November 5, 2015 edition of The Reporter

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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 22

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Jewish holy sites under fire as “classical terrorism and political warfare” collide

BY ALEX TRAIMAN JNS.org Operating on a parallel track to the wave of Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel, a physical and diplomatic war against Jewish holy sites is also under way. On October 21, a Palestinian resolution was passed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization by a vote of 26-6, with 25 abstentions, to list two revered Jewish holy sites – the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the tomb of the matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem – as Muslim holy sites. Jewish holy sites are also under siege physically, including the recent firebombing of Joseph’s Tomb.

“This ongoing assault is the merging of

classical terrorism and political warfare,” said Dan Diker, director of the Political Warfare project at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think tank.

The UNESCO bill, which also condemned Israel for archaeological excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem, was a watered-down version of an earlier bill that sought to officially claim that the Western Wall Plaza – the most heavily visited modern-day Jewish prayer site – is “an extension” of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount compound. That language was roundly rejected by UNESCO and the international community. “[The Palestinians] are trying to demoralize the Israeli public, first by fear of terror, and second by mobilizing the

Tzedakah Tzeason returns in 2015

For the past few years, the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania has held a charity drive outside the Federation family known as Tzedakah Tzeason. The program has helped the kosher food pantry at Jewish Family Service; it has sent candy to Jewish U.S. servicemen and women; and it has engaged in other ventures seeking to “lift the spirits and improve people’s lives.”

This year, Tzedakah Tzeason has partnered with Goodwill of Scranton in

collecting gently used winter coats for adults and children. The coats will be sold in Goodwell’s discount clothing stores.

Community members have been asked to bring coats to the Scranton Jewish Community Center, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, during business hours. The coat drive will end right before Chanukah, with the Goodwill pick-up on Thursday, December 3.

For more information, contact Dassy Ganz at 570-961-2300, ext. 2, or e-mail dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org.

SHDS auction at the Colonnade At left: Committee members finalized plans for the Scranton Hebrew Day School auction to be held on Sunday, November 22, at 6 pm, at the Colonnade, 401 Jefferson Ave., Scranton.

For more information or to receive a fullcolor brochure, call the day school at 570346-1576. L-r: Molly Rutta, Rachelle Werbin, Leah Laury and Fraidel Tzuker.

The fire at Joseph’s Tomb on October 16. (Photo by YouTube) international community against the legitimacy of the Jewish state,” Diker told JNS.org.

For weeks, Palestinian leaders have alleged that the current wave of terror was sparked by Israeli violations of a longstanding and fragile status quo on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Compound. The site is recognized by Jews and Muslims alike as the site of First and Second Jewish Temples.

Since the Six-Day War in 1967 – in which Israel conquered the Temple Mount, only to return the site days later to a defeated Muslim custodianship – Jews have been permitted under Israeli law to visit Judaism’s holiest site, but are not permitted to pray there. Muslims are allowed to both gather and pray on the site. Palestinians contend that Israel seeks to revoke Muslim rights on the Temple Mount and permit Jews to pray there, with the intention of replacing Al-Aqsa with a third Jewish Temple.

While Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have continuously denied any change to the regulations and visitation patterns of Jews on the site, Palestinians have used Al-Aqsa as a rally cry to incite Arabs to violence against Israelis.

Before a recent trip to address the U.N. Security Council, Netanyahu stated, “Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, but regretfully lies continue to be spread about our policy toward the Temple Mount.

Israel is maintaining the status quo. It is the Palestinians bringing weapons to the Temple Mount who are harming the site’s sanctity and disturbing the status quo.”

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin stated at a recent joint press conference with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “The Temple Mount is held captive by people who want to ignite a religious war. Israel won’t let this happen and won’t change even a single letter of the status quo.”

According to Diker, the narrative that Al-Aqsa is in danger has been used by Muslims as a “pretext to incite violence” against Jews for nearly a century. “The ‘AlAqsa is in danger’ libel traces back to the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.

This is the same Husseini who conspired with Hitler on the Final Solution,” Diker

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told JNS.org. “He mobilized thousands of Arabs to the Temple Mount in the 1920s and ‘30s using the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a staging ground for terror against the Jewish communities of that time.”

More recently, said Diker, “Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have adopted this rhetoric, and have used it regularly.

In September 2000, Yasser Arafat rallied terrorists under the false claims that AlAqsa was in danger. They named their terror wave the Al-Aqsa Intifada. It’s the same libel.”

Earlier that same year, in July 2000 at the Camp David Summit, Arafat famously denied that any Jewish Temple ever stood at the Jerusalem complex – despite the fact that a guide to the Temple Mount published by the Supreme Muslim Council in 1925 (and again in subsequent years) states explicitly, “Its identity as the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute.”

“That was Arafat using Al-Aqsa to mobilize Muslims in Israel and throughout the Muslim world. And today we are seeing the exact same thing,” Diker said.

“Instead of condemning the Palestinian Authority for incitement to murder, the international community buys the current Islamic narrative… For decades, Arabs have used the Al-Aqsa mosque compound as a sanctuary for terror.”

While the Temple Mount has been at the epicenter of Arab terror and narrative warfare, other significant Jewish holy sites have been dragged into the militant and diplomatic assault. Over recent weeks, nearly a dozen separate incidents have been recorded near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron (the See “Sites” on page 10

Federation on Facebook

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

Candle lighting November 6................................. 4:34 pm November 13................................ 4:27 pm November 20................................4:21 pm

Federation donations help support Clark University has a collection of A Boston microbrewery uses PLUS JAFI and JDC efforts to aid terror currencies used in concentration Israeli tech to use water from the victims and refugees. camps and ghettos.

Charles River in its beer.

Opinion........................................................2 Story on page 5 Story on page 9 Story on page 10 D’var Torah................................................8

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THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

A MATTER OF OPINION Fostering a culture of death has its price Reprinted with permission of Israel National News/Arutz Sheva Contrary to the wishes of the U.S. State Department, the U.S. House of Representatives has just frozen $370 million in financial aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to mounting criticism concerning Palestinian anti-Israel and antisemitic incitement that has led to the rash of lethal attacks that have left more than a dozen Israeli civilians dead throughout the past several weeks. The money was intended to develop Palestinian infrastructure and foster economic growth, but instead, it is being used by the Palestinian Authority to incite the murder of Jews and to sow destruction within Israel.

Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security advisor under President George W. Bush who is now with the Council on Foreign Relations, went further and has suggested that additional penalties should be imposed, including the closing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization office in Washington, sanctioning P.A. officials and others with visa bans, and earmarking U.S. aid for specific programs untainted by corruption so long as Palestinian leaders continue to incite their people to murder Israelis.

Hopefully, the U.S. government will no longer be swayed by the fallacious arguments that Palestinian terrorism is motivated by “political and social desperation,” “frustration and alienation,” “Israeli settlement activity,” “failure to agree on

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borders” and “the inevitable consequence of neglect” – phrases that are often used by administration officials and members of the mainstream media to excuse and/or justify Palestinian terrorist actions.

Truth is, Palestinian violence is not induced by any of the above, but it is in fact driven by hope: the hope of annulling

single Jew in Palestine is a combatant, even the children. Attacks should be carried out in the very heart of the enemy – in Haifa, Jaffa, Tel Aviv and Hadera.”

This culture of death follows years in which Palestinian children have been taught to idolize the murder of Jews as a sacred duty and to regard their own death in this jihad as the pinnacle of their aspirations. In September, P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas spoke of not wanting “filthy Jewish feet” to “desecrate” the al-Aqsa Mosque, MARK SILVERBERG and in early October, in the midst of the terror attacks Jewish national sovereignty and disman- throughout Israel, he stated, “We welcome tling the Jewish nation-state. every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem.

