Southern New England Jewish Ledger • February 22, 2022 • 21 Adar 5782

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

JL

JEWISH LEDGER February 22, 2022 | 21 Adar 5782 Vol. 94 | No. 4 | ©2022 jewishledger.com

1

N I S I S I R C

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

E N I A R K U February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

DIAMOND EXPERTS

#EVERYBOXHASASTORY

46 LASALLE ROAD WEST HARTFORD 860.521.3015 SOMERSET SQUARE GLASTONBURY 860.659.8510 MOHEGAN SUN WESTPORT WELLESLEY

2

LBGreen.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

@LuxBondGreen

February 22, 2022

IN -STORE • BY APPOINTMENT • CURBSIDE • ONLINE

|

jewishledger.com

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

ON THE COVER

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

JL

JEWISH LEDGER February 22, 2022 | 21 Adar 5782 Vol. 94 | No. 4 | ©2022 jewishledger.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2022 • 21 ADAR 5782

Crisis in Ukraine

PAGE 12 1

CRISIS

AINE

IN UKR

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Will he or won’t he? A former Israeli ambassador to both Ukraine and Russia, currently a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, says Vladimir Putin’s main ambition is “to make Russia a global super-power.” What does that mean for Israel?

A member of the Ukrainian State Border Guard stands watch at the border crossing between Ukraine and Belarus, Feb. 13, 2022.

(Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

8

Features

Around SNE

5

19

Arts & Entertainment

21

Jewish Life

27

Briefs

31

Bulletin Board

35

Women’s Work

Young Israel of West Hartford’s first Community Scholar will work to enhance the Orthodox Shul’s educational programming and serve as a Yoetzet Halacha, providing Halakhic guidance in matters of family purity and women’s health.

What’s Happening

5

38

Torah Portion

39

Crossword

40

Obituaries February 22, 2022

|

Justice Served

A former Massachusetts resident now living in Sweden has been indicted for allegedly obstructing an jewishledger.com

investigation into fires at Jewishaffiliated institutions in May 2019.

21 Jewish life More and more older American Jews are opting to spend their golden years in the Jewish state. Here’s why.

10 Opinion

What did President Roosevelt’s fateful decision to round up more than 130,000 JapaneseAmericans and hold them in detention camps have to do with his response to the Holocaust?

More than you might think.

23 In the Kitchen Cookbook author Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry’s wife) goes vegan.

Sort of.

CANDLE LIGHTING SHABBAT FRIDAY, FEB. 22 Hartford New Haven: Bridgeport: Stamford:

5:18 p.m.

5:18 p.m.

5:19 p.m.

5:20 p.m.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

3

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

JL

JEWISH LEDGER

TOM HICKEY PRESIDENT

JUDIE JACOBSON EDITOR IN CHIEF

STACEY DRESNER ASSOCIATE EDITOR

HILLARY PASTERNAK SARRASIN DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER

CHRIS BONITO CREATIVE DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

4

INTRODUCING… THE NEW! SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND JEWISH LEDGER A new day has dawned at both the Connecticut and Massachusetts Jewish Ledgers – and we couldn’t be more excited!

On January 1, 2022, the two venerated New England publications joined forces to create the Southern New England Jewish Ledger.

The first of its kind in New England, the new global Ledger publication will serve the Jewish communities of Connecticut, and Western and Central Massachusetts, covering Jewish news throughout the region, North America, Israel and the world.

The launch of the Southern New England Jewish Ledger is made possible by 20/20 Media, a new full-service publishing and marketing concern based in West Hartford, Connecticut that, as of January 1, 2022, acquired the Connecticut Jewish Ledger and the Massachusetts Jewish Ledger.

Tom Hickey, president of 20/20 Media and a founding partner of WeHa.com, welcomed the Ledger to the 20/20 Media family with open arms.

“For almost 93 years, the Ledger has been a strong voice for the Jewish communities of Connecticut and Massachusetts,” said Tom in announcing the purchase. “It has invigorated and supported Jewish life locally, throughout North America and around the world, and it has opened and reinforced lines of communication with other local communities and communities of faith, helping to unite us all. We are grateful for this opportunity to now be a part of that long and distinguished legacy.”

Of course, there’s more to the Southern New England Jewish Ledger than just a name change. In the coming months readers will see a slew of improvements designed to enhance the paper and further serve the community.

A quick flip through the pages of this issue reveals the first of those improvements: An updated and stylish new look.

In addition, the Ledger will switch from a weekly to a bi-weekly schedule, publishing online every other Tuesday.

Of course, for those who will miss their weekly dose of Jewish news – not to worry!

This month the Ledger introduces JL TODAY – a weekly online update of breaking news of interest to the local community, designed to complement the Ledger.

In addition to Tom Hickey, who takes over as publisher, the new publication will be headed up by the same accomplished team of experienced professionals who have guided the Connecticut and Massachusetts Jewish Ledger. They include: Judie Jacobson (Editor in Chief), Stacey Dresner (Associate Editor), Hillary Pasternak Sarrasin (Digital Media Manager) and Chris Bonito (Creative Director/Graphic Designer), as well as a team of advertising representatives and event coordinators.

“These are exciting times at 20/20 Media. We’ve got all sorts of exciting projects in the works that aim to enrich our community, and the new Southern New England Jewish Ledger is now among them. We encourage everyone to stay tuned,” says Tom, who take over as publisher of Southern New England Jewish Ledger.

In purchasing the Ledger, 20/20 Media ensures the continued publication of Connecticut’s only statewide Jewish newspaper. Founded in April 1929 by the late Sam Neusner and the late Rabbi Abraham Feldman, the Ledger is one of the oldest Jewish weekly newspapers in North America. 20/20 Media purchased the Connecticut and Massachusetts Jewish Ledgers from Hartford area businessman and philanthropist Henry Zachs, who has owned it for the past eight years.

The community is invited to share thoughts and comments with the Ledger by emailing Southern New England JL Editor in Chief Judie Jacobson at judiej@jewishledger.com.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

up

Front

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND JEWISH LEDGER | FEBRUARY 22, 2022 | 21 ADAR 5782

FBI was investigating alleged Mass. synagogue arsonist at the time of the fires

Young Israel of West Hartford appoints its first Community Scholar & Yoetzet Halacha

W

BY STACEY DRESNER

a panel of rabbis who studied the issue regarding the role of women in their synagogues.

The study was done at least partly due to Rabbi Avi Weiss, the now retired leader of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, who, espousing what he dubbed an “Open Orthodox” approach to religious life, had founded Yeshivat Maharat. Weiss and his organization raised ire throughout the less liberal Orthodox world when they began ordaining women as clergy or “rabbas” in 2009.

The OU dismissed the idea of female rabbis in 2017 but in a statement agreed that “The failure to fully embrace the talents of women and encourage women to assume greater lay and professional roles is a tragic forfeiture of communal talent. We should focus on creating and institutionalizing roles for women that address the needs of Orthodox Jews today, by removing barriers that impede women from further contributing to our community, in halachically appropriate ways.

We should fully utilize their talents and commitment, thereby fostering shmirat hamitzvot

(JTA) NEEDHAM, Massachusetts – A series of arson attacks on Jewish institutions in Massachusetts in 2019 was likely perpetrated by a man who once wrote, “We must kill all Jews.”

But while the man was under investigation for domestic terrorism at the time of the attacks and police collected evidence that could tie him to the arsons almost immediately, he was not identified as a suspect until months later. By then, he was in a coma from which he never recovered.

Federal prosecutors revealed these details Wednesday with the announcement of an indictment of the suspected arsonist’s brother, who stands accused of obstructing the investigation by taking evidence of his brother’s antisemitic beliefs to Sweden, where he was living.

Alexander Giannakakis was arrested Wednesday near Stockholm by Swedish law enforcement and faces extradition to the United States.

He had worked as a security guard for the U.S. Embassy in Sweden.

The FBI believes that Giannakakis’ brother was the arsonist behind three fires at two Chabad Jewish centers and a fourth case of arson targeting a Jewish-affiliated business in May 2019. The name of the suspected arsonist is not being released because he is dead.

Continued on the next page

Continued on the next page

RUTHIE BRAFFMAN SHULMAN

EST HARTFORD, Connecticut – Ruthie Braffman Shulman has been named the first ever Community Scholar at Young Israel of West Hartford.

In this newly created position, Shulman will work to enhance the Orthodox synagogue’s educational programming and serve as Yoetzet Halacha, a Jewish law counselor providing counseling and Halakhic (Jewish legal) guidance in matters of Taharat HaMishpacha (family purity), intimacy, and women’s health.

“We are so delighted to welcome Ruthie Braffman Shulman to our professional team,” says Rabbi Tuvia Brander.

“She combines many years of advanced learning with remarkable programmatic creativity and tremendous interpersonal skills.”

“Her role is dual but her official title is Community Scholar which means she will be seen as an educator and scholar – not just the yoetzet halachah – teaching men, women, young adults, seniors, children in all different venues and all different topics,” Rabbi Brander explained.

“She is first and foremost a February 22, 2022

BY ASAF SHALEV

|

community scholar and someone who can engage all different demographics in Torah learning and Torah engagement.”

“We are thrilled to support this new initiative here at the Young Israel of West Hartford.

Under Rabbi Tuvia Brander’s leadership, our community has become a vital and growing center of Jewish life,” said Jeremy Pava who, together with his wife Ann, is a member of Young Israel.

The couple are also trustees of Micah Philanthropies, which provided the collaboration and financial support to make the new position possible.

“Rabbi Brander has absolutely created an environment that is looking for ways to enhance, not just womens’ leadership, but their meaningful experience in shul. He came to us with this idea and we loved it,” said Ann Pava. “We know Ruthie was an extraordinary leader in her previous shul, and so we were thrilled to support this.”

Shulman’s arrival at Young Israel reflects the move to expand women’s roles as spiritual leaders in Modern Orthodox synagogues.

In 2017, after a survey of male and female leaders in the Orthodox community, the Orthodox Union (OU) convened

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

5

Arson

Ruthie

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

The rabbi of one of the Chabad centers said he is grateful for law enforcement and thanked God for having been unharmed by the arson attack.

“We have looked at the incident as an impetus to grow because we believe that the best way to combat antisemitism is to do even more, to spread more light in the world, and more love in the world,” Rabbi Mendy Krinsky of the Chabad Jewish Center in Needham, Massachusetts, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “That’s the best way. A little light dispels a lot of darkness.”

Prosecutors are characterizing the arson attacks as antisemitic acts of domestic terrorism. According to the indictment, Giannakakis, 35, lied to investigators and concealed evidence that could tie his brother to the crime, including a T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika, a notebook with a swastika drawn inside and a bottle of cyanide.

The suspected arsonist had written antisemitic screeds, scribbling Nazi slogans and the statements: “A world without Jews, is a world without scum.

Something we should aim for,”

and “We must kill, we must kill all Jews. That is simply essential.”

For Robert Trestan, the New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, the revelations about the likely motivation behind the attacks validate fears that Jews have about rising antisemitism in the United States.

“The indictment is yet again another reminder that antisemitism is more than a concept,” Trestan, told JTA. “It motivates people to commit acts of violence that are lifethreatening to Jews around the country. If they are taking the threat posed by antisemitism extremely seriously then so should we, by prioritizing security, raising awareness of the threat that antisemitism poses, and being unrelenting in combating all forms of antisemitism.”

At the time of the arsons, the brother was under investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force as part of a probe into a group suspected of “planning criminal activity in support of their racially motivated, violent extremist ideology,” the Continued on page 33

THE CHABAD CENTER FOR JEWISH LIFE OF ARLINGTON, MASS. SOURCE: SCREENSHOT.

6

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

(observance of mitzvot), enhancing limmud Torah(Torah learning) and expanding the richness and vibrancy of Jewish life.”

“There is a value that we see strongly in being able to create opportunities for women with this sort of high-level Torah learning and Torah leadership position,” Rabbi Brander said.

“The vision for this was really to provide an important service for our community both in the Yoetzet halahach – to provide women in our community the resource that that provides and the opportunity for women who very much value that mitzvah to have accessibility to women to consult with – and to provide a role model and Torah educator in the community that matches the values of our shul and of our community.”

An unintentional path Shulman was a six-year-old living in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, when her Conservative parents decided to become Orthodox Jews.

The family, including two older siblings, joined the Lower Marion Synagogue where she says the vibrancy and the “tons of young children” appealed to her parents. Still, while she loved going to shul, she didn’t always have her sights set on becoming a Torah scholar in a synagogue.

“I thought I would go into Jewish education to teach in high school education. I’d worked in camps and I really love that age,” she explains.

Shulman received her B.A. from Stern College and her M.A. from Yeshiva University’s Graduate Program for Advanced Talmud Studies (GPATS).

It was during her two years working as a congregational intern at the Hebrew Institute of White Plains that she became passionate about Torah leadership and working in a synagogue.

“I got to work really closely with the rabbi who really

mentored me. I worked with the congregants and I loved it,” she recalls. “I loved engaging with the community at all different levels – the adult education component and being somewhat accessible at the synagogue level. It opened up for me how much I loved being involved in synagogue life.”

She later had the opportunity to work at Pennsylvania University Hillel in its OU Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus.

When her husband got a job at a law firm in New York, they moved to Manhattan and she was introduced to the Manhattan Jewish Experience.

“They wanted to hire an Orthodox woman to be involved in the community and be involved in the Shabbat and holiday life.”

Three years later, Shulman became a Devorah Scholar, a program created by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) in partnership with the Pavas’ Micah Philanthropies.

The program is devoted to increasing the number of spiritual leadership positions for Orthodox women in Orthodox shuls.

Shulman’s Devorah Scholar grant funded the two-thirds time position she held as director of education and engagement at United Synagogues of Houston.

While there, she also began the two-year yoetzet program.

“The core of the yoetzet program is the Torah and the Jewish law side, but then we also had a lot of supplementary education,” she explains. “We had monthly medical seminars with an Ob Gyn. We also did pastoral counseling with psychologists and psychiatrists, [learned about] fertility. It’s a pretty intense program...The final study process is kind of like the Boards, you have to kind of review everything and know everything off the top of your head.”

