CT Jewish Ledger • October 8, 2021 • 2 Cheshvan 5782

Friday, October 8, 2021 2 Cheshvan 5782 Vol. 93 | No. 41 | ©2021 jewishledger.com

Finding Light in the Darkness 1

JEWISH LEDGER

| OCTOBER 8, 2021

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| OCTOBER 8, 2021

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INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | OCTOBER 8, 2021 | 2 CHESHVAN 5782

9 Around CT

10 Briefs

14 Torah Portion

17 Crossword

18 What’s Happening

A Watershed Moment.......................................................... 5 In his first address as prime minister to the UN General Assembly in New York, Israel’s Naftali Bennett called polarizations one of two plagues effecting the world at the moment, with the other being the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fire in the House................................................................... 5 Last week, just before the festive holiday of Simchat Torah, a fire engulfed a New Haven Chabad house— but the shul’s recently restored Torah scroll survived.

20 Obituaries

21 Business and Professional Directory

22 Classified

Arts & Entertainment..................... 8 Silenced by the COVID pandemic, the Mandell JCC at long last brings back its popular arts & culture events. And the result is a revamped and revitalized roster of impressive programs.

OPINION.............................................15 Will New York Times editors admit to echoing antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and apologize?

In Memoriam..................................20 Two giants in the Jewish world died last week: Rabbi David Eliach z”l, the longtime and pioneering leader of Brooklyn’s Yeshivah of Flatbush; and Rabbi Moshe Tendler z”l, who was considered an expert in issues of Jewish law and medical ethics.

CANDLE LIGHTING ON THE COVER:

Westville-based author Mark Oppenheimer’s new book recounts the Tree of Life synagogue massacre through interviews with those impacted, while examining the effects of the event on Squirrel Hill, the neighborhood where the shooting took place. PAGE 12 jewishledger.com

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UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | OCTOBER 8, 2021 | 2 CHESHVAN 5782

At UN, Bennett warns world Iran’s nuclear program at a ‘watershed moment’

BY DMITRIY SHAPIRO

(JNS) Demarking a clear distinction between himself and his predecessor, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that one of the most dangerous problems in the world today is political polarization.

In his first address as prime minister to the United Nations General Assembly in New York Monday morning, Bennett called polarizations one of two plagues affecting the world at the moment, with the other being the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Both the coronavirus and polarization can erode public trust in our institutions.

Both can paralyze nations,” Bennet said.

The effects of this polarization could be devastating, especially in a world where there are algorithms that fuel people’s anger towards each other.

“People on the right and on the left operate in two separate realities, two separate spheres, each in their own social media bubble,” said Bennett. “They hear only the voices that confirm what they already believe in.

And then people end up hating each other.

Societies get torn apart because they are not hearing each other.”

Israel, he said, has successfully taken action against both plagues, with early vaccine adoption and now, being the first in the world to begin providing booster shots even before the approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

But in the face of polarization, alluding to although not naming his predecessor, former Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, who faced four elections in two years, the people chose his government because they “yearned for an antidote: calm, stability, [and] an honest attempt at political normalcy.”

Despite forming a divided government, Bennett said that the members speak to each other with respect and act with decency, even if they hold very different opinions from each other, because they are acting for the good of their nation.

Arguing is also healthy and is a basic tenet of Jewish tradition and Israeli society and, he said, one of the secrets to why Israel is known as the “Startup Nation.”

“Debate is the power of innovation. But CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

Torah Scroll Escapes Flames in New Haven

L

BY PAUL BASS

ess than three days before the festive holiday of Simchat Torah, in which Jews dance with the Torah, a fire engulfed a New Haven prayer house— but the the scroll inside survived.

The fire broke out Sunday, Sept.

26, at around 4 a.m. at 296 Norton St., in the heart of New Haven’s growing Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic Orthodox Jewish community.

Rabbi Berl Levitin, who lives on the second floor of the house with his wife Feiga, customarily wakes up at that time. He went into the kitchen to wash his hands. He smelled smoke from outside the house.

“Then I see red outside,” Rabbi Levitin, who is 69, recalled later that day. He went to the bathroom — and saw flames.

He woke up Feiga. They fled outside to safety. (No one else lives in the house.)

The fire department received the call at 4:12 a.m., according to Assistant Chief Justin McCarthy.

He said the three-alarm fire began on the rear of the first floor of the building. Sixty firefighters were called to the scene; they brought the fire under control at 5:26 a.m. (Firefighters from Hamden, West Haven and East Haven came to New Haven to help provide coverage for the rest of the city.)

The fire caused “pretty heavy damage” to the second and third floors, according to McCarthy. He said the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Mayor Justin Elicker, who came to the scene, said he was struck to find “that the couple lived in the home were so calm and at peace as they watched their home burning. When I approached, they expressed more concerns for the firefighters than any concern for themselves or the loss of their belongings. I imagine that deep faith is what drives such serenity at such a moment of loss.”

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NAFTALI BENNETT ADDRESSES THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, IN NYC, USA. SEPTEMBER 27, 2021.

PHOTO BY AVI OHAYON/GPO

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

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Bennett CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

what we’ve now proven in Israel, is that even in the age of social media, we can debate, without hate,” Bennett said.

As far as COVID-19 is concerned, Bennett said that he believes that the government should do whatever it takes to avoid lockdowns, quarantines and restrictions.

The best way to achieve this is to recruit citizens into the fight against COVID-19.

Parents in Israel, he said, are using government-provided home testing kits to test their children for COVID-19, allowing schools to continue operating.

With the Israeli public is now receiving the third dose of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19, Bennett says that statistics are showing that a person inoculated with a booster shot is seven times more protected than just with the first two shots eight months in and 40 times more protected than an unvaccinated person.

Bennett outlined the model Israel uses to react to changes, including a coronavirus task force he heads which merges science and politics.

“My friends, running a country during a pandemic is not only about health, but it’s also about carefully balancing all aspects of life that are affected by corona, especially jobs and education,” Bennett said. “While doctors are important input, they cannot be the ones running the national initiative. The only person that has a good vantage point of all considerations is the national leader of any given country.”

‘If you think Iranian terror is confined to Israel, you’re wrong’ Bennett covered a vast range of topics, from the terrorist threats on Israel’s border to the hope of peace with neighboring countries as part of the Abraham Accords.

Not unexpectedly for an Israeli prime minister, Bennett devoted a portion of his speech to speak about Iran and the danger it poses to peace and stability for Israel and the rest of the Middle East.

“If you think Iranian terror is confined to Israel, you’re wrong,” Bennett said. “Just this year, Iran made operational a new deadly terror unit—a startup—swarms of killer UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) armed with lethal weapons that can attack any place at any time. They plan to blanket the skies of the Middle East with this lethal force.”

The drone Bennett was speaking about was the Iranian Shahed-136 suicide drone, which is credited with attacking American bases in Iraq and a recent attack on a civilian ship that killed a British and Romanian sailor.

Bennett also pointed to Iran’s further nuclear enrichment and stonewalling of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 6

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inspections as further proof that Iran is moving further into belligerence rather than seek peace.

“Iran’s nuclear program has hit a watershed moment and so has our tolerance,” Bennett said. “Words do not stop centrifuges from spinning.”

Both in the beginning and end of his

speech, Bennett compared Israel to a lighthouse spreading light in the middle of stormy seas—standing tall and strong, with its light brighter than ever.

“My friends, every member state in this building has a choice. It’s not a political choice, but a moral one. It’s a choice between darkness and light,” Bennett said near the

conclusion of his speech. “Darkness that persecutes political prisoners, murders the innocent, abuses women and minorities, and seeks to end the modern world as we know it.

Or light that pursues freedom, prosperity and opportunity.”

Israeli PM Naftali Bennett to American Jewish leaders: ‘We have to redesign our relationship’

N

BY BEN SALES

EW YORK (JTA) — The first thing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, facing a room full of the leaders of the American Jewish community: “I wish my mom were here.”

The son of American immigrants to Israel, Bennett, like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks a fluent, nearly accentless English, and spent years living in the United States as both a child and an adult.

But in other crucial ways, Bennett sounded different from Netanyahu in his first public address to American Jewish leaders as prime minister. The speech, delivered in Manhattan a couple hours after he addressed the United Nations, was given to dozens of heads of the Jewish federation system, leading rabbis and other organizational bigwigs. It was the first time many of them had seen each other since the start of the pandemic.

They received him warmly. In recent years, the relationship between Netanyahu and major American Jewish groups had soured, particularly after he froze an agreement to expand a non-Orthodox prayer space at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2017. A month before Netanyahu left office,

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NAFTALI BENNETT SPEAKS TO AMERICAN JEWISH LEADERS IN NEW YORK CITY ON SEPT. 27, 2021.

(COURTESY JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA/SARA NAOMI LEWKOWICZ)

| OCTOBER 8, 2021

one of his closest aides said at an Israeli conference that Israel “should be spending a lot more time doing outreach to evangelical Christians than you would do to Jews.”

Bennett struck a different tone. Just like he did at the U.N. earlier on Monday, Sept.

27, Israel’s current prime minister drew a contrast in style from his predecessor without mentioning his name. He talked about how much Israel could learn from American Jews, and how important it was for the two poles of the Jewish community to have a mutually respectful conversation.

“You have our back, and it just means a lot,” he said. He added later, “It doesn’t mean we’re going to agree on everything.

We’re not. But we’re going to talk to each other and we’re going to listen to each other.”

He also suggested that Israel and American Jewry should enter a new era. For decades, American Jews gave tens of millions of dollars to support Israel’s development.

Now, Bennett said, Israel is doing fine on its own and should move beyond acting just as a refuge for persecuted Jews.

“Since the inception of Israel, and actually it predates the inception of Israel, Israel has been the project of the Jewish people, but we’re doing OK,” he said, citing

Israel’s economy and tech sector. “Now, we have to redesign our relationship.”

What that might look like in practice remained vague. Bennett didn’t make any concrete promises when it came to enshrining religious pluralism in Israeli policy, an issue that has historically been important to the people he was addressing.

He hit the same notes on Iran as Netanyahu, vowing to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear bomb and saying Israel “will not outsource our security to anyone, even to our best friends.”

In addition, as in his speech at the U.N., he didn’t discuss the Palestinians, and is on record, over and over, opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state, which most American Jews support.

And it was clear that Israel is worried about its standing in the U.S. Both Bennett and Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, mentioned the attempt by a handful of progressive Congress members to block additional funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system (it ended up passing the House of Representatives by a vote of 420-9, with two members voting “present”).

While Bennett said that the episode was “telling” and didn’t elaborate on the flap, Erdan was much harsher, saying that the Congress members who opposed Iron Dome were “either ignorant or antisemitic.”

