LISTENING TO ALAN ALDA IN TENAFLY page 10

ISRAEL
REMEMBERING THE YOUNGEST SURVIVORS page 12
COMING TOGETHER TO PRAISE THE MIRACLE OF ISRAEL page 16
VOTE!
AN ENTERTAINING 'GOLDSTEIN' page 47 READ
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1977
1968
CONTENTS
NOSHES ...............................................................4
BRIEFLY LOCAL .............................................. 18
COVER STORY ................................................ 22
JEWISH WORLD ............................................ 29
OPINION ........................................................... 38
DEAR RABBI ZAHAVY.................................44
D’VAR TORAH ................................................ 45
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ...................46
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................46
ARTS AND CULTURE.................................... 47
CALENDAR ......................................................48
OBITUARIES .................................................... 52
CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................54
REAL ESTATE.................................................. 56
1971
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to JEWISH STANDARD’s unrestricted right to edit and to comment
editorially. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without
written permission from the publisher. © 2018
Page 3
Posters from Israel
Independence Days past
● Each year, ever since the founding of
the state, Israel issues an official poster
to celebrate its independence. Some of
these images, created by leading Israeli
graphic artists, have become iconic.
Often, these posters are used as
didactic tools to illustrate an annual
theme. In all cases, they present a mo-
ment in Israel’s national history: its con-
cerns and achievements during the past
year, as well as its hopes and goals for
the coming one.
This selection of some of the most im-
portant and beautiful posters issued over
the past 70 years is taken from Israel’s
State Archive. RACHEL NEIMAN/ISRAEL21C.ORG
1949
1958 1960
1988 1996 2009
Candlelighting: Friday, April 13, 7:16 p.m.
Shabbat ends: Saturday, April 14, 8:17 p.m.
For convenient home delivery,
call 201-837-8818 or bit.ly/jsubscribe
www.thejewishstandard.com
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 3
Noshes “‘Polish Americans?’ Pretty sure these
guys never referred to themselves
as ‘Polish-Americans.’ Pretty sure during
their lifetime most Poles didn’t, either.”
JUST THE FACTS:
— Writer Ben Schwartz on Twitter, after the UCLA Film and TV Archive tweeted on
Clarifying, April 4 that “Warner Bros. Studios was founded on this day in 1923 by pioneering
correcting, Polish-American brothers Albert, Harry, Jack and Sam…” For the record, the Warner

and adding brothers were Jewish.

In my last column, I mother, can’t quite figure

said that SCAR-
LETT JOHANSSON, 33,
was going to play a
non-Jewish German who
hides a Jewish girl and
then her young son, a
Hitler Youth member,
discovers this. I added
that the film was written
and is being directed by
TAIKI WAITITI, 42, a New
Zealander whose father is
Polynesian and whose
mother is Jewish. Waititi, I
said, is now on a hot
streak, having directed
several hit New Zealand
films and then “Thor
Raganorok,” a Hollywood
movie blockbuster. New
details just released
reveal that his new film,
called “Jo Jo Rabbit,” has
some very weird plot
twists. But I’ll reserve
judgment on it because
Waititi made weird work
in a couple of his New
Zealand films. Here are
the new details: The son,
a 10-year-old, invents an
imaginary friend, who is
played by Waititi himself.
The imaginary friend is a
combination of Hitler(!)
and the child’s missing
father. The boy’s sense of
Hitler is informed by Nazi
propaganda. This fantasy
Hitler is gentle and
semi-comic. The official
film synopsis says:
“Waititi blends his
signature humor, pathos,
and deeply compelling
characters in a WWII
satire about a… boy who,
ridiculed by his friends,
and misunderstood by his
out how to fit in. As the
naïve young [boy]
struggles to understand
his place in fascist
Germany, he resorts to an
imaginary friend…”. (I’m
guessing that the film’s
dramatic climax will come
when events force the
boy to see that his nice
fantasy friend is a
monster in real life).
In my last column, I
misspelled the first name
of a rookie Cincinnati
relief pitcher: it’s ZACK
WEISS, not Zach. By the
way, I found his Twitter
feed and saw that last
fall, he wished everybody
a “Shana Tovah” near the
High Holidays. Also: On
March 31, St. Louis called
up relief pitcher RYAN
SHERRIFF, 27, from the
minors to replace an
injured pitcher. As I write
this, he’s still with the
Cardinals, but he’s likely
to shuttle between the
minors and the big club.
Sherriff’s maternal grand-
parents were Holocaust
survivors. He pitched for
Team Israel in the 2017
World Baseball Classic.
On Roseanne Barr
Long before Donald
Trump entered
politics, I was appalled
by ROSEANNE BARR
(currently a vocal Trump
supporter). Yes, there are
people who radically
switch political positions
for reasons that they lay
out in understandable,
rational terms. But Barr,
Scarlett Johansson
Zack Weiss
65, takes political stances
and changes them for
reasons that I can ascribe
only to a personality
disorder. This is laid out
in a must-read Daily
Beast story (“How
Roseanne Barr Aban-
doned All Reason and
Embraced the Alt-
Right”) published last
May. The only thing the
story doesn’t quite
capture is how disor-
dered Barr’s thinking is,
as shown in a full
interview. I saw one
interview taped in the
summer of 2016, con-
ducted by a conservative
Taiki Waititi
Roseanne Barr
is revealed: In 2009, she
called Israel a “Nazi state,”
in 2011 “a “brutal and
undemocratic theocracy.”
Ryan Sherriff She also denounced “the
ethnic cleansing that is
host. Try as he might, the happening in Gaza right
host couldn’t extract a
now.” In 2012, she ran for
coherent summary of her president on a left-wing
views or why they
third-party ticket with
changed. She spouted
Cindy Sheehan (who
word salad.
said many times that
The Daily Beast story
her soldier son died in
traces Roseanne’s Israel
Iraq for Israel). But by
views. Back in 2009, I
2015/16, Barr swung the
wrote a blog -post about
other way, using language
her virulent anti-Israel
position, and then I had that wins no friends for
to watch as the Jewish Israel, like calling Muslims
community media lauded pedophiles, and tweet-
her in recent years for ing that “Hillary Clinton is
her pro-Israel stance. My surrounded by Jew hat-
guess is that they didn’t ers who make fun of the
know about Barr’s quite Holocaust and Jewish suf-
recent past. Courtesy of fering.” She also shared
the Daily Beast, that past a link that said that “Jew
hater Hillary Clinton’s
‘handler’ Huma [Abedin]
Weiner [a Muslim] is a
filthy Nazi whore.” But her
support of wacko conspir-
acy theory sites is most
alarming. Barr particularly
likes to retweet a sicko
conspiracy theory about
the “deep State” and
Democrts running child
sex rings — a charge very
much like the totally false
Pizzagate story” (that’s
the one that said that
Hillary Clinton ran a sex
ring out of a Washington
pizza parlor). I say to the
Jewish media/community
— don’t trust this woman.
She could explode in your
face. Who knows? A few
years from now she may
support Hamas.
–N.B.

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at
Middleoftheroad1@aol.com

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JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 5

Local
‘Those girls are me’
Community leader/athlete goes back to Brooklyn
LOIS GOLDRICH

W
hen Rabbi Shmuel Klammer, head of
school at the Shulamith School of Brook-
lyn, first came up with the acronym AIM
(Alumnae, Inspiration, Marketing) to
describe his goals for enhancing the school, he hadn’t yet
met Sunni Herman of Teaneck. Now, after meeting her
and watching her interact with his students, he has added
a second M to his formula.
“It’s for motivation,” he said. “The message of motiva-
tion — physical, spiritual, intellectual, and in every other
area of life — is critical to success, and Sunni has that moti-
vation in spades.”
For her part, Ms. Herman, who is not only an alumna
but the guest of honor at the school’s upcoming annual
dinner this year, is delighted to have been given an oppor-
tunity to reconnect with the school. Executive vice presi-
dent of the Jewish Home at Rockleigh, Ms. Herman is
being honored not only for her many contributions to the
community, but for her athletic achievements as well.
The athletic prowess is recent, and
a prime example of what the honoree
calls her “self-motivation. I’m competing
against myself,” she said. “I have been run-
ning communities for older adults for 20
years. Four years ago” — when she was 40
— “I became a triathlete. I decided to do
something out of the box for myself.”
“I have always biked,” she said; biking
was a family affair. (Biking also is one of Above, Sunni Herman visits with students at Shulamith School of Brooklyn; below, her
the three events that make up a triathlon.) grandmother Chana Peikes Pollack, and her students stand outside the school in 1939.
That family included her parents Abe and
Shelley Pollack, her sister Devorah, who
also went to Shulamith, and her brothers
Chaim, Michael, Daniel, and Ari. (Three of
those brothers now live in Israel.)
“We would bike to Manhattan or to Coney Island on a Ms. Herman grew up in Boro Park
Sunday morning,” Ms. Herman said. “One of us would be and attended an all-Yiddish-speak-
on the back of my father’s bike and one on the back of ing preschool there. She said that
my mother’s, and one would sit on the crossbar on my her family knew Shulamith well.
father’s bike. At the time, my parents didn’t have a car. Her grandmother started teach-
They both biked to work. When my father was studying ing there in the 1930s, and several
for a Ph.D., he would bike there, and when he was teach- aunts attended the school in the
ing at LIU, he would bike there.” 1950s and 60s. Nevertheless, she
So biking was no problem. “But I didn’t swim and didn’t did not expect to go there. “For
run,” she said. (Those are a triathlon’s other two sports.) first grade, my parents applied to
Ultimately, with a lot of hard work and constant practice, a local all-girls school,” she said. “I
that was no problem either. was rejected because my mother
“My teen idol at Shulamith was Rochie Shoretz, who went to a co-ed elementary school.
was a year ahead of me,” Ms. Herman said. (Rochelle So I went to Shulamith, which
Shoretz, the founder of the national cancer organization moved to Flatbush when I was
Sharsheret, died in 2015.) When the two women recon- in fourth grade. In order for my
nected as adults, both successful professionals, “Rochie parents to afford tuition for me and my sister, my mother
suggested that I do a triathlon,” Ms. Herman said. became the school’s gym teacher,” a position she held But in school I was considered more religious because I
“I did it because with a triathlon, the goal is to finish. for 15 years. “She was a very good dancer, well-known in was from Boro Park.”
It was stretching my possibilities. It had nothing to do Brooklyn Israeli dance circles.” Three things happened this fall that Ms. Herman did
with my professional life or my family but was something “In order to make a living, my mother taught dance not expect. First, “I got a call from Yavneh” — the elemen-
I could do where I felt that I fit in by being anonymous. and aerobics in the basement of our house in Boro Park. tary and middle school in Paramus — “asking me to be a
I also made great friends and became part of a whole My sister was a dancer, but I was not athletic. My broth- celebrity running coach for the kids’ running program. It
new community. It was totally out of my comfort zone. I ers were ice-skaters and played basketball.” Because was three Thursdays in a row.” She did it during her lunch
learned a lot about myself.” they sometimes played on Shabbat, “In Boro Park we break. Second, “my best friend since I was 4 — we went to
She is now training for her first marathon. were considered extremely modern and progressive. see BROOKLYN Page 8

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Local

surrounded me.” As a sign of respect, the

Brooklyn
from page 6
the Yiddish school together — has a daugh-
ter in an all-girls high school. She had to
write an essay about an inspirational fig-
ure.” The friend’s daughter wrote about
her mom’s friend, the triathlete.
“I realized that when we grew up, none
of our parents did anything athletic,” Ms.
Herman said. “No one did races, especially
mothers. The fact that she saw me as an
inspirational figure brought me back to
Boro Park, where we came from. It was an
aha moment.”
The third unexpected event was a
phone call from an elementary school
friend, Frima Shtaynberger, whose hus-
I did it because
with a triathlon,
the goal is to
finish. It was
stretching my
possibilities. It
had nothing to
do with my
professional life
or my family but
girls stood up. “That was me when I was
there. We stood up when a guest came,
and here they were honoring me.”
Visiting a 10th grade class, and seeing
her old chemistry teacher, Ms. Herman
told the girls, “you might not understand
why you are learning this, but you will use
it for the rest of your life. You have to know
that you are a woman and Orthodox, and
you can do anything you want.
“Envision your finish line,” she told the
girls. “Work like anything and figure it out.”
According to Rabbi Klammer, Ms.
Herman’s meetings with the girls — she
visited the school several times — have
been productive. In February, “she ran a
workshop for the high school girls. She
talked about pushing herself to reach
great heights. It’s not about having to
be number one, and she said, but to get
better. A number of girls went up to her Sunni and Jonathan Herman with their children, from left, Chani, Jacob, and Yael.
got her phone number. They look at her
as a person to emulate.” And, he added,
“she’s a model in terms of being healthy.
one week.
“Shulamith is the only girls’ Zionist
not only Ashkenazic but Sephardic,
Yemenite, Israeli, and Russian.” The com-
I’m personally a fan of eating healthy and Orthodox school in Brooklyn,” Rabbi Klam- munity is very diverse. Some of the girls,
exercising, and I would like to see girls do
that as well.
mer said. “We play a unique role. Other
schools are co-ed, or other girls’ schools
he told Ms. Herman, look forward to eat-
ing their hot meals in school. They don’t
“In a phenomenal session in the early are not Zionist. We’re very strongly Zion- have computers and they don’t have
evening, she encouraged the high school
girls to flesh out the school’s philosophy
ist. Advocacy is in our curriculum. It’s not
just about Yom Ha’Atzmaut or Yom Yerush-
white boards.
“I know that girl,” Ms. Herman said.
from a student’s perspective,” Rabbi Klam- alayim. It’s an everyday commitment.” “I was that girl. When I was 11 my father
mer continued. “She drew it out of the stu-
dents and made them think quite deeply.
graduated from medical school. There
were five kids. We lived in my grand-
As a result of her initiative and leading parents’ house.” But what she did have
the session, it formulated the basis for were wonderful memories of the school.

was something I a brand new student-created website,” The journey has “We learned how to ask questions. I was
ShulamithofBrooklyn.org. responsible for lighting in the school
could do where I “I went there in February and met with come full circle, play and I was editor in chief of the high

felt that I fit in a group of nine elite students from middle bringing her school newspaper, a year after Rochie.
school and high school,” Ms. Herman said. I learned how to do interviews.” She
by being “In the middle school I talked about envi- back to where also learned how to build a team and to

anonymous.
band, Alex, sits on Shulamith’s board.
“We hadn’t spoken for many years,”
Ms. Herman said. “We used to hang out
together.” Apparently, Ms. Shtaynberger
mentioned that Ms. Herman’s name came
up as an “inspirational athlete” during a
discussion of potential honorees for the
annual dinner.
“I’m just a girl from Brooklyn,” she said.
“I was just a kid from Brooklyn. I wanted
to go back. I hadn’t been back in 30 years.
I walked in and the kids were in the gym
where my mom taught. They came and
sioning the finish line. Don’t look back,
stick to the plan, and enjoy the journey.
In the high school I talked about the quali-
ties of authentic leaders, telling them that
managers control and leaders inspire.
We talked about the importance of listen-
ing and asking questions. Then we brain-
stormed the message of the school.”
With the additional mandate of helping
to market the school, Ms. Herman asked
Noah Schultz, a sophomore at Frisch, to
redo the school’s website. She also hired
a photographer, who sent her pictures to
Noah. Using the pictures together with
the students’ own words, he put together
the new website. The entire process took
she started.
“Going back to
Brooklyn has
brought me
home. Those
girls are me.”
In addition, he said, “We believe in the
greatness of the single-gender opportu-
nity for girls, where they can feel comfort-
able and spread their wings. We strongly
emphasize midot tovot” — good character
traits — “and draw from multiple groups,
speak Hebrew.
When Rabbi Klammer unveiled the
goals of his AIM initiative, he told Ms. Her-
man that the school had not built up an
alumni base. “In four days, I gathered the
phone numbers and business addresses of
61 people,” she said. “I’m working grade
by grade, getting them to think about their
school experiences. I saw myself in those
girls. I want to give them a chance. I want
to do it for every girl who went through the
school and believes in empowering young
Jewish girls.”
Ms. Herman and her husband, Jona-
than, have three children: Yael is a sopho-
more at Ma’ayanot, and Chani, a seventh

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8 Jewish Standard APRIL 13, 2018
 Local
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This Yom HaAtzma’ut,

celebrate red, white, and blue.

Sunni Herman passes the finish line at her

fifth triathlon.

grader and Jacob, a third grader, both go to Yavneh.

“Yael volunteers with her friends on Shabbat after-
noons at Holy Name Hospital,” Ms. Herman said.
“Both Yael and Chani lead groups of kids at the Young
Israel of Teaneck on Shabbat. Performing chesed is
important in their lives.”
Her approach to her own children, she added, is
to have them “show up and be a part of it,” whether
racing, working in soup kitchens, or helping out at
the Jewish Home. “They totally get it. This is what
we do.
“I get a lot of pleasure in having others excel,” Ms.
Herman said. “It’s a tremendous lesson for your own
children, for them to realize possibilities. I’ve been
enormously lucky in my career. The question is, how
do you figure out a way to make things work? What
is the finish line?”
And now, she said, the journey has come full cir-
cle, bringing her back to where she started. “Going
back to Brooklyn has brought me home,” she said.
“Those girls are me.”
Magen David Adom, Israel’s largest and premier emergency medical response agency, has been
Who: Sunni Herman
saving lives since before 1948. And supporters like you provide MDA’s 27,000 paramedics, EMTs, and
What: She will be honored at the 2018 Shulamith civilian Life Guardians — more than 90% of them volunteers — with the training, equipment, and
of Brooklyn dinner rescue vehicles they need. So as we celebrate Israel’s independence, make a difference in the health,
When: Sunday, April 22 at 5 p.m. welfare, and security of the Israeli people with your gift to MDA. Help save a life in Israel.
Where: Manhattan Beach Jewish Center,
60 West End Ave., Brooklyn
AFMDA Northeast Region
Why: To raise money for the students of the
352 Seventh Avenue, Suite 400
Shulamith School New York, NY 10001
How much: $300 per person for dinner Toll-Free 866.632.2763 • northeast@afmda.org
reservations. Sponsorship levels vary. For more www.afmda.org
information contact Michele at (718) 338-4000 ext.
200, or email mchoina@shulamithofbrooklyn.org

Jewish Standard APRIL 13, 2018 9

Local
Listening to Alan Alda
Movie and TV star, many years in Leonia, to headline evening at the JCC in Tenafly
JOANNE PALMER
W
hen you describe a problem to your doc-
tor, does the doctor really listen to you?
When your doctor diagnoses your
problem, do you have any idea what
she’s talking about?
And what does an actor — a television and movie star,
for that matter, who’s been acting and winning Emmys
and Golden Globes for that work roughly forever, not to
mention MASH, not to mention the West Wing — have to
do with that?
Why does he even care?
The actor is Alan Alda, who is not only an actor (and direc-
tor, and screenwriter, to be a stickler for detail) but also an
activist, whose interests, spurred by his 11 years hosting the
TV program Scientific American Frontiers, have led him to
establish the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He’s both
very funny and also deeply serious about the center’s work,
and about the importance of listening, of communicating
effectively, and of the empathy that such listening and com-
municating necessarily demands.
When he speaks to the Patron of the Arts’ gala-goers at
the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades’ Sunday, April 15, in a con-
versation moderated by the Bergen Record’s Bill Ervolino
(see box), Mr. Alda will talk about “If I Understood You,
Would I Have This Look on My Face: My Adventures in the
Art and Science of Relating and Communicating,” the third
of his books on the subject.
“This book is about how the things that we discov-
ered about better communication between doctors and
patients apply to families, they apply to business situa-
I realized that the
scientists I was talking
with were coming up
with a more personal
version of their work in
those interviews than
they usually did,
because we weren’t
having a conventional
interview. It was a
conversation, and what
we were doing was
improvising.
tions, they apply to personal relationships — really, they
apply to every kind of human interaction,” Mr. Alda said.
“It is a little confusing to people because the word science
is associated with it, but it is not confined to that area.”
No matter how apparently frontal and one-sided an
interaction might be — a lecture, say — it will go over bet-
ter, be better delivered, better accepted, better under-
stood — if the communication goes both ways. It’s better
when the speaker — or the actor, or the stand-up comic
10 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
Alan Alda  PHOTO COURTESY OF ALAN ALDA
— is paying attention to the audience.
Body language counts too.
“Listening isn’t only done with your ears,” Mr. Alda said.
“It goes far beyond that.”
Yeah yeah yeah, you’re probably thinking. Typical self-
help stuff. Mr. Alda agrees. “These are tips,” he said. Peo-
ple don’t behave in these ways “just because someone tells
you that you should. Tips can be relegated to the dust-
bin. Tips don’t matter. What does matter is experience, is
doing that process of listening over and over again until it
becomes habitual.”
Well okay then, you’re thinking now. So how does any
of this translate into real, specific, concrete life? Mr. Alda’s
center works on this, and it does trace back to the inter-
views he did with scientists on Scientific American Fron-
tiers. “I realized that the scientists I was talking with were
coming up with a more personal version of their work
in those interviews than they usually did, because we
weren’t having a conventional interview. It was a conver-
sation, and what we were doing was improvising.
“I realized that the improvisation training I’d had as a
young actor probably was the basis of my learning to com-
municate well.” Improvisation depends on actors commu-
nicating with each other and with the audiences, and that
demands that they listen to each other, remain alive and
alert to everything around them, and play off the reactions
they pick up. “So now we teach scientists and doctors and
people in business basic improvisation exercises when we
begin training sessions,” he said. Those sessions were cre-
ated and developed at the center in Stony Brook but now
are offered in about 125 universities around the United
States and in five other countries. A second company
that Mr. Alda created to support the center offers training
sessions, including some geared for women who want to
become more effective leaders in a business setting.
The center’s work is based around the importance of
empathy as well as the importance and impossibility of
seeing a problem from both your own perspective and
someone else’s, and of at the very least understanding
that those other perspectives exist, even though they
might not find any traction in your own head or heart.
Maimonides knew that and wrote about it, Mr. Alda said.
“It is very difficult to communicate with someone unless
you can be significantly aware of what they are feeling,” he
said. But when, for example, patients feel that their doc-
tors have empathy and some awareness of what it feels
like to be given the advice, medication, and diagnoses that
they are getting, “they are 19 percent more likely to fol-
low that doctor’s advice,” Mr. Alda said. “If the doctor has
paid attention to the patient, hasn’t interrupted, has asked
questions that aren’t necessarily about the immediate situ-
ation but about the patient as a whole person, the patient
is more likely to do what the doctor suggests.”
What about jargon, that ghastly pseudo language that
often talks in baroque circles without ever getting to
the point? Sometimes, “a lot of us use jargon to sound
smarter,” Mr. Alda said, but on the other hand, “some-
times, when two people are collaborating, and they’re
speaking exactly the same language, it doesn’t make sense
to use 500 words when you can use fewer.” Sometimes
what sounds like jargon to an outsider is shorthand to
an insider. “I think it goes back to relating to the person
you’re talking to,” he said. “This is the old standby — know
your audience — but in real time, in an intimate way, not
as a generalization.”
When you are talking to a high school audience, he said,
“they don’t know the meaning of high-faluting words, and
they might welcome you talking at their level — but you
can’t know that, and you can’t know their level, without
contact with them. Otherwise, you can either be over their
heads or come in too low.”
Context matters. “Someone presenting her doctoral dis-
sertation had better talk in the language of that particular
discipline, because she is talking to the people who proba-
bly invented it, and they expect her to speak at their level.
But if she were to give a public presentation to people who
have no knowledge of the subject, they wouldn’t know
what she was talking about.
How does he know about this? “I have done this talk
many times, and I have tailored it so that I know most of it
will land okay,” Mr. Alda said. “But I hear it as I say it, and
I look carefully at the audience’s faces to see who is with
me, who is a little fuzzy, and who is falling asleep.”
Mr. Alda has particularly strong ties to the audience
at the JCC. First, there’s the local angle. He and his wife
brought up their daughters in Leonia. And then, yes, there
is the Jewish part. Mr. Alda’s called himself a lapsed Catho-
lic; his wife, Arlene, is Jewish. (The couple has been mar-
ried since 1957.)
He suspects that his connection may be through more
than marriage, however.
Mr. Alda’s mother was Irish, and his father, the actor
and Broadway star Robert Alda, was Italian. Robert Alda’s
birth name was the far-too-ethnic-for-its-time Alphonso
D’Abruzzo, so he took the first two letters of his first and
last names to create the anodyne but marquis-friendly Alda.
“My impression is that I have a long line of Jewish ances-
try,” Mr. Alda said. “My Italian grandfather told me that the
family left Spain just around 1492.” That, of course, was
when the Jews were expelled from Spain. “And there’s the
name D’Abruzzo,” which means from Abruzzo, a region in
central Italy. “It’s two to one that you’re Jewish if you have
a place name, which my name is. The family story is that
we went to Naples, which was still controlled by Spain, but
Naples had not yet expelled the Jews. A few years later,
the Jews were expelled from Naples, and they went north
 Local

Hackensack Branch
But I hear it as I say
it, and I look carefully
at the audience’s
faces to see who is 70 Hackensack Avenue • Hackensack, NJ • 07601

300
with me, who is a
little fuzzy, and who
is falling asleep. Receive up to $3001
for opening an Investors
to Abruzzo. Later, they went to a small town outside
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He’s now doing genetic testing, Mr. Alda said; he’s

2.10 1,000
tried one test, but “it was totally useless. It just said,
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“It also said that I was between two and four percent
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Would he like to find Jewish ancestry? “I would like
it very much,” Mr. Alda said. “And if it turns out to be For Consumer & Business Business Banking Challenge! 4
If we can’t save you money
true, my next book will be called ‘Who Knew?’” Minimum balance of $10,000.00 New Money to receive this APY
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Alan Alda will be at the JCC as the second annual
Plus, when you open an account, Investors will donate $25 to Bergen Volunteer Center!
speaker in its Patron of the Arts program. “We’re
going to have a high-profile public figure every year,”
Nina Bachrach, the JCC’s director of arts and culture
development, who is overseeing the program, said;
Chance to Win Great Prizes Weekly! 5 Enter at the branch
for a chance to win!
last year’s inaugural speaker was Anderson Cooper. WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6
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and exciting cultural arts experiences throughout the FRIDAY, APRIL 13 FRIDAY, APRIL 20 FRIDAY, APRIL 27 FRIDAY, MAY 4 FRIDAY, MAY 11 FRIDAY, MAY 18
year,” she continued. “And you don’t have to be a JCC IPAD 32GB IPAD 32GB IPAD 32GB IPHONE X IPHONE X $2000 CRUISE
member to come. You can come to performances GIFT CERTIFICATE
and talks and literary events. And if you become a
JCC patron of the arts, you get benefits like personal For more info, contact Maricela Martin, Branch Manager: 201.881.0190
concierge services; depending on your level of spon-
sorship, you get free tickets, access to VIP seating,
reserved parking, and special receptions.”
As glittering as the patron of the arts programs may
be, Ms. Bachrach said, the point is not only to expand
the JCC’s relationship to both established artists and
cutting-edge art, but also to fund the JCC’s perhaps less Investors would like you to know:
NEW MONEY IS DEFINED AS MONEY NOT ON DEPOSIT AT INVESTORS BANK AFTER 10/1/2017. ALL OFFERS MAY BE WITHDRAWN AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. GOVERNMENT AND FINANCIAL
glamorous but bedrock arts education programs. “The INSTITUTION ACCOUNTS ARE EXCLUDED FROM THESE OFFERS.
1. Open a new YourStyle® Checking Account between 4/2/2018 and 5/31/2018. New Money required to open this account. Offer not available to any account owner
funds we raise go to scholarships for the JCC’s Thur- with an existing personal checking account. Bonus is up to $300, $25 per month for 12 months. Reward payments will cease at the earlier of reaching $300 total or 13
nauer music school, our dance school, and our per- consecutive cycles. To be eligible to receive monthly bonus you must satisfy the following transaction activity requirements: have an ACH deposit to your account of $500
or more during your statement cycle; OR, complete 10 Point-of-Sale (POS) transactions during your statement cycle, using your YourStyle® Visa Debit Card linked to your
forming arts school,” Ms. Bachrach said; it’s entirely account. The bonus is considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT. Consult your Tax Advisor.
2. Beginning 4/2/2018, open a Consumer or Business 30-month CD with a minimum balance of $10,000.00 New Money and receive an Annual Percentage Yield
possible that one day, decades from now, a graduate of 2.10%. Penalties may apply for early withdrawal prior to maturity.
3. Beginning 4/2/2018, open an IRA 30-month CD with a minimum balance of $5,500.00 New Money and receive an Annual Percentage Yield of 2.10%.
of one of those schools will return as the cultural arts Penalties may apply for early withdrawal prior to maturity.
program’s annual high-profile premier speaker. 4. Some restrictions may apply. Speak with an Investors Bank Representative or visit investorsbankchallenge.com for complete details.
5. Enter the contest at the branch during business hours from 4/2/2018 through 5/18/2018. The weekly drawings are held before close of business on each Friday during
the contest period. No purchase necessary and no account to open to participate or win. Employees and family members of employees of Investors Bank, its affiliates and
subsidiaries are not eligible. Must be 21 years of age or older. Must be a New York or New Jersey resident. Limit one entry per person per week. One winner per prize will be
selected each week by random drawing from all entries received. Odds of winning will be determined by the total number of entries received. Winner(s) need not be present.
Value of the prizes will be reported on form 1099-MISC. Consult your tax advisor. Please see Official Rules at the Branch for complete details.
INVESTORS BANK NAME AND WEAVE LOGO ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS.
Who: Alan Alda ® 2017 INVESTORS BANK, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
What: Is this year’s Premier Speaker at the Kaplen
JCC on the Palisades’ patron of the art’s evening.
Who else: The Bergen Record’s Bill Ervolino will
moderate the conversation and lead the question
and answer session that will follow.
When: Sunday, April 15, at 7 p.m. More than 411,000 likes.
Where: At the JCC, 411 East Clinton Avenue, in

Like us on
Tenafly
Why: To fund scholarships to the JCC’s art schools
facebook.com/
How much: VIP tickets, $360; preferred admission,
$100; general admission, $50.
For tickets and more information: Email Nina
Bachrach at nbachrach@jccopt.org or go to
Facebook jewishstandard
www.jccotp.org/alda

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 11

Local

‘They were kids’

Rabbi Hanoch Teller to talk about his interviews with 9 young Shoah survivors in Teaneck
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN travel to interview survivors in Mexico, South Africa,

W
hat is the best way to keep alive the
memory of the approximately 1.5 mil-
lion children murdered in Nazi Europe?
That is a question master storyteller
Rabbi Hanoch Teller poses to visitors after his guided
tours of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remem-
brance Center in Jerusalem.
Memorial plaques or sculptures aren’t enough, Rabbi
Teller, a well-known author and a senior docent at Yad
Vashem, who will talk about “The Holy Responsibility of
Remembrance: What is Our Communal Responsibility?”
on April 17 to benefit the Northern New Jersey Holocaust
Memorial & Education Center planned for the Teaneck
Municipal Green. (See box.)
“When I finish my tours, I try to give the sense that
we have to carry on for the sake of those who died, in
their memory,” he said. “That’s a responsibility we take
on ourselves.”
Switzerland, the United States, and Canada, as well as in
Israel, where he has lived since 1975. He also interviewed
some people whose stories he did not include because of
aspects of their stories that he could not verify.
“I’ve written 28 books in 30 years, and this one took
14 years because it was so much work,” he said. “I had
to make sure everything was correct and accurate.” A
forthcoming second edition of the book will include
more than 1,000 endnotes.
Rabbi Teller discovered that some of the child
survivors virtually grew up overnight as a result of
their experiences.
One woman related that when she was 7 she was con-
fined in a Bergen-Belsen barracks with her younger
brother, their father, and a few other men, because they
held Panamanian passports and the Germans wanted to
use the Jews as leverage if their spies stationed in Latin
America were to be endangered. “She watched over
her brother for two years in that barracks, on a piece of
wood,” Rabbi Teller said.
After they were liberated, she saw two older German
girls playing with dolls, and she couldn’t fathom what

When I finish my tours, they were doing. “She had been mothering her younger
brother and could no longer relate,” he said. “She was Rabbi Hanoch Teller
I try to give the sense almost a bubbie at the age of 9.”

that we have to carry Others, however, retained their sense of childhood.

