Jewish News May 6, 2013

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UPFRONT U.S. to provide Israel with advanced weapons, Hagel announces JERUSALEM (JTA)—The United States will make available to Israel advanced new military capabilities, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.

The advanced weapons include antiradiation missiles, advanced radars for Israel’s fleet of fighter jets, KC-135 refueling aircraft and the V-22 Osprey, which the U.S. has not released to any other nation, Hagel told reporters last month following a meeting in Tel Aviv with his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Yaalon.

Hagel said the new equipment, as well as Israel’s participation in the joint strike fighter program, “ensures that Israel will maintain air superiority for the next generation.”

“These decisions underscore that the military-to-military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel is stronger than ever and that defense cooperation will only continue to deepen in the future,” Hagel said.

Questioned about Iran, Hagel and Yaalon stressed that the Islamic Republic must be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“All military options and every option must remain on the table when dealing with Iran,” Hagel said. “Our position is Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Hagel reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

“Israel is a sovereign nation. Every sovereign nation has the right to defend itself.

That calculation has to be made by the sovereign nation,” he said.

The United States and Israel, Hagel said, “are not only in complete agreement on the policy about Iran, but also we are in total agreement on if a time should get to a point here where we will then have to develop

contents Upfront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Torah Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Tragedy in Boston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Labor unions help Rabin Center. . . . . . . . . . . 7 Sharansky’s Kotel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Fun for all at Israel Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Jews, Christians celebrate Israel. . . . . . . . . . 10 Salute to Jewish moms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Women’s day at the movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Survivor Jay Ipson speaks at ODU. . . . . . . . 15 Professionals learn about start-ups. . . . . . . . 16 JCC campers: the Sunderlins . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

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Israel update other strategies or other options, and I don’t think there is any daylight there, any gap.”

Israel’s strategy regarding the military nuclear aspirations of this Iranian regime is very clear, Yaalon said.

“By one way or another, the military nuclear project of Iran should be stopped,” he said. “Having said that, we believe that the military option, which is well discussed, should be the last resort anyhow.

“But without a credible military option, there is no chance that the Iranian regime will realize that it has to stop the military nuclear project. And in certain circumstances the military option should be exercised.

So this is our very clear policy, and of course we keep our right, and capability, to defend ourselves by ourselves.”

Hagel also met with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Iran to cross ‘red line’ this summer, ex-Israeli military intel chief says JERUSALEM (JTA)—Iran will cross Israel’s “red line” for nuclear activity by this summer, Israel’s former director of military intelligence said.

“In the summer, Iran will be a month or two away from deciding about a bomb,” Amos Yadlin said. “We have about two months to sleep soundly, until the [Iranian] elections. After that, I believe the Iranians will have to make a difficult decision.”

Yadlin was speaking at a conference organized by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, which he serves as director.

He also said Israel is capable of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities without outside assistance and can take any Iranian response to such an attack, Haaretz reported.

In a speech at the United Nations General Assembly last September, Prime

About the cover: From Tidewater to Israel, a sampling of Jewish mothers who have appeared in past issues of Jewish News. Happy Mother’s Day! JCC member: Sara Jo Rubin. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Survivor Alfred Dreyfus at HAT . . . . . . . . . .

It’s a Wrap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Book reviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Community recycling day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear production, saying that Iran must halt uranium enrichment before it produces enough 20 percentenriched uranium for one bomb.

Jordan opens airspace to Israeli drones, French newspaper reports JERUSALEM (JTA)—Jordan opened its airspace to Israeli drones monitoring the situation in Syria, according to a French newspaper.

The French daily Le Figaro reported last month that Jordan opened two air corridors for the Israeli drones, allowing them to avoid overflying southern Lebanon. The newspaper cited an unnamed Western military source in the Middle East.

Jordan’s King Abdullah reportedly made the decision to open the air corridors to Israel in late March during a visit from President Obama and following a secret meeting in early March with Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to Le Figaro.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees reportedly have poured into Jordan since the start of the country’s civil war.

Syria accused Israel of attacking a military research center in Damascus in January.

The same month, Israel also reportedly destroyed a Syrian weapons convoy bound for Hezbollah.

Rocket and mortar fire believed to be related to the Syrian civil war have crossed the border into Israeli territory on the Golan Heights.

Israel reportedly also is concerned about anti-Israel elements within the Syrian opposition gaining traction on the Syrian side of the Golan border and Syrian chemical weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

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briefs Obama cites liberties, Israel in heritage month declaration President Obama cited the Jewish striving for freedom and the U.S.-Israel bond in his Jewish American Heritage Month declaration.

“Jewish immigrants from all over the world wove new threads into our cultural fabric with rich traditions and indomitable faith, and their descendants pioneered incredible advances in science and the arts,” Obama said Tuesday, April 29 in declaring May as Jewish American Heritage Month. “Teachings from the Torah lit the way toward a more perfect Union, from women’s rights to workers’ rights to the end of segregation.”

Among other Jewish American contributions, Obama listed “scientists and teachers, public servants and private citizens, wise leaders and loving parents.”

He said Americans could see Jewish “accomplishments in every neighborhood, and we see them abroad in our unbreakable bond with Israel that Jewish Americans helped forge.”

Congress legislated Jewish American Heritage Month in 2006 and Obama was the first president, in 2010, to mark it with a celebration.

This year there will be no White House fete because of budget cuts. (JTA) Anti-Semitic incidents rise by 4 percent in Canada Anti-Semitic incidents in Canada rose last year by nearly four percent, an annual review shows.

B’nai Brith Canada’s yearly audit, released late last month, shows anti-Semitic acts in the country increased from 1,297 incidents in 2011, to 1,345 cases in 2012 —a 3.7 percent jump.

Regional differences in Canada highlight some “anomalies,” the organization pointed out. The average increase for the three most western provinces combined was 25 percent, while in regional Quebec, located outside of Montreal, there was close to a four-fold increase.

Just over half the incidents, or 730, took place in the province of Ontario, with the next largest number in Quebec, at 337 incidents.

Overall, Canada has seen a steady increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the past decade, the report found. In 2003, there were just 584 cases. Since 2008, incidents have increased by 19 percent.

“We are particularly concerned,” said

Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, “about this year’s findings of increased participation in these incidents by perpetrators self-identifying as Muslims who are apparently supportive of Islamist ideologies of hate and violence. But we are encouraged by the many Muslims with whom we work closely, who are prepared to expose antiSemitism in their community.”

He noted that the audit shows an overall decrease in vandalism and violence, but an increase of 10.6 percent in incidents of harassment. “Jews were targeted in their homes and at their workplaces, on their way to synagogue or returning from school,” according to the report.

The study found Holocaust denial “soaring” by 77 percent, and threats “becoming more ugly, explicit and open.” (JTA)

Israel’s security cabinet meets on Syria Israel’s security cabinet discussed the possibility that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian government in that country’s civil war.

The meeting on Sunday, April 28—the first discussion on Syria of senior government ministers since the swearing-in of the new government—also looked at formulating Israeli policy on the civil war in Syria, Haaretz reported, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly asked the government ministers not to make any public statements on Syria.

Meanwhile, Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of strategic and intelligence affairs and international relations, said at The Jerusalem Post conference in New York that Israel is not pressing the United States to take military action against Syria, despite Israeli intelligence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebels and civilians. (JTA) Museums buy Steinhardts’ medieval Jewish manuscript for record price The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York jointly paid a record price for a copy of a medieval religious text by Rabbi Moshe Maimonides.

The 15th-century Mishneh Torah was purchased from businessman and philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, Sotheby’s said April 29. The auction house did not divulge the exact purchasing price, but said it

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exceeded the $2.9 million sale in 1989 for an ancient Torah scroll. ”The acquisition of this remarkable manuscript by the Israel Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art is poetic given Judy’s and my longstanding involvement with both institutions; and it is particularly meaningful that this event marks the first significant collaboration between the two museums,” Steinhardt said in a statement, making a reference to his wife.

The copy of the Mishneh Torah was completed in northern Italy in 1457 and is said to be one of the finest illustrated medieval Jewish texts in existence. Sotheby’s said the rest of Steinhardt’s prized Judaica collection will go on sale later in the day. (JTA)

Conservative rabbis perform first conversions in Lisbon Conservative rabbis performed what were being called the movement’s first conversions to Judaism in Portugal.

A rabbinical court, or beit din, of three judges, on April 26 in Lisbon recognized Juliana Fernandes da Silva and her life partner, Edgard Pimentel, as Jews.

Though the Conservative, or Masorti, movement has performed conversions of several Portuguese Jews, it was the first time the rabbinical court convened in Portugal, according to Rabbi Chaim Weiner of London, who oversaw the court proceedings.

European Conservative converts typically travel to London, Weiner said, but it was decided to hold the court in Lisbon because several rabbis already were in Portugal on a monthlong study trip on the country’s Jewish heritage.

Da Silva, a 26-year-old Brazilian mathematician who grew up in a Catholic home, took a ritual dip in the mikvah following the court’s decision. She and Pimentel—a Brazilian born to an atheist father and a Catholic, non-observant mother—were welcomed at a reception the following day into the Portuguese capital’s Conservative community of a few dozen people.

Also officiating at the beit din was Rabbi Jules Harlow of Lisbon’s Conservative synagogue, Ohel Jacob. He and his wife, Navah Harlow, guided the Brazilians through two years of studies for the conversion, Pimentel said.

Weiner noted that Spain has a much larger Masorti community than Portugal with several hundred members, many of them Argentinians. (JTA)

Danish Resistance museum collection saved from fire Most of the collection of the Museum of Danish Resistance in Copenhagen was saved from a fire that destroyed large parts of its building.

The fire early Monday, April 29 started in the museum cafe and spread to the exhibition hall, the Associated Press reported.

The cause is unknown.

The building likely will have to be demolished, according to the Baltic Review.

Housed in a wooden building since the 1950s, the museum displays items from the Danish resistance to the occupation of the Nazis during World War II. It is affiliated with the Danish National Museum.

The fire was a week before the national celebration of the liberation of Denmark from Nazi occupation on May 5. (JTA) Hungary bans protests during WJC confab Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ordered police to prevent protests and rallies that would disturb the World Jewish Congress General Assembly in Budapest.

Orban issued the ban on Tuesday, April 29 Reuters reported, including on an “antiZionist” demonstration planned for the first day of the international conference.

The demonstration, called an “anti-Bolshevik and anti-Zionist people’s gathering,” was announced earlier this month by Lorant Hegedus Jr., a Calvinist priest and member of the ultrarightist, anti-Semitic Jobbik party, which has nearly 15 percent of the seats in Hungary’s Parliament.

The WJC assembly is being held in Budapest—the first time in many years it is outside of Jerusalem —in an expression of solidarity with Hungary’s Jewish community, which in recent years has faced an increased threat of anti-Semitism. (JTA) Israel facing Honduras in soccer match at N.Y.’s Citi Field Israel’s national soccer team will be making its first New York appearance in decades for a match against Honduras at Citi Field.

The June 2 match—the same day as the city’s annual Celebrate Israel parade—was announced last week by the New York Mets, who play at the Queens ballpark.

According to a statement from the Mets, it will be Israel’s first New York appearance in 35 years. (JTA)

Torah Thought

How shmitta can help us kick the consumerist habit

by Sarah Chandler

FALLS VILLAGE, Conn. (JTA)—Judaism is designed to be a person’s operating system, the platform on which other areas of one’s life functions. But for many Jews, religious practice sits on a shelf alongside theater subscriptions, gym memberships and soccer practice, relegated to one of many offerings from which we can pick and choose.

For Jewish educators like myself, this mindset poses particular challenges, forcing us to adopt the tactics of public relations agencies to induce Jews to participate in Jewish life. Why can’t these opportunities speak for themselves? Why do people have to be convinced to take a Hebrew class, attend Shabbat services or drop in on a lecture?

Partly, of course, it’s an issue of time.

Lots of people might want more Jewishness in their lives, but work, family and other commitments end up taking precedence.

Even in the best-case scenario, when people do show up for Hebrew school, committee meetings or worship services, many are unable to leave their consumerist addictions at the door.

They may sincerely want to achieve something—learn a new skill, be inspired by a rabbi’s talk or approve next year’s budget—yet they instinctively rely on “experts” to package Judaism for them. The cult of achievement seeps into everything. Leaders steeped in the ethos of corporate America expect flawless execution at meetings.