For her it is important to share the “spiritual element Continued on page 33

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

HAS IT! Nine brands, ten dealerships, two collision centers, and one insurance agency

Celebrating 100 years in business, the Hoffman Auto Group is one of Connecticut’s most respected family-owned business with locations in East Hartford, New London, Waterbury, and Avon/Simsbury. Each of our nine locations offers a one-stop automotive experience where we are committed to demonstrating how we are driven by trust with every customer.

860.289.7721 • hoffmanauto.com

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

7

Around SNE Virtual drive raises $7,000 for books for at-risk students The 2021 Greater Hartford Virtual Holiday Book Drive has raised $7,000 to purchase new books for at-risk public preschool and elementary school students who participate in Children’s Reading Partner’s volunteer literacy programs across the Hartford area, it recently was announced by Children’s Reading Partners, the West Hartford Rotary Club, and The Miale Team at Keller Williams.

“It was an honor to continue the book drive for its eighth consecutive year,” said Bennett Forrest of The Miale Team, who chaired the drive. “Going virtual again this year allowed us to buy books wholesale and distribute them strategically — based on the needs of the individual schools, classes, and students.”

Proud to note that West Hartford Rotary Club members donated more than $2,000 toward the goal,“ Rotary Club president Kyle Egress said, “Education and literacy are one of Rotary’s six areas of focus.”

“During the pandemic, I keep coming back to a quote by Mason Cooley: ‘Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are,’” added Ronni Breiter, director of Children’s Reading Partners.

“Children’s Reading Partners can now send every child we serve on a personal journey. Each will receive the gift of a book selected just for them.”

Administered by the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, Children’s Reading Partners serves at-risk students in the Greater Hartford area. The program provides one-on-one mentoring services during the school year as well as through preschool readiness and summer enrichment programs. To learn more about Children’s Reading Partners, visit www.childrensreadingpartners.org or visit @love4literacy on Facebook.

Puppets on parade!

The Lander-Grinspoon Academy (LGA), a pluralistic Jewish day school in Northampton, Massachusetts, the Upper Pioneer Valley, received a grant from the Mass Cultural Council to support another year of learning the art of puppet making and puppetry. On Jan. 31, LGA thirdgraders learned how to make puppets in a workshop conducted by Homeslice Puppetry. The students created a character built with found and recycled items. The end result was eleven wonderful mechanical puppets. Grades 4-6 will have their workshops in the coming months.

Students spread the joy of Adar!

Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy 6th graders Sruli Cohen, Chaim Cowen, Leibel Gottlieb and Shmarya Gesin spread the joy of the month of Adar at LYA. Students throughout the Longmeadow, Massachusetts day school sang and danced and passed around special “book cookie” treats to all. The LYA book cookies were specially ordered for all the students to welcome Book Buddies, a new LYA initiative in which older students choose library books to read to their younger buddies.

THE WEST HARTFORD ROTARY CLUB DONATED $1,000 TO KICK OFF THE EIGHTH ANNUAL GREATER HARTFORD HOLIDAY BOOK DRIVE. FROM LEFT: KYLE EGRESS, ROTARY CLUB PRESIDENT; RONNI BREITER, CHILDREN’S READING PARTNERS PROGRAM COORDINATOR; AND BENNETT FORREST OF THE MIALE TEAM AT KELLER WILLIAMS, WHO CHAIRS THE DRIVE.

Fun, friends and memories at Worcester Florida Party “Worcesterites” came from near and far to attend the annual Worcester Florida Reunion Party, held on Feb. 3. Organizer Alan Cooper engaged the crowd with fun trivia facts about Worcester and the history of Worcester’s Jewish community; old photos and scrapbooks from the 50s and 60s were passed around; Dave Sigel presented an emotional video of Water Street in Worcester in the 1950s; and Steve Willens gave an update on the Jewish Healthcare Center. Steve Schimmel, executive director of the Jewish federation of Central Mass., couldn’t make it, but sent greetings, and Dr. Charles Steinberg, president of the Boston Red Sox and the Worcester “Woo Sox” sent a letter sharing all the happenings at Polar Park planned next season specifically for the Jewish community.

8

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Owners, managers and developers of commercial, residential and retail properties in central Connecticut for over 50 years.

We specialize in all sizes of office space and offer a wide range of living options including luxury apartments and townhouses.

For more information contact us at 860.232.1729

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

9

Opinion

FDR’s Jewish problem — and its Japanese Link

BY RAFAEL MEDOFF

N

ext week marks the 80th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fateful decision to round up more than 130,000 Japanese-Americans and hold them in detention camps, on the grounds that they might be spies for Japan.

What does FDR’s mass internment of the Japanese have to do with his response to the Holocaust? More than you might think.

President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, issued on February 19, 1942, authorized the War Department to designate parts of the country “military areas,” from which “alien enemies” would be “excluded.” All individuals of Japanese ancestry were considered potential “enemies” simply because of their ethnic background.

Roosevelt explained his view of Asians in series of articles in

the 1920s, shortly before he was elected governor of New York.

Writing in Asia magazine in 1923, he sympathized with what he said was the widespread view “that the mingling of white with oriental blood on an extensive scale is harmful to our future citizenship.”

Two years later, in an article for the Macon Daily Telegraph (for which he was a regular columnist), FDR asserted: “Anyone who has traveled in the Far East knows that the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood produces, in nine cases out of ten, the most unfortunate results.” The future president warned that “Japanese immigrants are not capable of assimilation into the American population.”

Following the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, some of President Roosevelt’s military advisers began pushing for mass detention of Japanese Americans on the grounds that,

as Secretary of War Stimson put it, “their racial characteristics are such that we cannot understand or trust [them].” FDR’s belief that “Japanese immigrants are not capable of assimilation” contributed to his willingness to take such a radical step.

Roosevelt’s perspective also helps explain why he authorized the roundup of Japanese Americans, yet never contemplated similar action against German Americans or Italian Americans, although they, too, had family ties to countries which America was fighting in the war.

“Orientals” were not the only ethnic group whom FDR viewed with automatic suspicion. He harbored similar sentiments concerning Jews.

There are more than a dozen documented instances in which Roosevelt made unflattering statements about Jews in private conversations with friends or political allies in the 1930s and

1940s.

His remarks about Jews focused on several specific themes: that Jews possessed certain innate and distasteful characteristics; that it was undesirable to have too many Jews in any single profession, institution, or geographic locale; and that America should be an overwhelmingly white and Protestant country.

Thus President Roosevelt accused the publishers of the New York Times of using “a dirty Jewish trick” to resolve a tax problem. He told Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, America’s foremost Jewish leader, that Jews in Poland were to blame for provoking antisemitism because they dominated the Polish economy. In a conversation with Sen. Burton Wheeler (D-MT), Roosevelt expressed pride that “there is no Jewish blood in our veins.”

In one 1941 cabinet meeting, FDR remarked that there were

DOROTHEA LANGE/NATIONAL ARCHIVES

10

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

too many Jews among federal employees in Oregon. He also boasted that when he was on Harvard University’s Board of Overseers in the 1920s, he had helped bring about a quota to limit the admission of Jewish students. In 1943, he privately asserted that German hostility toward Jews was “understandable” because (he erroneously claimed) “over fifty percent of the lawyers, doctors, school teachers, college professors, etc, in Germany, were Jews.”

Most relevant to the issue of the Japanese internment was what Roosevelt said about Jews to Winston Churchill during a White House luncheon on May 22, 1943. According to the diary of Vice President Henry Wallace, FDR approvingly described a plan drafted by one of his advisers, which “essentially [was] to spread the Jews thin all over the world. The president said he had tried this out in [Meriwether] County, Georgia and at Hyde Park on the basis of adding

four or five Jewish families at each place. He claimed that the local population would have no objection if there were no more than that.”

FDR’s plan for the Jews was remarkably similar to what he envisioned for Japanese Americans. At a November 21, 1944, press conference, the president explained what would happen to the detainees after leaving the internment camps: “A good deal of progress has been made in scattering them through the country…whether it’s in the Hudson River Valley or in western Georgia which we all know, in one of those countries, probably half a dozen or a dozen families could be scattered around on the farms and worked into the community….And they wouldn’t—what’s my favorite word?—discombobulate the existing population of those particular countries very much.”

This was the common theme that underlay Roosevelt’s perceptions of both Jews and Japanese Americans. Their

“blood”—that is, their innate racial characteristics—made them suspect. If admitted to the the United States in large numbers, they would overcrowd certain professions, dominate aspects of society, or harm America’s character or culture in other ways. They needed to be “spread out thin” so as to keep them in check. The entry of significant numbers of “non-assimilable” Jewish or Asian immigrants did not fit comfortably in that vision.

That explains why the Roosevelt administration suppressed Jewish refugee immigration far below the levels allowed by the existing quota system. Some 190,000 quota places from Germany and Axis-occupied countries went unused from 1933 to 1945. Yet the president turned away the refugee ship St. Louis with its 930 Jewish passengers, and refused to support a bill to admit 20,000 refugee children from Germany.

Taking in any significant number of Jewish refugees—even though

permitted by the existing quota laws—did not comport with Franklin Roosevelt’s conception of the ideal America.

For Japanese-Americans, that meant losing almost all their possessions and being shipped off to detention camps for years. For Jews trying to flee from Europe, it meant America slamming shut its doors just at the moment when they most desperately needed shelter.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and the author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His latest is America and the Holocaust: A Documentary History, forthcoming from the Jewish Publication Society / University of Nebraska Press.)

Reprinted from the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

There’s no place like

FEDERATION HOMES Affordable Living for Older Adults 62+ and Individuals with Disabilities

HASSLE-FREE LIVING! Apartment Features • Air Conditioning • Full-size refrigerator • Full-size stove • Mini Blinds • Garbage disposal • Carpeting • Ample closet space • HEAT INCLUDED

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Community Amenities • On-site maintenance • On-site management • On-site parking • Bloomfield minibus • Lunch provided on weekdays • Food pantry • Laundry facilities • Library & E-books • Meeting room • Arcade games/game tables • Recreational activities and programming • Holiday celebrations/monthly performances • Beautifully landscaped grounds

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 Southern New England Jewish Ledger

11

CRISIS IN UKRAINE Jerusalem maintains delicate balancing act over Russia-Ukraine tensions

BY ISRAEL KASNETT

(JNS) The perceived Western European notion that a major war cannot again occur on the continent is quickly dissipating as Russia continues to threaten war with Ukraine. Even with the flurry of diplomatic activity on the part of the United States and Europe to reduce tensions, the threat is not going away and could materialize at any time.

“We are in the window. Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine, or it could be a couple of weeks from now, or Russia could choose to take the diplomatic path instead,” U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

Since then, the situation has only escalated as Russian troops, in addition to at least six ships that have entered the Black Sea to boost its combat power, have moved in around Ukraine’s northern, eastern and southern borders. Its only reprieve remains NATO countries to its west.

Concerns abound that a full-scale invasion by Russia could result in as many as 50,000 civilian casualties and force some 5 million Ukrainians to become refugees. Israel, in particular, is engaged in preparations should the need arise to absorb Jewish Ukrainian refugees on short notice.

Ksenia Svetlova, a research fellow at Mitvim Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies and a former member of Knesset, told JNS that while Israel is carefully preparing for a possible evacuation of Jews and Israeli citizens residing in Ukraine,

12

“it is also careful not to make statements that will be perceived as an attempt to take sides.”

“In the event of war, where there may be multiple casualties, it may be difficult for Israel to maintain this neutral profile,” she noted, adding there might be “consequences for Israel” where it may need to support the American position or “interfere for the sake of the Jewish communities there.”

‘No one knows where Putin is headed’ Israel currently maintains a delicate balancing act as it works to preserve its good relationship with both Russia and Ukraine.

Dima Course, a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science at Ariel University, told JNS this situation “is specifically challenging from the Israeli perspective because of our alliance with the U.S.” “However,” he said, “in most scenarios, the Israeli leadership will have enough space to maneuver between the sides.”

Course suggested this maneuverability is important since both Russia and Ukraine are “significant partners” of Israel.

This delicate balance became the focus of attention on Feb. 3 when Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yevgeny Kornichuk criticized Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s remarks regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a statement posted on Facebook.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

A UKRAINIAN SOLIDER. CREDIT: BUMBLE DEE/SHUTTERSTOCK.

The Foreign Ministry summoned Kornichuk for a reprimand.

As the world focuses on Ukraine, it remains clear to many experts that Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to use Ukraine as a pawn for the movement of larger ambitions in the region.

Zvi Magen, a former Israeli ambassador to both Ukraine and Russia, and currently a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told JNS that Putin’s main ambition is “to make Russia a global superpower.” Following that goal, Putin would like to keep ex-Soviet territories under Russian control. At a minimum, Putin wants to postpone Ukraine joining NATO for as long as possible and to end sanctions against Russia.

Addressing an INSS conference, Magen acknowledged that “no one knows where Putin is headed or how far he intends to go, including those in his immediate surroundings. The probability is low that Putin will go for an allout war. Apparently, that’s also the assumption in the West. The question is what Putin will do instead.”

Magen said he thinks Russia is trying to prove it is a global power, in part by operating in Syria. And while Moscow has flexed its muscles on the SyriaIsrael border recently, “there is no attempt to threaten Israel,” he stressed.

He emphasized that Putin would like to see a change in the world order, believing that

there’s been enough of a unipolar world with one, single leading superpower.

“Western nations are willing to give Russia a ladder to climb down from the tree. Nobody knows what the next step is,” said Magen. “Putin is blatantly stepping on the table of the Western system hoping they will blink. There’s now another superpower called Russia that’s dictating the world order.”

‘Trying to restructure European security architecture’ Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, addressed an online conference held by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) on Feb. 7, during which she agreed with other experts that this crisis “is manufactured

by Russia” and is not “a situation born out of real concerns.”

“This is about a lot more than just Ukraine,” she said.

“At the heart of the issue is that Western and Russian worldviews are coming to a clash. For the Kremlin, this is about fundamentally changing the post-Cold War world order.

The Kremlin’s problem is that it cannot live in a U.S.-led world order.”

In addition, she said, “Russia is trying to restructure European security architecture, and that will have global implications.”

Borshchevskaya said what concerns her most is that the West will start to make concessions to Moscow. “That

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

will be the worst thing possible because it will not end well for Ukraine,” she warned. “We need to move towards deterrence, which in this case, means hard power.”

Speaking at the same conference, Daniel Rakov, an expert on Russian policy in the Middle East and a fellow at the JISS, said that this crisis “is bad timing for Israel because it is concurrent with the negotiations with Iran in Vienna.”

