Jewish News, Oct. 28, 2022

SPECIAL RECIPES

Julia Zilman honors her grandmother and Ukraine by creating a cookbook

Arizona tax credit allows local filmmaker to bring his ‘Mensch’ home

Movies were always going to be part of David Ethan Shapiro’s future.

At 8 years old, the Arizona native was already writing screenplays. A few years later, as the student body president at Chaparral High School, he appropriated the student government ad space during morning announcements to make little movies — he had a captive audience, after all.

“They steadily became less ads and more full-blown short films,” Shapiro told Jewish News. “Some of the teachers weren’t into it, but others were fans and encouraged me to pursue filmmaking.”

The encouragement worked.

After graduating from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied movies, Shapiro moved to Los Angeles and started making them.

He was the lead producer on, “Come Swim,” a short film that premiered at Cannes and Sundance film festivals and was a semifinalist for an Oscar in the Best Live Action Short category. Shapiro also executive produced and co-wrote “Shadow People,” a featurelength film being produced by Margot Hand and Nat Wolff.

Hollywood is working out for him, but he doesn’t want to live in Los Angeles forever. He’s grateful that the last couple of years living through a pandemic proved to the industry that there can be flexibility in where the business happens.

Thanks to Arizona’s new film tax credit, Shapiro is also grateful to have the opportunity to bring the film business that he loves back home.

ELECTION 2022 | 14

CALLING JEWISH VOTERS

Volunteers call on Jewish voters for the Arizona chapter of the JDCA

Arizona Kosher Pantry ready to roll out kitchen on wheels

Thursdays at the Arizona Kosher Pantry (AKP) are always bustling.

The day before Shabbat is the best time for Jewish families to pick up what they need for the week. Some items they buy and some they’re given, and there are always a few volunteers on hand to assist.

Meanwhile, three full-time employees dip in and out, picking up food and sundries from a number of different places, including kosher restaurants and direct donations, but mostly from St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, which they visit nearly every day. They bring it back to the pantry to divide into groceries to be given away or sold cheaply or as part of the hot meals they prepare and hand out.

Activity at the pantry peaks on Thursday afternoons, but on any given day anywhere from 50 to 100 people stop by, and Yecheskel Friedman, AKP’s director, knows pretty much everyone who walks in the door.

Jewish families are not the only people who depend on the pantry, located on Seventh Street in central Phoenix. Friedman estimated that about 70% of

those who come are Jewish, but anyone needing food assistance is welcome. They come in and register their name and address — a verification of donations used for St. Mary’s — with no other questions asked.

“Everybody gets fed,” Friedman said. “There’s no distinction, no discrimination. They can take as much as they feel they need.”

The pantry, which has been in operation since early 2018, will soon be rolling out a

Investing to win

Assessing the risks and options with rising interest rates is vital in transitioning markets such as what we are seeing now. See page 18.

basketball star Ryan Turell headed to Detroit after being selected in NBA’s minor league

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Yecheskel Friedman and Nina Targovnik stand in front of the Mazon Tov on Wheels.

2022 Phoenix Jewish News

Print Dates

January 7

January 21

February 4

February 18

March 4

March 18

March 25

April 1

April 8

May 6

May 20

June 10

July 8

July 29

August 5

August 19*

September 9

September 16

September 23

October 7

October 14**

October 21

October 28

November 4

November 18

December 2

December 16

*Best of Magazine **Annual Directory

Starting in 2023, the Arizona Motion Picture Production Program will offer tax credits to qualified film, television and commercial productions. The catch is that they must primarily be filmed in the state.

That’s a given for Shapiro, who has never forgotten a certain piece of advice from one of his first mentors.

He was told, “Make your early work in your hometown because you will need every favor you can get.”

Shapiro has already opened a production office in Scottsdale and will be ready to start shooting his new film and passion project, “The Mensch,” in January 2023.

The story follows one night in the life of a young and ambitious rabbi when everything suddenly goes wrong for him. Both drama and comedy unfold as he realizes he’s lost his temple’s prized Torah — one that was smuggled out of Nazi Germany — and joins forces with his most loyal congregant to search for it. He finally has to face up to his past and start preparing for his future.

“Maybe by the end of the night, this young guy will become the rabbi that the temple needs,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro described the tale as a comedy with a dramatic backbone and said the heart of the film is coming to understand the day in, day out life of a rabbi and his struggles.

To help flesh that out, Shapiro called on the services of Congregation Beth Tefillah Rabbi Pinchas Allouche.

“I told him [Allouche] the movie’s about someone who makes a lot of mistakes and has a lot of setbacks — but he’s trying,” explained Shapiro. “I told him the title is ‘The Mensch,’ and he said, ‘that’s what a mensch is.’”

Allouche also met with Jon Rudnitsky, the actor and comedian playing the young

rabbi, and gave him some advice from a real-life rabbi.

Allouche said he and Rudnitsky connected quickly and genuinely, in part, because of their similar personalities.

“Rabbis and comedians, believe it or not, have a lot in common,” Allouche said. “In essence, a comedian tries to connect to the layers beneath the externalities of life and, in a way, make fun of them. Rabbis also try to connect, not to make fun of them but to understand them and find a pathway to them.”

Both rabbis and comedians work to understand people, though for different reasons, Allouche said.

“Comedians have to understand people to know what tickles them and we rabbis have to understand how to help them, and we spoke that language quite a bit.”

Kori Schwarz, an Arizona native, is an intern on the project. She’s excited about the opportunity the tax credit represents for more films to be made in her state.

“I am hoping the tax credit will motivate more filmmakers to utilize what

Arizona has to offer and I would love to be a part of that,” she said, via email. She is also Jewish and said she feels naturally connected to the film.

“Growing up, I have always felt passionate about my Jewish identity, so I am excited that I can be involved with something so relevant to my personal life.”

The movie is inspired by Shapiro’s own experience growing up in a Conservative Jewish family in Arizona and attending Har Zion Congregation. (Har Zion combined with Congregation Or Chadash to become Congregation Or Tzion in 2014.)

Though he attended services and became a bar mitzvah, Shapiro said, “as a child, you can’t help but tune religion out. It felt like a chore. But as I grew up, it became more and more a part of my cultural identity.”

As a student at NYU, he took formative courses in Jewish ethics and Jewish history. He studied his family tree. “When I look, there are people there who were exterminated and starved,” he said.

“If the world identifies you as a Jew, you have that realization. So, with ‘The Mensch,’ my hope is to make a movie about conversations that Jewish Americans have when they’re alone,” he said.

A movie about a rabbi seemed inevitable.

“I’ve always felt that if I weren’t a filmmaker, I’d have made a good rabbi. People have always said that to me,” Shapiro said.

Jonah Platt, Shapiro’s partner and one of the producers on the film, said he’s happy to support a project with authentic representation and a vision that is deeply personal.

“I see a real dearth of contemporary Jewish storytelling on screen,” Platt said. Most films with Jewish content are

PUBLISHER Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix

GENERAL MANAGER Rich Solomon | 602.639.5861 rsolomon@jewishaz.com

MANAGING EDITOR Mala Blomquist | 602.639.5855 mblomquist@jewishaz.com

STAFF WRITER Shannon Levitt | 602.639.5854 slevitt@jewishaz.com

ADVERTISING SALES CONSULTANT

Jodi Lipson | 602.639.5866 jlipson@jewishaz.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS 602.870.9470 x 1 subscriptions@jewishaz.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Ebony Brown | 410.902.2333 ads_phoenixjn@midatlanticmedia.com

Florence Newmark Eckstein, Publisher | 1981-2013

Cecil Newmark, Publisher | 1961-1981

Pearl Newmark, Editor | 1961-1981

M.B. Goldman, Jr., Founder | 1948-1961

PROUD MEMBER OF

David Shapiro on the set of “Come Swim,” directed by Kristen Stewart.

COURTESY OF MELCHIOR DIGIACOMO

about the Holocaust, documentaries or something “schlocky with people saying, ‘Oy vey!’ I’m so sick of that.”

“The Mensch,” however, is not simply a niche film. “It’s a unique story, a Jewish story, but whatever religion you are, you’ll enjoy the story and the characters,” Platt said.

He’s from LA but is excited to be shooting the film in Arizona and providing the audience “a unique look

for a film — something they haven’t seen a million times.”

Shapiro, too, is excited for people to see an authentic portrayal of Scottsdale and Phoenix.

“At NYU, everyone thought I lived in the wild west so it’s good to be able to represent the real Arizona in our film,” he said. “It’s changed a lot since I was growing up here. There’s more of a bustling arts scene now and I hope to be

at the forefront of building on that with filming here.”

He also feels good that with “The Mensch,” his first film in Arizona, he’s delivering a positive message to a world that could really use it.

“People had a hard time the last couple of years,” Shapiro said. “‘The Mensch’ is about someone who keeps getting kicked in the mouth by life but his values win out in the end. It’s food for the soul.” JN

new way to help people get food: Mazon Tov on Wheels.

With a $40,000 grant from the Arizona Food Bank Network, AKP has built a kitchen on wheels inside a very big, very blue truck.

Jeff Bender, network services manager for Arizona Food Bank Network, said most grants are about half that size, but given the scope of AKP’s work, he pushed for a larger amount.

The grant came in 2021, along with a slightly smaller one from Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) — one AKP volunteer is a grant writer, but it took some time to build the truck.

“It doesn’t just come off the lot that way,” Friedman said.

He added that the name and design on the vehicle took months, too. All that’s left is the inspection and permit process, which he expects to be completed within a few weeks. Then, the mobile kitchen will deliver warm, kosher food daily to those who need it.

Friedman will also use it to hand out food to the homeless and is already planning places to park the truck around the city.

AKP is not the only Jewish agency that feeds hungry people.

Since 2016, the East Valley Jewish Community Center has been delivering meals to individuals, couples and families across Greater Phoenix. It started with 50 meals a month and now delivers about 5,000 a year. Last year, EVJCC opened a food pantry that provides food

to about 300 families annually, according to EVJCC CEO Rabbi Michael Beyo.

Jewish Family & Children’s Services’ Just 3 Things Food Pantry provides food and feminine hygiene products for the youth transitioning out of the foster care system, clients at various health care centers and a domestic abuse shelter.

Right now, AKP makes about 100 deliveries a week. They’ve gone as far north as Kingman and as far south as Tucson. The pantry also delivers many of its non-kosher food donations along with water and hygiene kits to people in The Zone, a homeless encampment bordered by Ninth Avenue, Jackson Street, 13th Avenue and Jefferson Street.

Those without an address also come to the pantry, where they are welcome.

Nina Targovnik has been volunteering with AKP for six months. She first came with her nephew when he was preparing for his bar mitzvah. She suggested they volunteer somewhere they could really pitch in and help. She found it so inspiring she just kept coming back.

Joanie Jones, who isn’t Jewish, used to come to the pantry for food because it’s close to the senior center where she lives. For the last six weeks, she’s come to volunteer.

“It’s so heartwarming to see generations come in together,” she said.

Dina Khasanov is one of the longestserving volunteers, having started four years ago. She comes almost every day.

“Helping people makes me very happy,” she said. “I love giving back. This place really helps my health.”

Friedman, who is also co-founder and president of Ezras Cholim of Phoenix — a

nonprofit providing emergency support services to sick Jews — is inspired by the Book of Proverbs 25:2, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.”

But he extends the meaning to include everyone.

A diversity of people come to the pantry, including Muslims. Friedman tells his young volunteers from Yeshiva High School, “outside the door the world is at war, but inside all is peace.”

He hopes that by volunteering at the pantry, they’ll learn how to interact with the wider world.