Parents pushing their kids on the fast track are never satisfied with the rate of their children’s Hebrew acquisition.

What if, instead of being just one more place to look for “more” and “better,” Jewish life could be an escape from this compulsion? What if, instead of being just one more place to “get it done,” Jewish life could be the place Jews awoke to gratitude for what they have in each moment?

The ancient Jewish practice of shmitta, the biblically mandated sabbatical year of rest and release that begins in September

2014, offers one way to roll back this trend. “degrowth” plan in recognition of the fact co-creators. In turn, we can begin to disAt its core, shmitta is a chance to show that we are living beyond the capacities charge the consumerist tendency from our contemporary Jews that ancient Jewish of the ecosystem. The Worldwatch communal life. texts have the potential to serve as Institute cites studies in Europe Parshat Behar, the Torah portion that Anyone a sophisticated map for many that indicate cutting back from contains the injunction to observe shmitta, areas of their lives, not just a work week of more than 50 fell this year on May 3–4. What a wonderful looking to occasional events in parhours actually would create opportunity to share shmitta educational revive their ticular buildings. But it is jobs. and experiential offerings in your local also a way to induce indiMy hope is that such synagogue, school, community center, communities, spend vidual Jews to take more efforts will result not only community garden. more time with family in people taking a closer responsibility both for their Imagine the Jewish community digging personal consumption hab- and friends or even live look at how economic into these ancient texts about shmitta and its and shaping the contours sustainability might work renewing them for modern times. Imagine more simply can take of their spiritual lives. in their communities, but disaffected Jews igniting change through inspiration from Traditionally, shmitta was also in individuals taking community organizing inspired by Torah. a time when farmers did not greater responsibility for How will you integrate shmitta printhe concept of cultivate their lands, debts were personal consumption habits ciples into your personal and communal life shmitta. forgiven and slaves were set free. and relieving themselves of the by September 2014? Join us on the journey.

In a contemporary context, when expectation that others will permost of us are neither farmers nor slaves, form Jewish practice on their behalf.

—Sarah Chandler, the director of earthwe can see this year not only as a chance to Rather than criticizing the failings of our based spiritual practice for Hazon’s Adamah restore balance and share more equitably, but institutional leaders, we can take active Farm at Isabella Freedman, is a Jewish expeto release ourselves from the mentality that roles in revitalizing Jewish life—and local riential educator, community activist and sees everything in the world—from natural economic and environmental systems—as spiritual leader. resources to Jewish communal ones—as one more set of things to be consumed. Anyone looking to revive their communities, spend more time with family and friends or even live more simply can take inspiration from the concept of shmitta.

Hazon, a national Jewish organization promoting sustainability, is part of a coalition of eco-minded Jewish projects planning a series of initiatives in anticipation of the next shmitta year. Taking our cues from the transition town movement, a social experiment that focuses on economic localization and sustainable agriculture, the Shmita Project seeks to revive the ancient teachings Virginia Beach attorney H. Lee of the sabbatical cycle and apply them to our Kanter loved the arts and always times. Bringing these principles alive is our leaped to his feet to shout “bravo” next best shot to counter the consumerist after cultural performances. Before he died in 2001, Lee impulse from within the Jewish tradition, all arranged for a bequest to the Hampton Roads Community Foundation the while supporting the environment, our to provide grants for performing arts in Hampton Roads. communities and ourselves.

Kanter grants have helped Virginia Arts Festival, Jewish texts explain that during the Todd Rosenlieb Dance and the Virginia Symphony. shmitta year, land owners would take down Thanks to Lee’s generosity he will forever bring their fences so that the poor and animals great performances to his home region. could take freely from the crops. Today we Connect your passion to the future by ordering might consider which resources from our a free bequest guide. Learn how easy it is to “fields” we can offer to others. We could litleave a gift for charity. Call 757-622-7951 erally feed the hungry, or give of ourselves or visit leaveabequest.org. in other ways, through volunteering, pro bono work or other collaborative community projects.

Shmitta also calls upon us to release www.leaveabequest.org. (757) 622-7951 debts and take time off from work. Today, communities might consider setting up a

Lee’s will said a lot about him.

What does your will say about you?

•

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About This Marathon Week

Reflections from a Norfolk native on five days of terror in Boston

by Joni Fink Burstein

T

he word Marathon has been used in many ways. ‘It was a marathon effort.’ Thoughts of ancient Greece. But add the word, ‘Boston,’ in front of it, and a jubilant scene of miles of cheering spectators marveling at the heroic efforts of the most athletic to the most compassionately tragic comes to mind. Tragic? Before 2013? Yes. Every year, people run in memory of those who have lost their lives to disease, or in honor of those fighting to defeat physical infirmity. And many of those very sufferers are in the race itself, pushed along in wheelchairs by superhuman runners who carry their own weight as well as the emotional and physical weight of loved ones. Always, a mix of emotions pulls at the heartstrings of those watching. We cheer them on, marvel at them, shake our heads at the physical endurance they exhibit, appreciate the funds they raise to help others, laugh with the ones running in costume, like the beer can attached to the hat just out of reach of the hand outstretched…the whole time he runs 26.2 miles, and we feel awe at those who seem too old, too out of shape, too incapacitated, and too much like ourselves to be running all that way.

And so it was this year for my son and me. We met friends at our favorite spot, one with enough spectators to be lively, but not enough to feel like a big crowd. This year we walked around to find lunch. I felt like I was back in college—there were DJs, live bands on the street, burgers grilling, and a real party atmosphere. It added to the already glorious day. Earlier than usual for us, we decided to leave, and home we went.

I sat down at the computer to write a variation on a marathon joke I had heard earlier. And then the calls began. I did what many did. It must be a transformer, I rationalized. Probably an electric overload, my mind conjectured. They’ve had blackouts in that area before. And only a dozen injured, so thank goodness it was contained.

Needless to say, all my early reassurances were attempts at optimism, tinged perhaps with a bit of denial. As the story unfolded, only the raw truth held forth.

Like others, we found it hard to disengage from the news reports. “Why haven’t

they closed Boston schools for tomor- by-the-top-of-the-hour ending of most row?” I asked, as a core part of Boston crime shows wasn’t happening. When a was shut down for investigation. “They’re reference to a 51-day standoff came, it on vacation,” my children reminded not only awakened me to remember me, as indeed public schools, conwhat was happening near Waco, veniently, were on vacation all Texas at present, it also made week. But not private schools. me realize that it was time to We had My son attends a Jewish turn off the TV. This could go school. on for a while. Well, 51 days marveled at The next few days were for us became 15 hours. a blur of trying to do norhow lucky it was The pull to watch what was mal things, but feeling happening brought the TV that there were numb. My lens, and that back on, and it was mesof everyone around, was merizing. There was always so many medical some development. There colored with the images of the remorseless explosions was also repetition, but we people near the couldn’t stop watching. It felt and the increasing numbers of injured that were being like a long bad movie. The bombing. announced. What were their phrase that comes to mind? A injuries? How long would their marathon. healing take? Knowing full well During the lockdown, we felt that recovery of body is different than safe being so far from the unfoldrecovery of mind, of heart, of spirit. ing scene. While everything was shutting On Thursday, we went to bed knowing down, hospitals stayed open. Rami’s hosthat a search was on for two suspects. A pital had many injured from the marathon, quick check upon waking to make sure as well as the dead suspect. An email to there was no news of note immediately employees said they were expected at changed that expectation. One suspect work, so Rami went in. In his building, was dead and the other on the run. It felt which is primarily research, he was one of somewhat remote, being in Cambridge and the few there. I felt okay about it—he was Watertown, a good 20 minutes drive from getting a lot done, and he was available home. It’s in the hands of law enforcement. should the hospital need him. But then Good. Do I work out now or wait to go for he called at around 11 am and said there a run later, I wondered. I’ll work out now were police all over at his hospital and with Rami (my husband), so that I can at Children’s, across the street; that staff watch the news at the same time. It was needing to go from one campus to another a wise move, as soon we learned we were had to be transported by police; and that to be on lockdown. Four days after 27,000 no one was allowed to come—or go. That’s runners cruised the streets of Boston, run- when I got a huge pit in my stomach and I ning outdoors on this unusually warm day wanted him home. For the next few hours, of the year would have been nice, but was I sunk into a blob on the sofa, trying every forbidden. My son’s school was asked by once in a while to distract my son with a police to close. People as far away as a good game, reading, etc. It wasn’t happening.

20 minutes drive were told to stay indoors. The TV blared endlessly, My daughter Businesses stayed closed. came up from being downstairs with the Emails and calls from friends and dog to check in from time to time, and I family poured in. They punctuated the took occasional phone calls and sent mesaddicting heavy pull of nonstop televi- sages to Rami urging him to come home. sion coverage. It was a long day, with At home we felt safe. We had mareach personal emotion magnified by the veled so many times at how lucky it was emotions of watching and worrying. At that there were so many medical people first, it was exciting—the police were all on hand near the bombings—not unlike over it, and the bad-guys-getting-caught when the streets were empty when Israel ending seemed near. Around 10 am, they was invaded on Yom Kippur. We respected had surrounded an area, and it seemed that not having people out and about could clear the suspect was in it. Then the words keep people safe and help the search. But “Earlier” started appearing as the reporters the warm quiet day teased us, beckonspoke, making us realize that the finish- ing us outdoors. We have a deck off our

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kitchen, and we ventured out from time to time to feel the fresh air and take a break.

Rami came home before 2 pm. He spent hours helping someone medically via computer, but he was home.

Around dinnertime, for no apparent reason, the lockdown was discontinued.

We were happy to go out, and our local Chinese restaurant was happy as well. It wasn’t as busy as on Christmas, but it felt close. During dinner we learned about a boat, and by the time we came home, we glued ourselves once again to the television, turning it off only after President Obama had spoken.

The weekend before the Marathon, we watched the movie Les Miserables. The songs echoed in our heads all week. Theirs was a Revolution that caused horrible deaths.

What was the revolution in this case?

The second suspect was taken to Rami’s hospital. What must it be like for those caring for him, knowing that part of the motivation for helping him recover is to find out what happened to him? Why a seemingly likable and promising young man went so terribly wrong. There was a point when the emotions went from suspense and fear to “Can it really take hundreds of police, FBI, SWAT teams, etc. to find one 19-year-old boy?” And then somehow the thoughts focus on that phrase: a 19-year-old boy. And then you picture a scared kid, no longer in the protective perhaps, “incite-ful” no doubt presence of his older brother. And you feel sad. And disillusioned. And disappointed.

And then you remember the runners.

The brave and heroic people who have been working all this long hard week to make things right. The medical personnel, the police and public servants, the hospital personnel, the party atmosphere less than a week ago.

It’s raining heavily right now. And you think how good it is the rain didn’t come earlier, as predicted, when it would have erased evidence and thwarted many of the needed efforts to capture and recover. And when it would have prevented us from getting out and going for a walk to decompress after a day of lockdown and a week of emotion. Emotion that for us seems almost superficial, given that everyone we know is safe. But emotion that we know we share with a world that was watching too, and worrying too, and is also in need of recovery.

American labor unions raising millions for Rabin Center

by Ben Sales

TEL AVIV (JTA)—The museum dedicated to the memory of Yitzhak Rabin raises nearly half its money from labor leaders.

It’s just not the labor you think.

Members of U.S. labor unions raised $1.4 million for the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv last year, 45 percent of the center’s total 2012 fundraising. Since 2005, American unions have raised $12 million for the center.

Labor leaders say programs at the center, which celebrates the slain Labor Party prime minister who signed the 1993 Oslo Accords and promotes dialogue among Israel’s cultural groups, meshes with their core values.

Rabin’s “commitment to peace in not just Israel but the world is amazing,” says J. David Cox, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “He was criticized for his willingness to make compromises, but life is full of compromises. That’s how you arrive at a solution.”

American unions have supported Jewish statehood since before Israel’s establishment in 1948. At the time, Jews were heavily represented in the American labor movement, and Israel, with its socialist roots and collectivist spirit, was seen as a natural ally.

Today, organized labor, particularly in Europe, has overwhelmingly shifted its sympathies to the Palestinians, routinely voting in favor of boycotting Israeli goods or divesting from Israeli companies. But American union leaders say they remain committed to Israel, supportive of what they see as a perseverant Western country with an ethic of social justice.