For the most part, Bennett seemed happy to forgo policy discussions in favor of a charm offensive. He sought points of commonality with the crowd, talking about everything from how his mom couldn’t find American cereal when she moved to Israel to how he was in New York City on 9/11.

At the end of the speech, he repeated an anecdote about Israeli politeness (or lack thereof) that had also drawn a laugh from an American audience in Tel Aviv in 2012, at the beginning of his political career.

If he wanted to charm the crowd, it appeared to work. When he ended the speech by saying “I love you,” he got a standing ovation.

jewishledger.com

Torah CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, McCarthy said; one, for instance, hurt his foot on a burnt-out portion of the rear staircase. All three were treated at the scene without needing to go to the hospital.

The Levitins escaped injury.

So did the Torah scroll.

296 Norton also houses an alternative prayer space, called The Schlounge, for young adults and young families who are connected to the Lubavitch community but weren’t regularly attending services at Congregation Chabad Lubavitch, the main synagogue next door at 292 Norton.

(The Levitins conduct programs for elderly Russian emigres inside 296 Norton, as well.)

In 2019, the community found 40 donors to pony up $70,000 to purchase a kosher Torah scroll for services at the Schlounge. A festive celebration began at the home of the largest donor, Shmuel Aizenberg, where Rabbi Levitin and others filled in the final letters of the scroll. Then community members, led by a three-piece rock band from Brooklyn on a flatbed truck, paraded down Norton Street, where they danced with the scroll and then delivered it to the Schlounge.

Rabbi Levitin kept the scroll in a fireproof safe. That made the difference Sunday morning.

Two days after the fire, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Jews chanted from and danced with Torah scrolls to mark the completion of the weekly public Torahreading cycle, as part of the holiday of Simchat Torah which celebrates the Jewish community’s commitment to and love for the Torah’s teachings.

Because of the fire, the chanting and dancing won’t happen inside the Schlounge’s regular home at 296 Norton.

RABBI LEVITIN RETRIEVES TORAH SCROLL FROM FIRE-DAMAGED HOUSE. (PAUL BASS PHOTO)

But because the scroll survived, the reading and dancing can still take place — next door, at Congregation Chabad Lubavitch. The congregation’s president, Moti Sandman, said Sunday that the scroll has been relocated there, and the members of the Schlounge will have their own space inside the synagogue to celebrate the holiday.

This article is reprinted with permission from New Haven Independent (newhaven independent.org).

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Arts & Culture programming returns to the Mandell JCC — renewed and invigorated

MEMBERS OF THE MANDELL JCC’S 2022 JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL COMMITTEE AT THEIR FIRST MEETING.

BY STACEY DRESNER

W

EST HARTFORD – On Oct. 5 the “peacebuilding” exhibit “Abraham: Out of One, Many” opened in the Chase Family Gallery at the Mandell JCC. With this new exhibit – the first to go up in the gallery since it closed in March 2020 due to the COVID pandemic – and a host of other programs scheduled through next summer, the JCC is back to offering the live arts and cultural programming that is one of the organization’s defining features.

Like many JCCs, the Mandell JCC has offered its members virtual arts programming over the past 18 months. But JCC Executive Director David Jacobs is excited to return to in-person programming.

“People miss being together,” he told the Ledger. “When people come to an event here it’s more than just coming to an event, it’s coming together as a community, and that is the thing we miss.

“I call the arts the ‘heart and soul’ of who we are. It’s where we make important statements about our beliefs and what’s important to us. And, while I think there is a value to seeing the arts on the screen, experiencing the arts – whether you’re in a live theater presentation or at a lecture or walking through a gallery, those experiences are very different. They are authentic and, I think, so much more meaningful.”

The “Abraham” exhibit features the work of three contemporary artists of Middle Eastern heritage — Quais Al Sindy, Sinan Hussein and Shai Azoulay — representing, respectively, the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faiths. For the exhibit, each artist created paintings that focus on five specific themes from Abraham’s life that can guide the world today in living more harmoniously.

“Abraham is seen as a model of hospitality – of welcoming the “stranger” and embracing the “other,” Reverend PaulGordon Chandler told an audience gathered at the JCC for the exhibition’s opening.

Chandler, the exhibit’s curator, is president and CEO of CARAVAN, an international peace-building arts non-profit organization.

The event was held both in-person and virtually.

“The exhibition attempts to artistically answer the question, ‘what can Abraham teach us today about freeing our world from sectarian strife?’” He explained.

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The Abraham exhibit is on display until Nov. 16. It is presented by the Mandell JCC and the Hartford Seminary, in partnership with Episcopal Church in Connecticut, First Church West Hartford and the John P. Webster Library.

“A show such as this can serve as a force for social change and play an important role in framing and renewing culture,” Jacobs added. “We are truly honored to be partnering with some extraordinary agencies to bring our communities this extraordinary exhibition.”

Sharing resources While in-person programming was sidelined during the pandemic, the JCC was able to provide some arts and cultural programming virtually during that period.

For example, last year, the JCC partnered with the JCC Literary Consortium to present the virtual “Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival: In Your Living Room,” allowing JCC members the opportunity to view author’s conversations in the comfort and safety of their own homes.

“One of the Covid keepers, let’s call it, was that we discovered certain JCCs had the ability to develop programs that they could offer to all of us and that we could offer to our constituency,” Jacobs said. “The Atlanta JCC had the resources to put together a book festival of all sorts of authors – called ‘Book Festival in your Living Room.’ We simply loaded up all of those programs onto our social media and our members could sign up for them locally.

We thought, if somebody else is doing this, let’s take advantage of it because resources are so limited, and it was such a great opportunity.”

The Mandell JCC – along with Voices of Hope – was recently able to share one of its programs this way, via a virtual presentation of the book launch of Mitka’s Secret on Sept. 19.

“We did that program with the Gordon Jewish Community Center in Nashville, Tenn., and the Nashville Holocaust Memorial, because two of the authors [Steven Brallier and Lynn Beck] live in the Nashville area. And one of the authors is Joel Lohr who is the president

| OCTOBER 8, 2021

and professor of Bible and Interreligious Dialogue at the Hartford Seminary,” Jacobs said.

This year’s Mandell JCC Jewish book festival will stay virtual – In Your Living Room, featuring books such as Squirrel Hill by Marc Oppenheimer (see cover story, p12), The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington, and To Be A Man by Nicole Krauss.

Another JCC arts program that is scheduled to be held in person, is a Nov. 21 concert by the Guy Mintus Trio.

“LIVING AS A PILGRIM” A PAINTING BY QAIS Mintus, an Israeli Jazz pianist, AL SINDY, IS ON DISPLAY IN THE CHASE FAMILY GALLERY OF THE MANDELL JCC DURING THE and his co-musicians will EXHIBIT, “ABRAHAM: OUT OF ONE, MANY.” perform from his new album, “A Gershwin Playground” – the music of George and Ira Gershwin with an Israeli jazz several more artists is set to grace the walls twist. of the JCC’s Chase Family Gallery, including “In November we are hoping there a multi-media exhibit from the Connecticut will still be a level of comfort with people Women’s Artist Council; “Our Voice Our coming out for programming,” Jacobs Vision” created by students in the CREC said. “Everything is going to be based on programs about social justice and social the recommendations of the CDC and the action; and paintings by West Hartford state and we’re just going to follow those native Marjorie Feldman, the daughter of recommendations carefully and be as safe Edward Lewis Wallant Award founders as possible.”

Fran ad Irving Waltman.

Thankfully, Jacobs said, “the feedback But maybe some of the most special and reaction we’ve gotten from the works of art were on display late this past members and the community has been summer when the gallery’s walls were incredibly positive. People are appreciative, covered with artwork created by children at and we’ve had people come back to the JCC the JCC’s various summer camps. because we’ve done this.”

“It was a beautiful representation of Planning for the JCC’s 2022 Jewish Film the work of the kids,” Jacobs said. “I think Festival is underway, but how all of the for the children to walk into the Chase films will be shown is still not certain.

Gallery and see their work on the walls was “We are currently screening films for incredibly meaningful. And it says to these next year. We’re hoping we can do some little four- and five-year-olds, ‘this is an of it live, but we’re thinking some of it will art gallery and here you are. You can keep remain virtual,” Jacobs said. coming back to this place.’”

And as soon as the Abraham exhibit comes down in November, the work of jewishledger.com

AROUND CT Friendship Circle hosts a rootin’ tootin’ Sukkot celebration

O

n Sunday, Sept. 26, more than 100 members of the Greater Hartford Jewish community gathered outside the Chabad House in West Hartford for a Wild West-themed Sukkot celebration, hosted by the Friendship Circle.

In keeping with the holiday of Sukkot, which celebrates the harvest and the value of gratitude, participants had the opportunity to embrace their inner cowboy by brushing a real horse, getting up close and personal with critters such as snakes, lizards, and rabbits, learning how to lasso and throw horseshoes, mining for gold, and much more.

Like so many events hosted by the Friendship Circle, the Wild West celebration combined Judaism with social programming for a diverse group of people.

And it whetted the participants’ appetite for

Friendship Circle events planned for the year ahead.

“Seeing everyone at our first event this year was amazing. I had a great time with my “Friends at Home” group and can’t wait until I see them again,” said Friendship Circle Teen Board member Matt Farber.

A project of Chabad of Greater Hartford, Friendship Circle partners teen volunteers with children and young adults with special needs to create an inclusive Jewish community. The group hosts many programs throughout the year, including arts, sports, weekly hang-outs (known as Friends at Home), and Jewish holiday events. To learn more, visit them on Facebook under Friendship Circle Hartford, on Instagram @fcharford, at friendshipcirclect.com or call (860) 833-4035.

At the Hebrew Center for Health and Rehabilitation, we understand that comfort and familiarity is a key part of the journey to wellness. We also understand that maintaining your religious beliefs and principles is fundamental in continued enrichment of life.

Our Kosher meal services allow residents to maintain their dietary requirements throughout their stay with us. At the Hebrew Center, we ensure we follow all principles of Kosher including purchase, storage, preparation, and service.

At the Hebrew Center for Health and Rehabilitation, we also offer a variety of other services and amenities to ensure your stay is as comfortable as possible.

ARWEN THE HORSE STOPPED TRAFFIC ON HIS WALK ACROSS ALBANY AVE TO ATTEND FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE’S WILD WEST SUKKOT, WHERE BEN COEHLO, LEFT, AND AJ LESHEM HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BRUSH, PET AND FEED HIM.

B’NAI MITZVAH ADAM DIAZ-MATOS, son of Michelle Fish and Andrew Diaz-Matos, will celebrate his bar mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 9, The Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford.

