CT Jewish Ledger • December 24, 2021 • 20 Tevet 5782

Friday, December 24, 2021 20 Tevet 5782 Vol. 93 | No. 52 | ©2021 jewishledger.com

What’s in a Name?

1

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

jewishledger.com

Whether you are starting a family, running a business, or focused on your philanthropic legacy, we can help you define and reach your long-term financial goals. At each step of this journey, we create customized solutions designed specifically for where you stand today and where you would like to be next week, next year, and beyond.



West Hartford, CT 65 Memorial Rd, Ste 530 (844) 248-9998 Westport, CT 55 Post Rd W, Ste 300 (800) 491-8875 Parsippany, NJ 1719 Route 10 East, Ste 224 (973) 605-1448 CAR20211210JLMA 2

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

jewishledger.com

INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | DECEMBER 24, 2021 | 20 TEVET 5782

8 Briefs

17 Crossword

18 What’s Happening

18 Bulletin Board

19

A Compassionate Warrior................................................. 5 Former State Senator Edith Prague was fearless and fearsome in her relentless fight to protect and promote the rights of people in need.

Prague died last week at the age of 96.

Making History...................................................................... 5 For the first time in its existence, AIPAC has announced the formation of two political action committees to support financially the campaigns of pro-Israel political candidates.

Torah Portion

20 Obituaries

21 Business and Professional Directory

22 Classified Arts & Culture.................................... 6 A new exhibit at the School of Visual Arts captures the legacy of the late artist and graphic designer Milton Glaser, whose work included the iconic logo “I ❤ NY, the Celebrate Israel Parade logo, and so much more.

ON THE COVER:

It’s that time of year again. Time to argue over whether or not the Christmas tree belongs on public school grounds or as part of the public school curriculum.

This year, the debate travels to Carmel, California, where one Jewish parent, denied permission to have an inflatable menorah included in a school-wide tree decorating activity, took her child’s elementary school to court. The school says the tree is not a Christmas tree — it’s a holiday tree. But the parent— and most of the Jewish community — say a Christmas tree by any other name, is still a Christmas tree. PAGE 8 jewishledger.com

Tu B’Shevat.......................................11 The Jewish holiday known as the “New Year of the Trees” begins the evening of Sunday, Jan. 16 and ends the following evening.

The Ledger Scoreboard...............14 What’s a nice Jewish girl like Sherry Levin doing at at a Jesuit school like Holy Cross?

Becoming a basketball legend, that’s what.

Now, the Worcester school has dedicated the team lounge in her honor — and a mezuzah hangs on the doorpost.

The Ledger will be on hiatus for one week and will not publish an issue on Dec.28.

We will return in 2022 with a Jan. 4 issue.

CANDLE LIGHTING

Sponsored by:

SHABBAT FRIDAY, DEC. 24 Hartford 4:07 p.m.

New Haven: 4:07 p.m.

Bridgeport: 4:08 p.m.

Stamford: 4:09 p.m.

To determine the time for Havdalah, add one hour and 10 minutes (to be safe) to candle lighting time.

JEWISH LEDGER

2471 Albany Ave., West Hartford 860.236.1965 • thecrownmarket.com

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

3

g n i r b home online programs 3D virtual tours family activities and more!

visit www.chs.org/bringchshome 4

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

jewishledger.com

UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | DECEMBER 24, 2021 | 20 TEVET 5782

“A force to be reckoned with”

After 70 years on the sidelines, AIPAC will now fundraise for politicians

Former State Senator Edith Prague, a champion for elder rights, dies at 96

E

dith Gelt Prague of Columbia, a former Connecticut State Representative (1982-1990) and State Senator (1995-2013) who also served as Connecticut Commissioner on Aging from 2013 until her retirement in 2014, died Thursday morning, Dec. 16. She was 96.

“Edith Prague is the jewel of Eastern Connecticut,” said Gov. Ned Lamont.

“She is a legend, whose feisty and caring personality will never be forgotten. She was as compassionate as she was bold, and through her entire life had an energy that was nothing short of infectious. Edith absolutely left her mark on Connecticut.”

Sheila S. Horvitz, an attorney active in Eastern Connecticut politics, interviewed Prague on her cable TV show in 2014.

“Edith was a unique force to be reckoned with; a pioneer champion for elder rights, women’s rights and most of all, for truth and candor in political and community life,” Horvitz told the Ledger. “She felt her principles deeply and fought for them with resolve and great determination.”

Horvitz called Prague “one of a kind,” saying that she was someone who “lightened all the serious hurt in the world she cared about by being a bit of a ‘fashionista.’ When she appeared in the studio for my interview, we spent some fun time admiring her new bag.”

Born in Methuen, Massachusetts, Prague grew up during the Depression. A young girl when her father died, she went to work alongside her mother and brother in the family grocery store. It was there, according to her obituary, that she learned her first lesson in coming to the aid of those less fortunate, as she helped her mother deliver baskets of food to people in need.

In addition to her work in the state legislature, Prague was a medical social worker and teacher — she described herself as “a social worker with power.”

In an obituary written by her three surviving daughters, she was lauded as someone who represented her constituents “with tenacity and honesty. jewishledger.com

BY JUDIE JACOBSON

“She listened to anyone who needed to be heard or needed help in life and fought to protect the rights of people to be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect and never gave up on a cause she believed in,” they wrote.

Barbara Gordon, a Democratic state central committeewoman who is active in Democratic politics, knew Prague from the time Gordon worked for Governor William O’Neill in the 1980’s and for Speakers of the House until the present.

“Edith feared no one but many legislators feared but loved her,” Gordon told the Ledger. “She pulled no punches.

W

BY RON KAMPEAS

She fought for what she believed in with a ferocity that was unmatched She was a giant in the state Senate. An incredible role model for women and everyone.”

Edith Prague is survived by her daughters, Shelley Prague, Benay Smith and Joanne Prague Doyle and her husband Tom; and her grandchildren, Nathan, Matthew, Sam, Josh, Chris, Brian, Katie, Tim and Michael. She was predeceased by her husband, Frank Prague, her daughter Susan, her brother George, and her sister Beatrice.

Her funeral was held on Sunday, Dec. 19 at Temple B’nai Israel in Willimantic.

ASHINGTON (JTA) — It has been for decades a recurring confusion for some in Washington: does AIPAC, the country’s largest pro-Israel lobby, have a PAC? Not until today.

The PAC in AIPAC stands for Public Affairs Committee, not political action committee. But after countless explanations over the years, the group is getting into the fundraising business.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Thursday launched a regular political action committee, which funnels $5,000 maximum donations to designated candidates per race, and a super PAC, which can raise unlimited money for a candidate.

AIPAC PAC will be the name of the regular PAC, while the super PAC has yet to be named.

“The creation of a PAC and a super PAC is an opportunity to significantly deepen and strengthen the involvement of the pro-Israel community in politics,” AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann said in an email. “The PACs will work in a bipartisan way.”

Wittmann would not provide further comment. But one function of the PACs could be to allow AIPAC to more robustly favor Democrats who are close to the lobby, to counter an impression in recent years that has deeply troubled the lobby: that it is more inclined to do battle with Democrats than Republicans. Additionally, coming out with an initiative that is emphatically bipartisan is a means of rejecting pressure on the lobby from Republicans to shun Democrats.

Notably, the regular PAC will be headed by Marilyn Rosenthal, who in recent years has led AIPAC’s outreach to progressives. An AIPAC official said the super PAC will be helmed by Rob CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

5

ARTS & CULTURE New exhibit honors Milton Glaser, the Jewish design icon who invented the ‘I Love NY’ logo

BY JULIA GERGELY

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Most New Yorkers recognize the “I Love New York” logo, which can be found on everything from coffee mugs to snow globes to boxer briefs. Fewer, however, might recognize the man behind the logo, Milton Glaser. One of the most prolific graphic designers of the 20th century, his designs helped shape the experience of New York for the last half century.

A new exhibit at the School of Visual Arts’ Gramercy Gallery, “SVA ❤️ Milton: The Legacy of Milton Glaser,” attempts to capture the process and the legacy of the designer, who was a professor at the school from 1960 until 2017. The exhibit invites visitors to explore just how much graphic design — and Glaser’s designs, in particular — shapes our every day. Among the displays from Glaser’s impressive body of work are album covers, a “Mad Men” poster, New York Magazine covers (Glaser co-founded the magazine in 1968), the Brooklyn Brewery logo, the DC Comics logo, the Celebrate Israel Parade logo and much more.

“There’s some stuff that people have interacted with continually over the course of their lives — you know, a million times — but maybe didn’t even realize it was Milton Glaser’s work,” said Beth Kleber, head of SVA’s Milton Glaser Archives, which opened in 2003.

An introduction panel into the exhibit explains Glaser’s pedagogy, “Art for Life” — his belief in building a common experience in art diffused throughout the city. A lifetime New Yorker, Glaser was born in the Bronx in 1929. He attended the High School

THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS’ GRAMERCY GALLERY PUTS MILTON GLASER’S LOVE FOR NEW YORK ON DISPLAY, COMPLETE WITH A WALL COVERED IN THE ICONIC LOGO WHICH HE FAMOUSLY DESIGNED IN THE BACK OF A TAXI CAB IN 1976.

(JULIA GERGELY)

of Music and Art (what is now LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts) and graduated from Cooper Union College in 1951. He co-founded the influential Push Pin Studios in 1954, and throughout his career, Glaser showed his love for the city through his designs.

“It’s really profound,” Kleber said as she

GLASER’S DESIGNS CAME FROM A DEEP LOVE FOR THE CITY, AND THEY CHAMPIONED THE IDEA THAT ART CAN EXIST ANYWHERE. AS THE NEW YORK TIMES WROTE ON MILTON GLASER’S 90TH BIRTHDAY, “NO ONE HEARTS NY QUITE LIKE MILTON GLASER.” (COSMOS SARCHIAPONE)

6

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

considered how much of his work shaped New York and its culture over the last halfcentury. “New York City was so important to him. It gave him excitement, all the intellectual and cultural stimulation you get from living here. It’s the basis for a lot of his work.”

