How to talk to children about the Gaza war p. 18 September 2014 Elul 5774/Tishri 5775 Vol. 19, No. 1
Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton
The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • Online at JewishDayton.org
The banality of French antisemitism
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Rosh
Hashanah ‘He who makes peace in High Places, He will make peace for us and for all Israel and let us say, Amen.’
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Protesters at a Paris anti-Israel rally
‘Lone women’ of the IDF
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They fought back
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DAYTON Wishing you a sweet New Year
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Israel Emergency Campaign exceeds local goal by 46% Dr. Heath Gilbert and Rachel Haug Gilbert ask for contributions to the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton’s Israel Emergency Fund on July 24 at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education in Centerville
The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton has raised $73,000, 46 percent above the goal for its Israel Emergency Fund campaign to meet the immediate needs of Israelis impacted by life under fire. Most dollars came in during the Stand With Israel community gathering, which the Federation held on the evening of July 24 at the Boonshoft CJCE. Approximately 150 members of the Jewish community attended the fund-raising rally. “We are not forced to live in fear. But for our friends and family in Israel, fear has become a part of their everyday lives,” said Rachel Haug Gilbert, during the appeal for funds she and her husband, Dr. Heath Gilbert, made at the event. “Routinely, 15-second warning signs ring out in Be’er Sheva,” she said. “This is not long enough for a 70-yearold wheelchair-bound resident to make it to a shelter. So for now, she must live in one. Federation partner programs are
her lifeline to food, medicine and human contact.” Jewish Federations of North America — the umbrella organization of Federations in the United States and Canada — launched the campaign to fund trauma counseling and relief services for those in Israel’s hard-hit municipalities in the wake of rocket fire from the Hamas terror organization in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. JFNA provided constituent Federations with fund-raising goals for their communities, and set Dayton’s “fair share” goal at $50,000. Rebecca Dinar, a spokesperson for JFNA, said the national emergency campaign has raised more than $36 million to date, 20 percent above JFNA’s goal. The Federation continues to raise funds for the Israel Emergency Campaign at its website, jewishdayton.org. — Marshall Weiss
Temple Israel will host trip to Cuba in 2015 Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz will lead a mission to Cuba for Temple Israel, April 21-29, 2015; the trip is open to all members of Dayton’s Jewish community. The cost is $3,217 for double occupancy, $3,597 for single occupancy and includes round-trip airfare from Miami to Havana, one night in Miami and eight
days and seven nights in Cuba, eight breakfasts, four lunches, and five dinners, including a Shabbat dinner with the Jewish community at El Patronato, Havana’s main synagogue. The registration deadline for the trip is Oct. 14. For more information contact Ellen FineMcCarthy at Temple Israel at 496-0050.
**Correction** In the article For 8th summer, teaching students English in an Arab-Israeli community (August 2014), Daytonians Beth and Alan Schaeffer were incorrectly identified as members of Temple Beth Or. The Schaeffers aren’t Jewish.
IN THIS ISSUE Arts & Culture....................................41
I nte r n et. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Calendar of Events....................25
Kvelling Corner.............................20
Dayton.....................................2
Obituaries.....................................40
Family Education...........................37
O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 7
Food................................................32
Re l i g i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
DAYTON
Sinai program expands with addition of Chabad couple Funders to transition away from Miami Valley School scholarships, Judaic track classes
idea was to keep these kids engaged, get them meeting with each other, give them a smattering of Jewish learning and really to prepare them to leave high school to kind of do By Marshall Weiss battle with, to argue with the The Observer Five years ago, Lee and Patti pro-Hamas people in college, to have enough grounding, Schear launched a scholarship enough security that they felt program to enroll more Jewish good about. A natural extenstudents at the private, nonsion of that is talk to the college sectarian Miami Valley School, kids. So that’s what we have along with a Judaic studies track at the school, and an inde- planned.” He described the current pendent Judaic studies program MVS high school on Sunday aftercurriculum for noons at Sugar the Judaic track Camp, open to all as “very profesarea Jewish high sorial.” schoolers. “Maybe you The Schears have to teach it established the that way,” Schear non-profit orgasaid. “So I wantnization, Sinai, ed to increase the to support the effectiveness of projects. the engagement.” Now, the Sinai and MVS Schears have will continue to decided to exChabad of Greater Dayton’s pand their Sinai newest couple, Rabbi Hershel provide scholarship funding to ventures outside and Pesha Spalter see all 20 current MVS, fundSinai Scholar students through ing a new couple for Chabad 12th grade at the school. of Greater Dayton — Rabbi “When they’re accepted as a Hershel and Pesha Spalter — Sinai Scholar, the commitment to lead the Sinai High Sunday is to get them through the 12th program, a new lunch club for Jewish high schoolers, and out- grade,” Schear said. Miami Valley School Headreach to Jewish students at area master Jay Scheurle said he is universities. now exploring funding possiLee Schear said this is the final year Sinai will fund Judaic bilities to keep the Judaic track and scholarships going. scholarships for new students “The program wouldn’t exist to MVS. without the Schears,” Scheurle “The most impressionable age in kids’ lives,” Schear said, said. “We are incredibly grateful to them for their leadership “is from the seventh grade and developing the idea and through the high school. Our
Gap Bark Mitzvah Boy in Israel The Year c O 2014 Menachem
A New Year’s treat to thank my new friends
BMB
partnering with the school to get this off the ground. I’d love to see it continue. I think the opportunity for us to continue to attract Jewish families from the Dayton area is positive for the families and it’s positive for the school. We hope to announce this school year how that will move forward.” Candace Kwiatek continues as lead teacher of Judaic studies for the fall semester at MVS, Scheurle said. She teaches the high school class and is writing the curriculum for the middle school class, taught by new MVS high school history teacher Harry Berkowitz. Kwiatek has decided to retire at the end of the semester. For the winter/spring semester, MVS has hired Cantor Jenna Greenberg to teach the high school class. Greenberg is the wife of Beth Abraham Synagogue Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg. Hershel (26) and Pesha (23) Spalter are now the third couple in the local Chabad’s employ. Chabad of Greater Dayton Director Rabbi Nochum Mangel said the Schear Family Foundation has committed to fund the couple for two years, “with the hope and expectation that it continues based upon needs being met.” The Spalters, who wed a year and a half ago, arrived this summer from Brooklyn. He grew up near Milwaukee, she in Toronto. Both have worked with Jewish teens and young adults. MVS is the first school to sign up for the new Sinai Lunch Club. The Spalters will bring
From the editor’s desk
The greatest challenge to putting out a monthly is the concern that information will be obsolete by the time you open these pages. This is always my worry when it comes to news from Israel, but it’s more Marshall acute these days. Right now, I look Weiss at the latest from timesofisrael.com. The heading reads, “Day 44: Rockets target Jerusalem, Tel Aviv. IDF told to prepare for ground incursion. US blames Hamas for ending truce.” The war goes on. Who knows how long this surge will last? Once again, Hamas — which seeks the complete destruction of Israel and its Jewish residents — has threatened the safety of the 1.8 million Gazans and nearly 8 million Israelis. Hamas terrorists fire rockets from hospitals, mosques, UN schools, and other heavily populated areas. Israel has no choice but to defend itself. The emotional trauma inflicted on Israel’s citizens is palpable, the casualties on both sides heartwrenching. May we somehow see a true, lasting peace in the new year.
kosher lunch for Jewish high schoolers at MVS once a week and talk about Jewish topics. “There’s also a humanitarian aspect of it,” Hershel said. “The first program will be the Ukrainian Jewish Relief Fund.” “The goal,” Schear said, “is to keep it on campus, to make it easier for the kids, for the school. He added that Chabad also has the OK to hold the lunch club with Oakwood High School’s Jewish students but hasn’t worked out where the lunches will be held. Hershel said Sinai U will kick
off with the delivery of care packages to Jewish students at area universities. “Anytime a student needs someone to talk to, we want to be available,” Hershel said. “There’s somewhere to go where there’s always a Shabbat meal ready for you, a Friday night meal, a warm meal, a Jewish face, holiday programs, we’ll teach classes,” Pesha said. “We’ll try to find time, maybe on the holidays, to bring the kids from all of the colleges together that they should meet,” Mangel said.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
PAGE 3
THE REGION
Springfield’s Miller ready for 4th pro basketball season in Israel
We Welcome You and
Wish You a Sweet New Year
Temple welcomes you to attend our Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services and Yom Kippur break-the-fast. Call Temple or visit our website for service dates and times.
Temple Israel Religious School:
Now enrolling Pre-K through 10th grade. Giving our children a deep understanding of our faith, confidence in their Jewish identities, and pride in our shared heritage.
Call Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz for more information. Temple Israel • www.tidayton.org • 937-496-0050 130 Riverside Drive, Dayton, OH 45405 A Reform Synagogue open to all who are interested in Judaism. Childcare provided during Friday services and Sunday school. PAGE 4
By Marc Katz, Special To The Observer At first, when Nate Miller’s agent suggested he sign to play with a basketball team in Israel, Miller — a Springfield South High School and Bowling Green University graduate — wasn’t sure he wanted to go. “My wife and I were a little worried about going to Israel,” said the 27-year-old Miller, who was leaving at the end of August to play a fourth season there, and was scheduled to talk about it at a Temple Shalom sports night. “We didn’t know much about it, just what we heard on the news. When I hear Israel, I think Middle East, war, fighting, killing each other and all that. This is the thing I get from all the news stations here in the States. This is how they portray Israel. This Middle Eastern state constantly fighting. There’s nothing there except killing each other. It was the furthest thing from truth.” That’s what Miller, a 6-foot-4 guard, found out when he needed a job, and at the time, Israel was the only country Nate Miller plays for Ironi calling. He had played Nahariya in Israel’s north briefly in Spain following his graduation from Bowling Green, but European teams overflow with requests from players. A long-term contract didn’t develop in Spain. “We ended up going,” Miller said. “We took a leap of faith. It ended up being the best thing I could have done. It helped my basketball, and when I got there, there was nothing to be nervous about. It was unbelievable. To this day, I would tell anybody if you have an opportunity to play in Israel, I would take it.” His 3-year-old son, Nathan III, was born in Israel, goes to school there and speaks Hebrew fluently. In the summer, the family returns to the United States and currently lives in Columbus. After playing one season in Israel, Miller was wooed to play for a team in Mexico, then in Argentina. He ended up back in Israel, playing for Ironi Nahariya in the north. “Israel is a lot like the United States,” he said. “The people speak English as a second language. There are television stations and movies in English. The people cater to you. I’m not worried about Israel. To me, I’m more worried about the planes disappearing. I don’t worry about Israel in general. I’m here in Columbus, Ohio, and God forbid, I have to walk out on the street and you never know what’s going to greet me here. It could be more dangerous here than it is (in Israel). They really don’t have crime like we have here in the States.” For several summers, Miller has sponsored a free basketball camp for kids in Springfield, promoting his “3D model” for living: discipline, determination, and dedication. Miller led Ironi Nahariya to the second-tier National League championship last season, which moves it to the first tier for the coming season. Miller scored more than 20 points a game. The conflict in Gaza is far from where Miller plays, but it’s still on his mind. He just hopes it can be resolved before he goes again.
Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss MWeiss@jfgd.net 937-853-0372 Contributors Rabbi David Burstein Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin Rachel Haug Gilbert Marc Katz Candace R. Kwiatek Mark Mietkiewicz Rena Neiger Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Proofreaders Karen Bressler, Claire Gaglione Rachel Haug Gilbert, Joan Knoll Pamela Schwartz Billing Sheila Myers, SMyers@jfgd.net 937-853-0372 Observer Advisor Martin Gottlieb Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Judy Abromowitz President David Pierce President Elect Melinda Doner Vice Pres. Mary Rita Weissman Vice Pres. Bruce Feldman Vice Pres. Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 19, No. 1. 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. • To build community across institutional, organizational and denominational lines. • To advance causes important to the strength of our Jewish community including support of Federation departments, United Jewish Campaign, synagogue affiliation, Jewish education and participation in Jewish and general community affairs. • To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
DAYTON Cantor returns to lead High Holy Days services at Beth Jacob
Cantor Abraham Isser of Silver Spring, Md. will lead services at Beth Jacob Congregation for the High Holy Days, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur. A native of Israel, Isser has held positions with five synagogues in the United States since he and his family moved to America in 1985. Isser has led Shabbat services at Beth Jacob periodically over the past several years. Beth Jacob Congregation has been without clergy since the summer of 2013. According to Beth Jacob President Joe Litvin, the synagogue continues its search process for a rabbi. For Beth Jacob’s High Holy Days service schedule, go to bethjacobcong.org or call the synagogue at 274-2149.
Selichot film program at Beth Abraham On Saturday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m., Beth Abraham Synagogue will present its annual Selichot Service, beginning with desserts, a film and discussion. Selichot are prayers of forgiveness recited in advance of the High Holy Days. R.S.V.P. to the synagogue at 293-9520.
Comedy trio at Beth Or Billed as the Ivy League of Comedy, stand-up comedians Wali Collins, Shaun Eli, and Carmen Lynch will bring their acts to Temple Beth Or on Sunday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $50 and include hors d’oeuvres, with beer and wine available for purchase. The show is appropriate for ages 16 and up. For reservations, call Temple Beth Or at 435-3400.
Every beat counts Hadassah and the Jewish Federation will present Putting the He-He in Heart Health, with laughter/yoga specialist Sarah Routman, on Sunday, Sept. 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Boonshoft CJCE. The program is free. For more information call the Federation at 610-1555.
Rosh Hashanah dinner at Chabad On Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m., Chabad of Greater Dayton will host a full Rosh Hashanah dinner to usher in the Jewish New Year. For reservations, call 643-0770.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
PAGE 5
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By Marshall Weiss The Observer “Let me tell you something. Everybody has the same story. Only in a different way,” Dorothy Gordon, age 90, says of those who survived the Holocaust. Dorothy’s story began when she was 16 in 1940. The Germans knocked on her family’s door in the Belorussian village of Postavy — “Open up, Jude!” “They took us all down into a basement and they kept the women there, my grandpa, my grandma, my aunt, my uncle, three children and us: my father, my mother, and me and two sisters.” After two and a half days in the basement, a soldier took them to an office and asked why they were shooting at the Nazis when they took over the town. “And that was a lie,” Dorothy recalls. “So they let the women go, only they kept two women, a pharmacist and a midwife. And I remember the midwife, she asked my father, ’when they fire the shot, does it hurt?’ And my father said,’It takes a split of a second. It doesn’t hurt.’ The Nazis then shot all the men. Dorothy and the freed women were sent with the rest of the town’s Jews to a ghetto. “When we went to the ghetto, it was my mother and three daughters and a son,” Dorothy says. Her brother had slept outside in the barn the night the men of her family were rounded up to be shot. In that ghetto was a group that worked with the partisans, a resistance force of native Poles and Russians. A cousin of Dorothy with the partisans snuck into the ghetto to rescue family and bring them to the forest. Dorothy was among 18 who escaped. But she would return. “He told us where we will meet,” she says, “and we did not meet at the same place where he told us. And it had gotten to be light. The day broke already and we couldn’t find him and we didn’t know the way to get to the forest. “By daytime, the gentiles started to have their cows and their horses on the outside in the forest. They lived around the forest. It was on a Sunday, the gentiles went to church.”
Shortly after their liberation in 1944 when they left the forests: Dorothy Gordon with her husband, Harry Gordon and Harry’s younger brother Maurice. The Gordons, who fought back as partisans during World War II, rebuilt their lives in Dayton.
No one wanted to go back to the ghetto. Dorothy decided to return, out of concern for her mother, there by herself. “I tore my petticoat and I put it on as a kerchief and took off my shoes and went back to the ghetto,” she says. When Dorothy returned, four more families were living with them. No one believed she had escaped the ghetto and returned safely. The Nazis had told the Jews they killed all who had fled, “that they were going to have our heads carried on sticks, for the ghetto to see not to run away.” A few weeks later, Dorothy’s cousin returned to the ghetto. This time, Dorothy, her two sisters and their mother went to the forest. Her cousin guided them. They stayed in the forest three and a half years.
“And I joined the resistance,” Dorothy says. “We didn’t have a Jewish brigade. The other part of the forest had. If you could join the partisans, it was easier.” She was a member of The Narocz Brigade, named for the nearby Narocz River. “The partisans needed somebody to cook, to wash. Whatever they told us, we did. Sometimes it was to stand guard at night. Sometimes it was to be a nurse for the boys.” The men would blow up trains on their way to the German front with ammunition. “Everybody’s desire was to kill and kill and kill the Germans,” she says. We had to kill them because we needed clothes. And ammunition.” Jewish men had to prove their worth, Dorothy adds. Not only were men required to bring guns and ammunition to be ac-
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
DAYTON cepted in the partisans, they had to be able to shoot. And with the Poles and Russians, she says, antisemitism was inherent. “They used to laugh at the Jews and say, ‘can’t you shoot, Jew?’ But they showed themselves they were heroes.” Her mother and two sisters weren’t members of the partisans but lived close to the camp. “There were little children and women and men, older men, older women that did not go to the partisans,” she says. “They couldn’t take them. And they lived on their own. So almost every single night they used to go begging. There were more Jews in the forests than people that lived in the villages.” Until more Jewish partisans joined the brigade, Dorothy, her mother, and a sister would beg for food at villages around the forest. “It’s cold. It’s snow. You come into a little village where you see the fire is burning in the house and potatoes were baking. They were very poor people themselves. They were plain, poor farmers. “We’d knock at the windows when they were asleep, the gentiles, and beg for a piece of bread, a potato. And we befriended them. By befriending I mean she would leave you an extra potato on the windowsill in the wintertime.” Those in the woods, she says, lived in constant fear. “If you saw a German or a gentile who lived by the forest, sometimes they would bring the Germans to the forest. Of course the Germans came to the forest. They shot a lot of people. It was very hard. Very emotional. When they came, we used to run. You didn’t know which direction to run, but you ran. If you were lucky, you survived.” When more Jewish partisans joined the brigade, they helped Dorothy and her family. “For a while, we lived in open space,” she says. “We cut down trees and threw them on the fire. That’s how we lived for a whole year. Shelter we built from trees. Whoever had help, whoever had men, would build what was called a zimlanke, it meant underground, a hole. The drive to survive was stronger than the knowledge (of how) to live there. That’s how we survived.” When Nazis came to the forest and the partisans fled, Dorothy says, the Nazis would hide bombs in the zimlankes. “A lot of people lost their limbs because they thought
she says. “Nobody looked at us. maybe it’s clean.” In the forest, Dorothy met her Nobody cared for us. And then future husband, Harry Gordon. slowly, people got to see us as human beings. “He was on a black horse,” “When we wanted to start she recalls. “I loved him the a club of our own — to meet, minute I saw him. And he had we didn’t know English, to stories to tell of his own. How learn from each other — and he left the ghetto. We were not we asked for the American from the same town, not far people to come and hear what from each other, but we didn’t we had to say, how bad it was, know each other.” Harry had come from the Pol- and to accept our children even if they don’t know the English ish town of Glenoke. language, even if they are not Before the Nazis forced the Jews of Glenoke into a ghetto in dressed like your children are, 1941, Harry’s father, Elia, asked give us time to Americanize a a gentile farmer to hide a Torah. little. And we decided to invite the American After the war, the people to our farmer returned ‘How come I gatherings. At the Torah to Elia. deserve to be first we started In 1944, when it on our own. alive and my the Russians Nobody came.” liberated that part girlfriends or Dorothy and of Poland, the whoever was Harry lived in Narocz Brigade partisans left the dear to my heart Dayton until Harry died in forest. Dorothy is not here?’ 1994. Dorothy came out of the then moved to forest with her Pembroke Pines, Fla. This year, mother, two sisters, and Harry. They walked miles to find her she moved to Columbus, where her daughter lives. family’s home. Another family “How did I do it? How did now lived there. I stay in the basement with my “We came to our house and Dad and they killed him and the lady won’t let me in. And not me? Why did I deserve it? a neighbor of mine, we knew How come I deserve to be alive them from before the war, I and my girlfriends or whoever knocked at the door and when was dear to my heart is not she saw me I thought she was going to faint. Because after the here? It hurts when I came back home from the forest and not war, to see a Jew was a little to find anybody. Not a soul. It scary for them. Because why? Because they were very mean to hurts. And I live in it constantly. The older I get the more I miss us. We slept on the floor, a few them.” of us from the same town.” Harry and Dorothy married that year. By way of a DP camp in Germany, they immigrated to the United States, first to an aunt in Brooklyn. In 1951, they moved to Dayton, where Harry’s sister lived. Here they raised three children and became active members of Beth Jacob Congregation, now home to the Torah scroll Elia Gordon rescued from Glenoke. “What fascinates me personally is, a lot of Jews brought Torahs back home,” Dorothy says, “but how a gentile risked his life to hide the Torah when the Germans were there. And they took houses apart to look for religious things. And a Torah? A Torah is not a pin, you cannot hide it. And there were gentiles that did it, that hid Jewish children. I was in the partisans with women, older women that had children already, and gentiles were hiding their children.” But their first years in Dayton, Dorothy says, were painful. “The newcomers that came to Dayton had a very hard time to be recognized as people,”
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By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA My friend Alain Azria gave me a puzzled look when I told him, with some indignation and disbelief in my voice, that I had just heard talk of killing Jews at an unauthorized anti-Israel demonstration in Paris in July. A young black man with a Parisian accent told a dozen friends loudly, but without shouting, “OK, guys. Let’s go hunt some Jews.” His friend answered, “Let’s break their heads.” To which the first speaker replied, “Catch them fast, kill them slow.” The group blended into a mass of thousands of people who were marching toward the Gare du Nord train station while shouting slogans accusing Israel of genocide. My shock stemmed from the fact that while antisemitic violence accounts for a fair share of my reporting here in Europe, I have personally been insulated from it — perhaps because I live in Holland, where such occurrences are rarer, or maybe because I had lived most of my life in Israel, where one receives only a theoretical understanding of the phenomenon. But for Alain, a freelance news photographer who specializes in documenting France’s antisemitism problem, this was just another day at the office. Which is to say he didn’t really have time for my astonished discovery of the banal. “OK, OK, welcome to Paris. Now let’s move it along,” he said as he took us on a shortcut designed to reach the station before the procession.
