Feb 5, 2018 Jewish News

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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 56 No. 10 | 20 Shevat 5778 | February 5, 2018

23 Dr. Steven Warsof receives honorary appointment in Israel

32 Scenes from Israel at Leon Family Gallery

Winter Olympics 2018 Jewish in South Korea •Athletes •Eats •Shabbat

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33 Nefesh Mountain March 9–11

Mazel Tov!

33 Aaron David Miller Monday, Feb. 12

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upfront Democratic-Republican split on Israel is the widest in 40 years, poll finds

Trump would stick to nuclear deal if partners helped crack down on missile violations, Nikki Haley says

Published 21 times a year by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

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WASHINGTON ( JTA)—The gap between how Republicans and Democrats view Israel is widening, a Pew Research Center poll found.

The poll posted Tuesday, Jan. 23 showed 79 percent of Republicans sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians whereas 27 percent of Democrats sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians. Pew said this was the widest divide since 1978. The poll showed that 42 percent of Independents sympathize with Israel more than Palestinians.

The drop among Democrats was especially sharp in recent years; in April 2016, 43 percent of Democrats said they were likelier to sympathize with Israel. The rise among Republicans has also been sharp since 2001: In that year, 50 percent of Republicans said they sympathize more with Israel.

This year’s poll showed 6 percent of Republicans sympathize with Palestinians more and 25 percent of Democrats sympathize with the Palestinians more.

Overall, 46 percent of Americans sympathize more with Israel, about the same amount it has been since 1978.

Differences were also sharp in how the respondents view Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among Republicans, 52 percent view the Israeli leader favorably and 15 percent view him unfavorably. Among Democrats, it was 18 percent favorable and 39 percent unfavorable.

With Independents, it was 31 percent favorable and 28 percent unfavorable.

Netanyahu openly clashed with President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and has warmly welcomed the presidency of Donald Trump, a Republican.

The telephone poll reached 1,503 adults between Jan. 10 and 15. The margins of error were 2.9 percentage points overall, 5.7 points for Republicans, 5.1 points for Democrats and 5 points for Independents.

WASHINGTON (JTA)—If partner countries helped crack down on Iranian missile violations, it could persuade President Donald Trump to sustain the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said.

Nikki Haley made her remarks on Monday, Jan. 29 after leading a White House meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council and Trump.

“They’re starting to realize, ‘If we don’t start talking about the violations, if we don’t call them out, then the U.S. is going to say this whole thing is a sham,’” Haley told the Associated Press, speaking of the other council members.

Haley said that were other countries to focus on Iranian violations of Security Council resolutions on missile development and use, it could sway Trump to stay in the deal.

If true, that would represent a significant shift in Trump’s approach to the 2015 deal, which has been to insist that it must be changed or the United States will pull out. Violations of existing Security Council resolutions on ballistic missile development were not part of the original deal, which was negotiated under President Barack Obama. The deal swaps sanctions relief for rollbacks in Iran’s nuclear program.

At least three of the parties to the deal—France, Britain and Germany—have said they are willing to toughen sanctions on Iran outside the framework of the deal, including those targeting its missile development.

Among other changes to the agreement, Trump has said previously that he wants Iranian missile development to trigger new sanctions. He also has said he wants to remove “sunset” clauses that lift some of the restrictions on Iran enriching fissile material in 10-15 years.

Trump has until April to decide whether to keep the United States in the deal. At that point he must decide whether to continue to waive nuclear sanctions, as required by the pact.

The Security Council delegation also toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, focusing on its exhibit recounting the atrocities committed during the ongoing Syrian civil war.

Contents Up Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Hal Sacks Jewish News Archives. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Winter Olympics 2018: Jewish storylines. . . . . 6

Quotable Israeli teens sue BDS activists. . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Jewish in Korea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Arielle Di Porto brings stories of Aliyah to Tidewater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Netanyahu and Putin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

What’s Happening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Which terrorist is more of a threat?. . . . . . . . 10

Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Jewish journalist confronts Trumps immigration advisers on their histories. . . 12

Mazel Tov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Trump and Kushner and the Mideast deal. . . 14 Mazel Tov special section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Who Knew?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 In Memoriam: Aharon Appelfeld. . . . . . . . . . 38

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Friday, February 9/24 Shevat Light candles at 5:21 pm

“In the upside-down world of the Nazis, a kindhearted prostitute became his Mother Theresa.”

—page 38

Friday, February 16/1 Adar Light candles at 5:21 pm Friday, February 23/8 Adar Light candles at 5:35 pm Friday, March 2/15 Adar Light candles at 5:42 pm Friday, March 9/22 Adar Light candles at 5:49 pm Friday, March 16/29 Adar Light candles at 6:55 pm

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 3

briefs Two Torah scrolls stolen from Hawaiian synagogue Torah scrolls valued at about $50,000 each were stolen from a synagogue on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The scrolls were taken last month from the sanctuary of the Chabad of Hawaii, located in the Ala Moana Hotel, according to local reports. One was written in the 1850s in Lithuania and survived the Holocaust.

Other valuable items, such as silver ritual objects, were left in the sanctuary, according to reports.

In the fall, the Jewish center was targeted with anti-Semitic epithets spraypainted on the sidewalk outside the building.

The Chabad is offering a $5,000 reward for the return of the Torah scrolls.

“We’re horrified and shocked and saddened that someone would steal something as sacred,” Chabad director Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky told a local TV station.

“That someone would steal in itself is a terrible thing, but to steal a Torah scroll is really shocking.” (JTA) US public relations pro killed in Taliban attack on hotel The president of a Florida-based public relations company and president of his Tampa synagogue was one of four Americans killed in an attack on a hotel in Kabul.

Glenn Selig was one of 22 people killed in a 13-hour siege by the Taliban last month on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, the State Department announced.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said their target was foreign forces, including U.S. troops.

Selig was in Kabul to explore a potential counter-extremism project for his public relations agency, Selig Multimedia, the Tampa Bay Times reported. He reportedly was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel.

“Glenn was in Kabul on a potential success story involving Afghanistan and its steps to battle extremism. The focus was highlighting the country’s new president and constructing a democracy forum event for Afghani women,” his company said in a statement, according to CNN. Prior to working in public relations,

Selig was a reporter and anchor in Florida markets, including Fox 13 in Tampa and WNEM-TV, a CBS affiliate in Michigan. In recent months he served as spokesman for Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates, who faces criminal charges in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Selig, 50, the father of two sons, was the two-term president of Congregation Mekor Shalom, a conservative synagogue in Tampa. (JTA)

Pope says Europe can do more in fight against hate and anti-Semitism Pope Francis called indifference about anti-Semitism a contagious “virus” and, quoting Christian texts, urged a European audience to do more in the fight against hate and anti-Semitism.

“I am grateful for the noble aim that brings you here: to reflect together, from varying points of view, on the responsibility of states, institutions and individuals in the struggle against anti-Semitism and crimes associated with anti-Semitic hatred,” the pope told a conference Monday, Jan. 29 in Rome organized in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, with the support of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and in collaboration with the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Foundation for Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center.

At the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace, Francis received an audience of conference participants to discuss the responsibility of states, institutions and individuals in the fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic hate crimes.

“The Church desires to extend her hand,” the pope said. “She wishes to remember and to walk together on this journey.”

Francis quoted the Nostra Aetate 4 text saying that “the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”

According to the Vatican press office, Francis also said, “We are responsible

4 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

when we are able to respond. It is not merely a question of analyzing the causes of violence and refuting their [anti-Semitic crimes’] perverse logic, but of being actively prepared to respond to them.”

Just one month ago, Francis in a written statement condemned the Holocaust and the medical experiments conducted

by Nazi doctors on Jewish concentration camp inmates.

In July 2016, Francis visited the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland.

Francis, the former cardinal of Buenos Aires, wrote the forward of a book by Rabbi Sergio Bergman, the current Argentine minister of sustainability, and referred to him as “one of my teachers.” (JTA)

Israelis in Europe steer clear of Jewish community activities, study suggests In a survey among hundreds of Israelis living in Europe, nearly half said they do not participate in any degree in Jewish community life or events.

Asked about their identity, 73 percent of Israelis in Europe described themselves as secular and only 38 percent described themselves also as Jewish in the survey, which was published last month.

Many of the respondents said they refrained from taking part in Jewish community events because the events are faith-centered.

The survey was conducted online last year by the International Centre for Community Development of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Almost two-thirds of the respondents (64 percent) said they were aware of an organized and active Israeli community in their area, but only 17 percent said they participated in activities and events to a large or very large degree.

JDC conducted the survey in partnership with the Machon Kehilot organization for Israelis living abroad.

The JDC-Kehilot survey was among the largest and most in-depth studies of Israelis in Europe. Community activists for years have struggled to increase participation by Israelis in activities of Jewish communities, often with otherwise dwindling memberships.

Britain, Germany and the Netherlands

alone are believed to be home to more than 100,000 Israelis.

A 2016 Pew study conducted in Israel found that 40 percent of Israelis identify as secular. Most secular Jews in the Pew study said they see themselves as Israeli first and Jewish second.

Asked to indicate what could draw them to attend community activities, 68 percent of the Israelis who do not participate in Jewish community life chose as their response: “activities for secular Jews.” Other answers included cultural events (58 percent) and activities in Hebrew (56 percent).

Despite this relative reticence to partake in Jewish community events, more than half of respondents expressed interest in attending events for Hebrew speakers.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents were married or in a domestic partnership. More than half were women. The average age among respondents was 40 years old.(JTA)

Reconstructionist rabbinical school changes name to Reconstructing Judaism The rabbinical school and umbrella organization for Reconstructionist Judaism has a new name: Reconstructing Judaism.

The name, announced Monday, Jan. 29 comes along with a new logo of a sprouting tree as well as a new slogan, “Deeply rooted. Boldly relevant.” The rabbinical school in suburban Philadelphia, which serves 39 students, will be called the College for Reconstructing Judaism.

The name of the movement, however, will remain Reconstructionist Judaism.

“This new name reflects to the world that we always have been and continue to be engaged in creating active Jewish life,” said Rabbi Deborah Waxman, the school’s president, in a call with reporters.

“Reconstructionist Judaism has been grounded in actively expressing Judaism.

This verb form rather than the adjective or the noun communicates that more clearly,” she said.

The movement, which includes some 100 congregations, will also be opening its first camp on the West Coast this year, and will hold its first movement-wide convention since 2010 in November. (JTA)

from the hal Sacks Jewish News Archives

February 4, 2008 This year’s Super Sunday successfully raised $113,884 for United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Annual Campaign 2008. Nearly 100 volunteers were split into four colorful teams.

February 13, 1998 Tidewater Jewish Forum will present Peter and Bethany Yarrow in “A Legacy of Commitment, Ideals, Hope, and Dreams.”

Peter Yarrow is one of the founding members of Peter, Paul and Mary.

Bethany is his daughter.

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February 5, 1988 The Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater will feature Ira Gissen, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League as part of its speaker services. Gissen will speak on “The New Challenges of Anti-Semitism.”

February 3, 1978 The Tidewater Jewish singles group continues to meet with success. The winter program of trips, socials, and discussions has attracted up to 60 people of varied ages and interests.

February 1, 1968 Eliezer Kroll, Aliyah representative of Israel, came to Norfolk to recruit Jewish men and women over 18 to live in Israel either temporarily or permanently.

“We have a program designed for everyone,” he said.

February 1, 1958 Youth Council Corner: A Record Hop to raise money for additional records will be held under the Council’s sponsorship, according to Harvey Eluto, Jewish Youth Council president.

February 1, 1948 Approximately 60,000 homeless European Jews, the majority of them D.P.’s, were helped by the United Jewish Appeal to find new homes in Palestine, the United States and other lands in 1947.

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Winter Olympics 2018: 5 Jewish storylines to watch (JTA)—The world is about to revolve around Pyeongchang, a mountainous county in the northern half of South Korea, for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Jewish fans won’t have quite as many standout athletes to cheer for this year as they did in 2016, when multiple American members of the tribe won medals at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. But there are several compelling Jewish stories to catch up on before the action starts.

Israel is sending its largest team ever.

Before this year, the largest Israeli delegation at a Winter Olympics was five. That shouldn’t sound too surprising, given that more than 60 percent of the country’s landscape is desert, and it isn’t the best place for winter sports training.

This year, however, the record will double.

Seven of Israel’s 10 representatives will compete in figure skating. That group is anchored by Alexei Bychenko, who in 2016 became the first skater to earn a medal for Israel at a European Championships event. Bychenko, 29, who skated for Ukraine until 2009 and has been ranked as one of the top 10 male skaters in the world, is likely Israel’s best chance to win a medal (and like U.S. Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman, Bychenko has been known to perform to Hava Nagila).

The Jewish state is sending another kind of skater, too—the faster kind.

Vladislav Bykanov, who won a bronze medal last month at the European Championships, will compete in speed skating. Itamar Biran, a 19-year-old born in London, will represent Israel in alpine skiing.

This American never thought she’d do pairs skating— or compete for Israel.

Paige Conners is having her Olympic dream come true in about the last way she expected.

According to a video by 13WHAM, the ABC affiliate in Rochester, N. Y., the 17-year-old Conners was ill when she was supposed to try out for the U.S. figure skating team. With her hopes of competing in peril, her mother, who has Israeli citizenship, pointed out another opportunity: skating for the Israeli team.

Conners jumped at the opportunity, but Israel offered her a spot only if she competed in the pairs competition. She had never tried it before and figured she never would. But she quickly connected with Evgeni Krasnopolski, a 29-year-old pairs veteran, and in barely six months after Conners adopted the new style, the duo performed well enough at the Olympic qualifiers in September to make the cut.

“No one really believes it,” she told 13WHAM.

Israel’s first skeleton Olympian calls himself the “Hebrew Hammer.”

A few years ago, A.J. Edelman was an MIT graduate who worked as a product manager for Oracle. Now the Brookline, Mass., native will get a chance to make history for Israel as he becomes the country’s first skeleton Olympian, steering a flimsy sled down the track at the Pyeongchang Sliding Center.

“I want to challenge the perception of what Jews and Israelis can do in sports,” he told the Forward.

He is also clearly a fan of the comedy film The Hebrew Hammer, since he goes by the protagonist’s nickname. While his teammates and friends love it, his mother apparently doesn’t.

A former NHL player gets another chance to play for the U.S. Jonathon Blum probably longs for the time he spent playing in the NHL. These days, the Jewish 29-year-old plays for a team in Vladivostok, Russia—a city so remote that flights of six hours or more are required to play 24 of its 26 opponents. It is closer to Alaska than it is to St. Petersburg.

