The Dayton Jewish Observer, March 2017

‘Jewish Americana’ music in the spotlight p. 21 March 2017 Adar/Nisan 5777 Vol. 21, No. 6

Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • Online at daytonjewishobserver.org Bain Collection/Library of Congress

Writer to right passage on Wright’s wrong

UD to expand Judaics classes

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Asst. Prof. of Religious Studies Dr. Dustin Atlas

O.U. ban for female Orthodox clergy

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Rabba Ramie Smith

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Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton 525 Versailles Drive Dayton, OH 45459

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David McCullough on Katharine’s antisemitic expressions

Friendship Village Retirement Community

DAYTON

You’re Invited To our next monthly Friday Night Shabbat featuring a traditional Shabbat dinner with all your favorites.

Ezra Jacobs shows how to give tzedakah before Shabbat as part of Branches of Blessings, a play about Tu B’Shevat, performed by students at Hillel Academy Jewish day school. Also on stage (L to R): Brody Dowlar, Brihanna Howell, Seth Schwartz, and PreVella Folley.

Program led by Joe Bettman

Friday, March 24, 5 p.m.

In The Atrium Dining Room

Friday Night Shabbat is $10 per person.

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The Coffee House is located just inside the Atrium entrance at Door 18. Watch for the Friendship Coffee House sign.

FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE

Dr. Eitan Yudilevich (3rd from L), exec. dir. of the U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, met with local tech and R&D companies on Jan. 26 to discuss funding opportunities for joint partnerships with companies in Israel. Shown here with Yudilevich at Ascend Innovations (L to R): Greater Dayton Area Hospital Assoc.

Exec. VP Marty Larson, SGI Global Business Advisors Partner Howard Gudell, Mont. Co. Dayton Reg. Israel Trade Alliance Coord. Pamela Fannin, Mont. Co. Administrator Joe Tuss, Ascend Innovations CEO Rick Peters, Ascend’s Ryan Smith, and DRITA Consultant Rick Carne.

TBO adult paired learning Kosher deli dinner & movie Beginning March 8, Temple Beth Or will bring a national monthly adult education program, Chai Mitzvah, to Dayton. Topics for the paired study sessions include adult rites of passage, the individual and community, interpersonal relationships, and gratitude. The sessions, led by Jan Maharam, will be held the second Wednesday of each month, 1-3 p.m. The cost is $36 per person for materials and refreshments. To register, call Temple Beth Or at 435-3400.

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Advanced Biblical Hebrew

Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz will teach Advanced Biblical Hebrew on Wednesdays at noon, March 1-April 26 at Temple Israel. The cost is $55 non-members, $50 members. To register, call 496-0050.

IN THIS ISSUE Arts & Culture...............................19

O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 0

Calendar of Events.......................17

Obituaries.............................22

Family Education.........................23

R e l i g i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Kvelling Corner............................18

Wo r l d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

DAYTON

UD to expand Judaics course offerings

New hire in religious studies dept., partnership with Reform seminary aim to broaden interfaith approach Marshall Weiss

institutions.

Along with his teaching responsibilities, Atlas oversees the fellow’s work at UD, and is writing the new Judaics classes.

“It has the potential to be incredibly productive,” Atlas says of the fellowship. “There are a lot of partial movements going on, a little bit here, and a little bit there,” he says of the Judaic course expansions. “My hire will hopefully help with that.

Courses die unless someone is constantly pushing on them, so that’s key to my job, to make sure they get taught.”

Five years in the making, the Ruslander/Friedland Fellowship honors the legacy of two bridge-builders in Dayton Jewish-Christian relations.

Rabbi Selwyn Ruslander, Temple Israel’s senior rabbi from 1947 until his death in Asst. Prof. of Religious Studies Dr. Dustin Atlas was hired last summer 1969, secured the funds to to expand UD’s Judaic studies classes establish the Sanders Professorship of Judaic Studies.

The Sanders program proBy Marshall Weiss in partnership with Hebrew The Observer Union College-Jewish Institute vided for one Judaic studies professor to teach at United In addition to the standard of Religion in Cincinnati.

Introduction to Judaism and UD Assistant Prof. Dr. Dustin Theological Seminary, the UniHolocaust courses at the UniAtlas arrived on campus in the versity of Dayton, Wright State University, and for a time, at versity of Dayton, undergradu- fall. A native of Toronto, he reates will soon be able to enroll ceived his doctorate in religious Antioch College.

Dr. Eric Friedland served as in Jewish Thought and Jewish studies from Rice University.

Mysticism.

Most recently, he taught simul- Sanders professor from 1968 These will be the first new Ju- taneously at Tel Aviv University until his retirement in 1998. After Friedland’s retirement, UTS, daic studies offerings from the and Al-Quds Bard College in Wright State, and UD went in Catholic university’s departAbu Dis, in the West Bank. their own directions with Judaic ment of religious studies in Also last semester, HUC-JIR courses. recent memory, brought about post-doctoral student Andrew Wright State established the through the hire of an assistant Higginbotham came to UD as Zusman Chair of Judaic Studprofessor in the department, the first formal Ruslander/ ies, held by Associate Prof. Dr. and a new graduate fellowship Friedland Fellow of the two

The Adventures of

Bark Mitzvah Boy c O 2017 Menachem

Now I’m the enemy of the American people?

BMB

Well, you kind of make me nervous ...

From the editor’s desk Does your family have deep roots in the Dayton Jewish community? If so, I need your help. This year, I’m working on a book about the history of JewMarshall ish Dayton, to be distributed by Weiss Arcadia Publishing in its Images of America series. The book, scheduled for release in fall 2018, will mainly comprise images that tell the story of Jewish life in the Miami Valley from its beginnings in the 1840s through the year 2000. If you have old photos of your family that show them in the Dayton area “doing Jewish,” in their line of work, or even at play, I would love to consider them for the publication. Photos must be high quality: sorry, we can’t accept newspaper clippings or photocopies. If you think you might have something of interest, please contact me at 937-610-1555 or MWeiss@jfgd.net so that I can have a look.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Mark Verman. Although the University of Dayton sought to establish a Judaic studies professorship during President Dan Curran’s tenure, fund raising for the potential position never took off.

The University of Dayton fell into a holding Sanders Prof. of Rabbi Selwyn pattern, offering Intro. to Ruslander, Judaics Emeritus Judaism and its widely Dr. Eric Friedland 1911-1969 popular Holocaust shall Ruchman — a longtime course, both taught by adjunct Temple Israel member — profaculty member Rabbi Judith posed the fellowship to UD and Bluestein, a graduate of HUC. HUC as a way to expand UD’s Six years ago, retired Jewish Judaics offerings short of a proFederation of Greater Dayton fessorship. It took Wells, RuchExecutive Vice President Peter Continued on next page Wells and local attorney Mar-

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

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DAYTON

UD Judaics courses

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 AT 10AM

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Continued from previous page man, UD and HUC-JIR until last year to raise the full $500,000 to make the fellowship a reality.

“The intent was to keep a viable Jewish presence on the UD campus, with the reality of no longer having the Sanders program,” Wells says.

“We didn’t have a very wide range of classes,” recalls Dr. Dan Thompson, chair of UD’s Religious Studies Department. “Judith Bluestein taught the classes for many years, and she passed away from cancer. Her passing (in 2014) coincided with the first visitors from Hebrew Union College, when they started to step in and take on those classes.”

After Bluestein’s death, UD tested the waters with HUC when it hired Rabbi Adam Rosenthal as an adjunct to teach its Intro. to Judaism and Holocaust courses. Rosenthal is pursuing his Ph.D. in medieval Marshall Weiss history and literature at HUC. Since 2015, he has also served as the monthly rabbi-inresidence for Beth Jacob Congregation in Harrison Township. Rosenthal continues to teach UD’s Holocaust course.

Higginbotham, the first official Ruslander/ Friedland Fellow, is a Andrew Higginbotham, fifth-year student at first Ruslander/ HUC preparing for his the Friedland Fellow dissertation on early rabbinic literature. He’s also an ordained Christian minister with 10 years of experience teaching on the college level.

“Both institutions share an interest in interfaith dialogue and deeper understandings of Jewish and Christian traditions,” says Dr. Jason L. Pierce, dean of UD’s college of arts and sciences. “The department has been building up our capacity to offer courses focusing on different faith traditions.”

In addition to Atlas, who oversees Judaic studies, Pierce says the department now has a faculty member to focus on Islamic studies. As part of UD’s revised curriculum learning outcomes, each undergraduate student is required to take an introductory and upper level religion course.

“Dustin’s hire was seen as a way to anchor a robust Jewish studies program inside the religious studies department, but also inside the college of arts and sciences,” Pierce adds.

Dr. Jonathan Cohen, dean of HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, describes the yearly fellowship program as “quite unique.”

“It reflects a high value that we place on crossing denominational lines, on crossing religious lines, and on working together and teaching together,” Cohen says. “This is something we try to model in our school with our students. A Catholic university doesn’t have to have a Judaic studies person. This in itself is very meaningful.”

“This is very much in the spirit of interfaith amity since the days of the Second Vatican Council and the university’s faithful support of the Sanders Scholar in Judaic Studies during the 30 years of my tenure,” says Sanders Emeritus Prof.

Dr. Eric Friedland.

“It needs to happen,” Atlas says of the expansion of Judaics courses at UD. “Especially right now, because of the potential for extreme misunderstandings that has to be nipped in the bud.”

Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss MWeiss@jfgd.net 937-853-0372 Contributors Rabbi Karen N. Bodney-Halasz Rachel Haug Gilbert Candace R. Kwiatek Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Proofreaders Karen Bressler, Rachel Haug Gilbert, Joan Knoll, Pamela Schwartz Billing Jeri Kay Eldeen, JEldeen@jfgd.net 937-853-0372 Observer Advisor Martin Gottlieb Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton David Pierce President Judy Abromowitz Immediate Past Pres.

Bruce Feldman President Elect Todd Bettman Officer Dr. Heath Gilbert Officer Beverly Louis Officer Mary Rita Weissman Officer Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 21, No. 6. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

Views expressed by guest columnists, in readers’ letters and in reprinted opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Dayton Jewish Observer, The Dayton Jewish Observer Policy Committee, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton or the underwriters of any columns. Acceptance of advertising neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut.

The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests.

Goals • To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication.

• To provide announcements, news, opinions and analysis of local, national and international activities and issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

THE WORLD Federation of Jewish Communities

Rabbi's expulsion rattles Russian Jews fearful of Kremlin crackdown

By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA Three years ago, Rabbi Ari Edelkopf and his wife, Chana, worked around the clock for weeks to show off their community and city to the many foreigners in town for the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The Chabad emissaries from the United States came to the city on Russia's Black Sea coast in 2002. By the time the Olympics opened, they could offer three synagogues, five information centers and 24/7 kosher catering to thousands of people in the city, which has only 3,000 Jews.

The Edelkopfs were celebrated in the local media for these considerable efforts, which the Kremlin marketed as proof that Russia welcomes minorities — including by inviting a Russian chief rabbi to speak at the opening.

Now, the couple is in the news again but for a different reason: They and their seven children have been ordered to leave Russia after authorities flagged Ari Edelkopf as a threat to national security — a precedent in post-communist Russia that community leaders call false and worrisome, but are unable to prevent.

Occurring amid a broader crackdown on foreign and human rights groups under President Vladimir Putin, the de facto deportation order against the Edelkopfs is to many Russian Jews a sign that despite the Kremlin’s generally favorable attitude to their community, they are not immune to the effects of living in an increasingly authoritarian state.

And it is doubly alarming in a country where many Jews have bitter memories of how the communists repressed religious and community life.

The Edelkopfs’ deportation order drew an unusually harsh reaction from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, a Chabad-affiliated group that has maintained friendly and mutually beneficial ties with Putin.

The order, which included no explanation or concrete accusation, “raises serious concerns for the future of the Jewish communities in the country,” Rabbi Boruch Gorin, a federation spokesman, told the L’chaim Jewish weekly. Gorin is a senior aide to Beral Lazar, the chief

rabbi who spoke at the Sochi opening ceremony.

Gorin also called the order “an attempt to establish control” on religious communities in Russia, including the Jewish one, which he said is serviced by some 70 Chabad rabbis, half of whom are foreign.

Many Sochi Jews consider Edelkopf a popular and beloved spiritual leader with an impeccable record and a close relationship with Lazar. They reacted with dismay and outrage to the deportation order.

“This is absurd,” Rosa Khalilov wrote in one of the hundreds of Facebook messages posted to Edelkopf’s profile, in which he offered updates from his failed legal fight to stay in Russia. “Deportation without proof and thus without proper defense for the accused. I am utterly disappointed.”

Typical of such discussions, comments by Russian speakers abroad tended to be more outspoken than the ones authored domestically.

“Somewhere along the way our country changed without our noticing,” wrote Petr Shersher, a 69-year-old Jewish man from Khabarovsk who lives in the United States. “We’re suddenly not among friends and compatriots but in another brutal and indifferent atmosphere.”

Since the fall of communism in 1991, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia — essentially Chabad’s Russia branch, and by far the country’s largest Jewish group — only on a very rare occasion had publicly questioned the viability of Jewish life in the country or the authorities’ tolerance of religious freedoms.

The strong reactions to the

Edelkopf edict seem to be less connected to the actual expulsion — at least seven rabbis have been sent packing over the past decade over visa and residence issues — than to the assertion that Edelkopf endangers Russia, a claim the rabbi denies.