Glaser was Jewish, although he didn’t discuss it often. Still, many of his design ideas came from his Jewish background, and the idea that he never felt “at home in any culture,” as he said in a 2009 interview with Hadassah Magazine.

A recreation of Glaser’s desk takes up a large portion of one of the rooms in the exhibit, and showcases the way Glaser found design in everything, from shells to a box of pencils to coins and stamps. In a section titled “The Work Behind the Work,” viewers get to see early drafts of different poster prints made throughout Glaser’s career. The city — all the different objects and ideas it contains — comes to life on Glaser’s pages through this visualization of his creative process.

Glaser died on June 26, 2020, on his 91st birthday.

“It was so hard when we were all dispersed and mostly working from home to celebrate him in a way that really felt

meaningful,” Kleber said. “Once we were back in the office, we felt like we had an opportunity to present his work in a way that most people could benefit from.”

Another part of the exhibit is set up almost like a miniature city block, so that all of Glaser’s designs can be given their own context. A makeshift book stand showcases his book jackets; nearby is a restaurant-like booth that holds his food and wine labels.

A faux record store features dozens of the album covers he’d done over the years.

“It’s a really fun way to experience his work, putting it into real world context,” Kleber said. “It was a way to better introduce him, or reintroduce him to students and to people who might recognize some of the stuff but not know who was responsible for it.”

“SVA ❤️ Milton: The Legacy of Milton Glaser” is on view through Jan. 15, 2022 at the SVA Gramercy Gallery at 209 East 23rd Street. Advance registration is required.

jewishledger.com

AIPAC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Bassin, AIPAC’s longtime political director.

It’s a sea change for a lobby that since its launch in the first half of the 1950s has assiduously cultivated an image of being above the political fray, at least on the surface. The annual policy conference, suspended this year and next because of the pandemic, is welcoming to all comers, Democrats and Republicans alike, and lawmakers in either party who tangled with AIPAC were barely mentioned by name at past conferences. The named enemies were those foreign governments perceived as threatening Israel — Iran is a recurring villain — and the narrative was that AIPAC was uniting Congress against those bad actors.

AIPAC has become more domestically combative in recent years as a cadre of Israel critics among progressive Democrats has become more vocal. Two presidential candidates, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, boycotted AIPAC’s annual policy conference in 2020.

AIPAC in its online advertising has recently targeted Israel’s harshest critics on the left, including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Betty McCollum of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The lobby has also singled out Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who consistently obstructs assistance to Israel, although he frames that as being in Israel’s interest.

Behind the scenes, AIPAC could be hard-hitting. It published a candidates’ scoring guide, but endeavored to make sure that only AIPAC insiders and donors had access.

AIPAC members were also rewarded with honors depending on how much

they gave a candidate. Politicians held fundraisers at hotels and restaurants not on the campus of an AIPAC event, like the policy conference, but never more than walking distance.

Actual PACs popped up that barely tried to hide their origins at a meeting of AIPAC-affiliated minds; Pro-Israel America, launched in 2019, is led by two former senior AIPAC staffers.

In a statement announcing the new PACs, AIPAC made it clear that in the current polarized environment, maintaining a veneer of politesse was no longer a nicety the lobby could afford.

“The DC political environment has been undergoing profound change,” the statement said. “Hyperpartisanshiup, high congressional turnover and the exponential growth in the cost of campaigns now dominate the landscape.”

Notably, AIPAC’s upstart rival, J Street, also runs an adjacent regular PAC, although not a super PAC, which requires greater infrastructure and investment.

AIPAC will retain its 501 (c) 4 tax exempt status, which allows it to engage in politics as long as politics are not its main endeavor. An affiliate, the American Israel Educational Fund, which subsidizes trips to Israel for lawmakers and other influencers, has 501 (c) 3 status, which allows for greater tax exemptions. That status is limited to organizations whose aims are educational, religious or charitable.

An AIPAC official who spoke anonymously to share strategy said the launch of the PACs was part of an effort to modernize the lobby. The official noted AIPAC’s expanded social media presence and said an AIPAC app would soon be forthcoming.

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO SPEAKS AT THE ANNUAL AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (AIPAC) CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., ON MARCH 25, 2019 (MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES)

jewishledger.com

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

7

A Christmas tree, a menorah, a lawsuit

The latest fight over holidays in public schools

BY GABE STUNTMAN

(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — For some time, Shel Lyons has scrutinized her children’s public elementary school for what she describes as a pattern of favoring Christianity over other religions.

This year, the Jewish parent found what she thought was clear evidence when an outdoor tree lighting was planned at the school, located in Carmel, California. She asked to bring a giant inflatable menorah to display alongside the tree, but the school’s administration and parent-teacher organization denied the request.

Three days before the planned Dec. 10 tree lighting, Lyons took them to court over it. An attorney, Lyons filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California against the school district, Superintendent Ted Knight

and Carmel River School Principal Jay Marden, seeking a temporary restraining order that would have required the school to allow the inflatable menorah.

Three days after that, Lyons — who has a third-grader at the K-5 school and is the parent of two of its graduates — voluntarily withdrew the suit, after a judge found she had not met the “high standard” required for the restraining order.

The dispute has raised decades-old questions about how to properly include students of different faiths at a public elementary school, and has also revived a national debate over what it means to show preference to a specific religion — which is unconstitutional by a public school,

according to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Officials at the Carmel River School contend that the tree lighting was nonreligious in nature and intended only to celebrate the holiday season. But Lyons saw the Dec. 10 event as not a religion-neutral affair but a Christian one.

The allegations of “systemic endorsement of Christian beliefs” were “very serious,” and “the feelings of exclusion experienced by the minor children are particularly troubling,” Judge Beth Labson Freeman wrote in the ruling against a restraining order. But she did not rule on a larger question posed in Lyons’ lawsuit: whether the school had shown a pattern of

SHEL LYONS, A PARENT AT CARMEL RIVER SCHOOL IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, SUED THE SCHOOL DEC. 7, 2021, AFTER IT REFUSED TO ALLOW AN INFLATABLE MENORAH (LEFT) AT AN EVENT CENTERED AROUND THE SCHOOL’S “HOLIDAY TREE” (RIGHT).

THE LAWSUIT WAS QUICKLY DISMISSED. (J. THE JEWISH NEWS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA)

8

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

favoring Christianity.

The Dec. 10 gathering was hosted by Carmel River School’s PTA, which required the permission of administrators to hold the event on school property. Though described as a tree lighting, the festivities also involved decorating the tree, planted on school grounds, with ornaments.

Lyons saw the event plainly as a Christmas tree ceremony and said that while Christmas-themed celebrations and symbols are everywhere at the school, symbols of other holidays, such as Chanukah and Kwanzaa, are not.

The school does make attempts to include Chanukah around the holidays.

But when a Chanukah song was sung at her child’s kindergarten holiday music show several years ago, Lyons said, it was introduced as an “Israeli” song, implying to her that the Christmas songs were simply “American” songs.

“I had to explain to them we are not Israeli, my daughter doesn’t speak Hebrew,” she said.

Prior to the tree lighting event, the PTA invited school families to bring an item to decorate the tree “that reflects their family, heritage, and/or faith.”

Lyons said she and her husband “were shocked by the ignorance and offensiveness of that suggestion.” They didn’t want to hang anything related to their family’s Judaism on a tree that’s a symbol of a Christian holiday.

Instead, she asked to bring a Chanukah object — a 6-foot tall inflatable hanukkiah, or menorah — to display alongside the tree.

The PTA and the school refused, saying it did not meet the qualifications for an ornament: that the object be able to fit into a paper lunch bag.

“Large inflatables have never been used on the School campus as part of December holiday celebrations,” Marden wrote in a declaration filed with the court.

The school said it offered Lyons the opportunity to display her inflatable menorah elsewhere “when the use would not conflict with the scheduled event.”

Lyons said the offer was made after Chanukah had ended, but if it were made earlier she would have considered it.

To many Jews, the idea of decorating a tree in December with a Jewish object feels odd, if not unseemly. Rabbi Bruce Greenbaum of Carmel’s Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, said he would in general advise congregants against it.

Greenbaum sent his children to the Carmel River School and said he called to voice his displeasure when he heard about the recent controversy.

“Don’t turn your hanukkiah into a Christmas decoration,” he said. “That’s desecrating the hanukkiah.”

He didn’t buy the notion that the tree lighting ceremony was unrelated to Christmas, despite the tree being an existing one on school grounds.

“I told them there’s no such thing as a jewishledger.com

tree lighting, which is what they’re calling it,” he said. “You can call it a tree lighting, but it’s just a Christmas tree lighting.”

The Carmel Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment, citing ongoing litigation.

Legally, Lyons — who had asked the judge to declare the Carmel River School’s practices unconstitutional, and to order school administrators to change course — faced an uphill climb from the beginning.

That’s according to Charles Russo, a law professor at the University of Dayton who specializes in education law and in 2014 coauthored a paper on legal issues surrounding the celebration of Christmas in public schools.

Russo pointed to the fact that, in the 1989 Supreme Court case County of Alleghany v. American Civil Liberties Union, in which the ACLU sued the Pittsburgh county over displays of a menorah, Christmas tree and nativity scene on city

property, the court held that the Christmas tree “is not itself a religious symbol.”

“If the school officials did not have some explicit Christian symbol,” like a baby Jesus or a nativity scene, he said, “I don’t think [the lawsuit] is going to go too far.”

Lyons said she has not ruled out filing a new lawsuit. She also said she had looked into finding a new school for her thirdgrader, but the other elementary school in her district was full. She said ultimately she was dismayed by the school’s response to her complaints, whether administrators are legally protected or not.

If the law allows the school’s approach, “it doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if kids get hurt.”

A version of this article was originally published in J. The Jewish News of Northern California, and is reposted with permission.

Fox News host says Christmas trees are about Jesus — and Chanukah

BY RON KAMPEAS

(JTA) — Chanukah is over, but Jews may have another chance: A Fox News host explained that the Christmas tree represents the Christmas spirit — and Chanukah.

Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt made her interfaith declaration after a man was arrested for allegedly setting fire to the Christmas tree outside Fox News Channel

FOX ANCHOR AINSLEY EARHARDT DURING”FOX & FRIENDS” AT FOX NEWS CHANNEL STUDIOS IN NEW YORK, NOV. 14, 2019.

(JOHN LAMPARSKI/GETTY IMAGES)

jewishledger.com

headquarters in New York.

“It’s a tree that unites us, that brings us together. It is about the Christmas spirit, it is about the holiday season, it is about Jesus, it is about Chanukah,” Earhardt said on Fox & Friends, the morning show she co-hosts. “It is about everything we stand for as a country and being able to worship the way you want to worship. It makes me so mad.”

Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the Jewish temple several centuries before the birth of Jesus, and its main story is about a Jewish sect’s resistance to assimilating into the dominant religious culture. The two holidays, Christmas and Chanukah, are coincidental in their midwinter timings, but in little else.

There is suggestive evidence in the New Testament that Jesus attended a Chanukah event. The party, described in John 10:22, was not the most successful of mixers: Some angry Jews confronted Jesus about his claim to messiahhood, and it almost ended in a stoning. The apostle does not report any tree-burnings, however.

The Christmas tree outside of Fox News has caught on fire.

One man has been arrested in the Fox News tree-burning, which fully engulfed the 50-foot structure shortly after midnight Wednesday. The right-wing network had dedicated its “All-American Tree,” which had been decorated with red, white and blue ornaments, over the weekend.

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.

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

HKC

‫כשר‬

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

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

9

OPINION

A Troubling Milestone: When FDR Appeased Vichy

BY RAFAEL MEDOFF

E

ighty years ago this month, two tiny French islands near Nova Scotia and Maine briefly became the center of international controversy when De Gaulle’s Free French liberated them—and President Franklin D. Roosevelt demanded that they be given back to the pro-Nazi Vichy French.

The 80th anniversary of this strange and long-forgotten episode, which took place just a few weeks after Pearl Harbor, sheds light on the curious streak of appeasement that sometimes infected the Roosevelt administration’s foreign policy.

“Appeasement” is a term that usually is associated with the policy pursued by England and France in the 1930s, when they repeatedly made concessions to Hitler in the naive belief that doing so would prevent a war.

The policy was manifest most notoriously in the autumn of 1938, when the British and French acquiesced in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in the name of “peace in our time.”

President Roosevelt was not directly involved those negotiations, but he pressed both sides to keep the talks going and supported their outcome.

The Roosevelt administration’s support for appeasement was dramatized by the tragic story of Holocaust rescuer Varian Fry. In 1940, Fry, an American journalist and editor, traveled to southern France, which was then governed by the Nazi puppet regime headquartered at Vichy.

Fry organized an underground network that saved more than 2,000 refugee scientists, artists and political dissidents, many of them Jews. Among the rescued were painter Marc Chagall, philosopher Hannah Arendt, author Franz Werfel, and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Otto Meyerhof.

When the Germans and Vichy French complained to Washington about Fry’s activities, Secretary of State Cordell Hull instructed the U.S. ambassador in Paris to inform Fry “that this Government can not, repeat not, countenance [him] carrying on activities evading the laws of countries with which the United States maintains friendly relations.”

Fry refused to stop rescuing refugees; so the Roosevelt administration responded by canceling his passport, forcing him to leave France in 1941.

“A Nasty Little Incident” Later that year came the curious case of 10

JEWISH LEDGER

REICHSMARSCHALL HERMANN GÖRING, ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FIGURES IN THE NAZI PARTY, IS MET BY ADM. FRANÇOIS DARLAN AND MARSHAL HENRI PHILIPPE PÉTAIN, AFTER GÖRING’S ARRIVAL IN ST. FLORENTIN-VERGIGNY, FRANCE, CA. DEC. 1941. PÉTAIN AND DARLAN WERE CHIEF COLLABORATORS WITH NAZI GERMANY. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)

St. Pierre and Miquelon, the two French islands off the coast of North America, situated between Nova Scotia and New Foundland, northeast of Maine. The two French colonial possessions had come under Vichy rule when the Nazis installed the puppet regime in 1940.

On December 24, 1941, the Free French—the government-in-exile headed

by General Charles de Gaulle—sent a naval force that ousted the islands’ Vichyite rulers. A plebiscite held the following day found 98 percent of the islands’ inhabitants supported the overthrow of the Vichyites.

Rather than celebrate this small but symbolic victory over Axis occupiers in the Western hemisphere, the Roosevelt administration denounced De Gaulle’s “arbitrary” action and tried to convince the Canadian government to restore St. Pierre and Miquelon to Vichy’s control.

The “nasty little incident,” as Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle called it in his memoirs, threatened to upset the administration’s policy of tolerating Vichy rule over French colonies. Washington hoped its policy would persuade the Vichy to be less pro-Nazi. Like other attempts at appeasing dictators, it did not turn out as hoped.

The State Department castigated the liberating force as “the so-called Free French,” indicating that it regarded Vichy,

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

not the resistance, as the legitimate rulers of the two islands.

Vichy officials praised the Roosevelt administration’s stance on the islands as “a severe lesson to the dissidents.”

A group of prominent American liberal intellectuals, on the other hand, denounced the administration’s policy of “appeasing undemocratic and pro-Axis governments.”

Praise from fascists and denunciations by liberals created something of a public relations headache for FDR. Shaken by the rising tide of criticism, Secretary of State Cordell Hull implausibly claimed that his use of the term “so-called” referred not to the Free French, but to the ships they had used. Pressed by reporters to elaborate on U.S. policy toward Vichy, Hull said he would not comment further because the matter “was too complicated.”

After months of floating rumors that the Free French would agree to leave St. Pierre and Miquelon, the Roosevelt administration finally dropped the issue, when it became clear that neither De Gaulle nor the inhabitants of the islands were willing to surrender to Vichy.

Washington’s policy of appeasing Vichy, however, continued. After the Allies liberated North Africa from the Nazis in November 1942, President Roosevelt agreed to leave Vichyite Admiral Francois Darlan in power. That sparked a veritable uprising

from FDR’s liberal supporters.

The New Republic protested that it “sticks in the craw of majorities of the British and French, and of democrats everywhere, [that] we are employing a French Quisling.” Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau said the Darlan deal “afflicts my soul.”

A delegation of American Jewish leaders met with senior U.S. officials in March 1943. They charged that “the anti-Jewish legacy of the Nazis remains intact in North Africa,” pointing to the fact that thousands of Jews were still languishing in slave labor camps under the continuing Vichyite rule.

The camps continued operating until the summer of 1943, and anti-Jewish laws in North Africa were finally abolished only in October.

From the shutdown of Varian Fry’s rescue mission, to the St. Pierre-Miquelon controversy, to the Darlan deal, FDR’s policy of appeasing the Vichy French constituted a stain on America’s moral conscience and a deviation from the high ideals that the war against the Axis represented.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. jewishledger.com

TU B’SHEVAT 5782 – Jan. 16-17 A tree that survived the Holocaust comes to life

BY JULIA GERGELY

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — In January of 1943, Irma Lauscher, a teacher at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, smuggled a tree into the camp so that the Jewish children imprisoned by the Nazis could celebrate Tu B’Shevat in a secret ceremony. The children used their water rations to nurture the sapling.

Of the 15,000 children who were imprisoned in Theresienstadt during the Holocaust, fewer than 200 survived. But the tree was still standing when the camp was liberated in 1945, and a sign was placed at its base marking it as a symbol of resilience.

“As the branches of this tree, so the branches of our people!” said the sign under the tree, which survivors named “The Tree of Life.” Lauscher, who survived the Holocaust, had once requested to be buried alongside the original tree.

In the 1980s, branch saplings were cut from the tree and planted in Jerusalem, as well as in San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia to accompany a traveling exhibit of treasures nearly lost in the Holocaust.

Now, New York City — home to the largest community of Holocaust survivors and their descendants of any city outside Israel — will also nurture a descendant of the original tree. Dr. Roger Pomerantz, a Jewish philanthropist who owns a farm in Pennsylvania that holds seven trees grown from cuttings of the original tree, has donated one to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City.

“The Children’s Tree,” as it will be known, was unveiled to the public on Thursday, Dec. 2, during a dedication ceremony held jointly by the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Battery Park City Authority. Currently 15 feet tall, the silver maple tree will have a permanent home in Battery Park City, in front of the museum.

“We want everybody in Battery Park

City to be able to walk by and see a piece of history,” Jack Kliger, the president and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, told the New York Jewish Week. “To not only remember but to understand what resilience means in the face of tremendous odds.”

Calling the project “a labor of love,” Kliger said transporting the tree involved hiring a horticulturist to uproot the tree from Pennsylvania and working with Battery Park City Authority to find the right space for the tree.

As at Theresienstadt, the tree will be cared for by children — in this case, students at PS/IS 276: The Battery Park City School, a public elementary and middle school located just across the street from the museum. In collaboration with the museum, the school will make the tree part of an ongoing curriculum in Holocaust education.

“They were planting a tree that would live in a world that they would not live in, as sort of a physical expression of belief in the future and a form of spiritual resistance,” said Michael Berenbaum, a Holocaust historian who was instrumental in the transplant of the tree to New York, of the imprisoned children who cared for the original Tree of Life.

“Now their legacy can continue,” he added.

“Resilience is represented by both humans as well as trees,” Kliger said, comparing their abilities to survive as well as endure such a long, roundabout journey to New York.

Speakers at the ceremony will include Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. representative to the United Nations; Theresienstadt survivor Fred Terna; Czech Consul General Arnošt Kareš; and Battery Park City Authority President and CEO B.J. Jones. The student choir at PS/IS 276 will also perform.

