Jewish Journal - February 2024

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February 2024

"For the Lord thy God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and grapevines, figs and pomegranates; a land of oil olives and date honey."

Deuteronomy/Devarim 8:7-8

Shevat – Adar I 5784

Jewish Federation 732-363-0530 www.ocjf.org

The Jewish Federation helped to build Israel.

Today, we help keep it strong.

Am Yisrael Chai - The people of Israel lives!

The Jewish Federation wishes everyone a happy, peaceful and fruitful Tu BiShevat.

See pages 12-13 for more on Tu BiShevat.

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The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

Exceptionalism “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” – So says our Declaration of Independence, which goes on to say, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

By Keith Krivitzky, Managing Director Jewish Federation of Ocean County keith@ocjf.org www.jewishoceancounty.org www.jewishoceancounty.org/donate 732.363.0530

I

write this column less than a month after the disastrous Congressional hearing with college presidents from elite schools – and just after the resignation of Harvard University’s president.

Regardless of what one might say about free speech policies on campuses, for some leaders representing supposedly very smart schools…they were pretty dumb.

While this has been interpreted in many ways, one takeaway is that no one person or group is better than anyone else, and every person or group should be free to pursue their interests and well-being without being subject to or persecuted by another person or group.

College students – and everyone else, frankly – should not only have the right to be exceptional – i.e., to be different than the norm – they should be encouraged to do so.

This “gotcha” moment could – and should – have been seen miles away.

Despite claims to the contrary, I do not believe the key issue at play in this hearing was free speech. It wasn’t even about protecting Jewish students from bullying and harassment, though this is a related point. (It is also worth noting, many race to protect everyone else from bullying – just not the Jews.)

President George Washington said it, as well, in his letter to the Touro Synagogue: “For happily the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

The underlying issue, in my opinion, was about American exceptionalism – and what it means to be exceptional. What do I mean by that, you ask? What is it about American exceptionalism in this context?

This impact of this revolutionary idea went beyond freedom from persecution.

Thanks to this equality and the equal footing it provided, individuals and groups were able to define themselves and create/chart their own paths to success in almost whatever area they chose.

When I think about American exceptionalism, this fundamental starting point/ foundational principle is key. Exceptionalism, as defined by Mirriam-Webster, is: “the condition of being different from the norm.”

My thesis: equality → freedom from persecution → the space and freedom to be different → ability to stand out and succeed. Or, put another way, freedom leads to equality of opportunity, which is key to enabling progress and success in a way that attempting to ensure actual outcomes does not.

While the United States has not always lived up to these aspirations, the ability to build lives free of persecution and pursue advancement as a community and individually has been a boon to the Jewish people who have settled here. We have been able to live freely and be successful like no other place in the world – the golden medina.

It is important to recognize that this doesn’t mean there aren’t issues or glaring failures with how this country has lived up to these ideals. And I am making no statement about what could or should be done to enable equality of opportunity when certain people (or groups of people) don’t have the same starting point because of previous flaws or imbalances in the system. These are very real issues which need to be addressed.

But I am saying that tampering with this fundamental component of our country’s DNA, what has made America exceptional, is problematic and dangerous. And that takes us back to what is happening in colleges and universities today… They play a critical role in the development of contributing citizens in our society.

Many will say their role is the pursuit of truth – and freedom of speech is essential for deriving truth.

Yet…truth is fungible, as we have seen the past few years. Just whose truth are we talking about? I believe that focus misses a more fundamental point. Colleges and universities should be focused on providing students with the space and freedom to be different, for them to pursue their own truths in a safe and encouraging environment that also enables healthy debate and critical perspectives.

That’s not what seems to be happening on many college campuses today. People are afraid to be different and to defy whatever orthodoxy is in vogue. Colleges and universities should be focusing on how to encourage more exceptionalism, and not running away from the term – or its necessary prerequisites.

And that’s where these university presidents should have been focused. How could they foster a campus environment where their students feel safe from persecution. Attacking Jewish students, through rhetoric and certainly through action, is anathema to this goal – but it is also secondary. (And, yet again, Jews serve as a kind of canary in the coal mine…)

College students – and everyone else, frankly – should not only have the right to be exceptional – i.e., to be different than the norm – they should be encouraged to do so. That’s where these presidents missed the point. It is important that we don’t.

P.S. I encourage you to check out the Gatecrashers Podcast, about how Jews gained admission to the Ivy League – available through Tablet Magazine online (https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/ gatecrashers) and on other podcast services. It is important context and counterpoint given what is going on now.

The New Idolatry and Judaism’s Response

By Rabbi William Gershon Congregation B’nai Israel, Toms River www.cbitr.org

F Eliot

or last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. ~ T.S.

At the core of Jewish belief is one sentence that encapsulates the essential message of all of Judaism – "Hear O’ Israel the Adonai is our God; Adonai is One (Echad).” There are 5,845 verses in the Torah, yet the Sages chose this single verse to epitomize all of Judaism. The six words of the Shema are the first words a child is taught and the last words to be uttered before we die. They are affixed to every door post in our homes. They are the words that those who waited hours to be rescued from murderous Hamas terrorists called out to identify themselves as Jews to the Israeli soldiers who came to rescue them.

The universe is one. Humanity ias one – one with the world and one with God. Within the Shema is Judaism’s most revolutionary teaching – the idea of the One, of Echad. Echad is the golden thread that runs through every aspect of the Jewish tradition. Echad has many meanings, but at its core Echad is a way of seeing the world. To believe in Echad is to embrace God as the link that binds every person in the great chain of being.

To be a Jew means to sense the interwea-

ving of all of existence, the achdut (the unity), the very interconnectedness of all things and beings. To quote Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s phrase: “to sense all men in one man, the whole world in a grain of sand, eternity in a moment.”

The basis for treating our fellow human beings with dignity and respect stems from the theology of the One. All of humanity are created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God which means that every human life is of supreme value; that no person is inherently better than the other and that every person is unique.

Continued on page 4

The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Community Simchah Tree FREE Opportunity to Celebrate Do you have a simchah to share? You can put that event on a leaf on this tree and share it with the community. There is a large range of simchahs to consider – birth, baby namings, B’nai Mitzvah, engagements, weddings, graduations, and other milestones reached.

Your leaf or leaves will appear once on the next

tree in the Jewish Journal. Send your text(s) to the Jewish Federation of Ocean County, 1235A Route 70, Lakewood, NJ 08701 or sharron@ocjf.org. There is no charge for a leaf, though donations to JFOC are welcome. The text for a leaf has a maximum of 100 characters (letters plus spaces). Questions? Call Sharron at the Jewish Federation at 732-363-0530.

Celebrate and share!

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How to Reel in a Man Julie Platt Statement on Serving as Penn Interim Chair new chair by the start of the next semester, which begins in January 2024.

By Zelda Turkenitch Kornbluth Local Holocaust Survivor

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came to visit my future husband’s sister who was my friend. We were living in Montreal, Canada. She told me that her brother was visiting from Brooklyn. I wanted to meet him, but he was sleeping. I told my friend to put on a record loudly (Gefilte Fish) so he would wake up. He woke up and came into the living room. I liked what I saw, and we talked a bissel (Yiddish for a little bit) and made a date to go to the movies. After the movie was over, he proposed and I said “Why not?” We were married for 62 happy years.

From Jewish Federations of North America December 10, 2023 www.jewishfederations.org

J

ulie Platt, Chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, released the following statement regarding her appointment as interim chair of the University of Pennsylvania Board: "Following the resignation of University of Pennsylvania Board Chair Scott Bok, the board asked me to serve as interim chair. I made clear that my priority is my role as chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, and, therefore, agreed to do so and lead the process of selecting a

Temple Beth Or

M ay T uB iShevat May Tu BiShevat ((Jewish Jewish N ew Y ear ffor or T rees) New Year Trees) bbee a h arbinger ooff harbinger sspiritual piritual ggrowth rowth aand nd p eace. peace.

T uB iShevat eevent vent - SSee ee p age 6 Tu BiShevat page May all of the hostages being held in Gaza come home safely and soon.

Contact us about our upcoming services, programs, events and adult learning opportunities in-person and on Zoom.

Call us at 732-458-4700 or email us at templebethorbrick@gmail.com.

Robert Rubin, Rabbi

Dr. Sharon Monter, President

As Vice Chair of the university’s board these past several months, I have worked hard from the inside to address the rising issues of antisemitism on campus. Unfortunately, we have not made all the progress that we should have and intend to accomplish. In my view, given the opportunity to choose between right and wrong, the three university presidents testifying in the United States House of Representatives failed. The leadership change at the university was therefore

necessary and appropriate. I will continue as a board member of the university to use my knowledge and experience of Jewish life in North America and at Penn to accelerate this critical work.

As chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, we are leading the largest mobilization in our history in support of Israel’s right to protect its citizens and against the rise of antisemitism in North America, including staging the largest Jewish rally in American history on the National Mall. We will continue this fight with all our energy."

New Idolatry Continued from page 2

Embedded in Echad is the idea that there is diversity in creation – different races, nations, tribes, and cultures, but underneath we are all the same, as the prophet Malachi declares: “Have we not all one Father? Has not God made us? Then why do we break faith with one another?” All of us are God’s children. We all come from the same source. We empirically know this because the scientific study of DNA proves this assertion. Our tradition teaches the intrinsic wholeness and unity (Achdut) of the universe.

This idea has a powerful adversary and that is idolatry. Idolatry is not worshipping totems or rocks or the stars. At the heart of idolatry is a denial that the world contains the possibility of wholeness and unity. Idolatry bifurcates and divides. It embraces either/or thinking. It sees the world in binary terms – us versus them, our people and those people, the good guys and the bad guys.

Idolatry fragments people into a seductive and dangerous dyadic way of seeing the world. And that binary vision is alive and well today. It is what some scholars are calling the new morality on college campuses in which students are trained in some of their courses to view everyone as either an oppressor or a victim. Students are taught to use identity as the primary lens through which everything is to be understood, not just in their coursework but in their personal and political lives.(Haidt) This either/or world view is the epitome of binary thinking where everyone is put ito two categories: oppressor or victim.

And this binary thinking has now been applied to Jews: we are white and privileged therefore we are oppressors and since all oppressors in this twisted binary world are evil, they should not be protected from hate and harassment or worse – “any means to destroy them (think Hamas and October 7th) are legitimate because Jews deserve what is coming to them.”