many Muslims but with a JewOver the course of the folish population large enough to lowing two weeks, as Israel’s earn it the nickname of “little fight against Hamas in Gaza Jerusalem.” continued to fan the already There I saw riot police fendconsiderable flames of antisemitic violence and incitement ing off a predominantly Arab mob that, unable to reach the across the continent, I would main local synagogue, had come to better understand smashed the windows of JewAlain’s apparent nonchalance ish and non-Jewish businesses at the hate fest he was docuwhile chanting “death to the menting. Jews” in Arabic and French. This understanding came The avenue leading to the through frequent visits to synagogue was shrouded in Paris — including the scene of a cloud of tear gas and black one attempted pogrom — and discussions with professed anti- smoke that rose from several fires that crackled on the assemites there. But it also grew out of observing unprecedented phalt and tram tracks. Nearby, rioters hurled a firephenomena gripping the area bomb at a synagogue, resultaround my own home in The ing in little damage. It was the Hague that the Dutch media ninth assault on a have dubbed “the French synagogue Sharia triangle.” The temporary July 8, when Shocked by breakdown of the since Israel’s military how acceptable operation against antisemitism has rule of law may become in France, seem strange to Hamas began. The temporary I was glad to be back home in the many Americans, breakdown of the rule of law may Netherlands, a but it is normal seem strange to country where I in France many Americans, chose to settle in but it is normal part because of in France, where police often its strong tradition of tolerance. opt to contain rather than bust But in Schilderswijk, my neighillegal behavior by Arabs from borhood of The Hague where the suburbs of large cities — roughly half the population is to “let sleeping dogs lie,” as Muslim, hundreds demonstratSammy Ghozlan, a French fored three times since July 7 at mer police commissioner and rallies that featured flags of the founder of the National Bureau ISIS terrorist group and calls to slaughter the Jews. The protest- of Vigilance Against Antisemitism, told me. ers hurled stones at police. “We call these areas ‘the lost Central to my understanding territories’ because they are noof the banalization of antisego areas for police, who fear the mitic violence in Europe were escalation of a minor incident the July 20 riots in Sarcelles, a into a repeat of the 2005 riots,” northern suburb of Paris with THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
THE WORLD he said. “You have such areas in Israel, too,” he reminded me. More than the breakdown of public order, I was surprised by the drilled response of local Jews. Within minutes of the eruption of the riots in Sarcelles, 100 of them gathered with baseball bats and other weapons. Surrounding the besieged synagogue, they started singing the French anthem. I asked several of them when they began relying on their own strength for their defense. The older ones said it has been like this for many years. The teenagers added, “Since forever.” Stuck at the train station of Sarcelles — the riots disrupted train traffic, and taxi drivers generally avoid the area after dark — I overheard an Algerian man explaining to a Congolese woman that it was the Jews of Sarcelles who struck first. “Like always, first they attack or steal or kill, then they bring the media to lie about it,” said the man, who identified himself to me as Mohammed abu-Chaich, a security guard at Charles de Gaulle Airport. “I hate Jews, I’m not ashamed to say it. “They initiated the war in
Algeria just to kill Arabs,” abu-Chaich, who is in his 40s, told me of his country’s civil war, waged by Islamists. “Hitler killed them for similar reasons,” he added loudly as others around him nodded approvingly. Feeling sad from my conversation with abu-Chaich (I didn’t tell him I was Jewish), I went into a Cameroonian restaurant for dinner. It wasn’t long before I ended up chatting with some of the patrons about Africa — a continent where I have worked and which I love. Ten minutes into the conversation, two of my interlocutors invited me to stay with them during my next visit to Yaounde. I was feeling tipsy from the cheap banana beer and happy to have my new Cameroonian friends restore my faith in mankind when one of them began speaking hopefully of the bright future that lay ahead for his country when it finally taps its massive reserves of liquid gas. “It will be heaven,” he said. “I just hope the Jews don’t take it away from us like they did in Germany before Hitler used that gas to kill them.”
ADL reports ‘dramatic surge’ in anti-Jewish violence When a Turkish owner of a cafe near the Belgian city of Liege puts up a poster that welcomes dogs but not Jews, that’s a sign of the times. And when an on-duty doctor refuses to treat a 90-year-old Jewish woman from Antwerp and refers her to Gaza instead, that, too, is the kind of news that encapsulates a larger reality. Such incidents, well publicized in the international media, suggest how Muslim immigration has lifted Europe’s post-Holocaust taboos and in turn loosened inhibitions for many educated Europeans. But behind those headline grabbers are smaller incidents that, though they seldom makes the news, are very much part of the daily grind of antisemitism in Europe and elsewhere. Some of these less noted incidents appeared in a report published Aug. 13 by the Anti-Defamation League. Titled Violence and Vitriol, the report offers a snapshot of antisemitic attacks in Europe and elsewhere in the wake of Israel’s recent operation in Gaza. The report covers incidents in more than 15 countries, including Australia, Canada and several Latin American nations. “There was a dramatic surge in violence against Jews and Jewish institutions around the world during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said. The list — ranging from firebombs hurled at a synagogue in the German city of Wuppertal to the beating of a Moroccan rabbi in Casablanca as retribution for Israel Air Force strikes — aims to “illustrate but do not fully document the hatred of Jews displayed thousands of miles away from
Israel and Gaza,” the ADL wrote. In the United Kingdom that hatred manifested itself in the placing of pro-Palestinian messages on two synagogues, including one that read “child murderers” in Kingston on July 30. Earlier that month in Manchester, anti-Israel protesters returning from a rally drove through Broughton Park while shouting and swearing at Jewish pedestrians with slogans that included “Heil Hitler.” A pattern “continued and metastasized” during the operation, the ADL wrote. “Hamas fired missiles from Gaza; Israel’s military responded; Jews around the world were attacked, this time in even greater numbers.” The pattern also included what scholars of antisemitism call Holocaust inversion: The portrayal of Israel as equivalent to Nazi Germany. This tendency was prominent in Latin American countries. In Venezuela, lawmaker Adel El Zabayar claimed on state television on July 14 that relations between international Zionism and Nazism were established long before the creation of the state of Israel, and that a high-ranking official of Hitler’s government had visited Israel to support the creation of the future Jewish state. And in Chile — where the Jewish community of Santiago received numerous death threats and where an Orthodox Jew was chased on the street and called a murderer — one protester was seen carrying a sign accusing Israel of being worse than the Nazis, the ADL reported. — Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA
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For ‘hardcore’ Jews displaced by Ukrainian fighting, Israel beckons By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA Each time he dispatches a car into Lugansk, Rabbi Shalom Gopin readies himself for hours of anxious anticipation. The scene of brutal urban warfare between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists, this eastern Ukrainian city now has no regular power supply, running water or cell phone reception. Mortar rounds can fall without warning. Much of the population, once 450,000, has fled. But despite the risks, Gopin, the city’s exiled chief rabbi, has dispatched over a dozen cars to Lugansk, each one intended to quietly ferry Jews to a camp he runs for the internally displaced in Zhytomyr, near Kiev. More than 117,000 people are internally displaced within Ukraine, the United Nations reported in August. Over the weekend, Gopin welcomed several cars to Zhytomyr carrying a total of 13 passengers. For Gopin, each arrival brings relief, but also sadness over the disintegration of a community he has spent 15 years building. Initially intended to provide temporary shelter for Jews fleeing the fighting in the east, the facility, which functions mainly as a summer camp, is now home to 250 displaced Ukrainians.
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Gopin says more than half have no plans to return. “It’s a sad reality,” Gopin told JTA. “Many people are now realizing the bad situation may remain, so people who never even thought about making aliyah are going ahead with it. The city, my home, is emptying of Jews as it slowly consumes itself out of existence.” The Jewish Agency for Israel, the quasi-governmental agency responsible for facilitating immigration to Israel, is expecting more than 3,000 arrivals from Ukraine this year — a 33 percent increase over the 1,982 Jews who immigrated in 2013. More than 1,550 individuals have immigrated from Ukraine in the first five months of 2014 alone, more than double the 693 who arrived in the corresponding period last year. Hundreds of the new immigrants hail from Lugansk, a city of 7,000 Jews. Many others come from Donetsk, a rebelheld city with more than 10,000 Jews that is under constant shelling as government forces prepare to storm it. “My sense is that 80 to 90 percent of the Jewish population of Donetsk already emptied out of the city, including my own family,” said Sasha Ivashchenko, who fled the city in July and is waiting to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) with
Olivier Fitoussi
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, meeting with Jews who fled eastern Ukraine in July
his wife. The couple married recently in a ceremony in Donetsk held with the background noise of bombardments by Ukrainian warplanes. In Zhytomyr, Alexander, a refugee in his 50s who asked to be identified only by his first name, fled Lugansk after three men with rifles entered his small packing factory in the city’s industrial zone and informed him it had been “commandeered for the city’s defense.” One of the men, who Alexander believes were proRussian separatists, asked him to leave. “So now even if the fighting stops, I expect there will be very little for me to come back
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to,” Alexander said. “I stayed here because this was my place, my business. Now there’s no point.” When Alexander left the city in late July, public transportation was still operating. But rail traffic ground to a halt on July 26 following the shelling of the train station, effectively trapping much of the population — including hundreds of elderly Jews — in a city that many warn is the site of a looming humanitarian catastrophe. Currently there are 47 urgent cases of Jews in need of rescue, according to Eleonora Groisman, the founder of a nonprofit that maintains a database of Jews seeking rescue. Among them is a woman in her 80s trapped inside her Lugansk apartment. Getting such people out is a complex and risky operation that requires traversing a circuitous route through Russian territory and greasing the palms
of forces encountered along the way. Using his contacts with rebel leaders, Gopin has established an escape route in which a driver picks up the evacuees in Lugansk, crosses the border into Russia and then returns to Ukraine farther north in an area not held by separatists. “You have to understand, the rebel-held area and its surroundings are totally lawless,” Gopin told JTA. “So the car could get stopped and detained or turned back by rebels, suspicious government forces or even thieves preying on the helpless — complications that increase exponentially what is already a serious risk.” To deal with such possibilities, Gopin provides his drivers with an envelope full of cash for bribes. “Luckily, we’re talking about bribes at around the $50 or $70, so that’s still affordable,” said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Jerusalem-based organization that has spent millions providing relief to Jews in Ukraine. To outsiders — and even to some Ukrainians — the decision by thousands of Jews to remain in a war zone seems incomprehensible. But it’s no mystery to Natan Sharansky, the Jewish Agency’s chairman, who was born in Donetsk. “The Jews that stayed, they are the hardcore,” Sharansky told JTA. “They’ve watched friends and family leave throughout the 1990s and after, choosing every time to stay. But there comes a time when reality trumps even the hardcore.”
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
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Alleging U.N. bias, Israel again keeping distance from Gaza probe
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UN Watch and a vocal critic of the Human Rights Council’s treatment of Israel, said Israel should do what it did in 2009: publish accounts from the conflict that show its side of the story without directly cooperating with the investigation. “If the U.N. decides to have a one-sided inquiry, they will write a one-sided report,” Neuer said. “I’m confident Israel will make sure that the commission will have no excuse to say they didn’t have the information.” Shlomy Zachary, a lawyer with the Palestinian legal rights group Yesh Din, urged Israel to cooperate with the United Nations, noting that its decision to work with a 2010 U.N. investigation of the so-called flotilla incident helped mitigate criticism of Israel. That probe, known as the Palmer Commission, was charged with investigating the storming of a Turkish boat aimed at breaking Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The report ultimately condemned the raid, but it also criticized the conduct of protesters on board the ship and determined that the Gaza blockade was legal. “When Israel cooperated with international bodies, the results were in favor of Israel,” Zachary told JTA. “When Israel is not willing to cooperate, it creates the suspicion it has something to hide.” Neuer agreed that the 2010 probe was a good model for U.N. investigations, but he noted that it was supervised by the U.N. secretary-general, not the Human Rights Council. Neuer said that given the commission’s record of bias, Israel’s options are more limited. Ultimately, the conclusions of the latest investigation will not be legally binding on Israel. But if its conclusions are harsh, it could further ratchet up international criticism. Cohen said that could put added pressure on Israel to exercise restraint should another round of conflict take place. “The point in these commissions isn’t just to research the past, it’s to tell the future,” Cohen said. “The main problem is that a commission will say from now on, this or that should be prohibited. This is very problematic for Israel. That will make it harder next time.”
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the Israel Law Review. In the Channel 2 interview, he said he would not let his personal opinions affect his investigation. “What someone who sits on a commission or a judge has to be able to do is to put these things behind them and start fresh, and this is of course what I intend to do,” Schabas said. “It’s in Israel’s interest to be there in that discussion and give its version of events. If it doesn’t, then that leaves an unfortunate one-sided picture of it.” Israeli cooperation could have softened his report’s conclusions, Goldstone wrote in the 2011 Washington Post Op-Ed in which he backed down from the report’s most scathing criticism of Israel. Goldstone noted that subsequent investigations by the Israeli military indicated that it was not Israel’s intent to target civilians. “Although the Israeli evidence that has emerged since publication of our report doesn’t negate the tragic loss of civilian life, I regret that our fact-finding mission did not have such evidence explaining the circumstances in which we said civilians in Gaza were targeted, because it probably would have influenced our findings about intentionality and war crimes,” Goldstone wrote. “Israel’s lack of cooperation with our investigation meant that we were not able to corroborate how many Gazans killed were civilians and how many were combatants.” Among Israeli legal experts, there is broad agreement that Israel must do its part to present its version of events, even while disagreeing about how best to do that. Only Israel’s state comptroller has indicated that he will be investigating the Gaza conflict. Amichai Cohen, an international law expert at the Israel Democracy Institute, said the comptroller’s probe is insufficient and that Israel should launch an investigation by experts. “The comptroller himself doesn’t have knowledge in international law, in criminal law, in military law. That’s not his specialty,” Cohen told JTA. “You need something independent and transparent.” Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based NGO
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By Ben Sales, JTA TEL AVIV — The United Nations probe into the Gaza conflict hasn’t even begun, but Israel already is convinced that it won’t end well. In a resolution adopted by a vote of 29-1 with 17 abstentions, the U.N. Human Rights Council moved in July to establish a commission of inquiry “to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” The United States cast the sole vote against. In August, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the council for choosing to investigate Israel rather than nearby crisis zones such as Iraq or Syria, and implied he would not cooperate with U.N. investigators. “The report of this committee has already been written,” Netanyahu said following a meeting with visiting New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “The committee chairman has already decided that Hamas is not a terrorist organization. Therefore, they have nothing to look for here. They should visit Damascus, Baghdad and Tripoli. They should go see ISIS, the Syrian army and Hamas. There they will find war crimes, not here.” Israel has been down this road before. Following the end of the last Gaza conflict, in early 2009, its government refused to cooperate with a U.N. investigation led by the South African jurist Richard Goldstone. The probe, dubbed the Goldstone Report, alleged that Israel had intentionally targeted civilians, though Goldstone later personally retracted that allegation. Israel rejected the original report as inaccurate and biased. This time, the commission will be chaired by William Schabas, a Canadian-born professor of international law at Middlesex University in London. Schabas said in an Aug. 12 interview with Israel’s Channel 2 that it would be “inappropriate” to assert that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Last year, Schabas said that Netanyahu would be his “favorite” leader to see tried at the International Criminal Court. Schabas’ father is Jewish and he sits on the advisory board of
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The ‘lone women’ of the IDF combat. By Hannah Dreyfus “I want to defend my country in the New York Jewish Week most basic way possible,” she said, Alissa Neubauer, wearing a white tank top, leggings and a thin silver nose- standing next to her parents after checking in her luggage. She wore sunglasses, ring, stood in the sprawling baggage check-in line at JFK with her mother and a midriff-bearing tank top, and several necklaces, one a Jewish star. Her parents, grandmother. While her mother navithough nervous, described themselves as gated the luggage cart piled high with proud. duffels, her grandmother held tightly “I’m nervous when she’s away from onto her granddaughter’s arm while home for half an hour, of course I’m crying softly into a tissue. going to be nervous about this,” said Unlike most 19-year-olds, Neubauer, Green’s mother. from Philadelphia, who considers For Green, who didn’t become inherself culturally Jewish, isn’t worrying about class schedules or course readings volved in Israel-related issues until she went on a Birthright Israel trip in 2011, as summer draws to a close. Instead, defending the Jewish state is not someshe’s gearing up to join the Israeli Dething new. A graduate of Temple Univerfense Forces. sity, Green served as the president of the “I thought maybe if I didn’t buy her Hillel Israel club, the largest pro-Israel suitcases, she wouldn’t go,” her grandmother said. “But she had her mind made up.” “I’m the one going home” to the Jewish homeland, Neubauer said. “Why be nervous?” Neubauer, along with 107 other young men and women planning to serve in the IDF, boarded a charter flight to Israel Aug. 11. The day before, Randy Levine, president of the Yankees, treated 40 of the young soonto-be soldiers to a game in the Bronx. Lone soldiers (L to R) Roni Rosen, 22, Gil Blume, 19, The Nefesh b’ Nefesh flight, and Aliza Green, 23, wait at JFK to board a Nefesh organized in cooperation with B’Nefesh flight several other organizations and group on campus, and participated in government agencies, carried a total of the Hasbara Fellowships, an intensive 338 new immigrants from the United Israel-activism program that bring North States and Canada, including the IDF American university students to Israel recruits known as lone soldiers, those for seminars and training. While workwithout parents in Israel. ing on Israel advocacy, she also studied In the wake of the month-long war Arabic in college, and wrote her high in Gaza, the memory of the three lone school graduating thesis on the social soldiers killed in combat — Max Steinidentities of Israeli and Palestinian berg, 23, of Los Angeles, Nissim Sean youth. Carmelli, 21, of South Padre Island, “I never thought of myself as a politiTexas, and Jordan Bensemhoun, 22, of cal person, until I realized I had to be,” Lyon, France — is still fresh. But their deaths haven’t deterred foreign soldiers said Green, who hopes to pursue a cafrom enlisting. In fact, interest in joining reer in diplomacy after her army service. She described coming face to face with the IDF has spiked, according to Rabbi virulent anti-Zionism on campus. Yehoshua Fass, co-founder of Nefesh “As a member of the Israel board, I b’Nefesh, which aids immigrants in the dealt with protests about us getting a process of moving to Israel. “Many lone soldiers wanted to bump new building. I saw students advocating for BDS (boycott, divestment and sancup their aliyah (immigration to Israel) tions), and I had to respond. As I leader, and join this flight, but we had to turn I realized the importance of being politithem down because the flight was alcally pro-Israel.” ready booked,” he said. Green’s close correspondence with Of the lone soldiers who did board Palestinian children during her senior the charter flight, half of them were exit project made her decision to join women. The popularity of female lone soldiers the IDF more complicated. Though she never doubted the choice, Green is aware has been growing steadily in recent of the international criticism leveled at years. Of the 6,000 lone soldiers currently serving in the IDF, fully a third are the IDF since the Gaza war began. “The civilian death toll in Gaza is women, according to an IDF spokespertragic,” she said. “I have a close relationson. As the only military in the world where women’s service is mandatory, 92 ship with several Palestinians, and it’s painful to see.” percent of positions, including combat Still, Green said Israel “need not roles, are open to women. Aliza Green, 23, is headed straight for apologize” for defending itself. THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
THE WORLD “I think the world, and even Palestin- and an El Al baseball cap. Her mother ians, are beginning to realize that civilwore a long skirt and covered her hair ians are being persecuted and oppressed with a hat. Hornstein attended the Yeby Hamas, not Israel,” she said. shivah of Flatbush and Zionist summer Green is not the only new lone solider camps. Her experience in archery at a to struggle with the complex Gaza ques- Jewish sleepaway camp in Pennsylvation. nia inspired her to become a shooting Roni Rosen, 22, a recent graduate instructor or combat soldier. “I always of Brandeis University, spoke about liked Boy Scout-type things,” she said in confronting accusations that Israel is an a phone interview. apartheid state because of its policies on Though most Orthodox women the West Bank. choose to complete national service “It’s a question that keeps coming up (sherut leumi) instead of joining the in the back of my mind — What makes army, Hornstein’s strong religious Israel different?” she said in a phone upbringing fueled her desire to be a interview prior to her flight. “And I soldier. keep having to answer that question for “A lot of my friends think I’m crazy, myself.” and I know that some are even more Rosen’s answer? Israel makes a real scared for me than they’re letting on,” effort to minimize civilian casualties. said Hornstein. “But this is my chance “We’re one of the only countries who to make the Israel I’ve learned about for thinks about the opposing side all these years my own.” Of the lone while we’re fighting a war.” Regarding her parents’ Still, she acknowledged the soldiers who nerves, she was pragmatic. fear of “losing her moral com“They made this bed, and did board the now they have to lie in pass” after joining the army. “I’ve thought about what I charter flight, it,” she said, with a note would do if I was commanded half of them of humor. “I was raised to to do something I morally disbe Zionist, so that’s what I agreed with,” said Rosen, who were women. am.” hopes to serve in a search and At the airport, Hornstein rescue unit. “I think I would be strong and her mother exchanged tearful goodenough to say no. I hope so.” byes when the boarding call was made. She mentioned the Palestinian-Amer“You simply can’t prepare for this ican teenager who was beaten by two moment,” her mother said. Israeli border policemen amid clashes Parents handled the emotional deparover the murder of his Palestinian ture differently. For Joel Starr, the mocousin Mohammed Abu Khdeir on July ment was surreal, but expected. Starr, 6. “That was wrong, and behavior like from Silver Spring, Md., had himself that needs to be condemned,” she said. flown to Israel as a lone soldier in 1991. Though the recent unrest in Israel has Watching his daughter, Eliana, 17, make caused many parents to re-evaluate their the same choice felt like “things were children’s decision to join the army, for coming full circle.” all of the lone soldiers interviewed the “I remember the day I got on the war only heightened their desire to take plane — the jitters, the excitement,” said part. Starr, looking proudly at his daughter, “I didn’t think twice for a minute,” the eldest of five children. The Starr said Liba Hornstein, 19-year-old from family had attempted to make aliyah Highland Park, N.J. “This is the moment several years ago, but returned to when Israel needs us most, and when Maryland after only one year. Their we most need Israel.” daughter’s decision to join the army has While most of the lone soldiers on inspired them to reconsider. the JFK flight are nominally religious, “We want to follow her there soon,” Hornstein comes from a strongly Modhe said, “I need an answer for when my ern Orthodox home. At the airport, she younger kids keep asking: Dad, what’s wore a long-sleeved T-shirt, a long skirt, taking so long?”
