July 30, 2015 edition of The Reporter

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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 15

JULY 30, 2015

Obama vs. Israel: The rhetorical faceoff on Iran Analysis

By Ben Sales (JTA) – When the Obama and Netanyahu administrations argue over the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, they often seem to be talking past each other.

So if you can’t decide who to support, here – point by point – are the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s key criticisms of the recent deal struck on July 14 and President Barack Obama’s response to each argument. (Israel’s criticisms are taken from a briefing on the deal on July 15 by Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, the government’s point man on Iran. Obama’s responses are taken from an interview given on July 14 to The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.)

Iran’s support for terror: Israel says part of the money that will flow to Iran from the lifting of sanctions – some $150 billion in total – will go to Iranian-funded proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah, which threaten Israel. Steinitz said: “There is a big difference if Iran can send hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid to those terror groups, or $10 billion of arms and military aid to those terror groups. Giving Iran $150 billion in the next six months of the frozen money ignites the whole

situation in the Middle East and Iranian efforts to destabilize the region.”

Obama said the deal was never about stopping Iran’s terror activities, and that sanctions penalizing those activities will remain in place. The goal, he said, is to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon: “What we’ve been able to do is to ensure that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon, and that was always the premise of us building this strong international sanctions regime.

The notion that the world signed up for these sanctions in order to either achieve regime change, to solve every problem in terms of Iran’s behavior or to say to them in perpetuity that they can never have peaceful nuclear power, that was never something that was in the cards.”

Maintaining infrastructure, allowing R&D and lifting enrichment limits: While the agreement may freeze Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities for a decade, it keeps much of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in place. During the time its enrichment capabilities are frozen, Iran will be able to continue its research and development of nuclear technology.

Because of that, Steinitz said, the regime will be able to race to the bomb once the freeze ends: “The assumption here is that Iran cannot be trusted, and therefore you need the agreement, but 10 years from

now, Iran can be trusted like Holland ...

This might happen, but it’s only a speculation, and you cannot base the future of the world, the future of global security, on a speculation...

“Our view from the outset was that this agreement should be about dismantlement.

Iran has built its nuclear infrastructure illegally, secretly, underground. And therefore, Iran should dismantle what was built illegally. There is no total freeze here.

They can make significant progress on one key element of the nuclear program: making more efficient centrifuges... Nothing will prevent them, because it’s legal now to buy material, or bring experience or knowledge from Russia or China or the West... The breakout time can go down from 12 months to six months, and after 10 years to a few weeks.”

Obama countered that dismantling infrastructure would not make a difference, as that infrastructure is easy to rebuild.

The agreement, he said, restricts Iran and disincentivizes a weapons drive enough to remove fears that Iran will produce a bomb: “Prime Minister Netanyahu would prefer that they don’t even have any nuclear capacity, but really what that involves is eliminating the presence of knowledge inside of Iran. Nuclear technology is not that complicated today. And so

the notion that the yardstick for success was whether they ever had the capacity possibly to obtain nuclear weapons – that can’t be the yardstick. The question is do we have the kind of inspections regime, and safeguards and international consensus, whereby it’s not worth it for them to do it? We have achieved that...

“Ten years from now, 15 years from now, the person sitting in my seat, the president of the United States, Republican or Democrat, is not only going to have the same capacity to take necessary military actions or to impose new sanctions, but is actually going to have more insight into the program and will be better positioned, and will have international legitimacy, if they have to deal with a violation of the program.”

How strong is the inspection regime?

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will have round-the-clock access to known nuclear facilities. But they will have to request access to military facilities where they suspect secret nuclear activity – a process that could take 24 days.

That window, Steinitz said, allows Iran to hide violations of the deal: “Let’s assume nuclear illegal activity – enrichment or weapons research – is taking place in that military site. Instead of [inspections See “Iran” on page 14

In France, fear and defiance mix six months after kosher market attack

By Cnaan Liphshiz PARIS (JTA) – On her way home from food shopping, Mirelle Bensason pauses to rearrange wilted wreaths and posters hanging on the perimeter fence that police set up around the kosher supermarket where an Islamist gunned down four Jewish shoppers six months ago. Bensason, who does not keep strictly kosher, is not a Hyper Cacher regular, but sees the continued flow of customers into the shop as proof of the Jewish community’s resilience.

Hyper Cacher reopened in March, about two months after Amedy Coulibaly entered the chain’s Port de Vincennes location and took its patrons hostage. Since it reopened, the store is guarded during its hours of operation by police officers

toting machine guns.

“I take care of the commemorations on this fence to remember the victims and my pain, our pain,” said Bensason, a blue-eyed grandmother of four who was born in Morocco and now lives on the eastern edge of Paris, not far from Hyper Cacher. “But we’re not afraid to come shopping here.

We refuse to be cowed by our enemies.

Life has not changed much, except for the pain that comes with loss.”

Defiance is a common reaction among many French Jews to the growth of violent antisemitism that has been building for years and culminated at the shop on January 9. But there is real and palpable fear that the Hyper Cacher attack will turn out to be a watershed moment for the Jews

At left: The scene outside the Hyper Cacher kosher market on January 12 as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid his respects to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/ Getty Images)

of France – one that accelerated already record immigration to Israel, caused a sharp drop in sales at kosher shops and introduced new levels of anxiety to the lives of the Jews who stayed.

Yvan Lellouche, a founder of the Union of Kosher Consumers of France, which advocates for the distribution and consumption of kosher food, spoke of “a sharp drop in traffic at kosher shops” in the Paris area since January compared to the corresponding period last year. The union does not compile statistics, but Lellouche said anecdotal evidence suggested sales were down as much as 40 percent. “We’ve seen a decrease in traffic at Jewish shops until Passover, when it picked up again back to normal levels,” said Lellouche, whose acts as a liaison between kosher shop owners and French police. “Then the peak was over and the decrease continued.”

Not all of the approximately 20 shops in the Hyper Cacher supermarket chain have such tight police protection. Yet following the attack in January, the French government assigned a total of 10,412 soldiers and policemen to guard hundreds of Jewish schools, synagogues and other Jewish institutions. Hundreds of additional uniformed and plainclothes personnel patrol what they consider high-risk areas – in other words, areas where many Jews live.

Nicholas Winton, the British A new book looks at how World rescuer of Czech Jewish children, War II became a part of Hank tried to get U.S. help in 1939.

Greenberg’s legacy.

Story on page 4 Story on page 6

See “France” on page 8

Security stood guard outside the kosher supermarket in Paris where four Jews were murdered six months ago in a hostage siege by an Islamist gunman.

(Photo by Serge Attal/Flash90)

Federation on Facebook

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

Candle lighting

INSIDE THIS ISSUE The British Schindler WWII and Greenberg

The Paris region is home to about 350,000 Jews, or about 70 percent of the 500,000 Jews living in France.

Dreams of dancing

July 31........................................... 8:03 pm August 7....................................... 7:55 pm August 14..................................... 7:46 pm

Israeli ballet dancer Shahar Drori left home at 17 to pursue his PLUS career dreams in the U.S. Opinion........................................................2 Story on page 7 D’var Torah................................................8

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THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

a matter of opinion Saying Kaddish in Charleston for slain church members

By Rabbi Avi Weiss (JTA) – My father died a few weeks ago.

The hardest part of the shiva was when it ended. Friends and family were, by and large, no longer visiting. I was alone in pain and agony.

I thought of this reality during my visit to the Emanuel AME Church in this city merely two weeks after the racially motivated massacre that killed nine people.

Joined by Rabbis Shmuel Herzfeld and Etan Mintz, we approached the front of the church. The cameras, which had been everywhere for days, were gone. Only a couple dozen people were milling about, a tiny fraction of the many, many thousands who had previously visited. Life goes on, even after the most horrific losses.

We stood in front of the church sign.

Simple and stark, it read “AME Church, Pastor Clementa Pinckney.” The last line of the board announced when the pastor was scheduled to preach next. Sadly, that sermon was never given.

Flowers, wreaths and signs of blessing were everywhere. One picture stood out – a picture of hands, one black, the other white, clasping one another. Beneath it were the words “One Love – One Skin.”

Surrounding the church were its leaders. We embraced.

We returned that evening to join the weekly Bible class. It was in that very space that the massacre occurred. What struck me most was the lack of security.

The door was open and we just walked in. This would not have occurred in a synagogue, where we would no doubt have been met by security men and women, and metal detectors. At AME, there was

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none of that: only welcoming hands and welcoming smiles.

The leader greeted us. When asked to introduce myself to the assembled, I simply said, “We’ve come to give you a collective hug. We’ve come in the spirit of our rabbis who declared, ‘a little bit of light can push away the darkness.’”

The class began. At times I felt uneasy.

The theology espoused was not ours.

These ambivalent feelings, however, were eclipsed by the recognition that we were in a holy place – a place where people were murdered simply because of the color of their skin.

The reverend invited participation. As he spoke of the need for harmony in the wake of hatred, I was moved. He kindly gave me the floor.

I sang out Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s melody to the psalmist’s words: “Because of my brothers and friends, because of my sisters and friends, please let me sing, please let me say, peace to you.”

(Psalms 122:8) The hundred or so participants, who learned the melody quickly, joined in.

Overcome by emotion, I then moved to the front of the room, where, standing arm in arm with the church’s leaders, we sang the melody once more.

The lesson that followed was deep, as the reverend called on the participants to forgive and sing, even in the midst of this tragedy. He then cited Psalm 137, wherein the Jews of Babylonia refused to sing because they were in exile.

“We must do it differently than the Israelites,” the reverend concluded. “We must sing, even now.”

In truth, the Jewish people also sing in the darkness of moments. We, too,

sing. But only after the required time to be angry and outraged has passed. Our traditions, while clearly distinct, are not that far apart.

That night confirmed what I had been feeling these past two weeks as I watched coverage of the unspeakable tragedy. We in the Jewish community have much to learn from the hope and faith expressed by these extraordinary women and men.

The class concluded with a discussion of five feelings that block spiritual healing: resentment, worry, guilt, grief and irritability – universal emotions that remind us of our human commonality.

Human commonality has its dark side as well. Sitting in the church social hall, I envisioned my brothers being murdered in a Jerusalem synagogue just a few months prior, murdered because they were Jews. I have rarely met a racist who is not an antisemite or an antisemite who is not a racist.

The class ended. We embraced the family of Myra Thompson, one of the murdered who had received her license to preach for the ministry on the very same day of the shooting. We said little. Sometimes the best words of condolence are no words at all. In moments of greatest vulnerability, what counts most is feeling the presence of others. With generous spirit, Myra’s sister opened her purse, took out a button with Myra’s picture and pinned it on my shirt.

It read: “Remember the Emanuel 9.”

As the sun was setting, I was desperate to find a minyan (a prayer quorum) to say the memorial prayer, Kaddish, for my father. Though we had arranged to meet Rabbi Yossi Refson, a Chabad rabbi who had agreed to help us, we needed a ride to rendezvous with him.

I saw a middle-aged black woman

emerging from the study group, her foot in a cast, struggling to get into her beaten-up car. Without hesitation, I asked her if she would not mind giving us a lift so we could go pray. “Of course,” she replied.

We all climbed in. It was surreal. Just moments earlier we had joined her and the church study group to offer our support, and now Octavia was helping us find a minyan so I could say Kaddish.

We met Rabbi Yossi, who took us to Folly Beach. “There are a bunch of Israelis,” he told us, “who have stores near the beach.” Others would join us from farther away. And so it happened. Right there, on that South Carolina beach, I said Kaddish. One of the participants, Itai, had driven an hour to join us because he was the crucial 10th man.

As I recited Kaddish for my father, I wanted to also say it in the memory of the nine Emanuel martyrs. I wondered whether my father would take exception.

I thought of a rabbinic teaching my father would often cite: “As hatred defies the rule, so, too, love defies the rule.”

As I chanted Kaddish in that open air, on that sunny beach, I called out the words “yitgadel veyitkadesh shmeih Rabbah” – “magnified and sanctified is the name of God,” I could see my father smile. I felt him gently tapping me on the shoulder. I heard him whisper, “Well done, my son, well done. The love that defies the rule will be victorious over the hate that defies the rule.”

Rabbi Avi Weiss is the founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in New York and the co-founder of the International Rabbinic Fellowship. This piece first appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier.

What shocked a European Jew on his first trip to America

By Cnaan Liphshiz (JTA) – You may have seen them scanning the terminal, eyes wide with disbelief, on their first visit to Israel.

In my family we call their condition, which afflicts mostly young Jews from small Jewish communities, the Ben-Gurion Syndrome – a sense of shock induced by encountering an entire society mostly made up of Jews.

We named it thus during the first-ever trip to Israel by my Belgian cousin, Elie, who remarked with amazement that, at Ben Gurion Airport, “even the taxi drivers are Jewish.”

Elie’s Israeli relatives, myself included, had a good laugh at his expense over that observation, which he made as a boy 25 years ago.

But last month was my turn to experience a version of that syndrome on my first visit to the United States. Like Elie, I knew the basics. I knew America has about six million Jews who grew up in a pretty peaceful homeland and with little experience with the secret-agent tactics forced upon Jews in Western Europe, who tend to hide their kippahs these days for fear of antisemites.

Although I have visited Jewish communities in more than 40 countries (including, in the past year alone, Turkey, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and France), I was taken aback by the diversity and confidence of American Jews. In the United States – or at least in the cities where I spent most of my time there, New York and Miami – being Jewish seems as effortless as it is in Israel.

The Ben-Gurion Syndrome first hit when I found myself chatting about Gaza with a group of Florida Jews – one of whom came to American in the 1940s, seeking

refuge from Nazi Germany – at a Miami Latino café that my wife picked at random.

It turned out to be owned by Venezuelan Jews. The wide-eyed syndrome lingered in New York, where I realized that no fewer than four people squeezed up against me on the subway were reading Hebrew scripture, not The New York Times.

Walking into a synagogue or Jewish Community Center without showing my passport or undergoing an airport-style security check felt weirdly out of place.

And I was surprised when a lunch date kept his kippah on while walking to the restaurant only to take it off inside the non-kosher (but vegan) eatery (to avoid giving other observant Jews the false impression that it was a kosher-certified establishment). In Europe, I remarked, we do it exactly the other way around.