One interviewee told of escaping through France with
the Holocaust.
The site approved on the Teaneck Municipal Green
on for the sake of his brothers and sisters. At one point they came across is to incorporate an innovative architectural design and

those who died, in a statue of the Three Musketeers and started play swash-
buckling. “For that moment, they forgot they were run-
their memory. That’s a ning for their lives — because, in the end, they were
high-tech educational component “to play an integral
role in fostering community dialogue, understanding,
respect and sense of civic responsibility,” according to

responsibility we take kids,” he said.

on ourselves.
One of the ways Rabbi Teller chose to shoulder that
responsibility was to convey the personal testimonies
of nine child survivors in his award-winning 2015 book,
“Heroic Children: Untold Stories of the Unconquerable.”
“Although there is no shortage of Holocaust literature,
the final frontier is the story of the children, and that’s
what I wanted to capture,” he said. “I wanted to find
children representing each part of the ‘Holocaust king-
dom,’ boys and girls, religious and not, and most of all I
wanted to make sure the stories were accurate. After all,
I was asking people in the grips of old age to go back in
time to when they were 9 or 10.”
The project involved countless hours of research and
Who: Rabbi Hanoch Teller
What: will speak on “The Holy Responsibility
of Remembrance: What is Our Communal
Responsibility?”
Where: Congregation Rinat Yisrael,
389 W. Englewood Avenue, Teaneck
When: Tuesday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m.
Why: To benefit the Northern New Jersey Holocaust
Memorial & Education Center planned for the Teaneck
Municipal Green.
For more information:
Go to www.nnjholocaustmemorial.org
He made sure to include the full story of what hap-
pened to each of the nine survivors after the war. “By
and large, people were able somehow to wipe the ashes
from their shoulders and live productive lives, building
families and businesses.”
They are all elderly by now, and therefore his book
project was a race against time. “I felt if I didn’t do it now
it wouldn’t be done. At least three of my subjects have
died since the book was published in 2015.”
Rabbi Teller’s appearance in Teaneck will come on the
heels of a U.S. speaking tour as part of “Seventy for 70,”
a multistate scholar-in-residence program taking place
in 70 North American communities, sponsored by the
Religious Zionists of America and World Mizrachi in cel-
ebration of the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel.
He also was scheduled to speak in Los Angeles on Yom
Hashoah, April 12.
Rabbi Teller said that the planned Northern New
Jersey Holocaust Memorial and Education Center in
Teaneck is an important project “because of George
Santayana’s timeless message that those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This ter-
rible thing befell our people, and if nothing else we have
to utilize it so their deaths should not be in vain.”
The co-chairs of the planned memorial, Steve Fox and
Bruce Prince, said that Rabbi Teller’s theme, “the holy
responsibility of remembrance,” and his book about
child survivors help further the project’s goals to per-
petuate the memory of the six million Jewish victims,
and to educate local residents of all ages and back-
grounds about the horrors and atrocities that defined
the project’s website.
A 50-foot-long “reading rail” will use state-of-the-art
technologies to convey an overview of Holocaust his-
tory and focus specifically on local survivor testimonies.
The educational component of the outdoor exhibit will
be reinforced by opportunities for enhanced learning
This terrible thing
befell our people,
and if nothing else we
have to utilize it so
their deaths should
not be in vain.
through multimedia technologies and discussion both
on the site and in the Teaneck Library in the same
municipal complex.
The design of the educational component was
entrusted to Ralph Applebaum Associates, whose previ-
ous projects include the United States Holocaust Memo-
rial Museum in Washington and the Jewish Museum and
Tolerance Center in Moscow.
Bergen County residents will have the opportunity
to sponsor the inscription of up to 2,000 names on the
granite stones lining the inner circumference of the
memorial, to memorialize ancestors who perished in
the Holocaust.

12 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 13
Local
Update on Parkinson’s research
Jewish Home/Englewood Hospital to sponsor community education program
Lois Goldrich
O
ver the last few years, the
leadership of the Jewish
Home Family has become
increasingly interested
in, and knowledgeable about, Par-
kinson’s disease.
“Two years ago, we had a conver-
sation with a family member here,
and she said, why is it that you treat
my husband as if he had dementia
when what he has is Parkinson’s?,”
Carol Silver Elliott, the Jewish Home
Family’s president and CEO, said.
That man’s “speech was slow; it
took him a long time to answer ques-
tions,” she continued. “The assump-
tion was that he couldn’t answer
the questions. We were misperceiv-
ing.” While such behavior might be
identified with dementia and other
conditions, it isn’t necessarily. “We
were just not giving him time to Parkinson’s patients ready to box.
fully articulate.
“We jumped to a conclusion.”
That made her think, Ms. Elliott
said. “Maybe we need to dig into this
a bit further,” she remembers con-
cluding, noting that about 10 percent
of patients have a diagnosis of Parkin-
son’s. “We started training 300 mem-
bers of our staff to understand what
Parkinson’s is and what it isn’t. We
were fortunate to meet with people
from the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s
Foundation and we agreed on several
areas where we can work together.” Carol Silver Elliott
For example, she said, on April 16
the Jewish Home Family and Englewood
Hospital and Medical Center will co-spon-
sor a program, “What’s New in Parkinson’s
Research?”, featuring updates from the
Fox Foundation. This is the second such
community education program done in
conjunction with the foundation, Ms.
Elliott said.
In addition to community education, the
Jewish Home agreed to engage in commu-
nity outreach, helping to promote studies
on genetic research the foundation is fund-
ing. Recruiting in the Jewish population
is particularly necessary, Ms. Elliott said,
because “We learned through conversations
with the foundation that there’s a higher
prevalence in Ashkenazic populations.”
Another area of cooperation is “best
practices,” she continued. “The founda-
tion helps us to uncover best practices in
other places and we share what we do.”
What they do actually is quite impressive.
The Jewish Home has developed what
Elliott called “powerful interventions” for
patients with Parkinson’s.
Since the disease manifests in different
ways in different people, Dr. Gary Alweiss,
14 Jewish Standard APRIL 13, 2018
Dr. Samantha J. Hutten
the chief of neurology at Englewood Hospi-
tal and Medical Center, and Jewish Home
medical director Harvey Gross have been
working together to develop individual pro-
tocols for people at the Jewish Home with
Parkinson’s, creating a “pathway through-
out our system,” Ms. Elliott said. “Programs times more likely to have Parkinson’s dis-
include yoga, tai chi, and dance, and we
added Rock Steady Boxing a year ago. That
program has exploded for us. It’s offered
five days a week at the Jewish Home’s
Assisted Living facility in River Vale.”
A young attorney in Indianapolis who
was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and look-
ing for a way to slow the progress of the
disease began Rock Steady Boxing in 2006,
when he learned that one way to accom-
plish that goal was to engage in a boxing
workout. Today there are such boxing
programs in many places. Research shows
that people improve with this program,
whether because of its intense repetitive
physical activity, gains in coordination and said that as “Parkinson’s disease contin-
confidence, or intellectual stimulation.
Rock Steady Boxing also helps participants
work on their voices, which generally are
affected by Parkinson’s.
Ms. Elliott said that special-
ized programs also have been
created for the Gallen Day
Center, which serves people
who need more help. “We’re
constantly looking for new
things to add to expand our
program,” she said, noting
that Parkinson’s is a disease
that may be misdiagnosed.
“It’s a little bit amorphous,”
she said, presenting differ-
ently in different people.
According to the Parkin-
son’s Foundation, more than 10 million
people around the world live with the
disease. The incidence of Parkinson’s
increases with age, but an estimated four
percent of people with the condition are
diagnosed before they turn 50. Men are 1.5
ease than women.
In dealing with this issue, “coopera-
tion is the name of the game,” Ms. Elliott
said, adding that the Jewish Home enjoys a
“great relationship” with Englewood Hospi-
tal. “They’re great partners,” she said, not-
ing that the Jewish Home has a lot of con-
nections with area hospitals since “there’s
a lot of back and forth over the care of indi-
viduals in our organization who go there.
Also, as things change with payment sys-
tem, it will be even more significant.”
Dr. Stephen Brunnquell, president of
MDPartners, the physician network of
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center,
ues to affect our community, it is impera-
tive that people have the most current and
valuable information available to them. As
a primary care physician, it is my goal to
always help identify and man-
age conditions such as Parkin-
son’s at the earliest point pos-
sible — which is why seeing a
primary care physician regu-
larly is so important.
“Parkinson’s in its early stages
can have very subtle symptoms,
and no two patients’ symptoms
are alike,” he continued. “Every-
one knows that Parkinson’s usu-
ally causes a tremor, but there
are many other symptoms. I
have found that a long-term rela-
tionship with a patient makes
me better able to detect these
symptoms early. Early inter-
vention is key to the long-term
maintenance and treatment of
Parkinson’s disease, and that
is why events like the upcom-
ing program are so crucial for
the community.”
At the April 16 program, Dr.
Samantha J. Hutten, the senior
associate director of research programs at
the Fox Foundation, will provide updates
Parkinson’s in its
early stages can
have very subtle
symptoms, and
no two patients’
symptoms
are alike.
Dr. Stephen Brunnquell
in a program called “What’s New in Parkin-
son’s Research.” A questions and answer
session will follow. The program is open to
the community. “We hope anyone with an
interest will come and listen,” Ms. Elliott
said. “The previous program was packed.
I imagine this will be the same way.”
Who: Dr. Samantha J. Hutten, senior
associate director of research programs
at the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s
Foundation
What: Will speak on “What’s New in
Parkinson’s Research,” sponsored by the
Jewish Home Family and Englewood
Hospital and Medical Center
When: April 16, 7-8 p.m., preceded by
light dessert at 6:30
Where: Englewood Hospital,
350 Engle St., Englewood
What else: RSVP required to
Parkinsons@JewishHomeFamily.org or
(551)444-3183
A Single Phone Call

In late 2001, America bore witness to 9/11 and the aftermath of President Bush preparing to intervene in Afghanistan and Iraq. It
was around that time that the Second Intifada was at its peak. Arafat had rejected the proposed peace deal that President Clinton
tried to broker, and instead moved toward a violent confrontation.

There was no effective border separating the PA territories and Israel. The Israeli economy was affected by both the general 9/11
downturn and uncontrolled terrorism in the country. Tourism was drastically down, the streets of Jerusalem largely vacant, and
there were even rumors that Israel bonds were not secure. The number of casualties and deaths, while less than the Yom Kippur
War, were almost comparable.

The Bush administration was submitting for the war effort a request to Congress for a supplemental appropriations bill in the
amount of about $81 billion dollars. In that appropriations request were funds to help some of our Arab Allies to offset some of
their costs for supporting the effort to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Israel had made a request for a $3 billion grant and $12 billion
in American loan guarantees which were worth even more than the grant due to saved interest costs and the ability to borrow.

The Bush administration had decided to leave the Israel piece out and address it at a later time, which could have meant never.
The Jewish Advocacy community, realizing the situation was grave, turned to a great friend for help, then-Majority Leader
Congressman Tom Delay.

The Majority Leader called National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and advised her that Congress wanted the funding for
Israel in this supplemental appropriations bill and that he would personally do everything he could to include it. He concluded that
it would be better that the President get credit and input into the specifics for the supplemental appropriations for our ally and
asked that the Administration include these provisions for Israel in the submitted request.

The Administration did make the requested change and the bill included, for Israel, provisions for a $2 billion grant and $9 billion
in loan guarantees. Israel was able to complete the security perimeter and largely halt the terrorism and hemorrhage. Many
Jewish lives were saved. Israel moved to a more secure situation, physically and economically. We were able to solicit this help
at a turning point in time when one phone call made the difference because we had relationships to make our case for better
American policy.

An important message of Passover is that we must remember that we are a vulnerable people. The Jews lived in Egypt for many
years in prosperity and peace , and in the blink of an eye were subscribed into involuntary servitude. So has been our fate as a
people for thousands of years having to flee one country after another, until now that we have our homeland Israel. Jews have a
sanctuary and the pride of a nation built with the help of G-d.

As with most of our battles for the survival of our people and homeland, we are expected to be active participants, to be willing to
fend for ourselves, and to earn the help of the Almighty.

The educational process for Members of Congress on the dangers of Iran, militant Islam, BDS, and other issues is an ongoing
process. The legislators you meet in Washington on the NORPAC Mission will likely learn more from your exchange on these
issues and pending related legislation than any other source all year.

While it is fine to say how much you care about Israel to yourself, your friends, and your children, your intentions and commitment
are demonstrated to our nation's leaders by showing up. Members of Congress take note of actual citizen activity. Every email
you send to our representatives is the equivalent of 10 votes, each phone call 100 votes. Showing up in DC personally is the
equivalent of 10,000 voters. It may seem like a lot, and it is.

The extra effort is highly leveraged, which is why we put in so much work to make it possible. The NORPAC leadership is
arranging meetings with 90 percent of Congress. We are all busy. But ask yourself: Is there anything you must do this April 25th
that is more important than the opportunity to personally make the case for Israel to the receptive leaders of the world's most
powerful nation?

There are 52 Wednesdays every year. How many of them do you specifically remember? Come on the NORPAC Mission April
25th to Washington. If possible, bring a family member, a child or grandchild 12 or older. It will be a Wednesday you and those
with you will remember for a lifetime. Sign up online at www.norpac.net or call 201-788-5133.

Ben Chouake MD
Paid for by NORPAC

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 15

Local

‘God has delivered on His promise’

Teaneck Jewish Center to host community Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration
LARRY YUDELSON

O
n Wednesday night, the Teaneck Jewish Cen-
ter will host a community observance and
celebration of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Inde-
pendence Day, and Yom Hazikaron, Israel
Memorial Day.
The evening is sponsored by the Jewish Center and 13
other Orthodox synagogues in Teaneck and Bergenfield.
It will feature a Ma’ariv Hagigit — the normally staid eve-
ning service made festive with melody and the addition
of psalms of thanksgiving — as well as a talk by an Israeli
soldier, Israeli food, and a sing-along of Israeli songs.
Rabbi Daniel Fridman of the Jewish Center said that the
program came about “through the good graces of Rabbi
Shalom Baum.
“For many years there has been a Yom Ha’Atzmaut
event at Keter Torah” — Rabbi Baum’s Teaneck congre-
gation — “where they would have a tefillah hagigit. They
were unable to do it this year. Rabbi Baum said, sure, it
could be at another shul. He deserves a lot of credit for his
characteristic graciousness about that.”
The festive Yom Ha’Atzmaut service is an important
theological commitment for Teaneck’s modern Ortho-
dox community, which prides itself on its religious
The festive Yom
Ha’Atzmaut service is an
important theological
commitment for
Teaneck’s modern
Orthodox community, Rabbi Daniel Fridman Rabbi Yishai Klein
which prides itself on
its religious commitment “God has delivered on His promise to bring His people
back to our ancestral homeland. It is a religious and spiri-
to Zionism. tual event because it’s an acknowledgment that, to quote a
verse, ‘This is the work of God, it is wondrous in our eyes.’
We have a profound sense of commitment to the welfare
commitment to Zionism. That is a different approach than of the State of Israel.”
the one taken by the more traditionalist charedi Ortho- David Jacobowitz helped organize the evening. He is a
dox; the State of Israel does not affect their liturgical cal- co-chair of the adult education committee of Congrega-
endar in any way. tion Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck. “The 70th year of Israel’s
“Medinat Yisrael is not simply something we’re happy independence is something special to savor,” he said.
about, a place to visit — we perceive it as a fundamental “Seventy is recognized as sort of a measure of maturity.
part of our religious worldview,” Rabbi Fridman said. Little Israel has grown up and deserves to be recognized

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 Local

he said. “They were all set to go to Israel from the Dis-
placed Persons camp in Germany where I was born. They
were dissuaded by letters from friends who were there in
It’s a great miracle. Yom 1949, saying life in Israel was very hard.
Ha’Atzmaut is a day for “Mentally they always sat on their suitcases and had the
goal of going there,” he continued. “They were teachers.
thanksgiving and joy They began traveling to Israel to attend Hebrew courses in
and acknowledgment of Netanya. They brought back a great love for the language
and Israeli culture.
the good that God gave “I was finally able to go when I was in college. I was a
us, the great miracle that volunteer on kibbutz, just after the Six Day War. It was like
a fairy tale come to life.”
is the State of Israel.” The evening will parallel, in miniature, the dual nature
RABBI YISHAI KLEIN of Israel’s annual commemorative days of Yom Hazikaron
and Yom Ha’Atzmaut. First comes the somber memorial
day. Then, at nightfall, the joyous independence day. At
for all of its accomplishments.” the Jewish Center ceremony, “the first part will focus on
Celebrating Yom Ha’Atzmaut “is kind of a no-brainer the losses,” Mr. Jacobowitz said. “There are many losses,
for the Teaneck community,” Mr. Jacobowitz said. “In my unfortunately, of soldiers and of civilians killed in terror-
shul alone we have 15 kids who are currently serving in ist attacks. In excess of 23,000 kedoshim” — martyrs — “in
Tzahal,” the Israeli army. “It’s no surprise that our com- these two groups combined. They deserve to be honored
munity would want to come together and recognize this and remembered.”
special occasion.” This first part of the evening will feature a short Mincha
Israel played a big role in Mr. Jacobowitz’s upbringing. service, followed by an address by a young Israeli soldier
“I was born to parents who were Holocaust survivors,” who served in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge.
Then the Israeli flag, which will have been at half-
mast, will be raised. The group will sing Hatikva before
beginning the festive Ma’ariv service, and some words
of inspiration from Rabbi Yosef Adler of Rinat Yisrael.
Next will come the Israeli fair, offering Israeli food and
a series of educational displays on Israel’s history and
innovations.
Finally, half an hour of singing familiar Israeli songs
from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, with David and Susan Gor-
don on the guitar and violin.
Rabbi Yishai Klein is an Israeli shaliach; he’s a teacher
at Yeshivat Ben Porat Yosef and the youth director at the
Jewish Center. He and his wife, Yiska, are preparing the
Israeli fair.
“Personally,” he said, speaking in Hebrew, “I have a
great feeling of gratitude to the Holy One Blessed Be He
on every Yom Ha’Atzmaut.”
He said his grandparents were Holocaust survivors.
“They couldn’t dream of where we are today,” he said.
“Their families who didn’t get to Israel couldn’t dream
that a miracle would arise, a State of Israel. It’s a great
miracle. Yom Ha’Atzmaut is a day for thanksgiving and
joy and acknowledgment of the good that God gave us,
the great miracle that is the State of Israel.”

Congregation Ahavat Achim  Congregation Arzei Darom

Congregation Beth Tefillah  Bais Medrash of Bergenfield
Congregation Beth Abraham  Friends of Lubavitch of Bergen County
Congregation Darchei Noam  Congregation Ohr HaTorah  Ohr Saadya
Congregation Shomrei Torah  Congregation Zichron Mordechai

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 17

Briefly Local
JFNNJ plans Legislative Advocacy Day
The Jewish Community Relations Commit-
tee of the Jewish Federation of Northern
New Jersey will hold its monthly Legislative
Advocacy Day on Wednesday, April 18. The
group will meet with District 38’s Senator
Robert Gordon and Assemblymen Joseph
Lagan and Timothy Eustace. The meeting
Shalom Baby celebration in Jersey City
Shalom Baby of Jewish Federation of
Northern New Jersey celebrated Israel’s
70th birthday with a “Shalom Sesame”
celebration featuring characters
From a previous Areyvut chesed fair
Areyvut offers Sunday chesed fairs
Areyvut will host two community hands-
on chesed fairs on Sunday, April 15, in
conjunction with National Mitzvah and
Good Deeds days.
There will be a program at Young Israel
of Teaneck, at 868 Perry Lane, from 9 to
11 a.m.; there will be another at the Fair
Lawn Jewish Center/CBI, 10-10 Norma
Ave., from 2 to 4 p.m. Both are aimed
at participants of all ages. The projects,
to benefit communal agencies, include
18 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
begins at JFNNJ headquarters, 90 Eisen-
hower Drive in Paramus, with breakfast
and a briefing at 9:30 a.m. At 11, the group
goes to the offices of Lagana and Eustace,
and to Gordon’s office at 12:30 p.m.
For information, email Ariella Noveck,
AriellaN@JFNNJ.org.
representing Elmo and Cookie Monster,
as well as music, games, and crafts at
Hamilton House in downtown Jersey City.
COURTESY AREYVUT
assembling snack packages for a food
pantry, writing notes of support to U.S.
troops abroad, repurposing tee-shirts to
make bags, and creating art projects.
The events are free and the first 100
attendees at each program will receive a
National Mitzvah Day shirt.
For information, call (201) 244-6702,
email info@areyvut.org, or go to www.
areyvut.org.
Project Sarah breakfast
Project SARAH’S twelfth annual break-
fast will be on Sunday, April 22, at 9:30
a.m., at Congregation Keter Torah in
Teaneck. (SARAH stands for Stop Abu-
sive Relationships At Home.)
Dr. Joyanna Silberg, the keynote
speaker, will talk about “The Hidden
Dangers of the Internet to Vulnera-
ble Youth.” It will benefit Jewish Fam-
ily Service and Children’s Center of
JFNNJ Israel speaker series
Jason Gewirtz, a CNBC execu-
tive producer and a writer,
and Shai Kivity, an IDF Talpiot
officer from 2007 to 2016, will
talk about Mr. Gewirtz’s book,
“Israel’s Edge,” on Thursday,
April 19, at 7:15, at the Jewish
Federation of Northern New
Jersey’s Israel speaker series.
A wine and cheese reception Jason Gewirtz
will follow.
Talpiot, the most elite IDF
Women’s Circle plans Queen’s Tea
to benefit special needs children
The Jewish Women’s Circle of the
Chabad Center of Passaic County
hosts the Queen’s Tea, celebrating the
“royalty of the Jewish woman.” The
tea, set for Sunday, April 15, at noon,
benefits the Friendship Circle, which
serves children with special needs
and their families in the community.
Tzippy Lieberman is the guest
speaker. Jan Levitt will receive the
Friend of the Friendship Circle of
Deadline approaching for Norpac mission
Registration closes next week for
Norpac’s Mission to Washington 2018
on April 25.
The annual trip brings nearly 1,000
Wyckoff shul hosting gala
Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff is
hosting its annual Spring Gala on
Saturday, April 21, at 6:30 p.m.
This year’s event celebrates friend-
ships, welcomes new beginnings,
and recognizes the shul’s rabbinic
Clifton-Passaic.
Mark and Susan Wiesen are the
guests of honor, Rabbi Michael
(Bassie) Taubes will receive the Rab-
binical Support award and Dena and
Moshe Kinderlehrer are the Volunteer
Recognition awardees. The shul is at
600 Roemer Ave. For information,
go to www.projectsarah.org or call
(973) 777-7638.
unit, keeps Israel one step
ahead of its enemies through
innovation..
Amanda Zoneraich chairs
the evening; the committee
includes Ariel Fabien, Mark
Hirschberg, Judy Hochsz-
tein, Josef Katz, Lee Lasher,
Deena Seelenfreund, Evan
Weintraub, and Helen Zelig.
For more information, go to
www.jfnnj.org/israelspeakers.
Passaic County award; Elissa Kaplan
will get the Young Leadership award;
and Nancy Nabatian will be given the
Friends of the Chabad Center of Pas-
saic County award.
There will be a tricky tray with
prizes, baskets, gift certificates, and
more. The tea will be at the Packanack
Lake Clubhouse in Wayne. For infor-
mation, call (973) 694-6274 or go to
jewishwayne.com.
citizen activists to advocate for a stron-
ger U.S.-Israel relationship with mem-
bers of Congress. For information, call
(201) 788-5133.
search committee’s efforts over the
past two years. There will be food,
dancing, and prizes. For informa-
tion, call (201) 891-4466 or go to
www.bethrishon.org.
 Come Celebrate
CELEBRATE ISRAEL @ 70 AT OUR

FASHION & LIFESTYLE FAIR

20 top Israeli designers will feature all the latest trends
in Israeli fashion, décor and everything lifestyle for you to
purchase for your home and family!

