March 26, 2015 Edition of The Reporter

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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 7

MARCH 26, 2015

News Analysis

Five takeaways from the Israeli election

By Uriel Heilman (JTA) – In the United States, the magic number on Election Day is 270, the number of Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. In Israel, it’s 61, the number of seats needed to capture a majority in the 120-seat Knesset – and with it, the premiership.

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party at 30 seats, far ahead of Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union (24 seats), the question now is who will join Netanyahu in the coalition? There are a few things to consider as the next Israeli government takes shape.

1. Netanyahu is in a stronger position than before. The prime minister acquired several advantages in the election. First, he can extend his premiership for another four years, possibly to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister: David Ben-Gurion served for a total of 13 years; Netanyahu has nine.

Second, by soundly defeating Herzog and significantly improving Likud’s position in the Knesset from 18 to 30, Netan-

yahu can claim a fresh mandate.

Third, the prime minister can build a more stable coalition than last time. With just the Orthodox and right-wing parties – Jewish Home (8), Shas (7), Yisrael Beiteinu (6) and United Torah Judaism (6) – Netanyahu gets to 57 seats. Kulanu, the center-right party led by ex-Likudnik Moshe Kachlon and the winner of 10 seats, easily could complete the coalition.

Netanyahu no longer needs Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid, with whom friction ultimately prompted the prime minister to dissolve his government and call for new elections.

Yesh Atid slipped to 11 seats from 19.

2. The left wing failed to gain ground.

Herzog has emerged to become the face of the left, but the left wing isn’t really in a better position than before. The left’s share of Knesset seats remains relatively unchanged – 28 compared to 29 in the current Knesset – but the party labels have changed. Now Zionist Union has 24 seats and Meretz four, whereas before the left wing’s 29 seats were distributed among Labor, Hatnuah, Kadima and Meretz.

If you throw the Joint Arab List (13) in with the left-wingers (Netanyahu does), that brings the left to 41 seats in the new Knesset, up from 40 last time around.

3. The kingmakers will be the centrists.

The Knesset’s two centrist parties together won 21 seats on Election Day – 11 for Yesh Atid and 10 for Kulanu. Barring the unlikely event of a unity government, one or both of them will be a must-have to reach the magic number of 61.

Given Netanyahu’s problems with Yesh Atid and the composition of Kulanu’s list, Kulanu is the clear favorite. The party boasts a number of veterans of right-wing parties, including Kachlon (ex-Likud), Michael Oren (served as Israel’s ambassador to Washington under Netanyahu)

and Tali Floskob (mayor of Arad and a former Yisrael Beiteinu member). Two deputies to Jerusalem’s right-wing mayor, Nir Barkat, also are on the Kulanu list.

The enduring strength of the centrist parties – even though much of it came at Yesh Atid’s expense – also demonstrates the seriousness with which Israeli voters consider the socioeconomic issues that Kulanu and Yesh Atid made the centerpiece of their campaigns. Israeli elections are no longer just about security, particularly at a time when few Israelis see a viable way to overcome the morass with the Palestinians and the threats posed by upheaval in the Arab world.

4. The Arabs are a force to be reckoned See “Election” on page 6

Scranton Hebrew Day School to celebrate 67th anniversary The Scranton Hebrew Day School will celebrate its 67th anniversary on Sunday, May 3, at 3:45 pm, with a reception and ribbon-cutting for the David and Norma Harris Memorial Education Center at the school, 540 Monroe Ave. A gala dinner will follow at 5 pm at the Jewish Community Center honoring Rabbi Yosef and Tziporah Guttman.

Longtime parents, the Guttmans have been considered “at the forefront” of all day school activities, “from board membership to dinner chairmen, to any and every project in between.”

Celebrating 60 years since their graduation, the Diamond Alumna Award will be presented to Hindy Fink Wolf, daughter of the late Meyer E. and Priscilla Fink; Judy Fink Eiger, daughter of the late Alex and Beatrice Fink; and Shelly Fink Presby, daughter of the late Nathan and Gertrude Fink. Receiving the Pearl Alumnus Award from the Class of 1985 will be Rabbi Ely Karp, son of Rabbi Avrum and Rachel Karp, of Scranton.

A special commemorative journal will be distributed. To place an ad or make a reservation for the dinner, call the school at 570-346-1576, ext 2. The ad deadline is Monday, April 20.

David and Norma Harris

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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.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Passover

Digital divide

Passover recipes; children’s books; An Israeli start-up hopes USB the holiday conveys message of drives can be used to provide poor unity; matzah bakers; and more. countries with Internet access.

Stories on page 4, 5, 7, 8, 11 Story on page 12

News in brief...

Candle lighting March 27...................................... 7:04 pm April 3............................................7:12 pm April 4.................................after 8:14 pm April 9............................................7:18 pm April 10..........................................7:19 pm April 17......................................... 7:27 pm

The U.S. may stop blocking antiPLUS Israel U.N. actions; Stern and Opinion........................................................2 Yeshiva faculties to merge; more. Jewish Community Center News.........6 Stories on page 15 D’var Torah..............................................10

2

THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

a matter of opinion On integration, adaptation, comfort zones, and what is just beyond them

By Avi Ganz Originally published in The Times of Israel “Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere. Self-pity gets you nowhere.

One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world – making the most of one’s best.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick Years ago, it was widely accepted that any person who was noticeably different – religious belief, skin color, intelligence, mannerisms, etc. – was incapable of integrating into the mainstream. What was done with these minorities depended on geography, socio-political norms and more, but the common denominator was that the uncommon denominator (sorry, couldn’t help myself) was segregated. Without turning this into a history lesson, after hundreds of years, thousands of lives, lots of blood, sweat, tears and constant change we now live in a world that thrives on all sorts of affirmative action: quotas for hiring people of different race, or people with various disabilities; wheelchair accessible building codes; and funding for research on how to include individuals with developmental disabilities in the workforce, the education system and the community.

For the sake of comparison: whereas 50 or 60 years ago, a family might have kept their autistic son hidden from neighbors and certainly out of sight at family events if he wasn’t institutionalized altogether, in today’s world that

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same boy is enjoying various volunteer mentors/advisers/chessed-doers on a regular basis. He is well-loved by the staff at his school and summer camp, and is the faithful if not obsessive adon-olam reader in his shul’s weekly teen minyan.

What could possibly be wrong?

As a society in general, or as the Jewish community in which we find ourselves, so much has been done to advance opportunities for individuals with a range of diagnoses and disabilities. On a social level, we have come to learn about and accept those individuals who exhibit differences; behaviors other than our own. Yet, too often, these individuals are offered these opportunities, jobs and outings as they fill the roll of “chessed case” instead of peer.

Mainstreaming in the classroom has been debated and will continue to be debated. What is so often the subject of these debates is the overall educational quotient; that is, how much the class, on average, is learning given the diversity of the students’ abilities. Other issues discussed are the benefits and challenges to the social structure of the group. What is glaringly absent from the discussion is the question of whether or not a society or system that has been formatted for the majority of thinkers can be adapted or even should be adapted for a minority.

While introduction of students other than the mainstream engenders sensitivity and understanding, and definitely has potential to decrease bias, it also sets a tone of tolerance as opposed to acceptance. It is much easier for a student of 10 years old to tolerate a strange outburst from his classmate with Down Syndrome and to explain it to himself as “Oh that’s just Jason….he has special needs and I love him,” than it is for the same individual to discuss the behavior with the student.

Kids ask all sorts of questions. Why do we discourage them from asking questions like these? True, there are schools and individuals that encourage discussing other people. I am talking about actually addressing the individual with the different behavior. After all, they know themselves best!

In his book “Front of the Class,” Brad Cohen, a teacher with Tourette’s Syndrome, teaches his students that “you can’t judge a banana by the outside. The outside of the banana might be all bruised

and discolored and look really nasty, but once you open the banana and peel the skin back, there could be a nice, clean, fresh banana inside. I also explained that there are all different kinds of bananas, just as there are all different kinds of people, and that we shouldn’t judge either the people or the bananas in our lives until we have the chance to “peel back the skin” and learn what’s inside.” If we don’t take the time to peel back the skin, how will we know? Put differently: there are definitely bananas out there that are blemished under the skin. There are bananas out there that are not blemished under the skin. If we lump them all together and just assume that somewhere in the middle is true for all bruised bananas, we’ll never fully appreciate the individuals.

Do we really value every single individual as equal and upstanding members of our communities? Do we expect so-called appropriate behavior from individuals with (what has been diagnosed as) a lower mental capacity? Do we take them seriously? Do we all say to ourselves “Oh that’s just Jason... he has special needs and I love him” or do we engage Jason, find out what drives him, why he acts a certain way and how he feels when he acts that way.

We have come so far in the last 50 or 60 years in terms of acceptance, but do we truly understand? Do we want to understand? As a society are we guilty of sewing the emperor’s new clothes?

Adam was a student of mine. A young man with Down Syndrome, he was and is quite aware of his differences and similarities with his peers, siblings and neighbors.

