky tells JNS.org that, thanks to this partnership, “Yiddish will become the single-most accessible literature in history, with virtually all of its titles available online.” The NYBC has already collected, rescued, cataloged and redistributed vast libraries of printed Yiddish, recordings, movies and artwork. The center publishes a colorful quarterly called Der Pakn Treger (The Book Seller), offers fellowships for students of all ages and has established collections at major libraries. Thanks to support from movie producer Steven Spielberg, the NYBC has created a downloadable, digital library of 11,000 (and counting) texts online and made high-quality reprints available on demand. While Lansky and the NYBC continue to collect and disseminate books for enjoyment and study, they are focusing more on opening the Yiddish culture and sharing it with what he describes as “a very eager and broad-based public.” He happily speaks of
JANUARY 17, 2013 ■
THE REPORTER
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Create a Legacy for our Jewish Future in NEPA Your charitable gifts to the Federation can result in immediate and/or future benefits for you and your family.
TYPES OF GIFTS
National Yiddish Book Center founder Aaron Lansky spoke at the center in Amherst, MA. (Photo by National Yiddish Book Center) how “almost all major projects are being run by young people.” “Here they get to take a leading role in very ambitious and quite focused work, and working with them is thrilling,” Lansky tells JNS.org. One example is “Tent Encounters With Jewish Culture,” a new program made possible by donors Judy and Michael Steinhardt that offers free week-long workshops for anyone between 20 and 30. The NYBC Fellowship Program, meanwhile, offers talented young college graduates who are passionate about Yiddish the opportunity to spend a year on the NYBC staff to advance their knowledge of Yiddish language, literature and culture. With help from Spielberg, the NYBC has launched new translation fellowships to help train a new generation of Yiddish translators. Lansky, a New Bedford, MA, native, began to rescue Yiddish books from obscurity or destruction when he was a graduate student at Montreal’s McGill’s University in the early 1980s. Today, the Jewish cultural organization he founded boasts 17,000 members and is headquartered in a 49,000square-foot building that is reminiscent of an old country “shtetl” synagogue. The center houses books, papers, documents, permaSee “Yiddish” on page 16
PERPETUAL ANNUAL CAMPAIGN ENDOWMENTS (P.A.C.E.) There are considerable tax advantages in establishing a P.A.C.E. gift to the Federation outright or as part of your estate planning. In doing so, you can perpetuate your annual UJA Campaign gift in your name, the name of your family, in memory of a loved one or in celebration of a significant event in your life or the life of another. On average, the annual income normally calculates out to 5% of the amount of your P.A.C.E. endowment. The corpus of your Fund would not be affected, and only the income would be used for the annual UJA gift – in perpetuity. That is, a P.A.C.E. endowment of $100,000 would normally produce an annual gift of $5,000 to future UJA Campaigns. IMMEDIATE GIFTS OF CASH Cash contributions are deductible as itemized deductions in the year you make the donation(s), up to 50% of your adjusted gross. Excess charitable deductions can be carried forward for up to five years. GIFTS OF SECURITIES The best stocks to donate are obviously those with increased value. However, depreciated securities are not necessarily unworthy of charitable contributions. In order to preserve the best tax advantages, with regard to appreciated and depreciated securities, please contact the Federation. MATCHING GIFTS If you work for a company that participates in a Matching Gift Program (see details in this issue of The Reporter), then the company will match your gift to the Jewish Federation. Please check with your Human Resources Department for more information. GIFTS OF MUTUAL FUNDS Contributing mutual fund shares can provide the same tax advantages as appreciated stocks. Due to the great complexities involved with the transfer of mutual fund shares, please begin the transfer process well before December 31st. GIFTS OF REAL ESTATE A charitable contribution of property is most attractive when there is no mortgage balance and the property is increasing in value. Based upon the fair market value, you may claim an income tax deduction, avoid all capital gains taxes, and remove that property from your taxable estate. You may transfer real estate to the Jewish Federation at any point, but please consult your tax professional or financial advisor prior to a real estate transaction. DEFERRED/PLANNED GIFTS Deferred gifts are often called “planned gifts” because they are integrally connected to your financial and/or estate plans. They may range in size from very small bequests to multi-million dollar trusts. They are deferred gifts because, even though they are given today, the Jewish Federation will not realize their benefit until some time in the future. Please contact the Federation for more information regarding various planned giving options. GENERAL ENDOWMENT FUNDS The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania expresses its gratitude to those who have made a commitment to our Endowment Fund. These very special contributions represent a commitment to maintain a high quality of Jewish life in our region for the decades that lie ahead.