This dualism has morphed into what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks termed a “pathological dualism that sees humanity itself as radically divided into the unimpeachably good and the irredeemably bad.

You are either one or the other.” This is the language of the new idolatry that is antithesis of the Shema’s Echad and the new anti-Semitism that has its roots in the abuse of intersectionality which has transformed anti-Zionism into a pathological anti-Semitism.

There is no question that we must fight this new idolatry on every front – politically, intellectually, institutionally, and beyond – and reject and replace the language of binary thinking and hate with the language and values of Echad. The universe is one. Humanity is one – one with the world and one with God. The Jewish Journal is pleased to host a monthly Rabbi Column, rotating among our community’s pulpit rabbis. The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jewish Journal, the Jewish Federation of Ocean County or the author’s Congregation.

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Before Invoking Antisemitism, We Need to Define It history, I serve on the Nexus Task Force, which created the Nexus Document before I joined, and was a signatory to the JDA.

The Harvard Center for Jewish Studies is located in the Harvard Semitic Museum. (By Jessica C. Salley)

By Derek J. Penslar December 28, 2023 thecrimson.com This op-ed is part of a special opinion package, “Antisemitism at Harvard, According to Seven Jewish Affiliates.”

Since October 7, Harvard has been buffeted by controversy over the relationship between antisemitism, criticism of Israel, and the assertion of Palestinian rights.

There are two intertwined but separate components to the controversy: When criticism of Israel becomes antisemitic, and if and how a university should restrict speech on its campus. A better understanding of what is – and is not – antisemitic will improve how we discuss both.

Over the last twenty years, three Jewish groups have produced definitions of antisemitism that have competed for global attention. The best-known of these was adopted in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. In 2021, there appeared two more definitions, contained in the Nexus Document and the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism. As an expert on Jewish and Israeli

The three documents have a lot in common. They generally share the view that antisemitism is, in the words of the JDA, “discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).” They agree that attributing malevolent qualities to Jews as a group, depicting Jews as disloyal or treacherous, and caricatures of Jews as grotesque are all antisemitic.

The documents differ sharply, however, when it comes to the relationship between antisemitism and critique of Israel.

Following the IHRA definition, calling Israel racist or subjecting it to criticism not directed toward any other democratic country is antisemitic. The JDA and ND definitions, however, leave more room for criticism of Israel, and in that sense they are more conducive to the essential, though difficult, conversations happening within the Harvard community.

“Supporting the Palestinian demand for justice,” proposing different political arrangements for Jews and Arabs within historic Palestine, and “evidence-based criticism of Israel as a state” are not usually antisemitic following the JDA definition. The ND points out several reasons besides antisemitism why Israel’s actions receive more global attention than those of other nations mired in conflict.

Both the JDA and ND agree that, in the words of the ND, “even contentious, strident, or harsh criticism of Israel for its policies and actions, including those that led to the creation of Israel, is not per se illegitimate or antisemitic.”

Mainstream Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America, and the World Jewish Congress have championed the IHRA definition. Some pro-Israel organizations like StandWithUs that support the IHRA definition deride the JDA and ND for taking a permissive stance toward what they regard as dangerous forms of hatred against Jews.

Nonetheless, like the IHRA definition, the JDA and ND present certain criticisms of Israel as clearly antisemitic.

Placing Israel at the heart of conspiracy theories, presenting Israel as solely responsible for global crises, attributing Israel’s actions to Jews worldwide, and any form of harm, intimidation, or abuse of a Jew because of an alleged or real connection to Israel constitute antisemitism under these definitions.

The JDA and ND both affirm that denying Jews the rights to self-determination, safety, security, and equality in the state of Israel is antisemitic. In the spirit of these documents, whether historic Palestine becomes home to separate Jewish and Arab states, or a single state in which Jews and Palestinians share power, or a confederation with Jewish and Palestinian components, Jews have every right to a homeland.

These definitions are guidelines, not binding codes of conduct, but Harvard should be mindful of them as it strives to balance the right to self-expression with respect for others in its community.

The intimate environment of a residential university where students learn and live together is different from the public sphe-

re, where people are much more free to avoid highly emotional political speech if they feel threatened or harassed. On a campus, free speech is a cherished value, but so is fair speech. In considering limits to or consequences of the exercise of speech, the time, place, and manner of a statement about Israel is no less important than whether it is antisemitic.

It is understandable that many Jewish students at Harvard are on edge. But the enormous media attention paid to antisemitism at Harvard has obscured the vulnerability of pro-Palestinian students, who have faced harassment by actors outside of the University and verbal abuse on and near campus.

According to the JDA, “what is true of racism in general is true of antisemitism in particular.” Where there is antisemitism, other forms of group hatred flourish as well. Conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism magnifies divisions within our Harvard community and stymies a common struggle against hatred.

Addressing antisemitism at Harvard will require a holistic approach to fostering substantive, informed, and civil conversation about contentious issues. By defining what antisemitism means on our campus and acting accordingly, we can define in turn what kind of community we want Harvard to be.

Derek J. Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History and the director of the Harvard Center for Jewish Studies. He is a member of the Nexus Task Force and a signatory to the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.

An Asian-Jewish Superhero Fights the 1970s Chinese Mob in Comic Book Debut comics is about to spotlight a historic new character: the Asian-Jewish Leah Ai Tian, AKA “The Last Jewish Daughter of Kaifeng.”

Leah Ai Tian is the hero of "The Last Jewish Daughter of Kaifeng." (FairSquare Comics)

By Julian Voloj May 19, 2023 jta.org (JTA) – An independent comic book publisher that aims to promote diversity in

The character is the brainchild of Fabrice Sapolsky, co-founder of the Queens, New York-based FairSquare Comics, which aims to “promote and give more exposure to immigrants, minorities and under-represented creators of the word.”

“The Last Jewish Daughter of Kaifeng,” which debuts June 7, is the latest installation of the Intertwined series of comics, which Sapolsky and fellow Frenchman Fred Pham Chuong started in 2017.

Leah, who made a brief appearance in the first Intertwined book, has the ability to manipulate anything water-based and travel through streams – not unlike a certain character in the popular TV show “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

But the reader learns that she had left China to avoid a forced marriage to a mob lord who now terrorizes Kaifeng – a large city in eastern China home to the remnants of the country’s only native Jewish community.

The book tells her complex origin story, which Sapolsky said is meant to “explain the reality of being a minority in a country that does not accept you as a minority.” At first, Leah lives freely as a Jew in 1970s New York City – she wears a chai necklace, has opened a kosher Chinese restaurant and says her rabbi calls her powers “a blessing” from God.

That community, once thought to be at least a few thousand strong, by the time of Leah’s story was thought to be mostly dispersed or assimilated into the non-religious society of the Cultural Revolution. Leah returns home to try to save her parents and bring them to New York, where they could practice their religion freely.

Continued on page 30

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Local News Family Services at Beth Am Shalom, Lakewood

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abbi Stephen Gold of Beth Am Shalom joins with the children as he reads stories at the Family Services on the first Shabbat of every month. Members and non-members are always free to come to all Shabbat services every week.

Call the BAS Office at 732-363-2800 for information and schedule.

Tu BiShevat Seder at Temple Beth Or, Brick

T

he community is invited to a Tu BiShevat Seder in honor of the Jewish New Year for Trees. Celebrate our connections to God, Nature, the Land of Israel and the Environment.

Enjoy many fruits, four cups (grape juice), readings, songs and socializing. The Seder is being held on Sunday, February 4, at 2:30 PM at St. Thomas Lutheran Church gym, 135 Salmon Street, Brick,

and the event is sponsored by the Sisterhood. There is no charge. Voluntary donations to TBO Sisterhood are appreciated at the door. Reservations are required

by January 29. For information and to make a reservation, call 732-458-4700 or email templebethorbrick@gmail.com.

Tu BiShevat is on the Jewish date of 15 Shevat which this year comes on Wednesday night-Thursday, January 24-25.

We invite our community members to submit original poetry or short essays (500 words or less) to the Jewish Journal.

All submissions are subject to our editorial review, and we do not promise that all will be published.

Email your submission to jfoceditor@ocjf.org.

Jewish Holiday Family Photos Many congregations are conducting prayer services and classes online which may be accessible from a computer or a telephone.

Contact each congregation for further information to access these events.

See page 29 for contact information.

We invite our community members to submit a few photographs of their family’s recent holiday celebrations. Include a one-line caption describing the activity in the photo. You may include everyone’s name or just your family’s name or without any names at all.

All submissions are subject to our editorial review, and we do not promise that all submitted photos will be published. Email your submission to jfoceditor@ocjf.org.

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Fashioning Feminism: A Photography Exhibit Explores the Meaning of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Collars feels like I got to document a little prism into her life.”

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg smiles during a photo session with photographers at the U.S. Supreme Court, March 3, 2006. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

By Julia Gergely December 15, 2023 jta.org (New York Jewish Week) – The first Jewish woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was known for her trailblazing advocacy of gender equality, her impassioned dissenting opinions and for being a liberal icon.

But the Brooklyn native, who served on the court for 27 years until her death at age 87, was also known for her fashion – particularly, the collars she wore on top of her black robes. Many of her collars were trimmed with lace, others intricately woven with beads and jewels; some were fashioned out of neckties and seashells, while others were crochet. Each helped Ginsburg embrace a subtle, feminine statement about causes she cared about.

Now, three years after Ginsburg’s death on Erev Rosh Hashanah in 2020, photographs of 24 of the collars Ginsburg wore throughout her career are on display in a new exhibit, “RBG Collars: Photographs

by Elinor Carucci,” that opened at the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side.

The collars, photographed by Elinor Carucci, an Israeli photographer who has been living and working in New York since 1995, are a way of celebrating the trailblazing life and career of the Jewish justice, Carucci told the New York Jewish Week.

“I’ve never done something like this,” said Carucci, who typically photographs people – and not objects – for publications like The New Yorker, the New York Times and New York Magazine. “The whole thing was intense, but really wonderful. It was such an honor, especially for someone that I admire so greatly. It

Ginsburg’s history with the decorative collars dates to 1993, when she was first appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton. Alongside her colleague, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, they began wearing a version of a jabot – a lace ruffle fastened around the neck – showcasing subtle femininity to set themselves apart. Judge’s robes, after all, were designed for men, and allowed for a shirt collar and tie to peek through at the neck. As the story goes, the collars also kept them from looking washed out by their robes.