When asked by a high school student how he feels about his disability, Adam – with perfect poise (and a significant speech impediment) – said: “some people are tall, some people are short, some people are fat, and some people are skinny. I have Down Syndrome.” I share the following in the hope that we can start re-teaching ourselves to not only tolerate and accept, but to understand and value individuals with disabilities.

Adam had been looking forward to performing with the school band. There was one problem: Adam didn’t play an instrument. The bandleader thought it would be so wonderful for Adam to perform that he allowed Adam to join them for practices, but never actually gave him

an instrument. (Why would he?) As the big day edged nearer, Adam shared his excitement. “But Adam,” I said, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you and I both know that you don’t play an instrument!”

The bandleader hadn’t taken him seriously enough to let him tryout because of the risk of having to upset someone with a disability. While that was understandable and even meritorious, he was almost guilty of letting Adam make a complete fool of himself on stage in front of hundreds of others! Here’s how the story continues: Adam tells band leader of our discussion.

Band leader, bewildered, confirms with me that Adam indeed understands that he does not actually play an instrument.

Adam is very upset over his lost fame and cries for a few minutes.

Adam tells me that he really has to go online and figure out how to play an instrument!

When confronted with reality and treated as an equal, Adam stepped up to the plate and acknowledged that he benefited by being taken seriously.

Whether or not we stand in favor of mainstreaming in the classroom, let’s not shy away from differences. They are real and they are too often the elephant in the room. Differences don’t make us better or worse; they just are. If we choose to acknowledge the person with the difference and allow for his or her differences to be present, we stand, as a society, to gain so much from these individuals. We can go beyond our comfort zones and allow new and exciting possibilities to be realized. We can restructure our schools and shuls and stores and industry and our communities, and we can help ourselves by encouraging other people to develop to the best of their respective potentials as we pursue our own.

Remember that Adam, and Jason, and Brad are keenly aware of who they are – if they are conscious of it and are making concessions and adaptations to best succeed in a world that is not ideal for them, can’t we at least acknowledge who they are and what they are doing to succeed?

P.S. He worked on his drumming and sat in for a few minutes at the next performance, but that’s beside the point.

Avi Ganz is the program director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Yeshivat Darkaynu.

New York Times gets it wrong on Jewish National Fund and Bedouin Arabs

By Jeffrey E. Levine JNS.org In an op-ed headlined “The Two Israels” (New York Times, March 1), Nicholas Kristof made a rather broad accusation stating that Jewish National Fund plants forests on land owned by Bedouin Arabs. Unfortunately, Mr. Kristof chose to subscribe to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s diatribe against Israel and used JNF as a straw man to do so. We take exception to such reporting, and let the Times know just that in a letter to the editor.

Red flags should be raised when considering the fact that no Israeli governmental official was interviewed by Mr. Kristof to either discuss the Jewish state’s laws, to identify any specific property disputes and claims procedures, or to cite legal history on the subject.

JNF is not a political actor in Israel, but rather a 501(c)3 charity and a United Na-

tions-approved non-governmental organization. Our mission betters the land of Israel for all of the country’s people, regardless of ethnicity or religion. This multi-purposed goal facilitates the continuity of a secure and independent homeland for Jews across the Diaspora, and supports America’s only free and democratic strategic ally in the Middle East.

What Mr. Kristof did not report on was JNF’s multi-year work with the Bedouin community in the Negev, which has improved Bedouin lives. Witness our efforts at a project called Wadi Atir, near the village of Hura, where the Bedouin community combines its traditional medicinal herbal practices and animal herding with modern farming techniques – the effects of which provide Bedouin men and, most importantly, women with the tools to empower, educate and bring long-term financial and professional success.

In my meetings and visits with JNF’s

wonderful volunteers, board members and staffers in Israel, I am often overwhelmed by the caring and love they share for that country’s people, in both good times and bad. Last summer, when thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, JNF helped protect all of Israel’s residents on that border – including the Bedouin.

Our partner organization, Green Horizons, responded to Bedouin villages to calm children with a variety of programs and bomb shelters meant to ensure their safety.

JNF contributors understand that inclusiveness is the key to Israel’s future.

Throughout the Negev Desert, JNF has partnered with numerous organizations to foster synergy and to enhance and strengthen the region’s smaller communities, which were often forgotten in the past. The small 8 percent of Israel’s population that lives in the Negev resides on some 60 percent of the country’s land.

See “Wrong” on page 5

MArch 26, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

3

community news Purim celebration at Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos

The Jewish Resource Center of Stroudsburg hosted a celebration for Purim on March 5. Rabbi Yehuda Salkow read the megillah, allowing more than 40 members of the community to participate by jeering Haman and cheering victory. The megillah was followed by Chinese food prepared by Julie Harter and her assistants, a game of Purim Pictionary and socializing with friends. Music was provided by Pete Begley, who played the stick.

With Purim now past, JRC is preparing for its annual Passover retreat. It will be held from Friday-Sunday, April 3-5, at the Quality Inn in Stroudsburg. For more information, visit the JRC on Facebook, call 570-517-0815 or visit http://poconojrc.org. The program has been called “an inspiring and family-oriented event.” Participants can attend the entire weekend, or any individual seder, meal or speaker program.

L-r: Rabbi Yehuda Salkow, musician Pete Begley and Danny Steinmetz performed at the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos’ Purim celebration on March 5.

NEWS IN bRIEF

Above (l-r) and below: Display of the foods from the Purim Festival at the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos.

L-r: Lily Harter, Natalie Levitt, Heaven DeFilippis, and Jay and Susan Sweet (partially obscured) attended the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos’ Purim celebration on March 5.

S

From JTA

DEADLINE

More than 1,200 attend NYC event promoting aliyah

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

More than 1,200 people attended an event in New York City to promote moving to Israel. The Aliyah Mega Event held on March 15 was hosted by Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNFUSA. The event included workshops and seminars on planning aliyah, assistance in speeding up medical licensing for potential immigrants, and information on programs to help the transition to life in Israel. Students, professionals and retirees attended the event, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Assistance in speeding up licensing procedures was offered in medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, nutrition and pharmacology.

DEADLINE

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

Adding elegance to seder meals – and it’s easy

By Shannon Sarna NEW YORK (JTA) – I am not one of those people who looks forward to Passover each year. I dread it. I love my carbs and I absolutely loathe the constant cooking and dishwashing that somehow always accompanies the holiday.

Since my husband and I started hosting our own seder each year for my family and our close friends, we have worked on an array of Passover-friendly dishes that are so good, we eat them all year. This has greatly improved the quality of our holiday. Now if only I could find someone to wash my dishes all week.

These recipes are easy, elegant and a little different from the delicious, but humdrum, chicken soup, brisket and kugel.

And with two nights of seders, sometimes you need something a little different to keep the seder menu interesting.

Gefilte fish is one of those dishes that is truly an acquired taste. For some people, the taste is simply never acquired. It’s hard to change traditions, but try switching out gefilte fish for bite-sized croquettes topped with salmon roe. Not a fan of caviar? Use smoked salmon instead. You can make these during the year and substitute panko bread crumbs for the matzah meal. You can also serve these for a dairy meal and add some sour cream, Greek yogurt or creme fraiche on the side.

Dill Horseradish Potato Croquettes with Salmon Roe Makes 2 dozen 4 large Yukon gold potatoes 1 Tbsp. salt 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper 1 Tbsp. horseradish 1 to 2 tsp. dried dill ½ cup vegetable broth ½ cup olive oil 2 eggs Matzah meal 1 tsp. salt ½ tsp. pepper

Peel potatoes and place in a large pot of salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, approximately 15 minutes.

Drain water and immediately place potatoes into a ricer or food mill. Add oil, vegetable broth, dried dill, horseradish, salt and pepper to potatoes and mix until smooth and seasoning is even throughout.

Add 1 egg and mix again. Begin forming patties by packing potatoes lightly into balls and then flattening them with palms of hand. Place on a platter and put in the refrigerator for a few hours or up to 24 hours.

After patties have finished chilling, beat the other egg with 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl. Place matzah meal in another bowl and add 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix. Dip each potato patty into egg, then matzah meal.

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry croquette 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Allow the croquettes to cool slightly before topping with salmon roe and fresh dill if desired.

Dill Horseradish Potato Croquettes with Salmon Roe are the perfect replacement for gefilte fish. (Photo by Shannon Sarna) Braised Lamb Shanks with Dates and Raisins Serves 4-6 4 lamb shanks 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. black pepper 1 heaping tsp. sumac 1 heaping tsp. cumin 1 heaping tsp. sweet paprika Olive oil

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1 large onion 3 garlic cloves 1 tsp. fennel seed 2 cloves ½ tsp. cinnamon 1 Tbsp. tomato paste 1½ cups vegetable broth or water 1½ cups red wine ½ cup golden raisins, soaked in warm water 30 minutes ½ cup dates Fresh parsley and cilantro (optional) Combine the salt, pepper, sumac, cumin and paprika in a small bowl. Cover lamb shanks in dry spice rub and place on a platter covered in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour or up to 4 hours.

