Past president of P&A visits the JFS Fit-Fun Day at the Temple Sholom to kosher food pantry J and the J5K Run serve on URJ search committee The Union for Reform Judaism president, Rabbi Eric Yoffie announced in June that he is planning to retire in June 2012. Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Peter Weidhorn, has chosen Mauri Willis, past president of Temple Sholom to be one of 30 members of the search committee to find Rabbi Yoffie’s successor. The search committee is composed of a diverse group representing a wide range of congregational sizes, geography and gender as well as members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the American Conference of Cantors, the Women of Reform Judaism and the Men of Reform Judaism. The committee will begin its work in September and hopes to have a recommendation to present at the December 2011
CINCINNATI — Cindy Guttman, Susan Brenner, Ellen Dick, Mike Kadetz and Patti Schneider —dedicated volunteers from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Planning &
CINCINNATI — On Sunday, Aug. 29, the Mayerson JCC offers children and adults a chance to participate in FitFun Day at the J—a free end-of-summer outdoor festival that is open to the public. This major outdoor festival includes: Family Fun Fest from 3 – 6 p.m., with lots of carnival games, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and other fun activities; the J5K Run, a 5K Run/Walk through the streets of Amberley Village, starting at 6 p.m.; and the Rock & Roll Bash, 6:30 – 9 p.m., with live music and opportunities to win cash prizes at games of chance. All activities are based at the JCC in Amberley Village, and advance registration is required for the J5K and the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. From 3 – 6 p.m., families can enjoy the Family Fun Fest. Activities include: carnival games, a moon bounce, a giant inflatable slide, face painting, caricature drawings, zoo animals, kids’ races, “dancing heads,” a photo booth, and more. The Amberley Village fire department will operate a fire truck exhibit, and the Amberley police will give out child ID kits (while supplies last). Picnic food, refreshments and beer
P&A on page 22
JCC on page 22
Jewish Federation volunteers Patti Schneider and Susan Brenner visit JFS Kosher Food Pantry with JFS volunteer Linda Chambers.
URJ on page 19
Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding raises Jewish positions on Ground Zero mosque reveal ambivalence questions about intermarriage By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency WASHINGTON (JTA) — More often than not, Jewish and Muslim groups come down on the same side of battles over religious liberties. Jewish organizations often file amicus briefs supporting Muslim religious rights in cases where zoning boards try to block the construction of houses of worship or bar the right of a Muslim to grow his beard. “There are a lot of commonalities of interest,” said Nathan Diament, director of the Washington office of the Orthodox Union. That made last week’s announcement by the Anti-Defamation League opposing the construction of a planned mosque near the Ground Zero site all the more remarkable. It was a rare instance of a Jewish
establishment organization explicitly opposing a Muslim project or distancing itself from the role of upholding liberties for all. The $100 million mosque center was proposed by the Cordoba Initiative, a group that promotes interfaith dialogue. Despite their common interests, however, Jews and Muslims have forged few formal alliances, mostly due to their deep differences on Middle East policy and Jewish concerns over Muslim organizations’ ties to radical groups. This has made Jewish groups ambivalent, supporting Muslim rights in principle but reticent in practice to endorse specific Muslim organizations or programs. This ambivalence was reflected in an American Jewish Committee statement supporting the Ground Zero mosque—with MOSQUE on page 22
By Jacob Berkman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — Is it possible that the first iconic Jewish picture of the decade is of an interfaith marriage? Photographs taken last Saturday show the Jewish groom wearing a yarmulke and a crumpled tallit staring into the eyes of his giddy bride under a traditional Jewish wedding canopy with a framed ketubah, a Jewish wedding contract, in the background. The couple is Marc Mezvinsky, the banker son of two Jewish ex-Congress members, and Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of the former U.S. president and current secretary of state. The images and scant details of the tightly guarded wedding—dubbed by some the “wedding of the century”—have raised a number of questions about the significance of
Genevieve de Manio
Marc Mezvinsky and Chelsea Clinton during their wedding ceremony, July 31, 2010.
WEDDING on page 22
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2010 2 ELUL, 5770 CINCINNATI, OHIO SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES: BEGINS ON FRIDAY 8:19 ENDS ON SATURDAY 9:19
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Impact of Heiman gift at UC By Nicole Simon Assistant Editor In the not-too-distant future, the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Judaic Studies will be changing. Following its promotion from program status to department in 1999, the Department of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati is introducing another ambitious prospect of growth and enrichment. As was noted in the July 29 issue of The American Israelite, the Department of Judaic Studies in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences has received a donation from the Kim and Gary Heiman Family Foundation—a gift that will directly benefit not only the department, but also the intended Center for Jewish Cultures and Ideas, which will be housed within the department. The brainchild of department head Dr. Gila Safran-Naveh, the center will be a place where Jewish culture can be studied in a most rigorous fashion. “Soon after I took over leadership of Judaic Studies in June of 2008, I went to my faculty with the idea of [a group of scholars], dedicated to the study of this complex
and enduring civilization of ours in the most comprehensive and rigorous fashion.” Safran-Naveh, who has been working in Cincinnati for the past 25 years, says the center will be made up of members of the UC population, the Jewish community, and other parties interested in fostering partnerships in learning and conducting research about the Jewish culture and civilization. Not only do Safran-Naveh and her colleagues want the center housed within their department, they want it to be an embodiment of collaborative projects—all examining various aspects of Jewish society and its diversity. Safran-Naveh looks forward to possibilities of the center creating and maintaining national and global partnerships with other institutions of higher learning dedicated to Jewish culture. The project has the objective of using distance learning, where the local students, international scholars, and community participants could all benefit from the Cincinnati center regardless of their location or cultural background. The Center for Jewish Cultures and Ideas will also make an effort to maintain an active outreach program with the general community of Cincinnati as well as communities
throughout the state of Ohio. As an integral part of this effort, the center will provide individual lecture and lecture series at various community centers, faculty for summer institutes to aid instructing school teachers on how to teach the Holocaust, and leadership in enriching Jewish studies at various universities and colleges throughout the region. In addition to the projected farreaching partnerships of the Center for Jewish Cultures and Ideas, the Department of Judaic Studies looks forward to invigorating its current offerings and the relationship it has with the local community. As was also previously noted, the Heiman gift will allow the department to offer improved programs and benefits for the students and hopes to create more faculty posts and double the enrollment. There are also plans for joint graduate programs with Hebrew Union College and the American Jewish Archive, as well as creating partnerships between other local schools such as Xavier and Miami. However they will not be the only beneficiaries of the gift. There are plans of offering all programs, courses, lectures and travel to Jewish Study centers being made available to the community at large.
Participants of the National Teachers’ Seminar.
Educators gather in Cinti for seminar on Jewish culture, identity Intensive 6-day seminar hosted by The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives CINCINNATI — Twenty-two teachers and educators from private and public middle schools and high schools across the country gathered in Cincinnati July 25-30 for an intensive 6-day National Teachers’ Seminar on “Culture and Identity, Past and Present: Exploring the Jewish Experience Through Texts, Films and Literature.” Hosted and
co-sponsored by The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Drs. Mark A. Raider and Miriam B. Raider-Roth co-directed the seminar under the auspices of the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture— established in 2006. A $65,000 grant by the Posen Foundation underwrote the cost of the seminar. “The seminar is a superb opportunity to learn about Judaism as a rich culture, steeped in a rich history,” said Dr. Miriam Raider-Roth, director of UC’s
Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture. “Bringing together the fields of Education and Jewish Studies, we examined how the rich tapestry of modern Jewish texts can serve as a useful springboard for asking important questions about the place of Jews and other minorities in the lives of our students, schools, and society as a whole.” “We are delighted and honored to collaborate on this important seminar,” said Dr. Gary P. Zola, EDUCATORS on page 19
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Adath Israel’s celebrated High Holiday musical program underwritten by Patsy and Barry Kohn Hazan Dani, Bat Ella & Nitzan Birnbaum and the Adath Israel Choir led by Mitch Cohen create “magical, mystical” experience for congregants CINCINNATI — Twelve years ago, Patsy and Barry Kohn approached Rabbi Irvin Wise about the idea of underwriting the musical program for Adath Israel Congregation’s High Holiday services. “We had always been very impressed with Dani and Bat Ella Birnbaum —the Hazzan and his wife, a singing artist and music teacher— and the unbelievable Adath Israel Choir, led by Mitch Cohen,” they recall. “Their singing brought a magical quality to the High Holy Day services. You could hear a pin drop. We wanted to ensure that this experience would endure. ” Since that time, Patsy and Barry say that wherever they encounter Adath Israel congregrants, they hear words of thanks—and stories of how the High Holy Day musical program has transformed the holiday worship experience for so many. “We hear from congregants how the choir and Dani and Bat Ella—and now their son, Nitzan, who come here every year from Israel—add a vibrancy and spirit to the service for them that they find so enlivening—and almost tangible,” they said. “It is always a pleas-
VOL. 157 • NO. 3 Thursday, August 12, 2010 2 Elul, 5770 Shabbat begins Fri, 8:19 p.m. Shabbat ends Sat, 9:19 p.m. THE AMERICAN ISRAELITE CO., PUBLISHERS 18 WEST NINTH STREET, SUITE 2 CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202-2037 PHONE: (513) 621-3145 FAX: (513) 621-3744 publisher@americanisraelite.com editor@americanisraelite.com articles@americanisraelite.com production@americanisraelite.com HENRY C. SEGAL Editor & Publisher 1930-1985 MILLARD H. MACK Publisher Emeritus NETANEL (TED) DEUTSCH Editor & Publisher BARBARA L. MORGENSTERN Senior Writer ELIJAH PLYMESSER NICOLE SIMON Assistant Editors
Patsy and Barry Kohn
ure to be at Adath Israel—but never moreso than when you are hearing the magical, mystical music of the High Holy Day services.” “Music has been at the center of our Jewish spiritual experience since Biblical times when certain Levites were designated as vocalists and others as instrumentalists to accompany the offerings and ceremonies of our ancestors to move and inspire them,” explains Rabbi Wise. “The same has been true through the centuries until today
ALEXIA KADISH Copy Editor
when our synagogue music moves and inspires us. Mitch Cohen, our choir director, composed significant pieces of our liturgical music. The choir, comprised of Adath Israel members, together with Hazan Dani Birnbaum, Bat Ella, and their son, Nitzan, bring an inner beauty to our prayers; opening us up and inviting us in to the davening experience. We are also especially blessed that Barry and Patsy Kohn chose to sponsor for our congregation this season of prayer,
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repentance, hope, blessing and joy. We are indeed very grateful.” “I look out at the congregation from the Bimah as the High Holy Day music fills the air,” said Penny Pensak, Adath Israel president. “And the sea of smiling, beaming faces says it all.” Mitch Cohen, Adath Israel’s choir director, agrees. “Barry and Patsy Kohn’s generosity over the years has made it possible for us to create a very unique High Holy Day experience for our congregants at Adath Israel. “It should not be assumed that each year when the High Holidays occur, that we will have the wonderful music program that we have always experienced,” said Mendy Fisher, a longtime member of the Adath Israel Choir. “But thanks to the commitment of the Kohns, we have been blessed with world class musical renditions of both classic and modern Jewish music and prayer in our sanctuary. Todah Rabah!” “The choir seems to be growing, and the sound even richer from year to year,” say the Kohns. “We know that there are hundreds of hours spent in practice and that’s a lot of work. The Hazan, Bat Ella, Nitzan, Mitch and the choir make the High Holidays at Adath Israel a season that members of the congregation look forward to every year. It’s a moving, stirring and completely unforgettable experience— one that we are happy to bring to the congregation.”
