CT Jewish Ledger • November 13, 2020 • 26 Cheshvan 5781

Friday, November 13, 2020 26 Cheshvan 5781 Vol. 92 | No. 46 | ©2020 $1.00 | jewishledger.com

ELECTION 2020: the wrap-up

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JEWISH LEDGER

| NOVEMBER 13, 2020

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INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | NOVEMBER 13, 2020 | 26 CHESHVAN 5781

8 Briefs

17 Crossword

18 Bulletin Board

20 Torah Portion

20 Obituaries

In Memoriam........................................................................ 5 Jews and non-Jews alike mourned the passing of former U.K. Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who died Nov. 7. One of Europe’s leading Jewish voices, his good friend former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called him “an intellectual giant.”

Veterans Day........................................................................14 Morty Pear’s years of service began in 1954 when he joined the U.S. Air force. Now, at the age of 84, the founder of Jewish War Veterans, Major General Maurice Rose Post #51, is still serving his community – in more ways than one.

Knowledge is Power.........................................................10 As the world remembers the horrors of Kristallnacht, the number of people who know anything about this day of destruction – and its aftermath–is on the decline. A new online program helps a new generation understand the Holocaust.

Authors Corner...................................................................16 When author Liza Weimer learned about a teacher who made his students debate the Holocaust’s Final Solution, she was inspired to write a riveting novel about the dangerous impact of discrimination and antisemitism.

21 Business and Professional Directory

22 Classified

ON THE COVER:

Some days it seemed longer than the Great Wall of China – now, at long last, the 2020 election season is (at least for the most part) over and done with. And now for the wrapup. On page 5, we consider what to watch for in a Biden presidency from an issues perspective, and on pages 12 & 13 we take a look at the Jewish presence in the 117th Congress. Cover Photo: Andrew Harnik by /POOL/AFP via Getty Images) jewishledger.com

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UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | NOVEMBER 13, 2020 | 26 CHESHVAN 5781

ELECTION 2020

Jonathan Sacks, former UK chief rabbi and ‘intellectual giant,’ was 72

IRAN, ISRAEL, ANTISEMITISM AND MORE: WHAT TO WATCH IN JOE BIDEN’S PRESIDENCY

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ASHINGTON (JTA) – On Joe Biden’s first day as president, he plans to launch a task force to reunite children and parents separated at the country’s southern border.

It’s one of several ways Biden has vowed to reverse policies put in place by President Donald Trump, and it’s important to many American Jews for whom immigration policy carries an emotional weight.

But on many issues important to American Jews, change may come slower, or not at all. When it comes to where

BY RON KAMPEAS

the U.S. Embassy in Israel is located, for example, Biden has indicated that he has no intention to turn back the clock. On other Israel issues, change is likely but exactly what a Biden administration will try to do is not yet clear.

Here’s a look at what might happen after Biden becomes president on Jan. 20, 2021.

Antisemitism When Biden launched his campaign in April 2019, he said he had considered retirement – but was appalled by Trump’s equivocations after the deadly neo-Nazi

BY BEN HARRIS AND CNAAN LIPHSHIZ AND GABE FRIEDMAN

and white supremacist march in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Biden constantly cites combating bigotry and antisemitism specifically in his appearances, including at the Democratic convention.

Biden wants to develop a “comprehensive approach” to combat antisemitism, in consultation with the Jewish community. Trump cut some programs tracking extreme right domestic terrorists; Biden said he will restart them.

Trump last year signed an executive order recognizing Jews as a protected class CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT KAMALA HARRIS DELIVER REMARKS IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, ON NOV. 7.

(JTA) – Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom whose extensive writings and frequent media appearances commanded a global following among Jews and non-Jews alike, has died.

Sacks died Saturday morning, Nov. 7, at age 72, his Twitter account announced. He was in the midst of a third bout of cancer, which he had announced in October.

Sacks was among the world’s leading exponents of Orthodox Judaism for a global audience. In his 22 years as chief rabbi, he emerged as the most visible Jewish leader in the United Kingdom and one of the European continent’s leading Jewish voices, offering Jewish wisdom to the masses through a regular segment he produced for the BBC. He had a close relationship with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called Sacks “an intellectual giant” and presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2018.

Sacks was also an immensely prolific author, addressing pressing social and political issues in a succession of well received books. His popular commentary on the prayer book, published by Koren, helped to dethrone the more traditionalist Artscroll Siddur as the preeminent prayer book in American Modern Orthodox synagogues.

Sacks was normally averse to mixing religion and politics, something he discussed, along with his latest book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, and an array of other hot-button topics with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in August.

“When anger erupts in a body politic, there is quite often a justified cause. But then the political domain has got to take that anger and deal with it very fast,” he told JTA’s opinion editor

(CREDIT: ANDREW HARNIK BY /POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

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Election 2020

Sacks

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deserving of civil rights protections. The order used as its definition of antisemitism the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, which is controversial because it includes some forms of Israel criticism. The order has already resulted in Education Department investigations of extreme anti-Israel activity on campus.

Some Democrats embrace the IHRA definition, but civil liberties groups fear that its use as an enforcement tool inhibits speech freedoms. The Biden campaign has not said what its plans are for the executive order.

Saudi Arabia will likely want the carrot that the UAE has secured, a major arms deal; Trump has cajoled Israel into not objecting to the sale of stealth combat jets to the Emirates.

But Democrats are unhappy about the sale, and that unhappiness would grow exponentially with any proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Democrats object to the devastating war Saudi Arabia is conducting in Yemen and have not forgotten the kingdom’s role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Deal of the Century

The Second Guy Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, is Jewish; he will not only be the “second gentleman” (caveat: No one has settled on a term for the job), he will be the first Jewish second spouse. Emhoff has been vocal about his Jewish identity, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in a role that has been used to advance education initiatives.

Immigration Immigration policy carries a special emotional weight for many Jewish Americans who are mindful of their own heritage of being refugees – and of the devastating toll that the world’s hesitation to accept refugees caused for Jews during the Holocaust. Trump pursued an aggressively anti-immigrant agenda, including by reducing refugee admissions and separating children from their parents at the border, sometimes permanently.

Biden has vowed to launch a task force to reunite those families and to dramatically increase refugee admissions.

The Trump recognitions

The Abraham Accords Biden’s message since Tuesday has been unity. He wants to achieve comity with Republicans. “It’s time for America to unite and to heal,” was his first postannouncement statement. He’s reportedly got a few Republicans in mind for his Cabinet.

One obvious way that his commitment to bipartisanship will play out in his Middle East policy is in the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements brokered by Trump between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Bahrain. Biden has said he likes the accords. His aides have said he urged rapprochement between Israel and the Gulf states during Obama’s second term when he was vice president.

So should we expect more of the same? Perhaps: Other Arab countries that have long had unofficial ties with Israel, including Oman and Morocco, might announce even before the inauguration.

The big fish, however, may hold out.

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In January, Trump finally rolled out the Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal he had touted for three years. One component of the deal that would come off the table with a Biden presidency would be the eventual partial Israeli annexation of West Bank territory. Even in that instance, though, there’s not much practically different between the Trump and Biden postures: The Trump team told Benjamin Netanyahu he needed Palestinian buy-in to the peace plan before annexing territory, and that never was going to happen.

Biden will reinstitute the emphasis on the two-state outcome as an endgame, but don’t expect a major push for peace from his White House. Biden will have on his foreign policy team plenty of Obama veterans and they feel burned by their two failures (2010-2011 and 2013-2014) to get to a deal. The sense on Biden’s foreign policy team is that peace has to be organic, and must be initiated by the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. Embassy to the city. He also recognized Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Biden has said that Trump’s Jerusalem recognition was ill-timed, absent an IsraeliPalestinian deal, but has also said he would not reverse it. He has not commented on the Golan, but with Syria still convulsed in violence and instability even as its civil war dies down, don’t expect any dramatic Biden action in this area. Biden has suggested that Trump was too accommodating of the Assad regime, so he’s not about to hand the same regime a plum.

Aid to Israel During the primaries, some Democratic candidates spoke of conditioning defense to Israel on its behavior; Biden repeatedly rejected that proposal outright. He intervened to keep the word “occupation” out of the Democratic platform.

| NOVEMBER 13, 2020

The Palestinians Biden has said he will reestablish the diplomatic ties with the Palestinians that Trump ended because the Palestinians would not play along with his peace plan.

Expect a return of the Palestine Liberation Organization envoy to Washington and a reopening of the Jerusalem consulate that deals specifically with Palestinians – Trump wrapped its functions into the embassy.

Biden has also said he would resume the assistance to the Palestinians that Trump cut off while observing American laws that ban funding for the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays salaries to the families of Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis or Americans. That leaves Biden some leeway; he could direct funds to NGOs that operate separately from the Palestinian Authority, and to UNRWA, the United Nation agency that administers relief to the Palestinians.

Iran Biden has faulted Trump for exiting the Iran nuclear deal. Trump said the deal, which exchanged sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear capability, was too generous and not strict enough. Israel’s Netanyahu government was in agreement with Trump; Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied intensely against the deal, which was brokered by President Barack Obama, and which Biden helped sell to Congress.

Trump’s withdrawal angered European partners to the deal and has pushed Iran’s economy to the brink of collapse – but it has done nothing to stem Iran’s nuclear development. In fact, since the U.S. pullout, Iran has accelerated its nuclear development, blaming the United States for violating the deal.

Biden wants back in, in part because he wants to repair ties with Europe, and also because he believes the deal is the best means of keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He has said he wants to make it stricter, extending the “sunset clauses,” which allow Iran to wind down some of the restrictions. Not so clear is whether Biden would want restrictions on Iran’s missile program and its regional adventurism rolled into a renewed deal.

Laura Adkins. “Because anger exposes the problem but never delivers the solution.”

But he did take public stances on two topics that were often ensnared with European politics: Israel and anti-Semitism.

Sacks spoke out publicly as Britain’s Labour Party was engulfed in an antiSemitism scandal under its previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, calling Corbyn an antiSemite.

“We have an antisemite as the leader of the Labour Party and her majesty’s opposition. That is why Jews feel so threatened by Mr. Corbyn and those who support him,” Sacks said in 2018 during an interview with the New Statesman.

That judgement paved the way for the current British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to harshly condemn the Labour Party, a precedent-setting event in British Jewish life.

Corbyn was replaced in April by centrist Keir Starmer, who has apologized for how antisemitism was allowed to flourish in Labour’s ranks under Corbyn. Starmer, who is married to a Jewish woman, expressed his condolences to “the entire Jewish world” in a tweet on Saturday.

“He was a towering intellect whose eloquence, insights and kindness reached well beyond the Jewish community. I have no doubt that his legacy will live on for many generations,” Starmer wrote.

Sacks was also vocal in his opposition to the forces that lead to antisemitism on the far left and the far right, as he wrote in a JTA op-ed in January.

“Antisemitism has little to do with Jews – they are its object, not its cause – and everything to do with dysfunction in the communities that harbor it,” he wrote.

In 2017, in a widely circulated YouTube video, Sacks called anti-Zionism a new form of anti-Semitism, arguing that it denies Jews the “right to exist collectively with the same rights as everyone else.”

