NOVEMBER 2, 2018

VOL. LXXXVIII NO. 7 $1.00 87 2018

NORTH JERSEY THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM

Joyce Fienberg, 75
Richard Gottfried, 65
Rose Mallinger, 97
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
Cecil Rosenthal, 59
David Rosenthal, 54
Bernice Simon, 84
Sylvan Simon, 86
Daniel Stein, 71
Melvin Wax, 88
Irving Younger, 69

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Jewish services and amenities at Englewood Health

Rabbi available for patients and families Electric Shabbat candles

Chapel, with quiet meditative space
Shabbat overnight room for
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on patient TVs
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with Shabbat food provisions, and
safe food warming cabinet

englewoodhealth.org
 Page 3
A note from our publisher
I know all these victims. They just have different names and they
live somewhere else.
I know the brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal. I see them at our
J-ADD and at Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El in Closter.
I know Jerry Rabinowitz, the 56-year-old doctor in the bow tie, the
man who everyone, including his patients, loved. He is everywhere
in our community. He just has a different name.
I know the old man who greeted everyone at Shabbat services.
I grew up in Jersey City and there his name was Harry Berkoff.
His greatest thrill was to shake your hand and welcome you to
Congregation B’nai Jacob. Before you’d leave, he’d remind you that
“it’s nice to be nice.”
And I mourn for all the other victims. I mourn for 97-year-old Rose
Mallinger, who won the age lottery but now will never live to 100.
Yes, I know all these people. And now my day is filled with mem-
bers of our community talking to me, looking for answers, asking
“how the hell did we get here?”
— Jamie Janoff

With rabbis like these...
l It must have looked good on
paper, as the plans crossed the
desk of whoever it is who controls
the vice president’s schedule.
Here it was, the day after the
worst anti-Semitic attack on Ameri-
can history, and Vice President Mike
Pence was scheduled to speak at a
rally on behalf of Lena Epstein, the
Republican running for Congress in
a district that includes the heavily
Jewish Detroit suburb of Bloom-
field Hills.
And Ms. Epstein, who is Jewish,
said that Rabbi Loren Jacobs of-
fered to deliver a prayer.
What could be more appropriate
on what had become a day of Jew-
ish mourning?
Semitic attack in American history.”
It didn’t take too long after the
CONTENTS
NOSHES��������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
BRIEFLY LOCAL�����������������������������������������������������16
COVER STORY��������������������������������������������������������18
JEWISH WORLD��������������������������������������������������� 33
OPINION������������������������������������������������������������������ 36
KEEPING KOSHER������������������������������������������������ 42
DEAR RABBI ZAHAVY���������������������������������������45
D’VAR TORAH�������������������������������������������������������46
CALENDAR�������������������������������������������������������������48
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE��������������������������� 51
CROSSWORD PUZZLE���������������������������������������� 51
OBITUARIES����������������������������������������������������������� 53
CLASSIFIEDS���������������������������������������������������������54
REAL ESTATE��������������������������������������������������������� 57
PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT: (USPS 275-700 ISN 0021-6747) is published
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Jersey Jewish Media Group, 1086 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666.
Periodicals postage paid at Hackensack, NJ and additional offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Jersey Jewish Media Group,
1086 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. Subscription price is $30.00 per
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On a more positive note, she tions are $75.00.

“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, backlash hit for the Pence team to has been able to snap a selfie with The appearance of an advertisement in The Jewish Standard does not
constitute a kashrut endorsement. The publishing of a paid political adver-
God of Jacob,” he began. make it clear that it had been Ep- rocker Ted Nugent, who has been tisement does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate political
“God and father of my lord and stein’s idea, not the vice president’s. criticized for making anti-Semitic party or political position by the newspaper or any employees.

savior Yeshua, Jesus the messiah,
and my god and father too,” he
continued.
Ooops.
Yes, a certified Jew for Jesus on
the campaign trail.
For Jews suspicious of the evan-
gelical vice president and his reli-
gious motivations, this was taken as
a sign that something was rotten.
As Rafi Schwartz explained in
Splinter News, “short of, I dunno, of-
fering a Nazi salute I guess, it’s prob-
ably the most offensive thing Pence
could have possibly done in the
days following the deadliest anti-
“I invited the prayer because
we must unite as a nation — while
embracing our religious differences
— in the aftermath of Pennsylva-
nia,” Epstein said in a statement she
posted Monday on Twitter.
Epstein has served on the board
of Temple Beth El, a Reform con-
gregation in Bloomfield Hills, where
she grew up.
She also has been the target
of an open letter from the Jew-
ish community, where dozens of
people who said they grew up with
her in synagogue and Jewish youth
group chide her for her right-wing
pro-gun Facebook posts.
On the other hand, further re-
porting managed to make the story
even worse for Epstein.
Did we say Jacobs was a certi-
fied Jew for Jesus? Actually, he has
been defrocked by the Union of
Messianic Jewish Congregations.
“Loren Jacobs was stripped of his
rabbinic ordination by the UMJC in
2003, after our judicial board found
him guilty of libel,” a Union spokes-
person told NBC.
As to how Jacobs came to be on
Epstein’s guest list — at press time,
that remained unclear. LARRY YUDELSON
The Jewish Standard assumes no responsibility to return unsolicited edito-
rial or graphic materials. All rights in letters and unsolicited editorial, and
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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 3

Noshes
AT THE MOVIES:
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
didn’t film easily
“Bohemian
Rhapsody” is a
biopic about the famous
rock band Queen and its
even more famous
frontman, the late
Freddie Mercury. Ad-
vance reports say that
Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”)
turns in a stellar perfor-
mance as Mercury, and
that he may save a
project that once
seemed doomed. In
2016, SACHA BARON
COHEN, who looks a lot
like Mercury, withdrew
from the film’s star role.
He told HOWARD STERN
that the surviving
members of Queen
insisted that fully half of
the film had to be about
the band after Mercury’s
death. To most people,
including Cohen, Mercury
was Queen, so he
couldn’t accept this
condition. Then, in
December 2017, BRYAN
SINGER, now 53, was
replaced as director after
two-thirds of the movie
was filmed. There is
dispute about why he
was replaced, he still is
listed as the film’s
director. Very few films
with a late replacement
director succeed.
Hit or not, it’s cool that
Malek, a member of a
little known minority reli-
gion, is playing Mercury,
a member of an even
less known minority reli-
gion. Malek’s parents are
Egyptian Coptic Chris-
tians who settled in Los
Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard
4 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
Angeles. Mercury was
born into a Parsi family
and grew up in England.
Parsis are followers of
the Zoroastrian religion
who have long lived in
India. Zoroastrianism is
a monotheistic religion,
born in Iran, which pre-
dates Christianity. Parsi
history has many paral-
lels with Jewish history.
Famous Parsis include
conductor Zubin Mehta,
82, the “music director
for life” of the Israel Phil-
harmonic.
So I see that a satiri-
cal film about African-
American rappers called
“Bodied” is opening
November 2 and the
director is Joseph Kahn.
I check and find out that
Joseph Kahn’s original
last name is “Ahn” and
he’s a Korean-American
who grew up in Texas.
I do not know why he
chose a Jewish-sound-
ing stage name. But I
do know he isn’t Jewish
and I had to laugh when
I saw a tweet he posted
in September 2017: “I’m
not Jewish but I’ll fast
with Jews this [Yom Kip-
pur] weekend because
I’m fat. L’chaim.”
Selma Blair
goes public
Actress SELMA
BLAIR, 46, dis-
closed on October 13
that she was diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis
last August. She shared
the news via a video
E L E V A T E
T W O L O C A T IO N S T O S ER V E Y O U B ET T E R - E N G L E W O O D , N J & H A RR IM A N , N Y - B E N Z E L B U S C H . C O M
“When the wolves of hate are loosed
on one people, then no one is safe.”
— Ralph McGill, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, wrote
this as part of an editorial, published on October 12, 1958,
in response to the bombing of The Temple, the city’s leading
congregation. The editorial is shockingly relevant today.
diagnose her.
Briefly noted
funnies
On October 22,
AMY SCHUMER,
37, disclosed to reporter
JESSICA YELLIN, 47,
that she is pregnant. The
news was slipped into an
email to Yellin listing the
Democrats Schumer was
supporting in the
Sacha Baron Cohen Selma Blair Sarah Michelle Geller midterms. Yellin posted
the email on Instagram.
A few days later, Schum-
er told the L.A. Times:
“Chris [her husband,
Chris Fischer] and I are
thrilled and almost
positive he is the father. I
look forward to compet-
ing with [Princess
Megan] Markle every
step of the way.”
A few weeks ago, MSN-
BC host ARI MELBER, 38,
had as his guest DAVID
Elizabeth Berkley Ari Melber David Corn CORN, 59, the chief
Washington correspon-
dent for “Mother Jones,”
posting on Instagram. side is asking for direc- 41, and ELIZABETH magazine and they had a
MS, which effects more tions from a broken BERKLEY, 47. Gellar rare primetime Jew-bro
women than men, GPS. But we are do- co-starred with Blair in exchange. Corn, knowing
usually is diagnosed ing it. And I laugh and I the hit film “Cruel Inten- that Melber is a big rap
between ages 20 and don’t know exactly what tions” (1999). Blair went music fan, said: “Come up
50. It disables the I will do precisely but I to the same suburban with a rap lyric word for
central nervous system will do my best.” How- Detroit private school as collusion.” Melber replied:
by disrupting the flow of ever, these symptoms Berkley (Blair attended “First of all, David, the
information between have not stopped Blair a Hillel school before DJ doesn’t take requests
the brain and body. from filming her new this private school). Blair here. I’m just kidding,
Progression and symp- Netflix sci-fi series, “An- also thanked Berkley I’m dying to be a bar
toms vary widely from other Life,” in which she for insisting she see her mitzvah DJ and if I do, I’ll
person to person. co-stars as a reporter. brother, DR. JASON take requests. It’s what
Blair described her Blair thanked a BERKLEY, 45, a neu- a good DJ does.” Corn
symptoms: “I am dis- number of friends rologist affiliated with replied: “I can only regret
abled. I fall sometimes. I for support, includ- Cedars-Sinai Hospital that you were not there
drop things. My memory ing actresses SARAH in Los Angeles. After for my bar mitzvah.”
is foggy. And my left MICHELLE GELLAR, an MRI, he was able to –N.B.
California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at
Middleoftheroad1@aol.com
Y O U R S T A N D A R D S
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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 5

 Local
Education is power
Drug addiction forum in Teaneck will concentrate
on how to see, talk about, and treat substance abuse
JOANNE PALMER

“
G
o big or go home.”
That’s what Lianne Forman of
Teaneck said in early April, as she and
her husband, Etiel, planned a commu-
nity meeting about the dangers of opioid abuse and
other addictions in the Jewish community.
They went big.
The parents of a daughter who had been abus-
ing alcohol and drugs for years, fueled by the need
to help other families get help more easily than
they had, driven by the desire to reduce the stigma
that makes help so hard to ask for, the Formans,
prominent members of the Orthodox community,
arranged for an evening where a panel of speak-
ers could explain what the situation is, and discuss
some first steps parents, friends, and abusers them-
selves could take.
They didn’t know what to expect. They got some-
where between 600 and 700 people. (It’s hard to
know because the room at the Torah Academy of
Bergen County was set with 500 chairs, and people
who had come too late to claim one of them stood
in the back and along the side and in the stairwells.)
The app that sends the Formans questions
The huge audience sat in an almost-eerie near total
does not include names, ensuring anonymity.
silence as the panelists talked.
Etiel Forman told some of his story; in early April,
Lianne and Elana herself told it in more detail. Etiel and Lianne Forman the people themselves,” adults who suffer with sub-
Elana, who is about to turn 24, began using drugs stance abuse. “One person said, ‘I have gone into
in middle school, about ten years ago; her parents, careful Forman said. “We asked people what they wanted as the treatment for addiction, to no avail. Is it possible not to
observers of their four children, knew she was struggling next step. We heard that they wanted more information. recover?’” Dr. Shulman can answer those questions, even
but did not know why. They ascribed it to depression and This evening will provide that.” if the answer is “Maybe,” “We don’t always know,” or
to an eating disorder — and the eating disorder was real — Therefore, “it will be nothing like the last one,” she “It depends.”
but they did not realize it was not depression but drugs. said. “We built a website so people could submit ques- Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, who heads Congregation Beth
Elana is very smart, and her parents — who also are tions anonymously. We have been gathering those ques- Aaron in Teaneck, will talk about the communal aspects
very smart — did not know what to look for or what they tions, and we have lined up people who can address them of substance abuse. “He has been outspoken about men-
were seeing. through various perspectives.” tal health generally,” Ms. Forman said. “There have been
Elana went through some very hard times. She lives in The panel will include Christopher Jakim, a “very senior questions about why this problem is the community’s
Florida now, she is working, after some setbacks (and the DEA official — the DEA’s special agent in charge — who will responsibility. Isn’t it a private matter? He will address,
word “setback” understates how devastating such turns talk about drug trafficking, anti-trafficking efforts, and more specifically than before, what it is about being a
of fortune and physiolo�y can be) she recently celebrated what we are doing to prevent drugs from coming into rabbi in a community, in a shul, in an Orthodox shul, that
her eighth month of sobriety. Her parents will not be able New Jersey. would empower us to reach out more broadly.”
to relax about her future for years, but they can feel a little “We’ve been getting questions about where the Rabbi Tully Harcsztark of Teaneck is the principal of
bit more steady now than they have for some time. drugs are coming from, and how to get it to stop. It will SAR High School in Riverdale, N.Y. “He’ll talk about what
That’s why they are pouring so much ener�y into be fascinating.” the schools are doing,” Ms. Forman said. “About what
the problem. Mr. Jakim has the background to answer these ques- school policies are and whether they are effective.
In May, Lianne began a support group that meets in tions authoritatively. He has “been to Colombia, broken “SAR has been at the forefront of high school initia-
Teaneck every two weeks; it’s free, aimed at members up cartels, and been involved in many drug busts,” Ms. tives,” she added. “And Rabbi Harcsztark is very focused
of the Jewish community in general and the Orthodox Forman said. and outspoken on the issue.”
world in specific, and provides parents of substance abus- Shelley Stuart, from the Center for Alcohol and Drug The evening, too, will be very focused, she said. It’s
- ers with an understanding, nonjudgmental, private place Resources, will talk about resources and programs in Ber-
DIT where they can stop hiding and pretending, at least for a gen County; she’s able to provide a general overview of What: Forum on addiction and substance abuse
few hours every other week. what’s available here and now.
When: On sunday, november 4,
They also have founded a nonprofit organization; Dr. Matis Shulman is a psychiatrist who specializes in
at 7:30 p.m.
Lianne is the president of Communities Confronting Sub- addiction. “There have been a lot of questions on the med-
Where: Congregation Keter torah,
stance Abuse. That organization will offer the community ical end,” Ms. Forman said. “Questions about the risks of
600 roemer ave., teaneck
an evening of discussion this Sunday as experts answer taking prescription medication, about how quickly you
the questions that families, friends, and abusers them- can become addicted, and whether full recovery is pos- For more information: go to
www.time2talkaddiction.org
selves ask them. (See box.) sible, about the dangers of vaping and Juuling. Not all of
or email times2talkaddiction.org.
At the April meeting, “we asked for feedback,” Ms. the questions are from parents about kids; some are from