The U.S. action is therefore long This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on overdue. The large number of stabbings, its way to Allah. With the help of Allah, vehicular murders, shootings, fire-bomb- every martyr (read ‘murderer’) will be in ings and other deadly attacks throughout heaven, and every wounded will get his Israel are a product of the war being waged reward.” Similarly, Jibril Rajoub, a memby Palestinian leadership, a war designed ber of the Fatah leadership, has praised to inculcate in the minds of its younger the Palestinian terrorist attacks against generation that Judaism is only a religion Israelis, calling them “acts of courage,” and Jews are not a people and therefore not and said Palestinian schools should show entitled to a nation state of their own; that last will and testament videos recorded by Israel is “occupying” sacred Islamic land terrorists as part of their curriculum! in violation of Islamic law, that it intends On numerous occasions, Abbas has to undermine the status of the al-Aqsa proclaimed deceitfully that Israel wants Mosque/Temple Mount and that Jews have to undermine the status of the al-Aqsa no history of having ever ruled the land, Mosque or change the status quo on which they falsely proclaim is, was and the Temple Mount. Such a lie, as David always will be part of the Muslim umma. Makovsky of the Washington Institute As such, the mission of the Palestinians for Near East Peace noted recently, is – despite all the rhetoric to the contrary equivalent to yelling “fire” in a crowded – is to bring about Israel’s destruction. theater, given the role that such allegations To achieve this goal, Palestinian leaders have played in provoking past violence in have created a culture of death throughout a society whose educational system contheir society nurtured for many years in tinues to teach its children that “Jews are mosques, schools, newspapers, TV chan- the descendants of pigs and monkeys.” nels and through their social media. The That system teaches Palestinian youth brainwashing has been so effective that that “armed conflict” – the Palestinthese young “martyr wannabes” – as we are ian euphemism for the murder of Jews witnessing today – are ready and willing – against “the so-called state of Israel” is to die in the act of killing a Jew. both a religious duty and an act purportThe most vivid current example is a edly legitimized by the United Nations, video clip, translated by the invaluable a falsehood repeated in a number of Middle East Media Research Institute 12th-grade Palestinian textbooks. Is it any (www.memri.org), of Gaza cleric Abu wonder, then, that viewers of official P.A. Rajab wielding a knife and urging Pal- television recently were treated to the estinians in the West Bank to “stab the sight of a Palestinian boy, dressed up in myth about the Temple in [Jews’] hearts.” battle fatigues, telling a smiling talk-show He doesn’t mean that rhetorically, nor is host of his wish to become an engineer Rajab alone in promoting this psychotic “so that I can build bombs to blow up all behavior. In another clip, Palestinian cleric the Jews”?

Muhammad Salah stands at the pulpit The Palestinian Authority also pays of his mosque in Gaza clutching a large handsome stipends to terrorists and their kitchen knife. His hand repeatedly comes families using U.S. foreign aid dollars. down in a violent stabbing motion as he This serves as a powerful incentive to carry delivers a very specific command: “Form out further acts of terror. Apprehended, stabbing squads. We don’t want just a convicted and incarcerated terrorists single stabber. Attack in threes and fours. – including mass murderers – are paid subSome should restrain the victim, while the stantial monthly stipends while in prison. others attack him with axes and butcher Similarly compensated are their family knives. Cut them into body parts.” And he members. The wherewithal lavished on lists Israeli cities where they are to strike: these killers and their kin is the tangible Afula, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. expression of their community’s and These Palestinian maniacal preachers officialdom’s gratitude for spilling Jeware not alone in their hatred. Dr. Subhi Al- ish blood. Abdullah Barghouti, Hamas’ Yaziji, dean of Quranic studies at the Islamic notorious bomb-maker who is serving University of Gaza, told Hamas’ Al-Aqsa 67 life sentences for killing 66 people TV on October 16, “All Jews in Palestine and wounding some 500 others – has today are fair game – even the women. Every already amassed more than six figures in

FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

P.A. “salaries.” For two years, Barghouti sent suicide bombers to ordinary places, the names of which no Israeli will ever forget: The Moment Café, the Hebrew University cafeteria, and the Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem, where seven children were killed when a suicide bomber selfdetonated in the restaurant.

These funds are being paid to murdererheroes at a time when Abbas bemoans the fact that Ramallah is in dire economic straits! No doubt, the latest group of Abbas’s homegrown killers fully expect to be officially celebrated as “martyrs” instead of being castigated as the murderers they are.

The unending stream of blooddrenched caricatures and the video clips that circulate virally through Palestinian social media are further telling indications of how profoundly the worship of violence, death and Jew-hatred is entrenched in Palestinian society, not to mention the many schools, city squares and sports tournaments named in “honor” of these terrorist “martyrs.”

As Daniel Greenfield wrote in Front Page Magazine, imagine a society that uses U.S. and European foreign aid dollars to build an educational and religious system dedicated to creating thousands of “psychotic serial killers”; a society that publishes “postcards featuring the dead body parts of terror victims that were sold”; that exhibits scenes of mass murders “complete with blood and body parts”; that shows crowds swarming “to grab pieces of body parts of their victims and then shows them off”; and proudly features media clips showing Islamic clerics giving “very specific instructions on mutilating their Jewish victims.”

In an October 16 children’s show on the Palestinian Al-Kitab TV channel, the child host praised the Palestinians who stabbed Israelis as heroes. Music CDs sold in the West Bank feature songs like “Stab, Stab.” “Stab the Zionist and say God is great,” one song declares. “Let the knives stab your enemy,” says another. A third song urges, “Say hello to being a martyr.”

Then there is “Run Over, Run Over the Settler.” And an article in the official P.A. daily described a dead terrorist’s blood in romantic and poetic terms presenting it as something Palestinians should cherish.

Nor is this new. During the P.A. terror campaign from 2000-05, the Second Intifada, the official P.A. TV broadcast hundreds of times a video aimed at children, presenting martyrdom (death) as the key to open the gates of Paradise.

The false canards about the Temple Mount that Abbas continues to promote have only one purpose: to focus Palestinians on pushing Jews out and to mobilize international opinion against any Israeli measures of self-defense to ensure that Jews can live without fear. These terrorist attacks make it clear that the Palestinian goal isn’t to achieve a two-state solution – the overriding premise behind the Oslo Accords – regardless of any generous terms offered. This slow build-up to a See “Price” on page 6

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Federation’s Jewish Film Lending Library appreciated To the community: My name is Maggie Augugliaro and I am the Senior Citizen Program coordinator for the Jewish Resource Center of the Poconos. In addition to The Lunch Club, which meets every Thursday in Stroudsburg, we also run the Cultural Outreach, Socialization and Education for Retirees Program for the Jewish Home in Scranton, which meets on Tuesdays in various loca-

tions in Wayne and Pike counties.

I have been meaning to write and thank you so much for the use of your Jewish Film Lending Library! Just this past week we borrowed the film “Deli Man” and showed it to both of our senior groups.

Not only was the main story about Ziggy Gruber very entertaining, but there were so many interesting nostalgic storylines that I know really touched our seniors. This is

not the only movie we have borrowed. In the past, we have viewed “Hava Nagila (The Movie),” “Footnote” and “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story.” Each film, although different, was enjoyed by our seniors and we very much look forward to borrowing more from your library in the future!

Sincerely, Maggie Augugliaro

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

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COMMUNITY NEWS Congregation B’nai Harim sends “HUGS” to the needy

BY LEE EMERSON Congregation B’nai Harim has been distributing donated “HUGS” – hats, underwear, gloves and scarves, as well as coats – to the needy and homeless in Monroe County. The project is chaired by Norma Levine, who coordinates the program with the Retired Senior and Volunteer Program of Monroe County.

Additionally, a long time collection of kosher food goes to the Kosher Food Bank in Scranton; the non-kosher foods have gone to the CAME Food Bank located in High Acres Park in Canadensis. Jerry Goodstein chairs

the food bank project that collects food and money donations throughout the year.

Clothing and coats are distributed to many needy families who rely on the CAME Food Bank, as well as the Women’s Resources Program which received HUGS donations from the Congregation. The Weekly Community Free Lunch Soup Kitchen at the Mountain Home Methodist Church has also received HUGS from B’nai Harim. In addition, HUGS have gone to The Tobyhanna Community Outreach Program. This group serves the needy and homeless in Mount Pocono and Coolbaugh townships.

Finally, HUGS donations were provided to Operation Chill Out. This organization works with homeless veterans and their families. They are partnered with the Veteran’s Program at Northampton Community College.

“We all know that the winter season is just beginning and the need is great,” noted a Congregation B’nai Harim representative.

For more information, contact the message center at 646-0100 or visit www.bnaiharimpocono.org. Congregation B’nai Harim is a Reform Jewish Congregation located in Pocono Pines.

The Shabbos Project Challah Bake comes to Scranton More than 20 women in the Scranton/Clarks Summit area met on October 22 at the home of Phyllis Chazan for the Shabbos Project Challah Bake. Nancy Ben-Dov, Heidi Cohen, Dassy Ganz and Sara Shaina Stubbs organized the supplies. Malki Saks provided her challah recipe for participants to take home on laminated cards.

