November 2021

The Voice of Greater Rhode Island’s Jewish Community

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For more information and to sign up, visit jewishallianceri.org/SuperSunday/ Questions? Email us at SuperSunday@jewishallianceri.org.

In addition to raising funds for the Annual Community Campaign, we'll be hosting two collection drives on Super Sunday: Kosher nonperishables for the Kosher Food Pantry.

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JEWISH RHODE ISL AND

EDITOR Fran Ostendorf DESIGN & LAYOUT Alex Foster ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Peter Zeldin pzeldin@jewishallianceri.org 401-421-4111, ext. 160 CONTRIBUTORS Cynthia Benjamin, Larry Kessler, Robert Isenberg, Emma Newbery COLUMNISTS Michael Fink, Geraldine Foster, Patricia Raskin, Rabbi James Rosenberg, Daniel Stieglitz

VOLUME XXVIII, ISSUE XI JEWISH RHODE ISLAND

(ISSN number 1539-2104, USPS #465-710) is published monthly except twice in May, August and September.

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID at Providence, R.I. POSTMASTER Send address changes to:

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PUBLISHER

The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, President/CEO Adam Greenman, Chair James Pious, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

401-421-4111; Fax 401-331-7961

A tribute to a much-loved tree THERE WILL BE no more weeping for the willow in my backyard.

Sometime in the wee hours of a recent Wednesday morning, what was left of the once majestic, multi-trunk tree came crashing down.

No longer able to withstand the wind, rain and root rot, it took a nosedive into the trees and brush of the wetlands behind my house. As best we can tell, the only thing harmed was the remains of a cherry tree that had been halfway demolished when one of the siblings of the last-trunks-standing took it out a number of years ago.

The willow was like a member of our family. I got a sympathetic text from the neighbor who saw it had fallen even before I had a good look at it.

When we moved into our house in the late ’80s, the tree was a sturdy giant, with eight trunks that had grown together at the outer edge of the yard.

It was like a resort for wildlife: woodpeckers, squirrels, birds of every feather. We even spotted Baltimore orioles building their hanging nests there for a number of years.

Age? Estimates put it at a minimum of 75 years. With every windstorm, small branches came down. And it had lots of holes from the woodpeckers. But it created lovely shade in the yard and a beautiful, natural barrier between neighbors.

We did our best to keep it alive through the years.

We even built a wooden swing set beneath one branch.

Silly us.

One day about two dozen years ago, I was horrified to see the swing set crushed under the weight of the overhanging branch, which had come down. Thank goodness there were no ON THE COVER: children playing there. Nobody had even heard the crack, but the first Spinning Dreidel trunk had fallen.

PHOTO | ISTOCK We didn’t realize that was just the

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MEMBER of the

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Rhode Island Press Association.

COPY DEADLINES: All news releases, photographs, etc., must be received on the Wednesday 10 days prior to publication. Submissions may be sent to: editor@jewishallianceri.org.

first of many crashing trunks to come.

It took a major storm to bring down each trunk. One at a time, they began to fall. Most fell harmlessly across our backyard, leaving only a mess that could be handled by a chainsaw and strong helpers.

But one fell and nicked the corner of the house. A near miss. Another came down between our house and the neighbors, leaving quite a dent in both lawns.

And during one big storm, two trunks fell across our back deck and the corner of the house, poking a hole in the roof and causing quite a bit of other damage.

The good news was that after this, there were only two trunks left, and both were leaning away from the house, so there was no more fear of damage.

The tree experts said it was time to take it all down.

The base was beginning to rot and the remaining trunks had damage caused by the others. Willows have soft wood and they don’t heal well, we were told.

The last two trunks were clearly hurting and a shadow of their former selves. It was no longer a beautiful tree. But we said no. We wanted all it had to offer for as long as it would stand.

That was three years ago. Now, it’s all gone. And there is a huge void in our yard.

For more than 30 years, the tree defined our yard. In the last few years, we let the area around the last part of the tree go wild. We know there are chipmunks and squirrels there, and we think a skunk family lives there too. They don’t bother us and we don’t bother them. I’m sure this last upheaval has made a mess of their lives too.

What’s next? Our plan was to plant another stand of trees. Ironically, we had begun to explore this in earnest about three weeks ago.

Maybe we will try willows again – just a little farther from the house. But should we remove the wild mess of stumps and brush that remains and fill in the lawn? Or do we just continue to provide an unsightly spot for our backyard critters to enjoy?

Stay tuned.

Fran Ostendorf, Editor

THE MISSION OF JEWISH RHODE ISLAND is to communicate Jewish news, ideas and ideals by connecting and giving voice to the diverse views of the Jewish community in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, while adhering to Jewish values and the professional standards of journalism.

ALL SUBMITTED CONTENT becomes the property of Jewish Rhode Island. Announcements and opinions contained in these pages are published as a service to the community and do not necessarily represent the views of Jewish Rhode Island or its publisher, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. We reserve the right to refuse publication and edit submitted content.

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UP FRONT

PHOTO | SHIRA HANAU/JTA; BACKGROUND COURTESY KURZWEIL

PHOTO | KURZWEIL

Arthur Kurzweil first encountered amulets and dreidels excavated by treasure hunters during a trip to his father's hometown in Poland.

Arthur Kurzweil displays metal disks that would have been used in Eastern European synagogues.

Prolific Jewish writer has collected 4,000 tiny dreidels

BY SHIRA HANAU

E

ven when Arthur Kurzweil sits by himself in his study, he doesn’t feel that he’s

alone. After all, he has the dreidels — all 4,000 of them.

(JTA) — Kurzweil, 70, is a prolific author and editor who has written books about Judaism and magic and his car rides with Talmud scholar Adin Steinsaltz, as well as the Kabbalah and Torah installments in the “… for Dummies” series.

His most significant contribution to Jewish publishing, however, may be his books and teaching about Jewish genealogy: He has exhaustively chronicled his efforts to trace his own family’s lineage, including along the many branches that were broken when family members were murdered in the Holocaust.

The dreidels, pulled from the earth across Eastern Europe, represent an extension of that work, Kurzweil

told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from amid the collection in his Long Island home.

“I look at them … and I think, what’s the history of this? And when’s the last time somebody played that game?” he said, adding, “I wonder what this person’s fate ultimately was.”

It’s not just dreidels that surround Kurzweil. Quietly and in collaboration with Eastern Europe’s sizable community of treasure hunters, he has amassed a sweeping collection of Jewish objects unearthed from throughout Eastern Europe. While Holocaust museums and concentration camps bring visitors face to face with the piles of shoes and eyeglasses worn by Jews who were about to be killed, Kurzweil lives with reminders of the lives they lived.

In addition to the tiny dreidels, made of pewter and lead and clearly intended for children, Kurzweil has also collected boxes of metal kosher seals, which would have been affixed to packages of food to attest to their kosher status; dozens of pins that

would have been worn by members of Jewish youth and Zionist organizations; and coin-sized metal disks that synagogues would have handed out to people being called to the Torah.

The collection also includes amulets that, while not a typical Jewish practice today, were historically used by Jews seeking to ward off various ailments. Several of the amulets in the collection include a prayer to protect the wearer from diphtheria. Others were worn to protect the wearer from the dangers of childbirth.

The size and breadth of Kurzweil’s collections paint a unique portrait of everyday Eastern European Jewish life during the late 19th and early 20th century, until the beginning of the Holocaust. That makes them unique in the context of Jewish history and art collections, which more typically focus on ritual objects, such as Hanukkah menorahs, Shabbat candlesticks or intricately decorated spice boxes used in the Havdalah ritual to end Shabbat.

“It shows everyday shtetl life at

its most basic and ordinary and, if you will, when things were going relatively well,” said Beth Weingast, an art and Judaica appraiser who examined the collection for Kurzweil several years ago.

William L. Gross, a collector of Judaica and Jewish art in Tel Aviv for nearly half a century, owns a large collection of amulets himself.

He said he had never heard of a collection of workaday items as large as Kurzweil’s, noted that objects such as the ones Kurzweil collected that speak to the daily lives of Jews in pre-war Eastern Europe remain woefully understudied.

“It’s fabulous material because it’s objects of the normal, regular Jew, not the aristocracy, not the merchant class but the people. And that is of extreme importance,” Gross said.

John Ward, who heads the silver department at Sotheby’s, likewise said Kurzweil’s collection of Judaica made from inexpensive metals such as pewter and lead is significant. “To have this focus on the folk art and the utilitarian side, that would be CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

A courageous query in difficult times skepticism. While uncertainty does suggest some measure of doubt, it also points to a sense of wonder and amazement.

Anyone who has made the decision to take on a challenge knows that a commitment to build and grow often comes with despair, frustration and struggle – but also the possibility of elation, joy and satisfaction.

Rebecca’s cry articulates both.

The uncerRABBI tainty and chalSARAH MACK lenge of our times certainly inspires a lamah zeh anochi moment of our own.

Rebecca’s exclamation is a courageous query for tumultuous times. Three commentators – Rashi, Ramban and the Maharal – each intuit the bravery of her question and offer a way to move away from anger and bitterness toward wonder and gratitude.

Rashi interprets Rebecca’s plea as asking, “Why did I desire and pray for pregnancy if the pain is so great?”

Rebecca’s essential self, her “anochi,” as Aviva Zornberg teaches, is tormented.

Who am I, and why am I here? Unaware that something she desired so much

could eventually cause her so much pain, her cry is one of surprise and disappointment. Lamah zeh anochi is not only a cry of “Why me?” it is a cry of “Why did I do this to myself?” Once we take ownership of our choices, we can learn from them.

Ramban notices that the pain of struggle and disappointment sends Rebecca to encounter God, as seen in the next verse, “and she went to seek God.” In her agitation, one might think she would do the opposite, but Rebecca turns seeking God into a viable option for confronting her internal dissension.

What is seeking God here?

Seeking God can happen through prayer. Seeking God can simply be asking for help, recognizing that it is exhausting to approach the lamah zeh anochi without support. Seeking God can also involve looking for holiness in unlikely places, in our interactions at work, and with each other.

If our lamah zeh anochi ends only in searching for God, however, it is missing an element of action.

The Maharal presents a third option for approaching Rebecca’s existential cry, translating her lament as “Why then am I sitting passively, why do I not investigate? It is my task to seek out

explanations.”

In this reading, Rebecca seeks an active path of questioning and confrontation.

This means asking not only “Why is this not working?” but also asking, “How can I grow from this?” This prevents lamah zeh anochi from becoming a mere bitter kvetch. It may not be possible to fully explain the existential cry, or to entirely alleviate our frustration, but awakening to a state of awareness and motion can perhaps feed its hunger.

Our anguish, anxieties, our pain, need not deteriorate into bitterness.

Our task, which is difficult and often undirected, is to move from our cries of uncertainty – “Why me?

What have I done? What am I doing here?” – to an exclamation of hope and gratitude.

The answer to our lamah zeh anochi involves the challenge of making peace with our choices, finding the divine in what we do, and taking responsibility for who we are and where we are going.

We may never find perfection, but through our approach, perhaps we can find satisfaction.

There will always be a struggle within, and we may never resolve its discord.

But, if we can look at the

night sky with wonder, if we can look at our work and our struggles and even our pain, and somehow find hope to move forward, then our cry is not in vain.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

while on a trip to Przemysl, Poland, a town where several members of his family had lived before World War II. “When I saw my first amulet, my first pendant, I was just drawn to it. I was shocked that they still exist under the ground. I didn’t want them to disappear or to be thrown away,” Kurzweil said.

But it wasn’t until 2015, when Kurzweil traveled to Warsaw on his way to his father’s hometown of Dobromyl, that he learned about the tiny dreidels. The friend who showed him the objects introduced him to a metal detector hobbyist, part of a network of treasure seekers who comb regions of Eastern Europe that were devastated during the war.

The hobbyists that Kurzweil has encountered largely look for gold and silver coins to sell, though others hunt more specifically for Nazi paraphernalia, as detailed in “Plunder,” the recent book

by Menachem Kaiser. Few are interested in holding onto detritus whose value

is largely sentimental, and mostly limited to Jews.

“Suddenly I had myself a network of people who are not really looking for Judaica, but they know that there’s a guy in New York who’s interested in this stuff and they contact me,” Kurzweil said.

For some of the hobbyists, Kurzweil said, the act of sending him the Judaica objects they found, often just for the cost of the postage, and thus interacting with a living Jew was clearly meaningful. “They like the fact that they’re doing something that’s saving the remnants of the Jewish community,” he said.

And for Kurzweil, too, the relationships with people in Eastern Europe are important. Kurzweil has traveled to Dobromyl 10 times and has gotten to know some of the people who live there over the years. In 2017, he even donated a playground to the town and raised over $22,000 to purchase supplies for the local school.

“Thank you to everyone

who made this happen,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page for the school fundraiser.

“Standing in front of the house where my father was born, I read each of your names to myself in a whisper.

What a privilege it is to help children – anywhere in the world – to learn.”

If the objects Kurzweil collects act as a bridge between him and history, Kurzweil’s donations to the children of Dobromyl are firmly rooted in his desire to correct the relationships between those who hated each other in the past.

“The reason I wanted to build a playground was because these were innocent children,” Kurzweil said. “If it was the other way around, these would have been my neighbors. I don’t want to inherit hatred and bitterness.”

The mayor and the English teacher in town, who serves as Kurzweil’s interpreter when he visits, send him cards every Rosh Hashanah.

He hopes to visit again one day.

“The Lubavitcher Rebbe once said if you encounter something, and you think you can fix it, then fix it,” Kurzweil said. “So when I got there, I thought I could fix it a little bit.”

Exactly what the future holds for Kurzweil’s collections is unclear. For now, he’s content to let their presence wash over him as he works on a memoir about his family’s story, including about his father’s prewar life in Dobromyl. But he’s starting to think about whether a museum should one day take them on — and he wonders whether any would.

Weingast, for one, says the collection is of value precisely because the objects within it have no value on their own.

“He’s accumulated a fantastic collection of everyday objects,” Weingast said about Kurzweil. “The objects are free, they’re of no value. But the expense is paying the people to find them and ship them and, you know, enticing people to not throw them away, to not just discard them.”

D' VA

IN THIS WEEK’S TORAH portion, Rebecca innovates a familiar mode of communication.

Pregnant with twins who will come to personify sibling rivalry, Rebecca moans as they struggle in her womb.

“Lamah zeh anochi?” she says.

This phrase is difficult to translate – it could mean “Why me?” or “Why am I?” or even “Who am I?” Lamah zeh anochi is a deeply wrenching cry of discomfort, and also of philosophical anguish. One can almost hear Rebecca’s sigh as she envisions the future fighting of her sons if they are causing her this much trouble in the womb.

In fact, when we look at her circumstances, Rebecca seems entitled to verbalize her discontent. The rabbis empathize with the fundamental humanity of Rebecca’s lament. They give her credit for not just exclaiming “oy!” but for probing the “why?” And also for doing something about it.

The phrase “lamah zeh anochi” does not necessarily have to be perceived as fundamentally negative. It is a query of uncertainty and

R

TO R A H

the only one I’ve heard of,” he said.

While Ward spends most of his time working with objects made of expensive materials, he noted that a collection like Kurzweil’s would tell an important story about Jewish communities that were destroyed during the Holocaust.

“There’s something very poignant about the idea that these were things that were used and loved and brought out at holidays and then essentially became trash,” he said.

Of course, the objects didn’t become trash so much as were turned into it by the Nazis and their collaborators.

“My assumption based on where they are found is that most of the people who were entangled with these objects were murdered in the Holocaust. So in a sense the collection becomes a Holocaust memorial,” Kurzweil said.

Kurzweil first purchased an unearthed amulet in the 1970s

SARAH MACK is the senior rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Providence.

Candle lighting times Greater Rhode Island November 2021 Nov. 5

5:15 pm

Nov. 12 4:07 pm Nov. 19 4:01 pm Nov. 26 3:57 pm

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CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS FOR COMPLETE MONTHLY LISTINGS, VISIT JEWISHRHODY.ORG

Ongoing

Kosher Senior Café and Programming. In-person lunches 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday – Thursday at the Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence; Fridays at Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. In-person and Zoom programming includes chair yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m.-noon followed by lunch and a guest speaker or discussion from noon-1 p.m. The second Tuesday of the month is “Susie’s Corner” with Susie Adler from noon-1 p.m. The third Thursday of the month is a book chat with Neal Drobnis from noon-1 p.m. Suggested donation: $3 per lunch. Information and RSVP, Neal Drobnis at neal@ jfsri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 107.

