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INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | JULY 17, 2020 | 25 TAMMUZ 5780

10 Opinion

11 Milestones

Irish Eyes Smile................................ 5 Ireland’s new government has eliminated a key bill that would have placed a boycott on products produced in Israeli settlements. That’s a win for Israel from a nation that has harbored biases against the Jewish state.

Crossword

20 Briefs

OPINION.............................................10 Peter Beinart want to replace Israel with a binational state, leaving Jews defenseless. Is anyone really surprised? asks Jonathan Tobin.

22 Bulletin Board

22 Torah Portion

23 Obituaries

24 Business and Professional Directory

Veg Out!.............................................. 5 So your mother always told you to ‘eat your vegetables.’ OK…but for breakfast? That’s right, says cookbook author Nancy Wolfson-Moche. Change your breakfast, change your life. Arts & Entertainment..............................................................................................13 With plans now in the works for a remake of the movie “Fiddler on the Roof,” one is left to wonder how you conceivably improve on the 1971 film? The answer: We have no idea.

25 Classified

ELECTION 2020............................................18 National Jewish groups see a chance to flip the state of Maine and are putting in the resources to elect Sara Gideon – and unseat 23-year Republican incumbent Susan Collins who has lost her luster for centrist Jews.

ON THE COVER:

When Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson posted on social media antisemitic quotes falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler as well as posts praising Nation of Islam leader and noted antisemite Louis Farrakhan, the team’s two Jewish owners didn’t fire him. But others were quick to call him out. And so began the Jewish education of an NFL star. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. PAGE 14 jewishledger.com

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JEWISH LEDGER

| JULY 17, 2020

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UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | JULY 17, 2020 | 25 TAMMUZ 5780

Eating vegetables for breakfast with Nancy Wolfson-Moche BY STACEY DRESNER

ancy Wolfson-Moche wants to shake up the way we see breakfast. In her new book, “Vegetables for Breakfast, from A to Z,” which comes out this month, the nourishment counselor, writer, blogger and food educator says that a breakfast that contains a whole grain food and a vegetable every day “can transform one’s digestion, consciousness, and very life.” And the vegetable dishes she suggests are not of the mushroom and green pepper three-egg omelet variety many might envision. Wolfson-Moche starts her book with Asparagus Almondine and ends with Zinguini – zucchini noodles sautéed in extra virgin olive oil and tekka, a Japanese powdered condiment made of roasted root vegetables. In between, her recipes include offerings like Spicy Brussel Sprouts, Purple Daikon Corn Salad, Chopped Kale with Pine Nuts, Green Sashimi, made with green beans wrapped in carrot peelings, and Onions and Shitake on a Tofu Pad. Breakfast veggie dishes are paired with side dishes or “go withs” of grains like millet, barley risotto, rice, polenta, even steamed sour dough bread. Wolfson-Moche, who lives with her family in Cornwall, Conn., has been eating vegetables for breakfast since she experienced difficulty getting pregnant in her 40s. Told that she was “beyond childbearing age” and not a candidate for high-tech fertility treatments, she tried more holistic avenues like acupuncture, yoga, Chinese herbs, rapid eye movement therapy, macrobiotics and more. Through the advice of a macrobiotic counselor, she began making home-cooked meals of whole grains, vegetables and plant proteins, and sitting down to eat them on a regular schedule with her husband. Not only did she soon conceive her first daughter, she also saw improvements in her digestive health and gained more CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

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New Irish government rejects effort to boycott Israeli products BY ISRAEL KASNETT

(JNS) The anti-Israel movement in Ireland has suffered a major defeat. Earlier this month, the political parties working on forming the next government in Ireland eliminated a key bill that would have placed a boycott on products produced in Israeli settlements. Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, told JNS that the bill was “carefully drafted so as to pretend to be about ‘occupied’ territories generally, but in fact would apply to just one disputed territory in the world, which happens to be the heart of the ancient Jewish homeland.” The bill, he said, was “blatantly antisemitic.” Turner said there was a “serious risk” that it would be approved by the Irish parliament “because so much of the Irish political class are hostile to Israel and believe the propaganda defaming Israel.” Had the bill passed in Ireland, noted Turner, “we feared other countries would follow.” Ireland’s two main parties struck an agreement in May to govern together for the first time. Leaders of the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael agreed on a draft agenda for a coalition government that will include a third party, the Greens, but not Sinn Fein – and not the anti-Israel legislation, at least for now. Sinn Fein, the political arm of the former Irish Republican Army, has long-held positions that are anti-Israel. In the most recent Irish election in February, the radical party came in third behind Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, raising fears that Sinn Fein could enter into governing coalition. NANCY WOLFSON-MOCHE, THE AUTHOR OF VEGETABLES FOR BREAKFAST.

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JULY 17, 2020

Vegetables CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

energy, unintentionally losing 10 pounds. Continuing with this dietary change, she conceived her second daughter six years later and has continued to eat this way because of its benefits to her health. Born and raised in Edgemont, a town in Westchester County, N.Y., Wolfson-Moche credits her mother, Harriet Wolfson, for sparking her love of cooking. But not in the way you might think. “I dedicated the book to my mother because my mother never cooked, still doesn’t cook, and thanks to that she allowed me into the kitchen at a very early age and let me do a lot of cooking,” she said. “I think it was one of those situations where the lack of interest in my mother sparked a great curiosity in myself. I’m grateful for her for giving me that space.” Both of her parents came from observant Jewish families but had over the years become Reform. Her family attended Temple Israel, a synagogue in New Rochelle. “I grew up with a very Reform experience, but very much like my experience in the kitchen, I was the kid who came home from Hebrew school and said, ‘Why don’t we have a sukkah? Why aren’t we celebrating Tu B’Shevat?’” she recalled. “I grew really curious about all of those holidays that we didn’t celebrate. We celebrated the Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Pesach, and Chanukah, and I grew really curious about the others. So once

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I left home I just became a real learner, curious about Jewish tradition.” After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, where she double majored in Italian literature and political science, and attending the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, she moved to New York City and joined a Conservative synagogue where she learned to read Torah. “I just became more and more immersed, but feeling like I had lost a lot of time. In the end I feel that was a huge gift; to have come to prayer and Torah later in life so that it’s never rote for me.” Wolfson-Moche worked for more than 20 years as a journalist on lifestyle magazines like Glamour, then spent several years living in Italy – a country she says had influenced her ideas about food as a child. “I spent a summer in Italy when I was 13. It was really a transformative time for me in many ways…One thing that happened to me that summer was a whole new approach to eating and cooking that I developed. “I ended up spending about 12 more years of my life in Italy, in which time I went to several cooking schools there as a journalist and I really developed an appreciation for whole food and fresh ingredients. In those years in Italy you couldn’t get any thing any time. Everything was fairly local. So I learned to cook that way, seasonally and locally.” After marrying at the age of 42 and experiencing infertility, one of the people she turned to was noted macrobiotic counselor Denny Waxman who helped to

| JULY 17, 2020

fine tune her diet. “My diet was pretty much the standard American diet and if you look at that acronym, it’s S.A.D.,” she says. “And it was pretty sad. I thought I was eating a relatively healthy diet because I was eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, but I discovered soon after I began practicing macrobiotics that actually I had IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and I had had it for a long time. I just thought that’s what happened when you ate; you got bloated and uncomfortable because I was so used to living that way.” She had visited Waxman in the past to help deal with other health conditions, including fibroids. “He gave me recommendations, and in all honesty, I followed maybe 70 percent of them and they totally worked.” Her fibroids disappeared in a month after only partially following the macrobiotic diet. “So I had a lot of faith in his method. But this time I was so invested in wanting to have a child, and I felt that my time was so short that I followed 100 percent of the recommendations,” Wolfson-Moche explained. The recommendations for fertility were not just about what to eat and what not to eat – “Basically the diet is more about how you eat than what you eat,” she said. “The key is sitting down to three regular meals a day at regular times, chewing your food really well, eating a whole grain – not a refined grain – and a separate vegetable dish with each meal. And as I say in the book, the separate vegetable dish can be a raw carrot or a pickle.” She stressed that everyone is different and that Waxman looked at her individually when coming up with her diet plan. “In my case, for example, I had been eating a lot of bread. I am a lover of bread, and still am a break love, so I really needed to cut back on that. But somebody else might have different specific recommendations” She was also warned to stop eating eggs, which she says are acidic. “I discovered so many things beyond my goals which were to get pregnant and have a child. I discovered that my body felt more balanced and lighter and cleaner… My energy level was better. My mind was sharper.” Once her daughter was born, she realized she needed the energy the food plan gave her. “Initially I said, ‘Once I get pregnant and I have the baby I’ll just go back to eating the way I used to eat, and once she was born I realized that I actually needed more energy than ever before and more sharpness in my brain.” Staying on the diet, she was able to conceive her second daughter six years later at the age of 51. In the past few years, Wolfson-Moche has continued to eat this way.

She says she is a pescatarian (eats fish), and while she prepares vegetables, whole grain and plant protein meals at home – “I’ve got a family that is not onboard with veganism and it’s really important to honor everybody’s preferences. I eat mostly vegan myself, but as a family we don’t.” Wolfson-Moche, now a certified macrobiotic counselor and culinary medicine practitioner, founded You Are Because You Eat, an organization offering cooking classes and workshops for children, afterschool programming, menu planning and nourishment counseling. After writing a blog Vegetable for Breakfast (youarewhatyoueat.com/blog) and chronicling the vegetable’s she made for herself and family for a year, she decided to write the book. “It’s pretty easy to eat a vegetable at lunch and dinner, but breakfast was a big leap because, first of all I spent 12 years in Italy where breakfast is a cappuccino and a cornetto – a more savory version of a croissant with less butter. But still, it’s basically a sweet and coffee. So the vegetable for breakfast was really challenging because it wasn’t something I was used to.” But she came up a variety of simple vegan dishes perfect for breakfast. Blanched, sautéed, steamed and raw fresh vegetables, with interesting accent flavors – fruit, lemon juice, pomegranate seeds, turmeric, ginger, sumac and edible flowers. Foods from other cultures are also highlighted. She includes Japanese tekka and nori in recipes, a nod to her husband, an Iraqi Jew who was raised in Kobe, Japan. Jewish and Middle Eastern foods are also accounted for: Dolamades, Italian Parsely Edamame Hummas, Quinoa Tabloueh, Fatoush, and Jerusalem Artichoke, Parsnip and Fennell Pancakes, Wolfson-Moche’s version of a latke. Taking her readers through the recipes, Wolfson-Moche lists ingredients and instructions, but also includes information about the foods – Did you know fennel is a cousin to the carrot? – as well as their origin and nutritional value. She mixes in sections like “Chew More, Eat Less” encouraging readers to eat slowly and mindfully. She even includes a Jewish folktale about the importance of eating with gratitude. Wolfson-Moche says eating vegetables for breakfast “frames you day, establishing its rhythm and tone.” “What eating vegetables for breakfast does is, it really kind of sets up you palate for the rest of the day,” she explained. “If you eat a really sweet breakfast, which can be anything from pastry to pancakes with bananas and maple syrup, you’re setting yourself up to crave sweets for the rest of the day. Whereas, if you eat more a balanced breakfast with a range of different flavors you setting yourself up to crave those flavors. And that’s I think how change really happens.” jewishledger.com

Irish CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Despite robust ties between Israel and Ireland, the country has gained the reputation as one of the most critical in the European Union when it comes to the Jewish state. Ireland also has a robust BDS movement led by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign that has long been a vocal critic of Israel and its policies towards the Palestinians.