The following day, the wealth of New York’s Jewish cultural life blew my mind as I grooved to the sounds of a Jewish rock brass band, Zion80, whose new album marries the music of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with that of Fela Kuti, the Nigerian protest singer.

On a stop in Savannah between my visits to Florida and New York, I caught a glimpse of something else, though.

Amid Confederate flags and statues for Confederate generals, I was shocked, but also inspired, by American society’s tolerance for offensive narratives. And while my praises on this point may ring hollow following the horrific Charleston massacre, it still caught the attention of someone like me. I live in Europe, where a tweet questioning the Holocaust could get you jail time. I was born in Israel, where there’s a law against recognizing the Palestinian view of Israel’s creation as a catastrophe.

Back in the American Jewish comfort zone also known as New York, I began wondering why my American interlocutors would care at all about what I had come to talk to them about: antisemitism in Europe, the crisis in Ukraine and, inevitably, Israel.

Why should the Jews of paradise care about the plight of Fabrice Schomberg, my neighbor in The Hague, whom authorities ordered to dismantle his sukkah for fear that it would attract vandals in our heavily Muslim neighborhood?

The warm Jewish hearts I found in America warmed my own and took me by surprise. It was the first proof I found that Jews stick together not because of common threats of the sort that exist in Israel and Europe, but also because they choose to, even in near-optimal conditions.

Seeing American Jews’ level of engagement also informed my understanding of people like Al Schwimmer and Murray Greenfield – two U.S.-born Zionists and pioneers in pre-state Israel – and Ralph Goldman, the recently deceased leader of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In my interviews with these men, I never understood what made them take huge risks or make sacrifices they could have avoided because the thing was someone else’s problem. For their generation of American Jews and for others that followed, I realized, sitting silently by is just not an option.

Waiting for the flight back home from Kennedy Airport, I found myself talking to a burly man with gold chains and rings, a green suede hat and a toughguy persona. I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable when, after asking me what I do for a living, he told me that See “Trip” on page 8

july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

3

community news Jewish organization to promote religious door marker

Mezuzah Awareness Month to hit the Poconos Chabad of the Mountains, the local branch of the international Chabad Jewish outreach movement, is dedicating the month of August to the promotion of the mezuzah to the Poconos Jewish community.

The mezuzah, or the small sacred scroll that decorates the doors of many Jewish homes, is based on a biblical verse – Deuteronomy 11:20 – that requires a “sign” – traditionally interpreted as a precisely hand-written parchment scroll – to be attached to “the doorposts of your house.” Mezuzah is Hebrew for “doorpost.”

“We’ll be giving people the opportunity to have their mezuzahs checked by a scribe,” said Rabbi Mendel

Raices, Chabad’s director of the Mezuzah Awareness Campaign. To be kosher, or fit for use, the handwritten mezuzah must be written by a trained Jewish scribe in safrus, a Hebrew-alphabet calligraphy so precise that even one defective letter renders the entire scroll invalid. “We want a kosher mezuzah on each Jewish door,” he added.

The mezuzah popularization campaign will also make available and offer free installation of new mezuzahs at Jewish-owned area residences and places of business.

For more information, contact Raices at 570-589-0226 or chabadofthemountains@gmail.com.

Negev’s first class of social business entrepreneurs sets sights on Israel’s future

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NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS Jewish National Fund Chairman and World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder spoke at the opening of the Lauder Employment Center in Be’er Sheva, Israel, in March. (Photo courtesy of JNF) selves. Each individual or team summarized their socially aimed products and services in pitches of no longer than 20 seconds. An “infectious sense of pride” rippled through the crowd for the ideas, which were aimed at enhancing the Negev region and helping southern Israelis continue to live there in the long run.

One of the projects presented, Desert Language, is an arts studio that teaches and encourages youths to engage in creative artistic techniques using natural materials from the surrounding desert. The teenagers then take these skills and teach various after-school programs all over the region for disadvantaged children.

Another project, called Revealed – Learning to Swim in Hura, focuses on teaching Bedouin children and youths how to swim. In their pitch, entrepreneurs Yael and Arik pointed out that “20 percent of deaths from drowning in Israel are from the Bedouin sector,” and that through their professional knowledge and their business model, they plan on building a public swimming pool in Hura, which is a small-yet-flourishing Bedouin community of about 15,000 people.

The project also plans to give swimming lessons to Hura’s youths.

See “Negev” on page 12

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By Megan E. Turner JNS.org Under a beautiful desert sky during a recent evening in Be’er Sheva, a new initiative presented the Negev region’s first organized class of social business entrepreneurs to the greater public.

The Lauder Employment Center, which is the brainchild of Jewish businessman, philanthropist, and organizational leader Ronald S. Lauder – chairman of the Jewish National Fund and president of the World Jewish Congress – served as the backdrop for Israeli entrepreneurs exchanging ideas for the future. The clinking of glasses and bustling, cheery atmosphere marked the debut of HaMeitz, a social enterprise and small business accelerator that is the first program of the PresenTense entrepreneurship initiative in southern Israel.

The employment center facility itself reflects Be’er Sheva’s character through a blend of tradition and modernity, featuring an architectural style that is a throwback to Israel’s era of Ottoman rule for the building’s forward-thinking tenants – entrepreneurs whose passion is instantly evident. The first words coming from HaMeitz program coordinator Maor Elkayam were, “It’s so nice to meet you – do you have any ideas for future projects?”

The introduction of HaMeitz’s 2015 Entrepreneur Class began with remarks from Be’er Sheva’s deputy mayor, Tal Elal, who said, “Be’er Sheva is the city of opportunity.

“The Negev is the future of Israel,” Elal added, invoking the sentiments of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.

Member of Knesset Erel Margalit (Labor) built upon the theme of increased attention for Israel’s south by pointing out that both eBay and PayPal will be opening their development centers in Be’er Sheva. “The time has come for a different way of thinking,” said Margalit, who added remarks on his belief that Israel should shift its emphasis from developing the center of the country to developing the Jewish state’s next hi-tech center in Be’er Sheva.

Next up were the pitches of the entrepreneurs them-

To learn about mezuzahs, visit www.chabadofthemountains.org/mezuzah.

Chabad Lubavitch offers social and educational opportunities throughout the year in locations around the Poconos. It is said to provide “a warm and welcoming atmosphere for exploring Jewish heritage in a non-judgmental environment,” with events, classes and special interests clubs for families, children and seniors throughout the region. For more information, visit www.chabadofthemountains.org or call 570-589-0226.

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THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

When Nicholas Winton, the British rescuer of Jews, was rebuffed by the U.S.

Note: The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania owns the documentary “Nicky’s Family,” the story of Nicholas Winton’s wartime efforts to save Czech Jewish children, as part of its Film Library.

By Rafael Medoff WASHINGTON (JTA) – The July 1 passing of Nicholas Winton, the London stockbroker who rescued more than 600 Jewish children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II, has drawn attention to the phenomenon of ordinary individuals who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust. Winton’s story is also a reminder of some often overlooked contrasts between British and American responses to the plight of Europe’s Jewish refugees.

The most widely known examples of such rescuers are Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish businessman who sheltered Jews in Nazi-occupied Budapest; Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who protected Jews by using them as employees in his factories; and Varian Fry, the American journalist who organized the smuggling of some 2,000 refugee artists and writers from Vichy France.

But in recent years, the stories of some previously unheralded individuals have come to light. An HBO documentary film came out last year about Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a Jewish couple from Philadelphia who brought 50 children from Vienna to the United States in 1939.

A documentary is in the works about the Rev. Waitstill Sharp and his wife, Martha, a Unitarian couple from Massachusetts who undertook rescue operations in Ger-

man-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939 and then joined Fry’s rescue network in France.

Winton’s rescue work likewise came to public attention only relatively recently. The son of German Jewish immigrants to England who had converted to Christianity, Winton became involved in the refugee cause almost on a whim.

Alerted that several of his friends had become involved in Jewish refugee relief work in Czechoslovakia, Winton flew to Prague in 1939 to see what they were doing. He ended up taking charge of a remarkable mission to smuggle hundreds of Jewish children out of the country in the months following the Kristallnacht pogrom.

The Nazis had taken over the western Czech region known as the Sudetenland as a result of the September 1938 Munich Pact. Then, in early 1939, the Germans occupied the rest of the country. The approximately 350,000 Jews of Czechoslovakia now braced to share the fate suffered by Jews in Germany and Austria.

Winton realized the possibility of finding havens would be greater if they focused on children. His group, the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, Children’s Section, raced against the clock to find foster homes for Czech Jewish children, raise funds to bribe German and Czech border officials, and forge exit papers.

Uncertain as to how many children England would accept, Winton turned to America to play a part in the rescue effort.

On May 16, 1939, he wrote directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about

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the “desperately urgent an additional 14,000 young situation.” Many Czech German Jewish women by Jewish children are “quite allowing them to enter as destitute,” he wrote, with cooks and nannies. some “homeless and starvEight trains organized ing.” If compelled to stay

by Winton and his friends, in Czechoslovakia, “there carrying a total of 669 is no future,” he wrote. “Is children, made it out of it possible for anything to Czechoslovakia in the be done to help us with this summer of 1939. A ninth problem in America?” train, with 250 children, The State Department was scheduled to leave responded that there was Nicholas Winton waited to on September 1 of that nothing the United States greet his surviving evacuees year, but the borders were could do in the matter, since at Liverpool Street railway sealed when Germany “the United States Govern- station in London on launched its invasion of ment is unable... to permit Poland that day. Those September 4, 2009. (Photo immigration in excess of children were never heard

by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty that provided for by existing from again.

Images) immigration laws.”

Winton never spoke That answer was disingenuous. about his rescue work, even to his wife, The annual quota for immigrants from Grete Gjelstrup. More than 50 years Czechoslovaka was small – just 2,874 later, she discovered a stack of dusty – but it was never filled during the Hitler documents and photos from the Czech years. In fact, during most of those years, rescue mission in their attic. “I did not it was less than one-third filled. think for one moment that they would The year that Winton wrote, 1939, be of interest to anyone so long after it some 158 quota places sat unused. happened,” he later told an interviewer.

Thus, at least some of the children Winton very reluctantly allowed his could have been brought to America wife to share the information with a within the existing quotas. But the handful of historians and journalists.

Roosevelt administration piled on nu- As a result, late in life he was made merous bureaucratic regulations and an honorary citizen of Prague, praised requirements to make the application in a U.S. congressional resolution and process extremely difficult and time even knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. consuming, and the one thing Europe’s In 2009, shortly after Winton’s 100th Jews did not have was time. birthday, he was reunited in an emotional England has been justly criticized for ceremony with some of the children its wartime policies concerning Europe’s whom he saved.

Jews. But when it came to aiding Jewish The letter Winton sent to Roosevelt, refugees after Kristallnacht, the British however, remained a mystery until last actually were considerably more generous year. In a “60 Minutes” segment broadthan the Roosevelt administration. cast in April 2014, Winton referred Roosevelt condemned the pogrom to the letter, but mentioned that he and extended the visitor’s visas of had never been able to locate a copy. those German Jews who already were David Langbart, a staff member at the in the United States as tourists. But he National Archives, saw the program refused to admit refugees to Ameri- and, after some digging, managed to can territories such as Alaska or the locate both Winton’s letter and the Virgin Islands, where the quota laws administration’s reply. They were presented to him in May 2014, on the did not apply.

British Prime Minister Neville Cham- occasion of his 105th birthday. berlain, on the other hand, did not condemn Rafael Medoff is founding director of Kristallnacht, but did agree to take in the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust 10,000 Jewish children on the Kinder- Studies in Washington, DC. transports. England also gave shelter to

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july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

5

Israel NEWS IN bRIEF From JNS.org

Israeli findings push first wheat cultivation back 11,000 years

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Buzz Aldrin to make first visit to Jewish state

Forty-six years after becoming the second man to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin will take his first steps in the Holy Land later this year.

Aldrin, 85, will be attending the International Astronautical Federation’s annual International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem in October, the IAF announced on July 23. Much like his mission to the moon, Aldrin is following in the footsteps of former colleague Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, who visited Israel in 2007 and met with children at the National Science Museum in Haifa. Armstrong died in 2012.

Founded in 1951, the IAF hosts the conference in various countries each year. The theme of this year’s conference is “Space – The Gateway for Mankind’s Future” and will draw the world’s leading space experts as part of various panel discussions and workshops.

“Many of Israel’s high-tech companies, with their diverse space industrial facilities, space technology, expertise, and know-how, have much to offer to the international space community,” the IAC’s local planning committee in Jerusalem said in a statement. “Israel’s academia and research institutions represent the cutting-edge of research, technology, development, and space exploration, which will be available for IAC participants to experience, gain first-hand knowledge, and discover,” added the committee.

Canada plans to expand free trade agreement with Israel

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on July 21 announced plans for an expanded and modernized free trade agreement with Israel. According to the announcement, the updated Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement will provide “expanded market access opportunities for agricultural, fish and seafood products through the reduction or elimination of Israeli tariffs on a large number of products, and duty-free access under tariff rate quotas for certain products.” The Canadian government sees Israel as an opportunity for Canadian businesses in areas such as defense, information and communications technology, life science, sustainable technologies, agriculture and agri-food, and fish and seafood. Since CIFTA was enacted in 1997, Canadian trade with Israel has tripled – to $1.6 billion in 2014. Under Harper’s leadership, Canada has been an outspoken supporter of Israel in international bodies such as the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in June that Israelis believe the Jewish state has “no better friend than Canada.” “Israel is a priority market for Canada and holds great potential for Canadian companies in a variety of sectors,” Harper said on July 21. “An expanded and modernized free trade agreement will lead to a strengthened bilateral relationship as well as an increase in jobs and opportunities for Canadians and Israelis alike.”

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Senior California state officials attended a conference hosted by the Milken Innovation Center at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies the week of July 24 to learn Israelideveloped strategies that may help deal with California’s ongoing drought. “Israel had a problem similar to the one California is dealing with 10 years ago,” Dr. Glenn Yago, a senior fellow with the Milken Institute’s Financial Innovation Lab, told Yediot Achronot.

