CT Jewish Ledger • October 2, 2020 • 14 Tishrei 5781

Friday, October 2, 2020 14 Tishrei 5781 Vol. 92 | No. 40 | ©2020 $1.00 | jewishledger.com

SUKKOT Reimagined 1

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Chag Sameach!

Come check out our fall foods filled with flavor!

The Crown Market 2471 Albany Ave West Hartford, CT 06117

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INSIDE

this week

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | OCTOBER 2, 2020 | 14 TISHREI 5781

9 Torah Portion

12 Briefs

17 Crossword

19 Bulletin Board

20 Obituaries

Hijacking Hate................................ 5 “We are not accepting Zoom’s caving in to Zionist and racist pressures,” writes San Francisco State U Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, after Zoom, Facebook and YouTube deplatform an event featuring featuring a Palestinian terrorist.

RBG’s Jewish Moments.............. 11 In its obituary of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Guardian wrote that the late Jewish Supreme Court justice “abandoned her religion.” They must be kidding.

Authors Corner............................. 18 Author Daniel Goodman was born and bred in the Springfield, Mass. area and spent lots of time visiting his grandmother (and The Crown Market) in West Hartford. So it’s not surprising that his first novel reflects these Jewish experiences.

21 Business and Professional Directory

22 Classified

Arts & Entertainment.......................................................15 “[It] feels like Dan Levy’s Bar Mitzvah in the best way,” tweeted radio host Michelle Collins after “Schitt’s Creek,” the show co-created by the father-and-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy, swept the 2020 Emmy Awards.

OPINION.................................................................................10 The friendship between the late justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia provides a model for how all Americans should interact with political foes. (Plus…what’s so Jewish about Ruth Bader Ginsburg? A lot.)

CANDLE LIGHTING ON THE COVER:

The mitzvah “layshev ba’sukkah” – to dwell in the Sukkah – provides a safe way to connect to others when many have been socially isolated and when antisemitic stereotypes abound. To all our readers, best wishes for a holiday filled with happiness and joy. Chag sameach! (Photo credit: edelmar via istockphoto.) PAGE 14 jewishledger.com

Sponsored by:

SHABBAT & SUKKOT FRIDAY, OCT. 2

SUKKOT, 2ND NIGHT SATURDAY, OCT. 3

Hartford: 6:12 p.m.

Hartford: 7:09 p.m.

New Haven: 6:12 p.m.

New Haven: 7:10 p.m.

Bridgeport: 6:13 p.m.

Bridgeport: 7:11 p.m.

Stamford: 6:14 p.m.

Stamford: 7:12 p.m.

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

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UP FRONT

CONNECTICUT JEWISH LEDGER | SINCE 1929 | OCTOBER 2, 2020 | 14 TISHREI 5781

SF State U event with Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled, briefly hosted on YouTube, is taken down

BY GABRIEL GRESCHLER

(J. the Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) – After livestreaming for about 23 minutes on YouTube, a roundtable conversation on Wednesday, Sept. 25, from San Francisco State University featuring Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled suddenly went dark.

“This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Terms of Service,” a message said on the page.

The livestream had at least 900 viewers when it was shut down, abruptly ending when an old video of Khaled was being shown in which she defended her former activities.

“People have the right to fight those who occupy their land by any means possible, including weapons,” Khaled said in the video right before the feed stopped.

Titled “Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice and Resistance,” the virtual discussion was organized by San Francisco State’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Department. It was to include a talk by Khaled, as well as a conversation afterward with Khaled and several other activists. An associate professor, Rabab Abdulhadi, served as moderator. Abdulhadi, who has a history of anti-Israel activism, hosted the event with SFSU Professor Tomomi Kinukawa.

The day before the event, Zoom announced that Khaled’s participation would violate company policy and it would not allow its platform to be used as the host. Zoom disabled the registration link, and the Facebook link where people could sign up to attend became inactive on Wednesday morning or violating Facebook’s “policy prohibiting praise, support and representation for dangerous organizations and individuals, which applies to pages, content and events.”

Organizers were left scrambling to find a new platform.

Event organizers also reached out to San Francisco State for help in finding a new webinar host and said on social media posts that the university was working with them. jewishledger.com

PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST LEILA KHALED SPEAKS IN, SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA, FEB. 15, 2015.

(IHSAAN HAFFEJEE/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

In a letter to Jennifer Summit, provost and vice president for academic affairs, they wrote: “SFSU and CSU [the California state university system] are obligated to defend us against the vilification and smearing by an Israel lobby that is troubled by and seeks to silence Palestinian narratives and scholarship, teaching and advocacy for justice in/for Palestine.”

The university’s president, Lynn Mahoney, repeatedly defended the event by invoking freedom of expression, in response to nearly 90 Jewish and pro-Israel groups expressing outrage and concern about the event.

The Lawfare Project initially sent a letter to Zoom last week warning that by knowingly permitting Khaled to use its platform to communicate directly to U.S. college students, Zoom could violate federal law that makes it illegal to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

Neither YouTube, Facebook, San Francisco State nor the Arab and Muslim

Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Department immediately responded to a request for comment.

Abdulhadi said in status updates on her personal Facebook page that Zoom had removed the event link, and later reported that YouTube had pulled the plug during the conversation.

“Facebook has taken down the AMED event page and disappeared the Leila Khaled webinar,” she wrote.

The original event page showed several hundred people planning to attend the talk and over 2,000 people “interested.”

On its Facebook page Tuesday, Sept.

22, after the Zoom cancellation was announced, the department posted that it would be hosting the event over Facebook Live in what, at the time, appeared to be the department’s choice for an alternative hosting platform.

The post called for supporters to “post a 30-second video in any language of yourself

IDF Lone Soldier from Newton, Massachusetts, highlighted at FIDF Virtual Gala

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BY STACEY DRESNER

rowing up in Newton, Massachusetts, Noah* and his family visited Israel on a regular basis.

“We were a pretty Zionistic family, so we would go once or maybe twice a year, depending on the year,” he said. “Israel was always a very big thing in my life.”

Noah attended Jewish day school and went to the religious Zionist camp Moshava Indian Orchard in Pennsylvania. When he graduated from Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts in 2016, he, like many of his classmates, went to Israel for a gap year.

“I come from a background where everyone would graduate from high school and go to Israel for a year, and then go back home to college,” Noah explained.

But after an inspiring year participating in Mechinat Otzem – a pre-military program in the south of Israel – Noah decided to stay. He made aliyah in 2017 and began serving in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade.

On Sept. 13, the experiences of Noah and other Lone Soldiers in the IDF were highlighted during the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FID) National Gala, held virtually for the very first time.

The gala, themed “A Night of Heroes,” saluted IDF soldiers and veterans, and raised more than $15 million to support wellbeing and educational programs for IDF soldiers, families of fallen soldiers and wounded veterans.

“FIDF is in daily communication with the IDF to follow their directives and understand the soldiers’ on-going needs,” said FIDF National director and CEO, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Meir KlifiAmir. “Even during…difficult times, we CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

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IDF CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

continue to fulfill the needs of our sons and daughters in uniform.”

Noah, who was discharged from the IDF as a staff sergeant in June, and next year will begin serving in the reserves, says that several things inspired him to make aliya and serve in the IDF. “First of all, my older brother was in the [IDF]. He was drafted in 2013. And that was a very big thing for me that my older brother was in Israel and was in the army,” Noah explained. His brother Jacob now lives in Haifa, where he attends the Technion.

Noah’s year of study in Israel after high school also played a big role. He was one of seven Americans and 199 Israelis participating in Mechinat Otzem, a program that mostly Israelis go through between high school and the army.

“I was always [thought] Israel is a great place to visit, but I’m never going to live here,” he said. “But I got off the plane, and I became immersed in the culture and I fell in love with the place.”

Noah had attended Maimonides with Ezra Schwartz z”l, the 18-year-old American yeshiva student who was killed in a terrorist attack in the West Bank on Nov. 19, 2015.

NOAH, SECOND FROM RIGHT, WITH HIS FAMILY (L RO R): HIS SISTER RACHEL; FATHER ROBERT; NOAH; AND YOUNGER BROTHER ADAM.

Khaled CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

supporting” the event. A Change.org petition expressing support for the event and “academic freedom on Palestine” had more than 1,800 signatures and counting as of Wednesday morning.

“Leila Khaled is a powerful, inspiring figure,” the petition read, calling the proposed event a “historic conversation [on] resistance, resilience, and gender.”

Khaled was part of a team that hijacked TWA Flight 840 on its way from Rome to Tel Aviv in August 1969. A year later she participated in the attempted hijacking of an El Al flight from Amsterdam to New York City as part of a series of simultaneous hijackings carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Khaled was arrested in London, where the pilot diverted the plane, and later released in exchange for hostages from another hijacking. She lives in Amman, Jordan.

As a counterpoint to the Khaled event, the San Francisco Hillel was scheduled to host a “Vigil for Victims of Terror” on Wednesday featuring a prerecorded video of Uri Bar-Lev, the El Al pilot on board 6

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Khaled’s hijacked plane in 1970, as well as poems by San Francisco State students.

According to the Hillel’s executive director, Rachel Nilson Ralston, the speakers were to include the SFSU president, Lynn Mahoney, and state Sen. Scott Wiener.

Commenting on Zoom’s decision, Ralston said, “The San Francisco Hillel community is relieved that Zoom, who provides such a vital tool to our students, will not allow their platform to amplify hatred or promote a known terrorist. We are grateful for the outpouring of concern and support. As always, we’re focused on supporting our students as they move forward with our ongoing efforts to improve San Francisco State University’s campus climate.”

The local Jewish Community Relations Council’s Middle East project director, Karen Stiller, said Zoom “made the commendable decision not to give hate a platform. Hosting this event would have been a serious ethical violation.”

The JCRC was among the vigil hosts along with the Anti-Defamation League and other local organizations.

| OCTOBER 2, 2020

Ezra, who was spending a gap year studying at Yeshivat Ashreinu in Beit Shemesh, had gone with five classmates to the Etzion bloc, south of Jerusalem, to beautify a nature reserve dedicated to the three Jewish teens kidnapped and killed by terrorists the year before. A terrorist, reportedly a Palestinian, opened fire on them, killing Schwartz and wounding his classmates.