‘A serious bill’ According to Turner, this was a serious bill, cobbled together with great effort and “backed by a coalition of NGOs [GLAN, Trocaire, Christian Aid, Irish Congress of Trade Unions] determined to push it through and able to put large resources behind it.” “A plus point of our victory is that it has been so expensive for our opponents,” quipped Turner. When the bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Frances Black in January 2018, pro-Israel group Irish4Israel, with the assistance of UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), took prompt action and pointed out to Irish politicians that the bill would contravene E.U. law. This remained a central sticking point throughout the ensuing debates in the Irish parliament and

media. Ignacio Wenley, Spanish Counsel for the Lawfare Project, followed up with a submission to the E.U. Commission that the bill was illegal. According to UKLFI, the Lawfare Project and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) also emphasized that “major U.S. companies with subsidiaries in Ireland would be exposed to serious liabilities and loss of tax benefits under U.S. law if they complied with the bill.” “This provided an additional reason why the Irish government rejected the bill, as well as reinforcing the objection under E.U. law since it exacerbated Ireland’s potential liabilities for the breaches of E.U. law if the bill were enacted,” said UKLFI. Turner said that prompt action on the bill, detailed analysis on how it contravened E.U. law and the possibility of a U.S. counter-boycott of Ireland all had a significant impact on the end results. Turner added that the bill could have become law save for “a requirement in the Irish constitution that a bill for the appropriation of public money must be approved by the Prime Minister – and the minority government led by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney refused to approve it on the grounds that it was illegal.” “I do not know whether the bill would have been stopped without our involvement,” he said. “It is possible that

THE IRISH PARLIAMENT OR OIREACHTAS. CREDIT: IRISH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

the Irish government and/or the E.U. Commission would have picked up the incompatibility with E.U. law without our assistance. But they might not.”

‘An alternative line of attack’ The new Irish government set to be sworn in will come at a time when the country, like many others globally, is facing economic ramifications as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, Ireland is also set to take up a seat in the U.N. Security Council in 2021, giving the country an outsized voice on the international stage. Nevertheless, given the Irish affinity for the Palestinian cause, many in Jewish and pro-Israel circles remain concerned that the country could end up enacting retribution against Jerusalem for its plan to apply

sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria in the coming weeks. “We see annexation as a breach of international law that is dangerous and requires a response,” Irish Ambassador to Israel Kyle O’Sullivan recently told The Times of Israel. “But we don’t issue threats; we don’t issue warnings.” At the same time, groups in Ireland may also try to continue to push the boycott bill. While Turner was hopeful that the anti-Israel groups “will be deterred for some time by this expensive setback,” he acknowledged that they “may well try again with a similar bill in Ireland or elsewhere.” “They will probably look for an alternative line of attack,” he said, such as “persuading Ireland and other countries to recognize a State of Palestine if Israel goes ahead with the proposal to extend Israeli law over parts of Judea and Samaria.”

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COVID19: Do Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jews have herd immunity? BY SHIRA HANAU

(JTA) – The front page of the June 26 issue of Der Yid, a popular Yiddish newspaper among New York’s Hasidic Orthodox communities, made the point loud and clear. “And so it was after the plague.” Those words, lifted from a verse in the Torah and printed alongside photos of large gatherings of unmasked Hasidic men, had a clear implication: After months of funerals and fear, the modern-day pandemic had passed and the time had come to gather again. That sentiment appears to be guiding life in Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities, where nearly four months after the virus first arrived, synagogues and camps are open, yeshivas resumed classes before closing for summer break and wedding halls are packed again, sometimes in violation of city and state rules. Continued gatherings of Hasidic Jews drew criticism from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others in the city this spring who said the communities were not doing their part to stop the spread of the virus. But inside the communities, the overwhelming perception is that most people have had the virus and may now be immune. “That’s the feeling, that they’ve had it, everybody they know has had it, and the people they know who haven’t had it have some kind of immunity that we just don’t understand yet,” one Williamsburg health administrator said. If community members’ assumptions are correct – and that’s a big if, as much is not yet known about whether and how COVID19 infections provide later immunity – Brooklyn’s Orthodox neighborhoods would stand alone. Even in the few places such as Sweden that have explicitly pursued a strategy of trying to reach herd immunity, antibody tests show that most of the population there has not yet been infected. But a confluence of bad timing, large families in cramped apartments and a highly social way of life that can’t be replaced virtually gave residents of Brooklyn’s Orthodox neighborhoods little opportunity to try to prevent a major outbreak. Now local health care providers and administrators say surveys and tests suggest that as many as 70% of the community has had COVID-19 and recovered, and that new cases have slowed or stopped entirely in their neighborhoods, despite a near total return to normal behavior, including large gatherings. As case numbers skyrocket in many parts of the U.S., the grim experiment that unfolded in Brooklyn’s Hasidic communities offers a compelling case study for those trying to understand this virus – 8

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and the costs that come with experiencing its proliferation. “I have a sad feeling that we can go out and about because we were lax,” said Yosef Rapaport, a 65-year-old media consultant in Borough Park whose brother and a brother-in-law were among the hundreds of community members to die this spring. After being extremely cautious for months, even Rapaport admits that the lack of new cases has put him somewhat more at ease. But the way the community got there is something he wouldn’t repeat if given the chance. “It’s not something that makes me happy,” he said. “To benefit from the bad is something that makes me sad. But I can’t have complaints that people live in the reality that exists.” The window to “flatten the curve,” as public health officials exhorted the public to do in the pandemic’s early days, in the tightknit Orthodox communities of Brooklyn may have been over long before government officials began advising New York City residents to begin social distancing and wearing masks. That’s because a majority of the cases in the Orthodox community, many believe, came in the days leading up to and on the Jewish holiday of Purim on March 9 and 10. While the mayor and governor were still days away from shutting down schools and businesses, parties and prayer services on Purim seeded the epidemic in Crown Heights, Borough Park and other neighborhoods with large Orthodox communities. A week later there were just over 800 confirmed coronavirus cases across New York City. More than 100 had come from just one Borough Park clinic serving Orthodox Jews. That was the beginning. Over the coming weeks, the communities were ravaged by the disease. And then, just as abruptly as it began, the pace slowed. One large burial society in Brooklyn said the volume of dead bodies needing preparation for burial dropped off two weeks after Passover, which ended in mid-April. They had prepared 700 bodies for burial during a period in which they would normally have prepared 100. Widespread efforts toward social distancing began to wane in some Hasidic neighborhoods, especially Williamsburg and Borough Park. No spike in cases seemed to follow in those neighborhoods, according to health professionals there, reinforcing the sense for many that the danger had passed. Meanwhile, a group of local doctors working to track COVID cases in the Hasidic community in Crown Heights, where distancing guidelines appeared to

| JULY 17, 2020

be more widely adhered to for a longer period of time, found that local newly symptomatic cases peaked on March 15. That was just five days after Purim and weeks before the city’s new cases peaked, well into widespread distancing. The doctors began working together in March under the auspices of the Gedaliah Society, a professional development group that functioned in relative obscurity before the pandemic but quickly became an authority in the community’s efforts to respond to the pandemic. Using a Google form disseminated on a blog and through social media, the doctors asked local residents to self-report their symptoms, detailing when the symptoms began and other information that would help the doctors understand how far the virus had spread. More than 3,500 people responded quickly to a subsequent survey asking respondents for antibody test results, leading the doctors to estimate that a majority of community members could have antibodies. They estimated that slightly more than 70% of the community’s adults between the ages of 25 and 65 had “been sick with COVID-like symptoms.” Among adults over age 65, they estimated, 55% had been sick. Without random testing, it’s impossible to know the true penetration of the virus in Crown Heights. But the doctors’ estimates would put the community within the range that scientists say is likely to confer herd immunity, meaning enough of the community has recovered from a disease or been inoculated by a vaccine to significantly mitigate or stop the spread of the disease within the community. That’s exactly what the doctors said they were seeing. “In our little island of Crown Heights, we have had relatively few new cases over the past few weeks,” they wrote on May 11. The situation had improved even more by their update on June 5, when they reported no new cases in the community. “Presumably, this is due to the large percentage of Crown Heights that has been already affected, conferring a substantial degree of immunity to us as a community,” the doctors wrote on June 5. In late June, they wrote again that they knew of no new local cases. The Crown Heights survey looked at just one neighborhood, but Borough Park and Williamsburg, two other neighborhoods with large Hasidic populations, appear to have had a similar experience. Overall, there is evidence that many people across New York City have had COVID-19 already. In May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said an antibody study had shown

a citywide positive rate of 19.9% and a positive rate of 29% in Brooklyn. A study posted in early June of over 28,000 antibody test results in the New York City area showed that 44% of respondents who walked into clinics for antibody testing were found to have them. (That study has not yet gone through the peer review process.) But none of those studies offers a picture of the situation in Hasidic communities, which are relatively insular. “What’s more helpful are what we’re getting from the community health centers where the Jewish people are going to be tested for their antibodies,” said Blimi Marcus, a nurse practitioner living in Borough Park who has been an outspoken advocate within the Orthodox community for staying home to stop the spread of the virus. “And the numbers are high.” Administrators and providers from four health care clinics with locations in Brooklyn’s Hasidic neighborhoods told JTA that they had seen antibody positive rates that were far higher than the citywide data. “In the first weeks when they first started to offer it, positive rates hovered in the 55-60% range,” Yosef Hershkop, regional manager at Kamin Health, said of the tests done at his clinic. Kamin Health has locations in Crown Heights, Borough Park, Williamsburg and Queens and performed thousands of antibody tests across all four locations. Hershkop said the percentage of antibody tests that came back positive had dropped in recent weeks but was still above 50%. Gary Schlesinger, the CEO of Parcare, a chain of health care clinics, said his clinics in Williamsburg and Borough Park had seen antibody positive rates of 70-74%. A health care administrator at a large Williamsburg clinic that serves mostly Hasidic patients said she had seen antibody positive results of around 40%. But that number rose to 75% if you looked at males aged 18-34. An especially high infection rate among young men is just one piece of the community’s antibodies picture. Hasidic communities tend to be younger on average, with couples often having as many as eight children or more. According to the city’s most recent population data, just over 50% of Borough Park’s population is 24 years old or younger and 14% are under six. Mounting evidence suggests that young children are unlikely to be sources of transmission for the coronavirus, meaning that Orthodox communities essentially have a disproportionately high share of dead ends for the virus, or at least a larger proportion of people who are at lower risk of becoming seriously ill. Schlesinger, who is not a doctor, doesn’t jewishledger.com

claim to know why the community has seen so few cases despite synagogues and schools reopening. But if you assume that antibodies confer immunity, he said, then the numbers point to herd immunity. “If you’re talking in the 70s and if herd immunity means something, then that’s what it is,” he said. But Dr. Aaron Glatt, the chief of infectious diseases and hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long Island and an Orthodox rabbi, questioned whether any data from local clinics or groups like the Gedaliah Society in Crown Heights could show that a community had achieved herd immunity. “Unless they’re getting a random sampling of the community, statistically it’s worth zero,” he said. Still, several epidemiologists and doctors studying the novel coronavirus acknowledged that it would be possible for Orthodox communities to have especially high rates of positive antibodies and the protection they may provide. “I think there are likely segments, enclaves, whatever, where a large number of people in the Orthodox community have been infected and recovered and thus a major outbreak among that group is unlikely,” said Dr. Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who is leading a national study on the effects of convalescent plasma in treating COVID patients. Young Orthodox men were among the first participants in the study and have made up a large percentage of plasma donors. “More spread leads to closer possibility for some herd immunity,” said Dr. Gary Slutkin, an epidemiologist who worked with the World Health Organization for over 10 years on AIDS programs in Africa. Slutkin and Joyner both warned that somewhere between 50% to 80% of the population would need to be immune from the disease in order to significantly mitigate the spread of the virus. The self-selection in the available antibody test results makes even the highest estimates only a risky guess, and there is also much that remains unknown about coronavirus antibodies, including whether they confer immunity, how long that immunity lasts and whether all people with immunity will get positive results. Because of these questions, the prevailing advice among public health officials is that even people with antibodies should continue to wear masks and practice distancing. But residents of some Orthodox neighborhoods say masks are an uncommon sight on streets that are bustling again, much as they were before the pandemic hit. As the summer warmed up, parts of the Hasidic community began the usual summer rituals. Day camps opened, and wedding halls reopened to large unmasked crowds, and families relocated to bungalow colonies in the mountains. jewishledger.com