Place raisins in a bowl of warm water.

Heat a few tablespoons olive oil in a large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear shanks on all sides until brown. Remove from pan.

Add onion and garlic and saute, scraping the “good bits” from the bottom of the pan. You can deglaze with a little bit of the broth. Cook for 7-8 minutes, until onion is translucent.

Add tomato paste, clove, fennel seed and cinnamon; continue cooking for another few minutes. Add stock, wine, dates and drained raisins (discard water), and bring to a boil.

Put the lamb shanks back in the pot and reduce heat to low, or place into a 275°F oven. Braise for 2½ hours.

Serve with fresh cilantro and parsley, if desired.

Ti re d o f brisket? Try these Braised Lamb Shanks with Dates and Raisins.

(Photo by Shannon Sarna) Kale, Apple and Roasted Beet Salad Serves 4-6 3 cups chopped fresh kale, stems removed 2 medium beets

½ apple, diced ¼ cup chopped candied walnuts ¼ cup dried cherries or cranberries Olive oil Balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash and dry the beets. Place in tin foil and roast in oven for 45-60 minutes, or until soft.

Allow to cool.

Remove the outer peel of beets using hands or a vegetable peeler. Cut beets into bite-sized pieces.

Place chopped kale in a large salad bowl. Add beets, apple, candied walnuts and dried cherries or cranberries.

Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or salad dressing of your choosing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Chocolate Raspberry Torte with Pecan Crust For the crust: ¼ cup margarine or butter ½ cup pecans ¼ cup sugar ½ tsp. salt For the filling: 8 ounces dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips ½ cup margarine or butter (1 stick) 1 tsp. instant espresso ¼ cup cocoa powder 1 tsp. vanilla 5 eggs 1 cup sugar ½ cup strawberry or raspberry jam Powdered sugar for dusting (optional) Preheat the oven to 375°F. To make the crust: Melt the ¼ cup margarine or butter in the microwave at 20-second intervals.

Place the pecans, salt and sugar in a food processor fitted with blade attachment and pulse until you have course looking crumbs. Add melted margarine/butter and pulse 1-2 more times.

Press mixture into an 8- or 9-inch springform pan. Bake 7-8 minutes. The crust may look a little funny, bubbly or like it is ruined, but this is totally fine.

Set aside.

To make the filling: Place the chocolate chips and margarine See “Seder” on page 5

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MArch 26, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

Passover children’s books: choo-choos, baa-baas and back to Sinai

By Penny Schwartz BOSTON (JTA) – When Deborah Bodin Cohen immersed herself in rabbinical school in the early 1990s, she expected to spend a year in Israel as part of her studies with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. What she didn’t know was that a decade later, the experience of living in Jerusalem would spark her inspiration for a children’s book that has become a popular award-winning series. “Engineer Ari and the Passover Rush,” Bodin Cohen’s fourth book in KarBen’s “Engineer Ari” series, is among a trio of new children’s books for the eightday holiday marking the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. Shahar Kober provides the illustrations.

Passover begins this year with the first seder on the evening of Friday, April 3.

Other new books for the holiday include “And Then Another Sheep Turned Up,”

by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Amy Adele, and a rare middle-reader Passover chapter book, “Scarlett and Sam: Escape from Egypt,” by Eric Kimmel and illustrated

by Ivica Stevanovic.

Bodin Cohen, the author of other award-winning Jewish children’s books, including “The Seventh Day” and “Nachshon Who was Afraid to Swim,” credits the idea for the Ari character to her daughter Ariana, who as a preschooler was a train enthusiast. Her daughter’s train play stirred memories of living near Jerusalem’s historic train station that dated back to the 1890s. “I literally passed it every day,” she told JTA. Bodin Cohen, the director of congre-

Wrong

“Engineer Ari and the Passover Rush” is the fourth book in the “Engineer Ari” series by Deborah Bodin Cohen. (Photo courtesy of Kar-Ben Publishing) gational learning at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, MD, realized that she could create a story of a train adventure based in historic Israel – one that would also entertain her own daughter and her friends. Each of the Engineer Ari stories has some historical element, she points out, with extensive research and consultation with a curator of the Israel Railway Museum in Haifa.

While the book is not about Israel, it is the backdrop, one of Bodin Cohen’s goals.

“The idea of an illustrated book exposes kids to some of the beauty of Israel, the wildlife and the agriculture,” she said.

“Engineer Ari and the Passover Rush” by Deborah Bodin Cohen, illustrated by Shahar Kober, Kar-Ben ($17.95 hardcover, $7.95 paperback, $6.99 eBook); ages 5-9 Engineer Ari is a friendly train en-

gineer, an imagined character based on Jerusalem’s early railway system that transported people and goods between Jaffa and Jerusalem dating back to the end of the 19 th century in prestate Palestine. Like the previous books in the series – for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Chanukah – this charming tale is set at the eve of the holiday.

In the “Passover Rush,” Engineer Ari is in a hurry to make his last run before the start of the seder. The sense of urgency to keep track of time for the train schedule is a perfect pairing for the story of Passover, when the Israelites fled Egypt.

His ride to Jerusalem has neighbors offering him foods for his seder plate, including a bowl of charoset made with almonds and dates, a traditional Sephardi

Seder in medium saucepan over low heat until smooth. Whisk in cocoa and espresso.

Cool 10 minutes.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl on high speed until thick, about 6 minutes. Fold in chocolate mixture slowly. Then fold in raspberry jam, but don’t mix too much. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Bake torte until dry and cracked on top, and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist batter attached, about 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 1 hour (center will fall).

Using an offset spatula or butter knife, carefully separate torte from sides of pan.

Remove outer ring of springform pan. Dust

custom. Ari promises that on his return route, he’ll deliver newly baked matzah in exchange. As he arrives back in Jaffa in the nick of time, he and his neighbors swap the Jerusalem matzah for the seder plate foods.

Young kids will enjoy the fun adventure, which also introduces the elements of preparing the Passover seder. The cartoon-like illustrations by the Israeli artist Kober will delight young readers, with animated characters dressed in colorful native garb, and bustling scenes of city life and rolling hillsides and farms. For some young readers, the biggest thrill will likely be the red locomotive, with its whistle cord that regularly announces “Toot, toot!”

See “Books” on page 8

Continued from page 4

with powdered sugar if desired.

Shannon Sarna is editor of The Nosher blog on MyJewishLearning.com.

A Chocolate Raspberry Torte with Pecan provides a sweet finish to the seder.

(Photo by Shannon Sarna)

Continued from page 2

Since they are so far removed from the central part of the country, they are often shortchanged for services, even when it comes to emergency treatment. To meet the demand for urgent care, last year we opened a medical center deep in the Negev Desert, alleviating the two-hour drive residents used to make. Additionally, people with special needs are treated at our three partner facilities – Aleh Negev, Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center and LOTEM-Making Nature Accessible – regardless of complexion, faith or language. We have also collaborated on a trans-boundary issue to repair an important watershed for the Palestinian Authority and the people of Be’er Sheva, the de facto capital of the Negev, to make sure all have access to clean water.

For more than a century, JNF donors worldwide have taken part in a time-honored tradition and planted more than 250

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million trees in Israel to commemorate important milestones, memorials or living testaments to loved ones. This act of taking care of the land has also served to create a green lung throughout the region.

JNF is equally renowned for its protection of ecological systems, investing in smart technology and renewable energy, leadership in sustainability, greening the desert and water conservation. Donors also choose to build farms, reservoirs, hospitals, schools, research centers, parks and many other projects that benefit all the people of Israel.

JNF’s history is one of love, nation building and industry that has reduced poverty, encouraged women’s rights and created economic opportunities for all. That’s the story that is Israel and JNF. That’s the story that the world needs to know.

Jeffrey E. Levine is president of the Jewish National Fund.

Passover Greetings from

Sidney R. DeSantis - Supervisor 318 East Drinker Street, Dunmore, PA 570-343-6013 www.NEPAFuneralhome.com Serving the entire Jewish community of Northeastern, PA

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

jewish community center news Purim Carnival at Scranton Jewish Community Center

The Jewish Community Center of Scranton held its annual Purim Carnival on March 8 with almost 200 people in attendance. The carnival included a variety of Purimthemed games, prizes, a bounce house, face painting, music, an ice cream sundae bar and hamantashen.

Many children dressed in costume for the contest, and two winners were selected. The JCC Koppelman Auditorium was decorated like Shushan for the day.

“Fun was had by all,” said organizers of the event.

Children in their costumes attended the Purim Carnival at the Jewish Community Center on March 8.

Election

with. The forced combination of the Knesset’s Arab parties into the Joint Arab List – prompted by a new rule raising the minimum threshold for entry into the Knesset to 3.5 percent of votes cast – has strengthened their hand. Even though Arab-Israeli turnout was lower than Jewish-Israeli turnout, it was still higher than usual.

Now the Arabs control three additional Knesset seats and have a more unified voice.

