May 21, 2015 Edition of The Reporter

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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 11

MAY 21, 2015

Fuel-up nation: Israel has robust presence at major oil and gas trade show

By Jacob Kamaras JNS.org Given Israel’s well-documented penchant for innovation, it was only a matter of time before the “start-up nation” established a robust presence at the Offshore Technology Conference, one of the world’s largest annual trade shows for the oil and gas industry.

“The people in Israel are entrepreneurs in their souls, so as soon as they see an opportunity, they take it,” said Michal Niddam-Wachsman, head of the Israeli government’s Economic Mission in the U.S. Southern Region. “When we discovered the natural gas [in the Tamar and Leviathan fields off Israel’s coast], they immediately saw the opportunity of developing the technology that would

be related to the natural gas and the oil market. We have today over 100 Israeli companies working on unique technologies that can give solutions to the oil and gas industry.”

Fourteen of those companies were on display in Houston from May 4-7 at the OTC, which was attended by 94,700 people from 130 countries. It was the Israeli Ministry of Economy’s third year with a pavilion at the trade show. U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) – who represents a district with five ports, more than any other district in Congress – visited with the Israeli companies.

“Energy is huge in our area,” Weber told JNS.org. “It’s what drives America, it’s what makes America great. It’s what’s going to help drive Israel. It not only will

Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut

Members of the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos gathered for Yom Ha’atzmaut. See page 3 for an article and more photos of local celebrations of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Haim Greenberg of Harbo Technologies demonstrated the Israeli company’s oilspill response technology at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

(Photo by Jacob Kamaras) make Israel stronger and more prosperous, but safer… Israel is under attack from all around, and they need that energy. As I tell people, ‘It’s hard to power a tank with a solar panel.’ So oil and gas are huge for Israel, for America. We have the technology over here. Israel is arguably our best, strongest ally, anywhere – especially in the Middle East. We want them to be safe, secure, prosperous… To do anything less, in my opinion, is unfathomable.”

Niddam-Wachsman explained that before having a presence at the OTC, Israel was already “a significant player” in areas of technology, including water (such as desalination and purification), telecommunication and security. Israel eventually saw that its existing technological expertise had “a very strong connection” to the oil and gas industry, she said, making the OTC a natural fit for the Jewish state – especially given Israel’s

Get connected with JFS Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania joined the world of social media in January in order to keep in touch with volunteers, supporters and board members, and to reach out to the community-at-large to provide them with news about at JFS. “Throughout the past year, JFS has become much more involved in the community and our programs and services are reaching more people than ever before,” noted a JFS representative.

“The need for an information portal was more important than ever before.”

For those looking to learn more about JFS or who may be discovering JFS for the first time, JFS content is available through social media. Whether it is meeting with other professionals in the community or just socializing in the office, community members can now access an inside look at what goes on at JFS. JFS is now present on several major social media sites, including Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,

Vimeo, Flickr and Pinterest. Additionally, JFS staff is professionally on LinkedIn, and the JFS office can be found on Foursquare.

A JFS representative recommended visiting and liking the JFS Facebook page first. Along with news and information, each week there will be topics such as Throwback Thursday, the Friday recipe of the week from the “JFS Scranton Cooks” book and even a new Feel Good Friday song from the JFS Spotify playlist. Community members can find event photos on Flickr, and JFS has encouraged everyone to visit the JFS YouTube page to watch numerous videos, including a recent JFS short film, “Strength to Strength,” honoring JFS volunteers.

To find all of JFS’ social media sites and begin following them, community members can visit the brand new website at www.jfsnepa.org. On the bottom right corner of the home page there are links directly to all of the sites. Additionally, the new site is intended to be a larger information portal to JFS, as well a source of more JFS news, event information and blog articles written by the social workers at JFS. “JFS hopes that the community will enjoy what we have put together and what we have planned for the future,” said a JFS representative. “We encourage everyone to not only like and follow us, but to also get involved, comment on and share what JFS is doing with your friends and family as well.” JFS has requested feedback on the site, to inform them of what the community likes and dislikes, and to help them learn what the community would wish to see, or see more of, in the future. Send any feedback, articles or information to info@jfsnepa.org.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Teen Symposium

Aliyah trending

News in brief...

discovery of offshore gas fields in 2009 and 2010.

“Eventually, we saw that the interests of the American companies in the Israeli technology was very high, as well as the satisfaction of the Israeli companies to be able to reach those companies and penetrate this huge market,” NiddamWachsman told JNS.org.

“Here, you can find the connections between the needs of the American companies and what Israel can provide,” she added.

Eric Peterson, director of industrial/ municipal sales for Amiad Water Systems – which is based in Israel, but has 10 subsidiary offices around the world – said the company took a few years off from attending the OTC before returning last year as part of the Israeli delegation.

He said that exhibiting with the Israeli Economic Mission’s group is no small benefit, considering that the waiting list See “Fuel” on page 8

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The 27 annual Teen Symposium Aliyah is on the rise among North The Vatican recognizes Palestinian PLUS on the Holocaust reached more American single young adults as statehood; the ICC prosecutor Opinion........................................................2 than 1,400 students and adults. well as older empty-nesters. wants Israeli information; more. D’var Torah..............................................10 Story on page 7 Story on page 14-15 Summer Fun.....................................Insert Story on page 8 th

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THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

a matter of opinion Separating fact from fantasy The following unabridged Letter to the Editor was submitted to The Scranton Times in response to the May 8 Letter to the Editor by Reverend William Pickard.

Pickard’s letter attacking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election comment that if reelected, he would oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.

In his May 8 Letter to the Editor, Reverend Pickard attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election comment that if re-elected, he would oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.

Truth is, Netanyahu would be crazy if he supported Palestinian statehood.

Security Council Resolution 242 (November 22, 1967) speaks of withdrawal

by Israel from lands occupied in the SixDay War and speaks of the “termination of all claims or states of belligerency, and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

The response of the Palestinians and the Arab world was simple and unequivocal – the Khartoum Declaration of “No peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel” – and despite generous offers by Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, it is clear that no Palestin-

bombings that shook the core of the nation.

“Land for peace” quickly devolved into “land for nothing” before crumbling into “land for terrorism.”

Subsequent deals, such as the Oslo II accord of September 1995, the January 1997 Hebron protocol and the October 1998 Wye River Agreement were all based on the same principle of “land for peace.” In each case, Israel handed territory over to the Palestinians in exchange for promises of peace. And Mark silverberG in each instance, without fail, Israel’s gestures were reciprocated with still the Oslo Accords, he traveled to Johan- more violence.

In short, Israel’s desire for recognition nesburg, South Africa, and compared his signing of the Oslo Accords with has never been sincerely addressed by the Mohammed’s deceptive signing of a Palestinians. If it was, the conflict could 10-year peace treaty at Hudaybiyyah be resolved in short order.

The Palestinians have broken every with the Quraish tribe of Mecca. Two years later, Mohammed broke the treaty, promise they made in the Oslo Accords attacked the Quraish, slaughtered them and are seeking recognition from world and conquered Mecca. In other words, bodies such as the U.N. and the ICC so the 10-year treaty, according to Arafat, as to avoid any negotiations (as required was a deception designed to allow Mo- by the accords) or compromise that hammed time to build his forces until would involve their recognition of the they were powerful enough to conquer state of Israel.

Reverend Pickard also fails to note the Quraish. Arafat stated unequivocally that he viewed the Oslo Accords – as does that Palestinian suicide bombers were his successor, Mahmoud Abbas – in the sent into Israel during the Second Intifada solely for the purpose of killing Jews in same light as Hudaybiyyah.

In the same month, Israel and the PLO marketplaces, restaurants and discoteques signed the Cairo Agreement, under which because they believed that by doing so, Israel withdrew from Jericho as well as they would secure their “martyrdom.”

The irony is that there never was a nearly 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, all of which was turned over to Palestinian “peace process” except in the minds of control. The agreement was based on the the Western media who have bought formula of “land for peace,” whereby into all these lies and deceptions. The Israel relinquished territory and the Pales- intention, rather, was to strike fear tinians promised to prevent violence and great enough to force Israel into makcombat terrorism. The Cairo Agreement ing concessions that would ultimately unleashed a wave of unprecedented Pal- lead to its destruction... as Arafat stated estinian terrorism, which included suicide in Johannesburg. ian leader then or now is prepared to accept Israel’s right to exist in any borders whatsoever, despite all of the rhetoric we hear to the contrary.

More specifically, on May 10, 1994, in the wake of Yasser Arafat’s signing

from the desk of the executive director

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Nor do I see any mention of the Palestinian educational system, including Palestinian poetry, schoolbooks, crossword puzzles and children’s music videos that teach Palestinian children that “Jews are the sons of pigs and monkeys” and must be slaughtered.

Nor do I see any mention of the P.A. using U.S. and European foreign aid dollars to pay Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons or the families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Nor do I read any condemnation of the Palestinians’ naming marketplaces, town squares, tournaments and cinemas after Palestinian suicide bombers who continue to be hailed as “martyrs.”

Nor is there any reference to the PLO Covenant or Hamas’ founding Charter, Article 7, that states unequivocally that every Jew in “occupied Palestine,” meaning Israel, must be killed.

The sad truth is that the Palestinians want a state not beside Israel, but in place of it. If Reverend Pickard would take the time to read what the Palestinians are saying to each other in Arabic, as translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute and Palestine Media Watch, as opposed to what they are saying to the Western media, he would understand the Islamic concept of taqqiyah, deception, and discover the real truth behind the Arab-Israeli conflict – not Israel’s refusal to accept a state of Palestine, but the Arab refusal to accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic umma.

Netanyahu’s new government needs to stand firm and reject any such pressure.

To give up tangible assets in exchange for a deceitful peace is something that Israel tried back in the 1990s with calamitous results. It doesn’t need to try it again.

Father’s Day in April tively costly. So, reluctantly, I

By S. Kim Glassman began to look on websites for A year ago, I was visiting my ways to occupy my day there, grandmother, Marion Glassman, to find a way to make the best in Scranton. Finding a good of this unintentional booking. price, I had booked my ticket onOn a site describing beer halls line, focusing on arrival/deparand crown jewels, I put “Jewture times I thought would best ish” into the search menu. This suit her schedule. I noticed only narrowed my choices from 983 a few days before the end of my to six. Among them, a five-hour trip that I’d accidentally booked tour of the camp at Dachau, a myself on a return flight with a 12-hour layover in Munich. I’d S. Kim Glassman suburb of Munich.

My grandfather, Aaron never been to Germany before.

And, having been to Poland on a class trip Glassman, who died in 1994, was there – a when I was 16, was not keen on going. I liberator, under General Patton. I thought know the world is a beautiful place, and this is a way to spend my day there – if there are worlds to see in every city on this only he could come with me, or if only planet we share. Still, my gut was reticent he were here today, so I could be on the to the idea of seeing this layover like any phone with him as I walk in his footsteps, other. Changing the ticket was prohibi- so many years later. I’d soon stumble on the coincidence perhaps glaring at me weeks earlier in Jerusalem when I booked this return flight, but only in that moment discovered... I’d be arriving in Munich at 10 am on April 29, the day Dachau was liberated, 69 years to the day that my grandfather was there. The odds of this overwhelmed me. Overwhelmed my father, Lee Glassman, I imagine as well, as moments after my sharing this information, he booked a ticket from Israel to meet me there.

His flight got in half an hour before mine. I got off the plane to find him standing at the gate smiling. What a different, and so much less lonely, time in Germany than I thought I might have. We ran to the train that would take us to the start of the tour and arrived just in time. Our tour guide was a German man named Achim, Aaron Glassman, grandfather of S. Kim whose family, he told us with a startling Glassman, was photographed weeks mixture of pride and indifference, were after liberation, when the U.S. had set members of the SS, and then he made a point of letting us know that Dachau up a war crimes council.

S. Kim Glassman saw the entrance to the Dachau concentration camp. is not the only place he guides – he was giving a tour of the palace the next day.

I felt a paralyzing weight on my heart as he said this, moving from one topic to the next with such ease; they seemed to carry equal significance to him, and perhaps they did. Not to me.

We walked into the camp. We saw the grounds that once held 32 barracks and imprisoned more than 10,000 Jewish men.

We saw where medical experiments were conducted; where they slept, showered and worked; we saw bordering ditches, guard towers and once-electrified barbedwire fences that caged them; we saw the crematoria. We tried to look through my grandfather’s eyes, a 21-year-old volunteer, whom the U.S. Army tried to turn away due to his flat feet. We tried to imagine what he might have seen and felt and thought as he stood there that day, liberation day, 69 years earlier, when the camp must have looked very different.

I don’t know that I ever heard a war story from my grandfather in the 16 years I knew him. I do know, though, about his dispute with my father regarding serving in Vietnam. My father was ready to run to Canada if called up, and my grandfather was of the mindset that one serves one’s See “Day” on page 4

MAY 21, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

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community news The Jewish Federation celebrates Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day – throughout NEPA The state of Israel celebrated its 67th birthday on April 23, and the Jewish Federation helped bring the celebration to Elan Gardens, the Jewish Community Center’s Senior Adult Club, the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos and Webster Towers. Each location had scheduled senior lunches for that day, and the Federation highlighted Israel’s Independence Day with a gift of blue and white cookies for the participants to enjoy.

The Federation hosted the newly released film “Beneath the Helmet,” a coming-of-age story of Israeli high school graduates entering the Israeli Defense Force.

Audience members called it “a serious and moving look into an integral part of growing up in Israel: defending our homeland and its citizens.” Dassy Ganz informed the group of a number of community members who have served and are currently serving in the IDF. The event concluded with Cantor Vladimir Aronzon, of Temple Israel Scranton, leading the audience in the singing of “Hatikvah,” after which the “blue and white reception” was held.