AVIVA ROBBINS, daughter of Gadiel and Julie Robbins, will celebrate her bat mitzvah on Saturday, October 9 at Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel in New Haven. jewishledger.com

THESE SERVICES INCLUDE: • Passport to Rehabilitation Program • Long-Term Skilled Nursing Care • Specialized Memory Care • Respite Care Program • Palliative Care and Hospice Services Coordination

OUR AMENITIES INCLUDE: • Barber/Beauty Shop • Café • Cultural Menus • Laundry and housekeeping services • Patient and Family education • Life Enrichment

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For more information on our Kosher program, please contact: DIRECTOR, PASTORAL SERVICES - (860) 523-3800 Hebrew Center for Health and Rehabilitation One Abrahms Boulevard, West Hartford, CT 06117

L IKE U S ON

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Briefs Rand Paul refuses to fasttrack $1 billion in new funding for Iron Dome (JTA) — Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, is the latest lawmaker to get in the way of $1 billion in new assistance to Israel to replenish its Iron Dome anti-missile system. Paul on Thursday revealed himself to be the single senator refusing to “hotline” the bill now that it has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. “Hotlining” is when all 100 senators agree to allow a bill to go straight to the floor for a vote, substantially accelerating the process.

Paul is one of the most outspoken opponents of foreign assistance, and for a period a number of years ago proposed eliminating assistance to Israel. A spokesperson for Paul told Politico that Paul will drop his objection to the Iron Dome hotlining if the $1 billion comes from proposed assistance to Afghanistan.

Paul’s stand is the latest wrinkle in a funding request that has roiled Congress.

Progressives last week squelched a plan by the Democratic leadership in the House to slip the money into an unrelated emergency stopgap government funding bill, saying the last-minute inclusion undercut congressional conventions. Instead, the Democratic leadership advanced the funding in a standalone bill, which passed overwhelmingly.

Israel asked for the $1 billion, which is in addition to $500 million the Iron Dome gets each year, to replenish supplies after Israel’s Gaza conflict in May.

David Lee Roth, Van Halen’s proudly Jewish former frontman, is retiring (JTA) — David Lee Roth, best known for fronting Van Halen during the band’s heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, said Friday that he is retiring from music. “I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “This is the first, and only, official announcement.” Roth, 66, grew up with Jewish parents and reportedly first learned to sing while preparing for his bar mitzvah. His grew up in Indiana and later southern California, where he performed with other bands before joining Van Halen in 1974.

As a part of the world famous group, also anchored by its late virtuosic guitar player Eddie Van Halen, Roth became one of rock music’s most famous showmen. He first left the band in 1985 — he would leave and rejoin it multiple other times — and embarked on a less touted solo career, releasing seven albums on his own.

In his autobiography “Crazy From the Heat,” and in a rollicking interview with The Washington Post during a stretch of his 10

JEWISH LEDGER

solo run in 2003, Roth expounded on his Jewish identity. He claimed, in the words of Post writer David Segal, that “much of his style and energy came from fury over anti-Semitism and an urge to crush Jewish stereotypes.”

“There’s not a lot of Jewish action figures,” Roth told Segal. “Heroes for little Jewish kids are very few and far between…Jewish kids take a paperback to the beach instead of a football,” he added later, “half-approvingly” according to Segal.

Roth was a member of Van Halen again during the time of its guitarist’s death last year, after which the group disbanded. He will play a farewell series of shows in Las Vegas in January.

House Foreign Affairs Committee advances IsraeliArab normalization bill (JNS) The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a bipartisan bill on Thursday that aims to build on the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. H.B. 2748, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) on April 30, requires the U.S. State Department to take certain actions to promote further normalization of relations between Israel, Arab states, and other relevant countries and regions. The bill was authored by Schneider, along with Reps. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Mike McCaul (R-Texas).

A Senate version of the bill, S. 1061, was introduced on March 25 by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho). This version of the bill was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June and is awaiting a vote by the Senate.

According to a bill summary by the Congressional Research Service, the legislation would require the State Department to develop a strategy for expanding and strengthening the accords, as well as have the United States encourage further normalization of relations with Israel. The department must also report on the status of the normalization, in addition to laws in Arab League nations that punish people-to-people relations and provide evidence of Arab governments taking steps in encouraging the normalization of relations between their citizens and Israelis.

Schneider thanked his colleagues for helping advance the bill out of committee.

“It is my hope that my bill will lift the chances of peace in the Middle East and provide a better future for all,” he tweeted.

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UK Labour Party announces review process for antisemitism complaints

Seattle City Council to allow police to train with Israeli forces

(JTA) — Labour members attending the British party’s annual conference passed a rule on how they will handle antisemitism complaints, leading the party’s leader to declare that they had “closed the door this evening to antisemitism in the Labour Party.” “We’ve turned our back on the dark chapter. Having closed that door, that door will never be opened again in our Labour Party to antisemitism,” Labour leader Keir Starmer said. The change passed Sunday in Brighton, England, stipulates that complaints about antisemitism will be reviewed by an independent committee. During his years at the helm of the party, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was accused of allowing antisemitism to fester among some of the party’s left-wing supporters. During the conference, Starmer reiterated an apology to Jews for the proliferation of antisemitism in Labour’s ranks in recent years.

Jewish Labour supporters welcomed the change. The party is “turning the page on the blight of anti-Semitism,” said Jewish former Labour lawmaker Ruth Smeeth, who was bombarded with antisemitic death threats in 2019. The change to the complaint review process, which Starmer vowed to implement, was recommended by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the British government’s watchdog on racism.

The Commission recommended the move in a 2020 report in which it accused Corbyn of being responsible for “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” against Jews. Corbyn, a far-left politician who has advocated a blanket boycott of Israel, laid wreaths at monuments for Palestinian terrorists and once called the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah his “friends.” In 2014, one year before his election to head Labour, he also said that Hamas, labeled a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, was devoted to justice and peace.

Corbyn’s critics said his anti-Israel rhetoric emboldened antisemites, and a Labour ethics panel found that Corbyn failed to punish offenders, the Commission found.

The conference also featured a vote that criticized Israel, demonstrating that there is still antagonism towards the Jewish state in the party. At a panel on foreign relations, a majority of members attending passed a resolution that “condemns the ongoing Nakba in Palestine, Israel’s militarised violence attacking the Al Aqsa mosque, the forced displacements from Sheikh Jarrah and the deadly assault on Gaza.” “Nakba” is Arabic for disaster, and is used to describe the destruction of Arab communities during Israel’s War of Independence.

(JTA) — In a contentious meeting last week, the Seattle City Council narrowly voted down legislation that would have prohibited the city’s police department from conducting training with Israeli forces. The bill, which was defeated by a vote of 5-4 at the council’s meeting on Sept. 20, was conceived following the May conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Its lead sponsor was a socialist council member, Kshama Sawant, who also led a protest in June seeking to block an Israeli cargo ship from docking at Seattle’s port. The defeat of the bill marks at least the third vote this month in which a major local anti-Israel motion brought in the wake of the May conflict did not pass. Two weeks ago, the Burlington, Vermont, city council voted to withdraw a resolution to boycott Israel. Last week, the teachers union in Los Angeles voted to “indefinitely” delay a boycott vote.

In Seattle, Sawant initially sought to ban the city’s police from training with Israel’s military or police forces. The bill was later modified to ban training with the military or police of any country that is not party to certain international human rights treaties, or that has been found by an international court or the United Nations to have violated human rights conventions. Human rights groups as well as the United Nations General Assembly have accused Israel of violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

The bill followed a years-long campaign by pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, opposing U.S. police delegations to Israel. More than 1,000 senior American police officers have participated in such delegations, which seek to learn from Israeli counterterrorism and security practices. Some of the groups that oppose such delegations have called them a “deadly exchange” in which American police forces adopt Israeli forces’ abusive practices. Trip organizers say that allegation is false, with some saying that suggestions that Israel is to blame for racist policing practices in the United States amounts to antisemitism.

The local Jewish federation as well as the Anti-Defamation League, which runs police delegations to Israel, opposed the legislation.

Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group that has campaigned against the police exchanges, supported the legislation.

Alex Pedersen, a council member who opposed the legislation, said he wanted to “demilitarize” the Seattle police but had determined the bill was a distraction that local Jewish organizations had cautioned against.

“I believe this legislation has been not only distracting but also divisive,” he said, citing “leaders in synagogues and our city who are very concerned about the origin, intent and impact of this legislation. From a policy jewishledger.com

standpoint, I believe the legislation seems to be an errant solution in search of a problem.”

But Sawant said that the bill targets not Jews but a country she believes is violating international human rights law. The debate was marked by interruptions and personal attacks between council members.

training from CSS experts. “The recent rise in antisemitic incidents and reported hate crimes bears out the need for partnering in a way that seeks to tangibly improve the security of American Jewish institutions,” said ADL national director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

Avner Netanyahu, Bibi’s son, announces engagement

Thousands call on Calif.

Gov. Newsom to veto ethnicstudies bill now

Avner Netanyahu, the younger son of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced on Sunday that he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Noy Bar. Bar, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree, serves as the spokesperson for Amichai Chikli, a Knesset member from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina Party.

Bar and Netanyahu, both 26, have been dating for more than two and a half years.

For the most part, they have kept their relationship out of the public eye. A source who knows the couple said that the two actually got engaged several weeks ago, but sought to keep it private for a while. They confirmed the news on Sunday with the traditional Instagram post of the ring.

Jewish watchdogs partner to combat antisemitism in-person, online (JNS) Two organizations dedicated to the security of the Jewish communities have announced a partnership to improve the safety of the community nationwide.

The Anti-Defamation League and the Community Security Service will each utilize their strengths to enhance the work of the other as Jews continue to be targeted for harassment or assault in person and in the cybersphere. According to hate-crime statistics released this summer by the FBI, crimes against the Jewish community comprised 60 percent of all religion-based hate crimes in the United States in 2020.

“Each of our organizations plays a distinct role in the ongoing fight against the rise of anti-Semitism and the myriad of violent extremist actors targeting our community,” said Evan Bernstein, national director and CEO of CSS. “At the same time, in order for us as a community to lower our vulnerability in the face of tangible threats and intractable issues like anti-Jewish animus, it is incumbent upon us to pool our resources and expertise in meaningful and measurable ways.”

CSS relies on a cadre of community volunteers to secure local institutions, especially synagogues. Experts from the ADL’s Center on Extremism will be able to provide CSS volunteers with detailed reports on current trends in antisemitism and extremism.

Meanwhile, the ADL will benefit from CSS’s work on the ground to better track antiSemitic incidents and hate crimes; its staff will also have opportunities to take security jewishledger.com

(JNS) California Gov. Gavin Newsom is being pressured by thousands of Californians to reject a recently passed bill mandating ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement as his Oct. 10 deadline to sign or veto the legislation slowly approaches.

Assembly Bill (AB) 1010 would mandate ethnic studies a requirement for all students in California public high schools within the next 10 years.

In a petition published on Monday, Sept.