Music with Raymond Buttero via Zoom. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 3-4 p.m. Temple Sinai's pianist performs. Link at templesinairi.org. Information, dottie@ templesinairi.org or 401-942-8350.

Project Shoresh Ladies Partners in Torah Night In-person and via Zoom. Sundays 7:45-8:45 p.m. 450 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Partner-based study group. Study your choice of texts, English or Hebrew, ancient or modern, with on-site facilitators available. Let us know if you need a "study-buddy." Free. Information, Naftali Karp at naftalikarp@ gmail.com or 401-632-3165.

Conversational Hebrew Classes.

Mondays 6:30-7:30 p.m. thru 12/13.

No classes 11/15. Temple Emanu-El and the Jewish Alliance invite you to improve your speaking skills.

Advanced Beginner and Intermediate via Zoom; Intermediate also offered in-person at the Dwares JCC (401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence). Cost: $100 per person. Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail.com.

Conversational Hebrew Classes.

Tuesdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. thru 12/14.

No classes 11/16. Join Temple Emanu-El and the Jewish Alliance invite you to improve your speaking skills.

Beginner and Advanced via Zoom; Beginner also offered in-person at the Dwares JCC (401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence). Cost: $100 per person. Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail.com.

Delve Deeper: "Creativity & Resilience: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe 1500-2020.” Wednesdays 7:30-9:30 p.m. thru 12/8. Explore via Zoom this world unto itself but also closely interlinked with the surrounding Slavic and Christian milieu.

Instructor: Natan M. Meir, Ph.D., Lorey I. Lokey Professor of Judaic Studies, Portland State University.

Cost: $250. Information, Morty Miller at mortymiller1945@gmail.com.

Temple Habonim Lunch and Learn via Zoom. Thursdays noon-1:30 p.m. Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman leads weekly Torah discussion. You do not need Hebrew fluency or any background in Jewish textual analysis. All you need is curiosity and a willingness to wrestle with our past, present and future. Free.

Information, Adina Davies at office@ templehabonim.org or 401-2456536.

Temple Habonim “Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court.” Thursdays 7-8:30 p.m. thru 11/18. Facilitated

by Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman via Zoom. Examine the relationship between six former justices’ Jewish heritage and their judicial philosophy. Explore how being outsiders impacted their view of the law as an instrument for social change. Cost: $50. Information and RSVP, Adina Davies at office@templehabonim.org or 401-245-6536.

“Love Our Neighbor” – Insights from the weekly Torah portion to enhance your relationships – with Rabbi Naftali. Thursdays 7:30-8:15 p.m. thru 12/10. Examine the weekly Torah reading and be amazed at how topical and relevant the Parashah's ideas and concepts are for your relationships. Via Zoom.

Information, Naftali Karp at naftalikarp@gmail.com or 401-632-3165.

Temple Torat Yisrael Virtual Kabbalat Shabbat Services.

Fridays 5:45-6:30 p.m. (No Kabbalat Service 11/26.) Led by Rabbi Aaron Philmus. For information or Zoom link, Temple@toratyisrael.org.

Temple Sinai Shabbat Services.

Fridays 6 p.m. 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. Song, prayer and reflection in-person or on Zoom. With Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser and Cantor Deborah Johnson. Zoom link at templesinairi.org. Information, dottie@ templesinairi.org or 401-942-8350.

Project Shoresh Lively Kabbalat Shabbat. Fridays. Services will begin at the commencement of Shabbat. Be in touch for exact timing each week. Providence Hebrew Day School (side entrance), 450 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Welcome Shabbat with a few inspiring words, melodious songs and traditional services. Open to all. Information, Naftali Karp at naftalikarp@ gmail.com or 401-632-3165.

Cape Cod Synagogue Shabbat Services. 7 p.m. On 11/12 and 12/3, 6:30 p.m., when Family Shabbat Services take place. 145 Winter St., Hyannis, Mass. With Rabbi David Freelund. In-person and livestreamed on multiple platforms (website, Facebook, Cape Media, YouTube and Community Television Comcast

channel 99). In-person for all ages with mask – proof of vaccination needed for 12 and older. Information, 508-775-2988 or capecodsynagogue.org.

Temple Beth-El Torah Study. Saturdays 9-10:30 a.m. (No Torah Study second Saturday of the month.) 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Delve into the weekly portion with Rabbi Mack and Rabbi Neimeiser. In-person only. Information, Joie Magnone at jmagnone@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Morning Service. Second Saturday of the month 9-10:30 a.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Shabbat morning minyan with lay participation incorporating study, Torah and Haftarah readings. Multi-access: in-person or livestream through webpage or on Facebook. Information, Joie Magnone at jmagnone@temple-beth-el. org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Temple Torat Yisrael Virtual and In-Person Shabbat Services.

Saturdays (No service 11/27.) 9:3010:30 a.m. 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Led by Rabbi Aaron Philmus. Information or Zoom link, Temple@toratyisrael.org.

Temple Habonim Torah Study via Zoom. Saturdays 10-11 a.m. Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman leads weekly Torah study on current portion.

Information, Adina Davies at office@ templehabonim.org or 401-2456536.

Temple Sinai Shabbat Breakfast & Torah Study In-person and via Zoom. Saturdays 9:30-11:00 a.m. Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. Interactive discussion with Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser. Zoom link at templesinairi.org. Information, dottie@templesinairi.org or 401942-8350.

Cape Cod Synagogue Shabbat Services. Saturdays 10:30 a.m.

145 Winter St., Hyannis, Mass. With Rabbi David Freelund. In-person and livestreamed on multiple platforms (website, Facebook and YouTube).

Services are in-person with proof of vaccination; must wear a mask.

Information, Cape Cod Synagogue at 508-775-2988 or capecodsynagogue.org.

Temple Sinai Shabbat Morning Service In-person and via Zoom.

Saturdays 11 a.m.-noon. Temple Sinai, 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston.

Zoom link at templesinairi.org. Information, templesinairi.org or Dottie at 401-942-8350.

Friday | November 5

Simchat Tots. 9-10 a.m. Mo’adon (Outdoor covered pavilion), Jewish

Community Day School of RI, 85 Taft Ave., Providence. In-person Shabbat celebrations for children ages 0-4 years old with a parent or caregiver. Sing, dance, play and hear a PJ Library story. Free. Open to all. Hosted by JCDSRI in partnership with local synagogues and PJ Library. Information and RSVP, Shayna Fel at sfel@jcdsri.com.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Service.

7-8 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Multi-access; in-person in the sanctuary or livestreamed through website or on Facebook. Information, Joie Magnone at jmagnone@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Saturday | November 6

Arts Emanu-El presents Duo Mantar. 8 p.m. 99 Taft Ave., Providence. Israeli mandolinist Jacob Reuven and American guitarist Adam Levin explore Israeli music as well as arrangements of Piazzolla's Four Seasons and Italian music by Gabriel Leone. In-person in the main sanctuary ($20) or via Zoom ($36; if watching alone, call for single person rate). Information, Temple Emanu-El at 401-331-1617.

Wednesday | November 10

Israeli Culture Series: “Remembering Yitzhak Rabin and the tragedy of violent rhetoric.”

6-7:15 p.m. Virtually examine the hate and incitement that took place throughout Israel following the 1993 Oslo Accords and ultimately led to the assassination of Israel’s bravest prime minister. Free. Presented in partnership with Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts. Information, Amit Oren at aoren@jewishallianceri.org or 401-864-3786.

Core Connects RI and Temple Emanu-El: Paper Weaving with Sarah Saulson. 6:30-8 p.m. 99 Taft Ave., Providence. Enjoy weaving with paper while exploring the Jewish concept of Echad, Oneness. No prior experience needed. Limited to 25 women. $18 suggested donation.

Must wear a mask and be vaccinated and symptom-free. Information and RSVP, coreconnectsri.com or Elissa Felder at CoreConnectsRI@gmail. com or 401-241-9631.

Temple Beth-El: Jews and Comic Books with Abraham Riesman.

7-8:30 p.m. Investigate the history and interrelationship of Jews and comic books via Zoom. Riesman was a staffer at New York Magazine and Vulture. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, VICE and The New Republic. Information, Judith Gilson at jgilson@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 113.

Friday | November 12

Simchat Tots. 9-10 a.m. Mo’adon (Outdoor covered pavilion), Jewish Community Day School of RI, 85 Taft Ave., Providence. In-person Shabbat celebrations for children ages 0-4 years old with a parent or caregiver. Sing, dance, play and hear a PJ Library story. Free. Open to all. Hosted by JCDSRI in partnership with local synagogues and PJ Library. Information and RSVP, Shayna Fel at sfel@jcdsri.com.

Temple Beth-El K'tantan Shabbat with PJ Library. 5:30-6:45 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Celebrate Shabbat with children ages 0-5.

Family friendly Kabbalat Shabbat service and dinner with our friends from PJ Library. Information, Rachel Mersky Woda at rmerskywoda@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 107.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Service.

7-8 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Multi-access: in-person in the sanctuary or livestreamed through website or on Facebook. Information, Joie Magnone at jmagnone@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Sunday | November 14

Congregation Beth David Story Time and Crafts with PJ Library.

9:45 a.m. 102 Kingstown Road, Narragansett. Have some fun as we explore a variety of PJ Library books and participate in crafts and games.

Free. Synagogue membership not required. For ages 2-8. Information, Amanda Stevens at greenspan. amanda@gmail.com.

Temple Emanu-El's Virtual Fall Book Discussion: “All Other Nights” by Dara Horn. 4:30-5:30 p.m. Discuss this action-packed, romance-infused tale of loyalty whose historical setting during the Civil War belies its resonance in our own times. Facilitated by Arlene Simon. Presented by the Rosen Library Committee. Information, Donna Marks at dpmarks1@yahoo. com.

Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: “What Makes Me Tic: Comedy, Disability and the Inclusive Community.” 6:15-7:30 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Known for her use of comedy, storytelling, and improv to inspire communities to a new understanding of inclusion, Pamela Schuller shares what it’s like being 4 foot 6 (and a half!) and having Tourette Syndrome. In-person and virtual. Free. Information, Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401421-4111, ext. 179.

NOVEMBER 2021 | 7

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

CALENDAR Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. 7:30-8:30 p.m. Virtually join Noa Tishby, an Israeli model, actress and Hollywood producer, as she discusses Israel through bite-sized (and often humorous) chunks, illustrated by the stories of her own family.

Pre-recorded due to presenter’s schedule. Free. Information, Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 179.

Monday | November 15

Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: “RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone.” 7-8 p.m. Virtually join author Nadine Epstein for a conversation detailing the lives of these role models, chosen by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who dreamed big, worked hard and forged their own paths. Free. Information, Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401421-4111, ext. 179.

Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: “Two Truths in One Heart; Two Peoples in One Land: Unlikely Partners for Peace.”

7-8 p.m. In-person (Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence) and virtual. Orthodox Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Palestinian refugee Noor A’wad tell their personal stories of their efforts to build a better future. Free. Information, Larry Katz

at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401421-4111, ext. 179.

Tuesday | November 16

Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: “Jacob, Rebecca, Rachel: On the Loss of Women.”

Noon. Both in-person (Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence) and virtual. During this lunch and learn program led by Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, we will be reading Midrashic and Hassidic as well as psychoanalytic texts. Free. Information, Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri. org or 401-421-4111, ext. 179.

Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: “Lost and Found – Being Young and Jewish in Central & Eastern Europe.” 7-8 p.m. Virtually explore narratives of Jewish young adults with Tamás Büchler, the coordinator of Networks Overcoming Antisemitism for a Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe.

Hear stories about third generation Holocaust syndrome, assimilation and revival. Free. Information, Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 179.

Evenings of Jewish Renaissance presents: “Kosher Soul.” 8:15-9:30 p.m. Award-winning chef Michael Twitty will virtually share his personal journey that brought him to the point of writing a kosher cookbook about African-American soul food.

He will also describe how he came up with the dishes in his forthcoming work, “Kosher Soul.” Free. Information, Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 179.

Thursday | November 17

Little States, Big Innovation, Rhode Island X Israel Monthly Webinar Series. Noon-1 p.m. Interactive session with some of Israel’s startup entrepreneurs. A collaboration of Rhode Island – Israel Collaborative (RIIC), CIC Providence and RIHub. Information, info@theriic. org.

Friday | November 19

Temple Torat Yisrael TGIS Family Shabbat Services. 5-5:30 p.m.

1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich.

Say goodbye to the work week with friends and family with a musical service led by Rabbi Aaron Philmus. In person only. Information, Temple@toratyisrael.org or 401885-6600.

Temple Emanu-El Family Friday.

5:30-7 p.m. 99 Taft Ave., Providence.

Family First presents a family-friendly Shabbat evening service and dinner. For ages 0-6 and their families. Information, Shoshana Jacob at shosh@teprov.org.

Temple Beth-El Hallelu Shabbat Service. 6:30-8 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Hors d’oeuvres followed at 7 p.m. by an uplifting musical Shabbat featuring Temple Beth-El musicians and a short d’var Torah. Services will also be livestreamed on our website and Facebook. Information, Joie Magnone at jmagnone@temple-beth-el. org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Panel Conversation. 7:30-8:30 p.m. A Zoom conversation with Lisa Davis, Elizabeth Ochs, Mara Ostro and Patricia Raskin, who will speak about gratitude and what Thanksgiving means to them. Information and RSVP, coreconnectsri.com or Elissa Felder at CoreConnectsRI@gmail. com or 401-241-9631.

Friday | November 26

Sunday | November 21

Temple Torat Yisrael Sprouts Program – Chanukah. 9:30-10:30 a.m. 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. Active program to learn about Jewish culture and holidays with Rabbi Aaron and Morah Leah. For children ages 3-5 and their parents.

Open to the community. Cost: $10.

COVID precautions will be taken.

Activities will be outside, weather permitting. Dress accordingly. Information, temple@toratyisrael.org.

Providence Hebrew Day School 75th Anniversary Tribute Reception. 6:45 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Information, Rabbi Peretz Scheinerman at pscheinerman@phdschool.org.

Monday | November 22

Core Connects RI Thanksgiving

Temple Beth-El Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 5:45-6:30 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Multi-access: in-person in the sanctuary or livestreamed through the website or on Facebook. Information, Joie Magnone at jmagnone@temple-beth-el. org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Tuesday | November 30

“Hello, Hanukkah!” Author Event.

4 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Join PJ Library and the David C. Isenberg Early Childhood Center for some Hanukkah fun. Hear an interactive storytelling of the book “Hello, Hanukkah!” and enjoy crafts and snacks. For ages 2-5. Part of the Jewish Book Council Youth and Family Author Series. Information, Lyndsey Ursillo at lursillo@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 141.

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COMMUNITY VOICES | OPINION Tot Havdalah and Hanukkah program PJ Library & Temple Habonim are holding a Tot Havdalah and Hanukkah Program and concert, featuring Rock-a-Baby on Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m. at Temple Habonim, 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington. Come in your pajamas to dance and sing with Rock-a-baby!

For more information, email office@templehabonim.org

Hanukkah celebration

IN THE NEWS Shoppers are calling out big-box retailers’ Hanukkah mistakes (JTA) – “Deck the halls with matzo balls”? Hanukkah menorahs with 12 candles?

Products with misfired Hanukkah messages have been drawn gripes for years, but this year major retailers are responding quickly to customer complaints about Hanukkah products they say are culturally inappropriate or misinformed.

It took just one day from when the Instagram account Hanukkah Fails posted about Target’s Hanukkah “Countdown Calendar” before the major retailer changed the product description to “Happy Hanukkah Wall Hanging Menorah.”

The Instagram account, which is dedicated to pointing out culturally inappropriate Hanukkah-related products or product descriptions, posted about the product Sunday [Oct. 31]. The original product description – which suggested a connection between Hanukkah and Advent calendars that count down the days until Christmas – was altered by Monday to remove any reference to counting down.

Bed Bath and Beyond removed a Hanukkah product altogether after customers pointed out that its message mixed up two different Jewish holidays. The product, a pillow printed with the words “Why is this night different from all other nights? Happy Hanukkah,” used perhaps the most iconic phrase from the Passover seder.

I HAVE KNOWN Mark Binder – author, story-teller, longtime resident of Providence’s East Side – for decades.

