The Jewish News - February 2016

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Celebrating Jewish Life in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, Israel and the World FEDERATION NEWS 1971-2016 SERVING MARCH OUR COMMUNITY 16-21 FOR 2015

45 Years .

ANNUAL jfedsrq org

February 2016 - Shevat/Adar 5776 INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

13A Community Focus 19A Jewish Interest 27A Israel & the Jewish World 31A Commentary 35A Focus on Youth 39A Life Cycle 1B Jewish Happenings

3A 2015 Women’s Day with Marlee Matlin

16-21

By Howard Tevlowitz, Federation Executive Director

P

lease take a few moments to check out the center spread (pages 20A-21A) in this edition of The Jewish News, which explains the good work we do through our Jewish Federation.

This chart serves as the dividing line between the “old” and “new” approach to building an effective, engaging and outcome-driven Jewish Federation and Jewish community.

If somebody asks me, “Why should I give to Federation when I could just give directly to the places I feel strongly about?” my answer is: you should give directly to the places you feel strongly about.

Giving to Federation shouldn’t replace your other Howard Tevlowitz giving and it isn’t the same.

Federation adds value through the work we do, and should be something you give to directly for its own sake and because of its own merits.

When people ask what the Federation does, I say

2015

the Federation is in the best position to do the most good in the following ways: We help those Jews most in need – wherever and whenever that might be, including our extended Jewish family around the world, often the poorest of Jews.

We connect as many Jews as possible to Jewish life and enable them to find their own connections to Jewish community and exploration.

And we work to solve the problems and challenges facing the Jewish people.

Yes, we do so through helping and making grants and allocations to partners, but we also develop programs in our Jewish community and beyond. Thus Federation is a good investment in its own right.

And on a meta-level, this also means Federation is (and needs to be) something more than just an aggregator and re-allocator of funds that people give.

This is a shift in the value proposition and business model that has been taking place in many Federations – and probably needs to take place in lots more.

At The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, we identify, evaluate and address Jewish com-

continued on page 2A

March of the Living: Continuing a proud tradition

Guests enjoy Fifty Shades of J Happy Hour

TheMARCH Federation’s impact

ANNUAL

8A

12A

Volume 46, Number 2

Federation sponsors major Chagall exhibit at Selby Gardens

By Federation Staff

H

oward Tevlowitz, Executive Director of The Jews. Though they were cultural innovators who Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, made important contributions to the broader socirecently announced that The Federation is ety, Jews were considered outsiders in a frequently sponsoring a major exhibit of the botanical imagery hostile society. Chagall himself was born of a family of the celebrated artist Marc Chagall, born Moishe steeped in religious life; his parents were observant Segal, at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in February Hasidic Jews who found spiritual satisfaction in a 2017. life defined by their faith and organized by prayer. theThe Family Jeweler 14276 ________________________________________________ Ref #:magnificent ________________ “We are excited to Invoice share this mas“Marc Chagall’s Cote Name: d’Azur: Artist’s Botanical Imagery and Inspiration Found on the French terpiece with the entire community as we begin our Riviera” will be a six-month exhibition showcasing countdown to Israel’s 70th birthday,” says Tevlowitz. key works created by Chagall in France that feature The Chagall exhibition will be guest-curated botanical imagery inspired by his time in the south

by Dr. Carol Ockman, a professor of art history at of France. Chagall was a renowned 20th-century, Williams College. The exhibit will also be enhanced Russian-born Jewish artist who was among the early by complementary education programs and tours, modernists. He worked in various media, including themed special events, and performances by some of painting, stained glass, ceramics and tapestries. At Sarasota’s top performing arts organizations.

This Proof must signed and returned before thebecenterpiece of the exhibit will be “The Lovers,” “This new exhibition program is an exciting shift Memberswe can proceed with your order.

This is yourcreated in 1937 that will be an oil painting Chagall for Selby Gardens and it raises the bar for all of our Proof prior to printing. Please examine all spellof Maccabi on loan from the collection of The Israel Museum, public programs,” says Jennifer O. Rominiecki, presing and information carefully. RFJD will not be Jerusalem, a world-leading art and archaeology muident and CEO of Selby Gardens.

Haifa junior held responsible for any unnoticed errors. Any seum.

This exhibit is the first of an annual interdiscipsoccer errors teamfound after printing will be customer’s sole Chagall scholar Susan Goodman describes the linary arts and horticultural exhibition cycle that will responsibility. visit GFA links and sources of his art to his early home: Chafeature internationally-known works of art at SelApproval gall’s art can be understood as the response to a situby Gardens known as the Jean & Alfred Goldstein Approvedation that has long marked the history of Russian Exhibition Series.

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munity priorities with unparalleled commitment, passion and sensitivity.

It is our responsibility to ensure that needs are met, to create a strong, more vibrant Sarasota-Manatee Jewish (and general) community, and to foster and strengthen our connection to Jews in Israel and around the world.

Let’s focus on two areas on the chart.

Youth & Education: It is our Federation’s pledge to make opportunities available for meaningful connections to Jewish life and Israel, providing our local youth and families with multiple ways to enhance their Jewish journeys.

Through our 3,000 donors, we are able to provide $600,000 in funding in this most critical area. Funds include: Israel travel subsidies for SarasotaManatee Jewish youth Birthright Israel Outreach/education through Goldie Feldman Academy

our community through All Faiths Food Bank Jewish Safety Net: It is our pledge to serve as a source of comfort and care for those most in need in our SarasotaManatee community. Federation funds skilled providers and case managers who expertly care for the most vulnerable in our community. And through a wide range of community partnerships, Federation helps those most at risk to manage and overcome their difficulties.

Through our 3,000 donors, we are able to provide $500,000+ in funding in this most critical area. Funds include: Direct staff funding to provide critical services to members of our Jewish community through Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast (JFCS) Direct support funding staff who provide services to Holocaust survivors through JFCS Meals on Wheels

“My trip to Israel changed my life. I became a new person – more athletic, more spiritual, and more connected to my Judaism. Israel is my home and the place that I will always dream to take my family and friends to. This Young Ambassador trip opened my eyes to a whole new side of living and learning.

I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip and have the time of my life.”

– Brittney Mintz, Bob Malkin Young Ambassador 2013 Support for programs and staff for Hillel at New College, Ringling College and USF Youth education through our Holocaust Speakers Bureau and Embracing Our Differences Bringing Israel to Sarasota through our partnership community in Tel Mond Food for youth most in need in

Food for families in need through All Faiths Food Bank Religious School and overnight Jewish camping abatements College scholarships This is just a quick glance at how the Federation serves this community and beyond. For more information, please email me at htevlowitz@jfed srq.org.

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H O N O R E E S Dennis McGillicuddy, Chair, Embracing Our Differences Howard Tevlowitz, Executive Director, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee Judge Charles E. Williams, 12th Judicial Circuit

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February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

3A

2015 Women’s Day with Marlee Matlin: A moving testament to courage, chutzpah and generosity

By Adeline Silverman

O

n Monday, December 7, a record-breaking audience of 430 guests filled Michael’s On East for the 2015 Women’s Day. Lead sponsor for the event was Tableseide, which includes Louies Modern, Libby’s Cafe & Bar, Muse, L-Bar, Banyan Café, Oak & Stone, The Francis and Modern Events.

Adeline Silverman Lynn Carvel, co-chair of Women’s Day, enthusiastically welcomed the audience, with special thanks to co-chair Susi Steenbarger, who was not able to attend, but who decorated the room in pink and green. Lynn also expressed gratitude to Janet Mishner for her unique invitation artwork. Janet’s generous donation of cards, cups and other materials were distributed to those who offered a gift to the Fund for Victims of Terror.

Patti Wertheimer, president of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, “kvelled” over the ever-growing, philanthropic Jewish community represented by the audience. Patti spoke eloquently of the Federation’s mission to strengthen Jewish life and to provide for Jewish people in need in Sarasota, in Israel and around the world.

Ros Mazur, co-chair of the Women’s Giving Circle, spoke about how the group has raised more than $50,000 for women and children in need in Israel.

And then award-winning actress and devoted social activist Marlee Matlin took the stage to tremendous

applause. Marlee has received worldMarlee recounted a touching stowide critical acclaim for her film dery about her bat mitzvah. The temple but in Children of a Lesser God, for nearby served both hearing and nonwhich she became the youngest recipihearing people. When the day came for ent of the Best Actress Oscar at age 21. her ceremony, her parents cried tears Though Marlee lost her hearing when of happiness that their girl was fulfillshe was only 18 months old, she never ing her – and their – dream. As their let her challenges dictate her future tears stained the parchment, the rabbi or deter her dreams. She’s gone on dismissed their apologies, saying that to iconic roles in film and television, their tears of joy were a wonderful including performances in The West mitzvah.

Wing, Seinfeld and Desperate HouseMarlee also spoke about a time, wives. Along with a successful Holearly in her career, when she met Henlywood career, Marlee has dedicated ry Winkler, who assured her she could herself to raising awareness for many do anything she wanted. He quoted humanitarian causes, including diverTheodor Herzl, who said, “If you will sity and LGBT rights. it, it is no dream.” With these empowShe is also very proud to be Jewering words, Marlee pursued her dream ish. to become an actress and fight for the Using sign language, she told the rights of others. story of her inspiring life through the What’s the secret to her success? voice of her interpreter, Jack Jason. We, Marlee’s parents, who believed in her audience, “heard” every word she a life “lived generously,” taught her said. Although doctors recommended the formula every child should learn: she be sent to a special school for the Courage plus dreams equal success. deaf when she was a child, her parents She says everyone has the ability to kept her at home. She was treated as a help others and live remarkable lives. normal, hearing child, went to a regu“Silence is the last thing the world will lar school, and was their child “who just happened to be deaf.” With determination and chutzpah, they went about their lives.

Her mother discovered Marlee’s love for acting and felt there were no barriers. Her dreams could come true. So they found a community theater that was putting on The Wizard of Oz. Marlee got the lead – and the rest Judy Vigder, Patti Wertheimer, Bunny Skirboll is history.

ever hear from me,” she told us.

Another successful and inspirational Women’s Day came to an end, and we left, proud to be part of our growing and dynamic Jewish community.

For more information about women’s programming at The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, please contact Ilene Fox at 941.343.2111 or ifox@jfedsrq.org.

Marlee Matlin with Women’s Day 2014 speaker, Camryn Manheim, on FaceTime

Marlee Matlin with Lynn Carvel, Women’s Day co-chair

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February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

The Milman-Kover Jewish Film Festival to feature special guests and nine extraordinary films

Special guests include Israeli Director Oren Rosenfeld, IDF Reserve Sergeant Coral Amarani and First Lieutenant Mekonen Abebe, leading Israeli musician and TV personality Idan Haviv, and acclaimed Screenwriter and Director Dani Menkin.

By Roz Goldberg, Jewish Film Festival co-Chair t’s that time again, Jewish film fans!

During the 2016 Milman-Kover Jewish Film Festival (Sunday, March 6 through Sunday, March 13), The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee will proudly present nine outstanding films that explore, record and celebrate Jewish life and experience. Each film was carefully chosen for its quality and diversity – and for its ability to excite, enlighten, provoke, and/or inspire our audience. You will not want to miss this 7th annual celebration of all films Jewish!

Special Guests and Events Opening Night, Sunday, March 6, 5:45 p.m., Hyatt Regency Sarasota: Our Opening Night Celebration will be dedicated to the courageous men and women of the Israel Defense Forces, in connection with the Southwest Florida premiere of the new documentary Beneath the Helmet. We are thrilled to announce that the film’s Director, Oren Rosenfeld, and two of the IDF members featured in the film, First Lieutenant Mekonen Abebe and Reserve Sergeant Coral Amarani, as well as leading Israeli musician and TV personality Idan Haviv, will be joining us at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota for our Opening Night.

I

Idan Haviv

Mr. Haviv will lead off the celebration with an exciting performance of Israeli songs at 5:45 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., our IDF guests will introduce Beneath the Helmet. After the screening, they will answer questions from the audience, and greet everyone at an elegant Dessert Reception. Doors will open at 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 13: At 6:30 p.m., we will present a very special guest, Director and Screenwriter Dani Menkin, who will introduce the “Work in Progress” screening of his new inspiring documentary, On the Map, about the 1977 victory by the underdog Maccabi Tel Aviv professional basketball team over the heavilyfavored, four-time defending European Champion, the Russian Army Team – a victory that put Israel firmly “on the map!” We are thrilled that the team captain who spoke those famous words, Tal Brody, will be joining us. This film honors Israeli heroes, fascinates basketball fans, and captures the spirit of a nation triumphant against all odds.

Dani, Tal and another player, Eric Minkin, will answer audience questions and greet everyone at a post-screening Dessert Reception. JFF filmgoers will remember Dani from his tender and humorous feature film Is That You? which was shown in our JFF last year.

Here are the nine extraordinary films that the 2016 Milman-Kover Jewish Film Festival will proudly present: Beneath the Helmet An inspiring documentary which follows the journey of five Israeli high school graduates who are drafted into the IDF. These young men and women

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are defending not only their homes and their families, but also the values of peace, equality, opportunity, democracy, religious tolerance and women’s rights. At 18, away from their homes, families and friends, these young men and women undergo a demanding, inspiring journey, revealing the core of who they are and who they want to be.

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Magic Men A touching feature about a jaded Holocaust survivor who returns to his native Greece to find the man who protected him and taught him magic during WWII. Because of his age, he is compelled to bring his Hassidic rapper son as his guardian, and there begins a cross-cultural, cross-generational road trip with unexpected results. Arriving in Greece against the backdrop of its recent financial crisis, father and son are forced to confront their prickly relationship, and their journey becomes a search for absolution and reconciliation. Punctuated by enchanting moments of humor and affection, Magic Men is further animated by spectacular panoramas of the Adriatic coast and a vibrant, Greek-infused musical score.

Apples from the Desert A timeless and moving story of tradition versus modernity. The teenage daughter of ultra-Orthodox Jewish parents journeys into the secular world in an adaptation of the award-wining Israeli play that poignantly explores themes of love and reconciliation. Rebecca is an only child, living in a cloistered existence with her strictly religious Sephardic parents in Jerusalem. Unhappy with the restricted traditions of home and community, she secretly attends dance classes where she forms a relationship with a secular kibbutznik, forcing her father to take drastic steps to prevent her from violating the code of conduct

in which he so fervently believes. Ultimately, this family conflict culminates in a moment of truth, forcing all parties to confront their beliefs and their feelings for one another.

24 Days A troubling view into the 2006 kidnapping of a young French Jew. Based on a shocking true story, this film is described as “one of the most wrenching and politically astute” films to come out of France. This cinematic adaptation of Ruth Halimi’s book offers a searing insight into the violent world of the gang of Barbarians, and the anguished experience of a family waiting and hoping that the police will save their son. Although this film is difficult to watch at moments, it is an acclaimed, award-winning film that tells a timely and cautionary story – a story that forcefully reminds us of the critical challenge we face as a Jewish community, both at home and around the world.

To Life!

A touching human drama about the relationship between an aging Jewish cabaret singer and Holocaust survivor,

and a young non-Jewish man on the run. Adapted from the original story If Stones Could Cry, this film focuses on the unexpected connection that develops between Ruth and Jonas when he fortuitously saves her life. From that unusual beginning, a deep bond is formed between these very unlikely companions. As Jonas discovers Ruth’s past, and becomes a part of her present, his companionship and the passionate Yiddish songs of her youth help her find the way back to life. Featuring Hannelore Elsner, the grande dame of German cinema, Director Uwe Janson weaves a tale that effortlessly shifts between WWII, the post-war period, and today.

Besa - The Promise A powerful documentary about Albanian Muslims who rescued Jews during the Holocaust, and one man’s search for the descendants of the Jews he saved – in order to fulfill a promise.

This human drama bridges generations

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FEDERATION NEWS

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Jewish Film Festival...continued from previous page

Established 1971

PUBLISHER The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee Klingenstein Jewish Center 580 McIntosh Road Sarasota, FL 34232-1959 Phone: 941.371.4546 Fax: 941.378.2947 E-mail: jewishnews@jfedsrq.org Website: www.jfedsrq.org Published Monthly Volume 46, Number 2 February 2016 52 pages USPS Permit No. 167 March 2016 Issue Deadlines: Editorial: January 29, 2016 Advertising: February 1, 2016 PRESIDENT Patti Wertheimer EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Howard Tevlowitz COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR Linda Lipson MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Joyce Gordon MANAGING EDITOR Ted Epstein ADVERTISING SALES Robin Leonardi PROOFREADERS Adeline Silverman, Harold Samtur, Bryna Tevlowitz, Deb Bryan, Sandra Hayden, Stacey Edelman MIMI AND JOSEPH J. EDLIN JOURNALISM INTERN Marinna Okawa MISSION STATEMENT: The Jewish News of Sarasota-Manatee strives to be the source of news and features of special interest to the Jewish community of Sarasota-Manatee, to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and opinions in the Jewish community, and to communicate the mission, activities and achievements of the Federation and its Jewish community partners.

and religions, uniting fathers and sons, Muslims and Jews. A renowned Jewish-American photographer, Norman Gershman, is determined to document first-person accounts of the Albanian Muslims who rescued Jews during the Holocaust – one of the last untold stories of WWII – and finds Rexhep Hoxha, a Muslim Albanian who is searching for the Jewish family rescued by his father.

Through the stories of Rexhep and his fellow Muslims, we discover a nation of everyday heroes. Through the accounts of Jewish survivors, we hear stories of gratitude to Muslim rescuers – stories that have not been heard for almost 70 years.

Once in a Lifetime An uplifting, fact-based story of a dedicated history teacher at a Paris high school who decides to challenge her apathetic, ethnically-diverse students with a unique assignment: a national competition on the theme of the child victims of the Nazi concentration camps.

Although the project is initially met with extreme resistance, a face-to-face encounter with a Holocaust survivor changes students’ attitudes dramatically. As they move forward with their project, these once-rebellious teenagers begin to see one another – and themselves – in a new light. A potent antidote to the devaluation of education in an age of ignorance, bigotry and rising anti-Semitism, this moving

feature film demonstrates the enduring impact of the Holocaust in transforming future generations.

A Borrowed Identity A compelling, moving feature about a young man going through a set of personal transitions against a background of ongoing cultural flux in Israel. Set in the 1980s and 1990s, this film explores the complex interrelated identities of Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis. A gifted Arab Israeli boy is given the chance to go to a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Jerusalem. As Eyad desperately tries to fit in with his Jewish schoolmates and with Israeli society, he develops a friendship with another outsider, Jonathan, a Jewish boy suffering from muscular dystrophy, and gradually becomes part of his family.

Ultimately, Eyad must decide who and what he is – a decision that will change his life forever. The film was directed

by Jewish-Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis, and was scripted by acclaimed Arab-Israeli writer Seyad Kashua.

On the Map A fast-moving and awe-inspiring documentary about the astounding Maccabi Tel Aviv pro-basketball team that toppled the four-time defending European Champions, the Russian Army Team – and put Israel firmly on the map! In 1977, Maccabi Tel Aviv assembled a talented roster of American and Israeli athletes, but no one thought they would get very far, not even in Israel. The game was played in Belgium because the Soviet team refused to play in Tel Aviv and would not

LETTERS to the editor should not exceed 300 words, must be typed, and include the writer’s name, mailing address and phone number.

Letters can be submitted via snail mail or email (jewishnews@jfedsrq.org). Not all letters will be published. Letters may be edited for length and content.

ADVERTISING: Publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertisement and may require the words “Paid Advertisement” in any ad.

Publication of advertisements does not constitute endorsement of products, services or ideas promoted therein.

Read the current and previous editions of The Jewish News at www.jfedsrq.org.

When we understand your priorities, we can make them ours. Whether you’re looking to buy a house, a vacation home or an investment property, or you’re ready to renovate or remodel, your home is an important asset that should be part of your overall financial strategy.

Speak with your Merrill Lynch financial advisor today about access to financing options to help you pursue the home — and lifestyle — you’ve always imagined.

OPINIONS printed in The Jewish News of Sarasota-Manatee do not necessarily reflect those of The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee, its Board of Directors or staff.

SUBMISSIONS to The Jewish News are subject to editing for space and content, and may be withheld from publication without prior notice. Approval of submissions for publication in either verbal or written form shall always be considered tentative, and does not imply a guarantee of any kind.

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allow the Israeli athletes into Russia.

Featuring interviews with the American athletes who made history, this film combines the pulse-pounding action of a high-stakes game with an incendiary political situation at the height of the Cold War. The film honors Israeli heroes, fascinates basketball fans, and captures the spirit of a nation triumphant against all odds. (This will be a “work in progress” screening.)

To purchase tickets, please visit www.jfedsrq.org or call 866.465.3995.

For more information about the JFF, please consult the same website or call 941.371.4546.

The Jewish Film Festival Committee: Roz Goldberg and Rosann Argenti Black, co-Chairs; Karen Bernstein, Roberta Berson, Fran Braverman, Jack Braverman, Marsha Eisenberg, Barbara Horowitz, Barbara Jacob, Helene Morgenstern, Susan Newmark, Nadia Ritter, Ronnie Riceberg, Lois Stulberg, Evans Tilles, Janet Tolbert, Frank Tucciarone. Hospitality co-Chairs: Gloria Feibus, Marsha Frank.

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February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

Federation appoints new board president

By Federation Staff

T

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F o o

he Jewish Federation of efforts over the past two decades. She Sarasota-Manatee recently aphas served on the boards of TempleB pointed Patti Wertheimer as Beth Sholom and the Martin & Milpresident of its Board of Directors. Edie dred Paver Religious School, and Chaifetz, Marsha Eisenberg, Debbie volunteered for numerous community Haspel, Nancy Roucher, Anne Spindel, efforts, including the American CancerF Adrea Sukin, Norman Weinberg and Society’s Relay For Life and All FaithsL Peter Wells were appointed new memFood Bank’s Bowls For Hope. SheS bers of the board at the and husband David haven same time. three grown children,t Wertheimer moved to Brian, Steven and Sarah. a Sarasota with her family “I’m honored to from Ohio in 1960. After have been called to leadb graduating from Florida The Jewish Federationo International University, of Sarasota-Manatee’sd she began her career as a Board of Directors and juvenile and family case look forward to contribworker in Dade and Sarauting to its continued sucsota counties. cess,” says Wertheimer.

From 2003 to 2008, “Its mission is very close Patti Wertheimer Wertheimer lent her proto my heart. After serving fessional expertise to The Jewish Fedon the board and on numerous comeration of Sarasota-Manatee, serving mittees over the past 30 years, I’m on the board for eight years. She spearvery familiar with the great work The headed the Bob Malkin Young AmFederation does in our community and bassador teen leadership program, an around the world, and am looking forinitiative that helps local teens nurture ward to taking it to the next level.” a connection to Judaism and Israel Howard Tevlowitz, Federation’s while strengthening leadership skills. executive director, says he’s delighted Wertheimer also served as chair of IsWertheimer will be leading the board. rael@65, an 18-month, interfaith, com“With her deep roots in the local community-wide initiative that featured munity, her passion for her Jewish speakers, films, concerts and other heritage, and her years of involvement th cultural events to celebrate Israel’s 65 with local non-profit efforts, Patti will anniversary of modern statehood. provide the strong leadership it will A staunch advocate for education take to guide The Jewish Federation reform and innovation, Wertheimer of Sarasota-Manatee forward into the has been involved with regional school next decade.”

O

Jacqueline Siegel-Frascella College Scholarship announced

TM

By Federation Staff

the information contained on this ad is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. Please contact your professional financial advisor with any specific questions.

C

ollege students who excel in sports and dance take note!

The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee’s Jacqueline Siegel-Frascella College Scholarship of $5,000 will be awarded to one applicant annually who is enrolled in an accredited four-year college or two-year technical/vocational school for the following September.

Applicants must be actively in-

volved in athletics or dance, and have maintained at least a C or above in academic achievement. They also must show financial need and involvement in the Jewish community. Applicants are required to submit an essay with their application. Qualified students will be interviewed in May. For more information, please contact Andrea Eiffert at 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org.

Women’s Giving Circle grants announced

By Federation Staff

M Dance&Music A Cultural Evening of

The Federation is proud to present the NOOA Dancers—24 dancers from Tel Mond, Israel, with musical performances by the Perlman Music Program.

Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 Time: 7:00 p.m.

Venue: Riverview High School Auditorium 1 Ram Way, Sarasota, Florida Tickets: Adult: $10 Students: Free

 jfedsrq.org/events Purchase tickets online at

Limited amount of tickets will be available at the door

Presented in partnership:

The Jewish Federation

OF SARASOTA-MANATEE

Tel Mond, Israel

Sarasota Sister Cities Association

Klingesnstein Jewish Center, 580 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota

Questions?

Contact Andrea Eiffert at: (941) 552-6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org

jfedsrq.org

a’agal Nashim (Circle of Women), The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee’s Women’s Giving Circle, awarded the 2015 grants to 10 organizations in Israel benefitting women and children.

Co-founded and co-chaired by Ros Mazur and Karen Bernstein, Ma’agal Nashim is made up of women in the Sarasota-Manatee area. Its mission is to practice tikkun olam (improving the world) through a circle of caring women in order to enhance the lives of Jewish women and children in Israel. Voting participation in Ma’agal Nashim requires a donation of $500 per year. Overseas not-for-profit projects in Israel affecting women and/or children are eligible to submit grant proposals for consideration. After the proposals are received, members of Ma’agal Nashim review them and determine how to distribute the funds for the greatest impact.

The following organizations and programs were awarded grants totaling $25,000: Family Nest Parenting Group and Musical Therapy: Connecting with Children Latet Israeli Humanitarian Aid: To Give a Future Health and Community Service Center: Ethiopian Teen Dental Care

Yad Ezra V Shulamit: Weekly food baskets to 300 poor single-parent families The Jerusalem Hills Therapeutic Centers: The teen girls’ empowerment program with a focus on selfimage and life skills Neve Hadassah Youth Village: I Am Worth It – The Bat Mitzvah Year American Friends of NATAL: Girls Under Fire American Friends of Leket Israel: Nutrition for Life: Empowering Mothers ZAKA Rescue and Recovery: The Kiryat Malachi-Hof Ashkelon program promoting people-to-people relationships through cultural, social and educational programs Eden Association: Outdoor adventure therapy for at-risk teenage girls “It’s very exciting to be a part of Ma’agal Nashim,” says Karen Bernstein. “It is a great way to be with likeminded women, and it is my hope that more women will join. We can make a difference in the lives of women and children.”

To join Ma’agal Nashim or for more information, contact Ilene Fox at 941.343.2111 or ifox@jfedsrq.org, or Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113 or jlisitza@jfedsrq.org.

FEDERATION NEWS

Federation honors outstanding members of community

February 2016

THE UROLOGY TREATMENT CENTER Winston E. Barzell, M.D., FACS Alan R. Treiman, M.D., FACS Kenneth J. Bregg, M.D., FACS Joshua T. Green, M.D., FACS Robert I. Carey, M.D., PhD, FACS Daniel M. Kaplon, M.D.

By Federation Staff

O

n November 15, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee held its annual Federation Celebration, co-chaired by Lisa Kates and Linda Lipson, at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. The afternoon was highlighted by The Federation honoring local residents who make a difference in our community.

The honorees were: Hannah Weinberg for “Ayshet Chayil” (Woman of Valor); Kim Sheintal for “Avodah” (Service); Emma Joels for “Ke-

hilla” (Community); Anne Spindel for “Acharai” (Follow Me); Marsha Eisenberg for “Yad Chazakah” (Strong Hand); Pastor John Walker for “Halutzim” (Pioneer); Ginette Hersh for “Hatikva” (Hope); the Shapiro family (Sam, Tom, Debbie, Steve and Cheryl) for “L’Dor V’Dor” (Generation to Generation); Alison Juceam for “Atid” (Future); Ernie Kretzmer for “Ahava” (Love); and Roz Ross and Anne Keilty (ESL teachers) for “Chinuch” (Education).

The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee welcomes Edie Chaifetz, Marsha Eisenberg, Debbie Haspel, Nancy Roucher, Anne Spindel, Adrea Sukin, Norman Weinberg and Peter Wells to its board of directors.

Federation President Patti Wertheimer and Immediate Past President Nancy Swart

Co-chairs Linda Lipson and Lisa Kates with Federation President Patti Wertheimer

Volunteers needed for Mitzvah Day

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By Federation Staff

T

he 11 congregations of the Synagogue Council of Sarasota-Manatee, with support from The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee, are presenting the first annual Mitzvah Day, a community-wide initiative designed to assist local nonprofit agencies, Sunday, February 21.

Volunteers are needed for more than a dozen projects, including sorting food donations at All Faiths Food Bank; organizing donated items for Family Promise and Mothers Helping Mothers; creating gift baskets for the JFCS Senior Outreach Program; stuffing gala invitations for Cat Depot; participating in a sing-a-long with the residents of Anchin Pavilion; serving snacks and interacting with guests at a Circus Arts Conservatory performance; and helping with grounds-keeping at Bay Preserve of the Conservation Foundation and Save Our Seabirds.

a part of this inaugural effort. We invite members of the Jewish community and beyond to join us in this communitywide volunteer effort!”

According to Lachowitzer, the non-profits selected for this Mitzvah Day include Community Haven, Mothers Helping Mothers, Nate’s Place, Salvation Army, Save Our Seabirds, Anchin Pavilion, FL Center for Early Childhood, Family Promise, Cat Depot, Resurrection House, All Faiths Food Bank, and Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast.

Lachowitzer explains that Mitzvah Day also includes a collection drive.

“We’re collecting diapers, books for preschoolers, white athletic socks for men, travel-size toiletries, pop-top cans of ready-to-eat food, non-perishable food items, and fun items for gift baskets for seniors, including notepaper, lotions and word-game books,” she says, adding that there will be a

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For more information and to register to volunteer, visit www.jfedsrq. org/ways-to-give/mitzvahday or call 941.927.3636. Space is limited; the registration deadline is February 12.

Laurie Lachowitzer, president of the Synagogue Council, explains that projects will be available for all ages and levels of abilities. “The response to Mitzvah Day has exceeded our greatest expectations,” she says. “We thought it might be a challenge to find agencies that would want helpers on a Sunday, but that was not the case.

More and more groups are eager to be

drop-off place for donations at a kickoff breakfast on Sunday, February 21 at Temple Beth Sholom, 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. Volunteer checkin is at 8:30 a.m. Light bites will be served and there will be a short program before volunteers go off to their projects.

