Jewish Standard, January 22, 2016

FRISCHS SHIRIYAH IS NOT A COLOR WAR page 6
THE PURSUIT OF HARMONY HEADS TO FRANKLIN LAKES page 8

TU BSHVAT: THE YEAR IN TREES IN REVIEW page 14
BRIEF AFFAIR, NO SPOILERS page 41
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JANUARY 22, 2016

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At the Kaplen JCC
Cost is $25 per person or $36 per couple

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Adult Sibling Support Group: A group for adults
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The Nos and Know-Hows of Financial Planning and Investments by Dr Steven Dym
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Page 3
Putting the shofar into the standoff
l Hold onto your
10-gallon hats and

your shofars. The
standoff in Burns, Oregon, just got a little
bit Jewish and even
weirder.
Just in case you
dont know, for more
than two weeks,
several dozen armed
men have occupied
the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge in
protest of the prison
sentences given to local ranchers
convicted of arson. The militants,
many of whom belong to various
unofficial citizen militias, also
want to bring attention to the
tyrannical management of federal
land.
On Sunday, Blaine Cooper one
of the leaders of the standoff with
the federal government and the
head of an informal citizen militia
in Arizona uploaded a video
to Facebook showing two of the
militants blowing what any Jew
would recognize as serious shofars.

CHRISTIANS THE BATTLE
TRUMPET HAS BEEN SOUNDED
TIME TO RISE! Cooper wrote in the
caption. CALL TO ACTION SEND
IN THE TROOPS TO STAND WITH
US IN BURNS OREGON!
The guys in the video dont nail
the staccato tekiah gedolah heard
in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah.
But then they dont seem to be the
kind of guys who would pay up for
holiday tickets.
Gabe Friedman/JTA Wire Service
No longer
just the fax for
Israeli government
l After years of public complaints
about Israels slow-moving government bureaucracy, someone in charge

finally seems to have gotten the memo
or fax.
On Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet
passed a measure that will require
all government ministries to allow
documents to be submitted by
email. The proposal designed to
replace the current system of faxes
and desperate visits to government
offices during lunch breaks was
spearheaded by Social Equality
Minister Gila Gamliel as part of the
Digital Israel initiative, which seeks
to bring Israeli bureaucracy into the
21st century.
According to the proposals timeline,
government offices will be given email
addresses within 90 days, and those
email addresses will be published for
public use within 120 days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
applauded the bill on Sunday, hailing
it as a simple measure, but one which
will make it much easier for Israeli
citizens because from this decision
on, citizens will be able to contact
government ministries by email and
not by fax. The time has come; this is
clear.
Fax, mail, and in-person document
handoffs still will be accepted. But
for the first time, Israel will allow its
citizens to communicate with the
government through the now threedecades-old technological innovation
that is email. The initiative also calls

for Israelis to be able to submit
documents through cellphone apps.
While Israel is known for its hightech industry, the public sector has
been slow to adopt the rest of the
Startup Nations zest for innovation.
The latest World Economic Forum
Global Competitiveness Report ranked
Israel 98th out of 140 countries for the
burden of government regulation it
imposes.
The countrys old-fashioned
bureaucracy is on display during
national elections, which still are
conducted with small paper slips
that are marked with the Hebrew
abbreviation for each party. Voters
pick a piece of paper from a table, and
then place their chosen slip inside a
cardboard box.
The government isnt the only sector
that has fallen off the technological
cutting edge. Israeli banks and other
private enterprises also rely heavily
on fax machines and in-person visits.
Meanwhile, Israels most common
religious institution, the synagogue,
still uses parchment scrolls.
Yardena Schwartz/JTA Wire Service
Israeli boy finds fertility goddess

l Whats a nice 8-year-old Jewish boy
doing holding the head of an ancient

fertility goddess?
Would you believe, playing a real-life
game of Indiana Jones?
Itai Halperin of the central Israeli
town of Pardesiya was not digging
for relics when he came across the
ancient head, which proved to belong
to a stone fertility goddess. He simply
was out for a nature walk with his
family near Tel Beit Shemesh.
Because Itai did the right
thing and turned over his find to
archaeologist Alexander Glick of the
Israel Antiquities Authority, he and
his class now will have the privilege
of participating in a real dig and
touring the IAA archive. He also
got a certificate of honor for good
citizenship.
Itai told Glick that he had recently
watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, the
first in the Indiana Jones film series
about a swashbuckling archaeologist
hunting ancient treasure, and that he
hopes to be an archaeologist when he
grows up.
Alon de Groot, an IAA expert on
the Iron Age, identified the find and
dated it to the Iron Age, roughly
corresponding to the First Temple
period in ancient Israel, from the 10th
to sixth centuries BCE.

Figurines of this kind, depicting
naked women symbolizing fertility,
were common in the homes of
residents of the kingdom of Judah
from the eighth century BCE until the
destruction of the kingdom by the
Babylonians in 586 BCE, during the
time of Zedekiah, he said.
The ceramic statuette head helps
the IAA determine the borders of the
area controlled by the kingdom of
Judah, de Groot added.
Abigail Klein Leichman/Israel21c.org
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Jewish Standard January 22, 2016 3
Noshes
Babe, just say what you mean: Jewish,

black, gay values.
Joanna Rothkopf, writing in Jezebel about Ted Cruzs attack on New York
values at last weeks Republican debate
STAYING THIRSTY:
New TV shows
and Jewish stars of
commercials (with
character names!)
Heres something I
should have noted
before now: The NBC
comedy series Superstore debuted at the
end of November. Its
mostly about the woes
of the staff of a Walmarttype store, and while its
not fall down funny, its
not bad at all. The cast
helps a lot it stars the
talented America Ferrera
and co-stars BEN
FELDMAN, 36, as a
harried new hire. Feldman has an eclectic
group of credits, including the lead in the
Broadway theater
version of The Graduate, an arc of episodes
on Mad Men, and a
starring role in the
short-lived 2014-15 NBC
comedy A to Z. He
grew up in an observant
home, and his mothers
sister, SUSAN FENIGER,
60ish, is a pretty famous
Los Angeles restaurant
owner as well as the
former host of a Food
Network series, Too Hot
Tamales.
A new CW series,
Legends of Tomorrow,
started on Thursday,
January 21, at 8 p.m. The
complex series premise
begins with (character)
Rip Hunter going back
in time and assembling
a team of superheroes
to battle a superbad guy
called the Vandal Savage. (The late JACOB
Jack MILLER created
Ben Feldman
Susan Feniger
Milana Vayntrub
Jonathan Goldsmith
Lauren Cohan
Dan Mazer
the Rip Hunter character

in a 1959 DC comic.) The
new series co-stars VICTOR GARBER, 66, as Dr.
Martin Stein, a physicist
who also sometimes is a
superhero.
You probably noticed
that AT&T decided about
six months ago to give a
face to the ads featuring
their products. Progressive Insurance long has
had Flo hawking their
policies, and AT&T now
has a perky saleswoman
talking to customers in
their stores. MILANA
VAYNTRUB, 28, plays

the AT&T saleswoman,
identified in some ads as
Lily Adams. Vayntrub
has a somewhat exotic
background: she was
born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which was then
part of the Soviet Union.
Her parents moved to
Los Angeles when she
was 3, and she began
acting when she was
very young because her
parents, she says frankly,
needed the income.
Shes had roles since
1997, but the AT&T ads
have to be her most visible and most lucrative

part. Maybe it will lead to
bigger things.
In the run-up to the
new year, there was a
new spate of Dos Equis
beer ads, featuring the
most interesting man
in the world. The line
I liked most: His fortune cookies simply
read Congratulations!
Ive noted before that
American Jewish actor
JONATHAN GOLDSMITH, 77, plays the
most interesting man.
Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard
But I just learned that he

earns the very interesting
sum of $1 million a year
for ads in which he has
to speak only one line:
Stay thirsty, my friends.
This recently came out
when he had a financial
dispute with his former
agent, who is thirsty for
his share of the million.
LAUREN COHAN,
34, is best known for
her role as Maggie Green,
the very pretty farmers
daughter, on the megahit
series The Walking
Dead. She continues in
the horror genre in a new
film, The Boy. She plays
Greta, a young American
woman who takes a job
as a nanny in a remote
English village, only to
discover that the familys
8-year-old is a life-sized
doll that the parents care
for like he was a real boy,
as a way to cope with
their real sons death 20
years ago.
Cohans unusual
Anglo-American background might have
helped with her casting.
She was born in Cherry
Hill to non-Jewish English parents. Her parents
divorced not long after
her birth, and her mother
remarried an American
Jew and converted to
Judaism. When she was
5, so did Lauren, and she
had a bat mitzvah. (She
uses her stepfathers
last name, Cohan, but it
is unclear if he adopted
her officially.) Laurens

mother and stepfather
moved to the U.K. when
she was 13, and she lived
there full time until she
finished college. Cohans
very toned, so its not
a surprise that shes on
the cover of the January 2016 issue of Shape
magazine. Inside there
are more pics and an
article about her diet
and workout routines.
(You can take a look at
the feature on Shapes
website.)
Another British Jew,
DAN MAZER, 44, is the
director of a new comedy, Dirty Grandpa.
Mazers best known for
being the co-writer on
SACHA BARON COHENs Ali G and Borat
films. Zac Efron (whose
paternal grandpa was
Jewish) plays Jason,
an attorney who is
just about to marry his
bosss daughter (ZOEY
DEUTCH, 21), thereby
getting fast-tracked to
a partnership. But hes
tricked into driving his
foul-mouthed grandpa
(Robert DeNiro) to Daytona for spring break
and the hijinks grandpa
gets him into endanger
his future career. ADAM
PALLY, 33 (The Mindy
Project), has a supporting role. Pallys father is
a doctor with a practice
in Florham Park. He grew
up in part in New Jersey.
N.B
California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

[email protected]
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Local
Sanctifying time with joy
Frisch students celebrate school, each other, and Jewish values in intense art week
HEIDI MAE BRATT
t is not, repeat, not, color war.

Then what was the weeklong fever at the Frisch
School, when students worked with excitement and
intensity well into the night?
It was Shiriyah, a mega multidisciplinary event that
not only celebrates school spirit and Torah knowledge,
but also engages the 630 high school students in grade
and school unity by using art, song, dance, and drama
to underscore Frisch values of academic excellence, religious growth, kindness, and compassion.
Capped by the finale that took place on January 14, and
that drew thousands to the Paramus campus in addition to scores of alumni who watched the livestream from
universities across the country and from Israel Shiriyah
5776 was another triumph, declared students, parents,
administrators, and other fans.
This weeks event is a success story of Jewish projectbased learning, wrote Corey Berman, a former Frisch student from Fair Lawn who now is studying in Israel before
heading to the University of Pennsylvania, in a recent blog
post on the Times of Israel.
Shiriyah doesnt compromise Frischs academic standards it enhances the education, Mr. Berman wrote.
It makes the learning meaningful
and makes it count. It makes sure
every student has a Jewish experience
where he or she can interact with the
texts and bring them to life in his or
her unique way. It teaches the intellect while stimulating the heart and
soul of Judaism.
Every year, each grade is assigned
a Torah or Jewish theme that must be
woven into every presentation they
produce, which includes a colorful
mural decorating one of the walls of
the building, thematic installations
of the schools corridors, videos, a
stomp (dance with accompanying
drum beat), a slow song, and a fast
song.
This years themes celebrated
Kdushat zman the sanctification of time. Each grade
had to bring the theme to life. Freshmen were assigned
the yamim noraim the High Holy Days; sophomores,
shalosh regalim the three festivals that mandated a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; juniors, Chanukah and Purim; and
the seniors, Shabbat. To help lead the charge, each grade
had two generals and at least four captains. (Full disclosure: My son, Yehuda Davis, was among the sophomore
captains.) The students must also fundraise, buy supplies,
and lead their teammates into coming up with ideas and
executing them.
Needless to say, the intensity that surrounded the creation of this years Shiriyah was impressive.
I stopped into Frisch numerous times [during the
week] and was fascinated to see the level of student
engagement and participation, said Lauren Green, whose
daughter, Haley, was a freshman captain. Students were
working on elements of hallway decorating, practicing
music, filming and editing videos, all the while smiling,
Above and below at left, students decorate Frischs walls. Below right, Rabbi
Eli Ciner dances during the Shiriyah finale.
PHOTOS COURTESY FRISCH
laughing, and enjoying the camaraderie. The thing that

resonated most was the concentrated time the school
devoted, amid a highly rigorous academic course load, to
teamwork and collaboration. This is what Shiriyah is all
about, at its core.
Yehuda Hammerman, an 11th-grade captain, said,
Shiriyah shows the incredible unity in our grade that
always exists but really comes to a head during this crazy
week. Its a really good feeling as a member of my grade,
and a captain, to see all of us do whatever it takes to pull
through and create incredible things together.
Eitan Kastner, now a member of Frischs history department who graduated from the school in 2000, said, I
loved Shiriyah as a student and got involved in as much as
I could. It is so much bigger and better now. Every student
has an opportunity to find some sort of creative outlet that
might be missed if this was just a normal week of school.
Shiriyah began more than 22 years ago as a singing competition. It started to take its current shape in the early
2000s when Rabbi Eli Ciner, now the schools principal,

took over as director of student activities. With each year it
has grown in scope and popularity, and at the same time it
has fostered a deep passion among the Frisch community.
Mr. Berman wrote in his Times of Israel blog:
Often in Modern Orthodox Jewish education, a heavy
focus is placed on teaching information, to the exclusion
of teaching to students hearts and souls. Teachers usually
get up in front of the classroom and give over information:
Biblical verses, commentators interpretations, halachic
regulations, and vocabulary. More rare are opportunities
to focus on the heart, to try to make texts meaningful and
relevant. And scarcely (if ever) are the two done at the
same time. Rav Kook, however, writes that we need education of the heart in conjunction with education of the
intellect. Without both aspects, we risk only getting halfway to the goal, never becoming the whole individual of
our potential.
Enter Shiriyah.
Local
Terrorism here and abroad

Columbia professor, international relations expert, to speak at the Tenafly JCC
JOANNE PALMER
ts not surprising that Americans are

frightened by terrorism, Richard K.
Betts of Teaneck said. But perhaps
they shouldnt be.
Dr. Betts will talk about terrorism at
10:30 a.m. on January 28, at the opening day of the winter session of the JCC
U at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in
Tenafly. Dr. Betts has a formidable array
of titles he is the Arnold A. Saltzman
professor of war and peace studies,
director of the Saltzman Institute of War
and Peace Studies, and director of the
international security policy program at
JCC U
What: A program of two classes; this
winters session is set for four Tuesdays
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the
Palisades, 411 E. Clinton Ave., Tenafly
When: Dr. Richard Betts will speak on
January 28 at 10:30; in the afternoon,
the School of International and Public

Affairs, all at Columbia.
And thats just what he is doing right now.
Dr. Betts came to Columbia with a long
resume filled with work in intelligence and
international affairs.
From all that he has learned, Dr. Betts
says that although it is understandable that
we are scared by terrorism and that in fact
it is genuinely terrifying if we look at the
data, the numbers of people killed, and the
damage done in this country, it is low, and
that is particularly true when you compare
it with other dangers that we live with and
take for granted.
We are about a zillion times more likely
Dr. Seth Gopin will talk about
Michelangelo. For information about
the rest of the program, go to the JCCs
website, www.jccotp.org.
Cost: Each day, with two sessions per day,
$32 for JCC members, $40 for everyone
else. For the full four-day, eight-session
program, $110 for JCC members, $140 for
everyone else.
logic to it. Groups use terto be killed getting into our

rorism to try to promote
car and driving somewhere
their interests. And the idea
than we are by a terrorist
that someone is trying to kill
attack.
us makes it different than a
It is true, of course that
traffic accident. Thats why
terrorist attacks have a dramatic psychological impact,
we worry about it, even
so it is understandable that
though the actual odds of
we are concerned about
being hurt by a terrorist
them. We do have to take
arent that high.
strong action against them
Although, he added, the
Dr. Richard Betts
to keep them from becomdangers of terrorism are
ing more damaging. But for
exaggerated if you are living
now, the actual risks still are low.
in the United States. If you are living in Syria,
That could change if terrorists get weapit is a whole different story.
ons of mass destruction, Dr. Betts said.
The Islamic State, as Dr. Betts calls the
That is the highest priority for countermonstrous organization that others call
terrorism to prevent terrorism from getISIS or ISIL, presents a new and alarming
ting those weapons. That would change the
aspect of terrorism. It is a group that is not
situation.
only unusually brutal, even by the brutal
Terrorism is so, well, terrifying because
standards of terrorists, but it is gaining control of territory in parts of the Middle East.
it is a kind of threat that doesnt seem normal, he continued. It seems outrageous. It
Thats what makes it different from groups
doesnt seem logical to many people, even
like Al Qaeda, which is a threat but doesnt
though if you look at the background of the
control territory and doesnt act like a state.
SEE TERRORISM PAGE 13
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2016AM7
1/11/201622,
10:40:09
Local
The Pursuit of Harmony

Jewish, Palestinian musicians spread the message of hope
LOIS GOLDRICH
Whats in a name? Sometimes, its a
mission.
So it is with the Pursuit of Harmony, a
name that identifies both a duo and its
goal.
The two men who make up Pursuit of
Harmony Michael Ochs, a well-know
songwriter/producer, who is an American
Jew, and Alaa Alshaham, a noted songwriter/commentator and a Palestinian
Muslim will offer a program at Barnert
Temple this Friday evening in observance
of Shabbat Shirah.
Rabbi Rachel Steiner, Barnerts associate rabbi, is coordinating the program.
The performers will tell their story about
meeting in the Middle East as musicians
and poets, and as people who are seekers, she said.
In developing a friendship and musical
relationship, they began to build bridges,
leading to hope. Through dialogue, storytelling, and a connection through music,
they seek to engender the same kind of
hope in those they reach.
While todays political climate was not
the reason for inviting the duo, Rabbi
Steiner said, their message is particularly
relevant today, with xenophobia and
the othering of people finding heated
expression in the political arena.
Mr. Ochs and Mr. Alshaham also will
meet with the congregations teenagers
in seventh grade and older on Tuesday. It will be a similar message but not
the same program, engaging them in who
they are and how they think about themselves in relationship to other people,
Who: The Pursuit of Harmony (Michael
Ochs and Alaa Alshaham)
What: Will present a program in observance of Shabbat Shirah
When: At Friday night services on
January 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: At Barnert Temple, 747 Route
208 South, Franklin Lakes
For more information, call executive
director Vicki Farhi at (201) 848-1800
Alaa Alshaham and Michael Ochs will perform as the Pursuit of Harmony musical duo at Barnert Temple, Paterson, in a
program coordinated by Rabbi Rachel Steiner, inset.
Rabbi Steiner said. It will empower them

to have the ability to be agents for change.
The goal, she said, is not just for them to
be moved, but moved to act differently.
The performers will talk to them about
how everyone can use their own specific
talents to heal the world [and] to contribute toward better interfaith relations here
and in the Middle East, a synagogue statement reads. The two will share their personal experiences of conquering apprehensions about people different from us
and developing friendships in place of
those fears.
Rabbi Steiner said that music has the
power to move people in ways that are
unlike anything else. The two musicians
will perform songs and prayers in English,
Hebrew, and Arabic. Hearing prayers commonly heard in English or Hebrew now
recited in Arabic will provide another
way to experience our own worship, she
said.
Mr. Ochss successful and versatile
career in songwriting has covered the
gamut from pop to motion pictures to gospel. In addition, since 2001 he has been
composer-in-residence at Congregation
Micah in Nashville, Tenn, and often is commissioned to write original compositions
for congregations throughout the United
States.
As a founding member of the band My
Favorite Enemy, Mr. Ochs has been writing and performing in the Middle East and
Europe with a group of talented and courageous Palestinian, Israeli, Jordanian, and
Norwegian songwriters and recording artists, according to the duos website. For
some of these musicians, simply being a
member of this unlikely collaboration
poses enormous risk.
Although he had his first paying gig
when he was 12, Mr. Ochs reported, it
wasnt until much later that he realized he
could use his music in the service of peace.
On one of my first songwriting trips
to Nashville, I co-wrote a song called On
My Knees with two well-known Christian
recording artists and saw through that
experience that music can bring people
with different beliefs together in a nonthreatening way, he told the Standard in
an email. But when I began writing and
performing with Alaa back in 2009, it

was a revelation. We saw and felt in our
bones that music could move people who
feared or maybe even hated each other.
Music has a way of landing straight [in]
the heart and bypassing the rational part
of our brain. We can begin to change the
way we feel, before we even realize it. Playing in the Middle East, we saw people who
would never speak to each other begin to
discover they have more in common than
they realized, and it was music that broke
the barrier.
The two met in 2009 through a peopleto-people leadership training program
founded in Oslo, Mr. Ochs said. This is
how our unexpected friendship began and
took wing. Neither of us could have ever
imagined being on this path together. But
thats what happens when you have the
courage to step outside your comfort zone
and into the unknown.
Asked if their message ever has been
challenged by an audience, Mr. Ochs said,
At our events, we are always so inspired
because the message of the Pursuit of Harmony is, well, people seem to be hungry,
Share your story with those who share

your history.
Second Generation Holocaust Discussion Group - connecting you with others

who are part of a legacy that impacts your present day life and relationships.
Group meets the last Wednesday of each month