All of this is possible, one health care administrator in Borough Park said, because of the high early infection rate. “The frum community had an advantage over everybody because they were mingling on Purim and all these other times,” he said. “It paid off.” But while the results of this experiment in herd immunity may be encouraging, the cost at which they were acquired were steep. “We have paid a terrible price in order to achieve this statistic that is more than double that of our neighbors in Flatbush, and certainly much more than that of New York City, or for that matter any other community in the country,” the Gedaliah Society wrote on May 20. “This high rate of past infection community wide will, with the help of Hashem, protect us from the virus reactivating and spreading again locally, which would thereby put the vulnerable at high risk.” And unsettling questions linger about how safe the community really is. One concern is that older people and others who are at higher risk may be continuing to isolate for fear of infecting themselves now that the communities have relaxed their restrictions. In Crown Heights, usually a site of pilgrimage for visitors from around the globe, local leaders are exhorting travelers to stay home – especially those from hot spots states like Florida and California. By early July, the doctors’ fears had materialized. First, they had encountered a troubling case of possible reinfection in the community. Then, earlier last week, someone who had traveled to one of those hot spots tested positive upon returning to Brooklyn. They urged continued caution and a 14-day quarantine for those traveling to areas with increasing infection numbers. How the communities weather the summer camp and travel season could offer additional insights about how vulnerable they still are to the virus. The more people in a community who have indicators of immunity, the slower the virus is likely to spread – even as members of the community could remain at risk. This makes Brooklyn’s Orthodox neighborhoods worth watching as the pandemic moves into its next phase. “It’s not an all-or-none thing,” said Joyner, the Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. “It’s going to make it harder for there to be a mega outbreak. But harder does not mean they’re not going to happen.”

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JULY 17, 2020

Opinion

Peter Beinart promotes the idea of a onestate solution. And the state isn’t Israel.

EDITORIAL Stacey Dresner Massachusetts Editor staceyd@jewishledger.com • x3008 Tim Knecht Proofreader

BY JONATHAN S. TOBIN

(JNS) There’s a reason why most Israelis find it difficult to listen patiently to lectures from liberal American Jews. For Israelis, their country is a real place filled with real people and perplexing dilemmas that have no easy solutions. But for all too many American Jews, Israel is a dreamland – a place for intellectual tourism where we can project our own insecurities and anxieties on the Jewish state while expressing our moral superiority over the lesser beings who live there and lack our wisdom. Which brings us to the problem of Peter Beinart. Beinart, the former editor of The New Republic and columnist for The Atlantic, sought to carve out a place for himself as the leading liberal critic of Israel with his 2012 book The Crisis of Zionism. The book was as spectacularly ignorant as it was arrogant in its refusal to acknowledge the reality of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The conceit of the work was that Israelis needed to rise above their fears and recognize that a two-state solution was within easy reach. Anything that contradicted his assumptions – like the nature of Palestinian political culture or the continued rejectionism and obsession with the fantasy of Israel’s destruction – was either rationalized or ignored. Too immersed in their unseemly quest for security and profit, Israelis could only overcome the “crisis” of the title by listening to the wisdom of Beinart, a righteous American pilgrim, whose manifest good intentions should have generated respect and deference from his recalcitrant Israeli pupils. Much to Beinart’s chagrin, rather than take the advice of a leading American public intellectual to heart, Israelis ignored it. In the eight years since then, Israel has endured more violence and political controversy while the Palestinians have continued to reject peace, whether along the lines laid out by President Barack Obama (whose alleged bona fides as a friend of the Jewish people was discussed at length in his book) or the less generous terms offered by President Donald Trump. Instead of moving closer to moral and physical collapse as Beinart has 10

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PETER BEINART

CREDIT: JOE MABEL VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

been prophesying, Israel has only gotten stronger. Much of the Arab world has tired of Palestinian intransigence and largely abandoned advocacy for their cause, as many now perceive the Israelis as a vital ally in the struggle against Iran, as well as a needed resource in the areas of technology, agriculture and clean water. Peace with the Palestinians is not in sight. But until it becomes possible, the Jews of Israel will hold on and continue to thrive. All of this has left Beinart deeply troubled. He understands that events on the ground have refused to conform to his ideas. So rather than stick to his tired mantra about two states, Beinart has decided to junk it. The result is an 8,000-word essay in Jewish Currents – the far-left magazine where he now writes on Jewish affairs after having decided that the ultra-liberal Forward was no longer woke enough for him – and a shorter version published in The New York Times in which he decides it’s time to give up on two states or rather the whole idea of a Jewish state. His “Yavne: A Jewish Case for Equality in Israel-Palestine” is a manifesto calling for the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state, replacing it with a binational entity where Jews and Arabs will share sovereignty over all of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Such a country will supposedly respect the rights of both peoples and provide a path to peace that was rendered impossible by the insistence of the Jews on having their own state in order to protect them from their unreasonable fears of another Holocaust. Having thus divested themselves of their unfair demonization of Palestinians,

| JULY 17, 2020

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Israelis will prosper as Arabs mourn the Shoah and Jews will join them in lamenting the nakba (“disaster”) caused by the birth of the Jewish state. There is, of course, nothing new about binationalism. It was championed by a small group of Jewish intellectuals in the 1920s and 30s whose naive and fearful approach was rendered obsolete by the Arab terror and rejectionism of that era. If Jewish life were to persist in its ancient homeland, sovereignty and self-defense were a must. As scholar Daniel Gordis has written of Beinart’s foolish essays, acceptance of his premise requires not so much imagination as ignorance even greater than that of the author. This means ignoring the fact that Palestinians still conceive of their national identity as inextricably tied to the destruction of Zionism and Jewish life, not a desire for peaceful co-existence. That Beinart’s essays were published in the same week that the Fatah and Hamas movements announced their decision to join forces to oppose any compromise with Israel is not so much ironic as it is telling. Beinart’s call for a new Yavne – a reference to the place where Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai built a yeshivah where Judaism could be revived after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. – is also deeply symbolic. The real-life Jews of today are not defeated, but are flourishing in their reconstituted Jewish state. But that’s meaningless to Beinart because he believes the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel is a good enough reason to abandon the whole project. So he’s prepared to throw in the towel and with it, not only Jewish security but also the revival of Jewish life and culture that was made possible by Zionism. Should Israelis treat his intellectual journey as if it were the epic event that he and his friends at the Times think it is? Beinart’s chutzpah and self-importance demand satire, not respect. The notion that the state created by the sacrifice, blood, guts and brains of millions of courageous Israelis should be trashed because it doesn’t measure up to the hopes of one presumptuous intellectual living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan is something

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so silly that you’d have to be an idiot (or an editor at The New York Times) to believe it. While we do well to mock Beinart, we still shouldn’t ignore him. Beinart’s anti-Zionist broadside in America’s leading newspaper represents more than just his own appalling egotism. His abandonment of the Jewish state is also indicative of the crisis of faith within much of American Jewry, whose loyalty to liberal patent nostrums exceeds their love of their fellow Jews or the vibrant society that has flourished in Israel. His delusions are also to be found in the boardrooms of all too many liberal American Jewish institutions and philanthropies. Their talk of disillusionment with Israel and along with their judgmental attitude towards the hardheaded realism of the overwhelming majority of Israelis is not dissimilar to Beinart’s ideas. The contempt for the achievements of Zionism and the fearful refusal to contemplate a future in which Jews can succeed despite the fact that insoluble

problems remain unsolved has become part of the narrative of American Jewish life. Though Beinart’s ideas are as unoriginal as they are lacking in insight, they have the virtue of mirroring the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of much of the liberal American Jewish establishment – both philanthropic and religious – that is more interested in kowtowing to a Black Lives Matter movement linked to anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism than it is to standing up for Zionism and the Jewish state. The retreat of the defeated to Yavne is an image that has nothing to say to Israelis. Rather, it is an apt metaphor for the failures of an American Jewish organized world drenched in ignorance and Jewish illiteracy that is suffering both a demographic implosion and a crisis of faith. The surrender of the self-described leading exponent of liberal Zionism speaks volumes about the failures of American Jewry. Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS – Jewish News Syndicate.

MILESTONES “Dignity Grows” in Greenwich UJA-JCC Greenwich has launched a new project that supplies toiletries to people in need, making it easier for them to attend school and get work. Volunteers for “Dignity Grows,” which originated at the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, collect and dis-seminate essential items which are not covered by federal grant programs and rarely available at food pantries. In Greenwich, Dignity Grows is headed up by Margie Black, a board member of UJA-JCC Greenwich and a member of Congregation Shir Ami. Her goal is to distribute 100 Dignity Grows bags on a quarterly basis. The next distribution is scheduled for late September. For more information, email ujajcc.org.

MARGIE BLACK (3RD FROM LEFT) AND TEAM OF DIGNITY GROWS VOLUNTEERS FILL BAGS FILLED WITH TOILETRIES TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO THOSE IN NEED.

B’nai Mitzvah Colin Roden, son of Jennifer and Jeff Roden of Shelton, will celebrate his bar mitzvah on July 18, at Congregation B’nai Torah in Trumbull.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT WE SIMPLY DO NOT NEED ANOTHER ‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’ BY A.R. VISHNY

This story originally appeared on Alma.