JANET STEINBERG Travel Editor STEPHANIE DAVIS-NOVAK Fashion Editor MARILYN GALE Dining Editor MARIANNA BETTMAN NATE BLOOM RABBI A. JAMES RUDIN RABBI AVI SHAFRAN Contributing Writers LEV LOKSHIN JANE KARLSBERG Staff Photographers PATTY YOUKILIS JUSTIN COHEN Advertising Sales JOSEPH D. STANGE Production Manager CHRISTIE HALKO Office Manager
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Temple Sholom Sisterhood gets a jump on a sweet new year CINCINNATI — The Sisterhood of Temple Sholom announces the kick-off of its third annual Rosh Hashanah Honey Sale. The proceeds from this successful fundraiser go to support the Jewish Braille Institute of America. Its very special publication, the Jewish Braille Review, is published monthly and read by virtually every blind college graduate, Jewish and nonJewish, in 36 countries throughout the world, including Israel. The Rosh Hashanah Honey
Sale offers members of our community the opportunity to send distinctive New Year’s greetings across the country and around the world. The kosher honey comes in an 8 oz. plastic jar adorned with a colorful Judaic label and a gold band. Each jar of honey arrives with a personalized gift card wishing the recipient a “Happy and Healthy New Year.” Each recipient will also find that a donation has been made in their honor to the Temple Sholom Sisterhood. The
honey is delivered by mail in time for Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sunset on Sept. 8, 2010. Instead of sending New Year’s cards, consider sending a jar of honey. Last year over 14,000 jars of the sweet stuff were sent across the country, making a thoughtful and unique gift to family and friends. The Honey Sale is chaired by Karen Bunyan. You can get more information and order honey on the Temple Sholom website.
JFS announces $10,000 cash raffle and annual meeting Tickets are now on sale for a chance to win $10,000…and a guarantee to strengthen lives. Jewish Family Service, which provides human services to individuals and families in times of need, is presenting the $10,000 Cash Raffle, and will sell only 500 tickets. The drawing will be held Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010, the same day as the Jewish Family Service Annual Meeting. Proceeds from the $10,000 Cash Raffle benefit the vital services Jewish Family Service provides for all members of our community. This includes a food pantry, care management, adoption services, emergency financial assistance, aging and caregiver services, counseling and more.
“The next time you are on the campus, whether for Jewish Family Service, the Mayerson JCC, Jewish Federation, or Rockdale Temple, buy a chance to win $10,000. Even if you don’t win the big prize, you are helping our community,” says Andi Lerner Levenson, raffle committee member. Other committee members are Marci Bachrach, Gary Smith and Susan Shorr. The community is also invited to attend the Jewish Family Service Annual Meeting, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010, from 2-3 p.m. at the Rockdale Temple Chapel. New Officers and Board members will be inducted. Michael Schwartz will be installed as president. He will be joined on the exec-
Israel Bonds High Holy Day appeals are continuation of decades-long tradition A decades-old poster announcing Rosh Hashanah services for the year 5712 proclaims, “Open the New Year with a State of Israel Bond.” Nearly 60 years later, the essence and urgency of that message remains as relevant today as it was when the first Israel Bonds High Holy Day appeals were held in 1951. The appeals have been, and continue to be, among the most enduring aspects of the Bonds campaign, providing a means of connecting with Israel in a vital, tangible way. Over the years, the effectiveness of the appeals has translated
into millions of dollars for Israel’s development, as proceeds realized from the sale of Israel bonds have been utilized to strengthen the economy and support essential national infrastructure projects. This indispensible aspect of the Bonds organization has been repeatedly emphasized and praised by Israel’s foremost leaders. Most recently, President Shimon Peres declared, “The strong ties between Israel Bonds and the State of Israel...have been as resilient and fruitful as the land of Israel itself.” BONDS on page 19
utive committee by Andi Lerner Levenson and Danny Lipson as vice presidents, Mark Miller as treasurer, Mark Kanter as secretary, and Bruce Baker as immediate past president. Six new members will be joining the board. They are Bruce Ente, Suzy Marcus Goldberg, Elaine Kaplan, Amy Pescovitz, Bonnie Rabin and Max Yamson. The annual meeting will end with a mezuzah dedication of the new Jewish Family Service offices. Everyone is invited to stay for the Fit-Fun Day at the J from 3-9 p.m., where raffle tickets will also be on sale until the $10,000 Cash Raffle drawing at 8:45 p.m.
Seeking Volunteers to Visit Jewish Seniors in Nursing Homes Would you like to visit one or more Jewish Seniors in local nursing homes every week or two? “Be-Friend a Jewish Senior." Call Rabbi Yaakov Karp at 513-733-4400 or email rabbi@Jewish Educate.org. A project of JEEP! Jewish Education for Every Person.
SUMNER M. SAEKS AWARDED DISTINGUISHED CERTIFIED TURNAROUND PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATION CINCINNATI – Sumner M. Saeks, President of New Growth Advisors in Cincinnati, Ohio, has just been awarded the prestigious Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP) designation, the industry’s only objective measure of experience, knowledge and ethics required to conduct corporate renewal work at an exemplary level, and the most recognized certification of its kind in the country for turnaround professionals. The CTP designation is a mark of distinction for professionals who have demonstrated their commitment to the corporate renewal industry and to the highest possible level of excellence and integrity. It establishes quality standards for an otherwise unregulated profession. Those with CTP designations are expected to abide by the association’s Code of Ethics, to serve their clients in an independent, competent, and professional manner, and to exercise unprejudiced and unbiased judgment on their clients’ behalf. Saeks is one of only two other specialists in the entire Southern Ohio region to have earned this title, which recognizes expertise related to workouts, restructurings and corporate renewal. Applicants must meet specific standards of education, experience, and professional conduct. They must also successfully complete a rigorous examination that covers financial and managerial accounting and tax, turnaround and
crisis management, and bankruptcy and UCC law. CTPs are also required to participate in continuing education programs to maintain their certification. “In my 20 plus years working in the Corporate Renewal industry, I have seen first hand the myriad of concerns and emotions that nearly all owners and managers experience during trying times, leaving them feeling desperate and often, vulnerable,” says Saeks. “For that reason, they need to be able to bring someone in who they can trust implicitly… a turnaround professional who is as experienced as he or she is ethical,” he adds. “Hiring someone with a CTP designation assures them of both. That’s why I am proud to have been awarded this very distinguished certification!” With an extensive background in banking, corporate management and corporate renewal, Saeks has run corporations ranging in size from $65 million to $250 million as an interim manager, and has provided turnaround consulting services to companies with annual revenues from $5 million to over $1 billion. Saeks holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) the only international non-profit association dedicated to corporate renewal and turnaround management whose members adhere to a Code of Ethics specifying high standards of professionalism, integrity and competence. In addition, he is a member of The Tri-State Association for Corporate Renewal, The American Management Association, and the University of Chicago's Alumni Association, Cincinnati Chapter. To learn more about Sumner M. Saeks and New Growth Advisors, visit www.newgrowthadvisors.com or call 513-489-7399.
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From Qumran to New Jersey: Fragments of history from the Dead Sea Scrolls By Rebecca Boroson and Josh Lipowsky Jewish Telegraphic Agency TEANECK, N.J. (Jewish Standard) — Throngs of Jews walk past St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in this suburban New York city every Shabbat on their way to synagogue, unaware that the church is the caretaker of an ancient and precious piece of Jewish history. When Archbishop Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel arrived in New Jersey in 1949, he brought four scrolls and fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the earliest known texts of books of the Bible. Although the scrolls were later sold to an Israeli archeologist, Samuel kept the fragments. To this day they remain under the care of the Eastern Diocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church, which has its headquarters in Teaneck. “His eminence was really firm that he wanted [the fragments] to stay with the church because it’s been a privilege for our church to have those fragments and to make them again available,” said the church’s Very Rev. John Meno, who served as Samuel’s secretary from 1971 until the archbishop’s death in 1995. Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim, Samuel’s successor, is the official caretaker of the fragments, but could not be reached for comment. One fragment is on loan to the Milwaukee Public Museum — the first time the fragments have left Teaneck since they were returned in 1995 following a 25-year exhibition at the American Bible Society in New York City. (The fragments have been lent over the years to libraries and museums.) Concerned for the fragments’ security and proper care, Karim personally escorted them to Milwaukee. A number of archeological organizations have approached the church about selling the fragments. “I hope we’ll always be able to keep them and maintain them as they should be properly kept, and that they will always be available for scholars, old and young,” Meno said. The story of how the fragments ended up in Teaneck dates back to their initial discovery in 1947, when the first scrolls were found by the Bedouin in a cave in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. More than 900 were eventually discovered in the Judean desert, in 15,000 fragments. As Hershel Shanks, the founder
(Courtesy of Jerry Szubin)
The Very Rev. John Meno, secretary to the late Archbishop Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, tells of the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments’ sojourn to a Syrian church in Teaneck, N.J.
of the Biblical Archaeology Society and the editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, tells the tale in his 1992 book “Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls,” two Bedouin had arranged with Samuel to bring some of the scrolls from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. It was July 1947. “The tide of violence between Jew, Arab, and Briton,” which would culminate in the War of Independence, “was swelling. Jewish terrorism, mostly directed against the British, was beginning to be heavily felt in certain Arab areas. ...In this atmosphere Samuel became anxious when the Bedouin and their scrolls had not appeared by noon.” What happened? They had been turned away by a monk who saw, in Shanks’ words, that the scrolls they brought were “[p]robably old Torahs from somewhere, but filthy and covered with pitch or something else that smelled equally bad. These he steadfastly refused to allow within the monastery walls, still less into His Grace’s presence as the bearers demanded.” The Bedouin had gone back to Bethlehem, and it took two weeks before they and the scrolls could return to Jerusalem and Samuel, who bought them, according to Shanks, for what amounted to $97. Samuel then sought authentication and scholarly help. Eventually he made his way to the United States in 1949, to collect funds for Syrian Orthodox Christians affected by Israel’s War of Independence a year earlier. In 1952, the church appointed Samuel patriarchal vicar to the United States, and five years
later he was named the Syrian Orthodox archbishop of the United States and Canada and established St. Mark’s in Hackensack before it moved to Teaneck. Shanks, who was instrumental in widening scholars’ access to the scrolls, said that Samuel was unable to sell the scrolls. He exhibited them in the Library of Congress and then advertised them in The Wall Street Journal in 1954. (The ad has achieved a certain believe-it-or-not fame. Headed “The Four Dead Sea Scrolls,” it went on to say that “Biblical Manuscripts dating back to at least 200 BC are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group.” A box number at The Wall Street Journal was provided.) The sale of the four scrolls to Israeli archeologist Yigal Yadin for $250,000 was arranged through a front man, Shanks says -- the scholar Harry Orlinsky of Johns Hopkins University posing as a “Mr. Green.” Shanks, who in his 1992 book called the scrolls “the greatest manuscript discovery in the 20th century, certainly as concerns biblical studies,” wonders whether Samuel knew that he was selling them to Israel. In a telephone interview from Rehovoth Beach, Del., Shanks says the only reason Yadin got them so cheap is that Jordan, which controlled the West Bank when the scrolls were discovered, asserted a claim to them. While the proceeds of the sale were to go to Samuel’s church, the legal papers were poorly drawn and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service wound up with the lion’s share. Meno grew up hearing stories that the church housed the scrolls, but they had long been sold when he came to Teaneck in 1971. Still, as Samuel’s secretary, he frequently saw the fragments. “It’s an awesome thing to be able to hold in your hands documents of that age,” he said, “documents of the recorded word of God, documents that have played such a crucial and important role in biblical research and scholarship since they’ve been discovered. It’s a very special thing.” The archbishop, Meno said, created a trust fund upon his arrival in the United States to ensure that the scrolls could be properly tended. “He hoped the scrolls would remain here in the United States in proper housing and would be made accessible to scholars and to anyone who wanted to view them,” he said.