For more information contact us at 201-837-9090 - www.jfsbergen.org
1.22.15 secondSTANDARD
generation.indd 1 JANUARY 22, 2016
8 JEWISH
1/19/2016 9:29:54 AM
Local
starving, for this message. But they dont know where

to find it in todays climate of division and fear.
Still, he said, Ive had some Orthodox rabbis ask
me why I bother going to Ramallah. Usually after they
hear the story of my friendship with Alaa and I share
pictures from Ramallah, they begin to see a side of the
conflict they dont usually see, and I think something
changes. Even a small change is a change.
Alaa Alshaham, who says his music often reflects the
concerns of the Palestinian people, also is working to
effect change. Mr. Alshaham was born in Jordan and
moved to Gaza in 1996 after the Oslo agreement. In
2007, he left Gaza for the West Bank, where he now
lives. He appears as a commentator on regional television news shows. In 2011, he established the Big Dream
Initiative Childrens Choir, which now has more than
400 members.
The Palestinian member of the duo faces different
challenges than does his American Jewish counterpart.
For me, there are radicals with their own ideology
trying to keep people away from any dialogue with the
other and trying to always feed the fear so they stay
in control, he wrote in an email. And it is difficult to
change their perspective unless they see and meet us
together. But our goal is not to change the small minority of radicals but to reinforce the majority moderate
voice.
Im just so proud that Michael now feels comfortable enough to have visited Palestine 20 times! he
added. When we walk around Ramallah, he actually
bumps into his Palestinian friends. Imagine that. And
for me having visited over two dozen synagogues and
being able to co-lead a Shabbat service I dont know
if any Palestinian has experienced this before, and Im
so proud of the warm welcome I receive from the U.S.
Jewish community.
Mr. Ochs added that in two weeks, the two men
will meet with a group of Holocaust survivors in San
Francisco.
We are so humbled and nearly speechless [at] this
opportunity, he wrote. Alaa and I have visited Yad
Vashem together, but now to sit and share Shabbat
with survivors, we think this has the potential to send
a crucial signal between our two peoples. By recognizing and honoring each others history, each others
painful story, we can begin to create a new memory
between our people.
Asked whether people take them up on their challenge to act, Mr. Ochs said, The immediate feedback
begins during the events when we are singing to an
audience or congregation on Shabbat and seeing tears
of hope in their eyes. One rabbi just told us, and even
posted on Facebook, that our concert and conversation transformed her soul.
And yes, people do take us up on our challenge to
act. Several students are centering their bnai mitzvah
projects on the Pursuit of Harmony and working to
bring Jews and Muslims together in their own communities in their own ways. After a show in L.A., an ophthalmologist was so moved he brought together other
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim eye-care specialists, collected gently used eyeglasses, and they are going to
Palestine and Israel together to offer free eye care to
Palestinians and Israelis in need. This is the Pursuit of
Harmony.
Free! Open to the Public!
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Local
Memories of Entebbe
In Woodcliff Lake, Israeli commando will recount his rescue role of 40 years ago
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
hile Americans were celebrating the Unions bicentennial on July 4, 1976,

about 140 Israeli commandos were undertaking one of the most
daring missions in the history of the Israel
Defense Forces: Operation Thunderbolt,
a counterterrorist hostage-rescue assignment at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
A week earlier, an Air France plane on
its way from Tel Aviv had been hijacked
by two members of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine and two members of the German Revolutionary CZ Cell.
The plane was flown to Libya and then to
Uganda, where the hijackers and more terrorists held the Israeli and Jewish passengers and the 12-member flight crew hostage at the airport.
After unsuccessful negotiations, the
Israeli government decided to send 140
commandos on a 2,500-mile journey to
carry out a nighttime rescue operation.
It was successful the Israelis freed 106
hostages in 90 minutes. Four hostages
were killed, and so were all of the terrorists. Four Israeli commandos were
wounded and one, Lt. Col. Yonatan
Netanyahu, died.
Sasson Sassy Reuven of Beersheba
was there. At 7:30 p.m. on February 2 at
the Hilton Woodcliff Lake, he will tell his
firsthand account of that legendary operation nearly 40 years ago. His presentation
is sponsored by Eternal Flame, a project
of Valley Chabad and the George & Martha
Rich Foundation.
In the summer of 1976, Mr. Reuven was
nearing the end of his three-year service
in the elite Red Beret unit of the Paratroop Brigade. He had participated in
many counter-terrorism missions. I was
the luckiest man in my unit because I was
very close to Lt. Col. Nehemiah Tamari,
and he took me on every mission our unit
was assigned, he said.
On July 1, his unit was in the Golan
Heights on the Syrian border. Around 10
at night, he was sought out by Lt. Col.
Tamaris secretary.
She said, He wants you to be ready
for a battle, he recalled. I got ready,
and about an hour or two later someone
picked me up in a jeep and we went to a
certain bunker in the Golan Heights. I was
the first to arrive. I had no idea what was
happening, but I was very excited. Several
more soldiers arrived, and we awaited
orders as we tried to sleep on the concrete
floor. At 2 a.m., a civilian bus picked us up
and took us to an army base close to Petach Tikva.
As they waited for further instructions,
a friend relayed a rumor that they were
going to Entebbe to resYou have a target, a miscue the hostages, but Mr.
sion you have to complete,
Reuven dismissed that as
and your senses are working overtime. Yet it was
impossible. Finally, that
not just another mission.
Friday afternoon, the 28
It was something from
paratroopers gathered
above. It was the first misunder the shade of eucalyptus trees. Lt. Col. Tamsion I ever thought was a
ari sent 13 of them home
very high responsibility
despite their eagerness to
even from God not to
participate in whatever
protect Jews but to rescue
Sassy Reuven
would come next.
Jewish hostages.
The remaining 15 paraI felt very privileged
troopers soon learned that the rumor
to be there, and very eager. I prayed that
about Entebbe was true. At around 2 in the
things would go the right way.
afternoon, several crews were briefed by
What happened next, the heart of his
Col. Matan Vilnai, who would lead them.
adventure, is a story he reserves for live
There were maps of Africa behind him,
audiences.
and he was smiling. He said, Guys, it looks
He emphasizes that he was not particularly religious at the time, and if I had the
like we are going to bring the hostages
faith then that I have right now, I would
back from Entebbe.
have the same feeling of my senses workTheir advance role was to clear and
ing overtime, but I would leave some of it
secure the airport and its runways before
to God and focus my concentration on spemore units arrived.
cific tasks. That makes it easier.
I was still very skeptical that it would
All the soldiers and their commanders
really happen, Mr. Reuven said. But we
perceived a divine hand in the mission
left the following morning, July 3.
and its outcome, he said. The army had
Mr. Reuven was among the first to jump
estimated a much higher number of casuout of the first Hercules C-130 aircraft,
alties, whether or not the risky operation
which landed in Entebbe seven minutes
succeeded in freeing hostages.
before three additional transport planes.
God was right there with us, Mr.
Today, when he talks about that tense time
Reuven said. It was not possible without
to audiences around the world, he often is
help from above. As one of the generals
asked if he was afraid or excited.
stated, God worked overtime that night.
You dont feel excitement or fear, he
Mr. Reuven completed his military
said. You are in a different state of mind.
The rescued hostages are welcomed at Ben Gurion Airport.
service in November, only to return four

months later as part of a special infantry
reserve unit. He was shot in the leg and
spent several years enduring surgeries
and rehabilitation. During this time he
not only studied civil engineering at BenGurion University but also began to experience a spiritual awakening that he feels
was brought on by his brush with death
and by the death of a cousin in the Israel
Navy Seals (Shayetet 13).
Mr. Reuven went on to complete his
studies at Brooklyn Polytechnic. In 1985
he became El-Al cargo security director at
Los Angeles International Airport, where
he met his wife, Susan. The couple married in 1987 and has three children, now
27, 23, and 15.
After working as a construction development executive in Los Angeles and Las
Vegas, Mr. Reuven established his own
construction company, AMD Development, in Calabasas, California. He is an
active member of the Chabad House there.
With the 40th anniversary of Operation
Thunderbolt approaching, Mr. Reuven is
in much demand as a speaker. He already
has told his story to audiences in Australia,
Canada, and Panama, and this year he is
invited to Denmark and England, among
other places.
Advance tickets for his talk at the Hilton
Woodcliff Lake cost $18 and are available
at Eternalflame.org/Entebbe or by phone
at (201) 476-0157. Tickets will be $20 at the
door.
Local
Tired of swiping left to find love?

Call the new/old matchmaker
Liz Posner
Maybe youll find a nice Jewish boy!
said every mother of every young Jewish person ever when they make their
first foray into the world of dating in
2016. Some millennials find a mate
through a friend, coworkers, or in college these days. If they dont there
are the murky waters of dating apps.
We might consider dating apps such
as Tinder and Coffee Meets Bagel the
superficial little siblings of those old
standbys, dating websites (remember
Match.com?). In Jewish life, the now
19-year-old JDate has some hefty competition from JSwipe. For those of you
whove never used the app (or already
have found mates and have no need
for it lucky you), JSwipe, as the name
suggests, allows users to swipe through
a roster of Jewish singles in their area.
But even a digital lexicon of nice
young Jewish boys and girls is not
exempt from the downsides of dating
apps. Anonymity, not surprisingly,
gives people the liberty to be jerks.

I dont use JSwipe, but plenty of my
friends do. Ive heard all the horror
stories: creepy first lines; girls demanding guys pay on the first through third
dates; guys ghosting on girls they
lose interest in after a few weeks.
Some young Jewish people may
feel that dating apps like JSwipe are
the only options around for finding
a mate. I asked Lori Salkin, a professional matchmaker with SawYouAtSinai.com and YUConnects.com, about
Jewish dating in the age of swiping.
Matchmaking might sound old-fashioned, but its still en vogue in the Jewish community, especially in more religious circles, she said.
One benefit to using a matchmaker
is that it avoids the possibility of a partner ghosting on you. According to
Lori, most people who use a matchmaker arent interested in casual sex.
Its for people who are looking for a
serious relationship that will hopefully end in marriage, though not
necessarily tomorrow, she said.

I wanted to know how Loris service
differs from the matchmaker my great
great-grandparents used in Poland.
As it turns out, modern matchmaking uses social media almost as much
as JSwipe does. Matchmaking in 2016
is a hybrid of social media-based dating and the old-fashioned wisdom of a
neutral third party. Whats changed
is instead of meeting the butchers son
through your grandmother, youll find
him through a tech-savvy matchmaker
who uses Facebook, Google searches
and private databases like SawYouAtSinai to find you your perfect match,
Lori said.
Matchmakers even created an app
of their own. Its called JBolt. The app
gives users the fun of swiping left and
right on potential matches. When a
match has been made, actual matchmakers step in to verify that the pairing is a compatible one, not merely
based on physical attraction, and to
See swiping page 39
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Local
The year in trees (branch offices included)

LARRY YUDELSON
ut on your party hats. Its another

new year celebration.
Sunday night is Tu bShvat the
Jewish new year of the trees.
Do trees make new years resolutions?
Probably not. (Several area trees declined
to comment for this story.) But trees do make
the news (in addition to making the raw material for this newspapers paper edition.) So
were celebrating the treeish new year in a
newspaperly way with a looking at some of
the past years worth of tree news.
Perhaps the biggest news was the publication of the most thorough tree census ever.
Mapping tree density at a global scale, published in September in the science journal
Nature, tried to count how many trees there
are on earth.
The answer: three trillion.
Thats a lot of Tu bShvat party invitations.
Its about 422 trees that have at least a fiveinch diameter for every person on earth
and more than seven times more trees than
earlier estimates had guessed. (No one is even
thinking about the smaller trees. Forget the
sapling totally.)
The new study combined measures of forest density on the ground with satellite imagery. It also examined maps of forest loss over
the past decade. It estimated that more than
15 billion trees are cut down each year. Overall, it said, the number of trees worldwide has
fallen by approximately 46 percent since the
start of human civilization.
But the rate of that loss in forests has
dropped by more than half in the past 25
years, according to another report released in
September, this one from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The U.N. report also quantified the financial importance of forests, saying that the
forest sector contributes about $600 billion
annually to the global economy and provides
employment to more than 50 million people.
The Nature survey began with a question from the organizers of the Billion Tree
Campaign, a project that the United Nations
launched in 2006. By 2011, it reported that
more than 12 billion trees had been planted.
But how many trees had there been to start
with?
In a world of 3 trillion trees, it might seem
that even 12 billion trees dont matter. The
truth, though, is that it doesnt take a billion
trees to have an impact.
Look at the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael - Jewish National Fund, which has planted a quarter billion trees in Israel on a quarter million
acres since it was founded in 1901.
It plants an average of three million trees
a year, according to Adam Brill, director of
communications for the JNFs American
branch. Not all will grow up to have a five inch
diameter (the minimal size of a tree counted
in the Nature census). Last year, however,
was a sabbatical year in Israel, so there could
A NASA image taken on September 24, 2015, from the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite shows smoke from
fires in Indonesia over the coasts of Borneo and Sumatra.
Crews plant saplings as part of the Armenia Tree Project.
be no trees planted, even on Tu bShvat. Still,

420,000 people did attend Tu bShvat events
across Israel last year.
Outside of Israel, other tree planting initiatives reported good numbers.
The Armenia Tree Project, modeled on the
JNF, reported that it planted 229,322 trees,
bringing the total to 4,952,642 trees planted
since the organization began in 1994. Ten
new forests were planted last year to mark
the Armenian genocide of 1915.
In South Africa, the nonprofit Living Lands
has even brought an insurance company on
board for reforestation efforts, which have
led to 3.7 million trees planted since 2008.
This is a business imperative for us. The
likelihood of our sustainability is highly
dependent on this, Ray-Ann Sedres, head
of integrated sustainability at Santam, South
Africas biggest agricultural insurer, told the
Guardian. She said that planting trees now
will reduce claims for drought and flood damage in the future.
The reduction in deforestation in recent
years has been so successful that the World
Wildlife Federation has set a goal for zero forest loss by the year 2020.
In Indonesia, however, wildfires flared as
farmers burned forests to clear land, removing natural growth in favor of plantations
that grow trees producing palm oil and wood
A Raspberry Jewel pluot, before and

after cutting
WIKIPEDIA
ATP
pulp. Those fires are illegal, and they are dangerous. Smoke from last years fires killed 19
people, sickened half a million, and caused
$16 billion in economic damages. The Indonesian government shut down three companies
for their role in the fires, and threatened to
punish 14 mores.
The fires in Indonesia emitted more than
1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents,
which is around four times the total average
annual emissions from all of Australia.
But stopping forests from being burned
deliberately may not be enough to protect
them from the earths warming climate A
study last year in Nature Climate Change
warned of a massive loss of trees in the
American Southwest.
We have fairly consistent predictions of
widespread loss of pion pine and juniper in
the Southwest, sometime around 2050, Nate
McDowell of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, who led the study, told the Washington Post. The report warned of profound
impacts on carbon storage, climate forcing,
and ecosystem services.
The study predicted that 72 percent of
the American Southwests evergreen forests
would experience mortality by 2050, with
nearly 100 percent mortality of Southwest
USA forests by 2100.
Taken together, the validated regional
predictions and the global simulations predict widespread conifer loss in coming
decades under projected global warming,
the study concludes.
This isnt entirely a surprise to some of us
who study this, the writings on the wall, so
to speak, Mr. McDowell told the Washington
Post. On the other hand, no one had ever
evaluated these state-of-the-art models for
predicting tree death.
But one piece of happy news in the world
of trees has been predicted for the coming
year: the 90th birthday of Floyd Zaiger.
You probably dont recognize his name,
but if youve ever eaten a pluot, youve tasted
his fruit. Mr. Zaiger is the father of the pluot.
Or its shadchan, really. Hes the California
plant breeder responsible for more than 200
patented (and trademarked) varieties of fruit.
He began breeding fruit trees some 60 years
ago, working under the tree breeder who
invented the nectarine. Besides the pluot a
plum/apricot hybrid he has bred most of
the new varieties of white-fleshed peaches
and nectarines, as well as new crossbreeds
including the aprium, the nectaplum, and the
Sweet Treat pluerry, which includes plum,
cherry, peach and apricot in its parentage.
Zaigers Genetics is a family business; Mr.
Zaigers daughter and two sons play an active
role in it. Zaigers handles genetics the old
fashioned way manually moving pollen
from one plant to another. The company has
patented more than 200 varieties of fruit.
It is a process that takes decades; the Royal
Tioga cherry tree it patented in 2012 owed its
origins to a Spanish cherry seed received 45
years earlier, which was said to bloom early
and have large fruit.
So when you raise your glass of wine or
grape juice to the new year of trees, take a
moment to salute Floyd Zaiger and hope
that the year ahead brings only good news.
Local
Womens body removed
from car in Passaic River
Orthodox community mourns
as Devorah Stubin is buried
j o i n e d s e a rc h
On Sunday afternoon,
and rescue teams
Devorah Stubin of
from many local
Passaic, 22, was buried in Clifton. Hunmunicipalities as
dreds of members of
they looked for
the Orthodox comMs. Stubin. The
munity came together
effort began on
for her funeral.
Friday night and
Ms. Stubins father
continued into
reported her missSaturday. On Sating after midnight on
urday night, a car
Friday morning. She
registered to Ms.
had left the house at
Stubin was pulled
Devorah Stubin
8:30 p.m. Thursday
from the Passaic
to pick up her brother
River in Wallington, near where she lived.
and was stopped 10 minutes later by
The car appeared to have plowed
police in Maywood for driving without headlights. Her parents picked
through a fence near the river and
up her brother, at her request, folgone down a steep embankment into
lowing the traffic stop.
about 10 feet of water.
Dozens of volunteers from the
Ms. Stubin reportedly suffered
Orthodox communities in Pasfrom a seizure disorder.
saic and Clifton broke Shabbat and
JTA WIRE SERVICE
Terrorism
FROM PAGE 7
Islamic State also seems to have the

capacity to inspire alienated people in
various parts of the world to do freelance
terrorism. Thats what seems to have
happened in San Bernardino. Those two
wanted to be part of the Islamic State, and
they did it on their own.
That can be especially dangerous, and it
can happen anywhere.
You can have a million law-abiding,
patriotic Muslims, but it only takes a handful of deviants to set up an incident like the
one in California, or in Paris.
There is much about terrorism that is
new, Dr. Betts said, although of course
some of it is age-old, particularly if you
define it as the use of fear for political
coercion. But it is new in the sense that it
is a bigger phenomenon now than it was
during the Cold War. And also we dont
have as many other serious security threats
competing for our attention as we did during the Cold War. For both those reasons
more of it, less of anything else terrorism
is much higher on our agenda now than it
had been.
Something else that has changed is how
the Internet and social media have become

useful weapons in a terrorists bomb storage unit. It is now much easier to recruit
people, to inspire frustrated and alienated
people to join terrorist organizations, Dr.
Betts said. And it also facilities lone wolf
terrorists by providing ideas and encouragement to isolated people who can go off
on their own. It can even encourage more
people to think about what upsets them,
and become more alienated than they
would have otherwise. It was harder to do
that in the old days.
Dealing with terrorism can be difficult,
Dr. Betts added, because of the law of unintended consequences, because what you
do to limit it can cause a reaction in the
other direction. You might call it strategic
judo, he said. We can use drone attacks
to kill terrorists, and that helps, but the collateral damage angers people and can turn
them into terrorists although otherwise
they would not have gone in that direction. It is hard to find a solution that is very
effective but does not have two edges.
The main problem with terrorism is not
catching or killing terrorists when we know
who and where they are. Its finding out
who they are and where they are.
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Local
Federation Super Sunday set for January 31
NCJW plans Newport trip
The Jewish Federation of Northern New

Jersey holds its annual Super Sunday fundraising and family fun day on Sunday,
January 31, at Yeshivat Noam, 70 W. Century Road in Paramus.
The day begins at 9:30 a.m., with a
breakfast featuring Mickey Mouse and
Elsa. A magic show at 10:30 is followed by
Israeli Zumba, songs, and dancing at 11:30.
The Jersey Hills section of the National

Council of Jewish Women is sponsoring
a four day/three night to visit Newport,
Rhode Island, leaving from Fair Lawn on
May 16.
The trips highlights include stops at
Olde Mistick Village, Newport Grand
Slots, Brick Marketplace, the Submarine Force Museum; a Newport Harbor
cruise, a tour of historic Newport, and a
wine tasting at a local vineyard.
Lodging is at the Howard Johnson
Krav Maga is at 2 p.m. and Israel advocacy

training with Noam Golboord, director of
Community Strategy at the Israel Action
Network, is set for 2 p.m.
The days chairs are Seth Lipschitz and
Donna Weintraub. To sign up to make
calls, contact Aaron Herman at (201) 8203942, email him at [email protected], or
go to www.JFNNJ.org/supersunday.
Dr. Dalia Shoretz Nagel named

Sharsherets new board president
medical degree from HarSharsheret, a national notvard Medical School. She
for-profit organization supporting young women and
completed her residency
their families, of all Jewat Mount Sinai Hospital,
ish backgrounds, who face
and now practices comprehensive ophthalmolbreast or ovarian cancer,
ogy on Manhattans Upper
has named Dr. Dalia Shoretz
East Side. She also is a clinNagel as the new president
ical instructor at Mount
of its board of directors.
Sinai, where she is active
According to Dr. Shoretz
Dr. Dalia Shoretz
in teaching residents and
Nagel, It has been aweNagel
students.
inspiring to be a part of
Dr. Nagel and her husSharsheret as it has grown
band, Efraim, live in Teaneck with their
into a remarkable organization. As
five children. Her sister, Rochelle Shopresident of the board, I look forward
retz AH, was Sharsherets founder. Dr.
to building my sister Rochelles legacy,
Nagel has been close to the organization
ensuring that no Jewish woman or family faces breast cancer or ovarian cancer
from its very beginning, as a member of
alone.
the board when Sharsheret was founded
Outgoing board president Dana Norris
in 2001, an active volunteer, and a Team
will remain on the executive board.
Sharsheret athlete.
Dr. Nagel graduated from Barnard ColFor more information, go to www.
lege summa cum laude, and earned her
sharsheret.org or call (866) 474-2274.
Columbia/Barnard Hillel to honor

two at its Young Alumni Shabbat gala
The Hillel at Columbia University, which
includes Columbia and Barnard colleges, will hold its fourth Young Alumni
Shabbat on Friday, January 29, at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan. This years honorees are Toby Osofsky, CBS 2012, daughter of Nancy and
Herman Osofsky of Wyckoff, and Daniel
Oppenheim, CLS 2002, of Manhattan.
The synagogue is at 7 West 83rd St. For
more information, go to columbiabarnardhillel.org/alumni/shabbatgala.
Toby Osofsky
Sign up for the

Jewish Standard daily newsletter!
Daniel Oppenheim
Inn, with three breakfasts and dinners,

including one at the Atlantic Beach Club,
provided. All taxes, meal gratuities, luggage handling, and transportation by
motor coach are covered, and a souvenir gift will be given to each person on
the trip.
The cost is $550 per person for double occupancy; for single occupancy, the
cost is $699 per person.
For more information, call Joan
Donow at (201) 796-0524.
Women for Israel reception