“Helping the needy and isolated in our community is paramount to our mission,” says Howard Tevlowitz, Federation’s executive director. “We’re delighted to partner with the Synagogue Council of Sarasota-Manatee on this very worthy project.”

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February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

March of the Living: A life-changing journey

By Dan Levison

A

fter having the privilege of participating in the very first March of the Living in 1988, I never would have dreamed that I would be returning to do it again 27 years later alongside my daughter. This past April, I returned to Poland with my daughter Sarah and four other teenagers from The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee’s delegation. We were part of the southern region, which included three busloads of teens and one adult bus.

There were many differences between my first and second experiences. On the first March of the Living there were 1,500 teens from around the world. The program has grown to 15,000 participants. Thirteen thousand participants are teenagers. For the past few years, I have been hearing sad reports that the global Jewish community is shrinking and that Judaism is dying out. But seeing firsthand the next generation of Jews taking the time to learn about the past gives me hope that our people will continue to survive.

The first time I was in Poland it

was still under Communism and I was able to feel the culture of anti-Semitism. Fortunately, I felt differently in April. The small Jewish community is noticeably active and has visible signs of Judaism. We had the opportunity to have a dialogue with Polish youth who were interested in learning and were open-minded. We found out that elder Poles are beginning to reveal their Jewish roots that they have hidden their whole lives as they come to the end of their lives. So, some of the Polish youth might begin to explore their possible connections to Judaism.

The one thing that didn’t change was the overwhelmingly emotional experience of following in the steps of the Death March from Auschwitz to Birkenau with several Holocaust survivors sharing their experiences along the way. It was even more emotional for me being there as a father myself now and imagining the horrors that went on. I was glad to be there to

support my daughter and was proud to know that she was there as the next generation to bear witness to what happened.

Another thing that did not change was the joy within all of us as we arrived in Israel from the dismal misery

(Israel’s Memorial Day) and came to learn what sacrifices the Israeli peopleB are making on a daily basis to keep the country safe, followed by the joyous celebration throughout the country of Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day).

It gives me great satisfaction to see how the March of the Living program has grown over the last 27 years worldwide. I see it as a way to instill a sense of responsibility of carrying on Jewish traditions into the next generations. We are very fortunate in the Sarasota-Manatee community to have the generous support of Anne and Barry Stein, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, as well as many others, to enable our local Jewish teens to take part in this program for a nominal charge. I strongly urge all of us to continue to make this happen by donating to the program and/or encouraging our children to participate. It’s a big commitment for students in their junior or senior year of high school to take time out to go on the March, but it is an experience that will stay with them for a lifetime.

Dan and Sarah Levison in Poland

of the concentration camps. A greater appreciation for Israel is instilled in the young people as they understand that there is an entire country with a strong army that is there for Jews around the world. We arrived for Yom HaZikaron

March of the Living: Continuing a proud tradition

By Sarah Levison

W

hen my dad was 18 years old he went on a trip that changed his life. That trip was the very first March of the Living.

Throughout my childhood, I listened to my dad talk about the trip, and while I knew it had profoundly changed his life, I didn’t really understand how. I was curious about experiencing this for myself and hoped that one day I would get to participate. However, when the time came, nothing could have prepared me for the emotions I was about to face.

The first emotional experience oc-

curred immediately after we landed in Poland when we went to the Radegast Station in Lodz. We all piled into a box car and heard firsthand from a survivor what it was like to be trapped in one of these during the Holocaust. Even though I had learned about these places and events, all of my senses were jarred by the realization that people were treated like cattle being forced into boxcars that weren’t meant to hold the amount of people that were stuffed in. This was only a glimpse of what we would learn during the next few weeks as we traveled to multiple concentra-

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tion camps that seemed to become more horrific at each destination.

During the actual march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, I was overcome with pride as I walked arm in arm with my dad, Israeli flags wrapped around us, surrounded by thousands of Jewish people from around the world.

It was empowering, but it was haunting at the same time knowing this once was a death march for thousands of our ancestors.

When we arrived in Israel, it was impossible to be any happier. Our Orange Bus family all filed on the bus and our tour guide said, “Welcome home.”

For the first time, those words meant something to me. I had been to Israel once before to celebrate my bat mitzvah and was already passionate about my personal connection with the land.

This time everything changed because my time in Poland made me aware of the loss that was suffered, and I instantly gained a different and stronger connection with Israel knowing that this land was proof of the Jewish

people’s strength.

When I returned home it was difficult to go back to school and try and explain what I saw. It’s still something I’m trying to figure out how to verbalize and share. I can now understand how this trip changed my dad’s life, and I can say it has changed mine as well in ways I’m still unsure how to express. I am grateful I was able to share this experience with him as we represented two generations that have not only survived but will carry on the Jewish tradition.

Thousands of Jewish teens from around the world share a once-in-alifetime experience when they march three kilometers from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest concentration complex built by the Nazis. The march commemorates Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, by retracing the steps of the March of Death – the actual route hundreds of thousands of people were forced to take on their way to the gas chambers. Participants expe-

rience a memorial service in Birkenau, which concludes with the singing of “Hatikvah.” From Poland, they travel to Israel to celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. On April 12-26, 2015, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee sponsored five teens from this area to experience this life-changing trip. The next March of the Living is May 1-16, 2016.

To learn more, contact Orna Nissan at 941.552.6305 or onissan@jfedsrq.org.

Sarah and Dan Levison in Israel

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February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

9A

Lecture series examines the culture of anti-Semitism

o eBy Federation Staff

r. Andre Krauss, a research felfied and intensified their anti-Semitic low at the Institute of Sociolopropaganda, which culminated in the gy at the Romanian Academy, physical destruction of one third of and an art historian and media psycholEuropean Jewry. ogist, presents a four-part lecture series Psychodynamics of Nazi antimabout various aspects of the Holocaust Semitism (Thursday, March 24): As -and the culture of anti-Semitism that a young man in Vienna, Adolph Hitler epreceded it. was exposed to the anThe lectures, which are ti-Semitic, populist and epart of The Jewish Federaopportunistic policies tion of Sarasota-Manatee’s of politicians like Karl sHolocaust awareness proLueger, the mayor of egrams, address a variety of Vienna. To Lueger, the -topics, including the depiction role of the Jew was that eof the Jew as a mythical villain of a political pawn, an nin popular culture, Hitler’s expedient tool. The haIearly exposure to nationalistic tred of the Jews served racist and anti-Semitic polias the rallying point ecies in Vienna, survival strateDr. Andre Krauss around which the nugies of the Jewish councils in eastern merous and diverse minorities in the Europe during the Holocaust, and the declining Austro-Hungarian Empire rimportance of Holocaust education for would inevitably unite. This lecture emodern-day Jewry. will explore the ideological beginnings Each lecture runs from 10:30 a.m. and the model for what was later to beato noon in the Zell Room on The Jewcome the obsessive genocidal program ish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee implemented by Hitler and the Nazis in Campus. Tickets are $5 per lecture. To occupied Europe. reserve a seat, contact Amy Rizzo at Jewish Resistance in Europe duarizzo@jfedsrq.org. ring the Holocaust (Thursday, April The four lectures are: 28): Compliance or resistance? The Enculturation of anti-Semitism BeJewish resistance in Nazi-occupied Eufore the Holocaust (Thursday, Febrope has remained one of the most conruary 25): European culture and folktested questions in Holocaust history. lore before the Holocaust portrays It emerged as one of the principle suba negative stereotype of the Jew as a texts at the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem mythical villain. This stereotype apin 1962, both as witness testimonies pears in a myriad of images throughand as the subsequent interpretations in out history and lays the foundation for Hannah Arendt’s reports spoke of the the enduring hatred of the Jew. These lack of significant Jewish resistance. images served to reinforce the racist Could they have done more? Did the prejudices against the Jews and folJewish councils accommodate the Nazi lowed them across borders to the difprogram of annihilation more than was ferent countries where they sought necessary? This lecture will revisit the refuge in exile. It was against this cularguments about this topic in view of -tural background that the Nazis magniHolocaust historiography. d

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The Vital Importance of Holocaust Education (Thursday, May 12): This concluding lecture will focus on the Holocaust narrative and the critical importance for educating the public about the Jewish tragedy during World War II. Holocaust denial is an active form of anti-Semitism and even illegal in some countries. And yet, today there is a more subtle, less overt effort to rewrite history in contemporary popular culture, films, literature and even videogame scenarios. The class will examine these counter-narratives and evaluate their impact on the memory of the Holocaust, at a time when the generation of survivors is fading beyond the horizon.

For more information about The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee’s Holocaust awareness programs, please call Orna Nissan at 941.552.6305.

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The Holocaust Speakers Bureau offers teachers a unique opportunity to expand their students’ classroom experience. We have a large number of Holocaust survivors who reside in this community. They are very motivated to visit school children and give their eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust. Also available are speakers who were hidden children, those saved through the “Kindertransport”, resistance fighters, refugees, as well as World War II camp liberators.

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All speakers are authentic to their respective experiences and feel a strong commitment to bring an awareness of the consequences that result when evil is allowed to flourish. They feel privileged and grateful to live in this wonderful country where their voices are being heard.

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For Questions Contact Orna Nissan, Director, Holocaust Education and Israel Programs 941.552.6305 • onissan@jfedsrq.org

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10A

February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

20th Annual Holocaust Survivors Chanukah Luncheon honors the life and legacy of Martin Arch

By Steven Koenig and Federation Staff

M

ore than 100 guests, including many survivors and children of survivors, gathered at Temple Sinai in Sarasota on December 10 for the 20th Annual Holocaust Survivors Chanukah Luncheon. The event was sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast, Inc., Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, and the Claims Conference.

The event honored Holocaust survivors and celebrated the life and legacy of Martin Arch, a beloved area philanthropist and longtime Federation supporter.

As the son of a survivor of Dachau and the nephew of an Auschwitz survivor, I have had the privilege of attending this luncheon for the past three years. The event was particularly moving this year, as generations were bridged. Holocaust survivor and scholar Helen Fagin delivered an emo-

throughout the United States. He and tional remembrance of Martin Arch, his wife, Barbara, retired to Sarasota culminating with the presentation of and joined Temple Emanu-El, where a special sculpture to the Arch family.

Helen was followed by Martin served on its board.

Adam Caldwell, a loMartin was especially active on the Temple Brothcal high school student erhood board. He also who participated in this founded the Arch Family year’s March of the Living Program in Poland Holocaust Education Cenand Israel. Adam shared ter, an adjunct to the Florida Holocaust Museum at The his experiences visiting Jewish Federation of Saramemorials at concentration camps, followed by sota-Manatee. “This was a the sharp contrast of arplace where local survivors riving in Israel. Closing could gather and meet,” Martin Arch says Barbara Arch. “It also housed a the luncheon was the lively, heartfelt large number of books relating to Jewmusic of the Freylekh Klezmer Duo, accompanied by Betty Silberman. ish history and the Holocaust.”

A celebrated philanthropist, Martin In Remembrance of Martin Arch also supported the March of the Living Martin Arch was born and lived in and donated to many regional arts and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A graduate cultural groups. He was a board memof the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Martin founded ber of The Ringling – and an active volunteer.

Marco Specialties, which supplied imStephanie Strotbeck and Kenneth printed business advertising specialties

Arch joined their mother at the luncheon in December. “We were moved

by Helen Fagin’s remembrance,” says Barbara. “Marty enjoyed a special connection with her. And we’re also very grateful for the beautiful sculpture created by Sidney Fagin that was presented to the family.”

Steven Koenig is a member of The Generation After, a national organization for children and descendants of Holocaust survivors.

The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee’s mission statement for its Holocaust programs is: To ensure that our community never forgets and that our youth live their lives and fulfill their hopes and dreams without fear and of persecution and hatred of any kind. For more information about The Federation’s Holocaust programs, contact Orna Nissan at 941.552.6305 or onissan@jfedsrq.org.

College preparation and information series: “Insider Tips for College Admissions”

By Federation Staff

T

he Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee and My College Resource joined forces to present “Insider Tips for College Admissions,” an initiative designed for 8th to 12th grade students and their families to receive valuable information and tips about the college admissions process.

The series of seven lectures, which began on September 9, are presented by Debra Landesberg, M.S., the founder and president of MyCollegeResource. net, a company that specializes in guiding high school students on the journey

to college.

The series is free to students and their families and is held on The Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Participants can register online at www.jfedsrq.org. For more information about this series, contact Debra Landesberg at DL@MyCollegeResource.net or 941.704.5553. For more information about My College Resource, visit www.mycollegeresource.net.

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our mission,” says Howard Tevlowitz, Federation’s executive director.

“We’re delighted to partner with My College Resource to offer this outstanding series.”

The series schedule is as follows.

All sessions are 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 10:

Co-Proprietors: Phil Mancini & Michael Klauber

Abrams Dermatology.....................8A Ackerman, Barbara, REALTOR®...4A AJC.........................................5A,7B All Children’s Hospital Guild......28A All Heart Senior Care...................10A Allegiant Private Advisors...........30A American Technion Society..........27A Brooklyn Bagels & Deli.................5B Cat Depot.....................................17A Center for Sight............................14A Chevra Kadisha............................39A Coastal Eye Institute....................17A Congregation Kol HaNeshama....16A Cortez Foot & Ankle....................10B Dannheisser, Dan.........................30A Fandango Cafe...............................3B Florida Cancer Specialists Fdtn...19A Florida Holocaust Museum............8B Fresh Start Cafe...........................17A Goldie Feldman Academy...........37A Grad, Stacey, Morgan Stanley.......17A Hanan, Stacy, REALTOR®.............8B HearUSA.....................................16A Hebrew Memorial........................39A Holcomb & Kreithen....................23A Horowitz, Neil, Fifth Third Bank..19A Jason’s Deli....................................4B Jewish Congregation of Venice.....6B Jewish Museum of Florida - FIU..25A JFCS.............................................7A JNF.........................................4A,29A Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson.9A,18A Lakehouse West.............................7A Longboat Key Education Center...3B Mariash Lowther, Merrill Lynch....8B Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.....6B Meyers, Rubin & Associates..........5A

Michael’s On East........................10A Mishner, Dr. Harvey.......................6A M’Orelli Italian Shoes.................19A Morton’s Gourmet Market.............7B Nellie’s Deli & Catering..............31A Oasis Cafe....................................17A Observer Group...........................13A Optical Services...........................27A ORT America...............................14A Palms-Robarts Funeral Home......39A Perfect Solutions for Seniors, Inc..9A Polo Grill.....................................24A Sarasota Center for Family Health.3A Sarasota Concert Association........5B Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Fdtn.6A Sarasota Personal Medicine...........9A Sarasota School of Glass.............27A Sarasota Watch Company..............2A Sleep King......................................6B Suponcic, Ron, REALTOR®.........14A Temple Beth Sholom..............28A,4B Temple Sinai........................10A,13A The Collier Group, REALTOR®..18A The Family Jeweler.......................1A The Glasser Schoenbaum HSC.....9B The Glenridge..............................16A The Resort at Longboat Key Club.25A The Stern Group..........................25A Toale Brothers Funeral Homes....39A Udell Associates..........................28A University Park Dermatology.......19A Urology Treatment Center.............7A USF...........................................15A Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall..11A Venice Theatre...............................1B Verier, Andrea, M.A., M.S............12A

F S

B

February 2016

FEDERATION NEWS

11A

Purposeful philanthropy takes planning: The Bart and Joan Levenson Charitable Gift Annuity

By Rich Bergman

B

art and Joan Levenson have touched the lives of many people through their involvement in charities, helping those people in need in their home community of Rochester, New York, their present home here in Sarasota, and in Israel.

By supporting Hillel, Jewish National Fund, Girls Inc., The Glasser/ Schoenbaum Human Services Center, and Hadassah, along with the Jewish Federations of Sarasota-Manatee and Rochester, the Levensons have made tzedakah a major part of their lives.

Bart’s professional life as an orthodontist in Rochester began with training at Eastman Dental Center, now merged with the University of Rochester, where he treated patients who could not afford private dental care. He was a founder and past chair of Orthodontic Volunteers in Israel, treating

needy children in Jerusalem.

Joan has an M.A. in Education from the University of Rochester, and comes from a family dedicated to helping Jewish causes. There were four generations of Hadassah Life members alive at one time. They also supported their temple, Hebrew schools, Israel Bonds, the arts and many other organizations.

Purposeful philanthropy takes planning in order to satisfy personal goals. Through The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, the Levensons established the ideal vehicle for their philanthropy – a charitable gift annuity. Bart and Joan created secure income for life, are supporting a cause they care about in perpetuity, and were able to improve an immediate tax situation.

Bart told us, “Why would we pay

taxes to the government when we could instead help others and pay less taxes? It made perfect sense to me to

Bart and Joan Levenson

set up this annuity with our local Federation. It’s a very nice feeling to be in a position to give back in such a

simple way.”

By having their gift annuity reinsured, Bart and Joan were able to create a Donor Advised Fund to support The Federation and other non-profits.

Their interests include children, education, the homeless and the arts.

“Without The Federation, we would have had to work with each charity individually to create a gift plan,” said Joan. “Now we’re helping causes we care about, and have the security of tax-favored income all in one place. It’s simple, and I love it.”

The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee is proud to be part of Bart and Joan’s financial planning. If you want to find out more about how you can reduce your taxes while helping others in need, call me at 941.552.6306 or Ilene Fox at 941.343.2111.

Federation grants Religious NOOA Dancers return to Sarasota School Scholarships

By Federation Staff

By Federation Staff

T

he Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee awarded $43,150 to 102 students toward the cost of religious school tuition as part of its need-based Religious School Scholarship Program. The following schools received funds for the 2015 cycle: Chabad of Bradenton: $3,385 for 13 students Chabad of Sarasota: $4,450 for 10 students Chabad of Venice: $5,825 for 16 students Temple Beth Sholom: $6,655 for 13 students

Temple Emanu-El: $13,045 for 26 students Temple Sinai: $9,790 for 24 students “Thank you and your lay leaders for making the decision to directly support synagogue-based learning through scholarships to needy families.

We consider it an expression of confidence in what we are doing for both children and families, and appreciate the partnership we can have over this important work,” says Susan Kittner Huntting, director of Temple Sinai’s Religious School.

T

he Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee is hosting the NOOA Dancers from Sarasota’s Sister City, Tel Mond, Israel, to perform classic, jazz, modern and Israeli dances, Wednesday, February 17 at Riverview High School in Sarasota. These talented dancers, ages 16 and 17, are from the dance school at the Tel Mond Sheldon Cultural Center.

Chairs of the event are Stacy Hanan, Barb Levison and Mindy Zelitt, and Sarasota Sis-

ter Cities Association.

Tickets are $10 for adults; free for students. To purchase tickets, visit jfedsrq.org/events. For more information, call Andrea Eiffert at 941.371.4546.

COMING IN MARCH TO THE VAN WEZEL THE

Tues March 1 8PM

Dmitry Yablonsky Cellist/Conductor

Danielle Akta Cellist

Ted Sperling Photo by Laura Marie Duncan

JERUSALEM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Ted Sperling Conductor

CZECH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Wed, March 9 • 8PM

Thur & Fri, Mar 3 & 4 • 8PM Written by

Thur, March 10 • 8PM

WOODY ALLEN Based on the Screenplay of the Film BULLETS OVER BROADWAY by

Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath Original Direction and Choreography by

In Creases Photo by Cheryl Mann

SUSAN STROMAN

Mon, March 21 8PM

LINDA EDER

Thur, March 31 • 8PM

Box Office: 941.953.3368 Online: vanwezel.org

with Robert Cuccioli

Box Office Hours: M-F 10a-6p, Sat 10a-4p, Open Later & Sun on Show Days Sponsors: The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, Wilde Lexus of Sarasota,

ABC7, WUSF Public Media, Van Wezel Foundation, WEDU PBS

Thur, March 24 8PM

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Prices, dates & times subject to change without notice.

12A

February 2016

Where are they now?

A powerful connection to Israel

By Nathan Brodsky

“

I

Library and engagement associate. felt this powerful, intangible American Hebrew Academy, the sense, something that just made Jewish boarding school and my first me feel connected to the city and job post-graduation, gives each Stuits past.” I wrote that sentence in 2008, dent Life Team Member a parting gift after returning from Israel with The – a plaque made from Jerusalem stone.

Jewish Federation of Sarasota-ManI brought that memory with me to The atee’s Bob Malkin Young Ambassador Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

Program. I was lucky enough to exAs part of my job, I give out Jewishperience Israel with a group of young themed books to kids throughout greatJews from our community, and I began er Atlanta so each has a Jewish bedtime to understand the land firsthand. story. My personal piece of Jerusalem I chose to return to Israel a few stone sits on my office desk and serves years later and study at the Ben-Gurion as a reminder of my previous job, JewUniversity of the Negev for a semesish history, and my strong connection ter. Every Monday night after class, I to Israel. would return to my dorm, speak with I appreciate The Jewish Federation my roommates Yaki and Mo in Hebrew of Sarasota-Manatee for supporting me (we had a deal that I would only speak in my journey to discover my Jewish Hebrew to Mo and he would only speak identity and connection to Israel.

English to me), and cook my own shakshuka – an eggs, tomato and vegetable dish. I still try to cook shakshuka, only the vegetables here do not come after a 40-minute walk to the local shuk.

Since graduating from Tulane University, I’ve worked at a Jewish summer camp, a boarding school and, currently, at The Jewish Federation of Nathan Brodsky today (above) and in 2008 Greater Atlanta as its PJ

FEDERATION NEWS

Guests enjoy Fifty Shades of J Happy Hour

By Federation Staff

O

n Wednesday, December 16, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee hosted another Fifty Shades of “J” Happy Hour at Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch. As always, it was an opportunity for singles and couples to meet new and old friends.

For more information about the next Fifty Shades of “J” Happy Hour, contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113 or jlisitza@jfedsrq.org.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016* Edison & Ford Winter Estates Fort Myers, FL

SOLD OUT

Leaving the Federation campus at 8:30 am $60

Wednesday, February 10, 2016* Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center • St. Petersburg, FL

SOLD OUT

written by and starring

Thursday, February 25TH 6:30 pm

Leaving the Federation campus at 9:00 am $60

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Tiffany at the Morse Museum — A Day in the Park • Winter Park, FL

Admission to the Museum with a Private docent tour and 3 hours of lunch and shopping on your own. Leaving the Federation campus at 8:00 am $30 (lunch not included)

Wednesday, April 13, 2016* The Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, FL Greek Pots Visit EDO Betty Woodman, 2009

PAYMENT IS RESERVATION

RESERVE EARLY — LIMITED SEATING

Leaving the Federation campus at 9:00 am $60 * These outings are all Inclusive: • Transportation • Admission to Museum • Docent Tour • Lunch (No full refunds two weeks prior to event)

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Klingenstein Jewish Center 580 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota FL 34232

941.371.4546 • jfedsrq.org

jfedsrq.org 941.371.4546

February 2016

COMMUNITY FOCUS

Comparing Judaism to Christianity

13A

Sponsored by

By Marden Paru, Dean, Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva

R

ecently we noted the 50th anniversary of Nostre Aetate – an ecclesiastical document released in 1965 under the leadership of Pope Paul VI – which exonerated the “Jews” of the killing of Christ. It was designed to heal the relationship between Catholics and Jews, and was a turning point in Jewish-Catholic relations. Jewish-Christian fellowship is now at an all-time high.

Due to either a lack of educational opportunity or animus toward other religions and belief systems, many of our Jewish constituents have very little understanding of Christianity. Born out of Judaism, Christianity is one of the Abrahamic religions with a constituency of 2.2 billion adherents. For over 1,500 years, Jewish communities have barely survived under Christian hege-

mony in the countries of the western Diaspora, namely in Europe. Anti-Semitism reigned supreme with Jews being expelled from England in the 1200s to the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula in late 1400s. With that history ingrained in the Jewish psyche, it is no wonder that our kinfolk have shown little interest in the philosophy and practices of Christianity.

Now, living in an age of democracy, freedom of religion and speech, enables us to have access to knowledge heretofore shunned. The Internet makes it possible to educate oneself about other religions with a simple stroke of a computer key. But do we do that?

I have always been fascinated with the connection Christianity has to Judaism. Well-known prayers and hymns

we may hear on Easter and Christmas Mass broadcasts on television are Jewish in origin and are directly taken from our Jewish tradition. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts…” is from our Kedushah prayer in the Amidah.

“The Lord is my shepherd…” is from the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible and better known to us as the 23rd Psalm. “The Last Supper” painted by Leonardo da Vinci is of Jesus and his apostles observing the Pesach Seder. This tableau is very reminiscent of the great Rabbis of the Hagaddah observing the Seder ritual in B’nai Brak so late into the night that their students had to come get them for it was time to start the Shacharit (morning services) for Passover day. Jesus and company followed the same Passover Seder practices.

To be sure, there are many Chris-

tian sects and/or denominations which all show fealty to a Messiah. The Jews are still awaiting theirs. But the differences in belief, orientation and ritual are worthy of study and comparison. To this end, the Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva is offering a new course, “Christianity vs. Judaism.” It will be a comparative study of the two ancient religious traditions but viewed through the lens of contemporary practice and thought.

Beginning Monday, February 8, from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m., the new course will run for eight weeks. The fee is $50.

Classes are held in the Hecht Music School on the campus of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, a sponsor and grantor of the Yeshiva program. To enroll, or for further information, please contact me at 941.379.5655 or marden.paru@gmail.com.

Eighteen Bay area cantors and cantorial soloists celebrate Jewish life and music

T

he Bay Area Cantorial Association (BACA) presents its 13th Annual Concert, There’s No Business Like Shul Business: A Cantors Cabaret! in two concerts with cantors and cantorial soloists serving the Tampa Bay and Bradenton/Sarasota regions. The first, hosted by Congregation Kol Ami (3919 Moran Rd., Tampa, 813.962.6338), is Thursday, February 4 at 7:00 p.m. The second, hosted by Temple Emanu-El (151 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota, 941.371.2788), is Thursday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m.

Tickets are available at the door of both concerts for a suggested donation of $18 each. No one will be turned away, and all donations are gratefully accepted. Proceeds benefit scholarships for cantorial students of both Reform and Conservative Sacred

Music Study. Call Congregation Kol Ami for details.

Now in its 13th year, BACA’s annual concert celebrates Jewish life with musical solos and ensembles covering a global range of writers, eras, styles, languages, genres and cultures. This year’s lively concert will focus on cabaret, stage and film selections with a connection to Jewish writers or Jewish experience. BACA presents its annual concert on or near Shabbat Shira (Sabbath of Song), when it has become customary around the world to hold special music-and song-related services and events.

BACA membership includes active cantors and cantorial soloists in the Tampa Bay/Sarasota/Central Florida region. To date, BACA has raised more than $42,000 for cantorial scholar-

ships. Gift recipients include students of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of Judaism (Conservative), and the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion (Reform), both in New York.

This year’s concert participants in either one or both concerts include Cliff Abramson (Temple Sinai, Sarasota), Riselle Bain (Temple Israel of Highlands County, Sebring), Laura Berkson (Temple B’nai Israel, Clearwater), Rick Berlin (Parkway Jewish Center, Pittsburgh, PA/Venice), Deborrah Cannizzaro (Congregation Schaarai Zedek, Tampa), Alan Cohn (Temple Beth El, Bradenton), Deborah Jacobson (Temple Ahavat Shalom, Palm Harbor), Joy Katzen-Guthrie

(Cong. Beth Am, Tampa), Bert Kieffer (Temple Emanuel, Lakeland), Andres Kornworcel (Cong. Rodeph Sholom, Tampa), Aaron Marcus (Cong. Shaare Tikvah, Waldorf, MD/Bradenton), Joel Reznick (Northwest Suburban Jewish Cong. of Morton Grove, IL/Venice), Sandra Santucci (Cong. Beth Shalom, Brandon), Beth Schlossberg (Cong.

Kol Ami, Tampa), Jonathan Schultz (Cong. B’nai Israel, St. Petersburg), Jodi Sered-Lever (Congregation Mekor Shalom, Tampa), Murray Simon (Temple Beth Sholom, Hamden, CT/ Bradenton), Marci Vitkus (Jewish Cong. of Venice), with pianist Tara Richards Swartzbaugh (Adjunct Professor, Music Dept./Musical Director, Theater Dept., University of Tampa).

We Are Here For You! Come Enjoy Our Upcoming Events: Rhythm & Jews Family Erev Shabbat Service Friday, February 5, 6:00pm Our Anniversary Celebration Continues… with Betsy Hudson Traba and Cheryl Losey Feder Flute and Harp Duo and Sarasota Orchestra Principals Sunday, February 14, 3:30pm Superhero Dinner & Movie - The Incredibles Saturday, February 20, 5:30pm Artists & Audiences and Lunch Monday, February 22, 11:00am

25th Anniversary Gala at Michael’s on East Saturday, March 12, 7:00pm

THERE’S SOMETHING

FOR EVERYONE

SP11782

Get it all in the Observer’s new Arts & Entertainment section

14A

February 2016

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—Nancy Cobin, Sarasota, Florida

Eight Over 80 celebration “Young at Heart”

E

ight amazing honorees have been selected, from nominations by community members, for the fourth annual Eight Over 80 celebration on Sunday, February 28 at 10:30 a.m. at Michael’s On East. As the only event of its kind in this area, Eight Over 80 is a unique event that will recognize six individuals and two couples, all octogenarians, who demonstrate a legacy of leadership and community enrichment in the Sarasota-Manatee community.

The honorees to be recognized at the celebration are Murray Bring, Jack Kesler & Maurice Richards, Beverly Koski, Donald Malawsky, Gloria Moss, Naomi & Bruce Wertheimer, Edie Winston and Joan Wood.

The Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Housing Council Foundation is the fundraising arm of the Jewish Housing Council, which operates Kobernick-

Anchin-Benderson, a senior lifestyle community. The Jewish Housing Council Foundation hosts the event with the help of generous community support through sponsorships. Proceeds raised by Eight Over 80 support programs and services for Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson residents, families and the greater community.

The Jewish Housing Council Foundation wishes to thank Premier Corporate Sponsors Benderson Development and Help At Home Homecare; Premier Individual Sponsors Isabel Anchin Becker, Debbie and Larry Haspel, the KBR Foundation, Susan and Randy Mallitz; and Presenting Corporate Sponsor Gulf Coast Community Foundation for their investment in the community.

For more information and sponsorship opportunities, contact Patricia McMahon, Development Associate, at 941.203.6237 or pmcmahon@kober nickanchin.org.

