Southern New England Jewish Ledger • April 19, 2022 • 18 Nisan 5782 by 2020 Media

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ON THE COVER

APRIL 19, 2022 • 18 NISAN 5782

Yom Hashoah v’Hagvura

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Yom Hashoah v’Hagvura APRIL 27-28, 2022 | 27 NISAN 5782

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On the Cover: Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins this year after sunset on the evening of Wednesday, April 27 and concludes the evening of Thursday, April 28.

Features

Opinion

Torah Portion

Fruit of the vine

Ledger Scoreboard

In memoriam

All the Jewish Major League Baseball players we’ll see in 2022.

Wine from West Bank settlement served at White House seder.

Gilbert Gottfried’s foul-mouthed persona concealed content Jewish dad.

Synagogue Directory

Crossword Puzzle

Briefs

Obituaries

What’s Happening

Election 2022

He writes the songs

The Group of Republicans who remain loyal to Liz Cheney: proIsrael donors.

CANDLE LIGHTING SHABBAT FRIDAY, APRIL 22

Barry Manilow dishes on bringing his Nazi-era musical to NYC.

Hartford New Haven: Bridgeport: Stamford:

7:22 p.m. 7:22 p.m. 7:23 p.m. 7:24 p.m.

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WEST HARTFORD IS GOING TO THE DOGS! The painted dogs, that is. And we couldn’t be more excited!

Dog Walk 2022

The brainchild of 20/20 Media, the creative genius behind the spectacular 2021 WeHa Bear Fair – which netted 25,000 visits to the event website and over $20,000 in donations benefitting the selected non-profits – the 2022 Dog Walk promises to brighten West Hartford with a fabulous display of one dozen fiberglass dogs, each one beautifully decorated by a talented artist and sponsored by a local business who will select a nonprofit organization to benefit from proceeds raised. To learn more about how you can help our community by becoming a WeHa Dog Walk sponsor, contact Tom Hickey at tom@20media20.com or 860.508.4032.

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SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND JEWISH LEDGER | APRIL 19, 2022 | 18 NISAN 5782

Russia summons Israeli ambassador over Lapid’s criticism of invasion

Wine from a West Bank settlement was served at this year’s White House seder

BY ARIEL KANAHA (ISRAEL HAYOM)

srael’s Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi was summoned on Sunday to appear at the Russian Foreign Ministry. News of the summons arrived after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and a number of other Israeli officials issued sharp condemnations of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Israeli officials still believe the situation is “under control” and don’t expect diplomatic relations between the countries to deteriorate. During his official visit to Greece earlier in the month, Lapid charged that Russia had committed “war crimes against a defenseless civilian population.” “A large and powerful country has invaded a smaller neighbor without any justification,” said Lapid, adding, “Once again, the ground is soaked with the blood of innocent civilians.” In his remarks, the foreign minister also condemned the killings in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha – where the withdrawal of Russian troops revealed mass graves and a number of bodies lying in the streets, dressed in

ISRAEL’S AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA ALEXANDER BEN ZVI. SOURCE: TWITTER.

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BY SHIRAS HANAU

FOREIGN MINISTER YAIR LAPID HOLDS A PRESS CONFERENCE IN TEL AVIV, ON APRIL 14, 2022. (AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

civilian clothing. “The images and testimony from Ukraine are horrific,” said Lapid. Moscow said on Friday that it had “taken note” of Lapid’s comments, which officials referred to as an “anti-Russian attack” in a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry. “There is an attempt to exploit the situation in Ukraine to distract the attention of the international community from one of the longest unsolved conflicts – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the Russian message read. The ministry also condemned Israel’s decision to vote in favor of Russia’s expulsion from the United Nations Human Rights Council. On Sunday, Ynet reported that Russian military has released

what it claims are details of a recent Israeli air strike on targets in the Damascus region. The report attributed the release to a desire in Moscow to retaliate for Lapid’s condemnations of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Citing Russian media reports, Ynet said senior Russian military officer Oleg Zhuravlev, the deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, had revealed that two Israeli F-16 fighter jets fired two guided missiles from the Golan Heights at targets in the Damascus area on Thursday night. According to the Russian claims, one of the missiles was destroyed by a Russian-made Buk M2E air defense system in the possession of Assad regime forces, while the other caused material damage.

(JTA) – Wine from a West Bank settlement was on the menu at this year’s White House Passover seder hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Dough Emhoff. But a spokesperson for Harris said the choice should not be construed as a political statement about Israeli settlement in the West Bank. “The wine served at the Seder was in no way intended to be an expression of policy,” Herbie Ziskind, an advisor to Harris, said in a tweet. The response from the Harris spokesman came after reporters spotted a bottle of wine from the Psagot winery in a photo of the seder that Emhoff posted to social media, eliciting a flood of criticism from anti-occupation activists. Tonight, @VP and I were honored to celebrate Passover with our hardworking staff by holding a Seder at the Vice President’s Residence. Whether you’re celebrating with your family, your work family, or the family you have chosen, we wish you all a Happy Passover! “These photos show @ VP serving wine from Psagot at Passover Seder. Psagot’s vineyards are on stolen Palestinian land. It’s not cool. It was the Trump that ‘legitimated’ the theft,” James Zogby, founder of the Arab-American Institute, Continued on page 25

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Election 2022

The influential group of Republicans who remain loyal to Liz Cheney: pro-Israel donors

BY RON KAMPEAS

ASHINGTON (JTA) – Liz Cheney, the Wyoming

congresswoman who is perhaps the fiercest critic of Donald Trump, isn’t too popular in her party these days: The House Republican caucus kicked her out of her leadership role and some influential Republicans want her out of the GOP, period. But there’s one section of the party where she’s getting support: Pro-Israel Republicans continue to fundraise for Cheney. Cheney’s bona fides as one of the best friends of the rightwing pro-Israel community since her father, Dick, was vice president and she held a senior Middle East policy position at the State Department, is helping her outraise her challengers in a primary in August, even though some of her erstwhile pro-Israel donors are wary of her war with Trump. Bill Kilberg, a lawyer who is deeply involved in funding for Israel’s Hebrew University, last month held a donor bash for her in McLean, Virginia, the same tony Washington suburb where Dick Cheney is now based. Kilberg’s wife Bobbie told CNN that the couple intended to host the Cheney fundraiser at home but picked a larger venue as the RSVPs poured in. That’s typical of the pro-Israel community, which prides itself on its loyalty to politicians that have stood up for the Jewish state for years, however dire their straits become, said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The RJC’s affiliated political action committee has endorsed Cheney and has given her the maximum of $10,000 in a cycle.

“We stand by our friends who have been leaders and supporters over the years, regardless of where they were on other external issues,” Brooks said. Brooks noted that in addition to the Kilbergs, Jewish proIsrael stalwarts who have held fundraisers for Cheney include Mel Sembler, the Florida-based shopping center magnate, and Eric Levine, who runs an eponymous white-shoe law firm in New York. Cheney’s receipts with the centrist and right-wing proIsrael communities run deep: Her father was one of Israel’s most vocal defenders in an administration already known for its friendliness to Israel. He clashed with Condoleezza Rice during the 2006 Israel Lebanon war, undercutting her efforts as secretary of state to bring Israel to heel. Liz Cheney worked for Rice at the time as the principal deputy assistant secretary of state, focused on Middle East issues. But she clearly sided with her father over her boss during that clash – at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in 2008, not long after she left the Bush administration, she blasted Rice’s pressure on Israel to close a peace deal with the Palestinians. Even out of government from 2007 until her election as a Wyoming congresswoman in 2016, Liz Cheney was a frontline, pro-Israel warrior, emerging on op-ed pages as a political warrior ready for battle with lsrael’s critics. She earned cheers at AIPAC conferences blasting President Barack Obama for not following Israel’s lead in threatening military action to keep Iran from becoming a

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nuclear-weapon state. Back in government as a congresswoman from a state with hardly any Jews, she assumed a role as a leader on pro-Israel issues. She co-sponsored an array of proIsrael legislation and pushed for military engagement with Iran, a rare call even among hawkish Republicans. Cheney took the lead in the summer of 2020 when Democrats warned Israel not to annex West Bank territory, spearheading a letter saying that Republicans would not get in the way of annexation. Dick Cheney, with his daughter Liz holding the Bible, is sworn in as vice president by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2001. (Mark Wilson/Newsmakers/Getty Images) So she has the resume to sustain substantial pro-Israel support, said Fred Zeidman, a Houston businessman who is a leader among Republican Jewish fundraisers, and who is not involved in the Wyoming race one way or another. “Anybody that was for her is going to continue to be for her,” he said in an interview. “If you’d been a supporter of hers, you’ve got to stick with it, if for no other reason, as a matter of principle. Cheney has raised a stunning $10 million overall this cycle, with close to $3 million in the most recent quarter. But her pariah status among Republicans complicates matters for her supporters. Cheney is not simply a Trump critic; she co-chairs the congressional committee investigating the insurrection he spurred on Jan. 6, 2021, and has said Trump may be criminally liable.

REP. LIZ CHENEY SPEAKS DURING A SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE JAN. 6 ATTACK ON THE U.S. CAPITOL MEETING ON CAPITOL HILL, MARCH 28, 2022. (DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES)

There’s no Republican who Trump – still effectively the GOP’s thought leader – hates more than Cheney. He has made ousting her his first priority and has endorsed her GOP primary opponent Harriet Hageman, an attorney. A poll in December showed Hageman leading Cheney 38%-18% in the primary in one of the most Republican and pro-Trump states – and that was before Hageman secured Trump’s endorsement. That makes public identification with Cheney a fraught prospect. She is not among the 20 Republicans appearing on the RJC PAC’s endorsement page, but Brooks said the page is not finalized. “By definition, our contribution to her is an endorsement,” he said. “We are continuing to roll out our lists going forward.” For now, however, the RJC is being cautious, denying Cheney their more straightforward means of securing funds, through the RJC PAC. AIPAC, which once had a close relationship with Cheney, Continued on page 9

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Liz Cheney CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

did not include her in its first slate of 120 candidates endorsed by its newly established political action committee, and she has yet to be endorsed by Pro-Israel America, a bipartisan PAC run by former senior AIPAC staffers. Both groups said that it was early days; the Wyoming caucus is in August. “Pro-Israel America is keeping close track of all races across the country, including the primary race for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district,” Jeff Mendelsohn, Pro-Israel America’s executive director, said in an email. “We are currently very focused on upcoming spring primary elections and intend to make additional endorsements moving forward.” AIPAC’s spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, said more endorsements were coming. “The AIPAC PAC has been in existence for less than four months,” he said. “We will

continue our review and make decisions about contributions for the rest of the 2022 election cycle.” Cheney might not be amenable to an AIPAC endorsement: She was furious with the group for including among its endorsees dozens of Republicans who refused to certify Biden as president. “America’s relationship with Israel has never been more important,” she said last month. “Those of us who have never wavered in our support for Israel or our fight against antiSemitism in the US & around the world want @AIPAC members to know your leadership is playing a dangerous game of politics.” Cheney’s campaign did not return a request for comment. Ben Chouake, the president of NORPAC, a pro-Israel PAC that endorsed Cheney last cycle but has not this time around, said the group’s reluctance to endorse her stemmed from her dim prospects. “That’s really terrible for an incumbent,” he said of her poll

numbers. “We’ve supported her in the past, she’s good on the issues, but she has a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” he said referring to her battles with Trump in a state where the former president remains popular. “She’s taken positions that put her in a very unpopular position in her state.” Cheney is reportedly hoping Democrats will vote for her in the primary and that Hageman will split the Trumpian vote with Anthony Bouchard, a state senator who is completely aligned with the former president’s ideals, even though he did not secure Trump’s endorsement. A bid by Trumpfriendly state lawmakers to nix a Wyoming law that allows members of one party to vote in the other’s primary failed. Even so, political analysts say that it will still be hard for Cheney to eke out a win in the primary. Hageman also has the backing of some of Cheney’s most important former allies: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, as well

as an array of donors who have given to Trump in the past. Cheney also has some establishment backing, but from Republicans who like her have likely broken with Trump for good, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. McCarthy and the congresswoman who replaced Cheney a year ago as the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, Elise Stefanik of New York, were both onetime Trump critics who are now all in with the former president. Cheney is the vanguard of a faction of the party, also led by McConnell, who believes it’s time to leave Trump behind. “There are clearly schisms within the party, and there’s going to be people who strongly support Liz and will stand by or there are other people that won’t,” said Brooks, the RJC director. “I mean, that’s just the reality, the snapshot of where we are today.”