“There wasn’t a nation here,” says John Coli, head of Chicago’s Teamsters Local 727, who was in Israel in April as part of a delegation hosted by the Rabin Center.

“Now it’s totally different. [Tel Aviv] is a modern city. People have access to health care, to education. That’s what we want to build everywhere.”

Union support for the Rabin Center began in 2005 when Jeannie Gerzon, a former State of Israel Bonds employee who dealt with unions, began fundraising for the Rabin Center. American unions had long been buyers of Israel Bonds, the government securities that help fund Israeli infrastructure development.

Gerzon told JTA that the center has raised millions from unions by honoring national labor leaders in the United States.

The leaders then call in favors from politicians and encourage businesses to open their checkbooks.

The vast majority of contributions may come from these outside businesses.

A dinner last year honoring Coli raised $700,000 for the center, only $25,000 of which came from the union itself. In a typical year, Local 727 donates about $2,000 to the center out of $100,000 the local gives annually to a range of charitable causes.

Coli and Cox say that for them, part of Israel’s appeal stems from its strong labor union culture. According to Cox, Israel’s general union, the Histadrut, has more power than his AFGE. “They get to bargain wages and benefits,” he says. “They have the ability to strike. We’ve got to get some worldwide solidarity with the union movement.”

Two American labor delegations were in Israel in April for meetings with Israeli union leaders and legislators from the Labor Party, in addition to visits to cultural and religious sites. Cox calls Stav Shaffir, the 27-year-old freshman Labor parliamentarian, “dynamite and just fantastic.” Shaffir led Israel’s 2011 social justice protests.

Stuart Davidson, the chairman of the American Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin Center, says the visiting delegations hear from “the left and the right,” but movement leaders met with no members of the current center-right government. And despite Rabin’s legacy as a peacemaker, neither delegation spent significant time learning about the conflict or speaking with Palestinians.

Cox’s group met with Arab-Israeli union members, but did not meet with Palestinians despite visiting religious sites in Bethlehem, a Palestinian city in the West Bank. Coli’s delegation did not have any meetings with Palestinians or Arab-Israelis.

Davidson says he wants to expand contacts with Palestinian workers. The ongoing conflict, he says, could endanger future U.S. union support for Israel.

“The failure to make progress toward a peaceful resolution is problematic to all of us,” Davidson says. “It’s troubling to us. The inability to address those issues will make it harder.”

Sharansky’s Kotel plan loses support from both sides

by Ben Sales

TEL AVIV (JTA)—Following a court ruling in their favor, leaders of an organization pushing for women’s prayer rights at the Western Wall have withdrawn their endorsement of Natan Sharansky’s compromise proposal to expand the egalitarian section there.

A Jerusalem District Court ruled last week that Women of the Wall members who pray together in the regular women’s section of the Western Wall are not contravening the law. Members of the group have been routinely arrested or detained in recent months for wearing prayer shawls at the wall, a practice that prior to the ruling had been considered a violation of Israeli law requiring respect for “local custom” at the site.

The landmark ruling appears to have emboldened Women of the Wall, which has moved away from its earlier embrace of Sharansky’s proposal as a tolerable, if less than perfect solution.

“We have three options: to reject Sharansky’s plan, to embrace Sharansky’s plan or to say that right now it is not relevant for Women of the Wall,” Anat Hoffman, the organization’s chair, says. “It’s completely not relevant for us. Our victory in court means that our place is safe.”

Protests over the high-profile arrests of women at the holy site led Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tap Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, late last year to formulate a compromise solution. Under Sharansky’s plan, an existing egalitarian section of the wall known as Robinson’s Arch would be expanded and a unified entrance would be built leading to the wall’s traditional and egalitarian sections.

Initially, the compromise seemed to have worked. Both Hoffman and the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, expressed cautious support. But Rabinowitz also has backtracked from a statement indicating that while he didn’t like the proposal, he could “live with it.”

“We must, along with the Chief Rabbinate and other great rabbis, examine if we should oppose the proposal referring to Robinson’s Arch, which is not part of the Western Wall synagogue, if this would be a solution acceptable to everyone,” Rabinowitz said in a statement last week.

Last week, Sharansky said his proposals were meant as “long-term solutions,” not quick fixes for immediate concerns.

“The merit of these proposals [does] not depend on any day-to-day developments that happen in the courts or near the Kotel itself,” Sharansky said in a statement, using the wall’s Hebrew name. “All the stakeholders have agreed that the next important step is the timeline which will be developed by the prime minister’s office in the next few weeks.”

But the ruling appears to have lessened Women of the Wall’s appetite for compromise, leading the group to reassert a longstanding insistence on being allowed to pray as it wishes in the regular women’s section. The group has announced that at its monthly service on May 10, a member will read from the Torah in the women’s section; that hasn’t been done for a decade.

The ruling “allows Women of the Wall to pray how we always wished,” said Hoffman, “with women of all denominations in the women’s section, with our prayer shawls and Torah and shofar.”

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Diana Shocket.

by Leslie Shroyer photos by Laine Mednick Rutherford

M

JCC’s 2013 Israel Festival

Aura Leibovici dances as Israeli band, The Shuk, plays.

Happy 65th!

ore than 1,000 people attended Israel’s 65th birthday celebration at the Simon Family JCC on Sunday, April 28. The JCC’s biggest party of the year, Israel Festival celebrates Yom Ha’Atzmaut, the official anniversary of the State of Israel.

From main stage musical and dance happenings to the 10 Walktheland65 murals that adorned the campus, the day was filled with myriad of activities and events. Israeli dancing, performances by the Israeli rock band The Shuk and Hebrew Academy singers, camel rides, artisan vendors, Ben Yehuda Street Marketplace, Israeli food, inflatables and games, an archeological dig, and a balloon artist were among the afternoon’s offerings.

The Kell family particularly enjoyed finding Israeli coins in the sandbox on an archeological dig. Ayla, who came to the festival last year with her parents and brother Eli, says, “I did it last year, and I already can’t wait to come back again next year.”

The six-year-old says she found a few Israeli coins in the sandbox, but that her older brother Eli found “like, tons of them.”

Those who made Israel Festival 2013 a reality include lead sponsor Charles Barker Automotive, Old Point Bank, CBN, Congressman and Mrs. Scott Rigell, Jeannie Ayla Kell.

8 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

and Bruce Frieden, Terri and Lonny Sarfan, The Community Relations Council of the UJFT, and the long hours logged by JCC volunteers and staff.

“When I see hundreds of people coming together to celebrate Israel and community at the JCC, I think, this is what we exist for, this is what it’s all about,” says Terri Sarfan, JCC president.

Lainey Goldman with McGruff the Crime Dog.

Alana Kronenburg.

Ariella Jackson.

Julia Laibstain.

Summer Hoffman.

Camel rides are a festival highlight.

Stella Glass and Abby Goretsky.

Audrey Peck and Rose Lefcoe.

Arianna Gershon and BBYO members volunteer. jewishnewsva.org | May 6, 2013 | Jewish News | 9

Unique collaboration between Jews and Christians at Pro-Israel event article and photos by Laine Mednick Rutherford

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embers of the Jewish and Christian communities shared a special night honoring Israel, and one another, at Virginia Beach’s Rock Church on April 23.

Organizations representing the two communities, including Christians United for Israel, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Rock Church International and the Christian Broadcasting Network, sponsored and presented A Night to Honor Israel.

More than 1,200 people attended the event, designed to demonstrate shared support of Israel and to strengthen the bonds of friendship, understanding and respect between Jews and Christians. The Community Relations Council of the UJFT took the lead in coordinating the Jewish community’s involvement in the celebration. A kosher VIP reception, catered by the Sandler Family Campus culinary staff, was held before the program began.

“We hold 40 or 50 of these Nights to Honor Israel every month, across the nation,” says David Brog, the Jewish executive director of Christians United for Israel. “Typically, we reach out to the Federations in the communities where the events are and they will advertise for us and community members

will attend, but it is very unique to have a Federation agree to partner with us and be a co-sponsor.

“This unique gathering shows a real and high level of partnership and coordination in this community, and lets us stand together and honor the faith of each other as we pray for the peace of Israel,” Brog says.

The program opened with Hebrew Academy of Tidewater student Elizabeth Hughes singing Jerusalem of Gold, accompanied by Ohef Sholom Cantor Wally Schachet-Briskin. Other community members who spoke, led songs and prayers—and played the shofar—during the evening were: Rabbis Rosalin Mandelberg and Israel Zoberman, Schachet-Briskin, Heath Losick of Kempsville Conservative Synagogue, Marty Einhorn of Ohef Sholom Temple and UJFT president Alvin Wall.

“This is one of the highlights of my term and it is with great pleasure and tremendous pride that I thank you for inviting us

Howard Schwartz, Leslie Shroyer, and Michele Goldberg.

Larry Siegel, Hal Sacks, and Jerry Kantor.

10 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

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Miles Leon, Philip Rovner, Taffy Hunter, and Bishop Anne Gimenez.

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to join in this celebration,” Wall says. “We must serve as an advocate of Israel—the people, the land, and the nation.”

Christian leaders participating in the event included Michael Little, president and CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pastor John Blanchard and Bishop Anne Gimenez of Rock Church International, Pastor Victor Styrsky, Maxanne Taverniti, Jessica Marzucco and Brog of CUFI, and

a special appearance by Pat Robertson, founder and chair of CBN. Adult and children’s choirs from Rock Church, and specially choreographed dances from the passionate dancers of the Academie de Ballet and Dance Centre complemented the program.

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746 Granby Street Norfolk www. bobsgunshop.com jewishnewsva.org | May 6, 2013 | Jewish News | 11

Mother’s Day Appreciation

Salute to a dozen Jewish moms for Mother’s Day 2013 We’re not sure what kind of mom she was to her kids, but she feels like a mother to the Jewish people.

by Uriel Heilman

NEW YORK (JTA)—What do Golda Meir, Natalie Portman and Aviva Shalit have in common? They’re all on JTA’s Top Jewish Moms list.

With Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12, we present our select group (in alphabetical order but for our final choice):

Bella Abzug The first Jewish woman elected to Congress, who had two daughters, once famously said, “This woman’s place is in the house: the House of Representatives.” Abzug was a congressional star, but she also was a staunch Zionist, a pioneer in the synagogue and a one-time Jewish Theological Seminary student. What a role model; not to mention those hats.

Robert Edwards He’s not Jewish or a woman, but the British scientist pioneered the process of in-vitro fertilization, which is used at a higher rate in Israel than in any other country.

Arguably, Edwards has birthed tens of thousands of Jewish children. Just don’t ask him to name them.

Amalie Freud Knowing what we know now about Sigmund Freud, the mother of the father of psychoanalysis must have been one crazy Jewish mother.

This starlet, who seems to be on everyone’s list of favorite Jews, has a baby, Aleph Portman-Millepied. Who wouldn’t want a talented, unabashedly Jewish, gorgeous, smart, Hollywood star for a mom? (Plus, her fictional children, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia of Star Wars, were key to defeating the Evil Empire.)

Aviva Shalit Gertrude Berg as “Mrs Goldberg”

“Mrs. Goldberg” (as played by Gertrude Berg) In her defining role as the irrepressible Mrs. Goldberg, Berg brought a lovable matriarch with a sing-song Brooklyn accent to radio, TV, film and Broadway. She paved the way for other Jewish domestic divas that followed, including Rhoda Morgenstern (played by Valerie Harper) and the Nanny (Fran Drescher), who proved that even a couple of WASP-y kids on Manhattan’s Upper East Side can use a Jewish mom.

Golda Meir, March 1,1973 (photo by Marion S. Trikosko, Library of Congress )

Bessie Hillman

Mayor Ed Koch of New York, Congresswoman Bella Abzug (Dem-NY) and President Jimmy Carter during a meeting in 1978. (Karl H. Schumacher, White House Photographer)

Natalie Portman

After her Israeli soldier son Gilad was taken captive by Palestinian militants in a crossborder attack near Gaza in 2006, Aviva and Noam Shalit vowed to do everything in their power to bring him home. With strong parallels to the experiences of Ron Arad and Nachshon Wachsman—Israeli soldiers who never made it out of Arab captivity—there was plenty of reason for skepticism, especially as the years passed.