The video was based on a 2016 speech Sacks delivered in Brussels, which is widely seen as having paved the way to Britain’s adoption later that year of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.

But the video went far beyond political and academic circles, and became symbolic of Sacks’ ability to reach mainstream audiences. Rachel Riley, a famous British Jewish game show television host, last year shared the video, telling her over 600,000 Twitter followers that it is “the best explanation of antisemitism I’ve seen.”

Sacks branched out beyond religious and Jewish cultural thought as well. In 2017 he delivered a Ted Talk about “facing the future without fear” and what he called a “fateful moment” in Western history after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, citing Thomas Paine and jewishledger.com

anthropologists to make an argument about returning a culture of togetherness.

Born in London in 1948, Sacks studied at Cambridge University. While a student there in the 60s, he visited Rabbi Menachem Schneerson – the spiritual leader who is credited with turning the Hasidic Chabad-Lubatvitch movement into a powerful organizing force of Jewry around the world – in New York City. Sacks credits that meeting with inspiring him to get involved with Jewish studies, as he detailed in a series of videos for Chabad.org in 2011.

He became the rabbi of the Golders Green synagogue in London’s most Orthodox neighborhood in the late 70s and then rabbi of the Marble Arch synagogue in central London.

The U.K. Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl also released a statement on Saturday.

“Rabbi Sacks was a giant of both the Jewish community and wider society. His astounding intellect and courageous moral voice were a blessing to all who encountered him in person, in writing or in broadcast,” van der Zyl said.

Sacks is survived by his wife Elaine, three children and several grandchildren.

JONATHAN SACKS SEEN AS THE CHIEF RABBI OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, CIRCA 2000.

(CREDIT: JOHN DOWNING/GETTY IMAGES)

1 4 T H A N N U A L “Odd Nansen not only saved my life. He also

Kristallnacht

COMMEMORATION Sunday, November 15, 2020 - 9 a.m.

ALL ARE WELCOME ON ZOOM Congregation Or Shalom orshalomct.org

Odd Nansen jewishledger.com

enriched it with his philosophy of life”

Professor Thomas Buergenthal, Nansen Rescuee

Please join us for our Annual Community-Wide Kristallnacht Commemoration.This year, we will honor the conscience and heroism of Odd Nansen, who financed and operated an orphanage in Oslo, Norway for Jews and all facing imminent death in Nazi-occupied Europe. Sent to a concentration camp by the Nazi Gestapo, Nansen kept a secret diary there which later became an important testimony to the realities of the Holocaust.

In the camp, Nansen risked his life in order to save inmates.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: • U.S. Senate Commendation presented by Senator Richard Blumenthal to the Nansen family.

• Comments by Timothy Boyce, Esq., re-publisher of “From Day to Day,” the secret diary of Odd Nansen.

Sign up at: jewishnewhaven.org/RSVP JEWISH LEDGER

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Briefs Malawi to open embassy in Jerusalem (JNS) Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera announced in a video message on Tuesday, Nov. 3 that his country intends to establish a permanent embassy in Jerusalem by next summer. The message was delivered

by Malawi Foreign Minister Eisenhower Mkaka during a meeting with Gabi Ashkenazi, his Israeli counterpart. Malawi would be only the third country after the United States and Guatemala – and the first African country – to open an embassy in the Israeli capital. Honduras, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo have all recently announced their intentions to establish an embassy in Jerusalem. Malawi has maintained full diplomatic relations with Israel since 1964.

“The city of Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital, will be a bridge of peace to the entire world, and I call on other countries to follow Malawi’s example and transfer their embassies to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” said Ashkenazi. Malawi Foreign Minister Eisenhower Mkaka called the decision a “bold and significant step,” according to Reuters.

UAE airline to start direct flights to Israel (JNS) United Arab Emirates’ low-cost airline carrier flydubai announced on its website that it would begin direct flights twice a day to Israel starting on Nov. 26.

Chief executive officer at flydubai Ghaith Al Ghaith said on Wednesday that “since the launch of flydubai 11 years ago, we have been committed to removing barriers to travel, creating free flows of trade and tourism and enhancing connectivity between different cultures across our network. Following the recent bilateral agreement, the start of scheduled flights will contribute to economic development and create further opportunities for investment in pursuit of our shared interests and values.”

Emirates, UAE’s largest airline, was quoted by Reuters as saying that it, too, will sell tickets on the flydubai route, according to a spokeswoman.

UAE and Israeli citizens can visit each other’s countries visa-free, owing to the recently signed Abraham Accords.

Tickets between Dubai and Tel Aviv can be purchased on its website, flydubai.com.

RBG donated lace collars to Tel Aviv museum (JTA) – One of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s signature white lace jabot collars will go on display at the Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. The collar and a signed 8

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copy of the late Supreme Court justice’s autobiography, both personally donated to the museum by Ginsburg, will be part of the new core exhibition set to open in December. Ginsburg is also part of the museum’s exhibit on “Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People,” which features profiles and accomplishments of Jewish historical and contemporary figures including scientists, philosophers, cultural icons, inventors and athletes.

Headstones smashed at Jewish cemeteries in Moldova and Hungary (JTA) – Headstones were smashed and graves defaced at Jewish cemeteries in Hungary and Moldova. At least five headstones were destroyed at a cemetery in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau on Saturday, the Jewish Community of Moldova said in a statement. Swastikas, a pentagram and the number 666 were spray painted on other headstones. The same cemetery has been targeted for vandalism for three years straight, the statement said.

In a separate incident in Kecel, south of Budapest, three tombstones were smashed and human feces were found on a nearby headstone on Sunday, the Mazsihisz umbrella group of Hungarian Jewish communities reported on its website. Police are investigating the incident, Mazsihisz said.

Book calling Holocaust a hoax to hit book stores in Iceland (JTA) – An Icelandic company has plunged the country’s publishing industry into a debate about censorship with its plan to publish a 1976 book that argues the Holocaust is a hoax. The book, an Icelandiclanguage translation of The Hoax of the Twentieth Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry by Arthur Butz, is being advertised online ahead of its launch in the coming weeks, in time for the Christmas shopping period.

Separately, the city of Malmo in Sweden last week suspended its ties to an association called the Arab Book Fair, which puts on events across Europe.

The suspension follows the flagging of antisemitic literature at previous fairs and on the fair’s website, the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote in a statement.

Denying the Holocaust is not illegal in Iceland, but the Association of Icelandic Book Publishers has the means to intervene to stop the book’s sales. However, the head of that organization told the news site he is not inclined to do so. “One of the cornerstones on which book publishing here and elsewhere is based is freedom of the press and expression,” Heiðar Ingi Svansson said. He called this “a basic premise.”

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Florida principal fired, then rehired, after Holocaust denial is fired again (JTA) – Weeks after voting to rehire a principal who told a parent he “can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event,” a Florida school board has reversed course.

The Palm Beach County School Board voted a year ago to fire William Latson, who had been removed from his post after the 2018 comments came to light. Latson sued, saying he had been wrongfully terminated, and in August, a judge concluded that he should have been reprimanded but not fired. The board voted earlier this month to re-hire him w rather than face a protracted and costly legal battle. But the board’s only Jewish member voted against rehiring Latson and said at the time, “If we rehire Dr. Latson, it is going be a stain on this school district that will never go away.”

After an outcry, the board chair asked the board to reconsider. A meeting two weeks ago to reconsider the decision ended without action after the board received more than 1,200 public comments that members were required by law to read or hear before voting. Then Latson issued a public apology last week.

On Monday, the board voted unanimously to fire Latson again. Members said they had come to the conclusion that their decision represented a statement of the district’s values that transcends the risk of litigation, according to a report in the Palm Beach Post.

“I am so at peace that I am going to rescind my vote from the Oct. 7 meeting,” said one board member who switched her vote, the newspaper reported. “What Dr. Latson did was open the door for the students whose parents are Holocaust deniers for generations to come to deny the atrocity of the Holocaust.”

Video shows two men stealing pants from victim they call ‘Jew’ in Vienna (JTA) – Police are reportedly not treating as a hate crime an incident in which two men were caught on video in Vienna stealing another man’s pants and calling him a Jew. The video, which surfaced last week and which seems to have been taken by the unidentified perpetrators, shows a young man being ordered to take off his pants by two men speaking German with a Viennese accent, the Heute news site of Austria reported Sunday. As they run off, one of the men shouts back at the man whose pants were stolen: “It’s that easy with you Jews.”

Journalist Liam Hoare reported on Twitter Monday, Oct. 2, that the Vienna police department told him that it is familiar with the incident and that its working assumption is that the incident is not a hate crime but an altercation between

fans of rival soccer teams. Several soccer teams across Europe are associated by their supporters as being Jewish, as is the case with Amsterdam’s Ajax team, Munich’s Bayern and London’s Hotspurs. This sometimes leads to antisemitic chants at soccer stadiums. According to scholars of antisemitism, the phenomenon has seeped into other parts of society not directly connected to sports.

UN resolution again ignores Jewish ties to Temple Mount Share(JTA) – A United Nations committee resolution again ignored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem, mimicking a pair of UNESCO resolutions that sparked controversy in 2016.

Out of 193 countries that are members of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, 138 voted Wednesday in favor of seven resolutions involving Israel and the Palestinians. They denote Israel as an oppressive occupying power and agree to stand for greater aid for Palestinian refugees. One of the resolutions, titled “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” mentions the Al-Haram al-Sharif holy site without ever calling it the Temple Mount, as it is also known to Jews, who believe it is the site of ancient biblical Jewish temples.

The resolution contains no reference to Jews or Judaism but mentions the “significance of the holy sites, and the importance of the City of Jerusalem for the three monotheistic religions.” Only the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel and three Pacific Ocean island nations voted against the resolution. All European countries supported it except for Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia and Belarus, which abstained.

Another of the seven resolutions was co-sponsored by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say is responsible for at least 100,000 civilian deaths in his country’s nine-year civil war.

The resolution, titled “The occupied Syrian Golan,” does not mention that war but says it “deplores the violations by Israel of the Geneva Convention.”

The 2016 resolutions that also left out the Temple Mount name spurred wide condemnation in Israel and from pro-Israel organizations. Israel’s foreign ministry sent a letter in July 2016 to the U.N. asking it to “oppose this effort to distort history.”

Netanyahu, Rivlin express ‘total solidarity’ with Austria following terror attack (JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin jewishledger.com

Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday expressed the Jewish state’s strong support for Austria in the wake of the terrorist attack in Vienna on Monday.

“Israel condemns the brutal attack in Vienna and stands in total solidarity with Austria. Civilized peoples everywhere must unite to defeat the savagery of resurgent Islamist terrorism,” Netanyahu posted on Twitter. Rivlin tweeted: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of #Austria as we follow last night’s despicable terrorist attack in #Vienna with concern.”

Two men and one woman were killed and 15 others, including a member of the police, were severely wounded when terrorists opened fire at several locations in central Vienna on Monday evening, Nov. 2, the Vienna City Police Department said in a statement on Tuesday morning. One of the attackers was shot and killed by officers, and was found to have been wearing a fake explosive vest, according to the statement.

The suspect had been armed with an assault rifle and several handguns.