ey, did you hear? There is a new “Fiddler on the Roof” movie in the works! (Cue groan.) Listen, it’s nothing personal. The team putting it together sounds stellar. Tommy Kail (of “Hamilton” fame) and Steven Levenson (who wrote “Dear Evan Hansen”) are on board, and they are some of the best talent working in American theater. But is this really necessary? Look, I get it: Nostalgia sells, and there is intense nostalgia around classic movie musicals like “Fiddler.” The current moviemusical landscape is evidence of studio preference for the familiar. Whether it’s all the live-action Disney remakes, “A Star Is Born,” “Cats” (shudder), or the forthcoming “West Side Story,” studios like betting on nostalgia. In theory, a remake might be able to improve upon the original film. Some of the recent remakes have certainly attempted that, whether by rewriting racist lyrics (Disney’s “Aladdin”) or ensuring the cast is not another whitewash (“West Side Story”). These changes, however, aren’t really enough to fix the structural racism and other limitations of these shows. All that studio cash would still be better spent on something entirely new. But when it comes to “Fiddler on the Roof,” one question remains: How do you conceivably improve on the 1971 film? The casting doesn’t get more authentic. The majority of the Jewish characters are played by Jewish actors with a wide range of backgrounds within the Ashkenazic experience. Of course, there is Chaim Topol, who played Tevye not only in the film but in multiple Israeli, American and British productions of the show, becoming for most the definitive Tevye. There are first- and second-generation American Jews. There

are Israelis. There’s even a Norwegian Jew! The actor who played the rabbi, Zvee Scooler, was born in the Pale of Settlement in 1899. Molly Picon, who played Yente, was a legend of Yiddish theater and film. While there are of course many fantastic Jewish actors now, ones with such close ties to the sources and influences of the show no longer exist. Besides, I don’t think I’m alone in being fatigued by “Fiddler.” If you’re a Jew with any musical theater exposure, chances are you’ve seen the movie several (hundred) times. Chances are you have seen a staged production, or several. Perhaps one of the five Broadway revivals, the four West End revivals, the recent Yiddish adaptation OffBroadway, or the countless international, local, regional and high school productions of the show put on every year. Given that the original is an excellent movie with a virtually irreplaceable cast, and there’s something of a cultural oversaturation of “Fiddler,” could we please consider adapting something else? I have suggestions! Want to make a movie about another Jewish family facing down the tides of modernity? Then maybe adapt the musical “Falsettos.” Set in late 1970s and early ’80s New York City, “Falsettos” follows an unconventional Jewish family trying to maintain their closeness against the backdrop of Reaganism and the AIDS epidemic. The show handles Judaism, gender roles and family conflict with humor and heart. It asks many of the same questions asked by “Fiddler” about how a family is supposed to cope with a shifting way of life, only with less bottle-dancing and more baseball. Want to make a film that draws on a piece of classic Yiddish literature? Then adapt “Indecent.” The Tony Award winner is a play about

a play. Specifically, “Indecent” follows the true story of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance,” which was a success when it toured interwar Europe but shut down when it reached Broadway for featuring a love scene between two women – the first same-sex romantic kiss on a Broadway stage. The show upends one conceit of “Fiddler,” that “the old country” can be summed up with shtetl kitsch and Cossacks. “Indecent” is a gorgeous piece that challenges the dominant narrative about the purpose and character of Yiddish storytelling, and deserves a quality film adaptation. Want to adapt a show that has the form and style of a classic musical? Then maybe consider the 1998 musical “Parade,” with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (“The Last Five Years,” “Songs for a New World”). Based on the infamous 1913 murder of Mary Phagan and the subsequent lynching of the falsely convicted Leo Frank, this is a weighty show that tackles racism, anti-Semitism and the danger of

memorializing the Confederacy. “Parade” deliberately evokes classic movie musicals in style and form while subverting the tropes. It’s a powerful and unfortunately relevant show, and would translate well to film. I could go on. The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, the oldest continually operating Yiddish theater company in the world, regularly revives forgotten Yiddish plays and musicals and proves their capacity to be exciting and interesting to modern audiences. There are Israeli musicals, like “Kazablan” and “Tipat Mazal,” which focus on the experiences of Mizrahi Jews. Those could use a revamp, and as the recent success of “The Band’s Visit” on Broadway suggests, Israeli movies adapted into American musicals have lots of potential for success. If that’s still not enough, there are countless great Jewish books and movies ripe for adaptation. Just please, anything, anything, other than another “Fiddler on the Roof!”

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JULY 17, 2020

Eagles player DeSean Jackson posts false Hitler quotes, praises Farrakhan (JNS) Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has been accused of antiSemitism for promoting a quote falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler and featuring posts praising Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has an extensive history of making anti-Jewish remarks. On his Instagram story feed, he posted a quote from the book Jerusalem that is falsely attributed to Hitler:

EAGLES WIDE RECEIVER DESEAN JACKSON.

Hitler said, because the white Jews knows that the Negros are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas secret the Jews will black mail America. The will extort America, their pan to world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were. The white citizens of America will be terrified to know that all this time they’ve been mistreating and discriminating and lynching Children of Israel. Jackson, 33, also shared two posts on Instagram – on Saturday and on Monday – praising Farrakhan, both of which have since been deleted. One caption read: “This man powerful I hope everyone got a chance to watch this !! Don’t be blinded. Know what’s going on.” He also shared a quote within a picture attributed to Farrakhan, which stated, “There must be 100% change. … There’s a burden the Earth is carrying that it must be relieved from. The Earth is burdened by the wicked living on a planet that was made for the righteous.”

Despite the backlash, Jackson defended his posts, saying they were taken “the wrong way.” “Anyone who feels I have hate towards the Jewish community took my post the wrong way,” he posted on Instagram. “I have no hatred in my heart toward no one!! Equality. Equality.” The owner of the team, Jeffrey Lurie, and executive vice president and general manager, Howie Roseman, are Jewish. Neither has publicly commented on Jackson’s posts. Jackson apologized on Tuesday for promoting a quote falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler. “I post a lot of things that are sent to me. I do not have hatred towards anyone. I really didn’t realize what this passage was saying. Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain AfricanAmericans have suffered,” wrote Jackson in a caption of a post that includes a video of him apologizing. “We should be together

fighting anti-Semitism and racism. This was a mistake to post this and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused.” In his apology, Jackson did not mention the Farrakhan posts. Also on Tuesday, the Eagles released a statement posted on the team’s Twitter account. The team said it has spoken with Jackson about the posts and called them “offensive, harmful and absolutely appalling.” “They have no place in our society, and are not condoned or supported in any way by the organization,” continued the Eagles. “We are disappointed and we reiterated to DeSean the importance of not only apologizing, but also using his platform to take action to promote unity, equality and respect.” The team noted that it is “continuing to evaluate the circumstances and will take appropriate action.”

SOURCE: SCREENSHOT

Post-pandemic, DeSean Jackson will visit Auschwitz with a Holocaust survivor (JTA) – On Saturday, during a Zoom conversation with Edward Mosberg from New Jersey. NFL star DeSean Jackson accepted the 94-year old Holocaust survivor’s invitation to visit Auschwitz together. Mosberg, who lives in New Jersey and chairs From the Depths, a Holocaust commemoration group, proposed the call following the outcry over Jackson’s antisemitic posts on social media which he later deleted and for which he has apologized. “I grew up in L.A., and never really spent time with anyone from the Jewish community and didn’t know much about their history,” Jackson said on the call with Mosberg. “This has been such a powerful experience for me to learn and educate myself.” “Thank you Mr. Mosberg for your valuable time and insight today,” Jackson 14

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posted on Instagram after the call, along with a screenshot showing that Mosberg wore a concentration camp uniform on the call. “I’m taking this time to continue with educating myself and bridging the gap between different cultures, communities & religions. LOVE 2 ALL!!!!!” On the possibility of visiting the former Nazi death camp in Poland, Jackson told Mosberg: “I would be honored to come to Auschwitz and learn from you,” according to From the Depths founder Jonny Daniels, who was on the call. The visit has not yet been scheduled. While Auschwitz is open to visitors, Americans cannot currently travel to Europe because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Mosberg most recently visited in January for a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.) Jackson has also been invited to the United States Holocaust Memorial | JULY 17, 2020

NFL STAR DESEAN JACKSON ACCEPTED AN INVITATION FROM 94-YEAR-OLD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR EDWARD MOSBERG TO VISIT AUSCHWITZ TOGETHER. (SCREENSHOT FROM INSTAGRAM)

Museum by Julian Edelman, the New England Patriots receiver who identifies as Jewish and frequently speaks out against anti-Semitism. Edelman said he would also accompany Jackson to the National

Museum of African American History and Culture. Both Washington, D.C., museums are currently closed because of the pandemic.

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Stephen Jackson talks with rabbi, says ‘I understand the hurt’ over Rothschild comment (JTA) – Former NBA star Stephen Jackson disavowed hatred against Jews and walked back the inflammatory comments he made earlier in the week suggesting Jews control the banks. In a conversation with Los Angeles Rabbi David Wolpe livestreamed on Instagram Thursday night, Jackson expressed regret for his comment that the Rothschild family “owns all the banks,” the Forward reported.

STEPHEN JACKSON SPEAKS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN MINNEAPOLIS, JUNE 2, 2020. (STEPHEN MATUREN/GETTY IMAGES)

“Even with the Rothschilds, I hate saying that,” Jackson said, “because that’s the same type of stereotype as, when you see a black person, [saying] he’s a gangsta.” Jackson found himself embroiled in controversy earlier this week after coming to the defense of NFL player DeSean Jackson (no relation), who created an uproar of his own after posting a number of tweets over the weekend that “white Jews” work to “blackmail” and “extort” America and that Adolf Hitler “was right.” Stephen Jackson wrote on Instagram that DeSean Jackson was “speaking the truth.” Then, in an Instagram video discussion with a user whose handle is @ kosherwhitewine, Stephen Jackson brought up the Rothschild family, a prominent fixture of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories positing Jewish domination of international finance. “Do you know who the Rothschilds are? They control all the banks, they own all the banks,” Jackson said. Wolpe told Jackson that Jews remain highly sensitive to references to Hitler and anti-Semitic notions of financial control, saying Jews sometimes react to such comments with hurt and fear. “I understand the hurt,” Jackson replied. “That’s why I was comfortable initiating an apology. Your hurt and our hurt is no different.” Wolpe also broached the topic of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who Jackson has quoted online. But Jackson declined to address Farrakhan directly.

Farrakhan: ‘Jews poisoned me to test whether I’m a man of God’ (MEMRI via JNS) – On July 4, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan delivered a three-hour speech that was streamed live on the Nation of Islam’s YouTube channel. In the speech, Farrakhan said that Jews had poisoned him with “radiated seed” to test whether he was truly a man of God, and that his survival is proof that he is. He said that prominent Jewish figures such as Alan Dershowitz and Middle East negotiator Jason Greenblatt are Satan, and emphasized that NATION OF ISLAM it is his job to expose Satan so that every Muslim LEADER picks up a stone against him like they do during LOUIS FARRAKHAN, the pilgrimage rituals in Mecca. JULY 4, 2020. (MEMRI) Farrakhan also said that the reason Jews hate him is because he represents the end of their civilization and because he reveals their wicked ways. In addition, Farrakhan said that he is the one who exposed those who “suck the blood” of the poor. Urging American mayors and governors not to allow their police forces to train in Israel, Farrakhan claimed that Israel is the reason that there are guns, drugs and counterfeit money in black neighborhoods. He added that Israel will suffer from divine retribution and that it will not last long. “I represent the uncovering of their wickedness, fulfilling the judgement, that God has come to bring down on America and the world,” said Farrakhan. “So that’s why they hate me, Americans. Because they are wicked and they know they cannot say that I am lying about them. They just say: ‘He is a bigot. He is anti-Semitic,’” he added. “Israel, let me tell you, your day is here now. You don’t have to applaud. The God of justice has something for you, Israel. You are troubling some waters and you won’t be there long, if God gets after you,” said Farrakhan.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ Zach Banner says Jews are minority, too, and we must ‘put our arms around them’ BY MARCY OSTER

(JTA) – Zach Banner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers wants the Black community to know: Jews “deal with the same amount of hate, similar hardships and hard times.” In a tweet accompanied by a video, Banner said he does not want to “harp” on the controversy surrounding the recent social media posts of fellow NFLer DeSean Jackson in which the Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver featured antisemitic statements attributed to Adolf Hitler. But, he said, the community can only “progress by educating ourselves. We can’t move forward while allowing ourselves to leave another minority race in the dark.” Banner, who is of Chamorro and African-American descent, said in the video that he saw Jackson’s apology video and “it seems like his heart is in the right place.” Jackson has deleted the posts, which also encouraged the viewing of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s Fourth of July address that included anti-Jewish rhetoric. jewishledger.com

“There’s a common misbelief that among Black and Brown people – and I know this from growing up and I’ve heard it and I’ve listened to it – that Jewish people are just like any other white race,” Banner said. “You mix them up with the rest of the majority and you don’t understand that they are a minority as well.” He spoke of being in Pittsburgh as a player for the Steelers in 2018 when a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue building in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood and opened fire during Shabbat morning services, killing 11. “I was here on the team … a couple years ago when – it’s just tough man – during the synagogue shooting, in this beautiful city of Pittsburgh,” he said, his voice breaking. “We need to understand that Jewish people deal with the same amount of hate, similar hardships and hard times. “We need to uplift them and put our arms around them just as much when we talk about the BLM and we talk about

elevating ourselves.” Last Thursday, he changed his Twitter profile picture to the Steelers Stronger than Hate logo created after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. In a tweet he called the image “Simple, but strong representation of my squad.” Banner said that he met Jewish friends while a student at the University of Southern California and some have become like family members. He has participated in Black Lives Matter protests in Pittsburgh since the death of George Floyd, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported. New York Times writer and editor Bari Weiss, who grew up in Squirrel Hill, tweeted praise for Banner, writing “What a mensch. Thank you, @ZBNFL (And go Steelers!).” The ADL Philadelphia also thanked Banner in a tweet “for urging us all to be part of the fight against hate in all forms.”