5. Netanyahu showed his true colors. The prime minister did two things in the final hours of Israel’s election campaign that make it difficult to see how he will repair Israel’s image overseas and its frayed relationship with the United States.

One was his open acknowledgment in an interview published on March 23 that he opposes Palestinian statehood. “I think anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state and

to evacuate territory is giving radical Islam a staging ground against the state of Israel,” Netanyahu told the Israeli website NRG. “This is the reality that has been created here in recent years. Anyone who ignores it has his head in the sand.”

When asked point blank “If you are a prime minister, there will be no Palestinian state?” Netanyahu responded, “Indeed.”

The second was Netanyahu’s brazen warning on Election Day that Likud supporters ought to rush to the polls because Arab-Israelis were turning out in large numbers. “Right-wing rule is in danger. The Arab voters are coming in huge numbers to the polls. The left-wing organizations are bringing them in buses,” Netanyahu said in a message posted on March 24 on social media urging followers to vote for Likud. “With your help, and with God’s help, we will establish a patriotic government

Children played the games available during the Purim Carnival.

Continued from page 1 that will safeguard the state of Israel.”

Both remarks provide ample fodder for critics of Netanyahu and of Israel: that he (and by extension Israel) is disingenuous about pursuing a peace deal with the Palestinians, and that he (and by extension Israel) is racist.

Editor’s note: In interviews after this article was written, Benjamin Netanyahu claims that he still supports a two-state solution, but believes that it is impossible for it to occur now due to changes in the Arab world.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a statement to the media at his residence in Jerusalem on March 17, as Israelis voted for at the general elections for the 20th parliament. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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MArch 26, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

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From Temple times through today, Passover conveys message of Jewish unity

By Maayan Jaffe JNS.org Between 19 B.C.E. and 4 B.C.E., King Herod I renovated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, enlarging and beautifying it. It is during this same period that we first learn of the Jewish pilgrimages to Jerusalem on what are known as the shalosh regalim, “the three pilgrimage festivals.”

All of the festivals – Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot – center around the story of the Exodus in some way. But Passover is the first and foremost of the bunch.

Jerusalem always held a special place in the hearts of the Jewish people, but as the Romans built roads and as Herod expanded the Temple, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem became commonplace and served as a message of unity – “one Temple, one God, on Passover” – for all of the Jews, said Prof. Jonathan Klawans of Boston University’s Department of Religion.

Yet detailed writings about what the pilgrimage festivals may have looked like during Temple times don’t exist. According to talmudic scholar Dr. Joshua Kulp, author of “Schechter Haggadah: Art, History and Commentary,” most knowledge on the subject comes from the works of the ancient historian Josephus. While later writings (such as the New Testament) describe what it was like in Jerusalem during the Second Temple era, those works were written at a much later time and some scholars doubt their accuracy.

It isn’t known where people stayed or slept when they were in Jerusalem, or how many people were there (though most assume a large number), or what people felt at that time. What is known, Klawans told JNS.org, is that the pilgrimages were a social experience that pulled the Jewish people together.

It’s also clear that for Passover, pilgrimage participants ate in Jerusalem as family units. A representative from each family would take an animal, bring it up to the Temple and have it slaughtered. Then, the representative would bring the animal back, and the family would cook and eat the sacrificial meat. During this festive meal, families

A model of King Herod I’s renovated version of the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. (Photo by Ariely via Wikimedia Commons) also drank wine, but not a specific number of glasses.

They sang songs – specifically, the Hallel prayer, which is also part of the modern Passover seder.

“There may have been discussion [at the Passover pilgrimage meals] about leaving Egypt, and we cannot prove that they didn’t talk about it, but none of the Second Temple descriptions say that they did,” Kulp told JNS.org.

According to scholars, the Passover seder as we know it today was developed between the destruction of the Temple (70 C.E.) and the end of rabbinic period (1,000 C.E.).

“The seder we have today is an organized meal with instructions,” said Kulp. “The seder tells us how many cups of wine and when to drink them. It tells us when to wash our hands, to say blessings. There is even a ritualized way of telling the Passover story.”

But exactly how much of the contemporary seder relates to the pilgrimage meals? Klawans said it isn’t so much that the formulaic seder aligns to the pilgrimage and sacrifice, but rather, that the perception of that con-

nection is the key to understanding Passover.

“Is having a seder like going to the Temple? There are obvious differences. But the perception of continuity really drives people,” he said. “Jews today in Pennsylvania or Boston or Jerusalem are experiencing – are holding – seders at the same time and in basically the same way, and that is significant for us.”

Tova Hametz, who lives in the Old City of Jerusalem, echoed Klawans’s sentiment, but added that she believes a deep unity can be felt to this day in Jerusalem, which she called “the epicenter of the universe.

“It is the holiest place,” she told JNS.org. “We are in Hashem’s backyard. Now that all the Jews are scattered in exile, we sometimes forget about belonging here [in Jerusalem], where you still can experience the inspiration and community consciousness of being together in celebration.”

Hametz lives on a narrow street, about six feet wide, which passersby need to navigate to reach the Kotel (Western Wall) from the Jaffa Gate. On Passover, thousands of people walk down her street. “I open my door and I can sit on the front steps with my daughter and watch as they flood down the street,” she said. “And it is not for an hour or two, it is all hours of the day and night. They come in masses – some running, some walking. Every kind of person you can imagine. Every variety of dress.

Every size and background and color.”

While Hametz said she can only try to imagine what it must have been like when the Temple existed in all its greatness, she focuses on living in the place where the next Temple could be built at any moment. And on Passover, as the throngs of rowdy people keep her up in awe, she tries to remain conscious of what it means to be a Jew. Hametz said, “Seeing the experience of everyone coming here, to the Kotel, together – that is what it means to be in Israel, to be a Jew, to be a part of the whole.”

Maayan Jaffe is senior/writer editor at Netsmart and a freelance writer in Overland Park, KS. Reach her at jaffemaayan@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter, @MaayanJaffe.

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

Marking the passage from slavery to freedom

By Dasee Berkowitz JERUSALEM (JTA) – Transitions are never easy.

You decide to leave one place that is known to you for some unfamiliar territory. You don’t feel quite like yourself (and probably won’t for a while). You try to act like everything is fine even though you know that your whole life has just been upended. It will take time until things begin to fall into place – when you start to integrate the “old” you into your new identity, when you can trust that your life will make sense as you take this step into the unknown.

And while we all might experience one or two of these major transitions in our lifetime (marriage, divorce, becoming a parent or moving cities), the transition for the ancient Israelites, from slavery in Egypt to freedom, was one of epic proportions.

After suffering under the oppressive yoke of bondage, the promise of redemption was palpable. With God’s guiding hand and Moses in place to lead the way, the

Books “And Then Another Sheep Turned Up” by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Amy Adele, Kar-Ben ($17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paperback; $6.99 eBook); ages 3-8 As a friendly family of sheep prepares for Passover, one guest after another arrives, from grandma with the macaroons and wine to uncles and friends who arrive unexpectedly. As the seder progresses from the Four Questions to hiding the afikomen and dipping the parsley, each page brings another unexpected visitor.

Gehl’s delightful rhymes “And Then Another will tickle young ones. Even S h e e p Tu r n e d U p ” non-readers will join the follows a friendly family repeating refrain, “And then o f s h e e p p re p a r i n g another sheep turned up.” for Passover. (Photo Kids will be entertained with courtesy of Kar-Ben page after page of Adele’s Publishing) colorful, lively illustrations of adorable sheep having fun at Passover.

“Scarlett and Sam: Escape from Egypt” by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Ivica Stevanovic, Kar-Ben ($15.95 hardcover, $5.95 paperback, $6.99 eBook); ages 6-9 When twins Scarlett and Sam bicker about who is going

Israelites had their matzah in hand and were ready to go. Their transition to a new life – from being slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt to servants of God – was set in motion.

While the steps along the way may have been unsure and filled with trepidation (there’s nothing like the sound of Pharaoh’s army behind you and a sea that isn’t splitting before you to make you wonder if you made the right decision), the Red Sea did split and faith that everything would be OK won out.

While the biblical narrative that recounts the Exodus from Egypt has power in the linear nature of its telling, the way that the rabbis ritualized that transition in the Passover haggadah is anything but linear. They transformed the raw material of the Exodus story into an associative, sometimes disjointed pedagogical tool. And in this disjointed medium of the haggadah is the message.

Transitions are not a straightforward endeavor. They are a process that can be meandering, confusing and rife with double meanings and complexities. What are the ways

Continued from page 5

to recite the Four Questions at the seder, their magical Grandma Mina cuts the squabbling short: “Tonight, at the seder, we don’t just tell the story of Passover. We become part of it.”

So sets the stage for Kimmel’s time-travel Passover adventure that transports the duo to the Egyptian desert, back to the time of Moses and Aaron as they prepare to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. The Ten Twins return to the Egyptian Plagues, Pharaoh’s palace, desert in Kimmel’s timeand the suffering and indig- travel Passover adventure nity endured by the Israelite “Scarlet and Sam.” (Photo slaves come alive for the courtesy of Kar-Ben siblings, who manage to Publishing) make a podcast of their experience.