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The Ledger Scoreboard

All the Jewish Major League Baseball players we’ll see in 2022 BY JACOB GURVIS

(JTA) – After two pandemicaltered seasons, a three-month lockout and a truncated free agent frenzy, the 2022 Major League Baseball season has finally arrived. For Jewish fans of America’s Pastime, there is plenty to look forward to this season, from Atlanta Braves ace Max Fried starting on Opening Day to the fashionable Joc Pederson playing for reigning National League Manager of the Year Gabe Kapler. Here is a full rundown of what Jewish fans can look for in 2022, starting with the Jewish players on Opening Day rosters.

Max Fried, Atlanta Braves pitcher:

Fried is the ace of the defending champions. He is coming off a 2021 season in which he won his second consecutive Gold Glove award, given to the league’s best defensive pitcher, and his first Silver Slugger award for

best hitting pitcher – he will likely be the last to ever win that award as a pitcher, as a universal designated hitter will be introduced this season. Fried also pitched his Braves to a World Series win.

Alex Bregman, Houston Astros third baseman:

Staying healthy is at the top of this slugger’s to-do list in 2022. Bregman played in only 91 games for Houston last year, but he will look to return to form this season – a form that included backto-back top-five finishes in the American League Most Valuable Player races, in 2018 and 2019, when he hit 31 and 41 home runs, respectively.

Joc Pederson, San Francisco Giants outfielder:

The Giants are hoping Pederson’s World Series streak continues in 2022 – the flashy outfielder won

rings the last two years, for the Dodgers and then the Braves. Pederson will now be playing for Jewish manager Gabe Kapler, who won the National League’s top manager award last year after guiding the Giants to a historic 107-win season.

Rowdy Tellez, Milwaukee Brewers first baseman and designated hitter: Tellez is entering his first full season in Milwaukee after being traded by Toronto last July. The lefty has some pop – he hit 21 homers in 2019 – and will look to find a groove in his third full season in the big leagues.

Dean Kremer, Baltimore Orioles pitcher:

The first Israeli to sign a MLB contract, the young righthander is starting the season with the club in Baltimore. He only has 17 big-league games under his belt with an earned-run average

near 7 – the league leaders hover around 2.5-3 – so Kremer will have to prove himself to keep his spot with the team.

Richard Bleier, Miami Marlins pitcher:

Entering his seventh season, Bleier has proven to be a solid relief pitcher, sporting a career 2.96 ERA. The soon-to-be 35-year old signed a two-year extension with Miami during spring training.

Scott Effross, Chicago Cubs pitcher:

Effross made his Major League debut last season, and made his first Opening Day roster for the Cubs this season. The 28-year-old righty had a strong spring.

Eli Morgan, Cleveland Guardians pitcher:

Morgan is another young reliever who made his debut in 2021, starting 18 games for Cleveland

THE JEWISH STARS OF THE 2022 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SEASON. LEFT TO RIGHT: ALEX BREGMAN, RICHARD BLEIER, JOC PEDERSON, ROWDY TELLEZ, MAX FRIED (GETTY).

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after his call-up in May. Morgan will begin 2022 in the Guardians bullpen.

Garrett Stubbs, Philadelphia Phillies catcher:

After appearing in the World Series with Houston last season, Stubbs has moved over to Philly to become the backup to one of the game’s better catchers, J.T. Realmuto. There are also several Jewish players who will look to crack into the big leagues this season – including some familiar faces.

Kevin Pillar, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder:

Pillar has bounced around the league a bit since his debut in 2013. After playing for the Mets last year, the outfielder signed a minor league contract with L.A. He’s a proven veteran and should

see time this year – somewhere – as a fourth outfielder.

Ryan Sherriff, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher:

Sherriff is beginning the season on the injured list, but is expected to be in the Philadelphia bullpen once he returns from his left biceps tendinitis.

Ty Kelly, Los Angeles Dodgers utility:

A former Team Israel fan favorite, Kelly is the ultimate journeyman – he has played all over the minor leagues, independent ball and in Israel, and even briefly retired. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers.

Ryan Lavarnway, Detroit Tigers catcher:

Another Team Israel alum, Lavarnway signed a minor league contract with Detroit. He has not

appeared in more than 10 big league games in a season since 2015.

Jake Kalish, Los Angeles Angels pitcher:

The 30-year-old pitcher has yet to make his major league debut despite a long career in the minors. He is starting the season in Triple A with the Salt Lake Bees.

Zack Weiss, Los Angeles Angels pitcher:

Weiss made his debut with Cincinnati in 2018 but hasn’t broken out of the minor leagues since.

Andy Yerzy, Arizona Diamondbacks catcher and first baseman:

The 23-year-old Canadian was drafted in 2018 and has been playing in mostly low-level minors. He’s shown some power,

with 21 home runs in 94 games last year.

Rob Kaminsky, free agent pitcher: The former first round pick hasn’t appeared in a game since 2020. Finally, there is a special prospect to keep an eye on:

Jacob Steinmetz.

The first Orthodox Jew drafted into Major League Baseball, Steinmetz is the No. 25 ranked prospect in the Diamondbacks organization, and has had an impressive spring. He is likely years away from the big leagues, but it’s worth keeping an eye on his development. And it wouldn’t be a Jewish baseball preview without

Sandy Koufax.

The legendary pitcher will have his own statue unveiled at Dodger Stadium this summer.

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Yom Hashoah HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

“Yom Hazikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah” — “Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Heroism — also known simply as “Yom Hashoah”– is observed on the 27th day of the month of Nisan (the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising). This year, Yom Hashoah begins after sunset on the evening of Wednesday, April 27, and concludes the evening of Thursday, April 28. Community events commemorating the Holocaust are planned throughout the state during that week. (See What’s Happening column page 38.) Each year, Yom Hashoah is marked by memorial gatherings held throughout the world, highlighted by candle-lighting ceremonies with elderly survivors, speeches by dignitaries, and the reading aloud of the names of the six million who perished. In Israel, a siren wails for two solid minutes in the morning, bringing the country to a stand-still, as pedestrians freeze in place, students stop their learning and workers their tasks, and even drivers climb out from behind the wheel to stand silently with bowed heads.

New York City still includes 2 French Nazi collaborators in its Canyon of Heroes. Why? BY MENACHEM Z. ROSENSAFT

(JTA) – Statues of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt were recently removed from, respectively, the New York City Council chamber at City Hall and the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West. Municipal officials, acting amidst a wave of sensitivity to historical slights, noted Jefferson’s role as

a slaveholder and the Roosevelt statue’s demeaning depiction of Native Americans. Regardless of their shortcomings, neither U.S. president has ever been accused of dispatching tens of thousands of people to be killed in gas chambers. But two people honored by New York City have been.

MARSHAL PHILIPPE PÉTAIN AND PIERRE LAVAL IN THE PARK OF SEVIGNE PAVILLION IN VICHY, FRANCE, IN 1942. (KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-KEYSTONE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

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A SIDEWALK PLAQUE ALONG MANHATTAN’S “CANYON OF HEROES” REMEMBERS A TICKER-TAPE PARADE IN 1931 HONORING PIERRE LAVAL, HEAD OF FRANCE’S NAZI-ALIGNED VICHY GOVERNMENT. (JACOB FISHMAN)

For most of the past two decades, plaques honoring Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval, under whose watch as leaders of the Hitler-allied Vichy regime approximately 77,000 Jews living in France were murdered, have been on prominent display in New York City. The Pétain/Laval government promulgated draconian antisemitic laws, “aryanized” or seized Jewish property and rounded up thousands of Jews for deportation from France to Nazi death camps in Germanoccupied Poland. Yet black granite markers engraved with Pétain’s and Laval’s names remain untouched on Broadway’s Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan. The Pétain and Laval plaques and 204 others embedded in the sidewalks between Battery Park and Chambers Street commemorate individuals and groups celebrated with tickertape parades beginning in 1886. On Oct. 22, 1931, Laval, then prime minister of France, starred in his parade. Four days later, Marshal Pétain, the French army’s commander-in-chief at the end of World War I, was escorted up Broadway by 2,000 uniformed men and three bands. At that time, neither of them had yet descended into

ignominy; that happened during World War II. Both were tried for treason in 1945, found guilty and sentenced to death. Laval was executed but Pétain’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The plaques, however, were installed in 2004 – not 1931 – by which time Pétain and Laval had been notorious for over 60 years. Imposing these blights on the New York City landscape in the first place didn’t appear to ring alarm bells – a fact that speaks volumes in and of itself. Serge Klarsfeld, one of France’s most prominent authorities on the Holocaust, revealed in 2010 that Pétain, the chief of state of Vichy France from 1940 until 1944, had personally and significantly worsened conditions for Jews in France: A draft of his government’s first Law on the Status of the Jews (“Statut des Juifs”) of October 1940, which defined who was Jewish and which excluded Jews from large segments of French public life, included Pétain’s handwritten notations making the law ever more strict. For his part, Laval, the head of the Vichy government, told German and other correspondents at a news conference in September 1942 April 19, 2022

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that he intended to continue deporting alien Jews – that is, refugees and other Jews who did not hold French citizenship – from France. “No man and nothing,” Laval declared, “can sway me from my determination to rid France of alien Jews and send them back where they came from.” What’s more, while most of the Jews sent from France to the Nazi death camps were indeed foreign or stateless Jews, large numbers of native French Jews were deported and killed as well. Symbolism matters. A lot. And for better or worse, Pétain and Laval have come to epitomize Nazi collaboration at its worst. In France, no one except for ultraright political extremists like Éric Zemmour – a reactionary (and, unfortunately, Jewish) fringe candidate who finished a distant fourth in Sunday’s first round of French presidential elections – wants to have anything to do with either of them. The last French street bearing Pétain’s name, in the village of Trembloislès-Carignan, was renamed in 2011. In 2017, with Confederate monuments coming down across the United States, attempts were made to have the Pétain and Laval plaques removed from Lower Manhattan. At first, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed, tweeting that “the commemoration for Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain in the Canyon of Heroes will be one of the first we remove.” His resolve did not last. In January 2018, the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers recommended that the Pétain plaque should stay where it is, arguing that “if a marker is accurate, and not celebratory of egregious values or actions, it should not be removed.” The commission did throw a bone of sorts to those who were offended by the Pétain plaque. It suggested “re-contextualizing” it by adding explanatory texts so as to “reframe” the markers “as a teachable moment.” It is not clear whether the commission discussed the Laval plaque at all. April 19, 2022

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Four years later, not only are the Pétain and Laval markers still there, but no “contextualizing” content has been added. These two Holocaust enablers with blood on their hands continue to receive equal billing with the likes of Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower, David Ben-Gurion, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles de Gaulle and Nelson Mandela. I am not taking issue here with the removal of the Jefferson and Roosevelt statues. But if they were taken away, what possible rationale can there be for not doing the same to the Pétain and Laval plaques? Petain and Laval, incidentally, are not the only World War II villains to be glorified in the United States. The Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is named for Wernher von Braun, who, prior to reinventing himself as a key architect of the American space program in the 1950s and 1960s, was a Nazi major who lethally exploited inmates at the DoraMittelbau concentration camp to manufacture the Third Reich’s V-2 ballistic missiles. A large bust of von Braun stands prominently outside NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, also in Huntsville. My father, who was imprisoned at Dora for several months, said that conditions there were worse than he experienced at Auschwitz. As the son of two survivors of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, I urge Mayor Eric Adams to take a fresh, hard look at the obscenity of heroizing two antisemitic Nazi collaborators on the streets of New York City, and fervently hope that he will have these markers removed without further delay. It’s the morally right thing to do. Menachem Z. Rosensaft is associate executive vice president and general counsel of the World Jewish Congress and teaches about the law of genocide at the law schools of Columbia and Cornell Universities. He is the author of Poems Born in BergenBelsen (Kelsay Books, 2021).