“The problem is still ongoing, but Israel now produces about 20 percent more water than the market requires. The use of water per capita in Israel is less than one-third of the amount consumed in California. This is a result of the establishment of desalination installations, the secondary use of water for agriculture, and also the citizens’ conduct,” said Yago. The conference participants, he added, “were very excited about what we showed them, like our success in preserving and restoring the aquifers. They didn’t know it was even possible to drip irrigation pipes in some of the agricultural industries.” Additionally, Israeli companies working on water management and purification – including Atlantium, Amiad and TripleT – have been meeting with companies such as Leprino Foods, Costco, Coca-Cola and other corporations situated in the western U.S., as well as with officials in California’s Department of Water, Department of Agriculture, and its Governor’s Office. “I think that Israel has been a pioneer in this field for a long time now,” said Prof. Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at the University of California, Irvine. “The work with the irrigation was simply phenomenal. It’s a real game-changer. In California we are working with a drip irrigation technology, but we still have a long way to go. The technology and water management in Israel is at a very high level. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for us to share the most critical problems and cooperate with the Israelis for possible solutions.”

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“These choppers are for border security,” a U.S. official told Reuters. The Israeli Air Force once had two Cobra squadrons (it renamed those helicopters Tzefa), with one being decommissioned in the mid-2000s and the other in 2013. Those squadrons were retired in favor of the more advanced U.S.-made Apache helicopters. Manufactured

by Bell Helicopter, the Cobras are single-engine attack helicopters that made up the backbone of the U.S. Army’s helicopter fleet during the Vietnam War and through the 1990s. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and maintain close government-to-government ties. Recently, with the Syrian civil war threatening to spill over into both countries, the Israeli- Jordanian relationship has grown closer, with Israel sharing intelligence and quietly aiding Jordan’s military.

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(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) – New findings at the archaeological site Ohalo II near the Sea of Galilee have revealed that wheat and barley had been sown there dating back 23,000 years, which is 11,000 years earlier than the estimated inception of organized agriculture. Professor Ehud Weiss of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology Department at Bar-Ilan University and Dr. Ainit Snir led the team of archaeologists, botanists and ecologists who made the breakthrough discovery, which was published in the July issue of the Plos One scientific journal. Until now, historians have believed that humans began transitioning from hunter-gatherer societies to established agriculture communities some 12,000 years ago. The Israeli researchers based their new conclusion on three discoveries: the atypically high presence of domestic, rather than wild, wheat and barley dispersal units; a high concentration of proto-weeds (plants of the type known to flourish in fields planted with domesticated crops); and sickle blades that were used to cut and harvest grains. Weiss explained that the plant remains from the site were unusually well-preserved because they had been charred and then covered by sediment and water, which sealed them in low-oxygen conditions. “Due to this, it was possible to recover an extensive amount of information on the site and its inhabitants – which made this a uniquely preserved site and therefore one of the best archaeological examples worldwide of hunter-gatherers’ way of life. Here we see evidence of repeated sowing and harvesting of later domesticated cereals,” Weiss said.

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6

THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

Book pitches WWII as lasting part of Jewish slugger Hank Greenberg’s legacy

By Jacob Kamaras JNS.org Baseball fans might most vividly remember Hank Greenberg for his chase of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1938 and his other impressive exploits on the field. The smaller universe of Jewish baseball fans may remember him for sitting out a crucial game on Yom Kippur decades before Sandy Koufax would do the same. But author John Klima wants readers of any background to know the unsung story of Greenberg’s World War II service.

As indicated by its title, Klima’s recently published book – “The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII” – is about much more than Greenberg.

Yet the Hall-of-Fame first baseman and outfielder, who won two Most Valuable Player awards and two World Series championships with the Detroit Tigers, is the centerpiece.

“I had wanted to write The cover of “The Game Must Go On,” John Klima’s a baseball and World War new book that spotlights II book, and I didn’t like Hank Greenberg’s World how any of them had been War II service. (Photo done before,” Klima says courtesy of Thomas Dunne in an interview. “I thought they were all textbooks, or I Books) thought they were rehashes of newspaper articles, and I didn’t think there was anything narrative. So if I was going to do something long-form and narrative, then I needed a character people could connect with, and that character was Hank Greenberg.”

After an initial Army stint of half a year, Greenberg was honorably discharged on December 5, 1941, two days before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. In a statement

of epic proportions, Greenberg voluntarily re-enlisted in the Army Air Corps immediately after the attack and did not return to Major League Baseball until the summer of 1945. Baseball’s highest-paid player before the war, Greenberg was the first Major Leaguer to enlist, becoming the face of an era that – with conscription depleting baseball of much of its top-tier talent – forever changed the MLB and the entire American professional sports landscape, Kima’s book argues.

“What you found out about Hank Greenberg was that he really represented everything to everyone, and he represented everything to the Jewish people before the war, during the war and after the war,” Klima tells JNS. org. “And then the rest of the country, even though they knew about him as an American League MVP and a big slugger, kind of embraced him, I think, the same way that the Jewish population had in the 1930s, in the sense that Hank suddenly represented the ballplayer who left the privileges of his life to go sacrifice and serve. That was Hank’s decision. Not only does he end up representing the guy who served, but then he ends up representing the soldier who’s coming back and putting his life together.”

Upon Greenberg’s return to baseball in 1945, he hit a grand-slam home run that clinched the American League pennant on the last day of the season. The Tigers later defeated the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. But before his triumphant comeback, the absence of Greenberg and other stars like him opened the door for players such as one-armed outfielder Pete Gray – who shares the cover of Klima’s book with Greenberg – to realize their dream of reaching the Major Leagues.

In an anecdote from “The Game Must Go On” that brings the book’s major protagonists together, Greenberg and Gray “stood arm in arm in the steady St. Louis rain, talking softly for a few moments” during the same game Greenberg won with his historic home run.

“This was the image of baseball in World War II,” Klima writes. “The serviceman was thanking the temporary worker for keeping the factory humming while he was on. The hero got his life back. The replacement was swept out the door. Hank seemed to realize what

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Hank Greenberg in his baseball (left) and military uniforms. (Photo provided by JNS) few others could, that both of them had helped win the war in their own different ways.”

Indeed, while players such as Greenberg made their contributions on the battlefield, the likes of Gray kept the game alive on the baseball field and boosted both Americans’ morale at home and soldiers’ morale overseas.

Greenberg’s gesture in the season-ending game against the St. Louis Browns – which was also Gray’s final MLB game – “was as grand as any home run he ever hit,” writes Klima.

“That was a very symbolic moment,” Klima tells JNS. org. “I don’t like doing my baseball histories the way other people do. I like moments that tie things together.”

Gray and Greenberg both endured hate, the former for his physical disability and the latter over his Jewish faith. On the field with Gray that day, Greenberg’s character shone through.

“Hank had a very deep integrity about him that transcended everything he did on the field,” Klima says. “When Hank found these moments of integrity, he just sailed above everything... Hank is going to do what Hank knows is right.

That’s really the essence of Greenberg, and I think that’s why people are still drawn to him. That’s why I’m drawn to him. He’s got tunnel-vision for the right thing.”

Klima writes that Greenberg, after hitting the pennant-winning home run, “swore he heard one of the infielders mutter, ‘Goddamn that dirty Jew bastard, he beat us again.’ He savored the thought of the Washington Senators (who lost the pennant because of the Tigers’ win that day) sitting around a hotel room listening to his grand slam on the radio, calling him every dirty Jew name in the book, and he loved the thought of how angry his home run must have made them.”

“Hank was hearing ‘dirty Jew bastard’ all the way through the end of his career. He didn’t talk about it after the 1930s, but he still heard it. The big leagues were a rough, nasty place,” Klima says, adding that the Washington Senators were a particularly “antisemitic bunch.”

Kilma believes Greenberg “took a lot of joy in triumphing over bigots,” but “would never say it to you” and “would always let his actions speak louder than his words.”

Greenberg was also understated about his military service, which was highlighted by his time in the China Burma India Theater region with the first group of Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft during the bombing campaign against Japan. But one incident Greenberg did elucidate with a first-hand account was a dramatic story from June 1944, when he was part of a ground crew trying to rescue See “Book” on page 12

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july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

Israeli ballet dancer makes unlikely dream come true

By Karen McDonough JNS.org When Shahar Dori left his Haifa home at age 17 and made a 6,500-mile trip to Montgomery, AL, to attend a summer ballet program, he was pursuing a dream. But he had no idea where it would lead.

Dori, now 23, is the first Israeli ballet dancer to join the Houston Ballet, where he is earning recognition as a rising talent in the “fiercely competitive” ballet world.

His journey from one port city, Haifa, to another, Houston, is a story of hard work, sacrifice and the generosity and closeness of the Jewish community.

Dori’s father, Ofer, was an Israeli folk dancer whose love of dancing rubbed off on his son. As a teen, Dori studied hiphop dance at Haifa’s Wizo Art and Design High School, where a teacher suggested taking ballet to help his technique. Reluctant to do so – he didn’t want to wear tights – Dori tried ballet and was instantly hooked. One problem, though. He was 16, which is considered very late to start such a demanding art form, especially if he wanted to advance.

“I fell in love with how hard ballet was physically and how effortless it needed to look,” Dori said in an interview with JNS. org. “There’s so much artistry in it. When you go onstage and perform and put your heart into it and you’re in the moment, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

At the Wizo school, he performed lead roles in classical ballets, then trained while on a scholarship at Israel’s Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. He excelled and was recognized with the Keren Sharet award for ballet by the American-Israel Cultural Foundation. With the award, the well-known Israeli modern dancer Ido Tamor chose Dori for a summer schol-

Israeli-born Shahar Dori is considered a rising talent in the ballet world. (Photo

by Amitava Sarkar) arship program at Montgomery Ballet in 2009. Though he was coming for the summer, Dori knew he wanted to stay permanently.

Moving to the U.S., however, involved the gut-wrenching decision not to join the Israel Defense Forces, a requirement for all Israeli citizens at age 18. “If I didn’t leave at 17, I would not make it in the ballet world,” Dori said.

“It was a complicated decision,” he added, noting that he is the only member of his family not to serve in the Israeli military.

Following the summer program, Dori become an apprentice at Alabama’s Montgomery Ballet, where he continued training and performing.

At 19, Dori got the break he was seeking. He received a scholarship for a six-week summer intensive program at the Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, one of the country’s top regional dance companies. The scholarship covered classes and training, but not room and board. That’s when the local Jewish community stepped in to help.

“He was coming to a place where he knew no one and needed a support system,” recalled Maxine Silberstein, the dance and children’s theater director at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston. She and Marilyn Hassid, assistant executive director of the JCC, took Dori under their wings.

“He has such an enthusiasm about being successful, he was determined,” Silberstein said. “We wanted to give him every opportunity.”

The women rallied their friends in the Jewish community, who supplied financial assistance to pay for a dorm room at a nearby university. For groceries, Dori received cards for the Kroger supermarket chain. Families hosted him for meals on Jewish holidays helped keep him connected to the community, said Silberstein.

Meanwhile, Dori thrived and went on to audition for Houston Ballet II – the ballet’s junior company – and made it. Within a few months, at age 20, he was given a contract to join the main company.

7

Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch saw “a fiercely determined” young man who wanted to make his dream happen. “Shahar made a real commitment to work hard,” Welch told JNS.org. “When you do that, things come to you. He didn’t give up, that’s what a great dancer is made of. When you start ballet late, you start with a different level of dedication than someone who starts at [age] 7.”

Along the way, Dori has remained close with Silberstein and Hassid, who continue to support him with advice and attend his performances. “They have done so much for me from day one,” Dori said.

“They’re like proud moms. It’s really a special bond.” Grateful for the help he received, Dori has repaid the kindness by teaching ballet classes and giving small performances at the JCC when his busy schedule allows for it.

Experiences like working with contemporary dance choreographer Mark Morris make Dori’s decision to emigrate even more satisfying. A few months ago, Morris was invited to work with Houston Ballet. Dori was chosen to dance in Morris’ piece. “I thought, ‘This is crazy. I was sitting in a classroom learning about him [a few years ago], now I’m learning directly from him,’” Dori said.

The Israeli dancer is becoming a standout at the company. In June, he was chosen as the understudy for a plum part, the role of the groom in a major production – choreographer Jiri Kylián’s “Svadebka,” which means Russia for wedding. “That’s a very big deal,” Welch said. “Shahar is finding his voice and place with us, he’s already in line for a lot of great roles. It’s pivotal to get to learn those roles while young.”

See “Ballet” on page 16

UNDER THE AUSPICES OF: The Jewish Federation of NEPA, Temple Israel of the Poconos, Hadassah and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Sunday, August 9 • 3-5pm The Theater at Stroudsburg High School, 1100 West Main Street, Stroudsburg, PA 18360 Tickets: $25, $35 and $45 • Student seats: 14 and over :$18 Student seats: under 14: $10 The T hee Hester Street Troupe Masters M of Klezmer Music Yoel Sharabi and his Orchestra ra Master of Modern Israeli, i, Classic Yemenite and d Popular Chassidic Musicc Contact Dr. Sandra Alfonsi at 570-223-7062 for information & tickets

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THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

• Regular Schedule of Services • 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 Elliott Kleinman President: Liza Roos Lucy Contact Person: Cheryl Badner, Congregation Administrator (570)253-2222 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: Irene Stolzenberg 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.

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TEMPLE HESED Union of Reform Judaism Rabbi Daniel J. Swartz President: Barbara Parker-Bell 1 Knox Street, Scranton, PA 18505, (off Lake Scranton Rd.) 570-344-7201 Friday evening Shabbat, 8 pm; Saturday morning, when Shabbat Scool is in session, at 11 am

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF DUNMORE President: Isadore Steckel 515 East Drinker St., Dunmore, PA 18512 570-344-3011 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: Dr. Sandra Alfonsi Contact person: Dr. Sandra Alfonsi 570-223-7062 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, 7pm; Saturday morning Shabbat, 9 am

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF SCRANTON Affiliation: United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Rabbi Moshe Saks 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.

d’var torah

Holding back

by RABBI MENDEL RAICES, CHABAD OF THE MOUNTAINS Vaetchanan, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11 Most of us seek to influence, give and share with others. At times we feel like we’re giving our all, but getting no response, or perhaps the wrong response.

