December 2023

DECEMBER 2023 | KISLEV/TEVET 5784

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Many ways to spread the light

Fry up some Sfenj for Hanukkah

RI marches for Israel

Mayor Smiley on fighting antisemitism

2 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence Spacious studio, one or two bedroom apartments Studio or companion apartments in our Memory Care Program

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Every third Tuesday of the Month Enjoy a delicious meal and have all of your senior living questions answered.

Whether for yourself or a loved one, our lunch and learn is a great way to get a real taste of Tamarisk.

For inquiries or to RSVP call Andrew Levin at 401.732.0037 or check out our website at TamariskRI.org The Phyllis Siperstein Tamarisk Assisted Living Residence is a community of Jewish Collaborative Services | JCSRI.org

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DECEMBER 2023 | 3

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Spread light during this dark December AS I WRITE this column, we face continuing troubles worldwide. In the Middle East, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a short pause in the fighting, which will probably be over by the time you read this. Hostages are being released, but how long that will continue is up in the air.

In Ukraine, the war with Russia slogs on, with no end in sight.

At home, a former president faces multiple court cases while being a front-runner in the campaign for the 2024 presidency.

Lest I sound all doom-andgloom, our Thanksgiving holiday saw the heaviest travel since before COVID, and my family gathered at my house for a reunion of sorts. Fun, food and family made for a wonderful few days.

One year ago, I wrote a column about the upcoming season of light in the midst of darkness. I think this column is worth a second read now.

However you celebrate Hanukkah, make sure to light candles to crowd out the darkness of December. We are resilient and we will keep going.

From December 2022:

This Hanukkah, spread the light IT SEEMS LIKE we could all use a little more light in our lives right now.

Light gives us joy. It opens our eyes to the world around us and cancels the darkness.

And there sure is a lot of darkness right now. I’m not just speaking of the early setting of the sun, which can be just discouraging on its own. I’m using the word darkness figuratively.

In Arizona, election deniers are holding up certification of an election with little or no evidence that any serious issues occurred that impacted the outcome.

In Georgia, a runoff election is putting our core values to the test. And whichever candidate wins, is it a win for the state and country or another occasion for us to tumble into election controversy?

Our politics are dividing our leaders, and also our families and friendships.

December darkness in Washington, D.C., could bring more political controversy. Will Congress act on a long list of important and controversial issues before the end of their session? Will the new Congress work together to solve problems, or stoke them? And what will the Supreme Court do next?

We face a lot of economic uncertainty and potential shifts in our homes and investment values. Traveling is more expensive and more of a hassle. A triad of medical issues still threaten, from COVID and flu to RSV. The impact of all this is taking a toll on our mental health.

And there is the war in Ukraine, turmoil in China and Iran, and concerns about food shortages and climate change worldwide. We are experiencing more mass killings and an increase in hate speech against Jews, Asians, Blacks and

others.

It can feel overwhelming.

So how can we spread more light? What brings us joy?

How do we increase our optimism and avoid focusing entirely on the negative?

Hanukkah is a good start.

A little light from the glow of our Hanukkah candles is always a welcome sight on these short December days.

And that brings me joy. I know Hanukkah is certainly not the most significant of holidays, but it always seems to come at the right time.

Hanukkah is a celebration of freedom, perseverance and miracles. That little vial of oil burned brightly for eight nights. What could offer more hope in these negative times?

That promise of light attracts loved ones to my house, which brings joy to our entire family. And the anticipation of crispy latkes certainly helps.

I’m happy to host our family gatherings, with the accompanying excitement and warmth. Everyone has a menorah, and we light them all together. If that doesn’t push out the darkness, I don’t know what will.

A wise rabbi has told me repeatedly over the years that the more we light candles, like the Shabbat candles or the Hanukkah candles, the more light we bring into the world and the more good will come of the light.

This month, as you light the Hanukkah candles, take a few moments to focus on the positive, the warmth and the love that surrounds you. Take the opportunity of the Festival of Lights to shine a light on what is good and right. And perhaps take the opportunity to think about how you can contribute more to the light moving forward.

I’m going to kindle all our hanukkiot this year because our world can sure use the light. I hope you will too, and that it will help you experience some of the joy of the miracle of Hanukkah.

Fran Ostendorf Editor

D'VAR TORAH 5 | CALENDAR 6 | FOOD 9 | COMMUNITY VOICES 10 | OPINION 16 HANUKKAH 18 | MARCH FOR ISRAEL 20 | COMMUNITY 22 | BUSINESS 32 | OBITUARIES 33

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UP FRONT Lindsay Kuhn has found her dream career: Helping others find theirs

BY ROBERT ISENBERG

I

f anyone has seriously debated what to do with their career, it’s Lindsay Kuhn.

The 43-year-old entrepreneur takes an interest in everything, and she has found success as a student, teacher, scientist, journalist, engineer and businesswoman.

THE TRAJECTORY of Kuhn’s professional life has shifted dramatically over the years. She knows what it’s like to stand at a professional crossroads and think, “I wonder if I should try something completely different?”

Kuhn founded her company, Wingspans, to help solve this existential problem. Headquartered in the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in Providence, Wingspans, at www.wingspans.com, is an online program that helps high school and college students explore different career paths.

This is no simple brochure; Wingspans is a sophisticated curriculum involving questionnaires, resume-building and video-interviews with more than 1,000 professionals across hundreds of fields.

Taking cues from 1970s radio personality Studs Terkel, who collected conversations with workers in diverse fields, Kuhn wants young aspirants to know what kind of workforce they’re getting into, warts and all.

This is a critical moment for Kuhn: Her company is competing in the Future Finder Challenge, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, which rewards a winner with $1 million in funding. Kuhn is hoping Wingspans will take at least second or third place, which will mean splitting a quarter-million-dollar prize.

But who is Lindsay Kuhn? The polymathic enterpriser can’t be easily categorized, and she likes it that way.

Here are some facts about Wingspans’ enigmatic creator:

Kuhn is from Florida Kuhn grew up in Coral Springs, just outside of Fort Lauderdale. Both of Kuhn’s parents worked in health care, and her father was president of their Reform synagogue. She con-

Lindsay Kuhn nected with her Jewish roots by traveling with Birthright and March of the Living. But Kuhn’s interests ran the gamut, from playing the violin to studying life sciences.

“My dad was an adjunct biology professor at a local university,” she says. “I saw my dad get excited about science, and it was kind of contagious. He would bring me to his class every now and then, and I remember they did a frog dissection, and I was always really interested in that.”

She studied English and engineering Kuhn wasn’t satisfied with a mere double-major: She pursued a B.A. in English, with a concentration in creative writing, at Barnard College, while also earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. Somehow, she also found time to play the violin with the Columbia klezmer band and the

PHOTO| COURTESY LINDSAY KUHN

Columbia Orchestra for Asian Music.

“I didn’t have a lot of direction,” reflects Kuhn. “You’re 18, you don’t really know what you’re doing. I always loved writing and telling stories. But I thought mechanical engineering would be a practical counterpoint. I had all these ideas, and I thought engineering would be like a way to bring all those ideas to life.”

Studying engineering wasn’t without its challenges, particularly the gender gap: She recalls only four female students in her program, and none of them was doing a second degree in the arts.

“I like challenging stereotypes,” Kuhn says. “I liked the idea of having women in engineering. I know firsthand just how important it is to have somebody who looks like you and showing you the path and that it’s possible.”

She went to California for the creative scene; she stayed for the aerospace It’s hard to imagine a trained mechanical engineer writing freelance articles for E! Network and The Malibu Times, but that’s exactly what Kuhn did when she arrived in Los Angeles in 2003. She moved to Southern California with the express purpose of involving herself in local media, and she spent more than a year creating content for the two publications.

Eventually, though, she turned her attention to engineering giant Boeing.

“The idea of adventure and the magic of flying drew me to aerospace,” says Kuhn.

At Boeing, Kuhn was admitted to the two-year Career Advancement CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

DECEMBER 2023 | 5

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

We too often view criticism as disloyalty

D’ VA

HARVARD PROF. Shaye J.D. Cohen identifies the Maccabean Revolt against Greek King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, which began in 167 B.C.E., as “history’s first recorded struggle for relgious liberty.”

For those of us who are proud citizens of the Ocean State, carrying forward the legacy of Roger Williams, we might feel an immediate kinship with the motley band of rebels who risked all and miraculously overthrew the great Greek empire. All the more so perhaps because the very same tenets of religious liberty that were foundational to the establishment of our fair state allow us to publicly celebrate our Festival of Lights by kindling the hanukkiah in the same municipal domains that house symbols from other religious traditions.

The genius of religious liberty is that, in its highest expression, it allows for people to peacefully coexist despite differences of conscience and opinion.

R

But, lest we lionize the Hasmonean dynasty too much, we must remember that the religious liberty they sought for themselves became tyranny for others.

There is a litany of reasons our rabbis were uncomfortable with the popular holiday of Hanukkah and sought first to suppress, then to recast, the ethos and significance of the festival beginning on the 25th of Kislev.

While the triumphant annals of the Maccabees were relegated to relative obscurity outside of the biblical canon, the sages of the RABBI Talmud emphaPRESTON sized that the NEIMEISER real miracle was not the military victory of those who would eventually become deeply flawed despots; rather, the miracle was the oil that, with God’s help, burned for eight nights instead of one.

Questions of sovereignty and statehood abound in our contemporary context. Just as the Hasmonean state was never fully accepted by its

TO R A H

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Program, which rotated her between numerous departments in the company. She then worked as a mechanical systems design engineer for the C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane, and later as an engineer in the thermophysics group for the Satellite Development Center.

Kuhn earned a Ph.D. at Brown After six years at Boeing, Kuhn decided to go back to school. She had long fostered an interest in sustainability, which led to a master’s program in mechanical science at Brown University. This is why she arrived in Providence in 2010.

“I went back to graduate school at 30, and I remember feeling very old,” Kuhn says with a characteristic giggle.

While at Brown, she earned a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. The NSF GK312 no longer exists, but at the time it enabled Kuhn to teach science part time at Nathan Bishop Middle School, in Providence. She enjoyed working with the preteen students and found a new love:

teaching.

Her startup has changed names Gradually, Kuhn started to lay the groundwork for a start-up. She loved the idea of illustrating different careers for teens and college students, using a recorded “archive of stories” as a guide.

Herons symbolize “light and self-creation,” and as someone who had worked in innovation, Kuhn came up with the name “Inventing Heron,” which she founded in 2013. This continued for several productive years, after which she decided that the name needed some work.

“People would stop listening after I said Inventing Heron,” she remembers.

“They would be trying to figure out, ‘What is that?

What does that mean?’ So we rebranded. Wingspans was kind of a departure from Inventing Heron, but it made more sense. And the domain name was available!”

Wingspans is taking flight While the basic concept has existed for 10 years, Wingspans has grown exponentially in the past six months.

Jewish populace, many in our community and beyond have valid misgivings about modern Israel. Similar complaints about the state’s corruption and stifling of religious liberty abound as we bear witness to the erosion of Israeli democracy and the expansion of the occupation.

For some time now, the bounds of our communal conversations about Israel have been contracting. There is increasingly less room for honest, civil disagreement about the best path forward for our shared inheritance.

But, as Jewish institutions have contracted their tents, those who find themselves on the other side of the party line have come to embrace their exclusion from this corporate project of the Jewish people.

We should not be surprised that so many young Jews identify as anti-Zionist when they do not see themselves or their values reflected in the Jewish state. All the more so when they are shut out from aspects of organized communal life for reasonable moral concerns about how we live our Torah.

Too often, we meet criticism with defensiveness

The company received $60,000 from the U.S. Department of Education and moved into the CIC coworking space, which was partially established to incubate start-ups.

Using “game-ified” programs like Duolingo as inspiration, Wingspans is now a colorful, interactive workspace, with thematic levels and daily “quests.” The more than 10,000 pages of content has also been translated into Spanish. Wingspans has partnered with nearly 40 community colleges and reached more than 40,000 users.

“This year we expect to see a really large uptick in engagement and activity,” says Kuhn. “We’ve multiplied the number of schools we’re working with by five.”

Kuhn got married in 2021 As Kuhn settled into her post-doctorate life in Providence, she sometimes struggled socially. She found herself on many different dating apps, including the Jewish-focused JSwipe.

“Dating, I have to say, was not easy living in Providence,” she recalls. “Being single here in my thirties was not fun.”

and view disagreement as disloyalty. Too seldom do we acknowledge the multiplicity of truths. What might it look like to be more open-hearted in our dialogue?

Now, more than ever, it feels difficult to do so. After the events of Oct. 7, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, with Hamas still holding some 200 people captive, the rawness of our ongoing grief clouds our minds.

Add to that the pain many of us feel from the betrayal of those we considered friends but who are now failing to see and support us in our sorrow and anguish; it is no wonder that one might think now is exactly not the time to lay down our arms or make ourselves vulnerable to more hurt and heartache.

However, in parashah Vayishlach, we see that our ancestor Jacob’s ability to greet his brother in the midst of his life-changing injury enabled the two to reconcile.

To bear the name Israel, Jacob must first wrestle with beings both human and divine. To bear the name Israel, Jacob must demand a blessing from the very one who injured him most.

A high school friend introduced Kuhn to Gennady Gelman, a Massachusetts-based director of medical informatics, in 2018.

They didn’t actually meet for several months, since Gelman was reluctant to venture as far as Rhode Island. But when they did meet, they hit it off, courted and weathered the pandemic together.

They decided to get married in November 2021. The officiant was Rabbi Barry Dolinger.

“We planned the wedding in, like, three days,” says Kuhn.

Kuhn enjoys Providence Having lived in large, fast-paced cities, you might think Kuhn would feel underwhelmed by little old Providence, but she harbors deep affection for the city. She lives in downtown Providence with her husband and pit bull dachshund, Penny, a rescue from the Hotel for Homeless Dogs. Her morning commute to the CIC is a 15-minute walk.

“I can’t imagine myself

The Hasmonean dynasty endured for 103 years. This May, the modern state of Israel will celebrate its 76th anniversary.

If we wish to see Jewish sovereignty endure in our time, we must be willing to meet our siblings in the field, despite our injuries and sense of vulnerability. When we commit to illuminating the world together, we increase the holiness of our endeavors.

May this Festival of Lights enable us to see ourselves more clearly reflected in the other, as we all take part in uplifting sparks of holiness back to the source.

As the holiday lights grow and glow, let us follow the tradition set forth by our sages and read our tradition expansively rather than narrowly.

Let the menorot (lamps) we publicly display be a beacon to all who believe it is our holy duty to increase, rather than decrease, sanctity in the world. The only way to do so is with more light and love.

Hanukkah sameach!

PRESTON NEIMEISER is a rabbi at Temple Beth-El, in Providence.

Candle lighting times December 2023

Greater Rhode Island Dec. 1

3:56pm

Dec. 8

3:55pm

Dec. 15

3:56pm

Dec. 22 3:59pm Dec. 29 4:03pm doing anything else right now,” Kuhn says. “I just feel really lucky that I get to do this every day.”

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

6 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

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.