27, nearly 3,000 people argued that despite new “guardrail” language in the legislation, AB 101 “does not, and by law cannot” prevent school districts from using the previously vetoed, anti-Semitic first draft of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) or the “even more dangerously anti-Semitic” Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.

The latter curriculum includes “overtly antiJewish and anti-Zionist lessons and explicitly promotes student engagement in actions to harm Israel, especially BDS,” the petitioners wrote.

In a letter to Newsom on Thursday, a total of 74 religious, civil rights and education groups that support California’s Jewish community said they also “strongly urge” the governor to veto the bill.

In late September, 170 California high school students and parents signed a petition opposing AB 101, and hundreds of Holocaust survivors and their descendants called on Newsom to veto the bill. The Los Angeles Times also published an editorial against AB 101 and urged Newsom to veto the bill for the same reasons.

The first draft of the ESMC was rejected

by Newsom, Jewish communal organizations, the State Board of Education and California’s Jewish Legislative Caucus due to its antiSemitic rhetoric and promotion of the BDS movement. The California legislature recently voted to advance AB 101; Newsom has until Oct. 10 to take action regarding the bill.

capabilities,” said Czech Defense Minister Lubomir Metnar, according to a report by DefenseNews. “Finally, we will get rid of our dependence on the Soviet Kub [systems] from the 1970s, which do not meet the current requirements for airspace protection,” he said. The Czech army reportedly plans to use the systems for at least 20 years; adding the cost of maintenance would make the total amount reach about $1 billion. The delivery of the Israeli system of four launchers is scheduled to be finished by 2026, said the ministry. Rafael describes the Spyder system as a short- and long-range mobile air-defense system that can defend large areas against various threats, including aircraft, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles, UAVs and stand-off weapons.

Poway synagogue shooter gets life without parole in state court sentencing (JTA) — The man who opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, in 2019 will spend the rest of his life in prison. The shooter, who attacked the Chabad of Poway with an automatic rifle on the last day of Passover, killed one person, Lori Gilbert Kaye, and injured three, including the synagogue rabbi and a child. He turned himself into police following the shooting and pleaded guilty to federal and state charges this year.

The guilty pleas allowed John Earnest to avoid a death sentence, and at his state sentencing on Thursday, he received life without parole. His federal sentencing will take place in December. “He will be erased from history,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “What will remain is the name of Lori Gilbert Kaye and all of the heroes that jumped into save life that day.”

The shooting took place exactly six months after a synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that killed 11 people at prayer. It was the first of three fatal antisemitic attacks in 2019.

In December of that year, assailants killed Jews in Jersey City, New Jersey and Monsey, New York. Before the sentencing, relatives of Gilbert Kaye addressed the court. Ellen Edwards, her sister, called her “an amazing wife, mother, sister and friend.”

“What do you say in front of the person who killed my sister?” she said, according to Yahoo News. “I hate you. That just doesn’t seem enough.”

Czech Republic signs $627 million deal for Israeli airdefense system

Harris aides address backlash after exchange with college student on Israel

(JNS) The Czech Ministry of Defense signed a $627 million deal to purchase the Spyder surface-to-air missile system by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the ministry announced. “I appreciate the willingness of the Israeli government to share with us a state-of-the-art defense system that will move our military towards 21st-century

(JNS) U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has been in touch with pro-Israel and Jewish organizations after an exchange this week with a student in Virginia who accused Israel of ethnic genocide. “The vice president strongly disagrees with the student’s characterization of Israel,” Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders said in a

statement, CNN reported. Sanders said that “throughout her career, the vice president has been unwavering in her commitment to Israel and to Israel’s security. While visiting George Mason University to discuss voting rights, a student voiced a personal opinion during a political science class.”

Harris’s exchange with the student took place on Tuesday, Sept. 28, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. In a video of the event, Harris is seen nodding as the female student lambasted the United States for its support of its allies in the Middle East.

“I see that over the summer, there have been, like, protests and demonstrations in astronomical numbers,” said the student, who identified herself as half-Iranian, halfYemeni, referring to Palestinian protests during Israel’s 11-day conflict with the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza in May. “Just a few days ago, there were funds allocated to continue backing Israel, which hurts my heart because it’s ethnic genocide and the displacement of people—the same that happened in America, and I’m sure you’re aware of this,” the student continued, referring to the special budget passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to support Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system, blaming this and other such measures for “inflaming Israel and backing Saudi Arabia and what-not.”

Harris did not directly address the above accusations but said she was “glad” that the student wasn’t afraid to come forward with her grievances. “This is about the fact that your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth, should not be suppressed, and it must be heard, right? And one of the things we’re fighting for in a democracy, right?” she said.

Harris received backlash on social media, with the Republican National Committee posting an excerpt of the exchange. “Kamala Harris supports a student who accuses Israel of ethnic genocide—there goes Kamala doing what she does best—supporting terrorists and insulting allies,” one critic tweeted.

Following the controversy, Harris and her aides were in touch with several pro-Israel organizations, who backed up her support for Israel.

According to CNN, Harris’s deputy national security adviser, Phil Gordon, and her deputy communications director, Herbie Ziskend, led the outreach and tried to clarify that her silence did not equate any agreement with the student’s claims of ethnic genocide. “There’s a recognition that the impression left by her failure to correct the student is problematic and does not reflect her commitment to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, nor that of the president and the administration,” William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told CNN.

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AUTHORS CORNER

Mark Oppenheimer Finds Light In The Darkness

BY BRIAN SLATTERY/NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

T

here is a moment early in Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood, by Westville-based author Mark Oppenheimer — released last month — that brings the writer’s intentions into crystal clarity. As part of his recounting of the largest antisemitic mass murder in U.S. history, Oppenheimer tells us about Daniel Leger, a 70-year-old hospice nurse who was inside the building on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018, with 66-year-old doctor and friend Jerry Rabinowitz when they heard the shooting start. They rushed toward the sound of gunfire to try to help.

“We did exactly what people who train you for crisis situations tell you not to do,” Leger recounted later. “We thought that we could somehow be helpful.”

Rabinowitz was shot and killed. Leger was critically wounded and figured he would not survive. In addition to being a hospice nurse, Oppenheimer tells us, Leger was a member of the New Community Chevra Kadisha, a holy society that performs tahara, the preparation of bodies for burial according to Jewish customs.

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“It just seemed like a logical extension of the work that I had been doing as a hospice nurse,” Leger said later. “It was not so unusual for me to have had a patient in

| OCTOBER 8, 2021

hospice, been present at their tahara, and then do the funeral and bury them.”

Leger had always assumed that when his own time came, his friends would perform tahara for him. “As the medics carried him into the ambulance, he lost consciousness,” Oppenheimer relates. “Then, at the hospital, he saw what he took to be the shadows of four people. He thought he was dead, and he wasn’t afraid. What he thought was My God, it’s the chevra kadisha. And they’re taking care of me.”

Drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with dozens of residents of Squirrel Hill, from survivors to activists to bystanders, Oppenheimer’s book isn’t so much about the massacre at Tree of Life synagogue — in which 11 people (Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Cecil and David Rosenthal, 59 and 54; Bernice and Sylvan Simon, 84 and 86; Daniel Stein, 71; Melvin Wax, 88; and Irving Younger, 69) were murdered. Instead, it is about the community’s overwhelming response to it.

There is a retelling of the shooting, as there needs to be to understand what follows. But Oppenheimer quickly moves from the horrific event itself to the way the violence affected so many, both within the neighborhood’s vibrant Jewish community and beyond.

It’s a story about dealing with trauma, about the long road of coming to terms with what happened, and about the questions it raises — not about why bad things happen to good people, but about what people can do about it when bad things happen.

In The Neighborhood The focus of Oppenheimer’s book steers him immediately away from a discussion of the motivations of the shooter, Robert Bowers.

It’s a brave choice and an important one.

Other writers have already covered some of that ground. Bowers himself — who is still awaiting trial — spelled out on social media the deep anti-immigrant and antisemitic rage that fueled his attack. It’s natural to want to probe these motivations further to try to understand why he (or anyone) would commit mass murder. Maybe a book about Bowers would yield the kind of harrowing insight Dave Cullen offered in his writing about the Columbine school shooting. But maybe the same research would run up against a version of Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil,” the term she coined to describe Adolf Eichmann’s maddeningly shallow defense for being a major organizer of the Holocaust;

even in the face of a capital trial for murder on a scale and ferocity that horrified the world, Eichmann submitted that he was just following orders.

Oppenheimer isn’t interested in delving broadly into the psychology of mass killers, about which much has been written. In turning to the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill — and following what happens in it for the first year after the shooting — he ventures into much less well-trod territory. He takes on the complicated issues regarding whether and how people persevere, how those in a community sustain themselves and one another, after an episode of mass violence.

He sheds light on the basic questions of what people do when confronted with choices of whether and how to intervene and help, and how to do the work of recovery — the same kinds of questions embedded in the study of genocide, and in school curricula like Facing History and Ourselves (the magnet theme of New Haven Academy).

Addressing those questions begins with getting to know individual people, not solely as individuals, but as threads in the social fabric of Squirrel Hill.

“There were a number of people who could have been books unto themselves,” Oppenheimer said. In addition to Leger, whose story runs through the book, there is Tammy Hepps, a community organizer.

“I also think that Jerry Rabinowitz, who scarcely shows up in the book — who was murdered, and who was this extraordinary doctor, who was one of the principal primary care physicians for people with HIV back in the ‘80s and ‘90s — deserves a book of his own,” Oppenheimer said. “And it was hard to resist the temptation to write books about these extraordinary people. But I really did keep getting pulled back to the idea that the protagonist was the neighborhood.”

Oppenheimer was first drawn to the story because he had a family connection to Squirrel Hill and a reporter’s curiosity for how the neighborhood was coping. When he first began his research for the book, “I came in with the idea that I wanted to meet as many people as possible in Squirrel Hill, and if I had a thesis, it was the pretty obvious one that something like this touches everybody,” Oppenheimer said. Five months later, after about a dozen trips to Pittsburgh meeting people and getting to know the place, “I realized there was no one character emerging, that instead it was entire social networks of characters, spread out across this geographically small but spiritually really dense place called Squirrel Hill. If you walk around the neighborhood, it insists on itself jewishledger.com

as a serious place. There’s street life. The shop windows all had these ‘Stronger Than Hate’ signs that I write about.” And, in the winter of 2018-19, “there were all of these stars of David and snowflakes and hearts that people had made from all over the world, that were hanging in the trees. So you would walk down Forbes Avenue, in the heart of the business district, and there was this reminder ... it was as if angels were there. It was really, really deep to be there. It was kind of inescapable, and I wanted to capture that.” Or, he added with humility, try to.