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Countercultural spirit lives on at iconic 1960s havurah By Anthony Weiss, JTA SOMERVILLE, Mass. — To certain first-time visitors to Havurat Shalom, the congregation’s prayer room may look remarkably familiar. From the macrame Jewish star adorning the ark and the Middle Easternstyle lamp serving as a ner tamid to the pillows on a bare floor and the sparely decorated walls, the room looks exactly as it does in a photograph from The Jewish Catalog, the iconic do-it-yourself Judaism guidebook published in 1973 that brought the then five-year-old Havurat Shalom a measure of fame. At the time, the image suggested an innovative vision of Judaism, stripped of pretense and focused on cultivating a tight-knit sense of community and direct devotional experience. Today, the room looks as if it had been preserved in amber. But beneath the surface, Havurat Shalom has lived many lives since that picture was snapped. Its founders have long since left, many of them moving to profoundly reshape the face of American Jewish life — infusing the wider community with the vision that animated Havurat Shalom. “If you actually look at the people who passed through Havurat Shalom
Jesse Edsell-Vetter
The davening room at Havurat Shalom, virtually unchanged since the early 1970s
as teachers or as students, it’s absolutely amazing,” said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. “These were the people who would be leading figures in Jewish life in the second half of the 20th century.” At the same time, Havurat Shalom itself has continued to evolve, sometimes
in ways that have made the founders uncomfortable. Still, when the current members gathered on a recent Shabbat morning, they came together in pursuit of the same ideals that the founders describe seeking at the very beginning — the fusion of prayer and fellowship, tradition and experimentation. “It’s like a body,” said Aliza Arzt, a member since 1978. “All the cells are different, but it’s the same body.” With 32 current members, Havurat Shalom is small, as it has always been. But historically it wielded an outsized influence. It is often considered a flagship of the havurah movement, which rose out of the 1960s counterculture and led to a blossoming of small, intimate prayer groups — havurot, Hebrew for fellowship. The movement’s fingerprints can be seen not only on the independent minyanim that have proliferated in recent years but in the more personal, informal style of davening that has come to pervade many congregations. Havurat Shalom appeared in the news recently with the passing of Jewish Renewal pioneer Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, as obituaries reported that he was one of its founders. However, although Schachter-Shalomi
was present for the first year, founding members of the havurah generally agree that the primary founder was Rabbi Arthur Green, currently the rector of the nondenominational rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Mass. Green had first conceived of something like Havurat Shalom while a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1967, where he felt disillusioned with what he saw as the stiffness, lack of innovation and coldness of much of American Jewish life. “Judaism was a pretty vacuous religious community,” Green told JTA. After meeting the radical Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan, Green resolved that he would create something different. “Whether it was an experimental synagogue or experimental seminary, I don’t think I knew yet, but it was something different, something young people could be comfortable in,” he said. “The kind of place where you could go in jeans instead of a tie and jacket. The kind of place you could be more passionate about religion than you could be in a liberal synagogue.” Havurot Shalom was, in fact, founded as a seminary, for one very significant reason: the draft. The Vietnam War
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
THE WORLD bers who took hallucinogens did so was raging, and one of the ways to avoid the draft was to get an exemption with serious spiritual intent. “It wasn’t ‘let’s pop the pill and go to as a student at a religious seminary. the movies,’ ” he said. Thus, the Havurat Shalom ComBut the havurah was also engaged in munity Seminary was organized in changing the larger Jewish landscape. Cambridge, Mass., and Green, along In 1969, some members picketed the with several collaborators, set about General Assembly of the Council of recruiting an initial class of about a Jewish Federations in Boston, and one dozen people. Schachter-Shalomi, an of them, Hillel Levine, gave a landmark old friend of Green’s, came to teach for speech demanding that the federations the first year. devote more resources to Jewish educaSoon after, the havurah applied for a grant from the Danforth Foundation for tion. By 1973, when havurah members “experiments in theological education.” Siegel, Michael Strassfeld and Sharon It was awarded $10,000, most of which Strassfeld published The Jewish Catalog, immediately went to a down payment which sold tens of thousands of copon a wood-frame house in Somerville, ies, Havurat Shalom was at its point of a city of nearly 80,000 two miles from maximum influence and prominence. Boston that still serves as Havurat Though not the country’s first havurah, Shalom’s home. Four members of the it was the most iconic and the most havurah rented rooms there, and the influential. teachers taught for free. But at that same time, the original Immediately a few ground rules were established. Classes would meet weekly core group of founders was largely and would be taken seriously. Members on its way out. The idea of ordaining people as rabbis had long since been were expected to live within walking distance of the main house, not so much abandoned, and draft exemptions were no longer necessary. Green moved to for sake of not driving on Shabbat but Philadelphia to so that members’ Emily Aviva Kapor teach at the Unihouses would versity of Pennbe open to one sylvania. Others another. There was dispersed across also one commuthe country looknal meal per week. ing for jobs. One emphasis Nonetheless, was an approach the attraction of to prayer that was Havurat Shalom both experimental was enough to and intense. draw in new “We wanted members, even to take the deep, from afar. spiritual intensity “I actually of the Chasidic moved to Boston service and bring because of Hait into our kind of One of Havurat Shalom’s younger members vurat Shalom in world,” said Barry helps build a sukkah, September 2013 1978,” Arzt said. Holtz, an early “I moved to Somerville, and I took a member of the havurah and now a promap and I drew a circle around Havurat fessor of Jewish education at the Jewish Shalom, half mile in radius, and looked Theological Seminary in New York. for a place to live.” Some services incorporated musiThe havurah members continued to cal instruments or silent reflections or work to put the community’s progresplayed records in the background. sive values into action. In 1986, the haThe same spirit of experimentation vurah joined the sanctuary movement extended to the curriculum. for Central Americans fleeing violence “I remember when Michael Brooks in their countries; the congregation said that he shouldn’t eat meat anyhoused a refugee from El Salvador for more unless he met the animal live and several years. slaughtered it,” Green recalled, referAround that time, the members ring to the future executive director of also decided to embark on a project to Hillel at the University of Michigan. radically revise the liturgy in ways that It being the 1960s, founders also went well beyond the experimentation note that members experimented with of the founders. Over the ensuing dedrugs, ranging from marijuana, which cades, havurah members have worked was fairly common, to a few who tried to make not only the English but also hallucinogenics such as LSD and mesthe Hebrew more gender-balanced, caline. “Marijuana was not only not frowned to eliminate references to the Jews as “chosen people,” to add prayers about upon but really looked upon as somediversity and to change some of the thing to build the intensity, deepen the imagery used to describe God. experience,” said Richard Siegel, one The project is ongoing, and the haof the co-authors of The Jewish Catalog vurah is aiming to complete a revised and the director of the School of Jewprayer book incorporating these changish Nonprofit Management at Hebrew es for the upcoming High Holy Days. Union College-Jewish Institute of ReliToday’s havurah members range in gion in Los Angeles. Siegel added that even those memContinued on Page 40
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
OPINION
Lasting peace seems too elusive By Rena Neiger Only a few weeks ago, hundreds of rockets from Gaza were flying into cities throughout Israel every day, many of them intercepted by what has turned out to be the miraculous Iron Dome system. To date, Hamas has breached eight ceasefires and counting. We are disheartened and frustrated that the conflict continues, albeit on a lower flame; sporadic news of sirens, rocket and mortar fire on Israel’s southern communities continues — especially the barrages we can count on Hamas to send us just before another ceasefire takes effect. The radio provides endless stories about the ongoing trauma suffered by citizens of the south, young and old, who have endured the terror of rocket fire for the past 14 years and counting. We dread to see the effects of this on their psyches in years to come. Newscasts are still punctuated by an occasional red alert siren as we hold our collective breath, listen for news of progress in the on-again, off-again talks in Egypt, brokered by dubious friends we’re asked to trust. I’ll never forget the surreal experience of coming to a dead stop on the Ayalon Highway that cuts through Tel Aviv, jumping out of the car, huddling against the center cement barricade and watching the Iron Dome intercept the rocket high above us, hearing the muffled boom on contact and seeing the puff of white smoke. One can’t help being proud of this Israeli technology that has, for the most part, turned Hamas rockets into children’s toys. Should we feel guilty that our government invests in the safety of its citizens while Hamas sacrifices theirs? The UN high commissioner for civil rights, Navi Pillay, thinks so, and the world at large seems to agree. The UN and its cynically-named Human Rights Council have gone from absurd to ridiculous. We are thankful every day that our sons and sonin-law, all members of various paratrooper units, have not yet been called to duty. We joined in collective mourning of the fallen soldiers who could have been our own. We learned their names and were allowed to peek into their shortened lives, meeting their mourning family on the nightly news broadcasts of their funerals. We continue to be stirred by the country’s embrace of the “lone soldiers” who come to Israel from all over the world to serve in the IDF and make their lives in Israel. Some made the ultimate sacrifice, like Sean Carmeli and Max Steinberg. Their stories have become legends, their funerals attended by tens of thousands. They came to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and their stories have moved often-cynical veteran Israelis. Last night I attended the annual Garin Tzabar graduation, along with 1,000 others. Sean and Max were both part of Garin Tzabar, a program to absorb “lone soldiers” and provide them with a framework. Sean’s girlfriend, Eden, herself a lone soldier from California, spoke with eloquence and remarkable poise, relating their two-year story that began with love at first sight, learning to be soldiers, seeing each other sporadically, and then his unit’s entrance into Gaza two weeks ago that ended in his death by a Hamas terrorist’s grenade. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Hamas holds a knife to Israel’s throat, inexplicably supported by remarkable numbers in the West and so far refusing to accept conditions that include disarmament. We are astounded that most of the Western world does not recognize that these are Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, not different from ISIS, Hezbollah,
Convergence of hate
Al-Qaeda. This is the same Hamas that claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Israeli shopping malls, outdoor markets and buses since its founding in 1987, claiming hundreds of Jewish and Israeli lives. The world has a very short memory. Hamas’ declared mandate is to destroy Israel, and they don’t deny or hide it, yet they demand open borders and free access to Israel, and open air and sea ports. Israel is being pushed by the world to accept these conditions. We have been down this road before, with cement and steel shipments into Gaza intended for infrastructure and homes turned by Hamas into rockets and terror tunnels under Israeli communities, as the ordinary people of Gaza remain impoverished and without hope. I wonder if the outside world knows or cares about the fact that every day since Israel exited Gaza in 2005, Israel sends truckloads of humanitarian goods into Gaza, and supplies Gaza with most of its electricity, even while the militants shoot rockets at us. Or that Israel set up a field hospital some weeks ago to treat Gazan victims and Hamas refused to allow access to the injured. Or that a handful of brave Gazans protested against Hamas early on in this operation and were summarily shot. Even as proof emerges of Hamas’ sacrifice of its own citizenry — their firing of rockets from crowded urban streets, mosques and schools, thus drawing Israel’s return fire to those sites while their leadership directs operations from a bunker deep beneath a hospital packed with injured — the West appears intent on appeasement. Pacification and political positioning are the order of the day in Europe. We watch in dismay as hordes of demonstrators jump on the bandwagon, rallying against Israel in Paris, Berlin, London, in Ireland and Australia, waving anti-Israel and antisemitic placards that viciously liken us to Nazis: the ultimate insult intended to cut deep. Ordinary Gazans are indeed victims. But they are not victims of us. Their leaders have sacrificed them to the propaganda gods, and the foreign press is complicit, out of fear, ignorance or both. Any other explanation defies Western logic. I hope many of those protesting are ignorant of the complexity and background of this conflict, only dropping in to take a stand for the perceived underdog, satisfying a need to identify as sympathizers with the weak. Israelis know we can’t afford to be paralyzed into inaction by the condemnation being so vociferously voiced around the world. We can’t afford to let down our guard or appear weak in the eyes of the Arab world. And yet, amazingly, life goes on here. We continue our daily routines, albeit somewhat altered by this new reality: more listening to the news, suffering from conflict fatigue and yet not able to stop ourselves from reading and listening to endless accounts of events and the ensuring analysis and opinions. Remarkably, we’re seeing the arrival of more new immigrants than ever, both singles (some are young adults who volunteer to serve in the IDF) and families, and especially those who come from Europe to make their homes here, even during all of the midst of all this. As the director of an international school in a private university in Herzliya, six miles north of Tel Aviv, I’ve processed dozens of requests in the past several weeks from French parents anxious to get their children out of France and into an academic framework here, where, ironically, they feel their children will be safer. We hope, wait, and pray for a resumption of quiet. Lasting peace seems too elusive to expect.
By Jane Eisner Last Shabbat, as my husband and I were walking home from lunch with friends, I noticed scribbling on the sidewalk. It took a moment to get over the shock. STOP FUNDING ISRAEL This was on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the epicenter of the liberal American shtetl, a place so ubiquitously Jewish that even the smallest grocery store posts Friday night candlelighting times each week. So to see even this mildly anti-Israel graffiti was a surprise. For the first time since we moved to the neighborhood a couple of years ago, we felt uncomfortable, targeted, as people who care about Israel and as Jews. Though we share serious misgivings about the way the military conflict in Gaza began and has been prosecuted, and we grieve for the horrendous loss of life, we also believe that Israel does have a right to defend itself against a terrorizing organization that seeks its obliteration. If Israel’s actions warranted the end of its sizable financial support from the United States, what about neighboring Egypt — also a recipient of billions in aid — whose government has killed peaceful protesters, imprisoned journalists and put a democratically-elected leader in jail? As we continued our walk, we asked ourselves whether the comparison was unfair because Israel should be held to a higher standard, and whether that scrawled sidewalk sentiment was a legitimate criticism of American policy or rank anti-Zionism. And when does anti-Zionism bleed into simple hatred of Jews? To borrow Irving Kristol’s line about neoconservatives, was I acting like a liberal Jew who gets mugged? Like many liberal American Jews, I have long insisted that anti-Zionism is not necessarily antisemitism, that one can be critical of Zionist political ideology and not hate Jews as Jews. The argument is partly an intellectual one, and partly a response to the embarrassing ease with which some Jews make the link, equating every criticism of Israel with “the oldest hatred” — an accusation that can unfairly label dissenters and shuts down the conversation. Plus, I’m American. America loves its Jews, and loves Israel. I can show you the polls, and the votes in Congress, and the intermarriage rate, and all the other indicators of public sentiment. To equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism somehow turns us into victims, part of a global victimhood, but we are not victims here, and even a few uncomfortable words scrawled on the sidewalk cannot really make a dent in our secure standing. The virulent reaction around the world to Israel’s latest incursion into Gaza is making me rethink that argument, and I know that I am not alone. “I’ve never been as concerned, frightened, worried and confused as this,” the historian Deborah Lipstadt told me. “Maybe it’s not 1939, but it may be 1934.” We liberals simply cannot ignore the pernicious way the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the horrible civilian death toll there has given an anti-Zionist cover to attacks against Jews as Jews. In France, England, Belgium, India, etc., etc., Jews are being held responsible for Israeli actions they may not even support. In Turkey, the prime minister tells CNN that what Israel did to Palestine “has surpassed what Hitler did to them” and then confirms that he said it. Unfortunately, I could go on. “Liberals need to recognize that there is no comfort in their position,” said Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum, himself a liberal. Arguing that these antiZionist actions are not also antisemitic is “making a distinction that goes against the reality of what we are experiencing today.”
Rena Neiger lived in Dayton from 2002 to 2007.