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Young Israel synagogues go head to head with headquarters over control By Jonah Lowenfeld Jewish Telegraphic Agency LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — A group of Young Israel synagogues is challenging the control being exerted by its central body, formally proposing changes to the constitution of the National Council of Young Israel. In an Aug. 3 letter to the leadership of the council, 35 of the organization’s 140 North American branch synagogues offer amendments that would make explicit for the first time the right of Young Israel branches to resign from the group voluntarily and repeal the clause that allows the national council to seize the assets of any branch synagogue that is dissolved or expelled. Together, the changes could significantly restrict the punitive actions taken by the council against its branches. The amendments are being proposed by synagogue leaders who say they do not wish to resign their shuls’ Young Israel memberships. “The shuls recognize that Young Israel is a valuable brand,” said Evan Anziska, a board member at Young Israel of Century City in Greater Los Angeles and a representative of the coalition of synagogues that sent the letter, which he signed. The coalition includes synagogues ranging in size from 50 members to as many as 1,000. “These 35 shuls represent a geographic cross-section of shuls across the country that have demonstrated by signing onto this effort that they’re concerned with the way the [council’s] constitution is currently structured,” Anziska said. Ultimately, he added, the group hopes to establish “a more constructive relationship” between the council and its member synagogues. The letter was addressed to the council’s board chairman, Rabbi Jonah Gewirtz, and sent without listing the names of any individuals or synagogues involved in the effort. It claims to represent “a coalition of over 50 delegates representing 25 percent of the branches of NCYI.” Twenty-five percent is the minimum number required to propose an amendment, according to the council’s constitution. The letter comes in response to a public dispute between the national council and a former
branch, the synagogue now known as Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse, N.Y. The synagogue was called Young Israel-Shaarei Torah of Syracuse until August 2008, when it attempted to resign from the national council. A lawyer for the council responded to Shaarei Torah a month later saying that the constitution does not permit branches to resign at will. At a meeting of delegates on June 24, the council attempted to vote on the expulsion of Shaarei Torah — a decision, council leaders claimed, precipitated by the synagogue’s failure to pay $20,000 in back dues. The synagogue claimed the real reason for the planned expulsion was its election of a female president in 2005, which is prohibited by the council’s constitution. The subject was placed on the meeting agenda in advance, sparking a vocal protest, particularly from Shaarei Torah. Had the shul been expelled, the council would have been entitled to seize its property, according to the constitution. The meeting, held as a conference call, was “contentious,” according to The New York Jewish Week. It broke up after council leaders “repeatedly refused” to discuss the matter, according to reports. Leaders from a number of Young Israel synagogues have since established a website and started to marshal support for changes to the council’s constitution — an effort that led to the Aug. 3 letter. In addition to the proposed amendments, the group’s website says its goal is to “peacefully resolve the situation” with the Syracuse synagogue and “preserve the credibility of the Young Israel name.” The letter calls for three amendments to be put on the agenda at the next NCYI Delegates Assembly meeting. The first would add a section to the constitution allowing branch synagogues to resign from the council; the constitution does not specify any way of resigning from the national body. Another amendment would repeal the constitution’s so-called “reversion clause,” the section that allows the council to seize the assets of any dissolved or expelled branch. The third amendment would prevent the council from initiating
litigation against a branch, former branch or any representative of a branch without the approval of two-thirds of the members of the Delegates Assembly. Avi Goldberg, president of the board of Young Israel of Brookline, Mass., who helped organize the synagogues and signed the Aug. 3 letter, called their outreach “a vote of confidence in [the council’s] leadership.” Freedom of choice strengthens the organization, he said. “We’re affirming the right of a branch to resign,” Goldberg said. “If that’s the case, people could walk away tomorrow. But that’s not what we want. We want people to stay in the organization because Young Israel means something.” Young Israel was founded in 1912 as an effort to attract young, English-speaking Jews to Orthodox synagogues, which at the time were dominated by Yiddish speakers. Today, Goldberg said, the Young Israel name means “that no matter where you go in the country, you can walk into any Young Israel, and you can know that the songs that they sing, the people that you meet and the environment will be comforting. The brand is that powerful. It is that strong.” “It’s about feeling a sense of belonging,” he said. Goldberg wondered whether the council leadership was on the same page as its constituents. “Are they in sync with that meaning?” he asked. “That’s where I think that the disconnect is.” The letter was sent to Gewirtz via e-mail, fax and certified mail. Council President Shlomo Mostofsky and Executive Vice President Pesach Lerner also received copies. Calls to all three were not returned. Anziska said that a “handful” of other Young Israel branches are considering signing onto the letter, which closed with a request for Gewirtz to call a special session of the Delegates Assembly, where the proposed amendments would be discussed and possibly voted on. The letter closes with a request that a special session be held on Sept. 1, “or another mutually acceptable date no later than September 30, 2010.” “We’ve tried to keep this a very positive message,” said Goldberg.
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Imaging tool offers advances for Peres plays politics Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship with Croatian past By Lois Goldrich The Jewish Standard
By Julia Gorin Jewish Telegraphic Agency
TEANECK, N.J. (Jewish Standard) — Digitizing Dead Sea Scroll fragments at a Syrian Orthodox church in New Jersey may have revealed a possible new tool for refining the dating of the scrolls, says the founder-director of a University of Southern California research project. “We were very pleased; it was a complete surprise,” said Bruce Zuckerman of the West Semitic Research Project and a professor of religion at USC. The four-member West Semitic Research Project group analyzing the photographs of documents shot over several days at St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in Teaneck for the first time used reflectance transformation imaging technology, or RTI, on Dead Sea Scrolls — an imaging tool first shown to Zuckerman a dozen years ago. The aim was to get a detailed picture of the texture of the skin of the scroll in order to gauge its condition primarily for purposes of conservation. Zuckerman also thought he might learn more about the hair follicle patterns on the skin. Pointing out that every skin is unique, “like a fingerprint,” Zuckerman said he hoped the technique might tell his team what kind of animal was used for the scrolls and would allow them to match fragments based on common patterns of follicles. Shooting a series of 32 images at different light angles — later combining them into a master image allowing him to move the light around — Zuckerman found that he could see the skin patterns very clearly. But even more, after enhancing the reflectivity of the surface, “we realized we could see the thicknesses of the ink strokes on top of the skin. In fact, we could even see the thicknesses of individual ink strokes and see which were made first, second, third.” This has significant implications for paleography, he said. Scholars traditionally have looked at the overall shape of the letters when studying ancient scripts. With RTI they can see much more, offering tantalizing new possibilities for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. One expert in the field has suggested that more than 50 of the scrolls were written by the same scribe, Zuckerman said. “She looked at them and evaluated them by eye, but if we could get RTI images of these texts, we would have better empirical evidence to guide and test this kind of expert opinion,” he said.
NEW YORK (JTA) — During his recent visit to Croatia, Shimon Peres said he believed the Nazis directed Croatian guards at Europe’s most sadistic concentration camp complex, Jasenovac, to be brutal. “I think they wanted them to have a demonstration of sheer sadism,” Peres said. But Croatia was uniquely entrusted to run its own concentration camps for a reason: Croatian violence needed no urging. It had no parallel in modern history, nor in modern horror cinema. While the Nazi manner of killing emphasized sterility and efficiency, the Croatian killing (with enthusiastic assistance from Bosnian Muslims) was slow, messy and savored. The character of the violence under the Hitlerallied Ustasha regime shocked even the Nazis, who wrote protest letters to their superiors — because of revulsion, because of Serbian revolts and because the Ustashas’ conduct was souring Axis-friendly peoples on Germany. Berlin never reined in the Croats, but the Italians did disband at least one Ustasha unit. Meanwhile, Croatian fuehrer Ante Pavelic boasted that in contrast to Hitler’s early deportation methods, “in Croatia we have almost completely solved the Jewish question.” Yet exterminating 80 percent of Croatia’s Jews was mere garnish to the main dish that an alliance with Germany promised: eradicating the Serbs. “Kill a third, deport a third, and convert a third” was official policy. Peres’ error wasn’t a mistake but politics. Israel and Croatia have been improving relations, and Peres is sensitive to Croatia’s being in the midst of European Union accession. So he put the onus of guilt on safe German shoulders. But while Germany has admitted a thousand times to its Nazi past, Croatia still has not come to terms with its World War II crimes — and with world powers continuing to whitewash them it never will. Thus it is that Croatia tried to sue Serbia for events in a much more recent war, which Croatia itself began, without ever answering for its own incomparably bloody, more vast and less mutual crimes of WWII. Because Croatia was never made to admit, apologize or de-Nazify, it enjoyed a Nazi revival in the 1990s at which
Yeshiva University
Steven Fine, left, of Yeshiva University, and Kenneth Zuckerman of the West Semitic Research Project photograph a Dead Sea Scrolls fragment using Highlight-RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging)
“It got us all very excited,” he added, noting that his Teaneck team included longtime colleague and West Semitic Research Project associate director Marilyn Lundberg, Yeshiva University history professor Steven Fine and Zuckerman’s brother Kenneth, a technical photographer with some 30 years experience photographing ancient texts, whom he credits with developing many of the techniques used by West Semitic. The research project — created to make available high-resolution images of ancient Near Eastern texts — was founded by Zuckerman in the early 1980s. The group focuses primarily on areas along the Mediterranean, looking at texts in Hebrew or in similar languages. Zuckerman said he had known about the Teaneck fragments for a long time, “though not exactly what was there.” He said he received a call last year from Weston Fields, executive director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, who wanted to support an exhibition of scrolls at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Fields told Zuckerman that he had approached Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim of the Teaneck church. “He said that no one had carefully examined the scrolls for a long time and asked if he could take a fragment to Milwaukee. The arch-
bishop was gracious and sincerely interested in being helpful to scholars,” Zuckerman said. “He said he would allow one fragment to be used there.” Zuckerman said Fields further proposed that it would be a good time to get the fragments photographically documented, something that had not been done since the 1940s. Zuckerman said he would make it happen. Zuckerman said he has done some work with Dead Sea Scroll fragments at Azusa Pacific University in California and hopes by the end of this month to have begun work on a collection in Fort Worth, Texas. He said he has just begun to test the combination of RTI and infrared imaging. While the latter has proved effective with scrolls, “no one has ever applied both together. We’ve adapted a camera that will allow us to do that.” Whether his new technology will change the face of scholarship still remains to be determined, said Zuckerman. “But I am confident that it will change things, that we will have a level and quality of information that we didn’t have before,” he said. “How that plays out in terms of what we learn, I don’t know. We have to take this step by step and see how it goes.”
Julia Gorin
time Israel declined friendship. News reports now finally mention Croatia’s ‘90s Nazi rebirth, along with the fact that only since 2000 have Croatian governments denounced fascism. The Associated Press, for instance, in reports covering the Peres trip stated that 1990s Croatia was “sympathetic to the WWII regime and its late president, Franjo Tudjman, had downplayed the fascists’ crimes.” Leaving aside that these wellhidden ‘90s facts are being presented suddenly as common knowledge by the same media that suppressed them, one must point out the irony of Peres inviting Holocaust deniers such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit Jasenovac. After all, Croatia continues to downplay its own Holocaust, with the Jasenovac memorial neglecting to name a single culprit. The memorial also minimizes the number killed there to 85,000, a Tudjmanera concoction — some estimates say that as many as 700,000 were killed at the camp. Acknowledging one’s bloody past is certainly easier when it’s on one’s own terms. Adding insult to injury, the revisionist figure is cited by world dignitaries and Holocaust museums that deign to mention the genocide of Serbs at all. Yet if one looks at the WWII timeline, the genocide in Croatia, which had the earliest functioning death camp, set a precedent. If a genocide had been carried out successfully in Catholic Croatia, with the Vatican silent, how hard was it to repeat the model in the rest of Europe? If Peres thinks Israel will be rewarded for helping Croatia downplay its under-recorded WWII crimes, he might recall how well Croatian Jews’ loyalty to secessionist Croatia against their country of citizenship, Yugoslavia, served them in the ‘90s.
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Israel’s cooperation on U.N. inquiry signals tactical shift By Uriel Heilman Jewish Telegraphic Agency NEW YORK (JTA) — The decision by Israel to participate in the U.N. probe of the Turkish flotilla incident marks a stark departure from Jerusalem’s practice of opposing the world body’s investigations of Israeli actions. A year-and-a-half ago, faced with a similar decision when the U.N. Human Rights Council decided to appoint a fact-finding mission to investigate Israel and Hamas’ actions during the Gaza war, Israel boycotted the inquiry led by retired South African judge Richard Goldstone. Israel would pay a heavy diplomatic price: The Goldstone report was harshly critical of Israel and generated months of negative publicity for the Jewish state. A year later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking the opposite course with the U.N. review panel looking into the May 31 flotilla confrontation. Nine Turks, including a dual Turkish-American citizen, were killed in the melee that ensued when Israeli commandos tried to board the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla of ships sailing for
IDF / Flash90 / JTA
Footage taken from cameras aboard the Mavi Marmara show passengers apparently preparing for a confrontation with Israeli soldiers, May 31, 2010.