ISRAEL
Fri, Apr 20, 9:30 am-3:30 pm

70
Sat, Apr 21, 9-11 pm
Sun, Apr 22, 1-5 pm

INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION

at
CELEBRATING ISRAEL’S 70 TH
Don’t miss the biggest and best Yom Ha’atzmaut event
in the area! Celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday with music,
arts and crafts, food, games and a lot of community spirit.
Co-sponsored with IAC NJ.
Sun, Apr 22, 1-4 pm, $18 per family in advance,
$25 at the door

ISRAEL STORY PRESENTS

MIXTAPE: THE STORIES BEHIND

ISRAEL'S ULTIMATE PLAYLIST
Prepare for an unforgettable evening that combines dazzling
radio-style storytelling, music, singing and other multimedia
magic to celebrate seven decades of Israeli life and culture. Israel
Story will take us behind the scenes of some of Israel's most (and
least) iconic songs while exploring the dramas, complexities and
social tensions of life in Israel.
Lead sponsor: Congregation Beth Sholom (Teaneck)
Tue, Apr 24, 7:30 pm, $15 general admission,
$12 under age 18

ISRAELI FILM: THE BAND'S VISIT

WITH HAROLD CHAPLER
An Egyptian band arrives in a remote Israeli town by mistake on
the last bus of the day. During their forced stay, the townsfolk and
band members discover a common humanity (with humor).
Thu, Apr 26, 11 am, $8/$10

ISRAELI SOCIETY THROUGH

THE LENS OF CINEMA
WITH ERIC GOLDMAN, PHD
Join us as we examine the changing nature of Israeli society by
examining film clips from movies spanning the 7 decades since
Israel’s birth. Eric Goldman is adjunct professor of cinema at
Yeshiva University, Jewish Standard Film Critic, and author of
The American Jewish Story through Cinema. Presented in
partnership with NJPAC
Sun, May 6, 7:30 pm, $10/$12

MOROCCAN CUISINE
WITH MERAV DAHAN
Celebrate the foods and culture of Israel featuring demonstrations
and tastings of delightful kosher dishes, including carrot,
Matbucha, and eggplant Baladi salads; Tagine chicken with
olives; dried fruit couscous, and Gribatz cookies.
Wed, May 9, 7–9:30 pm, $65/$78

CHEER FOR OUR JCC DANCERS AT

THE CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE!
Come see the JCC Dance Company as they represent the
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades delegation and dance their way
down 5th Ave in celebration of Israel’s 70th birthday!
Sun, Jun 3, 12-3 pm

TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO VISIT jccotp.org

KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 19
Briefly Local
Brandi Rubin, Susan Marenoff-Zausner, Nancy Epstein, Kiera Flynn,
JCC CEO Jordan Shenker, and Lorin Cook
Lavish Lunches at the Kaplen JCC raises significant funds for community seniors
More than 200 women attended Lav-
ish Lunches, the Kaplen JCC on the Pali-
sades’ annual culinary adventure, which
raises funds to support JCC programs and
services for senior adults in the commu-
nity. Guests chose among a wide range of
lunches at local homes and venues where
they had unique and memorable experi-
ences. There was also a “mitzvah” lunch at
the JCC, where Lavish Lunch participants
enjoyed dining with the seniors and their
caregivers.
Jerry Schweibel, a widower who goes to
the JCC Senior Activity Center, spoke about Barbara Joyce, Debbie Finkel, Arlene Zimmerman, Abigail Weinshank, Dorie
“Finding his Joy at the J.” He said, “The high- Friedrich, Lenora Klein, Merle Fish, and Linda Parnes 
light of my week is when I get to visit my JCC
nursery school class to read stories, play games, and
blow bubbles with the kids, who all call me Grandpa
Bubbles. It really cracks me up. I’m an 85-year-old man
who trained horses and managed a racetrack, so who
would have thought that someone like me would be
counting the days until I could spend time with little
kids? But I do! Becoming a grandfriend saved my life,
and now some of my best friends are under 5.”
Proceeds from the Lavish Lunches enable the JCC to
provide a wide variety of programs that allow seniors to
successfully age in place. They include a social adult day
‘Coming to America’ panel discussion in Fair Lawn
A panel discussion detailing the per-
sonal experiences of Holocaust sur-
vivors and émigrés, moderated by
Dr. Michael Riff, is at Temple Beth
Sholom in Fair Lawn on April 22 at
10 a.m. It’s sponsored by the Jewish
Historical Society of North Jersey in
collaboration with the Gross Center
for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
at Ramapo College, which Dr. Riff Dr. Michael Riff
directs.
Sally Whitmore, Bella Miller, Natalya Miroshnik, and
Rachel Harari will be featured panelists. Both Ms. Whit-
more and Ms. Miller survived the Holocaust. Ms. Miro-
shnik is from the former Soviet Union, and Ms. Harari is
from Lebanon.
Jewish immigration to the United States in general — and
in this region in particular — goes back to pre-Revolution-
ary War. Sephardic Jews settled in New Jersey before the
Revolution; they were joined by waves of German and
other Central European Jews in the 1840s, and by Eastern
European Jews starting in the 1880s. The advent of Nazism
and fascism in Europe during the 1930s led to the next
20 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
Jane Roman, Sara Levinson, Josh Capon, Heather Kushman, Tiffany Kaplan, Debo-
rah Adler Silverman, Lori Capon, Jill Maschler, Lanie Saban, Robyn Ophir, Beth
Rubach, Sloane Levine, and children Meital Saban, Amanda Capon, and Chloe Ophir
PHOTOS COURTESY JCCOTP
care for those with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,
programs for the arts, concerts, holiday celebrations,
current affairs discussions, exercise, and intergenera-
tional programs with nursery school children.
“As a not-for-profit agency open to the entire com-
munity, the JCC believes that caring for seniors is a
core component of its mission,” Jordan Shenker, the
JCC’s CEO, said. “Our center is a place where seniors
can come to make friends, share in programs that keep
them connected to the community, and find a sense of
purpose that is so often absent in the aging process. It’s
wave, which continued after World War II.
This program focuses primarily on the post-war period
in northern New Jersey, where Jewish resettlement and
suburbanization coincided, creating a new landscape in
American and Jewish history.
Holocaust survivors resettled here in the late 1940s and
1950s. After the Israeli War of Independence and the per-
secution of the Jews in the Middle East that followed that
victory, Jews from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa
came as well.
The most recent wave of Jews has come from the former
Soviet Union, beginning with the relaxation of emigration
restrictions under communist rule and continuing after
the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1993.
This evening advances the missions of both the Jewish
Historical Society of North Jersey and the Gross Center
for Holocaust Studies. The society’s mission is to col-
lect, preserve, and make available the documentary
heritage of Jewish life and culture in Passaic, Bergen, and
Hudson counties. The center’s mission is to assist stu-
dents, educators, and the community-at-large in learn-
ing the history and lessons of the Holocaust, the Arme-
nian genocide, and other similar tragedies, and to forge
programs like Lavish Lunches that
make this possible.”
The program was co-chaired by
Lorin Cook and Brandi Rubin. The
committee included Shirley Altman,
Michel Blum, Orly Chen, Stepha-
nie Cohn, Alissa Epstein, Merle
Fish, Kiera Flynn, Jenna Gutmann,
Michelle Marom, Jackie Pollack,
Michele Ross, Beth Rubach, Jenni-
fer Schiffman, Jillian Somberg, and
Francie Steiner.
Hosts who generously opened
their homes included Lori and Josh
Capon; Orly Chen, Orna Jackson,
Mali Oelsner, Riki Shulman, and
Yifat Yechezkell; Stephanie Cohn and Jillian Somberg;
Lorin Cook, Kiera Flynn, Susan Marenoff-Zausner,
Brandi Rubin and Alyzia Sands; Stacy Esser, Jamie Cor-
sair, Lori Danziger, Alisa Messer, Robin Epstein, Merle
Fish, Mindy Lavin and Iris Wormser; Dalia Lerner and
Michelle Marom; Gabrielle Marcus and Lindsay Skulnik;
Eileen Pleva, and Elle and JoJo Rubach.
Palisade Jewelers was the presenting sponsor; other
sponsors included Artistic Tile, Orly Chen/ReMax Prop-
erties Plus, the Dean Foundation/Francie & Stephen
Steiner, Gilly’s Organics, and Shoprite/Treeco.
Children arriving in New York Harbor.
 U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM-COURTESY ANITA WILLENS
awareness, changed attitudes, and new methodologies
for the protection of individual liberty and the preven-
tion of genocide.
Temple Beth Sholom is at 40-25 Fair Lawn Ave., in Fair
Lawn. Refreshments will be served. For reservations, call
(201) 300-6590 or email JHSNNJ@gmail.com.
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 21
Cover Story
Talking about addiction
in the Jewish community
Local family decides to break the silence,
discuss awareness and education, at Teaneck meeting
I
JOANNE PALMER
t would be wonderful to live in a
world where all you have to do is
refuse to acknowledge a problem,
and then it would dutifully go away.
You know, a world where denial
truly would be a river in Egypt.
But we don’t live in that world.
We do live in a world, though, where
some problems are swept under rugs and
left to molder, where some issues aren’t a
big deal but others are paralyzingly embar-
rassing. We live in a world — all of us live
in a world, no matter which world we live
in — where no matter how you define per-
fection, the ability to enact perfection con-
vincingly is highly valued.
We also live in a world where the rate
22 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
of drug abuse is skyrocketing, where the
opioid crisis is making itself felt even in
places where no one ever imagined it
could be felt.
In places like the local Jewish community.
On Sunday, April 22, Torah Academy of
Bergen County will host a meeting about the
opioid crisis, detailing, among other things,
what parents should look for and where
they can turn for help. (See box on page 28.)
According to a March 2018 report by
the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part
of the National Institutes of Health, more
than 155 Americans die of drug overdoses
every day; opioids include prescription
medications, synthetic opioids, and her-
oin, among others. It is a horrifying sta-
tistic. It does not include deaths that are
alcohol related, although, according to
the Centers for Disease Control, in 2010
approximately 88,000 people basically
drank themselves to death.
There are very real mental health issues
that underlie these statistics, as well as
social policy decisions. There also is the
fact that addiction is a very real physical
phenomenon, not a moral failing, and
that some people’s body chemistries make
them more likely than others to develop
physical addictions.
It is a messy and unpleasant subject.
Often it is easier to stigmatize people who
develop drug or alcohol dependencies as
morally delinquent than it is to acknowl-
edge the illness and help them recover
from it; the fact that there is no simple
remedy, no magic pill, no penicillin equiv-
alent, makes treatment hard and complete
recovery sometimes chimerical.
Given all this, given the stigma that
envelops drug and alcohol use, and given
the close-knit nature of the Jewish com-
munity, and the myth that Jews never fall
prey to such problems, it takes courage
for families to admit that they have that
problem. But of course once those fami-
lies do take that step, the easier it becomes
for others to admit to their own problems.
Because it is even harder to deal with
drug abuse when people feel isolated by
it, because there is strength in these num-
bers, the more people come forward, the
better it gets.
That’s why the Forman family of
Teaneck has decided to go public about
the problems their daughter Elana, the
second of their five children, has had with

substance abuse.
They will be on the panel at TABC next
Sunday.
Elana is now 23; she lives in Florida and
is very public about her story; “I’m pretty
much an open book,” she said. But that
wasn’t always the case. It took years for
her parents, who are careful and loving
and diligent and very smart but did not
know what they were seeing, much less
what they should be looking for, to under-
stand what was going on with her.
Lianne and Etiel Forman both are
attorneys, who met at Columbia while
they were in law school. They moved to
I obviously knew
it was wrong to
use illegal drugs,
but it wasn’t
something that I
talked about or
realized was a
sickness until my
first time in rehab.
Teaneck, and their family flourished;
Elana, like her siblings, went to day
schools, and did very well there.
“Basically I was a child just like anyone
else,” Elana said. “And then, right before
high school, I started feeling that I wasn’t
like my peers. I felt lonely and misunder-
stood. And my solution, the way I found
to cope with these feelings, was alcohol.
“I started drinking when I was about 13.
I took it from my parents’ liquor cabinet,
and I associated with friends who were
doing the same things. We all took from
our parents, and we had older friends who
were able to buy it.
“We did it mostly on Shabbas. We would
drink and smoke weed. It was just basically
to cope. I felt like everyone else knew what
they were doing, and I felt completely lost.
“My parents noticed,” Elana said. “They
knew something was wrong. They sent me
to therapy.” But they didn’t really know
what she was doing, because “I was able
to keep it hidden. On the whole I looked
okay. Sometimes maybe I acted out a little
bit in school, and the teachers might have
thought that there was a problem, but
there were no huge red flags. There was
no big problem yet.”
Or, to be more specific, there was a big
problem, but it was another problem.
Elana also developed an eating disorder,
and as is not uncommon, the eating dis-
order masked the drinking and smoking.
“When my eating disorder was less bad,
when I was eating more, then I would
drink more,” she said. “It was all inter-
twined, and all coming from the same
emotional place.”
But Elana also was a skillful performer,
and she was smart and a good student. “I
was active in school,” she said. “I played
on sports teams, I was on academic teams,
I kept up with everything. I was able to
maintain a façade.
“Looking back, I don’t know how I did
it. I had so many mental breakdowns
behind the scenes.”
On a recent visit to Florida, Lianne, Elana, and Etiel went bowling.
When Elana was in high school, her
parents had no idea that she had a drug
problem. What they did know, Lianne
said, was that “her mental health issues
started in high school, and for a long
time we thought that she was clinically
depressed. It was chicken and egg. Eating
disorders come with co-morbidity — usu-
ally depression, OCD, bipolar disorder —
so that made sense.”
But it wasn’t depression. It was sub-
stance abuse.
Elana’s substance abuse got dramati-
cally worse when she went to college.
“Then I had freedom, and I got into harder
drugs,” she said. “Then my eating disor-
der was under control, but I had the same
issues underneath, so once I had that free-
dom, once I was outside the little bubble
I grew up in, that’s when I started getting
into pills.
“I was self-medicating.”
As she had in high school, Elana threw
herself enthusiastically into school
activities. She was at Queens College,
and “I was active in Hillel and in the com-
munity,” she said. But she started taking
pills, “self-medicating, so I could keep up
and live life,” she said. “But I wasn’t get-
ting high to enjoy myself. It was a way to
survive. I took Adderall during the day to
keep up with my job and my schoolwork,
and I would take downers at night so I
could get some sleep.
“Without something in my system, it
was hard for me to function.”
When she was in college, and even for
some time afterward, Elana wrote papers
for other students. She enjoyed it, she got
paid for it, and if she took pills, she could
stay up all night and work. “It was all con-
nected,” she said. “Writing was almost like
an addiction. I enjoyed the combination of
being high and writing.”
It wasn’t hard to get pills on campus, she
said; she had a prescription for Klonopin,
and she could trade that for other medica-
tions that she liked better. She also used
cocaine, which was widely available.
“Any time something was offered to me,
I said okay, I’ll try it once. Something was
always missing, so when someone said this
will be great, I said okay. I didn’t have any
built-in fear. Trying it was a no-brainer,
and if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t do it again.
“But there wasn’t much that I didn’t like.
“Later on, when I got involved in a
12-step program, I learned that there was
something missing for me spiritually, a
hole that the substances filled. I didn’t now
then and I don’t know now why I was so
unhappy, and I figured that the substances
Cover Story
that would get me high would fill the hole,
but it never was enough.”
Elana made it through two years of col-
lege, but it wasn’t easy. “I had a couple
of psych ward visits, and eventually, it all
crashed in on me,” she said. She’d kept
her parents more or less in the dark about
her problems, but the school called them.
They sent her to Israel, on a program for
“troubled young adults.” It worked at
first — “the geographic change was help-
ful, and it was good to be away from my
friends, with a whole new set up and new
support systems — but the drinking age
is lower there. I wasn’t 21 yet, but all of a
sudden I was able to buy alcohol legally.
I was buying bottles of vodka and having
them in my room.
“I started a new cycle of functional alco-
holism — but how functional can you be if
you have to drink in the morning?”
Elana’s unhappiness kept growing, and
“I ended up trying to kill myself,” she said.
“I had intentionally overdosed.” But she
was discovered, and her stomach was
pumped, and then she was sent to rehab.
“I was there for three months,” she said.
“It was helpful because I literally didn’t
realize that I was drinking to avoid emo-
tions. I was inept at dealing with life.
“I obviously knew it was wrong to use
illegal drugs, but it wasn’t something that
I talked about or realized was a sickness
until my first time in rehab,” she said.
That was the first of her four rehab
stays. “Residential rehab is good for sep-
arating from the substance itself, and to
have extensive therapy in a controlled
environment, but I am not a huge advo-
cate of rehab because it’s not the solu-
tion,” she said. “The solution is what you
find in your local 12-step meeting. Rehab
is an industry.”
After a somewhat bumpy stint at the
rehab center, and a few more months in
Israel, Elana went home. “I convinced my
parents to get me a plane ticket to come
back to school,” she said. “I outlined my
whole plan. I said that I had learned this
and this and this about myself, and they
believed it. And to some extent I con-
vinced myself. But mostly I was miserable,
and I would be miserable wherever I was,
because no matter where I was I was with
myself.”
It was around this time that Elana told
Lianne and Etiel that “she was struggling
with drugs,” Lianne said. “We met her for
her birthday, and she said ‘I am having an
issue but I can deal with it.’ We had known
that something wasn’t right, but we didn’t
know what it was.”
Then the Formans had to figure out
what to do. Several years earlier, they had
learned a great deal about mental health
issues and eating disorders, and they
thought that they could tackle this issue
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 23
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“We looked for resources, and we
For ticket info, call 201-262-7691 or go to didn’t find much in the Orthodox com-
www.jccparamus.org munity,” Lianne said; much later, after
Elana had already moved to Florida
JCC OF PARAMUS/CONGREGATION BETH TIKVAH and been to rehab, she found Amudim,
which provides case management for
304 East Midland Avenue · Paramus, NJ
families with members struggling with
drug and sexual abuse. Its founder and
executive director, Rabbi Zvi Gluck, will
C O N G R E G A TCongregation
I O N B E T H SBeth
H O LSholom
OM be at the April 22 meeting.
They had to adjust to an entirely new
C E L E B R A T E S T H E RCelebrates
EMARKABLE way of dealing with Elana. “The newest
way of thinking about eating disorders
ACHIEVEMEN the
T SRemarkable
O F I S R A EAchievements
L AT 70! and parent involvement then,” when
of Israel At 70! Elana was in high school, “was that your
child cannot make healthy choices,”
Yom Ha'atzmaut Sameach!
Yom Ha’atzmaut Sameach!
Lianne said. “They are so sick that they
would starve themselves to death.” So
the family used family-based-therapy,
which dictated that the parents make all
the decisions; that approach wouldn’t be
Coming soon at Beth Sholom ... possible with an adult child anyway.
Now, they went to Nar-Anon, a 12-step
Israel at 70: program for the families of substance
The Rabbi Barry Schaeffer
abusers. “You have to understand that
Spring Scholar in Residence Pluralism, and the this is out of your control,” Lianne said.
State of the State “This is not your problem. You cannot
featuring make it your problem.
“There were so many stories in that
room. There was the man with the
30-something son who is in and out
Rabbi Shai Held of rehab, and he doesn’t know what to
President, Dean and Chair of
do. There is the man who comes home
Jewish Thought at Hadar Institue
to find his wife drunk all the time, and
Cultivating Self-Worth, Character Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer he feels that he should stay home with
her, but he can’t, and he doesn’t know
and Generosity: President of the Shalom Hartman
New Perspectives on Institute of North America what to do.
“There are people struggling with
Jewish Theology Thursday, May 10, 2018 really big issues.”
at 7:30 p.m. It was odd going to meetings as vis-
Shabbat, April 20-21, 2018 ibly observant Jews, Lianne said. “We
Community welcome! walk in, and I’m wearing a skirt and a
hat because I cover my hair, and my hus-
For information and to register: www.cbsteaneck.org band has a big kippah. The 12-step man-
tra is a little Christian-ish, and there is an
opening and a closing prayer. And then
we are sitting there and one person asks
another person about her daughter’s bat
mitzvah. And then almost everyone in
the room turns out to be Jewish.”
Lianne found a practice in Jersey City
that specializes in addiction, and that
practice found a rehab in Florida; Elana
went there on her own, and has been in
Florida ever since. Once she was done
with rehab, she went to a halfway house,
and then a three-quarter house; those
residences have monitoring and over-
sight, appropriate for their level of care.
Also, “we got lucky,” she said. “When
we were struggling with where she
should go, we found a connection,
an Orthodox guy in Brooklyn who is a
recovering addict and helps families find
the right rehab, and helps them with
their insurance.” This man, Ezy Finkel,
will be at the meeting next Sunday. “He’s
an amazing guy,” Lianne said. And it is
Ezy who introduced Lianne and Etiel to
Rabbi Gluck.
Closer to home, though, she still didn’t
find much help. “In the year and a half
since we’ve known about this, I have
not met another family in Teaneck who
is dealing with this,” Lianne said. “This
cannot be. There is an epidemic in the
whole country. It cannot be that we are
immune to it.
“People are not talking about it
because there is a stigma attached to it,
because the stereotype is that people
who do drugs are low-lifes. In the years
when we were dealing with mental disor-
ders, I came across other people dealing
with mental disorders. At least they were
being discussed. I cannot believe that
just because I have never come across
anyone who says ‘Yes, my friend too’ or
‘yes, my son too’ or ‘yes, my daughter
too’ that means that it does not exist in
our community.”
Elana still is in Florida; she’s been back
and forth, clean and not so clean, but

24 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 Cover Story

now, she says, she is clean, and she thinks
that this time it will take.
She had some severe setbacks in Flor-
ida; it wasn’t until after she was in rehab
that she shot heroin. “I had smoked it
before, but I had never shot up. This was
the first time I did, with a needle. It is as
physically addictive as anything.
“Even back in high school, smoking
weed, I was afraid of needles. People who
shot up were scary people, who lived
under bridges. They were criminals, in
my mind, who stole things. But that same
mentality I had before — that if something
was offered to me, I’d just say yes auto-
matically — I was constantly searching for
the external thing that would make me feel
better, but I never found it.
“That’s because it didn’t exist.”
Luckily, Elana stopped shooting heroin
before she became addicted physically.
It was around then that the epiphany
that she thinks will keep her off drugs
happened. “I don’t know how to explain
it, but in the program we call it a spiritual
awakening,” she said. She found herself in
rehab against her will; she’d been so high
when she was checked in that she didn’t
remember it. “But in those last two weeks,
something just clicked in my head.
“Until then, the most important thing to
me was me. It was ‘Am I feeling okay?’ And
if I wasn’t I had to get high.
“But then it just clicked that the world
is not necessarily all about me, and how
I feel. There are approximately 7 billion
other people in the world beside me, and
when I get high to escape my own internal
feelings, I am screwing over at least one of
them. I’m screwing over my own parents.
Why am I hurting them? Why am I more
important than they are?
“I didn’t want to be a person wasting
away her life anymore. I knew what I had
to do to get clean and stay clean.”
She also knows real darkness. “The girl
I was relapsing with down here overdosed
and died. There was a guy who I did drugs
with up north who is dead now. It is crazy
to me that I know so many people my age
who are dying. I know more people who
have died than who have gotten engaged.”
But she is moving toward the light.
“For me, the 12 steps are the solution,”
she said. “So I started going to meetings
and working a program. It’s not therapy. I
don’t do therapy any more. I don’t have to
talk about my problems. I have an outline
of how to deal with them.
“I understand that God has control
of my life. Not me. And I have to accept
things as they come and work on myself
and keep my side of the street clean. To
take things day by day.”
“Now I am in the process of rebuilding
my life and myself. I have friends down
here. I have a job. It’s not my dream job — I
deliver pizzas — but it is a legal job, that I
hold down, and I have a car that I bought
for myself, and I have insurance that is in
my name.
“I used to worry about the future but
now I have more of a sense that I don’t
know what is in store for me, but I know
that I do have a future. I have something
to look forward to.”
She wants the Jewish community to
realize that she is not an outlier, and that
addiction is a threat there as it is every-
place else. “I would say that in the Jew-
ish community in general it is taboo to
talk about drugs. I found that when I was
going through what I was going through, I
had to keep up the façade that everything
was okay or I would be labeled as the bad
kid, and parents would tell their kids not
to hang out with me, because I would be a
bad influence.
“Of course, they might have been right
about that,” she said parenthetically.
Elana also “struggled with spiritual-
ity,” she said. “That is also taboo to bring
up in the Jewish community, because it
is assumed that as a Jew you have a God
who you believe in. But some people don’t
feel a connection to God, or are still strug-
gling with it. What it came down to for me
is that addiction is a spiritual hole, and I
found that there was no outlet for me to
talk about any of that stuff. I couldn’t be
caught questioning God, and I felt that
there was no room for questioning.
“It is important for Jewish schools to
pass on tradition and halacha, but if there
is no room for any conversation, for any-
one to say ‘Hey, I don’t believe in God,’ or
‘I am struggling with God,’…
“There has to be room for that discus-
sion. There are too many things that are
taboo, and it leads to too many people
struggling.
“People should know that there are peo-
ple to talk to.”
The Formans plan to begin that pro-
cess. “It is very important for the com-
munity to be aware of the problem, to rec-
ognize signs and symptoms, and it also is
very important to support other people,”
Lianne said. “It is a communal issue, and
it deserves communal support.”

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JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 25

Cover Story

The panel next Sunday evening will
include Mr. Finkel, the recovering addict;
Rabbi Gluck, who heads Amudim, and
Rabbi Laurence Rothwachs of Congrega-
tion Beth Aaron in Teaneck. It also will
include Etiel Forman, who will speak pub-
lically about Elana for the first time.
“My husband and I feel like it’s like rip-
ping off a Band-Aid and baring our souls,”
Lianne said. “I was worried and said to
my husband that my worst enemy and my
best friend and the stranger on the street
will associate our name with this. Are
we sure we want to do this? My husband
answered, ‘Do we want to get rid of the
stigma or not?’”
They do.
“Our motto lately has been go big or go
home,” she said.
“I am not worried about being judged,
because if you don’t understand or want to
understand, if you don’t want your mind
to be open enough to understand — then I
don’t need you.”
Before they went public, the Formans
checked the idea with all their children.
“I think their generation is so much more
tolerant,” Lianne said. Her children were
fine with the idea. “I asked my young chil-
dren if they’re okay risking being judged
Amudim offers help in the metropolitan area and beyond.
and known as ‘the sister of an addict,’ and
they said ‘Who cares?’”
And when her oldest son was asked
what his sister was doing, at a time when
his parents were mumbling and obfus-
cating, he said, “‘She’s in rehab,’” Lianne
reported. “My husband said, ‘She’s not in
rehab anymore.’ And my son said ‘Okay.
Now when people ask, I’ll say ‘She was
in rehab.’”
In other words, there is nothing to hide.
“And Elana said ‘Go for it,’” Lianne
continued. And it is important to all of
the rest of them to show Elana that they
are not ashamed of her. “By our using our
name, and her name, it shows that we are
not ashamed,” Lianne said.
“I think that our message will be very
clear,” she continued. “We are the kind
of family that people would never sus-
pect this could happen to. Elana got into
Macaulay Honors College; she played var-
sity soccer, composes music, is a very tal-
ented pianist, and always was at the top
of her class academically. My husband
was president of TABC and we are very
involved in the community, and in chari-
table work.
“It is important to talk about this both
because it is important to destigmatize,
and also because families feel isolated and
alone,” Lianne concluded. It’s good for
parents to learn “how to detect and pre-
vent substance abuse.
“Also, it helps for people to know that
they are not alone. And if you hear stories
of recovery, you know that there is hope.”
Rabbi Zvi Gluck, who heads Amudim,
began his work with what is called the
“at risk community” — a term he loathes
because “who decides who is and who
isn’t at risk?” — in 1998, when he was 19.