HASSLE FREE LIVING There’s no place like

FEDERATION HOMES Affordable Living for Older Adults 62+ and Individuals with Disabilities 156 Wintonbury Ave., Bloomfield, CT

Call (860)243-2535 or visit us at www.federationhomes.org Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford with funding from the Department of Housing & Urban Development

Newington 860.333.9032

Willimantic 860.717.9333

2280 Berlin Tpk. Newington, CT

1548 W Main St. Willimantic, CT

(In the MedCare Express plaza-use side entrance)

(Across from Papa’s Pizza)

hello@finefettle.com

newington@finefettle.com

Good Health.

Good Condition.

Stop by to speak to one of our pharmacists about Connecticut’s Medical Marijuana Program No appointment necessary and consultations are always free

Offering:

• Discounts for Senior Citizens, Veterans, and Low-Income Individuals • Huge Savings through our free Fine Fettle Club • Online ordering and more at www.finefettle.com STUDENTS FROM BATTERY PARK CITY SCHOOL WATCH AS A SILVER MAPLE WAS PLANTED IN BATTERY PARK OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE. THE DEDICATION CEREMONY WAS HELD DEC. 2.

(MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE – A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST)

jewishledger.com

A conversation with a healthcare provider can help you determine whether medical marijuana may be right for you.

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

11

Briefs Palestinian gunman shoots at car with yeshivah students, kills one (JNS) One or more Palestinian gunmen shot at a passing car filled with Jewish seminary students on Thursday night in Judea and Samaria, killing one and wounding two others, said Israeli officials. Yehuda Dimentman, 25, a student at the Homesh yeshivah, was shot and killed, reported Arutz Sheva. He leaves behind a wife and yearold baby. Another student was moderately wounded and another lightly wounded, said officials. Security forces believe that two terrorists carried out the shooting, and they are currently pursuing them. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned the terror attack, sending his condolences to the victim’s family. “The security forces will get their hands on the terrorists very soon and we’ll ensure that justice is served,” he vowed.

US to go ahead with F-35 fighter-jet deal to UAE (JNS) Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that the U.S. would move forward on a deal with the United Arab Emirates to sell F-35 fighter jets and drones, despite a UAE official’s statement to Reuters on Tuesday, Dec. 14, saying that “The UAE has informed the U.S. that it will suspend discussions to acquire the F-35.”

“We wanted to make sure, for example, that our commitment to Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge is assured, [and] we wanted to make sure that we could do a thorough review of any technologies that are sold or transferred to other partners in the region, including the UAE,” said Blinken, according to the report. The deal includes the purchase of 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 MQ-9B drones and advanced munitions, sources told Reuters earlier this year. A Gulf source had told Reuters that the Americans were putting up obstacles that included specific requirements that made the deal unfeasible. Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that security forces will “increase our vigilance and readiness to thwart terror in Judea and Samaria, and will continue to take any measures necessary in facing terror groups in the area.”

Report: Anti-Israel student groups drive campus antisemitism (JNS) In the last academic year, pro-Israel college students have felt vilified and ostracized as anti-Israel and anti-Zionism sentiment proliferates at schools nationwide, according to an ADL report. Findings included in “The Anti-Israel Movement on U.S. Campuses, 2020-2021,” identify the campus anti-Israel movement as being led 12

JEWISH LEDGER

by student groups and certain professors.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) continue to be two of the most influential anti-Israel campus groups, allied often with like-minded organizations such as Young Democratic Socialists of America, Palestinian Youth Movement and American Muslims for Palestine. SJP, which has 180 chapters and organizes protests, BDS resolutions and “disseminates propaganda” through social media and other outlets—is by far the “most active” anti-Israel group on university campuses in the United States and Canada.

Also very active in spreading anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment on campus, the report said, is the group Jewish Voice for Peace.

Seventeen colleges brought BDS measures up for a vote by the student government in 2020-21, and 11 have passed them, adding to the ongoing rise of anti-Israel activism on campuses. The report noted that some of the most strident anti-Israel activists called for Israel to be dismantled or denied its right to exist; expressed support for violent resistance to Israel; and called for Zionists and proIsrael students to be excluded from campus life. Among antisemitic tropes the ADL found repeated by anti-Israel college activists were those alleging Jewish or Zionist power and control over the media and political affairs.

“Such language,” the report said, “can create a corrosive climate for many Jewish students on campus.”

Maine commission votes against landlord couple biased against Jewish tenant (JNS) The Maine Human Rights Commission voted unanimously on Monday, Dec. 13 that a couple discriminated against their former tenant based on his Jewish religion, reported News Center Maine. In March, Mark and Michelle Fortin evicted Yohannis Selassie, who is black and Jewish, from an apartment they own in Winthrop after the latter refused their demands to remove a mezuzah from his doorpost, according to a report filed by an investigator and submitted to the commission. When Selassie refused to take down the mezuzah, telling the Fortins that it is a symbol of his Jewish faith, the landlords terminated his lease and asked police to monitor him during a final walkthrough of the apartment, the report stated. The Fortins claimed they terminated Selassie’s lease because he screwed a metal object into the doorframe, which is in violation of his lease, and refused repeated requests to remove a trailer they allowed him to temporarily park on their property. They added that Selassie then damaged the property when he eventually moved the trailer in March.

“The mezuzah and the damage to the doorframe is truly trivial,” said commissioner Edward David on Dec. 13. “I agree that that became part of the motivation and that they … thought that that confirmed their ability to end this tenancy by saying, ‘Oh, that’s another violation, and you should be out immediately,’

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

and that—the motivation for doing that—was an impermissible basis on religion.”

The commission will try to have Selassie and the Fortins resolve the incident through a reconciliation outside of court, said executive director Amy Sneirson. If an agreement is not reached, Selassie can sue in superior court.

In October, Michelle Fortin denied to News Center Maine that an eviction had occurred.

Israeli embassy in Rwanda donates funds for school equipment (JNS) Israel’s embassy in Rwanda has donated nearly $100,000 to purchase computers and other equipment for schools, the Rwandan daily The New Times has reported this week. Under the U.N. Children’s Fund Giga project, educational institutions are being hooked up to the Internet, noted the report, adding that the International Telecommunication Union is also a partner in the program to connect every school on Earth to the Internet by 2030. Rwanda has been chosen by the U.N. Broadband Commission in 2020 to lead implementation in Africa.

Ron Adam, Israeli Ambassador to Rwanda, said his country was pleased to support the program, saying “education is the foundation of everything, and this goes hand in hand with the quality. In this era, you can’t talk about quality while excluding technology.”

Of the 63 Rwandan schools taking part in Giga, only 29 percent have the needed computers and other equipment, the report said, citing UNICEF. UNICEF country representative to Rwanda Julianna Lindsey said “this generous support … will enable the purchase of laptops for teachers in schools that are being connected to the Internet across the country. The funding also [helps] bridge the digital divide in schools, which is a barrier to quality learning.”

NYC mayor-elect reschedules inauguration for Shabbat observers (JNS) New York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams, moved the time of his swearingin ceremony to accommodate supporters who observe Shabbat. The inauguration was originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 1, at noon, but will now take place in the evening after the end of the Jewish Sabbath, it was announced on Tuesday, Dec. 14. The mayor-elect received strong support from the Orthodox Jewish community, especially in Brooklyn, in the recent mayoral election. He was endorsed by one of two factions of the Satmar community in Williamsburg.

Adam also moved the location of the inauguration from the traditional City Hall in Manhattan to the iconic Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. “It is symbolically impactful for me to be inaugurated as New York City’s 110th mayor in the heart of Flatbush on

behalf of this working-class community and communities like it across the five boroughs, who have elected one of their own to lead our recovery,” said the outgoing Brooklyn borough president, who was born in Brooklyn’s Kings County and grew up in Queens. He added that “Kings Theatre has made so many wonderful memories over its storied history, and on Jan. 1st, we will make even more history there together.”

Adams will formally replace New York City’s current mayor, Bill de Blasio, at midnight on New Year’s Eve during a private ceremony.

Legal group: Duke must grant pro-Israel group recognition (JNS) The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is calling on Duke University president Vincent Price to formally recognize the school’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel, saying it is the “only way to ensure the university’s compliance” with federal law. In an email sent to Price on Tuesday, Dec. 14, the advocacy group addressed the decision made by the Duke University Student Government (DSG) in November to uphold DSG president Christina Wang’s veto to formally recognize SSI, also known as “Duke SSI.” After the Duke Senate upheld Wang’s veto, Price said DSG’s decision is “independent” from the university, and that the administration will still provide financial and program support to SSI, despite it not having formal recognition by the student government.

The Brandeis Center’s group of lawyers said in their letter, “…it is not sufficient under the law merely to provide ‘options to secure financial and programmatic support’ without formal recognition.” The attorneys explained that Duke is “legally obligated to take corrective action in response to the unlawful treatment of Duke SSI by formally recognizing the student organization and ensuring it has equal access to resources” under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination based on national origin and shared ethnicity. They also detailed how SSI has been “subjected to special scrutiny that other groups did not have to endure.” For example, SSI student representatives were subjected to extensive questioning before the student government vote.

The lawyers reminded Price that Duke University signed a Resolution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, “in which it agreed to take certain measures to address allegations of anti-Semitism. In light of that pending agreement, the university should be particularly sensitive to its legal obligation to address instances of anti-Semitic discrimination on campus in a prompt and effective manner.”

jewishledger.com

Saudi writer: War with Israel not an option

Senate-approved defense bill includes millions for Israel

(JNS) Saudi writer Abd Al-Aziz Munif bin Razen wrote in the Saudi daily Okaz that negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel should be renewed under the mediation of the Gulf states. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report, Razen argued that a hostile policy towards Israel was ineffective and would not bring a solution to the conflict; it would only serve the interests of Iran. “For this reason, some countries in the Gulf and elsewhere began building bridges of peace with Tel Aviv—not out of submission or obedience, but out of recognition and appreciation of the other, so as to break the psychological barrier and address the Palestinian issue in a more balanced manner,” he wrote, adding, “To resolve the Palestinian issue, there is no need for armed conflicts or deadly wars, nor for rounds of negotiations that [only] lead to an explosion.” He said another war would only further harm a region which has been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

(JNS) The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the $770 billion National Defense Authorization Act of fiscal year 2022, including collaboration provisions and authorized extra funding for projects with Israel. The annual NDAA—the final version of which had to be negotiated behind closed doors by members of the House and Senate Armed Services committee—passed last week in the U.S. House of Representatives. In the Senate vote, the bill got a bipartisan plurality of 88-11, with Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) originally voting for it, but then changing his vote to “no.”