But Aviva and Noam never flagged, mounting a relentless campaign for their son’s release. Their persistence was rewarded when Gilad was returned home (albeit at a very heavy cost to Israel). Jewish mother to the rescue!

When Hillman (then Abramowitz) arrived in Chicago as a teenager in 1905 to escape an arranged marriage back in Russia, she wasn’t going to be just another button sewer earning 5 cents an hour. She started organizing and quickly became a union leader. While she eventually would have two daughters with husband and fellow activist Sidney Hillman, her establishment of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1914 earned her the distinction of being the Mother of American Labor.

Golda Meir OK, so she wasn’t Israel’s greatest prime minister. But this mother of two who led Israel for five of Israel’s most challenging years remains a favorite among American Jews. Why? Because they just love the idea of a skirt-wearing, Milwaukee-raised Russian Jew making tea for global diplomats in her modest Israeli kitchen, plotting out the future of the Jewish state, and giving the Mossad the order to hunt down and kill the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Olympics massacre in Munich.

12 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

Dr. Ruth Westheimer speaking at Brown University on October 4, 2007.

Ruth Westheimer Joan Nathan

Joan Nathan Perhaps nothing is more central to being a Yiddishe mama than knowing how to make a good bowl of chicken soup—not to mention brisket, blintzes and borscht (just to name a few b’s). By this measure, Nathan is the tops.

So you think your mother makes you uncomfortable? Try having Dr. Ruth as a mom. Still, you know it’s good advice. Nu, when are you going to get married, already?

The Unsung Heroine Every day and for thousands of years, Jewish mothers have been making sacrifices large and small to ensure the success of their children and their families, from managing households to raising kids with Jewish values and sensibilities, to giving us the security we need to go out into the world and make something of ourselves. They are not famous because they thought only of us, not themselves. We cannot name them because there are too many. But without them, the Jewish people would be lost. We salute you, Jewish mothers of the world!

Moses with the Tables of the Law, Rembrandt, 1659.

Yocheved She braved Egyptian decree for three months to save her son from certain death, then orchestrated it so he’d be raised in a royal household. And it all paid off: Her boy Moses went on to become the greatest Jewish leader of all time.

—Deborah Fineblum Raub, consulting communications manager at the Jewish Women’s Archive, contributed to this report.

For more information on these and other women, visit the Jewish Women’s Archive Encyclopedia at jwa.org/encyclopedia <http:// www.jta.org/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fjwa. org%2Fencyclopedia>.

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Janet Mercadante welcomes the audience on behalf of Women’s cabinet.

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was currently living in a Displaced Persons camp in Europe.

The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Cabinet Outreach committee brought together the women in the Tidewater Jewish community (including several sets of mothers and daughters, and even a few granddaughters) for a light, fun, and social event. A short video prior to the main feature emphasized women giving charitably in their own names.

Cabinet member Janet Mercadante welcomed the women and encouraged them to meet and greet one another, explaining that: “It is through these kinds of community-building events that we strengthen relationships and ultimately strengthen the Jewish community we all love.”

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hree-dozen women met at Cinema Café in Virginia Beach to make new friends and watch a modernday “classic” on Sunday, April 21.

Directed by Barry Levinson, “Avalon” is a coming-of-age story for countless Eastern European Jewish immigrants, who came to the United States in the early part of the 20th century.

Set in the early 1950s, Sam Krichinsky and his four brothers have all been in the United States for more than three decades.

Their American-born adult children are now married with young children of their own. Television has just debuted and the world is changing, especially for those with traditional European mores and ideas. As the adult children become successful, they move out to the suburbs, and multi-generational family bonds begin to fray. But it’s the 1950s—time of innocence and optimism in the United States.

Family dynamics are family dynamics, no matter the ethnic group, the location, or the era; and they play out in ways that are sad, funny, frustrating, and even ridiculous.

Audience members could easily see their own parents and grandparents, and children in the characters of the film.

The struggle to fit-in… to be American in every way… is illustrated as the adult children change their surnames from Krichinsky to Kirk and Kaye; as the families exchange “holiday gifts” in December; and by the lack of Jewish simchas and celebrations throughout the film. But reality presents itself when a phone call from the American Red Cross informs the family that a relative they’d never known had miraculously survived the Holocaust and

Janice Aleck with her niece, Debra Aleck.

Dottie Goldman with her daughter Laura Wingett.

Marnie Waldman with her daughter Sophie.

14 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

FIRST PERSON Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance reception at Old Dominion University

by Ben Ipson

S

tudents and faculty were guests of Old Dominion University’s Office of Intercultural Relations and Hillel on Monday, April 8, for the Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance reception.

Jay Ipson, a holocaust survivor from the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania, and a cofounder/director for the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, who is also my grandfather, was the keynote speaker. John Broderick, Old Dominion University’s president, arrived before the event started.

The president sadly couldn’t stay due to a prior commitment, but he wanted to meet Ipson and to demonstrate his support for Holocaust education.

As people entered, they looked towards the front of the room at the man in the cowboy hat and noticed a six-branched menorah sitting on the table.

I welcomed everyone and spoke about why the event was important. Not only was this a remembrance for the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust, but also it was to talk about how Holocaust education is necessary in today’s universities. Before passing the microphone to my grandfather, I explained to the approximately 70 people who attended the event, including eight students from Toras Chaim School, 14 students from Bina High School, as well as older college students from Old Dominion who will one day lead this community and many others around the world, that Yom HaShoah was Holocaust Remembrance Day and why it was important to have an event about Holocaust remembrance specifically on that day.

When my grandfather began to speak, the audience was silent, hanging on to every word about the survival of his family during the horrors of the Holocaust. He was only six years old when the Nazis invaded Lithuania in 1941. His family was liberated by the Russians in 1944. My grandfather began by asking the crowd questions such as “How big is your neighborhood?” and then by asking if everyone had cell phones as he proceeded to explain about today’s global society. One of the main points he made was about the Lithuanian neighbors who helped the Nazis to kill Jews, so that the people in the audience could understand that it wasn’t just Germans who killed Jews during the Holocaust. Over the course of the hour, he explained the similarities and differences between a ghetto and a concentration camp, his family’s survival from escaping the ghetto and hiding under a potato field for six months.

One of the more memorable moments of the discussion was when my grandfather told the crowd about the number of hate groups in the United States, specifically in Virginia, and even more specifically in Norfolk. He linked every part of his presentation to remembrance, but also the need to educate people about atrocities like the Holocaust, so that others won’t suffer like his family did. When my grandfather finished I explained the significance of the six-branched menorah. The menorah was a design by Al Rosenbaum and reconstructed by Terry Minter for this particular electrical version. The menorah had a few symbols: it had six branches, each for one million of the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust; one lowered branch for

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Rabbi Gershon Litt, Ben Ipson, Jay Ipson.

the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust; silver to represent barbed wire; a partially broken Magen David to show the Jewish people had been broken but we still live on; red for the blood spilled during the Holocaust; and blue for hope.

As the event was about to close, Rabbi Gershon Litt, executive director of the Norfolk Area Community Kollel, noted that the Jewish people are not broken, and repeatedly saying with great pride and strength, “The Jewish people are not broken!”

Rabbi Litt explained that Jay Ipson was about to recite a Mourner’s Kaddish to honor those that were killed during the Holocaust. Before he finished, he explained that the Kaddish did not talk about sadness or despair, but of greatness and never once mentions death. He then told the audience that Yom HaShoah should not only be for remembrance, but that it was to inspire people not to forget what happened and to educate people about the Holocaust to prevent future atrocities. After reciting the Kaddish, my grandfather blew the Shofar to conclude the program.

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BINA High School and Toras Chaim students captivated by Jay Ipson

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mong those attending the Yom HaShoah event at ODU featuring Jay Ipson were middle school students from Toras Chaim and high school students from BINA High School.

“Every step of Lithuanian soil is covered with Jewish blood,” Jay Ispon told the crowd.

Ipson, whose family was interred in the Kovno ghetto, explained to attendees the difference between a “ghetto” and the more historically familiar concept of a “concentration camp.”

“They are both the same,” he explained, except that a ghetto was a segregated

neighborhood for the local population, whereas a concentration camp was where the Nazis sent people from all over.

“They starve you in both. They work you in both. They kill you in both,” he said.

Ipson was able to escape imprisonment with his mother and father in 1943.

The family eventually hid with 10 other extended family members in a homemade bunker below a potato field, where they stayed until Russian soldiers liberated them in 1944.

During that time, the group “never saw daylight” and Ipson learned addition by counting the lice that covered his body, he said.

He eventually immigrated to the United States with his parents and continued an effort started by his father to educate the public about the horrors of the Holocaust.

That led to the founding of the Virginia Holocaust Museum in the 1990s.

The students from BINA High School were profoundly moved by the presentation. His captivating personal story was one of both sorrow and hope. The students felt very fortunate to hear a survivor’s story in person.

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Professionals hear about investing in Israeli start-ups

T Healthy GET

hirty business, legal and medical professionals assembled at Vandeventer Black law offices on Wednesday, April 17 to learn about Israeli innovation and the opportunity for Americans to invest in start ups in Israel.

According to presenter Brian Rosenzweig of JANVEST, an American venture capital firm which helps seed and incubate Israeli high tech companies, Israel’s best resource is its brainpower. The program was sponsored by the Business & Legal Society of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, and the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.

Rosenzweig says there is great opportunity to invest in these innovative Israeli companies, as many Venture Capital firms have shied away from start-ups due to the recent recession, leaving a huge gap in investment for Israeli companies fueled on the extraordinary talent of Israeli graduates of the Technion, the IDF and other training grounds for innovation. Notable companies ‘hatched’ by JANVEST are: Book, which

charges readers per page read on Kindles and other e-readers enabling them to download an unlimited amount of publications at no expense unless they are actually read, gauged by the amount of time a reader lingers on a page; and BIOCATCH, formed by former IDF intelligence officers, which develops a personal profile of computer owners through their unique keystrokes and mouse manipulation, alerting them of potential hackers.

Companies such as Google have established major presence in Tel Aviv in order to incubate Israeli high tech ventures, but there is still much opportunity for investment. The cost-risk of investing in Israeli high tech start up is relatively small in the global market with enormous return, Rosenzweig says.

For more information on the UJFT Business & Legal Society, call Carolyn Amacher at 757-452-3181 or email camacher@ujft.org.

Thoughts of the Future

New to Hot Yoga?

Israel’s high-tech industry has •M ost number of startup technology companies Approximately 3,800 startups or 1 for every 2,000 people •H ighest number of scientists and engineers in the world 135 per 10,000 people (U.S. is 85 per 10,000) •S econd most amount of venture capital (1st is U.S.) Per person, Israel is #1 $170 versus $75 in the U.S. •M ost number of scientific papers published annually.

Shavuot symbolizes the completion of a journey; the coming together for the Torah to become complete.

Just as you plan for Shavuot, counting the Omer following Passover, we need to plan for the future of our Jewish community.

Think about the future for your children and your grandchildren. Create a legacy and protect this future.

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hothouseyogi.com 16 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

To learn more about making a legacy gift to support the Tidewater community, contact Philip S. Rovner with the Tidewater Jewish Foundation at (757) 965-6111, psrovner@ujft.org.

The Sunderlins: Four years and counting at Camp JCC

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or Heather Sunderlin, mother of nine-year-old twins, Camp JCC has it all.

She works full-time as the director of employee services at Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer; her husband, Rich, is in the Navy and is often away for weeks; and she wants her sons Dylan and Tyler to have active and fun-filled summers.

The Sunderlins Three years ago, Sunderlin signed her kids up for Camp JCC, and has done so each summer since.

“As parents, we don’t want our kids sitting around watching TV and playing video games all summer,” she says. “They go at it so hard at the JCC, they are tired after a day of camp.”

When her employer, Marty Einhorn, recommended the camp, Sunderlin checked it out. A non-Jewish family, she loves that her kids are exposed to a multi-cultural environment. “They learn some Hebrew and a bit about Israel, but it’s mostly a traditional day camp.” The Sunderlins also know their kids are safe at the JCC. “The staff knows our

kids, and it’s a secure, friendly environment.”

“I’m a very active kind of kid,” says Tyler.

“I like coming here because I’m not a video game kind of person. I swim and do outdoor things like putt-putt and all kinds of camp activities. And when the weather’s bad, there’s still a lot going on inside.”