The Federation also donated blue and white cookies to Temple Israel of Scranton, which hosted a post-Yom Ha’atzmaut program on April 26.

At right: Jewish Community Center Senior Adult Club members Katherine Smith, James Ellenbogen, Patricia Gates and Shirley Nudelman enjoyed cookies made in celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

Bill and Carol Burke at Temple Israel’s celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

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The Jewish Community Center screened the film “Beneath the Helmet.”

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THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

Day

Continued from page 2

country, end of story. The guide, Achim, gave us time to walk through a prison block, cell after cell of unlivable conditions that mostly housed clergy imprisoned for opposing the Nazi regime. After 20 minutes of quiet contemplation, we stood outside again on the camp grounds. I said to my father, “Ohhh. This is why Zayda was so insistent that you serve. This is what he knew of Army service, right versus wrong, humanity versus barbarism. This is what he witnessed.” Of course, without my grandfather to speak for himself, we can’t know, but by the look on my father’s face, and his tears, it felt like we landed on a truth. I could almost see my grandfather standing there with us and nodding, and then opening up to tell us

one story flooding into another. I wish I could hear them.

As a dual citizen, I usually fly through Europe using my U.S. passport – just easier that way. I was careful this time to hand them my Israeli passport, and in it, I now have a stamp – entrance, April 29, 2014 – exit, April 29, 2014, over the watermark of a menorah, the emblem of the Jewish state.

There is a belief in Judaism that there are no coincidences. While I agree, I also try not to get too wrapped up in this, but sometimes, life just pulls at you, tugs your elbow to make sure you’re paying attention. This was one of those days.

Our first stop off the plane in Israel was at my sister and brother-in-law’s

home, where we were greeted by their exuberant young sons, the older of whom is named for this grandfather – I may have hugged him just a little tighter than usual, maybe one day this article will help him understand why. American Father’s Day is traditionally in June, but for me, I think April 29, the day I walked with my father walking with his, has become my Father’s Day, holding a significance I’ll never forget and hope to pass on. Thank you, Zayda, for serving, and thank you, Dad, for meeting me to walk in your father’s footsteps together.

S. Kim Glassman received a German stamp in her Israeli passport.

Aaron (left) and Lee Glassman (back) were seen with S. Kim Glassman (center) and Rhea Plosker (right).

S. Kim Glassman’s grandmother Marion Glassman; her father, Lee Glassman; her sister, Rhea Plosker; and her firstborn, Ari Plosker, were photographed together several years ago.

A tour guide stood at the entrance to the Dachau concentration camp in front of a sign commemorating the day of liberation.

Exhibit of Israeli artist

Aaron Glassman, S. Kim Glassman’s grandfather

Sacred Arts conference and workshops

A photo taken by Aaron Glassman in 1945 depicted the concentration camp.

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An exhibit of New York Citybased Israeli artist Yigal Ozeri is being held at two New York City galleries, Louis K. Meisel Gallery and Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery. “Yigal Ozeri: Recent Work” will be on exhibit from May 7-July 17. Included will be new and previously unseen works from a variety of series, including Territory, Aquabella and Bear Mountain, as well as portraits commissioned by collectors. Ozeri is best known for his large-scale portraits of young women in landscapes. His near photorealistic oil paintings convey the spirit of his subjects in am array of natural settings, from rain forests to deserts.

For more information, visit www. meiselgallery.com or call 212-677-1340.

Lee Glassman, father of S. Kim Glassman, rode a train in Germany.

The Academy of Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, will hold the Days of Awe, Days of Art conference and workshops.

The events will explore the prayers of the High Holidays through study, writing, drama, music and visual arts. The conference will take place on Sunday, August 9, from 1:30-5:30 pm. The four days of workshops will be held Monday-Thursday, August 10-13, from 9:30 am-4:30 pm. Presenters will include Rabbi Jill Hammer, Rabbi Jeff Hoffman, Chazzan Michael Kasper, Naomi Less, Rabbi Hanniel Levenson and Bronwen Mullin.

For more information or to register, visit ajrsem.org or call 914-709-0900.

MAY 21, 2015 ■

Congregation Beth Israel to host international Jewish scholar

Israel NEWS IN bRIEF

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Israeli high school students won two silver medals and four bronze medals at the 16 Asian Physics Olympiad in Hangzhou, China. The Israeli delegation to the competition, which ended on May 11, ranked eighth overall in the competition out of 23 participating national delegations. Eight students comprised the Israeli team, which was led by Dr. Eli Raz, the head of the department of physics and optical engineering at ORT Braude College in Karmiel and a physics lecturer at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. “The members of the science Olympiad delegation are role models for other students and their success is a great contribution to the state of Israel and to the entire education system,” said Dr. Ofer Rimon, head of the Israeli Education Ministry’s science and technology administration, The Jerusalem Post reported. th

Israeli Knesset passes bill to add more gov’t ministers

In a third and final reading, the Israeli Knesset narrowly passed, 61-59, a bill that amends Israeli law to enable Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government to have 20 cabinet ministers instead of 18. “The formation of the current government has proven that the coalition system in Israel makes it impossible to endure a limit of 18 ministers,” governing coalition chairman MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) said on May 12, The Jerusalem Post reported. “Such a limit harms the stability and flexibility required for governing,” he said. The bill is an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law and overturns a previous law enacted by the last government, which set a cap on the number of ministers.

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From JNS.org Four Israelis ages 16-25 were injured on May 14 when a car drove into a bus stop outside the Jewish community of Alon Shvut in Judea and Samaria. A Palestinian suspect from Hebron was arrested in connection with the attack, according to reports. Israel Radio reported that one person was seriously injured, one was moderately injured, and two were lightly wounded. Moshe Savil, deputy head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, urged security forces “to return the sense of security to the Gush, increase security, and limit the entrance of Palestinians to crowded places,” according to Yediot Achronot.

On May 13, Israeli investigators named a suspect in a different car-ramming attack on April 25 in the A-Tur neighborhood of Jerusalem. Three Israeli police officers were wounded in that attack. According to the Shin Bet security agency, evidence gathered at the scene of the crime and throughout the investigation pointed to Majdi Mahmed Salah, 31, a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp who holds Israeli citizenship. The Shin Bet said Salah, who turned himself in to the police, had nationalistic motives for the terror attack. Also in April, an Arab man drove into a bus stop in Jerusalem’s French Hill junction, killing 26-year-old Jewish man Shalom Yohai Sherki.

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Studies, the undergraduate program in Jewish studies at the University of Southern California, conducted under the aegis of HUC-JIR. He has also served as a visiting professor at both UCLA and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. This spring, New York University appointed him as distinguished visiting professor and he taught there in the Skirball Department of Judaic Studies.

Ellenson has written six books and more than 300 articles and reviews for a variety of academic and popular journals and newspapers. His book “After Emancipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity” won the National Jewish Book Council’s award as outstanding book in Jewish thought in 2005. His work “Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policymaking in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa,” cowritten with Daniel Gordis, was published

by Stanford University Press in 2012. His newest book, “Jewish Meaning in a World of Choice,” appeared in September 2014 in the University of Nebraska/Jewish Publication Society’s Scholar of Distinction Series. His academic colleagues honored him with the publication of “Between Jewish Tradition and Modernity: Rethinking an Old Opposition – Essays in Honor of David Ellenson,” edited by Michael A. Meyer of HUC-JIR and David N. Myers of UCLA, in 2014.

Congregation Beth Israel is the oldest Jewish community in the Poconos, dating back to 1849. Located at 615 Court St., Honesdale, Congregation Beth Israel’s membership supports a religious school and a variety of Jewish cultural events.

While there remains a core of members that can trace their roots back to the early founders, the majority of members have joined the community in the last 25 years.

Every year, there are b’nai mitzvah and weddings celebrated in the Beth Israel synagogue building.

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Congregation Beth Israel of Honesdale will welcome Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., from Friday-Saturday, May 2930. Ellenson will speak on May 29 at the congregation during Shabbat services, which begins at 7:30 pm, and on May 30, at 7 pm, at The Cooperage in Honesdale.

His talk, “Jewish Meaning in a World of Choice,” will be preceded by a dessert reception at 6:30 pm. The community has been encouraged to save the dates. For more information, visit http://congregationbethisraelhonesdale.org.

Ellenson is chancellor-emeritus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and served as president of HUC-JIR from 2001-13. He is currently acting director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and visiting professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University.

Internationally recognized for his publications and research in the areas of Jewish religious thought, ethics and modern Jewish history, his 12 years as president of the seminary of the Reform Movement was said to be distinguished by “his devotion to sustaining HUC-JIR’s academic excellence,” as well as his continued academic research.

Ellenson received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1981 and was ordained as a rabbi by HUC-JIR in 1977. Previously, he received his A.B. degree from the College of William and Mary in 1969, and the University of Virginia granted him an M.A. in religious studies in 1972. Ellenson has also received honorary doctoral degrees from Colgate University, The College of William and Mary and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He has been a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem and a fellow and lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Studies, as a well as a Lady Davis Visiting Professor of the Humanities in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

For two decades, Ellenson served as head of the Louchheim School of Judaic

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THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

First person

Parkinson’s disease and the Jewish community: one person’s story

By Marcia Guberman My name is Marcia Guberman and July 15, 2013, changed my life. I was diagnosed, after four years of symptoms, with Parkinson’s disease. Two years after that, it was determined that my Parkinson’s was genetic, specifically to the Ashkenazi Jewish population. This was a disease I knew nothing about. It is a degenerative neurological disease with no cure. Since it was genetic, why didn’t I know anyone who had it? I was shocked. I was always prepared for heart disease, or cancer. Those were the things my family had and so I lived my life trying to prevent them as best I could, but Parkinson’s?

Are you kidding me?

It took four years to diagnose because, as it turns out, to date, there are no definitive tests to determine Parkinson’s. My first symptoms, leg tremors, appeared only sporadically in 2009. Two years later, I started dragging my left leg. After another year, the traditional hand tremor began and loss of balance occurred. After lots of doctors, MRIs, physical therapy and pain management, the final diagnosis was made in 2013 by a neurologist in conjunction with a movement disorder doctor.

I began to read everything I could get my hands on about PD. I reached out to the National Parkinson’s Foundation. It was a huge support for me. Its staff counselors, who work on the phone 24/7, were terrific in answering my questions. The Foundation’s website and online support groups occupied me in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. I was directed to a week-long program in the Berkshires put on by the Foundation. My husband, Erwin, joined me and together we learned about the disease. We met people with PD from across the country and one couple from right here in Wayne County.

I wasn’t quiet about my PD. I let my friends and family know. They, in turn, would run into people who also had PD, but had not really told anyone. Every so often I would get a phone call asking if my name and phone number

could be given out to someone. “Of course,” I’d say. I began speaking with other PD patients. Sometimes we would meet. They, too, had never met anyone with PD. We would speak about our journeys and share medical information. I would provide resources both locally and nationally that were of help to me in hopes that it would benefit them as well. Often they hadn’t known where to turn, so they just isolated themselves.

In November, we were invited to attend a research roundtable presented by the Michael J. Fox Foundation in New York. We asked our new friends from Wayne County to join us. We listened to a panel of doctors, scientists and administrators from both the United States and Canada talking about the latest developments in the field of research. We learned about the importance of participating in clinical trials. It is estimated that each trial only has one new participant each month. The bonus of the day, for me, was meeting Michael J. Fox. What an honor! As an early onset Parkinson’s patient, someone diagnosed at a very young age, he has been the driving force in finding a cure for this disease that effects more than one million people in the United States, and in 15 years is anticipated to have that number double.

Today, my husband and I participate in clinical trials through the Michael J. Fox Foundation. These trials are trying to find ways to diagnose, slow or prevent the disease completely. The foundation coordinates studies being done around the world to bring all of the information together, so scientists are coordinated and not working in a vacuum recreating the wheel. Fox’s mission is to put themselves out of business.

My participation in these studies brought me to find out that I was 100 percent Ashkenazi Jewish. More tests proved that I carry the LRRK2 genetic mutation. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, “While estimates vary, it is believed that changes in LRRK2 account for 15-20 percent of Parkinson’s disease cases in Ashkenazi Jews. The Foundation is funding a large LRRK2

Friends of The Reporter Dear Friend of The Reporter, Each year at this time the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania calls upon members of our community to assist in defraying the expense of issuing our regional Jewish newspaper, The Reporter.

The newspaper is delivered twice of month (except for December and July which are single issue months) to each and every identifiable Jewish home in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

columns that cover everything from food to entertainment.

The Federation assumes the financial responsibility for funding the enterprise at a cost of $26,400 per year and asks only that we undertake a small letter writing mail campaign to our recipients in the hope of raising $10,000 from our readership to alleviate a share of that responsibility.

We would be grateful if you would care enough to take the time to make a donation for our efforts in bringing The Reporter to your door.

As the primary Jewish newspaper of our region, we have tried to produce a quality publication for you that offers our readership something on everythingfrom opinions and columns on controversial issues that affect our people and our times, to publicity for the events of our affiliated agencies and organizations to life cycle events, teen columns, personality profiles, letters to the editor, the Jewish community calendar and other

As always, your comments, opinions and suggestions are always welcome.

With best wishes, Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Jewish Federation of NE Pennsylvania 601 Jefferson Avenue Scranton, PA 18510

I WILL SUPPORT CONTINUATION OF OUR EXPANDED FEDERATION REPORTER BY CONTRIBUTING $36

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consortium to test critical hypotheses about both normal and pathological LRRK2. This collaborative network of more than 30 investigator teams will help researchers understand LRRK2’s structure and function in order to identify drug candidates that can modify its activity in the body and the brain.