Boston is getting a Holocaust museum, thanks to a couple with a passion for Holocaust education BY ANDREW LAPIN

(JTA) – A new Boston-based foundation dedicated to Holocaust memory plans to build the city’s first Holocaust museum. The Holocaust Legacy Foundation, which couple Jody Kipnis and Todd Ruderman founded after a 2018 March of the Living trip to Auschwitz, announced Thursday that it had purchased a 15,000-square-foot building near Boston Common, on the city’s American Independence-themed series of historical markers known as the Freedom Trail. The couple intends to turn it into a museum devoted to the memory of the Holocaust. The cost was $11.5 million, according to the Associated Press. The museum will strive “to make the lessons of the Holocaust relevant to new generations,” Kipnis said in a press release, describing the intended museum as an “interactive cautionary experience.” Ruderman added that the museum “will endeavor to commemorate the victims and survivors of the Nazi regime and the numerous genocides that happened before and since the Holocaust.” They have already contracted a local architect to design the museum – Peter Quinn, in partnership with well-known architecture firm Berenbaum Jacobs Associates, which has also designed Holocaust museums in Dallas, Cincinnati and Macedonia. The firm’s lead, Michael Berenbaum, was also project director for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Funding for the museum is already in place, the couple say, although the announcement did not divulge their funding sources; they plan to start work on the project immediately. The couple are spearheading the museum independently: Other Boston-area Jewish groups, including the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, are not involved. “We welcome all efforts to expand educational opportunities and awareness about the reality, legacy, and lessons of the Holocaust,” Jeremy Burton, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, told JTA. “We appreciate the efforts of the museum trustees to engage and involve Boston area survivors, their descendants, and the stewards of the Memorial.” Kipnis and Ruderman credited Holocaust survivor David Schaechter, a business partner of Ruderman and the subject of a 2018 documentary, with inspiring them to pursue the museum. Also playing a role: their concern over the rise of antisemitism in the United States, including in Massachusetts, and over a destabilized Europe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The foundation also sponsors a program called Holocaust Legacy Fellows, which selects local teenagers to travel to Poland and hear firsthand accounts from survivors. Boston is already home to an outdoor monument to victims of the Holocaust, titled the New England Holocaust Memorial, but the new museum would be the city’s first indoor center dedicated to the topic. Continued on the next page

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THE NEW ENGLAND HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL IN BOSTON.

(PHOTO BY ARTSTUFFMATTERS VIA CREATIVE COMMONS)

Uncovering the Hidden Story of the Liberator and Liberated

BY RACHEL JAGER

t has been 77 years since World War II ended, yet the world will never forget the six million Jews and countless other victims who were murdered during the Holocaust. While January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945, is recognized by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the people of Israel and Jewish individuals across the globe commemorate the victims annually on Yom HaShoah. On Wednesday, April 27 at 7 p.m., Jewish National Fund-USA will host a free virtual event in recognition of Yom HaShoah, featuring a live Q&A with Bernice Lerner, the author of All the

BERNICE LERNER (ELIEZER KATZOFF)

Horrors of War: A Jewish Girl, a British Doctor, and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen. In her book – the first to pair the story of a Holocaust victim with that of a liberator – Dr. Lerner traces the remarkable intertwined stories of her mother, who was a Jewish teenager at Bergen Belsen, and Hugh Llewelyn Glyn Hughes, a high-ranking military doctor in the British Second Army. “Given the rise in Jew hatred and Holocaust denial, Bernice Lerner’s book needs to be read in high schools, colleges, and newsrooms throughout this country,” said Jewish National Fund-USA’s Reading Series

host, Steven Shalowitz. “It’s thoughtfully written, carefully researched, and leaves the reader with a clear picture of the hell that Jews went through during the Shoah. And through it all, the inextinguishable human spirit runs through the work, leaving one hopeful for the future.” Rachel Jager spoke with Dr. Lerner about why she wrote this book and its place in the landscape of Holocaust literature. How did this book come about? My first book, The Triumph of Wounded Souls: Seven Holocaust Survivors’ Lives, was a dissertation that eventually turned into a book. I never intended to write a book about anyone in my family, but then I thought about my mother. She and her sister were the only survivors of a large family. I wanted to lift from oblivion members of our family who had been killed; if I didn’t write about them, there would be no record of them ever having existed. I have had an ongoing dialog with my mother for my entire life, talking about her experiences during the war. But when it came to her rescue, there was a hole in her memory – she had fallen unconscious. She couldn’t tell me how she was saved or about the actual mechanics of the rescue and I became very interested in that. In researching the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, I came across the name Glyn Hughes. He was the military officer who orchestrated relief efforts at the notorious – and largest – concentration camp at the war’s end. I began to explore his life. He was a standout figure that nobody really knew about. I set about writing a dual biography of Glyn Hughes and my mom – a race-against-time rescue story.

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How did you go about your research for the book? I never really sat down to interview my mother, but I had started asking questions about her experiences when I was younger, and I could remember what she had told me. My mother would say that I had a “running tape recorder in my head,” but the fact is that the things that she told me were not the sort of things that kids usually hear from their parents. They made a deep impression. Everything in the book is 100% true, and I’m very lucky to have her. I continued to ask her about certain details as I was writing the book, which made the story richer. For example, at one point I wondered whether she could recall what she was wearing on the death march. She remembered. Researching Glyn Hughes required real detective work, spanning many years. I went to London a few times and was in touch with every school he attended and every organization of which he was a part. I tracked down his daughter and spent a lot of time with her and she laid out for me all his medals and photo albums. I also spoke with his surviving son and with survivors who knew him personally, who had wonderful things to say about him. What kinds of conversations do you hope the book will elicit? I hope that it will cause people to think more deeply about the war, and to consider what they know and what they don’t know. For example, people have this idea about the liberation – the sun is shining, and the sky is blue, and people are cheering the liberators. But I hope that learning more about the actual events on the ground will help them realize how complex and difficult it was. No one can really understand it. My mother would say no movie or film can show what her experience was really

like, but I hope the book will help people try to get close to the event and to take a leap of the moral imagination. Glyn Hughes was a stalwart for preparedness and broke down crying when he came to Bergen Belsen. He had seen and done so much but had no idea how to begin this rescue. He said, “I have seen all the horrors of war, but nothing to touch it” (which is where the title of the book comes from). I hope it will also help people to consider what it means to suffer such grave loss and what it means to witness such human tragedy; and how that can impact how we behave toward someone who is different, toward the stranger. Why do you think that now is the right time for this book? It is relevant right now because of the lack of understanding about the cataclysm and what Israel means to the Jewish people. And because of the rise in antisemitism, which makes one wonder, “How is this happening while survivors are still walking this earth?” Tragically, we continue to see people being terrorized and brutally murdered. Both my mom and I are glued to news about what is happening in Ukraine. She intimately knows what it means to be caught in the wrong place and time in history. We talk about it every day. Sign up for this free event to commemorate Yom HaShoah and learn more about this incredible true story at jnf.org/ readingseries. This article is paid for by the Jewish National Fund-USA, which ensures a strong, secure, and prosperous future for the land and people of Israel, and Jewish people everywhere.

April 19, 2022

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Around SNE An Evening with Schoke JFS set for May 22

choke Jewish Family Service will hold its annual gala, An Evening with Schoke JFS, Sunday, May 22, 5:30 p.m. at the Italian Center of Stamford, 1620 Newfield Avenue, in an outdoor tented pavilion. The gala will honor community leaders with a special celebration of the agency’s work across Fairfield County. The evening’s events will be hosted by the Mayor of Stamford, Caroline Simmons. The event will be co-chaired by Liz Kitay and Meryl Japha with Jeri Appel as auction chair. Schoke JFS will award the 42nd Annual Mitzvah Award to the Jewish Sportsmen’s League (Bruce Blasnik, Gary Bloom, Henry Bubel, David S. Cohen z”l, Marty Donner, Bob Dorf, Paul Gordon, Ed Kweskin, David Lewis, Carl Rosen, Paul Sabbah, David Swerdloff). The 3rd Annual Volunteer of the Year Award will be awarded to Stacy Kamisar, Julia Marx, and Sheri Warshaw. The Jewish Sportsmen’s League (JSL) was launched 22 years ago by a small group, including the current and several former presidents of Temple

Sinai, as a volunteer fundraising organization. Over the years, the group expanded their involvement across many Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in the community, the giving expanded to those organizations as well. Second, the group decided to forgo their anonymity and began to take JSL ads and tables at many of the annual community fundraisers. Today’s JSL members have been leaders within the organizations they support. The total JSL giving, separate from their personal giving, has now exceeded $120,000. They continue to be close friends and still enjoy their regular poker game. Just a few weeks before Passover, in March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Stacy Kamisar, Julia Marx, and Sheri Warshaw pulled together groups of volunteers to make sure that clients and families in need throughout upper Fairfield County could still get critical kosher food deliveries from the Freedberg Family Kosher Food Pantry at Schoke Jewish Family Service. This ongoing volunteer

COMMUNITY LEADERS WHO WILL BE HONORED AT AN EVENING WITH SCHOKE JFS DINNER INCLUDE (TOP ROW, L TO R) BRUCE BLASNIK, GARY BLOOM, HENRY BUBEL, DAVID S. COHEN Z”L; (MIDDLE ROW, L TO R) MARTY DONNER, BOB DORF, PAUL GORDON, ED KWESKIN; AND BOTTOM ROW, L TO R) DAVID LEWIS, CARL ROSEN, PAUL SABBAH, DAVID SWERDLOFF.

April 19, 2022

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AN EVENING WITH SCHOKE IS CHAIRED BY (L TO R) STACY KAMISAR, JULIA MARX, AND SHERI WARSHAW.

initiative took place in the parking lot of The Conservative Synagogue (TCS) in Westport. By 2021, the operation grew to include partnerships with Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport and Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County. This volunteer team pivoted again, including even greater volunteer

recruitment, to deliver kosher food every month to clients in 14 towns throughout upper Fairfield County. The Evening With Schoke JFS will feature dinner and dessert, lawn games, the presentation of awards to honorees, a paddle raise and an online auction. Tickets: $180. Visit ctjfs.org to purchase tickets.

Nora Gorenstein named CEO of Jewish Federation of Western Mass.

PRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – Nora Gorenstein has been named chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts (JFWM), it was announced recently by Robyn Newhouse, president of the Federation’s Board of Trustees. Previously, Gorenstein served as the agency’s interim executive director. “Nora Gorenstein brings needed years of experience within our Jewish community to help us lift and amplify the voices of everyone in our Jewish community,” said Robyn Newhouse, president of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts Board of Trustees. “We look forward to working with her in supporting the specific needs of our community and collaborating with our local and global partners.” In her role as CEO, Gorenstein will help JFWM continue to move forward with its core mission to serve the entire Western Massachusetts Jewish community, support those in need locally and around the world, convene and collaborate with other organizations, and strengthen the Western Massachusetts Jewish community’s relationship with other minority communities. With her leadership, JFWM will also take the next step in responding to its 2019 Western Massachusetts Jewish Community Study. JFWM will reassess the Western Massachusetts Jewish community’s present and future needs so that it can continue to adapt as an organization. “As CEO, one of my goals is to hold space for all types of Jewish identity and connection with our Federation and welcome everyone who chooses to connect with this broad network of partnership,” Gorenstein said, “I am proud to represent our community’s forward momentum as we build on what we have learned over the past two years and embrace change as an organization.” Gorenstein has been working in the field of Jewish education and nonprofit work for almost two decades, of which more than a decade has been in Western Mass. Locally, she has worked for Sinai Temple, Temple Beth El, the Springfield JCC, Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy, Heritage Academy, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, and JFWM, where before she served as interim executive director she was development officer. Southern New England Jewish Ledger

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ADVERTORIAL

Connecticut Gold Star Families Memorial Monument to be dedicated on Saturday, April 23

ERLIN – When Hershel “Woody” Williams was a young man, he witnessed the ultimate sacrifice made by his fellow soldiers during World War II as a cab driver delivering Western Union telegrams to families sharing the sad news of the loss of their loved ones.

WOODY WILLIAMS

April 19, 2022

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Williams, 98, the last living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, was so moved by this experience and the sacrifice of his fallen comrades that he founded the Woody Williams Foundation. The nonprofit foundation provides outreach and education to Gold Star families – those who have lost a loved one in their service to the United States in the armed forces. One of the special ways the Woody Williams Foundation honors Gold Star Families is its assistance in establishing permanent Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments in communities around the U.S., giving the families a place to gather, reflect and honor their loved ones. Currently there are 90 monuments around the U.S. and Guam and another 84 monuments in the process of being built. On Saturday, April 23, Connecticut will get its own Gold Start Memorial Monument. The monument, at Berlin Veterans Memorial Park will be dedicated at 1 p.m. and the public is invited to attend the event which will be hosted by WTNH-News 8’s Dennis House. The Connecticut Gold Star Families Memorial Monument is two-sided. The front specifically honors Gold Star Families with

the statement, “A Tribute to Gold Star Families and Relatives Who Sacrificed a Loved One for Our Freedom.” The reverse of the monument shows the pillars and representative images for each. And, within the monument there is an open silhouette that represents the missing family member surrounded by the pillars and the legacy they have left behind. Every Connecticut resident, immediate family and relatives of a service member who lost their life while serving (Active Duty, Reserve, National Guard) no matter how they died, including a M-day and TPU death, will be honored and remembered on the memorial. Gary Roy and Marianne Mahalyo of Newington serve as honorary board members of the Woody Williams Foundation. For more information, visit https:// woodywilliams.org/monument/ctmonument.html; or contact Gary Roy at (860) 291-9666.