“For Israel, this is an existential issue,” he said, adding that in Israel’s view, the UkraineRussia crisis is a distraction from a much more important issue.

Rakov noted that Russia is working to project power and influence. And in recent weeks, it has sent signals to Israel and Western powers that it can do so.

For instance, Russia was found to be using GPS jamming from Syrian soil, affecting large parts of northern and central Israel. It also conducted joint

land and air patrols with Syrians near Israel’s border.

According to Rakov, “this signifies the tension in the air which Israel must consider.”

He also noted that Russia recently deployed ships to the eastern Mediterranean, the first major Russian military naval deployment there in years.

“More Russian deployment brings more Western deployment, so the eastern Mediterranean is quite a tense place currently,” he said. “These types of tensions have led Israel to keep a low profile on the Russian-Ukraine crisis.”

Rakov agreed with the other experts JNS spoke with that this is not a conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, but rather, a conflict about the world order. Offering advice to Israel’s leadership, he suggested that “as frustrating as it will be to our Ukrainian and Western partners, Israel’s obscure position best serves its interests.”

In Ukraine, young Jews are torn between fighting for their country — and leaving for another

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

(JTA) – As world powers work to defuse the military buildup between Ukraine and Russia, Vlodymyr Zeev Vaksman, a Jewish father in Odessa, is focusing on a personal arms race.

“I put off making any big purchases. I want to buy weapons,” Vaksman, the 40-year-old chair of Odessa’s Tiferet Masorti community, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Monday.

Vaksman, who works as a tour guide, is typical of many young Ukrainian Jews: Attached to their country, they’re hesitant to abandon it when it’s threatened. But, mindful of how quickly it can descend into violence, sometimes along sectarian lines, they also are unwilling to leave their family’s safety to the authorities and chance.

“Everyone is worried,” Vaksman told JTA about his circle of Jewish Continued on the next page

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NAFTALI BENNETT MEETS WITH RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN IN MOSCOW ON OCT. 22, 2021.

PHOTO BY KOBI GIDEON/GPO.

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

13

Continued from the previous page

friends. “Some want to resist and join the defense units. Some want to leave.”

Russia has been amassing troops on the Ukrainian border since November, leading many to fear that the country could be headed for a bloodier version of what happened when Russia invaded in 2014 and seized Crimea.

Like the United States, Israel is exhorting its citizens who are in Ukraine — there are as many as 15,000 of them — to vacate the country. On Tuesday, the Israeli airline Arkia is scheduled to dispatch one of its passenger planes on an emergency flight to Kharkiv, an eastern Ukrainian city. It will leave empty and return with any Israeli interested in returning.

Meanwhile, the Jewish Agency is reportedly making contingency plans to evacuate Jews who wish to leave in the event that tensions erupt into a full-blown war. Ukraine has about 43,300 people who self-identify as Jews and about 200,000 eligible to immigrate to Israel under its Law of Return for Jews and their

relatives, according to a 2020 demographic study of European Jewry.

A prominent Israeli rabbi is using the crisis to convince Ukrainian Jews to make aliyah, or immigrate to Israel. But on the ground, most Ukrainian Jews appear to be approaching the situation pragmatically, not ideologically.

“It would be good” for anyone who so desires to leave Uman for “a vacation until it is safe,” Rabbi Ya’akov Djan, who is also an Israeli, wrote to Jews in the city where a predominantly Israeli Jewish population has grown up around the burial place of Nachman of Bratslav, an 18th-century Hasidic rabbi. But he added that anyone who does not wish to leave should not feel pressured to do so.

Among those on vacation in Israel right now are the wife and daughters of Chaim Chazin, a real-estate professional who was born in Israel and has been living for several years in Uman with his wife, Liat, and their seven children. They left two weeks ago for a family event and decided to extend their stay in Israel “just to be on the safe side until the

situation stabilizes,” Chazin said.

Chazin himself says he is confident in the leadership of Ukraine’s Jewish president, Vlodymyr Zelensky, and believes that the current tensions are overblown.

“There’s fuel in the fuel stations, food in the markets, toilet paper and medicine in the stores,” Chazin told JTA. “The only ones freaking out are people who are following the conflict from outside Ukraine.”

He said he thought Djan’s letter was intended to encourage tourists who have come to Uman as pilgrims to Nachman’s grave to head home. “We don’t want them becoming the community’s problem in case of complications. Very few of us are leaving,” Chazin said.

Instead, he said, the local community is planning around concerns that, in the case of a Russian invasion, “all the law enforcement will be rushed to the border and we’ll be left exposed to robbers or whoever.”

Chazin said local Jewish leaders were working with Uman authorities on a plan to set up “some sort of armed guard, maybe with an AK-47 or two. We

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY (LEFT) GREETS ISRAEL’S PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG UPON HIS ARRIVAL TO UKRAINE, IN PART TO ADDRESS AN INTERNATIONAL GATHERING MARKING 80 YEARS SINCE THE BABI YAR MASSACRE, OCT. 5, 2021.

have some graduates of combat units of the Israel Defense Forces with us.”

In Kharkiv, an industrial city situated a mere 10 miles from the Russian border, the likelihood of an invasion is only now beginning to trickle down, according to Miriam Moskovitz, an emissary of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who has lived in Kharkiv with her husband, Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, since 1990.

“There’s been some general talk about how to prepare but now we’re really sitting down with plans about where people will go in times of danger, in terms of which buildings to put them in and what to do with the synagogue,” Moskovitz, a mother of 12 originally from Australia, told JTA. “We’re not afraid but we’re definitely sensing the tension right now.”

As with other Jewish communities, the one in Kharkiv, where about 20,000 Jews live, is focusing on making sure the elderly population and other vulnerable groups remain safe if traveling local roads becomes dangerous, she added.

As tensions rise, the Moskovitzs find comfort in the fact that even through the escalation, hundreds of worshipers come each day to the Kharkiv Choral Synagogue — a red-brick complex with a dome that resembles the condensed Jerusalem models of sculptor Frank Meisler.

“We do what we can, what we came here to do: We hold up Jewish life and make it happen no matter what,” she said.

As for Vaksman, he’s not eager to move to Israel, where he says he cannot afford to live.

(It is not uncommon for Jewish Ukrainians who have moved to Israel to return because of the cost of living.) But he’s keeping the option open.

In addition to working to procure guns, he said, he has “prepared money, documents for the children and even the cats” to board a rescue flight if they need to.

SOURCE: ISAAC HERZOG/TWITTER.

14

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Duncaster is

LESS UH-OH!

100% BACK-UP GENERATOR POWERED!

MORE LET’S GO! “When bad weather strikes, I don’t worry—I go take a dip in the pool! Or grab lunch with friends.

Or get creative in the art studio. At Duncaster, residents don’t shovel snow, clean up broken tree limbs or stress about storm damage. We don’t even worry about losing power—Duncaster has a generator for 100% back-up! When the weather gets crazy outside, we stay safe and comfortable and enjoy everything there is to do inside.”

– Susan Aller, Duncaster resident since 2015

“That’s why I made

my move to Duncaster.”

Maintenance-free living and LifeCare security—just two of the ways Duncaster makes aging easier and more fulfilling. Learn more by attending one of our upcoming LifeCare 101 webinars.

Register today at Duncaster.org/Move. For more information, call (860) 265-8961.

Keep informed of your options: go to Duncaster.org/Move to receive your FREE Duncaster Life Plan Guide!

40 Loeffler Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 • (860) 726-2000 • Duncaster.org February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

15

FIFTEENTH ANNUAL

Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival Spring 2022

PLAN A Directed by: Doron Paz & Yoav Paz, 2021 (109 minutes, English) Speaker: Yaniv Feller, Jeremy Zwelling Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies

Wednesday, February 23, 2022, 8:00 PM Plan A is based on the incredible true story of the "Avengers"—a group of Jewish vigilantes who after surviving the Holocaust are vowing to avenge the death of their people, "an eye for any eye, a tooth for a tooth." Max, a Holocaust survivor has lost all his family in the camps. Full of rage and with nothing left to live for other than revenge, he helps the Jewish Brigade, soldiers under British command, to clandestinely find and execute Nazis accused of leading positions in the Nazi system. When the brigade is called off, Max follows Anna and a group of former partisans to Nuremberg, where they soon realize that they will not find redemption in the upcoming Nuremberg trials.

Goldsmith Family Cinema, Center for Film Studies 301 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut Free Admission, Free On-Site Parking, Open to the Public More information: iff.site.wesleyan.edu Sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies Organized by Dalit Katz, Director

16

Co-Sponsored by the College of Film and the Moving Image, The Wesleyan Film Series

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

FIFTEENTH ANNUAL

Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival Spring 2022

ASIA Written and Directed by: Ruthy Pribar, 2020 (85 minutes, Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles) Speaker: Lisa Dombrowski, Professor of Film Studies

Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 8:00 PM Asia’s motherhood has always been an ongoing struggle rather than an obvious instinct. Becoming a mother at a very early age has shaped Asia’s relationship with her teenage daughter Vika. Despite living together, Asia and Vika barely interact with one another. Asia concentrates on her job as a nurse while Vika hangs out at the skate park with her friends. Their routine is shaken when Vika’s health deteriorates rapidly. Asia must step in and become the mother Vika so desperately needs.

Goldsmith Family Cinema, Center for Film Studies 301 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut Free Admission, Free On-Site Parking, Open to the Public More information: iff.site.wesleyan.edu Sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies Organized by Dalit Katz, Director Co-Sponsored by the College of Film and the Moving Image, The Wesleyan Film Series

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

17

20% OFF

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS!*

Most reliable, period.

The experts at French Cleaners can handle all your fabric care needs including cleaning, expert alterations, bridal gown care, and couture care.

Family owned and operated since 1911.

Don’t settle for anything less.

FREE PICKUP AND DELIVERY SERVICE – CALL FOR DETAILS

860.233.3736

18

935 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford www.frenchcleaner.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Arts & Entertainment With his trademark ‘nah,’ Larry David shills crypto in Super Bowl LVI ad

Whoopi Goldberg returns to ‘The View’

BY PHILISSA CRAMER

(JTA) — “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” in many ways the most Jewish show on TV, is no longer airing on Sunday nights. But fans of its creator and star, Larry David, got a surprise appearance from him this Sunday — during a Super Bowl ad for a cryptocurrency company.

The ad, from a company called FTX, shows David scoffing at various landmark inventions in history, deploying his trademark “nah” and shouting angrily multiple times, including at John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Over the course of 60 seconds, David dismisses the wheel, the fork, the toilet, universal suffrage for white men in the inchoate United States, the light bulb, moon travel and the Walkman.

In the last shot, David turns down a pitch for using FTX’s services to get into crypto, digital currency that is exchanged online, rather than through a

As ‘My Unorthodox Life’ Season 2 films, real divorce and drama hit the Haart family (JTA) — In the first season of Netflix’s “My Unorthodox Life,” Julia Haart had a loving husband, a thriving career and a family that seemed to deftly navigate varying levels of Jewish observance.

Season 2 will tell a different story.

Over the last week, Haart was

JULIA HAART AND HER 14-YEAR-OLD SON ARON, WHO IS STILL RELIGIOUS, IN A SCENE FROM “MY UNORTHODOX LIFE.” (COURTESY OF NETFLIX)

February 22, 2022

|

banking system. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he says. “And I’m never wrong about this stuff. Never.”

The implication is that anyone who sits out FTX’s app will ultimately be on the the losing side of history, like the Larry Davids over time. (In an extended cut that the company made available after the ad aired, David also rebuffs coffee and the dishwasher.)

The ad was David’s first-ever TV commercial appearance, according to Variety. It was

directed by Jeff Schaffer, who also directed several episodes of “Seinfeld” and worked closely with David on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” (Schaffer told Jewish Insider last year that he and David are “the Impossible Burger of Jews” because they look and sound Jewish but take a different approach to religion from more observant Jews.)

The ad was filmed in a frenetic and costly shoot last month, according to a detailed account published by The New York Times as the spot aired near the end of the first half of the game.

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s 29-year-old founder and the youngest person on Forbes’ list of richest people, told the Times he wanted to make an ad that stood above even the Super Bowl’s famously high standards.

“Obviously, we think it’s pretty good,” said Bankman-Fried, who says he plans to give all of his wealth away, including to Democratic causes.

fired from Elite World Group, the fashion company where she became co-CEO in 2019; filed for divorce from her husband of two years, co-CEO Silvio Scaglia Haart; and, alleging abuse, sought a restraining order against him, according to multiple celebrity news outlets. In the petition for a restraining order, according to Page Six, Haart said that Scaglia Haart, who took her chosen last name when they married, had demonstrated “increasingly volatile, abusive and unhinged” behavior in recent weeks and also prevented her four children from having access to their shared home.

Haart has homes in Manhattan and eastern Long Island.

Her children, who range from 15 to 28, were born while Haart lived in an Orthodox Jewish community. One of them, teenager Aron, attends a Jewish

day school and maintains a social media profile dedicated to Jewish observance and Torah study.

“I hate Shabbos [the Sabbath] and I don’t want it in my house,” Scaglia Haart said, according to Haart’s petition.

Haart’s departure from the Orthodox community where she was raised, which she characterized as tightly controlling, and her rapid ascent in the world of fashion were the focus of the first season of “My Unorthodox Life,” which aired last July. The second season began taping last week, according to Haart’s Instagram account.

Also not appearing in the second season: Ben Weinstein, who had been married to Haart’s oldest daughter Batsheva. The couple announced their split in November. Weinstein told his

LARRY DAVID SCOFFS AT CRYPTOCURRENCY IN A SUPER BOWL AD FOR A CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANY THAT AIRED FEB. 13.

(SCREENSHOT)

jewishledger.com

(JTA) — Whoopi Goldberg returned to her hosting chair on “The View” Monday, Feb. 14, after a two-week suspension for her much-criticized comments about the Holocaust, pledging to “keep having tough conversations.” “I listened to everything everybody had to say, and I was very grateful,” Goldberg told her viewers in a brief address at the top of the talk show as her co-hosts told her they missed her.

“It is an honor to sit at this table and be able to have these conversations, because they are important,” Goldberg said, without offering another direct apology or mentioning the Holocaust or Jews at all.