Organizers thanked Phyllis Chazan for suggesting that the challah baking be dedicated to the safety of people in Israel.

Three years ago, the Jewish community of South Africa, under the guidance of Rabbi Warren Goldstein, their chief rabbi, inaugurated The Shabbos Project, inviting all the Jews of South Africa to celebrate a complete Shabbat together.

The concept of Jewish unity under the banner of Shabbat

spread to other communities. Thousands of women gathered in small and large groups around the country to bake challah.

Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and unaffiliated enjoyed sharing the challah baking experience with friends old and new. The Shabbat itself was called “a time of unplugging and connecting,” as participants shut off devices and connected to family, friends and heritage. The event inspired a See “Challah” on page 6

Rozzie Ben-Dov, Sue Schwartz and Sue Diamond.

Shabbos Project Challah Bake attendees worked on the dough.

S E N I L D A E D Malka Deutsch, Alma Schaffer and Malki Saks.

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

DEADLINE

Edie Schneider, Nancy Ben-Dov and Miri Salkow.

ISSUE

Thursday, November 5.............November 19 Thursday, November 19............. December 3 Thursday, December 31............... January 14 Thursday, January 14................... January 28

Tova Meyers, Penny Meyers and Ruthy Luchins.

In remembrance of Kristallnacht, join us for a showing of Nicky’s Family This docudrama tells the story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II. Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, hadn't found a suitcase in the attic, full of documents and transport plans. Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. Dozens of Winton's "children" have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves.

When: Tuesday, November 10 at 7pm Where: Linder Room, Scranton JCC, 601 Jefferson Ave., Scranton, PA No charge for the event - please RSVP dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org or 570-961-2300 x2 Sponsored by the Holocaust Education Resource Center of the Jewish Federation of NEPA

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

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THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

THE PENNSYLVANIA JEWISH COALITION Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition update intermediate units throughout

BY JOSEPH FISCH the state, but with the budget PENNSYLVANIA BUDGET impasse and the governor’s IMPASSE travel ban for state officials, the Discussions are continuing to starting training programs are find a compromise on Pennsylbeing conducted near the Harvania’s budget impasse, which risburg area. The objective of has now exceeded 110 days.

Act 70 is to train 90 percent of ACT 70 OF 2014 (HOLOthe public, technical and charCAUST, GENOCIDE, AND ter schools in Pennsylvania on Joe Fisch HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLAHolocaust, genocide and human TION EDUCATION) IMPLEMENTED Since the passage of Act 70 in June of rights violation education by fall 2017.

2014, the Pennsylvania Department of “NO PLACE FOR HATE” RESOLUEducation has been working with the Act TIONS PASS THE HOUSE AND 70 Task Force – a task force comprised SENATE of professional Holocaust, genocide and The Pennsylvania House of Represenhuman rights violation educators – to de- tatives and Senate declared a recent week velop curriculum guidelines and resources to be “No Place for Hate Week.” on Holocaust, genocide and human rights Its resolutions commend the “No Place violation education and develop training for Hate” program which “establishes an programs for the teachers to assist in the outreach initiative designed to empower teaching of this material. schools and communities to challenge racThe PJC has announced that the re- ism, hatred, antisemitism and bigotry.” source materials are being posted on the The House of Representatives’ resoluPDE website for the teachers to access tion was introduced by Representative Dan and the training programs for the teachers Frankel (D-Allegheny) and the Senate’s have commenced. version was introduced by Senator Pat Currently, the majority of the training Browne (R-Lehigh Valley). Both resoluprograms are being conducted by the tions were passed unanimously.

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CHANUKAH Effective immediately,

AGING-IN-PLACE LEGISLATION INTRODUCED INTO THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Though most activity in Harrisburg has been on hold due to the budget impasse, Representative Mauree Gingrich (RLebanon) has introduced legislation for the Pennsylvania’s Department of Aging to work to with the state’s naturally occurring retirement communities to help maintain the current programs and look for the expansion in new ones.

The PJC has had several discussions with the Department of Aging and the House of Representatives Aging and Older Adult Services Committee of its intention to move the bill forward this session.

The PJC is now working on a plan for movement in the House and working on a companion piece to be introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Joseph Fisch is the PJC chairman of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Federation chapter.

NEWS IN BRIEF From JNS.org

Israel’s El Al inks $1.25 billion deal with Boeing for Dreamliner jets

El Al Israel airlines inked a $1.25 billion deal with Boeing to add to its fleet 15 aircraft, among them Boeing’s new Dreamliner jets, in a ceremony at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Oct. 29. The Israeli airline is purchasing nine of Boeing’s state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner aircraft (with two of them leased) and will lease an additional six aircraft.

The 787s will replace the Boeing 747-400s and Boeing 767s already in use. El Al CEO David Maimon called the agreement “a major leap forward in the company’s evolution.”

Boeing President and CEO Ray Conner praised El Al’s long 60-plus-year partnership with the American company, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.

Vandals spray swastikas on set of Israeli film in Poland

An Israeli film crew that arrived in Lodz, Poland, to begin shooting director Avi Nesher’s movie “The Sins” found the set defaced by swastikas, Israel Hayom reported. Nesher, whose films have won multiple awards in Israel and international acclaim, said that the day before his crew arrived, the crew of another movie had been involved in an incident with local residents. “When the residents were informed that the next day an Israeli film would begin shooting, [their behavior] crossed over into violent antisemitism, what they called an ‘intifada,’” Nesher said. In light of the antisemitic threats, Polish police decided to ramp up security on and around the set, and assign the actors bodyguards. “The Sins,” set in 1977, tells the story of two sisters who are driven apart by a dark secret, but are forced to work together to keep their parents from discovering it.

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Once again this year, The Reporter is inviting its readers and local organizations to extend Chanukah greetings to the community by purchasing a Chanukah greeting ad, which will appear in our December 4 issue (Deadline: Nov. 24). Chanukah begins this year on the evening of Dec. 6.

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NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

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UJA CAMPAIGN CHAI-LIGHTS Compiled from JAFI press releases by Mark Silverberg The Federation’s Israel and Overseas allocation connects the community with Israel and world Jewry.

Working with the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Joint Distribution Committee, I+O initiates, monitors and provides assessments for hundreds of social service and educational programs funded by the Federations of North America in Israel and around the world.

Terrorism in Israel JEWISH AGENCY DISTRIBUTING EMERGENCY AID TO TERROR VICTIMS The Jewish Agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror has helped more than 6,000 Israeli families and distributed more than $30 million since its establishment.

The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Fund for Victims of Terror began on October 14 to grant immediate financial aid to Israelis affected by recent terror attacks. The grants have been made possible by contributions from the Jewish Federations of North America, UJA donations and other donors.

The immediate assistance of NIS 4,000 is meant to address families’ most urgent needs in the wake of an attack, including the purchase of medical equipment, incidental expenses during hospitalization, mobility for the wounded and their family members, initial treatment for children, accommodation expenses and so on.

The grants have thus far been distributed to those wounded in the stabbing attacks, as well as to family members of those who have lost their lives as a result of them. Additional requests continue to arrive at the fund’s emergency hotline and are being handled “as swiftly as possible,” according to the fund.

In addition to the immediate emergency assistance, the fund will present each family recognized as victims of terror by Israel’s National Insurance Institute with supplemental aid of up to NIS 25,000. The supplemental grants are meant to help the families cover the costs of medical equipment, treatment, professional training and so on.

The Jewish Agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror was established in 2002 in the wake of the wave of suicide attacks that formed the Second Intifada and reopened again after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 in order to provide supplemental aid to victims of terror recognized as such by the National Insurance Institute and to assist their rehabilitation process.

Since its establishment, the fund has assisted more than 6,000 Israeli families – including hundreds affected by last summer’s Gaza operation – and distributed more than $30 million. In 2007, the fund created an emergency channel to provide victims of terror with urgent aid and help them through the immediate aftermath of an attack.

Requests for assistance from the Fund for Victims of Terror are submitted through the National Insurance Institute’s rehabilitation staff or municipal welfare services. The aid is distributed directly by Jewish Agency representatives in the field, in close coordination with local welfare services and the National Insurance Institute.

Donations can be made to the Fund for Victims of Terror by sending a check to Jewish Agency for Israel (North America), 633 3rd Ave. 21st floor, Suite C, New York, NY 10017.