During my 33 years as rabbi of Temple Habonim, in Barrington, Binder visited a number of Sunday morning assemblies at our religious school to offer our younger students his updated take on “The Wise Men of Chelm.”

Legend has it that all the inhabitants of that particular Eastern European shtetl were more than a little meshuggeneh; they were certified fools, who actually believed that they could preserve the reflection of a full summer moon in the brine of a sealed pickle barrel and enjoy the unsealed reflection on a cold and dark winter’s night.

In contrast to these legendary fools, Binder has peopled his Chelm with men, women and children who are manifestly eccentric, but otherwise quite normal, even ordinary.

As he writes in his 2019 book, “The Misadventures of Rabbi Kibbitz and Mrs. Chaipul,” “In Chelm they lived as anyone does. They worked and ate, learned and laughed.

They made mistakes and, of course, they fell in love.”

Binder’s newly published “Winter Blessings,” which he wrote under the pen name Izzy Abrahmson, is a revision of his earlier “A Hanukkah Present.” Given the original title, it is not surprising that all of the 12 short-short stories,

EM

and the far longer “Out of the Woods,” address, in one way or another, this favorite holiday of Jewish children in the United States.

Like Binder’s other family-friendly works, these tales are spiced with humor and yet at the same time explore some delicate issues that continue to perplex Jews living in today’s RABBI JAMES America.

Like so ROSENBERG much of Jewish humor, Binder frequently draws on food as a source of laughs. Indeed, two of the chapters, “The Lethal Latkes” and “The Challah That Ate Chelm,” are comedies about food.

The central irony of “The Lethal Latkes” is that Mrs. Chaipul, Chelm’s caterer, and a generally superb cook, is incapable of making even half-decent latkes. So the obvious problem arises: How do the townsfolk manage to dispose of pile upon pile of inedible Hanukkah potato pancakes without insulting the one and only caterer in Chelm?

“The Challah That Ate Chelm” will remind the old-timers among us of the 1958 movie, “The Blob,” starring a young Steve McQueen.

While “The Blob” in this Grade-B horror tale is a formless, ever-expanding gelatinous monster from outer space, the blob that almost ate Chelm is simply a huge blob of challah dough run amok after being infused with an unimaginably

S TO M

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The City of Providence is planning a Hanukkah celebration, featuring food, music, drinks, candle-lighting and art in partnership with the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. Celebrate the final night of Hanukkah with the community on Dec. 5, from 3-6 p.m. It will be held in downtown Providence. Details will be forthcoming.

The past informs the present in local author’s funny Hanukkah tales

IT S E

UPCOMING EVENTS

large dose of yeast: “The main street of Chelm was covered with a deep white goop. Villagers were cowering in doorways, or peering out of windows.

The ooze was growing, and spreading and getting bigger still! ...

“From his bedroom, Reb Stein … looked out the window and roared, ‘Muddle! The challah has escaped! Do something!’ ” Though the stories in “Winter Blessings” seem to be set in the Chelm of the 19th century – no electricity, no motor vehicles, no indoor plumbing – Binder addresses issues that challenge Jewish families in the multicultural America of today, especially the challenge of our everexpanding Christmas season.

Binder begins the chapter “A Present?

For Chanukah?” with a precocious 5-year-old, Shmeenie, insisting to her father, Jacob, “I want a Christmas present. …

“Where did you hear about Christmas presents?

“In Smyrna … I was playing in the market with a girl named Alexandra, and she told me all about the gifts she was going to get.

“After Jacob explains to his daughter that ‘Jewish people don’t get Christmas presents,’ she responds, ‘All right. I want a Chanukah present.’

“Whereupon her father responds, ‘Chanukah is not a holiday for presents.

We Jews give gifts on Purim.’ ” I am quite sure that Binder knows that such a conversation between a father and daughter is unlikely to have occurred in Chelm, or in any other Eastern European shtetl.

But by telling the story of that little girl, Shmeenie, in that faraway place, Chelm, in that distant time, 150 years go, Binder offers comforting perspective to American Jewish families that are struggling to navigate the sometimes troubled waters of every Christmas season here in the U.S., a time when our dual identities as Jews and as Americans are often stretched like a wire.

As a bonus, Binder explores, in differing ways, some deeper meanings of gift-giving – not only on Hanukkah and/ or Purim, but throughout the year. He leads his readers to these fundamental questions: What is a good gift? What is a true gift?

Like all of his stories, Binder’s Hanukkah stories are simple, but not simplistic – stories to tell each other, to read to each other after a shared family meal, stories for the very young, for the not so young, for kvelling grandparents. Stories that contain at least a hint of magic.

“Winter Blessings” is available at Stillwater Books, in Pawtucket. If you can’t find it at your favorite bookstore, go to IzzyAbe.com or such online venues as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The audiobook is available at audible.com and from other audiobook websites.

JAMES B. ROSENBERG is a rabbi emeritus at Temple Habonim, in Barrington.

Contact him at rabbiemeritus@templehabonim.org.

Hanukkah comes early this year. We will be lighting the first candle on Sunday evening, Nov. 28, just three days after Thanksgiving.

Jewish Rhode Island publishes thoughtful and informative contributors’ columns (op-eds of 500 – 800 words) and letters to the editor (300 words, maximum) on issues of interest to our Jewish community. At our discretion, we may edit pieces for publication or refuse publication. Letters and columns, whether from our regular contributors or from guest columnists, represent the views of the authors; they do not represent the views of Jewish Rhode Island or the Alliance.

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COMMUNITY VOICES

At long last, back in Israel ER

date the many arriving passengers.

The line for the serological test took a bit longer, and I only made it back to my apartment two hours before Shabbat. Fortunately, I had the serological test results emailed to me within 10 minutes of leaving the airport, and the PCR results came by the end of Shabbat.

Returning to my home was a bit of a shock to my emotional system.

In the past 11 months, all DANIEL STIEGLITZ three of my roommates had moved out – two got married and one moved into a place of his own. And my landlords of 10 years had sold the apartment, so I had new landlords. A lot can change in 11 months!

Fortunately, it still felt like my apartment and my bedroom. Just a little different, like someone had modified the cover of a book. It didn’t feel like I was away from my home and neighborhood for 11 months – it didn’t even feel like I’d been away for 11 days!

The rules about entry into Israel, who must quarantine and for how

S HOM

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LE T T

AFTER 11 long months, I have finally returned to Israel from Rhode Island.

While it’s good to be back, the road to getting here wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked.

The first problem was that I did not receive my COVID-19 test results, required for the flight, within the 48 hours that was promised. After a scramble to get another test, I finally got the results right before my arrival at the airport.

I went through security and arrived at the gate. Boarding for my plane began. But, unfortunately, Hurricane Ida had other plans, and the flight was canceled. Fortunately, the next day my flight left without a hitch.

In the pre-pandemic world, arriving in Israel five hours before Shabbat wouldn’t have been too stressful for me. In this case, however, I didn’t want to leave the airport until I got both a PCR test and a serological test to prove that I had antibodies from my U.S. vaccinations.

Getting the PCR test was easy since there were many lines to accommo-

The airport COVID testing area. long, change constantly. Based on the rules that were in place upon my return, I had to quarantine for one week. During that time, I called Israel’s Ministry of Health almost every day – not just to try to end my quarantine early, using my U.S. vaccination records, but also to get Israel’s Green Passport, which allows entry into movie theaters, restaurants, etc.

But rules are rules, and they couldn’t end my quarantine early.

However, they did instruct me on

PHOTO | DANIEL STIEGLITZ

how to apply for things like the Green Passport, which they assured me I could get as soon as my quarantine ended. I submitted all documentation to their online system.

In order to end the quarantine, I needed a second PCR test on day 7.

Scheduling a PCR test in Israel is relatively simple – you can do it by just pressing a few buttons in your health-care app.

By 12:30 that night, I had received CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

‫חג אורים שמח‬ May the lights of Hanukkah usher in a brighter world for all humankind.

HAPPY HANUKKAH! From all of us at the Jewish Alliance− we wish you a season filled with warmth, light, and miracles.

James Pious Chair of the Board

Adam Greenman President & CEO

JEWISH ALLIANCE of Greater Rhode Island

10 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

FOOD

The sufganiyot recipe you’ve been waiting for

BY LISA MAYBRUCH HANUKKAH IS in my favorite season. Yes, you read that right: I love the wintertime!

The snow, the big sweaters and, of course, the holiday baking make a perfect combination for gathering and celebrating.

My earliest memory of Hanukkah is watching “A Rugrats Chanukah” on VHS and helping my mom grate potatoes by hand for latkes, before we discovered the magic of food processors.

Ever since the Miracle of Light, nearly 2,200 years ago, Hanukkah has been celebrated with fried foods.

Latkes were always fried during Hanukkah at my home. We ate doughnuts at some point during the holiday, but it was never

a Maybruch tradition to make them from scratch.

Fast forward 20 years, add in my passion for baking, a segment dedicated to baking with me at Jewish Rhody Media, and a desire to bring our audience the classic holiday dessert I knew they would be asking for, and I made sufganiyot just in time for Hanukkah.

Sufganiyot were first baked in central Europe during the late Renaissance. Today, they can be found in bakeries all over the world. You can prepare the perfect sufganiyot every time with a little courage, a handy fire extinguisher (frying is no joke) and a simple recipe with easyto-follow directions, like this one from Jenn Segal at onceuponachef.com.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

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COMMUNITY VOICES

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COMMUNITY VOICES

More Jewish geography

BY GEORGE M. GOODWIN

W

hen I write an article for this newspaper or

another publication, I seldom hear from readers. So I am surprised and often feel rewarded when I do.

SHORTLY BEFORE YOM KIPPUR, I was quite surprised to receive an email from our editor asking if I would like to reply to a reader who had sought my contact information. Why not? The reader, Beth Schuyler, was responding to my September article on family acquaintances in Andover, Massachusetts. So I gave her a call.

Andover, it turned out, was her hometown. Indeed, I had written about her uncle, Thayer Warshaw, and a family acquaintance, Richard Kapelson. Thayer and Beth’s father, Sidney Frankel, had once been partners in a car dealership established by Max Warshaw, Thayer’s father and Sidney’s father-in-law.

Beth’s sister, Judy, had actually followed two of Thayer and Bernice Warshaw’s daughters to Providence’s Lincoln School, graduating in 1963.

Beth went to boarding school elsewhere, but then we discovered that one of her old friends, Esther Simon, was my late father-in-law’s cousin!

Beth, who has lived in Providence for 45 years, commented on the Lawrence Jewish community’s close-knit bonds before many of its members relocated to Andover.

Beth lives on the East Side, and we plan to meet in person.

And I was also delighted to hear that, having been “touched” by my article, she sent copies to her sister and her three Warshaw cousins.

AND IT TURNS out that

my article in the June issue of the newspaper had reached a few readers far from Little Rhody.

This article focused on a Jewish family that had lived in Aberdeen, South Dakota, but eventually relocated to Los Angeles, my hometown. Indeed, Bill Brussell, who ran a successful haberdashery chain in L.A., married my mother’s first cousin, and he and I became friends. While I was a graduate student, I worked in his Beverly Hills store for a summer.

So how did a reader in Wash-

ington, D.C., become aware of my June article – unless she happened to have googled “Aberdeen, South Dakota”? After finding my article, this woman then emailed one of her childhood friends from Aberdeen, who had moved to Los Angeles more than 60 years ago.

I knew Chuck Levy because, following his graduation from UCLA Law School, he had worked in my father’s firm and eventually became a partner.

Indeed, Bill Brussell may have introduced Chuck to Dad. But how did I learn that Chuck had also read my article? It gets far more complicated! Yes, my brother-in-law, Keith Klevan, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Los Angeles for nearly 50 years, is also a lawyer. Indeed, he’s a tenant in Chuck’s office building. Chuck sent Keith a copy of the email that his Aberdeen friend had sent to him. Yes, Chuck remembered me, so he probably figured that Keith or my sister, Betty, would contact me.

Having obtained an email address for the reader in Washington, I contacted her, asking how she happened to find my article. It turns out that Google was not a factor. Rather, she received a copy from Lenore Piper Bunting, one of my friends from Temple Beth-El. Lenore and her friend, Beryl Radin, the D.C. resident, had been roommates at Antioch College more than 60 years ago!

BUT THE interconnectedness

of the Jewish world may be even better illustrated by still another Los Angeles-Providence connection.

About four years ago, while chairing Temple Beth-El’s library committee, I suggested to Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman that we purchase a book about an important Jewish painter, Ronald Kitaj (1932-2007), who had grown up in Ohio and New York but spent most of his adult life in London.

During the early 1960s, Kitaj began to achieve widespread recognition among a circle of hip, representational painters that included David Hockney as well as a number of Jews.

A few years after I mentioned the Kitaj book to Rabbi Howard, a visitor attended a Shabbat morning service at Beth-El, and he and Rabbi Howard introduced themselves to each other. This guest was Max Kitaj, a former Army medic in Afghanistan who became a Brown medical stu-

dent. So Rabbi Howard proudly took him to the temple’s Braude Library to show him the book about his late father. Then Rabbi Howard called me with this amazing news.

But my friend, Howard, knew only a small portion of my Kitaj story.

During the late 1970s, while living in Los Angeles, I became quite friendly with a retired art museum director, James Byrnes, who introduced me to many of his art-world colleagues. These included a Jewish couple: Ethel Fisher, a painter, and her husband, Seymour Kott, an eventual benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ethel was a figurative painter who occasionally accepted portrait commissions. After asking me if she could paint my portrait, we agreed on a modest fee and I happily sat in her studio for several hours.

Perhaps only later did I learn that Ethel’s daughter, Sandra Fisher, an artist in her own right, became Ronald Kitaj’s lover and then, in 1983, his second wife. Indeed, Sandra was Max’s mother. Following her sudden death in 1994, at 47 years of age, Ronald relocated to Los Angeles, partially to be closer to his older son but also so that his younger son could be closer to his grandmother.

Of course, I was more than eager to show Max the portrait that Ethel Fisher had painted – surely her only commission residing in Little Rhody. But the pandemic interceded, and Max and I were unable to visit before his medical school graduation and his return with his young family to Southern California.

DON’T THESE stories of mishpachah make your head spin? I’m saving a few more for a future article. One story deals with a small book, “How to Take a Japanese Bath,” which I found in the shop in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. It was written by Leonard Koren, one of my religious school classmates, whom I hadn’t heard from or seen since our Confirmation in 1964. Of course I had to get in touch!

GEORGE M. GOODWIN, of Providence, is the editor of Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes.

At long last, back in Israel CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 favorable results and permission to end my quarantine. I instantly called the Ministry of Health and requested a Green Passport.

“Check your email,” they said – and there was my Green Passport.

I celebrated by going out to a movie with a friend. It was my first time in an Israeli cinema in over 18 months.

From my personal perspective, life is more or less back to normal in Israel. Of course, there are some exceptions, like still being asked to wear a mask on public transportation and indoors. But removing a mask to eat, such as in a movie theater or a restaurant, is fine.

Now that I was “free,” I wanted to see and catch up with as many friends as possible, as quickly as possible.

As I got out and about, I made the following observations: Families with kids too young to be vaccinated have it a bit more difficult than others since their unvaccinated children are ineligible for a Green Passport.

Schools are open, but if a child in any given class tests positive, then all his or her classmates must quarantine. For bigger families, this can sometimes be a revolving door of quarantine. But no one has complained to me about sending their children back to school.

It is not uncommon to ask someone’s vaccination status before inviting him or her to visit.

One couple I know has a young daughter who got COVID-19.

Fortunately, her symptoms were extremely mild, and her parents said it was a blessing in disguise, since people who have recovered from the virus can get a temporary Green Passport. Since their daughter contracted the virus not long before the summer, they had freedom to go wherever they wanted as a family since they all had Green Passports.

Now that I’m back in Jerusalem, and seeing my friends here for the first time in nearly a year, it feels like no time at all has passed – to the point where it almost feels like my time in Providence was a dream.

I’m happy to go to Shabbat meals, movies and restaurants again in a country that I feel is doing well and whose people are cautiously optimistic that the worst of the pandemic is behind them. It’s nice to be back and living my normal life in Israel again.

• •

•

DANIEL STIEGLITZ (dstieglitz@gmail. com) is a corporate recruiter and certified Life Coach who lives in Jerusalem. His collection of short stories, “Tavern of the Mind,” is available for paperback and Kindle purchase on Amazon at www.amzn.to/2Izssrz.

