June 12, 2017

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INSIDE

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Southeastern Virginia | Vol. 55 No. 19 | 18 Sivan 5777 | June 12, 2017

15 Always a dad

23 HAT students create robots

Women’s Cabinet passes leadership baton

—page 24

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26 BSV Biennial Board Meeting

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31 Gal Gadot— Israel’s superstar

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upfront US may leave UN human rights council, Nikki Haley warns

Netanyahu: Arab ‘street’ may one day soften on Israel

I

sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said alliances of convenience between Israel and Sunni Arab states could lead to improved perceptions of Israel on the “Arab street.”

Shared interests of crushing the rise of Islamist terrorist groups “may eventually open the door not only for changing the relations of governments, but also to change the perception of Israel in the Arab street,” Netanyahu said in a conversation with five alumni of an American Jewish Committee Israel advocacy training program.

A video of the conversation, filmed recently in Jerusalem, was screened Tuesday, June 6 at the annual AJC conference in Washington.

“In parts of the Arab world, Israel is no longer the demon it once was—we take a back seat to some of these forces,” Netanyahu said, referring to the Islamist terrorist groups.

The AJC program, Leaders for Tomorrow, brought five incoming college freshmen to meet with Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister called college campuses “bubbles” that can inhibit young Jews from seeing Israel as a nation advocating not only for peace and stability, but also for technological and economic investments.

He closed with a simple statement for the aspiring leaders: “Stand up for the truth.

Stand up for Israel. Be proud.” (JTA)

Reba McConnell, Sun-kissed Bliss, 2017, watercolor. Courtesy of the artist.

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.S. is considering its membership in the U.N. Human Rights Council, citing among other things its bias against Israel.

In a speech Tuesday, June 6 to the council in Geneva, Haley cited Israel as one of several factors leading the United States to reconsider its membership. Another is the membership of human rights abusers like Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi, and Saudi Arabia.

“It’s hard to accept that this council has never considered a resolution on Venezuela and yet it adopted five biased resolutions in March against a single country—Israel,” Haley said. “It is essential that this council address its chronic anti-Israel bias if it is to have any credibility.”

Haley added: “The United States is looking very carefully at this council and our participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening.”

The George W. Bush administration also cited Israel bashing and the presence of human rights abusers when it pulled out of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the predecessor of the current council. The Obama administration rejoined, in part to defend U.S. interests.

Later Tuesday evening, in a separate speech, Haley proposed an amendment to the process by which member nations are chosen to make the council “more effective, more accountable, and more responsive.”

“America does not seek to leave the Human Rights Council. We seek to re-establish the council’s legitimacy,” Haley said.

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Senate marks 50 years of Jerusalem’s reunification

Federation’s historic partner, JDC, provides emergency assistance in Sri Lanka

WASHINGTON (JTA)—The U.S. Senate approved a non-binding resolution marking the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, was approved 90–0 on Tuesday, June 6, the anniversary of Israel’s capture of eastern Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. The resolution called on the president to abide by the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, which recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and calls for moving the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.

President Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to move the embassy, however last month authorized a waiver delaying the move for national security reasons.

Notably, the resolution does not endorse a final status solution for the city, instead reaffirming “that it is long-standing U.S. bipartisan policy that the permanent status of Jerusalem remains a matter to be decided between the parties through final status negotiations towards a twostate solution.”

“It is very fitting that the Senate passed this resolution 50 years to the day of the start of the Six Day War,” Schumer said in a statement after the vote.

On Wednesday, June 7, the Israeli embassy in Washington hosted an event in the Capitol marking the reunification. Lawmakers from both parties attended. At the same time, a similar event took place, via simulcast, in Jerusalem.

Speakers included Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

he American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is responding to catastrophic flooding and mudslides in Sri Lanka, the result of the worst storms to hit the island nation since 2003.

JDC, together with its local partner Sarvodaya, a Buddhist-inspired humanitarian organization, deployed its first responder unit to provide food, water, and other emergency aid in Sri Lanka’s five hardest hit districts, including the Galle and Kalutara districts on the coast where JDC worked extensively after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

The first responders are reaching beleaguered Sri Lankans via road and by boat, where necessary. As a result of the unprecedented rains, more than 500,000 people have been displaced and more than 150 killed. Donations can be made at: www.jdc.org/srilankarelief “We mourn the loss of life in Sri Lanka, and are working to ensure that desperately needed assistance is delivered to survivors who have lost so much in this disaster,” says JDC CEO David M. Schizer. “As the Jewish community gathers to celebrate Shavuot, commemorating the commandments we received on Mount Sinai, we honor our tradition and its value for human life by joining with our Sri Lankan partners to save lives and carry forward a shared commitment to compassion in the face of adversity.”

JDC has a 12-year history working in Sri Lanka. The Sarvodaya–JDC Disaster Management Unit, currently carrying out relief missions, was established by JDC and Sarvodaya in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when the two organizations partnered to ensure immediate aid for Tsunami survivors. The disaster management unit—created to provide quick and efficient responses to crises in a country and region regularly hit by natural disasters—is comprised of a fully equipped and trained team of first responders. Since the 2004 Tsunami, the unit has responded to dozens of disasters in Sri Lanka.

JDC’s disaster relief programs are funded by special appeals of the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors to JDC. JDC coordinates its relief activities with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, the Israeli government, Interaction, and the United Nations, as well as local and international partners.

T

Contents

About the cover: Photograph of UJFT Women’s Cabinet past and present leadership by Mark Robbins.

Up Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Special Father’s Day section. . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Up Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

HAT students watch butterflies emerge. . . . 23

Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Robotics challenge at HAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Torah Thought. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Women’s Cabinet passes leadership baton. . 24

Israeli minister and Goldman Sachs CEO on Paris climate accords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Michael Boomberg and the Paris climate accords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Israelis rally in Tel Aviv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Mazel Tov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Gal Gadot, Israeli superstar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Global surges in anti-Semitism. . . . . . . . . . . 10 Special Section—Father’s Day

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Briefs Wonder Woman banned in Lebanon because lead actress Gal Gadot is Israeli Lebanon’s interior ministry has banned the film Wonder Woman from its theaters because the movie’s lead actress Gal Gadot is Israeli.

The move to ban the film was bolstered by a social media protest campaign run by a group called The Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel-Lebanon.

Lebanon is officially at war with Israel and bans Israeli products. Lebanese citizens are not allowed to travel or have contact with Israeli citizens.

Jordan is also considering banning the film because Gadot served in the Israel Defense Forces.

Jordan’s Communications Commission is currently reviewing the film to determine whether it meets the country’s standards and laws, the Israeli news website Ynet reported.

“We remind the Jordanians of their obligation to boycott the film, and we refuse to be partners to the crimes of the Zionists and to increase their profits from this film. The Arab audience will not be involved in projects that represent Zionism and the Israeli army,” said a statement from one of the Jordanian campaigns against normalization with Israel.

Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement in 1994.

Gadot, 32, does not shy away from touting her Israeli heritage. She praised the Israeli military in a widely shared Facebook post during the 2014 Gaza War. Wonder Woman has garnered rave reviews from critics and took in an estimated $223 million worldwide in its opening weekend. (JTA) Democratic lawmakers want US to pressure Israel over its treatment of Palestinian activist Four Democratic lawmakers are circulating a letter calling for the United States to urge Israel to reconsider charges against a prominent Palestinian activist.

The letter—which is being circulated

by Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who serves as deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, as well as Reps.

Marc Pocan, D-Wis., Betty McCollum, D-Minn., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.— urges Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to pressure Israel to drop charges against Issa Amro.

Amro, who advocates non-violent resistance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and co-founded the group Youth Against Settlements, was indicted last year by an Israeli military court on a number of charges, including entering closed military zones and obstructing soldiers, according to Haaretz. The congressional letter cites criticism of the indictment by Amnesty International, which called the charges “baseless,” and the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“As the United States seeks to assist in brokering a peace agreement between both sides, we should encourage our steadfast ally in the region to uphold our shared values and respect activists like Issa Amro: freedom of expression must be a foundation for a just and lasting peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people,” reads the letter, posted online by the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at Northwestern University who opposes boycotts of Israel and the settlements, criticized the letter.

“The letter takes as holy writ the statements of the U.N. Human Rights Council, whose obsessive, biased and untruthful campaign against Israel is well known, and has recently been denounced by America’s ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley,” Kontorovich told Jewish Insider. (JTA)

Ship named for Gabby Giffords to be commissioned A U.S. Navy warship named for Gabby Giffords will be put to sea this month.

The ship will be officially named Gabrielle Giffords in honor of the Arizona Democratic congresswoman who survived a 2011 gunshot wound to the head.

It will be the first Navy ship named after a living woman in 160 years.

The ceremony, which took place in Galveston, Texas, featured Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden.

The vessel is a 418-foot combat ship bearing machine guns and missiles,

4 | Jewish News | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

according to the New York Times. Below the mast, a box will hold an American flag patch that Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, wore on his spacesuit; a purple heart left at the hospital where Giffords was treated for the gunshot wound; her congressional identification; and a 19th-century coin.

Six people died and 12 were injured in the January 2011 assassination attempt, in which Giffords was shot in the head at close range. She recovered from the attack and resigned her seat a year later. In the years since, she and Kelly have become gun safety advocates.

“That our Navy chose to give my name to this ship is an incredibly humbling honor—one I would never have imagined, one I will never forget, and one for which I always remain grateful,” Giffords said, according to the Times. “When we celebrate the commissioning, I will be thinking of the thousands of hardworking Americans who built this ship and the brave men and women who will serve aboard her.” (JTA)

Pope, Reform leader in Vatican meeting share concerns over Trump immigration policies Pope Francis told the president of the Union for Reform Judaism that he has “concerns” about the approach to immigration by the Trump administration, the group said.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs met with the pope privately for 20 minutes on Friday, May 26 at the Vatican as part of Jacobs’ involvement in helping immigrants and refugees in the framework of the Religions for Peace interfaith organization, the Union for Reform Judaism wrote in a statement.

“We shared our respective concerns about the US Administration’s approach to immigration in particular,” the statement read. “Pope Francis is one of humanity’s most compelling moral voices. I told him that I hoped that his meeting with President Trump would have an impact on that and other issues.”

Trump visited the Vatican during his first visit overseas since he assumed the presidency in January.

On Catholic-Jewish relations, Jacobs told the pope that “there were painful

chapters in the history of the Church and the Jewish people, but that today’s chapter has moved from fear to love.”

