A NEW BEGINNING

JEWISH LEDGER

| JUNE 11, 2021

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JEWISH LEDGER

| JUNE 11, 2021

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INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | JUNE 11, 2021 | 1 TAMMUZ 5781

4 KOLOT

12 Briefs

16 Milestones

17 Crossword

19 The Ledger Scoreboard

Mr. President..................................... 5 Isaac Herzog was elected on June 2 as president of Israel. Though largely ceremonial, the president does play a key role in deciding who gets the mandate to form a government following elections, as well as the power to pardon people and grant clemency.

Unfit to Print....................................10 A scathing front-page NY Times article featured photos of dozens of innocent Palestinian children killed in the recent Israel/Hamas conflict. Except, according to the Times’ own belated reporting, the story was short on the truth.

Open for Business.........................20 Attention CT Campers: The 2021 camp season won’t look anything like the 2020 season. Which is to say, camp will be back in the business of summer fun!

Campus News.................................... 6 The chancellor of Rutgers, New Jersey’s flagship public university, condemned antisemitism…then following protest from a pro-Palestinian student group, apologized for the condemnation.

An Accidental Hero.......................... 7 When Rashela Mizrahiwas was tapped to serve as Macedonia’s temporary minister of labor, she was simply acting as a placeholder ahead of elections. But what began as a token stint resulted in the country’s worst-ever wave of antisemitic rhetoric.

Arts & Entertainment...................18 The new documentary “Final Account,” is a collection of eyewitness testimonies of the Nazi regime from elderly Germans and Austrians who remember it (and, to various degrees, were part of it).

What’s Happening

23 Torah Portion

24 Obituaries

25 Business and Professional Directory

26 Classified

ON THE COVER:

Besides ending Bibi Netanyahu’s 12-year reign as prime minister, when they get sworn in later this month, Israel’s new government will break boundaries as it ushers in an unprecedented alliance of political right and left, as well as Jews and Arabs. Some things will change…and some things won’t. Will the government survive? Here’s what you need to know about Israel’s incoming government. Pictured on the cover are Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. PAGE 14 jewishledger.com

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JUNE 11, 2021

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KOLOT

A Legacy Lasts Forever

BY MELVIN SIMON

n the waning days of my presidency of The Emanuel Synagogue, I have often asked myself, what will be my legacy? I think about the gifts left for me and for us. My responsibility to nurture and enrich those gifts is on my mind. I think about my mother, who left me the most important legacy – a Jewish education. My mother, who passed when I was but a child, bequeathed her love of Judaism to me, imploring my father in her last days to provide a Jewish education for her three sons. It is to her that I have dedicated my volunteer efforts. My father taught me to support and love my family and left me an appreciation for music and humor. I have passed these gifts to my children in his honor. There have been other gifts; mentors who led me on a path of community service. Gifts from Jewish Hartford from its earliest days to now. To the leaders who came before us I say thank you for what you built and left for us – the wonderful synagogues and agencies and schools we all enjoy. There have been gifts of education, cultural arts and healthy living. The Jewish institutions we are fortunate to have – a kosher supermarket, Jewish theater, Jewish swim clubs and health clubs, camps and sacred spaces for study and prayer. What will be my impact on the world around me? What gifts will I pass on? Have I fulfilled my mother’s vision and my father’s charge? Have I impacted my community by insuring there will be a Jewish Hartford for those who follow? Will I leave the world a better place? I will leave this for others to judge, but I know that during my days as president of Emanuel I did not shy from the task. A legacy is a gift and a responsibility. It is a gift to be surrounded by a congregation and community which extols Jewish values; to have been to Jerusalem and prayed on the Temple Mount; to have a JCC where I could learn how to be a community leader; to have a Jewish Federation that inspired me to grow and collaborate; and a JTConnect where our children learned to ask questions about all things Jewish. My dear wife, Carrie, taught me each day, before passing away three years ago, to see the beauty in our world, to appreciate

miracles small and large, to live each day as if it were our last. She gave me the gift of unconditional love and joy, three amazing daughters, and a world view that holds family peace and good will above all other values. I am today inspired by her bravery, her love of life and by the teacher in her. I carry her legacy in my heart and am committed to pursuing her dreams by endowing art education for our youngsters. It is my responsibility not just to partake in these riches, but also to nurture those treasures, to help them grow and to sustain those gifts into the future. I do that by leading for today and tomorrow, by growing my synagogue, by giving tzedakah and repairing our world. I do that every day. But is this enough? What will I do to sustain this community when I am gone, for that too will be my legacy – to dwell in this house forever? As further act of my love for my synagogue, I am now chairing The Emanuel’s Life and Legacy initiative – a community-wide initiative to build endowments and secure our vibrant future through after-lifetime legacy gifts. Led by the Jewish Community Foundation, this effort includes 14 synagogues and agencies working together with our members and donors to ensure our children and grandchildren will experience the rich Jewish life we have been so fortunate to enjoy. I will certainly set aside a portion of my life’s bounty – to ensure that my synagogue and the other organizations I hold dear are sustained – in perpetuity. You could say I am present and counted for today and for tomorrow. That will be my legacy – as King David wrote 3,000 years ago – to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Melvin Simon is president of The Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford. He has also served as Board Chair for the Mandell JCC and President of JTConnect.

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| JUNE 11, 2021

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UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | JUNE 11, 2021 | 1 TAMMUZ 5781

Groups welcome Israel’s next president Herzog brings ‘deep understanding of world Jewry’ (JNS) Jewish leaders in the United States and elsewhere welcomed the election of Isaac Herzog as Israel’s next president, with most praising his deep understanding of the worldwide Jewish community. “I cannot think of a better or more able representative of the State of Israel and the people of Israel – Jews and Arabs, religious and secular,” said World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder. Noting Herzog’s family history–his father, Chaim Herzog, a general in the Israel Defense Forces, served as Israel’s sixth president; and his grandfather, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, served as the chief rabbi of Ireland, and later, following Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel – Lauder said that Herzog “brings to this new position the dignity and depth of a true statesman.” “Following on his distinguished service

as chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Isaac Herzog brings to the Israeli presidency a profound understanding of and appreciation for the mosaic that is world Jewry in its glory and diversity,” said Lauder. Herzog, 60, was elected by a secret ballot in the Israeli Knesset on June 2 with 87 votes of the body’s 120 members. He defeated Miriam Peretz, a social activist and former winner of the Israel Prize, who lost two sons in military combat. His sevenyear term will begin July 9, and he will replace Reuven Rivlin, a former right-wing lawmaker. The position is largely ceremonial; however, the president does play a key role in deciding who gets the mandate to form a government following elections, as well as the power to pardon people and grant clemency. Herzog, who will step down

from his role as head of the Jewish Agency, formerly served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party between 2003 and 2018, and opposition leader from 2013 to 2018. “It is with great pride that I congratulate the next president of Israel, our chairman of the executive Isaac Herzog,” said Michael Siegal, the Jewish Agency’s chairman of the board of governors. “His unwavering dedication to the Jewish people and to serving the State of Israel is an inspiration, and we will all undoubtedly continue to benefit from his leadership.” The American Jewish Committee congratulated Herzog on his election, noting his deep experience in understanding global Jewry. “We wish President-elect Isaac Herzog much success in fulfilling the duties of CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

NEWLY ELECTED ISRAELI PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG VISITS THE GRAVE OF HIS LATE FATHER, CHAIM HERZOG, AT MOUNT HERZL CEMETERY IN JERUSALEM, ON JUNE 2, 2021.

Two Bi-Cultural teens accepted into prestigious Yale research program

TAMFORD – Yehudit Hochman and Joshua Marcus, both juniors at Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy Upper School in Stamford, are among a select group of 50 high school students from across the country chosen to participate in Yale University’s prestigious 2021 Discovery to Cure Young Professionals Medical Conference. The week-long conference will be held virtually in June and takes the place of Yale’s annual in-person Discovery to Cure High School Internship Program, which was put on hold last summer owing to the COVID19 pandemic. The conference will provide the opportunity for rising high school seniors to meet and interact with a variety of doctors and researchers through Yale’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences in the hope that they will consider pursuing careers in the fields of science and medicine. “Bi-Cultural is the only school to have had every candidate we’ve fielded be accepted into the Yale Discovery to Cure program,” notes Bi-Cultural science teacher and college counselor Meghana Fernandez. According to Ms. Fernandez, it is also the first year that the school had two BCHA Upper School students submit applications to the summer program, instead of one. Prior to Yehudit Hochman and Joshua Marcus, five Bi-Cultural students have gone through the internship program in previous years, including last year’s recipient, Josh’s brother Ben Marcus, a recent BCHA Upper School graduate who will be attending Brown University after a year of study in Israel. Two of these students have had their work published; two were invited to continue their internship for the coming year; one was selected to do research at the Oceanic Research Institute; and one represented the University of Connecticut in

PHOTO BY NOAM REVKIN FENTON/FLASH90

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JUNE 11, 2021

CAMPUS NEWS RUTGERS UNIVERSITY’S CHANCELLOR CONDEMNED ANTISEMITISM – THEN APOLOGIZED FOR DOING SO BY BEN SALES

(JTA) – The chancellor of New Jersey’s flagship public university condemned antisemitism and then, following protest from a pro-Palestinian student group, apologized for the condemnation. On Wednesday, June 2, the chancellor of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Christopher J. Molloy, released a statement condemning antisemitism, which spiked across the country during and after the recent fighting in Israel and Gaza. The

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statement also condemned “all forms of bigotry, prejudice, discrimination, xenophobia, and oppression, in whatever ways they may be expressed” and told students who have been affected by antisemitism or discrimination to contact the university administration. “We are saddened by and greatly concerned about the sharp rise in hostile sentiments and antisemitic violence in the United States,” said the statement, which was also signed by Provost Francine Conway. “Recent incidents of hate directed toward Jewish members of our community again remind us of what history has to teach us.” The statement also mentioned “increasing violence between Israeli forces and Hamas in the Middle East leading to the deaths of children and adults and mass displacement of citizens in the Gaza region and the loss of lives in Israel.” The next day, the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine group released a lengthy statement condemning the chancellor’s

| JUNE 11, 2021

statement. SJP said the statement “conveniently ignores the extent to which Palestinians have been brutalized by Israel’s occupation and bombing of Gaza,” and “cannot be separated from widespread attempts to conflate antizionism with antisemitism and derail Palestinian voices and activism.” “The statement released by Chancellor Molloy and Provost Conway thus cannot be interpreted as anything other than a deflection from Rutgers University’s role in financially supporting the Israeli state, and thus its human rights abuses and occupation of Palestine, by direct or indirect means,” the SJP statement said. Later that day, Molloy and Conway released a second statement apologizing for the first, and promising to “make sure that our communications going forward are much more sensitive and balanced.” “In hindsight, it is clear to us that the message failed to communicate support for our Palestinian community members,” the apology said. “We sincerely apologize for

the hurt that this message has caused.” The apology did not satisfy SJP, though, which released a followup statement of its own. SJP said the chancellor’s initial condemnation of antisemitism “was unwarranted due to the absence of any publicly reported antisemitic incidents in the Rutgers New Brunswick community that had not already been addressed by the administration.” The second SJP statement also said that it demanded a condemnation of Israel’s actions, not of Islamophobia. “While the possibility remains that those martyred were of the Muslim faith, this does not serve as a prerogative for Chancellor Molloy and Provost Conway to address Islamophobia,” the statement said. “Israel’s occupation of Palestine is an egregious injustice which transcends religious conflict.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has reached out to Molloy for comment.

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RASHELA MIZRAHI SPEAKS TO A COLLEAGUE DURING A CABINET MEETING IN SKOPJE, NORTH MACEDONIA, JAN. 14, 2020.