14 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY VOICES

Vaccines, the Boston Marathon, hope and other things I’m thankful for KI

since the pandemic started, a very bad cold. My ailment gave me a chance to reflect on several things that I’ll be grateful for when I sit down to celebrate Thanksgiving, and then light the first Hanukkah candle three nights later. (Yes, the Festival of Lights will once again be observed very close to LARRY Thanksgiving.)

NG OU

T

S PE A

IT’S NO SECRET that our country is as divided, broken and far from even a semblance of unity as we’ve been in more than a half-century, since the height of the Vietnam War. We’ve been headed in this direction for a long time, and the pandemic – instead of bringing us together to fight the deadly but silent foe of COVID-19, which has claimed some 740,000 American lives – has only fractured us further.

Regrettably, we’ve become such a bitter nation that we’re now divided by regions over receiving the vaccines that could save thousands of lives – but which millions still stubbornly refuse to take.

In the midst of such crazy times, it might defy common sense to take time out to give thanks, but it’s more imperative than ever that we do just that later this month. We need to preserve that American tradition on the fourth Thursday of November, not only to maintain our sanity, but also to set the record straight that it’s not all bad out there – there are still many positives that deserve our gratitude.

I started this process recently, after recovering from my first illness

KESSLER

I’LL BE THANKFUL FOR:

to full health.

•• AAllreturn the doctors, nurses and countless other health-care profes-

sionals who have given so much to allow daily life to continue during these challenging, and too often horrifying, times.

My wife, for not kicking me out of the house when my cold was keeping me up nights, and special thanks to her for whipping up several pots of chicken soup. (Full disclosure: I slept and ate separately and wiped down the computer mouse repeatedly with disinfectants.)

My friends and family for sending me encouraging texts and emails.

The return of the Boston Marathon to an in-person race after going virtual in September 2020.

The marathon’s comeback on Oct.

•

• •

11 was vitally important to the region because it kept alive the notion that a sense of normalcy is an achievable goal. The race also proved that, with the significant COVID-19 protocols put into place by the Boston Athletic Association, the longtime organizers of the race, life was able to spring back in Boston.

Several Southeastern Massachusetts runners whom I interviewed for an assignment for another publication were full of gratitude for being able to be back on the course after being forced to run Boston’s virtual marathon last year, which meant running by themselves or with friends somewhere other than the marathon course.

In addition, the runners were ecstatic to be cheered on by the legendary crowds. Their return was significant; spectators’ enthusiasm has always motivated and inspired the runners on the difficult 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston, and their appearance shouldn’t be underestimated. Being able to have people cheering on the runners was one more positive sign that we’ll eventually be able to put the pandemic behind us.

People who don’t follow sports may not understand why I’ll give thanks for the post-season run by the 2021 Boston Red Sox, but the team

•

brought a lot of happiness to a region that hasn’t seen much since the winter of 2020.

The Red Sox’ success – which was largely unexpected after they blew a substantial lead in the American League Eastern Division back in August, and had to win their last three games of the regular season just to qualify for the playoffs – lifted our spirits.

What the Sox accomplished before losing the American League Championship Series to the Houston Astros – beating their arch-rival New York Yankees in the winner-take-all Wild Card game and then defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Divisional Series with two walk-off wins in Games 3 and 4 – will keep fans warm during those cold January nights.

Last – but not least – I’ll be grateful that I live in a country that made those life-saving vaccines available in record time. Without them, there’d be no hope of ever seeing the pandemic disappear; because of them, there is hope for the future. And hope is the most precious thing worth celebrating this Thanksgiving.

•

LARRY KESSLER (larrythek65@gmail. com) is a freelance writer based in North Attleboro. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com.

New study from Hillel, ADL looks into campus anti-Semitism

BY PHILISSA CRAMER (JTA) – A third of Jewish college students say they have personally experienced anti-Semitism in the last year, according to a new survey conducted jointly by Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League.

The two groups recently announced a partnership aimed at combating anti-Semitism on college campuses; the survey represents one of the first fruits of the relationship.

The results add data and texture to the picture of Jewish life on campus that has been built in recent years in large part on anecdotes and firestorms. They suggest that the majority of Jewish students at American colleges feel safe and supported on campus – but that a significant minority have experienced anti-Semitism or obscured their Jewish identity out of fear of anti-Semitism.

The survey offers a “strong validation of the reality that Jewish

students are facing, which is a estinian activism on college camsignificant and unacceptable level of puses and beyond. anti-Semitism and other anti-Jewish The survey included 756 self-idenbias,” Hillel International CEO Adam tified Jewish college students on Lehman told the Jewish Telegraphic 220 campuses and had a margin of Agency. error of 4%. It drew from a national Fifteen percent of students who sample of college students, meaning responded to the survey said they had that students surveyed were not all “felt the need to engaged with hide” their JewHillel or other Students reported being or aspects of Jewish identity and 6% said they had ish life on their felt unwelcome in feeling excluded because campuses. Those a campus orgathat did engage nization because of their actual or perceived with activities they were Jewish. were more likely Often, the to say they have support for Israel. survey found, experienced students reported anti-Semitism, being or feeling excluded because the survey found, but they were also of their actual or perceived support more likely to report feeling safe on for Israel. Conducted online in July campus as Jews. and August, the survey captured Hillel has made one key finding – sentiment shortly after the conflict that while 80% of Jewish students say between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in they are proud to be Jewish, only 62% May contributed to a spike in pro-Palof them say they are comfortable tell-

ing people about that pride – the centerpiece of a social media campaign that launched earlier this month. The #OwnYourStar campaign has been seen more than 1 million times since it began, according to Lehman.

In many of the posts associated with the campaign, Hillel professionals, student leaders and their supporters have been sharing their campus experiences. One wrote this week about her fear upon seeing a Star of David etched into a bulletin board and not knowing the intention of the person who left it there. The director of Hillel at Miami University in Cincinnati, Ohio wrote, “Our students are constantly being asked where their horns are (don’t have any!), why they killed Palestinian babies (they don’t), or have their mezuzah dropped from their dorm doors.”

Lehman said Hillel’s student cabinet, a group of 22 Jewish student leaders from campuses around the CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

NOVEMBER 2021 | 15

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FOOD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Hungry for more? Keep following “Baking with Lisa,” a regular feature in the print and online editions of Jewish Rhode Island that explores the rich and tasty confections of the Jewish diaspora.

Have a baking question? Want me to make your family recipe? Feel free to email me at lmaybruch@jewishallianceri.org. And check out all my baking videos, at Jewishrhody.org/ baking-with-lisa.

LISA MAYBRUCH (lmaybruch@jewishallianceri.org) is the manager of adult programs at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. Her occasional series, “Baking with Lisa,” appears in Jewish Rhode Island and online at Jewishrhody.org/bakingwith-lisa.

Sufganiyot (Israeli Donuts) Recipe courtesy Once Upon a Chef with Jenn Segal Servings: 24 Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Total Time: 45 Minutes, plus 1 to 2 hours for the dough to rise

INGREDIENTS 1 cup warm water, heated to about 110°F (see note) 1 tablespoon instant/rapid-rise or active dry yeast (note that this is more than 1 packet) 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for coating 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 large egg yolks 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus about 2 quarts more for frying 1 teaspoon vanilla extract About 1 cup jam or jelly (or custard, Nutella, pudding, pumpkin butter, apple butter, dulce de leche, etc.), optional

INSTRUCTIONS Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl and let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk to combine and set aside.

Add the egg yolks, 2 tablespoons of oil, and vanilla to the water/yeast mixture and whisk with a fork until combined.

Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and stir with rubber spatula until the dough comes together. It should be a bit sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (no need to clean it first) and let the dough rise on the countertop until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

Line a baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper and dust heavily with flour. Generously dust

a clean countertop and your hands with flour. Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the counter and dust the dough with flour. Pat the dough into 1/4-in-thick rectangle (it should be about 10 x 12-inches in size), making sure the bottom doesn't stick and adding more flour to the counter and your hands as needed. Using a pizza wheel or very sharp knife, cut the dough into 24 two-inch squares and transfer to the floured baking sheet, leaving a little space between the squares. Sprinkle the squares lightly with flour.

Add enough of oil to a large Dutch oven or heavy pot to measure about 2 inches deep and heat over medium heat to 350°F. (If you don't have a candy/ deep-fry thermometer, drop a 1-in cube of bread in the oil; if it takes about 1 minute to get golden brown, the oil is at the right temperature.) Place 6 dough pieces in the oil and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes, flipping halfway through frying. Adjust the heat, if necessary, to maintain the oil temperature between 325°F and 350°F. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the donuts to the paper towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining donuts.

When the donuts are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to puncture the side of each to form a pocket in the center. Place the tip of a squeeze bottle or piping bag into the pocket and squeeze 1 to 2 teaspoons of jam or jelly inside. (Alternatively, if you don't have the right tools or just don't want to bother, serve the filling on the side.)

Using a fine sieve, dust the donuts generously with confectioners’ sugar.

Serve warm.

NOTE: Warm water helps activate the yeast. The temperature doesn't need to be exact so no need to use a thermometer; just try to get it about the temperature of bath water. (If you place your hand under the stream of water in the faucet, it should feel hot but you should be able to leave your hand there without it stinging.)

HAPPY HANUKKAH! Mahra B. Rubinstein DDS, Robert J. Ducoff DMD, David W. Persky DMD East Side General, Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry

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Wishing You & Yours A Happy Hanukkah!

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COMMUNITY VOICES

Scott J. Turner’s new book is a beauty CH

SKE

T

HE STROLLED AROUND the block and noted the trees, the bugs, the birds and the beasts, and he kept a journal of seasonal surprises or reassurances. Scott J. Turner then turned his observations into a column for the Providence Journal.

I saved a number of Turner’s columns and then asked him to visit my seminar, at the Rhode Island School of Design, in something like “journalism” – a seminar that I subtitled on the syllabus, “Writing with your Feet.” My demand was that the students get out of the confines of their studios and let strangers read their stories. People might like what they sketched, snapped a shot of, or had to say in print. Or not. They could get fan mail or hate mail. The worst offense was spelling someone’s name wrong. Or missing a deadline.

Well, one recent day, Turner stopped by my house, a few blocks from his, and left me his book with the charming title “Beauty in the Street,” and with the subtitle, “Nature Tales from the Neighborhood.” He had published his diary through a press in Pawtucket called Stillwater River.

What with Hanukkah coming up as early as November, I welcomed

his collected essays as though they were somehow like the candles we light, inspired not only spiritually and historically but also perhaps ecologically. I mean, what with the pandemic, we all of us walk around the neighborhood in quest of peace, beauty, camaraderie.

It’s the perfect time of year and seasonal holiday to enjoy Turner’s delightful tales.

MIKE FINK It’s as though you were joining Scott J., his wife Karen, and their “adventure buddies,” son Noah and daughter Rachel.

Remember the dolphin in the downtown river? Did you enjoy the variegated butterflies that have probably gone off by now from your yard, heading for Mexico or Costa Rica? You can find them on the pages of this marvelous volume.

I find it intriguing that these days you can share your adventures without draining resources. You can find your fame and your name in print nearby, and you know what? That’s the best way, friendly and within the traditions of the genre all over the troubled world!

BOOK

MIKE FINK (mfink33@aol.com) teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

New study from Hillel, ADL looks into campus anti-Semitism CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

Business Disputes

HAPPY HANUKKAH!

world, had made a conscious decision to make combating anti-Semitism the focus of their social media advocacy.

“We know we cannot simply bury our heads in the sand in the face of rising anti-Semitism and hope it will disappear,” he said.

“We feel a responsibility to take these issues on.”

The Hillel-ADL findings dovetail with another major report about anti-Semitism in the United States released this week. The American Jewish Committee’s annual anti-Semitism study found that 20% of American Jews said that over the last five years, they or someone they personally knew had experienced anti-Semitism on a college campus.

They also dovetail with a slew of reports about challenging conditions

at individual campuses.

Some of those reports have emerged through Jewish on Campus, an Instagram account that launched last year to let students share anonymous stories about anti-Semitism and has quickly become emblematic of efforts to combat anti-Semitism taking place outside of the traditional infrastructure of Jewish life on campus.

Hillel and the ADL say the survey’s findings point to a number of steps that colleges and universities should take, including incorporating instruction about anti-Semitism into any diversity training that students and faculty receive and making it easier for students to report anti-Semitism that they experience. The vast majority of students experiencing anti-Semitism said they did not report it, and

40% of those who did report incidents to campus staff said they felt their reports were not taken seriously.

Lehman said the formal reporting structure that Hillel is establishing with the ADL, which has for years chronicled anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, is an important step.

“The more venues for students to report the better, particularly given the content of massive underreporting,” Lehman said.

But he added, “The more that we can have students doing reporting through official channels, the better because then we end up with a clear ability to track issues and incidents over time and a more simplified and credible set of data to take to our administration partners.”

NOVEMBER 2021 | 17

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The first three episodes of Chutzpah! are now available at JewishRhody.org Join host Adam Greenman and guests, Alan Hassenfeld of Hasbro, Inc., Sally Lapides of Residential Properties, Ltd., and Neil Steinberg of the Rhode Island Foundation.

Explore strengths, challenges and favorite moments as they discuss the ways human connection interplays with the titles we hold.

CHUTZPAH! IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON SPOTIFY AND APPLE PODCAST

New episodes drop every two weeks.

Greater Providence Hebrew Free Loan Association wishes you and your family a very

H����k�� D�n�� P���

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Our Mission: To improve the quality of life for those we serve.

Let us help you . . .

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• Navigate the challenging process of providing care for a loved one.

• From companionship and a little help around the house to 24/7 personal care.

Elder Care Services Providing care all over Rhode Island Call to schedule a free, non-salesy and no obligation family consultation.

We’ll help you create a care plan tailored to your unique needs.

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NOVEMBER 2021 | 19

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COMMUNITY VOICES

105 years young

IRVING NEMTZOW CELEBRATED his 105th birthday recently at The Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence in Warwick with a surprise party for his family and residents.

The celebration included his favorite vanilla cake with white frosting, entertainment by Bud Pistaschio and a short “roast” by family and friends.

Warwick Mayor Frank J. Picozzi stopped by and presented Irving with a certificate of recognition. And his great-grandchildren made birthday banners that were placed around the room along with balloons.

Irving was born on Oct. 28, 1916.

WI SHI N G YO U A

Happy Hanukkah!

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HANUKKAH

Miracles in our lives Y L I VI

HEA

TH

out a completed documentary and without very much time to find available talent.

“I sat in the conference room wondering how on earth I was going to fix the broken ending, when the receptionist entered the conference room unannounced.

PATRICIA She was carrying a package RASKIN addressed to me.

I was flabbergasted. I only worked in the studio once a month. Any mail addressed to me usually laid in my in-box, awaiting my arrival. This particular package arrived and was delivered to me the day I was there.

NG

L

DURING HANUKKAH, I always reflect on the miracles that have happened in my life.

In my book, “Pathfinding,” I share one of those miracles: “I was in the final stages of producing a television documentary on Positive Aging in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We were going to end the documentary with an older gentleman who was featured in the closing segment. He had brought photographs he thought would be perfect for the ending. When we disagreed about several of his selections, he became difficult. He finally stormed out of the studio, leaving me with-

“The package contained a national press release from Houston, Texas announcing a senior sports classics competition. One of the people featured was the 102-year-old golfer named Harley Potter. …. He was from – you guessed it – Winston-Salem.

I’m sitting in a conference room at the Fox TV affiliate in Winston-Salem approximately twenty minutes away from an octogenarian who would be the perfect closing story for my documentary.

“I called his 75-year-old daughter and she arranged for me to meet them at the local club where he played golf almost daily. The rest, as they say, is history – or should I say miraculous history.

When events like this unfold, I believe there has to be a

guiding hand that waves some sort of cosmic wand, which transforms ordinary experiences into extraordinary events.”

On aish.com, in Rabbi Hillel Goldberg’s article, “Was There a Hanukkah Miracle?,” he shares a miracle story from Harley A. Rotbart’s book, “Miracles We Have Seen.” After sharing the story, Rabbi Goldberg writes, “I believe that we credit ancient miracles which contradict the laws of nature in direct proportion to the extent that we perceive the supernatural in our own lives.”