“This serious allegation is a negative precedent that we had never seen directed at a rabbi before in Russia, and it is a very, very big problem for us,” Gorin told JTA. “What are they saying? Is he a spy? We can remember very well the times when Jews were last accused of endangering state security,” he added in reference to antisemitic persecution under communism.

Behind the expulsion of Edelkopf and the other rabbis, Gorin added, is an attempt by the state to limit the number of foreign clerics living in Russia — an effort that has led to expulsions not only of rabbis but also of imams and Protestant priests.

“It’s not targeting the Jews,” he said.

Alexander Boroda, the president of Gorin’s federation, told Interfax that he was “dismayed” by the expulsion and suggested it was the work of an overzealous official eager “to check off the box” after being ordered to curb immigration.

Boroda also told Interfax that the deportation was not antisemitic. He recalled how Putin’s government has facilitated a Jewish revival in Russia — including by returning dozens of buildings; educating to tolerance; adding Jewish holidays to the national calendar, and offering subsidies to Jewish groups. Lazar, who was born in Italy, often contrasts the scarcity of antisemitic violence in

Authorities flagged Ari Edelkopf as a threat to national security

Russia with its prevalence in France and Great Britain.

The government has also tolerated criticism by the Chabad-led community.

Rabbi Ari Edelkopf and his wife, Chana, Under Lazar in Sochi, Russia, 2009 and Boroda, the Federation has largely ignored ican Jewish Joint Distribution xenophobia against non-Jews Committee and its reproduction but consistently condemned any in a newsletter of political opexpression of antisemitism — eds that appeared in the L’chaim including from within Putin’s Jewish weekly. party and government.

Last year, a court in SverdThe federation even spoke lovsk convicted a teacher, Seout against Russia’s vote in men Tykman, of inciting hatred favor of a UNESCO resolution among pupils at his Chabad last year that ignores Judaism’s school against Germans and attachment to the Western Wall propagating the idea of Jewish in Jerusalem. superiority.

Still, the Edelkopf deportaAuthorities raided his school tion is part of a string of recent and another one in 2015, confisincidents in which Jews have cating textbooks, which some suffered the effects of growRussian Jews suggested was to ing authoritarianism in Russia create a semblance of equiva— a country where opposition lence with Russia’s crackdown figures are routinely prosecuted on radical Islam. and convicted.

Before that affair, a Russian Since 2012 the country has court in 2013 convicted Ilya slipped in international rankFarber, a Jewish village teacher, ings of free speech and huof corruption in a trial that some man rights; Freedom House’s Jewish groups dismissed as Freedom on the Internet index flawed, in part because the prosslipped recently from “partly ecution displayed some antisefree” to “not free.” mitic undertones in arguing it.

Under legislation from 2012, While the incidents differ in a Jewish charitable group from their local contexts in the multiRyazan near Moscow was ethnic behemoth that is Russia, flagged in 2015 by the justice seen together they demonstrate ministry as a “foreign agent” that the Jewish minority not over its funding from the Amer- Continued on next page

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

PAGE 5

THE WORLD

Expulsion

Continued from previous page only thrived under Putin but is feeling the “collateral damage as the government drastically tightens its grip on all areas of life,” according to Roman Bronfman, a former Israeli lawmaker from Ukraine and a staunch critic of Putin.

Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency, recently named the anti-democratic measures of Putin’s government — along with the halving of the Russian ruble against the dollar amid sanctions and dropping oil prices — as a major catalyst for an increase in immigration to Israel

by Russian Jews.

Last year, Russia was Israel’s largest provider of immigrants with some 7,000 newcomers to the Jewish state, or olim – a 10-year high that saw Russia’s Jewish population of roughly 250,000 people lose 21/2 percent of its members to Israel.

But to Lazar, Russia’s Chabad-affiliated chief rabbi, the numbers tell a different story, he told JTA. “I don’t know if Jews are leaving because of these steps,” he said, referring to limitations on freedom of speech and other liberties in Russia. “But I think it’s a testament to the revival of the community, which has instilled Jewish identity to provide many olim, whereas 15 years ago this phenomenon just didn’t exist.”

Evangelicals are ready to speak for Israel in Trump's Washington

By Andrew Tobin, JTA TEL AVIV — Evangelicals, who have been advocating for Israel for years, have historically let the Jews take the lead.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, for one, is excited that evangelicals are poised to take on a prominent role. An evangelical TV host and activist, CardozaMoore backs President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a supporter of the settlement movement who is deeply skeptical of the two-state solution.

And she is confident Trump will make good on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

“I am excited to see this development. It further illustrates the commitment of this (incoming) administration," she recently told a Christian news service. "And God willing, Friedman will be the one who helps orchestrate that transition."

Cardoza-Moore was in Israel filming a new episode of Focus on Israel, which is widely syndicated on Christian television.

In an interview at a Tel Aviv café, she said in more than 15 years of pro-Israel work as the president of Proclaiming Justice

to the Nations, she has seen evangelicals rally to the cause.

“After the 9/11 attacks, a lot of Christians were ready to hear our message,” she said. “Having read the Bible, they felt we were under a curse and the way to change that curse was to make sure we supported Israel.

I always knew if we could get the information to the Christians, they would respond and they would stand up.”

But while that support is undeniable and certainly welcomed by a Jewish state that could use all the friends it can get, it still discomfits many in the pro-Israel camp, especially liberals. They worry evangelicals’ Bible-based views are too right wing, both on social issues as well as Israel affairs.

“There’s a real danger because most evangelicals are very hawkish and hard-line on Israel,” said Dov Waxman, a political scientist at Northeastern University who studies American Jews and Israel. “The more they get involved, that risks alienating more liberal Jews from pro-Israel advocacy and from Israel.”

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from what mainup more than stream Jewish a quarter of groups might the American take on. In 2013, population and she gained naoverwhelmingly tional attention vote Republican, with a campaign have shaped the against a geogparty’s idenraphy textbook tity on Israel in being used in many ways. her Tennessee “If we look at school district why the Repubthat asked stulicans tend to dents to contake pro-Israel sider whether positions, I think a Palestinian a major reason suicide bomber Laurie Cardoza-Moore, who has for that is evanspent more than 15 years in pro- gelical Chriswho kills “several dozen Israel work, says she has seen tians,” Waxman Israeli teenagers evangelicals rallying to the cause said. “In redin a Jerusalem state America, restaurant” is acting as a terror- it’s the views of evangelicals ist or as a soldier fighting a war. that really matter when it comes Cardoza-Moore spoke at to Israel.” school board meetings, gathAnd with Trump's victory, ered hundreds of signatures red-state America is in control and appeared on Fox News of the executive branch. to advocate against using the Christians United for Israel, book. The local Jewish federaor CUFI, has been ramping up tion took her side. In the end, its activities in Washington, the school board concluded the D.C. The Israel lobby claims book was not biased, but the 3.3 million mostly evangelipublisher removed the offendcal members. By contrast, the ing line from electronic and mostly Jewish American Israel future print editions.

Public Affairs Committee has Perhaps approximately Cardoza-Moore’s Growing 100,000, though biggest victory it is more experievangelical came in 2015, enced and better when at her urg- involvement in funded. ing, the TennesAfter long Israel advocacy see legislature deferring to the passed a resolu- could turn Israel AIPAC, CUFI tion condemnfounder and ing the Boycott, into a right-wing board member Divestment and Republican issue David Brog Sanctions movesaid his group ment against planned to get “a Israel, the first of its kind in the little more aggressive" in pushnation. ing its policies in the Trump era, Although the resolution took when it has clout and connecno action against BDS, it labeled tions, including to evangelical the movement “one of the main Vice President Mike Pence. vehicles for spreading anti“At a time when we have a semitism and advocating the Republican in the White House elimination of the Jewish state.” and Republicans control the Since then, Cardoza-Moore House and Senate, we see CUFI has pushed for similar resoluas able to play a leading role in tions in other states. Ten states speaking to governing majorihave now passed them, and ties that know they owe their three more are considering doelection in large part to our ing so. Governors in 15 states base,” he said. have signed laws that prevent Brog described CUFI as the boycott of Israel. “within the mainstream” and It likely helps that the Repub- respectful of AIPAC’s hislican Party in recent years has tory of bipartisanship. But he been dominant in state politics. acknowledged that CUFI's The GOP has increasingly bemembers tend to be “right of come the pro-Israel party. center” and “skeptical of the Evangelicals, who make two-state solution.” The group, THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

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THE WORLD he said, would not necessarily sit out debates or avoid criticizing ideological opponents in an effort to keep them in the proIsrael camp.

“We need to draw clear lines and be clear about where we stand,” he said. “That does not necessarily damage bipartisanship. Drawing clear lines may help define what it means to be pro-Israel.”

As Bloomberg’s Eli Lake pointed out, CUFI has not taken a position on the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which AIPAC officially supports, and has backed legislation to defund the Palestinian Authority, which AIPAC has not. CUFI has also thrown its weight behind Trump's prosettlement pick for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.

Some Jewish observers have suggested that growing evangelical involvement in Israel advocacy could turn Israel into a right-wing Republican issue.

Aside from concerns about the implications for Israel, they say, that could make it less attractive to more liberal Jews, who already are drifting away from the community and are increasingly critical of Israel's policies.

“It’s like a brand. If Israel is associated with right wing and ‘reactionary’ forces, then it’s going to be a turnoff to younger American Jews,” Waxman said.

“It may be superficial, but we’re talking about public perceptions.”

Brog, who is Jewish, argued Israel and its supporters could not afford to apply a “religious test” on the issue.

"I got involved in Christian advocacy because I can count,” he said. “If the pro-Israel community is limited to the Jewish community, it's too small. The reason the American government is pro-Israel is because the American people are profoundly and overwhelmingly proIsrael. But we can't take that for granted.”

A senior official at a dovish Israel advocacy group said he thought American Jews and Israel would ultimately define their own relationship, regardless of who else was in the picture.

“I'd be foolish to say evangelical Christians don't have an effect. But I don't really care what they say,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous. “At the end of the day, it’s a homeland for the Jewish people. So it's how we choose to express our love for Israel that really matters.”

Israeli soldier who shot downed Palestinian terrorist sentenced to 18 months in prison An Israeli soldier who shot and killed a downed Palestinian terrorist was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Elor Azaria, 20, who was convicted of manslaughter in January in an Israeli military court, was sentenced Feb. 21 by a panel of three judges at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv. He also was demoted a rank, to private from sergeant, and was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Military prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three to five years. Azaria's attorney said he will appeal the sentence, and also is appealing the verdict. He will request that Azaria be free until the end of the appeals.

About 100 people demonstrated outside of the IDF headquarters during the sentencing.

The soldier's father, Charlie, thanked the protesters and urged them to remain calm.

“All of the soldiers here are our sons. So I request everyone show restraint,” he said.

In their sentencing decision, the judges stressed that the severity of the incident was mitigated by the fact that it took place in an active combat situation. This was a key component of the defense's case.

The judges also found, however, that Azaria's actions did “harm to societal values” and said that Azaria violated the Israeli army’s rules of engagement and values. They also criticized the army for not taking better care of the soldier’s family and the defense minister for his interference in the case.

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Azaria, a medic in the elite Kfir Brigade, came on the scene following a Palestinian stabbing attack on soldiers in Hebron in the West Bank on March 24, 2016. One assailant was killed, and Abdel Fattah al-Sharif was injured. Minutes later, while Sharif was lying on the ground, Azaria shot him in the head in a shooting that was captured on video by a local resident for the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem. Azaria was arrested the same day and indicted nearly a month later. Autopsy reports showed that the shots

by Azaria killed Sharif. Prior to shooting Sharif, Azaria had cared for a stabbed soldier.

The case has been controversial in Israel, with some on the political right calling for solidarity with Azaria and others, including military leaders, suggesting such calls reflect a national crisis of ethics.

“Elor was sent to protect Israelis at the height of a wave of Palestinian terror attacks. He cannot go to jail or we will all pay the price,” Jewish Home party head Naftali Bennett said in a statement calling for his pardon.

Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, however: “Sending Elor Azaria to prison for his crime sends an important message about reigning in excessive use of force...Pardoning Azaria or reducing his punishment would only encourage impunity for unlawfully taking the life of another person.” — JTA

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South Sudan or go to third countries with

By Andrew Tobin, JTA TEL AVIV — Defending his executive which Israel has reached agreements.

But whereas Trump's travel ban alorder directing the construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, Presi- lowed few exceptions, Israel's immigradent Donald Trump pointed to Israel as a tion laws are full of loopholes and are sometimes simply ignored entirely. model, saying “a wall protects.”

“Israel is primarily a country of Jewish With another swipe of his pen, Trump enacted a targeted travel ban. That execu- repatriation. Non-Jewish immigration is supposed to be very limited,” said tive order, blocked on federal appeal, also had at least superficial similarities to Alexander Yakobson, a historian at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “And Israel's immigration regime. yet the number of non-Jewish immi“Officially, we are like Trump,” said grants here is staggering. This is achieved Amnon Rubenstein, a law professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and not through policy but through nonenforcement of immigration laws.” former Israeli education minister. “We The law targeting West Bank and Gaza don’t accept refugees or immigrants” who Palestinians and aren't Jewish under Israel's Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images citizens of the four Law of Return. “But the Arab countries reality is a little different.” allows the interior Israel for years has minister or regionmaintained semi-bans al military comon entry by citizens from manders to make several Arab countries and various exceptions. asylum seekers. The differThese include ence is that the law is often the options to not enforced.