AIPAC and other pro-Israel organizations congratulated the senators for passing the bill.

The list of pro-Israel provisions includes the authorization of $500 million for U.S.-Israeli missile-defense cooperation, collaborating on systems such as the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow 3. Another provision authorizes $30 million for bilateral cyber cooperation found in the U.S.-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act, which was included as an amendment to the NDAA. Provisions in the bill require Israel to spend the money in the United States, which keeps Americans and Israelis safe; “supports our economy; and creates American jobs,” AIPAC said in the tweet.

“A strong Israel makes America more secure. Today, Democrats and Republicans again came together to strengthen and expand the U.S.-Israel relationship,” said AIPAC. Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), who has long argued for closer cooperation between the United State military and Israel in the face of the Iranian threat, also expressed support but added, “It is unfortunate that this year’s bill does not expedite Israel’s request for KC-46 aerial refueling tankers or replenish precisionguided munitions, over 4,500 of which Israel expended during last spring’s conflict with Hamas. As Iran moves ever closer to nuclear breakout, Congress and the Biden administration should act without delay in providing Israel the means to defend itself.”

The NDAA also includes several amendments to prevent funds from being transferred to Iran or its proxies, and requires new reports on Iran’s military and support for terrorist groups. The NDAA does not actually allocate funds, but only authorizes their use.

It will now be sent to the president, who is expected to sign it.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, CAS Democrat aligned with J Street, is retiring (JTA) — Alan Lowenthal, a Jewish Democrat from California who has been a leader in efforts to preserve the two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is retiring.

“It is time to pass the baton,” Lowenthal, 80, said in a statement. Lowenthal, elected to Congress in 2012 from Long Beach, a city in Los Angeles County, is best known for his work advancing the restoration of infrastructure in a way that protects the environment.

In recent years, he has aligned closely with J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, and has become a leader in efforts to preserve the two-state outcome, backing bills and letters. In 2019, Lowenthal led passage of a resolution that committed Democrats to the two-state outcome at a time when thenIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-President Donald Trump appeared to be backing away from it. The message, with almost all Democrats signing on, was clear: if Netanyahu proceeded with annexation he would risk cutting off the entire Democratic Party. Lowenthal was always strongly Jewishly identified, albeit with a classic liberal tint: His sons recall Shabbat dinners that featured Bob Dylan songs. A son, Josh, has lived in Israel.

Lowenthal’s district may disappear as a result of post-census redistricting; his departure means that a neighboring Democrat, Lucille Roybal-Allard, whose district may also be up for removal, will likely be reelected.

jewishledger.com

93% of eastern Jerusalem Arabs prefer Israeli rule (JNS) Some 93 percent of the Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem prefer living under Israeli rule, according to a new poll by the Palestine News Network. The survey offered the choice between ongoing Israeli rule of the city or a transfer of rule to the Palestinian Authority.

Of the 1,200 Arab residents queried, 1,116 said that they preferred the former. A total of 84 respondents answered that they would prefer the latter, although they also noted that they would refuse to give up their Israeli identity cards. Only five answered that they would prefer to carry P.A. identity cards.

Hundreds rally against BBC’s anti-Jewish coverage (JNS) As many as 250 Britons stood outside of the headquarters of the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London on Monday night, Dec. 6, to demand that it take accountability for anti-Jewish coverage on the network.

There, they chanted “BBC, where’s the proof? BBC, tell the truth” in response to an on-air report during a Chanukah about an attack on a bus full of Jewish teens in Central London. In its coverage of the event, according to Campaign Against Antisemitism, the BCC reported that racial slurs against Muslims were made by young riders.

“This incident is one of many in which the BBC has victim-blamed Jewish people for antisemitism, downplayed racism towards Jews, platformed anti-Semites and fueled antisemitism in Britain,” the group said in announcing the event.

“We don’t want to be here, but we have to be here because we have to say: ‘BBC news, stop blaming Jews,’ ” said Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, during the rally. “We see no evidence for the @BBC’s claim, which is a distraction from the real story, which is that Jewish teenagers were prevented by racist thugs from celebrating Chanukah.”

Tennis star Diego Schwartzman honored by Jewish sports club (JTA) — One of Argentina’s main Jewish community centers inaugurated its news tennis complex in honor of hometown hero Diego Schartzman. Schwartzman, currently ranked 13th in the world, was on hand at the ceremony held Dec. 11 in Tigre, as the Hacoaj sport club opened a new building and tennis lounge at what is one of the biggest tennis venues in the region.

Schwartzman grew up playing tennis at the center, whose central court was named “Diego ‘Peque’ Schwartzman” in his honor.

“Peque” is a nickname meaning short or “kid”; at 5-foot-7-inches, Schartzman is one of the shorter professionals in elite men’s tennis. Schwartzman’s parents were present at the ceremony. His mother Silvana snapped photos and chanted “Peque, Peque.”.Ricardo, his father, was close to tears during the whole event.

“This place was very different when I used to come to mess around with my friends,” said Schwartzman. “Some days we, the kids, just played in front of the wall, there weren’t enough courts so the big boys didn’t allow

us the kids to play, so I practiced against the wall. Years later some of them still didn’t want me to play…but that was because I started to beat them” he added, with a big smile on his face.

Hacoaj (“strength” in Hebrew) is a sports and cultural club with around 7,500 members in Tigre, a city in the north of the Buenos Aires province.

Present at the event were the mayor of Tigre and the heads of the Jewish umbrella group DAIA, the sport federation FACCMA and the Tzedaka Foundation, a Jewish philanthropy. A representative of AAT, the national tennis association, announced that the international “Tigre Cup” will be held for the first time at Hacoaj next January.

Schwartzman also inaugurated a sign in front of the court, which includes his name and career highlights: “Born and raised in Hacoaj. Top 10 tennis worldwide (2020). Olympic representative. Member of the Argentina’s Davis Cup team. Talent, perseverance, Jewish values, humility. A symbol and the pride of Hacoaj.”

Study: Tel Aviv is the world’s most expensive city to live in (JTA) — Tel Aviv is now the world’s most expensive city to live in — and the reason why is tied in part to Israel’s successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The Israeli city rose from No. 5 to No. 1 in the annual Worldwide Cost of Living index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of The Economist Group. The London-based media company also publishes The Economist magazine. The 2021 report explains that Israel’s world-leading pace in vaccinating its population helped the shekel reach a “soaring” value against the U.S. dollar, leading to steep local inflation rates in dollar terms. By Jan. 1, 2021, Israel had vaccinated over 10% of its population, earning international praise and attention. The price of about one out of every 10 everyday goods found in Tel Aviv, especially grocery items, “increased significantly,” the report said.

The city is also the second-most expensive place in the world to purchase alcohol and public transportation, the report added. The increased prices of household goods, cars and fuel are noted too. Tel Aviv’s real estate property prices also rose in 2021, but the EIU index does not factor those into its research.

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

13

THE LEDGER SCOREBOARD A basketball legend from Holy Cross is Jewish. Now a mezuzah hangs in the school.

BY JACOB GURUS

(JTA) — Just after the conclusion of Chanukah, the Worcester Academy varsity girls’ basketball team prepared to face a rival private school. Head coach Sherry Levin addressed her team before tipoff.

The theme of her pregame pep talk? The shamash.

“The shamash candle doesn’t lose any of its brightness by lighting all the rest,” Levin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“I was like, you know what, that’s kind of like what a team is. We have all these talented players, who, just because another teammate scores 20, doesn’t make you less of a player. We have to be all together as a team.”

None of Levin’s players are Jewish. But she’s used to that — as a player herself, Levin was the all-time leading scorer in the women’s basketball program at her alma mater: The College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit school in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Levin knows her path is an unusual one.

“Yup, Jesuit school,” she said. “Nice Jewish girl goes to a Jesuit school.” It’s always the first question she is asked when she speaks to synagogue groups, and yes, Jewish journalists.

Nearly 40 years later, Levin still holds the Holy Cross program record for points (2,253), points per game (21.8), field goals made (842) and free throws made (569).

The Crusaders went an impressive 45-1 at home during Levin’s college career, and she was inducted into the Holy Cross Hall of Fame during her first year of eligibility.

Levin was also named to the Jewish AllAmerican First Team from 1981 through 1984. And she did it all without a threepoint line, and while playing roughly 30 fewer games than today’s teams.

Levin had offers to play at Boston College and Boston University, and was being scouted by Harvard and Dartmouth, but chose Holy Cross because of the program’s coach, former Holy Cross legend and Boston Celtics player Togo Palazzi.

It didn’t hurt that Levin secured a full scholarship — making her the first woman athlete in Holy Cross history to receive one.

While Levin connected immediately with Holy Cross and with Palazzi, there was one minor hurdle for her to overcome: the whole religion thing. Naturally, she consulted her rabbi.

“I’ll never forget what he said,” Levin recalled.

He reassured her that as long as she had “belief in your heart and your soul that no matter how many people you’re surrounded by who are not [Jewish], you are strong in 14

JEWISH LEDGER

your faith,” then all would work out, Levin recounted.

“I always felt that,” Levin said. “I was one in an environment of many, but I never felt excluded. I always felt respected.”

Aside from Holy Cross, Levin’s other lifelong affiliation is with Maccabi USA, the volunteer organization behind America’s participation in the international Maccabiah Games, often known as the Jewish Olympics.

Levin’s Maccabi journey actually began in the stands, during a tournament in Kansas City in 1979, her senior year of high school.

A woman named Estelle Goldstein approached Levin’s parents and asked if they were Jewish. When they apprehensively said yes, Goldstein explained that she was involved with Maccabi USA — and they were putting together a women’s basketball team for the 1981 Maccabiah Games.

Levin tried out and made the team, which would win a silver medal, losing to Israel. She also won a silver medal in the 4×400 track and field event.