PITTSBURGH STEELERS OFFENSIVE TACKLE ZACH BANNER AT HEINZ FIELD IN PITTSBURGH, SEPT. 15, 2019.

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VOTE TODAY! ANNOUNCING THE 6TH ANNUAL BEST OF WEST HARTFORD! 2020

Each category includes this year’s finalists (a composite from the past 5 years) as well as space to write in your personal favorites... even a new category to include who you love that we missed! Go online and vote, and remember to share, share and share some more! Businesses are counting on your support and we know of several that are determined to retain their “best” title, so don’t be shy about sharing this contest everywhere! Thanks for taking the time to vote!

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NYC’s flagship JCC cuts 35% of jobs as pandemic layoffs continue BY SHIRA HANAU

(JTA) – Just days after the expiration of a federal program meant to preserve jobs during the pandemic, one of the largest JCCs in the country has laid off or furloughed 35% of its employees. The Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, which employed 192 people before the pandemic, laid off 32 people and furloughed 40 last week as it faces decreased revenue. The JCC, which operated on a budget of $34 million before the coronavirus hit, expects to cut that in half moving forward. Among the positions eliminated were most of the marketing department, managers of the studio arts and culinary programs, the senior athletics director, a birthday party coordinator, an positions dealing with the JCC’s extensive Jewish learning offerings. Those who remain at their jobs and earning more than approximately $52,000 are taking pay cuts of 5, 7 or 10%. Most of the furloughed positions are on the health and wellness staff. Rabbi Joy Levitt, the center’s executive director, said the plan is to bring back those employees soon as the building, which includes an extensive fitness facility, is able to reopen fully. The JCC’s nursery school will re-open in September. The organization had no choice but to mitigate costs related to upkeep of the JCC’s 14-story Upper West Side building, which has been closed since March. The layoffs came just days after the end of the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which offered loans to cover payroll at small businesses during the pandemic-induced financial crisis. The Manhattan JCC received between $2 million and 5 million through the program, according to data from the Small Business Administration. The layoffs at the Manhattan JCC are likely at the front edge of a rising wave because of the federal program’s rules. Employers who maintained their March staffing levels through June 30 are eligible to have their loans forgiven. The passing of that date gives little financial incentive to retain employees whose work has ended because of the pandemic. That includes many employees of JCCs across the country. Some members of the Manhattan JCC have donated the amount that they would normally pay in membership fees, and 1,700 donors gave to an emergency fund, Levitt said. But the JCC plans to slash that budget in half due to the pandemic. Even once the building can reopen, Levitt said she doesn’t anticipate all offerings resuming immediately. Many arts programs primarily served older adults who may not feel comfortable coming back until there is a COVID-19 vaccine, she said. “The reason that we had to lay these folks off is not because they are not mission consistent – they are vital to the core mission of the JCC,” Levitt said. “We can’t wait to get back to in person.”

ANSWERS TO JULY 10 CROSSWORD

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THE KOSHER CROSSWORD JULY 17, 2020

“Remembering A Legend”

By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Medium

Curbside pick up and local home delivery available! SHABBAT DINNER TRADITIONAL DAIRY LUNCHEON DELI SANDWICH PLATTER DINNER MENU

Across 1. Statement figures: Abbr. 5. Something to follow 10. Lets up 14. What Caesar called France 15. Good way to plan 16. School where Mr. Burns would have to donate an international airport to get his son accepted on “The Simpsons” 17. 62-Across won 11 (!) of them 19. Ethereal locale guarded by a flaming sword 20. Orchestral contingent 21. “Titanium” singer 22. Sportscaster Rashad 23. Tongue in Tehran 24. Best friend and comedic partner of 62-Across

26. SHO-owned channel for film buffs 28. Its website has a “Know Your Rights” section 29. The first of Mickey (Rooney’s) eight wives 32. “Phooey!” 36. Sight a sightseer sees in Sicily 39. Classic sitcom created by 62-Across, with “The” 42. “I conquered,” to Caesar 43. Co- (ahem) Peace Nobelist with Shimon and Yitzhak 44. Word in California place names 45. Eldest of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” 47. Contacts privately on IG 49. 62-Across worked with George

Clooney three times playing this character 54. Part of some nautical maps 58. Restaurant freebies 59. “Cobra ___”, hit YouTube show 60. Lacking worldly wisdom 61. Opposed party 62. Legend who passed away on June 29 64. “...a rod out of the ___ of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1) 65. Sch. in Philly 66. Lawrence, in Scandinavia 67. Part of a children’s game 68. Beach crashers 69. Web spot

Down 1. Wharton’s “The ___ Innocence” 2. Black snake 3. “It’s not a ___!” (Schwarzenegger line) 4. Most like Stallone? 5. Shop tool 6. Big hole in the ground 7. Strange and unsettling 8. “The King of Clay” 9. Quests for QBs 10. Purim mask features 11. Commits the sin of rechilus 12. Far from rosy 13. Transports 18. “I, Robot” author Isaac

22. Section of a circumference 25. Enjoyed the sun 27. One defending Eretz Yisrael 29. “Faithfully” or “Truly”: abbr. 30. King Henry who founded the Tudor dynasty 31. ___ for (aware of) 33. “Messenger” molecule letters 34. YouTube clip intros 35. Cobb and Burrell 37. Most common name of the daughters of Tzelafchad 38. Grain bristle 40. Do a crossword or two while waiting, perhaps 41. Critter in a white coat

46. “Pygmalion” playwright’s initials 48. Some mollusks 49. Popular success 50. “___ a stinker?” (Bugs Bunny line) 51. Rare, striped kosher animal 52. Equipped, as a rowboat 53. Creator of Rabbit and Owl 55. The cost for peace with Egypt 56. U.S. Open winner, 1975-78 57. Short, concise and to the point 62. Allotted portion 63. OR staffers

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JULY 17, 2020

ELECTION 2020 Sara Gideon goes after Susan Collins’ Senate seat – with lots of Jewish support BY RON KAMPEAS

(BRIANNA SOUKUP/PORTLAND PORTLAND PRESS HERALD VIA GETTY IMAGES)

(JTA) – Lou Kornreich’s Shabbat table is a microcosm of the Maine Jewish community, of the national Jewish community, of Maine and of the nation. And he doesn’t like it. “When I have a discussion at the Shabbos table, there are those on the left who are angry at Susan and those on the right who staunchly support her,” the retired judge told me this week, describing increasingly fraught Friday night meals in Bangor. The intensity unsettles him. “Susan” is Susan Collins, the 67-year-old Maine Republican who is seeking a fifth term in office and for years has traded on her reputation as a moderate to win support from independents and some Democrats. It’s a formula that may no longer work in the polarized age of President Donald Trump, whom Collins voted to acquit during his January impeachment trial. A poll this week showed Sara Gideon, the 48-year-old Democratic speaker of the Maine House, leading Collins by four points. Democrats nationwide think Gideon has momentum (as the Ledger went to press, she was preparing for the primary held on Tuesday, in which she was the favorite). They have been pouring money into her campaign, and she has out-raised Collins $23 million to $16 million, according to Open Secrets. It’s been a steep drop for Collins: In her last election, in 2014, she won with 68% of the vote. It’s also an election that has excited unusual attention among Maine Jews, who number 10,000-15,000, and national political Jewish organizations – and not just because Gideon is married to a Jewish lawyer. Here’s why.

A core race in the quest to control the Senate Democrats are four Senate seats away from control of the upper chamber – three if Joe Biden wins the presidential election and his vice president becomes the deciding vote. There are 35 seats up for election, 23 with Republican incumbents and 12 with Democrats, and anywhere between five and nine are seen as likely to flip – just one of them a vulnerable Democrat, Doug Jones of Alabama. The GOP states seen as most vulnerable are Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Georgia, Montana – and Maine. After a bruising primary season that has created some odd bedfellows, the political action committees associated with J Street, 18

SARA GIDEON SPEAKS TO THE MEDIA IN HER OFFICE AT THE MAINE STATE HOUSE, JULY 3, 2017.

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the liberal Jewish Middle East lobbying group, and the Democratic Majority for Israel, aligned with more centrist policies on Israel, are all in for Gideon in Maine. Gideon is a relative centrist on Israel, and so are others that J Street PAC is backing this cycle in Arizona and Colorado. The PAC is backing her primarily because she brings Democrats closer to taking the Senate, said Ilya Braverman, J Street’s national political director. The Democratic Majority for Israel PAC’s president, Mark Mellman, said in an email that Gideon is “the best chance we have of defeating Susan Collins, who traded her reputation for independence for full membership in the Donald Trump fan club.”

Kavanaugh and impeachment There was a time that Jewish political donors – like Jewish voters, a mostly liberal cohort – were open to backing Republicans. One litmus test for donors was where the Republicans stood on reproductive choice. One by one, as the political arena became more polarized, pro-choice Republicans either quit (Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine) or were ousted (Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois). Collins was the last woman standing, at least in the Senate, and she fell two years ago by her own sword – by the lights of these donors – when she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice. Collins said at the time that she believed Kavanaugh would not support cases that undermine the Roe v. Wade precedent establishing abortion rights. But last month, Kavanaugh dissented on a majority opinion that overturned a Louisiana law that might have shut down abortion clinics in the state. Gideon has used that vote against Collins in her campaigning, and it resonates for Jewish donors. “Susan Collins was our last Republican, I mean, she made us bipartisan,” said Hollis Wein, the director of communications for JACPAC, a Midwestern Jewish PAC that focuses on reproductive rights, church-state separation and Israel. “Sadly, Susan made it very easy for us to walk away when she supported [Neil] Gorsuch,” a Supreme Court justice named in 2017, “and then Kavanaugh. She had really good votes, we met with her, we had a good relationship with her, she was prochoice, but after she chose to support those two Supreme Court nominees, to us it was

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clear that she was no longer in our corner and that she was no longer pro-choice.” One Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, effectively opposed Kavanaugh. Two more from the party could have nixed his nomination, and expectations were high that Collins would be one of them. A similar dynamic played out this year with the Senate trial on Trump’s impeachment for soliciting Ukraine’s assistance in campaigning against Biden. A lone Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, voted to convict, with Collins and a handful of Republicans waiting until the last moment to join in acquitting Trump. Halie Soifer, the director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, whose PAC also is backing Gideon, said Collins would forever be haunted by her claim after the conviction that Trump “learned” from the ordeal and will be “much more cautious.” His angry purge of impeachment witnesses since then suggests otherwise. “The only lesson he learned was that he can get away with breaking the law and Republicans like Susan Collins will give him a pass,” Soifer said.