ORT America to hold 2016 Annual Meeting in Orlando

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COMMUNITY FOCUS

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Join Nancy and experience the joy of giving with a gift that offers you a lifetime payment and valuable tax benefits. To learn more, contact Leah Siskin, Advancement Director, Florida Region, ORT America at 1-888.802.6088.

ORT is THE Jewish organization meeting the world’s educational needs since 1880.

O

RTists from across the nation will come together, including incoming National President Larry Kadis, the new 2016-2019 leadership team, and Executive Director Marty Greenberg, for the weekend of March 4-6 at the Marriott Orlando World Center (8701 World Center Dr.) in celebration of the organization’s 10th anniversary and to kick off the next stage in the ORT story!

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, named

by Talk Magazine as one of the 50 best speakers in the United States, will be the featured speaker on Sunday, March 6. The best-selling author of more than 15 books, including several volumes about Jewish ethics and literacy, Rabbi Telushkin’s book Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History, is the most widely selling book on Judaism from the past two decades. He is Senior Associate of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

Other program highlights include a Communal Shabbat Dinner on Friday, March 4 and a Havdalah Under the Stars and Barbecue Dinner on Saturday, March 5. There will be special greetings from World ORT and a chance to meet with ORT students and alumni. Attendees are also free to enjoy Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Epcot Center and more.

Couvert: $60 Shabbat Dinner; $60 Havdalah & Barbecue; $95 Annual Meeting; or $195 for full package (includes all listed events).

For registration information, please contact Roxana Markus at rmarkus@ ORTamerica.org, or call 800.519.2678 x2254. Participants are encouraged to register online at www.ORTamerica. org/AnnualMeeting.

Once you’ve completed your registration for the Annual Meeting, hotel rooms may be reserved online at www.

ORTamerica.org/HotelRegistration, or call 800.376.2292.

140 kosher characters

twitter.com/jfedsrq

“These we honor” Your Tributes ANNUAL CAMPAIGN GET WELL Susi Benson-Steenbarger Inna and Gerry Sideman IN HONOR OF Judy Lebowitch Esta Snider Cantor Murray Simon Marsha and Paul Halpern Hannah Weinberg Joan and Michael Cohen Patti Wertheimer Pacy and Morris Weinstein IN MEMORY OF Elliot Bernstein Sylvia and Buzzy Barry Charlotte Graver Inna and Gerry Sideman

BOB MALKIN YOUNG AMBASSADORS GET WELL Joe Mendels Rebecca and Rich Bergman IN HONOR OF Judd Malkin Rebecca and Rich Bergman Lisa and Cary Malkin

ISRAEL PROGRAMS GET WELL Susi Benson-Steenbarger Bryna and Howard Tevlowitz

SKIP (Send a Kid to Israel) IN HONOR OF Marilyn and Jerry Schneider Bonnie and Michael Chisling

NOTE: To be publicly acknowledged in The Jewish News, Honor Cards require a minimum $10 contribution per listing. You can send Honor Cards directly from www.jfedsrq.org.

For more information, please call 941.552.6304.

February 2016

COMMUNITY FOCUS

15A

The Florida Holocaust Museum announces new exhibition to coincide with 2016 annual gala celebrating the arts with Samuel Bak

e

tBak y

to receive prestigious Loebenberg Humanitarian Award, and violinist-composer Ittai Shapira to perform original score at To Life: To the Arts

T

he Florida Holocaust Museum (FHM) announces a new Samuel Bak exhibition to coincide with the Museum’s annual gala To Life: To the Arts at The Mahaffey Theater on Thursday, February 18.

To Life: To the Arts will celebrate the inspirational and healing power of e the arts with guest speaker and internad tionally-renowned artist Samuel Bak, -who will receive the prestigious 2016 RLoebenberg Humanitarian Award. The ;gala also marks the grand opening of f“SAMUEL BAK - A Retrospective of rSeven Decades,” curated by the artist himself and on display at the Museum beginning Saturday, February 20.

Bak’s artistic talent was first reca ognized during an exhibition of his t rwork in the Vilna Ghetto when he was

e

n

d s o Samuel Bak , nine. He and his mother were the only members of his family to survive the lHolocaust. Mr. Bak has spent his life wrestling with his experience during the Holocaust, creating a legacy of tesetimony through his art.

8 o .

l . r

The new retrospective exhibition contains work he created as a child prodigy in the displaced person’s camp all the way until the present. It also contains a gift of seven Bak paintings that were recently donated to The FHM by an anonymous Canadian donor, valued at $297,000. This is the first time this unique retrospective will be on display together in one place.

“We are thrilled to bring this important retrospective of internationally-renowned artist Samuel Bak to Tampa Bay. His work addresses the most challenging questions about our shared human experience, allowing us to see beyond ordinary reality into a realm where we can acknowledge our broken past yet see the hope of a better future,” said FHM Executive Director Elizabeth Gelman.

To Life: To the Arts will also feature an original score and performance from violinist-composer Ittai Shapira’s The Ethics, which premiered at Carnegie Hall last spring to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Theresienstadt.

Ittai Shapira

At Theresienstadt, tens of thousands of Jews died from malnutrition and disease, and thousands more were executed in an area called the Small Fortress. Yet this camp was also a space for art. Although philosopher Theodor Adorno famously questioned the possibility of poetry after Auschwitz, we see poetry, drawings, musical performances and other forms of cultural expression emerging within the walls of the camp, with those “others” chronicling their experiences and expressing themselves at this time of extreme suffering.

One such performance was Brundibár, a children’s opera composed in 1938 by Hans Krása, One of the pieces in the Samuel Bak exhibition a Czech Jew (killed in

Auschwitz in 1944). The children’s choir in Theresienstadt performed this opera 55 times.

Shapira will perform The Ethics with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. Described by The New York Times as “an Israeli dynamo with a flourishing solo violin career,” Mr. Shapira regularly performs with prestigious artists and orchestras across the globe.

He plays a 1745 Guadagnini Violin, handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.

More information about Ittai Shapira can be found at www.ittaishapira. com.

Proceeds from To Life: To the Arts benefit the Museum’s educational programming. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Call Maria Johnston at 727.820.0100 x274 or email mjohnston@thefhm.org. Individual tickets are available for purchase online at TheFHM.org.

Media sponsors and partners of To Life: To the Arts include Tampa Bay Magazine, Creative Loafing, and The Jewish Press Group of Tampa Bay, Inc. About The Florida Holocaust Museum The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of innocent men, women and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. The Museum is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides.

16A

February 2016

COMMUNITY FOCUS

Days are brightened by JFCS “friendly visitor” volunteers Sponsored by

By Wendy Lyons Sunshine, Director of Marketing, JFCS of the Suncoast

“

T

hank you for making my husband Carl’s life a little brighter. He so looks forward to visits from Kinga and uses the quilt every day.”

Carl’s wife sent these words on behalf of her husband, an older man who is confined to a wheelchair by Parkinson’s disease. Every week, Carl enjoys a cheerful, positive social interaction with his “friendly visitor” volunteer. They were matched by the Jewish Healing Program of the Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS) of the Suncoast, which receives funding from The Jewish Federation of

Sarasota-Manatee.

Friendly visitors are compassionate volunteers who may travel to individuals who are housebound, in a nursing home, or isolated by age and infirmity. Some check in regularly by telephone.

As a welcome from their friendly visitor, each participant gets a handmade quilt donated by the Crafty Mavens of the Jewish Congregation of Venice. Carl uses his quilt on the lap of his wheelchair; some recipients hang them on the wall.

“This volunteer isn’t taking their temperature or changing clothes. This

is somebody who is friendly and social, and brings in a little bit of the outside world,” said Jennifer Singer, who coor-

JFCS volunteer Margie gives a quilt to Elaine.

Margie calls Elaine by phone every week, just to check in.

dinates the Friendly Visitors Program at JFCS. “The impact is profound.”

Jennifer trains these volunteers and matches individuals based on interests.

For example, Carl and his friendly visitor share a love of classical music composers. Other pairs enjoy discussing movies or politics. One visitor reads books aloud to her match.

To become a friendly visitor or telephone pal, or to explore the many volunteer opportunities at JFCS, contact Cindy Underwood at 941.366.2224 x143 or cunderwood@jfcs-cares.org.

Young adults with developmental disabilities find friendship and support through STARS

By Wendy Lyons Sunshine, Director of Marketing, JFCS of the Suncoast

B

rett Vorchheimer, 28, enjoys working fulltime in the produce section of Publix, but he never works on Wednesday afternoons.

Instead, he reserves Wednesdays for STARS, a program for differentlyabled young adults that is offered by Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS) of the Suncoast.

“We always arrange Brett’s work schedule so he can attend STARS,” says Janie Vorchheimer, Brett’s mother. “It’s a fabulous program.”

STARS (Successful Talented Adults

Reaching Skyward) is tailored to adults 18 years of age and over with developmental disabilities. Program Director Isaac Gurfinchel guides the Wednesday meetings with activities designed to foster self-esteem, self-respect, life skills and social skills. Parents and families are also encouraged to get involved and socialize.

“Before STARS, I never had mothers that I could be with and discuss the issues of parenting a developmentally disabled son,” said Janie. “We are very comforted by each other.”

Janie first discovered the STARS program at a new-member dinner at Temple Emanu-El. “Another member knew Brett had special needs from a traumatic brain injury, and introduced us to Rose Chapman of JFCS,” she said.

STARS group members discuss weekly accomplishments, practice math skills, and explore ways to handle situations like job interviews. They go on fun outings, such as bowling and movies, and schedule charitable activities, such as a park cleanup.

“The STARS program helps me recognize how I can make everyone happier,” said Brett. “I can boost them up and am coaching them and helping them.”

The group meets during February, which is Jewish Disabilities Awareness and Inclusion month, and every month throughout the year. For more information, contact Isaac Gurfinchel at 941.366.2224 x118 or igurfinchel@ jfcs-cares.org.

Congregation Ner Tamid serves Christmas dinner to Bradenton’s homeless at Our Daily Bread

By Rabbi Barbara Aiello

I

n our Jewish tradition, the Hebrew concept is called l’dor v’dor, which means, “from one generation to the next,” and for Congregation Ner Tamid, serving Christmas dinner to homeless men, women and children represents a tradition of service passed from Jewish parents to their children.

“For 14 years our members have volunteered each Christmas day so that the regular volunteers at Bradenton’s Our Daily Bread can spend the holiday with their families,” said Ner Tamid Board Chair Elaine Mittler. “And now

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This year, Ner Tamid volunteers included Shari Shepard, daughter of congregants Marvin and Marcia Shepard, who traveled all the way from Washington, D.C., to help out. Shari joined Rhonda Mittler, Elaine Mittler’s daughter who faithfully drives from St. Petersburg each year to join her mother on the serving line.

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event since her middle school days.

Greeting guests, dishing up veggies, piling on ham and turkey, and slicing and serving yummy pies is all part of a day well spent for Congregation Ner Tamid’s dedicated volunteers – Jewish parents and their children who not only talk about love and service but put those values into action each CNT members Marcia Shepard, Stacey and David Jacobson prepare to serve Christmas dinner year on Christmas Day.

F A Q

How do I get items in The Jewish News?

Email your articles and photos to jewishnews18@gmail.com.

What are The Jewish News deadlines?

Items are due the 25th of each month, or earlier if the 25th falls on a weekend or holiday.

Where can I get a copy of The Jewish News?

Papers are available at more than 50 locations, including several local libraries, synagogues and offices throughout Sarasota-Manatee.

How do I place an ad in The Jewish News?

Contact Robin Leonardi, account executive, at rleonardi@jfedsrq.org or call 941.552.6307.

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February 2016

COMMUNITY FOCUS

17A

sHonoring Honey Salzman at

Sophisticated Ladies Go Hollywood!

I

t all started with Honey Salzman’s m idea to have a “Fair” sponsored by the Temple Beth Sholom Sisterhood to raise money for youth pro.grams. “A Fair With a Flair” was held on Sunday, November 23, 2008. The Sisterhood had never done this type gof event before, but with Honey at the shelm, the Madeline L. Sainer Social Hall was filled with vendors from the temple and throughout the community yselling a huge assortment of products.

The Sisterhood did not repeat the 4event in 2009, but Honey thought it would be nice to recreate it. She generated the idea of a luncheon, fashion show and auction. She gave it a name, organized a committee, and “Sophisti-

e e m g

,

y e l @

Honey Salzman

cated Ladies” was established.

The first fashion show was held on January 26, 2011. The Sisterhood will be celebrating its sixth “Sophisticated Ladies” event on Wednesday, February 10. The Social Hall will be full of women (and a few good men!) for a luscious lunch, a fabulous fashion show and awesome auction with prizes and surprises! Each year, more money is raised for the TBS children, and each year has been a success!

Honey was always the inspiration behind each theme. Immediately after last February’s event, Honey had developed the 2016 event as “Sophisticated Ladies Go Hollywood.” The committee was excited and ready to work. Sadly, Honey passed away unexpectedly soon after that first meeting.

Honey was “A True Sophisticated Lady,” and the February 10 luncheon will be a tribute to her. She had the vision, energy and excitement to raise funds for the youth. She wanted every child to have the opportunity to go to camp, to youth group conventions, and have fun learning how to live a productive Jewish life. The sixth Sophisticated Ladies event is continuing her tradition.

Join Temple Beth Sholom Sisterhood in honoring Honey Salzman by attending the fashion show. A portion of the money raised for youth programs benefits all local participants, temple-affiliated or not.

Please contact Sue Rosin at 941.586.7662 or shrosin@veri Fashion show models Leone Levy, Adele Tannenbaum, Betty Rosenthal, Donna Newman, Dana Corn, Valerie Joels zon.net for more information (photo courtesy RGB Media Services, LLC) or to register by February 2.

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Temple Beth El honors Katherine Richmond

E

very year at Temple Beth El to concentrate on the Ritual CommitBradenton’s Anniversary Gala, tee. In addition to planning and orgaone person who is special to the nizing the High Holy Days, the Ritual continuation of the temple is honored.

Committee is responsible for organizThis year we are proud to ing the services and honor our very own Kathereven conducting them ine Richmond. in the absence of clergy Kate Richmond is the members.

Ritual Chair at Temple Beth Kate does not mind El. As she will tell you, “I the work at all. A Jewtook the job to fill in for by-Choice, she came someone for six months,” to TBE in 1999 after lshe laughs. “That was ten learning of Jewish antyears ago.” cestry on her mother’s Filling in for someone side. “I took a Hebrew is how Kate has gotten most class just to celebrate, of her jobs at the synagogue. and I ended up staying.

Katherine Richmond “I taught Religious School It took nearly a year, efor seven years, too. I was asked to fill but I decided that I needed to line up ein for three weeks until they got a permy heart and my religious affiliation.”

She has been here ever since. “All my manent teacher.” In 2007 she stopped teaching Religious Education in order jobs around the synagogue have helped

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me learn. And besides, this is my family. You do for your family. Fortunately, many people around here believe that – and act on it.”

About the award, Kate says: “I am touched and honored, but it’s not for me alone. I have a fantastic committee who work incredibly hard. I am accepting on their behalf as well.”

A U.S. Army veteran, Kate is a middle school teacher certified in Spanish language and reading education. She is single and enjoys reading, learning, doing Zentangle, and caring for small animals. She is the proud “Mama” to three cats – Snowman, Maggie and Angel – all of whom are rescues.

Scholarships Available

The Sarasota-Manatee Section of the National Council of Jewish Women announces the Sixteenth Annual Scholarship Awards, which recognize the education of the “non-traditional student.”

NCJW considers students, male or female, twenty-seven years or older, who have returned to school after a five-year hiatus and need financial ENJOY assistance to reach their goals.

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18A

February 2016

COMMUNITY FOCUS

Susan Skovronek retires as president of Sarasota Jewish Chorale

By Marcia Polevoi

S

usan Skovronek, fanatical follower of the Brooklyn Dodgers and proud of it, is the outgoing president of the Sarasota Jewish Chorale. Susan has held that position for over six years, as well as being the Chorale’s manager. Susan happily retired to Sarasota in 2005. A chance meeting of friends at a tennis match a little while later, led her to the SJC. She attended one rehearsal and knew she had to join. That was about eight years ago and it wasn’t long until she was asked to be president.

She had a great managerial background, having owned her own printing company for many years back in Morristown, New Jersey, and was active in various business groups there.

Her talents for organization were readily recognized.

A soprano, Susan did not sing until she was 64 years old. “I wanted to sing our national anthem and participate in Shabbat music so I took some voice lessons. There was no stopping me after that.” An avid opera lover, Susan has always sung along with the Saturday afternoon Met Opera broadcasts.

(She sings very well in the shower too, but don’t we all?)

Susan is pleased at how the Chorale has grown and matured during her tenure as president. She helped develop the official website and Facebook pages, and organized the staging of the group’s first CD and video recordings at Holley Hall. She assisted in coordinating the Chorale’s Bar Mitzvah Celebration in 2010, and was instrumental in the search for the current artistic conductor, Linda Stewart Tucker.

She may be leaving as president, but her future efforts and passion will be to form “The Friends of SJC” to support projects envisioned by its Board of Directors. “My favorite project by far is a matching grant from The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee dedicated to creating a video to be shown in classrooms in Sarasota and Manatee counties. This narrates, with music, the immigrant experience, and is an excellent teaching tool. Based on the Chorale’s cantata, “Esther’s Story,” it follows the tale of a fictional young Jewish woman who grew up in a shtetl in Russia. She and her husband immigrate to America in the early 1900s in search of more opportunity and religious freedom. This cantata has been successfully performed around the Sarasota area for several years.

Congregation Kol HaNeshama sponsors Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Fred Dobb

C

ongregation Kol HaNeshama is presentations during the weekend will pleased to announce that focus on relating Jewish its 2016 Scholar-in-Resvalues to ecology and idence will be Rabbi Fred Dobb the natural world. of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Rabbi Dobb is Chair Congregation in Bethesda, Maryof the Coalition on the land, where he has been the rabbi Environment and Jewsince 1997. ish Life (COJEL), and Rabbi Dobb is nationally a past president of the Rabbi Fred Dobb known for his involvement in Washington Board of Rabbis. He is a graduate of the ReconJewish environmental causes, and his

structionist Rabbinical College, and holds a Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary.

Rabbi Dobb will speak at a congregational dinner following Shabbat services on Friday, February 12, and at a luncheon following morning services on Saturday, February 13, and after Havdalah that evening. Shabbat evening services are at 6:00 p.m., morning services are at 10:00 a.m., and

Susan Skovronek, Brooklyn Dodgers fan

When not working with the Chorale, Susan can be found swimming and planting flower pots around her condo. She is a member of Temple Emanu-El. The SJC rehearses most Thursday evenings at the Hecht School on The Federation Campus. For more information, please call Susan Skovronek at 941.355.8011, visit www.sarasota jewishchorale.org or check us out on Facebook.

Havdalah observance will commence at 7:30 p.m.

Reservations are necessary for the Friday evening dinner, but all other events are without charge and open to the public. All events will be held at South Gate Community Center, 3145 Southgate Circle, Sarasota. Information is available on the congregation’s website, www.congkh.org, or by phone at 941.244.2042.

Temple Emanu-El Mitzvah Knitting Group brightens lives of senior citizens

T

emple Emanu-El’s Mitzvah Knitting Group has become one of the congregation’s signature programs as well as a source of generosity and joy in the Sarasota-Manatee community.

Meeting on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 10:00 a.m., Temple Emanu-El’s knitters gather to

socialize and build bonds of friendship and community while making beautiful blankets, booties, caps and sweaters for babies and needy families.

These handmade items are distributed in Israel through the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa and in SarasotaManatee through social service and charitable agencies including Mothers

Helping Mothers and Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast (JFCS).

Recently, Temple Emanu-El Mitzvah Knitting Group member Joan Zaroff made a delivery of these special items to JFCS, where they were gratefully accepted by Director of Volunteer Services and Community Outreach Shari Weiss. “She was so excited and thrilled, she pulled out every individual item to look at them,” Zaroff reported.

“She also asked me if she could pick out several blankets that she could give to some of the senior citizens that were there for socializing and lunch today, and I told her to use our donation as she so desired. She insisted I join her and

JFCS Director of Volunteer Services and Community Outreach Shari Weiss admires items delivered by Joan Zaroff from Temple Emanu-El’s Mitzvah Knitting Group

help give out blankets, and the seniors were very appreciative.”

All local knitters and crocheters are warmly welcome to join Temple Emanu-El’s Mitzvah Knitting Group.

For more information, contact Mitzvah Knitting Group chair Susan Bernstein at susanhope22@comcast.net.

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February 2016

JEWISH INTEREST

19A

The February Strike of 1941

By Paul R. Bartrop, PhD

I

n keeping with my preference to locate my column each month with an anniversary from the Holocaust – a time when history was happening everywhere at once – the choice of topic for this month’s column was, to use a modern-day term, a no-brainer.

It is almost inconceivable to imagine that during the Third Reich’s ramDr. Paul Bartrop page through Western Europe, a general strike against the Nazis could have been called in one of the occupied countries. It practically defies belief, furthermore, that this strike should have been called on behalf of Jews and in opposition to the Holocaust.

Yet this is precisely what took place 75 years ago this month, in February 1941, throughout Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Willem Kraan, a road worker with the Amsterdam city council, was a member of the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN). Along with his friend Piet Nak, a worker in the sanitation department and a fellow CPN member, Kraan made the decision on Sunday, February 23, 1941, to initiate a strike in protest at the German treatment of the Dutch Jews.

In early 1941 the persecution of the Jews of Amsterdam had begun to intensify. Already there had been protests against the occupation, and on February 19, 1941, a group led by Ernst Cahn and Alfred Kohn, two German Jewish émigrés, raised their voice against the Nazis. Arrested for fomenting dissent, Cahn became the first resister executed by the Nazis in the Netherlands, and the February strike that followed was a direct outcome of Cahn and

s

s e

h n

Kohn’s protest.

On Saturday, February 22, the Germans raided Amsterdam’s Jewish Quarter, and more than four hundred Jews were arrested. A second raid took place the next day. Kraan witnessed firsthand the Sunday arrests, returning home with tears in his eyes.

Without hesitation he spoke to his friend Piet Nak, and together they decided that strike action was needed to paralyze the city so the arrests and deportations would stop. They began approaching workers on the street and at the docks, pleading with them to go out on strike on behalf of the Jews. They also sought the cooperation of the public transport workers, who, it was anticipated, would strangle the city and stop all movement.

On Monday evening, Nak spoke before some three to five hundred workers at the Noordermarkt (North Market). Another communist comrade, Dirk van Nimwegen, also made a speech, in which he emphasized that the Dutch people should not be seen to be behaving like the Germans. Strike action was agreed to from those attending, and the strike call then went out. Posters were made and distributed throughout the night, along with thousands of handbills.

By Tuesday, all municipal and government services in Amsterdam and nearby areas were on strike, with tens of thousands not showing up for work.

News of the strike spread through the city like wildfire.

The only widespread strike against a Nazi anti-Semitic action thus became reality. It only lasted two days, however, before it was called off on February 25, 1941.

In response, the Germans introduced draconian reprisals: the mayor of Amsterdam was threatened with

punishment and dismissal, four strikers were executed, 22 were imprisoned (with another 40 taken as temporary hostages), and the city of Amsterdam was fined fifteen million guilders.

The Gestapo then sought desperately to find and apprehend the organizers. Piet Nak was arrested and beaten severely, even though the Nazis were unaware of the extent of his involvement. Upon his release he went underground, but in November he was picked up again and interrogated under torture for four months as the Gestapo sought information on the nature and extent of the communist resistance.

Eventually he was freed, but in May 1943 he was once more arrested on charges of helping Jews before again being released.

On November 16, 1941, Willem Kraan was also arrested. After a brutal period of imprisonment, he and 32 others were executed at the Soesterberg airport on November 19, 1942.

In 1966, a monument to the strike and the memory of Willem Kraan was unveiled in the newly renamed Willem Kraanstraat. The bronze statue was supposed to be of Kraan but was, instead, of an anonymous dock worker. Its appearance caused consternation among many of the survivors, particularly Piet Nak, who emphasized that the strike was organized by municipal workers, not dock workers. The monument – entitled De Dokwerker – was cast in 1952 by Mari Andriessen and based on a 1930s volunteer from the Spanish Civil War. Nonetheless, the monument, located in Jonas Daniel Meier Square, is the focus of an annual commemoration to the February Strike.

On May 31, 1966, Yad Vashem recognized Willem Kraan and Piet Nak

as Righteous Among the Nations for their remarkable efforts in resisting the Nazis. As we know, their attempt did not work; the full-scale deportation of Jews from the Netherlands began in the summer of 1942, and over the next two years over 107,000 were deported to their deaths, mainly to Auschwitz and Sobibor. Only 5,200 of those sent to these places survived.

The important thing is that Kraan and Nak tried to save the lives of Jews in Amsterdam in February 1941. They did not know where their efforts would lead, but they did what they saw as the right thing despite this. Theirs is an example worth following.

Dr. Paul Bartrop is Professor of History and the Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. He can be reached at pbartrop@ fgcu.edu.

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February 2016

what?

THE FEDERATI

The areas identified here focus on critical needs in our local and glo evaluate and address these priorities with unparalleled commitmen a strong, more vibrant Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Community and to f

YOUTH AND EDUCATION OUR PLEDGE

TO MAKE OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE FOR MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS TO JEWISH LIFE, PROVIDING OUR LOCAL YOUTH AND FAMILIES WITH MULTIPLE WAYS TO ENHANCE THEIR JEWISH JOURNEYS.

FIGHTING ANTI-SEMITISM OUR PLEDGE

TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM WHENEVER AND WHEREVER IT MANIFESTS ITSELF. THAT IS OUR STEADFAST COMMITMENT.

HOW WE HELP

HOW WE HELP

Whether through specific engagement programs like PJ Library and The Shapiro Teen Engagement Program (STEP) or by offering financial assistance for Religious School tuition, youth group conventions, Jewish overnight camp, college scholarships, domestic travel or overseas missions; we strive to make Jewish education inspiring and affordable.

HOLOCAUST AWARENESS OUR PLEDGE

TO ENSURE THAT OUR COMMUNITY NEVER FORGETS AND THAT OUR YOUTH LIVE THEIR LIVES AND FULFILL THEIR HOPES AND DREAMS WITHOUT FEAR AND OF PERSECUTION AND HATRED OF ANY KIND.

HOW WE HELP

JEWISH FEDERATION

Standing as witnesses to the evil that was the Holocaust, Federation with year-round programs educates the next generations. The Federation provides direct services and support for those Survivors in our Sarasota-Manatee community.

The Federation has created the Fighting Anti-Semitism Today (FAST) initiative as a tactical answer to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic groups. The toxic and often destructive strategies of pro-BDS groups are implemented on our local college campuses and we are here to combat them.

WOMEN’S PROGRAMS OUR PLEDGE

TO CONTINUE CREATING VENUES TO EMPOWER JEWISH WOMEN AS FUNDERS, DECISION-MAKERS AND AGENTS OF CHANGE AND ENABLE THEM TO TRANSLATE JEWISH VALUES INTO ACTION.

HOW WE HELP

Whatever connection to the Jewish community a woman might seek, there is a way to pursue it at Federation. From the Women’s Giving Circle to Women’s Day, we nurture groups that unite women with similar passions helping them to deepen their commitment to our Jewish community and the world.

Whether you are a growing family or seeking a retirement community, finding your partner or finding care for a p Jewish need or fighting anti-Semitism, education or crisis relief, or defending Israel, we invite you to join us. Bring you and live it through The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. Take a stand, grow your network, inspire a child, cele

February 2016

JEWISH FEDERATION

21A

ION’S IMPACT

obal Jewish communities. At The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee we identify, nt, passion and sensitivity. Our responsibility is to ensure that needs are met, to create foster and strengthen our connection to Jews in Israel and around the world.

ISRAEL AND OVERSEAS OUR PLEDGE

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS OUR PLEDGE

TO PROVIDE UNWAVERING SUPPORT TO STRENGTHEN THE STATE OF ISRAEL AS WE HAVE FOR MORE THAN SIX DECADES AND OUR COMMITMENT CONTINUES!

TO BUILD ON OUR MULTIFACETED CULTURAL, CIVIC AND INTERFAITH COMMUNITY-BASED WORK IN SARASOTA-MANATEE.

HOW WE HELP

When Israel is threatened, we immediately mobilize our networks in Sarasota-Manatee and nationally for her aid. That global concern is fostered by immersive experiences such as Birthright Israel and programming that brings Israel to life in Sarasota-Manatee.

ACTIVE ADULTS

HOW WE HELP

Federation brings extraordinary Jewish and Israel-themed cultural and educational events to Sarasota-Manatee. Jewish and Israeli musicians, speakers, performances and celebrities are brought in through a multitude of community partners including Florida Studio Theatre, Perlman Music Program Suncoast, Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, Sarasota Opera, Embracing Our Differences and more.

JEWISH SAFETY NET

OUR PLEDGE

OUR PLEDGE

TO BE A SOURCE OF COMFORT AND CARE FOR THOSE IN NEED IN OUR COMMUNITY. IN ADDITION, OUR FEDERATION NATIONAL SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ONE OF THE LARGEST, STRONGEST, AND MOST ENDURING NETWORKS OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN NORTH AMERICA, ENSURING THAT THOSE MOST ATRISK CAN LIVE WITH DIGNITY.

TO ENGAGE ACTIVE ADULTS — RESIDENTS, SNOW-BIRDS, SNOWFLAKES AND NEWCOMERS, THROUGH SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL, CULTURAL, AND JEWISH PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES TO CREATE A COHESIVE JEWISH COMMUNITY.

HOW WE HELP

By providing a meeting place to our Jewish membership organizations and clubs, Federation enhances a sense of Jewish community. Engaging our Jewish community through programs and our Federation media sources keeps the community involved and informed.

HOW WE HELP

Federation funds skilled providers/case managers who expertly care for the most vulnerable in our Sarasota-Manatee Jewish community. And through a wide range of community partnerships, Federation helps those most at-risk manage and overcome their difficulties.

- over TheMilman K

parent, we invite you to join us. Whether your interest is urself, your passions, your talents, your hunger for change, ebrate a tradition, explore Israel, and change a life!

make it yours

22A

February 2016

CLUBFED

JEWISH INTEREST

Jerusalem Post Crossword PuzzleI “Den Men” By Yoni Glatt

fl

Difficulty Level: Medium

Lecture Series

ANCIENT MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE Presented by Dr. Steven Derfler

8 1 $ S E I R E S E ENTIR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

10–11:30am – EXODUS How accurate are the accounts of Joseph and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat? Were there one or two Egyptian Pharaohs involved in the Exodus tradition? Do we know what happened at Sinai, and where was its location?