The Jewish National
the Gulf War, and the Mideast peace process.
Fund offers a reception
The reception commiton Tuesday, February
tee includes Doryne Davis,
2, at 7:30 p.m., at a private home in Tenafly.
Susan Gutmann, Susan
The guest speaker,
Monane, Joan Oppenheimer, Margie Price, DebLinda Scherzer, will talk
bie Rogoff, Diane Seiden,
about the Challenges
Barbara Smolin, and Rita
Students Face Today
Wilder.
on College Campuses.
For information, call
Ms. Scherzer is a
Jocelyn Inglis at (973) 593former Mideast correspondent for CNN and
Linda Scherzer
0095, ext. 823, email her
Israel Television; she
at [email protected], or make
has extensive experience covering the
reservations at [email protected]. Put
Arab-Israeli conflict. During her years
the reception date, February 2, in the
with CNN, she covered the first intifada,
subject line.
YU Beit Midrash has courses

in Jewish holidays and medicine/law
Yeshiva Universitys Center for the Jewish Future will present a new semester of its
Community Beit Midrash Program beginning February 10 with a six-week series of
talks by faculty members, Rabbi Kenneth
Brander, YUs vice president for university and community life, and Rabbi Dr.
Edward Reichman, professor of emergency medicine, education and bioethics at YU-affiliated Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The program is open
to the community and runs for six consecutive Wednesdays on the Israel Henry
Rabbi Kenneth Brander, left,
Beren Campus, 215 Lexington Ave., New
and Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman
York City.
PHOTOS COURTESY YU
Rabbi Branders class is Jewish Holidays: Exploring Kabbalistic, Philosophical and Halakhic Motifs, and Rabbi Reichmans class is Past, Present and Future:
The Evolving Relationship of Medicine and Halakha.
Visit www.thejewishstandard.com and click on SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY
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Editorial
MLK, Shabbat Shira,
the titanosaur, and us
n a lovely overlapping
of the civil and Jewish
calendars that happens
every few years, Martin
Luther King Day and Shabbat
Shira fall on consecutive weekends this year.
Both of these days are about
freedom and justice. Both are
about escape from narrowness
to openness, about crossing a
river to new hope and new life.
Both are about courage on both
the personal and communal
levels.
In the end, both are about
song. Both include death and
both move toward light.
The Reverend Martin Luther
King Jr., whose legacy we celebrated on Monday, was someone whose self-possession and
courage is almost impossible to
imagine. If he had lived in an
earlier time it would be easy
to dismiss the stories as hagiography and certainly we
know enough about his life to
know that he was no plaster
saint but the pictures of the
pictures of the burly men and
their terrifying dogs, the firehoses, the blown-up churches,
the bereaved parents of little
murdered girls show that the
dangers he and everyone else
who battled for civil rights
faced were real and terrible.
The recordings of his
speeches can bring a listener
to tears, with their clear and
powerful words and with
our knowledge of what was to
come next.
We know that many Jews
worked together with African
Americans on the struggle for
civil rights. There were many
sociological and historical reasons for that joint effort; some
of them trace back to Shabbat
Jewish
Standard
1086 Teaneck Road
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(201) 837-8818
Fax 201-833-4959
Publisher
James L. Janoff
Associate Publisher Emerita
Marcia Garfinkle
Shira and the ur-escape from

slavery in that story.
Shabbat Shira is named for
the Torah portion we read
this Shabbat, when the Israelites finally escape from Egypt,
stand trembling and overwhelmed and almost defeated
at the bank of the Red Sea
until Aminadab has the faith
to walk into the water and not
drown in it and they follow him
through it, watch Pharaohs
army drown, and sing in triumph on the other side.
It is our peoples most foundational story, the story of how
we gained our freedom, and it
is not accidental that much of
the storys imagery fueled the
civil rights movement.
The world we live in now certainly is far from perfect. Racism continues to be a divisive,
dangerous, at times deadly
force in this country. But we
have changed a great deal since
Dr. King was killed.
On the Friday before the
three-day weekend that celebrated his life and legacy, the
American Museum of Natural History opened its newest
dinosaur exhibit, featuring a
cast of a titanosaur.
The museum, on Manhattans Central Park West, is a
series of old buildings, irrationally strung together, with
elevators and staircases in odd
places and big galleries reachable only through long treks
through minor ones. Its easy
to get lost in it, although those
of us who spent much time
there when we either had or
were young children have the
sort of muscle memory that
leads us through dim halls
lined with beady-eyed stuffed
animals and odd arrangements
Editor
Joanne Palmer
Associate Editor
Larry Yudelson
Guide/Gallery Editor
Beth Janoff Chananie
About Our Children Editor
Heidi Mae Bratt
jstandard.com
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
of rampant moose and angry

mongeese and pensive buffalo to wherever it is that weve
been going.
The dinosaur is the length of
three school buses, we are told,
and although the galleries are
big none could fit more than
about two and a half buses, it
seems. So the dinosaurs head
pokes way out of the doorway, with that toothy grin that
comes so naturally to creatures
whose flesh has dissolved millennia ago.
We were there on Sunday,
the day before we celebrated
Dr. Kings birthday. Because
it was a long weekend, and
because the dinosaur is new
and exciting, the place was
packed.
And thats the point. Thats
where all this was going.
Everyone was there. Black
and white and Asian and bior tri-racial kids and parents.
Families with the men in kippot. Families with the women
in headscarves. People who
speak English and people who
dont. People who clearly are
native New Yorkers and people who were on a once-in-alifetime trip to the Big Apple.
Absolutely every group you
could think of was represented.
If it hadnt been for the Israelites leaving Egypt to look
for the freedom eventually to
become the Jews, if we hadnt
had that prototype of freedom,
who knows how the world
would have developed. And if
the freedom hadnt eventually
extended to everyone in this
country, we wouldnt all have
been together in that one room,
gaping at that one big dinosaur.
Thats a good reason for us
JP
all to sing together.
Correspondents
Warren Boroson
Lois Goldrich
Abigail K. Leichman
Miriam Rinn
Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman
Advertising Director
Natalie D. Jay
Classified Director
Janice Rosen
Will Hillary Clinton

repudiate Israel-hating
Max Blumenthal?
think its fair to say that even

the Internet.
some of Hillary Clintons
In my recent column in The
biggest supporters have a
Huffington Post I publicized Maxs
few qualms about her testy
history of anti-Semitism, in parrelationship with Israel, her con- ticular his repeated comparisons
fessed phone diatribes to Benjamin
of the Jewish state to the Nazis in
Netanyahu, and her constant brag- his book Goliath, Life and Loathging, including in this past Saturday
ing in Greater Israel. The chapters in Goliath bear titles such
nights debate, about her vital role
as The Concentration Camp,
in the Iran nuclear agreement.
Hillary is running for president, This Belongs to the White Man,
and her recent forced email expo- How to Kill Goyim and Influence
sure provided disquieting revela- People and The Night of Broken
tions about whom she chooses as
Glass. The book uses the welladvisers on Israel, particularly her
known technique of hiding behind
lifelong friend Sidthe quotes of others
ney Blumenthal and
to say things he is
his son Max, one of
too cowardly to say
Americas most dishimself.
turbed Israel haters.
Rabbi Abraham
Sidney was shown
Cooper, the associate dean of the
to be feeding Hillary a steady stream
Wiesenthal Center,
of far left anti-Israel
called Max someone
articles while prowho conflates the
Rabbi
moting a number of
Shoah [Holocaust]
Shmuley
Maxs vitriolic antiand Holocaust imagBoteach
ery with phantom
Semitic writings
Israeli crimes. In
while she was Secretary of State. Hillary valued the vit- the Wiesenthals Centers 2013 list
riol of Max Blumenthals troubled
of worst anti-Semitic and anti-Israel
anti-Israel mind so much that she
quotes, Max received ninth place,
forked over $120,000 a year to his
in part for having quoted approvfather to keep the flow of informa- ingly characterizations of Israeli
tion coming.
soldiers as Judeo-Nazis.
Mrs. Clintons emails praising
Is this really the man that Hillary
Maxs work are more explosive.
was secretly turning to for advice
Throughout this entire email
on Israel?
scandal, both Max and his father
In a letter to the Huffington
have been silent. One might
Post designed to intimidate me
assume the Hillary campaign sees
with a veiled threat of libel, Max
they have a Jeremiah Wright prob- denied the Nazi comparison. He
lem and have done everything to
demanded that my column be
muzzle Max, who normally trolls
removed. To its great credit, the
pro-Israel writers like me all over
Post refused. Maxs writing are so
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is the author of 30 books. He
soon will publish his next one, The Israel Warriors Handbook.
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]
-
,
-
Opinion
suffused with Israelis-as-Nazis motifs
that denial is an impossibility.
Here are some quotes from his
book. A Nazi-like mentality also
exists in our country That says a
great deal about the Nazi mentality
that is dominant here In modern
day Israel, the African refugee occupied a similar role as the devious Jew
in Weimar-era Nazi propaganda
There are Judeo-Nazis Max went
on to compare the Israeli armys elite
Sayeret Matkal unit to the Nazi SS.
Furthermore, in an October 17,
2013, interview at the University of
Pennsylvania with Ian Lustick, Max
essentially called for the dismantling
of Jewish Israel.
The interview said, The last
chapter [of Goliath] is the exodus,
which you could infer, if you were me,
a call for the end of Jewish collective
life in the land of Israel. Is that your
conclusion?
Max responded, Zionism as a
philosophyis a failed project He
continued, These are Israelis who
are attracted to Europe, who do not
feel that they are a part of the Arab
worldThere should be a choice
placed to the settler-colonial population (a term Max uses to describe all
Israelis): You become indigenized
and have to be willing to be a part
of the Arab world. Or else you have
to leave. He adds, This choice needs
to be placed to the Israeli Jewish population and it can only be placed to
them through external pressure, the
kind of pressure that the BDS movement is exerting.
Maxs book was featured on David
Dukes racist, anti-Semitic website, as
well as on the Neo-Nazi website Stormfront and the anti-Semitic website
Electronic Intifada.
Sidney Blumenthal sent Hillary a
November 2010 blog post written by
his son where Max attempts to equate
the views and policies of far right
Dutch politician Geert Wilders with
Israels. Max goes so far as to claim
that Wilders learned from living in
Israel, and formulated his views as a
result of that experience. While some
critics see Israel as a racist apartheid
state, people like Wilders see Israel as
a racist apartheid state and they like
it, he wrote, and continued, They
richly enjoy when Israel mows down
Arab Muslims by the dozens and tells
the world to go to hell; they admire
Israels settler culture.
Max also writes, Most of all, they
yearn to live in a land like Israel that
privileges its ethnic majority above
all others to the point that it systematically humiliates and dispossesses
the swarthy racial outclass. He adds,
The endgame of the far-right is to
make Europe less tolerant and more
Israeli.
Holocaust comparisons
invite a generic dilution
of one unspeakable event
Sidney Blumenthal arrives to

be deposed by the Benghazi
commission last June.
CHIP
SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
What was Hillarys secret response

to this racist, anti-Israel tirade, later
revealed in the email dump? She
writes, A very smart piece as usual.
Hillarys emails also show that
before her March 2010 speech to
AIPAC, Blumenthal sent Hillary a column written by Uri Avnery claiming
Israel was pursuing goals contrary
to the United States interests while
starting a rebellion against the
United States.
Hillarys response to Blumenthals
conspiracy theory was I have to
speak to AIPAC tomorrow. How and
should I use this?
Blumenthal responds that with
regard to the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process, Hillary should Hold Bibis
feet to the fire. Blumenthal also recommended that Hillary try to mention
the George Soros-funded Israel organization J Street, which is fiercely critical
of the Jewish state, in a positive light.
Blumenthal tells Hillary to remind
[AIPAC] in as subtle but also direct a
way as you can that it does not have a
monopoly over American Jewish opinion. Bibi is stage managing US Jewish
organizations (and neocons, and the
religious right, and whomever else he
can muster) against the administration. AIPAC itself has become an organ
of the Israeli right, specifically Likud.
Holding Netanyahus feet to the fire,
advocating for J Street, and courting
favor with AIPAC while simultaneously
viewing it as a conspiracy organization
being wielded against the interests of
the United States. These are the musings of Hillary Clinton as she considers
American policy toward Israel.
It is now time to demand that Hillary repudiate Max Blumenthal, arguably the foremost Jewish hater of
Israel in all America. The person who
would be best served by that advice is
Hillary herself. I cannot believe that
she shares in any way the disgusting,
Israel-hating, Nazi-comparing beliefs
of Blumenthal. So why should a good
woman be tarnished by his stench?
ur country is deeply divided between

have the space and economies sufficient to support
those who believe we should be taking
the Syrian refugees.
in the Syrian refugees and those who
There were few countries in Europe that would
do not.
accept Jewish refugees during World War II, and
As often is the case with many issues today, it is
even fewer that could protect them from the Nazis
complicated, and though neither side will admit it,
atrocities. Even those Jews who escaped from
there is merit to both viewpoints. That said, I can
Poland and Germany and landed in places like
argue both sides of this issue, but am not going to
France or Sweden found that they were not safe
take a position on it here since this op-ed is only
there either. Often they ended up dead, as they
nominally about the Syrian immigrants. What it is
would have had they stayed. That is far from the
really about is the overuse and improper use of the
case with the Syrian refugees though this not
word Holocaust.
an argument for refusing to allow them into the
It is also a call to action for Jewish people to stop
United States.
using this term, and to correct others when they
We are cheapening the word Holocaust by its
use it, unless they are specifically referring to the
constant use. In trademark law, companies protect
Holocaust itself. Similarly, we need to place a moratheir names by preventing them from being diluted
torium on analogizing current events to those relatby entering into common use. Once a companys
ing to or arising from the Holocaust. If we fail to
name or mark becomes the common term for the
stop this rampant use of the term Holocaust, the
product it is known as a generic term and loses
word is going to continue to lose the
trademark protections. It is why
impact of its historical uniqueness.
Kleenex is not a tissue; Band-Aid is
It also is going to minimize the strugnot a bandage strip; and the Intergles and the suffering of those who
national Olympic Committee sues
endured it. In addition, its overuse and
anybody who uses its interlocked
resulting dilution is one reason why
rings for business purposes. These
Israel, which faces daily terrorism as
companies have fought hard to
no other country ever has before, is so
protect their trademarks. Likewise,
easily criticized for its response to this
the Jewish people should fight hard
terrorism.
as well to protect our unfortunate
Daniel M.
The Holocaust was and remains a
ownership of the horrors of the
Shlufman
singular event in history, one that had
Holocaust.
never occurred before and (thankFinally, not only do we minimize
fully) has not occurred since. Besides the fact that
the impact of the word Holocaust by allowing its
the scope 6 million murdered Jews and horimproper use, we desecrate the names and sufferror dehumanizing, gassing and shooting all Jews,
ings of those who went through it. We lessen their
from young children to the elderly is barely fathexperiences and allow them to die once more by
omable to our enlightened minds, the purpose
denying them their unique (albeit horrific) place in
itself was diabolical. That is not to say that there
the historical context of mans inhumanity toward
have not been other mass murders in the 70 years
man. It desensitizes the rest of the world, and the
since. Pol Pot killed one million Cambodians killed
Jewish people as well, to the inexplicable circumstances that caused the Holocaust. It also casts
in the 1970s; 800,000 Tutsis were killed in Rwanda
aside the special role it played in shaping future
in the 1990s, and Assad killed 250,000 Syrians during that countrys civil war so far. But all of these
conflicts and the creation of the State of Israel itself.
murders, as heinous, revolting and contemptible
We must avoid further dilution of the Holocaust
as they were, were all carried out for political purby no longer allowing these grossly inaccurate and
poses and within the confines of a single country.
misleading uses of our tragic history to support
They were not done, as the Holocaust was, for
political positions, no matter how worthy they
the sole purpose of wiping an entire people off the
may be. So the next time somebody says that a terrible world event is like the Holocaust, hand that
face of the Earth.
person a tissue (not a Kleenex) and commiserate.
Although many of the Syrian immigrants have
Then gently correct your friend by noting that the
suffered great hardships and again, I am not
event was a horrible tragedy, but it was not anyexpressing an opinion on whether we should take
thing like THE Holocaust.
them in their plight, their options, and their likely
In that way, we can assure that our cry of never
fate if they remain in Syria is nothing like that of the
again really means something.
Jewish people in the 1940s. That is, their imminent
demise is not anything close to the near certainty it
Daniel Shlufman of Tenafly is a member of the
was for the Jews of Germany, Austria, Poland, and
board of the Jewish Federation of Northern New
most of Eastern Europe. Likewise, there is no comparison to the Jews who escaped Germany and had
Jersey and one of its Berrie Fellows. He is an attorney
nowhere to go. Dozens of nearby Arab countries
and a mortgage broker.
The opinions expressed in this section are those of the authors,
not necessarily those of the newspapers editors, publishers, or other staffers.
We welcome letters to the editor. Send them to [email protected].
Opinion
To strengthen Israel, defend democracy

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed.
The Declaration of Independence, Thomas
Jefferson
n January 12, 2016, the president of

the United States stood before Congress and presented his State of the
Union address. It is an event that
brings together the branches of our democracy;
the president, under constitutional obligation,
sharing his views and vision before the peoples
representatives in Congress, with the justices of
the Supreme Court in attendance.
Mark
Gold
Congress shall make no law respecting an

Hiam
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
Simon
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution,
James Madison
As special as the event is, it is at the same time familiar.
In our country, this is normal. Immediately afterward, the
party in opposition to the president makes a response, which
is widely covered in the press. It is an important feature of
our country that this is normal too. For democracy to flourish, a wide array of opinions must be given opportunity for
expression.
Our constitution, which mandates the presidents annual
address and the separation of powers, establishes the rights
of free expression, religion, petition, and assembly. In this
environment, a rich culture of political, religious, trade, and
professional organizations, publications, and other avenues
of expression is formed. This amalgam of nongovernmental
social organizations and means of expression is what creates
civil society. In the United States, we take civil society and
the rights that support it for granted. It is the system with
which most of us grew up and many of us have gone to war
to defend.
America traditionally has called the nations that hold fast to
these same beliefs allies.
But in much of the world, these rights indeed the very
idea of civil society are under attack. Dictatorships are
threatened by civil society, which is why they seek to suppress
it. Dictatorships in Sudan, Syria, and North

Korea maintain their power by preventing the
basic fundamentals of civil society ever to take
root.
It is shocking, therefore, that we read of the
proposal in Israel to suppress Israeli non-governmental organizations. The proposed law,
introduced by the Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked
of Likud, was approved by a cabinet committee
and sent on to the full Knesset, where it faces
additional debate and votes.
It would apply to those organizations that
receive more than half their funding from foreign government entities. The groups would be
required to identify themselves as funded principally from overseas in any public communication and in their interactions with government
officials, and they would have to list the sources
of funding in reports. Members of the groups
also would be required to wear a special badge
when they are in the Knesset, that will include
their names and the names of their NGOs.
The legislation has been touted as providing more transparency, but that is not the true
agenda. In fact, the legislation is aimed at delegitimizing the progressive groups in Israel that advocate for
human rights and are opposed to Jewish settlements in the
West Bank. The reality is that many progressive groups rely on
such funding from organizations that are under the auspices
of foreign governments. The law would force them to carry a
label that suggests that they are somehow at odds with Israels
interests.
At the same time, millions of dollars are being sent to Israel
to support right-wing causes such as settlement activity, but
this proposed legislation carefully exempts those donations
because they come primarily from individual donors, not governments. The proposed law adds no transparency to Israels
NGO funding. All registered nonprofit organizations already
are required under existing law to file disclosure reports of
their funding, so the only effect of the new requirement would
be to force them to wear a public badge in a way that is odious.
The proposal reflects the kind of tactic that Russia and China
have employed to squelch dissent, and it is not in keeping with
Israels core values as a democratic state.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia has made NGO groups
register as foreign agents, as if they were enemies of the
state. In China, the new restrictions on nongovernmental
organizations will forbid support from abroad and give oversight to the security apparatus. In both cases, dissent is being
silenced purposefully, and valuable services will be denied to
people who need them. Israel should not allow itself to be
lumped with these regimes.
Israels justice minister, Ayelet Shaked

YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90
Israels education minister, Naftali Bennett
FLASH90
Were that this bill was just an anomaly but alas that is not
the case. In the very same month that this bill passed the committee hearing, Israels education ministry disqualified a
novel a love story about an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man from use by high schools around the country. The move comes even though the official responsible
for literature instruction in secular state schools recommended it for advanced literature classes, as did a professional committee of academics and educators. The book
was among this years winners of the Bernstein Prize for
young writers.
But in the end, with the approval of the minister of education, Naftali Bennett, the head of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, the education ministry chose to disallow
the novel. Among the reasons given for the disqualification
of Dorit Rabinyans Gader Haya (literally Hedgerow, but
known in English as Borderlife) is the need to maintain
what was referred to as the identity and the heritage of students in every sector, and the belief that relations between
Jews and non-Jews threatens the separate identity. The
Letters
The lies the story
I wish to comment on the reaction of Fair Lawn High

School to Bethany Koval and her computer account
(Bullying? Freedom of speech? And whos Jewish?
and An Israeli Jew? January 15).
First of all, as offensive as the views expressed, the
high school overreacted. Ms. Koval is free to friend or
unfriend anyone in her computer circle. Any action by
the high school infringes on her right of free speech
and her right to associate with anyone she wants.
There is no threat to either attack or harass anyone.
All these actions did was to give attention to someone

who deserves to be ignored.
Secondly, the best way to contest offensive speech is
free speech itself.
By presenting herself with a Jewish and Israeli background when she clearly has neither, she is a liar who
has no credibility whatsoever. This should have been
the story, not some farfetched allegation of bullying.
Alan Mark Levin
Fair Lawn
Whats with the Times?
Your editorial on the alleged bullying by a Fair Lawn high

school student, as well as your feature article about the incident, were insightful and informative except for one thing.
Why didnt you or your reporter contact the New York
Times seeking comment on, or justification for, that newspapers careless publication of misrepresentations or downright fabrications regarding the facts and circumstances of
this story?
Not that I would expect the Times to acknowledge its
hypocrisy and lack of journalistic integrity in this matter,
Opinion
education ministry also expressed concern that young
people of adolescent age dont have the systemic view
that includes considerations involving maintaining the
national-ethnic identity of the people
Bennett said that he strongly supported the books
removal from the list, mostly because it criticizes Israeli
soldiers. Do we really need a book that talks about the
romance between a Palestinian prisoner and a Jewish
woman? he asked but he admitted that he had not
yet read the book.
Other literary works that tell the stories of Jews who
marry outside the faith include Haim Bialiks Behind
the Fence, Isaac Bashevis Singers The Slave, Shmuel
Yosef Agnons The Lady and the Peddler, and Sami
Michaels A Trumpet in the Wadi. All were, and some
still are, taught in Israeli schools, at least for now.
This is not an article about one bad legislative bill or
the fate of one book in Israel. It is an announcement.
The battle now is a battle for democracy. We always
have known that the lack of a twostate solution would
mean that Israel could be either a Jewish state or a
democratic one, but that with a onestate solution it
couldnt be both. We always wondered what those
who dream of a greater Land of Israel would be prepared to give up. Now we know. Democracy.
Israels democracy has been a pillar of strength
through years of siege. It is not always easy to tolerate
or defend groups that criticize the state or those in
power, but allowing them to function normally is an
important test of democracy, and ultimately the mark
of an open and free society. Banning books wont stop
free thought. Borderline is still in bookstores, and
in fact removing it from the school lists has created a
spike in sales. One day, it will no longer be disallowed
from Israeli schools just like The Great Gatsby, The
Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill
a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Ulysses, The
Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, Catch-22,
Brave New World, and a host of others that once
were banned by schools here in the United States no
longer are.
Its impossible to stop the dedication to values that lies

at the foundation of the battle for civil society. Wherever
the democratic process has begun, it always has been victorious in the end. The democratic spirit is unstoppable,
but it must be defended against those who would sacrifice
it for control. Perhaps it is dependent on us, we who were
raised under the shelter of liberty and democracy and
who love the State of Israel, to help the Jewish homeland
hold fast to its own foundations.