Friedman was born in a German displaced person camp to Holocaust survivors. His family moved to Brooklyn when he was little. Some of the kids in his elementary school had nothing to eat at lunchtime, so Friedman gave them his lunch. His mother wondered why her son was so hungry when he came home and when she realized what was going on, she made additional lunches for him to give away.

“It’s just my nature,” he said. “I love to give; I hate to take.”

He’s also loath to throw any food away so earlier this year, one regular volunteer started a compost pile behind the pantry. She is currently using it as fertilizer to grow strawberries.

“Nothing goes to waste,” Friedman said.

Next on his list is expanding the pantry to include a soup kitchen on the property. He’s already working on the funding. JN

For more information, visit azkosherpantry.org.

Strawberries grow behind Arizona Kosher pantry. COURTESY OF SHANNON LEVITT Joanie Jones, left, and Dina Khasanov take a break from preparing food for people at Arizona Kosher Pantry. COURTESY OF SHANNON LEVITT

THIS

Local students selected to support Israel and fight antisemitism on campus

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

StandWithUs (SWU), an international, non-partisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism, annually selects student leaders from high schools throughout the United States and Canada to participate in the Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship.

During this two-semester program, the interns identify the needs at their schools to educate fellow students about Israel and to combat antisemitism. Then, working with their SWU regional high school managers, they develop a strategy to meet those needs through relevant and practical educational programming.

This year, the SWU Kenneth Leventhal High School Interns from Arizona are Tabitha Cohen, a junior at Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley; Orian Wandrove Shina, a junior at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale; and Emma Schwarz, a senior at Verde Valley School in Sedona.

“Being a StandWithUs Leventhal intern is such an empowering and amazing experience,” said Wandrove Shina. “It is a way to connect to my religion and proudly represent Israel.”

SWU also does work in colleges throughout the United States through

its Emerson Fellowship program. This year, the Emerson Fellow in Arizona is Isabella Schneider, a senior at Arizona State University.

Emerson fellows engage with their peers through educational events, campaigns and discussions about Israel. These fellows are also trained extensively on how to navigate antisemitic activity on campus and how to mobilize and confront these issues strategically and effectively. Throughout their experience, Emerson Fellows connect to a global community of student leaders where they can exchange ideas, share best practices and support each other.

“As a SWU Emerson fellow, I’ve seen the impact I made on my community. I collaborated with the Israel fellows on campus to respond to antisemitism and provide a safe space for Jewish and proIsrael students at our university,” said Schneider. “SWU’s August conference in LA was a life-changing experience that allowed me to meet other likeminded students from around the country with the same passion for Israel that I have.”

In 2018, SWU introduced the Hispanic Emerson Fellowship. This program empowers Hispanic Christian students

Vote for a CAWCD candidate with the professional chops to take on a 1.3 trillion-gallon problem

At Hoover Dam 895 feet water elevation – is Zero Hydropower is dead And Phoenix loses 40% of its water supply

Paid for by Candidate Daniel Cirignani Wood

The StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship group at the August 2022 conference. COURTESY

to bring Israel to their campus and church communities. This year’s fellow is Jasmine Sanchez, who attends Arizona Christian University.

Students in both the high school and college programs attended their respective conferences in August, in preparation for the upcoming school year. During the conference, they learned how to identify and combat anti-Israel campaigns, with help from the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department and Center for Combating Antisemitism. They explored the history of Israel and reviewed the complexities of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict while learning how to have productive conversations about Israel. Students gained leadership skills and had regional breakouts with their managers. Many reported having experienced antisemitic incidents and now feel better prepared to respond to them effectively.

“To be a Leventhal intern is to have the opportunity to prevent hatred in my community,” said Cohen. “I have been provided with the tools and education to help create a safer world for those who practice Judaism, which is an extremely powerful thing.”

Schwarz also shared the importance of participating in the program. “Being a Leventhal intern means I get the opportunity to make a positive impact on the Jewish community that I call home.”

Gabriel Ivker, the new StandWithUs Southwest high school regional manager, spent his gap year in Israel through Nativ. Nativ is a college leadership program in Israel through the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. While immersed in the culture and history of Israel, Ivker learned firsthand about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was a SWU Emerson Fellow at Indiana University and graduated as a law

and public policy major.

“I believe that education is the most important way to create positive change and I am more than happy to be a part of StandWithUs because it believes that education is the road to peace,” stated Ivker.

Chloe Levian, who graduated this year from the University of California, Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in Israel studies, started as the StandWithUs Southwest campus regional manager in July 2022. Chloe was the President of Bruins for Israel at UCLA and is an alum of the SWU Emerson Fellowship. She is excited to empower college students to be the best leaders they can be, the same way she feels SWU empowered her as a student.

The fellows and interns will participate in a second SWU conference in Los Angeles from March 2-5, 2023. The conference, “Israel in Focus,” is open to both student leaders and community members. Students have their own track where there are breakout sessions and everyone joins the plenaries to hear from renowned experts from all over the world.

“Each year, I remain impressed with the enthusiasm and creativity of our awesome Arizona high school and college student leaders. They learn from previous participants in our programs and nominate candidates for the coming year,” said Kate Chavez, SWU’s co-director of high school affairs. “As antisemitism continues to rise, including in AZ, these students — already leaders in their schools and communities — are fully prepared to confront these challenges while also organizing programming that shares the beauty, accomplishments and experience of Israel.” JN

For more information, visit standwithus.com.

The StandWithUs Emerson Fellowship group at the August 2022 conference. COURTESY OF STANDWITHUS

Julia Zilman honors her grandmother and Ukraine with sweet recipes

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

So many moments in the eight-monthold war between Russia and Ukraine have gone viral that it has been dubbed “the TikTok war” by The New Yorker and other publications. Thus, it’s likely that social media-obsessed teenagers everywhere have seen at least a few dramatic images on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.

Even so, for most American kids, the reality of war is something far removed from their daily lives. But for one 15-year-old Paradise Valley High School sophomore, the war is all too close.

Julia Talore Zilman speaks almost daily to her family members in Ukraine.

“It’s hard and I don’t talk about it much even when my friends ask me how my family is,” Julia told Jewish News. Sometimes her close friends ask, “Hey, how’s your family?” but she doesn’t like to get into too much detail. Still, she’s glad to have her friends as “a really big support system” — they’re around when she needs them.

“I’m just glad that my family and my family’s friends are safe at the moment and that we stay in touch,” she said. “It just makes us all feel more positive.”

Julia is taking a little positive initiative herself by turning a personal enterprise into something more meaningful with a boost from an East Valley Jewish Community Center “Doing Jewish” youth grant.

Well before the Russians invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Julia was working on a little project to honor her paternal Ukrainian grandmother, who passed away in 2018. Julia took her grandmother’s book of recipes written in Russian and started translating them for a new English edition she could share.

As Julia was growing up, her grandmother passed on her love of baking.

“My grandma wrote all her favorite recipes and all her famous dishes that she made and carried down from her mother in a book,” Julia said. “And I love baking, especially her recipes.”

Julia’s mother, Violet Zilman, said her daughter’s skill with baking is a clear genetic link to her grandmother.

“I like to cook but she has this amazing quality,” Violet said. “Julia’s so precise and patient when she’s baking — I’m the opposite.”

Luckily, Julia speaks Russian — a

language used by many Ukrainians — which was helpful when she last visited her father’s family in Kyiv, Ukraine four years ago.

“My dad really wanted me to learn about my background and his side of the family,” she said. “It helped me to learn where they’re from and what they did when they were little.”

As a baker, what she liked best about Ukraine was the food, especially vareniki and rugelach, her favorite pastries to eat and bake.

The way food connects generations became evident to her as she talked to her family in Ukraine about recipes and family lore. She became so inspired that her initial project grew to include the recipes of other family members and their stories.

But when the Russians invaded Ukraine, all Julia could think about was destruction, especially after Russian bombs hit near Babi Yar, the site of one of the largest massacres of World War II, where many members of her own family had been murdered.

Suddenly, she didn’t know if she’d see her family or Ukraine again.

So her project grew exponentially to become “Rugelach Love.” In addition to a new cookbook and a Jewish calendar with a different recipe every month, she is also working with a rabbi her family knows in Kyiv to collect and translate recipes from Holocaust survivors. Selling this second cookbook is her fundraiser for the Kyiv synagogue.

“Rugelach Love” has a website and a Patreon site, which offers membership levels from as little as $1.50 per month for the “cup of coffee” level to $100 per month for “the whole brisket!” level.

The calendar will be ready by next year at Rosh Hashanah.

To help with the book and calendar, Julia applied for and was awarded one of EVJCC’s “Doing Jewish” microgrants for $500. The grants, for Jewish students in grades 7-12, are intended for projects with the potential to

strengthen Jewish identity and connections and highlight at least one Jewish value. The beneficiary’s project must be completed by July 2023.

“We were so impressed by Julia’s project to publish a cookbook featuring recipes from four generations of her family and her efforts to learn about her family’s history through this project,” said Leisah Woldoff, EVJCC director of communications, who helps coordinate the EVJCC’s Doing Jewish microgrants program. “We are excited to see how her project develops and we hope it not only inspires others to learn more about their own family’s history but also to pursue projects that are meaningful to them.”

On her Patreon site, Julia posted that the project is a tribute to her Jewish heritage through four generations of her family’s recipes: “Generations that went through the unimaginable and kept their strength, faith, sense of humor and a passion for food.”

Even with the work she’s already done, Julia is feeling the time crunch. Besides this project, she has her classwork, cheerleading and dance team that keeps her busy.

But these recipes are important to her.

“My grandma was like my best friend and was like one of my parents — always there by my side,” she said. Baking is one of the best gifts her grandmother gave her. Being able to bake these recipes and share them with her family, especially her grandfather, is something Julia cherishes.

Now that the project has grown exponentially, Julia’s become quite the multitasker.

“I like getting all the data and the stories and realizing how food can carry on family history,” she said.

Cooking is her focus, but her facility with the Russian language has also made her consider how to use that when she becomes a dermatologist one day.

“I want to bring in clients, like Russian-speaking people, and give them a place that makes them feel safe and give them a safe community,” she said. “Knowing a second language benefits other people and makes them feel more comfortable.” JN

For more information on the “Doing Jewish” microgrants offered by the East Valley Jewish Community Center, visit evjcc.org/grant/.

Julia Talore Zilman is working on translating her grandmother’s and Ukrainian Holocaust survivors’ recipes from Russian to English.

Julia Talore Zilman stands with her mother, Violet Zilman, who set up Julia’s Patreon site and is working on illustrating the new cookbook.

The Nazi history of Adidas, the sportswear giant that took weeks to drop Kanye West over antisemitism

ANDREW LAPIN | JTA

As rap star Kanye West continually refuses to back down from his antisemitic rants, some of the many institutions he has ties with have begun to jump ship. The fashion tastemakers Balenciaga and Vogue have announced they will no longer be working with him. Hollywood talent giant CAA has dropped him, and a planned documentary about him has been scrapped.

But one formidable company remained, until early Tuesday morning, in West’s corner: Adidas.

Despite the German sportswear conglomerate’s announcement earlier this month that it would be placing its partnership with West “under review,” it took six days after West boasted on a podcast that “I can literally say antisemitic s— and they cannot drop me” for Adidas to drop him.

The brand’s radio silence kept up even as neo-Nazi groups began using West’s words to go after Jews, unveiling an antisemitic billboard in Los Angeles that was condemned by the White House Monday.

The Anti-Defamation League mounted a growing public pressure campaign to get the company to cut ties with West, and celebrities including Kat Dennings, David Schwimmer and Busy Phillips have boosted it. Other celebrities, including Reese Witherspoon and West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, have used their social platforms to condemn antisemitism without specifically referencing Adidas or West; Jessica Seinfeld, the Jewish cookbook author and wife to comedian Jerry Seinfeld, spurred a viral Instagram movement by encouraging her followers to share a post reading “I support my Jewish friends and the Jewish people.”