“Ezra was a year above me in high school, we didn’t have any class together, but we played baseball together for three years,” Noah said. “When he was killed, it was my first experience with the death of a peer. Did it affect my decision to draft? Not really, I already wanted to; it just kind of reaffirmed my mindset.”

During his two years and eight months of IDF services, Noah served in the Special Forces unit attached to the Golani Brigade.

After eight months of training, he and his unit spent eight months of deployment throughout Judea and Samaria.

One of the most harrowing experiences Noah had was losing a fellow soldier in an explosion during an arrest his unit made in a town near Jenin this past May. “We immediately reacted to the situation, doing what we are trained to do,” he said. “We did a search and that started a two-week long period of arrests, going to see the family, arrests, going to the family.

We spent that time not sleeping, not eating, barely functioning, just on automatic…

We spent two weeks from the time of the

incident until the guy was found.”

While Noah was able to call his parents in the U.S. to share his grief, as a Lone Soldier he depended a lot on the members of his unit.

“They are my best friends. These guys are going to be my best friends for the rest of my life. At the end of the day, I’ve seen these guys at their best and at their worst – in the rain and in the cold, when you haven’t showered, when you are hungry and when you are tired, and when you have no energy for anybody. They love you from the start to the end.”

After the Covid-19 pandemic began, Noah was among thousands of IDF soldiers ordered to quarantine on base, not just to protect the soldiers from the virus, but also to maintain military preparedness.

“It didn’t really affect us, except that we couldn’t leave base,” Noah said. “We did 41 days on base when usually you will go home for the weekend.”

It was during that time that the FIDF stepped in to address the needs of the soldiers, distributing tens of thousands of hygiene kits to combat soldiers and units adopted by FIDF. FIDF will also provided gym kits, which consist of various weights and equipment; additional snack and sweet packages; and Sony PlayStations.

“They brought a washer and dryer to the base and they brought us shampoo, shavers, and toothpaste. They play behind the scenes. Only the Americans know who the FIDF is, not the Israelis. They just know jewishledger.com

Prosecutors drop charges against Robert Kraft

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

(JTA) – Prosecutors in Florida said they are dropping the charges against the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, whom they had accused last year of solicitation of prostitution.

The decision, which was announced Thursday, follows a a Palm Beach County Court ruling from May that excluded from the prosecution’s body of evidence a video that reportedly showed Kraft performing a sexual act at a massage parlor in January 2019.

The defense claimed the footage was illegally obtained and violates Kraft’s constitutional rights.

“Without the videos, we don’t have a case we can prosecute,” state attorney Dave Aronberg told reporters Thursday, according to The New York Times. “We are ethically compelled to drop all the charges.”

Kraft, who is Jewish, gave no reaction to the decision, The Times reported.

ROBERT KRAFT

(COURTESY OF THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS/ DAVID SILVERMAN)

Find us online at jewishledger.com that someone is looking out for them,” Noah said.

And while they look out for all IDF soldiers, FIDF takes special care of lone soldiers.

“They take Lone Soldiers on an outing each year to a water park; that was amazing.

And they paid for one of my flights home,” Noah said. “Lone Soldiers are allowed to go

home one month a year to visit family. And the FIDF pays for one of those flights.”

After his discharge from the IDF in June Noah took some time off, and now is looking for a job in his new home.

“I’m here for the long haul,” he said.

“America is a great place to visit.” *Last name omitted for soldier’s protection.

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L IKE U S ON STAFF SGT. NOAH (RES.), SECOND FROM THE LEFT, WITH HIS UNIT. STAFF SGT. AMIT BEN YIGAL Z”L, WHO WAS KILLED ON A PATROL IN MAY, IS FIRST ON THE RIGHT.

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HIGH HOLIDAYS

How to fulfill the mitzvah of Sukkot while fighting antisemitism

BY ELIANA RUDEE

(JNS) Inviting two neighbors of different faiths into one’s socially distanced sukkah this year, says “2 for Seder” founder Marnie Fienberg, can help address the isolation felt during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the rising tide of antisemitism.

Fienberg, the daughter-in-law of Tree of Life victim Joyce Fienberg, started the 2 for Seder initiative as a part of the nonprofit Pittsburgh Interfaith Evolution (PIE), in the wake of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha Synagogue shooting to empower Jews to combat antisemitism in their own communities by inviting those of a different faith to share their Passover seder.

This Sukkot, she is calling upon North American Jews to open their sukkahs in a “COVID-safe” way and share this Jewish experience with two neighbors of different faiths–a way to “rethink the High Holidays for our current world.”

According to Fienberg, inviting guests continues the thousands-year-old Jewish mitzvah of ushpizin (welcoming guests into one’s home), and helping Jews find relevance and spirituality during the High Holidays. “Abraham and the prophet Zechariah set examples that hospitality with others makes the world a better place.

Many believe that according to the biblical prophet Zechariah, during the messianic era Sukkot will become a universal festival.

All nations will make annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast,” she tells JNS. The tradition that was “inspired by our ancestors” also provides a safe way to connect to others when many have been socially isolated, she says.

“Sukkot is home-based and outside.

If you stay socially distanced or virtual, this is exactly the safe protocol that we have been following for months to prevent transmission of the virus,” she notes, following CDC recommendations.

“If you already have a sukkah, are thinking of getting one or plan to get in the 8

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spirit of Sukkot on your porch, this is the time for beginning a new family tradition,” says Fienberg. “The sukkah doesn’t have to be perfect this year. Find a space to create a temporary structure so you can see the stars and feel the air, reminding us how fragile the structures we build in our lives are compared to the power of nature.”

For those who are not yet ready to host guests, Fienberg has also designed guidelines for a virtual celebration. It can include a traditional “Four Species” ceremony–incorporating the etrog (citron), lulav (date palm frond), hadass (myrtle bough) and aravah (willow branch)–with a synagogue or other Jewish group, showing off sukkah spaces and playing games with grandparents who may be isolated from their families.

Also accessible online is a guide to planning one’s own holiday family traditions, including basic educational materials from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions, a SukkahSAFE fact sheet and a webinar that help identify commonalities between religions and cultures.

give up fighting antisemitism because of COVID-19. At the same time, we also have to be realistic and extremely safe in how we approach our model of sharing a Jewish experience with neighbors of different faiths to build bridges.”

Fienberg says that sharing a meal with a friend or neighbor of another faith gives others a firsthand experience of Judaism, “cutting through the noise of antisemitic tropes and news while fostering open communication and conversation.

Many people who hate Jews or just feel ambivalent toward us have never really known a Jewish person.”

While she acknowledges that “you can’t fix the whole world,” inroads can be made between people, especially when it’s someone familiar. “Our home-based Jewish holidays lend themselves to this goal,” adds Fienberg, who also expressed gratitude in 2 for Seder: in the sukkah’s partners, which include the JCC Association, Women of Reform Judaism, Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, and Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa.

“Sukkot gives us the power to change and repair our corner of the world,” emphasizes Fienberg, “our best hope for true peace.”

Pushing back on stereotypes Inviting two guests of different faiths not only fulfills the mitzvah in a safe way, claims Fienberg, but helps to fight antisemitism at its core.

“Sukkot is home-based and outside. If you stay socially distanced or virtual, this is the safe protocol we have been following to prevent transmission of the virus.”

“Jews are being blamed for COVID and cruel tropes burn across the Internet daily,” she relates. “As we have been pulled apart during COVID, hatred and antisemitism has focused on the old trope that Jews cause all plagues. This has given people who are frustrated with our health restrictions a potential outlet for their anger. … We can’t

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TORAHPortion

Chol Hamoed Sukkot

O

BY RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN

ne of the most picturesque festivals of the year is the Sukkot – when we build and decorate a special “nature home” which will be lived in for an entire week. But what are we actually celebrating and what is the true meaning of the symbol of the sukkah? Is it the sukkah of our desert wanderings, the temporary hut which the Israelites constructed in the desert when they wandered from place to place? If so, then the sukkah becomes a reminder of all of the exiles of Israel throughout our 4,000year history, and our thanksgiving to God is for the fact that we have survived despite persecution and assimilation, which still threaten to overwhelm those still living in the Diaspora.

Or is the sukkah meant to be reminiscent of the Divine “clouds of glory” which encompassed us in the desert with God’s rays of splendor, a fore-taste of the Sanctuary which served as the forerunner of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem? In the Grace after Meals during the Sukkot festival we pray that “the Merciful One restore for us the fallen tabernacle of David,” which would imply that the sukkah symbolizes the Holy Temple. The Talmud (B.T. Succot 11) brings a difference of opinion between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer as to which of these options is the true significance of our celebration.

The major biblical description of the festivals is found in Chapter 23 of the Book of Leviticus. There are two textual curiosities which need to be examined.

The three festivals which were always considered to be our national festivals, and which also biblically appear as the “desert” festivals, are Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – commemorating when we left Egypt, when we received the Torah at Sinai and when we lived in desert booths. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are more universal in nature and not at all related to the desert sojourn. It seems strange that in the biblical exposition of the Hebrew calendar Pesach and Shavuot are explained, after which comes Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and only at the conclusion of the description comes Sukkot.

One can argue that this is the way the months fall out on the calendar year.

However, the Israelites left Egypt for the desert and presumably they built their booths immediately after the Pesach.

Would it not have been more logical for the order to have been Pesach, Sukkot, Shavuot, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur?

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Secondly, the Festival of Sukkot is broken up into two parts. Initially, the Torah tells us: “And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: on the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Festival of Sukkot, seven days for God these are the Festivals of the Lord which you shall call holy convocations” (Leviticus 23:3338). It would seem that these last words conclude the biblical description of the festivals and the Hebrew calendar. But in the very next verse, the Torah comes back again to Sukkot, as if for the first time: “but on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the crop of the land, you shall celebrate God’s festival for a seven day period… You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a citron tree, the branches of date palms, twigs of a plaited tree (myrtle) and willows of brooks; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a sevenday period… You shall dwell in booths for a seven-day period… so that your generations will know that I caused the people of Israel to dwell in booths when I took them from the Land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (ibid. Leviticus 23:39-44). Why the repetition? And if the Bible now wishes to tell us about the four species, why was this verse not linked to the previous discussion of the Sukkot booths?