IN WAR-TORN UKRAINE, A LIFELINE FOR THOSE WHO LOST EVERYTHING Alexander Zadov, 78, and his wife, Bella, 78, are internally displaced people from Donetsk, Ukraine, the town where they’ve lived their entire lives. When Donetsk became a conflict zone in summer 2014, the couple was forced to flee their home for the relative safety of Kramatorsk, about an hour north.

They thought the move was temporary and that they’d return home in a month, so they rented a makeshift apartment in an undesirable part of the city.

But, as the situation in Donetsk deteriorated, Alexander and Bella realized they could not go back. Both depend on medications that have not been available in the city since the conflict started, and this is not their only problem.

Even without their health challenges, returning to Donetsk poses additional difficulties for an aging couple.

Special permits are required now to cross the border between Ukraine and the area controlled by separatists.

“It takes at least three days of waiting in the middle of nowhere to get this permit,” said Alexander. Even if Alexander and Bella did manage to get home, they would never be allowed to escape again. The path between Donetsk and Kramatorsk is now a one-way road. The couple was not even able to take their belongings.

“We ran away in summer clothes. It was July!” said Bella. “Thanks to the JDC’s Hesed Center, we’ve got winter clothes. Frankly, I have no idea what would we do without the Hesed Center’s help.” Today, JDC’s Hesed (social welfare) Center helps Alexander and Bella with rental payments, medicines and food.

The pair is one of approximately 2,800 IDPs aided

by JDC. Alexander has said that he and his wife would not be able to survive without the Hesed Center and the JDC. “They support us not only materially. The moral support means a lot to us. We came here without knowing anyone,” he said. “Our life began with a war and now ends with another war. But JDC’s Hesed Center accepted us as a part of their family.”

Alexander Zadov, who fled Donetsk for Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

NEWS IN BRIEF From JNS.org

Most Israelis miss Yitzhak Rabin, but can’t justify Oslo Accords, poll says

While most Israelis miss former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated 20 years ago for political reasons, an even larger proportion do not believe the 1993 Oslo Accords – for which Rabin was the foremost champion – were justified. A new Israel Hayom poll on Rabin and his legacy found that most Israelis still respect his efforts to strike peace with the Palestinians. Seventysix percent agreed that Rabin was a respectable leader and 55 percent said they missed him. But when it came to the Oslo Accords, only a third of respondents thought that the peace process was justified, while 42 percent felt the accords were unwarranted. Twenty-five percent did not have an opinion on the matter. Asked whether they supported the Oslo Accords at the time they were reached, 33 percent said yes and 38 percent said no. The poll was conducted among a representative sample of 504 Jewish Israelis over the age of 18.

Joint Distribution Committee update

Funded by the Federation’s UJA Israel/Overseas gift The Joint Distribution Committee is considered to be the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, affecting millions of lives in more than 70 countries. JDC leverages a century’s experience in confronting poverty and crises around the world “to save the world’s poorest Jews, to revitalize Jewish life, to empower Israel’s future and to rescue victims from global emergencies.”

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

6

THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Challah

Continued from page 3

worldwide event last year, and now, again, this year approximately 550 cities around the world will host Shabbos Projects events.

Each participant had pre-measured packets of all the ingredients, making the process simple enough for novices to follow. Once the mixture was made, women Kits for making the challah learned that for the chal- were distributed. lah dough to rise it had to be kneaded. While the dough rested, Aviva Brotsky gave the group a talk on “the beauty of the mitzvah of challah” and Miri Salkow showed the group the actual “taking of challah.” After the blessing, participants took time for silent personal prayer.

Watching and learning how to braid the challah was the next step, followed by participants doing it themselves.

Some braided with four strands and while others learned how to braid with six. Attendees received a disposable challah pan and home instructions for the final bake.

“So much laughing and good natured camaraderie made the time fly,” said organizers of the program.

“Everyone left uplifted and relaxed and, who knows, some might become challah bakers.”

For videos and information on the worldwide Shabbos Project, visit www.ShabbosProject.org.

The challah bake group showed off their work.

Miri Salkow showed the group the actual “taking of challah.”

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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.

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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

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Aviva Brotsky spoke to the group.

Price

Continued from page 2 third intifada is about anti-Jewish hate, not complaints over settlements or borders.

Any student of Middle East history knows that hatred of the Jewish presence in the land of Israel pre-dates “occupation,” “settlements,” claims for Palestinian statehood, even the invention of the “Palestinians” themselves (circa 1964) on the advice of the Russian KGB. Since its beginnings, Palestinian nationalism has always been inextricably tied to the effort to deny Jews sovereignty over any part of the country. The Palestinians have always been more concerned with destroying the Jewish state than with creating a state of their own. The core of the conflict was, is and remains the refusal of the Palestinians to recognize the nation-state of the Jewish people in any borders.

Thus, it is time to end Western illusions that the Palestinian Authority is a reliable peace partner for Israel and its actions today are a compelling reason for the international community to seriously rethink the strange tolerance it continually exhibits toward the Palestinian death-culture.

To excuse Palestinians from normal standards of moral behavior as we’ve seen in the mainstream media and from many European and some U.S. leaders is to patronize them. Palestinians marauding through the streets of Jerusalem, Beersheva, Raanana, Beit Shemesh and numerous other Israeli cities and towns with knife and gun in hand are not acceptable by any human standard – not here, not there, not now and not ever.

The only way to halt the bloodshed is an unambiguous American stance in favor of Israel’s right to take tough measures to suppress Palestinian terrorism in all its forms and forums.

The clearer it becomes to the Palestinians that the U.S. has lost its patience and is prepared to withdraw millions more in economic aid and to deny any and all special political privileges to Palestinian leaders and the P.A., and that Israel has the determination, right and obligation to its citizens to thwart their goals, the more likely it is that Palestinian leaders will fear losing control and will be increasingly willing to calm the situation.

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania welcomes the community’s views on this subject.

7

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

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THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

• Regular Schedule of Services • ABINGTON TORAH CENTER Rabbi Dovid Saks President: Richard Rutta Jewish Heritage Connection 108 North Abington Rd., Clarks Summit, PA 18411 570-346-1321 • Website: www.jewishheritageconnection.org Sunday morning services at 8:30 am Call for other scheduled services throughout the week.

BETH SHALOM CONGREGATION Rabbi Yisroel Brotsky 1025 Vine St., Scranton, PA 18510 (corner of Vine & Clay Ave.) 570-346-0502 • fax: 570-346-8800 Weekday – Shacharit: Sun 8 am; Mon, Thurs. & Rosh Chodesh, 6:30 am; Tue, Wed & Fri, 6:45 am; Sat & Holidays, 8:45 am. Mincha during the week is approx. 10 minutes before sunset, followed by Maariv.

BICHOR CHOLEM CONGREGATION/ CHABAD OF THE ABINGTONS Rabbi Benny Rapoport President: Richard I. Schwartz 216 Miller Road, Waverly, PA 18471 570-587-3300 • Website: www.JewishNEPA.com Saturday morning Shabbat Service 9:30 am.

Call or visit us online for our bi-weekly schedule

CHABAD LUBAVITCH OF THE POCONOS Rabbi Mendel Bendet 570-420-8655 • Website: www.chabadpoconos.com Please contact us for schedules and locations.

CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL Affiliation: Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Elliott Kleinman President: Liza Roos Lucy Contact Person: Cheryl Badner, Congregation Administrator (570)253-2222 615 Court Street, Honesdale, PA 18431 570-253-2222 • fax: 570-226-1105

CONGREGATION B’NAI HARIM Affiliation: Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum President: Irene Stolzenberg P.O. Box 757 Sullivan Rd., Pocono Pines, PA 18350 (located at RT 940 and Pocono Crest Rd at Sullivan Trail) 570-646-0100 • Website: www.bnaiharimpoconos.org Shabbat Morning Services, 10 am – noon; every other Saturday Potluck Shabbat Dinner with blessings and program of varying topics, one Friday every month – call for schedule.

JEWISH FELLOWSHIP OF HEMLOCK FARMS Rabbi Steve Nathan President: David Malinov Forest Drive 1516 Hemlock Farms, Lords Valley, PA 18428 570-775-7497 • E-Mail: jfhf@enter.net Friday evening Shabbat service 7:30 pm, Saturday morning Shabbat Service 9:30 am.