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Blum, a former first-round NHL draft pick, played for the Nashville Predators from 2010 to 2012, again in 2012–13, and for the Minnesota Wild for stints in the 2013–14 and 2014–5 seasons.

Those cities are just a little closer to where he grew up in Southern California.

This year, the NHL decided that it would not let its players participate in the

Olympics to protect them from injuries.

That opened the door for non-NHL players like Blum, a 6-foot-2 defenseman who has played on the U.S. team before, to represent his native country in South Korea.

Israel isn’t the only country sending Jewish skaters.

On the U.S. squad, look out for Jason Brown if he gets a chance to skate. After a disappointing performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last month, Brown is the U.S. team’s first

Clockwise from top: Alexei Bychenko, 2012 World Figure Skating Championships.

Jason Brown, 2011–2012, ISU Junior Grand Prix.

Jonathon Blum with the Vancouver Giants in 2007.

A.J. Edelman.

Sean Hagen

Gabe Friedman

alternate. But on the ice, the 23-year-old is known for skating to music from Riverdance and Hamilton.

And who would have thought that a certified Krav Maga instructor would skate for Canada and not Israel? Dylan Moscovitch helped Canada win a team silver medal in Sochi four years ago, and he’s back competing in the pairs contest with partner Liubov Ilyuschechkina.

What it’s like to be Jewish in South Korea Josefin Dolsten

T

hough the Jewish community in South Korea is small, Jews visiting the country to compete in or watch the Winter Olympic Games won’t have to skimp on kosher food or Shabbat programming.

The country’s Chabad emissary is setting up a pop-up restaurant in Pyeongchang County, the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics. During the Olympics, which start on February 9, the temporary eatery will serve three meals daily, including Korean-style bulgogi beef, schnitzel, hot dogs, and vegetarian items.

Chabad, a Hasidic Orthodox outreach movement that sends emissaries to countries around the world, will also teach Torah classes and put on Shabbat programming for tourists, journalists, and other visitors, as well as deliver food to athletes inside the Olympic Village.

“We have big events that we host at Chabad with hundreds of guests, but this is our first time to be able to cater for so many Jews all at once,” Rabbi Osher Litzman, says from Seoul, where he has served as Chabad’s emissary since 2008.

There are about 1,000 Jews living in South Korea, according to Litzman. Most are U.S. service members, English teachers, diplomats or students from the United States or Canada who come to the east Asian country for a year of two. Litzman and his family hosts Shabbat dinners at the Chabad house in Seoul, drawing some 40 to 50 attendees weekly, and High Holidays programming, which attracts more than 200 participants. Chabad also operates a kosher store and restaurant in Seoul and ships kosher food all over the country via an online shop.

For Litzman, the Olympics serve as a way to reach more people and expand Chabad’s work in the country.

“It’s a great pleasure,” he says. “This is something that we have been waiting for.

It’s a great opportunity for us to expand our services and to grow and to learn how to be able to host many people.”

Until the Chabad house opened in 2008, the only Jewish services were at the U.S. Army base in the capital, according to a

website for expats. Today, the Chabad house serves as a resource not only to Jews, but non-Jews as well.

“There are many Koreans coming here on a daily basis. They want to learn about Judaism, to buy kosher food, ask questions, [receive] guidance,” Litzman says.

“We invite them to come whenever they want during the weekdays.”

Non-Jewish South Koreans have reasons for wanting to learn about Judaism, he says.

“Some are just astonished by the fact that we have so many enemies and we still survive and we thrive,” Litzman says, “and others are thinking about the fact that many Jews are successful and in monetary areas they are trying to figure out how to do it.”

Others, he adds, want to learn about the Torah or Talmud, or come because they love Israel or have had positive experiences with Jewish people.

South Koreans who want to learn about Hebrew and Israel have another place to

go as well: the Israel Culture Center in Seoul. The venue teaches Hebrew and promotes Israeli culture, sometimes holding events with the Israeli Embassy. Founded in 2000, some 3,000 students have studied Hebrew—both modern and biblical—at the center, a representative says in an email. The center also has a Jewish studies library that is open to the public.

“Israel Culture Center will continuously work hard to be a place where Israel’s unique culture is introduced to Koreans and significant friendship is being birthed between Koreans and Israelis,” the representative says.

South Koreans’ fascination with Judaism has been widely documented.

“Each Korean family has at least one copy of the Talmud,” the country’s then-ambassador to Israel, Young-sam Ma, told an Israeli TV host in 2011. “Korean mothers want to know how so many Jewish people became geniuses.” (A New Yorker reporter

who followed up on the claim suggested that he meant a one-volume popularization of the vast, multi-volume compendium of Jewish law and lore, and, indeed, found it at most of the bookstores he visited.)

Many South Koreans have a positive view of Israel. Some 800 South Koreans live in the Jewish state, with many more going there to study Hebrew and the Bible.

Most of these enthusiasts are drawn to Israel because of their religious beliefs as evangelical Christians. Christianity is the largest organized religion in South Korea, with nearly 30 percent of the population identifying as Christians.

Unlike many Chabad emissaries, Litzman says he and his family do not have to deal with safety concerns and anti-Semitism.

“We feel blessed to be in such a country that there is admiration to Jews and especially to Israel,” he says, “and in general Korea is a very safe country.” (JTA)

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Netanyahu is trying hard to court Putin. Is his rhetoric working?

Cnaan Liphshiz

MOSCOW (JTA)—The story behind the huge Victory Monument that was unveiled in 2012 in the Israeli city of Netanya is not exactly common knowledge even there.

Featuring two stone slabs each 50 feet high and shaped like wings, the seaside statue honors the Russian Army’s enormous contribution in defeating Nazism.

It is known as “the sharks” because the statue reminds many locals of dorsal fins.

But if Israelis sometimes forget its symbolism, Russian President Vladimir Putin does not. Putin attended its unveiling, and in a speech Monday, Jan. 29 welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he referred to the statute as a significant sign in the renaissance of bilateral relations between Israel and Russia.

“I remember going to the opening of the monument to the Red Army soldiers,” Putin said. “It was a very touching event.

We are grateful to the leadership of Israel and the people of Israel for their respect for history.”

Officially scheduled to discuss Israeli concerns about Iran and Syria—two allies, if not client states, of Russia— Netanyahu’s latest visit to Moscow took place, unusually, at the city’s Jewish museum and featured a Holocaust commemoration event.

But the speeches at the event attested to how goodwill, symbolism and rhetoric is coinciding, and maybe even facilitating, horse trading on more practical things, including weapons deals and controversial military deployments by both countries.

Russians know, Putin added in his address, “that Israel carefully maintains gratitude to the Soviet Army and our soldiers for saving Jews and Europe from total extermination. We appreciate the fact that a monument is planned in Jerusalem in honor of the feat of the defenders and residents of besieged Leningrad.”

His praise for Israel was aimed in part at former Soviet nations where revisionist state historians, backed by governments wary of Russia and its expansionist politics, are downplaying or denigrating Soviet contributions—what Putin in his speech made more explicit with references

8 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

to what he termed “Russophobia.”

In Hungary, Ukraine, and the Baltic states, displaying both Soviet and Nazi symbols is illegal due to laws against “totalitarian imagery.” Monuments for Red Army saviors are routinely vandalized or removed in those countries.

And even the commemoration of the Holocaust is at times eclipsed by Russia’s narrative wars with its former client states.

To punish Russia for its 2014 invasion of Ukraine, the following year Poland disinvited Putin from the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The move infuriated even Holocaust scholars and commemoration professionals, who are not known for their sympathy to Russia.

Appreciation for Israel’s recognition of Russia’s role in defeating Nazism “is especially important amid the destruction and desecration of monuments to Soviet soldiers who gave their lives to liberate prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, and save Europe and the entire world from Nazism,” Putin said.

The politics of memory, as they are called in this part of the world, command an importance that may surprise outsiders. Struggling with stagnant or ruined economies amid rampant corruption, some of these countries might seem to have more immediate challenges.

By recognizing that such gestures are as important to Russia as, say, declarations about Jerusalem are to Israel, Netanyahu is leveraging Israel’s authoritative voice internationally on Holocaust commemoration issues to curry favor with Moscow.

“We never forget the crucial role of the Red Army in halting the Nazi machine,” Netanyahu said in his speech at the Jewish museum, addressing Putin. “You mentioned the monument in Israel: I initiated its erection in Netanya as a symbol of the appreciation we think must be eternalized for the Red Army,” Netanyahu said.

Under Netanyahu, Israel has done more for Russia than erect a monument.

Almost alone among Western nations, the Jewish state has essentially maintained total radio silence, and therefore neutrality, on the invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the European Union to impose crippling sanctions on Russia. In

fact, Israeli trade with Russia has only grown since, with an increase of 25 percent in the first six months of 2017 over the same period the previous year.

Russia has not quite returned the favor—at least not publicly.

Maintaining its decades-long tradition of voting against Israel at the United Nations, Russia in recent years has supported some of the most blatantly anti-Israel resolutions passed to date, including language on Jerusalem that ignores Judaism’s tie to the holy city. And Russia continues to back Iran, including through massive arms deals.

But behind the scenes Russia, whose army is notorious for its scare tactics against hostile entities, has not responded to repeated Israeli strikes in Syria and beyond—including in areas that are under the control of forces loyal to Bashar Assad, Syria’s beleaguered president, whose overthrow Russia prevented militarily in 2016.

Netanyahu has traveled to Moscow six times over the past two years to coordinate this modus vivendi. He said it was his goal last month, too. The prime minister said he would talk to Putin about Iran’s involvement in Lebanon, which Netanyahu said Iran was turning into a “missile base” to be used against Israel.

Putin is not the only one in the relationship who knows how to use historic symbols to drive home political messaging.

Directly after their two-hour meeting, both men attended a ceremony at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center honoring the 75th anniversary of the Sobibor Uprising, a prisoners’ rebellion at the death camp in Poland where 11 Nazis were killed and 300 Jews escaped.

It provided the perfect backdrop for Netanyahu’s thinly veiled warnings of Israel’s low tolerance for Iranian threats.

“If you don’t check hatred toward Jews, it will spread to other peoples quickly enough,” Netanyahu said, invoking the lessons of the Holocaust. “Our mission is to fight extremist ideologies when they are still small, to hit them forcefully, as part of our responsibility for the future.”

He ended his speech with these words: “There will not be another Holocaust.”

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Which terrorists are more of a threat, foreign or domestic? The ADL and the Trump administration differ.

Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Two reports on terrorism, 10 pages each and released within a day of each other, reach markedly different conclusions.

Over a decade, the Anti-Defamation League reports, domestic right-wing extremists carried out 71 percent of extremist-related murders. Over 15 years, according to the Department of Homeland Security, foreign-born culprits committed 73 percent of terrorism-related offenses.

What’s behind the startlingly different conclusions in the reports released last month? There’s an apples and oranges factor of course—starting with the differing time spans—but the Trump administration is also trying to shape the conversation on terrorism to comport with its national security and immigration objectives.

Apples and oranges The ADL report, “Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2017,” covers a decade’s worth of extremist violence, from 2007 to 2017, and says that of the 387 deaths in that period, 71 percent came in attacks carried out by rightwing extremists. Homeland Security’s report, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” encompasses from 2001 to 2016 and counts 549 individuals convicted of “international terrorism-related charges” in U.S. federal courts between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2016. Of those, 402 were foreign-born.

Including the first six years after the 9/11 attacks would presumably weight the count toward the foreign-born, as the Bush administration intensified efforts to track down bad actors connected to al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the attacks. (We don’t know for sure because Homeland Security does not break down its numbers into incidents or nationalities.)

Also, the ADL is counting victims, while Homeland Security is counting convicted perpetrators—two different classes.

10 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Most salient, however, is the terminology: The ADL report refers to “extremist related killings.” Homeland Security refers to “international terrorism-related charges.”

Why is the Trump administration making this about international terrorists and not including domestic terrorists?

There are two answers to this question, with a key divider: The election of President Donald Trump.

Before Trump: Law enforcement has long resisted lumping together domestic and international terrorism because of the different tools each phenomenon requires, so confining a report to “international terrorists” would not be unprecedented.

Domestic terrorists are often rightwing lone wolves who operate outside the structures of a terrorist organization.

Tracking them requires community-based policing, conveying to parties who might know a potential attacker—family, friends, colleagues—what the warning signs may be.

International terrorists often answer to groups based overseas, requiring coordination with the array of bodies that deal with foreign policy and national security.

Law enforcement is mindful of the differing prosecution strategies in pursuing domestic as opposed to international terrorists. Thomas Brzozowski, the Justice Department’s counsel for domestic terrorism, last month outlined for the Huffington Post the difference in strategies in each case. A tweet supporting a State Department-designated foreign terrorist group can count as material support and trigger a prosecution. Backing a U.S.based extremist organization on social media likely falls under First Amendment free speech protections.

Since Trump: The Trump administration perceives the most immediate threat to Americans as being from abroad.

The Homeland Security report fulfills a requirement in an executive order

issued by Trump on March 6, 2017. It was the second order by Trump seeking to ban travelers from Muslim-majority countries and was issued to withstand the court challenges that felled his original order, on Jan. 27, 2017. Deep in the March 6 order are instructions to Homeland Security to essentially back up with data, after the fact, the rationale for barring travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

The instructions suggest a preordained conclusion that foreign nationals are the principal terrorist threat. The report, according to the order, omits any mention of a need to identify U.S.-born terrorists (although the report ultimately included these). It requires “information regarding the number of foreign nationals in the United States who have been charged with terrorism-related offenses while in the United States; convicted of terrorism-related offenses while in the United States; or removed from the United States based on terrorism-related activity, affiliation with or provision of material support to a terrorism-related organization, or any other national-security-related reasons.”

The order also appears to favor identifying not only actions but a motive identified among some on the right with the Muslim world: honor killings. It seeks “information regarding the number and types of acts of gender-based violence against women, including so-called ‘honor killings,’ in the United States by foreign nationals.” Researchers see “honor killings” as a cultural, not a religious phenomenon, and have identified non-Muslim cultures where it is practiced.

In any case, the final report noted that there is no data breaking down gender-based violence according to whether perpetrators are foreign born or not.