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“A friend of mine had passed away from
an overdose, and another friend had
committed suicide,” he said. “I started
volunteering at a drop-in youth center
then.” He’s from Brooklyn; “I’m a chame-
leon,” he said. “Our father raised us to be
involved in all communities. I went to a
chasidic school, but I was more worldly
than the average person who went to a
chasidic school.” He worked as a liaison
for the New York City police department
when he was in college, and he continued
to work with teenagers and young adults;
he got smicha in 2002, “but I used it
mainly for public service work,” he said.
Rabbi Gluck began to notice that
“more and more of the problems we
were addressing were directly or indi-
rectly the result of sexual abuse, and
that many of the addicts we were work-
ing with were the victims of sexual
abuse,” he said. Those victims were
both men and women. Most of the
people he worked with were “from
the Orthodox community, but we were
open to everyone.”
At the beginning, his work was more
or less ad hoc, “just Zvi Gluck trying to
help people,” he said. He always had
a day job. He found himself spending
more and more time raising money
for specific people, going to potential
donors and then asking the would-be
recipients to get in touch with them
personally. He lacked the standing and
infrastructure to move funds from donor
to recipient himself. “In 2014 I was at a
dinner party with supporters, and one of
them said, ‘This is getting ridiculous. You
need do so something more formal.’” He
demurred, but in the end he gave in.
Amudim was born in 2014. It is housed
in lower Manhattan. “Our original mis-
sion statement was about crisis inter-
vention, with a primary focus on sexual
abuse,” Rabbi Gluck said. “It was to cre-
ate awareness and break the stigma, and
let people get the help they needed. It
also was to create better services for peo-
ple who needed help, particularly in the
underserved community.
Cover Story
“One of the important things I like
to remind people is that when we are
dealing with issues of sexual abuse, the
issues we face in the Orthodox Jewish
community are the same issues that any
tight-knit minority community faces. It is
All the staff are
clinicians, not
because they
have to be, but
because I opted
to have staff who
are not just paper
pushers but know
what they are YOUR VISION
dealing with.
OUR RESOURCES
not specifically because they are Ortho-
dox. We realized that even if there were
Building a Stronger Community
services available, they were not acces-
sible, and we agreed to focus on being The OU Impact Accelerator is a new initiative that will
a resource center for people, helping provide funding, mentorship, and curriculum for early-stage
them to get services in a healthy and sys- nonprofit ventures. Those selected for the 18-month program
tematic fashion.” will receive up to $25,000 in funding as well as customized
Amudim is a case management
training to scale their nonprofit startups.
agency; it matches people with services
and provides oversight for them over a
wide geographic range. Most of its cli-
ents are Orthodox and from Brooklyn,
but many are not. “All the staff are clini-
cians, not because they have to be, but
because I opted to have staff who are not
Mentorship Curriculum Seed Money Support
just paper pushers but know what they
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And although Amudim began with guidance from essentials of to 25K for program
a focus on sexual abuse victims, “we successful building a your nonprofit departments
entrepreneurs nonprofit venture and networks
decided that we would open the
resources to addiction, because the
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and bigger,” he continued. “It was no lon-
ger just kids playing with pot and pills.” APPLY TODAY
Amudim has grown quickly. “We
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To become a mentor or apply, visit
www.ou.org/accelerator to learn more.
Applications due May 6th.
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 27
 Cover Story
CLE LuNCh & LEARN

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started off low budget,” Rabbi Gluck
said. “We never dreamed how big and
to talk to other people who knew what
was going on.

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lion in 2016, and we closed out 2017 at
Learn about the Jewish perspective on estate, $3.8 million. We have been fielding 200
retirement and financial planning, as well as an calls a day for help. Not every call ends
overview of charitable planning in the wake of up as a case; sometimes people just
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. want a listening voice, and I remind the
staff that this is as much a part of our
Presented by: job as anything else. And sometimes
Martin M. Shenkman people who reached out to us to talk
six months ago call back and say, “now
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Many of the clients suffer from both
sexual and drug abuse.
The caseload has grown along with
Please visit the staff and budget. Why? “It’s hard to
know, and that’s the God’s honest truth,”
www.ajanj.org he said. “There certainly are more and
to learn more and to register. more people reaching out for help, even
24 Commerce Street • Suite 101 • Newark, NJ in chasidic circles. We have seen a large
201.992.3157 • info@ajanj.org increase in the number of people who
have reached out for help who in the
past might not have. But it’s hard to tell
— we’re not running a numbers game.”
Amudim does not limit itself to Ortho-
“The big problem was isolation and
stigma,” he said, repeating an often-heard
theme. “We recognized it as a problem
and knew that we had to deal with it.”
After a needs assessment, Dr. Ber-
man concluded that the group most in
need of help was the parents. “They
were totally at a loss,” he said. “They
didn’t know how to deal with it. They
didn’t know what to do after the kids
had started to get treatment. They didn’t
know who to be open with. They didn’t
know how to deal with what to say when
they were asked about their kid, with the
aftereffects of not going to Harvard but
to a job at Starbucks — and having that
job at Starbucks be a very productive,
good thing.
“And what do you do when the
kid relapses? Or when you have first
detected the problem?
“The parents had all these issues to
deal with. They felt isolated and stigma-
tized. They all knew that there must be
other parents with similar problems, but
they didn’t know who they were.”
When he says kids, Dr. Berman elabo-
rated, most often he means people rang-
ing from 18 to 30, although some may be
as young as 16, and others as old as 33.
The group does not provide therapy;
he facilitates what is mainly a parent-
led discussion. It meets about twice a
month, and there is a minimal fee. It’s

Innovative
dox Jews, or even to Jews at all. But it is
alert to specifically Jewish needs. “On
Pesach, we found appropriate places for
recovering addicts where they can go to
drop in; to learn more about it, call Carol
Leslie at the JCC at (201) 408-1403 or
email her at cleslie@jccotp.org.
The Teaneck-based Jewish Family

Learning.
a seder and have no problems with the
four cups of wine,” Rabbi Gluck said.
Because sexual abusers often victim-
ize family members, Amudim can help
those victims avoid spending multi-day
chaggim in the same house, sharing
bathrooms and meals with their abusers.
That’s cultural sensitivity at work.
We believe every moment is a teachable moment— Rabbi Gluck frequently speaks pub-
a time for exploration and discovery. We invite you licly, and he is almost always accom-
to learn more about our year-round offerings for panied by an American Sign Language
children from four months to five years of age. interpreter. “Victims of abuse and
addicts might have family members
Enrollment is now open for who are deaf, and they also need to
our summer program. be able to get access to the help they
need,” he said.
There are some local Jewish groups
where parents can go to meet other, sim-
and Children’s Services of Northern
New Jersey also hosts a group. This
one is offered by JACS — its full name,
which does not map particularly well
to its acronym, is Jewish Alcoholics and
Chemically Dependent Persons and Sig-
nificant Others.
“It’s a monthly support group for Jew-
ish people in recovery and their fami-
lies,” Dr. Vincent Vaccaro of Cliffside
Park, a longtime supporter who sits on
its board, said. “It’s a self-help group,”
which makes it different from the profes-
sionally facilitated (but not led) Strength
to Strength.
To learn more about JACS, call (201)
837-9090 or email info@jfcsnnj.org.

Find it here. ilarly situated parents, and talk without

feeling judged.
One is at the Kaplen JCC on the Pali-
sades in Tenafly, where Jeffrey A. Ber-
man, M.D., DFASAM, leads “Strength to
Strength.”
The well-credentialed, board-certi-
fied psychiatrist, a former president
of the New Jersey Society of Addiction
Medicine, who lives in Teaneck, said
For more information, contact Director of Early Childhood Education
Risa Tannenbaum at rtannenbaum@templesinaibc.org. that he started the program five years
ago, when he was approached by par-
ents “who didn’t know what to do.
201.568.6867 | 1 Engle Street, Tenafly | templesinaibc.org
They felt isolated, and like they needed
Who: Amudim’s Rabbi Zvi Gluck,
Beth Aaron’s Rabbi Larry Rothwachs,
social worker Avi Shteingart, Etzy
Finkel, and Etiel Forman
What: Will talk about awareness and
education about addiction in the
Jewish community
When: On Sunday, April 22, at 8 p.m.
Where: At the Torah Academy of
Bergen County, 1600 Queen Anne
Road, in Teaneck
For more information: Call (201) 837-
7696, or email TABC.org.

285 xJEWISH
6.5" EC Ad for Summer.indd 1
STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 3/20/18 1:38 PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at a joint news conference at the Israeli leader’s Jerusalem home
on June 25, 2012.
After its latest strike on Syria,
Israel’s cozy relationship
with Russia could be over
BEN SALES
Israel (reportedly) attacked Syria on
Monday, just like it (reportedly) has done
countless times before.
The difference now is that Russia is
angry about the strike — and showing it.
Russia has called out Israel publicly,
condemned the attack, and summoned
the Israeli ambassador to “discuss devel-
opments.” The alleged strike, which the
Israeli government has not acknowl-
edged, came soon after a Syrian chemi-
cal weapons attack on civilians. But the
two attacks might not be connected.
Here’s a quick rundown of why Israel
is bombing Syria, why it officially pre-
tends it isn’t, and why Russia is upset
about it.
Israel has attacked Syrian targets
many, many times.
Israel does not like Syria — and it hates
Syria’s ally, Iran.
Israel and Syria are technically in a state
of war but have not engaged in sustained
armed conflict since the Yom Kippur War
in 1973. Instead, the two sides have fought
through Syrian-funded proxies like the
Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. When
the civil war in Syria began in 2011, Israel
stayed neutral, providing some humani-
tarian aid to victims on the border but
otherwise remaining out of the fray.
The exception has been Israeli strikes
against Syrian weapons convoys en route
to Hezbollah. When Syrian President
Bashar Assad’s government was at risk of
collapse in the past, Israel worried that it
would send its most powerful ordnance
to Hezbollah, which has a stated aim of
destroying Israel.
Now, as Assad is nearing the defeat of
the Syrian rebels, Israel is worried that
Iran will set up permanent military bases
in the country, at Israel’s doorstep. Iran’s
leaders have pledged to wipe Israel off the
map, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Jewish World
KOBI GIDEON / GPO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Netanyahu incessantly accuses Iran of
seeking to develop nuclear weapons that
would existentially threaten Israel.
In February, Israel and Iran engaged
in rare direct conflict over Syria: Iran
launched a drone from a Syrian base into
Israel, and Israel responded by bombing
the base. Syria shot down an Israeli plane.
Monday’s Israeli strike targeted the
same base as in February, killing 14 peo-
ple. It came shortly after Assad report-
edly murdered at least 40 of his own citi-
zens with chemical weapons, but Israel’s
attack does not appear to be in response.
Russia is angry this time
Ever since Russia increased its involve-
ment in the civil war in 2015, sending
soldiers and materiel to Syria, Israel has
tried to stay on Russia’s good side.
That year, the two countries agreed
to coordinate military plans over Syria
so they would not attack each other
accidentally. And Netanyahu has tried
to cozy up to President Vladimir Putin
in various other ways — publicly thank-
ing Russia for the Soviet Union’s role in
defeating the Nazis, and staying silent on
Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its inva-
sion of Ukraine.
But Russia-Israel relations have always
been fraught. The Soviet Union cut off ties
with Israel after the latter’s victory in the
1967 war, re-establishing them only as the
Soviet government was collapsing. And
today, the two nations find themselves on
opposite sides of the international order.
Israel is allied with the United States,
while Russia still is allied with Syria and
Iran, two of Israel’s worst enemies.
Monday’s strike targeted a base where
Russian personnel might have been pres-
ent, and Russia is complaining that it was
not told of the strike in advance. So this
time it’s not letting Israel’s bombings go
unmentioned.
SEE RUSSIA PAGE 30
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 29
Jewish World

Russia of the complex conflict or becoming involved directly in BRIEFS

FROM PAGE 29
Israel usually keeps
quiet about the attacks
How many times has Israel attacked Syria since 2012? Few
people, if any, know the exact number, so reports have
relied on estimates like dozens, scores, even hundreds.
Israel does not want to be seen as supporting one side
the war. When Israeli officials do allude to the strikes, they
focus on preventing threats to Israel, not on bolstering
Assad, the rebels, Islamists, or anyone else.
Netanyahu acknowledged these strikes last year. And
on Monday, following the strike, he did say “We have one
clear and simple rule, and we seek to express it constantly:
If someone tries to attack you, rise up and attack him.”
 JTA WIRE SERVICE
Israel’s Labor Party cuts ties
with U.K. Labour head over
anti-Semitic incidents
Israel’s opposition Labor Party has cut ties with the head
of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn,
over concerns regarding anti-Semitism and his relation-
ship with the Jewish community.
Israeli Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay wrote a letter
to Corbyn, who is the opposition leader, to tell him the

A Home Equity
decision, emphasizing that the suspension applies only
to him, not to the U.K. Labour Party as a whole.
“It is my responsibility to acknowledge the hostility

Credit Line
that you have shown to the Jewish community, and the
anti-Semitic statements and actions you have allowed as
leader of the Labour Party U.K.,” Gabbay said.
“This is in addition to your very public hatred of the

with all the Extras policies of the government of the State of Israel, many of
which regard the security of our citizens and actions of
our soldiers — policies where the opposition and coali-
tion in Israel are aligned.”
Gabbay’s decision comes amid accusations that Cor-
byn has not done enough to address the issue of anti-
Semitism within his party. Additionally, Corbyn, who
has in the past expressed positive views of terror groups
Hamas and Hezbollah, has been accused of having con-
nections to anti-Semites, and ties to anti-Israel groups
and figures.
Last weekend, Corbyn called for the United Kingdom
to review its arm sales to Israel amid the escalation in
tensions along the border between Gaza and Israel. He
also recently attended a Passover seder with a far-left
anti-Israel Jewish group, Jewdas, that has called Israel
15 Year Revolving a “steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly
disposed of.” JNS.ORG

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30 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses supporters in Budapest on
April 8, 2018, after winning another term in a parliamentary election.
Far right scores
even as an extremist
party fizzles in Hungary
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
The extremist Jobbik party may have
come up short in the election in Hun-
gary last week, but that doesn’t mean
the country’s far right isn’t celebrating.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling
Fidesz party won in a landslide, rid-
ing a wave of rhetoric and policies that
have set Hungary apart from the rest of
the European Union for its veneration
of pro-Nazi collaborators, anti-Semitic
politicians, and propaganda campaigns
that critics say amount to racist incite-
ment against Jews and other minorities.
Orban has taken Fidesz out of centrist
blocs and partnerships. In a campaign
speech last month, Orban inveighed
against an “enemy” that is “not straight-
forward but crafty; not honest but base;
not national but international; does not
believe in working but speculates with
money; does not have its own homeland
but feels it owns the whole world.”
Such words, once considered unthink-
able for a European leader, were “laden
with anti-Semitic imagery,” Financial
Times columnist Gideon Rachman wrote
last week.
Last year, Orban led what many of his
critics considered a campaign of incite-
ment against George Soros, the Hungar-
ian-born American Holocaust survivor
who funds many left-leaning groups
and causes, including the facilitation
of immigration from the Middle East to
Europe. The campaign included bill-
boards featuring a picture of a grinning
Soros and the slogan “Don’t let him have
the last laugh.”
In December, a lawmaker for Orban’s
party, Janos Pocs, posted a picture of a
Jewish World
LASZLO BALOGH/GETTY IMAGES
dead pig on Facebook, accompanied
with a phrase that can be translated
either as “This was Soros” or “It was his
turn.” Pocs denied his post was a refer-
ence to Soros.
In parallel, Orban has said he seeks to
make Hungary an “illiberal society,” ref-
erencing Turkey and Russia as his tem-
plate. He dismissed Jewish objections
to state-funded imagery that critics said
ignore the Hungarian collaboration in
the Holocaust.
Sandor Lezsak, the deputy speaker of
the parliament and a Fidesz lawmaker,
said in January that he would attend a
commemoration service for the Nazi
collaborator Miklos Horthy, though he
canceled under pressure. In July, Orban
counted Horthy, whose government was
complicit in the murder of hundreds of
thousands of Jews, among the nation’s
“exceptional statesmen.”
Orban claimed territory once more
closely associated with Jobbik, a xeno-
phobic movement that the World Jewish
Congress has termed “an extremist party
promoting hate.” But in the lead-up to
the election, Gábor Vona, its leader,
risked splitting the movement with his
attempts to mainstream, deradicalize,
and distance the movement from anti-
Semitism in a bid to take Jobbik from the
opposition and into the government.
The kinder, gentler Jobbik emerged
for the first time as Hungary’s second-
largest party in Sunday’s election, but
with only 26 out of 199 seats in parlia-
ment. With less than half the votes that
Jobbik received in the 2010 election — its
best showing — Jobbik trailed Fidesz by
113 seats, or 24 percentage points. This
means that Orban, now heading into his
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 31
Jewish World

fourth term in office, can afford to keep
Jobbik out of power for years to come.
“As Jobbik attempted to appeal to the
center, Fidesz has successfully pandered
to the ultranationalist fringes,” said Karl
Pfeifer, a Viennese Jewish journalist who
grew up in Hungary and is an expert on
that country’s complicated politics and
history.
“They’ve essentially switched places in
one of the most spectacular maneuvers
I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Both Orban and
Jobbik are wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
Despite the presence of anti-Semites
and hardcore nationalists in its ranks and
among its founders, Fidesz nonetheless
was a center-right party in the 1990s. Back
then, it was even a part of a centrist Euro-
pean political bloc, joining other member
parties like the United Kingdom’s center-
left Liberal Democrats and the People’s
Party for Freedom and Democracy of
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Under Orban, Central Europe’s larg-
est Jewish community — Hungary has
approximately 100,000 Jews — enjoys a
safer environment than many other Jewish
populations in Western Europe. Orban’s
government officials like to cite this in
defending their country’s refusal to let in
Supporters of the Fidesz party at a campaign closing rally in Szekesfehervar,
Hungary, on April 6, 2018.
immigrants from the Middle East.
The radicalization of Fidesz “is a sign of
how mainstream these once-taboo views
have again become in parts of the con-
tinent,” Francis Wittaker, digital editor
for NBC News in London, wrote. “Such
LASZLO BALOGH/GETTY IMAGES
language is now commonplace” even for
a leader whose country is a U.S. ally and
a member of the European Union and
NATO, Whittaker noted.
Leaders of far-right movements in
Europe — part of a rising force that have
made unprecedented gains in elections in
France, Austria, Holland, and Italy since
last year — celebrated Orban’s clinching of
more than 49 percent as a victory for their
cause.
“Large and clear victory by Viktor
Orban in Hungary: The inversion of val-
ues and mass immigration promoted by
the European Union have once again been
rejected,” Marine Le Pen, the leader of
France’s National Front, wrote on Twitter.
And Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch
anti-Islam Freedom Party, wrote: “Con-
gratulations Viktor Orban with this excel-
lent result. A well-deserved victory!”
Far-right activists like Tatjana Fester-
ling, a founder of the German Pegida anti-
immigrant movement who was kicked out
even from that hardcore organization for
suggesting that asylum seekers should be
shot if they attempt to cross the German
border, shares that enthusiasm for Orban’s
politics. In 2016, she said that Orban is the
European politician she respects the most.
As Orban made inroads into the ultra-
nationalist constituency, the radical Job-
bik party attempted to move in the other
direction and compete for mainstream
voters.
These attempts included reaching out to

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32 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018


Jewish communities; in 2016 Jobbik sent
them Chanukah greetings for the first
time. And last year Vona said that the
party now respects Israel’s right to exist.
Both gestures were major departures
from the rhetoric of a party whose sec-
ond in command, Marton Gyongyosi,
during a 2012 speech in parliament,
called for compiling a list of Jews as
threats to national security and whose
website in 2016 called for fighting “Zion-
ist Israel’s quest for world domination.”
Whereas all the leaders of Hungar-
ian Jewry dismissed Jobbik’s overtures
as lip service, they did generate seri-
ous tensions within Jobbik, where some
resented Vona for his “betrayal,” accord-
ing to Dániel Róna, a political science
researcher from Hungary who has writ-
ten extensively about Jobbik.
After the elections, “there will be a
reckoning” inside Jobbik, Rona said at
BRIEFS
German diplomat appointed country’s first
commissioner to combat anti-Semitism
German diplomat Felix Klein has been
appointed the country’s first commis-
sioner to combat anti-Semitism following
a rise in such incidents in recent years.
The new anti-Semitism post was
approved by German lawmakers earlier
this year, following a rise in anti-Semitic
protests in the country after U.S. Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s decision to rec-
ognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. At
the time, German lawmakers said anti-
Semitic crimes “could still mainly be
attributed to the far right, but that migra-
tion from the Middle East and North
Africa had exacerbated the problem.”
Klein, who had been endorsed by Ger-
man Jewish groups, was the Special Rep-
resentative of the German Foreign Office
for Relations with Jewish Organizations
and Anti-Semitism Issues.
The World Jewish Congress welcomed
the decision.
“Already a leader in Europe in the
fight against anti-Semitism, Germany
Israel to offset five-year drought
with two new desalination plants
Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Water
announced that two new desalination
plants will be built to offset the deficits
of an extended five-year drought that has
left Israel’s sensitive water sources at their
lowest levels in nearly 100 years.
Israel now has five active desalination
plants, built in the last 13 years, to extract
water suitable for drinking from the Med-
iterranean Sea and distribute the desali-
nated water through Israel’s national
water carrier.
Each facility is expected to cost approxi-
mately $400 million.
Jewish World
an event in Budapest in November titled
“Are Europe’s Jews Safe?” that was orga-
nized by Hungarian Jewry’s watchdog on
anti-Semitism, the Action and Protection
Foundation.
Jobbik’s troubles are of little comfort
to sociologist Andras Kovacs, who has
charted the development of Jewish life in
Hungary for decades because “the radi-
calization of Fidesz is a very worrisome
development,” he said.
Yet this reality does not prevent
Kovacs and many other Hungarian Jews
in Budapest from belonging to one of
the world’s most vibrant communities,
he added. “In my personal life, I’m fairly
insulated from this situation, which I see
in polls and in reports,” he said. “I live in
relative safety in Budapest, see friends,
carry out my research. You might call it
a bubble.” JTA WIRE SERVICE
has taken another praiseworthy step
in addressing the need for a dedicated
and expert individual to protect the
well-being of the country’s Jewish com-
munity, and Dr. Felix Klein is without a
doubt the best choice for the position,”
said Robert Singer, CEO and executive
vice president of the Congress.
“Dr. Klein played a pivotal role in Ger-
many’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism,
drawing wide attention to the very real
threats experienced by Jewish communi-
ties across Europe, to the dangers of far-
right extremism and to the importance
of preserving the memory of the Holo-
caust,” he added.
Last year saw a dramatic rise in anti-
Semitism in Germany, with 1,453 inci-
dents reported, including 32 incidents
involving physical violence, 160 inci-
dents of vandalism and 898 incidents of
incitement to violence or hate speech
directed at Jews.
 JNS.ORG
The plan will include the expansion
of pipelines for use in agriculture, and
is intended to help Israel to rehabilitate
dried-up rivers. The plans may include
pumping fresh water into Israel’s pri-
mary source for drinking water, the
Kinneret — also known as the Sea of
Galilee — which has continued to suffer
receding levels.
The Kinneret is also the primary feeder
of Israel’s Jordan River, which runs south
to the Dead Sea and is another body of
water suffering severe ecological damage
due to receding water levels. JNS.ORG
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 33
Jewish World
Why Netanyahu is blaming this
organization for Israel’s migrant crisis
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON ( JTA) — Last week was a
busy, confounding time for Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the
question of the African migrants.
That Monday afternoon, after months of
threats to deport the lot of them, Netan-
yahu said he reached an agreement with
the United Nations that would have reset-
tled half of the 38,000 African asylum
seekers in Israel in Western countries.
Notably, the refugees were described in
the triumphant release from the prime
minister’s office as “migrants” — an ele-
vation from the term “infiltrators” that
Netanyahu and others in his right-wing
government had used for years.
That very evening, however, Netanyahu
was on Facebook and back to using “infil-
trators.” Also, following a barrage of social
media criticism from right-wingers, he was
reconsidering the U.N. deal.
The next day, the prime minister for-
mally broke the deal, and in a second
Mother's Day, sunday, may 13
Supporting individuals with special needs
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
34 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the U.N. General Assembly
in 2017.
Facebook post, he named the culprit for
the mess: the New Israel Fund, a group
TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 |
How did a humanitarian and politi-
cal crisis about Eritreans and Sudanese
migrants in Israel morph into a contro-
versy over a left-leaning funder of Israel’s
nonprofit sector?
Let’s review, beginning by parsing Netan-
yahu’s Facebook post, translated here:
“The principal actor that led to Europe
pressuring Rwanda to back out of the
deal was the New Israel Fund,” he wrote.
“The New Israel Fund is an organization
that receives money from foreign govern-
ments and from forces hostile to Israel,
like George Soros’ foundations. The over-
arching goal of the [New Israel] Fund is the
erasure of the Jewish character of Israel
and turning into it into a state of all its citi-
zens, alongside a country of the Palestin-
ian people cleansed of Jews, along the 1967
lines, with its capital in Jerusalem.”
Netanyahu provided no evidence for his
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES claim that NIF was behind the pressure
on Rwanda to back out of an earlier deal
that bills itself as “committed to advancing that would have sent the African migrants
the values of human dignity” in Israel. to that East African country. Rwanda, for
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its part, has consistently denied any
such deal was in the offing. The Israeli
Embassy here did not reply to a request
to provide the evidence, or say if the
Rwanda deal was being considered while
Israel simultaneously negotiated the deal
with the United Nations.
The New Israel Fund adamantly
denies that it played any role in pres-
suring Rwanda or any country into not
accepting the migrants.
“We had nothing to do with pressur-
ing the Rwandan government,” Daniel
Sokatch, the fund’s CEO, said. “It’s an
absurd claim.”
The Rwandan government apparently
agreed.
“I am extremely surprised by this
statement,” Olivier Nduhungirehe, a
minister of state in its Foreign Ministry,
said Wednesday on Twitter. “My surprise
comes less from the fact that #Rwanda
doesn’t even know what this @NewIs-
raelFund is all about, but more from the
assumption that a foreign NGO can suc-
cessfully impose any pressure on a sover-
eign government named @RwandaGov.”
As far as actual pressure on Rwanda,
there was a protest outside its embassy
in Tel Aviv organized by the African
migrants, and a number of people deliv-
ered a letter to the Rwandan Embassy
in Washington. The NIF opposes the
mass deportation of the Africans, but it
did not organize either of these initia-
tives, Sokatch said, although he would
not be surprised if individual staffers
had attended the demonstration. NIF,
he noted, does fund groups like the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel
and Zazim, which have advocated on
behalf of the migrants — but to Israelis
and within the Israeli system, not to for-
eign governments.
So why is Netanyahu blaming the NIF?
Absent replies from the embassy or elab-
orations from Netanyahu, it’s hard to
say. But here’s what we do know:
The NIF spoke out against a plan that
Netanyahu announced in the fall; he
said he would summarily deport or jail
all the migrants. A range of organizations
firmly in the U.S. Jewish mainstream also
denounced against that plan.
Among the groups that called the plan
inhumane and potentially catastrophic
to Israel’s image were the Anti-Defama-
tion League, HIAS (the lead U.S. Jewish
immigration advocacy group), and the
Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the
Jewish public policy umbrella. Addi-
tionally, five leading pro-Israel activists
who rarely criticize the country sent
Netanyahu a letter warning him that the
deportations “could cause incalculable
damage to the moral standing of Israel
and of Jews around the world.” They
Jewish World
were Alan Dershowitz, a constitutional
lawyer and prominent Israel defender;
Abraham Foxman, the former national
director of the Anti-Defamation League;
Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center; Rabbi Irving
“Yitz” Greenberg, a former chair of the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council; and
Rabbi Avi Weiss, a longtime activist who
Netanyahu
provided no
evidence for his
claim that NIF
was behind the
pressure on
Rwanda to back
out of an earlier
deal that would
have sent the
African migrants
to that East
African country.
founded the Open Orthodox Chovevei
Torah rabbinical school.
The NIF has a history with the right
wing in Israel. The fund subsidizes
groups that cast a critical eye on Isra-
el’s occupation of the West Bank, its
behavior in wartime and its treatment
of Israeli Arabs. Even supporters of
the group acknowledge that in addi-
tion to its support for hundreds of civil
society and social welfare groups, NIF
funds a few whose politics cross the
line for many Israelis. Right-wing law-
makers have repeatedly sought to place
restrictions on how some of NIF’s donor
groups lobby and raise funds, especially
in Europe.
Netanyahu outlined some of these
objections in his Facebook post.
“For decades, the Fund has subsidized
anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian orga-
nizations, among them those that slan-
der Israeli Defense Forces soldiers, like
Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem, and
others that fight for Palestinian terrorists,
like Adalah,” he wrote. “I don’t know of
any western democracy, especially the
United States, that would be prepared to
suffer hostile activity funded by foreign
governments, as has been happening
here with the Fund for decades.”
Therefore, Netanyahu wrote, he had
SEE NETANYAHU PAGE 36
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 35