Exodus

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016

10–11:30am – KING SOLOMON Was the monarchy of Israel as strong, impressive and powerful as the biblical narrative implies? Or was King Solomon the consolidator of a small kingdom that was relatively insignificant outside of the Hebrew text?

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2016

King Solomon

10–11:30am – QUEEN ESTHER As the Jewish world spread its wings following the Exile of 587 BCE, it finds itself as a minority of strangers in strange lands. Even though the ability to roll with the punches allows for survival, being at odds with the majority still rules. But the influence of one of the most powerful women in the biblical world reshapes the Persian world.

Queen Esther

To pay, please go online to jfedsrq.org or remit check to:

To be held at:

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THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF SARASOTAMANATEE

Attn: Jeremy

$18 ENTIRE SERIES • MUST RSVP

www.jfedsrq.org Educational Resources Inc.

Editor: YoniGlatt, koshercrosswords@gmail.com Solution on page 27A Down Across 1. 1 1. Brother of Gad 6. Rodriguez in Steven Levitan’s 2. Perform hachnasat orchim, “Modern Family” essentially 10. Make like a mohel 3. Chabibi, in the U.S. 14. Decided on schnitzel over cholent, 4. The Torah, to Judaism e.g.

5. Unlike many a Chagall in people’s 15. Doubled month homes 16. Foreign currency often exchanged 6. Great rabbinic vintner in Israel 7. Like the Olympic performance of 17. Hanging hand Sarah Hughes 18. Like the Negev 8. Quarterback Derek on Mark Davis’ 19. Ruler in “Fiddler on the Roof” team 9. Cookie that has an OU-D, but isn’t 20. Minister of Defense during the 1982 Lebanon War technically dairy 10. Prepare a Shabbat table 23. Insect for Paul Rudd 24. Many a gap year student in Israel 11. Style of prayer started by 36-Down 12. Hezbollah funder 25. Need a refuah 26. “Joan of ___”, 1999 Leelee 13. Haifa has one Sobieski role 21. Like “Eicha” 28. Gefilte fish alternative to carp 22. Be a nudnik 30. Like Abrams’ “Star Wars Episode 27. Like new IDF soldiers 29. Moshav southwest of Jerusalem VII: The Force Awakens” 34. What strong security can do 30. Vulcan mind ___ 37. Slapper Seinfeld might cause 31. Slippery swimmer 39. Walk through the Jordan 32. Baal, e.g.

40. “Go, Maccabi!”

33. Started a drive, like Corey Pavin 34. IV item from Magen David Adom 41. Sister to those in this puzzle?

44. Some Kosher caviar 35. “___ on Down the Road” (song in 45. “___ The Light,” Mandy Moore Lumet’s “The Wiz”) 36. Mystical 16th century rabbi song in “Tangled” 37. Paul Stanley’s band 47. Like a hand-me-down pair of tefillin 38. Golda Meir ___ Mabovitch 48. What some Jews hope to do over 42. In a ___ (working the same job six the green line days a week) 50. Bamba ingredient 43. Airer of the anti-Israel show 52. What Garfield and Goldlum do “Quantico” 53. Classic alt-rock band whose only 46. Sderot to Beit Shemesh dir. show in Israel was in 1995 49. Society in the days of King 54. Sara, to Bibi Solomon, perhaps 56. Sound that epitomizes tref 51. She played Ulla in 2005’s “The 60. Arm of Israel Producers” 62. Great 20th century lion Rav and author?

52. Make like a child at a Seder 66. What can be visible in the distance 54. Shia’s “Transformers” co-star from the Pico-Robertson area 55. Kind of charger? (for short) 68. Berra elected to the Hall of Fame 57. Comic Glazer of “Broad City” the same year as Koufax 58. Former Tel Aviv mayor Mordechai 69. City that seems overrun with Jews 59. Amar’e Stoudamire was one, once in late January 60. “Oy, we’re in trouble” 70. Kind of law 61. Avodah ___ 71. Dershowitz of note 63. Title character in a Spielberg film 72. What IDF soldiers are trained not 64. “The motto,” according to a 2011 to do in tense situations song by Drake 73. Balak of Chukas-Balak, e.g.

65. Equipment for 37-Down 74. Like bread on Passover, e.g.

67. 2003 Jon Favreau directed family 75. Like some Lewis Black comments film

STAY CONNECTED

STAY CONNECTED

Questions? Contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113 or jlisitza@jfedsrq.org

Lecture series sponsored by Senior Home Companions, Inc.sm For Seniors by Active Seniors® Senior Home Companions, Inc. For Seniors by Active Seniors®

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Bringing peoples, cultures and faiths together through education

February 2016

JEWISH INTEREST

23A

Immigrant life, assimilation and conversion issues flavor unique murder mystery Book review by Philip K. Jason, Special to The Jewish News Forgiving Mariela Camacho,

by A.J. Sidransky.

Berwick Court Publishing Company.

316 pages. Trade paperback $16.95.

T

his book has a highly original focus that was first developed in Sidransky’s earlier Forgiving Maximo Rothman. Sidransky is able to intertwine the experiences of various cultural communities: the Dominican Republic, the Dominican section of Washington Heights (upper Manhattan), the neighboring population of Jews, and Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union.

It highlights the improbable story of Sosúa, a story of desperate Jewish refugees Phil Jason who were given sanctuary in the Dominican Republic beginning in 1938. And, for good measure, there are excursions to Germany and Israel.

The author handles these largely unfamiliar relationships by building his plot around a case handled by two New York City police detectives, Anatoly Kurchenko and Pete Gonzalvez, who are not only partners on the force but also best friends. Their names will immediately signal their ethnic backgrounds.

Anatoly (“Tolya”) was an orphan who somehow made his way to the U.S. His Russian background is presented

much more sketchily than Pete’s life to be that of Mariela. Pete is in the Dominican Republic (it is desick with grief and guilt. Both tailed in Forgiving Maximo Rothman men agree that there is much as is the wartime history of Sosúa). about this death that does not Tolya remembers well his maternal look like suicide, and they get grandfather, whom he had visited in their captain to label the case the Ukraine as a boy. That grandfather a homicide investigation. was the last in the family to be given a As the novel progresses, Hebrew name. the chapters detailing the Tolya identifies himself as Jewpartners’ investigation play ish, though the rabbi who is preparout in counterpoint to chapters ing Tolya’s wife Karin for conversion that develop the personality and backand the conversion of their two sons ground of a mad genius who turns out wishes that Tolya would take action to be a serial killer, having used that to strengthen his Jewish credentials. death machine on numerous occasions.

Perhaps a rededication. Karin is a forSidransky skillfully builds an undermer detective who now, on the brink of standing of his mad momentum and bringing another child into the world, his targeting, indirectly, of Tolya – who has found work as the planner of a tribrepresents for him (ironically) the good ute to Sosúa at a Jewfortune of the Jews who ish museum. could get out of the Pete has been USSR. This man, who married for many has taken many names years to Glynnis, but during his depraved his heart’s memory life, and whose family brings him over and had immigrated to Isover again to his rael by forging Jewish thwarted passion for identities, goes so far Mariela Camacho, as to become a patron a Dominican beauty of Karin’s exhibit. Can whom he courted but you guess where this is who wouldn’t allow going? him to abandon his This novel, dark commitments. in so many ways, is The novel exrelieved by the “odd A.J. Sidransky plodes when a corpse couple” humor in the is discovered attached to a diabolical relationship between Pete and Tolya. killing contraption – a suicide machine.

Their banter is infectious, as is the inPete and Tolya are assigned to investiterplay between their contrasting pergate. Shockingly, the corpse turns out sonal styles as detectives, immigrants

and husbands.

Indeed, the large cast of characters is well-imaged, and each of the many settings is handled with vividness and authority.

For many readers, the lessons in Judaism that Karin receives from Rabbi Rothman and transmits to her sons will be an inspiring highlight – a moving example of the conversion process at work.

Aside from all of its local color, insights regarding immigrant communities, police work, and ethnic/religious identity, Forgiving Mariela Camacho is a riveting thriller with distinctive dialogue and sure-fire pacing.

Sidransky’s reputation is growing fast. The National Jewish Book Awards selected his first novel, Forgiving Maximo Rothman, as a finalist in Outstanding Debut Fiction for 2013. Next Generation Indie Book Awards selected his next book, Stealing a Summer’s Afternoon, as a finalist for Best Second Novel for 2015. His third “Forgiving” novel is slated for 2017.

Philip K. Jason is Professor Emeritus of English from the United States Naval Academy. He reviews regularly for Florida Weekly, Jewish Book World, Southern Literary Review, and other publications. Please visit Phil’s website at www.philjason.wordpress.com.

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24A

February 2016

JEWISH INTEREST

TEMPLE BETH SHOLOM Broadway musicals: Sarasota-Manatee’s Conservative Synagogue A Jewish creation?

Join us at

in february

All Are Welcome! Come Join Us!

ONGOING PROGRAMS Daily Morning Minyan

Sunday-Friday, 8:00am - 9:00am

Morning Minyan Breakfast Wednesdays 9:00am

SHABBAT SERVICES Fridays, 6:30pm Saturdays, 9:00am

Shabbat Shaboom

Saturdays, 10:30am - 12:00pm

Youth Havurah (Grades 2-6) Saturdays, 10:30am - 12:00pm in the Chapel

Shabbat Shmooze Saturday, 12:45pm

Paver Religious School

Sundays, 9:00am - 12:30pm *Feb 14th - No classes

Introduction to Reading Hebrew Sundays, February 7 & 21 11am - 12:30pm A Cup of Joe and the Five Books of Mo Tuesdays 9:15am -10:15am Chug Ivri (Advanced Hebrew) Thursdays 10:30am - 12:00pm

Judaica Shop

Tuesday-Thursday, 10am - 3pm Friday, 10am - 12pm Sundays, 11am - 1pm

TEMPLE TALK

Chat with our co-presidents about the exciting changes happening at TBS! WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3 HAPPY HOUR 5:30 - 7:00pm (1st Wednesday each month) SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 COFFEE HOUR 9:30 - 11:00am (3rd Sunday each month) We will not have Coffee Hour on Sunday, February 21st as it is Community Mitzvah Day. Emma and Rob will be helping around the Temple should anyone have anything they would like to discuss.

UPCOMING EVENTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3 1:15pm Idelson Library Book Review Harold Halpern will review Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law by Alan Dershowitz THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4 & FEBRUARY 11 12:00 - 1:30pm Lunch & Learn –Ma La’asot– What to do? Sue Spector will facilitate classes exploring ethical dilemmas through the eyes of Jewish tradition. Bring a dairy lunch. $5 non-member fee for each class for materials. Come to one or all; a new topic each week.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5 5:30pm We welcome Dr. Jonathan Sarna, our visiting scholar, with a Shabbat Dinner at 5:30pm. His topic during the 7:00pm service is Looking Ahead: American Judaism in the 21st Century. $30/Adult, $15/Youth. Please RSVP to Kelly Nester.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 9:00am We continue our Scholar-in-Residence weekend with Dr. Jonathan Sarna.

Today’s topic is Lincoln and the Jews.

There will also be a question and answer period during Shabbat Schmooze at 12:45pm.

TEMPLE BETH

SHOLOM

941-955-8121 OFFICE HOURS

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7 9:00am World Wide Wrap Join our Men’s Club for Morning Service, Breakfast and a program about Tefillin. Our Bar & Bat Mitzvah Club will be joining this program.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7 & 14 11am – 12:30pm Torah Reading Workshop WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 12:00pm Sisterhood Fashion Show – Sophisticated Ladies Go Hollywood

Monday – Closed Tuesday – Friday 9:00am - 3:30pm

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 7:00pm, Shmooze & Brews with Rabbi Werbow at Mandeville Beer Garden for an informal conversation-ask questions, share ideas and meet people.

IDELSON LIBRARY

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14 9:00am – 8:00pm, HaNegev Region Youth USY & Kadima – Islands of Adventure

You can check out books, using our self-checkout, any time the office is open, provided there is not a meeting in the Library. You can check out books from the Alcove which is always open when the office is open.

S AV E T H E DAT E

From Bimah to Broadway JOIN US Sunday, March 27, 7:00pm

Featuring Cantor Audrey Abrams and the TBS Cantors

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 1:15pm, Idelson Library Film Matinee We will be showing Streit’s Matzah with a question and answer session to follow.

Refreshments will be served courtesy of the Men’s Club. Suggested donation: $3/Members, $5/Non-Members.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH, 9:00am Bat Mitzvah of Carsyn Band

By Arlene Stolnitz

A

fter last month’s column on music of the Second Avenue Theater, it seems only logical to explore the Broadway musical.

The big question of whether Yiddish music had an influence on the music of Broadway is one that lends itself to some debate. Critics are skeptical, yet as one looks at it, there is plenty of evidence to support the idea that the music of the Arlene Stolnitz Jews had a part in the creation of music in the Broadway musical theater before the age of rock music.

A couple of years back, an interesting program aired on PBS entitled “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy.” In the program, a case is made for the impact of Jewish music on American music. Citing the music from the turn of the century to the 1940s, the program claims that the Yiddish music of Second Avenue Theater had a big influence on Broadway theater.

The huge list of Jewish composers and lyricists that dominated the Broadway scene is well known. Names like Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Stephen Sondheim, Oscar Hammerstein, Sheldon Harnick, Leonard Bernstein, (the list goes on and on), were contributors to the musical cultural life of America. In the PBS special, Mary Rodgers Guettel, daughter of famed composer Richard Rodgers, said, “I’m trying to think if there was anybody not Jewish.” Director Michael Kantor’s film opens with a number from the musical Spamalot, “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway if You Don’t Have Any Jews.”

In the first half of the 20th century, Jews flocked to the music industry. It was a business where they didn’t face anti-Semitism, according to Emmy Award winner Michael Feinstein. And yet, many of the young Jewish composers like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin were thought of as assimilated and “too American.” Berlin, famous for “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade,” wrote only a few numbers in Yiddish and a few ditties in English based on Jewish themes. His fame came from the nearly 1,500 songs he wrote which “reached the heart of the average American” whom he saw as the “real soul of the country.”

George Gershwin, and his brother, Ira, coming from an Orthodox Jewish family, grew up in New York around the Yiddish Theater District. Coming from that background, it is not surpris-

ing that Gershwin’s opening in “Rhapsody in Blue” has been compared to the sound of the klezmer clarinet. His song “It Ain’t Necessarily So” reminds us of the sound of the call to the Torah in the “Barchu.”

Incidentally, Cole Porter, who was not Jewish, thought he could succeed only by writing a “Jewish tune!”

Classic popular Broadway hits in the ’30s and ’40s, such as Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific and countless others, established a new sense of how Jewish immigrants imagined themselves through the American musical. In her book Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical, Andrea Most, University of Toronto English professor, states that these musicals showed the cultural struggles of what it meant to “become American.”

Dealing with issues of race, assimilation, struggling as the outsider in a new community…all these issues were explored by their creators through the music and lyrics of Broadway tunes.

Significant is the example of Fiddler On the Roof, which was the first musical to portray Jews in their own world as opposed to fitting into another culture.

But the question remains, was the music itself influenced by earlier Yiddish/European melodies? One interesting idea is that the swing/jazz type of music is a blend of “Jewish” music combined with the “blue notes” found in African-American music. We know that Jewish musicians during the ’30s and ’40s played in swing bands with black musicians and often influenced each other. Music scholars note there is a similarity in the roots of Jewish music and that of the blues. Jeffrey Melnick’s interesting book, A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews and the American Popular Song, explores this complex issue. It helps us understand the “trademark” sound of Broadway music.

Whether you accept these ideas is something to ponder. Personally, I think the “Yiddishkeit” or “Jewishness” is felt in the music we hear, especially in the songs that were written (pre-rock) during the “heyday” of musical comedy, the fabulous music of the ’30s and ’40s.

Arlene Stolnitz, founder of the Sarasota Jewish Chorale, is a member of the Jewish Congregation of Venice. A retired educator from Rochester, New York, she has sung in choral groups for over 25 years and also sings in Venice’s Chorale (formerly Exsultate!). Her interest in choral music has led to this series of articles on Jewish folk music in the Diaspora.

16 hungry polo players for a post-game family style dinner.

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JEWISH INTEREST

Stars of David

By Nate Bloom, Contributing Columnist

Editor’s note: Persons in BOLD CAPS are deemed by Nate Bloom to be Jewish for the purpose of the column. Persons identified as Jewish have at least one Jewish parent and were not raised in a faith other than Judaism – and don’t identify owith a faith other than Judaism as an adult. Converts to Judaism, of course, are salso identified as Jewish. sNew TV Season: New Shows series centers on Katie and Will Bowman (Josh Holloway), secret members The Fox comedy series Cooper Barof the resistance movement, and their rett’s Guide to Surviving Life started two children. Bowman is supposed to on January 3 (new episodes air Sunddays at 8:30 p.m.). The title character be a former Army Ranger. There are many human collaborators, including is a young man in search of his first job Alan Snyder, who is the governor of after college. JUSTIN BARTHA (Nathe Los Angeles area and a total tool of tional Treasure flicks), 37, plays Coodper’s 40-year-old married brother. the invaders. Playing Snyder is veteran w character actor PETER JACOBSON, The sci-fi action series Second 50, who played Dr. Chris Taub for five Chance premiered on Fox on Wednesnday, January 13 at 9:00 p.m. It was years on House. (Began January14; new -created by RAND RAVICH (The Asepisodes air Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.)

I am not sure I like the idea of tronaut’s Wife), 53, a Solomon Schechoter day school grad. It stars British Jacobson, who looks very stereotypically Jewish, playing the bad guy.

Jewish actor ROBERT KAZINSKY, f32, in his first really big American role.

But it continues the movie/TV fiction ”Kazinsky, a very toned and handsome that resistance fighters are handsome, blond all-American types like Holloguy, plays Jimmy Pritchard a “re-born” aSeattle-area police detective who died way, and collaborators are “something eat age 75 after a corruption scandal other” than blond and handsome. In the eforced him to retire. Billionaire twins documentary The Sorrow and the Pity, .bring him back to life as a 32-year-old about France during the Nazi occupar(Kazinsky) with a new purpose. But tion, the point is made that the “regular -Pritchard is still haunted by the old folks” mostly went along with the Ocdtemptations. Here are two reasons to cupation. The French Resistance was -like Kazinsky, sight unseen: His origimostly made-up of ‘oddballs,’ including working-class Communists and nal last name is “Appleby,” but he took Socialists who usually weren’t screen the “more Jewish name” Kazinsky, -his grandfather’s middle name, as his idol handsome – a very large number of Jews, and an effeminate, gay Engstage name – that might be a first – and ehe speaks Hebrew and has appeared in lishman who became a secret British cIsraeli TV ads. agent aiding the Resistance. He did so, d he said, to prove to himself that he was The new USA network series Colwony mines now familiar film and TV a “man.” sground. Again, we are in a horrible Starting on PBS on Sunday evehfuture and the Earth has been invaded ning, January 17 is Mercy Street, a sixdby baddies from outer space. The acepisode medical drama set during the etion is set in Los Angeles, where the Civil War. The action takes place in a hospital in Virginia, where two volunalien occupiers, who appear in human yform, have walled off the city and are teer nurses from opposite sides work. t“culling off” the physically unfit. The JOSH RADNOR (How I Met Your , , s

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A Culinary Experience

February 2016

Interested in Your Family’s History?

Ten years of doing a Jewish celebrities column has turned Nate Bloom (see column at left) into something of an expert on finding basic family history records and articles mentioning a “searched-for” person.

During these 10 years, he has put together a small team of “mavens” who aid his research. Most professional family history experts charge at least $1,000 for a full family tree. However, many people just want to get “started” by tracing one particular family branch.

So here’s the deal:

Send Nate an email at nteibloom@aol.com, tell him you saw this ad in The Jewish News, and include your phone number (area code, too).

Nate will then contact you about doing a “limited” family history for you at a modest cost (no more than $100). No upfront payment.

Mother), 41, plays the lead physician, a Union loyalist whose Maryland family owned slaves. (All PBS series episodes are viewable free online and via services like Roku. This is also true of most non-PBS recent episodes – especially new series.)

The Globes and the Oscars Well, the Golden Globes, which aired on Sunday, January 10, were one of the weirdest of all time. The verbal sparring between host Ricky Gervais and Mel Gibson, which referenced Mel’s anti-Semitic remarks, was so prolonged as to be almost bizarre. There were a number of upset winners, including AARON SORKIN (best screenplay) for Steve Jobs – more critics disliked the film than liked it, and it tanked financially. Also, the best drama winner, The Revenant, was not that wellreviewed by many critics. However, expect EMMANUEL LUBEZKI, 51,

a Mexican Jew, to get another Oscar nomination for his Revenant cinematography (I am writing before the Oscar nominations come out). Lubezki has been Oscar-nominated seven times and won the last two years (Gravity and Birdman).

Other likely Jewish Oscar nominees: LIEV SCHREIBER, best actor, for playing MARTY BARON, the Floridian newspaper editor who led the Boston Globe team that uncovered the pedophile priest scandal, in Spotlight. Also JOSH SINGER, who cowrote that film; AMY SCHUMER, best actress, Trainwreck; CHARLIE KAUFMAN, best animated film, Anomalisa; and LASZLO NEMES, the director and writer of Son of Saul, a Hungarian film about the Holocaust.

It’s a shoo-in for a best foreign film nomination and a likely winner (it won the Golden Globe in this category).

DISCOVERY AND RECOVERY: PRESERVING IRAQI JEWISH HERITAGE On View Through March 6, 2016 Exhibition details the dramatic recovery of historic materials relating to the Jewish community in Iraq from a flooded basement in Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters, and the National Archives' recovery work in support of U.S. Government efforts to preserve and make these materials available.

This exhibition was created by the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC, with generous support from the U.S. Department of State.

Local support received from Congregation Beth Jacob, Nancy G. Pastroff, Kenneth and Barbara Bloom, Elliot Stone and Bonnie Sockel-Stone, and Isabel Bernfeld Anderson.

More information is available at www.ija.archives.gov.

Tik (Torah case) and Glass Panel from Baghdad,19th-20th centuries.

MARK PODWAL: ALL THIS HAS COME UPON US… On View Through March 17, 2016 Mark Podwal is best known for his drawings on The New York Times OP-ED pages. This exhibition features his depictions of historical threats of antisemitism, from slavery in Egypt through the Holocaust, combined with verses from the Book of Psalms.

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A Song 1948, Psalm 126:5 Those who plant in tears will harvest in joy.

Exhibition Sponsors: Funding Arts Network, Robert Arthur Segall Foundation, Dr. Paul Drucker, Burton Young, Kenneth and Barbara Bloom, Elliot Stone and Bonnie Sockel-Stone, Isabel Bernfeld Anderson, and Anonymous Donor.

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February 2016

JEWISH INTEREST

Rabbi Simon’s first novel asks “Who are winners, who are losers?”

By Federation Staff

T

he title of Rabbi Howard Sia winner or a loser? Is a woman facmon’s first novel is Atlantic ing a most troubled and frightening life City: Winners & Losers. The a winner or a loser? As Rabbi Simon book’s setting is Atlantic City, but the says, “It is much easier to ask the questions than it is to find the question of winners and losers answers.” However, if pertains not to the casinos, but life is to be truly lived, to the individual lives of the fasone must find the ancinating people described in the book. swers. It takes reflection, thought, a commitment This is an engaging tale of lifelong Atlantic City resident to life and, most of all, Tony Gordon, who deals with an awareness of one’s the realities of life as it faces him personal feelings, hopes Rabbi Howard Simon and those he knows and loves. and dreams.

The reader is urged to make the As Rabbi Simon brings to life his characters, the reader comes to wonjourney with these memorable characder, is the Holocaust survivor seeking ters. We read and wonder. We read and learn. We read and come to understand. information about her family a winner Atlantic City: Winners & Losers or a loser? Is a five-year-old boy wandering along the beach in Margate City can be purchased at bookstores every-

where or online from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. The author advises: read the book, then decide who wins, who loses.

About the author Rabbi Howard A. Simon is an ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and received his Doctor of Divinity degree from the same institution. Rabbi Simon has lead congregations in Baltimore, Atlantic City, Cincinnati, Knoxville and Sarasota. He currently serves as the co-Chair of the Israel Advocacy

Initiative Committee of The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee and is a regular columnist for this newspaper. He has led three interfaith missions to Israel.

Rabbi Simon has previously authored two books: Back from the Abyss –Thoughts about Life and Death and Memories – So Many, So Vital. Atlantic City: Winners & Losers is his first novel.

K’zohar Ha-Ivrit Presidents’ Day: Yom Ha-ne-si-im

By Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin

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Ma’agal Nashim is a place for women to explore how we can make a difference, become role models for our families and discover how leadership and philanthropic passions can build a stronger world for women and children.

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I

n 1968, when Congress created a uniform system of federal holidays, it declared Presidents’ Day as an official holiday to be celebrated on the third Monday in February.

Although it became the law of the land in 1971, Presidents’ Day is based on a long history of celebrations of both Washington’s and Dr. Rachel Dulin Lincoln’s birthdays on the 22nd and 12th of February respectively. Not all states agreed to the change made by Congress, nor did all adhere to the new name given to the day. Nevertheless, Presidents’ Day was popularized by several states as a marketing phenomenon capitalizing on a three-day shopping spree. In honor of the day, I wish to discuss two Hebrew words pertaining to the occasion. The first is na-si, meaning “president” (pl. ne-si-im), and the second is yom hu-ledet, meaning “birthday.”

The Hebrew word na-si is mentioned in the Bible 129 times and it means “chief,” “prince” and “ruler.”

In post-Biblical Hebrew we find na-si used to indicate the head of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish legislative authority (B’rakhot 13). In modern Hebrew, nasi evolved further to mean “president,” the head of state and a CEO of an organization.

The noun is derived from the verb, nasa, which literally means “lifted up,” “exalted” or, as some say, “speaker,” as a president usually “lifts up the words” to advocate the people’s cause. Either way, in ancient times the na-si was the head of a tribe (Num 7:24), the head

of a group (Josh 22:14, a king (Ezek 37:25), as well as a representative of a whole nation (Gen 23:6). It is not surprising that na-si has made an easy transformation to the modern political parlance to mean “a president of a country,” for a na-si may represent a country internationally or affect the social and political dynamics of a country internally. We should mention here that unlike the U.S., where the na-si is a political figure, in Israel the na-si is a figurehead who has no political power.

As for yom huledet, this compound word was mentioned three times in the Bible. It is constructed of two nouns, yom and huledet. In Hebrew, like other Semitic languages, yom means “day,” “time” and “year,” and appears in the text almost 2,300 times. Hu-le-det too is a Semitic noun meaning “birth.” It is derived from the verb ya-lad meaning “bear,” “bring forth” and “begat.”

Interestingly, not many phrases can be found using the words na-si or hu-ledet. However, there are many phrases where yom is at the center, of which we will mention but a few. Yom tov means “holiday,” and yom yom means “daily.”

Bin yom means “quick,” and be-yom min ha-yamim means “some day,” or as we say in jest, “one fine day.”

Now that we are about to celebrate the yom hu-le-det of both Washington and Lincoln, a time declared in America as yom tov, let us not forget the contribution each na-si had in shaping America’s history and helping it become a unique nation among nations.

Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin is a professor of biblical literature at Spertus College in Chicago and an adjunct professor of Hebrew and Bible at New College in Sarasota.

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ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

February 2016

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15 Israeli wearable techs that will disrupt our lives By 2018, the global wearables market is expected to be worth $19 billion, and Israeli companies play a major part in reaching that goal.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c, www.israel21c.org

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oogle bombed with Glass, and Apple Watch sales are sluggish so far. Yet the success of many other wearable devices such as Fitbit attests that we’re living in the era of wearing, rather than holding, our connected devices. By 2018, the global wearables market is expected to reach a value of $19 billion.

Israeli companies are right in the thick of it, pioneering core technology and retail products for this market. One prime example is Pebbles Interface of Kfar Saba, a virtual- and augmentedreality technology for wearable gaming devices, acquired last July by Facebook’s Oculus Rift.

“I think a lot of the wearables will come out of Israel,” predicted American tech evangelist Robert Scoble at Israel’s inaugural WearableTech Conference in May 2014. Scoble singled out Omek Interactive gesture-recognition software bought by Intel, and PrimeSense motion-tracking chip technology acquired by Apple.

Here are 15 of the Israeli wearables already revolutionizing how we monitor our health and the well-being of our children, and how we play games.

LifeBEAM headgear is embedded with bio-sensors to measure vital signs.

The Tel Aviv company’s smart bicycle helmet, fitness caps and visors are available online and at vendors across the world, and LifeBEAM technology is built into Samsung’s new Simband platform for wearable devices to measure a range of fitness parameters.

The UpRight wearable training device, embedded with dual sensors, attaches to your lower back with hypoallergenic adhesive strips and gently vibrates every time you slouch. The Tel Aviv-based company claims that wearing UpRight less than an hour a day

will train your muscles and mind to sit and stand upright after only two or three weeks of use. An optional companion mobile app generates a customized training program, real-time feedback, posture analytics, statistics, tips and techniques.

The hWear line of tank tops and t-shirts by Healthwatch Technologies has conductive fibers woven in, performing the job of an ECG machine

and transmitting vitals to your doctor’s smartphone. Made in the Galilee, the shirts will be on the market by the end of the year in a range of colors and styles for men and women. hWear will be sold in Holland, the UK, Spain and the Balkan states to start, and later online and in pharmacies without a prescription.

Muv Interactive’s Bird ring-like device uses a simple Bluetooth connection to sense what your fingers are doing, where you are in the room and exactly where you’re pointing, enabling you to touch any of your devices remotely and turn the device’s display into a touch screen.

The hereO GPS watch is touted as the world’s smallest real-time connected GPS tracking device, created specif-

ically for children three years and up in a variety of fruity colors. Newly available from the Herzliya Pituach- and UK-based company online and in U.S. and European stores in early 2016, the subscription-based product’s SIM card connects to local carriers in more than 120 countries. The free companion mobile app lets the family share locations with each other at all times.

AngelSense is the world’s only tracking and voice monitoring device designed specifically for children with special needs. The wearable is linked to cloud-based analytics and a web app to enable continuous monitoring and alerts in real time, providing subscribers with a visual diary of the child’s day, as well as an interface where parents and caregivers can share information and photos.

OrCam is a portable artificialvision device for the vision-impaired.