Goldberg’s suspension had followed her Jan. 31 remarks on the program that “the Holocaust is not about race,” but rather about “man’s inhumanity to man.” Many groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, objected, saying that Hitler saw his planned extermination of the Jews as a racial project.

Goldberg apologized, but further comments she made on the subject continued to add fuel to the fire, leading to ABC News President Kim Godwin announcing her suspension the following day.

Jewish figures across the political spectrum, even those who were angered by Goldberg’s comments, objected to her suspension, saying the network’s decision destroyed what could have been a learning opportunity. social media followers recently that he had decided against participating in the show.

Haart’s younger daughter, Miriam, appears to be luckier in love. A senior at Stanford University, she revealed last July that she was in a relationship with a Swedish woman named Nathalie Ulander.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

19

20

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

Call me for a consultation. – Jeff February 22, 2022 860-986-4282

|

jewishledger.com

www.landscapingwesthartfordct.com

Jewish Life

The new Florida? Record number of US retirees relocate to Israel

BY LARRY LUXNER

T

EL AVIV – A few weeks ago, Joel Tenenbaum, 81, and Marilyn Berkowitz, 84, arrived in Tel Aviv on an El Al flight from New York ready to start their new lives in Israel.

They had met through JDate five years earlier. Each was widowed; Tenebaum had been married for 47 years, Berkowitz, known as Lyn, for 49.

A retired New York trial lawyer raised in Brooklyn, Tenenbaum always had felt an affinity for Israel – fueled since childhood

by Hebrew school and the movie “Exodus.” Berkowitz, a former university dean’s assistant in New Jersey, had been a frequent visitor to Israel ever since her son moved here in 1991.

Both are longtime volunteers for the Israeli nonprofit organization Sar-El. They now share a rental apartment in Tel Aviv’s trendy Florentin neighborhood, close to the ulpan where they will soon enroll in an intensive Hebrew language program.

“A lot of our contemporaries have gone to Florida,” Berkowitz said. “But I think they should become sandbirds, not snowbirds.”

In fact, more and more older American Jews are opting to spend their golden years in the Jewish state.

Of the 4,478 new immigrants who arrived in Israel from North America last year, 762 – just over 17% of the total – were 55 or older. That’s up nearly 23% from the 580 who came in 2020, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, the nonprofit agency that coordinates the aliyah process for U.S. and Canadian citizens.

“Israel is becoming a more attractive place, specifically for February 22, 2022

|

people at the age of retirement,” said Marc Rosenberg, vice president of Diaspora partnerships at Nefesh B’Nefesh.

“With increasing technology, cellphones and internet use, Israel is much more international now, especially with apps that allow people to get around, navigate and do their banking online.”

The pandemic, Rosenberg said, has prompted people of all ages to recalibrate what’s important to them.

“The pandemic really shifted how many people connect and stay close to family without being in close physical proximity,” said Rosenberg, whose organization works in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and the Jewish National Fund-USA. “And they know the healthcare system in Israel is excellent. Israel handled the pandemic pretty well, and that’s been a significant factor.”

The pandemic was a big factor in the aliyah decision of New York natives Howard and Mina Millendorf, who moved to Israel last July. The couple in their 70s settled in Jerusalem’s Katamon district, moving into the same building where their daughter, Sharon, lives with her husband, Shlomo, and their three sons.

“I think the pandemic kind of pushed us into making a decision,” said Mina, a retired elementary schoolteacher who had lived in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale since she and Howard were married 41 years ago. “Normally, we’d come to Israel several times a year and rent an apartment here. But with COVID, we were missing all the birthdays and anniversaries. It

jewishledger.com

RETIRED SCHOOLTEACHERS YOSSIE ZIFF, 71, AND HIS WIFE, JOANIE, 67, MOVED TO ISRAEL FROM LOS ANGELES IN 2021. THEY LIVE IN MODIIN AND FREQUENTLY VISIT THE BEACH AT NEARBY RISHON LE’ZION, WHERE YOSSIE SURFS. (COURTESY)

was not easy for us.”

Six months after their arrival, Howard lists his main goals as “finding ways to do good, playing daily with our grandsons, cultivating new friends, restaurants and wines, and enjoying Mina’s special cooking and baking with family.”

But he also aims to give back to Israel through his work with the telecom company IDT and the Howard Jonas Foundation. Projects include the construction of a new cancer center at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center as well as initiatives for severely disabled youngsters, autistic and hearingimpaired children, and people with terminal illnesses. In addition, Howard is involved in a long-term networking program, choosing his 27,000 LinkedIn connections to open doors and help secure job opportunities in Israel and elsewhere.

Yossie and Joanie Ziff of Los Angeles arrived in Israel as new immigrants on Dec. 27, 2021.

Both retired elementary school teachers, Yossie, 71, and Joanie, 67, had lived in Venice Beach in California for years, and then the heavily Jewish L.A. neighborhood

of Pico-Robertson, but they decided recently it was time to make the move to Israel.

“The situation in America really made us feel we wanted to come to Israel and be with the Jewish people,” Joanie said.

Between the two of them, they have five children and 15 grandchildren.

The couple already has bought an apartment in Modiin, which is a 25-minute drive from the beach at Rishon Le’Zion, where Yossie likes to surf.

“We’ll probably go back and forth to America, but this will be our primary home,” Joanie said.

“Modiin has such a beautiful Anglo community here. When we got here, there was a sign on our door from our neighbors welcoming us. We’ve been smothered by love wherever we go.”

This article was sponsored by and produced in partnership with Nefesh B’Nefesh, which in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah, The Jewish Agency, KKL and JNF-USA minimizes the professional, logistical and social obstacles of aliyah.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

21

We provide top-notch reliable service!

SUPERIOR TIRE & AUTO SERVICES Oil Change • Brakes • Tires • Battery

Call today to make an appointment 860.233.5177

7 Raymond Road, West Hartford, CT Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

22

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

www.moderntire-autoservice.com February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

In the Kitchen

Jessica Seinfeld shows us how to be vegan (at least some of the time)

BY RACHEL RINGLER

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) – Jessica Seinfeld’s parents were true children of the ’60s. They did yoga before it was cool and served their three daughters brown rice, tofu and wholesome cereal purchased in their local food co-op in Burlington, Vermont.

The young Jessica, embarrassed by their focus on healthy eating, “always wanted regular cereal that you could buy on the shelves of typical supermarkets.”

These days Seinfeld, 50 – the wife of comedian Jerry, of course, and a mother of three – is known for being a devotee of healthy food. Her first cookbook, 2007’s Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, which included strategies for sneaking pureed veggies into meals, was a bestseller.

Since then, Seinfeld has devoted much of her time to thinking about getting families to eat healthfully. In addition to running Good+Foundation, a NYC-based non-profit that aims to dismantle multi-generational poverty, she’s authored four additional cookbooks. Each one tackles a different food-related problem and provides solutions.

With her latest, “Vegan, at Times: 120+ Recipes for Every Day or Every So Often,” she shares meat, egg- and dairy-free recipes she has developed for herself and her family.

And yet, Seinfeld insists you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy her recipes. Eating vegan meals doesn’t mean you have to swear off a good steak or a piece of fish forever – Seinfeld herself certainly hasn’t.

“My entire life, I have been having bagels and lox every Sunday,” Seinfeld said. “When I February 22, 2022

|

married Jerry, we continued that tradition and my kids rely on it.”

These days, Seinfeld’s dream bagel order is a toasted everything flagel (flat bagel) with scallion cream cheese, tomato, red onion – hold the lox. Her husband, Seinfeld said, enjoys his plain bagel topped with veggie cream cheese, Zabar’s double-smoked lox, tomato and red onion with a big sour pickle on the side.

In other words, being vegan “at times” means you don’t have to give anything up. As Seinfeld writes in the book’s introduction: “It’s time to eat, enjoy and live your life without fear of judgment.”

Veganism, and even “parttime” veganism, like Seinfeld’s, is on the rise. While 9.7 million Americans identified themselves as vegan in a 2019 survey by Ipsos Retail Performance – a number that held steady from 2012 – Gallup found in 2020 that nearly a quarter of Americans reported eating less meat that year than they had previously.

(Just this past weekend the news broke that New York City Mayor Eric Adams – an avowed vegan who credits his plant-based diet with curing his diabetes – was spotted ordering fish at restaurants.)

According to a January, 2022 story from Insider, in 2020, the plant-based foods market was worth $29.4 billion and could grow to $162 billion in 2030.

That’s not because more people are becoming vegans; instead, “non-vegans are helping fuel the plant-based boom by trying to cut down on their meat, fish, and dairy intake.”

Seinfeld serves traditional foods for Shabbat and Jewish holidays: brisket, kugel and homemade, braided challahs

jewishledger.com

coated with an egg wash for a beautiful finish. “I am not willing to give up on that flavor or that color,” she said.

Aside from Sunday mornings and Jewish holidays, though, Seinfeld is mostly vegan. She writes that when she was in her 40s, she began to notice a connection between what she ate and how she felt. “I realized that what I ate could either drain me or invigorate me,” she writes.

Once she considered how veganism is good for the planet and good for animals, Seinfeld was all in – well, mostly in.

The recipes are meant not only to be delicious, but easyto-make (like her Easy Green Hummus) and affordable. “I keep perspective on how hard many people struggle in this country to afford – especially right now with inflation – groceries and dinner,” she said. “The ingredients are all accessible because we [Seinfeld and her co-author, Sara Quessenberry] shopped at typical grocery stores. We did not go to fancy gourmet shops.”

Seinfeld is a fan of the vegetable-forward cuisine

coming out of Israel. “Tel Aviv is one of my favorite cities in the whole world,” she said. “I love Israeli food and I love that America is responding to it.”

When at home on the Upper West Side in New York City – the family also has a home in the Hamptons – Seinfeld said they love to dine at Israeli chef Eyal Shani’s restaurants, Miznon and HaSalon.

Like all of Seinfeld’s previous cookbooks, Vegan, at Times, which was published last November, is a New York Times bestseller. And, Jerry’s response, according to Seinfeld, has been enthusiastic, too: He is “blown away by the book’s success and people’s response to it,” she said.

But let’s get to the opinions of the people who really matter.

Just how exactly do those “‘60s cats” – how Seinfeld describes her parents – feel about their daughter’s latest food foray?

“My mom is obsessed with the book,” she said. “She sends me photos three or four times a week of dishes she is making.

Her friends are cooking from the book, too.”

IN HER LATEST COOKBOOK, “VEGAN, AT TIMES: 120+ RECIPES FOR EVERY DAY OR EVERY SO OFTEN,” JESSICA SEINFELD SHARES MEAT-, EGG- AND DAIRY-FREE RECIPES SHE HAS DEVELOPED FOR HERSELF AND HER FAMILY, INCLUDING EASY GREEN HUMMUS (INSET).

(GALLERY BOOKS)

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

23

Best Wishes!

The publisher and staff of the Southern New England Jewish Ledger and the entire team at 20/20 Media congratulate TRUDY GOLDSTEIN upon the occasion of her retirement!

A valued member of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger (now known as the Southern New England Jewish Ledger) for more than 45 years, Trudy has long been one of the Ledger’s top advertising sales representatives.

She will be missed!

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

24

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

JL

JEWISH LEDGER

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

jewishcentralmass.org

News and Jewish Community Update

J

Never Again Must Not Ring Hollow

anuary 27 marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day which commemorates the date in 1945 when the Soviet Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. It was sobering for the Jewish community to observe Holocaust remembrance while we are in the midst of a severe rise in antisemitism, and less than two weeks after a terrorist took Jewish worshipers hostage at a Texas Synagogue.

77 years after the liberation of Auschwitz antisemitism is flourishing once again. It is fueled by those who peddle in Jewish conspiracies, by those who claim that Jews are pushing a COVID agenda, by those who misappropriate and trivilize the horrors of the Holocaust, by those who use Jewish stereotypes, by those who engage in Holocaust revisionism, by those who misrepresent reasons for US support of Israel, and by those who unjustly villify Israel. And when elected officials, performers, or organizations spread these lies Jewish people are put in danger. It is STEVEN SCHIMMEL, especially frustrating that there are prominent figures EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR who are on record making harmful comments about the Jewish community and about Israel who then act sanctimonious about Holocaust Remembrance Day. 77 years on, “never again” must not ring hollow. If we are serious about remembrance and faithful to our pledge to never allow these atrocities to happen again, we must continue to back against those who engage in antisemitism and those who erode the memory of the uniquely horrorific Nazi era.

CHAVERIM takes a snow hike around Chauncey Lake, and recharges with some Mediterranean food.

STAY CONNECTED: PJ LIBRARY/PJ OUR WAY

PJ Library Virtual Storytime with Lori, February 26th, 10:45 am Pottery Painting Party: Let’s create our own Elijah’s Cup for our Passover Seder Table, March 27th, 3:00 pm Claytime in Shrewsbury Purim at Polar Park, March 17th, 5:00 pm PJ Library Virtual Storytime with Lori, March 26th, 10:45 am

YAD breaks bread at January’s Virtual Shabbat

Save the Date: Mother’s Day Gift/Craft Fair to Benefit PJ Library, May 1, 9:00 am- 3:00 pm, Worcester JCC Save the Date: PJ Library’s Book Mitzvah: A Celebration of 13 Years in our Community, June 12th, 11:00 am- 2:00 pm, Worcester JCC

YAD

YAD Lead Program and B’nai Brith hosted World Ort President, Dr. Giles

YAD Virtual Shabbat, March 11, 7:30 via Zoom

JEWISH FEDERATION IS PLANTING THE SEEDS TO ASSURE BETTER JEWISH TOMORROWS

YAD/LEAD and Chaverim Israel Program with Stand With Us. Dates TBA

CHAVERIM

Chaverim and YAD/LEAD Israel Program with Stand With Us. Dates TBA Night Out at the Jewish Film Festival, April 9th, 7:00 pm, St John’s in Shrewsbury.

COMMUNITY-WIDE

Purim at Polar Park, March 17, 5:00 p.m.

Save the Date – Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israel’s Independence Day, May 15th at 12:00 pm at Congregation B’nai Shalom Save the Date: Mother’s Day Gift/Craft Fair to Benefit PJ Library, May 1, 9:00 am- 3:00 pm, Worcester JCC

CHAVERIM and YAD hosted a virtual whiskey tasting led by our Shaliachs Aviv and Tali.