the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The Gettysburg Address,
Abraham Lincoln
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organization in the United States. He lived in Israel for
many years, where he was the dean of students for what
is now the Alexander Muss high School, and he was an
artillery sergeant in the IDF.
but they should at least be put on the record and quoted

as to why they wrote what they did. You suggest that its
because they accepted the students word that she is an
Israeli Jew. If so, that is journalistic malpractice. But I
think it was also because the implied slant of the Times
story namely that an anti-Israel opinion was being
suppressed or intimidated by pro-Israel elements in the
community, more closely fits the Times own negative
narrative toward Israel.
Alan M. Schwartz
Teaneck
Opinion
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PETE SOUZA/WHITE HOUSE
o numerous were the omisstarving and emaciated residents, who

sions, distortions, and flights
have subsisted on such delicacies as stray
of extraordinary fancy in Presidogs and boiled leaves for several months
dent Barack Obamas January 12
now. There was something of an outcry
State of the Union address that youd be
over these images, enough to persuade
hard-pressed to pick the most egregious
the Syrian regime to allow a U.N. aid conpassage. For what its worth, then, I offer
voy entry into the town. But the undermy personal selection.
lying strategy here using the denial of
On issues of global concern, we will
food and medical assistance as a weapon
mobilize the world to work with us, and
of war has not changed.
make sure other countries pull their
Responsibility for this crime against
own weight, Obama said. Thats our
humanity lies squarely with Assads
approach to conflicts like
forces and their allies from
Syria, where were partnerHezbollah, the Lebanese
ing with local forces and
Islamist terror group that
leading international efforts
also is heavily supported
to help that broken society
by Iran and not with
pursue a lasting peace.
Islamic State. And if the
I was dumbfounded by the
mockery of Madayas plight
notion that Syria is even in
by Assads supporters on
a position to pursue a lastsocial media is anything
ing peace. With the civil war
to go by, it is a crime this
Ben Cohen
entering its fifth year, Syria
brutal and vicious regime
no longer exists as a unified
is extremely proud of.
On Facebook and Twitcountry. That half of the counter, Assad loyalists have
trys population of 11 million
posted photographs of sumptuous banhas been either killed or forced to flee is a
quets huge plates of kebabs, grilled
gruesome testament to that fact, as well as
fish, salads, desserts, and the like in
the unmitigated failure of our policy.
The Iranian and Russian-backed
solidarity with the siege of Madaya. As
regime of Bashar al-Assad didnt merit a
Beirut Syndrome, a blog, pointed out,
mention in President Obamas remarks,
some of these people have fallen for the
perhaps because doing so would have
regimes propaganda that the siege is a
reminded the presidents audience that
myth. Others, however, are positively
Tehran and Moscow are calling the shots
rejoicing at the suffering of Madayas
in Syria. Assads continued survival is
inhabitants, and are using the images of
largely down to Obamas refusal to solidfood for their amusement.
ify his vague commitment to a future for
Take, for example, Jihad Zahri, a camSyria without the dictator in place. And
eraman with Lebanons Al Jadeed TV,
while Obama would have us believe that
who posed for a selfie in front of his wellthere is no long-term future for Assad,
stocked refrigerator. Or take Charbel
the Russians and the Iranians have put
Khalil, a Lebanese television producer,
boots on the ground for the express purwho posted an image of starving Somapose of ensuring that he does have one.
lis on Facebook with the caption, The
Which brings me to the siege of
Mayor of besieged Madaya and some
Madaya, a town to the north of Damascus
members of the town council. (Because,
that once was a winter resort. For more
of course, if someone is starving, then
than a year, Madaya has been an openthey must be from Africa get it?) These
air concentration camp. In early January,
two specimens were among dozens of
photos emerged of some of its 40,000
similar posts.
Opinion
The point here is not so much the moral sewer
these online shenanigans represent. One reasonably
expects citizens of a civilized society like ours to recognize cruelty when they see it. Rather, it is the fact
that Western policy has enabled this kind of behavior.
Our collapse in the face of these war crimes simply
encourages the dehumanizing rhetoric that Madayas people have been subjected to. That it has now
reached the level of gloating is not an aberration,
but a natural outgrowth of the Syria policy that this
White House has pursued indeed, Madaya would
very likely have been spared the siege had President Obama made good on his 2013 threat to bomb
Assads forces following their deployment of chemical weapons against their own population.
For that reason, any talk from President Obama
about healing Syrias broken society is simply nauseating. The presidents sole imperative is to keep the
nuclear deal with Iran alive, and he will not even look
at a policy that might undermine this critical component of his legacy.
That is why Assad, Hezbollah, and their Iranian
backers will carry on getting away with these monstrous atrocities in Syria. It is why Islamic State has
been able to exploit Sunni Arab resentment against
the ruling Alawite minority to deadly effect.
It is also why the Iranian regime can seize U.S. naval
personnel, parade them before news cameras in viola-
Our collapse in the

face of these war
crimes simply
encourages the
dehumanizing
rhetoric that
Madayas people
have been
subjected to.
tion of the Geneva Convention, and then secure the gratitude of our own secretary of state, John Kerry, for finally
releasing them. And it is why, when President Obama
makes the fatuous claim that the people of the world
do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead they call us,
Americas adversaries laugh as heartily and cynically as
those who gain pleasure from the suffering of Madaya.
There is an alternative, as there always has been: working for the elimination of the Assad regime and Islamic
State. Make that point to White House officials, and you
will be met with a patronizing grin, followed by an explanation about why we cant be the worlds policeman, why
we cant afford to antagonize Russia and Iran, and why
the threat to our own security from the Middle East has
been grotesquely exaggerated by folks who dont realize
that the real challenge is climate change.
Excuse follows excuse in order to camouflage
Americas international humiliation. But make no
mistake: we have been humiliated, and Obamas successor will have to forge a foreign policy from this
JNS.ORG
point of departure.
Ben Cohen, senior editor of theTower.org and the Tower
magazine, writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish
affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His work has been
published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz,
the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.
Sign up for the

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Cover Story
Becoming president
Jayne Petak of River Vale
and the Jewish Federation
of Northern New Jersey
tells her story
JOANNE PALMER
ometimes you can tell early if

someone is going to grow up to
be a leader.
Say, for arguments sake, that
it is 1969, and you are confronted by a
13-year-old girl, whose becoming bat mitzvah is being celebrated that Friday night.
Say, for the sake of that same argument,
that youre a rabbi with a world-class intellect, an unbending sense of propriety,
and a tall, straight-backed, formidable
presence.
And now lets get more specific. Its
1969, and you are Andre Ungar, rabbi of
Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in
Woodcliff Lake.
It wouldnt be very easy to challenge
you, even if the challenge is made politely,
carefully, and to honor a great-grandfather.
Jayne Wolfin, who had lived in Woodcliff Lake for only a year then, was lucky
enough to have all four grandparents and
two great grandparents, as well as both
her parents, at her bat mitzvah. Her great
grandparents, Cecilia and Tobias Nudelman, did not drive on Shabbat, and as
Orthodox Jews they were not comfortable
with girls reading the haftarah on Friday
nights, but they were immensely proud of
their granddaughter. They agreed to go the
bat mitzvah.
I told Rabbi Ungar that they were coming, and I asked what my great grandfather, who was 84, could do. He was
so strong, and so brilliant but he said
Thats not what we do here.
So the night of my bat mitzvah, my
great grandparents sat in the first row, and
when I was called up to make the kiddush,
I said I am very fortunate to have my great
grandfather here and I would like to call
him up to do the kiddush with me.
Rabbi Ungar nodded at me, and
allowed him to do it. Afterward, he just
said We dont usually do it like that.
That girl, now Jayne Petak of River Vale,
lived up to the promise she showed then
she became someone who challenges
authority respectfully, quirkily, and fearlessly. She grew up to become a double
president of the family business that she
and her husband, David, started, and since
last summer, of the Jewish Federation of
Northern New Jersey.
Her story began in Brooklyn and quickly
shifted to Bellmore, a heavily Jewish town

on Long Islands south shore. Ms. Petaks
parents, Sydelle and Julie Wolfin, were the
children of immigrants; Mr. Wolfin had his
own business manufacturing precision
machine parts. Jayne went to public school
and to Hebrew school at her shul, the Conservative Temple Beth-El.
And then, when she was 12, my parents
moved me to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey,
Ms. Petak said. It was a major shock to my
system. To a Long Island girl, the other
side of the Hudson was terra incognita.
One of the biggest surprises Ms. Petak
encountered was that her new school and
town had relatively few Jews. I was one
I met Jewish
friends from
Teaneck and
Bergenfield and
Fair Lawn, and I
became the
wandering Jew.
of maybe five or six Jews, out of maybe 90
kids in my class, she said. The area still
was semirural. Tice Farms was a real farm
then, with cider and apple-picking. I came
home from sleepaway camp one summer,
and instead of going to my little Levitt
house, we came to a big house in New Jersey, in the farmlands of New Jersey.
I was starting fresh. I was as tall as I am
now, 58, and I was skinny, scrawny, and
Jewish.
Although I found some very nice
friends in Woodcliff Lake, I never really
felt at home there then, she said. The
summer I was 14, there was a teen travel
program from the Y in Hackensack. That
was the YM/YWHA of Hackensack, which
changed its name a few times to end up
as the ambitiously named, recently shuttered, with-any-luck-soon-to-be-revivedin-a-different-form Bergen County Y, a
Jewish Community Center in Washington Township. I met Jewish friends from
Teaneck and Bergenfield and Fair Lawn,
and I became the wandering Jew, Ms.
Petak said. Every weekend I would go to
someones home and meet their friends.

She became part of many intersecting
social groups that way.
Why did she choose to spend most of
her time with Jewish friends rather than
local ones? I was comfortable with them,
she said. We had the same values. It felt
comfortable. It felt right.
Her desire to have Jewish friends was
a matter of comfort and shared assumptions, Ms. Petak said, but her need to travel
to find those friends was a historic and
geographic fluke. Her older brother went
straight to high school when the family
moved to Woodcliff Lake; the contingent
from Hillsdale included more Jews. By
the time her younger brother was in high
school, more Jews had moved to Woodcliff
Lake. She a classic middle child, she said
was caught in the middle. Like always!
Ms. Petak knew that she wanted to be
in business, but she also loved fashion,
so when it was time to pick a college she
chose the Fashion Institute of Technologys buying and merchandising program,
thus neatly getting both at once. She lived
in Chelsea.
It was perfect. It was a huge change
from Woodcliff Lake, Ms. Petak said.
People say You went to a college without
a campus! and I say No campus???? We
had New York City! It was great. She and
her friends explored the city we took
subways and buses and got half-price tickets. I loved it.
FIT offers two-year degrees, so once she
earned her associates degree, Ms. Petak
moved to Greenwich Village and got her
bachelors degree in business from NYU.
Then she was ready to work in the garment center.
Ms. Petaks first job after college was for
Bonnie Cashin, the influential designer
who developed the concept of sportswear
as we still know it. And then she moved
on to work with a designer who was even
more iconic, Pauline Trigre.
Miss Trigre, as Ms. Petak always calls
her even now it is clear, listening to Ms.
Petak, that to call Miss Trigre only by her
last name would be vulgar, to call her Ms.
Trigre would be silly, and to call her Pauline would be unspeakably presumptuous was a formative teacher. Ms. Petaks
work was on the business side, but that did
not stop her from soaking up everything
she could learn.
The Parisian-born Pauline Trigre was
Jewish, something Ms. Petak relished. She
was also dramatic, larger than life, and
brilliantly innovative.
When Miss Trigre walked into a room,

you knew it, Ms. Petak said. The charisma dripped off her.
She didnt ever use patterns. She
draped and she cut and she pinned. Those
were expensive fabrics, and she just took
a scissor and cut.
Once, we were waiting for the model to
come in. Once she arrived, shed undress,
be draped in a gloriously expensive piece
of fabric, and Miss Trigre would make a
piece of clothing on her body. We waited
and waited and the model never came.
She pointed to me remember, Jayne
Wolfin Petak was (and still is) tall and slender, with a models body and said Youll
be fine today.
So they gave me a tank top to put on,
and somebody draped me, and she cut.
And I was thrilled.
I was in awe.
Ms. Petak was married by the time she
worked at Miss Trigres atelier, and she
soon was pregnant with her older son,
Aaron. Miss Trigre walked in one day
with a beautifully wrapped gift box. It was

stunning, Ms. Petak said. She said it was
for me, for the baby. She said, Its a blanket,
and its very ugly, but babies love it.

I have yards and yards of fabric that I
save for babies, because they love it.
Jayne Wolfin as a toddler, and dancing with her father, Julie.
The Petaks in Colorado from left, Aaron, Jayne, David, and Derek.
Cover Story
It really was ugly, Ms. Petak confirmed;
loud, fluorescent, just plain ugly. But Miss
Trigre was right, and both her babies
with the bad taste that all babies display,
loved it.
Lets back up to introduce Jayne Wolfin
to David Petak, of the Fair Lawn Petaks.
Thats as in Petaks Glatt Kosher Fine Foods
& Catering, the appetizing institution that
has fed observant Jews in and around Fair
Lawn for more than half a century.
Jayne and David met through a mutual
friend, Josh Krantz, whose father, Hyman
Krantz, was the rabbi of the Glen Rock
Jewish Center. Id heard about David
for years, but Id never met him before,
she said. We met on September 9, got
engaged two and a half weeks later, and
got married the following September 9. It
was 1979, and Ms. Petak was 22.
The young family lived first in Fort Lee
and then in Suffern; in 1983 they moved
to River Vale. Ms. Petak took time off
to be a full-time mother and remains
aware of how lucky she was in having the
luxury to do it.
Because life sometimes comes full circle, Jayne Petak once again joined Temple
Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake, this time as a grown-up. My
son Aarons bris was the first simcha in the
new building in Woodcliff Lake, she said.
That was a
perfect place
for me to do
volunteer work.
I always had a
project that I
could feel
creative with.
Rabbi Ungar said that Id have to have the
bris in his office, because it was heated,
and have everything else in the sanctuary,
which wasnt completed yet. We had to
bring in space heaters.
Both Aaron and Dereks bar mitzvahs
were at the shul, and Rabbi Ungar and
Cantor Mark Biddleman presided over
them, just as they had over the boys mothers coming-of-age ceremony.
For 18 years, David Petak worked with
his wifes father; Julie Wolfins machine
parts business expanded to include drapery items all the components for drapery
except for the fabrics, Ms. Petak said. The
firm also worked with Velcro.
About 22 years ago, she said, Ms. Petak
began working for her husband on what
was meant to be a very temporary basis.
His assistant was on maternity leave, so
I went to help out, she said. And then
I liked it, and I continued. She was able
to work what she called mom hours
Thats the nice part of being in a family
David and Jayne Petak in Jerusalem.
business. And then, 19 years ago in April,

David and I decided to go out on our own.
They had worked a bit with fasteners on
their drapery line earlier; now, we concentrated on fasteners, mainly 3M and Velcro products.
The business, FASTENation, which is
Velcros largest distributor, has done very
well.
Velcro has so many uses, Ms. Petak
said; her firm specializes in customizing it
in creative and surprising ways. We work
with someone in Alaska who makes dog
shoes for the Iditarod, the trans-Alaska
dogsled race. We sell to NASA, and to
people who manufacture signs and medical devices. What does FASTENation sell
to NASA the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration? The space shuttle
has a lot of Velcro on it, Ms. Petak said.
Each of the astronauts has his or her own
color, and each has his or her own tools.
There is a dot of the colored Velcro on
each tool, and a dot of Velcro on the astronauts leg.
Why? Thats so that the tools dont
float around and hit them in the head,
she explained.
Most of the products we sell are adhesive-based, Ms. Petak continued. We
dont manufacture them, but we are a
distributor and fabricator. Although the
businesses are extremely different, you
can feel a waft of Miss Trigres presence
hanging ever so faintly in the air when Ms.
Petak says that we do cutting, sewing,
and ultrasonic welding. It all happens in
the companys facility in Clifton.
Ms. Petak, who went back to work
full-time as soon as her sons were old

enough, handles sales; David is a jack of
all trades, she said. He is very handy,
and he has a wonderful mastery of the
machinery. He understands what kind of
machines to get, and how to tweak them
to handle customers needs.
We are a certified woman-owned business, she said proudly.
Not only do she and her husband work
together, so do their two sons. Aaron, 34,
and Derek, 31, have their own business,
and also work together, she said. Thats
the best gift that a mom can have. For the
last seven years, the Petak brothers have
worked together in their Internet marketing firm, Red Rock Interactive. And like
their parents, they are involved in the
Jewish world.
Both my sons went to school in Colorado, Ms. Petak said. After Aaron graduated, he said that he wanted to be a ski
bum for a year. I gagged. We are members
of Bnai Vail, a nondenominational shul in
ski country, and Id just met the president,
who is a really nice guy. I said to Aaron that
if you really want to do that, you have to
call him and ask if he can help you get an
internship or something for a year. That
internship, a parents mandate in response
to a sons desire to bum around for a year,
led to both sons careers, and to their
spending three months in Herzlia, Israel,
learning from an Israeli start-up. I was a
very happy mom, Ms. Petak said.
As should be clear, between her work
and her family, Ms. Petak has a very busy
life. Somehow, though, she manages to
fit in enough volunteer work for another
full-time job.
When she first moved back to New Jersey, I went to a young womans federation event, she said. I told someone that
I lived in River Vale in fact she hadnt
quite moved in yet and they said to
me, Oh, when are you moving out? All of
them were in Englewood or Tenafly. So I
didnt go back to federation for a while.
Instead, Ms. Petak concentrated her
energies on the YJCC, working on a committee figuring out how to structure nursery school programs for young children. I
co-chaired the first early childhood committee. About that time, I went to a womens division meeting I didnt want to go
back to the young womens division and
I ended up falling in love with the women
I met there. Those were the women a generation ahead of her, women who are still
involved to this day, who became my mentors. Women I looked up to.
That was a perfect place for me to do
volunteer work. I always had a project that
I could feel creative with. I loved working,
and creating, and feeling that my time was
worthwhile. I loved feeling that I was making a difference in Jewish lives.
About 18 years ago, she said, Ms. Petak
became the president of the womens
division.
There were many places where Ms.
Petak could have worked as a volunteer,
but she chose Jewish ones. It was where
my heart was, she said. It was what felt
right for me. The values were the values I
grew up with, and the shared knowledge
meant that I was able to reach Jews. Everything I learned about it drew me in further
Cover Story
and further. It became such an important
part of me.
She credits her husband and sons for
their support. It means being out of the
house a lot of nights, she said. They
adjust to it. The more I did, the more I
loved it.
Ms. Petak rose up steadily in federations leadership ranks. The president of
womens division was invited onto the Big
Board yes, thats what everyone calls it,
she said. I stayed involved, worked on a
lot of committees, ended up being on and
then chairing the planning and allocations committee. At the same time, I was
on the board of the YJCC and the Jewish
Home at Rockleigh my grandmother
had been a resident there when it was in
Jersey City. She retained her seat on the
Jewish Homes board until last year, when
she had to step down lest her federation
obligations run headlong into any Jewish
Home ones.
She never felt hindered by being a
woman, Ms. Petak said. For one thing, that
generation of mentors had gone far, and
one of them, Eva Lynn Gans, had become
the first woman to be president of the federation then called the Bergen County
UJA Federation in 1998.
For another thing, I have a business
background, and that means that they
the men who are her peers in leadership
positions in the federation include me
in the conversation in a different way, she
said. Or I include myself.
That business background is invaluable,
she added. The whole Jewish federation
system is learning that the social-worker
worldview that had helped it flourish
when times were better is not enough for
the tougher challenges we face today. The
value of the social work approach is still
there, but you also need the administrative
and financial skills, she said.
Ms. Petak took over as federation
president from Dr. Zvi Marans, who
admires her greatly. His federation
friend and now a close friend, Jayne,
combines business and emotional
skills, which is quite a feat, he said.
She understands people, she understands behavior, she understands
nuance.
She is very straightforward, she is
very calm, and when you speak to her
you always feel that she is very present
during the conversation. When you see
her at federation events, she always
is greeting people, making them feel
good about who they are and why they are
there. She really is a quintessential leader.
He told a story about last years womens mission to Israel. There was a woman
on the trip who had never been to Israel
before, and there was no visit to the Kotel,
the Western Wall, scheduled before the
trips end. Jayne recognized that a person cannot go to Israel for the first time
and not go to the Kotel, he said. She
rearranged things so that the first thing
this woman would see was the Kotel. It
Clockwise from above, Jayne Petak, Donna Kissler, and Leslie