The Vilna Gaon said that this repetition of Sukkot with the commandment concerning the Four Species is introducing an entirely new aspect of the Sukkot festival: the celebration of our entering into the Land of Israel. In fact, this second Sukkot segment opens with the words, “But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when you gather the crop of the land (of Israel), you shall celebrate this festival to the Lord.”

Hence, there are two identities to the festival of Sukkot. On the one hand, it is a desert festival, alongside Pesach and Shavuot, which celebrates our desert wanderings and survivals while living in flimsy booths. On the other, Sukkot, the Four Species, represent our conquest and inhabitance of our homeland and signals the beginning of redemption turn the sukkah into rays of Divine splendor and an expression of the Holy Temple.

So which Sukkot do we celebrate?

Both at the very same time! But when we sit in the sukka, are we sitting in transitory booths representative of our wandering or rather in a Divine sanctuary protected by rays of God’s glory? I think it depends on whether we are celebrating the festival in the Diaspora or in the Land of Israel!

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Opinion

RBG and how to save a corrosive political culture

BY JONATHAN S. TOBIN

(JNS) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Sept. 18 – the eve of Rosh Hashanah – at the age of 87 was a symbol of female empowerment, as well as a renowned scholar and jurist.

Though not religious, she was a proud Jew, and her achievements as an attorney in an era where women were not fully accepted in the legal profession and then as a principled judge justify the many laudatory eulogies about her.

But Ginsburg’s status as a pop-culture icon and idol of liberals, feminists and others, who nicknamed her the “Notorious RBG” after a rap star, made her known popularly in a way no other American judge has ever been. As such, the possibility that President Donald Trump, whom Ginsburg’s many fans detest, naming her successor has added more fuel to the fire of a political conflict that already seemed more like a tribal culture war than a presidential election. But rather than succumb to the temptation to treat political differences as proof of evil, we should be learning from her to embrace our opponents as fellow humans without giving up our principles.

By the time she passed away, Ginsburg had since ceased being merely an honored female pioneer or the intellectual leader of the high court’s liberal faction, as well as an admirable role model for Jewish women and girls. The transformation of a deeply serious and cultured judge into a badass culture-war figure gave her significance that transcended the legal battlefields where she had labored. “RBG” inspired “I dissent” T-shirts, coffee mugs, bobblehead dolls, action figures, coloring books and a character on “SNL” played by Kate McKinnon was a symbol of the “resistance” to political conservatives in general and Trump in particular.

Conservatives like the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believed that the original intent of the framers should dictate how the Constitution should be interpreted. Ginsburg upheld the liberal tradition that took a more activist view of the Constitution as a living document that could change in order to justify what she considered necessary changes.

A secular saint of the political left, 10

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SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ANTONIN SCALIA AND RUTH BADER GINSBURG.

her sudden passing has further inflamed divisions in American society. Those who claim to venerate her memory are now threatening to “burn it all down” if Republicans are able to confirm a conservative successor to Ginsburg.

Others are threatening to pack the court with liberals should Democrats gain control of the government next year (something Ginsburg specifically opposed) to gain revenge for ignoring what her granddaughter reportedly said was her dying wish to be replaced by the next president, whom she likely hoped would be former Vice President Joe Biden.

There’s plenty of hypocrisy on both sides of the argument about the future of the court. Due to the way Congress has abdicated its responsibilities, the court is the only effective check on the growth of the administrative state controlled by the executive branch. In effect, it is the superlegislature that has more to say about the disposition of key issues than the other branches of government. That struggle to control the court is therefore a life-anddeath affair for both parties.

And it has turned Ginsburg’s death into one more excuse for Americans to attack and demonize each other. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and Ginsburg’s own life provides an example of how to return to treating opponents as fellow human beings

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we can respect and like, even when we disagree with them.

One of the most inspiring stories about Ginsburg is about friendship, not legal combat.

Scalia, whose death in 2016 triggered a previous court controversy, was Ginsburg’s conservative counterpart. Like her, his opinions were intellectual and often fiery critiques of what he considered the flawed thinking of colleagues. On the most contentious issues that divide Americans, Scalia and Ginsburg stood on opposite sides.

In the political culture of America in 2020, such disagreements have become the moral equivalent of religious war in which compromise or even mutual respect is impossible. That’s not how Scalia and Ginsburg looked at it.

The two served as colleagues on the prestigious federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and were eventually reunited on the Supreme Court.

On both benches, they jousted on a host of cases, with neither of them sparing each other’s positions from scorn in their opinions.

And yet, they were also close personal friends.

The two shared a love of opera, which they often attended together. Indeed, their friendship was immortalized in a comic

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opera called “Scalia v. Ginsburg.” They also loved food, and along with their spouses, shared meals and even traveled together.

While their personalities were different – Scalia was more voluble and Ginsburg more reserved – their respect and affection for each other were never in question. No case, no matter how contentious, ever came between them.

How did they do it? And how can society emulate their example?

The answer comes not just from the nobility of spirit that both embodied, but from mutual values that transcended ideological differences. They could care about each other while also disagreeing because of a shared morality.

In his new book titled Morality, Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, explains that people act in this manner because they see themselves “as part of the same framework of virtues and values, rules and responsibilities, codes and customs, conventions and constraints.”

As Sachs points out, “morality achieves something almost miraculous, and fundamental to human achievement and liberty. It creates trust. It means that to the extent that we are part of the same moral community, we can work together without constantly being on guard against violence, betrayal, exploitation or deception. The stronger the bonds of community, the more powerful the force of trust, and the more we can achieve together.”

This is a powerful lesson that those two judges, each revered by their own side of the political divide, understand intuitively.

The trouble with all too many Americans right now – on both the right and the left–is that they are so drenched with hatred of political opponents that they no longer see them as part of the same community.

Those who view things differently are foes not merely to be defeated, but to be delegitimized and destroyed.

Scalia and Ginsburg taught us that we can still be friends while strongly disagreeing with each other. Engaging in civil discourse between left and right may no longer seem possible. Being willing to agree to disagree, and to respect each other’s opinions and credit each other with good motives, has gone out of style with unknowable consequences for the future of American democracy.

We can learn from the two judges that civility and mutual respect don’t require agreement as much as commonalities at the core. Instead of using Ginsburg’s death as an excuse to make these divisions worse with threats and insults, we should be remembering her example and stop demonizing our opponents. May both their memories be for a blessing.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS–Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_ tobin.

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From camp ‘rabbi’ to pursuing justice: How Judaism animated Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life

BY BEN SALES

(JTA) – In its obituary of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Guardian wrote that the late Jewish Supreme Court justice “abandoned her religion.”

That couldn’t be more wrong.

While Ginsburg, who died Friday, Sept.

18, at age 87, was not known for her ritual observance, she spoke frequently about how Jewish values inspired her, and she was active in Jewish causes and with Jewish organizations.

As Ginsburg would note in speeches, she was the only justice with a mezuzah affixed to her office door (presented to her as a gift from Shlamith, a Jewish all-girls school in Brooklyn, New York). A poster on the wall read “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” the Hebrew injunction from the Torah meaning “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” She also once wore that line woven into one of her jabots, or collars worn on her Supreme Court robes.

“I am a judge born, raised, and proud of being a Jew,” she wrote in an essay for the American Jewish Committee in 1996.

“The demand for justice runs through the entirety of the Jewish tradition. I hope, in my years on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and courage to remain constant in the service of that demand.”

Here’s a timeline of the most Jewish moments and motifs in the life of RBG. As a teenager, she acted as her camp’s “junior rabbi” and wrote an essay about the importance of remembering the Holocaust.

Ginsburg, raised in Brooklyn and attended the East Midwood Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, spent summers she at Camp Che-Ne-Wah in the Adirondacks, where she was unofficially called her camp’s “junior rabbi” and would lead Shabbat prayers.

Barely a year after the Holocaust ended, a teenage Ginsburg wrote an essay in her synagogue bulletin titled “One People” about the importance of a world free of prejudice. She republished the essay in her 2016 book My Own Words.

“We must never forget the horrors which our brethren were subjected to in Bergen-Belsen and other Nazi concentration camps,” she wrote. “There can be a happy world and there will be once again, when men create a strong bond towards one another, a bond unbreakable by a studied prejudice or a passing circumstance.”

She was disillusioned with Jewish observance at age 17 when women weren’t counted in a prayer quorum

at her mother’s shiva.

Presaging her pioneering work for women’s rights, Ginsburg would relate that she stopped feeling connected to Jewish ritual at 17 because of the absence of a minyan at her mother’s shiva, as women were not counted. Even though there was “a house full of women,” she said in a 2008 speech at Washington, D.C.’s Sixth & I Synagogue, no prayer was held because 10 men were not present.

In her college dorm, she felt discriminated against when all the Jewish women were placed on the same floor.

In her freshman dormitory at Cornell University (from which Ginsburg graduated in 1954), Ginsburg discovered that she and the other women in her corridor were all Jewish. She told a documentary she felt that they were placed together “so we wouldn’t contaminate” other students.

She sent their kids to Hebrew school.

Speaking to the Jewish Telegraph Agency in 1993, when Ginsburg was nominated for the Supreme Court, her husband, Martin Ginsburg, described the family as “not wildly observant,” though he said they went to a traditional Passover Seder with relatives. Later in life, in 2015, Ginsburg co-authored a feminist reinterpretation of the Passover story with Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt.

The Ginsburgs sent their kids to Hebrew school when they lived in the New York area, but Martin Ginsburg told JTA that they didn’t join a synagogue when they moved to Washington, as the kids had grown up.

She visited Israel in the 1970s for a conference on Jewish law – and kept going back.

As an attorney, while arguing a series of landmark women’s rights cases before the Supreme Court in the ’70s, Ginsburg also “actively participated” in the American Jewish Congress’ Commission on Law and Social Action. Also during that decade, she attended a conference in Israel discussing the position of women under secular and halachic laws in Israel and America.