“Michael J. Fox Foundation is concurrently assembling groups of people with LRRK2 mutations and their family members all around the world who can be studied by doctors, so that the field will better understand the nature of Parkinson’s disease clinical features in the presence of LRRK2. By studying people who carry the LRRK2 mutation and do not have Parkinson’s disease, we may also learn about the very first signs of disease that could be used to detect Parkinson’s disease even earlier than we can today. This will set the stage for more efficient clinical trials once candidate drugs are found, and for determining how to design a drug for LRRK2 parkinsonism that will also help people who do not have the mutation.”

Right now, I am participating in one of these trials that will last for five years, seeking biomarkers for diagnosis which is part of the LRRK2 consortium. All in, I’ve probably participated in about 20 clinical trial thus far.

This participation helps me feel like my Parkinson’s has a reason for existence and really educates me on what’s happening in the field.

As a community, we are holding a 5K fun run/walk and a one mile community walk and resource fair in June in Milford. Our hope is to make people with PD and their care partners aware of resources in this area that can be of help. We would also like others with PD not to feel isolated and help remove some of the stigma people with PD feel.

Our financial goal is to raise $10,000 to help with the fight.

Check us out on www.poconofoxtrot5k.org.

As for me, it has become a big part of who I am. I exercise and do yoga to try to maintain where I am. I do specific therapy for my balance and rest more than I ever thought I’d want to. While, to date, it has not stopped me from doing much of what I want to do, I do wonder about the future. I try not to go there. I try to stay in the moment and enjoy all life has to offer today. After all, isn’t that all any of us have?

Marcia Guberman is a resident of Jewish Fellowship of Hemlock Farms.

$100

OTHER AMT $

Name (s) (as you wish to appear on our list of “FRIENDS”) _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________________________________________________________________ __Check here if you prefer your name not to be published Please write and send tax deductible checks to Jewish Federation, 601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510

Chantal Joffe exhibit

The Jewish Museum in New York City will hold the exhibit “Using Walls, Floors, and Ceilings: Chantal Joffe” through October 18.

It features 35 portraits by the London-based painter Chantal Joffe. Hung salon-style throughout the Skirball Lobby, the portraits show 20th century Jewish women, including Diane Arbus, Nancy Spero, Gertrude A. Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Susan Sontag and Hannah Arendt, as both children and adults. The works are not exact portraits, but said to be “charged with the artist’s technical, conceptual and emotional responses.”

For more information, visit http://thejewishmuseum. org/exhibitions/using-walls-floors-and-ceilings-chantaljoffe#events or contact the museum at info@thejm.org or 212-423-3200.

MAY 21, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

Teen Symposium on the Holocaust wrap-up 2015 The 27th Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust was held from May 5-6, hosted at Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. More than 1,400 students, teachers and administrators from both public and parochial schools, traveled from 26 districts in five counties, including two schools from Sullivan County, NY. Several home-schooled children and their parents also participated in the events of the day.

The Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust reached more than 1,800 students and teachers with a program that was intended “to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust, to promote the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect and to encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice.”

In addition to the symposium, an assembly was held on in the morning on May 6 at Tunkhannock Area Middle School. Frida Herskovits spoke with more than 400 middle school students, who welcomed her with a song and original poems. Organizers of the symposium thanked Sara Ergott; Debbie Johnson, a middle school language arts teacher; and Jim Timmons, Tunkhannock Area Middle School principal; for arranging the event.

Although planners were initially concerned with the Pennsylvania state testing window for the Keystone Tests and recent school budgets cuts, they were said to be “extremely pleased” with the level of participation. Area superintendents, principals and school board members were credited with making “every effort” to work around the tests so the students would be able to participate in the symposium. “We are humbled and extremely grateful for their outstanding support,” said organizers of the symposium.

During each day of the symposium, different schools participated in programs focused on the Holocaust: its causes, development and consequences. The attendees were able to have personal, face-to-face meetings with survivors of the Holocaust and two liberating soldiers.

Groups were created, rather than large venues, for the students to hear the testimonies of the survivors, who shared their experiences and then held question and answer sessions. Each guest speaker has a unique testimony, which often encompasses memories of close family and

friends. Some remained sole survivors, while others survived and reunited with one or more family members.

The program provided all of the participants with ability to hear “living history” in a personal setting.

Educators, who have attended in the past, were said to have “felt strongly” about the importance of the personal setting for their students. They said it allowed “a closer connection” and was “a very unique learning opportunity” for their students. Many teachers said they were impressed that, despite their pain and trauma, each speaker imparted to the listeners the need to “shy away from prejudice, bullying, labeling and negative behavior toward their peers and other individuals.” They agreed that the speakers served as positive role models for the attendees. One participant added, “The survivors built new lives after living through unimaginable hardship, and they have become contributing members of society who share messages of hope and light.

Each day of the symposium began with registration and the distribution of a materials kit for each student.

Teachers were gifted with a six-book Holocaust series, “Kristallnacht,” “Rescuing the Danish Jews,” “Saving Children,” “The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,” “Auschwitz” and “Liberation.” The books were a gift made possible

by Joanne Aronsohn Monahan. Teachers also received a donated booklet, “Unwelcomed Words,” from the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, located at Queensborough Community College.

The United States Holocaust Museum donated a resource DVD for each educator highlighting the theme “What You Do Matters.” Paul Bachow, the writer, director and producer of “A Journey into the Holocaust,” donated 100 copies of the film for each teacher. The film provides a personal exploration into genocide, explaining how it has happened and continues to happen today. Finally, the Museum of Jewish Heritage provided links from which organizers found teachers’ guides designed to aid teachers with lessons for their students. Copies were produced and donated by several anonymous donors.

The program itself began with a welcome and the Pledge of Allegiance by Susie Connors, who served as the master of ceremonies for the Holocaust symposium.

She is a retired Scranton School District teacher and

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director of the planning committee for the Holocaust Education Resource Center.

The film “Children Remember the Holocaust” was then introduced and screened. The film uses photographs and footage from the Holocaust years with voice-overs taken from personal diaries and memoirs of children and teenagers. Narrated by Keanu Reeves, the film began with life prior to the Holocaust and continued through the post-liberation period. In the last section, it touched on survivor guilt syndrome, the difficulty of finding and reuniting family members, and the hospitalization and recuperation of the ill. It concluded with a vow made by those who survived to tell the story for the many who perished in the Holocaust.

The first presenter was Alan Moskin, a World War II combat veteran who served in the 66th Infantry, 71st Division of General Patton’s 3rd Army. In addition to serving in battles, he became a liberator of the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp, a sub-camp of Mathausen.

Moskin is said to be “particularly skilled in transporting his listeners back in time” to feel and see what he is describing, whether telling stories of his friends or of what the soldiers encountered when they entered the camp.

These were, he said, “unmatched by anything previously encountered” in the worst of combat. He described the help the young men were able to offer, including “the compassion and care” with which they tried to treat people who “barely looked human after their mistreatment,” and credited medics with doing “the greatest job.” Moskin also enumerated and stressed positive actions people can take to prevent such events from occurring. His talk was considered “moving and extremely well received.”

The presentation was followed by questions from the audience and concluded with “a thunderous ovation,” according to a symposium representative.

Next, participants were divided into groups and guided by facilitators to various conference rooms of the hotel, where they were introduced to a guest speaker.

There were a total of 16 separate groups between the two days, with students from each participating school represented in the various venues. Sessions concluded with applause and hugs for survivors from many of the See “Holocaust 1” on page 12

Dear Colleagues, The death toll following the April 25th massive earthquake in Nepal has risen to more than 4,000.

Thousands are injured and tens of thousands are homeless. Aid groups are receiving reports from remote villages across the mountainous country describing devastation, destruction and dwindling resources.

Due to impassable roads and landslides, rescue teams are struggling to reach those in need. Nepal’s poor road network and the limited number of helicopters are also hampering rescue efforts and the distribution of aid.

Needs are expected to rise dramatically as reliable sources of food, water and medical supplies are depleted. Continued aftershocks spread fear and uncertainty. Kathmandu airport is struggling to efficiently manage the influx of aid flights. A number of Jewish organizations are on the ground in Nepal.

Federations across America have already swung into action and are collecting funds for emergency relief efforts. You too can be a part of this effort by contributing directly to the Jewish Federations of North America’s Nepal Relief Fund.

Visit secure-fedweb.jewishfederations.org/page/contribute/nepal-relief-fund JDC, our trusted partner, is actively assessing the situation and working to provide support where it is needed most. Here is what the JDC is doing: • JDC is working with Tevel b'Tzedek to meet immediate needs, including emergency shelter, cash assistance, temporary learning spaces and other community-based support programs for women and children. JDC's team is coordinating closely with Tevel b'Tzedek's Nepalese and Israeli staff and volunteers on the ground, who match JDC's emergency response expertise with their deep knowledge of development issues and communities in Nepal.

• Working together with the Afya Foundation, JDC is transporting medical and shelter supplies to Nepal to support hospitals and health care providers. The Consulate General of Nepal in New York is helping to facilitate and accelerate the shipping process, and the first recipients will be the orthopedic surgery departments at Grande International Hospital and Lake City Hospital.

• JDC is partnering with Heart to Heart International to provide medications, and will send emergency medical teams into periphery areas once road access is secured.

• JDC is supporting Magen David Adom medical assistance work coordinated with the Nepalese Red Cross.

• Our partners continue to work with UNICEF to provide emergency supplies for children and respond to needs for shelter, nutrition, water and sanitation.

Through JDC, the Jewish Federations of North America have provided immediate relief and long-term assistance to victims of natural and man-made disasters around the globe, including the Philippines, Haiti, Japan and South Asia following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The organization continues to operate programs designed to rebuild infrastructure and community life in disaster-stricken regions.

Please join our Federation is supporting this world-wide humanitarian effort in Nepal.

Thank you.

Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

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

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THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

Aliyah trending: immigration to Israel rises among boomers, young adults

By Maayan Jaffe JNS.org “I want to be a part of something greater than myself,” says 24-year-old Ron Nahshon of New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood, who is preparing to move to Israel this summer with his wife, Sara. Born in Israel, Nahshon’s parents (who made aliyah themselves) left Israel when he was only 1. Raised in the Conservative movement, he describes his upbringing as “Zionist” and says his parents infused “a love of the land” into their home. Later, Nahshon became Orthodox and attended Yeshiva University. Over the past several years, he has been investing and saving to prepare for aliyah.

“I grew up learning how my grandfather trekked to [Mandatory] Palestine on a camel. Now, I just have to get on a plane and fly there. It’s easy to get comfortable elsewhere. By moving to Israel, I am able to live a part of history and tradition in a way that people two, three, and more generations back didn’t have the opportunity

Pictured in New York City’s Times Square were participants of the Nefesh B’Nefesh mega event in March “vote” for aliyah. L-r: Yossi Cohen of Los Angeles, Rosalie Soussan of New York, Abby Soussan of New York, Jesse Bass of New York, Saul Daiell of New York, Michael Brenner of New York and Yaakov Hatanian of New York. (Photo by Shahar Azran, courtesy of Nefesh B’Nefesh)

to do,” Nahshon tells JNS.org.

Nahshon was among the more than 1,200 people who attended the Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah agency’s mega event in New York City in March. He says the event turned his vision of aliyah into a reality.

NBN has served as what Nahshon calls a “friendly middleman,” assisting his family with the extensive paperwork needed to make aliyah. At the event, the Nahshons visited the booth for Haifa (where they will be living), spoke with shipping companies, and learned how Sara will be able to transfer her nursing license from the U.S. to Israel so that she can work in her field.

Overall, some 2,000 people participated in NBN aliyah events across North America from March 8-15, a 10-percent increase over last year and a 300-percent increase over the past five years. According to the organization, about one-fifth of all the participants in last year’s mega events made aliyah within one year of their attendance.

See “Aliyah” on page 10

Fuel

Continued from page 1

for companies seeking to present at the OTC is seven years long for those trying to enter on their own, without being part of a delegation.

Haim Greenberg, vice president for product and co-founder of Harbo Technologies, which works to prevent the hazardous consequences of oil spills, said the company’s goal at the OTC was “to raise funds for the next stage of our business plan,” and to look for “distributors from around the world” as well as “seasoned experts to join our advisory board.”

At the trade show, Greenberg said Harbo received interest from companies in Holland, Norway, Spain, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, America, Canada, Singapore, India – and even Saudi Arabia. “The truth is, a lot of business is being done between Israel and Saudi Arabia or other Arab countries, but it’s under the radar,” Greenberg told JNS.org.

Asked if the Saudi interest in doing business with Israeli companies signaled a general thawing of relations between those two countries, Greenberg said, “I’m not too sure about that, but business is business, that’s the truth. And because of our uniqueness, because we have the only and the first immediate oil-spill response solution, everybody’s interested in this.”

Roni Levy, marketing manager for Tel Aviv-based Hop Engineering Ltd., said his company has existing export relationships in Asia, South Africa and Europe, and is now trying to break into the U.S. market.

“We think that if we can get contact with

some small or medium American companies, it can be a very good platform for us…

We have installed oil fields in Indonesia and Azerbaijan, but we think if we could make good contacts here [in the U.S.] and do a good job, it will help us a lot in the local market as well as the international market,” Levy told JNS.org.

Gilad Norman, marketing and sales manager for Egmo, an Israeli producer of stainless steel fittings and flow products, called the American oil and gas industry “a huge market, a very sophisticated market, dealing with end-users, engineering companies, equipment manufacturers, and the supply chains… and all of them are here [at the OTC].