Smith stand in Old Jaffa during a recent federation womens trip
to Israel; Ms. Petak watches as a FASTENation employee, Ruben
Ramirez, works on a fabrication machine, and Donna and Glenn
Kissler join David and Jayne Petak on a mission to Morocco in
October.
showed a few things. It showed that she

understands the importance of our Jewish values and history, and it also showed
that when she sees something that has to
be done she can execute it. That shows a
lot of character.
A few years ago, Ms. Petak and Julie
Eisen were co-chairs as they searched for a
new federation CEO; together, they found
Jason Shames. When we found Jason,
When you see her

at federation
events, she always
is greeting people,
making them feel
good about who
they are and why
they are there.
we knew we were making a change, Ms.
Petak said. We wanted the skill set that
he had so he could set our feet on a different path.
The admiration is mutual. I think Jayne
is great, Mr. Shames said. What she
brings to the table is Jewish values, combined with an entrepreneurial mind and
spirit. Those are two of the core components a president needs to be successful.
And theres something else, Mr.
Shames added. The seamlessness of the
transition between presidencies is important, and Jayne has been a critical part of
it. From Alan Scharfstein to David Goodman to Zvi to Jayne our community is
very very lucky to have had those four
presidents in a row.
Rabbi Ungar, who watched Ms. Petak
and her sons grow up, also is proud of her.
It has been my joy to watch the transformation of a sweet young girl into a mature
responsible leader in the broader Jewish
community, he said. And I pray that
her creative participation in the highest
reaches of American Jewry will continue
unfolding in the years ahead, and will
inspire other young leaders.
So, back to Ms. Petak. She is a great
partner, Mr. Shames said. She cares an
awful lot about her community. This is
her home. She has put tremendous personal time, energy, and reflection into it
and the best is yet to come.
The federation has undergone a vast
structural change in the last decade;
those changes are now complete, Ms.
Petak said. I dont have individual
goals, because we have all been setting
priorities together. We have to be able to
keep on taking care of the most vulnerable among us; to support Israel; to support our agencies through the good times
and the bad times, and through all our
transitions.
It is incumbent on us to teach our children well, Ms. Petak concluded. We
have to teach them what we do; yes, the
world is changing, but we have a message
to share.
Thinking back to one of her most recent

federation-created missions to Israel, Ms.
Petak remembers a heartwrenching story.
She had gone to Bayit Cham, the federation-supported afterschool house for children at risk in Nahariya that so impressed
Nicholas Montello, the director of Bergen
Countys division of family guidance, that
he is opening a similar place in Hackensack. Three young women came and
told us their stories, Ms. Petak said.
They talked about how they turned their
lives around.
The director asked me if I wanted
to say anything, and I said that I was so
proud that we had played a small part in
helping them reach their goals. One of the
young women ran out of the room when I
said that, and I looked at the director and
said, Oh my God, what did I do wrong?
The director went to find the girl, who was
standing there with tears running down
her face, and asked her why. She said that
no one has ever said that she was proud of
me before, Ms. Petak said.
So its not just the money. Its going out
and making bonds that matter. My children heard me say, Im so proud of you
every day of their lives. We didnt even
think about it when we said it. And she
had never had anyone say it to her before.
Not ever.
That young woman ended up going into
the army. It was great to see and in a
small way we helped to make that possible, Ms. Petak said.
Thats why she does what she does, she
said. Thats why Jewish federations matter.
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11 Muslim activists who visited Israel this month
as part of the Muslim Leadership Initiative, a 3-year-old
program that brings North American Muslims to Israel
to learn about Judaism and the Jewish connection to the
Holy Land.
The yearlong program, which is fully covered by
scholarships, begins and ends with 12-day seminars in
Israel and the West Bank, and includes two retreats
in the United States and monthly study sessions in
between. Since its founding in 2013, MLI has brought 59
North American Muslims to Israel.
I have never been able to articulate and understand
Jews, Judaism, and Zionism, even with Jewish relatives
that I have, until I went through MLI, Beutel said.
The brainchild of Imam Abdullah Antepli, the Muslim
chaplain at Duke University, the program is co-directed
Yossi Klein Halevi, left, and Abdullah Antepli are

co-directors of the Muslim Leadership Initiative.
NETANEL TOBIAS/SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE
by American-Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, a

senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a Jewish
education center in Jerusalem. Rabia Choudry, a fellow
at the New America Foundation who came to national
attention for her role in the first season of the NPR podcast Serial, is one of the programs earlier participants.
Antepli believes that MLI will breed a deeper
interfaith dialogue than similar efforts, which tend
to stick to superficial issues while ignoring the elephant in the room Israel. When Israel is acknowledged, screaming matches often follow.
MLI will force Jews and Muslims to diversify
their sources of information about each other
rather than relying on the voices pumping fear and
suspicion into both communities, Antepli said.
The vehement criticism of the program within
the Muslim community is a testament to how
controversial that goal is. Muslim activists have
described MLI as a vehicle for Israeli propaganda
and called for a boycott. Antepli has received
I have never been able

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understand Jews,
Judaism, and Zionism,
even with Jewish
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The Shalom Hartman Institutes Noam Zion working with Muslim Leadership Initiative participants
in Jerusalem.
NETANEL TOBIAS/SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE
death threats. Last year, an MLI cohort

was harassed during a visit to the Al-Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem.
Participants said that they have lost
friends and suffered financial consequences because of their involvement
in the program. MLI leaders requested
that JTA not publish this story until participants had left Israel. Antepli feared
that news of their presence could spark
provocations.
Its pretty confusing, said Khurrum Wahid, a Florida attorney who has
defended several high-profile terrorism
suspects and whose Muslim empowerment nonprofit, Emerge USA, lost 15
percent of its funding because of his participation in the program. Before I was
regarded as a terrorist, and now suddenly
Im being called a Zionist.
For Antepli and the MLI participants,
the hostile reaction merely confirms the
initiatives urgency.
Theres a misunderstanding within
our community of what Zionism is that
its an exclusive, prejudiced agenda, said
one participant who requested anonymity because of the contention surrounding
MLI. When people hear were going to

speak with Zionists, they hear, Were
going to meet with the KKK to hear why
they hate black people. Thats why this
work is so important.
She continued: I dont think I ever
understood how deeply some Jews are
attached to this land. The risks and sacrifices weve made to do this really means a
lot to our Jewish partners. It creates this
sense of trust that we wouldnt have otherwise. Thats a really valuable part of this
program.
MLI has no illusions that it can create
a warm and cozy relationship between
Muslims and Jews or solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The objective, MLI leaders say, is to deepen understanding of the
Jewish connection to the Holy Land so
that Jewish-Muslim dialogue can be more
informed.
Its about getting them to simply understand, Halevi said.
Muslim critics in the United States have
charged that MLI aims to turn participants
into Zionist advocates or apologists, but
the program is a far cry from pro-Israel
propaganda.
In one session last week, participants

read Israels Declaration of Independence
and discussed why the documents promise of equal rights for all citizens has not
yet been realized. In another, they heard
from Mohammad Darawshe, co-director
of Givat Haviva, which supports Israeli-Palestinian coexistence efforts. He told them
that his family had lived in Palestine for
generations and that their land was confiscated by Israel.
Even after a year in the program, it has
not changed my opinion on the treatment
of Palestinians, Wahid said, adding that
like most participants he still views Zionism as a racist ideology that privileges Jews
over Arabs. Several participants even support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, including Antepli, but
only in the West Bank, not in Israel proper.
Israelis as a people and a state need
to prioritize human rights and freedom
in order to get to security, Wahid said.
Theyre going about it the other way
around.
Several participants noted a recent
report from the Center for American
Progress, which found that much of the
Islamophobia network in the United

States is funded by American Jews. They
believe not only that better relations with
the Jewish community can help counter
Islamophobia, but that the Muslim community can learn from the Jewish community how best to integrate into American society.
The Jewish community blazed trails,
said Amanda Quraishi, a Muslim activist in
Austin, Texas. Were such a new community in America and have so much to learn
from them.
Khaliff Watkins, an interfaith activist
in New Jersey, had many Jewish friends
when he was a child but avoided discussing Israel because it was divisive. Before
the trip, he didnt understand the Jewish
connection to Israel, which he regarded as
a colonialist project.
After the trip, Watkins says he can better
understand Israeli Jews who have endured
the trauma of having ones narrative and
ones identity not being accepted in the
world ... and their genuine commitment
to humanity and living in peace with others who are not Jewish.
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Catherine Berdah, right, with her husband, Michel, and daughters Naomi and
Clara at their apartment in Raanana, Israel.
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
French Jews, struggling

to find work in Israel,
consider going home
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
RAANANA, ISRAEL Before she
traded her native France for Israel,
Catherine Berdah ran a successful drug
store in an affluent suburb on the eastern edge of Paris.
A 50-year-old pharmacist with a masters degree in business and decades of
experience, Berdah earned more than
$6,000 per month and presided over an
expanding business with 14 employees.
But she sold out last year and moved
to this central Israeli city with her husband and two teenage daughters. She
feared for her familys future in France
amid rising anti-Semitic violence.
Berdah hoped to build a new pharmacy business in the Jewish state. But
six months after settling here, she
already has quit a $6-per-hour job as
a cashier that offered no prospect of
advancement and another in a health
clinic where she was told to stack boxes
in a storage room. Berdah left that
job because she was unable to lift the
boxes.
At 60, I was told that lifting boxes
was basically all Im good for, Berdah said. Thats when I started to feel
humiliated.
Now Berdah is studying Hebrew and
waiting to take an exam that will grant
her an Israeli pharmacists license. But
before she can do that, she must meet
a range of demands, including that
she produce her attendance log from
a pharmacology internship she completed 30 years ago with a French pharmacist who is no longer alive. According to Qualita, an umbrella group of
12 French immigrant associations in
All of which
has Berdah
wondering if
she made a
terrible mistake
in uprooting her
comfortable life
in France for a
chance at a better
one in Israel.
Israel, the exam has an 80 percent fail
rate.
All of which has Berdah wondering if
she made a terrible mistake in uprooting her comfortable life in France for a
chance at a better one in Israel.
Im going to give it another year,
Berdah said. But its not going too
well.
Some 15,000 French Jews have
settled in Israel in the past two years
alone, driven here by a combination
of rising anti-Semitism and economic
stagnation, among other factors. But
while their impact is felt everywhere,
from the opening of many kosher patisseries to last years launch of a Frenchlanguage kindergarten to the sounds of
yarmulke-wearing boys imitating their
favorite French movie stars in Raananas Yad LBanim Square, Israels Francophone newcomers are struggling to
make economic inroads.
Jewish World
Their plight recalls that of Russian
immigrants who arrived in Israel in the
1990s, many of them highly trained
professionals with advanced degrees
who were forced to work low-skill jobs
as garbage collectors and street sweepers because their credentials did not
transfer.
French physicians, nurses, and
pharmacists whove studied for five,
eight years, wont work here as sanitary
workers like their Russian counterparts
did in the 1990s, Mickael Bensadoun,
the director of Qualita, said. Theyre
Zionist, but theres a limit. And if it
comes to that, theyll return to France
or move to countries hungry for skilled
newcomers, like Canada.
Both Bensadoun and Berdah believe
that Israeli authorities have presented
unnecessary obstacles to protect local
professionals from immigrant competition. The Israeli Health Ministry
declined to respond to the charge and
referred all inquiries to the Ministry for
Immigrant Absorption, which said that
efforts are underway to smooth out the
certification process for health care
professionals.
We represent a boon for Israel,
please dont put us through a bureaucratic hell for this desire, David Tibi,
a dentist who immigrated to Israel
in 2014, wrote last month in a letter
to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
In the meantime, French immigrants
are taking matters into their own hands.
In 2014, they launched an aggressive
lobbying effort to break through the
bureaucratic tangles they fault for making absorption exceedingly difficult for
those already in Israel, while deterring
countless others from coming.
The lobbying, led by Qualita and its
member organizations, already has led
to some changes, including the easing of certification requirements for
French physicians in 2014 and pending
legislation that would exempt experienced French dentists from taking a
certification exam. Other professionals
still must undergo thorough testing in
order to work, regardless of their experience or the French standards they
meet.
Last month, the lobbying effort received
a big push from Meyer Habib, a Jewish
member of Frances National Assembly
and friend of Netanyahu, who declared
that he would advise French Jews against
moving to Israel unless progress is made
within three months.
I cannot support a situation which
Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
Interior Designer
Theyre Zionist,
but theres a
limit. And if it
comes to that,
theyll return to
France or move
to countries
hungry for skilled
newcomers, like
Canada.
creates tragedies in peoples lives,
Habib wrote on Facebook.
According to Bensadoun, some 300
to 400 French health care professionals cannot work in their chosen field
because of certification issues. He also
pointed to official figures suggesting
that the situation is leading 15 to 20 percent of French immigrants to return to
France within two years.
Still, Bensadoun says that he is optimistic, partly because of lessons drawn
from the trials of Russian immigrants in
the 1990s.
The Russian olims success and
immense contribution to Israels rise
as a start-up nation have created an
awareness in the Knesset and public
of the potential dividends from educated olim, said Bensadoun, using
the Hebrew word for immigrants. In a
way, were sailing in their wake.
For all her troubles, Berdah is not
quite ready to give up on Israel. But the
situation has put strains on her marriage. Her husband, Michel, wants the
family to return.
You think you have something to
offer here? Michel says as they argue
on the subject. Israel doesnt want
anything from you.
Berdah, in turn, has her own disagreements with her oldest daughter,
Clara, 18, who wants to stay in Israel
and to Berdahs chagrin serve in an
army combat unit. Her younger daughter, Naomi, has acclimated well at her
high school, where she studies in a
special class for new immigrants and is
considering starting a modeling career.
The silver lining here is that the girls
are really fitting in, Berdah said. It
makes me wonder whether Israel really
wants us or only our children.

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Jewish World
Conservative Judaisms rebranding effort

could signal a historic sea change
EITAN AROM
onservative Judaism always has

had something like middle child
syndrome, feeling itself squeezed
on both sides by the Orthodox and
Reform movements. But lately its identity
crisis has become acute.
This week, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism an umbrella body that
represents Conservative congregations
across North America is set to receive
the results of an audit it commissioned that
reached more than 1,000 Jews, most of them
Conservative, in an effort to better understand and meet their spiritual needs. The
results will not be made public immediately.
The audit is part of a rebranding that
United Synagogues leadership describes as
no less than a sea change in how Conservative Judaism operates.
The current synagogue model up until
this time was a 2,000-year-old experiment,
United Synagogues CEO, Rabbi Steven Wernick, said. And it just no longer has the
capacity to meet the challenges, and so it
has to be reinvented.
United Synagogue recently hired Good
Omen, a brand consultancy firm, as part of a
multiyear organizational facelift that started
back in 2011. The reasons for the ongoing
branding effort are obvious, Wernick said;
technological and social trends have changed
human interaction fundamentally, and religion has no choice but to try to keep up.
You cant have Shabbat dinner on Facebook, he said. But anyone under 40 today
figures out where theyre going for Shabbat
on Facebook.
According to the LinkedIn page for one of
the consultancys principals, Scott Osman,
Good Omen works with companies to set,
articulate, and visualize their intention and
then identifies the actions that bring that
intention to life.
Although United Synagogue is a religious
nonprofit organization and not a private
company, nonetheless it is responsible for
maintaining and promoting a particular
brand, Wernick said. In that sense, it is not
unlike a business.
United Synagogue kicked off its relationship with Good Omen at its November 2015
convention in Chicago, according to Alissa
Pinck, the synagogue groups director of
marketing and communications. The consulting firm will privately present its findings to United Synagogue this week, and its
leaders will begin to form recommendations
based on the data before they consider publicizing the results, she said.
The New York Post first reported Good
Omens efforts on January 3, linking the decision to retain the company to the declining
number of Conservative Jews. Wernick said
that the thinning of the Conservative Jewish
ranks is well-documented, but he rejects
the notion that demographics alone are
behind what the newspaper called a new
look for Conservative Judaism.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism,

speaks at USCJs November 2015 convention in Chicago. USCJ
Most press [reports] that I see

on this, they concentrate on the
decline of numbers because thats
the story, he said. But I think that
story is a house of cards. I think its
disingenuous.
Indeed, the demographics seem
grim for those who hope to see a
flourishing community of Conservative Jews well into the 21st
century.
In 2013, a Pew Research Center
study found that 36 percent of people born into Conservative Judaism still associate with the movement, compared with 48 percent
of Orthodox Jews and 55 percent
of Reform Jews.
Wernick speaks in existential
terms when discussing United
Synagogues rebranding. When
it comes to notions of spirituality
and religion, theres been a crumbling of centralized authority, he
said.
In 2011, the group adopted a strategic plan to reinvigorate itself and
The Pew Research Centers 2013 survey on American Jewry shows how the
its member organizations. At the
Conservative movement fares the worst
heart of the plan was a shift away
among the Jewish denominations when it
from the idea of a synagogue to
comes to denominational switching.
the more inclusive concept of a

PEW RESEARCH CENTER
kehilla, or holy community.
The latter designation is meant
including the American Jewish Comto resonate with those who do not necessarily belong to official Conservative
mittee and many Jewish federations,
congregations or feel comfortable with
said the Conservative movement is
the Conservative movement label,
hobbled by some historical factors. In
according to an updated plan released
the first place, the core institutions of
in 2014.
the movement never saw much need
Conservative Jews make up 18 percent
to form close bonds, he said.
As a result, the synagogues, summer
of the American Jewish population, the
camps, leadership organizations, and
Pew study found. By comparison, Reform
institutions of higher learning that conJews make up 35 percent and Jews of no
stitute Conservative Judaism lack a natdenomination make up 30 percent.
As a sign of the times, the Jewish datural infrastructure of communication,
ing app JSwipe offers users the option
he continued. That scarcity of cohesion
to identify as Just Jewish. And its
deepens the need to hedge against modern challenges.
this category thats largely the focus
Windmueller compared todays
of United Synagogues efforts. Were
rebranding to a similarly momentous
living in a world in which people dont
change in the 1950s: the ruling by the
self-identity in particular boxes, they
Rabbinical Assembly, Conservative
live in more of a Venn diagram, Wernick said.
Judaisms clergy arm, that Conservative
Dr. Steven Windmueller, a profesJews could drive on Shabbat.
sor of Jewish communal studies at
Just as that decision allowed Jews
Hebrew Union College in Los Angeto participate in the prevailing social
les, has closely watched the modern
movement of the day the race to the
forces buffeting the Jewish world, and
suburbs so too might changes today
said theres a lot of basis to sort of
create a Conservative Judaism more fitting to the modern world, he said.
applaud United Synagogues efforts
In particular, Conservative Judaism
to rebrand. Its a repositioning that
might benefit from broadening its tent
needs to happen in light of all the factors: demographics, competition, and
to include liberal Jews of all sizes and
the changing sort of behaviors of milstripes, Windmueller said. In that way,
lennials, he said.
he said, United Synagogue could allow
Windmueller, who has worked with
multiple flowers to bloom, but under a
JNS.ORG
a number of Jewish organizations,
new canopy.
Jewish World
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N E W
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivers a speech on financial reform in New
York earlier this month. Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Sanders surging
in key polls
But do Jews feel the Bern?
Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON Talk of a Bernie Sanders presidency suddenly has become a lot more serious.
Recent polling shows the independent Vermont senator and Democratic presidential hopeful dramatically
improving his prospects in the first two primary states
against front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Two polls out this week by the Des Moines Register and Quinnipiac University showed Clintons
9-point lead in Iowa dwindling from the past month,
with Sanders pulling ahead in the latter survey.
The Register poll out Thursday showed Clinton now
holding a 42 to 40 percent lead over Sanders less than
three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, well within the
polls 4.4 percent margin of error. And the Quinnipiac
poll posted Tuesday had Sanders ahead of the former
secretary of state, 49 to 44 percent. The poll, which
has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, is a dramatic shift from December, when the university found
Clinton leading Sanders in Iowa by 50 to 41 percent.
In New Hampshire, a Monmouth University poll
released this week had Sanders with a 53-39 advantage, up from the 48-45 edge he owned in a November
poll. The poll has a margin of error of 5 percentage
points.
Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist polls also
showed tighter races in both states, with Clinton leading by 48 to 45 percent in Iowa an effective dead
heat with the 4.8 percentage point margin of error
and Sanders leading at 50 to 46 percent in New Hampshire, also within the 4.8 percent margin of error.
Its unclear if the Sanders surge in the polls is paralleled by a rise in his standing among Jews. The only
poll available, conducted back in September by the
American Jewish Committee, suggests that Clinton has
strong Jewish support. The poll showed her to be the
preferred candidate of 40 percent of Jewish voters,
with just 18 percent opting for Sanders.
Steve Rabinowitz, who runs a Washington communications firm and helped launch Jewish Americans
Ready for Hillary, a pro-Clinton fundraising group,
said that an early Sanders win could capture younger
Jewish voters, but that the important community of
Jewish donors remains committed to Clinton.
God love him, but our community is not feeling
the Bern, Rabinowitz said. He does not deny [his
J E R S E Y
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See Sanders page 34
Jewish World
Sanders
from page 33
Judaism], he does not shrink from it, when asked about it

he says the right thing but wed like it on his sleeve. We got
it from [Lieberman]. Blacks got it from Obama. Hispanics
would expect it. Its not a litmus test, but we kind of want
more from him.
The improvement in Sanders fortunes has prompted Clinton to take a sharper turn toward her principal Democratic
challenger in recent days. Rabinowitz said that a Sanders

victory in both states surely would complicate Clintons run,
but it would not derail it.
The momentum certainly turns his way, and it becomes
much more of a campaign, said Rabinowitz, who runs a
Washington communications firm and consults for a number of liberal and Jewish groups. But the national numbers
are changing very little, and you cant read too much into
Iowa and New Hampshire.
Mik Moore, a political strategist who in 2008 helped

create The Great Shlep, a campaign encouraging
young Jews to lobby their Florida grandparents to support Barack Obama, agreed that Iowa and New Hampshire are sui generis: Iowas Democrats trend to the
liberal end of the party and New Hampshire tends to
favor candidates from neighboring states.
But Moore said that early wins for Sanders in those
states, combined with national polls showing him outperforming Clinton against Republicans, could bring
out voters who favor Sanders but doubt he can beat
Clinton in the end.
Those two factors could shift the viability factor for
voters, Moore said. Theres a subset of Democrats
who would prefer Bernie but who have decided he
cant win and decided they will support Clinton.
One such voter is Allen Linden, 84, a Jewish New
Hampshire voter who said he favored Sanders but is
worried about his electability.
Whats keeping me on the fence a little bit is that
I dont know if hes the nominee how likely he is to
Early wins for

Sanders in those
states, combined
with national polls
showing him
outperforming
Clinton against
Republicans, could
bring out voters who
favor Sanders but
doubt he can beat
Clinton in the end.
Mik Moore
win the elections, Linden said. I like what he stands

for, but Im not sure he has the strength to carry the
extremely conservative states.
Even if Sanders does squeak out a win in Iowa or
New Hampshire, polls show that he still faces an uphill
climb. Clinton remains strong in Nevada, the third
early voting state. She also consistently outperforms
Sanders in many of the 11 states that go to the polls on
March 1, particularly those in the South.
Moore said Sanders is not as much of a game
changer for Jews as Obama was for blacks because Joe
Lieberman already broke that ground in 2000, when
he became the first Jew to run for vice president on a
major party ticket.
Moore said that Sanders Jewishness could emerge
in a discomfiting way should he become a true national
contender. The fringe groups stirred by the nativism
peddled by Republican front-runner Donald Trump
are likely to include people who would be hostile to a
Jewish candidate, he said.
His persona is very Jewish, Moore said, noting
Sanders Brooklyn working-class origins. If he was the
nominee, it would become an issue among a subset
of the electorate. But it would not be the focal point.