Older readers familiar with Kimmel’s hugely popular illustrated books (“Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,” “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock” and “The Chanukkah Guest”) will again enjoy his deft humor and flair for storytelling in the illustrated chapter book that will appeal to school-age kids. It’s a terrific pairing with Kimmel’s earlier “Wonders and Miracles,” a lavishly illustrated seder companion that explains and demystifies the customs and traditions.

that our experience of Passover can shed light onto how we experience transitions in our own lives?

Embrace complexity. Eat matzah.

The most ubiquitous symbol of Passover, matzah, is in itself a conundrum. It is the bread of affliction, which reminds us of the hard bread the Israelites ate in servitude in Egypt. But it is also the food that the Israelites baked on the eve of their departure. It’s the same substance (just flour and water), but the meaning of the bread changes based on how we relate to it. When we were passive recipients of the bread, it represented our affliction and reminded us of our identity as slaves, but when created with our own hands it represents the moment of our freedom.

It might have been simpler to have two different kinds of bread – a flat bread to represent slavery and a fluffier one to represent freedom. But instead, on seder night we are obligated to eat matzah and imbibe the two identities at the same time. We hold the complexity – even as we celebrate freedom, we remember our harsh past. More than that, our past serves as a moral compass and guides us not to oppress the stranger because we remembered what oppression felt like.

When we go through a transition in our lives, we recognize that we don’t negate the past to embrace a new future. Our past experiences ground and guide us as we take steps toward a new identity.

Ask the right questions.

The rabbis put questions and questionings at the center of the haggadah’s telling. The nature of asking questions on Passover is in itself an act of freedom. The most powerless – the children – traditionally ask the “Four Questions.” Then four children ask questions based on their own characters: the questions that everyone is thinking, but nobody dare articulate.

Only free people can ask, wonder and challenge. Being able to ask good questions connects us to the bigger picture and opens doors to life’s possibilities.

Transitions are overwhelming. And when you are going through one, sometimes all you want are the right answers.

(I’m not sure how many Israelites asked questions when they were leaving Egypt on that 14th of Nissan.)

But the haggadah teaches us to ask questions, even when it might feel frightening to do so. Our questions might range from the wise and rebellious to the simple, and sometimes we might find ourselves unable to ask.

The questions that start with “why did I do this?” may lead to broader ones like “I wonder what awaits me on the other side?” Keep asking.

Offer praise and thanks.

In the middle of the haggadah, soon after “Dayenu” and right before we wash our hands to eat the matzah, See “Freedom” on page 10

MArch 26, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR

27th Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust Co-sponsored by Hilton Scranton & Conference Center and the Jewish Federation of NEPA

Grades 8 – 12 welcome with appropriate preparation Choice of Tuesday, May 5th OR Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 Time: 8:30AM registration; 8:50AM sharp program begins; 1:30PM – 1:45PM dismissal Where: The Hilton Scranton & Conference Center, 100 Adams Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503 What: The Teen Symposium on the Holocaust is a full day program that deals with the causes and effects of the Holocaust. It also provides an opportunity for participants to meet with survivors of the Holocaust and American GIs, who liberated the Nazi concentration camps. Sessions with survivors are the core of the day. Meetings with these witnesses bring insights and understanding that only such “living history” can bring to those who hear firsthand testimony.

Each day’s program will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Adams Avenue, with breakout sessions in different conference rooms. The day will begin with two brief introductory sessions followed by the film, Children Remember the Holocaust.

Breakout sessions follow, where small group meetings with survivors are held. After lunch, attendees will return to the Casey Ballroom for the production of Lida Stein and the Righteous Gentile and a guided audience discussion.

The afternoon session is a 50 minute play that follows “ordinary” people from “ordinary” families caught up in the extraordinary political and social upheaval during the Nazi era. It focuses on the relationship between Lida Stein, a Jewish teenage girl, and her best friend Dora Krause, a German teenage girl. The play probes issues from the perspective of teenagers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who are swept up in life-altering decisions about friendship, politics, and family loyalty in difficult times. The audience discussion that follows addresses two key aspects of the Holocaust era: the gradual intimidation and eventual segregation of the Jewish community from the larger society, and the characters, motivations and consequences of the decisions of friendly and non-friendly German adults and youth. It will also focus on peer pressure and its impact on decision making, family loyalty, personal responsibility, moral strength, and commitment.

The only mandatory fee involved is lunch prepared by Hilton’s food service. The cost is $7.00 for students and $9.00 for teachers. (Please note that teachers will be eating with their students).

Registration begins on a first-come, first-served basis upon the receipt of this notice to our office. It will end when all available spaces are filled. Participation requires adherence to the time schedule, which includes check in before 8:50AM. Registration deadline is April 15th with payment in full. Payees will incur a $25.00 fee if paid on the day of the Symposium.

Please be aware, and make your students aware, of the fact that the survivor they meet will have gone through one or more of many experiences in the Holocaust, but may not be a survivor of a concentration camp. School groups are divided so that participants from each school meet several people and can share what they learn upon returning to school.

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

d’var torah

A sacred meal

Tsav, Leviticus 6:1-8:36

by RABBI STEVEN P. NATHAN, JEWISH FELLOWSHIP OF HEMLOCK FARMS, THE SYNAGOGUE OF PIKE COUNTY This week’s parasha, Tsav (Vayikra/Leviticus 6:18:36), continues to describe the various sacrifices the ancient Israelites were to make in the Mishkan, or Tabernacle.

The final sacrifice described is the zevakh shelamim, usually translated as the “peace offering” or “good-will offering.” The word shelamim comes from the same root as shalom (“peace”) and shalem (“whole”). One contemporary understanding of this sacrifice is as an offering of greeting. According to Baruch Levine and other scholars, it was a meal shared between the priests, the people who brought the offering and God. In other words, through sharing a sacred meal there was a connection being made between the people, the priests and the Divine.

Not only was this a meal of greeting, but the sharing of the sacrificial animal could also bring a sense of peace and wholeness that was a direct result of feeling connected to God and the entire community, as represented by the priests. The sharing of this sacrifice allowed the participants to experience, in a visceral way, the connection that exists between all human beings and remind us of the sh’leimut (“wholeness”) and achdut (“oneness”) of existence. And when the final portion of the sacrifice was offered to God, by being burned upon the altar, it was as if God was partaking of the sacrifice along with the priest and the Israelite.

For our ancestors, the sacred meal that occurred as part of the sacrificial system consisted simply of the priest and the Israelite eating a meal together and symbolically sharing it with God. This meal consisted of ordinary meat from an ordinary, although unblemished, animal. The meat itself was not made sacred or divine through any kind of blessing or ritual, nor was what made this meal extraordinary the fact that it was “perfect” or that it was slaughtered, prepared and cooked by the priest. Rather, what made this meal extraordinary was that it was being shared with God. It was a reminder that, even though the priests had a different status in their society, and that God was beyond being human, all three entities shared something. That something, represented by the sacrificial meal, is Oneness. Oneness in this case means that ultimately there is no separation or duality in existence. Oneness is at the heart of kedushah (“holiness”) that plays such a central role in Vayikra/Leviticus and the entire Torah.

Eating a sacred meal does not make one any more or less holy, nor does the slaughter of the sacrifice by the priest make the sacrifice holy. Rather, what makes the act and all the participants holy is the recognition of the deeper truth, that we are all part of God. God is within us all, for we are all One within God, even while we see ourselves as separate individuals.

Yet, maybe the sacrifice and the sacred meal are meant to remind us that in reality this is actually an illusion. Perhaps we are not complete on our own? We may believe (or our ego may trick us into believing) that we are self-sufficient. However, the necessity of eating the sacred meal – which is commanded – tells us something different. It tells us that without God we are not complete. Our independence is merely an illusion.

This applies to all of us, including the priests. God is within us and we are within God. By sharing the zevakh shelamim, the sacrifice of wholeness and completeness, we are reminded of this essential aspect of our existence.

We are not alone. If we cut ourselves off from our connection to God and the Oneness of the universe, then we are incomplete.

However, we must also be cognizant of the fact that, while our ancestors were experiencing this through the sacred meal, God was also “partaking” of the meal in the form of accepting the smoke of the sacrifice. Can this mean that God is also incomplete without us? If we

say this, aren’t we exhibiting the exact type of egotistical hubris that we are supposed to be letting go of through this ritual? Perhaps.

After all, if God is Ehad (“One”), then God is whole and complete. Yet, as R. Abraham Joshua Heschel, may his memory be a blessing, taught, God needs us as well as much as we need God. However, as my friend Rabbi Ethan Franzel pointed out to me, that is a concept that has been created by human beings. We want to believe that God needs to be needed, just as we need to be needed.

This is an idea that we find pleasing and comforting.

Perhaps that is why the Torah refers to the aroma of the sacrifices as a rei’akh ni’khoakh, a pleasing odor. It was pleasing to God because it was a gift from the people.