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36 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
SEE NETANYAHU PAGE 36
Jewish World
Netanyahu
FROM PAGE 35
instructed his coalition chairman, Dudi
Amselem, to “lead the process toward
establishing a parliamentary investigative
commission into the activities of the New
Israel Fund, that threatens the future and
the security of the state of Israel as the
nation-state of the Jewish people.”
The NIF counters that its ambit is
much broader, noting that the vast
majority of the 300 groups it funds have
to do with domestic issues like the rights
of women and LGBTQ people, the rights
of non-Orthodox Jews, and alleviating
poverty and preserving the environ-
ment. In its funding principles, NIF also
hews to a Zionist credo: “The New Israel
Fund is dedicated to the vision of the
State of Israel as the sovereign expres-
sion of the right of self-determination of
the Jewish people and as a democracy
dedicated to the full equality of all its
citizens and communities.”
The NIF conducted a review of some
of the groups receiving its donations
about a decade ago, Sokatch said, and
cut off those that at times had rejected
the principle of a Jewish state and that
backed a boycott of Israel.
As for Netanyahu’s specific allegations,
a review of NIF donors in its 2016 year-
book reveals no foreign governments,
and a donation of at least $100,000
from the Open Society Foundation led
by George Soros, a Jewish liberal philan-
thropist that Netanyahu reviles. Sokatch
said Open Society no longer funds NIF,
although “I wish it did.”
Soros’ group funded American train-
ing for Israeli civil rights lawyers. It was
wrapped up last year after decades
because, Sokatch said, Israel’s civil
rights law community has advanced
enough that its lawyers no longer need
foreign training.
As for foreign funding, an NIF spokes-
woman said that project-specific funds
have in the past come “from, among oth-
ers, the U.S. government [for work in the
Bedouin sector], the European Union
and others. This makes up a very, very
small part of our total funding, never
more than 1 or 2 percent, and sometimes
not even that. The vast majority of our
funds come from individual donors and
private foundations.”
Groups that NIF funds — and that draw
right-wing criticism — do accept funding,
separate from their NIF funding, from
foreign governments. These groups,
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including B’tselem, which tracks Israel’s
actions in the West Bank and during war-
time, and Breaking the Silence, made up
of veterans who report what they say are
violations of the Israeli army’s own poli-
cies, say they would not be able to exist
without the assistance provided by for-
eign governments.
Critics of NIF say the willingness of
these groups to accept funds from Euro-
pean governments that at times harshly
criticize Israel fuels suspicion of them
among Israelis, and of the NIF for associ-
ating with them.
“Israelis, and not only those who vote
for the right, see the NIF as a powerful,
secretive and illegitimate extra-parlia-
mentary alternative government,” said
Gerald Steinberg, who directs NGO
Monitor, which tracks groups critical
of Israel’s government. “There are no
checks and balances, and they slam and
denounce even the most responsible
Israeli critics and analysts instead of
conducting constructive dialogues. For
all of these reasons, the NIF has created
a great deal of suspicion and anger.” (NIF
counters that its funding is transparent
and available online.)
The tit for tat aside, some observers
were suspicious themselves of Netan-
yahu’s targeting of NIF as an explana-
tion for his about-face on the African
migrants deal — a turnaround that came
after intense pressure from his right
flank. Martin Indyk, the former U.S.
special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations, used the prime minister’s
nickname in labeling his attack on NIF a
“Bibiesque/Trump-style deflection.
“He was the one to negotiate, sign,
announce and then renege on the agree-
ment on asylum-seekers. But it’s not his
fault. So it must be NIF’s fault,” Indyk
tweeted. “Surely Israelis are smarter
than to believe such ho�wash.”
A number of U.S. Jewish groups have
spoken out against Netanyahu’s broad-
side. One was the Union for Reform
Judaism.
“Shocked & angered by PM @Netanya-
hu’s attacks on @NewIsraelFund, which
for decades has been a trusted champion
of an Israel embodying the prophetic ide-
als of our Jewish tradition, including eco-
nomic justice, religious freedom, human
rights & more,” its president, Rabbi Rick
Jacobs, said on Twitter. “If the PM is look-
ing to assign blame for the tragic plight of
asylum seekers, he can look no further
than the mirror.” JTA WIRE SERVICE
UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
Yom Hazikaron
Join us as we commemorate the fallen soldiers
and victims of terror in a ceremony organized
by community leaders and youth movement
representatives. Ceremony is in English and
Hebrew. Event is organized with IAC NJ and
the Israeli Scouts.
Tues, Apr 17, 7 pm, Free and open to the community

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2018 HAZON COMMUNITY SUPPORTED
AGRICULTURE AT THE JCC
Our farmers from Free Bird Farm will help us
launch our new CSA season with a veggie
stir-fry demo and tasting for adults, and a
planting demo for kids. Join us and register
to become a CSA member and enjoy 22
weeks of fresh organic produce.
Sun, Apr 29, 1 pm, $5 per adult CSA
members/$10 per adult public/children free
Visit jccotp.org/jewish-community-events
Emek: Give your Kids the Gift
Happy Birthday, of Hebrew!
Leonard Bernstein! Emek is an afterschool program for children grades
Celebrate Bernstein’s 100th birthday with pre K-10th that teaches modern, spoken Hebrew
music. Join us for this concert featuring language and Israeli culture in a fun, hands-on way.
Bernstein’s piano trio, Meditation from Mass, Registration for 2018-19 opens April 19. Open to native
songs from West Side Story, and more! Series and non-native Hebrew speakers.
made possibly by a generous contribution For more info please contact Galit at 201.408.1469 or
from Eva Holzer and the Konikow Chamber visit jccotp.org/emek.
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JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 37
Editorial
Combatting stigma
I minister about the Holocaust
t’s striking that when people talk about how dealing with
substance abuse — either their own or a relative’s — they
almost invariably use the word stigma.
It’s the same word that people use when they talk about
children or siblings with special needs.
It’s embarrassing. It’s a marker of difference — and not only
being different from, but also of being lesser than. It’s a stain. It
marks not only the person but the entire family.
It’s almost as if there it is a moral failure.
But it isn’t. It’s biology. It’s biochemistry. It’s pretty much the
luck of the draw.
It’s not as if those two things are exactly the same, of course.
When it comes to special needs, there is no choice involved at all.
Children all are born with personalities and chemistries and DNA
and genes; they all learn from their environment, and no two
children, not even siblings, are born into the same environment.
There is a huge range of special needs, as the Sinai Schools
tells us. If they are educated properly, with a sensitively tailored
education, some children with special needs go on to outgrow
them, to live lives made unusual by the individualized care they
were given but that are otherwise entirely neurotypical. And then
other children, the ones with more profound needs, grow up to
be able to do far more and to feel far more loved and understood
than otherwise would have been possible.
But often parents do not want to bring their children to Sinai
because they’re afraid of the stigma. They don’t want to have to
admit to the need for special education, even when that educa-
tion is a lifeline.
Sinai fights hard to overcome that stigma; with each success,
with each graduate, with each student’s story, it moves toward
that goal.
Now, we learn, the same stigma envelopes and isolates people
with substance abuse problems. It is important to understand
that addiction is a biochemical condition. Often — increasingly
— people become addicted to opioids because they’d been pre-
scribed pain medication, maybe overprescribed pain medication,
and have found themselves unable to stop taking it. (Although it
is an increasing problem, it’s not a new one, as Eugene O’Neill
told us, at great length, in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” the
fictionalized story of his own mother’s morphine addiction.)
At other times, as Elana Forman powerfully describes, drug
addiction comes out of a deep emptiness, a search for happiness
and fulfillment, and often accompanies other emotional problems.
Drug addictions are not the sign of immorality or weakness,
but of the combination of biology — some people are more likely
to become addicted to the same drugs than other people — and
circumstance.
If only we could help reduce the stigma, we could help
reduce the problem. No one wants to fail in school. No one
wants to struggle with addiction. No one wants to be crushingly
unhappy. We should work to remove the barriers that make
people unwilling to admit to their problems and thus be able
to work to solve them.
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Standard Associate Editor
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38 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
A discussion with Poland’s prime
L
ast night I had a kosher dinner with Poland’s
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at his
official residence in Warsaw. I first met him
last summer, when he was finance minis-
ter; he visited me at home through my friend Jonny
Daniels of the From the Depths Foundation in Poland.
After Poland’s Holocaust law, criminalizing both the
mention of “Polish death camps” and the attribution
of blame for Nazi crimes to Poland, I penned a column
criticizing the law and calling on the prime minister to
rise to the occasion of setting Polish-Jewish relations
on a new footing. He responded in a moving letter
where he spoke of his pain at Polish-Jewish tensions
and asserted his strong belief that “no Jewish family,
none of our Jewish brothers and sisters,
could be saved during the Shoah without
some form of help from Polish families,
from Polish neighbors.” He invited me to
discuss the issue with him and I took him
up on his gracious offer.
Mateusz Morawiecki is a warm, highly
intelligent and scholarly man of 50. A
father of four who is always impecca-
bly dressed and endlessly courteous, he
evinces an earthiness and accessibility Rabbi
that is immediately endearing. He listens Shmuley
carefully and is deeply thoughtful in his Boteach
responses. Our dinner, which stretched
out over several hours, underscored to
me how seriously he takes the tensions created by the
Holocaust law and his deep pain at being at odds with
the Jewish community and Israel.
The day before our dinner, Bashar Assad of Syria
had gassed and slaughtered his people again and
I told the prime minister that genocide and mass
murder remain global problems that are never suf-
ficiently addressed. There existed the possibility that
Poland, which witnessed the greatest genocide of all
time taking place on its soil, could become a leading
voice in fighting genocide and condemning the use of
poison gas. I told the prime minister that a leader of
his eloquence could be that voice. But the Holocaust
law, I asserted, undermined Polish credibility on the
issue since it was viewed as an attempt by Poland to
avoid discussion of its own culpability, even if that
culpability pertained to non-official collaboration on
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the author of 31 books,
including “The Israel Warrior.” Follow him on
—JP Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
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the part of large numbers of individual Poles.
The prime minister expressed his people’s pain
whenever they were bunched together with the
Nazis. He gently conveyed the unjustness of lobbing
together victim and culprit. He said that Poland had
lost 200,000 citizens in the autumn 1944 uprising
alone. Poland had been the first to fight the Germans,
had never collaborated as a people, had never col-
laborated as a government, had been brutally sup-
pressed by the Germans, and scores of Poles had
helped to save many Jews. And while he did not add
this, I am aware that nearly two million Polish civil-
ians died during World War II.
The prime minister said that his government was Isra-
el’s strongest ally in Europe. He shared
how he comes under repeated pres-
sure from EU countries to join in various
condemnations of Israel, from which he
always abstains because of his genuine
friendship with Israel and the Jewish peo-
ple. He shared with me how his own chil-
dren had attended a school in Poland run
under Jewish auspices and that his family
has Jewish friends so close that he was
raised calling them uncles and aunts. The
purpose of the law was to lay blame for
the Holocaust squarely where it belonged,
with the German Nazis and not the Polish
people. The prime minister shared that
there was deep hurt on the part of the Polish people
when their own suffering under the Nazis was not only
not recognized, but they were unjustly accused of hav-
ing acted with the Germans.
But what of well-documented atrocities against Jews
where Poles were directly involved? Jedwabne was
mentioned at the dinner. There is, of course, also the
Kielce pogrom of 4 July, 1946, in which 42 Jews were
murdered by Poles after the war was over. The prime
minister was adamant that the law would never con-
travene fact and would never dispute the historical
record. He said that he read widely on the war, had
served as an academic, and would always respect the
findings of academic research.
But why in that case was the law important at all?
Poland is a democracy whose constitution guarantees
freedom of expression. Let the historical facts decide.
The prime minister maintained that the Polish people
were hurt and angered by repeated use of expressions
of “Polish death camps.” The law was an attempt at
righting a historical wrong. Indeed, President Obama
Founder
Morris J. Janoff (1911–1987)
Editor Emeritus
Meyer Pesin (1901–1989)
City Editor
Mort Cornin (1915–1984)
Editorial Consultant
Max Milians (1908-2005)
Secretary
Ceil Wolf (1914-2008)
Editor Emerita
Rebecca Kaplan Boroson

used the expression in May 2012, for which the White
House later apologized.
But, I countered, the law was counterproductive and
only increased accusations of Polish insensitivity to Jews.
What was clear from the conversation was that this
controversial law, to which I am irrevocably opposed
and hope will be struck down by the Polish courts who
are currently reviewing it, might present an opportunity.
A great many Jews, including myself, are of Polish
descent. My grandfather was born in Lomza, which
I visited with my children last summer. But the story
being passed through many Jewish families is that
Poland was a place of irrevocable hostility to Jews and
endless anti-Semitism.
Is that the whole story? Obviously not. Jews lived
, in Poland for 800 years. In that time they produced
- some of their greatest rabbis, works of scholarship,
- and synagogues of awe-inspiring beauty. Was there
anti-Semitism? Undoubtedly so. Poland was deeply
-
Catholic and the church itself held the Jews account-
able for killing Christ.
But Poland was also the place that the Jews began to
- emigrate to in the twelfth century because of the tolerant
policies of Boleslaw III, and the Polish Jewish commu-
- nity would become the largest and most developed in
the world. Jews suffered in Poland, but they also thrived
and flourished.
Are the Poles responsible for the Holocaust? Most
- definitely not. Any equation of Poles and Nazis is a his-
- torical abomination. The Poles fought the Germans and
died under their brutal hand. The Germans built the gas
y chambers and murdered three million Polish Jews. Did
large numbers of individual Poles collaborate with the
Germans? Were many Poles happy to see the Jews gone?
r Historical fact would definitely suggest this was the case,
, and certainly, after the war, when many Jews tried to
reclaim property they were met with a strong rebuff and
t many cases even violence. Poland cannot deny these his-
torical truths. But that does not change the fact that the
y Polish government never collaborated with the Nazis
- and Polish partisans fought them throughout the war.
I shared with the prime minister that this was the
reason I felt the new Holocaust law was so tragic. The
history of Jews in Poland is undoubtedly more complex
than what has been discussed up to this point. So why
stifle a vital conversation that is long overdue? We need
more interaction between Poles and Jews, not less. And
- the Polish government has done an absolutely admira-
ble job in maintaining the Nazi death camps and memo-
rializing the memory of the millions of Jews who died
there. While I agree about the utter unfairness in using
the term “Polish death camps,” the law is an unfair and
? unjust attempt to criminalize a conversation that should
be decided by historians and experts.
. I do not believe there is any anti-Semitism in Mateusz
Morawiecki. In fact, I believe he seeks to be a friend of
the Jewish people and truly wishes for Poland to have
t a closer relationship with the Jewish community and
a Israel. And that is another tragedy of this law, to which
the Jewish community is justly opposed. It fosters misun-
derstanding, with both sides digging in when we should
be joined in common cause for Holocaust memory and
genocide prevention.
The prime minister also feels that the Jews have to bet-
ter understand the extent of Polish suffering under the
Nazis, even as it did not of course reach mass extinction
as with the Jews. He is right. But the law has hindered
those efforts.
What’s needed is the abolition of this law so that
misunderstandings can be addressed honestly and
forthrightly and a new era of Polish-Jewish relations
can ensue.
Opinion
Jewish students march for their lives in Washington.  HECTOR EMANUEL FOR THE RELIGIOUS ACTION CENTER OF REFORM JUDAISM
Teens taking the lead
W
hen we read the story of the Harris, director of URJ Camp Coleman in
parting of the Red Sea over Georgia, reflected on the movement that has
Passover last week, I was formed since the Stoneman Douglas shooting,
struck once again by the saying, “At Jewish camp, we recognize that we
courage, faith, and leadership of Nachshon create special, joyful, and meaningful expe-
ben Aminadav. riences. I am not so sure that there was ever
When the children of Israel appear to be a moment that I realized the extraordinary
trapped by the sea on one side and Pha- impact of what we do.”
raoh’s pursuing army on the other, they are In the face of this tragedy, we can all be
overcome with desperation and fear. While Jeremy J. proud of the lessons learned at camp and
Moshe prayed to God for help, the leaders Fingerman their impact far beyond the summer. Much
of the tribes were caught up debating and of our work at Foundation for Jewish Camp
deliberating over possible actions to take. focuses on leadership development at all
When everyone hesitated, one leader — a prince from levels, helping camps develop an aspirational arc for
the tribe of Judah, Nachshon ben Aminadav — took a intentional Jewish growth and impact. We remain even
heroic leap of faith into the raging sea. more committed to these efforts with a new strategic
Nachshon intuitively knew what was required of the vision to engage and empower teen campers to see
leader at that moment. He took the necessary action by themselves as leaders and Jewish role models — during
jumping into the sea, and thereby moved the Israelites for- summertime, year-round, and life-long.
ward on their communal journey. What has happened since the shooting in Parkland
For the last two months, all of us have been following has been catalytic for teens across the nation. While my
the inspiring story of our modern day Nachshons — high memories of the late 1960s are faint, many of my col-
school students turned activists, survivors of the hor- leagues have compared these times to the Vietnam War
rific shooting in Parkland, Florida. The “March for Our protests, with young people stepping up and making
Lives” in Washington attracted more than 800,000 par- their voices heard in compelling ways.
ticipants — it was one of the largest single-day protests The gatherings and activism reminded me of my own par-
in history — and was supported by hundreds of sister ticipation in the March on Washington for Soviet Jewry in
marches in cities all across the country. 1987. There, our Jewish community stood united. We can
Many of these teenage leaders said that their summer only hope that the call to action today will be as fruitful and
camp experiences empowered and inspired their activism. successful as was that effort almost 31 years ago.
Carly Novell, a student and camper who survived the What makes this moment different from those two
shooting, expressed her resolve and fortitude to move for- earlier ones is that the teens are leading this time. This
ward — lessons she learned from Jewish camp. “One per- is why we must continue to invest in their development
son can speak for the voices of thousands, and one person’s and growth and support their call to action.
life can impact another person’s life immensely,” she said. Since taking those first steps into the Red Sea, Nach-
“It was our duty to make sure that this wouldn’t happen shon has become synonymous with courage and the
to anyone else.” She continued, “My trauma created an willingness to do the right thing, despite apparently
opportunity to help others to help themselves. At camp, I insurmountable obstacles and uncertain outcomes.
learned that to repair our world, we need to be the ones to So, too, I hope the actions of our teens in the last two
take action. The time for change is now, and we need to be months forever will be examples for us all in taking the
the ones to make that change.” lead to create a safer, better world.
Directors of Jewish camps poignantly described to me
how they intentionally teach campers to ask questions, to Jeremy J. Fingerman is the CEO of the Foundation for Jewish
discover themselves — their true and best selves — to think Camp. He lives in Englewood with his family; he is vice
more deeply about the world in which they live, and to president of Congregation Ahavath Torah there. Write to
consider how they can make a difference. Recently, Bobby him at Jeremy@jewishcamp.org.
The opinions expressed in this section are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the newspaper’s editors, publishers, or other staffers.
We welcome letters to the editor. Send them to jstandardletters@gmail.com.
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 39
Opinion
Remembering Dr. King’s dream
L
a s t we e k , a s we
found ourselves in
the middle of our
annual celebration
of Zman Cherutenu, our emer-
gence from the degradation
of Egyptian slavery, the fifth
day of Pesach coincided with
the fiftieth anniversary of the
murder of a man who devoted Rabbi Daniel
his life toward helping his own Fridman
community in its long and
arduous process of emergence
from the bondage of American slavery, toward the full
blessings of liberty, prosperity, and freedom.
Our Torah has taught us that our own experience of
historical suffering in Egypt is meant to serve as a pow-
erful impetus to identify more fully with the suffering of
other marginalized groups. As such, we pause to reflect
on the courage and heroism of Dr. King and all those
who stood with him, including many members of our
own faith community, in the long and painful struggle
for racial justice.
We must remember that the struggle for racial justice
is but a manifestation of one of the foundational prin-
ciples of our faith, the dignity of all human beings, all
of us created in the image of the Divine (Avot 3:14). The
dignity of the human being, kevod ha-beriyot, in hala-
chic literature, is given far reaching significance, often
superseding other halachic concerns of great weight
(Brachot 19b-20a). As long as racism and prejudice exist,
in any form, our collective sense of kevod ha-beriyot is
assailed. As Dr. King reminded us, “injustice anywhere
Israel: Double standards and higher standards
T
he Zionist in me
burns with anger
when Israel is held
to a double stan-
dard. And the Zionist in me
brims with pride when Israel
holds itself to a higher stan-
dard. I bet many of you feel
the same way.
Exactly what is a double Rabbi Alex
standard? If we’re going to call Freedman
it out — which we should — at
minimum we must define it.
What i s the difference
between a double standard and a higher standard? And
why should Zionists and Israelis hold Israel to a higher
standard at all? These questions are always important,
especially as Yom Ha’Atzmaut fast approaches.
First, a double standard is the application of two dif-
ferent sets of expectations to different groups of peo-
ple. The late actress Bette Davis nailed it when she said,
“When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a
woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.” That’s a double
standard.
When the United Nations Human Rights Council has
a standing agenda item against Israel alone — ignoring
40 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
is a threat to justice everywhere.”
We must also remember, as believing Jews, that Dr.
King drew much of his strength from our sacred texts,
from the Tanach. From his “I Have a Dream” speech
on the Washington mall, replete with imagery from
Amos and Isaiah, to the final speech he gave the night
before his assassination in Memphis, which borrowed
its central motif and symbolism from the end of Sefer
Devarim, with Moshe beholding the Land of Israel from
the apex of Mount Nebo, Dr. King’s work, in form and
in substance, is a testament to the enduring power and
relevance of our sacred texts, out of which emerge our
cherished values.
Dr. King may have passed from this earth, but some
of the deepest wellsprings of his vision and moral for-
titude, our very own sacred texts, should continue to
inform and direct us, as children of Abraham, on our
collective path in pursuit of “righteousness and justice”
(Beresheit 18:19). We should never doubt the power of
our sacred texts to inspire, and even to change the face
of the world.
Fifty years is, most assuredly, a significant amount of
time. Biblically, it is referred to literally as an olam — an
eternity. Thankfully, in the half-century since Dr. King’s
murder, much has changed in this country for the better
as it concerns the matters of racial justice and prejudice
of all forms. And yet much more work remains to be
done.
We must continue to remind ourselves and oth-
ers that speaking with greater sensitivity about other
groups, eschewing epithets of any kind, is not some kind
of concession to political correctness, but a matter of
basic decency, of kevod ha-beriyot. No fewer than three
the abuses of known culprits like Iran, Syria, Burma
(Rohingya), and Saudi Arabia (Yemen) — that’s a double
standard. When the National Women’s Studies Associa-
tion boycotts Israel alone — and Israel is the only country
in the Middle East where women are free and equal —
that’s a double standard.
A double standard isn’t any statement that criticizes
Israel and upsets me. It’s a statement that reveals two
separate sets of rules, one for Israel and the other for the
rest of the world. We must call that out as anti-Semitic.
But remember that not every criticism of Israel is
anti-Semitic. Every criticism of Israel pains me inside,
because I feel like it’s a part of me too. But that doesn’t
make the critic wrong. Constructive criticism of Isra-
el’s flaws — which certainly do exist — is a hallmark of
democracy.
Next, let’s name some ways in which Israel holds itself
to a higher standard. When Israel provides free medical
care to 4000 wounded Syrians — who are taught that
Israel is the enemy — over the past few years as part of
Operation Good Neighbor, this is a higher standard.
When the Israeli Air Force dropped leaflets over Gaza
during the 2014 war there, warning residents to flee
before the airstrikes targeting Hamas could hit, this is a
higher standard. When Israel shares its technology with
the world — like the nonprofit Innovation: Africa does
Torah level prohibitions enumerated by Rambam (No.
251, 252, 255) relate to ona’at devarim, verbal abuse,
with a special emphasis on sensitivity to those who may
come from historically marginalized groups. Sadly, even
amongst rabbinic scholars of indisputably great stand-
ing, as we were recently reminded, this sensitivity is not
always manifest.
We must continue to be concerned, as committed citi-
zens of this country, not only for the quality of educa-
tion that our own children receive, but the quality of
education and opportunity that all children receive,
whether they live in Dr. King’s hometown of Atlanta or
the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago.
We must abhor the gun violence that snuffs out the
lives of so many, as Dr. King certainly did in his tireless
campaigning against the scourge of gun violence, not
only when the victims are students in affluent suburbs,
but especially when they are the forgotten children of
America’s inner city ghettos. The wanton destruction of
one human life, inimitable in its reflection of the Divine
image, diminishes our sense of God’s presence in the
world altogether (Yevamot 63a). As Rambam reminds
us, there was no sin about which the Torah was so strict
as it was about bloodshed (Hilkhot Rotzeach U’Shemirat
Nefesh 1:4).
“It is not upon us to finish the work, but neither
may we fail to engage altogether” (Avot 2:19). Together
in memory of a man who, in his brief 39 years on this
earth, stirred the consciousness of our nation, let us
move forward in pursuit of dignity and justice for all.
Daniel Fridman is the rabbi of the Jewish Center of
Teaneck.
by bringing Israeli solar and water technology to remote
African villages — this is a higher standard.
A double standard establishes two sets of rules, and
one of them usually is unfair. On the other hand, achiev-
ing a higher standard means starting with one set of
rules — the baseline requirements — and going beyond
the norm. The second standard in a double standard
usually is impossibly high. But the step to reaching a
higher standard usually is reasonable. There is a differ-
ence in degree.
Additionally, the double standard usually is imposed
by an outsider, from without. The higher standard,
however, often is established by the party himself, from
within. An important question to ask is who sets the
standard?
For an example, let’s consider the common issue of
school grades, which involves students, parents, and
teachers. A parent who holds her children accountable
to receive straight As — even though she didn’t meet this
lofty goal herself when she was a student — is guilty of
a double standard. She has a different, unfair expecta-
tion of her children from herself. On the other hand, a
student who challenges herself to make the honor roll is
holding herself to a higher standard. As this goal is more
achievable and comes from her own desires, this stu-
dent makes the grade as reaching for a higher standard.