34 Jewish Standard January 22, 2016
JTA Wire Service
Jewish World
2 days of terror
Israeli nurse and mom of 6 killed,
pregnant woman injured in stabbings
JTA STAFF
A day after witnessing her mothers brutal murder, Dafna Meirs teenage daughter
spoke before hundreds who had come to
mourn her.
Dafna Meir, 38, a mother of six, was
stabbed to death on Sunday near the
entrance of her West Bank home.
Its hard for me to think we will not
laugh together or fight anymore, that you
wont accompany me to the IDF induction ceremony, down the aisle, and to the
maternity ward, Renana Meir, 17, said at
a Jerusalem cemetery, calling her mother
her best friend.
Dafna Meir was killed in Otniel, in the
Hebron Hills area. She apparently fought her
attacker for several minutes in an attempt to
protect the three children at home, none of
whom were injured in the attack.
Less than 24 hours after Meirs murder,

a pregnant Israeli was stabbed in another
West Bank settlement. Michal Froman, 30,
suffered moderate wounds to her upper
body on Monday after being attacked at
a clothing warehouse in Tekoa, in Gush
Etzion, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Fromans apparent attacker was shot by a
Tekoa resident, according to the IDF.
Both the alleged assailants are Palestinian teenagers.
In the Froman case, the teen had
attempted to flee the scene. He was said
to be in serious condition at an Israeli
hospital.
In response to the attacks, Israel has
temporarily barred all Palestinians from
working in West Bank settlements, which
have seen a number of deadly incidents
since the recent wave of Palestinian terror began last fall. Gush Etzion has been
The husband and children of Dafna Meir grieve at her funeral in Jerusalem on
January 18, the day after she was murdered in the West Bank.YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH 90
particularly hard hit.

Meir worked as a surgical nurse at a
Beersheba hospital. She was married,
with four biological children and two foster children.
She was buried Monday at the Har
Hamenuhot cemetery.
A 16-year-old Palestinian, Morad Bader
Abdullah Adais, was arrested on Monday in a Palestinian village not far from
where Meir was murdered, the IDF said.
SEE TERROR PAGE 47
Jewish World
Human Rights Watch report ramps up pressure

on Israeli settlement activity in West Bank
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON The collapse of the IsraeliPalestinian peace process a year ago has led
to an accelerating war of words over Israeli
settlements, with Israel accusing its growing
chorus of foreign critics of prejudging the
final terms of a peace deal at best and antiSemitism at worst.
The battle heated up this week with the
release of a report by Human Rights Watch
that argued that doing business with West
Bank settlements reinforces Israels presence there and contributes to human rights
abuses.
The report comes a day after the European Union, which in November announced
new guidelines to label Israeli exports produced in the settlements, declared that any
agreement with Israel must unequivocally
and explicitly indicate their inapplicability
to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
And the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, while not going nearly as far,
decried Israels seizure of West Bank lands
and what he described as a two-tiered
justice system.
Too many attacks on Palestinians lack
a vigorous investigation or response by
Israeli authorities; too much vigilantism
goes unchecked; and at times there seem
to be two standards of adherence to the
rule of law: one for Israelis and another for
Palestinians, Shapiro said in a speech on
Monday that otherwise extolled U.S.-Israel
closeness.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was infuriated by the remarks, calling
them unacceptable and incorrect. But his
wider strategy against the settlement criticism has been to lump such efforts together
with the wider Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions movement, or BDS, and compare
them to the pre-Holocaust boycotts of Jewish businesses in Europe.
Because bureaucracies or set patterns
entrench themselves, and then we get the
absurdity of the EU in Brussels, from European soil, labeling the products of Israeli
citizens, of Jews, Netanyahu told foreign
reporters last week. And the last time that
was done on the soil of Europe was over 70
years ago.
Israel generally has been able to stave off
questions about the status of the West Bank
as long as it seemed substantially engaged
in the peace process. But developments
this week seem to confirm warnings last
year that the collapse of the peace process,
followed by statements from Netanyahu
on the eve of his re-election in March that
appeared to reject the possibility of Palestinian statehood, would lead the United
States and Europe to focus anew on the settlements, if only as a means of keeping the
option for a two-state solution open.
The Human Rights Watch report argues
plainly that trading with the settlements
entrenches Israel in the West Bank and
makes businesses a partner in the oppression of the Palestinians. It recommends
that businesses avoid financing, administering or otherwise supporting settlements
or settlement-related activities and infrastructure, such as through contracting to
purchase settlement-manufactured goods
or agricultural produce, to ensure the businesses are not indirectly contributing to and
benefiting from such activities.

The report cites an example of how
bringing attention to Israeli practices in
the West Bank can impede them. Human
Rights Watch talked to workers at a factory
in a West Bank settlement that its researchers found provided linens for an American
retailer and was underpaying its Palestinian
laborers.
During the conversations that followed,
the factory agreed to close its operations in
Barkan and locate to new facilities inside
Israel, the group reported, without naming the parties.
We are not looking for problems,
Human Rights Watch quoted the factorys
co-owner as telling the group. It seems it
really bothers people that were there, so
well leave.
Centrist and right-wing pro-Israel groups
insist that such efforts to target settlements
are aimed at setting the terms of a final
peace deal. In December, the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee posted a
lengthy analysis of the European Unions
decision on settlement labeling.
Jewish World
The EUs action taken outside the context of peace negotiations is designed to
impose Brussels vision of Israels future
borders, said AIPAC, a prominent proIsrael lobby. These commercial attacks
against Israel increase the prospect of isolating the Jewish state, while strengthening
its most vitriolic critics and slowing the pursuit of peace.
The fight over settlements is also playing
out in Congress and state houses. AIPAC has
garnered bipartisan support through congressional statements rejecting attempts to
single out settlements. And several statelevel legislative moves to target BDS explicitly include attempts to distinguish the
settlements.
Pro-Israel groups on the left argue that
such efforts are mutually self-defeating.
Attempts to isolate settlements are a good
thing, they say, as they help neutralize the
wider BDS movement.
A more accurate labeling system, as
Israel never annexed the West Bank, will
allow European residents to make purchases according to ideological considerations, Americans for Peace Now said at
the time of the European labeling decision.
This system will help curb efforts to boycott Israel entirely, such as those advocated
JTA WIRE SERVICE
by the BDS movement.
SodaStreams West Bank factory was relocated to the Negev in response to international criticism.
NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90
Jewish World
On Tu bShvat, seeds of growth and change

EDMON J. RODMAN
LOS ANGELES For the last three years,
Ive celebrated Tu bShvat the Jewish
New Year of the Trees by organizing a
participatory seder in a nearby canyon-top
park.
The seder usually includes about 10 to
15 people from my group, the Movable
Minyan a small, lay-led, independent
congregation that needs every members
active participation in order to thrive. We
meet in the parking lot, and from there,
bags of seder supplies in hand, we take a
short hike up past oak trees to a chaparralcovered hill with a panoramic view of the
San Fernando Valley.
This is no ordinary picnic. For the seder,
in addition to plates, cups and Haggadahs
to explain everything (what Jewish event
would be complete without a book?), you
need two different colors of wine or juice
the change in color representing the
changes in season.
We also bring specific fruits, each representing one of the four levels of existence
that the kabbalists of Safed, who created
the seder, taught that we live on simultaneously: assiyah, doing; yetzirah, formation; briyah, creation, and atzilut,
nobility. (Assiyah, for example, includes
actions like repairing the world. Its represented by foods with a tough outer shell
and a soft inside, like walnuts or pomegranates, which symbolize our physical
exteriors and our inner spiritual lives.)
My part, aside from bringing a bag of
kumquats from a tree in our yard representing creation, which calls for fruit
that can be eaten whole has been to lead
the seder. Its not too hard, considering
we have an easy-to-use Haggadah called
Branching Out, published by the Jewish
National Fund. But with the New Year of
the Trees fast approaching this year its
celebrated on January 25 the Haggadah
was becoming the same old fruit salad.
Inspired by the trees, I thought it was
time to show a little growth in my Tu
bShvat celebration. Even though theres
been so little rain in Southern California,
the trees continued to grow I wanted
to see growth in our minyan as well. Yes,
a few more people would be nice. But,
more significantly, I wanted to find a way
to better appreciate what each member
brought to the table both at the seder
itself and, more broadly, to our year-round
community.
While attending the Federations of
North Americas General Assembly last
November, I was handed a book called
the Tu bShvat Companion at a booth
sponsored by Livnot ULehibanot. The
Israel-based organization (which means
to build and to be built) seeks to inspire
young Jews and, apparently, older people like me to explore their heritage and
The Movable
Minyan
celebrates
its outdoor
Tu bShvat seder.
Below, the
Tu bShvat
seder table
EDMON J. RODMAN
spirituality. I had slipped the softcover

in my bag, and there it remained until
I started thinking about the Tu bShvat
approach.
Today, we start our feast with seven
species [shivat haminin], which are the
fruits that the Land of Israel is famous
for, the chapter about the seder began.
My Haggadah also mentioned them: barley, dates, figs, grapes, olives, pomegranates and wheat. A woman who comes to
my seder every year bakes her signature
seven species muffins, which are surprisingly good considering that the list of
ingredients sounds like something from a
TV cooking competition.
Still, I thought the seven species could
provide a rich metaphor for our indie
group, and I hoped to find another, nongastronomical way to relate to them.

Reading the Companion (available
free online), I learned the date, for example, demonstrated that the Jewish value
of inclusiveness can be extracted from
the palm tree.
The palm tree has nothing wasted
from it, the Haggadah notes. The dates
are eaten; young, unopened branches
are used at Sukkot for the lulav; the trunk
fibers are used to make rope. Similar
to the palm tree, concluded this minidrash on trees and people, the people
of Israel have no person wasted.
As I read, the myriad personal and communal connections to Tu bShvat began to
flower.
Each of the seven species was presented with spiritual insights, something our congregation strives for in our
Torah discussions. There were also openended questions like, What in your opinion is the best way to be connected to the
continuity of our peoples heritage without
losing our personal uniqueness?
The more I read, the more the Haggadah
seemed to be talking to my minyan. Each
of the species was presented in the context of a physical and spiritual connection:
The olive tree, for example, has multiple
trunks, like a family.
After all, at nearly 30 years old, our minyan was a kind of family, with each member keenly aware of others growth and
setbacks over the years. With our backgrounds varying from secular to Orthodox,
our diversity was our strength though
sometimes it resulted in intense debate
over the groups course.
Moved by this reverie of connectedness
and awakening to the possibilities a new

depth of meaning of Tu bShvat for our
group I felt compelled to connect with
the books author, Shlomo Tal.
Tal spoke with me from Safed, where
Livnot ULehibanot is based, and where
the custom of a Tu bShvat seder began
more than 300 years ago. He asked me,
when I looked at the Tu bShvat seder
table, Which fruit smiles at you?
At first, the question brought to mind
the old California Raisins commercials. But
then I realized he was asking which fruit I
would like to eat first.
For me, that smiling fruit was the
pomegranate and for Tal as well. For
him, the ruddy fruit with an unexpected
interior represented the ability to see
beyond the outer covering. The pomegranate suggested to him a way to look
past the bitter rind of some people that
we must unpeel in order to discover the
sweetness inside.
For Tal, the seven species are a way to
remind us that community consists of
many different kinds of people, each with
something to give.
There is no personal growth without
community, and there is no community
without every individual going through
personal growth, he said.
Inspired by our conversation, I considered each of the seven species. I realized
how, in addition to being an earthy bond
with Israel, they could foster an organic
connection to diaspora communities
even in L.A., which is so dispersed that its
almost a diaspora within a diaspora.
Its with this seed of insight that I hope
to grow our Tu bShvat seder and our
JTA WIRE SERVICE
grassroots community.
Dvar Torah
Bshalach: The art of prayer
s the Israelites stood on the

banks of the Sea of Reeds, with
the deep waters on one side
and the advancing Egyptian
armies on the other, they appeared to do
what has been the classic Jewish response
to times of crisis since time immemorial:
they prayed.
And when Pharaoh drew closer, the
children of Israel lifted up their eyes,
and they saw the Egyptians were marching towards them, and they became very
afraid; and the children of Israel cried out
to God. (Exodus 14:10)
The medieval commentator Rashi
understands these cries to be ones of
prayer: Tafsu umnut avotam, [the people] grabbed on to the art of their ancestors. Namely, they prayed.
This verse alone should not surprise us.
Examples throughout Jewish history are
testament enough; it was and continues
to be entirely natural and understandable for people, in an act of extraordinary
faith, to beseech God for redemption and
deliverance from moments of despair.

What may be troubling, however, is how
fleeting this faith seems to have been.
In the very next verse, the people turn
to Moses and complain:
And they said to Moses: Is it because
there are no graves in Egypt, that youve
taken us away to die in the wilderness?
What have you done to us, bringing us
forth out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this
in Egypt? To leave us alone to serve the
Egyptians? For it would be better to serve
the Egyptians than to go out to the wilderness and perish!
Is this the same people that beseeched
God only a moment earlier?
Commentators struggle to make sense
of the dissonance in these verses. Presumably because of this question, the Aramaic
translator Onkelos differs from Rashis
interpretation, and renders the peoples
cries to God not as cries of prayer, but as
cries of complaint. Alternatively, Nahmanides suggests (among a number of other
approaches) that there were different factions among the people, some of whom
Swiping
FROM PAGE 11
offer their professional guidance.

We created JBolt to simultaneously
bring the human touch to the dating
app world, and bring the efficiency
of the smartphone to the matchmaking world, Marc Goldmann, JBolts
founder, said.
Not counting JBolt, social media
may be changing the dating game for
the worse, in Loris expert opinion.
Theres some element of deceit in
2016, she said. People are photoshopping their pictures. They want to
paint a perfect life so theyre posting
pictures that make them look perfect.
On the other hand, some things
never change. One trend shes seen
in young couples looking for love is
the classic gender double standard.
When girls call me to discuss a match,
the first thing they ask is What does
he do? I have a very short list of girls
who will date teachers or social workers. So what are the men looking for?
Guys ask Is she hot? or say, I just
looked her up on Facebook. Shes not
my type. They dont want to know
about the womans career.
Yikes. Both sides have it hard,
according to Lori. She feels bad for the
young men she works with, who often
feel pressure to impress women with
a high-profile job. At the same time,
even 50 years after the second wave
Lori Salkin
of feminism, men are intimidated
by women with successful careers.
I know many extremely successful
women, doctors and lawyers, who
struggle to get dates because men are
intimidated by them, she said.
Then there is the competition
among women. 21 year-old girls are
photoshopping themselves to look
older, while 29 year-old girls with successful careers dont care about those
things, Lori said. Who gets the guy
turned to God in prayer, and

stop davening?
others who complained.
The notion of striking a
While these approaches
balance between prayer and
are plausible, perhaps even
action is always an imperative. What is clear however,
compelling, I believe the
both from the peoples fleetforce of this question brings
ing faith and from Gods
us inexorably to a profound
response, is the complex
truth. The human condition is fraught with tension
nature of authentic prayer.
Rabbi
and conflict. One can raise
Prayer is often viewed as a
Akiva Block
their voice in supplication
scientific endeavor; ask, and
Kehilat Kesher
to God, asking with full faith
ye shall receive. In reality,
Community
for guidance and support,
however, prayer can never
Synagogue of
and in the very next moment
be understood or impleTenafly and
mented in a vacuum. As
harbor feelings of resentment toward the very God in
Englewood,
Rashi at least posits, prayer is
Orthodox
whom one has placed their
an art form. The questions of
trust.
how, when, and for whom to
This important insight into
pray, of when to extend our
human emotion would be a worthwhile
prayer and when to abridge them, of when
lesson in its own right. Even more telling,
to reflect intently on our prayers and when
however, is Gods response: Why do you
to rush through them, are not simple ones.
cry out to me? Tell the people to just go!
With any art form, it is only through time
Was God telling the people through
and effort and a commitment to cultivating
Moses that at this juncture prayer was
the skills necessary to become proficient
inappropriate? Is it ever really time to
that we can succeed. So too with prayer.
in the end? The guys in their thirties

always choose the 21-year-olds. The
guy will always rely on the photo.
If young people are so obsessed with
photos, how is matchmaking any different from JSwipe? Here lies the real
advantage of using an actual human
being to make your love match rather
than an algorithm. Lori doesnt allow
her clients to see pictures of potential
mates first thing.
I want to bring the person to life
for the client while were on the phone
first, she said. Who is he, first. I want
to hear the guy respond before he sees
the picture. Attraction is very important, but looks eventually fade. If you
have a great connection, youll always
see that person how they looked when
you first met.
Matchmaking, especially as its modernized alongside 21st century technology, may be a great option for young
Jewish people who are tired of the
superficiality of dating apps. Singles
always tell me that having a matchmaker is an advantage in dating, Lori
said. Ive held hands with some singles all the way to the chuppah. Everyone should try it. And nobody should
give up on finding love. Its a frustrating, long road, but I often get calls
about clients getting engaged a year
after I set them up.
Aw. Its almost enough to make any
jaded millennial believe in love again.
BRIEF
Back in the USSR? Putin

says fearful European
Jews should return
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on European Jews facing rising anti-Semitism to return to
Russia.
They can come to us, Putin told a delegation
from the European Jewish Congress during a meeting in Moscow. They left from the Soviet Union.
Let them return.
Ive seen reports that [ Jewish] people [in
Europe] are afraid of wearing a yarmulke in public.
Theyre trying to hide their ethnicity, Putin said.
During the meeting, EJC President Moshe Kantor described the very real exodus of Jews from
certain parts of Western Europe.
While Jews were once again a prominent target
for global terror during 2015, the attacks in Paris,
the U.S., and elsewhere, and the mass murder of
Russians on an airline in the Sinai, show that the
terrorists target us all, Kantor said in the meeting.
Rising anti-Semitism in Europe has been tied
to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda terrorist organizations, in addition to homegrown extremists
inspired by groups like Islamic State. French Jews
have been hit particularly hard by Islamic extremism, with a French Jewish leader in Marseille
recently suggesting that Jews should no longer
wear yarmulkes in public.
At the same time, the EJC commended Russia on
the countrys statistical decrease in anti-Semitism
JNS.ORG
in recent years.
Briefs
Israel busts terror cell led
by Hezbollah chiefs son
Cooperation between the Israeli Shin Bet
security agency, the Israel Defense Forces,
and the Israel Police thwarted a shooting attack that was planned by a terrorist
cell in the Tulkarem area headed by Mahmoud Zaalul, who was taking orders from
the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. Five
of the cell members suspected of involvement in terrorist activity were arrested.
When the suspects were interrogated,
the Shin Bet discovered that Jouad Nasrallah, son of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan
Nasrallah, had used the Internet to enlist
Zaalul, a Palestinian from Tulkarem.
Zaalul reported directly to a Hezbollah
operative named Fadi, who instructed
him to open an email account. After doing
so, Zaalul received instructions to enlist
other cell members and work on collecting information to be used to plan terrorist
attacks.
The cell was instructed, among other
things, to set up a secret network through
which they eventually received instructions to execute attacks using explosive
belts, train suicide bombers, collect information about training camps, and more.
The suspects were also instructed to
keep tabs on and collect information about
security forces operating in the area. Cell
members requested assistance from Hezbollah in acquiring weapons and money to
carry out the attack.
To that end, Hezbollah transferred
$5,000 to the cell in the form of foreign
currency transfers. Two of the suspects
Muhammad Massawareh and Ahmed Abu
al-Az bought weapons from Zaalul with
the intention of attacking Israeli security
forces, but were arrested in possession of
the weapons before they could act on their
plan. The weapons were surrendered during their interrogation.
The five suspects have been indicted in
a military court on counts including membership in an illegal organization; contact
with the enemy; funneling enemy funds
into the region; intent and involvement in
manslaughter; weapons dealing; intent to
shoot at people; and interfering with legal
JNS.ORG/ISRAEL HAYOM
proceedings.
U.S. backs ambassador

in spat with Israel
A U.S. State Department spokesman
defended U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro on Tuesday, a day after Shapiro
sparked outrage in Israel with criticism of
Israeli policies in the West Bank.
When asked about Shapiros comments,
which were made in an address on Monday at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel
Aviv, State Department spokesman John
Kirby said, Theres really nothing new
here in what he said. Weve consistently
made clear our concerns about violence
on both sides, and we obviously have
strongly condemned terrorist attacks perpetrated by Palestinians, including the
Crossword
ON THE EDGE BY YONI GLATT
attacks over the weekend. We also remain
concerned...deeply concerned, and weve
not been bashful about saying this and neither was he, about Israeli settler violence
against Palestinians and their property in
the West Bank.
Kirby added, And as for the relationship, its because we value the relationship
with Israel so much that we feel its important to continue to have an honest, open,
candid, forthright discussion about our
concerns. And that he said these things
in his speech shouldnt be misconstrued
as not as us not saying them in private
to Israeli leaders as well and have over
many, many, many months. So this wasnt
a new this wasnt a new set of remarks.
Kirbys comments came a few hours
after Shapiro met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. The
meeting, which lasted 20 minutes, took
place before Netanyahu met with a bipartisan delegation of U.S. Congress members.
In his speech on Monday, Shapiro said,
Too many attacks on Palestinians lack
a vigorous investigation or response by
Israeli authorities; too much vigilantism
goes unchecked; and at times there seem
to be two standards of adherence to the
rule of law: one for Israelis and another for
Palestinians.
Later that day Netanyahu issued a sharp
response, calling Shapiros remarks unacceptable and untrue.
JNS.ORG
Saudi Arabia keeps

nuclear option open
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
hinted that his country would keep open
all options, including pursing a nuclear
weapon, if Iran obtained a nuclear weapon
despite the newly implemented deal with
world powers.
Saudi Arabia would do whatever we
need to do in order to protect our people, al-Jubeir told Reuters. I dont think
it would be logical to expect us to discuss
any such issue in public, and I dont think
it would be reasonable to expect me to
answer this question one way or another,
he said.
Al-Jubeirs comments were in response
to the announcement that Iran sanctions
would be lifted as part of the Islamic
Republics compliance with the nuclear
deal that was signed with world powers
last summer. Saudi Arabia, like Israel,
has been strongly critical of the nuclear
deal, which it fears could embolden Irans
regional ambitions such as supporting terror proxies in Syria and Yemen. Iran is set
to receive nearly $150 billion in sanctions
relief as part of the deal.
It depends on where these funds go,
al-Jubeir said. If they go to support the
nefarious activities of the Iranian regime,
this will be a negative and it will generate
a pushback. If they go towards improving
the living standards of the Iranian people
then it will be something that would be
JNS.ORG
welcome.
[email protected]
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: CHALLENGING
Across
1. Faith in God and Torah, to many Jews
8. Was punished in gan
15. Unlike drilling in the Mediterranean
16. Joining the army at 18, e.g.
17. Had a siyum
18. Title for Moses?
19. ___ sher! (Bivadai!)
20. What is won in the Knesset
22. As it glared ___ the rivers waves...
Emma Lazarus
23. Opening for Annie Leibovitz
25. Airer of Noah Wyles Falling Skies
26. Jake Gyllenhaal is considered one
27. Middle, to Rabbi Sacks
29. Schmatta
32. Musician Rotenberg
33. Poor crossword solvers need
34. Like one who is visited, hopefully
35. 34-Across, e.g.
36. What would be hanging from this
puzzle, if it were a garment
39. Snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark
43. The ADL, e.g.
44. Sakharov of Jerusalems Sakharov
Gardens
49. Nationality of Ambassador to Israel
Jakr Boon-Long
50. Studio founded by David Sarnoff
51. Family or Orthodox
52. Actor Glen on Benioffs Game
of Thrones
53. ___ in Uriah
55. Shawarma rod
56. It can help you get around Israel
57. What Goldberg might call his shoulder muscles
60. Operation Solomon locale: Abbr.
61. Some tosses from Cy Young winner
Steve Stone
63. Fancy car destroyed in Michael Bays
The Rock
67. Home of the El Ghriba Synagogue
68. Jerusalem Post fees
69. Shot locale for Paul Newmans Fast
Eddie Felson
70. Gets back on a good derech
The solution to last weeks puzzle

is on page 47.
Down
1. Building locale for a macher
2. Haman, perhaps
3. Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, billionaire
dubbed the Russian ___
4. Rehovot need?
5. Kind of joke attempted by Borat
6. Before, to Lazarus
7. Many a cab in Israel
8. Hillel, for one
9. Indian tourist locale that sounds like
a recently unearthed fortress in
Jerusalem
10. Chalav Yisrael source
11. Rahab ran one
12. They played Spiderwebs in Tel Aviv
in 1997
13. Nationality of some in the southwest
corner of The Old City
14. A makolet might be one
21. Make 36-Across
24. Yehuda ha-Nasi and King George:
Abbr.
25. ISIS creates it
26. The Mirror ___ two faces
(Streisand film)
28. Official at Bloomfield Stadium, for
short
30. Medit. land
31. Makes like the face of Moses
37. Be a nudnik
38. Cat that would be of no use in Eilat
39. Olmert was caught in one
40. Get back on a good derech
41. Chaver, in Sicily
42. Reason for a sacrifice
45. Tim Whatley on Seinfeld, e.g.
46. Says the Amidah, like a chazan
47. East-African country whose president went to Israel for medical
treatment in 1993
48. Words of introduction for Yuri
Foreman
54. Comparable to an animal that
epitomizes treif
57. Jon Stewart reported behind one
58. New York county thats home to a
kosher animal city
59. Test before Cardozo
62. Hoffman quirk in Rain Man
64. Address ending for YU
65. Education basics, in grammar school
but not gan
66. Did the Jerusalem Marathon
Arts & Culture