Hanukkah celebration at the Dwares JCC on 12/15 (description below). No Café on 12/25. In-person (and on Zoom most Tuesdays and Thursdays) programming from 11 a.m.-noon followed by lunch and discussion noon-1 p.m. Every Wednesday is chair yoga. The third Thursday of the month is a book chat with Neal Drobnis. Suggested donation: $3 per lunch for those age 60 and older as well as for younger adults with a disability.

Other adults may purchase a meal for $6.50. The Kosher Senior Café is a program of Jewish Collaborative Services supported by the Jewish Alliance of Greater RI and Blackstone Health. Information and RSVP, Neal at neal@jfsri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 107.

Project Shoresh Ladies’ Partners in Torah Night. Sundays 7:458:45 p.m. Providence Hebrew Day School, 450 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Partner-based study group.

On-site facilitators available. Free.

Information, projectshoresh.com.

Let's Talk Hebrew! Alef (Beginners). Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m.

12/4 thru 2/5. No class: 12/25, 1/1.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. An introduction to alef bet and basic Hebrew phrases.

Will work with a book. Cost: $125 (scholarship available). Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail. com.

Mondays 6:30-7:30 p.m. 12/4 thru 2/5. No class: 12/25, 1/1. Virtual only. For those able to converse in present, past and beginning future tenses and who can read and comment on easy Hebrew stories and newspaper articles. Will work with a book. Cost: $125 (scholarship available). Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail.com.

Writing Community. Mondays 6-7:30 p.m. Thru 12/11. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Instructor Jim Levanos will provide lessons, guidance and creative writing prompts to help writers find their voice. 4-week block: JCC Members: $25 | Non-members: $35; individual class: JCC Members: $8 | non-members: $10.

Information, Devorah Phillips at dphillips@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 163.

Temple Emanu-El Mahjong.

Tuesdays 11 a.m.-1 p.m. 99 Taft Ave., Providence. Both new and advanced players are welcome.

Drop-ins welcome. Information, Shosh@teprov.org.

Let's Talk Hebrew! Bet (Advanced Beginners). Mondays 6:30-7:30 p.m. 12/4 thru 2/5. No class: 12/25, 1/1. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Basic Hebrew reading skills and beginning Hebrew conversation. Will work with a book. Cost: $125 (scholarship available). Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail.com.

Let's Talk Hebrew! Daled (Advanced Intermediate).

Let's Talk Hebrew! Gimmel (Intermediate). Tuesdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. 12/5 thru 2/6. No class: 12/26, 1/2. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Offered both in person and virtually. For those who can read and write Hebrew, and who can converse using basic vocabulary in the present and some past tense. Cost: $125 (scholarship available). Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail.com.

Let's Talk Hebrew! Hey (Advanced). Tuesdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. 12/5 thru 2/6. No class: 12/26, 1/2. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. For those who can speak Hebrew easily in all tenses, can read articles and poetry, and can discuss a variety of current topics. Cost: $125 (scholarship available). Information, Toby Liebowitz at tobyaane@gmail.com.

Pottery. Wednesdays 6-8 p.m.

Thru 12/6. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Explore hand-building clay techniques of pinch, coil and slab to create exciting forms and realize ideas in three dimensions with longtime potter and ceramics teacher Sally Merino.

Ages 18+. Information, Devorah Phillips at dphillips@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 163.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Celebrate the holidays with purr-fect joy at

Indulge in cozy moments with our delightful feline friends, complemented by the warmth of coffee, tea, pastries, and chai. www.BajahsCatCafe.com

Teen Nights at Temple Beth-El. Thursdays 6-8 p.m. No Teen Night on 12/28. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Enjoy dinner and an evening of meaningful discussion.

Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Temple Sinai Shabbat Evening Service. Fridays 6-7 p.m. 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. Song, prayer and reflection offered 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.

Cape Cod Synagogue Shabbat Services. Fridays 7 p.m., except second Friday of the month 6:30 p.m. when Family Shabbat Services

take place. 145 Winter St., Hyannis, Mass. With Rabbi David Freelund.

In-person and livestreamed on website, Facebook, Cape Media, YouTube and Community Television Comcast channel 99. Information, 508-775-2988 or capecodsynagogue.org.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Morning Service. Second Saturday of the month 9 a.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Saturday morning service. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Temple Beth-El Torah Study.

Saturdays except second Saturday of the month 9 a.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Join us for Torah study. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Torat Yisrael Virtual & In-Person Saturday Morning Shabbat Services. No services on 12/30. 9:3010:30 a.m. 1251 Middle Road, East Greenwich. In-person with Zoom available. Information, temple@ toratyisrael.org.

Temple Sinai Shabbat Breakfast & Torah Study. Saturdays 9:30-11 a.m. 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston.

Breakfast followed by interactive in-person and Zoom discussion at 10 a.m. with Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser or others in our community.

Breakfast RSVP and information, dottie@templesinairi.org or 401942-8350.

Temple Habonim Torah Study.

Most Saturdays 10-11 a.m. Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman leads Torah study on current portion. Via Zoom.

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

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Morning Service and B’nai Mitzvah.

Saturdays except second Saturday of the month 10:30 a.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-3316070, ext. 100.

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

145 Winter St., Hyannis, Mass. With Rabbi David Freelund. In-person and livestreamed on website, Facebook and YouTube. Information, Cape Cod Synagogue at 508-7752988 or capecodsynagogue.org.

Temple Sinai Shabbat Morning Service. Saturdays 11 a.m.-noon (10:30 a.m. when celebrating a Bar or Bat Mitzvah). 30 Hagen Ave., Cranston. In-person and via Zoom.

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

Friday | December 1 Torat Yisrael Virtual Kabbalat Shabbat Songs & Torah Services.

5:45-6:30 p.m. By Zoom only. Information, temple@toratyisrael.org.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Service.

7-8 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Friday evening service.

Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Sunday | December 3 Temple Beth-El Hanukkah Celebration. 4-6 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Join us for a light show

by Cirque de Light. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-3316070, ext. 100.

Friday | December 8 Torat Yisrael Virtual Kabbalat Shabbat Songs & Torah Services.

5:45-6:30 p.m. By Zoom only. Information, temple@toratyisrael.org.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Hallelu Service. 6:30 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. An evening of song and prayer. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Saturday | December 9 PJ Library and Temple Habonim Pajama Hanukkah Havdalah. 5:30 p.m. 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington. Come in your pajamas to dance and sing with Rock-a-Baby.

Then light the Havdalah candle to mark the end of Shabbat and light the menorah to celebrate Hanukkah. Information, Adina Davies at office@templehabonim.org or 401245-6536.

Temple Beth-El Kadima Dreidel Dance. 6-9 p.m. Providence Art Club, 11 Thomas St., Providence.

Kadima, Temple Beth-El's early to mid-career professionals’ group, hosts the first Dreidel Dance, a fundraiser supporting New Urban Arts. Celebrate Havdalah and Hanukkah with pizzazz, dancing, vegetarian hors d’oeuvres and adult beverages. All adults welcome.

Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el.org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Sunday | December 10 City of Providence Hanukkah Spectaculah. 3:30-5:30 p.m. Biltmore Park, Between Exchange Terrace & Dorrance St., Providence.

Enjoy art-making with Lyza Baum & the Partnership for Providence Parks, PVDonuts donuts, Bubbie’s latkes and hot dogs, candle-lighting, singing, music by Bressler Music

DECEMBER 2023 | 7

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

CALENDAR and open skating at the ice rink.

Free. Sponsored by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island; P3: The Partnership; and Providence Art, Culture & Tourism.

Tuesday | December 12 Temple Emanu-El's Got Talent: Hanukkah Edition. 6-7:30 p.m.

99 Taft Ave., Providence. Dinner, candle lighting and a talent show.

Information, Shosh@teprov.org or 401-331-1616.

Wednesday | December 13 Israeli Culture Series: “Israel and the Growth of the Global Cyber-Security Industry.” 7 p.m. Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Alon Arvatz, IDF "8200" Elite unit veteran, cybersecurity expert and successful entrepreneur, will take us through the contemporary landscape of cybersecurity. Registration required. Information, Elihay Skital at eskital@jewishallianceri. org.

Thursday | December 14 Young Professionals Hanukkah Happy Hour. 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Riffraff Bookstore + Bar, 60 Valley St., Suite 107A, Providence.

Latkes and donuts along with a beer or cocktail and/or hot cider and hot chocolate and light the menorah. Tickets (includes latkes, donuts and two drinks) by or on 12/1: $10 | after 12/1: $15.

Information, Devorah Phillips at dphillips@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 163.

Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association: “The Changing Borders of Eastern Europe.” 7 p.m. As Russia expanded west, it absorbed hundreds of thousands of Jews. This virtual presentation

by Hal Bookbinder examines Russia’s efforts to limit movement of these Jews into Old Russia by creating the Pale, in western Russia, where Jews were permitted to reside. Free. Via Zoom.

Information and registration, 401331-1360 or rijha.org/events.

Friday | December 15 Kosher Senior Café Hanukkah Celebration. 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Dwares JCC, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. A festive meal including latkes and sufganiyot, and music provided by the Providence Civic Orchestra of Senior Citizens. Suggested donation: $3.

Information and RSVP, Neal at neal@jfsri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 107.

National Havurah Committee’s Winter Weekend Retreat in New England. Friday thru Sunday. A

vibrant, musical Kabbalat Shabbat service starts a weekend of stimulating courses and interesting people in a rustic camp environment. Saturday and Sunday offer the opportunity to interact in a diverse range of classes, pray, sing and take a walk in the woods or along the lake. Information, ne-retreat@havurah.org.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Service. 7-8 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Friday evening service. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el. org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Imagine what you could do with $5,000. Interest Free.

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Saturday | December 16 Temple Beth-El “Donuts & Democracy: The American Scripture Project.” 10:30 a.m.

70 Orchard Ave., Providence.

Join Rabbi Neimeiser for a morning of learning and pastries with the American Scripture Project. This event is the third in the six-part series. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-3316070, ext. 100.

Tuesday | December 19 Virtual Art Lecture Series “Chagall: The Quintessential Jewish Artist of the 20th Century.” First of three virtual art lectures presented by Ronnit Vasserman, founder of Art Connect Group. Learn about this Russian-French artist who worked in a variety of media but is most renowned for his paintings. Suggested donation: $10. Via Zoom.

Information, Devorah Phillips at dphillips@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111, ext. 163.

LENDING A HELPING HAND TO THE GREATER RI JEWISH COMMUNITY FOR MORE THAN 110 YEARS

Friday | December 22 Torat Yisrael Virtual Kabbalat Shabbat Songs & Torah Services. 5:45-6:30 p.m. By Zoom only. Information, temple@ toratyisrael.org.

Temple Beth-El Shabbat Service. 7-8 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Friday evening service. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@temple-beth-el. org or 401-331-6070, ext. 100.

Friday | December 29 Temple Beth-El Kabbalat Shabbat Service. 5:45 p.m. 70 Orchard Ave., Providence. Family Shabbat service. Information, Jillian Brosofsky at jbrosofsky@ temple-beth-el.org or 401-3316070, ext. 100.

From your friends at

8 | DECEMBER 2023

Hanukkah Sameach!

From the clergy, staff and leadership of Temple Beth-El. 70 Orchard Avenue Providence, Rhode Island Call us at (401) 331-6070 or email info@temple-beth-el.org.

temple-beth-el.org

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

DECEMBER 2023 | 9

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FOOD

Moroccan donuts are a Hanukkah treat

MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Rhode Island area schools seek part-time Hebrew and/or Judaica teachers, and substitute teachers for the 2023-2024 academic year.

For more information contact Dori Adler at the Jewish Alliance at 401.421.4111 ext. 179 or dadler@jewishallianceri.org.

Happy Hanukkah!

BY CARINE GOREN

Sfenj

The following story and recipe come from the book Traditional Jewish Baking by Carine Goren.

This recipe was first published on The Nosher.

INGREDIENTS

I was never able to pronounce the name of this pastry correctly. Sfenj actually means “sponge,” and these are indeed spongy, springy and full of air bubbles. I learned this recipe from my friend and pastry chef Ruta, and here it is, with a few minor adjustments.

In my family, sfenj are consumed in three different ways: mom likes them plain; most of the family (including yours truly) prefer them sugar-coated; and my own private chef heats up some honey in the microwave oven and dips them between bites.

Allow for at least two sfenj per person; I have yet to meet anybody who can stop at one.

7 cups (1kg) all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons (17g) active dry yeast 1/2 cup (100g) sugar, plus more for rolling 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 1/3 cups (800ml) lukewarm water, divided 1 1/2 quart (1.5L) vegetable oil, for deep-frying

DIRECTIONS In the largest bowl you have, mix the flour and yeast.

Add the sugar and salt, and mix with the flour. Pour in about half the water, and begin kneading with your hands—fingers spread open, using lifting motions from the bottom of the bowl to the surface of the dough. Gradually add (all!) the remaining water, and knead for another minute, and no more! This dough must not be over-kneaded. It is very loose, and that’s okay.

Cover in plastic wrap and set aside to rise, until doubled in bulk. With very wet (dripping with water) hands, work the dough to let out the air (it will return to its original volume). Cover, and let rise again until doubled in bulk. This second rising will

be a lot shorter, so you may begin heating up your oil.

In a wide pot, heat the oil to 325ºF (160ºC) on a deep-frying thermometer.

Dip your hands in a bowl of cold oil or water. Pinch a ball of dough (tangerine size) and pull it up. With your other hand, pinch under it to cut it off the rest of the dough.

Holding the ball of dough with both hands, insert your finger in its center to create a hole, and stretch until the hole is about 1 inch (3.8cm) in diameter. Carefully place the bagel shape into the hot oil. Repeat with the rest of the dough (not forgetting to dip your hands in cold oil or water occasionally).

Deep-fry until sfenj are golden, 2–3 minutes on each side. Put the fried sfenj on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. Dip each sfenj in a bowl of sugar to coat, and serve immediately.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sfenj must be prepared and fried when they are meant to be served. Don’t prepare this dough ahead of time, and don’t put it in the refrigerator. When cold, it is hard to work with, and it goes sour very quickly (within 4 hours).

10 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY VOICES

This Hanukkah, rise above the darkness

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undled up in layers and gloves, I was taking my daily afternoon stroll in my cul-de-sac a few days after falling back to Eastern Standard Time, when I became

dismayed by a sign of the coming winter: the sun was starting to set even though it was a few minutes before 3:30 p.m.

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silence.”

The fact that so few people are listening to or reaching out to the other side threatens to transform this year’s Festival of Lights – normally a joyous occasion reuniting friends and family and welcoming strangers – into a Festival of Darkness.

Sadly, in the more than 2,100 years since the first Hanukkah was celebrated, in 164 B.C.E., much of the world’s population seems to relish hating Jews, and is looking for any reason to be antisemites.

No other conclusion can be drawn as antisemitic incidents LARRY have skyrocketed KESSLER since the Oct. 7 carnage by Hamas, and that was before we started seeing daily pictures in the media of the destruction in the Gaza Strip as Israel has pursued its war on Hamas.

Israel has quickly lost the sympathy of the world, which it had for a nanosecond – and never had on far too many college campuses, where students and faculty were quick to blame Hamas’ massacre on Israel and Jews worldwide.