Early on Tuesday morning, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer appealed to people to stay and home and avoid downtown Vienna, warning that “at least one” attacker was still on the loose.

Nehammer also said that the suspect killed by police was an Islamic State sympathizer.

The Vienna Police Department confirmed that the incident was an Islamist terror attack.

Shortly after Monday midnight, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz vowed that Austria would not be intimidated. “I’m glad that our police officers have already been able to eliminate a perpetrator. We will never allow ourselves to be intimidated by terrorism and will fight these attacks resolutely with all means,” he wrote on Twitter.

The Austrian leader announced that the country’s armed forces would take over property-protection duties in the capital, “so that the police can concentrate fully on the fight against terrorism.”

Jewish poet given Christian burial in Belarus (JTA) – The remains of a Jewish poet were reburied in Belarus under a crucifix in a ceremony that featured prayers by priests.

The reburial of Shmuel Yefimovich Plavnik, better known by his pen name Zmitrok Byaduli, took place on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at a Christian cemetery in Minsk, promoting critics to complain that it erased the poet’s Jewish origins and appropriated his memory.

After speeches, the coffin with Plavnik’s ashes was lowered into the grave and a cross was installed on it, BELTA, the national news agency of Belarus, reported.

The article did not mention that he was a Jew who inveighed against antisemitism in his writings. The Minsk-Novosti news agency also omitted this from its report, but jewishledger.com

did say that a rabbi, Grisha Abramovich, held “a small ceremony” after the Christian one.

Plavnik was a poet, writer and political activist who translated Yiddish literature into Belarusian. He died in 1941 in Kazakhstan after having been evacuated there in the face of the Nazi advance. He never converted to Christianity.

On Facebook, Shimon Briman, a wellknown Israeli journalist who was born in Ukraine, criticized the reburial, which was organized by the Museum of the History of Belarusian Literature and the Maria Magdalene Radziwill Foundation. Plavnik never imagined his remains would be exhumed, “transferred to the Orthodox Church where the coffin of this Jew will be surrounded by Christian icons and singing priests,” Briman wrote. He also criticized the “silence” of rabbis in Belarus on the matter.

Abramovich, a Reform rabbi, said on Facebook that Plavnik’s family went along with the Christian burial.

Bennett Center for Judaic Studies LECTURES AND EVENTS: FALL 2020 Don’t Miss A Single Virtual Moment Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture

“Flint’s Fight for America’s Children” Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, pediatrician, public health advocate, whistle blower on the Flint, Michigan water crisis.

Wednesday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m. - ticket required Co-sponsored with Open VISIONS Forum

Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lecture in Judaic Studies

“Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era” Michael R. Cohen, PhD, Stuart & Suzanne Grant Chair in the American Jewish Experience, Tulane University.

Thursday, December 3 at 7:30 p.m. - free webinar

Jordanian officer airlifted to Israeli hospital for emergency treatment (Israel Hayom via JNS) A Jordanian army officer was airlifted to Israel on Wednesday for urgent medical treatment at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, according to senior Jordanian sources. The hospital confirmed that “a Jordanian army officer was admitted to the medical center for treatment,” but did not elaborate further. The officer’s identity has remained classified, and the nature of his condition was not disclosed. The officer is in stable condition but not yet out of danger, according to the hospital.

Prominent Jordanian cleric urges followers to read antisemitic texts (MEMRI via JNS) A prominent Jordanian cleric on Tuesday, Nov. 3, recommended that his followers read Machiavelli’s The Prince, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Hitler’s Mein Kampf if they wished to understand modern political history. In a Telegram post, Salafi-jihadi ideologue Abu Qatada al-Filastini, who is of Palestinian descent, said the texts had been misrepresented due to a “propaganda campaign against them run by the Jews, as well as by their negative reputation among the public.” Al-Falastini noted that he had talked about The Prince and The Protocols in the past, and promised to write a series of articles on Mein Kampf.

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

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KRISTALLNACHT 2020 Knowledge defeats hate: Online course designed to set Holocaust record straight

BY DEBORAH FINEBLUM

(JNS) Anyone who still believes that ignorance is bliss hasn’t seen how easily it can be turned into hate.

Nov. 9 and 10 mark 82 years since Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass.”

A night when authorities looked away or even aided the antisemitic mobs fanning out across Germany and Austria. Twenty-four hours later, hundreds of Jews were dead, thousands more had been beaten and tens of thousands arrested. And thousands of Jewish schools, hospitals and businesses had been destroyed and 267 synagogues burnt to the ground, their Torah scrolls and other ritual items stolen and prayer books thrown into bonfires or strewn over the streets.

As destructive as it was, few could have predicted where this one terrifying 24 hours in 1938 would lead. It was a night and day that historians say planted the seeds of the Nazi’s Final Solution, which would take six million Jewish lives across Europe and North Africa between 1939 and 1945.

As the world prepares to remember the horrors of Kristallnacht, the number of people who know anything about this day of destruction – and its aftermath – is on the decline. Indeed a recent survey by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany reported that 63 percent of American millennials (born 1981-1996) and Gen Z’ers (born 1997-2012) surveyed did not know that Nazis and their accomplices murdered six million Jews during years of World War II and the Holocaust.

The Nazis intended Leon Greenman to be one of them. Born in England, he was living with his wife, Else, and their infant son, Barney, in Holland in January of 1943 when, after all efforts to prove their British citizenship failed, they were taken to Auschwitz, a train journey of 36 hours.

The family was soon separated. “I could see Else clearly for she was wearing a thick red cape over her head and shoulders to keep her warm,” Greenman recalled many years later. “She gestured a kiss to me with her hand partly holding up Barney so that I could see him also.” He never saw his wife or son again.

But the Nazis judged Greenman himself worthy to live for his labor. After more than a year in Auschwitz and Birkenau, he was deported to Monowitz concentration camp, where he worked for 18 months until he was forced with thousands of other men on a series of marches that eventually landed 10

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DAMAGE TO A SHOP IN MAGDEBURG, GERMANY, AS A RESULT OF KRISTALLNACHT. (CREDIT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

him in Buchenwald. In April of 1945, he was among the 21,000 walking skeletons liberated there by American military forces.

‘We have a real sense of immediacy now’ At the same time that knowledge of such Holocaust experiences is dropping, antisemitism and Holocaust denial around the world are sharply up. Last year, the United States saw the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the 40 years since tracking began, totaling more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism and harassment, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

This includes the Passover shooting at Chabad of Poway in Southern California.

An attack and shooting in a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, N.J.; and a Chanukah machete attack in Monsey, New York, plus a string of violence in Brooklyn, New York.

The folks at Yad Vashem don’t think this is a coincidence, and they decided that doing something about this level of ignorance – and the Holocaust-denying and antisemitism it feeds – is a whole lot better than wringing their institutional hands over it. So they teamed up with the University College of London (UCL) with its international reputation for innovative methods of teaching the Holocaust to create

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“Teaching the Holocaust.”

The free online course took nearly two years to produce, says course manager Yad Vashem’s Sandra Rosenfeld. And though it’s initially geared to help educators with the important but delicate task of teaching the Holocaust, “we designed it to be available to everyone,” she adds, from parents and grandparents looking for a way to explain it to the next generation, to clergy of all faiths to youth group leaders and the general public seeking a way to begin to understand what really happened.

Woven throughout the three-week curriculum (three hours of lessons a week) are the moving human stories of those who, like Glassman, experienced the horrors of the camps.

“We tell the story of the Holocaust intertwined with real people’s stories in their own words, and they give such a personal feeling to this history,” says Rosenfeld, whose father was a survivor from the former Yugoslavia. “That’s why I know how important it is to get this story out, so people can understand what hatred can lead to.”

To help teachers and others present the Holocaust, “we had to look at how to present the reality that doesn’t shield young people from the horrors, but doesn’t lose the human story or traumatize them,” says Ruth-Anne Lenga, program director of the

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A SECURITY GUARD STANDS IN THE EMPTY HALL OF NAMES AT THE YAD VASHEM HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM IN JERUSALEM ON APRIL 19, 2020.

(CREDIT: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

UCL’s Center for Holocaust Education who was also involved in making the course.

And with the upswing in antisemitism, and Holocaust denial and distortion, as well as fewer young people aware of the Holocaust, the timing of such a course is crucial, adds Yad Vashem spokesperson Simmy Allen. “We see education as a silver bullet. Knowing the immense damage hate can do is the best weapon we have against hate. And we have a real sense of immediacy now.”

“We tell the story of the Holocaust intertwined with real people’s stories in their own words, and they give such a personal feeling to this history.”

Expanding the potential audience for the course is what Allen terms “the COVID-19 effect, with many more people at home and used to learning online now.” It’s resulted in greatly increased online engagement – in the last nine months, Yad Vashem has gotten more hits on its platforms – its courses, online exhibitions, Facebook offerings and interactive Zoom events than any other time in the museum’s 67-year history.

The pandemic is having another, more somber effect as well; since it targets the elderly, it’s cutting away at the number of living survivors. In fact, the very first Israeli fatality back in March was 88-year-old Hungarian-born survivor Aryeh Even.

“With fewer and fewer survivors around, we’re on an end-run race against the clock to catch every last eyewitness testimony, to make sure we have every last name,” says Allen. “This has been Yad Vashem’s mission from day one.”

‘Informed vigilance and steadfast determination’ At least one observer is glad to hear who’s helping tell this story.

“Yad Vashem is not afraid of keeping the Shoah central in the teaching of the Holocaust instead of turning it into a general study of genocide and current events,” says Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and jewishledger.com

author of American Judaism, among other titles. “So many other organizations are afraid that, unless it’s made ‘relevant’ to today’s student’s reality that it won’t be teachable.”

Without this expert help in crafting an accurate Holocaust-studies curriculum, many teachers who go online looking for materials they can use can easily pick up slick “lesson plans” from Holocaust deniers, he adds. “So I hope many people, especially educators who can influence whole generations to come, take the course because Yad Vashem has the expertise and resources needed to tell it right.”

Ruth Wisse, a retired Harvard University Professor of Yiddish and Literature and Comparative Professor of Literature and author of such historical analyses as Jews and Power, cautions that Holocaust education needs to be done in context to a broader understanding of world history.

“To teach about the Holocaust and get it right is a huge challenge for educators at all grade levels, for everyone.”

“You could not have better people than the ones at Yad Vashem involved in telling the story of the Holocaust sensitively and intelligently,” she says. “But unless these young people have some sort of idea of world history and how the Jews fit into it over the centuries, and most of them do not, including many of my Harvard undergrads who’d had no history course after Grade 9, they have no context to understand what happened in the Holocaust, how it happened and why.”

Still, in the spirit of preventing another such atrocity and to honor those who suffered this unspeakable crime, the story of the Holocaust calls out to be understood in the most honest way possible, says Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev.

“We are seeing an increase in targeted hate crimes against Jews and Jewish sites,” he says. “We must combat the resurgence of these dangerous trends throughout society with informed vigilance and steadfast determination.”

And, he adds, through education.

It’s something Greenman himself was dedicated to. After liberation and recuperating in France, he returned to England and was reunited with his father and two brothers, the only other members of his family to survive. For 52 years, Greenman spoke to anyone who would listen – taking groups to Auschwitz to see the place firsthand and try to come to grips with what took place there. He lived until 2008, never remarrying.