With a point of your finger or the press of a button, OrCam’s smart camera – mounted on the eyeglasses frame – recognizes text, products, faces and money, and speaks to the user through a mini earpiece. Developed in Jerusalem, OrCam currently is available in 22 U.S. locations.

RideOn augmented-reality ski goggles add a virtual layer of games, challenges and connectivity to skiers

medical information in the caregiver’s language by automatically adapting to the location. When the caregiver scans the laser-engraved QR code on the silicon band’s stainless-steel buckle, it displays prior medical conditions, current

medications, allergies, vaccinations and last medical tests, and automatically notifies emergency contacts and apprises them of the wearer’s location.

Hyginex recently unveiled its Generation 3 wearable device for improving hand hygiene compliance and quality in hospitals. Founded in Israel and headquartered in Los Angeles, Hyginex helps prevent healthcare-associated infections by collecting individual data on employee hand hygiene.

The wristbands vibrate to remind staff when they forget to clean their hands before and after patient contact, and vibrate again when handwashing has been performed for the appropriate length of time.

The PulsePlay Bluetooth-connected smartwatch is built specially for

embedded into a bracelet, a hilt of a sword or the handles of a skipping rope record the gamer’s movements, change in body temperature and quantity of perspiration generated, then translate this data into game points. Kids are prompted by the game to perform physical activities in order to advance to the next stage.

Re-Step by Step of Mind in Tel Aviv is a walking rehab system consisting of a pair of programmable shoes with sensor-embedded pistons.

The sole height and angles change in a specific given order to facilitate motor learning and problem-solving in real time. The shoes measure the parameters of the user’s gait, while data on progress and treatment recommendations are delivered to the clinician’s computer or mobile device.

Abigail Klein Leichman is a writer and associate editor at ISRAEL21c. Prior to moving to Israel in 2007, she was a specialty writer and copy editor at a daily newspaper in New Jersey and has freelanced for a variety of newspapers and periodicals since 1984.

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366-7866 and snowboarders. They also can help you find the nearest ski lift or ski lodge, compete and communicate with friends on the slopes, post stats online – even throw a virtual snowball.

Hachiko Bluetooth-enabled waterproof collar clip-on measures your dog’s activities and transmits the data to you via a free iOS app. You get details and voice messages regarding activities such as walks, mealtime and meds taken, and you can add and share photos and comments on a timeline.

The devices are assembled in the Tefen Industrial Zone in the Galilee.

Nuvo Surround is a four-speaker sound system in a Spandex support belt, delivering a 360-degree in-utero listening experience for pregnant women. Nuvo Surround uses your iPod, mp3 player or smartphone to transmit music or even a recorded story to the developing baby. The Nuvo Group is based in Tel Aviv with offices in New York and Hong Kong.

MyMDband medical emergency bracelet provides instant access to

players of amateur tennis, table tennis, badminton and squash. Its main functions are live scorekeeping and score announcements; match history and statistics; player ranking among friends, clubs, leagues, cities and beyond; and access to a social network for racketsports players. Andy Ram, Israel’s three-time Grand Slam champion, is cofounder and CEO of the company, headquartered in Rishpon.

Vivo has a patented wearable technology that merges the creative world of computer games with the real world of physical activities. Proximity sensors

366-7876

Jerusalem Post Crossword Puzzle Solution to puzzle on page 22A

Save the Date

Sunday, February 21st, 2016 • 6:00pm

Technion Annual Dinner

Celebrating the achievements of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel’s premier science and technology university.

Michael’s On East Ballroom 1212 East Avenue South, Sarasota

Advancing Innovation for Israel and the World

For more information call 561-395-7206

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February 2016

ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

BRIEFS ISRAEL’S POPULATION NEARLY 8.5M AT END OF 2015

shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, who donated $130 million to found the institute.

Technion Nobel Prize winner Aaron Ciechanover will be vice chancellor of the new facility.

China has eight joint universities with foreign counterparts. (Xinhua China)

At the end of 2015, Israel’s Jewish population had reached 6.335 million (74.9%), the Arab population 1.757 million (20.7%), and 370,000 (4.4%) are defined as others.

Over the past year, 176,700 babies were born and 28,000 new immigrants came to the country. 25% of the new immigrants came from France, 24% from Ukraine, 23% from Russia and 9% from the U.S. (Globes)

ISRAEL HOLDS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND INVESTMENT SUMMIT IN CHINA Hundreds of businessmen packed the conference hall at the first China-Israel Technology Innovation and Investment Summit on January 5-6 in Beijing.

Chinese investors have begun parking their money in world-renowned Israeli high-tech industries at a stunning pace.

About 40% of all venture capital flowing into Israel came from China in 2015, according to Ziva Eger, head of the foreign investments and industrial cooperation division at the Israel Ministry of Economy.

With growing academic cooperation, collaborative programs, and shared vision from both governments, “the golden age for Israel-China inno-

CHINA, ISRAEL START CONSTRUCTION OF INNOVATION-ORIENTED COLLEGE Construction began recently on the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in Shantou City, being developed by Shantou University and Israel’s Technion.

The facility will eventually enroll more than 5,000 students. Some teaching staff will come from TechnionIsrael.

“The GTIIT will be home to the wise and the innovators,” said Li Ka-

vation cooperation has come,” said Yin Hejun, China’s Vice Minister of Science and Technology. (Xinhua - China)

ISRAEL IS NOT ISOLATED, IT IS HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER “Israel is not isolated,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in an interview. “Quite the opposite, actually.”

Israel enjoys flourishing commerce and active diplomatic relations with 80% of the world’s nations. “Today, Israel is holding the U.S.’s hand on one side – a very strong ally – and on the other side the hands of India, China and Japan,” she says.

“In the East, the discourse is about what Israel contributes to the world...

There is a lot of warmth coming in Israel’s direction from countries that, for years, were aligned with the Arab world. These countries have become fans of Israel...In the Far East Israel is seen as a superpower. A country unparalleled in its work ethic. They want to learn from Israel about entrepreneurship.”

“In Europe there has also been a shift. The French know that global terrorism tops their agenda right now...

Read the current and previous editions of The Jewish News and Connections online at www.jfedsrq.org.

All Childrens Hospital Guild Sarasota/Manatee Branch presents

The Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews released a document on December 10 that emphasizes the Jewish roots of Christian faith, and stresses that God first revealed himself to the Hebrews. “The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelization to Jews, who believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views,” the document says.

“In concrete terms this means that the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed toward Jews.” The Vatican document also says: “A Christian can never be an anti-Semite, especially because of the Jewish roots of Christianity.”

At a press conference introducing the Vatican document, Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee expressed satisfaction with the forthright statement that Catholics should not engage in programmatic efforts to convert Jews. (www.Catholic Culture.org)

With hit-to-kill precision, the joint U.S.-Israel David’s Sling Weapon System (DSWS) demonstrated recently its ability to destroy salvos of rockets and missiles during a series of tests conducted in the Negev Desert. The tests put the system through several operational scenarios against multiple targets. The system is slated for delivery to the Israeli Air Force in the first quarter of 2016.

Israel expects DSWS to be particularly useful in defending against the arsenal of Syrian 302 mm. rockets and Iranian half-ton warhead Fatah-110 rockets in the hands of Hizbullah.

(Barbara Opall-Rome, Defense News)

Miracles in the Making

Save the Date Saturday, February 27, 2016

Hyatt Regency Sarasota | 6:30 pm - 11:00 pm

ISRAEL DONATES FOOD, WATER TANKS TO KENYA FLOOD VICTIMS

All Children’s Hospital Guild, Inc. qualifies under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. Our Federal Tax Identification Number is 59-6173263.

All proceeds benefit All Children’s Hospital, Inc.

Life Insurance

NEW VATICAN DOCUMENT: CATHOLICS SHOULD NOT SEEK TO CONVERT JEWS

NEW ISRAELI MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM PASSES FINAL TESTS

2016 Miracle Ball

Estate Planning

The main topic of conversation is how to fight terrorism and how to use Israel’s cyber know-how to fight radical Islamism...We have now entered a new era in international discourse. It is all about global solutions in medicine, agriculture, cyber warfare and technological innovation.” (Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom)

Retirement Planning

What do we do?

Asset Management

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ISRAELI DISASTER RELIEF TEAM SUPPORTING UK FLOOD VICTIMS HAVE “BECOME HEROES”

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The Israeli government made donations on December 28 to Migori county flood victims in a show of friendship with Kenya following a request by the governor.

Governor Okoth Obado said the county received 100 bags of maize, 44 bags of beans, three bulls, 400 blankets, 192 rubber boots, six water tanks, 200 mosquito nets and several cartons of cooking oil. The Israeli government also donated a solar water heater for a school.

Obado said Israel was the first country to respond to his pleas. (Manuel Odeny, The Star - Kenya)

Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through NFP Advisor Services, LLC, member FINRA /SIPC. NFP Advisor Services, LLC is not affiliated with Udell Associates. NFP Advisor Services, LLC does not provide tax or legal advice.

Residents in the flood-affected areas of Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Kirkgate in Leeds have been helped by four volunteers from IsraAID, an Israeli disaster relief charity, who flew in on January 4. The volunteers are working to repair homes and distribute blankets

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ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

February 2016

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JERUSALEM’S WALDORF ASTORIA RANKED 7TH n BEST HOTEL IN WORLD -

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and food in the worst hit areas.

Team leader Navonel Glick said “people were shocked” when they realized we were from Israel. “When the victims realized we had actually traveled from Israel they couldn’t bew lieve it. Suddenly they started to grin from ear to ear and then the reaction was, ‘Wow! Really? From Israel. You a truly came to help us from Israel?’” s The delegation have become heroes, , with people pointing to them as they walk through the streets. Many have , approached them to shake hands and express their gratitude. “We have another team waiting to be sent from Israel. We just have to assess where they are most needed.” (John Fisher, Jewish Chronicle - UK)

Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria was e ranked the seventh best hotel in the w world in the Conde Nast Traveler 2015 e Readers’ Choice Awards Survey, after r 128,000 travelers rated the world’s top s 100 luxury hotels. .

The Waldorf Astoria, which opened e in 2014, formerly served as the Palace r Hotel during the British Mandate and later as a government ministry. (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post)

Jewish National Fund invites you to the

Sarasota Guardian of Israel Award Dinner

ANCIENT INSCRIPTION POINTS TO JEWISH PAST gFOR SEA OF GALILEE SITE

f

dA team headed by Haifa University archaeologist Haim Cohen recently eunearthed a monumental Hebrew insscription at Kursi, on the eastern side of -the Sea of Galilee on the Golan Heights, cproviding conclusive evidence that the Roman- and Byzantine-era town mentioned in the New Testament and Talmud was Jewish.

Digs yielded a large slab of imported Greek marble on which seven lines of Hebrew and Aramaic text were t carved.

Haggai Misgav, a Hebrew Univery sity expert in ancient inscriptions who s studied the slab on site, said the text was a standard dedicatory text from a e synagogue that likely dates to around l the 4th or 5th centuries CE, with script e highly reminiscent of an inscription found at the base of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. (Ilan Ben Zion, Times of Israel)

e SOLVING MAJOR ISSUES d ON PALESTINIAN AGENDA 0 .REQUIRES WORKING

WITH ISRAEL, NOT AGAINST IT

Born in Jordan-occupied Jerusalem, Bassem Eid founded the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and travels across the world advocating for ya more accountable form of Palestinian pgovernment, increased transparency eand a reconciliation with Israel. Speaking in October at Binghamton Univeresity, Eid said the recent violence was a reflection of economic stress and civil unrest that has been caused, at least ,in part, by the Palestinian Authority’s s“disengagement” from Israel.

“If you would come to any ordit nary Palestinian, and ask him what are a the three priorities he is seeking, he would say a job, to secure the education system and health system for my children. Nobody’s talking about settlements, war – no one’s even mentioning the foundation of the Palestinian state.” According to Eid, many Palestinians prefer to work in Israel, with more than 92,000 Palestinians crossing sthe border each day because monthly dsalaries in Israel are $1,500 to $2,000, ymuch higher than the average $400 in the PA. He also warned against the boycott, n divestment and sanction (BDS) camg paign to cut ties with Israel financially. s

continued on next page

Honoring

Marilyn Shuman with the Guardian of Israel and Lifetime Achievement Awards

& Dr. Joshua Green with the Doctors for Israel Award Thursday, March 17, 2016 6:30 pm Cocktails followed by Dinner and Program Michael’s On East 1212 East Ave. South • Sarasota, FL The Sarasota Guardian of Israel Award Dinner will benefit JNF’s important work with disabilities and special needs.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Uri Smajovits at usmajovits@jnf.org or 727.536.5263

jnf.org · 800.JNF.0099

30A

February 2016

ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

BRIEFS continued from previous page “I think BDS is a prelude of genocide to the Palestinians. I want to see a BDS [proponent] go to a refugee camp and call to boycott Israel. Trust me, they’ll get thrown [out].” According to Eid, solving current issues requires a more receptive Palestinian government, which would mean working with Israel and not against it. (Carla Sinclair, Pipe Dream - SUNY Binghamton)

A REASON FOR ISRAELIS TO CELEBRATE

ConneCt with your Jewish Community facebook.com/jfedsrq

ÎÎ Israel was ranked 18th out of 188 countries and territories in the world on the UN 2015 Human Development Index. ÎÎ Between 1980 and 2014, Israel’s life expectancy at birth increased by 8.3 years (from 74.1 years to 82.4 years), mean years of schooling increased from 9.8 years to 12.5 years, and expected years of schooling increased from 12.6 years to 16 years. Israel’s GNI per capita increased by about 111.6% between 1980 and 2014 (from $14,498 to $30,676). ÎÎ There are several areas where Israel outdoes both the very high human development group as well as the OECD. Israel has the highest labor force participation rate (63.4% versus 60.3% in the very high human development group and 59.7% in the OECD). Israel also has a lower total unemployment rate (6.9% versus 8.3% and 8.2%). It has the lowest long-term total unemployment rate (0.8%

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versus 3% and 2.8%) and the lowest youth unemployment rate (10.5% vs. 18% and 16.5%). ÎÎ Israel also has a higher number of mobile phone subscribers per 100 people vs. the very high human development group and the OECD – 121 vs. 119.8 and 110.4. ÎÎ The truth is that building a modern and prosperous country takes time and Israel’s development has been nothing less than miraculous in the 67 years since it was re-established as the modern State of Israel. ÎÎ We compare extremely well to other First World democracies, especially considering that the founding fathers and mothers of modern Israel had to pull themselves up from complete devastation and near annihilation a mere 70 years ago. (Judith Bergman, Israel Hayom)

ISRAELI TECH IS IN ONE-THIRD OF THE WORLD’S SMART TVS

One-third of the smart TVs sold in the world today contain an essential piece of technology made by Tel Aviv start-up Giraffic. “As of this year, both Samsung and LG are using our Adaptive Video Acceleration (AVA) technology to ensure flawless playback of streaming content on their Internet-connected televisions,” said Giraffic co-founder and CEO Yoel Zanger. “Right now we are the industry standard...It’s pretty cool.” (David Shamah, Times of Israel)

ISRAELI TOWN ACQUIRES “SMART” STREETLIGHTS

Urban officials around the world are aiming to swap existing energy-inefficient streetlights with more efficient and smart LED streetlights. Ga’ash Lighting, an Israeli company, is installing smart LED streetlights that include Wi-Fi repeaters, security cameras, sensors to measure temperature and air quality, and systems to measure traffic congestion. The Apollo system will not only help cities save money on energy, but will give them data to determine where to deploy police, where to pick up garbage, how to prevent traffic jams, and more.

Ga’ash’s Apollo smart streetlights allow a technician to set lighting at the proper intensity, as needed. The intensity could be set at 20% as the sun goes down, and put onto full capacity when it’s dark; at 3:00 a.m. in areas where there is no traffic, intensity could be dropped to 50%, substantially cutting a town’s electricity bill. Recently, the company announced that the Israeli city of Bat Yam would replace its 7,000 streetlights with LEDs. (David Shamah, Times of Israel)

SUPPORT FOR JEWISH TERRORISM IS NEXT TO NONEXISTENT

Support for Jewish terrorism is next to nonexistent. Yes, there are several hundred hooligans in Israel, and it’s safe to assume they have several thousand supporters, and if we exaggerate, we’ll reach something that is less than 1% of the population.

Compared to that, Palestinian support of the current wave of terrorism is at 67%. When a Jew is murdered in a terror attack, candy is handed out on the Palestinian street. When a Palestinian child is murdered by a Jew, which happens on average once every few years, 99% of Israelis are shocked, condemn it, and feel remorse. Saying Jewish terrorism encourages Arab terrorism is like saying an ant can carry an elephant. (Ben-Dror Yemini, Ynet News)

For daily news stories related to Israel & the Jewish world, visit www.jfedsrq.org.

February 2016

COMMENTARY

31A

American educational groups boycott Israel

e

By Rabbi Howard A. Simon, co-Chair of The Robert and Esther Heller Israel Advocacy Initiative

f

T

he initials are BDS and we all hindering the rights of Palestinians to need know what they mean and an education, citing freedom of movehow they affect Israel. BDS are ment and intervention of Israel security the initials of Boycott, Divestment and forces while, at the same time, paying no heed whatsoever to the disruption of Sanctions, which a host of anti-Israel n Israeli education through the launching individuals and groups wish to implee ment against the State of Isof missiles, terrorist n attacks motivated by rael. e On November 20, 2015, ideologies that deny d the right of the Jewish the American Anthropologipeople to an indepencal Association passed a resolution of divestment against dent state. , The AAA boycott Israel. The vote was 1,040 in e of Israel would profavor of the resolution and f hibit Israeli academic 136 opposed. The resolution institutions from any was then forwarded to the full involvement in the ormembership of 8,000 for a e Rabbi Howard A. Simon ganization, including final vote by electronic ballot. participation in conferences and hiring By the time you read these words, events. It would shut out all Israeli colanother group, the American Historical leges and universities from partaking Association, will have met in Atlanta in any AAA activities. to impose the same boycott on Israel.

On November 30, 2015, the Na[Editor’s note: The American Historical Association, on Saturday, January tional Women’s Studies Association n9, rejected a resolution condemning also voted to call for a boycott of “enlIsrael in a 111-51 vote.] The object is tities and projects sponsored by the vto hijack American academic organiState of Israel.” hzations for their partisan political beAll of these actions have no basis liefs. These groups charge Israel with in fact. They are blatant acts of anti) r d l

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COMMENTARY BRIEFS

e BDS r

AND CAMPUS POLITICS: A BAD lROMANCE

Today’s proponents of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel on college o campuses see their movement as a c way of protesting Israel’s alleged mistreatment of Palestinians, its efs forts to defend itself in a dangerous e neighborhood and its purported colonialism. Yet their rhetoric corrupts the language of human rights and expropriates the words historie cally used to demean the Jew. e g At the University of California at Berkeley, a professor who attended e a BDS debate reported that Israeli i soldiers were accused of deliberately killing women and poisoning wells. In an age of exquisite sensitivity on some campuses to microaggression, or language that subtly offends underrepresented groups, the ironic toleration of microaggression against Jews often goes unnoted.

In the words of Santa Barbara Hile lel Rabbi Evan Goodman: “At a university, of all places, there must l be space for legitimate political f discourse and analysis...But when the one Jewish state in the world is obsessively singled out for conm demnation, Jewish students recogd nize that their own religious and t cultural identity is being called into question.” , y As former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has observed, , the impact if not the specific ing tent of the BDS movement is antiSemitic. While nations like China, Iran, Russia, Syria and others get a t pass on campuses, Israel is the sole object of BDS. There are many displaced peoples around the globe, many conflicts and many settler nations. The double standard for Israel yields suspicion about the real agenda.

Most of all, I worry that the spirit of democracy may be withering on college campuses. Those who seek to silence campus speakers – as occurred most recently at the University of Minnesota, when proPalestinian protesters tried to shout down Israeli philosopher Moshe Halbertal – argue that they have a First Amendment right to drown out opponents. (Mark Yudof, president emeritus of the University of California, Inside Higher Ed)

HOW NOT TO HELP PALESTINIAN CHILDREN I have a knitted children’s doll of a masked Palestinian with a rock in his raised hand, sitting on my desk. Last month, Israel intercepted four thousand of these dolls in Haifa port, bound for the Palestinian Authority. The dolls encourage Palestinian children to throw rocks at Israelis. Incitement to violence is commonplace in the Palestinian territories and amounts to psychological abuse of children.

Quite perversely, the PA nurtures an environment where children learn that attacking Israelis is somehow a noble cause. Palestinian youths grow up in streets bearing the names of Palestinian killers, and attend football stadia named after terrorist murderers. As many as 25 schools have been named after Palestinian terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians.

Those who ignore these issues are not helping Palestinian children. These children will continue to be subjected to a poisonous stream of incitement and hate that manifests itself in 13- and 15-year-old Palestinians walking the streets of Jerusalem with knives intent on stabbing innocent Israelis. This is an ideology that teaches children that if they die trying to kill innocent Israelis then they will be heroes, and possibly honored with a school in their name.

(Andrew Percy, a British Member of Parliament from the Conservative Party, Times of Israel)

Semitism, attacks on Israel, and on all of the educational institutions that are a part of the state and provide so much for all students who attend these schools. What these groups have chosen to do is ignore the basic facts related to education in Israel. These facts are as follows: 1. Thousands of Israeli Arabs study and teach at Israeli institutions of higher learning.

2. Palestinians collaborate with Israelis in education and research projects in health, agriculture and environmental areas.

3. Hamas leaders send family members to Israeli university hospitals because they know they will be accepted and will receive the best care possible.

4. Many Palestinians want more, not less, of Israeli higher education and scientific expertise to advance their society. They oppose any boycotts.

What these groups should realize is their actions are in violation of the charters that they established to guide their activities. What they need to do is reflect on what happened to the Royal

Institute of British Architects who, in March 2014, voted to boycott its Israeli counterparts only to find that lawyers advised the group of the legal dangers of exceeding its mandate. Late that year the Institute rescinded the boycott resolution. These American groups would be wise to consult their lawyers for they, too, are exceeding their mandates. The academic world needs harmony and respect for education and schools throughout the world, rather than the hatred and anti-Israel actions that show the bias of these groups. This is bad for the organizations and a black eye for educational concerns. It should stop. It must stop.

Rabbi Simon serves as co-chair of the Heller Israel Advocacy Initiative and is the author of the recently published book, Atlantic City Winners and Losers. For more information about the Heller IAI, visit www.sarasotaloves israel.com or contact Jessi Sheslow at jsheslow@jfedsrq.org or 941.343.2109.

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32A

February 2016

COMMENTARY

Interfaith marriage – a new take on the old story From the Bimah Rabbi Barbara Aiello Congregation Ner Tamid

S

everal years ago I received a telephone call from Jason, a young man who grew up in a large Midwestern city. Jason, along with his parents and grandparents, were active in their local synagogue.

What prompted the phone call was Jason’s exuberance at having met Valentina, an Italian Catholic, and as Jason said, “my b’shert!” Jason and Valentina planned to marry. So Jason approached his rabbi – the same rabbi who had officiated at his brit milah and bar mitzvah ceremony. Jason was eager to discuss his marriage plans. He wanted to have his wedding in the synagogue, with his rabbi as officiant, because, as Jason put it, “the rabbi was also my mentor and my friend.”

What happened next is something that has occurred thousands of times before. The rabbi smiled and, when he heard that Valentina was not Jewish, politely declined. “We don’t believe in

assimilation,” the rabbi said, and then, turning to Jason, offered the ultimate insult: “Why couldn’t you find a nice Jewish girl.”

Jason’s synagogue is part of the Conservative movement, which means that rabbis are not permitted to officiate at or even attend interfaith marriages.

But according to some Conservative rabbis, all that may change. In fact, in a recent article (“The Case for Conservative Rabbis Officiating at Intermarriages,” New York Jewish Week 12/22/2015), Rabbi Steven Kane discusses the issue and says, “I have no doubt that sometime in the not-so-distant future Conservative rabbis will officiate at intermarriages.”

Rabbi Kane goes on to say, “No rabbi is in favor of intermarriage,” and decries this cultural change as the source of many of the difficulties that face Jews today. Like so many others, Rabbi Kane implies that a home with a non-Jewish spouse spells trouble for Jewish continuity. In fact, Rabbi Kane offers a complicated procedure that includes prohibiting any other religious tradition in the wedding ceremony and, following the marriage, he demands that any observance of another religion be excluded from the family home.

Most of us rabbis who have been officiating at interfaith weddings for decades offer successful alternatives. We understand that celebrating shared religious traditions, rather than diluting

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the ceremony or weakening the family, actually strengthens a couple’s basic spirituality and allows Judaism to flourish.

But back to Jason. Out of his dismay at being rejected by establishment Judaism, Jason asked me to officiate at his interfaith marriage. Together we planned the Jewish interfaith ceremony which included readings and music from Valentina’s Catholic tradition.

Several months later, Jason and Valentina signed an interfaith ketubah and were married under the chuppah in the garden of a beautiful villa in the Tuscan hills near Florence, Italy.

You might think that this is the end of the story. It’s not. Shortly after the wedding, Jason and Valentina heard from Jason’s rabbi. It was the same rabbi who rejected his wedding request. Jason described their conversation this way.

“The rabbi’s attitude was completely different. He congratulated me, and asked about the ceremony. He seemed really interested and I wondered why. I had my answer when the rabbi told me of a new synagogue policy where interfaith families could become full family members. The rabbi invited us to join.”

Jason was stunned and exclaimed, “You’re telling me that when I needed you, when I wanted you to marry us in my home synagogue, you refused. But now you call to invite me to bring my interfaith family, my Catholic wife, whom you disdained, into the synagogue as a member? No thank you.”

In his article, Rabbi Kane describes a similar cringe-worthy situation where he explained to a couple how he would not officiate for their interfaith ceremony but would offer them synagogue membership after the fact. I sympathize with Rabbi Kane when he laments, “Before we welcome them,

we turn them away.”

Where is Jason now? He and Valentina have two children with whom they regularly celebrate Shabbat and make the Jewish festivals around the family table. They live in Jason’s home town but are not interested in connecting with a synagogue. “We’ve found a wonderful pluralistic chavurah,” Jason says, “where we are open about honoring our children’s Jewish and Catholic traditions and where we are accepted for who we are.”

During my 17 years as a synagogue rabbi, I have officiated and co-officiated at hundreds of interfaith weddings for couples, the majority of whom were turned away by their own synagogue rabbi. Over the years, I have remained in contact with many of them, most of whom describe how they incorporate Jewish values and observance into their family life and how, despite a rabbi’s rejection of their marriage ceremony, have searched for and often found a welcoming synagogue.

For those interfaith couples like Jason and Valentina, it is too easy to blame “assimilation” for their lack of formal synagogue participation. A warm and welcoming interfaith wedding ceremony – one that acknowledges both faith traditions and unites both families in love, support and respect – can make all the difference. In fact, celebration and acceptance of the interfaith wedding ceremony may offer an important alternative to the exclusive and self-defeating behavior that has contributed to a Jewish exodus from synagogue life.

Rabbi Barbara Aiello serves the Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson campus as resident rabbi, and Congregation Ner Tamid in Bradenton as rabbinic advisor. In the summer months she is rabbi of Congregation Ner Tamid del Sud in Calabria, Italy.

Letter to the Editor

I

Just click the button and enter your email address! www.jfedsrq.org 941.371.4546

read the article “Forgiveness advocate Eva Mozes Kor headlines Kristallnacht observance” in the January issue of The Jewish News with a great deal of interest. While I have never met Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor, I admire her greatly for her tireless efforts in bringing awareness to the Holocaust. This is more important than ever, considering the increasing number of Holocaust deniers.

I am a Holocaust survivor myself and have spoken to more than 20,000 people – mostly students – during the last four years. I always emphasize

“NEVER FORGET THE HOLOCAUST.” I agree that forgiveness is a powerful concept and I believe strongly in it, but not in connection with the terrible atrocities committed during the Holocaust.

Students often ask me if I have forgiven the Nazis. I always answer “absolutely not.” How could I? They murdered six million Jews, including my father. I wonder how many other survivors have forgiven the Nazis?

– Steen Metz, Sanibel, Florida

Opinions and letters printed in The Jewish News of SarasotaManatee do not necessarily reflect those of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, its Board of Directors or staff, or its advertisers.

A triple dose of Dry Bones

February 2016

COMMENTARY

33A

Europe and migration: Five challenges

By David Harris, Executive Director, AJC, December 14, 2015

A

s Europe seeks to absorb a massive wave of newcomers, the challenges are becoming strikingly apparent.

First, with no advance planning, European countries have had to move quickly to address the immediate issues of shelter and other urgent needs, all the more so as winter arrives and options like tents for housing become unfeasible.

The task is formidable. More than one million new arrivals have come to Germany, the preferred destination, in 2015 alone. Each individual, as I know from my own experience working with refugees from behind the Iron Curtain, is a world unto his or her own, often with medical or psychological issues, concerns for family members left behind, anxiety about the uncertainty of what lies ahead, and a ton of questions about a new and totally unfamiliar country.

Second, EU member states, especially in Central Europe, are at loggerheads over the migration issue. Several countries – some openly, others quietly – blame Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel for triggering the wave of newcomers by her unexpected message of welcome in September, spurred by a humanitarian impulse to help people clearly in need. Indeed, The Times (of London) referred to “Merkel’s Migrants” in a page-one headline. Meanwhile, within her own political party, the CDU, and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, debates surrounding her action have been robust.

Notwithstanding calls for EU unity and solidarity in “burden sharing,” the feuding persists. In AJC’s recent meetings in Berlin and Brussels, it emerged that of the 160,000 migrants to be allocated by the EU Commission to various other member states, under a proposed plan of mandatory quotas, only a tiny handful have actually gone to their new -homes so far. The resistance to resettlement by some, though not all, EU nations has been fierce. They insist that ,they were not consulted in the original edecision and, in any case, already have -

e r y g r

enough social and economic difficulties without adding to the list.

Third, the security dimension of the migration wave cannot be ignored.

The migrants were not part of an orderly process that began in countries where they filled out applications for refugee status, were screened by officials, and then, if approved, sent to a country prepared to receive them.

Rather, the process has been quite chaotic. Overwhelmingly male and young, the migrants have reached Europe’s shores in unprecedented numbers, often after harrowing journeys, with identity papers that may or, in some cases, may not be authentic, or with none at all. How can receiving countries establish in each and every case who they are and verify their stories?

For instance, according to reports, a certain percentage who claim to be Syrian are not, but declare themselves to be because an informal pipeline, using social media, has conveyed that Syrians have the best chance for filing successful asylum applications in Europe.