Hamas’ murderous rampage on Israeli civilians, women, children and babies – comparable to what the Nazis did to so many civilians during World War II – has been forgotten, and even worse, justified. It’s become yet another

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THAT’S WHEN the haunting lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel’s classic, “The Sound of Silence,” popped into my head. Having an off-key voice, I didn’t want to scare my neighbors by singing out loud, and I’ve never mastered the art of humming.

But as I continued to sing the lyrics to myself, I couldn’t help but think of how meaningful the song remains nearly 60 years after it was first released – especially in what’s shaping up to be a particularly dark and bitter winter.

I’m not referring to how cold it’s liable to get because, not being a meteorologist, I have no idea, but rather to the current state of the world, especially with wars raging in the Middle East and Ukraine.

The lyrics from the song seem especially relevant as we face a Hanukkah full of strife and a lust for revenge, which has produced a disturbing excess of polarizing views that demand people choose a side, and then demonize the other one. That prevailing atmosphere, which encourages hatred above compassion, specifically recalls these lines from “The Sound of Silence”: “Ten thousand people, maybe more; people talking without speaking; people hearing without listening; people writing songs that voices never share; no one dared disturb the sound of

excuse to vilify American Jews and their brethren worldwide.

At the same time, whenever American Jews – horrified by the extent of the destruction in Gaza – express empathy for Palestinian civilians, they’re attacked as “traitors,” or worse, by their fellow Jews.

I wish I had some answers, but I don’t, and the worry is that antisemitism will get a whole lot worse before it subsides.

I’m saddened by the hatred, but not surprised, because over the years I’ve often dealt with antisemitism. Decades ago, subtle forms of racism or antisemitism weren’t referred to as “microaggressions,” but no matter how you label those incidents, I often experienced them, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, when I was in my 20s and early 30s.

Back then, both my beard and hair had red highlights, and with my thick Boston accent, I was able to hide my Jewishness while working in Canada, Vermont and Florida. Only when I was quizzed on my “ethnicity” did I acknowledge being Jewish, and it was then that I heard: “You don’t look like the other Jews” or “You’re not like the other Jews.”

To which I’d inevitably retort: “Sorry, but I left my horns at home today.”

Despite my pessimism that this will be a season devoid of light, I urge you to rise above the darkness and run toward the light.

May all of you have a blessed Hanukkah, because freedom to be a Jew is every bit as worth celebrating in 2023 as it was in 164 B.C.E. LARRY KESSLER (larrythek65@ gmail.com) is a freelance writer based in North Attleboro. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com.

Happy Hanukkah May the Festival of Lights bring you and your loved ones happiness, hope, and cherished moments together during this Hanukkah season.

Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley

The Sound of Silence

By Paul Simon Hello darkness, my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone ’Neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share No one dared Disturb the sound of silence.

“Fools” said I, “You do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you.”

But my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence.

And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming.

And the sign said, “The words of the prophets Are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sounds of silence.”

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COMMUNITY VOICES

Finding comfort and strength in our history of miracles

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his column was challenging and somewhat painful to write in light of the IsraelHamas war causing so much death and

destruction. So I went to the Bible, other writings, and history for inspiration, and found some hopeful answers in the miracles our Jewish people have witnessed through the ages.

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and thrive.

There are about 9 million Jews in Israel and 14 million Jews around the world, representing 0.2% of the global population. Israel has accomplished amazing things in its 75 years of existence, including becoming a global leader in technology PATRICIA and start-ups.

Rabbi Blech RASKIN says it so well: “We Jews have attained spiritual heights that transcend the expected, of human beings creating real miracles because they used our God-given gifts of courage, faith and wisdom.”

I especially like a sentence that is in bold type in Blech’s article: “Our role on earth is not simply to pray for a miracle but rather to be a miracle.”

During this time of war, we need to call on our miracles and be miracles. Based on our miraculous track record, we will prevail.

Keeping all of our miracles in mind, I wish you a very happy Hanukkah.

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RABBI BENJAMIN Blech wrote a compelling article, posted at Aish.com, titled “Miracles, Human and Divine,” where he refers to the following miracles: “Passover, the ten plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea for the Israelites, the subsequent drowning of the Egyptians on what had just moments before been dry land. …

“The same is true for Shavuot, when the children of Israel amazingly stood under the mountain of Sinai suspended over their heads and not only heard but marvelously saw the words of God as they received the Ten Commandments. … “[The same is true for] Sukkot, commemorating the survival of the Jews as they wandered for 40 years in the desert, sustained only by miraculously granted food and water and protected by divine clouds of glory.”

Blech goes on to write about Purim, when Esther and her uncle Mordecai faced the peril of the first recorded attempt at genocide, but responded with heroism and triumphed.

And then, of course, there is Hanukkah, when the Maccabees, a small, deeply spiritual family, led a successful revolt against an empire.

Then there is today, when the Jews in Israel face ongoing terrorism, rising antisemitism and war.

These people are all miraculous in their faith and belief that Jews will survive

PATRICIA RASKIN, owner of Raskin Resources Productions, is an awardwinning radio producer, business owner and leader. She is on the board of directors of Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, and is a recipient of the Providence Business News 2020 Leaders and Achievers award. Her “Positive Aging with Patricia Raskin” podcast is broadcast on the Rhode Island PBS website, ripbs.org/positiveaging.

The Miriam Hospital lights its menorah with

HOPE, HAPPINESS and

HUMANITY Happy Hanukkah from your friends at The Miriam Hospital.

12 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY VOICES

Happy birthday, Mike!

BY GEORGE M. GOODWIN

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azel tov to Mike Fink, one of my dearest friends and one of this newspaper’s columnists, who is about to turn 90.

MIKE PROBABLY doesn’t remember, but we met about 35 years ago, when, new to Rhode Island, I wanted to learn more about “Here We Live Again,” his documentary film about Holocaust survivors.

Mike and I later grew closer through the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association.

He had edited its annual journal, The Notes, from 1985 through 1987, and I began my run 20 years ago.

A contributor to all but one of my issues, he sprinkled each with pearls of wit and

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wisdom.

That Mike is 15 years my senior never seemed to matter. Indeed, he has lived longer than my mother and three of my grandparents and, God willing, he may soon surpass the records set by my father and my in-laws. I expect Mike to reach the age of my family’s Arts & Crafts bungalow, GEORGE M. which was built GOODWIN in 1920.

A new chapter in our relationship began in 2005, when I went to the Marriott Hotel to attend

a reception for a deceased friend. I knocked on the door of the appropriate room, but nobody answered, so I went downstairs until other mourners arrived.

Then I bumped into Mike, and we began yakking. I never made it to the reception. Yes, we’re still yakking.

Mike belonged to the Marriott Hotel’s health club, and he invited me to join. He swam several afternoons a week, but I chose to huff and puff on various machines.

We’d frequently bump into each other, which led, inevitably, to more conversations.

Eventually, I concluded, Mike’s primary exercise consisted of charming hotel guests over glasses of wine.

Beginning in 2006, Mike and I became even closer friends, when he and his older buddy, Bernie Bell, invited me to join them early on Saturday mornings for coffee and conversation. I

soon learned that this was a tiny chavurah, where nearly everything anti-dogmatic could be discussed.

Eventually, we referred to this weekly gathering as “Congregation Joel Braude,” in honor of one of Mike’s most colorful friends, who never joined us. The elder Rabbi Braude, William, and his wife, Pearl, had intrigued and encouraged Mike in many ways.

Our trio expanded when we happily welcomed Mel Blake, who, like me, belonged to Temple Beth-El. Bernie and Mike belonged to Temple Emanu-El, but all of us were well acquainted with Rabbi Yehoshua Laufer of Chabad House, who frequently sought a tenth man for a minyan When Mike and Mel enjoyed stays at summer homes in South County, Bernie and I still gathered.

In 2011, after the National Museum of American Jew-

Governor Dan McKee

ish History opened in Philadelphia, Mel suggested that we spend a weekend there with our wives. Indeed, he offered to drive us both ways, so the result was an almost endless yak session.

Bernie, a widower, wasn’t healthy enough to join us, but the rest of us (except for Mike’s wife, whom he calls “Lady Michael”) quickly discovered that “Sir Michael” didn’t care much about eating. His diet was primarily literary!

Inevitably, Bernie, Mike, Mel and I would greet friends and acquaintances while ensconced in various coffee shops in Providence.

Our favorite, with tables outdoors, was L’ Artisan, in Wayland Square.

Bernie reached 95 years of age, but Mel sadly passed away, during COVID, at only 81. Mike and I terribly miss our buddies.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

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COMMUNITY VOICES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 Once, when Mike became seriously ill, Mel and I visited him at The Miriam Hospital to try to cheer him up. When one of his physicians arrived in his bedroom, Mike asked, “Am I going to die?”

“Don’t be silly,” said the doctor. “If you were that ill, you would have died already.”

Anybody who has read even a fraction of Mike’s many articles in local newspapers (Jewish and general) knows what enchants him.

Just about everything! Some examples: his family (including parents, uncles and aunts, brothers, their wives, their children and grandchildren); his upbringing in Providence, including former girlfriends; Yale, including his lifelong buddies and studying in Paris as a junior; and travels to Israel, Rome and various islands. Oh, did I leave out patriotism, literature, allegory, cinema, cartoons, nature and fashion?

Inevitably, Mike’s thoughts return to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he taught liberal arts for 65 years, until his retirement a year ago.

Mike not only befriended and mentored generations of students, but he also officiated at a few of their weddings.

Mike, now as sharp as ever, was not ready to retire. He’s continuing to teach at the

Providence Art Club and lecture to all kinds of groups.

I too enjoyed teaching in an art school for several years, and I’d like to believe that some of my efforts as a writer and editor have also been productive. But I also know that Mike has been one of my greatest teachers.

Yes, I had a few favorites in high school and in college, but none of my graduate school professors ever came close to Mike’s humanity: his range of interests and his combination of humor, kindness, modesty and sweetness.

Perhaps Mike has tolerated me for so long because he can see some gradual improvement.

Mike helped rescue RISD’s Carr House, and its lounge was named in his honor. As its faculty sponsor, he also found a home for the Pigeon Club. Unfortunately, however, Mike never received an honorary degree, a proclamation, or even a reserved parking space from RISD. Consequently, I nominated myself to attend one of Mike’s last lectures and to address his students. I tried to explain how fortunate they and RISD have been. Indeed, how happy and grateful I have been to be Mike’s buddy, colleague and apprentice!

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

Representative, District 1

Business & Real Estate Disputes

William M. Kolb, Esq. ATTORNEY AT LAW

Richmond Square, Providence | (401) 714-0622

www.KolbLaw.com

TAKE ACTION: REPORT an INCIDENT www.jewishallianceri.org/report-it/ At the Jewish Alliance, we believe all people should be treated fairly and justly. If you have experienced or witnessed an incident of anti-Semitism or extremism, please report it. Anti-Semitic activity includes overt acts or expressions of anti-Jewish bigotry and hostility. Many incidents are not crimes but are still considered anti-Semitic and should be reported.

This initiative is meant to help track anti-Semitic incidents in the state of Rhode Island. Experiencing any type of anti-Semitism may be traumatic for you or your loved ones. If you need additional support, please contact Jewish Collaborative Services at 401.331.1244 for guidance.

www.jewishallianceri.org/report-it/ 401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 | jewishallianceri.org

14 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY VOICES

In these dark days, our R.I. heritage gives me ‘Hope’

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f my many sabbatical semesters throughout my six-decade career at the Rhode Island School of Design, my favorite journey was a

mere nearby jaunt around Rhode Island, a trip of only a few hours.

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MY RESEARCH was about the hike taken by the founder of our Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and the legacy of Roger Williams. His flight was from the tyranny of religion itself: he was searching both for freedom of religion and also from religion.

Oddly perhaps, the first two minorities he welcomed in Newport were born brothers, one Catholic and the other Jewish. Look it up, I am not making it up.

The Catholic had converted to save his life from the horrors of the Inquisition.

Simon Wiesenthal, a

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Holocaust survivor and the founder of the Museum of Tolerance, in Los Angeles, published a book titled “Sails of Hope,” in which he claimed that the crew that helped Christopher Columbus’ mission to “sail on” were likewise desperately escaping from the intolerance of the Inquisition.

My point is that our Roger was quite a remarkable exception to the MIKE FINK intolerance of his time, and our own current time. He disagreed with the Quakers but never sought to exile them. He studied the languages of the indigenous

BOOK

tribes and discussed their would argue that freedom of folklore and shared his own religion, and thus access to with them. a free press and hopefully a I am writing this salute search for truth, were born to his vision because I am under the pen and graphite deeply distressed by the war of Roger Williams. in Israel. I believe that our Israel means, etymologiAmerican values at their cally, “struggling with Crevery best have their roots in ation,” so we have to work to Israel! find the value of our lives.

We named Jerusalem, When students at Brown Rhode Island, and Galilee, chose to throw bloodRhode Island, to bring the red paint on a statue of world’s victims of hate to Christopher Columbus, our Ocean State – rich in rivers, bays and inti‘Freedom of religion and mate places to seek and salute access to a free press... were one’s own spiritual guides. (My born under the pen and favorite street name, though, graphite of Roger Williams’ is “Quail Run,” in Watch Hill, they not only insulted the because it even embraces a Italian community but native species of bird as an they revealed their lack of angelic messenger.) research and the peer presMembers of both politisure of the latest fashions, cal parties and candidates while the value of “higher” for our top leadership have education continues to expressed, forcefully and diminish, despite the enoreloquently, their recognition T:9.75" mous rise in the expenses of our alliance with Israel. I

that drain the budgets of wiser and older generations who pay the bloated bills.

The “liberal arts” has lost its prestige, and may not soon restore or redeem the respect it once sought, and sometimes earned.

I am writing this rant because I am greatly distressed by the dreadful rise in antisemitism, I mean hatred of the Jewish people, spreading like a plague.

Both of the presumed candidates for president have behaved honorably and eloquently in saluting Israel, each within only slightly different contexts.

I have visited our Holy Land many times, and hope to land in the Tel Aviv airport once again, as soon as possible.

My late brother, who lived in Newport, had one single granddaughter, who has dual citizenship, Israeli and American. Julia dwells in Tel Aviv, and I worry about her welfare and hope to be CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

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COMMUNITY VOICES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 able to visit her. And light a memorial candle to the memory of her late grandfather. (I was the last-born “runt of the litter” of three boys, all born in Providence, Rhode Island, where the Four Freedoms, for which we fought in World War II, were first spelled out way back when we were the smallest colony in size but the biggest in the dreams of our founders, framers and

Osmundson Photography

farmers.)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Dec. 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” but I might alter it, or add to it, “the day that will live within the motto of our Ocean State, which is ‘Hope’!”

MIKE FINK (mfink33@aol. com) is a professor emeritus at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Happy Hanukkah!

Bar/Bat Mitzvahs & Weddings Mahra B. Rubinstein DDS David W. Persky DMD

glenn@osmundsonphotography.com www.osmundsonphotography.com 401-257-9619

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WITH YOUR MEMBERSHIP YOU CAN : WORKOUT in our state-of-the-art

PLAY basketball or pickleball fitness center with our personal trainers. in our indoor courts.