Making the neighborhood itself the primary subject meant adopting a somewhat unusual structure for a nonfiction book, of hopping from person to person, and to some extent backward and forward in time, even as the year progressed. “The idea of bouncing both chronologically but also across different points of view — moving through a year, but also shifting perspective throughout that year — I think came pretty organically,” Oppenheimer said. “It’s when I sat down and kept outlining the book, and re-outlining the book, and figuring out how to get in all the stuff I wanted to get in — it just kind of eventually emerged.”

In structuring the book he thought back to J. Anthony Lukas’s Common Ground, about racial tensions in Boston in the 1960s and 1970s. His “love of short chapters” came from Mrs. Bridge, a novel by Evan S. Cannell.

He took inspiration from Janet Malcolm. He didn’t write the sections in the order in which they appear in the book. The first part he wrote was about the community’s observance of Tisha B’av — “the bleakest holiday on the Jewish calendar,” as he describes it in the book, commemorating a series of disasters that have befallen the Jewish people on that day, including the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Babylon and Jerusalem — “because that was a moment when all of these disparate characters were in one place, chanting the liturgy ... and the liturgy is the Book of Lamentations.” It seemed to pull together so many who had been involved. “In some ways the book radiated backward and forward from there.”

The sense of a roving eye gives the first part of the book velocity and high emotional impact. Fred Rogers, perhaps Squirrel Hill’s most famous resident, once said in times of calamity to “look for the helpers.” Oppenheimer shows them to us, from those who guarded the bodies to those who organized community gatherings and collected donations. The outpouring of compassion is a deluge, and it is moving stuff.

Hard Questions The opening chapters also set the reader up for the more complicated questions that arise as the initial months pass. What should be done with the physical building of Tree of Life? What is the best use of the donated funds, and who gets to decide how they’re allocated? These trickier situations reach a head at a huge community gathering jewishledger.com

a year after the event. The speakers agree beforehand that they won’t talk about politics.

But then Rabbi Jonathan Perlman of the New Light Congregation does just that. He’s criticized for his outspokenness. But then, can we talk about what happened at Tree of Life without talking about politics? Without mentioning gun control, or the rhetoric of a certain former president and the possibility that it gave courage to antisemites?

“That’s really a question that Tammy Hepps was posing: is this all Jews can be?

Just take care of each other and not have prophetic witness about gun control, or White supremacy, or Trump?” Oppenheimer said.

“She struggles with that, and I wanted to show her struggle. I wanted to show Rabbi Perlman’s struggle.”

There are no easy answers to these questions — not really — and in giving space for so many to speak, Oppenheimer is able to present those questions in all their complexity. “I don’t have a lot of conclusions about this stuff,” he said. Deeper still, he has a keen sense of limits of his own understanding.

“After 32 trips to Pittsburgh, I still don’t think I know what it was like to be at or close to a mass killing,” he said. “Just as, before we went through a pandemic, we could have imagined what it was like to go through a pandemic, but we didn’t know what it was like to go through a pandemic.” Still, he added, “maybe writing this book brought me closer to understanding what it was like to be near Tree of Life, or in Squirrel Hill, at the time.”

There’s a good word for the act of trying to connect with another person’s experience while knowing that full understanding is impossible: at its heart, Squirrel Hill is a work of profound empathy.

Oppenheimer doesn’t see his book as the final, definitive word on what the Tree of Life massacre means — for the survivors, for the neighborhood, for Pittsburgh, for Jews, or for the country. “There are people from the community who have written about it, and more will write about it, and that’s all to the good. There’s no cap on the number of different perspectives we can have, or the number of different versions out there,” he said. “Hopefully people will keep talking about the Tree of Life shooting. The great fear is that nobody will keep talking about the Tree of Life shooting. When I talk to Gentiles now about the book I’m working on, and I say, ‘it’s about the shooting in Pittsburgh,’ most of them say, ‘what shooting in Pittsburgh?’ Because there have been other mass shootings since, and people move on in America. It’s special to me because I wrote about it and also because I’m Jewish, and I think the Jewish community remembers it, just as I think the Black community remembers the shooting in Charleston, and the gay community and the Latino community remember the shooting at Pulse, in Orlando.

But there have been several hundred killings of four or more people since Columbine, and most of us don’t remember most of them.”

In that sense, Oppenheimer sees himself as writing for the widest audience possible

— “curious readers,” as he put it. While acknowledging the book’s importance to Jews, “the book will be a failure if only the Jewish community pays attention.”

That matters because “I think America is definitely entering one of its cyclical periods of heightened antisemitism, and I think that there is a lot to be said about it that I didn’t touch on, and there will be people who think more deeply and profoundly about why hatred cycles back to the Jews. But it’s pretty concerning,” Oppenheimer said.

He pointed to a recent survey from the Cohen Research Group, partnering with the Louis D. Brandeis Center, showing that half of Jewish college students had at some point hidden their identity, and 65 percent had felt unsafe on campus.

“In the several decades after the Holocaust, the Western world felt so guilty that there was a bit of a holiday from overt antisemitism, at least in the United States, Canada and Australia. But I think that’s coming to an end, and we’re probably resetting to normal levels of it, which are too high,” Oppenheimer said. He sees it in the rise of conspiratorial thinking in the far right, and also in some of the pro-Palestinian statements from the far left. He sees it — and tolerance for it — in the general “willingness to forgive and forget who Louis Farrakhan really is, as an antisemite and a homophobe,” and in the “continued career of Mel Gibson, who has referred to Jews as ‘oven dodgers.’”

He sees it also in the relative inattention paid to the attacks on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn in recent years, and in the recent murders of Jews in Jersey City.

But Squirrel Hill isn’t a polemic against antisemitism, or a full-throated argument for gun control, or a broadside against the former president. It’s about a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, the way it rallied around those most harmed by a single brutal attack, and the way it continues to find a way into the future without forgetting the past. In the face of the many questions the book raises, the people of Squirrel Hill seem to be providing something like answers, if only in how they live their lives.

“I really do feel like this is a hopeful book,” Oppenheimer said. “The portrait of warm, caring community is big enough to drown out the germ of evil that got this all started.” The shooter, he said, “really is one guy. There are other people who share his ideology, but this was the act of one person. That’s not bigger than the thousands of people in Squirrel Hill.”

Mark Oppenheimer will speak at the Mandell JCC on Sunday, Nov. 7. For information, visit mandelljcc.org.

This is article first appeared in the New Haven Independent (www. newhavenindependent.com) and is reprinted with permission.

JEWISH LEDGER

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OCTOBER 8, 2021

13

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BY SHLOMO RISKIN

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JEWISH LEDGER

| OCTOBER 8, 2021

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hat is the connection between Adam’s existential state of aloneness and the tragic social isolation which results from the Tower of Babel, when one universal language is replaced by seventy languages, leading to bedlam, confusion and dispersion?

To answer our question, let us begin by returning to the story of creation and G-d’s declaration: “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a help-opposite for him” (Gen.2:18). When Adam fails to find his ‘helpopposite’ among the animals, we are told: “The Lord G-d cast a deep sleep upon man and while he slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place, and of the rib, which the L-rd G-d had taken from the man, He made a woman, and brought her to the man” (Gen. 2:21-22).

Why is the birth of Eve surrounded with this poetic quality? Why does her creation differ radically from all other creatures? The answer is that had Eve been created from the earth like the rest of the animals, Adam would have related to her as a two-legged creature.

Even if she walked and talked, she would end up as one of the animals to name and control.

Her unique ‘birth’ marks her unique role.

In an earlier verse, we read that “G-d created the human being in His image; in the image of G-d He created him, male and female created He them” (Gen. 1:27). “Male and female” suggests androgynous qualities, and on that verse, Rashi quotes a midrashic interpretation that G-d originally created the human with two “faces,” Siamese twins as it were, so that when He put Adam into a deep sleep, it was not just to remove a rib but to separate the female side from the male side.

G-d divided the creature into two so that each half would seek completion in the other.

Had Eve not emerged from Adam’s own flesh to begin with, they could never have become one flesh again.

Awakening, Adam said of Eve, “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh” (2:23). His search was over, and what was true for Adam is true for humankind. In the next verse, G-d announced the second basic principle in life: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh” (2:24). “Leave” does not mean reject; but it does mean that one must be mature and independent in order to enter into a relationship of mutuality with one’s mate.

(How many divorces can be traced to crippling parent-child relationships!)

One of the goals of a human being is to become one flesh with another human being, and this, the truest of partnerships, can only be achieved with someone who is really part of yourself, only with someone to whom you cleave intellectually and emotionally. If a relationship suffers from a lack of concern and commitment, then sexuality suffers as well.

The Torah wants us to know that for humans, sexual relations are not merely a function of procreative needs, but rather an expression of mutuality on a profound level. Hence, in contrast to the animal kingdom, humans are not controlled by periods of heat; sexuality is ever-present. Thus Nahmanides speaks of one flesh in allegoric terms: through a transcendent sexual act conceived in marriage, the two become one. Rashi interprets the verse, “You shall become one flesh” to mean that in the newborn child, mother and father literally become one flesh. In the child, part of us lives on even after we die.

The entire sequence ends with the startling statement, “And they were both naked, and they were not ashamed” (2:25). Given the Torah’s strict standards of modesty how are we to understand a description which seems to contradict traditional Jewish values?

I would suggest a more symbolic explanation: Nakedness without shame means that two people must have the ability to face each other and reveal their souls without external pretense. Frequently, we play games, pretending to be what we’re not, putting on a front. The Hebrew word ‘beged’ (garment) comes from the same root as ‘bagod’ – to betray. With garments I can betray; wearing my role as I hide my true self. The Torah wants husband and wife to remove garments which conceal truth, so that they are free to express fears and frustrations, not afraid to cry and scream in each other’s presence without feeling the “shame of nakedness.” This is the ideal ‘ezer kenegdo.’

The first global catastrophe, the flood, struck when the world rejected the ideal relationship between man and woman. Rape, pillage, and unbridled lust became the norm.

Only one family on earth - Noah’s remained righteous. Now, with the Tower of Babel, whatever values Noah attempted to transmit to future generations were forgotten.

What exactly happened when one language became seventy is difficult to understand. Yet, metaphorically, one language means people understand each other. With their ‘ezerkenegdos,’ existential and social loneliness is kept at bay as they become one in love and in progeny.

The Tower of Babel represents a new stage of depravity, not sexual, but social. People wanted to create a great name by building great towers, not for the sake of Heaven, but for the sake of materialism; the new god became splendid achievements with mortar

jewishledger.com

OPINION

NY Times blames powerful ‘rabbis’ for crushing AOC’s principles

BY GILEAD INI

(JNS) The New York Times was the subject of uncomfortable attention for its coverage of a House of Representatives vote in favor of helping Israel procure more interceptors for its Iron Dome missile defense system.