CONTACT For further information, please contact Mark Silverberg, Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA at 570-961-2300 (ext. 1)
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Yiddish
nent and visiting exhibit space, a bookstore, performance center and oral history recording studios. With an annual budget of $4 million, the NYBC is on target to meet its endowment goal of $40 million in time for its 40th anniversary in 2020. Although a return to the days when its speakers numbered in the millions and had a wide-ranging impact in daily Jewish life in Europe – and then in America – is highly improbable, a modest number of Jews and non-Jews are being introduced to and
Manuscript exhibit
The Jewish Museum, New York City, is holding the exhibit “Crossing Borders” through February 3. The exhibit features a selection of more than 50 Hebrew, Latin and Arabic manuscripts from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries. That library’s collection has been called “one of the world’s richest collections of manuscripts and printed books related to medieval European Jewish culture.” The manuscripts, many of them illuminated, illustrate the exchanges among Christians, Muslims and Jews in the fields of religion, art, science and literature. Included in the exhibited is the Kennicott Bible. Many of the works are on view in the United States for the first time. For more information, visit http://bodleian.thejewishmuseum.org or contact the museum at 212-423-3200 or info@thejm.org.
Video exhibit
The Jewish Museum in New York City is holding the exhibit “Ori Gersht: Two Videos” until March 23. Ori Gersht creates videos and photographs that explore borders, thresholds, and transitions in time and place. The videos featured are “Dew,” which focuses on the Negev Desert, and “Black nor White,” which was filmed from the Jewish quarter of Nazareth looking onto the Arab village of Iksal. For more information, contact the museum at 212-423-3200 or info@thejm.org or visit www.thejewishmuseum.org.
becoming familiar with the Yiddish language in schools and synagogues. Many American Jews of a certain age and generation may have heard Yiddish spoken at home, but not beyond some expressions and a few words. Despite the strong commitment of resources to understand, preserve and transmit Jewish history and heritage through museums and education, it was not until recently that serious resources and attention have been devoted to Yiddish. In a brief film on the NYBC website that documents his story, Lansky recalls his early experiences more than 30 years ago of literally rescuing endangered Yiddish volumes. “Here I am, 23 years old you know, in jeans and a t-shirt and somehow it’s fallen on me to try to pick up the fragments of this world and save them for the future, because when people give you their books it’s a very candid moment in their lives,” he says. “They’re handing you the treasures they’ve accumulated in their lifetime that they know their own children and their own grandchildren don’t want. Invariably they’re crying. They tell stories with a candor that would probably be very rare in their lives. So it’s a very special moment. There was a sort of emotional understanding… what they’re leaving to you is a world that is very fast vanishing.” Yiddish was inextricably intertwined with Jewish life and identity for a majority of Jews for centuries, and it blossomed into a remarkably vibrant and influential literary, political and cultural phenomenon – until it clashed with powerful forces of modernity that very nearly spelled its extinction. As with the effects of oxidation on many objects, there was both a slow and a rapid form of destruction. The slow form, or the “rust,” was immigration, assimilation, modernity, universalism, the desire to leave the shtetl and the ghettoized past, and Zionism’s primacy of Hebrew. The faster form was plain and simply that of “fire,” with the burning of its masses of speakers and of course its books during the Holocaust. Still, a portion of Yiddish literature has been translated into English and is familiar to many, especially through Sholom Aleichim and Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize for his Yiddish writings. Additionally, a revival of teaching Yiddish can be seen in colleges and universities, in synagogues and in adult education programs. Giving JNS.org his inside perspective on activity in the Yiddish world in the U.S. and abroad, Lansky cites the work of Boston-based scholars Harry Bochner and
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Continued from page 15 Solon Beinfeld, who are on the verge of releasing a new Yiddish dictionary which Lansky says “will dramatically facilitate the reading of Yiddish literature.” He describes Assaf Urieli, a South African-born Israeli in the French Pyrenees who has created an open-source program that will scan all digitized Yiddish books and make them into searchable text, and points out how Yiddish is an elective in Israeli high schools. Lansky’s role from that of a jean-clad book rescuer to a leading light in a major Jewish cultural revival has taken decades. While he is no longer that young graduate student himself, it is the interest of today’s youth in Yiddish that continues to excite him. “For the most part, my job today is more about setting young people in motion and empowering them to do what they want to do,” he says.