The Trump administration’s emphasis on foreign acts of terrorism is consistent with its de-emphasis of domestic terrorism. Under Trump, Homeland Security has considered (but ultimately decided against) renaming its Countering Violent Extremism program Countering Islamic Extremism. It defunded an Obama-era program, Life After Hate, that helped

Nation right-wing extremists detach from radical groups.

A former senior national security adviser to Trump, Sebastian Gorka, has said repeatedly that there is “no such thing” as a lone wolf attacker, suggesting it was an Obama administration construct designed to cover up the role of organized Islamic extremism in advancing terrorism.

The Jewish community must remain vigilant. Our safety and security depend on our ability to share information, undertake training, develop an acute awareness of our surroundings at all times, and to report any and all suspicious activity.

Whose numbers add up?

The ADL is painstaking about making sure that a murder was directly related to extremism. It omits from its count the murder of a black student at the University of Maryland in May, noting in the report that while the alleged assailant, who was white, belonged to a Facebook group that attracted racists, not all of its members are racists. It also provides an addendum detailing 34 extremist-related murders in 2017, explaining why in each case the attack was deemed extremist-related.

(Breakdowns of previous years appear in previous annual reports.)

The Homeland Security report includes details of only eight of the 402 foreign-born cases. Officials briefing reporters on the report said more information would be available in the future.

However, even among the eight there seemed to be anomalies, at least when judged against Trump’s original order.

Included are individuals who planned to travel abroad to join terrorist groups like

the Islamic State. Nothing, at least in the report, suggested that these individuals planned attacks on U.S. soil.

Ed O’Callaghan, a deputy assistant attorney general, briefing reporters on the report, said that those individuals might eventually return to the United States to carry out attacks.

“I think that that makes the American people safer and I know the Trump administration does,” he said.

Additionally, several of those individuals are not from the six Muslim-majority countries designated on the Trump order.

Instead, the selections appear designed to bolster changes in immigration policy that Trump embraced following the March executive order. Several arrived in the United States through the visa lottery system, and several were here because they were sponsored by family. Trump wants to put an end to the visa lottery system as well as “chain migration.”

A reporter at the briefing said he had heard that among the 402 were terrorists who had been captured abroad and were brought to the United States for trial—in other words, whose “immigration” was entirely a function of their being brought to justice.

Callaghan acknowledged as much.

“There is undoubtedly, because I’ve been involved in a lot of the cases, a certain number of those foreign-born individuals who have been brought into the United States by extradition or otherwise to face charges,” he said.

What does this all mean for the Jews?

Be alert. Michael Masters, the director of the Secure Community network, the security arm for national Jewish groups, says community protections against either phenomenon—international or domestic terrorists—were essentially the same.

“Recent reports outline the dangers posed by violent extremists—Islamists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazi groups, as well as individuals—all of whom continue to pose a threat to the United States,” he says.

“The Jewish community must remain vigilant. Our safety and security depends on our ability to share information,

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undertake training, develop an acute awareness of our surroundings at all times, and to report any and all suspicious activity.

“These efforts, when undertaken, allow us to better prepare for and address the threats that our community may encounter, regardless of the ideology that drives those threats.”

The ADL seems to want to remind the Trump administration that containing foreign terrorism should not come at the expense of combating extremists at home and what its national director calls a “new

2/23/17 11:05 AM

willingness by racist groups to put themselves front and center on the American public stage.”

“In recent years, much of the public discussion and the federal government’s focus have been on the violent threat posed by extremists inspired by ISIS, while less attention has been paid to the reality of right-wing violence,” Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in an op-ed. “There’s no doubt that Islamic extremism is a significant threat, but we shouldn’t ignore any forms of extremism—we must tackle them all.”

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 11

Nation

Ben Sales

NEW YORK (JTA)—During a combative news conference in early August, White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters that the United States should prioritize immigrants who speak English.

“Does the applicant speak English?”

Miller asked, describing a bill to reduce the overall number of immigrants and reform immigration requirements. “Can they support themselves and their families financially? Do they have a skill that will add to the U.S. economy?”

But if English proficiency had been an immigration requirement a century ago, Miller’s own great-grandmother may not have been allowed into the country.

That’s what journalist Jennifer Mendelsohn discovered that same day

advisers and supporters, seeking hard data to support the idea that America is a nation of immigrants. She’s found out about Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s great-great-grandfather, conservative pundit Tomi Lahren’s great-great-grandfather (who forged his immigration papers, no less) and U.S. Rep. Steve King’s grandmother, who arrived in the United States from Germany at age four. (“We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” the Iowa Republican tweeted in March.)

On Jan. 9, Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media, called for an end to “chain migration,” which refers to immigrants bringing their relatives to live in the United States. But Mendelsohn discovered that the practice had brought Scavino’s great-grandfather, Gildo, to the country.

while working on a new project she calls Resistance Genealogy. Using public records and genealogical websites like Ancestry.com, Mendelsohn wants to show immigration hard-liners their own immigrant family trees.

“When you do genealogy, you’re constantly confronted with the reality of our immigrant past,” Mendelssohn says. “It appears from some of the attitudes and stances that people are taking publicly that they’re forgetting that.”

In Miller’s case, Mendelsohn tracked down his great-grandmother’s line item in the 1910 census. The entry noted that four years after arriving in the United States, she spoke only Yiddish, not English.

Mendelsohn has performed similar searches for the immigrant forbears of a handful of President Donald Trump’s

Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons

A Jewish journalist is confronting Trump’s immigration advisers with their own immigrant histories

Stephen Miller on June 18, 2016, at an event in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Nation “So Dan. Let’s say Victor Scavino arrives from Canelli, Italy, in 1904, then brother Hector in 1905, brother Gildo in 1912, sister Esther in 1913, & sister Clotilde and their father Giuseppe in 1916, and they live together in NY,” Mendelsohn tweeted, listing his family members. “Do you think that would count as chain migration?”

Last month, with Congress and the White House locked in a bitter battle over a federal funding bill and the children of undocumented immigrants, Mendelsohn published her research in Politico, was interviewed on MSNBC, and was cited in Breitbart News.

Miller did not respond to a JTA request for comment. But he says the reforms he’s advocating would preserve blue-collar jobs for American workers while making sure the people who arrive on America’s shores will contribute to the country.

“We want to have an immigration system that takes care of the people who are coming here and the people who are already living here by having standards, by having a real clear requirement that you should be able to support yourself financially, by making sure that employers can pay a living wage,” he said at the August news conference.

Mendelsohn, a freelance journalist from Baltimore, has been an amateur genealogist for years, mostly focusing on her own family, friends, and adoptees seeking their biological parents. She calls her own family’s genealogy a “classic Eastern European Jewish immigrant story,” and disputes the idea that people need to have skills in order to be welcomed into the United States.

Only one of her grandparents was born in America, and the others came as unskilled immigrants. (Her brother, the classicist Daniel Mendelsohn, wrote about their extended family in his 2006 memoir, The Lost: The Search for Six of Six Million.)

Now, she says, two of those immigrants’ great-grandchildren have doctorates.

“I grew up exquisitely aware that we were proud and patriotic Americans, but we came from other places,” she says. “We came here seeking more opportunity and we were allowed to have that opportunity.

I feel it’s my obligation to remind other

people that that’s what happens when you let the kind of immigrants people are looking down on now into this country.”

I grew up exquisitely aware that we were proud and patriotic Americans, but we came from other places.

To trace the family trees, Mendelsohn first finds the names of public figures’ immediate families, then takes those names to search databases for obituaries of grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives. She then uses paid services to track down birth, death, and marriage certificates, and also searches public census data from 1940 and earlier.

Censuses before that year contain personal data on nearly every person in the country.

“If you know your grandparents were Ida and Hyman Cohen and they lived in Milwaukee, it will pop up [and] it will show you their addresses, their ages, their places of birth,” she says.

Mendelsohn hasn’t heard back from any of the officials she’s researched, and doesn’t expect to. But she’s still tracing their lineages. She posted this revelation from one of the genealogical sites she uses: “Stephen Miller is your fourth cousin thrice removed’s husband’s great nephew’s wife’s second cousin twice removed,” it read.

“Oh sh*t,” she tweeted. “Does this mean I have to invite him for Passover?”

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 13

Nation ANALYSIS

Donald Trump and Team Kushner sure sound like they want to make a Mideast deal Ami Eden

(JTA)—Donald Trump is just the man to get an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal done.

Just ask Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli prime minister was gushing last month about Trump’s negotiating team, led by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“The thing the people don’t realize is that these people have made their mark in the markets, in real estate,” Netanyahu said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, with CNN’s Fareed Zakariah. “Now this is not only a real estate deal, it’s fundamentally not a real estate deal but a problem recognizing Israel’s existence, the problem of not recognizing a Jewish state in any boundary. But it also has its real estate elements and they are, I have to say, very creative.”

Odds are you’re snickering—because you think Trump’s recent decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem shows

the president is only interested in doing right by Israel, not getting the IsraeliPalestinian negotiations back on track.

The only question is if you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Just one problem: Donald Trump and Team Kushner sure sound like they want to get a deal done.

At his joint news conference with Netanyahu in Davos, Trump made clear that the embassy decision was not a freebie but an advance payment for future Israeli concessions.

“You win one point,” Trump said to Netanyahu. “And you’ll give up some points later on in the negotiation if it ever takes place.”

Trump coupled that comment with a promise to slash U.S. aid to the Palestinians unless they come back to the negotiating table.

The president isn’t looking to kill the

peace process; he’s looking to get the negotiations started. And that shouldn’t be surprising.

When he showed up for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s candidate forum in December 2015, Trump could have hit a grand slam by sticking to bash-Obama talking points, declaring Jerusalem the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and telling the Palestinians to take a hike.

But he demurred when asked about Jerusalem’s status and stressed the need for the U. S. to be seen as evenhanded.

And he talked about his desire to get a deal done.

“The hardest deal in history to put together,” he said. “If I can do that, it would make me so happy.”

Since then, Trump has gotten in step with key constituencies (like Jewish Republican donors and evangelical Christian voters) by dropping the neutral

talk in favor of unabashedly pro-Israel talking points. But he hasn’t backed off the push for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and a final deal.

In fact, he signaled just how important it is to him by putting Kushner in charge and adding Trump Organization lawyer Jason Greenblatt to the team.

Just days before Trump’s Jerusalem announcement, Kushner appeared at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum in Washington, D.C. His message: “If we’re going to try and create more stability in the region as a whole, you have to solve [the Israeli-Palestinian] issue.” As Kushner acknowledged, none of this means a deal is close, or even possible.

Whatever you think of the embassy decision, it doesn’t mean Trump is trying to fire the Palestinians. You could just as easily point to signs that he’s still itching to host a Mideast version of Let’s Make a Deal.

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Mazel Tov! Supplement to Jewish News February 5, 2018 jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 15

Mazel Tov Dear Readers,

L

ife offers myriad opportunities to celebrate—we just have to seize them.

Take Tidewater’s own Dr. Steven Warsof. An esteemed EVMS Professor of

Obstetrics, who in addition to treating patients and teaching students, has found time several times a year to travel to Israel to teach Israeli medical students. Last month, Warsof was recognized as an honorary member of the Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology. We think that deserves a hearty Mazel Tov! You can read about his work on page 23.

And, then there’s Caleb Peck, a recent Bar Mitzvah, who took the opportunity of his milestone to establish a B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Fund through Tidewater Jewish Foundation. Mazel Tov to Caleb on his Bar Mitzvah and for being a mensch at such a young age. When you read the article on page 25, you’ll see just how young.

The article on page 18 about how one family celebrated a baby naming, while also honoring her great-grandfather’s memory, is a warm full-circle story.

On the other extreme from the baby naming, we’ve got an entertaining piece about a 90-year-old great grandmother who is a new model for JDate. She says she is “eager to help others find love.” This one is sure to make you smile. I did. Page 21.

Of course, there’s much more…such as articles on Jewish Oscar nominees, Kosher. com’s first year success, and a great new Jewish appetizer cookbook I found at Decorum (by reading Jewish News, I might add!), among others.

These articles are reminders that a milestone isn’t always required to have a reason to celebrate. Whether it’s an acknowledgement for good work, finding a terrific new book, or getting beyond an illness, it’s always good to say (or hear) Mazel Tov!

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16 | Jewish News | Mazel Tov | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Mazel Tov A little book with big Jewish appetizer ideas Terri Denison

B

ack in December when I was reading Jewish News (not much of a surprise there, I know!), an image in the advertisement for the Gift Shop at Decorum caught my attention. It was of a small book, Little Book of Jewish Appetizers. I had one within a few days.

The book really is little…measuring 7.5 x 5.5 inches. The expression, “good things come in small packages” aptly applies here.

Cookbook author Leah Koenig has produced an unusual collection of 25 mostly easy-to-prepare starters that she says are “perfect for noshing.”

Divided into two chapters: Fresh, toasted, pickled and Cooked, fried, baked— the book is beautifully organized with introductions to each recipe that include nuggets of material. For example, there’s a

piece on pickles at the turn-of-the20th-century in New York’s Lower East Side, and just before the recipe for Moroccan Orange and Black Olive Salad, a few sentences on Moroccan cuisine and Moroccan Jewish homes. The introductions are fun, interesting and concise. In fact, all of the text strikes an easy-going conversational tone.

Between the two chapters is a four-page spread

called the Jewish Cheese Plate. This section includes background information on various cheeses, simple directions for enhancing some, how to present others, and then, for the person who absolutely has no time to cook, a list of what to simply put on a cheese plate, where the only work might be a little cutting.

At the back of the book, in a section called Pairing Ideas,

Koenig makes suggestions for grouping the recipes for various occasions…cocktail or Hanukkah parties, for example, or those “surprise visitor” snacks.

Finally, just before the Index, an Ingredient Glossary and Sources section provides addresses, websites, and other recommendations for where to obtain good quality ingredients.

And, then, there are the beautiful photographs to demonstrate just how those appetizers are supposed to appear. All of this in 136 small pages.

The Little Book of Jewish Appetizers is the first in a collection of Jewish themed cookbooks by Koenig. I’m looking forward to the next and am grateful Decorum not only stocks the first in the series, but advertised it as well.

Terri Denison is editor of Jewish News. She can be reached at tdenison@ujft.org.

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jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 17

Mazel Tov Our daughter’s baby naming gave us this amazing chance Adina Newman

(Kveller via JTA)—When planning for my then newborn son’s welcoming ceremony, the process was fairly straightforward.