SWIM laps in our heated pool or join one of our popular aquatics classes.

TRY Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, Spin or one of our many fitness classes.

ALL ARE WELCOME Wishing You & Yours A Happy Hanukkah!

JewishAllianceRI.org 4 0 1 E L M G R O V E AV E N U E PROVIDENCE, RI

16 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

OPINION Suffering in Israel and Gaza

Joanna D. Brown, MD, MPH Providence

The spectrum of antisemitism FOR YEARS, most Jews have focused on neo-Nazi and similar groups as the greatest threat in the Diaspora.

It has become clear that we now have a coalition of antisemitic and anti-Israel activists from across the political spectrum. College campuses have been infected with the Marxist version, claiming that anybody successful (Jews and Israel in this case) must have become so by exploiting those who are not. Anti-Israel and antisemitic activists have terrorized students on campus. Some of these groups have Orwellian names like “Jewish Voice CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

IT WAS ALMOST sundown on Friday, March 7, 1986, when David Blumenfeld, a middle-aged New York rabbi, happened to be walking down David Street in the Old City of Jerusalem, returning home after a visit to the Kotel, the Western Wall.

A Palestinian man in his early 20s emerged from the shadows of an alley, took aim at the rabbi’s head with his Beretta, and fired one shot.

Rabbi Blumenfeld was not seriously injured; he escaped with a superficial scalp wound. Had the bullet entered his skull one inch lower, he probably would have died on the spot.

Not long after the shooting, David’s daughter, Laura, wrote a poem as an assignment for an undergraduate seminar in which she was enrolled at Harvard College. She titled the poem, “I am His Daughter,” and wrote the following lines in conclusion: “If you are the Arab/aimed in the near dark/grazing his temple/missing his life,/this hand will find you/I am his daughter.”

With the words “This hand will find you,” Laura gave voice to her desire for revenge, a desire that would continue to haunt her for the next 12 years.

The story of Laura Blumenthal’s struggle with her overpowering urge for revenge has found expression in her remarkably honest 2002 book, “Revenge: A Story of Hope.”

During the course of writing the book, Blumenthal teased apart the

EM

many dimensions of revenge.

As she comes to understand more fully the complexity of her own personality, her own soul, she realizes that the urge for revenge is the result of multiple triggers: shame, loss of honor and a sense of dignity, the feeling of being impotent, the inability to forget, the search for true justice, the desire to restore the balance between good and evil, right and wrong – and, of course, that primitive urge that all of us feel at one time or another, the urge to get even.

All of these triggers combine to fuel the fire of overwhelming RABBI JAMES rage. And I might ROSENBERG add that our compulsion for revenge is also an expression of our fear, of our quite understandable desire “to do it to them before they have another opportunity to do it to us.”

We all know that on Oct. 7, Hamas murdered some 1,200 Israelis, most of them defenseless men, women and children. We all know that hundreds more were maimed for life, and that more than 200 were kidnapped. It was the greatest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust.

It is not surprising that many of us now harbor a visceral desire – no, more than that, an almost physical need – to seek unrestrained revenge. Some of us wish to see all members of Hamas wiped out, obliterated, exterminated – only then can we experience some form of relief, some sense of peace, some

S TO M

E

THANKS SO MUCH for your coverage of the current, horrible situation in Israel and Gaza and of the local response in our Jewish community.

As I write this note I am brokenhearted, as so many of us are. So many people in the Israel I have grown up with and love have been killed or kidnapped by Hamas. And so many Palestinians are suffering because of the war, or being killed by the Israel I love.

This is not a “both sides” argument.

This is simply a statement, from a Jew who loves community, internationally and locally, and from a public health physician and poet, about the need to recognize and bear witness to the totality of human suffering.

Jewish tradition is replete with examples of the need to welcome the stranger and honor the suffering of those who are unlike ourselves. After all, we were all created in G-d’s image. At the Passover seder, we place 10 drops of wine on our plates to bear witness to the Egyptians’ suffering from the frightening and cruel 10 plagues. Yes, the Egyptian army that chased us drowned in the sea; we express grief for them as well.

But with the 10 blood-colored drops, we recognize Egyptian civilians.

Since Oct. 7, in parts of the Jewish community, I have seen a reluctance to acknowledge the suffering of Palestinians. This is something I find painful, and I have heard from a number of other Jews that this is painful for them as well. Why is it, that when we talk of the killing and wreckage wreaked by Hamas’s orchestrated attack, we cannot mention the Palestinians? Silences are significant. Words matter. By not speaking out about all of those who suffer, we suggest we do not care about the stranger or recognize their humanity.

B’Shalom,

Revenge is dangerous

IT S E

LETTERS

sense of shalom, some escape from our continuing nightmare.

But at what cost? What cost to Israel’s soldiers? What cost to Israeli citizens? What cost to Gaza’s citizens? What cost today? What cost to future generations?

Has anybody figured out what path will be opened after the last bomb falls? Is there any way out of here? Who dares to answer? Who dares not to answer?

How many lives are yet to be destroyed in the onrushing tide of vengeance? As Blumenthal writes: “[Revenge] is dangerous not [only] because of what it does to your enemy, but because of what it does to you.”

And, more than 100 pages later, Blumenthal adds: “There is a proverb in the Middle East: If you want revenge, dig two graves, one for your enemy and one for yourself.”

Many individuals have noted that we don’t need to make peace with our friends; we need to make peace with our enemies. Ultimately, violence cannot bring about peace.

As difficult, as impossible, as it may seem, only peace can bring about peace.

Only tomorrow can tell us if we have, at last, found our way to peace, to shalom in its infinity of meaning.

JAMES B. ROSENBERG is a rabbi emeritus at Temple Habonim, in Barrington. Contact him at rabbiemeritus@templehabonim.org.

Is hatred still alive in the US?

BY SARA ROBBIN ON SEPT. 30, I had the honor of celebrating my son’s bar mitzvah.

I relished every second of sharing this Jewish milestone with my family and friends and “kvelled” at what a wonderful young man my son is growing up to be. I walked on air the entire week later, feeling euphoric in a way I hadn’t in a long time.

And then, on Oct. 7, exactly one week later, Hamas attacked Israel, and everything changed.

At his service, my son spoke about his late great-grandfather, who was a Holocaust survivor, and acknowledged the magnitude of

what this means to our family.

Before our son had a bar mitzvah, my husband and I felt it was important to fully educate him about the Holocaust and the suffering the Jewish faith has endured.

Since he is a voracious reader, we had him delve into “Number the Stars” and “White Bird.”

We watched “Schindler’s List” with him, hiding our eyes and gasping with fright and disbelief that the story was not the invention of a Hollywood writer but an actuality.

We shared the Shoah Foundation testimony of his great-grandfather, who survived the Holocaust while enduring treacherous conditions working as a Jewish doctor in the

Warsaw Ghettos and then as a prisoner in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Poland.

My son’s curious mind struggled with the fathomability of the Holocaust. Not surprisingly, he had many questions, many of which were impossible to answer fully.

How could such an atrocity occur just 90 years ago? Why did no one stop Hitler?

And the one question I struggled with most: How could the United States stay silent and idle while 6 million innocent lives were decimated solely because of religion?

I explained that times were different then: there was no CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

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.

DECEMBER 2023 | 17

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OPINION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 internet or social media. People were genuinely not as aware of what was going on outside their own communities.

I reminded him about the aftermath of the George Floyd murder, when all the lawns in town, regardless of race or religion, became filled with Black Lives Matter signs, and our social media flooded with postings of support. I promised him that the world we live in today was a world that advocates against injustice, a world intolerant of hate.

In the last few weeks, I feel like a liar. Perhaps I was naive in my conviction to my son that the world had, in fact, changed. In the wake of the Hamas attacks, I find myself questioning my promise to him that history would not repeat itself.

Even though Israel is many miles away, as Jews, we look into the eyes of those children kidnapped and think, those could be my children.

The concertgoers, dancing without a care in the world, could have easily been my friends.

Yet the silence and attempted justification of Hamas’ actions by much of the world is profound and disturbing. Even worse is the considerable amount of antisemitism that is going on, as if we set the clock back a century.

Understandably, many do want

to speak out but are afraid to, given the backlash against some of those willing to take a stand. Some people feel torn about whether to place an Israeli flag on their front lawn out of fear of being victimized and targeted. A friend told me that she didn’t feel safe traveling with an identifiable Jewish last name and that I was lucky that my last name didn’t sound Jewish.

And yet another friend was stopped on the streets of New York, a city known as the melting pot of America, and harassed just because he “looked” Jewish.

Further, it is heartbreaking to read stories about so many universities that have failed to denounce Hamas’ acts or have not condemned professors praising the attacks due to fear of driving donors away. If the professors we hold to the highest esteem are teaching hate to the next generation, then how can we ever expect peace and acceptance to be learned?

Granted, the Middle East conflict is complex. But regardless of one’s thoughts surrounding it, there is no justification for Hamas’ acts of terrorism and the kidnapping and coldblooded murder of innocent people, with the sole goal of eliminating the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

A moment I will never forget from my son’s bar mitzvah service was

when my 10-year-old daughter sang “Shalom Rav” while my son accompanied her on the piano. Her melodious voice filled the synagogue with the following words: “Shalom rav al Yisrael am’cha tasim l’olam.” I sat in awe, watching my children work together and perform this beautiful song in tandem. At the time, no one paid any attention to what the Hebrew transliteration was.

But now, the song and that sacred moment take on a whole new meaning, more significant than I could imagine at the time. The words my daughter sang so gloriously translate to mean, “Grant abundant peace unto Israel your people forever.”

From her lips to God’s ears.

We need to do better. After all, I made a promise to my son that today’s world is different, and I don’t want to be a liar.

SARA ROBBIN is a mother of two who graduated from Cornell University and Emory Law School. After practicing law, she was a legal writing professor at Fordham Law School. She is now a freelance writer and editor and assists students with college and private school essays. This has appeared elsewhere and is reprinted with the writer’s permission.

LETTERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 for Peace” while allying with more easily identified groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), coming together to urge Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) economic warfare against Israel. These groups use oppressor/victim ideology, try to attract racial minorities or LGBTQ people who may feel marginalized and direct their anger against Jews and Israel.

I have recently sent emails to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and to Brown University about Students for Justice in Palestine and the BDS movements.

SPLC said they were unable to take action despite clear hate incidents involving the above groups on campuses and in other spaces. Brown University has not responded to a comment about a BDS speaker on faculty of the Watson Center. I urge others to contact these groups, consider withholding donations and advocate for the safety of Jews threatened by the antisemitism on the left of the political spectrum as well as the right.

Farrel I. Klein Providence

A brighter world is possible for all of us.

In moments like these your light is a beacon of hope... share it widely and proudly.

Happy Hanukkah!

18 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

Rhode Islanders meet with Rep. Seth Magaziner and Rep. Gabe Amo.

Rhode Islanders among those chanting ‘bring them home’ at D.C. march

BY AARON GINSBURG

W

ASHINGTON – Rhode Islanders were among the roughly 290,000 people who streamed into Washington on Tuesday by rail, by air,

by car and by bus for the March for Israel.

I JOINED SEVERAL Rhode Islanders on a bus that left from Temple Israel, in Sharon, Massachusetts. Over the long journey, a sense of camaraderie enveloped the passengers.

Why did people attend?

Bailey Siletchnik, of Newport, said she “could not NOT go.” Cantor Joel Gluck, of Warwick, said, “The main reason I went was to show solidarity, and I felt it

was somewhere I had to be.”

Guy Bermel, of Providence, said, “It was very important for me to be here to identify as a Jew and as a Zionist, and to support Israel, to respond to antisemitism and support the hostages.”

Rabbi Loel Weiss, of Middletown, said, “I was at the United Nations in June 1967, when the Six-Day War broke out. I was in Washington

in December 1987, when we marched for Soviet Jewry.

And I wanted to be there on Tuesday when we marched against Jew hatred and for Israel’s right to exist.”

At a visit organized by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, Rhode Islanders had an opportunity to meet Congressmen Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo before attending the rally.

Bermel observed, “When we went in to meet the congressmen, they had just come from a security briefing with footage of what Hamas had been doing in Israel [on Oct. 7], and they were both clearly shocked by it. It was Gabe Amo’s first day on the job and it was a pretty rough day for

him, I think.”

Rep. Magaziner told Jewish Rhode Island, “I was happy to host members of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and other Rhode Islanders who came to Washington for the March for Israel.

“We stand united in our support for Israel and pray for the swift return of those taken hostage. In Congress, I am working to ensure Israel has the resources it needs to defend itself from Hamas and work towards a lasting peace in the region.”

Amo stated, “On my first full day as a member of Congress, I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with members of Rhode Island’s Jewish community.

“At a time of great distress for our Jewish community in the 1st Congressional District and around the world, it was an especially meaningful way to start my tenure in office.

“As the United States responds to the Israel-Hamas War, I stand in support of our ally, Israel, and I want our local Jewish community to know that my office stands ready to support you, now and in the future.”

After arriving at the National Mall on the sunny and almost warm day, we quickly felt very much a part of the larger group.

From our position way in CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

(left to right) Harris Chorney, Elihay Skital, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rabbi Michael Fel, Stephanie Hague, Adam Greenman and Cara Mitnik.

Supporting the return of the hostages at the March for Israel Nov. 14, 2023

Three generations at the march: (L-R) Allison Page( daughter); Ruth, aka “Duffy” Page ( grandmother); Talia Zolondick (daughter of Allison and granddaughter of Duffy).

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 the back, we watched the speakers on an enormous screen.

The speakers, including leading members of Congress, covered three topics: Israel, antisemitism and the hostages.

“Bring them home” was the phrase that most resonated with the crowd, and when a speaker said those words, the crowd took up the call, some with tears in their eyes: “Bring them home, bring them home, bring them home ....”

One of the more memorable speakers was American actress and singer Tovah Feldshuh, who delighted the crowd by saying, “My name is Tovah Feldshuh, My Hebrew

name is Tovah Feldshuh, and my Starbucks name is Tovah Feldshuh. … As [former Israeli] Prime Minister Golda Meir said, ‘Some people love you, and some people love you

Meeting the RI Congressional delegation before the march.

Ishay Ribo, with Omer Adam, whose rendering of “Halev Sheli” enthralled the crowd.

We also heard from family members of people taken hostage by Hamas.

‘It was also amazing to see that we are not alone in this. All major religions were represented by the speakers at the rally’ and show up.’ You showed up, and that makes all the difference.”

Many politicians – both Jewish and non-Jewish – spoke, as well as celebrities and, remotely, the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.

Musicians included the Maccabeats, with Matisyahu, and

After the march, Cantor Gluck said, “I was amazed that 290,000 Jews of all denominations could get together peacefully because we had a common cause. I hope this proves that all Jews share more in common than we are different.

“Just look at the rest stop

on the way home. The Orthodox were davening while everyone else was eating. No one chastised anyone for eating certain foods. It was very fulfilling to experience that.

“It was also amazing to see that we are not alone in this. All major religions were represented by the speakers at the rally.”

Bermel said the highpoint for him was, “the very strong feeling of belonging. So many people sharing what I am feeling, and supporting Israel, it was reassuring and invigorating.”