Boxing
Continued from page 12
people recognize and accept.” In fact, Nussbaum suggests, in some circles Jews boxing is considered to be “almost a taboo topic.” He says that, despite their good upbringings, many Jewish boxers historically fell in with organized crime and other less-kosher activities, as many of their Gentile fellow sportsmen did. “Most Jews got involved with this sport to make a name for themselves,” Nussbaum points out, “and the thing that they all share in common with Irish, black and Italian boxers and other ethnicities is poverty. They all came up from nothing and used the sport to promote themselves in a way that would excel them to a new socioeconomic level.” As such, the director/producer poses his piece not as a film about the dark side of a dimming sport, but rather as “an incredible American Dream story of being able to come up from nothing in this country and be able to become a success.” Over the course of two years, Nussbaum delved into the worlds of some of the best Jewish boxers from today and yesterday, including Cletus Seldin, Ron Lipton and Ed Gersh, by making time with them at home, in the gym and in the ring. “The Jewish aspect of the sport is something out of the ordinary,” Nussbaum says, noting how many Jewish boxers still display the Jewish star somewhere on their trunks or robes. Even so, he says, there has been what he sees as “an impressive number of boxers in the sport as well... a real diverse group with names like Bummy Davis, Slapsie Maxie Rosenthal and Barney Ross.” Some Jewish boxers changed their names to protect their families. Many Jewish parents still look down on the sport, even if they had participated in it themselves. “Most Jewish boxers like Barney Ross and Benny Leonard didn’t want their kids involved in the sport,” Nussbaum explains. “There are very few, if any, boxers that have children that continued in the sport of boxing. Most of them went on to become lawyers and doctors.” Nussbaum got so involved in the lives of his subjects while shooting that he even required medical attention. “One year into shooting… I injured my eye,” he recalls, detailing that his detached retina became one of his “favorite” parts of shooting the film because it was a typical “boxer’s injury.” “It seems that I not only produced the film and directed it, but also lived a first-hand account of what the boxers go through on a day to day basis,” he says. As he regained his own sight, Nussbaum gained even more insight into what the professional fighters he was featuring need to do to make it in their brutal, but still at times beautiful, sport. “I had become a boxer myself,” he says, “determined to make this film and living a life that was very similar to them. I regained my sight and lived through an injury that made me feel exactly how some of these fighters feel... struggling to make this film as real and poignant as possible.” Such experiences also drew Nussbaum’s subjects closer to him and encouraged others to seek him out and participate in the film. “Many of the boxers in the film came to me after hearing what I was attempting to do,” he says. “They loved the idea and were so happy to learn that someone was interested in telling their stories the right way… from their perspectives.” The finished film is set to air in more than 300,000 homes through Cablevision Systems in Morris County, NJ, and will possibly be distributed through The Jewish Channel on pay-per-view cable, but Nussbaum is also working to get it into film festivals and theaters nationwide. “It is our hope to show and use the Jewish boxer as an example for accomplishing the American dream,” Nussbaum explains, “and proving once again that anyone can succeed in our great nation.” Nussbaum also hopes that the film will “put an end to so much of the hatred that exists right now toward Jews and other minorities. “This is a part of Jewish and national history that many people are unaware of, and it is our hope to give viewers a behind-the-lens, honest rendition of what it is like to be Jewish and box in the USA,” he says.
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New Season of
Films!
Exhibit focuses on works by Sharon Lockhart, Noa Eshkol
January 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 Jewish Museum in New York City is holding the exhibit “Sharon Lockhart | Noa Eshkol” until March 24. It includes Los Angeles-based artist Sharon Lockhart ‘s film installation and a series of her related photographs with a selection of scores, drawings and textiles by the Israeli dance composer and textile artist Noa Eshkol. The centerpiece is Lockhart’s “Five Dances and Nine Wall Carpets by Noa Eshkol,” a large-scale film installation that features a selection of Eshkol’s dances, performed with nine of her textile works, known as “wall carpets.” The five channels are projected onto carefully positioned sculptural volumes that create a winding corridor through the exhibition’s primary gallery, encouraging the viewer to move through the space in tandem with each projection. For more information, contact the museum at 212-423-3200 or info@thejm.org or visit www.thejewishmuseum.org.