“At the end he asked that we pray together. We stood, we held hands—he blessed me in Italian, then I blessed him in Hebrew with the ancient words of the Priestly Benediction. It will remain one of the most profoundly spiritual and memorable moments of my life,” the Reform leader said.

Separately, Israel’s Channel 10 reported that Israeli and Vatican officials have launched talks to discuss the possibility of Pope Francis paying a visit to Israel and the wider region in a bid to push peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

A Vatican delegation is expected in Israel this month and is looking at three possible dates for a potential visit this fall, Channel 10 reported. (JTA)

Israel’s defense minister: Israel tweaked intel sharing after Trump revelations to Russians Israel’s defense minister said Israel made changes to how it shares intelligence with the United States in the wake of President Donald Trump’s revelation of highly classified information to Russian officials.

Avigdor Liberman told Army Radio that the change would not affect the close intelligence-sharing relationship between Israel and the United States.

“I can confirm that we did a spot repair and that there’s unprecedented intelligence cooperation with the United States,” Liberman said.

“What we had to clarify with our friends in the United States, we did,” he said without elaborating.

Trump in a meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador to the United States last month described in detail information that led the United States to conclude that the Islamic State terrorist group was planning to attack an aircraft with a laptop bomb.

He did not describe sources, but the detail could lead the Russians to learn who had provided the information and could identify the spy who infiltrated the group, according to reports.

Some reports said Israel had shared the information with Trump. (JTA)

Torah Thought

Father, mother, parent, you: God is beyond our language

A

bout two decades ago, a bat mitzvah student asked me a familiar question, but with a surprising twist. She said, “Rabbi, is God a He?” And I answered, “No, He’s not.” Then we both thought for two seconds about what I had just said, and simultaneously, we burst out laughing. My student had just learned about the inadequacy of finite language to describe the infinite.

We are coming up on Father’s Day. Human fathers are not identical to human mothers. Both are potentially blessings in the life of their children, but not as clones of each other. But what does it mean to call God “Avinu She-bashamayim,” “Our Heavenly Father”?

When I was a student, the 1970s–1980s encounter of North American feminism and Judaism was producing many fruitful results, and also, of course, lots of controversy. I recall many earnest discussions about the masculine gender of God references being a relic of oppressive patriarchy. We would teach our daughters, and, just as important, our sons, as well, to claim God as a loving parent, not to perpetuate the disrespect to women of depicting God as masculine.

I still believe that. But now, a third of a century later, I would urge us to glean another lesson as well, the lesson that my bat mitzvah student of the late 1990s understood intuitively: to have more humility about all our God-language.

In truth, none of our options are perfect. If we retain the traditional, “God as Father” language, for the sake

of continuity with the poetic choices of our ancestors, we are back at the starting point of the problems that we tried to solve two generations ago. We could alternate “Father” and “Mother”, and some of our liturgists do just that, but again, we need to supplement the words with explanations that we are being deliberately inconsistent, to make a theological point—so the alternation does not itself provide an elegant solution. We could substitute “Parent” for both “Father” and “Mother,” but in today’s English, “parent” sounds impersonal, which makes it still harder to inculcate the sense of God’s love that is already sadly underdeveloped in much of our teaching about God. We could eschew the metaphor, and refer to God in second person, but again, by avoiding the metaphor, we dampen our ability to feel the sense of intimacy in the Father-language of our sacred texts: Just as a Father is tender with his children So is the LORD compassionate to the God-reverencing… (Psalm 103:13)

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My suggestion is that we become comfortable with telling our children, in the most positive ways, that “God is greater than everything”, and go on to say that “God is greater than our language for God.” After all, that’s precisely what the kaddish prayer says!

“The Name of the Holy Blessed One… [is] Above all the blessings and songs, the praises and declarations of consolations that we can say…

This is an issue with which it is good to wrestle. Better that, than to grow too comfortable with the thought that God is no greater than our imperfect and sometimes bigoted imaginings.

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Nation Goldman Sachs CEO, Israeli minister join critics of US pullout from Paris climate accords

I

srael’s energy minister and the CEO of the Goldman Sachs bank, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the chorus of critics who condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate deal.

Minister Yuval Steinitz criticized the move implicitly. “Even if there is a 50 percent chance that climate change and global warming is man-made, we must act to reduce risk,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that Trump’s decision will not change Israel’s plans for reducing the use of fossil fuel.

Blankfein, a Jewish New Yorker, became the most high-profile Wall Street figure to come out against Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, the New York Post reported.

In his first tweet, Blankfein wrote: “Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the US’s leadership position in the world. #ParisAgreement.”

Blankfein’s support for the climate agreement seems to echo that of Gary Cohn, the former Goldman president who left for a job as Trump’s economic adviser.

Late last month, Cohn—who is also Jewish and is seen as more moderate than conservatives like Steve Bannon—said that Trump’s view on the Paris treaty was “evolving.”

Blankfein has come out against the president’s policies before.

In January, Blankfein blasted Trump’s initial ban on the entry into the United States of citizens from seven Muslim countries, saying in a voice mail left on the phones of all Goldman employees that it was “not a policy we support.”

Trump has disputed theories that climate change is caused by human activity and has said that his administration would begin negotiations either to re-enter the Paris accord or to have a new agreement “on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers.” He complained in particular about China’s terms under the non-binding agreement.

International leaders including the pope had pressed Trump not follow

through on an election campaign promise to abandon the accord, and they lamented his decision, Reuters reported.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in a rare joint statement the agreement could not be renegotiated and urged their allies to hasten efforts to combat climate change. They pledged to do more to help developing countries adapt.

“While the U.S. decision is disheartening, we remain inspired by the growing momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to clean growth economies,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Syria and Nicaragua are the only other non-participants in the accord.

Republican US congressional leaders backed Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell applauded Trump “for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs.”

Democrats blasted the president’s move.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the decision “one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment, and our geopolitical standing.”

Senator Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year, said: “At this moment, when climate change is already causing devastating harm around the world, we do not have the moral right to turn our backs on efforts to preserve this planet for future generations.”

The United States had committed to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The United States accounts for more than 15 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, second only to China.

Nearly all leading climate scientists say greenhouse gas emissions trap heat in the atmosphere and have caused a warming planet, sea level rise, droughts, and more frequent violent storms. (JTA)

Nation How Michael Bloomberg is defying Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accords NEW YORK (JTA)—Following the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate accords, Michael Bloomberg is coordinating a group of American governors, mayors, universities, and businesses that remain committed to fulfilling the United States’ obligations under the deal.

The media mogul and former New York

City mayor also pledged $15 million to the United Nations’ efforts against climate change.

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, June 1 that the U.S. will withdraw from the landmark 2015 agreement to fight climate change, signed by every country except Syria and Nicaragua.

Bloomberg’s donation will make up for the U.S.’s contribution to the U.N.’s Climate Secretariat, which aids countries in implementing the agreement. Bloomberg—who is the world’s 10th-richest person—serves as the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, and he has long advocated aggressive climate measures.

As part of his U.N. role, Bloomberg is organizing American states, cities, and businesses that have pledged to meet the Paris accords’ goals without the federal government’s help. So far, according to The New York Times, the governors of New York, Washington and California are among continued on page 8

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Nation the Paris Climate Agreement,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up—and there isn’t anything Washington can do to stop us.”

The Bloomberg group plans to submit its own independent commitment to the Paris accords, but it is unclear how that

continued from page 7

the 1,200 who have signed on, including mayors from Norfolk, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and Pittsburgh. In addition, 100 businesses, including Hewlett-Packard and Mars, have joined the effort, as have the presidents of more than 80 universities.

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would work. The accords are not designed to include “non-state actors” like local governments and companies.

However, former U.N. climate official Christiana Figueres told the Times that it is possible that the Bloomberg group’s submissions could be included in future U.N. reports on the progress made by the

countries signed on to the Paris deal.

“The bulk of the decisions which drive U.S. climate action in the aggregate are made by cities, states, businesses, and civil society,” Bloomberg wrote in a draft letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Collectively, these actors remain committed to the Paris accord.”

Alan Dershowitz: Harvard was wrong to rescind student admissions over Facebook messages (JTA)—Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said the university was wrong to rescind the admissions of several students who posted offensive messages on a private Facebook group.

The messages reportedly mocked the Holocaust, sexual assault and domestic terrorism, among other topics.

“Punishing students academically for their political views or their personal values is a serious mistake,” Dershowitz, who had not seen the messages before he was interviewed, told the Boston Globe. “These actions are not consistent with the spirit of the First Amendment.”

“Judging other people’s humor, even in the worst taste, just strikes me as somewhat dangerous,” he said, suggesting that it might have been better to require the admitted students to discuss the matter with an adviser.

The rescinded admissions were first reported by the university’s student newspaper, The Crimson.

Two unnamed incoming freshmen whose admissions were not rescinded told The Crimson that the Facebook group, first titled “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens,” was formed in late December as a breakaway from a general messaging group for the newly admitted class.

Harvard administrators revoked admissions offers to at least ten participants in mid-April after discovering the existence of the group. The university did not respond to requests from The Crimson or the Globe to comment on the issue.

The admissions office sent emails to the students in the group requiring them to submit for review every photo they posted to the group, The Crimson reported, citing an unnamed student whose admission was revoked.

“The Admissions Committee was disappointed to learn that several students in a private group chat for the Class of 2021 were sending messages that contained offensive messages and graphics,” reads a copy of the Admissions Office’s email obtained by The Crimson. “As we understand you were among the members contributing such material to this chat, we are asking that you submit a statement by tomorrow at noon to explain your contributions and actions for discussion with the Admissions Committee.”

The website The Tab published several of the items, including one mocking the Holocaust, “to give full context to the administration’s decision to rescind the students’ offers.”

Israel Thousands rally in Tel Aviv for two states, against occupation JERUSALEM ( JTA)—Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv against what organizers called “50 years of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories.”

The anti-settlement group Peace Now organized the Saturday, May 27 rally in Rabin Square under the banner of “Two States—One Hope,” which included leftwing Israeli political parties such as the Zionist Union and Meretz, as well as several other left-wing organizations like the New Israel Fund.

Liberal artists including Balkan Beat Box and singer Achinoam Nini performed at the rally.

Crowd estimates ranged from 15,000 to 20,000, with organizers putting the crowd total at 30,000.

A letter from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the organizers was read on stage.

“There is no stronger voice than the voice of just and comprehensive peace,

just like there is no stronger voice than that of people seeking self determination and freedom from occupation,” Abbas wrote. “It is time to live, you and us, in peace, harmony, security and stability.