For Rabbi Andrea Gouze, of Providence, “It was powerful to hear the voices of the families of the hostages talk about the emotional toll and trauma to their lives. It was

powerful, it was significant, and I am proud to have been part of it.”

The march was organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

AARON GINSBURG lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and blogs at jewishnewport. blogspot.com.

20 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

HANUKKAH

How to Celebrate Eight days of Hanukkah How to Hanukkah reading gifts HowCelebrate to Celebrate Chanukah Kindle the Menorah on each of the eight nights of Chanukah. See below for the times, number of lights and the order of kindling. The 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 burn until half an hour after nightfall. Use the shamash to kindle the lights and place it in its special place on the Menorah.

All members of the family should be present at the kindling of the Chanukah lights. Students and singles who live in a dormitory or in their own apartments, should kindle in their own rooms.

Friday afternoon, the Chanukah lights (which will burn until 1/2 hour after nightfall) are kindled before the Shabbat candles. The Menorah should not be relit, moved or prepared, from the time Shabbat candles are lit, until Shabbat ends and the Havdalah prayer is recited

Menorah Kindling Blessings Before kindling the lights, recite:

1. Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E- lo-hey-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lom A-sher Ki-di -sha-nu Bi- mitz-vo-sov Vi-tzi-va-nu Li-had-lik Ner Cha-nu-kah.

2. Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E-lo-hey-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lam She- a-sa Ni-sim La-a-vo-sey-nu Ba-ya-mim Ha-heim Bi-z’man Ha-zeh.

Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

The following blessing is recited on the first evening or on the first time one kindles the Chanukah lights this year: 3. Bo-ruch A-toh A-do-noi E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-o-lom She-he-chi-ya -nu Vi-ki-yi-ma-nu Vi-hi-gi-ya-nu 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.

2022 Menorah Kindling Calendar for Rhode Island Friday. Dec. 23, light before 3:59pm Friday, Dec. 8, light before Shabbat Dec. 24, light after3:55pm 5:06pm Shabbat, Dec. 9, Other nights anylight timeafter after 5:01pm nightfal Other nights any timeapprox. after nightfall 4:50pm

Wednesday, Dec. 21 After Nightfall

approx. 4:50pm

Thursday, Dec. 22 After Nightfall

Sunday, Dec. 18 After Nightfall

Friday, Dec. 23

Monday, Dec. 19 After Nightfall

Saturday, Dec. 24

Tuesday, Dec. 20 After Nightfall

After Shabbat 5:06pm

Sunday, Dec. 25 After Nightfall

Provided as a public service by Jewish Rhode Island. Compiled by Chabad of RI.

Provided as a public service by Jewish Rhode Island. Compiled by Chabad of RI

BY SARAH GREENLEAF

H

anukkah gift-giving can run the gamut from “I know just what they want” to “How did I get Uncle David’s name again?” But you can

find a thoughtful Hanukkah gift for almost anyone in the following list of books. So let someone else buy the socks and pajamas this year, you’ve got the books!

For the little reader “Eight Nights of Lights: A Celebration of Hanukkah,”

by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Hilli Kushnir (Harper, 2023) This adorable book contains nine little books, shaped like Hanukkah candles. Over the course of eight nights, these little books tell the story of Lena and her family as they celebrate the eight nights of Hanukkah with friends, extended family, their synagogue and neighborhood.

Follow along to learn the story of Hanukkah, explore different traditions and meet Pickles, Lena’s cat!

For the teen or teen at heart “How to Excavate a Heart,”

by Jake Maia Arlow (Harper Teen, 2022) This charming love story with a Jewish twist takes place over the course of a month in D.C. as Shani, a college freshman fresh from a stinging breakup, decides to spend the winter break working in a lab studying dead fish. An aspiring paleoichthyologist, Shani is hoping for a break from the complications of romance, but when her roommate asks her to take over a dog-walking gig for a few days, Shani runs into May. May has a deep grudge against Shani, but the ice between the two of them begins to thaw over walks with Raphael, the adorable Corgi, trips to museums, and over coffee.

But when May unexpectedly disappears and Shani can’t get in touch with her, she wonders if she’s ready to do this all over again and is forced to reckon with the way her last relationship ended. Shani has to figure out how to be in a relationship without losing herself and her dreams.

Though sweet and heartfelt, this lesbian romance touches on issues of consent, gaslighting and relationship abuse.

While the characters deal with difficult things, they do end up happy for now.

For the book club “Eight Bright Lights,” by Sara Gibbs (Headline Publishing Group, 2023) This fun and thoughtful novel follows three Jewish women in the lead-up to a Christmas-day wedding. Set largely in England, it follows Hannah, a young woman fresh out of college with too much free time and a self-destructive streak; Ella, an autistic event planner; and Rachel, the bride-to-be.

With only a few weeks to go before the wedding, Ella is forced to deal with the sabotage of her former boss, Rachel is chasing down a family story to secure a position with a magazine, and Hannah must fly off to Israel for the funeral of the father she hasn’t seen or heard from since she was 14.

Each of these three women deals with a personal crisis that shakes her belief in who she is and, in the end, gives her the opportunity to be someone she wants to become.

The three women come together for the Christmas wedding after mishaps, happenstance, love and loss, and remind us that we can never know how something will turn out, but we have to do our best in each moment, regardless.

For the chef or home cook “The Jewish Cookbook,” by Leah Koenig (Phaidon Press, 2019) If you need a gift for a host or have a family member who loves to cook, this beautiful book contains recipes from the Jewish Diaspora, from CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

DECEMBER 2023 | 21

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

HANUKKAH

A Jewish convert’s guide to enjoying the winter holiday jumble to still have a tree in my interfaith home? Is it OK to attend extended-family This essay was first published on Kveller Christmas gatherings? ewish kids and Christmas: For some parents, this What do I tell my kid when combination can seem like a proverbial minefield all their friends are talking about gifts from Santa? How of challenges presented to us each winter. The can I get my mother-in-law to stop trying to proselytize secular world, it seems, becomes infinitely less so as my kids? What if I still love Christmas music? These Christmas decorations, commercials and episodes of questions are not totally beloved kids shows proliferate. unique to converts, but for those of us who grew up celebrating Christmas (no For interfaith families like through Passover and the matter how un-religious our mine, which celebrate both High Holy Days content in families’ traditions were), it Hanukkah and Christmas, my Jewishness, but after can be hard – and very conthis time can be especially Thanksgiving I felt a huge fusing – when it comes to the fraught. My own 3-yearamount of pressure to make winter holidays, which can old Jewish daughter, for Hanukkah more fun, festive cause feelings of resentment instance, is obsessed with and memorable for my and competition. the Grinch, loves Santa daughter – and, if I’m being In my mind, the comClaus, and has been singing honest – for myself, some“Jingle Bells” since July. one who spent No matter how much I try decades of her to hype up Hanukkah, she pre-conversion ‘Navigating the Christmas still asks me if it’s Christlife loving Christmas every time she sees mas. season as a convert to snow (which happens early I’m not alone in our part of the country). in these feelings.

Judaism is not easy...’

Whether it’s the constant According to Christmas messaging or her posts made in petition I was imagining own hazy memories of past a Facebook group called between Christmas and Christmas celebrations, it Jewish Converts (Converts Hanukkah became greater seems like Hanukkah plays to Judaism), an online than the holidays themsecond fiddle to the other support group of sorts for selves. Looking back, I can December holiday.

Jewish converts that is see now that my need to My holiday anxiety was over 2,500 members strong, make Hanukkah “better” especially strong last year, this time of year sees lots than Christmas became which was my first winter of people asking for advice conflated with my very holiday season as an official and venting their uncerJewishness: Bigger and Jew after converting earlier tainties toward navigating better Hanukkah celebrain the year. I’d breezed the winter holidays. Is it OK

BY LEAH GRISHAM

J

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 Eastern Europe to India, Iraq to Israel. Not only are the recipes amazing, but so are the photographs, Jewish history and diversity in the book.

This also has one of the best butter cookie recipes I have ever tried!

For the fantasy reader “Thistlefoot,” by GennaRose Nethercott (Anchor Books, 2022) As “Thistlefoot” starts, Isaac and Bellatine Yaga are estranged siblings, a brother and sister who grew up on the road with their parents’ traveling puppet show. Their lives are simultaneously upended when they receive a call and later a package about a house left to them by an ancestor.

When they go to claim the

house in a giant warehouse, they find it has chicken feet and responds only to Yiddish.

An adventure story that spans centuries and myth, “Thistlefoot” is a great choice for any fantasy or folklore reader in your life.

For the history or true-crime reader “Bruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History,” by Benjamin Balint (W.W. Norton & Company, 2023) A biography of the Polish Jewish writer and artist, and an exploration of his legacy and what it means, this book investigates not only a historical moment, but also how that moment reverberates throughout time, place and memory.

tions came to represent (in my mind) being Jewish “enough.” Accordingly, I spent December going crazy buying Hanukkah gifts, planning what had to be the perfect Hanukkah party and decorating every inch of our home in blue and white decorations. I don’t know what the world record for most Stars of David in one house is, but my home in December 2021 would be in the running. I was also filled with angst over the Christmas hoopla that my daughter would experience when we travelled to see our extended families over the holiday. I wanted her to feel joy and excitement over Jewish celebrations, but that felt impossible in a sea of red, green and Santa Claus.

After so much fretting, things came to an anti-climactic end with the introduction of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which kept my small family at home alone. Weeks of feeling resentful toward extended family Christmas parties faded into disappointment that these gatherings – which would have been our first extended-family celebrations since 2018 – didn’t happen at all. In fact, as my daughter and husband enjoyed Christmas afternoon naps, I had quite a pity

For the liberal history reader

Grau, 2019)

“The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance,” by Rebecca Clarren (Viking, 2023)

Written by Michelle Obama’s speechwriter, this book takes readers through various aspects of Jewish practice, from law and history to Jewish ethics and spiritual practice. Hurwitz’s rigorous study of Jewish religious life and practices is accessible and readable even for those who

A combination of personal history and reportage, this book looks at the history of land in the United States and how it intersects with the writer’s family as they fled antisemitism in Russia. An investigation of the complex ways that oppression intersects and what can be done about our inherited legacies of the persecuted and the perpetrator.

For anyone looking to connect with Judaism in a new way “Here All Along: A Reintroduction to Judaism,”

by Sarah Hurwitz (Spiegel &

party for myself as I guzzled champagne and chocolates on the couch, watching “The Holiday” by myself (Jack Black and Eli Wallach make it Jewish enough for me!).

My unexpected sense of disappointment over cancelled Christmas plans made it clear: After so many quarantined holidays and life events celebrated over Zoom, the mental capacity I spent being angry at Christmas would be better spent embracing the opportunity to gather with family and friends, no matter what the occasion.

Navigating the Christmas season as a convert to Judaism is not easy – and it would be a lie to say that I’ve totally let go of the fact that, to my a 3-year-old, Christmas is more exciting than Hanukkah – but this year I am going to do my best to stop fretting over details.

Our world has seen so much grief and upheaval over the last few years; maybe it is OK to let our guards down a little bit and embrace joy wherever it can be found. I’ll pack our menorah and Hanukkah pajamas and bring them to Grandma’s house for Christmas and do my best to just let my daughter enjoy the fun of this year’s holiday jumble.

barley remember Hebrew school – or who remember it with a shudder.

SARAH GREENLEAF (sgreenleaf@jewishallianceri. org) is the digital marketing specialist for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and writes for Jewish Rhode Island.

22 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY

BUSINESS 32 | OBITUARIES 33

Mayor Smiley takes steps to fight antisemitism

BY FRAN OSTENDORF

P

ROVIDENCE – Mayor Brett Smiley is working hard to be

proactive in the fight against antisemitism in the city and to encourage dialogue throughout the community.

HE SAYS HE wants all residents of Providence to feel safe, and he’s especially focused on the Jewish community right now.

“I want everyone to know that we have their backs,” he said in a recent interview.

Smiley – and 50 other mayors from across the U.S. – recently attended the 2023 North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism, which focused on stemming the rising tide of antisemitism. Smiley was the only mayor from New England to attend the conference, which was held Nov. 15-16.

Sponsored by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, the mayors discussed common issues and problems and learned best practices and action steps to fight hate. And they committed to a groundbreaking 10-point plan to combat antisemitism.

Smiley said the strategies offered at the conference fit right in with what the city is already doing.

“I was heartened to find that we are already doing several of them [the steps in the plan],” he said.

Among the 10 points was adoption of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) working definition of antisemitism, which the city has already adopted.

According to the IHRA, “antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” but it acknowledges that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”

“It’s not lost on me … that I could criticize my government without criticizing my country,” Smiley said.

“Criticizing the state of Israel doesn’t mean you are criticizing the existence of the state or its right to exist.”

Other steps already adopted by the city include recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month, which begins on May 1 in 2024, and participating in the Shine a Light campaign during Hanukkah.

The plan also encourages coordinating municipal law-enforcement security arrangements at Jewish community institutions; allocating resources for initiatives to foster interfaith tolerance, understanding and harmony; and adopting a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism.

“We are going to work with the [city’s] Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging director to facilitate trainings and alleviate the frustration on the part of the Jewish community

Mayor Brett Smiley that antisemitism is left out of DEI training,” Smiley said.

Educational institutions are included in the 10-point plan as well. Smiley said he wants to work to ensure that colleges “remain a place where free speech is welcome, but draw the line at hate speech.”

“You want to do that in a way that doesn’t create fear or violence,” he said.

“My plan is to adopt all 10 steps,” said Smiley. “I want to keep this in the conversation and use the power

of the office to give voice to how Jewish residents are feeling.

“The city of Providence prides itself on being a welcoming and embracing place, even though we often fall short. We are taking every step we can to keep the vibrancy that makes Providence.”

FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@ jewishallianceri.org) is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

Over $1 million raised for Israel Emergency Fund

BY FRAN OSTENDORF THE ISRAEL EMERGENCY FUND, a fundraising effort by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, has hit the $1 million mark.

In fact, 560 donors had pushed the total to $1,016,271 as of press time, according to Jennifer Zwirn, chief development officer at the Alliance.

But the need continues to be great, said Mark Feinstein, who, with his wife, Cindy, chairs the campaign.

“The needs aren’t getting

any less,” Feinstein said in a recent interview. “The needs will only continue to grow. We thank people who have made an initial gift and hope people might consider another.”

The Israel Emergency Fund was opened after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, to provide immediate financial assistance and relief to victims of terror and war. One hundred percent of all funds raised go directly to support on-theground needs, medical care, humanitarian relief, reloca-

tion and terrorist victims.

Contributions are channeled to the Jewish Federations of North America to distribute to organizations working in Israel, including the Israel Trauma Coalition, the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel, World ORT, United Hatzalah, Magen David Adom, ZAKA, Barzilai Medical Center and the Soroka Medical Center.

“None of the money goes to the government. None of the money goes to the military,”

said Feinstein. “It all goes to social programs that have come about because of the war.”

“This is a united approach,” he said, pointing out that the funds are distributed where they are most needed. “The agencies in Israel know where the needs are greatest,” he said.

“This is an emergency situation,” Feinstein said. “The last time we had a fund like this [for Israel] was during the 1973 war.”