Soviet Jewish photojournalists
The Museum of Jewish Heritage is hosting the exhibit “Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War and the Holocaust” through April 7. The exhibit features photographs of World War II taken by Soviet Jewish photojournalists such photographers as Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma and Dmitrii Baltermants. The artists are said to “merge documentary photography with avant-garde modernist sensibilities to create works that have had a profound influence on 20th century art and beyond.” For more information, visit www.mjhnyc.org/tsje/ or contact the museum at 646-437-4202 or info@mjhnyc.org.
Israeli cellist to appear in Poughkeepsie
Israeli cellist Inbal Segev, whose performances have been described as “first class... richly inspired” (Gramophone), will perform a new work by Israeli American composer Avner Dorman. Segev will perform with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, on Saturday, May 4, at 8 pm, at the Barvadon in Poughkeepsie, NY. Dorman’s music has been said to combine “rigorous compositional construction while preserving the sense of excitement and spontaneity usually associated with jazz, rock, or ethnic music.” For more information about Segev, visit www.inbalsegev. com. For more information about Dorman, visit www.dormanavner.com. For ticket information, call 845-473-2072 or visit www.bardavon.org.
JEWDAYO e-mail
The magazine Jewish Currents offers a free daily email, JEWDAYO, which tells about the significance of each day in Jewish history and peoplehood. The e-mails emphasize transformative deeds, progressive thinkers and minorities within the minority. To sign up for the e-mail, visit http://jewishcurrents.org/blog/jewdayo.
Job
Continued from page 10
Kushner, though, prefers to treat these sections as accurate transcriptions. He believes that, for example, the words that don’t sound like Job are really his “mocking paraphrase of what the friends have been saying” – a biblical example of sarcasm. As Job and his friends continued to argue, seemingly disconnected verses could be an overlap in dialogue, which would make it difficult to know who was talking. The central question for both authors is whether or not Job explains why righteous people suffer. For Kraus, the biblical book shows us that there is no single abstract answer; instead, “it is an existential question that can only be answered in the context of an individual, lived human life.” Kushner uses the last 40 pages of his work to explore different Jewish suggestions, only to dismiss most of them. His life experiences have taught him to find God “not in the perfection of the world,” but “in the miracle of human resilience in the face of the world’s imperfections, even the world’s cruelty.” He believes Job has also learned this lesson: it’s enough for the two men to “know” that God is with them, even in their darkest moments. This review cannot do justice to the depth of the interpretations offered by Kraus and Kushner. Reading their works together offers a richer exploration of Job than either would have on its own. Neither completely satisfied me, though: Unlike Kushner, I prefer to view the Book of Job as a whole, rather than dividing it into fable versus poem, because that’s the text found in the Jewish canon. I also disagree with both authors about God’s speeches to Job, which seem more bluster and noise than any real attempt to either answer Job’s questions or explain the unknowable nature of the world. However, both works show the importance of studying Job in contemporary times; I was grateful for the opportunity to once again explore this fascinating and puzzling work.
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NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA
Death row inmate rejected in bid to pray with Jewish prisoners
A Kentucky death row inmate was denied his request to pray on the Jewish Sabbath in the prison’s chapel. The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 11 that William Harry Meece, 40, can pray in his cell, the Associated Press reported. Meece had petitioned to be allowed to pray in the Institutional Religious Center at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville on his own or with other Jewish inmates, according to AP. Meece said it was a burden to pray in his cell, in part because of the toilet there. Meece lives separately from the rest of the prison population in an area with other death row inmates. The three-judge appeals court panel said Meece can cover the toilet with a sheet and pray in his cell. Meece, who is awaiting execution for killing three people in 1993, sued the Kentucky Department of Corrections in 2007 for the right to pray outside his cell, accusing the department of violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act that allows prisoners to worship as they please. The prison says it is a security risk to allow Meece to join services with Jewish inmates from the general prison population.