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Opinion

Anger over Ukraine shouldn’t justify faith in multilateral institutions BY JONATHAN TOBIN

(JNS) With each passing day, the body of evidence that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine by Russian forces grows. In areas that were under Russian occupation but which have since been evacuated, tales of harsh measures, including acts of murder, appear to have been committed. Even if one were to discount claims of mass murder being circulated by the Ukrainian government as an exaggeration, it is clear that what has happened in that country during the course of the illegal Russian invasion involves actions that are criminal. The question, then, is what is the civilized world going to do about it? The answer that seems to be coming from the Biden administration is that the United States should reverse its policy of opposition to the operations of the International Criminal Court in The Hague so as to enable the ICC to take up the task of holding the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for its depredations in Ukraine. Sources inside the Biden administration leaking to the chief outlet of their media echo chamber – The New York Times – indicate that the White House and the U.S. State Department have concluded that the ICC is the agency best positioned to go after Putin, as well as various Russian officials and soldiers who can be held responsible for the casualties and the crimes unleashed by the invasion they plotted and set in motion. President Joe Biden seems to believe that the need to pursue this cause is sufficiently important to reverse an American policy that has rightly held the ICC to be a typical example of an international organization that is fatally tainted by anti-American and April 19, 2022

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anti-Israel bias. In recent years, it has been a matter of political consensus that it cannot be trusted to carry out any legal task fairly, let alone to be the focus of a U.S. diplomatic initiative. In doing so, Biden is succumbing to the anger he clearly feels about Ukraine – a sentiment that is shared by most Americans, including the majority who tell pollsters that they disapprove of the way he has been doing his job. But while the impulse to try to punish Putin and his cronies and followers is entirely understandable and even justified, it is another thing entirely to allow such emotions to determine American policy on the ICC. The folly of empowering a body that will inevitably use the funds, power and prestige afforded it by a U.S. endorsement of its jurisdiction over Ukraine to harm American interests, engage in arbitrary prosecutions of Americans and pursue the international community’s hateful campaign of delegitimization against Israel ought to be obvious even to a public that shares Biden’s outrage about Russia’s war. It should be equally clear that the administration’s interest in empowering the ICC has as much to do with the Democratic Party’s irresponsible infatuation with multilateralism and world bodies like the United Nations as it does with its indignation about Russian misbehavior. The notion of a policy shift on the ICC in order to conduct postwar trials of Russians is clearly premature. The West’s current priority ought to be assisting the Ukrainians to resist the invasion of their country by all reasonable

means short of starting a nuclear war between Russia and the NATO alliance. More can certainly be done to improve the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to prevent a Russian victory, and hopefully, to eventually win back those portions of their territory that remain under Moscow’s control. Emergency medical aid, like that provided by the State of Israel, as well as help for what may be millions of refugees who were forced to flee their homes by the fighting is also necessary. Still, it is not unreasonable to look beyond the immediate needs of the Ukrainians to defend themselves and to see to the care of those injured by the war. Given the blatant nature of the atrocities in Ukraine, there is an obligation on the part of the civilized world to bring those involved in war crimes to justice. The trouble with any possible efforts in that direction is that it’s hard to see how accountability for Russia can be achieved short of pushing for the kind of regime change in Moscow that is more likely to lead to an escalation of the conflict then to end it. Simply put, no government of Russia – even one that theoretically would succeed Putin if his authoritarian rule were to be ended by a military defeat in Ukraine – would allow its nationals to be tried in The Hague. Nor is it likely that any Russian regime would agree for them to be tried in Ukraine as part of a peace settlement, even in the event of a Russian defeat. As a nuclear power, it is inconceivable that Russia would suffer the sort of complete defeat that allowed international tribunals conducted by the victors to impose justice on the criminal regimes of Germany

and Japan after World War II. Nor is it remotely likely that it would be in the sort of position that Serbia found itself at the end of the Balkan wars of the 1990s when it was forced to allow its former leaders, as well as Bosnia Serbs, to be tried in The Hague for their war crimes. Even if we concede that it is difficult to envision a way in which Putin and his clique will ever face trial outside of their own country, that is no excuse to punt on the whole idea of punishing war crimes. International law is, at best, a vague set of concepts that is more a matter of what various nations believe than a consensus or set of widely agreed-upon body of legal rulings. But the Nuremberg trials after the Holocaust and other historical cases have established precedents that lend credence to the notion that the civilized world has a right to try those who launch illegal wars of aggression, as well as to hold those who committed crimes in the course of fighting them to account. Yet empowering the ICC to be the force to hold such trials would be a colossal mistake. As it has shown throughout its history, the court is run by the same sort of biased international bureaucrats that make up other agencies that are either part of or adjacent to the United Nations. Its attempt to pursue a war-crimes trial of Israel for defending its borders against Palestinian terrorists committed to the Jewish state’s destruction isn’t merely wrong-headed; it’s akin to a trial of Ukrainians for defending themselves against Russia. It’s a symptom of the hate for the West and its democratic Continued on page 23

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On Campus

SJP at NYU law school defends terror, accuses Israel of ‘Zionist grip on media’ (JNS) Eleven student groups signed a statement by the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at New York University School of Law that voiced support for Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israelis and touted anti-Israel conspiracy theories, reported The Washington Free Beacon. “The Zionist grip on the media is omnipresent,” said the statement, dated Monday. “Palestinians are not obligated to engage in racialized ‘nonviolence’ theory and wait around for a United Nations action that will never come as their homes are taken from them as they stay trapped in the world’s largest open-air prison, or as they

are brutalized and killed by Israeli state agents and settlers,” it added. SJP claimed in the statement that “embedded in the Zionist supremacy narrative is the orientalist, Islamophobic idea that Azkenazi [sic] Jewish whiteness is fundamentally superior to Palestinian lives, culture and identity.” The statement additionally compares Palestinian terrorists to Ukrainian soldiers. “The root of the violence we see today is the violent founding of the Israeli state,” the statement noted. “Any Palestinian resistance should be understood with reference to this foundational violence – a concept American media seems to have no trouble

applying to the Ukranian [sic] response to Russia.” Several students who signed and organized the statement attend the law school on one of the most prestigious publicinterest law scholarships in the United States, according to The Washington Free Beacon. The groups that have expressed support for the statement are NYU’s Black Allied Law Students Association, the Middle Eastern Law Students Association, the Muslim Law Students Association, the South Asian Law Students Association, the Disability Allied Law Students Association, the National Lawyers Guild, the Women of Color

multilateral institutions as an ideological imperative regardless of the damage to American interests. Indeed, in his first months, he lifted the sanctions on ICC officials that were put in place by the Trump administration as a result of the court’s efforts to attack and stigmatize Israel. Lately, Biden has been joined in this effort to re-empower the ICC by some hawkish Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). So besotted is Graham and his new allies in the administration that he’s prepared to risk the safety of American personnel and Israel in order to pursue trials of Russians. The answer to this problem is the same, as is true of others involving the United Nations and other instances where Biden and the Democrats are pursuing diplomacy for its own sake. What the world needs are replacements for the ICC

and the United Nations, not to further empower them. New bodies that are controlled by democracies – and not a club of tyrannies and authoritarian states that have no business judging other states or exercising authority over the international community – are required to deal justly with this crisis. One can’t share the outrage about Russia without buying into the shortsighted and multilateral impulse to empower the ICC. Doing so weakens the United States and endangers Israel. If Biden heads down this road, it will do little to hurt Russian criminals and much to damage a Western alliance that is already hanging by a thread.

Opinion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

values that characterize an international human-rights community that has no business being tasked with defending those same ideas. It was for good reason that Congress passed laws prohibiting the funding of the ICC or for the U.S. government to cooperate with it. If given free rein – as Biden and the Democrats seem to want – we’d be far more likely to see Americans put on trial for alleged crimes committed in conflicts in the Middle East than Russians, whose brutal tactics in the Syrian civil war equal those they’ve employed in Ukraine. That ought to deter Biden and others in Washington from going down this path, let alone contemplating measures overriding past restrictions on cooperation with the ICC. Yet from the start of his administration, Biden has been resolved to strengthen April 19, 2022

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Jonathan S. Tobin is editorin-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

Collective, the Coalition on Law & Representation, the NYU Review of Law and Social Change, and Ending the Prison Industrial Complex. Jewish students have filed harassment complaints against the statement. The law school said on Tuesday that it was investigating the complaints “as required by our policies.” The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has called on NYU’s School of Law to take necessary disciplinary measures against the students. “The student signatories to this statement are peddling some of the worst and most historically deadly anti-Semitic screeds against Jews, similar to those used by Hitler to justify the Holocaust, and utilized today by far-right and neo-Nazi conspiracists like former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke,” said Sacha Roytman Dratwa, CEO of CAM. “The defaming of the national liberation movement of the Jewish people in its indigenous and ancestral homeland is not a mere legal matter, it provides a tailwind for terror and attacks on Jews. We have seen far too many murderous attacks on Jews in the U.S. in recent years parroting these same conspiracy theories against Jews and Jewish collectivity that have ended in bloodshed.” He continued, saying “this is sadly no mere academic matter, but a matter of the safety and security of all Jews whose fellow students read this hate and incitement.” In 2020, NYU agreed to revise its non-discrimination and antiharassment policy to include anti-Semitism after the school’s response to such incidents was investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s civilrights office.

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

YOM HASHOAH COMMEMORATION Honoring the memory of the Martyred Six Million

Sunday, April 24 | 7:00pm | The Emanuel Synagogue Reading of the names of our community’s family who perished and departed survivors - 6:00 PM

Ruth “Tutti” Fishman, Peter Fishman & Garrett Fishman

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN GENERATIONS Moderated by Heidi Fishman

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Herbert & Evelyn Gilman Theater | Mandell JCC

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COMMUNITY-WIDE READING OF THE NAMES: Monday, April 25, 8:00am-8:00pm

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Winery CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

said in a tweet. The Psagot winery, which is located north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, has been active in efforts to resist international efforts to prevent goods produced in Israeli settlements from being labeled “Made in Israel.” The winery challenged a 2016 French ruling requiring wines produced in Israeli settlements to be labeled as such, though the European Court of Justice upheld the French law in 2019. In February 2020, the winery introduced a special label named for Mike Pompeo, then-President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, whom they thanked for repudiating a State Department

finding that Israeli settlements were illegal. The photo of the seder posted by Emhoff also showed traditional seder plates on the table alongside an orange, a more modern addition to the seder plate meant to symbolize inclusion of LGBTQ Jews at the seder. The tradition to host a seder at the White House was started in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama. HIAS is providing direct humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian refugees, working with partners in Ukraine, Poland, Israel, Romania, Slovakia, and Moldova. This Passover, support HIAS’ emergency response to the conflict in Ukraine.

A PHOTO POSTED TO TWITTER BY SECOND GENTLEMAN DOUG EMHOFF SHOWED WINE FROM THE PSAGOT WINERY ON THE TABLE AT THE WHITE HOUSE SEDER, APR. 16, 2022. (TWITTER)

World-Renowned Journalist & Author Bari Weiss to Speak at Temple Beth El

PRINGFIELD, Mass. – The annual Bill & Lynn Foggle Great Issues Lecture Series will be held at Temple Beth El, 979 Dickinson Street in Springfield, on Sunday, May 15 at 11:00 am. The keynote speaker will be world-renowned journalist and author Bari Weiss who will

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discuss ““How Do We Revive Our Civil Discourse: Finding the Courage to Change.” This program, which will be both inperson and livestreamed, is free and open to the community. Bari Weiss is the editor of the online newsletter Common Sense and the host of the podcast Honestly. From 2017 until 2020,

Bari was a staff writer and editor for the Opinion section of The New York Times. Controversial and thought-provoking, for many years, Bari Weiss was a rising star on the national scene while writing for the New York Times. Her “tell it like it is” honesty, bringing in disparate voices not usually amplified, and her willingness to wade into the heart of controversy made her a mustread. Young and old readers alike resonated with her provocative style. Then, after three years, she abruptly resigned following the 2016 election. In her open letter to the paper, she explained that instead of really listening to all Americans to understand what is actually going on in this country, the Times’ approach had been “that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.” Further, she explained that her colleagues at the Times publicly smeared her for taking a stand and speaking her truth. In her words, “… the truth is that intellectual

curiosity – let along risk-taking – is now a liability at the Times.” Before joining the Times, Bari was an op-ed editor at the Wall Street Journal and an associate book review editor there. For two years, she was a senior editor at Tablet, the online magazine of Jewish news, politics, and culture, where she edited the site’s political and news coverage. She regularly appears on shows like The View, Morning Joe and Real Time with Bill Maher. Bari is a Pittsburgh native and a graduate of Columbia University. She is the winner of the Reason Foundation’s 2018 Bastiat Prize, which annually honors writing that “best demonstrates the importance of freedom with originality, wit, and eloquence.” Her first book, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” was a Natan Notable Book and the winner of a 2019 National Jewish Book Award. Through the Foggles’ generous gift, the lecture series attracts a world-class speaker annually who stimulates thought and lively exploration of ideas about today’s most challenging global issues.