The only way to end the conflict and fight terrorism around the world is through a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, Palestine alongside Israel.”

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, head of the Zionist Union, called for the establishment of a strong political bloc to defeat the right wing, which has been in power for years.

“We must put our egos aside and join together to one political bloc,” Herzog said. “A political bloc which includes parties, public figures and movements that work for change. A political bloc that is not interested in a binational state, in half a democracy. A bloc that wants a Zionist, Jewish, democratic with equality to minorities and openness to a variety of

Jewish-Christian fellowship group increases aid to Arab Israelis during Ramadan JERUSALEM ( JTA)—The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is increasing food and clothing assistance to Arab Israelis during the Muslim holiday season of Ramadan.

The fellowship currently is distributing 9,500 food and clothing vouchers during Ramadan, which began May 26, through Israeli social services offices in 78 Arab and Arab-Jewish communities.

More than 9,000 low-income families will receive the assistance. The fellowship also will distribute 5,500 food vouchers and 4,000 clothing vouchers to children in after-school clubs run by Israel’s Ministry of Social Services and Social Affairs.

The Ramadan aid is part of an overall $5.6 million that the fellowship is providing to needy Israeli Arabs in 2017, the group said. The fellowship’s founder and president, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, has called on the government of Israel to

bolster Israeli Arabs’ connection to the country in the wake of a proposed law to officially declare Israel a Jewish state, which has stirred anxiety among Israeli Arabs and other minorities.

“It is important that the citizens of Israel understand that the legislation of the law declaring Israel as the nation of the Jewish people may be important, but the feeling of equality and quality of life among the Arab citizens of Israel, one-fifth of Israel’s citizens, is the real guarantee of the whole Israeli society and the future of a moral and sustainable nation,” Eckstein says.

The fellowship also recently invested in projects to improve medical services in Bedouin communities, and has provided educational scholarships for many hundreds of Christian and Muslim Arab and Druze Israelis.

views. This bloc needs to include many from Livni to Kahlon to Lapid and others.

Only together we will win.”

Peace Now Director General Avi Buskila also slammed the current government.

“For years we have been letting the irresponsible right-wing government take

us down an abyss, hinder our democracy, our morality,” he said. “Today we are putting an end to this. We are fighting for our future in a Jewish and democratic state.”

The rally came days after the country celebrated 50 years since the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.

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Global surges of anti-Semitism ‘No Jews,’ other anti-Semitic messages painted on home for sale in New York

T

he words “No Jews” was spray-painted from floor to ceiling on the walls of a home for sale in a New York suburb.

Anti-Semitic messages also were painted throughout the Rockland County home, including in the kitchen and on the floors. The graffiti was discovered last month in the empty home by a home inspector who was checking on the structure for a couple that wished to purchase it.

The inspector was acting on behalf of an Orthodox Jewish couple, CBS New York reported.

The Haverstraw Police told the local media that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

The Anti-Defamation League condemned the anti-Semitic attack, “which was designed to send a message of fear and intimidation not just to the victim, but also to the broader community,” Evan Bernstein, the group’s New York regional director, said.

“The vandalism of a home for sale in a county with a rapidly growing Jewish community sends a deplorable message that Jews are not welcome. We expect that community leaders and elected officials will make clear that all are welcome in Rockland and that anti-Semitism and bigotry have no place in our communities,” he said.

In November 2016, the words “No Jews” were spray-painted on a realtor’s sign and two vacant homes some three miles away from where the recent incident occurred.

The latest incident comes amid a surge of anti-Jewish vandalism across New York state, according to ADL, whose annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents found a 50 percent rise in instances of anti-Jewish vandalism across the state in 2016 over 2015. (JTA)

Swastikas spray-painted on home of Colorado Jewish family

S

wastikas were spray-painted on the home of a Jewish couple in northeast Colorado.

The couple was awakened early on Friday, June 2 at their home in Aurora, Colorado, by police after a neighbor reported the graffiti, according to CBS4.

Local police are investigating the incident as a hate crime, according to the news station.

Sandy and Howard Wolf told CBS4 that they have never been targeted before because of their religion and they do not know how the vandals knew they were Jewish.

They told the news channel that they had recently learned first-hand about the consequences of anti-Semitism.

“My husband and I took a trip to Poland and Israel last year and we were in several concentration camps so it just really hit hard to see that on our home, such hatred,” Sandy Wolf told CBS4. “We hear about lots of things but now it’s happened here.”

Wolf said that since the discovery of the graffiti she started wearing a Star of David necklace given to her by a family member who lost many relatives to the Nazis. (JTA)

10 | Jewish News | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

A

Oregon highway sign blames Jews for Sept. 11 attacks

sign blaming Jews for the Sept. 11 attacks was hung from a pedestrian bridge over an interstate highway in Portland, Oregon.

The banner sign reading “Jews did 9-11” was hung on both sides of the bridge on Sunday, June 4.

Several people who saw the signs called the Portland Police Department to complain. The police referred the issue to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Someone removed the signs, according to local reports. Photos of the sign already had been posted on social media. (JTA)

S

Hate signs placed on lawn in Florida neighborhood

everal hate signs targeting Jews and others were posted in front of a home in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The signs targeted gays, Jews, “retards” and “infidels.” Another sign read “Great Again,” an apparent reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.

The signs were stolen, angering the homeowner, Roland Price, who said his First Amendment rights were violated, the local NBC affiliate WFLA reported. Neighbors told the station that other neighbors took them.

Price has been posting inflammatory signs in front of his home for years, neighbors told the Tampa Bay Times.

St. Petersburg police said the lawn signs do not break any laws and do not pose any direct threat, the local ABC affiliate reported. (JTA)

Sears to pull ‘Free Palestine’ clothing from site amid complaints NEW YORK (JTA)—Sears says it will remove a line of clothing featuring the slogan “Free Palestine” from its website.

The clothing was offered for sale by a another company, Spreadshirt Collection, and included tank tops, t-shirts, and hoodies featuring a variety of pro-Palestinian messages. The clothing was offered for sale through Sears Marketplace, which offers a platform for third-party sellers to offer their wares through websites managed by Sears.

The designs included a clenched fist in the colors of the Palestinian flag and statements opposing the Israeli occupation.

According to a statement from a Sears spokesman, the apparel was pulled from the site based on feedback the company received.

“These items were being sold by a third-party seller via the Sears Marketplace,” said the statement, which was sent to JTA. “Given the feedback we’ve received, they are being removed.”

The statement added that Sears felt it had been “unfairly singled out on this issue,” as similar items are available for purchase from other companies, such as Amazon and Walmart.

The Sears statement notes that the company serves “a broad base of customers around the country and around the world,” and that it has 200 employees in Israel.

y p p a H s ’ r e h t a F y a D

Supplement to Jewish News June 12, 2017 jewishnewsva.org | June 12, 2017 | Jewish News | 11

Father’s Day

Billy Crystal on being Jewish, playing ball and his family Cindy Sher

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(JUF News via JTA)—The inimitable Billy Crystal was back on the road a few months ago. The six-time Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor, producer, director and writer—most recently of a book of essays, Still Foolin’ ’Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys— toured the U.S. with his new show, Spend the Night with Billy Crystal.

The show felt like an intimate chat with the audience—a blend of standup with a “sit-down” interview with Crystal.

Crystal, who lives in Los Angeles, told stories, talked about the world as he sees it, reflected on his life, and showed some film clips from his long career.

Of course, the popular nine-time Oscar host has numerous iconic films and roles to choose from: The title character in the quintessential rom-com When Harry Met Sally; the grouchy “miracle worker” in The Princess Bride; Mitch, a New Yorker heading toward a midlife crisis who goes on a cattle drive with his buddies in City Slickers; and in Analyze This, a shrink to Robert De Niro’s mob boss.

But before he was charming millions, Crystal, 68, was entertaining his family and friends while growing up in the quaint beach town of Long Beach, New York. Then a predominately Jewish and Italian town, Crystal describes it as the “perfect place to grow up.” He often references his beloved hometown in his act, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy’s battering of New York in 2012, Crystal and his wife of nearly 47 years, Janice, helped raise more than $1 million to help Long Beach rebuild and rebound.

Crystal’s early childhood, back in the 1950s, was filled with music and laughter. His mother, Helen, was a talented tap dancer and singer. His father, Jack, worked six days a week at two jobs—as a jazz promoter and manager of the family’s popular New York City record store.

Jazz greats like Billie Holiday—who were friends of his parents—would frequent their home.

Crystal and his dad would spend most Sundays together watching baseball games. Their relationship was chronicled in Crystal’s Tony Award-winning oneman show 700 Sundays (also adapted into a book and HBO special), named for the number of Sundays he spent with his father before his dad died of a heart attack when Crystal was only 15.

The only thing Crystal ever aspired to do as much as comedy was play baseball for his beloved New York Yankees—in fact, he says the highlight of his long career came in 2008, when he signed a one-day contract with the team in honor of his 60th birthday.

In a phone interview with JTA, Crystal looks back on his family, his Jewish identity, his long career and the “one thing” that keeps him going.

JTA: You seem to be a celebrity who wears your Judaism as a badge of honor, and not in a self-hating sort of way.

Would you agree?

Billy Crystal: I do. I mean, I still make fun, but it’s not about Jews—it’s about my Jews, it’s about my relatives. It’s not generalizations.

What are some of your favorite parts about being Jewish?

You mean, besides the circumcision?

You remember that, huh?

Yeah, oh yeah, that’s why I’m an insomniac.

What else do you love about being Jewish?

The storytelling, the warmth, the sense of humor. My dad was strict about the holidays. We honored them, we went to temple. I like the ritual, and the caring for our planet that’s written into so many of the works I read in Hebrew school.

How do you compare when you were just starting out in showbiz 40-plus years ago to touring with your new show?

It all feels the same. I don’t think I’ve stopped working since the eighth grade.

Father’s Day Backstage, when I was on Broadway, felt the same as it did backstage when I was getting ready to do a school play in high school. It’s that same energy of confidence, a little bit of nerves.… The moment you go out, you release and say, ‘OK, I’m ready, here I come.’ It’s kind of an intoxicating feeling to go out and entertain people.

What did your father teach you during those 700 Sundays, before he passed away?

Besides teaching me a love for comedy, a love for reading, a love for baseball, he also taught me about doing the right thing. My dad was a civil rights giant in his own quiet way, in that he was one of the first promoters to integrate jazz bands.