Gaza in a bid to break Israel’s blockade of the strip. The incident drew worldwide condemnation of Israel. “Israel has nothing to hide. The opposite is true,” Netanyahu said in a statement Monday. “It is in the national interest of the State of
Israel to ensure that the factual truth of the overall flotilla events comes to light throughout the world, and this is exactly the principle that we are advancing.” The U.N. inquiry out of New York will be led by a former prime
minister of New Zealand, Geoffrey Palmer, and will include the outgoing president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, as well as a Turkish and an Israeli representative who have yet to be named. The panel is expected to begin its work Aug. 10 and submit a progress report in mid-September. The decision to cooperate with the U.N. probe comes after two months of Israel resisting calls for an international inquiry and signals a tactical shift for Israel when it comes to dealing with U.N. investigations of its actions. It marks the first time that Israel will be part on a U.N. committee looking into Israeli actions. “This could be viewed as a new approach,” confirmed a source at Israel’s embassy in Washington. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed it as an “unprecedented development.” Israel’s decision to cooperate on the probe follows weeks of urging by the Obama administration, but it’s also a way for Israel to mollify Turkey, which had threatened to sever diplomatic ties with the Jewish state unless Israel acceded to an international probe or apologized for the flotilla deaths.
Israel had launched its own investigations of the incident. An Israel Defense Forces investigation found intelligence failures in the IDF’s preparations for stopping the flotilla but no fault with the soldiers’ actions, and a government committee probe is still ongoing. Turkey, however, was not satisfied. Concerned about the rupture between Turkey and Israel over the incident and its long-term implications for the future of the Middle East, the Obama administration was keen on finding a way for a probe that would satisfy both Turkey’s demands for an international inquiry and Israel’s concerns about bias against it. The new probe was the result of negotiations with Israel and Turkey. “For the past two months, I have engaged in intensive consultation with the leaders of Israel and Turkey on the setting up of a panel of inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May,” the U.N. secretary-general said in a statement Monday. Ban said he hoped the inquiry would “impact positively on the relationship between Turkey and Israel as well as the overall situation in the Middle East.”
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$100 million facelift transforms Israel Museum By Dina Kraft Jewish Telegraphic Agency JERUSALEM (JTA) – A tawny sandstone sculpture of Nimrod, an ancient Hebrew warrior and hunter figure with a razor-straight back and proud stare, sits at the intersection between modern Israeli art and native art from Africa and the South Pacific at the recently renovated Israel Museum. The 1939 sculpture by Israeli artist Yitzhak Danzinger is an example of the kind of cultural and aesthetic contextual links that James Synder, the Israel Museum director, hopes to evoke in the reopening of the museum following a $100 million facelift he calls a “renewal.” “It’s like a double helix,” said Snyder, who came to the Israel Museum in 1997 after 22 years at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, whirling his hand in the air to mimic a double helix’s shape. “The culture of the region and the culture of the world — they wrap around each other.” The museum now stretches out on its sprawling 20-acre hilltop campus in Jerusalem across from the Knesset as a sleek and, indeed, renewed version of its former self. Streamlined and expanded with 204,500 square feet for its refreshed collection galleries, archeology, the fine arts, and Jewish art and life are now easily accessible in one large exhibit hall designed with the guiding theme in mind of how objects and art can resonate across time and cultures. The archeology wing, which traces the development of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, boasts a “House of David” — an inscription from the ninth century BCE seen as part of a monumental stone. It’s considered the earliest source backing archeological evidence that there was a dynasty sprung from King David in the Land of Israel. On display for the first time anywhere is a rare Crusader-era fresco that was on the wall of a 12th century Jerusalem abbey. Fewer holdings are now on display amid almost twice the space. And there is no more trekking up a long pathway exposed to a broiling Jerusalem sun by summer or the cold winds and rains of winter. Visitors to the country’s largest cultural institution now reach the museum through an enclosed underground passage featuring a translucent glass wall on one side. At the highest point on the museum’s outdoor grounds is a gleaming 16-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture in the shape of an hourglass specially commissioned for the museum’s reopening. Titled “Turning the World Upside Down, Jerusalem,” the work by the renowned Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor reflects, upside down, the city’s skies and landscape.
Tim Hursley, courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Renewed galleries in the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Tim Hursley, courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The renewed Upper Entrance Hall at the Israel Museum, featuring highlights from the contemporary art collection.
Tim Hursley, courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Daytime view of the new main entry at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, including the entry/ticketing pavilion, left, and retail pavilion, right.
“Jerusalem is all about a very special relationship between the ground and the sky. This work attempts to bring the two together,” Kapoor said, describing the sculpture to the Calcutta Telegraph. Asked how he completed the massive undertaking of overhauling the museum both on schedule (three years) and on budget in a country where such feats rarely happen, Synder answered, “Singlemindedness.” It was Teddy Kollek, also known for having a driving vision, who came up with the vision of the Israel Museum back in the 1950s. It was a time when most people in the fledgling state were focused on survival, not cultivating a world-class collection of art and archeology. Under Kollek’s guidance, the museum was opened in 1965, the same year he became mayor of Jerusalem, with modernist architecture designed by Alfred Mansfeld and Dora Gad. Under Snyder’s direction, the original architectural sensibility was preserved as much as possible by the architects leading the projects, James Carpenter Design Associates of New York and Efrat-Kowalksy Architects of Tel Aviv. “The point of our project is not about new architecture and re-engineering in the building,” Synder said in an interview with JTA in his sunny office. “The point wanted to be about changing the way you present content.” “The museum’s view had been a little bit that we are many museums under one roof, and I kept saying what’s amazing about this place
is to find this breadth in one museum,” said Synder, an immaculate dresser who stands out in scrappy Israel with his rounded orange glasses, tie and blazer. Over the years the museum, which has active and generous friends associations abroad, has acquired a 500,000-piece collection. Along with its Judaica and fine arts holdings, the museum long has been known for its outstanding regional archeology holdings. A major showcase has always been the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are housed in their own building. More than $80 million of the renewal project was raised privately in Israel and around the world through individuals, families and foundations. Another $17.5 million came from the Israeli government. Defending critics of the museum’s “universalist” approach, Synder says, “How can you avoid it? Look where we are — in Jerusalem, at the crossroads of the ancient world, where Europe meets Asia meets Africa and where monotheism happened. So if not here, where?” The Jewish art and life gallery is designed to provide a view of Jewish life from the Middle Ages to the modern day showing both its secular and sacred dimensions. A highlight is a new synagogue route, which has the interiors of four synagogues, including ones from Germany, Italy and India. The most spectacular of all is a newly restored 18th synagogue from Suriname, a tiny South American country north of Brazil whose Jewish community, of Spanish and Portuguese origin, took root there a century before. In the 1990s, with the Suriname Jewish community rapidly disappearing and the synagogue no longer functioning, the Israel Museum acquired the synagogue and brought its interior — white walls, large windows and sand-coated floor — and contents to Jerusalem. Upstairs on the upper entrance hall of the fine arts wing, a much different image looms. It’s a towering sculpture of an African refugee boy in Israel made from Styrofoam and painted black. Israeli artist Ohad Meromi’s 2001 “The Boy from South Tel Aviv” stands in front of a painting of different colored polka dots by renowned English artist Damien Hirst. Snyder thinks the sculpture of this underclass boy with a sense of majesty about him, as he describes it, has found its perfect home surrounded by the Hirst piece and others nearby that draw from African and European themes. “It’s all about cultural synthesis in contemporary culture,” he said, his face breaking into a smile. Then, adding what might be true for the renewed Israel Museum as a whole, Snyder says, “I hope we can keep it up.”
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2010
SOCIAL LIFE
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A N N O U N C E M E N TS ENGAGEMENT r. Maria and Mr. Gregory Chernyak are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Dr. Yelena Chernyak, to Thomas Conor Larkin. Thomas is the son of Thomas J. and Alecia L. Larkin of Carmel, Ind. Yelena and Conor met as they completed their bachelor’s degrees at Indiana University - Bloomington in 2005. They later pursued graduate school in Philadelphia, Pa. Yelena completed her Ph.D. at Drexel University, while Thomas completed his J.D. at Widener University. Yelena is a clinical psychologist with the Cleveland Clinic and Thomas is an attorney. The couple currently resides in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Their wedding is planned for February 2012.
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Dr. Yelena Chernyak and Thomas Conor Larkin
WEDDING huck and Eileen Brinn announce the recent marriage of their daughter Jodi to Jason Holtz. Jason is the son of Richard and Rochelle Holtz of Ormond Beach, Fla. Jodi is the granddaughter of Len and Iris Rand, Elaine and the late Albert Brinn and the late Melvyn and Yetta Littman. Jodi earned an elementary and special education degree from Indiana University. Jason earned his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and was recently ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Jodi and Jason are currently living in Tucson, Ariz. where Jason is the assistant rabbi at Temple Emmanuel and Jodi is teaching first grade. The wedding was held in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Hilton, Hall of Mirrors on April 24, 2010.
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Jason Holtz and Jodi Brinn
Frieda Berger Fraida bat Raizel
Pepa Kaufman Perel Tova bat Sima Sora
Daniel Eliyahu Daniel ben Tikvah
Murray Kirschner Chaim Meir ben Basha
Mel Fisher Moshe ben Hinda
Alan Schwartzberg Avraham Pesach ben Mindel
Edith Kaffeman Yehudit bat B’racha
Ravid Sulam Ravid Chaya bat Ayelet
Roma Kaltman Ruchama bat Perl
Edward Ziv Raphael Eliezer Aharon ben Esther Enya
CINCINNATI JEWISH LIFE th 16 Annual JCC Adams Golf Classic
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The JCC recognized Nancy and David Wolf for their significant input in planning the construction of the Mayerson JCC. David continues his involvement with JCC facilities optimization, and Nancy serves on the building arts committee. Nancy and David are both longtime supporters of the arts. They helped with development of the Contemporary Arts Center and established a contemporary art exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The stunning sculpture entitled “The Light” at the entrance to the Mayerson JCC was created by renowned artist Albert Paley, and is a gift from the Wolfs. With the generous support of many sponsors and participants, the Mayerson JCC raised close to $90,000 at this year’s event. Proceeds benefit the many vital programs and services of the Mayerson JCC, including Summer Camp at the J, the JCC Early Childhood School, JCC Maccabi Games for teens, cultural arts and sports programs for all ages, the JCC Senior Center for older adults, and more.
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Bella Luna – Mama Mia recipes, that’s Italian! By Marylin Gale Dining Editor Mama mia recipes, carnival charm and affable Harry Stephens presents an Italian restaurant brimming with the energy of his ancestors. That was the first thing Stephens told me as I sat down with him in the lounge of Bella Luna, my attention going from my laptop to the walls and counters where odd shaped lamps, mirrors and posters conveyed a festive New Orleans/Sicily ambience. Yes, an unusual combination but also a unique dining experience. You might wonder why Stephens and I were chatting about his ancestors. Yet, we know that when it comes to food, we get our earliest memories from our grandmothers, whose creativity usually found an outlet in the kitchen. If we were fortunate enough to come from homes where food was nurturing and an act of sharing, then my opening question to Stephens, how did you get into restaurant work, was logical. “I come from a large Italian family from N.Y., Croton on the Hudson to be exact. My mother was 20th out of 21 children. We were a close family. We cooked. I’ve been in the restaurant business in some way, shape or form since age 12. I have an undergraduate degree in education— when I graduated from college, I was earning $3,500 a year in my first teaching job. But I also tended bar, and I made more money doing that than teaching. So it became a simple case of mathematics and I began to travel all over country, working for hotel and restaurant chains and got a fantastic foundation for making the restaurant business a vocation. I also cooked with my mom, grandmother and aunt. From them, I learned that if you cannot do everything in your restaurant, you will soon no longer be in your restaurant,” said Stephens. Lucky for Greater Cincinnati residents, Stephens took an interest in his family’s culinary arts. We reap the benefits and bounty of regional Italian cooking with a special emphasis on Sicily and Calabria cuisine—Stephens’
Harry Stephens, owner, sings Frank Sinatra tunes on Friday and Saturday nights.
ancestral homeland. Bella Luna, located at the end of Eastern Avenue, near Lunken Airport, is a destination restaurant, a dining spot stuck in the middle of nowhere. According to Stephens, “If it was in (one of) the perceived hot spots of the town, you’d never get in.”
Scrumptious bread pudding awaits you at the Bella Luna Cafe.
If good, filling food is synonymous with Italian, then Bella Luna is the restaurant you want to go to. In existence for nine years, the lovely name comes from a line from the movie Moonstruck. “Nine years ago, there were seven Italian restaurants on the east side, now there are only two.