The Israel question Gideon won’t offend anyone in the Democratic mainstream when it comes to Israel. Her statement on Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank condemns the prospect, but does not threaten any repercussions – even as Democrats increasingly are prone to say out loud that Israel could pay a price in how assistance is delivered if it goes ahead with annexation. “Unilateral annexation by the Israeli government is a dangerous step that threatens the security of Israel and its neighbors, and puts the goal of a twostate solution at risk,” she said in a list of statements by competitive Democrats compiled by J Street and posted by Jewish Insider. “As Israel’s closest friend and ally, the United States should speak out against this plan and work with the Israeli government to foster the circumstances necessary for a stable and enduring peace that protects the human rights of Israelis and Palestinians.” Earlier this year Gideon, as Maine’s House speaker, took the lead in passing a resolution that recognized the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism. That definition includes some forms of attack on Israel, stirring controversy on the left.

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s PAC has endorsed Collins, and she still commands loyalty from pro-Israel donors who eschew partisanship and favor incumbents with proven pro-Israel bona fides. Two nonpartisan pro-Israel PACs are also backing Collins: NORPAC and Pro-Israel America, started by former top officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Jeff Mendelsohn, Pro-Israel America’s director, told me that Collins has taken the lead in the past on opposing International Criminal Court action against Israelis and the inclusion of Hamas in any Palestinian government, as well as consistently backing defense assistance. “It’s her 20-plus year track record supporting legislation that advances the U.S.-Israel relationship,” he said. “I know that if Susan Collins is reelected, she will continue to be a strong vocal advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship – I can say that with certainty. That’s why we endorsed her.”

Yichus Aside from her marriage to Benjamin Rogoff, we know nothing about Gideon’s personal Jewish connections. Four Maine rabbis declined to comment on whether Gideon, who did not return requests for an interview, is involved in the state’s Jewish community. Her advocates say that she is sensitive to issues that Jewish liberals consider critical, such as abortion, preserving the social safety net and immigration (Gideon’s father is an immigrant from India and her mother is of Armenian descent). The Jewish Democratic Council of America has made Maine one of 14 states in which it is dedicating resources to get out the Jewish vote. Kornreich said that was a smart move as small as the Jewish population is in the state. “Jewish voters tend to vote Democratic and they can make the difference,” he said. Kornreich said Gideon’s tack to the center could win her the seat – and might earn her his vote, although he is leaning now toward Collins, whom he has known for years. “Susan is a friend, she has done tremendous things for the state and admirable things for the country, I like her personally and I like her politics,” he said. “But Sara is a very attractive candidate.”

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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, Rabbi-in-Residence 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

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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 NEW BRITAIN Congregation Tephereth Israel Orthodox Rabbi Andrew Hechtman (860) 229-1485 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 Orchard Street ShulCongregation Beth Israel Orthodox Rabbi Mendy Hecht 973-723-9070 www.orchardstreetshul.org NEW LONDON Ahavath Chesed Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Avrohom Sternberg 860-442-3234 Ahavath.chesed@att.net Congregation Beth El Conservative Rabbi Rachel Safman (860) 442-0418 office@bethel-nl.org bethel-nl.org NEWINGTON Temple Sinai Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Bennett (860) 561-1055 templesinaict@gmail.com www.sinaict.org NEWTOWN Congregation Adath Israel Conservative Rabbi Barukh Schectman (203) 426-5188 office@congadathisrael.org www.congadathisrael.org

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SOUTHINGTON Gishrei Shalom Jewish Congregation Reform Rabbi Alana Wasserman (860) 276-9113 President@gsjc.org www.gsjc.org

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

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

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

WASHINGTON Greater Washington Coalition Rabbi James Greene (860) 868-2434 admin@jewishlifect.org www.jewishlife.org

RIDGEFIELD Congregation Shir Shalom of Westchester and Fairfield Counties Reform Rabbi David Reiner Cantor Debora Katchko-Gray (203) 438-6589 office@ourshirshalom.org

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

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

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

NORWALK Beth Israel Synagogue – Chabad of Westport/ Norwalk Orthodox-Chabad Rabbi Yehoshua S. Hecht (203) 866-0534 info@bethisraelchabad.org bethisraelchabad.org Congregation Beth El-Norwalk Conservative Rabbi Ita Paskind (203) 838-2710 Jody@congbethel.org www.congbethel.org

Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, Emek Shalom Reform Rabbi Rebekah Goldman Mag (860) 658-1075 admin@fvjc.org www.fvjc.org SOUTH WINDSOR Temple Beth Hillel of South Windsor Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman (860) 282-8466 tbhrabbi@gmail.com www.tbhsw.org

Beth El Temple Conservative Rabbi James Rosen Rabbi Ilana Garber (860) 233-9696 hsowalsky@bethelwh.org www.bethelwesthartford.org Chabad House of Greater Hartford Rabbi Joseph Gopin Rabbi Shaya Gopin, Director of Education (860) 232-1116 info@chabadhartford.com www.chabadhartford.com

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The Emanuel Synagogue Conservative 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 Ostrozynski 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 WOODBRIDGE Congregation B’nai Jacob Conservative Rabbi Rona Shapiro (203) 389-2111 info@bnaijacob.org www.bnaijacob.org

JULY 17, 2020

Briefs U of Wisconsin Hillel finds ‘Free Palestine’ spraypainted on building (JNS) The outside of the Hillel building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison was vandalized on July 7, according to the organization. The words “Free Palestine” appeared on the concrete structure that welcomes people to the building, also known as the Barbara Hochberg Center for Jewish Student Life. “We view this act of vandalism as targeting the Jewish community and as an incident of bias,” said UW Hillel president and CEO Greg Steinberger in a Facebook post on the UW Hillel Foundation page. Steinberger said Hillel has contacted the Madison Metropolitan Police Department and the University of Wisconsin Police Department, in addition to notifying UW Hillel’s student leaders and board of directors. Around 12 percent of the U of Wisconsin student body is Jewish.

Seth Rogen plays two roles in “An American Pickle” (JTA) – The trailer for “An American Pickle,” the upcoming movie in which Seth Rogen plays a 1920s Jewish immigrant who falls into a pickle vat and wakes up 100 years later, shows Rogen playing both main characters: Herschel Greenbaum, the poor ditch-digger from “Schlupsk,” a fake region of Eastern Europe, and Ben Greenbaum, his great-grandson who works as a computer programmer in modern-day Brooklyn. Based on a short story by Simon Rich, the film tells the story of Herschel, who wakes up in the future, as he attempts to get Ben to start a pickle business with him after Ben loses his job. The trailer suggests a wealth of Jewish references. In one snippet, the two are shown talking about how polio has been cured. Ben says the doctor who discovered the cure was named Jonas Salk. Herschel asks if he was a Jew, and when Ben says yes, Herschel pumps his fist. The movie is out on HBO Max on Aug. 6.

Ben Platt shares how he came out as gay during Israel trip (JTA) – In a recently released Netflix film, Broadway star Ben Platt shared his coming out story – and it involves a trip to Israel. He shared the vignette from “Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Music Hall,” which debuted in May, in a clip on his Twitter account on July 6. As Platt explains, he realized he was gay when he was 12, but hadn’t felt it necessary to tell anyone. “I was in eighth grade on a trip to Israel, 20

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like you do in the eighth grade. When you’re a Jew. A kid in my class who was on the trip made a comment something like, ‘Oh, Ben, is so lucky. Because he’s gay he gets to hang out with all the girls and be in their hotel room because they don’t care,” Platt recalled. “It was no derogatory thing at all. It wasn’t a bullying thing. It was just true. All my friends were girls and they would let me hang out with them. But the chaperone overheard this.” The chaperone assumed Platt was being bullied and planned to call his parents. Platt didn’t want them to find out that way, so he went back to his hotel and dialed home. His mother, Julie, answered and he told her he needed to tell her something important. Before Ben could finish his sentence, mom blurted out: “Is this about your sexuality?” She added: “You spent most of your childhood dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. No one is surprised.” Platt ends by wishing the same “nothing experience” for other young people struggling to come out.

In ‘The Tobacconist,’ a young Austrian befriends Freud during WWII (JTA) – On the surface, “The Tobacconist” looks like a typical coming-of-age story: small town boy becomes a man in the big city. But this independent film, directed by Nikolaus Leytner, is set in Vienna during the lead-up to the Nazi occupation of the Austrian city. And Sigmund Freud is a central character. The story, adapted from a Robert Seethaler novel, follows 17-year-old Franz (Simon Morze), who is raised in the Austrian countryside but eventually sent to apprentice in a tobacco shop in Vienna. One of his regulars is Dr. Freud (Bruno Ganz). Though already world famous, Freud befriends young Franz. As might be expected, the teenager seeks advice about a particular lady he’s met. Freud does what he can but admits that no one really understands women. As the Nazis move unimpeded into the country, tensions arise between Franz and his lover. The Jewish Dr. Freud refuses to emigrate. The German-language film with English subtitles was released July 10 via Kino Lorber, which shares revenue with local theaters.

Senators call for kosher, halal food in COVID-19 programs (JNS) U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) have called on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to ensure that kosher and halal food are included in federal emergency food programs in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter sent on Wednesday, Gillibrand and Stabenow,

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whose states represent large Jewish and Muslim populations, respectively, called on Perdue “to ensure that kosher and halal food are being included in the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, and what steps USDA has taken to receive feedback from Jewish and Muslim communities to ensure their religious dietary needs are met by the program.” “Americans of all backgrounds and faiths are experiencing increased hunger during this pandemic, and many programs have been put forth to alleviate some of these issues,” stated the letter. “However, many in the Jewish and Muslim community only eat kosher or halal food and have not been able to benefit from these programs if they do not provide these options.”

ZOA files complaint against 14 member groups for calling leader’s remarks ‘racist’ (JTA) – The Zionist Organization of America didn’t like its leader being accused of making racist comments by other members of a Jewish umbrella group – and it’s lodged an official complaint. The 114-page complaint, filed June 23 with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations names individuals leading 14 organizations of the foreign policy group as “defendants,” an unusual term considering that the proceeding is internal and not a matter for the courts. They include several affiliated with the Reform and Conservative movements and several that advocate for the two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as HIAS, the immigration advocacy group that in May filed a complaint against the ZOA in the Conference of Presidents. Much of the ZOA complaint focuses on claims by the named individuals that public pronouncements by its president, Morton Klein, made during the recent social unrest have at times crossed into racism. Klein has said on Twitter that Black Lives Matter “is an antisemitic, Israel hating Soros funded racist extremist Israelophobic hate group” and “BLM is a Jew hating, White hating, Israel hating, conservative Black hating, violence promoting, dangerous Soros funded extremist group of haters.” Calling these statements and others “racist” is false and disparaging, the ZOA complaint says. The charges are based on a Conference of Presidents policy that constituent groups should not disparage one another. The HIAS complaint against the ZOA citing Klein’s claims that HIAS is not Jewish and has associated with terrorist-affiliated groups. In 2019, the Conference of Presidents reprimanded the ZOA for similar attacks on HIAS and other constituents of the umbrella group.