He said that donations have

come from outside the immediate Jewish community, as well as from those who do not usually give.

“People are looking for an opportunity to help,” he said.

To make a donation to the Israel Emergency Fund, go jewishallianceri.org/ support-us/featured/Israel-emergency-fund.

FRAN OSTENDORF is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY

Israeli-born R.I. political scientist says only diplomacy will win the war

HAPPY HANUKKAH MAY THE HANUKKAH LIGHTS WARM YOUR HEART AND ILLUMINATE THE DARKNESS WITH THE LIGHT OF HOPE.

Ruth Ben-Artzi

BY ROBERT ISENBERG ON NOV. 7, a strongly worded editorial appeared in the Boston Globe urging a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

“We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself,” read an oft-quoted line. “But we do not believe that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government … deserves the benefit of the doubt on how best to protect Israel in this critical moment.”

One of the editorial’s three co-signers was Ruth BenArtzi, a political science professor at Providence College. Ben-Artzi has intrigued journalists for being none other than Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s niece, which seems to carry symbolic weight in the fiery debate about Israel’s strategy in the Gaza Strip.

But Ben-Artzi is a respected figure in her own right: An Israeli native, she has studied international relations for more than 30 years, taught political science in Rhode Island since 2006, and strongly identifies as a political activist.

“I am reluctant to be in the spotlight,” Ben-Artzi wrote in her initial correspondence with Jewish Rhode Island, “but I also have a principled and expert stance on the I/P [Israel-Palestinian] conflict, and highlighting that is important.”

Ben-Artzi’s perspective has evolved over time, often because of direct encounters with the conflict. She grew up in Haifa, and her extended family covered a wide spectrum of politics, which were discussed openly in her home. One uncle had

died in the line of duty on Yom Kippur during the War of Attrition (1967-70), while another uncle moved into a West Bank settlement in the 1970s. Her own parents were opposed to such settlements.

“By the time I was a teenager, I knew my parents supported the very small, shortlived movement of ‘Choug Tchelet,’ that was vocal in its opposition to holding the territories conquered in the 1967 War,” recalled Ben-Artzi in an email interview. “This movement warned that the Occupation will corrupt Israeli society; that it is both a moral and a security disaster.”

Nevertheless, Ben-Artzi looked forward to her compulsory service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). She remembers “idealizing” the IDF and fantasizing about becoming a fighter pilot or serving in an elite unit. The reality of the military was not what she expected.

“My service coincided with the first Intifada, and that experience shaped my views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and on the role of military and the use of force in this conflict,” she said. “I educated myself on the Nakba and on Palestinian and Israeli histories that were left out of my public-school education.

“When I had to take a bus through the West Bank, in uniform, and saw the kids who threw rocks at us, I felt shame. This was a turning point for me.”

Another formative experience was working as a research assistant for the OECD Development Center in CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center

24 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY

Documentary about R.I. survivors featured at annual Kristallnacht commemoration PROVIDENCE – The Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center presented the powerful documentary, “Here We Live Again,” as part of this year’s program commemorating Kristallnacht, the devastating Nazi pogroms on Nov. 9–10, 1938. The 1985 documentary, by Rhode Island’s Mike Fink and Peter O’Neill, follows Holocaust survivors who settled in R.I. More than 75 people gathered at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center on Nov. 9 for the annual program.

Many recognized some of the Rhode Islanders profiled in the film.

After the screening, Fink answered questions in a session moderated by Rhode Island PBS’ Michelle San Miguel.

Barbara Fields, chair of the

Holocaust center’s committee on combating antisemitism, opened the program with remarks about her father’s Holocaust experience.

Her father escaped to Shanghai at the age of 19, she said. She called Kristallnacht, 85 years ago, the “defining moment” that motivated him to leave Germany.

The documentary Attendees listen to Mike Fink. was funded by the Rhode Island CounCammy, who is the grandson cil for the Humanities and the of Holocaust survivors. Look Rhode Island Foundation. The for more information in Janushowing was part of the Baxt ary at bornsteinholocaustcenLecture series at the Holoter.org. caust center.

The next Baxt Lecture will FRAN OSTENDORF, editor, be April 14, and will feature Jewish Rhode Island Smith College Prof. Justin

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 Paris, where she studied developing nations and the role of non-government organizations.

Ben-Artzi returned to Israel shortly after the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, in 1995, and campaigned for left-wing political party Meretz, but she could see that the political tides were changing.

“For me, this marked a stark, dark turn for Israel,” she said. “The inherent tension between Israel’s Jewish identity and its desire to be a democracy had by then been established. When I chose to get married in the U.S. rather than in Israel, friends wondered about that decision – and were surprised that one of the reasons [for] marrying in the U.S. was that our Reform rabbi cannot legally perform a wedding in Israel, that Israel’s identity is completely dominated by Orthodox Judaism.”

Even in the wake of the

Hamas attacks, which she describes as “atrocious,” Ben-Artzi feels the only effective solution will be diplomatic and political, not an ongoing show of force. She cites civilian casualties in Gaza, but she also points out the finite resources of the IDF. “To end Israel’s addiction to the Occupation and to offer the Palestinians a horizon of freedom and justice as an alternative to violence is the only way, in my opinion, that roughly seven million Jewish Israelis and seven million Palestinians, who live between the river and the sea, can attain security, dignity and peace.”

To read our full interview with Ruth Ben-Artzi, go to jewishrhody.com/ stories/ruth-ben-artzitalks-israel,51225.

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

DECEMBER 2023 | 25

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

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Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

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New rabbi implements a new work model at Torat Yisrael

BY ROBERT ISENBERG

L

ong before he became the new rabbi at Temple Torat Yisrael, in East Greenwich, Ari Saks was a Philadelphia teenager who just wanted to write about sports. His only struggle

would have been which team to cover, since he loved them all.

“IF I HAD to choose,” remembers Saks, now 41, “it would have been the Eagles or the Flyers at that time.”

But in 2000, Saks had a transformative experience: He spent a gap year in Israel, working on Kibbutz Sa’ad, in the Negev desert, and unwittingly walked right into the Second Intifada. Then, as now, rockets were fired at Israeli civilians.

The kibbutz’s leaders cautioned Saks and his peers against straying too far.

“We had restrictions on where we could go because of suicide bombers,” says Saks. “It was a very powerful year.”

The seriousness of this threat transformed Saks in several ways: He connected strongly with Israel, and by his junior year of college, he

hoped to make aliyah.

Saks briefly considered becoming a news reporter, but a few seasons of unflattering portrayals of journalists on “The West Wing” cured him of that desire.

In 2006, Saks earned a B.A. in Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University.

Then Saks heard a divine call to serve as a rabbi in the U.S. “It was such a moment of clarity,” he recalled.

The rabbinate wasn’t a revolutionary path for Saks. His family is full of rabbis, including his father, grandfather and an uncle. As a youth, he had loved going to shul and reading Torah.

After college, Saks spent a year working as a paralegal, but he was

soon off to the Jewish Theological Seminary. He finished a master’s degree in Jewish Education in 2012, and was ordained.

Saks has been a pulpit rabbi in several temples in New York state for the better part of a decade. He has a keen interest in interfaith dialogue and marriages, and also served as curriculum consultant for the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia in 2010, and as Jewish Educator for the Interfaith Community of New York from 2011 to 2012. He’s currently developing a podcast, called “Interfaithing,” with Anna DeWeese, a mental-health worker based in Pasadena, California, who is a friend.

Saks accepted the rabbi position at Torat Yisrael late this summer, replacing departing Rabbi David Barnett, but with one qualifier: He wouldn’t be moving to Rhode Island.

Instead, he plans to hold Shabbat services in person every two weeks, as well as on holidays. This hybrid set-up will allow him to continue living in Huntington, New York, with his wife, Rachel, and their two children.

“I hope that this [arrangement] will be a model for others,” says

Rabbi Ari Saks Saks. “I think it’s about meeting the needs of a community, and meeting my needs as a rabbi at this stage in my life.”

“Nostalgia and history can be important to a community’s identity,” he continued. “But it can also hinder what the future might look like.”

Saks speaks fondly of his new congregants at Torat Yisrael, as well as of Shabbat meals made from fish freshly caught in Narragansett Bay. In sum, he says, “I would say it’s been a beautiful experience.”

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

Upcoming Delve Deeper course to focus on early Jewish-Christian relations

BY DORI ADLER THE DELVE DEEPER SERIES will hold a Zoom course, “Two Nations in Your Womb: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity,” starting in February.

Delve Deeper is an adult-education initiative that hires dynamic teachers to present in-depth, university-level Judaic courses to a diverse group of adult learners.

This series will explore the history of Jewish-Christian relations in “Late Antiquity” (c. 200-600 C.E.), a time of profound social, cultural and religious transformation.

This foundational period was an important time for the development of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, which occurred parallel to each other but also in conversation with each other. From both Jewish and Christian perspectives, this course will examine key ideas and prac-

tices, methods of interpreting sacred texts, and views of the “Other” and the “Self” that characterized Jewish-Christian relations in this period.

The course will be co-taught by Professors Arthur Urbano and Benny Bar-Lavi, both from Providence College.

Urbano is a professor of theology and the chair of the Jewish-Catholic Theological Exchange at PC. He earned a Master of Divinity degree in Scripture at Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D., in Religious Studies, at Brown University. He teaches courses in the Bible, early Christianity and Jewish-Christian relations. Since 2007, Urbano has been involved in interfaith work at PC and nationally.

Bar-Lavi is PC’s newly appointed scholar-in-residence in Jewish Studies and Jewish-Christian Relations.

He will be a member of the

Department of Theology for the 2023-24 academic year.

Bar-Lavi earned a bachelor’s degree from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. His research has focused on early modern European history, the Western Sephardi Diaspora, the history of Jewish thought, and Judaism and Islam in Christian and post-Christian thought.

Prior knowledge of the subject matter is not required for this introductory course.

Both Bar-Lavi and Urbano are looking forward to creating a space for open dialogue.

They hope to foster an environment that will allow for questions between students, who bring their own identities, backgrounds and traditions, but can learn together – and, perhaps, create lasting friendships.

The seven-week Zoom

course will begin on Feb. 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. Participants will be able to access class materials online, such as advance readings, the syllabus, weekly readings and PowerPoint presentations.

Tuition is $175 for the semester. To enroll in the course or to learn more about the instructors, go to www. delvedeeper.org or https:// tinyurl.com/3dd4jsjp.

Tuition assistance is available to members of the Providence College community, including faculty, staff, current students and alumni.

Email jcte@providence.edu for information.

For all others interested in a reduced-rate tuition, email Morty Miller at mortymiller1945@gmail.com or contact the rabbi of a sponsoring synagogue.

Financial support is provided by the Joseph and Jacqueline Teverow Memo-

rial Fund at the Jewish Federation Foundation of Greater Rhode Island.

The course is a collaboration between Delve Deeper and the Providence College Jewish-Catholic Theological Exchange, whose mission is to foster interreligious learning, friendship and understanding in the community and at the college.

This Delve Deeper series is also presented in cooperation with the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and area synagogues, including Congregation Beth Sholom, Temple Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El, Temple Habonim, Temple Sinai and Temple Torat Yisrael.

DORI ADLER (dadler@ jewishallianceri.org) is the director of Jewish Life and Learning at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

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jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY

NO ONE SAVES MORE LIVES IN ISRAEL IN TIMES OF CRISIS.

An evening of Jewish reflections on Chinese food on Saturday, Dec. 23, at 6:30 p.m., at Temple Emanu-El, 99 Taft Ave., Providence.

Tickets are $15 for temple members, $20 for nonmembers, and can be purchased in advance at www.teprov. org/event/arts/2023/film/ meetandeatatlees. Tickets purchased at the door are $20 for temple members and $25 for nonmembers.

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PROVIDENCE – The Arts Emanu-El Committee at Temple Emanu-El is excited to announce a screening of the documentary film “Meet and Eat at Lee’s Garden” on Dec. 23, with kosher pre-film Chinese appetizers and desserts and a post-film discussion.

In the film, Day’s Lee, For more information, conthe producer, director and tact the Temple Emanu-El writer, recalls her memooffice at 401-331-1616. ries of her father and the family’s restaurant, Lee’s ARLENE S. SIMON is Garden, one of the first a member of the Arts Chinese restaurants to open Emanu-El Committee outside of Montreal’s China- at Temple Emanu-El, in town in the 1950s.

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Through interviews with former customers BMW AUDI MERCEDES BENZ VOLKSWAGEN MINI and families that owned other restaurants, “Meet and Eat at Lee’s Garden” explores how these early restaurants “I look forward to bringing my car in for played an importservice. I love the staff and Gerry, and ant role in the social I appreciate how well everything my car history of Chinese and needs is explained to me. I feel like I’m Jewish communities. getting good value for the money, fair “Meet and Eat at and honest work, and you guys have gone Lee’s Garden” is Lee’s the extra mile for me! Much appreciated, first documentary film. and I highly recommend!”

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28 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

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Alliance announces its first artist-in-residence

BY DEVORAH PHILLIPS

T

he Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island is pleased to announce that Providence-based artist and Jewish educator Zo Baker is the

Alliance’s first artist-in-residence.

BAKER, who uses they/them pronouns, has already been involved with the Alliance as the instructor of the popular Sukkot Sip ’n’ Paint event.

As the artist-in-residence, Baker will curate one largescale group exhibition for the Jewish Culture Fest, on June 2, teach two or three workshops, give an artist lecture, and produce a solo exhibition at the end of their residency, in September 2024.

In an artist’s statement, Baker is described as an artist, curator and Jewish

educator who explores themes of memory, ritual and Jewish culture through community-centered social practice. They’re interested in exploring ideas about personal identity through objects and domestic spacesmining archives, thinking about who tells our stories and how Jews hold spaces through architecture and gathering.

Baker has worked for the last eight-plus years developing and facilitating arts-focused programming for Jewish nonprofits, creating spaces that cultivate excite-

ment for inquiry and a sense of play through making, talking and always eating.

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Baker received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. They are also a recent graduate of the Tribe12 Fellowship, where they’ve been developing and scaling an artist’s residency specifically geared towards supporting professional Jewish artists.

Baker’s work has been featured at the Museum of Jewish Montreal, in the New York Times, Vice Magazine, The Times of Israel, and the Covenant Foundation’s Sightline Journal, where they were named one of “12

Zo Baker Jewish Artist-Educators You Should Know.” Additionally, they were recently awarded the Louis Schwarz and Elaine Friedman Schwartz Memorial Fund Award in Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Sachs Grant for Arts Innovation to continue work on their ongoing project, “Calling Home.”

The position of artist-in-residence will open to applications in the summer of 2024.

DEVORAH PHILLIPS (dphillips@jewishallianceri. org) is the manager of arts and culture programming at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

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DECEMBER 2023 | 29

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY

Amid the rubble, life goes on in Ukraine

BY AARON GINSBURG Third of three parts

I

n April, I returned to Ukraine for my third wartime visit. I flew into Warsaw, Poland, and took an overnight bus to Kyiv, where I rented

a car. With guide Olena Oros, I revisited Makariv, which I had visited in 2017.