He continues, “The supernatural emerges in the world of the everyday…. Sometimes we miss this by expecting the supernatural to be always bright and miraculous. We

miss the ways in which the supernatural testifies to the infusion of God in human affairs.

“But if we do not miss the invasion of the supernatural in our affairs, it becomes credible to believe that indeed there was an invasion of the supernatural in a way that contradicted the natural course of human events – as in the Hanukkah miracle.”

PATRICIA RASKIN, owner of Raskin Resources Productions, is a media host, coach and award-winning radio producer and business owner. She is on the board of directors of Temple Emanu-El, in Providence. She is a recipient of the Providence Business News 2020 Leaders and Achievers award

A different Hanukkah tradition

BY TANNAZ SASSOONI IT STARTED WITH a question for Jonathan Gold. Hanukkah 2011 was nearing, and a friend sent a query to Ask Mr. Gold, the advice column of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic renowned for putting Los Angeles on the map as a destination for culinary diversity. She told Gold that she wanted to participate in the Hanukkah tradition of eating foods fried in oil, but didn’t want to smell up her apartment frying latkes. Instead, she sought the city’s best churros. A tradition was born.

One night that week, a small, merry group got together and headed, per Gold’s recommendation, to the Salinas Churro Truck.

At the truck, we ran into friends who’d also read the Mr. Gold column and biked over to heed the call for sweet fried dough.

Our groups joined forces.

Someone’s tinny boom box provided the soundtrack as new friendships were forged on a temperate LA winter night over bag after greasestained bag of fresh, warm, crisp churros.

A couple of years later, we met again. This time at Mr. Churro on historic Olvera Street, a main square in Los Angeles from back when California was still part of

Mexico. In this little shop, you could get churros with fillings like guava paste and cajeta, Mexican goat milk dulce de leche. We played digital dreidel on someone’s phone, tried to remember the words to our favorite Hanukkah songs, and danced in the plaza as Olvera Street lit up with crowds of people for Las Posadas. Our Hanukkah tradition was not just delicious; it embodied the spirit of our city’s pluralism.

Churros have become a special part of my family’s Hanukkah celebrations, too. Since my nephew was diagnosed with celiac disease, sufganiyot can no longer be part of our festivities.

Luckily, my neighborhood taco stand has gluten-free churros.

For those who don’t happen to have a gluten-free taco stand within walking distance, this treat is easy to recreate at home. Instead of the classic cinnamon-sugar topping, you can pair them with dipping sauces that nod to traditional Hanukkah flavors: sweetened sour cream and raspberry jam.

NOTE: You’ll need a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton 1M or other large open star tip.

This recipe is adapted from “Boulder Locavore.”

Gluten-Free Churros INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHURROS: 1 cup water 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 cup gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 Gluten-Free Flour, but any gluten-free flour with xanthan gum should work) 3 large eggs, room temperature 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon canola, vegetable, or rapeseed oil, for frying FOR THE DIPPING SAUCES: 1/2 cup raspberry jam 1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS Combine water, butter, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.

Bring to a boil. Cook until butter is melted, whisking to combine all ingredients.

Lower heat to medium, add flour, and stir constantly until mixture comes together into a loose dough, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place dough in the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing on high speed to fully incorporate each one. You can do this by hand or with an electric hand mixer, but a freestanding mixer gives the smoothest results. Continue

to mix for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture comes together into a smooth batter.

Heat 1 inch of oil in a large pan or shallow pot over medium heat. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or paper towels to hold cooked churros.

Fit a pastry bag with a 1M or equivalent tip. Place the bag in a tall glass or jar and fold the top of the bag over the edge of the jar. Fill the pastry bag with dough. You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your bag.

Check oil temperature by placing a small piece of dough into the oil. If many small bubbles form around the dough, it’s ready. Pipe dough into the hot oil in about 4-inch lengths, using a sharp knife or scissors to cut off the end.

Use tongs to turn churros as they fry, until they are golden brown all around, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove cooked churros to the prepared baking sheet.

To make sour cream dipping sauce, mix all ingredients (minus raspberry jam) until combined.

To make raspberry dipping sauce, heat jam in a microwave-safe bowl until it is slightly runny, about 30 seconds on full power.

Serve churros with dipping sauces while they are still warm and fresh.

NOVEMBER 2021 | 21

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HANUKKAH

Andrew Zimmern’s Perfect Potato Latkes Recipe

How to Celebrate Hanukkah How to Celebrate Chanukah

Kindle the Menorah on each of the eight nights of Chanukah. See Kindlefor thethe Menorah on each of of the eight of Chanukah.

SeeThe below times, number lights andnights the order of kindling. below for the times, of lights andwindow the order The Chanukah lights are number kindled in the front or of bykindling. a doorway.

Chanukah lights are kindled in the front window or by a doorway.

You may use olive oil or paraffin candles which are large enough to You may use olive oil or paraffin lights (which will burn until 1/2 hour burn until half an hour after nightfall.

Use the shamash (service candle) candles which are large enough to after nightfall) are kindled before the to kindle place special place The on the Menorah. burn until the half lights an hourand after night-it in its Shabbat candles.

Menorah should fall. Use the shamash (service candle)

not be relit, moved or prepared, from

kah lights. Students and singles who

kindled.

All members of and the place family be time present at the kindling to kindle the lights it inshould its the Shabbat candles are lit,of the special place on the Menorah. until Shabbat ends and the Havdalah Chanukah lights. Students and singles who live in a dormitory or in All members of the family should be prayer is recited. After this time the their own apartments, should kindle in their own rooms. present at the kindling of the ChanuChanukah lights for Saturday are Friday Chanukah lights (which will burn until 1/2 hour live in a afternoon, dormitory or the in their own apartments, should in their after nightfall) are kindle kindled before the Shabbat candles. The Menorah own rooms. should not be relit, moved or prepared, from the time Shabbat Friday afternoon, the Chanukah candles are lit, until Shabbat ends and the Havdalah prayer is recited. After this time the Chanukah lights for Saturday are kindled.

Menorah Kindling Blessings Menorah Kindling Blessings Before kindling the lights, recite: Before kindling the lights, recite:

BY ANDREW ZIMMERN THESE POTATO LATKES are so good that posting the recipe alone is a mitzvah of the highest order. The Festival of Lights refers to a lamp in the temple that was supposed to have only enough oil to last the Maccabees one night, but instead lasted for eight. The holiday celebrates the miracle of the oil, so fried foods are often featured at Hanukkah feasts. Problem is, most potato pancakes, or latkes, are awful. Luckily for you, these are amazing.

INGREDIENTS 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks Sea salt 2 pounds baking potatoes 1 large onion, finely diced 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup matzah meal 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper Vegetable oil, for frying Applesauce, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, salmon roe, and dill sprigs, to serve

DIRECTIONS In a medium saucepan, cover the Yukon Gold potatoes with cool water, season generously with salt, and bring to a boil.

Cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well and immediately pass the potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl.

Working quickly, peel and

grate the baking potatoes on the large holes of a box grater into a medium bowl. Press with a clean kitchen towel to remove excess moisture. Add half of the grated potatoes to the riced potatoes.

Transfer the remaining grated potatoes to the bowl of a food processor. Add the onion and pulse until the potatoes and onions are very finely chopped.

Transfer to a fine-mesh sieve and press with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Add the potato-onion mixture to the large bowl.

Stir in the eggs, matzah meal, white pepper, and 2 tsp of salt.

In a large, heavy skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil until shimmering.

Working in 3 batches, spoon 1/4 cup of the potato mixture into the oil for each latke; press slightly to flatten. Fry over moderate heat, turning once, until the latkes are golden and crisp on both sides, about 7 minutes. Drain the latkes on a paper towel-lined baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Serve with applesauce, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, salmon roe, and dill.

NOTE: The fried latkes can be kept at room temperature for up to 4 hours. Reheat them on a baking sheet in a 375 degrees F oven for about 5 minutes, or until warmed through and crisp.

the universe, who wrought miracles

1. Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E- lo-hey-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lom A-sher Ki-di for our fathers in days of old, at this 1. Bo-ruchBiA-toh A-do-noi E-Vi-tzi-va-nu lo-hey-nu season.

-sha-nu mitz-vo-sov Li-had-lik Ner Cha-nu-kah.

Me-lech are Ha-o-lom A-sher Blessed You, L-rd ourKi-di G-d,-sha-nu King of the universe, who has sanctified us by The following blessing is recited on the Bimitz-vo-sov Vi-tzi-va-nu Li-had-lik His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Chanukah. first evening or on the first time one Ner Cha-nu-kah.

kindles the Chanukah lights this year:

2.

Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E-lo-hey-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam She- a-sa Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King 3. Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E-lo-hei-nu of the universe, who has sanctified Ni-sim La-a-vo-sey-nu Ba-ya-mim Ha-heim Bi-z’man Ha-zeh.

Ha-o-lom She-he-chi-ya -nu us by Hisare commandments, has Blessed You, L-rd ourand G-d, King ofMe-lech the universe, who wrought miracles commanded us to kindle the lights of Vi-ki-yi-ma-nu Vi-hi-gi-ya-nu Li-z’man for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Chanukah.

Ha-zeh.

Ni-sim La-a-vo-sey-nu Ba-ya-mim

and has preserved us, and enabled us

2. Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E-lo- on theBlessed The following blessing is recited first evening are You, L-rd our G-d, King of hey-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam She- a-sa or on the first time one kindles the Chanukah lights this the universe, who year: has kept us alive,

3.

Bo-ruch A-tohHa-zeh.

A-do-noi E-lo-hei-nu Ha-heim Bi-z’man to Me-lech reach thisHa-o-lom season. She-he-chi-ya -nu Vi-ki-yi-ma-nu Blessed are You, L-rd Vi-hi-gi-ya-nu our G-d, King of Li-z’man Ha-zeh.

Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.

2021 Menorah Kindling Calendar for Rhode Island Friday. Dec. 3, light before 3:55pm Shabbat Dec. 4, light after 5:01pm Other nights any time after nightfal approx. 4:50pm Sunday, Nov. 28 After Nightfall Monday, Nov. 29 After Nightfall Tuesday, Nov. 30 After Nightfall

Wednesday, Dec. 1 After Nightfall Thursday, Dec. 2 After Nightfall Friday, Dec. 3 Light Before Lighting the Shabbat Candles 3:55pm

Saturday, Dec. 4 After Shabbat 5:01pm

Sunday, Dec. 5 After Nightfall

Provided as a public service by The Jewish Voice & Herald. Compiled by Chabad of RI Provided as a public service by Jewish Rhode Island. Compiled by Chabad of RI.

22 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY

Today’s Jewish War Veterans participated in the 2021 Bristol Fourth of July Parade.

BUSINESS 34 | OBITUARIES 36

22nd Installation RI Post 23 JWV 1950. Standing: Paul Robin, Harry Hoffman, Arthur Rosen, Maurice Cohen, William Nasberg. Seated: Saul Weinberg, Joseph Dickens, Philip Rosenfield, David Baratz, Esmond Borod.

Jewish war veterans: Where are you?

BY ROBERT ISENBERG

E

verybody knows about the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and there’s probably a VFW post in your hometown. But fewer people are

familiar with the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, an organization founded in 1896 and now claiming 15,000 members.

THE JWV IS A STORIED organization, with its own museum in Washington, D.C., a national convention and a long-standing presence in Rhode Island.

“There were originally six posts in Rhode Island, the smallest one having more than 200 members,” said Ira Fleisher, the state commander of the JWV for the past three and a half years.

In the decades following World War II, Rhode Island’s JWV was particularly robust and active, Fleisher said in a recent interview.

But times have changed.

Those six posts have dwindled to three, and Fleisher estimates that there are

about 100 members in the entire state. Most of them are older; Fleisher himself served in the military from 1966 to 1969 and is now 74.

Since he became involved in JWV about 15 years ago, membership has halved, and Fleisher was quickly promoted through the ranks to lead the organization.

“Jewish War Veterans in Rhode Island is almost a shadow of itself,” Fleisher said. “In my heart of hearts, I know there are two to three hundred veterans in Rhode Island who served during the Vietnam War. It’s very difficult to get them to acknowledge it, step forward, and take part in the Jewish War Veterans.”

The national JWV is the oldest organized veterans’ group in the country, advocating for Jewish veterans and commemorating their service in countless ways. In Rhode Island, the JWV marches in Bristol’s famous Fourth of July Parade and honors deceased veterans on Memorial Day, raising awareness that Jews have played an essential role in the U.S. armed services.

Fleisher believes that even the Jewish community in Rhode Island doesn’t fully acknowledge its own veterans.

“It’s one thing to say that non-Jews don’t recognize the role that Jews have played in our military,” he said. “But it’s more eye-opening to me that Jews don’t recognize it. Many, many Jews don’t know that JWV exists. How do we expect the general population to accept it?”

Fleisher grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and was stationed for a year in South Korea, after the Korean War had ended.

A costume jewelry

manufacturer for 25 years, Fleisher had no intention of joining a veterans’ organization until his cousin, a Vietnam veteran, died from complications related to Agent Orange exposure.

Fleisher's cousin was active in the JWV in Florida.

“I felt like I was taking his place,” said Fleisher, who now lives in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and owns a monument company. “It’s my way of giving back to those who gave more of themselves than I did.”

Two years ago, Fleisher wrote an article for Jewish Rhode Island with the headline, “Jewish veterans, are you out there?” He beseeched them to reveal themselves and participate in the JWV. Fleisher said that the JWV provides camaraderie and closure that many veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, have never had.

The organization also celebrates members who dispel common myths, such as a younger Orthodox veteran who served in the Air Force.

The JWV doesn’t arrange an official ceremony for Vet-

erans Day, observed on Nov. 11, but it is traditional for many synagogues to have a moment of silence and contemplation on the holiday.

If nothing else, Fleisher hopes the annual holiday nudges silent veterans out of the woodwork.

“We have had some success,” Fleisher said. “I’ve had a number of people who have joined the JWV in the last few years. It could be around 15 or more. But I would hope that other Jews who are veterans would step forward. I think there’s a reality that we can’t continue to exist without them.

I believe they’re out there.”

To learn more about the Jewish War Veterans of Rhode Island, contact Ira Fleisher at ijinri@aol.com.

ROBERT ISENBERG (risenberg@jewishallianceri.org) is the multimedia producer for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and a writer for Jewish Rhode Island.

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COMMUNITY

New rabbi installed at Temple Beth-El

PHOTOS | ELAINE SANDY

Rabbi Preston Neimeiser and Rabbi Sarah Mack.

BY FRAN OSTENDORF PROVIDENCE’S TEMPLE Beth-El held a dual celebration on Friday night, Oct. 22: Preston Neimeiser was installed as the new assistant rabbi at the East Side congregation, and many of the more than 100 people in attendance were

Rabbi Neimeiser with Victoria Litman

in the sanctuary for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senior Rabbi Sarah Mack beamed as she welcomed both those in person and on the livestream.

The congregants online and those who attended in person, masked and spread

out in Beth-El’s sanctuary, worshipped with Rabbis Mack and Neimeiser, Rabbi Emeritus Lesley Y. Gutterman and Cantor Judith Seplowin.

Rabbi David Adelson, dean of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion New York Campus, and a

Rabbi Neimeiser on the bimah at Temple Beth-El. mentor to Rabbi Neimeiser, gave the installation address.

“Tonight is a celebration of so many things,” he said.

“It is a wonderful moment of renewal and vitality coming out of the pandemic.”

He called Rabbi Neimeiser a leader among peers and a champion of social justice

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while at HUC-JIR. Neimeiser graduated from HUC-JIR in May. Rabbi Neimeiser, 27, began his tenure at Temple Beth-El on July 1, and has already become a well-regarded member of the community, temple CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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Alliance offers funding to help young adults visit Israel

BY JEWISH RHODE ISLAND STAFF THE JEWISH ALLIANCE of Greater Rhode Island provides stipends and needsbased grants to young adults through the age of 26 to travel to Israel for internships, academic study, tourism, volunteer work and much more.

Previous recipients report that while their time in Israel was limited, the experience continues to resonate with them.

Recently, a former recipient wrote, “I am unsure as to whether or not I sent a thank you letter after the Israel trip I went on, which the Jewish Alliance so generously helped sponsor for me. This trip goes back a number of years, yet the positive impact it had on me stayed with me and continues to positively impact my life.

“I am moved and humbled by the dedication of this organization to helping the members of the Rhode Island Jewish community connect with Israel and our heritage.”