He would have a bris eight days after his birth, which would require space at our local synagogue and a person to perform the circumcision—in our case, the coveted mohel/doctor combination. Throw in some close friends and family and a spread of bagels, lox, and kugel, and you have yourself a straightforward, happy occasion, a simcha.

Fast forward a little over two years later. We’re having a girl! Fortunately for the meticulous planner in me, I already had a name ready from the first go-around with my son, so that was one less headache. Her first name would be after a great man, my grandfather, known as Papa.

Although my memories of Papa are hazy because he passed away when I was just four, I grew up with the lore of his presence shared by everyone who knew him.

He was a character, known for colorful sayings that expertly towed the line between crude and hilarious, who had a penchant for driving fast and the ability to take a nap anywhere. He possessed a tremendous love for his family and friends—a feeling, I saw, that was mutual.

The fact that Papa was the only person whom my cousins all named a child after is testament to just how legendary he was in our clan, and I would soon be able to join this club.

But although I had a name, I didn’t have a clue as to how we would welcome our newborn daughter into the world. A baby-naming ceremony for a daughter, or a brit bat, is so much more open-ended than a bris. Should we do something small the next Shabbat? Wait a month?

Eighty days based on when tradition teaches women were able to make sacrifices at the Temple after giving birth? Too many options! Around 20 weeks pregnant and panicking in typical Type A fashion,

18 | Jewish News | Mazel Tov | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

I called my mother, the only person privy to her future granddaughter’s name.

“Why don’t you do it up here, in Maine?” my mother offered. “You could have it on the anniversary of Papa’s bar mitzvah.”

I weighed the option. Celebrate my daughter in my grandfather’s synagogue on the anniversary of his important Jewish milestone? The very same place where I was not only named as a baby, but was also where I was married? Although rare, I believe there are some moments in life that comprise a sense that the universe is working in your favor. This was one of those moments; this was foreordained or, as we say, bashert.

When she was born, I shared the date with my family and friends, surprised and touched that almost all my close family members were willing to take time out of their busy lives, travel north, and celebrate. Wanting to ensure I was taking every opportunity to make the event resonant, I chanted both Torah and haftarah, just like my Papa had done almost 100 years prior in the very same synagogue for his bar mitzvah. This way, my daughter’s baby-naming ceremony symbolized coming full circle. Together with family and friends, we welcomed my daughter into our community and fulfilled a tradition in the most meaningful way imaginable.

And of course, the morning’s events would not have been complete without enjoying a kiddush luncheon complete with lox, bagels, and kugel.

Adina Newman has blogged for Moment Magazine, written poetry for several online and print publications, and is working on her dissertation.

Kveller is a thriving community of women and parents who convene online to share, celebrate and commiserate their experiences of raising kids through a Jewish lens. Visit Kveller.com.

Mazel Tov These bar-mitzvah kids already are Jewish philanthropists Ben Sales

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA)—Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a local organization fighting homelessness among young people, to see if their programs were worthy of a philanthropic grant.

Maymon and Shvartzman asked all the right questions, like what percentage of the group’s budget was used for overhead and how it planned to spend the money.

They had looked up its financials on GuideStar, a database of nonprofit files.

So, perhaps not surprisingly, the two 13-year-olds were irked when the official giggled and rolled her eyes at them.

“She didn’t think of us as a serious thing,” Maymon says of the staffer. “She was giggling at some of the questions even though it was pretty serious.”

It might have been because Maymon and Shvartzman were in seventh grade at the time, and they were offering several hundred dollars from their bat mitzvah money.

The two teens are students at the Brandeis School of San Francisco. At this community Jewish day school in an upscale residential neighborhood, the seventh graders become a mini-charity of sorts: Rather than depositing their bar and bat mitzvah checks into the bank, the kids and their parents agree to take the money they would have spent on each other’s gifts and collectively donate it.

Each year, the bar/bat mitzvah class takes its pool of money—generally around $30,000—and allocates it to some 20 nonprofits in the Bay Area, with causes ranging from medical research to Jewish LGBT advocacy. The kids vote on the top five groups. Those charities receive

$5,000 each, with the rest divided among the remainder of the organizations.

While remarkable, these young do-gooders are far from alone: Teen philanthropy is a growing trend in the Jewish community. According to the Jewish Funders’ Network, U.S. Jewish teens gave more than $1 million in total during the 2015–16 school year.

“That’s a reflection that teens are continuing to develop their identities,” Briana Holtzman, the director of the Jewish Teen Funders’ Network, an umbrella for programs like the Brandeis School’s, says.

“They can give to the Jewish community and they can serve those outside of the Jewish community. There’s a real focus on the conversation, on challenging our teens to grapple with who they are.”

At the Brandeis School, which has run this program for about 30 years, the goal is to teach the kids the value of charity

and make giving part of their lives from an early age. Jody Bloom, the Judaic studies teacher who runs the program, says it’s an especially valuable lesson for 13-yearolds, who can be consumed by obsessions over appearances, school or their latest crushes.

Learning about the work of aid organizations, she says, makes them realize those problems aren’t so bad.

“It really helps the kids put things in perspective,” Bloom says. “They don’t see the need that’s out there when they’re in the school. When they go out in the world and see what’s needed, they feel so grateful for what they have.”

The charity program, called Tzedek —Hebrew for “justice”—takes up the bulk of the seventh-graders’ Judaic studies classes, which meet three times a week for about an hour. In the first semester, continued on page 24

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2. Love of human kind, in general. jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 19

Mazel Tov Meet the 90-year-old great-grandmother who is the new face of JDate Elaine Durbach

WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA)—If Bea Slater had ever been

a shrinking violet, her sudden celebrity might be uncomfortable. At 90, the great-grandmother has her image plastered on billboards and bus shelters up

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and down Manhattan and in Brooklyn.

There’s even one on the roof above Junior’s, the famous cheesecake place.

Along with three other women nearly as old as she, she has become the face of JDate, the Jewish matchmaking site.

They’re not poster girls for senior dating.

Rather, JDate is promoting their images to suggest that it is “yentas” like them who are working out the site’s algorithms to find that perfect match. One ad, featuring Slater hard at work on a laptop, reads “Her dreidel game is filthy. But her code is clean.” (Translation: She’s a great dreidel player, and even better at writing computer code.)

The “Powered by Yentas” concept came from copywriter and standup comedian David Roth, who produced the campaign with Hogarth Worldwide for JDate’s parent company, Spark Networks SE. Roth says grandmothers have labored forever to ensure that young Jews meet and procreate in order to sustain the tribe.

“Bea was an instant star,” he says.

“She has one of the most expressive and comedic faces I’ve ever seen. We had an embarrassment of riches—so many funny photos of Bea to choose from. She was hilarious on set and an absolute delight to work with.”

Slater, not a coder though a savvy computer-literate social media user, is taking her celebrity status in stride, loving every aspect and eager for more. Chatting in her home in Springfield, N. J., where she has lived for 65 years, she talks more readily about her family (two sons, Mitch and Jeff Slater; a daughter, Diane Bedrin; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren), but is content to answer questions about how she is enjoying her newfound fame.

“When my picture is up in the subway, then I’ll really be a star,” she says.

Though she has never modeled professionally—and the last time she did any acting was in eighth grade—posing came easily. Slater, who grew up in West Philadelphia, was a much-pictured

daughter of a photographer. She became a photographer herself when she grew up, at least until she turned her focus to raising her kids. Almost every wall in her home is adorned with family photos, assembled and collaged by her father and, after he passed away, by her husband Jack, who died in 2009.

In November, a friend mentioned to her son Mitch that JDate was trying to find older women for a marketing campaign. He told his older brother, Jeff, a marketing executive, who initially dismissed the idea, sure their mom wouldn’t be up for it. But the younger brother, a financial adviser, called back Jeff within minutes to let him know that not only did he decide to broach the subject with their mother, but Bea had agreed on the spot.

“I said, ‘You never know…’”—which happens to be her response to virtually every question.

It’s a principle she applies to herself as well as those around her. A few years ago, Slater persuaded her granddaughter Fanny Slater to enter TV personality and celebrity cook Rachael Ray’s “Great American Cookbook Competition.” Slater was in the audience when Fanny was named the winner, and in February, both grandmother and granddaughter will appear on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, a show on the Cooking Channel.

A few months ago Mitch, who has a wide circle of friends in showbiz, including Bruce Springsteen and his cohort, arranged for his mother to introduce Steve Van Zandt (of the Boss’s E Street Band) and his band, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, at a concert on Staten Island. She admitted to being nervous standing alone in the spotlight (with the protective Mitch hovering nearby).

“I didn’t want to disappoint Steve,” she recalls. Later, to her astonishment, Slater was mobbed by fans who wanted to take selfies with her.

Slater was chosen by the Donna Grossman Casting Agency. Speaking for continued on page 21

Mazel Tov JDate —continued from page 20

Grossman and her team, Paul Bernstein says they auditioned approximately 40 women, though many more applied. They were looking for “authentic Jewish grandmothers in their late 80s to 90s,” Bernstein says, and Slater and her co-stars stood out because of “their heart, their humor, style.

They all had their own chutzpah and heimishe feel.”

The photographs for JDate were taken

by Randal Ford, a sought-after commercial photographer.

Some 60 years ago, Slater and her husband helped co-found their synagogue, Temple Shaarey Shalom, the Reform congregation near her home. It was a big part of their and their children’s lives. Going on without Jack was a challenge, Bea acknowledges, and many of her friends are gone, too, or not as youthful as she is.

Still, she attends the temple’s Renaissance Club, drives (though not at night) and keeps up an active social life. And now she’s auditioning for other advertising campaigns.

Asked what Jack would make of her celebrity, Slater laughs.

“He’d have said, ‘Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?’ He was much more conservative than me,” she says.

As for using JDate herself, she is adamant that she has “absolutely no interest in meeting anyone. I’d never find anyone as good as what I had.”

But like so many Jewish grandmothers, Slater is eager to help others find love.

“There should be more money next time, though,” she adds, with exactly the kind of twinkle in her eyes that got her the JDate gig in the first place.

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Sherman weighed 3.5 pounds, double the average weight of a normal hedgehog, when he was taken in by the Ramat Gan Safari outside of Tel Aviv in November.

The Safari announced that Sherman has lost 0.33 pounds.

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Mazel Tov Oscar nominations 2018: Five Jewish takeaways Gabe Friedman

I

f one thing jumps out about the nominations for the 90th annual Academy Awards, it’s the lack of big Jewish headlines to be plucked from them. The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s latest

fantasy-tinted film, about an amphibian creature housed in a government laboratory, led the pack with 13 nominations.

Nevertheless, here are the Jewish nominations and storylines from another year of great cinema.

Call Me By Your Name gets four

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nominations.

Call Me By Your Name is the biggest Jewish triumph in this year’s nomination slate. The film, an adaptation of Egyptian-born Jewish novelist Andre Aciman’s book of the same name, traces a romance between two young Jewish men in 1980s Italy and is full of Jewish themes.

It garnered nominations for best picture, lead actor (Timothée Chalamet, who is Jewish), adapted screenplay and best original song (Mystery of Love, written by indie rocker Sufjan Stevens).

Was James Franco snubbed after #MeToo backlash?

A few months ago, the Jewish actor was considered a shoo-in for the best actor category. His comedic performance in The Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau, the eccentric (that word might be generous) director of the real film The Room—considered by some to be the worst film of all time—was almost universally hailed by critics. He won a Golden Globe for the role last month. But last month, the Los Angeles Times published an article with accounts of five women who accused Franco of sexual misconduct. While the best actor category is loaded with talent this year (from Denzel Washington to Gary Oldman), multiple headlines called Franco’s exclusion a response to the misconduct reports—and a snub.

Israel’s best film didn’t make the cut.

Foxtrot, an Israeli drama about the aftermath of a military tragedy, had been on the shortlist for best foreign language film after winning a prestigious prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival, stoking hopes for what could have been Israel’s first Oscar win. In the Fade, a German drama that centers on a neo-Nazi murder story and won a Golden Globe in this category, didn’t make the final Oscar

list either.

Surprise! Two Jewish industry legends are nominated yet again.

Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis has won the best actor award three times already—but he announced last year that he is retiring, so this might be our last chance to see the Jewish actor grace us with his presence at an awards night. The iconic method actor is nominated for his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, in which he plays a famous dressmaker.

Steven Spielberg’s latest film, The Post—a drama about the Pentagon Papers starring perennial Spielberg collaborator Tom Hanks—is up for best picture. That seemed inevitable, but the one relative surprise here is that Spielberg didn’t get another coveted best director nomination.

He was passed over for talented newcomers Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, in addition to del Toro, Anderson and Christopher Nolan (for Dunkirk).

It was another good year for a pair of Jewish composers.

For the prolific Jewish composer Hans Zimmer, 2017 was business as usual. He wrote or co-wrote scores for three films, including one for Dunkirk that earned him an Oscar nod. Benj Pasek, one half of the musical duo behind the score for the Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen and the lyrics of La La Land, added to his rapidly growing legend with a nomination for best original song for This is Me from The Greatest Showman—a musical about P.T. Barnum. (JTA)

Mazel Tov Dr. Steven Warsof appointed honorary member of Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

E

VMS Professor of Obstetrics, Dr. Steven Warsof, was made an honorary member of the Israeli Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology for his long-standing volunteer efforts at the Azoraeli School of Medicine of the Galilee at Bar Ilan University in Sfat Israel.

The award was presented to Warsof by Prof. Eitan Lunnenfeld, president of the Israeli Ob-Gyn Society on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at the Israeli Ob-Gyn Annual meeting in Tel Aviv.

Since 2012, shortly after the opening of Israel’s fifth medical school in Sfat, Warsof has taught Israeli medical students on a voluntary basis. He has travelled to Sfat three to four times per year for one to two weeks of intensive medical student teaching both at Ziv Hospital in Sfat, as well as at Poria Hospital in near-by Tiberias. During these sessions, he leads a series of lectures and seminars on various topics in High Risk Obstetrics, as well as takes Israeli students on morning rounds.

Warsof was also awarded “Teacher of the Year” in 2013-14 at Bar Ilan University School of Medicine.

Warsof has also been instrumental in initiating the Bar Ilan Univ- EVMS student exchange program. For the past five years, two to three Israeli medical students have travelled to EVMS, and two to three EVMS medical students have travelled to Sfat for a four-week, fourth year elective in advanced obstetrics. This program has been fully funded by generous donors from the Tidewater Jewish community. The program was recently been extended in an international signing ceremony for an additional five years through 2023.