The formerly gloomy local museum had new lights and display cases, thanks to a local cellphone store’s remodel. Unoccupied Makariv was on the front line. The museum was almost entirely devoted to the war. Dummies in uniforms from both sides in the war, rations and an American bazooka were scattered about. Atop a pile of shell and bomb casings was a partially burned wooden crucifix from a bombed church.

At the nearby lake stands a Holocaust monument with a cross on top, erected by deceased local restaurateur Vasyl Symonenko. He used to shoo away anyone picnicking nearby. Museum director Vitaly Gedz explained that Symonenko asked his friends for advice about the design.

I wanted to revisit Nina Kochetova, head of the local Jewish community, whom I had met in 2017. Olena was reluctant to call someone five minutes before arriving. But Nina was so eager to see us

that she hobbled to the sidewalk to make sure we didn’t get lost.

A bomb had fallen near her house, breaking all the windows. She lived in the basement for a week with her grandson before fleeing; she moved back after Russia was routed from the area.

From Poltava, my friend Oleksandr Vorona, American Timothy Mckraken and I took a day trip to Trostianets, Sumy Oblast, close to Russia, which was occupied for a month. At a plaza near the train station, many of the buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed. The scene inside the devastated bus station was hellish.

Surrounded by debris, the intact ticket counter seemed to await travelers.

Oleksandr and I visited Priluki for friends from Sharon, Massachusetts.

The secretary who greeted us at the town offices was confused; there had not been many visitors lately. I smiled in agreement when a young

woman, Irina Leshchenko, head of the Department of Culture and Tourism, said, “Aaron, your visit is very important to us.”

Irina called the head of the local Jewish community, Irina Yakivna Beis, who arrived quickly. Irina Beis asked, “What happened to my aunt who went to the U.S. in 1929? She sent bolts of cloth, which my father sold to support the family. When the Germans were approaching during World War II, before fleeing, my father buried a bolt of cloth, which was still there when he returned over a year later. And I still have it!”

Returning to Kyiv, I took a train to Vinnytsia to rendezvous with historian and guide Sergey Tsarapora, a refugee in Belgium who was visiting his 91-year-old mother. Before the Russians took Crimea in 2014, he lived on the peninsula, in Yalta, owned two apartments and had a young wife and son.

Now he has cancer and lives with his family in a small apartment on the outskirts of Antwerp.

Sergey agreed to show me around, saying that he would use the fees I paid for humanitarian aid. Several people made pledges so we could visit their ancestral shtetls, mostly near Rivne.

Any time we met a soldier or visited a cemetery, Sergey started crying, as did

Women’s Alliance members enjoyed a tasty fall meeting PROVIDENCE – About 45 members of The Women’s Alliance attended its fall celebration, on Nov. 9, at Hope & Main’s Downtown Makers Marketplace.

The event featured Lisa Raiola, Hope & Main’s owner and founder, and several of her talented chefs, including Benny Barber and Guy Hanuka of Navad Attendees enjoy the Hope & Main program.

Bakers (formerly Buns), in East Providence, who women in philanthropy, and Women’s Alliance and its guided the participants in recognizes the importance of upcoming events, email Jana preparing delicious and easy women giving to the Jewish Brenman at jbrenman@jewappetizers for the holiday Alliance of Greater Rhode ishallianceri.org. season.

Island’s Annual CommuSubmitted by the Women’s The Women’s Alliance nity Campaign in their own Alliance seeks to engage, inspire and names. lead Jewish community To learn more about The

I. Soldiers who have died in the war are buried near one another, usually with their pictures and Ukrainian flags.

In Vinnytsia, I stayed in Yerusalimka (little Jerusalem), formerly a Jewish neighborhood. It took more than a day to photograph the many pre-1917 buildings.

We visited seven towns to explore their Jewish history.

In Izyaslav, also known as Zazlav, I saw a store in a Jewish neighborhood, a ruined synagogue that had been converted to a musical instrument factory (now defunct) and an abandoned public school, formerly Jewish.

Torn textbooks littered the floor. A large Jewish cemetery had few matzevot (gravestones), while a second large cemetery was well preserved but mostly overgrown.

In Korets, a large Jewish cemetery stood atop two hills separated by a gully. It required climbing and bushwhacking to photograph the many stones that remained.

Sergey then dropped me off in Zhytomyr, where I caught a bus to Lviv.

At the suggestion of guide Diana Borysenko, I took a long walk to Lviv’s Lychakiv Cemetery. It was created in 1787, when all cemeteries were moved out of Lviv except a Jewish one and an Armenian one.

Lviv is Ukraine’s second-largest city. A sea of

Ukrainian flags flew over 100 graves of soldiers who died during the current war, adjacent to those who died since Russia invaded in 2014. The blood-letting never stopped.

On the way home, I spent two weeks in Germany. In Hamburg, accompanied by medical ethicist and historian Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca, I saw an outline on the pavement of a synagogue destroyed during Kristallnacht, surrounded by an exhibit about righteous gentiles. Around the corner, an old Jewish school is still a Jewish school.

Near my Airbnb, I saw a poster advertising “Cabaret.”

At the small dinner theater, I sat near the stage. The action spilled over into the seating area, transporting me to the KitKat Club. The Holocaust lurked behind the glitzy costumes and the music. It seemed impossible for me to escape death and suffering.

From Munich, I flew home.

Postscript: My most recent visit to Ukraine was in May 2023. The date of my next visit is uncertain. I hope the war will be over, but Ukrainians will still have many years of suffering and misery in their future.

AARON GINSBURG lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and blogs at jewishnewport. blogspot.com.

30 | DECEMBER 2023

Jewish Rhode Island | jewishrhody.org

COMMUNITY

The Alliance can help guide your charitable gifts

T

he holiday season is upon us. We know you’re busy. And the Jewish Alliance wants to help by making it easy for you to

make donations, whether at the year’s end or any time throughout the year.

DID YOU KNOW that nearly one-third of all giving takes place in December? Around this time each year, many of us want to combine our desire to do good with our desire to save money wherever we can. Surprisingly, it’s quite easy to do this because tzedakah comes in many forms, and the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island offers options that let you make informed charitable contributions. It’s that simple.

About 30% of year-end giving takes place in the last three days of the year – but every day is a good day to consider the types of giving that are best suited for you.

Here are a few possibilities:

Establish a donor-advised fund:

With charities that have donor-advised fund (DAF) programs, you can make irrevocable contributions to the charity, which then establishes a DAF on your behalf. Establishing a DAF can be particularly useful at the end of the year because it allows you to make a gift and take the tax deduction immediately.

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Donate complex assets: Donors may contribute complex assets, such as private company stock, directly to a charitable organization.

These types of assets often have a relatively low cost.

Give the gift of stock: While

giving in the form of cash or a check is the most common way to donate to a charity, it is not generally the most tax-efficient. Contributing stocks, bonds or mutual funds that have appreciated over time has become increasingly popular.

Two-thirds of those making year-end gifts do so without research – we can help you discover your best options. There is no right or wrong way to give. Tzedakah comes in all shapes and sizes, and every gift makes a difference!

At the Jewish Alliance, we strive to make it easier for you by noting important deadlines and offering many options to accommodate your contribution preferences. When in doubt, ask us to help guide you!

Contribution options

Critical giving dates

Credit card transactions

Receive by Dec. 31

Wire or online transfers

Receive by Dec. 29

Checks

Postmarked by Dec. 31

Mutual fund shares

Initiate process by Dec. 1

ACH

Initiate process by Dec. 18

Grant recommendations from JFF donor-advised funds

Submit by Dec. 8

To make a year-end gift to the Jewish Alliance Annual Community Campaign, contact Michele Gallagher, senior manager for Campaign Operations, at mgallagher@jewishallianceri.org or 401.421.4111, ext. 165.

To establish or make a gift from your endowment fund, contact Claire Uziel, manager of Endowment and Campaign Operations, at cuziel@jewishallianceri. org or 401.421.4111, ext. 109.

DECEMBER 2023 | 31

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

COMMUNITY

Long-awaited Jewish deli opens in Pawtucket

BY FRAN OSTENDORF IT’S THE DELI you’ve been waiting for! After much buzz and a number of setbacks, the long-awaited Maven’s Delicatessen opens Dec. 3.

The space at 727 East Ave., Pawtucket, is decorated in black-and-white with old photos of delis past, gleaming cases and locally made wooden tables. The Jewish deli is a passion project that owner Jason Sugarman has been working on for a long time, and he said he’s thrilled to see it come to fruition.

Sugarman says he and his team will make much of the food in Maven’s kitchen. But for now, those essential deli pickles will come from elsewhere, as he has found a good source and he says they are difficult to make properly. A bowl of half sours, dill pickles and pickled tomatoes will be on every table.

Breakfast features

bagels, lox, whitefish and all the accompaniments, as well as egg dishes.

For lunch, there’s corned beef, pastrami, Reubens and many other sandwiches. Dinner entrees include salmon with kasha varnishkes. Sugarman’s grandma’s noodle kugel is also on the menu. And you can wash down your meal with Dr. Brown’s soda.

(Eventually, beer and wine will be available.)

Sugarman has partnered with Ben Remick and Jaime D'Oliveira, who is also the culinary director, on the venture. The general manager is Sarah Berman, and Scott Taylor is the executive chef and bakery director.

With a staff numbering in the 50s, the restaurant will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, and until 10 p.m. on weekends. In addition to serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, you can take home your favorite deli breads, bagels and

desserts from a counter in the front.

Maven’s kitchen will turn out those bagels and breads, along with the corned beef, pastrami and desserts, including rainbow cookies, black-andwhites, carrot cake and other favorites.

Maven’s seats about 100 people, with another 20 seats for quick service.

Eventually, you’ll be able to grab a coffee and a bagel at the counter while you browse through newspapers and comic books.

“We want to be a place you can come for everything,” said Sugarman, who has 20 years of experience in the Rhode Island restaurant business.

According to Maven’s website, mavensdeli.com, “Although we are not ‘certified kosher,’ we are certified delicious!”

FRAN OSTENDORF is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.

Israel Emergency Fund The Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island stands with Israel and has opened an emergency fund to provide immediate financial assistance and relief to victims of terror and war.

100% of your donation will go toward supporting victims of terror and addressing the unprecedented levels of trauma caused by these horrific attacks.

To support the fund, visit JewishAllianceRI.org or scan the QR Code below.

The Israel Emergency Fund is chaired by Cindy & Mark Feinstein.

401 Elmgrove Avenue, Providence | 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org

Maven's interior, top left; black-and-white cookies, top right; beet salad with homemade sourdough rye croutons, left; platters of lox and whitefish with all the accompaniments.

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OBITUARIES Deborah Bronitsky, 77

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. – Deborah Rose (Kapstein) Bronitsky passed away peacefully on Nov. 17, 2023. She was the beloved wife of Leonard Bronitsky to whom she was married for 52 years.

Born in Providence, she was the daughter of the late Gladys (Chernack) Kapstein and Sherwin J. Kapstein.

She was the dedicated and beloved mother of Molly Kapstein (Bronitsky) Cote and Max K. Bronitsky. She was the loving grandmother of Abigail Rose Cote, with whom she shared a middle name.

She is also survived by her brothers, Jeremy A. Kapstein and Daniel J. Kapstein and his two sons, Zachary and Jacob, Deborah’s nephews who brought her much joy.

She loved her family and was devoted to them entirely.

Deborah was a product of the Providence Public Schools, graduating from Hope High School where she was a football and hockey cheerleader – a leader among her fellow cheerleaders on the sideline as the only one who understood the game – as well as a gifted cellist and member of the Rhode Island All State High School Orchestra. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Rhode Island before receiving a Masters of Education from Brown University.

Deborah began her teaching career as a fifth grade teacher in the Barrington Public Schools before teaching English and Social Studies at Meadowbrook Junior High School in Newton, Massachusetts. She retired from teaching in 2006 after serving as a permanent substitute teacher at Newton North High School. She was last a resident of Little Compton, Rhode Island.

Her marriage to Leonard, the pair known as Debbie and Lenny to their family and friends, which was due in part to Deb’s vast knowledge of Jazz music and sports, spanned many decades and was defined by their complete devotion to one another.

It was filled by both happy and exciting times, as well as challenging periods that their love for one another helped them overcome.

Deborah’s life was marked by deep and lasting friendships reaching back to her early childhood. Her friends are a testament to the caring

and supportive person she was. She loved her children unconditionally and imparted to them, among many things, her unmatched, classic sense of style and her determined strength to the end. From her parents, who were both civil rights activists and respected community leaders in education and the Rhode Island Jewish community, Deborah learned the importance of public service to which she dedicated her time, raising her family in Newton. She worked to improve public education through service to the Parent Teacher Associations at her children’s schools, as well as local politics and her political activism. Debbie will best be remembered for her fantastic and contagious sense of humor, her extraordinary personality that changed the dynamic of any room she entered and, finally, by her incredible strength.

Donations may be made to the NEARI Children’s Fund,99 Bald Hill Road, Cranston, RI 02920 or HopeHealth Hospice, 1085 N. Main St., Providence, RI 02904.

Vicki Del Sesto, 63

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Vicki Greenberg Del Sesto, of Providence, passed away Nov. 4, 2023, at The Miriam Hospital. She was the wife of Gerald Del Sesto.

Born in Providence, a daughter of Barbara (Hittner) Greenberg of Providence and the late Dr. Melvin Greenberg, she was a lifelong resident of the city.

A graduate of Hope High School, class of 1978, Vicki earned a bachelor’s degree in language from Northeastern University in 1982 and spent a semester at University of Salamanca in Spain.

In addition to her husband and mother she is survived by: two brothers, Dr. David Greenberg and his fiancé, Heather King, of Barrington and Mitchell Greenberg and his wife, Julia, of East Greenwich; five nephews, Justin, Nathan and Jacob Greenberg, Michael and Matthew Del Sesto; four nieces, Emma and Ariah Greenberg and Alyssa and Rebecca Del Sesto; several aunts, uncles and cousins. She also leaves her parrot, Jasper, whom she loved dearly.

Contributions may be made to the RISPCA, 155 Plan Way, Warwick, RI 02886.

Barbara Feldman, 94

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Barbara D. Feldman passed away Nov. 24, 2023, surrounded by her family.

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of the late M. Edward and Sara Ada (Freedman) Rose.

She was wife of the late Walter S. Feldman to whom she was married for 67 years.

Barbara earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and became a music teacher for Warwick Public Schools. She was a pioneer of the Orffschulwerk Method of teaching music to children, and a leader of Women and Men of Brown at Brown University. Barbara was one of the founders of the RI Chamber Music Concerts, and Brown University’s Resumed University Education (RUE).

She is survived by her children, Steven Feldman of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and Mark Feldman of Michigan; her daughter-inlaw, Gloria Barone Rosanio; her granddaughter Kaitlyn Pettit and her husband, Shaun; two great-granddaughters Payton and Avery Pettit; two nieces who were like daughters to her: Gillian Rogell, and Renee Shield and her husband, Paul; and many other beloved nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brother Gilbert Rose and her sister Irma Rogell.

Contributions may be made to the Providence Animal Rescue Shelter, Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts or a charity of your choice.