Jane Eisner is editor-in-chief of the Forward.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
PAGE 17
OPINION
Can Israel afford to lose liberals? How to talk to children about the Gaza war
By Andrew Silow-Carroll The other day the left-wing blogger M.J. Rosenberg sent an e-mail to his followers. After being “deeply involved with Israel for 47 years” (which included four years at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Rosenberg wrote that he is taking an indefinite break from writing about Israel. “I’d rather not even think about it,” he wrote. “Especially because I have given up any hope about its future.” Mainstream Jewish leaders, of whom Rosenberg is a particularly harsh critic, probably replied with a relieved gei gezinteh heit — go in good health. Rosenberg reviles the Netanyahu government and especially AIPAC, which, he insists, prevents America from using its clout to broker an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rosenberg is a pretty stark example of the kind of left-wing Zionist Shmuel Rosner had in mind in his recent New York Times op-ed, Israel’s Fair-Weather Fans. Rosner, an Israeli who writes for the Times and the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, addresses a spate of pundits — Ezra Klein, Roger Cohen, and Jonathan Chait, specifically — who say they feel distanced from or disillusioned with Israel. While the Gaza war was the immediate cause of their discomfort, all three agree that, in Klein’s words, “the continued growth of the settlements is morally indefensible” and “deeply counterproductive.” What most rankled Rosner was the implied “threat” of these confessions: that unless Israel adopted policies good liberals could agree with, they’ll wash their hands of the whole affair — including, presumably, defending Israel in the political and policy arena. “Let me be clear: I believe Israel’s relations with Jews around the world are crucially important,” writes Rosner. However, he adds, “I would never expect Israelis to gamble on our security and our lives for the sake of accommodating the political sensitivities of people who live far away.” Ouch. Rosner suggests that family doesn’t turn its back on family, and that anyone who believes in a sovereign Jewish state has no choice except to support the only one there is. Despite what some commenters have written, Rosner’s essay isn’t really about the right of Diaspora Jews to criticize Israel. “Of course, not all Israeli policies are smart,” he concedes, “and it’s not imperative that all Jews agree with them.” I think his piece is really about engagement — that if you really cared about Israel, you would continue to engage with her even when you disagree. To do otherwise is to suggest your ties and sympathy weren’t that strong to begin with. But if you were to read the liberal Zionist laments as descriptive, rather than prescriptive, there’s deep cause for concern — for Rosner and the rest of us PAGE 18
to avoid reviving what historian Salo Baron once described as “the lachrymose (tearful) conception of Jewish history.” The saga of the Jews is about a great who remain engaged with Israel. I found deal more than persecution. Yet with the Klein’s essay especially unsettling, bebarely concealed animosity toward Jews cause he articulates a position I am hearevident in some quarters here in Amering more often among Jews just outside ica and abroad, alas, the need to teach the activist “bubble.” “I haven’t become By Jack Wertheimer young people about the insidious nature less pro-Israel,” he writes. “But I’ve With the new school year, Jewish of antisemitism has become pertinent become much more pessimistic about its educational leaders scramble to prepare again. prospects, and more confused and octheir teachers to discuss this summer’s As they formulate a school response casionally horrified by its policies.” Gaza War. The most pressing challenge is It doesn’t matter if you agree with to design age-appropriate conversations: to the war, educators might consider three important lessons derived from Klein or not. The question he raises for At which grade level might classroom Hearts and Minds, a recent report on Isthose of us in the “bubble” is this: What discussions include potentially frightrael education in North American Jewish if Klein represents a trend? What if a ening topics, such as the wounding of schools: chasm opens between the policies of the non-combatants, kidnapping of young First, one size does not fit all students. Israeli government and the politics of a Israelis and sirens warning of incoming Classrooms contain some students who sizable segment of the American-Jewish rockets? And how should teachers adare largely ignorant about the Gaza war population (as we saw in the last presidress the tough issues of civilian casualand others who have been exposed to it dential election)? Are we prepared to say ties in Gaza and the flagrant hostility up close. Students who spent part of the gei gezinteh heit to this cohort? toward Jews and Israel that has erupted summer in Israel undoubtedly will attest Before you answer, remember that in many parts of the world? to what it was like to run to bomb shelIsrael benefits from a strong Diaspora, These questions are difficult enough, especially when it comes to representing but are especially freighted with anxiety ters or sense the fear aroused in Israel’s Israel’s interests as voters and contribubecause they hold the potential to revive populace by Hamas tunnels. Teachers will face the daunting task tors to political campaigns. Jews are also stereotypes of Israel that North Ameriof bridging differences in what students disproportionately represented among can Jewish schools have been trying to opinion-makers. Despite what you think counter. When Israel was forced to wage heard from their parents and absorbed elsewhere about the war. The diversity of the media’s performance during the three major wars during its first quarof students and their families adds a conwar, support for Israel is the default ter century, its image as an embattled siderable measure of complexity to an position in most courts of public opinion enclave overshadowed everything else already challenging situation. All of this in the United States (as opposed to, say, about its existence. places a great responsibility upon teachin Europe). In recent decades, though, Jewish ers to prepare differentiated responses to Also remember that American Jewry schools have endeavored to present a broad range of students. benefits from an Israel that inspires. a more rounded picture of Israeli life. Second, when teaching about Israel, Think about the degree to which Jewish Without denying the existential challengit is imperative to work with students’ communal life “has been built around es facing the Jewish state, teachers have minds as well as their hearts. Jewish and upon the accomplishments of Israel drawn attention to the rich tapestry of schools have focused their attention esand the challenges she faces,” as the Israeli culture — its diverse inhabitants, pecially on the latter, an understandable American Jewish Committee put it a culinary treats and eclectic music, for while back. If young American Jews example — and, of course, its technologi- approach with younger children. But by their middle school and high school disengage from Israel in even modest cal wizardry. numbers, what will that mean for the Educators are understandably loath to years, students deserve to be exposed not only to the joyous dimensions of the vitality of American Jewry? resurrect the earlier imagery that simJewish state, but also to the complexities It’s also worth remembering that the plistically portrayed Israel as a country within Israeli society and outside of it in vicious anti-Israel activity around the permanently on war footing. the tough neighborhood of the Middle world makes no distinction between Responses to the Gaza war require East. Jews and Israelis. To the degree that North American Jewish schools to And third, teaching about other Jewthese acts are a response to Israeli policy, address a second topic that had been ish communities — their achievements is it credible to say that Israel has no pushed to the background in recent and challenges — does not detract from responsibility to the security of “people years — antisemitism. Students in all a connection to Israel but strengthens the who live far away”? likelihood are not oblivious of the viruLike Rosner, one can argue that Israe- lent hostility to Israel and Jews surfacing ties of students to the Jewish people and also Israel. In some parts of the world, lis should expect the “unconditional love in the media and on the Web. It’s not notably in several European countries, of their non-Israeli Jewish kin.” clear how prepared schools are to adJewish communities are under siege. But what if they can’t? Will Israel be dress this issue. American Jewish students should OK if deep feelings for Israel are shared In reaction to the overemphasis on not be shielded from these ugly realiby a shrinking, more impassioned mithe Holocaust the 1960s through the nority of American Jews (augmented, of 1980s, the pendulum of American Jewish ties. This is the time to teach students course, by a good number of evangelical fashion has swung away from discourse about the interconnectedness of all Jews, a lesson that will also strengthen their Christians)? What if fewer and fewer about antisemitism. Now, with the engagement with Israel and its people. Jews accept Israel’s security arguments, blatantly negative media coverage of The Gaza war presents Jewish schools especially when it comes to the Palestin- Israel’s prosecution of the war and the with a teachable moment, a time to ians? Pro-Israel activists have never been resurgence of antisemitism around the stronger or better organized. But what if globe, the subject warrants considerably explore with their students (in an ageappropriate manner) the asymmetrical their numbers, and clout, were to shrink? more attention. struggle in which Israel is engaged and We aren’t there yet, and perhaps it is The dilemma facing schools in adthe surge in hatred confronting Jews — only Israel’s “fair-weather friends” who dressing the new antisemitism is how including children — in many parts of are jumping ship. But before waving the world. goodbye, we might first ask why they are leaving, and what, if anything, can be So, what do you think? Send your letters Jack Wertheimer, a professor at the Jewish done to make them stay. (350 words max., thanks) to Theological Seminary, co-authored Hearts That’s also something families do. The Dayton Jewish Observer and Minds: Israel in North American 525 Versailles Drive, Dayton, OH 45459 Jewish Day Schools published by the AVI Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor-in-chief of MWeiss@jfgd.net CHAI Foundation. the New Jersey Jewish News. THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
LIFECYCLES
Committed to providing the best service, creativity, and value. Now taking orders for unique, beautiful centerpieces for the High Holy Days. Moshe Yehuda Simon Rabbi Levi and Rochel Simon welcomed their fifth child, Moshe Yehuda, on July 19, 21 Tammuz. Moshe Yehuda was 21.5 inches long and 9 lbs., 4 oz. His brothers are Menachem, Yoel, and Shmuel, and his sister is Chaya. Paternal grandparents are Rabbi Nachman and Clara Simon of Delmar, N.Y. Maternal grandparents are Rabbi Aharon and Esther Goldstein of Ann Arbor, Mich. Moshe Yehuda was named after his great-great-grandfather who sacrificed much to raise a Torah-observant family. Magilvy-Bobb Douglas and Patricia Magilvy are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Sarah to Ross Bobb, son of Ronald and Donna Bobb. Sarah completed a master of arts degree in communication at the University of Dayton in May and Ross is an engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A summer 2015 wedding is planned. Sarah is the granddaughter of the late Dorothy and Leonard N. Magilvy.
Samuel Gabriel Caruso Patty and Michael Caruso are proud to announce the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Samuel Gabriel, on Sept. 6 at Temple Israel. Sammy is the grandson of Donna and Yale Holt of Dayton, Joan and Jim Stark of Tampa, and Sandy and Jerry Caruso of Cincinnati. Sammy is a seventh-grade honors student at Oakwood Junior High School. He enjoys hanging out with his friends, playing basketball, sports, being a camper at GUCI, creative writing, technology and riding his bike. Sammy’s service project involved assisting with robotics while a student at Hillel Academy, and he is currently a youth volunteer at Wright Library. 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 Observer.
Jordan Elyse Poch Eric and Sheri Poch announce with great pride that their daughter, Jordan Elyse Poch, will be called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Temple Israel. Rabbi David Sofian will officiate. Jordan was an honor roll student at Northmoor Elementary. Currently, she is a seventh-grader at Northmont Middle School and participates in soccer, basketball, piano, singing lessons, safety patrol, peer mediation, and the Computer Operator Personal Specialist program. For her mitzvah project, Jordan became a volunteer for The Hospice of Dayton, and donated books she collected from neighbors to Dayton Children’s Hospital. Jordan is the big sister of Alayna Poch, great-granddaughter of Lucile Levine of Stamford, Conn., granddaughter of Col. Richard and Honore Poch of West Chester, Pa., Phyllis Froug of Dayton, and Ronald Froug and the late Gloria Kobrin of Mission Viejo, Calif.
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Mike Pickard recently launched his own multiplatform, media planning and placement agency called MP Advertising. He has worked in this field for more than 25 years with companies including Cox Media and Time Warner Media Sales. Mike’s expertise is in marketing consultation, strategy, and research, planning, placement and measuring of results.
Dayton youths are all smiles at the Goldman Union Camp Institute Summer Session at Zionsville, Ind. Shown here, standing (L to R):Top Maddy Gruenberg, Claire Sabin, Carly Sobol, Alyssa Weismann, Miriam Sutch, Tamir Rastetter, Benny Caruso, Josie Buchanan,Talia Doninger. Front: Rabbi Judy Chessin, Gabe De la Cruz, Julian Doninger, Sammy Caruso, Taran Smith. GUCI is an overnight camp of the Union for Reform Judaism.
Grant Harlan, son of Lisa and Todd Harlan, was one of three Miami Valley School high school students to participate in the United Launch Alliance student rocket launch in Pueblo, Colo. on July 26. Only 12 student teams were selected from across the United States out of thousands that designed and built their own payloads during the past school year. Grant, who started the Aviation Club at MVS, is now a freshman engineering major at Purdue University. Send your Kvelling items to Rachel at kvellingcorner@gmail. com or to Rachel Haug Gilbert, The Dayton Jewish Observer, 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, OH 45459.
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COURT OF APPEALS COURT OF APPEALS Experience - Integrity - Judgment Experience - Integrity - Judgment Paid for by the Re-elect Judge Froelich Committee Paid for by the Re-elect Judge Froelich Committee
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19590L ©Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. 2013
*Not valid for purchase of gift cards. Valid only at Brown Street location. Expires 10/31/14.
1934 Brown
One of Sam Lauber’s photographs was displayed on a billboard in Times Square on the evening of July 24. The photograph was selected by The See Me gallery in Queens for this honor.
Barrie Denmark, formerly of Dayton, graduated from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh with her JD degree. She sat for the bar exam in July and is awaiting her results in October when she can begin practicing law.
*
Sun.-Thurs. 12noon-10pm•Fri/Sat. 12pm-11pm St. • 937-461-1888 next to the Pine Club
for the Dayton Daily News, which in Marci’s words will “inform, enlighten and empower elders and their loved ones while helping to reframe many of the stereotypes often associated with growing older.”
2313 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood 937-293-1196 www.oakwoodflorist.com family owned and operated military discount THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
NEW Volunteer Leadership FOR OBSERVER
Jewish Federation of GREATER DAYTON Sunday, September 21 › Every Beat Counts: Putting the HeHe in Heart Health 2 - 4PM @ Boonshoft CJCE Hadassah and the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton invite the women of our community to come put the he-hes in heart health with International Laughter Yoga Specialist Sarah Routman. November 9-11 › Annual General Assembly Washington D.C.
After five years as chair of The Dayton Jewish Observer, Joan Knoll has passed the torch to Martin Gottlieb, who now serves in the new volunteer capacity of advisor to The Observer. A native of Chicago, Martin retired from The Dayton Daily News in 2011 after 27 years as a columnist and member of its editorial board. He is the recipient of two first-place awards from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists: Best Columnist in Ohio, and Best in Show for the columnist category. Martin has also served on the JCC’s Film Fest Committee for several years and now steps up as Film Fest vice chair this year, and will become chair in 2016. A longtime volunteer in the general and Jewish communities, Joan has often been heard to quip, “Martin Gottlieb is the only man worth getting out of bed for,” when he was writing for the Dayton Daily News. Joan and Martin are also volunteers with The Dayton Literary Peace Prize. This summer, the JCC honored Joan and her husband Charlie — who are avid gardeners — when Camp Shalom named its vegetable garden in their honor for their support of the project and many other contributions to the Dayton Jewish community. The Joan and Dr. Charlie Knoll Garden provides campers with a service component to their day; they seed, water, and tend to the produce, which they donate to the Jewish Federation Food Pantry at Covenant Manor. “Joan and I have worked closely together over the past several years, checking in each month to discuss content and concerns that might arise in our editorial content,” said Observer Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss. “She is one of the savviest people I know and I’ve been fortunate to rely upon her wisdom. We’re thrilled to have Martin take over this role as an invaluable resource and sounding board for The Observer.” The Observer is a publication of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.
Marshall Weiss
EDITOR & PUBLISHER Dayton Jewish Observer
COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER
in support of Families Overseas
LEFT: The Dayton Jewish community welcomed Columbus Federation CEO & President Gordon Hecker as he joined with us in solidarity to support our Israeli family in this time of crisis.
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 OTHERWISE: 610-1555, ksteiger@jfgd.net
LEFT: Joan Knoll receiving recognition for her years of service as Observer chair, with her successor, Martin Gottlieb. BELOW: Joan and her husband Dr. Charles Knoll, with their friends and family Elaine, John, Claire, and Sarah Gaglione and friend Josh Lader.
YOUR JCRC: WE ARE HERE FOR YOU The Jewish community is proud of its rich history and culture.The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) was established to be the voice of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton on issues of public policy, social advocacy, and community outreach. The JCRC is dedicated to protecting Jewish interests and prompting Jewish values by fostering constructive relationships among people of all faiths and cultures regarding Jewish, secular and Israel oriented issues. We are your JCRC. On July 24, 2014, your JCRC rallied the Dayton Jewish community to come together to Stand with Israel in solidarity and prayer. Our message was clear: we stand united as one Jewish community that has always supported each other, our fellow man, and the people of Israel. Our community should take pride that we exceeded our initial goal with 100% of the funds raised going to Israel to assist with humanitarian needs. In light of the continuing crisis in Israel, your JCRC will continue to play an important role in providing our community with information, updates and support. What else does your JCRC do? We coordinate important community programs like the annual Yom Hashoah event (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Partnership2Gether with Israel (which promotes people-topeople relationships between 15 Jewish communities and Israel’s Western Galilee through central, social, medical, educational and economic programs). If you would like to find out more about these important programs or join one of these committees that shape our Jewish community, please contact Cheryl Carne at ccarne@jfgd.net or (937) 610-1555.
JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | SEPTEMBER 2014
2014
Summer Magic
Jewish Community Center of GREATER DAYTON Every Tuesday beginning, September 2 Tai Chi at the CJCE Beginner: 3:30 - 4:30PM Advanced: 4:45 - 5:45PM at Boonshoft CJCE Learn the wonderful system of movements and reflection of thoughts that bring the mind, body and spirit together to improve balance, concentration, and memory. Beginner and Advanced classes are available for all ages. $5 per person. Sunday, September 7 › Family Rafting Adventure 3 - 5PM at Rivers Edge Outfitters (9964 North State Rt. 42, Waynesville) Parents bring your kids for a Sunday full of rafting fun on the Little Miami River. $10 per person, please RSVP by September 3. Tuesday, September 9 › Active Adults Dine Around 5:30PM at North China (6090 Far Hills Ave.,Dayton) Catch up with friends and nosh on fantastic Chinese cuisine. Mondays & Wednesdays, beginning September 15 › INSANITY Workout w/ Lauren Baumgarten 4PM at Boonshoft CJCE Kick bad habits to the curb and join in the fun, fast-paced INSANITY workout with instructor Lauren Baumgarten. $5 per person, please bring a mat. Thursday, September 18 › JCC Speaker Series: The Incredible Story of Louie Zamperini 10:30AM at Boonshoft CJCE
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 OTHERWISE: 610-1555, ksteiger@jfgd.net
ABOVE: Tzedakah and Chaverim campers explore the cave grotto during a trip to Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark’s Children’s Discovery Garden. PHOTO CREDIT: KATIE LAGASSE RIGHT: Chaverim campers Brooke Catchpole, Jonah Dritz, Cadence Liberty and Yoel Simon keep their eyes peeled and nets at the ready for discoveries during a creek walk at Bill Yeck Park in Centerville. PHOTO CREDIT: NAOKA DAVIDSON
WELLNESS PROGRAMS LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT THIS FALL This fall, the JCC will be offering two wellness programs for community members of all ages. Starting on Tuesday September 2, and continuing every Tuesday through December 23, the JCC will be offering Tai Chi classes taught by Debra Stewart, Adjunct Instructor at Sinclair Community College. Debra is a Tai Kwon Do and weapons instructor, and holds her 5th degree black belt. Through Tai Chi, she aims to teach her class the wonderful system of movements and reflection of thoughts that bring the mind, body and sprit together to improve balance, concentration and memory. Beginner and advanced level classes are available for all ages at $5 per class. Discounts are available by pre-paying by September 9. Beginner classes will be held at 3:30PM, and advanced classes will be held at 4:45PM. For those looking for an intense wellness program, the JCC is offering an INSANITY workout class, with certified instructor Lauren Baumgarten on Mondays and Wednesdays starting September 15 at 4PM. Lauren is a Dayton, Ohio native, attended Hillel Academy, and received her BA from Wright State University. She is the Marketing, Sales, and Event Director for Bernstein’s Fine Catering and has been a lifestyle fitness coach for two years. Her love and passion to help others lead her to complete certification to teach INSANITY, a program that she has over a year of personal experience with. Lauren lives in Centerville with her husband Adam, and their two children, Noah (4) and Adina (2). Classes are $5, with a discount available by pre-paying by September 22.
JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | SEPTEMBER 2014
ABOVE: (L to R): Declan Wooton, Khalil Knick, Samantha Studebaker, Ehud Borovoy (staff), Kamryn Wise, Lola Harvey, Lior Akselrad, Noam Akselrad, Samuel Kahn (Counselor in Training) displays their sand castle making skills and enjoy a day at Kiser Lake during Camp Shalom 2014.
LEFT: Kirsten Dales and Samantha Studebaker collect beans from the Joan and Dr. Charlie Knoll Community Garden.
THE Happiness SEMINAR
This seminar will help you to identify and to focus on the happiness elements in your life and become a stronger and happier person at home, at work or at play. The cost is $20 per person in advance, $25 per person at the door. Please contact Janice Kohn for more information at (937) 401-1558 or jkohn@jfgd.net
DISCOVER THE 5 MOST IMPORTANT STEPS ON THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS
Jewish Family Services of GREATER DAYTON
Jewish Family Services is happy to partner with Chabad of Greater Dayton through an Innovation Grant of The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton in an experiential learning program with guest lecturer Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov on Sunday, September 14 at 12:30 pm, at Chabad of Greater Dayton. The Happiness Seminar is a hands-on interactive workshop, providing real life tools for generating happiness in peoples’ lives. Jewish Family Services will offer information about what they can provide to the community. The happiness Seminar is a highly engaging interactive program that will provide you with a clearer understanding of what happiness truly is and give you five tools to help achieve it. An additional children’s program will be held during Rabbi Shemtov’s lecture.
L’Chaim, To Life! BRINGS COMMUNITY MEMBERS TOGETHER
Community members looking for information on volunteering and learning opportunities recently were able to find it all in one spot as Jewish Family Services hosted the “L’Chaim, To Life! Event at Temple Israel. Participants were engaged, enriched and educated throughout the day and were given the opportunity to explore new and meaningful ways to invest their time and efforts. There were 20 vendors and a lineup of exciting speakers, including Dayton Daily News columnist Meredith Moss, and a panel of devoted community volunteers who shared their stories. After a presentation by Julia Hoy, representing the Dorothy Lane Culinary School, there was a delicious box lunch that was served to everyone at the event. Committee members Helen Abramovitz, Maryann Bernstein, Shirlee Gilbert, Helene Gordon, Felice Shane, and Wendi Pavlofsky worked hard beginning late last year to organize and prepare for this event.
Tuesday, September 2 12:30PM @ Covenant Manor Musical program presented by Bob Farley, Folk Musician. Friday, September 5 NOON @ Covenant Manor Fresh Friday delicious home cooked meal. Prepared by Bernstein’s Fine Catering. Tuesday, September 9 12:30PM @ Covenant Manor Native American and World Flutes presented by Don Compton Wednesday, September 10 12:30 @ Covenant Manor Wild, wacky wonderful word games Sunday, September 14 The Happiness Seminar JFS & Chabad (Innovation Grant) 12:30 PM @ Chabad of Greater Dayton (2001 Far Hills Ave., Dayton) Discover the five most important steps on the road to happiness with guest lecturer Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov with Chabad of Greater Dayton.$20 in advance, $25 at the door. Register online at chabaddayton.com or call Karen Steiger at (937) 610-1555. Tuesday, September 16 12:30 @ Covenant Manor Musical Program with Pianist Bill Figley Friday, September 19 NOON @ Covenant Manor Fresh Friday delicious home cooked meal. Prepared by Bernstein’s Fine Catering. 12:30 Bingo Tuesday, September 30 NOON @ Covenant Manor Afternoon at the movies The JFS Bereavement Group begins October 22 at Starbucks (private room) in Oakwood. If interested in attending please contact Joyce at (937) 853-0377.
TOP: (L-R) Ira Segalewitz, representing the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Gert Kahn and Mort Levine PHOTO CREDIT: AMY BOYLE BOTTOM: Shirley Frankowitz and Hannah Zappin PHOTO CREDIT: AMY BOYLE
ABOVE: Meredith Moss, Keynote Speaker, moderating panel discussion about volunteer opportunities in the community PHOTO CREDIT: AMY BOYLE
PLEASE CONTACT CHERYL BENSON REGARDING ALL COVENANT MANOR EVENTS : 854-6319
JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | SEPTEMBER 2014
THE ABC’S OF MEMORIALS AND TRIBUTES
An easy way to spread goodwill throughout the Dayton community Would you like to honor or memorialize someone in your life, all while making a meaningful impact on the Jewish community? By making a donation to funds of the Jewish Jewish Foundation of GREATER DAYTON Foundation of Greater Dayton, you can do just that. Tribute and memorial donations can be made for a variety of reasons, including: · Honoring someone’s memory · Celebrating a birthday or anniSHARE YOUR versary STORY · Celebrating life cycle events, such » Do you have a donor as births, b’nai mitzvahs, & advised fund or endowment weddings fund through the Jewish · Recognizing achievements such Foundation of Greater as awards, promotions, honors, Dayton? We want to hear from you! Share your story etc. and experience with the Jewish Foundation with us, and you may be featured in a future article. If you have any questions or would like to submit information, please contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@jfgd.net or 937-610-1796.
THE BOOK OF LIFE » The Jewish Foundation
of Greater Dayton is working on a Book of Life, featuring personal stories and messages for future generations. If you have an endowment with the Jewish Foundation of Greater Dayton and would like to be a part of this meaningful project, please contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@jfgd.net or 937-610-1796
When making a donation, you get to pick which fund of the Jewish Foundation you would like your donation to go towards. We have a myriad of funds, including ones specifically for Jewish Family Services, Jewish Community Center, Community Relations, and Campaign. Our staff would be happy to assist in finding the right fund for you. Making a donation is as simple as a phone call. Our staff will gather pertinent information from you, such as who you are honoring, which fund you would like your donation to support and where acknowledgement of the donation should be sent. In addition to
sending a card to the honoree or honoree’s family, on your behalf, we also publish donation information monthly in The Jewish Observer, as shown below. If you prefer, you may also honor someone anonymously. The minimum amount for a donation is $18. If you are interested in making a donation to a Jewish Foundation fund, or would like more information, please contact us at 937-6101555. Alisa Thomas DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials FEDERATION CAMPAIGN IN HONOR OF › Judy Abromowitz being named president of The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Rabbi Michael and Michele Ungar › Special birthday of Ed Kress Barbara and Jim Weprin › 65th wedding anniversary of Bobbie and Jerry Kantor › Special birthday of Jim Duberstein › Graduation of Addison Caruso Judy and Mel Lipton IN MEMORY OF › Rick Brown, son of Eleanor Brown Margit Lieberman LINDA RUCHMAN FUND IN HONOR OF › 65th wedding anniversary of Bobbie and Jerry Kantor Judy and Marshall Ruchman IN MEMORY OF › Josh Levine Julie Ruchman T.J. and Cindy Ruchman ENDOWMENT GENERAL FUND IN HONOR OF › Special birthday of Gary Blumenthal › Special anniversary of Debbie and Dennis Lieberman Susan and Jonas Gruenberg
› Melinda Doner receiving the Beth Abraham Women of Valor Award Bernice and Jack Bomstein IN MEMORY OF › Robert Mendel, brother of Sylvia Linsker Eleanor Brown DOROTHY B. MOYER YOUNG LEADERSHIP FUND IN MEMORY OF › In Yahrzeit memory of Dorothy B. Moyer › In Yahrzeit memory of Hyman S. Dennis › In Yahrzeit memory of Nettie Dennis Felman › In Yahrzeit memory of Samuel Cohn Marcia and Richard Moyer ISRAEL EMERGENCY FUND IN HONOR OF › Special birthday of Debby Goldenberg Susan and Jonas Gruenberg › Birth of a son, Ethan, to Karen Bodney-Halasz and Scott Halasz › Birth of a son, Zeke, to Rachel and Heath Gilbert › Speedy recovery of Celia Shulman › Special birthday of Ed Kress Debby and Dr. Robert Goldenberg IN MEMORY OF › Josh Levine Debby and Dr. Robert Goldenberg
JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON AGENCY NEWSLETTER | SEPTEMBER 2014
PJ LIBRARY FUND IN HONOR OF › Special birthday of Ed Kress Felice and Mike Shane JCC JOAN AND PETER WELLS FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND IN HONOR OF › The birth of a daughter, Jocelyn, to Cadi and Brian Polk › The birth of a son, Leyton, to Janese and Dan Sweeny Cathy Gardner ACTIVE ADULTS FUND IN MEMORY OF › Robert Mandel, brother of Sylvia Linsker Jane and Dr. Gary Hochstein Lillian Winnegrad › Rick Brown, son of Eleanor Brown Jane and Dr. Gary Hochstein Sylvia Linsker › Cora Jean Leis Sylvia Linsker FAMILY SERVICES SENIOR SERVICES IN HONOR OF › 65th wedding anniversary of Bobbie and Jerry Kantor Jean and Bert Lieberman Lois and Leonard Solganik Claire and Oscar Soifer
› Special birthday of Jim Duberstein Claire and Oscar Soifer IN MEMORY OF › Toby Blume Janet and Asher Bogin SPECIFIC ASSISTANCE IN HONOR OF › Full recovery of Miriam Weiskind › Speedy recovery of Haana Serotkin Hyla and Dr. Raymond Weiskind IN MEMORY OF › Robert Mandel, brother of Sylvia Linsker › Toby Blume › Dr. Robert Weisman Hyla and Dr. Raymond Weiskind › Grandson of Lois Harris Marilyn Scher SOCIAL SERVICES IN HONOR OF › Special birthday of Ralph Schwartz Andy Rabiner IN MEMORY OF › Mother of Vince Gist Helen Halcomb › Mark Gershon Henny Lubow
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Classes
274-2149.
Temple Beth Or Classes: Sundays, 10 a.m., Sept. 14 & 28: Tanach Study w. Rabbi Chessin. Sundays, 1 p.m.: Adult Hebrew w. Rabbi Chessin. Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m.: Israeli Folk Dancing w. Janifer Tsou. Wed., Sept. 3, 7 p.m.: Men’s Circle w. Rabbi Burstein. Wed., Sept. 10, 7 p.m.: Spirituality w. Rabbi Burstein. Thurs., Sept. 11, 1 p.m.: Socrates Cafe. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 4353400. Temple Israel Classes: Mon., Sept. 1, 8, 15, 22, noon: Advanced Hebrew w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. $50 members, $55 nonmembers. Mondays, 1:15 p.m.: Knitting & Crocheting. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.: Lattes & Legends, Dorothy Lane Mkt., 6177 Far Hills Ave. Wednesdays, noon: Talmud study. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.: Torah study. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 496-0050.
Discussions
Beth Jacob Congregation Book Club: Mon., Sept. 8, 10 a.m.: The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. R.S.V.P. to
Family
JCC Family Rafting Adventure: Sun., Sept. 7, 3-5 p.m. Rivers Edge Outfitters, 9964 N. State Rt. 42, Waynesville. $10. R.S.V.P. by Sept. 3, 610-1555.
Fitness
Tai Chi @ the CJCE: Tuesdays beginning Sept. 2. Beginners 3:30-4:30 p.m. Advanced 4:455:45 p.m. $5. 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. R.S.V.P. to 6101555. Insanity Workout: W. Lauren Baumgarten. Mondays & Wednesdays, 4 p.m. beginning Sept. 15. $5. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. R.S.V.P. to 610-1555.
Seniors
Jewish Family Services Events: See Federation newsletter in center spread. JCC Active Adults Dine Around: Tues., Sept. 9, 5:30 p.m. North China, 6090 Far Hills Ave., Centerville.
Community Events
Chabad & JFS Happiness Seminar: Sun., Sept. 14, 4-6 p.m. W. Rabbi Yudi Shemtov. Includes lunch & a program for children. $20 in advance, $25 at the door. At Chabad, 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. R.S.V.P. to 610-1555. Ivy League of Comedy: Sun., Sept. 14, 5 p.m. Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. $50. R.S.V.P. to 435-3400. Hadassah & Jewish Federation Present Putting the He-He in Heart Health: Sun., Sept. 21, 2-4 p.m. W. Laughter Yoga Specialist Sarah Routman. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. For more information, call 610-1555.
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Wishing You A Happy, Prosperous New Year
High Holy Days
Beth Abraham Synagogue Selichot Film Program: Sat., Sept. 20, 8 p.m. With dessert & discussion. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. R.S.V.P. to 2939520. Chabad Rosh Hashanah Dinner: Wed., Sept. 24, 7:30 p.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. R.S.V.P. to 643-0770.
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein
The National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton’s (NCCJ) work is cemented in the words of Albert Einstein. NCCJ is passionately dedicated to building an inclusive community, a community that embraces each of us in celebration of our differences of culture, religion, race, special abilities, gender and the like. To build such an embracing community, NCCJ is a vocal inclusiveness advocate that believes firmly in the potential for change — working with people to open minds and hearts to new ways of interacting with others. Please join us in calling for an end to violence as we ask people of all faiths to pray for peace and understanding throughout the world.
Praying for peace in the New Year
SUGAR CAMP Are you reading this? So is the entire Jewish community. Advertise in The Observer. Contact Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso today at plhc69@gmail.com. THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
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L’shanah tovah The High Holy Days are an annual reminder to review our lives and deeds.
At Cedar Village, our year has been highlighted with the growth and development of new services to meet the needs of our community. The Rehabilitation Center, helping individuals recover from illness, injury or surgery, has grown in both inpatient and outpatient services. The new Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Aquatic Therapy Center will open in the Fall and will further enhance the rehabilitation programs on the Cedar Village campus. But Cedar Village is not the only place you can receive rehab services from our experts—our satellite Rehabilitation Center at the Mayerson JCC offers a second location for outpatients to receive a full range of sports medicine and physical therapy
services. Cedar Village Hospice has continued to grow and meet the needs of patients and families throughout our community during this important life transition. Our newest program, VillageCare, provides wellness assessments, home assessments and modifications to enable seniors to remain healthy and live safely at home. The Shalom Center for Elder Abuse Prevention continues to lead the way in helping to both care for these vulnerable older adults and educate our community on this vital issue. We remain committed to, and focused on, our mission—“that aging be an enriching and fulfilling experience.” Those words guide our choices, our interactions and growth both today and in the years to come.
Cedar Village is a nonprofit retirement community, located in Mason, Ohio. Cedar Village Retirement Community
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5467 Cedar Village Drive Mason, OH 45040 Tel: 513.754.3100 www.cedarvillage.org
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
RELIGION
The courage to be vulnerable By Rabbi David Burstein Temple Beth Or As I write this article I am looking at pictures of my three children. Emma, who will turn 15 in a week. Coby, who starts middle school next month. And Nadia who will be a kindergartner at school’s start. I also have just watched videos of children in Israel racing to bomb shelters, and the Paris streets littered with violence and I try to imagine what those parents must be feeling right now.
Perspectives War has engulfed Israel; Europe has erupted in antisemitism, and as a Jew here in the United States I am feeling alone and literally thousands of miles away from my fellow Jews and their children. All I can say is that there has been for most of the summer a nagging feeling of disharmony and discomfort. An undercurrent of vulnerability, and although my Facebook news feed is full of positivity for Israel, I can’t help but feel exposed and uncertain — and vulnerable. Feelings of vulnerability are a common denominator for many of us, yet are very difficult to process and even more difficult to share with others. I am a big fan of author Brene Brown. She is a researcher who is probably most famous for her TEDtalk on wholeheartedness that has more than 15 million views. Now a few years ago, Brene Brown was happily doing research on human behavior, specifically on connection, because as she puts it, “Connection is why we are here, it is what gives purpose and a sense of wellbeing.” Brene Brown found that those who can connect have a sense of self-worth and that sense of “being enough,” allows them to lean into the messiness of life, to become vulnerable. While vulnerability can seem to be about shame, fear, and our struggle for worthiness, it is also “the birthplace of joy, creativity, longing and love.” Pretty much all of the emotions come from a place of vulnerability: feeling happy risks the possibility of disap-
CONGREGATIONS
aron hakodesh (holy ark), the stained glass. There are many “oohs and aahs,” but he senses that some• thing is wrong and so he asks, “Nu, what do you think?” This • was their response: “It is lovely son, but can we cry here?” • pointment, loving opens us to “Can we cry here?” • rejection. Vulnerability is essential to • Brene Brown is a research the act of prayer itself. • scientist. She operated under Rabbi David Hartthe motto, “What you can’t man, of righteous • measure does not exist.” memory, one of the Her goal was to tidy up the great Jewish thinkers Vulnerability is about messy nature of human relaof our time and a famcourage, authenticity tions. She thought the way to ily friend, wrote, “A and faith. Being vullive was “to control and prelonging to pray, which nerable is being real, dict.” Vulnerability? She hated is in itself, recognishowing up, living your even the word let alone what it tion that we are not truth. It’s also about demanded. Rabbi David self-sufficient, that we reciprocity. What happened next? She need help, is an act of A story is told — It is Burstein had, as she puts it, “a little the mid-20th century. A child of prayer. Before we can pray we breakdown.” As a scientist and immigrants makes good, moves have to believe that we have a self-confessed perfectionist, a need to acknowledge our to the suburbs and joins the vulnerable was the last thing vulnerability.” temple. she wanted to be. To pray, to feel God’s presIt’s newly built, a beautiful It took about a year for her ence, to transcend ourselves in synagogue, designed by none to regain her equilibrium. She any way, there needs to be an other than Frank Lloyd Wright. says it was like a street fight opening. It’s a far cry from his parents’ between her and vulnerability. Another Jewish sage, Leonsynagogue in the old neighborShe lost, but won her life back. ard Cohen, sings: “There is a hood or the shul From that crack in everything; that’s how “broken, broken Admitting to our in Pinsk, Poland the light gets in.” where they came open” place, she vulnerability, The Kotzker Rebbe once from. reoriented her asked his followers, “Where is The Yamim learning to work to study God?” They were dumbfoundNoraim, the Days vulnerability. live with ed. “Rebbe, you taught us ‘God of Awe, approach She discovered was everywhere!’” “No,” he many things, but uncertainty, risk and he thinks, responded. “Only where you “Wouldn’t it be perhaps the most and emotional let God in.” nice if we could profound was her exposure is Admitting our vulnerability, all be together for examination of learning to live with uncertainthe Holy Days?” vulnerability. letting God in. ty, risk and emotional exposure But his parents She asked her seem less than en- is letting God in. subjects to comIt is also key to a meaningthusiastic; they like their shul, plete the sentence, “Vulnerabilful life. Why? Because as Brene their rabbi, and all their friends ity is....” Think for a moment: Brown writes in her book what would you say? These are will be there. Daring Greatly, that’s how we Undaunted, he decides he’ll just a few of the responses she connect to others and connecttake them for a visit. Once they received: ing to others is what makes life see how beautiful the temple worth living. is, they’ll surely change their • Sharing an unpopular opinVulnerability happens in minds and want to come. ion relationships. In fact, it defines So the next Sunday, he picks • Standing up for myself our deeper, more meaningful them up from the old neigh• Asking for help connections with other people. borhood and takes them to the • Saying no temple. He shows them the • Starting my own business And by doing this we can feel Continued on next page • Helping my 37-year-old wife beautiful sanctuary, modern
September Elul/Tishri Rosh Hashanah
Jewish New Year Sept. 25-26/1-2 Tishri Celebration of the beginning of the Jewish calendar year. Begins the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of repentance and prayer that ends on Yom Kippur. Celebrated with festive meals, including apples dipped in honey.
with stage four breast cancer make decisions about her will Initiating sex with my spouse Calling a friend whose child died Falling in love Admitting I am afraid Being accountable Asking for forgiveness Having faith
Candle Lightings Shabbat, Sept. 5: 7:45 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 12: 7:33 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 19: 7:22 p.m. Erev Rosh Hashanah Sept. 24: 7:14 p.m. First Eve Rosh Hashanah Sept. 25: 8:10 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 26: 7:10 p.m.