The Trump travel ban Asylum seekers protest at a detention grant residency to older Palestinian barred entry to the United center in the Negev, Feb. 17, 2014. spouses and citiStates by immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, zenship to young children. Citizenship, or a lesser status, can also be granted to Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and someone “of special interest to the State” Yemen — for 90 days. It also blocked all or who “performed a significant act to refugees for 120 days, and refugees fleepromote the security, economy or some ing the civil war in Syria indefinitely. other important matter of State.” Such a Since 2007, Israel has legally refused person, whose family may be included, entry to most citizens from three of the countries on Trump’s list — Iran, Iraq and must identify with “Israel and its goals.”

A 30-year old gay poet who had fled Syria — as well as from Lebanon. These persecution for his sexuality in Iran and “enemy states” were added to a 2003 emergency law, passed in response to the professed to be “in love with” Israel was second intifada, that has largely stopped allowed to enter the country last year and stay.

Palestinians in the West Bank and the For those who need to enter Israel for Gaza Strip from living in Israel. work or medical care, temporary visas Israel has also taken a relatively hard can be issued. Israeli army medics have line on asylum seekers, who in its case come mostly from Eritrea and Sudan. The brought more than 2,600 Syrians to the country for care, though the state will not state has generally deemed these migrants “infiltrators” seeking work, though recognize them as refugees, and tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians are many have fled persecution and human permitted to work in Israel, with thourights abuses at home, according to human rights groups. Between 2009 and the sands more coming in illegally.

Even African migrants in many ways beginning of 2015, Israel granted refugee have been accommodated. Israel has exstatus to just five of more than 3,500 appelled few, and more than 45,000 are esplicants, or a fraction of 1 percent. That contrasts with the 84 percent of Eritreans timated to remain in the country. Several and 56 percent of Sudanese asylum seek- years ago, the state announced it would ers who received either refugee status or not enforce employment laws that would prevent them from working. In Tel Aviv, extended protection in other countries in 2014, according to the United Nations where most of the migrants have settled, they work behind the counters of bars high commissioner for refugees. and restaurants on nearly every block, At the same time, Israel has deterred more African migrants from coming and speaking Hebrew with Israeli waiters sent out those who have already arrived. and waitresses.

Israel has been accused in its Supreme As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted in a tweet responding to Trump’s Court of privileging Jews and discriminating against would-be Palestinian shout-out, Israel in 2014 completed a immigrants and African refugees when fence along its border with Egyptiancontrolled Sinai. The previous year, Israel it comes to immigration. The state's built a detention center in the Negev just security arguments have mostly carried for the migrants, and it has given cash in- the day, with the courts only requiring centives to tens of thousands to return to tweaks to its policies.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

THE WORLD

Jews gather at rallies across U.S. urging support for refugees

By Josefin Dolsten, JTA NEW YORK — More than 100 years ago, Barnett Levine was greeted by the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty as he arrived in the United States, having fled antisemitism and pogroms in his native Poland.

On Feb. 12, his grandson saw those very same sights when he joined about 700 others in this Battery Park at a rally protesting President Donald Trump’s executive order banning all refugees from the country for 120 days.

“I am the grandchild of four immigrants who came here when the gates of the United States were wide open and they made a life here,” Harold Levine, a 60-year-old marketing consultant, told JTA. “I think that it is the duty of the Jewish community to pay this forward to other immigrants who are trying to come to the United States.”

The rally was organized by HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, part of an initiative by the immigrant resettlement group called the National Day of Jewish Action for Refugees.

Thousands attended rallies Feb. 12 as part of the HIAS initiative, including in Boston, Washington, D.C, and other major cities, a representative for the group

told JTA. The demonstrations had more than 20 co-sponsors, including the AntiDefamation League, the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish World Service, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly.

Mark Hetfield, the CEO of HIAS, said the rallies were a rare moment of joining together in support of refugees.

“I haven’t seen anything like this since I got my start (with HIAS) in 1989, which was at the height of the Soviet Jewry movement," he said. “This is a galvanizing moment like that, but the difference is that then we were standing up for Jews, and now we are standing up as Jews.”

Among the speakers were Mayor Bill de Blasio; Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.; Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the ADL, and Sana Mustafa, a Syrian refugee.

In Boston, speakers at a rally with several hundred participants included City Councilor Josh Zakim, whose father, the late Lenny Zakim, was the longtime director of the New England Anti-Defamation League; Imam Faisal Khan, director of religious affairs at the Islamic Center of Wayland, and Fred Manasse, a child Holocaust survivor

Josefin Dolsten

remind attendees of refugees who had died before being able to reach safety, as well as those now facing dangerous circumstances.

ADL also on Feb. 12 launched a campaign urging people to share on social media their family stories of coming to the U.S. and tagging posts with #ThisIsARefugee.

“We remember that we were once strangers, too, that Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and oppression during the Holocaust were often denied entry with claims eerily similar to some of the claims that are being made today to deny entrance to refugees, and we think that’s wrong,” Greenblatt told JTA on the phone before the rally.

Lisa Davidson, a 41-year-old professor who attended the New York event, said she saw historic parallels between the Holocaust and the civil war in Syria.

“What’s going on in Syria right now is criminal, and it is sort of reminiscent of what happened in the Holocaust in the ‘30s and ‘40s, and I think that we don’t want to repeat that again, and we don’t want to sit and say that we did nothing,” Davidson said.

About 700 people attended a New York City rally in support of refugees, organized by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Feb. 12

who was brought to the U.S. by HIAS. “In this city we believe we can live in harmony,” de Blasio said in New York.”

It's not perfect, but we believe we can do something that the whole world is struggling to do, that we can all be together...people of all religions and backgrounds, that is what we’re fighting for — doesn’t that fit beautifully the profound Jewish concept of tikun olam, of healing the world?”

At one point during the New York rally, representatives of 10 of the co-sponsoring groups went on stage and tore pieces of cloth, mimicking a Jewish ritual in which mourners rend their clothing. The tearing was done to

JTA correspondent Penny Schwartz contributed from Boston.

A Women’s Freedom Seder

T E A C H I N G O U R WAY TO F R E E D O M

Thursday, March 23 6–9PM @ Boonshoft CJCE $30 per person.

RSVP online at jewishdayton.org or by phone to Karen at 610-1555 by March 10.

If you’d like to make a tribute in memory or in honor of someone you will miss at your Seder, you may do so by contributing $18.

We will be collecting donations of bras and feminine hygiene products that will be given to St. Vincent de Paul.

Bring these items the night of the Seder.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

PAGE 9

OPINION

Separation anxiety

Why Trump shook things up

By Douglas Bloomfield Donald Trump wasted no time in implementing the one campaign promise most Jews prayed he would not keep.

He has begun to chip away at the wall of separation between church and state.

The First Amendment is sacred. It protects free speech and a free press — favorite targets of Trump's wrath — and prohibits the “establishment of religion” while protecting “the free exercise” of one's faith without government coercion. Never in history have Jews had that written into the basic law of the land. Trump seems intent on changing that. Jews have greater freedom to practice their religion as they wish in America than even in Israel.

His first and loudest target continues to be Muslims. He banned immigration of groups of Muslims by executive order while specifically welcoming Christian refugees.

It didn't take long for the new administration to send a chilling message to the Jews. A presidential proclamation marking Holocaust Remembrance Day deliberately excluded any mention of antisemitism or Hitler's six million Jewish victims.

Since he began running for president, Trump has inspired antisemites, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen and alt-right nativists. The President falsely accused the media of not reporting terror incidents on a White House list that omitted attacks in Israel and threats here at home to more than 30 Jewish community centers.

Another Trump campaign promise was broken by his new attorney general, former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, on his first full day in office. The Justice Department dropped its support for Obama-era guidelines providing access to school bathrooms for transgender students.

Opposition to transgender rights is prevalent in Trump's cabinet, most notably Sessions and Vice President Mike Pence, and particularly among the president's evangelical base and in the GOP platform. As a candidate he vowed to “do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from violence and oppression of the hateful, foreign ideology, believe me.”

But that didn't last long. Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said the president would be issuing an executive order that would effectively condone discrimination in the name of “religious freedom,” the Washington Post reported. Trump has said if Congress passes it “I will sign” the First Amendment Defense Act — misnamed because it actually sanctions religious discrimination while claiming to prevent it.

If the law passes it is sure to draw court challenges and if Trump's Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch is confirmed, he could be expected to uphold it. From his seat on the Tenth Circuit Court he has sided with religious

By David Suissa At his press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump uttered words that will live in Mideast infamy — “I’m looking at two-state and one-state. I like the one that both parties like.”

On the surface, those words appear innocuous — let the parties decide their future. But in truth, they represent a diplomatic earthquake.

No Western leader has ever had the guts to challenge the conventional wisdom that the two-state solution is the only desirable outcome to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

Ever since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, this two-state idea — which really means the establishment of a Palestinian state — has been the shiny object worshipped by diplomats around the world and repeated like a mindless mantra at one failed peace conference after another.

By disrespecting this shiny object, Trump introduced the idea that the object may, in fact, not be worth all the worship. His ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, tried to soften Trump’s stance when she expressed U.S. support for the two-state solution, but she pointedly added, “we are thinking out of the box as well.”

Thinking out of the box is what Trump did when he refused to bow down to the two-state idol. What may have looked so beautiful 20 years ago — two states for two peoples living next to each other in perfect harmony — has become, in reality, a potential disaster for all sides.

For one thing, the high likelihood that Hamas and ISIS would swoop in and turn the West Bank into another terror state is disastrous not just for Israel, but for the Palestinians and the United States. This is the kind of mud on the idol of a Palestinian state we rarely hear about.

One reason we rarely hear about it is that the notion of a Palestinian state is still as shiny as ever.

On the Israeli side, it would mean separating from two million Palestinians and securing its future as a Jewish democracy. And on the Palestinian side, it would mean securing their national aspirations.

Those ideals are still in play, but only in the abstract. In reality, even moderate commentators like Aaron David Miller have called the two-state solution “dead.”

PAGE 10

conservatives on several key cases.

Speaking to the National Prayer Breakfast in February, Trump continued his assault on the establishment clause.

He promised to put politics in the pulpits by effectively turning churches into Super PACs. To do that he pledged to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment, which bars religious institutions from using their tax-exempt contributions for political advocacy.

It is a payoff to white evangelicals, who gave Trump 80 percent of their votes in November and were critical to his victory. He has given the religious right unprecedented access, influence and senior posts in his administration.

He promised them a Supreme Court nominee to their liking, and he delivered.

Chairing that prayer breakfast was an early Trump supporter, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Jr., head of the evangelical Liberty College. Falwell, a creationist, has said he accepted Trump’s offer to head a task force on reforming higher education after turning down the president's offer to be secretary of education.

That job went to Betsy DeVos, an inexperienced opponent of public schools and an advocate of federal funding for religious schools. She has defined education reform as part of her mission to “advance God's kingdom.”

Her support for taxpayer funding of parochial schools won endorsements from many in Trump's conservative Jewish base, which tends to be Orthodox, notably the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel. But the vast majority of American Jews — 75 percent voted against Trump in November — support the public school system, which has made a vital contribution to their success in America.

“The Trump administration’s sustained assault on the separation of religion and state is likely only to exacerbate the already wide gap between Orthodox Jews and the more progressive majority,” writes Jane Eisner, editorin-chief of the Forward.

Trump's biggest gift to the religious right was picking as his vice president a man who has been called “a poster child for evangelical conservative politics.”

As a congressional candidate in 2000, Pence had advocated using AIDS funding for gay conversion therapy.

The religious right is better represented in the Trump cabinet than Goldman Sachs.

Sessions, the nation's chief law enforcement officer, has said the “wall of separation…is not constitutional and is not historical.”

Thomas Jefferson had a different view: “Separation of church and state is absolutely essential in a free society.”

For Donald Trump it is an inconvenience.

Columnist Douglas Bloomfield is based in Washington, D.C.

So, what do you think?

Send your letters (350 words max., thanks) to: The Dayton Jewish Observer 525 Versailles Drive Dayton, OH 45459 MWeiss@jfgd.net

It doesn’t matter who you blame for this death. The fact is, the more the world has pursued the two-state solution, the more distant it has become.

No conflict in modern history has generated more frequent miles, fancy hotel rooms and media coverage than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry made more than 20 trips to the region to try to jumpstart talks. He could barely manage to arrange “talks about talks.”

A fresh observer like Donald Trump, with his business background, probably looked at this dead corpse and figured he had little to lose by shaking things up.

Since the obsession with the twostate solution seems to have killed the two-state solution itself, maybe he figured: Let’s see what happens if we lose that obsession. A good dealmaker, after all, never shows desperation and keeps his options open.

Ironically, putting an alternative on the table may well improve the odds of a two-state solution if the parties end up seeing that the alternative is even worse.

We’ve never had a serious debate about this, partly because up until now, that alternative has come from the fringes. Trump has now put it front and center. The New York Times published a remarkable op-ed by Jewish settler leader Yishai Fleisher, who calmly laid out five alternatives to the two-state solution. That sounds to me like a new chapter in a long debate.