Have you ever considered that the reason we are failing is precisely because we are giving our all? Perhaps the person we’d like to draw close feels like we are smothering them with love. Perhaps in our presence they feel like they cannot breathe, or don’t have the space to grow. As any parent can attest, the most difficult acts of love for their children are the ones which demand holding back, for it’s unnatural for a lover to withhold anything from their beloved.

Reading this week’s Torah portion, one is struck by the fact that its most monumental event, the Sinaic Revelation and accompanying Ten Commandments, turn up twice; first in Exodus and then in Deuteronomy. If the event happened once, why tell it twice?

The mystics explain, while the Torah was given once, it was received twice, or in two phases. There was something very powerful about the Divine revelation at Sinai.

Too powerful, in fact. We, the world and its inhabitants, were overwhelmed by God. At the time, all physical properties were out of order and sync, neutralized by occupying Divine forces.

No doubt it felt good, as we ascended and transcended time, space and body. At that spiritual altitude and aptitude, God’s existence was unequivocal and concrete; it was actually material existence that suddenly came into

France

In December and January, bullet holes from an air gun were found on the walls of two kosher restaurants in Paris. The previous month, a kosher sushi restaurant was firebombed in Paris’ heavily Jewish 17th arrondissement, or district.

“I say this with pain but, frankly, I’d be very worried if my children worked at a kosher shop,” said Lellouche, a father of five.

Staff at the Hyper Cacher location targeted in the attack and their counterparts at Charles Traiteur, the adjacent kosher deli, said they have not seen a significant decrease in their sales. But Yaakov Deri, who owns the La Boucherie Gourmet deli, which is situated across the road from Hyper Cacher, needs no spreadsheet to confirm a slowdown. Sales, he said, have dropped drastically since January. “I’m feeling it in my pocket,” he said. “Some of my customers dart in and leave as soon as possible, wanting to spend as little time as possible in a place they regard as dangerous.”

Also impacting kosher shop sales: shoppers organizing discount bulk purchases of kosher food from abroad and, of course, the departure for Israel of at least 20,000 Jews since 2008. Some 70 percent of those emigres left after 2012, when a jihadist killed four Jews, including three children, at a Jewish school in the southern city of Toulouse.

The Jewish Agency for Israel, which facilitates Jewish immigration to Israel, is expecting about 8,000 French Jews to arrive this year. It would set a new record over last year’s all-time mark of 6,668 newcomers – the highest number that year from any country.

Trip

Continued from page 2

he had “a real problem with that.”

I cringed in expectation of the sort of antisemitic rant I sometimes hear in my work in Europe. But instead of delivering a hostile diatribe, my conversation partner pulled out two tzitzit fringes from the religious garment hid under his shirt and told me, “I’m Chabad, and I don’t think you guys at JTA are giving us a fair shake.”

Cnaan Liphshiz is JTA’s news and features correspondent in Europe.

question. We were high on a spiritual drug, experiencing a state of altered reality.

At Sinai, the Jewish people “saw that which is usually heard and heard that which is usually seen.” The material world was under general anesthesia, unconscious as the Almighty operated. But then we woke up, bruised and hurting. The experience had been too intense.

When our souls returned from their spirit-fest to our human faculties, the real work of internalization and integration began. Day-to-day existence resumed and, with it, the need for dialogue between body and soul.

That healing process would take decades, with Moses serving as physician. Throughout his tenure as their leader, he would work hard to nurture their faith as well as provide them with soul/body equilibrium.

Which leads us to the second account of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy; less glamorous, but more sustainable.

On this occasion, 40 years after receiving the Ten Commandments straight from God, the Jewish people heard the Ten Commandments again, but this time as they were processed by Moses, a human being like them. It was there and then that the purpose of Sinai was realized, for at that juncture in Jewish history, God’s will and wisdom, which in their raw form overshadow and overbear all things physical, had successfully been integrated into the materialistic and mundane world.

So the next time you are trying to shower someone with love and it’s just not working, try taking a step back and giving them space. Hey, it worked for God!

Continued from page 1 Among those preparing to leave this summer is a young mother who came on July 7 to shop at Hyper Cacher, perhaps for the last time as a French resident. “We’re grateful to police and the army for protecting us,” said the mother, who declined to give her name because she said doing so might endanger her children. “But I can’t leave my kids at a school that needs military protection.

I can’t do my shopping like this.”

It is not yet known what effect the Hyper Cacher shootings will have on Jewish school enrollment. Roger Cukierman, president of the CRIF umbrella of French Jewish groups, said two months before the kosher market attack that while some Jewish parents fear sending their children to at-risk, private Jewish schools, antisemitism also means they are hesitant about enrolling them in public ones. Many emigrate or opt for Catholic schools.

Another longtime Hyper Cacher shopper who, citing business reasons, identified himself only by his surname, Fitoussi, said the carnage earlier this year – 12 were killed by an Islamist at a satirical French newspaper, two days prior to the kosher market attack – triggered his decision to move with his wife to Israel later this year. A Sephardic Jewish businessman who was born in Sousse, Tunisia – the scene of a massacre of 38 people in June by an Islamic terrorist who targeted Western tourists – Fitoussi has lived in France for five decades.

“I love France, it gave me so much,” he said during an interview inside Hyper Cacher, where shelves are stocked with Israeli imports and a year-round supply of Badatzcertified matzah. “But what happened here, I can’t take it anymore. I can’t live like this.”

Like many French Jews, Fitoussi, who resides in an affluent district of Paris, takes care to always wear a hat over his kippah when he walks to synagogue on Shabbat, so as not to be identified as Jewish and invite attack. Last year, of the 851 hate crimes against Jews recorded by the Jewish community, 241 were violent attacks. The previous year, the figures were 423 and 105, respectively.

But in June, Fitoussi was called “dirty Jew” on the street on his way to synagogue even though he was wearing a hat. “They are looking for us now,” he said, “and the more we hide, the closer they will look.”

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july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

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THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

MEN’S 2015 CAMPAIGN HONOR ROLL

Humanitarian Division - $50,000+ Mr. Donald Bernstein Moe Cohen Bequest

Heritage Builders - $20,000-$49,999 Lester G. Abeloff Foundation Grossman & Atlas The Kaplan Family Nivert Metal Supply Mr. Alfred Reich Legacy Builders - $10,000-$19,999 S & A Partnership Mr. & Mrs. Donald Dembert Jerome Giles PACE Fund Jacob & Mary Levy Fdn The Oppenheim Family Mr. & Mrs. Herb Rosen Dr. & Mrs. David Rutta Founders Circle - $5,000-$9,999 Abeloff Family Fund Mr. David Adler Mr. & Mrs. James Alperin Mr. & Mrs. Gerard Brisman Deutsch Family Foundation Mr. David Feibus J. & R. Friedman Endowment Fund Mr. & Mrs. Alan Glassman Mr. Ken Green Mr. Richard Jacobson Jacobson Hat Co. Mr. Richard Levy Albert A & Bertram N Linder Fdn Atty. Samuel Newman Morris & Esther Waldman Memorial Fund President’s Circle - $3,000-$4,999 Brucelli Advertising Company A. B. & Dora Cohen Fund David & Aileen Epstein Phil Fund Mr. Kenneth Levine Dr. & Mrs. David Malinov Mr. Robert Rosenberg Mr. & Mrs. Paul Schuchman Alan & Arlene Wasser Atty. Jerry Weinberger Vanguard Division - $1,000-$2,999 Atty. John Appleton Atty. Richard Bishop B’nai B’rith Amos Lodge Mr & Mrs Steve Bram Mr Charles Cahn Mr. Jerry Chazan Chevra Kadisha Atty. Donald Douglass Atty. & Mrs. David Fallk Atty. Richard Fine Mr. Douglas Fink Atty. Joseph Fisch Morris Gelb Endowment Mr. Seth Gross Mr. Samuel Harris Atty. Scott Herlands Lee Jaffe Mr. & Mrs. Howard Kaufman Mr. & Mrs. Alan Levy Mr. Michael Mardo Mc Grail, Merkel, Quinn & Assocs.

Dr. Kenneth Miller Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Mogel Atty. Morey Myers Mr. Mark Noble Mr. Arthur Pachter Mr. Jamy Rosenstein Mr. Jeffrey Rosenstein Atty. & Mrs. Michael Roth Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Scheck Dr. Joseph Schectman Mr. Steven Seitchik Dr. Edward Sherwin Mr. & Mrs. Mark Silverberg Mr. & Mrs. Henry Skier Dr. Paul Solomon Mr. Sam Starr Atty. Robert Ufberg

Atty. Edwin Utan Dr. Steven Vale Dr. Richard Weinberger Mr. Steven Weinberger Dr. Stephen Weissberger Dr. Howard Wimmer Challenger Division - $500-$999 Mr. & Mrs. Norman Ben Ezra Mr. Jack Bernbaum Beth Israel Congregation Mr. David Dickstein The Dime Bank Mr. & Mrs. Mark Entenberg Mr. Julian Falk Mr. Shlomo Fink Dr Vitaly Geyfman Mr Richard Goldenziel Mr. Alan Goldstein Dr. Scott Gordon D. & B. Greenberger Endow Fund Mr. Michael Greenstein Mr. Herbert Hollenberg Dr. Kenneth Jacobs Mr. Harold Kornfeld Dr. & Mrs. Gerald Larar Mr. Jeffrey Leventhal Dr. & Mrs. John Lewy Rabbi Baruch Melman Atty. Edward Monsky Dr. Mordekhai Moritz Atty. Jacob Nogi Atty. & Mrs Morris Raub Milt & Lillian Rosenzweig PACE Mr. Barth Rubin Rabbi Samuel Sandhaus Atty. Ben Schnessel Allen Schwartz Memorial Fund Mr. & Mrs Louis Shapiro Dr. Douglas Sheldon Mr. Alan Silverman Mr. & Mrs. Barry Tremper Mr. & Mrs. Larry Weinberger Dr. Jeffrey Weiss Dr. Leonard Weiss Mr. Ruben Witkowski* Mr. & Mrs. Phillip Wizwer General Division -$100-$499 Mr. Irwin Adler Mr. & Mrs. Herbert Appel Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Balaban Dr. & Mrs. Shaya Barax Mr. Mark Berger Dr. & Mrs. Eli Berman Mr. & Mrs. Steven Bleier Mr. & Mrs. Seymour Brotman Dr. & Mrs. Bruce Brownstein Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Cardonick Chatiner Hatikvoh Ferein Mr. Lawrence Chimerine Dr. & Mrs. Mitchell Cohen Mr. Sanford Cohen Mr. Geoffrey Cutler Mr. Gary Davis Mr. & Mrs. Mark Davis Dr. Leonard Denis Mr. Michael Diamond Mr. Irving Effross Dr. & Mrs. Steven Eisner Mr. James Ellenbogen Mr. & Mrs. Howard Farber Mr. Richard Feibus Mr. Howard Feinberg Mr. & Mrs. William Fiegleman Rabbi Mordechai Fine Mr. Moshe Fink Mr.& Mrs. Harold Finkelstein Dr & Mrs Gerald Fragin Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Friedman Mr. Jack Friedman Carlucci, Golden, Desantis Funeral Home Mr. Alex Gans Mr. Jeffrey Ganz Dr. & Mrs. Shmuel Ganz Mr. Ricky Gelb Ms. Rose Gelbard Mr. & Mrs. Peter Gelbart Dr. & Mrs. Daniel Ginsberg Mr. Eugene/Art Glantz

A J U

a p m a C n o i t a r e /Fed

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvani who gave of themselves, whether financially and/or by volun In these difficult times, especially when other victims of other tragedies a and resettle those oppressed or in need in other lands, and otherwise help g around the world. We now honor our 2015 Annual Campaign and doing something about it. To the fullest extent possible, we ha except those who advised us, prior to publication, that they wished to remain the Federation office at 570-961-2300, and allow us the privilege of publishin

Mr. & Mrs. Martin Gold Mr. Sheldon Goldstein Mr Ward Goodman Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Grotta Mr. & Mrs. Martin Hainer Mr. & Mrs. Martin Hamer Hebrew Orthodox Center Mr. & Mrs. Yosef Hernandez Mr. Joseph Hollander Dr Milton Hollander Honesdale Nat’l Bank Jewish War Veterans Mr. Joel Joseph Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Kapitansky Mr. Bernard Kaufman Mr David Kellerman Atty. & Mrs. Edwin Krawitz Mr. & Mrs. Charles Kudosh Dr. Barry Kurtzer Dr. Joel Laury Mr. Meyer Levine Mr. & Mrs. Steve Levine Mr. Albert Levy Mr.& Mrs. Alan Lipschutz Dr. & Mrs. Ronald Manglaviti Mr. Sidney Markowitz Mr. & Mrs. Alan Meyerowitz Mr. Jerry Mizrachi Mr. Michael Morrow Mr. & Mrs. Mark Myers Mr. & Mrs. David Nagelberg Mr. & Mrs. Steven Natt Mr. & Mrs. Roman Novak Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Oliveri Mr. & Mrs. Joel Ostro Mr Alvin Pachter Mr. Howard Pachter Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Pallas Mr. & Mrs. Harold Plotkin Mr. Marvin Pollack Mr. Robert Pollack Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Rice, Jr. Mr. Filmore Rosenstein Mr. Howard Rosenstein Mr Melvin Rosenthal Atty. Howard Rothenberg Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Rothman Mr. David Rubinow Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Schlamowitz Rabbi Jacob Schnaidman Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Schneider Mr. & Mrs. Philip Schulder Mr. Richard Schwartz Scranton Printing Company Mr. & Mrs. Al Silverstein Mr. & Mrs. Peter Slipak Mr. Alan Smertz Mr. Gary Smertz Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Stolzenberg Mr. Stephen Sugarman Mr. Jack Suravitz Mr. & Mrs. Allan Trynz Mr. & Mrs. Eric Weinberg Mr. & Mrs. Michael Weinberg Mr. Steven Weinberg Mr. Barry Weiss Mr. Jay Weiss Mr. Jack Weissberger Mr. Seymour Weissberger Atty. & Mrs. Marc Wolfe Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Wolfson Cantor/Mrs Marshall Wolkenstein Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Yates Dr. & Mrs. Barry Yoss