For decades after that trip, Ginsburg continued to travel to the country and comment on its legal system. In 2000, she was honored along with other American and Israeli Jewish feminists at the Knesset.

Five years later she was part of a group that advised Israel not to adopt an Americanstyle constitution because it would give the

country’s judges less freedom. At an event on that subject, she said, “I admire Israel and I admire Aharon Barak,” Israel’s former chief justice.

More recently, in 2017, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Genesis Prize Foundation in Israel. She was supposed to receive the Genesis Prize itself, known as the “Jewish Nobel,” but declined because she feared that the $1 million cash prize could violate ethics laws.

When a soldier wanted to wear a kippah in the military, Ginsburg stood up for him in court.

In 1984, S. Simcha Goldman, a Jewish soldier, fought in court against a military policy that banned him from wearing a yarmulke on duty. Ginsburg’s appeals court declined to hear his case, but Ginsburg dissented from that decision.

“A military commander has now declared intolerable the yarmulka Dr. Goldman has worn without incident throughout his several years of military service,” she wrote. “At the least, the declaration suggests ‘callous indifference’ to Dr. Goldman’s religious faith.”

In her confirmation hearings, she spoke about how her Jewish heritage impacted her views.

Appearing before the Senate in 1993, Ginsburg said her ancestors “had the foresight to leave the old country when Jewish ancestry and faith meant exposure to pogroms and denigration of one’s human worth.” During questioning, she spoke about how country clubs would bar admission to Jews and said, “One couldn’t help but be sensitive to discrimination, being a Jew in America during World War II.” She stayed involved in Holocaust remembrance.

Ginsburg was active with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 1993, months after she joined the court, she presented the museum’s Medal of Remembrance to Emilie Schindler, widow of Oskar Schindler, whose story of rescuing Jews during the Holocaust had recently been told in the film “Schindler’s List.”

In 2004, she gave a speech at the museum on Holocaust Remembrance Day on the role of the law in preventing atrocity. “In striving to drain dry the waters of prejudice and oppression, we must rely on measures of our own creation – upon the wisdom of our laws and the decency of our institutions, upon our reasoning minds

JEWISH LEDGER

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Briefs

RBG’s family to accept honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion U

Film agencies in Israel and UAE reach cooperation deal (JNS) The Abu Dhabi Film Commission of the United Arab Emirates and the Israeli Film Fund announced a cooperation agreement on Monday. A government agency, the Abu Dhabi Film Commission said the agreement would lead to training programs for film and TV co-production, in addition to joint film festivals, reported the AP. Under the agreement, Emirati students will study in Jerusalem at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. It is the latest news of warming ties since the UAE and Bahrain signed peace agreements last week to normalize relations with the Jewish state.

New York will erect statue in Brooklyn to honor RBG (JTA) – New York state will honor the life and legacy of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a statue in her birthplace of Brooklyn. Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement on Saturday, Sept. 19 less than a day after Ginsburg died. Cuomo’s office said he would appoint a commission to select an artist and set a location selection process into motion.

“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg selflessly pursued truth and justice in a world of division, giving voice to the voiceless and uplifting those who were pushed aside by forces of hate and indifference,” Cuomo said. “As a lawyer, jurist, and professor, she redefined gender equity and civil rights and ensured America lived up to her founding ideals – she was a monumental figure of equality, and we can all agree that she deserves a monument in her honor.”

He added: “While the family of New York mourns Justice Ginsburg’s death, we remember proudly that she started her incredible journey right here in Brooklyn.

Her legacy will live on in the progress she created for our society, and this statue will serve as a physical reminder of her many contributions to the America we know today and as an inspiration for those who will continue to build on her immense body of work for generations to come.”

Cuomo also announced on Saturday that landmarks across the state would be lit in blue in Ginsburg’s memory, since “Blue is the color of justice and was reportedly Justice Ginsburg’s favorite color.”

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(JNS) In his letter inviting U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburn, to receive a 2020 honorary doctorate, Ben Gurion University Presient Professor Daniel Chamovitz wrote, “From fighting for your own right to excel as a lawyer in a male-dominated profession to becoming a human-rights advocate for all people and fulfilling the demanding role of U.S. Supreme Court Justice, your courage to follow your inner moral compass has repeatedly shown the world how thoughtful, seasoned, compassionate judgment is a necessary guidepost for democratic rule.”

Ginsburg was planning to travel this year to accept the degree, but the ceremony was postponed due to COVID-19. Instead, her family will be invited to Israel to accept the degree on her behalf at a future date of mutual convenience.

AABGU CEO Doug Seserman said “our board and staff share in the world’s grief over this heroic and fearless Jewish trailblazer. The world lost a guiding light.

Now we must find our own. RIP RBG. May her memory be for a blessing.”

In UN speech, Trump touts Mideast accomplishments (JNS) In his speech to the United Nations on Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted his accomplishments on Iran and Mideast normalization deals with Israel.

In a pre-recorded address from the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room to the 75th U.N. General Assembly, which is mostly virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump mentioned withdrawing the United States from the “terrible” 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposing “crippling sanctions on the world’s leading state sponsor of terror.” He also mentioned the United States having “obliterated the ISIS caliphate 100 percent,” and eliminating Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and “the world’s top terrorist, Qassem Soleimani.” Al-Baghdadi killed himself and two children by detonating a suicide vest during a raid of his compound by U.S. forces in northwest Syria in October 2019, while Soleimani, general of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was targeted in a U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3 at Baghdad International Airport.

Trump also mentioned the Sept. 4 economic deal between Serbia and Kosovo in which the latter has agreed to formally recognize the State of Israel and open an embassy in Jerusalem. Serbia has also agreed to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The president hailed what he called “a landmark breakthrough” with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which signed agreements last week to normalize relations with Israel. He reiterated that the deals

| OCTOBER 2, 2020

represent “the dawn of the new Middle East.”

“By taking a different approach, we have achieved different outcomes–far superior outcomes. We took an approach, and the approach worked,” continued Trump. “We intend to deliver more peace agreements shortly, and I have never been more optimistic for the future of the region. There is no blood in the sand. Those days are, hopefully, over.”

Hong Kong cosmetics maker features blush named for Anne Frank (JTA) – A cosmetics maker in Hong Kong featured a product named for Anne Frank in its online catalog. The Dream Like Anne liquid blush was part of a line of products by the cosmetics maker, Woke Up Like This, named for women deemed to be inspiring, including Melinda Gates, Virginia Woolf, Frida Kahlo. The product was removed from the catalog last week following complaints that naming the blush for the Holocaust teenage diarist was disrespectful. The Hong Kong edition of the magazine Time Out apologized for an article that featured the product. “We understand and recognize the insensitivities within this article, and that the inclusion of this product came across as disrespectful of Anne Frank and what she represents,” the apology said. “We sincerely apologize for the distress that this piece has caused.”

Polish parliament votes to ban kosher and halal meat for export (JTA) – Poland has moved a step closer to terminating its $1.8 billion industry of kosher and halal meat for export – one day after a parliamentary committee had removed language about a ban in an animal rights bill. On Thursday night, Sept. 17, the parliament’s lower house, the Sejm, voted in favor of the Law on Animal Protection. Among the 460 lawmakers, 375 backed the measure. The text on the ban was reintroduced, Tok FM reported.

The bill must still pass the Senate to go into effect. The law, whose final text has not been published, bans the slaughter of animals without prior stunning. There is an exception for meat produced for the needs of religious minorities in Poland, according to the PAP news agency. Meat producers affected by the ban will be compensated by the government, which will also determine the precise conditions of who may conduct slaughter without stunning, the law says.

Poland has fewer than 20,000 Jews and a similarly sized Muslim minority but is nonetheless a major exporter of kosher and halal meat. Opponents of slaughter without stunning, which is a prerequisite for halal and kosher meat, say its cruel. Proponents of the practice say its relatively painless.

Internet giants urged to remove French rapper’s antisemitic songs (JTA) – France’s oldest anti-racism watchdog group called on internet giants to remove from their platforms newly released hit rap songs that critics say are antisemitic.

The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism, or LICRA, urged YouTube, Google, Apple Music and Spotify to remove works by Issa Lorenzo Diakhaté.

The 28-year-old rapper, also known as Freeze Corleone, engages in “antisemitism, conspiracy theories, glorification of Hitler and the Third Reich and the terrorist Mullah Omar,” a former leader of the Taliban, LICRA wrote last week on Twitter.

Corleone sings in his 10th album, “The Phantom Threat,” about wanting his children to “live like Jewish investors” and of being “determined like Adolf.” He also sings “F*** a Rothchild, f*** a Rockefeller, I come determined like Adolf in the ’30s” and “couldn’t care less about the Shoah.”

Corleone’s album has enjoyed considerable commercial success, selling about 15,000 copies since its release on Sept. 11 – a date some believe he chose deliberately. The album’s 17 songs have been played more than 5 million times on Spotify. Corleone has a long history of similar statements in his previous albums, the magazine showed.

Separately, a Paris court last week sentenced the well-known far-right Holocaust denier Hervé Lalin to 17 months in prison for inciting hatred against Jews online, AFP reported.

Also last week, a different court fined another Holocaust denier, Alain Soral, some $6,350 for blaming Jews for the fire that ravaged the Notre Dame church in the French capital in 2019.

Indian kickboxing champ moving to Israel with plans to represent his new land (JTA) – A mixed martial arts and kickboxing champion from India is moving to Israel, and he plans to represent the Jewish state in international competition.

Obed Hrangchal, 26, who has won national medals in India in several martial arts, is religiously observant and a member of the Bnei Menashe Jewish community. He is set to immigrate with his parents and sister right after the High Holidays. “I have always dreamt of making aliya to the Land of Israel and I am very excited at the prospect of doing so,” he said in a statement released

by Shavei Israel, an organization that helps lost communities of Jews or descendants of Jews to rediscover their roots and come to Israel. Hrangchal plans to serve in the Israeli army.