A wild card that is sure to influence this debate is Trump’s desire to involve in the peace process Arab states that have grown closer to Israel. Maybe this is Trump’s way of shaking up the Palestinians and telling them they’re no longer the only game in town.

Let’s face it. A huge reason for the death of the two-state solution has been the chronic refusal of the Palestinian leadership to make any concessions or even to make any counter-offers to Israeli proposals — which is consistent with their continuous promotion of Jew-hatred and glorifying of terrorism.

They’ve never paid a price for this.

If anything, the world has rewarded them. My guess is, they’re now looking at Trump and saying: The party’s over.

This guy’s not going to coddle us. He’s going to demand some real concessions, or else.

Will this Trumpian disruption lead to anything good? Will it empower the moderates on all sides and create a perfect storm of circumstances that can bring the two-state corpse back to life?

Who knows. The only thing we know for sure is that when you’re looking at certain death, any alternative is welcome.

David Suissa is president of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

THE WORLD

Facing OU synagogue ban, Orthodox women clergy say they’ll keep working

By Ben Sales, JTA NEW YORK — Rabba Ramie Smith of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, an Orthodox congregation, says she doesn’t have time to protest the Orthodox Union decision banning its synagogues from hiring women clergy such as herself.

This weekend, she’s busy organizing a Shabbat conference with Yachad, a group supporting Jews with disabilities. Then she has classes to plan, congregants to meet and a podcast to host.

“The way I’m reacting is showing up to work and continuing to do my job,” Smith, Rabba Ramie Smith was ordained in 2016 and is now a clergy member who received ordination in at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, an Orthodox synagogue in New York 2016, told JTA. “It might make some people nervous, but the America — an umbrella group one of the main targets of a more we continue doing our of Orthodox rabbis — that also decision issued Feb. 2 by the jobs, having people see who we Orthodox Union, an umbrella barred women clergy. are and what we do, the work The O.U. decision says Orthodox Jewish group, barring speaks for itself.” that while there is a place for its member synagogues from Smith is one of 14 graduates women at synagogues to teach hiring female clergy. of Yeshivat Maharat, which Torah, hold professional leaderThe decision, made by a trains and ordains Orthodox ship positions and advise on committee of seven Orthodox women clergy members. certain Jewish legal matters, rabbis, follows a 2015 decision The New York school was Continued on next page by the Rabbinical Council of

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Garden Court Garden Garden Court Court

THE WORLD

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P RE S I DE N TS

Jewish Federation of GREATER DAYTON › Innovation Grants Applications for the next cycle of the Innovation Grant are now available for programs taking place July 1, 2017–June 30, 2018. Please contact Jodi Phares at 6105513 or jphares@jfgd.net to request an application. › YAD: Are you brave enough

for the great escape?

Sunday, March 12, 9:45AM

@ Great Escape Game (2332 Grange Hall Rd, Beavercreek) Following the great escape, a pot luck brunch will be held at Ben Wainblatt's house.

Contact Cheryl Carne at ccarne@jfgd.net or 610-1778 for details. Sponsored by Shumsky. › Special Film Screening: Denial

Tuesday, March 28, 7PM

@ Boonshoft CJCE When Holocaust denier David Irving sues Dr. Deborah Lipstadt over labeling him as such in her 1993 book, Denying the Holocaust, it was on Deborah's shoulders to defend the truth.

D IN N ER 2 017

Presidents Dinner Special Screening: Denial comes to Dayton In the year 2000, history as we know it was put on trial. In the United Kingdom, the burden of proof in a libel case is on the accused.

So when Holocaust denier David Irving sued Dr. Deborah Lipstadt over labeling him as such in her 1993 book, Denying the Holocaust, it was on Deborah's shoulders to defend the truth. Allowing his lies to whitewash the terrifyingly important history of the Holocaust was absolutely not an option to Dr. Lipstadt.

In the film Denial, Dr. Lipstadt is played by Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz and also stars two time Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson. The film is directed by Emmy Award winner Mick Jackson. Denial is coming to Dayton thanks to the support of 2017 Presidents Dinner Co-

Chairs Bruce Feldman and Susie Katz.

On Tuesday, March 28 the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton brings Denial to Dayton as a special free film screening leading up to our 2017 Presidents Dinner featuring the Dr. Deborah Lipstadt as Keynote Speaker. An exuberant speaker and eloquent historian, Dr. Lipstadt is famously known as the basis for the film Denial. Scholastically, she is known for her unparalleled research and teachings as the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Atlanta's Emory University. The 2017 Presidents Dinner will be held on Sunday, May 7 at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education. Tickets for the Presidents Dinner go on sale at the end of March.

TOP: L–R: Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz and Dr. Deborah Lipstadt.

BOTTOM: Poster for the film, Denial, which details Dr. Lipstadt's 2000 court battle.

Jodi in Israel: The Entire Experience!

RSVPs are due at least 1 week before event. Events with no price listed are free.

PLEASE CONTACT KAREN STEIGER REGARDING ALL EVENTS UNLESS NOTED: 610-1555, ksteiger@jfgd.net

After 13 years with the Jewish Federation, the unflappable Jodi Phares embarked on her FIRST trip to Israel!

Check out her experiences from her visit to our Western Galilee Partnership2Gether region, she really brought our overseas connections a little closer to home!

Check out her trip at jewishdayton.org/blog

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | MARCH 2017

A Women’s Freedom Seder TEACHING

Jewish Community Center of GREATER DAYTON › A Night in Vegas Saturday, March 4 7-11PM @ Boonshoft CJCE

JCC's annual fundraiser. Tickets at the door: General admission$35/ $125 High Roller; Texas Hold'Em- $150/$225 High Roller

› Dayton JYG Cooking Class Sunday, March 26 5–7PM @ Boonshoft CJCE

OUR

WAY

TO

FREEDOM

"The Women's Seder Thursday, March 23 has been one of the best 6-9PM @ Boonshoft CJCE programs offered to the $30 per person. RSVP women in our Jewish with your meal choice Community. This year is our

by March 10 online at third year putting it together. jewishdayton.org or at The Women's Seder really 610-1555. Your payment is your reservation. brings out our diversity, from women of different religious backgrounds, ages, and occupations! It is a night of spiritual emotion and friendship, plus a delicious meal. It really is a night of learning and sharing in how powerful women have been in our past, present and continue to be in our futures."

—Helene Gordon

LEFT: BAGELS

& BLOCKS...

AND SMILES! Sam and Matt Sierschula enjoy

Cooking class at the J. Learn how to make a kid-approved dinner from start to finish! $10 per person.

breakfast and fun times together

› Shulchan Yarok Informational Meeting Thursday, March 30 7PM @ Boonshoft CJCE

& Blocks is an annual event for

Join the CSA that swept the Jewish community last summer!

› BBYO J-Serve Sunday, April 2 1–3PM @ Boonshoft CJCE

in the Mitzvah cheder. Bagels children in the Mitzvah and Mishpacha classes and their special guests.

Teens from across the region will engage in acts of Tikkun Olam.

› Film Fest Sneak Peek The Frisco Kid Sunday, April 2 3PM @ The Neon (130 E. 5th St,

45402) Sponsored by: The Bernard and Carole Rabinowitz Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Foundation of Greater Dayton

› Art Appreciation Fridays, February 24–April 28 10AM @ Boonshoft CJCE

$50 per student. RSVP by February 20.

HEALTH & WELLNESS › Aerobic Conditioning Tues/Thurs @ 9–9:50AM Through May 3. $25 for all sessions. Through Sinclair Lifelong Learning.

RSVPs are due at least 1 week before event. Events with no price listed are free.

PLEASE CONTACT KAREN STEIGER REGARDING ALL EVENTS UNLESS NOTED: 610-1555, ksteiger@jfgd.net JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | MARCH 2017

The sun came out for our Annie Jr. stars! Thanks so much to everyone who enjoyed our bright and talented starlets! PHOTO CREDITS: PETER WINE

that for the purchase of 4 Tickets to Ride (40 rides): $180 rather

than $200. Now transportation clients can also receive a discount when they purchase 2 Tickets to Ride (20 Rides): $90 rather than $100, a $10 savings.

REAL LIFE, REAL RESOURCES:

The Montgomery County Heroin Epidemic Our February 16 program was eye-opening! Our presenters exposed the complexities of the heroin and opioid epidemic. We also learned about research-based methods to prevent, reduce, and reverse the effects of the epidemic. Our presenters were FABULOUS! Thank you: Jane P. Novick, ESQ., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES PROGRAM, MONTGOMERY COUNTY JUVENILE COURT David M. Novick, MD, FACP, FAASLD, DIGESTIVE SPECIALISTS Magistrate Gerald Parker, MONTGOMERY COUNTY JUVENILE COURT

WINE, SHERI POCH

Jewish Family Services Jewish Foundation ofof GREATER DAYTON GREATER DAYTON Wednesday, March 8 › Purim Program with Jenna Greenberg 11AM @ One Lincoln Park

(590 Isaac Prugh Way, 45429) RSVP by March 1. No cost.

Thursday March 9 › Purim Program with Courtney Cummings 1PM @ Friendship Village

(5790 Denlinger Rd., 45426) RSVP by March 2. No cost.

Monday, March 13 › Active Adult Entry-Level Zentangle Class 1–3PM @ Boonshoft CJCE Instructor Kelly Rigano. $10 per person (includes supplies).

› Apply for Interest-Free Student Loans

AB C

On February 6, JFS volunteers had a great time with the 3 year old and 4 year old classes from the JCC Early Childhood Program! Together, we celebrated Tu B’Shevat reading stories and making our very own terrariums. After we had fun with the preschoolers, the JFS Active Adults laughed and learned with Kathy from Siebenthaler’s. Following Houseplants 101 with Kathy, A Positive Change to the TRANSPORTATION FEE STRUCTURE the Active Adults enjoyed Effective July 2015, the cost of a JFS Ticket to Ride (a 10 ride lunch at Doubleday’s Grill & pass) was $50. Since that time, the only discount available was Tavern. PHOTO CREDITS: PETER JFS thanks the Dayton Jewish Community for its generosity!

During the month of January you donated receiving blankets, bibs, hats, rattles, pacifiers, hard books, and more for the babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Dayton Children’s Hospital. We even received some handmade bibs and hats… so precious! In all, JFS delivered 44 bags to Dayton Children’s Hospital. Todah Rabah! (Thank You!)

Now through March 17 Contact Shay Shenefelt at sshenefelt@jfgd.net or 401-1551 with questions.

To request an application, contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@jfgd.net or 610-1796.

› Need Assistance Finding a Food Pantry Near You? Call the United Way Information & Referral Line, 225-3000 or Dial 2-1-1. › Are you caring for a loved one who is not in the Greater Dayton area? Visit http:// www.ajfca.org/senior-resourceconnect/ to find supports and services provided by Jewish agencies nationwide. › Don’t know what to donate in the Food Barrels? How about non-perishable, nonexpired fruits and vegetables such as: CANNED PEACHES, PEARS, PINEAPPLE, APPLESAUCE; CANNED JUICES; CANNED GREEN BEANS, PEAS, CORN, TOMATOES, POTATOES PLEASE CONTACT KAREN STEIGER REGARDING ALL EVENTS: 610-1555

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | MARCH 2017

SC H O LA R SH I PS

›Mamaloshen

A little bit of Yiddish to share with friends, courtesy of the JFS Yiddish Club, in memory of Lynda A. Cohen.

Epl \EP-EL\ Noun An apple.

Expression with Epl: › Der roytster epl ken oykh hobn a vorem. The rose has its thorn, the peach its worm (lit., Even the reddest apple can contain a worm). › Dos shenste epele iz in nogeds tepele. The best apple is in the rich man's pot.

& The Science of the Plagues Sunday, March 26, 2–5PM @ Boonshoft Museum of Discovery (2600 DeWeese Pkwy, 45414) Come join us as PJ Library learns all about the animal plagues and PJ Our Way will focus on the weather related ones! Free for all kids and first adults (additional adults $9 without museum membership) SPACE IS LIMITED! RSVP by March 13 at jewishdayton.org or 610-1555.

› Eyn foyler epl farfoylt dem andern. One rotten apple spoils the other. › Lynda A. Cohen Yiddish Club Sunday March 12 1:30-3PM @ Oakwood Starbucks (2424 Far Hills Ave, 45419)

FEDERATION

PJ Library teamed up with JCC Early Childhood for their Winter Social in about PJ Library or PJ Our Way or to get a child enrolled in either of these great programs, please contact Juliet Glaser at jglaser@jfgd.net or 401-1541.

NEW THIS YEAR! THE CAROLE RABINOWITZ YOUTH JEWISH EXPERIENCE FUND: Established in Carole's memory, this fund offers financial assistance to families who are interested in sending their children to Jewish sleepaway camp. Applications are now being accepted. **Please note ~ those who have already applied for a sleepaway camp scholarship through the Joan and Peter Wells Family, Children and Youth Fund will also be considered for this scholarship opportunity.

RESIDENTIAL CAMP SCHOLARSHIP: Funds are available for local youths planning to participate in a Jewish sleepaway camp program during the summer of 2017.

This scholarship is made possible through the Joan and Peter Wells Family, Children and Youth Fund.

TRAVEL TO ISRAEL SCHOLARSHIP: Dayton area Jewish teens and young adults, ages 14-21, are invited to apply for the Wolfe Marcus Trust Youth Travel to Israel Scholarship. Applicants must demonstrate financial need and plan to travel to Israel during the summer of 2017.

COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP: Since its creation in 2006, the Vicky & Robert Heuman Scholarship has been awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student who demonstrates both academic achievement and financial need.

The scholarship is open to Jewish Dayton area residents.

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials

Celebrate Purim with songs and stories

For more information

Please don't miss out on these fantastic opportunities! If you have questions, or would like to request an application, please contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@ jfgd.net or 610-1796.

Completed applications and supporting documentation are due March 17. Awards will be announced April 7.

January to bring books to life and to foster a love of reading!

PHOTO CREDIT: PETER WINE

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | MARCH 2017

ROBERT AND MOLLIE FITTERMAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND IN MEMORY OF › Robert and Mollie Fitterman -Susan and Alan Witte LINDA RUCHMAN MEMORIAL FUND IN HONOR OF › Speedy and complete recovery of Daniel Hoffheimer › 60th wedding anniversary of Louise and Bill Warshauer -Judy and Marshall Ruchman IN MEMORY OF › Robert Friedman -Judy and Marshall Ruchman DOROTHY B. MOYER YOUNG LEADERSHIP FUND IN MEMORY OF › In Yarzeit memory of Elmer L. Moyer › In Yarzeit memory of Sheila D. Moyer -Mr. and Mrs. Richard Moyer and Family › Sheila D. Moyer -James Moyer

FAMILY SERVICES

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES IN HONOR OF › New home of Tara and Dr. Adam Feiner -Melinda and Bill Doner ACTIVE ADULTS FUND IN MEMORY OF › Fred Sokol FOUNDATION

-Dr. Erika and Dr. Felix Garfunkel JEREMY BETTMAN B’NAI TZEDEK FUND IN MEMORY OF › Fred Sokol -Jean and Todd Bettman

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Classes

Temple Beth Or Classes: Sun., March 5, 12, 26, 1 p.m.: Beginning Hebrew w. Renee Peery. Sun., March 5, 12, 19, 26, 1 p.m.: Advanced Hebrew w. Rabbi Chessin. Wed., March 8, 1-3 p.m.: Chai Mitzvah. Registration required. $36. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 435-3400.

Temple Israel Classes: Wednesdays, noon: Talmud Study w. Rabbi Sobo. Bring lunch. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.: Torah Study. Sundays, 9 a.m.: Beginning Hebrew w. Judy Heller. Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m.: Intermediate Hebrew w. Teresa Wyman. Wednesdays, noon: Advanced Biblical Hebrew w.

Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. All Hebrew classes $55 non-members, $50 members. Sun., March 26, noon: Jewish Literacy w. Rabbi BodneyHalasz. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

496-0050.

Discussions

Temple Israel Ryterband Lectures: Sundays, 9:45 a.m.

March 5: Rabbi Robert Barr, Congregation Beth Adam, Does Judaism Promote Peace or Violence? March 19: Bob Thum, Righteous Among the Nations.

March 26: HUC Prof. Emeritus Dr. Samuel Greengus, Laws Before the Bible. $7. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 496-0050.

Family

PJ Library, The Science of the Plagues: Sun., March 26, 2-5 p.m. Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, 2600 DeWeese Pkwy, Dayton. Free for each child and first adult. Each additional adult $9. R.S.V.P. by March 13 to 6101555.

Youths

Dayton Junior Youth Group Cooking Class: Sun., March 26, 5-7 p.m. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. $10.

R.S.V.P. to Karen Steiger, 6101555.

Young Adults

YAD @ Great Escape: Sun., March 12, 9:45 a.m. 2332 Grange Hall Rd., Beavercreek. Followed by potluck brunch at home of Ben Wainblatt. Contact Cheryl Carne at 610-1778 for details or to R.S.V.P.

Women

A Women’s Freedom Seder: Thur., March 23, 6-9 p.m. $30.

R.S.V.P. by March 10, 610-1555 or jewishdayton.org.

Seniors

JFS Yiddish Club: Sun., March 12, 1:30-3 p.m. Starbucks, 2424 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood.

Community Events

JCC Night In Vegas: Sat., March 4, 7-11 p.m. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. $35$225. 610-1555.

Temple Israel Bike & Brunch: Sun., March 19, 10 a.m. Ride on Great Miami River Trail followed by brunch at downtown eatery.

Call Temple Israel at 496-0050 for details & to R.S.V.P. Beth Abraham Men’s Club Kosher Deli Dinner, Movie & Raffle: Sun., March 19, 6 p.m. $20. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. R.S.V.P. to 293-9520.

11: 9:30 a.m. Shabbat services followed by Kiddush lunch. 6:15 p.m. Shalosh Seudos dinner.

7:20 p.m. Havdalah, evening service, megillah reading, dessert reception. Sun., March 12: 8 a.m. morning service, megillah reading, brunch. $18 adults, $10 children for dinner. All else free. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. R.S.V.P. by March 10, 274-2149.

Temple Anshe Emeth Shabbat & Purim Celebration: Fri., March 10, 7 p.m. 320 Caldwell St., Piqua.

For info., call Eileen Litchfield, 937-547-0092.

Screening of Denial: Tues., March 28, 7 p.m. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. R.S.V.P. to Karen Steiger, 610-1555.

Shulchan Yarok CSA Informational Meeting: Thurs., March 30, 7 p.m. Learn about farm co-op. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 6101555.

Beth Abraham Megillah Reading & Shpiel: Sat., March 11, 7:30 p.m. Followed by noshing & dancing w. band Blind Justice.

Children’s activities. $10 adults, $5 children. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. R.S.V.P. to 293-9520.

Purim

Temple Beth Or Purim Celebration: Sunday, March 12, 9:30 a.m. Megillah reading, Esther Purim shpiel, youth group carnival, Persian feast. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 435-3400.

JFS Purim Programs: Wed., March 8, 11 a.m.: w. Cantor Jenna Greenberg at One Lincoln Park, 590 Isaac Prugh Way, Kettering. Thurs., March 9, 1 p.m.: w. Courtney Cummings at Friendship Village, 5790 Denlinger Rd., Trotwood. Free. Call 610-1555 for more info.

Temple Israel Megillah Reading & Purim Carnival: Sun., March 12, 11 a.m. Followed by lunch. $6 adults, $4 ages 4-12, free 3 and under. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

496-0050.

Temple Beth Or Hamantashen Baking Class: Tues., March 7, 10:30 a.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. Free. R.S.V.P. to 4353400 for list of ingredients to bring.

Beth Jacob Congregation Purim Weekend: Fri., March 10: 5:30 p.m. evening service, 6:45 p.m. dinner. Sat., March

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

PAGE 17

Spring

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Our new location 2316 Far Hills Avenue • Oakwood, Ohio 45419 In The Shops of Oakwood •

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LIFECYCLES

KVELLING

Benjamin Ethan Char It is with great pleasure that David and Deborah Char announce their son Benjamin Ethan will follow in the tradition of our ancestors as he is called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, March 18 at 10 a.m. at Temple Beth Or. Benjamin is the grandson of Anthony and the late Helaine Char of Dayton, and Mark and the late Joan Chesler of Ann Arbor, Mich. Benjamin is a seventh-grade honor student at Kettering Middle School.

He plays the euphonium in the band and is on the school basketball team. He enjoys sports, music, travel, video games, animals and hanging out with his friends. For his Bar Mitzvah project, Benjamin is volunteering at SICSA and collecting food, toys, supplies and monetary donations.

Send lifecycles to: The Dayton Jewish Observer, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, OH 45459 • Email: MWeiss@jfgd.net. There is a $10 charge to run a photo; please make checks payable to The Dayton Jewish Observer.

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PAGE 18

Rachel Haug Gilbert

Jerry Halasz can be heard reading from the Springfield Sun, The Xenia Daily Gazette, and the Fairborn Daily Herald for Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley’s Radio Reading Service each Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 3 p.m. Radio Reading Service provides audio access to print media for those unable to read on their own. Also on Radio Reading Service every week is Marshall Weiss, with The Jewish News Hour on Sundays at noon and 6 p.m.

Ethan Cohen, a junior at Indiana University, is in Tel Aviv this semester as an intern for the 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel. During his six months there, he’s also studying Hebrew and is taking a course at The College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Letzion. Ethan is the son of Teri and Dan German, and Brad and Tina Cohen.

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Ian Micah Gossett received his bachelor’s degree in political science and world politics from St. Leo University in Florida. He’ll now pursue his

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Send your Kvelling items to: kvellingcorner@gmail.com or to Rachel Haug Gilbert The Dayton Jewish Observer 525 Versailles Drive Centerville, OH 45459

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

Writer to right passage on Wright’s wrong

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

They were not. In my research, I could find no documentation of antisemitic expression from either of the ow in its 13th year, The Big Read is an inspired Wright brothers. concept. A collaboration of numerous public Always in search of a Jewish angle, I started to wonlibraries, colleges, and a bookstore in the Dayton der what Jewish connections The Observer could write region, The Big Read asks the public to vote on a title about during the centennial of flight. I asked local hiseach year to “bring people together to read and talk tory buff Bob Thum to see if he could find any Jewish about the same book.” connections to the Wright brothers.

This year’s choice is close We were pleasantly surprised when he rediscovered to the hearts of Daytonians: that one of the Wright’s first flight school instructors The Wright Brothers, by one of America’s most celebrat- and exhibition pilots, Arthur L. Welsh, was not only ed authors of history, David McCullough. Between Jewish but an ardent Zionist. Bob wrote the story for March 12 and April 16 — the 150th anWright State University Special Collections and Archives The Observer, and I niversary of Wilbur Wright’s birth — was pleased to report Big Read libraries will host discussions back to Israel’s postal and programs about McCullough’s authority all of the 2015 New York Times #1 bestseller. good news. In 2003, When I read the book last year, one the postal authority passage gave me much concern. It’s issued two Wright about Katharine Wright, Orville and brothers stamps.

Wilbur’s sister. She was essentially the Bob’s research glue that held the family together after also gave me a more the death of their mother in 1889. nuanced insight into McCullough celebrates Katharine’s Katharine’s experirole in her brothers’ successes. And he ence with Jews. doesn’t shy away from the antisemiWelsh, the firsttism Katharine expressed toward the known Jewish airWrights’ sales agent in Europe, Hart plane pilot, was killed Berg of Flint & Co. In a 1907 letter to in a crash testing a Wilbur, Katharine seems emotionWright plane for the ally out of sorts. She’s impatient with Army at College Park, Berg’s progress and the back-and-forth Md. on June 11, 1912. terms of Flint & Co.’s commission Although this was structure. The way McCullough exonly two weeks after plains Katharine’s antisemitism in the Wilbur’s death of tyletter stopped me cold: phoid fever, Katharine “She had had little or no experience Katharine Wright in 1898, the year she started and Orville attended teaching Latin at Steele High School with Jews, but having seen a photoWelsh’s funeral at an graph of Hart Berg, she wondered if Orthodox synagogue in Washington, D.C. on June 13. he might be one. ‘I can’t stand Berg’s looks,’ she wrote.

An account in the Yiddish Forward indicated, “All ‘It has just dawned on me that the whole company is present were in tears, including Mr. Orville Wright and composed of Jews. Berg certainly looks it.’” his sister, who were doing all they could to console the I was familiar with this letter; that wasn’t the surmother and wife of the deceased.” prise. My concern was that readers — Jewish and nonEven so, in the meticulously researched 2009 book Jewish, here and elsewhere — would come away with Orville’s Aviators, John Carver Edwards notes that in the impression that there was no Jewish community in a June 15 letter to her father, Katharine wrote of the the Dayton of that time period.

Welsh funeral, “All of his family and his wife’s family McCullough’s explanation also gives the impression show their Jewish traits much more than Mr. Welsh that her antisemitism couldn’t have been grounded in did…” her personal experiences encountering Jews. If there My sense is that Katharine was what one might call was no Jewish population here, her antisemitism a “parlor antisemite.” She was a product of her time. was an abstraction, and maybe she couldn’t be held Though it’s almost certain she wouldn’t have accountable. But we know that Dayton had a Jewish socialized with Jews, there’s no doubt that Katharine community of at least 3,000 in those days. would have encountered Jews regularly when she was These were my thoughts when I reached out to the downtown for her work at Steele High School, where celebrated author a few weeks ago. she taught Latin, and on outings.

Full disclosure: I’m a David McCullough fan. Could In 1907 (the year of the letter about Berg), Dayton’s my hero have made an honest-to-goodness mistake? more established German Jews had lived downtown Is it possible that McCullough had fallen in for two generations. They tended to love with Katharine in his research and felt be merchants and attended the Rethe need to protect her? And how do I gently form B’nai Yeshurun, later renamed present the facts to the venerated author in Temple Israel. The more recently-ara way that shows I mean no ill will, but only rived Eastern European Jews lived hope to set the record straight? in the area around Wayne Avenue and Wyoming Street and prayed at first learned of The Wrights’ Jewish Beth Jacob and Beth Abraham. At connections in 2002 when a representative first, these less-educated Jews often of the Israeli Postal Authority called me. lived in poverty.