Mr. Irving Zlatin

Super Sunday - $1-$99 Dr. Neill Ackerman Mr. A. Albert Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Arcus Dr & Mrs. P Bachman Mr. & Mrs. Philip Barr Mr. Mikhail Berlin Rabbi & Mrs. Yaakov Bilus Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Blau Mr. Leonid Boguslavsky Mr. Jack Braunstein Rabbi & Mrs Chaim Bressler Rabbi & Mrs. Yisroel Brotsky Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Cohen Rabbi & Mrs Eli Deutsch Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Eckstein Rabbi & Mrs. Mordechai Edelson Mr. & Mrs. Meshulem Epstein Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Feinman Mr. & Mrs. Howard Feltman Mr. & Mrs. Richard Feman Rabbi & Mrs. Jacob Fensterheim Mr. & Mrs. Steve Feuer Rabbi Shmuel Flam Mr. Alex Fookson Mr. & Mrs. Michael Friedman Mr Ken Ganz Mr. Leyzer Gelberg Mr. Yuriy Gidalevich Rabbi & Mrs. Yitzchok Glazer Mr. Murray Glick Mr. & Mrs. Owen Goldberg Rabbi & Mrs Samuel Goldberg Rabbi & Mrs. Doniel Goldstein Mr. & Mrs Samuel Green Dr. & Mrs. Jonathan Greenfield Mr. & Mrs. Asher Grossman Rabbi & Mrs Yosef Guttman Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Hirshman Mr. & Mrs. Yonah Holland Rabbi & Mrs Yehuda Itkin Rabbi & Mrs. Aryeh Jakubowicz Rabbi & Mrs. Dovid Kaplan Mr.& Mrs. Marvin Kaplan Rabbi & Mrs Avrum Karp Mr. & Mrs. Richard Katz Mr. & Mrs. Russell Kaufman Dr. Michael Krakow Mrs. Blossom Kusnitz Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Landon Mr & Mrs Gerald Leisten Mr. & Mrs. Paul Levande Mr. Alan Levine Mr. Sheldon Liberman Mrs. Eleanor Loewenberg Rabbi Joseph Luchins Mr David Mandelowitz Mr. & Mrs. Dan Marcus Mr. Ivan Margolies Mr. & Mrs. David Meyer Mr. Don Minkoff Mr. Joseph Moskowitz Mr. Marshall Needle Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Newman Mr Allan Pisarz Rabbi & Mrs Nathan Pritzker Atty. & Mrs. Jeff Raider Rabbi & Mrs. Benny Rapoport Mr. & Mrs Y. E. Rich Rabbi & Mrs Isaac Ringel Jay & Shelly Rosenstein Mr. Joel Roth Mr & Mrs Kenneth Rudin

aign 2015 Hon

july 30, 2015 ■

or Ro ll

ia would like to thank those community members nteering, to continue our community’s tradition of tzedakah. also need our support, we continue to aid the Jewish vulnerable, rescue guarantee the continuance of our community here, in Israel and elsewhere n donors and volunteers for caring about their fellow Jews… ave tried to include all donors and volunteers in our Honor Roll – n anonymous. If, for any reason, your name has been omitted, please notify ng your name/s in a subsequent issue. On behalf of world Jewry – thanks!

Mr. & Mrs. Leonard Rudner Rabbi Dovid Saks Mr. & Mrs. Al Schips Mr. & Mrs. Moshe Schwartz Mr. & Mrs. Yankel Schwartz Mr. & Mrs. Abish Seiff Mr. Steve Selincourt Senior Adult Club Mr Steven Sherman Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Shtekhman Mr Joel Silberstein Dr. Gary Silverstein Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Spira Mr. & Mrs. Steven Strauchler Mr. Al Tragis Rabbi & Mrs. Abraham Turin Mr. & Mrs. Yochanon Valencia Rabbi & Mrs. Eliezer Vann Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Waite Mr. Alfred Weinberg Mr. Neil Weinberg Mr. Robert Weinman Mr Martin Weiss Dr. & Mrs. Alan Westheim Mr. Gary Wilmet Mr. & Mrs. Harold Wilshinsky

WOMEN’S 2015 CAMPAIGN HONOR ROLL

Lion of Judah 2 - $10,000-$19,999 Mrs. Anita Plotkin* Sare Family Fund Lion of Judah 1 - $5,000-$9,999 Mrs. Jeanne Atlas Mrs. Eileen Feibus Roselle B. Fine Charitable Lead Trust Mrs. Marion Glassman Mrs. Susan Jacobson Mrs. Nancy Kaplan Mrs. Beverly Gelb Klein S & A Partnership Dr. Margaret Sheldon Mrs. Goldye Weinberger Guardian Division - $3,000-$4,999 Betty Goldsmith Endow Mrs. Barbara Nivert Hineni Division - $1,000-$2,999 Mrs. Claire Dubin Mrs. Lois Dubin Dr Jennifer Gell Mrs. Bonnie Green Mrs. Susan Herlands The Jaffe Family Fund Mrs. Rose Levine Mrs. Jennie Levy Mrs. Lillian Levy The Schwartz Mack Fndn Mrs. Sondra Myers Mrs. Faye Rosenberg The Ida Rosenbluth Trust The Bessie Todres Starr Mem Fund Dr. Meredith Stempel Mrs. Arline Swartz Mrs. Marcy Taylor Mrs. Laney Ufberg In Mem Gussie Weinberger* Pacesetters Division $500-$999 Mrs. Emily Adler Mrs. Harlene Arenberg Mrs. Joyce Douglass Mrs. Ruth Fallick Ms. Judith Ginsberg

Mrs. Dorothy Gordon Mrs. Sheryl Gross Mrs. Mildred Harris Mrs. Helene Kornfeld Mrs. Leah Laury Mrs. Dale Miller Mrs. Sheila Nudelman-Abdo Mrs. Nettie Pinkus Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Pollock Ms. Shirley Rodriguez Dora Troy Memorial Fund Mrs. Ingrid Warshaw Mrs. Paula Wasser Anne Wertheimer Phil Fund Mrs. Mary Ziman Kadima Division $200-$499 Mrs. Pamela Berman Mrs. Phyllis Chazan Mrs. Susan Colombo Diamond Mrs. Nancy Dressel Mrs. Rosalie Engelmyer Mrs. Doris Fine Mrs. Shirley Friedman Mrs. Marion Gardner Saxe Ms. Natalie Gelb Mrs Ellen Goodman Mrs. Kristina Gregory Mrs. Molly Grossinger Mrs. Helene Hughes Mrs. Madeline Jacobs Jewish Woman International Mrs. Carol Leventhal Mrs. Odessa Levine Mrs. Iris Liebman Mrs. Jill Linder Mrs. Beverly Meil Mrs. Ann Monsky Mrs. Tamar Moritz Ms Gail Neldon Mrs. Harriet Noble Mrs. Carol Nogi Miss Lynn Pearl Mrs. Ilise Rubinow Mrs. Molly Rutta Mrs. Renee Schectman Atty. Elizabeth Schneider Mrs. Anne Silverman Mrs. Lisa Starr Mrs. Gail Ufberg Mrs. Judy Warshal Mrs Nancy Weinberger Ben Dov Mrs. Arnine Weiss Mrs. Jan Weiss Dr. Nancy Willis Bereshit Division $100-$199 Ms. Esther Adelman Mrs. Donna Appleton Mrs. Eileen Baine Mrs. Adele Baldinger Mrs. Harriet Brotter Mrs. Susan Connors Mrs. Lainey Denis Mrs. Bertye Dietrick Mrs. Syvia Eisenberg Mrs. Marylu Eisner Mrs. Sandra Epstein Mrs. Ella Ettinger Mrs. Donna Fiegleman Mrs. Deborah Fink Mrs. Martha Fisler Mrs. Nancy Friedman Mrs. Esther Friedmann Mrs. Marian Goldstein-Beckhorn Ms. Honi Lynn Gruenberg Ms. Irene Hochman

Mrs. Robin Jacobson Mrs. Nancy Johnson Mrs. Miriam Joseph Mrs. Denise Krafchin Mrs Esther Kurlancheek Mrs. Hannah Leiter Mrs. Mitzie Levy Mrs. Claire Morrow Mrs. Ann Moskovitz Mrs. Sally Moskovitz Mrs. Vivian Needle Mrs. Shirley Nudelman Mrs. Lee Pachter Ms. Barbara Parker Bell Mrs. Helen Pinkus Ms. Ellen Raffman Mrs. Sonia Sandhaus Ms. Elaine Shepard Ms. Sydell Spinner Ms. Michelle Star Mrs. Gladys Suravitz Temple Hesed Sisterhood Ms. Naomi Teppich Mrs. Mildred Weinberg Mrs. Gail Weinberger Miss Evelyn Wolfe Mrs. Lila Zipay

Super Sunday $1 - $99 Mrs. Michele Ackerman Mrs. Dolly Baron Ms Rhoda Barris Mr. & Mrs. Charles Berenbaum Mrs. Svetlana Berlin Ms. Charlene Berman Mrs. Jean Blom Mrs. Fern Blum Mrs. Lyudmila Boguslavsky Ms Deborah Costanza Mrs. Eileen Coyne Mrs. Mildred Davis Mrs. Bernice Ecker Ms Deborah Eisenberg Mrs. Esther Flam Mrs. Inna Fookson Ms. Gilda Franzese Ms Lillian Freidlin Mrs. Leah Gans Mrs. Dassie Ganz Mrs. Shelly Garber Mrs. Mira Gelberg Ms. Klara Gervits Mrs. Lida Glaser Mrs Marsha Glick Ms. Esther Graves Mrs. Gayle Greenstein Mrs. Joy Greenwald Mrs. Bella Groysman Ms. Iris Grubler Mrs. Charlotta Gurevitz Mrs. Dale Hersh Mrs. Ruth Hollander Ms. Ember Jandebeur Ms Helen Kaminski Mr. & Mrs. James Kane Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum Mrs. Beverly Klein Mrs. Ellen Kline Mr.& Mrs. Charles Koloski Mrs. Donna Kostiak Ms Gladys Kremen Mrs. Ruth Kurzweil Ms. Lindsay Leventhal Mrs. Eleanor Liberman Miss Marlene Lieber Mrs. Anna Lisak Mrs Miriam Litvak Ms. Barbara Maiman Mr & Mrs Radcliffe McGowan Miss Marcia Myers Miss Ann Nathan Ms. Roberta Nelson Mrs Mary Norkin Mrs. Elaine Pachter Mrs. Charlotte Pollack Mrs. Marylyn Preven Mrs. Lorraine Rosenthal Mrs. Malka Saks Mrs. Rika Schaffer

THE REPORTER

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Mrs. Pearl Schnaidman Ms Marilyn Schwab Mrs. Susan Schwartz Mrs. Ellen Seitchik Mrs. Lynn Shaffer Mrs. Malca Shapiro Mrs. Shira Silverberg Mrs. Dorothy Silverman Mrs. Nina Silverman Ms Toby Silverman Ms. Bonnie Strohl Mrs. Rhonda Sugarman Mr. & Mrs. Tom Tschampel Mrs. Arlene Walker Mrs. Arlene Weinberg Mrs. Rachel Weisberger Ms Mikki (Miriam) Weiss Miss Rachelle Werbin Mrs. Phyllis Wint

COMMUNITY DIVISION 2015 HONOR ROLL

All Contributors - Alphabetically Anonymous - United Way - Lacka.

Dr. Linda Barrasse Breig Bros Inc Dr Harmar Brereton Burkavage Design Assoc.

Atty. Brian Cali Atty Brigid Carey Mr. Stephen Casey Chamberlin & Reinheimer Ins, Inc Citizens Saving Bank Mr. James Clauss* Community Bank, N.A. Dr Mark Cruciani Diamond K Incorporated Diocese of Scranton Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Earl Eckersley & Ostrowski, LLP Mr. John Egan First Nat’l Community Bank Ginader Jones & Company Jesuit Community Keystone Community Resources, Inc Landmark Community Bank Mrs. Anne Lavelle Atty. John Lenahan M & T Bank Corp Atty. Joseph Murphy Mr. Jamie O’Donnell Mr. Peter O’Donnell One Point Mr. John Palumbo Partridge Wirth Company PDQ Print Center Pennstar Bank/NBT Peoples Security Bank & Trust F Pesavento & Sons Pioneer Dist Co PNC Bank Dr. & Mrs. J Anthony Quinn Atty. James Reid RJ Burne Olds Cadillac Inc Mr. James Ross Mr. Robert Rossi Ms. Olga Rupinski Scranton CLU Scranton Label Scranton Times-Sunday Times Sibio’s Restaurant Ms Kathryn Smith Mr. & Mrs. David Tressler University of Scranton Wayne Bank Atty. & Mrs Myles Wren

*-Of Blessed Memory

12

THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

Book review

Old age, the Jewish way

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman It’s usually easy for me to be objective about nonfiction works. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to keep an appropriate distance. In the case of “Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older: Finding Your Grit and Grace Beyond Midlife” by Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman, M.S.W., M.A., B.C.C. (Jewish Lights Publishing), I found it nearly impossible. That’s not because Friedman was my supervisor at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center when I was an intern there, or because I enjoyed her previous book about aging. (For The Reporter review, see www.thereportergroup.org/article.aspx?aID=677.)

The reason I found “Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older” inspiring is that it spoke to my life, even when my experiences were very different from the situations Friedman describes. I kept pausing to think about my life and ponder Friedman’s suggestions, in addition to imagining ways to incorporate them into my daily practice.

“Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older” offers readers a chance to experience aging in a positive manner, while still acknowledging the losses and challenges. First, Friedman examines how an illness or a change in life situation can shatter our expectations and/or self-worth. She then shows different pathways to deal with these changes and limitations.