6 Jewish standard nOVeMBer 2, 2018


planned as 90 minutes of almost pure questions and
answers; Etiel Forman, who will double as the panelist
who can answer questions about how substance abuse
affects parents, children, and family dynamics in gen-
eral, will moderate the evening. He will read the ques-
tions and direct them to the panelist whose expertise
is most relevant, and then ask the other experts if
they have anything to add to that answer.
One group that will not be represented on Sun-
day evening is Amudim, the New York-based
organization that was so prominent in the April
meeting. That’s not because of any rift between
the groups, Ms. Forman said. It’s because they
have different functions; she continues to work
closely with Amudim, but its main function is not
educational. “Amudim does case management, and
helping people directly,” she said. “I send people
to Amudim.”
Many of the questions that the experts answer on Sun-
day will have come from email — if you have any, send
them to Time2TalkAddiction@gmail.com — but there will
be cards, pens, and runners for last-minute or follow-up
queries. The app that Time2TalkAddiction uses strips all
names from all emails, so all the questions will be anon-
ymous; in fact, there would be no way to attach names
to them.
“Education is power,” Ms. Forman said. “Knowledge
is power.”
Nonprofits must have three unrelated trustees; the
other two are Rachelle Zomick and L’via Weisinger. Both
November
Events at
Congregation
Beth Sholom
All events are open to the public.
November 3 Offender of the Faith: Revisiting Philip Roth
Speaker: Prof. Daniel Gover,
Kean University | Lecture 1:00 pm
November 5 Torah On Tap
Speakers: Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky and
Prof. Benjamin Sommer
Teaneck Doghouse 9:00 - 10:30 pm
November 10 The 2018 Midterms: Implications for the
Jewish Community and the Nation
Speaker: Ben Dworkin, Director, Institute
for Public Policy and Citizenship at
Rowan University | Lecture 1:30pm
November 10 Film: On the Map
Come and see the amazing story behind
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 1977 European Basketball
Championship over CSKA Moscow.
7:30 pm | $10/Adults; $5/Youth
What I like best about Beth Sholom…
…is the gathering of committed
Jews in common search of
wisdom against the grain.
— Dennis Klein, member 32 years
Learning, Inspired.
Local
apparently so much interest in this next meeting? “What
was it that created this storm?” Ms. Forman asked. “I have
to think that there is some element of the community
being really worried, and this gave us a way to mobilize.
We aren’t immune from substance abuse. It is happen-
ing to people we know. It might be happening to us.”
Ms. Forman is a lawyer; she works part time at
that profession formally, but it is clear that she is
a lawyer all the time. Her thinking is analytic and
strategic. She feels strongly that her partners in the
nonprofit, Ms. Zomick and Ms. Weisinger, both have
skills that are complimentary to hers. “The more we
work together comprehensively and cooperatively,
the better off we will be,” she said; she’s talking not
only about her partners in the nonprofit but also about
the other agencies and organizations and people with
whom she networks. “I know what I can do and what I
can’t do.” When she can’t do something — refer people to
therapists or rehabs, for example — she can point them
in the direction of other people who can do it.
Rabbi Harcsztark believes that “the focus of the conver-
sation so far has been on the abuse and treatment side.
Lianne, Elana, and Etiel Forman. People tend to think about that because they are con-
cerned about people struggling with abuse.
of those women work full-time, but they are driven by “But as a high school principal, in the educational set-
their desire to help. “They are both so passionate about ting, we are starting at an earlier point. It’s about kids
it,” she said. using, and using becoming part of the way that they social-
That brings up the question of why. What was it about ize together.
the first meeting that drew so many people to it? Why “Use is different than abuse, and prevention is different
has the support group take off as it has? Why is there See Education page 56
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Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 2, 2018 7
Local

‘The Strange Case of Dr. Couney’

Hoboken author to discuss how preemies were saved in sideshows
JOANNE PALMER

H
ow does a European-born non-doctor become
the (still actually non-)doctor who saved thou-
sands of premature infants?
In a sideshow?
In Coney Island?
For real?
How does a novelist and mem-
oirist turn historian to unearth
and present this story?
Dawn Raffel, up till now
known as the author of the criti-
cally well-received novel “Car-
rying the Body” and the equally
highly thought of memoir “The
Secret Life of Objects,” has writ- Dawn Raffel
ten “The Strange Case of Dr.
Couney.” It’s a story she stumbled across and felt compelled
to research and then retell; she will be talking about it at her
own shul, United Synagogue of Hoboken, on Sunday, as part
of a tour of Jewish book clubs. (See box.)
Ms. Raffel first heard about the story after
her father’s death, she said; she was sorting
through his belongings and found something
he’d written. He was not at all a writer, she said,
but this composition was an elementary school
Above, visitors stroll
assignment that for some reason he’d saved. past an exhibition of
She’s originally from Milwaukee, she said, babies in incubators
and that’s where her father had lived and at the New York
where he died, but he’d grown up in Chicago, World’s Fair. Left,
and the composition was about the 1933-34 Martin Couney holds
World’s Fair there. (The better-known Chicago baby Beth Allen at his
World’s Fair, the one in 1893, was featured in Coney Island attraction.
the best-selling true-crime thriller “The Devil in Far left, a letter from
the White City.”) Couney inviting parents
The World’s Fair in 1933-32 was held dur- of babies who survived
ing the Depression, as Hitler started his rise to in sideshow incubators
to a reunion at the fair.
power in Germany; perhaps ironically, it was
called the “Century of Progress,” and it was
about “how technolo�y will bring humankind to
a better place,” Ms. Raffel said. As Nazi technol- “By 1910 there were eugenic contests all over the coun-
o�y fueled the Holocaust and Allied technolo�y try,” Ms. Raffel said. Those contests — called “better baby
led to the invention of the atom bomb that finally contests,” among other things — awarded prizes to babies for
ended the war, “the idea was that technolo�y was things like the shapes of their eyes or noses, as if they were
the driver of humanity,” she said. calves or colts or piglets. At the same time, there were argu-
Fascinated by this idea, Ms. Raffel started read- ments in favor of letting less well-favored children — those
ing more about the fair, and she found photo- who were weak or disabled — die. “The movie ‘The Black
graphs that showed incubators on the Midway. Stork’” — about the infanticide, on eugenic grounds, of a
Wait. What? child born with syphilis — “was shown all over the country.
Incubators on the Midway. With real babies in Although the eugenics movement wasn’t targeting preemies
them. Incubators that also could be found in the sideshows that as well. But he also had a genuine passion — to save pre- directly, there was the idea of just letting them go.
on Coney Island and Atlantic City. mature babies — and he figured out how to do that. “They were mistakes,” Ms. Raffel said.
And many of the babies in those incubators survived their “He was a very complicated hero,” Ms. Raffel said. “He “Dr. Couney was working against indifference. He kept
premature births and the inability of the hospitals where saved those children using any means possible. If that meant saying that those babies could be saved, and that they
they were born to nurture them only because of those making up credentials, that’s what he did.” deserved a chance to live.”
sideshows. When he began his work, Ms. Raffel said, “hospitals were Dr. Couney took premature babies of all races and from
Dr. Martin Couney — whose name was not Martin Couney under-resourced. There was a high rate of infant mortality. all socioeconomic backgrounds, Ms. Raffel said. “Some of
but Michael Cohen, and whose medical credential was self- Women were dying in childbirth. And he was working in the them were orphans, and some of them were the children of
awarded — saved somewhere between 6,500 and 7,000 shadow of eugenics, which was beginning to rear its head.” very wealthy people.”
babies over the course of 40 years, Ms. Raffel learned. Eugenics was the pseudo-science of improving the Why would wealthy people send their babies to a side-
Among his other secrets — or at least not widely shared with human race by breeding out undesirable characteristics show? Because they got extraordinary care there, Ms.
public truths — was that he was Jewish. while prompting those nubile young women and upstand- Raffel said.
Michael Cohen was born in Krotoszyn, Poland, in 1869; ing young men whose bloodlines were pure to reproduce. It So, in a tent next to freak shows and wild rides and
he died in Coney Island in 1950. In a time when all sorts of was created with racist undertones (if not active overtones) objectified exhibitions of indigenous people and wild
people were remaking themselves in the New World, he did and the Nazis greeted it with joy. animals, Dr. Couney set up a clean, carefully run, loving

8 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018


nursery, and he charged admission to sightseers and
thrill-seekers so parents had to pay nothing for the life-
saving care their children received.
“He was decades ahead of the medical establish-
ment,” Ms. Raffel said. “He insisted on breast milk.
He paid for wet nurses when their mothers could
not nurse. One of the hardest challenges for keeping
these babies alive is feeding them, and they had a very
sophisticated system for doing that.
“They used incubators.
“And they were immaculate. We have testimony
from doctors who worked with him in the 1930s, and
even in the 1970s they were saying that they had never
seen a hospital as calm as the one in the side shows.
“Some of the babies did die, but the survival rate
was between 85 and 90 percent,” she continued. “By
far most of them survived. And we are talking about
babies sometimes weighing less than two pounds.”
Most would stay in the sideshow for a few months;
they’d be discharged when they weighed five pounds.
“There were no IVs and no monitors then,” Ms.
Raffel said. They had not been invented yet. “But the
babies were fed constantly, and also they were big
believers in touch.” So unlike children in hospitals,
who were treated with dispassion and rarely touched,
these babies were picked up and cuddled and were
able to relax into the warmth of a human hug.
Dr. Couney and his wife, who was a nurse,
lived on the premises. “They had a much lower
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Congregation Keter Torah
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nurse-to-patient ratio than you’d find in a hospital,” Ms. Raffel
said. The Couneys had one child, and that child did not have
children of her own, so there are now no direct descendants
in the world, but about 10 formerly premature babies, now
senior citizens, still are alive, she said.
Dr. Couney retired in 1943 —New York hospitals finally had
begun to understand how to treat premature infants, so he
was able to — and he died just seven years later.
Although Dr. Couney did not talk about being Jewish in
public, “it wasn’t a secret,” Ms. Raffel said. “Like many Jew-
ish showmen, he changed his name, and I don’t think that he
went to services, and his wife wasn’t Jewish.
“But the town that he came from was one of the towns
known as the publisher of the Jerusalem Talmud. And I came
to think of Dr. Couney as the embodiment of the idea that if
you save one life, you save the world.”
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For more information or reservations: Call the shul at
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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 9
Local

The folkie and the Yiddishist could be friends

Woody Guthrie’s daughter Nora talks about her father and her Jewish roots
LARRY YUDELSON

T
he Shabbes table could be your
Shabbes table.

LOTTE JACOBI-COURTESY OF WOODY GUTHRIE PUBLICATIONS

The Shabbes table could be my

TINA TSCHIRCH-COURTESY OF WOODY GUTHRIE PUBLICATIONS

Shabbes table.
But in fact, the Shabbes table captured in
a home movie that will be shown at Tem-
ple Emeth on November 13 was in fact Aliza
Greenblatt’s Shabbes table. (See box.)
Those of you well acquainted with mid-20th
century American Yiddish music are no doubt
familiar with Ms. Greenblatt’s art, if not her
appearance. You might own her three vol-
umes of Yiddish poetry and probably can sing
some of the songs in which composers set
her words to music. Perhaps you’ve read her
autobiography, “Baym Fentser Fun a Lebn.”
(That’s “Through the Window of My Life,” for
the rest of us.)
And the rest of us also are more likely to rec- Aliza Greenblatt
ognize the visage and the verses of her son-in-
law, Woody Guthrie.
Yes, the dust-bowl balladeer, the man who
wrote “This Land is Your Land,” the man
who inspired a very young Robert Zimmer-
man to leave Minnesota, perform in Green-
wich Village folk clubs, and change his name
to Bob Dylan — yes, that Woody Guthrie —
had a Jewish mother-in-law. No joke. And
not only did he respect and love her, her Yid-
dishkeit rubbed off on him both in songs he
recorded and in many more lyrics he never Nora Guthrie
put to music.
The relationship between Woody Guthrie and Aliza understand but loved to hear, because it was Bubbe. She
Greenblatt is at the heart of the story Woody’s daughter remembers “being surrounded by latkes and blintzes and
Nora will tell at Temple Emeth at a meeting of the National sweet and sour meatballs. It was a very tasty relationship.
Council of Jewish Women that is open to all. Whatever she brought to the table, literally and figura-
Growing up, Nora had no idea she was living in a mael- tively, we enjoyed.”
strom of creativity. Woody was just her father. Her mother, And that table included the Shabbes table.