He and his family were the only Jews in the village of Thinghlun, in the state of Mizoram, before selling their home and farmland in 2013 to move to the capital city jewishledger.com

of Aizawl while awaiting the opportunity to immigrate to Israel. The Bnei Menashe are believed to be descended from the biblical tribe of Manasseh, one of the 10 Lost Tribes exiled from the Land of Israel more than 2,700 years ago. In 2005, then-Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar endorsed the Bnei Menashe’s claim to Jewish ancestry, but required them to convert to Orthodox Judaism. More than 4,000 Bnei Menashe have made aliyah in the past two decades.

Another 6,500 remain in India but want to move to Israel.

At a meeting in August, Israel’s minister of aliyah and absorption, Penina TamanuShata, told Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund that in cooperation with the Interior Ministry, she was moving ahead with the aliyah of 722 Bnei Menashe, including Hrangchal and his family.

‘Sapiens’ graphic novel coming out in October (JTA) – For anyone intimidated to start reading Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari’s comprehensive book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” help is on the way: A graphic novel version will be available next month. “Sapiens: A Graphic History” will be narrated by a caricature of Harari and reimagines human evolution as a reality television show. It’s the first of four planned volumes covering the material in the bestselling book, which has sold 16 million copies in 60 languages worldwide.

The aim is to interest readers who don’t usually engage with science and history, according to Harari’s website.

The nonfiction book charts the course of the development of humans from the prehistoric era to modernity. It was published originally in Hebrew as a textbook for Harari’s students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Comics artists David Vandermeulen as co-writer and Daniel Casanave as the illustrator collaborated on the graphic novel.

In 2019, Harari and his husband, Itzik Yahav, co-founded Sapienship: a social impact company, with projects in the fields of entertainment and education. Sapienship tries to focus public conversation on today’s global challenges.

Armani Hotel Dubai to host first kosher restaurant in UAE (JNS) On the heels of the Abraham Accords signed in Washington between Israel.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates comes Armani/Kaf, the first kosher-certified dining destination in the UAW, which officially opened its doors on Sept. 17.

The 40-seat pop-up dinner venue on the ground floor of the award-winning Burj Khalifa and Armani Hotel Dubai will specialize in kosher cuisine that complies with kashrut, Jewish dietary laws. It will be jewishledger.com

operated under the rabbinical supervision of Rabbi Levi Y. Duchman, rabbi of the UAE, who has certified the venue with glattkosher and pas Yisroel certifications from Emirates Kosher Supervising Agency, the only UAE-based kosher certifier. The iconic venue, with views of downtown Dubai, is one of few five-star hotels that offer guests kosher in-room dining service outside of Israel. Armani/Kaf will be closed for dinein guests on Fridays but offer a takeaway menu for Shabbat. Kosher delivery service is also in the works.

Ilhan Omar explains how people experience antisemitism. Really.

(JTA) – Many people have gaps in their understanding of what antisemitism is and how it works, according to Rep. Ilhan Omar, who has been accused of fomenting anti-semitism. Omar, D-Minn., offered her perspective on the antisemitism experience in an interview published Sunday, Sept 19, in The New York Times.

“In the process of writing a few of the opeds I’ve written on the rise of antiSemitism in comparison to the rise of Islamophobia, it has been interesting to see the ways in which so many people create a lens through which they see it,” she said.

“It is important, when you are not of that community, to understand the different ways that bigotry shows up.”

Omar has been accused of writing several tweets echoing antisemitic stereotypes about Jews, money and power, and In July she came under fire for a campaign mailer that named three donors, all Jewish, to her Democratic primary opponent.

She told The Times Magazine that “there are a lot of preconceived notions about what thoughts and ideologies I have that have no basis in reality” based on her religion, skin color or gender.

Israel sends emergency supplies to malariastricken Chad

By Abigail Klein Leichman (Israel21C via JNS) When Israeli Flying Aid delivered several shipping containers full of donated medical equipment and food to refugees and orphans in Chad last October, IFA founder and CEO Gal Lusky said they would be back.

Two weeks ago, despite the pandemic, a Hercules military transport aircraft took off from an Israeli military base in the south, filled to capacity with items donated by IFA and the American Jewish Committee (AJC)–2,000 six-person tents, personal protection equipment (PPE) for medical teams, backpack sprayers to eradicate malaria-carrying mosquitos, and more.

“The operation was completed tonight after 24 nerve-wracking hours,” Lusky told

ISRAEL21c on Sept. 17. “It was amazing.

The pilot was so emotional when they finally landed at 1 a.m.”

The African country has absorbed many refugees from neighboring countries who have been victimized by radical Muslim jihadis including Boko Haram. One of the biggest refugee camps, with 30,000 people, is near Lake Chad. “Nobody is speaking about the floods at Lake Chad,” Lusky tells ISRAEL21c. “They suffer from terrible malaria there. In that one refugee camp there are 12,000 cases of malaria.”

Chad Cabinet Chairman Abdul Kareem Déby came to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office a couple of weeks ago and described his country’s situation to the National Security Council. “I received a call from that meeting,” says Lusky. “Our prior mission in Chad last October was discussed and we were asked to help. I said, ‘You send the plane and I’ll stock it.’ The National Security Council made all the technical arrangements for the flight.”

The next trip is planned for sometime in 2021. “We’ll be there again with medical personnel to train them in respiratory care and ob/gyn surgeries,” Lusky says, explaining that girls as young as 10 are often raped or forced into marriage. “We have already shipped 40 tons of high nutritional-value food and one container of medical equipment, and we’ll distribute that to orphanages and places that suffer malnutrition. And we’ll support the hospital there dealing with malaria cases.”

This article first appeared in ISRAEL21c.

Emirati, Bahraini foreign ministers send Israel greetings for 5781 (Israel Hayom via JNS) “May it be a blessed year for realizing peace and stability in the region,” wrote Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani in response to his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi, who had sent a Rosh Hashanah blessing on the eve of the Jewish new year, 5781. In personal Rosh Hashanah message to both

al-Zayani and to Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan respectively, Ashkenazi said: “My dear friend, on the eve of the new year on the Jewish calendar, I would like to wish you and your people a year full of peace, prosperity, stability and health! Happy New Year!”

Al-Zayani responded, saying, “Thank you my dear friend Gabi Ashkenazi, the foreign minister of the State of Israel, for the [Rosh Hashanah] blessing… May it be a blessed year of realizing peace and stability in the region.” Al-Nahyan, the Emirati foreign minister, replied, ”Happy Rosh Hashanah, dear Gabi. This is a wonderful way to start the year and I hope this is a good sign for both of us in the region.”

On social media, too, Emirati citizens wished Israelis a happy new year. One twitter account managed in Hebrew said: “Happy new year to the Jews. May this year be the beginning of the new relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.”

Florida will offer specialty license plate that supports Israel (JTA) – Florida drivers can now show their support for Israel on their license plates.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation that authorizes the creation of a “Florida Stands With Israel” specialty plate. The legislation authorized nearly three dozen spe-cialty plates, according to Florida Politics. A portion of the revenue generated by sales of the Israel plate will benefit the first-responder organization Hatzalah of Miami-Dade. The new license plates must have 3,000 pre-orders in order to authorize production. The Israeli-American Council said it will launch a community marketing campaign to reach the mandate.

An open contest sponsored by the council – and technically co-ordinated by the co-sponsoring organization, Artists 4 Israel – will decide on the design. The judges will include lawmakers and community leaders.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

‘Schitt’s Creek’ sweeps the 2020 Emmys and makes history

BY EMILY BURACK

(JTA) – “Schitt’s Creek,” the show co-created by the father-and-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy, swept the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, Sept. 20.

The beloved series won every comedy category for its sixth and final season, and the younger Levy alone won four awards.

This year’s Emmys ceremony was broadcast live, but from nearly 100 streams in different locations across the country.

Yet in the first hour of the show, the stream returned again and again to the “Schitt’s Creek” Emmys party in Toronto, where the Levys and the cast and crew of the show had gathered to watch together safely.

(The show’s Twitter account shared that all were “adhering to Ontario’s COVID-19 guidelines” and “all in attendance have been in isolation since returning negative COVID-19 tests.”)

“Oh no,” Daniel Levy said at the start of his third acceptance speech, winning for best supporting actor. “The internet’s about to turn on me. I’m so sorry.”

Yet there was little backlash: Much of Twitter seemed overjoyed at what it deemed the long overdue awards for the show.

As radio host Michelle Collins tweeted, the Emmys feel like “feels like Dan Levy’s Bar Mitzvah in the best way.” The first half of the night truly felt like a celebration of all things Dan Levy and “Schitt’s Creek,” and with the awards, the sitcom made history in many ways.

Let’s count them:

Most comedy awards in a single season The Canadian sitcom won nine Emmys – seven on Emmy night, and two at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend. The nine total awards for a single season beats the previous record held by “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which won eight awards at the 2018 and 2019 Emmys.

The reason for the sweep? The Hollywood Reporter hypothesized that TV Academy members, who vote on the Emmys, binge-watched the show on Netflix – along with the rest of America. “‘Schitt’s Creek’ had never won a single Emmy for any of its prior seasons. It is widely suspected that TV Academy members, like the rest of the public, caught up with the show on Netflix, which has been airing prior seasons of the show,” the newspaper wrote. jewishledger.com

“AMC’s ‘Breaking Bad’ achieved major Emmy success late in its run via the same course.”

The show premiered in 2015 on CBC, a Canadian channel, and Pop TV, a littleknown American channel (formerly TV Guide Network). It didn’t break through the pop culture bubble until it arrived on Netflix in 2017.

All four comedy acting awards With wins for Eugene Levy for lead actor, Catherine O’Hara for lead actress, Dan Levy for supporting actor and Annie Murphy for supporting actress, “Schitt’s Creek” became the first show to ever sweep all four acting categories in either comedy or drama. The last time a show got close to winning all four was when “All in the Family” won three of the acting categories in 1978.

Plus, three of the four of the actors won their first Emmys – including the comedy legend O’Hara. (Eugene Levy previously won in 1982 and 1983 for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for his work on “Second City Television,” a sort of Canadian “Saturday Night Live.”)