In 2003, to commemorate the centennial of Katharine taught at Steele High powered flight, the Israeli Postal Authority School beginning in 1898 and in hoped to issue a series of stamps featuring that first decade of the 1900s. From the Wright brothers. But first, the authority 1894 to 1906, Steele was Dayton’s wanted to ensure that Orville and Wilbur only public high school. Unless weren’t antisemites like Thomas Edison and they dropped out, this is where all Henry Ford. Their question for me: were the of Dayton’s Jewish teens would Wright brothers antisemites? have attended high school in that

N

Arts&Culture

I

David McCullough weighs in on Katharine’s antisemitic expressions time period.

If she ever did her “marketing” downtown, Katharine would have encountered Jews selling produce. If she ever went to Miami Valley Hospital, a Protestant institution, she would have encountered Jews who populated the neighborhood surrounding it who were treated there.

These were the main points I sent to David McCullough in an email. Along with a request: “If this is an honest-to-goodness error, is this something that might be corrected in subsequent editions?”

“I

very much appreciate your letter,” McCullough told me on the phone a week later. “I have checked with my publisher, and there’s no problem about revising that sentence to that paragraph. It’s not going to happen very soon because they’re not going back for another printing for probably another several months.”

It’s not often that I’m starstruck when I’m in interview mode. On this call, I was fighting back the fanboy urge.

“But I think the points you raised were obviously very valid, and instead of saying that she had had little or no experience, I think the clearest thing is that she had not had a lot of experience,” McCullough said.

He said that in his research for The Wright Brothers he had read more than 1,000 Wright family letters and found “no reference ever to any attitude toward Jews” from anyone else in the family.

“But I don’t recall ever reading any name, in what limited social life they had, that sounded the least bit Jewish or what was clearly Jewish,” McCullough Simon & Schuster added. “But none of us like to make mistakes, I think that was a mistake.

I should have known better than that, but as you know, in that day and age, there was a lot less social intermingling after hours.”

He described the Wrights as “quite reclusive in how they treated most everybody, not just people with a different David McCullough religion. I would guess that if I were to count the number of people they saw on a social basis, it would probably be less than eight, if that.”

McCullough also made the point that he has been fighting antisemitism since he was a grade schooler in Pittsburgh, “when some of my classmates would pick on somebody because they were Jewish. And I am outraged by it, always have been.”

F

or those from large cities with sizeable Jewish populations, it doesn’t always register that we Jews have made our way even to the smallest towns in search of the American dream. It’s almost like that iconic Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover showing a vast wasteland west of the Hudson all the way to the Pacific. I remember when I first started the Jewish paper here, my mother, laying on her Northeast Philadelphia dialect questioned, “There are Jews in Dayton?”

And so, as a sort of Horton The Elephant on behalf of Dayton’s Jews of the Wright brothers era, I hear them shouting, “We are here! We are here! We are here!” Because a community’s a community, no matter how small.

Marshall Weiss is editor and publisher of The Dayton Jewish Observer. He is writing a book about the history of Jewish Dayton, to be published in 2018.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

PAGE 19

SNE AK

P E E K

The Frisco Kid

Sunday, April 2 @ 3PM

@ The Neon (130 E. Fifth St, 45402) Just how do you escape an angry mob at sundown on Shabbat? This year our Film Festival snuck in a charming sneak peek to get you ready for our 2017 Film Fest, and what better to wet your whistle than one of the most famous Jewish-centric films, The Frisco Kid. Starring the lovable Gene Wilder and a young and dashing Harrison Ford, The Frisco Kid is a side-splitting western that shows how a Polish Rabbi absolutely COULD survive in the wild wild west.

Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss joins us after the film to discuss Gene Wilder’s monumental contributions to the film and comedy world.

This film is presented by The Bernard & Carole Rabinowitz Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Foundation of Greater Dayton

2017

A T

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The People VS. Fritz Bauer

139 min

105 min

Women’s Balcony

Reception @ 6–7PM at K12 & TEJAS Gallery

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

Arts&Culture

S E E the M O V I E

‘Jewish Americana’ music gets its moment in the spotlight BAM Photography

By Gabe Friedman, JTA Saul Kaye never wanted to be a “Jewish blues” player. In his opinion, the Jewish music he had heard growing up in Northern California's Bay Area ranged from “really bad to horrible.”

In 2009, he was touring as a rock musician, playing hundreds of shows a year with various bands at bars and clubs. And though he had never been very religious, he experienced a Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg combine Jewish lyrical themes bad breakup and felt the with a pure bluegrass sound as the group Nefesh Mountain need to do something spiritually “radical.”

James Taylor-esque country, are gaining So Kaye decided to take a Talmud in popularity on the national Jewish mucourse at the Mayanot Institute of Jewsic circuit. Joey Weisenberg, a Brooklynish Studies in Israel. One morning, a based prayer leader and music teacher, fellow student approached him and left has garnered praise for his modern bluehim with an intriguing prophecy. sy, indie rock-inspired takes on nigunim, “He says, ‘Saul, there’s a reason or traditional Jewish melodies. you’re at a yeshiva and you know who These musicians are building upon Muddy Waters is — you have to figure the foundation laid by other artists it out,’” Kaye said. “I let that marinate such as Andy Statman, an Orthodox, for a while and I thought: Why is there Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist no Jewish blues music? It doesn’t make who plays bluegrass with his eponysense. Our people have suffered formous trio; Jeremiah Lockwood, leader ever, and blues is about suffering, blues of the band The Sway Machinery who is comes out of the slavery experience. also known for his virtuosic blues guitar How come no one has put this together playing; and Klezmatics co-founder yet?”

Margot Leverett, whose group, Margot Eight years later, Kaye is now seen by Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain many as the “king” of Jewish blues, hav- Boys, combines klezmer and bluegrass. ing released four albums in the genre American Jews have long incorpothat range from twangy fingerpicking rated spiritual music with the popular: to more uptempo electric In the 1960s and 70s, for rock in the vein of B.B. example, Jewish music The trend King. He plays more than icons Shlomo Carlebach 100 shows a year at syna- follows a pattern and Debbie Friedman gogues, Jewish conferturned prayers and Jewof greater ences and festivals across melodies into folk experimentation ish the country — that’s songs that are still sung down from the more than throughout the today.

200 shows he was playing But signs indicate that Jewish music a few years ago, but that’s Americana could be havworld. because Kaye is now a ing its biggest moment father of two. in the Jewish community Kaye is part of a growing trend of right now. The trend follows a pattern of Jewish musicians who combine Jewgreater experimentation throughout the ish spiritual or religious lyrics with Jewish music world.

Americana music — an umbrella term “For a long time, it felt like the only that encompasses genres such as blues, artists that we were representing or bluegrass, folk and country, as well as were out there in congregations were a distinctly homegrown, old-fashioned a guy or girl with an acoustic guitar, American sensibility. singing acoustic music, singing Debbie Since Jews were viewed as immiFriedman kind of music,” said Mark grants in the United States for a large Pelavin, the chief programming offipart of the 20th century — and are still cer for the Union for Reform Judaism, widely seen as an ethnic “other” in which invites groups at the top of the American society — Jewish music and Jewish music scene to play for the 5,000 Americana, at first glance, seem an unattendees at its biennial conference. likely mixture.

“I think now there’s an interest in a But in addition to Kaye, artists such greater diversity of musical styles across as Nefesh Mountain, a husband-andthe board,” he said. “Some of it’s funkier wife bluegrass duo from New Jersey, — more drums, bass and loops — and and Houston’s Joe Buchanan, who plays Continued on next page

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‘Jewish Americana’

OBITUARIES Marilyn P. Lebowitz (nee Levine), age 92,of Dayton, passed away Feb. 12 at The Sanctuary at Wilmington Place after a short illness. Mrs. Lebowitz was the owner of The Elegant Bag for more than 20 years, retired from The Secret Ingredient and was a longtime member of Temple Israel. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Louis Aaron “Buddy” Lebowitz; parents, Sam and Evelyn Levine and step-mother, Sarah Saidel Levine.

Mrs. Lebowitz is survived by her two sons and their spouses, Alan and Jean Lebowitz of Piqua, Ted and David Hopson of Kettering; step-grandchildren, Max, Michael, Noah, Sophie and a host of other relatives and friends. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Hospice of Dayton in Mrs. Lebowitz’s memory.

Shirley Ann (Krakoff) Levitt, age 90 formerly of Dayton, passed away peacefully in her sleep at

Our Family Serving Your Family For More Than 90 Years

her home in Boca Raton on Feb. 2 with her children by her side.

Mrs. Levitt was preceded in death two years ago by her beloved husband of 67 years, Herman W. Levitt. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Boca Raton Public Library or any Hospice organization.

Ira Rubin, age 85 of Dayton, passed away Feb. 17 at Bethany Village in Centerville. He was born July 29, 1931 in New York to Abraham and Tess (Kaplan) Rubin. He married Ann B. Seplowitz on Dec. 20, 1966. Mr. Rubin is survived by his wife, son Scott (Karina) Rubin of Columbus, daughter Amy of Chicago, and two grandchildren, Max and Tobey. He is preceded in death by his parents, and sister Harriet Tischler. He will be remembered by his passion for sport fishing, his practice of law for more than 50 years and his deep love for his family.

Contributions may be made in his memory to the National Parkinson Foundation, www.parkinson. org. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery.

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Sylvia Lewis Wilson, age 94, formerly of Dayton, passed away peacefully Jan. 28 in Atlanta, where she has lived for the past 14 years. Mrs. Wilson graduated from Cornell University and was the program director for the Camp Fire Girls council in Dayton for 23 years. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 37 years, Sigmund Wilson in 1981.

Mrs. Wilson is survived by her four children, Dr. Jeffrey Wilson of Pontiac, Mich., Stephen Wilson (Christine) of Port Townsend, Wash., James Wilson (Dalton Massey) of Hayward, Calif., and Beth Thomsen (Dr. James) of Atlanta; her grandchildren Suzanne Busdieker, Deborah Marfia, Graham and Daniel Wilson, and Elizabeth and Margaret Thomsen; and great grandchildren Maddie, Blaise, Maya and Teddy. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to The Fountainview Center, 2631 N. Druid Hills Rd., Atlanta, GA 30329.

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Continued from previous page some of it’s twangier. There’s a lot of experimentation going on right now.”

Over the past decade, Americana has seen a comeback in the broader pop music world. The British band Mumford & Sons, which plays a combination of bluegrass, folk and indie rock, has sold millions of albums worldwide since 2009. In 2010, the Grammys instituted a Best Americana Album award.

And last May, Billboard began devoting an album chart to Americana and folk records.

“Jews have always taken popular music and brought it into shul because that brings people into shul,” said Kaye, who has also begun leading Shabbat services on his tours.

“There’s been a resurgence in coming back to more organic music because it just resonates — wood and strings in a room is a physical feeling that you aren’t going to get from techno, dubstep, house, trance or whatever other million genres.”

In the end, American Jewish music and Americana music might actually be two sides of the same coin. While Jewish musicians brought their European influences with them when they immigrated to the U.S., they’ve been forging their own American musical style for nearly half a century, according to Mark Kligman, an ethnomusicologist at UCLA. “In the '50s and '60s, most of American Judaism was leaning towards trying to find its Americanness,” he said. “(Jews) took European elements — cantorial klezmer and other things — and started adapting those. By the time you have an American-born generation in the 1970s, around (the time of) Debbie Friedman... they

wanted to have an Americanborn tradition.”

Still, for many, the juxtaposition is unusual. According to Nefesh Mountain’s Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff, even after two years of using the term “Jewish bluegrass,” some people still laugh at it at first.

“But what we’re doing is not goofy at all: it’s very soulful and very honest,” Zasloff said.

The group has found serious success, touring the country constantly. Nefesh Mountain is in the midst of recording its second album with some of the world’s most respected bluegrass artists, such as mandolin player Sam Bush, guitarist David Grier and banjo player Tony Trishka.

Joe Buchanan, a 40-yearold former human resources manager who grew up Christian in Houston, recounts to his audiences how converting to Judaism resolved his selfesteem issues. Like Kaye, who produced Buchanan’s debut album a couple of years ago, he thinks that the country music he was raised on, along with other Americana genres, go well with Jewish culture.

“Americana is strong in storytelling, which is something that we’ve always been really good at as a people,” he said.

“It’s a huge part of it; we’re always telling stories from the Torah.”

“If someone asked me how to describe Americana music, I would tell them: Imagine country music and Rock ‘n’ Roll had a child, and it was raised by their uncle bluegrass, and their other uncle blues music and cousin folk came over and spent a lot of time — that child is Americana music,” he said.

“That and Jewish storytelling is a natural fit.”

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

The parent gap Back to basics series “When I was a boy, we had in our lives adults who took pride in being adults,” writes commentator Dennis Prager.

“To distinguish them from our peers, we called these adults ‘Mr.,’ ‘Mrs.’ and ‘Miss,’ or by their titles, ‘Doctor,’ ‘Pastor,’ ‘Rabbi,’ ‘Father.’ …Having adults proud of their adulthood, and not acting like they were still kids, gave us security…”

In a contrasting view of modern adulthood, British

Candace R. Kwiatek nanny Emma Jenner describes her sippy cup test. “How will the parent react when, having poured milk into a blue sippy cup, the child says, ‘I want the pink sippy cup, not the blue!’

More often than not, the mum’s face whitens and she rushes to get the preferred sippy cup before the child has a tantrum.

Fail! What are you afraid of, mum?”