“To teach about the Holocaust and get it right is a huge challenge for educators at all grade levels, for everyone,” adds UCL’s Lenga. “But if there is one thing we have learned, it’s that knowledge is power.”

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For details of Kristallnacht Commemoration events in Connecticut, see page 19.

JEWISH LEDGER

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

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ELECTION 2020:

THE (JEWISH) WRAP-UP NEXT CONGRESS LIKELY TO CONTINUE A STRONG JEWISH PRESENCE (JNS) Despite comprising just two percent of the total U.S. population, Jews have always played an outsized role in politics.

In the outgoing 116th Congress, nine Jewish members served in the Senate and 27 served in the House of Representatives.

Reflective of American Jewish voting patterns overall, every Jewish member of the Senate and 25 members in the House are Democrats or caucus with Democrats, with the exceptions of David Kutsoff (R-Tenn.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).

While Congress traditionally does not play a prominent role in foreign policy, support for the State of Israel has long been a bipartisan consensus view. However, with the election of several supporters of the BDS movement in Congress comes concerns about the erosion of support on the left.

At the same time, Jewish congressional members also largely reflect the liberal and progressive views of the majority of Jewish Americans, with support for expanding access to health care, climate change, reproductive rights, racial justice and gun control.

Here is a breakdown of how Jewish candidates fared in the Nov. 3 election as of Nov. 8.

U.S. SENATE All nine Jewish senators from the 116th Congress were not up for re-election and will continue to serve in the next Congress, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who was the minority leader and could serve as majority leader if the Democrats gain control of the upper chamber. Several Jewish candidates did compete for senate seats in the recent election.

In Alaska, with 50 percent reporting, Independent Al Gross, who was supported

by Democrats, lost to incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

In Georgia, Jon Ossoff, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2018, ran behind incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue. But, in accordance with Georgia electoral law, with no candidate garnering at least 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held on Jan. 5.

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JEWISH LEDGER

In the Georgia special election to serve the remaining two years of the term of Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Matt Lieberman, a son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), finished in fifth place with just 2.8 percent of the vote. Incumbent Republican As the two top vote-getters, Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face reverend and pastor Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, who has in the past defended the antisemitic Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in the special election.

In Wyoming, as expected, Israeli American scientist Merav Ben-David lost to former Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES For the incoming 117th Congress, the Democratic Party will maintain control of the House with several Jewish representatives likely to retain key leadership and committee leadership roles.

Playing a prominent role during the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Schiff was easily re-elected for California’s 28th Congressional district.

He will be joined by Jewish Democratic Reps. Alan Lowenthal, Mike Levin and Brad Sherman part of California’s congressional delegation. Notably, Sherman has announced his intention to run for the head of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee after Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) lost in his state’s June primary.

In Florida, incumbent Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel defeated controversial Republican Laura Loomer, who is also Jewish (see story next page). Frankel will be joined by Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a former chair of the Democratic National Convention.

In Illinois, Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Brad Schneider easily won re-election. Schneider has been an outspoken proponent of maintaining Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge.

New Jersey saw mixed results of Jewish candidates. Former construction consulting executive David Richter lost to incumbent Democratic Rep. Andy Kim. However, in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Josh

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Gottheimer defeated Republican Frank Pallotta.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee and also played a prominent role in the impeachment of Trump, easily beat his Republican opponent, Cathy Bernstein. He is joined on the New York congressional delegation by Zeldin. However, Democratic Rep. Max Rose was upset by Republican New York State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis.

Jewish candidates in Pennsylvania saw mixed results so far as well, with incumbent Jewish Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips beating his Republican opponent, Kendall Qualls. At press time, however, in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, businesswoman Lisa Scheller has been ahead of incumbent Jewish Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent, respectively.

In North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District, Democratic attorney and smallbusiness owner Kathy Manning—the first woman to chair the Jewish Federations of North America—handily defeated Republican Lee Haywood.

However, in Missouri’s 2nd District, Democratic State Sen. Jill Schupp lost to incumbent Republican Rep. Ann Wagner.

Elsewhere, several other Jewish candidates are seeing success.

In Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth defeated Republican Rhonda Palazzo.

In Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin defeated Republican Gregory Coll.

Michigan will send two Jewish Democrats to Congress in the next term with incumbents Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and incumbent Democratic Rep. Andy Levin both beating back their Republican opponents.

In Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. David Cicilline won against two Independent challengers.

In Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District, incumbent Jewish Republican Rep. David Kustoff defeated Democrat

Erika Pearson. In Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen defeated Republican commentator Charlotte DAVID KUSTOFF Bergmann.

In Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria won against former Republican Rep. Scott Taylor. Luria and Michigan’s Slotkin are two Jewish members of the so-called “Gang of Nine” that are a group of moderate Democrats with security backgrounds.

In Washington’s 8th Congressional District, at press time, incumbent Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier was leading Republican Jesse Jensen.

ELECTION 2020 SHORT TAKES (JTA) – Besides the presidential election, the 2020 elections featured hundreds of races across the country with huge implications for local and national politics.

Several had higher stakes for the Jewish community, whether they involve key Jewish politicians or issues that American Jews are particularly concerned about.

Congresswomen Elaine Luria and Elissa Slotkin prevail

By Philissa Cramer (JTA) – Two Jewish moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives – Elaine Luria in Virginia and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan – have narrowly held onto their congressional seats. jewishledger.com

the theory. She signed an online posting in 2018 that accused Jewish billionaire George Soros and the Rothschild family of being involved in the conspiracy, which alleges that powerful figures run an international pedophile ring and influence world policy.

In a rare move for them, the Republican Jewish Coalition endorsed her Republican primary opponent in July, without comment. Greene’s eventual Democratic opponent, Kevin Van Ausdal, dropped out of the race in the very conservative 14th district, in part because Greene’s supporters made him too fearful to campaign.

President Trump has endorsed Greene, calling her a “future star” of the Republican Party, and the National Republican Congressional Committee gave her campaign $5,000 in September.

Former Jewish Federations head wins North Carolina congressional race

Luria and Slotkin are two Jewish members of the so-called “Gang of Nine,” a group of moderate Democrats with national security backgrounds who were elected in 2018 to seats that had previously been held

by Republicans.

A third Jewish lawmaker in the group, Max Rose in New ELISSA SLOTKIN York’s 11th District, is lagging far behind his Republican opponent, although he has not conceded the race.

Luria, a Navy veteran, was defending her incumbency in Virginia’s conservative 2nd District, where she has faced sharp criticism from some constituents when she changed her mind and voted to impeach President Donald Trump after learning that he had pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

She had been considered likely but not assured of winning.

Slotkin, too, had been considered likely to win but faced criticism for her vote to impeach Trump. A former CIA analyst, she is known as a “pothole politician” for her efforts to help her constituents solve practical problems in their lives.

Marjorie Taylor Greene becomes Congress’ first adherent of the antisemitic QAnon theory

By Gabe Friedman (JTA) – Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene will become the first member of Congress who has expressed belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory, which is rich in antisemitism.. Greene, whose Democratic challenger dropped out of the race in September, has made headlines throughout the campaign cycle for her promotion of jewishledger.com

By Ron Kampeas (JTA) – Kathy Manning, a former immigration attorney who led two national Jewish organizations, won a congressional seat in North Carolina.

Manning defeated Lee Haywood, her Republican opponent in an open Greensboro-area district. The 6th District was redrawn by the courts and became a Democratic stronghold, leading incumbent Republican Mark Walker to retire.

KATHY MANNING Manning, 63, was the first woman to chair the Jewish Federations of North America from 20092012, and she was a founding chairwoman of Prizmah, the umbrella body for Jewish day schools of all denominations. She ran an unsuccessful race in 2018 when she ran in what was then the 13th District.

Cori Bush, Democrat who supports BDS, wins Missouri congressional race

By Ben Sales (JTA) – Cori Bush, a Democrat who expressed support for the movement to boycott Israel, is set to become the St. Louis area’s next congresswoman.

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who also support the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel – known as BDS – are also expected to win.

A now-deleted page on Bush’s campaign website had said she supported BDS. If she still holds those views, it will bring the number of BDS supporters in the Democratic caucus to three.

Projections are showing that Bush won handily, defeating Republican Anthony CORI BUSH Rogers. She defeated

Lacy Clay, the longtime Democratic incumbent, in a primary earlier this year.

BDS was not a notable issue in the Bush-Clay race, which hinged on the divide between progressive and establishment politics. Bush is a racial justice activist who was backed by progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Clay, a more centrist Democrat who had succeeded his father in the seat, had attempted to use Bush’s BDS support against her late in the campaign, highlighting it in a mailer.

Omar was declared the victor in her Minnesota congressional district, showing her staying power despite accusations of anti-Semitism. Last year, Omar drew condemnation from both sides of the aisle for suggesting that Jews pay politicians to be pro-Israel. She apologized for the comment but has continued to be a target of criticism from Democrats.

In August, Omar fended off a wellfunded primary challenger, Antone MeltonMeaux, who made attacking her Israel comments a key part of his campaign.

She and Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress, are both members of the “Squad,” a group of four progressive freshman congresswomen.

Frankel beats Loomer in Florida race that encapsulated a Jewish culture war (JTA) – Lois Frankel won reelection in her South Florida House district, fending off a challenge by the right-wing selfdescribed “Islamophobe” Laura Loomer.

The Associated Press called the race in the state’s 21st district shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The race pitted two Jews at different poles of the socio-political culture wars against each other – a moderate Democrat in Frankel and a far-right agitator in Loomer, who plays on her Jewish identity in her adamantly antiMuslim rhetoric.

LOIS FRANKEL “We’re putting the Jews on trial here in District 21,” Loomer told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in September. “They have a choice between a Republican Jew who is going to advocate for their survival in their best interests, or they can stand with self-hating Jew Lois Frankel, who is doing the bidding for the jihadists in the Democrat Party who are just literally walking Jews to the gas chamber.”

Loomer, who has been banned from platforms such as Twitter for her rhetoric, was supported by the Trump campaign.

President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara campaigned for Loomer in Florida in the fall.

A Jewish Democrat helms Fox News’ ‘decision desk” – and infuriates Trump

By Gabe Friedman (JTA) Fox’s call came so early, in fact, that the network’s anchors seemed surprised. President Trump was reportedly furious with his favorite network, and he criticized the decision in an early morning White House appearance, specifically dismissing “the gentleman who called it.”

That gentleman was Arnon Mishkin – a Jewish registered Democrat from New York who is the leader and face of the Fox numbers team.

Mishkin called that Arizona would go blue at around 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. At around 12:30 a.m., he appeared on air, and ARNON MISHKIN Fox host Bret Baier pushed him to declare that he was “100%” certain about his call.

“Absolutely. We made it basically after a half hour of debating ‘is it time?’” Mishkin said.

The call injected life back into the Biden campaign, which was reeling as it watched tallies in swing states such as Ohio and Florida grow insurmountable Trump leads.

Other networks would call Arizona for Biden hours later. (Some have not yet, and Trump’s campaign is arguing he can still prevail there.)

