Volume XXV, Issue XXII | www.jvhri.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
13 Tevet 5779 | December 21, 2018
T Students from Torat Yisrael’s Cohen School enjoyed unpacking the treats from the Israel mystery box.
Looking back …
The year in review 2018 As we bid farewell to 2018, it’s time once again for a look back at the highs and lows of the past year, as covered in The Jewish Voice. What follows are a few of the highlights. For more on each of these stories, go to jvhri.org and search for the article subject.
January
Mystery box from Israel provides a sweet lesson for Cohen School students
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hat’s more exciting than getting a surprise package in the mail? Getting it from Israel! The Cohen School at Torat Yisrael participated in an interactive “What’s in the Box” Israeli program. Providence native Rabbi Elan Adler, who now lives in Israel, shopped for Israeli treats and trinkets to mail to the school children. Upon seeing the box the students determined from the Hebrew words that the box was from Israel. There was an extra surprise for the school – in addition to filling the box, Rabbi Adler donated the box and all its contents in memory of Wendy B. Adler, a Sunday School teacher, and his sister-in-law, who passed away in 1997.
R.I. Army National Guard’s first Jewish chaplain
Capt. Aaron Rozovsky, 31, who has just been appointed the Rhode Island Army National Guard’s first Jewish chaplain in its 380-year history. “No matter where I’ve lived, I have always considered Rhode Island to be home,” Rozovsky said. “I joined the military because I love everything this country stands for – our incredible religious, racial and political and cultural diversity, the freedoms of religion, speech, press, and assembly.”
February
Parkland students begin to heal at Jewish conference in New York
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even survivors of the Parkland school shooting were among thousands of Jewish high school students who attended the annual conference of the Chabad movement’s youth group. Responding to the Feb. 14 shooting became an impromptu theme of the conference, which was hosted in New York City by CTeen, the teen arm of the Hasidic outreach movement. The shooting, which killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Capt. Aaron Rozovsky High School, has galvanized a youth-led movement for gun reform.
Ginsburg delights audience
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upreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was at Temple Beth-El for a public conversation with U.S. Appeals Court Senior Judge Bruce M. Selya. Selya asked questions that prompted Ginsburg to talk about various stages of her life and legal career, which has included teaching at Rutgers’ and Columbia University’s law YEAR IN REVIEW | 12
YEAR IN REVIEW
Out with the old, in with the new
oday’s newspaper may very well turn out to be a collectible. You are reading the last Jewish Voice. The next time you receive your Jewish newspaper, it will feature a brand-new name – Jewish Rhode Island. Whether you’ve called it The Voice, EDITOR The Herald, or The Voice and Herald, you FRAN have probably OSTENDORF been reading this newspaper for years. And so did your parents and maybe even their parents. Through the generations, the paper has changed considerably. If you take a look at The Herald in the 1930s – available at the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association’s website, www.rijha.org – you’ll see a much different paper from the one that combined with The Jewish Voice in the mid-1990s. The Herald was an independently owned paper. It was a product of its times, with a classic nameplate, a lot of advertising, including classified ads, and a social report. Fast-forward to the ’50s and you’ll see a more modern
The Jewish Voice & Herald Nov. 25, 2011 nameplate on the paper and updated content, with more photos and more modern advertising. The Voice also changed in its years as the newspaper published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island. Called Federation Voice and The Jewish Voice of Rhode Island, the news was about all things federation. In the early 2000s, the combined Voice and Herald acquired a new nameplate and design. And the changes continued, keeping in line with all newspapers. The last update occurred in August 2013, when the Herald THE VOICE | 8
Poverty vigil scheduled for Jan. 8 at the State House BY JEWISH VOICE STAFF Leaders from faith communities across Rhode Island will gather Jan. 8, 2019, at 3 p.m. for the 11th annual Fighting Poverty with Faith Vigil, sponsored by the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty. As in past years, the vigil will be held at the Rhode Island State House in the rotunda. This year’s vigil coincides with the 55th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s announcement of the War on Poverty.
Rabbi Sarah Mack, of Temple Beth-El in Providence, will deliver the keynote address. Cantors from several congregations will sing and faith leaders from across Rhode Island will speak. The vigil is open to the public. In years past, more than 200 people participated, including leaders from virtually every faith and community in the state as well as state government officials. This year, organizers expect that Governor Gina Raimondo will speak. POVERTY | 7