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

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“Dying for freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Being forgotten is.” – Georgie Carter-Krell (Mother of Posthumous Medal of Honor Recipient Pfc. Bruce W. Carter, USMCD - Florida)

Dedication celebration: old Star Family members April 23, 2022 at 1 p.m. and relatives are those who Berlin Veterans have sacrificed a Loved One Memorial Park, for our Freedom. Veterans Way Please join Connecticut’s Berlin CT 06037 Gold Star Families for the dedication of Emcee: Dennis House the new Gold Star Families Memorial Monument (GSFMM), honoring the THE PUBLIC IS INVITED AND families of servicemen and women who ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND sacrificed their lives while serving in the military.

The Gold Star Family Memorial was created by Medal of Honor Recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams to remember those families who have made the ultimate sacrifice. To learn more about the memorial and to learn more about how to donate to a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument, please visit our Gold Star Families Memorial Monument web page at monument@woodywilliams.org. Co-chairs: Gary Roy and Marianne Mihalyo, Honorary Board Members for the Gold Star Family Memorial Monument, Woody Williams Foundation. APK Charities is a proud supporter of the Gold Star Family Memorial Monument.

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Thank You! For over three decades you have brought us into your homes providing delicious prepared foods for all types of celebrations and life cycle events. For this we are, as ever, truly grateful. Knowing that we are a part of your families, in some small way, brings us much joy and happiness. This Pesach, as so many of us are able to gather in larger numbers, our gratitude swells to immense proportions. Thank you for decades of loyal patronage and we wish you all a happy, healthy and redemptive Pesach! A GIANT SHOUT OUT TO OUR AMAZING STAFF! With people gathering in much larger than numbers than in the past two years, pre-orders for our Passover foods were much larger than projected. Our dedicated employees have striven to accomplish a Herculean task in getting everything ready in many cases working 16+ hour days. This is our backbone - an amazing group of wonderful people. Next time you’re in the store, say thanks, they’d love to hear from you!

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TORAH PORTION – LAST DAYS OF PESACH BY SHLOMO RISKIN

“...God made the people take a roundabout path, by way of the desert...” [Ex. 13:18].

aving observed the Passover Seder just one week ago, we would do well to reflect back on that experience now in order to glean new insights for everyday life. For example, why did we recline while eating matzah? In what I believe is a teaching that captures the essence of Passover, our Sages state that on Passover Eve, “...even a pauper should not eat until he reclines, and he should be given not less than four glasses of wine, even if he is so poor that he eats by means of the community charitable fund” [Mishna, Pesachim 10:1]. One night a year, even the destitute throw off the shackles of their misery and feel as if they, too, have been freed from Egypt. They, too, celebrate this festival, which speaks of a nation of slaves transformed into a free people. And all of us on the communal ‘tzedaka committee’ must make sure that every last Jew, no matter how poor he or she may be, shall be given the opportunity to recline like the most free of people. Fascinatingly, our Mishna’s concern that even the poorest recline is based on a Midrashic comment to a verse in Exodus, where we read that when Pharaoh finally lets the Israelites go, “...God made the people take a roundabout path, by way of the desert...” [Ex. 13:18]. The Hebrew word for ‘being made to take a roundabout path’, ‘vayasev,’ has, curiously enough, the same root of the Hebrew word ‘reclining’ (yesev). The Torah explains that God takes the Israelites on a roundabout path because taking the most direct route would have caused the Hebrews to pass through land of the Philistines. This act could April 19, 2022

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have provoked an aggressive nation who might very well have attacked and frightened the Israelites into retreat. Despite having witnessed the fall of the Egyptian empire, the miracles of the Ten Plagues and the splitting of the Reed Sea, the Israelites are still frightened to wage war. God knows that they are still slaves at heart. One of the manifold tragedies of slavery is the psychological impact on the victim whereby he believes himself to be worthless and incapable of fighting for his rights. Indeed, Moses learns this lesson after he slays an Egyptian taskmaster for beating an Israelite, an act he had probably hoped would incite and inspire the Hebrew slaves to rise up against their captors and demand their freedom. The very next day, when he tries to break up a fight between two Hebrews, they taunt him for having killed the Egyptian. Instead of hailing Moses as a hero who risked his own life to save a fellow Jew, they deride him. Slavery corrupts captor and captive alike. If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then powerlessness

corrupts most of all. A magnificent post-Holocaust Australian play, “The Edge of Night,” has a former Kapo declare: “There were no heroes in Auschwitz; there were only those who were murdered and those who survived.” A slave feels helpless: uncertain of his ability to obtain food, he becomes almost obsessed with the desire for a piece of bread - almost at any cost. From this perspective, the desert possesses not only a stark landscape, but also a stark moral message concerning the transformation of an enslaved Hebrew into a freed Hebrew. The manna, which descended daily from heaven, was intended to change the labor camp mentality of greedy individuals in Egypt into a nation in which “... the one who had taken more did not have any extra, and the one who had taken less did not have too little. They gathered exactly enough for each one to eat...” [ibid., 16:17-18]. The Haggadah begins, “This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the Land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and

join celebrating the Passover offering.” This is more than just generous hospitality; it is fundamental to Jewish freedom; the transition from a frightened, selfish and egocentric mentality of keeping the food for oneself into a free and giving mode of sharing with those less fortunate. Now we understand clearly why the Midrash connects ‘reclining’ with a ‘roundabout’ path. Far beyond use of the same root, the very purpose of this path is intended to purge the state of mind that still thinks like a slave, frightened not only of Philistines, but of another mouth who one fears is always waiting to take away the little bit that one has. Therefore, it is when we give so that others, too, may have and thus feel free, that we demonstrate in a most profound way that we are no longer slaves, but are truly free. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is founder and rosh yeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone and founding rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/PEARS2295

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Q&A

10 minutes with Barry Manilow: The iconic singer dishes on bringing his Nazi-era musical to NYC BY JACOB HENRY

(New York Jewish Week) – Barry Manilow could fill a stage just by showing up with a piano, and he has: Starting in 1977, his stints on Broadway have nearly always sold out. With 13 multi-platinum albums, 28 top ten hits, and a famously devoted fan base, he might be forgiven if he wanted to rest on his laurels. But at 78, the Brooklynborn singer/songwriter and his writing partner Bruce Sussman are, well, ready to take a chance again: Their musical “Harmony,” which is being produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, is being staged in New York for the first time. It’s a musical about the Comedian Harmonists, a performing troupe of Jews and gentiles who combined close harmonies and stage antics in Germany during the 1920s and ‘30s. Their success was a counterpoint to the rise of the Nazis, who eventually banned performances featuring work by Jewish composers, which had been a huge part of their repertoire. In 1934, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported at the time, the Harmonists were prohibited from giving public concerts because two members of the group were Jewish. Manilow and Sussman have been working together for decades, with a catalog that includes everything from pop hits to musical theater spectacles. “Harmony” was first staged in 1997; Sussman learned about the group thanks to a lengthy German-language documentary that first aired in 1977. “We couldn’t believe that we didn’t know these people,” Manilow said of the Harmonists. Before the show officially opens on April 14 at the Museum

of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan, the New York Jewish Week caught up with Manilow and Sussman to talk about musical theater, their Jewish upbringings in New York City, and how to create harmony in an ever discordant world. JW: Barry, before you were one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, you started in theater, both you and Bruce. You had to sneak into the second act of “Company” when that show first premiered on Broadway because you couldn’t afford the tickets. Now, you’ve played on Broadway and “Harmony” is opening this year in New York. When you look back at it all, how does it feel seeing your career go full circle like this? Manilow: I’m not sure it’s exactly full circle, but it’s exciting to be in New York, I’ll tell you that. We’re doing what we’ve wanted to do forever, which is bring “Harmony” to New York. This theater in particular is very moving. It just really resonates with this show, and with me and Bruce. It’s a very big impact on the audiences, being in this theater. JW: You had a Jewish upbringing, in one of the most Jewish places in the world, Brooklyn. Do you have any specific memories of what it was like growing up Jewish in Brooklyn? Were any of these memories used to shape the songs from the show? Manilow: My one answer is the accordion. Every Jewish kid had to play the accordion before they would let you over the Williamsburg Bridge. I kid, but I was good at the accordion. They only teach you Yiddish folk songs. I loved those Yiddish songs. The

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family would sing a lot. I got a very musical Yiddish upbringing. When I left Williamsburg, I knew that world of Yiddish folk songs. I played them, I sang them, I arranged them, I knew everything about them. Jumping into “Harmony” was just a big familiar musical experience for me. KW: Barry, you’ve performed on Broadway for years, including the 1977 “Barry Manilow on Broadway” show that earned you a special Tony Award. Is there anything you can say about producing and creating theater now when compared to when you first started? Manilow: It’s still the same. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, only it’s even more expensive as the years go by. I don’t know how these shows get up. Sussman: Also, I think what is deemed commercial is a more narrow number of pieces. When we first started, there were situation comedies on Broadway. There were all kinds of musicals. And I think now, a lot of that stuff is no longer feasible to produce on Broadway. It’s either offBroadway or regional theaters, but not on Broadway. It’s just harder to finance. The original production of “Follies” that Barry and I saw in 1971 was budgeted at $700,000 [approximately $5 million in today’s money]. And that was the most expensive show produced to date. You can barely do a workshop for that amount of money now. The finances are staggering, and then that puts pressure on the producers to make sure that they have something that’s financially viable. So that narrows the number of shows that are going to qualify.

JW: So in this world of “The Lion King” and “Aladdin,” how were you able to bring this show, a show about Jewish singers facing oppression, to life? Sussman: We wrote the show we wanted to write, and we hoped that people would like it and that we would find a home for it. It was just a matter of getting it to New York. And now, National Yiddish Theatre stepped forward with this beautiful, gorgeous building that I’m in, and here we are. JW: “Harmony” is a show set in a time where Jewish people faced a great deal of oppression and had to fight against that. Did you see any parallels between this story and life right now, or maybe within your own lives? Sussman: I’m from Queens and Barry is from Brooklyn. We both grew up in something of a bubble. Being Jewish was kind of the norm. It wasn’t until I went to college in western Pennsylvania that I realized, oh my goodness, I’m the minority. I grew up in Jackson Heights. Every school I went to, on the Jewish holidays, nobody went to school. Everybody was off. I was always among my own. The story from “Harmony” was something I knew just from history, but it wasn’t anything I experienced personally in my life. Manilow: It’s really not about my life at all. The only parallel is that I’m a musician, and they were musicians. And they were very inventive, so inventive that they were the first people to do the kind of harmonies we hear now. Now, we’ve got the high notes, we’ve got Backstreet Boys, nobody did that, plus they were [like] the Marx Brothers. And then all their records, all April 19, 2022

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their music, all their movies, it was destroyed. They were the inventors of a style of music and comedy that had never been before them. Sussman: And when we realized why we didn’t know them, that was the story. That became very compelling to us. One of the parallels too is that Barry and I, first and foremost, are collaborators. And this show is about “Harmony” in the broadest sense of the word. And one of the ways these guys found harmony was by finding the ability to successfully collaborate with each other. That’s something that Barry and I can relate to very strongly. A lot of people don’t know how to collaborate. And it is very important to us. It’s the thing that Barry and I do best. JW: My editors are going to kill me if I don’t ask about “Copacabana.” It’s one of your most beloved songs. Do you feel

the same way about it? Do you still get the same thrill out of performing your most classic hit today? Manilow: I do. I would stop doing it if I didn’t. These audiences are lighting themselves on fire with every hit I’ve been lucky enough to have. By the time we get to “Copa,” that’s the last straw for them. In my shows, there are so many hits and songs that they know, that by the time we get to “Copa,” they’ve forgotten I haven’t done “Copa” yet. When those drums start, it’s the last straw for these audiences. JW: You’ve both hit every music milestone in the industry. What else is there to accomplish? Manilow: As far as what’s on the horizon, we don’t know yet. We’ve gotta finish this. It’s taken a long time. Whether we make it uptown or it ends at the Yiddish theater, I will be very happy. We’ll have an original soundtrack soon.