In a piece that spent nearly as much time promoting the anti-Israeli arguments of the eight Democrats who voted against the bill as it did sharing the views of their 210 party colleagues who supported it during the Sept. 23 vote, reporter Catie Edmonson also focused on one representative who voted “present.”

Along with most other members of the so-called “Squad” of like-minded legislators, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had initially voted against funding for the Iron Dome, which was put into heavy use last May to combat barrages of indiscriminate rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. A short while later, though, she changed her vote from the House floor.

Edmondson had ideas about why the vote was changed: “Minutes before the vote closed, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez tearfully huddled with her allies before switching her vote to ‘present.’

The tableau underscored how wrenching the vote was for even outspoken progressives, who have been caught between their principles and the still powerful pro-Israel voices in their party, such as influential lobbyists and rabbis.”

Jewish clergy were nowhere to be seen on the House floor. And for some reason, they didn’t get to Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush and the small handful of others opposed to the Iron Dome funding.

But, yes, it was apparently powerful “rabbis” who, in the middle of the vote, helped cajole Ocasio-Cortez into

and brick. As they reached greater physical heights, they forgot the human, inter-personal value of a friend, a wife, a life’s partner.

According to the Midrash, when a person fell off the Tower, work continued, but if a brick crashed to the ground, people mourned.

Thus the total breakdown of language fits the crime of people who may be physically alive, but whose tongues and hearts are locked –people who are no longer communicating with each other. It was no longer possible for two people to become one flesh and one bone,

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abandoning her principles, the Times told readers. Not her ambition for higher office.

Not principled voters. Not New Yorkers who believe Palestinian rocket fire targeting civilians is a problem that should be combatted. But “influential lobbyists.” And those rabbis.

As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) brought the language to the attention of a Times editor, commenters on social media commented on Edmondson’s language. “Chalking this up to ‘influential lobbyists and rabbis’ is an especially bad look,” wrote Zachary Braiterman, a professor of Jewish studies and philosophy.

“This really is bad,” noted law professor David Schraub.

The Times framed the vote as “pitting ‘principles’ — the honorable goal of Israeli civilians getting murdered by Hamas — and the raw naked power of the evil Jew Lobby.

Including rabbis!” wrote journalist Gary Weiss.

It appears that some at the newspaper might agree that there was a problem with the language. The Times story, which was published online after the vote on Sept. 23, was edited later that night to eliminate the reference to lobbyists and rabbis. Although a prior change to the article was noted in a correction appended to the bottom of the story, no indication was given of this corrective edit.

Although the online copy was “stealth edited,” print editions went out unchanged, and so readers of the print copy were still told of the nefarious rabbis. With no published “correction” to be found on the website, it’s unclear whether the paper will inform print readers that it doesn’t

to stand naked without shame, to become ‘ezer-kenegdos.’ Existential loneliness engulfed the world and intercommunication was forgotten. The powerful idea of one language became a vague memory.

The Tower of Babel ended an era in the history of mankind, and the social destruction it left behind could only be fixed by Abraham.

His message of a G-d of compassion who wishes to unite the world in love and morality is still waiting to be heard.

THE HEADQUARTERS OF “THE NEW YORK TIMES.” CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

stand by the problematic language. Will editors admit to echoing antisemitic tropes about Jewish power used against good, and apologize? Or will they pretend the edit, made as news of the language was spreading on Twitter, was just an inconsequential change made to save a bit of space?

This wasn’t the first time Catie Edmondson stumbled in her coverage of Jews and the Squad. When covering the controversy over Rashida Tlaib’s comment that pro-Israel Democrats “forgot what country they represent,” which was broadly criticized as a for of the antisemitic “dual loyalty” slur leveled at Jews, Edmondson actually concealed the offending words, making it appear that she was unfairly criticized for innocuous comments.

She has also whitewashed the anti-Israel BDS campaign by telling readers it is a group that merely “seeks to pressure Israel into ending the occupation of the West Bank.” (In fact, BDS leaders and critics of the campaign agree that it is opposed to Israel’s very existence.)

Nor is it the first time the New York Times has published, promoted, or covered

up for antisemitism. In 2019, it published a cartoon that closely resembled anti-Jewish Nazi propaganda cartoons. It interviewed an author who, as one journalist described it, “has flirted with antisemitism for years,” and published her recommendation of a virulently antisemitic book. In covering a candidate for office, it ignored the candidate’s assertion on Twitter that “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.” And more.

Editors apologized for the cartoon. They defended their promotion of the antisemitic book. What, if anything, will they say about their charge that powerful rabbis stomp out the principles in the halls of Congress?

Gilead Ini is a senior research analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

His commentary has appeared in numerous publications, including “The Jerusalem Post,” “The Christian Science Monitor,” “Columbia Journalism Review” and “National Review.”

This article was first published by CAMERA.

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THE KOSHER CROSSWORD OCT. 8, 2021

“Jewish Dad Jokes” By: Yoni Glatt & Leron Thumim

Difficulty Level: Manageable

Vol. 93 No. 41 JHL Ledger LLC Publisher Henry M. Zachs Managing Partner

Curbside pick up and local home delivery available!

Leslie Iarusso Associate Publisher Judie Jacobson Editor judiej@jewishledger.com • x3024 Hillary Sarrasin Digital Media Manager hillaryp@jewishledger.com EDITORIAL Stacey Dresner Massachusetts Editor staceyd@jewishledger.com • x3008 Tim Knecht Proofreader

SHABBAT DINNER TRADITIONAL DAIRY LUNCHEON DELI SANDWICH PLATTER DINNER MENU

ADVERTISING Donna Edelstein, Senior Account Executive NonProfit & JHL Ledger LLC Media Marketing donnae@jewishledger.com • x3028 Joyce Cohen, Account Executive joycec@jewishledger.com • (860) 836-9195 Amy Oved, MA Account Executive amyo@jewishledger.com • (860) 841-8607 Trudy Goldstein, Account Executive (860) 573-1575 PRODUCTION Elisa S. Wagner, Creative Director elisaw@jewishledger.com • x3009 Christopher D. Bonito, Graphic Designer chrisb@jewishledger.com ADMINISTRATIVE Judy Yung, Accounting Manager judyy@jewishledger.com • x3016 Howard Meyerowitz, Office Manager howardm@jewishledger.com • x3035 Samuel Neusner, Founder (1929-1960) Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman, CoFounder and Editor (1929-1977) Berthold Gaster, Editor (1977-1992) N. Richard Greenfield, Publisher (1994-2014) PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT Editorial deadline: All public and social announcements must be received by Tuesday 5 p.m.

10 days prior to publication. Advertising deadline: Tuesday noon one week prior to issue.

JHL Ledger LLC and Jewish Ledger shall not be liable for failure to publish an ad for typographical error or errors in the publication except to the extent of the cost of the space which the actual error appeared in the first insertion. Publishers reserve the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable.

The publishers cannot warrant, nor assume responsibility for, the legitimacy, reputability or legality of any products or services offered in advertisements in any of its publications. The entire contents of the Jewish Ledger are copyright © 2021. No portion may be reproduced without written permission of the publishers. JHL Ledger LLC also publishes Jewish Ledger MA, All Things Jewish CT, and All Things Jewish MA.

ANSWERS TO OCT. 1 CROSSWORD

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Across 1. Hamilton killer 5. Explosion noise 11. Tree drip 14. Ends in ___ (draws) 15. Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, Leah 16. USD equivalent in Israel 17. Why did the shul keep their scrolls in vaults? They wanted ___ 19. Has much too much, briefly 20. The second aliyah 21. Most are flat, nowadays 22. Try to hit a fly 23. Scrooge McDuck and Mr. Peanut wear one 26. Have a bit of schnapps 27. What did the Iraqi Jew say

when his father got him a new carrying case for his tefillin?

Thanks ___ 31. Funny Daniel or Eugene 32. Spots for MDs and RNs 33. Words before Steinbeck’s “Eden” 35. “Give ___ rest” (Shabbat suggestion?)

36. Colts home, in short 37. MLB div.

38. “Winnie-the-Pooh” marsupial 39. King Solomon lived in one 41. Common Market abbr., once 42. “City” that destroyed Jerusalem, long ago 43. How does a Jewish bakery protect their circular bread? They

put ___ 46. Creator of (Kimmy) Schmidt 47. The best place to live?

48. Yutzes 50. Calendar abbr.

51. Shakespearean theater 55. “Aladdin” alter ego 56. How does Moshe make coffee and beer? ____ 59. Remote button abbr.

60. “One Last Time” singer Grande 61. “Let me sleep ___” 62. Herzliya to Modi’in dir.

63. Arrangement of flavor or music 64. Turns rancid

Down 1. Slapped instrument 2. Land of Arches 3. Abundant (with) 4. Return from space 5. Harington of “The Eternals” 6. “I love,” in Mexico 7. Tavern tallies 8. “V’___”, Yeshiva Boys Choir hit 9. Cries of awe 10. Carmel and Moriah: Abbr.

11. “Chasing Cars” band 12. Opera reworked by Elton John 13. “Hey, over here!”

18. Be revolting?

22. Caesar and Vicious 24. Virtually every adult carries them 25. Flock relative 26. “Pygmalion” author 27. Pertaining to the unborn 28. Where two Bushes were planted?

29. Easy pill to swallow 30. Destines to fail 31. A pierced one might make whistling difficult 34. Sisera to Deborah 36. “Ewww!”

37. Where Moses left this world

40. Medvedev gets a lot of them 41. Captivate: Var. 42. Land dealer 44. Beat on eBay 45. Moshav shows 48. Gear for gondolas 49. Maccabee and Malka outputs 50. “A ___ formality” 52. “Good heavens!”

53. Shemesh preceder, in Israel 54. CPR experts 56. It’s so not kosher 57. Haifa to Tsfat dir.

58. “Derech”

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WHAT’S HAPPENING

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5

residents in all three places coax out how individual lives entwine with the state of the nation. Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury exposes critical fault lines in the national psyche and envisions what it will take to once again see ourselves as larger than the sum of our parts. Osnos will speak in conversation with Andrew Marantz, staff writer at The New Yorker, on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at The Berkley Theater, Greenwich Library, 101 West Putnam Avenue. Hosted by UJA-JCC Greenwich and AuthorsLive. Limited in-person attendance.

For more information, visit ujajcc.org.

Opening Night of the exhibit “ABRAHAM: Out of One, Many |

Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert

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.

Hartford Seminary and Mandell JCC, in partnership with Episcopal Church in Connecticut, First Church West Hartford and John P. Webster Library will host the final exhibition of “ABRAHAM: Out of One, Many,” October 5 – November 16, 2021.