Observers are watching Adidas because of its enormously lucrative partnership with West – their shoes and clothes generated an estimated $2 billion last year and brought the brand cultural cache among young consumers. But the company also has a Nazi history that it has rarely addressed publicly. (The company’s CEO, Kasper Rorsted, announced in August that he would be stepping down in 2023.)

Here is an abbreviated version of Adidas’ history with Nazis, Jews and the superstar rapper who now goes by Ye.

Does Adidas really have Nazi origins? Yes, but its founding pre-dates the Nazis’ rise. The company was founded in 1924 in Weimar-era Germany as the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory), or Geda for short, by cobbler brothers Adolf (“Adi”) and Rudolf Dassler.

Based in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, the Dassler brothers quickly made a name for themselves by pioneering some of the earliest spiked shoes – drilled through with nails to help runners on uneven terrain.

On May 1, 1933, with the company’s fortunes on the rise and Hitler having just assumed power in Germany, the Dassler brothers formally joined the Nazi party, according to journalist Barbara Smit’s book “Sneaker Wars,” a history of Adidas.

The Nazis embraced sports as a tool both to boost Germany’s public profile and to train its future armies of young men, so the pioneering shoe company fit nicely into their schema. Under Nazi rule, the Dasslers’ sneaker sales promptly exploded, and they grew the size of their company several times over.

During the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympic games, orchestrated by Hitler in an attempt to demonstrate Aryan athletic supremacy on the world stage, many of the German athletes sported Dassler shoes.

But so did Black American track and field star Jesse Owens, whose very presence at the games was a thumb in the eye of Hitler’s race theories. Even so,

Owens was popular with both Germans and Americans, and Adi Dassler was able to convince him to don the company’s spiked shoes during his medal ceremony. The subsequent exposure helped the shoes make inroads among Allied markets after the war, even in spite of their German associations.

How devoted to the Nazis were the Dassler brothers?

Rudolf was a more ardent devotee of Nazi ideology than Adi, according to Smit, but both brothers carried their party membership cards and signed off their letters with “Heil Hitler.”

During the war, the brothers’ shoe factories were converted into munitions factories for the Nazi military. (Other German shoemakers would test their products on forced laborers in concentration camps.) Rudolf was called to join the war effort, but went AWOL as part of his bid to maintain control of the company from his brother, whom he became convinced was scheming against him.

According to Der Spiegel, some American troops were poised to destroy the Herzogenaurach factory, which employed some forced laborers, in

April 1945 — before Adi’s wife Käthe approached them and convinced them that the building was only being used to make sneakers. It worked.

The factory was saved, and when the U.S. Air Force took over the Nazis’ Herzogenaurauch air base, American troops who were fans of Jesse Owens bought Dassler shoes and helped spread the word about the company back home.

What happened to Adidas after the war?

Ironically, the end of World War II was only the beginning of the fight between the Dassler brothers, each of whom (along with their wives) tried to wrest the shoe empire away from the other.

When Germany entered its postwar denazification period, Allies forced the town of Herzogenaurach — including, presumably, the Dasslers and their factory employees — to watch documentary footage of the horrors visited upon Jews at Nazi concentration camps. Rudolf was also arrested, suspected of feeding information to the Gestapo, and briefly sent to a German prisoner-of-war camp for his role on the frontlines, but was freed one year later owing to the backlog of cases against POWs.

The Olympic torch is carried into the stadium during the opening ceremonies of the XI Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, on August 1, 1936.

Meanwhile, Adi was accused of having actively aided and supported the Nazis during the war, but was able to put together a dossier of people — including the town’s mayor — to support his claim that he was far from a party loyalist.

Among Adi’s claims, according to Smit: he had continued to work with Jewish leather traders later than many other Germans would do business with Jews. He also found a mayor from a neighboring town who claimed to be half-Jewish to say that Dassler had sheltered him on his property in the waning days of the war.

The siblings’ relationship suffered a permanent rift in 1949, leading Adi to form his own company as Adidas, while Rudolf went off to start rival sportswear company Puma. Both companies remain headquartered in Herzogenaurach, and the town’s residents remain bitterly

company in the decades since the war. In 1972, at Adidas’ suggestion, American Jewish Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz carried a pair of their shoes to the podium during his medal ceremony. And last year, Adidas Israel built a campaign around a haredi Orthodox marathon runner.

Adidas has also occasionally waded into geopolitical waters with the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. In 2012, the company was boycotted by Arab states for sponsoring the Jerusalem Marathon, which ran through disputed territory.

And in 2018, the company ended its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association, a development celebrated as a victory by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement because the association had included teams representing Israeli settlements. (Puma took over the sponsorship.)

have embraced in the aftermath of 2020’s racial justice protests, the idea of corporations like Adidas having a sense of social responsibility remains elusive, according to Josh Hunt, author of “University of Nike: How Corporate Cash Bought American Higher Education.”

“Sneaker companies, like all corporations, are amoral,” Hunt told JTA. “They will do what is unseemly until it becomes unprofitable, whether that means exploiting forced labor in Xinjiang or collaborating

But Jews love sneakers, too. One of the

most prominent Jewish sneakerheads is Rabbi Yoël Mendel, a Paris-based member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who goes by “Rabbi Sneakers” online.

On his Instagram page, Mendel uses sneakers as a tool for teaching Torah and shows off a variety of shoes and sports apparel-themed kippahs, including plenty of Adidas gear. (He praised one pair of leather-free Adidas shoes because he could wear them on Yom Kippur.)

“What can I say,” Mendel told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “They make great, comfortable shoes.” JN

+ CINDY HANS

Adolf Dassler

COURTESY OF BRAUNER/ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES

NANCY BARTO

16 YEARS IN THE STATE SENATE

ABO RT IO N

Barto has sponsored Arizona’s most extreme abortion ban laws, and agrees with bans that both have no exceptions for rape and incest, and criminalize doctors and nurses. (1)

ECON OM Y

In tough economic times, Barto has cost Arizona taxpayers over $10,000,0000. Between her extreme laws getting the state sued (and the state subsequently losing) and her willingness to spend $9.4 million for a “Cyber Ninja” 2020 our hard earned money. (2)

G UNS I N S CH OOL S

Barto supports gun sales without any background checks (3) and has voted to allow adults to carry fully-loaded guns while around children at school. (4)

CHRISTINE MARSH

30 YEAR ENGLISH TEACHER & 2016 AZ TEACHER OF THE YEAR. 2 YEARS IN AZ SENATE

ABO RT IO N

Marsh has been very public about protecting women’s access to the healthcare they need and will work to keep the government out of the decisions made between a woman and her doctor.

ECONOM Y

Christine Marsh has worked hard to support Arizona’s economy during this tough time, has supported key investments in Arizona’s infrastructure, and has worked to get our schools the funding they need. As a 30-year veteran English teacher, she understands that our future requires an educated workforce.

GU N S IN S C HOOL S

that will keep our communities and children safe – including prohibiting adults (except for trusted School Resource property. Additionally, she even brought Republicans and apart too many Arizona families. (1)

1)https://kjzz.org/content/1688246/arizona-state-sen-christine-marsh-praises-passage-fentanyl-testing-bill

1) KSTAR 6/25/22, SB 1164 2022; 2) HB 2564 (2009) led to Arizona being sued and losing, having to pay $389,000 in awards and fees.

3) HB1243; 4) HB 2693

Celebrate Israel’s economic juggernaut

As we brace for the frustration and uncertainly of Israel’s fifth national election in four years, to be held next Tuesday, and bemoan the frustration of an Israeli electorate so deeply divided on a host of political and social issues, it is worth taking a step back to marvel at the remarkable success of the Jewish state’s bursting economy.

While virtually every country in the world is suffering from rampant inflation, slow economic growth and challenges to maintenance of currency values, Israel is an exception. Israel’s economy is growing at one of the fastest paces in the world, it boasts a very low rate of inflation and a high level of employment. Israel’s shekel is reported to be the world’s best performing currency among the more than 30 that trade actively and the only one that strengthened against the dollar in the past decade.

Israel’s projected domestic product growth in 2022 will reach 5.2%. Unemployment is at an impressive 3.5% and Israel’s inflation rate of 4.3% is less than half the annualized rate in the U.S. and Europe. Israel’s economy

is strong and is poised to continue to grow. Analysts attribute that strength to a culture of innovation that dominates Israel’s business sector and a broad, diverse and growing base of companies that make up corporate Israel.

like Mobileye Global Inc., the creator of vision-based driver assistance programs and Innoviz Technologies Ltd., the maker of light detection ranging (Lidar) sensor and perception software for autonomous driving are making a significant impact

WHILE VIRTUALLY EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IS SUFFERING FROM RAMPANT INFLATION, SLOW ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CHALLENGES TO MAINTENANCE OF CURRENCY VALUES, ISRAEL IS AN EXCEPTION.

As highlighted in a recent Bloomberg analysis of Israel’s economic success, it is innovation and technology that drive Israel’s remarkable impact on some of the world’s largest industries. The range of impacted industries includes business sectors as diverse as auto parts, medical equipment and food, water and climate-change solutions. Companies

Ignore the polls. Go vote!

The upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 8 are important. The outcome will determine control of the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and leadership and control of state government. In our deeply divided and hyper-partisan political environment, the stakes couldn’t be higher. So, if you care about who is going to represent your interests in the next Congress and in the state capitol, and you care about any of the issues being debated on the campaign trail, you need to make your voice heard by voting. Candidates you elect will be in a position to make a difference going forward.

We urge you to vote no matter what competing polls are predicting. That’s because we have seen repeatedly that many polls are not reliable predictors of election outcomes. Analysts have differing views on why pollsters keep getting things wrong. Some complain that the polling questions themselves are biased and tend to pre-ordain a result. Other argue that some pollsters improperly focus on registered voters rather than likely voters and assert that likely voters

will more accurately predict election results than registered voters who may not actually show up to vote. And then there is the claimed undercounting of Republicans because of “shy Trump supporters” or others seeking to avoid

on the worldwide automobile industry. And Nanox Imaging Ltd. — a company devoted to moving from predictive medicine to preventive medicine — brings new approaches and promise to governments, hospitals and clinics with cloud-based image analysis, online diagnosis and billing services while continuing its work in the development

of a 3D medical imaging device.

And then there is Redefine Meat, the Israeli startup in its fourth year, that seeks to address meat’s significant impact on the challenges of climate change and sustainability by creating the first 3D printed plant-based steak, that now boasts distribution in more than 500 restaurants and butcher shops in Israel, Berlin, Amsterdam and London.

There are, of course, many more such companies, each with an impressive story and many with eye-popping success. There are some 630 companies domiciled in Israel. Not all of them will succeed. But not one of them accounts for more than 10% of Israel’s market value. That diversity — coupled with an innovative, singleminded dedication to understanding new challenges and working through them without fear of failure — bodes well for continued growth and expansion of Israel’s economy.

We can only hope that the new government Israel will elect on Nov. 1 will bring a similar stability, reliability, innovation and a drive to solve problems creatively. JN

hot political issues that initially grab voter attention and then cool down after some period of time. In this election cycle, the abortion issue, the flailing economy and the Jan. 6 hearings may be good examples of hot topic concerns with

NO MATTER WHAT YOU HEAR FROM THE POLLSTERS, NOT A SINGLE POLL RESULT ACTUALLY VOTES FOR A CANDIDATE. ONLY REGISTERED VOTERS CAN DO THAT.

vilification or worse for support of more conservative candidates or positions. This sometimes leads to no answer or misleading answers to polling surveys, and skews poll results.