Martin Luther King Jr., stands on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as he delivers his famous “I Have a
Dream,” speech during the Aug. 28, 1963, march on Washington, D.C.
Third, let’s articulate why Israel should bother with
setting above-and-beyond goals for itself. After all, that
easily can be confused with double standards.
This question is ultimately part of a conversation that
began more than a century ago, when the early Zionists
also debated what Israel should strive to be. In the words
of author Gil Troy, should Israel be “a normal state — a
state for the Jews — or a model state — a Jewish state”? His
new book, “The Zionist Ideas,” articulates many of these
competing visions of Zionism.
While I acknowledge that I’m oversimplifying their
stances, Theodor Herzl and Ahad Ha’am most clearly
articulate these two specific positions over a century
ago. Herzl advocated for political Zionism, emphasiz-
ing a homeland for the Jews. He wrote in “The Jew-
ish State”: “I think the Jewish question is more than a
social or religious one.... It is a national question which
can only be resolved by making it a political world-
question...” But Ahad Ha’am emphasized cultural Zion-
ism, urging for a spiritual and cultural revival based in
Israel. He wrote, in “The Jewish State and The Jewish
Problem”: “Then, from this center [Israel], the spirit of
Judaism will radiate to the great circumference, to all
the communities of the diaspora.”
The writers are taking opposing sides in the very
same conversation in which I am engaging, and that
Opinion
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
makes the question of uniqueness and higher stan-
dards even more pressing.
This reminds me of a lovely image in the Talmud
(Brachot 6a). The rabbis imagine that God too wears
tefillin. They recall that the tefillin Jews wear con-
tains the verse of the Shma wherein we affirm God is
one, unique. Rav Hiya Bar Avin says that God’s tefil-
lin contains another verse, “Who is like Your peo-
ple Israel, a unique nation on earth?” (2 Sam. 7:23).
The Talmud imagines God saying, “You, Israel, have
made Me a unique entity in the world. So I will make
you a unique entity in the world.”
We are called on by our Torah, our traditions,
and our history to be unique. That’s fundamental to
being Jewish. The State of Israel — if it to be a Jewish
state and not merely a state for Jews — must reflect
this uniqueness. It’s the canvas where Jewish values
and teachings are created. Reaching for a higher
standard — even when we slip, as we have before —
sets Israel apart. We must stay the course, even if
others misunderstand.
As the musician Paul Simon sang, “One man’s ceil-
ing is another man’s floor.”
Alex Freedman is the associate rabbi at Temple Emanu-El
in Closter.
Letters
Israel Story
As the two people who are spearheading the arrangements and
promotion of the Israel Story’s “Mixtape” performance com-
memorating Israel @ 70 at the Kaplen JCC on April 24th, we
are delighted that Joanne Palmer wrote an extensive, in-depth
feature in this past week’s Jewish Standard about this extraor-
dinary, creative podcast that has become a sensation in Israel
and North America and has grown into an exciting multimedia
production. We are proud that our synagogue, Congregation
Beth Sholom in Teaneck, is the lead sponsor of this sensational
program. We are very pleased that a number of other congrega-
tions have stepped forward as sponsors and donors. Our special
thanks go to Temple Emeth in Teaneck, Temple Sinai in Tenafly,
and the JCC of Paramus for their financial contributions and to
the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades and the IAC for their support,
as well as to a number of people who have made gifts to help
us bring this program to Bergen County. Please note that the
correct ticket price is $15 for all adults and $12 for teens under
the age of 18.
We hope to greet many readers of the Jewish Standard at the
performance of April 24th. You can buy tickets online at the
www.jccotp.org; type Israel Story into the search box at the top.
Elaine R. S. Cohen, Eric Segal
Teaneck
Terrorists in Gaza
I feel that Israel is making a mistake by resorting to lethal force
to contain the violent terrorists (using civilian cover) at the Gaza
border.
In my opinion, a better reaction might be to employ large
quantities of non lethal anti inflammable foam similar to that
used to combat forest fires and airport disasters. Helicopters can
be used for this purpose.
The enemy is quite aware that they cannot overrun Israel.
Their goal is to create a public relations disaster for the Jewish
State. They must not be allowed to succeed.
Jerrold Terdiman M.D.
Woodcliff Lake
More on the occupation
Why is there an occupation that must be ended? (“How to end
the occupation-continuing the debate,” April 6) It is because
you have a group of people whose occupiers ( Jordan, Egypt)
instigated a war against a neighbor (Israel) , the occupiers lost
control of the lands they controlled and the natives (Palestinian
Arabs) now in control of the land refuse to negotiate a peace
treaty with the victors.
Rabbi Meir presents two factors as the reasons for the occupa-
tion. The first is the desire for more defensible borders and the
second is the push from “far-right nationalistic and messianic
groups” for a “Greater Land of Israel.” He omits a third and most
telling factor, there is no one in power on the Arab side willing
to seriously negotiate until the final signing of an agreement to
recognize the Jewish State of Israel, and to end the state of war
with guarantees of a secure and enduring peace. It appears that
those agreeing with Rabbi Meir philosophically or ideologically
fail to recognize and admit that both the PLO and Hamas still
pledge to destroy the State of Israel.
The Israeli occupation of the disputed territories, according
to Rabbi Meir, is both immoral and inhumane. When one hon-
estly examines the restrictions implemented by Israel, one must
admit that they were based on real-life situations. Arab sniping
at civilian buildings led to the construction of the first walls. As
more different types of attacks took place, additional restric-
tions were implemented. Unrestricted road travel enabled some
terrorists to use their vehicles to institute attacks. This caused
Israel to close certain roads to non-Israeli drivers. Cars with
Israeli plates are allowed on these roads whether their drivers
are Jewish, or belong to any other religion. Checkpoints are set
up to control traffic on foot and vehicular in very few areas.
The rabbi complains that Israel does not maintain a “humane
SEE LETTERS PAGE 43
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 41
Opinion

Israel at 70: The path to peace, according to Isaiah

T
he prophet Isaiah famously
offered the world a compelling
vision of peace:
And they shall beat their swords into
plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks:
Nation shall not take up
Sword against nation;
They shall never again know war….
The wolf and the lamb shall graze
together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
(ISAIAH 2:4, 11:6, 7)
Isaiah continually sought to remind his
beleaguered people not to lose faith. The
mission statement of the Jewish people
to be a “light to the nations” (Isa. 42:6)
had not expired. Nor has it today, and the
message of hope of this ancient prophet
remains the path forward in our fearful
and violent world.
Admittedly, Isaiah’s vision might seem
overly optimistic, perhaps even naïve.
After all, are we any closer now to having
“the wolf and the lamb … graze together”
than we were thousands of years ago? The
path to peace is as troubled in modern
Israel as it was in ancient Israel. Since the
state’s founding, the nation has fought five
major wars, numerous battles, and count-
less uprisings.
And yet peace may not be as illusive or
elusive as we might think. Sometimes it
comes from the most unlikely places.
In November 1977, Egyptian President
Anwar el-Sadat shocked the world by
announcing “I am ready to go to the end
of the world to get a settlement. I am even
ready to go to Israel, to the Knesset, and
to speak to all the members of the Israeli
parliament there and negotiate with them
over a peace settlement.” Sadat predicted
that the Israelis would be stunned by his
offer, and they were.
But to his and all of Israel’s credit, the
newly elected Prime Minister Menachem
Begin, known for his right-wing, hardline
political views, welcomed the man who
only four years earlier had launched the
bloodiest war in Israel’s history.
I was living in Jerusalem that year,
and I will never forget the euphoria of
the moment. When the peace negotia-
tions floundered, President Jimmy Carter
brought Begin and Sadat to Camp David,
and on March 26, 1979 a peace agreement
was forged that has lasted for the past 40
years. Begin, who, along with Carter and
Sadat, later was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize, shared his own vision of peace in
his address at the signing of the accords
on the White House lawn:
“The ancient Jewish people
gave the world the vision of
eternal peace, of universal
disarmament, of abolishing
the teaching and learning of
war. Despite the tragedies
and disappointments of the
past, we must never for-
sake that vision, that human Rabbi Barry
dream, that unshakable faith. L. Schwartz
Peace is the beauty of life. It
is sunshine. It is the smallest
of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of
a father, the togetherness of a family. It is
the advancement of man, the victory of a
just cause, the triumph of truth. Peace is
all of these and more, and more. Now is
the time for all of us to show civil courage
in order to proclaim to our peoples, and to
others: no more war, no more bloodshed,
no more bereavement — peace unto you.
Shalom, Salaam — forever.”
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and
Jordan’s King Hussein signed a similar treaty
in 1994. It, too, has survived the test of time. to find it.
Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, along
with Yasir Arafat of the Palestinian Libera-
tion Organization, signed a peace agree-
ment the same year, for which they also
were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That
agreement, however, has not fared as well;
Israelis and the Palestinians
have yet to find the path to
peace.
On the 70th anniversary
of the State of Israel, let us
be thankful for what peace
we have achieved against
unimaginable odds, and let us
rededicate ourselves to real-
izing Isaiah’s grand vision. I
imagine Isaiah saying:
“All my long life, my people
and my country have known
only violence and bloodshed. I tremble
knowing there is more…. Yet woe is the one
who thinks the children of the covenant are
forsaken. A time of peace will come, a time
of harmony among men. Even the beasts
of the field shall know the tranquility of the
Lord. After the flood … the sun … and the
rainbow.”
Isaiah refused to be a pessimist about
peace. Enemies can become allies. Out of
darkness can come light. The path forward
is somewhere to be found, and it is up to us
Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz is the director of the
Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia,
rabbi of Congregation Adas Emuno in
Leonia, and author of “Path of the Prophets:
The Ethics-Driven Life.”

On Zionism, progressives take

a page out of the socialist playbook

T
here is a tragic account of the
last moments of Grigori Zino-
viev, the veteran Russian Bol-
shevik leader of Jewish descent
who was executed by Stalin in 1936.
According to the historian Donald Ray-
field, on the journey from his prison cell to
the execution cellar, the broken Zinoviev
“clung to the boots of his guards and was
taken down by stretcher.”
“This scene,” Rayfield continues in his
book on Stalin’s crimes, “was re-enacted
several times at supper at Stalin’s dacha,
the bodyguard Karl Pauker playing the
part of Zinoviev — begging for Stalin to
be fetched and then crying out, ‘Hear, O
Israel’ — until even Stalin found the cha-
rade distasteful.”
The image of a Jew desperately mum-
bling the Shema as he prepares to meet
his executioner certainly inspires pity,
even a Jew like Zinoviev, who spent his
entire career building a totalitarian state
apparatus that crushed the Soviet Jewish
community while at the same time pro-
claiming anti-Semitism to be the enemy of
the workers.
But more than any of this, embedded
in this story are deeper lessons about the
relationship between Jews and the left that
warrant closer attention — irrespective of
whether you are someone convinced that
the left can be rescued from its present,
destructive obsession with a caricature
of Zionism, or whether you believe that
this same caricature is hard-wired into the
left’s worldview.
At the heart of the spectacle in Stalin’s
dacha was contempt, not just for Zinoviev
as a supposed “traitor,” but also as the
embodiment of the feeble, ingratiating Jew
who will say or do anything to preserve
himself. This anti-Semitic stereotype long
predated the period of Communist rule, of
course, but its persistence was entirely in
keeping with a revolutionary program that
regarded any expression of Jewish identity
— whether religious, secular, cultural, or
national — as “counter-revolutionary.”
That essentially is why the Jewish
encounter with socialism in most of its
forms has been a disaster. In Russia and
Eastern Europe more widely, this was true
under Lenin, when a special Jewish section
of the Communist Party was groups to organize attacks
created for the express pur- on Jewish and Israeli tar-
pose of shutting down sepa- gets. Meanwhile, in this cen-
rate Jewish institutions; and tury, the moderate centrist
it was true under Stalin and left, with some honorable
his successors, whose dis- exceptions, has been at best
criminatory campaigns in passive in the face of a viru-
the name of “anti-Zionism” lent Soviet-style campaign
terrorized Jews — whether against “Zionism” that has
or not they were members Ben Cohen involved boycotts, harass-
of the Communist Party — ment, and occasional vio-
across Russia, as well as in lence not against the Israeli
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, military or government, but directed at
and other Warsaw Pact countries. ordinary Jews in Western Europe, South
In the West, while many centrist social Africa, and North America.
democrats have been among the greatest This recent past matters because the
friends of Israel and the Jewish people, present figureheads of the left are either
the remainder of the left largely incorpo- in denial about it or, in some cases, actu-
rated ideological hostilities reminiscent ally complicit in it. In the United States,
of the Soviet regime. When the “New Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has spo-
Left” emerged in the 1960s, its libertarian ken out against the Boycott, Divestment
suspicions of the repressive Soviet society and Sanctions campaign, but he has
didn’t prevent the adoption of a demon- never questioned whether a political
ized view of Zionism straight out of the movement whose core goal is to return
Soviet playbook; some of the movement’s Jews to the situation they faced in 1945
graduates (in Germany, ironically) even should be considered “progressive” in
were recruited by Palestinian terrorist the first place. In France, the leader of

42 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 Opinion
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin acknowledge applause
during a joint session of Congress, as President Jimmy Carter announced the results of the Camp
David Accords, on September 18, 1978. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
At that same seder, a modi-
fied “Haggadah” invited guests to
pause and “consider how s••t the
State of Israel is.” Such puerile
obscenities are, sadly, the price of
being accepted as a Jew on the far
left. But as relevant history demon-
strates, that’s not an aberration of
our own time, but entirely consis-
tent with the established patterns
of the past.
As comforting as it may be for
many Jews to observe the rhetori-
cal and thematic overlaps between
Police photos of Grigori Zinoviev, the veteran Russian Bolshevik biblical prophets and modern-day
leader of Jewish descent, taken after his arrest in 1934. Two years socialists, the bald truth is that the
later, Stalin had him executed. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS revolutionaries themselves never
saw it that way. Nor, it would seem,
the populist left, Jean-Luc Melen- has no place in a party that has do their inheritors. JNS.ORG
chon, is an enthusiastic advocate recorded more than 300 internal
of boycotting Israel, declaring anti-Semitic incidents since 2015; Ben Cohen writes a weekly column
last week that the French Jew- the next, he attends a Passover for JNS on Jewish affairs and Middle
ish leadership is composed of seder organized by a radical Jew- Eastern politics. His work has been
unpatriotic “communalists.” In ish group that proudly excludes published in Commentary, the
Britain, Labour Party leader Jer- any Jews with basic sympathies New York Post, Haaretz, the Wall
emy Corbyn on one day offers for Israel (i.e., most of them) from Street Journal and many other
an assurance that anti-Semitism its events. publications.
Letters
occupation.” Is that term an oxymoron? Occupations can only
be more or less moral to those who are occupied. It is easy to
write that “security should not trump the numerous human
rights violations” committed by Israel as long as one is not sub-
ject to the reasons why security restrictions have been imple-
mented. Is stopping a person for ID inhumane? Searching a bag
or backpack? Refusing entry to a specific area?
Those living or traveling in the disputed territories are sub-
jected to various laws; Israeli, Palestinian Authority, Israeli mili-
tary, Jordanian, even British or Ottoman. The rights and abil-
ity to vote is restricted according to citizenship. In the U.S. a
resident of New Jersey is not allowed to legally vote in a New
York election. Why should a non-citizen or resident of Israel be
allowed to vote in an Israeli election? Palestinian Arabs vote for
their Arab leaders. Why should they vote in Israeli elections?
We now learn how the West Bank Arabs are suffering because
Israel does not supply them with unrestricted water supplies.
The Arabs are forced to buy water from rusted water tankers.
The P.A. has been given billions of dollars in aid. Why not force
the water companies to maintain clean tanks to transport water?
Why not buy new trucks or build water supply systems for their
people?
If the Palestinian Arabs want to end the occupation let them
find and support leaders willing to take the actions necessary
to sign a lasting peace treaty. Let them give up the ideology to
destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Let them recognize that
Israel and the Jewish people were living in and governing them-
selves in the area for thousands of years.
Rabbi, to finish your discourse with a quote from B’tselem
does not add to the validity of your arguments.
Howard J. Cohn
New Milford
Occupation yet again
There has been talk of “Palestinian” rights ad nauseum in this
paper and in the Jewish community for decades. However, there
has been scant discussion of Jewish rights. As a people, if we do
not first and foremost concern ourselves with our own interests,
we cannot expect anyone else to care to do so.
There has also been talk of “occupation” ad nauseum as well.
Jews cannot “occupy” Judea. Finns cannot “occupy” Finland.
The Japanese cannot “occupy” Japan. It is simply a semantic,
anti-Semitic argument to delegitimize the rights of the Jewish
people. Sadly, a lie repeated often enough appears to become
the truth. Lies that should not be repeated by Jews. The clear
fact is that the Jewish people have the right to the entire Land of
Israel, no different than the Holocaust survivor straggling into
his Polish hometown had the rights to his property which was
taken over by someone else.
The solution to a complex problem is many times the sim-
plest one. The hand-wringing and wailing over the “Palestinian”
problem has defied solution because the simplest fact has not
been grasped. Only one people can live in the Land of Israel.
The PLO was founded three years BEFORE there was any “occu-
pation.” Their desire was simply to eradicate Jews. Every territo-
rial concession by Israel has been met with the death of Jews and
persistent increased terror. The goal is to eradicate Jews.
The British sliced ¾ of the Palestine mandate and gave it to
the Arabs. Then the Land was subdivided further, with the
Jews receiving half of what was left. Therefore, the two-state
solution is clearly a valid one. The “Palestinian” Arabs deserve
their own home in a nation which is majority “Palestinian”
Arab; with a rich history; and a royal family with members
who are of “Palestinian” Arab descent. That nation already
exists as Jordan. One border wall — instead of a ridiculous Bos-
nian-style separation — would separate the Jews from their
enemies and give the Jews their right to safety. The left-wing
Jewish self-flagellation and interminable soul-searching would
then be over and even they could then focus on Jewish rights.
And that is the solution to the “occupation.”
Scott David Lippe, M.D.
Fair Lawn
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 43
Dear Rabbi Zahavy

Your Talmudic Advice Column

Dear Rabbi Zahavy, year, 2018, that miraculous primitive religions and cultures rang loud The show’s premise is that in the near
I live in Israel and I learn Tal- state will celebrate its 70th bells for me. I realized that I was a partici- future Israel has divided into two states
mud at a black-hat yeshiva. anniversary. In Jerusalem, pant in parallel tribal groupings as I grew because of irreconcilable issues. But not the
I really want to go into the you easily can see the new up. I knew firsthand, from my own experi- ones you expected. In this show, one is a
army, to serve in the IDF, light rail; the modern build- ences, about the structures that the anthro- religious charedi Jewish state, with its capi-
because it is a universal ings and streets; the infra- pologists had observed, discovered, and set tal in Jerusalem and a new wall around the
requirement of the state and structure; the cars, trains, forth in their field work. I imagined that I holy city, that is locked on Shabbos. And the
it provides a vibrant force to and planes flying overhead. came to Brown to study after 23 years of my other is a secular chiloni Jewish state, with
defend Jews against the array You see that business and own field work among the tribes of the Jews. its capital in Tel Aviv.
of Israel’s hostile enemies. Rabbi Tzvee commerce is booming. You What I recognized back at Brown was pro- I’ve watched the brief trailer and other
Also, I have always felt that I Zahavy can see young soldiers on the found and eye-opening for me. And I offer clips and reports about the show and I can
was born to be a soldier. roads hitching rides. Even if these few insights based on the experience say that it presents a terrifying dramatic
My rebbe teaches us that you do not participate or of my past learning to give you avenues to premise. But that’s the divide you face as
full-time Torah study is the best way to pro- attend them, you know there are muse- resolve you own bedrock quandaries. you try to bolt from one version of Jew-
tect and preserve the Jewish people. And he ums, universities, art galleries, theaters, Two positive aspects of tribalism are, ish tribalism and cross somewhat over to
also calls the IDF the shmad apostasy army. sports stadiums, soccer games, swimming first, that it fosters strength, focus, and the other.
He forbids his students from joining. I won’t pools, restaurants, and bars in Jerusalem, determination generated by a sense of My suggestion is not to try even one bit
go unless I have approval to do so from my in Tel Aviv, and throughout the land. loyalty of members to the collective. Sec- to change a basic cultural premise of your
religious mentor. Your rabbis tell you that the chiloni sec- ond, tribalism thrives on the development group. I’m certain that there is nothing
What should I tell my rebbe to convince ular lifestyle is decadent. They assure you of rituals and philosophies that foster you can say to your rebbe to get him to
him to permit me to serve? that living by secular material profane val- social solidarity. bless your decision to join the IDF.
Mixed Up in Mea Shearim, Israel ues will lead you to sheol — to the depths Two negative aspects of tribalism are, If you want to serve in the IDF, it may
Dear Mixed Up, of the netherworld. Your rabbis teach you first, that it fosters seeking and imagining mean you will need to leave your charedi
Your predicament is a tough one. I can see that the IDF is where you would be led to enemies all around. That helps cement the community. There are Orthodox hesder
how this dilemma can tear at your soul. apostasy — to the destruction and corrup- unity of the tribe. Second, tribalism draws yeshivas that facilitate service for their stu-
On the one hand, you live in the heart of tion that comes with the abandonment of significant energy from perceiving dangers dents. But they are religious Zionist institu-
a community that teaches that the values your faith. If you encounter the secular, outside the boundaries of the tribal com- tions, not charedi. You might try that path.
of the Torah are sacred. You study in a they ominously warn, you will be con- munity. That leads to the development of To be sure, the IDF and other organi-
yeshiva that is based on the premise that sumed by it into oblivion. practices and principles that segregate the zations will help charedim who enlist in
the mitzvah of talmud Torah — study of the No matter how relentlessly your teach- group from the general world and demon- Tzahal. News media reported at the end of
sacred books — is paramount. One known ers want to segregate you from the general izes the other — the outsiders. 2017 that nearly 3,000 “lone soldiers” of
metaphor that motivates you is this: If population and culture of the state, you still The State of Israel was created out of a charedi origin now serve in the IDF.
all the commandments and activities are may understand that it is a colossal success. sense of tribal unity and destiny on a much Changes like this one for you and for
placed on one side of a scale, and the com- You may intuit or suspect that the ongoing broader scale by a wide variety of diverse others come with costs. If you decide to
mandment to study Torah on the other creation of the State of Israel is the prom- groups united around a tribal core. And go, make sure you are willing to bear those
side, Torah study outweighs them all. Your ised fulfillment of the messianic predictions now, skipping over myriads of details of challenges, which likely will include breaks
community believes strongly in that value. of redemption of our classical prophets. history, we come to your problem. with your friends and family. It can make
And there are teachers in your commu- Now in all that context, let’s get to the Service in the IDF is one of the core rites you into a “lone soldier” even though your
nity who embellish the value of keeping crux of your question. Why do the rabbis of passage for a young person coming of family may live close by.
mitzvot and studying the sacred books not want you to serve in the IDF? What can age in the broad tribal culture of modern In all major paths of life, my advice to
with mystical claims. Some do say that you do about this issue? secular Israel. young and old alike is if you feel strongly
God protects the Jewish people because Step back and understand who we Contrasting with that, the contempo- that you were destined to follow a certain
of the virtue of the tzadikim — the saintly Jews are and what characteristic has been rary yeshiva world in Israel was created course of action, if you feel “This is what I
people who study the Torah and fulfill the basic and crucial to our identity over out of a different sense of tribal unity and am here on earth to do,” then you must go
613 commandments. the millennia. destiny. Obviously, contrasting sets of spe- down that road, even at great costs. If you do
Your charedi community insulates you Some believe that we Jews are simply cifics governs the two parallel worlds that not, surely you will regret it later in your life.
tightly from the general culture of the state. MOT — members of the tribes of Israel. It’s coexist side by side. But if you are not that sure, try this
You live in a carefully crafted bubble that not just any tribe. It’s the one God chose to Years back, I used to say to my uni- method to make your decision. Write all
fences you off from all other surrounding be his special people. That is the bedrock versity colleagues in Israel that I was so the positives for joining the IDF in one col-
communities, cultures, and worlds. of our coherence as a society. impressed with the miracle of the modern umn on a sheet of paper. Write all the neg-
I get it. I grew up in an Orthodox family What does that mean in analytical terms? state as it was playing out in Jerusalem in atives in another column. Hold that paper
and attended Yeshiva University from high When I left the cloisters of Yeshiva Univer- the 1980s and 90s. Jews and Arabs living in your hand and close your eyes. Breathe.
school through rabbinical school — for 11 sity and went off to Brown University to side by side, with minimal conflict. How Open your eyes. Now follow the path that
years. Okay, that environment is more study religion, I was floored when I read the amazing is that, I would proclaim. your gut intuition tells you to choose. And
porous. It is open to the study of general classical works in one discipline of learning, One time at a social dinner with profes- good luck to you as you go forth in the
disciplines of knowledge. Still many of the anthropology. I studied the works of Broni- sors, I said these things again. And a prom- adventure of your life.
rabbis who taught me strongly believed in slaw Malinowski, Emile Durkheim, Claude inent scholar stopped me and said that I
insulating, segregating, and separating the Levi-Strauss, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, James miss the point. The real miracle of Jerusa- Tzvee Zahavy has served as professor of
sacred from the profane. Torah study was G. Frazer, and many others. They wrote a lem, he said with confidence, was that cha- advanced Talmud, halakhah and Jewish
special and sacred. And secular subjects lot about the nature of magic and religion redim and chiloniim — religious and secu- law codes, Jewish liturgy, Jewish history,
were to be tolerated, not venerated. among unsophisticated tribes. lar Jews — live side by side, without killing Near Eastern and Jewish studies, and
On the other hand, you do live physi- Every insight from the early to middle each other. religious studies at major U.S. research
cally in the modern State of Israel. This 20th century researchers who worked with Today that miracle is being examined universities and seminaries. He is a prolific
daily in the press as it covers the political author who has published numerous
The Dear Rabbi Zahavy column offers mindful advice based on Talmudic tensions and dramas between religious and articles and books about Judaism and
reasoning and wisdom. It aspires to be equally open and meaningful to all the secular parties in the Knesset. And tense Jewish texts. He received his Ph.D. from
varieties and denominations of Judaism. You can find it here, usually on the frictions like these soon will be aired in a Brown University and his rabbinic
first Friday of the month. Please mail your questions to the Jewish Standard or new fictional TV drama, “Autonomies,” to ordination from Yeshiva University. Visit
email them to zahavy@gmail.com. be broadcast on Israeli TV later this year. www.tzvee.com for details.

44 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 D’var Torah
Shmini: On the eighth day

P
arashat Shmini takes its name
from the opening verse: “On
the eighth day, Moses called
upon Aaron and his sons and
the elders of Israel.” Picking up where
the prior parashah left off, now that the
formal initiation of worship has begun,
Moses calls the officials forward on the
eighth day to commence regular as
opposed to festive dedicatory worship.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his
monumental commentary to the Torah,
remarks on the significance of an eighth
day. The seven-day week is enshrined in
the first chapter of Genesis as an elemen-
tal period of time. Why then is the bris,
Hirsch asks, celebrated on the eighth day
rather than the seventh, at the comple-
tion of the first week of life? Because,
he writes, “by such a counting of seven
days, the condition of a previous period
is entirely closed, and with the eighth day
a new beginning is made, similar to the
octave in music, on a higher level.” We
might have thought that the seventh day
is the highest, the completing day of the
week. Indeed, it is the holy Shabbat.
But for a bris we wait until the eighth
day, as we are not seeking to Another tension between the day-to-day world of ordinary events.”
complete a period, but rather seven and eight can be seen The ultimate act of religious sanctification
to begin a new one. And the in the most ancient of Jewish is not merely to mark the holiness of the
new one is on a higher level symbols, the menorah. The Sabbath, it is to bring that holiness forth
than the one before. original Temple menorah into the following week, to mix the sacred
Hirsch offers the testi- was a candelabrum of seven into the realm of the profane. We who
mony of the musical scale. branches. But on Chanukah live in the Western world (and especially
There are seven basic steps we light eight lights, in an in Bergen County) are somewhat cheated
of the scale: do, re, me fa, expanded menorah. While of this opportunity, because our Sabbath
sol, la, ti. And yet it is not Rabbi Dr. the State of Israel adopted is followed by the sabbath of the major-
only because of “The Sound David J. Fine the seven-branched meno- ity, that is, Sunday. We have an entire day
of Music” that we feel com- Temple Israel rah as its seal, the people after Shabbat when business does not
and Jewish
pelled to follow ti with do, Community Center
of Israel light eight candles happen, shopping is restricted, and we
although the final do is an in Ridgewood, for eight days on Chanukah, are afforded precious time with our loved
octave higher than the ini- Conservative commemorating the rededi- ones. We have all day Sunday before we
tial one. We call it an octave, cation of the Temple under begin the new week. But of course, the
even though it is really Judah Maccabee. Matching two-day weekend is a luxury that we are
as scale of seven steps, not eight. The the original commencement of sovereign not all able to enjoy. And those of us who
eighth note, the do at the end, starts a worship at the time of Moses and Aaron, have spent time in Israel have experienced
new cycle, but on a higher level as the and the dedication of the first Temple the sharp transition from the restfulness
one it completes. under King Solomon, Judah Maccabee of Shabbat to the back-to-work grind of
So too does the bris bring the baby boy understood that it takes eight days to start Sunday morning. The redemption of the
to a new level that will surpass the one it a new phase, to move forward, to over- eighth day, the hope articulated by Hirsch,
completes. And so does the commence- come and surpass what came before. is that the eighth day is not a descent into
ment of regular worship in the ancient In his rich commentary on the Torah the grind, but an ascent to an even higher
tabernacle as noted in our parashah bring that appears in the Etz Hayim, Rabbi Har- level, a new octave. And it so happened
the people to an even higher level than the old Kushner explains that “on the eighth on the eighth day that Moses called upon
week of dedication that preceded it. day, we are challenged to begin living in Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.