JEWISH LIFE North Macedonia’s first Jewish lawmaker gets hit with antisemitism

(COURTESY OF THE PARLIAMENT OF NORTH MACEDONIA)

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

(JTA) – Politics was supposed to be a very brief interlude in Rashela Mizrahi’s career as a scientist. A 39-year-old Jewish fertility researcher from North Macedonia, she was appointed last year to serve for 100 days as the temporary minister of labor in her Balkan country, situated north of Greece. She was deemed a good nonpartisan pick to serve as a placeholder ahead of elections. “I had zero interest in politics,” Mizrahi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “But I thought it’d send a good message for women. Plus, like any Jewish daughter, I wanted to make my parents proud.” But what began as a token stint resulted in multiple diplomatic spats and the country’s worst-ever wave of public antisemitic rhetoric. Along the way, Mizrahi became an unlikely hero for many of her country’s conservatives and a fighter for preserving the memory of a Jewish community that the Nazis and their allies almost rendered extinct. It all started in February, she said, during a routine press conference that she gave at the labor ministry in the capital Skopje weeks after she became its temporary boss. “I talked unemployment, stimulus plans, welfare. The usual stuff,” she recalled. But in media reports, Mizrahi’s message was upstaged by the backdrop: A large wooden sign that read “the Republic of Macedonia.” This was an issue, because the previous year Macedonia had changed its name to North Macedonia due to pressure from its richer and larger neighbor, Greece. That country has long argued that its northern neighbor’s former name implied territorial claims to Greek’s northern province, which is also called Macedonia. The sign landed Mizrahi at the center of a polarizing debate between Macedonian hawks who see the 2020 name change as surrender to a foreign power, and doves who defended the change as a pragmatic gesture that opened the door for Macedonia to join NATO and in the future also the European Union. Mizrahi was not a member of any political party back then and said that she had no intention of making a political point at the press conference. She didn’t even make the sign, which Mizrahi says was “just part of the furniture.” “The sign was just there. I didn’t have it put up there,” she said. But as a business and science-oriented straight talker with little interest in jewishledger.com

diplomatic niceties, Mizrahi did not hide her disdain for the controversial name change. “You can thank my predecessor, who didn’t commission any new signs. Maybe she recognizes that this is the Republic of Macedonia and that we’re Macedonians,” Mizrahi said to reporters about Mila Carovska, a member of the left-leaning SDSM party that led the name change. Greece’s ambassador protested the remark and then Nikola Dimitrov, North Macedonia’s foreign at the time, warned that Mizrahi was putting “Euro-Atlantic aspirations in danger.” She was fired just five weeks into her three-month stint. But what might have ended as the axing of a novice politician snowballed into the country’s first-ever wave of antisemitic rhetoric – with Mizrahi as its target. Branko Trickovski, a well-known journalist and a supporter of the leftwing SDSM party, ridiculed Mizrahi on Facebook, describing her as a zealot for Macedonian and Jewish nationalism, who gets her strength from “eating hummus made of dead Jews.” Mersiha Smailovic, a former official from the ministry that Mizrahi had headed, on Facebook wrote that Mizrahi was planning to place an Israeli flag at her office. Another SDSM activist called her a “Jew who worked for the Nazi occupation in World War Two.” It triggered “a stream of hundreds of antisemitic messages. Death threats. Even against my daughter,” Mizrahi said of her two-year-old, her younger child she had with her husband, a 43-year-old welder who comes from a Christian Eastern Orthodox family. “I’m still afraid. Not so much for me but for my daughter. I never thought this could happen in this country, where antisemitism never used to be a part of life,” Mizrahi said. “It has changed how I see my country.” It has also caused her to change her career plans. “I decided I can’t walk away, I needed to stay and fight,” she said. Parking her career as a consultant and researcher for an international pharmaceutical company, Mizrahi joined the VMRO right-wing opposition party and became a lawmaker in parliament. She’s North Macedonia’s first-ever Jewish parliament lawmaker since it broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991. According to a report titled “Antisemitic Discourse in the Western Balkans” published this year by the International

Republican Institute, a nonprofit whose mission statement is promoting democracy, the Mizrahi affair showed that “antisemitic narratives exist [in North Macedonia] and are utilized for political gain. Antisemitism is used to sow divisions within the country, which subsequently increases its vulnerability to manipulation.” The rhetoric on Mizrahi also shocked other members of the Jewish community, a tiny minority of about 200 people, which hasn’t grown since the Holocaust, when the Nazis and collaborators murdered about 98% of Macedonian Jewry. “We had lived here without antisemitic statements before,” said Maja Susha, an educator and Holocaust researcher who is a member of North Macedonia’s Jewish community. “But after what happened with Rashela we saw the real reality.” The antisemitism has since subsided and life is safe for Jews, said Susha, who like almost all of North Macedonia’s Jews lives in Skopje. It’s a placid capital where about a quarter of North Macedonia’s 2 million citizens live, mostly in crumbling Sovietera buildings that are juxtaposed with a staggering wealth of statues and classical style monuments. The antisemitism came as less of a surprise to Mizrahi’s father, Viktor, who for many years had led the Jewish community. The Holocaust shaped much of the way that Rashela Mizrahi and her brother Rahamim were raised by their parents Viktor and Liljana, a convert to Judaism who observes the religion more devoutly than her husband. “I was encouraged to be a doctor. Rahamim to become a lawyer. Why? Because these are professions so vital that the recipients of your services don’t care if you’re Jewish,” Rashela Mizrahi said. Her parents “were terrified when I stepped into politics,” Mizrahi said. “But they were also very proud.” In parliament, Mizrahi focuses on initiatives that will help young people gain an education in North Macedonia – which she still refuses to call by its new name – and on projects to mitigate the country’s brain drain problem. But it’s Mizrahi’s foreign policy actions that grab headlines in the Balkans. In addition to vocally opposing concessions to Greece, Mizrahi is a prominent critic of what she considers the left-wing government’s appeasement of neighboring Bulgaria – another powerful neighbor whose actions have had a devastating effect on Mizrahi’s own family.

On Dec. 30, Mizrahi delivered a speech in parliament about Bulgaria’s role in the Holocaust, when Bulgarian forces occupied what is today North Macedonia and helped round up 98% of the area’s 7,000-plus Jews and deport them to be murdered by German troops. Standing against the giant Christmas tree that decorates parliament in Skopje during the holiday season, Mizrahi held up pictures of her dead relatives and asked Prime Minister Zoran Zaev: “Who killed them?” The video, that went viral on local social networks, was a protest over Zaev’s decision last year to remove from government property any memorial plaques for World War II victims that called their killers as belonging to the “Bulgarian fascist occupation,” because “Bulgaria was not a fascist occupier of Macedonia but an administrator,” as he put it. “My family was not murdered by an administrator’s pen, Mr. Zaev,” Mizrahi said in parliament. Her protest echoed the position of the Jewish Community of the Republic of North Macedonia, a nonprofit that represents Macedonian Jewry’s interests. Last year, it accused Bulgaria of “deliberately whitewashing its dark history and thus distorting the truth about the Holocaust.” But Mizrhai’s speech was the first time that this accusation was discussed in such a way in North Macedonia’s parliament, according to Sasha Uzunov, an Australia-based journalist and an expert on Macedonian politics. And it has made Mizrahi “a very visible politician,” he said. Both that speech and her push against the name change have turned Mizrahi “in a way into a hero” for many people in North Macedonia, Susha added. She is also speaking for many Bulgarian Jews, said Lyna Degen, a Bulgaria-born Dutch-Jewish psychologist who has written extensively about the Holocaust in her native country. “The danger in Macedonia, as I see it, is that the leader of the country is willing to revise the history of the Holocaust in order to please Bulgaria, whose support they need in order to become a member of the EU,” Degen said. “It is very unusual that a Jewish politician raises awareness for the atrocities perpetrated by Bulgarian troops,” Degen added. “I don’t know of any other politician doing this” besides Mizrahi.

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JUNE 11, 2021

Herzog CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

this high office, which is vital to the wellbeing and standing of Israel in the global community,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “He brings enormous assets to the position, including an unusually deep understanding of world Jewry, including the American Jewish community. It is vitally important that Jews – whether in Israel or elsewhere – feel connected to, and welcomed by, the office of Israel’s president. In that spirit, as we have with each president since the state’s rebirth in 1948, we look forward to working closely with Mr. Herzog after he takes office on July 9.” Similarly, the Israeli-American Council said that it hopes Herzog “will build on his experience working with Diaspora Jewry and the Israeli-American community to strengthen their bonds with the State of Israel, and deepen the connection between the American and Israeli people.”

Hoping the new president can advance the cause of peace

The Orthodox Union also welcomed Herzog’s election, noting the key role that the Israeli president plays in relations between Israel and American and other Diaspora communities.

“Throughout his many years of service in the Knesset, to Israel and in the Jewish Agency, Mr. Herzog has become known for his respectful, soft-spoken manner and for eschewing partisan rancor and feuding,” said Orthodox Union president Moishe Bane. “He will undoubtedly represent the best of Israel, both within and beyond its borders, and we look forward to working with him during what is sure to be a successful tenure,” said Dianne Lob, Chair, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The Combat Antisemitism Movement praised Herzog’s commitment to fighting anti-Semitism. “Not only is he a long-standing friend and adviser to CAM, but for many years he has been one of the strongest and most powerful advocates for the Jewish people and against anti-Semitism globally,” said its director, Sacha Roytman-Dratwa. “No doubt, he will continue to proudly advocate for Jewish rights and wider tolerance as president. He will no doubt represent Israel and the Jewish people as a whole with great

distinction.” The progressive group Americans for Peace Now urged Herzog to use his position to advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace. “We know how committed he is to Israeli democracy, and to strengthening the social and moral fabric of the state, as well as strengthening its relations with Diaspora Jewry and the international community,” said APN’s president and CEO Hadar Susskind. “We also know how committed Herzog is to the vision of peace

between the State of Israel and a future viable Palestinian state. We hope he will use his position as Israel’s next president to advance the cause of peace and strongly urge him to do so.” Similarly, J Street said it hopes that Herzog will help “strengthen Israeli democracy, reinforce the relationship between Jews globally and the State of Israel, and promote a vision of peace and equality.”

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MAZEL TOV, GRADUATES! “Scholars enhance peace in the world” – Talmud, Berakhot

As this difficult year comes to a close, we applaud our remarkable graduates for their resilience, their optimism, their solidarity, and their endless kindness and concern for others.You are our heroes. MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADUATES

Leah Raich Roni Rosovsky Selia Sitzer Gidon Teitel Sabrina Weisel Maddie Winarsky

Danielle Hadge Muhlenberg College

Leo Koganov Northeastern University

Mickey Stepanskiy School of Visual Arts

Sydney Hoffman Binghamton University

Dalia Levin Yeshiva University

Logan Terr University of Connecticut

Avichai Jeiger Western Connecticut State University

Ben Marcus Brown University

Joshua Terr University of Connecticut

Gavin Rakitt University of Maryland

Dovid Trencher Yeshiva University

Where each student matters and every moment counts. (8th Grade)

Richard Baer Jenna Beder Evan Bilenker UPPER SCHOOL Renata Bomash Racheli Chavkin GRADUATES Gavin Daniel Noah Divon William Agababaev Austin Eisenstein University of Connecticut Max Ferits Early Childhood 10:00am-12noon Donny DeFala Gidon Genger Berklee 2186 HighLilah Ridge Road, Stamford, CT College of Music Gordon Please RSVP to Denise Solomon Green Rafailov Jed Devillers Aron Hedberg Yale University 203-329-2186, ext 1310 or drafailov@bcds.org Olivia Herman Etan Doft Benjamin 1:30-4:00pm Herman High School New Jersey Institute of Yael Hochman Technology 1937 W. Main Street, Rebecca Kaplan Stamford, CT Please RSVP to Sarah Rich Yisrael Kohl Ally Hadge Kayla Lindenbaum g University 203-357-0850 or srich@jhsct.orYeshiva Jake Lipkin Nathaniel Morgulis

Jaye Kaplan Savannah College of Art and Design

David Waknine Zane Roshe Come see for yourself. Open House Sunday, November 4.University Stonybrook Rhode Island School

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Alex Kramer University of Massachusetts

of Design

Joshua Schulman University of Connecticut

Bryan Weisz Yeshiva University

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BCHA

MAzel Tov,

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Iceland. Like previous Discovery to Cure recipients, Yehudit and Josh have their sights set on careers in medicine. “I applied for this internship because it’s really an amazing opportunity to hear from medical professionals from physicians to researchers, and surgeons, and I just think it will be really beneficial in my future because I’m interested in pursuing a career in medicine,” explains Josh. “I’m not sure yet what specific field I want to go into, but from this conference, I’m hoping to learn more about specifically what some of these people do and learn more about specific professions.” Yehudit has a similar goal in mind. “I’m really interested in cancer research, and I thought the Yale program would be super interesting to be a part of a lab, and really get my hands in it…to be a part of learning about cancer and possibly even a cure for it. And so I thought this would be a really interesting way to get involved with the professionals,” says Yehudit. “I want to be a doctor. I’m not sure exactly what type of doctor – there are so many different types of doctors that I don’t even know about. I thought it would be a good and interesting way to meet new types of doctors.” As impressive as the Yale program is, says Ms. Fernandez, it becomes even more so when one considers the program’s arduous application process. “It’s a very involved, long, drawn out process that takes about six months to prepare,” she says. “We put a lot of effort into working with the student. Of course, credit goes to our students who put in the tremendous effort to complete the exhaustive application process.” According to Ms. Fernandez, the process begins the previous summer when students usually read two science-related books of their choice that they are then required to summarize in an essay – one of several essays they are required to write. In fact, it was one of these required books that inspired Yehudit to pursue the Discovery to Cure program in earnest. “One of the books that I chose to read was The Emperor of All Maladies:The

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Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee,” notes Yehudit. “As soon as I read that book, I became even more interested in the subject because it talks about the history of cancer: when cancer was first discovered and while they were discovering it, how they cured it. So many people died in the process. Now, modern medicine is changing so fast. I really was inspired by that book.” As part of the application process, students also must take several required science courses in their junior year, including AP Biology. Ms. Hernandez, who teaches AP Biology at BCHA, serves as an adviser to students applying for the Yale program each step of the way. Having Mrs. Fenandez as a mentor, say the two students, was tremendously helpful. “The application was really long. Ms. Fernandez helped me so much. It took like a week to put it all together, and it was all really thanks to her,” says Yehudit. Says Josh: “I made a lot revisions to the essays – a lot of going back and checking over. In total, the essays had around five drafts before I finally submitted them. Ms. Fernandez read over all my essays after I finished them – and then again after I revised them and was finally ready to submit them. So she was extremely helpful.” The hard work is worth it because the Discovery to Cure program has innumerable benefits, says Ms. Hernandez. “These kids put a lot of effort into it because it is such a prestigious project. They get valuable experience that they probably would not have had the opportunity to get. This is something to put on your resume to get your first lab job at college so you can start working with someone earlier than everybody else. It’s a great experience. Plus, it looks amazing on a college application.” For now, Yehudit and Josh can’t wait to get started. Says Josh: “I’m just really excited to take part in this conference and I think it’s just going to be an amazing experience for me, learning more about medical professions, particularly, and having the opportunity to meet other high school kids who have the same interests as me.”