His twin brother Dylan fully agrees. “Camp gets me outside, and there are lots of activities to choose from. I really like the Gaga pit!”

Besides a two week trip to Myrtle Beach, the Sunderlins will come to camp all summer, as well as Summer Extension in August. “It’s a no brainer,” says Sunderlin.

“The JCC has everything for my boys at one place; they’re happy, and so am I.” For more information about Camp JCC, visit campjcc.org or call the Simon Family JCC, 321-2306.

The Simon Family JCC is a constituent agency of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

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For JCC member Sara Jo Rubin, the fitness center is new

by Leslie Shroyer

“I feel good when I walk in the door,” says Sara Jo Rubin, Simon Family JCC member, about the fitness center. “I’m actually here now, using the facility instead of talking about coming.”

A Norfolk native, Rubin grew up within a stone’s throw of the JCC in Norfolk. She remembers riding her bike there as a teenager.

Rubin has maintained her membership over the years, but mostly to attend cultural arts events and to stay active as a community member.

Rubin describes herself as “disciplined in every area, but fitness.” With a goal to be fit for her daughter’s upcoming wedding, she knew she should work on her cardio fitness, as well as her upper body strength.

She also knew that without a trainer she might not be committed to working out on a regular schedule. Fortunately for Rubin, Donna Bloom had a few early morning slots available. A bit apprehensive in the beginning, Rubin found Bloom to be “very sensitive to my beginner level. She built a personalized program to suit my needs exactly.” Noting Bloom’s wit and humor,

Eric Kline Business Development Danny Kline Vice President

Andy Kline President

Sara Jo Rubin and Donna Bloom.

Rubin says she is also instructed to think things through when she works out on machines or lift weights, learning how to effectively use each muscle group.

Now in her third month of training, Rubin is surprised by how much she looks forward to each training session, and her goal is to continue to work out on her own as well as treat herself to some private instruction. “I love coming to the JCC for fitness,” she says. “It’s such an upbeat place, and, because it’s the JCC, there’s that wonderful feeling of comfort.”

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jewishnewsva.org | May 6, 2013 | Jewish News | 17

It’s a wrap Alfred Dreyfus tell his story to HAT students

Congregation Beth El Celebrates Men’s Club and Sisterhood Shabbatot

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ast month, fourth and fifth graders at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater were privileged to hear Alfred Dreyfus tell his story of survival during the Shoah. With his son Mark, he told the students that instead of hearing a story of horror and death camps, they were going to share the story of how the kindness of strangers and friends, good sense, luck and miracles from God enabled the survival of Alfred Dreyfus and his immediate family.

Alfred Dreyfus grew up in Germany and was nine years old when Hitler came to power in 1933. He recalled that there were only two Jewish kids in his school class and the teacher screamed at them in front of the class, “You dirty, stinking Jews. I want you out of here.” The two boys were then beaten during the class break.

The school incident became the deciding factor for his family that they would move to France. In France, they stayed in Strasbourg until 1938 and then moved to Pontoise in 1939, where he remembers hiding in a cave behind their home during daily bombings in 1940.

After returning home from the cavebomb shelter one-day, the Dreyfus’ neighbors came to tell them that the Germans were less than a day away. Dreyfus remembers the pandemonium of everyone fleeing south. Like so many, they went to the train station to be told, “No more trains are leaving from here. You must leave.” By luck, his mother saw one train about five rows down the tracks. She made them walk there and get on. They were so exhausted they got on and feel asleep. To

by Norman Soroko

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Mark and Alfred Dreyfus speak to students

their surprise, at 5:30 in the morning, the train started moving and two days later they arrived in the south of France.

Dreyfus told the students about more near-miss incidents where luck and intuition saved his family from being handed over to the Nazis. Eventually the family made their way to Switzerland where again, they got lucky and were allowed to stay.

HAT students were mesmerized listening to his story. Mark Dreyfus pointed out to the students that his father was their age when Hitler first came to power. He also engaged the students with questions of how they would have reacted at the various decisions that his father had to make.

The Hebrew Academy faculty, administration and students are so grateful to the Dreyfus’ for sharing their story. Rabbi Wecker, head of school, reminded the students that they are the last generation to hear live witness from the Shoah and that it is not only a great privilege, but a responsibility to never let the world forget.

ast month, Congregation Beth El had two special Shabbatot as the Men’s Club and Sisterhood each arranged and led a Shabbat morning service to honor and celebrate their group’s membership. The Men’s Club Shabbat took place on April 13 and the annual Sisterhood Shabbat Service on April 20.

During Men’s Club Shabbat, members performed the entire service from Shacharit to Adon Olam. Norman Soroko and Brad Lazernick served as co-chairmen of the service and Gary Kell and Howard Horwitz delivered educational D’Var Torahs.

This year’s Men’s Club Shabbat was dedicated to the memories of Dr. Eugene Kanter, z’l and Ben Gordon, z’l who both passed away last year. Both men were longtime members of Congregation Beth El, Men’s Club and board of directors. Kanter was also a past congregational president.

Following the Shabbat Service, a Kiddush

luncheon sponsored by the Men’s Club was held in Myers Hall.

During Sisterhood Shabbat, which was chaired by Kevin Tabakin and Brenda Kozak, Sisterhood members also led all parts of the service, taking the honor and challenge of leading parts of the tefillot, taking aliyot chanting torah and haftorah and more. Linda Samuels gave a wonderful D’var Torah as she explored the important parshiot of Achrei Mot-Kedoshim. Helene Rosenfeld and Helene Smith, co-presidents of Sisterhood, dedicated the Shabbat to the memories of Ruthie Kroskin, a very involved member of the Beth El Sisterhood and a warm face everyone misses seeing in synagogue and Dr. Gene Kanter, an honorary member of Sisterhood due to his devotion to helping his wife, Nancy Kanter, and all the Sisterhood ladies in the kitchen.

Following services, a Kiddush Luncheon was held in Myers Hall sponsored by, whom else, Sisterhood.

Temple Israel blesses animals

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hirty-five dogs, several worried cats, a gerbil, a hamster and two hermit crabs assembled in the playground at Temple Israel on Sunday, April 21 for the first “Blessing of the Animals.”

The program led by Rabbi Michael Panitz was coordinated with Earth Day and timed for the temple’s Mitzvah of the Month: helping the SPCA.

Beth El’s Religious School’s Day of Chesed

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he students at the Beth El Religious School put some of their learning into practice on Sunday, April 14 as they participated in the congregation’s annual Day of Chesed (Kindness.) Students’ activities focused on making the world a better place with hands-on, interactive projects.

Eighth and ninth grade students and their teacher Kevin Tabakin, went to Beth Sholom Home to video-interview residents about their recollections of the November 1947 U.N. vote to partition Palestine.

The seventh graders and their teacher Ina Mirman Leiderman began their morning with Shacharit, followed by learning

with the Cantor, and then a walk to the Ronald McDonald House on Colley Ave. Shana Prohofsky’s sixth graders went into every classroom to educate students about “Mazon: the Jewish Response to Hunger” and then headed to the kitchen where they prepared treats to be sold at dismissal time with the more than $65 raised going to Mazon. These students also worked with Beth El parent Karen OteroFisher to write letters to active military, thanking them for their service.

Barbara Rossen’s fifth grade class donned protective gloves and sorted and repacked books and other materials for

18 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

the Beth El Genezia Interment at the Holly Lawn Cemetery on Sunday, April 21.

The students in kindergarten through fourth grade worked on two projects. They wrote letters, cards and pictures to active military personnel and created greeting card packets for Beth Sholom residents.

Under the direction of art teacher Jennifer Groves, teachers Helen Pomerantz, Nettie Groves, Laura Kanter, Brenda Kozak and Ilene Putterman, helped students create the cards.

The students, teachers, and parent volunteers enjoyed the activities knowing they were helping others.

Seventh grade students and their teacher, Ina Miriam Leiderman outside the Ronald McDonald House.

Book reviews A reconstruction Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power Andrew Nagorski Simon and Schuster, 2012 383 pages, $28 ISBN 978-1-4391-9100-2

Hal Sacks

Readers who were gripped

by Eric Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, a brilliant portrayal of events in Berlin during the 1933–1937 ambassadorship of William E. Dodds, are likely to be similarly absorbed

by Andrew Nagorski’s Hitlerland. Nagorski, an award winning journalist, is perhaps best known for his previous book, The Greatest Battle. Those of us who remember the brilliant work of William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, are possibly unfamiliar with lesser known works of his contemporaries in the Berlin press corps from the 1920’s through early 1942. (Incidentally, both of Shirer’s seminal works are still in print having been reissued in 1995.)

Hitlerland, with its advantage of hindsight, explores the dispatches, diaries, letters and recorded interviews of American journalists, diplomats and celebrities who were present in Berlin during that fateful era. As early as 1922, Adolf Hitler was making a name for himself as leader of a Monarchist group against the Weimar regime. After witnessing some of Hitler’s appearances, Robert Murphy, the acting consul in Munich, asked Paul Drey, a German-Jewish employee of the consulate, “Do you think these agitators will ever get far?” “Of course not!” Drey replied.

“The German people are too intelligent to be taken in by such scamps.” Paul Drey died in Dachau.

Fate intervened following the abortive Nazi “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1923, as Hitler narrowly avoided being gunned down and apparently was just barely prevented from committing suicide. By 1930, the Nazis had won 107 seats in Parliament and by 1932 had taken 230 seats. Yet the soonto-be-famous broadcaster, H.V.Kaltenborn, concluded “after meeting Hitler…I could not see how a man of his type, a plebeian Austrian of limited mentality, could ever gain the allegiance of a majority of Germans.”

Kaltenborn’s son, Rolf was roughed up by some ‘brown shirts’ for failing to give the Nazi Heil Hitler salute. “Some Americans, it seemed, didn’t want to see what was really happening even when it was happening to them,” reported one observer. Other journalists soft-pedaled their reporting in order not to be thrown out of Germany.

But Berlin was the place to be until the

Nazi takeover. Berlin was open, risqué, full of culture and sexually liberal, a party town; an unending stream of celebrities made their appearance. Martha Dodd, the American ambassador’s daughter, slept with many, before she became a spy for the Soviets.

On the one hand the last gasp of the failed republic, and on the other the rising tide of the Nazi sea. “Anyone who did not accept Hitler’s rule wasn’t just wiped out. It was pretended that he never was.” Howard K. Smith, a cub free-lance reporter (Smith went on to become a major television news anchor) developed a theory about how Americans and other foreigners tended to evolve in their thinking about Germany through four stages: • “At first glance, Germany was overwhelmingly attractive…Germany was clean, it was neat, a truly handsome land.”

• “During stage two the most noticeable characteristic of Nazi Germany was ‘uniforms and guns; the amazing extent to which Germany, even then, was prepared for war.’ Visitors were excited by what they observed.”

• During stage three we “began to grasp that what was happening was that young humans, millions of them, were being trained to act merely on reflexes.”

• Finally, the next level was characterized by “a strange stark terror,” as they realized that the Nazis were “a real, direct and imminent threat to the existence of a civilization….”

As Smith pointed out, some made the journey from stage one to stage four in a week. Some remained stuck at stage one or two. Still others made it to stage three, but never progressed from there.

The Nazis put up with the American journalists as long as there was a chance the U.S. could be kept out of the war. Four days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hitler declared war on the U.S. and all the journalists and diplomats who stayed were interned. It was five months before they were released and exchanged for German nationals similarly interned in America.

The many warnings issued by those not taken in by Hitler’s false promises of peace fell on deaf ears in much of isolationist America, and the fairly deep anti-Semitism in our State Department led to a passive disinterest in the fate of German Jewry.

Disinterest, no, it was more than that as an active effort to deny visas to even the reduced numbers of immigrants permitted

by American legislation was pervasive in United States embassies throughout Europe.

Writers and artists by the score whose

names became well known, such as John Gunther, Ben Hecht, Richard Hottelet, George F. Kennan, Sinclair Lewis, Edgar A. Mowrer, Robert Sherwood, Dorothy Thompson, and Thomas Wolfe were all part of the present and future glitterati whose books, memoirs, and correspondence enrich Nagorski’s fascinating reconstruction of Hitlerland.

—Hal Sacks is a retired Jewish communal worker who has reviewed books for Jewish News for more than 30 years.