“That was really the beginning of my love affair with the Maccabiah,” said Levin.

“There was something that drew me to the love of our homeland.”

Levin briefly worked for Maccabi USA, with a focus on communications. Then some years later, after the birth of her daughter and a stint in broadcasting, Levin returned to Maccabi as a coach.

She coached the USA women’s basketball team to a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Maccabi Games in São Paulo, Brazil. That experience relit the spark.

“It just kind of reignited that idea of connection through sport and your heritage,” Levin said. “You’re connecting your passions, your passion for sport and passion for Judaism.”

Levin went on to coach in the Maccabiah Games in 2013 and 2017, as well as the 2019 European Maccabi Games. Her teams have won numerous gold medals.

Levin will return to Israel in July 2022 for the 21st Maccabiah Games, which were postponed in 2021 due to the pandemic.

“There’s something really unique and special about the Maccabiah Games,” she said. “It’s not just a sporting event, it’s not just a cultural trip. You are meeting Jews from all [over] the world. You’re competing against, you’re connecting with, you’re seeing the country in a different lens. It really is just an extraordinary, intense, beautiful, wonderful experience.”

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

When she’s not coaching abroad, Levin is in her 13th year (over two stints) as the girl’s basketball coach at Worcester Academy. She is approaching 400 career wins as a coach, but her purpose remains constant: to have a positive impact on her student-athletes.

“I think there’s always something left, because as I still coach, my goal of coaching is to help kids realize their dreams,” said Levin. “No matter who I’m coaching, that’s always a goal of mine.”

Levin has had an impact — just ask her Holy Cross classmates.

Last month, Levin was recognized by her alma mater, where the women’s basketball team lounge is now dedicated in her honor.

There were even a couple of unexpected twists.

The ceremony was organized by a classmate of hers from the Class of 1984.

When he called Levin to explain the school’s plans, he asked if she would like a rabbi to be present in addition to a priest.

“I was taken aback,” said Levin. “I said I would love that, that is so special.”

The surprises didn’t end there.

“And then there was a pause,” Levin continued. “And he said, ‘And would you like us to have a mezuzah put on the door?’

And at that point I got a little emotional, because they thought of this. In my mind, I was a Jewish student at Holy Cross, so I was in their world, and I was in their space.

And that was fine for me… But they took it to a point that was never expected, but so welcomed.”

A mezuzah now hangs in Levin’s honor at the newly dedicated Holy Cross women’s basketball team lounge. (Sherry Levin) Nearly 40 years after Holy Cross’ most decorated women’s basketball player graduated, a mezuzah now graces the entrance to the team lounge dedicated in her honor.

“It just was a day of love and recognition and kindness and reminiscing, and it was just so special to have and feel that love, for something that I accomplished many years ago, but that has withstood all these years,” said Levin.

FORMER HOLY CROSS STANDOUT BASKETBALL STAR SHERRY LEVIN WAS RECENTLY HONORED BY HER ALMA MATER. (HOLY CROSS)

A MEZUZAH NOW HANGS IN LEVIN’S HONOR AT THE NEWLY DEDICATED HOLY CROSS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM LOUNGE. (SHERRY LEVIN)

jewishledger.com

Please Help Us Empower People With Disabilities.

Oak Hill is Connecticut’s largest private provider for people with disabilities.

We believe that people with disabilities have the right and capability to be contributing, productive members of their communities. Building from that belief, we are a full-service organization to care for, educate and advocate for disabled people, their families and their communities.

Want to help?

Supporting people at every life stage, our presence and programs are essential to this remarkable community. Please help make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

To find out more about donating, please visit our website OakHillCT.org or call Michael Hoffer at 860.769.3893.

7 0,000 Programs

Towns

People

120 Holcomb Street, Hartford, CT 06112 | 860-242-2274 • OakHillCT.org

jewishledger.com N12600 OAK HILL W45 2019 (004).indd

1

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

10/12/20

15

1:19 PM

SCAN HERE FOR CURRENT MALL HOURS

SHOPWESTFARMS.COM MALL HOURS

16

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

jewishledger.com

THE KOSHER CROSSWORD DEC. 24, 2021 “Kosher Carols?” By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Challenging

Vol. 93 No. 52 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 DEC. 17 CROSSWORD

jewishledger.com

Across 1. Frenemy of Saul on “Homeland” 4. City of David activities 9. Wicked one in Tanach 14. Genre of the band JEW (Jimmy Eat World) 15. Angelic glows 16. Cholents, more or less 17. One might be schlepped on stage 18. Xmas carol that was part of the High Priest’s wardrobe?

20. Killer of a city of priests, long ago 22. Cholents, more or less 23. Geese letter 24. Betting parlor letters 27. Iron Butterfly’s “___-GaddaDa -Vida”

28. Defeat 29. Xmas carol on where to find Balaam’s donkey?

34. Like one living north of Israel 35. Chills on Saturday 38. Bet ___ 39. Unaccounted-for GI 40. Morgenstern of “Rhoda” 42. Day Yom Kippur can never fall on: Abbr.

43. Don Ho’s “Shalom” 45. Sabbatai Tzvi was one 47. Xmas carol calling for Maya to go for public office?

50. The ___ (“I’ll have what she’s having”) 52. Turk’s title of honor 53. They’re not always as professional as El Al security

54. Olympics powerhouse 55. Bar mitzvahed 57. “Good” singer Lo? 61. Xmas carol about what a dinner with a bunch of yentas certainly wouldn’t be?

65. First name behind the new autobiography “All About Me” 66. Achva product 67. Lambs’ blood locales 68. Some Abrams extras 69. Hebrew topic?

70. Fredricksen in “Up” 71. Daughter involved in a historic inheritance case

Down 1. Sea where nothing ever happens?

2. Nerf insert 3. Rappelling need 4. Gibson on the Knicks 5. Opposite of “non” 6. They are often filled before the Sabbath 7. 1975 Doctorow novel 8. “College grad” that Joan (Rivers) told to shut up about Gaza in 2014 9. Breaks the 8th Commandment, perhaps 10. Hoppy drink 11. Medal of valor 12. The plot of “Lost” had a bunch of them 13. An Israel bond, e.g.

19. He’s playing a Jedi again in

2022 21. Francisco who painted “The Inquisition Tribunal” 25. Oz character who might be jealous of Asher “Lev”?

26. ___ Akiva 28. Murder hornet victim 29. “Bridge of Spies” supporting actor 30. Liza of “Gilmore Girls” 31. How the Monster behaves in “Young Frankenstein” 32. Ruling great-grandson of Solomon 33. Chaps (yiddish) 36. Desmond of South Africa 37. Watched 40. Facebook’s was $38 41. Yutz

44. Tint choice, for Chagall 45. Many sonata parts 46. “Analyze ___”, Crystal film 48. Vessel for little Moses 49. Locale of Netanyahu’s last stand 50. It’s not kosher with unagi 51. Like 50-Down 55. Er’s biblical brother 56. He’s central to the plot of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” 58. Writing on the wall 59. Higher power?

60. Lady from Arendelle 62. Pern of note 63. Occasional oppressor of Jews in the Middle-Ages: Abbr.

64. Co. that launched Dungeons & Dragons

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

17

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

MONDAY, JANUARY 17 “Sublime Slime!” in Greenwich UJA-JCC Greenwich will host “Sublime Slime!” For children ages 3 and up on Zoom on Jan. 17 at 10:30 a.m. Led by Jaden of Jaden’s Craft Shack, kids will be able to customize slime color and scent. RSVP

by Jan. 5 to ujajcc.org. Fee: $25/includes complete slime kit (pick p kids Jan. 10-14 during business hours from UJA-JCC office.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25

Bluegrass in New Haven

Men’s Paddle & Beer Night in Greenwich

The Bluegrass Characters Revue will present “A Tribute to Phil Zimmerman and Stacy Phillips” at 7:30 pm on at Congregation Beth El - Keser Israel, 85 Harrison St. Also performing is Kol Kahol, a group of young musicians drawing inspiration from bluegrass musicians like Stacy Phillips, as well as contemporary Jewish bands such as the Klezmatics, the Moshav Band, and Nefesh Mountain. Masks required; no food or beverages will be permitted. Admission is free, but the musicians will pass the hat.

Hosted by UJA-JCC Greenwich, Men’s Paddle & Beer Night will be held by the Fire Pit at the new Innis Arden Paddle Hut in Greenwich. Proceeds will help fund the presence of the community’s new security adviser, a program to help make Jewish Greenwich safer,, more prepared and proactively responsive to antisemitic incidents. Tickets: $350 For more information or to register: ujajcc.org.

MONDAY, JANUARY 3

SATURDAY JANUARY 29

Learning life’s lessons on Rosh Chodesh

“The City Without Jews,” film and musical presentation

“Nobody’s Perfect Lessons for a Lifetime of Parenting” is the topic of this month’s Rosh Chodesh for Women and Men session, which will be held on Zoom Jan. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Each Rosh Chodesh gathering uses as its core text 30 Lessons for Living by Karl Pillemer. The book relates life lessons learned, as Pillemer interviews older people, using their life experiences to help us navigate the road ahead. Hosted by Congregation Shir Ami of Greenwich, All of these Rosh Chodesh discussions are “stand alone” and you do not have to have read the book to participate. To register and receive the Zoom link (which will be emailed to registrants on the morning of the event), call (203) 900-7976 or email shirami.info@ gmail.com.

“YOUNG GIRL IN A BALL GOWN” BY ARTIST BERTHE MARISOT (1879)

Zoom, Jan. 11, 7:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, visit ujajcc.org. To register for all four programs in the series, email karen@ujajcc.org and include your name, email and phone number.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8 “Some of My Songs” with Mike Latini

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5 The Many Faces of Anti Semitism: The Hare With The Amber Eye Take a virtual tour of the Jewish Museum’s exhibition drawn from Edmund de Waal’s celebrated memoir, “The Hare With the Amber Eye.” trace the Ephrussi family’s rise and fall through artwork by artists including Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir,. At the exhibition’s centerpiece is the rare collection of miniature antique sculptures that a maid hid in her mattress during World War II. The talk is FREE and will be held on 18

JEWISH LEDGER

The JCC in Sherman presents “Some of My Songs,” a concert featuring Mike Latini with special guest Susanna Marker, on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. (snow date: Jan. 15, 7 p.m.) Latini’s latest album, “2020 Visions,” written during and largely about the pandemic, is being released in conjunction with the concert.