Harvard’s first summit on Israel

brings Amar’e Stoudemire, good news to campus
PENNY SCHWARTZ

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — During his freshman year at Har-

vard University, Max August thought twice about expressing
his support for Israel among his classmates.
He was uncomfortable with the vitriolic language and tac-
tics of anti-Israel protests he encountered. “I was worried
about putting myself out there and being the face of Israel
on campus,” August, a New Yorker, said.
Not anymore.
On Sunday, August, now a sophomore, was proud to be
at the helm of the Israel Summit at Harvard. It was a daylong
student-organized conference that showcased the country’s
achievements around the world.
Billed as the first Israel summit at Harvard, it was
held under tight security at the Charles Hotel in Har-
vard Square. It attracted more than 400 people — mostly Amar’e Stoudemire, left, talks with Jon Frankel at the Israel Summit at Harvard University in Cambridge,
undergraduate and graduate students from Harvard, as Mass., on April 8, 2018. COLLIN HOWELL/ISRAEL SUMMIT AT HARVARD

well as from other Ivy League institutions and colleges in

Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Thousands more
watched on live stream.
The summit team, which included seven other Harvard
students, raised more than $200,000 from a handful of
institutions to pay for the summit, according to August,
its director.
“The goal of the summit is to provide greater insight into
the Israeli spirit,” August said in his opening remarks. Citing
headlines critical of Israel’s deadly clashes with Palestinian
protesters in Gaza and recent protests against Israel in Bos-
ton by the Jewish group IfNotNow, August told the audience
there is an “endless cycle of negativity” that overshadows
Israel’s positive narrative.
The summit boasted an eclectic cast of speakers, includ-
ing Amar’e Stoudemire, the six-time NBA All-Star forward
who played for the Hapoel Jerusalem team last year, after
retiring from the NBA; Israeli-born fashion mogul Elie
Tahari; Harvard’s president emeritus and former secretary
of the U.S. Treasury, Lawrence Summers; and Ron Prosor, a
former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.
Less familiar speakers, including Chloe Valdary, a 24-year-
old African-American who advocates for Israel, struck a
chord with the largely young audience.
Now a fellow at the pro-Israel nonprofit Jerusalem U,
Valdary drew laughs when she described her unusual child-
hood growing up in a Christian family in New Orleans that
SEE HARVARD PAGE 52

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 45

Crossword
“70 YEARS LATER” BY YONI GLATT
KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: MANAGEABLE
Across
1. Swear words
5. Like cheeks in winter, perhaps
9. Eve, in the Torah
14. Trojan Horse, for example
15. Pot put in
16. Literally, a pious Jew
17. Doubled month
18. On the Mediterranean
19. Word repeated in a seder song
20. Currency of the Holy Land, then
21. Currency of the Holy Land, now
23. Bar candidate’s exam, briefly
25. Freight charge deduction
26. Country of the Western Wall, then
29. Country of the Western Wall, now
33. Santa ___, Calif.
34. Jennifer Grey became a great one in a
1987 classic
38. “No problem!”
39. “The ___ Four”
40. Org. that checks Tefillin?
41. Common clothing chain
42. Be untruthful
43. Item that might be launched at a ball
game
46. “Great” English river
47. Main language in the Holy Land, then
49. Main language in the Holy Land, now
51. ___ above the rest
53. Market order
54. 29-Across and Saudi Arabia, then
57. 29-Across and Saudi Arabia, now
61. About 2.5 centimeters
62. “...___ buck I might” (“Newsies” lyric)
63. Brutish beasts
65. Clear away, as leaves
66. “Aeneid,” for one
67. Raises, as children
68. Hall-of-Famer Slaughter
69. It has 13 diamonds
70. Eppes ___
The solution to the puzzle is on page 55.
46 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
The Frazzled Housewife
Why?
T
here are many questions with
no answers.
I thought that since we just time I am at a baggage claim I want to
finished the holiday of Pass-
over, a holiday that comes with many
questions and some answers, it might
be relevant to explore some of the more
challenging questions that life gives us.
Don’t worry, none of those “Is there
life after death” or “What
is the real meaning of our
existence” queries. I am
talking about the real,
hard-hitting, and challeng-
ing experiences that come
our way. The ones that
make us step back, scratch
our heads, and say, “What
the what????”
Before I begin, my boys Banji
have pointed out to me Ganchrow
that I am too negative.
Thanks for pointing out the
obvious. And now, let us begin…
The baggage claim. It doesn’t matter
how many times I go to an airport, the
baggage claim always makes my blood
boil. There you are, going to pick up
your luggage that you now have to pay to
Down
check, and you are standing next to the
1. Face-to-face exam
2. German auto metal conveyor belt that is to bring you
3. Romanov ruler your precious cargo. The conveyor is
4. Boston rival of the Globe very long and curvy and there is plenty
5. City north of Tel Aviv with a large anglo of room for you to stand in order to see
population
if your luggage is coming and then shlep
6. First stage
7. Beefy dish, often it off the belt and be on your merry way.
8. Dough leavener But, alas, nothing is that easy.
9. “L’chaim!” Why, please tell me why, there are five your establishment at 8:15 p.m., do you
10. Some WikiLeaks workers people standing directly behind you also
11. New York stadium name
waiting to get their luggage? Why can’t
12. Poison container, perhaps
13. Do the numbers they also be standing next to the conveyor owner (not his real name), gives your
22. It’ll grow on you belt? Because when you see your suitcase,
24. One word sentence for Trump which weighs exactly 50 pounds in order
26. Ancient city now part of Tel Aviv to avoid an additional charge, you have
27. “Live”
to swing it and inevitably smack the shins to you, “What kind of mother are you
28. Midrashic title word
30. Foretell from omens of the person standing directly behind
31. Move the Magna Doodle lever you. And then they bump into the person
32. “For Scent-imental Reasons” toon behind them and then that person trips
Pepé over the carry-on that the person next
35. Advanced degree?
to him has just plopped down on some
36. CBS series, 2000-2015
37. Aural appendage random spot on the floor because no one
43. Tac’s partner has any regard for anyone else’s personal
44. Marred, as shoes space. That is my question. Why in this
45. Biblical pronoun day and age of technology, hasn’t any-
46. Accommodates
one figured out how to work the baggage
48. Clobbers
50. “Get Shorty” novelist Leonard
52. Cliche
53. Bit of nosh
54. It “rained” this in Sodom
55. “Take ___ empty stomach”
(prescription direction) Before I begin,
56. Designer Marc who put an asterisk on
Barry Bonds’s 756th home run ball
my boys have
58. Rocker Clapton
59. They’re low for an ace
pointed out to
60. Like the Sinai me that I am
64. 123-45-6789, say: abbr.
too negative.
claim? We are an intelligent society. This
should not be so difficult. And yet, every
scream, “ Come on people!!!!! Stop stand-
ing so close to me!!!”
Babies on airplanes. I only feel I can
delve into this one because I never flew
with any of my babies. I know that babies
do need to fly. That being said, why do
screaming babies commu-
nicate with each other on
flights? Do they think they
sound melodic? Are they
saying to each other, “Hey,
that old guy sitting next to
you looks like he is about
to fall asleep. Let’s scare
the bejabbers out of him!”
Or “Look at that couple.
They look like they are
contemplating becoming
parents. Let’s give them a
dose of reality…” Why are
the fathers wearing headphones when
the mother is shoving cheerios in one
kid’s mouth and trying to find a sippy
cup for the other kid?
Truthfully, the only positive about
sitting behind a baby is that he doesn’t
push his seat all the way back. How’s
that for a positive spin?
Getting off of the airplane for a bit,
let’s discuss the question of restaurants.
Why, if your website says that you are
open until 9 p.m., and the window of
your store says that you are open until
10 p.m., why, when a family walks into
say you are closing and can make you
only one pie? And then when Larry, the
kids four slices that are covered with
parsley and you say your kids don’t
eat pizza with “green stuff ” on it, says
that your kids don’t eat green stuff ?”
Really Larry? Please don’t mess with the
big, scary woman who hasn’t had carbs
all week because her son who finally
decided to come home from Israel has
put her on a diet…. And yet, with Larry’s
attitude, people still frequent his estab-
lishment. Why?
If you don’t like people, like me, you
become a writer, not a restaurant owner.
Feel free to let me know any questions
you might have. Right now, I am trying
not to shoot dirty looks to the screaming
baby. But only because my kids said that
I need to behave.
Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck actually is
very relaxed right now, having just spent
a week with her family in the Sunshine
State. She would like to publicly thank
her in-laws for making that happen. See,
she can be positive!
 Arts & Culture

The full cast of “Goldstein,” now playing in the Actors Temple Theater in Manhattan

‘Goldstein’ entertains in its modest way

MIRIAM RINN ended up marrying Louie instead. Why

E
very parent has to acknowledge
at some point, that “I did the
best I could.”
No one is perfect, and the par-
ent-child relationship is particularly vulner-
able to conflict and disappointment. While
family conflicts form the basis for so much
theater, immigrant stories of this sort tend
to wrap them in a gauzy nostalgia. The new
musical “Goldstein,” now at the Actors
Temple Theatre on West 47th Street, avoids
that and approaches the relationships
within a multi-generational Jewish family
with refreshing honesty and sympathy.
Louis Goldstein (Zal Owen) has written a
successful tell-all memoir about his family,
but some members of the family insist that
much of it is untrue. The show opens clev-
erly, with Louis addressing the audience
that happened, why Louie changed his
last name from Rudolph to Goldstein, and
why Sherri remained unmarried are more
family secrets that Louis reveals.
Unlike many immigrant family plays,
“Goldstein” does not pretend that every-
thing was warm and wonderful. The
usual formula in such stories is the fam-
ily had some obstacles, but it all worked
out because they stuck together and loved
each other so much. Here, the Goldsteins
experience desertion, betrayal, and dis-
crimination — and that’s just from each
other. For the most part, the show’s book,
by Charlie Schulman, which was inspired
by his 1998 play “The Kitchen,” makes the
play feel believable and real.
Though Zelda is a savvy businesswoman
who runs the family’s dress shop, that
doesn’t mean she thinks her daughter Megan McGinnis and Val Owen JEREMY DANIEL

as if it had come to a 92nd Street Y-style
author presentation. After exclaiming how
excited he is that the book is an Oprah’s
pick, Louis quickly invokes his grandpar-
ents, Zelda (Amie Bermowitz) and Louie
( Jim Stanek); his parents, Nathan (Aaron
Galligan-Stierle) and Eleanor (Sarah Beth
Pfeifer); his aunt, Sherri (Megan McGinnis),
and his sister, Miriam ( Julie Benko) in the
song “They Are Here.”
As the 90-minute play progresses, we
learn that Zelda fell in love with a man on
the ship that brought her to America but
Sherri should go to medical school, even
on a full scholarship. On the contrary, she
thinks that Sherri should put her energies
into finding a husband. Sherri is the saddest
character in the play, consistently pushed
aside for her less talented brother, yet she’s
the one who is most insistent that Louis’s
book is filled with falsehoods. That kind of
family loyalty is not uncommon; Sherri is a
gentle, dependent woman who never con-
siders the possibility of just doing what she
wants, regardless of what her parents want.
It’s the women in the family who make
the sacrifices. Zelda abandons her dream
of romantic love, Sherri sets aside her
own ambition to further her brother’s,
and Eleanor learns to deal with a critical
and demanding mother-in-law — with the
help of a bottle of pills. Still, family bonds
provide strength as well as restriction. The
duet between Nathan and Sherri, “Stand-
ing Beside You,” emphasizes the deep
connection between the brother and sis-
ter, despite their parents’ favoritism. The
funniest number is “Visiting Your Mother,”
with Eleanor and Nathan making the trip
out to New Jersey to see Zelda. One thing
the show could have used more of is up-
tempo, humorous songs. Michael Roberts’
lyrics usually are more interesting than his
music.
“Goldstein” is a modest show that doesn’t
try to be more than it is. It depends on a
likable, talented cast and clear direction by
Brad Rouse to keep the pace crisp. It isn’t a
powerhouse, but in its own sweet way, it is
an enjoyable theatrical experience.

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 47

Calendar with recipes and spices 2-3:30 p.m. Bring
Friday featured in “Zahav: A
World of Israeli Cooking,”
your own instruments.
682 Harristown Road.
APRIL 13 this year’s book featured (201) 652-6624 or
in JFNNJ’s “One Book alfredel@aol.com.
One Community” project.
56 Ridgewood Road. Learn about Broadway:
(201) 664-7422, or www. Broadway insider Doug
templebethornj.org. Besterman, a Drama
Desk and Tony Award-
winning orchestrator,
Sunday presents “The Making
APRIL 15 of a Broadway Musical Alan Alda
from Beginning to
Yom HaShoah in Opening Night,” at a
Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler Emerson: Congregation private home in Alpine,
B’nai Israel in Emerson 2 p.m. Refreshments.
Shabbat in Teaneck: Reservations,
holds a commemoration
Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler Janet Rosenberg,
involving members,
of the Ohel Nechama (201) 768-2374 or
high school students,
Community Synagogue Yoyojanet@aol.com.
and younger children,
in Jerusalem is the
who will participate
scholar-in-residence
in a staged reading
at Congregation Rinat
of stories of children
Yisrael. Tonight, after
caught in the Holocaust,
Mincha at 7 p.m., he will
9:30 a.m. 53 Palisade Alan Alda in Tenafly:
give a brief dvar halacha;
Ave. (201) 265-2272 or The Kaplen JCC on
on Shabbat morning,
www.bisrael.com. the Palisades hosts its
he will give drashot at
COURTESY SAR

both the 8:30 and 9 a.m. annual Premier Speaker

Volunteer training evening for its Patron
minyans. At 6 p.m., there in Englewood:
will be a “Mimamakim” of the Arts Program,
From “Yours Sincerely, Lois Weber” Englewood Hospital 7 p.m. , with seven-time
shiur to honor Yom and Medical Center
HaShoah. After Mincha Emmy and Golden Globe
holds an information Award winner Alan Alda.
at 7, Rabbi Adler will session for volunteers
APRIL SAR Academy in discuss “Rambam’s for its end-of-life doula
411 East Clinton Ave.
Movie in Paramus: (201) 569-7900 or www.
Riverdale, N.Y., hosts Enigmatic Position on

16
program, at the hospital, jccotp.org/alda.
Yishuv Eretz Yisrael.” The JCC of Paramus/
the SAR HS Lit & Film There will be a kumsitz
10 a.m. Volunteers must
Congregation Beth
be compassionate,
Fest, a contemporary at the shul at 9:30, with dedicated community
Tikvah screens “Gigi,”
a 1958 Academy
issues film festival, starting at 5:30 “Al Eileh Ani Bochi’ya,” members; they will
Award-nominated film,
songs for fallen soldiers.
p.m., in partnership with the (Dis) The weekend ends
provide comfort and
3 p.m., to celebrate
meaning to patients
honesty Project and LUNAFEST. with a Sunday morning during their last days.
the 60th anniversary
of its groundbreaking.
The program includes student- shiur, “Kol Dodi Dofek
Revisited,” at 8:45 a.m.
Volunteers receive
Deli supper served;
led sessions on contemporary 389 West Englewood
comprehensive training,
support, and continued
reservations necessary.
issues in film. At 7, “Luna Fest” Ave. (201) 837-2795. education. Supported by
304 E. Midland Ave.
(201) 262-7691.
— short films by, for, and about the Kaplen Foundation.
women including “Toys,” “Waiting Saturday (201) 894-3896 or Yom HaShoah in Jersey
EnglewoodHealth.org/ City: Rabbi Aaron Katz Knitting/book club in
for Hassana,” and “Last Summer APRIL 14 calendar. Teaneck: The sisterhood
leads a community Yom
in the Garden” — and “(Dis) HaShoah service, with of the Jewish Center of
Celebrating Israel Teaneck hosts Knitting
Honesty — The Truth About Lies,” in Rockland: Jewish
participation from other
Night, an opportunity
shuls, at Congregation
a feature-length educational Federation & Foundation
B’nai Jacob, 4 p.m. to get together and
documentary about how and of Rockland County
Inspirational music by knit, crochet, or stitch,
holds its Israel @ 7-8 p.m. For a mentor,
why people lie, are screened. It’s 70 celebration at
members of Aristo
and to learn what
Strings, remarks from
funded by a microgrant from the the Rockland JCC
Galiet Peleg, a member supplies to bring, email
Jewish Education Project. 503 in West Nyack, N.Y., sisterhood@jcot.org.
of the Israeli consulate
10 a.m.-2 p.m., with Next, the Leaves of
W. 259th St. in the Bronx. For Shabbat in Washington
live music, children’s
in New York, and talk
Faith Book Club will
Township: Rabbi by Carla Main, whose
screening schedule and details, Noah Fabricant leads a
activities, an Israeli shuk,
father wrote the first discuss Matti Friedman’s
www.sarhighschool.org/filmfest, dancing, and more. “Pumpkin Flowers”
Havdalah service, 6 p.m., curriculum for teaching
JewishRockland.org/ with Professor Sarah
or (718) 548-2727. followed by “Zahav-
Israel70.
the Holocaust to young
Rindner and Rabbi Daniel
Dalah: A Celebration people in high schools in
of Israeli Spices,” with 1973. 176 West Side Ave. Fridman. 70 Sterling
Family drum circle: Place. (201) 833-0515 or
congregant and Israeli The Glen Rock Jewish Supported by JFNNJ’s
cooking instructor Hudson County Regional jcot.org.
Center hosts a drum
Cammy Boucier. Food circle for families, Council. (201) 435-5725
there will be prepared or Info@bnaijacobjc.org.

48 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 Calendar
718 Teaneck Road. WEDNESDAY  Community Yom Shabbat in Closter: Historic Israeli films in
Monday  (800) 933-2566 or www.
nybloodcenter.org.
APRIL 18 Ha’atzmaut in Teaneck: Temple Beth El Franklin Lakes: Temple
APRIL 16 A gala Teaneck celebrates Israel’s Emanuel of North Jersey
Blood drive in Teaneck: community-wide birthday during services screens four original
Lunch and learn: Rabbi Torah Academy of celebration of Israel’s led by Rabbis David films that follow Israel’s
Aaron Katz leads lunch Bergen County holds founding is at the Jewish Widzer and Beth Kramer- story from the years
and learn on current a blood drive with Center of Teaneck, Mazer and student leading to its birth to
topics at Congregation New Jersey Blood 7:15 p.m. Mincha, Yom cantor Julie Staple, with more recent times, 2 p.m.
B’nai Jacob in Jersey Services, a division of Ha’zikaron presentation the Unplugged Band, Ice cream and popcorn.
City, noon. $10. 176 West New York Blood Center, from an Israeli soldier, Junior Choir, Rinat Beth 558 High Mountain Road.
Side Ave. (201) 435-5725 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 1600 Ma’ariv, Israeli shuk El, and religious school (201) 560-0200 or www.
or Info@bnaijacobjc.org. Queen Anne Road. with food, and music. students, 6:45 p.m. 221 tenjfl.org.
(800) 933-2566 or www. 70 Sterling Place. Schraalenburgh Road.
Naré Mkrtchyan nybloodcenter.org. (201) 833-0515. (201) 768-5112 or www. School open house
tbenv.org. in Wyckoff: Temple
Armenian genocide: Beth Rishon hosts a
Naré Mkrtchyan Thursday  Shabbat in Wyckoff: religious school open
screens her film, “The APRIL 19 Temple Beth Rishon house to celebrate
Other Side of Home,” hosts a Yom Ha’Atzmaut Israel, 9:30 a.m.-
about the legacy of Parkinson’s support: celebration for Shabbat, noon, for children in
the 1915 Armenian The Jewish Home Family with choral pieces kindergarten through
genocide by the continues a monthly and folk songs, led by sixth grade. Breakfast,
Turkish government, support group for Rabbis Stephen Wylen activities including
at the Robert A. Scott people with a diagnosis and Lois Ruderman; decorating tee-shirts,
Student Center Alumni of Parkinson’s disease, featuring Cantor Ilan dance, presentations,
Destination Unknown Lounges (SC 157-158) Christina Kamilaris their families, and their Mamber; cantorial intern and tours. Staff on
at Ramapo College caregivers, with chair Naomi Rogin; soloist Jo hand. 585 Russell Ave.
Yom HaShoah in River in Mahwah, 7:30 p.m. Healthy eating: Christina Ann Skiena Garey; Kol (201) 891-4466 or www.
Edge: “Destination yoga, at the Jewish Home
Sponsored by Ramapo’s Kamilaris, the registered at Rockleigh, 10 a.m. Rishon, the synagogue’s bethrishon.org.
Unknown,” a 2017 Gross Center for dietician at ShopRite adult choir; Zemer
documentary directed At 10:30, Dr. Michael D.
Holocaust and Genocide of Paramus, discusses Robinson, physiatrist at Rishon, its teen choir, Klezmer in Bergenfield:
by Claire Ferguson Studies. 505 Ramapo alternative food choices pianist Itay Goren, and T-Klez performs a
and produced by Llion Northeast and Rockland
Valley Road, Mahwah. for living healthier lives Orthopedics and Sports percussionist Jimmy klezmer concert at
Roberts, is shown at a (201) 684-7409. for Tri Boro Hadassah at Cohen, 7:30 p.m. Israeli the Bergenfield Public
Holocaust remembrance Medicine Division, will
the JCC of Paramus/CBT, discuss “Mindfulness desserts. 585 Russell Library, 2-3 p.m. The trio
program by River Dell 1 p.m. 304 East Midland Ave. (201) 891-4466 or includes Bergenfield’s
Hadassah at the River Based Stress Reduction.”
Ave. (201) 585-8546. Refreshments. 10 Link bethrishon.org. David Licht,
Edge Public Library, percussionist, a founding
7 p.m. Holocaust survivor Survivor talk in Drive. (201) 750-4246
or email parkinsons@ member of the world-
Ed Mosberg of New Teaneck: Holocaust famous Klezmatics;
Jersey, featured in the survivor Miryam jewishhomefamily.org.
accordionist Psachya
film, will be there. Co- Suserman discusses Lecture/lunch/museum Septimus, who has
sponsored by Hadassah, “Beyond Remembrance,” trip: The Dor L’Dor group played with Avrohom
Friends of the River for Hillel, at Fairleigh at Congregation Ahavath Fried, diaspora Yeshiva
Edge Library, and the Dickinson University Torah in Englewood Band, Yehuda Green, and
River Edge Cultural Metropolitan Campus, offers a talk by artist Soulfarm; and clarinetist
Center. 685 Elm Ave. Rabbi Hanoch Teller Student Union Building, Sheryl Intrator Urman, Dena Ressler, who has
Dairy refreshments. Rutherford room, 10:30 a.m., brunch, taught at KlezKamp
(201) 261-1663, ext. 4. Holocaust memories in Teaneck, 1 p.m. 1 Sub and transportation and the New England
Teaneck: Rabbi Hanoch Lane, off River Road. and admission to the Lloyd Kenyon Conservatory of Music’s
tuesday  Teller will discuss “The
Holy Responsibility of
Lunch served. All
welcome. Talia, (973)
Newark Museum for a
Shabbat in Wayne:
summer Klezmer
Institute. 50 West Clinton
docent-led tour of a new
APRIL 17 Remembrance,” based on 885-3433 or Talia@ exhibit, “The Rockies, the Temple Beth Tikvah Ave. (201) 387-4040 or
his latest book, “Heroic HillelNNJ.org. welcomes special guest www.TKlez.com.
Alps and the Romance
Children — Untold Stories Reverend Dr. Lloyd
of the Mountains.” A
of the Unconquerable,”
tour of the Ballantine Kenyon, the former Israeli cuisine in
on behalf of the Northern
House, a national historic pastor of the Preakness Pompton Lakes:
New Jersey Holocaust Baptist Church in Wayne, Congregation Beth
landmark since 1985, is
Memorial & Education for the annual Rabbi Shalom screens “In
included. Meet at the
Center, at a fundraising Israel S. Dresner Tikkun Search of Israeli Cuisine”
shul. Attendees can
evening at Congregation Olam lecture, 7:30 p.m. and offers Israeli snacks
attend just the lecture
Rinat Yisrael, 7:30 p.m. Dr. Kenyon received and desserts from
and brunch. 240 Broad
Wine tasting sponsored the Temple Beth Tikvah recipes of “Zahav,”
Ave. Reservations,
by Kedem Wines. Human Rights award and this year’s JFFNJ One
(201) 568-1315 or www.
Refreshments. 389 the Jewish Federation Book One Community
Dr. Sima Goel West Englewood Ave.
ahavathtorah.org.
of North Jersey chose Selection, prepared by
Inspirational speaker in (201) 362-6776. Jewish New York: Marty him to spend time book club members,
Dr. Stanislao Pugliese
Teaneck: Iranian-born Dr. Schneit talks about on a study tour in 7 p.m. 21 Passaic Ave.
Community Yom “Jewish New York” for Israel. 950 Preakness www.bethshalomnj.org.
Sima Goel, a writer and
Hazikaron: A ceremony The Vatican and the
chiropractor who lived Holocaust: Dr. Stanislao the Renaissance Club at Ave. Refreshments.
to commemorate 950 Preakness Ave.
under two dictators, the Pugliese, a Hofstra Temple Avodat Shalom in
Shah and the Ayatollah
Khomeini, discusses
Israel’s fallen soldiers
and victims of terror is University history
professor, discusses
River Edge, 1:30 p.m. 385
Howland Ave. (201) 489-
(973) 595-6565.
Singles
at Ben Porat Yosef, 8
her life experiences at a
general meeting of the
p.m. Featured speakers “The Vatican and the
Holocaust” in the
2463, or avodatshalom.net. Sunday  Thursday 
include Naftali Gross, IDF APRIL 22
Bergen County section
of the National Council of
medic and paratrooper; Trustees Pavilion (PAV
3) at Rsamapo College
Friday  APRIL 19
and Matan Dansker, APRIL 20 Hebrew high school
Jewish Women at Temple in Mahwah, 4 p.m. Widows and widowers
IDF Golani brigade open house: The Bergen
Emeth in Teaneck, Sponsored by Ramapo’s meet: Movin’ On, a
squad commander. County High School of
12:30 p.m. Refreshments. Gross Center for Shabbat in Fort Lee: monthly luncheon
Both are Operation Jewish Studies, which
1666 Windsor Road. Holocaust and Genocide The JCC of Fort Lee/
Protective Edge veterans. meets at the Moriah group for widows and
(201) 385-4847 or www. Studies and Ramapo’s Congregation Gesher
Presentation, “Reiut School in Englewood, widowers, meets at
ncjwbcs.org. Italian Club. 505 Ramapo Shalom hosts an Israeli-
V’mesirut,” (friendship has orientation for the Glen Rock Jewish
Valley Road, Mahwah. themed congregational
Blood drive in Teaneck: and dedication), about new and prospective Center, 12:30 p.m. 682
(201) 684-7409. dinner in honor of Yom
Holy Name Medical IDF soldiers and victims students, 9:30-12:45 p.m. Harristown Road. $5 for
Ha’atzmaut, 6 p.m.,
Center holds a blood of terror; prayers, and 53 South Woodland St. lunch. (201) 652-6624 or
and musical services
drive with New Jersey Yizkor. Program in (201) 488-0834 or www. email arbgr@aol.com.
at 7. 1449 Anderson
Blood Services, a division Hebrew and English. E. bchsjs.org.
Ave. Reservations,
of New York Blood 243 Frisch Court. (201)
(201) 947-1735 or www.
Center, 1:30 -7:30 p.m. 845-5007, or www.
geshershalom.org.
benporatyosef.org.