Class of 2021!

300 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117 (860) 231-0317 www.neja.org

Naftali Fenster

Wentworth Institute of Technology

Maya Oberstein

Northeastern University

Efraim Mager Garfield Gap Year

Ilana Rapaport Davidson College

Yoni Gesin

Ariella Gutfreund

University of Massachusetts/Amherst

University of Connecticut

Holden Shapiro

Liya Simon

Muhlenberg College

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JUNE 11, 2021

Bates College

OPINION

What ‘The New York Times’ didn’t tell you about the children BY TAMAR STERNTHAL

(CAMERA via JNS) “They Were Only Children,” was the headline of the unprecedented and pilloried front-page New York Times feature last week. The piece included pictures of the dozens of children killed in the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas, and drove home the message that these kids had wanted to be “doctors, artists and leaders.” According to the Times’ own belated reporting, it turns out that at least one of them wanted to be a terrorist. Moreover, by the tender age of 17, he had fulfilled his aspiration. In their article yesterday, Adam Rasgon (one of the three writers of “They Were Only Children”) and Iyad Abuheweila reported: “After a 17-year-old was killed in the Gaza conflict this month – one of 69 children killed in fighting between Israel and militants – a militant group claimed him as a member, though would not say whether he was killed while fighting. “The teenager, Khaled al-Qanou, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on May 13, according to a statement from the militant group, the Mujahideen Brigades. It is against international law to recruit or use minors in armed conflicts. “Mr. al-Qanou was among those pictured in a New York Times feature on all the children killed in the recent conflict, but details about his death had not been confirmed then.” That 17-year-old al-Qanou was a member of a terrorist group is not at all surprising. Palestinian terror groups have in the past swelled their ranks with teenagers, and even run popular summer camps for them. As a 2016 Hamas “Vanguards of Liberation” camp promotional video said (translation by MEMRI): “These young people tour this place and look at [pictures of] the leaders, who sacrificed their souls as martyrs in Jihad for the sake of Allah, leaders who will be their role models on the path to liberation and martyrdom.” Enrollment in Hamas camps in Gaza offering military training is hardly a marginal phenomenon; they attract tens of 10

thousands of participants. But the Times never said a word about how Hamas sets Gaza youth on the path of martyrdom. Here’s what “They Were Only Children” did report about the children at risk: “Gaza is crowded and its population skews young, with about half under age 18. So when Israeli warplanes hit homes and residential neighborhoods, the number of children at risk is extraordinary. Sometimes nearly entire households disappear with a single blast. “Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll in Gaza because the group fires rockets and conducts military operations from civilian areas. Israel’s critics cite the death toll as evidence that Israel’s strikes were indiscriminate and disproportionate.” Apparently, the Times does not regard the indoctrination of impressionable youth to worship suicide bombers and other terrorists as a risk factor worthy of coverage. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Times not only so cavalierly published unconfirmed information concerning Palestinian children killed in the Gaza Strip, but gave the inflammatory story–replete with questionable information supplied by a terror-linked NGO and social media–such prominent billing. The revelation about al-Qanou’s terror affiliation is hardly the only indication so far of poorly researched and unconfirmed information. As CAMERA previously noted, the Times had embarrassingly published a stock photo of a random Muslim girl, mistakenly identifying her as one of the children killed in the Gaza Strip. While the girl in question, Rahaf al-Masri, was in fact killed, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the cause was a misfired Palestinian rocket.

High percentage killed by misfired Palestinian rockets Another unconfirmed element of the “They Were Only Children” story is how many were killed by misfired Palestinian rockets.

JEWISH LEDGER | JUNE 11, 2021

HAMAS RALLY IN BEIT LAHIYA IN THE GAZA STRIP, MAY 30 (CREDIT: ATIA MOHAMMED/FLASH90)

Here’s what the Times had to say on the topic: “While most of the children were Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes, there are exceptions. “At least two of the children killed in Gaza – Baraa al-Gharabli and Mustafa Obaid – may have been killed when Palestinian militants fired a rocket at Israel that fell short, according to an initial investigation by Defense for Children International-Palestine.” Even given the still partial information available at this time about all of the fatalities in the Gaza Strip, the Times has clearly grossly understated the phenomenon. According to a detailed analysis (Hebrew) carried out by the Meir Amit center of the fatalities in the first days of fighting (May 10-12), nine children aged 17 and younger were killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. According to the center, they are: 1. Ibrahim al-Masri, 11, killed May 10, Beit Hanoun. 2. Marwan al-Masri, 7, killed May 10, Beit Hanoun. 3. Rahaf al-Masri, 10, killed May 10, Beit Hanoun. 4. Yazan al-Masri, 2, killed May 10, Beit Hanoun. 5. Hasin Hamad, 11, killed May 10, Beit Hanoun.

6. Ibrahim Hassanain, 16, killed May 10, Beit Hanoun. 7. Mustafa Obeid, 17, killed May 10, Jabalya. 8. Baraa al-Gharabli, 4, killed, May 10, Jabalya. The last two names were the only ones that the Times identified as possible, unconfirmed “exceptions” to what the paper claimed is the rule: “most of the children were killed by Israeli airstrikes.” The other six children were killed together by a misfired Palestinian rocket, according to the Meir Amit researchers. Here’s how the Times reported their deaths: “Around the same time, four cousins– Yazan al-Masri, 2, Marwan al-Masri, 6, Rahaf al-Masri, 10, and Ibrahim al-Masri, 11–were killed in Beit Hanoun, Gaza. “ ‘It was devastating,’ said Mukhlis al-Masri, a cousin. ‘The pain for our family is indescribable.’ ” The “paper of record” gave no additional information about Hamad and Hassanain beyond their names and ages.

Killed alongside their Hamas commander fathers

Some of the casualties were the children of Hamas commanders and killed when their fathers were targeted. Thus, even Defense for Children International Palestine, the terror-linked NGO upon which the Times relied, acknowledged the following jewishledger.com

information regarding Muhammed Suleiman, 15, whom the Times identified only by name and age: “Mohammad’s father was reportedly a commander in Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, a Palestinian armed group and the armed wing of Hamas, according to information collected by DCIP.” Muhammed was killed when the Israeli military targeted his father Saber Ibrahim Mahmoud Suleiman. The two were together in a field. The Times clearly had access to that information, yet chose to conceal it. The Times also provided no detail about Mina Sharir, 2, and her sister Lina, 15. They were killed during a May 11 airstrike targeting their father. The Times of Israel reported: “A spokesperson for the Israeli military added that Israel also conducted an additional targeted killing of a Hamas commander, killing the head of the terror group’s anti-tank guided missile unit in Gaza City. Iyad Fathi Faik Sharir had led a number of attacks against Israel in recent years, the army said.” Meir Amit identified additional children killed when they were in close proximity to wanted Hamas leaders. They include Hala Rifi, 13, and Zaid Talbani, 4, killed when the military targeted Hamas counterespionage

0, 2021.

chief Wail Issa. Also killed in that airstrike was Zaid’s sister Miriam, 2. But the Times provides no details concerning the circumstances of their deaths; stating nothing more than their names and ages. Israel takes extensive steps to reduce civilian losses when carrying out airstrikes against terror targets, with phone calls, text messages, pamphlets and warning “knocks,” and has also called off strikes when children were found to be in the area. Civilian casualties are nevertheless inevitable in any armed conflict in which the combatants place their infrastructure and attack from within densely populated civilian areas, as the United States well knows from its experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places. The Times, however, has yet to run a feature identifying the children killed in American airstrikes in these countries. As CAMERA previously noted, Israel’s record in minimizing the deaths of civilians in such conflicts compares favorably to that of other countries. Given Israel’s superior success in minimizing civilian casualties, the Times’ singular, unprecedented focus on the civilian casualties of this conflict gives particular weight to accusations regarding the paper’s “blood libel” against the Jewish state.

Whose will?

The Times feature about the children opened thus: “When asked to describe how they felt, many parents answered with a simple ‘It’s God’s will,’ their voice often reduced to a whisper, the words conveying resignation. They said their children had wanted to be doctors, artists and leaders.” Imagine if the Times report had indicated which and exactly how many young lives were snuffed out due to misfired Palestinian rockets, how many would-be doctors, artists and leaders were wiped out due to their involvement instead with terror groups, and how many were tragically killed because they were in close proximity to senior Hamas targets. If the paper had disclosed that key information, readers might actually understand that the children’s deaths weren’t God’s will, or rather Israel’s will, as the paper strenuously labors to convince. This article was first published by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

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Briefs Bill Maher defends Israel on his HBO show (JTA) – Bill Maher spent nearly 10 minutes of his HBO talk show Friday night defending Israel, bringing up ancient Jewish history and showing comparative maps of the state from its early days to today. The liberal comedian and political commentator reserved a large portion of his comments for those who have criticized Israel before and during its recent military conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Maher took aim at the social media messages posted by celebrities such as model Bella Hadid that accused Israel of war crimes. “You can’t learn history from Instagram. There’s just not enough space,” he said. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, appearing on the show as a panelist, countered Maher’s arguments, saying that some of Israel’s attacks on Gaza – which began after Hamas fired rockets at Israel on May 9 – should be defined under international law as war crimes. “War is a crime,” Maher responded, saying that Hamas purposely hides its ammunition in places that house civilians. Maher then got into historical arguments. “What if Canada fired 4,000 rockets into America? Or Mexico? Which is an even better analogy, because we actually did steal the land from Mexico,” he said, comparing early American expansion to Israel’s occupation of parts of the West Bank. “I would submit that Israel did not steal anybody’s land. This is another thing I’ve heard the last couple of weeks, words like ‘occupiers’ and ‘colonizers’ and ‘apartheid,’ which I don’t think people understand the history there. The Jews have been in that area of the world since about 1200 B.C., way before the first Muslim or Arab walked the earth.” He also showed the United Nations’ partition plan of 1947, which had not the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors had rejected would have created two states, one for Palestinians and one for Israelis. He ended by taking another shot at Hadid, after slamming Hamas and how it rules in Gaza. “Bella Hadid and her friends would run screaming to Tel Aviv if they had to live in Gaza for one day,” Maher said to applause.

In Ohio, coach forces Jewish football student to eat to pork (JTA) – A high school football coach in Ohio and seven of his staff have been suspended for punishing a Jewish student athlete by forcing him to eat a pepperoni pizza in violation of his religious commitment to keep a kosher diet, according to a report from Cleveland 19 News. The 17-year-old Jewish student at McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio, was being disciplined for missing a weight lifting session on May 20, said Edward L. Gilbert, 12

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an attorney for the boy’s family. Four days after missing practice, Coach Wattley Marcus and other coaching staff presented him with a pizza topped with pepperoni, chosen because it includes pork. “They order him to go into the gym. He sits in a chair,” Gilbert told Cleveland 19 News. “There is a pizza box on the floor. He picks up the pizza – they tell him he has to, as punishment, eat that whole pizza.” The student’s Jewish identity and his avoidance of pork were known to Coach Wattley Marcus and other coaching staff, according to Gilbert. “I mean it just crosses a line on every level, it’s just wrong,” Gilbert said. Canton City School District released a statement saying it was investigating the incident and would announce its findings soon. “The incident calls into question whether appropriate team management, discipline, and player accountability infrastructures are in place,” the statement says.

WH science advisor Eric Lander sworn in on Pirkei Avot from 1492 (JTA) – When Eric Lander was sworn in Wednesday,June 2 as the White House’s first-ever Cabinet-level science advisor, the geneticist also made Jewish history – by taking his oath of office on a 500-year-old copy of a Jewish text filled with ethical precepts. Lander chose a 1492 edition of Pirkei Avot from the Library of Congress’ holdings after searching for a swearing-in volume that reflected his Jewish and professional values. The geneticist, who has taken leave from positions at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Religion News Service that he had convened a family meeting to brainstorm books. The family homed in on the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, or “repairing the world.” That thought led Lander to the Mishnah, the text compiling early rabbinic discussions of how to apply Jewish law in everyday life. From there he landed on one section, Pirkei Avot, that contains a precept that he said reflects his personal and professional beliefs: “It’s not required that you complete the work, but neither may you refrain from it.” The particular volume of Pirkei Avot that Lander identified was published in Naples in 1492, a time when Jews were finding refuge there after being kicked out of Spain during the Inquisition. “The world has experimented with intolerance, with the view that everybody has to think like I think, worship like I worship,” Lander told Religion News Service. “(But) the world experimented in 1492 with tolerance – with the idea that we would have a diversity of people and perspectives. I think the lessons of the 1492 era are lessons for today: coming together and making our diversity an incredible asset for this country going forward.”

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Blumenthal among new coalition of Black, Jewish senators (JTA) – Sen. Cory Booker is leading a group of U.S. Jewish and Black senators in establishing a coalition to fight antisemitism and racism. The so-called Black-Jewish coalition will also include Booker’s fellow Democrats Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, as well as Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican from across the aisle. “There’s been a long history of Black people and Jewish sisters and brothers working together on a whole range of concerns,” Warnock was quoted as saying by NJ.com. The idea of convening the lawmakers was spurred by reports of rising antisemitism amid a national reckoning around racial injustice. “We will be fighting both racism and antisemitism,” Blumenthal said. “I think we’re in the midst of a racial justice moment and a reckoning now that could draw us together.” Scott Richman, director of the AntiDefamation League in New York/New Jersey, praised the initiative. “This would be an important step towards bringing together two communities with a shared commitment to justice and an end to bias and bigotry,” he told NJ.com. A similar body, called the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations, already exists in the House of Representatives. Booker, who keeps a Hebrew bible on his Senate desk, has a long history of connections with the Jewish community. He often cites Torah passages and recites Hebrew quotes in public appearances.