Over the years, however, Ginsburg explored options beyond the lace ruffle, and she utilized the subtlety of her collars to make statements about causes and people she cared about. One collar is made out of Hawaiian shells, gifted to Ginsburg by a third-year law student at the University of Hawai’i when Ginsburg was a justice-in-residence in 2017.

Another is made out of four layers of jacquard fabric – one for each member of Ginsburg’s family, which included her late husband, Martin Ginsburg, who died in 2010, and their children Jane and James – with the words “It’s not sacrifice, it’s family,” stitched into the neckline. The phrase was one Marty Ginsburg told the New York Times when asked why he gave up his law career to move to Washington to support his wife.

Ginsburg often wore a black and gold jeweled collar, shining and armorlike, when she announced dissenting opinions. Similarly, she wore a yellow beaded and rose scalloped collar when she announced majority opinions.

As New York Times’ chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman wrote in 2020 upon Ginsburg’s death, her collars “served as both semiology and semaphore: They signaled her positions before she even opened her mouth, and they represented her unique role as the second woman on the country’s highest court. The idea was to claim what was a traditionally male uniform and unapologetically feminize it,” Friedman wrote. “That may seem innocuous, but it was in fact radical.”

The idea to photograph the collars began as an assignment for Time Magazine, Carucci said.

In 2020, just one month after Ginsburg died, Carucci was sent to the Supreme

related to our bodies and our body types and it gets complicated. With these, they’re not related to the body.”

A collar made out of shells and another made out of jacquard. The first was gifted to Ginsburg by a law student at the University of Hawai’i in 2017 and the second by her clerks in 2018. (Elinor Carucci)

Photographs of two of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s most iconic collars, “Majority” and “Dissent,” which she wore when announcing each respective opinion. (Elinor Carucci)

Court, where the collars were being rolled out of Ginsburg’s chambers – which, as it happens, were no longer empty, as it was also Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s first day on the job. Today, some of the collars and other RGB memorabilia belong to a permanent exhibition in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Carrucci said she only had only six minutes to photograph each collar. “When I saw them, I started crying,” she told the New York Jewish Week. “I was already so emotional about her passing and what it meant. My husband was like, ‘Stop crying, we only have three minutes left.’”

The original article was so well received, it inspired Carucci to put together a book of her photographs, alongside a brief history or anecdote of each collar. She enlisted writer and researcher Sara Bader (no relation) to work with her; the 222-page book, “The Collars of RBG: A Portrait of Justice” was released last month.

Carucci said one of the most surprising aspects of the project was how relatable and universal the collars are, despite belonging to one of the most recognizable women in the country. “Firstly, I appreciate that it’s not about the body,” she said. “Many times, as women, we feel that we can send messages by how we present ourselves. A lot of the time, it’s

“Also, what I like is that almost every woman could wear these,” she added.

“They are very ‘of the people.’ They’re accessible. The lace looks like something my grandma used to wear. They are the collection of a woman – something we could all have.”

At the Jewish Museum, the photographs of the collars are displayed alongside Judaica, amulets, necklaces and pendants in the museum’s collection. Although the collars themselves aren’t particularly Jewish, by interspersing the photographs with jewelry over the centuries, curator Shira Backer aims to showcase how Ginsburg’s accessories are part of a long tradition of Jewish tradition and adornment.

Ginsburg, according to a press release about the exhibit, “understood how adornment – particularly jewelry, given its close association with the body and its ability to express individuality in settings where possibilities for self-expression are limited – can communicate beauty and power, joy and defiance, optimism and resolve.”

“The Jewish Museum’s collection is wonderfully eclectic – it encompasses both Judaica, historical and contemporary, and a really wide range of art,” Backer said in an email to the New York Jewish Week. “This exhibition is a playful way for these two sides of the collection to talk to one another. With Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you had the sense that a necklace or a collar was often something a little bit more than decorative.”

“RBG Collars: Photographs by Elinor Carucci” will be on view at the Jewish Museum through May 2024. The photographs are also on display at the Edwynn Houk Gallery, which has represented Carucci’s work for the last two decades, through February 10.

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Hundreds of US Synagogues Receive Bomb Threats as Spree Continues Despite Arrests

Jewish institutions have faced a spate of bomb threats in recent weeks. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

By Philissa Cramer December 17, 2023 jta.org (JTA) – Hundreds of synagogues and Jewish institutions across the United States received bomb threats by email in a

substantial acceleration of a months-long spree of hoax threats.

in western Massachusetts canceled its Sunday religious school.

The Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, said on December 17 that it had tracked 199 threats over the past 24 hours, with nearly 100 in California and 62 in Arizona. Synagogues in at least 17 states plus Washington, DC were affected, according to local media reports.

In Alabama, the state’s only Jewish lawmaker, Philip Ensler, posted a video to social media showing the moment that the Torah reading at his synagogue was interrupted and everyone in attendance was ushered outside. “This is exhausting,” he tweeted. “I pray for the day that we can worship and live in peace.”

None of the threats were deemed credible after local investigations. But some of them caused significant disruption. A Boulder, Colorado, synagogue evacuated its Shabbat morning services on Saturday, for example, while a congregation

Ensler, who is also executive director of the Jewish Federation of Central Alabama, later said in a federation statement that six of seven Jewish institutions in his area had received the threats. The surge in threats comes at a time of high anxiety for American Jews amid a spike in

reports of antisemitic incidents amid Israel’s war in Gaza. It also follows multiple arrests of people who have been charged with sending bomb threats targeting Jewish and other institutions, including a minor in California in December and a man in Peru in September.

Hundreds of synagogues have received bomb threats since the latest spree began over the summer, including during the High Holidays. The arrests do not appear to be blunting the threats. “Unfortunately, there is reason to believe that this nationwide trend will continue in the foreseeable future,” the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey told community members in an email sharing news of at least five threats in the area.

Activities You Can Do with Your Grandchildren on Zoom, FaceTime, or Video Call Even if you can’t be with your grandchildren in-person, you can still connect over Zoom, FaceTime, or Video Call.

H

appy hour – If you’re all of age, a happy hour is a great way to unwind together over video. You can easily serve up your own drinks, chat about your day, and enjoy this time together. Better yet, invite other family members in on the fun. Tip for getting

started: Mix the same drinks so you feel even more connected.

Play trivia – Trivia is always a fun game to play together, and it’s even possible over video chat. Pull out an old box of Trivial Pursuit or just find a trivia genera-

tor online. Take turns asking trivia questions to see who’s the most knowledgeable. Tip for getting started: Bring more friends and family into the game to add some extra fun.

Play Pictionary – Another great game to

play over video chat is Pictionary. While there are integrations that work with Zoom and other software, you don’t need any fancy tools. A pen and paper will do, plus a little bit of creativity. Tip for getting started: Set a timer to get the competition going strong.

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Continued on page 30

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Herbert Gold, Novelist who Mined his own Jewish Upbringing, Dies at 99

Herbert Gold wrote more than 30 books, including the bestseller "Fathers." (www. herbertgold.com)

By Andrew Silow-Carroll November 27, 2023 jta.org (JTA) – In 1951, the writer Herbert Gold published “The Heart of an Artichoke,” a widely admired autobiographical story about his immigrant Jewish father and the grocery store he ran in a suburb of Cleveland.

When the story was left out of the 1963 anthology “Great Jewish Short Stories,” he complained to the volume’s editor, his friend and future Nobelist Saul Bellow. “I said, Saul, you told me how much you loved ‘The Heart of the Artichoke,’” Gold recalled in a 2018 interview with the Paris Review. “But then he just said, I forgot.”

Gold, a prolific, San Francisco-based novelist and poet who died November 19 at age 99, never enjoyed the commercial success or name recognition of other post-war Jewish writers, including Bellow, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, but earned critical acclaim for books that, among others things, explored Jewish-American identity through the lens of his own experience. They included the 1967 bestseller “Fathers” – a “memoir as fiction” about growing up in Cleveland – and a sequel, “Family,” published in 1981. His 1972 book “My Last Two Thousand Years” describes a trip to Israel, where the writer rediscovers his Jewish heritage. As a journalist, he covered Israel’s 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War for publications as diverse as Playboy and the Wall Street Journal.

In an essay he wrote in 1961, “Death in Miami Beach,” he contemplated his own mortality on a series of visits to what he described as a haven for “exiled Cubans, local hot-rodders and their gumchewing molls, sportsmen, natty invalids in gabardine, drunks, stockbrokers, antique collectors, semites and anti-semites all taking the air together on Lincoln Road.” Admirers of the essay included

Vladimir Nabokov, who chose Gold to succeed him as a lecturer on Russian literature at Cornell University.

“Herbert Gold’s particular strength as a writer is the intimacy of detail that he establishes between himself and the reader,” a reviewer, the novelist Jerome Charyn, wrote in 1981. “At its best, his language sways with a litany of song, and his characters have a special kind of vulnerability. He writes about growing old in America and the ritual of falling out of love.”

Gold was born in the Lakewood suburb of Cleveland, where his father Samuel, an immigrant from Ukraine, ran a fruit store and later a grocery store. Growing up, Gold told the Paris Review, “I felt a lot of antisemitism. But being the only Jew in the school had advantages, because sex was forbidden. Sex was work of the devil, and Jews were the work of the devil. So girls liked me. I was popular in a funny way.”

He enlisted in the Army during World War II, serving stateside, and later earned a degree at Columbia University.

There he became friends with the poet Allen Ginsberg, who introduced Gold

to his circle of Beat writers. Gold also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship, where his friends and acquaintances included Bellow and the African-American writers Richard Wright and James Baldwin. The first of his 30 books, “Birth of a Hero,” was published with Bellow’s help by Viking in 1951.

Gold was married and divorced twice.

He is survived by four children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A fixture in San Francisco, where he moved in 1960 to write and teach, Gold was active well into his 90s. An anthology, “Best American Poetry of 2023,” includes one of his poems. According to his website, a new book, “Father Verses Sons,” is scheduled for March 2024. In 2021, he was interviewed by J., the Jewish weekly serving the Bay Area. “I’m very preoccupied with the fact that I’m not going to live forever,” he said. Death “is inevitable and I have to accept it. I’m comforted by the fact that a few people, my children, will remember me or will inherit something from me, and I will be immortal in that sense.”