Warsof says that this task has been “one of the most rewarding professional

Noga Ganor, chief of communications and public relations at Faculty of Medicine Bar Ilan Univ; Adi Litmanovich, chairperson of medical students’ association; Inbar Ben Shacher, chairman Ob-Gyn Department at Ziv Hospital; Ran Tur-Kaspa, Dean of Faculty of Medicine BIU; Steven Warsof, award recipient; Moishe Ben Ami, vice Dean of Student Affairs BIU and chairman Ob-Gyn Department Poria Hospital; and Noam Reshelbach, Associate Dean, Administration Faculty of Medicine for BIU.

and personal experiences of my career “—combining his love and passion for obstetrics, Israel, and his family in Israel.

Professor Inbar Ben Shacher, chairman of the Department of Ob-Gyn at Ziv Hospital, nominated Warsof for this award, which was endorsed by Professor

Roni Maimon, chairman of the Ob-Gyn Society at Assaf HaRofeh Hospital in Tel Aviv, as well as the incoming president of the Israeli Ob-Gyn Society.

To learn more about his program, Dr. Warsof can be reached by email warsofsl@evms.edu.

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jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 23

Mazel Tov bar-mitzvah kids —continued from page 19

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the students hear a weekly lecture from a local aid organization about its work.

This school year, the speakers ranged from Jewish Vocational Services, which helps the unemployed, to the Homeless Prenatal Project, which aids parents of poor children.

Several current seventh-graders said they especially appreciated a lecture from Gene Goldstein-Plesser, an official at Keshet, the Jewish LGBT advocacy organization. The talk included a cartoon unicorn whose body was used to explain the ideas of gender and sexuality.

The heart, for example, corresponded to physical and emotional attraction, while a thought bubble with a rainbow was meant to symbolize how one thinks of their own gender identity.

“We’re in San Francisco, so we know a lot of gay and lesbian people,” Noa Marks says.

The program kicks into high gear in

the spring. The students pair off according to areas of interest — fighting racism, for example, or promoting animal welfare — and then choose one nonprofit they want to research. The organization doesn’t need to be Jewish but must be local because Bloom wants the kids to visit the group and get to know its work. They go to the nonprofit and interview a senior employee before presenting the organization’s work to the rest of the class.

Although the students come from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, the K–8 school exudes affluence. The campus consists of connected buildings for its 400 children, with open-air walkways and courtyards featuring bright basketball courts and playgrounds. Kids sprawl in the hallways typing on MacBooks and sitting on couches with coffee tables. A bowl of fresh apples for the taking sits on a table in a first-floor hallway. Tuition this year is about $31,000—slightly more for eighth-graders—with about 30 percent of

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families receiving financial aid.

The kids say the philanthropy program helps them see beyond their own material comforts.

“I went to a public school [previously], and this wasn’t a thought,” says Avital Daly, regarding charity work. “It was like, keep yourself safe and do what you need to do. Helping other people wasn’t as important as helping yourself. It’s a good feeling to help people.”

The students also do a range of charitable activities, from volunteering at a home for the elderly to reading to underprivileged second-graders. In class, they look at Jewish texts on giving – like Maimonides’ seven levels of charity, which instructs Jews on how best to help the poor, with teaching someone a trade the highest ideal. And they discuss the dilemmas inherent in philanthropy, like whether it’s better to give locally or globally, and whether Jews have a special responsibility to give to Jewish causes.

As they approach their second semester, this year’s seventh-graders appear divided on that issue.

“Non-Jewish help centers and Jewish help centers both do the same stuff,” Amelia Lifsitz says. “If you’re a Jew, you might feel more comfortable at a Jewish organization.”

“Organizations that don’t label themselves with a religion or race are more likely to have everyone get help from them,” Natalie Heller counters. “If there was a Jewish organization, someone who’s Christian would feel like, ‘Oh, I’m not welcome here.’ But Christian people need that help and Muslim people need that help.”

About a quarter of the groups that receive money end up being Jewish, according to Bloom. But, she points out, supporting Jewish (or non-Jewish) causes isn’t the point. She wants kids to understand that part of coming of age as a Jew means taking responsibility for the people around you.

“What does it mean to be a member of the Jewish community?” she asks. “The obligation of everyone [is] to do justice.

It’s not just giving money, it’s giving your time. It really impacts them in a way they haven’t felt before and they realize how much they can give.”

Mazel Tov Caleb Peck establishes B’nai Tzedek Fund to continue helping homeless people Barb Gelb

T

aking action to help others is not new for Caleb Peck.

His mom, Stephanie, tells the story of when Caleb was three years old he saw a homeless person and was genuinely concerned about why there wasn’t a place for him to live. He used to say that when he grows up he wants to be “rich enough to buy a hotel so homeless people have a place to live.” The plight of the homeless stayed on his mind until he was nine years old and saw a commercial for a company that would allow him to design a t-shirt to promote and raise money for his cause. Caleb immediately wanted to do this to help the homeless. He did and ultimately raised $2,000 for the Norfolk Emergency Shelter Team (NEST) program at Congregation Beth El.

It was a special moment when I got to see how much money I made and was able to give to a charity and see it make a difference.

Along with his family, Caleb also serves as a volunteer for NEST and likes to engage the participants—even starting a festive conga line on one occasion. And while volunteering is important, Caleb

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understands that fundraising is essential.

“It was a special moment when I got to see how much money I made and was able to give to a charity and see it make a difference,” he says.

While Caleb enjoyed his bar mitzvah a few months ago, especially getting to spend time with cousins and relatives who are scattered around the country, he says he is relieved that he doesn’t have to spend the time preparing for it anymore.

“I like to hang out with my friends, and I play basketball, soccer, and lacrosse, so I was really busy.”

Given his prior involvement in philanthropy, it was natural for Caleb to start a B’nai Tzedek Teen Philanthropy Fund through Tidewater Jewish Foundation when he became Bar Mitzvah. Caleb says he intends to use his fund to continue to help homeless people through the NEST program.

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The B’nai Tzedek program encourages teens to become involved in tzedakah by establishing a philanthropic fund in their name. Contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ujft.org or 757-965-6105 to learn more about establishing a fund.

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Mazel Tov | Jewish News | 25

Mazel Tov More than 9 million page views in Kosher.com’s first year (JAN 25, 2018, Bayonne, NJ)—It began one year ago with a big idea, a passion for food, and a dedication to creating a place for the ultimate kosher conversation. Sure, the team was optimistic. But nobody expected that kosher.com would skyrocket quite so high, so quickly.

One year later, the kosher.com community—with more than nine million page views—is celebrating the stellar success of this comprehensive resource for kosher recipes, food shows, learning, and conversation.

“We enthusiastically entered this venture not knowing what was in store,” Chanie Nayman, the site’s editor-in-chief, says. “We knew it would be well-received, but I think the instant success of the site was a shock, even to us! People loved being able to search the magazine archives from all their favorite sources, they loved the new exclusive recipes we created for the site, and they loved the original videos and shows. We are so proud of the amazing content we have to offer just one year after launch.”

With thousands of recipes, unique and original cooking shows, articles and how-to guides, kosher.com has something for everyone. Its massive, fully-searchable library lets users filter by holiday, type of cuisine, ingredient, level of difficulty, and even by chef. They can also search by dietary choices such as vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or dairy-free. There’s a menu generator to create a customized meal for any occasion, and a forum where users can ask the experts, share recipes, and exchange tips.

Nayman notes that the site quickly became a haven for many popular food personalities—and a great place to get to know the chefs who have a following in magazines, cookbooks, or social media.

Leah Gottheim, Kosher.com vice president, says the best part of the job is when people tell her that kosher.com makes their lives easier. “I love when parents

tell me they got new recipes from our site that their picky families loved. They tell me their younger kids love to watch the videos, and then the older kids join them in the kitchen and everyone cooks together, making the recipes they just learned, and they’re confident that all the content is kosher. It really makes me happy to hear!”

Fast facts and figures • Sessions this year: 1.8 million+ (37% of whom are new users) • Users who stay on the site for 30 minutes or more per session: 60,256 • People who have visited the site 200+ times: 47,058 • Users who access the site on mobile devices: 54.35% • Most popular social media portal: Facebook Over 11,000 users • Instagram followers: Nearly 15,000 • Email Subscribers: 20,000 • Most popular holiday: Passover, with 82,479 sessions in one week • Busiest day: Tuesday, April 4, 2017

TOP PICKS Most Popular Recipes 1. Faked Ziti 2. Last-Minute Miami Ribs 3. Very Basic Potato Latkes 4. Caramelized Chicken 5. Smore Brownie Pie 6. Roasted Potato Bake 7. Passover Tiramisu 8. G eneral Tso Chicken and Cauliflower 9. Chicken & Broccoli 10. D elmonico roast with red wine onion glaze Most popular search terms • Gluten free main dishes (9,799) • Chicken (8,929 searches) • Salmon (7,297)

26 | Jewish News | Mazel Tov | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Yes, it’s 100% edible! Kosher.com celebrates its one-year anniversary with more than nine-million page views. It is the premier website for anything and everything kosher, including recipes, how-to videos, and kosher cooking celebrities.

• Passover (5,629, and Pesach 2,566) • Gluten free desserts (4,098) • Cookies (3,354) • Brisket (3,319) • Soup (3,088) Most-watched videos • Jamie Geller’s The Secret of the Epic Delmonico Steak at Prime Grill in Employees Only • Esty Wolbe’s Faked Ziti in Easy Does It • Naomi Nachman’s Lotus Biscoff Cookie Butter Bars in Sunny Side Up • Yussi Weisz of Snaps Kosher, Kugel Just Like Bubby Used to Make in Shabbos with Yussi • Impossible Feat: Stopping at Just One of These Peanut Butter Toffee Bars in Short Cuts by Mishpacha Family Table Most popular articles • The Ultimate Chanukah Menu • A ll the Recipes You Need This Sukkot • The Complete Nine Days Recipe Roundup • 41 Non-Product Pesach Recipes • Sugar Free Recipe Roundup Top Instagram post Ester Ottensoser’s Chanukah craft with Twizzlers Top Facebook post 4 Ways to Impress With Your Round Challah Skills

Celebrity chefs, movers, and shakers weigh in • Naomi Nachman: “Being part of a team that champions kosher and supports each other is amazing. I love everyone I work with and they inspire me every day to be a better cook.”

• Renee Muller: “I love hanging out on the couch with my kids and kosher.com. We watch one video after another and always end up getting hungry.”

• Heshy Jay: “What I like about Kosher.com is the flavor and style it brings into our home!”

• Yussi Weisz: “The best thing about Kosher.com is that when my wife calls me asking what I’m making for Yom Tov, I can just tell her, ‘Go on kosher.com and check out all the recipes!’”

Lessons learned • Everyone wants new ideas for chicken and salmon.

• Many readers love recipe roundups for menu inspiration.

• In the Lifestyle space, Kosher.com staff’s holiday recipe roundups dominated.

Kosher.com Birthday youtube/9aXFKlzEJOU

Video:

https://

Thank You

Thank you to the following donors for securing the Jewish future through legacy gifts to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family Jewish Community Center. There are times when the purity of the intent and the virtue of the effort do not prevent errors from occurring. I hope that the impacted donors listed below will accept my heartfelt apologies for the mistakes made in the listing of their names in the last edition of the Jewish News. May the example you set inspire others to create their own Jewish legacy. ~ Harry Graber, Executive Vice President, UJFT “I did not find this world desolate when I entered it. My ancestors had planted for me before I was born.

So do I plant for those who will come after me.” ~ The Talmud PERPETUAL ANNUAL CAMPAIGN ENDOWMENT (PACE) Anonymous (3) Helen & Warren Aleck Janice J. Aleck Susan Alper Jody Balaban Helen Jayne & Melvin Barr* Dolores & Alan Bartel Bernice & Percy Brill* Aaron Busch* Jeffrey Chernitzer Todd Copeland Mark Dreyfus Bronia Drucker Barbara Dudley Mary & William Feldman Hyman Fine* Karen & Mathew Fine Mona & Jeffrey Flax Alan Fleder* Kristy & Adam Foleck Jodi & Jack Frieden Beverly G. & Alan M. Frieden Leonard Frierman Penelope & David Gallo Sydney Gates* Barb Gelb & Kenny Weinstein Victor Goodman* William Greene* Frederic Gross Steven Harwood Denise & Jason Hoffman Abbey Horwitz Nancy & Edwin* Jacobson Bernard Jaffe* Carol & Joel Jason Phyllis & Arthur Kaplan* Erica & Scott Kaplan Warren Karesh

Edward Karotkin Jay Klebanoff David Konikoff Ron Kramer Irwin Kroskin Adel & David Kruger* Sue Kurtz Howard Laderberg* Mavolyn B. & Sanford L. Lefcoe* Corrie Lentz Kirk Levy Richard Lombart Janet Mercadante Jerrold Miller Alyssa & Jonathan Muhlendorf Nancy & Charles Nusbaum Joan Nusbaum* Pincus Paul* Erinn & Felix Portnoy Julian Rashkind* Sharon A. & Gene D. Ross Joanne & Phillip S. Rovner Judith & Robert Rubin Leon R. Sarfan Helen* & Buzzy Schulwolf Ronald Spindel John Strelitz Sandy Tabachnick Jody & Alan Wagner Nancy & Alvin Wall Lisa & Steven Warsof Amy Zelenka Betty* & Henry Zetlin Dorothy Zimmerman

LION OF JUDAH ENDOWMENT (LOJE)

SIMON FAMILY JCC ENDOWMENT (JCC)

Anonymous (1) Bonnie Brand Stephanie Calliott Ann Copeland Anne Fleder Esther Fleder* Gail Fleder Helen Gifford* Amy Ginsburg Hara Glasser-Frei Laura Gross Fay Halpern* Brenda Horwitz Lee Jaffe* Sheila Josephberg Eileen Kahn Mimi Karesh Betsy Karotkin Jodi Klebanoff Sofia Konikoff Cynthia Kramer Alma Laderberg* Phyllis Lannik Telsa Leon* Amy Levy Karen Lombart Martha Mednick-Glasser Laura Miller Eleanor Rashkind* Judy Rubin Annie Sandler Toni Sandler Terri Sarfan Deborah Segaloff Annette Shore* Cheryl Sloane Linda Spindel Jane Stein Joyce H. Strelitz* Randi R. Strelitz Sylvia Yavner

Roslyn & Michael Barney Dolores & Alan G. Bartel W & P Berlind* Barbara Levinson Breit* Joseph Dozoretz* Steven Eichelbaum* Robert M. Epstien* Thelma Fantuch Hyman Fine* Fannie & Milton* Freidman Jake F. Friedberg* Laura & Frederic Gross Estelle & Bert Hornstein* Jaffe Family Carol & Joel Jason Mimi & Warren Karesh Janet & Jeffrey Kramer Avalon S. Krukin* Alma & Howard Laderberg* Ezra Landres* Corrie Lentz Jacob Leon* Amy & Kirk Levy Linda & George Metzger Nancy & Charles Nusbaum Pincus Paul* Mollie & Sam Robbins* Doris & Martin Rosen* Sharon & Gene Ross Judith & Robert M. Rubin Terri & Lonny Sarfan Estelle Hornstein Shiffman* Bertha Goodman Snyder* Frances Stanton* Paul Tavss* Miriam & Harry Weisberg* Phyllis & Samuel Weisberg* Adam White Harriett & Samuel* I. White

The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater (UJFT) and the Simon Family JCC are proud partners of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation’s (TJF) LIFE & LEGACY™ program. To find out how easy it is to make YOUR LEGACY™ gift, contact either Dusty Heist-Levine, UJFT Director of Development at 754-965-6136 or Barb Gelb, TJF Director of Philanthropy at 757-965-6105.