Further complicating things are the

differing voter impact with the passage of time. Earlier this year, most analysts expected Republicans to make big gains in November, as usually happens for the party that doesn’t hold the White House. But the Supreme Court’s decision to

A NOTE ON OPINION

overturn Roe v. Wade, the rollout of the Jan. 6 hearings and the investigation of former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents and the rise, fall and threatened further rise of gas prices have all captured voter attention and served as a rallying point for advocates to push for voter turnout to elect candidates sympathetic to a particular view. That was then. But now, some reports suggest that uneasiness about the economy and immigration may have overtaken abortion concerns or continued focus on the expanding saga of Donald Trump’s legal problems, raising new concerns and predictions about control of the House, Senate and state capitols.

But who knows? And that’s precisely the point. No matter what you hear from the pollsters, not a single poll result actually votes for a candidate. Only registered voters can do that. Voting is an enormous privilege and empowers each of us to be a part of a communal decision on issues that matter to us. We encourage you to vote on Nov. 8. Your future depends on it. JN

We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion columns and letters to the editor published in the Jewish News are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the

and

of the Jewish Community Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Media or the staff of the Jewish News. Letters must respond to content published by the Jewish News and should be a maximum of 200 words. They may be edited for space and clarity. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters and op-ed submissions should be sent to editor@jewishaz.com.

officers

boards

Does Trump hate Jews, or just ‘bad Jews’?

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL | JTA

In her new book “Bad Jews,” Emily Tamkin frames recent American Jewish communal politics as a series of clashes between antagonists who insist there are right ways and wrong ways to be Jewish — that is, “good Jews” and “bad Jews.” It’s a useful and revealing way to look at how Jews fight among themselves.

It’s also incredibly timely (or timeless). Donald Trump had his own version of “bad Jews” in mind when he tweeted this month that American Jews were insufficiently grateful to him for his support of Israel, and warned that “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — before it is too late!”

Some Jewish groups heard that as an antisemitic threat. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt — I thought he meant that Israel itself would be in danger if Jews didn’t vote for a pro-Israel presi-

dent like him the next time — it does fit into a pattern in which Trump treats “the Jews” as a monolith, and distinguishes between the good Jews who vote for him and the bad Jews who don’t recognize

their own self-interest. That sort of ethnic pigeonholing never ends well. And as I have written before, I don’t know if Trump is antisemitic, but he has certainly been good for antisemitism.

Trump was also echoing the kinds of internal Jewish conversations that Tamkin describes. It may be presumptuous for a gentile politician to explain how “good Jews” vote, but Jewish individuals and organizations have been doing it for years. Liberal Jews use the “good Jew/bad Jew” framing, on everything from immigration to LGBTQ rights. But it has over the years become a conservative specialty, especially when it comes to Israel:

In 2002, New York Times columnist William Safire urged Jewish Democrats to put their domestic agenda aside to vote for Republicans he felt had a better record on Israel.

In 2008, neoconservative icon Norman Podhoretz lamented that liberalism had “superseded Judaism and become a religion in its own right.”

SEE TRUMP, PAGE 13

The missed opportunities of Tom Stoppard’s ‘Leopoldstadt’

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL | JTA

Tom Stoppard is one of those playwrights who flatters you with his erudition. His 1993 play “Arcadia” dives deeply into the mathematics of algorithms and fractals. His breakthrough 1966 play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” is a graduate school-level midrash — an alternate telling — of “Hamlet.” You leave the theater feeling smarter, and maybe just a touch self-satisfied, for just having kept up with the dialogue.

It helps that Stoppard has always seemed to thoroughly absorb his interests in science, politics and literature before transposing them into drama and comedy. The characters seem to inhabit the worlds they are recreating onstage, rather than declaiming from a playwright’s overstuffed research files.

That’s why I was so disappointed with his latest play, “Leopoldstadt,” which opened on Broadway earlier this month. It’s an epically scaled play about the Holocaust, centering on multiple generations of a prosperous assimilated Viennese Jewish family. As staged by the playwright and director Patrick Marber, it is never dull, but rarely compelling. As Austria becomes increasingly inhospitable to its Jews, characters debate Zionism,

Freudianism, the price of assimilation and the persistence of antisemitism in the style of an earnest high school textbook. From the fin-de-siècle opening act to the final reveal about the unspeakable fate of most of the characters, it felt less like a play than a pageant — professional, effective, well-meaning — staged for a Holocaust museum.

It feels churlish to insist that a play about the Holocaust do more to move or engage me. And yet the most memorable and justifiable works of what we inadequately call Holocaust art — Anne Frank’s diary, Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,”

the exquisite 1983 Hungarian film “The Revolt of Job” — bear witness by transforming an inhuman era and unimaginable tragedy into something deeply specific and personal. Such specificity is the answer to philosopher Theodor Adorno’s famous dictat, “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” It is also the opposite of what the New Yorker dance critic Arlene Croce once derided as “victim art” – that is, works that seem to exploit tragedy to make themselves critic-proof.

Stoppard’s play is not exploitative, but intelligent and sincere. I understand

why critics and audiences have found it moving, “brilliant,” “beautiful” and “prescient.” But I do feel what power it has relies on a story we know all too well — the very worst story in the history of the Jews — and not on the specificity of its characters or ideas.

In the recent Ken Burns’ documentary “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” writer Daniel Mendelsohn discusses growing up in America and how little he heard about relatives who perished in Europe. “We had pictures of them. And on the back of every picture, my grandfather always wrote, ‘Uncle Shmiel, killed by the Nazis,’ or ‘Aunt Esther, killed by the Nazis.’ And I always wondered, why are there no stories about these people?”

To his great credit, Stoppard set out to tell such stories. Stoppard, who is 85, famously discovered, or at least took seriously, his Jewish ancestry only late in life. Long considered a quintessentially British writer, he is in fact the son of Jewish refugees who fled Czechoslovakia for Singapore in the 1930s. His father, whom he never knew, was lost at sea and his mother married a British Army major named Kenneth Stoppard. As Stoppard’s

SEE LEOPOLDSTADT, PAGE 13

Brandon Uranowitz, left, as Nathan, and Arty Froushan as Leo. The latter character is a stand-in for Stoppard.

COURTESY OF JOAN MARCUS

Jews argue outside of the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., where Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates were scheduled to speak during the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee convention, March 21, 2016.

COURTESY OF SAMUEL CORUM/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES

Noach: The flooding of Humanity

the main cause amongst our people for abdication of religion.

copulations. Animals of different species were mating with each other.

pocryphal imaginations of world destruction, domination and conquest gnaw at our consciousness. Doom and apocalypse strum the emotions into a kind of shocking awe that mesmerizes with fascination of what may occur next.

Scaremongers masquerading as prophets of doom capitalize on the opportunity to stand on top pedestals declaring that black clouds of peril are soon upon us. Yet fatal diseases that ravage humanity, earthquakes that destroy cities and tsunamis that wash away large populations are difficult to wrap one’s hands around. The seeming gargantuan quirks in the natural progression of life that leave catastrophic repercussions force us to throw up our hands in utter abandon of any explanation. Such experience according to the Ramban (Iyov, Introduction) is

TRUMP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

In 2011, Jewish conservative firebrand Ben Shapiro tweeted, “The Jewish people has always been plagued by Bad Jews, who undermine it from within. In America, those Bad Jews largely vote Democrat.”

In 2018, Jonathan Neumann turned that idea into a book-length attack on Jews involved in social justice movements, subtitled, “How the Jewish Left Corrupts and Endangers Israel.”

In each case, the writers implied that good Jews put the fate of Israel ahead of other values — which, to the degree that they are liberal, seem to the writers barely Jewish in the first place.

Some of those objecting to Trump’s tweet said it fed the “dual loyalty” accusation — that is, Jews pledge their true allegiance to Israel. But again, Trump is turning an internal Jewish discourse back on itself. Let’s be honest: Caring about the well-being of Israel — political, social, military — is a normative value in the vast majority of American Jewish settings: synagogues, schools, summer camps, community councils. That’s not dual loyalty, but solidarity with millions of coreligionists and extended family members. Such solidarity is the right of any ethnic group, and Jews have rightly owned it, even as polls show that is the minority of Jews who make Israel their number one issue at the polls. Trump’s tweet is a funhouse version of that tendency —

AOnly God Himself can provide the answer as the Talmud relates, “This matter (destruction of the first Temple) was asked of the Sages and the Prophets yet they could not explain it until the Holy One Blessed Be Himself explained it.” (Nedarim 81a)

Therefore, when we read in this week’s portion about the drowning of humanity concomitantly we scour the text for answers. Only God can provide an explanation for this anomalous deluge. Of course when we look at the story of that generation, we see that their deeds had such a profound effect on the universe that their actions spread like a cancer beyond their own confines. As a result, the ensuing flood was a matter of consequential recourse.

The Torah states, “And God saw the earth and behold it was corrupted for all the flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.” (Genesis 6:12) Rashi (ad loc) explains that the reference to “all flesh” is also to the animal kingdom. That is to say that they too were involved in aberrant

The Beis Halevi (ad loc) asks that this explanation poses a philosophical dilemma. It is axiomatic to Jewish belief that people have free will as the Talmud declares in Brachos (33b). The centrality of this idea is expounded upon and emphasized by all the Torah scholars especially the Rambam (Laws of Teshuva 5, 6). However, animals don’t have such capacity. They can’t build or destroy with the thrust of their volition. They act with instinct. If that is the case, how can they become corrupt? They don’t choose between right and wrong.

The answer is that there are holy places in the world and irreverent places. There are venerable places such as Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. And there are disreputable places such as some cities in the shinier areas of the United States.

One with sensitivity can feel the spiritual purity of the holy sights even when they don’t come in contact with any residents. This is true in vice versa. The reason is that these areas

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

demanding Jews stand in solidarity with Israel but on his terms, and exclusive of other priorities.

Trump’s tweet is of a piece with what Maggie Haberman, in her new book about Trump, describes as the “racial tribalism” the real estate mogul absorbed in the New York City of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. In that Archie Bunkerish New York, individuals were pegged and defined, for good and ill, by their ethnicity. In Trump’s view, Jews are good business people, savvy negotiators and of one mind when it comes to Israel — and are confounding and even ungrateful when they are not. That’s the Trump heard in a recent video clip, asking if the filmmaker was “a good Jewish character.” Good Jew or bad Jew?

Tamkin calls her book an attempt to “wrestle with what I believe to be the one truth of American Jewish identity: it can never be pinned down.” Still, a lot of people have tried — sometimes out of the best of intentions, and sometimes to push people out of the fold. When we presume to tell ourselves who is and isn’t a “good Jew,” however, we shouldn’t be shocked when others — especially a politician who has made racial tribalism his brand — do the same. JN

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

biographer, Hermione Lee, explains, his mother “never told her sons, either that she was Jewish or that most of her family had perished in the Holocaust. They would find out, very much later.”

“Leopoldstadt” is a portrait — in essence, a resurrection — of an extended family like his own. That so many of the more than 30 characters on stage feel so generic is a pity.

It is also a pity that the most compelling and particular story Stoppard has to tell — what it means to reclaim a Jewish identity that had been hidden behind a defensive moat of Englishness — is consigned to the all-too-brief final act of “Leopoldstadt.” The scene includes a callow British writer not unlike a young Stoppard, who is told by a cousin who survived the camps, “You live as if without history, as if you throw no shadow behind you.”

I can only imagine the Stoppard play it would have been had he centered his and his mother’s story: a son confronting his family’s hidden, tragic past; the costs and opportunities of eradicating one’s roots; the responsibility that comes with knowing, the guilt of surviving because of an accident of history and geography

Those are deeply American Jewish concerns as well. Most American Jews did not by any means repudiate their Judaism during World War II, but, as historian Lucy S. Dawidowicz wrote,

are actually holy and the opposite. How do they become that way?