House advances $250M in funding for IsraeliPalestinian programs (JTA) – The foreign operations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee approved a $66 billion spending bill on Monday that includes $50 million a year over five years for dialogue programs and investment in the Palestinian private sector. That breaks down over time to $110 million for the dialogue programs and $140 million for the investments. The proIsrael groups praising the move on Twitter included AIPAC, a center-right group, and J Street, a liberal Jewish Middle East policy group. Many singled out the Appropriations Committee chairwoman, Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., a longtime pro-Israel stalwart who led advocacy for the funding. Lowey, who is retiring this year, is Jewish. The Trump administration has slashed funding for economic development and person-to-person dialogue funding to almost zero. The economic portion of the Trump administration peace plan relies almost entirely on funding from non-U.S. sources, mostly among oil-wealthy nations. The bill “also seeks to restore humanitarian and development assistance to the Palestinians to continue the viability of a two-state solution by providing resources to organizations working in the West Bank and Gaza,” Lowey said in her statement introducing the package. ALLMEP, an umbrella group for peace dialogue, led lobbying for the package. The bill is subject to further revision as it heads to the full committee, then the House and finally reconciliation with the parallel Senate bill. However, the dialogue and investment component will likely survive because it has bipartisan backing. Separately, the bill also includes $225 million for Palestinian relief and development funding.

Groups leading the Facebook ad boycott meet with Mark Zuckerberg (JTA) – Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t changed his tune about Facebook’s stance on the spread of hate on the social media platform. That’s what the heads of several civil rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, said following a meeting July 7 with Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives to discuss the demands of the advertisers that joined the #StopHateForProfit movement. “It was abundantly clear in our meeting today that Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team is not yet ready to address the vitriolic hate on their platform,” read a statement issued by the leaders after the meeting. “Zuckerberg offered the same old defense of white supremacist, antisemitic, Islamophobic and other hateful groups on Facebook that the Stop Hate For Profit Coalitions, advertisers and society at jewishledger.com

large have heard too many times before.” Dozens of Facebook’s largest advertisers are boycotting the platform this month, according to the movement. Among them are Starbucks, Hershey, Coca-Cola, Ben & Jerry’s, the North Face and Patagonia. Led by the ADL, the groups launched the campaign to protest Facebook’s unwillingness to police hate speech or monitor posts for misinformation. The campaign has issued a list of 10 demands, including a permanent civil rights infrastructure, independent audits of identity-based hate and misinformation, and an internal mechanism to automatically flag hateful content in private groups for human review. The Stop Hate for Profit leaders said the Facebook executives – COO Sheryl Sandberg and the chief product officer, Christopher Cox, joined Zuckerberg – only addressed one item on the list, and that it was unsatisfactory. The leaders of the ADL, NAACP, Color of Change and Free Press were in the meeting. Afterward, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said that Facebook has banned more than 250 white supremacist organizations and created new policies to prohibit voter and census interference.

Alexander Vindman retires amid allegations of bullying by Trump (JTA) – Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Jewish National Security Council staffer who was among the first to raise flags about President Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate a political rival, is retiring from the U.S. Army amid allegations by his attorney that “he was bullied by the President and his proxies.” Vindman’s attorney David Pressman told CNN that Vindman would retire after more than 21 years of military service because “The President of the United States attempted to force LTC Vindman to choose: Between adhering to the law or pleasing a President. Between honoring his oath or protecting his career. Between protecting his promotion or the promotion of his fellow soldiers.” In February, Vindman was removed from his position as an expert on U.S. policy in Ukraine at the National Security Council. Vindman’s twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, was asked to leave his job as a White House lawyer on the same day. Both Vindmans, who immigrated with their father from Ukraine in 1979, were reassigned to the Army. Their removal came days after Trump was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in an impeachment trial. Vindman testified in November before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Trump’s impeachment about a July 2019 phone call between the president and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump repeatedly jewishledger.com

pressured Zelensky to launch politically motivated investigations that would help Trump’s 2020 campaign. Vindman was listening in on the call in his official capacity with the National Security Council. During his testimony, Vindman said that his father, who in the 1970s fled from the former Soviet Union with his Jewish family, “feared that his speaking out would bring retaliation.” Vindman said at the hearing: “Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.” In recent weeks, allegations have surfaced that Trump was attempting to prevent Vindman’s upcoming promotion to the rank of colonel, according to CNN. An unnamed source told CNN that senior Army officials informed Vindman that he would not be allowed to work in his area of expertise, which includes Ukraine. The source also said that a senior officer joked that he could be sent to “man a radar station in Alaska.”

Danon: Obama’s decision to ‘abandon’ Israel was lowest moment of UN tenure (JNS) Israel’s outgoing Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon reflected on his last five years in office and plans for the future during his final press briefing on Tuesday, July 7. “I’m going to go back to Israel and enjoy it. Relax and take my time before making any decisions,” he said, adding, ““For the last 20 years, I was involved in public life. [Now] I will be more vocal than I was in the U.N. because when I was in office, I had to represent the Israeli government always. Now when I become a private citizen, I will be able to speak openly and express my views, and actually promote my views like I used to do before I was in diplomacy.” A former Knesset member from the Likud Party, he previously served as minister of science, technology and space, and as deputy minister of defense. Regional Cooperation Minister Gilad Erdan will replace Danon at the end of July. In January, Erdan will take over Ron Dermer’s position as Israel’s ambassador to the United States as well. Danon noted that his “lowest moment in the last five years [was] the moment the U.S. decided to abandon Israel” at the U.N. Security Council under the Obama administration, when it supported Resolution 2334 against Israel. He further accused the Obama administration of working behind the scenes to promote that resolution, which condemned Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria, as well as eastern Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the ambassador strongly feels that “no one can jeopardize the bond” between America and Israel. He also offered this advice to Israel’s enemies and allies alike: “Don’t threaten

Israel. You’re not going to gain anything from it. [If] you have concerns, speak to us.”

Owner of DeSean Jackson’s NFL team produces film about Hitler (JTA) – Amid continuing controversy over one of his player’s approving comments about Adolf Hitler, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie announced the completion of a documentary about the Nazi leader. Lurie’s production company Play/ Action announced Thursday, July 9, that it had completed production of “The Meaning of Hitler,” the company’s first film, Dateline reported. Taking its title from a 1978 book by the German journalist Raimund Pretzel, Lurie’s film traces Hitler’s rise to power and features interviews with historians Deborah Lipstadt and Yehuda Bauer, among others. The announcement comes amid continuing fallout over comments by Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who caused an uproar over the weekend with tweets featuring quotes dubiously attributed to Hitler and claiming that “white Jews” will work to “blackmail” and “extort” America and that the Nazi leader “was right.” (See story p. 24) The team said Jackson’s comments were “offensive, harmful, and absolutely appalling.” In a statement to Deadline, Lurie made no mention of the Jackson controversy. “We couldn’t be prouder that ‘The Meaning of Hitler’ is the first completed film made by our new documentary production company, Play/Action Pictures,” said Lurie, who is Jewish. “I envisioned Play/Action to be a leading creative force for films that engage with the most crucial and challenging issues of our time. The rise of white supremacy and neo-fascism in the United States and the world over are among the most important and serious threats we face today.”

Education official Kenneth Marcus returns to Jewish civil rights agency (JTA) – A top-ranking official at the U.S. Education Department is returning to the organization he started eight years ago to combat antisemitism at colleges and universities. Kenneth Marcus will become chairman of the board of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law after two years as the education department’s assistant secretary for civil rights. Marcus was confirmed in 2018 after a bruising process in which not a single Democrat supported him. In his role at the department, Marcus built on his work fighting the boycott Israel movement and campus antisemitism through the Brandeis Center. Marcus notably reopened a case involving Rutgers University and a forum there in 2011 that Jewish students said

involved harassment. He widely employed the State Department’s definition of antisemitism, which includes some types of anti-Israel activity, to investigate claims of discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The definition includes “applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” and holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s actions. Alyza Lewin, who took over for him at the Brandeis Center, said Marcus’ return is welcome at a time when online antisemitic activity is on the rise. “The services and guidance provided by the Brandeis Center have become crucially important to students on the front lines battling this scourge,” she said in a statement. “There is no one more knowledgeable and experienced in this field than Kenneth Marcus, and we are thrilled that the Brandeis Center will once again be the vehicle for him to share his expertise.”

Report: Senior Hamas commander flees Gaza aboard IDF boat (JNS) A senior Hamas commander escaped from the Gaza Strip aboard an Israel Defense Forces boat on Saturday. The commander, from Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is said to have commanded the terrorist organization’s naval commando unit, and is suspected in the Gaza Strip of collaborating with Israel, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Saturday. The report, based on Palestinian media sources, said the senior commander had escaped with a laptop containing “dangerous classified materials,” along with money and listening devices. The sources also said that this was the second senior Hamas commander recently suspected of collaborating with Israel. The previous suspect, identified only as “Mohammed,” was in charge of the Palestinian factions’ networks in the Sajaiya neighborhood of Gaza and trained Hamas terrorists. According to the sources, the latest suspect began cooperating with Israel as early as 2009 and his alleged ties with Israel were revealed of late, when he asked his brother to collect money for him and leave it near a trash can. That brother was captured by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The sources said that Hamas was “hysterical” in the light of the discovery, and launched a series of arrest raids of suspects. The Channel 12 report comes on the heels of a news story published last week in the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper, Al-Ahbar, according to which Hamas revealed a “dangerous plot by Israeli intelligence services” to carry out attacks against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, and that that Hamas arrested a number of ISIS operatives planning to carry out suicide bombings.

JEWISH LEDGER

JULY 17, 2020

TORAHPortion

BULLETIN BOARD Race is topic of conversation of BCHA Center for Community Education forum The subject of race will be the focus of the inaugural online forum hosted by Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy’s Center for Community Education. The two-part forum will be held on Zoom at 8 p.m. on July 19 and 20. On July 19, Yaffy Israel Newman will share her personal experience as a Jew of color; on July 20, Rabbi Moshe Kletenik of Minyan Ohr Chadash in Seattle, Washing-ton and a former president of the Rabbinical Council of America, will discuss race from the perspective of Torah and Jewish law. For more information on CCE and/or the July 19-20 program, contact Michael Feldstein at michaelgfeldstein@ gmail.com.

Hartford’s historic Jewish Cemeteries in the spotlight The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford is hosting a virtual program on Wednesday, July 22 at 7 p.m., to learn about Hartford’s historic Jewish cemeteries. Leonard Holtz of the Hebrew Funeral Association and Lisa Vaeth of the Federation’s Association of Jewish Cemeteries, will talk about how these cemeteries were first or-ganized, where they are located, and what the challenges of maintaining them are. To register for this free program visit jhsgh.org/historiccemeteries/. For more information, email Lynn Newman at lnewman@jewishhartford. org.

Voices of Hope Virtual Summer Series Voices of Hope 2020 Summer Series is held virtually on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. The series includes conversations with authors, filmmakers and lecturers from around the world. For information and/ or to register for these Zoom events, visit www.ctvoicesofhope.org or contact info@ ctvoicesofhope.org. JULY 21 – Author David Slucki: Memory and The Third Generation (in partnership with UConn Center for Judaic Studies & Contemporary Jewish Life) JULY 28 – “Seeking Refuge: Exile to Mexico during the Second World War,” with Dr. Aleksandra Pomiecko.

New Yiddish culture series “Di Yidishe Velt: A Virtual Festival of Yiddish Culture,” a project of UConn Center for Judaic Studies in partnership with the Jewish Hartford European Roots Project, co-sponsored by Voices of Hope, continues July 27, 7 p.m. with “The 22

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Yiddish Song Today” with guest speaker Mark Slobin, Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus, Wesleyan University. Cosponsored by the University of Hartford Greenberg Center. To register, contact Pamela Weathers at pamela.weathers@ uconn.edu.