Until recently, “adult” was an intrinsic feature of identity, a specific stage of life regardless of behavior. According to the Bible, “no longer a child” simply meant of marriageable age (puberty) or military age at 20. In Ethics of the Fathers, the rabbis of the Talmud similarly defined a progression of life’s stages, including moral maturity at 13 and adulthood at 20 (5:22).

These long-lived descriptors suggest not only a change in status but also a change in

focus from the self to society.

However, since the end of World War II, adulthood has been defined not by age but by outward markers. “leave home, get an education or training, get a job, marry, buy a home, have kids,” writes Barbara Ray in What does it mean to be an ‘adult’ today?

A more recent trend combines these markers with Peter Pan Syndrome, reflected in today’s urban vocabulary.

Adult has become a verb, “adulting,” in which being an adult means engaging in specific behaviors or activities that can be turned on and off like a switch.

This modern confusion about the nature and significance of adulthood is echoed in the dynamics of parenthood, much to the detriment of children, families, and society.

Three biblical texts are key to grasping the profoundness of parenthood. Highlighting the kinship between parents and God as creators and liberators, children are commanded in Leviticus 19:3, “Venerate (revere) every man his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.” To ensure the health and longevity of society, children are commanded in Exodus 20:12, “Dignify (honor) your father and your mother, in order that your days may be prolonged on the soil that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Finally, parents are commanded in the familiar verses of the Shema (Deut. 6:7), “Impress (teach) them (the Commandments) diligently to your children, and talk of

Literature to share Passover Around the World by Tami Lehman-Wilzig. Using elements of the Seder to explore a wide variety of Passover traditions, this nonfiction book captures twin themes of Jewish unity and cultural diversity. Simple maps, unusual recipes, and unique customs are balanced by an overview of Passover and its traditional symbols. The lively text, colorful design, and varied format are especially inviting for upper elementary readers and classroom exploration.

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume. In this bestseller adult novel, Blume imagines the stories of three generations of families, friends and strangers whose lives were affected by a series of real-life airplane crashes in Elizabethtown, N.J. in the 1950s. Unusual in its wide array of characters, Unlikely Event explores the complexities of dealing with tragedy and finding ways to make sense of our lives.

them when sitting at home, and with love is very different from parenting for the purpose of when on the way, and when love. lying down, and when rising It establishes a hierarchy, up.” ranking parents above children The notions of a permanent, and defining the obligatory hierarchical and sacred relabehaviors of each rank. tionship between parent and Parents are not their chilchild and their moral obligadren’s peers, servants, nor tions to one another and to co-equal friends at any age, in society are central to Jewish contrast to modern views. tradition.

A parent’s role is to “make However, this traditional good people” by understanding being the primary of parenthood Successful moral authority, highlights a growa higher power to ing parent gap. It parenting whom children are undermines the modern notion of involves three morally accounthaving a child as components: able.

Successful a kind of bucketparent style, parenting involves list check-off for adulting, as in, “I expectations, three components: parent style, became a parent. I and content. expectations, and adulted.” content.

The gap disenParenting styles tangles emotional love (not loving behavior) from abound, from permissive to helicopter to authoritarian. But the role of parenthood, never for nurturing moral adults, commanding parents and chilresearch favors the authoritadren to love one another. tive model.

Modern preoccupations With a strong sense of their with having “a baby to love” moral authority, reasonable or “a child to love me” leads to enforcement of standards and unhealthy parenting behaviors boundaries, and a warm and that ultimately undermine the responsive style that favors very result desired. Parenting

conversation and reasoning, researcher Diana Baumrind concludes, authoritative parents raise the most secure, selfconfident, morally astute, and socially responsible children.

Parents should raise the bar, with high expectations for their children’s character, maturity, and achievement, more than what is generally accepted.

They should also raise the bar for friends and other adults in their children’s orbit, ensuring that they too reinforce family standards and moral expectations.

Finally, when we view the purpose of parenting as “creating good people,” the most important content of parenting becomes character development rather than caretaking, pursuing happiness, or achieving academic success.

Like adulting, parenting is threatening to change from a permanent identity to a temporary role. But if 20somethings and older are only sometimes adults, and parents are only sometimes parents, who’s left to fill society’s growing gap of mature leaders, moral advocates, and wise ones for future generations?

Zentangle Drawing for ALL!

ENTRY-LEVEL WORKSHOP WITH KELLY RIGANO, CZT

Monday, March 13, 1PM–3PM @ Boonshoft CJCE Come learn how to create your own Zentangles at this entry level class with our Active Adults. JFS will make copies of your Zentangle to put into our very own JFS coloring book for our senior outreach holiday bags. Cost: $10 per person, supplies included.

RSVP BY MARCH 6 TO KAREN STEIGER @ 610-1555 OR AT jewishdayton.org

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

PAGE 23

RELIGION

CONGREGATIONS Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming Andrea Raizen Monday through Friday 6:50 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. Fri., 5:30 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m.

Sundays at 8:30 a.m. 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 293-9520.

BethAbrahamDayton.org Beth Jacob Congregation Traditional Rabbi In Residence Adam Rosenthal Saturdays 9:30 a.m., Sundays 8 a.m., Sunday through Friday, 7 p.m.

7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 274-2149.

BethJacobCong.org Temple Anshe Emeth Reform Rabbinic Intern Sara Otero Fri., March 10, 7 p.m.

320 Caldwell St., Piqua.

Call Eileen Litchfield, 937-5470092, elitchfield@woh.rr.com.

Correspondence address: 3808 Beanblossom Rd., Greenville, OH 45331. ansheemeth.org Temple Beth Or Reform Rabbi Judy Chessin Educator/Rabbi Ari Ballaban Fridays 7 p.m.

Saturdays 10 a.m.

5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 435-3400. templebethor.com Temple Beth Sholom Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz See Web site for schedule.

610 Gladys Dr., Middletown.

513-422-8313. thetemplebethsholom.com Temple Israel Reform Senior Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo First Friday each month 6 p.m. followed by Share Shabbat meal.

All other Fridays, 6:30 p.m.

Saturdays 10:30 a.m.

130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

496-0050. tidayton.org Temple Sholom Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg Fridays 6 p.m.

2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 399-1231. templesholomoh.com

The power of words of a bee.

Rabbi Karen N. BodneyThe Talmud teaches that the Halasz, Temple Israel most dangerous part of the huAs Purim approaches, my man body is the tongue, which thoughts turn to our heroine, is why it is guarded by two Queen Esther. Though introwalls — teeth and lips. duced to us merely The tongue is doubly for her beauty, Esprotected to prevent it ther is remembered from abusing its power. for her bravery and Especially in this strength of spirit. era of instantaneous When Queen Esther communication, words learned of Haman’s have global ramificawicked plan to detions. The Talmud tells stroy all the Jews in us that “slander and the land, she risked gossip spoken in Rome her own safety Rabbi Karen Bodney- can kill in Syria (P. and spoke up on Halasz Talmud, Pe’ah 1:1).” behalf of the Jewish Indeed, incendiary language people, saving Shushan’s Jews. can be even more deadly than Through her punctilious use of physical assault. As pointed words, she changed the fate of out by Rabbi Saul Teplitz in an entire community. his book The Courage to Change, “For every word in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, 125 lives were lost; for every page, 4,700 lives were When I read through the destroyed; for every chapter, story of Purim, I am struck by 1,200,000 murders of Jews were the power of words. Indeed, there is an ancient translation of committed.”

When we consider the Genesis 2:7, normally translated enormous influence of words, as “the human became a living we must be like Esther. Esther being,” that explains, “the huspoke up when she could have man became a speaking being stayed silent, putting herself at (Targum Yonatan 2:7).” great personal risk. For every In this slight change from “living” to “speaking,” we learn evil word spoken by a modernday Haman or Amalek, we too that it is our use of language must respond with words of that defines us and separates us from the animals. In order to truth and morality.

Tradition teaches us that maintain civility, we must maintain ethical use of our language. Esther’s name means “hidden,” reminding us that God was If used honorably, words can masked in the story of Purim. inspire, uplift, enlighten, and God’s name does not appear in embolden. In fact, the world the megillah, but we are taught was created out of the spoken that it was God who strategicalword, as demonstrated in Genesis 1:3. God said: “Let there be ly placed Esther in this position of power. Perhaps we, too, have light — and there was light.” been placed where we are for a On the other hand, words reason. Will we speak out when spoken maliciously can dewe witness hatred, injustice, stroy worlds. Appropriately, and abuse? in Hebrew, “words,” devarim, While God created the world is closely linked to devorim, “hornets.” We learn that words through God’s own words, it is by our use of words that we are so powerful that they can tear our flesh open like the sting shape humanity.

Perspectives

Feminism & Purim Female religious leaders across denominations reflect

By Alina Dain Sharon JNS.org In the Book of Esther 4:14, Mordechai encourages his niece, Queen Esther, to use her influence with King Ahashverus.

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” he tells her.

Esther listens to Mordechai and manages to save the Jewish people from annihilation.

Ahashverus’ previous wife, Vashti, is remembered for refusing to obey the king.

Ahead of the Purim holiday March 11-12, which falls this year shortly after International Women’s Day (March 8), JNS. org asked four female religious leaders from different Jewish denominations for their perspectives on the lessons contemporary women can glean from the Purim story, and on their own paths toward religious leadership.

Reform: Rabbi Leora Kaye

“We all have opportunities to change the world, to make it more just or more compassionate. It might have just been that for this moment today, that’s why we’ve been put on this Earth,” reflects Rabbi Leora Kaye, director of programs at the Union for Reform Judaism, on Mordechai’s aforemen-

ADDITIONAL SERVICES Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays 9 a.m. adults, 10 a.m children. Sundays 9 a.m.

2001 Far Hills Ave. 643-0770. www.chabaddayton.com Yellow Springs Havurah Independent Services 1st & 3rd Saturdays, 10-noon. Antioch College Rockford Chapel. Contact Cheryl Levine, 937-767-9293.

PAGE 24

March Adar/Nisan Purim

The Feast of Lots

Torah Portions Shabbat Candle Lightings

March 12/14 Adar

March 3, 6:13 p.m.

Commemorates the rescue of the Jews in ancient Persia. The reading of the Book of Esther, costumes, grogers (noisemakers), and eating hamantashen are part of this festival.

March 10, 6:21 p.m.

March 17, 7:28 p.m.

March 24, 7:35 p.m.

March 31, 7:42 p.m.

March 4: Terumah (Ex. 25:1-27:19) March 11: Tetzaveh (Ex. 27:20-30:10, Deut. 25:17-19) March 18: Ki Tissa (Ex. 30:11-34:35, Num. 19:1-22) March 25: Vayakhel-Pekudei (Ex. 35:1-40:38, Ex. 12:1-20)

tioned words to Esther.

Kaye, who received her rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2002 and served in many leadership roles in the Reform Jewish community before joining URJ, believes there are women like Esther who don’t realize that they have power and need encouragement to be stronger than they believe they can be.

As the daughter of a director of camping and youth activities in the Reform community, Kaye grew up immersed in Jewish education.

While she was initially unsure if she wanted to become a pulpit rabbi, along the way she encountered “a lot of Mordechais” who encouraged her to study in rabbinical school. She also pursued her love of filmmaking, working as a television writer and producer, notably on the Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary Blue Vinyl.

Kaye notes that the idea of feminism is a lot older than most might believe, citing not only the Purim story, but also other biblical storylines such as those involving the midwives Shifra and Puah, who defied Pharaoh’s order to kill all newborn Jewish boys, or the daughters of Zelophehad, who fought for their right to inherit property.

Though they do not represent the majority voice in the Bible, “there are strains in these stories that imply to me that even back then, there were people who thought about women’s rights,” she says.

In her professional life, Kaye says she has faced little resistance, though “every so often someone will look at me and say, ‘Oh you don’t look like a rabbi,’ and laugh.”

“I know I stand on the shoulders of the women who came before me,” she says.

Conservative: Rabbi Ilana Garber

Rabbi Ilana Garber says she admires Esther for using “her voice and her power to her advantage, and in strategic ways.”

“What might be interpreted as her silence — when she does not tell the king her real name and her ancestry — is actually

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

discretion. A strong Open feminist knows how Orthodoxy: to use words and Maharat Hadas actions to make a Fruchter difference,” Garber “What I think is explains. most feminist about Garber, the associthe Purim story is ate rabbi at Beth El actually the fact that Temple in West Hartthere’s collaborative ford, Conn., graduleadership between ated from the Jewish a man and a woman Theological Seminary (Mordechai and Esin 2005. ther),” says Maharat She is a member Hadas Fruchter — a of several national graduate of Yeshivat committees of the Maharat and the Conservative moveassistant spiritual ment’s Rabbinical Asleader at Beth Shosembly, and of Rabbis lom Congregation Without Borders, Top: Rabbi Ilana Garber (L) and Maharat Dasi Fruchter. and Talmud Torah of which seeks to rede- Bottom: Rabbi Leora Kaye (L) and Rabbi Margot Stein.

Potomac, Md. fine what it means to “Esther is given a be a rabbi and share lot of airtime, which in itself Reconstructionist: the word of the Torah in new, is a feminist thing,” Fruchter Rabbi Margot Stein pluralistic ways.

Rabbi Margot Stein, a faculty explains, though she adds that Garber has garnered attenshe doesn’t believe Esther’s member at the Reconstructiontion for writing about raising a goal was to be a feminist. ist Rabbinical College, calls the child with Fragile X syndrome.