So the house, yes, was filled with Jewish relatives with stories, but sitting next to them was Zutty Singleton, who was a great jazz drummer, or Tyree Glenn, who was Louie Armstrong’s trombone player, or any of these other great musicians.

They were all just friends. My family label—Commodore Records—produced Strange Fruit, which is Billie Holliday’s epic song about lynching. It took a Jewish family to produce that record, to write that song.

How did your father’s premature death shape your life and your relationship with your mother?

I was 15 and was dealt a bad hand. You can’t help but be angry, and I was angry and had to learn to live with that, and to deal with my mother, who was suddenly widowed and forced back into the workforce. [Being] back home alone with her, while my brothers were away at college, made me grow up really fast. I admired her strength—at the age of 50 she was suddenly back in the workforce. Three sons in school and we all graduated college because of her. You watch that and learn what parenting is really about, and

what being a son is really about. My mom sent me on a path of trying to do the right thing in my life and also valuing every moment that you live.

What’s your secret to your happy, healthy, and long marriage?

We still feel that we’re dating. After all these years, and all the things that we’ve been through, and all the joys and sadness that we’ve shared together—right from the beginning: You’re 18 and you have to tell the in-laws [that] you’re going to be a comedian.

But Janice’s faith in me, her trust in me, her strength when things aren’t going well. Our key is we keep laughing, we keep talking, and we keep loving.

I’m going to remind you about a scene from your own movie, City Slickers.

Curly, a cowboy, asks your character, Mitch, if you know the secret to life. Then,

Curly holds up one finger and says “One thing.” What is that one thing, or maybe a couple of things, that give you purpose?

The purpose is Janice and the kids, and continually doing right by them and right by myself. That’s the most important thing … and in my job, I have a purpose.

I have a mind that still loves to create and I follow that deeply.

—Cindy Sher is executive editor of Chicago’s JUF News.

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Father’s Day

Ten Jewish grandparent names that are due for a comeback Joanna C. Valente

(Kveller via JTA)—Kveller often writes about trending Jewish baby names—but what about more retro names that are due to come back in style?

Parents-to-be may not want to go with what’s popular right now and instead choose something ahead of the curve—by which we mean way behind.

So we rounded up some of our favorite male names from the past—names that probably sound familiar, as you probably have uncles and grandparents with them.

Here’s a quick list: Hyman. Hyman, a version of Chaim, is a male name in Hebrew that means “life.”

➊

➋ Meir. Meir is a Hebrew male name meaning “one who illuminates.”

Famous Jews: Meir Shalev, Meir Ariel

➌

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➏ Harold. Harold, another non-Jewish name used by Jewish people, is

Myron. While Myron is actually Greek, many first generation American Jewish men were given the name. It means “fragrant, an aromatic shrub, myrrh.”

Famous Jews: Myron Waldman, Myron Cohen

➍ Morton/Morty. Similar to Myron in that it’s not a Hebrew or Yiddish name, but in English, it was commonly used for Jewish immigrants. It means “town near the moor.”

Famous Jew: Morty Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld’s TV father on Seinfeld played by Barney Martin)

➎ Irving. Irving, another name used

by Jewish immigrants and first generations, is Scottish and means “green river, sea friend.” Feel free to use Irv for short.

Famous Jews: Irving Wallace, Irving Stone, Irving Berlin

Scandinavian and means “army ruler.”

Hal or Harry are fun nicknames.

Famous Jews: Harold Ramis, Harold Norse

➐

Melvin. Melvin, a non-Jewish

name also commonly used by Jews, is English and means “council protector.”

Mel, anyone?

Famous

Jews:

Melvin

Melvin Rosen, Melvin Calvin, Mel Brooks

➑

Seymour. Seymour, a non-Jew-

ish name also commonly used by Jews, is English and means “marshy land near the sea.”

Famous

Jews:

Seymour

Siegel,

Seymour Melman, Seymour Martin Lipset

➒

Shirley. Shirley, a non-Jewish

name typically for girls also commonly used by Jews, is English meaning “bright meadow.”

Famous Jews: Shirley Povich (the rare man with the name)

➓ Sheldon. Sheldon, a non-Jewish name also commonly used by Jews, is English meaning “steep-sided valley.” Shel for short is super cute.

Famous Jews: Shel Silverstein, Sheldon Leonard —Joanna C. Valente is the staff writer at Kveller. Joanna is the author of Sirs & Madams, The Gods Are Dead, Xenos,

and Marys of the Sea. She received a master’s degree in fine arts from Sarah Lawrence College. You can follow @joannasaid on Twitter, @joannacvalente on Instagram, or email at joanna@kveller.com.

14 | Jewish News | Father’s Day | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

Schwartz,

Father’s Day

First Person

Always a dad

Lisa Bertini

“Holler if you need me, kid.”

I have heard that phrase ever since I was a skinny runt growing up at the Jersey Shore. My dad, no little guy, was the kind of dad that didn’t make small talk with the other parents. He would kind of squint, nod his head, and walk away. He was intimidating, but with my friends, he was revered. I guess it’s cool for other kids when your dad doesn’t really care what people think.

But I always cared what he thought of me.

I was kind of like my dad in some ways. I had friends for sure, but at the end of the day, I did my own thing. We really got each other.

A child of the depression, my dad grew up in very humble surroundings. He lost his father when he was 10 years old, and his mom, an Italian immigrant—who spoke no English—was forced to work full time in a clothing factory. My dad was raised by my Aunt Edna, who sacrificed her teenage years to work full time. His stories of the depression are wild. If I were to believe them all, I’d have a father who

was at once a rascal and a punk. But I know from photos and family lore that while it was true that he was in trouble a lot, running free, and jumping trains, he was also working after school by the age of 12 at Matlacks pharmacy. He enlisted in the Navy at 18 to see the world in active duty during the Korean War. When Dad returned home and met my mom—a refugee from Italy who was quite the beauty and worked at the cinema—he was so smitten that he had no choice but to marry her. So, they started having kids at 21 and the young butcher became a dad of three daughters. God must have a sense of humor.

Who knew?

My father retired as a butcher. He is one of the best read men I know who never got a college degree. But his three daughters did. His wife became the vice president of a bank and earned her college degree at night while a young mom. The eldest daughter became a teacher with three master’s degrees. I went to law school largely due to my dad force feeding me repeated reads of To Kill A Mockingbird and any novel about Clarence Darrow.

My little sister is a nurse at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, where she treats oncology patients. Ironically, or due to his orneriness, we all kept our maiden names and rarely eat meat. He has one grandson and five granddaughters.

Not one is a walk in the park. Three are vegetarians.

Still Dad When I entered the hospital room, my dad didn’t look small on the bed like most

sick, elderly folks. He looked beached. He is no little guy. His hands resembled mitts and his head was cocked. He had some tubes in him and looked awkward relaxing by force. I knew the stroke had slurred his speech so I talked and he listened. I told him about Zoe’s graduation and my work. I filled him in on my mom’s care and then bluntly, but kindly informed

him of the bleak news from the doctor. He didn’t look scared. He didn’t look phased.

He looked cool. He smiled his devilish grin and nodded his head.

Before I kissed him goodbye, I could drink in his slurpy, sloppy words as he parted with, “Holler if you need me, kid.”

I hollered all the way home.

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16 | Jewish News | Father’s Day | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

Father’s Day

Looking for a gift for dad or a relaxing way to spend Father’s Day? Virginia MOCA’s 62nd Annual Boardwalk Art Show might be the ticket Thursday, June 15–Sunday, June 18

T

he Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) will host the 62nd annual Boardwalk Art Show, along the Virginia Beach oceanfront from 20th to 35th Streets.

MOCA’s Boardwalk Art Show (BWAS) is Virginia Beach’s longest running annual oceanfront event and one of the oldest outdoor fine art shows on the eastern seaboard, consistently ranked in Sunshine Artists Magazine’s Top 40 fine art shows.

An eclectic range of fine arts and crafts from 275 artists, in addition to an

assortment of gourmet food and concessions, free concerts, and family art-making along the boardwalk all combine to make the event an attractive way to spend the weekend. Plus, an exclusive beach club and craft beer garden for those who want to take a different kind of break will be available.

MOC A’s BWAS began when a group of local artists organized to raise money for another artist in 1956. This ambitious group later assembled an arts organization that evolved into what MOCA is today,

a non-profit institution, which exists to foster awareness, exploration, and understanding of contemporary significant art.

The museum’s staff, and nearly 300 dedicated volunteers, produce this fourday festival, a Father’s Day weekend tradition, that serves as the museum’s largest fundraiser, raising more than $300,000 in 2016. Approximately 250,000 visitors are expected to attend this year.

“MOCA’s commitment to sparking dialogue through rotating exhibitions and educational programs goes in concert with the cultivation of artist’s careers,” says MOCA’s art show director, Jennifer Golden. “Artists at the show will have their work viewed by thousands of visitors, including jurors who are seasoned art professionals.”

IT’S A CELEBRATION

24th Street Park will house MOCA’s Craft Beer Garden spearheaded by Generation MOCA (a committee of young professionals whose mission is to advocate for the arts) along with free concerts Friday and Saturday, and MOCA’s popular Free Family Fest, Saturday, June 17.

The jewel of the show is the Boardwalk Beach Club, an 80-foot-tented space along the boardwalk (near 31st Street Park) offering complimentary valet parking at The Hilton, beverages, lunch, and afternoon snacks provided by Steinhilber’s, comfortable seating, private bathrooms, a place to store purchases, and ocean views. Boardwalk Beach Club tickets may be purchased online at www.

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Father’s Day

A Father’s Day special: Women take the grill Samantha Ferraro

(The Nosher via JTA)—“Ladies can grill too!” is what I thought while watching the men tend to the grill at one of my favorite Middle Eastern eateries recently. But after years of owning a charcoal grill and by default having the husband maintain it, I figured it was about time this lady learned to worked some magic over the coals.

So we took an afternoon last weekend for my husband to educate me on charcoal grilling, and as suspected (ahem…) I’m a natural.

The technique is all about maintaining that close pile of coals, yet having enough room so oxygen can circulate and produce fire. It may sound a bit scary, but I really had a blast. I so carefully placed the starter snugly in between coals and waited in anticipation until the coals got about 90 percent gray and chalky. At this point I knew my heat level was perfect and grilled kofta and vegetables were the perfect introduction to my new cooking challenge.