The concert will be held indoors at JCC in Sherman, 9 Rte. 39 South. Masks required, regardless of vaccination status. Reservation required. Tickets may be purchased online at jccinsherman.org, info@jccinsherman. org, (860) 355-8050. Tickets: $20/ members; $25/non-members.

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

Jews are hounded by mobs and driven from Vienna in the 1924 expressionist film, “The City Without Jews,” based on the satirical novel by Hugo Bettauer. Worldrenowned musicians Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin will play their collaborative score that has brought audiences to their feet at Lincoln Center, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. To be held Jan. 29 at

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11 The Many Faces of Anti Semitism: Tainted Glory In Handel’s Messiah Renowned musicologist Michael Marissen, author of Tainted Glory in Handel’s Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World’s Most Beloved Choral Work, will deliver a virtual talk as part of the UJA/ JCC Greenwich 4-part antisemitism lecture series. Every Christmas and Easter, audiences thrill to performances of Handel’s Messiah, but they would be appalled to learn the full extent of its meaning. Popular musicologist Michael Marissen uncovers a disturbing message of anti-Judaism buried within its joyous celebration. Gain unsettling insights into one of the world’s best- loved works of religious music.

The talk is FREE and will be held on Zoom, Jan. 11, 7:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, visit ujajcc.org. To register for all four programs in the series, email karen@ujajcc.org and include your name, email and phone number. jewishledger.com

TORAHPortion

DECEMBER 23 – FEBRUARY 5 7 p.m. The concert will be held indoors at the JCC in Sherman, 9 Rte. 39 South. Masks required, regardless of vaccination status.

Reservation required: jccinsherman.org, info@jccinsherman.org, (860) 355-8050.

Tickets: $20/members; $25/non-members.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29 “The City Without Jews” on film in Sherman The silent film “The City Without Jews” will be screened on Jan. 29, 7 p.m., indoors at the JCC in Sherman, 9 Rte 39 South.

The silent film will be accompanied by live music featuring world-renowned musicians Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin.

The film, based on the satirical novel

by Hugo Bettauer, tells the story of Jews in Vienna who are hounded by mobs and driven from their homes, was produced in 1924 and rediscovered in 2015. It is a chilling premonition of the Holocaust and cost Bettauer his life. Presented with commentary by film scholar Noah Isenberg (UT Austin) and a recently restored soundtrack, it is one of few surviving Austrian Expressionist films, and the magnum opus of the great director H.K. Breslauer. The film’s premise is the political rise of the Christian Social Party, which orders all Jews to evacuate Austria. In the ensuing months, the sober reality of a society without Jews sets in, as cultural institutions close and cafes are replaced with beer halls.

Reservations required. Email jccinsherman.org. Tickets: $20/members; $25/nonmembers. Masks required regardless of vaccination status.

“A Winter (Jewish) Experience” for young adults Urban For and UConn Hillel are co-hosting “A Winter (Jewish) Experience” for adults ages 21 to 39, on Feb. 4, 7-9 p.m., at UConn Hillel at UConn Hillel, 54 N Eagleville Rd, Storrs. Guests are also welcome to participate in a spiritual prayer service to be held at 6 p.m. The optional service will be followed at 7 p.m. by dinner, and at 8 p.m. guests may enjoy socializing with friends, old and new, and/or playing pool and ping pong. Guests may join at any point during the course of the evening. Must be vaccinated to attend. Dress is business casual. The evening is FREE and open to all.

To RSVP: https://www.urbandor.org/eventdetails/a-winter-jewish-experience.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5 On Stage: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” The B’nai Jacob Players (BJP)will present the hit Broadway musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” on Saturday evening, Feb. 5. The cast and crew were only two weeks away from the play’s April 2019 opening, when COVID hit, leading to the long shutdown. Now, the play is back on schedule, with most of the intergenerational cast eager to go curtain up. Original formed in the 1970s, BJP was re-launched in 1992

by Ken Sperling z”l, with a large scale production of Fiddler on the Roof. Since then, the troupe has mounted a total of 14 musicals and comedies, which earned them a Solomon Schechter award. For tickets and more information, email barbaragoldstein@ bnaijacob.org , or call (203) 389-2111.

BULLTETIN BOARD Attention Jewish singles: The MatzoBall is back!

Who says the single Jewish crowd have nothing to do but go to the movies on Dec. 24?

For many, there’s only one place to be — the MatzoBall! This year, the popular singles party, sponsored by Personal Dating Concierge, is back to being a live event— after transitioning to a virtual speed dating evening during the pandemic — and celebrating its 35th anniversary with parties in Boston, New York City, Boca Raton, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Sponsored by Personal Dating Concierge, “It’s the only night of the year we can take on a fantastic venue that would normally be closed and deliver it almost exclusively to the young urban Jewish community,” explains Andrew Rudnick from Mazel Events, LLC and founder of the MatzoBall. “The MatzoBall parties have sparked over 1,000 marriages, including my own!”

MatzoBall launched in Boston in 1987 when Rudnick organized a party for his Jewish friends looking for something to do on Christmas Eve. Since then it’s grown to over 4,000 people in its biggest locations, held in swanky ballrooms and nightclubs and has led to its fair share of relationships and marriages.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.matzoball.org. To learn more about MatzoBall, visit matzoball.org. jewishledger.com

Vayechi

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4

I

BY RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

was always taught of the advantage of simplicity in language. My favorite author during my adolescence was Ernest Hemingway, who often criticized those who used multi-syllable words when shorter words would suffice.

Then, I went to graduate school in psychology and learned quite the opposite. I learned that if one could invent a word with multiple syllables to describe a simple phenomenon, he could gain credibility as an expert, even without real expertise.

Take, for example, the seven-syllable word ‘compartmentalization.’ Sounds impressive, but what does it mean? The dictionary offers two meanings. One, “the act of distributing things into classes or categories of the same type.”

Two, ”a mild state of dissociation.”

To understand this definition one must know that dissociation is a psychological process by which one splits two sets of perceptions or emotions into two separate inner worlds so that one does not affect the other.

All of us practice compartmentalization in this sense when we turn on the television, see some news events that are especially troubling to us and simply turn off the TV. Many of us did this recently when we witnessed the terrible forest fires in northern Israel and the horrible deaths of more than forty people. Watching the agony of the families whose loved ones were consumed by that fire was, for many of us, too much to bear. And so, perhaps after a minute or so, we turned off the TV to avoid being confronted with such human suffering.

This might be normal human behavior, and perhaps even necessary to avoid being constantly overwhelmed with negative emotions. But it is not the behavior of a true leader. And it was not the behavior of Moses in this week’s Torah portion, Shemot.

Rather, “...he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens...”

(Exodus 2:11). Upon which Rashi comments, “He gave his eyes and his heart [in order] to be troubled about them”. Not only did he not avoid the scene of Jewish suffering, but he made sure that he beheld it (“his eyes”), and that it affected him emotionally (“his heart”).

Two very important, albeit very different, early 20th century commentators have much to say about our verse. Rabbi Joseph Hertz, in his sadly neglected commentary, writes,

“He went out to his brethren. In later ages it must alas be said of many a son of Israel who had become great, that he went away from his brethren.” How well this former chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth captures the notion of compartmentalization. It is the process by which we “look away” from upsetting scenes, rather than carefully looking “at them”.

Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, known as the “Alter” (old man) of Kelm devotes the opening sermon of his remarkable collection of ethical discourses to our verse and to the criticism of the psychological process which we call “compartmentalization”.

The “Alter” points out that Moses was not content simply to hear about the suffering of his brothers while he sat comfortably in the palace. Rather he “went out” to see for himself. Moses wanted to witness the suffering of his brothers personally. Moses knew the secret of the power of direct sensory perception. Moses wanted to have the image of the burdens of slavery impressed upon his mind’s eye.

For the “Alter”, who was one of the earliest leaders of the Mussar movement, ethical behavior demands the use of imagery to arouse emotions and thus stimulate proper ethical behavior. Moses used his eyes to inspire his heart to motivate his actions. Vision, feeling, behavior: the three essential components of the truly ethical personality.

The lesson for all of us here is that to be a truly ethical person, one must invest in the effort of becoming familiar with the plight of others. One must avoid the temptation of “looking away”.

From a psychological perspective, compartmentalization might be a healthy defense mechanism, necessary to avoid being flooded by images of evil. From an ethical perspective, on the other hand, compartmentalization is a seven-syllable word which, in simple terms, means avoidance of one’s responsibilities to another.

How instructive is the Hasidic tale of the Rabbi who met the village drunkard in the town square. The drunkard asked him, “Rabbi, do you love me?” To which the rabbi replied, “Of course I love you. I love all Jews!”

The drunkard then responded, “So tell me then, Rabbi. What hurts me?” The rabbi had no answer, and so the drunkard exclaimed, “If you truly loved me, you would know what hurts me.”

To know what hurts, we must be sure to open our eyes and hearts to see and feel the pain.

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

19

OBITUARIES FREILICH Michael Aaron Freilich, 30, of Oneonta, N.Y., formerly of West Hartford, died Friday, Dec. 17 from natural causes. Born in Louisville, Ky., he was raised in West Hartford, where he attended Hebrew Academy and Hebrew High School of New England. He was always a great big brother, a terrific friend and a fine athlete. He studied in Israel during a gap year prior to beginning UCONN as a voice major.

He transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University where he began his men’s basketball coaching experience managing the team and coaching AAU travel basketball for the East Hartford “Roughriders.” After graduating from Eastern, he received his Masters’ degree and served as graduate assistant/ assistant coach at LaGrange College in Georgia. He later became assistant coach for SUNY Oneonta and, most recently, Hartwick College men’s basketball programs. In his brief career, Michael

helped many young men find their way to a college education through participation in sports. He recruited talented and high character players and then provided them with mentoring, coaching, friendship and insisted on correcting their college papers.