Torah Portions Sept. 6/11 Elul Ki Tetze (Deut. 21:10-25:19) Sept. 13/18 Elul Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-29:8) Sept. 20/25 Elul Nitzavim-Vayelech (Deut. 29:9-31:30)
Sept. 27/3 Tishri Haazinu (Deut. 32:1-52)
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 Mornings: Sun., Mon., Thurs., 7 a.m. Sat. 9:30 a.m. Evenings: Sun. through Fri. 7 p.m. 7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 274-2149. BethJacobCong.org Temple Anshe Emeth Reform Rabbinic Intern Tina Hughes 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 Asst. Rabbi/Educator David Burstein Fridays 7:30 p.m. Tot Shabbat 4th Friday, 5:30 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 Rabbi David M. Sofian Rabbi/Educator Karen Bodney-Halasz 1st & 2nd Fri., 6 p.m. Other Fri., 7:30 p.m. Tot Shabbat 4th Fri., 6 p.m. Sat., 10:30 a.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 496-0050. tidayton.org Temple Sholom Reform Fridays 6 p.m. 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 399-1231. templesholomoh.com
ADDITIONAL SERVICES Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon, Teen & Young Adult Prog. Dir. Rabbi Hershel Spalter. Beginner educational service Saturdays 9 a.m. adults, 10 a.m children. Sundays 9 a.m. Tuesdays & Wednesdays. 6:45 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.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
PAGE 27
Wishing You A Happy 5775.
RELIGION
The courage to be vulnerable
DAVID L. ROER, M.D. GARY M. YOURA, M.D. MARY B. CHITWOOD, M.D. KATHERINE H. WINGATE, M.D. JOHN M. RAHE, M.D. MARYLYNN B. HERCHLINE, M.D. LINDA M. MEISTER, M.D. JENNIFER M. CONLON, M.D. SHALINI A. RYAN, D.O. JENNIFER M. FELDMAN, M.D. ELIZABETH A. DARKWA, M.D. M. PILAR HANSON, M.D. APRIL A. BUNN, M.D. DEBRA A. RILL, R.N., C.P.N.P. KAREN DANIEL, R.N., C.P.N.P. 9000 North Main Street Dayton, Ohio 45415 (937) 832-7337
5450 Far Hills Avenue Dayton, Ohio 45429 (937) 436-2866
3140 Dayton-Xenia Rd. Beavercreek, Ohio 45434 (937) 320-1950
ּבס“ד
2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood 937.643.0770
Continued from previous page whole and not alone in our truest of selves. In a few weeks we will be gathering in temples and synagogues all across Dayton. It will be the High Holy Days and the gates to God will be open to us all. God can hold all of who we are and will embrace us. Embrace our doubts and fears, our anxieties and challenges, our discomforts, our weaknesses and especially our vulnerable cores. The Baal Shem Tov also known as the Besht told a story: As the Holy Days were approaching, he held auditions for who would have the honor of blowing the shofar. It was a big deal to blow the shofar for the congregation of the Besht
and many people tried out and some were very good. Finally, the last man approached the bima (stage); he was shaking before he even reached the first step and he collapsed into a puddle of tears before he could get through even half the shofar calls. He felt like such a failure and was about to slink away when the Besht said, “You shall blow the shofar for us this Rosh Hashanah.” The man was stunned. “Why me?” he asked. The Besht answered him with a parable: “There is a King who lives in a palace. The palace has many chambers all of which are locked. The King resides in the innermost chamber.” The King of course is God, but how do we get access?
www.ChabadDayton.com
UPCOMING EVENTS High Holiday Prayers Prayers at Chabad are welcoming and easy to follow in the Hebrew-English prayer book. Commentary and song allow everyone to be an active participant. Whatever your background, you will feel comfortable and at home. Children will enjoy a full schedule of programs.
Setting goals is one thing.
Wednesday, September 24 - 7:30 PM Rosh Hashanah Dinner Make a sweet start to the New Year while enjoying a full course Yom Tov meal including apples and honey, round challot and more delicious food.
Throughout the New Year, our attorneys will be there with practical legal strategies, insight and resources to help you reach your objectives — in business and in life.
Sunday, October 12 - 5:00 PM
How can we break through? According to the Besht, an open, vulnerable heart acts like an ax and brings us right into the Holy of Holies, whether it be in relationship to God or to those created in God’s image, you and me. And vulnerability is also the core of our spirituality. Two generations ago, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel came up with the idea of radical amazement, the feeling one gets when he stands in awe of the natural world. Standing before a mountain or a vast expanse of water is powerful, precisely because it makes us feel so small and human. In feeling this awe, Heschel teaches, we feel God. Those who reject weakness, who refuse to feel small, may miss significant experiences with the divine. If we can in this new year embrace our vulnerability perhaps we can come closer not only to God but to the people we love. Perhaps we can take more risks with our hearts and open them wider to those most important to us. Perhaps we can live more deeply and compassionately. Be more engaged with others and ourselves and live the words of our Hineni prayer: That through our fears and affliction we find joy, life, and peace; May truth and peace be precious to us; Blessed are you God who hears our prayers.
Happy New Year
Sukkah Dinner
Enjoy dinner with family and friends in Chabad’s Sukkah Pavilion. Fun entertainment for all ages!
Thursday Night, October 16 - 7:30 PM
Simchat Torah! Live @ Chabad! Full Kiddush Meal Special kid’s program & dancing Outdoor dancing on Far Hills Avenue Are you reading this? So is the entire Jewish community. Advertise in The Observer. Contact Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso today at plhc69@gmail.com. PAGE 28
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RELIGION In addition, Heller recommends that synagogues offer pre-holiday primers to assist congregants in understanding the prayers. She says recording tunes for participants to learn in advance can be helpful, too. “The real problem with all services is not that they are too long, it is that people are not engaged by the service,” says Konigsburg. “An opera is very long with lots of singing, unless you have read in advance the story and know what musical highlights to pay attention to. When we understand the Hannah Heller, also of Pikes- service and are engaged by it, ville, says she remembers being we don’t really consider the passage of time. When we don’t “frustrated as a child in shul when davening seemed endless understand the music or the words, then yes, it seems to and the people talking was drag on and on.” such a distraction that I wonKonigsburg says that rabbis dered why I had to be there all and cantors can work hard to those hours.” engage their members, but ulToday, Heller said she still timately, “each of us is responfinds Rosh Hashanah services sible for our own spirituality.” to be long, but they are also Lewin realized that lesson very meaningful for her. It was not too long ago and decided a matter of finding the right to find a synagogue that was synagogue in Netivot Shalom, a better fit. Now he prays in a a modern Orthodox estabservice at a private home with lishment where, according to 40 or 50 like-minded individuits website, “everyone has a als instead of a larger shul. voice.” “You have to know your“Those who lead the davenself,” says Lewin, noting that ing do a lot of catchy, popular one should not reflexively tunes and people are encourattend the synagogue his famaged to sing along,” says ily went to and assume it will Heller, noting that the tunes somehow meet his needs. make her a part of the service. “Don’t be afraid to go someHeller says the speeches where else. Be honest about at Netivot Shalom are kept what you want and find it.” to a minimum and given not Andrew Lavin attends Temonly by the rabbi, but also by ple Beth Israel in members of the congregation. ‘When we don’t Port Washington, N.Y. He says he And while a lot of also used to find traditional sing- understand the the length of the ing takes place, music or the Holy Days “the person who words, then yes, High prayer experileads davening avoids making it seems to drag ence challenging, but as he has it a cantorial on and on.’ gotten older, he performance and, finds synagogue instead, makes to be “one of the few places in more of an effort to include the world where I can get peace everyone and help them feel and quiet and solitude and get that the prayers are relevant to into my own thoughts.” each of us...If congregants feel Lavin, however, says he does involved, they will be far more not judge others who feel difinterested in davening and less ferently. concerned with watching the “No one says you have to clock.” get there at the beginning of the Heller also finds that being service,” he says. “I think you prepared can make a differshould go the length you want ence. She brings — and the and feel comfortable with that. synagogue provides — Jewish If you can be spiritually fulbooks in English for moments filled in just a few hours, then when the liturgy is too heavy that’s good…It’s a new year, so or she is struggling to stay let go of the mishegas (craziness) focused. One book she recomand be hopeful for the future.” mends is Rosh Hashanah Yom Konigsburg says, “The Rosh Kippur Survival Kit, by Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf, but she notes Hashanah service is not a marathon, but an appropriate that there are many others for entrance to a Jewish New Year.” that situation.
Rosh Hashanah services: meaningful or marathon? By Maayan Jaffe, JNS.org There are four sounds that the shofar makes on Rosh Hashanah. The tekiah is a basic note of moderate length. Shevarim breaks the tekiah into three short notes. Teruah breaks the tekiah into nine smaller notes. Tekiah gedola takes the standard tekiah and makes it three times as long. Synagogue services, too, have varying lengths. There are short services, such as the evening service on Rosh Hashanah, and even shorter ones like the weekday afternoon service, Mincha. In fact, Mincha can be so short that Rabbi Randall J. Konigsburg of Temple Beth El in Birmingham, Ala., has seen Israeli bus drivers “jump off the bus, daven (pray), and jump back on the bus without losing much time on their route.” The same can’t be said for Shacharit (the morning service) and Musaf (the additional service) on Rosh Hashanah — far from it. “The Rosh Hashanah morning service is designed like the tekiah gedola,” Konigsburg says. “The theme of the day is the coronation of God as ruler of the universe. A coronation is filled with pomp and ceremony, and that is what the Rosh Hashanah service is all about.” It sounds nice in theory, but realistically, how many Rosh Hashanah services have you spent in the hallway chatting with your friends? Or maybe you’ve even done it quietly in the back of the sanctuary, bemoaning the length of the rabbi’s sermon. “I understand having kavanah (proper intention) on Rosh Hashanah, but to elongate something that normally goes 25-30 minutes to an hour seems pointless,” laments Gabriel Lewin of Pikesville, Md. Though he’s a chazan (cantor) himself, Lewin said he finds fault in cantors who “like to hear themselves sing” and turn the prayers into a performance.
Congregation Anshe Emeth
Reform Congregation • Organized 1858
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HIGH HOLIDAY SERVICES Rabbinic Intern Tina Hughes • No Tickets Required • Wednesday, Sept. 24, 8 pm - Erev Rosh Hashanah. Oneg follows. • Thursday, Sept. 25, 10 AM - Rosh Hashanah services. Carry-in dairy luncheon. Children’s Service 10 - 11 AM. • Friday, Oct. 3, 8 PM - Kol Nidre. • Saturday, Oct. 4, 10 AM - Yom Kippur services. 4:30 PM Afternoon & Yizkor Services, Break the Fast provided. Children’s Service 10 - 11 AM. ANNUAL HIGH HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE. Please bring a sack of groceries for a local food pantry. Or, envelopes will be available for donations to Mazon. Eileen Litchfield, President • 937-623-1234 Correspondence address: 3808 Beanblossom Rd. Greenville, OH 45331
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Discover the 5 most important steps on the road to happiness! An experiential learning program with guest lecturer Rabbi Yehuda Shemtov
The Happiness Seminar
Happiness? By the way:
What is
Space is limited. Sign up early!
Chabad of Greater Dayton
The Happiness Seminar is a highly engaging interactive program that will provide you with a clearer understanding of what happiness truly is and give you five tools to help achieve it.
Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014
This seminar will help you to identify and to focus on the happiness elements in your life, and become a stronger and happier person at home, at work or at play.
2001 Far Hills Ave, Oakwood, Ohio Time: 12:30PM – Lunch and presentation by Jewish Family Services of Greater Dayton 1- 4PM – Seminar • Separate children’s program Fee: $20 advance / $25 door
This event has been made possible through funding provided by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Innovation Grant program.
For more info and registration, go to
ChabadDayton.com
or call Karen Steiger at the CJCE at 937-610-1555 WARNING:
Thought provoking conversations
Guaranteed smiles And...learn about the“Pink
Cookie Theory”
You may ACTUALLY leave the seminar a little bit happier than when you came.
& PAGE 30
CHABAD of GREATER DAYTON & JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES of GREATER DAYTON jewishdayton.org
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
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Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, Ph.D., is the rabbi-in-residence at Be’chol Lashon and the editor of the blog Jewish&. A culinary historian and mother of two, she lives and meditates in San Francisco.
Wishing You A Happy New Year
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those around you. Part of the process of preparing for the New Year is repairing relationships. While I believe that apologies are important, taking time to focus on what works in relationships is important as well. Set aside time with those with whom you are close. Tell them what you love and appreciate about them. Give them examples of how this strength inspires you or affirms something about the world. The more concrete the better. Knowing they are appreciated and truly seen for who they are will help them start the year in a better place and strengthen your relationship. If there is repairing to be done, spelling out the love first will set the stage for positive engagement. What do you love to do? Lean into your talents to make a difference in the community around you. Volunteering can be about need, but it can also
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By Ruth Abusch Magder MyJewishLearning.com SAN FRANCISCO — Here is a radical proposal for the New Year: Forget the guilt and instead lean into what you love to become the best possible version of yourself. The liturgy for the Jewish New Year has us taking a long hard look at all the mistakes we have made over the previous 12 months. Soul searching is good, but for the most part if we are honest, we already know where our faults lie and, if we were able to change them with ease, we would have already done so. This is not to say that we should forgo striving to be our best selves. On the Jewish calendar, the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah is called Elul. One rabbinic interpretation of this name is that it is an acronym for the Hebrew Ani l’dodi v’dodi li, “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.” A lovely romantic notion, the rabbis of the Talmud also take it to be a tribute to God’s love for us. It is not accidental that the month leading up to the New Year is one that takes love as a main theme. Love can be a powerful force for change, easier to embrace and more satisfying than guilt. There are many ways to use love as a means of encouraging yourself to be its best self. Love exists on many planes; elevating any one of them improves the world. Here are three concrete suggestions that focus on love of self, love in relationships and love as an element of community. Make a list of the things you love about yourself. The list should contain no less than five significant things. Take time to think about each of these attributes. Why do you love this about yourself? Generosity? Creativity? Silliness? Ambition? Consider how each of these qualities helps you be a positive presence in the world. Think back to a time in your life when those elements of your self were being fully expressed. Are you making the most of these gifts right now? Ask yourself what you might do to expand the impact of that strength in the world. If you are struggling to make a list, then ask for help from
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Give up the guilt
be about sharing a passion and capacity. Play sports? Then offer to coach Little League. Bake? Then bring cookies to firefighters, bread to shut-ins. Sing? Take your talent to the local hospital. Sure, any of this takes time, but if you volunteer to do what you love, you will get a great bang for your buck. The parts of you that you love will have a chance to shine and your passion will inspire others. Studies show those who give feel great. And the world will be a better place. When love takes center stage, we poise ourselves for success. When we feel strong about ourselves, we are more capable of hearing the criticism that will undoubtedly come. When we know we are lovable, loved and capable of sharing love, then we can work toward making the New Year that Rosh Hashanah ushers in one of light, goodness and change.
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Save the stress
An easy, pleasing Rosh Hashanah menu Marinating matters in making Shannon’s Perfect Roast Chicken
By Shannon Sarna MyJewishLearning.com When the Jewish New Year comes around, many people stress for weeks leading up to the holiday and break out their most complicated recipes to impress guests. But when I entertain around the holidays, I prefer to rely on a few go-to dishes that are simple to prepare, pack a delicious punch and still impress my friends and family despite my lack of stressing. Forget the chicken soup and start the New Year on a sweet note with this Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Soup. It doesn’t require a million ingredients or lots of time, but people will be asking for the
recipe as soon as they taste it. Made with dried peppers, coconut milk and roasted sweet potatoes, this soup is one of my favorites to make, serve and eat. A perfect roasted chicken marinated with citrus and herbs is a wonderful counterpoint to a rich brisket on the table. Marinating for at least several hours will ensure a moist chicken everyone will talk about. And while challah should be served to start the meal, Balsamic Apple Date Stuffed Challah is so delicious you may want to serve it as the grand finale. Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potato Soup Ingredients:
May you enjoy the fruits of a good new year.
Wishing you a happy new year — The Pavlofsky Families PAGE 32
10 medium sweet potatoes 3 Tbsp. olive oil plus extra 1 medium onion, diced 2 carrots, diced 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock 1 14 oz. can coconut milk 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 tsp. paprika 2 tsp. coarse sea salt 2-3 dried chili peppers (small; if using mediumsized dried chilis, just use one) Crème frâiche (optional) Olive oil for finishing (optional) Candied pecans or walnuts (optional) Preparation: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix brown sugar, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt in a small bowl. Cut sweet potatoes in half and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Spread brown sugar spice mixture all over sweet potatoes and drizzle with olive oil. Roast sweet potatoes for 35 to 45 minutes or until completely soft. Set aside and let cool. In a medium to large pot, heat three tablespoons olive oil and sauté onions and carrots until translucent and soft, around four to six minutes. Add two to three cups of stock and simmer for five minutes. Add sweet potato flesh and using an immersion blender, blend all vegetables until smooth. Add remaining stock and dried chilis. When the soup is heated through and flavors have
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
FOOD FOOD Remove from the heat and allow to cool five minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Place mixture in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and pulse until smooth. After the challah is done rising, cut the dough in half. To be as precise as possible, use a scale to measure the weight. For top of challah: Roll out the first ball, using 1 egg a rolling pin, into a rectangle. 1 tsp. water Spread around half, perhaps 1 tsp. honey slightly less, of the apple-date 1 Tbsp. sanding sugar mixture in an even layer, leav1 Tbsp. thick sea salt ing a half inch all around withShannon’s Perfect 2 tsp. ground cinnamon out filling. Working quickly, Roast Chicken start rolling up the dough toIngredients: Preparation: ward you. Try and keep the roll 1 whole chicken, rinsed In a small bowl, place relatively tight as you go. Pinch 1 orange, zested and sliced yeast, one teaspoon sugar and the end when you finish. 1 lemon, zested and sliced lukewarm water. Allow to sit Create a pinwheel shaped1 Tbsp. fresh chopped around 10 minutes, until it challah by snaking the dough rosemary becomes foamy on top. around and around in a circle 6 cloves garlic In a large bowl or stand around itself. When finished, 1/2 Tbsp. fresh chopped mixer fitted with whisk attachtuck the end under the challah thyme ment, mix together 11/2 cups neatly and pinch lightly. This 3 Tbsp. olive oil Shannon Sarna doesn’t have to be perfect 1/4 cup white wine — remember, as long as Salt and pepper to it tastes good, almost no taste one (maybe except that judgmental great-aunt) Preparation: will care what it looks In a small mixing bowl, like. whisk together rosemary, Repeat with other half thyme, olive oil, wine, of dough. orange zest, lemon zest Preheat the oven to 350 and the salt and pepper. degrees. Add the chicken to a large Allow challahs to rise plastic bag that seals, and another 30 to 60 minutes, pour the wet mixture or until you can see the of the chicken. Add the The dough in the Balsamic Apple Date Challah size has grown. orange and lemon slices, for Rosh Hashanah is sweet, laced with Beat one egg with one as well as the whole garlic cinnamon, vanilla and just a touch of nutmeg teaspoon water and one cloves. flour, salt, sugar, honey, vanilla, teaspoon of honey. Brush liberAfter you seal the bag, cinnamon and nutmeg. After ally over each challah. Combine make sure the entire chicken is sea salt, sanding sugar and covered with the marinade. Re- the water-yeast mixture has cinnamon, and sprinkle over frigerate for 2 to 24 hours before become foamy, add to flour mixture along with oil. Mix challah. roasting. thoroughly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or Preheat the oven to 400 deAdd another cup of flour and until middle looks like it has grees. If you like, you can stuff eggs until smooth. Switch to the just set, and the color is golden. some of the garlic cloves and Yield: two medium loaves citrus slices under the skin or in dough hook attachment if you the cavity of the chicken. Roast are using a stand mixer. Add another 11/2 cups flour Shannon Sarna is editor of The the chicken for 45 to 55 minutes, and then remove from bowl Nosher blog on MyJewishLearning. or until a meat thermometer and place on a floured surface. com, where these recipes originally reads 165 degrees. Knead remaining flour into appeared. Yields four to six servings. dough, continuing to knead for around 10 minutes (or however Balsamic Apple Date Challah long your hands will last). for Rosh Hashanah L’Shanah Tovah from Place dough in a greased Ingredients: Bark Mitzvah Boy bowl and cover with damp For the challah dough: and The Observer towel. Allow to rise three to 5 cups flour four hours. 1/2 cup sugar To make the filling, place 2 Tbsp. honey apples, dates, salt, cinnamon 1/2 Tbsp. salt stick, water, red wine and sugar 2 tsp. vanilla in a medium saucepan and 1 tsp. cinnamon bring to a boil. Continue to 1/4 tsp. nutmeg simmer on medium heat until 1/4 cup vegetable oil the mixture is reduced. Add the 1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast balsamic vinegar and simmer BMB 1 tsp. sugar another two to three minutes. 11/4 cups lukewarm water The mixture will cook around 2 whole eggs 10 to 15 minutes in total. 1 egg yolk blended, around 20-30 minutes, add coconut milk. Remove the dried chilis before serving. Note: the longer you let the chilis sit in the soup, the spicier the soup will be. If you are making this soup dairy, you can serve with a dollop of crème frâiche or sour cream. If you are serving this soup pareve, drizzle with good quality olive oil and some chopped candied pecans or walnuts. Yields six to eight servings.