Moreover, there are fears that ISIS and other groups are infiltrating terrorists into the human wave, perhaps even providing them with stolen or counterfeit IDs. These fears have been intensified by the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Two of the perpetrators reportedly arrived in Europe via the migration wave through Greece.

Further, there is concern that if disillusion should set in among some newcomers – because, say, reality does not match expectations – jihadist cells will try to lure them as foreign fighters or local operatives.

As it is, many European security agencies are quite overwhelmed by the current challenges of tracking thousands of suspects, especially those who have traveled to Iraq and Syria and returned, and their recruiters.

Generally speaking, there is inadequate staff for 24/7 monitoring and surveillance; insufficient information-

sharing among EU member states; years-long, inconclusive debates between advocates of privacy rights and data protection versus more intrusive security measures; outside, at times tolerated, funding (by Saudi Arabia, for instance) of Salafist and other extremist religious activity; and limited intelligence cooperation from Turkey, the preferred route for Europe’s foreign fighters heading to and from Iraq and Syria.

Adding new dimensions to Europe’s security agenda will prove an enormous burden for stretched agencies.

Fourth, acculturation of the newcomers looms large.

Until now, many EU member states have had difficulties in integrating waves of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. Going forward, they will have to do better.

While there have been many remarkable success stories of integration, there have also been notable failures.

Examples abound.

Molenbeek in Belgium, Malmö in Sweden, and several “banlieues” (suburbs) of Paris illustrate the phenomenon of marginalized, forlorn communities that too often have resulted in parallel societies; cycles of high student dropout rates, unemployment and violence; and the blossoming of extremist religious groups. Apropos, it’s noteworthy that a number of foreign fighters are second-generation, born in France, Belgium, the U.K., etc.

In addition, the new migrants come from overwhelmingly non-democratic societies – Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Eritrea, etc. They often have had little experience with norms of Western countries, including gender equality, faith as a private choice, separation of religion and state, and pluralism and mutual respect, and may or may not find the transition easy to embrace.

In a meeting with Yazidi refugees in Germany last week, an AJC delegation heard not only horrific accounts of the persecution they endured in Iraq, but also of difficulties experienced in

Europe at the hands of other migrants who brought with them their prejudices against this oft-targeted, non-Muslim community.

And Europe’s Jews may wonder whether anti-Semitism in the countries of origin will also transfer with the migration, adding to rising levels of Judeophobia.

Finally, the migration appears to have no end in sight, given the hope of millions more to escape endemic war, poverty and despair in the Middle East and Africa, not to mention the desire of those who have already made it to Europe to reunite with family members left behind.

In turn, this has created a troubling backlash, most recently in France, fueling populist movements that assail the political establishment and the concentrated power of the EU, question Europe’s ability and will to control its own borders, and advocate nationalist, at times stridently nativist, platforms.

Thus, Europe, which has achieved such an extraordinary degree of postwar peace and cooperation, is now buffeted by large-scale migration; growing security concerns; internal feuding; invigorated extreme right-wing movements; and questions about the EU’s capacity to respond effectively to issues that may well define the character and cohesion of European nations in the years ahead.

In other words, the stakes could not be higher. Whether the EU and its 28 member states will pass the test of their most severe crisis to date remains to be seen. As a long-time transatlanticist and Europhile, I fervently pray they will, as they must.

If you haven’t already done so, please join the growing community of 52,000+ followers on Twitter and 176,000+ fans on Facebook to stay up-to-date on more AJC news and views. For more information, visit www.ajc.org.

The AJC West Coast Florida office, located in Sarasota, can be reached at 941.365.4955.

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February 2016

COMMENTARY

Lessons we Palestinians can learn

By Bassam Tawil, January 6, 2016 Originally published by Gatestone Institute, www.gatestoneinstitute.org

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Hamas, like Frankenstein’s monster, grew to become a large terrorist organization, now threatening not just Israel but the PLO and the Palestinian Authority. In consequence, we are forced to collaborate with the Israelis if we want to survive and avoid being swallowed whole by Hamas, as we were in Gaza. That is why the threats from the Palestinian Authority to stop intelligence collaboration with Israel are nonsense. As our rhetoric becomes more and more extremist, some Palestinians suffer from a passive desire to submit to Hamas, and fewer and fewer people dare to challenge Hamas instead of rejecting both it and the Muslim Brotherhood, and gaining the trust of wider, far more powerful backers: the world, the West, and even in some ways the Israelis. We are, instead, soaking up Hamas’s destructive extremism. We allow Hamas to brainwash our younger generation with its fanatic – and unproductive – web of hate, destruction and death.

The Palestinian leadership has not yet internalized the bitter consequences of our fruitless terrorist attacks against Israel. The leadership uses its media to spread false propaganda about knives, stone-throwing and carramming attacks, I wish we Palestinians were only smart enough along with threats to learn from the history of the Jews instead of of another intifada. do not realize totally rejecting them. We would immediately They that nothing will rid ourselves of Hamas and the other terrorist move the Israelis. organizations. But instead we use them, because Nothing will make them leave; noththey kill Jews. ing will make them give up one inch of land – certainly paign against Israel, and want to see not terrorism. That only strengthens it destroyed and the State of Palestine their resolve. We keep making the awbuilt on its ruins. The polls also show ful and perhaps irreparable mistake of a troubling increase in popular support educating our children, generation afin the West Bank for Hamas, and a deter generation, to hate the Jews and Iscrease in support for Mahmoud Abbas raelis, and to want to destroy the State and the PA because of their inability to of Israel. At the same time, we can see restore all of “occupied Palestine” to that the Israelis and the Americans folthe Palestinians. low our every move, and document I wish we Palestinians were only our hate propaganda. Little by little, smart enough to learn from the history our credibility is shredded as they lose of the Jews instead of totally rejecting their trust. them. We would immediately rid ourWe broadcast children’s programs selves of Hamas and the other terrorpromoting violence and hate on govist organizations. But instead we use ernment-funded – and government-run them, because they kill Jews.

– Palestinian TV, and at the same time Unfortunately, the late Yasser Araexpect the Israelis to make concesfat thought it would be easier to force sions to us that will compromise their the Jews to make concessions if the nesecurity. How stupid is that? Then we gotiations were held in an atmosphere continually brainwash viewers with of terrorist attacks and to that end, he the nonsense that, with the help of Alsubcontracted to Hamas. lah, the State of Israel is temporary and will eventually cease to exist. Whom or what should the Israelis trust? The elderly Mahmoud Abbas, without support in his own country, waiting until the younger generation, brought up on hatred and war, pushes him out?

We have the program Children Speak, which declared on November 11, 2015, with absolute certainty, that Israel’s end was just around the corner and that MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016 all the land of Palestine from 1948, 7:OO pm “from the River to the Sea,” including Israeli cities such as Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth, “belong to us” and “will HYATT REGENCY SARASOTA return to us.” If you were the Israeli 1000 BOULEVARD OF THE ARTS government, you would be suspicious SARASOTA, FL 34236 too.

It is therefore mystifying why Greece’s parliament would now sym• Prime Minister of Israel (1999-2001) bolically (non-bindingly) recognize • Defense Minister of Israel (2007-2012) a Palestinian State – thereby pushing actual Palestinian statehood farther • Most Decorated Soldier in Israel’s History away than ever. Abbas doubtless goes TICKETS $18 around trying to pick up such worthTo purchase tickets less endorsements, no doubt hoping call 941.371.4546 or visit jfedsrq.org that if he manages to bundle enough of them, stacks of internationally-binding SPONSORED IN PART BY agreements will be bypassed and an actual Palestinian state, with no need for any concessions, might magically spring up.

The Heritage Group jfedsrq.org Has no one in the intelligence serthe mazur family fund vices of either country noticed that, ac-

his past week, the Israelis arrested 25 Hamas terrorists in the West Bank, most of them students from Al-Quds University in Abu Dis. Not rebels without a cause or the unemployed with a chip on their shoulder, but the finest minds we have, the intellectuals of the future Palestinian academia! The group, which dealt with recruiting and guidance and was being handled by Hamas in Turkey and its terrorist wing the Gaza Strip, was planning to carry out suicide bombing attacks inside Israel.

The leaders of the terror cell arranged safe houses and storage sites, where they set up laboratories to manufacture explosives. They recruited Palestinians – from Bethlehem, Hebron, Qalqilya and even from Jerusalem, as well as Arabs from the Israeli Negev – to acquire the chemicals and other equipment necessary for making car bombs for these students, who were getting ready to die as suicide bombers.

The Israeli security forces uncovered the network and arrested its operatives, who had also been influenced by the Palestinian Authority’s non-stop incitement of the Palestinian population.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) wants to sacrifice our best and brightest to carry out terrorist attacks against Jews.

Unfortunately, recent events herald the end of the concept of establishing an independent state for the Palestinian people. The cracks in the wall of Palestinian history – which is barely a hundred years old – are growing wider.

The attempts to repair the fabric of Palestinian society with neon colors are a failure. There is also internal friction among the various Salafist organizations (Hamas, ISIS, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and the PLO and Fatah and other West Bank terrorist organizations.

There is also the issue of inheritance: Which organization will control the PLO? What are the differences in their agendas? The Hamas leadership in Gaza wants first to reconstruct the Gaza Strip and then renew the fighting with Israel. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military-terrorist wing, demands the immediate renewal of attacks and rocket fire against Israel.

Both are trying to establish new terrorist networks in the West Bank (like the one recently uncovered). The double objective of both groups is to kill Israelis and topple the Palestinian Authority.

We Palestinians seem incapable of agreeing on even the most basic productive and constructive issues, such as rebuilding houses, education, an intelligent use of the hundreds of millions of dollars received as donations, opening the Rafah crossing and improving relations with the Arab world, especially Egypt. The greatest tragedy of the Palestinians is not 1948, it is 2015. The only thing the Palestinian leadership and terrorist organizations can agree on is their obsession to destroy the State of Israel and establish a Palestinian state on the ruins; and even there, they cannot agree on the ways, stages and means.

As long as the Palestinians thought they could get what they wanted through negotiations and intransigence, they concealed their true intentions.

Recently, however, when it became clear the Israelis would not waive their demand for the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state or their determined objection to the right of return, Palestinian extremism came out of hiding. That is evident from the results consistently obtained by opinion polls, carried out

by Palestinian polling centers, which show that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians support an armed cam-

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cording to Palestinian TV (December 4, 2015), some of the Palestinians who have lived on Palestinian land since 1948 did not leave and now defend the land from the abuse of the “racist occupation.” The very fact that they still live on our land, despite the occupation’s full control, means they preserve Palestinian existence and guard the land as Palestinian, and believe all the land will return to Palestinian control and be part of the State of Palestine.

Ahem. “The Palestinians who have lived on Palestinian land since 1948” are what the rest of the world calls “Israeli Arabs.”

The above are two examples of official Palestinian propaganda spread by the Palestinian leadership, media and educational system throughout the Palestinian territories every hour of every day. According to Al-Hayat AlJadeeda, the official Palestinian newspaper, on December 10, 2015, Jihad Jayyusi, the Palestinian Authority’s military liaison officer, visited a creative writing class in the Al-Awda girls’ school in Bethlehem, and presented them with a plaque of “Palestine,” which now includes all the territory of the State of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. According to the same newspaper, on November 17, 2015, the prize in a photography contest held by the PLO’s “prisoner department” was a map of “Palestine,” which included the same territories.

It is particularly disappointing that we keep trying to defraud the Israelis and Americans with fictitious messages of peace and “two states for two peoples.” We assume they have no intelligence at all, do not understand Arabic and cannot read our Facebook pages, including the page of the Palestinian national security forces, where Acre and Jaffa are called “occupied.”

We assume that Westerners never read Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, which on November 30, 2015, published a picture of two keys and a map of “Palestine” that included all the Israeli and Palestinian territories and read, “A memory that does not rust” – or if they do read it, that they do not understand what they are looking at.

If there is to be peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the first step is for the Palestinians to coordinate their own expectations. Our leaders have to understand that the Middle East arena is in a constant state of flux, that descendants of the 1948 refugees clearly will never “return” to the State of Israel, Jerusalem will never be the capital of a State of Palestine, and we will never control the Jordan Valley (because of Israel’s unfortunately justified security concerns).

In addition, in a world staggering under the burden of Islamist terrorism, Palestinian terrorism is likely, over time, only to strengthen the West’s support for Israel’s security and existence.

We should have understood a long time ago that Jews exist in Palestine, that they are here to stay forever, and that murdering them in the streets is not going to change anything. The time has come to try creating – for the first time in history – a peaceful and demilitarized Palestinian state, which the Israelis have indicated for decades they would be all too happy to help us achieve. I hope and pray we are not already too late.

Bassam Tawil is a scholar based in the Middle East.

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February 2016

FOCUS ON YOUTH

Make time to be Jewish Education Corner

By Sue Huntting

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hen we survey parents about what they want for their children from the synagogue, among their top wishes are “for my child to feel Jewish” and “have Jewish friends.” There was a time and place this could happen without much effort. In communities with a high concentration of Jews, a Jewish world existed right outside your front door, whether you were taking a walk around the neighborhood, out shopping or attending public school.

In stark contrast, families raising Jewish children in Sarasota-Manatee must be intentional and diligent about making time for both their children and themselves as a family to be Jewish. And with so many of our children

growing up without Jewish extended family nearby, most families experience being Jewish only within the confines of their own homes.

Yet, in order for children to value their Jewishness and connect to others, they need to experience what it feels like to be Jewish out in the world, among other Jews. Research tells us that there are a myriad of opportunities that practically can guarantee a Jewish identity: quality Jewish preschool; a Religious School with communitybuilding at its core and skilled teachers who can both make Judaism come alive and foster peer relationships; and informal Jewish experiences through youth groups, summer camps and teen trips. Though designed for children of different ages, these experiences all have something in common: they take time.

And time is what many Jewish families just don’t have. With working parents, demanding homework expectations and sports, music lessons and tutoring, being Jewish often falls to the bottom of the to-do list. Parents are

exhausted, children are stretched thin, and the Jewish piece is left unattended.

This creates a disconnect between what parents say they want and what they can or are willing to do. For them, Jewish involvement is a priority, but not a high priority. Jewish education often is not a “given” and, even for those enrolled, attendance can be quite sporadic.

This year I realized I knew a number of what I now think of as “aspirational” Religious School families. In these families, the parents sincerely care about their child’s Jewish education and most have even paid school tuition. But for a variety of reasons they are not able to follow through with the time commitment and for this they are painfully apologetic. In some cases, family illness or other stresses interfere, but in other cases there just seems to be no room for the Jewish piece in their family life’s puzzle.

Those of us who work with local Jewish families know from personal experience and others’ stories about the demands and challenges of rais-

35A

ing Jewish children here. We know about the many resources available, both programmatic and financial, yet we also know how good intentions can get sidetracked. And we know what it takes for children to feel Jewish and have Jewish friends.

To paraphrase the political maxim invoked regarding Chicago elections, in order to raise Jewish children, families need to start early and go often.

Research now tells us what we always knew anecdotally – a quality Jewish preschool experience has a long-lasting Jewish impact on both children and families. We see that parents who enroll children in Religious School starting in kindergarten create an entrée for them and their children into a Jewish community that can guarantee a Jewish identity and Jewish friends, and we know that sustained teen experiences are even more impactful than we thought.

The only catch is, families need to make the time and show up.

Sue Huntting is the Religious School Director at Temple Sinai.

SAFETY and JOOSY members collect items for the homeless and then go ice skating

By Deb Bryan, Temple Sinai Youth Director

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ifteen Temple Sinai youth group members spent a Saturday evening recently at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex where they participated in a Secret Hanukkah Harry Gift Exchange before hitting the ice.

However, that wasn’t the only “giving” that was going on.

Social Action Vice President Rachel Towe spearheaded a collection of donations for Turning Points, which “provides, coordinates and facilitates services to the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in Manatee

County, Florida.”

SAFETY and JOOSY members stepped up and generously donated clothing, personal hygiene items, food and even toys. It was a proud moment for our youth group members to see such a nice collection of items for those in need, and we will continue to find ways as a youth group to help others less fortunate than ourselves. (For more information about this agency, visit http://tpmanatee.org.)

Finally, SAFETY members attended NFTY-STR’s Winter Regional

Take the STRESS and GUESS

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JOOSY), and then going to page 2 of the Introduction Letter. There you will find individual links for each of the necessary documents.

Rachel Towe shows off the generosity of her fellow youth group members

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on December 26-30, which was held at the Orlando Airport Marriott. An update about this incredible gathering of Jewish teens will be reported on in the next issue of The Jewish News.

For more information about our SAFETY (grades 9-12) and JOOSY (grades 6-8) youth groups, please contact me at dbryan@sinaisrq.org. You can also visit our web page at www. templesinai-sarasota.org/youthgroup. php. All youth group membership forms are available by scrolling to the bottom of the page, clicking on the Introduction Letter links (for SAFETY or

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Temple Sinai’s youth group members before going onto the ice

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February 2016

FOCUS ON YOUTH

Save the date for “Sweethearts Dance” on February 21

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emple Emanu-El and Goldie Feldman Academy send this important message to girls in Sarasota-Manatee: Tell your fathers, grandpas and special friends to save the date for the “Sweethearts Dance!”

On Sunday, February 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Temple EmanuEl will be the site of a fabulous event for girls and the men who love them most, as the synagogue partners with Goldie Feldman Academy to host an evening of music and dancing; a nail and hair salon staffed by teen volunteers; professional portraits; food in-

cluding elegant finger sandwiches, root beer floats, and a gallery of beautiful desserts; longstemmed roses; glamorous decorations; games and crafts, and much more. The community is warmly invited to mark their calendars for this unbelievably special occasion!

Formerly known as the Daddy-Daughter Dance, the “Sweethearts

Kaila Cohen with dad Andy at a previous “Sweethearts Dance”

Dance” is one of Temple Emanu-El’s signature biannual events. The new partnership with Goldie Feldman Academy is sure to make this year’s dance the most special one ever!

The cost for the “Sweethearts Dance” is $18 per father, grandpa or special friend for paid reservations made by Monday, February 15; the girls are admitted free of charge. After Febru-

ary 15 or at the door, admission is $30 per adult. Payment should be sent with the names of attendees and the ages of daughters to Temple Emanu-El Sweethearts Dance, 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34232. For more information, please call 941.379.1997.

Temple Emanu-El and Goldie Feldman Academy offer sincere thanks to Michael’s On East, Sherri’s Island Images, Trachtenberg, Soundstation DJs, and Temple Emanu-El Brotherhood for their generous donations to this wonderful event.

Dr. Dreidel team wins the Great Latke Cook Off

By Gabriella Hazan

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n December, SRQUSY and Kadima held their annual Great Latke Cook Off, and it was a huge success. Before the cooking, there was a dreidel tournament to choose the person to pick “secret ingredients.” There was fierce competition, but the Dr. Dreidel team took the win for the best latkes.

Yom Disney, a statewide joint USY

and Kadima gathering in Orlando, will be held on Sunday, February 14 at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Join the high school or middle school youth group today to be eligible to attend.

The Tel Mond dancers from Israel are visiting, and SRQUSY is excited to participate in events with them.

Many families are hosting the dancers. SRQUSY is also participating in

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ARTS DAY Have fun and do a mitzvah! Create a work of art at Painting With a Twist: a fun art studio where experienced local artists provide step by step instruction to help you craft a one of a kind piece to donate to participants in the JFCS SOS (Senior Outreach Service) program.

N Washington Dr

THURSDAY, APRIL 7 • 4:00–6:00pm

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PURIM CARD AND MASK DECORATING Get creative! You will be making handmade Purim cards and decorated masks for participants in the JFCS SOS (Senior Outreach Service) program.

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wishes to come, and we hope to see some new faces.

Temple Beth Sholom’s youth groups are open to all to encourage camaraderie among local Jewish youth.

You need not be associated with TBS to attend and enjoy our programming.

For more information, please contact the temple office at 941.955.8121 or info@templebethsholomfl.org.

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Preparing latkes in Temple Beth Sholom’s kosher kitchen

a scavenger hunt with the dancers on Saturday, February 20.

The Mercaz Sub-Regional Convention is coming up March 18-20.

USYers from all over Florida will be getting together for a fun weekend.

USY and Kadima are also looking forward to a trip to Orlando for the Maccabeats’ a cappella concert in April.

This event is open to any teen who

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ScavEngEr HunT Saturday Feb. 20 7-10pm

All Jewish Sarasota and Manatee High School students are invited to join our high school student guests from Tel Mond, Israel, for an evening of fun and adventure. Free and open to all Jewish high school students from Sarasota-Manatee, but registration is required.

Schedule:  Meet at Lido Beach for Havdalah, 7 pm (beach access across from Holiday Inn)

 Proceed to

St. Armands Circle for hunt  End at Big Olaf Creamery, 10 pm (561 N. Washington Dr)

For more information, contact Andrea Eiffert (941) 552-6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org

REGISTER ONLINE AT: jfedsrq.org/events

February 2016

FOCUS ON YOUTH

37A

Members of Maccabi Haifa junior soccer team visit Goldie Feldman Academy

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n December, six members of the Maccabi Haifa junior soccer team paid a visit to Goldie Feldman Academy. The team was in town to compete in the 2015 IMG Cup: Boys Invitational Tournament.

The players were Christian, Muslim and Jewish, a fair representation of the multi-culturalism of the Maccabi Haifa team. During their visit, they led middle school students through some soccer drills; talked to the students about soccer, Israel and working together across cultural and religious differences; and then enjoyed a brief tour of the school and lunch prepared

by GFA’s in-house chef.

“With the culturally charged discussions of religion taking place within our country, we felt this opportunity to see a shining example of cross-cultural relations could not be more timely,” said head of school Dan Ceaser. “As a Hershorin Schiff Community School,

one of our goals is to promote interfaith understanding. The Maccabi Haifa soccer team is a model of pluralism – Jews, Muslims and Christians are relating to one another with mutual understanding and respect.”

“It was cool that a soccer team of people from different religions and multiple cultures could get along when the rest of the world can’t do that,” said sixth-grader Peter Goldberg.

The team won its first game after

the GFA visit, with Maccabi Haifa volunteer and visit coordinator Dani Neuman noting in a message to the school, “Your kids were our luck charm.” For more information about GFA, visit gfasarasota.org or call 941.552.2770.

Above: GFA students Adler McNesby (far left) and Andrew Blessitt (far right) with Maccabi Haifa players Peter Elias and Roee Fucs; at right: Peter Elias takes a selfie with enthusiastic middle school students from Goldie Feldman Academy

Goldie Feldman Academy holds holiday celebration for students, families day cards created for the residents of Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson.

“By incorporating community service into all that we do – and not just at the holidays – it allows the kids to see that what they create has the opDMAN AC FEL AD IE

Y EM

kah cards for senior residents at Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson, and sweet treats and the beautiful weather were enjoyed by all.

Head of school Dan Ceaser was grateful to the volunteers and staff members who helped to make the event a success, and was proud of the students for the many thoughtful holi-

GO LD

G

oldie Feldman Academy brought all of its students and invited their families to the Sarasota Children’s Garden for its holiday celebration. There were performances by the middle school band and the 4-year-old Harp Club, along with brave volunteers “plucked” from the audience, the children made Hanuk-

portunity to impact the world in a very positive way,” said Ceaser. “It was also wonderful to see our families of all different faiths spending time and celebrating the warmth of the season together.”

Sarasota’s Community Jewish Day School

GOLDIE FELDMAN ACADEMY A Hershorin Schiff Community School

1974 SAR A S OTA A Hershorin Schiff Community School

We’re a small school with big opportunities!

Sophia Levin climbs on the Children’s Garden’s famed dragon during GFA’s holiday celebration

Jewish Studies • Project-based Learning Individualized Attention • Purposeful Diversity Outdoor Activities Every Day • Healthy Lunch Program Call us for a tour today!

Goldie Feldman Academy

A Hershorin Schiff Community School 1050 S. Tuttle Ave. Sarasota | (941) 552-2770 www.gfasarasota.org

TEENS JEWISH TEENS OF SRQ-MAN GET THE FREE APP FOR:

Luca Lynch-DeClerico (center) enjoys time with his mother Robin Lynch (left) and his grandmother Penny DeClerico

S.K.I.P

F O R M O R E I N F O CO N TAC T: ANDREA EIFFERT 941.552.6308 O R A E I F F E RT @ J F E D S R Q.O R G

Send-A-Kid-to-Israel Program

Youth Group Information Teen Social Event Calendar Travel and Education Scholarships Shapiro Teen Engagement Program (STEP)

ED ARE YOU CONNECT WITH YOUR JEWISH COMMUNITY? JFEDSRQ.ORG

jfedsrq.org The SKIP program is funded in large part by the Betty and Herb Schiff Send-a-Kid-to-Israel Fund.

Klingentsein Jewish Center 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34232

941.371.4546 • jfedsrq.org

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February 2016

Flipping out at Sky Zone

FOCUS ON YOUTH “FOCUS ON YOUTH” PHOTOS OF THE MONTH

By Andrea Eiffert ere’s a sure-fire recipe for success: Meet at Sky Zone’s indoor trampoline park, add loads of high-energy teens, a healthy dose of Jewish tradition including Havdalah and Chanukiah lighting, and plenty of snacks. Set teens free for 90 minutes of unlimited jumping and laughs, and voila, a perfect evening of fun with friends.

This special evening was a collaboration between STEP (The Federation’s Shapiro Teen Engagement Program) and all of the local youth groups in town, including Temple Sinai’s SAFETY, Temple EmanuEl’s TEERS, Temple Beth Sholom’s SRQUSY, and BBYO. Members from each group were invited to attend and encouraged to bring friends, resulting

H

in an evening of old friends and new connections.

How can we top this, you ask?

Add 24 high school dancers from our Sister City of Tel Mond, Israel, the beach, and a scavenger hunt on St. Armands Circle! Don’t miss out on this next STEP event, Saturday, February 20 at 7:00 p.m.

To register, visit jfedsrq.org/events.

For more information, contact me at aeiffert@jfedsrq.org or 941.552.6308.

Everly and Maxwell enjoy the blessings of nature at a special Tot Shabbat at Crowley Nature Center on December 5. The special event was sponsored by Temple Emanu-El and The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

FAMILY jfedsrq.org

THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE. THE POWER OF COMMUNITY.

2016 RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

Gabrielle and Megan Meese help out during Goldie Feldman Academy’s Open House Extravaganza

STAY CONNECTED

pinterest.com/jfedsrq JOIN OVER 6,000

ACTIVISTS FOR THE PRO-ISRAEL COMMUNITY’S LARGEST ANNUAL GATHERING IN WASHINGTON, D.C.!

SCHOL ARSHIP AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL STUDENTS

If you are a high school or college student, a leader, and passionate about Israel advocacy, apply today at

Religious Schools can have a profoundly positive impact on our children and their Jewish identity.

We would like to help make Religious School a reality for your child by offering NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIP ASSISTANCE. This scholarship is meant to be combined with your own funding as well as funding from other sources, such as your synagogue. The Jewish Federation of SarasotaManatee has provided more than 110 scholarships to date.

jfedsrq.org

QUESTIONS? Contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113 or jlisitza@jfedsrq.org APPLY ONLINE @

jfedsrq.org

Klingenstein Jewish Center 580 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota FL 34232

941.371.4546 • jfedsrq.org

For more information, contact Andrea Eiffert at 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org

jfedsrq.org Klingenstein Jewish Center 580 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota FL 34232

941.371.4546 • jfedsrq.org

The Jewish News is a monthly nonprofit newspaper supported by generous readers, committed advertisers and The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

February 2016

LIFE CYCLE ANNIVERSARIES th

60 Sumner & Ann Baum Temple Emanu-El 45th Mark & Barbara Peltz Temple Emanu-El 45th Jonathan & Kim Sheintal Temple Emanu-El

th

35 Stanley & Sandra Krawetz Temple Emanu-El 15th Jennifer & Steven Kourelakos Temple Sinai 5th Kimberly & Jeffrey Saltz Temple Sinai

Please submit your life cycle events (births, B’nai Mitzvah, anniversaries, weddings) to

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Sarasota-Manatee Chevra Kadisha TAHARA

jewishnews@jfedsrq.org

WEDDING

Photos are appreciated; email as JPGs at 300ppi.

Congratulations to Dr. Herman & Elizabeth Weber upon the marriage of their daughter Nicole to Jack Tobias on February 20, Chabad of Sarasota

B’NAI MITZVAH Alexis Jones, daughter of Michael & Charlotte Jones, February 26, Chabad of Sarasota Charlie Timmons, son of Jaimie & Andy Timmons, February 27, Temple Emanu-El

admin 941.224.0778 men 941.377.4647 941.484.2790 women 941.921.4740 941.349.3611 1050 S. Tuttle Ave., Sarasota, FL 34237

IN MEMORIAM Sidney Auerbach, 92, of Sarasota, December 5 Simon Glatz, 79, of Sarasota, formerly of Haifa, Israel, December 9 Dr. Stanley G. Werner, 91 of Sarasota, November 30 Roslyn Fay ‘Roddy’ Samuels, 94, of Sarasota, formerly of St. Louis, MO, November 24 Marshall Ziring, 91, of Sarasota, December 12

The PJ Library program supports families in their Jewish journey by sending Jewishrelated books and music on a monthly basis to children for free.

facebook.com/pjlibraryofsarasota Visit the Federation website to sign up!

jfedsrq.org/pjlibrary Questions?

Contact Andrea Eiffert at 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org

SHA LOM BA BY MOMMY & ME

During times of neeD for generations Jewish members of sarasota & manatee County Communities have turneD to toale brothers.

Gerry Ronkin

Jewish Family Coordinator

Join us for a gathering of mommies and babies to sing Jewish and/or Israeli children’s songs and bond with other moms every fourth Friday of the month!

REGISTER YOURSELF REGISTER A FRIEND QUESTIONS? 941.371.4546 info@jfedsrq.org

OFFICE

loCally owneD & operateD for over 100 years

3 generations of toale family management

941-955-4171 CELL

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THE KLINGENSTEIN JEWISH CENTER

580 McIntosh Rd Sarasota FL 34232

For a continuously updated community calendar, visit www.jfedsrq.org.

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Celebrating Jewish Life in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, Israel and the World FEDERATION NEWS 1971-2016 SERVING OUR COMMUNITY FOR

45 Years . jfedsrq org

February 2016 - Shevat/Adar 5776

Volume 46, Number 2

Jewish Happenings TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 Club Fed Lecture Series – Exodus

“The Middle East – Where To?”