Asher Robbins, a senior at Barrington High School and a member of Temple Habonim, in Barrington, wrote the following essay about his recent experience in Israel.

Over the summer, I attended a trip to Israel through NFTY in Israel. It was a four-week trip, and I went with 48 other rising seniors from my summer camp. It was far and away the best trip that I have ever been on, and one of the most important months of my life.

We went all over the country, starting in the Negev, where we camped for three nights, then moving north to Jerusalem, then farther north to near the Lebanon border, and then returning to Jerusalem for the last week.

The best part of the trip was the sense of community that was present everywhere we went – with people on our trip, other NFTY in Israel groups, and even random people around the country.

If you think that your bonds with the kids from your summer camp are close, you

will be blown away by how much stronger they become in Israel. Not only do you strengthen old bonds, but you become friends with people that you may have never talked to before. Traveling around together truly unifies you with all of your friends.

It was also great to be able to meet other Jewish teens from the United States. My group became particularly close on this trip with travelers from our sister camp, and I have and will continue to stay in touch with my new friends.

Being in Israel, you also feel a connection to everyone around you. It is a unique experience being somewhere that is predominantly Jewish. It is something that you never get to experience in the United States, and I did not know that I missed this until my trip.

Nearly every person, whether it be someone walking by you on the street, the woman selling you falafel, or the man selling you jewelry, is a member of the same cul-

Asher Robbins and the NFTY in Israel group ture and religion that you are, and the significance of this is hard to put into words, but you just feel like you belong.

In addition to forming amazing connections with people, the trip was just super fun and interesting. The places in the biblical stories that we read feel so distant and fake until you are swimming in them or standing on or near them.

The activities that we did were also great fun, whether it was kayaking in the Jordan River, hiking, running on sand dunes, or exploring

Jerusalem.

This trip was fun, meaningful and interesting. I definitely feel a connection to Israel now that I never did before. I cannot wait to go back to Israel!

For more information about stipends and scholarships, as well as a savings program and $3,000 vouchers for many teen summer programs, contact IsraelDesk@jewishallianceri.org or call Larry Katz, director of Jewish life and learning at the Jewish Alliance, at 401-421-4111.

Author to lead program on ‘Twelve Tribes: Promise and Peril in the New Israel’

BY LARRY KATZ AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Ethan Michaeli will lead a conversation about his new book, “Twelve Tribes: Promise and Peril in the New Israel,” on Dec. 8 on Zoom.

Meticulously researched and immersive, “Twelve Tribes” is a vivid depiction of a modern state contending with ancient tensions and dangerous global forces, a land of paradoxical intersections and unlikely cohabitation, and a microcosm of the challenges faced by all nations today.

In 2015, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin warned that the country’s citizens were dividing into tribes by class,

ethnicity, geography and faith, saying: “In the state of Israel, the basic systems that form peoples’ consciousness are tribal and separate, and will most likely remain so.”

“Twelve Tribes” explores tribalism in Israel by weaving together personal histories of ordinary people from all walks of life, revealing the country’s extraordinary, polyphonic diversity, as well as its volatility.

An American Jew with close family in Israel, Michaeli used his background to gain access to Israelis of all sectors during his travels across the country over four crucial years. Readers of “Twelve Tribes” will meet the aging revolutionaries

who founded Israel’s kibbutz movement; the brilliant young people working for the country’s booming big-tech companies; Ethiopian Jews; and ultra-Orthodox Haredim.

The book also examines Israeli-Palestinian relations at the grassroots level, with portraits of Palestinian citizens of Israel and those living in the territory ruled by the Palestinian Authority, as well as Israeli settlers and soldiers, illuminating complex dynamics within the country that have global consequences. Michaeli will share some of these stories during his talk.

Michaeli is an award-winning author, journalist, philanthropic adviser and univer-

sity lecturer. National Book Award winner Evan Osnos called Michaeli “a master portraitist – of lives, places and cultures” and said, “His rendering of contemporary Israel crackles with energy, fueled by a historian’s vision and a journalist’s unrelenting curiosity.”

Michaeli is currently a lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy of the University of Chicago.

“Twelve Tribes: Promise and Peril in the New Israel” is available for purchase at Books on the Square, in Providence, and other bookstores, as well as online.

The free program will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. For more

information, contact Amit Moshe Oren at 401-421-4111 or AOren@jewishallianceri. org. Look at for a registration link at jewishallianceri.org, coming soon.

The program is part of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s partnership with the Jewish Book Council to bring authors to Rhode Island for book talks. It is also the third program in this year’s Israeli Culture Series, which takes place on the second Wednesday of each month.

LARRY KATZ is director of Jewish life and learning at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

26 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

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A tribute to Simon Nemzow on his th 100 birthday

BY SALLY ESAKOV AND MARTIN NEMZOW

S

imon Nemtzow, now Simon Nemzow, was born to Abraham Nemtzow

and Sophie Neuman in Newport on Sept. 28, 1921. Si, now a spry resident of Providence, recently celebrated his 100th birthday with family and friends.

SI GREW UP in Newport during the Great Depression, which colored his view of the world and opportunities. As a youth, he attended Rogers High School and enjoyed rock-climbing, body surfing, swimming in Narragansett Bay and sailing with neighborhood friends. He attended Touro Synagogue, which was a focal point for his extended family – and Newport’s Jewish community in general.

Si worked in the family grocery store, on Second Street, as did his siblings, Dorothy, Beatrice and David. He stocked shelves, fed chickens in the back and served customers.

After graduating early from high school, Si took a year off and worked in construction, doing welding. He then attended the University of Rhode Island, where he joined the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He still tells stories of badly-cooked meals and unheated dorm rooms.

During World War II, Si was drafted as an aircraft electrician in the 8th Army Air Force. His bomber unit was deployed to Sussex, England, in 1942. He wrote copious letters to family and friends throughout the war, as well as corresponding for decades after

the war with friends made in England, Scotland and France during his service. Many of these letters still exist, and they are notable for their warmth.

Later in 1942, Si’s squadron was destroyed while returning to base after a raid on Germany.

Trailing Luftwaffe airplanes also bombed the base to destroy any straggling aircraft as they landed.

While awaiting reassignment with the demoralized remnants of this bomber squadron, Si learned to repair and use idle pilot-training equipment, including the “blue box” formally known as the Link AN-T-18 Basic Instrument Trainer.

He returned these flight trainers to service when they suddenly became crucial as the Army Air Force shifted from the relative safety of nighttime bombings to 10-hour raids deep into Germany.

As a technical sergeant, Si became the European theater’s lead Link Trainer pilot instructor for radio navigation and formation aerial bombings. He helped squadrons launch and land during the night, navigating only by radio-beacon technology.

Later in the war, in 1945, Si filled in for flight crew members to shuttle new bombers from Tunisia to Italy. A photo shows a balding but smiling Simon in a cockpit, looking down at the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.

When the war ended, Si was offered an officer’s commission with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to develop flight control and positioning systems for both military and commercial aviation.

But after five years far from family and home,

he wanted to return to his life.

Si was accepted into Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, but decided against attending. He had joined the company Permalight, together with brothers Maurice Shore and Harry Shore (Harry was married to Si’s sister Beatrice), which was in a storefront on Water Street in Providence and was soon financially rewarding. He commuted for years between Newport and Providence on Greyhound buses and ferries, so he could live at home and help his parents, before moving to the Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence.

As fluorescent lighting took off, Permalight moved to Charles Street.

The company was later renamed Allied Fluorescent Mfg. when the partnership bought and repurposed mill buildings on Hartford Avenue, in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood. Si worked with his partners for almost 40 years, as well as with key staffers, including Ed Hall, John Gracy and Robert Fairbanks.

Upon retirement, Si partnered with Harry Shore and Sid Weingeroff in SW Valley Reality, which acquired aging properties from Uniroyal and rebuilt them as manufacturing space for startup companies.

Si was the kohane who was often called at the last minute to make a minyan and to chant the blessings for the Torah reading. He also served as

a trustee for Brown-RISD Hillel, a board member for the Jewish Seniors Agency and on the board of the Providence Hebrew Day School.

For over 40 years, Si played the baritone brass horn in the Shriners International Marching Band, at venues that included the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, in Providence, the bandstand in Roger Williams Park, Providence, and the George Kent Performance Hall, in Westerly.

Family members remember lining the streets in Bristol during its famous Fourth of July parade to see the Shriners band, in their red uniforms and distinctive tasseled fezzes, playing a Sousa march and other vibrant patriotic music.

Si was an avid photographer who had several one-man shows in Wayland Square and the Old Stone Bank on South Main Street in Providence. He portrayed the faces of friends, family and random people around the world in chiaroscuro, as well as marine scenes and other subjects.

He also recorded family gatherings, often during Pesach, to preserve relatives’ stories of migration and upheaval, some of which are reminiscent of

Shalom Aleichem’s tales.

Si golfed at the Ledgemont and Crestwood country clubs. He sailed extensively on the Bay with his son in their daysailer, and body surfed even when the waves reached scary heights; he could hold his breath underwater for nearly three minutes. He often went fishing with friends and family, on either his boat or theirs.

Si married Jacqueline S. Wiesel in 1967, adopting her two children, Sally and Martin. He and Jacqueline often traveled to Florida and Israel to visit their son and daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as their many nieces, nephews and cousins.

They had a storybook life together until Jackie’s death in 2007. Si has five grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren – so far.

Si’s family is known for its longevity – many of his relatives have reached 100-plus years, including, in his generation alone, his sister Dorothy Lippman, Benn Niemtzow, Irving Nemztow, Aaron Nemtzow, Harry Nemtzow and Lillian Zablocki.

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY

Annual Shabbos Project did not disappoint

JOINING THE worldwide Shabbos Project, Jews from Providence and surrounding communities came together for an extended weekend of inspiration and fun, Oct. 22-24.

Starting Tuesday night, Oct. 19, women of all ages gathered for a challah bake; learning how to make a perfect six-braid loaf, while listening to music, singing and socializing. On Friday night, Oct. 22, lively and uplifting services were

held at Congregation Mishkon Tfilah, followed

by Shabbat dinner in the social hall. All ages, from 3 months to mid-70s, and young professionals in between, had a great time.

Shabbat ended Saturday evening with the third meal and musical havdalah services.

This was a joint effort of Shabbos Project RI and Project Shoresh.

Submitted by Project Shoresh

28 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY

Project Shoresh grows, adding staff, programming

Project Shoresh staff (left to right): Rabbi Moshe Sanders, Rabbi Noach Karp, Rabbi Naftali Karp, Rabbi Eli Kasirer, Esti Kasirer, Guta Shapps, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Shapps, Rabbi Tzvi Katz and Miri Katz.

BY FRAN OSTENDORF

maybe people who are still studying.”

The new hires are Rabbi Chaim Yehuda and Guta Shapps, of Queens, New York; Rabbi Tzvi and Miri Katz, of Lakewood, New Jersey; Rabbi Moshe and Freda Sanders, of Jerusalem; and Rabbi Eli and Esti Kasirer, of Lakewood.

In additional to their work for Project Shoresh,

PROVIDENCE – Four new couples have joined Project Shoresh as the organization looks to grow its programming and reach.

Shoresh, Hebrew for “root,” or “source,” was founded in 2001 by Rabbi Naftali Karp, who was joined a few years later by his brother, Rabbi Noach Karp. Together, they help members of the ‘Our number-one Rhode Island Jewish community connect mission is to share the to their Judaism, in whatever way is best for each individual, to beauty of Judaism’ strengthen Jewish unity and identity. they study at the New “Our number-one misEngland Rabbinical sion is to share the beauty College, teach at Proviof Judaism,” Rabbi Nafdence Hebrew Day School, tali Karp said in a recent and continue other work interview. “The major remotely. way we do that is through In a recent interview, experiences. We combine the new arrivals, who have experience with education. made a two-year commitAnd we listen to what peoment to Project Shoresh, ple want and then we try to said the Providence comoffer that.” munity has been welcomHe continued, “During ing and friendly.

COVID, we saw an uptick “We are all working in programs and interest together. We make a small in what we do. People who community of our own! never came to our proAnd we are trying to capigrams and our events were talize on our own talents,” coming, and we were meetsaid Rabbi Tzvi Katz. ing way more people than “I’m teaching Hebrew we could provide services 101 with people who never for. We decided that we learned Hebrew,” he said, should be hiring new talent noting that both he and his and younger talent, and wife have training in teach-

PHOTO | ROBERT ISENBERG

ing Hebrew to people with disabilities.

Rabbi Noach Karp said that knowing how to read Hebrew and recognizing what’s in the prayer book brings people a lot of comfort.

The new staff will allow Shoresh to offer more programming, as well as enhance its existing programming. For example, Shabbat meals have always been offered by both rabbis and their families, but now, with more hosts, they can be smaller and more intimate.

There is now also more opportunity for one-on-one study and more programming for women.

Hiring the new staff was made possible by Rabbi Naftali Karp’s fundraising efforts. He was a fulltime fundraiser before he became a full-time rabbi.

“We started out thinking we would hire one new couple,” he said, but the successful fundraising allowed them to hire more.

“There were too many miracles to say that God was not in the driver’s seat,” he said.

FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org) is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island. For more information on Project Shoresh, go to projectshoresh.com

RIJHA kept to its mission during this historic era

BY KATE-LYNNE LAROCHE PROVIDENCE – On March 14, 2020, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island sent out a notice saying that a decision had been made to close the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center for a week to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

When we left the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association’s office on Friday, March 13, we did not know that we would not return until the beginning of June.

The brief “pause” that many Rhode Island businesses planned turned into almost three months; for some, it was even longer.

We very quickly received approval to work from home.

Thankfully, we got help creating our at-home work stations from my husband, Derek, who was able to set up remote access to our computers in the office at the JCC. This gave us access to everything but the physical archive.

RIJHA office manager Jaime Walden coordinated with the JCC maintenance staff to pick up any mail we received and to check phone messages once a week. We sent out a newsletter to let our members know what was going on, and promised to work on getting them access to some of the regularly used genealogical material in the archive.

The first thing we did toward that goal was to make

our collection of digitized newspapers available on the RIJHA website, www.rijha. org. We also made our obituary collection – over 12,000 of them – accessible through the website. Our digital initiatives seemed fruitful as we regularly received research requests throughout 2020.

Another project we have worked on during the pandemic is a collaborative effort with several other New England-based Jewish history organizations. We created the New England Jewish History Collaborative (NEJHC), and over the course of about two years, 20192021, put together a resource website and webinar that launched on Jan. 21.

This collaborative effort has been virtual thus far, but we hope 2022 will allow us to finally meet in person to continue creating content that spreads awareness about Jewish life in New England.

This year has brought us back into the office, where committee meetings are being held in person. Annual meetings are still virtual.

We held our fall meeting via Zoom earlier this month, and presented another digital initiative, the Jewish Rhode Tour, at https://rhodetour. org, and also accessible to our members through the RIJHA website.

We are looking forward to resuming all events in person, when it is safe to do so.

THE RHODE ISLAND JEWISH HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION is compiling a book of pandemic memories, chronicling how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Rhode Island’s Jewish community.

If you would like to participate, please limit your essay to one single-spaced page of 12-point type, and be sure to include your name, address and phone number with your submission. Only your name will be published, or the essay can be published anonymously.

Please submit your essay either by email, to office@ rijha.org, or by U.S. mail, to RIJHA, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

KATE-LYNNE LAROCHE is the executive director of Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association.

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COMMUNITY

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Making their voices heard

THE RHODE ISLAND Coalition for Israel initiated a direct action campaign aimed at triggering a consumer boycott of ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s products.

On Sept. 19, the first of a planned series of

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rallies took place with over a dozen pro-Israel activists turning out at Dave’s Marketplace Plaza in East Greenwich.

A second rally, pictured above, took place on Oct. 17 at Stop and Shop on Branch Avenue in Providence. RICI leadership spoke to the store manager, who agreed to pass along RICI’s concerns about Ben & Jerry’s. The company announced in July that it was withdrawing sales of products in what it called “the Occupied Palestinian Territory” of Israel.

RICI is a 4-year old grassroots activist organization of Christians and Jews whose stated mission is supporting the U.S.-Israel alliance and fighting anti-Semitism in all its manifestations.