Sen. Graham: Israel to request $1 billion in aid following Gaza conflict (JNS) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Tuesday, June 1 that Israel would be requesting a billion dollars in U.S. aid, in the aftermath of last month’s fighting with terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Fox & Friends during a visit to southern Israel, Graham said, “There’s going to be a request made, tomorrow, I think, or Thursday [June 3] by the Israelis to the Pentagon for a billion dollars in aid to replenish the Iron Dome batteries that were used to protect Israel. … As Hamas tries to destroy Israel, As Iran threatens the existence of the Jewish state, I’m going to keep coming back here and saying more for Israel. Every time somebody tries to destroy Israel, our response is going to be more aid and it starts with replenishing the Iron Dome,” he said. Graham toured Ashkelon on Monday and Tuesday together with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) to view some of the damage caused by Hamas during last month’s conflict. They visited the remains of a home struck by a rocket on May 11 which seriously injured an elderly woman, 81, and killed her caretaker, 32.

During the 11-day conflict, terror groups in Gaza launched more than 4,300 rockets at Israel, according to the IDF. Of those, 680 misfired and exploded inside Gaza, while the Iron Dome system intercepted approximately 90 percent of the projectiles targeting populated Israeli areas, the IDF said.

Iran denies nuclear talks are stalled, as France questions traces of uranium (JNS) Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei denied on Tuesday, June 1, that international nuclear talks have hit a roadblock and that the 2015 nuclear deal can still be revived. “There is no impasse in the Vienna talks. Negotiations have reached a stage where a few key issues need to be decided, and these issues require the proper attention, perfectionism and time,” he told a news conference, reported Reuters. According to the report, however, two Western diplomats and an Iranian official said talks would be paused on Thursday for consultations. Meanwhile, France noted its concern in response to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that said Iran failed to explain traces of uranium found at undeclared sites. “We strongly call on Iran to provide such responses as quickly as possible,” said French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll, according to the report. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s report to member states on May 31, and shown to Reuters stated: “After many months, Iran has not provided the necessary explanation for the presence of the nuclear material particles at any of the three locations where the agency has conducted complementary accesses (inspections).”

UNRWA Gaza chief takes leave amid uproar over comments on Israeli airstrikes (JNS) The Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will be taking a “long leave of absence,” a spokesman for the agency said on Wednesday, June 2, according to Hebrew media reports. The announcement came after Matthias Schmale and his deputy were recalled to Jerusalem from the Gaza Strip amid Hamas anger at remarks made by Schmale during a May 22 Channel 12 interview. Responding to a question about Israeli officials’ claims that Israel’s bombardments in Gaza during last month’s conflict with terror groups there were “very precise,” Schmale said, “I’m not a military expert but I would not dispute that.” He had the “impression” that there had been “huge sophistication” in the way the Israeli military conducted its strikes during the 11-day conflict, he said, and also denied that there had been a lack of supplies in Gaza during the fighting. Hamas was outraged, saying in a May jewishledger.com

25 statement: “We remind Schmale that his primary job is to protect and aid Palestinian refugees and not to justify the Israeli aggression by killing their children and demolishing their homes.” Schmale apologized the same day, tweeting: “Recent remarks I made on Israeli TV have offended & hurt those who had family members & friends killed & injured during the war that has just ended. I truly regret to have caused them pain, & reiterate following points I have made through countless interviews & tweets.” He accused NGO U.N. Watch and the press of “blatantly manipulating” his comments in the Channel 12 interview.

500+ Amazon workers demand company sever contracts with Israel (JNS) A group of 500 Amazon workers is asking the company’s top executives to voice support for Palestinians and sever its contract with the Israel Defense Forces. The company currently employs more than 1.3 million worldwide. In April, Amazon and Google signed a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government, according to Reuters. “As Amazonians, we believe it is our moral responsibility to stand in solidarity with and speak out on behalf of the millions of Palestinians who, for decades, have not only been dispossessed of their voices and victimhood, but, in essence, their humanity,” they said in an internal letter to Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, who is set to take over from Bezos as CEO of Amazon later this year. “Amazon employs Palestinians in Tel Aviv and Haifa offices and around the world,” continued the letter. “Ignoring the suffering faced by Palestinians and their families at home erases our Palestinian co-workers.” The employees further demanded that Amazon cancel its contracts with government and corporate companies accused of human-rights violations, listing the IDF as an example. They also asked Amazon to start a relief fund for Palestinians who have been affected by military violence, publicly acknowledge “the continued assault upon Palestinians’ basic human rights under an illegal occupation,” and reject any definition of antisemitism that claims that criticism of Israel is antisemitic. The latter was likely a reference to the International Remembrance Holocaust Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by more than 450 leading organizations, including 28 countries.

London Jewish teachers quit union over pro-Palestinian stance (JTA) – At least 25 teachers from a Jewish school in London have quit their trade union to protest its call for participation in proPalestinian rallies. Separately to last week’s walkout by JFS teachers from the National jewishledger.com

Education Union, a Jewish teacher quit a nonJewish school following alleged harassment by students, the Jewish News of London reported Tuesday, June 1. “They were trying to stick Free Palestine stickers in my hair, I broke into tears, I couldn’t take my class that morning,” said the teacher, who wasn’t named. The teacher said the school, which the Jewish News report also did not name, was indifferent to the circumstances that led to the resignation. Last week’s walkout by JFS teachers was connected to calls by the union’s staff for educators to join pro-Palestinian rallies. About 230 Palestinians died last month in Israeli airstrikes launched in response to thousands of rockets fired by Hamas in Gaza that led to the death of 12 people in Israel. Kevin Courtney, the union’s joint general secretary, spoke at several protest rallies organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. “I felt I had no choice to leave the union, which isolated me as a Jewish, pro-Israel teacher,” John Lopez, a JFS teacher, told the Jewish News. Lopez added that part of the reason he quit was the union’s failure to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which lists some forms of anti-Israel vitriol as antisemitic. The United Kingdom’s government has adopted the definition.

Google diversity chief writes: Jews have an ‘insatiable appetite for war’ (JTA) – Google has reassigned its head of diversity strategy and research after the exposure of a 2007 blog post in which he wrote that Jews have an “insatiable appetite for war.” Kamau Bobb, who has a doctorate in science and technology policy, has since deleted the post, which was titled “If I were a Jew.” It was first reported on by the Washington Free Beacon. “If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself,” Bobb wrote, according to Insider. “If I were a Jew today, my sensibilities would be tormented. I would find it increasingly difficult to reconcile the long cycles of oppression that Jewish people have endured and the insatiable appetite for vengeful violence that Israel, my homeland, has now acquired.” Google announced May 3 that Bobb has been removed from his position and reassigned to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) research.

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ELECTION 5781

Everything you need to know about the Israeli governm replace Benjamin Netanyahu BY BEN SALES

(JTA) – After 12 straight years as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is losing power – and the government that’s about to replace him is remarkable in its own right. Netanyahu’s ouster is a huge deal on its own. Over the past decade-plus, as the country’s longest-serving leader, he has become nearly synonymous with Israel – shaping its foreign and domestic policy as well as its international image, and personally guiding its relationship with the United States. Over the past two years, his desire to hold onto power – even as he stands trial on corruption charges – along with his opponents’ desire to oust him, have driven Israel’s political system into crisis. He has become so personally polarizing that a range of ideological allies turned against him – and are on the verge of replacing him. Now, Netanyahu’s opponents have announced that they have succeeded in defeating him. And when they get sworn in later this month, unless Netanyahu somehow manages to scuttle that, the government they form will itself break boundaries. It will be an unprecedented alliance of political right and left, Jews and Arabs, all dedicated to one goal: ending the Netanyahu era. At the same time, there are ways that, even under new leadership, Israel is unlikely to change. Here’s what you need to know about Israel’s incoming government.

before. But this time, it looks like it’s actually happening. A little background: Netanyahu seemed to have won Israel’s 2019 election, but his former partners deserted him and he couldn’t form a coalition. So Israel held another election. Then it held another. Then yet another. Each time, neither Netanyahu nor his opponents gained a majority. There was a brief interlude where the rivals came together to form a coalition to address the pandemic, but that fell apart pretty quickly. This time around, if Netanyahu’s opponents weren’t able to team up, Israel would have held a fifth election. Almost no one wanted that to happen, so Netanyahu’s rivals decided to put aside their vast differences and form a coalition with one goal: to get rid of him. The incoming coalition is a testament to how much Israeli politics has become about Netanyahu himself. Three of the parties in the incoming government largely agree with Netanyahu on policy. But they dislike him so much that they’d rather team up with the Israeli left than give him another term in office. This amounts to a political reset for the Jewish state. To have any real memory of Israel before Netanyahu’s current tenure, you’d have to have been born well before the iPhone was released. For more than a decade, Netanyahu’s personality and politics have dominated Israel. No longer.

Netanyahu is losing power: how we got here.

This is the first coalition in Israeli history to include an Arab-Israeli party.

Israel has been trying and failing to elect a stable government for more than two years. And Netanyahu has come close to losing power

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, NOV. 12, 2019. (MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)

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There have been left-right coalitions in Israel before. But to reach a majority of Israel’s 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, the antiNetanyahu alliance is doing something truly unprecedented in Israeli history: It is inviting an independent Arab-Israeli party to join the governing coalition. That hasn’t happened before for a few reasons: Although Arabs make up 20% of Israel’s citizenry, Israel’s largest political parties, on both the left and right, didn’t see Arab parties as legitimate political partners in a Jewish state. Arab parties, likewise, did not want to be seen as granting legitimacy to Jewish governments. And often, the policy differences between Jewish and Arab parties were vast. But seven decades after Israel was founded, things have changed. Arab leaders have been

| JUNE 11, 2021

more vocal about demanding a say in the way their country is governed. And the ongoing stalemate has given Arab parties a chance to be kingmaker. Faced with the prospect of losing power last year, Netanyahu (who once attacked the very idea of Arab citizens voting in elections) said he’d be willing to partner with Raam, an Islamist Arab party. That legitimized the idea of including Arabs in Israeli coalitions, and now, Raam is set to join Netanyahu’s rivals, and give them the slimmest of majorities. Arabs have almost always been represented in Israel’s parliament. But now, for the first time ever, an Arab party will have an active say in Israel’s government.

It is a narrow – and unwieldy – coalition of right and left.

The coalition is unified on the goal of ousting Netanyahu, but it’s divided on pretty much everything else. It will contain eight different political parties, an unusually large number even in Israel’s famously tumultuous politics. And it will have the smallest possible majority in parliament, so to get anything done, every single member will have to agree. To reconcile the different factions, the coalition will have two prime ministers: Naftali Bennett, who heads the right-wing Yamina party, will serve for two years and change. Then Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, will take over for about the same amount of time. Both of them head historically small parties. Yesh Atid only has 17 seats (as opposed to the 30 held by Netanyahu’s Likud party). Yamina will have a paltry six seats. But this unorthodox arrangement is the only way to keep everyone in the coalition happy. It’s unclear how long this coalition will last. Previous ones that were more ideologically coherent have fallen apart quickly.

The next prime minister, Naftali Bennett, will be the first religious Zionist to lead Israel.

But no matter how long he serves, Naftali Bennett will earn the distinction of being the politician who replaced Netanyahu. He’s a staunch right-winger, often further to the right than Netanyahu, who opposes Palestinian statehood, supports West Bank settlement expansion and has vowed to pursue a hawkish

MANSOUR ABBAS, HEAD OF ISRAEL’S ISLAMIC RAAM PARTY, SPEAKS DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE IN THE NORTHERN CITY OF NAZARETH, APRIL 1, 2021. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

defense policy. He will also be the first religious Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu has become a reliable ally of the haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, parties, but personally he is secular, just like all of his predecessors. Bennett identifies as Orthodox and wears a kippah. His ascent is a sign of the growth, and growing influence, of religious Zionists in a state founded by secula Jewish socialists. Bennett will also be the first Israeli prime minister born of American parents. Like Netanyahu, he speaks fluent, basically natural English. When he worked in the tech world, before entering politics, he spent time living in New York.

The conflict in Israel and Gaza came close to quashing this coalition – an also may have encouraged it.

Before fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the same coalition appeared t be coming together. But the conflict in Gaza, and interethnic clashes in Israel, threatened to derail it. Party leaders did not negotiate as rockets were flying. Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Raam party, froze talks with Lapid. Bennett said that he would no longer partner with the alliance of Netanyahu opponents. Then, soon after the sides reached a ceasefire, everyone seemed to return to where they had been before the fighting started. Bennett wrote a long Facebook post bashing jewishledger.com

ment that will

e nd

Who is Naftali Bennett, Israel’s next prime minister? BY GABE FRIEDMAN

Netanyahu. Abbas renewed negotiations. Lapid began signing coalition agreements with other parties. It may be that the fighting, after almost stopping this coalition in its tracks, ended up giving it even greater urgency.

The government will not include any haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, parties. But it will still be mostly Ashkenazi and male.