COURTESY OF WOODY GUTHRIE PUBLICATIONS

Marjorie, a dance teacher who had danced for years with
the Martha Graham Dance Company, was just her mother.
And Aliza Greenblatt was just Bubbe.
Sure, on Sunday afternoons her father would come
home from the hospital where he lived — he was slowly
dying of Huntington’s Disease — and his friends would
gather around with their guitars and banjos and play
and sing.
“I’d sit around and listen, sing a chorus or two,” Nora
said. “Then I’d go out and play. We” — meaning she and
her older brother Arlo — “were more engaged with our
neighborhood friends than with his musical friends.”
Similarly, while her grandmother’s Yiddish seeped
into her life, Nora learned the details only when she was
much older. “The discovery of where my grandmother is
placed in the Jewish cultural lexicon is very slow moving
for me,” she said.
Her bubbe sang to her in Yiddish, which Nora couldn’t
Who: Nora Guthrie
What: A talk on Woody Guthrie’s Jewish Connections
Where: Temple Emeth, 1666 Windsor Road, Teaneck
When: Tuesday, November 13, 12:30 p.m.
How much: $10; free for members of the National
Council of Jewish Women
“Not until I was in my mid 40s and 50s did I realize she
wrote songs,” Nora said.
Her zayde, Isadore Greenblatt, also had an intellectual
bent, Nora said, though he made his living at the apron
factory he owned.
The Guthries lived just a couple of blocks away from
the Greenblatts in Coney Island. “At the time they moved
there in the 1930s, it was filled with a lot of Jewish people
who were involved in the arts, who worked in Broadway
or on Second Avenue,” the site of the vibrant Yiddish the-
ater. “There was a whole community there.”
Nora discovered her grandmother’s place in the Yiddish
pantheon when she became the keeper of her father’s Woody and Marjorie Guthrie
archives — which turned out to include 3,000 unpublished
and unrecorded lyrics. That included Chanukah songs he This sparked her interest in her grandmother. She read
had written for the apartment complex’s tenant associa- her grandmother’s autobiography, which had been trans-
tion Chanukah parties. She gave the lyrics to the Klezmat- lated into English.
ics, who released an album of Chanukah songs featuring Nora always had known that her grandmother had writ-
Woody’s lyrics in 2004. Two years later, the Klezmatics’ ten a Yiddish autobiography. It came out in 1964, when
“Wonder Wheel” featured more Woody lyrics with a Jew- Nora was 14, and Bubbe asked Nora to draw the cover.
ish tinge; it won a Grammy for Best World Music Album. She did, but didn’t think much about it.
For the Klezmatics and their friends, however, Aliza “It was 1964 and the Beatles were in town,” she said. “My
Greenblatt was not obscure. As the new generation of focus went more to the Beatles than to my grandmother.”
Yiddish singers, they were heirs to her work as much as, Nora remains a bit amazed, and a bit awestruck, that
being children of the 60s, they were heirs to Woody’s. her grandmother is to some, admittedly a select few, what
“Tell me this, tell me that,” they would pester Nora. SEE GUTHRIE PAGE 56

10 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018

 Jewish Family & Children’s Services
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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 11

Local
FIRST PERSON
‘We need to talk’
Local gap-year student reports from JFNA’s General Assembly in Tel Aviv
JOSEPH YUDELSON
A
s I walk into the conference
center for the General Assem-
bly of the Jewish Federations
of North America, the first
thing I notice is that I’m younger than
the average conference-goer by around
40 years (nb: just a wild guess). When I
stroll through security with the rest of
my group, fellow Masa delegates on a gap
year program called Big Idea, we easily
quadruple the number of people there
under 20 years old.
The second thing I
notice is the choice of
decor: not only is the
color scheme surpris-
ingly snazzy, but there are
positivity-infused slogans
on every surface: “There
are no bad ideas,” “Here,
silence is not golden,” and
of course, this year’s GA
theme, “We need to talk.”
Now, I fell in love with
the theme as soon as I heard it. I love us,
I love needs, and above all I love talking.
Sure, this dialogue was specifically meant to
be the one between Israel and the diaspora,
but it works in the general case, too.
I notice all of this as I walk to the first
round of speeches, typing out notes furi-
ously on my phone. (I should mention that
I’m a nearly compulsive note-taker. In fact,
most of this article stems from the constant,
barely coherent stream of consciousness
I was putting down over the course of the
conference. As time went on, though, I
started getting more and more abstract, and
I’m still trying to decrypt some of my notes
— what am I supposed to make of phrases
like “I even want the banner for itself, that
seems to me to be the building block, my
dream job, utopia, what are we doing all this
for, for doing all this? must be.” And this isn’t
rhetorical, by the way. If you understand
what I was going for, please get in touch.)
Where was I? Oh, the opening speeches.
I’m not going to lie, a lot of them went
in one ear and out the other. We got the
same old narratives: some speakers say
we should be more worried, some say we
should be less worried, everybody agrees
that we’re so happy to be here. That said, I
won’t pretend I heard nothing interesting:
Diaspora-Jews-as-Shareholders-in-Israel,
dispelling the myth of Israel-as-Problem-
Child, etc. But I’ll leave unpacking those
concepts to people who’re both more
qualified and who care more.
Joey Yudelson of Teaneck, who graduated
from SAR High School in May, is spending his
gap year in Israel.
12 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
Joey Yudelson, inset, joined other conference-goers at the JFNA General Assembly in Tel Aviv.
What did get me, though, was
a little contradiction I noted
between two types of speakers.
(Of course the contradictions
draw me in — blame my talmu-
dic upbringing!)
One narrative, which I found strange and
intriguing, was about stability. The time has
come to do away with our constant wor-
rying and our “dynamic of crisis.” (That’s
a direct quote from Professor Gil Troy, or
so my notes lead me to believe.) Instead,
let’s focus on the nitty-gritty, the hard and
unsensational work of nation-building.
The second narrative, the one that I’ve
heard far too many times and yet still gives
me a jolt, says that now is the time of cri-
sis. That Israel is an incredible success (for
your sake and mine, I’m leaving out pages
of flowery descriptions of Israel’s success,
of quoting the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, and of what I call “drip-feed-irri-
gation” speeches — “Israel has created so
many products! The mobile phone! The
cherry tomato! Drip feed irrigation!”), but
that we are now at a global precipice. The
widening gap between Israel and the dias-
pora is, according to incoming Chairman
of the Jewish Agency Isaac Herzog (it was
a spiffy lineup of speakers), “an existen-
tial threat.” So is “Sudden Onset Apathy,”
the increasing lack of interest regarding
global Jewry, from both the Israeli and the
American sides. This narrative is actively
trying to get us worried, to get us planning:
“Where there is no vision, we are in dan-
ger,” Herzog says.
Now, none of this really hits me until I’m
sitting in a session on Collective Impact
Activism later that day. As I listen to these
educational leaders, titans of industry, etc
etc etc, talk about how to unite disparate
organizations, I realize that the concept
they’re dancing around is a shared sense
of crisis. When they say “momentum,” or
Delegates engage in spirited discussion during a breakout session at JFNA’s
General Assembly. 
“urgency,” or even “mission,” they mean a
crisis that will keep us on our toes. (This hit
me like a bolt of lightning — my notes on
that session are incoherent lumps of met-
aphor, interspersed with all-caps phrases
such as: “REMEMBER THE SENSE OF
URGENCY,” “UNIFIED UNDER THE BAN-
NER WE THRIVE,” and “THE IDEA OF
COLLECTIVITY IS COLLECTIVITY.” It’s
really hard to overestimate how big a real-
ization this was for me.)
Now that blows the whole GA wide open
for me. Suddenly, halfway through the first
day, I feel I understand the whole thing! It’s
a two-part system. The first part generates
a crisis. (Apathy, as per above, but it could
be anything. Although note the interest-
ing part of a crisis of apathy — the crisis
itself is the lack of a sense of crisis!) This is
totally natural if your goal is to strengthen
a community — think about how the issues
of Soviet Jewry united the global Jewish
community. In fact, as I gleaned from the
activist session, the main work of crisis
response is actually building the narrative
JOSEPH YUDELSON
JOSEPH YUDELSON
of crisis — get everyone worried, get them
working, get them united.
So then the second part, the amazing,
beautiful part, is the action. And lo and
behold, I spend the rest of that day having
the enormous pleasure of walking around
crowded NGO booths, seeing all the differ-
ent ways entrepreneurial, humanitarian
Jews are improving the world, from inter-
national aid to making Jewish text more
accessible to funding youth villages in Israel.
Walking around, my heart wants to leap out
of my chest just to get closer to all of these
people. They are all people who care, and
that makes them amazing, full stop. (Look at
me, shilling the “Crisis of Apathy” narrative!)
I just find myself surprised by their tenacity.
Impressed by their vision. I can’t help but
feel that all of them have the right priorities.
Different people, different paths, the same
goal: improving the world. Everybody’s try-
ing. That’s not to be underestimated.
So ends my first (remarkably positive!)
day. (God, I went on for a while. I’ll try to
SEE TALK PAGE 46
 Yeshiva High School
OPEN HOUSE PROGRAMS - 2018

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908-355-4850 x 6197 · highschool@thejec.org Register at: www.frisch.org/openhouse