JFCM is invested in the future of Central Mass.

Since 2016 we have committed $200,000 to build the endowments of our congregations and organizations. So far, our LIFE & LEGACY program has received over $11.5M pledges. $2.5M have already been received.

Save the Date: PJ Library’s Book Mitzvah: A Celebration of 13 Years in our Community, June 12th, 11:00 am-2:00 pm, Worcester JCC

Keep up with other ongoing events and changes via our Facebook Pages and emails, or contact Mindy Hall, Director of Outreach and Engagement, mhall@jfcm.org.

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

25

HARTT 100 presents

Frank London

Klezmer Brass Allstars and the

featuring

Eleanor Reissa Saturday, February 26 | 7:30 PM Herbert & Evelyn Gilman Theater Tickets: $20/FREE for students of all ages

www.mandelljcc.org/tix

MAR

APR

2022

2022

24 10

DETAILS COMING SOON | WWW.HJFF.ORG

An Evening with

MONIQUE FAISONROSS Author of Playing Dead – A Memoir of Terror and Survival

Wed. Feb 9 | 7:00pm | via Zoom Co-presented by

FREE AND OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY Registration required - www.mandelljcc.org/tix

THE MANDELL JCC IS PROUD TO CELEBRATE THE CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER’S 92-YEAR HISTORY AND IT’S PARTNERSHIP…THEN, NOW AND THE FUTURE.

The Arts at the Mandell JCC Zachs Campus | 335 Bloomfield Ave. | West Hartford, CT 06117 | 860-236-4571 | www.mandelljcc.org

Zachs Campus | 335 Bloomfield Ave. | West Hartford, CT 06117 | 860-236-4571 | www.mandelljcc.org Everyone 12 and over, must be vaccinated to enter the JCC. All programming involving children under 12 will require masks be worn by everyone.

CONNECTICUT PREMIERE

Wayang Esther A Javanese Purim Spiel

March 12, 7:30 pm & March 13, 2:00pm

Herbert & Evelyn Gilman Theater | Mandell JCC To purchase tickets visit www.mandelljcc.org/tix

GILI YALO

An Evening of LIVE Ethio-pop, R&B Funk, Jazz and a Deep Soulful Feeling!

TUESDAY, APRIL 26 | 7:00 PM

Herbert & Evelyn Gilman Theater | Mandell JCC

Gili Yalo performs a rich medley of contemporary soul, funk, psychedelic rock and traditional Ethiopian music, drawing inspiration from his experience as an Ethiopian Jew who fled Sudan in 1984 and re-settled in Israel. The expression of his story through a modern, cutting-edge music production, represents his own personal triumph.

Tickets: $25 | $15 Students www.mandelljcc.org/tix

26

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

Co-sponsored by

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Briefs Antony Blinken: Australia “remade” my stepfather after the Holocaust (JTA) – Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, is on a mission in Australia to reassure the longtime ally that America has its back even as China flexes its muscles in the region. And in a speech Feb. 10 at the University of Melbourne, he made his case with a personal story about how his beloved stepfather rebuilt his life in Melbourne after the Holocaust, a redemption Blinken said underscored shared values.

“The reason he was brought back into the world was ultimately because of Australia,” Blinken said of Samuel Pisar, the philosopher and legal scholar whom Blinken has often cited as being an inspiration for his own dedication to human rights and public service.

Relatives in Australia brought Polish-born Pisar over after the war. “He was 16 years old by the time he got to Australia,” Blinken said. “And as he put it …

Australia remade him. It remade him as a person, it remade him as someone who followed intellectual pursuits, it remade him into a human being.”

Pisar attended the University of Melbourne, where he was mentored by Zelman Cowen, the dean of the faculty of law who later made history when he served as Australia’s second Jewish governor-general. Cowen helped Pisar get a scholarship to Harvard Law School, and soon after Pisar launched his career, advising the Kennedy administration.

Blinken said he was “mates for life” with Pisar’s family and friends in Australia and extended that status to the U.S.-Australia relationship.

“Our countries, too, our people, too, in an incredibly challenging time I think are also mates for life,” he said.

“And there’s a simple reason for February 22, 2022

|

that. Despite the vast distance between us geographically, the distance that I traveled yesterday, there’s virtually no distance between us when it comes to our basic outlook, to our basic values, to our basic interests.”

Blinken is in Australia meeting with his counterparts from the “Quad” – the United States, Australia, India and Japan.

He is discussing strategies to counter China’s increasingly confrontational posture toward the countries.

Kentucky police investigate shots fired near mayoral candidate (JNS) Police in Louisville, Ky., have arrested a man they believe fired multiple shots at a local mayoral candidate on Monday morning, Feb. 14. Craig Greenberg, who is Jewish, was in his campaign headquarters at the time of the attack. He was uninjured in the shooting, according to the statement by the Louisville Metro Police Department. “A person of interest matching the suspect description was identified and taken into custody shortly after the incident,” police said in a statement.

Sami Rohr Prize & National Library of Israel launch literary endeavor (JNS) The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the National Library of Israel have announced a new collaboration to promote their shared vision to further cultivate a vibrant international Jewish literary culture and community. The Sami Rohr Prize recognizes the role of contemporary writers in the examination and transmission of the Jewish experience. The annual $100,000 prize is given to an emerging writer, for fiction and nonfiction in alternating years, who demonstrates the potential for continued contribution to the world of Jewish literature. Recent

jewishledger.com

winners have included Benjamin Balint, Michael David Lukas and Ilana Kurshan. In 2021, Nicole Krauss became the first recipient of the prize’s Inspiration Award for Fiction.

The annual award ceremony takes place alternately in Israel and the United States. With the opening of the new National Library of Israel campus in Jerusalem later this year, the Israeli prize ceremony and festivities will take place there.

The Sami Rohr Prize will be officially announced as the “Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature awarded in association with the National Library of Israel.” In previous years, the prize was only awarded for original works in English. Now, works that have been translated into English will also be eligible for consideration.

Violence erupts in Sheikh Jarrah, scene or 2021 Israel-Hamas conflict (JTA) – Violent clashes broke out over the weekend of Feb. 11 in Sheikh Jarrah, the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood where violent protests over property ownership helped set off the May 2021 war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The mostly Palestinian area has become a focus in recent years of Israeli settler groups, who are trying to have Palestinian residents evicted. The ensuing legal battle has turned the neighborhood into a tinderbox.

The latest violence began with an alleged firebombing attack on the home of a Jewish family in the area Friday, Feb. 11.

No one was injured. The day after the incident, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far right-wing member of the Israeli Knesset, vowed to reopen an office in the neighborhood, a step he had taken in May 2021 to support the settlers. At the time, then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Ben-Gvir to close the makeshift office to reduce tensions in the area. Ben-Gvir is the head of the Otzmah Yehudit party, the farright party that is the descendent

of Kach, the party formed by the Jewish terrorist Meir Kahane.

In a statement, Ben-Gvir said Jewish Israelis are “the landlords” and claimed the appropriate response to terror was more terror.

More violence followed BenGvir’s announcement Saturday.

In the late hours on Saturday or early hours of Sunday morning, at least two people were wounded and six people arrested. At least one Jewish man was injured and one Arab driver arrested, according to the Times of Israel. Video from the area showed fighting between Jews and Palestinians on the streets.

Also known in Hebrew as Shimon HaTzaddik, the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was home to Jewish families before Jordan captured it in the 1948 war that resulted in Israel’s independence.

Jordan gave the Jewish families’ homes to Palestinians who were displaced from Israel and prohibited from returning. In recent years, an Israeli group that obtained the original Jewish families’ ownership rights has been trying to evict the Palestinian families from the homes. Protests over the pending evictions helped spark the conflict in May 2021 between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and just last month, Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family in the neighborhood and knocked down their home to make way for a school in the first eviction in the neighborhood in several years.

Bennett lauds Egyptian President El-Sisi’s gesture to Israeli energy minister (Israel Hayom via JNS) Israeli lawmakers and officials praised Egyptian President AbdelFattah el-Sisi on Monday, Feb. 14, after he gave Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar a special welcome at a major regional gas conference in Cairo. After entering the hall and greeting the attendees, the Egyptian leader put down his Continued on page 29

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

27

“I’m thrilled to be at William Raveis, whose focus is

Marketing and Technology

with a connection to

a great International Network.”

Robin and Raveis ... what a great combination!

28

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Briefs CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

microphone and crossed the room to greet and exchange a few words with Elharrar, according to Channel 12 news. Elharrar, who uses a wheelchair, is the first Israeli lawmaker to attend EGYPS, the Egyptian Petroleum Show, considered to be the leading regional conference of its type. The annual exhibition and conference is attended by thousands of politicians and businesspeople from the Middle East and North Africa.

Responding to a video of the event posted on Twitter by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sisi’s act had “touched us all.”

Addressing the participants, Elharrar said, “The Israeli energy economy is a bridge for establishing ties with the countries of the region. I am glad to have the opportunity to represent the State of Israel in this important and diverse forum, in the hope that it is another step toward increasing the circle of peace.”

Watchdog group: Head of UN inquiry on Israel is biased, should resign (JNS) A watchdog group is calling on the head of a new probe by the United Nations into last year’s conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror group that runs the Gaza Strip to resign due to past statements she made that affect her impartiality in the investigation. UN Watch submitted a 30-page complaint to the United Nations on Monday and also launched an online petition regarding previous statements made by Navi Pillay, a retired South African judge and former U.N. human-rights chief.

In a joint letter last summer to President Joe Biden, Pillay decried Israel’s “domination and oppression of the Palestinian people.” She urged the United States to “address the root causes of the violence” by putting a stop to Israel’s “ever-expanding February 22, 2022

|

discrimination and systemic oppression.” The letter to Biden further called violence last spring at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem–also being examined by the U.N. inquiry–“aggressive actions by Israeli forces” against “peaceful protesters and worshippers,” which resulted in the “forced dispossession of Palestinians” and is the “latest evidence of a separate and unequal governing system.”

A main focus of the probe led by Pillay, who was appointed to the position by the United Nations last summer, is to investigate the “root causes of current tensions” between Israelis and Palestinians, including alleged “systematic discrimination.”

U.N. Watch also highlighted that while the inquiry will also examine “systematic discrimination” on race, ethnicity or national origin, Pillay has a history of accusing Israel of “apartheid” and describing the country’s treatment of Palestinians as “inhuman. “When it comes to Israel, as our legal brief demonstrates, Pillay is the complete opposite of impartial,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and an international human-rights lawyer. “We are therefore calling on her to do the right thing and to resign immediately.”

He added: “It is frankly impossible to imagine how Navi Pillay could lead an impartial investigation into the events of April-May 2021, as well as into alleged systematic discrimination, given what she has already declared on all of these. A reasonable person would consider Navi Pillay to be partial, thereby disqualifying her from serving as a member of the inquiry.”

Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz nominated for Nobel Peace Prize (JTA) – Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, nominated Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz for the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the Abraham Accords, the normalization

jewishledger.com

agreements between Israel and four Arab countries.

“The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, represent the most significant diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Arab nations in decades,” Zeldin wrote in his nomination, according to the New York Post. Zeldin, a Long Island congressman, is running for governor of the state.

Kushner, the son-in-law and top Middle East advisor to former President Donald Trump, told the Post he was humbled by the nomination. Berkowitz was Kushner’s main negotiator in the field and worked in 2020 to iron out the final kinks in the accords. The agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco are already paying dividends in increased tourism and investment, as well as symbolic gestures like dignitary visits and participation in sports competitions. The accords have garnered nearunanimous support in a proIsrael community that has in recent years become more fractious, and they represent one of the rare areas of agreement between the Trump and Biden administrations; President Joe Biden is seeking to expand them.

Trump has said he deserves a peace prize for leading the administration that brokered the accords. It’s not clear why Zeldin, once one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, would not have included him.

As a member of Congress, Zeldin qualifies as one of a cadre of individuals, “members of national assemblies and national governments,” eligible to put forward a nomination for the peace prize by its deadline, which falls this month.Last year, Alan Dershowitz nominated Kushner and Berkowitz for the prize.

JFNA names actor Ben Platt’s mom as chair (JTA) – Julie Platt is a one-time banker who has become a leader in promoting Jewish education and helping to rescue Jewish

camping from the ravages of the pandemic. Now, she’s about to make history as the second woman to chair one of the largest Jewish fundraising powerhouses in the United States, the Jewish Federations of North America.

She’s also musical star Ben Platt’s mom.

The JFNA on Tuesday said that Platt would assume the leadership of the umbrella body for Jewish federations, which in 2019 brought in $270 million.

The release noted that Platt has chaired the Los Angeles Jewish Federation and is currently the chairwoman of JFNA’s fundraising campaign and of its effort to enhance security protection at every federation.

She also chairs a foundation named for her and her husband, Hollywood producer Marc Platt, and has been involved in an array of Jewish educational initiatives. As chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, Platt, the release says, was “instrumental” in saving the Jewish camp movement during the pandemic, when an entire summer session was canceled abruptly.

Her son, Ben, starred in the “Pitch Perfect” film series and debuted the eponymous role of “Dear Evan Hansen.”

(His brother, Jonah, one of five siblings, recently joined the board of 70 Faces Media, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s parent company.) Ben Platt has thanked the Jewish camping movement for nurturing him.

Julie Platt referred to her family in the JFNA release.

“One of the greatest lessons I have taught my five children is to take responsibility for their community, and I promise to carry out this mission every day in my new role with the Jewish Federations,” she said.

Platt will formally succeed the current chairman, Mark Wilf, this summer. The only other woman to chair the body, Kathy Manning, is now a North Carolina congresswoman.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

29

CAR20220209JLKPA

30

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Bulletin Board Simon Lichter appointed head of CT Technology Council HARTFORD – Simon Lichter of Hartford has been named executive director of the Connecticut Technology Council (CTC). The CTC goal is to strengthen Connecticut’s tech ecosystem making it easier for businesses in a variety of industries to thrive.

A native of West Hartford, previously Lichter was president of Left Lane Marketing in Brookline, Mass.

He attended the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy and the Hebrew High School of New England (now the New England Jewish Academy). He earned

SHAYNAN BOARDMAN, daughter of Tania and Stephen Boardman, will celebrate her bat mitzvah on Saturday, March 12 at Congregation B’nai Shalom in Westborough.