Our actions not only influence us they also affect the physical inanimate environment around us. If we act in a righteous way, we uplift all those that are in the radius if our surroundings.

Therefore, the state of the generation of the flood was so depraved it caused the animal kingdom to become corrupt. Not because they have free choice but because they were soiled with the liquid of vile impunity of the depraved society around them. JN

“The Jews who survived Auschwitz, Belsen and Maidanek were stunned by the normalcy of the world to which they returned. They soon noted that American Jews — notwithstanding those who had served in the armed forces — had lived through the war years in safety, without having made great sacrifices. It rankled the survivors that American Jews had not staked their own security to save the European Jews.”

That is a serious charge, worth debating. It is in part the subject of Burns’ film. Their responses to the Holocaust shape American Jews’ attitudes toward Israel, toward their Jewish identities and toward their politics, especially when it comes to immigration.

Perhaps there can never be too many primers on the Holocaust, no matter the medium. And it’s possible that American theatergoers 80 years after Auschwitz have only a passing knowledge of the Holocaust; there’s research to suggest they might.

But a different play could have helped all of us, especially the children and grandchildren of American Jews who lived through the Holocaust and of those families that barely survived, to confront the shadows thrown by the past. JN

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Rabbi Yakov Bronsteyn is a senior lecturer at Phoenix Community Kollel, a podcaster and West Coast kashrus administrator for Star-K Kosher Certification.

RABBI YAKOV BRONSTEYN

Calling likely Jewish voters makes volunteering easier, ‘puts people at ease’

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Andy Kunsberg of Tucson has made a lot of calls to strangers over the years, whether calling for political candidates or raising money for Jewish organizations.

One thing making the task easier this campaign season is that he’s probably calling Jewish voters for the Arizona chapter of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA).

“When I’m calling likely Jewish voters, it’s a different aura,” he said. “It has a calming effect on me.”

The script volunteers use to call voters doesn’t tell them to identify themselves as Jews. Still, Debra Stein, Arizona chapter lead and JDCA board member, encouraged them to tell people their last names because they would be talking to other Jews.

“It puts people at ease,” she said.

Stein said identifying oneself as a Jew calling on behalf of Jewish Democrats did not conflict with the script — it’s more of a bonus.

Kunsberg agreed. “There’s a community when it comes to democracy among Jewish voters — they’re glad you’re calling them.”

After he introduced himself on one recent call, the man on the other line asked how Kunsberg knew he was Jewish.

“Your name ends in ‘Berg’ just like mine,” he said. “We talked and since he lived in Tucson, I asked what neighborhood he lived in; we’ll probably get together after the election.”

The JDCA officially launched its Arizona chapter on July 9, 2020, and Stein has headed it since then. The Arizona chapter has been one of the fastest-growing chapters this election cycle, according to Samuel J. Crystal, JDCA’s communication director and spokesperson.

On Oct. 11, the evening before Arizona’s ballots were mailed out for the November election, Stein helped

arrange an appearance by Katie Hobbs, the Democratic candidate for governor, on the Zoom call volunteers join before making calls.

Hobbs spent about 10 minutes outlining to the callers why the work they were preparing to do was important and what is at stake in this election.

Stein reiterated that Jews are only 2% of the population but vote at “an exceptionally high rate.”

Hobbs said it’s important that Arizona is a place where everyone can thrive, no matter their religion or race.

After Hobbs signed off, Stein gave the volunteers a bit of a pep talk and advised them to manage their expectations.

“I know it’s tough when you get voicemail after voicemail after voicemail,” she said, reminding them not to leave a message. “But if you can speak to one or two voters and help them make a plan to vote, we’ve done our job.”

Twenty-two people were there to see Hobbs and make calls. A few needed some reminding of how the system worked and how to talk to people. Some were making calls for the first time.

Stein put them at ease by joking about things that might take them off script. For example, she chided one regular caller not to get into “a whole rigmarole even though I know you do that with your husband every day.”

After people spent about an hour calling likely Jewish voters they regrouped on Zoom, to debrief and report on what they’d said and heard. Everyone had called all the names on their list.

“We went through every Jew on the list,” Stein quipped. “There’s no more Jews in the state to talk to tonight — the rest of us are on this call.”

Each caller had spoken with a handful of people. A few respondents said they would be voting for Republicans and a few remained undecided. But everyone was pleased that the calls were all civil and some attributed that to the fact it was Jews calling other Jews.

Not all the callers were from Arizona, however.

Vicki Singer lives in St. Louis but has been volunteering in Arizona since 2020. She worked with a friend, Dana Sandweiss, who lives in Missouri but is originally from Phoenix and connected Singer to Stein.

“We have continued a friendship with Debra and other Jewish women in the group,” Singer said.

“I find that in conversations with likely Jewish voters, it is easier to have a real conversation with someone on the other line and they know that you’re genuine,” she said.

On Oct. 11, she had a “wonderful and personal” conversation with one Israeli woman on her list.

“I heard the Israeli accent and said, ‘Chag Sameach,’” she said. “That was one of the best calls I’ve made in phone banking in my adult life.”

The woman on the other end of the line was happy to hear why Singer was calling. She knew the election was soon but didn’t know the issues or the candidates. Singer told her about issues like health care and education and the Israeli stressed the importance of democracy, saying, “Israel needs a strong and democratic United States in the world.”

They “made a connection” because they’re both Jewish women, Singer surmised.

The two also discussed ways to be more involved in the Greater Phoenix Jewish community. The Israeli had discovered the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale but was interested in learning more, so Singer connected her to Stein.

Kunsberg said these evenings have “no lowlights — all highlights” and handed the credit to Stein and the women in the Arizona chapter, who have taught him a lot about Arizona politics. For the first time, he’s interested in the state legislative races.

He likes getting to know Jews all over the state, too.

“It’s more stressful calling Jewish people for money for the Federation than this,” he said. JN

For more information, visit jewishdems.org.

Jewish volunteers debrief after making calls for the Arizona chapter of the Jewish Democratic Council of America on Oct. 11.

COURTESY OF DEBRA STEIN

FLIP Your Ballot VOTE YES on 308

It’s the fair thing to do. These young people have been our classmates and our children’s classmates in Arizona for years. It’s also the smart thing to do. Arizona needs Dreamers to stay in state not only for college but after, when they contribute to the economy and bring much-needed tech, education, and healthcare skills to our booming workforce.

So between now and November 8, make sure to FLIP YOUR BALLOT and VOTE YES on 308.

PAID FOR BY ABIC ACTION

Proposition 308, on your current ballot, would allow Dreamers, who came to Arizona as children without documentation, to pay the same in-state tuition rate as their peers.

Scottsdale native hopes to become mayor of California town

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Arizona native Mike Wachs is hoping to become mayor of his new city, Pacific Grove, California — in part because it reminds him of his childhood in Scottsdale.

“One of my favorite parts of growing up in Scottsdale was the freedom to roam — we were very independent because we felt safe,” he told Jewish News, via email. “That’s true of Pacific Grove, too.”

Wachs moved to Houston in 2012 for his girlfriend, Stephanie, who eventually became his wife. The two met at a Matzoball (a Jewish singles’ event held across several U.S. cities) in 2011. Well, sort of. She had actually messaged him on OkCupid after noticing he had looked at her profile. The Matzoball was more of a first date.

After several years in Texas, the couple packed their two kids, Iris and Harry, into a big, rented RV and moved to Pacific Grove, a city near Monterey Bay. The family belongs to Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel Valley. Mike works as an art director and manager for a nonprofit that does tech-related job training for students and young adults who historically come from disadvantaged neighborhoods and backgrounds.

Ruth Wachs, Mike’s mom, lives in Scottsdale and is a regular at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center. Luckily, American Airlines has direct flights from Phoenix to Monterey, which is less than three miles from Pacific Grove, making it an easy trip.

Just like Scottsdale, she said, “Pacific Grove is a ‘tourist gem’ and boasts a vibrant walkable downtown like Old Scottsdale.”

Both places have beautiful scenery — “Scottsdale has desert vistas and Pacific Grove hugs the gorgeous Pacific Ocean.”

Mike said the family’s “lives are full of kids and dogs and work and never-ending house repairs.” Now that Pacific Grove is their home and “where I’ll grow old,” he wants to be its mayor and work together with residents to make it “even more incredible.”

Wachs took time out of campaigning to talk about Pacific Grove, his platform and what he misses about Arizona.

Why do you like Pacific Grove so much that you hope never to leave?

Picking the Monterey Bay area was 98% random. We were looking for an Airbnb during the first summer of COVID because you can’t go outside in Houston during the summer and the distance and “length of vacation” grew longer and longer over the course of a night until we found a house that looked amazing to buy.

One of my favorite parts of growing up in Scottsdale was the freedom to roam. I remember riding my bike across busy streets and across town via the greenbelt in second grade — by myself or with friends. By middle school, my friends and I would take the bus to Tempe to go record shopping. We were very independent — partially because we felt safe.

That’s true of Pacific Grove, too. It’s quite small (15,000 people), so friends of my daughter, who is in the

third grade, are always going in or out or she’s headed over to her friends. We don’t worry much.

Do you stay connected with friends in Arizona beyond your family?

I have a pretty tight or small — depending on how you look at it — social circle, so two of my best friends from childhood still live there or moved back within the past few years. I love Arizona. And I always get most disappointed and sad with the politics of Arizona because, in a way, that still feels the most personal.

Also, almost every day, our text thread talks about the various triumphs, trials and tribulations of the Suns.

What made you decide to run for office?

Stephanie and I (and our kids) instantly fell in love with it here and quickly knew we wouldn’t be moving again: This is where my wife and I will get old and where they’ll spend the majority of their youth.

The city is idyllic in so many ways, I don’t think some of the issues that impact people are always met with the most urgency. So, as a father, I want to try and ensure that their childhood will be the best it can be right now and that the city has a bright future for decades to come.

What are the major planks of your campaign platform?

More housing/affordable housing; an expanded recreation department that includes no-cost programming for everyone from kids to adults; more bike lane striping and the possibility of a bike share program; resources,

tools and support for local businesses to succeed in a new and uncertain economy; pre-approved greywater recycling plans for homes; and bringing a food and wine festival to Pacific Grove.

Does being Jewish factor into your campaign or politics?

I think the quality of Judaism that most influences me — and my campaign — is a call for tikkun olam

Have you been watching Arizona races?

Honestly, no, not really — my own little race takes up a lot of time!

I watched the viral clip of the Republican candidates talking about some very “interesting” things and then screamed into a pillow. And about every 48 hours, I get a depressing text from Mark Kelly (whom I support) and then also scream into a pillow.

Have you been following the discussion of antisemitism in the campaigns?

I have not. As a rule, I’m never for antisemitism.

Is there anything you would like to say to your hometown?

I love Phoenix, Scottsdale and Arizona as a whole with all my heart. I hope voters there can move beyond scare tactics and scarcity mindset and realize the beauty in the state doesn’t begin and end with the landscape — it includes all the people and all they have to offer. JN

For more information, visit votemikeformayor.com.

Mike Wachs with his wife, Stephanie and their children Harry and Iris.

Threats to democracy are the ‘most comprehensive’ in Arizona

CAITLIN SIEVERS | AZ MIRROR

Election denial. Ballot initiatives that would make voting more difficult. Extremist groups watching ballot drop boxes. Efforts to derail election certification processes. These are some of the most worrying threats to democracy in Arizona listed in a new report by the Defend Democracy Project.

Among the seven states the project profiled, Arizona was at the top of the list, facing the most comprehensive threats to democracy, according to Defend Democracy.