Barry Manilow tests positive for COVID, misses NYC debut of ‘Harmony’ BY ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL

(New York Jewish Week) – Singer Barry Manilow tested positive for COVID-19, preventing him from attending the New York premier of his musical “Harmony.” The show, about a real-life musical group popular in Germany in the years before World War II, opened Wednesday night at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan. “I am heartbroken to say that I have just tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t be able to attend tonight’s opening night performance of my new musical, ‘Harmony,’” Manilow, 78, said in a statement. “This just might be the cruelest thing that has ever happened to me: 25 years waiting for this show to premiere in New York and I can’t attend. Even in the face of this pandemic, we New Yorkers remain the toughest, staunchest people on the planet – so, put on a mask and go see a show!”

That will be great. It would be so wonderful if we could move this uptown. Right now, we’re just in

the weeds making sure that this version of “Harmony” is the best one we’ve ever had.

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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

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

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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

April 19, 2022

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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

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

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

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

HOLYOKE 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 Shahar Colt (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

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Author’s Corner West Hartford author Marilyn Simon Rothstein pens her third novel

arilyn Simon Rothstein, author of Husbands and Other Sharp Objects and Lift and Separate, is back at it with Crazy to Leave You. Rothstein – a soon-to-bepublished novel that takes readers on the journey of Lauren Leo, a forever dieting 41-year-old who is finally about to get married … until she’s dumped at the altar via text message – to her younger sister. What happens next forces Lauren on a road to healing and self-acceptance, but only if she can deal with her mother’s advice to freeze her eggs and stay slim, or the older sister, a flamboyant actress, hanging out on her couch. Rothstein is winner of the Star Award presented by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association for Outstanding Debut. A native of New York City, she earned a degree in journalism from New York University, began her writing career at Seventeen magazine, married a man she met in an elevator, and owned an advertising agency for more than 25 years. She received an MA in liberal studies from Wesleyan University and an MA in Judaic studies from the University of Connecticut, and is a frequent speaker at book festivals and community events. Crazy to Leave You is available on amazon. com. To learn more, visit Goodreads.com

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CONCORA Presents World Premiere of Hebrew Prayer in B Minor

Sunday, May 1 at 4:00 pm at Emanuel Synagogue

EST HARTFORD – CONCORA will present the world premiere of Hebrew Prayer in B Minor on Sunday, May 1 at 4 p.m. at The Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Drive in West Hartford. Hebrew Prayer features the complete music of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor – considered the greatest work in the choral repertoire and featuring many early music styles such as Italianate Baroque, German fugue, and Polonaise. Sung in Hebrew, the work will be performed by CONCORA’s singers and soloists with a chamber orchestra under the direction of Chris Shepard, CONCORA’S Artistic Director. Hebrew Prayer is the creation of Dr. Eric Weitzner, a devotee of Bach’s music and former student of Hebrew and Jewish theology. He shared his adaptation in its early stages with Shepard more than 10 years ago. “A decade ago, I presented a handful of movements from Dr. Weitzner’s Prayer in B Minor at the Congregation Habonim synagogue in Manhattan,” Shepard recalls. “We had only expected a few dozen people, but the room quickly filled up. It turns out that many of the older members of the congregation had either lived in Germany before the war, or had German roots, so they loved Bach’s music. It was a powerful afternoon of sharing this extraordinary music with completely different text.” Tickets for reserved seating range from $12 to $49 and may be purchased in advance at www.concora.org or (860) 313-1410. This concert is made possible with funding from the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation, CT Office of the Arts, and The Friends of Bach. Founded in 1974, CONCORA – Connecticut Choral Artists – is a professional choir of more than 40 singers. Acknowledging that music transforms and enriches people’s lives, CONCORA perpetuates and performs with excellence choral music of the highest quality for the broadest possible audience.

April 19, 2022

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THE KOSHER CROSSWORD APRIL 19, 2022 “Seder Requirement”

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Across 1. Airy lobbies 6. Dorm heads, for short 9. Major brand at many a seder 14. Beach Boy Wilson 15. Havdalah need 16. Precursor to delete 17. “Madam Secretary” actress Téa 18. NCAA basketball champs of 2000 19. Diaper, Down Under 20. Have some matzah 21. *First name behind “Dr. Strangelove” 24. Dessert that’s likely chametz 25. Audiophile’s acquisition

27. Masted ship 29. Banks of “America’s Got Talent” 30. Menachem’s predecessor 34. Flanders and Ryerson 35. *Act required for building the Tabernacle or Temple 38. AKA name 41. The bane of many men 42. TV director Linka Glatter 46. *Bi-weekly Jewish ceremony 48. *It’s fine for groggers but not for (kosher) shofars 50. “This is Where ___ You” (hit Jonathan Tropper novel) 51. Take the offensive 52. Palindromic negative prefix

53. A Shtisel on “Shtisel” 57. Key chess piece, in Spain 58. Essential part of the Seder hinted at by the starred clues.... or an alternative title to this puzzle 63. Otherworldly being 65. 1-1, e.g. 66. Ceremonial cutter 69. Transit option in D.C. or L.A. 70. Drink that’s chametz 71. Amazon option 72. Toys you can walk or swing 73. 42nd and Elm: abbr. 74. Instagram option

Down 1. Best-suited for a job 2. Versailles event of 1919 3. Protester who goes too far 4. NFL announcer Eagle 5. Herb that tastes like licorice 6. Rabbi Moses Isserles, with “The” 7. AAA member?: Abbr. 8. Synagogue 9. Birthplace of Obama’s father 10. Major time 11. Spatter with paint 12. Noticed 13. Seth of “Late Night” who said he’s “Jew...ish” 22. Caesar wrap

23. Actor Morales helpful to many crosswords 26. Best Western rival 28. Consume 31. Shalom preceder 32. Shlep 33. Bit of rain 36. Uncle of Yosef and Yehuda 37. GPS above-the-Equator fig. 38. Related 39. Eponymous Disney islander 40. Kind of politics 43. Locale for Kirk or Solo 44. Head hunters’ targets? 45. Disgusting, in kid-speak 47. Synonym for 41-Across or 40-Down

49. Concerning the congregation 54. Infinitesimal amounts 55. Made like Noah or Betzalel 56. NFL who recently called it a career 59. Moses, to the Israelite slaves 60. Son of Seth, in Genesis 61. “Safe!” crackers? 62. Study steadily, with “over” 63. Youngest of the fictional March sisters 64. Pride papa 67. Onetime label for the Beatles 68. Place to eat grass

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.

April 19, 2022

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Briefs Young Jewish celebs discuss antisemitism on YouTube (Excerpted from “Hey Alma”) When our favorite celebrities speak out on issues that matter, that’s a special kind of heartening. In “Recipe for Change: Standing Up to Antisemitism,” a YouTube special released on Thursday produced by The SpringHill Company, a whole cohort of Jewish celebrities are doing just that. Featuring Idina Menzel, Ilana Glazer, Rachel Bloom, Skylar Astin, Michael Twitty, Hannah Einbinder, Alex Edelman, Tommy Dorfman, Josh Peck, Hari Nef, Michael Zegen and more, “Recipe for Change” brings together this group to discuss the current global rise of antisemitism. In the special, the celebs are divided into three Shabbat dinners and are each given a scroll. As they dine on delicious looking Black and Middle Eastern-inspired Jewish food, they open their scrolls to discuss the tough questions they pose like, “Have you ever experienced antisemitism?” and “Could the Holocaust happen again?” For “Mrs. Maisel” actor Michael Zegen, the latter question prompted memories of intergenerational trauma. “My grandparents on my mother’s side were Holocaust survivors,” he remembered. “My grandfather essentially lost his whole family. His father was shot on the way to the trains because he had a club foot and couldn’t keep up. So they shot him.” But the dinner conversations aren’t about only antisemitism. Rather, some of the scrolls focus on Jewish joy, asking, “What makes you proud to be Jewish?” and, “Tell me you’re Jewish without telling me you’re Jewish.” Other scrolls prompt discussions about Jewish identity, like whether Jews of European descent are white. In a moment of perfectly blended humor and a confession

of Jewish assimilation, Idina Menzel revealed, “I have to come clean, so my real spelling of my name is M-E-N-T-Z-E-L. Which everyone would say ‘Ment-zel’ and I had a lot of self-hatred about that for some reason. And then [I] wanted this cool sounding [name], so I took the ‘t’ out, which didn’t help anybody say it right.” “Recipe for Change” also succeeds in its radical inclusivity. Instead of just focusing on what Jewishness and antisemitism mean to cisgender, straight, Ashkenazi Jewish men, the special very purposefully makes room for the voices of Black Jews, Mizrahi Jews, LGBTQ+ Jews and Jewish women. What results are conversations that are as thoughtful and poignant as they are full of laughter and Jewish pride.

Screenwriter Damon Lindelof learns about his family’s Holocaust story (JTA) – Acclaimed screenwriter Damon Lindelof learns that several members of his family tree died in the Białystok ghetto in Poland during the Holocaust on last week’s episode of the celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots.” With help from the archives at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum, the “Finding Your Roots” team found six pages of testimony detailing the fate of a branch of Lindelof’s family. Lindelof, who created HBO’s 2019 “Watchmen” series and co-created “Lost,” reads from the show’s compiled pages about his family tree, repeating “circumstances of death: ghetto Białystok” after several relatives: his great-granduncle – the brother of his great-grandmother – and his wife and their four children. Lindelof, who had a bar mitzvah and attended synagogue in his native Teaneck, New Jersey, acknowledges that he has visited Yad Vashem, which houses an archive of nearly five million Holocaust victims. But he didn’t know the names of his specific

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family members who died during the Holocaust. “I assumed there must be some line of family, but I didn’t know their name,” he tells host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., getting emotional as he explains his reasoning. “I wouldn’t even know where to look before today.” Lindelof described the discovery as “somewhat of an affirmation of survival in some strange way.” Time magazine listed Lindelof, 48, as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.

Israel concludes successful trial of ground-based laser interception system (JNS) Israel’s Ministry of Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced the completion on Thursday of a ground-breaking series of tests using a high-powered, groundbased laser to intercept threats in the air. During the trials, the laser shot down unmanned aerial vehicles, mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles. The system’s development plan is led by the Defense Ministry’s Research and Development Division in the Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development. Rafael is the main developer in cooperation with Elbit Systems. “About a month ago, we announced a full-scale development order to develop and produce a high-power laser defense system. Today marks the first time that a high-power, Israeli-made laser system successfully intercepted various targets, constituting a breakthrough on a global scale,” said Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz. “Our goal is to achieve operational status as soon as possible, which will enable an efficient, inexpensive and innovative means of defense. This system will save lives and will also allow operational flexibility.” Israel is one of the first countries in the world to successfully develop high-

power laser technology at an operational standard, stated the Defense Ministry, adding that it will complement the Iron Dome and integrate into Israel’s multitiered air defense array. Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem, head of Research and Development at the Directorate for Defense Research and Development, said “this is the first time we’ve succeeded in intercepting mortars, rockets, UAVs and anti-tank missiles from such challenging ranges and time intervals. The laser is a gamechanger thanks to its easily operated system and significant economic advantages.” “Our plan,” he noted, “ is to station multiple laser transmitters along Israel’s borders throughout the next decade. We will continue to simultaneously develop advanced capabilities, including the aerial laser.”

Jewish approval of Biden drops (JTA) – A majority of U.S. Jews approve of the job Joe Biden is doing. But, the number in a new poll, 63%, is a sharp drop from where he was last year. A poll released last week by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, showed Biden’s approval rating down from 80% in a poll by the same organization last July. His disapproval rating this year is at 37%, up from 20 percent last July. Both polls were carried out by GBAO Strategies. The Jewish Electorate Institute put a positive spin on the numbers. Biden’s approval numbers generally have dropped precipitously in the last year, a result of a botched exit from Afghanistan, a persistent pandemic and inflation that his government can’t stem. His approval rating generally is hovering at 42%, the lowest of his presidency. Jewish voters generally favor Democrats. One area Biden scores well among Jews is in his handling of Russia’s war against Ukraine, with 72% approving. Support for Democrats on a generic congressional ballot also dropped from 68% to 61% while April 19, 2022

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support for Republicans rose from 21% to 26%. Both parties are already campaigning heavily in Jewish communities where shifts in the vote can change the make-up of Congress, where Democrats have a thin majority. The pollsters reached 800 registered Jewish voters via text from March 28-April 3 and the margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.