Annette Greenfeld, 92

WEST YARMOUTH, MASS. – Annette Rose Greenfeld (Greenfield) “Annie” died peacefully on Nov. 3, 2023, at the Pavilion Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She was the beloved wife of the late Leo Greenfeld and the late Herbert Tuchschneider.

Born in Providence, a daughter of the late Harry and Fannie (Solup) Morgenstern, she had been living between Cape Cod and Florida for many years. Annie previously co-owned with her husband, Leo, beginning in 1968, three restaurants in Warwick, The Poor Boy, The Red Kettle and Fanny’s Fireside Inn, and later co-owned with her late husband Ann & Frans restaurant on Cape Cod until retiring in 1990.

She was an avid Bingo player eager to play as often as possible. Her social activities also included playing cards and mahjong on a local tournament level with her dear friends and cousins.

Annie also enjoyed playing the piano, singing, ballroom dancing and painting sweatshirts.

She was the devoted mother of Nadine London, who dutifully cared for Annie during her final years, and her husband, Robert, of Warwick; and Stuart Greenfeld and his wife, Carol, of Cranston. She was the loving grandmother of Christina. She was the cherished great-grandmother of Cooper and Mila.

Contributions may be made to the Pavilion Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, 876 Falmouth Road, Hyannis, MA 02601.

Ann Kittner, 91

BARRINGTON, R.I. – Ann Joyce (Burkhardt) Kittner, of Barrington, passed away on Nov. 22, 2023, at the HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center in Providence. She was the loving wife of the late Bernard “Bernie” Kittner.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of the late Harold and Esther (Gray) Burkhardt.

Mrs. Kittner was an elementary school teacher and reading specialist in Warren for 25 years before retiring.

After retiring, she volunteered at the Barrington Library and enjoyed the love and companionship of many close friends.

Survivors include three sons, Steven Kittner of Ellicott City, Maryland; Marc Kittner and his wife, Ashley Hulsey, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Alan Kittner and his wife, Elissa Kittner, of Berkeley, California.

Other survivors include her brother, William Burkhardt, and his wife, Peggy Filis, and seven grandchildren, Rachel, Daniel, Benjamin, Jonathan, David, Mira and Asa. She had a special, unique relationship with each of her grandchildren.

She was a close friend of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in high school and beyond and would remark that it was her claim to fame. However, her former students, now parents with children of their own, corrected her and said that her claim to fame was her lasting influence on their lives.

Contributions in her honor may be made to Temple Habonim, Barrington, or to Friends of the Barrington Library.

Sanford Kirshenbaum, 89

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Sanford Marshall Kirshenbaum died on Oct. 26, 2023. He was the beloved husband of Sally Weiner Kirshenbaum and the adored father of Marlene Kirshenbaum.

Born in Providence, son of the late Morris and Eda

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OBITUARIES Kirshenbaum, “Infie” was the brother of Allen “Tot” Kirshenbaum, the late Selwyn Kirshenbaum and Jordan “Babe” Kirshenbaum.

He graduated from Classical High School and Clark University. At Boston University Law School, he received a J.D. and was a member of the Law Review. He also received an LL.M. from the Graduate Tax Law Program.

He was an attorney in Providence for many years and a real estate investor in retirement. He and Sally traveled the world together for nearly

65 years. He is remembered with love and laughter.

Donations may be made to the Roger Williams Park Conservancy: https://rwpconservancy.org/about/conservancy-.

Leonard Klehr, 81

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Leonard Klehr, of Providence, passed away peacefully on Nov. 7, 2023, at West Shore Health Center, after a brief illness.

Born in Providence, he was the son of the late Benjamin and Mollie (Victor) Klehr.

Leonard graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and was an usher at Providence Performing Arts Center for several years.

He enjoyed going to fine art shows, jazz concerts and was an avid New England sports fan. Leonard had a passion for recycling and was dedicated to conserving, reusing and reducing his carbon footprint.

He is survived by his close friends, Patricia Izzi, John Bowman, Margaret Marcotte, Mary Frappier, Ralph Solmonese, Julie Amaral and David Altman.

Andrew Port, 88

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

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. – Andrew H. Port died Nov. 20, 2023, at Westerly Hospital.

Born in Providence, a son of the late Edward and Evelyn (Mushnick) Port, he had lived in Narragansett for over 20 years, previously living in Warwick. He is survived by his beloved wife of 63 years, Barbara (Arden) Port, along with his two daughters, Cindy “Arden” Port of South Boston, Massachusetts, and Debi Corrigan and her husband, Michael, also of South Boston. He was the cherished grandfather of Julia Corrigan and Ryan (Delena) Corrigan. He was the dear brother of David Port and his wife, Rochelle, of Boca Raton, Florida.

He was an executive at Arden Corporation for over 50 years, retiring in 2018.

Andrew was a member of the former Temple Am David and former Or Hadash. He was a member of the Masons – Redwood Lodge and Touro Fraternal Association. Andy enjoyed taking cruises to discover new places, attending the opera and musical theater while singing along, playing tennis and spending countless hours at the beach in Narragansett with his family.

Contributions may be made to the charity of your choice.

Valeriy Rakhlin, 82

BARRINGTON, R.I. – Valeriy Rakhlin died at his home on Oct. 28, 2023. He was the beloved husband of Galina (Bykova) Rakhlin for 58 years. Born in Luhansk, Ukraine, a son of the late

Abram and Sophia (Godik) Rakhlin, he had lived in Barrington since 1997, previously living in Providence.

He was a veterinarian for many years.

He was the devoted father of Mark and his wife, Tatyana Rakhlin, of Barrington, and Natalia Rakhlin-Powsner, of GrossePointe, Michigan. He was the dear brother of Galina Kartevel, of Brooklyn, New York, and the late Yugenia Rakhlin. He was the loving grandfather of Ilya and Daniela. He was the cherished great-grandfather of Philip.

Contributions may be made to Temple Habonim, 165 New Meadow Road, Barrington, RI 02806.

Stephen Reffkin, 72

CRANSTON, R.I. – Stephen M. Reffkin died on Nov. 15, 2023, at home. He was born in Providence on July 24, 1951, the only son of the late Sally (Davis) and Burton Reffkin late of Cranston and younger brother of Leslie Anne (Reffkin) Bower of London.

He was the much-loved uncle of Laura and Jonathan and great uncle of Hülya, Selvi, Cora and Will. His longtime companion, Darlene Plante, died in 2016.

He grew up in Cranston and graduated from Cranston High School West and Providence College (1973).

Stephen always lived and worked in the Rhode Island area. After graduation he worked at the Alpine Ski Shop with his father and later at various care homes in Rhode Island, which he found very satisfying. When younger he was a frequent and welcome visitor to London to see Leslie and her family, sometimes hiking in the English countryside with his brother-in-law, Stephen Bower, or enjoying boat trips down the Thames.

Donations may be made to Inspiring Minds Inspiringmindsri.org via the Support Us page.

Sol Resnik, 93

DEERFIELD BEACH FLA. – Sol Leon Resnik, of Deerfield Beach, passed away peacefully on Nov. 11, 2023, in Boca Raton, Florida.

Born to Fannie Priest Resnik and Bezalel Nathan Resnik in Providence, he was a childhood polio survivor. He was a graduate of Classical High School and the University of Rhode Island.

In 1954, he earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, married Esther Petersohn and returned to Rhode Island to join his father in the ribbon and emblem business.

Together with his son, David, he built Emblem & Badge into a large awards producer that even manufactured the Emmy Awards. A world traveler who loved adventure, dogs and being with family, he was a philanthropist, skilled amateur photographer and collector of Judaica and folk art. He was known for his inventions, design, and mechanical skills, but was most proud that he could build, fix or repair anything.

Sol’s multiple business endeavors included development of the old Rhode Island Arena on North Main Street in Providence into a nightclub-tennis court entertainment complex, Resnik Realty commercial and industrial mill space, and the Polar Cap Ice company. Retiring to Florida, he became a regular member of B’nai Torah Congregation’s morning minyan.

He is survived by his sister, Beverly Blazar, and her husband, Andrew Blazer; by Esther, his wife of 69 years; son, David Resnik; daughter, Marcia Lome and her husband, Steven Lome; daughter Linda Resnik, and her husband, Edward Martin; and grandchildren Joshua Resnik, Alissa Rubin, Jonathan Lome, Brian Lome, Hannah Mellion and Eliza Mellion; and five great-grandchildren: Aidan, Ezra, Olivia, Ava and Leah.

Tributes may be made to Trustbridge Hospice by the Sea, Boca Raton, Florida (Donate Now | Trustbridge Hospice Care), Hadassah, NYC, NY Donate (hadassah. org) or B’nai’ Torah Congregation, Boca Raton, Florida (Online Payments - B’nai Torah Congregation at shulcloud.com).

Marcia Riesman, 98

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Marcia Stone Riesman, of Providence, passed away peacefully at home on Oct. 26, 2023, at her residence. She was the wife of the late Robert A. Riesman, Sr., to whom she was married for 58 years.

Daughter of the late S. Robert Stone, Sr., and Clara (Shapiro) Stone, she was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in Newton. She was a proud 1946 graduate of

DECEMBER 2023 | 35

jewishrhody.org | Jewish Rhode Island

OBITUARIES Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She moved to Providence with her husband in 1947. She also lived in Middletown, and Palm Beach, Florida.

When she arrived in Providence, Mrs. Riesman became an active volunteer with the League of Women Voters and other organizations. She was a dedicated volunteer, board member, and board president of Jewish Family Services (now part of Jewish Collaborative Services) as well as a staunch volunteer and board member of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island for many years. She and her husband together supported many other causes and organizations in the Jewish community and beyond. She also was a member of Temple Emanu-El in Providence.

Survivors include her children, Jean A. Riesman of Middletown and Robert A. Riesman, Jr. and his spouse, Rachel Kaplan, of Chicago, Illinois; three grandchildren, Abraham Josephine Riesman and her spouse, Sara I. Rosenbaum, of Providence, Clare Riesman of Sebastopol, California, and Julia Riesman of Chicago; sister-in-law Betty Stone of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and brother-in-law Eugene Riesman of Montreal, Canada; and multiple beloved nieces and nephews and their offspring. She was the sister of the late Richard D. Stone and the late S. Robert Stone, Jr.

Contributions may be made to the Marcia Riesman Program for Staff Development Endowment at Jewish Collaborative Services, 1165 N. Main St., Providence, RI, 02904, or Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, 175 Broad St., Providence, 02903.

Lila Silver, 94

NAPLES, FLA. – Lila Silver, of Naples and formerly of Cranston and Parkland, Florida, died peacefully surrounded by family at her home in Naples on Oct. 26, 2023.

Born in New York, July 31, 1929, to Ruth and Irving Troy, she graduated from William Taft High School in 1947 and began working thereafter. She met and married her beloved Bernard R. Silver in 1950 and moved to Rhode Island. They shared a wonderfully rich 73 years together. Lila was passionate about many things as she enjoyed her life; most important, her family, including her son, Alen, and his wife, Deborah Silver; daughter, Jan, and her husband, Richard Nappi; daughter, Alison, and her husband, Frank Centrilla; grandchildren, Brian, Melissa and Rachel Silver; and Sonia, Noah and Cecilia West; and Amber Chinsky; and her great-grandchildren, Dreden, Aaliyah, Isabelle and Joshua. She was a founding member of Temple Beth Am, in Warwick, and president of sisterhood, den mother of

JEWISH

BSA, and active in political rights and religious freedom.

Her hobbies included reading, bowling, boating and dinner parties with friends. She enjoyed traveling the world with her Bernie.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother and sister-in-law, Elliot and Harriet Troy; Theda and Norman Einhorn; nephews, Larry Troy, Seymour and Harold Einhorn; and beloved great-grandson, Ethan Silver.

The family wants to thank special friend Diana Ruiz for her gentle and loving care of both Lila and her Bernard. Any donations can be directed to AVOW Hospice, of Naples.

Jacqueline Weintraub, 84 CRANSTON, R.I. – Jacqueline Weintraub died Sept.

22, 2023, at HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center, in Providence.

She was the beloved wife of Edward Weintraub for 65 years. Born in London, England, a daughter of the late James and Isabelle (Hall) Jackson, she had lived in Cranston for over 60 years, previously living in Providence. She was a personnel manager in Human Resources with C.I. Hayes Mfg. Company, retiring in 2006. Jacqueline loved traveling with her

RHODE ISLAND's

husband. They traveled extensively, frequently visiting England, where she had many first cousins. She was loved by many; her home was her castle, where she was an amazing cook and baker.

She was the devoted mother of Joseph Weintraub, of Cranston, and Andrew Weintraub and his wife, Lisa, of Naperville, Illinois. She was the loving grandmother of Elizabeth Rose. She was the cherished aunt of Nicholas, Liza, Joshua, Alan, Michael and Todd.

Contributions in her memory may be made to HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice, by visiting https://www. hopehealthco.org/ways-togive/donatenow/donate-inrhode-island/hospice/; the Salvation Army by visiting https://give.salvationarmyusa.org/give/164006/#!/ donation/checkout; St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105; The American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37839, Boone, IA 50037-0839, or The Rhode Island Food Bank, 200 Niantic Ave., Providence, RI 02907.

Deborah Young, 54

RIVERSIDE, R.I. – Deborah “Debbie” A. (Levy) Young, of Riverside, passed away peacefully on Nov. 11, 2023, at HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center in Providence after a brief

This Month in

illness.

Born in Providence, she was the daughter of Susan (Wintman) Levy of Pawtucket and the late Richard Levy.

A graduate of Moses Brown School, class of 1987, Debbie later earned an associate degree from Dean Junior College and was a substance abuse counselor at Codac in Newport for several years.

Known for her great sense of humor, Debbie was very outgoing, she loved helping people and was a strong supporter of the recovery community. She enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and she especially loved going to Dave Matthews Band concerts.

In addition to her mother, survivors include: two children, Hannah Mahoney of Los Angeles, California, and Jameson Young of Warwick; her brother, David Levy, and his significant other, Sondra Pierson, of Riverside; her aunt and uncle, Dorinda and Lewis Wintman; several cousins and many close friends.

Contributions may be made to HopeHealth Hospice, 1085 N. Main St., Providence, RI 02904 or Codac Behavioral Healthcare, 93 Thames St., Newport, RI 02840.

History

This Month in History: Natcherly!

FOR 43 YEARS, “Li’l Abner” was a “funny pages” fixture in American newspapers, running in 900 editions every day from 1934 to 1977. Readers loved the misadventures of an Appalachian hillbilly and his many friends in the low-rent town of Dogpatch, a fandom that led to a hit Broadway musical and multiple motion-picture adaptations. All this originated with Al Capp, one of the most successful cartoonists in the history of syndication. Capp

was born Alfred Gerald Caplin in 1909, and he was raised in an Ashkenazi Jewish family in New Haven, Connecticut.

“Li’l Abner” was packed with puns and caricatures, but the strip was also barbed with social commentary. On Dec. 7, 1956, the New England Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith honored Capp at its annual dinner at the Somerset Hotel in Boston.

Newspaper courtesy Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association

�e most important thing you can do while you’re here is to ensure the world will be better when you’re not.

One of life’s great achievements is the ability to leave a lasting legacy.

We can help.

rifoundation.org/legacy (401) 274-4564