“It’s quite nice to see all these players in the market, in one location,” Norman said.

Bill Hardy – sales manager of government accounts for Texas-based Thrustmaster, a producer of marine propulsion thruster machines – was impressed by what he saw at the Israeli pavilion. “It was interesting to see that you had a host of individuals that are both in the [oil and gas] industry and manufacture different products,” Hardy told JNS.org. “We were able to see that, it was well-presented and [the companies] were forthcoming with all kinds of good publications. I took all of them and I plan to sit down once I’m done with the show here and go over it, and see how we would meld with the potential of doing business with the Israeli oil and gas community.”

Sunday, June 21, 2015 The Bais Yaakov of Scranton Tribute Dinner Honorary Guest of Honor Rabbi and Mrs. Avrohom Goldstein Aishes Chayil Memorial Award Mrs. Chana Lapidus

U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX, on right) addressed Israeli companies at the Offshore Technology Conference on May 6 in Houston. At center is Michal Niddam-Wachsman, head of the Israeli government’s Economic Mission in the U.S. Southern Region. Behind them is a list of the 14 Israeli companies that had a presence at the conference. (Photo by Jacob Kamaras) The casual observer of the U.S.-Israel energy relationship might know that Noble Energy, which is based in Houston, operates both of Israel’s offshore gas fields.

But Noble is currently the only foreign company that drills in the Jewish state and “there is a need for more oil and gas companies to come and work in Israel,” said the Ministry of Economy’s NiddamWachsman. The OTC should help solve that need, as Israeli companies had more

than 400 meetings with major oil and gas companies at and around the trade show last year, Niddam-Wachsman said.

Recalling that he has been through two oil crises in his lifetime, in 1973 and 1981-82, Weber described the OTC as an indispensable networking opportunity for the companies in attendance. “The fact that these companies are here and focused on this is huge,” Weber said. “These are the innovators, these are the job-creators.

ish Federatio n’s e he Jew t n o ma u o il l y e ist Ar ?

We send updated announcements and special event details weekly to those who wish to receive them.

Send Dassy Ganz an email if you would like to join the list.

Dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org

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Page 2A - Summer Fun

May 2015

Luzerne County – the perfect getaway for your family and friends Luzerne County is the perfect getaway for your family and friends.

Whitewater Challengers, in White Haven, has been guiding rafters down the Lehigh River for more than 30 years. Another experienced guide company is Pocono Whitewater, guiding trips on the Lehigh. If you like to bike, take a scenic ride along the Lehigh River. Rentals are available at Whitewater Challengers and Pocono Whitewater. Luzerne County has kayaking, too. Several outfitters in the area offer guided tours where you can see herons, beavers and even bald eagles. Springtime is tee time. Northeastern Pennsylvania offers golfers challenging, uncrowded courses. Call for the “Golf and Stay” brochure which offers various hotel/golf packages.

Shoppers can go to the Arena Hub Shopping Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, which offers outlet shopping, such as Eddie Bauer Outlet and Barnes and Noble for a latte, reading material and more.

History abounds in the region. Late in the 17th century, Native American Indians

settled in the meadows of the Wyoming Valley along the shores of the Susquehanna River.

Innovations during the Industrial Revolution here set the standard for a growing nation and a foundation for American prosperity.

Eckley Miner’s Village depicts life among the coal families with an authentic patchtown village, which was the film set for the movie “The Molly McGuires” starring Sean Connery. The Steamtown National Historic Site presents the history of steam railroading and the people who made it possible. At the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour, a coal miner will take you 300 feet below the earth’s surface to give you an overview of the life of miners.

Take the kids to the Houdini Museum and watch the eccentric John Bravo the Great make rabbits appear and people disappear.

Knoebels Amusement Park, the #1 familyowned amusement park in the U.S., is just minutes away from Wilkes-Barre.

Luzerne County hosts the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins, the AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, at the state-of-the-art

Mohegan Sun Arena. Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Casino is now open for business.

The casino boasts 1,500 slots and table games, a beautiful view of the mountains, live harness racing and several restaurants.

Fairs, parades and festivals, which represent the rich ethnic diversity and civic pride, abound here. Experience an Art Deco-style theater at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Kayak rentals are available on the Susquehanna River, Performing Arts. Awesome Wilkes-Barre, PA. Chocolates is located in Dallas, PA, and has a lovely café and gift shop for and whatnots, and treat yourself to homemade unique chocolate concoctions. The Victorian- ice-cream. The farm store offers an array era Luzerne County Courthouse is considered of country items, as well as organic milk, one of the most beautiful courthouses in cheese, eggs and more.

Pennsylvania. Lastly, for another taste of “Luzerne County – You’ll Find it All Right Victoriana, visit The Lands at Hillside Farms, Here!” Call 1-888-905-2872 for a free Visitors where you can tour the dairy barns, bring Guide and Calendar of Events, or visit www. carrots for the Clydesdales, goats, donkeys tournepa.com.

Cortland Repertory Theatre announces 44th annual summer season Cortland Repertory Theatre announces its 44th annual summer season. “Each year, our Play Review Committee and myself consider a wide range of musicals and plays in order to select the best and most exciting season,” Producing Artistic Director Kerby Thompson says.

From June 3-13 is “Always a Bridesmaid,” a comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. Four high school friends made a vow to be in each other’s weddings, and more than 30 years later, they are still determined to honor that vow.

From June 17- July 4 is “1776,” the Tony Award-winning musical with book by Peter Stone, and music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards. Follow John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson as they attempt to convince the Continental Congress to vote for independence.

From July 8-25 is “The Addams Family,” a new musical based on the TV show and New Yorker cartoons, with music and lyrics

by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Gomez and Morticia Addams love their children, but teenage daughter Wednesday is in love with a “normal” boy, and he and his parents are coming to dinner.

From July 29-August 8 is “Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror,” written by Anthony Dodge and Marcia Milgrom Dodge, and adapted from the novel by Nicholas Meyer. A theater critic has been murdered and aspiring Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw entices his friends, Holmes and Watson, to take on the case.

From August 12-22 is a Buffalo-based family comedy called “Miracle on South Division Street,” based on a true story by

Tom Dudzick. Clara Nowak and her three grown children have always known they were special; in 1942, the Blessed Mother appeared to Grandpa in his barbershop.

When daughter Ruth unveils her plan to write a play about the miracle, a long-ago deathbed confession unravels the legend and raises family questions.

From August 26-September 5 is “Suds,” a 1960s musical by Melinda Gilb, Steve Gunderson, Will Roberson and Bryan Scott.

Cindy works in a “Laundromat of Love,” where she is pining for the pen-pal fiancée who dumped her. Her two guardian angels appear to teach her about boys, true love and more. The musical includes favorites such as “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” “Respect,” and “Where the Boys Are!”

The annual children’s show will be “The Jungle Book,” adapted by local playwright Kim L. Hubbard. Mowgli is a boy raised by wolves, who lives in the jungle with his friends Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther and Kaa the python. The man-eating tiger Shere Khan wants to rule the jungle and it’s up to Mowgli to stop him. Children will participate by portraying monkeys, elephants, wolves, reptiles, bees and even a tropical storm. Performance dates will be announced closer to the season.

More information on all shows, ticket prices, gift certificates and box office hours is available at www.cortlandrep.org. Discounts are available for seniors, students and groups of 10 or more. Call 800-427-6160 for more information.

Experience! The Finger Lakes with full-service guided tours Experience! The Finger Lakes is a full-service, experiential, family-owned touring and events company based out of Ithaca, NY. It specializes in wine tours, gorge and waterfall tours, and sightseeing tours of the Finger Lakes region. It also provides itinerar y development services and receptive services to the motor coach industry, as well as excursion planning for conferences and corporations.

Guests of Experience! The Finger Lakes on a tour of the Laura and Alan Falk, the Sheldrake Vineyard. owners of the company, have lived and experienced the Finger Lakes for along the wine trails. Also offered are special more than 30 years. Their mission is to monthly farm-to-table cooking class tours provide guests with the best experiential throughout the growing season featuring a touring in the region. As Laura explains, “We regional chef cooking up seasonal delights focus on experiences that lead our guests to right at a local farm.

Regular public tours are offered seven understand why those of us who live here stay here, and those who visit come back days a week that explore the Cayuga, Seneca and Keuka Lake Wine Trails that depart out again and again.”

Experience! The Finger Lakes customers of Ithaca, Watkins Glen and Corning. Public visit the area to enjoy the best the region has tours are never larger than 13 guests in order to offer. The company guides its guests to- to ensure a personalized, intimate experience ward attractions, accommodations and dining for each and every guest. Laura and Alan experiences that will perfectly complement a also provide private tours for groups of any vacation weekend, a special event, or a cor- size that can be customized to meet their porate outing. Laura and Alan focus on the specific needs.

“The Finger Lakes is rich in natural beauty best by developing partnerships with wineries, attractions, restaurants and inns that will enrich that we love to show off to visitors,” Laura and guests’ experiences while also supporting local Alan note. “We offer sightseeing tours of the business and bringing national attention to the waterfalls in and around Ithaca, and guided natural history hikes through our beautiful area’s cultural treasures.

The company’s specialty is high-end wine gorge trails in the State Parks. Intimate boat and culinary tours where knowledgeable cruises on Cayuga Lake also round out the guides take guests behind the scenes for an opportunities to truly experience the wonders up-close, intimate experience like no other in of our region.”

So whether you are looking for a sumthe region. Enjoy owner-led vineyard/winery tours, custom wine tastings, barrel sampling mer getaway for two, the perfect family in the wine cellars, and food-wine pairings day trip, or that overdue ladies’ road trip, featuring local cheeses and chocolates. Both look no further than Experience! The Finger full-day and half-day wine tour experi- Lakes, and experience the region at a whole ences are offered to meet your time frame new level.

Visit ExperienceFingerLakes.com or phone and budget. Full-day tours include custom wine-pairing lunches designed to show off 607-233-4818 for more information or to the wonderful seasonal bistros and eateries book a tour.

May 2015

Page 3A - Summer Fun

JCC of Syracuse’s Camp Rishon offers plenty of summertime fun There’s plenty of excitement, fun and adventure for children and teens to experience during summer camp this year at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse. The JCC’s Camp Rishon is a weekly summer day camp for children and teens, which runs weekdays for eight weeks from June 29-August 21.

Each week, campers will have plenty of opportunities to interact with peers, make new friends and have a blast. There’s nothing boring about summer camp at the JCC of Syracuse, as campers go swimming and are kept active every day.

JCC summer camp caters to three distinct age groups. The early childhood camp is for children 6-weeks-old through entering kindergarten, school-age camp is open to children entering grades one-six and the SyraCruisin’ teen travel camp is for young teens entering grades seven-10. Each camp day begins and ends at the JCC at 5655 Thompson Rd., DeWitt.

Depending on the camp, some campers may go off-site for scheduled field trips and activities. Early and late care options are available for all campers.

L-r: JCC Camp Rishon counselor Sean Mulvihill helping Alessio Vega launch his homemade rocket during the rocketry camp’s final day and rocket launch on August 15 last year.

The early childhood camp offers developmentally appropriate, interactive, indoor/ outdoor activities geared toward fun-filled days with friends. Toddlers 18 months and older participate in daily Red Cross swim

Summer shows at the Anderson Center

Three blockbuster shows will fill the Anderson Center’s 2015 summer schedule.

The Steve Miller Band will start off the summer fun on Wednesday, June 24, at 8 pm. One of rock music’s all-time greats, Diana Krall the Steve Miller Band has sold more than 40 million records in a career spanning more than 40 years. Miller’s trademark blues-rock sound made him one of the key artists in classic rock radio. In 2014, Miller released a live version of “The Joker” album to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original number one studio album.

On Tuesday, July 21, at 8 pm, five time Grammy-winning jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall will perform. Krall is considered one of the most accomplished and distinctive musicians in the world today, having sold more albums than any other female jazz artist of the last 30 years. Krall ventures into new territory with her new CD, “Wallflower,” a collection of songs from the 1960s to the present, with classics like the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreaming” and the Eagles’ “Desperado,” plus vintage songs

by Krall’s musical heroes, Bob Dylan (he inspired the album’s title track, “Wallflower”) and Elton John (“Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word”).

Closing out the summer of fun on Saturday, August 22, at 8 pm, is‘70s era rock featuring Atlanta Rhythm Section, Orleans, Firefall and John Sebastian.

With Atlanta Rhythm Section’s first breakthrough single “So Into You,” in 1977, the band took off with a gold (“A Rock and Roll Alternative”) and platinum (“Champagne

Jam”) album, followed by the blockbuster single “Imaginary Lover.”

With original members Barr y Bailey, Ronnie Hammond and Dean Daughtry, ARS continues to entertain today.

With more than four decades of entertainSteve Miller ment under its belt, Orleans is best known as the ‘70s pop/rock band that performed hits like “Still the One,” “Dance With Me” and “Love Takes Time.”

Orleans has produced 16 albums and several DVDs, and continues to be in demand.

The melded countr y-folk-easy listening-rock and roll band known as Firefall was formed in the early ‘70s, filling the air waves with a string of Top 20 hits like “You Are the Woman” and “Just Remember I Love You,” earning two platinum and three gold records. It was the band’s dynamic live performances that gave it a large, loyal fan base that continues today.

John Sebastian was a member of The Lovin’ Spoonful who played a major role in the mid-‘60s rock revolution, with the band’s first seven singles landing in the Top 10 during the height of Beatlemania.