Names in orange represent individuals who participated through the LIFE & LEGACY™ Program in 2017. *Of Blessed Memory LIFE & LEGACY™ is jointly funded by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Tidewater Jewish Foundation. jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 27

tidewater

Ready to graduate, Amanda Gladstone appreciates Stein Family College Scholarship

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Barb Gelb

manda Gladstone, recipient of the Stein Family College Scholarship in 2014, has one semester left at Virginia Tech and radiates enthusiasm when she talks about her experience there. To say she loves Virginia Tech would be an understatement. A senior in marketing, she believes her college adventure was enriched due to her participation in many activities, including Greek life (she’s a Pi Beta Phi), Hokie Ambassadors, Residential Leadership, and the Virginia Tech chapter of the American Marketing Association.

“In high school I was really involved in BBYO, so that made me want to get involved in college. Being involved has led to many amazing opportunities,” she says.

One of the highlights of Amanda’s

college experience was studying abroad in Leguno, Switzerland, during which she visited 10 different countries.

When she graduates, Amanda looks forward to getting a job in the advertising industry. Reflecting on her time at Virginia Tech, she says that life would be a lot different had she not received the Stein Scholarship. “Stein has helped me every step of the way. I’m lucky that I have not had to struggle with debt like a lot of my friends, and it has given me more free time to take advantage of many experiences. My trip abroad would not have happened without Stein.”

Considering how she has changed since high school, Amanda says that although she thought she was so mature and poised back then, she has grown so

much academically and personally, gained confidence, and become more cultured and globally aware. “College has helped me grow and become more equipped for real adult life. You never stop learning and growing.”

Amanda encourages all Jewish high school seniors to apply for the scholarship. “This applies to everything, not just the Stein Scholarship, but if you don’t try for it, you can’t have it. The scholarship application gives you the opportunity to make a personal statement and express who you are, how it will impact you, and how you will make the most of it.”

The Stein Family College Scholarship, administered by the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, is open to all Jewish high school seniors with a

Amanda Gladstone

minimum 3.0 grade point average. The application, which can be found at www.jewishva. org, is due on March 30, 2018. For more information, contact Barb Gelb at bgelb@ujft. org or 757.965.6105.

Don’t watch tv this summer-experience it at Camp JCC!

This year’s line up runs JUN 18-AUG 10 and offers campers ages 2 years through 11th grade the chance to star in such exciting themed programs as:

Animal Planet week with a FIELD TRIP to a ZOO

ESPN week with a COLOR RUN Disney Channel week

TV

with CAMP MUSICAL talent show

Other themes include: History Channel week, Food Network week, Travel Channel week and more!

5000 Corporate Woods Drive VIrginia Beach, VA 23462 757.321.2338

visit campjccvb.org

tune in for more camp listings or to join the crew 28 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Book Review Escape to Virginia. From Nazi Germany to Thalhimer’s Farm Robert H. Gillette Charleston: History Press, 2015 252 pages

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obert H. Gillette is a retired educator living in Lynchburg, Va., who researched this intriguing story and retraced it within its larger historical Frederick A. Lubich context through the experiences of Werner (Töpper) Angress and Eva Jacobson, two young GermanJewish Berliners, growing up in Nazi Germany. Both were prolific diarists in their youth, thereby providing valuable, first-hand-insights into the daily life during the early years of the Third Reich. Growing anti-Semitism forced both out of their high schools. Eva spent over a year in a boarding school in London where she felt utterly

lonely and homesick.

In the meantime, Dr. Curt Bondy, a German-Jewish educator from Hamburg, purchased Gross Breesen, a former castle near the German city of Breslau (today Polish Wrocław), transforming it into an educational farm for young German Jews to learn farming skills, which would later help them acquire emigration visas. Eva and Werner passed the tough entrance interview in which more than 400 applicants were denied acceptance. Altogether 130 students went through the training at the farm where they learned agricultural skills as well as character building qualities. After evening dinner, daily classical concerts by the students concluded the day and Eva, who was a gifted piano player, soon become part of this tradition.

The idyllic world of Gross Breesen, its camaraderie and pioneer spirit, was however more and more overshadowed by the growing fascist terror surrounding them, soon erupting into the horrors of Kristallnacht.

The Gestapo raided Gross Breesen and its students ended up in the Buchenwald concentration camp, where they spent several days under harrowing conditions.

In the meantime, Bondy and William Thalhimer, the Richmond department store owner, had met and agreed to bring as many students as possible from Gross Breesen to Virginia. Thalhimer bought a plantation farm in Burkeville, 90 miles south of Richmond. Still, it was difficult to obtain visas for his young protegees. For 13 months, Gillette writes, Thalhimer “waged battle after battle against the aggressive bureaucratic hostility of the State Department.”

Since the United States had dramatically cut entrance visas from Germany during that period, Gross Breeseners not only came to Virginia, but were scattered all over the world from Argentina to Parana and from Kenya to Australia. Eva and Werner made it to Virginia and tilled the land at Hyde Farmlands, as their new home was called— until the farm had to be disbanded due to

growing financial trouble. Soon afterwards, Eva and Werner joined the army, Eva as a hospital nurse and Werner as one of its legendary Ritchie Boys. Over half a century later, Hyde Farmlands was dedicated as a National and Virginian Historic Site in 2013.

There is so much more to learn from the exceptional life stories of Eva Jacobson and Werner Angress, as well as the remarkable endeavors of Curt Bondy and William Thalhimer. Escape to Virginia is not only an illuminating history lesson, bridging the Old World and the New World during its most tumultuous period, it is also an exemplary story on various levels and for readers of all ages, crystallizing time and again the Gross Breesen spirit of hope, courage and resilience. The book is well researched, vividly narrated, and richly illustrated.

Frederick Lubich is a professor at Old Dominion University in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Stein Family College Scholarship The Stein Family College Scholarship is an annual grant for Jewish students in the Hampton Roads area that provides a scholarship of up to $10,000 a year for college.

Eligible Applicants Must: • Be Jewish students graduating high school this Spring, entering a degree-granting institution for the first time as a full-time, degree seeking student • Be current residents of Hampton Roads • Applicant must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 • Demonstrate academic ability, concern for school, Jewish & general communities • Show substantiated financial need (as determined by FAFSA) The Stein Family College Scholarship is dedicated in loving memory of Arlene Shea Stein.

Application Deadline: March 30, 2018 For more information, guidelines andapplication, visit www.JewishVa.org/tjf-stein

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 29

ISRAEL

Israeli teens suing BDS activists over cancellation of Lorde concert JERUSALEM (JTA)—Three Israeli teens are suing two activists in New Zealand for allegedly convincing pop star Lorde to cancel a concert in Israel.

The teens are being represented by the Israeli legal rights group Shurat HaDin, which reportedly filed the lawsuit in a test case of a law passed in 2011 that allows civil lawsuits to be filed against people who call for a boycott against Israel.

The lawsuit announced Tuesday, Jan. 30 asks for about $13,000 in damages from the activists.

Following her announcement in December of a Tel Aviv concert date in June, New Zealanders Nadia AbuShanab and Justine Sachs—the former Palestinian and the latter Jewish—wrote an open letter to Lorde on the website The Spinoff saying that her scheduled performance in Israel “sends the wrong message.”

“Playing in Tel Aviv will be seen as giving support to the policies of the Israeli government, even if you make

“This lawsuit is an effort to give real consequences to those who selectively target Israel and seek to impose an unjust and illegal boycott against the Jewish state

STRELITZ Early Childhood Education Center

no comment on the political situation,” they wrote.

Lorde thanked the activists for educating her about the issues and days later canceled the concert, calling it the “right decision at this time.”

The lawsuit charges that the activists knew that their letter could trigger a boycott. The two women took credit for the cancellation.

“This lawsuit is an effort to give real consequences to those who selectively target Israel and seek to impose an unjust and illegal boycott against the Jewish state,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the head of Shurat HaDin, told the Associated Press. “They must be held to compensate Israeli citizens for the moral and emotional injury and the indignity caused by their discriminatory actions.”

Sachs tweeted after the announcement of the lawsuit: “Israel the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East where New Zealanders get sued for exercising their freedom of speech…in New Zealand.”

Reenrollment Begins Feb. 1 For Preschool!

Infants and Toddlers Spaces Available!

Our child child-centered teaching philosophy includes: •Gross motor play •Sensory play

•Cognitive, process art projects •Individual milestone recognition

call 757.424.4327 to schedule a tour today! www.strelitzearlychildhood.org 30 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

it’s a wrap

what’s happening Tidewater Learning Connection: How to Raise an Adult

Arielle Di Porto brings stories of Aliyah to Tidewater

Arielle Di Porto.

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nited Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet recently hosted Arielle Di Porto from the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). Di Porto gave a stirring presentation about JAFI’s important work of rescuing Jews throughout the world.

Director of the Aliyah division of JAFI’s unit for Aliyah, Absorption & Special Operations, Di Porto is responsible for aliyah—Jewish immigration to Israel— from around the world, with emphasis on aliyah from France, and clandestine operations in Middle East, North Africa, and South American countries.

Of special concern to Di Porto’s department is the current risk to the Jewish community of 20,000 who are in Iran, as well as the remaining Jewish communities in Yemen, Syria, Venezuela, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt. A great concern also exists for the Jewish community in France who has come under increased anti-Semitic threats and terrorist attacks in recent years. As Di Porto shared, “there are suburbs of Paris today where you cannot enter without serious risk of attack if you are a Jew.” In her nearly two-hour presentation, Di Porto spoke about assisting and monitoring at-risk Jewish communities, the families she has saved, and how she feels a personal connection to each person she

interacts with. “It’s not work, it is a mission,” she said. “At the end of the day, you feel like you’ve done something special… what we’re doing is real life.”

The work of Di Porto and her team often cannot be shared because of the critical dangers Jews face when fleeing conflict-riddled areas. In rare exceptions, those left with no choice but to flee share the details of their rescue. One such story was originally told in the article, A family reunion as some of Yemen’s last Jews arrive in Israel, published March 26, 2016 by the Los Angeles Times.

Zion Dahari was just 14 years old when he left his home country of Yemen—not certain he would ever see his family again.

Four years later, Dahari was reunited with 17 of his relatives—including his parents and six brothers and sisters. The family was covertly airlifted out of Yemen

20,000 Jews currently at risk in Iran

and arrived in Israel after stops in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, when they were met

by Dahari, who says, “I found out they were arriving in Israel at the last minute. I dropped my study books, caught the bus and ran.”

A mission known as Magic Carpet brought 49,000 Jews from Yemen to Israel from 1948 to 1950 with more arriving throughout the decades. To-date, only 50 Jews remain in Yemen, refusing to leave, living on a compound just outside of the U.S. Embassy.

February 15

7 pm, Keynote address VIP cocktail reception, 6 pm

It’s not work,

TCC Roper Performing Arts Center

it is a mission.

February 16 8:30 am–1 pm

Simon Family JCC

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The mission that reunited the family was the last in a long campaign of clandestine rescues, organized by the U.S. State Department and JAFI to rescue Jews from Yemen, which has been ravaged by civil war.

On the ground in Israel, JAFI provides absorption programs for new immigrants to help with the transition, including learning Hebrew, understanding Israeli culture, socializing and making friends, and obtaining training to enter the workforce. As part of one absorption program, Dahari’s family will spend a year in Beersheba at an immigrant facility and will then receive financial aid to purchase a small home and start a new life.

Di Porto thanked the Women’s Cabinet and UJFT for the important role they play in making her work possible through the Federation’s Annual Campaign.

The Jewish Agency for Israel was established in 1929 as the pre-state government of Israel and today maintains its mandate from the government to bring, by choice or by rescue, and settle Jews from around the world in Israel. JAFI has a presence in every continent and country where Jews live and has been an important overseas partner to the Jewish Federations’ efforts to improve the lives of Jews everywhere. The Jewish Federation of North America provides JAFI with more than $100 million annually. In 2017, UJFT provided more than $210,000 from the Annual Campaign to support JAFI’s work in saving Jewish lives, strengthening immigrant communities in Israel, and empowering religious diversity in Israel.

idewater Learning Connection, an initiative of the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, presents “How to Raise an Adult.” This two-day education conference for parents and educators will include a keynote address by former Stanford University dean and author of How to Raise an Adult—which focuses on breaking the habits of helicopter parenting. The second day will feature workshops led by psychiatrists Erin Walsh and Michelle Tryon, CHKD Community Outreach Coordinator.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.tidewaterlearningconnection.org.

Passover April 10–April

18

Passover

Coming Mar 5 To advertise call 757.965.6100 or email news@ujft.org Ad deadline Feb. 16 Reserve your space now!

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 31

what’s happening Jewish Family Service 14th annual Grieving Children Art Show

Simon Family JCC’s Leon Family Gallery

Erin Zimmerman Scenes from Israel

March

February Erin Zimmerman

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he architecture in Israel and the daily lives of the country’s citizens are explored in this moving photography exhibit. Erin Zimmerman is a writer, producer, and director of documentaries about history, people, and biblical archaeology in Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Europe.

Proceeds from the sales of Zimmeman’s work will go to the cultural arts department of the Simon Family JCC.