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 13

Local
Of Pez and peoplehood
Teaneck ‘candy man’ dispenses biblical lessons
 LOIS GOLDRICH
I
t all started when Norman Stein-
berg of Teaneck, who now owns
more than 400 Pez dispensers —
including all the presidents, car-
toon characters, superheroes, and col-
lections from Disney and Pixar films
— realized that there were lessons to be
learned from this diverse assemblage.
(Pez, incidentally, is an acronym.
According to the Burlingame Museum of
Pez Memorabilia, the word is an abbre-
viation of the German word for pepper-
mint — PfeffErminZ. The candy was origi-
nally sold in small tins.)
But back to Teaneck and Mr. Steinberg,
who — when he’s not selling construc-
tion materials or investing in real estate
— is devising ways to use his dispensers
as teachers of Jewish values. This writer
‘Vision from the Heart’
Teaneck eye doctor offers a day of free exams, glasses in Paterson
JOANNE PALMER
I
magine being in your early 60s, going
for the first eye exam of your life, and
learning that you have glaucoma.
Terrifying, right? But not as terrify-
ing as not learning that you have it until it’s
too late to fix.
But why would someone in his 60s never
have had an eye exam until last month?
Because it’s too expensive? Because he
doesn’t have insurance? Because he falls
through the cracks left by Medicare and
private insurance? Because he’s undocu-
mented? In the country illegally?
Any or all of these things can be true, and
they are the symptoms of a systemic prob-
lem far beyond the scope of any one do-
gooder to fix. But it is not beyond the reach
of any one socially conscious ophthalmolo-
gist to try to do what he can, when he can,
with the tools he has.
For the second time in two years, Dr.
Alden Leifer of Teaneck, who practices
ophthalmology in Paterson, offered free eye
exams to any adult who wanted one, and
gave free eyeglasses — which he, his staff,
and some donors paid for — to anyone who
needed them.
Dr. Leifer has been working in Paterson
since 1987. Dr. Leifer, who is from Brook-
lyn, was in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1985,
where he trained at Walter Reed Hospital in
Washington and then worked at Fort Dix.
Once he was done with his army obliga-
tions — and he found the experience to be
“a wonderful opportunity,” he said — he and
14 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
came across Mr. Steinberg at Teaneck’s
Congregation Beth Sholom on Sukkot. He
was holding facsimiles of the Lion King’s
Simba and Mufasa and teaching a group
of small children the meaning of passing
things down from one generation to the
next.
“Every week I look through the para-
shah for a theme,” he said. “One that is
relatively simple for children.”  Some read-
ings, he acknowledged, are more difficult
than others. Then he looks at his Pez col-
lection to determine what would be appro-
priate. “One for each hand.”
“A number of the parashah themes are
based around leadership or good and evil,”
he noted. “For good, I typically turn to
Dumbledore, and for evil, to Voldemort.”
Both are characters in the Harry Potter
books. Or he may juxtapose Star Wars’
Yoda and Darth Vader. “For leadership
his wife began to search for a place to live,
and to work someplace “within commuting
distance of a Jewish community.”
Thus Teaneck, and Paterson.
Dr. Leifer began to work with an old-
time, old-school, beloved Paterson oph-
thalmologist, Dr. Phil Opper, and eventu-
ally he bought the practice. Paterson had
been a Jewish community, but by then it
was changing. Dr. Leifer moved his office to
Barnert Hospital — named after the wealthy
local politician and philanthropist Nathan
Barnert, whose name also was on his syn-
agogue, Barnert Temple, now in Frank-
lin Lakes. Since Barnert closed, Dr. Leifer
moved to another Barnert-labeled facility,
this time Barnert Medical Arts Complex.
So there Dr. Leifer is, treating patients, but
wanting to do more, somehow to give back.
He learned about a program called
Dentistry from the Heart, which began in
Atlanta and now has branches across the
country. “Dentists took the initiative to set
up this organization, and it is significant,”
Dr. Leifer said. “There is a lot of infrastruc-
ture involved.
“I can’t use it, because I’m not a dentist,
but I thought it was such a nice idea that we
created Vision from the Heart.”
On October 25, Dr. Leifer and the three
doctors in his practice saw 130 patients, and
gave them 120 pairs of glasses. “On a rough
estimate, there was about $50,000 worth
of donated goods and services,” he said.
Although the doctors did not see children —
it’s so hard that it would be an inefficient use
of their time, they decided — they treated
A sampling of Pez dispensers from Norman Steinberg’s collection.
and the founding of a people, I can always
go to George Washington.
“I’ve read a fair amount of American
history,” Mr. Steinberg continued. “Wash-
ington work s for Shemot — leading a rev-
olution, leading people to safety. James
Madison is good for the giving of the
Torah, since he wrote much of the Consti-
tution.” Lincoln, he said, often is an obvi-
ous choice.
people from 18 to 80-something years old.
“A lot of them were just routine exams —
people who needed glasses, bifocals, read-
ing glasses,” he said. “And then there were
a decent number of diagnoses of patholo-
gies — glaucoma, cataracts, macular degen-
eration. There were people who needed
referrals to specialists for sight-threatening
conditions.”
Given that these patients had not gone to
a doctor because they could not afford to
pay for their services, how would they be
able to go for more advanced treatment?
“We had a resource list with several places
where they could go, that would accept
charity cases, and a list of government agen-
cies that could help,” he said.
“It’s a problem with our health care sys-
tem today,” he continued. “Many of these
people get lost in the shuffle. Most of the
people who really need help are on Med-
icaid, so we have a way for them to get
care. We see plenty of those patients, and
we service them the same way we do all of
our other patients. And we see people who
come in and pay out of pocket. But then
there are the people with no insurance —
they might go to the drugstore and buy a
pair of reading glasses, but they are missing
out on the exams that could uncover more
serious problems that they wouldn’t neces-
sarily know about.”
Who are those people? “They often have
jobs, but insurance is too expensive for
them, so they just decide to go without it,”
Dr. Leifer said. “And I am sure we have some
people who have immigrated to the country,
Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and Bart and
Homer Simpson are not historical, but
often they’re useful, Mr. Steinberg said. He
also has some dispensers that have Andy
Warhol’s pop art pieces. “I never run out
of lessons,” he said.
The reason why he cannot turn to
Abraham or Moses is that there are no
Jewish-themed Pez dispensers, he said
— or at least not yet. He hopes that will
Dr. Alden Leifer, Florencia Di Costanzo,
and Clarissa Ynoa all worked on
Vision from the Heart.
and whether they are legal or not we do not
know. We don’t check their papers. But if
they are not here legally, I don’t think that
they can get insurance.”
The staff got a great deal of pleasure from
the day, he said. “They were so involved; as
much as you can have a bit of a party atmo-
sphere in an office, we had it. There was a
lot of energy. We had balloons, we gave out
gifts, we had a raffle, and refreshments.
“We had a huddle in the morning, before
we started, and it was very high energy. It
is a really feel-good event, to be able to give
back to people who need it.”
Dr. Leifer plans to make Vision from
the Heart an annual event, he said, and
he and his staff already are looking for-
ward to next year.

change. While he has Halloween dispensers, “It
would be great to have Jewish themes — maybe a
star, or menorah, or a Torah -- or various themes
from the Bible that can be related to.”
Mr. Steinberg and his wife have three sons; a
29-year-old and 26-year-old twins. They “put up
with it,” he said of his collection, noting that it’s
actually cheaper than other vices. It’s also fun,
he added, and said that he keeps his dispens-
ers in actual Pez display cases. Indeed, so identi-
fied has he become with the items that “a friend
made me a hat crowned with Pez dispensers.”
Other friends made a large dispenser and put his
headshot on top of it for his 60th birthday.
Mr. Steinberg is a longtime co-chair of Beth
Sholom’s Ruah Committee, which organizes
events such as the Sukkot barbecue and a pro-
gressive dinner where you don’t have to leave
the synagogue. He started his informal teaching
gig years ago, when he used the candies as a way
to remain alert during long sermons. While “the
adults were tittering, I offered it to them and it
brought back fond memories,” he said.
“The kids saw it and wanted it. I morphed into
a kind of candy man, and started giving it to chil-
dren as well.” But, he stressed, “I have a strict
rule. They need permission from their parents.”
From there, receiving Pez became a lure to draw
children to synagogue services. “If they came,
they got a pack of Pez.” By now, he knows many
of the children. And on birthdays, “I carry a few
extra dispensers. I give them a dispenser and a
pack of Pez and tell them to pay it forward.” All
the Pez carry a hechsher, he said.
Children come to him alone or in bunches, he
said. He asks them if they know the name of the
parashah and how his dispensers might relate
to it. “They come up with creative answers,” he
said. “If they give the right answer, I give them a
Pez.” The more knowledgeable among them may
leave with a handful.
Mr. Steinberg said that he grew up in Brook-
lyn, and “my father was community-minded.”
Also, “you had to be creative to survive the 60s
and 70s. You tried not to think of problems but
of solutions.” Not surprisingly, he calls himself
“a hands-on kind of volunteer.” Rather than
sit at meetings, “I prefer to do projects from
Local
beginning to end.”
He has been distributing Pez — and Torah wis-
dom — for some 15 years. “I wanted to do some-
thing useful and I realized I could create lessons
from the parashah,” he said. Sometimes he has
to do a bit of “stretching, like using Mr. Spock as
a priest.” Leonard Nimoy talked about how he
watched the kohanim duchening when he was
a child. When director Gene Roddenberry was
looking for a way for Spock to say hello, “Nimoy
used the kohen’s hand symbol, and ‘Live long
and prosper’,” which paraphrases a verse from
Deuteronomy, Mr. Steinberg said.
Mr. Steinberg clearly enjoys what he does. “The
more you give, the more you get,” he said. “Beth
Sholom helped raise my children.” He hopes his
Torah lessons add to the Shabbat experience of
today’s youngsters, “helping them see the syna-
gogue as a friendly place.”
Friends of Norman Steinberg
made a giant Pez dispenser with his
picture on top as a 60th birthday gift.
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 15
Briefly Local

Meeting raises awareness of infertility Women of Reform Judaism gather

Last month, the Jewish Center of for district convention in Tenafly
Teaneck hosted “Infertility: Raising Last weekend, Women
Awareness and Breaking the Stigma,” a of Reform Judaism held

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL LAVES

Yesh Tikva presentation. Elie Salomon its Atlantic District con-
and Dr. Talia Hindin were the speakers. vention at the Clinton
Yesh Tikva, a global organization that Inn and at Temple Sinai
focuses on issues surrounding infertility, of Bergen County, both
has two primary goals: to provide psy- in Tenafly. On Shabbat,
chosocial resources and tools to people Rabbi Dr. Andrea Weiss,
struggling with infertility, and to raise the provost of Hebrew
awareness of infertility throughout the Union College — Jewish

PHOTO PROVIDED
Dr. Talia Hindin Elie Salomon
Jewish community. Institute of Religion, was
Elie Salomon, a Yesh Tikva co-founder, “Fertility Friends” mentorship program, the guest speaker, and
talked about her own struggles with infer- talked about some of the implications of singer Sheldon Low per-
tility and how they led her to founding infertility, including mental health issues, formed. Attending, from
the organization. Dr. Talia Hindin, a psy- and she described Yesh Tikva’s services. A left: Sinai Sisterhood past president Ilene Wechter; Woman of Valor honoree and Sinai
chologist who coordinates Yesh Tikva’s question-and-answer session followed. Sisterhood secretary Anne Fleisher; newly sworn-in WRJ district president Annice
Benamy of Temple Sinai Sisterhood; Temple Sinai Sisterhood president Franci Stein-
berg; and Sinai Sisterhood treasurer Hilary Eth.
Local educator among JEA awardees
Marcia Kagedan of Teaneck,
the director of congrega-
pedagogy, honoris causa.
The academic convocation
Senator Menendez attends
tional learning at the JCC of at JTS is a tradition of part- Norpac event in Teaneck
Paramus/Congregation Beth nership between the Jewish Drs. Esther and Mort Fridman hosted
Tikvah, is one of 14 educa- Theological Seminary and the a meeting for Senator Robert Menen-
tors to receive an honorary Jewish Educators Assembly. dez (D-N.J.) at their home for the final
doctorate from the Jewish Every few years, the country’s Norpac pro-Israel Teaneck event of the

COURTESY NORPAC
Educators Assembly. The oldest Conservative institu- 2017-2018 political cycle.
Jewish Theological Seminary tion of higher learning recog- Senator Menendez chairs the Senate
will host the festive academic nizes educators who have dis- Foreign Relations Committee, was the
convocation on November 12, Marcia Kagedan tinguished themselves with first New Jersey Democrat to oppose
when the seminary’s chan- illustrious careers through the the Iran deal in 2015, and has been a
cellor confers the degree of doctor of awarding of honorary doctorates. co-sponsor or co-author of most major Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
bipartisan bills on American security left, with Esther and Mort Fridman
funding to Israel and on Iran sanc-
Rabbinic intern comes to Glen Rock tions. He has been in Congress, in both
the House of Representatives and the
Senate, for more than 20 years, and is
up for re-election next week.
Sam Hollander, the Glen also is working toward a mas-
Rock Jewish Center’s rabbinic ter’s degree in Jewish edu-
intern, will be at the shul one cation. He was the rabbinic
Shabbat a month. His respon- intern for Congregation Beth
sibilities include invigorating El in South Orange and Tem-
the shul’s newly formed “Mish- ple Sholom in Greenwich,
pacha Minyan” for Hebrew Conn., and he is the youth
school students and their fami- and family program director
lies, enhancing family Shabbat at Ansche Chesed in Manhat-
programming for young fami- tan. He completed an intern-
lies, and assisting in the main Sam Hollander ship as a hospital chaplain
Shabbat service. He will also at New York-Presbyterian
help with upcoming teen programs. Weill Cornell Medical Center and worked
Mr. Hollander, a fifth-year rabbinical stu- for Camp Ramah in the Poconos and for
COURTESY JFNNJ

dent at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Ramah Israel Seminar for six years.

Bubbemeises
and lunch in Jason Shames, Jewish Federation CEO, joins Bergen County Freeholder
Tracey Zur at the legislative advocacy meeting.
Woodcliff Lake
Last week, the sisterhood of Tem-
Federation holds advocacy day
ple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley The Jewish Federation of Northern New the Bergen County sheriff ’s depart-
held its annual paid-up membership Jersey recently held the first of a series ment, the county prosecutor’s office,
lunch. Rabbi Joyce Newmark, the of legislative advocacy days at the Ber- the county clerk, and other officials.
guest speaker, discussed “Bubbe- gen County administration building They discussed ways to promote trade
meises: Things You Know About in Hackensack. Members of JFNNJ’s between Israel and New Jersey, aware-
PHOTO PROVIDED

Judaism That Aren’t Really True.” Jewish Community Relations Commit- ness of the recent rise of anti-Semitic
tee met with Bergen County Execu- vandalism, strategies to curb the opi-
tive James J. Tedesco III and members oid crisis, and how to work together to
of the Bergen County Freeholders, increase voter turnout.

16 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018

UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
Mosab Hassan Yousef: In Conversation PA

Author of Son of Hamas and Award for JCC PATRON OF THE ARTS &
Best Documentary — The Green Prince THE KAPLEN FOUNDATION PRESENT

Mosab
Mosab discusses the world’s most dangerous terrorist
organization and unveils the truth about his own
secret role, his agonizing separation from family
and homeland, and his belief that to “love your
enemies” is the only way to peace in the Middle East. Hassan
Yousef
Sponsored in part by the Israeli-American Council.
Sun, Nov 11, 7 pm
VIP $180 Exclusive for Patron of the Arts Subscribers;
Preferred Admission $100, priority seating; November 11, 7 pm
General Admission, $50.
Tickets available at jccotp.org/mosab

Fall Boutique
Don’t miss this annual shopping extravaganza featuring
fashionable women’s and children’s clothing, accessories,
jewelry, holiday gifts and more! Proceeds support enrichment
programs at the Leonard & Syril Rubin Nursery School.
Sun, Nov 4, 10 am-5 pm, & Mon, Nov 5, 9 am-4 pm

Osteria Ringraziamento,
Thanksgiving Italian Style
with JoJo Rubach
Celebrate Thanksgiving with some Italian flair that will
complement your holiday feast. JoJo will demonstrate
how to prepare, and you will sample the following
delicious food: stuffed mushrooms and stuffed
artichokes, Italian wedding soup, Turkey meatballs
with Italian gravy, Turkey Scarpiello, Turkey Osso
Buco, and sautéed broccoli rabe.
Wed, Nov 14, 7-9:30 pm, $65/$78

KIDS AQUATICS SENIORS

November Vacation Camps Scuba Diving Senior Activity Center

Schools out for Teachers’ Convention? What now? Missing the beach during the cooler SOCIAL GROUP FOR OLDER ADULTS
We have you covered! The JCC will fill your child’s weather? Learn to scuba dive with A daily senior center providing light breakfast,
day with fun and laughter. From special half-day Michael Kresky, PADI Open Water lunch, exercise, entertainment, lectures, and more.
trips for the older kids, to sports, art and swim. Scuba Instructor and Master Scuba Transportation available in many areas.
There’s something for everyone! Diver Trainer. Open Water Diver Monday – Friday
AGES K-5: Trips to Billy Beez and Humdingers! Course features at-home e-learning
For more information visit
and confined water training in the
Thur, Nov 8 & Fri, Nov 9, 9 am-4 pm jccotp.org/senior-services or contact
JCC pool. Minimum age 10 years
AGES 3-PRE-K: Live animal show at the JCC, Judi Nahary at 201.408.1450.
with permission of aquatics director.
Shabbat Sing, sports and more!
For more information, contact
Fri, Nov 9, 9 am-4 pm Kathleen Costantini, Aquatics
Contact Melissa Peters at 201.408.1467 or Director, at 201.408.1473 TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO
mpeters@jccotp.org for more information. or at kcostantini@jccotp.org VISIT jccotp.org
STAY IN THE KNOW! LIKE US ON
PA Program offered as part of the JCC Patron of the Arts Program. facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP
Find out more at jccotp.org/patrons.

KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 17
Cover Story
Pittsburgh synagogue murders shake
the city’s iconic Jewish neighborhood
BEN SALES
W
hen a gunman entered
The Tree of Life Congrega-
tion and killed 11 worship-
pers, he also struck at the
heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community —
the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill.
Squirrel Hill, in the eastern part of Pitts-
burgh, has been the center of the city’s
Jewish life since the turn of the 20th cen-
tury, when wealthy Jewish families began
settling there. While the Jewish communi-
ties of other cities have moved neighbor-
hoods or migrated to the suburbs in the
next century-plus, Squirrel Hill and its
environs have remained the home of Pitts-
burgh’s Jews.
18 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
Jeff Finkelstein, the president of the Jew-
ish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, says
the neighborhood’s sustained Jewish pres-
ence is a result of its proximity to local jobs
and two universities nearby — Carnegie
Mellon University and Chatham Univer-
sity. (The University of Pittsburgh isn’t far
away, either.) Recently, he said, the area
also has experienced an influx of Jewish
millennials seeking urban life.
“It may be the last major urban-centered
Jewish community outside of Manhattan
in the country,” he said. “Over the years,
this Jewish community has made serious
investments into the Jewish institutions in
Squirrel Hill.”
Today the neighborhood is home to
about 30 percent of the Pittsburgh area’s
50,000 Jews, or about 15,000 people,
according to a 2017 study of the Jewish
community. It’s home to more than a
dozen synagogues across denominations.
Tree of Life, which recently merged with
another congregation, Or L’Simcha, is one
of two Conservative synagogues in the
neighborhood. There are also many Ortho-
dox and Reform synagogues in an area just
over one square mile wide.
“It’s just really a special place with multi-
generational family homes and a real nice
sense of esprit de corps,” said Rabbi Aaron
Bisno of Rodef Shalom, a Reform congre-
gation. “It’s really collaborative and sup-
portive and rather unique.”
Like many Jewish neighborhoods,
Squirrel Hill boasts an array of Jewish day
schools (four), kosher restaurants (three),
and other Jewish community organiza-
tions, according to a 2016 article in Shady
Ave., a local magazine. In addition to a
Holocaust museum, it’s home to a sculp-
ture of a Star of David made of six million
soda can tabs. That project, undertaken by
the Community Day School, a local Jewish
school, took five years to complete.
Squirrel Hill’s centrality to Pittsburgh
Jewry also is reflected in the numbers.
While it’s home to 30 percent of Pittsburgh
Jews overall, nearly half of the area’s Jew-
ish children are growing up there. The
neighborhood ranks high as well in terms
of synagogue membership, Jewish educa-
tion, and similar measures, according to
the community study.
 Cover Story

Thousands pack the

intersection of Forbes
and Murray avenues in
the Squirrel Hill section
of Pittsburgh after the
murders of 11 Jewish
congregants. Inset, three
women say psalms for
the victims.

Pittsburgh police SWAT members deploy to the Tree of Life Congregation.

How events unfolded

(It was also home to the children’s tele-
vision icon Fred Rogers, the host of “Mis-
ter Rogers’ Neighborhood,” who was not
Jewish.)
But what sets Squirrel Hill apart, Finkel-
stein says, is the cohesiveness of its Jew-
ish community. He says its wide range of
denominations and Jewish organizations
make an effort to collaborate. At an all-
night learning program for Shavuot this
spring, 500 people from across the Jewish
spectrum came to study together.
“There is a phrase in the Talmud that
has always felt especially relevant to our
community: Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh.
All of Israel is responsible for one another,”
New York Times columnist Bari Weiss,
who celebrated her bat mitzvah at Tree
of Life, wrote in a column later on Satur-
day. “For us that is not a lovely theory but
a lived reality.”
That communal unity, Finkelstein says,
has been in evidence in the wake of the
shooting. In addition to a vigil Saturday
night in Squirrel Hill, its Jewish organi-
zations have mobilized. The local JCC is
acting as a base for the community and
families of the victims, where rabbis from
around the area have visited throughout
the day. Jewish Family and Community
Services of Pittsburgh is providing coun-
seling, while the local Jewish federation is
handling donations.
This is not the first time the community
has experienced anti-Semitism recently.
Last year, residents found stickers and
business cards with white supremacist slo-
gans around the neighborhood featuring
swastikas and messages like “It’s not illegal
to be white ... yet.”
But Finkelstein says Saturday’s events
are the worst he’s ever experienced in his
professional life.
“This is the one day I hoped would
never happen,” he said. “It’s about these
families — my heart goes out to them. Just
watching their emotions has shaken my
soul.” JTA WIRE SERVICE
in a morning of tragedy
BEN SALES
Last Saturday, a gunman entered
the Tree of Life Congregation in
Pittsburgh and killed 11 people,
wounding six others. It was the
worst recorded anti-Semitic act in
American history.
Here’s how the tragedy happened.
(This account has been reconstruct-
ed from JTA’s reporting, the Pitts-
burgh Post-Gazette, the New York
Times, and the “Today” show. Some
of the times are approximate.)
Before the shooting
Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman,
is a truck driver from the Pittsburgh
area who lives in a one-bedroom
apartment about a half-hour’s drive
from Squirrel Hill, the diverse neigh-
borhood that long has been the
center of the city’s Jewish commu-
nity. Acquaintances described him to
the Times as a loner, “pretty much a
ghost” with few people close to him.
His next-door neighbor would see
him occasionally but had forgotten
his name.
But that quiet exterior obscured
Bowers’ hateful beliefs, which he
expressed on Gab, a social media
platform for the far right. Bowers
would post bigoted and anti-Se-
mitic comments. Shortly before the
shooting he vilified HIAS, a Jew-
ish refugee aid group, for its work
resettling Middle Eastern refugees in
the United States.
“HIAS likes to bring invaders in
that kill our people,” he wrote on his
website. “I can’t sit by and watch my
people get slaughtered. Screw your
optics, I’m going in.”
Saturday, 9:45 a.m.
Services begin at Tree of Life Con-
gregation, a synagogue in the Squir-
rel Hill neighborhood that houses
three congregations: Tree of Life•Or
L’Simcha, a merger of two Conser-
vative synagogues; New Light, a
small Conservative congregation
that draws about 20 worshippers
weekly; and Dor Hadash, a Recon-
structionist congregation.
At the entrance, Cecil and David
Rosenthal, brothers with intellectual
disabilities who are active mem-
bers of Tree of Life, are handing out
prayer books. There is a table with
challah, wine, and whiskey for a bris,
or circumcision ceremony, being
held that morning. In the kitchen,
two other community members,
Daniel Stein and Richard Gottfried,
were preparing lox, cream cheese,
bagels, and eggs.
9:50
The gunman enters and begins
shooting. His first victims, according
to a Times account, are the Rosenthal
brothers, who were 54 and 59 years
old. He then enters New Light, where
Melvin Wax, 88, is leading services.
9:54
The first call is placed to 911, appar-
ently by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Tree
of Life. Barry Werber, of New Light,
also calls 911 around this time.
Myers told “Today” that when he
first heard the gunshots, he as-
sumed it was an elderly person
who had grabbed onto a coat rack
for balance and knocked it over.
Seconds afterward, after a second
round of volleys, Myers realizes he’s
hearing gunfire.
Myers takes the four congregants
at the front of the sanctuary out of an
entrance at the front of the room that
leads to a labyrinth of hallways and
an exit from the building. He holes up
in a balcony from which he can hear
the gunshots. He is unable to access
the eight remaining congregants sit-
ting in the back of the sanctuary.
SEE TIMELINE PAGE 21

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 19

Cover Story

Remembering
Pittsburgh in
Bergen County
Kaplen JCC one of many local Jewish
institutions that hosted meetings
JOANNE PALMER old formula goes), a loser, a hater who

B
y now, we all know what
happened last Shabbat in
Pittsburgh.
A man carrying three hand-
guns and an assault rifle walked into
services and slaughtered 11 people; he
wounded six others. All of the dead — eight
men and three women — were Jews, in shul
as they always were on Shabbat morning,
and so were two of the wounded. The
other four wounded men were police offi-
cers, who had rushed in to save the victims.
The murderer is a virulent anti-Semite,
a loner (“keeps himself to himself,” as the
went way down the internet rabbit holes
about global conspiracy aimed at displac-
ing white men from their rightful positions
atop the world.
We also know that not only did the Jew-
ish community mourn, but so too did most
of the rest of America.
Both locally and across the country, Jews
and non-Jews have been joining to mourn,
rally, and take strength from each other.
There have been solemn gatherings across
northern New Jersey and Rockland County,
in Paramus, Teaneck, Glen Rock, Wayne,
Woodcliff Lake, Park Ridge, West Nyack,
and probably many other places as well.
More than 1,000 people showed up at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly
to grieve the murders of 11 Jews at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation.
On Monday night, at perhaps the largest wanted to be counted.
Bergen County assembly, more than 1,000 The evening drew many local politi-
people showed up, with very little notice, cians, Jewish religious and lay leaders,
to grieve together at the Kaplen JCC on the and leaders of other religions. The speak-
Palisades in Tenafly together. They filled all ers included Jason Shames, the head of the
the chairs in the big downstairs room, and Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey,
then all the available space to stand in, and and Roberta Abrams, its president, as well
then they overflowed into the gym, where as the JCC’s CEO, Jordan Shenker, and
they watched as the talks were livestreamed its board chair, Jodi Scherl; Rabbi Chaim
onto large monitors. They stayed although Poupko, the president of the Rabbini-
it was late, and increasingly hot. They cal Council of Bergen County, and Rabbi

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 Cover Story

Timeline of the building.

David-Seth Kirschner, president of the North Jersey
Board of Rabbis, among many other rabbis.
Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, who has a strik-
ing presence and a deep, resonant voice, spoke; he
stressed gun safety, and quoted from “Bread and
Wine,” a 1936 Italian novel about the dangers of fas-
cism. In that seminal book, he said, one character
said that the armies of the night were approaching,
bringing death, and they would be unstoppable.
No, the cardinal quoted the fictional priest as say-
ing. It just takes one person going down to the town
square in the middle of the night, “scrawling no. It’s
the divine no,” he said.
The area’s two members of Congress, both Dem-
ocrats, spoke; both the Fifth District’s Josh Got-
theimer and the Ninth District’s Bill Pascrell talked
about unity in the face of anti-Semitism and hatred.
Mr. Gottheimer also said that the rate of anti-Semitic
incidents has gone up by 57 percent, as reported by
the ADL, and he talked about some nasty incidents
involving his campaign signs, which carry “my Jew-
ish name,” he said.
NOW OPEN! Four of the six women who spoke read obituaries
NOW OPEN!
FROM PAGE 19
9:55
After hearing the gunshots, several congregants of
New Light — Werber, Wax, Rabbi Jonathan Pearlman,
and Carol Black — hide in a storage closet. They are
unable to find the light switch, leaving the room pitch
black.
The shooting subsides, and Wax opens the door. He
is shot and killed.
The gunman then enters the storage closet and be-
gins to fumble around in the dark, with the three other
congregants still inside. Unable to see them, he leaves.
9:57
The gunman goes upstairs to the Tree of Life congre-
gation, where a number of congregants remain, and
begins shooting. Seven are killed, one injured.
“I couldn’t save those eight people,” Myers told
“Today.” “I went up into the choir loft and heard him
execute my congregants.”
Stein, 71, and Gottfried, 66, are among the mur-
dered. The remaining victims are Bernice Simon, 84,
and Sylvan Simon, 86, a husband and wife, along with
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, Joyce Fienberg, 75, Rose Malin-
ger, 97, and Irving Younger, 69.
Two others, including Daniel Leger, 70, are injured.
10:00
The first police officers arrive on the scene and begin
to engage the gunman. He returns fire from the front
“We’re under fire, we’re under fire,” an officer re-
ports. “He’s got an automatic weapon, he’s firing at us
from the synagogue.”
The shooter then retreats into the building and bar-
ricades himself on the third floor.
10:12
The SWAT team arrives. Police have set up a perim-
eter around the building.
10:29
SWAT officers begin to escort congregants out of the
building. The SWAT team moves through the building.
10:47
The SWAT team encounters the gunman on the third
floor and begins exchanging fire with him. One officer
is critically wounded.
11:03
The gunman begins talking to the officers. He iden-
tifies himself as Robert Bowers, 46, from Baldwin
Borough.
11:08
Bowers, who is wounded, crawls toward the officers
and surrenders. Five minutes later he is taken into cus-
tody. According to an officer, as Bowers crawls toward
the officers, he is “talking about [how] all these Jews
need to die.” JTA WIRE SERVICE