This series of four lectures is presented by Dr. Steven Derfler. This event takes place from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. on The Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Cost: $18 for the series. Register online at http://jfedsrq. org/events or contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113.

As the turmoil in the Middle East continues to increase, it is ever more confusing to understand who everyone is and what they want. Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on the political discourse of the Middle East, will lay out what each group stands for, what they really want, and the dangers they represent. The presentation begins at 2:00 p.m. at Venice Gardens Civic Association, 406 Shamrock Boulevard. Cost: $10. For more information, contact Rabbi Sholom Schmerling at 941.493.2770 or info@ chabadofvenice.com.

Sponsored by

Torah & Tea Join Chanie Bukiet in her home on Tuesdays from 11:00 a.m. to noon for a weekly dose of delicious tea and refreshments spiced with thoughts on women in the Torah and roundtable discussions. Cost: free; sponsor a class in someone’s memory or honor for $25. For more information or to RSVP, contact Rabbi Mendy Bukiet at 941.752.3030 x3 or info@ chabadofbradenton.com.

ORT Paid-Up “Bruncheon” GulfsidePalm ORT chapter invites you to the ORT Paid-Up “Bruncheon” at the Meadows Country Club (3101 Longmeadow, Sarasota) at 11:30 a.m., featuring Bob Harrigan, ABC’s chief meteorologist. What’s happening with our weather? El Nino? Tornados? Lightning? What’s the prediction for Groundhog Day? You need to be a paid-up member of ORT America to attend. The price is $25. RSVP by January 29 by mailing your check to Alice Cotman, 5820 Fairway Lakes Dr., Sarasota, FL 34243. For details, contact Alice at acotman@juno.com.

“The Power of the Biblical Editors” Rarely do we think of the Bible as an edited book written by some and compiled by others to advance an agenda. Who decided which stories should be recorded for posterity and which stories should be erased forever? These lectures by acclaimed teacher Dr. Rachel Dulin will look at four famous biblical stories to examine the power of the editors who kept them in the Text and the effect they have on us and our belief system today. Classes take place from noon to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, February 2, 9, 16 and 23 at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. To register or for more information, please contact Temple Emanu-El Adult Education Chair Dan Barwick at 941.232.1832 or dan@barwick.us.

ISRAEL :

ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE ARAB WORLD

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

6:00-8:00pm DR. MORDECHAI KEDAR

FREE ADMISSION

BEA FRIEDMAN THEATRE The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee 580 McIntosh Road Sarasota, FL 34232

Dr. Kedar, President and co-founder of the Middle East Research Alliance (under formation), a Jerusalem think thank, is a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and a lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

He is one of Israel’s leading figures in understanding the Arab world and a frequent guest in the Israeli, Arab and international media.

OUR THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING: CAMPUS SPONSOR

COMMUNITY SPONSORS Sarasota Patriots (monthly meeting) Sarasota Ministerial Association Zionists of America Sarasota-Manatee Humanity Working to End Genocide Chabad of Sarasota Club 770 Men’s Club

DOORS OPEN AT 5:30 PM

Please RSVP, seating is limited

RSVP Frank: kedar.rsvp@gmail.com or 941.225.9112

“Reel Fun” movie night A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is an Israeli film with an unlikely friendship between a teen-age Israeli girl and a young Palestinian man as they try to make sense of bombing attacks. A discussion follows the film showing, along with coffee and home-baked desserts. Join us at 7:00 p.m. at the Jewish Congregation of Venice, 600 N. Auburn Road. Cost: $3 for JCV members; $5 for nonmembers. For more information, call the JCV office at 941.484.2022.

Cteen: My/Your Space Teens are invited to join us at 7:00 p.m. at The Chabad House (5712 Lorraine Road, Bradenton) for the next Cteen get-together. Themed to “Tolerance,” teens will explore acceptance with activities and crafts such as prejudice parcel wrap, scrapbooking, tag drawings and chocolate balloon pop. They will also partner with the friendship circle for their humanitarian mission. Cteen’s mission is to give teens three things: Jewish Network, Jewish Identity, Jewish Values. This is an opportunity that no Jewish teenager should miss, and there’s plenty of room for all their friends as well! Cost: $180 per teen for annual Cteen membership. For more information, contact Rabbi Mendy Bukiet at 941.752.3030 x3 or info@ chabadofbradenton.com.

Jewish Happenings specifically for families and youths are now easily identified with the event descriptions in red type.

For a continuously updated calendar, visit www.jfedsrq.org.

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For more information, call Bob Satnick HAPPENINGS JEWISH at 941.538.3739

February 2016

Do youThursdays play??? / 12pm to 4ish

HOLOCAUST AWARENESS LECTURE SERIES $5 pe lecturer

MUST R

SVP

Presented by Dr. Andre Krauss A research fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Romanian Academy, Dr. Krauss is a published art historian and media psychologist. He holds doctorates in History of Art from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Social Psychology from the University of Bucharest, Romania.

Thursday Feb. 25 10:30 amNoon

Thursday Mar. 24 10:30 amNoon

ENCULTURATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM BEFORE THE HOLOCAUST European culture and folklore before the Holocaust portrays a negative stereotype of the Jew as a mythical villain. This lecture will explore this stereotype which appears in a myriad of images throughout history and lays the foundation for the enduring hatred of the Jew. It was against this cultural background that the Nazis magnified and intensified their anti-Semitic propaganda which culminated in the physical destruction of one third of European Jewry.

PSYCHO-DYNAMICS OF NAZI ANTI-SEMITISM As a young man in Vienna, Adolph Hitler was exposed to the anti-Semitic and opportunistic policies of politicians like Karl Lueger, the mayor of Vienna. This lecture will explore the ideological beginnings and the model for what was later to become the obsessive genocidal program implemented by Hitler and the Nazis in occupied Europe.

Seasoned

Federation Campus Jerusalem Room, Thursdays / 12pm to 4ish

(582 McIntosh Jerusalem room, Federation Campus Road) 582 mCintosh road $5 pie. $5 Friendly pie. but serious game!

Contact Contact Marilyn OslanderMarilyn Oslander

941.951.2029 marasota@yahoo.com marasota@yahoo.com

941.951.2029

Friendly WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3 but serious

game!with the Rabbi” Temple Emanu-El “Lunch Are you looking for a great lunch date? Join Rabbi Brenner Glickman and nice, friendly, interesting companions for lunch, socializing, and discussion of current events and subjects of Jewish interest. All are invited to this popular, stimulating and enjoyable program. Attendees are asked to bring a brown-bag lunch and are also welcome to bring a newspaper article for discussion. Homemade dessert and terrific company are provided! The group meets at noon at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota.

For more information, call the temple office at 941.371.2788.

The Original Brown Bag with Rabbi Huntting Join Rabbi Geoffrey Huntting at noon on Wednesdays, February 3 and 24 at Temple Sinai, Social Hall A, 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Rd., Sarasota.

Bring your lunch and come for this casual gathering. The discussion on current events is determined by those in attendance. For more information, call the temple office at 941.924.1802.

“The 33 Jewish Languages” Marden Paru, dean and co-founder of the Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva and ethics instructor at the Melton Adult Mini-School, presents a free course to review the many distinct languages developed by the Jewish people over the millennia as well as our history and wandering. This free course takes place on Wednesdays, February 3, 17 and 24 from 1:00 to 2:20 p.m. at Kobernick-Anchin-Benderson, 1951 N. Honore Ave., Sarasota. For more information, contact Natalie Chuquizuta at 941.225.8369 or nchuquizuta@ kobernickanchin.org.

Book Review of Alan Dershowitz’s Taking the Stand Harold Halpern will review Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law by Alan Dershowitz. In this book the author tells us how he, a poor boy from an Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, viewed with disdain by his Yeshiva teachers, became an influential lawyer, teacher and author. In layman’s language he describes some of the cases during the last fifty years in which his ideas changed American jurisprudence. The program, which is free and open to the public, begins at 1:15 p.m. at Temple Beth Sholom, Band/Desenberg Chapel, 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. Light refreshments will be served. For further information, call Arlene Hamburger at 941.921.2554.

Miniversity of Judaism

Thursday Apr. 28 10:30 amNoon

Thursday May 12 10:30 amNoon

JEWISH RESISTANCE IN EUROPE DURING THE HOLOCAUST Compliance or resistance? The Jewish resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe is one of the most contested questions in Holocaust history. It emerged as one of the principle subtexts at the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1962. Witness testimonies and subsequent interpretations in Hannah Arendt’s reports spoke of the lack of significant Jewish resistance. Could they have done more? This lecture will revisit the arguments about this topic in view of Holocaust historiography.

The Temple Beth Israel Miniversity of Judaism presents Rabbi Peter Kasdan, who served as spiritual leader of Temple Emanu-El in Livingston, New Jersey, from 1971-2001. At 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, February 3, 10 and 17 at Temple Beth Israel (567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key), Rabbi Kasdan will present “Judaism’s Social Justice Agenda: What Politicians Promise vs. What God Demands of Us” – how the next U.S. president will confront a country increasingly challenged by life and death issues: hunger, health care, public and private safety, economic justice, and the widening gap between rich and poor. Guided by a Higher Authority, Jews are called to listen not to politicians when it comes to the welfare of the world, but to God, who created it. We will study some original sources: Tanach, Talmud and Midrash. Cost: free for TBI members; $5 for nonmembers. For more information, call the temple office at 941.383.3428.

THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF HOLOCAUST EDUCATION This concluding lecture will focus on the Holocaust narrative and the critical importance for educating the public about the Jewish tragedy during WWII. Today there is a more subtle, less overt effort to rewrite history in modern popular culture, films, literature, and even video games. We will examine these “counter-narratives” and evaluate their impact on the memory of the Holocaust.

“Local anti-Semitism: Hate Mail in Bradenton”

RSVP to: (941) 552-6304 | jnew@jfedsrq.org For more information, please contact Orna Nissan Director of Holocaust Education & Israel Programs 941.552.6305 • onissan@jfedsrq.org

KLINGENSTEIN JEWISH CENTER | ZELL ROOM

580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL 34232

941.371.4546 • jfedsrq.org

Anti-Semitism is a very real issue to all Jews at this point in history, although the emphasis has been placed on European anti-Semitism, overlooking the growing hostilities locally, including brazen hate mail sent to Jews.

In Bradenton, a Jewish family has been subjected to years of anti-Semitic acts involving vandalism, threats before the High Holy Days, and signed hate mail, stating: “Be warned… The last thing you want to do is make an enemy of me.” Join us at 5:30 p.m. at the Al Katz Center, 5710 Cortez Road West, Bradenton. Cost: $10 per adult; $3 per student. To RSVP, call Beverly Newman at 941.313.9239.

Larry Summers in Conversation w/ Thane Rosenbaum Larry Summers has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential thinkers by Time and The Economist. He is President Emeritus at Harvard University.

He served as secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton and the director of the National Economic Council for President Obama. Join him for a wide-ranging conversation with essayist, law professor and author Thane Rosenbaum about today’s most pressing issues. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key. Cost: $10; free for TBI members. For more information, contact the TBI office at 941.383.3428 or info@tbi-lbk.org, or visit www.tbi-lbk.org.

Stay informed throughout the month. Sign up for the Jewish Federation’s Enewsletter at www.jfedsrq.org.

JEWISH HAPPENINGS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4 “Ma La’asot” (What to do?) Lunch and Learn Series

February 2016

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K MIDDLE EASTERN K GREEK K PERSIAN K INDIAN K K SEAFOOD K CATERING K LIVE JAZZ K

Sue Spector will address “Ma La’asot” - Exploring Modern Dilemmas Through the Eyes of Jewish Tradition from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays, February 4 and 11 at Temple Beth Sholom, 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. Participants can attend one or both classes. Topics: February 4 “Ethics of War,” and February 11 - “Hunger and Homelessness.” Everyone is welcome. There is no fee for TBS members; tuition for nonmembers is $5 per class. Advance registration is required. Bring a pareve or dairy lunch. Please contact the temple office at 941.955.8121 to register or for more information.

*Buy one dinner,

Women of Sinai luncheon & program Speaker Bill Church, Executive Editor of the Herald-Tribune Media Group, will discuss “How Your Newspaper Habit is Changing…and Why It’s Not Going Away.” Lunch will be catered by Michael’s On East. The event begins at noon at Temple Sinai, 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Rd., Sarasota. Cost: $12 for Women of Sinai members; $16 for nonmembers.

RSVP to Joan Goodis at 916.223.8256. For more information, email Greta Roberts at migdalor@mac.com.

Sarasota’s own Mediterranean cuisine since 1987

The community is invited to hear this year’s Dr. William and Judith Freund Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Jonathan Sarna, at Temple Beth Sholom, 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. Recognized as a leading commentator on American Jewish history, religion and life, Dr. Sarna will speak Friday night about “Looking Ahead: American Judaism in the 21st Century.” On Saturday, Dr. Sarna will discuss the subject of his new book, Lincoln and the Jews: A History. Schedule: Friday, 5:30 p.m. dinner; 7:00 p.m. Shabbat service and presentation; Saturday, 9:00 a.m. service and presentation; 12:30 p.m. Q&A. The services and educational programs are free and open to the public thanks to the generosity of the Dr. William and Judith Freund Scholar-in-Residence Fund. There is a fee for the Friday night Shabbat dinner. Please contact TBS at 941.955.8121 or info@templebethsholomfl. org for more information.

for half price.

Must present before ordering.

*Valid thru 2/29/16

FRI-SAT, FEBRUARY 5-6 Freund Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Jonathan Sarna

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5 Rhythm & Jews Family Erev Shabbat Join Rabbi Huntting, Chazzan Abramson, your friends and neighbors, and hear the Bruno Family Musicians in an uplifting service with a variety of traditional, Israeli, Sephardic and Chasidic melodies. This free event begins at 6:00 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Rd., Sarasota. For more information, call the temple office at 941.924.1802.

Shabbat Alive! featuring Craig Taubman Shabbat Alive! – Temple Emanu-El’s signature quarterly all-musical Shabbat celebration – is returning for its winter installment, and featured in the service will be Craig Taubman! One of the leading composers of modern Jewish music, Craig Taubman will delight and inspire with his original arrangements, captivating voice and engaging presence. Among his bestknown compositions are the stirring “Hashkivenu” and exhilarating “Adonai Sefatai.” All are welcome for this unique and magnificent spiritual Shabbat experience at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. This appearance is generously underwritten by Larry and Wendy Barnet. For more information, call the temple office at 941.371.2788.

Unlock your SALES POTENTIAL

Enjoy our Jewish programs in February 2016

S PE C I A L P RO G R A M Monday, February 29 11:00am – 12:30pm THE TEMPLE MOUNT THROUGHOUT HISTORY Steven Derfler, Ph.D. This lecture will explore the rich history of Temple Mount (located in the Old City of Jerusalem) and what it means to the Western world today.

ONE-TIME LECTURE Tuesday, March 8, 3:00pm – 4:30pm W Archaeology and the Bible:

TWO WITNESSES TO ANCIENT ISRAEL Elizabeth-Bloch Smith, Ph.D.

Advertise in Robin Leonardi • 941.552.6307

COURSES Wednesdays W The Two Shoahs – Ken Hanson, Ph.D.

February 3 and February 10....1:00pm – 2:30pm

rleonardi@jfedsrq.org www.TheJewishNews.org

Thursdays W

Jewish/Israeli Film Festival – Susan Goldfarb and Special Guest Facilitators, including Roz Goldberg, chair and founder of The Milman-Kover Jewish Film Festival February 4 – March 10..............2:15pm – 5:00pm

HISTORY. CULTURE. AND SO MUCH MORE. Get to know Israel and her people!

www.SarasotaLovesIsrael.com

For prices and a brochure listing over 150 adult enrichment courses, lectures and special events call 941-383-8811 or visit www.lbkeducationcenter.org

5370 GULF OF MEXICO DRIVE

(IN THE CENTRE SHOPS OF LONGBOAT KEY) THE LONGBOAT KEY EDUCATION CENTER, IS NOT-FOR-PROFIT, 501 (c ) (3) EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION.

www.lbkeducationcenter.org

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JEWISH HAPPENINGS

February 2016

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 Youth Havurah at Temple Beth Sholom Temple Beth Sholom is offering Youth Havurah, a new program every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. geared for pre-B’nai Mitzvah-age youth (grades 2-6). Led by the USY Advisor, children will participate in an exciting learning Shabbat service with songs, blessings, activities, and stories from the Torah. Younger children are invited to participate in the Shabbat Shaboom program at 10:30 a.m. for learning, playtime and snacks. These services are free and open to the public. Temple Beth Sholom is located at 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. For more information, please contact the temple office at 941.955.8121 or info@templebethsholomfl.org.

Junior Congregation at Chabad of Venice Have your kids participate in synagogue and earn fun prizes by attending!

Engaging lessons, songs and games bring the Torah portion to life. Junior Congregation at Chabad of Venice (2169 S. Tamiami Trail) takes place the first Saturday of the month from 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Children ages 4-13 are led by Morah Rivka Schmerling. A Kiddush luncheon follows this free program. For more information, call 941.493.2770 or email rivka@ chabadofvenice.com.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7 World Wide Wrap at Temple Beth Sholom

More Variety

Everyone is welcome to participate with Temple Beth Sholom at 9:00 a.m. as it joins the Jewish community from across the world for the 17th annual World Wide Wrap. This year’s event is part of the TBS Men’s Club Sunday Morning Breakfast and Speakers Program, featuring Rabbi Michael Werbow discussing “The Mitzvah of T’Fillin.” All ages are invited, including parents and children, to participate and stay for a bagels and lox breakfast. No cost. Temple Beth Sholom is located at 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. For more information, please contact the temple office at 941.955.8121 or info@templebethsholomfl.org.

for the Gulfshore

California Club

Fresh Fruit

Sarasota Fort Myers Port CapeCharlotte Coral Fort Myers Naples Cape Coral Port Charlotte Sarasota Naples

Celebrate your Jewish femininity with a day of relaxation, depth and beauty for the Jewish woman. Participate in a lovely afternoon featuring intriguing workshops, live music, fun prizes, desserts and hors d’oeuvres, and a fabulous keynote speaker. The event begins at 1:00 p.m. at Plantation Golf & Country Club, 500 Rockley Blvd., Venice. Cost: $36. For more information, contact Chaya Rivka Schmerling at 941.493.2770 or rivka@ chabadofvenice.com.

jasonsdeli.com

Vegetarian Tomato Basil Soup

Southwest Breakfast Wrap

10th Annual “Spa for the Soul”

“Children’s Day” in honor of Liora Goldberg The Al Katz Center proudly hosts “Children’s Day,” inviting children and their families for a wonderful afternoon of stories, board games, movies, piano performance by Eleonora Lvov, crafts, artwork and healthy kosher refreshments. “Children’s Day” is dedicated to beautiful Liora Goldberg, who lived most of her life in Israel and passed away at age 14 after many years of illness, but left the world much brighter for her short life and the gentle love she spread. Join us from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. at the Al Katz Center, 5710 Cortez Road West, Bradenton. Donations greatly appreciated.

To RSVP, call Beverly Newman at 941.313.9239.

And so much more...

Mediterranean Wrap

Zucchini Grillini

World Politics with Ralph Buultjens For more than 15 years, 92Y audiences have relished the clarity and thoughtfulness Professor Ralph Buultjens brings to discussions of foreign affairs. Drawing on his vast knowledge and understanding of how conflicts in one part of the world affect peace in another, Buultjens offers insight you can’t find anywhere else. This conversation is scheduled to focus on the Far East, however note that due to the nature of international events, topics may change. The event begins at 5:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key. Cost: $10; free for TBI members. For more information, contact the TBI office at 941.383.3428 or info@tbi-lbk.org, or visit www.tbi-lbk.org.

Broadcasting Sundays at 10am!

THE MILK & HONEY RADIO HOUR

…

WSRQ 106 .9 fm • 1220 am or ONLINE wsrqradio.com Encourages dialog and understanding on modern topics that impact the world with a focus on Israel, anti-Semitism and Jewish culture.

We will strive to exemplify the morals and values of the Jewish people while shedding light on the Jewish perspective and to rally the support of our friends.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8

Host Jessi Sheslow Director, Community Relations

“An Evening with Ehud Barak” The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee presents “An Evening with Ehud Barak.” Mr. Barak was Israel’s 10th Prime Minister and the most decorated IDF soldier in history. He will discuss his life and service as well as his upcoming book, My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace. The event begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts. Cost: $18. To RSVP or for more information, visit http://jfedsrq.org/events or call 941.371.4546.

Sponsored by

milkandhoney@jfedsrq.org

t u o d l o s

February programming* 2/7/2016 2/14/2016 2/21/2016 2/28/2016

Richard Ohlsson talks about the Ravensbrück Archives and the film Harbour of Hope Exclusive interview with Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak Josh Jacobson, Education Director at the Sarasota Film Festival Holocaust Survivor Testimonial

*Guest/s subject to change

“Don’t miss

Interested in becoming a sponsor of

Torah Tots

it!”

The MILK & HONEY Radio Hour?

Contact Robin Leonardi 941.552.6307 or rleonardi@jfedsrq.org BROUGHT TO YOU BY

tune in

!

Join other parents, grandparents and caregivers as we explore the child’s world through story, song, cooking, crafts and circle time. Torah Tots encourages multi-sensory experiences that stimulate emerging language, motor development, socialization and bonding between parents and child.

Explore child rearing from a Jewish perspective, participate in group activities and learn Jewish customs that will enhance this unique time in your toddler’s life in these formative years. Torah Tots takes place from 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. at The Chabad House, 5712 Lorraine Road, Bradenton.

Suggested donation: $6. For more information, contact Rabbi Mendy Bukiet at 941.752.3030 x3 or info@chabadofbradenton.com.

Read the current and previous editions of The Jewish News online at www.jfedsrq.org.

JEWISH HAPPENINGS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9

February 2016

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10

“An Evening with Stephen Flatow”

Club Fed Hits the Road

The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee presents “An Evening with Stephen Flatow” from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Rd, Sarasota. Ticket options: $50 for the 6:30 p.m. VIP Dessert Reception with Stephen Flatow; $10 for the presentation when purchased in advance; $18 when purchased at the door; students free with I.D. Register online at http://jfedsrq.org/events or contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113.

Join Club Fed as it Hits the Road to the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center. The bus leaves at 9:00 a.m. from The Federation Campus (580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota) and returns at 4:00 p.m. Cost: $60 all inclusive – transportation, museum admission, docent tour and lunch. (No full refunds two weeks prior to event.) Register online at http://jfedsrq.org/events or contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113.

Mitzvah Knitting Group at Temple Emanu-El

STEP College Preparation and Information Series

Are you a knitter or crocheter interested in using your talent to brighten the lives of others while making new friends? If so, please come to the Mitzvah Knitting Group sponsored by Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood at 10:00 a.m. at 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. We gather monthly to craft and socialize, and our beautiful handiwork has been donated to local new parents as well as needy families in Sarasota-Manatee and in Israel. Bring your needles or crochet hook and a favorite pattern – we’ll supply the yarn and great company! For more information, email Susan Bernstein at susanhope22@comcast.net.

“Surfs Up! What are you doing this summer?” is designed for students in grades 8-12 and their families. This free event is open to the public and begins at 7:00 p.m. on The Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. For more information, contact Andrea Eiffert at 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@ jfedsrq.org. To register, visit http://jfedsrq.org/events.

Sponsored by

Rosh Chodesh Society - Art & Soul Join the Jewish Women’s Circle on a seven-part journey as we explore Judaism’s insights into the arts and how they beautify and transform our lives, one brushstroke at a time. This fourth class will explore Dance – Movement and Relationship through workshops and an interactive class.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at The Chabad House, 5712 Lorraine Road, Bradenton. Course cost: $70 for JWC members and $75 for nonmembers; textbooks included; or $20 per class and $15 per book. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Rabbi Mendy Bukiet at 941.752.3030 x3 or info@chabadofbradenton.com.

JLI course: “The Jewish Course of Why” What happens when you survey 30,000 people, asking them to submit the questions they are most curious about, and address those enigmas with insights from some of the greatest minds in Jewish history? That is what we did. The result: “The Jewish Course of Why.” Are you ready to give your Judaism the intellection you know it deserves? Are you prepared to tackle the quizzical, queer and seemingly-unanswerable questions about Jewish belief and practice? Then sign up today for this six-week course, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at Chabad of Venice, 2169 S. Tamiami Trail. Cost: $79.

For more information, contact Rabbi Sholom Schmerling at 941.493.2770 or info@chabadofvenice.com.

Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva PRESENTS FEBRUARY COURSES

JEWS DEBATE THE ISSUES OF THE DAY

TUESDAYS 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM Starting February 2 (Eight weeks)

CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM

MONDAYS 4:15 PM – 5:30 PM Starting February 8 (Eight Weeks) We just marked the 50th anniversary of “Nostre Aetate”—an ecclesiastical document released in 1965 under the leadership of Pope Paul VI—which exonerated the “Jews” of the killing of Christ. It was designed to heal the relationship between Catholics and Jews and was a turning point in Jewish-Catholic relations. Jewish-Christian fellowship is now at an all-time high. Due to either a lack of educational opportunity or animus towards other religions and belief systems, many of our Jewish constituents have very little understanding of Christianity. For over 1500 years, Jewish communities have barely survived under Christian hegemony in the countries of the western Diaspora, namely in Europe. Anti-Semitism reigned supreme with Jews being expelled from England in the 1200s and from the Iberian Peninsula in late 1400’s. With that history ingrained in the Jewish psyche, it is no wonder that our kinfolk have shown little interest in the philosophy and practices of Christianity. Let’s compare theology and practices! Instructor: Marden Paru; fee $50.

ISRAEL 2016: THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS

FRIDAYS 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM Starting February 12 (Eight weeks) This new class will address the pressing issues and concerns that are the most discomfiting—given the massive amount of anti-Israelism that is reported in the media. Love of Israel is not enough going forward. We need to study and become more knowledgeable about all aspects of Israel and Israeli life—the negatives as well as the positives—so we can engage in conversation with accuracy and from strength.

We are often called upon to defend the Jewish homeland as its representatives abroad.Keeping up with knowing Israel of 2016 is intended to help participants feel more secure and better equipped to discern fact from propaganda in the fastmoving conditions Israel faces. Your questions will be addressed in this seminar.

Instructor: Marden Paru; Fee $50.

Inquire about multi-course discounts. Scholarships are also available.

Classes are held on the Campus of the Jewish Federation, 580 McIntosh Rd. in Sarasota.

To register or seek more information, please contact Marden Paru, Dean and Rosh Yeshiva at 941.379.5655 or marden.paru@gmail.com. Please make checks payable to the Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva and mail to Marden Paru, 2729 Goodwood Court, Sarasota, FL 34235.

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS: The Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other school-administered programs.

The Sarasota Liberal Yeshiva is a 501(c)3 non-profit agency. It is funded, in part, by a grant from The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

t u o d l so

JLI course: “The Jewish Course of Why” Are you prepared to tackle the quizzical, queer and seemingly unanswerable questions about Jewish belief and practice? Then sign up for this new six-week course. The topics span a diverse range, from fun, light and off-the-beaten-track questions, to more complex and controversial issues.

Ever wondered why Jews eat gefilte fish and cholent and wish each other mazal tov and l’chaim? Why the Bible sanctions slavery and animal sacrifices? You will also gain insight into mysterious Jewish practices, strange biblical narratives, and enigmas of Jewish identity. Participants attending the course led by Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz have the option of attending a morning class at 10:15 a.m. at Chabad of Sarasota (7700 Beneva Road) or an evening class at 7:30 p.m. on The Federation Campus (580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota). The cost, which includes a textbook, is $74 per person or $139 per couple. To register, please call 941.925.0770 or visit www. chabadofsarasota.com.

WE CARRY BOARS HEAD MEATS AND CHEESES 6970 Beneva Road Sarasota, Florida 34238 Open 7 days a week | 7:30am – 3pm

BUY 3 BAGELS GET 3 FREE* *with the purchase of 1/2 lb of cream cheese

To redeem, just bring this ad in!

Offer valid until February 29.

Sarasota Concert Association 2016 Great Performers Series at the Van Wezel

Miró String Quartet

Olga Kern

For generations our ancestors debated major issues in Jewish life, particularly matters of religious interpretation, security and customs of the day. The Talmud records scores of famous disputes and debates among the notable rabbis of the day. With that inherited tradition, Jews continue to argue over the finite points of Halakah (Jewish Law), politics, and the contemporary Jewish way of life. Come join the conversation and debate with others how you feel on core issues of Jewish survival in the modern period. Instructor: Marden Paru; fee $50.

Sponsored by

Monday, February 15 7:30 p.m.

Russian National Orchestra Tuesday, March 8 7:30 p.m.

Kirill Karabits, conductor Stefan Jackiw, violin

Olga Kern, piano Monday, March 14 7:30 p.m.

Single Tickets: $30 to $100

941-225-6500 www.scasarasota.org wusf Public Media

Observer YourObserver.com

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JEWISH HAPPENINGS

February 2016

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 SaBra Hadassah Associates presentation

THE ORCHID SHOW C E L E B R AT I N G 4 0 Y E A R S AT S E L B Y G A R D E N S FEBRUARY 14 TO MARCH 27 Thousands of orchids from throughout the Tropics will be on display in our Conservatory, and available for purchase in our shop.

P R E S E N T E D BY

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SaBra Hadassah Associates is pleased to feature a presentation by Rabbi Barbara Aiello, resident rabbi at Kobernick House. Rabbi Aiello’s time away from Sarasota is spent following her Italian roots.

Recognized as the first female rabbi in Italy, she has been helping Jews, especially in southern Italy, to understand their heritage at the first active synagogue in Calabria and Sicily in 500 years. All are welcome at 10:00 a.m. at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, 2635 Fruitville Rd. A breakfast buffet will be offered. Please send your donation of $10 per person, payable to SaBra Hadassah, to Andrew Nutlay, 7720 U.S. Open Loop, Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202. Your check will serve as your reservation. For more information, contact Jerry Beck at 941.907.3889.

A Cantors Cabaret!

The Bay Area Cantorial Association invites everyone to a joyous, inspirational concert, There’s No Business Like Shul Business: A Cantors Cabaret! Eighteen Tampa Bay and Sarasota-Bradenton cantors and cantorial soloists celebrate Jewish life and music. Proceeds benefit scholarships for cantorial students of both Reform and Conservative Sacred Music Study.