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isplaying the creative drawings and words of local grieving children and teens, Grieving Child demonstrates how loss affects all those touched by it and offers children and teens the opportunity to see they are not alone. This show, co-sponsored by JFS and Edmarc, provides an opportunity for children and teens to share their feelings with others and to see that they are not alone. The art show is open to any school-aged youth in Tidewater who has experienced the death of a loved one. For more information, contact Debbie Mayer, LCSW, at JFS at 757459-4640 or DMayer@ jfshamptonroads.org.

For more information about the Leon Family Gallery and the exhibits, contact Melissa Eichelbaum, Simon Family JCC program associate, at MEichelbaum@ujft.org.

Tel Aviv Streets.

Tidewater Learning Connection A Hebrew Academy of Tidewater Initiative

How to Raise an Adult Keynote Address by Julie Lythcott-Haims, Former Stanford University Dean

Thursday, February 15, 2018 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Cocktail reception before the keynote, 6:00pm TCC Roper Performing Arts Center

Friday, February 16, 2018 8:30am - 1:00pm

Workshop tracks for parents and teachers Sandler Family Campus

TidewaterLearningConnection.org

32 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

what’s happening Beneath the Open Sky tour travels to Tidewater

Israel Today

March 9–11, Ohef Sholom Temple

Aaron David Miller Gulliver’s Troubles Revisited: The Future of the Middle East Monday, February 12, 7:30 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus

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aron David Miller, vice president for New Initiatives and Distinguished Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars will discuss the future of the U.S. involvement in a volatile Middle East as uncertainty plagues the new administration. The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Aaron David Miller and community partners, with special thanks to AIPAC, continues the 2017-2018 Israel Today series with Miller’s appearance.

In a conversation with the Community Relations Council, Miller recently discussed his view on leadership in the Middle East and America’s future role as it relates to the region. In the broader sense of American foreign policy, Miller spoke to the civic responsibilities that Americans can do with respect to their own politics.

“First, don’t get your news from any single source, organization, embassy, or newspaper,” says Miller. “Why would you choose a news channel that validates your own prejudices?

We need to stretch beyond our own bubble and analyze,” Miller continues. “Second, civility—when engaged in conversations with people you don’t agree with, you should listen.

Something they say could help inform your view or help you to continue the conversation. Listen, and really hear what they are saying. Finally, study history. It’s incumbent on people to create some sort of perspective when analyzing problems.”

Miller is a well-known scholar on U.S. foreign policy and served for two decades as a State Department analyst, negotiator, and adviser on Middle East issues.

Longtime follower of Miller’s work, Betsy Karotkin looks forward hearing him speak as part of Israel Today. “Scholar, writer, analyst—his insights on Israel, the Middle East, and America will deepen your understanding of the dynamics and the future of Israel, its relationship to the U.S. and the hope for peace,” says Karotkin.

Miller has traveled the country giving his perspective on the future of the Middle East. This event is free and open to the community. For more information or to RSVP (required), visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday or contact 757-965-6107.

Chris Kraus, Ohef Sholom Temple director of family learning

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ack by popular demand, Mama Doni and her four-person bluegrass band, Nefesh Mountain, return to Tidewater for multiple concerts and a musical Kabbalat Shabbat over three days.

In fall 2016, under her “Mama Doni” billing, Doni Zasloff performed several playful, upbeat children’s concerts at the Simon Family JCC, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, and Ohef Sholom Temple with her banjo-playing husband Eric Lindberg. Now, Zasloff and Lindberg have added to their repertoire some serious and critically acclaimed mountain music that gives unique melody to Hebrew and English verses of the bible and Jewish liturgy.

This year, fresh off concerts in Israel and the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial convention in Boston, Nefesh Mountain will release its critically acclaimed spiritual album, Beneath the Open Sky, on March 2. Tidewater audiences can be among the first to hear it at several concerts open to the public with no charge.

Open Sky includes original songs such as Bound for the Promised Land, I Want to Hear Somebody Pray, L’Dor VaDor—On and On, and The Narrow Bridge.

Zasloff considers bluegrass music an ideal vehicle for Jewish prayer. “It’s the ultimate celebration, because you have to get up and dance. It also has lonesome, mountain-y sound [which reflects] the pain we all feel— especially as Jews,” she says. Mountain culture is not unique to western Virginia and American Appalachia.

Jewish faith teaches that Torah came from the Sinai Mountain. Moreover, Israel is a land of mountains. The

Nefesh Mountain

City of David, Jerusalem, rests atop Mt. Zion.

Using original material, along with four tracks drawing from the folk and old time traditions, Lindberg and Zasloff ingeniously create a beautiful arc throughout Beneath the Open Sky, which defines their own genre and world as they see it.

“We want to have a chance to share our story with everybody,“ Zasloff adds. “There is this word ‘Americana’ that we all know well…bridging the gaps somewhere between Old-Time, Bluegrass, Folk, Blues, and Jazz— which all have deep roots in this country.”

Nefesh Mountain adds Jewish faith and prayer to the Americana mix, and area residents will have the opportunity to stomp their feet to the live beat next month.

Nefesh Mountain Community Shabbaton* March 9–11 • Ohef Sholom Temple, 530 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk Friday, March 9 Shabbat for Everyone 5:45 pm Family Friendly Bluegrass Kabbalat Shabbat 6:30 pm Community Dinner and Teen Social, $10, <age 13 no charge, RSVP required 7:15 pm­ Encore Children’s Concert with Mama Doni

Saturday, March 10 10:30–11:30 am Shabbat Morning Musical Worship with Nefesh Mountain, Cantor Jen 11:30 am–1:30 pm Spirituality Through Bluegrass Workshop and FREE lunch, RSVP required 7 pm O’Connor Brewing, Ghent. No cover charge

Sunday, March 11 11 am Wiggles & Giggles with Mama Doni, for infants, toddlers and parents 12:45 pm Teacher Training—Music and spiritual education, $25 RSVP required RSVP by March 7 to select events at reservations@ohefsholom.org.

*Made possible in part by a grant from the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, and co-sponsored by Ohef Sholom Temple and United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

jewishnewsva.org | February 5, 2018 | Jewish News | 33

what’s happening

Calendar February 9, Friday Tidewater Chavurah’s Second Friday Shabbat Service. At the home of Hal and Elaine in the Great Neck Meadows area of Virginia Beach. 7 pm. Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill will lead the service. An Oneg will follow. For event information and location address, email carita@verizon.net or dlqt@cox.net or call 499-3660 or 468-2675. Check out www.tidewaterchavurah. org or Tidewater Chavurah Face book page for upcoming events.

Torah class at KBH Tuesdays, 2 pm, Kehillat Beit Hamidrash

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conservative synagogue located in Virginia Beach’s Kempsville section, Kehillat Beit Hamidrash Synagogue does not have a formal rabbi. But that does not stop the congregation from having a weekly Torah study class. When the original teacher for the class left the area, the congregation turned to the Norfolk Kollel to fill the void.

The class meets at the synagogue and is currently studying one of the classic Mussar books, Orchot Tzadikim, The Ways of the Righteous. Orchot Tzadikim is a masterful work that aims to help the reader refine character traits and maintain balance in all matters.

The goal of the class is to take the timeless wisdom of this ancient text and apply it to situations in everyday lives. “It is a new way of looking at my life and the things that come up in my life on a daily basis,

and seeing the events from more than one perspective,” says Elaine Levenson, a class participant. “The discussions help me to be more open minded and better able to understand the root of Jewish laws and ethics and the way I react and respond to situations.”

In addition to being informative, the sessions tend to be transformative. “I am committing myself in my retirement years to become more observant,” says longtime KBH member and class founder Harriet Eluto. “I feel attending the class helps me in my journey.“

FEBRUARY 12, MONDAY CRC, aipac, Simon Family JCC, and community partners present Israel Today with policy expert Aaron David Miller at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus. 7:30 pm. Free. For more information or to RSVP, visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday, contact Melissa Eichelbaum at 321-2304, or meichelbaum@ujft.org.

February 15, Thursday—February 16, Friday Tidewater Learning Connection. How to Raise and Adult. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.tidewaterlearningconnection.org. See page??

March 9, Friday—March 11, Sunday Nefesh Mountain Community Shabbaton at Ohef Sholom Temple with Saturday evening event at O’Connor Brewing. RSVP by March 7 to select events at reservations@ohefsholom. org. See page 33 for details.

The class has a steady core of regular members, but is ready to expand. For more information, or to join, call Rabbi Gavriel Rudin at 757-386-3274 or email rabbirudin@norfolkkollel.com.

March 13, Tuesday The Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Simon Family JCC, along with community partners present: Israel Today featuring author, historian, and political commentator Gil Troy to discuss his latest book, The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library, 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach. Free and open to the community. 7:30 pm. For more information, contact Melissa Eichelbaum at meichelbaum@ujft.org or visit JewishVA.org/IsraelToday.

Send submissions for calendar to news@ujft.org. Be sure to note “calendar” in the subject.

Include date, event name, sponsor, address, time, cost and phone.

Chabad of Tidewater hosts “Purim at the Circus” Featuring The Twins from France Thursday March 1, 5 pm Wyndham Garden, Downtown Norfolk

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he Twins From France will amaze children and adults alike with their mind-boggling acrobatic and daredevil feats in a performance unlike any other.

A reading of the Megillah will also take place.

RSVP to www.chabadoftidewater.com/circus, call 757-616-0770 or email rabbilevi@chabadoftidewater.com.

34 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

Jewish Museum and Cultural Center to celebrate 10th anniversary Sunday, March 25, 4–7 pm Uno’s Pizzeria, 5900 East Virginia Beach Blvd, Norfolk

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ave the date for the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center’s 10th anniversary celebration.

Each ticket includes an all you can eat Italian buffet and one alcoholic beverage.

Silent and live auctions feature prizes such as a home security package, flat screen televisions, race track tickets at the Poconos, an overnight stay at the Courtyard Marriott, gift certificates to local restaurants, jewelry, paintings, and more.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $36 at the door.

For more information, call 757-391-9266.

WHO KNEW?

mazel tov to Achievement Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman, founding rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim, whose article on President Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration was inserted into the Congressional Record by Congressman Scott Taylor.

Rabbi Zoberman also was the keynote speaker at the 25th anniversary celebration of Prince William County Human Rights Commission in Woodbridge, Va. during Dr. Martin Luther King weekend.

He was presented with a Human Rights Award, noted in the Congressional Record

by Congressman Gerald Connolly.

Mazel Tov submissions should be emailed to news@ujft.org with Mazel Tov in the subject line. Achievements, B’nai Mitzvot, births, engagements and weddings are appropriate simchas to announce.

Photos must be at least 300k. Include a daytime phone for questions. There is no fee.

Neil Diamond gives up touring Jewish singer-songwriter Neil Diamond announced he is giving up touring after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The Australia and New Zealand leg of his 50th Anniversary tour scheduled for March have been canceled.

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring,” the artist said in a statement released Monday, Jan. 22 on his website. “I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years.

“I plan to remain active in writing, recording and other projects for a long time to come.”

Diamond has had 10 No. 1 singles: Cracklin’ Rosie, Song Sung Blue, Longfellow Serenade, I’ve Been This Way Before, If You Know What I Mean, Desiree, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, America, Yesterday’s Songs and Heartlight.

He starred in the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer.

Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. He received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2011.

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, Diamond celebrated his 77th birthday. Four days later The Recording Academy, at its annual Grammy Award ceremony, honored him with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. (JTA)

Synagogues in Boston and Philadelphia make Super Bowl wager They are calling it the Tzedakah Super Bowl Wager.

Congregation Rodeph Shalom of Philadelphia and Temple Israel of Boston made a friendly bet on the Super Bowl for charity.

The synagogue from the city of the losing team will donate 18 times the point difference in the final score to the charity of the other synagogue’s choice.

Rodeph Shalom has chosen Philly Youth Basketball, which empowers youth as students, athletes and leaders. Temple Israel has chosen the CTE Center at Boston University Medical Center, which conducts high-impact, innovative research on the longterm consequences of repetitive brain trauma in athletes and military personnel. Both synagogues also urged their congregants to donate to the charities ahead of the Super Bowl.

There are cross-city Jewish ties on each side of the game.

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, who grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, attended Temple Israel of Boston as a child. He is a former Patriots season ticket holder and reportedly was outbid by current Patriots owner Robert Kraft in an effort to purchase the team, WHDH Boston reported.

Meanwhile, Temple Israel’s Associate Rabbi Matt Soffer is from Philadelphia and remains an Eagle’s fan. He grew up going to Congregation Rodeph Shalom. (JTA)

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obituaries Stanley Goodman Norfolk—Stanley David Goodman died on the morning of January 28, 2018.

Stanley was a native and lifelong resident of Norfolk. Born in 1929, Stanley was the son of Norfolk natives Jacob Goodman and Tillie Legum Goodman.

Schooled in the Norfolk Public Schools System, Stanley was a 1947 graduate of Maury High School and a 1951 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Stanley’s early life was dominated by sports. He excelled at them and was a multi-sport star at Maury. Stanley was the first recipient of the Norfolk Sports Club “Sportsman of the Year” award in 1946 and played baseball at UNC during his four years there. After college, Stanley was drafted by the Boston Red Sox and played on the Club’s minor league team in California. Stanley also was a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in Busan, South Korea during the Korean War. Throughout all of his life, Stanley was dedicated to his religion and to his temple, Congregation Beth El of Norfolk, where he was a lifelong member and where all of his life-cycle events took place. The importance of Judaism and of Beth El to Stanley and the role they played in his life could not be overstated. Until only a few weeks before his death, Stanley served as a gabbai at Beth El and for many decades was one of the temple’s daily “minyanaires.”

Stanley is survived by his loving wife, Paula, his three sons Scott and his wife Debbi of Charlottesville, Wayne of Norfolk, and Lance and his partner Richard Stern of Boston, his grandchildren Justin (Cara), Drew (Katherine), Alex, Daniel (Lindsay), Jean (fiancé Robert Baker) and Rose, his great-granddaughter Scottie, his sister Ellen Goodman Miller of New York City, his step-sons Jonathan Friedman and Steven Friedman, his nieces and nephews and many cousins. Besides his parents, Stanley was predeceased by his brother and sister-in-law, Leonard and Ginny Goodman.

A funeral and burial took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Donations in Stanley’s memory and honor may be made to Congregation Beth El. H.D. Oliver.

Ronald J. Hurwitz Norfolk—Ronald Joseph Hurwitz, 64, passed away peacefully at home on January 1.