It doesn’t make any difference where you are located,” said Stephens, “if it is good, people will come.” “Either customers are extremely surprised or disappointed—surprised at the quality of the food and the robust hospitality, but possibly disappointed that there is no fancy silverware or pretentious wine list, no foo foo Italian, nothing matches, and that was intentional. When one is raised by a mother who was number 20 of 21 siblings, getting a lot of hand-medowns and recycled dishes feel like home,” added Stephens. Stephens’ business philosophy is to make people happy. This value creates a comfortable environment and turns hospitality into an art. Stephens talked about how the restaurant industry has changed over time. Fifty years ago, restaurants were motivated by hospitality, now they are driven by the bottom line. Not so at Bella Luna, where families come to celebrate their joys and mitzvahs. “There is a lot of hugging and kissing in this place,” said Stephens, a big smile spreading across his friendly face. When I asked Stephens for his menu recommendations, he immediately suggested sweet potato gnocchi, describing this
choice as a splash across your palate with its pungent flavor of gorgonzola mixed with sweet potato. For meat, he’d dine on veal scaloppini, cut fresh and pounded into tender slices every day, no pre-made cutlets in this establishment. The marinara sauce is Stephens’ grandmother’s recipe which doesn’t use as much sugar as is traditionally found in the Midwest. Bella Luna’s eggplant lasagna won this year’s Best of the Taste of Cincinati vegetarian entrée, a heart-healthy portion of eggplant, squash, fresh mozzarella and a seasonably fresh yellow tomato marinara sauce. For starters, the fungi al forno looked tasty; baked mushroom caps filled with shallots, cream and parmesan. The Bella Luna insalata; field greens, roasted red pepper, figs and gorgonzola served with a honey balsamic vinaigrette can be ordered in large and small portion sizes. Mushroom ravioli, dough pockets stuffed with ricotta cheese and portabellas, topped with a sweet red pepper sauce and gorgonzola cheese was a new addition to the summer menu. Pasta entrees are typically in the $14 - $18 range. Don’t forget Bella Luna’s award-winning bread pudding. With a firm cake consistency nestled under an amaretto sauce, even people who have said they don’t eat bread pudding report this luscious dessert as a masterful creation. Stephens credits his wife and business partner, Gay, with the recipe. Regional specials are offered every three months in addition to the Bella Luna favorites. A band plays Sinatra-style music and standards on Friday and Saturday nights. Perhaps the most appealing item is maestro Harry Stephens singing old Blue Eye’s favorites and providing an ambience of vintage style Italy with pizzazz. Eat, drink and be merry must surely be the mantra at Bella Luna. Bella Luna Café 4632 Eastern Avenue Cincinnati 513-871-5862
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DINING OUT 9797 Montgomery Rd
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OPINION
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Abuse of Power The Jewish world reportedly has six months before the Rotem Bill (or some facsimile thereof) returns to the Knesset for further consideration. That should allow us all to more leisurely – and hopefully more reasonably – not only assess the bill’s strengths and weaknesses but ponder a troubling issue peripheral to the legislation, but which was engendered by it. The bill’s essential aim is to allow non-Jewish Israelis a greater choice of religious courts than presently. The bill, further, formalized the decades-old religious status quo placement of conversion in Israel under the auspices of the country’s official Chief Rabbinate. On cue, the Jewish Federations of America, local Jewish Federations, Reform and Conservative leaders and an assortment of pundits all, as they say, went ballistic at the notion that halacha, or Jewish religious law, would determine conversion standards in Israel. That, despite the fact that the Rabbinate has overseen conversion in Israel since the country’s founding. The combusting protesters fantasized that the bill would prevent converts to the Reform or Conservative movements from immigrating to Israel under the Law of Return, that it would have some unidentified but grave impact on American nonOrthodox Jews, and that (here, more a threat than a fantasy) it would alienate such Jews from the Jewish State. They raised the specter of Jews being pulled off the streets in Israel to have their Jewishness revoked, and offered incendiary imagery (like a cartoon showing a shiny water cooler in Israel labeled “Orthodox-Certified Jews” beside an old-fashioned water fountain for “Reform, Conservative and Secular Jews only”). Seldom if ever has so much misinformation and ill will been sown by people ostensibly concerned with truth and Jewish unity. A sensible if lonely voice in the wilderness was that of Reform Rabbi Mark Golub, the president of Shalom TV, who decried the Reform and Conservative movement for “overstat[ing] the threat the bill posed,” and “unnecessarily anger[ing] large numbers of uninformed Jews over a bill which does not actually address them at all.” He also took the Anglo-Jewish media to task for “failing to separate fact from hysteria.”
Rabbi Golub noted further what he considers “the most disturbing aspect of the campaign” in America against the Rotem bill: “the subtle suggestion that the bill would jeopardize the bond between Diaspora Jewry and the State of Israel and would therefore threaten the security and future of the Jewish State.” It was indeed dismaying to read comments like that of the executive vice president of the Conservative movement’s rabbinic group, who contended that the bill’s effect on Israel’s relationship with Jews in America would be “damaging to Israel’s security” – a none-tooveiled “prediction” that if Israel didn’t toe the non-Orthodox line (ill-informed though it might be), American Jews might no longer see Israel as worthy of their support. More dismaying still was the intervention of Jewish members of the United States Senate. It was widely reported in mid-July that a letter about the Rotem bill had been drafted by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and circulated among other Jewish members of Congress’ upper house for signature. The missive, presumably intended for Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, reportedly expressed the concern of its signatories concerning the Israeli bill. A spokesman for one signatory to the letter (the text of which has not been made public), Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, referred to his boss’ judgment that the Israeli bill is “divisive” and to his hope that “the Knesset does not pass” it. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan was quoted as saying he was “troubled by a proposal which I believe would make it more difficult for many people who want to convert to do so.” It is not unheard of for members of Congress to express their feelings about human rights or other fundamental issues to representatives of other countries. But if ever there has been a case of American legislators seeking to influence another government’s consideration of an entirely domestic concern – here, conversions performed in the State of Israel – much less one addressing a religious issue, it has remained well hidden (and for good reason). Ratcheting up the reason for dismay considerably is the unspoken but hardly untelegraphed implication of the Senators’ letter: that they themselves, as legislators who vote on matters pertinent to Israel’s security, are troubled by the Rotem bill. It would not be unreasonable for Israel to interpret such a message as a warning, one particularly
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Do you have something to say? E-mail your letter to editor@americanisraelite.com
Dear Editor, Some naiveté can neither be excused nor overlooked. Barbara Glueck’s comments on The Cordoba Center are a prime example. While she claims to speak for the AJC, I find it hard to believe that she expresses the feeling of most of its members. Has she ever heard of Cordoba, Spain, for which this site is obviously named? After the Muslim conquest of Spain, that is where they set up their capital,
and built their mosques to celebrate their conquest. In fact, the Muslims have made it a practice to build mosques to celebrate their conquests, preferably over the sites of great churches or temples. The Dome of the Rock is one example. The Muslim conquerors of Jerusalem deliberately built their mosque over the site of our Holy Temple as a show of their superiority. In all these cases, non Muslims became second class citizens. While Glueck’s commend-
able desire may be to show tolerance, radical Muslims will interpret it as weakness on our part and victory on their part. When Muslims let Christians and Jews build churches and synagogues in Mecca in order to foster peace and understanding, then we can consider their building a mosque somewhere near ground zero in New York. Jerome Liner Montgomery, OH
T EST Y OUR T ORAH KNOWLEDGE THIS WEEK’S PORTION: SHOFTIM (DEVARIM 16:18—21:9) 1. What laws are brought down before the laws of going to war? a.) Prohibitions against superstition b.) Laws of city of refuge c.) Judicial laws concerning witnesses 2. Who says “Hear Israel”? a.) The Priest before going to battle b.) A judge before he passes sentence c.) Moshe 3. How many witnesses must see a crime to testify in a Beth Din? a.) One ness does not add more credibility to the first two witnesses. 4. C 21:3 5. A 21:5 Only tzaraat was decided by a Kohen. All other cases in a Jewish court of law did not need a Kohen. But, all other cases are only judged during the day, like a question of tzaraat.
Rabbi Avi Shafran Contributing Columnist
b.) Two c.) Three 4. Which city brings a sacrifice when a corpse is found nearby? a.) Largest city b.) The city which offers first c.) City closest to the corpse 5. Which cases are adjudicated by Priests? a.) Tzaraat b.) Murder c.) Theft d.) Damages ANSWERS 1. C 19:21,20:1 The juxtaposition teaches that with the merit of judging correctly, The Children of Israel would win their wars. (Tehilim 119:121) Rashi 2. A 20:2,3 Even with only the merit of saying Shma Yisrael, Hashem can help. Rashi 3. B 19:15 Two witnesses are needed to decide a case by witnesses only. A third wit-
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Written by Rabbi Dov Aaron Wise
ill conceived, let alone ill timed. Perhaps at the very top of the “disturbing” column, though, is the question of what brought about
domestic concerns and legislative proposals, somehow just caught wind of the Rotem bill on his own and felt compelled to try to do
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan was quoted as saying he was “troubled by a proposal which I believe would make it more difficult for many people who want to convert to do so.” the Senatorial stab at an Israeli internal affair in the first place. It is certainly possible that Senator Wyden, despite his full plate of
something about it. But it is known that representatives of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, repre-
sentatives of the Union for Reform Judaism and officials of the Jewish Federations of North American were making the rounds on Capitol Hill several days before the first reports of the letter appeared. If it turns out that American Jewish communal leaders took upon themselves to pressure American elected officials to meddle in the domestic affairs of another country, particularly in a matter of no concern to the vast majority of those officials’ constituents (and in fact contrary to the concerns of a good portion of their Jewish ones), would that constitute a responsible wielding of communal clout, or an egregious, unprecedented abuse of the same? Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2010
JEWISH LIFE
17
Sedra of the Week by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
SHABBAT SHALOM: PARSHAT SHOFTIM DEUTERONOMY 16:18-21:9
If Judaism had a mission statement, what might it be? How can we sort out the incidental from the essence so that the ideas and ideals do not get lost in the latest scandal threatening to undermine our exalted mission? Furthermore, is there a connection between the vocation (“calling”) of Israel and the tearstained, blood-soaked history of our nation, between the “curses” we experienced at the destruction of both Temples and the antiSemitic persecutions of our long exile, continuing today with the losses we suffer in war and terrorist attacks? Why has Israel as a nation not known a day of genuine peace since its rebirth 62 years ago? I feel hounded by these questions because of images which keep returning to my mind. First, the beautiful, gentle and innocent face of Uriel Liwerant of blessed memory, his clear and sensitive eyes framed by slightly lop-sided glasses, his humble, bashful smile, and his quick mind dedicated to the study of Torah. Uriel was a beloved child of Efrat, a 21-year-old tank commander who was killed a year ago when his tank overturned while crossing a bridge during a military training maneuver. Then other images, clashing with the sweet goodness of Uriel, also plague my mind, people who should never be mentioned in the same sentence as Uriel. I’m speaking of the terrible violator of public trust, Bernard Madoff, with his baseball cap and supercilious smile, arguably among the worst scoundrels of all time. And the too often repeated money-laundering and fraud perpetrated through “Torah” institutions in the Diaspora, and here in Israel. Here in Israel a prominent leader of a major religious political party, bearing the title of rabbi is sentenced to a lengthy prison term for accepting bribes and violating the public trust. I feel tainted, ashamed and embarrassed. “Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue” must guide our steps. We must return to basics and understand why God “elected” us in the first place. Who was the first truly righteous man in the Torah? Abraham was not chosen because he was a rich shepherd, or because he had a brilliant mind. “... I have known, loved and appointed [Abraham] in order that he commands his children and household after him to observe the way of the Lord,
which is to do compassionate righteousness [tzedaka] and moral justice [mishpat].” This is why God promised to “make of Abraham a great and powerful nation through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed” (Genesis 18:18,19).