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401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 | 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org

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WITH TATTERED CLOTHING AND GHOULISHLY painted faces activists expressed their fears of climate destruction by guising themselves as zombies doomed to wander an unlivable earth. As a part of a national Day of Action, Oct. 29, Climate Action RI teamed up with the Jewish Youth Climate Movement of RI to descend upon the Chase Bank branch on Thayer Street in Providence to voice outrage over the profits they say that Chase and other financial institutions reap from by investing billions of dollars in fossil fuel production.

Youth activists raised their voices to let Chase Bank know that profiting from the destruction of the planet’s climate and endangering their future is unacceptable. According to the activists, the continued production and

burning of fossil fuels that overheats our earth’s atmosphere threatens the existence of human civilization as well as the planet’s ecosystems filled with millions of vulnerable species of plants and creatures. They were advocating for everyone to speak out and tell financial institutions to cut off the money to fossil fuel productions and turn toward a renewable energy future.

For more information on the Jewish Youth Climate Movement, go to jewishyouthclimatemovement.org. There is a local chapter at Temple Torat Yisrael in East Greenwich.

Submitted by Rabbi Aaron Philmus, Climate Action RI, and Jewish Youth Climate movement

New rabbi installed at Temple Beth-El CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 president Tonya Glantz said in her opening remarks.

Other participants in the service included installation chairs Amy and Kenneth Orth and Rob and Faye Stolzman.

Neimeiser opened the service by calling his wife, Victoria Litman, to the bimah to kindle the Shabbat lights. He also announced that she had just passed the New York Bar!

Rob Stolzman, a past president of the congregation, paid tribute to the history of Beth-El by naming some of the senior congregants in attendance.

And he said of Rabbi Neimeiser, “I know he has already won the hearts of those who have met him.

Whatever we throw his way, he has met with a smile.”

The installation of a new rabbi symbolized the start of a new chapter in Beth-

El’s more than 160-year history.

Rabbi Neimeiser told the audience, “I am humbled and inspired by those who came before and those yet to come.”

For more about Rabbi Neimeiser, go to https://bit. ly/3BrkYxz. FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org) is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

NOVEMBER 2021 | 31

Above all else, continue to stay safe during this pandemic, but on Veteran's Day, November 11th, we ask that you reflect on the way of life that you enjoy and ask yourself if it would have been possible without the efforts of the countless American Veterans who stood at the ready.

32 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

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The Voice of Greater Rhode Island’s Jewish Community

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The Executive Committee, Staff and Parents of the Providence Hebrew Day School Rabi Peretz Scheinerman Dean Rabbi Gidon Goldberg Head of School 450 Elmgrove Ave., Providence, RI 02906 (401) 331-5327 Ext. 21

NOVEMBER 2021 | 33

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COMMUNITY

JCS honors longtime community supporters

BY JESSICA MURPHY

In a photo from several years ago, Anne Krause with granddaughter Abby and great-granddaughter Maya.

Roberta Ragge

Marcie Gerstein and daughter Niecie Weiner.

Two families and the longtime head of Tamarisk were honored with prestigious awards at Jewish Collaborative Services’ Fourth Annual Meeting, held on Oct. 21 on Zoom.

The Ruth and W. Irving Wolf Jr. Award for Multigenerational Philanthropy is presented to an individual or family that has shown extraordinary and consistent commitment to the JCS mission through philanthropy and advocacy through the generations.

This year, the award was presented to two extraordinary families that go above and beyond these principles: the Weiner/Gerstein/ Mutchnick family and the Berkelhammer/Krause/ Rossman family.

Marcia Gerstein and her mother, Anabelle Mutchnick, have been involved as volunteers extraordinaire in the Jewish community for well over 50 years.

Gerstein was president of the Women’s Association of the Jewish Seniors Agency (JSA) and continued her volunteer efforts throughout

the years, as well as passing down the importance of serving the community to her daughter, Niecie Weiner.

Niecie Weiner, a JCS board member, followed in her mother and grandmother’s footsteps early on, taking on the role of president of the Women’s Association from her mom in 2014. Weiner continues to raise funds for the agency in support of Jewish seniors throughout the community. Weiner, Gerstein and Muchnick’s dedication to the missions of JSA and JCS epitomizes the criteria for the Wolf award.

Anne Krause, a longtime volunteer and donor, saw Jewish Family Services/ JCS as her prime community involvement. Having learned from her mother, Silvia Rossman, who established an endowment fund at JFS, Krause instilled this same value in her son, Robert (Bob) Berkelhammer. Bob Berkelhammer devoted his time, talent and resources to JFS over many decades. As president of the agency, he was a strong leader and spokesperson both internally and

throughout the community.

Simultaneously, Mitzi Berkelhammer’s efforts paralleled her husband’s. In the many titles she has held in this community, she has always advocated for JCS – for its work, its programs and its staff. Furthermore, Mitzi and Bob Berkelhammer passed these values on to their three children.

Bob Berkelhammer’s family’s philanthropy is a significant part of his legacy.

Their efforts and generosity have amplified the agency’s mission and set an example for others to follow. The Ruth and W. Irving Wolf Award bestows a well-deserved honor on the Berkelhammer-Krause-Rossman Family and Bob Berkelhammer’s blessed memory.

The Maurice Glicksman Leadership Award is presented to an individual who demonstrates the leadership qualities exemplified by Dr. Glicksman, president of JSA from 2000 to 2003. The award specifically recognizes and honors an exceptional individual for his or her continuing commitment to the Jewish elderly in Rhode Island. This year’s

recipient, Roberta Ragge, executive director of The Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence, in Warwick, embodies all the attributes of this award and more.

Ragge has demonstrated her vision and commitment to our entire Jewish community in keeping with the mission and legacy of Dr. Glicksman. She leads with courage, confidence, objectivity and integrity.

In her passion for JCS’ mission throughout her 18 years as executive director of Tamarisk, Ragge continues to motivate and inspire all who work with her and know her.

Ragge, whose moral compass never varies even under the most trying times, was unanimously voted the recipient of the prestigious Glicksman award.

To watch the annual meeting in its entirety, go to JCSRI.org.

JESSICA MURPHY is the marketing and communications manager at Jewish Collaborative Services.

The Miriam’s women’s association treated to a talk

by Ann Hood and husband, Michael Ruhlman

BY BARBARA HOROVITZ BROWN NOVELIST ANN HOOD and her husband, author and chef Michael Ruhlman, held a casual conversation on the theme of “A Recipe for Food, Life and Love,” at The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association’s virtual fall meeting.

Hood and Ruhlman, who live in Rhode Island, shared a few recipes at the Oct. 27 Zoom event and answered all questions that were asked. They said they both enjoy cooking, writing, traveling, being together and having fun.

The Q-and-A also revealed that Hood’s book “The Knitting Circle” was not based on a true story.

Although Hood does knit, she said she never did so with a group. And she said that not everyone appreciates what she makes for them, such as tiedyed wash cloths.

Hood and Ruhlman also both said

they have new books out, or coming out soon, and might work on one together in the future.

After spending time in Spain, the couple said they revised a New York Times recipe to create their favorite Potato Chip Omelet, which they said they continue to enjoy weekly. Here’s the recipe:

Potato Chip Omelet INGREDIENTS 6 eggs, whipped About 6 ounces of Lay’s Potato Chips Cracked pepper DIRECTIONS Break up the chips, mix into whipped eggs and let sit about 2 minutes.

Warm some olive oil in a frying pan (non-stick works best), add egg mixture, and sprinkle it with cracked pepper. Cook on medium-low until

just set. Then broil until finished, being careful not to overcook it – the omelet should be slightly loose when finished.

The Miriam Hospital Women’s Association usually holds two programs each year as part of its mission to educate and connect with the community. The spring program, “Long Haul Covid,” will feature Dr. Jennie Johnson, Ann Hood and Michael Ruhlman during the the associate medical director Miriam presentation. of the Infectious Diseases and Immunology Center at The iam Hospital Women’s Association, Miriam. contact Vickie Scott at 401-793-2520 or This year, the association’s major vickie.scott@lifespan.org. fundraising will be focused on raising support for stretchers and wheelchair BARBARA HOROVITZ BROWN is the presscales for The Miriam’s emergency ident of The Miriam Hospital Women’s room.

For information on joining The Mir- Association.

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BUSINESS

JFF’s donor advised funds make charitable giving easy

BY CLAIRE UZIEL DUE TO THE phenomenon called year-end giving, charities across the country receive a big influx of donations between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. People who want to help out tear a few checks from their checkbook or jump from website to website to send contributions to groups as near as up the street and as far as across the planet. But there’s a better way to make charitable donations!

You can create a personal philanthropy account that operates year-round by establishing a donor advised fund, or DAF, with the Jewish Federation Foundation of Greater Rhode Island. Just make tax-deductible gifts to your DAF and then recommend distributions from the fund to qualified charitable organizations of your choosing.

The JFF takes care of the rest.

The JFF manages the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s endowment, and all DAFs are invested as part of the endowment. There are currently 138 DAFs totaling more than $23 million.

Your DAF will grow as the endowment grows, giving you more money to give to charities.

You may also choose to name successor advisers, who can step up if you are no longer able to advise on the fund’s distributions. This gives you an extra advantage: an opportunity to discuss the value of philanthropy and promote multigenerational giving.

BENEFITS OF A JFF DAF:

cantly less than most DAFs.

• EASE: You tell JFF where to send the grant and the agency takes care of the rest, including confirming the organization’s IRS status, verifying contact information, sending the grant and sending you a copy of the grant letter for your records.

• COMMUNITY SUPPORT: When you add your DAF to JFF, you increase the total endowment and help grow the community’s resources. You also serve as a role model, communicating your philanthropic priorities to friends and family.

• ONLINE PORTAL: JFF’s donor platform allows you to submit grant requests electronically and view your fund value, statements and transactions in one place.

• PERSONALIZED SERVICE

• CONVENIENCE: You no longer need to file receipts for every donation to every organization – you get a tax deduction for contributions to your DAF and that’s it.

• OPPORTUNITY: Teaching the next generation about your charitable priorities and the importance of supporting your community.

• ACCESS: JFF’s partnership with the Rhode Island Foundation creates more investment options.

• TAX SAVINGS: Additional tax savings if you use appreciated securities or properties to contribute to the fund, plus no income tax on investment returns.

WHY SET UP A DAF WITH JFF?

• LOW ADMINISTRATION FEE For more information, email endowment@jewishallianceri. org or call Sara Masri, chief development officer at the Jewish Alliance, at 401-421-4111, ext. 223.

CLAIRE UZIEL (cuziel@jewishallianceri.org) is the Endowment/ Campaign operations manager at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

Quick guide to DAF dos and don’ts YES TO: • Annual gift to Jewish Alliance of Greater R.I. • Synagogue dues/membership • Any public charity in the U.S.

NO TO: • Paying for goods or services such as event registration or school tuition • Charities based overseas (but their U.S. fundraising arms are allowed) • Civic leagues, social clubs, labor organizations and business leagues • Private foundations Please note that these distinctions are dictated by IRS regulations.

If you’re not sure if an organization is a 501(c)(3), you can either contact them or JFF.

Thanking our Jewish neighbors for their support over the past 30 years!

• ACCESSIBLE: The minimum initial gift to create a JFF DAF is just $2,500 – signifi-

Year-End Philanthropy Recommended Deadlines ACTIVITIES Contributions Credit Card Wire Transfer/Online Check Securities via DTC Transfer Mutual Fund Shares ACH Grant recommendations from donor advised funds

DEADLINES Receive by Dec. 31 Receive by Dec. 31 Postmark by Dec. 31 Initiate by Dec. 15 Initiate process by Dec. 3 Initiate process by Dec. 20 Receive by Friday, Dec. 10 at noon.

Requests received after this date/time may be remitted to the grantee in Jan. 2022.

Before initiating any electronic transaction, please ensure you have the correct instructions by contacting: Claire Uziel | endowment funds | cuziel@jewishallianceri.org Michele Gallagher | campaign gifts | mgallagher@jewishallianceri.org

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36 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

OBITUARIES Stanley Blacher, 95 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Stanley P. Blacher passed away on Aug. 7 after a brief illness. He was the son of the late Harry and Bertha (Adler) Blacher of Providence and the husband of Marcia (Cohan) Blacher for over 72 years. He is also survived by their two sons Richard E. Blacher and John M. Blacher, of Providence. He was the president of Blacher Brothers, Inc., which was comprised of manufacturing and real estate businesses.

Stanley was very active in community affairs. He was a member of the Capital Center

Commission and served as a member and then chairman of the Providence Redevelopment Agency for almost 20 years. He was a former treasurer and life governor of The Miriam Hospital Foundation and a life trustee of The Miriam Hospital. He was also a member of the corporation of the RI Hospital and a life trustee of the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine in Denver, Colorado. He served on the board of Fleet National Bank for many years and numerous other committees and boards to which he gave much time and dedication.

Stanley was a member of the University Club and a lifelong member of Ledgemont

Country Club, co-founded by his father.

A graduate of Brown University, Class of 1947, Stanley proudly “walked down the hill” as a Class Marshal in the Brown University Commencement Procession at his 70th class reunion.

Stanley’s family would like to extend their deepest gratitude for the extraordinary care and kindness provided by the exceptional staff of the Special Care Unit of The Miriam Hospital.

Carole Blanck, 85 WARWICK , R.I. – Carole Mae (Weinstein) Blanck, of Warwick, passed away on Oct. 22 at HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center in Providence. She was wife of the late Semon Blanck, who was, until the day she died, the love of her life.

Born in Bronx, New York, she was the daughter of the late Matthew and Sidonia (Rapp) Weinstein.

Carole enjoyed golfing, boating, traveling and was very proud of achieving a bachelor’s degree in 1973 through the Continuing Education for Women program at the University of Rhode Island. Carole went on to achieve professionally, and to help others, in her work with nonprofit community organizations throughout the state.

Survivors include: three children, Cheryl Blanck of East Greenwich, Susan Wilson and her husband, Douglas, of Warwick and Michael Blanck and his wife, Lisa, of Rehoboth; four grandchildren, Nathaniel and Jeremiah Wilson, Allison and Aaron Blanck and one brother, Barry Weinstein and his wife, Grace. She was also devoted to her cat, Sami and will be missed by so many others who were touched by her life. If you would like to honor her memory, a donation to the Animal Rescue League of Boston (arlboston. org) or WAGS Pet Adoption (wagspetadoption.org) would be a fitting tribute.

Muriel Sutton-Davis, 96 BOYNTON BEACH, FLA. – Muriel (Zelniker) Sutton-Davis, of Boynton Beach, passed away on Oct. 14 at Bethesda Hospital East. She was the

wife of the late Aaron Sutton and the late Aaron Davis.

Born in Providence, she was a daughter of the late Dora (Gereboff) and Harry Zelniker.

Muriel was a life member of Temple Torat Yisrael and Hadassah.

Survivors include: her loving children, Dr. Jeffrey (Sandra) Sutton of Lake Worth Florida, and Marcia Sutton of Rochester, New York; three step-children, Marc (Helen) Davis, Clare (Morris) Yaffe, and Robert (Paula) Davis; two grandsons, Aaron and Shaun Cohen; eight step-grandchildren, and 12 step-great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions, in her honor, may be made to Hadassah.

an avid mahjong and canasta player.

She was the mother of Robin Fischer Blatt (Robert) of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Dr. Peter Fischer (Cheryl) of North Easton, Massachusetts and Dr. Bruce Fischer (Bori) of Boca Raton, Florida. She was the sister of the late Adele Kay and Lois Silver.

She was the grandmother of Samantha, Michael, Rachel, Aaron, David and Ben. Contributions in her memory may be made to Temple Sinai in Cranston, HopeHealth Hospice, or the charity of your choice.

Dorothy Golden, 87

PAWTUCKET, R.I. – David Engle passed away on Oct. 15 in Providence. He was the husband of Ronnie Golden Engle, father of Henri-Martin Engle and brother of Carol Stupell and the late Ellen Connor.

Born in Providence, he was the son of the late Melvin and Mary (Kantorowitz) Engle.

Upon his graduation from the University of Rhode Island, David joined the family business, Engle Tire Company in Providence, where he worked until retiring in 2005. He was a member of Touro Fraternal Association. David was an avid sportsman and spectator.

Contributions in his memory may be made to HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center, 1085 N. Main St., Providence, RI 02904 or Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, www.trfinc.org.

WARWICK, R.I – Dorothy (Blaivise) Golden, of Warwick, passed away unexpectedly on Oct. 19 at Roger Williams Hospital in Providence. She was the wife of Leon Golden, with whom she shared 64 years of marriage.