“We want people to understand that these complaints about elections are not rooted in fact, but part of a plan to disinform people on purpose and make them lose faith in elections,” said Rodd McLeod, a spokesman for Defend Democracy.

While all of the points mentioned in the report have already been publicized, the project sought to bring all of the information together in one place to show just how dire they believe the situation is in Arizona.

The Defend Democracy Project was created in response to rampant denial of the true outcome of the 2020 presidential election by supporters of former president Donald Trump. Its objective is “that American voters determine the outcome of elections.”

To create the report, the group’s representatives said they spoke to Arizona grassroots organizers and reporters, as well as legal analysts.

Top threats listed in the report were the 35 bills passed by the state legislature this year that create barriers to ballot access, including House Bill 2237, which bans same-day voter registration — something that was already not allowed under Arizona law.

Republican state Sen. Kelly Townsend had justified the new law by saying that disallowing same-day registrants to vote would reduce fraud, adding that a person who just registered might be given a provisional ballot and be able to circumvent the traditional registration process. But voting experts said her claims are unfounded, since provisional ballots are thrown out if the voter can’t verify their identity or if their voter registration is inaccurate or incomplete.

Townsend did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Other laws that the Defend Democracy Project sees as threats to democracy include Senate Bill 1260, which makes it illegal for an Arizonan to help someone register to vote if the new registrant is registered to vote in another state and House Bill 2243, which requires county recorders to cancel a voter’s registration if they receive information that the voter isn’t qualified or have reason to believe that they are not a U.S. citizen. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey had previously vetoed a nearly identical bill, calling it vague and saying that anonymous complaints could “seek to falsely allege a voter is not a qualified elector.”

“This is part of an unrelenting assault on the basic right of us as a people to choose our own leaders,” McLeod said.

The report excoriates the state Senate’s partisan “audit” of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that was conducted by the now-defunct firm Cyber Ninjas. The audit, which the report called “severely flawed,” found no

evidence of voter fraud, was initiated by Republican Senate President Karen Fann. Maricopa County said nearly all of the findings in a report that came out of the audit were “inaccurate, misleading or patently false.”

“This is a report put out by a liberal source just like the Az Mirror,” Fann told the Mirror in an emailed response to a request for comment on the Threats to Democracy report. “It’s difficult to ever answer your questions because the liberal bias prevents the readers from ever hearing the actual honest facts. It’s truly a shame the media didn’t do their own homework on the audit but only mimicked what Maricopa wanted you to see and report on.”

Four of five Maricopa County Supervisors and the county recorder, who oversees elections, are Republicans. Fann did not answer a follow up question asking for details of the “honest facts” she said the media had gotten wrong, but she did say that “many of the republican legislators feel it’s a waste of time to talk to Az Mirror since it is a Democratic media outlet.”

She then stopped responding to messages asking for her side of the story.

Last week, Fann wrote on Twitter that the Senate’s partisan election review “proved there were so many mistakes the election never should have been certified.” However, the “audit” and its contractors never made that claim — and many of the supposed problems they identified were flatly incorrect or were normal election activities that they didn’t understand.

The report also highlights two lawsuits from Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of Arizona’s Republican Party, aimed at ending mail-in voting in Arizona ahead of the midterm election.

Arizona has been using mail-in voting since 1991, and around 90% of its voters use that system. Both of the suits were dismissed.

Another lawsuit mentioned in the report was filed by Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, the GOP nominees for governor and secretary of state, respectively, seeking

to ban voting machines and tabulation equipment in Maricopa and Pima counties, which would have forced those counties to tabulate votes by hand.

Neither Lake nor Finchem responded to a request for comment on the report.

Another issue threatening democracy in Arizona, according to the report, is harassment directed at elections workers that has caused some to resign. The most prominent resignation due to harassment was Republican Yavapai County Recorder Leslie Hoffman, her deputy and the Yavapai County elections director.

Hoffman resigned in July after receiving a constant stream of hateful messages from people who believed that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election, even though Trump actually won Yavapai County by more than 41,000 votes. Before facing such harassment, Hoffman said she had planned to continue in the recorder job until she retired.

In five of Arizona’s 15 counties, there are new election directors this cycle, according to the report.

The report also mentions plans from extremist groups in Arizona to watch ballot drop boxes, with the potential of voter intimidation. Voter intimidation was already reported to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Arizona Attorney General’s office the week of Oct. 17, after a voter said they were followed after dropping off their ballot at a drop box in Mesa.

“This is new territory that we’re seeing, in terms of the relentlessness of the threats to democracy,” said Rebecca Parks, research director for Defend Democracy.

Defend Democracy also issued reports on threats to democracy in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“Arizona is unique because of people running, they’re on the extreme edge of election denialism and the potential implications for future elections are dire,” Parks said. JN

To read the entire report on “The Three Greatest Threats to Democracy in Arizona,” visit projectdefenddemocracy.com/arizona/.

Arizona has the most comprehensive threats to democracy after new laws passed this year and because of GOP candidates who have endorsed lies about the 2020 election. COURTESY OF DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES

Investing to win: How to approach the current interest rate

OPHIR GROSS

It’s no surprise that interest rates are on everyone’s mind right now. We have officially hit 7.25% for a 30-year fixed loan, and economists suggest further increases. Let’s admit it, we’ve enjoyed record-low rates over the last two years — and who wouldn’t with rates as low as 2.65%! You’d be a fool not to hop on the bandwagon and refinance your house or purchase a new investment property.

But the truth is, over the last two decades, we’ve been accustomed to historically lower rates. According to TheMortgageReports.com, during the previous 50 years, the national average rate has been 7.78%. We have been sitting underneath that average since the early 2000s, so many of us either forgot what the housing market was like prior or simply weren’t there for it.

Well, I’m here to tell you, even at the peak of rates during the early 1980s, people still bought property. And most of the people that bought property back then are doing pretty well today, wouldn’t you say? The key is risk assessment and knowledge. Assessing the risks and various options with interest rates is vital in transitioning markets such as these to avoid making fearful and possibly detrimental investment decisions.

Let’s first dive into your best-case scenario if you lock in a 7.25% rate — refinancing! Most economists suggest a continuance of increased rates in the near future, followed by a decrease. And a recession might be to thank for that. The general indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of decline in Gross Domestic Product and the U.S. has experienced such a contraction. While it hasn’t been officially announced that we are in a recession, the economic changes are evident. The silver lining to this is a dip in interest rates. Historically, following a recession, rates tend to decrease as demand slows and bond prices

rise. So, there’s a pretty good chance rates will drop in the near future. And when they do, be ready! Refinancing when rates are lower will save hundreds of dollars monthly and thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. Be sure to stay up to date on current real estate trends, so you’re aware when changes are happening.

Now, let’s look into the second option — rates stay the same. If rates remain the same, then no harm done. Purchasing property is an extremely thorough process. Lenders diligently examine income, assets, debt and credit to determine the amount a buyer is qualified to receive. Financial institutions are banking on the buyer’s ability to repay the loan, so it’s in their best interest that the mortgage holder is able to make the payments. With that understanding, if you happen to buy at a higher rate and rates are staying put, no need to worry. Experts qualified the loan at an amount that is suitable for the lifestyle and aligned with the financial situation of the buyer. If anything, with inflation and overall growth, one can gain comfort in knowing that the payment amount

is consistent for the entire term of the loan and, most likely, you will experience several wage increases over the life of the mortgage. Also, we can’t forget about the equity building in the meantime! Doesn’t sound too bad after all.

Lastly, the worry causing so much dread and fear — what if interest rates rise?

Well, my friend, if interest rates increase, you’ll be happy you locked in at 7.25%. No one has a crystal ball that can predict the future. And if that’s where the future of interest rates is heading, then you will be one happy camper knowing you lucked out at only a 7.25%.

Remember the early 80s?

According to RocketMortgage, in 1981, mortgage rates shot up as high as 18.45%! By securing a 7.25% rate, you would be positioning yourself pretty well compared to those that chose to wait it out.

The key to any significant decision in life is knowledge. The better our ability to compare the cost versus benefit, the better our position is in making and feeling comfortable with that decision. When looking at the current interest rate, the abrupt increases within a short amount of time was unexpected. We were starting to get spoiled with the ridiculously low rates and we all felt unease as the market shifted. However, discomfort doesn’t have to lead to fear and worry. And in most cases, big decisions include a level of discomfort. By examining the three possible outcomes of securing the current rate, we uncover that there are no detrimental risks. If interest rates go down, refinance. Win. If they stay the same, no harm. Draw. If they increase, win. Win, draw, win. And when it comes to investing, I’m here to win. JN

Ophir Gross is a realtor with Coldwell Banker Realty and has a combined skillset of business strategy and consumer psychology. She is a member of NowGen Phoenix, attends Congregation Beth Tefillah and began her roots in the community at the Phoenix Hebrew Academy and, formerly, Jess Schwartz High School. She can be reached at ophir. gross@cbrealty.com or 480-794-0807.

COURTESY OF THEMORTGAGEREPORT.COM

Ophir Gross

COURTESY OF OPHIR GROSS

Historical Data: Freddie Mac PMMS. (c) TheMortgageReports.com

Tackling the toilet before Thanksgiving

ROSIE ROMERO, JR.

Thanksgiving is less than a month away. Take the time to prevent a disaster on the day of the feast — and I don’t mean a burnt turkey.

The unsung “heroes of the household” are our toilets. As with many household items, we tend to take them for granted. We don’t think a lot about toilets until they aren’t working — especially when they are frequently used — like when we have a houseful of holiday guests.

To help make sure your facilities are the least of your concerns (i.e., the in-laws), use this quick DIY list of checks you can do prior to your guests’ arrival.

Check the toilet flapper

Are you constantly hearing water running in the toilet’s tank — or is it flushing by itself? That may be a sign of a bad flapper, and the not the Roaring 20s kind. It’s often the part that requires ongoing inspection and maintenance. It’s an easy fix. When the toilet is flushed, the flapper valve opens, allowing the water to rush into the bowl. When it closes, it creates a seal to keep the water securely in the tank until the next flush.

it doesn’t last forever. Rubber can decompose, warp and harden, all problems that prevent it from forming a sturdy seal and thereby, create a running toilet.

To replace the seal:

1. Shut off the water to the toilet.

2. Pull the valve out of the clips that hold it in place, take it to the hardware store and buy the matching replacement.

3. Snap the new valve back into the clips, making sure it’s sealed tight. Clip the new valve chain to the trip arm.

4. Turn the water back on and test the valve. If the water still runs, readjust the flapper so the seal is airtight.

Check the flush handle

While checking the flapper, check the strap that connects the flapper to the flush handle. Make sure the strap isn’t too loose or too tight. Check that the flush handle is tightly secured to the wall of the tank. If it’s loose, reach into the tank and give the nut on the inside a good tightening.

Check for leaks at the base

If there is water on the floor around your toilet, it’s most likely a faulty or older wax ring.

Water on the floor around the toilet

a cracked bowl. Most of the time, however, the culprit is a faulty wax ring. The wax ring is the seal between the toilet and the drain and it can wear out if your toilet rocks back and forth on it because it isn’t bolted firmly to the floor.

To stop the leak:

1. Turn off the water to the toilet and flush a couple of times to drain the water from the bowl.

2. Use a big pair of pliers to disconnect the water supply tube from the bottom of the toilet and loosen the mounting bolts on either side of the toilet base.

3. Lift the toilet straight up; you’ll see the wax ring. Remove it, scrape and clean off all the old wax ring residue. Because wax rings come in assorted sizes, bring a picture of the toilet drain to the hardware store for help selecting the correct size.