MACHZIKEH HADAS SYNAGOGUE Rabbi Mordechai Fine President: Moshe Fink 600 Monroe Ave., Scranton, PA 18510 570-342-6271

OHEV ZEDEK CONGREGATION Rabbi Mordechai Fine 1432 Mulberry St, Scranton, PA 18510 Contact person: Michael Mellner - 570-343-3183

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

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF DUNMORE President: Isadore Steckel Contact person: Jay Schectman 570-954-9354 515 East Drinker St., Dunmore, PA 18512 Saturday morning Shabbat 7:30 am; also services for Yizkor

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF THE POCONOS Affiliation: United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Rabbi Baruch Melman President: Dr. Sandra Alfonsi Contact person: Dr. Sandra Alfonsi 570-223-7062 711 Wallace St., Stroudsburg, PA, 18360 (one block off Rte. 191 (5th Street) at Avenue A) 570-421-8781 • Website: www.templeisraelofthepoconos.org E-Mail: tipoc@ptd.net Friday evening Shabbat, 7pm; Saturday morning Shabbat, 9 am

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF SCRANTON Affiliation: United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Rabbi Moshe Saks 918 East Gibson St., Scranton, PA, 18510 (located at the corner of Gibson & Monroe Sts.) 570-342-0350 Fax: 570-342-7250 • E-Mail: tiscran@epix.net Sunday, 8 am; Mon & Thurs, 7:15 am; Tue, Wed & Fri, 7:25 am; Rosh Hodesh & Chagim weekdays, 7 am; Shabbat Morning Service, 8:45 am; evening services: Sun – Thurs, 5:45 pm; Friday Shabbat and Saturday Havdalah services, call for times.

D’VAR TORAH

Chaye Sarah – a garment of days

BY RABBI DANIEL J. SWARTZ, TEMPLE HESED, SCRANTON Chaye Sarah, Genesis 23:1-25:18 Chaye Sarah, literally “the life of Sarah,” actually tells the story of first Sarah’s and then Abraham’s deaths. In the process of telling about their deaths, however, the Torah and Torah commentators find lessons about how we are to live our lives. For Abraham, the lesson relates to making each day count, while Sarah’s lesson is to savor the difference of our years and yet celebrate them all.

In verse 24:1 of Genesis, our text says that “Abraham was aged, advanced in years.” Or at least that is how it usually translated, and that is probably the pshat, the most direct meaning of the phrase. But “advanced in years” is an idiomatic understanding of the phrase “ba ba-yamim,” came into his days.

The Zohar, the classic work of Jewish mysticism that is written as a commentary on Torah, understands this phrase quite differently. It explains a beautiful concept it calls the “garment of days.” What exactly is the garment of days?

Every day, the Zohar teaches, we have the opportunity to weave something beautiful from the deeds we undertake, the mitzvot we perform. If we live that day righteously, if we “do the right thing,” that day becomes a little piece of a fabric whose warp and weft come from light itself.

When we die, what we have woven on our righteous days becomes the garment that covers us.

Abraham, according to this tradition, wove righteousness into his every day, and so a complete garment was awaiting him at the end of his life. Thus, he came into his complete garment of days. Imagine if every single day, we focused on the good we have received and the good we could do. What a beautiful garment we could weave! But, too often, our days are filled with anger or disappointment, with selfishness or callous disregard. Too often, our days are wasted on pettiness, our time is spent not weaving light but on watching TV, or on our phones or computers, on all the distractions of modern life – and so the garment of our life is at best patchwork.

The Zohar reminds us that each new day brings us a new opportunity to turn our life around and bring a bit more beauty, joy, justice and peace into the world. If we

can focus on the opportunity every day brings, at the end of our life, we will be able to look back with some contentment at the tapestry we have woven.

Sarah’s life teaches a complementary lesson. The first sentence of our parasha is often translated as, “Sarah lived to be one hundred and twenty-seven years old.”

But the Hebrew literally says, “The life of Sarah was 100 years and 20 years and 7 years.” Many commentators have wondered about the repetition of the word “years.”

But my favorite teaching is that of S’fat Emet, a series of commentaries on the Torah, the Talmud and other classical Jewish texts written by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter in the late 1800s. He starts out by noting that the famous commentator Rashi wrote, “the word ‘years’ is repeated to indicate that each year was equally good.”

Rabbi Yehudah Leib wonders about this. He notes that there must be differences, for obviously our years change radically throughout the course of a lifetime, especially a long one. He writes, “There are special times during a person’s youth and special times during a person’s old age. But only the ones who are truly righteous find fulfillment in all their years.” Too often, when we are young we wish we were older and could do more “grown-up” things. And as we age, we often wish we were younger and less burdened with the years and the aches and pains, physical and otherwise, that the passage of time brings. This is a natural human tendency, but it breeds discontentment and disappointment.

Think how different our lives could be if we appreciated fully whatever age we happened to be at any given moment, if we truly celebrated what was special about that age. Instead of envy, our years, different as they are, could each be filled equally with contentment – and at their end, we could look back with appreciation at how each one had passed.

Death comes to us all. But each of our lives, with our own burdens and blessings, offers manifold possibilities, if only we have the right perspective. If we set our hearts and minds and souls to the task, we each can weave days of beauty and years of contentment. Then, at our deaths, our lives could be celebrated like those of Sarah and Abraham.

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

The concentration camp currency you never heard of

BY PENNY SCHWARTZ WORCESTER, MA (JTA) – In the 70 years since the fall of the Third Reich, the trappings of Nazi power have become infamous icons of evil – think of the swastika flag, the yellow badge or the striped concentration camp uniform. But have you ever heard of “Holocaust money,” the currencies that the Nazis forced on Jews and others in concentration camps and ghettos?

If not, you’re not alone. Even scholars have largely neglected the subject.

“It’s a mystery to me,” said Deborah Dwork, a professor of Holocaust history at Clark University here, regarding why there isn’t more contemporary research on the currencies.

Dwork hopes to change the situation.

The university’s Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, which she directs, is making a newly acquired collection of the notes and coins available for study this fall. “Clearly this is an un-

Marissa Natale is researching a new collection of Holocaust money for Clark University and considering how students may be able to use it. (Photo courtesy of Clark University)

der-researched area,” Dwork said. “It is a salutary reminder that we think we know so very much, but there are areas about which we know very little.”

Robert Messing, an amateur numismatist, or currency expert, who graduated from Clark in 1959, donated the collection last spring. The university and the Strassler Center have funded Marissa Natale, 20, a junior studying history, the Holocaust and genocide, to research the collection and consider how students may be able to use it.

The first known use of Holocaust money was in the Lodz ghetto in Poland in 1940.

Over the next five years, the Nazis introduced currencies in concentration camps and other ghettos in Germany and occupied Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands. Each camp or ghetto had its own currency – with unique denominations and designs – to be used only within its gates.

Natale said Holocaust money was part of a complex economic system that served to strip European Jewry of its resources and further the Nazis’ genocidal aims.

Jews could redeem the money under Nazi regulations or through black markets for food, clothes and other goods.

In concentration camps, Nazi officials and some factory owners paid Jewish slave laborers “bonuses” in the currencies to make them work harder. Thousands of Jews were worked to death during the Holocaust.

In ghettos, currencies served to compensate Jews when Nazi officials confiscated their valuables and cash. While ghetto residents relied on food rations, there was never enough to eat, and cash could be the difference between life and death. Coins in the Lodz ghetto were made of a flammable alloy and sometimes used as fuel. The ghetto currencies also served

A 50-krone banknote from the Theresienstadt concentration camp is part of the Strassler Center’s collection of Holocaust money. (Photo courtesy of Clark University) to mark the Jews who carried them, putting them at risk if they left the ghettos, where they were legally required to stay.

Banknotes from the Theresienstadt concentration camp are included in the Strassler Center’s collection. Both the blue 50-krone notes and the pink 100krone notes feature an image of Moses, bearded and holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and a stylized Star of David. The notes were designed by a Theresienstadt inmate named Peter Kien, Natale explained. Nazis officials forced Kien to alter his original design to make Moses look more stereotypically Jewish and, ironically, to make his hands cover the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.”

Handling notes and coins from the Holocaust, Natale said, brings the reality of the genocide home for her. She predicts the Holocaust money will resonate with other students as well. “We all use money.

People held it in their in hands as part of their everyday lives. It connects people throughout time,” she said.

Much of Natale’s knowledge of Holocaust money comes from reading copies of Shekel, a magazine published by the American Israel Numismatic Association.

