HEADLINES | 4
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | 12
STAYING SAFE
50 YEARS OF PUBLIC ART
Daniel Schneider, founder of Empower Training Academy, shared tips at a safety training in October
Jewish artist Louise Nevelson created the first large-scale piece in Scottsdale’s collection
1948
YEARS
2023
NOVEMBER 10, 2023 | CHESHVAN 26, 5784 | VOLUME 76, NUMBER 4
ASU Jewish Studies gives context to Israeli-Palestinian conflict complexity SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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osters with photos of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas have been tacked up by Jews and their allies in cities across the United States with the word “KIDNAPPED” printed at the top and a brief description of the person pictured. Alternately, videos of some of these same posters being ripped down are on social media, becoming only the latest form of grievance and confrontation regarding Israel’s war with Hamas that seems to intensify daily, especially once Dr. Victor Peskin Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza COURTESY OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY began. JEWISH STUDIES To those putting the posters up, the images serve both as a reminder of Hamas’ violent and deadly incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, and a wish to reclaim the more than 200 people the terrorist group took hostage. Those tearing the posters down interpret them as Israeli war propaganda against Palestinians. The posters are drawing passionate responses from people on both sides of the conflict. Some, like Miles Grant, a 24-year-old Jewish New Yorker and member of Youth Alliance for Housing, are frustrated by their “lack of context,” as he told the New York Times. Explaining the historical context of a conflict that has raged long before Israel’s founding in 1948 is a big job, but Arizona State University’s Jewish Studies department decided to tackle it in the weeks after the Oct. 7 attack. On Monday, Oct. 30, “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Why SEE CONFLICT, PAGE 3
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Israeli hostages represent missing guests at Shabbat tables at Arizona State House SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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alit Tsadik considers herself “one of the lucky ones,” an Israeli who did not lose a close family member in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Last Friday afternoon, in the pre-Shabbat hours, she admitted that was small succor for someone who comes from a country where “everyone knows someone.” Like most Israelis, she knows people, friends of friends, who were injured, kidnapped and killed. Tsadik greeted the crowd of approximately 200 people who had come to honor and pray for the return of the more than 240 hostages taken by Hamas during its deadly Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. As people passed by security guards and through metal detectors set up on the lawn in front of Arizona’s State House, Tsadik handed out posters, each with the image, age and nationality of one of the hostages and topped with the word “kidnapped.” After searching for ways to volunteer for her country after that fateful day, Tsadik discovered Phoenix Israel Community Situation Desk (PICSD), a grassroots group that took shape the day after the attack and the organizer of Friday’s event. Shiry Sapir, one of PICSD’s founders, told Jewish News that the group exists to remind people that “these are our brothers and sisters that got slaughtered on Oct. 7, and the world needs to know about it and be aware.” SEE TABLES PAGE 2
Empty Shabbat table representing the missing Israeli hostages. COURTESY OF GREGORY COHEN
Cool Kosher treats Tom’s Incredible Ice Cream in Scottsdale is dishing up kosher-certified ice cream and more. See page 10. COURTESY OF JENNIFER KAPLAN
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INTERNATIONAL
ISRAEL
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