The kofta grilled perfectly and maintained it’s crimped shape, and the eggplant and tomatoes charred and softened beautifully. After everything was cooked, I placed the meat on top of pita bread in proper Turkish fashion, so that all the meat juices soaked into the bread. The flavor of freshly charred eggplant from robust coals and smoke is like no other.

L’chaim to summer grilling! And, to anyone looking for a new cooking challenge – go ahead and get those hands dirty grilling some delicious meat. The men shouldn’t get to have all the fun.

Grilled Kofta with Eggplant and Tomatoes Ingredients For the kofta and veggies

that are soaked), take ¼ of the mixture and

Using metal skewers (or wood ones

³⁄4 lb ground beef

form into an oval shape. Place meat on the

¼ lb ground lamb

skewer and use your hands to firmly press

2–3 Tbsp grated onion (about ½ an

the kofta onto the skewer into a long, oval

onion), excess liquid removed

and flat shape. You can also your use fin-

Small bunch of fresh mint and parsley,

gers to form crimps for texture and looks.

chopped finely

Lightly oil the grill (or indoor grill pan, if

¼ tsp Turkish red pepper

using) and on medium-high heat, grill the

(or any red pepper for spice)

kofta until the first side is lightly charred

1 tsp turmeric

(about 4–5 minutes), then turn over and

½ tsp cumin

continue cooking the other side.

1 tsp sumac

As meat cooks, lightly oil vegetables

1 Tbsp tomato paste

and place on grill until they are charred and

Salt, to taste (right before grilling)

softened.

When done, place koftas on pita bread

2 small eggplants, cut in half Whole tomatoes Pita bread

so meat juices can soak into the bread.

To serve, drizzle tahini sauce over kofta and vegetables and serve with pita bread and lemon wedges.

For the tahini sauce: ½ cup tahini paste ¼ cup water (may not use all of it) 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 1 lemon, juiced and zest 1 Tbsp olive oil Pinch of cayenne Salt and pepper, to taste

To make tahini sauce: Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend well.

The texture should resemble honey and not be too thick.

Add more or less water for desired consistency.

Taste

for

seasoning.

Directions In a bowl, combine

tainer in the fridge for several

ground meats and all

weeks.

the spices and herbs

Store extra in an airtight con-

(Yield: 4 servings)

except for the salt.

Use a light touch to mix everything well, so spices are evenly incorporated. Place plastic wrap over the bowl and allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

When ready, season meat mixture with salt and mix again. I chose to salt at the last minute, so it doesn’t draw the moisture out as the mixture marinates.

18 | Jewish News | Father’s Day | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

—Samantha Ferraro is the food blogger and photographer for The Little Ferraro Kitchen.)

The Nosher food blog offers a dazzling array of new and classic Jewish recipes and food news, from Europe to Yemen, from challah to shakshuka and beyond. Check it out at www.TheNosher.com.

Father’s Day

15 Father’s Day Gifts For the Jewish Foodie in Your Life Shannon Sarna

(The Nosher via JTA)—You got through Mother’s Day, Memorial Day weekend and even Shavuot. But folks, it’s not quite time to relax: Father’s Day is almost here. Another weekend to reserve for family celebrations and another round of gifts to procure. If the special dad or guy in your life loves to be in the kitchen, at the grill or engrossed in a good cookbook, then we’ve got a couple of great gift ideas to show him how much he is adored.

For the meat lover Meat Claws. These meat claws are the perfect accessory for the cook who likes to shred brisket for sandwiches or for pulling large hunks of meat off the grill more easily.

Infrared Laser Thermometer.

It might not be a shark with a laser beam attached, but this infrared laser thermometer will accurately measure the inside of your meat without wires, spikes or opening the oven. This is the ultimate gadget for someone who loves their meat perfectly cooked every time.

For the cookbook fiend The Brisket Book.

This book has 30 brisket recipes perfect for your very own brisket lover and includes

stories, history, and tips for perfecting the beloved Jewish dish.

The Book of Schmaltz. Ruhlman’s acclaimed book will teach you to render your own schmaltz and use it in countless old-school Jewish recipes and a few newer ones as well. A must addition for any Jewish cookbook lover’s collection.

Genius Recipes. This collection of recipes from the food website Food52 shares an arsenal of tried-and-true recipes from great chefs and provides extensive technique and how-to sure to improve any home cook’s repertoire.

For the griller Two-in-one Vertical Chicken Roaster.

Crispy skin on the outside, moist chicken in the middle, delicious veggies, and potatoes on the bottom – this vertical chicken roaster does it all.

For the trendy guy Ipad Stand and Stylus for the Kitchen. If your guy loves keeping his iPad nearby while cooking, this stand and stylus will help him read recipes and keep the screen clean from his grubby, grease-covered fingers.

Molecular Gastronomy Set. This gift is for the most adventurous of home cooks! Your guy can experiment making mint caviar, chocolate spaghetti, or horseradish foam.

DIY Pickling Set. Pickling your own veggies and fruit is all the rage, and the trendy dad in your life will love keeping up with the hipsters. Get ready to hit up the farmer’s market for potential pickling projects.

For the alcohol lover Coast Coasters. These coast coasters are simple but funny—perfect for the stylish dad who likes to keep a cocktail close by without fear of watermarks on the furniture.

Beerisms Pint Glasses. These beer glasses will delight the dad who just wants to happily enjoy his beer. Save water, drink beer!

Sunscreen Flasks. Dad can smuggle booze almost anywhere with these silly sunscreen flasks—dance recitals, vacation with the in-laws, or just hanging by the pool.

—Shannon Sarna is editor of The Nosher.

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Your grill master will love adding this tool to his grilling arsenal.

Yeti Oven Mitt. Safety first! A Yeti oven mitt will keep your guy safe and might make him laugh, too.

jewishnewsva.org | June 12, 2017 | Father’s Day | Jewish News | 19

Father’s Day

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20 | Jewish News | Father’s Day | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA)—With a lifetime of loving and writing about sports, Ron Kaplan has many topics he can sink his teeth into. Add to that passion his time working for the American Jewish Congress and then for nearly a decade for the New Jersey Jewish News, and you can see why his publisher saw him as the perfect guy to tackle the subject of his new book.

Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War (Sports Publishing, 2017) is about the Jewish Hall of Famer as he was trying to make baseball history at the same time that prejudice against Jews was reaching a murderous boiling point in Europe.

But Kaplan faced a challenge: There were already at least 10 books about the Detroit Tigers slugger, as well as Aviva Kemper’s award-winning documentary, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. None, however, had brought together the unique combination of factors that made 1938 a turning point in baseball and world history.

Kaplan spoke to those who knew Greenberg, including the celebrated sportswriter Ira Berkow, who had worked with the player on his memoir. Folks at the Baseball Hall of Fame helped with research, and Kaplan mined newspapers from the period.

They opened a window into a time when new cars sold for $600 and refrigerators for $200, a star like Greenberg earned $30,000, and awareness of the conflict brewing in Europe mushroomed. In the course of 1938, Kaplan

said, reports on the growing Nazi threat went from small paragraphs to frontpage stories with huge headlines, while the United States remained reluctant to accept Jewish refugees trying to flee Nazi oppression.

As Kaplan—an award-winning journalist and blogger—wrote, “Hammerin’ Hank” was coming off a stellar season with the Tigers, during which he hit 40 homers and drove in 184 runs. But as he was “on course for Babe Ruth’s home run record, Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ was beginning to take shape.” Jews across the United States, worried about looming threats overseas, “looked to Greenberg as a symbol of hope,” Kaplan wrote.

“Though normally hesitant to speak about the anti-Semitism he dealt with, the slugger still knew the role he was playing for so many of his people, saying, ‘I came to feel that if I, as a Jew, hit a home run, I was hitting one against Hitler.’”

In the present climate, Kaplan says, with arguments roiling about Syrian refugees, the debate over President Donald Trump’s use of the “America First” slogan popularized by the isolationist and anti-Semitic Charles Lindbergh, and reports of increasing anti-Semitism, “unfortunately, some of the issues from 1938 are still with us.”

Delving deep into Greenberg’s life, talking to those who knew him and reading everything available, Kaplan affirms his highest expectation.

“He was always a mensch,” the author says.

That quality was called into play in ’38 as the tall, powerfully built

Father’s Day Greenberg—one of the few Jews in the game, playing in one of the most anti-Semitic cities in the country—tried to break Ruth’s home run record. While crowds loved him and much of the country cheered him on, some didn’t want to see a Jew claim the crown from the mighty Babe. Kaplan says the belief was that some pitchers deliberately walked Greenberg to prevent his reaching the goal.

Greenberg would finish with 58 homers, three shy of Ruth’s record.

“But Greenberg refused to ever use anti-Semitism as an excuse,” says Kaplan, who noted the first baseman had a slow start and a rainy spring forced the Tigers to play a series of fatiguing late-season doubleheaders.

However, Greenberg, who died in 1986, was always mindful of prejudice.

His last year as a player coincided with Jackie Robinson’s first, and he made his support and respect clear to the first black player in the major leagues— something Robinson mentioned repeatedly to his own biographers.

Greenberg’s success on the field did not divert his attention from what was happening in the wider world.

In a brief overview of what came after 1938, Kaplan describes how Greenberg was one of the first baseball pros to enlist in the Army, in 1941. In his prime playing years, he put the game aside and entered the military. After an honorable discharge, he re-enlisted in the Army Air Forces, serving until the end of the war.

“He was a celebrity but he didn’t just do morale-boosting tours with no active duty,” Kaplan says. “He was actively involved, on bombers in the Chinese theater and the Burma theater.”

Only toward the end of the war did Greenberg take a less active role, serving in a more administrative capacity.

And then, with characteristic aplomb, he went right back to playing for the Tigers,

leading the team to the 1945 World Series championship.

In writing this book, Kaplan drew on a lifetime of sports fandom. His first book was 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die. His second, The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games, published in 2015, broke ground on a subject that had received almost no mainstream coverage. In addition to his own popular and meticulous blogs—Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf and Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports—he helped launch JTA’s Jewish Sports Facebook page.

Kaplan lives in Montclair with his wife, Faith Krausman, a veterinarian as well as an author, and their daughter, Rachel, a photographer. They are members of Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair, New Jersey.

Next up, if Kaplan stays with his current game plan, is a work about players who were, well, “next up.” Provisionally titled On Deck to History, it will feature anecdotes and interviews with players waiting their turn at bat during some of the greatest moments in the sport.

Kaplan cites an example, also about another record held by “The Bambino”: Dusty Baker, the longtime player and manager, was on deck when another Hammerin’ Hank—Atlanta Braves legend Hank Aaron—hit the home run that broke Ruth’s lifetime record of 714.