There are a lot of ways Israel’s incoming government will be different. There are also plenty of ways it will be the same. Like every prime minister not named Golda Meir, the next leader of Israel will be an Ashkenazi Jewish man. And in certain ways, the government will be less diverse than previous ones. Although it will include an unprecedented number of parties, all but one of those parties is led by a man. None of the parties are led by Mizrahi Jews, or Jews of Middle Eastern descent. And none of the parties are haredi, after six years in which haredi parties were given control of Israel’s religious affairs. On the one hand, that means this government could reform Israel’s religious policies, perhaps reducing funding to haredi institutions, requiring haredi men to enter Israel’s mandatory military draft, or liberalizing Israel’s Jewish conversion and marriage systems, which are controlled by the haredi Chief Rabbinate. On the other hand, the coalition is so narrow and fragmented that it may be hard to pass any major legislation.

Don’t expect any big moves on Israeli-Palestinian peace.

On that note, don’t expect this to be the government that makes peace with the Palestinians. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood, as do other members of the coalition. Likewise, the left-wing and Arab parties will likely block any attempt to annex parts of the West Bank. Other governments have come in with policy platforms or an ideological program. Because this one came together to oust Netanyahu and end a political crisis, it will have accomplished its goal the moment it gets sworn in. What happens next is anyone’s guess.

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(JTA) – As the Ledger went to press it appeared likely that in a week’s time – or perhaps less– Benjamin Netanyahu would be replaced as Israel’s prime minister by his former ally, Naftali Bennett, had of the right-wing Yamina party. Under his deal with centrist Yair Lapid, Bennett would serve as PM for two-plus years, then Lapid would rotate into the role. In his new roll, Bennett, 49, would break some boundaries. He would be Israel’s first Orthodox Jewish prime minister and the country’s first leader born of American parents. He would also be the first prime minister to have become rich in the tech sector.

American-Israeli background

Bennett was born in Haifa to American immigrants from San Francisco, and lived in the United States and Canada for a time as a child before the family returned permanently to Israel. Like Netanyahu, he speaks fluent English with barely any accent. Bennett recalls that he became Orthodox as a child, after attending a Chabad preschool while his family lived for a time in Montreal. As an adult, he is Modern Orthodox and wears a kippah – if he becomes prime minister, he would be the first to do so regularly. He lives in Raanana, a suburb of Tel Aviv. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, Bennett earned a law degree and entered the tech industry, moving to New York City. He co-founded a successful fraud detection software company, Cyota, and sold it in 2005 for $145 million. Back in Israel, after leaving the tech world, Bennett got involved in rightwing politics. He quickly rose to become Netanyahu’s chief of staff, a position he held from 2006-2008, when Netanyahu was the leader of the opposition in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. He left the role – reportedly in a spat with Netanyahu – and became the director of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization representing Israeli settlements. In 2012, he won the primaries of Jewish Home, a right-wing, religious Zionist party. In Knesset elections the following year, Jewish Home quadrupled the size of its delegation, winning 12 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, and Bennett became Israel’s economy minister in a government led by Netanyahu.

Since then, Bennett has served in various cabinet positions under Netanyahu alongside his longtime political partner, Ayelet Shaked – as Diaspora affairs minister, education minister and defense minister. He later split from Jewish Home and now heads a right-wing party called Yamina, which holds seven Knesset seats. Last year, after an uneasy alliance with Netanyahu, Bennett broke with the prime minister and this week announced that he would ally with Lapid.

Palestinian statehood and West Bank annexation

Bennett is an unabashedly hawkish religious Zionist who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, citing what he deems Israel’s security concerns. Early in his political career, he vowed to do “everything in my power” to make sure Palestinians can’t establish an independent state. If he had his way, Bennett would also immediately annex much of the West Bank to Israel. Netanyahu also flirted with West Bank annexation, but demurred from the idea due to opposition from a wary Trump administration. Because his potential coalition includes left-wing parties, Bennett won’t be able to annex any of the West Bank under the incoming government.

Economics

On the economic front, Bennett advocates for free-market reforms, particularly in Israel’s expensive housing market: He is against regulation, taxes and other restrictions on business. He is a proponent of widening Israel’s network of trade partners around the world, including in emerging markets and in smaller countries with newer relationships with Israel.

Controversial comments

The outspoken politician has been criticized for his inflammatory rhetoric about Arabs and Palestinians. In 2013, Bennett called for killing Arab terrorists

who have killed Jews, instead of imprisoning them. He has also said there is no perfect “solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and compared it to an ongoing irritation, like “shrapnel in the buttocks.” He has urged Netanyahu to attack Hamas more aggressively in Gaza as well. In 2019, he said Netanyahu had “failed against Hamas in Gaza” for a decade and criticized Israel’s policy of “containment.” Recently, though, he said addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be a lower priority than addressing the pandemic recovery. “In the next years we need to put aside politics and issues like annexation or a Palestinian state, and focus on gaining control over the coronavirus pandemic, healing the economy and mending internal rifts,” he said in November.

Other policies

As an observant Orthodox Jew, Bennett is against same-sex marriage. However, he is slightly more liberal on the issue than some of his Orthodox peers in politics, saying that he would allow for tax breaks for same-sex couples. As education minister, Bennett was criticized for attempting to insert religious content into Israel’s secular public school curriculum. Bennett also voted for a controversial law that defined Israel as the nationstate of the Jewish people, which critics called damaging to Israel’s multiethnic democracy. Following the law’s passage, however, Bennett acknowledged that the law hurt non-Jewish Israelis who serve in the Israeli military, such as Druze Israelis. “It has become clear that the manner in which the Nation-State Law was enacted is very damaging – especially to them and to anyone who has tied his fate to the Jewish state,” Bennett said in 2018 after meeting with Israeli Druze leaders. “This, of course, was not the intention of the Israeli government. These are our brothers who stand shoulder to shoulder with us on the battlefield and made a covenant with us – a covenant of life.”

JEWISH LEDGER

JUNE 11, 2021

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HAMDEN – The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently acknowledged eight Connecticut schools for their commitment to promoting equitable and respectful learning environments by designating them a No Place for Hate (NPFH) schools. These are the first schools in the state to have participated and completed ADL’s NPFH program. In the coming year, ADL will be expanding the initiative into a greater number of communities across the region. No Place for Hate first launched in Connecticut in 2019-2020 with a pilot program at Hamden High School. Since the full launch of the program in the Fall of 2020, students, teachers, and administrators from each school completed a series of school-wide initiatives designed to build more inclusive and equitable communities. As part of their participation schools were required to form a committee, host a school-wide pledge signing, and hold several activities that involve active learningtfocusing on recognizing differences and promoting respect. To commemorate this achievement, each school will be awarded with a banner to mark their commitment to No Place for Hate. “At a time when the number of bias incidents in our schools and communities

continues to proliferate, No Place for Hate provides schools with tools and resources to actively engage the school community and to affect positive social change,” said Steve Ginsburg, ADL Connecticut regional director. “ADL Connecticut applauds these eight schools and the students and staff who led the NPFH activities for their commitment to this proactive initiative.” The eight schools that have completed the program are: Hamden High School, Hamden Middle School, Hamden Hall Country Day School, Trumbull High School, Ridgefield High School; Greenwich High School, Gideon Welles School, and Fairfield College Preparatory School. To date, ADL’s No Place for Hate initiative has helped promote anti-bias education in more than 1,600 schools across the country, impacting over 1.4 million students and 100,000+ educators. “If every member of my generation sits back and does nothing to combat the issues we face, no positive change will ever occur,” said Ridgefield High School student Riley Courtney. “We all must choose to act.” To learn more about the ADL No Place for Hate program, visit adl.org/ who-we-are/our-organization/signatureprograms/no-place-for-hate.

Lamont appoints Jewish community leaders to Hate Crimes Advisory Council HARTFORD – Steven D. Ginsburg, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League of Connecticut, Michael Bloom, executive director of theJewish Federation Association of Connecticut, and Rabbi Michael Farbman, spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven, and Jonathan S. Slifka of the Connecticut Department of Aging and Disability Services are among 25 people recently appointed by Governor Ned Lamont to serve as members of the newly formed Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Council. Created by a recently adopted state law, the council will be responsible for encouraging and coordinating programs that increase community awareness and reporting of hate crimes and to combat such crimes. It also can make recommendations for legislation concerning hate crimes, including recommendations on restitution for victims, community service designed to

remedy damage caused by any such crime, and additional alternative sentencing programs for first-time offenders and juvenile offenders. “Nobody should ever have to fear being the victim of the crime for being the person they are, and it is unconscionable that people continue to be targeted throughout our country because of the color of their skin, the religion they practice, the person they love, their country of birth, or any other personal attributes that identify who they are,” Lamont said. “I appreciate the willingness of this diverse group of members who have volunteered to serve on this council and deliver their insights so that we can establish policies that prevent these crimes from happening in the first place and ensure the appropriate actions are taken in the event that we are faced with crisis in the future.” The council is administered within the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. jewishledger.com

THE KOSHER CROSSWORD JUNE 11, 2021 “613” By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Manageable

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Across 1. Gadol ___ (important Jew) 6. Gets a Chanukah gift ready 10. Pulls back at the beach 14. Forbidden charge, in Judaism 15. Rehoboam to Solomon 16. Femur joiners 17. 613, in the Torah 20. “Joy of Kosher” abbr. 21. Purchases 22. Sewing need 23. “Cubist” Rubik 24. Moab’s land 25. 613 is one in math 29. Queens Coll. on Union Tpke. 32. 6/13, this year

33. Ireland’s Lingus 34. “You” in some Bibles 35. Added to the pot 36. Cold sound 37. Filmmakers Ethan and Joel 38. Symbol of Judah 39. Sheitel 40. Places where one can pick a 42-Across 41. Major record label, once 42. One has 613 seeds, according to lore 44. Ben ___ (ancient Jewish scribe) 45. Giant birds of myth 46. Mossad folk

49. “Marjorie Morningstar” author 50. Blood grouping syst. 53. What Six13 sings 56. City directly east of Be’er 29-Down 57. 10-digit ID at Amazon.com 58. “It’s just ___ those things” 59. Descartes of note 60. Make like Wilson or Rodgers 61. Necessities for contact tracing

Down 1. Make like Esau 2. Acer alternative 3. Stinky locale 4. Scepter top, perhaps 5. Kosher deli supply 6. “___ gonna call? Ghostbusters!” 7. NBA officials 8. What a sharpshooter takes 9. Home office item 10. “___ yofi!” 11. Major Queens st. 12. Life subj. 13. Fill 18. Like some eggs

19. Sign of sorrow 23. Rabbi Yaakov who was a 1-Across 24. App that can get you around 25. Davidic writing 26. Mysterious, as writing 27. Fly ___ rage 28. Her son is a big Krusty fan 29. See 56-Across 30. Palindromic Christopher Nolan film 31. David’s dad 34. Animated programs, for short 36. Shul high point 37. Meshuggeneh 39. Reason to go to synagogue, for

many 40. Put into categories 42. Fruit left overs 43. Disapproving sounds 44. Insinuating, as a remark 46. Open a bit 47. Actor Richard whose middle name is Tiffany 48. “Star Wars” star McGregor 49. New York’s Channel 2 50. Pub drinks 51. Bad mark on one’s reputation 52. Yutzes 54. Light-feather link 55. Haifa to Tsfat dir.

ANSWERS TO JUNE 4 CROSSWORD

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JEWISH LEDGER

JUNE 11, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Former Nazis give their ‘Final Account’ in new documentary BY ANDREW LAPIN

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(JTA) – There is a remarkable scene toward the end of the new documentary “Final Account,” a collection of eyewitness testimonies of the Nazi regime from elderly Germans and Austrians who remember it (and, to various degrees, were part of it). In the sequence, a former Waffen-SS officer sits down with a group of students in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee – the site of the infamous Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials met in 1942 to map out the parameters of the Final Solution. The officer, Hans Werk, speaks of the tremendous shame he feels for himself and his country to have orchestrated the genocide of six million Jews. When Werk is challenged by a young German nationalist – an anonymous right-winger obsessed with “protecting the Fatherland” and sick of hearing about “shame” from his elders – the former Nazi fires back, recounting Jewish friends and neighbors of his who had assumed they were also part of the Fatherland, until they were marched off to the camps. The true Nazi ideology was not patriotism, he says, but hate. “Do not let yourselves be blinded!” he shouts. The film itself has the same aim in mind. “Final Account” is the result of more than a decade of interviews conducted by British documentarian Luke Holland, who discovered his Jewish heritage as a teenager upon learning that his mother’s family had been murdered in the Holocaust. (Holland died last year shortly after completing the film.) “Final Account” is made up almost entirely of contemporary interviews with former Nazis. Naturally, there are many fewer eyewitnesses left alive today than there were four decades ago, when the French-Jewish filmmaker Claude Lanzmann interviewed scores for his landmark 10-hour documentary “Shoah.” Lanzmann could talk to high-ranking SS officers. By contrast, Holland’s interview subjects were largely children or teenagers at the time. Many of the anecdotes in Holland’s film revolve around the subjects joining the Hitler Youth as kids or watching their parents support the Nazi Party. A few worked at the camps, or the train stations that led prisoners to them, but their own accounts seem to conveniently distance

AN INTERVIEW SUBJECT FROM “FINAL ACCOUNT”

(COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES

themselves from the actual murders. Some continue to deny the genocide ever took place. These occasional denialists feel more like sideshows to the film’s main goal – and they might be committing a crime on camera, since both Germany and Austria have outlawed the practice of Holocaust denial. By and large, most of the interviews in “Final Account” focus on the language of culpability: when (or if) one’s presence within an evil regime constitutes being a perpetrator of its aims. “We didn’t support the party, but we liked the uniform,” one subject says, conjuring the comic images of exuberant Nazi children in “Jojo Rabbit.” Others remember the odd yet mundane details that allowed them to build an everyday life around the atrocities taking place in their name. Holland occasionally prods his subjects from offscreen to acknowledge their participation in crimes against humanity, much as Joshua Oppenheimer did to architects of the Indonesian genocide in “The Act of Killing.” Together, Holland, Oppenheimer and Lanzmann form an unsettling lineage of Jewish filmmakers who have felt compelled to confront genocide participants face to face on film. “Final Account” doesn’t have quite the same revelatory feel as its predecessors in this genre – the film rarely breaks through the surfaces of its subjects’ accounts to dig at whatever their emotional truth might be. Maybe there isn’t any: One of the overarching messages is that populations can follow hateful ideologies blindly if they feel acceptable enough to the masses. But there are moments that wrestle with deeper questions. The Wannsee scene, in which one generation of German seems incapable of passing on his personal and historical shame to the next, invokes not only the past but also the future of Holocaust memory. Their conversation is in anticipation of a world in which we have no more “final accounts.” When that does happen, and there are no more eyewitnesses left, how are we to continue the lessons of “Never Again”? It’s a question that has haunted the last century of Jewish life – and, by necessity, must also haunt the next.