Mishkin, 65, would seem an unlikely election analyst for the news network that has increasingly been associated with the Republican Party. A registered Democrat, both his parents were Holocaust survivors, as he detailed in a speech to his Upper West Side synagogue B’nai Jeshurun in 2001.

His father was the physics and engineering professor Eli Mishkin, whose obituary said he was the first person to receive a doctorate from the Israel Institute of Technology. His mother Esther volunteered at YIVO, the institute for Jewish research that preserves European Jewish history.

Tuesday night wasn’t the first time Mishkin angered Republican politicians tracking election night results. In 2012, after he called that Ohio would go for Barack Obama, Fox analyst Karl Rove disputed the claim. That prompted host Megyn Kelly to dramatically walk off set and into the room where Mishkin and his colleagues were at work. Mishkin said on camera that he was “quite comfortable” with his call. Obama would win Ohio.

JEWISH LEDGER

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

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VETERANS MEMORIAL DAY

Connecticut Jewish War Veteran is still se

BY STACEY DRESNER

M

IDDLETOWN – Last year, at the age of 84, Morty Pear took up kayaking.

This past year, every Thursday morning from May through the end of September, Pear and a group of military veterans kayaked around Lake Beseck in Middlefield, not just for the fun of it, but as a way to help disabled veterans and those with posttraumatic stress disorder experience the calming, restorative benefits of the water sport.

Lending a helping hand is par for the course for Pear, a founder and charter member of Jewish War Veterans (JWV), Major General Maurice Rose Post #51, who is dedicated to aiding not just veterans but serving the entire community and the state of Connecticut.

Just last December Pear was inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame.

As a veteran, the two-term JWV state commander and member of the American Legion Post 75, Middletown, is also a life member and past commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 7.

Committed to the well being of his fellow veterans, he helped initiate the Vet to Vet program at Middlesex Hospital Hospice Services and Palliative Care Program, and launched the coffee and danish hour at the Veterans Medical Center in Newington. He helped raise funds to erect a Middletown memorial in honor of all past and future Disabled American Veterans members.

Besides helping vets, Pear has been an active member of the National Ski Patrol for more than 35 years and a medical instructor for the Ski Patrol for 30 of those years. He has served as a medical volunteer for the Special Olympics and in 2016 was inducted into the Special Olympics Hall of Fame in honor of his longtime volunteer service to the games.

So it makes sense that now at 85, Pear’s newest hobby has become another way to help those in need.

Pear first tried kayaking in 2019 when his friend and fellow vetera, Jerry Augustine got him involved with the “U.S. Rowing and Kayaking Foundation” in Middletown.

“It was for veterans suffering from PTSD and disabilities,” Pear explained. “I had never kayaked before. I had canoed, but hadn’t done it in years. I was taken by what they accomplished with the veterans who had problems. They would get out on the water, and it was so peaceful. They would come back in with smiles on their faces.”

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JEWISH LEDGER

When the Middletown chapter of that foundation closed, Pear and Augustine and a few of their friends began their own kayaking program.

Seeking a place where they could continue to kayak, Pear and his friends met a man at one of their regular veterans group breakfasts who invited them to use his property, Rover’s Lodge in Middlefield, which sits on Lake Beseck.

“He’s got a magnificent spot out on the lake. It has everything we needed,” Pear said. “He gave us a room to store our equipment. He has been fantastic to us.”

When getting started, Pear, who is on the veterans committee at the Elks Lodge 771 in Middletown, went to the Elks and asked if they could help support the kayaking program. After contact was made with the national Elk’s organization, Pear and his program received $2,500 in grants.

It is now known as the Elks Veteran’s Kayaking Program.

“We bought some more equipment, we used it for food. We serve hotdogs and hamburgers every Thursday. People get there at 10 and kayak until about 11:30. At 11:30 we start serving.

“Some people just come in and fish. One woman comes over and she kayaks and she swims. Everybody gets what they need,” Pear explained. “It’s a family atmosphere.

It’s not run like a club or an organization; it’s run like a family. Everybody knows each other and its just amazing. We help each other. It’s so heartwarming.”

The first week at Rover’s Lodge last spring, eight people came to kayak. After that an average of 20 to 25 showed up to kayak and kibitz with Pear and his crew.

During the summer months of Covid, the group was extra careful to wear masks and socially-distance themselves from their fellow kayakers.

Nearly a dozen of the regular attendees are veterans who have disabilities or PTSD from their service to the country.

“What we find is that getting out on the water, they are thinking about absolutely nothing else,” Pear said. “It seems the rhythm of their body, the tranquility of the water, the peacefulness when you are out there on the water – the silence. It just seems to work for the veteran who have difficulties.”

He gave an example of one member of the group who just sat and watched the first time he showed up.

“He did not communicate with a single person,” Pear said. “A week or two later, he

| NOVEMBER 13, 2020

got into a kayak and he was off. He went off by himself. By the end of the season he was smiling and [interacting with everyone]. He did a 180 degree turn.”

Years of service Born in Hartford, Pear and his family moved to Middletown during his high school years. His father was the owner of Pear’s Kosher Market for many years.

Pear graduated from Middletown High School in 1953 and joined the United States Air Force in 1954 where he served for 25 months before receiving an honorable discharge. After his service in the Air Force was completed, he took over his father’s business in 1956.

When the market for kosher meat in Middletown began drying up, Pear closed it and became a sales representative for a building materials company, and later became a kitchen designer.

Throughout all of those years, he earned recognition for his service to his community. His honors included: “Thank You for your Service” award from the Elks Club #771 of Middletown, Legion of Honor Humanitarian Award from the Chapel of the Four Chaplains in Philadelphia, Community Service Award from the City of Middletown Health Department, Patroller of the Year Award, the Eastern Division Patroller Achievement Award and National Distinguished Service Award from the National Ski Patrol. He has also been an active member of the Middletown Emergency Management Committee, and was presented the Mayor’s Pin in recognition of his vounteer work in dealing with local disasters and emergency situations.

He has also participated in the Stand Down initiative for the last several years at the home and hospital, collecting and distributing clothing and other items to needy vets and their families. While a patient at the Veterans Hospital in West Haven, Pear was presented a “Quilt of Valor” from the staff for work with other patients, while he himself was recuperating from heart surgery.

And his work is not done. Recruiting new members to veterans’ organizations is one of his goals.

“All veterans organizations’ memberships are suffering terribly,” Pear explained. “In the JWV, we are down to probably five members in Middletown.

Hartford is losing approximately three to

MORTY PEAR (CENTER) BEING INDUCTED INT MAJ. GEN. FRANCIS EVON, ADJUTANT GEN DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; PEAR; C

four members a month because all of their members are from the World War II years.

“We just can’t get Jewish veterans to understand that the reason why they have benefits is because of the veterans fighting for these benefits. They need to join an organization – be it the Jewish War Veterans or American Legion – any veteran organization, because we are spokesmen for all veterans in Connecticut.”

Last winter, Pear also traveled to Washington D.C. for the Jewish War Veterans National Meeting and spent a day on Capitol Hill sharing the concerns of local veterans with lawmakers.

He was also one of several veterans’ group commanders who marched on the state capitol to protest cuts that might be made to the U.S. Veterans Hospital in Rocky Hill.

“There was $2 million that was taken away in the budget in the previous year…

We heard about another million and a half that was going to be taken from the budget,” Pear recalled. “All of the state jewishledger.com

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TO THE CONNECTICUT VETERAN OF HALL OF FAME IN DECEMBER 2019. WITH HIM ARE (L TO R) NERAL OF THE CONNECTICUT NATIONAL GUARD; THOMAS SAADI, COMMISSIONER FOR THE CONNECTICUT LT. GOV. SUSAN BYSIEWICZ, AND WTNH’S GIL SIMMONS, MASTER OF CEREMONIES.

commanders got together, and got word out, and we marched on the capital. The budget committee was meeting that day.

They came down and told us they were not taking that money away anymore. And it was because of what we did that day. Some of these young people are sitting and letting the older veterans do all the work have got

to get involved. Or there will be absolutely no benefits for them down the road.”

For more information about the Jewish War Veterans, call Marty Levitz, JWV Connecticut State Commander, at (860) 830-5862.

National Jewish community celebration of Veterans Day On Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 2:11 p.m., JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, a program of the JCC Association of North America will host the Facebook premier of “The National Jewish Community Celebration of Veterans Day.” The event will celebrate and honor Jewish veterans, some of whom will share personal stories of their military service.

On Nov. 13 and 14, the Shabbat immediately following Veterans Day, JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, with the Rabbinical Assembly, Cantors Assembly, and USCJ (the rabbinical, cantorial, and congregational arms of the Conservative Movement) is inviting Conservative congregations throughout the US to transform Shabbat Parashat Chayei Sarah (weekly Torah portion) into a “Shabbat of Service to our Country: Honoring Jews of the Military.” jewishledger.com

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

15

AUTHOR’S CORNER

A teacher made his students debate Hitler’s final solution. What happened next was incredible.

BY LIOR ZALTZMAN

O

n Jan. 20, 1942, 15 highranking officials from the Nazi party and the German government got together in a villa at Wannsee, a leafy suburb of Berlin. They were there to discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” – the deportation and eventual extermination of Europe’s 6 million Jews.

The event was not a debate nor a chance for introspection. There were no brave moments of resistance. Instead, it was a group of Nazis, getting together in one room, and callously discussing the systematic murder of Jews.

Seventy-five years later, in 2017, in the town of Oswego, New York, during a college-level English class at the Center for Instruction, Technology and Innovation, a teacher asked his students to imagine being one of these Nazis. In a jaw-dropping fashion, he asked his students to argue for, or against, the Final Solution.

Two of the students in that class – which was overwhelmingly white and not Jewish – spoke out and pointed out the tastelessness of the assignment. Their names were Archer Shurtliff and Jordan April. As Shurtliff told Oswego County News Now, he understood where the assignment was coming from, but he found it unacceptable: “You can play the devil’s advocate,” he said, “but you can’t be the devil.”

The teacher brushed off the students’ criticism, and eventually, the school administration offered them an alternative assignment – but didn’t cancel the first one. Even the New York Education Commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, when first asked about it, claimed that it was an exercise in “critical thinking.”

But Shurtliff and April weren’t having it.

They took their fight to the media and to the Anti-Defamation League – and eventually, they won. Elia agreed to make sure the assignment was never given again in New York State.

Coincidentally, as this story broke, Milwaukee-based author Liza Weimer was on her way to Oswego, heading to a bookstore to give a talk about her book “Hello?” As she sat in her car, waiting out a downpour, she read the story of these two brave teens, which was posted to Facebook by her aunt. The Jewish mother of two felt like she had to meet them.

16

JEWISH LEDGER

crossed a moral line. I drew upon my educational background, digging deep to figure out his whys. In similar situations, educators have often been villainized in the media and online. We rarely get background on these teachers. Based on the comments I read, people made quick judgments that often were damaging and damning.

I saw Mr. Bartley’s actions as misguided and thoughtless – he had no nefarious motivations. For me, portraying him as a multi-dimensional and authentic individual was critical.

How has writing this story changed your own perspective as an educator?

Incredibly, as she walked into the venue for her reading, she saw a face she recognized: Jordan April. She worked at the bookstore.