Canada to outlaw Holocaust denial (JNS) The federal government in Canada is set to make Holocaust denial and the downplaying of the murder of Jews by the Nazis a criminal offense except in private conversation, reported The Canadian Press. Language outlawing Holocaust denial will be added to the criminal code in the government budget. The budget will also allocate $5.6 million over five years to support the office of Irwin Cotler, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism. “There is no place for antisemitism and Holocaust denial in Canada,” said Canada’s Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. “That’s why we’ve pledged to prohibit the willful promotion of antisemitism through condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust. The Holocaust was one of the darkest chapters in human history. We must preserve its memory, combat contemporary antisemitism and be unequivocal when we say: never again.” The government budget does not specify the punishment for a person convicted of Holocaust denial, though Waugh’s bill proposes up to two years in prison, according to The Canadian Press. The budget will also allocate more than $70 million to initiatives aiding Canada’s Jewish community, including $20 million for the relocation and expansion of the Montreal Holocaust Museum, as well as $2.5 million to help the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in April 19, 2022

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Toronto. Canada joins several European nations that have already outlawed Holocaust denial, including Germany, Greece, France, Belgium and the Czech Republic.

US Postal Service honors Jewish poet Shel Silverstein (JTA) – The United States Postal Service released a new series of Forever stamps Friday in honor of Shel Silverstein, the Jewish author and illustrator who died in 1999. The stamps commemorate what is perhaps Silverstein’s most famous book, “The Giving Tree,” which tells the story of the relationship between a boy and a tree. The stamps feature an image of the boy from the story catching an apple with Silverstein’s name written below. “The issuance honors the extraordinarily versatile Shel Silverstein (1930-1999), one of the 20th century’s most imaginative authors and illustrators. His picture book The Giving Tree and his quirky poetry collections are beloved by children everywhere,” the description on the postal service’s website reads. Silverstein was born in 1930 to a middle-class Jewish family in Chicago. He started drawing and writing from a young age and drew his first cartoons for adult readers when he was a GI in Japan and Korea. In addition to his career as a children’s book author, Silverstein was a prolific songwriter and playwright.

New report exposes SJP’s methods of intimidating Cornell’s Jewish students (JNS) Canary Mission released a new report that documents and exposes Students for Justice in Palestine at Cornell University (SJP Cornell) and its efforts to “create an environment hostile for Jews on campus.” The 25-page report highlighted the activities of the group and its supporters, including students, graduates

and professors, from 2014 to 2022. It provided examples of how SJP Cornell “intimidates supporters of Israel and has even waged a misinformation campaign to dismiss the rise in anti-Semitism,” according to Canary Mission. It also documented the group’s “hostility and gaslighting,” and its strategy to place their activists on the student government to use their positions to demonize Israel and pass resolutions in support of the BDS movement. The report additionally revealed that Cornell SJP has “a history of aggressive anti-Israel protests and disruptions on campus.” During Israel’s 11-day conflict last May with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, SJP Cornell targeted Jewish supporters of Israel on campus and hosted a series of protests supporting Palestinian terrorism. The student group pushed antiIsrael statements in the Student Assembly and blamed Israel for the conflict. They accused Israel of “apartheid” and “provocations against Palestine–from the occupation of Sheikh Jarrah to the assault on Al-Aqsa mosque and the bombings of the Gaza Strip.” Cornell’s Hillel reported at the time that Jewish students felt increasingly “unsafe” at the school due to a series of antisemitic acts on campus. SJP Cornell hosted an event on March 25 with Palestinian activist Mohammad El-Kurd, who has a history of spreading antisemitism and antisemitic conspiracy theories; demonizing Israel; and expressing support for terrorists and the second Intifada.

Russ & Daughters’ kosher outpost at the Jewish Museum won’t return (JTA) – The only kosher outpost of the iconic Russ & Daughters appetizing shop will not reopen, the Jewish Museum in New York City has announced two years after the restaurant closed because of the pandemic.

Restaurants across the city and country shuttered for in-person dining in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic descended on the United States. Over time, many reopened to in-person dining as well. That never happened at the Upper East Side location of Russ & Daughters, which opened inside the museum in 2016. Its artsy aesthetic and elevated deli food had drawn a wide array of diners, including, somewhat unusually for kosher restaurants, Jews who do and do not keep kosher. Yet even as the months ticked on, the restaurant and museum were hesitant to declare their partnership over. In August 2021, Niki Russ Federman, the restaurant’s fourth-generation co-owner, told JTA that “no decision has been made not to reopen. … When we had to shut down in 2020, we thought it was going to be for a couple of weeks,” Russ Federman said at the time. “Right now, with the surge in the Delta variant, the configuration of our space which does not have its own street access or outdoor access, and attendance still impacted, it does not make financial sense for for Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum to be open.” Now, the museum has finally posted a statement to its website confirming the closure. “Russ & Daughters will not reopen its location at the Jewish Museum. After five successful years at the Jewish Museum, Russ & Daughters is refocusing on its core business,” the statement said. “The Jewish Museum is exploring a variety of possibilities for dining and food offerings to serve its visitors, members, and community in the future.” Russ & Daughters appears to be thriving despite its retreat from uptown. In 2019, the store and restaurant opened an outpost in Brooklyn. Last month, Deadline announced that the store, which opened in 1914 on the Lower East Side and has operated for 102 years from the same East Houston Street storefront, could be the subject of a scripted TV show.

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ld at e h to be S T NIGH ord. Y f t D r E a M L CO JCC, est H L l l W A e , n and Ave M d l e e i h t omf o l B 3, 2 335 l i r y, Ap a d r y 7, tu a a M S n day, 14, r u y l t u J Sa r 17, , e y b a em sd Thur ay, Sept 2 er 2 d b r o u t t p.m. Oc Sa , 0 y 3 : a all 7 rd t o u t a t t a t S star ticke s e n w o o R L Sh L ch O A a e n : $25 or $100. s t e k s f w n Tic The SERIES of all 5 shows are o h s FIVE sponsored by CONNECTICUT

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OBITUARIES CALECHMAN

Irving J. Calechman, 95, of Hamden, Conn., died April 5. He was the husband of Harriet (Soffer) Calechman. Born in New Haven, he was the son of the late Hyman and Fannie Calechman. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in World War ll and the Army in the Korean War. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters Lisa Kalb, and Amie (Michael) Fanning and her husband Michael; his grandsons, Michael and William (Mariana) Fanning, Wyatt and Heath Kalb; and his great-granddaughter Sophie.

DIMENSTEIN

Donald Dimenstein, 86, of New Haven, died April 3. He was the husband of Patricia (Geelan) Dimenstein. Born in New Haven, he was the son of the late Samuel and Dora (Frank) Dimenstein.

ELLOVICH

E. Michael Ellovich, 90, of Bloomfield, Conn., formerly of West Hartford, Conn., died April 1. He was the husband of Lois (Perlysky) Ellovich. Born in Hartford, Conn., he was the son of the late Myer (Lux) and Rose (White) Ellovich. He served in the United States Marine Corps. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children David (Lisa) Ellovich and his wife Lisa, and Karen (Gordon) Binkhorst and her husband Gordon, both of West Hartford; and his grandchildren, Jenna Binkhorst (Laurent Officer), Sara Binkhorst (Elena Bowman), Joshua and Melanie Binkhorst, and Benjamin and Zachary Ellovich.

FRUMER

Sylvia Frumer, 93, of North Branford, Conn., formerly of Shelton, Woodbridge and Stratford, Conn., died April 7. She was the widow of David Kreiger

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and Samuel Frumer. Born in Hartford and raised in Norwich, she was the daughter of Irving and Rebecca (Silverstein) Snitkin. She is survived by her children, Roseanne Levine and her husband Don of Clinton, Conn., Beth Jacober and her husband Steven of Potomac, Md., Steven Kreiger and his wife Hinda of North Kingstown, R.I., Kenneth Kreiger and his wife Joan of Orange, Conn., and Howard Kreiger and his wife Stefanie of Woodbridge; her grandchildren, Aaron Dobish, Jeremy Dobish (Emily), Robert Levine (Diana), Rachel Binting (Chris), David Jacober (Nera), Benjamin Jacober (Jennifer), Matthew Jacober, Brenton Kreiger, Noah Kreiger, Alana Wiener (Scott), Dara Kreiger, Jessica Kreiger, Daphne Kreiger, Carly Kreiger; and her great-grandchildren Henry Dobish, Eleanor Dobish, Daniella Levine, Nathan Levine, Ryan Binting and Brynn Binting. She was a member of Beth Israel Synagogue.

GLEICH

Rose Gleich (Goldstein), 74, has died. She was the wife of Edward Gleich. Born in Englewood, N.J., she was the daughter of Lewis and Belle Goldstein. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Lizzie (Rob) Sharp and her husband Rob of Clinton, Conn., Lewis Gleich of Washington, DC, and Adam Gleich and his wife Sarah Poole Gleich of Takoma Park, Md.; her grandchildren, Hannah, Sophie, Jacob, Amara, and Addison; and her brother Morris Goldstein and his wife Peggy. She was an active member of the Temple Beth Tikvah.

LEVIN

Harriet Levin, 86, of Naples, Florida, formerly of Middletown, Conn., died April 9. She was the widow of Jerome ‘Buzzy’ Levin. Born in Bristol, she was the daughter of William and Belle Silver. She was the sister of Aaron, Paul and Stephen. She is survived

by her children, Faith Irwin and her husband Irwin, and Marc Levin and his wife Judith; and her grandchildren, Marissa and Billy Irwin.

PLOTKIN

Paul Aaron Plotkin, 100, most recently of Derry, N.H., and previously Delray Beach, Fla., died April 6. He was the widow of Estelle (Siegel) Plotkin. Born in Bridgeport and raised in Stamford, Conn., he was the son of Philip and Ida (Barkon) Plotkin. He was the brother of Robert and Leonard Plotkin, and the cousin of William Wallach, who was raised with him during the Depression. He was also predeceased by his son Gary Plotkin, He served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II Army, and was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and France’s Legion d’honneur for surviving the sinking of the troopship SS Leopoldville which was torpedoed in the English Channel in 1944, en route to the Battle of the Bulge. He is survived by his children, Dana and Diana and her husband Clint; his grandchildren Janai, Andrew, Benjamin, Erica, Shanna; and his great-grandchild Gianna.

ROTMAN

Sandra (Luckman) Rotman, of Boynton Beach, Fla., formerly of West Hartford and Windsor, Conn., died April 12, two days shy of her 82nd birthday. She was the wife of Yoel Rotman. Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late George and Florence (Schreyer) Luckman. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children, Lauren (Rotman) Levitt and her husband Benjamin of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and Michael Rotman and his partner Kat Steel of Los Angeles Calif.; and her grandsons, Joshua and Robert Levitt.