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THE LEDGER SCOREBOARD Sylvan Adams gets rolling for bike race in Tel Aviv BY HOWARD BLAS

JNS) While Israelis were rushing for shelter in mid-May as thousands of rockets were raining down on them from Hamas in Gaza, Canadian-Israeli businessman and philanthropist Sylvan Adams was in Paris at a press conference featuring international biking-race organizers. He was helping promote and unveil plans to bring elite male and female riders to Tel Aviv at the end of the year for a new indoor cycling competition showcasing the world’s top track cyclists. The Sylvan Adams Velodrome in Tel Aviv will serve as host to the final round of the inaugural UCI Track Champions League on Dec. 11. The other events will take place at velodromes in Spain, France, Lithuania and England between Nov. 6 and Dec. 4. Adams, who made aliyah five years ago from Montreal, has been at the forefront of presenting Israel in a positive light in front of international audiences. In addition to bringing the UCI event to the Sylvan Adams National Velodrome, which will also host the 2022 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships, he has brought the prestigious Giro d’Italia bike race to Israel in 2018 and is also co-owner of the Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team. He brought soccer superstar Lionel Messi, and the national teams of Argentina and Uruguay, to Israel in November 2019, in addition to legendary singer Madonna to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019. Details of the innovative new bike-racing series were announced via a live digital event streamed from Saint-Quentin-enYvelines near Paris and Bath in the United Kingdom. Discussing the details of the upcoming competition were president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) – cycling’s world governing body – David Lappartient; Eurosport & Discovery Global Sports Rights & Sports Marketing Solutions president Andrew Georgiou; and François Ribeiro, the head of Eurosport Events. They were joined by ambassadors and track-cycling legends Kristina Vogel and Sir Chris Hoy MBE, plus key figures including businessman and, of course, Adams. Adams praised his cycling colleagues from England, noting that “we are taking a page from Britain to become a preeminent cycling country.” He says he is hoping to use the indoor velodrome event “to offer an opportunity to bridge from the road-cycling experience.” The 62-year-old billionaire then turned his attention to Israel, saying: “I am glad the Grand Finale will be in Tel Aviv; it is a jewishledger.com

very rich opportunity. I think of Israelis as winners. We win with anything we put our minds to.” The elite competition will feature many of the world’s highest-profile riders. The event is designed to build the global profile of track cycling beyond the four-year Olympic cycle. The 36 male and 36 female riders vying for victory in the League’s Sprint and Endurance categories will be motivated by prizes totaling more than €500,000 (nearly $615,000). “We are taking a page from Britain to become a preeminent cycling country.” Lappartient reports that “the launch of the UCI Track Champions League marks an important milestone in the history of track cycling–one of cycling’s historic disciplines and one that has been part of the Olympic Games since the first modern Games in 1896. I am very much looking forward to seeing this inaugural edition of the UCI Track Champions League take place in these iconic venues revealed today and to seeing the first four men’s and women’s winners of the 2021 UCI Track Champions League, celebrated in December in Israel.” Adams notes that “our velodrome – the first such facility in the Middle East – is just over a year old, and we already have developed some real track talents, both men and women, who will get the opportunity to race against the world’s best on their home track. “In a way, this will be our comingout party to the rest of the track-cycling world, which will get to see our world-class facility, as the event is going to be beamed into living-room TVs around the globe by Eurosport. …Looking forward to welcoming everyone to the great, exciting city of Tel Aviv.”

SYLVAN ADAMS

(COURTESY: ADAMS)

FUN, FRIENDS, FOREVER CT’s Premier Jewish Co-ed Overnight Summer Camp

For more information or a personal guided tour, please contact us. 463 Summer Hill Rd. Madison, CT PART OF THE 2018-19 BEMA CONCERT SERIES www.laurelwood.org 2626203.421.3736 ALBANY AVENUE • WEST HARTFORD • 860.233.9696 JEWISH LEDGER

JUNE 11, 2021

Summer 2021: Connecticut Camps are Back! Good news for kids (and their parents): It looks like things will be back to normal for Connecticut campers this summer. Almost. The Center for Disease Control recently issue guidelines for both day and overnight camps in which they “strongly encourage” COVID-19 vaccinations for campers and staff and suggest sticking with safe outdoor activities – as opposed to activities that keep campers indoors. With classrooms only days away from packing up for the summer break, and camp on the near horizon, we asked Jewish summer camp directors around the state what the camp experience will look like this season – and whether kids throughout Connecticut can expect a summer filled with lots of fresh air fun! Here’s what a few had to say.

CAMP LAURELWOOD Madison (203) 421-3736 info@laurelwood.org Laurelwood.org Session: June 27 – August 15 Family Camp Weekend: June 11-13 “We are absolutely running this summer,” says Rabbi James Greene, executive director of Camp Laurelwood, Connecticut’s only Jewish overnight camp. Last summer, due to COVID-19, overnight camps in Connecticut were not allowed to open. Instead Laurelwood offered three weeks of Family Camp and 75 hours of virtual programming throughout the summer. This summer will be different. “The State of Connecticut has given some guidance, but we are also following the guidance from the American Camp Association which studied camps that opened last summer as well as the best practices that have emerged since. In our cabins, campers will live as a ‘pod’ without social distancing. I think that campers will love being back home at Laurelwood, and

we could not be more excited to welcome them!” says Greene. Laurelwood will offer its usual camp fare -- swimming, sports, song sessions, Shabbat, tennis, basketball, softball, martial arts, boating, and a high and low ropes course. The camp’s two swimming pools have been renovated and there are new basketball courts. Also new is a garden area where campers will grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and a chicken coop – both part of a new nature program. “Rather than thinking about what is not possible. We have approached this summer with the mindset that everything is possible and we have worked to make every experience at Camp as safe as possible,” says Greene. “Camp is the place where our campers and staff build the world they aspire to live in and where we help them connect, explore, and inspire. After a year of isolation, camp is the perfect place for campers to unplug from their computer screens and re-engage with their Jewish culture and values in an in-person setting. Camp has 84 years of experience with this special technology, and we are ready to help campers return to a sense of normalcy with another magical summer at Camp Laurelwood.”

THE WATERFRONT AT CAMP LAURELWOOD

JEWISH LEDGER

| JUNE 11, 2021

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BASKETBALL DRILLS DURING A SUMMER SPORTS JAMS SESSION.

JCC SUMMER DAY CAMPS JCC of Greater New Haven (203) 387-2424 ext. 253 JCCNH.org/camp summercamp@jccnh.org

friends will help restore some normalcy,” says Lurie of her campers. “It was an amazing experience last summer and was a truly rewarding experience. Camp is a place where children feel safe and can just have fun.”

Session: June 21 - August 13

SPORTS JAMS – Mandell JCC Swim and Tennis Club Bloomfield (860) 231-6410 mandelljcc.org Sports Jams camps includes 10 weekly sessions in a variety of sports, including tennis, karate, golf, soccer, cheerleading, triathlon, and basketball. The JCC’s Sports Jams program operated last summer with limited hours and services. This year things will be different, says Sports Jam director Thai Tran, sports director at the Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford and director of the JCC’s Sports Jams summer program. “Cohorts are still required to be distanced from other cohorts; and group size has increased from 14 to 20 for each cohort,” Tran explains. “We are continuing to adopt the new guidelines with small cohorts. We will be opening full day 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. this year

CAMP GAN ISRAEL OF GREATER NEW HAVEN at Barnard Magnet School 1 New Haven (203) 701-9386 info@ganisraelnh.com ganisraelnh.com

instead of just the half day option. We are also offering after care until 5:30 p.m. In addition, we are bringing back most of the sports and activities we did previous summers before Covid. “Our campers’ safety is our number one priority. We will continue to clean, disinfect, and sanitize all surfaces and equipment before and after each usage. “Summer at our Sports Jams camps is about teamwork, building friendships, having fun and being active. Children need socialization and being active is very important for their physical and mental development. We provide a safe and fun environment where they get learn and play their favorite sports with old and new friends. Campers are active and engaged in a fun week of sport development under the guidance of experienced and talented instructors. All of our summer Sports Jams programs place an emphasis on sportsmanship, high energy, and fun.”

summer, and our campers were transported to trips on vans; this year the state is allowing groups on buses as long as each group can be socially distant.” Wilhelm said that while some normalcy

“The JCC Day Camps ran last summer for 10 successful weeks,” said Alison Lurie, assistant director of the JCC Day Camps, a program of the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven. “We had approximately 180 campers for each session. We currently have 220 enrolled [for 2021]… We plan to run it the same as last summer with the COVID protocols in place.” Activities at the JCC Day Camps in New Haven last year included arts & crafts, nature, music, drama, swimming gaga, archery and more. This year the camp will add a low ropes course as well as a woodworking program. “Going to camp and being with their

KIDS AT THE JCC DAY CAMPS IN NEW HAVEN GET A LOOK AT THE BULLS-EYE WHILE PARTICIPATING IN ARCHERY LEARNING TO PLAY THE SPORT OF ARCHERY.

is returning, Covid will still influence camp protocol this summer. “As we did last summer, we plan once again to rent drinking stations for each group to replace communal water fountains, as well

Session: June 28-Aug. 6 Last summer, during the COVID-19 crisis, Camp Gan Israel of Greater New Haven (CGI) operated in cohorts, each with a maximum of 14 children. Each cohort operated completely independently and no two groups intermingled. “This year we expect to run in a similar fashion, although the maximum cohort size is slightly bigger,” said Chanie Wilhem, CGI co-director. “Busing was not an option last jewishledger.com

A YOUNG CAMPER SWINGS HARD DURING A T-BALL GAME AT JCC DAY CAMPS IN NEW HAVEN.

SOCIALLY DISTANCED CANOEING AT CAMP GAN ISRAEL OF NEW HAVEN LAST SUMMER

as hiring staff to sanitize and disinfect shared areas,” she said. In addition, says Wilhelm, the pools will be open with limited capacity, with restrictions on how many campers are allowed in the pool at once. New activities this summer will include an expanded on-site game zone with new arcades, a new fleet of EzyRollers, Kangoo Jumps, hands-on animal programs, and some new outdoor games including 9 Square in the Air and AirOSport. “Camp is more important than ever for our children,” Wilhelm says. “Everyone has been affected by Covid – whether it’s anxiety, disruption of schooling, lack of consistent routine, less movement/exercise, lack of social interaction. CGI is accredited by the American Caping Association (ACA) and adheres to all safety guidelines.

(COURTESY OF CAMP GAN ISRAEL OF NEW HAVEN).

JEWISH LEDGER

JUNE 11, 2021

WHAT’S HAPPENING Jewish organizations are invited to submit their upcoming events to the our What’s Happening section. Events are placed on the Ledger website on Tuesday afternoons. Deadline for submission of calendar items is the previous Tuesday. Send items to: judiej@ jewishledger.com.

THRU JUNE 11 Art in Action: Young Artists’ Vision of 2020 The Mandell Jewish Community Center, in collaboration with the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, will showcase “Art in Action: Young Artists’ Vision of 2020,” a collection of creative work that captured the thoughts and emotions of teens from across the Greater Hartford region during the Covid-19 crisis. During the fall of 2020, more than three dozen Greater Hartford artists, ages 13-19, submitted to the Hartford Foundation a variety of creative projects which reflected their energy and emotions during the pandemic. The artwork – in an array of art forms, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, poems and music – were subsequently featured at the Foundation’s annual stakeholder event and in a virtual gallery on the organization[’s website. The works will be on display at the Mandell JCC thru June 11. For more information, visit mandelljcc.org.

THURSDAY, JUNE 10 Lunch & Learn: Is Humanity Still Jewish?

FRIDAY, JUNE 11 Singing the Standards An evening of jazz featuring the musicians Joe Canticello (piano), Niles Spaulding (bass), Bentley Lewis (guitar), Larry Davis (drums), Nathan Edwards (tenor saxophone), and Chris Vlangas (vocals/trombone). June 11 at 7 p.m. For more information or to register: jccinsherman.org, (860) 355-8050. Reservations required: $20/members | $25/ non-Members.