That night, Weimer spoke to both teens on the phone. Astounded by their tenacity and bravery, she decided their story had to be put to paper. “I knew immediately that I was going to fictionalize this story,” she told Kveller by e-mail. “From the start, this book wasn’t meant to be about the real teens, but a broad view of the impact an assignment like this has on students, a class, a school, a community, and even the world.”

The result is The Assignment, which was published this summer by Delacorte Press. It is a riveting emotional read, and an urgent one. It tells the story of two teens, Cade and Logan, who stand up against a similar assignment, in a school that is allwhite and non-Jewish.

It’s a page-turner that explores the points of view of Cade, Logan and the other students in the class. The book demonstrates how teachers can inadvertently water the already-existing seeds of intolerance in students’ hearts.

At a time when antisemitism and intolerance are rising in this country, when white supremacist organizations and conspiracy theorists are receiving encouragement from those in high` office, The Assignment is a reminder of the responsibility we all have to call out injustice wherever we see it.

This must-read book is also a tale

| NOVEMBER 13, 2020

about identity, love and loyalty. The way the families of these fictional teens stand behind them shows how much we can accomplish by encouraging our kids to fight for what’s right – even if it comes at a personal cost.

I spoke to Weimer about her new book and what she hopes readers will take from it.

How did your experience growing up Jewish in non-Jewish spaces influence writing this book?

Writing this novel brought back memories of antisemitic incidents I experienced in my youth. Some took place out of ignorance and some from deep-seated beliefs. I drew upon those emotions – the fear, feeling like an outsider in my own school and community – and utilized them as motivation to show the impact of antisemitism and all forms of hate on society.

There’s empathy in this book for Mr. Bartley, the teacher who created this ill-conceived assignment. Why did you feel it was important to show his perspective?

Before I wrote one word, it was critical for me to understand Mr. Bartley and his motivations for giving his students this assignment. I decided to challenge myself, imagining him as a favorite teacher. But then I had to ask myself how a beloved teacher could give an assignment that

Good teachers make mistakes. It’s made me realize how critical it is for us to foster educational environments where upstanders are respected and welcomed.

We must encourage students to speak up against injustice and support their actions instead of feeling threatened by them and attempting to suppress their voices.

At the end of the book you talk about embracing your Jewish identity and also sometimes want to hide it in order to protect yourself. As a mom, how did you reconcile fostering Jewish pride in your kids while also trying to keep them safe?

Creating a Jewish life in and outside our home for our children was very important to my husband and me. We made decisions early on that weren’t easy. It was a conscious decision to keep kosher and Shabbat and to build a love for Judaism within our home. The more we became involved in Jewish life, the more we saw how those experiences created joy, stability, pride, a strong sense of identity, and community for our sons. But with all the positives, antisemitism continues to be a thick, heavy blanket that has weighed on us.

One particular incident was frightening.

Once, when we were walking to our synagogue on Yom Kippur with our rabbi and rebbetzin, a car slowed. The passenger window rolled down, a soda can was thrown, and it exploded by us. As the car squealed away, one of the men inside yelled, “Heil Hitler!” It left a mark.

For us, as parents, the answer was to strengthen our community and to make sure that the best safety measures were in place. We didn’t shy away from having jewishledger.com

THE KOSHER CROSSWORD NOV. 13, 2020 “Hearing Voices”

By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Manageable

difficult conversations with our boys and answering their questions.

At the same time, we made absolutely certain to fill our home with a love of Judaism … As Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin explained in “Why the Jews: The Reason for Antisemitism,” learning and strengthening our Jewish identity are critical and powerful tools to combating hate. Hate can’t win. It can never win.

Curbside pick up and local home delivery available!

There’s a line from Logan’s dad that really struck me: “A lot of people believe in things and stand back and do nothing.” At a time where our beliefs are being tested and our actions are so needed, how do we keep ourselves accountable?

There is a concept in Judaism that when we see something transpire, it was meant for us and we need to determine the reason. Is it an opportunity for us to learn? Is it a reflection to show an area needed for growth? Or perhaps it’s a call to action. Each one of us can take into account this concept and determine what it means for us.

As in The Assignment, not everyone is going to feel comfortable doing what Cade and Logan did. I have secondary characters who make different choices to make a difference. The point is that all of us have the power to speak up in our own way. Every day is an opportunity to start fresh. If you encounter an injustice ask yourself, “Why did I see this and not someone else? If I do nothing, could I live with it?” Doing the right thing isn’t always the easy choice, but it’s the only way to change the world.

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This article originally appeared in Kveller.

Friday, August 7, 2020 17 Av 5780 Vol. 92 | No. 32 | ©2020 $1.00 | jewishledger.com

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“A Matter of Life or Death”

Jewish groups fight for the right to vote by mail 1

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| JULY AUGUST 31, 2020 7, 2020

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Find us online: jewishledger.com ANSWERS TO NOV. 6 CROSSWORD

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Across 1. Lag follower 7. Israeli 0 11. Clairvoyance initials 14. Big name in glue 15. Bonet whose daughter is a Kravitz 16. Common title starter 17. Count Dracula 19. HaMoriah or HaBayit 20. Tribe some say 11-Down are descendants of 21. Comic legend whose real last name was Lieber

22. Word for a king 23. Marlin the clownfish 28. Sarajevo land 31. You might review a restaurant on it 32. Elsa 36. “...and, behold, it ___ stiffnecked people” (Exodus 32:9) 39. Capital of Latvia 40. Brit’s bathroom 41. Kamehameha Highway locale 42. Place you might take a load off 43. Marge Simpson 47. Israel’s Shvut

49. Home of Denali National Park 50. Mike Wazowski 55. Safari spots?

56. It’s a mitzvah to do this on 9 Tishrei 57. Puma or lynx 60. Cinque follower 61. Lumière 66. Cable news channel 67. Muck 68. Movie set backdrop 69. Crone 70. Fires 71. Part of CIA

Down 1. Drop of sweat 2. Actor Alan of “Bridge of Spies” 3. A neighbor of Saudi Arabia 4. Hebrew letter with a numerical value of 40 5. E.M.T. destinations 6. Cape Town country: Abbr.

7. Respected one 8. ___ mignon 9. Acre to Tiberias dir.

10. Ramaz rival 11. Those rescued by Operation Solomon 12. Mark Cuban “plays” one on TV 13. “Battling for Peace” author Shimon 18. Marlins and Mets’ div.

22. “Do, re, mi, fa, ___...”

23. Kendrick of “Pitch Perfect”

24. Woman’s name that’s an anagram for Ali 25. “And there you have it!”

26. “Shalom” 27. Judaism, e.g.: Abbr.

28. Dove, e.g.

29. “Garfield” canine 30. Indicating 33. Chicago train 34. “___ am your father” (“Empire” shocker) 35. Elmo’s orange buddy 37. Israeli money, for short 38. Special glow 41. Shape of an Australian football field 43. Happiness 44. Where M.J. played college ball 45. How the under-educated might spell 57-Across

46. “Mode” preceder 48. Bean and Cool J 50. Anheuser’s partner 51. Sendler who helped thousands of Jewish children escape Warsaw during WWII 52. Played again 53. Gridiron gains 54. Swine digs 57. Jew who played a Corleone 58. Most successful all-time band from Down Under 59. Not we or us 61. Place for a nosh or shvitz, for short 62. Netanyahu’s is still happening 63. “Diary ___ Wimpy Kid” 64. Schmata 65. Letters used in old dates

JEWISH LEDGER

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

17

BULLETIN BOARD How to Talk to Kids and Teens about Hate, Nov. 10 On Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7 - 8 p.m., JTConnect and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford will host a Zoom panel discussion on how to discuss the subject of hate – and how to combat it – with teens.

Conversations about antisemitism, racism, injustice, and discrimination are taking place everywhere - on the news, in schools, at the dinner table. Our kids are noticing and are starting to ask us difficult questions. How do we empower our children to stand up for themselves and their friends? Join a panel of parents and experts who will discuss how to have these difficult yet crucial conversations Moderated by Rebecca Lewis, a West Hartford teacher and diversity training specialist, panelists will include WNyaunu Stevens, director of programs, National Conference for Community and Justice; Jocelyn Carmen Tamborello-Noble, world language supervisor, West Hartford public schools; Eric Maurer, executive director, JTConnect.

To register, visit jtconnect.org.

Preserving history through family photographs, Nov 12 On Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. on Zoom, Sarah Beck and Sue Werner will talk about preserving family photographs digitally and in print and will offer ideas for sharing your family’s history in a creative and artistic way. Hosted by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford. Registration at jhsgh.org/saving-history.

JTConnect Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie Bake, Nov. 22 JTConnect invites Jewish teens in grades 8-12 to help bake 100+ pumpkin pies to donate to local soup kitchens for their Thanksgiving meals. Pie baking will kick off with a virtual event on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 4 p.m., and is open to all teens.

Sign up by Friday, Nov. 13 to bake 1, 2 or 3 pies and you’ll receive an email regarding where to pick up your ingredients – multiple pick-up spots in West Hartford, East of the River and Simsbury.

The Nov. 22 Pie Bake will begin with some words of inspiration and a first hand account from an individual who has experienced homelessness and benefitted from one of the organizations who will receive the pies.

Then bake your pies! Bake alone or join a Zoom breakout room with your friends – it’s your choice. When your done baking, drop off your pies at one of several locations. Pies will be distributed to soup 18

JEWISH LEDGER

kitchens on the following Monday.

Questions? Email Cara at cara@ jtconnect.org.

“Marcia’s Genealogical Journey,” Nov. 15 The Jewish Genealogical Society of Connecticut (JGSCT) will host the First Annual Marcia Indianer Meyers Memorial lecture on Sunday, Nov.15, at 1:30 pm.

Arthur S. Meyers, widower of Marcia Indianer Meyers and a retired librarian, genealogist and JGSCT board member, will present “Marcia’s Genealogical Journey.”

Marcia Indianer Meyers began exploring family history in her father’s jewelry and watch repair store in Detroit in the mid1940s, when she asked her father about the origin of the family name “Indianer.” Her father, however, loved to talk more about Chodorow, the shtetl in Poland that he lived until after World War I. Her interest in learning about her family led Marcia to a lifetime of research and exploring family history. “As much as I helped in her work, she ignited my interest, and shaped me in the same way with my family.,” says Arthur Meyers.

When Marcia died in November 2019 in Middletown, shortly after her 80th birthday, she was still just as eager then to help new friends explore their own history.

Register for this free webinar at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/ register/6536641015985071630

Fall Events at the Neshama Center for Lifelong Learning For more information on these programs, visit btsonline.org, or contact office@ btsonline.org, (860) 243-3576.

The Friends of Yiddish Sunday, Nov. 15, 10:30 a.m.

An informal, mostly English, bilingual dropin social group.

Thinking About God 4-part Series with Rabbi Debra Cantor Begins Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m.

A Zoom course based on the new book, Thinking about God: Jewish Views by Rabbi Kari H. Tuling, which brings together sources from the biblical period through contemporary times, addressing big questions about the nature of God and our relationship the Divine, and what God may or may not have to do with the challenges we face. Dr Tuling will be guest speaker for one or more sessions. Open to those of all faiths. Book costs $25 and should be purchased in advance from the Jewish Publication Society or Amazon Cost of course: $36.

| NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Book Discussion: The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman Sunday, Nov.15, 2pm Discussion will be led by BTS Sisterhood president Lynn Kaplan-Goldberg.