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Nationwide Swatting Spree Targeting Jewish Institutions Appears Coordinated, Coming from Outside US: FBI More than 30 of the 56 FBI field offices are investigating the threats.

By Riley Hoffman and Josh Margolin December 19, 2023 abcnews.go.com Editor’s Note: Swatting is “the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address. Example: “He found out that he was a victim of swatting after police surrounded his home on Thursday.” ~ Oxford Languages (languages.oup.com)

A

nationwide swatting spree targeting nearly 200 Jewish institutions over the weekend of December 16-17 appears to have been a coordinated effort by an entity based outside the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's top spokesperson said in a confidential memo to partner law enforcement agencies.

The communication, written by Assistant FBI Director Cathy Milhoan, and obtained by ABC News, says, “At this time, based on similar language and specific

ral laws, according to Milhoan.

The exterior of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, headquarters of the FBI, is seen on Aug. 20, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE)

A “record number” of 199 swatting incidents and false bomb threats were tracked between December 15-16 by the Secure Community Network, a non-profit that advises U.S. Jewish institutions on safety and security. The non-profit tracked the swatting spree across multiple states, including 93 in California, 62 in Arizona, 15 in Connecticut, five in Colorado, and four in Washington state, according to a press release.

email tradecraft used, it appears the perpetrators of these threats are connected.

Additionally, these threats appear to be originating from outside of the United States.”

According to SCN, swatting incidents are up over 540% from 2022, with more than 449 swatting incidents and bomb threats taking place this year. October and November have seen a 290% rise since last year, “a record 772 incidents logged,” according to SCN's press release.

Milhoan continued, “To date, none of these email threats have involved any actual explosive devices or credible risk of harm to congregants.” More than 30 of the 56 FBI field offices are investigating the threats, which violated multiple fede-

“The safety of all faith-based communities is one of the FBI's highest priorities.

Once again, thank you for your partnership and your collaboration to keep our communities safe,” Milhoan ended the letter.

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Celebrate Tu BiShevat Tu BiShevat – Jewish New Year for Trees

T

u BiShevat (“the 15th of Shevat” – this year on Wednesday night-Thursday, January 24-25) marks the beginning of a New Year for Trees. This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Legally, the New Year for Trees relates to the various tithes that must be separated from produce grown in the Holy Land.

We mark the day by eating fruit, particularly from the “Seven Kinds” (grains and fruit) that are singled out by the Torah (Devarim/Deuteronomy 8:8) in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates). On this day we remember that “Man is a tree of the field” (Devarim/ Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.

NJOP Jewish Treats - Hail the Holy Pomegranate

T

he pomegranate is a funny sort of fruit. Rather than eating the flesh and throwing away the seed, as one does when eating an apple or orange, pomegranate seeds are the parts that are eaten, and the flesh discarded.

It is, therefore, interesting that God commanded that the image of this fruit be reproduced on the High Priest’s garb: “You shall make on its [the coat’s] hem, pomegranate… and gold bells between them all around. A gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, on the hem of the robe all around…the sound thereof shall be heard when he [the High Priest] goes into the holy place before God, and when he comes out." (Exodus 28:33-35) So, what is so special about a pomegranate?

The pomegranate is a very symbolic fruit. Judaism views it as a representation of the righteousness within each Jew: “Even the sinners of Israel are filled with mitzvot like a pomegranate, as the verse states (Song of Songs 4:3), ‘Like the separating of a pomegranate ra’kataych.’

Don’t read the word ‘ra’kataych‘ but rather ‘rey’kataych,’ [empty ones] even the empty ones [the sinners] among you are

filled with mitzvot like a pomegranate” (Eiruvin 19a).

Traditionally, pomegranates are reputed to contain 613 seeds representing the 613 mitzvot, which is why it has become customary to eat pomegranate as one of the symbolic foods of Rosh Hashana, after which the following prayer is recited, “May it be Your will, Lord, our God and the God of our ancestors, that our merits be as plentiful as the seeds of a pomegranate.” (Before you ask, pomegranates do not have a set number of seeds!)

Pomegranates are one of the seven species identified with the Land of Israel.

(Deuteronomy 8:8), and many Jewish artisans found the fruit an alluring subject for reproduction. They were used as decor in Solomon’s Temple (I Kings 7), on ancient Judean coins and, even today, are often used in the design of the silver ornaments found on many Torah scrolls.

Nine Jewish Things About Pomegranates Why this ancient fruit is a Jewish symbol myjewishlearning.com

I

mages of pomegranates are mainstays of Rosh Hashanah cards, Jewish jewelry and a range of Jewish ritual objects, and the fruit itself makes frequent appearances in Jewish cuisine. But what’s so Jewish about this ancient treat?

Quite a lot!

1. The Pomegranate Is One of Israel’s “Seven Species.”

The pomegranate is one of the seven species of Israel (along with wheat, barley, grapes, figs, olives, and dates) listed in the Torah (Deueronomy 8:8).).

2. Pomegranates Traditionally Symbolize Fertility and Love.

In Jewish tradition, pomegranates are a symbol of fertility and love, winning them frequent mention in, among other biblical texts, the Song of Songs. For example (Song of Songs 4:3): “Your lips are like a crimson thread; your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil [gleams] like a pomegranate split open.”

3. Pomegranates Decorate Many Torah Scrolls.

The decorative ornaments at the top of many Ashkenazi Torah scroll covers are often shaped like pomegranates and are called rimonim, the Hebrew word for pomegranates.

(For other “Jewish Treats: Juicy Bits of Judaism, Daily” and many other Jewish resources visit www.jewishtreats.org and www.njop.org.)

Editor’s Note: See below the ancient Jewish coin with the goblet for wine on one side and pomegranates on the other side.

Rimonim (pomegranate-shaped ornaments) top this Torah scroll. (Israel Defense Forces/Flickr)

4. Pomegranates Are Part of the Sephardic Rosh Hashanah Seder.

The pomegranate is one of several symbolic foods incorporated into the Rosh Hashanah seder, a Sephardic ritual. Before eating the pomegranate seeds, Jews traditionally say, “May we be as full of mitzvot (commandments) as the pomegranate is full of seeds.”

5. A Pomegranate Is Often the “New Fruit” on the Second Night of Rosh Hashanah.

Many Jews use pomegranates on the second night of Rosh Hashanah, for the

(Avi Deror/Wikimedia)

(Julien Menichini/Wikimedia Commons)

custom of saying a blessing over a “new fruit,” one that people have not eaten in a long time.

6. Pomegranate Seeds Are Associated With the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments).

The pomegranate is often said to have 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 mitzvot (plural of mitzvah) derived from the Bible. While this is not actually true (the number of seeds in each pomegranate varies widely), some have theorized that this belief stems from a misinterpretation of a passage in the Talmud (Berachot 4), which concludes that even “the empty ones among the Jews are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate is [full of seeds].”

7. Pomegranates Continue to Grow in Israel.

Pomegranates have been cultivated in Israel (and throughout the Middle East) for thousands of years, and they continue to grow there in abundance. When pomegranates are in season, fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice is available in kiosks throughout the country. According to the Israeli Agriculture International Portal, Israel harvests approximately 60,000 tons of the fruit annually, of which about half are earmarked for export.

Continued on page 13

The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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ENVIRONMENTALLY SPEAKING

By Anise W Singer October 2023

Build we must?

Whom do we trust?

Trees have mostly gone away No more bark To build an ark Floods will take homes away.

Values go astray Where’s the respect For Nature’s life When treed birds no longer sing?

Cling onto life There’s more strife When deer lie dead in the road No habitat to live Road kill is there Where is the care?

Bared roots from trees No more leaves Storms become the norm.

Fires ensue Future belies the truth There is no trust Because builders must Make their money Like bees make honey Where will be the next “hive?”

Build we must?

I have no trust That the environment can stay alive.

Pomegranates

to the Jewish Federation of Ocean County, 1235A Route 70, Lakewood, NJ 08701 for possible inclusion in the March issue of the Jewish Journal.

Open to all ages. Include your first name and age.



Almond tree blossoming field five weeks after Tu BiShevat – An Israeli couple photographed for their wedding in Latrun, Israel on February 25, 2019. (Hadas Parush/ Flash90) (Editor’s Note: Almond trees are the first to bloom in Israel and are called in Hebrew “shekaydiah” which is from the Hebrew root shin-kuf-dalet meaning alert/wakeful.)

Other Things Growing in Israel

Continued from page 12

8. Pomegranates Are Frequently Mentioned in Jewish Texts.

Pomegranates make frequent appearances in the Bible and Talmud, including: • In the Torah (Numbers 13:23), a pomegranate is one of the items brought back by the 12 spies when they return from scouting out the Land of Canaan.

• Images of pomegranates adorn the robes of the high priest, as described in the Torah (Exodus 28:33-34).

• In one story in the Talmud (Kiddushin 81b), the wife of Rabbi Hiyya Bar

Color this tree and send it by February 1

Ashi tests him by disguising herself as a prostitute and then seducing him, demanding he pay her with a freshly picked pomegranate.)

9. Pomegranates Are Found on Ancient Judean Coins.

An image of a pomegranate decorated some ancient Jewish coins, including a recently discovered one from the era of the Bar Kochba revolt (second century CE).

Watermelons and Black Tomatoes in Israel

14 The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Public Service Announcement – Beware of Gift Card Fraud and Card Draining From the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs “Card draining” is on the rise! If you are buying a gift card, always make sure it is completely sealed, that the protective cover is still on, and it doesn’t look like it’s been tampered with in any way.

When someone steals a gift card, and uses the money on the card, and returns the card to the store and it looks like it is a fresh, unused card, someone purchases it for a gift and the gift is not useable.

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The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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16 The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Working with Our Partners to Keep the Community Safe Safety Update from the Secure Community Network

Jewish Federation Partners Update with JFed Security, LLC

By Michael G. Masters National Director & CEO Secure Community Network securecommunitynetwork.com

By Stephanie Dworkin

A

s we enter 2024, we reflect on this past year: 2023 saw increased incidents of antisemitism and acts of hate directed at the Jewish community – all before October 7. Then came that day: the most deadly for our community in 78 years, and a horrific reminder of the evil that can exist in the hearts of people. Since Hamas’ terrorist attack – and the despicable outpouring of support for their evil acts from people around the world – our community has not hidden. We have not cowered. We have worked to stand strong.