9

Amateur numismatist Robert Messing with Clark Professor Deborah Dwork at the Massachusetts university. (Photo courtesy of Clark University) Issues of the magazine and other documents were donated along with the currency collection by Messing, a founding member of the association.

First drawn to the subject because he lost family members in the Nazi genocide, Messing has now spent nearly 50 years researching, collecting and writing about Holocaust money. He donated his collection in hopes that it will become another symbol of the Nazis’ crimes – and one that people can hold in their hands. “It’s a real artifact that said these horrible things did happen,” he said.

Some of the Holocaust money in the collection at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. (Photo courtesy of Clark University)

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

10

THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

New microbrew made from Boston river water – with Israeli tech

BY PENNY SCHWARTZ BOSTON (JTA) – An Israeli-founded water purification company has teamed up with Boston-based Harpoon Brewery to channel the once-famously polluted Charles River into a new beer. Desalitech, which started in Israel seven years ago and then moved to Boston, is using its patented technology to provide water for Harpoon’s Charles River Pale Ale. The limited-edition beer is on tap this week at Boston’s HUBweek, a weeklong science and art festival.

Desalitech President Nadav Efraty said helping to produce the beer is part of his company’s mission to better the environment. “Water scarcity is a global challenge that affects millions across the world – we are proud to be a Massachusetts company that is providing solutions and

making an impact here in the U.S. and beyond,” he said in a statement.

Desalitech uses a closed-circuit reverse osmosis system developed over decades in Israel by Efraty’sAmerican-born father, Avi. A chemist who moved his family to Israel in the mid-1970s, the elder Efraty serves as the company’s chief technical officer. In 2013, Desalitech established its world headquarters in Greater Boston, attracted to the region by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who led several high-profile trade missions to Israel.

Once heavily polluted, the 80-mile-long Charles River achieved fame thanks to the 1960s rock hit “Dirty Water” by the Standells. The song, a favorite of Boston sports teams, has been recorded and performed by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to the Dropkick Murphys.

Sites

burial site of Jewish forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob); the tomb of the Jewish matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem; and the tomb of Joseph in Shechem. Attacks have included stabbings, firebombings, pipe-bombings and an attempted lynch mob.

On a tour of Joseph’s Tomb following the recent firebombing attack there, Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzchak Yosef cited a verse from Psalms stating, “‘The nations came and desecrated your sanctuary.’”

The chief rabbi himself added, “What was done here was quite simply the work of ISIS. The heart cannot grasp the evil.”

At the same time as the Jewish sites are being attacked by Palestinian rioters, the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic team is trying to claim that the sites are part of Islamic heritage. Harold Rhode – a retired adviser on Islamic affairs in the Office of Net Assessment at the

Rachel’s Tomb. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

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Over the decades, the river, which separates Boston from Cambridge, has been cleaned up considerably, with some of its previously most polluted portions now open to swimming.

Desalitech approached Harpoon in September about a collaboration. The idea appealed to Harpoon President Charlie Storey, who said in interviews that he remembers growing up in Boston hearing that if he ever fell into the Charles River, he’d need to get to an emergency room.

“Harpoon is proud to call Boston our home and to do our part to build a stronger, more sustainable environment and community,” Storey said in a statement.

Harpoon, an employee-owned company established in 1986, is now the 15th largest microbrewery in the United States.

Continued from page 2 U.S. Department of Defense, as well as the department’s former Turkish Desk Officer – suggests that the key to understanding these moves is wrapped up in the narrative. “From an Islamic point of view, there is only one narrative. And it is the Islamic narrative,” Rhode told JNS.org.

According to Rhode, claims that Jewish holy sites such as Joseph’s and Rachel’s tombs also are holy to Muslims have no historical significance in Islam.”The claims are invented in the battle to de-Judaify Israel,” Rhode said.

Rhode notes that Muslims have historically made claims on Christian and Jewish sites across the Middle East, including in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. “This is taking place all over the Middle East,” he said. “They take places holy to other religions and they Islamify them. The goal is to snuff out, slowly but surely any other religions.”

Rhode adds that Israel and other societies have difficulty coming to terms with false Muslim claims on other religions’ holy sites, as it would be uncommon for any Judeo-Christian society to manufacture such claims about another religion without historical basis. “They are not using reason. They are using Islam. This is not right and wrong in the way Westerners would understand it.

According to Muslims, if it advances Islam, it is right,” Rhode said.

That phenomenon is now taking hold in Israel, said JCPA’s Diker. “It’s the total inversion of history to detach by force of terror, as well as by force of non-military means, any Jewish connection to Jewish holy sites in the land of Israel,” he said.

A Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE) is a permanent fund that endows your Jewish community Annual Campaign gift as a lasting legacy. A PACE fund will continue to make an annual gift in perpetuity on your behalf.

To determine the amount you need to endow your entire campaign gift, multiply your current annual gift by 20.

You can fund your PACE by adding the JEWISH FEDERATION OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA to your will, or by making the Federation a beneficiary of your IRA. All contributions to establish a PACE are tax deductible.

Let your name be remembered as a blessing.

Endowments can be created through a variety of vehicles, some of which do not necessitate funding during your lifetime yet still provide your estate with considerable tax benefits.

They also enable you to perpetuate your commitment to the Annual Campaign in a way that best achieves your own personal financial and estate planning goals.

Examples Of Ways To Fund Your Pace Gift Are:

* outright contribution of cash, appreciated securities or other long-term * capital gain property such as real estate * charitable remainder trust * gift of life insurance * charitable lead trust * gift of IRA or pension plan assets * grant from your foundation * reserved life estate in your residence * bequest

Using appreciated property, such as securities or real estate, affords you the opportunity to eliminate the income tax on the long-term capital gain, will in some instances generate a full income tax charitable deduction and will remove those assets from your estate for estate tax purposes.

For more information contact Mark Silverberg at Mark.Silverberg@jewishnepa.org or call 570-961-2300, ext. 1.

The Cave of the Patriarchs. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons) Advertisers!

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NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

This Israeli ex-diplomat is Kenya’s biggest pop star

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ (JTA) – Zipping between meetings at Nairobi’s fivestar hotels wearing a suit and tie, Gilad Millo looks every bit the ex-diplomat he is. But looks can be deceiving: Though he may be balding and slightly pudgy, Millo is one of Kenya’s hottest pop stars. He’s so popular, in fact, he’s known throughout the country simply as Gilad, a la Madonna or Prince.

“The word ‘celebrity’ feels strange, but, yeah, people now ask me to pose for selfies with them,” said Millo, the former deputy head of mission at the Israeli Embassy in Kenya, speaking to JTA by telephone from his home in Nairobi recently.

Millo made his musical debut in April with the song “Unajua” – “Do You Know” in Kiswahili, one of Kenya’s four official languages. By May, “Unajua,” a mellow tune about the lingering attachment of ex-lovers, topped the weekly chart of X FM, a popular Kenyan radio station, and stayed on the top 10 lists of other stations for months. By August, the track received a rave review in the Daily Nation, one of Kenya’s largest newspapers.

In the video, Millo, an Ashkenazi Jew, walks with his bicycle and guitar around the Nairobi neighborhood where the song’s producer lives. A classier indoors set is used for the song’s guest artist: Wendy Kimani, a young Kenyan singer who rose to fame in 2008 as a finalist on the East African version of “American Idol.”

Kimani – who recently moved to Amsterdam, where she lives with her Dutch husband – concedes that Millo does not exactly possess the looks that Westerners would expect for an up-and-coming pop star. But in Kenya,”the masses are still quite rural, so they’re not so much into looks and fashion,” she said.

“For them it’s all about the music,” Kimani said. “If someone has the music, that’s all that they care about.”

Plus, the song topped the charts before the video was released – so few people knew Millo was what East Africans call “mzungu,” a white man. “And even after, many couldn’t believe Gilad was really singing because few white people in Kenya speak Kiswahili,” Kimani said.

Music has always been a major part of Millo’s life.

In his 20s, he was a member of a Jerusalem rock band, White Donkey. Millo was planning to become a professional musician rather than follow in the footsteps of his late father, Yehuda Millo, who served as a diplomat for 37 years.

But when Millo’s son was born, his wife, Hadas, said that “there’s no money in music and we need to find a real job,” Millo recalled in an interview that he gave recently to Israel’s Channel 2.