Beef Brisket for Your New Year’s Observance!
For the filling: 3 gala apples, peeled and diced 1 cup pitted dates, chopped 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cinnamon stick 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup red wine 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp. sugar
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PAGE 33
FOOD
FOOD
High Holy Days desserts from the ‘Sweet Genius’ JNS.org Your desserts for the High Holy Days don’t have to be boring, says Amos Hayon, an Israeli pastry chef at Lola Restaurant in the Great Neck neighborhood of Long Island. Hayon appeared on an episode of the Food Network’s Sweet Genius program in 2011. He took home the $10,000 prize after competing against three other chefs and completing three challenges that include using mystery ingredients and creating a theme-inspired dessert. Here are six unique desserts, courtesy of Hayon. Apples with Dried Fruit and Marzipan (serves 8) 8 green apples, peeled and cored 7.5 oz. good-quality marzipan The dry fruit filling: 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1/2 cup almonds 1/2 cup pine nuts 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup chopped dates 1/2 cup white sugar 2 Tbsp. honey 1 egg white 1 Tbsp. margarine
mixture into the dish. 10. Now place the caramelized apples on top of the pudding. 11. In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients for the streusel until you get crumbling dough with a sandy consistency. 12. Spread the streusel crumbs on top of the caramelized apples. 13. Bake in 350-degree oven for one hour. 14. Sprinkle powdered sugar and cinnamon on top and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Pastry Chef Amos Hayon
1 Tbsp. butter 2 Tbsp. cornstarch Ingredients for bread pudding: 1 lb. dried white bread cut into cubes 2 cups heavy cream 2 cups milk 1 cup sugar 5 medium eggs 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Ingredients for streusel mixture: 1 ½ cups white flour 1/2 cup of brown sugar Directions: 1/2 cup of melted butter 1. Mix together in a medium 1 tsp. cinnamon sized bowl all the dried fruit Peel from 1 lemon filling ingredients into a mixture 1 tsp. baking powder consistency. 2. Take the apples and fill Directions: them inside with the mixture. 1. Boil sugar and water in a 3. Take the marzipan, break it large skillet pot over high heat into eight balls and roll out flat. until you get dark caramel. Individually cover each apple 2. Cook the apple cubes in the with the flattened marzipan. caramel mixture for about 10 4. Place the apples in a 13-x- 9 minutes. fire-resistant baking dish. 3. When the apple consisten6. Pour into the dish about cy is nearly liquid, add the va1.25 cups of white wine. nilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, 7. Place the apples in the salt, ground cardamom and the oven at 320 degrees for 60 to 90 butter, and continue to cook minutes until the apples soften. together over medium heat. 8. Place the apples on a serv4. In a bowl, mix the corning plate and sprinkle with starch with a half cup of cold powdered sugar and cinnamon. water and add apples to caraServe with vanilla sauce or mel pot. vanilla ice cream. 5. Continue to cook another five minutes until the apple Bread Pudding with caramel mixture condenses. ReCaramelized Apples move it from the heat and cool (serves 10-12) in room temperature. 6 green apples, peeled, cored 6. In a medium sized bowl, and cut into medium sized mix the milk, heavy cream, cubes sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. 1 cup sugar When the batter is smooth, add ½ cup water the bread cubes. 1 tsp. vanilla extract 7. Let the bread absorb in the 1 tsp. cinnamon batter for about 20 minutes. 1 tsp. nutmeg 8. Line a 13-x-9 fire-resistant 1 tsp. ground cardamom baking dish with baking paper. 1 tsp. salt 9. Move the bread pudding PAGE 34
Pear and Almond Pie (serves 8-10) 4 cored pears cut into four even segments. Ingredients for the pie dough: 1/2 cup of white sugar 2 sticks of margarine, diced into cubes 2 egg yolks 21/2 cups white sifted flour 1/2 cup of almond flour Ingredients for the almond cream: 1 cup + 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine 1/2 cup of white sugar 1 whole egg 1 Egg yolk ½ cup of almond flour 4 Tbsp. of white flour 1 tsp. vanilla extract Ingredients for the Royal Icing: 3/4 cup heavy cream 1 egg 1 Tbsp. sugar Pie dough directions: 1. Using a flat-paddle beater, mix the dry ingredients, white flour, almond flour and sugar in the bowl mixer. 2. Mix the margarine cubes into the dry ingredients until you get a sandy consistency. 3. Now mix two egg yolks into the mixture until you get dough. When you see all the ingredients turn to dough stop. It is very important not to over
Bread Pudding with Caramelized Apples
mix. 4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. 5. Roll out the dough, place into the pie dish and perforate the dough with a fork. Place the pie dish with the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Pear and Almond Pie
cool to room temperature. 3. Mix the dry ingredients — white flour, almond flour, salt, white sugar and baking powder in a bowl mixer using a flat paddle beater. Almond cream directions 4. Add the remaining butter, 1. Beat the eggs with the eggs, vanilla extract and sour sugar for five minutes. 2. Add the soft butter, almond cream to the mixer. 5. Mix all the ingredients flour, white flour and vanilla together in the mixer until extract into the mixer. smooth. 3. Mix until smooth. 6. Grease a 9-inch round baking dish all over, including Making the Pie bottom and sides, and spread 1. Pour the almond cream the caramelized apples all over into the pie dough. the bottom of the dish. 2. Cover entire pie with the 7. Pour the mixture from the pear quarters. mixer on the apples. 3. Pour the Royal icing on 8. Bake for 50 minutes in 350top. degree oven. 4. Sprinkle almonds in the 9. Poke a toothpick in the cenmargins. ter of the cake. If it comes out 5. Bake in a preheated 350clean and dry, take the cake out degree oven for 35 minutes, at and let cool at room temperathe bottom of the oven. 6. Serve with vanilla sauce or ture for 20 minutes. 10. Remove the cake from vanilla ice cream. the baking dish by turning it over so that the cake is upside Caramelized Apples and down and the apples are on top. Cinnamon Cake (serves 10-12) Sprinkle powdered sugar and cinnamon on top. Ingredients for preparing the caramelized apples: 5 green apples, peeled, cored Rich Honey Cake (makes 2 loaves) and small diced 1/2 cup brown sugar Ingredients for bowl 1 3 Tbsp. water 1 cup high quality honey 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine ½ cup water 1/4 cup apple cider Ingredients for the mixture: 1 Tbsp. baking powder 2 cups white flour 1 tsp. baking soda 6 Tbsp. almond flour 1 medium egg 1 tsp. baking powder 1 egg yolk 3/4 cups white sugar 1/2 tsp. salt Ingredients for bowl 2 1 cup butter or margarine 21/2 cups sifted white flour 4 medium eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 1/3 cup sour cream Ingredients for bowl 3 1/2 cup raisins soaked in Directions: three Tbsp. brandy 1. Place the sugar and water 1/2 cup walnuts in a heavy frying pan over high 1/2 cup water heat and begin to make the cara1 tsp. cinnamon mel. When the caramel is dark 1/4 tsp. clove and starts to smoke, reduce the 1/4 tsp. nutmeg heat and add the apples. Mix Pinch of salt the apples so they’re completely covered with caramel. Directions: 2. Add the butter to the pan, 1. Preheat oven to 350 demix, remove from heat and let grees. Royal Icing directions: With a whisk mix all the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
FOOD FOOD 2. In a bowl mixer using a flat paddle beater, mix the ingredients in bowl 1 for a minute. 3. Add the sifted white flour and mix for another minute. 4. Add the ingredients from bowl 3; continue to mix all the ingredients together until smooth. 5. Grease two loaf pans and split the mixture between the two. 6. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cakes are brown and elastic to the touch. Poke with a toothpick. If it comes out clean and dry, remove from oven and let the cakes cool at room temperature. 7. Remove the cakes from the pan, slice and serve with whipped cream or frosting. Panna Cotta in Honey Syrup (makes 9) Step 1 Boil together (see below): 6 cups whole milk 2/3 cup heavy cream 1 cup white sugar Step 2 In a bowl mix:
Panna Cotta
LESHON IMA - MOTHER TONGUE
1 cup of whole milk 4 Tbsp. cornstarch Step 3 In a bowl mix: 2/3 cup milk 3 Tbsp. gelatin Directions: Boil the ingredients from step 1 in a medium sized pot. The more the mixture boils, the better it will taste but be careful not to burn the milk. Once the mixture is boiled, add the ingredients from step 2. Continue to mix on medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and add to the bowl the ingredients of step 3. Mix everything together into a smooth mixture, pass through a strainer to remove leftover remnants of cornstarch and gelatin. Pour into 4-ounce disposable aluminum dishes and refrigerate for at least about four hours. I suggest you make the Panna Cota a day in advance. Ingredients for the honey syrup: 3/4 cup of high-quality honey 2 Tbsp. sugar Pinch of lemon salt 1/2 cup water Boil all ingredients together in a convenient pot for 15 minutes. Cool about one hour at room temperature, and then store in the refrigerator.
Origins of the word shalom Jewish history, from biblical times to the present, is marked by struggle and by the yearning for peace. It is not surprising that shalom is a key word in our language and our tradition.
Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin The wish for shalom al Israel, peace upon Israel (Psalms 125:5) resonates national and individual aspirations for security and tranquility. It is to the word shalom I wish to direct our attention. Shalom appears 237 times in the Bible in various meanings. In most references shalom means tranquility, security, peace and wellbeing. However, shalom also means health, welfare, completeness and safety. Scholars disagree as to the root of the word. Some claim it is related to the Aramaic verb sh’la meaning be quiet, be at ease, tranquil and even thoughtless and careless. They point to the Hebrew word ashlaya meaning deception as a concept derived from the same root.
Other scholars connect shalom with the verb shalem meaning complete or whole. It is the same root from which the words tashlum, payment, and shilumim, reparations, are also derived and allude to the completeness of a transaction. It is interesting to note that although the Hebrew shalom and Arabic salaam have a similar origin, meaning and sound, the Hebrew emphasizes the meaning of wholeness and in Arabic it resonates the word Islam which requires surrender. Many are the Hebrew phrases in which shalom is at the center. Shalom or shalom aleichem, peace be upon you, and the greeting mah shlomcha, how are you (for a man) and mah shlomech (for a woman), are probably the most recognized Hebrew greetings. We should also mention the expression derishat shalom, a way to send greeting to someone that literally means ask for someone’s welfare (Deut. 23:7). In the common phrase hakol yavo al mekomo beshalom, meaning all will settle peacefully at the end, shalom is used to express optimism, assuring a
positive resolution to an issue (Ex. 18:23). We should also mention the phrase sh’lom bayit, peace in the house, referring to an harmonious household (Shabbat 23) and the peaceful greeting Shabbat Shalom on Sabbath day. The phrase alav or aleha hashalom, literally peace upon him (or her), is a respectful saying to remember the dead. In closing, our tradition teaches that three principles assure the survival of a civilized society: din (law), emet (truth) and shalom (Avot 1:18). It is not surprising that the prayer, “Oseh shalom bimromav, The One who makes peace in His heights (Job 25:2)” is repeated time and again in the Jewish liturgy. It expresses the endless hope that, “Hu yaaseh shalom alaynu veal kol Israel, He will bring shalom upon us individually, and shalom to all of Israel,” collectively. And let us say: Amen.
Scholars disagree as to the root of the word.
Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin is a professor of biblical literature at Spertus College in Chicago and an adjunct professor of Bible and Hebrew at New College of Florida.
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THE JEWISH INTERNET FOOD
Pass the sheep’s head, please What, no sheep’s head on your Rosh Hashanah table? How about the head of a carp? Or some black-eyed peas or gourds or carrots? If you think
Mark Mietkiewicz that festive New Year’s foods begin and end with apples and honey, then you’re missing half the fun. Leave some room on your table for a Rosh Hashanah seder. As opposed to that other one in the spring, this seder revolves around foods which are reminiscent of — or even puns
The Feldman, Moscowitz and Foster Families wish you a New Year filled with good health and happiness.
about — good omens for the Jewish people. For example, before we eat carrots at the Rosh Hashanah table, we traditionally ask “that our merits increase” because carrot in Yiddish is mehren which can also mean to increase (http://bit.ly/roshseder1).” The Hebrew word for gourd, kara, sounds like the Hebrew words for both tearing and reading. As that vegetable is eaten, we recite this prayer: “May it be the will of our Heavenly Father that any bad decree be torn up and that our merits be read before You (bit. ly/roshseder2).” More than just wordplay, Rabbi Yehudah Prero suggests these foods can actually trigger a deeper psychological reaction appropriate to this time of year. By eating these foods, “a person realizes that now is the time he needs to be asking for these good things, because now is the time he is being judged. As soon as the person realizes that now is the time that he is being judged, he will realize that omens alone will not be enough for his salvation, and that repentance is needed (bit. ly/roshseder3).”
• Name one mitzvah (commandment) you are proud of having participated in over the And what about that sheep’s past year. head? Having a head on your • Today is the beginning of table is a good simmon (sign) for new possibilities. What imposthe coming year as we pray to sible dream would you pursue be “the head and not the tail.” if you had enough money to If that sounds somewhat take off for a year from your cryptic, Chabad.org explains present occupation (bit.ly/roshthat we should “reconnect seder8)? to our Head, the true Higher Gilda Angel has taken these Authority” and reject a moral symbolic foods and performed vision that is shortsighted some gastronomical magic. She and influenced by mob crafted a menu from them (bit. thinking (bit.ly/ ly/roshseder13). Her Turkishroshseder4). inspired Rosh Hashanah meal Although some includes Keftes de Prasa (leek sites emphasize croquettes), Lubiya (black-eyed that the Rosh peas), Pollo con Susam (sesameHashanah seder seed chicken), Borekas de Calais quite fluid, baza (pumpkin turnovers) and others present for- Tishpishti (honey-nut cake). malized rituals in Apparently Ms. Angel didn’t English (bit.ly/rosh- deign to include all the traseder5) and in Hebrew ditional foods in her meal, so (bit.ly/roshseder6). I’ve saved you the trouble and To set the proper spiritual tracked down a classic recipe tone, the Jewish Agency’s seder for Sheep’s Head Soup (bit.ly/ suggests reciting certain verses roshseder11). many times such as: “Ki imecha If the idea of a seder sounds mekor chayim, be’orecha nireh-or, great but you still can’t quite And with You is the source of stomach having a sheep’s life, and in Your light shall we head staring at you, the rabbis see light (bit.ly/roshseder7).” understand. You are welcome Noam Zion of Jerusalem’s to substitute the head of a fish. Shalom Hartman Institute If that’s still a deal breaker, the recommends using the seder to folks at TorahFamily.net have inspire discussions around the come up with another alternaNew Year’s table and ask ques- tive (bit.ly/roshseder10). How tions like: about a head of a lettuce? • Today is the birthday of the world. What aspect of the Mark Mietkiewicz may be reached Creation most impresses you? at highway@rogers.com.
2014 OPENING AUTHOR JOSHUA BERNSTEIN, BEER & BRATS author of The Complete Beer Course
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20 @ 7PM
Warped Wing Brewing Company (26 Wyandot St., Dayton) $8 in advance, $12 at the door. Sponsored by Jessup Wealth Management, kosher brats served by Bernstein’s Catering.
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may have appeared as oracknowledged, but are dinary people who played themselves created and significant roles at critical subservient to God. They The Jewish Family Identity Forum moments in your life. are variously characterThey may have shown ized as divine agents up as visions or dreams or and celestial messengers, experiences that changed personifications of God’s your life’s path. will, or even (reflecting They may have the dualism of the era) emerged as the still, small personifications of the opvoices of conscience or posing forces of good and the warring inclinations evil — the yetzer tov and of your yetzer tov and In the aftermath of the independent identities, usually the yetzer ra — within the yetzer ra, guiding your human. September 11 disaster, an in human shape and unrecogdecision-making. The obsession with FBI investigating officer and nizable as celestial beings. They They may have mateangels continued through immediate responder to the encourage Hagar, announce rialized from your own centuries of folklore, Pennsylvania Flight 93 scene Sarah’s pregnancy, herald the thoughts and deeds, tradition, scholarship, sees legions of angels guarding destruction of Sodom and further influencing both and prayer, with stringent the crash site (In the Shadow of a Gomorrah, stop the sacrifice yourself and others. Take attention to highlighting Badge: A Spiritual Memoir, Lillie of Isaac, promise protection to a moment to think about their subservient nature. Leonardi). Jacob, draw Moses’ attention, Dozens of traditional and open Balaam’s eyes. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Gustav Doré, 1866 it: Just how have you encountered your angels? liturgies included referJoshua, Gideon, and Samence to angels: the Kedusha, the gel. A deed of cruelty created a son’s parents all encounter Family Discussion: Haggadah, and the Havdalah cruel angel,” Margolies writes. Candace R. angels. The prophets repeatInterpreting the message of ceremony, among others. The contemporary Rabbi edly acknowledge angels as Kwiatek the ladder in Jacob’s dream, The great medieval scholar Adin Steinsaltz combines the the messengers of God’s word, Maimonides created an angelic biblical and the Chasidic in The the Rabbi of Kobrin explained and angels notably appear in that the ladder, stretching from hierarchy, and an emerging Thirteen Petalled Rose, in which Psalms, Job, and Daniel. earth to heaven, is really man Kabalah equated the 10 sephirot he explains that there are two They protect, rescue, illumiA college freshman, barely himself while the direction conscious, unable to move, and nate inner strengths, scatter the (aspects of the Divine will) with kinds of angels: those made of the angels depends on his badly burned by a raging dorm enemy, wreak vengeance, guard archangels who transmit divine by God during Creation, who actions. How does this image energy to humans. continually interact with the Eden’s gates, report to God fire, feels himself carried by an Elijah, the zealous bibliworld, and those created out of reflect Judaism’s central tenet angel through the window and from earth, and act as God’s atcal prophet, reappeared as an each human’s thoughts, deeds, of ethical monotheism (one out onto the grass (Rescued from tendants and heavenly court. God who demands ethical In the post-biblical and early angel. The heavenly recorder of and actions. an Inferno, Jeremy Burchfield). Whether or not you have rec- behavior)? How could this Talmudic eras, angels became a humans’ deeds in the Talmud, Because her conscience he became the honored guest ognized it, you’ve had personal image be a prompt for daily widespread theme prompts her in the form of living? at both a brit milah encounters with angels. They in the Dead Sea a divinely inspired dream, and a Seder, the Scrolls, apocryphal third-grade teacher Jackie anticipated harbin(extra-biblical holy) Parks agrees to become a state Literature to share ger of the Messiah, witness in a widespread school literature, and and the celestial developing Chrischeating case (Ex-Schools Chief A Gathering of Angels: Angels in Jewish Life and Literature champion of the tian texts. In them, in Atlanta Is Indicted in Testing by Morris B. Margolies — While its small format suggests a righteous and expanding notions Scandal, Michael Winerip). gift book, this scholarly work is an engaging and thorough needy in hundreds of angelic hierarIn reaction to such encountreatment of angels and demons in Jewish culture, from their of popular folkchies, fallen angels, ters, many in this enlightened origins in the Bible to their appearance in post-Holocaust littales. Elijah became Satan and demons, scientific age scoff that angels erature. While not light reading, Gathering is worth exploring the supernatural dueling sons of are just imagination or wishful and can easily be tackled by topic or interest area. reminder to pursue light and darkness, thinking. angelic qualities in order to The other common response and the trinity in Christianity Rav Hisda’s Daughter by Maggie Anton — The first of a new is that angels are solely a Chris- tempted the worship of celestial make a positive difference in series by the renowned author of the Rashi’s Daughters setian notion, citing Christianity’s beings and challenged rabbinic the world. ries, this historically factual novel about the post-Temple era Although the Enlightenment Judaism’s strong commitment expansive doctrine of angelolincludes surprising images of angels and demons in Jewish brought about a skepticism to monotheism. “(T)he teachogy. Babylonian culture. Fast-paced, engaging, and enlightening, toward God and religion, the ers of the Talmud felt the need But if you think Judaism this is another can’t-put-it-down winner. Chasidic movement embraced to reemphasize the uniqueness doesn’t subscribe to angels, the notion of angels, suggesting Stork’s Landing by Tami Lehman-Wilzig — Hot off the press, and One-ness of the God of Isthink again. They appear as rael…” writes Morris Margolies that they are actually created by early as Genesis and occur this tale of an injured stork cared for by a young kibbutz girl humans. regularly throughout history in (see sidebar). “Cutting angels and her father is simply told and enticingly illustrated in “The Chasidim believed that down to size was one of the imJewish literature, liturgy, and watercolor. Without being didactic, it encompasses family and angels identified the individuportant tasks the Rabbis of the ritual. friends, life in Israel, and a multitude of values. It’s a perfect als they accompanied. A deed Talmud set for themselves.” If you’ve enjoyed the I. L. book to share and discuss with youngsters. of kindness created a kind anAngels are real, the Rabbis Peretz short story Bontche Schweig, heard of the lamed-vavniks (the 36 righteous), sung Shalom Aleichem, participated in a brit milah (ritual of circumcision) or celebrated a Passover Seder, then you’ve encountered an355 S. Main St. Springboro, Ohio gels. In fact, you’ve likely had a personal encounter with the 1-800-468-1033 angelic, as you shall see. Tel: (937) 748-1033 Tim Crafton Alan & Elyse Berg Found in hundreds of places e-mail: inddesign355@cs.com throughout the Bible, angels are Wishing the community a Industrial & Commercial Air Conditioning / Heating / Refrigeration generally messengers (malaHappy New Year Wishing You And Your Family A Happy New Year chim) or agents of God with no
Encountering Angels Myths & Misconceptions
If you think Judaism doesn’t subscribe to angels, think again.