Our community – in the United States, around the world, and certainly in Israel – has shown remarkable resilience and courage in the face of unspeakable horror and resurgent Jew hatred. That resilience is neither reflexive nor accidental: it has developed over our 4,000 year history of facing adversity – and evil – and overcoming it. It is a product of diligent preparation, relentless vigilance, and unwavering faith. As we close 2023, we continue to face adversity and evil. In the United States, today, we have seen historic increases in antisemitic threats and incidents.

We are also more ready to face such hate here in the U.S. than at any previous point: over the past several years, we have worked to build a comprehensive, professionally led, and coordinated security network. Each day, this network, along with law enforcement and other partners, is ensuring the proactive, protective shield over the Jewish community across North America is strong.

This shield, through our collective hard work and determination, has made us safer, more resilient, and more effective in the face of record-breaking levels of antisemitic hate and violence. We will

not choose the time and place of the next incident, but we can choose our preparation.

This is exactly what happened in July in Memphis, Tennessee, where work between the Margolin Hebrew Academy, the Memphis Jewish Federation, and SCN ensured an armed man was unable to enter the school and potentially commit an attack. The perpetrator was quickly identified and brought to justice.

From information sharing and training to securing grants to harden the facility, the outcome was a result of the coordinated approach that SCN, Federations, and other partners have been implementing around the country that are keeping our community safe.

We have seen these and similar protocols keep facilities, organizations, and communities safe as we have faced hundreds of bomb threats, violent protests, vandalism, and assaults against our institutions and community members – both before and certainly since October 7.

Today, in 2023, such preparation is a necessity. We recognize that the enemies of the Jewish people do not rest. Neither do we – nor will we ever.

We have made much progress, but we have more work to do. Members of our community are fighting right now to stop the terror organization Hamas and its followers…and to bring home those members of our community who remain hostage. Our hearts, thoughts, and spirit are with them. We enter 2024 knowing that the challenges before us will be significant but, as we have done for thousands of years, we will survive and thrive.

We thank you for your part in our efforts.

Stay safe.

T

rooms qualify for this area within our temple. Every activity provided within our walls needs to be instructed about awareness and actions we can take.”

he drastic rise in antisemitism worldwide, across our country and locally has occurred at alarming rates, particularly since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. The ADL recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents between October 7-December 7, 2023, up from 465 incidents during the same period in 2022, representing a 337 percent increase year over year.

At a time in which safety and security is at the forefront in the minds of many, JFed Security has offered its expertise and assisted our Jewish Federation with putting procedures in place to continue to operate business as usual for synagogues, day schools and community centers. “Guests may not see anything different to the naked eye at any of our locations but that doesn’t mean that we have not increased our security application. A proper security plan is comprehensive and comprised of multiple layers,” said Monaghan.

The Jewish Federation of Ocean County has partnered with JFed Security, LLC and is now part of its community security model designed to ensure the safety of the Jewish community. JFed Security, LLC, currently operates its community security initiative in six Jewish Federations in New Jersey spanning 12 counties, as well as the entire state of Delaware.

JFed Security, LLC launched in 2023 thanks to a LiveSecure grant issued by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), a $130 million campaign that was launched by JFNA in 2021 with the goal of securing every Jewish community across North America and to save lives. It is the largest initiative in history to secure Jewish communities across North America.

JFed Security services provided to the Jewish Federation of Ocean County include access to intelligence bulletins (JFib), emergency operations planning, threat assessments, active threat and situational awareness trainings and CPR/ Stop the Bleed trainings. The incident reporting feature on the federation website, www.jewishoceancounty.org, alerts both JFed Security, LLC and Secure Community Network. JFed Security worked with federations at the recent March for Israel rally and will accompany the group on an upcoming mission trip to Israel.

“JFed Security, LLC was created and chartered with the purpose of providing and enhancing a community-wide security initiative to ensure that Jews can live and practice their religion safely, especially given the unfortunate rise in antisemitic incidents,” said William “Bud” Monaghan, Executive Director, JFed Security, LLC and former Cherry Hill Police Department’s Chief of Police. “We thank our partners at the Jewish Federation of Ocean County for their partnership and entrusting us to protect their community.”

Pictured (l-r) are JFed Deputy Director Sean Redmond, Beth Am Shalom security chairperson Cyndy Friedland and JFed security officer Carmen DiTore.

www.o

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et

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Cyndy Friedland, security chairperson for Beth Am Shalom, details, “Sean Red-www.oc jj.net mond led our first security meeting and opened our eyes and senses to different .net ww.ocjj facets of awareness. There is structural, w www.o cjj.net focused and personal awareness to be educated about. We learned what a ‘safe room’ meant and how to identify what jj.net

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The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Working with Our Partners to Help Israel YOU Made an Impact through the Jewish Federation of Ocean County – Through our Israel Emergency Grants (continued)

NEW GOAL $180,000

The Jewish Federation expands its impact at the end of 2023. Even more is planned for 2024.

A

t the close of 2023, the Jewish Federation of Ocean County just announced another $40,000 in grants from its Israel Emergency Fund to aid those victims of the October 7 massacre in Israel. “These grants are meant to provide relief and assistance to our friends and extended family in Israel as they rebuild shattered lives in the shadow of an ongoing war to keep Israel safe and to help heal a traumatized society,” said Annabel Lindenbaum, Board Chair of the Jewish Federation.

• Organizations supporting the families of hostages, as well as efforts to raise awareness and encourage their safe return, including Bring Them Home Now, a project of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, and Bring Hersh Home.

This is the second round of grants made as a result of the Federation’s Ocean County Israel Emergency Campaign. In this round, grants were made to:

• Support for our ongoing partner, Shutaf Inclusion Programs, to enable group outings and workshops for special needs young adults who have had their lives and routines disrupted by the ongoing security situation and including those who have been evacuated from the North and South of Israel.

• Brothers and Sisters for Israel, the largest aid organization in Israel responding to the aftermath of October 7 by mobilizing critical resources and aid, providing accommodation for displaced families, evacuating those in war zones, locating missing individuals, and much more.

• ZAKA, an organization that collects the remains of the dead for proper burial, and the Koby Mandell Foundation for a special project supporting the Central Identification Office – a unit in the IDF that ensures proper identification preparation of bodies for burial and to bring closure to the victims’ families.

• Support for two programs helping young adults from more disadvantaged and challenging backgrounds to succeed after high school, Derech Eretz and Kfar Silver.

• Funding for a special program focused on embracing the children and the adults who are home from captivity, developing a custom mental and physical wellness and recovery plan for each of those recovering from trauma, for the short as well as long-term.

• Support for the Jewish Federation of North America’s Emergency Campaign, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Shalom Hartman Institute.

The campaign has already surpassed its goal of raising $150,000 and is now seeking to reach $180,000.

Keith Krivitzky, Managing Director of the Jewish Federation, added: “This response to the situation in Israel is in addition to the Jewish Federation’s ongoing work supporting our community in Ocean County, through our Jewish Family and Children’s Service program helping Holocaust survivors and seniors, our grants to local programs and organizations addressing food insecurity and building bridges in the community, and our programming to counter hate and antisemitism – most notably through partnering with the Ocean County Culture & Heritage Commission, the Prosecutor’s Office, and Ocean County College.”

The Jewish Federation offers several community-wide programs, including a film festival, a Heroes Against Hate awards program at their Community of Caring event, social programming such as The Place To Be, and a monthly newspaper called the Jewish Journal.

150,000+

Israel Emergency Campaign (including a matching amount of $50,000 from the Jewish Federation of Ocean County)

For more information, visit www.jewishoceancounty.org.

We continue our prayers for the situation in Israel.

May those who are still captive as hostages be released soon and safely.

May those who are wounded have a complete recovery.

May the memories of those who died be forever a blessing.

May all have peace.

18 The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Jewish Organizations Launch The 10/7 Project: Promoting Bipartisan Support for Israel from the Jewish Federations of North America December 5, 2023 jewishfederations.org The 10/7 Project to be led by American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America, ADL, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

F

ollowing November’s historic March for Israel that brought nearly 300,000 people to the National Mall, the nation’s most prominent American Jewish organizations have today joined forces to launch The 10/7 Project – a new centralized communications operation. The 10/7 Project is designed to promote continued U.S. bipartisan support for Israel by working to ensure more complete and accurate information about the Israel-Hamas war in real time for policymakers and the American public.

The 10/7 Project is led by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

A bipartisan effort, The 10/7 Project will focus on fact-based coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, aggressive rapid response, and a media campaign dedicated to reminding policymakers and the broader American public about the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists, uplifting the stories of the in-

nocent victims of October 7, setting the record straight about the conflict in Israel and Gaza, and combating misinformation spouted by Hamas terrorists and their anti-Israel allies.

“Since October 7, there has been a concerted and consistent effort from Israel’s enemies to draw a false and dangerous equivalence between Hamas’ deadly rampage to destroy the Jewish state and Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorists,” said Ted Deutch, CEO, American Jewish Committee (AJC). “The 10/7 Project will be a trusted and timely source of accurate information to set the record straight and combat false narratives perpetuated by Hamas terrorists and their anti-Israel allies. They are responsible for slaughtering some 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians. This is no time for equivocation.”

The 10/7 Project will work tirelessly to combat misinformation and inaccurate reporting about the IsraelHamas conflict and continue shining a light on the victims and hostages of October 7. ~ Eric Fingerhut, President & CEO, the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) “At this critical juncture, it is imperative that we separate fact from fiction regar-

ding America’s most important Middle East ally and remind people that the vast majority of Americans understand that Hamas is our common enemy,” said Eric Fingerhut, President & CEO, the Jewish Federations of North America. “Through aggressive rapid response and a comprehensive media campaign, The 10/7 Project will work tirelessly to combat misinformation and inaccurate reporting about the Israel-Hamas conflict and continue shining a light on the victims and hostages of October 7. We must ensure that murderous Hamas terrorists are not covered in a way that morally equates them with the sovereign, democratic state of Israel and its people, and that the loudest, most uninformed voices are not permitted to drown out the facts.”