JEWISH LEDGER

FRIDAY, JUNE 18

Virtual Spring Celebration honoring Rabbi Herbert Brockman

Join the Dignity Stroll

Rabbi Herbert Brockman, rabbi emeritus at Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden, will be honored at a virtual celebration hosted by Jewish Family Services of Greater New Haven on June 17 at 7 p.m. The evening will also include a look at the impact of JFS of Greater New Haven on the community. For more info: (203) 389-5599 x110, jfsnh.org. RABBI HERBERT BROCKMAN WILL BE HONORED BY JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES OF GREATER NEW HAVEN, JUNE 17

THURSDAY, JUNE 10 THRU SUNDAY, JUNE 13 27th Annual Jewish FilmFest of Eastern CT “Here We Are,” from Israel, in Hebrew with English subtitles, (2020, 92 minutes) will screen online on June 10 - 13 at 7:30 p.m. The story of devoted father, Aharon, who has spent his life raising his son, Uri, who is autistic. Now a young adult, it might be time for Uri to live in a specialized home. While on their way to the institution, Aharon decides to run away with his son and hits the road, knowing that Uri is not ready for this separation. Or is it, in fact, his father who is not ready? Movie link will be available to view from Thursday at 12:01 a.m. through Sundays at 11:59 p.m. Admission if FREE (donations welcome). Registration is required. For more information or to register, visit JFEC.com.

UJA-JCC is sponsoring the Dignity Stroll at Cos Cob Park on June 18 from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. (rain date: June 25), to benefit Dignity Grows, a program that provides essential personal hygiene products to those in need. Meet at the park’s pavillion; bring coffee or tea/a challah tasting will be provided. Participants must sponsor a Dignity Pack. Free parking provided. For more information go to ujajcc.org

Book Club: “Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love” Inheritance, a memoir by author Dani Shapiro will be up for virtual discussion at the first meeting of Congregation Or Shalom’s book club to be held June 17 at 7 p.m. Inheritance is the story of a woman’s urgent quest to unlock the story – and secrets – of her own identity. Discussion led by Toby Zabinski. To register and receive the Zoom link, email coshalom@ sbcglobal.net.

THURSDAY, JUNE 17 THRU SUNDAY, JUNE 20 27th Annual Jewish FilmFest of Eastern CT “The Spy Behind Home Plate,” from the USA (2018, 80 minutes) will screen online on June 17 - 20 at 7:30 p.m. The first feature-length documentary to tell the real story of Morris “Moe” Berg, the enigmatic and brilliant Jewish baseball player turned spy. Berg caught and fielded in the major leagues during baseball’s Golden Age in the 1920s and 1930s. But very few people know that Berg also worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), spying in Europe and playing a prominent role in America’s efforts to undermine the German atomic bomb program during WWII. Guest speaker: Producer/Director/Writer Aviva Kempner, Sunday, June 20, 7:30 p.m. Movie link will be available to view from Thursday at 12:01 a.m. through Sundays at 11:59 p.m. Admission if FREE (donations welcome). Registration is required. For more information or to register, visit JFEC.com.

MONDAY, JUNE 14

Rabbi Eric Hoffman will discuss “Is Humanity Still Jewish” on June 10 at 12:30 p.m. Rabbi Hoffman will survey some applicable Talmudic guideposts for our path of life. Lunch & Learn is a weekly program hosted by UJA/JCC of Greenwich, every Thursday, 12:30 – 1:30 pm on Zoom. To register, visit ujacc.org. For information: (203) 552-1818.

THURSDAY, JUNE 17

Informational Meeting: Explore Israel in 2022 UJA-JCC Greenwich is hosting an informational meeting to discuss the mission to Israel it will leading 2002. The meeting will be held June 14 at 7;30 p.m. on Zoom. The upcoming mission will include:a tour of Shtisel’s Jerusalem and the “Salad Trail” in the south, exploration of the geopolitical realities of the security fence; participation in a Living Bridge project with colleagues in CT’s sister city of Afula…and, of course, ethnic cuisine. To register: ujajcc.org.

TUESDAY, JUNE 15 Brexit: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead The JCC in Sherman’s Great Decisions 2021 series will discuss the topic of “Brexit: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead” on Zoom, June 15, 7 - 8:30 p.m. FREE. For more information: jccinsherman.org/greatdecisions.

| JUNE 11, 2021

SUNDAY, JUNE 20 THRU TUESDAY, JUNE 22 Davis Film Festival: “Here We Are” INHERITANCE, A MEMOIR BY AUTHOR DANI SHAPIRO WILL BE UP FOR VIRTUAL DISCUSSION AT THE FIRST MEETING OF CONGREGATION OR SHALOM’S BOOK CLUB TO BE HELD JUNE 17.

Lunch & Learn: From Bruriah to Nechama Leibowitz Yuliya Mazur-Shlomi will lead an examination of these two female Torah scholars – apart in time, yet similar in destiny – and assess whether we’re walking in their footsteps today. From antiquity to today, are we our mothers’ daughters? Lunch & Learn is a weekly Zoom program hosted by UJA/JCC of Greenwich, every Thursday, 12:30 – 1:30 pm on Zoom. To register, visit ujacc.org. For information: (203) 552-1818.

UJA-JCC Greenwich Davis Film Festival presents “Here We Are” (Israeal, drama/ comedy, 91 min.), the story of a young happily married couple desperate to have a baby. A sincere yet painfully funny look at the pressures of family planning. Contains nudity and explicit sexual content. To register to receive a personalized Vimeo link (can only be viewed on the Vimeo site): (203) 552-1818. ujajcc.org.

MONDAY, JUNE 21 Tackling Antisemitism and Bigotry with NFL star Zach Banner UJA-JCC Greenwich presents “30 Minutes with Pittsburgh Steelers player Zach Banne”r on June 21. Moderated by Michael Neuman, founder of the Jewish Inspiration Foundation. In his work with Black Lives Matter, Banner advocates that communities of jewishledger.com

JUNE 11 – JUNE 29 writings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira (the Aish Kodesh). Lunch & Learn is a weekly Zoom program hosted by UJA/JCC of Greenwich, every Thursday, 12:30 – 1:30 pm on Zoom. To register, visit ujacc.org. For information: (203) 552-1818.

SATURDAY, JUNE 26 Benny Carter Tribute Jazz Concert

PRESENTED ONLINE JUNE 17-20 AS PART OF THE JEWISH FILMFEST OF EASTERN CT.

color must understand the Jewish experience of discrimination and seek ways to elevate themselves without “stepping on the backs of other people.” For more information, visit ujajaa.org.

THURSDAY, JUNE 24 THRU SUNDAY, JUNE 27 27th Annual Jewish FilmFest of Eastern CT “Crescendo” (from Germany, with English subtitles, 2020, 106 minutes) will screen June 24 - 27 at 7:30 p.m. It tell the story of a renowned conductor who assembles an orchestra of Israeli and Palestinian youth, only to be drawn into a tempest of distrust and discord. For personal reasons, maestro Eduardo Sporck agrees to arrange a symbolic concert for a Middle East peace summit in Italy. But as auditions begin in Tel Aviv, conflict between the factions flares up, and it takes all the conductor’s skills to get his musicians in harmony. An impressive cast of Israeli and Palestinian non-actors, lends authenticity to this powerful drama, loosely inspired by Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Guest speaker: Screenwriter Stephen Glantz, Sunday, June 27, 7:30 pm. Movie link will be available to view from Thursday at 12:01 a.m. through Sundays at 11:59 p.m. Admission if FREE (donations welcome). Registration is required. For more information or to register, visit JFEC.com.

THURSDAY, JUNE 24 Lunch & Learn: Torah from the Years of Wrath Henry Abramson, PhD, the Warsaw Ghetto jewishledger.com

This summer, the JCC in Sherman brings back its annual Benny Carter Tribute Jazz Concert featuring the TJ Thompson Trio, playing the soul, jazz and Blues of Nola, Memphis and more, will be held outdoors on June 26, 7 9 p.m. (rain date: Sunday June 27, 7 p.m.) Bring your mask and a chair! Tickets must be purchased online prior to the concert; they will not be available at the door. Limited seating available. Tickets: $20 Members | $25 Non-Members. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit jccinsherman.org, email info@jccinsherman.org, or call (860) 355-8050.

THURSDAY, JUNE 29 The Important & Impact of Telling Family Stories For more than two decades, along with his Emory Colleague Robyn Fivush, Prof. Marshall Duke has been studying the positive impact on children (and adults) of knowing their family stories – the good parts and the not-so-good parts. This FREE virtual talk will describe their research and bring participants up-to-date on the relationship between knowledge of family stories and psychological resilience. It will be held June 29 at 7 p.m. and hosted by United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien. To register, visit ujf.org/story. www.ujf.org/ story. For more information, contact Sharon Franklin at sharon@ tujf.org Jewish Historian Hasia Diner to discuss the Jewish migration to the New World Jewish historian Hasia Diner, the Paul And Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University and a two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, will talk about her book Roads Taken: The Great Jewish Migration to the New World as guest speaker at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford Annual Meeting, to be held June 29 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Diner is known for her work on immigration and ethnicity, American Jewry and the Holocaust, her biographies of Julius Rosenwald and Hank Greenberg, and more. Co-sponsored by the UConn Center for Judaic Studies and the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford. To register, visit jhsgh.org/2021-annualmeeting.

TORAHPortion Korach

BY SHLOMO RISKIN

“...for the entire congregation are all holy, and God is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above God’s assembly?” [Num. 16:3]

here did Korach err in his rebellion against Moses and Aaron? On the surface, his argument appears to be both logical and just: “You [Moses and Aaron] have gone too far. The entire congregation is holy, and God is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above God’s assembly?” Indeed, did not the Torah command the nation, “You shall be holy” (Lev. 19:2)? According to Korach, if, in fact, everyone is equally holy, leadership becomes a mere function of opportunity. The era of the old guard rule (Moses’ family) must come to an end; Korach’s family must be given its chance to express its inherent holiness! Granted, so goes this argument, God revealed Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush, and spoke directly only to him; but perhaps, if Korach had been raised in the palace of the pharaohs, and if he had had the opportunity as a free man of princely background to slay the Egyptian taskmasters, undoubtedly God would have spoken to him, as well. After all, we are all holy! It’s just that some have received more special opportunities than others! On the surface, Korach’s words contain a glib truth. In reality, however, Korach and Moses represent two different philosophies of life. At Mount Sinai, God did not declare everyone to be holy. Rather, He placed into the world the possibility of achieving holiness. “You shall be holy” is a command, not a promise or a declaration of an existing fact. It represents a potential, attainable by means of the commitment to a lifestyle of 613 commandments. When Korach argues that everyone is holy, that he, too, could have achieved what Moses achieved had he only had the proper opportunity, he is, in fact, uprooting holiness, not defending it. After all, if everyone and everything is holy, then the word “holy” loses its meaning. By arguing for holiness in the way that he does, Korach actually argues against holiness. In his view, we need not strive to achieve holiness. We are already holy! Perhaps this is why the Midrash pictures Korach as taunting Moses about the commandments of tzitzit (ritual fringes) and mezuzah. Does a garment which is wholly tekhelet still require a

thread of tekhelet in its ritual fringes? Does a house filled with Torah scrolls still require a mezuzah (which holds only a small portion of a Torah scroll) on its doorpost? And when Moses replies in the affirmative, Korach laughs at the apparent lack of logic in Moses’ teaching! But Korach misses the point. Moses teaches that the human being must constantly strive to improve, to become more holy than he was before. Humans must never dare rest on their laurels, because evil is always lying in wait to ensnare, even at the mouth of the grave. Hence, even a house filled with Torah scrolls still requires a mezuzah at the front door, and even a garment that is wholly tekhelet still requires ritual fringes. Never be complacent. There is never sufficient holiness; we must always strive for more! In contrast, Korach maintains that the status quo is holy – because nothing need change, grow, or develop. This is, in fact, the meaning of Korach’s name: the Hebrew root k-r-ch can either mean “bald” – no hair grows on a bald head - or “ice” – no vegetation developed during the Ice Age. “As is his name, so is he.” Korach rejects the command to become holy, the command of meritocracy, because he is cynically scornful of one’s ability to grow and develop and change and inspire. This mistaken worldview is the core flaw of Korach’s rebellion. Moses’ (and God’s) approach is fundamentally different. When Moses announces to the rebels the means by which God will determine who is holy to Him, he orders Korach and his men bring fire in the fire pans and offer incense. Why? At its best, fire symbolizes the possibility of change. By means of extreme heat, the hardest materials can be made to bend and melt, can be transformed from solid to liquid and to many states in between. Likewise, incense improves its surroundings: the sweet-smelling fragrance can remove the rancid odor of death and decay, and can transform the slaughtered carcasses of the animal sacrifices into an experience of commitment to God that can perfect the world. Moses’ vision is one of optimistic faith, the rising flames that draw forth the fragrance of the incense and soar heavenward. Material objects, humanity, the very world can be changed, elevated, and sanctified. All that is required is our merit, commitment, and achievement. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is founder and rosh yeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone and founding rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