When all is said and done, neither the sacrifices nor prayer, which later replaced sacrifice, are meant to make God complete. Nor are they meant to make human beings complete. Rather, they are meant to remind human beings of the unity, wholeness and completeness that already exists. Oneness is the essence of existence. Through sacrifice in the past and prayer today, we are reminded of the truth that “God is One” means that all is one with God. We are all a part of the Divine flow of energy that sustains our universe.

This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Ha’Gadol, or the Great Shabbat, as it is the Shabbat immediately prior to Pesach. In olden times, it was one of the few times when a rabbi would actually deliver a sermon in his congregation. This sermon would focus on the physical and spiritual preparation for Pesach.

Tsav reminds us of the ancient sacrifice and meal which brought about a sense of wholeness and holiness for our ancient ancestors. The Passover seder is not the same as the ancient sacrificial meal. In fact, it is quite different in its nature. But, perhaps as we prepare to celebrate this sacred ritual, we would do well to remember that its essence is not only remembering the Exodus from Egypt, for sitting down together with family and friends to celebrate can also be seen as a way to remind us of our connection to one another, our connection to our heritage and to our ancestors, and ultimately our connection to God, the Oneness of the Universe, that is the source of the freedom which we celebrate in joy on this special holiday.

Freedom

Continued from page 8 there is a shortened Hallel (song of praise). It is smack in the middle of the haggadah. “Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the Lord’s name. May the Lord’s name be blessed now and forevermore.” We move away from the heady conversations about why we eat the pascal lamb, matzah and maror, and the meta-values that the haggadah conveys with the line “In every generation one is obligated to see oneself as if on had gone out of Egypt.” Instead we sing, dance and offer gratitude that we have made it this far.

This short Hallel stuck in the middle of the haggadah reminds us how important it is to recognize milestones along the journey. When our tendency is to see how much farther we need to go, the haggadah reminds us to recognize how far we have come and to give thanks.

Every day our lives are filled with transitions in small and big ways, from home to work and then back home again. Crises (big and small) happen at these threshold points (kids have breakdowns, adults feel anxiety). These feelings are real because they reflect that we are heading into unknown territory. In our daily lives we ritualize these moments – the good-bye kiss, the welcome home hug. And for our bigger transitions – changing careers, moving houses, leaving a marriage or deciding to have a child – the rituals become larger and more complex.

As we approach each of these transitions, let us move from the narrow places, our personal Egypts, to a place of openness and expansiveness of the desert. This Passover season beckons you.

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Making, matzah In eastern Ukraine, a unique matzah factory puts food on Jewish tables

By Cnaan Liphshiz DNEPROPETROVSK, Ukraine (JTA) – With one eye on a digital countdown timer, Binyamin Vestrikov jumps up and down while slamming a heavy rolling pin into a piece of dough. Aware of his comical appearance to the journalist watching, he exaggerates his movements to draw laughs from a dozen colleagues at the kneading station of Tiferet Hamatzot – a factory believed to be Europe’s only permanently open bakery for handmade matzah, or shmurah matzah.

But Vestrikov’s urgency is not just for entertainment. Rather, it is designed to meet the production standards that have allowed this unique bakery in eastern Ukraine to provide the Jewish world with a specialty product at affordable prices.

The factory here also offers job security to about 50 Jews living in a war-ravaged region with a weakened economy and high unemployment.

Each time Vestrikov and his coworkers receive a new chunk of dough, the timers over their work stations give them only minutes to turn it into a 2-pound package of fully baked matzah – a constraint meant to satisfy even the strictest religious requirements for the unleavened crackers that Jews consume on Passover to commemorate their ancestors’ hurried flight out of Egypt.

“The faster the process, the more certain we are that no extra water came into contact with the dough and that it did not have any chance of leavening,” says Rabbi Shmuel

Kashrut supervisor Rabbi Shmuel Liberman at the Tiferet Hamatzot factory in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, on December 8, 2014. (Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz) Liberman, one of two kashrut supervisors who ensure that the factory’s monthly production of approximately eight tons complies with kosher standards for shmurah matzah.

The time limitation means the entire production line has only 18 minutes to transform flour and water into fully baked and packaged matzah. Still, the workers are not complaining. They are happy to have a steady, dollar-adjusted income in a country whose currency is now worth a third of its February 2014 value – the result of a civil war between government troops and pro-Russian separatists that has paralyzed Ukraine’s industrial heart and flooded the job market with hundreds of See “Ukraine” on page 12

MArch 26, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

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At Streit’s 90-year-old Lower East Side factory, “the men” turn out their last matzah batch

By Gabe Friedman NEW YORK (JTA) – Seated in his Lower East Side office, in front of a large portrait of company patriarch Aron Streit, Alan Adler avoids becoming too nostalgic.

“It’s like I tell my family members: none of you own a car from 1935, why do you think a matzah factory from 1935 is what we should be using today?” says Adler, one of Streit’s Matzos’ 11 co-owners.

This is the line of thought behind the imminent closing of the Streit’s matzah factory, a longtime Jewish fixture in a city neighborhood that once was home to one of the highest concentration of Jews in the country.

Streit’s, the last family-owned matzah company in the United States, announced in December that it would be permanently closing its 90-year-old factory after this Passover season because of longstanding mechanical problems and subsequent economic concerns.

Sometime in April, the company will shift its matzah production either to its other factory across the river in northern New Jersey, where several other products such as macaroons and wafers are made, or to another non-Manhattan location.

The greatly gentrified Lower East Side has seen its real estate values skyrocket in recent decades. Although Streit’s has not yet identified a buyer for its landmark building on Rivington Street, the property was estimated to be worth $25 million in 2008, when the company first considered shuttering the factory. “We should’ve been

Mixing water with flour to make matzah dough at the Streit’s factory on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, date unknown. (Photo courtesy of Streit’s Matzos) out of here five or 10 years ago,” says Adler, 63, who oversees the company’s day-to-day operations along with two cousins. “But we feel committed to the men [who work here] and we feel committed to the neighborhood, so we tried to keep this place afloat as long as we could. We probably could’ve stayed here even longer if I could’ve found somebody to work on the ovens.”

The ovens, identified only by “Springfield, Mass” on their side, date back to the See “Streit’s” on page 13

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

Israeli start-up hoping USB drives will bridge digital divide

By Ben Sales TEL AVIV (JTA) – In Peter Jairus’ Nairobi neighborhood, almost nobody has a personal computer. Mathare is one of the Kenyan capital’s largest slums. Buildings are constructed from sheets of corrugated metal and

Internet access is rare, found only in places like schools or community centers. Even then, the connection can be spotty.

So when Jairus heard about Keepod, a cheap device that places a computer’s operating system on a small

Ukraine

Continued from page 11

thousands of refugees from the battle zones.

“It’s hard work, sure, but I am very happy to be doing it,” Vestrikov says. “I don’t need to worry about how to feed my family. There is very little hiring going on, and every job has dozens of takers because all the refugees from the east are here.” Rolling up a sleeve over a throbbing bicep, he adds, “Besides, this way I don’t need to go to the gym.”

Despite working under pressure in a hectic and overheated environment – the ovens at Tiferet Hamatzot remain heated for days, preventing the building from ever cooling off even at the height of the harsh Ukrainian winter – the factory’s workers form a tight community whose social currency is made up of jokes and lively banter, mostly on cigarette breaks.

Workers like Vestrikov say they receive good wages, but production costs and taxes in Ukraine are so low that the factory can still afford to charge customers significantly less than its competitors in the West, said Stella Umanskaya, a member of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community and the factory’s administrational manager.

A 2-pound box of Tiferet Hamatzot costs approximately $10 locally and $15 abroad compared to more than double that price for shmurah matzah produced in bakeries in Western Europe, such as the Neymann matzah bakery in France, or those operating in Israel and the United States.

Shmurah matzah, Hebrew for “guarded matzah,” is more expensive than regular matzah because it requires manual labor by people whose task is to guard that it does not become leavened bread – a concept derived from a verse in the book of Exodus that states “You shall guard the matzot.” Some consider it a mitzvah to consume shmurah matzah because it upholds that commandment of devoting special attention or effort to guarding the matzah.

Binyamin Vestrikov, right, with other workers at the Tiferet Hamatzot factory in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, on December 8, 2014. (Photo by Cnaan Liphshiz) For this reason, traditional Jewish law requires that the handling of matzah and its ingredients be done by Jews only. But the factory also employs more than a dozen non-Jews who perform other tasks, including distribution.

To Rabbi Meir Stambler, the owner of Tiferet Hamatzot, this means the bakery “not only puts matzah shmurah on Jewish tables, but also helps build bridges and do mitzvot with non-Jews.” Stambler, an Israeli Chabad rabbi who lives in Dnepropetrovsk and opened the factory 12 years ago, said his father used to bake shmurah matzah in secrecy in Tashkent, when the Uzbek capital was still part of the Soviet Union and subject to its anti-religious policies.