From left, Kate Arrington, Greg Keller,
Linda Lavin, and John Procaccino in
Our Mothers Brief Affair.
Real or imaginary?
That question haunts Our Mothers Brief Affair
MIRIAM RINN
deeply resent when a writer reveals

a significant plot twist in a review,
so there will be no spoilers here.
Accordingly, I apologize in advance,
dear reader, for what may seem to be a coy
or annoyingly vague description of Richard Greenbergs new play, Our Mothers
Brief Affair, but the core development is a
genuine surprise, and I dont want to ruin
that.
This Manhattan Theater Club production is directed by Lynne Meadow, who
also directed Greenbergs wonderful last
play, The Assembled Parties, another
domestic drama about a New York Jewish
family with secrets. MTC has had a long
relationship with the playwright, and Our
Mothers Brief Affair is the ninth play of
his to be produced there. Greenberg seems
to have written this comic drama, which
just opened at the Samuel J. Friedman
Theater on West 47th Street; especially
for Linda Lavin, and the 70-something

actress shows her appreciation by lapping
up Greenbergs archly witty dialogue with
relish.
Looking trim and stylish in her trench
coat and fashionable scarf, Lavin plays
Long Island matron Anna Cantor with the
brittle humor and perfect comic timing
she is known for. Anna is from a generation of women whose job was to run a gracious home and raise successful children,
and she isnt certain how well she did that
job. Her son Seth (Greg Keller) is an obituary writer and semi-closeted gay man.
His twin sister Abby (Kate Arrington) has
recently discovered that she is gay as well
and is living in California with her partner
and their child. Annas husband is dead,
and she seems constantly on the verge of
dying herself.
But unlike the mother Lavin played in
Nicky Silvers The Lyons, her most recent
foray on Broadway, Anna is not entirely a
gorgon. She certainly is judgmental, as
she freely acknowledges, but she judges

herself as harshly as she does her family.
She has now reached an age where she
wants to share stories from her life. When
Seth visits her in the hospital, where shes
recovering from her latest illness, she
starts to tell him about an affair she had
many years ago. While the teenage Seth
was torturing himself trying to learn to
play the violin in Lincoln Center, his very
ordinary Jewish mother was conducting a
torrid romance in a hotel overlooking the
park. Seth is incredulous, and he is even
more shocked when he learns that his sister Abby knew all about it.
Lavin plays Anna at both stages of her
life the elderly hospital patient and
the younger wife and mother across
from John Procaccino, who ably switches
between her husband and her lover.
Greenberg has structured the play as a
series of conversations: between Anna and
Seth, Seth and Abby, Anna and her lover,
the kids and their mother. The identity of
that lover introduces a political/historical element to the play thats completely

unexpected and may be fantastical.
That in turn opens another thematic
window. How much can we trust the memories of others, or our own, when we are
reconstructing the past? Is factual accuracy as important as emotional validity?
The characters of Seth and Abby are not
as well developed or interesting as Anna,
and it isnt clear why it matters that Seth
cant find a partner or Abby is toying with
leaving hers. Seths job as an obit writer is
a nice touch, though, and Anna clearly is
providing her son with plenty of material.
She wants more in her obituary than the
predictable loving wife and mother.
The second act brings more revelations
about Annas youth in Brooklyn, and these
are quite moving. They also throw a light
on the connection Anna may have felt with
her lover, a connection rooted in betrayal
rather than passion. Lavin always is a pleasure to watch on stage, and while this may
not be as successful as Greenbergs last
play, Our Mothers Brief Affair delivers
a lot to enjoy.
Calendar
Sunday
JANUARY 24
Tu bShvat in Fort Lee:
Celebrate at a communal
intergenerational seder
at the JCC of Fort
Lee/Congregation
Gesher Shalom,
10 a.m. 1449 Anderson
Ave. Reservations,
(201) 947-1735, ext. 316.
Toddler program in
Washington Township:
As part of the shuls
Holiday Happenings
program, the sisterhood
of Temple Beth Or offers
music and creative
crafts for 2- to 6-yearolds, with parents and
grandparents, 10:15 a.m.
56 Ridgewood Road.
(201) 664-7422 or www.
templebethornj.org.
Temple Sinai of Bergen County in Tenafly

offers Kabbalat Shabbat Shirah services
tonight at 7:30 p.m., with the instrumental
ensemble DanzaNova, 7:30 p.m. 1 Engle St.
(201) 568-3035.
JAN.
22
Jake Kraus
Friday
JANUARY 22
Health fair in
Hackensack: Senior
Source offers a senior
health fair with nearly
40 vendors who work
in Bergen County,
11 a.m.-2 p.m., at the
Shops at Riverside
Square Mall, second
floor, outside of
Bloomingdales Furniture.
(201) 342-0962 or www.
seniorsourcellc.com.
reception and seminar.

180 Piermont Road.
(201) 750-9997 or www.
templeemanu-el.com.
Shabbat in Closter:
Temple Beth El invites
the community to its
guest artist Shabbat
service, led by Cantor
Rica Timman and
featuring harpist Barbara
Allen, 7:30 p.m. 221
Schraalenburgh Road.
(201) 768-5112.
Shabbat in Franklin
Lakes: The Pursuit of
Harmony, a Jewish/
Palestinian music duo,
performs and talks
during services at Barnert
Temple, 7:30 p.m. 747
Route 208 South. Vicky,
(201) 848-1800 or vfarhi@
barnerttemple.org.
Saturday
Yehuda Kurtzer
Shabbat in Closter:
Temple Emanu-El
welcomes scholarin-residence Yehuda
Kurtzer, president of the
Shalom Hartman Institute
of North America. He
will discuss 21st Century
Judaism: Leadership
and Change in American
Jewish Life, during
services at 7 p.m. tonight,
and again for Shabbat
services that begin at
9 a.m., which will be
followed by a dessert
JANUARY 23
Film in Teaneck: Jewish
National Fund screens
the film Wasserman
at Congregation Beth
Aaron, following Seudah
Shlishit and a talk
by Michael Buzzy
Green on JNFs work in
Gush Etzion, 4:45 p.m.
Bob Levine, JNF vice
president of education,
will introduce the film at
7:45. 950 Queen Anne
Road. (973) 593-0095,
ext. 828.
Shabbat in Ridgewood:
Temple Israel & JCC
offer PJ Havdalah for
Tots, led by Cantor
Caitlin Bromberg on her
guitar, at Temple Israel.
Crafts and pizza, 6 p.m.,
followed by Havdalah
services. Kids should
wear pajamas. 475 Grove
St. (201) 444-9320,
email earlychildhood@
synagogue.org, or
www.synagogue.org.
Tu bShvat in Wayne:
Temple Beth Tikvah hosts
a Tu bShvat seder led
by its songleader-inresidence, Jacob Kraus,
along with Cantor Charles
Romalis, 10:30 a.m.
Readings, stories, dance,
songs, fruit, juice, and
bagels. 950 Preakness
Ave. Reservations,
(973) 595-6565 or www.
templebethtikvahnj.org.
Cantorial concert in
Washington Township:
Join Cantor Sarah
Silverberg for an evening
featuring an eclectic mix
of Yiddish, Israeli, Jewish
folk, and Broadway
music, at Temple Beth
Or, 7 p.m. 56 Ridgewood
Road. (201) 664-7422 or
www.templebethornj.org.
Party showcase in
Park Ridge: Celebrate!
Party Showcase, an
annual show presented
by Mitzvah Market,
is at the Park Ridge
Marriott, noon-4 p.m.
DJs, photographers,
favors, invitations, and
meaningful mitzvah
projects at the Mitzvah
Project Fair. 300 Brae
Boulevard. Sign up in
advance to win a Fitbit.
Celebrateshowcase.com/
register.
Teaneck concert: The

Teaneck Community
Chorus hosts We
Shall Shine: A Concert
for Women Of the
World at Teaneck
High School, 3 p.m. It
is inspired by the song
One Woman, written
for the 2013 United
Nations International
Womens Day. With
songs about family,
work, and resilience,
women share the same
feelings through music,
whether they live in
Jerusalem, Jamaica,
or Jakarta. www.
teaneckcommunitychorus.
org or call
(201) 836-2934.
Book brunch: The

United Synagogue of
Hoboken hosts a Book
Brunch focused on
The Vilna Vegetarian
Cookbook: Garden-Fresh
Recipes Rediscovered
and Adapted for
Todays Kitchen. The
book rediscovers 400
vegetarian recipes that
were popularized by
Fania Lewando, in a
kosher restaurant that
thrived in Lithuania in
the 1930s. Barbara Mazur
and Wendy Waxman, the
books producers, will
discuss how they found
and translated the text
from Yiddish to English,
Film in Woodcliff Lake:

As part of the Jewish
Federation of Northern
New Jerseys One
Book, One Community,
Temple Emanuel of the
Pascack Valley shows the
film Refusenik, 7 p.m.
This years book is Lev
Golinkins A Backpack,
a Bear, and Eight Crates
of Vodka. 87 Overlook
Drive. (201) 391-0801 or
www.jfnnj.org/calendar.
Monday
JANUARY 25
Hadassah meets: Fair
Lawn Hadassah meets
to install its new officers
at the Fair Lawn Jewish
Center/Congregation
Bnai Israel, 1 p.m. A Tu
bShvat seder follows.
Seasonal refreshments.
10-10 Norma Ave.
(201) 873-2476 or
[email protected].
Tuesday
JANUARY 26
Knitting circle in
River Vale: Knitters
Oscar Israelowitz
Secrets of NYC: Oscar
Zumba in Tenafly:
The Kaplen JCC on
the Palisades hosts a
Zumba party with exotic
rhythms, high-energy
Latin and international
beats, and easy-to-follow
moves, for everyone 12
and older, led by a team
of skilled JCC Zumba
instructors, 7:30 p.m. 411
East Clinton Ave. Roberto
Santiago, (201) 408-1481
or email rsantiago@
jccotp.org.
10:30 a.m. 115 Park Ave.

(201) 659-4000 or office@
hobokensynagogue.org.
Israelowitz, an author/
tour guide/architect, gives
a presentation about
the Secrets of New
York, at Heritage Pointe
in Teaneck, 2 p.m. 600
Frank W. Burr Boulevard,
Teaneck. Joel or Janice,
(201) 836-9260 or
HeritagePointeofTeaneck.
com.
Tu bShvat in
Ridgewood: Temple
Israel and Jewish
Community Center
celebrates with a
seder led by Rabbi
Jacob Lieberman
of the synagogues
Reconstructionist
Congregation, 4:30 p.m.
Samplings of foods
associated with the
holiday, a celebration
of all that trees provide,
and teachings on Jewish
values around protecting
the environment.
Reservations,
(201) 444-9320 or
[email protected].
and handcrafters
are welcome to the
Jewish Home Assisted
Living, 10:30 a.m. Cosponsored with JHAL,
Temple Emanuel of
the PV Community of
Caring, JFNNJ Womens
Philanthropy, Pascack
Valley Hadassah, and
Bergen County YJCC.
685 Westwood Ave.
Susan, (201) 666-6696 or
[email protected].
Wednesday
JANUARY 27
Fashion show /brunch
in Park Ridge: JCafe of
the Bergen County YJCC
offers a fashion show by
the Style Duo, featuring
clothes and accessories
by LK Bennett, at the
Park Ridge Marriott,
9:30 a.m. Free
babysitting for children
6 months and older.
300 Brae Boulevard.
(201) 666-6610.
Calendar
across from the Jewish
Home. 685 Westwood
Ave. (201) 880-4614.
Friday
JANUARY 29
Shabbat in Closter:
Rabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf
De-stressing people:
Rabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf
of Australia discusses
The Seven Habits of
De-Stressed People
for Chabad of Upper
Passaic County at the
Chabad Jewish Center,
7:30 p.m. 1069 Ringwood
Ave, Suite 315, Haskell.
(201) 696-7609 or www.
jewishhighlands.org.
Thursday
JANUARY 28
Hadassah meets: The
Pascack Valley/Northern
Valley chapter of
Hadassah meets at the
Jewish Home Assisted
Living in River Vale,
2:30 p.m. The chapters
Hadassah Players
perform an original
musical, The Traveling
Matchmaker, written
by Hannah Price, Berthe
Nathanson, and Arlene
Rifkin. Refreshments.
Coffee and dessert. Park
in the shopping center
Rabbi David S. Widzer

and Cantor Rica Timman
are joined by the Rinat
Beth El Junior Choir
for a family friendly
service, 6:45 p.m. 221
Schraalenburgh Road.
(201) 768-5112.
Shabbat in Wyckoff:
Temple Beth Rishon
offers Shabbat Shirah, a
service in song, 7:30 p.m.,
led by Cantors Ilan
Mamber and Summer
Greenald-Gonella and
featuring the Kol Rishon
Choir with instrumental
accompaniment by
guitarists Ilan Mamber
and Mark Kantrowitz,
pianist Itay Goren, and
percussionist Jimmy
Cohen. Dessert and
coffee. 585 Russell Ave.
(201) 891-4466 or www.
bethrishon.org.
Saturday
JANUARY 30
Shabbat in New City:
The Nanuet Hebrew
Center Book Club has
a special Inside Out
themed family Shabbat

with services, 9:30 a.m.
Mincha at 4:30 p.m.,
dinner, followed by
Maariv and Havdalah,
a screening of Inside
Out, and an ice cream
bar. Bring games to play
with friends. 411 South
Little Tor Road, off exit
10, Palisades Interstate
Parkway. (845) 708-9181
or www.nanuethc.org.
Bingo/ice cream:
The JCC of Paramus/
Congregation Beth
Tikvah offers family bingo
with snacks and makeyour-own sundaes, 7 p.m.
Prizes. East 304 Midland
Ave. (201) 262-7691,
[email protected],
or www.jccparamus.org.
Music in Mahwah: The

Guthrie Brothers sing
The Best of the Everly
Brothers at the Berrie
Center for Performing
and Visual Arts,
Sharp Theater, 8 p.m.
505 Ramapo Valley
Road. (201) 684-7844 or
ramapo.edu/berriecenter.
Concert in Fair Lawn:

The Mens Club of Temple
Beth Sholom hosts
its annual Caf Night
featuring the bands
Touch of Gray, Plaza
North, and Resolution,
8 p.m. Dancing
encouraged. Snacks and
dessert and BYO (kosher)
B; mixers provided.
40-25 Fair Lawn Ave.
(201) 797-9321.
Sunday
JANUARY 31
Blood drive in Leonia:
Congregation Adas
Emuno holds a blood
drive with New Jersey
Blood Services, a division
of New York Blood
Center, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Donors, 16 and older,
must eat and drink
before donating. Photo
ID required. 254 Broad
Ave. Walk-ins welcome
or pre-register at
leoniablooddrive@gmail.
com. (201) 592-1712.
Singles
Sunday
JANUARY 24
Seniors meet in Suffern:
Singles 65+ of the JCC
Rockland meets for
lunch at Sutters Mill of
Suffern, 1 p.m. 214 Route
59, Suffern, N.Y. Individual
checks. Reservations,
Gene, (845) 356-5525.
Sharsheret webinar on cancer scheduled in February

Sharsherets free national webinar, Take Control: Navigating the
Emotional Roller Coaster of Cancer, will be on Tuesday, February
2, at 8:15 p.m.
The webinar is to help navigate
the ups and downs of cancer treatment and survivorship. Learn
about the effects of cancer on
emotions, develop coping skills to
help balance life with cancer, and
understand the impact of cancer
on your relationships.
The webinar will be led by Karen
E. Hurley, a licensed clinical psychologist, and Shera Dubitsky,
director of Sharsherets Navigation
and Support services.
A live question and answer session will follow the presentation. A
transcript and audio recording will
be available following the event at
www.sharsheret.org.
Karen E. Hurley, Ph.D., left, and Shera

Dubitsky
PHOTOS COURTESY SHARSHERET
Friendship Circle sports league

helps handicapped children
Mitchel Bloom of Woodcliff Lake, left, and

Jordan Grabow of Ridgewood, at a Friendship League activity. COURTESY VALLEY CHABAD
Valley Chabads Friendship Circle is offering a winter season

sports league with a full range
of mainstream activities including basketball, soccer, T-ball, and
other recreational sports for children with special needs. Under
the sponsorship Woodcliff Lake
Basketball Association, children
and teens will practice the rules
and techniques of sports. Professional coaches and volunteers
will help participants develop

skills and confidence, while
engaging in physical activities
and promoting friendship.
Sessions continue at the
Dorchester School Gym in
Woodcliff Lake on Sundays,
with the next one on January
24, at 5 p.m.
For information call Estie
Orenstein at (201) 476-0157 or
email [email protected].
Syrian refugee children

COURTESY HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST
World refugee crisis

subject of museum talk
Join Michael Abramowitz, director of the Levine Institute for Holocaust Education at the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Elisa Massimino,
president/CEO of Human Rights First, for the World
Refugee Crisis, a discussion on Tuesday, February 2
at 7 p.m., at the Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Moderated by Nadine
Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, scholars will discuss the current refugee
crisis and examine the effectiveness of support efforts.
The refugee crisis is an issue that has become even
more charged with the recent attacks in Paris. Since
the start of the conflict in Syria, more than 250,000
people have died and 12 million have fled their homes,
making it the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
The museum is in Lower Manhattan at 36 Battery
Place. Call (646) 437-4202 or go to www.mjhnyc.org.
Lamdeinus semester
begins next month
Lamdeinu, a center for Jewish learning in Teaneck,
offering classes at Congregation Beth Aaron in
Teaneck, will begin its spring semester on February 1.
Classes are taught by rabbis and educators on Monday
through Thursday mornings and Tuesday evenings.
Courses include Parshanut HaMikra on Bereishit, Talmud Berakhot, Parashat HaShavua, Sefer Shoftim,
Yeshayahu, and smaller mini-courses on the holidays
and Jewish philosophy. All classes cover new topics
and students are welcome to join any class. Holiday
programming and special events will be announced
on the website.
Lamdeinu, a center for Jewish learning with classes
for women and men, founded by Dean Rachel Friedman, is at Congregation Beth Aaron, 950 Queen Anne
Road in Teaneck. For information and registration, go
to www.lamdeinu.org or email [email protected].
Jewish World
Obituaries
What Pope Francis synagogue visit

says about Catholic-Jewish relations
Ida Basch
Ida Basch of Saddle River died January 18.