Heavy theme The Sonderberg Case Elie Wiesel Translated from the French

by Catherine Temerson Alfred A. Knoff, 2010 178 pages, $25

Rabbi Zoberman

With more than 50 books to his illustrious credit, Elie Wiesel, who prefers to write in French and have his work translated, continues to bless us at age 84 with his multiple pursuits. Indeed, if anyone deserves to be known as “Our Teacher and Rabbi,” it is this humble yet honored survivor. He emerged from the “kingdom of the night” resolved to help save humanity, struggling with his shaken faith in his early classic Night, and contending with his brethren’s fate in Soviet captivity in Jews of Silence, ever faithful to his Jewish moorings and their universality.

Wiesel, a 1986 Nobel Peace Laureate— he should receive one for literature, too—is on the very short list of those who serve as humanity’s conscience. He courageously speaks for human rights in addition to his “Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanities,” and academic work at Boston University.

Wiesel is a recipient of the United States Congressional Gold Medal, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is the founding chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Museum Council, among other prestigious honors. He is a humanitarian ambassador par excellence.

Wiesel’s The Sonderberg Case, is a suspenseful Holocaust-related novel, testimony to his unique being at home both in the vineyard of Jewish knowledge, as well as general philosophy and literature with the traditional Jewish penchant of responding to questions with questions, while spreading nuggets of humanizing wisdom.

The book’s protagonist, New Yorker Yedidyah (“God’s friend”), gives up a career on stage for one as a theater critic, teaching that words count more than theatrical acts

in a Jewish context, for “man is a book.”

Wiesel himself was a journalist in Paris following World War II. Assigned by his editor to cover a trial of 24-year-old Werner Sonderberg, a German student at New York University who is charged with murdering his uncle Hans Dunkelman, Yedidyah ponders Werner’s seemingly contradictory response of “Guilty…and not Guilty.”

Hans, who is really Werner’s grandpa, is an unrepentant ex-Nazi officer of the notorious Einsatzgruppen, boasting to Werner of his murderous record and only regretting that Hitler lost the war with hope of yet a future victory.

Werner confronts his grandpa prior to Hans’ apparent suicide, for depriving him and all German youth of normalcy by condemning them to eternal guilt. “Because of you, all of you, though we were born after the atrocities, we feel guilty. Because of you, my joy will never be unmitigated.”

Yedidiyah’s intersecting drama concerns his liberating discovery that he was born in Poland to parents who gave him away for temporary safekeeping to their housekeeper Maria. His birth parents perished in the Holocaust and Maria, a loving and righteous Gentile returned him to the Jewish people. Not all Poles returned Jewish babies. Yididiyah’s lingering pain of an incomplete past now resolved meets Werner’s pain for which, however, there may be no remedy, though both were victimized by the same evil forces of, in Wiesel’s language, “the great turmoil.”

The author applies the Holocaust’s lessons of guilt and responsibility, healing and hope, to the tragic conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, trying to acknowledge all sides while seeking to protect the “other,” that both have suffered from. He probingly reflects on the opposite poles and messages of Auschwitz and Jerusalem, reminding us that all that we do bears moral consequence affecting human lives deserving of tender treatment.

Tackling heavy-duty themes along with light ones in an enchanting framework of skillful interplay, Wiesel eases the burden of memory without diluting its sacred essence. Encompassing much, which is our gain but a literary risk, the author succeeds to connect three pivotal countries in three continents in a delicate balance.

The Sonderberg Case will long echo in a rewarded reader.

—Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chaverim.

jewishnewsva.org | May 6, 2013 | Jewish News | 19

what’s happening Israel Today Forum features Middle East peace expert just back from Israel Thursday, May 23, 7 pm

by Laine Mednick Rutherford

I

nformation “hot off the press” is how David Makovsky characterizes what he’ll be discussing at the third and final Israel Today forum at the Simon Family JCC on the Sandler David Makovsky Family Campus in Virginia Beach.

Makovsky is flying to Virginia Beach directly from a conference in the Middle East where he is an invited speaker on the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian twostate solution. Not long after landing in Tidewater, Makovsky will make the rounds of community, educational and media institutions, sharing his thoughts and observations about a variety of subjects concerning Israel, Palestine, Iran, Syria, and current events in the Middle East.

In a program that is free and open to the community, Makovsky will focus his discussion on those topics, with an emphasis on leadership in the troubled region, and the United States as it relates to Israel.

The Israel Today Forum and Makovsky’s appearances in the area are presented by the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, community supporters and all area synagogues and Jewish agencies.

An in-demand speaker and commentator (our phone interview was interrupted by a request for a comment in a New York Times op-ed), Makovsky is the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and director of their Project on the Middle East Peace Process.

“We are fortunate to have a speaker of Mr. Makovsky’s caliber and experience speak about leadership and current events going on right now in Israel and the region, and especially fortunate to have him visit directly after returning from Israel and the Middle East,” says Miriam Seeherman,

chairman of the CRC. “He has his finger on the pulse of the conflict, he’s extremely well-informed on important and topical issues, and he can fill us in with first-hand accounts and observations that are hard for us to get otherwise.”

Before joining The Washington Institute, from 1989 to 2000, Makovsky was an award-winning journalist who covered the peace process in Israel. A former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post, Makovsky was also diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s leading daily, Haaretz. He worked as a contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report, and for 11 years was its special Jerusalem correspondent.

A distinguished recipient of the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award, Makovsky continues to write, authoring numerous Washington Institute monographs and essays on issues related to the Middle East Peace Process and the ArabIsraeli conflict. In 2009, he co-wrote with Dennis Ross The Washington Post bestseller Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.

In his extensive coverage and travels throughout the Middle East over the years, Makovsky has met with many leaders, enabling him to sketch fascinating portraits of them and to clearly explain their influence in shaping the past, present and future of Israel and its tenuous relations with its neighbors.

“I think that this region has changed so much in the past few years, that we have to never say never when it comes to negotiating,” Makovsky says. “I think it’s unclear to me that we’re going to get a grand bargain or deal at this time because there are very difficult issues out there right now, but just because we aren’t able to solve everything doesn’t mean that we should do nothing.”

To RSVP, contact jjohnson@ujft.org. For more details, or more information about the Community Relations Council, visit www.jewishva.org/crc.

Camp Scholarships available for Camp JCC The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and the Simon Family JCC have partnered to guarantee that no Jewish child in Tidewater will be denied a Jewish camp experience.

Scholarship funds to attend Camp JCC at the Simon Family J are available for any Jewish children whose family meets the criteria for receiving financial aid to camp.

In order to receive a scholarship, families need to complete both a registration form for Camp JCC and a Financial Aid Request form. Both forms are available online at CampJCC.org or through the Customer Service desk of the Simon Family JCC.

20 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

Ohef Sholom is Off to the Races Saturday, June 8, 6 pm

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hef Sholom Temple’s Annual FUNdraiser, formerly known as Casino Night, will be Night at the Races, and it promises to be fun-packed.

As guests enter the temple, red velvet ropes will separate them from the “thoroughbreds” who will race later in the evening. Gourmet hors d’oeuvres and an open bar in Simon Grand Hall, along with some amazing prizes in the silent auction, will get the evening started. Ryan the Balloon Guy and Jonathan Austin, magician, will provide ongoing entertainment throughout the evening. Slot machines will also line the hallway for “gambling” pleasure. And playing on the big screen will be the real Belmont Stakes live from New York.

A hat contest in several categories will take place so plan to be super-glam with a welldecorated chapeau.

Dinner, catered by local restaurants including Bite and No Frill Grill, will be served in Kaufman Hall. The food is always delicious and by 7:30 pm, the black jack and craps tables will be open. New this year will be “horse racing” where bets can

be placed in each of six races and win more prizes. The horses will be sponsored by members of the temple and general community. The races will be called by the disc jockey (pun intended!) from General Dynamic Entertainment. The major auction will take place at about 9 pm. Prizes range from the use of a beachfront home for a week, to artwork, jewelry, a weekend in Washington D.C. and more. And finally, in case all of this is not enough excitement, the 50/50 raffle winner will be announced.

50/50 tickets are being sold by all OST board members. They are $100 each and the winner will take home up to $19,950— a great return on the investment. Get mah jongg game members or knitting clubs or golf foursomes to split the $100 cost and still get a great return.

Tickets for the evening are $75 per person until June 1, after which they are $95. The ticket includes food, open bar, dinner, dancing, games and the most fun of the year.

Call the Temple office at 757-625-4295 or go to www.ohefsholom.org.

Jewish Family Service offers free two-part series for Adults with ADD and AD/HD Tuesday, May 28, and Tuesday, June 11, 6:30-7:30 pm

H

ave you have ever felt that you were capable of so much more? When you hear the words lazy, crazy or stupid, do you believe they apply to you? Do you know what needs to be done, but just can’t focus enough to do it?

If this sounds familiar, join Mindy Schwartz Katz M.S., ACC, a Life Coach specializing in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders, in partnership with Jewish Family Service of Tidewater for two free educational meetings to learn how to work with an AD/HD brain and stop fighting with it.

Approximately 4.5 percent of adults have AD/HD and only 11 percent are receiving treatment. You probably know some adults who may be struggling with AD/HD. There is so much misinformation about AD/HD and its effects on adults, creating a stigma for anyone who may be struggling with this neurological challenge.

These sessions will provide helpful information, tools and techniques.

Meetings will take place at JFS, 260 Grayson Rd., Virginia Beach. Call or e-mail to reserve a place: 459-4640 or Counseling@jfshamptonroads.org.

Tuesday, May 28, 6:30-7:30 pm Adult AD/HD 101 Learn the basics of how AD/HD may affect you as an adult and some basic tools for making life easier at home and in the workplace.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30-7:30 pm Organization & the AD/HD Brain Becoming aware of how your brain

works and sorts information is the first step to finding a system that works.

If Martha Stewart doesn’t live in your house, you may need to find your own unique solutions for your brain.

what’s happening Academy Award nominated film The Gatekeepers to show at Naro Begins May 10

by Professor Amos N. Guiora

T

he movie, The Gatekeepers raises profound moral questions through the lens of six retired heads of Israel’s security agency, Israel Security Agency (ISA). It is a powerful, compelling and Amos N. Guiora important movie. While I am neither a moviegoer or movie critic, this movie is a “must see.” It compellingly and honestly addresses how civil democratic society confronts terrorism and the limits of counterterrorism.

What makes the movie unique is the candid reflection of the six former heads; all understand the use of force, all exercised significant state power. Precisely for that reason, the consensus—but not unanimous—opinion they articulate regarding the need to negotiate with the Palestinian’s

is of particular importance. These are not political “lefties,” hailing from the peace camp blind to Palestinian terrorism and the price it has exacted on Israeli society.

Neither do the heads represent an extreme right-wing perspective that Israel is always the victim of Palestinian terrorism. The movie is far more nuanced than that; the situation and opinions are far more complicated than a simple “correct-incorrect,” “right-left” perspective.

Critics have suggested the movie is “bad” for Israel public relations (hasbara); criticism has come from the political left and right alike, whether in the U.S. or in Israel.

The “left” is critical of the movie because it portrays Israel as engaging in unlimited use of force in response to Palestinian terrorism; the right criticizes the movie for portraying Israel’s security heads as apologizing for the use of force. Both badly miss the point.

My conversations with one of the retired heads made clear the point of the movie: there is no alternative but to engage the Palestinians in direct negotiations because the impact of the use of force is, ultimately,

Dancing with the Stars at Temple Israel Sunday, May 19, 5:45 pm

H

arry and Sue Cohen stepped onto the dance floor as strangers at the Candlelight Supper Club near Ocean View one fateful evening in 1955. Mutual friends suggested they fast dance together. But the bebop stopped. Harry took Sue into his arms for a slow dance and recognized, “This is the one.” With 58 years moving through life together, they will have a clear advantage competing at Temple Israel’s fundraiser “Dancing with the Temple Stars.”

The gala evening will begin with hors d’oeuvres followed by dinner and dancing to the strains of the Hotel Paradise Roof Garden Orchestra, led by Lynn Summerall.

Jazz crooner Becky Livas will provide solos.

The event has been under the guidance of Susan Eilberg, Temple Israel fundraising vice president. Decorations will be by Laure Saunders and the menu is being planned by locavore advocate Cheryl Dronzek.