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SEE JCC VIGIL PAGE 30

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Cover Story

After mass shooting, post-Shabbat service draws thousands

RON KAMPEAS
PITTSBURGH — It is, after all, as any local
will tell you, Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood.
People here look out for one another.
So when a group of students from Alder-
dice, a high school in this city’s Squirrel
Hill neighborhood, emerged from their
synagogues, their homes, their cafes after
3 1/2 hours of sheltering in place, they
knew what to do. The texts flew out: Meet
at Starbucks.
Sophia Levin, 15, said the network has
been in place since May, when a group of
Alderdice students organized a walkout
in solidarity with the one organized by
their counterparts at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida,
the last time a mass killing gripped the
nation’s attention.
The students, mostly girls, decided that
a Havdalah ceremony, marking the separa-
tion between Shabbat and the rest of the
week, would be the best representation of
their feelings. Word went out, and by 5:30
p.m. there were thousands of people, Jews
and non-Jews, packed into the intersection
of Forbes and Murray avenues, just feet
away from the Pittsburgh JCC, the heart of
the Jewish community.
Ask Squirrel Hill folks about the late
Fred Rogers and they’ll smile and point
toward where the 20th-century icon of
gentle, it-takes-a-village children’s televi-
sion spent most of his life.
There is Nazism and anti-Semitism
here... I’ve never been in denial.
But it’s never been this close.
And then the smile disappears, a block
or so away from the Tree of Life Congrega-
tion, where a gunman who shouted that
he was determined to kill Jews murdered 11
people on Saturday morning during a brit
milah, a circumcision ceremony, before a
SWAT team arrested him.
The Havdalah vigil took place at sun-
down, hours after the shooting and even
before any of the victims’ names had been
released.
“I take care of some of the members
of this community,” said Katie Brinton, a
nurse who is not Jewish. “I went to Jewish
community summer camps.”
Brinton came to the vigil with her hus-
band, Tristan Palazzolo, and their toddler
son, Marin. “I’m lucky to live here,” she
said. “This is a wonderful place.”
But was she surprised? No.
“There is Nazism and anti-Semitism
here,” Brinton said, referring to the racist
and-anti-Semitic killing spree carried out
by Richard Baumhammers in this city in
2000. Baumhammers killed five people,
including his Jewish neighbor, and shot up
a synagogue. “I’ve never been in denial,”
she said. “But it’s never been this close.”
That tension, between the defiance of
a small, diverse community where neigh-
bors become friends for life, and the real-
ization that beyond its tree-lined streets
and row houses an anger lurks and is
metastasizing, was as stark during the vigil
as the separation marked by the Havdalah
ceremony, which ends Shabbat.
Andy Gespass, 63, a lawyer, watched
his wife, Debbie, give directions over the
phone to friends. “We’re at the zebra
crossing,” she said.
“Are they coming?” he asked as casually
as someone awaiting a dinner date.
“We’re waiting for them to publish the
names,” Andy Gespass, referring to the
11 dead. It was an oft-heard statement
throughout the crowd.
“I’m sure we’re going to know people,”
Debbie Gespass said.
“It’s all the vitriol piling up,” Andy Ges-
pass said, referring to the political climate.
“I think it’s gotten worse and worse.”
For many in the crowd, the shooting
SEE PITTSBURGH SERVICE PAGE 30

VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6.
Democrat for New Jersey We need Bob Menendez fighting for
the Jewish community. As he always
has. When you stand with Bob this
November, you are standing for:
25-year track record of standing up for the Jewish community unmatched in
Congress and leading voice for strong, unbreakable U.S.-Israel relations
Fighting anti-semitism and standing for equality under the law for every person,
regardless of race, gender, religion or identity
Safe communities and common-sense gun safety laws that protect our children
and families
Excellent public education, and a bill to make 2 years of community or technical
college tuition-free
Affordable and high-quality health care by protecting and expanding the 
Affordable Care Act
PAID FOR BY MENENDEZ FOR SENATE

22 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018


How schools teach
real-life tragedy
Local educators discuss
their outreach to the students
LARRY YUDELSON
W
hen we hear that an
American synagogue
has been shot up by
a neo-Nazi terrorist,
we respond by — well, we all learned
this week how we respond.
But for some of us, our personal
response includes the immediate
question: What do we do as the leader
of a school or a synagogue? How do
we meet the needs of our students
and members? How do we help other
people deal with the horror, even as
we ourselves are trying to cope?
Dr. Ruth Gafni, who heads the Solo-
mon Schechter Day School of Bergen
County in New Milford, started con-
sulting with her colleagues right after
Shabbat ended “in terms of how to
provide the children with responses
in light of an act of terrorism.”
The foundation of the response,
she said, was to provide reassurances
about the children’s safety and the
availability of the school’s adults to
listen to the concerns of the students
and have the conversations “that
we may not have full and complete
answers for.”
“As educators, we try to follow the
lead of the kids,” Dr. Ilana Kustanow-
itz, the school’s psychologist, said.
Overall, Dr. Gafni said, the school
wanted to emphasize “how we sup-
port each other and the community
in times like this. How we respond
as Jewish people when one of us —
because we are one — is hurting,
regardless of where they are in the
world.”
“Unfortunately, we’ve had difficult
but similar experiences in the past,”
Dr. Kustanowitz said.
She said the school tries to bal-
ance its responsibility to inform the
students with the responsibility, and
prerogatives, of the parents.
That means different approaches
for different ages.
“It’s interesting to me how some
parents spoken to the kids about it
and some have not,” Dr. Kustanowitz
said. “When the lower school princi-
pals went to talk to the fifth graders,
many did not know what had hap-
pened. It speaks to how painfully dif-
ficult it is to talk about it, how close
it feels, how scary it is to expose our
Cover Story
kids to it.”
For the middle school students,
school began Monday morning by
coming together in the beit midrash.
The principal spoke a few words. A
rabbi lit a candle and spoke for a few
minutes. “Then we recited tehillim” —
psalms — “together as a community,”
Dr. Kustanowitz said. They sang a nig-
gun together.
Afterward came a chance for stu-
dents to meet in small groups with
faculty members. “My sixth graders
didn’t feel a need to process and talk
about it, but the seventh graders did,”
she said.
She stopped by the fourth grade
classes.
“I observed little to no chat-
ter among the kids about it,” Dr.
Kustanowitz said. “We decided we
were going to leave discussion of the
attack as an at-home piece.”
Some students reached out to her
and other faculty members with
questions. “How do we live in a world
that it is so vulnerable? What is secu-
rity like in our school? Is it adequate?
It takes your breath away how scary
it can be.
“Some kids were eager to go to the
community vigil at the JCC. Some
kids shy away. It’s a parent or a family
decision on what your kids are up to.”
That said, the Schechter choir sang
at the vigil, she added. “It’s another
way we’re taking part in a community
response.”
Rivka Kahan, the principal of
Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for
Girls in Teaneck, began her response
with an email to the school commu-
nity sent out an hour after Shabbat
ended.
“Tonight we are heartbroken and
joined in mourning today’s shoot-
ing at Tree of Life Synagogue,” her
email began. “There are no words to
describe a tragedy of this magnitude.”
Sunday morning was the school’s
long-planned open house for pro-
spective students and their parents.
“It felt very incongruous to be acting
very happy and promoting our school
having just received this news,” Ms.
Kahan said.
She began the open house by talk-
ing about the attack, and then every-
one there recited psalms.
SEE SCHOOLS PAGE 32
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 23
Cover Story
Massacre exposes political rift driving American Jews apart
RON KAMPEAS
PITTSBURGH — In the wake of the worst mass kill-
ing of Jews in American history, there are Jews who
want to grieve and Jews who want to grieve and assign
blame.
It is that difference that has laid bare a festering dif-
ference among American Jews — how to treat Presi-
dent Donald Trump. Many blame him for the fraught
atmosphere leading the violence. And especially there
is the question of how to treat Jewish Trump support-
ers, who believe this president is showing more sup-
port for Israel than perhaps any of his predecessors.
In this city, the rift already was apparent hours after
a gunman pledging to kill all Jews rampaged through
the Tree of Life synagogue complex, leaving 11 wor-
shipers dead. An impromptu vigil organized by high
school students at the intersection of Murray and
Forbes avenues, the heart of the Squirrel Hill neigh-
borhood where many of Pittsburgh’s 50,000 Jews live,
ended with calls to “Vote! Vote! Vote!”
Twenty-four hours later, at the commemoration event
at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial on Sunday evening,
thousands of Pittsburgh’s Jews reflexively applauded
when Democrats were introduced, including Pittsburgh’s
Mayor Bill Peduto and Pennsylvania’s Senator Bob Casey.
Few applauded when Jewish officials from the Trump
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24 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
A Jewish family pauses in front of a memorial for victims of the
shooting attack. JEFF SWENSEN/GETTY IMAGES
administration — including Jason Greenblatt of Teaneck,
Trump’s top Middle East negotiator, and Avi Berkowitz, an
adviser to the president — were introduced.
Jeff Finkelstein, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Pittsburgh, who emceed the event, apparently sensed the
anger and asked the audience to withhold all applause.
They did, for a moment, but soon were applauding
Democrats again.
The divisions sharpened on Monday, when
Trump announced that he would visit Pittsburgh
the next day, when the first funerals took place.
Some Jewish groups were planning protests. The
Pittsburgh branch of Bend the Arc, a liberal Jewish
social action group, launched a petition calling on
Trump to denounce white supremacists.
“President Trump, your words, your policies,
and your party have emboldened a growing white
nationalist movement,” the petition says. “The vio-
lence against Jews in Pittsburgh is the direct culmi-
nation of your influence.”
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life, who
saved the lives of four congregants during the
attacks, said that Trump was welcome to visit.
“I turn to all of our elected leaders because hate
doesn’t know a political party,” he told CNN. “Hate
is not blue. Hate is not red. Hate is not purple. Hate
is in all.”
He added: “I turn to them to say, ‘Tone down the hate.
Speak words of love. Speak words of decency and of
respect.’ When that message comes loud and clear, Amer-
icans will hear that and we can begin to change the tenor
of our country.”
Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council
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 Cover Story

of America, said that criticism of Trump was appropriate
even in the midst of grief.
“Mourning and placing blame do not have to be mutu-
ally exclusive,” she said in an interview. “It’s almost irrel-
evant whether [Trump] is an anti-Semite; anti-Semites see
him as their champion and ally. He has emboldened those
movements.”
Hours after the massacre, Franklin Foer, a writer for the
Atlantic who comes from a prominent Washington, D.C.,
Jewish family, posted a call for the effective excommuni-
cation of Jews who back Trump. He said the president’s
broadsides against immigrants were echoed in the gun-
man’s social media posts; the murderer believed that Jews
were behind the entry of undocumented immigrants.
“Any strategy for enhancing the security of American
Jewry should involve shunning Trump’s Jewish enablers,”
Foer wrote. “Their money should be refused, their pres-
ence in synagogues not welcome. They have placed their
community in danger.”
He named, among others, Sheldon Adelson, the casino
magnate, philanthropist, and major donor to Republi-
cans, including Trump. Adelson has praised the president
for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and pulling the
United States out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Julia Ioffe, Foer’s colleague, who has written exten-
sively about anti-Semitism in the United States and her
native Russia, asked on Twitter whether Jewish Trump
backers thought the embassy move “was worth” the
massacre in Pittsburgh.
That infuriated Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple
in Los Angeles, who admires both writers but wrote an
essay in the online magazine Tablet against such calls for
excommunication.
Wolpe estimated that half his congregants backed
Trump. “My congregants are not the ones who are danger-
ous, and manipulating responsibility to turn Jews into per-
petrators is ethically appalling — and communally toxic,”
he wrote.
Wolpe, who has sharply criticized Trump, said in an
interview that Trump’s incendiary rhetoric certainly
might be counted as a causative factor. But so would the
gunman’s possible psychosis, the political polarization
that preceded Trump’s arrival on the political scene, the
proliferation of guns, and the persistence of bigotry.
“I fear it will be localized at one address, and there are
a lot of different addresses here, and certainly one is the
president, but it’s not the only one,” Wolpe said.
Matt Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coali-
tion, lashed out at liberal groups for, he said, using the
killings to galvanize their troops a week ahead of critical
midterm elections. “Organizations and individuals are try-
ing to score partisan political points and it is disgusting,”
he said.
Brooks noted that the killer reviled Trump for being too
close to Jews.
Trump also decried the anti-Semitism that fueled the
killings, and in a letter, Brooks’ group praised him for it.
(Trump also pressed ahead with campaign events, draw-
ing criticism for insensitivity.)
J Street’s Jessica Rosenblum, a senior vice president for
the liberal Middle East policy group, said the attack was
inherently political and deserved a political response. The
bigotries embraced by the killer “were countenanced at
the top echelons of government.
“Now is the time to make a solid plan within our move-
ment and with our friends and allies to make a concerted
effort to push back against this with all our might,” she
said.
Stosh Cotler, Bend the Arc’s CEO, agreed. “There’s no
getting around the reality that this horrific situation is a
product of our very toxic political environment,” she said.
Wolpe said that Trump’s critics perhaps were attaching
too much meaning to the act of a deranged man. “Unless
you define politics as everything is a political act, I’m not
sure the gunning down by a lone and obviously deranged
political man is in itself a political act,” he said.
Ioffe, writing in the Washington Post on Sunday, said that
placing the blame on the killer alone was a dodge. “Trump
certainly never told him, ‘Go kill some Jews on a rainy Shab-
bat morning,’” she wrote. “But this definition of culpability
is too narrow, too legalistic — and ultimately too dishonest.”
(On Monday, Ioffe apologized for saying on television that
Trump has radicalized more followers than ISIS.)
Ioffe acknowledged that the Pittsburgh gunman, like
the Florida man who allegedly sent pipe bombs to liber-
als and CNN, and the driver who killed a counterprotester
at a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year,
“were not looking for Trump’s explicit blessing.”
“His role is just to set the tone,” she wrote. “Their role
is to do the rest.” JTA WIRE SERVICE