Born in Canada, she was a legal secretary.
She is survived by her children, Michael,
David, and Susan, and grandchildren, Karsen,
Kaden, and Emily Mae. Arrangements were by
Robert Schoems Menorah Chapel, Paramus.
RUTH ELLEN GRUBER

When Pope Francis crossed the Tiber
River to visit the Great Synagogue of
Rome on Sunday, January 17, he became
the third pontiff to do so. But his 1.5mile journey to the towering Tempio
Maggiore showed that what once was
unthinkable now is the norm.
According to the juridical rabbinic
traditions, an act repeated three times
becomes chazaka, a habit, Rome Chief
Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni told the pontiff.
Clearly this is a concrete sign of the
new era after all that happened in the
past.
John Paul IIs visit 30 years ago
marked a dramatic watershed in Catholic-Jewish relations. By crossing the
threshold of the Tempio Maggiore,
warmly embracing Elio Toaff, who then
was Romes chief rabbi, and famously
referring to Jews as Christianitys older
brothers, the Polish-born pontiff broke
down barriers that stretched back
nearly 2,000 years.
The visual impact of the pontiff and
the chief rabbi embracing sent out a
powerful message of reconciliation.
During his speech to a sanctuary
packed with Jewish community members and representatives of the government, international Jewish organizations, the State of Israel, and other
faiths, Francis reiterated John Paul IIs
theme that Christianity is rooted in
Judaism.
You are, in fact, our older brothers
and sisters in faith, Francis said. Christians, he added, to understand themselves, cannot fail to make reference to
the Jewish roots, and the church, while
professing salvation through faith in
Christ, recognized the irrevocability of
the ancient alliance and constant and
faithful love of God for Israel.
Formal dialogue between Catholics
and Jews had begun only two decades
before the visit by Pope John Paul II,
jumpstarted by the Vaticans 1965 Nostra Aetate declaration, which repudiated the charge that Jews were collectively responsible for killing Jesus. The
document also stressed the religious
bond between Jews and Catholics, and
called for interfaith contacts.
For centuries until then, as Brown
University historian David Kertzer wrote
in his 2001 book, The Popes Against
the Jews, the Vatican had worked
hard to keep Jews in their subservient place barring them from owning property, from practicing professions, from attending university, from
traveling freely. Jews were confined to
ghettos and often subjected to expulsions, forced conversions, and other
Melvin Berkenblit
Melvin Berkenblit, 87, of Hackensack, formerly

of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., died January 15.
He was a research chemist at IBM.
He is survived by his wife, Riva, ne Isaacs,
children, Michael (Lisa) of Florida, Joan Warner
(Douglas) of Glen Rock, and Ellen Astrachan
( Joshua) and Robert (Kiera) of New York, and six
grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban
Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Perry Bolkin
Pope Francis, left, greeting the chief rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni,
during the popes visit to the citys Great Synagogue on January 17.

FRANCO ORIGLIA/GETTY IMAGES
persecutions. In Rome, the Great Synagogue stands where the papal rulers
kept Jews confined to a crowded ghetto
until 1870.
John Paul made fostering relations
between Catholics and Jews a cornerstone of his papacy.
What he did was to assert that one
could not be a Christian without recognition of ones roots in the Jewish
community, said Rabbi Gary BrettonGranatoor, a longtime participant in
Catholic-Jewish dialogue and a former
vice president of the World Union of
Progressive Judaism.
Pope Benedict XVI, who had been a
key adviser to John Paul and an architect of his theological policy, followed
John Pauls lead. But Benedict lacked his
predecessors charisma, and some of his
policies strained relations with the Jewish world.
His visit to the Rome synagogue in
January 2010 reaffirmed the continuity of the Vaticans commitment to
Jewish-Catholic dialogue. But it came
amid tensions sparked by his decision
to move controversial World War II-era
Pope Pius XII whom critics accuse of
having turned a blind eye to Jewish suffering during the Holocaust closer to
sainthood.
Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, then the president of the Italian rabbinical assembly,
even boycotted the synagogue ceremony in protest.
The Argentina-born Francis had a
close relationship with the Jewish community even before his election to the
papacy, when he was archbishop of
Buenos Aires. Since becoming pontiff in March 2013, he has consistently
demonstrated attention to Jewish issues
and won over many skeptics with his
warmth. He visited Israel, along with
Jordan and the West Bank, in 2014.

In May 2014, Francis defused the Pius
issue to some extent by making clear
that he had no intention of fast-tracking
his sainthood. And a Vatican document
released in December to mark the 50th
anniversary of Nostra Aetate reiterated at
length how Christianity is rooted in Judaism. It also renewed pledges of cooperation and said the church as an institution
should not try to convert Jews.
Before Sundays visit, Bretton-Granatoor said that Francis is wholly at ease
with the Jewish community and Jewish
life. His entrance into that synagogue
will not be dissimilar to a Jew entering
a synagogue in a new place new, yet
familiar.
On Sunday, Francis addressed his
personal feeling of closeness to Holocaust survivors, a group of whom were
seated in the first row of the sanctuary,
and noted that the experience of the
Holocaust must serve as a lesson for the
present and the future.
The Shoah teaches us that we always
need the greatest vigilance to intervene
promptly in defense of human dignity
and peace, he said.
Francis also said that the extraordinary rapprochement between Jews and
Catholics over the past 50 years should
serve as a model for other faiths.
Conflicts, wars, violence and injustices open deep wounds in humanity
and call on us to reinforce the commitment to peace and justice, Francis said.
The violence of man against man is
in contradiction with any religion worthy of the name, and in particular with
the three great monotheistic religions,
he continued. Every human being, as a
creature of God, is our brother regardless of his origins or religious belief.

JTA WIRE SERVICE
Perry Bolkin, 77, of Fair Lawn, formerly of Lodi,

died January 12.
He was a commercial artist, running Bolkin
Advertising. He was a member of Congregation
Bnai Israel and the Fair Lawn Jewish Center,
served on the Fair Lawn Jewish Community
Council, and was an editor of the Fair Lawn
Israelite publication.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Marjorie
(ne Edelson), their children, Jess, Bruce, Eve,
and Julie; a brother, Stuart; daughter in-law,
DeAnn Heline; a son-in-law, Jack OConnor, and
six grandchildren.
Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Sidney Diamond
Sidney Diamond of Fort Lee died January 10 in

Saddle River.
Born in the Bronx, he was an Army World
War II veteran, and was a contract administrator
for Fairchild Republic. He wrote three childrens
books when he was in his 80s.
He is survived by his wife of 72 years,
Phyllis, ne Katz, daughters, Susan Joy Romer
(Leonard), and Beth Ann Terada (the late Kozo);
four grandchildren, and five greatgrandchildren.
Arrangements were by Gutterman and
Musicant Jewish Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Mikhail Gendler
Mikhail Gendler of Elmwood Park died

January 14.
Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Ronni Gorman
Ronni Gorman, 58, of Fair Lawn died January 2.

She is survived by her husband, Mark
Gorman, parents, Arlene and Robert London,
children, Alexander and Jessica Prochniak
(Drew); siblings, Gary and James London, Mindy
London, and David and Esther London.
Donations can be sent to St. Jude Childrens
Research Hospital or the Wounded Warrior
Project. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban
Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Joel Laufer
Joel Laufer, 71, of Boynton Beach, Fla., formerly

of Paterson and Fair Lawn, died January 9.
He was a supply sergeant in the U.S. Army,
Obituaries
a former Fair Lawn Jewish Center member, an inspector
at HK Metal Craft in Lodi, and a teller for the New Jersey
Racing Authority.
Predeceased by his brothers, Israel, Joseph, and Murray,
he is survived by his wife, Janet, ne Berens, children,
Tanya Crusco ( Joseph) of Mahwah, and Michael (Dr.
Tracy) of Upper Saddle River; siblings, Ida Pinchefsky Lan
of Wayne and Jay Laufer (Anne) of Fair Lawn, and three
grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Corinne Perlmutter
Corinne Perlmutter, ne Finkle, 86, of Park Ridge,

formerly of Fair Lawn, died January 12.
Predeceased by her husband, Leon, and a son,
Philip, she is survived by her children, William ( Jori)
of Monmouth Junction and Cindy Bischoff ( Jeffrey) of
Emerson, and four grandchildren.
Donations can be sent to Healing the Children,
Hawthorne. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban
Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Enid Schwartz
Enid Schwartz, 65, of Englewood died January 11.

Born in Queens, she was a registered nurse and was a
member of Chabad of Fort Lee.
She is survived by her husband, Martin, and sisters
Francine Greenblatt and Marsha Smith.
Arrangements were by Eden Memorial Chapels,
Fort Lee.
George Seligman
George Robert Seligman, 80, of Sun City Center, Fla., died

January 15.
Fort Lee.
then Target Travel, Inc. in River Edge. He was a member

of Temple Avodat Shalom and a past president of its
brotherhood.
He is survived by his wife, Margo, ne Mayer, children,
Michelle Tauberman of Massachusetts, and Richard
(Amelie) of Maryland; two grandchildren, and a nephew.
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Jack Weinberg
Jack Weinberg, 86, of Clifton, formerly of Paterson and

Fair Lawn, died January 18.
He owned an audiovisual repair company in northern
New Jersey.
Predeceased by his wife, Shirley, and a sister, Helaine
Gerson, he is survived by his children, Marcy Goodman
(Bill) of Fair Lawn, and Steven (Debra) of Florida; a
brother, Irving (Sheila) of Fair Lawn; six grandchildren,
and two great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to the Daughters of Miriam
Center for the Aged, Clifton. Arrangements were by Louis
Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Elaine Wolf, 74, of Fort Lee died January 12.
Born in New York City, she was a member of Temple
Sinai of Bergen County in Tenafly.
Predeceased by her husband, Jean Louis Wolf,
she is survived by her children, Micheline Schwartz
of New York City and David of Glen Rock, and five
grandchildren, Jason and Ryan Schwartz, and Jonathan,
Chloe, and Michael Wolf.
Fort Lee.
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We are committed to celebrating the significance of lives that

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We assure that all deceased veterans have an American
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Eugene Gene Tauberman, 87, of Natick, Mass., formerly

of River Edge, died January. 2.
He worked for Neuville, Inc., in New York City, and
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Joyce Shaner, ne Simon, 85, of River Edge died

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Predeceased by a brother, Robert Simon, she is survived
by her husband, Harry, children, Arlene of New York City,
Richard of River Edge, and Karen of Dumont; a sister,
Barbara Van Heest (Peter); two grandchildren, and nieces,
nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
prepared with
Paterson Monument Co.
Elaine Wolf
Joyce Shaner
Obituaries are
The Christopher Family

serving the Jewish community
since 1900
We have also established an Honor Wall of veterans names,

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Terror
FROM PAGE 35
According to reports, he was given up by local residents and confessed to the killing. Adais arrest was
part of a joint IDF and Shin Bet security service
operation.
Renana Meir, the eldest child, had given law
enforcement a description of the killer, according
to reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
vowed to destroy the home of Meirs killer. And on
Tuesday, Netanyahu traveled to Otniel to pay a condolence call to Meirs grieving family.
Whoever wants to see the truth about the roots of
the conflict between us and the Palestinians should
come to Otniel and see here a wonderful family
that only wants coexistence and peace, Netanyahu
said. They should see the young people, inflamed
by incitement, who come to murder women here,
a mother of six, and in Tekoa, a pregnant woman.
He added, There is humanity here and the desire
for peace and coexistence on one side and boundless hatred on the other.
On Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas said he opposed violence against anyone,
regardless of background, and promised to encourage resistance through peaceful means only.
Also Monday, the U.S. State Department in a
statement condemned Meirs murder and the subsequent attack on Froman in the strongest terms.
We were appalled and deeply saddened by
the death of Dafna Meir, a mother of six, who was
attacked on Sunday in her own home, said the
statement issued by department spokesman John
Kirby, who also sent well wishes to Froman. These
horrific incidents underscore the importance of
affirmative steps to restore calm, reduce tensions
and bring an immediate end to the violence.
The statement came as the U.S. ambassador to
Israel, Daniel Shapiro, speaking Monday at a Tel Aviv
conference organized by the Institute for National
Security Studies, accused Israel of having two standards of adherence to rule of law in the West Bank
one for Jews and one for Palestinians.
Can you imagine

the
from a constant
struggle to put
food on the table?
exhaustion
Photo licensed under Creative Commons from flickr user [auro].
Join MAZONs effort to ensure that no one goes hungry.

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Donate to MAZON today.
P.O. Box 894765

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JTA WIRE SERVICE
Gallery
1
n 1 Students of the JCC of Paramus/Congregation Beth Tikvah Hebrew School with Marcia Kagedan, educational director, and Cantor
Sam Weiss, at the end of the annual Mini Shabbaton. A Havdalah
service ended a day of fun Shabbat activities. COURTESY JCCP/CBT
women. Rabbi Mordechai and Shterney Kanelsky of Bris Avrohom

are pictured with the Wilanskys at the organizations annual gala.
The aviation department of the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey was given a community service award. COURTESY BA
n 2 Shlicha/Israeli emissary Yarden Rapaport, left, taught

a class of third- and fourth-graders at Waynes Shomrei Torah religious school. She illustrated Israel history with
music, culture, and dance. COURTESY SHOMREI TORAH
n 5 Ben Porat Yosef first-graders received their siddurim from

the head of school, Rav Tomer Ronen, during a special program last Sunday. The students also performed a play about
the many tefillot (prayers) that they learned. COURTESY BPY
n 3 Kids in Action at the Chabad Center of Passaic County had

a Krav Maga (Israeli self-defense) program and made care packages and thank-you cards for Wayne firefighters. COURTESY CHABAD
n 6 Barry Wien, president of Eden Memorial Chapels in Fort Lee

and a member of the advisory board of the New York Board
of Rabbis, left, celebrated Frank Sinatras 100 birthday with
emcee Larry King at the Friars Club in Manhattan. More than
700 people were at the party, which included performances
by Dionne Warwick, Wayne Newton, Steve Tyrell, Deana Martin, Norm Crosby, and Freddy Roman. PHOTO PROVIDED
n 4 Rabbi Dovid and Sara Wilansky, center, received the Keser Shem
Tov award in recognition of Rabbi Wilanskys 30 years of service
as Bris Avrohoms administrator and for Ms. Wilanskys lectures for
Real Estate & Business

Hadassah opens underground operating rooms in its medical organizations
Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital Tower in Jerusalem
New surgery complex offers
state-of-the-art technology
used only by the worlds
top-tier hospitals
A $30-million, 20-room state-of-the-art underground
surgery complex was unveiled on January 10 at Hadassah Medical Organizations Sarah Wetsman Davidson
Hospital Tower in Jerusalem.
Of the 20 operating rooms, 13 are ready and immediately available for use. They are located deep underground and fortified to provide a safe operating space
in the event of conventional, chemical, or biological
warfare. The atypically large operating rooms allow
Hadassahs expert surgical teams to carry out complex
surgery under optimal conditions using sophisticated
computerized imaging devices, and flexible operating
tables that rotate to various positions to enable easier
reach. Stainless steel walls ensure a sterile environment. Every room is equipped with communications
equipment to bring off-site consultation in real time
during surgery. A hybrid surgical theater makes possible combining non-invasive procedures and surgery
in the same location.
Ellen Hershkin, president of the American Haddasah Zionist organization, said The operating
rooms are the most modern in the region and exemplify the type of medicine we anticipated practicing
when we built the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospital
Tower. Just as new standards were set above ground,
the underground facility will expand the limits of our
accomplishments. Were proud to have made this possible for the people of Israel and those who come from
near and far for medical care.
According to incoming Hadassah Medical Organization director general Zeev Rotstein, Hadassahs new
surgery facilities represent the finest state-of-the-art
medical technology available in the world today and
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catapult Hadassah into the forefront of advanced medical care.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also expressed his admiration, The operating rooms are a milestone in the
history of Hadassah. This is another step in strengthening Jerusalem as a medical, scientific and technological
superpower.
Cutting the ribbon, from left, Marcie Natan, past
national president, Hadassah; Nancy Falchuck,
past national president, Hadassah; Ellen Hershkin,
national president, Hadassah; Professor Tamar
Peretz, director of Hadassahs Sharett Institute
of Oncology; Professor Zeev Rotstein, incoming
director general of Hadassah; Yaakov Litzman,
minister of health
TM
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Real Estate & Business
7 of the coolest gadgets for your feline

Items developed in Israel
for four-legged furry
family members that are,
literally, the cats meow
VIVA SARAH PRESS
While cats continue to rule the Internet with
their cute videos, theyre also clawing their
way into the billion-dollar pet pampering
market.
According to the 2015-2016 American Pet
Product Association National Pet Owners
Survey, U.S. citizens own a total of 312.1 million pets including 85.8 million cats and
77.8 million dogs.
Entrepreneurs are constantly coming up
with new pet technologies, clever cat supplies and newfangled ways to pamper fourlegged furry family members. After all, the
American Pet Product Association reports
that U.S. pet owners spent some $60.59 billion on their animals in 2015 alone.
Here are seven Israeli technologies and
services that really are the cats pajamas.
Some are also purrfect for dogs.
PetPace
PetPaces connected pet collar uses noninvasive sensors to monitor data including
temperature, pulse, respiration, activity levels, movement, and calories throughout the
day. If the collar detects any abnormalities,
an alert is sent in real-time to pet parents
and veterinarians. PetPace was named

Israels Most Promising Startup in a 2015
competition.
Cat2See
Cat2See is all about making Tigger happy.
The products include a webcam controllable by app or browser that lets you keep
an eye on your favorite fur ball; a cat game
that can be controlled remotely to keep kitty
entertained; and a feeder you can program
to serve fresh morsels at set times.
The Cat2See team has also created a professional social network for cat owners and
cat lovers. This is the place to find the next
viral cat photo or video.
De Cat Palace
De Cat Palace is a multifunctional, high-tech
litter box promoted as a place of wellness,
beauty and joy for your cat.
This luxurious litter box features a scratch
pad and food dispenser, noise sensor, smart
humidity monitor, smart ventilation system,
computerized central control system, and
a free app to control the palace from your
smartphone. It sends an SMS if the litter
needs to be replaced or when Fluffy needs a
refill of water or food, and tracks your cats
behavior.
The fancy litter box is designed by awardwinning Israeli artist/designer Ruth Kedar,
best known for designing the basis of the
original Google logo that was displayed from
May 31, 1999 to September 1, 2015.
SELLING YOUR HOME?
Keep your cat

amused even if
youre not there.
COURTESY OF CAT2SEE.
A smart ID tag
for your pet.
COURTESY OF QRUSO
CatGenie
Cat owners dont have to scoop up after
their pets outside but they do have to
empty a stinky litter box. Thats where
the CatGenie automated self-flushing
cat box comes in to save the day. Israeli
company PetNovations, located in
Moshav Batzra, is behind the revolutionary CatGenie system. Think port-apotty for cats.
It works like a cat box, acts like a toilet, and cleans like a modern washing
appliance. The CatGenie is the product of years of research and development, and utilizes several technologies
to achieve a unique solution to cat care
needs, according to PetNovations.
The device uses washable litter granules that are cleaned by the machine.
Solid waste is dissolved into liquid waste
and then drops into a sanitation chamber and gets flushed down the drain. Pet
owners dont have to touch or buy cat
litter again.
Keepi
Call Susan Laskin Today

To Make Your Next Move A Successful One!
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com
Cell: 201-615-5353
2016 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC.
The Keepi smart cat-litter box is a patentpending innovation intended to monitor

your cats health and detect early signs of
illness. The team behind this medical cat
tech won a prestigious startup award in
Israel in October 2015.
Keepi was developed by Oded Yarkoni who worked at Check Point Software and is a former Unit 8200 officer
together with Noam Hadas (medical
technology) and Hippotec Design.
Yarkoni is working with veterinarians
to fine-tune the sophisticated behavioral

and urinalysis technologies in Keepi,
which will also include a mobile app that
sends cat owners alerts when early disease symptoms are detected.
Terminal4pets
Pet pampering takes a step up with this
Israeli door-to-door VIP (very important
pet) courier service for jet-setting cats.
Terminal4pets helps pet owners fly with
their furry friends or ship them to wherever they need to go. The company offers
in-flight veterinarian service, pre-flight
checkups and recommendations for a
safer and easier trip, flight kennel solutions, and custom flight arrangements.
Terminal4pets deals with all kinds of
pets. It has even arranged for stray dogs
adopted by U.S. servicemen in Iraq to be
flown to new homes in the United States.
Qruso
According to the American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
lost dogs are more likely than cats to be
found and returned home. Thats why
veterinarians recommend ID tags.
The Israeli Qruso smart ID tag uses
QR codes and NFC technologies to keep
your pet traceable. If your cat does get
lost, anyone who scans the Qruso smart
ID tag will be able to access your cats
details and notify you of the GPS location of the finder and the cat. The tags
do not require a battery, have no range
limit and are all-weather durable.

ISRAEL21.CORG
The Art of Real Estate

NJ:
NY:
Jeffrey Schleider
Broker/Owner
Miron Properties NY
FORT LEE
CE
TO NTU
W RY
ER
!
201.266.8555
T: 212.888.6250
T:
FORT LEE
201.906.6024
M: 917.576.0776
FORT LEE
SO
Ruth Miron-Schleider
Broker/Owner
Miron Properties NJ
M:
LD
FORT LEE
CO TH
LO E
NY
!
CO UN
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RA R
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1 BR/1.5 BTH w/office & terrace. $205,000
Beautiful 2 BR/2.5 BTH with skyline views.
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Magnificent 2 BR/2.5 BTH corner unit.
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ENGLEWOOD
ENGLEWOOD
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ENGLEWOOD
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Open floor plan. Sutton Place Townhouse.
LOWER EAST SIDE

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Amazing 4 BR Center Hall Colonial on acre. Elegant 5 BR/4 BTH East Hill home. $1,250,000
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Contact us today for your complimentary consultation!
[email protected] [email protected]
www.MironProperties.com
Each Miron Properties office is independently owned and operated.
STORE HOURS
646 Cedar Lane Teaneck, NJ 07666
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What events are being advertised?

What events are being advertised?

What archaeological discovery did a young boy make?

What archaeological discovery did a young boy make?

FRISCHS SHIRIYAH IS NOT A COLOR WAR page 6

THE PURSUIT OF HARMONY HEADS TO FRANKLIN LAKES page 8

JANUARY 22, 2016

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

The Bigger Picture

February 14, 2016

Cost is $25 per person or $36 per couple

Asst Commissioner for DHS

SPECIAL SIGNING &

Author of Riding The Bus

For Registration & More Info:

2 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 22, 2016

10-gallon hats and

would recognize as serious shofars.

about Israels slow-moving government bureaucracy, someone in charge

that is email. The initiative also calls

Israeli boy finds fertility goddess

doing holding the head of an ancient

to sixth centuries BCE.

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Jewish Standard January 22, 2016 3

Babe, just say what you mean: Jewish,

the Rip Hunter character

VAYNTRUB, 28, plays

have to be her most visible and most lucrative

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But I just learned that he

her officially.) Laurens

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

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Its time your kitchen had a little

These two kitchen faucets sets are real show stoppers.

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 22, 2016 5

t is not, repeat, not, color war.

laughing, and enjoying the camaraderie. The thing that

2000s when Rabbi Eli Ciner, now the schools principal,

Terrorism here and abroad

ts not surprising that Americans are

the School of International and Public

logic to it. Groups use terto be killed getting into our

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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY

The Pursuit of Harmony

Rabbi Steiner said. It will empower them

performing with Alaa back in 2009, it

Share your story with those who share

Second Generation Holocaust Discussion Group - connecting you with others

Group meets the last Wednesday of each month

starving, for this message. But they dont know where

Crews plant saplings as part of the Armenia Tree Project.

Israels education minister, Naftali Bennett