O’Hara’s win was the first of the night.

“I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age – my age – who gets to fully be her ridiculous self,” she said in her acceptance speech.

Eugene Levy followed soon after, saying “It’s kind of ironical that the straightest role I’ve ever played lands me an Emmy for a comedy performance, so now I seriously have to question just what I’ve been doing for the last 50 years.”

Levy, in true Jewish dad fashion, also shouted out working with his children: “As a dad, getting to work on camera for six years with both my kids, Daniel and Sarah – hi honey! – such a joy, love you both and could not be prouder.” The interfaith Levy family – Eugene is Jewish, his wife, Deborah Devine, is not – mirrors the interfaith Rose family on the fictional “Schitt’s Creek.”

All seven comedy awards “Schitt’s Creek” also won for best comedy series, comedy writing and comedy directing, making the show the first in history to pull off an entire category sweep,

THE “SCHITT’S CREEK” CAST AT A PRE-EMMYS PARTY, SEPT. 21, 2020.

FROM LEFT: EUGENE LEVY, CATHERINE O’HARA, DAN LEVY AND ANNE MURPHY. (CREDIT: ”SCHITT’S CREEK”/INSTAGRAM)

winning all seven major comedy prize categories.

In his acceptance speech for best comedy series, the younger Levy said: “Our show, at its core, is about the transformational effects of love and acceptance, and that is something we need more of now than we’ve ever needed before.”

Levy has spoken at length about his decision to make the world of “Schitt’s Creek” one without homophobia. As he explained to the Advocate, “I have made a very strong point to not ever show bigotry, homophobia or intolerance on our show because to me, it’s a celebration of love.

At the root of it, [‘Schitt’s Creek’] is a celebration of love between the family and between the relationships that we build.”

Other Jewish moments There were a few other Jewish wins.

Namely, Jewish actress Julia Garner won best supporting actress in a drama series for the second year in a row for her performance in “Ozark.”

“Wow, first, I’m shocked, to be honest,” Garner said. “I want to show gratitude to all the women in this category. You are the reason why I’m acting in the first place, so thank you.” She was nominated alongside megastars Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter, Thandie Newton and more.

Jewish actress Maya Rudolph was finally recognized for her comedic work – she went

from zero Emmys to two this week. Rudolph won for guest actress in a comedy for her scene-stealing impression of Sen. Kamala Harris on “Saturday Night Live,” and for best voice-over performance for Connie the Hormone Monstress in “Big Mouth,” the Netflix animated comedy about puberty.

Rudolph was actually nominated against herself in the guest actress category for her appearance as Harris and as the judge in the sitcom “The Good Place.” At a news conference, she explained that the role of the judge was modeled on Jewish Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away on Friday evening.

“I was actually thinking about ‘The Good Place‘ a lot and about how we modeled [the judge’s] robe after Ruth Bader Ginsburg and how much of that was an homage to an iconic human being,” Rudolph said. “When you think of a judge, when you think of allknowing, when you think of powerful, when you think of all good – we modeled her robe after RBG, so that was pretty cool.”

Other Jewish wins: Maria Schrader won for directing “Unorthodox,” the hit Netflix drama based on Deborah Feldman’s memoir of the same name, about Feldman’s departure from the haredi Orthodox world.

Schrader took home the only Emmy for the show, which had eight nominations.

Jewish screenwriter Damon Lindelof won outstanding writing in a limited series and best limited series with writing partner Cord Jefferson for their work on the HBO superhero show “Watchmen.”

JEWISH LEDGER

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JEWISH LEDGER

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jewishledger.com

RBG

THE KOSHER CROSSWORD OCT. 2, 2020

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

“Can You Find Him?” By: Yoni Glatt

Difficulty Level: Easy

and our feeling hearts,” she said. “And as a constant spark to carry on, upon our vivid memories of the evils we wish to banish from our world. In our long struggle for a more just world, our memories are among our most powerful resources.”

Curbside pick up and local home delivery available!

She presided over a mock trial of Shylock from “The Merchant of Venice.”

Alongside a staging of the Shakespeare production, Ginsburg presided over a mock appeal of the guilty verdict given to Shylock, the play’s main character and an infamous anti-Semitic stereotype. The event was held to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Venice’s historical Jewish Ghetto. Ginsburg’s courtroom, unlike Shakespeare’s, found in Shylock’s favor.

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Her granddaughter called her “Bubbie.”

Her granddaughter, Clara Spera, gave a more personal perspective on the Supreme Court justice in a 2018 essay: “You may know her as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or affectionately as the Notorious RBG, but to me she’s Bubbie,” Spera, herself a lawyer, wrote in Glamour. “Bubbie with whom I spend most High Holy Days. Bubbie who took me to see ‘The Book of Mormon,’ where we both laughed until we cried. Bubbie who loves going to the movies. Bubbie at whom I get a kick out of poking fun. Just a Bubbie like any other.”

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

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Call 860.231.2424 jewishledger.com

“A Matter of Life or Death”

Jewish groups fight for the right to vote by mail 1

JEWISH LEDGER

| JULY AUGUST 31, 2020 7, 2020

Find us online: jewishledger.com ANSWERS TO SEPT. 25 CROSSWORD

jewishledger.com

jewishledger.com

Across 1. ___ Adumah (red heifer) 6. Wonder Woman’s makes you tell the truth 11. Sliced item 14. Talmudic sage 15. Villain in 60-Across found in 27-Across 16. Israel’s army, for short 17. ___ the aisle (making like a kallah) 19. Jerusalem Har 20. Former blue Queens stadium 21. Saul did not kill him...but Samuel did 22. Like a win with many errors

23. Something passed in class 25. Jewish sch. in the Bronx 27. No pork, and no meat and milk, to name two 34. They’re only drunk on Shabbos in some families 35. German “one” 36. 1-1, e.g.

37. Spanish “three” 38. Original name of the title character in 60-Across 40. “Stop!”

41. Crossword’s most common fish 42. Jonah of “Moneyball” 43. Some dos 44. Jerusalem hotel located at

Gershon Agron Street 26-28 48. Like the Negev 49. Field that replaced 20-Across 50. Shows excitement, like a dog 53. Funny Macdonald 55. Angels or Devils, e.g.

59. French for “yes” 60. Book whose title character is easy to find in 44-Across and a bit harder to find in 17-Across 63. Has too much, for short 64. Female friend of 38-Across 65. Cold home 66. In good shape 67. “Chew the scenery” is one 68. Appears to be

Down 1. 50-Down has them 2. Torah measurement 3. Part 4. State with zero professional sports teams 5. Bali or Tel 6. One chopping down trees 7. “___ bit of sugar” (recipe directive) 8. Laborious work 9. It has teeth but can’t chew 10. Dominate, in sports talk 11. Phone beep 12. Biblical nono 13. “Eifo ___?”, 60-Across in Israel 18. Robinson who played for the

Knicks and Hapoel Tel Aviv 22. Address letters 24. Quaker Honey Graham cereal 25. Walkman pioneer 26. They can improve business 27. Country where the title character in 60-Across is Walli 28. Wide receiver Beckham Jr. 29. Chap 30. Chanukah liquid 31. Pong pioneer 32. Female friend in 60-Across books 33. Prepares (a table) 34. It’s like cholent 38. Lean and flexible 39. TV alien 40. Most Jews are proud of theirs

42. ___ HaHar 43. Kitchen item 45. Tooth driller’s deg.

46. Yell 47. Allen and Burton 50. K-9 friend in 60-Across 51. German car 52. Basic (idea) 53. Hungarian aunt 54. “... ___ not. There is no try.”

(Yoda) 56. Palindromic fashion magazine 57. Israel’s Magen David that saves lives 58. Farm sounds 60. Setting of “1917”, for short 61. “If only ___ listened!”

62. Cheesehead state: Abbr.

JEWISH LEDGER

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OCTOBER 2, 2020

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AUTHORS CORNER Springfield, Mass. native writes literary romance novel with an Orthodox twist

BY STACEY DRESNER

S

PRINGFIELD, Mass. In Rabbi Daniel Ross Goodman’s first novel, A Single Life, the protagonist, Eli, desperately wants to find a frum (Orthodox) wife.

His friends try unsuccessfully to make a shidduch (a match) – and Eli fears he may always be a bachelor. Eli’s quest for love and his questioning of religion and relationships take him from a Baltimore yeshiva to a Jewish high school in West Hartford where he becomes a Judaic studies teacher. Once there, Eli indulges his love of secular literature and develops a crush on a co-worker – an English teacher who is a lapsed Catholic.

Oy! A Single Life, published by KTAV Publishing House in August, is not an autobiography, but a few bits and pieces might have been pulled from Goodman’s life.

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts and raised in Longmeadow, Goodman, 35, grew up in a Conservative home with his father, Alan Goodman, a personal injury attorney, and RABBI DANIEL his mother, Joan GOODMAN Freedman Goodman, a former television news anchor, now director of lay leadership at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

His maternal grandfather, Frank Freedman was Springfield’s first and only Jewish mayor in the 1960s. His maternal grandmother, Eleanor (Labinger) Freedman grew up on Craigmoor Road in West Hartford.

One of his favorite memories of childhood is going to The Crown Market as a child.

“I went to the Crown a lot. It has been a staple of my childhood and my life up until this day,” Goodman said of West Hartford’s kosher market. “My dad’s getting ready for the holidays here in Springfield and we’ll take a trip down to the Crown and pick up stuff. My grandmother was going to the Crown into her 80s, right up until she was unable to drive anymore.”

Goodman attended Heritage Academy in Longmeadow; then for one year attended the Hebrew High School of New England in West Hartford (now New England Jewish Academy). He then decided he wanted a more religious education and began attended Manhattan Talmudic Academy, the Yeshiva University High School for 18

JEWISH LEDGER

Boys. He later went to Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, where he was ordained in 2016.

Along the way he also received a law degree; currently he is a PhD candidate at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Goodman spoke to the Jewish Ledger and about his novel and his own single life.

JEWISH LEDGER: Can you tell us about your Jewish education in Springfield and West Hartford?