and the orphan. He rejects the prayers of “observant” Jews whose hands are filled with blood or ill-gotten gains. “Learn well: seek moral justice, straighten out world corruption, judge the orphan, plead the case for the widow... Zion shall be redeemed
MODERN ORTHODOX SERVICE Daily Minyan for Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, Shabbat Morning Service and Shalosh Seudas. Kiddush follows Shabbat Morning Services
...Bernard Madoff, with his baseball cap and supercilious smile, arguably among the worst scoundrels of all time. And the too often repeated money-laundering and fraud perpetrated through “Torah” institutions in the Diaspora, and here in Israel. If we have any doubt as to Abraham’s “mission,” all we have to do is turn to the following verse and note that the subject is the ethical and moral corruption of Sodom and Gomorrah, the direct cause of their destruction. Clearly, what God expects of Abraham and his descendants is to teach compassionate righteousness and moral justice to the world: Only if these principles of ethical action become the sacred legacy of humanity will the nations be blessed with freedom and peace, secure in their knowledge that belligerence and selfishness have been replaced by conciliation and generosity. Israel’s “mission” is repeated right before God enters into a covenant with His nation and reveals the Ten Commandments: “And now, if you shall internalize, indeed internalize My voice and observe My covenant, you shall be for Me a treasure from among all nations; for the entire earth is Mine. You must be for Me a kingdom of priest—teachers and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5,6; see Sforno ad loc). Our covenantal position in the world—indeed the very continued existence of the world—depends on our success in bringing these values to the nations. And it is common sense that if we ourselves fail to live up to these ideals, we will not be able to teach them to the world! The Bible warns us twice, in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, that if we reject this ethical covenant, we will have to suffer at the hands of the nations we failed to teach. Nahmanides identifies these warnings as prophecies of the destruction of the two Temples. Isaiah declares that God despises our attentiveness to ritual if we turn a blind eye to the widow
[only] by means of moral justice, and her residents will return only by means of righteous compassion”—tzedaka u-mishpat, the two virtues which were the basis for Abraham’s initial election. (Isaiah 1: 17-27). Hence, when Isaiah calls on Israel to rouse itself, to bedeck itself in the garments of Zion’s glory, to shake off the dust (of exile), arise and return to Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:1-2), he also admonishes Israel to understand that it is the suffering servant, scorned and bereft and hurt, covered in ashes, racked with suffering; bearing the world’s iniquities, the sores that come from a willingness to suffer evil and ignore the violation of the innocent (Isaiah 53). Israel is the heart of the world, its conscience. We suffer because we did not —and are not—fulfilling our mission to teach the nations. And now even the best of us are under the illusion that being religious means eating a Shabbat cholent after synagogue or attending a concert with separate seating. The prophet Jeremiah tells us what we must honor: “Thus says the Lord: do not praise the wise person for his wisdom; do not praise the strong person for his strength; do not praise the wealthy person for his wealth. But for this shall be praised the praiseworthy: understand and know Me, because I am the Lord who does loving-kindness, moral justice and compassionate righteousness on earth, because it is these that I love, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:22, 23). Shabbat Shalom Shlomo Riskin Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
RABBI HANAN BALK & ASSISTANT RABBI STUART LAVENDA
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3100 LONGMEADOW LANE • CINCINNATI, OH 45236 791-1330 • www.templesholom.net Miriam Terlinchamp, Rabbi Marcy Ziek, President Gerry H. Walter, Rabbi Emeritus August 13 6:00 pm Shabbat Nosh 6:30 pm Shabbat Evening Service
August 20 6:00 pm Shabbat Nosh 6:30 pm Shabbat Evening Service
August 14 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
August 21 10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service
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JEWZ IN THE NEWZ
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom Contributing Columnist BAR/BAT MITZVAH TALES Last week, GABRIELLE BIRKNER, a reporter with the Forward newspaper, wrote an item about how now-famous actor PAUL RUDD (“I Love You Man,” “Dinner for Schmucks’) had been the D.J. at her 1992 bat mitzvah. She said that Rudd “turned-out to be the perfect choice for the event.” I long knew that Rudd worked as a bar/bat mitzvah D.J. while trying to break into acting, but I never saw him “in action” until Birkner posted, online, the parts of her bat mitzvah video that included Rudd. A couple of weeks ago, a Rochester, N.Y. newspaper had an item about local dentist STEPHEN KORN, 50. He had just fixed, for free, the teeth of former child actor Brandon Cruz, 48. Cruz, who played Bill Bixby’s son on the hit ‘60s TV show, “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” has been a punk rock singer for the last 30 years. Cruz broke a lot of his teeth on the microphone. He couldn’t afford $40,000 in reconstructive surgery and asked for help on his website. Korn visited the website and saw the message. He went to the site because he was just looking to say “hello” to Cruz, who he met in 1972 when both were in Israel— Korn was in Israel to have his bar mitzvah and Cruz was there making a movie. The Independent, a UK paper, just ran a long profile of MARK ZUCKERBERG, 26, the founder and CEO of Facebook (now valued at $40 billion). The Independent reports that Zuckerberg, the son of a dentist father (who billed himself as the “painless Dr. Z”) and a psychologist mother, had an early passion for Hebrew and for the sport of fencing. The latter interest might have been inspired by “Star Wars”—and “Star Wars” was the theme of Mark’s bar mitzvah. Finally, the website Backstage recently ran a charming profile of actress Cameron Diaz, written by FERN CHAMPION, the casting agent who discovered her. Diaz, a model, was looking to break into acting in 1994. Champion was looking for an actress to co-star opposite Jim Carrey in “The Mask.” Long story short: Champion took a big chance on the inexperienced Diaz and gave her
the part because she was bowledover by Diaz’s naturalness, good humor and infectious giggle. In 2001, Diaz attended the bar mitzvah of Champion’s son, SPENCER. Diaz was a big star by then and she made the bar mitzvah boy feel really special by refusing to dance with anyone but him. Last summer, Fern and Spencer were honored guests at the ceremony in which Diaz was given her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. COMINGS AND GOINGS JEFF GOLDBLUM, 57, has announced that he doesn’t plan to return for a third season as the costar of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” The whole future of the show is in flux, which may have influenced Goldblum’s decision. The show was moved from NBC to the (cable) USA Network station in 2007 to save on costs. (New shows premiere on USA and eventually get re-run on NBC.) Now, “Criminal Intent” may not continue on any network. A couple of months ago, the original “Law and Order” was cancelled in favor of a cheaper-to-make Los Angeles based version that will start in this fall on NBC. Actress AMANDA BYNES, 24, caused a bit of media uproar last month when she posted a Twitter tweet saying that she was retiring because “acting was not fun anymore.” A week later, she tweeted, simply, that she had “un-retired.” I think Bynes, whose mother is Jewish, was having a low day when she put out her first message and didn’t think before she tweeted. She had a hit TV show as an adolescent (“The Amanda Show”) and two teen-oriented hit films before she was 21, including “She’s the Man.” She also got good reviews as the co-star of the (2007) musical version of “Hairspray.” In the last two years, however, her career has stalled for reasons mostly beyond her control, like cancelled projects. She’s talented and bright and with some luck she’ll bounce back. As I write this, KEVIN YOUKILIS, 31, the Boston Red Sox’s great first baseman, is seeking doctor’s opinions about a serious thumb injury and it is possible that he will be out for the season. The Red Sox’s chances to make the play-offs largely rest on the health of the thumb of this Jewish superstar.
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FROM THE PAGES 100 Years Ago Mrs. L. H. Landman and family, of June Street, are at Harrison O., where they will remain until September. Mrs. L.F. Loeb, of No. 40 South Warwick Apartment, is at Walloon Lake, Mich., where she will spend the remainder of the summer. Joseph Ravine, builder and real estate broker, has opened an office at 73 Atlas Bank Building. Mr. Ravine is well known, his father having been connected with the Rockdale Avenue
Temple for a long time. Mrs. Charles Hilb, of Dayton, formerly a resident of Cincinnati, died at the home of her son, E.C. Hilb, Monday August 8. The body was sent to this city for burial. The funeral took place Wednesday at 10:30 o’clock at the Jewish Cemetery at Lick Run. The Hamilton County Fair will take place August 17, 18, 19 and 20, at the Carthage grounds. The general admission will be 25 cents. Special
attractions will be the Bickett Family, Trotting Ostrich, St. Patrick, the high jumping horse Sacred Bull, Madame Maranett and the show horse, “Sunday Flower,” Balloon Ascension, Comedy Mule and the High School Riding Dog. Baby Show. There will be horse races every day and $15,000 in purses and premiums are offered during the fair. For all information address D.L. Sampson. Room 30 Wiggins Block, or phone M. 54. —August 11, 1910
75 Years Ago Leo Mielziner, 64, portrait painter and sculptor of international reputation, died Sunday, Aug. 11th at his home in Truro, Mass. Mr. Mielziner was a son of the late Rabbi and Mrs. Moses Mielziner. Rabbi Mielziner was president of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, an outstanding Talmudic scholar who joined the HUC faculty in 1879. In 1896, Mr. Mielziner married Miss Ella MacKenna Fried, Boston. Two sons Kenneth MacKenna, actor,
and Joseph Mielziner, stage designer, both of New York, survive him. He is also survived by four sisters, Mrs. Belle Reinberg, Cleveland, and Misses Ernestine, Belle and Dora Mielziner, Cincinnati, and two brothers, Benjamin Mielziner, Cincinnati, and Jack Mielziner, Copenhagen, Denmark. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Westheimer, of St. Louis, announce the engagement of their daughter Miss Olie, to Mr. Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. of
Marion Avenue. Upon the return of Mr. Rauh’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Rauh, Sr., who are summering in Charlevoix, the wedding will be solemnized in St. Louis on Sunday Sept. 1st. Mr. Rauh and his bride will reside in Washington where he will be associated with the Security Exchange Commission in the Capital. Mr. Rauh is a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, having won high distinction in scholastic affairs at this university. — August 15, 1935
50 Years Ago Dr. and Mrs. Max Strikman of Amberley Village announce the engagement of their daughter, Toby, to Mr. Sanford Martin Franklin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Franklin of Bond Hill and grandson of Mrs. Fanny Horwitz. Miss Strikman attended the University of Michigan and will be a senior at the University of Teachers College, where she is affiliated with Kappa Delta Pi, honorary society. Mr. Franklin attended the University of Cincinnati, where he
affiliated with Sigma Alpha Mu. He now attends the Ohio State University College of Dentistry. He is a member of Alpha Omega, dental fraternity. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Postollski of 3959 Warwick Avenue, announce the bar mitzvah of their son, Sammy Jacob, Saturday, Aug. 20, at 9 a.m., at Chofetz Chaim Day School. A Kiddush will follow. Mrs. Esther Rubin, 1816 Catalina Avenue, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 3. She is survived by her husband
Robert, two sons, Jerry and Gilbert, four brothers, Sidney Katz of Coral Gables, Fla., Harry Maurice and Irwin Katz, all of Cincinnati. A reception in honor of the bar mitzvah of David Edward Swillinger will be held at Town and Country Restaurant, 1622 Dixie Highway, Covington, KY., Sunday Aug. 14, from 7:30-11p.m. Relatives and friends are invited. David is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Chester Swillinger and grandson of Mr. and Mrs. I. Hiudt. — August 11, 1960
25 Years Ago Laura Getz and Lynn Warm have been appointed co-chairmen of the Jewish Welfare Fund Women’s Campaign, announced Fran Cohen, president/Campaign chairman of the 1986 Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation. “Both Lynn and Laura have impressive volunteer skills and we are delighted that they will be serving in the Women’s Campaign,” said Mrs. Cohen.
Dr. Sandford S. Osher has been elected to receive the Dr. Harold L. Gainey Award. The award is given yearly by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Didactic Presentation at Truman Medical Center, University of Missouri, Kansas City. Dr. Osher is chief resident of the department and will finish his residency this year. He is the son of Dr. and Mrs. M.S. Osher.