“In the wake of Hamas’s deadly terrorist attack on Israel, there has been an onslaught of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the conflict and Israel circulating on social media and, in some cases, elevated by mainstream press outlets,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO, ADL. “Tragically, we have even seen alarming incidents of antisemitic violence and hate stemming from inaccurate coverage of the conflict. And while it’s understandable that Americans are clearly interested in what’s happening in the Middle East, The 10/7 Project will make sure they’re receiving verifiable, truthful, and balanced information, especially at a time when some platforms have regrettably cut back on their trust and safety teams.”

“The 10/7 Project will help ensure that America’s leaders are educated and informed about Hamas’s despicable assault

on the people of Israel and the Western values that America and Israel champion together,” said Howard Kohr, CEO, AIPAC. “The United States must continue to stand with our democratic ally as it works to protect its families and secure its future.”

"As leaders of American Jewry, we cannot be silent in the face of deadly violence from the Hamas Terrorist Army targeting the people of Israel,” said William Daroff, CEO, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “We must ensure that America and the entire world are told and retold the stories of the butchery of the October 7 massacre. We must discredit and make outcasts of 10/7 deniers, who are Hamas sympathizers seeking to perpetuate false and misleading narratives by minimizing and rationalizing the most deadly day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

And we must work together, as one Jewish community, to successfully communicate to the American people the critical need to stand with Israel, as well as the importance of the US-Israel relationship to America and to Israel."

The 10/7 Project has also launched a daily newsletter, The 10/7 Project Daybook, for journalists and other interested parties and a new website – https://www.the10-7project. com. Members of the media interested in connecting with The 10/7 Project or talking with a spokesperson should email tensevenproject@skdknick.com.

The 10/7 Project will not endorse or oppose any candidates for public office.

Agnes Keleti, Holocaust Survivor and Olympic Gymnast Celebrated her 103rd Birthday on January 9 Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org

the most successful athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics. In 1957, Keleti immigrated to Israel, where she lived before returning to Hungary in 2015.

Á

gnes Keleti (née Klein; born 9 January 1921) is a Hungarian-Israeli retired Olympic and world champion artistic gymnast and coach. She is the oldest living Olympic champion and medalist, reaching her 100th birthday on 9 January 2021. While representing Hungary at the Summer Olympics, she won 10 Olympic medals including five gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals, and is considered to be one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time.

Keleti holds more Olympic medals than any other individual with Israeli citizens-

Keleti in 2021

hip, and more Olympic medals than any other Jew, except Mark Spitz. She was

Keleti is Jewish, and was born in Budapest, Hungary. She began gymnastics at the age of 4, and by 16 was the Hungarian National Champion in gymnastics. Over the course of her career, between 1937 and 1956, she won the Championships title ten times. Keleti was considered a top prospect for the Hungarian team at the 1940 Olympics, but the escalation of World War II canceled both the 1940 and the 1944 Games.

She was expelled from her gymnastics

club in 1941 for being a non-Aryan.

Keleti was forced to go into hiding to survive the war. Because she had heard a rumor married women were not taken to labor camps, she hastily married István Sárkány in 1944. Sárkány was a Hungarian gymnast of the 1930s who achieved national titles and took part in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. They divorced in 1950.

Keleti survived the war by purchasing and using an identity paper of a Christian girl and working as a maid in a small village. Her mother and sister went into hiding and were saved using Swiss proContinued on page 19

The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Agnes Keleti Continued from page 18

tection papers isued by diplomat Carl Lutz and possibly also by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Her father and other relatives were murdered by the Nazis by gassing in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

She managed to survive the Holocaust by hiding in the Hungarian countryside.

In the winter of 1944–45, during the Siege of Budapest by Soviet forces near the end of World War II, Keleti would in the morning collect bodies of those who had died and place them in a mass grave.

After the war, Keleti played the cello professionally and resumed training.

In 1946, she won her first Hungarian championship. In 1947, she won the Central European gymnastics title. She qualified for the 1948 Summer Olympics, but missed the competition due to tearing a ligament in her ankle. She is listed on the Official List of Gymnastic Participants as Ágnes Sárkány.

At the World University Games of 1949 she won four gold, one silver, and one bronze medal. She continued training and competed at the Olympics for the

first time at the age of 31 at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. She earned four medals: gold in the floor exercise, silver in the team competition, and bronze in the team portable apparatus event and the uneven bars. Keleti continued on to the 1954 World Championships, where she won on the uneven bars, becoming world champion.

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Keleti won six medals including gold medals in three of the four individual event finals: floor, bars, and balance beam, and placed second in the allaround. She was the most successful athlete at these games. The Hungarian team placed first in the portable apparatus event and second in the team competition.

At the age of 35, Keleti became the oldest female gymnast ever to win gold. The Soviet Union invaded Hungary during the 1956 Olympics. Keleti, along with 44 other athletes from the Hungarian delegation, decided to remain in Australia and received political asylum. She became a coach for Australian gymnasts.

Keleti emigrated to Israel in 1957, com-

peting in the 1957 Maccabiah Games, and was able to send for her mother and sister. In 1959, she married Hungarian physical education teacher Robert Biro whom she met in Israel, and they had two sons, Daniel and Rafael. Following her retirement from competition, Keleti worked as a physical education instructor at Tel Aviv University, and for 34 years at the Wingate Institute for Sports in Netanya. She also coached and worked with Israel's national gymnastics team well into the 1990s. Since 2015, she has lived in Budapest. Ágnes Keleti training a student at the Wingate Institute in Israel on May 12, 1960 Keleti has been the oldest Hungarian Olympic champion since Sándor Tarics died on 21 May 2016. She became the oldest living Olympic champion when Lydia Wideman died on 13 April 2019. She celebrated her 100th birthday in January 2021. She became the longest-lived Olympic champion ever on 7 August 2023, breaking the record previously held by Tarics.

Awards and Honors Keleti was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, the Hungarian Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, and the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2002. Keleti was named Hungary's 12 "Athlete's of the Nation" in 2004. In 1982, she was awarded the Herzl Prize for sports.

Asteroid 265594 Keletiágnes, discovered

by Krisztián Sárneczky in 2005, was named in her honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 12 July 2014 (M.P.C. 89086).

In 2017, she was announced laureate of the Israel Prize in the field of sports.

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Amid War, this Israeli Educator is Finding New Ways to Promote Jewish-Arab Coexistence Aviv into one of Israel’s most successful educational models.

Karen Tal, right, visits with a student at an Amal school in Petah Tikva, Israel, Nov. 24, 2023. (Larry Luxner)

By Larry Luxner January 9, 2024 jta.org TEL AVIV – It only took a few minutes from the time the rocket fire from Gaza began on the morning of October 7 for Karen Tal to field her first of many phone calls and messages with terrible news.

The CEO of Amal, a secular educational network whose mission is to serve Israelis of all religions, Tal heard first from the principal of an Amal school in Ofakim, a Jewish city near Gaza. The principal said she could see Hamas terrorists shooting people in the street from her apartment balcony. “We saw the pictures on TV, but we were getting real information from the field,” recalled Tal, whose best friend’s mother and her Filipino caregiver were among those killed at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. In the ensuing days, Tal would learn that at least 42 alumni of Amal schools were killed on October 7, and several others had been taken hostage to Gaza.

As this grim picture became clearer, Tal’s first order of priorities was to figure out what she could do to support students and faculty, and to ensure that the war did not tear apart the delicate spirit of coexistence at the core of Amal’s work. About 40% of Amal’s 81 high schools and colleges are located in Arab or Druze communities. In all, over 30,000 students and 2,500 teachers are part of Amal schools.

“We’re family, and we all share the same pain. It doesn’t matter if you’re Arab or Jewish,” said Tal, 59, who immigrated to Israel from Morocco as a young child and grew up in Jerusalem. “Right now, this question of coexistence is so relevant to each one of us.”

Tal’s background and experience puts her in a unique position to deal with the monumental challenge of helping Israeli children of all ethnic backgrounds heal from this national trauma. More than a decade ago, Tal gained international renown for transforming the Bialik-Rogozin School in impoverished south Tel

The school had roughly 800 students from 48 countries, including violence-plagued African nations such as Eritrea, Nigeria and Sudan, as well as Israeli Jews and Arabs. Students were performing abysmally, and the Tel Aviv municipality wanted to close the school. But after Tal took over as principal in 2005, she combined the elementary and high schools into one entity, transformed the school into a model of coexistence, and reversed its academic decline.

There is always a solution.

Even though we are in darkness, we must find that little candle of light. … We don’t have the privilege of giving up. ~ Karen Tal, CEO of Amal

In 2011, Tal won Israel’s National Education Prize for her achievements, HBO made a film about the school called “Strangers No More,” which won an Oscar for best short documentary, and Tal received The Charles Bronfman Prize. The $100,000 prize was established in 2004 by the children of Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman – Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Stephen Bronfman together with their spouses Andrew Hauptman and Claudia Blondin Bronfman – and is given to a Jewish humanitarian under age 50 whose work is grounded in Jewish values but benefits humanity universally.

“After winning the Charles Bronfman Prize I decided it was time to search for a new challenge,” Tal said. She used the prize money to create a nonprofit called Tovanot B’Hinuch (Educational Insights) and spent the next decade implementing her educational model – which employs long school days, volunteer private tutors and extracurricular courses – in at least 40 other schools in Israel.

“One of the main things I emphasized was coexistence between Jews and Arabs,” Tal said. “We believe that each one of these students can achieve whatever they want. But they need resources because there’s a socioeconomic gap. We know how to do it. That’s my job.”

Just over a year ago, Tal became the CEO of Amal, which was established in

terrorists, who murdered both Jews and Arabs in their rampage, and on the other hand to hear from relatives in Gaza enduring airstrikes by Israel.

Tal described how she’s trying to promote coexistence among Amal’s Arab-Israeli students.

“I have three goals: for our students to develop self-confidence, then develop and identify with the village or community they live in, and finally to develop an Israeli identity,” Tal said. “My basic premise is we are not going anywhere, and the Palestinians are not going anywhere.

We must live together. But this is about defining what we can and cannot do. And we should both agree that terrorism is outside the rules of the game.”

Karen Tal, the CEO of Amal, a secular educational network whose mission is to serve Israelis of all religions, has been working on Arab-Jewish coexistence for most of her career. (Larry Luxner)

1928 by the Histadrut labor federation as a nationwide secular educational network for Israelis from Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze backgrounds. Today Amal schools are known for their focus on science, technology and entrepreneurship – and coexistence.