Instead, the story provides a Purim story as a whole “sexWhen she was a child in the “glimpse into the narrative of a ist” because “the two primary early 1980s, Garber did not women are being manipulated” complex woman.” know that women could be Growing up modern Orthofor their body and beauty, and rabbis. dox, Fruchter later discovered Esther herself must use “maIn fact, her male rabbi told Yeshivat Maharat, the first nipulation” to access power. her that women should not institution to ordain women “Just because the book is have equal roles in Jewish as Orthodox clergy. She calls named the Book of Esther ritual practice. her experience there “a beautidoesn’t make it feminist, or She changed her perspecful match to my passions and Esther a feminist character,” tive at age 11, after meeting a strengths.”

Stein says. female Reform rabbi who took While some of the school’s Having earned a master of her under her wing. graduates take the title of Hebrew letters and rabbinical In the years that followed, rabbi, Fruchter uses maharat, a degree from RRC in 1997, Stein Garber faced obstacles such as Hebrew acronym for manhiga is also a musician who has resynagogues that only wanted hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit (female corded and co-produced seven to hire male rabbis — or conleader of Jewish law spiritualalbums of Jewish music. In gregants who would ask while ity and Torah). This reflects the 1988, she co-wrote a song that she marched holding the Torah institution’s policy that Orthodepicts her belief that Esther if they should kiss the Torah or dox congregations, even those and even Vashti have “redeemkiss her — as well as challengwho accept women as clergy, ing qualities.” The song, “She es in the dating world. have varying levels of comfort said NO to the king,” describes She says it is “not easy to tell with the concept of women Vashti as refusing “to be a a nice Jewish boy that you are rabbis. woman oppressed” and that a rabbi,” going as far as to tell “There have definitely been Esther needs to use “her mind” her husband when they first times where I’ve had hateto get out of her bind. met that she was a “commuful things said to me…I see The Purim story is about nity educator.” it as people who are afraid of women “learning how to be Garber is motivated by active on the world stage,” says change in various capacities,” the Purim story’s Esther to says Fruchter.

Stein, who was raised in a Conconsider the figurative masks “My job is to keep doing servative home and attended a that people wear to disguise my work,” she says, noting synagogue with an Orthodox themselves, their inner needs that while the status of women rabbi. She noticed how her and their desires. in Orthodox Judaism varies, brother received greater access “How might we learn to be opportunities for Orthodox to Jewish education than she more honest?” she asks. women to learn Torah are did. As she came of age, she “Some days I feel the need to became “increasingly interested increasing. proudly march with my femiFruchter points out that in the feminist version of Judanist flag,” says Garber. “I seek when she refuses to appear ism.” to have a voice in a room full of before the king, Vashti uses In the Purim story, Ahashmale rabbis, or to create meanwords similar to Joseph’s verus had a harem, which Stein ingful and engaging programs when he refuses to sleep with views as a parallel to today’s for women…But other days, I his Egyptian master’s wife sex trafficking. She notes the am ‘just’ a rabbi, and gender in Genesis. Fruchter uses the importance of organizations plays very little into who I Vashti-Joseph comparison to that fight trafficking, such as am or what I do. Still, even on teach young girls about sexual T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for those days, being a feminist consent. She also uses MorHuman Rights.

— someone who knows how dechai’s words in Esther 4:14, “I am inspired by the Purim to speak her mind and use her that may have been meant as story to continue fighting for actions in order to achieve her a mantra for Esther to reevaluwomen’s rights in all places goals — is my primary motivawhere they’re not realized,” she ate her own decisions at every tion.” moment, and how she can be says. “harnessing it for good.”

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Beth Jacob Purim Weekend Celebration

March 10 - 12

Join us as we celebrate Shabbat and Purim with Rabbi Adam Rosenthal and family.

Friday Night, March 10th

Evening Service 5:30 PM Candle Lighting 6:21 PM Shabbat Dinner 6:45 PM catered by Bernstein’s Fine Catering

Saturday, March 11th

9:30 AM Shabbat service Kiddush lunch 6:15 PM Shalosh Seudos dinner 7:20 PM Havdalah & Evening Service with Megilliah Reading. Dessert reception with Ice Cream Bar and Hamentashen at conclusion of service.

Sunday, March 12th

8:00 AM Morning Service including Megillah Reading. Brunch immediately following service.

Shabbat Dinner Menu Chicken Matzo Ball Soup Garden Salad Roast Chicken Roasted Potatoes & Green Beans Challah & Cake Vegetarian Option: Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms Reservations required for Friday Night Dinner. R.S.V.P.

by Wednesday, March 8th at noon. $18/adults, $10/children Reservations suggested for Saturday’s Shalosh Seudos & Sunday’s Brunch. R.S.V.P.

by Friday, March 10th for both FREE events.

Beth Jacob Hamentashen Sale

Beth Jacob will be selling Kosher Hamentashen for $11 a dozen.

Call 274-2149 to place your prepaid order.

Choose from Prune, Poppy, Apricot or Blueberry Orders can be picked up at Beth Jacob office or CJCE.

7020 North Main Street • Dayton, Ohio 45415 274-2149 • www.bethjacobcong.org Are you reading this? So is the entire Jewish community.

Contact Patty Caruso at plhc69@gmail.com to advertise in The Observer.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

PAGE 25

Temple Beth Or presents a Purim celebration for all ages Events will include: Traditional Megillah reading Purim Shpiel directed by Matthew Lindsay Beth Or Temple Youth (BOTY) Purim carnival A sumptuous Persian Feast

Join us Sunday March 12 beginning at 9:30 a.m.

‘For the Jews, there was light, joy, gladness and honor.’

- Esther 8:16 Temple Beth Or 5275 Marshall Road Kettering, Ohio www.templebethor.com 937-435-3400

Today...and for Generations PAGE 26

Shishbarak a filling main dish for Purim

By Shlomo Schwartz, JTA On Purim, it is traditional to eat food with fillings hidden inside to symbolize the hidden nature of the holiday's miracle. Here is an Arab dish that has become a staple in many Israeli restaurants and homes. Shishbarak is a variation of ravioli. I first encountered it while I worked in Chef Meir Adoni’s Catit restaurants in Tel Aviv.

Traditionally, shishbarak is stuffed with a spicy meat filling, cooked in a yogurt-based sauce and shaped like ravioli. In my kosher interpretation, I hide a vegetarian lentil and mushroom filling inside, cook it in a creamy mint sauce and shape it like elegant tortellini.

It’s relatively easy to prepare at home and there is no need for a pasta machine.

Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until all the liquid evaporates and they start to brown (about 10 minutes, you want all liquid to be cooked to allow nice caramelization).

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for another two minutes while mixing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Move the mixture to a food processor and pulse until combined. Cool completely.

To prepare the tortellini: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add one tablespoon of salt.

On a clean and lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thick and cut into 2-inch circles using a cup or a ring mold. To keep it from drying, work with just a quarter of your dough at a time, keeping the rest under plastic or a kitchen towel.

Place half a teaspoon of filling in the For the pasta dough middle of the shishbaraks. Dip your 11/2 cups flour finger in the egg wash and brush the 1/2 tsp. salt periphery of the circle (we're looking for 1/4 tsp. baking soda a very light, thin layer of moisture).

1 Tbsp. canola oil Gently lift one side of the circle and 1/2 cup water fold it over the filling to form a semi1 egg plus 1 Tbsp. water (for egg circle. Working from one edge, carewash) fully pressing out any extra air, create a seal For the lentil and around the filling. mushroom filling Pick up both corners 1 Tbsp. canola oil of your semicircle and 1 onion, diced fine start bringing them 10 oz. mushrooms (use toward each other, any type you like) working slowly at 1/3 cup cooked green first to make sure the or brown lentils dough doesn't split 1/4 cup parsley, or break. You want chopped finely Shishbarak to bring them all the 1 Tbsp. baharat spice way together. Then tuck one corner just Salt and pepper to taste behind the other and give them a little 11/2 Tbsp. olive oil squeeze. They should stick together easily, but if they don't, you can add an extra For the creamy mint sauce dab of egg wash with your fingertip.

4 Tbsp. butter Transfer it to a parchment-lined bak1/2 cup flour ing sheet dusted with a little flour as you 21/2 cups milk work, and cover with a towel. Once all 1 Tbsp. dried mint the shishbarak are ready, place them in 2 Tbsp. lemon juice the pot with the boiling water and cook Salt and pepper for about four to five minutes.

Chopped scallions or parsley as To make the sauce: You will start by garnish making a roux, the base of the cream sauce. In a large sauté pan, melt the butTo make the tortellini dough: Place ter. Once the butter is melted, add the the flour, salt and baking soda in a food flour and whisk until fully combined. processor. Pulse a few times to combine.

Add the milk and whisk until fully comWhile the food processor is running, slowly drizzle the oil and water until the bined (once it gets to a boil the flour and dough is fully combined (don’t overmix, milk will combine nicely).

Add the mint, lemon juice and salt add the water slowly and see if you need and pepper to taste. Once all ingredients a bit less or a few drops more to have a of the sauce are combined, remove the fully combined dough). tortellini from the water, add to the sauce Remove the dough, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 and toss for a minute. Sprinkle chopped scallions as garnish. Serve immediately. minutes.

To make the mushroom lentil filling: Chef Shlomo Schwartz, founder of Your Soul In a large sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the diced onions until they become Kitchen, was born and raised in Israel and soft and translucent, about three minutes. moved to New York in 2010.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

Purim Megillah Reading & Shpiel

Cannoli Hamantashen

By Sheri Silver, JTA My love of Italian cuisine was honed at a very early age — there was no lack of Italian restaurants, pizzerias and bakeries. If I had to pick my favorite Italian pastry, it would be no contest. I am #teamcannoli all the way.

Something about the sweet, creamy filling, rich chocolate chips and crunchy shell has always been the trifecta of what a dessert should be. So why not put that delicious filling into an iconic Jewish pastry, the hamantash?

As it turns out, this is a pretty amazing mash-up, one I’m sure will bring smiles to your friends and family at Purim.

If you’ve struggled with making hamantashen in the past, I’m sharing all of my tried-and-true tips gathered over years of trial and error. Mangia!

Hamantashen Dough 1 stick (4 oz. or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature 3 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp. vanilla 3 cups flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tbsp. water, for sealing the hamantashen 1/2 cup chocolate chips, for drizzling Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

the chocolate chips till light and fluffy.

Fold in the chocolate chips and refrigerate, covered, until needed.

Make the dough: Beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar till light and fluffy; scrape down the sides. Add the milk and vanilla and beat till incorporated. Scrape down the sides. Add the flour and salt and beat again.

Divide the dough into two pieces and place each between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Roll each to a half-inch thickness, stack the doughs on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least one hour (or up to three days).

Preheat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one dough at a time, place on your prepared baking sheet and cut out circles using a drinking glass or cookie cutter (I use a 2 1/2-inch cutter). Gather trimmings, reroll and cut.

Brush the edges of the circles with a bit of the beaten egg white and place a half teaspoon of cannoli filling in the center.

Fold the dough into a triangle shape and pinch the corners and edges firmly together. Brush the dough with more of the egg white.

Bake hamantashen until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. When cooled, place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Last, melt the half cup of chocolate chips in the top half of a double boiler set over barely simmering water. Cool slightly and transfer to a disposable pastry or Ziploc bag. Snip a small opening in the corner and drizzle the chocolate over the hamantashen. Refrigerate till set. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Make the cannoli filling: In the bowl of a mixer, beat all ingredients except

Sheri Silver writes the blog Donuts, Dresses and Dirt at sherisilver.com.

Cannoli Filling 1/4 cup ricotta cheese 4 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Saturday, March 11, 7:30 p.m.

Then nosh & dance the night away with the band, Blind Justice Children’s Activities $10 adults, $5 children • R.S.V.P.

Men’s Club

Beth Abraham is Dayton’s only Conservative synagogue, affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Kosher K Deli Dinner, Di Movie M & R Raffle

We are an enthusiastically egalitarian synagogue.

Beth Abraham, Dayton’s only Conservative We also haveisan enersynagogue, getic Keruv program that enthusiastically egalitarian and is affi liated with reaches out to intermarried the United couples andSynagogue families in of our Conservative Judaism. synagogue and in the Dayton Jewish community.

Daily Minyan Schedule

Sunday, M March 19 6 p.m. $20 R.S.V.P.

Mon.-Fri., 6:50 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

For a complete schedule of our events, goa.m. to Sunday, 8:30 bethabrahamdayton.org.

For a complete schedule of our events and times, go to bethabrahamdayton.org.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MARCH 2017

Save the date

Passover r Second Night Seder Tuesday, April 11 Enjoy a traditional Seder dinner prepared

by Bernstein’s Fine Catering. R.S.V.P.

PAGE 27

ing e r r te ingth ea s i g ror e y r registtsef r tohol yea w reen foch ol o N w ud nt8s s ho Nostud7e-18 sc s2t017-1 1 20

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This has a positive impact in all of their future academic and personal endeavors future academic and personal endeavors • their Hebrew language immersion via Tal-Am Hebrew Curriculum • Hebrew language immersion via Tal-Am Hebrew Curriculum Nurturing confident and successful learners www.daytonhillel.org Nurturing confident and successful learners 937.277.8966 • dkmecoli@daytonhillel.org www.daytonhillel.org 937.277.8966 • dkmecoli@daytonhillel.org