After working as a journalist, he became a diplomat in 2003. Millo served in Nairobi and Los Angeles before leaving Israel’s Foreign Ministry in 2008 and settling in Nairobi permanently. “The connection with Kenya was instant,” Millo said. “I’ve never encountered a

more open, generous people.”

It was only recently, a quiet afternoon when his wife and teenage kids were away, that Millo called up a music producer, M.G., whom he had met through a friend. Millo showed up at the studio with a song he wrote just “to see how it goes,” he recalled. “We realized we had a hit the second we finished recording,” Millo said.

Thanks to “Unajua,” he has landed dozens of guest appearances on Kenyan radio and television shows.

There he promotes his campaign about farming for the Balton CP Group – the British firm where Millo works as head of business development and public relations – which represents mostly Israeli agriculture and communications companies.

“After we establish that I’m white, that I sing in Kiswahili and that this place is home for me, there’s still 10 minutes of airtime, so the interviewers and I often go into other things that I’m passionate about,” Millo said.

Titled “Farming is Cool,” the campaign tries to appeal to the millions of young Africans who swapped their now-aging rural communities in favor of the perceived opportunities of big metropolises like Nairobi and its suburbs and slums, where only a third of about six million residents have adequate sewage systems. The aim is to attract young people to more sustainable and advanced agriculture.

Millo recently released his second single, “Sema Milele” (“Say Forever”), which the well-respected online magazine Afrika Nmbiu crowned as “the perfect wedding song.” He is working on a third single with a

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Gilad Millo recorded his second single at a studio in Nairobi on October 1. (Photo by Raymond Ndikwe) Kenyan artist, 22-year-old HK Gachago.

He may be big in Kenya now, but Millo says he’s not making money from his music – yet. Still, whatever income his musical career may generate, he hopes to donate.

In addition to hoping to help empower youth through farming, another cause is Israel for Africa, the nonprofit that Millo and his family established in memory of his father that promotes Israeli innovation and culture in Africa.

“Europeans and Americans don’t always get the connection that many Israelis have with Africans,” he said.

“But we feel it instantly, every time we crack a joke or slap one another’s back.”

Gilad Millo, left, with DJ Hypnotiq and Kiptoo “k4” Kirwa at a Nairobi recording studio on October 14.

(Photo courtesy of Gilad Millo)

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

12

THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Judaica studio Mi Polin casts Polish Jewish history in bronze

BY KATARZYNA MARKUSZ WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – When Helena Czernek and Aleksander Prugar opened their e-mail inbox several weeks ago, they found a message from a customer who had bought one of their bronze mezuzahs as an engagement gift.

“The connection my family now has with the past was so overwhelming that it made my wife cry,” the customer wrote.

“It will now be proudly displayed in our home and I will make sure every visitor knows the story. This bronze will truly be eternal.”

Czernek and Prugar are the founders of Mi Polin, a Polish design studio specializing in the production of contemporary Judaica. For their Mezuzah From This House series, the pair traveled across Poland searching for traces of mezuzahs in the door frames of homes where Jews once lived. From the depressions left in the frame, Czernek and Prugar produce a

plaster cast they then use to create a bronze mezuzah engraved with the traditional Hebrew letter shin and the address where the original mezuzah once hung.

“We decided to use bronze because it is known from antiquity,” Prugar told JTA. “It is completely resistant to external conditions, does not rust. Without any problems our mezuzah will survive 1,000 years. Our casts are eternal.”

Last year, Czernek and Prugar traveled to Sokolow Podlaski, a small town about 60 miles east of Warsaw. They stopped by the building at 4 Wilczynskiego St., which housed a kosher butcher shop before the Holocaust. The old door frame wasn’t there anymore, but Czernek and Prugar found a door from the house lying nearby in a dumpster that had a trace of a mezuzah.

Orie Niedzviecki, a Canadian lawyer whose grandparents came from Sokolow Podlaski, bought two mezuzahs made

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

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A bronze mezuzah made

by Mi Polin from a trace of an old Polish mezuzah.

(Photo courtesy of Mi Polin)

Aleksander Prugar, left, and Helenz Czernek with the remains of a mezuzah they planned to use to create a new piece of Judaica. (Photo by Katarzyna Markusz)

from depressions found there by Czernek and Prugar. One he gave to his parents, the other to a niece who had just moved to Israel.

“The idea that this mezuzah is now in Israel along with some members of my family, and hopefully myself soon, provides some link to the past as the Jewish people move forward to its inevitable future as a free nation in its own homeland,” Niedzviecki said.

Though some three million Jews lived in Poland prior to the Holocaust, most Poles do not realize that the marks still remaining on door posts were likely the spots where Jews had hung their mezuzahs.

When the doors are replaced, one of the last traces of the Jewish inhabitants of those homes often disappears, as well.

In the town of Ostroleka, Czernek and Prugar last year found a home with traces of 10 mezuzahs. During a renovation, the owners had stripped them out and burned them, not understanding their significance.

“In contrast to synagogues and cemeteries, mezuzah traces are the least visible part of the material legacy of more than three million Jews who once lived in Poland,” said Krzysztof Bielawski, who runs the Virtual Shtetl project at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. “Few people are turning attention to them. Helena’s and Alexander’s design is not only a documentation of the traces, it shows that each mezuzah is linked to the history of specific individuals.”

Mi Polin has also produced a crystal mezuzah for the blind, with one of the Hebrew names for God written in Braille.

They are also working on a spice box used in the Sabbath-ending service Havdalah that is based on the shape of the Tower of David in Jerusalem.

Czernek and Prugar have produced 25 bronze mezuzahs from casts made in over a dozens cities and towns across Poland.

They also take special orders from Jews See “Bronze” on page 14

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

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14

THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Events to be held in remembrance of Kristallnacht

November 2015

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

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, and 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.

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

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, choose the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic. *Ida: Poland 1962 - On the eve of her vows, 18-year old Anna meets her estranged aunt Wanda, a cynical Communist judge who shocks the naive Anna with a stunning revelation: Anna is Jewish and her real name is Ida. Tasked with this new identity, Ida and Wanda embark on a revelatory journey to their old family house to discover the fate of Ida’s birth parents and unearth dark secrets dating back to the Nazi occupation. *Music Box - In this intense courtroom thriller, Chicago attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange) agrees to defend her Hungarian immigrant father Mike Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl) against accusations of heinous war crimes committed 50 years earlier. As the trial unfolds, Ann probes for evidence that will not only establish his innocence, but also lay to rest her own agonizing doubts about his past. When a hospitalized witness is suddenly located in Budapest, the trial moves to her father’s homeland. Here crucial testimony plus Ann’s personal investigation lead to astonishing results.

The Library of Congress will host two public events in November in remembrance of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” which took place in cities throughout Germany and Austria on November 9, 1938. At noon on Monday, November 9, the Library’s European Division and its Hebrew Language Table will host “Writing the Holocaust,” a discussion with authors Anthony Pitch and Nancy Geise, moderated by Michlean Amir of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Pitch will discuss his book, “Our Crime Was Being Jewish,” which features memories of 358 Holocaust survivors. Geise will discuss her book, “Auschwitz #34207: The Joe Rubenstein Story,” one man’s tale of survival.

At noon on Monday, November 16, the Library’s Asian American Association and Hebrew Language Table, in association with the Embassy of the Czech Republic, will host a film screening of “Inside Hana’s Suitcase” (2011, 94 min.). Directed by award-winning filmmaker Larry Weinstein, the film is based on the 2003 book “Hana’s Suitcase” by Karen Levine, which has been translated into 40 languages.

The true story centers on a suitcase marked “Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, “which arrived at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Center in Japan in 2000. The center’s curator, Fumiko Ishioka, searches for clues to young Hana and her family, whose happy life in a small Czech town was destroyed by the invasion of the Nazis.

Both programs, which are free and open to the public, will be held in the Mary Pickford Theater, located on the third floor of the Library’s James Madison Building at 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC. Reservations are not required, but seating is limited.

Exhibit on Soviet photography and films

The Jewish Museum in New York City will hold the exhibit “The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography, Early Soviet Film” through February 7.

It features works from early vanguard constructivist Alexander Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, and modernist images of Arkady Shaikhet and Max Penson. Covering the period from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution through the 1930s, the exhibit explores how the new Soviet style was used by the state to disseminate Communist ideology.