He was born in Norfolk and was the son of the late Leonard and Lorraine Hurwitz.

He is survived by his wife, Sharon; his daughter, Allena (Neil) Anglen; and his grandson, Raleigh Anglen. He will also be remembered by his brothers, Norman (Nancy) Hurwitz of Charleston and Jeffrey (Bettye) Hurwitz of Richmond, and his in-laws, William and Pat Hodges and Paul and Barbara Hodges. He was a loyal friend, a loving husband, a devoted father, and an adoring grandfather.

Ronnie was a graduate of Granby High School and Old Dominion University followed by a career as a CPA and independent consultant with Salmons Inc. He was an avid sports fan and a member of Phi Delta Sigma Fraternity. He played on the Norfolk City Blues Rugby team for many years. He shared his love of skiing, rugby, basketball, baseball, football, and hockey with his many dear friends, who have visited him and supported him through his illness.

A graveside service was held at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery. “Team Hurwitz” has been established to walk in the Tidewater Pancreatic Cancer walk on April 22 in Ronnie’s memory. Donations to support Pancreatic Cancer Research through this event at http://support. pancan.org/goto/hurwitz. H.D. Oliver Funeral Apts. Online condolences may be sent to the family at hdoliver.com.

Susan Mirman Norfolk—Susan F. Mirman, daughter of Virginia and Alan Mirman, sister of Jill Mirman, mother of Rachel Ianni, and aunt of Sam Owen, died the afternoon of January 11, 2018 in Staunton, Va. as a result of a seizure connected to on-going health issues. Fortunately, Susan’s fiance, Robert Lewis, was with her at the time of her death and said she did not suffer.

Susan was 58.

Susan grew up in Norfolk. As an avid animal lover, she worked at several shelters and other animal care organizations.

She had a wide range of interests and was

36 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

an avid reader; she was known for her sense of humor and quick wit, and made friends easily everywhere she went.

Susan was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, next to her mother and father.

Donations in memory of Susan may be sent to the ASPCA. www.aspca.org.

Doris Jacqueline Reiter Virginia Beach—Doris Reiter, 91, of Virginia Beach, Virginia passed away on January 24, 2018.

Born and raised in the Bronx, she graduated from New York University and settled in Manhattan and then Mount Vernon, N. Y. before relocating to Virginia Beach in 1975 with her beloved husband of 57 years, Herbert Reiter.

She was a loving wife, devoted mother, an adoring grandmother, and a warm and lively companion who lived life to the fullest. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She is survived by her sons, Barry and Robert, her daughterin-law, Barbara, and her grandchildren, Matthew, Katie, Tim and Andrew.

Funeral services were held at Congregation B’nai Yisrael in Armonk, N. Y. Donations to the American Cancer Society or the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Online condolences may be made to the family at hdoliver.com.

Pablo Savransky Chesapeake—Pablo Savransky, 88, passed away on January 29, 2018.

He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to the late Isaac and Rosa Savransky and was also predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Fanny Savransky and a daughter, Augustina Savransky.

He is survived by his wife, Sarah Savransky; daughter, Myra Savransky; two sisters, Perla Rudy and Celia Gibot; a brother, Enrique Savransky; four step children, Pam Snedecor, Cindy Jones, Amy Taylor and George Brown; and many nieces, nephews and step grandchildren.

Pablo was a much loved and respected Master Jeweler in the Hampton Roads area. Anyone who knew him knows how much he loved his family and friends. His greatest legacy will be how he touched others with his kind soul, his laughter, and his love of life. To know Pablo was

to love him. He often said, “I don’t know much English, but I do the best I can.” He will be greatly missed, especially by his daughter, Myra.

A graveside service was held at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in the King David Garden with Cantor David Proser officiating. Cremation & Funeral Services of Tidewater. Donations may be made to Kempsville Conservative Synagogue.

Carl Peter Wisoff Norfolk—Tonight, and now every night, the evening sky will be a bit brighter. On Wednesday, January 24, while on his 96th trip around the sun, Carl Peter Wisoff passed peacefully from this world to join his beloved wife and soul mate, Patricia Kelsay Wisoff, amid the heavenly constellations. His light burned so bright for so long, it is difficult to fathom a life without him.

Born in Brooklyn in 1922, the third child of Julius and Sophie (Rosenson) Wisoff, Carl, full of insatiable curiosity, focus and passion for learning ,entered University of Wisconsin at 16 years old.

He enlisted in the Army Air Force while a student at Harvard Medical School, class of ‘46. Upon graduation, he served as a Captain in the medical service corps and participated in the humanitarian effort of the Berlin Air Lift.

While finishing his residence at Cincinnati General Hospital in Ohio, Carl caught a glimpse of Patricia Kelsay, a nursing student, outside a movie theatre, asked her out and three months later they were married, beginning a devoted life of love and adventure that lasted 65 years.

In the early 1950s, Pat and Carl moved to Norfolk and threw themselves into the civic and cultural opportunities of their new home. They were avid and staunch supporters of the Chrysler Museum, Planned Parenthood, and WHRO, to name just a few. They hosted hundreds of lunches, theme dinners, and generous neighborhood events.

Beginning his medical career as the only radiologist at Norfolk General Hospital, Carl quickly became the chief radiologist of his partnership, the Radiological Associates of Norfolk General Hospital, that over the course of his long career was

obituaries dedicated to bringing the highest standards of care and providing the newest technologies to the expanding field of radiology. He traveled the world attending conferences and seminars, assiduously pursued postgraduate education in a rapidly changing medical landscape, and mentored generations of new physicians to the field.

Always restless for new challenges, highly self-motivated and disciplined, Carl pursued everything with intensity.

Avid travelers, Carl and Pat developed a passion for arts and crafts, which they studied and collected with great fervor from every corner of and culture on earth.

Carl believed anything could be learned from a book. He taught himself photography, grew his own fruits and vegetables, and created whimsical and unique jewelry for family and friends.

In their ‘spare time,’ Carl and Pat lovingly raised four children, (Sherri, Brandon, Jeffrey, and Wendy) and spoiled seven grandchildren (Whitney, Samantha, and John Napolitano, Keano Rich, Sari Wisoff and Jeffrey and Michael Wisoff).

An accomplished fencer in his youth, a ferocious racquetball player for most of his adult life, Carl still managed to play a rousing game of tennis into his 93rd year and enjoyed a good gin and tonic at the end of the day. So we raise a glass now to Carl and a life well lived. Thank you for showing us the way. We will miss you dearly.

H. D. Oliver. The memorial was private. Burial took place at Princess Anne Memorial Park. Donations to Vanguard Landing, a planned, self-sustaining home for adults with special needs (vanguardlanding.org) or a charity of donor’s choice.

Online condolences may be made at www. hdoliver.com.

Mathilde Krim, AIDS research pioneer who fought disease’s stigma

M

athilde Krim, a prominent AIDS researcher who fought the stigma surrounding the disease, has died.

Krim passed away on Monday, Jan. 15 at the age of 91, people close to her wrote on Facebook.

The researcher founded the AIDS Medical Foundation in 1983, at a time when widespread homophobia hampered people from speaking out about AIDS, a disease that mainly affected gay and bisexual men.

In 1985, the foundation merged with other groups to form amfAR, the Foundation for Aids Research, for which Krim served as founding chairwoman.

Krim, who was active in the civil and gay rights movements, was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000

by President Bill Clinton for her work in AIDS research.

Krim was born in Italy in 1926 to parents who had both Catholic and Protestant relatives but later took an interest in Judaism. Krim converted to Judaism before her 1948 marriage David Danon, an Israeli doctor and military commander whom she met while studying at the University of Geneva. Krim received a doctorate in biology from the university, at a time when few women held such degrees. The couple moved to Israel in 1953, where Krim did research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, but they later divorced.

In 1957, she married Arthur Krim, an American Jewish entertainment lawyer, who served as a trustee of the Weizmann Institute. She relocated to New York where her husband lived and led research at the Sloan-Kettering cancer center. She would

meet patients there suffering from a skin cancer associated with AIDS. The Treatment Action Group, an organization promoting HIV/AIDS research, praised Krim’s work in a statement.

“I genuinely believe that we wouldn’t be where we are today without Dr. Krim’s brilliance, determination, and mobilization,” said Tim Horn, the group’s deputy executive director of HIV & HCV Programs. “Beyond her unparalleled contributions to HIV/AIDS research fundraising and awareness, she was an interminable source of strength, support, and wisdom for countless activists over the years.”

Andy Humm, a gay rights activist and co-host of the TV program GAY USA, wroteon Facebook that Krim was a “tireless brilliant, calm, steady voice for healing, research, compassion and justice.

Millions owe her their lives.” (JTA)

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in memoriam

Thane Rosenbaum

NEW YORK ( JTA)—Arguably the world’s greatest writer of fiction about the world’s foremost nonfiction atrocity, the Holocaust, died Thursday, Jan. 4 in Israel. Aharon Appelfeld, a Holocaust survivor himself and one of the icons of Israel’s first generation, was 85. No writer captured and reclaimed the lost world of European Jewish life with as much imaginative intensity and heartfelt longing.

The author of more than 40 books, written in Hebrew and translated around the world, he was the recipient of the State of Israel Prize for Literature in 1983, and a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize in 2013. Like the surreal events that shaped him, however, Appelfeld was a writer of great elusiveness and paradox.

While he was known as a Holocaust writer, a label he rejected, he was also a man, and a fiction writer, who was nearly impossible to categorize.

After all, he was orphaned at eight years old when his mother was murdered by the Nazis and he and his father were sent to a concentration camp in what is now Ukraine. Separated from his father, Appelfeld did not realize until 20 years later that he, too, had survived.

They miraculously reunited in Israel—a reunion he was never able, emotionally, to write about.

Everything else he experienced, however, he reimagined feverishly. No writer who survived the Holocaust, and whose memories inspired their writings, had been dealt such a vividly colorful and yet traumatizing childhood experience.

Although a small boy, Appelfeld escaped from the camp and lived in small towns and the forests of the former AustrianHungarian Empire—creases in the geography of Romania, Transylvania, and Bukovina. He lived among and was helped along by horse thieves, fortune-telling Gypsies, self-described witches, and working-girl prostitutes. He became a shepherd and a caretaker of lame horses.

Later he worked as a cook for the Soviet

army. All this before a bar mitzvah he was still too young to have and, given everything else, God would not have noticed.

A prostitute became his surrogate mother. Each night, he once told me, in a studio flat through the scrim of a hanging bedsheet that separated his tiny bed from the larger one of his caretaker, all made luminous by ambient light, he watched his guardian angel sexually satisfy her drunken clientele—the boy observing through the projected screen, hearing the moans and grunting sounds, seeing shadowy movements that ushered him into accelerated puberty. In the upside-down world of the Nazis, this kindhearted prostitute became his Mother Theresa.

Appelfeld was among the few writers who survived the Holocaust, wrote about the experience, and didn’t end his life by suicide

This was the degenerate world that he knew, and that had oddly raised and protected him. He was too young to appreciate that he had being given a choice between a death camp and a madhouse. His life was saved by the latter.

Such indelibly sordid memories on the lam provided him with the gift of a grist few writers—Jewish or otherwise—could ever imagine.

Appelfeld’s characters live out their days in advance of the oncoming devastation, seemingly oblivious to what lies ahead, naively focusing on trivial details instead of the Nazi menace that would soon nearly erase all of Jewish life in Europe.

His writing was spare and allegorical; he was a teller of tales rather than a chronicler of the ungodly details of murder.

He intentionally never wrote about the camps, gas chambers, killing fields, or

38 | Jewish News | February 5, 2018 | jewishnewsva.org

death marches. But he wrote poignantly about the aftermath, the hesitant, halting, and improbable recovery of the survivors both in Europe and in Israel.

Arriving in Israel two years before its creation, he quickly learned Hebrew, which added to his survival kit of six other languages. Unlike the other notable Israeli fiction writers—A.B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, and David Grossman—Appelfeld wrote mostly about the impending dead and the broken remains of Jewish life before and after the Holocaust. Among Israeli society starting anew and glorifying the bronzed farmers and chiseled soldiers of the IDF, Appelfeld was admired, but regarded as a relic of a time the nation wished to forget, or at least gloss over. This is one of the reasons why he was as widely read in the Diaspora as within Israel itself—a European writer displaced in the new Jewish homeland.

Which all made sense for other reasons of European symmetry. No one would have wished such a childhood on anyone, but fate cares little for what’s fair, and Appelfeld was uniquely equipped to make fine use of so rich a legacy—and proximity to fellow men of European letters. Although younger by several years, he grew up on the same street in Bukovina as the novelist-essayist Joseph Roth and the German poet Paul Celan, the latter also a Holocaust survivor. What a glittering literary address, an urban incubator of Jewish writing of the highest order.

Three men of short stature, but giant Jews with outsized reputations, preordained to recall and retell.

Appelfeld was also linked to Celan in other ways. Along with Elie Wiesel and Imre Kertesz, Appelfeld was among the few writers who survived the Holocaust, wrote about the experience and didn’t end his life by suicide. Each of the others— Celan, Primo Levi, Jerzy Kosinski, Piotr Rawicz, Jean Amery, Tadeusz Borowski, and even Bruno Bettelheim—did. The only one to live and write in Israel, however, was Appelfeld. Perhaps his contributing role in the resurrection of his

Jwh at Wikipedia Luxembourg

Remembering Aharon Appelfeld, from charnel house to whorehouse to a home in Israel

Aharon Appelfeld

people enabled him to look beyond the nightmare and sidestep the trauma.

Over a decade ago, the literary scholar and Holocaust survivor Geoffrey Hartman invited me, Appelfeld, and the American novelist E.L. Doctorow to speak at Yale University about the fictional and testimonial elements of Holocaust literature.

(Yes, I did feel humbled and outmatched.)

Appelfeld spoke about his use of fiction to conceal some truths while revealing perhaps far more profound emotional ones. Doctorow, cagily, approached the lectern and merely recited an inventory of personal artifacts the Nazis had confiscated from Jews as they first entered the concentration camps: “shoes, eyeglasses, thimbles, coats, hats, wallets, scarves, prosthetics, teeth.”

Simple possessions, emblematic of a lost world. Cruelly taken away and forever gone.

And the more precious: Hartman died last year; Doctorow, the year before. And now Appelfeld, gone, too.

Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist and the author of The Golems of Gotham, Second Hand Smoke, Elijah Visible and, most recently, How Sweet It Is!)

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