4. Place the new wax ring where the old one was after thoroughly cleaning the area and set the toilet on top. Sit on the toilet to position it in the right place; then bolt it back to the floor. Be gentle because it’s possible to crack the porcelain while tightening the bolts.

Check the fill valve

Next, inspect the fill valve. After flushing,

water level. Make sure the valve shuts off the water just before it reaches the overflow tube. Adjust it accordingly if it runs over or is too low.

Check the bowl itself

As for the bowl itself, look it over to ensure that the water is flowing smoothly without obstructions. Never flush facial tissues, cotton swabs or paper towels. The only product that can be flushed, besides the obvious, is toilet paper.

Inspecting and repairing each toilet in your home will ensure there aren’t any unwanted interruptions at your next gathering. Should you notice, however, that your toilet is flushing slowly, or requires multiple flushes, call a Rosie on the House Certified Partner plumber right away! JN

Rosie Romero, Jr. is co-owner of Arizona’s home improvement radio program “Rosie on the House.”

This is the last thing anyone wants to do before or after a meal. Make sure all toilets function properly before the guests arrive. COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK

Featured Event

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2 2022 Tax & Legal Seminar

7 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Join the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix and the Arizona Community Foundation for the 2022 Tax and Legal Seminar at the Arizona Biltmore, 2400 E. Missouri Ave., Phoenix featuring guest speaker Joshua S. Rubenstein, partner and chair, Private Wealth Department at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. For more information, visit jewishphoenix.com/events/2022-tax-legal-seminar/.

Events

FRIDAY, OCT. 28-SUNDAY OCT. 30

Camp Stein New Camper Weekend!: Join Camp Daisy and Harry Stein in Prescott for their Fall New Camper Weekend. Open to any first-time camper in 1st–6th grade. This is an opportunity to get a taste of camp before the summer. For more information, visit campstein.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 29

An Evening with Nefesh Mountain: 7-9 p.m. Join Temple Chai, 4645 E. Marilyn Road, Phoenix for a concert featuring Nefesh Mountain who blends tradtional Jewish and modern Bluegrass music. For more information, visit tcaz.shulcloud.com/event/ NefeshMountain.

SUNDAY, OCT. 30

Celebrate Wise Aging with Friends: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Join the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale for brunch and to celebrate wise aging with friends! Sherri Morr will be speaking about her book, “75 and Fabulous: Reflections.” For more information, visit bjephoenix.org.

Noah’s Ark Party with The New Shul: 3:30-5 p.m.. Join the New Shul for an event with live animal friends. All families and all ages are welcome. This event will be held outdoors at a private home. For more information, visit thenewshul.org or contact Jolene Kuty at kutychiropractic@yahoo. com.

TUESDAY, NOV. 1

Alzheimer’s and the Heart: 1-2:30 p.m. Join the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale for a presentation by Dr. Marwan Noel Sabbagh, professor of neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute discussing the link between heart health and brain health. For more information, visit belmontvillage.com/ sd_11_1_22_alzandtheheart.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2

NowGen November Happy Hour: 5-7 p.m.

Join NowGen for a happy hour for adults in their 20s through 40s at The Little Woody, 4228 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. Reconnect with old friends and get to know

new members of our community. For more information, visit jcfphoenix.regfox.com/ nowgen-happy-hour.

SUNDAY, NOV. 6

Jewish Speed Dating Event: 1-3:30 p.m. Join Shalom Phoenix at Chompie’s Restaurant, 3212 E. Cactus Road, Phoenix for a speed dating event for those between the ages of 50 to 65. For more information, visit signupgenius.com/ go/5080f4aa9af2ba5fe3-funspeed.

THURSDAY, NOV. 10

The Great AZ Challah Bake: 6-8 p.m. Join The Shabbat Project Arizona at Menachem Mendel Academy, 6140 E. Thunderbird Road, Scottsdale for a challah bake hosted by Tziporah Gelman. Event also includes a Shabbat Dip Demo & Tasting by the 2016 Arizona Home Top Chef winner and Guy’s Grocery Games contestant, Jordan Urnovitz. For more information, visit shabbatprojectaz.org.

SUNDAYS

BAGELS: 9-11 a.m. Join the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, for Bagels And Gabbing Every Last Sunday of the month in-person. Grab a bagel and a cup of coffee and enjoy some time with your friends and make new ones. You must register to attend. Bagels and coffee will be provided. Cost: Free for members, $5 for guests. For more information and to register, visit apm. activecommunities.com/valleyofthesunjcc/ Activity_Search/1787.

MONDAYS

Mahjong: 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Join the East Valley Jewish Community Center, 908 N. Alma School Rd., Chandler in-person for mahjong. This program is intended for players with prior experience and for those who have received the COVID-19 vaccination. Masks will be required. Cost: Free. For more information and to register, visit evjcc.org/mahjong. For further questions, call the EVJCC at 480-897-0588.

THURSDAYS

Storytime at Modern Milk: 9:30 a.m. Join Modern Milk, 13802 N. Scottsdale Rd, #163, Scottsdale for an in-person storytime for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. We will

integrate favorite children’s books and songs while giving parents new ideas for play. Cost: $5. For more information and to register, visit modernmilk.com/after-baby.

Meetings, Lectures & Classes

SUNDAYS Soul Study: 7:15 a.m. An online class exploring the secrets of the Tanya and Jewish mysticism, taught by Rabbi Pinchas Allouche. Cost: Free.

Chassidus Class: 9 a.m. Learn about the Chasidic movement with Rabbi Yossi Friedman. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Jewish War Veterans Post 210: 10 a.m. Any active duty service member or veteran is welcome to join monthly meetings, now virtual, every third Sunday. Cost: Free. For more information, email Michael Chambers at c365michael@yahoo.com.

Anxiety in the Modern World: 6 p.m. Learn the secrets of the Torah for living stressfree in the current environment in a virtual class with Rabbi Boruch, with Chabad of Oro Valley. Cost: Free. Tune in using this link: zoom.us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

MONDAYS

Ethics of Our Fathers: 7 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Zalman Levertov online. Tune in at: bit.ly/2Y0wdgv. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Quotable Quotes by our Sages: 7 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov online. Tune in at: JewishParadiseValley.com/ class. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Partners in Torah: 7:30 p.m. Join a growing group of inspired learners with Project Inspire. Cost: Free. Tune in at: us04web. zoom.us/j/3940479736#success, password is 613. For more information, email Robin Meyerson at robin@projectinspireaz.com.

Learning to Trust in God: 7:30 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Yossi Friedman online. Tune in at: ChabadAZ.com/LiveClass. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Torah & Tea: 7:30 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Yossie Shemtov online. Cost: Free. For more information, visit Facebook.com/ ChabadTucson.

TUESDAYS

Let’s Knit: Starting at 1:30 p.m. Share the pleasure of knitting, crocheting, etc. and help others with a project or pattern. Can’t knit? We can teach you! Every level welcome. We will be sitting outside the social hall inside the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus. Cost: Free. For more information, visit vosjcc.org.

Maintaining an Upbeat Attitude: 7 p.m. A class exclusively for people in their 20s and 30s, learn how Jewish Mysticism can help with your attitude with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov online. Cost: Free. Tune in at: JewishParadiseValley.com/YJPclass. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

WEDNESDAYS

History of the Jews: 11:00 a.m. Learn the Jewish journey from Genesis to Moshiach online with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman. Cost: Free. Tune in here: zoom. us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Torah Study with Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley: 11 a.m.-noon. TBS of the West Valley’s weekly virtual study group explores that week’s portion and studies different perspectives and debates the merits of various arguments. Intended for adults, Torah study is open to students of all levels. The goal is to achieve an understanding of what the text is and what it can teach us in the contemporary world. For more information, contact the TBS office at (623) 977-3240.

Happiness Hour: 11:30 a.m. An online class taught by Rabbi Pinchas Allouche that delves into texts and references culled from our traditions to address a relevant topic and draw uplifting life lessons from it. For more information or to join, visit cbtvirtualworld.com.

Torah Study with Chabad: Noon. Take a weekly journey to the soul of Torah online with Rabbi Yossi Levertov. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Lunch & Learn: 12:15 PM. Grab some food and learn online with Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin. Cost: Free. Tune in on Zoom by emailing info@ChabadTucson.com. For more information, visit ChabadTucson.com.

The Thirteen Petalled Rose: 1 p.m. An online Kabbalah class that studies “The Thirteen Petalled Rose” by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, focusing on the many foundational and transformational concepts of Kaballah and Jewish Mysticism and applying them to everyday life. For more information or to join, visit cbtvirtualworld.com.

Knit a Mitzvah: 1:30 p.m. On the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, check in with fellow knitters who are making items to donate as part of this Brandeis National Committee Phoenix chapter study group. For more information, contact Ronee Siegel at ronees@aol.com.

JACS: 7:30-8:30 p.m. Virtual support group for Jewish alcoholics, addicts and their friends and family on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Cost: Free. For more information, email jacsarizona@gmail. com or call 602-692-1004.

Words & Whiskey: 8:30 p.m. Join a free weekly, virtual learning session for men. To RSVP, email rmollenaz@gmail.com or call/ text 310-709-3901.

THURSDAYS

Ladies Torah & Tea: 10:30 a.m. Learn about the women of the Torah with Mrs. Leah Levertov online. Cost: Free. Tune in at: ourjewishcenter.com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Talmud - Maakos: 11 a.m. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Cost: Free. Tune in at: JewishParadiseValley.com/YJPclass. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Mindfulness Gatherings: Noon. Hosted by Hospice of the Valley via Zoom. Cost: Free. To join by phone, dial 1-253-2158782, meeting ID 486 920 2119#, to get the Zoom link or for further questions contact Gill Hamilton at ghamilton@hov.org or 602-748-3692.

The Science of Everything: 4 p.m. Explore the most fundamental work of Chassidut: the Tanya, with Rabbi Boruch. Cost: Free. Tune in at: zoom.us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Teen Discussions: 7-8:30 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Tzvi Rimler online. Cost: Free. Tune in at cteen.clickmeeting.com/east-valley. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

SATURDAYS

Saturday Mindfulness Gatherings: 9:30 a.m. Hosted by Hospice of the Valley. To join by phone, dial 1-253-215-8782, meeting ID 486 920 2119#. To get the Zoom link or for more information, contact Gill Hamilton at ghamilton@hov.org or 602-748-3692.

Middle Eastern Percussion - Beginner Level: 12:45-1:45 p.m. Join One World Dance and Music Studio, 3312 N. Third St., Phoenix to learn the fundamentals of Middle

Eastern rhythms on tabla/doubek (drum), riq (tambourine) and zills (finger cymbals). Cost: $20 per class. For more information, visit oneworlddanceandmusic.com.

Book Discussion: 1:30-2:30 p.m. Join Or Adam Congregation for Humanistic Judaism on the third Saturday of every month for a virtual book discussion. For more information and to register, contact oradaminfo@gmail.com.

Shabbat

FRIDAYS

In-person services: Congregation Beth Israel is holding services in the Goldsmith Sanctuary limited to 100 people, excluding clergy and staff. Members and guests must be fully vaccinated (two weeks since your last vaccination) and wear a mask. Children may attend and must be able to wear a mask for the duration of the service. Participants must pre-register by Thursday at 5 p.m. Priority will be given to members first and then guests. If there are more requests than available seats a lottery system will be used. To make your reservation, contact Gail Gilmartin at 480951-0323 or at ggilmartin@cbiaz.org.

In-person services: Temple Chai is holding Friday evening (5:30 p.m. nosh, 6:15 p.m. service) and Shabbat morning (varying dates and times). For more information, contact Sheana Abrams at (602) 971-1234 or sabrams@templechai.com.