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 49

r Extended through June 30th!
“Surprisingly fierce
little musical. Brimming
with warmth and
clandestine power.”
– Zachary Stewart,
TheaterMania
“Genuinely affecting and
enjoyable. A rewarding
and touching piece of
musical theater.”
– Miriam Rinn,
Jewish Standard
Telecharge.com • 212.239.6200
Theatre Row • The Acorn Theatre
410 West 42nd Street
LetterToHarveyMilk.com
9 50 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
Calendar
JFNNJ and Ridgewood shul
celebrate Israel’s 70th
Temple Israel & JCC in Ridgewood and the Jew-
ish Federation of Northern New Jersey host two
Israeli musicians — vocalist Gilad Paz and pia-
nist Shy Kedmi — performing soft rock classics
at the shul. The Sunday, April 22 concert, set
for 3 p.m., is the America-Israel Cultural Foun-
dation’s salute Israel’s 70th anniversary. Doors
will open at 2:45. The concert is sponsored by
congregant Richard Schnaittacher. Shy Kedmi Gilad Paz
After the performance, a festive reception
will include Israeli appetizers prepared from recipes in “Zahav: A World of Israeli Cook-
ing” by chef Michael Solomonov, the federation’s “One Book, One Community” selec-
tion the year. The shul is at 475 Grove St. Call (201) 444-9320.
Ma’ayanot Holocaust art on display
The art departmenat at
Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High
School for Girls displays
“Overcoming the Holo-
caust,” works that depict
the psychological after-
math of trauma, at the
Teaneck Library, through
April 30.
COURTESY MA’AYANOT
An opening reception to
meet the artists, and their
teacher, Natalia Kadish,
will be on Wednesday,
April 18, Yom Ha’zikaron,
at 7:30 p.m.
The exhibit moves to the “The Journey” by Esther Brodsky
Bergenfield Library in May.
Sunday Israel folk dance festival
The 67th annual Israel Folk Dance Festi- and singers from communities across the
val and Festival of the Arts will be on Sun-
day, April 15, at 3:30 p.m., at the Martin
United States and includes dance troupes
from Israel, Brazil, and Canada.
Luther King Jr. Educational Campus in
Manhattan. This year’s theme is “Medina
The school is at 122 Amsterdam Ave.,
at 65th Street. For tickets, email festi-
Chogeget v’Rokedet” — “a land that cel- val@israelidanceinstitute.org or call
ebrates and dances. It features dancers (917) 689-7677.
Register for Ezra Schwartz run/waIk
Registration and sponsorship opportu- was murdered by terrorists in Israel
nities for the Ezra Schwartz Memorial while volunteering to deliver food to IDF
FIT (for Israel team Hillel) 5K run/one soldiers. Since its inception, the FIT5K
mile fun walk on Sunday, April 29 at Buc- has raised more than $150,000 in sup-
cleuch Park in New Brunswick is open. port of Israel engagement, education,
All of the event proceeds benefit the Rut- and advocacy programs at Rutgers Uni-
gers Hillel Center for Israel Engagement. versity Hillel. The walk and run will be
The race is named to honor the mem- held rain or shine. www.bestrace.com/
ory of Ezra Schwartz, an incoming Rut- NewBrunswick/FlT5K or (732) 545-2407.
gers freshman in the class of 2020, who
JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 50
 LET THE
VOTING
BEGIN
2018
READERS’
2018
CHOICE 2018

Cast your votes for your favorite

retailers, restaurants, and professionals.
You could win Visa gift cards,
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JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 51
Jewish World
Harvard
FROM PAGE 45
followed the kosher dietary rules and
observed Jewish holy days. Instead of
responding to anti-Israel attacks, she said,
Israel’s supporters should be asking, “How
do people fall in love with the people and
country of Israel?” It’s the basis of her new
media work and a Jerusalem U film that
will be released soon.
Tahari described his unlikely and
unorthodox rise to prominence in the fash-
ion industry and his ties with Israel. Born
in Jerusalem to parents who fled Iran, he
called Israel a thriving nation where “Tel
Aviv is like a small New York City.”
Later Sunday evening, Tahari received
the Leadership in Arts Award from Identi-
ties Fashion Show, a Harvard student-led
event unrelated to the Israel Summit.
Summers touched on the Israeli-Pal-
estinian conflict. In an onstage interview
with David Gergen, a presidential adviser
under four administrations and a profes-
sor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Gov-
ernment, Summers said he “worries more
than a little” that the Trump administra-
tion’s diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestin-
ian conflict is “too strongly tilted toward
Israel,” a strategy that may not be the best
long-term approach, he cautioned.
He sees hope in students sharing posi-
tive stories about Israel and encouraged
students to speak out against anti-Israel
activities.
Students seems to find personal narra-
tives like Stoudemire’s the most captivat-
ing. In an interview with Jon Frankel, an
HBO sports correspondent, Stoudemire
traced his affinity and passion for Israel
to growing up in an African-American
family who believe they are connected to
the biblical Israelites.
In February, Stoudemire, 35, launched a
line of Israeli wines. “I had to have a glass
of wine after every bite of matzah,” during
Passover, he joked with Frankel.
Stoudemire recently launched Stat Acad-
emy, a distance learning program offering
a course on the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Playing ball in Israel took some adjust-
ment, Stoudemire acknowledged. “The
balls are lighter, a little smaller. But the level
of skill was pretty impressive,” he said.
His first trip to Israel, six years before,
was for study. “I did feel as if I was com-
ing home,” he said in answer to Frankel’s
question. “It was very eye-opening.”
Stoudemire said he has applied for Israeli
citizenship and is in the process of convert-
ing to Judaism. While he didn’t return to
play for Hapoel for a second season, he still
has a part ownership of the team.
Stoudemire’s talk was “the cherry on
top of a great day,” said Daniel Egel-Weiss,
a student at Harvard Law School. Hearing
Stoudemire speak about his Jewish cul-
tural awakening was fascinating, he said,
but the whole day was interesting.
“It’s great to have an ambassador [for
Israel] in social circles,” Egel-Weiss said.
Other summit speakers included
52 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018
Sivan Ya’ari, the founder and CEO of
Innovation: Africa, speaks at the summit.
 ELYSE PONO/PETER ROCHE
Mohammad Darawshe, an expert in Jew-
ish-Arab relations and director of plan-
ning at the Givat Haviva Educational Cen-
ter, who spoke about the need to improve
opportunities for Arab youth in Israel who
often lack the Hebrew language skills to
gain meaningful employment.
Narkis Alon, featured in Forbes’ 30
Under 30 list as a promising Israeli entre-
preneur, most recently co-founded Double
You, a platform to support women in the
workplace, which now reaches 14 coun-
tries. Her workshop attracted some two
dozen women eager to hear her strategies
on changing the work culture for women.
Sivan Ya’ari used her personal journey
in founding Innovation: Africa to high-
light the possibilities in bringing Israeli
solar, agricultural, and water technology
to transform the lives of people lacking
basic resources. Born in Israel and raised
in France, Ya’ari ran a chain of nail salons
in Israel while bringing Israeli know-how
to rural Africa.
Her story resonated with many students
who lined up to speak with her after the
conference.
“For me, Ya’ari’s work was eye opening,”
said Gaele Pierre-Louis, a student from
Brooklyn studying at the Harvard Gradu-
ate School of Education. Pierre-Louis,
whose parents are Haitian, was unaware
of Israel’s role in developing technology
for solar energy.
She admired Ya’ari for sharing technol-
ogy from more developed countries to
improve the lives of the others.
“The reason why I came was because
many of the students here are the future
leaders,” Ya’ari said. “I was a student when
I started, and I hope that some of what I
said will inspire them to do the same.”
The summit was co-sponsored by 15 stu-
dent organizations. In addition to Jewish
groups, including Harvard Hillel, August
attributed the sold-out success to co-
sponsoring with seven non-Jewish groups
such as the Undergraduate Global Health
Forum and the Leadership Institute at Har-
vard College. JTA WIRE SERVICE
Obituaries
Beatrice Alter
Beatrice Alter, 98, of Springfield,
formerly of Maplewood, died April 7.
Born and raised in Newark, she
owned Bayberry Card & Gift Shop
in Mountainside for more than
30 years.
Predeceased by her son,
Harvey, in 2015, and sisters,
Nettie Shapiro, Evelyn Samurin,
and Pearl Lesser, she is survived
by a daughter, Roberta Ferrara;
grandchildren, Stephanie Ferrara
and Matthew Ferrara; and two
great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to the
National Council of Jewish Women
or Hadassah. Arrangements were by
Jewish Memorial Chapel, Clifton.
Dr. Michael Brauer
Dr. Michael K. Brauer, 72, of
Oakland, died April 6.
He earned undergraduate and
dental degrees from Fairleigh
Dickinson University, and went to
Columbia University’s periodontal
program. A periodontist in Oakland
and Franklin Lakes, he earned
awards and accolades for his
contributions to periodontics. He
retired early due to the progression
of multiple sclerosis.
He is survived by his wife of
40 years, Lila, née Silverman;
daughters, Erica Navarino ( Jason) of
Morristown, and Danielle Gorshein
(Eshai) of Wayne; a sister, Karen
Stein of California; a brother,
Charles, of Massachusetts; four
grandchildren, Sadie, Maya, and
Eden Gorshein and Jacob Navarino;
and his aide of 16 years, Tomaz
Tavadze. Donations can be made
to the New Jersey Metro chapter
of the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society. Arrangements were by
Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel,
Paramus.
Morris Friedmann
Morris Friedmann, centenarian, of
Pompton Plains, formerly of Fair
Lawn, died April 8.
A Holocaust survivor, he and
the remnants of his family came
to Paterson in 1949. A mechanical
engineer, he established a home
building business in 1964 with his
brother, Arnold, creating many
Bergen County neighborhoods.
After retiring he was involved in
the Jewish Council at Cedar Crest in
Pompton Plains.
Predeceased by his wife of
67 years, Frieda, in 2016, he is
survived by his children, Sylvia
(Alan Le Vine), and Steven (Nancy);
grandchildren, Barry Le Vine
(Stephanie) and Lauren Le Vine; and
two great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to a
Holocaust-related non-profit
organization or the Jewish Council
of Cedar Crest.
Arrangements were by Robert
Schoem’s Menorah Chapel,
Paramus.
Robert Kraus
Robert Laks Kraus, 89, died April 7.
A New York University graduate,
he was a U.S. Army veteran serving
in South Korea. He was an executive
at Texaco, American Cyanamid,
New York Hospital, and the Fantus
Company, and he was a genealogist.
He was a longtime member of
Temple Beth Tikvah in Wayne,
treasurer of the Myriam’s Dream
charity, and a Meals on Wheels
volunteer.
He is survived by his wife of 67
years, Roberta Mae, née Passeltiner;
children, Beth Sher, and Rabbi
Jonathan Kraus (Amy Levine Kraus);
grandchildren, Jessica Sher Marcus
(Davey), Julie Sher, Jacob Kraus, and
Abigail Kraus.
Services were at Temple Beth
Tikvah, where donations can be
sent to the shul’s Bea Weisberg
scholarship fund. Arrangements
were by Robert Schoem’s Menorah
Chapel, Paramus.
Iris Rosenberg
Iris Rosenberg, née Liberman, 75, of
Wayne, formerly of Fair Lawn, died
April 9.
She was a member of
Congregation Beth Shalom in
Pompton Lakes and a bookkeeper
for the Paterson Pickle Company.
Predeceased by her husband,
Laslo, she is survived by a daughter,
Michelle of Fair Lawn; sisters Sydell
Nadel and Madeline Liberman; and
grandchildren, Lillie and Ari.
Donations can be sent to the
American Lung Association.
Arrangements were by Louis
Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.
Harry Sandlaufer
Harry J. Sandlaufer, 96, of Short
Hills, formerly of Jersey City, died
March 28 in Delray Beach, Fla.
Born in Jersey City, he was a
U.S. Marine World War II veteran,
receiving a Bronze Star in the Battle
of Okinawa.
Before retiring, he owned
Municipal Oil Co. and was a
member of Temple Beth El, both
in Jersey City.
Predeceased by wife, Elaine,
née Newman, in 2006, and a son,
Douglas in February, he is survived
by sisters, Shirley Sandlaufer and
Marion Baron, three grandchildren,
and one great-grandchild.
Arrangements were by Eden
Memorial Chapel, Fort Lee.
 Obituaries

Gloria Wasserman Linda Luizzi (Richard) of Fair Lawn; sister, Susan

Gloria Wasserman, née Morris, 85, of Fair Lawn,
died April 3.
She worked in accounting at Stern’s department
store’s Paramus offices, and belonged to Benjamin N.
Cardozo Widows and the Fair Lawn Jewish Center.
Predeceased by her husband, Saul, and sons,
Kenneth and Robert, she is survived by a daughter,
Schwartz of Hackensack; grandchildren, Alyssa (Ilya),
and Brian; and sister-in-law, Ellen Krantz (Irving), of
Obituaries are prepared with
Monroe Township.
information provided by funeral homes. Correcting
Donations can be made to the American Cancer
errors is the responsibility of the funeral home.
Society. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban
Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Ruth Bernhardt
Ruth Bernhardt, a longtime resident of Fair Lawn, You are personally invited to be our guest for
died on March 22 at the age of 83. dinner and a free, informative presentation about
She was born in New York City and moved to New the benefits of pre-arranging your funeral
Jersey in 1960 when she married her husband, Henry (Dietary laws observed) Funeral Planning Simplified
Bernhardt. She and her family were members of Your Life. BergenJewishChapel.com
Temple Emanuel of Paterson for many years. She
was a devoted wife and mother, spending many years Your Legacy.
201.261.2900 | 789 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666
as a parent volunteer in her children’s elementary ...Plan to Make it Right Seminar
Owner/Manager Daniel W. Leber, NJ Lic. No3186
school. Thursday, April 19th at 6 pm
Ruth studied marketing in college and when she
went back to work, was employed in the fundraising
Westwood Woman’s Club
201-791-0015 800-525-3834
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While she and Henry lived in Mount Arlington for
Presented By: Sensitive to Needs of the Jewish Community for Over 50 Years
the last eleven years, she always remained connected • Serving NJ, NY, FL & Israel
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She leaves behind Henry, her husband of 57 years, Jewish Funeral Directors • Prepaid funerals and all medicaid funeral benefits honored
her brother Robert (Renee), her dear cousin Ann Alan Musicant Mgr. NJ Lic. No. 2890 “Always within a family’s financial means”
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Seating is Limited. Please RSVP by April 17th
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327 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ Advance Planning Conferences Conveniently Arranged
201-947-3336 · 888-700-EDEN at the Funeral Home or in Your Own Home
www.edenmemorial.com GuttermanMusicantWien.com

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 53

Classified
Cemetery Plots For Sale Crypts For Sale Situations Wanted
(201) 837-8818
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54 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 Classified

Handyman plumBing

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Real Estate & Business

‘Detective Story’ takes the stage at Ma’ayanot on April 15 and 16

Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School, in collabora-
tion with Black Box Studios, announces their
2018 Spring Ma’ayanot Drama Society pro-
duction: Sidney Kingsley’s captivating, riv-
eting drama Detective Story. Featuring the
school’s largest and most diverse cast yet,
Detective Story will be performed at 7:30
p.m. on April 15 and April 16 at Ma’ayanot,
1650 Palisade Ave., Teaneck. Tickets, avail-
able in advance, are $10 each and are on
sale now at www.blackboxnynj.com. Due
to the unique presentation of the play,
seating is limited and advance purchases
are suggested.
Englewood East Hill
343 Hillcrest Road
Situated high atop Englewood’s East Hill is this wonderful antique farmhouse. The home
features large rooms, hardwood floors and original woodworking. Possibilities are endless
with what you can do with this house and property. Location, Location, Location!!!
The 1949 drama Detective Story, by
acclaimed playwright Sidney Kingsley, was
performed on Broadway for over two years
and received an Edgar Award for best play.
The story portrays a not-so-typical evening
at a New York City police precinct, featur-
ing detectives, criminals, and victims from
all areas of the moral spectrum — where
everything is not what it seems, particularly
when it comes time to judge a person’s char-
acter. Detective James McLeod questions
everything he thinks he knows when secrets
are revealed and the 21st Precinct detec-
tives must try to keep from falling apart.
In this postmodern clas-
sic, Kingsley blurs the lines
between cops and crimi-
nals, between justice and
vengeance, and between
right and wrong.
This new production of
Detective Story is directed
by BBPAC/BBS Artistic
Director Matt Okin and stu-
dent directed by Ma’ayanot
sophomores Tzivia Major
and Avital Herman. Tech
and stage management is
provided by students Shal-
hevet Abenaim, Ayelet
Handel, Elisheva Herzig,
Rivka Krause, Meira Shap-
iro, Leora Wasserman, and
Atara Weil.
The Ma’ayanot/BBS pro-
duction of Detective Story
features a cast of 21 stu-
dents from all grade levels
including: Ayelet Abenaim,
Elisheva Akselrod, Esther
Brodsky, Yael Bruk, Yakira Cantor, Ilana on Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School, visit
Epstein, Miriam Fisch, Peri Fogel, Dina the website www.maayanot.org or like
Halberstam, Lieba Joran, Maytal Kessler, them on Facebook. Detective Story is
Shoshana Klein, Rivka Krause, Eliora presented in special arrangement with
Kruman, Atara Meyers, Chana Radensky, Dramatists Play Service Inc., and viewer
Keren Raskin, Ariella Rosencrantz, Atara discretion is advised as some content
Weil, Sonia Weiner, and Maya Wind. might not be suitable for those under
For more information on the show, or the age of 13.

Father and son primary care practice

now a member of
Holy Name Medical Partners
A primary care practice with offices in
Teaneck and Nutley is now a member of
Holy Name Medical Partners, the medi-
cal center’s physician network compris-
ing more than 100 multi-specialty pro-
viders with convenient practice locations
throughout northern New Jersey.
Father and son team Conrado Boja,
400 Highview Road
M.D. and Michael Boja, D.O. are board
Rarely do you see an estate of this grandeur on the east hill of Englewood enter the market. certified in internal and family medicine.
An impeccable renovation in keeping with old world charm. 10,000 sq. ft., 7 bedrooms,
The practice comprises dedicated physi-
8 full and 1 half bath, all brick, slate roof, copper gutters, four fireplaces and stained glass
windows. The chef ’s kitchen is complete with a custom 12 ft. stainless steel serving island. cians, physician assistants, and nurses
A 50 ft. loggia with cathedral ceilings is your entryway into the crown jewel for any family. who work collaboratively to care for chil-
An Anderson professional squash/basketball court and full gym. The home also features dren, adults, and seniors. Their exper-
a 10,000-bottle commercial temperature controlled wine cellar and a 4-car garage. The tise is in diagnosing and treating chronic
property is highlighted by specimen landscaping and a spectacular pool located in the illnesses, promoting disease prevention,
center of the estate. and focusing on overall wellness. Special
interests include sports medicine, exer-
cise science, adolescent medicine, obe-
sity, diabetes, and hypertension.
973-277-1640 (CELL) “We share in Holy Name Medical Cen-
201-944-6583 (DIRECT) ter’s mission to provide high quality,
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage compassionate care to the communities
375 Park Avenue
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
201-461-5000
we serve,” said Dr. Conrado Boja. “This
partnership means we can seamlessly
connect our patients to an award-win-
ning medical center and its growing net-
work of specialists when needed.”
“Doctors Michael and Conrado Boja
are committed physicians who treat the
whole patient, not just the symptoms or
the disease,” said Adam Jarrett, M.D.,
chief medical officer at Holy Name. “We
are thrilled to welcome them to Holy
Name’s trusted network of experts,
which was created to help keep people
close to home when it comes to their
care.”
Offices are located at 1150 Teaneck
Road in Teaneck and 159 Bloom-
field Avenue in Nutley. The Teaneck
location offers convenient Saturday
appointments. Walk-ins are also wel-
come. To make an appointment call
(201) 833-9000 or book online at
holynamemedicapartners.org.

56 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 Real Estate & Business

Free seminar for high school and college students
interested in pursuing a career in law
In honor of “Law Day”, the personal injury law firm of
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., will hold a seminar
on May 1 at 4 p.m. This is open to high school and col-
lege students throughout New Jersey who are thinking
about a career in law. The seminar is also sponsored by
the Teaneck Bar Association and the Teaneck Chamber
of Commerce.
The free 1-hour seminar will be held in the firm’s state
of the art courtroom and will be given by seasoned attor-
neys, as well as those who have been recently admitted
to the bar. A wide variety of information will be dis-
cussed pertaining to law school preparation and admis-
sion, LSAT testing, and what it is like to be a practicing
attorney in today’s society. A Q&A session will follow,
and light refreshments will be served.
The seminar coincides with the nationally recognized
COME TO FLORIDA
“Law Day”, which was enacted in 1958 by then-Presi-
dent Dwight D. Eisenhower as a way to observe the
respect for law and the imperative role it plays in our
world. The idea was first advocated by the American Bar
Association in 1957. Now selling
Managing Partner, Garry R. Salomon, Esq., believes it Valencia Bay
is crucial to give those who are interested in a career in
law as much guidance and advice as possible. “Our firm Your 55+ Adult Specialists
feels so fortunate to be in a position to be able to support Advantage Plus
the next generation of lawyers, help them get started in 601 S. Federal Hwy • Boca Raton, FL 33432
the profession, and build their leadership skills.” Elly & Ed Lepselter
Davis, Saperstein & Salomon P.C., is located at 375 (561) 302-9374
Cedar Lane in Teaneck. For more information, or to
RSVP, contact Elizabeth Sheldon at (201) 808-2877, or
email Elizabeth.sheldon@dsslaw.com.

OPEN HOUSES
SUNDAY, APRIL 15
BANK-OWNED PROPERTIES Open House Sunday April 15th 11:00-2:00 t TEANECK t
914 Columbus Drive, Teaneck

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Location! Location! Spectacular Blue Stone Walkways & Landscaping. 2 Car Gar.
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hall colonial. 4 bedroom
2.5 baths. 1/2 acre on Let Us Finance Your Beautifully Updated In & Out. Open Flr Plan/Ent Hall, Sunlit LR open
to DR, Gorgeous Grnt Kit/Brkfst Cntr. Slders to Party Deck. 3 BRs,
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House Purchase 2.5 New Bths. Ceramic Tiled Bsmt. 5 Car Drvwy. New HVAC.

to transportation and • Direct lender 759 Cottage Pl. $548,500 1 PM – 3 PM

Spacious Bi-Lev. 3/4 BRs, 2.5 Bths. Quiet Cul-de-sac. Lg LR open to
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Formal DR, Mod Eat in Kit. Tiled Fam Rm, Deck. C/A/C, Sprinklers,
Alyssa Goldberg, Realtor Portable Generator, 2 Car Gar. Rm to Expand.
Group Twenty Six Real Estate • Closings within 30 days
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Exclusive. Quiet Street. Lov Side Hall Col. Oak Flrs. LR, Din Rm,
• Credit scores as low as 580 Eat in Kit. 3 BRs, 1.5 Baths. Fin Recrm Bsmt/Cedar Closet. Gar.
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New listing. 4 BR 3.5 Bth
home on a beautiful street. Spacious Cape Cod. Perfect for Extend Fams. Ceramic Tiled Enc
Updated MEIK, Fabulous Prch. LR/Fplc, DR open to Mod Kit. 4 BRs, 3 Full Baths. Ceramic Tiled
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& many custom features. Young/1986 Contemporary. Deep 150' Prop. Skylit w/ 3 Bedrooms,
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Properties Classic Mortgage, LLC For Our Full Inventory including
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201 314-7042 Cell • 201 445-2483 Home 25 E. Spring Valley Ave., Ste 100, Maywood, NJ www.RussoRealEstate.com
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201-368-3140 MLS
(201) 837-8800
www.classicmortgagellc.com
Everything She Touches Turns To Sold! #31149

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 57

Real Estate & Business

Daughters of Miriam
SELLING YOUR HOME? recognized for quality
Daughters of Miriam Center/The Gallen
Institute was recognized by the Ameri-
can Health Care Association and National
Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL)
for its achievements through the Qual-
ity Initiative Recognition Program which
honors member facilities for their individ-
ual work in achieving AHCA/NCAL Qual-
ity Initiative goals.
Launched in 2012, The Quality Initiative
is a national effort to build upon the exist-
ing work of the long-term and post-acute
care profession. The Initiative aims to
improve quality of care in skilled nursing
centers and assisted living communities
by challenging members with specific,
measurable targets which must be imple-
mented no later than March 2021. These
areas are top priorities for the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services, Account-
able Care Organizations, and Managed
Care Organizations and are aligned with
Call Susan Laskin Today
federal mandates that link financial out-
To Make Your Next Move A Successful One!
comes to quality performance.
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com Cell: 201-615-5353 Skilled nursing care members must
©2018 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. achieve a minimum of four out of seven
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC.
AHCA Quality Initiative goals which
include, among others, reducing nursing
NVE-3518 2Q Spring Mortgage Ad 5x6.5_NVE-3518 4/4/18 11:37 AM Page 1 home patient hospitalizations, improv-
ing discharge back to the community,
decreasing turnover rates among nurs-
ing staff, and reducing the off-label use of
antipsychotic medications. Each of these
Mortgage rates and options are blooming at NVE Bank. goals have specific measurable targets
that nursing homes track and report.
Daughters of Miriam Center has met
these goals and exceeded its peer orga-
15-YEAR
MORTGAGE nizations in the percentage of both short
7-YEAR 25-YEAR
MORTGAGE and long stay residents who require hos-
MORTGAGE
pitalizations as well as the percentage of
3.625% acute stay residents who are success-
3.250 % Rate
4.250% fully discharged back to the community.
3.684%
Rate Rate
other complications and often become
disoriented in new settings. Once they
return to the nursing home, they may
not be able to function on the same
level as they did prior to hospitalization;
therefore, it is incumbent upon skilled
nursing care centers to try to safely mini-
mize the number of seniors that are sent
out to the hospital. With this in mind,
Daughters of Miriam Center has been
successful in lowering the number of
residents who require either hospital-
ization or re-hospitalization.
The center also has a higher percent-
age of acute stay patients who are suc-
cessfully discharged back to the com-
munity, i.e. their homes, than similar
peer organizations. This measurement
tracks whether an acute care patient
(for example, someone who fell at home
and broke a hip and entered the nurs-
ing home for rehabilitation) who is dis-
charged from a facility does not have an
unplanned re-admission to a hospital
or long-term care facility within 31 days
following their discharge to the commu-
nity. Tracking this type of data ensures
that nursing homes have appropriately
cared for and prepared the patient to
successfully return home.
Out of 365 long-term care facilities in
New Jersey, 135 are AHCA members and,
of those, only 40 met the goals of the
Quality Initiative. Daughters of Miriam
Center is proud to be included in this
elite group and was subsequently hon-
ored at the AHCA’s Quality Summit in
New Orleans.
“This achievement overall represents
not only improvement on a set of qual-
ity measures in these centers but also
significant improvements in outcomes

3.359% Nursing home residents often are frail,
APR*
APR* 4.304% APR* with multiple chronic illnesses, with
many also having some level of cogni-
tive or functional impairment. Hospital-
izations are difficult and even dangerous
for these elderly patients as they are at
a higher risk to develop infections and
Make your arrangements today!
Finding the right mortgage to fit your needs should be quick, easy and
among the elderly they serve, such as
fewer hospitalizations, more discharges
back to the community and stopping the
use of antipsychotics that can be harm-
ful,” said Dr. David Gifford, AHCA/NCAL
senior vice president of quality and reg-
ulatory affairs.

Jimmy J
J
painless — exactly what you’ll find when you work with our Mortgage
Specialist at NVE. Plus, our decision makers are local — providing a 88
1

7 2018
smooth and hassle-free process from start to finish.

Call today at 201-816-2800, ext. 1233,

or apply online at nvebank.com
the Junk Man
NMLS #733094
RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL
*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. APR is accurate as of 4/8/18 and may vary based on loan amounts. Loans are
WE CLEAN OUT:
for 1-4 family New Jersey owner-occupied properties only. Rates and terms are subject to change without Basements •Baseme
Attics • Garages • Fire Damage
notice. The 7-year loan at the stated APR would have 84 monthly payments of $13.33 per thousand borrowed
based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $750,000. The 15-year loan at the stated
Construction Debris • Hoarding Specialists
Constru
APR would have 180 monthly payments of $7.21 per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or
WE RECYCLE
CALL
equity for loan amounts up to $750,000. The 25-year loan at the stated APR would have 300 monthly
payments of $5.42 per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to
$500,000. Payments do not include amounts for taxes and insurance premiums, if applicable. The actual CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE
201-66•1845-600-5941
201-661-4940 - 4940 2
payment obligation will be greater. Property insurance is required. Other rates and terms are available.
Subject to credit approval.

Bergenfield I Closter I Cresskill I Englewood I Hillsdale I Leonia I New Milford I Teaneck I Tenafly
We do not transport solid or hazardous waste
We d

58 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018

 Making your real estate dreams come true
Ruth Miron-Schleider
Broker/Owner is our passion and our mission!
ENGLEWOOD ENGLEWOOD ENGLEWOOD ENGLEWOOD
AC OF CO UN CO UN CO UN
CE FER NT DER NT DER NT DER
PT RA RA RA
ED CT CT CT
! ! ! !

543 RIDGELAND TERRACE 425 MOUNTAIN VIEW ROAD 411 CUMBERLAND STREET 139 MAPLE STREET

TENAFLY TENAFLY TENAFLY TENAFLY

CO LE SO SO
SO MIN AS LD LD
ON G ED ! !
! !

39 ELM STREET 27 SUFFOLK LANE 1 KNICKERBOCKER ROAD 8 WOODLAND PARK DRIVE

BERGENFIELD NEW MILFORD TEANECK TEANECK

SO SO CO UN SO
LD LD NT DER LD
! ! RA !
CT
!

42 GREENBRIAR STREET 308 LACEY DRIVE 397 WARWICK AVENUE 264 OGDEN AVENUE

PARAMUS PARAMUS ORADELL ORADELL

SO SO SO SO
LD LD LD LD
! ! ! !

411 VALLEY VIEW AVENUE 264 GORDEN DRIVE 209 BEECHWOOD ROAD 240 SPRING VALLEY ROAD

FORT LEE FORT LEE FORT LEE FORT LEE

SO LE JUS SO SO
LD AS T LD LD
! ED ! !
!

NORTHBRIDGE PARK, #5-F THE PALISADES, #2710 THE COLONY, #12-L ATRIUM PALACE, #11-G

Call us today for your complimentary consultation!

Office: 201.266.8555 Mobile: 201.906.6024
ruth@mironproperties.com
www.MironProperties.com JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 13, 2018 59
THE

KEY SHABBOS,
TO A GREAT

IS THE CHALLAH YOU EAT!