Every Israeli student regardless of religion, Tal says, should learn a core body of knowledge that includes the basics for a modern Israeli society: Hebrew, Arabic, English, math, science, and the humanities. That includes not just music, art and literature, but also the study of both the Torah and the Quran, she said.

As at many schools in Israel, Hamas’s October 7 attack and the ensuing war have been severely disruptive. Some Amal schools are located in cities that have been evacuated due to the conflict, many students are mourning family members killed in the war, and there are staffers who have been called away as reservists for military duty. Schools in Tiberias and Hadera have taken in students evacuated from their homes near the Lebanon-Israel border.

“What I want to do in Amal is not just talk about theory, but to practice values,” Tal said. “My dream is that every Arab student will be able to speak Hebrew fluently, and that all Jewish students will learn Arabic – because language is a bridge to collaboration.”

Despite these dark times, Tal says she has hope for the future. “There is always a solution. Even though we are in darkness, we must find that little candle of light,” she said. “It’s a question of leadership and responsibility. We don’t have the privilege of giving up.”

Tal is also concerned about students falling behind academically – especially after time lost due to the pandemic. A lot of Tal’s work over the last three months has been raising money for Amal educators to deal with the current moment.

“We need more resources to help deal with the trauma,” Tal said. “We understand that we cannot give each of our students a private meeting with a psychologist. So we want to train the trainers.

If our educators will be stronger, so will the students.”

This story was sponsored by and produced in partnership with The Charles Bronfman Prize, an annual prize presented to a humanitarian whose innovative work fueled by their Jewish values has significantly improved the world.

This article was produced by JTA's native content team.

Twice a week, Tal visits a different high school or college in Amal’s network.

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Read the Jewish Journal at: www.ocjj.net

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24 The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

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Addressing Children’s Big and Difficult Questions “I heard that they cut off people’s heads.

Is that true?”

“What happens to the kids whose parents are dead?”

“How many people in the world hate us?”

“Is it safe to be Jewish?”

This post includes real children’s questions about very intense violence. Parents may want to read this on their own before discussing it with kids.

By Sivan Zakai, Ph.D. pjlibrary.org

D

uring these difficult times, even very little children have very big questions about the horrors of October 7, the Israel-Gaza war, and what it means to be Jewish in such a dark moment. The following questions – all voiced by Jewish children (ages 5-9) in the recent weeks – are just a small sample of the depth of understanding and pain that many young Jewish children are carrying in this moment: “Why are there always wars in Israel and never wars in [our city]?”

“Can adults get kidnapped?”

These questions, and others like them, are enough to make any adult who cares for a Jewish child sick at heart. And, if the initial emotional gut-punch was not enough, discerning adults will soon realize that it’s actually not so clear what, exactly, children are asking of us when they voice aloud these painful questions.

Each of these questions might indicate a child’s desire for reassurance and/or a child’s request for information and/or a child’s desire to make sense of why bad things happen and/or a child’s attempt to sort through what it means to be a Jew in the world today.

How, then, ought parents, guardians, grandparents, and others respond to children’s questions? As a social scientist who studies Jewish children’s ideas and beliefs about Israel, and as a mother, I’ve studied children’s big and difficult questions during every Israel-Gaza war since 2012. Here’s a 3-step process I’ve learned about how to approach children’s

big questions and why listening to children’s questions is often more important than giving children specific answers to those questions.

Step 1: Eye on the Goal The goal of conversations with children about this moment is to engage children in honest dialogue so that they have an emotional safe-base. Children need to be able to ask questions, process how they feel, and know that they have adults they can trust to help them make sense of the world even – or perhaps especially – when that world feels so broken. Being a child’s trusted adult means tempering our own desires to reassure children that everything is okay when they so clearly know it is not. But being honest with children doesn’t mean that we have to give them troubling or gruesome details about current events that they’re not asking to hear. Figuring out how to hold this delicate balance – being an honest conversation partner without providing children more information than they’re asking for – is why adults need to commit to listening before they jump to answering children’s questions.

Step 2: Tell Me More Given that a child might be asking for any one of a number of things from us

as their trusted adults – information, reassurance, moral guidance, and more – we can only figure out what to say if we use three magic words: tell me more. We might say something like: “Wow, it sounds like you’ve been having some pretty big thoughts and feelings as you’re thinking about the world [or what it means to be Jewish]. Can you tell me more about what you’re thinking and feeling?” Or we might say something like: “What a very difficult question you’re asking me. Thank you so much for trusting me with this beautiful question. Can you tell me more about what you’re wondering about?” No matter what words we use, an invitation to “tell me more” does two things: it affirms that the child has questions and ideas that are of value, and it helps the adult better understand what kind of conversation the child is requesting.

Step 3: Here with You No matter what our children appear to be asking, our answers ought to communicate the same sentiment: whatever is happening in the world, and whatever is happening in your own heart and mind, I am here with you. You are not alone.

Continued on page 25

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That 98-year-old Man on Drums at the White House Hanukkah Party? A Holocaust Survivor Fulfilling a Dream President Joe Biden has a history of elevating Holocaust survivors. tter). “He is flying high,” said Annie Pearl, a friend who assists Dreier who is also from Tamarac, Florida.

President Joe Biden greets a group of Holocaust survivors – including Saul Dreier, wearing a bowtie – before the Hanukkah reception on December 11. Photo by Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

By Jacob Kornbluh December 18, 2023 forward.com

B

efore the White House Hanukkah party, five Holocaust survivors met with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office, one of whom, 98-yearold Saul Dreier, asked if he could bless him. Biden bowed his head and received Dreier’s blessing for a prosperous life.

Then the president asked Dreier if he had any other requests. Yes, Dreier told him: He wanted to play the drums at the Hannukah party. Biden then instructed the Secret Service to escort Dreier to the affair, where the Floridian joined the United States Marine Band and played a spirited rendition of “Hava Nagila” for more than 800 guests.

A video of Dreier playing the drums with what’s commonly called “The President’s Own Marine Band,” went viral on X (the platform formerly known as Twi-

Difficult Questions Continued from page 24

When our children are asking for information, we can answer as truthfully and simply as possible, and when we don’t know the answer, we can let our children know that we’ll circle back at a later time. “I am here with you in your desire to understand more,” we can explain, “and I’ll be your trusted source of information.”

When our children are asking for sense-making around questions of good and evil, we can let them know that we’re also wondering about these questions.

“I’m here with you in your desire to figure out how to live in the world even when bad things happen,” we can say, “and I’ll be your thought partner on this journey.”

Pearl helped Dreier get the invitation to the party, she said in an interview. A week after what’s widely considered the most exclusive annual Jewish celebration in the U.S., Dreier is still talking about his Oval Office meet-up and jam with the band.

Shelley Greenspan, the White House Jewish liaison who manages the guest list for the party, said Dreier’s meeting with Biden and performance hadn’t been planned, but reflects the respect the president holds for survivors. He’s “a lifelong believer in commemorating the Holocaust and also acting on the lessons of the Holocaust.” Greenspan said. “So just to see this come to fruition was really, really meaningful.”

Not a sure gig Dreier, who was born in Poland and survived several concentration camps before arriving in the U.S. in 1949, first started drumming in 2014 after reading an article about a woman pianist who survived the Holocaust and passed away at age 108. To his wife’s initial shock, he went out, bought himself a drum set, and founded the Holocaust Survivor Band, which started with a free klezmer concert at a local synagogue and was soon performing around the country and the world, including in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Poland – both in Warsaw and at Auschwitz.

When our children are looking for reassurance for their own safety or the safety of others, we can remind them of all the ways that adults in our communities are working to keep them safe. “I’m here with you in your desire to live in safety and free of fear,” we can state, “and I’ll be your guide in making responsible decisions in an uncertain world.”

Our children should not have to hold the weight of their big and painful questions alone. We – their parents, guardians, grandparents, and caretakers – must let them know that no matter how little they are, no matter how big their feelings may be, and no matter how troubling their questions, we are right there beside them.

We may not be able to fix everything that is broken in the world, but we can certainly hold hands and face it together.

His dream, though, was to play for the president, Pearl said. So she reached out to several members of Congress. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a freshman Democrat from the Miami area, wrote a letter to the White House, signed by 18 other members – asking that it invite Dreier to the Hanukkah party list and allow him to play drums there.

Greenspan, whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, said she put Dreier and four survivors who volunteer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on the guest list, but didn’t invite him to play because she didn’t have the authority.

But she said she’s not surprised Biden made it happen, given his commitment to remembering the Holocaust. In remarks to Jewish audiences, the president often speaks about his visit to Auschwitz with his grandchildren in 2015. And 10 years ago, as vice president in the Obama administration, Biden launched the White House Holocaust Survivor Initiative, a program that has helped more than 40,000 Holocaust survivors access meals, healthcare and transportation.

During his visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 2022, Biden knelt to speak with two Holocaust survivors, holding their hands and kissing both on their cheeks.

And earlier that year, Biden held a 90-minute Oval Office meeting with Holocaust Survivor Bronia Brandman and invited her to light one of the candles of the White House menorah.

President Joe Biden with a group of Holocaust survivors on Dec. 11. Photo by Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

This year, Greenspan and four other White House staffers who descend from Holocaust survivors lit candles at the ceremony.

Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, some 2,500 Holocaust survivors and their descendants sent a letter to Biden thanking him for his strong support of Israel.

Greenspan said that when she has briefed the president in the Oval Office, he often asked her personal questions about her grandparents who survived the Holocaust. “It really is something that he cares so deeply about,” she said. “This is a culmination of decades of him talking about these issues and being there for people who didn’t have a voice for a while.”

Jacob Kornbluh is the Forward’s senior political reporter. Follow him on Twitter @jacobkornbluh or email kornbluh@forward.com.

Sivan Zakai is the Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the author of My Second-Favorite Country: How American Jewish Children Think about Israel.

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Managing Life’s Stress

By Deborah Sason, Guest Writer Jewish Family & Children’s Service

I ARE YOU CARING FOR A LOVED ONE? JOIN US FOR A MONTHLY SUPPORT GROUP

Meetings are virtual on the first Thursday of the month at 7:30pm.

For more information call 732-363-8010.