Curated by CARAVAN, an international peace building arts non-profit, “ABRAHAM: Out of One, Many” is an exhibition that originally premiered in Rome, Italy in 2019 and has since traveled throughout Europe and the United States, with the final stop of its global two-year tour in West Hartford. For more information, visit mandell.org.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6 Tovah Feldshuh to speak in Greenwich “Virtually Limitless: Our Shared Shelf,” a monthly book and author online series sponsored by Jewish Book Council and the Jewish Federations of North America and hosted by UJA-JCC Greenwich Women’s Philanthropy will feature actress Tovah Feldshuh, author of Lillyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I’ve Played. For more information, visit ujajcc.org.

Alicia Jo Rabins, composer, singer, violinist, poet, writer, and Torah teacher performs for Zoom her indie-folk song cycle “Girls in Trouble: Songs about the Complicated Lives of Biblical Women,” on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m., as part of Daniel Pearl Music Days. Concert is free, but registration is required. Sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies of Fairfield University. For more information, contact Jennifer Haynos at bennettcenter@ fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000, ext. 2066.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10 “Faith Divided: The Jewish Encounter with Modern Life” Yale Professor of History David Sorkin speaks at The Emanuel Synagogue on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m., in advance of the Nov. 7 staged reading of “Havdalah,” a new play by Emanuel member Ben Engel (see story this page).

Sorkin’s lecture is co-sponsored by Emanuel Synagogue, UConn Department of Jewish Studies, the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies of the University of Hartford and Rabbi Gerald B. Zelermyer Lecture Fund.

Admission to Sorkin’s talk is FREE. For more information: (860) 236-1275.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7

Walk Against Hate in West Hartford

Israel trip information session

Join ADL and the Connecticut Sun on Oct. 10 on the campus of the Watkinson School at 180 Bloomfield Ave. in West Hartford for a “Walk Against Hate” in-person event. The event will be filled with music, fun, and an opportunity to hear from the Sun’s leadership and others how to move forward as a community toward a future without antisemitism, racism and bigotry. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Check in and registration at 10 am.; event begins at 11 a.m. Register at WalkAgainstHate.org/Connecticut. Those who can’t join the event in person are welcome to register to walk virtually, anytime and anyplace.

The Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford will host an information session to discuss the synagogue-sponsored “Walk the Land of Israel” trip scheduled for April 28-May 12, 2022, and And led by Israeli native and Emanuel Synagogue Executive Director Kobi Benita. The info session will be held Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at The Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford. For more information kobi@emanuelsynagogue.org.

Wildland: An Evening with Author Evan Osnos After a decade abroad, the National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Evan Osnos returns to Greenwich and two other U.S. cities to illuminate the seismic changes in politics and culture that crescendoed during the pandemic. His conversations with local 18

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Walk for Unity in Our Community in Stamford United Jewish Federation of Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, the Jewish Community

| OCTOBER 8, 2021

Relations Council the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut and the Mayor’s Multicultural Council invite the community to join a “Walk for Unity in Our Community” at Cove Island Park in Stamford on Oct. 10 (rain date: Oct. 17) 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. Following a walk around the park’s main circle, participants will gather to socialize and enjoy a self-provided picnic lunch. Program is FREE, registration is required at ujf.regfox.com.

Express” on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. A fun night of dancing to some of the greatest pop hits of all time. An all-star cast headlined by Sherman School’s Steven Trinchillo and Chris Carlone will perform. Reservations required. Concert indoors at JCC in Sheman, 9 Rte 39 South, Sherman. Masks required for everyone. For information of reservations: (860) 355-8050, info@jccinsherman.org, jccinsherman.org. $15/adults; $12/kids 17 and under.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17

Jews of the Italian Renaissance

Noah’s Ark family program in West Hartford

Gabriel Mancuso, PhD, director, The Eugene Grant Research Program on Jewish History and Culture in Early Modern Europe at The Medici Archive Project, Florence, Italy will deliver a free webinar on the topic, “The Other Dome’ – The Jews of Italian Renaissance Italy, Between Paradigms and Paradoxes,” on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. The webinar is free, but registration is required. Sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies of Fairfield University. For more information, contact Jennifer Haynos at bennettcenter@fairfield. edu or (203) 254-4000, ext. 2066.

Virtual book talk with Dr. Robert Lefkowitz United Jewish Federation’s Maimonides Medical Society presents: A Discussion with Robert Lefkowitz, MD, author of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline- Fueled Adventures of a Doctor and Accidental Scientist, will speak, with Randy Hall, on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. The talk will be moderated by Dr. Ilan Fogel Dr. Lefkowitz is James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical School, and an author, cardiologist and legendary scientist and Nobel Prize winner.

He will talk about his memoir which revels in the joy of science and discovery.

This virtual program is FREE. For more info contact Sharon@ujf.org.

“In the Same Boat,” a FREE Noah’s Ark virtual family program hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford will be held Oct. 17 at 9:15 - 10:15 a.m. on Zoom. Local Jewish children in grades K-2 (plus an adult family member) are invited to “visit” the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem and craft their own 3-D ark models using the story of Noath as a guide. Materials are provided. To register: contact Deb Howson at dhowson@ jewishhartford.org or your local synagogue director by Oct. 4 (membership in a synagogue not required)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18 Mayoral Candidate Forum in Stamford The United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford and the Jewish Community Relations Council will host a Mayoral Candidate Forum on Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Moderated by JCRC chair Joshua Esses, the forum will be held at the Stamford JCC, 1035 Newfield Ave., or may be viewed on Zoom (TBD). For more information, email slewis@ ujf.org. Register at /ujf.regfox.com/mayoralforum-2. Co-sponsored by the Stamford JCC, Congregation Agudath Sholom, Temple Beth El, Temple Sinai, and Young Israel of Stamford.

Kristi Flagg album launch

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20

Kristi Flagg: Record Release Bash & “Living Room” interview w/ George Mallas of ‘The Songwriters Block’ (Pawling Public Radio) will be held at the JCC in Sherman on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.. Kristi will play all the tunes from her new album “The Other Side,” along with some from her first release “Brave New View.”

George Mallas will join Kristi on stage for a live interview during the concert. Attendants are encouraged to bring picnic dinners. For more information: jccinsherman.org, (860) 355-8050.

Daniella Risman, Emanuel Synagogue’s new cantor, will headline a concert at the Synagogue that includes the music of Felix Mendelssohn and explores “What is Jewish Music” through other musicians of the time.

The concert is in advance of the Nov. 7 staged reading of “Havdalah,” a new play by Emanuel member Ben Engel (see story this page).

Admission to the concert is FREE. For more information: (860) 236-1275.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15

Facebook: The Inside Story

The Funk Express in Sherman The JCC in Sherman presents “The Funk

MONDAY, OCTOBER 25 United Jewish Federation of Stamford’s Rothschild Business Society will present on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. renowned tech writer Steven jewishledger.com

OCTOBER 5 – NOVEMBER 18 Levy, author of Facebook: The Inside Story.

Levy has had unprecedented access to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and other staff for three years. He will discuss the history of one of Facebook — America’s most powerful and controversial companies. Dinner, drinks nd time to socialize followed by the program.

Food individually packaged per person.

For more information or to register., email Sharon Franklin, sharon@ujf.org. Venue to be announced. $25

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12 Essays United Jewish Federation of Stamford’s Cardozo Law Society presents “A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12 Essays” with Marc Bookman, veteran capital defense lawyer and seven-time Best American Essays “notable., on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. Venue to be announced. Bookman is executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, a nonprofit that provides services for those facing possible execution.

(Dinner individually packaged per person).

For more information email Sharon Franklin sharon@ujf.org. $25

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28 Chabad to honor Hartford HealthCare CEO Jeffrey Flaks “On the Front Lines: Mind, Body and Soul” is the theme of the 2021 Chabad Gala honoring Hartford healthCare CEO Jeffrey Flaks on Oct. 28, 5:30 p.m., at Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Drive in West Hartford. Flaks will be recognized for his crucial work during the pandemic. The event will be held according to CDC guidelines in place at the time of the Gala. For information: Miriamgopin@yahoo. com, (860) 232-1116.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30 Rabbi Ethan Tucker to speak in New Haven Rabbi Ethan Tucker will discuss “Navigating Relationships in a World of Difference: How do we proceed when aspects of our Jewish observance create discomfort with family members and friends?” at Congregation Beth El - Keser Israel, 85 Harrison St., at the corner of Whalley Ave. on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m., following Shabbat services and kiddush lunch.

Rabbi Tucker is president and Rosh Yeshiva at Hadar, an observant, egalitarian yeshiva.

Sabbath rules will be observed. Masks are required.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 “Black Voters Matter” free webinar LaTosha Brown, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter Social activist, political strategist, and jazz singer, will discuss “Black Voters Matter: Our Obligation to Democracy and Equality,” in collaboration with Open Visions Forum The webinar is free, but registration is required. Sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies of Fairfield University. For more information, contact Jennifer Haynos at bennettcenter@fairfield. edu or (203) 254-4000, ext. 2066.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 Author Elyssa Friedland to speak at Virtual Book Club Author Elyssa Friedland will discuss her new book Last Summer at the Golden Hotel, in conversation with Rebecca Anikstein, at the next Virtual Book Club meeting, hosted by UJA-JC Greenwich on Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Friedland is the author of four novels.

She attended Yale University and Columbia Law School, and worked as an attorney until turning to writing full time. She currently teaches creative writing at Yale. Attendance is FREE. To register or for more information: ujajcc.org.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18 “A History of Holocaust Trials? Under discussion in Fairfield Lawrence R. Douglas, JD, will deliver a lecture entitled “A History of Holocaust Trials: From Nuremberg to Demjanjuk and Back Again,” to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials on Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Lawrence R. Douglas, JD, James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Amherst College; author, The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust (2001),The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trials (2016). The webinar is free, but registration is required.

Sponsored by the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies of Fairfield University. For more information, contact Jennifer Haynos at bennettcenter@fairfield.edu or (203) 2544000, ext. 2066.

BULLETIN BOARD Yiddish Book Center announces schedule of free virtual programs

Little-Known work of Sholem Aleichem translated into English

The Yiddish Book Center has announced its Fall 2021 calendar of virtual public programs. The Center has been presenting virtual public programs since April 2020.