ANNABELLE BOORKY, daughter of Kimberly and Jared Boorky, celebrated her bat mitzvah on Saturday, March 5 at Farmington Valley Jewish Center-Emek Shalom in Simsbury.

a degree in advertising and marketing communication and an MBA in general business from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

JScreen marks National Cancer Prevention Month JScreen, a national non-profit public health initiative dedicated to preventing genetic diseases, has announced its participation in National Cancer Prevention Month in February of 2022.

JScreen is focused on raising awareness about hereditary cancers and works in association with Emory University’s Department of Human Genetics to make cancer genetic testing affordable and accessible.

To do this, JScreen offers its CancerGEN test: an at-home saliva test that screens for genetic risks for many types of cancer. The mission of JScreen is to ensure healthy futures through genetic testing and education, and it will be stepping up that mission this February.

CancerGEN, JScreen’s cancer

February 22, 2022

|

B’Nai Mitzvah

genetic test, analyzes more than 60 cancer susceptibility genes associated with hereditary risks for breast, ovarian, prostate, colorectal, skin, and many other cancers. If a person tests positive, they are able to take action for the prevention or early detection of associated cancers. Thus, Screen’s cutting-edge genetic testing technology, education, and genetic counseling services, help minimize the incidence of hereditary cancers.

“We understand the financial challenges and accessibility issues facing many Americans,” says Hillary Regelman, director of national outreach and marketing at JScreen. “We know from statistics that half of all men and a third of all women will develop cancer at some point in their lives. We are working toward a future where those numbers aren’t quite so staggering, and that starts with awareness and eliminating barriers to genetic testing.”

To receive JScreen’s at-home test, one simply has to sign up online. The person will then provide a saliva sample and use the pre-paid postage to mail it in. JScreen’s tests use stateof-the-art genetic sequencing technology to ensure highly

jewishledger.com

HAYDEN GOLDSTEIN, daughter of Gretchen and Lee Goldstein, celebrated her bat mitzvah on Saturday, March 5 at Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport.

MORGAN KAUFMAN, son of Tracy and Lee Kaufman, celebrated his bar mitzvah on Saturday, March 5 at Congregation B’nai Shalom in Westborough.

New Haven & Hartford Federations plan community mission to Israel The Hartford and New Haven Federations have announced a community mission to Israel to celebrate the 75th birthday of the Jewish state.

Designed for adults and families with children ages 10 and up,“Israel 2023: Chose Your Own Adventure” offers participants a choice between from 5 different tracks: first-time visitors to Israel; geopolitics of the Middle East; arts & culture; food & wine; technology and innovation.

Details and registration will be announced soon. For information, contact Leslie Iarusso (Hartford) liarusso@jewishhartford.org; or Robyn Teplitzky (New Hafen rteplitzky@jewishnewhaen. org.

accurate results. The robust cancer testing panel includes genes that are actionable, meaning something can be done to help prevent cancer if a person tests positive. JScreen provides results in three weeks or less.

A unique feature of JScreen’s process is that it provides access to licensed genetic counselors who provide consults to ensure that people understand their results.

In addition to their CancerGEN test, JScreen offers ReproGEN, a reproductive carrier screening test that gives prospective parents information

about the risk of genetic diseases in their future children so they can plan for the health of their families.

With insurance, CancerGEN costs $199 and ReproGEN costs $149, and genetic counseling is included. JScreen offers needbased financial assistance for qualifying individuals.

CancerGEN costs $199 and ReproGEN costs $149, and genetic counseling is included.

JScreen offers need-based financial assistance for qualifying individuals.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

31

From Superb Meats...

...To Sweet Treats!

The Crown Market...

Helping New England Keep Kosher Since 1940!

Pass o Avai ver Me nu lable Soon !

2471 Albany Ave | West Hartford, CT 06117 | thecrownmarket.com 32

860.236.1965

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Ruthie CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

to the mikvah that people don’t understand. It’s amazing what women go through every month. And here Judaism is actually trying to give it space and to honor it and say, ‘Look at this renewal and rejuvenation process that she goes through every month. And the mikvah is something that’s acknowledging that.”

Ann Pava concurs that the role of a Yoetzet Halachah is an important one. She referred to a survey that was done five years ago in the local Jewish and Orthodox community.

“We discovered when it came to issues like family purity or Nidah, I think only 15 percent of women were comfortable going to their rabbi,” Pava says. “The majority of people had their husbands do it, or they went online to get their questions answered. So this is really an area that women in particular are desperate for, I would say.”

Ann Pava is a longtime board member of JOFA. She and her husband Jeremy have been working to enhance women’s roles in Orthodox Judaism through their Micah Philanthropies, named after the prophet.

“We are driven by the most famous quote from the prophet Micah: ‘It has been told to you, mankind, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice, tzedakah, to love kindness, chesed, and to walk humbly with your God,’” she says.

“We use that sort of as our basis for how we think about our philanthropy, whether its days schools, whether its JOFA or something in Israel. Living a life consistent with the prophet Micah, the covenantal ideal of being in a relationship and partnership with God to improve the world is really what we’re trying to do.”

But their goal, Ann says, is also “creating a meaningful, accessible, traditional Judaism, that synthesizes tradition with February 22, 2022

|

modernity, so we are focusing on those institutions, which is why we focus a lot on women in Orthodoxy. We think that traditional Judaism is a beautiful place to live and to function.

And there are pieces of it that really need to be synthesized with modernity. For women not to have leadership roles – significant meaningful leadership roles – in Orthodox Judaism, prevents Orthodox Judaism from being relevant and prevents people from wanting to be there. It’s the same for LGBTQ issues; those are all areas that we are working on in an Orthodox traditional realm.”

For now, Shulman will be not relocating to the West Hartford area. She currently lives in her native Philadelphia with her husband and two young children. For this parttime position, she will combine in-person visits to Young Israel and remote engagements on Zoom and by telephone.

“I will be visiting a couple of times a year and those visits will hopefully be very full,” she says. “It’s going to be visiting the [religious] school and doing a lot of in-person, one-on-one meetings and programs, as well as a lot of virtual, especially in the post Covid Zoom world.

This position of remote female scholar has existed before and I think it’s just opened up so many different opportunities now that the whole world does a lot of Zoom.

She was introduced to the community virtually late last month. Other Zoom programs with her include a Pre-Purim Shuir this past Monday evening, a coffee schmooz this Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. and a Virtual Fireside Chat “Steven Colbert, Tim O’Brien and Chazal: Does Jewish Law Always Reflect Reality? which will be held Monday, Feb 28 from 8- 9 p.m.

Zoom Link: www.youngisraelwh. org/zoom Already, the down-to-earth and affable Shulman is making

jewishledger.com

strong connections with Young Israel members.

“I think what makes Ruthie a good fit at Young Israel or for any synagogue that she would go to is that she is very smart, very learned. She’s kind, warm, thoughtful, personable and

articulate. She’s just a natural leader,” Ann Pava said. “She’s not a rabbi, but she certainly has everything that a spiritual leader needs to lead people. She’s inspirational.”

Arson CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

indictment said.

But the FBI and local police didn’t connect the man to the arsons until much later, apparently because state law enforcement officials did not finish processing fingerprints found at the scene of one of the arsons for nine months.

The first fire took place at the Chabad Center for Jewish life in Arlington, Massachusetts, on May 11, 2019. Five days later, on May 16, another fire started there, followed by a blaze at the Chabad Jewish Center in Needham.

Local police and the FBI launched an investigation, and the fires attracted widespread news coverage. For months, the investigation yielded very few clues, with no witnesses, fingerprints or video surveillance footage.

But unbeknown to investigators, law enforcement already had the key to the case in an evidence locker.

On May 26, there had been another arson, this time at a business. An eyewitness confronted someone suspicious who then fled from the scene while discarding a can of acetone, which is highly flammable. Police took the acetone can into evidence and submitted it for fingerprint analysis. No one in law enforcement connected this fourth arson to the previous three, according to the indictment.

It took until February 2020, some nine months later, for state police to process the fingerprints and identify who left them. Once that person was identified and the FBI realized he was a target of a separate domestic terrorism investigation into a hate group suspected of planning terrorist attacks, he became the prime suspect in three Chabad arsons.

But by then, the suspect was in a coma. He had been hospitalized in November 2019 for reasons that the indictment does not specify. He died in September 2020.

Investigators questioned Giannakakis and later learned that he had lied to them and hidden items belonging to his brother that showed he harbored a hatred of Jews, according to the indictment. The most serious charge Giannakakis faces carries a sentence of up to 20 years.

“The investigators followed all leads in this case, literally following the case around the world,” Arlington Police Chief Julie Flaherty said in a statement. “These crimes shook our community to its core, and it is my sincere hope that the international teamwork of American and Swedish authorities that has solved this series of hate crimes will provide some measure of solace to the victims.”

Penny Schwartz contributed reporting.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

33

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.

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

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.

• Respite Care Program • Palliative Care and Hospice Services Coordination OUR AMENITIES INCLUDE: • Barber/Beauty Shop • Café • Cultural Menus • Laundry and housekeeping services

HKC

• Patient and Family education

‫כשר‬

• Life Enrichment

For more information on our Kosher program, please contact: DIRECTOR, PASTORAL SERVICES: (860) 523-3800 Hebrew Center for Health and Rehabilitation: 1 Abrahms Boulevard, West Hartford, CT 06117

LIK E US ON 34

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

WHAT’S HAPPENING A calendar of events throughout Connecticut and Western & Central Massachusetts.

Local Jewish community organizations are invited to submit events to the calendar.

Events must be received one week prior to the bi-weekly publication of the Ledger. Send submissions to Ledger editor in chief Judie Jacobson at judiej@jewishledger. com. We reserve the right to edit calendar items.

February WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23

Perlman, Celia Cruz, John Zorn, Pink Floyd, LL Cool J, and more.

7:30 p.m., at the Mandell JC, 335 Bloomfield Ave. For tickets: mandelljcc.org/tix. $20/aduits; FREE/students of all ages. (Masks & vaccine required.)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27 Worcester, MA – “Give Peace a Chance,” a program of YAD (Young Adult Division) of JFCM, with food, drink and an interactive conversation about the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, 2-4 p.m., at Whitcomb Manor, 51 Harvard St., Contact: mhall@ jfcm.org.

New Haven, CT (Zoom) – Book Schmooze with Jennifer Anne Moses, author of a collection of short stories entitled The Man Who Loved His Wife. Hosted

by Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel at 7:30 p.m. This book, says Moses, “is the result of my deep dive into Yiddish literature and my love of the Hebrew language.”

Moses is also the author of six other books and dozens of essays and articles; she currently writes a blog for The Times of Israel. For Zoom link: office@BEKI.org, (203) 389-2108 x114.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28

SATURDAY, FEB. 26

New Haven, CT (Zoom) – “Evacuating our Afghan Allies: the Role of Community Sponsors like JCARR” with guest speaker Thomas Huddleston, strategic advisor for the Migration Policy Group, a leading European think tank, who is helping the Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR) recruit and train volunteers to welcome a newly arrived Afghan refugee family. Sponsored by Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel. For the Zoom link, email office@beki.org.

Central Mass. – PJ Story Time with Lori and Friends, 10:45 – 11:45 a.m. on Zoom, featuring a reading of the book Barnyard Purim, followed by songs and an animal mask craft. RSVP to receive craft kit: alissa.schimmel@gmail.com. Part of Congregation B’nai Shalom and Beth Tikvah Synagogues’ Early Childhood program.

West Hartford, CT – HARTT 100 and the Mandell JCC present: Frank London and the Klezmer Brass Allstars, with Yiddish singer/actor Eleanor Reissue, singing songs of love, protest, celebration and political commentary. London has worked with artists across a variety of genres and musical traditions, including Iggy Pop, Itzhak February 22, 2022

|

Stamford, CT (Zoom) – “Be A Mensch: Unleash Your Power of Be Kind and Help Others with author Elisa Udaskin,” 7 p.m. Hosted by United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford and JCRC. To register: ujf.org/ caringsoul. For information: slewis@ujf.org., (203) 321-1373 x104.

March WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

THURSDAY, MARCH 3 Greenwich— Temple Sholom & AIPAC present “The Abraham Accords: The New Peace in the Middle East” with Sarah Walsh, AIPAC Director, Southern CT, who will discuss the impact the

jewishledger.com

Abraham Accords have had on the region. At Temple Sholom, 300 East Putnam Ave., 7 p.m.

Registration required: (203) 542-7165 or alice.schoen@ templesholom.com. Note: Proof of vaccine or negative PCR test 72 hours before attending required.

Masks required. FREE

SUNDAY, MARCH 6 Southbury, CT(Zoom) – Author Talks Series presents Lucy Adlington, author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive, a 50-minute presentation with a virtual show of original garments and a archive material from that era. Presented by the Jewish Federation of Western CT. $36/ includes the book shipped directly to you; $18/without the book. Information and tickets: jfed.net.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8 Longmeadow, Mass. – Hamentash Bake hosted by Chabad women, 7 p.m. at LYA, 1148 Converse Street. Bake your own hamentashen for the holiday of Purim with unique fillings; learn about the four mitzvot that apply to Purim. Each participant will leave with supplies to create their own Mishloach Manot.

Home baked hamentashen will be served. RSVP to Chanie Cohen at (413) 731-1381 or chaniecohen@gmail.com $20.

Admission includes all supplies and refreshments.

Springfield, MA – “Literatour,” the Springfield JCC book festival, presents a talk and Q&A with Jan Eliasberg, author of Hannah’s War, at Springfield JCC, 1160 Dickinson St.; 7-8 p.m., To register: https:// springfieldjcc.wufoo.com/forms/ rtncm991b2631i/; $10/adults; FREE/JCC members

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9 West Hartford, CT (Zoom) – “Growing up Jewish in West Hartford in the 1940s and

1950s”; 8:30 p.m. A virtual panel discussion about the decades when Jewish families started moving to the suburbs (specifically West Hartford) in significant numbers. Panelists Paula Feinstein, Susan Goldberg, Daniel Kleinman, and Sandra Rulnick will share their reflections on growing up during this era. Co-sponsored by the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society. To register or for more information: jhsgh.org.

FRIDAY, MARCH 11 Springfield, Mass. – “Bounce Into Shabbat” with PJ at the Springfield JCC, 5-6 p.m. Enjoy singing, inflatable bounce houses, food, and drink. For info: ebarber@springfieldjcc.org.