Born in Providence, the daughter of the late Isaac “Fred” and Alice (Berkowicz) Blaivise, she was a clerk for the City of Warwick School Department for many years before retiring.

In addition to her husband, survivors include: four children, Mark Golden of California, Kayla Kauffman and her husband, William, of Pennsylvania, Eric Golden and his wife, Dulce Quiroz, of Nevada and Reba Golden and her husband, Andre Mayer, of Rhode Island and six grandchildren, Alexandria Golden, Brittany Golden, Zachary Kauffman, Morgan Kauffman, Joshua Golden and Jacob Golden.

Billie Lee Fischer, 82

Sanford Golin, 92

CRANSTON, R.I. – Billie Lee Fischer died Oct. 27 at home. She was the wife of Charles Fischer for 60 years. Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a daughter of the late Percy and Hannah (Gordon) Finberg, she had lived in Cranston for 60 years, previously living in Boston where she graduated from Boston University.

She worked for the Cranston Fire Department as an administrator and was a beloved part of their community, retiring in 2019. Prior to the Fire Department, Billie worked at James Kaplan Jewelers. She was a longstanding member of Temple Sinai and

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Sanford Golin died on Sept.

22 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Better known by his nicknames Uncle Sonny, Grandpa Joe, Dad and just plain “Joe,” Sanford was a warm, funny guy with a passion for travel and a wide-ranging interest in human nature. But his first love was his family.

Sanford was born on July 24, 1929, in Providence to Nathan Golin and Sophie (Lecht) Golin. He spent his early years living with a large extended family of immigrants and first-generation Americans in a threestory home on Douglas Avenue. Sonny, as he was known then, lived with his sister Evelyn, his parents, grandparents, and many aunts and

David Engle, 71

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

OBITUARIES uncles from the Lecht family.

Sonny was smart and athletic, earning a spot at Classical High School, where he also ran track and was captain of the basketball team. After graduating in 1947, he enrolled at Brown University, graduating with a B.A. in Psychology in 1951. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Iowa and became a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where he trained generations of young psychologists over a 30-year career. He and his wife, Anne, raised three children, Carol, Eric and Sarah, in the city.

He divorced, and in 1987, he married Jane Berkey, of Pittsburgh. They spent many years taking vacations with their combined families of five children and 11 grandchildren. They eventually retired to West Palm Beach, Florida. Sanford continued to travel to Providence regularly, visiting his many aging relatives. Two of his children and one grandchild also attended Brown, so there were visits for family weekends and graduations. He also vacationed for more than 50 years in Chatham, Massachusetts, and never failed to stop in his old hometown.

Claire Grauer, 93 PROVIDENCE. R.I. – Claire (Gimpelman) Grauer of Providence, formerly of New York, passed away on Oct. 19 at her residence. She was the wife of the late Marcel Grauer, with whom she shared 68 years of marriage before he passed away in 2015.

Born in Vinitza, Russia, a daughter of the late Boris and Bella Gimpleman, Claire and her late husband had moved to Providence in 2013 to live closer to her daughter Vicki and her husband, Ron. A graduate of Hofstra University, she earned a bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish and later earned a master’s degree in French there. Mrs. Grauer spoke multiple languages and was a language teacher in New York for many years before retiring. A frequent volunteer at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, she would go to many different schools to prepare the students for their field trips to the museum. She also volunteered to help Russian immigrants adapt to new

lives in the United States. An avid reader and crossword puzzle wiz, she enjoyed going to the opera and theater but most importantly loved being a devoted and caring wife, mother, grandmother and friend.

Survivors include: three daughters, Sandra Connor and her husband, Peter, of North Carolina, Vicki Grauer and her husband, Ron Platt, of Rhode Island and Patricia Zito and her husband, Vincent, of New York; five grandchildren, Brian Zito and his wife, Gillian, Keith Zito, Travis Zito, Nora DiNuzzo and her husband, David, and David Connor and his fiancée, Jennise; four great-grandchildren, Maddie and Logan Zito and Olivia and Leo DiNuzzo and a very close friend that she considered a family member, Melissa McKinney.

She was the sister of the late Kenneth Gimpleman.

Memorial contributions in her honor may be made to, HopeHealth Hospice, 1085 North Main St. Providence, RI 02904

David Joseph, 73 NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. – David Elliott Joseph passed away on Oct. 25, 5½ years after being diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme, a terminal brain tumor.

David was born in Buffalo, New York on July 23, 1948, to Donald A and Dvorah (née Sperling) Joseph. He received a BA in history and philosophy from Harper College in 1970, and began his adventures abroad with a 2-year stint in Niger with Peace Corps, teaching English to French and Hausa speaking children. When he returned to the U.S., he continued his teaching career at the Murray Rd Alternative High School in Newton Massachusetts. He met Andrea Bender in 1973 during a summer job they both worked selling Great Books of the Western World.

When he decided to pursue an MSW, Andrea patiently endured the three summers he spent in academic studies as one of 15 men in a class of 50 at Smith College. They survived the odds and married in May 1975.

David launched his second 25-year career as a mediator and peacebuilder. He joined the Public Conversations Project (now known as Essential Partners) as a volunteer facilitator of difficult conversations, and then formally, in 2004, as Director of Pro-

grams.

He was a founding member of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI). He served on the board and as chair of the board from 2018 until recently and he was named Chair Emeritus. He helped found the Providence Community Mediation Center (now the Center for Mediation and Collaboration of Rhode Island) in 1996, and will be the first recipient of the David Joseph Peacemaker Award at their 25th anniversary celebration in November.

He served on and was president of the board of Temple Beth-El in Providence, was a member of the Social Justice Committee, and taught Sunday School for many years.

In addition to Andrea, Jesse and Seth, David is survived by Jesse’s sons Alexander and Davey, and Seth and Jodie’s children Stella and Pierce. He was the older brother of Judy (Bruce) Ramsey and Ruth Ma’ayan (Dick Fate), and uncle to Judy’s daughter Elyse (Mohit) and Ruth’s children Vincent (Sunny) Valentino, Tal Ma’ayan and Ariel Ma’ayan, and Tal’s daughter Leila. His extended family in Buffalo

included nine cousins, all of whom remain close.

He and Andrea held hands until the end.

Donations may be made to Essential Partners, Mediators Beyond Borders International, or Center for Mediation and Collaboration.

Shirley Kahan, 94 STRATFORD, CONN. – Shirley Kahan, of Stratford, passed away at her home on Sept. 13. Shirley was born on Sept. 11, 1927 in the Bronx, New York, daughter of the late Isidor and Mollie Jacobs.

Shirley is survived by her children Steven Kahan and his wife, Lori, of Cranston, and Shari Nerreau and her husband, Brian, of Fairfield, Connecticut; grandchildren Zachary, Sydney, Bradley, Jason and Meredith; and by her many nieces and nephews. Shirley was predeceased by her husband Irving Kahan and her sisters Faye Danon and Betty Cuttler.

Memorial contributions can be made by check to Congregation B'nai Israel (memo line: CT Institute for Refugees and Immigrants), 2710 Park Ave., Bridgeport, CT, or to a

charity of your choice.

Susan Kaplan, 84 PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Susan Adler Kaplan passed peacefully on Oct. 30. Known for her tenacity, strength and compassion, Susan was respected in the community and acknowledged nationally for her contributions to education as a teacher, administrator and mentor.

She attended Connecticut College before receiving two degrees from Brown University: A.B. (’58) and M.A.T (’65). After teaching English at Classical High School for 28 years, Susan served as administrator of English and Libraries for the Providence Public School System.

Continuing her passion for education, Susan held numerous roles with the Rhode Island Writing Assessment, Rhode Island Writing Project and the Blackstone Academy.

The first faculty member to be honored by the Classical Alumni Association, Susan was also named Providence

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

OBITUARIES Teacher of the Year, and Teacher of the Year by Good Morning America. Her love for teaching extended to roles as an adjunct professor at Providence College and Roger Williams University, and consulting in New York, California and Egypt with the Ministry of Education.

In addition to her family, friends and students, Susan’s greatest joy was her affiliation with her alma mater.

Born to Brown graduates, Lt. Colonel Walter Adler (’18), a founding partner of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, and Celia Ernstof Adler (’25), Susan served as a Trustee, a Trustee Emerita and Chair of the Corporation Emeriti Executive Committee. She chaired 100 Years of Women at Brown, served as the Associate Chair of the Advisory Council on Brown Relations with Tougaloo College, and chaired the Ogden Lectures on International Affairs.

Brown honored Susan with an Outstanding Teacher Educator Award, a Brown Bear and an Ittleson Award.

Her community activities were numerous. With a love for theater and the arts, Susan was a proud supporter of the Trinity Square Repertory Company, in honor of her late husband, Robert M. Kaplan, a founding member.

She also served on the boards of Temple Beth-El and The Miriam Hospital.

Survived by her loving granddaughter, Samantha Ashlee Bowen, her sister Nancy Adler Morrill, many beloved nieces and nephews, and other family members.

Susan was the devoted mother of the late Patricia Kaplan Bowen and sister of the late Joan Adler Mark.

Contributions may be made to the Susan Adler Kaplan Memorial Fund for Public Education at Brown University, Box 1877, Providence, RI 02912.

Rose Levine, 104 CRANSTON, R.I. — Rose R. Levine passed away on Oct. 20 after a three-day illness.

She was the daughter of the late Jennie (Salk) and Samuel Altman. Rose was predeceased by her husband, Samuel, to whom she was married for 65 years. She was also predeceased by her son, Kenneth, and her brothers Morris, Leonard and Nathan.

Rose’s life was enriched by her loving family, her daughter Judy and son-in-law, Geoffrey, her adored grandchildren, Melissa, Tony and Darcy. She was blessed with two amazing great-grandchildren, Peter and Samantha.

Rose spent many years

employed by James Kaplan Jewelers. She enjoyed every phase of her job. Spending time cooking and baking was a daily enjoyment. Always delicious. Always creative.

Rose taught many wise lessons. She always said, “Don’t worry – It won’t do you any good. You can’t change what happened yesterday. You must live for today, and you don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so don’t worry.”

Rose was a determined woman. The word “can’t” wasn’t in her vocabulary. She would accomplish whatever she set out to do, no matter what.

She lived a full life until 104 years, 2 months and 2 days. What a wonderful mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother – someone to admire.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the charity of your choice.

Carolyn Salk, 86 EAST GREENWICH, R.I. – Carolyn B. (Bohn) Salk, of East Greenwich, passed away Oct. 25 at The Miriam Hospital.

She was the wife of Harold Salk with whom she shared 64 years of marriage. Born in Boston, she was the daughter of the late Julius and Pauline (Kudisch) Bohn.

She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Tufts University. After studying at Tufts University, she interviewed applicants

who were applying to the school. Carolyn was the office manager for the family business, Salk’s Hardware, for many years. A member and former regional president of the Women’s ORT, she was an avid traveler and loved to sail.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by: three sons, Jeffrey Salk and his wife, Beth, of East Greenwich, Richard Salk and his wife, Martha, of New York, and Michael Salk and his wife, Harriet, of New Jersey; six grandchildren, Benjamin Salk and his wife, Allie, Adam Salk and his wife, Elissa, Emily, Katie, Sydney, and Skyler Salk; three great-grandchildren, Haley, Nora and Jason and several nieces and nephews. She was the sister-in-law of the late Norberta (Salk) Gross-Rosen.

Barbara Schaffer, 87 BOCA RATON, FLA. – Barbara Schaffer passed away on Oct. 2 at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.

She was the wife of the late Stanley Schaffer. Born in Providence, a daughter of the late Abraham and Nancy (Garfinkel) Fabricant, she had lived in Boca Raton for six years and was previously a longtime resident of Warwick. She was a graduate of Hope High School, Class of ’52. Barbara was an office manager for Sinel, Wilfand & Vinci Accounting for 20 years, retiring in 2006. She was a former member of Temple Sinai.

She was the mother of Gary

Schaffer (Susan) of Cumberland and Steven Schaffer of Boca Raton. She was the sister of Donna Kelman (Dave) of Cranston and Sherri Kaplow (Jerry) of Ashland, Massachusetts. She was the grandmother of Dylan. She was the aunt of Billy, Robert and Karen.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the American Heart Association, One State St. #200, Providence, RI 02908 or Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, 60 Walnut St., Wellesley, MA 02481.

Irving Weinreich, 89 PAWTUCKET, R.I. – Irving Weinreich passed away on Oct. 12. He was the husband of Ruth (Green) Weinreich for more than 60 years. He was the father of Audrey Weinreich and Deb Weinreich, and grandfather of Bari Weinreich. Born in Danzig, Germany, Irving came to America at 7 years old with his parents, Victor and Hannah (Pollak) Weinreich.

He was a longtime resident of Pawtucket.

Irving was a graduate of Hope High School and Bryant College. He was an Army veteran, serving in Korea.

Irving owned Victor Co. Inc. in Providence for 65 years and continued to work after Audrey took over. He was an active member of Temple Emanu-El and a part of the minyan group.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence, RI 02906.

Members of Congress ask TV providers to increase access to Jewish programming

Certified by the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island Jacquelyn Aubuchon, Funeral Director

(JTA) – Five members of Congress are calling on cable and satellite television providers to increase access to Jewish-themed programming as a way of fighting against anti-Semitism.

The letter was spearheaded by Rep. Kathleen Rice, whose district on New York’s Long Island includes a number of large Jewish communities. She was joined by four other members of Congress, all Democrats, who represent parts of the country with large Jewish communities, including Reps. Ted Deutch of Florida,

Grace Meng of New York, and Brad Sherman and Ted Lieu of California.

The letters, addressed to seven cable and satellite providers, ask the companies for information about the obstacles they face in providing Jewish programming and about their plans to increase access to that programming.

“As Members of Congress who represent Jewish communities across the country, we have seen the impact of making programming specifically tailored to these communities widely avail-

able. Culturally specific programming fosters community and, for those outside of the community, exposure to Jewish programming can be an important and effective antidote to the scourge of hate and bigotry against Jewish people,” wrote the members of Congress.

A press release from Jewish Life Television, a Jewish-themed channel, praised the letters, and said state legislators in 17 states have made similar requests of cable and satellite providers in their areas in recent months.

NOVEMBER 2021 | 39

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

SIMCHA

PHOTO | OSMUDSON PHOTOGRAPY

Chitwood-Sherak Melanie Hunter Chitwood, daughter of Faye Zuckerman and John Martin of Barrington and Bristol, and Raphael Adam Gutmann Sherak, son of Hannah and Don Sherak of New York City and Brookline, were married at Pierce House in Lincoln, Mass., in mid August. Melanie and Raffi are both graduates of Hampshire College and each holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Raffi completed his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is currently a resident in Emergency Medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital. Melanie is working on a Ph.D. in epidemiology at Yale University. They honeymooned in Hawaii and reside in New Haven with their beloved dog Bayes.

Governor Dan McKee

40 | NOVEMBER 2021

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

PRESENTED BY

THE DR. JAMES YASHAR & JUDGE MARJORIE YASHAR FUND at the Jewish Federation Foundation

Sun, Nov. 14 | Mon, Nov. 15 | Tues, Nov. 16 Join us virtually and in-person for diverse discussions, rich workshops, and interactive experiences designed to explore the many facets of Jewish life and culture.

Sunday NOVEMBER

Monday 14

What Makes Me Tic: Comedy, Disability and the Inclusive Community

6:15pm (virtual

and in-person at the Dwares JCC)

NOVEMBER

Tuesday 15

BEHIND THE BOOK PRESENTS:

RBG’s Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone

7:00pm (virtual)

Two Truths in One Heart; Two Peoples in One Land: Unlikely Partners for Peace

Jacob, Rebecca, Rachel: On the Loss of Women

12:00pm (virtual) with Dr. Avivah Zornberg Lost and found – Being young and Jewish in Central & Eastern Europe

7:00pm (virtual) with Tamas Buchler

7:30pm (virtual) with Noa Tishby

7:00pm (virtual and

*Proof of vaccination and face masks will be required for all in-person events.

16

with Nadine Epstein

with Pam Schuller Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth

NOVEMBER

in-person at the Dwares JCC) with Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Noor A’wad

EVENT SCHEDULE AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT

Kosher Soul

8:15pm (virtual) with Michael Twitty

JewishAllianceRI.org/EJR