April 19, 2022

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Gilbert Gottfried foul-mouthed comic persona concealed a content Jewish dad BY RON KAMPEAS

GILBERT GOTTFRIED AT SIRIUSXM STUDIOS IN NEW YORK CITY, FEB. 3, 2020. (SLAVEN VLASIC/GETTY IMAGES FOR SIRIUSXM)

(JTA) – Gilbert Gottfried, the comic with a grating persona whose boundary testing got him canceled more than once, has died. His family announced Gottfried’s passing “after a long illness” on Tuesday on Twitter. He was 67. Various outlets reported he suffered from a heart condition related to myotonic dystrophy. A 2017 documentary revealed that contra his foul-mouthed routine, Gottfried was a sweet and loving Jewish dad. Gottfried was reluctant to let that truth get out. “I was too much of a wimp to say no” to the filmmaker, Neil Berkeley, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Gottfried, who affected a high nasal voice for his comic appearances, was a boundary crosser, and it got him into trouble at times. In 1991, Fox apologized after Gilbert, hosting the Emmy awards, kept joking about fellow comic Pee-wee Herman’s recent arrest for masturbating in an adult movie theater. That dampened Gottfried’s career – for a while. He continued to score gigs in movies, on talk radio (frequently with Howard Stern), on sketch April 19, 2022

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shows and sitcoms, and as a voice on cartoons. He was the funny animal sidekick, Iago the parrot, in Disney’s “Alladin.” Then he famously told perhaps the first joke about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, just a few days after terrorists piloted airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. (At a roast for Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner, Gottfried said he had to catch an early flight for Los Angeles because the only one he could find had “to make a stop at the Empire State Building.”) He lost the audience – for a moment. He recovered with one of the raunchiest-ever tellings of the notoriously raunchy joke that has “The Aristocrats” as its punchline. “I’ve always said tragedy and comedy are roommates,” Gottfried told Vulture in 2019. “Wherever tragedy’s around, comedy’s a few feet behind them sticking his tongue out and making obscene gestures.” Aflac, the insurer whose trademark duck Gottfried voiced and which was his most lucrative gig, dropped him in 2011 after he made jokes on Twitter about the tsunami in Japan. (Gottfried’s self-inflicted wounds seemed to be timed by decades.) “I don’t regret the joke,” he told JTA. “I regret losing the money.” Sometimes the raunch found Gottfried. In 2020, during his daughter’s bat mitzvah, held on Zoom because of the pandemic, a 70-year-old woman unwittingly removed her bathing suit and took a shower in full view of the other participants. Gottfried credited his wife for turning him around from a notoriously parsimonious bachelor into an attentive dad who walked his two kids to Hebrew school. He met Dara Kravitz, a music executive, in the late 1990s at a Grammys party he

was attending because of the free food. She dropped food on the table and he picked it up and put it on his plate. Gottfried grew up in secular Jewish home in Brooklyn – he told JTA his Jewish knowledge was limited to “I know that if we’re ever rounded up again, I’ll be on the train.” When he and Dara married in 2007, she insisted on a wedding under a huppah and raising their children with a Jewish education. Dara Gottfried adored her “gentle genius” and was bemusedly frustrated by his shyness when not performing. “Open up a little, Gil!” she chided him during a 2013 New York Times interview. But Gottfried’s kindness was his own: The documentary tracks

Gottfried accompanying his sister, street photographer Arlene Gottfried, to chemo sessions. She died of cancer in 2017. In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Gottfried, perhaps unwittingly, revealed his own gifts in explaining why he admired his sister so much. “Someone else couldn’t see the funny or odd or touching thing, and capture it,” he said. His family, in their message, appealed to the public to keep Gottfried’s love for humor in mind. “Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” the message said.

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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.

April TUESDAY, APRIL 19 Hartford, CT – “Why Can We Expect in the Middle East Our the Coming Months? Nuclear negotiations, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Great Power competition,” a talk with Ambassador Dennis Ross, 7:30 p.m. at Zachs Hillel House, 74 Vernon St. Ambassador Dennis Ross is counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He also teaches at Georgetown University’s Center for Jewish Civilization. Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process during the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He served two years as special assistant to President Barack Obama and National Security Council senior director for the Central Region and a year as special adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Proof of vaccination required. For information: Lisa.kassow@ trincoll.edu.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 West Hartford, CT (Zoom) – Parents of children of all ages are invited to hear Dr. Sarah Snyder, director of the Holocaust Education resource and Outreach (HERO) Center, Voices of Hope, who will discuss “Talking to Your Kids About the Holocaust,” an informal and informative

discussion on talking to children about the dangers of bigotry, bullying and hatred; instructing parents on how to approach this traumatic history through ageappropriate language, and garner resources that can be useful to engage children in these difficult topics. At the Mandell JCC, 335 Bloomfield Ave., at 7 p.m. on Zoom. To receive the Zoom link: sholtzberg@mandelljcc.org . For information: (860) 236-4571, mandeljcc.org.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23 Sherman, CT – The popular local band The Hooligans perform live in concert at 7. Reservations are required. The Hooligan repertoire includes a variety of classic rock, rockabilly, country and pop. Presented by the JCC in Sherman, 9 Rte 39 South; (860) 355-8050. Tickets: $20/members; $25/nonmembers. To be held indoors; masks optional.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 TUESDAY, APRIL 26 Greenwich, CT (virtual) – Davis Film Festival presents: “Persian Lessons.” Gilles is sent to a concentration camp where he narrowly avoids execution by swearing that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but then Gilles is assigned to teach Persian, which he doesn’t know, to the officer in charge of the camp’s kitchen. Presented by UJA/JCC Greenwich. Film streams 5 - 9 p.m.$9. Information: ujajcc.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 25 Worcester – “Mi-Mu-Na” Jewish Moroccan feast at the Worcester JCC, with music, henna artist, special Mimina sweets, drinks and arts and crafts, 4 p.m.

TUESDAY, APRIL 26 Westborough – Community Yom Hashoah Commemoration at Congregation B’nai Shalom, 6:30 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. Featuring candle-lighting poems, prayers, announcement

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of Pinkhus & Rhoda Art & Essay Challenge prizes, and screen of “Raise the Roof,” a documentary film about Poland’s historic wooden synagogues and an effort to create a full-sized replica of the Gwozdziec synagogue; At 117 E. Main St. and also to be livestreamed at cbnaishalom.org/ livestream.html/

Mandracchia, 11 a.m. A hands-on, step-by-step tutorial; participants will receive their own “starter” and make their own loaf to bring him and bake. Open to bakers of all skill levels. At the JCC, 9 Rte 39 South. Reservations required. Only 12 spots available. $40. Information: jccinsherman. org, info@jccinsherman.org, (860) 355-8050.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27

West Hartford, CT – Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) program for young professionals in Connecticut, to be held at 2 p.m., will feature a talk by Renia Finder, author of My Survival: A Girl on Schindler’s List. Renia’s cousin and JewGood Committee Member Devorah Donnell of West Hartford, will host the talk. Young professionals in Connecticut who sign up by April 20 for Renia’s talk will receive a Zoom link and free copy of Renia’s book For more information, contact Elana MacGilpin, JewGood Hartford/ Jewish Community Foundation, emacgilpin@jcfhartford.org.

Springfield, CT – Community Yom HaShoah service and candle-lighting, followed by a musical commemoration by Avi Wisnia about his grandfather who survived Auschwitz, 7 – 8:30 p.m., at Sinai Temple. 1100 Dickinson St. Virtual Link: sinaitemple.org Registration: https:// venue.streamspot.com/event/ MzA0NTY3NA== ; Sponsored by Springfield JCC, Jewish Federation of Western Mass., the Springfield area synagogues Contact: Elise Barber: ebarber@ springfieldjcc.org. Greenwich, CT – Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day at Temple Sholom, 300 East Putnam Ave.; 7 p.m.; Featuring guest speaker Endre (Andy) Sarkany of New Haven. Sarkany was born in Budapest, Hungary on October 31, 1936, inside the Budapest ghetto, where he remained during the Holocaust. He escaped Hungary after the 1956 uprising and emigrated to the U.S. He shares his experience living under the brutality of the Soviet regime. Presented by UJAJCC Greenwich, United Jewish Federation of Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, and the Center for Jewish Community, Culture & Caring. Proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test needed to attend. For information, visit ujajcc.org.

May SUNDAY, MAY 1 Sherman, CT – Sourdough Bread Workshop with Caitlin

Worcester – PJ Library Bagels ‘n Books with Congregation Beth Israel, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., 15 Jamesbury St. Worcester – The First Annual PJ Library Central Mass Crafter & Vendor Fundraiser; vendors categories include beauty and wellness, culinary gifts, home accessories and décor, apparel and jewelry and more, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Worcester JC, 633 Salisbury St.; Contact: pjlibrarycentralma@ gmail.com.

MONDAY, MAY 2 Worcester – “Rabbi Capers Funnye: My Sacred Journey to Judaism, Reimaging the Ties that Bind the Black and Jewish Communities,” a program of the Worcester Black-Jewish Alliance, 7 p.m., at Belmont A.M.E Zion Church, 55 Illinois St.

April 19, 2022

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THURSDAY, MAY 5 Southbury, CT – Love & Knishes Luncheon presents a musical performance with Jack Lynn, aka JackSingsDino, at the Jewish Federation of Western CT, 444 Main St. N. Lunch at 12 p.m., followed by the performance at 1 p.m. For information, visit jfed. net. Cost: $10. Stamford, CT – Celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s 74th birthday at the Stamford JCC, 1035 Newfield Ave., 5 - 8 p.m. Enjoy live music TLV band, food, crafts and more. Tickets: In advance, $5 person; $15/family; At the door, $10/person, $30/family at the door. To register of for more information: ujf.org/israel74.

FRIDAY, MAY 6 New Haven, CT – First Fridays at Five-Thirty, an early, childfriendly Kabbalat Shabbat service at Congregation Beth El - Keser Israel, 85 Harrison Street. Though not specifically a

children’s program, this service features singing and discussions that are appealing for kids. For information: beki.org

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 Greenwich, CT – “Denim, Boots & Bites,” 7 p.m. An evening honoring Michael Delicate and Bryanna Kallman and celebrating Jewish Greenwich; mall plates, line dancing instruction. Dress casual (denim and boots suggested) UJA-JCC Greenwich, One Holly Hill Lane. info@ujajcc. org. Tickets: $375

THURSDAY, MAY 12 New Haven, CT (Zoom) – Conversation with Artist Suzanne Neusner, who will talk about her current exhibition at Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel, called “Fiber Arts.” At 7:30 p.m. Neusner focuses on abstract imagery through a variety of weaving and quilting techniques. Her work includes playful reinventions of traditional Jewish themes such as matzoh covers.

She draws inspiration from her natural surroundings in the Hudson Valley. The exhibit is on display at BEKI until June 4. For Zoom link: office@BEKI.org, (203) 389-2108 x114.

SUNDAY, MAY 15 Stamford CT – Friendship Day & Walk for individuals with special needs, sponsored by Friendship Circe of Fairfield County. At Westhill High School. For information, contact Malya Shmotkin, maylya@friendshipct. com.

family – Wear blue & white for Israel’s 74th birthday

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 New Haven, CT – Lag BaOmer Kumsitz in the courtyard of Congregation Beth El - Keser Israel, 85 Harrison Street, at 8 pm. The program will include niggunim – melodies with no words – as well as traditional American and Jewish songs. In case of rain, the kumsitz will be delayed until the next evening. For information: beki.org.

Westborough – Community celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day at Congregation B’nai Shalom; 12 noon, with Israeli lunch, wine tasting, drum circle, dancing and activities for whole family. Israel Bonds will also honor Robin and Andy Feld and junior honoree EmmaChaya Lipton-Praver; RAVP: https://jewishcentralmass. org/bonds Suggested $18 donation per

THURSDAY, MAY 26

during the Holocaust. The Butterfly Project involves communities from around the world in honoring the lives of the children lost during the Holocaust. In addition to painting butterflies, participants will learn about the children being memorialized as they watch a short film called “NOT The Last Butterfly.” RSVP to Sharon Holtzberg, sholtzberg@mandelljcc.org, by April 19. This program is supported through the Beth and Benjamin Goldberg Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford.

– A Living Memorial to the Holocaust and several other New York Jewish organizations are partnering to present New York’s Annual Gathering of Remembrance on Sunday, April 24. The program will be held virtually at 2 p.m. The program will feature music, remarks from Holocaust survivors and public figures, and a candle-lighting ceremony. Speakers will include UN Ambassador Linda ThomasGreenfield, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. To join the gathering virtually, RSVP at https://mjhnyc.org/AGR. The program also will be shared on the Museum’s website and on its digital platforms: Website, https://mjhnyc.org/AGR, and Facebook, facebook.com/ MuseumofJewishHeritage/

Southbury, CT – Love & Knishes Luncheon presents a musical performance by the guitar and violin duo Alyce and Gary Bertz, aka Hot Acoustics, playing everything from jazz to popular tunes at the Jewish Federation of Western CT, 444 Main St. N. Lunch at 12 p.m., followed by the performance at 1 p.m. For information, visit jfed.net. $10.

Bulletin Board A social service experience for Jewish teens JTConnect, a program for Hartford area Jewish teens, will host the group’s Second Annual Summer of Service, June 20 - 24, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The week-long program is geared towards incoming 7th-10th graders who want a meaningful and social Jewish experience. The day will start with teens working on service projects with local organizations that serve people and communities in need. After their morning of work, the teens will enjoy an afternoon of interactive actives, such as navigating a high ropes course, playing bubble soccer and kayaking on the Connecticut River. Cost: $200 ($160 if registered April 19, 2022

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by May 1). Financial aid is available; no teen is turned away owing to a lack of funds. Drop-off and pick-up from Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford For more information, visit www.jtconnect.org/SOS or contact cara@jtconnect.org.

The Mandell JCC brings “The Butterfly Project” to West Hartford The Mandell JCC in West Hartford invites the community to come together on April 24, 2 - 3 p.m., to paint ceramic butterflies that will be on permanent display at the JCC. Symbols of resilience and hope, each painted butterfly will be included in The Butterfly Project’s global count, with the goal of creating 1.5 million butterflies around the world— one for each child who perished

Museum of Jewish Heritage to present Yom Hashoah program The Museum of Jewish Heritage

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