Finally, readers are given ways to appreciate and celebrate this new version of life – even if it’s far different from what we expected. What underlies the process is a paradox: according to Friedman, it’s only after we acknowledge and accept our losses that we can “reclaim our wholeness.” The concept of wholeness is important to Friedman because the changes that occur often leave us feeling broken and unable to move forward. What she offers from Jewish tradition is a way to savor our lives: Judaism “teaches us to say blessings, to express appreciation, for all kinds of experiences, positive and negative.” For example, reciting the Modeh/Modah Ani (“I give thanks”) prayer daily is just one way to note that even when we face pain and sorrow, we can still “savor the fragile, ephemeral gifts of life.”

Friedman also shows how aging is made even more difficult by our society, which measures us by our productivity. If we’re unable to take part in the same activities – be they work-related or leisure – we feel diminished.

The idea of showing weakness seems contrary to the American ideal of remaining independent until the day of our deaths. In our culture, saying, “I need help” or “I can’t do this anymore” makes us failures. Yet, change is inevitable as we age and pretending otherwise just

h a l a l n a d H , Hone d e s y He Continuing a Rosh Hashana fundraising tradition started by Roseann Smith Alperin (O.B.M.), as we begin 5776.

• Proceeds benefit Youth Religious Education •

Negev

Gift Bag $20 • Mums $22

• The Gift Bag — contains a challah, container of honey, yom tov candles, an apple and candies. ——$20 delivered • Flowering Plant — A beautiful Mum in a basket.

Perfect for those who cannot accept gifts of foods.

——$22 delivered To order: Please make checks payable to “Temple Hesed Sisterhood”.

Specify plain or raisin challah or the flowering mum.

Mail to: Carol Leventhal, 125 Welsh Hill Road, Clarks Summit, PA 18411.

For more information, call Carol at 570-587-2931 or email jeff@graphicsart.net.

We are delivering the gift bags and plants on Erev Rosh Hashanah: Sunday, September 13.

DELIVERIES WILL BE MADE TO ANY ADDRESS IN SCRANTON OR THE ABINGTONS All Orders Must Be In By September 5, 2015

Volunteers Needed!

To assemble gift bags at 10am, Saturday, Sept. 12 at the Leventhal residence located at 125 Welsh Hill Road in Clarks Summit.

To make deliveries on Sunday morning, September 13 Call 570-587-2931 to volunteer.

Hesed, Hallah and Honey Order Form Order before Sept. 5 • Delivered September 13 YOUR NAME

Name___________________________________________ Address__________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Phone___________________________________________ Name___________________________________________ Address__________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Enclose check, made payable to: Temple Hesed Sisterhood Mail order to: Carol Leventhal 125 Welch Hill Road Clarks Summit PA 18411

¨ Challah______= $20/each ____ Plain _____Raisin ¨

Mums_______= $22/each

Phone___________________________________________ GETTING GIFTS

Name___________________________________________ Address__________________________________________

¨ Challah______= $20/each ____ Plain _____Raisin

________________________________________________

¨

Mums_______= $22/each

Phone___________________________________________ Name___________________________________________ Address__________________________________________

¨ Challah______= $20/each ____ Plain _____Raisin

________________________________________________

¨

Phone___________________________________________

makes our lives difficult and unfulfilling.

Jewish tradition offers another path: It “teaches that our worth is not conditioned on any external measure.

We humans are ultimately worthy simply because we are beings created in the divine image.” Judaism offers a mitzvah-based model that we never age out of, yet which asks only that we perform to the best of our ability. For example, Friedman notes, “We are always connected, always called, to hear and respond to the call of the mitzvah. What happens, though, if our capacity is limited by illness, disability, or frailty? The duty to mitzvah is a sliding-scale obligation.” She mentions the daily prayers that are meant to be said standing. What if you’re no longer able to stand? Then according to the ancient rabbis, you’re allowed to sit. If you don’t have the energy to say all the blessings, you say a summary. Those who are unable to speak may meditate on the prayers. As for other obligations, people who can no longer pay visits or cook meals can make phone calls or send a note. While the obligation never ends, you are not required to do more than your physical and mental capacities allow.

Each chapter of “Jewish Wisdom for Growing Older” includes spiritual practices and blessings to help us overcome the difficulties most of us will face as we age. In the appendix, Friedman suggests ways book groups or wisdom circles can use her work to deepen their understanding by sharing their own wisdom. Although the book is aimed at those middle aged or older, everyone could benefit from reading it; I particularly recommend it to those facing chronic health challenges. The beauty is that Friedman does not lecture, but instead shares what she has learned through loss and sorrow: how to “embrace aging, to live fully, joyfully, and bravely.”

Mums_______= $22/each

Continued from page 3

Meanwhile, the Israeli Institute for Cognitive Accessibility project addresses a security need for southern Israelis with cognitive disabilities. “How do you explain to someone who can’t tell time that they should wait 10 minutes in a protected space after a rocket siren?” Ornit Avidan-Zeev asked in her pitch. “Try telling them to wait the length of four songs, instead.”

The institute – whose motto is “Slow and Simple is Also Accessibility” – aims to create easy-to-understand materials through the use of simple language, organization and pictures.

Overall, HaMeitz’s first class of entrepreneurs underscored the multifaceted potential of the Negev region and the ongoing migration of power, energy, and ideas toward Israel’s south.

Book

Continued from page 6

a plane that developed engine trouble and could not get airborne. The bombs on the plane exploded during the rescue effort, nearly killing Greenberg.

“I was stunned and couldn’t talk or hear for a couple days, but was otherwise undamaged,” Greenberg says, according to the book. “The miraculous part of it all was that the entire crew escaped. Some of them were pretty well banged up, but no one was killed. That was an occasion, I can assure you, when I didn’t wonder whether or not I’d be able to return to baseball. I was quite satisfied to be alive.”

While Greenberg would not “make a big deal” out of his military service publicly, Klima says, it “was something he cared about immensely.

“He took great pride in it,” says the author. “He didn’t need any adulation for it and I actually didn’t write the book to hero-worship him. I wrote the book because it was a good story, and he’s the rock that you could build it around. So that’s sort of my compromise with Hank.”

Reiterating how Greenberg’s actions spoke louder than words, Klima says, “If you walked up to Hank and said, ‘Tell me about how you’re standing up for the Jewish people,’ Hank would probably demur. But if you watched him in his everyday life, you would see him do that everyday.”

Klima says he cares about “the people who still look up to Hank,” and that he hopes the book both preserves and accurately depicts the legacy of the Jewish ballplayer, who died in 1986. “Hank’s integrity allows that book to stand up, and he allows the story of the war to stand up,” says Klima.

“I would want every Jewish person in the world to read it,” he adds. “I would want them to know. I would want kids to know. I would want Catholic kids to know. I would want everybody to know about Hank. I just think that they don’t make ballplayers like Hank Greenberg anymore, and I don’t think they make ballplayers who are people like Hank Greenberg anymore.”

july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

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THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

Celebrating Shabbat and the Grateful Dead

old daughter and a few members of the

By Howard Blas JamShalom crew, he set out by van from CHICAGO (JTA) – What a long, New York to Chicago, kosher food in tow. strange trip it’s been for Shu Eliovson. The On July 2, the entourage began setting American-born resident of Kfar Maimon, up camp – only to discover, at 9 pm, that a religious moshav in southern Israel, Elthe ban on RV camping was to be strictly iovson is CEO and co-founder of the tech enforced, even on a privately owned lot. start-up Likeminder, an anonymous social The JamShalom village was shut down; networking site for “authentic conversadesperate posts on Facebook informed foltion” with “likeminded” people. He is also lowers that the group was seeking a new an ordained rabbi, though his colorful pants, site. With Shabbat only four hours away, fedora and purple T-shirt with the Grateon Friday afternoon the group worked ful Dead’s dancing bear logo make him out a deal with a less conspicuous parkunconventional, to say the least. ing lot on South Michigan Avenue, one A father of five, Eliovson is also the block from the Chabad HQ at a luxury founder of JamShalom, a “grass-roots residential building and just a few blocks movement bringing spiritual connection from Soldier Field. to music festivals across North America.”

Volunteers quickly set up tents, chairs, Since 2011, he has become a legendary tables and Grateful Dead-themed decoface and somewhat of a pied piper to fellow rations. The unexpected move meant Jewish travelers on the American jam band canceling some advertised programs, like scene. Eliovson speaks of music festivals “Munches and Meditations with Rabbi as “a tremendous opportunity to create a Shu,” as well as the 3 pm “Beer and Blessspiritual encounter” and looks for places to “throw down a big Shabbos.”

More than 70,000 fans packed Chicago’s Soldier Field for the finale of the Grateful ings.” But fortunately, by the time Shabbat rolled in, the tent, two RVs and a colorfully “JamShalom is about celebrating the Dead’s three-concert Fare Thee Well Tour on July 5. (Photo by Howard Blas) painted bus with “God is One” and “Na inherent spiritual joy of music, and its power to bring like-spirited people together and sharing a Jewish a bind in the weeks leading up to the Dead’s final shows: Nach” (for Rabbi Nachman of Bratslov) in Hebrew were experience that is unique,” Eliovson told JTA. And what How to create a temporary, intentional community in a set up on the site.

At 6 pm, some 25 guests – who were encouraged to better place to have an epic Shabbat “throwdown” than space where camping wasn’t allowed. And how would bring “instruments, voices and dancing shoes” – met the Grateful Dead’s highly anticipated Fare Thee Well folks keep the spirit of Shabbat if they needed to shlep for a musical Kabbalat Shabbat service. Rabbi Moshe Tour – three nights of shows, Friday through Sunday, far distances to the stadium? th Shur, the former director of the Queens College Hillel at Chicago’s Soldier Field marking the 50 anniversary “I needed a miracle!” Eliovson quipped, using the and a longtime member of the Jewish music scene, led of the band’s founding (as well as the 20th anniversary familiar Dead lingo. of the group’s final show with frontman Jerry Garcia)?

His “miracle” came in the form of Rabbi Leibel Mos- the service with a rendition of “Lecha Dodi” set to the Typically, Grateful Dead shows (along with those of cowitz of Chabad of the South Loop. After a few calls, classic Dead songs “Ripple” and “Uncle John’s Band.” their like-minded brethren, like Phish) occur over several Moscowitz was able to offer use of an undeveloped (but Midway through the service, those lucky enough to have days at venues in which camping becomes an integral part highly visible to concertgoers) lot owned by a Chabad tickets for Friday night’s show headed out.

Zach Finkelstein, 22, of Long Island, who drove from of the experience. But due to strict ordinances against supporter. Eliovson was granted permission to set up camping in downtown Chicago, Eliovson found himself in several RVs and a Shabbat tent. Along with his 18-year- New York with the JamShalom caravan, was happy with the scene. “It is almost like going to Israel,” he said. “You land, you feel it in your heart. You are home. There are no strangers. We are all here for the same reason – peace, Continued from page 1 music and a good time!” within] two hours to 24 hours, you have a process – of very difficult under this regime.” demand, and reply, and this committee, and that com- A repeat of the North Korea deal, or an improvement?

Israel’s government sees the Iran deal as a repeat of mittee – of 24 days altogether.... The Iranians can trust that anything suspicious they will have enough time to the failed international agreement aimed at preventing a North Korean nuclear weapon. Those talks led to an hide, to clean, to move to another place.”

Obama said setting up a secret program on a weap- agreement based on an inspections regime in the 1990s, ons site would be near impossible given how closely but North Korea broke the agreement and tested its first inspectors will be monitoring the production chain of nuclear bomb in 2006. Steinitz said: “History will show us Al Hirschfeld exhibit uranium and nuclear infrastructure. He added that even a decade from now, or three years from now, that this is a after a delay, analysis of soil from military sites will bad deal, that this is another mistake by the international The New-York Historical Society Mushow whether the site hosted a nuclear program: “We’re community, like the one with North Korea.” seum and Library in New York City will hold But Obama said the negotiators learned lessons from going to be seeing not just the confirmed sites, but the the exhibit “The Hirschfeld Century: The Art entire supply chain: their uranium mines, their centrifuge what happened with North Korea and have created a more of Al Hirschfeld” until October 12. It will production facilities, where they make their parts, all stringent inspections regime than what was instituted there: examine the art of Al Hirschfeld from his early works the way to the confirmed sites... We’ll be counting how “It goes far beyond anything that was done, for example, to his last drawings. Best known for his caricatures of much uranium they’re taking out, and if the amount of in North Korea. So that when you hear those analogies, performing artists, Hirschfeld used a particular linear material doesn’t add up, they’ve got a problem. If they about, well, there were inspectors there, and suddenly we calligraphic style. The exhibit will feature drawings, make a spare part and suddenly we don’t see where that didn’t know what happened, well, a lot of those lessons paintings, selections from sketchbooks and more. centrifuge part might have gone, they’ve got a problem. have been learned by the IAEA and the world community, For more information, visit www.nyhistory.org/ So diverting resources to a covert program becomes very, and that’s what we were able to write into this deal.” exhibitions/hirschfeld or call 212-873-3400.

Iran

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THE REPORTER

15

Northeast Pennsylvania is going to Israel this October!

Here’s some of what we’ll see!

TRIP ARRANGEMENTS & ITINERARY: Metropolitan Hotel, Tel Aviv, Oct. 19 • Leonardo Club, Tiberias, Oct. 20 Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem, Oct. 21-27

Day 1, Sunday, October 18 Depart Scranton, and we begin our journey that will take us over 11,000 miles and 5,000 years!

Day 2, Monday, October 19 We arrive in Israel. We’ll have dinner at our hotel this evening, and perhaps take a walk along the beach before turning in.

Day 3, Tuesday, October 20 Today we leave Tel Aviv and head north, up the coast of the Mediterranean to Caesaria, a city built by Herod the Great. From there we go north to Rosh Hanikra, on the Israeli-Lebanese border where we’ll board the cable-car for a ride down a 210-foot cliff. We’ll walk through the grottoes and finally head for our hotel in Tiberias.

Day 4, Wednesday, October 21 We’ll leave Tiberias and drive straight up into the mountains to the city of Safed. This is the city where Kabbalah had its beginnings, and today is home to an outstanding artists’ colony. From there we’ll go up onto the Golan Heights and visit the city of Katzrin, and then Har Ben Tal, on the Eastern side of the Golan Heights, which provides us with a look directly into Syria. When we leave the Golan Heights we’ll drive to Jerusalem, where we’ll have our headquarters for the remainder of the trip.