Edward A. Young of 8335 Camargo Road passed away Aug. 8. He is survived by his wife, Janet K. Young; two stepchildren, Jeffrey Selzer of Cincinnati and Jill Morrissey of Edison, N.J.; a granddaughter, Jessica Seltzer; a nephew, Leon Lowenthal of Vail, Colo.; and a niece, Deborah Robinson of Philadelphia. Mr. Young was the brother of the late Irene Lowenthal.—August 15, 1985
10 Years Ago Morton Keller, 84, passed away on July 29, 2000. Mr. Keller was born in Cincinnati to the late Anna and Samuel Keller. He is survived by his wife, Emma Keller of Longboat Key, Fl. Mr. Keller’s surviving children are Steven and Linda Keller of Westchester, O.; and Sheila and Dr. Robert Meitus of Dunnellon, Fl. Mr. Keller’s surviving grandchildren are: Daniel Ovadia of Florida, Micah Ovadia of Kentucky, Tali Ovadia of Oregon, Brian Keller of Westchester, Ohio, Justin Keller of Westchester, O, David Meitus of Kentucky, and
Rebecca Meitus of Tennessee. Mr. Keller is also survived by a greatgrandchild, Hunter Ovadia of Florida, and a sister-in-law, Celia Schwartz of Longboat, Key, Fl. Mr. Keller was the founder and owner of the Sugar and Spice Restaurant from 1941-1987. Howard Kessel, 95, passed away at the Hospice of Cincinnati on August 2, 2000. Mr. Kessel was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Mamie [Rubenstein] Kessel and Abraham Kessel. Mr. Kessel’s spouse, Evelyn Kessel, predeceased him. He is sur-
vived by his children: Barbara and Irvin Holbrook of Lakeland, Fla., and by Marlene and Herbert Kraus. Surviving grandchildren are Michael Holbrook, Debbie and Ed Stewart, Lynda and Todd Victor, Larry Kraus, and Karen and Jeffrey Greenberger. Mr. Kessel also is survived by his great-grandchildren: Emily and Ethan Stewart, and David and Bradley Greenberger. Mr. Kessel was associated with King Record Company, which he started with a cousin.— Aug 10, 2000.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2010
CLASSIFIEDS
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COMMUNITY DIRECTORY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Big Brothers/Big Sisters Assoc. (513) 761-3200 • bigbrobigsis.org Beth Tevilah Mikveh Society (513) 821-6679 Camp Ashreinu (513) 702-1513 Camp at the J (513) 722-7226 • mayersonjcc.org Camp Livingston (513) 793-5554 • camplivingston.com Cedar Village (513) 336-3183 • cedar-village.org Chevra Kadisha (513) 396-6426 Halom House (513) 791-2912 • halomhouse.com Hillel Jewish Student Center (513) 221-6728 • hillelcincinnati.org Jewish Community Center (513) 761-7500 • mayersonjcc.org Jewish Community Relations Council (513) 985-1501 Jewish Family Service (513) 469-1188 • jfscinti.org Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (513) 985-1500 • shalomcincy.org Jewish Foundation (513) 792-2715 Jewish Information Network (513) 985-1514 Jewish Vocational Service (513) 985-0515 • jvscinti.org Kesher (513) 766-3348 Plum Street Temple Historic Preservation Fund (513) 793-2556 The Center for Holocaust & Humanity Education (513) 487-3055 • holocaustandhumanity.org Vaad Hoier (513) 731-4671 Workum Summer Intern Program (513) 683-6670 • workum.org CONGREGATIONS Adath Israel Congregation (513) 793-1800 • adath-israel.org Beit Chaverim (513) 335-5812 Beth Israel Congregation (513) 868-2049 • bethisraelcongregation.net Congregation Beth Adam (513) 985-0400 • bethadam.org Congregation B’nai Tikvah (513) 759-5356 • bnai-tikvah.org Congregation B’nai Tzedek (513) 984-3393 • bnaitzedek.us
Congregation Ohav Shalom (513) 489-3399 • ohavshalom.org Golf Manor Synagogue (513) 531-6654 • golfmanorsynagogue.org Isaac M. Wise Temple (513) 793-2556 • wisetemple.org Kehilas B’nai Israel (513) 761-0769 Northern Hills Synagogue (513) 931-6038 • nhs-cba.org Rockdale Temple (513) 891-9900 • rockdaletemple.org Temple Beth Shalom (513) 422-8313 • tbsohio.org Temple Sholom (513) 791-1330 • templesholom.net The Valley Temple (513) 761-3555 • valleytemple.com EDUCATION Chabad Blue Ash (513) 793-5200 • chabadba.com HUC-JIR (513) 221-1875 • huc.edu JCC Early Childhood School (513) 793-2122 • mayersonjcc.org Mercaz High School (513) 792-5082 x104 • mercazhs.org Reform Jewish High School (513) 469-6406 • crjhs.org Regional Institute Torah & Secular Studies (513) 631-0083 Rockwern Academy (513) 984-3770 • rockwernacademy.org ORGANIZATIONS American Jewish Committee (513) 621-4020 • ajc.org American Friends of Magen David Adom (513) 521-1197 • afmda.org B’nai B’rith (513) 984-1999 Hadassah (513) 821-6157 • cincinnati-hadassah.org Jewish National Fund (513) 794-1300 • jnf.org Jewish War Veterans (513) 459-0111 • jwv.org NA’AMAT (513) 984-3805 • naamat.org National Council of Jewish Women (513) 891-9583 • ncjw.org State of Israel Bonds (513) 793-4440 • israelbonds.com Women’s American ORT (513) 985-1512 • ortamerica.org.org
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URJ from page 1 meeting of the Board of Trustees. Mauri Willis’ commitment to Temple Sholom for more than 20 years, during which she served as president of the congregation and chairperson of many committees, has had an indelible impact. EDUCATORS from page 3 executive director of the American Jewish Archives. “Educating present and future generations of young people about Jewish culture and the American Jewish experience is critical to the AJA’s mission. I applaud the Posen Foundation for helping to make this unique opportunity available to teachers from all walks of our society.” Using innovative pedagogical approaches and strategies, the seminar underscored the place of Jewish text study in learning and teaching practices. A thematic focus on archival materials as well as prose, novels, paintings, political cartoons, films and field trips provided participants with an opportunity to study the processes of the modernization and secularization of Jewish identity in the context of the history, culture and literature of the Jewish people from the 17th century to the present. Seminar participants also researched Cincinnati as a case study for understanding American Jewish history. Drawing on collections housed by the AJA, including the records of the Chestnut Street Cemetery, Plum Street Temple, the Phoenix Club, Walnut Hills Cemetery and the former location of Adath Israel synagogue, the participants designed and implemented a field trip of historic Jewish sites in the area. These trips underscored Cincinnati’s significance in BONDS from page 5 The appeals are also a singular means of conveying unity with Israel. Although the most obvious example is Yom Kippur 1973, the appeals, from the very beginning, have provided an annual opportunity for individual expression. Thus, at a time of strong spiritual feelings toward Israel, folding down a tab card indicating the intent to purchase an Israel bond underscores personal closeness and a
Prior to becoming president of Temple Sholom, Mauri served as president of National Council of Jewish Women, Cincinnati Section and on the boards of JCRC and the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. She currently volunteers at the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. American Jewish history and served as a model of how field trips can be used to teach students about key themes in the American experience including immigration, ethnic minorities, civic rights, changes over time in the urban landscape and culture and identity. During the intensive week, the group attended a special production of David Ives’ hit off-Broadway play, “New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza,” performed by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and guest directed by Ari Roth, artistic director of Washington, D.C.’s Theater J. The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and the Posen Foundation cosponsored the event, which was offered free to the public and included a post-production discussion with Raider, Roth, and the cast about the use of theater and art to explore history. “We look forward to collaborating with the American Jewish Archives and the Posen Foundation again next year,” said Dr. Mark A. Raider, project director of the Posen Foundation Education Project. “The seminar is the product of several years of ongoing study and research about the connections between education, the study of Jewish culture, and professional development for teachers. Our Center is gaining recognition nationally and internationally as a leader in this area of academic work.” desire to keep the nation economically strong. Israel bonds can also fulfill a number of investment needs. With a range of maturities and a choice of either fixed or variable rate bonds, Israel bonds can be useful assets for numerous financial strategies. This is not an offering, which can be made only by prospectus. Read the prospectus carefully to fully evaluate the risks associated with investing in Israel bonds. Issues subject to availability.
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TRAVEL
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Berlin, Germany: A city shaped by history Wandering Jew
By Janet Steinberg Travel Editor Emotionally, architecturally, and literally, our Seabourn Pride shore excursion to Berlin was quite a ride! Our day in Berlin gave us a taste of its 20th century history with all its phases and radical changes. We saw how the city confronted its past and is forging ahead to the future. Emotionally, Jew and Gentile alike were volleyed between the delights of the day in Berlin and the poignant reminders of the terrible years under the Third Reich. Our first stop was the Jewish Museum of Berlin, where Daniel Libeskind’s eerie museum addition culminates with the horrors of Hitler’s persecution and extermination plans. Next stop was a delightful lunch at the top of The Reichstag, where Hitler once reigned supreme. Following lunch, we walked a short distance to Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the
Murdered Jews of Europe, passing the Hotel Adlon, Hitler’s favorite hotel where he had planned to hold his victory party. Architecturally, Berlin is a smorgasbord of architectural masterpieces, scanning centuries. From the original Jewish Museum…to Libeskind’s 21st century addition…from the original Reichstag to Sir Norman Foster’s glass-domed roof…to Frank Gehry’s space age DZ Bank lobby. Literally speaking, our day trip to Berlin was truly quite a ride. Disembarking from Seabourn Pride in Warnemuende, Germany, we had a two-and-a-half hour ride through the lovely Mecklenburg countryside to reach Berlin. Thanks to Seabourn, even that 5hour round-trip ride was delightful. Seabourn’s Destination Services chartered a mini coach for our Doc Irv’s Mermaids Group and then stocked the coach with box lunches for the departure and bottles of champagne for the return ride. I was amazed at how much of Berlin we were able to see in one day. Since our day started at the new addition of the Jewish Museum (Judisches Museum), I will start at the same place. Sole access into the new addition, created by Jewish Architect Daniel Libeskind, is through the historical 1735 Collegienhaus. The Libeskind addition has three main corridors: the Axis of
Daniel Libeskind’s eerie addition to the Jewish Museum of Berlin
Renowned architect Sir Norman Foster’s iconic large glass dome of the Reichstag has a 360-degree view of the surrounding cityscape.
Continuity, the Axis of Emigration, and the Axis of the Holocaust. The Axis of Continuity connects the old building with the new addition. The architect described that axis as the continuation of Berlin’s history from which the other axes branch off. The Axis of Emigration leads outside to the Garden of Exile that Libeskind said attempts “to completely disorientate the visitor. It represents a shipwreck of history.” In the Axis of the Holocaust, Libeskind stated that the bare concrete Holocaust Tower, with a narrow slit at the top, “is the space which somehow ends the old history of Berlin.” The Reichstag, the seat of Germany’s Parliament, originally opened in 1894. After the reunification of Germany, the building was fully restored by internationally renowned architect Sir Norman Foster. Completed in 1999, the restoration features an iconic large glass dome that has a 360-degree view of the surrounding cityscape. Lunch at the top of the Reichstag is overpriced, but worth it just for the view. Outside of the Reichstag is a memorial to the 96 Reichstag members of opposition parties killed by the Nazis. Nearby is the Brandenburg Gate (1788-1791), the city’s most famous landmark. The centerpiece of the Pariser Platz, the Brandenburg Gate is the symbol of Berlin’s reunification. It is crowned with the 1794 Quadriga statue. On the South side of Pariser Platz, between the Brandenburg gate and the Hotel Adlon, take a
peek inside the DZ Bank headquarters. Here, Jewish architect Frank Gehry constructed a 4-story-high, steel and wood, sculptural shell that seems as if it is floating in space. Only minutes away, is Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The 2,700 concrete pillars of differing heights are set in a grid pattern and is the country’s central place for remembrance.
The kiss between Russia’s LEONID BREZHNEV & Germany’s ERICH HONECKER is the most renowned painting on the Berlin Wall’s East Side Gallery.
The East Side Gallery, a long section of the Berlin Wall near the center of Berlin, is the largest open-air gallery in the world. Approximately 118 paintings, by artists from 21 countries, cover this memorial for freedom. The Eastside Gallery is a place where the old Berlin and the new Berlin meet. It’s tacky and touristy, but one
cannot go to Berlin without taking in the sight known as Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was the crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was the crossing point for foreigners, diplomats and members of the Allied forces. The ersatz guardhouse, with its ersatz soldiers standing guard, is a favorite photo op for tourists. The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is a private commercial venture, but it does have some interesting exhibits such as escape cars, a small submarine, and amazing stories about how some people attempted to escape. If, by now, you are in desperate need of a shopping fix, there are plenty of schlock souvenirs at the Checkpoint. Nearby you will also find a Galeries Lafayette and an H&M store. Enroute back to Warnemuende, on the outskirts of Berlin, is Charlottenburg Palace. One of the oldest palaces in Berlin, it was built for Prussian Empress Sophie Charlotte. Returning back to Seabourn Pride, after a 12-hour day of touring, was like returning home after a long vacation. Seabourn’s affable staff was lined up awaiting us with a Welcome Home sign. The dining staff was serving us horsd’oeuvres and drinks before we even reached the steps of the gangway. Way to go!!!!! (Janet Steinberg is an award-winning Travel Writer and Travel Consultant.)