“Back then, matzah used to be smuggled from Israel into the Soviet Union before its collapse in 1990,” he said. “It’s just unbelievable that now, some years later, we bake matzah in Ukraine and send it all over the whole world.”

USB drive, he jumped at the idea. Last April, he met with Keepod’s creators, and six months later 60 of the devices were delivered to Mathare.

Jairus, a musician and youth activist, now runs a cybercafe where 30 to 40 people come daily to go online with their Keepods. “The Keepod is very personal to everyone,” Jairus told JTA. “People use it for studying, someone else is using it for YouTube, Facebook, social media. This one is using it for research. It helps the community very, very much because a lot of people cannot afford the laptop, and 99 percent of the community could not have computer access.”

Based in Tel Aviv, the Keepod company aims to provide the world’s poorest countries with widespread computer and Internet access. By putting a modern computer operating system on affordable USB drives, users are able to connect to the Internet using older – and much less expensive – computers.

Founders Nissan Bahar and Franky Imbesi say their innovation will help bridge the so-called digital divide – the gap between those with and without regular computer access. “People can access information to empower themselves,” Bahar said. “That means education, health care, personal growth, being able to read and see what’s going on around the world through a free medium.”

Attempts to bring Internet access to the world’s poorest people are hardly new. Nearly a decade ago, the United Nations backed an effort to create a $100 laptop through One Laptop Per Child, a project that aimed to bring inexpensive computers to developing nations. But Bahar believes such efforts are impractical on a large scale because even $100 can be hard to afford for citizens of developing countries. Keepods cost just $7 a pop, and by allowing users to store their personal information on the drive, people can use their individual Keepods to share a single computer, further depressing the cost of Internet access. Keepod has arranged to collect some of the tens of millions of computers discarded each year and ship them to schools and community centers in the developing world at a cost of under $100 each. “[It’s] something very cheap that people won’t even try to steal, that if you lose it, you replace it,” Bahar said.

“We don’t believe in making a cheap computer; $140 will never be cheap enough.”

See “USB” on page 14

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MArch 26, 2015 ■

Streit’s

THE REPORTER

13

Continued from page 11

1930s. They are 75 feet long and are continuously fed a thin sheet of dough that emerges from the convection heat in perfect crisp form. Streit’s does not disclose its official production numbers, but Adler says the factory churns out millions of pounds of matzah each year. However,Adler also estimates that the ovens are now about 25 percent slower than they used to be and he cannot find a mechanic willing to fix them. The slower pace decreases matzah output and affects the product’s flavor.

But the ovens aren’t the only outdated element of the factory. Except for a few electrical parts added to the machinery over the years, nearly all of the other equipment is more than 70 years old. As a result, employees’ tasks have barely changed in over half a century – from mixing the flour in small batches (in under 18 minutes to satisfy kosher requirements) to separating the matzah sheets into pieces that then travel up to higher floors on a conveyor belt.

“Nothing changes at Streit’s,” says Rabbi Mayer Kirshner, who oversees the factory’s kosher certification.

However, plenty has changed in the matzah business since Adler’s childhood in the 1950s and ‘60s, when he liked to spend time picking fresh matzah out of the ovens. Back in the “heyday,” as Adler calls it, of the 1930s through the 1960s, there were four matzah factories in the New York metropolitan area: Horowitz-Margareten and Goodman’s in Queens, Manischewitz in New Jersey and Streit’s in Manhattan. Horowitz-Margareten

At the Streit’s factory on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, matzah is broken into pieces and sent to be packaged in the same way it has been for over half a century. (Photo by Gabe Friedman)

and Goodman’s were sold to Manischewitz, which was bought by the private equity firm Kohlberg and Company in 1990. (Today it is owned by Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s former investment firm.)

The Streit’s factory also used to boast a vibrant storefront with lines that spilled outside and around the corner.

Today there is still a retail counter, but often it is left unmanned. “Families have moved on, the Lower East Side has changed, so now we’ve sort of transitioned from a local bakery where people would stop by and pick up their matzah hot out of the oven in 1925 to now where 99.9 percent of our sales are wholesale to distributors who resell,” Adler says.

While his cousins helped at the retail counter, Adler, who joined the company 18 years ago after a law career, says he was always more comfortable working behind the scenes. In the factory’s freight elevator he has clearly ridden in innumerable times, he cracks a rare joke. “You couldn’t build an elevator like this today,” he says. “It’s passed every safety law from 1925 and not one since.”

Adler says the 30 factory employees were shocked by the news in December, but are taking it “surprisingly well.” The company has told them that there are many jobs available at the New Jersey facility, but only three employees have taken the company up on the offer. Many

Baked matzah came out of the oven at the Streit’s factory on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, date unknown. (Photo courtesy of Streit’s Matzos)

of “the men,” as Adler calls the employees, live in Queens and take public transportation to work, meaning that a potential commute to New Jersey would be difficult.

Streit’s is working with the New York Department of Labor to help them find new jobs.

Anthony Zapata, who has worked at Streit’s for 33 years, and who Adler says does everything from packing matzah to putting out fires (“liter- Mikhail Musheyev cleaned ally, not figuratively”), a matzah dough mixer at the tells JTA that he is very Streit’s factory. (Photo by depressed about the Gabe Friedman) factory’s closing. He says the increased transportation costs of traveling to New Jersey would be too much for him. “I’m going to miss this place, and I’m going to miss everyone in it,” Zapata says. “I’ve never had a modern job to know what’s old, and what’s different between modern and old.”

Zapata, 53, says that all the employees are friends and have barbecues together around the city in the warmer months. “We’ll remain tight,” he says.

Adler does not betray many emotions on the matter, but he offers a bittersweet anecdote on the neighborhood’s evolution. Shortly before the company first thought of selling the property in 2008, a man living in one of the condos adjacent to the factory complained to Adler about the noise and flour dust coming out of the building. Adler responded to his requests by blocking in and sealing several factory walls, and when he saw the man months later, he told him what he thought would be “good news” about the factory’s potential closing.

“He said, ‘Oh, God, I don’t want condos – there won’t be enough parking on this street!’” Adler recalls. “All of a sudden he liked my noise and my flour dust.

“I don’t know what they’ll do with this building now,” he adds, “but people don’t like change.”

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015

USB

March 2015 • Non-Feature Films • *NEW* American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise - After more than 60 years in show business, Mel Brooks has earned more major awards than any other living entertainer. A comedy force of nature, Brooks is very private and has never authorized a biography, making his participation in this film a genuine first. Showcasing the Brooklyn native’s brilliant, skewed originality, American Masters: Mel Brooks: Make A Noise features never-before-heard stories and new interviews with Brooks, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Cloris Leachman, Carl Reiner, Joan Rivers, Tracey Ullman and others. This career-spanning documentary of the man behind Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Spaceballs and of course the 2000 Year Old Man journeys through Brooks’ professional and personal ups and downs, providing a rare look at a living legend, beloved by millions. *NEW* Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy - Engaging, humorous, and provocative... examining the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists in the creation of the modern American musical. The film showcases the work of legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim. Interviews with songwriters and luminaries including Sheldon Harnick, Stephen Schwartz, Harold Prince, Arthur Laurents, Charles Strouse, and Mel Brooks provide insight, alongside standout performances and archival footage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continued from page 12 When they began Keepod in 2011, Bahar and Imbesi aimed to create a USB drive that kept all of a user’s data on a small external drive rather than on a computer’s internal hard drive. By keeping sensitive information off the computer, the product gave users an added layer of security. In late 2013, Bahar and Imbesi realized their device could be a boon for those in the developing world who shared computers. Keepods can run a modern Android operating system even on older computers. And because every program will be run from the USB drive, viruses won’t infect whole computers.

“After a couple of years, my partner and myself started seriously questioning what we were doing in life,” Bahar said. “How we could make a positive impact on the world around us instead of just making products?”

Keepod has already sold more than 30,000 USB drives. This year, Bahar hopes to vastly increase that number. About half of the company’s sales have been made through partnerships with NGOs; the rest are purchased directly from Keepod’s website. The device is also available through retailers.

College Socka Bongue, a 500-student high school in Cameroon, bought USB drives for its students last year along with 26 used computers. Philippe Socke, the executive director of a foundation that funds programs at the school, said the drives have allowed them to conduct research on the Internet for the first time.

After so many years of limited digital access, the transition has been a challenge. Socke said only about 5 percent of the students have computers at home. “The administration was still relying on pads of paper and chalkboards,” Socke said. “Not having computer experience negatively affected the education. Our collaboration with Keepod literally allowed us to put computer access in the hands of every student.”

Still, Keepod has encountered some challenges in putting its product into the hands of those who would most benefit from it. Two of the five funded projects listed on Keepod’s website have fallen through because the company’s NGO partners could not afford it or faced infrastructure challenges.

At one of the two, the WhyNot Academy in Mathare, 26 students had Keepods last year. Now only seven have them. Students either lost them or transferred to other schools, taking the devices with them. The school also lost Internet access for several months, making the Keepods far less useful.