Group Facilitator: Rita Sason, LCSW

&

t is a fact of life that from the everyday to the unexpected, life is stressful.

Feeling stressed and overwhelmed can be triggered by various day-to-day occurrences. They can be small stresses, like traffic on your way to work, or big stresses like an approaching deadline for an important project. Whether big or small, there are some simple methods of relieving stress, which will allow anyone to refocus and tackle the problem at hand.

For most, stress comes as a reaction to a difficult situation that is oftentimes out of one’s control. The driver does not control the traffic, and the employee does not control the project deadline. In cases like these, it helps to focus on the aspects of the situation that you are able to control.

Although traffic patterns cannot be changed, the feeling of stress can be relieved by a shift in attitude. Take a few deep breaths, turn on the radio to a favorite station (or be sure to stock the car full of fun CDs), take the time to listen to a book on tape, or choose another safe way to help pass the time. By focusing one’s attention on something positive, stress can fade away, despite not being able to do anything about the traffic.

In more complex situations, like submitting a project within a given deadline, additional actions must be taken. Whi-

le the first step may be to take in a few deep breaths or listen to a favorite song to help clear one’s mind, there is the lurking knowledge that the project must be finished. With anxious thoughts running a mile a minute in one’s head, and a feeling of overwhelming pressure, tackling the assignment can seem impossible.

Although seemingly cliché, taking things one step at a time is actually the best way to handle these situations, and to emerge successful. Map out exactly what needs to be done by making a thorough to do list. Break down the large assignment into smaller, more manageable tasks. By looking at them as individual items, the larger project can feel less intimidating and allows one to have more control over the situation. Write out exactly what actions need to be taken to finish each of the items on the list. Also, if it is a possibility, delegate any responsibility that a co-worker can complete. Being able to check items off a list helps to move the process along and allows one to see progress being made. Step by step, task by task, stress eventually turns into productivity, and the job eventually gets done.

Every day, life is going to throw all kinds of stress triggers. By taking control of the situation in whatever way is possible, shifting to a positive attitude, and mapping out a problem-solving plan, it will be possible to handle any situation that arises, and come out successfully.

Grief After Loss You Don't Have to Face it Alone

MONDAYS

1:00-2:30pm For more information, or to register, contact: JFCS at 732-363-8010

Together with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) and a grant from the State of New Jersey, the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of the Jewish Federation of Ocean County has been providing the sacred obligation of pikuach nefesh (saving a life in jeopardy) to Holocaust Survivors for many years.

We realize that unless you are impacted directly, you may not fully appreciate how important this work is. Every dollar you contribute will be matched 25 times!

The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

CHILDREN'S SERVICE

...making a difference

Sandra Mount, Former JFCS Staff Member, Dies at 81 Service of Lakewood and Lakewood Community Services Inc. Meals on Wheels. Sandy had a passion for animals and loved volunteering at the Brick Township Animal Shelter and the Popcorn Park Animal Refuge in Forked River.

Submitted by her family

S

andra J. Mount, of Brick, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully with her family by her side on December 22, 2023.

Sandy worked as a bus driver at the Brick Board of Education for 36 years. After retirement, she continued to keep busy by working for Jewish Family and Children's

Sandy dedicated her life to her family.

Surviving are her sons, Michael Plaschke of Brick and Robert Plaschke of Beachwood; her grandchildren, Kalyn Plaschke Liborio of Bayville, Justina Chirelli of Little Egg Harbor, Robert Plaschke of Little Egg Harbor and Joseph Plaschke of Lacey; her great grandchildren, Mila and Finn Liborio, and Juliet and James Chirelli.

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Virtual Speakers Bureau Federation speaker: Anti-Semitism: It's Here Today - What We Can Do Israel - Current News JFCS speaker: Successful Aging/Are the Golden Years Golden?

Long Distance Grandparenting Managing Stress in a Stressful World Reducing Conflict in the Family The Jewish Family & Children’s Service speakers include: clinical social workers, retired educators, attorneys and business advisors.

Ask about more topics!

For more information contact Rita at 732-363-8010 or jfcs@ocjf.org.

Donations can be made in Sandy's honor to the Popcorn Park Animal Refuge, 1 Humane Way, Forked River, NJ 08731.

Editor’s Note: Donations and Tributes can also be made to the Jewish Federation of Ocean County. See page 22 for information.

NEW GROUP

Bereavement Group MEETING IN-PERSON

THURSDAYS STARTING AUGUST 3, 2023

10:00-11:30am Masks Requested • Space Limited

For more information and to register contact JFCS at 732-363-8010.

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The Jewish Journal - February 2024 / Shevat – Adar I 5784

SYNAGOGUES

CHABAD

ORTHODOX

CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF JACKSON 645 Cross Street Lakewood, NJ 08701 Rabbi Shmuel Naparstek 732-523-5112 Email: info@chabadofjackson.com www.ChabadofJackson.com

CONGREGATION SONS OF ISRAEL 590 Madison Avenue Lakewood, NJ 08701 Rabbi Shmuel Tendler 732-364-2230 Chazan Zelig Freilich

CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF TOMS RIVER 2001 Church Road Toms River, NJ 08753 Rabbi Moshe Gourarie 732-349-4199 Email: rabbi@chabadtomsriver.com www.chabadtomsriver.com

CONSERVATIVE CONGREGATION AHAVAT OLAM 106 Windeler Road Howell, NJ 07731 Rabbi Cantor David Amar Rabbi Emeritus Michael Klein 732-719-3500 email: CAOReceptionist@cao-nj.org www.cao-nj.org CONGREGATION B'NAI ISRAEL 1488 Old Freehold Road Toms River, NJ 08753 Rabbi William Gershon Rabbi Emeritus Richard Hammerman Cantor Emeritus Daniel Green 732-349-1244 Email: info@cbitr.org www.cbitr.org TEMPLE BETH OR P.O. Box 789 Brick, NJ 08723 Rabbi Robert B. Rubin Rabbi Emeritus Dr. Robert E. Fierstien 732-458-4700 Email: templebethorbrick@gmail.com www.templebethorbrick.org

CONGREGATION SONS OF ISRAEL 401 Park Ave. Lakewood, NJ 08701 Rabbi Baruch Ber Yoffe 732-367-3116

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SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING IN LAKEWOOD January 19 January 26 February 2 February 9 February 16 February 23 March 1

4:41 PM 4:49 PM 4:58 PM 5:06 PM 5:14 PM 5:23 PM 5:30 PM

Here is How You Can Support Our Holocaust Survivors and Seniors Please contribute to: • Friends of JFCS • The Holocaust Survivors’ Special Fund • The Seniors Lunch Program Special Fund

REFORM BETH AM SHALOM 1235 State Highway 70 Lakewood, NJ 08701 Rabbi Stephen D. Gold Cantor Jon Sobel 732-363-2800 Email: office@bethamshalom.org www.bethamshalom.org

It is easy to donate a little each month, to make a big impact!

• Go online to www. jewishoceancounty.org.

• Send a check, use your credit card, transfer stock.

• Call the office and talk with our staff.

• Bring in your Tzedakah box.

We will count it for you.

UNAFFILIATED JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF LBI 2411 Long Beach Blvd.

Spray Beach, NJ 08008 Rabbi Michael Jay 609-492-4090 Email: jccoflbi@gmail.com www.jccoflbi.org

For Shabbat: Blessed are You, Ad-nai our G-d, Sovereign of the universe, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us to kindle the light of Shabbat.

• Consider making a monthly gift to support your community.

Jewish Federation of Ocean County 1235A Route 70, Lakewood, NJ 08701 732-363-0530

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Activities

Superhero

Continued from page 9

Continued from page 5

Visit a museum virtually – A number of the world’s best museums have virtual exhibits open to exploring digitally.

While you might not be able to go to the Met in-person right now, you can still explore its many works together online.

Click through your favorites and share this digital experience. Tip for getting started: Choose an exhibit to explore together and take time to appreciate the photos and history.

Sapolsky’s interest in the Jewish community in Kaifeng dates back to the 1990s, when he was a teenager and his Jewish camp in France one year held “Kaifeng-themed” activities, meant to educate campers about Chinese Jews.

Window shop online – Again, you might not be able to shop in-person, but you can still click through your favorite stores online. Whether you need a new wardrobe staple or kitchen gear, including your grandparents helps them feel involved in your life. Tip for getting started: Share your screen with them so they can easily “shop” with you.

Host a family meal – Eating together is one of the many things that bond families together. While you can’t share a meal together in the same place, you can still enjoy the conversations held over the dinner table. Cook your favorites, set up your camera gear, and chat the night away. Tip for getting started: Call your loved one during the start of the cooking process to really include them from start to finish.

Coffee or tea date - Last but not least, it’s the simple things that we really remember. You don’t need any extravagant planning to create the perfect environment for your Zoom call. Just hosting a simple coffee or tea date to share updates over your favorite brew is a powerful thing. Tip for getting started: Plan some topics in advance to defeat those early-conversation jitters.

We continue our prayers for the situation in Israel.

May those who are still captive as hostages be released soon and safely. May those who are wounded have a complete recovery.

May the memories of those who died be forever a blessing. May all have peace.

AN

D S SERVI ‫בס“ד‬ ELE CIN GL CT ARE AKE W AS IN T OOD OM SR IVE R

Born in France to a Sephardic mother from Algeria and an Ashkenazi father with roots in today’s Ukraine, his own background informed his interest in Jewish diversity. “When working on the original concept of Intertwined, I knew we had to have a Jewish character, and there had never been an Asian Jewish character in comics,” Sapolsky said.

For Sapolsky, it was important to make Leah’s story “real, make it authentic, make it believable.” He talked to consultants about Kaifeng history and culture, making sure even the architecture depicted on the page was realistic. “The two artists, Fei Chen and Ho Seng Hui, are from China and Malaysia, and never thought about Jews before this project, so they learned while drawing the book,” he said. Will Torres, a Christian of Puerto Rican descent, helped with the inking, and the coloring was done by Argentine Exequiel Roel.

KOSHER

MEALS on WHEELS PROGRAM

Delicious Home Delivered Meals

The goal of the story was not only to refer to the minority experience in China – but also to the realities in the United States, Sapolsky’s adopted home. “Unlike in France, where Jews are clearly defined as a minority, in this country they are widely perceived as simply white, which denies the diversity of Judaism,” he said.

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