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Cover Story
HIAS vows to step up immigrant aid
after being vilified by the gunman
BEN SALES
Before he killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh
synagogue, Robert Bowers blamed one
Jewish organization: HIAS, an immigrant
aid group that has been helping refugees
since the 1880s.
“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill
our people,” he wrote online. “I can’t sit
by and watch my people get slaughtered.
Screw your optics, I’m going in.”
In vilifying HIAS, Bowers targeted an
organization that helped get the Ameri-
can Jewish community on its feet as it bur-
geoned more than a century ago. Its mis-
sion has shifted as the number of Jewish
migrants has fallen to a trickle; it’s gone
from helping its own to advocating for
others. It’s also an organization that even
amid opposition to refugee admissions
from the White House has maintained
broad support from a Jewish community
that is otherwise increasingly fragmented.
“It’s not going to affect our mission one
iota,” HIAS’s president and CEO, Mark
26 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
Hetfield, said on Saturday night, referring
to the Pittsburgh attack. “If anything, it’s
reinforced the need for the Jewish commu-
nity to be a welcoming community.”
HIAS’ goal once was to welcome Jews
to the United States. Founded in 1881 as
the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the
agency provided resources and educa-
tion to the Jewish immigrants. It later
took an active role in the movement to
free Soviet Jewry.
As Jewish immigration evaporated in the
1990s, HIAS shifted to becoming a refugee
resettlement agency for non-Jews. It now is
one of nine agencies tasked with resettling
refugees in the United States.
Until 2015, the agency stayed mostly
apolitical and focused on navigating the
bureaucracy involved in bringing refugees
to the country and finding them homes.
But that year, the refugee crisis rose to the
top of global consciousness, and Donald
Trump launched a presidential campaign
centered on reducing the flow of undocu-
mented — and even legal — immigrants to
the United States.
Soon after his inauguration, Trump
signed the first in a series of executive
orders barring refugees from the United
States, as well as the residents of a num-
ber of Muslim-majority countries. Thus
HIAS, which was accustomed to working
with the government, found itself on the
front lines of opposition to the Trump
administration.
It has since advocated for the admission
of refugees, mobilized Jewish communities
and synagogues to its cause, and fought
Trump’s travel bans in court.
“That’s the most troubling thing — refu-
gees were really a bipartisan issue,” Het-
field said in 2017. “Some people say HIAS
is a liberal agency or progressive Jewish
agency. We’re really not. Our whole focus
has been refugees, and refugees are not a
partisan issue. It really became politicized
over the past couple of years.”
HIAS may not have the backing of the
White House, but its issue remains popu-
lar across the Jewish community. All four
Our whole focus
has been
refugees, and
refugees are not
a partisan issue.
major movements opposed Trump’s travel
ban last year. More than 400 congrega-
tions are part of its “Welcome Campaign.”
Last week, HIAS organized a “refugee
Shabbat” across synagogues focused on
talking about helping refugees.
Hetfield says the group has faced oppo-
sition in the past. But he said he never
expected anything as bad as the tragedy
on Saturday.
“We’ve been aware that there are peo-
ple out there that despise HIAS and our
mission of welcoming refugees to this
country, as hard as it is to understand,” he
said. “It’s going to make us more aggres-
sive and focused in speaking out against
hate — hate directed at refugees, hate
directed against Jews.”
 JTA WIRE SERVICE
 Cover Story

Israeli lawmakers see Pittsburgh shooting

as an opportunity to talk about pluralism
MARCY OSTER added: “I call on Minister Bennett not to suffice with con-
dolences, but to recognize liberal Jewish streams and
JERUSALEM — The deadly shooting at a Conservative unite the people.”
synagogue in Pittsburgh has underlined tensions in Israel He was referring to the fact that Education Minister
over the charedi Orthodox rabbinic establishment’s dis- Naftali Bennett, who also is diaspora minister, flew to
enfranchisement of the diaspora’s non-Orthodox Jewish Pittsburgh in order to visit the synagogue, meet with the
streams. local Jewish community, and participate in the funerals
In response to Saturday’s rampage by a gunman that of the victims.
left 11 worshippers dead, an Israeli government minister Speaking Sunday night at a vigil in Pittsburgh, Ben-

and the country’s opposition leader both called on Israel
to recognize the liberal streams of Judaism.
Others criticized the charedi Orthodox media in Israel
for not calling the Tree of Life Congregation, the site of
the attack, a synagogue in their news reports, instead
using the term “Jewish center.” Sephardic Chief Rabbi
Yitzhak Yosef, in a heartfelt statement about the attack,
also referred only to “the murder of innocent Jews in Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania,” without saying where it took place.
In a tweet on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-
yahu appeared to join in the criticism of such omis-
sions. “Jews were killed in a synagogue. They were killed
because they are Jews. The location was chosen because
it is a synagogue. We must never forget that. We are one,”
he tweeted.
In a tweet on Sunday morning, Deputy Minister Michael
MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90
Michael Oren speaks at a conference in the Israeli
parliament in 2016.
Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States,
said: “The Conservative Jews of Pittsburgh were suffi-
ciently Jewish to be killed because they were Jews but their
movement is not recognized by the Jewish State. Israel
must bolster these communities, already challenged by
assimilation, by strengthening our ties with them.”
The New Jersey-born Oren, in a Hebrew-language tweet,
nett said, “We stand together, as Jews from all communi-
ties united, as well as members of all faiths. Together we
stand. Americans, Israelis. People who are together saying
‘no’ to hatred. The murderer’s bullet does not stop to ask:
Are you Conservative or Reform, are you Orthodox? Are
you right wing or left wing? It has one goal, and that is to
kill innocent people. Innocent Jews.”
Israel’s charedi Orthodox Chief Rabbinate is largely
in control of religious affairs in Israel, and does not
recognize the Conservative and Reform movements as
legitimate Jewish streams. They do regard their follow-
ers as Jews if they otherwise are Jewish under halacha,
or Jewish law. The non-Orthodox movements have long
objected to their disenfranchisement in Israel, and have
called on the Israeli government to recognize their move-
ments and its rabbis for issues like marriage, burial, and

圀椀
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 椀猀 
挀漀洀椀
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倀爀
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 甀渀椀
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㄀㄀⼀㌀　⼀㈀　㄀㠀

䤀
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倀爀椀
挀攀 
␀㄀㔀㤀

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爀 愀挀琀
漀爀㨀

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 27

Cover Story
conversion to Judaism.
Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David
Lau was pulled into the debate Sun-
day by an interviewer for the modern
Orthodox Makor Rishon newspaper. The
interviewer asked Lau about the charedi
media’s refusal to name non-Orthodox
synagogues, and Lau seemed at pains to
distance himself from their policy.
Lau replied that he doesn’t speak for the
media, and that he often disagrees with
what they do and write. “I repeat and say:
We are speaking about Jews and we need
not take advantage to raise our painful dif-
ferences,” he said. “I have an ideological
dispute with them about Judaism, about
the past and the future of the Jewish peo-
ple throughout the generations.
“But,” he added, speaking rhetorically,
“because of this they are not Jewish?”
Haaretz, the Washington Post, and JTA
later reported that Lau himself declined
to refer to Tree of Life as a “synagogue,”
although in the Makor Rishon interview he
does say “They were killed because they
were Jews. Does it matter in which syna-
gogue [‘beit knesset’ in Hebrew] they pray
They share our values
and will fight for us
Paid for by Jewish Democratic Council of America, jewishdems.org, not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee
28 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
in or what text they use ?”
Yosef, Lau’s Sephardi counterpart, did
not refer to the synagogue in his statement.
“I was shocked to hear about the mur-
der of innocent Jews in Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania, simply because they were Jews,
by an abhorrent murderer who was driven
by anti-Semitic hatred,” he said. “My heart
is with the bereaved families and with all
of our Jewish brothers and sisters who live
in the U.S.”
Yosef also called for prayers for their
well-being.
In an interview in the Washington Post,
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union
of Reform Judaism, was critical of Jews
who would not refer to Tree of Life as a
synagogue. “This tragedy should bring all
Jews together, not rip us further apart,”
he said.
He added, “It’s unconscionable that any
rabbi worth their name would question
the Jewishness of those worshipping on
Shabbat in a synagogue shattered by mur-
der and the blood of Jews.”
The issue of Jewish religious plural-
ism in Israel has driven a wedge between
Israel and the diaspora. Earlier this month,
those strains were a theme of the General
Assembly, a meeting in Tel Aviv of lead-
ers of North American Jewish federations.
Among the recent flash points: Last year,
in addition to scrapping a compromise
that would have expanded non-Orthodox
prayer at the Western Wall, the govern-
ment moved to give the chief rabbinate
more power over Jewish conversion. This
year, Israeli police detained a Conservative
rabbi for the crime of performing a non-
Orthodox wedding.
This week, opposition leader Avi Gab-
bay, in an interview with Ynet, also called
on the government “to embrace the
Reform and Conservative movements and
to pass the Western Wall plan” for an egali-
tarian prayer space.
Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition
party Yesh Atid, echoed Gabbay and Oren
in calling for recognition of the liberal
streams of Judaism. “If you are murdered
because you are a Jew, then you are a Jew,”
he said in a statement also posted on Face-
book. “The Conservative and Reform are
our brothers. They are our family.”
Jewish Democrats endorse
Sen. Bob Menendez
& Mikie Sherrill, NJ-11
for
New Jersey
Lapid also referred to Bennett’s condo-
lence visit to Pittsburgh. “The relationship
with the majority of U.S. Jews cannot be
based on condolences and grief,” Lapid
said. “We cannot bring back the dead, but
we have a duty to fix our relationship with
the living.”
Gabbay, however, also touched a third
rail of Israel-diaspora relations when,
reacting to the synagogue shooting, he
called “upon the Jews of the United States
to immigrate more and more to Israel
because this is their home.”
Many Jews in the diaspora bristle
when Israeli leaders suggest that they
would be safer or happier in Israel. Oren
responded to the call for immigration,
tweeting in Hebrew: “Avi Gabbay said
things that should not be said because he
simply does not understand. Through his
words he adds insult to injury. The call
to U.S. Jewry, especially after last night,
deeply hurts their feelings and reduces
their desire for aliyah. Gabbay does not
understand anything about Israel’s rela-
tionship with the diaspora.”
JTA WIRE SERVICE
VOTE
Tues. Nov. 6
 OPEN HOUSES 2018
BERGEN COUNTY JEWISH DAY SCHOOL Monday, October 22, 2018 Sunday, November 4, 2018
7:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m.

Yeshivat Noam Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey

70 West Century Road 666 Kinderkamack Road
Paramus, NJ 07652 River Edge, NJ 07661

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER: FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER:

Esther Feil, Director of Admissions Tamar Kahn, Director of Admissions
201.261.1919 ext. 220 201.986.1414 ext. 338
efeil@yeshivatnoam.org welcome@rynj.org
www.yeshivatnoam.org www.RYNJ.org

Wednesday, October 24, 2018 Tuesday, November 6, 2018

7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.

Yavneh Academy Yeshivat He’Atid

155 N Farview Ave. 1500 Queen Anne Road
Paramus, NJ 07652 Teaneck, NJ 07666

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER: FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER:

Vivi Septimus Gitty Eisner
201.262.8494 ext. 335 gittyeisner@yeshivatheatid.org
vivi.septimus@yavnehacademy.org 201.374.2272 ext. 300
www.yavnehacademy.org/admissions/rsvp2018 www.yeshivatheatid.org/open-house
www.yavnehacademy.org www.yeshivatheatid.org

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 Wednesday, November 7, 2018

7:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m.

Ben Porat Yosef Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County

E. 243 Frisch Court 275 McKinley Avenue
Paramus, NJ 07652 New Milford, NJ 07646

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER: FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER:

Sharona Grossberg admissions@ssdsbergen.org
201.845.5007 201.262.9898 ext. 203
sharonagrossberg@benporatyosef.org www.ssdsbergen.org/openhouse2018
benporatyosef.org/openhouse
www.ssdsbergen.org
www.benporatyosef.org

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 MISSED AN

OPEN HOUSE?
7:30 p.m.