To add pizzazz to the dinner dance, the dance competition will be an after-dinner feature. The brave couples that volunteered to compete include a few other experienced dancers. Larry and Darva Gruber rock like

teenagers—little hinting that they’ve raised twin sons who are now in the army (one in Afghanistan). For those less experienced, weekly dance lessons have helped couples like Temple president Phil Walzer and his wife Mary Ann, and past-president Beverlee Peters and husband Cantor Larry Tiger. A dance club and future dances may rise from this seminal experience. William Wade (once in a mod-dance group in college) is now partnering his sister Milcah, who claims no dance experience but moves with the rhythm of a family of musicians. Temple education director Kathryn Morton learned the jitterbug down the street at Suburban Park School where Wednesday classes cost 25 cents when the new hits were by Elvis.

Steve Legum, her dance partner, spent his youth mastering other sports, winning the Virginia high school tennis championship.

Now in classes at the Norfolk Y, he has been mastering a different kind of “swing.”

Tickets for the gala evening are on sale at Temple Israel. Those present will vote to select the Stars. Extra vote vouchers will be on sale at the dance.

limited. That is reflective neither of weakness (the right’s criticism) nor war mongering (the left’s criticism). It is, more than anything else, indicative of sobering real-politick predicated on thoughtful reflection by those uniquely positioned to do so.

Re-articulated: the movie accentuates an extraordinary paradox that is, in many ways, the essence of Israel’s reality. As former Prime Minister Rabin, assassinated by a Jewish terrorist, repeatedly said, “we will fight for peace like there is no terrorism and fight terrorism like there is no peace.”

Rabin’s statement, made in the aftermath of the signing of the Oslo Accords and in the face of a series of highly successful suicide bombings in Israel, reflected the “yin-yang” that is Israel’s existential dilemma.

The six heads, in referring to Palestinian terrorism, highlight the reality confronting Israel today. The reality, particularly as expressed by Ya’kov Per’i, Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter and Yu’val Diskin is crystal clear: there is no choice but to negotiate with the Palestinians. Emphasizing the powerful words of Per’i, Ayalon, Dichter and Diskin is not intended to diminish the reflections of Avraham Shalom and Carmi Gillon; rather it highlights the four whose words are the movie’s essence. To remind: Shalom was forced to resign for his role in the Bus 300 scandal and left Israel shortly thereafter; Gillon, the head when Rabin was assassinated, was forced to resign in its aftermath.

What is it, then, that makes this movie both “so Israeli” and so “must see”? It is the clear-eyed, devoid of pathos, straightshooting (dugri, in colloquial Hebrew)

sabri (native born Israeli) analysis of reality. There is no “political correctness,” no apology, no weakness, and no “mea culpa” in this movie. At the end of the day, what makes the movie so compelling is the unflinching toughness of tough-minded people who authorized killing Palestinian terrorists. The heads harbor no regret for their actions; their words are intended as a powerful clarion call: we cannot continue like this, we must directly negotiate with the Palestinians.

In my conversation with one of the heads, I asked him if the movie had an audience of one, PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

While not rejecting my analysis he, correctly, noted, “even if Bibi does not see the movie, others would.” As Netanyahu’s third government takes the reins of power, it can but be hoped that the rational voices of the heads will be heard. Their straight and direct talk regarding the limits of power is compelling and powerful, making this an extraordinarily important movie.

—Amos Guiora is a Professor of Law, SJ Quinney College of Law, University of Utah. He is the author of numerous books dealing with military law and national security including Legitimate Target: A Criteria-Based Approach to Targeted Killing (Oxford University Press, forthcoming April 2013). Guiora served for 19 years in the Israel Defense Forces, LT. COL. (retired); from 1994-1999 he was directly involved in the implementation of the Oslo Peace Process. Guiora was the first speaker in the 2012-2013 Israel Today Series in Tidewater.

May is Older Americans Month Monday, May 20 at Simon Family JCC

S

ince 1963, May has been a month to appreciate and celebrate the vitality and aspirations of older adults and their contributions.

The theme for Older Americans Month 2013 is “Unleash the Power of Age,” and it has never been more fitting. Older Americans are productive, active, and influential, sharing essential talents, wisdom, and life experience with their families, friends and neighbors.

While the Simon Family JCC provides services, support, and resources to older adults year-round, Older Americans Month is a great opportunity to show special

appreciation. The JCC will continue to provide opportunities for older adults to come together and share their experiences with one another as well as those of other generations.

On Monday, May 20, the Simon Family JCC will honor senior adults who attend fitness classes, water aerobics or games, between 9 am and 12 noon by giving them a token gift.

For more information about senior adult programs at the Simon Family JCC, contact Sherry Lieberman at 321-2309 or slieberman@simonfamilyj.org.

jewishnewsva.org | May 6, 2013 | Jewish News | 21

Mazel Tov

calendar

Achievement Rabbi Israel Zoberman of Congregation Beth Chaverim on his appointment by the Virginia Beach City Council to serve on the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission.

It is the first time a rabbi will serve on this commission.

Birth Leslie and Jay Legum on the birth of their grandson, Noah Michael Legum, son of Ken Legum and Laura Kabel, brother of Benjamin William and Jacob Alexander, grandson of Alanna and Will Kabel of Bridgeport Conn.

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.

Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chaverim, with Admiral Alexander, Commander Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, in his headquarters at the Norfolk Naval Base. Rabbi Zoberman spoke at the Holocaust Commemoration. The son of Polish Holocaust survivors, Zoberman was born in Kazakhstan in 1945, spent his early childhood in Poland and Austria, and from 1947 until 1949 in Germany’s Wetzlar Displaced Persons Camp in the American Zone of occupation.

The community is invited to attend the

2013 Biennial Meeting of the

T hr o u g h M ay 10, F rid ay Jewish Family Service’s Week of Healthy Living . Call 321-2222 or go to jfshamptonroads.org.

M ay 11, S at urd ay Baritone David Krohn , p e r f o r m s a t t h e S i m o n F a m il y J C C, 8 p m. H e w ill b e a c c o m p a n i e d b y C h u c k Wo o d w a r d, o n t h e p ia n o. V isi t si m o n f a m il y j. o r g o r c a ll 3 21- 2 3 3 8 f o r t i c k e t s.

M AY 19, SUNDAY Brith Sholom w ill h a v e a n o u t i n g t o t h e J e w is h M u s e u m o n E f f i n g h a m S t r e e t i n P o r t s m o u t h, 2 – 4:4 5 p m. T h e g r o u p w ill h a v e a t o u r a n d a m o v i e w i t h c o m m e n t a r y b y R a b b i A r t h u r S t e i n b e r g. N o c h a r g e.

F o ll o w i n g t h e m u s e u m, t h e g r o u p w ill g o t o B e t h S h o l o m H o m e f o r di n n e r a t 5:3 0 p m. T h e b u f f e t w ill i n c l u d e s a la d, b r is k e t , c h i c k e n m a r s a la, a s p a r a g u s, r o a s t e d p o t a t o e s, b r e a d p u d d i n g a n d d r i n k s. C o s t is $10 f o r m e m b e r s a n d $ 2 0 f o r g u e s t s.

R e s e r v a t i o n s a n d c h e c k s m u s t b e i n t o D a l e b y M a y 13. F o r f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n, c a ll D a l e a t 4 61-115 0.

M ay 20, M o nd ay Older Americans Month c e l e b r a t e d a t S i m o n F a m il y J C C. S e e p a g e 21.

M ay 28, T ue s d ay Adult AD/HD 101 L e a r n t h e b a si c s o f h o w A D / H D m a y a f f e c t y o u a s a n a d u l t a n d s o m e b a si c t o o ls f o r m a k i n g li f e e a si e r a t h o m e a n d i n t h e w o r k p la c e. S p o n s o r e d b y J e w is h F a m il y S e r v i c e. 6:3 0 –7:3 0 p m. C a ll o r e - m a il t o r e s e r v e a p la c e: 75 7- 4 5 9 - 4 6 4 0 o r C o u n s e li n g @ j f s h a m p t o n r o a d s.o r g. S e e p a g e 2 0.

M AY 22, WED NESDAY The JCC Seniors Club a t t h e S i m o n F a m il y J C C. B o a r d m e e t i n g a t 10:3 0 a m. C a t e r e d l u n c h a t 12 p m. P r o g r a m w ill b e a H a w a iia n g r o u p o f h u la d a n c e r s l e d b y J o J o C a ll e s. L u n c h w ill b e f r e e t o a ll c l u b m e m b e r s. G u e s t a n d n o n - m e m b e r s c o s t , $ 7 f o r l u n c h. C a ll M a r il y n M o r a n h a a t 4 2 6 -74 2 3 f o r r e s e r v a t i o n s. D r e s s i n a H a w a iia n s h i r t o r a n y isla n d c l o t h i n g t o h e lp g e t i n t h e m o o d.

M ay 23, T hur s d ay •New Date• Israel Today with David Makovsky p r e s e n t e d b y t h e C o m m u n i t y R e la t i o n s c o u n c il a n d c o m m u n i t y p a r t n e r s. V isi t J e w is hVa. o r g / C R C f o r m o r e d e t a ils o r c o n t a c t R o b i n M a n c o ll, o r, C o m m u n i t y R e la t i o n s C o u n c il D i r e c t o r a t R M a n c o ll @ u j f t .o r g. S e e p a g e 2 0.

Monday, June 3, 2013 | 6 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus of the Tidewater Jewish Community 5000 Corporate Woods Dr | Virginia Beach

Send submissions for calendar to news@ujf t.org. Be sure to note “calendar” in the subject. Include date, event name, sponsor, address, time, cost and phone.

Nomination and election of new UJFT President Miles Leon

Recognition of outgoing President Alvin Wall

Acknowledgement of new and retiring leadership Presentation of Special Community Awards

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Kosher Hors d’Oeuvres | Cocktail Reception RSVP to 965-6131 For information, visit StockleyGardens.com. All proceeds benefit the Hope House Foundation. www.Hope-House.org

22 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

Who Knew ?

Neil Diamond rocks Boston After a horrible week in their city, one Bostonians surely want to forget, singer Neil Diamond brought them a memorable moment.

Diamond came to Fenway Park on Saturday, April 20 when the Red Sox played their first home game following the Boston Marathon bombing five days earlier. It was also less than a day after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the bombing, was captured.

In the eighth inning, Diamond came on the field to perform his Sweet Caroline,which since the early 2000s has been sung at least once a game by the Fenway faithful to a Diamond recording.

According to MLB.com’s Jason Mastrodonato, Diamond decided to fly to Boston from Los Angeles on Friday night and arrived an hour before the afternoon game. Then he called the people at Fenway and said, “Hey, I’m here. Can I come sing?”

Of course, he put on a great show, and everyone sang along with the “pa pa pa!” part.

A night after the marathon bombing, the rival New York Yankees had played Sweet Caroline, without Diamond, when they squared off against the Sox at Yankee Stadium. (JTA)

Adele and Babs’ new friendship Looks like Adele has finally found someone like…Jew. Hehe. (Couldn’t resist—apologies.)

Anyway, according to The Sun, ever since meeting Barbra Streisand at the Oscars in February, the two singing superstars have developed a nice little friendship.

Adele stopped over for dinner before the awards ceremony, where the dishes prepared by Babs’ health-oriented chef left a big impression on the English Grammy and Oscar winner.

Apparently they’ve kept up the relationship, emailing and chatting by phone about recipes.

A match made in heaven, it seems. So could there be a cookbook in the works?

Anything’s possible, but a more likely product of the pairing is a duet.

According to The Sun, Streisand already has tossed around the idea with friends— and she says she has song ideas, too.

We are looking forward to the collaboration and are thrilled that Adele’s experience with Jewish women over 65 isn’t limited to Joan Rivers. (JTA)

Jack Black’s lengthy pursuit We usually associate Jack Black with the funny, everyman rocker type, but apparently he has a shy, soft side.

In an interview with The Sun for a “What I wish I’d known at 18,” Black revealed that it took him 15 years before he asked out Tanya Haden, now his wife.

“I wish I’d had more courage to ask [her] out,” Black said. “We met at school at 18—and I wasted 15 years waiting for my chance.

“She was everything I could wish for.

Talented, beautiful and a wonderful performer on stage. We first worked together on a student film, but we did not date.”