AUTOS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2010
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New S5 built to thrill
2010 Audi S5 Cabriolet
The Audi S5 is sexy. This is without a doubt the first adjective that comes to mind when you see this beautiful work of engineering zoom past you on the highway (or on any road for that matter, because it is most likely faster than whatever you currently have). The S5 coupe provides that perfect blend of luxury, performance and refinement, without sacrificing fun. Having won numerous design awards, including Automobile Magazine’s design of the year award, this car is stylish, simple and elegant. Intended to compete with other contenders in the luxury sport market, the S5 most directly takes aim at BMW’s 335 series, and can certainly hold its own. Starting at $53,000, the Premium Plus package provides smooth leather seats, carbon fiber interior accents and a panoramic sunroof to gaze at the stars or provide natural light during those long drives. At heart the S5 is a Grand Tourer made accessible and affordable. It is comfortable and quick, and most importantly it is fun to drive—something that should be a prerequisite for every car taken on a long drive. The power plant for this voluptuous German is found in the form of a 4.2 liter FSI producing a generous 354 horsepower (at 7,000 rpm!) as well as 325 lb-ft. of torque. This high revving V-8 provides a sweet tune to the ears through the dual exhaust with quad oval chrome exhaust tips gracing the lower portion of the very wide and curvy rear end. All of this power is delivered through either an automatic tiptronic transmission, complete with smooth and cool aluminum paddle shifters, or a traditional sport manual transmission. The power is delivered to the wheels through the Audi quattro all-wheel drive system, mated to the standard 19-inch sport wheels, providing performance and a classy aesthetic. The interior provides the driver and passengers alike with a comfortable experience, though in all honesty, the S5 is not made for rear seat drivers. It is a drivers’ car, and with that comes the expected accou-
trements surrounding the front of the cabin, such as the high grade leather, or the abundance of carbon fiber. The premium sound system though is something that can certainly be enjoyed by all passengers. The 14-speaker Bang and Olufson system provide over 500 watts of crisp clean audio for the ears delight. In order to streamline the process of indulging in you favorite tunes, the S5 has an integrated iPod compatibility as well as the optional entertainment console, complete with a three dimensional navigation system and a 40GB internal hard drive. Just in case the S5 wasn’t looking good enough, the MMI navigation system uses an nVidia graphics chip to make the clearest and smoothest images possible. Smooth images are nothing without a smooth ride, made available thanks to the five-link front suspension and independent trapezoidal-link rear suspension, both with gas-charged springs/shock absorbers. Adding to the smooth motif, you can also have Silk Nappa leather seats with Alcantara inserts, as well as a smooth leather wrapped steering wheel. If the massive gforces of taking this car for a spin won’t keep you glued to your seat, the soft caress of premium leather certainly will. Also available on the Prestige model, the higher end of the two, is the Audi Drive Select Package, which allows the driver to choose between four settings for the vehicles adaptive suspension, dynamic steering, transmission shift characteristics and engine response. All of these features together launches the S5 to 60 mph in about 4.9 seconds, and unfortunately for speed-demons the car is electronically governed to a 155 mph top speed. To complete the package, though we don’t just find sexy, elegant and stylish in this year’s model, but the S5 is smart too. My favorite intelligent feature is the auto darkening side-view mirrors which sense drivers’ headlights and auto-dim so as to keep strain on the eyes to a minimum for the driver. All this starts at $53,100 for the Premium Plus model, with the Prestige running around $60,000.
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OBITUARIES
DEATH NOTICES BUCHWALD, Mildred, age 88, died on August 1, 2010; 21 Av, 5770. AMARANT, Esther Gabel, age 94, died on August 3, 2010; 23 Av, 5770. COHEN, Carolyn S., age 92 died on August 9, 2010; 29 Av, 5770.
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P&A from page 1 Allocations Youth and Family Council—recently visited the Jewish Family Service’s (JFS) Kosher Food Pantry to witness the impact this program has on the community. They met with Fran Gafvert, Director of Vital Services at Jewish Family Service —and together they observed first-hand the life-changing effect the Kosher Food Pantry has on the lives of those it serves. Throughout the summer, volunteer council members of the Planning & Allocations Committee have been making site visits to partner and beneficiary agencies in their efforts to determine how to best allocate the Community Campaign’s available dollars. These site visits enable the council members to gain key insights into the community’s many and varied programs and services, so they can JCC from page 1
Mildred “Millie” Buchwald
BUCHWALD, Mildred Mrs. Mildred “Millie” Buchwald passed away on the morning of August 1, 2010, at the age of 88, from complications brought on by pneumonia. A beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she lived her entire life in Cincinnati and was the last surviving original resident of Cedar Village. Mrs. Buchwald was preceded in death by her husband, Isaac “Buck,” and her parents, Fannie and Abraham Goldberg. She is survived by her brothers, Charlie, Marvin, Stanley, Mitch and her sister Sylvia. She was also survived by her three sons, Neal, Steve (Patty) and Randy (Quirina); six grandchildren, Ari (Tracey), Linda, David, Amy, Isaac and Jonah; and two great-grandchildren, Zoe and Evie. Mrs. Buchwald was very social and was always there to volunteer as a greeter as well as lend a helping hand to others. She will be sorely missed by family and all who were lucky enough to have known her. A memorial was held at Cedar Village on August 10. The family asks that donations be sent to Cedar Village, 5467 Cedar Village Drive, Mason, Ohio 45040; (513) 754-3100.
will be available for purchase throughout the day. There will be a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for teenagers (ages 13 – 15 & 16 – 20) from 1 – 3 p.m., and adults (ages 21 – 35) can also challenge their friends on the basketball court from 3 – 5pm. Participation is free, but advance registration is required. The J5K Run starts at the JCC at 6 p.m., and continues through MOSQUE from page 1 caveats and demands. The AJC “urged the leaders of the proposed center to fully reveal their sources of funding and to unconditionally condemn terrorism inspired by Islamist ideology. If these concerns can be addressed, we will join in welcoming the Cordoba Center to New York. In doing so, we would wish to reaffirm the noble values for which our country stands — the very values so detested by the perpetrators of the September 11th attacks.” WEDDING from page 1 the union for American Jews and what it says about intermarriage in America. We should “celebrate the full acceptance of Jews by the larger society that this marriage represents,” Hebrew Union College sociologist Steven Cohen told JTA via email from Jerusalem. At the same time, he noted, the fact that so few children of interfaith unions, particularly those between Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, are raised solely as Jews raises the conundrum of our age: “How do we Jewishly engage and educate the intermarried, while at the same time maintaining our timehonored commitment to inmarriage?” Cohen asked.
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make highly informed recommendations to the committee. Following her visit to the JFS Kosher Food Pantry, Susan Brenner said, “You don’t ordinarily see some of the individuals that need this service. It was rewarding to see the efforts of Jewish Family Service’s social workers and volunteers who not only help the recipients, but develop relationships with them as well.” In July 2003, Golf Manor Synagogue — in cooperation with Jewish Family Service— agreed to house the pantry at its Stover Road location. Since that time, hundreds of Jews (and non-Jews) in need of help have come to the Kosher Food Pantry, where JFS also offers additional services including case management and client advocacy. These supplementary services offer clients the help and guidance they need to move toward increased self-sufficiency. Patti Schneider and Mike
Kadetz echoed the sentiments of other volunteers, remarking that, “We never realized the enormity of the role that the Kosher Food Pantry plays in the community. And we were impressed by the dedication of those who work there, especially by those volunteers who do home deliveries to so many different parts of the city.” The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s Community Campaign provides funding that is targeted to protect the lives and well-being of members of the Jewish community. Dollars to help those struggling to put food on the table or maintain their homes are of critical importance. For these individuals, the Kosher Food Pantry is a lifeline— providing clients with monthly food assistance, and allowing them to meet their dietary needs with dignity. Cindy Guttman shared that, “It was an extremely eye opening experience. I learned and saw for myself
how Jewish Family Service works with the Kosher Food Pantry to provide kosher food with the proper ‘hechshers’ for families in need in our Jewish community.” Nearly 100 members of the community have committed themselves to experiencing first-hand the programs and initiatives for which the community’s agencies are requesting funding. It is believed that this deeper level of engagement—which will include input from clients as well as staff—will result in more insightful recommendations to the Planning and Allocations Committee and more efficient distribution of the Jewish Federation’s available funds. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati brings our community together to care for Jews in Cincinnati, in Israel, and around the world, and develops opportunities for each of us to embrace a Jewish life.
the neighborhood streets of Amberley Village. The race is a “chip” timed event for male and female runners, and is followed by an awards presentation for the winners in each age division. There is also a J5K Walk, with several male and female age categories. “I am definitely going to be running in the J5K,” said Melissa Koetter, who successfully completed the JCC’s Indoor Triathlon at Fit-Fun Day last March. “The
August 29 Fit-Fun Day at the J should be a lot of fun for kids and adults because they always have lots of great activities for everyone to enjoy!” After the J5K on Aug. 29, adults of all ages will enjoy the Rock & Roll Bash at the J from 6:30 – 9 p.m. There will be live rock & roll music of the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s performed by local band, The 4 Hubcaps, as well as a pasta dinner, cash bar and beer tent.
Partygoers can celebrate the end of summer by dancing and trying their luck to win cash prizes at a variety of gambling games. J5K participants who wish to attend the Rock & Roll Bash will have access to the JCC showers and locker rooms after the race. For registration forms or more information about Fit-Fun Day at the J, the J5K Run, or the Rock & Roll Bash, contact the Mayerson JCC or visit their Web site.
Defenders of the proposed Ground Zero mosque suggested that such calls are insulting, noting that the Cordoba Initiative and its directors, Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife, Daisy Kahn, have a long history of pressing for a moderate, engaged Islam. “One of the ways to prevent future Ground Zeroes is to encourage moderation within Islam, and to treat Muslim moderates differently than we treat Muslim extremists,” The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg wrote on his blog. “The campaign against this mosque
treats all Muslims as perpetrators.” On Tuesday, the mosque project at Ground Zero cleared what may have been its final hurdle before construction could begin, winning unanimous approval for the plan by New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Committee. In recent years, Jewish organizations have defended Muslim interests in a variety of cases. In 1999, Jewish groups defended the right of Muslim police officers in Newark, N.J., to wear beards. This year, Orthodox Jewish groups and conservative Muslim organizations
both were on the losing side of a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the right of the University of California Hastings Law School, which receives federal funding, to reject official status for a group that discriminates on a religious basis. In Scottsdale, Ariz., the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix reported last week that Rabbi Charles Herring joined local Muslim groups in protesting a course called “Islam 101” run by the local Board of Jewish Education. The class, taught by Carl Goldberg, included literature titled “Troubling Passages in the Koran.”
“In short, we should celebrate the particular marriage of these two fine individuals, but we ought not celebrate the type of marriage it constitutes and represents.” The wedding had more than just a Jewish flair. It was officiated by a rabbi, James Ponet, head of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University, along with a Methodist minister. The marriage took place under a chupah. Friends of the couple recited the traditional “sheva brachot,” the seven traditional Jewish blessings given to the bride and groom. The groom broke a glass with his foot, as is tradition. And according to several reports, guests danced the hora and lifted the former president and the secretary of state, Bill and Hillary Clinton, in chairs
during the dance. Yet some of the more liberal streams of American Judaism, which accept intermarriage if the couple’s children are raised as Jews, chafed at the fact that the wedding took place on Saturday, before the Jewish Sabbath ended. The Reform movement frowns upon its rabbis conducting weddings on the Sabbath, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, told JTA. In 1973, the Reform movement decided officially that its rabbis would be allowed to perform intermarriages, though they would be discouraged from doing so, an edict that still stands today, he said. “She has married in,” Paul Golin, the associate director of the Jewish Outreach Institute, a nonde-
nominational group that reaches out to unaffiliated and intermarried families, said of Chelsea. “Some will say he married out, but if he was marrying out, there wouldn’t have been anything Jewish. “The fact that they went to the effort to have a chupah and have a rabbi and that he wore a tallis says a lot about their future direction. Otherwise, why bother?” The marriage has pushed the internal Jewish community debate about intermarriage into the view of mainstream America. In the days before the wedding, the Washington Post asked several rabbis in its “On Faith” column, “Is interfaith marriage good for American society? Is it good for religion? What is lost—and gained— when religious people intermarry?”
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