NYC warning on controversial circumcision rite is upheld
A Manhattan federal judge upheld a New York City health board regulation requiring parents to sign a consent form allowing a controversial circumcision rite. U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald on Jan. 11 lifted the stay of implementing the required warning to parents of the dangers of metzitzah b’peh, in which the circumciser uses his mouth to draw blood from the baby’s penis. “There is ample medical evidence that direct oral suction places infants at a serious risk of herpes infection, as well as evidence that parents are sometimes unaware in advance of a circumcision that MBP will occur, and the regulation plainly addresses these legitimate societal concerns,” Buchwald wrote, according to Reuters. The Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States and Canada, Agudath Israel of America, the International Bris Association and several individual mohels, or ritual circumcisers, filed a lawsuit in October against the city, contending that the regulation, which conditions the ritual on parental consent, is unconstitutional and violates religious freedom by targeting a Jewish practice. Under the rule, parents must sign a consent form that says the New York City Board of Health advises that “direct oral suction should not be performed” because of the risk of contracting herpes. At least 11 boys contracted herpes from the practice between 2004 and 2011, according to city health officials. Two of them died from the disease and two others suffered brain damage, the officials said. In September, the board of health voted 9-0 to require mohels to obtain the signed consent forms. Several months earlier, the city had struck an agreement with city hospitals to distribute pamphlets about the dangers of the ritual to the mothers of newborns. Using oral suction to take blood from the area of the circumcision wound is common in some of New York’s haredi Orthodox Jewish communities.
McConnell: Israeli, U.S. Mideast agendas “the same”
Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. and Israeli agendas in the Middle East were identical. Netanyahu met on Jan. 11 with McConnell (R-KY), the minority leader in the U.S. Senate, who was leading a group of senators on an Israel tour. “As everybody in Israel knows, there are a lot of things we disagree on in America, we’ve had big battles over deficit and debt, but there’s broad bi-partisan support for Israel, and our agenda in this part of the world is the same as your agenda,” McConnell said, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. Netanyahu thanked the senators and said his major priority, should he win re-election on Jan. 22, would be “ to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.” The statement from Netanyahu’s office did not say who else was in McConnell’s group. Other senators known to be in Israel that week included Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).
Belgian Senate recognizes authorities’ role during Holocaust
A Belgian Senate committee adopted a resolution acknowledging the country’s complicity in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. The Senate’s committee on institutional affairs voted in favor of the resolution on Jan. 9, according to Belga, a local news agency. “Some Belgian authorities practiced collaboration unfitting of a democracy,” the resolution read, “with tragic consequences for the Jewish population.” The resolution also encourages the Belgian government to “examine the possibility of giving a statute” to Jews and Roma who were “deported for racist reasons” and to orphans of the Holocaust. It does not specify what that statute should be. As the factual basis for the statement, the resolution referenced a 1,100-page report titled “Obedient Belgium,” completed in 2007 by the Center for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society. The Senate tasked the federal research body with compiling the report in 2002. An article in the newspaper La Libre Belgique cited political instability as the main reason for a six-year delay in the adoption of the report. To come into effect, the resolution needs to pass in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, where it is expected to receive the support of a large majority. Last year, the mayors of Antwerp and Brussels for the first time apologized for their municipalities’ role in the deportation of Jews from Belgium in 1942. Some 66,000 Jews lived in Belgium when Germany invaded in 1940, according to Yad Vashem. Of them, 34,801 were imprisoned or deported. More than 80 percent of those deported died.