The upcoming schedule includes programs on a range of topics:

Originally published in 1903, Sholem Aleichem’s Moshkeleh Ganev was recently translated into English for the first time by lauded Sholem Aleichem translator Curt Leviant. On Thursday, Oct. 7, at 1 p.m., Leviant, in conversation with Dvora Reich, will give a FREE virtual talk about Sholem Aleichem and this newly re- discovered novel. The lecture is presented by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Moshkeleh Ganev was a first for Yiddish literature featuring as its hero a rowdy, uneducated horse thief. The novel is unique in its focus on the Jewish underclass and portrayal of Jews interacting with non-Jews in the Russian Pale of Settlement. Breaking norms, it centers on Jewish characters on the fringe of respectability. It was published three times in Poland and in the Soviet Union in the first half of the 20th century, but it was not included in compilations of Sholem Aleichem’s collected works. Upon encountering the forgotten novel a few years ago, Leviant brought the text to light with its very first translation into English.

n Secular Yidishkayt and Social Justice in the US South, with Josh Parshall/ Goldring/ Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life n The story behind the discovery of a treasure trove of thousands of glass plates that offer a glimpse into the everyday lives of Jews and Poles before 1939, with Piotr Nazaruk, curator at Poland’s Grodzka Gate– NN Theatre n Scholar and author Jeffrey Veidlinger will talk about his newly released book, In the Midst of Civilized Europe n Amy Shreeve’s multimedia presentation, “This Used to Be a Synagogue,” will compare the locations of Manhattan’s old synagogues with pictures of the churches, luxury apartments, and salons occupy their spaces today

For reservations: yivo.org/ MoshkelehGanev

n And two programs will touch on popular topics: Mahjongg in American Jewish Life and From Smoked Salmon to Pickles—Getting Jewish Food Delivered to Your Door.

The full calendar of events can be found at yiddishbookcenter.org/ events.

THE “B” FOUNDATION Now accepting grant applications from Internal Revenue Service qualified 501(C)(3) organizations which seek assistance consistent with the goals of the “B” Foundation to help feed, care, or educate society. The grants will range from $1,000 to $10,000 and will be awarded by the end of the calendar year.

Please submit your written request by November 15, 2021 to: The “B” Foundation

P.O. Box 3709, Woodbridge, CT 06525 jewishledger.com

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OCTOBER 8, 2021

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OBITUARIES David Eliach led Yeshivah of Flatbush for decades

BY PHILISSA CRAMER

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — The longtime and pioneering leader of Brooklyn’s Yeshivah of Flatbush, Rabbi David Eliach, died Thursday.

Eliach, who was 99, supervised the education of thousands of children at the Modern Orthodox school between 1953, when he moved from Israel to teach there, until his retirement as dean in 1997 at age 75. He remained closely involved at the school for the rest of his life, visiting multiple times a week to mentor teachers until the pandemic forced him to transition to phone calls instead.

“His contribution to Jewish education across the globe is unparalleled and his impact on thousands of students will be felt for generations,” the school wrote in an email announcing Eliach’s death late Thursday.

“To me, Rabbi Eliach is synonymous with YOF,” the head of the high school, Rabbi Raymond Harari, told the school’s magazine last year.

Born in Jerusalem in 1922, Eliach studied at a yeshiva in Hebron and devoted himself to teaching after working with children who had come to pre-state Israel after being orphaned or separated from their parents during the Holocaust. It was in that context that he met his wife Yaffa, a Lithuanian survivor who later became a pioneering Holocaust historian. Yaffa Eliach died in 2016.

The couple moved to the United States after Eliach was recruited to join the Yeshivah of Flatbush by its founder, Joel Braverman. He quickly gained a reputation as an inspiring teacher who was deeply devoted to Modern Hebrew.

He spoke in “a very clear, beautiful Hebrew that was so expressive,” Joseph Telushkin, the rabbi and author, told the New York Jewish Week in 2012 about Eliach, who had been both his teacher and camp

counselor.

By 1967, Eliach had become the yeshiva’s high school principal, then its dean.

Under his leadership, the school added a community service requirement, introduced Israel study that became de rigueur for Orthodox high school graduates and pushed students to engage in political issues of Jewish significance.

“Great institutions can die if they don’t adjust themselves to a new era, if you think you’re so good that you don’t have to change,” Eliach told the Jewish Week just before his 90th birthday. “I always knew I wasn’t good enough, that I always had to change and adapt. You can always learn.”

Over the years, Eliach racked up an array of honors, including an honorary doctorate from Yeshiva University in 1987 and the Covenant Award, a prestigious Jewish education prize, in 1992. He told the Covenant Foundation that he was proud that Yeshivah of Flatbush graduates were leaders in their fields and in their Jewish communities.

Selected as a Covenant winner in 2019, a Yeshivah of Flatbush teacher who also graduated from the school said Eliach’s mentorship was central to her success. “He’s a true mensch,” Sally Grazi-Shatzkes told the foundation.

In 2020, Gefen Publishing House published a collection of his Hebrew poetry, “Shurot.”

Eliach is survived by his two children, each an educator: Yotav Eliach is the principal of a yeshiva on Long Island, and Smadar Rosensweig is a professor of Bible at Yeshiva University. His funeral will be held Friday morning at the school.

Rabbi Moshe Tendler shaped Orthodox views on organ donation

BY SHIRA HANAU

(JTA) — Rabbi Moshe Tendler, an expert in

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Jewish law and medical ethics, died Tuesday, Sept. 28 at age 95.

A dean of the rabbinical school and a professor of Jewish medical ethics and biology at Yeshiva University, Tendler was considered an expert in issues of Jewish law and medical ethics.

But he was most famous for the fierceness with which he advocated for the Jewish legal position that brain death constituted death, thus allowing Orthodox Jews to donate and receive organ transplants for organ donation in the case of brain death.

He was also known for the sometimes dismissive attitude with which he regarded those who disagreed with him on that question and others. When a group of rabbis issued an opinion concluding that the cessation of heartbeat, rather than brain death, constitutes death, he denounced them publicly, in an act unusual in the typically sober world of Orthodox Jewish law decisors.

“You say a thing, I believe you’re ignorant on this topic,” Tendler told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2011. “That’s not an insult. It’s a fact.”

Born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tendler was immersed in the dual pursuit of rigorous secular and religious studies from a young age under the tutelage of his mother, a law school graduate, and his father, head of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph yeshiva.

Tendler grew up just a few blocks away from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the most important Orthodox rabbinic authorities in the United States in the 20th century.

Tendler eventually became Feinstein’s sonin-law. He met Feinstein’s daughter, Shifra, when she approached him at a public library in the neighborhood to ask him a question about chemistry.

“After that, somehow I managed to come more often to the library to study,” Tendler recalled. He studied at New York University, was ordained at Yeshiva University in 1949 and earned a doctorate in microbiology from Columbia University in 1957. In his tenure

teaching biology and Talmud at Yeshiva University, he taught hundreds of doctors and rabbis.

In addition to teaching, Tendler also served as the rabbi of the Community Synagogue in Monsey, New York from 1967 until his death.

Tendler became an important influence on Feinstein’s positions on questions of Jewish law and medicine and served as a bridge between the scientific experts and the experts in Jewish law and ethics, writing articles in the top medical journals as well as for Jewish scholars.

“I remember him telling me how he used to sit with Rabbi Feinstein and he would describe the science behind it. Rabbi Feinstein would ultimately make the rulings but Rabbi Tendler was his interpreter of much of the scientific knowledge,” said Alan Jotkowitz, a professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, director of the Jacobovits Center for Jewish Medical Ethics and director of the Medical School for International Health and Medicine.

Jotkowitz, who was a student in Tendler’s biology and Talmud classes at Yeshiva University, described Tendler as a major influence for himself and other Orthodox doctors, whom Tendler empowered to be scholars of both Judaism and science.

“He was a personal role model, that there’s no conflict between scientific knowledge and Torah….he said you could see God’s wisdom in the Torah, but Rabbi Tendler also thought you could see God’s wisdom in nature and studying nature,” Jotkowitz said.

Tendler’s funeral, which was delayed because he died on the first day of a two-day holiday, is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the Community Synagogue in Monsey, New York. He is survived by eight children.

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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

EAST HARTFORD Temple Beth Tefilah Conservative Rabbi Yisroel Snyder (860) 569-0670 templebetht@yahoo.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 Temple Sholom Conservative Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz Rabbi Kevin Peters (203) 869-7191 info@templesholom.com www.templesholom.com

HAMDEN Congregation Mishkan Israel Reform Rabbi Brian P. Immerman (203) 288-3877 tepstein@cmihamden.org www.cmihamden.org Temple Beth Sholom Conservative Rabbi Benjamin Edidin Scolnic (203) 288-7748 tbsoffice@tbshamden.com www.tbshamden.com 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 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 Eric Woodward (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 Temple Shalom Reform Rabbi Cantor Shirah Sklar (203) 866-0148 admin@templeshalomweb.org www.templeshalomweb.org NORWICH Congregation Brothers of Joseph Modern Orthodox Rabbi Yosef Resnick (781 )201-0377 yosef.resnick@gmail.com https://brofjo.tripod.com

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WALLINGFORD Beth Israel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Bruce Alpert (203) 269-5983 info@bethisraelwallingford.org www.bethisraelwallingford.org

Kehilat Chaverim of Greater Hartford Chavurah Adm. - Nancy Malley (860) 951-6877 mnmalley@yahoo.com www.kehilatchaverim.org

Congregation Or Shalom Conservative Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus (203) 799-2341 info@orshalomct.org www.orshalomct.org

WASHINGTON Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life Rabbi James Greene (860) 868-2434 jewishlifect@gmail.com www.jewishlife.org

The Emanuel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi David J. Small (860) 236-1275 communications@emanuelsynagogue.org www.emanuelsynagogue.org

PUTNAM Congregation B’nai Shalom Conservative Rabbi Eliana Falk - Visiting Rabbi (860) 315-5181 susandstern@gmail.com www.congregationbnaishalom.org

WATERFORD Temple Emanu - El Reform Rabbi Marc Ekstrand Rabbi Emeritus Aaron Rosenberg (860) 443-3005 office@tewaterfrord.org www.tewaterford.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

SIMSBURY Chabad of the Farmington Valley Chabad Rabbi Mendel Samuels (860) 658-4903 chabadsimsbury@gmail.com www.chabadotvalley.org

WEST HARTFORD Beth David Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Yitzchok Adler (860) 236-1241 office@bethdavidwh.org www.bethdavidwh.org

Young Israel of West Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Tuvia Brander (860) 233-3084 info@youngisraelwh.org www.youngisraelwh.org

ORANGE Chabad of Orange/ Woodbridge Chabad Rabbi Sheya Hecht (203) 795-5261 info@chabadow.org www.chabadow.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

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 Congregation Beth Israel Reform Rabbi Michael Pincus Rabbi Andi Fliegel Cantor Stephanie Kupfer (860) 233-8215 bethisrael@cbict.org www.cbict.org

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 P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Shabbat Services Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener (860) 561-5905 pnaiorct@gmail.com www.jewishrenewalct.org

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WESTPORT Temple Israel of Westport Reform Rabbi Michael Friedman, Senior Rabbi Cantor Julia Cadrain, Senior Cantor Rabbi Elana Nemitoff-Bresler, Rabbi Educator Rabbi Zach Plesent, Assistant Rabbi (203) 227-1293 info@tiwestport.org www.tiwestport.org WETHERSFIELD Temple Beth Torah Unaffiliated Rabbi Alan Lefkowitz (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

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