Mike Dawson, CEO of Ustad Mobile, which installs educational programs on smartphones for children in the developing world, said that spotty electricity, plus the challenge of maintaining old computers, present obstacles to the wide deployment of Keepod technology. “The problems come from electricity costs, come from maintenance costs, come from access to skilled people,” he said. “These are all costs and they don’t add up to $7 per person.”

Unreliable infrastructure may continue to hinder Keepod, but Bahar hopes that selling the drives through retailers – in addition to providing them through NGOs – will give increasing numbers of people access to the digital world, at least when the Internet is on. “We want to enable anyone to buy a Keepod and use it, if not part of an NGO or organization,” he said. “We want to be sustainable.”

MArch 26, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

15

NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA

Archaeologists find rare bronze mask near Sea of Galilee

An archaeological dig in northern Israel has unearthed a large bronze mask of the god Pan. The mask was found outside the limits of the ancient city of Hippos, according to a press release issued on March 16 by the University of Haifa archaeological team that made the discovery. According to Michael Eisenberg, the team’s head, the mask, which is larger than a human head, is extremely rare in its size and in its depiction of the mythological satyr. “Most of the known bronze masks from the Hellenistic and Roman periods are miniature,” Eisenberg said in the press release. “I contacted the curators of some of the world’s greatest museums, and even they said that they were not familiar with the type of bronze mask that we found at Hippos.” The mask was found as part of the excavation of a basalt structure at Sussita National Park, two kilometers east of the Sea of Galilee. The mask features small horns, long pointed ears, a goat beard and other features that helped the archaeologists to identify the mask as being that of Pan or Faunus, the half-man, half-goat Roman deity. The archaeologists theorized that the structure had originally been built as a hangar or other fortification and was later converted into a place of worship. “Because they included drinking, sacrificing and ecstatic worship that sometimes included nudity and sex, rituals for rustic gods were often held outside of the city,” said Eisenberg, who is leading the excavation on behalf of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa. “[M]aybe what we have here is a magnificent fountain-head or burial offerings of a nearby mausoleum.”

Public announcement to inform visitors about Shabbat’s start

Visitors to the Western Wall will be informed of the beginning of Shabbat with a new public announcement. In addition to the traditional siren heard throughout Jerusalem at the start of Shabbat, an announcement will be made over the public address system, beginning on March 20, according to Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The announcement will say: “Dear guests, welcome to the Western Wall. In a few minutes the Sabbath will begin.

Please respect our traditions and avoid taking photographs and refrain from using mobile phones at the Western Wall. Shabbat Shalom!” The announcement will be delivered in Hebrew, English and Russian in the moments before the start of Shabbat. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said in its statement that it “believes that it is appropriate to apply the sanctity of the Sabbath properly to the Western Wall, a holy place.” The foundation said it will distribute leaflets to visitors that talk about “the honor of the Sabbath.”

Loyola U. students push for new divestment resolution

One year after a divestment campaign on campus failed, students at Chicago’s Loyola University are again seeking to pass a resolution urging divestment from some corporations doing business with Israel. On March 17, a divestment resolution was introduced at a meeting of Loyola’s student government, according to the college news website The College Fix. The resolution urges Loyola’s Board of Trustees to divest from the corporations Raytheon, Caterpillar, United Technologies and Valero Energy because the companies’ business dealings with Israel purportedly conflict with the university’s Jesuit values. The resolution includes a citation from Russia Today, an English-language news outlet described by the Columbia Journalism Review as “The Kremlin’s propaganda outlet.” The Metro Chicago Hillel put out a statement vowing to fight the divestment campaign. The student senate of Loyola passed a divestment resolution last March, but the resolution was vetoed by student body president. The university also issued a statement at the time that it would not adopt the student’s divestment proposal if passed.

Dieudonne fined for saying Jewish journalist should have died in gas chambers

The French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was fined $24,000 for saying that a Jewish journalist should have died “in the gas chambers.” He was sentenced on March 19 in Paris for violating France’s laws banning hate speech, Reuters reported.

Radio France’s Patrick Cohen asked on air in 2013 whether the media should pay so much attention to Dieudonne. The comedian replied that the journalist should consider emigrating. “When I hear Patrick Cohen speaking, I say to myself, you see, the gas chambers – too bad,” said Dieudonne. The fine comes a day after a Paris court gave Dieudonne a suspended two-month jail sentence for social media posts sympathizing with the Islamist gunman who killed four Jews at a Paris-area kosher supermarket on Jan. 9. Dieudonne has been convicted seven times for inciting racial hatred against Jews. He has been charged almost 40 times under France’s hate-speech laws. Some see Dieudonne as a symbol of France’s growing antisemitism problem because of his performances featuring antisemitic jokes and creation of the quenelle, a Nazi-like salute that French Prime Minister Manuel Vals has called a “gesture of hatred” and antisemitic.

Reports: U.S. may no longer block anti-Israel U.N. actions

The Obama administration may reconsider shielding Israel from critical actions in

international forums, according to reports. Politico and The New York Times on March 19 each quoted unnamed senior administration officials as saying that the United States may back a U.N. Security Council resolution that would set the parameters for a twostate solution according to the 1967 lines. The change comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the lead up to Tuesday’s elections, pulled back from endorsing a two-state solution, saying there would be no Palestinian state on his watch. In the past, the Obama administration has shielded Israel from critical resolutions, even when such resolutions hewed with administration policy; one famous instance was a 2011 U.S. veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Israeli settlement expansion that was in line with President Barack Obama’s opposition to settlement building. Administration officials, asked by JTA for comment, pointed to statements on March 18 by spokesmen for the White House and State Department. The spokesmen stopped short of saying that the United States would support Israel-critical actions in international forums, or would not veto such actions. However, they did say a change was possible. “We are not going to get ahead of any decisions about what the United States would do with regard to potential action at the U.N. Security Council,” Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said in her briefing for reporters. “I will reiterate that it has long been the position of the United States under Republican and Democratic presidents, and it has been the position of successive Israeli governments, that only a two-state solution that results in a secure Israel alongside a sovereign and independent Palestine can bring lasting peace and stability to both peoples,” she said. “The prime minister, as we all know, in his comments earlier this week indicated that he is no longer committed to pursuing this approach. Based on the prime minister’s comments, the United States is in a position going forward where we will be evaluating our approach with regard to how best to achieve a two-state solution.”

Y.U. to merge Stern, Yeshiva colleges’ faculties

Yeshiva University announced plans to merge the faculty of its two undergraduate schools, Yeshiva College and Stern College. Richard Joel, president of the university, which is under Orthodox auspices, told students on March 18 that as of July 1, it will begin consolidating all arts and science departments. Stern, a women’s college, and the all-male Yeshiva have separate faculties and their campuses are located more than five miles apart from each other. Joel said the move will allow for more diverse course offerings and will not affect faculty teaching loads. The university has faced numerous financial challenges in recent years, and the week of March 13 Yeshiva College faculty overwhelmingly passed a no-confidence resolution against Joel, who has been president since 2003. The university board responded with a statement in support of Joel.

Record number of women elected to Knesset

In an election with the highest voter turnout since 1999, a record 28 women were chosen for the 20th Knesset. The percentage of eligible voters who came out on March 17 was 71.8; the turnout 14 years ago was 78.7 percent. Ten of the parties running in the election garnered seats in the Knesset, with 15 not reaching the electoral threshold of 3.45 percent, or four seats. The number of women elected broke the record of 27 set in the 2013 elections, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. The Zionist Union had eight women elected, followed by the Likud Party with six. The number of Orthodox and haredi Orthodox lawmakers fell from 39 to 25, while the number of Arab-Israeli lawmakers increased from 12 to 17, including one each in the Zionist Union, Likud and Meretz parties. The Knesset will welcome 41 new lawmakers, or slightly more than one-third of the parliament, according to the Israel Democracy Institute.

Erekat: Israel’s election results mean Palestinians will press at ICC

The Palestinians’ chief negotiator said in the aftermath of Israeli election results that the Palestinians will advance their efforts at the International Criminal Court. “It is clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form the next government, and for that we say clearly that we will go to the Hague Tribunal, we will accelerate, continue and intensify” legal efforts, Saeb Erekat told the French news agency AFP. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas formally applied for admission to the ICC on Jan. 1, and the Palestinians are slated to fully join the court on April 1. In the meantime, the ICC has begun the process for opening an investigation into potential Israeli war crimes during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Israel has responded by withholding more than $400 million in taxes and customs revenue from the Palestinians. Hamas likewise argued that the election results call for a more confrontational approach with Israel, according to a report by the German news agency DPA, which quoted a statement by Hamas official Ismail Radwan saying, “The results should be enough to convince the Palestinian Authority and Fatah Party to forget about the choice of keeping the absurd negotiations.”

In the closing days of the election campaign, Netanyahu declared that he would not allow the creation of a Palestinian state if he remained prime minister.

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Celebrate Israel Parade

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THE REPORTER ■ MArch 26, 2015