Sebastian participated in Woodstock and the English equivalent, the Isle of Wright.

He has been involved in films and Broadway, and, most notably, he wrote the theme song for the 1976 hit show “Welcome Back Kotter,” which became a chart-topping solo record. Sebastian was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and is still going strong.

Call 607-777-ARTS or visit anderson. binghamton.edu for tickets and more information.

lessons. Enrollment for the infant camp, ages 6-18 months old, is on a monthly basis, while toddlers and preschoolers can enroll in camps on a weekly basis with options for flexible days and times.

School-age campers can take in the traditional summer camp experience with Nitzanim or attend a specialty camp focused on a specific interest area, such as art, sports, rocketry, gymnastics, fishing and more. Overnight options are available. A variety of optional after-camp clinics are also offered.

SyraCruisin’ offers teens the opportunity to embark on a new adventure each day. The weekly camp’s local and regional field trips encourage social and cultural awareness, community service, team building and fun, of course. Each session will feature different field trips so each day is completely different from the next. Four optional overnights are also available.

Other JCC summer camp teen and pre-

teen weekly programs include camp aide, counselor-in-training (or CIT) and fitness training classes. Both the camp aide and CIT programs require current JCC family membership to enroll.

Camp Rishon registration is currently in full swing and will continue right up until the start of camp on Monday, June 29, and throughout the summer, but don’t delay.

Spots go quickly and some camp sessions close out early. Except for the camp aide and counselor-in-training teen programs, current JCC membership is not necessary for Camp Rishon registration. However, JCC members receive discounted camp rates. Discounts for siblings and payments made in full at time of registration are also available.

For more information about the JCC of Syracuse’s 2015 Camp Rishon, and to request a camp program guide, call 315-445-2360 or visit www.jccsyr.org.

May 2015

Page 4A - Summer Fun

Syracuse Jewish Music and Cultural Festival on Aug. 30 The16th Syracuse Jewish Music and Cultural Festival (formerly KlezFest) has been set for Sunday, August 30, from noon-6 pm, at the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center, 5655 Thompson Rd, DeWitt, NY. “As always, the music is the main draw,� said Vicki Feldman, co-chair of the event. “But we have terrific kosher foods that reflect both Middle Eastern and Eastern European favorites, and artisans with jewelry and apparel. There’s plenty for kids, too – and there’s free parking at and near the JCC.�

The music schedule is as follows: noon-12:45 pm – Keyna Hora Klezmer Band 1-2 pm – Alhamba Sephardic Ensemble 2:30 pm – Community Hora 2:30-4 pm – Robin Seletsky and the Big Galut(e) Ensemble 4:15-5:15 pm – Farah 5:30-6 pm – Community Open Jam For more information, visit the festival’s website at w w w.SyracuseJewishFestival. org.

The Jewish Music Festival of 2014.

Binghamton Zoo animal spotlight: North American River Otter The 140th season at the Binghamton Zoo kicked off in April. If you haven’t checked out the Binghamton Zoo’s website, www. rossparkzoo.com, recently, what are you waiting for? It includes all the information you need for your next zoo visit. Check out the Among the animals on exhibit at zoo’s upcoming events the Binghamton Zoo are North on the events calendar, American River Otters. watch ZooTube videos and read the latest zoo news. Guests of the Binghamton Zoo this year are in for a jam-packed special events schedule. Be sure to look for the zoo’s signature events and promotions schedule, which is full of giveaways.

Among the many animals on exhibit at the Binghamton Zoo are North American River Otters. The otters are found throughout Canada and the United States and down into the Gulf of Mexico, from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans. These otters occupy habitats that have a permanent food supply and easy access to water. They build dens in the burrows of other animals, natural hollows, or in river banks that have an under water entrance. They line their den with leaves, grass, moss and bark. Fish, small mammals, turtles, crayfish, crabs and an occasional amphibian make up their diet.

The North American River Otter is a semi-aquatic mammal, which means otters spend their time equally in water

Binghamton Volleyball Camps Youth Camp

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and on land. Their fur insulates them in water and allows them to regulate their body temperature. These otters have a wide, round head, small ears and nostrils that can be closed underwater.

During the breeding season (late winter or early spring), males will breed with several females that are within range of their own home area. Females give birth to, nurse and care for their young in dens near the water. The babies are born with fur, but are other wise helpless. They are

weaned at 3 months old and will start to explore their range at 6 months.

Otters are very playful animals and can be found playing in the water, making snow and mud slides, and burrowing in the snow. These activities help in strengthening social bonds, practicing hunting techniques and to scent mark.

More information on river otters can be found online at Animal Diversity Web, http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/ Lontra_canadensis.

Arts and Wine Festival in Cortland County The Cultural Council of Cortland County has had exciting changes this past year. The council moved into its new office space/galler y, The Vault, located at Cortland Rural Cemeter y. Here there have rotating exhibits, open

mornings and Fridays, including First Fridays. On May 1, the Cultural Council launched its new website, culturalcouncilofcortlandcount y.org. Take a look, explore area events, meet the board and find out how to get involved, including becoming a member.

The ninth Annual Arts and Wine Festival will be held on August 1 at Courthouse Park in Cortland. There will be events for everyone in the beautiful setting of the Cortland County Courthouse Park. Live music featuring local bands, alternating between two stages, will begin at 10 am, when artists and artisan crafters will also have their booths ready for viewing and purchases. For those over age 21, the wine tasting tent will open at noon.

Snake Creek Marine The ninth Annual Arts and Wine Festival will be held on August 1 at Courthouse Park in Cortland.

Snake Creek Marine is a third generation, family-run business located in Montrose, PA. It has been a Mercury dealer since 1972 and Starcraft dealer since 1974. Stop in and check out the inventory of Starcraft fiberglass runabouts, Arima fishing boats, aluminum fishing boats and pontoons.

Snake Creek Marine also sells boat lifts and boating accessories. Accessories help to make your boat unique to your needs. Items such as global positioning systems (GPS), extra seating, rod storage, draw plugs and bikini tops, just to name a few accessories, are among the many products displayed in the vast showroom.

Snake Creek Marine’s helpful staff can get you on the water and keep you there. For further information, visit Snake Creek Marine’s Web site at www.snakecreekmarine.net or call 570-967-2109 or 1-800-453-3820.

MAY 21, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

Seven ways to celebrate a meaningful Shavuot

By Maayan Jaffe JNS.org At sundown on Saturday, May 23, Jews around the world will start the two-day holiday (which lasts only one day in Israel and for Reform and Reconstructionist Jews) of Shavuot. Also known as the Festival of Weeks because it marks the completion of the counting of the omer period – which is 49 days long, or seven weeks of seven days – Shavuot is one of the Jewish calendar’s shalosh regalim pilgrimage holidays.

Unlike the other two pilgrimage festivals – Passover, which is marked through the retelling of the Exodus story at the seder, and Sukkot, which is celebrated by building a hut or sukkah outside one’s home—there is no definitive ritual associated with Shavuot in the text of the Torah.

As such, many Jews struggle to connect with the holiday, which has yet another name: “Chag Hakatsir,” meaning the Harvest Festival.

But despite its undefined nature, Shavuot “is a gift of a holiday,” says Roberta Miller, a teacher at Chicago Land Jewish Day School in Chicago. “It’s when we got the Ten Commandments, God’s greatest present to the Jewish people,” she says.

In that spirit, here are seven ways to infuse some meaning and Minhag (tradition) into your Shavuot this year: 1. Food: It is traditional on Shavuot to eat dairy foods. Rabbi Robyn Frisch, director of InterfaithFamily/Philadelphia, says some believe this is because the scripture compares Torah to “honey and milk… under your tongue” (Song of Songs 4:11). Another explanation is that when the Israelites received the Torah for the first time, they learned the kosher dietary laws and didn’t immediately have

time to prepare kosher meat, so they ate dairy instead.

Baking and consuming dairy foods can differentiate Shavuot from other holidays, says Miller. “We all have very strong memories associated with scent. If I smell a honey cake, I think of my grandmother and Rosh Hashanah. The smell of cheesecake generates a connection to Shavuot for my kids,” she tells JNS.org.

Miller also suggests ice cream cake.

In her family, Shavuot marks the first ice cream cake of the season, and that knowledge builds anticipation for the holiday.

Just as no one in her house is allowed to eat matzah until the seder, she says, no one gets ice cream cake until the first night of Shavuot.

2. Games: For families with young children, games are a great way to educate youth about the messages of Shavuot.

Miller suggests counting games. “You can count up to 49 of anything: 49 ways Mommy loves you, 49 things you are grateful for,” she says.

For slightly older children, Miller offers a Jewish commandments version of Pictionary®, in which before the holiday children draw their favorite commandment or commandments on a notecard.

The cards are mixed up and put into a box or bag. Then, the family gets together, members draw picture cards, and someone acts out each commandment while participants guess which commandment it is and why it is important.

3. Guests: On the second day of Shavuot, we read the Book of Ruth, the story of the first Jew by choice. Frisch explains that it is also a story of welcoming the stranger and inclusivity. Shavuot is the perfect holiday for inviting new friends over for a meal, or for opening one’s

An illustration of the Shavuot holiday.

(Original work by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim – Google Art Project via Wikimedia Commons. home to people who are interested in learning more about Jewish traditions, says Frisch.

4. Jewish learning: Taking part in a Tikkun Leil Shavuot – a night of Jewish learning – is another Shavuot custom.

Many traditional Jews stay up all night on the first night of the holiday to study Torah. Today, many non-observant Jews aren’t affiliated with a particular synagogue. As such, Frisch suggests hosting a communal night of learning (not affiliated with any particular religious sect or institution) that can draw in a more diverse mix of Jewish learners. “Jewish learning is being reclaimed,” Frisch tells JNS.org, adding that it is necessary for that learning to be accessible.

For people who live in smaller communities without a formal Shavuot learn-

9

ing event, Frisch says there are multiple online sources that can be used to organize a grassroots evening of learning at an individual’s home. “Jewish learning doesn’t have to be biblical texts...Torah is more than the Five Books of Moses. It could be liberal values or social justice or just a discussion about Jewish identity or Jewish laws,” Frisch says.

5. King David birthday party: Tradition has it that King David, Ruth’s (as in the Book of Ruth) great-grandson, was born and died on Shavuot. Miller suggests holding a King David birthday party – featuring decorations, cake, ice cream and gifts. “Use it as a learning tool,” she says, noting how the party can springboard into a historical discussion.

“What would you write on a card to [King David]? What do you want to ask him?

What would he want for a present? What would he put in the goody bag that he gives to each of us?”

6. Nature: On Shavuot, it is customary to decorate our homes and synagogues with flowers and plants. Ruthie Kaplan, who lives in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem and is a former Hebrew school teacher, tells JNS.org that following this tradition of surrounding ourselves with the lushness of the natural world could “add a lot of beauty to the day.”

Shavuot comes in the late spring or early summer, when the weather is perfect and the flowers are blossoming. Kaplan says that is “the perfect time” to connect with nature and appreciate the beauty of the world that God created for us.

7. Setting goals/reflections: Kaplan says that a deeper reading of the Book of Ruth can transform Shavuot from simply another Jewish holiday into an See “Shavuot” on page 10

Get ready for the 51st Annual

Celebrate Israel Parade Sunday, May 31 This year’s theme is Israel Imagines! $10 per person - to make your bus reservations, please contact Dassy at Dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org or 570-961-2300 x2

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

10

THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

d’var torah

Responsibilities

by CANTOR PAULA PEPPERSTONE, RABBI JACOB H. EPSTEIN HIGH SCHOOL OF JEWISH STUDIES, CONGREGATION BETH SHOLOMCHEVRA SHAS, SYRACUSE, NY Bamidbar, Numbers 1:1-4:20 Studying parashat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20), I am struck yet again by how the roles of each house (beit avotam) or clan (mishpacha) are so clearly defined. God tells Moses exactly where each house will be positioned around the Ohel Mo’ed, or Tent of Meeting, while camping and marching, and what the Levites’ special responsibilities are regarding the Mishkan, or Tabernacle.

I noticed these defined roles again because I had also taken special note of them in the week leading up to my wedding. Bamidbar was also the parasha then, and while preparing for my tisch (a traditional pre-wedding reception with food and drink), when I would need to be prepared to speak about the weekly Torah reading, these same p’sukim jumped out at me. My questions then included how I would incorporate my new role as spouse into my already full life as a daughter, sister, cantorial student, teacher and friend. As those who have children may also have experienced, it wasn’t marriage that changed my life as much as having our first child

Shavuot

opportunity to set goals and resolutions. Ruth, she says, believed in something (Judaism) and followed through on her belief.

“That story of Ruth excites me and really comes to

Aliyah

Nearly 4,000 people made aliyah from North America last year. Marc Rosenberg, director of pre-aliyah for NBN, says aliyah is “trending.”

“The Israeli government was always open to receiving new immigrants – about 1.3 million people made aliyah in the first three years since the founding of the state,” Rosenberg tells JNS.org. Many of those people were refugees fleeing to the Jewish state to escape persecution or other challenges in their native countries. Even today, crises such as antisemitism in France and political upheaval in Ukraine have spurred increased aliyah from those countries. But North American Jews “have a choice,” says Rosenberg.

“They are choosing to come to Israel. So we have to treat them differently,” he says. This was the catalyst behind the founding of NBN by philanthropist Tony Gelbart and Executive Director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass.

The agency facilities aliyah exclusively from North America and the United Kingdom. “It is a response to people choosing to leave wonderful opportunities in America to explore wonderful opportunities in Israel,” Rosenberg says.