The couple have two sons—Samuel, 6, and Thomas, 4.

Nevertheless, Black also affirmed that despite being a hopeless romantic, he was still a pretty rebellious pothead.

“I also met Kyle Grass, my partner from Tenacious D, at around 18. I would go to his apartment and he would give me guitar lessons in exchange for a cheeseburger. We played a lot of guitar and fantasized about becoming rock stars. We eventually made our fantasies come true.” (JTA)

Ebert apologized to Stiller During a Tribeca Film Festival panel, Ben Stiller talked about an interesting moment he had with the late film critic Roger Ebert.

Apparently, Ebert’s review of Stiller’s Zoolander in late September 2001 was pretty harsh. Well, really harsh.

“There have been articles lately asking why the United States is so hated in some parts of the world. As this week’s Exhibit A from Hollywood, I offer Zoolander, a comedy about a plot to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia because of his opposition to child labor,” Ebert wrote. “You might want to read that sentence twice.

The logic: Child labor is necessary to the economic health of the fashion industry, and so its opponents must be eliminated.”

A few years later, the two would meet.

“To his credit,” Stiller recalls, “I ran into him like five or six years later backstage at The Tonight Show, and he said, “Hey, I just want to apologize to you. I wrote that about Zoolander, and I [now] think it’s really funny. Everything was a little crazy [back then]. It was Sept. 11 and I went overboard.” I said, “Thanks for telling me backstage at The Tonight Show.”

Stiller is working on a sequel for the popular male modeling film. (JTA)

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SHAVUOT FEATURE

Celebrate Shavuot with the best of the spring season

by Helen Nash

NEW YORK (JTA)—With its tradition of dairy meals, Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Arriving later in the spring—an ideal time to find delicious fruits, herbs and vegetables—it’s perfect for using fresh and seasonal ingredients.

The four dishes I have selected for a Shavuot menu not only are perfect for dinner or lunch, they also reflect my philosophy on eating well: good planning, portion control and nutrition. Each dish can be prepared in advance, is not too difficult to make and doesn’t require many ingredients. And the ingredients are readily available.

I love to start holiday meals with soup. Green Pea and Zucchini Soup can be served at room temperature, which is nice if the weather is warm. It also freezes well.

Makes 6 servings

For the main course, Ziti With Herbs and Mozarella has a lovely combination of herbs and cheese. And in late spring and summer, there is an abundance of fresh basil, parsley and arugula, all of which add wonderful flavor to the dish.

For my fish, the tasty Seared Tuna With Two Sauces also can be served at room temperature.

Finally, instead of the obligatory highly caloric cream cheese-based cheesecake, try Ricotta Flan with Raspberry Sauce. The ricotta and almonds make the cake much lighter (and healthier) than a traditional cheesecake, and it can be served warm, cold or at room temperature. Feel free to add fresh raspberries.

The recipes below are from Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine (Overlook Press).

ZITI WITH HERBS AND MOZZARELLA Makes 6 appetizer servings or 4 main-course servings

Ingredients 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled 2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves 1 cup tightly packed flat-leaf parsley 1 cup loosely packed arugula leaves 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ½ pound fresh mozzarella ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper Kosher salt 1 pound imported ziti 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice Freshly ground black pepper Preparation Wrap the garlic cloves in foil and bake in a toaster oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until soft. Cool.

Peel the cloves and place them in a food processor along with the basil, parsley, and arugula. Adding the oil in a stream through the feed tube, pulse until semicoarse.

Transfer to a large bowl.

Cut the mozzarella into ½-inch cubes.

Add the cheese, along with the crushed pepper, to the herb mixture and combine.

Bring 5 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add 2 tablespoons salt.

Add all the ziti at once and stir. Boil briskly, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, until the pasta is al dente.

Drain in a colander, refresh with cold water, and drain well again.

Add the ziti to the herb and mozzarella mixture and combine.

Season to taste with the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

24 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

SEARED TUNA WITH TWO SAUCES Tuna is surely one of America’s favorite fish, and it lends itself to many types of preparation, from sashimi to “tuna-fish” sandwiches. This dish follows calls for the fish to be almost raw; it can be accompanied with one of the Asian-inspired sauces, Ginger or Piquant Asian.

Ingredients 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 2 pounds sashimi-quality tuna 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil Julienned daikon, sliced seeded cucumbers, and strong-tasting salad leaves like arugula or watercress, for garnish Ginger Sauce or Piquant Asia Sauce, to serve Preparation Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Pat the tuna dry with paper towels. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sear the tuna on both sides, then remove from the heat and rub both sides with the salt-pepper mixture.

When cool, wrap the tuna tightly in wax paper, then in foil.

Refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or overnight.

This will make it firmer and thus easier to slice.

To serve: Cut the fish against the grain in thin slices and serve accompanied by the suggested vegetables.

Serve either of the sauces separately.

PIQUANT ASIAN SAUCE Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients ¼ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves 2 teaspoons wasabi powder 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil ¼ teaspoon powdered mustard 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice ½ cup shelled soybeans (edamame), defrosted (see note) ½ cup vegetable broth Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Preparation Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a medium-mesh strainer. Season to taste.

Note: Frozen edamame, shelled and unshelled, is available in health-food stores and supermarkets.

GINGER SAUCE Makes about ½ cup

Ingredients 2 shallots, finely chopped 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 2½ tablespoons rice vinegar 2 teaspoons water ½ teaspoon sugar 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated 1 generous tablespoon olive oil 1 generous tablespoon sesame oil ½ teaspoon black pepper Preparation Combine the ingredients well and season to taste.

obituaries Berniece C. Pilzer Portsmouth–Berniece Crockin Pilzer passed away Saturday, April 20, 2013 at the age of 97.

A native of Norfolk, she was the daughter of Ida Beskin Crockin and Jacob Crockin, who had served on the Norfolk City Council for 12 years until his death in 1924. The fourth born of six children, Mrs. Pilzer was the last survivor.

After her marriage in 1935 to her beloved husband, Syndey J. Pilzer, who passed away in 1980, Mrs. Pilzer moved to Portsmouth, became part of the family business, and became an active volunteer for many causes dear to her heart.

An inspired leader, fund raiser, and public speaker, she devoted considerable energy to Gomley Chesed Congregation, for which she chaired the centennial celebration of its founding. She served as a member of its board of directors and was honored by being named a lifetime member.

She was also president of the Sisterhood, a creative writer and choreographer. She wrote, produced, and directed several successful min-musicals to the delight of the members of the congregation.

Mrs. Pilzer also found time to be active in the United Jewish Federation, chaired the Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal, was a life member of Hadassah, and supported other causes within the Jewish community to which she was devoted.

She was also a member of the UJFT Allocations Committee following the merging of the United Jewish Federation of Portsmouth with the United Jewish Federation of Norfolk and Virginia Beach in 1980.

An astute businesswoman, she became president of the family business, Pilzer’s Department Store, where she worked along with her husband from the time of their marriage until their retirement in 1975.

Retirement did not slow her down; she continued to be an active participant in the community. She was especially proud of the exercise program she developed and led for several years starting when she was 75 years of age.

Her proudest achievement was being a loving mother of her three children, Deanna Miller and husband Gordon, Emily Markiewicz and husband Ron; and a son, Jay Pilzer.

She was the cherished grandmother of Harrison Miller and wife Yuka, Evan Miller and wife Karen, Seth Frankel, of blessed memory, and Christina, Caitlin Rowe and husband Dave, Joshua Pilzer and wife Yukiko and Ethan Pilzer.

She felt blessed by her great grandchildren, Aliceanna Miller, Kasumi and Yosuke Oda, Abigail and Maile Frankel, Ellie Rowe and Albert Miller.

She enjoyed a loving relationship with her companion, Harry Kocen, of blessed memory, and was grateful for the welcoming support of his family.

Others within Mrs. Pilzer’s family are sister-in-law Lois Garner and husband Bernard, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and their families.

Mrs. Pilzer will be remembered for her gracious manner, her friendly smile, her generous heart, creative talent, sincere friendship, alert mind, impeccable style and the doer of good deeds. She will be missed and loved by all who knew her.

A funeral service was held at Gomley Chesed Congregation by Rabbi David Goldstein. Burial followed in Gomley Chesed Cemetery.

Contributions to the Bernice and Sydney J. Pilzer Endowment Fund of Gomley Chesed Congregation. www.

SturtevantFuneralHome.com.

groups, including Beit Kay in Israel, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the American Technion Society and Birthright Israel.

He also helped fund the Abraham S. and Jack Kay Chair in Israel Studies at the University of Maryland, the Jack and Ina Kay Hospice at Hadassah Hospital and the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University.

Kay began working with his father and went on to become chairman of Kay Management Co. Inc., of Silver Spring, Md. He helped found the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.

Philanthropist Jack Kay of Florida WASHINGTON (JTA)—Jack Kay, a longtime contributor to numerous Jewish causes in the United States and in Israel, has died.

Kay, who gave a million dollars to Israel’s Magen David Adom and to the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Palm Beach Gardens for its early childhood center, died April 21 at the age of 87.

“He was one of those types who gave very broadly. I think he had a real sense of how everything was interconnected in the community,” said Laura Applebaum, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington.

Learning about charity and community from his parents, Kay gave to numerous

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scene

Tikkun Tidewater Recycling Day at the J helps repair the world

Families enjoy lively Shabbat celebration

article and photos by Laine Mednick Rutherford

photos by Laine Mednick Rutherford

T

T

he Tidewater community showed its commitment to the Jewish practice of tikkun olam—repairing the world—at the 2nd Annual Tikkun Tidewater Community Recycling Day. Held on April 14 in the parking lot of the Simon Family Jewish Community Center at the Sandler Family Campus, the annual event recycles items that may be difficult or dangerous to dispose of, including computers, printers, cameras, phones, and outdated or unwanted medicine.

There was no reason to schlep the recyclables stuff in and out of the car; dozens of volunteers unloaded it in this organized, unique, drive-thru event.

Tikkun Tidewater was organized by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Community Relations Council and Young Adult Division, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, Tidewater Jewish Foundation, Congregation Beth El Mitzvah Corps, and BBYO—in a project of J-SERVE. Community partners included Goodwill International and the Virginia Beach Police Department, which oversaw the collection and proper disposal of computer equipment and medication, respectively.

In addition to recycling, Tikkun Tidewater also collected a variety of usable items such as professional clothing, shoes and purses for women returning to work, distributed through Dress for Success, and prescription eyeglasses for JFS. 2nd Annual Tikkun Tidewater’s tally: • More than 70 volunteers participated • 158 cars were unloaded • 8,054 pounds of computers and peripherals were collected by Goodwill • 76 pounds of pharmaceuticals were collected by the VBPD • 72 pairs of eyeglasses

Sharon Wilbanks, Amy Parker, Cheryl Rochester and Randy Jennings, of Goodwill International, with Simon.

• Four times as many donations for Dress for Success than last year • 1 hearing aid.

To see more photos from this event, “Like” JewishNewsVa on Facebook.

Mallory and Beth Gerstein hang donated clothes for Dress for Success.

he hour before Shabbat is typically a quiet one at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center at the Sandler Family Campus.

That wasn’t the case on April 12. Young children and their families prayed, sang, ran, ate, laughed, crafted and ran some more—at a Family Shabbat dinner presented by the Young Adult Division of the Chloe Zuckerman and Ava Leibovici.

United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

Approximately 40 people, including YAD committee members and others from the community, enjoyed a kid-friendly kosher dinner, the opportunity, to craft candlestick holders, time to meet, mingle and catch up with one another, and the use of the gym for children’s activities.

YAD holds several family Shabbat celebrations each year, for young Melissa Kass and Diana Smith lead Shabbat prayers.

Jewish professionals and others in the community. To find out more about YAD, upcoming events, and how to get involved, visit www.jewishva.org/yad.

To see more photos from this event, “Like” JewishNewsVa on Facebook.

Avi Cardon, Ethan Konikoff and Jonah Zuckerman.

Volunteers unloaded cars filled with an assortment of recyclables and donated goods.

Participants and partners in the 2nd Annual Tikkun Tidewater: BBYO Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, Community Relations Council, Virginia Beach Police Department, and Goodwill.

26 | Jewish News | May 6, 2013 | jewishnewsva.org

Noah Alper playing gym games.

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