RABBI DANIEL GOODMAN: We had a great day school in Springfield, Heritage Academy. It was really fabulous, and I got a wonderful education, both secular and Judaic. In ninth grade I went to what was then the Hebrew High School of New England (HHNE). In my book, the high school in West Hartford is modeled a little bit on that school. I didn’t graduate from HHNE; I transferred in the tenth grade to MTA, which is the Yeshiva University High School for Boys. Tthat’s where my yeshiva background really started to come in.

JL: Why did you switch to MTA? DG: I loved my friends [at HHNE] and I loved the area, but … I grew up in a Conservative household. By the time I was about 14, I was really craving something very frum. I had a lot of conversations with my parents about really wanting to go to yeshiva.They found the Yeshiva University High School, both a yeshiva and high school. And that worked out really well.

JL: Did you want to be a rabbi back then?

DG: I remember my first grade teacher at Heritage said I was rabbi material. I remember other people saying “You would make a good professor.” And I’ve always been attracted to study. I’m studious, that’s just who I am.

It’s manifested itself in different ways and different directions at different times of my life. During high school, when I was in my very frum years, I just studied mostly Gemara, Talmud, Jewish texts as often as I could. I really wanted to be a yeshiva rebbe, and that’s what I thought I was going to be when I was in yeshiva high school.

That started to change a little bit when I went on to YU and I started reviving my interest in secular studies again in history and literature. At that point I was thinking I would really like to teach, whether in high school or in college, but I knew that to teach

| OCTOBER 2, 2020

in college I would need to get a PhD. My father really wanted me to go to law school. So I went to law school at Western New England – the same law school my father went to. I passed the bar and worked for a small independent copyright, trademark law firm in New York, but quickly realized that that was not for me.

That’s when I found out about Yeshivat Chovevei Torah rabbinical school. That was a really great experience too. But I still felt like that wasn’t exactly…where I needed to be. I didn’t want to be a pulpit rabbi and I didn’t want to be a rabbi in a high school. I really needed to be in a college setting. I applied to graduate programs and the Jewish Theological Seminary seemed like the best option. I started a fellowship for a doctoral program in Modern Jewish Thought and Theology. I’m going into my fifth year; it should be my last year.

JL: What made you decide to write a novel?

DG: I started to write fiction and publish short stories about five years ago now. I had never written fiction before… The novel came originally from an idea for a short story, but I realized that I couldn’t confine it to a short story alone, this was much more expansive than any work of fiction I had written so far.

JL: Does A Single Life reflect your own experiences as a single person?

DG: Yes, in many ways. For me, the stakes in dating are so much higher when you are religious and the only reason you’re dating is to find a marriage partner. And if you think that you have found the one or you have found a person that you could see yourself with, the emotions become so much more fraught. “Will she correspond with me? How come she hasn’t responded to my emails or texts for three days?”

JL: What would you say is the book’s genre?

DG: It is working within the romance tradition in a literary way, not like a massmarket romance you would pick up at the drugstore. More like Flaubert or Tolstoy literary romances, but also bringing in the traditions of the Jewish novel – Sholom Aleichem – and Jewish writers I studied at JTS like Henry Roth and Philip Roth and that whole tradition.

JL: Who do you see as the audience for this book?

DG: As I was writing the novel and working with the character and the way that the characters speak, it eventually became evident to me that even though I would like to have the novel read by as wide an audience as possible; the readers who will probably most appreciate this are Jewish readers with a bit of Jewish knowledge, maybe a little knowledge of Yiddish or Hebrew or both. But I put the footnotes in there so that I could make it accessible for people who do not have that knowledge.

JL: Where are you at religiously today?

DG: I do not like denominational labels.

I go to Orthodox synagogues and I have an Orthodox rabbinic ordination, but I would identify as shomer mitzvoth, which literally means “one who observes the commandments” (i.e., an observant Jew). That’s what I primarily identify as, because it is a more traditional label than the newly invented 19th century terms like “Conservative, Orthodox, Reform.”

JL: The protagonist questions life and love. Do you think the book will speak to Orthodox Jews who may have some of those same questions?

DG: I think it might resonate with certain people in the frum world who do think more and question more, and who may keep these questions and curiosities and conflicts to themselves. The book does depict frum characters like the girl Reena, who questions it enough that she goes off the derekh – off the path – and people of the religious Christian world, like Emma, who questioned it and left.

Eli never contemplates leaving religious observance. It’s more about how is he going to deal with this romantic situation in the context of his religious observance and if it would be workable for him.

JL: Are you planning a sequel?

DG: I will never say never… but as of now, I have no intent to write a sequel. I will finish graduate school in May and then want to teach in a college or university. At the same time I would love to continue writing fiction and working on my second novel.

My publishers were very pleased with this novel, and they invited me to do a second novel, so that’s in the works. I would really like to continue doing both. jewishledger.com

BULLETIN BOARD The digitization of Jewish books’ the subject of talk, Sept. 29 On Tuesday, Sept 29 at 7:30 p.m., Fairfield Unviersity’s Bennett Center for Judaic Studies will present the Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Scholar-in-Residence Lecture, “People of the (Printed/Digital) Book: Printing and the Birth of the Jewish Bookshelf,” by Rabbi Joseph A. Skloot, PhD. In his lecture – the first of the Center’s online series of fall events – Skloot will explore how the invention of printing – and with it the sudden availability of the printed word – changed pre-modern Jewish texts and readers’ experiences of them, as well as the implications of digitization for Jewish books and their readers.

The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Rabbi Skloot teaches at Hebrew Union College in New York, where he is an assistant professor of Modern Jewish Intellectual History. He received his PhD in Jewish history at Columbia University (2017), where his dissertation was entitled, “Printing, Hebrew Book Culture and Sefer Hasidim.” His research explores the effects of printing on Hebrew texts during the sixteenth century, and his teaching encompasses courses in early modern and modern Jewish history, and Jewish religious thought.

The lecture will be held online and is free. Register at fairfield.edu/ bennettprograms for a program link.

Responding to COVID-19: A Community Panel, Oct. 13 On Tuesday, Oct.13 at 7 p.m. on Zoom, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford will host a panel of local leaders who will discuss how their organizations have responded to the COVID-19 crisis, and reflect on how the pandemic is reshaping Jewish life in our area. Panelists include: Dr. Anat Bergner of Hartford Hospital Rabbi Tuvia Brander of Young Israel of West Hartford, Katie Hanley of Jewish Family Services, Andrea Kasper of Solomon Schechter Day School, and David Waren of Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford.

Register at https://jhsgh.org/panel/ to receive a link to the program. For more information, contact the Jewish Historical Society at jhsgh@jewishhartford.org.

Congregation Beth Israel fall events Events listed are virtual and hosted by Congregation Beth Israel unless otherwise noted. For details on viewing via Zoom, visit cbict.org/calendar. jewishledger.com

Introduction to Judaism Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m. starting Oct. 14 The course curriculum includes basic Hebrew, Jewish history, liturgy, holidays and life cycle events, as well as the Jewish perspective on spirituality, values and community. Taught by reform rabbis of Greater Hartford. For more information, contact Wendy Berg at wberg@cbict.org, (860) 233-8215.

Red Cross Blood Drive Sunday, Oct. 18 To be held at Congregation Beth Israel, 701 Farmington Avenue in West Hartford.

Donors will be screened outside before they enter. Donor tables will be spaced at least 10 feet apart. Sign up at redcrossblood.org.

Kreplach & Dim Sum – Yes, There are Jews in China Sunday, Oct. 18, 5 p.m.

Vocalist-storyteller Robyn Helzner will perform and share her remarkable and uplifting story about serving as cantor for the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong.

Understanding and Teaching the Holocaust: Virtual book launch, Sept. 30 Wednesday, Sept. 30, 7.p.m.

Launch of the book Understanding and Teaching the Holocaust by Paula Cowan and Henry Mailes.

Part one of the 2020 Virtual Holocaust Educators Workshop (HEW). Cosponsored

by UConn Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life and the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford. For more information on these virtual presentations, visit judaicstudies.uconn.edu.

Comedy Night at the JCC In Sherman, Oct. 3 Saturday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m.

First Annual Steve Bennett Memorial Comedy Night Featuring comedians Jason Choi, Rich Happel, Alysia Hush, Carly Montag, Adam Muller, Bobby Sheehan, Amy Veltman, Abby Washutal, Tayler Yarish. Reservations Required. To be held outdoors; rain date TBD. Tickets $20 Members | $25 NonMembers. For more information visit jccinsherman.org.

Museum of Jewish Heritage upcoming virtual programs The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, continues to host virtual programs. All events take place at 2 p.m. Suggested donation for each event is $10. For more information or to sign up, visit mjhnyc.org/events.

Remembering Babyn Yar, 79 Years Later Tuesday, Sept. 29 On Sept. 29, 1941, on the eve of Yom Kippur, almost 34,000 Jewish citizens of Kyiv, Ukraine were rounded up and shot over two days at Babyn Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of the city. More Jews were murdered in those two days than in any other single German massacre. Babyn Yar has since become a symbol of the “Holocaust by bullets” – shorthand for the mass shootings carried out in Eastern Europe.

On the 79th anniversary of the massacre, historian Alti Rodal and strategist Berel Rodal will reflect on the resonance of Babyn Yar today.

The Making Of A Danish Rescue Film: “A Day In October” 30 Years Later Thursday, Oct. 1 Denmark was the only occupied country to actively resist the Nazi deportation of its Jewish citizens. On the 77th anniversary of the historic Danish Rescue that saved 7,200 Jews, the filmmakers of the 1991 film A Day in October – a compelling resistance narrative that brings one Jewish family’s story to life – will examine the rescue

operation. Speakers include screenwriter Damian Slattery, director Kenneth Madsen, and an actor from the film,. A DVD of the film is available for purchase. While A Day in October is not yet available for online streaming, this program intends to generate awareness to make it available to the public.