According to Rosenberg, whereas initially the average immigrants to Israel via NBN were entire Orthodox families, today the organization is seeing a steep rise in single young adults and boomers. Boomers tend to be retirees or empty nesters, people who sold their businesses or are consulting and want to live in Israel. Some of them have children – and therefore grandchildren – living in the Jewish state, and they want to be close to them.

“The healthcare is wonderful. There are nine months of wonderful weather,” Rosenberg explains, adding that for young adults, there is a correlation between aliyah and those who participated in Taglit-Birthright Israel trips and the Jewish Agency for Israel’s MASA (Israel Journey) programming. “More young people are visiting Israel and they want to come back,” he says.

There is also a tie to the flailing American economy.

Rosenberg says that with the rising costs of American education and the unpredictability of the job market, many young adults are attracted to the free degree they receive through making aliyah and the ability to readily enter the job market based on skills and not degrees, as is often the case in Israel. “They are seeing this as a stepping stone to their future,” Rosenberg says. With the global economy growing and the world feeling smaller and more connected all the time, Israel makes more sense as a long-term option for laying down roots. Last year, between 1,400 and 1,500 young adults were among North American immigrants to Israel.

Boomers and young adults were certainly among the crowds at March’s aliyah events, says Yael Katsman, NBN’s director of communications and marketing. There was also a diverse mix of religious affiliations in attendance.

Among the participating young adults, 65 percent defined

two years later. That event was quite the game-changer.

My role changed from one of relative freedom to one of responsibility, reminding me now of the Israelites in the wilderness.

With the receiving of the laws at Sinai, and then the completion of the Mishkan, the Israelites also gained much responsibility. In this parasha, God says to Moshe, “They [the Levites] shall take charge of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting – a duty on behalf of the Israelites – doing the work of the Tabernacle.” (Numbers 3:8, JPS translation) The medieval commentator Ibn Ezra says that, rather than “a duty on behalf of the Israelites,” it should be understood as “they shall take charge of guarding the Israelites” from the dangers of making contact with the Mishkan. As a parent, I would say either (or both) understandings are relevant. I perform many responsibilities on behalf of my children because they cannot yet do the tasks themselves, and I also guard them from dangers or things that are currently beyond them. As a nation of priests, I look forward to the day when I can pass on to my children the responsibilities I perform for them, both because I look back nostalgically on the days of my relative freedom, and because I look forward to them maturing into their own people, just as the Israelites matured in the wilderness.

Continued from page 9 life on Shavuot,” says Kaplan. “Ruth is open to the truth and therefore she sees it and she is willing to be honest with herself. For anyone searching and struggling, Ruth is a good role model for life.”

Continued from page 8

A couple made aliyah as part of El Al Flight LY 3004 on July 22, 2014, during the summer war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Sasson Tiram) themselves as non-Orthodox, and among families with young children, 70-75 percent identified as Orthodox.

Katsman says that “success breeds success.” Families who make to Israel it tell their friends, who then want to come as well. During last summer’s war between Israel and Hamas, NBN saw no aliyah cancellations – the planes were full, Katsman says. Additionally, she says that while NBN sees European Jews choosing aliyah because of increased antisemitism, that does not seem to factor heavily into most North American Jews’ decisions to move to Israel.

To accommodate this growth in aliyah, NBN has evolved its events. In 2002, they were dozens of smallerscale meetings, which the organization still offers. But today, NBN also hosts five “mega events” with aliyahrelated seminars and workshops and an Israeli vendor marketplace in Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, Miami and New York. Israeli professionals from a variety of aliyah-related fields – including shippers, accountants, financial planners, insurance, healthcare, real estate, universities and more – help prospective immigrants to Israel advance their aliyah plans. To date, more than 50,000 North American and British Jews have attended NBN pre-aliyah information seminars. Since its founding in 2002, NBN has assisted more than 42,000 newcomers to Israel.

“In the 1980s, there was a 50/50 chance that someone who made aliyah would still be living in Israel three or 10 years later,” says Rosenberg. “Today, three years later, more than 90 percent of the people who made aliyah with Nefesh B’Nefesh are still living here.”

Nahshon says he is hopeful about life in Israel. “Many people say that going to Israel is ‘a dream of mine,’” he says. “Then they get a job, have a family, and they look back with regret. It is easy to say you’ll do it in the future. It says in Ethics of the Fathers, ‘If not now, when?’

Sometimes you just have to seize the moment.”

MAY 21, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

11

Eight decades later, Holocaust victim’s cry for help is heard at NC high school

By Hillel Kuttler (JTA) – Shira Goldberg stepped across the stage at East Henderson High School in western North Carolina and presented a yellowed letter to Shani Lourie. The letter’s writer, a German woman seeking help in escaping the Nazis from an American man she believed was a relative, was Shira’s distant cousin. The 8-year-old Florida girl was entrusting this tragic piece of family history to Lourie, an educator at Israel’s national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.

The act on May 6 climaxed a more than yearlong search for information about the letter conducted by approximately 60 students – none Jewish – in the history classes taught by Todd Singer, a Jewish man new to the profession.

“I beg you not to put this letter aside without having read it,” Betty Erb, a resident of Berlin, wrote on April 17,

Yad Vashem educator Shani Lourie, left, with Suzanne and Shira Goldberg and Todd Singer, a teacher at East Henderson High School in North Carolina.

1939, to John G. Erb of 2030 Conlyn St. in Philadelphia.

In the letter, sent in an envelope whose stamp features a Hitler Youth postmark, Betty expressed uncertainty over whether she was even related to John Erb. She explained that she was “in the greatest misery” and asked John to contribute toward the approximately $270 she and her fiancee required to immigrate to Bolivia.

To establish her bona fides as John’s possible relative, Betty stated the names of several ancestors and noted that their roots were in the Polish town of Znin.

She continued: “In the case that there is no relationship between us, I however implore you to help me in some way, even though you may perhaps have another religion.

I assure you that by your help you would support people whose only hope is to find kind hearts to assist them to build up their existence in a foreign country. I trust that in later times we shall be able to thank you in another way for any kindness you will show to us.”

Singer purchased the letter and an unrelated document from the period online for $20 in 1999. Then working as a lawyer in his native Tulsa, OK, Singer placed it in a folder and forgot about it until last year, when he began planning lessons for his classes at East Henderson.

Singer engaged his students in a quest to determine Betty Erb’s fate. The students searched online and checked databases. Through Yad Vashem’s website, they learned that Erb and her husband, Martin Selling, were murdered in Auschwitz. The students, Singer said, “were devastated” at the news.

Next, they searched for a living relative of Erb to whom to give the letter. Singer’s neighbor Benjamin Warren, a Houston philanthropist whose parents survived the Holocaust and who lives part of the year in North Carolina, learned of the search and encouraged another friend, a top official at Yad Vashem, to look into the matter. Through records maintained by the International Tracing Service, Yad Vashem researchers found a British man related to Erb, Laurence Asslinger-Hoschschild, who referred them to his cousin Andrew Blitz in Perth, Australia.

Blitz’s sister, Suzanne Goldberg, who attended the

Students Maria Morava, left, and Breeana Clayton, second from left, with Suzanne Goldberg and her daughter, Shira. (Molly McGowan Gorsuch) recent ceremony with her daughter, said the family didn’t know that Erb existed. But the names Erb noted in her letter matched some of those whom Blitz had researched years earlier. Erb is Suzanne Goldberg’s second cousin, three times removed.

“The outcome was more than we could have imagined – that one day I could meet these people,” said Maria Morava, an East Henderson senior. “The letter could not have found its way into better hands. I didn’t realize how emotionally taxing it would be.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican who represents the North Carolina congressional district where East Henderson High is located and attended the ceremony with his wife, said the giving of the letter to Yad Vashem was the kind of event that leaves a lasting impression.

“There are only a handful of events that touch you and will affect you forever,” Meadows told JTA. “This was one of those events.”

Lourie said that the letter’s power lies is in illuminating the lengths to which Betty Erb went to save herself and her future husband. As an educator in Yad Vashem’s See “Help” on page 13

Quick Reference Guide to Planned Giving Use this planned giving quick reference guide to help determine the best strategy for achieving your philanthropic and financial goals. For more information or to discuss these planned giving options, please contact Mark Silverberg, Executive Director, Jewish Federation of NEPA, 570-961-2300 (x1) or mark.silverberg@jewishnepa.org.

If Your Goal is to:

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Make a quick & easy gift Simply write a check now

An income tax deduction and immediate charitable impact

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Defer a gift until after your lifetime Put a bequest in your will (gifts of cash, specific property,

or a share or the residue of your estate

Receive guaranteed fixed income that is partially Create a charitable gift annuity tax-free

A charitable deduction plus no capital gains tax

Avoid capital gains tax on the sale of a home or other real estate

Donate the real estate or sell it to a charity at a bargain price

An income tax reduction plus reduction or elimination of capital gains tax

Avoid the two-fold taxation on IRA or other employee benefit plans

Give your personal residence or farm, but retain life use

Name a charity as the beneficiary of the remainder of the retirement assets after your lifetime

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Create a charitable gift of future interest, called a retained life estate

Tax advantages plus use of the property

Exemption from federal estate tax on donations Current & future savings on income taxes, plus fixed, stable payments

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12

THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

Holocaust 1

students. Organizers noted that this part of the program is “carefully crafted” so that the survivors can share their testimonies with the students and, in turn, the children return to their schools to share the stories. The learning experience is intended to continue in their classrooms, as they connect the testimonies to historical events in social studies and to the poetry, historical fiction and non-fiction in their English classes.

The survivor testimony session was followed by lunch in the Casey Grand Ballroom and the closing event, the Abe Plotkin Memorial Lecture on the Holocaust and Social Justice. For the 27th Annual Symposium, organizers present the play “Lida Stein and the Righteous Gentile.”

The 50-minute play followed “ordinary people from ordinary families” who became caught in the political and social upheaval of the Nazi era. It focused on the relationship between Lida Stein, a Jewish teenage girl, and her best friend, Dora Krause, a German teenage girl.

Lida’s parents were forced by Nazi decrees, which were announced throughout the play by a Nazi officer, to give up their daughter to the Krause family, who agreed to hide them. Lida continued to learn her school lessons from Dora’s mother. Gradually, Dora became a Hitler supporter, and became racist and antisemitic toward her former best friend.

The play explored the era from the perspective of teenagers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who were forced to make life-altering decisions about friendship, politics and family loyalty. The audience discussion that followed addressed 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. The audience discussion focused on peer pressure and its impact on decision-making, family loyalty, personal responsibility and personal safety versus moral strength and commitment.

The conclusion of the day included a reminder to all participants to fill out the evaluation forms, which are used as a source of feedback to the planning committee from the Holocaust Education Resource Center.

The Hilton Scranton and Conference Center and the

Continued from page 7

Jewish Federation were thanked for their “dedication, generosity and commitment” to the program, which has reached approximately 20,000 young people throughout 27 years.

“It is our sincere hope that all of the participants continue to share the knowledge, wisdom and testimonies of the 17 survivors and liberators with their peers, siblings and parents,” said organizers of the symposium.

Symposium guest speakers

Annie Bleiberg was born in Oleszye, Poland. Soon after the Germans occupied Poland in 1939, they established and forced Jews into ghettos, including Bleiberg and her family. When the ghetto was liquidated, the Jewish inhabitants were forced onto a train and sent to Belzec, a camp in the Lublin District in the General Gouvernement. Bleiberg escaped from the moving train and began a brief life in hiding. She was betrayed by a classmate and ultimately was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After the war, Bleiberg came to the United States and settled in the Bronx.

Ronnie (Renate) Breslow, a native of Germany, is a survivor of the Holocaust and was a passenger on the ship the ST. Louis. She relates her experiences to the public as “a personal insight” into “an unimaginable part” of her own life, and in the larger perspective of Jewish history. Breslow is a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia, and a senior member of the JCRC Board of Directors.

Sonia Goldstein was born in Vilna, Poland (now called Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania), which was considered a prosperous, cultured city. Of the approximately 200,000 inhabitants, about 55,000 were Jews. Goldstein was educated in private schools and attended high school with plans to become a pharmacist. When the war began, she explains, Vilna came under Russian control and the family’s “comfortable life changed dramatically.” In 1941, the Nazis occupied Vilna and all the Jews of city “had to endure harsh laws and restrictions, along with constant fear.” Goldstein and her family were later forced into the Vilna Ghetto, and after many hardships, were

transported to the Stuthof concentration camp. Goldstein and her mother survived the camp, but were forced to survive a death march.

Trudy Klein Gompers was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1937. On March 12, 1938, the Nazis annexed Austria and life for her family immediately changed. Klein Gompers’ mother was personally humiliated when members of the Nazi party demanded that she scrub the streets in preparation for a visit by Adolf Hitler. Klein Gompers, along with her parents and brother, boarded a train and left Vienna for London, England, where they survived the war and then sailed to New York City in 1946.

Elly Gross, formerly Berkovits, was born in Romania. Her father perished early in the war. Gross and her remaining family, her mother and younger brother, Adalbert, were taken to a ghetto in 1944 along with most other Jews in her area. Six weeks later, her family, along with thousands of other Jews, were transported via cattle cars to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was separated from her mother and brother. Gross credited her survival of the camp to “miracles,” noting that few others of her age group survived the ordeal. She was transferred to Fallersleben, a part of the Neuengamme concentration camp, where she worked as a slave laborer for Volkswagen until liberation by the Allies on April 14, 1945. Gross is a painter, a poet and the author of four books.