The Election: How Religion Matters Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m.

Mark Silk, Trinity College professor and director of the Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, will discuss how religion played out in both dimensions, and how much it mattered, in this year’s elections.

Partners in Creation: Making Art About What Matters Sunday, Nov. 22, 11 am.

Together, we will reflect on a short Jewish teaching and relate it to the challenges, uncertainties and opportunities of our own time. Taught by Rabbi Debra Cantor and art instructor Melinda Wright.

Lectures at the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies All lectures in this year’s Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at Fairfield University are virtual and free of charge. Registration required at fairfield.edu/bennettprograms.

For information: bennettcenter@fairfield. edu or (203) 254-4000 x2066.

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.

“Goring’s Man in Paris: The Stry of a Nazi Art Plunderer and His World,” with guest speaker Jonathan Petropoulos, PhD, Jonn V. Croul professor of European History, Claremont-McKenna College.

Ticket required. Open VISIONS/espresso, in affiliation with the Bennett Center and the Judaic Studies Program.

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 8 p.m.

“Flint’s Fight for America’s Children,” with guest speaker Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha, pediatrician, public health advocate, whistleblower on the Flint, Michigan water crisis. Ticket required. Co-sponsored by Open Visions Forum.

Thursday, Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m.

“Cotton Caitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era,” with guest speaker Michael R Cohen, PhD, Stuart & Suzanne Grant Chair in the American Jewish Experience Tulane University. FREE webinar

JWI Women to Watch Impact Summit, Dec. 4 On Friday, Dec. 4, at 12 p.m., Jewish Women International (JWI) will celebrate the impact of Jewish women on the world at a daylong event for Jewish women of every age who are seeking connection, inspiration, enlightenment, empowerment and are as excited to share as they are to learn.

The program will feature talks by: fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff, money expert Bobbi Rebell; Gail Simmons, who will prep Shabbat dinner; Congresswomen Jan Schakowsky and Lois Frankel, and Senator Jacky Rosen; and Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power, founders of Avaline Wine. And so much more!

For those who can’t join in real time, every ticket will include a recording of the entire event.

For information or to register, contact Lisa Register at (202) 464-4805, lregister@ jwi.org.

The Mandell JCC Virtual Book Festival All the following Zoom Webinar Author Talks are followed by Q&As. Presented in partnership with the JCC Literary Consortium. For more information, visit mandelljcc.org/bookfestival.

Nov. 10, 8 p.m.

Dale Berra, author of My Dad, Yogi. $11/ticket; $24/ticket and copy of book.

Nov. 11, 3 p.m.

John Grisham, author of A Time for Mercy. 11/ticket; $37/ticket and copy of the book.

Nov. 11, 8 p.m.

Cameron Douglas, author of Long Way Home. $11/ticket; $24/ticket and copy of book.

Nov. 18, 8 p.m.

Michael Ian Black, author of Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son Cleo Stiller, author of Modern Manhood. $11/ticket; $32/ticket and copy of either book; $50/ticket and copy of both books.

Nov. 19, 8 p.m.

Michael J. Fox, author of No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality. In conversation with author Harlan Coben. $36/ticket and copy of book.

Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m.

Ina Garten, author of Modern Comfort Food. In Conversation with Michael Ian Black, comedian, actor, and author $45/ticket and copy of the book.

jewishledger.com

KRISTALLNACT COMMEMORATIONS 14th Annual Kristallnacht Commemoration, Nov. 15 Congregation Or Shalom in Orange and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven will sponsor the 14th Annual Community-Wide Kristallnacht Commemoration to be held Sunday, Nov. 15, on Zoom. This year’s commemoration will pay tribute to Odd Nansen for his conscience and heroism. Nansen financed and operated an orphanage in Oslo, Norway for Jews and others facing imminent death in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Sent to a concentration camp by the Nazi Gestapo, Nansen kept a secret diary there which later became an important testimony to the realities of the Holocaust.

In the camp, Nansen risked his life in order to save inmates.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal will present a U.S. Senate Commendation to the Nansen daily; and attorney Timothy Boyce, who republished From Day to Day, the secret diary of Odd Nansen. Register at jewishnewhaven.org/RSVP

14th Annual Kristallnacht Lecture, Nov. 19 Holocaust survivor Endre (Andy) Sarkany will be guest speaker at the 14th Annual Kristallnacht Lecture to be held on Thursday Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. The Zoom lecture is presented by the Farmington Libraries.

Sarkany, a Connecticut resident, was born in Budapest, Hungary on October 31, 1936. The building he lived in was located inside the Budapest ghetto, which is where he remained throughout

the Holocaust. His father was taken to Mauthausen concentration camp in the spring of 1944, where he was fortunate to survive. Following World War II, Sarkany continued to face oppression under Hungary’s communist regime. He escaped Hungary after the October 1956 uprising and immigrated to the United States.

The lecture is free, but registration is required. For more information, visit Farmingtonlibraries.org or call (860) 6736791.

TORAHPortion Chaye Sarah

I

BY SHLOMO RISKIN

n addition to their shared ideals, the symbiotic relationship between Abraham and Isaac includes a remarkable likeness in physical appearance. Interestingly, one of the consequences of their physical similarity is the basis for one of the most curious statements in the Talmud. On the verse in our portion, ”Abraham was old, well-stricken in age,”our Sages conclude that at this point in time, the symptoms of old age were introduced to the world [Talmud Bava Metzia 87a].

The reason? People seeking out Abraham would mistakenly address Isaac, and those seeking out Isaac would approach Abraham. Disturbed by the confusion, Abraham pleads for God’s mercy to make him look old, and Abraham’s plea is answered: a 120 yearold man will never again look like his 20-year-old son!

How do we understand why Abraham was so upset by this case of mistaken identities? Doesn’t every aging parent dream of remaining perpetually young?

We find the answers hidden between the lines of this teaching, in which the dialectic of the complex relationship between father and son is expressed.

Despite our desire for closeness between the generations, a father must appear different from his son for two reasons.

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First, it is so that he can receive the filial obligations due to him as the transmitter of life and tradition. This idea is rooted in the Biblical commandment that the younger generation honors the elder. In fact, the last will and testament of Rabbi Yehudah the Pious (12th Century Germany) forbade anyone from taking a spouse with the same first name as that of their parents. This, explained Rabbi Aharon Soloveitchik zt’l, was to avoid giving the impression that a child would ever address a parent by their first name.

We may be close to our parents, but they are not to be confused with our friends.

Second, the son must appear different from his father so that the son understands his obligation to add his unique contribution to the wisdom of the past. Abraham pleads with God that Isaac’s outward appearance should demonstrate that he is not a carbon copy of his father, but rather a unique individual. After all, when Isaac becomes a patriarch himself, he will represent the trait of gevurah, that part of God’s manifestation of strength and justice that provides an important counterbalance to Abraham’s trait of hesed (lovingkindness).

Abraham, the dynamic world traveler, stands in contrast to the introspective and pensive Isaac, who never stepped beyond the sacred soil of Israel. With great

insight, Abraham understood that unless the confusion in appearance ceased, Isaac might never realize the necessity of “coming into his own” and developing his own separate identity.

A Talmudic teaching of the pedagogic relationship between grandparents and grandchildren illustrates the importance of the dynamic and symbiotic relationship between the generations. Rabbi Hiya bar Abba states,”‘Whoever hears Torah from his grandchild is equivalent to having received it from Sinai”! [Kiddushin 30a] This concept reveals that the line between Sinai and the present can be drawn in both directions. Not only do grandfathers pass down the tradition to their children and grandchildren, but grandchildren pass the tradition up to their forebears.

We can glean insights into the Torah from the younger generations. Consider the fascinating Talmudic passage that describes how, when Moses ascended on high to receive the Torah from the Almighty, the master of all prophets found God affixing crowns (tagim) to the holy letters of the law [Talmud, Menahot 29b]. When Moses inquired about their significance, God answered that the day would arrive when a great sage, Rabbi Akiva, would derive laws from each twirl and curlicue.

Whereas Moses was given the fundamentals, namely the Biblical words

and their crowns (corresponding to the laws and methods of explication and extrapolation), Rabbi Akiva, in a later generation, deduced necessary laws for his day, predicated upon the laws and principles that Moses received at Sinai.

This is the legitimate march of Torah that Maimonides documents in his introduction to his commentary of the Mishna, and it is the methodology by which modern-day responsa deal with issues such as electricity on the Sabbath, brain-stem death/life-support, and in-vitro fertilization, and more. The eternity of Torah demands both the fealty of the children to the teachings of the parents and the opportunity for the children to build on and develop that teaching. This duality of Sinai enhances our present-day experience.

Abraham prays for a distinctive old age to enable Isaac to develop his uniqueness.

Sons and fathers are not exactly the same, even if many fathers would like to think that they are. Only if sons understand the similarity, and if fathers leave room for individuality, can the generations become truly united in Jewish eternity.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor emeritus of Ohr Torah Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

JEWISH LEDGER

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OBITUARIES The Ledger prints a basic obituary free of charge. Free obituaries are edited to fit the newspaper’s style. Obituaries that those submitting would like to run “as is,” as well as accompanying photos, may be printed for a charge. For more information: ­judiej@jewishledger.com, 860.231.2424.

AVROCH Martin Evans Avroch, 90, of Orange died Oct. 25. He was predeceased by his wife Janet Avroch. He is survived by his daughter and caregiver Robin; his daughter Abby Ross and her husband Howard; and his grandchildren, Taylor and Skyler.

BENJAMIN Rita Ment Benjamin, 90, of Woodbridge and Palm Beach, Fla., died Oct. 24. She was the widow of Jerry Benjamin. Born in Bridgeport, she was the daughter of Meyer and Jennie (Rabbitz) Ment. She was also predeceased by her sister Ros Ment Lesser and her husband Bert, her twin sister Lila Ment Rudnick and her husband David; her sister-in-law Rhoda Benjamin; her brotherin-law Steven Benjamin and his wife Wendy Benjamin Goldsmith. She is survived by her brother-in-law Don Benjamin; her children Bruce Benjamin and his wife Zara, Cary Benjamin and his wife Andrea, and Julie Benjamin; her grandchildren, Ryan, Josh and his wife Lindsay, Shayna and her husband Jason, Nathan, Andrew, and Isla Benjamin; and many nieces and nephews.

BENNETT Lynn Carol (Waxman) Bennett, 70, of Cromwell, died Oct. 26. Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Albert and Alyce (Rechtschafer) Waxman. She was a longtime member of Congregational Adath Israel Synagogue. She is survived by her daughter, Star J. Bennett of Cromwell; her grandchildren, Ayden Bennett and Skye Bennett; her sisters, Sharon Slossberg of Middletown, and Merle Loza of Cromwell; her special friend Matthews Steele of West Hartford; and many family members.