It is just such a moment that a sports fan and storyteller can’t resist.

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it’s a wrap First Person

HAT students experience creation through butterflies Diana Smith

I

t is said that when God created man and woman on the sixth day, he also created butterflies. To watch a butterfly is an example in the wonder of creation.

For the past several years, my preschool class has studied the life cycle of a butterfly. We start by harvesting parsley from our garden for Pesach where we always find swallowtail caterpillars living among the leaves. My two-year-olds and I spend all morning finding the caterpillars, washing the parsley and building a

habitat for the tiny insects. After all the caterpillars are found, we talk about how they started as eggs and will eventually change into butterflies. Over the course of about three weeks, we watch the caterpillars grow, change color, eventually build a chrysalis, and emerge a completely new creature—a butterfly.

The metamorphosis is an exquisite process to watch and brings awe to all who observe it. What the children don’t know is that they are embodying a Jewish value when they participate in this activity: they are observing the miracle of creation. It

is a true mitzvah to be part of this wondrous event. The children learn that it takes a partnership between them and the caterpillar and the caterpillar and God to grow and change into something new.

Once the metamorphosis is complete and it’s time to release the butterfly, I take the children back to where it all began— the garden—and we release the butterfly and recite two blessings. We thank and

praise God for creating all things and for allowing us to be part of that moment in time. The children then watch as the butterfly returns to nature to hopefully allow us to participate in this mitzvah again the following year.

Hebrew Academy students participate in robotics challenge Rabbi Yitzchak Menda, Judaic Studies director

T

echnology is now ubiquitous. Kids seem to be born knowing how to use it. Still, if they want to keep up with the technology curve, they will have to learn to build, program, and code. As a result, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has recently become a focus in the education world.

A few years ago, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater began offering a computer-coding club. Students who complete the course are eligible to enroll in the Robotics club the following semester.

Today, robotics is one of the most challenging clubs offered at Hebrew Academy.

At first glance, the class appears to be just a group of kids playing with LEGOs. In reality, the club requires advanced skills including the ability to create an idea and a plan for the robot design, which can be easier said than done. This semester, students were divided into groups of two and given a challenge to build a car that would compete in a race against the other groups’ cars. Each group’s design and function varied. Some cars were boxy and traditional, while others were fast and

small. One car was even able to climb over obstacles.

The next task was to create a robot that had two functions of their choosing.

Students worked diligently despite many frustrations. Imagine working for hours to find out that you have to undo every piece because one important part was missed.

At other times, students had to redo many steps to improve the robot’s function.

Other groups had to redo their robots multiple times to get them to work. Once the robots were built, the students coded and tested them to run. After all the hard work and robot completion, students were excited to race their robots and compete in a “Robot War.” Robotics is a great exercise in failing, trying, failing, and trying again. The projects are quite advanced with minimal adult intervention. Two third graders, Simeon Arnowitz and Sheyna Friedman created a robot following an online guide that was designed for middle and high school students. Kids learned a great deal while having fun. Through the robotics club, students developed important skills that will prepare them well for the changing world of technology.

Students are ready for the robot race.

Robots created. jewishnewsva.org | June 12, 2017 | Jewish News | 23

it’s a wrap

UJFT Women’s Cabinet welcomes new members Amy Zelenka UJFT Women’s Campaign Director

O

n a less-than-sunny day in May, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet held its annual Spring Lunch at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach.

Weather woes kept the crowd intimate and the speaker from flying in from New York, altogether. But for those who attended, the event was fun, inspiring, and special.

Stephanie Calliott opened the event, welcoming all to the luncheon and sharing her feelings on completing her term of Cabinet leadership. She spoke of her confidence in passing the baton to her friend and fellow Cabinet member (incoming chair) Janet Mercadante. Keeping with the race theme, Calliott went on to say that campaign is not a sprint, but rather a long haul—a relay race, where year after year, new leaders take the baton and continue to run, while others retire from the field, exhausted, with a great sense of having moved things forward for the team (and in this case, the community).

Thanking her fellow executive committee and Cabinet members for their

Members of the 2018– 2020 Women’s Cabinet Executive Committee • Janet Mercadante—Cabinet chair • Mona Flax— Cabinet vice chair and chair elect • Stephanie Calliott— Immediate past chair • Barbara Dudley— Education committee chair • Stacie Moss—Community Connections committee chair • Shira Itzhak—Outreach and Engagement committee chair • Kim Fink, Amy Lefcoe, and Deb Casey—At-large members • Jodi Klebanoff—Leadership chair and Nominating committee chair

hard work and support during her tenure, Calliott then completed her final official duty as chair, installing the new executive committee, including her successor, Mercadante.

Calliott offered a special mazel tov to outgoing Leadership chair (and chair of this year’s nominating committee) Laura Gross. Gross was moved onto the Women’s Cabinet Honorary Board… where she will continue to serve the campaign and the community, alongside fellow past Women’s Cabinet chairs.

Mercadante, taking up the responsibilities of her new position, began her term by thanking the Cabinet members whose terms of service had been completed, and who were rotating off the Cabinet.

Completing their terms of service were Linda Fox-Jarvis, Alicia Friedman, Sharon Goldner, Anne Kramer, Marcie Mostofsky, and Dorothy Zimmerman.

Mercadante then welcomed and installed the 2018–2021 Women’s Cabinet.

Members joining or renewing their membership on Cabinet include Susan Alper (new member), Ilana Benson, Stephanie Calliott, Elyse Cardon, Lynn Sher Cohen, Cheryl Dronzek (new member), Susan Hirschbiel, Stacey Neuman (new member), Sara Jo Rubin, and Megan Zuckerman (new member).

Mercadante took a moment to recount the campaign successes achieved by her predecessor, Stephanie Calliott, including 40 new milestone givers and a slew of record-breaking solicitation statistics. She also spoke about Calliott’s indomitable spirit, which influenced the entire cabinet, citing her ability to “push when she had to and pull when she needed to…to bring us all over the finish line together.”

Mercadante then presented Calliott with a silver pomegranate statue, as a gift of appreciation for her term of service. In presenting the gift, Mercadante conveyed her hope that the legendary 613 seeds contained within a pomegranate would remind Calliott of “the many lives she’s touched through her work on the Cabinet and with the Federation.”

Mercadante recalled her personal

24 | Jewish News | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

journey to Women’s Cabinet Leadership… harkening back to a Women’s Leadership Mini Mission to the Virginia Holocaust Museum in 2009. Mercadante referred to herself as “one of those women who truly believed that Federation was not, and would never be, the ‘place for me.’” She explained, “I did not grow up in Tidewater.

I was not ‘woven into’ the Jewish community here, as so many are. I did not come from a Federation background. I had a set of preconceived ideas about who the Federation was and was not.” All of Claire Friedberg and Lori Kalfus. those notions came to a grinding halt during that trip to the museum.

“Eight short years (and a lifetime ago), my relationship with the Federation and the Jewish community changed, and my life has been so enriched as a result,” she began. “Eight years and a lifetime later, I am standing here as your new Women’s Cabinet chair…stilllearning Renee Strelitz, Sofia Konikoff, and Shelly Simon.

Stephanie Calliott, Janet Mercadante, Mona Flax, and Laura Gross.

it’s a wrap

Ina Levy, Betty Ann Levin, and Marcia Moss.

Judy Rosenblatt, Amy Levy, Wendy Weissman, and Stacey Neuman.

Joan Hoffe and Hilde Deutsch.

Susan Alper and Megan Zuckerman.

new and exciting things about the work we do and the programs we help make possible. Eight years and a lifetime later, I am grateful for the friendships I’ve made along my Federation journey. Eight years and a lifetime later, I am humbled to take the baton from my friend Stephanie Calliott and from all of the women leaders preceding her…women like Joyce Strelitz and Telsa Leon (of blessed memory) who I was privileged to know…however briefly…who came to meetings and events with hearts full of love and minds filled with brilliant ideas…about how we can each repair the world, a little bit at a time.

Eight years and a lifetime later, I take the baton, and I run! Won’t you join me?”

Newly installed Cabinet vice chair, Mona Flax closed the meeting after thanking Laura Gross, this year’s nominating committee chair, and all who served on the nominating committee. “Never easy work, but so very important.” She also thanked all of the women who’ve served; who continue to serve; and who’ve just this year agreed to serve on Women’s Cabinet.

For more event photos, visit the Women’s Cabinet Facebook page at Jewish Women 757.

To learn more about the Women’s Campaign division of UJFT, visit www.jewishva.org/women. photography by Mark Robbins

JUNE 30 at 7:00PM

TICKETS AVAILBLE AT jewishnewsva.org | June 12, 2017 | Jewish News | 25

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June 25, Sunday Brith Sholom Sea and Land Day. Start by boarding the Harbor Cruise on Victory Rover at 2 pm at Nauticus for a 2-hour cruise. After cruise, return to Beth Sholom for dinner and live entertainment at 5:30 pm. $20 for both cruise and dinner for members and $40 for guests. Dinner only $10. For information, contact LeeAnne Mallory at 757-461-1150 or email Brith.Sholom1@hrcoxmail.com.

July 16, Sunday Brith Sholom’s Annual Indoor Picnic. Hamburgers and hot dogs with all of the picnic trimmings. Bingo with cash prices. Noon. Price is $10 per member and $20 per guest. At Beth Sholom Village. For information, contact LeeAnne Mallory at 757-461-1150 or email Brith.Sholom1@hcoxmail.com.

August 13, Sunday Brith Sholom’s Club Fifty Dinner & Dance for members married 50 years or more. Free for couples married 50 or more years. All other memebers will cost $10 each; and guests will be $20. 5:30 pm. Entertainment will be Susan Sussman, comedienne extraordinaire. At Beth Sholom Village. For information, contact LeeAnne Mallory at 757-461-1150 or email Brith.Sholom1@hrcoxmail.com.

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

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Beth Sholom Village to hold Biennial Board Meeting June 21, 6:15 pm

F

ormerly known as the Annual Meeting, Beth Sholom Village will hold its Biennial Board Meeting in BSV’s lobby.

Stuart Nachman will be installed as president of the board.

Light hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served at 6:15 pm, with the meeting

Follow us on Facebook JewishNewsVA 26 | Jewish News | June 12, 2017 | jewishnewsva.org

beginning at 7 pm.