This year’s lively concert will include cabaret, stage and film selections with a connection to Jewish writers or Jewish experience, covering a global range of eras, styles, language, genres and cultures. The event begins at 7:00 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Suggested donation: $18; all donations gratefully accepted. For further information, call Joy Katzen-Guthrie at 727.784.4568.

N’shei Chabad Women’s Rosh Chodesh Society Rosh Chodesh Society’s Torah Class, “The Dance of Life,” will give us time to take a deeper look at Torah-based texts and discuss the feeling of constantly being torn between the desire to fulfill responsibilities and the desire to escape them. Join us at 7:15 p.m. as we discuss how to deal with the tension between the two, otherwise known as the dance of life.

For assistance with underwriting the Rosh Chodesh Society course, we thank Anne Stein. Following the class, women will enjoy a 30-minute Zumba class. Refreshments will be served. All women are welcome! All women are welcome at Chabad of Sarasota, 7700 Beneva Road. Cost: free for Rebbetzin Circle members, $10 for N’shei Women members, $12 for nonmembers. Advance reservations are necessary. To RSVP, call 941.925.0770 or email NCWSarasota@gmail.com.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12

The 22nd Annual Jewish FOOD Festival Sunday, February 14th 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.

www.jewishcongregationofvenice.com

Art in the Afternoon - luncheon cruise Brandeis National Committee announces the second in the Art in the Afternoon series, a sightseeing and luncheon cruise of Sarasota on the Marina Jack II (Sarasota Bayfront, #2 Marina Plaza) with Harold Bubil.

The cruise takes place from 11:15 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and includes lunch.

Cost: $70. For more information, contact Janet Tolbert at 941.388.9624 or JRT3501@yahoo.com.

“Chocolate Shabbat” at Temple Emanu-El Synagogue might not seem like the most romantic destination for Valentine’s weekend – but Temple Emanu-El will tempt you with a special Shabbat featuring that most important Valentine’s Day staple: chocolate! Please join us at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El (151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota) for a friendly and celebratory Shabbat service honoring God’s blessings of love, friendship and kindness. A special oneg featuring chocolate treats follows. For more information, call the temple office at 941.371.2788.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14

All Your Deli Favorites Are Here!

Piled-high corned beef & pastrami sandwiches, stuffed cabbage, knishes, chicken & matzo ball soup. All that and more... tables filled with the royalty of Jewish pastries: rugaleh, strudel, Mandelbrot and hamentaschen.

• NOW With Free Shuttle Busing From Island Train Station as well as on-site parking. • Continuous Entertainment. • Flea Market And Other Events. • A Valentine Flower for Every Lady (while supply lasts). • Donations to AllFaiths Food Bank. • FREE Admission.

THE JEWISH CONGREGATION OF VENICE 941.484.2022 600 N. Auburn Rd. (off E. Venice Ave.)

Park On-site or Free Shuttle Busing From Island Train Station!

Celebrating the delicious diversity of Jewish Foods & Culture.

Jewish Artists Explore features Lynn Hazan Sponsored by

The public is invited from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on The Federation Campus (580 McIntosh Road, Sarastoa) to join members of the Association of Professional and Aspiring Jewish Artists in exploring the “Art of Middle Eastern Storytelling and Cuisine” by Lynn Hazan. A Chicago-based Sephardic performance artist, she brings both culinary and professional storytelling ingredients from her Egyptian heritage to this interactive, delicious experience. Jewish Artists Explore is a monthly series from December through May sponsored by APJA and The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. Cost: $5. Details at ReclaimingJudaism.org/events. For more information, contact Rabbi Goldie Milgram at rebgoldie@gmail.com.

Falafel with Yoav Come and enjoy a terrific kosher falafel lunch for $5 at noon at The Chabad House, 5712 Lorraine Road, Bradenton. For more information, contact Rabbi Mendy Bukiet at 941.752.3030 x3 or info@chabadofbradenton. com.

Temple Sinai’s anniversary celebration continues A musical celebration of Temple Sinai’s silver anniversary continues with the third concert in a four concert series. Flute and harp duo and Sarasota Orchestra Principals, Betsy Hudson Traba and Cheryl Losey Feder, will entertain at 3:30 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Rd., Sarasota. Cost: $18 in advance; $25 at the door; $10 for students with ID. For more information, call the temple office at 941.924.1802.

140 kosher characters

twitter.com/jfedsrq

JEWISH HAPPENINGS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15 Kehillah of Lakewood Ranch book review The Kehillah of Lakewood Ranch invites you to a book review The Color of Water by James McBride. The event begins at 1:30 p.m. at Esplanade Golf & Country Club, Amenity Center, 5240 Esplanade Boulevard, Lakewood Ranch. Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared “lightskinned” woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician and son, explores his mother’s past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother. No charge; donations appreciated.

For more information, contact the Kehillah at 941.281.2587 or info@ kehillahoflakewoodranch.org.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 1st Annual Heschel/King Breakfast Join us to commemorate the strong relationship between the Black and Jewish communities throughout history and here in Sarasota-Manatee. Enjoy a buffet breakfast of “Southern/Jewish” fusion food. The event begins at 7:00 a.m. in the Bea Friedman Theatre on The Federation Campus, 582 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Cost: $10. To RSVP or for more information, please visit http://jfedsrq.org/events.

Sponsored by

Sarasota Jewish Singles The Sarasota Jewish Singles is an outreach program of Temple Beth Israel to give all Jewish singles in the area the opportunity to meet other men and women who are alone. The group meets once a month for dinner, laughter and a time to turn acquaintances into lifelong friends. Join us at 6:00 p.m. at Moon Wok, 8194 Tourist Center Drive, Bradenton. For more information or to make a reservation, call or text Rosalyn Fleischer at 941.915.6631 or email rozfleischer@gmail.com.

Joel Grey: Master of Ceremonies For more than 60 years, actor, singer and dancer Joel Grey has delighted audiences on stage, film and television. He won an Oscar, a Tony and a Golden Globe award for his iconic role as a Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret, and was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene in 2013. Join him for an intimate conversation about his life, as told in his new memoir, Master of Ceremonies – his journey from Cleveland to Broadway and Hollywood; his personal story; coming out at the age of 82; his work as a photographer; and what’s next for Joel Grey. The event begins at 8:15 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key. Cost: $10; free for TBI members. For more information, contact the TBI office at 941.383.3428 or info@tbi-lbk.org, or visit www.tbi-lbk.org.

February 2016

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 NOOA Dance Troupe and Perlman Music Program Performance The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee presents a cultural evening of dance and music featuring dancers from Tel Mond, Israel, and musical performances by The Perlman Music Program. The event begins at 7:00 p.m. at Riverview High School, 1 Ram Way, Sarasota. Tickets are $10 for adults and free for students. Tickets will be available at the door, but reservations are preferred. For more information, contact Andrea Eiffert at 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org. To register, visit http:// jfedsrq.org/events.

Sponsored by

“How Torahs Are Made” Most of us will never fully appreciate the absolute devotion and diligence required for a scribe to make a Torah scroll, which must contain 304,805 letters that must each be perfectly pure and perfectly formed. The scribe’s role in our lives is hidden from us, but his precision and persistence in producing the holiest writing on earth gives the Jewish people fortitude throughout our lives and our circumstances of hardship and trauma. Join us at 11:00 a.m. at the Al Katz Center, 5710 Cortez Road West, Bradenton. Cost: $7 per adult; $3 per student; healthy kosher foods with vegan options, and study materials included. To RSVP, call Beverly Newman at 941.313.9239.

NCJW General Meeting The National Council of Jewish Women’s program at 1:00 p.m. will be held on The Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Join author, teacher and wellness advocate, Dr. Robin Shapiro, for a conversation regarding Eastern medicine and its place in contemporary Western culture.

Explore the uses of food as medicine and clear up some of the misconceptions about certain food groups. The Standard American Diet (SAD) needs some revamping if we are going to improve the quality of our health.

Robin will offer an interactive discussion about the power of nutrition on many levels: physical, emotional and mental. For additional information about this program or NCJW, please call 941.342.1855.

TBS Idelson Library Film Matinee Series Streit’s: Matzo and the American Dream (2014; 75 minutes) is a documentary about the last family-owned matzo bakery in America during the final year at their historic New York City factory and of its place in the rich history of the Lower East Side and America. When Streit’s opened in 1925, it sat at the heart of the nation’s largest Jewish immigrant community. Today, in its 5th generation of family ownership, it still produces 40% of the nation’s matzo. The event begins at 1:15 p.m. at Temple Beth Sholom, Madeline L. Sainer Social Hall, 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota. Refreshments, including popcorn, will be served, sponsored by the Men’s Club. Ralph Levitt will lead a Q&A session after the film. The suggested donation is $3 for TBS members and $5 for nonmembers. Please contact the temple office at 941.955.8121 or info@templebethsholomfl.org for more information.

A J C ’ S 2 01 6 WINT E R LUNCH & LE ARN

Europe in Crisis: Terrorism, Populism and Immigration FEATURING

Deidre Berger Director AJC Berlin Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations

Thursday, February 11, 2016 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Michael’s On East, Sarasota Lecture only $30 (Includes Lunch) Reservations Required.

RSVP to AJC at 941.365.4955 or email Sarasota@ajc.org EVENT CHAIRS

Lori & Randy Benderson Geri & Ron Yonover Europe in 2016 is deeply shaken by terrorism, unemployment, failing economies, right-wing populism and now, a seemingly unending stream of refugees. Europe’s Jewish communities are worried about a steep rise in anti-Semitism and many are examining their future. AJC’s Berlin Director, Deidre Berger, explains why European identities are under duress and the role of AJC in countering such developments.

Sponsored by

Everything you need for Valentine’s Day. Elegant food, fine wine, fresh flowers, divine desserts and specialty gift baskets.

Catered by us.

For you and your sweetheart.

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February 2016

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 JFCS Holocaust Survivors’ Havurah Sponsored by

All survivors are invited to attend these monthly gatherings of friendship, camaraderie and support.

Enjoy a light nosh and a lively discussion. The group meets from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. at Kobernick House, 1951 N. Honore Ave., Sarasota. Conversation topic: Sayings My Family Taught Me. We will also have a planning session for the year ahead. Please bring your ideas and thoughts. This is a multi-agency event sponsored by JFCS of the Suncoast, Inc., Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee and The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. To RSVP or for more information, contact Jan Alston at 941.366.2224 x172 or jalston@JFCS-Cares.org.

FRI-SAT, FEBRUARY 19-21 Kehillah of Lakewood Ranch Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Joel Mishkin is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Ohr in Old Bridge, New Jersey. He served as the rabbi for the conservative Jewish community in Sarasota-Manatee for almost 19 years, helping to establish adult and youth education programming and a lay school open to students of all faiths. Rabbi Mishkin has over 25 years in the rabbinate. Weekend schedule: Friday at 7:30 p.m. at The Windsor, 8220 Natures Way, Lakewood Ranch; Saturday at 10:00 a.m. (call for location); Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (call for location). No charge; donations appreciated. For more information, contact the Kehillah at 941.281.2587 or info@kehillahoflakewoodranch. org.

Brian Mariash 941-364-5678 | www.fa.ml.com/MLWM

JEWISH HAPPENINGS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Temple Emanu-El hosts Brandeis Shabbat Temple Emanu-El proudly hosts Brandeis Shabbat. Members of the Sarasota chapter of the Brandeis National Committee will join Rabbi Brenner Glickman on the bima for this Shabbat service, educating worshippers about Brandeis and its important place in the Jewish community. Please join us at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 151 McIntosh Road, Sarasota.

For more information, call the temple office at 941.371.2788.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20 STEP Scavenger Hunt All Jewish Sarasota and Manatee high school students are invited to join our high school student guests from Tel Mond, Israel, for an evening of fun and adventure. Meet at 7:00 p.m. at Lido Beach (access location across from Holiday Inn) for Havdalah, then proceed to scavenger hunt program at St. Armands Circle, and end the evening at Big Olaf Creamery (561 N. Washington Dr.) at 10:00 p.m. This is a free event. For more information, please contact Andrea Eiffert at 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org. To register, visit http://jfedsrq.org/events.

“Victories and the Tough Road Ahead for Civil Rights” Following the Shabbat service at 10:30 a.m., the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism (which meets at Unity, 3023 Proctor Rd., Sarasota) will introduce Nadine Smith, CEO of Equality Florida, who will speak about “Victories and the Tough Road Ahead for Civil Rights.” Nadine Smith has faced arrest, met with presidents, and witnessed amazing changes in the lives of many people. As a black woman, lesbian and Southerner, she has lived at the intersection of discrimination. Smith is a former awardwinning journalist turned organizer. She was one of four national co-chairs of the 1993 March on Washington and was part of the historic oval office meeting with then-President Clinton. Smith was named one of the state’s “Most Powerful and Influential Women” by the Florida Diversity Council.

For more information, call 941.929.7771 or visit chj-sarasota.org.

Superhero Family Dinner and Movie Join The Gan at Temple Sinai at 5:30 p.m., when The Incredibles movie will be shown on a huge blow-up screen while you enjoy a scrumptious catered dinner. Come dressed as your favorite superhero and bring a blanket for the best seat to watch the movie. Superhero activities will be provided.

Parents: remember to bring a bottle of wine or beer to enjoy with old and new friends! Temple Sinai is located at 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Rd., Sarasota. Cost: $12 for adults; $5 for children. For more information, call The Gan at Temple Sinai at 941.926.9462.

ORT Sock Hop SaraMana ORT presents Let’s Go to the Hop! The event, to be held at University Park Country Club (7671 The Park Blvd.) from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m., will feature delicious food and music reminiscent of the ’50s. Pull out those poodle skirts, bobby socks and saddle shoes and be ready to rock around the clock! Cost is $50 with a cash bar. Contact Natalie Abrams at 941.907.2011 or natscats@tampabay.rr.com, or Sandie Ivers at 941.224.0807 or sandieivers@hotmail.com.

Temple Beth El Anniversary Gala Enjoy and celebrate with Temple Beth El Bradenton as we celebrate our 41st year as a full-service congregation, and as we honor the contributions and hard work of our Ritual Chair, Katherine Richmond. Enjoy an evening of food, drinks, dancing and an art auction. The gala begins at 6:00 p.m. at Renaissance on 9th, 1816 9th Street West, Bradenton. Cost: $55 for members; $58 for nonmembers. Dress: semi-formal. For more information, reservations and Anniversary Journal ads, please call the TBE office, Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to noon, at 941.755.4900.

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JEWISH HAPPENINGS

February 2016

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 Chabad of Sarasota Men’s Club Breakfast Chabad’s Men’s Club is hosting a breakfast that will feature a presentation

by Dr. Barry I. Stein entitled “Geriatric Care.” Dr. Stein is a family practice physician with First Physicians Group. Please join us at 9:00 a.m. at Chabad of Sarasota (7700 Beneva Road) for this informative presentation featuring the best kosher breakfast in Sarasota (scrambled eggs and onions, whitefish salad, bagels, lox and cream cheese). Men and women welcome.

Cost: $7 for Club 770 members; $10 for nonmembers. For more information or to RSVP, contact the Chabad office at 941.925.0770 or info@ chabadofsarasota.com.

“Legacy of the Cold War”

Feb 2 Club Fed Lecture Series II: Exodus Feb 8 An Evening with Ehud Barak

SOLD OUT

Feb 10 Club Fed Hits the Road: Chihuly Collection SOLD OUT at the Morean Arts Center Feb 17 Tel Mond Dancers at Riverview High School

Jewish War Veterans Post 172 meeting

Feb 23 Club Fed Lecture Series III: King Solomon Mar 8 Club Fed Lecture Series IV: Queen Esther Mar 6–13 The Milman-Kover Jewish Film Festival Mar 23 Club Fed Hits the Road: Tiffany at the Morse Museum Apr 4 Presentation by Jennifer Teege: My Grandfather

Would Have Shot Me Apr 13 Club Fed Hits the Road: The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg May 15 One Community Outreach Yom Ha’atzmaut Celebration

Following the trail of a 1905 wedding picture, and her grandfather’s baker’s apprentice book from a small town in Hungary, Kayla Niles and her husband, John, researched her grandparents’ American records and then went to Hungary to trace her family roots. Genealogical records led to Budapest, to stories of tragedy and survival during World War II and, amazingly, a family of relatives. One hundred years of separation disappeared in a moment of recognition and connection. Join us for “Roots and Branches: A Search for Family in Hungary” at 1:00 p.m. at Kobernick House, 1951 N. Honore Ave., Sarasota. Attendance is free and everyone is welcome. For more information, contact Kim Sheintal at 941.921.1433 or klapshein@aol.com, or visit http://jgsswf.org/.

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Get complete info and purchase tickets as they become available at www.jfedsrq.org or 941.371.4546

For lots of useful stuff, visit www.jfedsrq.org.

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Kosher Cooking Competition Join the Jewish Women’s Circle for a Kosher Cooking Competition open to both men and women. The competition will include a behind-the-scenes expose on the kosher labeling process with Rabbi Mendy, a kosher food tasting, and cooking and competing for fabulous prizes. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at The Chabad House, 5712 Lorraine Road, Bradenton. Reservations required. Join the competition or RSVP by contacting Chabad at www.chabadofbradentom.com or 941.752.3030. Fee: $10; sponsor: $100.

For more information, contact Rabbi Mendy Bukiet at 941.752.3030 x3 or info@chabadofbradenton.com.

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Jewish War Veterans Sarasota Post 172 will hold its next meeting in the Activities Room of Kobernick House, 1951 N. Honore Ave., Sarasota. All future meetings will also be held at Kobernick House. The usual lox-andbagel breakfast will begin at 9:45 a.m. and costs $7 per person. Veterans living at Kobernick House are invited to eat free. This will be a special meeting as we will be celebrating the community-wide Mitzvah Day by inviting two veterans and their families to join us for brunch and a presentation of a Publix gift card from our Post. Our guest speaker, Rabbi Brenner Glickman of Temple Emanu-El, will entertain us with a bit of Jewish humor. For further information or for directions to Kobernick House, please contact Stan Levinson, Commander, at 941.907.6720 or stanlevinson172@gmail.com.

New Orleans Jazz Night The Temple Beth Israel’s Men’s Club invites you to this event at 8:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key. Kid Dutch and his New Orleans music group will make a return visit to TBI. This is Florida’s only authentic New Orleans-class jazz band that has groove and style. The two-hour program includes refreshments during intermission.

The cost is $20 and all tickets will be sold at the door; no advance sales.

For more information, call the temple office at 941.383.3428.

The number of people we help support each year is equal to almost

one THIRD oF SARASoTA CoUnTY’S PoPULATIon.

GET INVOLVED! This first day of its kind in the area will bring together people of all ages from our two counties to lend their helping hands to numerous agencies. There are projects suitable for everyone! For information on the projects we will be supporting, go to jfedsrq.org/ways-to-give/mitzvah day

GET REGISTERED! The deadline to sign up is Friday, February 12 Do not delay. You must register online to participate. To register, go to jfedsrq.org/ways-to-give/mitzvahday

GET HERE! The day begins with a Kick-Off Event at Temple Beth Sholom 1050 S. Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota @ 8:30 AM You must be registered to participate.

CAMPUS oF CARInG The Glasser Schoenbaum Human Services Center is an internationally recognized concept in philanthropy and in nonprofit administration that supports organizations who deliver services to those in need in Sarasota and Manatee Counties.

Visit us at gs-humanservices.org to make a donation or learn more.

COORDINATED BY THE SYNAGOGUE COUNCIL OF SARASOTA-MANATEE WITH SUPPORT FROM THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF SARASOTA-MANATEE 1750 17th Street Sarasota FL 34234 941.365.4545

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Robert Aaron presents key players (some Jewish) involved in creating the atomic bomb. He describes the Cold War, when the U.S. mass-produced nuclear devices to keep up with the Soviets. Cleaning weapon production sites has been costly and presents environmental dangers. Aaron shares his personal work experience at Hanford, West Virginia, and Fernald, Ohio, and offers insights into activities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. A full breakfast will be served. Join us at 9:30 a.m. at the Jewish Congregation of Venice, 600 N. Auburn Road. Cost: $7 donation to cover the cost of food. For more information, contact Marty Himmelfarb at 941.484.2022.

jfedsrq.org

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JEWISH HAPPENINGS

February 2016

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25

“American Jewish Military History: World War I” In June 2015, an unknown Jewish hero was finally awarded his wellearned Medal of Honor for acts of bravery in World War I, a medal he had been denied during his lifetime due to his religion. Although Sgt. William Shemin repeatedly dodged gunfire to pull his wounded comrades to safety during three days of bloody battles in France, he did not live long enough to receive the award due to him. Learn the courageous acts of our Jewish troops! Join us at 11:00 a.m. at the Al Katz Center, 5710 Cortez Road West, Bradenton. Cost: $7 per adult; $3 per student; healthy kosher foods with vegan options, and discussion materials included. To RSVP, call Beverly Newman at 941.313.9239.

Artist and Audiences and Lunch Diane Steinbrink, producer, actor and director presents Alfred Uhry, the Southern Jewish Playwright, featuring monologues from Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night of the Ballyhoo and Parade. The event begins at 11:00 a.m. at Temple Sinai, 4631 South Lockwood Ridge Rd., Sarasota. Cost: $30 for members; $35 for guests. Advance ticket sales only. No walk-ins.

For more information, call Janet Tolbert 941.388.9624.

“What Is It About Jews and Comedy?”

Join us at 2:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel (567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key) to hear Lenny Dave, a nationally-recognized speaker, humorist and author. From Vaudeville, Broadway and night clubs to radio, movies and television, Dave’s program delivers a prescription of insight and humor.

The informative presentation is an audio-visual delight, and includes all the favorite laugh-makers of the past 100 years. You will learn and be entertained by Dave’s thorough knowledge and wonderful anecdotes creating the link between Jews and comedy. Cost: free for TBI members; $5 for nonmembers. For more information, call the temple office at 941.383.3428.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 Club Fed Lecture Series – King Solomon Sponsored by

This series of four lectures is presented by Dr. Steven Derfler. This event takes place from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. on The Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. Cost: $18 for the series. Register online at http://jfedsrq. org/events or contact Jeremy Lisitza at 941.343.2113.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24 Garrison Keillor “Ah, seventy…your work is triumphant, you pee like a Palomino pony, and your imagination is more vivid than ever before,” writes Garrison Keillor. Having recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as creator, writer and host of A Prairie Home Companion, Keillor returns to 92Y for a light-hearted evening of reading and reminiscing. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road, Longboat Key. Cost: $10; free for TBI members. For more information, contact the TBI office at 941.383.3428 or info@tbi-lbk.org, or visit www.tbi-lbk.org.

“Enculturation of anti-Semitism Before the Holocaust” Join us for a lecture about how European culture and folklore before the Holocaust portrayed a negative stereotype of the Jew as a mythical villain.

This stereotype appears in a myriad of images throughout history and lays the foundation for the enduring hatred of the Jew. These images served to reinforce the racist prejudices against the Jews and followed them across borders to the different countries where they sought refuge in exile. Presenter Dr. Andre Krauss, is a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Romanian Academy, a published art historian and media psychologist, and holds two doctorates: History of Art from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Social Psychology from the University of Bucharest, Romania. The event takes place from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Zell Room on The Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota.

Cost: $5. For more information, contact Orna Nissan at 941.552.6305 or onissan@jfedsrq.org. To RSVP, contact Amy Goodman-Rizzo at 941.371.4546 x107 or arizzo@jfedsrq.org.

Sponsored by

STEP TKO Club Card Making Get your creative juices flowing and do a mitzvah, too! All teens are invited to make cards for Purim to be given to members of the JFCS Senior Outreach Service. Supplies and snacks provided; bring on the fun! This event, which is free and open to all Jewish teens, begins at 4:00 p.m. on The Jewish Federation Campus, 580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota. For more information, contact Andrea Eiffert 941.552.6308 or aeiffert@jfedsrq.org. To register, visit http://jfedsrq.org/events.

“Global Jewish Expulsions” Part II Although we all know of the infamous Jewish expulsions from Spain in 1492, there are scores of other expulsions throughout the course of 2,500 years and continuing today, including Hungary in 1349, Crimea in 1016, and the United States in 1862. This important two-part course will offer you new perspectives on the miraculous continuity of our Jewish people, whose survival has endured countless disruptions and forced migrations across multiple continents and multitudes of centuries. Join us at 5:30 p.m. at the Al Katz Center, 5710 Cortez Road West, Bradenton. Cost: $10; healthy kosher foods with vegan options, and study guide included. To RSVP, call Beverly Newman at 941.313.9239.

Chabad of Sarasota Gala Chabad of Sarasota’s 21st Annual Gala at 6:30 p.m. at Michael’s On East (1212 S. East Avenue, Sarasota) will honor Dr. Charles and Lisa Loewe for their commitment, dedication, and being strong pillars in our community.

The gala will feature Cantor Joseph Malovany, a world-famous cantor serving as the Chazzan of New York’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue since 1973, and a distinguished professor of liturgical music. Please consider acknowledging the philanthropic efforts of the Loewes and the immense efforts of Chabad of Sarasota to create greater Jewish awareness in our community by attending the gala or by placing a tax-deductible advertisement or greeting in the gala journal. Proceeds from the gala will benefit the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which presently has a demand that far exceeds our resources. Cost: $150. For more information or to RSVP, contact the Chabad office at 941.925.0770.

STAY CONNECTED

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YOU ARE THE JEWISH COMMUNITY. THIS IS YOUR FEDERATION. TOGETHER, WE DO EXTRAORDINARY THINGS.

The Jewish Federation offers programming for all ages!

WE HAVE A LOT TO SAY WANT TO DISPLAY THE JEWISH NEWS IN YOUR OFFICE OR BUSINESS?

Robin Leonardi, Account Executive: 941.552.6307 • rleonardi@jfedsrq.org

From PJ Library and ShaLom baby through teen leadership missions to women’s events, CLub Fed, and FiFty ShadeS oF J, to senior services — your Federation provides support throughout Sarasota and Manatee.

Learn more at jfedsrq.org/whatwedo

JEWISH HAPPENINGS

February 2016

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 Temple Beth El Bradenton’s “Shabbat Live” TBE’s Shabbat Live Musical Group celebrates the beginning of Shabbat at 7:30 p.m. at 4200 32nd Street West, Bradenton. Join Cantor Alan Cohn, Cantorial Soloist Deborah Suta and musicians Albert Rosenstein and Robbie Taylor as they take us along with prayer and song. For more information, please call the TBE office, Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to noon, at 941.755.4900.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28

Looking to connect with other members of the Jewish community?

We Welcome You!

We hope you feel at home and become active members of the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish community.

Eight Over Eighty The Jewish Housing Council presents a celebration recognizing eight individuals or couples, at least 80 years of age, with a legacy of leadership in volunteerism, philanthropy and enrichment in the Sarasota/Manatee community. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. at Michael’s On East, 1212 S. East Ave, Sarasota. Cost: $125; sponsorship opportunities available. For more information, contact please Patricia McMahon at 941.377.0781 x124 or pmcmahon@kobernickanchin.org.

The Jewish Federation would like to welcome you to the area!

Questions? Contact Ilene Fox at ifox@jfedsrq.org or 941-343-2111

Aged Sephardic Torah welcoming reception This extraordinary event, which runs from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., will combine the reception for the aged Sephardic Torah being welcomed to its new home at the Al Katz Center (5710 Cortez Road West, Bradenton) with an art exhibit in the new Al Katz Jewish Art Gallery. Enjoy a powerful piano concert by Eleonora Lvov, and the “Israel from Sea to See Traveling Poster Exhibit” created by the Center in support of Israel. At 1:00 p.m., Dr. Thomas Hecht, Founder of the Begin-Sadat Center in Israel, will speak on “Muslim Imperialism.” Cost: $12 per person for Dr. Hecht’s address; healthy, hearty kosher brunch included. To RSVP, call Beverly Newman at 941.313.9239.

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THAT CAR, BOAT, OR RV?

• Our online form makes it easy.

• Support a worthwhile cause.

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NCJW award presentation and luncheon The National Council of Jewish Women Sarasota-Manatee Section is pleased to present the Hannah G. Solomon award to Marian Moss and Janet Stollman. This award is given to a woman in the NCJW SarasotaManatee Section whose leadership improves the quality of life for people of all ages and backgrounds, and has motivated others to fight for change resulting in progress and enlightenment in the community. Please join us for greetings at 12:30 p.m., followed by a luncheon at 1:00 p.m., at Tournament Players Club Prestancia, 4409 Tournament Players Club Drive, Sarasota. The cost for the luncheon is $26. RSVP by Friday, February 12. For additional information or to RSVP, call 941.342.1855.

Visit TheJewishFederation.org

NOW AVAILABLE AT MORE THAN 50 LOCATIONS! SARASOTA • SRQ Chamber of Commerce • SRQ Visitors’ Center • Selby Public Library • Newsrack across from Hollywood 20 • Ringling Post Office • St. Armands Circle – John Ringling Blvd.

• St. Armands Circle – Blvd. of the Presidents • Bayfront Park • Nellie’s Deli • Villa Grande • JFCS • Gulf Gate Library • Einstein Brothers Bagels • Landings Racquet Club • Publix at Landings Plaza • Silverstein Institute

SARASOTA • The Jewish Federation Campus • Lakehouse West • SRQ Memorial Hospital – Outpatient • Morton’s Gourmet Bakery • Art Building • Bahia Oaks Lodge • Health Complex East Ave • Kobernick Anchin/Benderson • Fruitville Library • Temple Emanu-El • Temple Beth Sholom • Temple Sinai • Chabad of Sarasota • Founder’s Club • Bird Key Park Newsrack • Temple Beth Israel • Longboat Key Newsrack – Gulf of Mexico Dr. & Cedar St.

LAKEWOOD RANCH/ BRADENTON • Northern Trust Bank • Legacy Golf Club • SMR Corporate Bank • Country Pancake House • Intercoastal Medical Group • FCCI Insurance Group • University Park Country Club • The Meadows • Palm Aire Clubhouse • Lake Ridge Falls • LWR Chamber of Commerce • University Cleaners LWR • Dreams Jeweler LWR • Bradenton Library • Bradenton Post Office • Publix at University Pkwy • Bank of America LWR • Women/Children’s Center

LAKEWOOD RANCH/ BRADENTON • Lake Club • Chabad of Bradenton VENICE • The Jewish Congregation of Venice • Venice Public Library • Venice Community Center • Jacaranda Public Library • Chabad of Venice & North Port

Make sure to tell your friends and neighbors!

Contact 941.371.4546 x 107 to become a subscriber & receive your copy in the mail

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February 2016

Celebrating 4

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