SATURDAY, MARCH 12 Northampton, Mass. – LGA Fire Circle Havdallah and Purim “Warm Up,” 6:30-8 p.m., at Lander-Grinspoon Academy, 257 Prospect St. (with help from Abundance Farm). Dress up as your favorite character from the Megillah and lead a song your character would sing. For info and reservations: Debra Kolodny: dkolodny@landergrinspoon.org, or (413) 584-6622.

SUNDAY, MARCH 13 Longmeadow, MA – Chabad Hebrew School Public Purim Event, a Purim party for kids of all ages, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., 1148 Converse St. For info: Mushkie Kosofsky: mkosofsky@lya.org, or (413) 262-8037.

Springfield, MA (ZOOM) – Purim with PJ Library! Come celebrate Purim virtually with music and puppets in a program led by Spencer Garfield at the Springfield JCC, 1160 Dickinson St., 1-2 p.m., PJ Library Contact: Elise Barber: ebarber@ springfieldjcc.org. (646) 3913553.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

35

CT SYNAGOGUE DIRECTORY To join our synagogue directory of paid advertisers, contact stacey@20media20.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

36

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

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

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

Orchard Street ShulCongregation Beth Israel Orthodox Rabbi Mendy Hecht 203-776-1468 www.orchardstreetshul.org

PUTNAM

WATERFORD

NEW LONDON 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

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

WASHINGTON

Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel Conservative Rabbi Eric Woodward rabbi@beki.org (203) 389-2108 office@BEKI.org www.BEKI.org

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

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

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

SIMSBURY

WEST HARTFORD

Chabad of the Farmington Valley Chabad Rabbi Mendel Samuels (860) 658-4903 chabadsimsbury@gmail.com www.chabadotvalley.org Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, Emek Shalom Reform Rabbi Rebekah Goldman Mag (860) 658-1075 admin@fvjc.org www.fvjc.org

SOUTH WINDSOR Temple Beth Hillel of South Windsor Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman (860) 282-8466 tbhrabbi@gmail.com www.tbhsw.org

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

Beth David Synagogue Modern Orthodox Rabbi Yitzchok Adler (860) 236-1241 office@bethdavidwh.org www.bethdavidwh.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 Congregation P’nai Or Jewish Renewal Shabbat Services & Holidays Rabbi Andrea CohenKiener (860) 561-5905 pnaiorct@gmail.com www.jewishrenewalct.org

The Emanuel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi David J. Small (860) 236-1275 communications@emanuelsynagogue.org www.emanuelsynagogue. org United Synagogues of Greater Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Eli Ostrozynsk i synagogue voice mail (860) 586-8067 Rabbi’s mobile (718) 679-4446 ostro770@hotmail.com Young Israel of West Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Tuvia Brander (860) 233-3084 info@youngisraelwh.org www.youngisraelwh.org

WESTPORT Temple Israel of Westport Reform Rabbi Michael Friedman, Senior Rabbi Cantor Julia Cadrain, Senior Cantor Rabbi Elana NemitoffBresler, 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

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

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

SYNAGOGUE DIRECTORY WESTERN AND CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS

AMHERST

FLORENCE

LONGMEADOW

Jewish Community of Amherst Reconstructionist Rabbi Benjamin Weiner (413) 256-0160 info@jcamherst.org www.jcamherst.org 742 Main St., Amherst, MA 01002

Beit Ahavah, The Reform Synagogue of Greater Northampton Reform Rabbi Riqi Kosovske (413) 587-3770 info@beitahavah.org www.beitahavah.org 130 Pine St. Florence, MA 01062

Congregation B’nai Torah Orthodox Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe Rabbi Yakov Wolff (413) 567-0036 office@bnaitorahma.org rabbi@bnaitorahma.org www.bnaitorahma.org 2 Eunice Drive Longmeadow, MA 01106 Neighborhood Minyan 124 Sumner Avenue Springfield, MA 01108

ATHOL Temple Israel Unaffiliated/Egalitarian Reb Sarah Noyovitz (978) 249-9481 templeisraelathol@gmail.com 107 Walnut Street Athol, MA 01331

GREENFIELD Temple Israel of Greenfield Unaffiliated Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener (413) 773-5884 office@templeisraelgreenfield.org www.templeisraelgreenfield.org 27 Pierce St. Greenfield, MA 01301

BENNINGTON, VT Congregation Beth El Reconstructionist Rabbi Micah Becker Klein (802) 442-9645 cbevtoffice@gmail.com www.cbevermont.org 225 North St., Bennington, VT 05201

HOLYOKE

CLINTON Congregation Shaarei Zedeck Conservative Lay Leadership - Elena Feinberg (978) 501-2744 sherryesq@yahoo.com www.shaareizedeck.org 104 Water St., Clinton, MA 01510

Congregation Rodphey Sholom Orthodox Rabbi Tuvia Helfen Religious Leader (413) 534-5262 djs1818@aol.com 1800 Northampton St., Holyoke, MA 01040 Congregation Sons of Zion Conservative Rabbi Saul Perlmutter (413) 534-3369 office@sonsofzionholyoke.org www.sonsofzionholyoke.org 378 Maple St. Holyoke, MA 01040

LEOMINSTER Congregation Agudat Achim Conservative Rabbi Eve Eichenholtz (978) 534-6121 office@agudat-achim.org www.agudat-achim.org 268 Washington St., Leominster, MA 01453

NORTHAMPTON Congregation B’nai Israel Conservative Rabbi Justin David (413) 584-3593 office@CBINorthampton.org www.CBINorthampton.org 253 Prospect St. Northampton, MA 01060

PITTSFIELD Temple Anshe Amunim Reform Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch (413) 442-5910 rabbiliz@ansheamunim.org www.ansheamunim.org 26 Broad St., Pittsfield, MA 01201

SPRINGFIELD Sinai Temple Reform Rabbi Jeremy Master (413) 736-3619 rblanchettegage@sinai-temple.org www.sinai-temple.org 1100 Dickinson St., Springfield, MA 01108

Temple Beth El Conservative Rabbi Amy Walk (413) 733-4149 office@tbesprinfield.org www.tbespringfield.org 979 Dickinson St., Springfield, MA 01108

WESTBOROUGH Beth Tikvah Synagogue Independent Rabbi Michael Swarttz (508) 616-9037 president@bethtikvahsynagogue. org www.bethtikvahsynagogue.org 45 Oak St., Westborough, MA 01581 Congregation B’nai Shalom Reform Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz/ Rabbi-Educator Joseph Eiduson (508) 366-7191 info@cbnaishalom.org www.cbnaishalom.org 117 East Main St., PO Box 1019, Westborough, MA 01581

WESTFIELD Congregation Ahavas Achim Unaffiliated Rabbi Dawn Rose (413) 642-1797 ahavasachiminquiry@gmail.com www.congregationahavasachim. org Ferst Interfaith Center, Westfield State University PO Box 334, 577 Western Avenue, Westfield, MA 01086 Find us on Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/AhavasAchimWestfield/

WORCESTER Central Mass Chabad Rabbi Mendel Fogelman, Rabbi Chaim Fishman, Rabbi Michael Phillips, Cantor Eli Abramowitz (508) 752-0904 rabbi@centralmasschabad.com www.centralmasschabad.com 22 Newton Avenue, Worcester, MA 01602 Congregation Beth Israel Conservative Rabbi Aviva Fellman (508) 756-6204 receptionist@bethisraelworc.org www.bethisraelworc.org 15 Jamesbury Drive Worcester, MA 01609 Congregation Shaarai Torah West Orthodox Rabbi Yakov Blotner (508) 791-0013 Brotman156@aol.com www.shaaraitorah.org 835 Pleasant St. Worcester, MA 01602 Temple Emanuel Sinai Reform Rabbi Valerie Cohen (508) 755-1257 amayou@emanuelsinai.org www.emanuelsinai.org 661 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609

To join our synagogue directory of paid advertisers, contact stacey@20media20.com

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

37

TORAH PORTION – VAYAKHEL

I

BY RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

t was quite a few years ago that I spent almost every Sunday afternoon in one of the great museums of the city in which my family then lived. I no longer remember what first stimulated my interest in art, and specifically in the type of art known as Impressionism.

But I know that I relished those Sunday afternoons.

It was on that occasion that I first encountered a most fascinating gentleman. I’ll call him Ernesto. Ernesto, I later learned, was a brilliant Talmud student before the war, who had given up the all religious observance, and indeed almost all connection with the Jewish people. He had totally lost his faith as a result of his horrible experiences during the Holocaust.

With my black velvet yarmulke I was readily identifiable as an Orthodox Jew, so I was easy prey for Ernesto.

“Jews know nothing about art,” he bellowed. ”All Jewish art is nothing but decoration.”

I must confess that I had no clue as to what he was talking about.

We soon sat down together at a nearby bench and he began to share his story with me. Over the subsequent years I came to know him better and discovered that he had many “bones to pick” with Judaism and was in a perpetual rage against God. But that morning he confined his remarks to his disappointment with what he saw as the absence of fine art in the Jewish culture.

Frankly, I had never given much thought to the subject of the place of art in Judaism. The best I could do was to refer to the person of Bezalel, mentioned in this week’s Torah portion, PVayakhel (Exodus 35:1-38:20).

I quoted these verses to him: “…See, the Lord has singled out by name Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur…He has endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of

38

craft and has inspired him to make designs for work in gold, silver and copper.”

“Surely,” I argued. “The figure of Bezalel, so prominent at the very beginning of our history, is evidence that art has a central place in our tradition.”

Not only was he unimpressed, but he responded with a rant that seemed as if it would go on forever. “Bezalel was no more than a Matisse,” he insisted. For him, Matisse was the epitome of a bankrupt artist, one who could produce colorful designs but who had no message for the culture at large. He contrasted Matisse with Picasso, who had a lot to say in his art about the political world in which he lived. He concluded his tirade by shouting: “Besides pretty decorations for the Tabernacle, what did Bezalel have to teach us? What did he have to say to the human race?!”

For the many years since that first encounter with Ernesto, who by the way, passed away 60 years to the day after his release from Auschwitz in 1945, I have struggled with that challenging question: “What can we learn from Bezalel?”

I have since concluded that Bezalel had a lot to teach us all, especially about the creative process. He was able to do what so many others who are blessed with great creative talents have not been able to do.

Most creative geniuses throughout history, and I say this fully expecting some of you to object with examples to the contrary, have either been misfits in society, or have, in one way or another, rebelled against society.

Creativity often sees itself as in opposition to conformity. The place of the artist is rarely in the contemporary culture; rather it is in the counter-culture. The creative artist, whatever his medium, typically sees himself as the creator of a new culture, one which will replace the current culture and render it obsolete.

Bezalel’s genius lay in his

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

ability to channel his substantial artistic gifts to the cause of the culture that was being constructed around him. He was not rebellious and certainly not withdrawn. He participated in a national project as part of the nation, and not as one whose role was to find fault. He was able to combine creativity with conformity, and that is no mean feat.

One lesson that he taught all subsequent artists is that they need not limit their role to critical observation of society.

Quite the contrary, they can cooperatively partner with society and bring their skills to bear in the service of what is going on around them.

This is the deeper meaning of the passage in the Talmud which reads: “Bezalel knew how to combine the mystical primeval letters from which heaven and earth were created (Berachot 55a).” Bezalel’s art was an art that “combined” letters, joining them together harmoniously. His was not the art that tears asunder the constituent elements of the world which surrounds him. His was the art that blends those elements into a beautiful whole.

Bezalel’s lesson is not just a lesson for artists. It is a lesson for all gifted and talented human beings. Somehow, the best and

the brightest among us are the ones who are most cynical and most critical of the societies in which we live. We see this today in the harsh criticism that is directed at Israel precisely from the world of the academe, and sadly, especially from the Jewish intelligentsia. There is something pernicious about great intelligence that makes one unduly and unfairly critical of the world within in which one resides.

Bezalel, on the other hand, was able to demonstrate that one can be highly gifted, indeed sublimely gifted, and use those gifts in a positive and constructive fashion, cooperating with others who are far less gifted, and participating in a joint venture with the rest of society.

This is a lesson in leadership which all who are blessed with special talents must learn.

Special talents do not entitle one to separate oneself from the common cause. Quite the contrary: They equip one to participate in the common cause, and in the process elevate and inspire the rest of society.

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is the Executive Vice President, Emeritus of the Orthodox Union.

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

THE KOSHER CROSSWORD FEB. 22, 2022

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

JL

“Words of the Prophets”

By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Challenging

Sponsored by:

JEWISH LEDGER Vol. 94 No. 3

20/20 MEDIA, PUBLISHER EDITORIAL Judie Jacobson, Editor in Chief judiej@jewishledger.com Stacey Dresner, Associate Editor staceyd@jewishledger.com

2471 Albany Avenue West Hartford • 860.236.1965 thecrownmarket.com

DIGITAL Hillary Sarrasin, Digital Media Manager hillaryp@jewishledger.com

ANSWERS TO 02/08 CROSSWORD

ADVERTISING 860.508.4032 tom@20media20.com Lisa Oster, Senior Account Executive Joyce Cohen, Account Executive PRODUCTION Chris Bonito, Creative Director/Designer chris@20media20.com

20/20 20/20 MEDIA | 20MEDIA20.COM

DIGITAL • MARKETING • EVENTS • PUBLISHING

Tom Hickey, President tom@20media20.com Bob Carr, New Business Development Mike Roy/Roy Web Design, Webmaster Todd Fairchild/ShutterbugCT Director of Photography James H. Gould III, Principal Contact: PO Box 271835 West Hartford, CT 06127 860.231.2424 • 860.508.4032

Samuel Neusner, Founder (1929-1960) Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman, CoFounder and Editor (1929-1977) Berthold Gaster, Editor (1977-1992)

Across

26. Writer of “Foundation” 29. “___ Mitn Fidl” (1936 Yiddish classic) 30. Not mainstream, for short 31. The French Open’s best player ever 35. Some of his biggest fans have written one for 31-Across 36. Writer of “A Perfect Peace” 38. A rose ___ ___ rose...