Day 5, Thursday, October 22 We will ride from our hotel in the new city of Jerusalem some 15 blocks and some 3,000 years to the Walled City of Old Jerusalem. First we’ll get an overview of the city and then a brief history lesson as we sit outside the Jaffa Gate, the main entrance into the Old City. We’ll also walk through the newly rebuilt Jewish Quarter to view the Byzantine Cardo and we’ll stop for lunch in the Jewish Quarter. Then we’ll walk down to the Western Wall. We’ll go down to see the Western Wall tunnel, seeing stones so large that nothing on earth today could move them. Finally, we’ll sit on the original southern steps that led up into the Temple. An amazing first day in Jerusalem!

Day 6, Friday, October 23 Today we’ll visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum. We’ll go from there to Machane Yehuda, which is Jerusalem’s famous open-air market. It’s where all the locals go to buy provisions for Shabbat.

Shabbat dinner in the hotel is included.

Day 7, Saturday, October 24 We’ll spend Shabbat in Jerusalem, with the opportunity to go to the Great Synagogue. The rest of the day is at your leisure.

Day 8, Sunday, October 25 Today we leave Jerusalem and enter the Judean Desert. We’re on our way to the Dead Sea, and what is arguably Israel’s most inspiring historic site, the ancient hill-top fortification of Masada, where the Jewish zealots made their last stand against Roman rule. Masada was also the Winter Palace of King Herod, and one can still see the incredible opulence of what he built on a mountain-top in the desert. This is also your chance to swim in the Dead Sea, at the lowest spot on earth, and the saltiest body of water in the world, where you float like a cork due to the composition of the water. It’s an experience you don’t want to miss!

Day 9, Monday, October 26 We start our day with an opportunity for each of us to leave a bit of ourselves there in Israel. We can plant a tree or two -- in honor or in memory of a loved one. After lunch, you are all going to become official Israeli archeologists! We will participate in one of the richest digs in the country. Members of our groups have found pottery, coins, a large, intact water jug, and even a magnificent oil lamp on previous visits. We’ll also explore some amazing caves. This is always one of the most memorable days of our trip.

Day 10, Tuesday, October 27 It’s been great, but all good things do have to come to an end, sadly, as we’ll bid farewell to Jerusalem.

Our first stop will be at the Machal Monument, whose story you’ve heard this evening. Then we’ll go to a secret underground bullet factory existed under the nose of the British police for over two years—an amazing story! From there we’ll go to Independence Hall. This is where the state of Israel was declared by David Ben-Gurion on May 14, 1948. We will sit in the very room where the invited guests sat that day, and hear what they heard as Ben-Gurion called into being the first Jewish state in nearly 2,000 years. Finally, we’ll have a chance to walk around Tel Aviv/Jaffa somewhat and then go to dinner before leaving for the airport for our flight back home.

Day 11, Wednesday, October 28 We’ll arrive back in America this morning, filled with memories of an experience we will never forget!

Join us! We go October 18-28.

The land cost is $3,020, and land and air is $4,040.

Please call Mark Silverberg at the Federation office for information, at 570-961-2300, ext. 1. Mission subsidies available

16

THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

NEWS IN bRIEF from europe From JTA

French university hands over Holocaust victims’ remains

The University of Strasbourg decided to hand over to the French city’s Jewish community the remains of Holocaust victims that were preserved as anatomy specimens. The remains, preserved in several glass containers, were discovered on July 9 at the university’s Institute of Forensic Medicine by historian Raphael Toledano after years of research and denials of their existence there by the university’s administration, metronews.fr reported on July 18. One container had skin fragments that were removed from the body of a female Holocaust survivor after she had been murdered in a gas chamber. Another contained the intestines and stomach of another female victim, according to a statement by the Strasbourg municipality. The remains were found to be part of a collection of skeletons and other body parts managed

by August Hirt, an SS captain who served as chairman of the Reich University in Strasbourg – the institution’s name under Nazi occupation – until his suicide in 1945.

He tasked two researchers in 1943 with selecting 109

Ballet

Continued from page 7 While his father came for the first time to see Dori dance two years ago, his mother, Iris Rimon, hasn’t seen her son dance since high school. When Dori visits Israel this summer, he plans to help his mother and older brother prepare their visa papers to bring them to Houston to see him perform.

Keenly aware of his leadership role, Dori feels compelled to give back beyond the JCC classes he teaches.

He recently shared his apartment with an Israeli teen attending the Houston Ballet’s school, where Dori himself was trained, and he enjoyed speaking Hebrew with the young man – something he rarely gets to do while living in Texas. “I feel like an ambassador and a role model, and that people are looking at me,” Dori said. “If I can do something for the Jewish community here and the Israeli community, I will do it.”

Karen McDonough is a Dallas-based freelance writer and author of “A Ballerina For Our Time, Olga Pavlova.”

prisoners for the collection at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland, to be transported and gassed at the Natzweiler-Struthof camp near Strasbourg. When Allied forces liberated Strasbourg, they found 86 skeletons in Hirt’s collection and transferred them for burial at a local Jewish cemetery. But testimonies suggested some human remains of Hirt’s victims remained in the university’s possession. Some of these testimonies appeared in a book published in January by historian Michel Cymes, whose French title translates as “Hypocrites in Hell – The Death Camps’ Physicians.” The university’s president, Alain Beretz, denied the claims and said the book unjustly harmed the present-day university’s name by not clearly distinguishing it from the Nazi-led institution that occupation forces briefly installed in the university’s stead. The remains discovered in July are to be buried at the Cronenbourg Jewish cemetery.

European policy paper suggests banking restrictions against Israel

A paper by an influential European think tank proposes that the European Union should restrict its dealings with Israeli banks as a way to combat Israel’s West Bank occupation. The paper, to be published on July 22 by the European Council on Foreign Relations, says that by dealing with Israeli banks, the E.U. could be contravening its own guidelines, according to Reuters. The guidelines prohibit the E.U. and member states from funding loans to entities in Israeli settlements. Given that the British government has a controlling stake in some banks, the guidelines would prohibit those banks from dealing with Israeli banks with branches in the settlements. The paper, titled “E.U. Differentiation and Israeli Settlements,” also said Israelis should not be able to use properties in the settlements as collateral for European loans. The paper also questioned whether there should be a tax exemption for European charities’ activities in the settlements and whether the E.U. should recognize academic qualifications from institutions in the settlements. “Under its own regulations and principles, Europe cannot legally escape from its duty to differentiate between Israel and its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the paper said, according to Reuters. The paper comes after the E.U. said it would move ahead with its plan to label goods manufactured in the settlements.

In memoriam From JNS.org

Award-winning American Jewish author E.L. Doctorow dies at 84

Award-winning American Jewish author E.L. Doctorow died on July 21 at age 84 due to complications from lung cancer, his son Richard Doctorow told The New York Times. Doctorow wrote a dozen novels, three volumes of short fiction and one stage drama. His most well-known written works were fictional historical novels such as “Ragtime,” “Billy Bathgate” and “The March.” He also wrote essays and commentary on literature and politics. “The distinguished characteristic of E. L. Doctorow’s work is its double vision. In each of his books he experiments with the forms of fiction, working for effects that others haven’t already achieved; in each he develops a tone, a structure and a texture that he hasn’t used before. At the same time, he’s a deeply traditional writer, reworking American history, American literary archetypes, even exhausted subliterary genres. It’s an astonishing performance, really,” wrote literary critic Peter S. Prescott in Newsweek in 1984. On Twitter, President Barack Obama called Doctorow “one of America’s greatest novelists.” “His books taught me much, and he will be missed,” Obama said, citing “Ragtime” as his favorite Doctorow novel.

“Fiddler on the Roof” Broadway actor Theodore Bikel dies at 91

Theodore Bikel, an American Jewish actor of Austrian heritage who played Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” on Broadway, died on July 21 in Los Angeles at the age of 91, his publicist announced. Bikel is also known for creating the role of Captain von Trapp in the original Broadway production of “The Sound of Music” and for appearing on screen in numerous films, including “The African Queen,” “The Defiant Ones” and the movie version of “My Fair Lady.” Born in Vienna, Austria, Bikel was sent by his parents to pre-state Israel after the Anschluss. He studied at an agricultural school and later at an acting program of the Habimah national theater. In 1945, he moved to London to study in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and a few years later received the opportunity to act in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” directed by Laurence Olivier. In 1954, Bikel moved to New York, where he began to act on Broadway. He became a U.S. citizen in 1961.

American Jewish pilot Lou Lenart, savior of Tel Aviv in 1948 war, dies at 94

Lou Lenart, a U.S. Marine Corps pilot during World War II who later helped thwart an Egyptian advance on Tel Aviv in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, died on July 20 at age 94. Lenart was born Layos Lenovitz to Jewish farmers in Hungary. His family moved to America when he was 10 years old and settled in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He later enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 and became a pilot, seeing action during the Battle of Okinawa and elsewhere in the Pacific. Following World War II, Lenart joined Israel’s nascent Air Force, which consisted of just four Czech-built German Messerschmitt fighter planes. During the 1948 war, when Egyptian forces were closing in Tel Aviv, Israeli commanders decided to risk their entire fleet of planes and attack the Egyptian advance. Lenart, who was the most experienced pilot in the group, led the charge.

Surprised by the Israeli aerial attack, Egyptian forces eventually retreated. “It was the most important event in my life,” Lenart told an Israeli Air Force magazine, Yediot Achronot reported. “I survived World War II so I could lead this mission.” Following the war, Lenart participated in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah to bring Iraqi Jews to Israel, and also worked as a pilot for the El Al airline. Lenart is survived by his wife, daughter and grandson. He was buried in Ra’anana on July 22.

july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

17

U.S. NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA

Boehner: Congress will do “everything possible to stop” Iran deal

Speaker of the House John Boehner said Congress will do whatever it can to stop the agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. Signed on July 14 between Iran and six world powers, the agreement curbs Iran’s nuclear capabilities and subjects it to inspection in exchange for a lifting of sanctions. Republicans have panned the deal, and Boehner said it threatens the United States’ national security. “Members of Congress will ask much tougher questions this afternoon when we meet with the president’s team, and because a bad deal threatens the security of the American people, we’re going to do everything possible to stop it,” Boehner said, according to Haaretz. To block the deal, a majority of Congress will have to vote to reject it and then – once President Obama vetoes that rejection, as he has promised to do – Congress will have to garner a two-thirds majority to overcome the veto. To get to two-thirds, Boehner’s Republican caucus – in addition to the Senate Republican majority – would have to convince a number of Democrats to vote against the deal. But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is encouraging her Democratic caucus to support the deal. “As you may be aware, I believe that this agreement is a major accomplishment,” she said in a letter released by her office Tuesday, according to Reuters. “I am pleased that the response thus far from House Democrats has been so positive.”

Nearly half of Americans disapprove of Iran deal

A poll by the Pew Research Center has found that nearly half of Americans disapprove of the recent accord over Iran’s nuclear program. The poll, conducted during

the past week and released on July 21, found that 48 percent of Americans who had heard of the agreement disapproved of it, versus 38 percent who approved. The deal, finalized on July 14 by the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Iran, limits Iranian uranium enrichment in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions. The poll also found that more than 70 percent of Americans had little to no confidence that Iran would uphold its side of the agreement. Thirty-five percent had “not too much” confidence, while 38 percent had none at all. Twenty-six percent were confident that Iran would abide by the agreement. In addition, 54 percent of those polled had “not too much” or no confidence in America’s and international agencies’ ability to monitor Iran’s compliance, while 45 percent expressed fair or great confidence in the monitoring regimen. Only a quarter of respondents believe the agreement will improve U.S.-Iranian relations. But 58 percent of those polled said diplomacy is the best way to ensure peace, while 30 percent prefer military strength.

Three-quarters of Republicans and 49 percent of independents polled disapproved of the deal, while 59 percent of Democrats approved.

Kentucky JCC evacuated after receiving threat

The Jewish Community Center of Louisville, KY, was evacuated in response to a threatening note left on an employee’s desk. Citing an “unconfirmed threat,” JCC officials moved approximately 200 people, many of them children, from the building on the afternoon of July 21, Louisville’s WDRB-TV website reported. The police swept the building with bomb dogs and are investigating further, according to the city’s WHAS-TV website. No details about the threat have been disclosed, but there were no reports of any injuries, according to WDRB. Approximately 8,500 Jews live in Louisville.

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

18

THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

Jewish Outdoor Escape

July 2015

• Non-Feature Films • *NEW* American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise - After more than 60 years in show business, Mel Brooks has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer. A comedy force of nature, Brooks is very private and has never authorized a biography, making his participation in this film a genuine first. Showcasing the Brooklyn native’s brilliant, skewed originality, American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise features never-before-heard stories and new interviews with Brooks, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Cloris Leachman, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Tracey Ullman and others. This career-spanning documentary of the man behind Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Spaceballs and of course the 2000 Year Old Man journeys through Brooks’ professional and personal ups and downs, providing a rare look at a living legend, beloved by millions. *NEW* Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy - Engaging, humorous, and provocative... examining the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists in the creation of the modern American musical. The film showcases the work of legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. Interviews with songwriters and luminaries including Sheldon Harnick, Stephen Schwartz, Harold Prince, Arthur Laurents, Charles Strouse, and Mel Brooks provide insight, alongside standout performances and archival footage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unmasked: Judaophobia - The Threat to Civilization – This documentary exposes the current political assault against the State of Israel fundamentally as a war against the Jewish people and their right to self-determination. *NEW* When Jews Were Funny is insightful and often hilarious, surveying the history of Jewish comedy from the early days of Borsht Belt to the present.