In Michael’s spare time, he worked as a property manager and had his own house renovation business, Freilich’s Property Services. Humor and fun were always a big part of Michael’s life. He met his wife, Megan Harris, while in college. The couple were married this past July. In addition to his wife, Michael is survived by his loving parents, Sharon and Martin Freilich; his younger brother (and very close pal) Eli Frielich; his grandmother Clairelila Freilich; his in-laws Lisa and George Harris; his sister-in-law Emily Smith and her husband Kevin; his nieces, Ella and Ryann; and many family and friends throughout the U.S. and Israel. The funeral was held Dec. 20 at Beth David Synagogue.

Calling hours will be at Beth David on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 21 and 22, at the completion of the evening service between approximately 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.

Donations in Michael’s memory may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research

Lichtenstein Company Maker of MONUMENTS for 4 Generations

323 Washington Ave., Hamden AT WHITNEY AVE. (opposite K of C Hall)

CALL 1.800.852.8865 • 203.287.1593 • nolanshamdenmonumentco.com

S.L. ZOCCO MEMORIALS, INC. MONUMENTS CEMETERY LETTERING BRONZE & GRANITE MARKERS 804 BLUE HILLS AVE.

860.242.7371

BLOOMFIELD, CT 06002

860.242.5881

SERVING ALL FAITHS IN ALL CEMETERIES

zoccomemorials.net

20

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

Foundation, New England Jewish Academy (NEJA) or Beth David Synagogue.

FRIEDMAN Edward H. Friedman, 98, of West Hartford, died Dec. 4. He was the husband of Frances (“Frannie”) Swaller Friedman.

Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Sam and May (Lappen) Friedman.

He served as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne division of the U.S. Army in World War II landing in Normandy and then serving in the Battle of the Bulge. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Mitchell and his wife Ann, Bruce and his wife Arline, and Karen and her husband Harry; his nieces and nephew and their families; and many cousins. He was also pre-deceased by his brothers, Harold and Stanley, and his nephew Larry.

HERZ Irma Herz, 100, of Stamford, formerly of Norwalk, died Dec. 14. She was the widow of Herbert Herz. Born in Igersheim, Germany, she was the daughter of the late Frieda and Salomon Loeb. She escaped Nazi Germany in 1939 for the United States and first lived in New York. She was a longtime member of Temple Beth El. LOVESKY Isabel (Daskin) Lovesky, 87, of Mystic, formerly of Newington and Avon, died Dec. 10. She was the widow of Jerome Lovesky.

She was born in the Bronx, N.Y. She is survived by her children, Ilene Ladd and her husband Edwin of Lewisburg, Penn., David Lovesky and his wife Betty Anne of Charlestown, R.I., and Gary Lovesky and his wife Elaine of Hingham, Mass.; her grandchildren, Cara (Nick) Keenan, Nicole Lovesky, Ezra Lovesky, Asher Lovesky, Daniel (Laura) Ladd, Rachel Ladd, and Sarah Ladd; and two great grandchildren.

SCHLOSS Phyllis Selma (Pisetsky) Schloss, 85, of Mount Lebanon, Penn., formerly of West Hartford, died Dec. 9. She was the widow of Sherwin Schloss. Born and raised in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Mildred and Benjamin Pisetsky. She was an active member of Beth El Temple.

She is survived by her children, Laura Davidson and her husband Brian of Mount Lebanon, Penn., Renee Metsch and her husband David of North Andover, Mass., and Michael Schloss and his wife Sharon of Unionville, Conn.; her grandchildren, Michelle (Brad) Caswell, Stephanie Schloss, Benjamin, Maxwell and Sarah Davidson, and Benjamin Metsch; her siblings, Calvin Price and his wife Elaine of Florida, and Felda Deena Iron of Israel. She was also predeceased by her siblings, Libby Beatman and Marvin Pisetsky.

TISHLER Dr. Steven “Cy” Tishler, 75, of Mansfield and Old Saybrook, passed away on October 25, 2021 at Middlesex Hospital. He was the son of the late Marcia (Karotkin) and Paul Tishler. He was a graduate of Weaver High School, Fairleigh Dickinson University and the New England College of Optometry.

Dr. Tishler practiced for over 45 years in Mansfield, specializing in children’s vision.

He was very respected in this field and had “Generations of Patients”. An avid fan of Corvettes, he owned many over the years.

He especially enjoyed many summers at the family cottage on Chapman Beach in Westbrook. He is survived by his wife Patricia R. Dileo, his nephews Dr. Darren Tishler (Stefanie) and Kevin Tishler (Brooke) and his sister-in-law Gail Tishler and special friend Sheryl Wexler. He was predeceased by his brother Dr. Ronald Tishler and his sister Myrna Keryc.

For more information on placing an obituary, contact: judiej@ jewishledger.

AlwAys PlAcing your FAmily First

CARMON FUNERAL HOMES Owned & Operated by the Carmon Family

Serving families of all faiths and cultures for over 65 years, strictly adhering to valued traditions and rituals.

Our locations in the Farmington Valley, Hartford and Tolland counties offer exceptional, caring service at affordable prices.

888.688.8475

www.carmonfuneralhome.com jewishledger.com

It’s not too late to support these non-profits!

NOW ON DISPLAY AT WESTFARMS!

FAXON LIBRARY

WESTMOOR PARK

THE RON FOLEY FOUNDATION

FOUNDATION FOR WEST HARTFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

THE CT CHAPTER OF THE ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION

FOOTWEAR WITH CARE

DOG STAR RESCUE

FOOD FARMACY

FOR ALL AGES

FAXON LIBRARY

APK CHARITIES

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE

Event brought to you by 20/20 MEDIA

jewishledger.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO ANY OF THESE NON-PROFITS JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

21

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY COMPUTER TECH

COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID

Coming Up Short?

Let us help you through the long and complicated process of filing for college financial aid.

With 20+ years experience, and our proven record, we will: • Increase your eligibility for aid • Complete your financial aid forms • Work with you through the entire financial aid process

We’re your #1 College Financial Aid Resource

Call for a FREE Consult 800.669.9111 or 860.683.2320

Innovate|Simplify

Professional IT Consulting Upgrade home|office equipment Networking Home Theater Website Design Photo and Music Consolidation Security Cameras

860.301.7019 • searobintech.com

ENERGY

S-1 303418 • HOD 0000962

Office: 860.728.5431 • Cell: 860-558-5948 40 Woodland Street (Rear), Hartford, CT 06105 www.deitchenergy.com

CALL US FOR OUR FUEL PRICES SERVING CONNECTICUT SINCE 1910

PEST CONTROL

Over 600,000 people will see your digital ad each month in the Business and Professional Directory.

Emilio N. Polce 860.432.9444 • Fax 860.432.7559 109 Strawberry Lane • Manchester, CT epolce@ecochoicepest.com ecochoicepest.com

To advertise on this page contact: Howard Meyerowitz at 860.231.2424 x3035

TAX PREPARATION

All ages and levels

CHRIS BONITO 860.748.0004 BA Music Performance 20+ years private instruction References available

Individual and Business Tax Preparaion Low Reasonable Rates

860.729.6036

Phase II of exhibit at Westfarms November 19 - January 19, 2022 | DECEMBER 24, 2021

Chimney Repair Specialist

CELLARS WATERPROOFED / PATIOS / WALKS New • Bluestone • Rebuild Brick • Pointing • Concrete Foundation Cracks Repaired Servicing All Your Masonry Needs Since 1994 Service • Reasonable Rates • Free Estimates • Fully Insured

860.930.2536 • Dan Messina ROOFING

WITH ZAMAN ROOFING

You’re in Good Hands

n Roof Replacements n Roof Repairs n Gutters n Exterior Carpentry

Call to schedule your free estimate today.

860.977.8042

www.zamanroofing.com

Web Design • SEO • Branding • Marketing UX/UI Design • Social Media Management E-Commerce • Graphic Design • Videography

Certified Public Accountant

email: dansethlev@cox.net Willing to travel to residence

D & M MASONRY

WEB SOLUTIONS

Daniel S. Levine, CPA

JEWISH LEDGER

PRIVATE DRUM INSTRUCTION

MASONRY

For maintenance on your fuel oil or natural gas heating or cooling system, call:

22

DRUM LESSONS

860.595.2018 westhartfordwebsolutions.com jewishledger.com

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

FAIRFIELD Congregation Beth El, Fairfield Conservative Rabbi Joshua Ratner (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 WendyBarr@grs.com 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 Danny Moss (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 admin@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 rabbi@beki.org (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 ORANGE Congregation Or Shalom Conservative Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus (203) 799-2341 info@orshalomct.org www.orshalomct.org

jewishledger.com

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) 679-4446 ostro770@hotmail.com

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

WEST HARTFORD Beth David Synagogue Modern 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

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 Rachel Zerin Cantor Joseph Ness (860) 233-9696 info@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 WALLINGFORD Beth Israel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Bruce Alpert (203) 269-5983 info@bethisraelwallingford.org www.bethisraelwallingford.org WASHINGTON Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life Rabbi James Greene (860) 868-2434 jewishlifect@gmail.com www.jewishlifect.org

Congregation P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Shabbat Services & Holidays Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener (860) 561-5905 pnaiorct@gmail.com www.jewishrenewalct.org Kehilat Chaverim of Greater Hartford Chavurah Adm. - Nancy Malley (860) 951-6877 mnmalley@yahoo.com www.kehilatchaverim.org

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 860-529-2410 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

Paid Advertisers

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

JEWISH LEDGER

|

DECEMBER 24, 2021

23

Thanks For A Great Year!

The Crown Market

2471 Albany Ave West Hartford, CT 06117

860.236.1965

www.crownmarketonline.com HKC supervises the Bakery, Five o’clock Shop, Butcher Department and Catering.

We’re not JUST kosher...we’re DELICIOUS! 24

JEWISH LEDGER

| DECEMBER 24, 2021

jewishledger.com