The S.S. Officer’s Armchair: Uncovering The Hidden Life Of A Nazi Tuesday, Oct. 6 One night at a dinner party in Florence, historian Daniel Lee was told about a remarkable discovery. An upholsterer in Amsterdam had found a bundle of swastikacovered documents inside the cushion of an armchair he was repairing. They belonged to Dr. Robert Griesinger, a lawyer from Stuttgart, who joined the S.S. and worked at the Reich’s Ministry of Economics and Labor in Nazi-occupied Prague during the war.

In this book talk, historian Lisa Leff will interview Lee about his book, The S.S. Officer’s Armchair, an astonishing narrative about the journey to learn more about Griesinger and how his most precious documents ended up hidden inside a chair, hundreds of miles from Prague and Stuttgart.

Resistance In Belarus: The Bielski Partisans And Today Thursday, Oct. 8 During the Holocaust, the Bielski Brothers formed the largest partisan detachment in Nazi-occupied Europe. Aron Bell (born Aron Bielski) was the youngest of four brothers who famously started a Jewish rescue movement through partisan communities hiding in the woods of German-occupied western Belorussia (now Belarus). In this program, Aron Bell, his wife Henryka, and niece Assi Weinstein (née Bielski) will be joined by Tamara Vershitskaya, a researcher and curator of the Jewish Resistance Museum, for a discussion of the Bielski Partisans and their enduring legacy.

Moderated by Tablet Magazine European culture correspondent Vladislav Davidzon, who was recently awarded a fellowship at the Atlantic Council for his coverage of the 2020 Belarusian protests.

Find us online: jewishledger.com JEWISH LEDGER

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OCTOBER 2, 2020

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

ALLEN Shirley M. Allen, 87, of Guilford, died Sept.

18. She was the widow of Stanley Allen. She was born in the Bronx, N.Y., She is survived by her daughters, Marcy Allen-Carsten and her husband Mark, and Mitzi Allen-Harris and her husband Richard; her brother Harold Stern; her grandchildren Eric, Evan and Alyson; four great-grandchildren; and several nieces and cousins.

GANSON Merrill (Mel) E. Ganson, 88, of Boynton Beach, Fla., formerly of Windsor and Bloomfield, died Sept. 18. He was the widower of Barbara Ganson. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., he was the son of the late Samuel and Lillian (Rosenberg) Ganson.

He was also predeceased by his daughter Tracy. He was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean Conflict. golfer. He is survived by his children, Scott Ganson and his wife Wendy of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Lisa Rogers and her husband Cliff of Old Westbury, N.Y.; his brother, Irwin Ganson and his wife Catherine of New London; his grandchildren, Jaime, Kyle, Michael, Daniel, Zachary, Sarah ;and his greatgrandchildren Ethan and Oliver.

GLASSMAN Cissy Schaller Glassman, 103, of Bloomfield, formerly of Hartford, died Sept. 20. She was the widow of Louis H. Glassman. Born in Haskell, N.J., she was the daughter of the late Morris and Gussie Schaller. She was a member of the Beth Hillel Synagogue in Bloomfield. She is survived by her children, Robert Glassman and his wife Louise of Florida, Alan Glassman and his wife Jan of New Hampshire and Florida, and Deborah Kent and her husband Joel of Windsor; her grandchildren, David (Jana) Glassman of Iowa, Stephen Glassman and Jonathan (Guilianna) Glassman of California, Andrew

(Paige) Glassman of North Carolina, Jennifer (Lt.C.Nathan) Jacobs of Hawaii, and Randee (Philip) Roucoulet of Simsbury; her great-grandchildren, Aenea, Benjamin, Daniel and Arthur Glassman and Jackson Jacobs; her sister-in-law Marilyn Schaller; and numerous nieces, nephews and their families.She was also predeceased by her brothers and sisters-in-law, Reuben and Helen Schaller, Sari and Sidney Shane, and Leonard Schaller; and by her nephew Spencer Schaller.

REINER Alvin Reiner, 95, of West Hartford, died Sept. 18. He was the widower of Louis Katz Reiner. Born in Waterbury, he was the son of the late Jacob and Anna Reiner.

He enlisted in the infantry in World War II, where he became an interpreter for the French army. He performed High Holiday services for Jewish troops and was given a U.S. government-issue shofar. He reopened a synagogue in Biarritz, France now on the National Register of Historic Places. He is survived by his children, Jim Reiner of West Hartford, and Gail Reiner of East Granby; his grandchildren, Ellen Arnstein and Reid Arnstein. He was a founding member of Beth El Temple in West Hartford. He was also predeceased by his daughter-in-law Fiona Carter Reiner, his brother Marvin Reiner, and his sister Florence Reiner Yassler.

RESNICK Maidie (Wenick) Resnick, 95, of West Hartford, died Sept. 20. She was the widow of Lester Resnick. Born in Hartford, she was the daughter of the late Saul and Edith (Weiner) Wenick. She was also predeceased by her son, Yale, and her brothers Shael (Snookie) Wenick and Raymond (Booby) Wenick. She was the loving mother of Frank Resnick and his wife Judy of West

Hartford, and Barbara Resnick and her husband Howard Sollins of Baltimore, Md.; her grandchildren, Scott Resnick, Michael (Maribeth) Resnick, Yael (Elliot) Zweig, Elie (Paige) Sollins, Aliza Sollins, Jake Sollins (Oona Brangam-Snell), and Jesse Resnick (Kim Misiti); and her great-grandchildren, Ira and Edie Resnick, Caleb, Leon, and Ronen Zweig, and Naomi and Rafi Sollins.

RUDMAN Marilyn M. Rudman, 87, of Rocky Hill, died Sept. 21. She was the widow of Harold Rudman. She was born and raised in Middletown. She was predeceased by her brother, Alan Mitchell of Groton. She is survived by her children, Vanessa McGuire and her husband and Thomas of Enfield, and sons Thomas III and Tyler; Edward Rudman and his wife Melina of Rocky Hill; her grandchildren, David, Megan, and Elizabeth, Thomas III and Tyler; and her great-grandchildren, Cora and Charlie.

SARD Diane (Rose) Sard, 89, of Boca Raton, FL, formerly of West Hartford and Bloomfield, died Sept. 21 joining her husband of over 70 years, Seymour H. Sard, who died September 18, 2020. Born in Brookline, Mass., she was the daughter of the late Louis J. and Sadie (Hacker) Rose. She

leaves her children, Cheryl Sard of Avon, Ellen Sard and her partner Richard Salus of Sudbury, Mass.; Jeffrey Sard and his wife Lori of West Hartford; her grandchildren, Alissa Gordon of Brooklyn, N.Y., Scott Gordon of San Francisco, Calif., Lindsay Sard of San Francisco, Calif., and Brandon Sard of West Hartford,; and her nephew and niece. She was predeceased by her brother Louis J. Rose Jr. SARD Seymour H. Sard, 93, of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly of West Hartford and Bloomfield, died Sept. 18. He was the husband of Diane (Rose) Sard, who died three days after his passing. Born in Hartford, he was the son of the late Irving E. and Sady (Ackerman) Sodafsky. He served in the U.S. Navy. He is survived by his children, Jeffrey Sard and his wife Lori of West Hartford, Cheryl Sard of Avon, and Ellen Sard and her partner Richard Salus of Sudbury, Mass.; his grandchildren, Lindsay Sard of San Francisco, Calif., Brandon Sard of West Hartford, Alissa Gordon of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Scott Gordon of San Francisco, Calif. He was also predeceased by his sister Marjorie (Sodafsky) Malitz. He was a long-time member of Congregation Beth Israel.

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CLASSIFIED

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The Jewish Ledger assumes no responsibility for the product and services advertised

TRENDING

CELEBRATIONS • JUNE SENIOR LIVING • AUG.

MARCH JUNE SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

FOR SALE OR RENTAL

Caregiver - Willing to care for your loved ones overnight - Excellent local references Avoid nursing home or hospital in light of Covid 19. Call 860550-0483.

New England Jewish Academy in Greater Hartford - Preschool aide to assist our two dynamic lead teachers - Wonderful children and supportive environment - Hours are 11:005:00 M-TH, 11:00-4:00 on Friday’s with the exception of winter when Friday hours are 11:00-2:20. We are also looking for an art teacher who can work one full day each week. Please email your resume to zsilver@ sigelacademy.org.

FOR SALE- Delray Beach condo.

Over 55 community. Furnished one bedroom. Fabulous meal plan in dining room. Daily social activities & amenities. Gorgeous community, great location. Rare opportunity. $48,500. Call 215740-1165.

Tricia’s Cleaning Service - Residential & Commercial Detailed cleaning for Home & Office - For Free Quote call 860477-8636.

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Driver available for shopping & Home Health Aide - Companion errands in the greater Hartford available for live in/live out Mon. area. Reasonable rates, senior - Fri. Valid driver’s license. Over discount and references 15 years experience. Excellent available. Call Ira 860-849-0999.

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MASSACHUSETTS December For more information on advertising in these magazines, call Donna 860.833.0839 or DonnaE@jewishledger.com 22

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NURSE SEEKING POSITION: GETTING BETTER TOGETHER! Adult care only. Live-in, days or nights and weekends.

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Third Generation Jeweler - Gold & Diamond Buyer - Is Buying All Gold Jewelry - Sterling Silver Flatware Sets - Diamonds Over 2 Carats - Fast Payment Contact - mitchellrosin@gmail. com.

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

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

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

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

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

ORANGE Chabad of Orange/ Woodbridge Chabad Rabbi Sheya Hecht (203) 795-5261 info@chabadow.org www.chabadow.org

Orchard Street ShulCongregation Beth Israel Orthodox Rabbi Mendy Hech t 973-723-9070 www.orchardstreetshul.org

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

NEW LONDON Ahavath Chesed Synagogue Orthodox Rabbi Avrohom Sternberg 860-442-3234 Ahavath.chesed@att.net

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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OCTOBER 2, 2020

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There’s only one place to be seen by everyone.

And it’s FREE!

WeHaCAL WeHaCAL

Introducing West Hartford’s all-inclusive online event calendar!

List your own event by going to WeHaCal.com and click on ADD MY EVENT. For more information or to advertise on this free service, contact Donna Edelstein at 860-833-0839 or Donna@20media20.com

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| OCTOBER 2, 2020

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