In-person services: Congregation Or Tzion is holding Friday evening (6 p.m) and Shabbat morning (9:30 a.m.) services indoors. Services are also live streamed at otaz.org/livestream. For more information about services, events and membership, visit congregationortzion.org or call 480-342-8858.

Baby & Me Shabbat: 9:30 a.m. on the first Friday of the month. Join the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix for this free program for parents and their little ones to welcome Shabbat. For more information, visit bjephoenix.org.

Tot Shabbat in the Park: 9:30 a.m. Free totShabbat every Friday morning at Cactus Park. Shabbat music, toys and a meaningful pre-school Shabbat experience. Is it your child’s birthday? Sponsor a Shabbat for $36. For more information and to register, visit playdatesbydesign.com/upcoming-classes.

Shabbat at Beth El: 11-11:45 a.m. Celebrate Shabbat with songs, blessings and inspirational teachings. Rabbi Stein Kokin from Beth El Congregation will lead us the first Friday of every month. Special guests will be welcoming Shabbat during the remainder of the month. For more information or to join, visit bethelphoenix. com.

Welcome Shabbat: 11-11:45 a.m. Join the JFCS Virtual Center for Senior Enrichment each Friday for a soothing and inspiring program to welcome Shabbat. Each week a different guest host will lead the program

SEE CALENDAR, PAGE 23

Upcoming Special Sections

November 4

Ideas and resources for families planning celebrations or B’nai Mitzvot. Don’t miss the opportunity to showcase your products and services.

Charitable Giving

November 4 & 18

December 2 & 16

Educate readers on how nonprofits make a difference in our community and reach contributors ready to make year-end giving choices.

November

Celebrating

Sukkah experiences

Ronen Ettinger shakes the lulav and etrog in the sukkah at Congregation Beth Israel with his father, Cantor Seth Ettinger.

Pizza in the hut

with song and celebration. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Erev Shabbat Service: 5:30 p.m. Rabbi Alicia Magal will lead a service livestreamed for members of the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley. Cost: Free. For more information and to obtain the Zoom link, visit jcsvv.org/contact.

Pre-Shabbat Kiddush Club: 6 p.m. Say kiddush with Rabbi Mendy Levertov online. Cost: Free. Tune in here: ourjewishcenter. com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Kabbalat Shabbat and/or Shabbat morning service: 6:30 p.m. on various Friday nights and 10:00 a.m. on various Saturday mornings. Congregation Kehillah invites you to join Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman and cantorial soloists Erica Erman and Scott Leader either in person or via Zoom. For dates, visit congregationkehillah.org/ event/. Register by emailing info@congregationkehillah.org. For safety reasons, please register ahead of time.

In-person Third Friday Shabbat: 7-8 p.m.

The Desert Foothills Jewish Community Association hosts a Shabbat service followed by a program. Contact Andrea at 480-664-8847 for more information.

Seniors

MONDAYS

Tai Chi with Brian Stevens: 10-10:30 a.m.

Tai Chi and Qigong are health practices that incorporate a form of ancient Korean healing martial arts known as DahnMuDo, which produces an overall limitless state of being, through focused movement and focused breathing. Experience a renewed sense of being, boost your immune system and enjoy doing so in this virtual class. For more information and to register, visit jfcsaz. org/events/. Contact CSE Director Jennifer Brauner at seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org or 602-343-0192 with questions.

Dance Fusion with Michele Dionisio: 11 a.m.-noon. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Sip & Schmooze: 11 a.m. Sip on kosher coffee or tea, enjoy a homemade pastry and schmooze with great company every second Monday of the month at Luci’s Barn at the Orchard, located at 7100 N. 12th St., Phoenix. RSVP Appreciated: chani@ sosaz.org or (602) 492-7670. For more information, visit www.sosaz.org.

Featured Presentation: 12:30 p.m. Join Smile on Seniors Mondays and Wednesdays to learn from a variety of presenters about topical issues, like Q&As with medical professionals, entertainers and lectures. Cost: Free. For full details visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org.

Brain Fitness: 1-2 p.m. Join Toby Lazarus in this virtual brain fitness class, which works to engage the brain in innovative ways in a variety of cognitive areas and can help increase mental acuity. Word play, puzzles, memory games and problemsolving activities are employed to enhance your brain power. Cost: Free. For more information and to register, visit jfcsaz. org/events/. Contact CSE Director Jennifer Brauner at seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org or 602343-0192 with questions.

TUESDAYS

Zumba Gold with Adriana Padilla: 9:3010:15 a.m. This virtual class is perfect for active older adults who want a modified Zumba class with lower-intensity. Class focuses on all elements of fitness: cardiovascular, muscular conditioning, flexibility and balance. Come to this virtual class ready to sweat, and prepare to leave empowered and feeling strong. For more information and to register, visit jfcsaz. org/events/. Contact CSE Director Jennifer Brauner at seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org or 602-343-0192 with questions.

Movie Discussion Group: 11 a.m. Join Smile on Seniors on the third Tuesday of every month hosted by Issy Lifshitz. Cost: Free. For full details and the movie of the month visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org.

Israeli Folk Dancing Series: 1:15-2:15 p.m. from Aug. 16-Sept. 20. Join the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale for a variety of Israeli and other folk line dances. This workshop is open to all levels, no prior dance experience of any kind is necessary. For more information, visit vosjcc.org.

WEDNESDAYS

Fitness Fun with Zoe: 10-10:45 a.m. In this virtual class, do some light chair exercise with optional weights. Class follows a format of a warmup weight free movement, optional weights, then a cool down. Some standing options, however all moves can be done sitting. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse. Contact CSE Director Jennifer Brauner at seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org or 602-343-0192 with questions.

Chair Yoga with Zoe: 11-11:45 a.m. Grab a chair and sit down for a 45-minute chair yoga class with Zoe! Yoga is beneficial to mind, body and spirit. Prior to class, please let Zoe know if you have any limitations in order for exercises to be modified. No prior yoga experience required. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment.

Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

THURSDAYS

In the Kitchen with Benita: 12:30 p.m. Join Smile on Seniors on the fourth Thursday of every month for some delicious cooking or baking fun! Cost: Free. For full details

visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org.

FRIDAYS

Welcome Shabbat: 11-11:45 a.m. Celebrate Shabbat virtually with songs, blessings and inspirational teachings. For more information and to register, visit jfcsaz. org/events/. Contact CSE Director Jennifer Brauner at seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org or 602-343-0192 with questions.

Adult Chair Ballet Class: Noon-12:45 p.m. Join Jennifer Cafarella and Elaine Seretis

MILESTONES

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

EVAN SANFORD GREEN

from Ballet Theatre of Phoenix as they teach a ballet class that will help improve strength, flexibility, movement and balance. No prior dance experience required. Presented by the JFCS Virtual Center for Senior Enrichment. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Music al Friday: 12:30 p.m. Join Smile on Seniors on the first Friday of every month for a musical presentation. Cost: Free. For full details visit sosaz.org/ virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org. JN

Evan Sanford Green was born on Oct. 18, 2022. He is the son of Tamara and Adam Green of Phoenix.

Grandparents are Stephen and Marla Green of Phoenix and Karen Miller of Phoenix; and the late Gordon Hoff. Great-grandparents are Jean Green of Scottsdale and the late Sanford Green; and the late David and Edith Friedman. JN

Janet Lilly Meinstein, 82, of Phoenix, passed away on October 20, 2022. She was born in Malden, Mass. in the Boston area, where her father Howard worked for John Hancock, his sole employer over a long career in the insurance industry.

When Janet was 10, her father’s work took the Lilly family to Dallas, Texas for a couple of years and then to Houston, where she spent her childhood and college years with her parents and three siblings.

At the age of 21, she met the love of her life and future husband, native Texan Dr. Charles Meinstein, who was in medical school in Galveston, Texas. They wed on January 29, 1961, and remained married for 61 joyful, committed and happy years.

After graduating from the University of Houston, Janet worked as an elementary school teacher in Galveston, Texas. Janet then moved to Phoenix in 1969, after Charles completed his medical residency and service in the U.S. Army. She and Charles lived in the same North Central home for 53 years. Janet enjoyed a life blessed by a wonderful family and decades of very close friendships. Janet was active in the Kivel Geriatric Auxiliary and worked in the Kivel thrift shop for many years. She enjoyed mahjong, her movie club and summers in Lake Tahoe and Coronado. Her greatest pleasure was her loving husband, children and grandchildren. Janet is survived by Charles; sons David Meinstein, Mark Meinstein (Joann Doti), Adam Meinstein (Odile Gelinard); and four terrific grandchildren: Joseph, Samuel, Armon and Gabriel Meinstein.

Contributions in her memory may be made to Barrow Neurological Foundation or the Alzheimer’s Association.

SHARE YOUR ENGAGEMENT, WEDDING, BIRTH, BAR/BAT-MITZVAH ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY OTHER SIMCHA ON BOTH JEWISHAZ.COM AND THE WEEKLY JEWISH NEWS ... FOR FREE .

JEWISHAZ.COM

Speaking Religious Truth to Political Power

Rabbi Dr. Andrea Weiss

Wednesday, Dec. 7 @ 1:00 pm MT

Letters from Chanukahs and Purims Past: The Establishment of “Minor” Holidays and JudeaDiaspora Relations

Dr. Malka Simkovich

Thursday, Dec. 29 @ 1:00 pm MT

The Maternal Divine

Deena Arano

Thurs., Feb. 9, 2023 @ 1:00 pm MT

Inside the Mind of God: Plato, Christians, and Jews

Rabbi Dr. Joshua Garroway

Thurs., Apr. 27, 2023 @ 1:00 pm PT

The Jewish Jail Lady and the Holy Thief: A lm screening and Q&A

Rabbi Mark Borovitz and Harriet Rossetto

Sunday, Dec. 11 @ 4:00 pm MT

The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Anti-Semitism and White Supremacy After 1945

Steven Ross

Thurs., Jan. 5, 2023 @ 1:00 pm MT

What if: Faith for non believers and other ways of rethinking emunah

Rabbi Dr. Mira Neshama Weil

Thurs., Feb. 16, 2023 @ 10:00 am MT

“Repairing the World” (Tikkun Olam): Radical Justice or Conscientious Consequentialism?

Rabbi Will Friedman

Thurs., Apr. 20, 2023 @ 1:00 pm PT

Nothing But the Truth? Balancing an Embrace of Tradition with Personal Integrity

Rabbi Leon Morris

Wednesday, Dec. 14 @ 10:00 am MT

Women’s Resilience and Survival in the Holocaust

Professor Bjorn Krondorfer

Thurs., Jan. 26, 2023 @ 1:00 pm MT

Agreeable Jews, Dead Jews, and the Challenge of Diversity

Dara Horn

In partnership with CBI & Scottsdale Arts

Thurs., Mar. 2, 2023 @ 7:00 pm MT

In-Person & Virtual

Rav Kook’s Universalism

Rabbi Bezalel Naor

Thurs., May 4, 2023 @ 1:00 pm PT

about secrets and shame, guilt, and pride

Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Monday, Dec. 5 @ 7:00 pm MT In-Person & Virtual

Darkness Will Envelop Me: Meditations on Chanuka and Winter

Dr. Devorah Steinmetz

Thursday, Dec 15 @ 10:00 am MT

Get real! Can psychedelics be healing?

Rabbi Dr. Aaron Cherrick

Thurs., Feb. 2, 2023 @ 11:00 am MT

Antisemitism in Admissions in Higher Education

Professor Ari Kelman

Thurs., Mar. 16, 2023 @ 1:00 pm PT

40-CLASS SERIES

40 Great Philosophers & what they mean for Judaism!

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz

Beginning March 14, 2023

Tuesdays @ 10:00 am PT