Jack Gruener, originally from Krakow, Poland, is the sole survivor of his family. He began to face the Nazis as a child of 12, and experienced “virtually every hell” in the Holocaust years, including imprisonment in 10 concentration camps, Gruener notes. At Auschwitz, his arm was tattooed with a number and he escaped several roundups. He asked his listeners to act with consideration toward each other. His story was included in the Scholastic book “Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust.” Today, Gruener lives in New York with his wife, Ruth, and is a father of two sons and grandfather to four.

Ruth Gruener was a hidden child in Poland under “extraordinary” circumstances. She was hidden in a home in which the rest of the family would have turned her over to the Nazis if they knew the mother and grandmother were hiding her in a trunk in their midst. Ruth conveyed the fear she faced daily as a 7year-old, and told of nearly being turned over to the Nazis. However, her focus was said to be “one of hope and kindness to one another.”

At 4-years-old, Ruth Hartz was hidden during the Holocaust in southern France. During that time, she had to change her name to Renee to hide her Jewish identity.

In addition to being sheltered by an ordinary French farm family, she spent six months in a small Catholic convent to avoid capture by both the Vichy French police and the Gestapo. When informants told the authorities that the nuns were hiding Jewish children, the mother superior was forced to lie to keep Hartz and the other children safe. Only the mother superior knew the children were Jewish. The other nuns thought they were just orphans.

In the days of the Vichy French government and the Gestapo, it was said to be “anything but ordinary” to rescue a Jewish child. Hartz’ testimony was considered to be “one of courage, goodness and gratitude.” She and her family made certain the rescuers were honored

by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and she has directed and produced a DVD about them called “A Legacy of Goodness.” Her message of gratitude was said to be “eloquently expressed.”

Michael Herskovitz was born and raised in Czechoslovakia. Life changed for him at age 15 when the Nazis marched into his small town. Michael went through a series of experiences that he shared, including ghetto life, being shipped by cattle car to a concentration camp, being forced into labor and more. His story of survival, including post-liberation, was called “remarkable.”

See “Holocaust 2” on page 13

MAY 21, 2015 ■

Holocaust 2

THE REPORTER

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Continued from page 12

Frida Herskovits was born in Czechoslovakia and was taken to the first of three concentration camps she endured at the age of 17. After the war, like many other survivors, Frida tried to get to Palestine. However, the British, who were then in control, turned away the refugees and sent them to Cyprus. She eventually arrived in Palestine in 1948 and lived in Israel. In 1955, she came to America with her husband and son to join relatives.

Frida continues to espouse a message of “friendship, kindness and love.”

Sol Lurie is said to have “lived through hell” in the Kovno Ghetto starting at age 11, and survived Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a young teenager. Organizers said that he initially agreed to speak at a grandchild’s school because he loved his nuclear family “so dearly” and lost all of them. He travels across the United States, spreading messages of “respect and love” for parents and all people. His motto is “Love, don’t hate.”

Anneliese Nossbaum was born in Germany. She was imprisoned by the Nazis and placed in several concentration camps during the Holocaust, including two years in Terezin and time as a slave laborer. She was eventually liberated from Mauthausen, in Austria. Nossbaum has lectured for the past 25 years, primarily to high school students, throughout the Philadelphia area. She was recently invited to go to Germany to speak with students about the Holocaust.

Manya Perel was born in Radom, Poland, and is a survivor of the Holocaust. Perel was 15-years-old at the beginning of the Holocaust and was a prisoner in four concentration camps in Poland and four more in Germany. She survived deportation to the death camp of Treblinka, where the remainder of her family perished. Perel has spoken of her experiences at the Annual Youth Symposium on the Holocaust in Philadelphia for many years and is a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia.

Judith Sherman was born in Czechoslovakia. She is a survivor of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, where she was imprisoned at age 13. She was in hiding prior to betrayal, capture and imprisonment.

Sherman recently published a memoir, “Say the Name – A Survivor’s Tale in Prose and Poetry.” She is a retired social worker who spends much of her time in Holocaust education projects.

Dr. Micha Tomkiewicz, a survivor, shared a classroom with his liberator, Scrantonian Walter Gantz. Tomkiewicz was one of the many children packed on a train with their mothers, traveling for most of a week with very little food and water, unaware that they were headed toward Theresienstadt. When the Germans heard that the Americans were approaching, they simply abandoned the train with the prisoners. Gantz, a medic with the 95th Medical Battalion, traveling with the 30th Infantry Division, discovered the abandoned train. It was a train of cattle cars, filled with survivors of Bergen-Belsen, discovered on April 14, 1945, about a month before the end of the war. The American soldiers who discovered the train opened the doors “to horrors.” They encountered “people packed in like sardines” and immediately called for medics to set up a field hospital to tend to the sick and dying. Gantz, who was among the medics, treated the survivors for seven weeks. First, they were tended to at the train site, then in a building in a nearby town that was converted into a hospital. Both Tomkiewicz and Gantz made the effort to speak together at the symposium.

Students heard their story from two different perspectives.

Tomkiewicz is now a professor of physics at Brooklyn College; professor of physics and chemistry in the School for Graduate Studies of the City University of New York; and director of the Environmental Studies Program and the Electrochemistry Institute at Brooklyn College. He has published regularly in science publications and recently published a book on climate change.

Ela Stein Weissberger was taken to the Terezin Concentration Camp in 1942 at the age of 11. She was among the handful of children who survived. Weissberger was

among the children who performed in the children’s opera “Brundibar,” which was performed in Terezin 55 times.

She played the cat, and was one of five or six children who were kept throughout the years. The rest of the cast, a large choir, was constantly changing as children were transported to Auschwitz. Weissberger was in a children’s home with the artist Friedl Dicker Brandeis.

He worked with the children on art and poetry in order to bring some “structure and joy” to their lives, and to allow them to express themselves.

“The success of the Annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust is attributed to the dedication and generosity of a great number of individuals, organizations, institutions, corporations and foundations,” said organizers of the program. They thanked: Coordinator: Mary Ann Answini Executive director of the Federation: Mark Silverberg Federation staff: Mary Ann Mistysyn and Dolores Gruber Planning Committee: Esther Adelman, Katheryn Bekanich, Bill Burke, Carol Burke, Maggy Bushwick, Jerry Chazan, Phyllis Chazan, Jim Connors, Susie Connors, Christine Eagan, Steve Feuer, Dassy Ganz, Santina Lonergan, Dr. David Malinov, Phyllis Malinov, JoAnn Martarano, Gail Neldon, Marion Poveromo, Ellen Raffman, Carol Rubel, Alma Shaffer, John Stagen and Kelly Stagen Hilton Scranton and Conference Center: Ryan M. Alpert, director of sales and marketing; Paul Junas, director of conference services; Aleiza Yasin, executive group sales manager; and Steve Wesley of JP Lilley.

The dining and reception staff, as well as the bell staff for assistance with the buses.

Photographer: Carol Huff Hughes of Carol Hughes Photography Security: Chief Carl Graziano and the Scranton Police Department Guest speakers: Annie Bleiberg, Suzanne BliebergSeperson, Ronnie Breslow, Sonia Goldstein, Trudy Gompers, Elly Gross, Jack Gruener, Ruth Gruener, Ruth Hartz, Frida Herskovits, Michael Herskovitz, Sol Lurie, Anneliese Nossbaum, Manya Perel, Judith Sherman, Micha Tomkiewicz and Ela Weissberger, all survivors of the Holocaust, as well as World War II veteran and medic Walter Gantz and liberator Alan Moskin.

Facilitators: Esther Adelman, Katheryn Bekanich, Kyle Brown, Bill Burke, Carol Burke, Maggy Bushwick, Phyllis Chazan, Jim Connors, Susie Connors, Christine Eagan, David Fallk, John Farkas, Steve Feuer, Seth Gross, Santina Lonergan, Dr. David Malinov, Phyllis Malinov, JoAnn Martarano, Gail Neldon, Marion Poveromo, Ellen Raffman, Arlene Rudin, Laura Santoski, Alma Shaffer, John Stagan, Kelly Stagan and Anne Marie Zenie.

Volunteers: Jean Blom, Jerry Chazan, Phyllis Chazan, Antie Kane, Jim Kane, Carol Rubel, Naomi Alamar and Philip Answini Facilitator training workshop leader: Carol Rubel Drivers: Neil Weinberg, Alan McKay, Necha Weinreb and Ron Kozak Support: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; The Deutsch Family Foundation; The Pennsylvania Holocaust Education Council for funding the Abe Plotkin Memorial Lecture on the Holocaust and Social Justice; and the Rosen Family Holocaust Education Fund. Individuals who have rendered support are Joanne Aronsohn Monahan, Jim and Susie Connors, Jerry and Phyllis Chazan, Dr. David and Phyllis Malinov, Christine Eagan and Kathy Bekanich The Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center along with their president, Chuck Feldman, and Philip Holtje, program director Marisa Berman, assistant director of the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives at Queensborough Community College for gifting educational resources for teachers Michele Shulman, program coordinator of the Levine Institute on the Holocaust of United States Holocaust Museum, for DVDs for educators

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Amanda Lanceter, manager of curriculum and teacher programs for the Museum of Jewish Heritage, for Holocaust resource guides for the classroom Paul Bachow, the writer, director and producer of “A Journey into the Holocaust,” for gifting copies of the film for every teacher Susan Herlands, of My Mother’s Delicacies, for her donation that embellished lunch for the students, facilitators and survivors Courtside Document Services for assisting with the printing of Holocaust education handbooks for each participating teacher James Devers, associate vice president for facilities operations at the University of Scranton, and Susan Falbo, for allowing school buses to park and to be staged for pick up on campus.

School superintendents, principals and teachers who remain committed to the program The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania for their sponsorship and support “We sincerely hope that we’ve given thanks to the many people who made this event possible. If a name was inadvertently left out, please accept our most sincere apologies and our gratitude,” noted organizers of the program.

Help

Continued from page 11

pedagogical institute, Lourie plans to use the Erb letter as a teaching tool. “Jews were not just victims,” Lourie said. “They were making choices, trying to get out...

They struggled for life. You read this letter, and here’s this woman reaching out to anybody who may be able to help her.”

She added, “It’s only when we zoom in to the story of the individual that we can understand the meaning of the six million.”

A good deal still remains unknown. Students are working to procure a photograph of Betty Erb and to learn whether John Erb ultimately sent funds to the Paris address of the Jewish resettlement agency HICEM. They also hope to uncover the path of the letter before it was purchased by Singer. And they would like to learn about Betty Erb’s life.

At the ceremony, Lourie asked Morava and another senior who led the research effort, Breeana Clayton, to complete Yad Vashem Page of Testimony forms normally filled out by relatives to establish the identities of individuals killed in the Holocaust.

The name Betty Erb is bound to live on in future classes at East Henderson High, Singer said – an ironic legacy since the property where the school is now located was once used as a prisoner of war camp for German soldiers captured by American forces in Tunisia. The first German prisoners arrived in 1943, the same year that Betty Erb and Selling were deported to Theresienstadt. The couple died at Auschwitz the following year.

Betty Erb’s letter seeking help in escaping the Nazis.

Notice to our Pocono Readers 911 Emergency Management Services has been updating mailing addresses in Monroe County and Lehman Townships in Pike County. Please don't forget to notify the Federation so you will continue to receive The Reporter.

Thanks, Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

Jewish Family Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania

To Donate, Call Today Toll Free: 1-877-537-4227

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

14

THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

NEWS IN bRIEF from the u.s.

From JTA

Investigation into politician’s suicide finds no antisemitic smear campaign May 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.

Investigators found no evidence of an antisemitic smear campaign against a Missouri gubernatorial candidate who committed suicide. Tom Schweich, the state auditor, shot himself in the head on Feb. 26 shortly after telling journalists that a fellow party member was leading a whisper campaign saying he was Jewish. Schweich, who attended an Episcopal church, reportedly had a Jewish grandfather.

Police Detective Lt. Don Bass told the St. Louis Dispatch on May 13 that the case is now closed and that Schweich’s work computers in St. Louis and Jefferson City contained “nothing related to a suicide note, malfeasance in the Auditor’s office, or ... anything of evidentiary value.”

Missouri GOP Chairman John Hancock has denied Schweich’s charges of antisemitism against him. In March, at a memorial service for Schweich, former U.S. Senator John Danforth called the alleged antisemitism “worse than anything in my memory.”

Northwestern student files complaint over mock West Bank checkpoint demo

A Northwestern University student filed a harassment complaint over a campus demonstration that attempted to simulate Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank.

As part of their “Israeli Apartheid Week,” Northwestern’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter staged an event featuring demonstrators in camouflage mean to represent the Israel Defense Forces scrutinizing students on their knees meant to represent Palestinians, according to the Daily Northwestern.

An unnamed male sophomore undergraduate filed a harassment and verbal assault complaint for the event’s “bias against race and religion,” the Daily Northwestern reported. The male student videotaped part of the event as an observer. After refusing a pamphlet from one of the event’s participants, he said that he was going to send the video to his friend in the IDF. In response, one demonstrator said “You’re sending it to killers, great.” The pro-Palestinian student group collaborated with MECha de Northwestern, the school’s Mexican students organization, to draw what the organizations see as parallels between how Mexican immigrants are treated on the United States’ borders and how Palestinians are treated on Israel’s borders. “Not only did we intend to show the suffering that occurs, but we also intended to show the intersections of the two struggles,” senior and SJP member Imtisal Khokher told the Daily Northwestern. “Both peoples are subject to the same surveillance, the same racial profiling both here and in the state of Israel.”