Netanyahu maintains comfortable lead in pre-election polls
Three Israeli election polls predicted a comfortable victory for Israel’s Likud Beiteinu party in upcoming elections. A Ma’agar Mohot survey published in Maariv has the list led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clinching 38 seats, followed by Shelly Yacimovich’s Labor with 16 seats and Naftali Bennett’s nationalist Jewish Home party with 13. In December, Netanyahu joined his Likud Party to Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beitenu to unite in a right-wing list for the Jan. 22 elections. The Sephardic Orthodox Shas party received 12 seats in the poll; the secularist Yesh Atid party, led by Yair Lapid, garnered eight seats; and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua party got seven. The poll was based on replies delivered on Jan. 8 by 1,000 voters. In the poll, the center-right bloc had 52 seats, not including Shas, which many view as a rightist movement though it has joined both left-wing and right-wing coalitions. The center-left bloc had 39 seats including the party of Lapid, who, unlike Yachimovich and Livni, has not excluded the possibility of joining a Likud-led coalition. The three Arab parties got a combined electoral strength of 10 seats in the poll. Arab parties, while not seen as part of the center-left bloc, have supported center-left governments from outside the government. A poll published in Yediot Achronot based on the replies of 1,000 respondents and conducted by the Dahaf polling company predicted 33 seats for Likud Beiteinu; 18 seats for Labor; 14 seats for Jewish Home; 11 seats for Yesh Atid and 10 seats for Shas. In the Dahaf poll, the center-right bloc has 49 seats compared to the center-left’s 45 seats. A Smith Research poll published by The Jerusalem Post has Likud Beiteinu leading with 34 seats; Labor with 18 seats; Jewish Home with 14; Yesh Atid and Shas with 10 seats each; and Livni’s party with eight. The poll surveyed 870 people representing a statistical sample of the adult population and had an error margin of 3.3 percentage points, compared to 4.5 points in the other two polls. Kadima clinched two seats in all three polls. It received 28 seats in the 2009 elections.
Obama administration: PLO’s U.N. elevation broke no laws
The Obama administration said the Palestinians’ ascension in U.N. membership status did not violate U.S. law. William Burns, the deputy secretary of state, in a Jan. 8 determination said the Palestinians did not break the U.S. law that requires shutting down the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington in the event that the Palestinians declare statehood. The Palestinians have not “obtained in the U.N. or any specialized agency thereof the same standing as member states or full membership as a state outside an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians,” Burns said. A number of recent congressional initiatives since the Nov. 29 U.N. Generally Assembly vote that elevated the Palestinians to non-member observer state have sought to penalize the Palestinians by closing the PLO office. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has backed the initiatives, while the Reform movement and a number of smaller liberal Jewish groups have opposed them.
Jerusalem embassy, visa perennials reintroduced in Congress
Two pro-Israel perennials were reintroduced in the new Congress: a bill seeking to force the president to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and one that would waive visa requirements for visiting Israelis. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) introduced the Jerusalem bill on Jan. 3, the first day of the 113th Congress. It differs from the 1995 bill that overwhelmingly passed Congress in that it removes a presidential waiver invoked every six months to prevent moving the embassy as a matter of national security. It also explicitly says that “every citizen of Israel should have the right to reside anywhere in the undivided city of Jerusalem,” an endorsement of Israeli building in eastern Jerusalem, which the Palestinians and much of the international community maintains is illegal. Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Ted Poe (R-TX) introduced a measure that would add Israel to the 37 countries whose citizens are allowed to enter the United States for up to 90 days without a pre-arranged visa. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is introducing companion legislation in the Senate. Congressional lawmakers repeatedly have attempted to pass versions of both laws over the years. A tiny percentage of proposed bills are enacted by the Congress.
Dutch city begins restoring ancient mikvah
The Dutch city of Venlo began restoring a recently discovered mikvah – the oldest proof of Jewish life in the country. The Venlo Mikvah, a Hebrew word for a ritual bath that is used for immersion and purification, was excavated whole in 2005, a year after it was discovered by chance during construction work in the southern city’s center. It is being reassembled in the Limurgs Museum and will remain there on display, the city said. Dated to 1340, it is seen as proof that Jews permanently resided in the Netherlands since the 13th century or the very beginning of the 14th century at the earliest. The mikvah is believed to have remained in use for 30 years. Prior to the discovery, historians only had proof of permanent Jewish presence in the Netherlands close to the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, which began in 1492. In 2005, the mikvah was extracted from the ground in a complicated engineering operation that allowed it to be pulled out in one block measuring 25 feet by 30 feet and weighing 180 tons, according to the television network L1. It was taken apart, catalogued for reconstruction and placed in storage for six years until it was transported in 2011 to the museum, which has produced a computerized simulation of the structure. The transportation and restoration have cost the city about $260,000 to date, L1 reported. Venlo’s Jewish population in the 18th and 19th centuries peaked in 1869, according to the Dutch Jewish Historical Museum. About 30 Jews resided there throughout the 20th century.
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THE REPORTER ■ JANUARY 17, 2013