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

Alfred Stieglitz’s photos

The Jewish Museum in New York City will hold the exhibit “Masterpieces and Curiosities: Alfred Stieglitz’s The Steerage” through February 14. It focuses on Stieglitz’s 1907 picture of steerage-class passengers aboard the ocean liner Kaiser Wilhelm II. Stieglitz said that this particular photo was his “greatest triumph.”

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

Book club resources

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!

Members of Jewish books clubs or those looking to start their own book clubs can find help at the JBC Book Club page, www.jewishbookcouncil.org/bookclub/. The site offers suggestions, book reviews and help organizing a live chat with the author of a book. Nearly 400 authors are available for chats for book groups of 20 people or fewer. Also available on the site are essays by authors about their work.

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.

Bronze

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. *Woman in Gold - Maria Altman sought to regain a world famous painting of her aunt plundered by the Nazis during World War II. She did so not just to regain what was rightfully hers, but also to obtain some measure of justice for the death, destruction, and massive art theft perpetrated by the Nazis.

*connotes new films To borrow any of these films for home or synagogue use, please contact Dassy at 961-2300 x2 or dassy.ganz@jewishnepa.org.

Continued from page 12

abroad who wish to have mezuzahs from casts made in towns where their families once lived.

For each cast they make, Czernek and Prugar send information about it to a local museum or municipal office to educate local residents about the Jewish legacy in their particular town and to increase the likelihood that more mezuzah traces can be found. They also organize training workshops to teach tour guides how to locate former Jewish sites around Poland.

“We are working so that each of our products is not only a thing,” Prugar said. “We want to give some content, message, special meaning for each of them. Judaism is full of different meanings. It is tangible through our items.”

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 ■ THE REPORTER

15

NEWS IN BRIEF From JTA

Afula bus station attacker was suicidal, indictment says

An Arab-Israeli woman accused of attempting a terror attack at a bus station in northern Israel was indicted on lesser charges of threatening and carrying a knife.

The woman, identified in media reports as Asra’a Abed, was shot by security forces on Oct. 9 after brandishing a knife at a bus station in Afula, in northern Israel. An investigation by the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police determined that the woman was mentally unstable and upset over the end of a romantic relationship, and that she was attempting to commit suicide by posing as an attacker, according to reports. The indictment on lesser charges was filed on Oct. 29 in Nazareth Magistrate’s Court. The woman, a student at the Technion in Haifa, has recovered from her wounds and was expected to be released from the hospital, the Times of Israel reported.

Israeli researchers make wine from Bible-era grapes

A team of Israeli researchers has created a white wine made from grapes indigenous to Israel. The researchers, based at Ariel University in the West Bank and headed by Dr. Elyashiv Drori, have been trying to find grape varieties indigenous to Israel since 2011.

Using research about the biblical era and teams of field researchers, Drori located a living sample of the indigenous Marawi grape species. Israel’s Recanati Winery then grew the grapes, and has now produced nearly 2,500 bottles of Marawi wine. The bottles were first presented on Oct. 18 at the International Milan EXPO, a world’s fair in Italy whose exhibits focus on food production. Before the production of Marawi wine, Israel’s wineries largely produced wine from grape varieties indigenous to Europe. “It’s not interesting to make chardonnay in Israel because there’s chardonnay that comes from California,” Drori, the agriculture and oenology research coordinator at the Samaria and Jordan Rift Center of Ariel University, told JTA last year. “But if you can make wine in Israel that isn’t elsewhere and that connects to the history here, that’s much more interesting.”

Israel sends medicine to Greece to help refugees

Israel sent medical assistance to Greece to help deal with the flood of migrants and refugees who have been landing on the Greek Islands. Israel sent 1.5 tons of medication to the Greek Ministry of Health, which will disburse it at the various refugee aid centers, the Israeli Embassy in Athens said. More than 50,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece in September, most of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Greece, which is already suffering from a massive economic recession, has struggled to deal with the massive human influx. Teams from the Israeli aid agency IsraAid also have been operating in Greece since September, providing medical and psychological assistance to the refugees.

Rabbi of Western Wall denounces UNESCO over holy sites vote

The rabbi of the Western Wall criticized UNESCO for recognizing Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Muslim sites. In an open letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said the decision “cannot be explained by any historical, archeological, or cultural measure. ...Centuries of documented history prove not only the deep and strong connection between the Jewish nation and this tomb, as is evidenced by the pilgrimage made to it even during hard times and at great personal risk, but also that there has never been a Muslim claim to the site,” Rabinowitz wrote. The vote of 26-6 in favor of the resolution, with 25 abstentions, held earlier in October, recognized Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron as Muslim sites that are part of a Palestinian state. Both sites are holy to Jews and listed in the Bible as the burial places of the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs. Before the vote, the six Arab countries that submitted the proposal on behalf of the Palestinians – Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates – removed from the

proposal a statement declaring the Western Wall in Jerusalem part of the Al-Aqsa mosque complex and naming it part of the Muslim religious site. That provision had earned “fierce condemnation” from Israel and American Jewish groups. “It is not only your own integrity at stake here, but also that of the welfare and stability of the entire area,” Rabinowitz wrote. “Especially during these days, when false libels about Israel wishing to harm the Temple Mount are being espoused and young hotheaded Muslims are wounding and murdering Jewish citizens in the name of God, your decision feeds into the despicable, evil lies and raises not only the height of the flame, but to my great regret, also the amount of innocent blood shed.”

Knesset member urges Netanyahu to save English news broadcast

A Knesset member called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to save the country’s only English-language television news program from going off the air.

Zionist Union lawmaker Nachman Shai made the call in a speech to Israel’s parliament and also said he would do everything he could to ensure the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s English news continued, The Jerusalem Post reported on Oct. 29.

The program, which is scheduled to go off the air in March, has a staff of only two and broadcasts just one 30-minute show a week, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“Someone has lost his mind,” Shai said in an interview on the show the week of Oct. 23, according to the Post. “We are living in a very tough time now. Any broadcast in Arabic or English coming from Israel is extremely important. I am not speaking about propaganda. I am speaking about reporting the news as it is from Israel. I don’t understand. We have spent millions on military and police operations. How much have we spent on getting out our message? Probably nothing.”

Czech man posthumously honored for helping Jews in Shoah

A Czech man who helped save 200 Jews in wartime Italy was posthumously awarded the Czech Republic’s Medal of Merit in Prague. Karel Weirich, a non-Jewish journalist stationed at the Vatican during World War II, organized a network that provided food and medicine, as well as counterfeit documents, to hundreds of Jewish refugees, mostly from Czechoslovakia, trapped in Italian detention camps. Around 200 of them escaped, went into hiding and survived the war. The refugees had been travelling on the Palestine-bound ship Pentscho that was wrecked on a Greek island in October 1939.

They were picked up by the Italian Navy and later moved to southern Italy. Weirich also collaborated with the Italian resistance movement. In 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Germany until the liberation by U.S. troops in May 1945.

After the 1948 Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, Weirich stayed in Italy. He died in 1981, at the age of 75. Weirich’s story was virtually unknown until the publication of his biography by Italian historian Alberto Tronchin in 2007. The book has since also appeared in Czech. Czech President Milos Zeman handed the decoration to Weirich’s nephew, Pavel Weirich, at a ceremony at Prague Castle on Oct. 28, on a Czech national holiday marking the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia. Another 34 people received the country’s state decorations in honor of the holiday.

Centuries-old Jewish cemetery in Austria gets digital update

The Jewish Museum in Eisenstadt, Austria, has completed a project to digitize more than 1,000 graves in the city’s Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was in use from 1679-1875.

Many of the headstones were so worn from time and the elements that the inscriptions were not readable. In about eight months of work, the city’s Jewish Museum documented all 1,082 graves and affixed a QR code to each one, which, when scanned by a smartphone, will report who is buried in the grave, when the person died and a list of relatives, news website The Local reported. Eisenstadt’s Jewish cemetery attracts thousands of tourists, pilgrims and relatives of the dead from around the world, according to The Local.

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

16

THE REPORTER ■ NOVEMBER 5, 2015

IF WE DON’T TEACH OUR CHILDREN WHO THEY ARE...

OTHERS WILL. As they grow up, young Jews will face challenges to their beliefs and identity. We believe the best way to protect our children against ignorance and hate is to educate them. From the pride of a pre-schooler learning his first Hebrew words to the confidence of a college student prepared to grapple with anti-Israel sentiment on campus, we're strengthening Jewish identity and inspiring a long-life connection to Jewish values.

But we need your help.

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