39. Hit and run, e.g.

41. POW, maybe 42. Israeli bro 43. Writer of “The Social Network”

46. Yentl portrayer 49. Amos and Spelling 50. Jerusalem’s Refaim 51. Masada and Megiddo, for short 54. Mom’s mom, perhaps 55. Writer of “Fear No Evil” 60. Make a typo 61. Kind of surgeon 62. Prod into action 63. Google hits booster, in webspeak 64. English exam finale, often 65. Tolkien creatures who would love Tu B’Shevat

Down

supposedly 17. Apple computer discontinued in 2006 18. AKA for Rav Yom Tov ben Avraham Assevilli 22. Where something can be set for later 23. Southern lady’s salutation 25. Potsie’s pal, with “the” 26. Job 27. Play review method, briefly 28. Cry after a golfer’s ace 32. Insightful Emily 33. Rav in charge of Sura long ago, and others 34. Read Torah (Var.) 36. Trei follower

37. Bit of brewing equipment 40. Braided Jewish treat 42. Do florists’ work 44. Batya’s father, possibly 45. Wife of Charlie Chaplin 46. “Seinfeld” character Elaine 47. He became Yehoshafat upon conversion 48. Back in style 52. Start of a conclusion 53. Mother of Yair and Avner 56. Netanya to Nazareth dir.

57. Scheider of “Jaws” 58. Kit follower 59. 1,760 make a mi.

1. Place for partners?

5. Absolutely love 10. Muppet Eagle 13. “I’ll give ___ topic” (Linda Richman) 14. “Brooklyn” actress Saoirse 15. Medical insurance grp.

16. Writer of “The Committed Life” 19. Treif flood survivor?

20. Mossad cousin, once 21. McKellan and Fleming 22. His name was changed in the Bible 24. Helen ___

N. Richard Greenfield, Publisher (1994-2014) Henry M. Zachs, Managing Partner (2014-2021)

Publisher’s Statement Editorial deadline: All calendar submissions must be received one week prior to publication. Advertising deadline: Tuesday noon one week prior to issue. 20/20 Media 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. The Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason and to alter advertising copy or graphics deemed unacceptable. The publisher 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 © 2022. No portion may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. 20/20 Media also publishes All Things Jewish CT, All Things Jewish MA and WeHa Magazine.

February 22, 2022

|

1. DVD/video-game chain that still has 180 stores open 2. Windows alternative 3. Insightful Ginsburg 4. Talmid chacham most often associated with a golem (for better or worse) 5. Posting at JFK 6. Martial arts milieu 7. Big problem 8. Money on demand?

9. Language used in this puzzle: Abbr.

10. Get wool from 11. Metabolic acid 12. Unlike rolling stones,

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

39

OBITUARIES COHEN

Eleanor I. (Herman) Cohen, 96, of Worcester, Mass., died Feb. 3. She was the widow of Joseph Cohen.

She was the daughter of Dorothy (Fine) and Jesse Herman. She is survived by her children, Nancy F. Cohen, Terry E. Hamilton and her husband Thomas, David V. Cohen and his wife Janice, and Karen R. Cohen and her husband Danny Haughey; her grandchildren, Elissa Cohen, Jared Cohen, Jaclyn Cohen, Julian Hamilton, and Sage Hamilton; and her greatgrandchildren, Kassidy, Emma and Allie Robertson, Jordan and Sadie Ingle and Ayla Cohen She was predeceased by her sonin-law Eliot Cohen; and two brothers, Morton Herman and Sumner Herman.

FERBER

Beverly Brevda Ferber, 88, of Stamford, Conn. and Boca Raton, Fla., died Feb. 11. She was the widow of Stanley Ferber. She was born in Brooklyn. She is survived by her daughters, Caryl Ferber Poser and her husband Peter, and Stacy Ferber; her grandchildren, Ariel Poser Bedik and her husband Stephen, Rebecca Brevda Poser and his wife Lindsay Klein, and Samuel Appel; her great-granddaughter Scarlett; her sisters, Leonora Loewentheil and Evelyne Mitchel.

GORDON

James “Jim” N. Gordon, 80, of Fitchburg, Mass., formerly of Worcester, Mass., died Feb. 1. Born in Worcester, he was the son of Paul and Marcia ( Baker ) Gordon. He served in the National Guard. He is survived by his sister Sheila Luther; and two nephews and a niece.

HORNE

Lynne I. (Cohen) Horne, 76 of Worcester, Mass., died Feb. 6.

She was the wife of William “Billy” Horne. Born and raised in Worcester, Mass., she was the daughter of the late Lillian (Korenblum) and Alfred “Bubbles” Cohen. In addition

40

to her husband, she is survived by her son Jeffrey Horne and his wife Karen; two grandchildren, Jacob and Samantha Horne; her brother Gary Cohen and his wife Yvonne; and her sisters, Bonnie Cooper and her husband Alan, Nan Sobel and her husband Howard, and Beth Parker; and many nieces and nephews and their families.

ISENSTADT

Lenora P. Isenstadt of Hamden, Conn., died Feb. 15, on her 92nd birthday. She was the widow of Lowell D. Isenstadt. Born in the Bronx, N.Y. She was the daughter of the late Lillian and Murray Pakull. She was a member of Congregation Mishkan Israel.

She is survived by her brother Dr. Barton Pakull and his wife Jan of Arlington, Va.; her children, David Isenstadt and his wife Donna, Carol Gutkin and her husband Howard, and Debbie Isenstadt, all of Hamden; her grandchildren, Hilary Moraski and her husband Peter, Matthew Isenstadt, Jennifer Hosey and her husband Brendan, and Simone Gutkin and her husband Christian Eggers; her greatgrandchildren, Declan Hosey, and Penelope Moraski.

LEIBOWITZ

Harriet S. Leibowitz, 83, of Hamden, Conn., died Feb. 8.

She was the widow of Martin C. Leibowitz. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late Oscar and Goldie Ax. She is survived by her children, Steven Liebowitz and his wife Laurel, Kenneth Leibowitz and his wife Sandra, and Richard Leibowtiz and his wife Yesenia; her grandchildren, Jennifer Civetti and her husband Civetti, Brian Leibowitz and his wife Jill, Matthew Leibowitz and his wife Danielle, Kaitlyn, Jessica, Alexa, and Andrew Leibowitz; and her her great-grandchild, Aubrey Civetti.

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

MASON

Vivian Mason, 98, of West Hartford, Conn., died February 10. She was the widow of Nat Mason. Born in Scranton, Penn., she was the daughter of the late Benjamin and Molly Fischer Toiv. She was a member of Temple Israel Synagogue. She was also predeceased by her siblings, Leonard Toiv and Norma Firestone. She is survived by her children, Stephen Mason and his wife Barbara, Linda Perlin and her husband Michael; her grandchildren, Jessica Rhein and her husband Larry, David Mason and his wife Chana, Jonathan Mason, Julin Perlin and her husband Ben Snitkoff, Alex Perlin and his wife Elizabeth Sprotzer; her great-grandchildren, Aryehlev Mason, Zachary Rhein, Alex Rhein, Rachel Rhein, Lucas Mason, Natalie Mason, Samuel Perlin, Sophie Snitkoff; and many dear nieces and nephews.

REICHLIN

Hedda Lillian Reichlin, 98, of Manchester, Conn., died Feb. 10.

She was the widow of Benjamin Reichlin. Born in Ellington, Conn., she was the daughter of Hyman Rashall and Emma Cantor Rashall. She is survived by her children, Loren Reichlin and Alan Reichlin; her daughterin-law, Sharon Reichlin. She was also predeceased by her son David Reichlin. She was an active member of Beth Sholom B’nai Israel in Manchester.

SHERMAN

Betty Sherman, 89, of Bridgeport, Conn., recently of Delray Beach, Fla., died Feb. 7. She was the widow of Richard Sherman. She was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the daughter of Benjamin and Celia Ehrlich. She was a member of Beth El Synagogue of Fairfield.

She is survived by her children, Robert Sherman and his wife Stephanie, and Lynn Sherman Alloy and her husband Dennis; her grandchildren, Jake Sherman and his wife Irene, Corey Sherman and his wife Amalya

Dubrovsky, Kate Sherman, Samantha Sherman, Jamie Alloy, Jesse Alloy, and Sydney Alloy; her great-grandchildren, Ryder, Josie, and Daniella Sherman; her sister, Helen Geisenberg and her husband Mark; and two nieces.

She was also predeceased by her daughter Debra Sue Sherman.

SIGAL

Gary Robert Sigal, 64, of Newington, Conn., formerly of Bloomfield, Conn., died Feb. 9. Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Norman and Irene (Kagan) Sigal. He was a lifetime member of Congregation Agudas Achim in West Hartford, where he served as president.

He is survived by his brother Jeffrey S. Sigal; his sister Rhonda Sembrano and her husband Jesse; his nieces, Shayna Sembrano,and her husband Max Piccola, and Nicole Lis and her husband John; his nephew, Michael Sigal; his aunt Iris Kagan and his uncle Kenneth Kleinfeld; his cousins, Seth Sigal, Andrew Sigal and his wife Shelley, Jamie Manville and her husband Brock, Susan Bazer and her husband David, Steven Sigal, Cheryl Weinberger, Richard Weinberger, Alan Kleinfeld, Nancy Kleinfeld, Sherri Schwartz, Michelle Rizzo, and Marc Kagan and his wife Susan. He was predeceased by his sister-in-law Marlene Shotten Sigal.

WOLF

Sandra Ann Wolf, 78, died on Feb. 7. She was the widow of Leon. She was the daughter of the late Jack and Minnie Cohen.

She is survived by her sons, Michael and his wife Akiko, and Gary and his wife Heather; her grandson Theodore Leon; her brother Howard and his wife Ann, and their daughters and grandchildren.

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

AMPLE PARKING

We provide our community with the BEST service in their time of need.

February 22, 2022

|

1084 NEW BRITAIN AVE. WEST HARTFORD Southern New England Jewish Ledger

jewishledger.com

41

860.561.3800 | SHEEHANHILBORNBREEN.COM

“Ghostbusters” director Ivan Reitman was the son of Holocaust survivors (JNS) Jewish producer and director Ivan Reitman died in his sleep on Saturday night, Feb. 12, at his home in Montecito, Calif., at the age of 75.

“Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life,” his three children said in a joint statement. “We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world. While we mourn privately, we hope those who knew him through his films will remember him always.”

Reitman was born in 1946 in Komarno, Czechoslovakia.

His mother survived Auschwitz, while his father escaped a Nazi concentration camp and was later a member of the Slovakian resistance, according to JTA. He was four years old when his family fled Czechoslovakia after the Communist regime began

threatening his father.

Reitman produced and directed the blockbuster hit “Ghostbusters” in 1984, along with a number of other comedic films during the 1980s and ’90s, including “National Lampoon’s Animal House” starring John Belushi; and “Meatballs” and “Stripes,” both starring Bill Murray. Among his other credits are “Twins,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “Junior,” “Dave,” “Old School,” “EuroTrip,” and “No Strings Attached.” Before his death, he was in pre-production on a number of films, including a sequel to “Twins.”

Reitman also helped produce the 2009 Oscar-nominated film “Up in the Air,” co-written and directed by his son, filmmaker Jason Reitman. The latest film in the “Ghostbusters” franchise— last year’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”—was also produced by Ivan and directed by Jason.

Providing

compassionate care for over

75 years.

Owned and Operated by the Carmon Family

888.688.8475 carmonfuneralhome.com

Windsor • Poquonock • Granby • Suffield South Windsor • Rockville • Vernon • Avon

Lichtenstein Company Maker of MONUMENTS for 4 Generations

LASTING TRIBUTES

BEAUTIFUL MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS

Customized monuments • Pet stones and garden ornaments Cemetery lettering and monument cleaning • Bronze and Granite Markers

S.L. ZOCCO MEMORIALS, INC. 804 Blue Hills Ave., Bloomfield, CT

860.242.7371 | 860.242.5881 Serving all faiths in all cemeteries in the entire State of Connecticut

zoccomemorials.net

42

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

• Granite & Bronze Markers • Sandblast Lettering • Designing of Headstones • Full Service Shop •Monument Cleaning •Accurate Hebrew Lettering • Prompt Delivery • Fair Pricing • Custom Designing And anything else you may need!

From the moment of your first visit to the final set-up, our experienced team will work with you every step of the way. With three generations of hands-on experience, we guarantee personal, dedicated customer service and a final product that you will love.

323 Washington Avenue, Hamden AT WHITNEY AVE. (opposite K of C Hall) 1.800.852.8865 • 203-288-8486 | nolanshamdenmonumentco.com

February 22, 2022

|

jewishledger.com

7th Annual

PRESENTING SPONSOR

EST HA W F O

FORD RT

TASTE

PRESENTS

EL

HOST SPONSOR

MWO O D

Free Parking • Raffle Prizes and MORE Surprises! ~ Monday, March 7, 2022 • 5:00-7:00 p.m. ~ 433 South Main Street , West Hartford (Corner of New Britain Avenue and South Main Street, behind Hartford HealthCare.)

Produced by:

20/20 20/20 MEDIA | 20MEDIA20.COM

DIGITAL • MARKETING • EVENTS • PUBLISHING

Beverages by: Two Pour Guys (cash bar) Food by: Cafe Louise • Chick-fil-A • Beachland Tavern • Taste by Spellbound • The Corner Pug and more...

Each of the food businesses will provide a sampling for 150 people Many thanks to our business supporters

A portion of the proceeds to benefit Friends of Feeney A canned good or non-perishable food item donation for the west hartford seniors food bank would be appreciated

Todd Fairchild ShutterBug Photography

For more information or to purchase tickets visit https://towhelmwood.eventbrite.com Many thanks to our sponsors for their continued support

Many thanks to our business partners SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

JL

February 22, 2022 JEWISH LEDGER

|

jewishledger.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger Participating Food Vendors at time of printing. Subject to changes and additions.

43

Juggling a few things?

Bank as you go.

Digital Banking Services Life comes at you fast these days. Take a few things off your plate with our suite of digital banking services. And leave the juggling act to the professionals.

Mobile Banking, Deposit & Wallet n Zelle® n WB Card Control n Online Account Opening & Loan Applications n

To learn more, visit westfieldbank.com or call 860.519.5482.

What better banking’s all about. sm

44

westfieldbank.com

Southern New England Jewish Ledger

February 22, 2022 Zelle and the Zelle related marks are wholly owned by Early Warning Services, LLC and are used herein under license.

|

Member jewishledger.com FDIC