July at The Museum of Jewish Heritage The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust announces several new virtual programming for July Beneath a Scarlet Sky Book Talk with Author Mark Sullivan Thursday, July 16 | 2 PM Mark Sullivan talks about his new novel based on the true story of forgotten war hero Pino Lella. When Pino’s family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, he joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps. In an attempt to protect him, Pino’s parents force him to enlist as a German soldier. Pino becomes the person-al driver for General Hans Leyersm – one of the Third Reich’s most mysterious and powerful commanders. Now with the opportunity to spy for the Allies inside the German High Command, Pino endures the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation by fighting in secret. Journalist Mel Laytner will join Sullivan for this conversation. https://mjhnyc.org/events/beneath-ascarlet-sky-book-talk-with-author-marksullivan/ “Watermarks” Film and PostScreening Discussion Thursday, July 23 | 2 PM Screening and discussion of “Watermarks” with co-writer and film director Yaron Zil-berman and Professor Raanan Rein of Tel Aviv University; a film that tells the story of the champion women swimmers of the legendary Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna. Hakoah was founded in 1909 in response to the notorious Aryan Paragraph, which forbade Austrian sports clubs from accepting Jewish athletes. After the Anschluss in 1938, the Nazis shut down the club, but the swimmers managed to flee the country before the war broke out. Sixtyfive years later, director Yaron Zilberman meets members of the women’s swim team in their homes and arranges for them to have a reunion in their old swimming pool. Co-presented with The Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York and Kino Lorber. https://mjhnyc.org/events/watermarksfilm-and-post-screening-discussion/

| JULY 17, 2020

Matot-Masei

BY RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

ver the years, I have written about the concepts of “honesty” and “integrity” and the difference between the two. But never was I able to articulate the difference between them as cogently and as concisely as in the following passage from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is…conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words–in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. This requires an integrated character, a oneness, primarily with self but also with life.” Honesty for Covey is the virtue describing reality exactly as it is, of telling the truth. In this day and age, when there is so much confusion as to whether or not there even is such a thing as truth, it is refreshing to see the place of honesty restored to the list of important human virtues. This week’s double Torah portion, Matot-Masei, opens with a discussion of the concepts of “the vow.” Biblical teachings insist that the words we express are sacred. Once a person utters a commitment, he or she is duty-bound to honor that commitment. “Motza sefatecha tishmor ve’asita. That which your lips express must be honored and performed.” Honesty and integrity are not just descriptors of individual persons’ characters. Rather, they are social values, which ideally should define the essence of human communities and entire societies. From a Jewish perspective, “honesty” and “integrity” cannot be restricted to individual paragons of virtue, saints and holy men, but must become universal cultural norms. This is why the laws of vows, unlike all the other laws of the Torah, are explicitly given to rashei hamatot, the chieftains of the tribes. It is to emphasize that the sanctity of speech is not just a goal for a few spiritually-gifted individuals. It must be enunciated as one of the essential mores of the entire tribe. Yet another lesson about keeping our word is taught in the opening verses of this week’s Torah portion (Numbers 30:117). Sometimes, we overextend ourselves and make promises that we cannot possibly keep. In moments of extreme urgency, or sublime inspiration, we are wont to express commitments that are beyond our capacity to fulfill.

Can a vow thus expressed be annulled? The Torah, ever practical, answers “yes!” and describes some of the procedures designed to release a person from his or her vows. The Talmud, in an entire tractate devoted to this topic, specifies the circumstances and conditions under which such a release can be obtained. Most well-known among the “ceremonies” releasing us from our personal vows and promises is the Kol Nidrei prayer which ushers in our most hallowed day, Yom Kippur. Not really a prayer in the ordinary sense, Kol Nidrei is a statement in which we declare our past vows null and void. This custom is experienced by many as strange and as an offense to the value of integrity. But I personally have always found that it reinforces the role of integrity in my life and in the lives of all of us who live in the “real world.” During the entire year, you and I make many commitments and resolutions. With the noblest of motives, we promise things to our loved ones, verbally establish objectives to improve the world around us, or simply vow to lose weight, stop smoking, or start exercising. As the year wears on, situations change, priorities shift, and we ourselves become different. At least one time each year, on Yom Kippur, we realize how unrealistic we were and that we erred in our assessment of what we could accomplish. And so, we ask that the Almighty release us from these impossible and often no longer relevant commitments, and begin with Divine help a new slate, hoping that the next time we make a promise, it will be one that we will be able to keep. Judaism teaches us the primary importance of keeping our word. But it does not lose sight of our human frailties and limitations and recognizes that often it is not moral failure that explains our lack of integrity, but simple human weakness, hopefully rare and surely forgiven by God. Integrity is a cherished value for the society at large. The acknowledgement of human limitations in maintaining integrity must be accepted. These are two important and timely lessons from this week’s Torah portion. Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is the Executive Vice President, Emeritus of the Orthodox Union.

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OBITUARIES CARLOW Edward Carlow, 100, of Hamden, died July 6. He was the widower of Blossom Clompus Carlow. Born in New Haven, CT, he was the son of the late Louis and Molly (Fuchs) Carlow. He was a medic in the U.S. Air Force, serving in World War II. He is survived by his children, Jeffrey Carlow of Suffield, Donald Carlow of Glastonbury, Susan Friedson and her husband Ronald of Westport, and Ivy Perrelli and her husband Perrelli of South Glastonbury; his grandchildren, Justin (Abby), Daniel, Sarah, Alexa, Michael, Jacqueline and Marla; and his great-grandchild Sonny. He was also predeceased by his sister Annette Carlow Greene.

GERSHMAN Aleksandr “Alex” Gershman, 71, of Stamford, died July 8. Born in Riga, Latvia, he was the son of Samuel and Dora (Gorelik) Gershman. He served as an officer in the Tank Corps of the Soviet Union Army for two years, before emigrating to Stamford in 1992. He is survived by his children, Mariya Fye and her husband Steve of Glasgow, Ky., Anna Gershman of Darien, and Yevgeny Gershman and his wife Katarzyna; his grandchildren, Lukas and Dylan Gershman, of Bloomfield, N.J.; his brother, Vladimir Gershman and his wife Raisa; and several cousins, nieces, and nephews. He was also predeceased by his two sisters who died in infancy.

DIAMOND Stuart Diamond, 73, has died. Born in New Haven, he was the son of Annette and William Diamond. He is survived by his sister Carol Leiwant and her husband Charles; his nephews Zachary and Benjamin; his niece Molly; and several cousins.

MARGOLIN David Alan Margolin, 73, of Rocky Hill, died July 6. He was the husband of Linda Spanier Margolin, for 40 years. He had fought a courageous battle with Glioblastoma. Born in Boston, Ma., he was the son of the late Isador and Janet (Orenson) Margolin. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son Ian Warren Margolin; his sister-in-law Ruth Spanier Kuzma and her husband Robert; and his cousins, Mindy, Inselberg, Susan Schwartz and Donna Bupp. He was also predeceased by his sister Phyllis Dale Margolin.

DRAGUNOFF Bertha (Weiner) Dragunoff, 99, of Old Bridge, N.J., formerly of West Haven, Conn. and Del Ray Beach, Fla. died July 7. She was the widow of George Dragunoff. She was the daughter of the late Abraham and Hilda (Ziff) Weiner, She was also predeceased by her siblings, Edward Weiner, Reuban Weiner and Mollie Gottlieb. She is survived by her daughters, Leslie Levine and her husband Laurence, of Old Bridge, N.J., and Michele Nelson and her husband Robert of Wallingford; her grandchildren, Marc (Donna) Levine of Old Bridge, N.J., Aimee (Casper) Everhard of Parlin, N.J., Heather (Craig) O’Connor of Manhattan, N.Y., and Melissa (Jason) Thibodeau of Wallingford; her great-grandchildren, Greg (Emily) Levine, Alec Levine, Mickey Levine and Malcolm O’Connor; and many nieces and nephews.

RASHBA Ruby Rashba of Wallingford has died. She was the widow of Louis Rashba. She was the daughter of Samuel and Dora (Frank) Dimenstein. She was also predeceased by her sister Lois (Dimenstein) Kramer, and her sons Mark and Stuart Rashba. She is survived by her brother Donald Dimenstein and his wife Pat; her daughter-in-law Nancy (Rashba) Catlin of Zephyrhills, Fla., Beth Leonardo (companion of son Stuart) of Hamden; her grandchildren, Amanda (Adam) Gruebel of Denver, Colo., Lawrence (Chrystal) Rashba of Wallingford, Alexandra Rashba of Tampa, Fla.; also

her great-grandchildren, Adaja, Lawrence Rashba Jr. of Wallingford, CT and Sarge Gruebel of Denver, CO. ROSEN David P. Rosen, 101, of West Hartford, CT died on July 6, 2020. He was the widower of Doris (Manheim) and Sylvia Miller. Born in Hartford, he was the son of Goldie and Philip Rosen. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps while stationed in Italy. He was an active member of Beth Hillel Synagogue, Beth El Temple, and the Jewish War Veterans. He is survived by his children, Miriam Gerber and her husband Ralph Gerber of Tam-pa, Fla., and Mark Rosen and his wife Etta of Boston, Mass.; his grandchildren, Jon Brause and his wife Judith Ackerman, Johanna Rosen and her partner Anna Marchefka, Tamara McKerchie and her husband Bill, Eli Rosen and his wife Shoshana; and Seth Rosen; and his great-grandchildren, Ophelia and Orson McKerchie, and Nessa and Zev Rosen. TITLE Sally Gershel Title, 85, of West Hartford, died July 7. She was predeceased by her husband Samuel Hartman Title. She was the daughter of George and Sally Gershel. She was a member of Congregation

Beth Israel. She is survived by her three children, David Title and wife Laurie of Fairfield, Diane Title Harris and husband Roger of Over-land Park, Ks., and Betty Title Feigenbaum and her husband Seth of West Hartford; her grandchildren, Russell, Sarah and Robin Title, Kimberly Harris Melvan, Nathan Harris and Chelsea Harris Havercamp, Dana Feigenbaum Jackson, and Max and Maya Feigenbaum; three great-grandchildren, Hank and Liam Melvan and Thayer Harris; her sister-in-law Elaine Title Lowengard; and several nieces and nephews. She was also predeceased by her brother George Falk Gershel, Jr. and her grandson Jack Title. WASSERMAN Janice Elizabeth Wasserman, 88, of West Hartford died July 2,. She was the widow of Leonard Wasserman. Born in London, England, she was the daughter of Violet Essex and Charles Tucker. She was a longtime member of Beth El Temple in West Hartford. She is survived by her sons, Alan Wasserman and his wife Vicki, and William Wasserman and his wife Victoria; her grandsons, David Wasserman and his wife Katie, and Scott Wasserman and his wife Meghan); her great-grandchildren, Violet and Harvey; and many nieces and nephews. She was also predeceased by her brother Jolyon Tucker, and her sister Jackie Tucker.

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Accounting & Math Tutor Retired College Accounting Teacher Will Tutor at Your Home - Call For Appointment 860-402-1201. FOR SALE

Motorized KD Smart Chair rarely used - excellent condition - Call or text 203-710-0615.

CHAUFFEUR, WEST HARTFORD will drive you to New York, Boston, New England tristate area. Reasonable rates. References. Call Jeff 860-7124115.

Have something to sell? Have something to rent? Have a service to promote? Reach our highly qualified readers by placing your display classified ad in our digital issue with a LIVE link to your website!

Contact Leslie 860.231.2424 or leslie@jewishledger.com JEWISH LEDGER

JULY 17, 2020

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JEWISH LEDGER

| JULY 17, 2020

jewishledger.com

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JEWISH LEDGER

JULY 17, 2020

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JEWISH LEDGER

| JULY 17, 2020

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WHMedia, Inc.

Published on Jul 14, 2020

CT Jewish Ledger • July 17, 2020 • 25 Tammuz 5780

Published on Jul 14, 2020

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