For more information, call 757-420-2512 and ask for Kari or e-mail kamuial@bethsholomvillage.com.

mazel tov to

Rabbi Israel Zoberman and Martin Culqreth,

Achievement Rabbi Israel Zoberman with Martin Culqreth, Special Agent in Charge, of the FBI’s Norfolk field office. Rabbi Zoberman addressed the Hampton Roads FBI community on the historical Jewish experience.

Engagement Mr. and Mrs. David Balaban of Virginia Beach on the engagement of their son, Jody Michael Balaban to Erin Ashley

McGrattan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel T. McGrattan Jr., also of Virginian Beach.

Ms. McGrattan, a graduate of Bishop Sullivan Catholic High and Longwood University, is a loan officer at Tidewater Mortgage Services Inc. Mr. Balaban graduated from Norfolk Collegiate and the University of Alabama. He is an investment advisor representative with Frieden Wealth Management.

A June 2018 wedding is planned.

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.

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obituaries Robert Eugene Brown Norfolk—Robert Eugene Brown 79, died on May 20, 2017, at his home, in the care of family, friends, and home hospice. The cause was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Bob Brown was a principled, analytic, and deeply loving man who had a passion for the law, his chosen profession, which he practiced with skill and integrity in Norfolk for over 50 years. He was an energetic and active citizen who believed in and worked to improve social justice and fairness in society. He was a lover and supporter of the arts, particularly the theater. Bob was the founding president of the Virginia Stage Company at the Wells Theater in Norfolk.

Bob loved to travel, first crossing the Atlantic on a tramp steamer and hitchhiking from Denmark to Madrid at age 20, followed by trips made over the years to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Central and South America with his beloved wife, Roslyn, as well as with family and friends.

Bob was a family man. He adored his wife Roslyn and tenderly cared for her in her final illness until she died on May 24, 2015, their 34th wedding anniversary.

More than anything, he loved his daughter Emily and Roslyn’s sons, David and Adam and their families, and was grateful for their joyous family gatherings over the years, and their loving support during his recent illness.

Bob was born on May 6, 1938, the fourth and youngest child of Ivey and Lillie Brown. When Bob was three, the family moved to Norfolk as his father responded to a call for workers to support the war effort, and Bob spent a happy childhood on Craney Island and in Churchland, Portsmouth. During his years at Churchland High School, Bob discovered interests that would persist throughout his life. His natural curiosity, intelligence, and zest for learning were supported by his teachers, who taught him to write and speak well, and encouraged him to go to college. During that time, Bob also became active in scouting, instilling in him the value of “cheerful service,” which became one of his lifelong principles of living.

The first of his family to attend college, Bob was accepted to the University of Virginia as a Dupont Scholar and spent four years pursuing a variety of academic and extracurricular interests.

He described the Honors Program as a great incubator for honing writing, critical thinking, and analysis skills. While at UVa, Bob was elected to the Student Council, served on the editorial advisory board of the Cavalier Daily, was president of the University of Virginia Magazine, served as an officer of the Jefferson Literary Society, was tapped into honorary forensic and journalism societies, and was active throughout in the Navy ROTC. He credited his three years as a member and

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officer of the intercollegiate UVa debating team with his later decision to become a lawyer. In June 1960, Bob graduated from the University with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors and a major in Economics.

After graduation, Bob served for two years in the United States Navy. Assigned the first year to the Naval Air Station, Kodiak, Alaska, Bob was delighted to find himself in charge of public information and education for the base, and one of his responsibilities was publishing the base newspaper. In his second year in the Navy in 1961–62, Bob served as Special Projects and Information Officer of the Joint United Nations Command/U.S. Forces Korea.

Bob returned to Charlottesville to attend UVa School of Law after completing his military service. He worked on the Virginia Law Review and the Virginia Legal Research Group. Graduating from University of Virginia Law School in June 1965, Bob returned to Norfolk to take up the practice of law with the firm of Kanter, Kanter and Sachs. While practicing law, Bob volunteered in politics, and when local lawyer Henry Howell decided to run for governor of Virginia, he asked Bob to be his statewide campaign manager.

Howell did not win, but he hired Bob to join his law firm. Bob became a partner a few years later in the Howell, Daugherty, Brown and Lawrence firm. Bob’s illustrious career as a trial lawyer for plaintiffs combined his extraordinary analytic skills with his sense of social justice. No matter the scope of the case, Bob worked tirelessly for the benefit of his clients.

Bob’s commitment to law was equaled by his active civic engagement in the arts. He founded and published Sight and Sound, a lively monthly arts magazine.

In 1974, Bob joined the Norfolk Theater Center and, as its visionary president, steered its transformation from an impoverished, semi-professional community theater group into a nationally recognized professional theater company, the Virginia Stage Company, with its own permanent home, the elegantly renovated Wells

Theater, which opened in 1979. Between 1978 and 2011, Bob served as founding president board member, Advisory Council member, and Wells Restoration Capital Campaign co-chair. Upon his retirement from the board, then Mayor Paul Fraim issued a Proclamation recognizing Bob’s 32 years of service to the theater and the community.

Bob’s personal life was enriched by the people he loved, and he enriched theirs beyond measure. He wed Susan Byrd Greenbacker in 1969, and they had a daughter, Emily. Although Bob and Susan divorced, they remained lifelong friends. Bob was remarried in 1981 to Roslyn Gladstone Herman. They shared a keen intellect and love of music, the arts, civic engagement, travel, dance, and the law. Bob and Roslyn were gracious hosts, opening their home for community and cultural gatherings throughout their 34 years of marriage.

Bob is survived by his daughter, Emily Brown Phillips of Brooklyn, N.Y., and her husband Seth; his sons Dr. David L. Herman of Albany, N.Y., and his wife Jennifer Rosenbaum; his son Adam Herman of Nags Head, N.C., and his wife Jodie; his five grandchildren (Claire Phillips, Jackson Phillips, Owen Phillips, Zachary Herman, and Eric Herman); his brother George M. Brown of Virginia Beach; his brother Bill Brown of Culpeper and his wife Faye, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He was pre-deceased by his wife Roslyn Gladstone Brown and his sister Margaret Brown McCombs.

A memorial service was held at the Wells Theater.

Memorial donations to the Virginia Stage Company, PO Box 3770, Norfolk, VA 23514 (http://www.vastage.org); or to the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, P.O. Box 518, Onley, VA 23418. Online condolences at www.hdoliver.com.

Judith Blum Hathaway Virginia Beach—Judi Blum Hathaway, 64, passed away on Tuesday, May 16, 2017

obituaries surrounded by her family.

Judi was born on October 6, 1952 to Cecil (deceased) and Irene Blum.

Left to cherish Judi’s memory are her daughter and son-in-law, Tamara and Zander Galloway; grandson, Dalton Galloway; her mother, Irene Blum; sisters, Sherry Lieberman and her husband Steve, Linda Green and her husband Ernie; Tamara’s dad, Keith Hathaway and his wife Karin; her nephew, Brian Lieberman; nieces, Lisa Thatch and her husband John, Jennifer Kebble and her husband Jim; her uncle and aunt, Sheldon and Gloria Blum; and many beloved cousins and friends.

A memorial service was held at Cypress Point Country Club. Memorial donations may be made to Sentara Hospice House, 3760 Sentara Way, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.

Frances Minkin Virginia Beach—Frances Minkin, 82, passed away on June 2, 2017.

Originally from the Bronx, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Isadore and Rose Rauchwerger and the widow of Charles Minkin.

She is survived by her daughter, Elynne Minkin and her son and daughter-in-law.

A beloved mother, wife, and friend, Frances worked primarily within the Jewish community, first for the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and later for many years at Congregation Beth El. Frances’s family would like to extend their gratitude to the employees at the Terrace at Beth Sholom for the wonderful care she received during the two years she lived there.

A graveside service was held in Forest Lawn Cemetery with Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz and Cantor Wendi Fried officiating.

Contributions may be made to the Beth Sholom Village, Congregation Beth El or CHKD. H. D. Oliver Funeral Apts.

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

Joseph Reznick Virginia Beach—Joseph I. Reznick, 98, passed away on May 27, 2017.

He was born on January 23, 1919 in Columbia, S.C. to Louis Reznick and Esther Solomon Reznick.

He served as a Major in the United States Air Force during World War II. He spent most of his life in Winston Salem, N.C. and, with his wife Jeanne, owned and operated Reznick’s Music and Jewelry.

Upon his retirement to Virginia Beach in 1993, he became an active member of the community, including serving as a volunteer for the Virginia Beach Public Library.

Joe Reznick was blessed with a loving and devoted family. He was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Jeanne Tavss Reznick, his sisters, Ida Fenigsohn and Frances Lefkowitz, as well as his son, J. Steven Reznick.

Survivors include his daughters, Celia Brown (Larry) and Barbara Bernstein (Keith), daughter-in-law, Donna Kaye; his grandchildren, Meredith and Ruthie Brown, Daniel, Ellis and Joycie Bernstein, and Leah Reznick Tyner (Jon), and Aaron Kaye; and great grandson James Tyner. He is also survived by sisters-in-law, Evelyn Adler, Barbara Gross, Sandra Tavss and Ruth Tavss, and brother-in-law, Richard Tavss; nephew Larry Adler (Ronna); and many other nieces, nephews and extended family members.

A graveside service was conducted at Forest Lawn Cemetery by Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg. H. D. Oliver Funeral Apts.

Michael Eugene Stredler Norfolk—Michael “Mickey” Stredler, 77, passed away peacefully at home on May 30, 2017.

Mickey was born in Philadelphia, Pa. He attended the University of Virginia from 1957 through 1960 and then the Medical College of Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy in 1964.

Mickey was founder of Bayview Plaza Pharmacy, which served the Hampton

Roads community for 35 years. He was a strong advocate of independent pharmacies, believing they had more flexibility to care for their patients than big chain stores. He was in his pharmacy every continued on page 30

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obituaries continued from page 29

morning at 5:30 am filling prescriptions for delivery. For many years, Bayview was one of the highest ranked independent pharmacies in the country. Bayview was the first to offer free home delivery all over Hampton Roads. Bayview stocked readily available medications for all patient needs, many of which most other pharmacies did not carry on a daily basis. If a patient needed a medication that was not in stock, he would make every effort to locate and deliver it the same day, even if it required going out of town to get it. He was once called upon by a school to obtain a medication needed for students who had potentially been exposed to a deadly contagious disease. During this crisis, he kept the pharmacy open through the early morning hours so that worried parents could obtain the necessary medicine for their children. He was also president of Professional Infusion Services, which provided in home and patient mobility infusion care. He was one of the founders and supporters of the Chesapeake Care Clinic, which has provided medical and dental care for the working poor. He served on The Virginia Board of Pharmacy for five years, and also received numerous accolades and awards. Being chosen as The Drug Topics Independent Superstar of 1990 was his proudest.