BURSTEIN Judith Burstein, 94, of West Hartford, formerly of New Britain and Palm Beach, Fla., died Nov. 3. She was the widow of Daniel Burstein. She was the daughter of the late Louis and Rebecca (Rudman) Rabinow. She is survived by her sons, Darrell and his wife Viviana of Los Angeles, Fredric and his wife Frances of Kerhonkson, N.Y., Alan ad his wife Ellen of West Hartford, and Robert and his wife Robin of Blue Bell, Penn.; her grandchildren, Rebecca (Hulbert Waldroup), Anna, Arielle, Jenna, Emily, Devlin and Ethan Burstein, Sara (Simon) Cohen, Samantha (Patrick) Durham and Alex Torres; her sister, Vera Segall; many great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and their families. She was also predeceased by her brother, Hirschel Rabinow.

FAGAN Cecile (Ruttenberg) Fagan, 91, of Delray Beach, Fla., formerly of Hamden, died Oct. 31. She was predeceased by her husband Albert Fagan. Born in New Haven, she was the daughter of the late Harry and Bess (Lytell) Ruttenberg. She is survived by her children, Steven M. Fagan and his wife Susan, and Richard M. Fagan; her sister Estelle Stuart; her grandchildren, Megan, Aaron, and Alysha; and her greatgrandmother of Jayde.

HOMAR Benjamin Homar, 97, of Newington, died Oct. 30. He was predeceased by his wife Shirley (Goldman) Homar. Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Harry and Mollie Homar. He was a member of Congregation B’nai Shalom, now B’nai Tikvoh Sholom. in Bloomfield. He is

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survived by his children, Howard and his wife Jo of Wethersfield, and Janis Homar of Farmington; a niece and several cousins.

He was also predeceased by his brother Abe and his wife Judy, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

KRASNOW Krasnow, Maureen Levy, 75, of Providence, R.I., died Nov. 4. She was the widow of Howard Jay Krasnow, and the partner of Stanley Bleecker. Born in Providence to the late Edward and late Betty (Roy) Levy, she lived in Providence and Warwick for her entire life. She was an active member and former board member of Temple Sinai in Cranston, R.I. She is survived by her daughters, Donna (Krasnow) Evans and her husband Joel of East Greenwich, and Lauren Krasnow and her husband Keeth Horenstein of West Hartford; her grandchildren, Jake, Josh, Ryan and Rachel; her brother Kenneth Levy and his wife Paulette Levy of Warwick, R.I.; her sister- and brother-in-law Carol and Ronald Schwartz of Tiverton, R.I.; and many cousins and nieces.

LEVINE Edna (Greenbaum) Levine, 102, of Baltimore, Md., died Nov. 3. She was predeceased by her husband Charles Levine. She was the daughter of the late Julius and Rose Greenbaum. She is survived by her children, Richard Levine and his wife Brondie of Jerusalem, Israel, Susan Coleman and her husband Jeffrey of Baltimore, Md., and Jerrold Levine and his wife Anne of Oakland, Calif.; 11 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.

MASSOW Leila Gaye Miskin Massow 84, of Windsor, formerly of West Hartford, died Oct 24.

She was predeceased by her husbands, David Miskin and Peter Massow. Raised in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Anna Kleiman Silverman and Harry Lassow.

She is survived by her children, Jay Miskin, Wendy Kosonen and Randi Barnard; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; her sister Sondra Jacobson; and several cousins. She was also also predeceased by her daughter-in-law Lisa Miskin.

PILVER Michele (Sherman) Pilver, 75, of East Hartford, died Oct. 30. She was the wife of Melvyn Pilver. Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Joseph and Ruth (Goldberg) Sherman. She was a member of the Temple Beth Tefilah in East Hartford.

Besides her husband, she is survived by her sons Kenneth S. Pilver of Marlborough and

his girlfriend Kimberly Pierce of Branford, and Adam M. Pilver of Los Angeles, Calif.; her brother Charles Sherman and his wife Pam of Kalamazoo, Mich.; her brother-inlaw Allan Pilver and his wife Elaine Pilver; her grandchildren, Nathanial Pilver, Rachel Pilver, and JD Pilver; and several nieces, nephews, cousins and dear friends.

RABINOVITZ Myra (Young) Rabinovitz, of Bloomfield, died Oct. 28. She is survived by her daughters, Amy and her husband Rob and Julie and her husband Jeremy; and her grandchildren Abby, Max, Simon and Zach.

SOLOWAY Alan Marc Soloway, 65, of Richmond, Va., formerly of Stamford and Woodbridge, died Nov. 2. Richmond, Virginia Born in New York City, he was the son of Myles Soloway and Evelyn Luckson Soloway. He was the husband of Elizabeth Marsh. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children, Michael Marsh-Soloway and his wife Crystal Alawi of Richmond, VA, and Kathryn Marsh-Soloway of Atlanta, Ga.; his in-laws, his nieces and nephews, and many cousins and their families.

STEIN Selma Roth Stein, 97, of Los Angeles, Calif., formerly of West Hartford, died Nov. 2. She was the widow of Milton Stein.

Born and raised in the Hartford area, she was the daughter of the late Jean and Jack Roth. She was a founding member of Beth El Temple. She is survived by her children, Gerri and her husband Fred, Holly, and Larry and his wife Miriam; her grandchildren, Joshua and his wife Maureen, Jessica and her husband David, Jacob, Judd and his wife Athena, Corey and his wife Nupur, Justin and Carolyn Stein; her great-grandchildren, Noah, Benjamin, Lily, Jackson, Sydney and Frances; her brother Joel and his wife Sherry; and a niece and nephew. She was also predeceased by her sister Nancy.

WEINSENBERG Jackie Weisenberg, 85, of Bloomfield, formerly of West Hartford, died Oct. 25.

She was predeceased b her husband Gerald Weisenberg. Born in Boston, Mass., she was the daughter of the late Frieda and Benjamin Markun. She is survived by her sisters of Geraldine Zablatsky and Sara Ellen Dean; her children, Caryn Weisenberg, Linda Sheintop and her husband David, and and Marc Weisenberg and his wife Sheryl; and her grandchildren, Lauren and Jay Sheintop, and Keith and Megan Weisenberg. jewishledger.com

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CT SYNAGOGUE DIRECTORY To join our synagogue directories, contact Howard Meyerowitz at (860) 231-2424 x3035 or howardm@jewishledger.com.

BLOOMFIELD B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom/ Neshama Center for Lifelong Learning Conservative Rabbi Debra Cantor (860) 243-3576 office@BTSonline.org www.btsonline.org BRIDGEPORT Congregation B’nai Israel Reform Rabbi Evan Schultz (203) 336-1858 info@cbibpt.org www.cbibpt.org Congregation Rodeph Sholom Conservative (203) 334-0159 Rabbi Richard Eisenberg, Cantor Niema Hirsch info@rodephsholom.com www.rodephsholom.com Jewish Senior Services Traditional Rabbi Stephen Shulman (203) 396-1001 sshulman@jseniors.org www.jseniors.org CHESHIRE Temple Beth David Reform Rabbi Micah Ellenson (203) 272-0037 office@TBDCheshire.org www.TBDCheshire.org CHESTER Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek Reform Rabbi Marci Bellows (860) 526-8920 rabbibellows@cbsrz.org www.cbsrz.org

COLCHESTER Congregation Ahavath Achim Conservative Rabbi Kenneth Alter (860) 537-2809 secretary@congregationahavathachim.org EAST HARTFORD Temple Beth Tefilah Conservative Rabbi Yisroel Snyder (860) 569-0670 templebetht@yahoo.com FAIRFIELD Congregation Ahavath Achim Orthodox (203) 372-6529 office@ahavathachim.org www.ahavathachim.org Congregation Beth El, Fairfield Conservative Rabbi Marcelo Kormis (203) 374-5544 office@bethelfairfield.org www.bethelfairfield.org GLASTONBURY Congregation Kol Haverim Reform Rabbi Dr. Kari Tuling (860) 633-3966 office@kolhaverim.org www.kolhaverim.org GREENWICH Greenwich Reform Synagogue Reform Rabbi Jordie Gerson (203) 629-0018 hadaselias@grs.org www.grs.org

Temple Sholom Conservative Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz Rabbi Chaya Bender Cantor Sandy Bernstein (203) 869-7191 info@templesholom.com www.templesholom.com HAMDEN Temple Beth Sholom Conservative Rabbi Benjamin Edidin Scolnic (203) 288-7748 tbsoffice@tbshamden.com www.tbshamden.com MADISON Temple Beth Tikvah Reform Rabbi Stacy Offner (203) 245-7028 office@tbtshoreline.org www.tbtshoreline.org MANCHESTER Beth Sholom B’nai Israel Conservative Rabbi Randall Konigsburg (860) 643-9563 Rabbenu@myshul.org programming@myshul.org www.myshul.org MIDDLETOWN Adath Israel Conservative Spiritual Leaders: Rabbi Marshal Press Rabbi Michael Kohn (860) 346-4709 office@adathisraelct.org www.adathisraelct.org

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NEW HAVEN The Towers Conservative Ruth Greenblatt, Spiritual Leader (203) 772-1816 rebecca@towerone.org www.towerone.org Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel Conservative Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen (203) 389-2108 office@BEKI.org www.BEKI.org

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Temple Shalom Reform Rabbi Mark Lipson (203) 866-0148 admin@templeshalomweb.org www.templeshalomweb.org

SIMSBURY Chabad of the Farmington Valley Chabad Rabbi Mendel Samuels (860) 658-4903 chabadsimsbury@gmail.com www.chabadotvalley.org Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, Emek Shalom Reform Rabbi Rebekah Goldman Mag (860) 658-1075 admin@fvjc.org www.fvjc.org SOUTH WINDSOR Temple Beth Hillel of South Windsor Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman (860) 282-8466 tbhrabbi@gmail.com www.tbhsw.org SOUTHINGTON Gishrei Shalom Jewish Congregation Reform Rabbi Alana Wasserman (860) 276-9113 President@gsjc.org www.gsjc.org

TRUMBULL Congregation B’nai Torah Conservative Rabbi Colin Brodie (203) 268-6940 office@bnaitorahct.org www.bnaitorahct.org

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

WALLINGFORD Beth Israel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Bruce Alpert (203) 269-5983 richardcaplan@sbcglobal.net www.bethisrael/wallingford. org

Kehilat Chaverim of Greater Hartford Chavurah Adm. - Marcey Ginsburg Munoz (860) 951-6877 info@ kehilatchaverim.org www.kehilatchaverim.org

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

The Emanuel Synagogue Conservative Rabbi David J. Small (860) 236-1275 communications@emanuelsynagogue.org www.emanuelsynagogue.org United Synagogues of Greater Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Eli Ostrozynsk i synagogue voice mail (860) 586-8067 Rabbi’s mobile (718) 6794446 ostro770@hotmail.com www.usgh.org Young Israel of West Hartford Orthodox Rabbi Tuvia Brander (860) 233-3084 info@youngisraelwh.org www.youngisraelwh.org WETHERSFIELD Temple Beth Torah Unaffiliated Rabbi Seth Riemer (860) 828-3377 tbt.w.ct@gmail.com templebethtorahwethersfield. org WOODBRIDGE Congregation B’nai Jacob Conservative Rabbi Rona Shapiro (203) 389-2111 info@bnaijacob.org www.bnaijacob.org

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

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