• Feature Films • Fill the Void - This is the story of an eighteen-year-old, Shira, who is the youngest daughter of her family. Her dreams are about to come true as she is set to be married. Unexpectedly, her sister dies while giving birth to her first child.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mosaic Outdoor Clubs of America will host its 25th annual international Jewish Outdoor Escape: Pocono Parks, Peaks and Paddles from September 3-7. The event will be held in the Pocono Mountain region of Pennsylvania and an optional pre-trip in Philadelphia is available and a post-trip on the Delaware River. There will be outdoor activities, including hiking, biking, paddling and touring, during the day. Social events will take place in the evenings.

For more information, visit http://2015event. mosaicoutdoor.org/.

TV exhibit

The Jewish Museum in New York City will hold the exhibit “Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television” through September 20.

The exhibit explores how avant-garde art influenced and shaped the look and content of network television in its formative years, from the late 1940s to the mid1970s. The exhibit features fine art and graphic design, including works by Saul Bass, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Allan Kaprow, Roy Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Eero Saarinen, Ben Shah and Andy Warhol, as well as television memorabilia, and clips from film and television, including “Batman,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Ernie Kovacs Show,” “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” and “The Twilight Zone.”

For more information, visit http://thejewishmuseum. org/exhibitions/revolution-of-the-eye or contact the museum at info@thejm.org or 212-423-3200.

Shtetl sketches

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is holding the exhibit “Shtetl: Graphic Works and Sketches of Solomon Yudovin (1920-1940)” through September 30. The exhibit features works of Russian-Jewish artist, ethnographer and scholar of Jewish traditional art Solomon Yudovin. The works exhibited are from the collections of the Russian Museum of Ethnography, in St. Petersburg, and YIVO Institute.

The exhibit is being held at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. For more information, visit http://yivo.org or call 212-246-6080.

New in The Federation’s Jewish Film Lending Library Deli Man In Houston, Texas, third-generation deli man Ziggy Gruber has built arguably the finest delicatessen restaurant in the U.S. His story augmented by the stories of iconic delis such as Katz s, 2nd Avenue Deli, Nate n Al, Carnegie, and the Stage embodies a tradition indelibly linked to its savory, nostalgic foods.

Amen From the acclaimed director of Z and CAPITAL, Costa-Gavras presents a powerful and riveting account of the implementation of the Final Solution and the culpability of the Vatican in the extermination of millions in Nazi Death Camps.

Music Box In this intense courtroom thriller, Chicago attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange) agrees to defend her Hungarian immigrant father mike Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl) against accusations of heinous war crimes committed 50 years earlier. As the trial unfolds, Ann probes for evidence that will not only establish his innocence, but also lay to rest her own agonizing doubts about his past. When a hospitalized witness is suddenly located in Budapest, the trial moves to her father's homeland. Here crucial testimony plus Ann's personal investigation lead to astonishing results.

Ida Poland 1962. On the eve of her vows, 18-year old Anna meets her estranged aunt Wanda, a cynical Communist judge who shocks the naive Anna with a stunning revelation: Anna is Jewish and her real name is Ida. Tasked with this new identity, Ida and Wanda embark on a revelatory journey to their old family house to discover the fate of Ida's birth parents and unearth dark secrets dating back to the Nazi occupation.

For more information, please contact Dassy at dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org or 570-961-2300 x2

july 30, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

19

NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA

Rivlin hosts non-Orthodox rabbis at unity event

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin hosted leaders from the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and secular movements at his residence for an event demonstrating Jewish unity. It was considered a significant move for Rivlin, who has drawn criticism in the past for denigrating non-Orthodox Jews. Earlier in his career, he had declined to say whether as president he would recognize Reform rabbis as rabbis. In 1989, he compared Reform Judaism to idol worship, and he encountered controversy this year for excluding a Conservative rabbi from a bar mitzvah service at his residence. At the event on July 23, Rivlin welcomed a Conservative and a Reform rabbi, referring to them by their titles. He spoke about the importance of accepting all Jewish streams and received a standing ovation. “One could disagree with the positions and opinions of members of the Reform or Conservative movements, but one could not deny their dedication or the clear voice with which they speak in support of the state of Israel, here and around the world,” he said at the event. “We must not forget for a moment that fierce debates are the sincere and genuine expression of a concern for us all – Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and secular – for the present day and for the future of the Jewish people.” Each leader then taught a short Jewish text lesson connected to the upcoming fast day of the Ninth of Av, which commemorates the destruction of Judaism’s two Holy Temples. Rabbinic tradition says the Second Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred, and the speeches all centered on increasing acceptance and tolerance among Jews of different streams. Speakers at the event included Rabbi Meir Azari of the Tel Aviv Reform Congregation Beit Daniel; Rabbi Chaya Rowen-Baker of Kehillat Ramot-Zion in Jerusalem; Dr. Moti Zeira, CEO of Hamidrasha, a secular study house; and Rabbi Benny Lau of Jerusalem’s Orthodox Ramban Synagogue.

The Orthodox rabbi originally slated to appear, Uri Sherki, backed out on July 20.

“We need to stop seeing life in the framework of black and white,” Azari said. “We need to see the importance of recognizing the other, even with his complexities and weaknesses. We need to seek out the good. We need to learn to compromise.”

Bill solidifying Chief Rabbinate’s kashrut monopoly passes initial Knesset vote

A bill to prohibit an alternative kosher certification agency from operating passed an initial vote in Israel’s Knesset. The bill, introduced by lawmakers from the haredi Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, would prohibit the alternative organization, called Private Certification, from granting kosher certificates to restaurants, according to Haaretz. The bill passed on July 22 by a vote of 49-34. While current law gives Israel’s Chief Rabbinate exclusive authority to certify restaurants kosher, Private Certification took advantage of a loophole by granting certificates to restaurants without placing the word “kosher” on them. This bill would close that loophole. The measure now goes back to committee before being presented for a final vote. It is expected to be amended to allow restaurants to declare that they are kosher under “self-supervision,” without rabbinic authority. The bill will likely also exclude imported goods with kosher certification from a foreign agency.

Study: growing criticism of Israel among Diaspora Jewry

Diaspora Jewry is increasingly critical of Israel and young Diaspora Jews are growing more alienated from the Jewish state, a new study found. The study, released the week of July 23 by the Jewish People Policy Institute, a think tank based in Jerusalem, comes a year after Israel’s war in Gaza. Titled “Jewish Values and Israel’s Use of Force in Armed Conflict: Perspectives from World Jewry,” the report looks at how non-Israeli Jews view Israeli military actions and how Diaspora Jews should respond.

Diaspora Jews tend to support and understand the military actions, the study found, but also “doubt that Israel truly wishes to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians.” The study added that “few believe it is making the necessary effort to achieve one,” particularly among younger Jews. Israel’s military actions affect them, Diaspora Jews said, whether exposing them to physical attacks or changing their interactions with non-Jews. The study said that many Jews feel uncomfortable with being forced to serve as “ambassadors” for Israel. Because of the effect that Israel’s actions have on their lives, according to the study, Diaspora Jews said they want Israel to consult Diaspora Jewry on sensitive issues. The study was based on discussion groups with Diaspora Jews, as well as questionnaires and survey analysis.

Jewish tech billionaire gives $100M to Stephen Hawking’s search for aliens

A Jewish-Russian tech billionaire is teaming up with astrophysicist Stephen Hawking to launch an unprecedented search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Yuri Milner, an investor in tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and Spotify, is dedicating $100 million to the 10-year project, called the Breakthrough Listen Initiative, according to the French news agency AFP. The initiative will use powerful telescopes to scan the stars, reaching farther than previous methods employing radio signals or lasers.

The project will be 50 times more sensitive than previous attempts and scan 10 times more area, according to AFP. Milner said the project will take the search for aliens to “a completely new level.” But Hawking warned that dangers come along with the project: If a civilization is far more developed than the Earth’s, it may view humans as unevolved and of no value. “A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead,” Hawking said, according to AFP. “If so, they will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”

Jerusalem to fund non-Orthodox groups

The city of Jerusalem will provide funding to a group of non-Orthodox institutions for the first time. The city’s allocations committee provided roughly $10,000 to the institutions for Jewish studies classes, out of about $130,000 the city allocates for that purpose. The institutions receiving the funding, according to Haaretz, include the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College, the pluralistic study houses Elul and Kolot, the Jerusalem Secular Yeshiva, the Shalom Hartman Institute and Gesher – a group that bridges between religious and secular in Israel. Previously, the institutions didn’t qualify for funding because none passed the city’s threshold for hours of classes per week. But this year, about a dozen institutions bundled their request together in order to pass the threshold. “The good news is that this is the first time we’re in the loop,” Rabbi Gilad Kariv, CEO of the Israeli Reform Movement, told Haaretz. “The bad news is that 90 percent of the money still goes to ultra-Orthodox institutions.”

French prosecutor dismisses Arafat poisoning case

A French prosecutor dismissed a case accusing Israel of poisoning former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The prosecutor in Nanterre announced the decision on July 21, three months after three French judges recommended the case be dropped, the Times of Israel reported. Lawyers for Arafat’s widow, Suha, who filed the case in France in 2012 alleging he had been murdered, said the judges closed the investigation too quickly. Arafat died in a hospital near Paris in 2004 soon after falling ill in the West Bank. Traces of radioactive polonium were found on his belongings. The medical report published after Arafat’s death listed the immediate cause as a massive brain hemorrhage resulting from an infection. Doctors ruled out foul play; some contended that Arafat died of AIDS. After the opening of the inquiry, Arafat’s tomb in Ramallah was opened to allow teams of French, Swiss and Russian investigators to collect samples. Suha Arafat based her lawsuit on a 108-page report released to her by the University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne, Switzerland, which said the theory that Arafat was poisoned is most consistent with its results. Russian experts have maintained that Arafat was not poisoned. The French experts “maintain that the polonium 210 and lead 210 found in Arafat’s grave and in the samples are of an environmental nature,” Nanterre prosecutor Catherine Denis said in June. Many Palestinians continue to believe that Arafat was poisoned by Israel because he was an obstacle to peace. Israel has denied any involvement. Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 along with Israeli leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.

Microsoft to acquire Israeli cybersecurity firm

Microsoft Corp. will purchase an Israeli cybersecurity company for a reported $320 million. The planned acquisition of Adallom was first reported on July 21 by the Israeli business publication Calcalist. Microsoft has signed a letter of intent for the purchase.

Founded in 2012, Adallom has 80 employees in Israel, in Tel Aviv, and the United States, in Palo Alto, CA. It secures information stored on cloud services, protecting it from cyber attacks. It will be Microsoft’s fourth acquisition of an Israeli company.

Poll: Half of Israeli Jews want to rebuild Gaza settlements

Fifty-one percent of Israeli Jews believe Jewish settlements in Gaza that Israel evacuated a decade ago should be rebuilt, according to a new survey. The poll released on July 20 by the Begin-Sadat Center of Strategic Studies also found that 47 percent oppose evacuating West Bank Jewish settlements, the Times of Israel reported. Although polls conducted in 2005 showed the majority of Israelis supported the Gaza withdrawal at the time, 63 percent of respondents in the new poll claimed they opposed the settlement evacuation when it happened. In August 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, which it had occupied since 1967, and evacuated more than 8,000 Israelis from 21 settlements there. Israel maintained control over border crossings and Gaza’s imports, however, imposing a naval blockade in 2007 after the terrorist group Hamas took control of Gaza. The survey of 587 Israelis took place in the second week of July.

New Jersey doubles state allocation for Holocaust survivors

New Jersey has doubled the allocation in its state budget for Holocaust survivors. The state’s Jewish Family Service agencies will receive $400,000 in the new fiscal year to serve Holocaust survivors as part of a “Grants in Aid” allocation, the New Jersey Jewish News reported. The allocation announced earlier this month brings the three-year total to $1 million in state funding for services to New Jersey’s 4,700 Holocaust survivors, according to the newspaper. The additional funding will provide survivors with 11,000 hours of home care service, 3,000 meals, and 1,500 hours of case work and social service needs management, according to the News. “We are grateful to Gov. Chris Christie and the legislature for once more recognizing, in a bipartisan way, that the concerns of Holocaust survivors are unique because of what they have been through, and because their vulnerabilities at this age are increasing and are real,” Mark Levenson, president of the New Jersey State Association of Jewish Federations, said in a statement.

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Rosh Hashanah is coming!

House used to hide Jews declared Polish national monument

A house where a Jewish family hid to escape the Holocaust has been declared a Polish national monument. The house remained unrecognized as a Jewish hideout for 70 years, according to Reuters. It belonged to two families who shared a farm and hid the Jews in their cellar. Ten members of the two Polish families were executed by the Nazis in 1942 for refusing to reveal the Jewish family’s whereabouts. The family members were herded into a barn that was set on fire. The incident led the surviving family members to keep the hideout a secret, fearing the reaction of neighbors who may have been the ones to betray them to the Nazis during the war. The site was discovered by the From the Depths Foundation, which promotes Holocaust remembrance and helped register the hideout as a national monument, which occurred on July 23. “This site isn’t just important for Jews, this is important for humanity,” Jonny Daniels, president of the From the Depths Foundation, told Reuters. “Who would believe that one person would risk and end up giving their lives to try and help another? I wouldn’t. I couldn’t imagine myself risking my family to try and save somebody else, even a friend or a neighbor.”

The Jewish family that hid in the cellar has not been identified.

Prepare for Rosh Hashanah issue: August 27 Ad deadline: August 19 Rosh Hashanah Issue: September 10 - Ad deadline: September 1 To advertise, contact Bonnie Rozen at 1-800-779-7896, ext. 244 or bonnie@thereportergroup.org

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

20

THE REPORTER ■ july 30, 2015

Two very different worlds are about to collide...

The Kalmans, a proper British, “non-practicing” Jewish family, think they are hiring an au pair for their two young children.

Hoping for a real life Mary Poppins, the family is in for a shock when the au pair who turns up on their doorstep is DOVID MEYER, a 13 year old Chassidic Israeli boy. The shocked Kalmans agree to keep young Dovid for at least a few days, not knowing he is about to turn their lives upside down and inside out.

Join us August 13, 2015 at 7:00 pm as Director, Moshe Mones, will be introducing his newest movie,

DOVID MEYER

Scranton JCC - 601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510 Tickets are $5 per person Light refreshments will be available for purchase

Please RSVP to Dassy Ganz at (570)961-2300 ext. 2