Mickey was preceded in death by his mother, Jessie Mitnick Stredler, and his father, Jules Stredler.

He is survived by Celeste Stredler, his wife of 38 years. He was a proud and loving father of three children; Jeffrey Stredler (Laurie), Andrew Stredler, and Jennifer Sabatino (Steve). He was a caring stepfather to David Glanville (Lisa), Lora Saunders (David) and Charles Glanville.

Mickey’s family included seven grandchildren; Megan and Payton Stredler, Nicholas, Madison and Abigail Sabatino, Carey and Hannah Stredler and four step-grandchildren Amy and Brian Saunders, Marrena Glanville and Camryn Glanville. He is also survived by his sister, Patsy Barr (Burt).

A private family burial took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery and a public memorial service was held at Altmeyer Funeral Home.

The family would like to express sincere gratitude for the many visits, calls, and prayers for Mickey during his illness. The family would also like to thank Dr. Armistead Williams, the doctors and staff at Virginia Oncology, and the Freda Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater for all of their support.

Memorial donations may be made to the Cancer Care Foundation of Tidewater.

Alan Mintz, Hebrew literature scholar and one-time student activist NEW YORK (JTA)—Alan Mintz, a professor of Hebrew literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary and, as a student in the 1960s and 1970s, a leader of a movement of young Jews who sought to infuse organized Jewish life with the activist spirit of the era, has died.

The cause was a heart attack, which he suffered Saturday, May 20 after swimming at a gym near his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He was 69.

As a member of the JTS faculty, which he joined in 2001, and before that at Brandeis University and the University of Maryland, Mintz focused on Hebrew literature in America, the Hebrew writer and Nobel laureate S. Y. Agnon and responses to the Holocaust and other historical tragedies in Hebrew literature and popular culture.

In an appreciation for the online Judaic studies forum H-Judaic, chair Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis, described Mintz as “one of the preeminent scholars of Hebrew Literature of our time.”

In 1967, as a student at Columbia College, he was a founder of Response Magazine, which called itself “A Contemporary Jewish Review.” In the Fall 1968 issue he chided the Jewish establishment, and his fellow Jewish students, for not speaking out against the war in

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Vietnam. He urged “good Jewish boys” like him to work within their synagogues and communal institutions and demand that they “no longer separate their personal morality and community ethics from larger political realities.”

In 1971, Mintz and Jim Sleeper co-edited an anthology of writings mostly drawn from Response called The New Jews.”

In an appreciation of the book written on its 40th anniversary, Brandeis professor Yehudah Mirsky described how Mintz and his fellow student activists “sought to give voice to a small cohort at once deeply alienated from organized Jewish life and deeply attached to Jewish history and culture.” Many of the young leaders of the movement went on to careers in Jewish academia and to lead the institutions they once derided.

Raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Mintz earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and his doctorate, at Columbia University, while also studying at JTS. Mintz also was a co-founder of the New York Havurah, or fellowship, one of the earliest examples in a movement of independent congregations that eschewed typical synagogue hierarchies and promoted spirituality and social activism. In 1981, he co-founded Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History with David Roskies, a professor of Jewish literature at JTS. Mintz’s many books include Popular Culture and the Shaping of Holocaust Memory in America (2001), Translating Israel: Contemporary Hebrew Literature and Its Reception in America (2001) and Reading Hebrew Literature (editor, 2002).

Mintz was a recipient of multiple awards for his scholarship and was recently made a fellow at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies.

In announcing his death, JTS wrote of Mintz: “A profoundly insightful writer, he expanded our understanding and appreciation of the Hebrew language, modern Hebrew literature, and the Jewish life they illuminate. He was an exceptional teacher, an esteemed colleague, and a good friend.”

Mintz is survived by his wife, Susanna,

and their daughters, Amira and Avital.

Nikos Stavroulakis, activist promoting Jewish life and heritage in Greece Nikos Stavroulakis, an artist, scholar, and prominent activist promoting Jewish life and heritage in Greece, has died.

Stavroulakis died Friday, May 19 in Chania, on the island of Crete. He was in his mid-80s.

“The world of Greek Jewry owes Nikos so much,” Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, museum director of the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum in New York, wrote in a post on Facebook. “He will be dearly missed.”

Born to a Jewish mother and a Greek Orthodox father from Crete, Stavroulakis was educated in England, the United States, and Israel. He co-founded the Jewish Museum in Athens in 1977 and served as its director until 1993. He then moved to Chania and became the driving force behind the restoration of the Etz Hayyim synagogue there.

Built as a church in the 15th century and converted into a synagogue in the 1600s, the synagogue stood ruined after World War II following the destruction of the local Jewish community. The World Monuments Fund placed Etz Hayyim on its watch list of most endangered heritage sites in 1996, and Stavroulakis spearheaded the efforts to revive it.

After the synagogue was rededicated in 1999, it reopened as a “place of prayer, recollection and reconciliation,” with an eclectic and pluralistic congregation that as Stavroulakis put it, “accommodates Jews of every variety of self identity as well as non-Jews.”

Stavroulakis’ books included a guidebook to Jewish Greece, a history of Jews in Salonika and a Greek Jewish cookbook.

“He was a philosopher, museumologist, artist, writer, storyteller—and the finest chef in the Mediterranean region,” said Krzysztof Czyzewski, director of the Borderland Foundation in Poland. (JTA)

ARTS and culture

Could Gal Gadot become the biggest Israeli superstar ever?

Gabe Friedman (JTA)—Try to think of the most famous Israelis in history. Not necessarily the most consequential or “important” ones— like any number of Nobel Prize winners or behind-the-scenes Middle East peace deal negotiators—but those who are most universally recognizable.

Most lists would likely include a pioneering role model (Golda Meir), a supermodel who once dated Leonardo DiCaprio (Bar Refaeli), its seeming prime minister for life (Benjamin Netanyahu), a politician with crazy hair (David BenGurion), a war hero with a pirate-style eye patch (Moshe Dayan) and a virtuoso violinist (Itzhak Perlman).

Some might even mistakenly include a fictional character—Ziva David, the former Mossad agent on NCIS, America’s most-watched TV show, who is played by a Chilean actress.

But a new name may soon go at the very top of the list: Gal Gadot (pronounced “gahl gah-DOTE”).

The actress and model is the star in the remake of Wonder Woman, a film based on the iconic DC Comics series that hit U.S. theaters on June 2.

Starring in the average Hollywood superhero blockbuster instantly makes any actor an international sensation—but this isn’t your average superhero flick.

Wonder Woman, featuring one of the few iconic female superheroes, carries the kind of symbolic weight that could turn Gadot into a global feminist torch-holder for decades to come. (That’s assuming the movie doesn’t tank, that she’ll continue to appear in sequels, and that feminists will accept a role model whose everyday outfit is essentially a one-piece bathing suit.)

For those who don’t know her yet, Gadot, 32, has long been a household name in Israel, where she has been a supermodel since winning the Miss Israel pageant at 18 in 2004. Unlike Refaeli, the famed Israeli model she is often compared to, Gadot is known, too, for carrying

out her mandatory two years of military service in the Israel Defense Forces. And if you’re wondering: Yes, she is married (to Israeli real estate businessman Yaron Versano).

Gadot scored a part as an ex-Mossad agent in the fourth film of The Fast and the Furious franchise in 2009—in part, she has said, because director Justin Lin was impressed with her military experience.

Since then she has had a few other small roles in Hollywood films, such as Date Night (starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey).

Her first appearance as Princess Diana of Themyscira (Wonder Woman’s real

Gadot will go down in history as a distinctly Israeli actress.

name) came in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in 2016. She also starred in last year’s Keeping up with the Joneses.

So she isn’t yet widely known outside of Israel (except maybe to a hardcore cadre of Fast and Furious fans), but her public profile is about to radically change.

Wonder Woman isn’t an amazing piece of art, though it will likely satisfy fans

of the other over-thetop superhero films released in the past decade or so. It is projected to perform at least as well as some of its male-centric counterparts, such as Captain America or Thor, at the U.S. box office (at least $65 million to $83 million) and should Gal Gadot rake in hundreds of millions of dollars around the world. In fact, in its opening weekend, the film took in an estimated $103.1 million in the U.S. and $223 million worldwide.

Beyond the numbers, Wonder Woman must also bear the weight of the feminist anticipation that has been building steadily around the film for years. The hype only increased when a female director (Patty Jenkins) took over the project in 2015, making Wonder Woman the first female superhero film to be directed by a woman.

And Gadot is actually already well on her way to becoming embraced as a feminist icon. Last fall, she was included in a U.N. ceremony honoring the Wonder Woman character as an honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. (The United Nations soon dropped the character as an honorary ambassador after staffers there complained that the comic book superheroine was “not culturally encompassing or sensitive.”)

Gadot recently proclaimed that Wonder Woman “of course” is a feminist in an Entertainment Weekly interview that is being cited across the internet. From her lack of underarm hair to the kind of shoes she wears, everything is being analyzed through a feminist lens.

It won’t hurt Gadot’s popularity that she seems to be, as the original Wonder Woman character was in the comics, sculpted from clay by a god. On screen,

she has a magnetic quality—simultaneously graceful, elegant, tough, athletic, and bursting with sex appeal.

How popular will Gadot become? It’s hard to say. Other recent female superhero movies have starred actresses who already were well-known, such as Jennifer Garner in Elektra and Halle Berry in Catwoman.

Neither movie made much of an impact.

Hollywood is also prone to reboot its most popular franchises, swapping out actors and diluting a star’s connection to a character (see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in the various Spider-Man films, and the many actors linked to Batman and Superman).

One thing is for sure: Gadot will go down in history as a distinctly Israeli actress. Unlike Natalie Portman, an international superstar and Oscar winner who was born in Israel but left at age two, Gadot speaks English with an Israeli accent. She talks openly about being from a small Israeli city, Rosh Haayin, and her love of the Israeli character.

“In Israel, people have chutzpah,” she said in a recent cover story in Marie Claire. “People take issue with it, but I’d rather have that than play games. Here, everyone’s like, ‘We love you; you’re so wonderful.’ I prefer to know the truth, not waste time.”

So if Gadot finds the the superstardom she seems headed for, Israel will have a new most famous face.

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