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Wishing you a new year of health, happiness and peace
L’Shanah Tovah Marlene & Terry Pinsky
May our people be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet New Year and a year bringing peace
Wishing you a new year of health, happiness and peace
Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year
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Wishing you a new year of health, happiness & peace
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Wishing you a new year of health, happiness and peace
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Praying for peace in the New Year
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Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year
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Wishing you the blessings of a good year
Wishing you a new year of health, happiness & peace
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May the year ahead be blessed with good health & cheer
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May the year ahead be blessed Wishing you a new year with good health & cheer of health, happiness Kevin & Karen Bressler & Family Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year, for those in this community and our friends and family in Israel Laurie, Lisa, & Charlotte Braverman
& peace
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Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year
L’Shanah Tovah The Wagenfeld Family
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Happy New Year
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New Year’s Greetings
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from
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Wishing you the blessings of a good year
May good health and happiness always be with you
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Happy New Year
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Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year
We wish the Dayton Jewish May the year ahead be blessed community a very happy New Year with good health & cheer from Arlene & David Stine Beverly A. Saeks & family Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year
Wishing you a new year of health, happiness and peace
The Guadalupe Family
Barbara Sanderow
Wishing you a new year of health, happiness and peace
May the year ahead be blessed with good health & cheer
Dr. & Mrs. Nathaniel Ritter
Jeff & Rina Thau
Myrna Nelson BMB
May the year ahead be blessed with good health & cheer L’Shanah Tovah from Bark Mitzvah Boy
Hy & Sylvia Blum
Bill & Rosalie Schoenfeld
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
PAGE 39
OBITUARIES Serving the Jewish Community for Generations Home Office 123 W. Main St. Downtown Xenia 222-0692 North Dayton 8150 N. Dixie Dr. (opp. Memorial Park Cemetery) 890-0571
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Theodora (Toby) Blume, of Trotwood, died of emphysema July 1 after nearly a lifetime of smoking cigarettes (the “low tar and nicotine” kind, because they claimed to be healthier). Mrs. Blume was a New York girl. After her childhood in the Bronx, she married and spent several decades in Schenectady. Forty years ago, she relocated to Trotwood, where she “found every Jew in Dayton,” creating an extended network of lifelong friends. Mrs. Blume was devoted to Alan, her beloved husband of almost 55 years (predeceased), and to gardening, cooking, baking, big band dancing, cruises, and all fauna and flora. She volunteered for Covenant House (when it was Covenant House), Planned Parenthood, and as a pet therapy human assistant. She was quite assertively political. She proudly displayed her “Martin Luther King Jr.” membership card to anyone whom she thought would be impressed. After her initial shock and horror, she became a proud and vocal Parent of Lesbians and Gays. She was vociferous and rabid in her support of every Democrat that ever was, is, or would be, even when they acted like Republicans. She redecorated her house, inside and out, in Obama’s honor. One can only imagine what she was planning for Hillary. Mrs. Blume is survived by her daughter, Sue, and the “village” of friends, caregivers, and service providers without whose generosity, sacrifice, and efforts she could never have done it “her” way. Donations may be made to SICSA, 2600 Wilmington Pike, Kettering, OH, where her adored and adoring cat Anna has been returned and now sadly awaits
Havurah Continued from Page 15 age from their 20s to their 70s. At a recent Shabbat morning service, there were more than a dozen people in attendance, from children to the elderly, seated around the davening room on chairs and cushions. Prayers were lay-led and mostly in Hebrew, incorporating poetry by the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Afterward, members sat around and chatted over cherries while a few trooped out together for lunch. Some members acknowledge that they worry about the
and his sister Vivian Solganik and many great friends. Born to immigrant parents, Mr. Stewart I. Lipp, age 80 of Troy, passed away peacefully on Aug. Solganik grew up in Cleveland in a close-knit family. His father 7 at his home. He was born on Jan. 11, 1934 in Cincinnati to the passed away at a young age and as the oldest child, Mr. Solganik late Joseph and Anne (Gerson) Lipp. He is survived by his wife learned many life lessons early. Along with his regular studies of 60 years, Marilyn Saidleman Lipp, three daughters and a son- he learned the violin and loved classical music. Mr. Solganik in-law: Lori Lipp of Cincinnati, attended The Ohio State Wendy Lipp of Vandalia, and University and was a member Amy and Morris Maslia of of Phi Sigma Delta Fraternity. Atlanta; six grandchildren: He served in the Army and Jared Goldwasser, Blayne then met and married Lois Goldwasser, Brendon June Lotney. His business Goldwasser, Adam Maslia, career was spent entirely with Aaron Maslia and Zachary NCR (40 years). He started in Maslia; sister, Carolyn Lipp accounting machine sales. He Auerbach of Denver; brother was one of the first at NCR to Martin Lipp of Indianapolis; sister-in-law and brother-in-law learn about computers and data systems. He retired in 1992 Annette and Gary Goodman of as an assistant vice president Atlanta, many nieces, nephews of Latin American sales and and cousins. Mr. Lipp was the service. Mr. Solganik was an proprietor of David’s Shoe enthusiastic gardener and Store in Troy for 58 years. He received his Master Gardening loved Troy and was active Certificate in 1996. His most in many civic and business organizations. Interment was at recent achievement and passion Beth Jacob Cemetery. Memorial was for bridge; he became a Life Master in 2014 with his contributions may be made to Hospice of Miami County or the partner Bill Wild. Mr. Solganik’s entire immediate family were American Heart Association. founding members of Temple Beth Or. Mr. Solganik will be Leonard M. Solganik, age remembered for his sense of 86 of Washington Township humor, his intellect, his love of passed away Aug. 1 at Lincoln a good debate, his compassion Park Manor. Mr. Solganik was for everyone he knew and his born Oct. 30, 1927 in Chicago love of good food, particularly to Harry and Dora (Fastoff) his wife’s cooking. He traveled Solganik. He loved his family the world for both business and the most, including his wife pleasure with Mrs. Solganik. of 64 years, Lois June (Lotney) A special thank-you to Lincoln Solganik; his three children, Park Manor and Kettering Howard Solganik and his wife Hospitals for the wonderful care Leslie, Carin Solganik and her they provide. A special thank partner Tom Silverii, David you to Addie for her vigilance Solganik and his partner Jamie Balzer; his grandchildren, Adam and compassion. Interment was at David’s Cemetery. Memorial (deceased), Lindsey, Danny, donations and contributions Benjamin, and Michael; and may be made to Temple Beth his great-grandson, Noam. Mr. Solganik is also survived by his Or. brother, Marvin (Judy) Solganik her new forever home.
havurah’s future. The havurah does less in the way of social action than it used to, and attendance at Friday night services has dwindled. “It used to be that Havurat Shalom was the only show in town,” Arzt said. “If you wanted open, relaxed davening, it was here or nothing. Now there’s a lot of other places.” The founders, meanwhile, moved on to become some of the most prominent and eminent figures in Jewish life. Green went on to lead the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College before founding Hebrew College’s rabbinical school. Other members, like James Kugel and David Roskies, became
prominent Jewish studies scholars. Still others became pulpit rabbis, led Hillels and wrote influential books. In recent years, Havurat Shalom has held reunions for its 40th and 45th anniversaries. In certain ways, the alumni and current members were quite different — the founding members found the revised liturgy so foreign at the 40th anniversary that by the 45th, the two groups split for part of the services. But they also found common ground. “We recognized each other,” Siegel said. “These weren’t foreign bodies crashing together. You can see yourself in each other.”
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
Arts&Culture
A fresh take on age-old stories
Are You Not a Man of God? Devotion, Betrayal, and Social Criticism in Jewish Tradition by Tova Hartman and Charlie Buckholtz, Oxford Univ. Press, 2014, 208 pages Book Review By Rabbi Jack Riemer, JNS.org Tova Hartman and Charlie Buckholtz in Are You Not a Man of God? have taken two stories from the Bible, two from the Talmud, and one from Greek literature — stories that we all know or that we think we know — and show us how to read them in a fresh and radical way. The authors begin their recently released book with two stories that seem to mirror each other— the story of Iphigenia by the Greek tragedian Euripides and the story of the Binding of Isaac (which is detailed in the Torah portion read on the second day of Rosh Hashanah). The two stories raise the same moral issue, an issue that parents encounter in every generation: What do you do when you are caught between what the Supreme Authority commands of you and what your love for your own flesh and blood commands? Not only every zealot who sends his child out to die is a martyr, but every parent who sends his child off to war for his country knows this tension. On the surface, the child in both stories — Iphigenia and Isaac — seems to accept the command of the father and go along with it passively. But commentators on both stories discover what the authors of this book call “devotional resistance” hidden inside the narratives. They claim that the supporting actors challenge the fathers by reminding them of the covenant of love, which they say is as sacred as the covenant with the Supreme Authority. Neither Iphigenia nor Isaac can explicitly refuse to obey their fathers because that would put the children outside the boundaries of their culture. But they undermine their fathers’ authority in subtle ways that are easy to overlook in these stories — unless you read them very carefully. When Iphigenia fails to persuade her father to change his mind, she gives in but instructs her mother not to mourn for her, and not even to bury her, because she is an instrument of the nation and not a daughter. By saying this, she turns her father’s whole argument upside down. She says: You want me to be an instrument of the state and not a daughter? I’ll show you what it means to be an instrument and not a daughter. I’ll show you what happens when you make the covenant of love less sacred than the covenant with society. It is never quite said in words, but the point of the play may be to undermine the values of the society for the sake of the values of the family. The same hidden agenda can be found if you carefully read the story of the Binding of Isaac. On the surface, Isaac obeys his father without question. There are a host of midrashim (extra biblical explanations from the Rabbis of the Talmud) that describe Isaac as taking such steps as asking his father to tie him up in order to make sure that he does not spoil the sacrifice by moving. The Talmud, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik all agree in calling Abraham a great hero because he does not let concern for his child stop him from carrying out the will of God. And Isaac is praised by them too, for going to be sacrificed without protest and without hesitation. It is for this total and almost inhuman devotion to God that Abraham is rewarded. It is
Abraham and Isaac, Rembrandt, 1634
this that we are to remember when we hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. It is this that we mean when we speak of zechut avot — the merit of the patriarchs — which accrues to the benefit of their descendants. But then, just when you think that the readiness to sacrifice what is most precious to you for the sake of God is the lesson of the story, there is a line in a midrash in which Isaac says, “I am ready to die, but I grieve for my mother.” Then one can find another midrash in which Isaac tells his father, “Please do not tell mother while she is standing over a pit or on a rooftop, lest she throw herself down and kill herself.” In yet another midrash Isaac says, “Father, who will take care of you in your old age without me?” Most surprising of all, Isaac says, “If God has chosen, then…” How can Isaac say “if” when Abraham has already told him what God has said? Here, Hartman and Buckholtz present a counter-version of the story, one in which concern for family outweighs even the word of God. In this version, Isaac is not docile and not passive, but raises the same questions that we raise when we think about this story. The book’s chapters about other biblical figures, such as the prophetess Hannah, the female sage Beruriah, and the Stove of Achnai, are just as full of surprises as the sections on Isaac and Iphigenia. This book is not easy reading, but it is well worth the effort. Hartman and Buckholtz reveal how many different ways there are of reading the same stories, and how each reader can find new understanding by reading the old from the perspective of today. Author and speaker Rabbi Jack Riemer served as rabbi at Beth Abraham Synagogue in Dayton from 1964 to 1978.
Wishing you a sweet 5775.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
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Arts&Culture
New children’s books for the holidays: a tale from Spain, easing a young girl’s pain By Penny Schwartz, JTA Fourteen years ago, sitting in her synagogue during Saturday morning services, Jacqueline Jules was browsing some Torah commentary when a story about a medieval poet struck an inspirational chord. “It was an ‘aha’ moment. This will be my next writing project, my next children’s book,” recalled Jules, an award-winning children’s writer who at the time was also working as a school librarian. The historical note that captured her imagination was a reference to Samuel HaNagid, a Jewish Talmudic scholar who in the early 11th century served as vizier, the highest adviser, to the Muslim royal court in Granada. According to the legend, HaNagid is said to have made friends with a man who cursed him “by tearing out his angry tongue and giving him a kind one.” “I was smitten by the story,” said Jules, adding that she saw the tale as a powerful metaphor for turning a violent act into an act of kindness.
Over the next dozen years, Jules discovered that turning the tale into a story for children was challenging. The author of What a Way to Start a New Year, about Rosh Hashanah, and The Hardest Word: a Yom Kippur Story said she wrote as many as 20 versions of the tale. In Never Say a Mean Word, A Tale from Medieval Spain (Wisdom Tales, 32 pp, $16.95, ages 4-8), illustrated by Durga Yael Bernhard, Jules has reimagined the tale into one about two young boys. The themes in Jules’ book of forgiveness and starting anew resonate with those emphasized during Rosh Hashanah. It’s a simple yet lyrically told story that has garnered a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. Bernhard’s simple yet expressive illustrations evoke the colors, landscape, architecture and patterns of the era. The book explores tough questions such as what constitutes fair punishment and how do you get someone to stop calling you names. Here are some other new High Holy Days titles for children:
Apple Days: A Rosh Hashanah Story
Allison Sarnoff Soffer, illustrated by Bob McMahon, Kar-Ben, 32 pp ($17.95 hardcover; $7.95 paper; $6.95 eBook); ages 2-7 Katy, an eager, bubbly young girl, is counting down the days until she goes apple picking with her mother, a yearly family tradition at Rosh Hashanah. They’ll make applesauce for her favorite holiday. This year Katy is especially excited, she tells her classmates, because she is also expecting a new baby cousin. She also spreads the word to other friends, as well as her neighbors, shopkeepers and rabbi. But when the new baby arrives early and Katy’s mom has to leave town, the girl’s disappointment is palpable. With the help of her dad and a surprise from her friends, teachers and rabbi, Katy rises to the challenge.
Shira at the Temple: a Yom Kippur Story
Galia Sabbag, illustrated by Erin Taylor CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 24 pp ($9.99 paper; $5.99 Kindle); ages 4-9 Shira is a spirited young girl who
wants to participate in Yom Kippur. But she is not content to sit back and observe the grown-ups as they pray, mostly in Hebrew, through the long religious service. She wants to have her prayers count, but she worries that she does not know how to read Hebrew. At the blowing of the shofar, Shira becomes inspired to do something, surprising the rabbi and the congregation with her own heartfelt prayer. This is one of a series of Shira books written by Sabbag, who was born and raised in Israel but now lives in Atlanta, where she teaches at a Jewish day school. The Shira character, Sabbag writes, is a composite of many of her students over the years and reflects her desire to convey the joy children experience in Jewish ritual and spirituality.
I Live With My Mommy
Tzvia Ehrlich-Klein, illustrations by Dena Ackerman, Menucha Publishers, 32 pp ($12.99); ages 4-9 This sensitive story is told from the perspective of Rochel, a 5-year-old girl from a Haredi Orthodox family whose parents are divorced. She and her younger brother live with their mother; their father lives in a different house. The story traces the challenges facing Rochel as her family celebrates Shabbat and holidays. Rochel is a believable, authentic character whose emotions, including sadness and anxiety, are universal. She is reassured by her mother’s message that the divorce is not her fault and God loves all children.
Putting the He-He
in heart health with International Laughter Yoga Specialist Sarah Routman
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
2 - 4 PM @ the Boonshoft CJCE
& PAGE 42
HADASSAH of GREATER DAYTON & JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
August 20 – School Begins
Wishing you a happy, healthy, sweet new year!
L’Shana Tova Nurturing confident and successful learners • Exemplary secular and Judaic education • Art and science professional residency programs • Project-based learning and critical thinking • Hebrew language immersion via Tal-Am Hebrew Curriculum
Nurturing confident and successful learners www.daytonhillel.org 937.277.8966 • dankathymecoli@daytonhillel.org
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014
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Kroger wishes you a
Happy Rosh Hashanah Kroger is pleased to help you and your family enjoy the tastes and traditions of Rosh Hashanah. With a complete selection of Kosher foods, you can stock up on all your favorites for less.
It’s important to you. It’s important to us. A large selection of Kosher items are available to serve your needs at the following Kroger locations:
Blue Ash Kroger
(Full Service Kosher Department) 4100 Hunt Road Cincinnati, OH 45242
Centerville Kroger
1023 S. Main Street Centerville, OH 45459 PAGE 44
Stroop Road fresh fare by Kroger 530 E. Stroop Road Kettering, OH 45249
Harper’s Point Kroger
11390 Montgomery Road Cincinnati, OH 45249
Come in and check out our wide selection of Kosher meats.
We invite you to stop by our Blue Ash Kroger Store. We are happy to assist you, providing the special attention and service you and your holiday events deserve! Blue Ash Kosher Service Hours: SUNDAY-WEDNESDAY 9am-8pm; THURSDAY 9am-8pm; FRIDAY 9am-4pm;
VAAD HOIER
VH
SATURDAY CLOSED Fresh Packaged Meats Available 24 Hours Daily
CINCINNATI
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2014 September Issue Jewish Observer (Due Fri 8/1 1426)