Helen Mirren recognized by WJC for educating public about Nazi-looted art

Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren will receive an award for helping to educate the public about the issues surrounding Nazi-looted art. The World Jewish Congress announced on May 12 that the star of the film “Woman in Gold,” would receive the inaugural WJC Recognition Award. The award will be presented by WJC President Ronald Lauder later this year. The film tells the story of Maria Altmann, an Austrian-American woman who made headlines in 2006 for winning her legal battle against the Austrian government to reclaim five Gustav Klimt paintings, among them the”Portrait of Adele BlochBauer I,” nicknamed “Woman in Gold.” Following its restitution to Altmann in 2006, the painting was acquired

by Ronald Lauder and is now on display at the Neue Galerie in Manhattan. “The history of the ‘Woman in Gold’ painting exemplifies the immense suffering, painful loss and, for a prolonged period, the injustice that many Jews were subjected to during the 20th century. With the opening of this new movie, audiences can learn about the second half of the Nazi-looted art story: the postwar art grab by governments and museums that willfully continued the Nazi theft, both by hiding the art from the rightful owners or their heirs and by fighting the victims in court to keep the artworks,” Lauder said in a statement.

Streit’s Lower East Side factory building sells for $30.5 million

The Streit’s Matzo company is selling its 90-year-old Lower East Side matzah factory building for $30.5 million. The building at 148-154 Rivington St. in Manhattan was sold to Manhattan-based Cogswell Realty, the New York real estate blog The Real Deal reported on May 11.

Streit’s and Cogswell Realty entered into negotiations in January, when Streit’s announced that it would sell the building. Founded in 1916 by Austrian immigrants, Streit’s is the last family-owned matzah company in the U.S. The company will likely move its matzah-making operations to its other factory in Moonachie, NJ, but it is open to looking at other locations. Streit’s had failed to sell the building for $25 million in 2008.

MAY 21, 2015 ■

THE REPORTER

15

NEWS IN bRIEF From JTA

Officer who beat Ethiopian-Israeli soldier fired from police force

The Israeli police officer who was caught on video beating an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier was fired. Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino made the announcement on May 13 at Netanya Academic College, the Hebrew-language Ynet news website reported. The dismissal comes two days after a dismissal hearing with police officials.

“He had a lot of arguments and we had an in-depth discussion on this issue, along with the legal counsel, the discipline department, the attorney general and head of human resources. After the hearing, everyone decided that he should be dismissed from the police,” Danino said. It is not known what will happen to a second police officer seen in the video, Ynet reported. The beating was one of the catalysts for Ethiopian-Israeli protests against police brutality and racism that turned violent in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Ethiopian-Israeli activists had called for the officer’s dismissal. The activists also called for the release without charges of the activists arrested the week of May 3 in Tel Aviv, a demand that Danino rejected. Ethiopian-Israeli activists said they plan to hold another rally in Tel Aviv against racism and police brutality on May 18, Ynet reported. On May 11, several hundred activists held a peaceful rally in Haifa. “We are a brave generation, members of the Ethiopian community, we are demanding justice for our community and we will not rest until we receive it,” activists wrote on social networks, according to Ynet. The activists called on “every person who believes in equal rights and justice” to attend the Tel Aviv rally.

ICC prosecutor: Waiting for Israel to provide information on Gaza operation

If Israel does not provide information on last summer’s Gaza operation, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court will base her decision to launch a full investigation solely on Palestinian claims. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the Associated Press on May 12 that she has not yet received information from either side, but expects to receive data from the Palestinians. Israel has said it will not cooperate with an investigation by the ICC of its Operation Protective Edge. The Palestinians officially joined the ICC in April, with plans to ask the court to prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. In January, ICC prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry into possible war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank dating to the end of June, just before the start of Israel’s operation in Gaza. The prosecutors will determine whether preliminary findings merit a full investigation into alleged atrocities and possible charges against Israeli and/or Palestinian officials. The preliminary investigation could take months or years.

Palestinian sentenced to prison for Facebook incitement

A court in Jerusalem has sentenced a Palestinian man to prison for posting messages on Facebook urging his friends and followers to commit “violent acts and acts of terrorism.” The Jerusalem Magistrate Court on May 12 sentenced eastern Jerusalem resident Omar Shalabi, the secretary general of the Palestinian political party Fatah’s Jerusalem branch, to nine months in prison for incitement and for supporting a terrorist organization, The New York Times reported. Shalabi has some 5,000 Facebook friends and 755 followers. Among his posts were a photo of a Palestinian man who was shot dead by police after driving his car into people waiting at a Jerusalem light rail station, killing a baby, and a post praising two men who killed five worshippers in a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. “Ask death to grant you life; glory is bestowed upon the martyrs,” the post said. It is the first time that Israel has imprisoned someone for incitement on social media, Ynet reported, though in recent months Israel has detained several Palestinians and Arab-Israelis for incitement over statements on social media, according to The New York Times.

Vatican to recognize Palestinian statehood in completed treaty

The Vatican will officially recognize Palestinian statehood in an agreed-upon treaty.

The recognition came on May 13 in an announcement that the Vatican had finalized a treaty with the state of Palestine. Previously, the Vatican conducted its diplomatic relations through the Palestine Liberation Organization. The treaty must still be approved by officials on both sides and then signed, according to a joint statement posted on the Vatican’s website. The treaty discusses the Vatican’s interests in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, including churches in the territories, taxes on church charities, and cultural and diplomatic issues, The New York Times reported, citing Hanna Amireh, head of a Palestinian committee on church affairs, and a member of the Plo’s Executive Committee. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told the Times of Israel, “We’re disappointed by the decision taken by the Holy See. We believe that such a decision is not conducive to bringing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.” “Israel will study the agreement and consider its next steps accordingly,” said a statement issued by the ministry. During his tenure, Pope Francis has indicated his desire for the establishment of a Palestinian state. He visited Israel and Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank in 2014, and later hosted the presidents of Israel and the Palestinian Authority at the Vatican, where they held a prayer for peace.

Belgian groups condemn airing of video featuring antiIsrael guide at Auschwitz

Belgian anti-racism groups condemned a public broadcaster’s airing of a video showing a guide at Auschwitz telling visiting youths that she is pro-Palestinian and antisemitic because of Israel. The video was aired by the Flemish VRT network on May 8 as part of the program Terzake. It was about a trip organized by the “Trein der 1000” nongovernmental group for 1,000 teenagers from Belgium to the former Nazi death camp in Poland. The program is meant to teach adolescents about the Holocaust in order to educate them about the dangers of racism. At the camp, the group’s Jewish guide, Lydia Chagoll, 84, is seen saying: “I am pro-Palestinian. I’m antisemitic.”

Chagoll made the statement while talking to 18-year-old Fida’a Temraz, a Belgian high school student of Palestinian descent, and several other students. Referencing Israel, Chagoll added: “I am an antisemite, because I think it is a scandal that cannot be permitted. It cannot happen.” In a statement, the Flemish Forum of Jewish Organizations wrote that Chagoll’s statement about being antisemitic was probably sarcastic, but that because of her actions, “an activity meant to be educational turned into a disgusting and historically incorrect statement.” Termaz said in an interview for

VRT: “The situation now in Palestine, the occupation and the Holocaust, and Jewry, all is interconnected.” She added: “Hadn’t they [Jews] experienced it, I would have never come to Belgium, I would have been born and raised in Palestine.” Chagoll, an artist and writer, spent World War II in the Far East, in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, after her Dutch parents fled Nazi-occupied Holland to what is today Indonesia, according to a biography of Chagoll offered by a publisher of one of her books. But in Auschwitz, she described to the group how the smell of burning flesh at Auschwitz “penetrated everything, the wood and the walls, it’s something you can’t forget.” She also told the group that Jews were stripped naked and gunned down en masse at the camp – a claim disputed by Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who told JTA there were only sporadic shootings at Auschwitz. Joel Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, told JTA “the trip meant to inoculate teens against antisemitism ended up possibly infecting them with it.” He added that his group was looking into initiating legal or disciplinary action against VRT for airing the item. Neither VRT nor the trip organizers were available for comment.

Canadian government denies it will criminalize boycotts of Israel

The Canadian government has denied a report that it is considering criminalizing boycotts of Israel. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp’s website earlier this week posted a story saying Ottawa “is signaling its intention to use hate crime laws against Canadian advocacy groups that encourage boycotts of Israel,” saying such a move “could target a range of civil society organizations.” The report came after CBC reporter Neil Macdonald asked the government what it meant by earlier statements that it would show “zero tolerance” for those who promote boycotts of Israel. In a speech at the United Nations in January, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney stated Canada has a “zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, including in rhetoric towards Israel, and attempts to delegitimize Israel such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.” Macdonald received a reply from Blaney’s office saying Canada “has the most comprehensive sets of laws against hate crime anywhere in the world,” and that the country “will not allow hate crimes to undermine our way of life, which is based on diversity and inclusion.” Macdonald claimed the response implied that the government could launch criminal actions under its hate crimes provisions against pro-BDS religious groups such as the United Church of Canada and the Canadian Quakers, as well as campus and community organizations, labor unions, and others who promote BDS. Blaney’s office denounced the story as “inaccurate and ridiculous,” adding, “these laws have been on the books for many years and have not changed. We won’t dignify this bizarre conspiracy theory with further comment.” Honest Reporting, a media monitoring group, wrote that Macdonald’s “animus against Israel is well-known.”

European leaders call on E.U. to broker Israel-Palestinian negotiations

A group of former European diplomats and political leaders has called on the European Union to “construct a coherent and effective policy on the question of Palestine.” The call by the group, which calls itself the European Eminent Persons Group, came in a letter sent the week of May 13 to E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, London’s The Guardian newspaper reported on May 13. The newspaper also published the letter. The European Eminent Persons Group is made up of former prime ministers, foreign ministers and ambassadors, many of whom signed the letter.

According to the letter, the call was spurred by the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his formation of a new, right-wing government. The letter says that the group believes that Netanyahu has “little intention of negotiating seriously for a two-state solution” during his new government’s term, and that the group has “low confidence” in the United States government “to take a lead on fresh negotiations with the vigor and the impartiality that a two-state outcome demands.”

The group remains committed to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, according to the letter. “The absence of any credible negotiation process, combined with the desperate condition of the Occupied Territories, the eroding international legitimacy of the Israeli approach and the instability of the wider region, requires a fresh examination of E.U. policy,” the letter said, citing the reluctance of the E.U. and its member states’ “to get out in front of the United States in an area where Washington has always insisted on prime ownership.” The letter calls on the E.U. to support a United Nations Security Council resolution recognizing a Palestinian state; preparing a new approach to negotiations such as the Arab Peace Initiative; encouraging Palestinian reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, and other Islamic groups; calling for an end to end to West Bank settlement expansion; and labeling goods for sale in E.U. countries that were produced in Jewish settlements.

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16

THE REPORTER ■ MAY 21, 2015

You are cordially invited to the

ANNUAL MEETING of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

Please join us as we elect Officers and Trustees, celebrate the achievements of the past year and honor several individuals for their leadership contributions to our community and to Israel

Thursday, June 11th, 2015, 7:00 PM Koppleman Auditorium, Scranton Jewish Community Center, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton Dessert reception will follow the meeting. Dietary laws observed - RSVP to 961-2300 (ext. 4)

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

2015 Annual Meeting Program Welcome & introductions...................................... Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President Invocation............................................................. Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed Federation Perspectives......................................... Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President Presentation of Presidential Award......................... Mark Silverberg, Executive Director Presentation of Campaign Awards......................... Douglas Fink, Federation Vice-President 2015 UJA Campaign Report.................................. Mark and Joan Davis Nominating Committee Report............................. Seth Gross, Chairman Installation of Officers and Trustees....................... Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Temple Hesed Closing Remarks - Dr. David Malinov

Dessert Reception & Film Will Follow the Meeting: “Israel Inside: How a Little Nation Makes Such a Big Difference”

Proposed Slate of Officers & Trustees 2015 - 2018 Officers*

President...............................................................David Malinov* Administrative Vice-President...............................Douglas Fink* Vice-President.......................................................Elliot Schoenberg* Vice-President.......................................................Eric Weinberg* Treasurer...............................................................Barry Tremper* Assistant Treasurer................................................Jerry Weinberger* Secretary...............................................................Mark Silverberg Assistant Secretary................................................Donald Douglass*

Board of Trustees

Elected to serve a 1-year term ending June 30th, 2016* Alex Gans, Karen Pollack, Filmore Rosenstein, Stan Rothman, Jay Schectman and Irwin Wolfson *Trustees to be elected at the Annual Meeting

3-year term expiring in June 2016

*Officers to be elected at the Annual Meeting

Elected to serve a 3-year term ending June 30th, 2018* Esther Adelman, Susie Blum Connors, Mark Davis, Eli Deutsch, Lynn Fragin, Dale Miller, Larry Milliken, Gail Neldon and Molly Rutta. *Trustees to be elected at the Annual Meeting

• Continuing Terms •

Jim Ellenbogen, Joseph Fisch, Leah Laury, Phyllis Malinov, Mel Mogel, Geordee Pollock, Alma Shaffer, Suzanne Tremper and Eric Weinberg

3-year term expiring in June 2017 Sandra Alfonsi, Phyllis Barax, Shlomo Fink, Susan Jacobson, Dan Marcus, Ann Monsky, Barbara Nivert, Eugene Schneider and Ben Schnessel

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania expresses its gratitude to those Trustees whose terms of office will expire in June 2015. It is hoped that each of them will continue to serve the Mission of our Federation by participating in its many important committees, programs and projects. Our appreciation is extended to Herb Appel, Phyllis Brandes, Lainey Denis, Richard Fine, Natalie Gelb, Laurel Glassman, Ed Monsky, Laney Ufberg and Jay Weiss