Volume XXI, Issue V | www.thejewishvoice.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
CAMP
8 Adar 5775 | February 27, 2015
The photo posted on Instagram by Miss Israel (far left), in which Miss Lebanon (second from left) also appears.
Like Queen Esther, modern-day Jewish women making a difference BY ALINA DAIN SHARON JNS.ORG – Most Jewish women have at least one childhood memory of wearing a Queen Esther costume for Purim. Esther’s image is ubiquitous in the collective Jewish con-
sciousness, not only as the character in the Purim story who outwitted the villain Haman in order to save the Jewish people from annihilation, but also as a symbol of a strong WOMEN | 12
PHOTO | CAMP JORI
Arts and crafts is one of the best places at camp.
‘A modern camp with an old soul’ celebrates its bar mitzvah BY IRINA MISSIURO imissiuro@jewishallianceri. org Camp JORI is celebrating its bar mitzvah this summer. It’s hard to believe that Rhode Island’s only Jewish overnight camp has been at the Worden’s
Pond location in Wakefield for 13 years already. Ronni Saltzman Guttin, director, shares that the transition from Clarke Road in Narragansett to the current site was a smooth one since the camp’s core values and traditions remained the same, despite the technological
advances and enhancements to accommodations. The biggest draw is JORI’s ability to unite the campers, who relish taking care of one another, the way they care for family members. After all, once the kids get to camp, they’re all JORI | 20
This high school may have predicted Israel’s election results BY BEN SALES RAMAT GAN, Israel (JTA) – When Isaac Herzog learned that his Zionist Union party had won the election with 32 percent of the vote, he posted a triumphant status update on Facebook. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had failed, Herzog wrote on Fen. 22, and vowed that his center-left party would change the government.
Herzog’s celebration may have been a touch premature – Israeli elections are still three weeks away. He was reveling in the victory by Zionist Union in the mock election at Blich High School, a secular public school in this Tel Aviv suburb. Students there placed the centrist Yesh Atid party in second place with 28 percent of the vote, followed by Likud with 14 percent.
High schools across Israel have held mock elections in the run-up to the Knesset elections on March 17. But when Blich students cast their ballots on Feb. 22, they held the country’s attention. Ahead of Israeli elections, Blich’s approximately 1,000 juniors and seniors engage in an intense curriculum on the campaign, studying the party platforms, holding a mock debate and meeting with candidates. And Blich students
in the past had often approximated the actual result. “This process is very important to the students,” said junior Tal Itzhaki, a Zionist Union supporter. “It gets us close to politics. It gives us space to express our opinions. [Students] take it seriously because they understand that Blich represents the people.” In 1977, Blich students correctly predicted the Labor Par-
ty’s first-ever loss to Likud. In 1992, they prophesied that Labor would depose Likud and return to power. In 2006, they correctly predicted three of the election’s top four finishers: Kadima, followed by Labor and Likud. And in 2013, Yesh Atid’s win at Blich preceded its surprising secondplace finish in the real election. It is this record that may exRESULTS | 15
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