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OBITUARIES ALEXANDER Jack Alexander, 92, of Stamford, died May 28. He was the husband of the late Charlotte Temerson. Raised in Woodmere, N.Y., he was the son of the late Elsie Robinson Alexander and Julius Alexander. He was a member of Temple Sinai in Stamford and Temple Shalom in Norwalk. He is survived by his sons, Moses, Julius, and Robert Alexander, and their spouses; nine grandchildren; his sister Bette Alexander; and his partner Shelia Schleir. BASKIND Sydelle M. Baskind, 88, of Bloomfield, died May 27. Born in Hartford she was the daughter of the late Joseph P. Mott and Esther M. (Ellish) Mott. She is survived by her children, Barry Baskind and his wife Eileen FitzGerald of Old Saybrook, Geri Baskind of Castro Valley, Calif., and Karen Baskind-Trombley and her husband Drew Trombley of West Granby; and her grandchildren, Sequoia Baskind and Sierra Wilcox (Casey Wilcox), Travis and Samuel Teffs, and Nicole and Dylan Trombley. She was also predeceased by her former husband, Stanley Baskind. BLOOM Bernard Bloom, 92, of Trumbull, formerly of Stamford, died May 21. He was the husband Janel (Levine) Bloom. Born in Peekskill, N.Y., he was the son of the late Jesse and Ida Bloom. He was also predeceased by his grandson Jeremy Alex Presser. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters, Karen Sullivan and her husband Dan of Columbus, Ohio, and Jessica Presser and her husband Michael of Trumbull; and his granddaughters, Ally and Rachael Sullivan, and Jamie and Jillian Presser. GAYLOR Naomi M. Gaylor, 96, of Lake Mary, Fla., formerly of Bloomfield, died May 22. Born in New Britain, she was the daughter of the late Dora (Cohen) and Samuel Schneider, She is survived by her brother Allen Schneider and his wife Naomi of Swarthmore, Penn.; his daughters, Ellen Yeaser and her husband Thomas of Lake Mary, Fla., Betsy Bayram of Sanford, Fla., Mary Morrow and her husband Jeffrey of Sanford, Fla.; her Marc Bayram of Berlin; and her great-grandsons, Marc and Max Bayram. GERMAIN Linda (Greenberg Hoberman) Germain, 77, of West Hartford, died May 30. She was the wife of Michael Germain. Born in West Hartford, she was the daughter of

the late Robert and Charlotte Greenberg of West Hartford. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Jennifer (Hoberman) Rosenfeld and her husband Joel Rosenfeld of Atlanta, Ga., and Matthew Hoberman and his wife Dena of West Hartford; her brother Peter Greenberg and his wife Janice of Winchedon, Mass.; her step-children, Kimberly (Germain) Daly and her husband Matthew of Topsfield, Mass., Jonathon Germain and his wife Joyce of Tustin, Calif., and Wendy (Germain) Grasso and her husband Brian of New York, N.Y.; her grandchildren, Nora and Emily Rosenfeld of Atlanta, Ga., Jane and Hayden Hoberman of West Hartford; Ethan and Erin Daly of Topsfield, Mass., Frannie and Jack Germain of Tustin Calif.; a nephew and numerous cousins. She was also predeceased by her grandson, Robby Hoberman of West Hartford. LUTIN Sylvia Rubenstein Lutin, 97, of West Hartford, died May 27. She was the wife of the late Aaron Lutin. Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Max and Fannie Rubenstein. She was also predeceased by her sister Dorothy Fischer, and her daughter-in-law Marian Lutin. She is survived by her children, Jeffrey and Gail Lutin, and Judy and Hal Mooney; her grandchildren, Melissa and Joshua Wikoff, Jason Lutin, Anne Lutin and Steven Mooney; and her great-grandchildren Avital and Benjamin Wikoff. MURRAY Nancy Murray, 91, of New Haven, died May 30. She was the wife of the late Alvin M. Murray. Born in Manhattan, N.Y., and raised in Demopolis, Ala. and New Haven, she was the daughter of the late Theodore and Regina Rosenthal. She is survived by her children, Mark Alan Murray and his wife Holly, and Carla Murray and her fiancé, Andrew Crane; her granddaughter Amanda Murray. She was also predeceased by her son Gene Murray. ROTH Harriet Roth, 85, of Stamford, died May 24. She was the wife of Martin Roth. She grew up in Westchester County, N.Y. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Josh Roth and his wife Karen; her daughter-in-law Bonnie Bader; her brother Michael Tannenbaum; and her grandchildren, Lauren, Douglas, Allie and Mollie. She was also predeceased by her son David Roth. For more information on placing an obituary, contact: judiej@ jewishledger. jewishledger.com

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CT SYNAGOGUE DIRECTORY To join our synagogue directories, contact Howard Meyerowitz at (860) 231-2424 x3035 or howardm@jewishledger.com. BLOOMFIELD B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom/ Neshama Center for Lifelong Learning Conservative Rabbi Debra Cantor (860) 243-3576 office@BTSonline.org www.btsonline.org BRIDGEPORT Congregation B’nai Israel Reform Rabbi Evan Schultz (203) 336-1858 info@cbibpt.org www.cbibpt.org Congregation Rodeph Sholom Conservative (203) 334-0159 Rabbi Richard Eisenberg, Cantor Niema Hirsch info@rodephsholom.com www.rodephsholom.com CHESHIRE Temple Beth David Reform Rabbi Micah Ellenson (203) 272-0037 office@TBDCheshire.org www.TBDCheshire.org CHESTER Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek Reform Rabbi Marci Bellows (860) 526-8920 rabbibellows@cbsrz.org www.cbsrz.org

COLCHESTER Congregation Ahavath Achim Conservative Rabbi Kenneth Alter (860) 537-2809 secretary@congregationahavathachim.org

Temple Sholom Conservative Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz Rabbi Kevin Peters Cantor Sandy Bernstein (203) 869-7191 info@templesholom.com www.templesholom.com

EAST HARTFORD Temple Beth Tefilah Conservative Rabbi Yisroel Snyder (860) 569-0670 templebetht@yahoo.com

HAMDEN Temple Beth Sholom Conservative Rabbi Benjamin Edidin Scolnic (203) 288-7748 tbsoffice@tbshamden.com www.tbshamden.com

FAIRFIELD Congregation Ahavath Achim Orthodox (203) 372-6529 office@ahavathachim.org www.ahavathachim.org Congregation Beth El, Fairfield Conservative Rabbi Marcelo Kormis (203) 374-5544 office@bethelfairfield.org www.bethelfairfield.org GLASTONBURY Congregation Kol Haverim Reform Rabbi Dr. Kari Tuling (860) 633-3966 office@kolhaverim.org www.kolhaverim.org GREENWICH Greenwich Reform Synagogue Reform Rabbi Jordie Gerson (203) 629-0018 hadaselias@grs.org www.grs.org

MADISON Temple Beth Tikvah Reform Rabbi Stacy Offner (203) 245-7028 office@tbtshoreline.org www.tbtshoreline.org MANCHESTER Beth Sholom B’nai Israel Conservative Rabbi Randall Konigsburg (860) 643-9563 Rabbenu@myshul.org programming@myshul.org www.myshul.org MIDDLETOWN Adath Israel Conservative Rabbi Nelly Altenburger (860) 346-4709 office@adathisraelct.org www.adathisraelct.org

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NEW HAVEN The Towers at Tower Lane Conservative Ruth Greenblatt, Spiritual Leader Sarah Moskowitz, Spiritual Leader (203) 772-1816 rebecca@towerlane.org www.towerlane.org Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel Conservative Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen (203) 389-2108 office@BEKI.org www.BEKI.org Orchard Street ShulCongregation Beth Israel Orthodox Rabbi Mendy Hecht 203-776-1468 www.orchardstreetshul.org NEW LONDON Ahavath Chesed Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Avrohom Sternberg 860-442-3234 Ahavath.chesed@att.net Congregation Beth El Conservative Rabbi Earl Kideckel (860) 442-0418 office@bethel-nl.org www.bethel-nl.org NEWINGTON Temple Sinai Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett (860) 561-1055 templesinaict@gmail.com www.sinaict.org NEWTOWN Congregation Adath Israel Conservative Rabbi Barukh Schectman (203) 426-5188 office@congadathisrael.org www.congadathisrael.org

NORWALK Beth Israel Synagogue – Chabad of Westport/ Norwalk Orthodox-Chabad Rabbi Yehoshua S. Hecht (203) 866-0534 info@bethisraelchabad.org bethisraelchabad.org

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Temple Shalom Reform Rabbi Cantor Shirah Sklar (203) 866-0148 admin@templeshalomweb.org www.templeshalomweb.org ORANGE Chabad of Orange/ Woodbridge Chabad Rabbi Sheya Hecht (203) 795-5261 info@chabadow.org www.chabadow.org Congregation Or Shalom Conservative Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus (203) 799-2341 info@orshalomct.org www.orshalomct.org SIMSBURY Chabad of the Farmington Valley Chabad Rabbi Mendel Samuels (860) 658-4903 chabadsimsbury@gmail.com www.chabadotvalley.org Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, Emek Shalom Reform Rabbi Rebekah Goldman Mag (860) 658-1075 admin@fvjc.org www.fvjc.org SOUTH WINDSOR Temple Beth Hillel of South Windsor Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman (860) 282-8466 tbhrabbi@gmail.com www.tbhsw.org

WALLINGFORD Beth Israel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Bruce Alpert (203) 269-5983 info@bethisraelwallingford. org www.bethisraelwallingford. org WASHINGTON Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life Rabbi James Greene (860) 868-2434 jewishlifect@gmail.com www.jewishlife.org WATERFORD Temple Emanu - El Reform Rabbi Marc Ekstrand Rabbi Emeritus Aaron Rosenberg (860) 443-3005 office@tewaterfrord.org www.tewaterford.org WEST HARTFORD Beth David Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Yitzchok Adler (860) 236-1241 office@bethdavidwh.org www.bethdavidwh.org Beth El Temple Conservative Rabbi James Rosen Rabbi Ilana Garber (860) 233-9696 hsowalsky@bethelwh.org www.bethelwesthartford.org Chabad House of Greater Hartford Rabbi Joseph Gopin Rabbi Shaya Gopin, Director of Education (860) 232-1116 info@chabadhartford.com www.chabadhartford.com

SOUTHINGTON Gishrei Shalom Jewish Congregation Reform Rabbi Alana Wasserman (860) 276-9113 President@gsjc.org www.gsjc.org TRUMBULL Congregation B’nai Torah Conservative Rabbi Colin Brodie (203) 268-6940 office@bnaitorahct.org www.bnaitorahct.org

Congregation Beth Israel Reform Rabbi Michael Pincus Rabbi Andi Fliegel Cantor Stephanie Kupfer (860) 233-8215 bethisrael@cbict.org www.cbict.org Congregation P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Shabbat Services Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener (860) 561-5905 pnaiorct@gmail.com www.jewishrenewalct.org

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Kehilat Chaverim of Greater Hartford Chavurah Adm. - Nancy Malley (860) 951-6877 mnmalley@yahoo.com www.kehilatchaverim.org The Emanuel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi David J. Small (860) 236-1275 communications@emanuelsynagogue.org www.emanuelsynagogue.org United Synagogues of Greater Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Eli Ostrozynsk i synagogue voice mail (860) 586-8067 Rabbi’s mobile (718) 6794446 ostro770@hotmail.com www.usgh.org Young Israel of West Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Tuvia Brander (860) 233-3084 info@youngisraelwh.org www.youngisraelwh.org WESTPORT Temple Israel Reform Rabbi Michael S. Friedman, Senior Rabbi Rabbi Danny M. Moss, Associate Rabbi Rabbi Elana Nemitoff-Bresler, Rabbi Educator (203) 227-1293 info@tiwestport.org www.tiwestport.org WETHERSFIELD Temple Beth Torah Unaffiliated Rabbi Seth Riemer (860) 828-3377 tbt.w.ct@gmail.com templebethtorahwethersfield. org WOODBRIDGE Congregation B’nai Jacob Conservative Rabbi Rona Shapiro (203) 389-2111 info@bnaijacob.org www.bnaijacob.org

JUNE 11, 2021

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JEWISH LEDGER

| JUNE 11, 2021

jewishledger.com

WHMedia, Inc.

Published on Jun 8, 2021

CT Jewish Ledger • June 11, 2021 • 1 Tammuz 5781

3 min read

Mr. President

Isaac Herzog was elected on June 2 as president of Israel. Though largely ceremonial, the president does play a key role in deciding who gets the mandate to form a government following elections, as well as the power to pardon people and grant clemency.

2 min read

Campus News

The chancellor of Rutgers, New Jersey’s flagship public university, condemned antisemitism…then following protest from a pro-Palestinian student group, apologized for the condemnation.

15 min read

An Accidental Hero

When Rashela Mizrahiwas was tapped to serve as Macedonia’s temporary minister of labor, she was simply acting as a placeholder ahead of elections. But what began as a token stint resulted in the country’s worst-ever wave of antisemitic rhetoric.

7 min read

Arts & Entertainment

The new documentary “Final Account,” is a collection of eyewitness testimonies of the Nazi regime from elderly Germans and Austrians who remember it (and, to various degrees, were part of it).

3 min read

Mr. President

2 min read

Campus News

The chancellor of Rutgers, New Jersey’s flagship public university, condemned antisemitism…then following protest from a pro-Palestinian student group, apologized for the condemnation.

15 min read

An Accidental Hero

7 min read

Arts & Entertainment

The new documentary “Final Account,” is a collection of eyewitness testimonies of the Nazi regime from elderly Germans and Austrians who remember it (and, to various degrees, were part of it).

Go explore