The Moriah School

53 South Woodland Street We welcome you to
Englewood, NJ 07631
contact the schools and
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER: schedule a private tour!
Mrs. Livia Marcovici
201.567.0208 ext. 322
admissions@moriahschool.org
www.moriahschool.org/admissions
www.moriahschool.org

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 29

Cover Story
JCC Vigil
FROM PAGE 21
of the 11 victims who were murdered in Pittsburgh; the obit-
uaries were long, detailed, and respectful.
Harley Unger of Englewood talked about her childhood
in Pittsburgh, the wonderfully haimish place that she loved
and whose losses she felt personally. Rabbi Debra Orenstein
talked about the future, with a combination of resignation
and hope.
Cory Booker, New Jersey’s junior senator, also a Demo-
crat, gave an impassioned speech. He is a charismatic and
eloquent orator; although the occasion was grim listening
to him is a pleasure. (He is such a gifted speaker that it
probably would be marvelous hearing him read a math
“What a long strange trip it’s been”
From Hamilton to Brooklyn, to Low and to Jersey,
it has been fun and exciting with never a dull moment.
May we celebrate only good times with you and your wonderful family.
May we (you) remain-
”Still crazy after all these years.”
30 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
Roberta Abrams,
president of the
Jewish Federation of
Northern New Jersey,
reads an obituary of
Joyce Fienberg.
textbook or a computer manual.) His longtime comfort in
the Jewish community was clear; he quoted Josephus and
the Talmud and the rabbis and cited the bonds that once
tied the African-American and Jewish communities closely
to each other.
The audience was mixed; there were people who had
come straight from work, formally dressed, and others
who had come from the JCC’s gym, some barely dressed.
Most of the people there were Jewish, but there were Mus-
lims, Catholics, Protestants, Sikhs, Jains, and an eastern
Orthodox cleric in a spectacular green cassock. Each per-
son was there for his or her own specific mix of fear, anger,
curiosity, and hope, but it was a big group, willingly open
to the range of speakers, looking toward better days.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Pittsburgh service
FROM PAGE 22
seemed of a piece with recent horrors: the 13 pipe
bombs that a Florida man, obsessed with President
Donald Trump’s enemies, had sent to leading lib-
erals and Democrats; the Parkland shootings; the
deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia,
in 2017; the man in Kentucky who tried to enter a
black church and once he failed murdered two Afri-
can Americans at a Kroger.
“We usually don’t get that in Squirrel Hill,” said
Tamara Bizyayev, a nurse who came to the vigil with
her husband, Alex Kosheni. “God is the center of the
town,” she said, and pointed her chin at the church
that stood hard by the Jewish community center.
“There are at least five synagogues, walking dis-
tance,” said Kosheni, a medical interpreter.
There were similar vigils Saturday night across
the country, non-Jews coming together with Jews to
express solidarity.
“I come to you with a very heavy heart broken in
a million pieces based on what happened today,”
Debbie Almontaser of the Muslim Community
Network-NY said at a vigil in Union Square in Man-
hattan organized by Jews for Racial and Economic
Justice. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a progressive
advocacy group, visited vigils from Boston to New
Jersey to Minneapolis.
In Squirrel Hill, the Jews in the crowd began to
SEE PITTSBURGH SERVICE PAGE 32
Jerry Garcia
Paul SIMON
 Jewish Federation

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Beth Figman • 201-820-3947 • bethf@jfnnj.org • jfnnj.org/mitzvahday

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 31

Cover Story

Pittsburgh service thinking.

FROM PAGE 30
sing softly. They sang traditional psalms and
prayers like “Oseh Shalom,” the maker of
peace; “Gesher Tzar Meod,” a very narrow
bridge; and “Hineh Ma Tov uMah Naim,” how
good and pleasant it is for brothers and sis-
ters to come together. A mild rain drizzled and
umbrellas went up.
Before Havdalah began, the student orga-
nizers spoke.
“A man who is so hateful and anti-Semitic
should never have able to get his hands on a
gun,” said Cody Murphy, 17. “This man was a
Nazi and he took 11 lives because they are Jew-
ish. We are allowed to be angry.”
Sophia Levin, tiny, hesitant, wearing a
woolen hat to fend off the chill, stood before
the mic.
“Today I am a different Jew,” she said. “Tree
of Life used to be the synagogue my grandpar-
ents went to, that we went to on High Holi-
days, that was so much fun ... Tree of Life will
never be the same.”
Simone Rothstein described that morning;
she remembers sheltering in the sanctuary at
Beth Shalom, the nearby synagogue where
she attends services each week, and calming
her sobbing 8-year-old sister.
“Are they coming here?” she remembered
In an interview afterward, Rothstein’s face
crumpled. She was torn about describing her
day for the crowd, for a reporter. What if it
gave another bad man ideas? “It doesn’t feel
good that you can’t talk about your syna-
gogue,” she said.
A woman led the crowd in the Mi Sheber-
ach, the prayer wishing for recovery for the
ailing, and then in Havdalah. Those in the
crowd who came with candles lit them, and
the scent of burning wax filled the intersec-
tion. They sang along with a tinny recording of
Jewish rapper Matisyahu singing his prayer for
a world without violence, “One Day.”
Then it was done.
Or almost.
“We’re still Squirrel Hill!” a man shouted,
and the crowd joined in.
“Vote!” another man shouted, and the
crowd joined in, and repeated “Vote! Vote!
Vote!”
Was the event a success? a reporter asked
Sophia Levin.
She nodded.
“It strengthened our community,” she said.
“The most important part of Judaism for me
is a sense of community.”
JTA WIRE SERVICE
(EMILY BURACK ADDED REPORTING FROM NEW YORK.)
Schools
FROM PAGE 23
On Monday morning, a ceremony
followed the normal prayer service.
Associate principal Tamar Appel
spoke about her personal experi-
ence of anti-Semitism from a passing
driver in Englewood last year, and
how it both did and did not shock
her. She knew that anti-Semitism is
real, but she was surprised to expe-
rience it. “ I love America, because
America loves me, and I trust Amer-
ica, because America has given me
centuries of reasons to trust it,”
she told the students. In America,
unlike in other countries, the police
can be trusted to protect the Jews
they guard. “We can continue to be
proud of a country that rejects the
awful hatred and bloodshed of a vio-
lent man with irrational beliefs that
led him to heinous action,” she said.
She concluded by talking about
the victims.
“Let us contemplate with awe
these lives that were dedicated to
family and friends and Judaism and
Jewish communal life — lives that
deserve our respect by virtue of
both their length and their charac-
ter,” she said.
Then students led the school in
reciting psalms and lit a memorial
candle.
Suzanne Cohen, who heads the
school’s Tanach department, then
spoke about the impossibility of
“making sense of this kind of thing,”
Ms. Kahan said, but that students
can “at least try to bring honor to
the memory of the people who died
by trying to be better people and
doing good in the world.”
As part of that project, some stu-
dents started a school-wide pro-
gram to study all of Tanach — with
students volunteering for a couple
of chapters each — by the end of
the shloshim, the 30-day period
after death. And Ms. Kahan said the
school has been in touch with Pitts-
burgh rabbis about possibly sending
students for a shiva call.
“We’re waiting for their lead,”
she said.

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32 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018


Chuck Schumer’s civility tweet feeds
a narrative that he’s too soft on Republicans
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON — In retrospect, Chuck
Schumer’s first mistake may have been
comparing attempted mass murder to a
break-in.
Of course, he didn’t know it at the time,
on October 23, when the Democratic
minority leader in the U.S. Senate first
issued his call for civility.
On Twitter, Schumer, the most senior
Jewish official in government, shared two
headlines: One about a bomb delivered to
the home of billionaire liberal philanthro-
pist George Soros, and the other about a
break-in and robbery at the Bakersfield,
California, office of the Republican major-
ity leader in the U.S. House of Representa-
tives, Kevin McCarthy.
“Make no mistake: Despicable acts of
violence and harassment are being carried
out by radicals across the political spec-
trum — not just by one side,” Schumer said.
“Regardless of who is responsible, these
acts are wrong and must be condemned by
Democrats and Republicans alike. Period.”
Ardent friend of Israel, our nation's closest partner
Championing non-profit security grants for our local synagogues and community centers
Combatting the rise of anti-Semitism at home and around the world
It is true that in recent weeks, both
Republican and Democratic lawmakers
have been harassed in public places. But
Schumer ran into a buzzsaw of criticism,
mostly from his own party, saying that a
bomb threat and the theft of office equip-
ment were not equivalent.
“A lot of people are counting down the
years until 2020, but I’m looking toward
2022 when we can finally vote this guy
out,” Matt Binder, a Mashable writer, said
on Twitter, quoting Schumer’s tweet.
Luppe Luppen, a liberal lawyer and
journalist who has a large Twitter follow-
ing as @nycsouthpaw, was stunned that
Schumer seemed to attach political intent
to the break-in. “Schumer says, apparently
without evidence, that they were leftist
political radicals,” Luppen said.
The October 22 vandalism in Bakers-
field does not appear to be political.
Police said the two men who threw a
boulder through McCarthy’s office win-
dow stole electronic equipment and did
not access sensitive material.
“The Dems can’t win,” Rob Beschizza
Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Fighting for Northern New Jersey!
Remember to vote on November 6th!
Paid for by Pascrell For Congress, Inc.
Jewish World
blogged at BoingBoing. “They stare at the
bombs on their doorstops and their first
act is submission to imaginary conservative
equivocations before they are even uttered.”
The blowback fed a larger emerging nar-
rative that Schumer is not the Senate leader
his party needs as it moves into a crucial
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
and possibly era-defining midterm election.
The charge goes back at least to June,
when The Week’s Ryan Cooper asserted
that Schumer lacked the “fighting spirit” to
stand up to President Donald Trump on the
Iran deal, North Korea, bank deregulation,
and climate change.
“Why bother voting for Democrats, if
they’re going to let a Trump enabler like
Schumer run the show?” Cooper wrote, Chuck Schumer at a news conference
channeling disgruntled voters. in early October.
This week, GQ’s Luke Darby said that
Schumer’s civility tweet suggested that Senate Democratic aide told Vox at the time
the longtime lawmaker’s highest priority that the judges weren’t all that controver-
as minority leader “seems to be appeas- sial, and Democrats could use the time they
ing Republicans.” Darby was particularly saved to go out on the campaign trail.)
perturbed that in August, Schumer agreed Even that strategy appeared to back-
to fast-track a group of Trump judicial fire, when Republicans on the Judiciary
nominees, making progressives furious. (A SEE SCHUMER PAGE 35
Visit me at BillPascrell.com
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 33
Jewish World

Israeli elections bring out ugly politics online and on the street
SAM SOKOL
JERUSALEM — Municipal elections in Israel on Tuesday capped
weeks of campaigning that had a familiar feel for those who
lament an abrasive, nationalist, and even racist turn in Ameri-
can politics.
In Tel Aviv, the local branch of the ruling Likud party ran cam-
paign posters featuring Israeli and Eritrean flags side by side
with the slogan “It’s us or them,” a reference to the significant
African migrant population in Israel’s largest city.
Other posters showed the Palestinian flag superimposed
over city hall and saying that the only alternative to Likud rule
was Islamic rule. While the posters eventually were taken
down, the Times of Israel quoted a Likud spokesman as
saying that the party stood “behind this campaign.”
Meanwhile, in Ramle, advertisements from the national-
religious Jewish Home party portrayed a girl in Islamic garb
warning Jews that “tomorrow this could be your daughter.…
Only a strong Jewish Home will preserve a Jewish Ramle.”
Experts are warning that coarse political rhetoric in
Israel is increasingly finding a home online, too.
According to the National Cyber Directorate, thousands
of fake Facebook profiles — an unspecified number cre-
ated by unnamed Israeli political parties — were taken
offline recently in an effort to combat the spread of propa-
ganda ahead of the vote. Experts like the Israel Democracy
Institute’s Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler believe that a lack of
regulation has contributed to the degrading of the online
political discourse.
Altshuler, who conducts research on the friction
between technology and democracy, recalled a television
ad produced by the charedi Orthodox Shas party dur-
ing the last Knesset elections warning of intermarriage
between Russian speakers and other Israelis. Eventually
the ad was banned by the country’s General Elections
Committee because it was racist and inflammatory.
Such regulation is present on the national level but
sorely lacking for municipal contests, she said, describing
most local races as “a Wild West.”
“You can see it [manifested in terms] of racism, as well as
fake accounts on social media and hate speech against nom-
inees and lies and semi-automatic bots,” Altshuler said. “And
since there are not enough rules and regulations, I would
move toward digital campaigning has allowed candidates
to pander to the worst impulses of their constituents.
“Many nominees are using social media management
firms, and with the lack of regulations they allow them-
selves to use any technique they want,” she said. “Some
smell very fishy and [violate] the terms of service of the
platforms” by using “fake accounts or pretending you are
one of your competitors.”
In an investigation published in August, Israel’s Chan-
nel 2 reported the existence of “hundreds or thousands of
accounts that are suspected of being fictitious and that serve
political goals — of the major parties.” They were aimed at
municipal races in towns like Herzliya, Nahariya, Haifa,
Tiberias, Yavne, Qiryat Motzkin, and Hod Hasharon.
In a separate report released at about the same time,
the Hebrew daily Yediot Acharanot found evidence of
political actors using fake accounts and pretending to be
competitors online.
In 2015, in an early example of divisive cyber campaign-
ing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent out targeted
text messages warning his supporters that “the right-wing
government is in danger. Arab voters are going en masse
to the polls. Left-wing NGOs are bringing them on buses.”
Altshuler said the Netanyahu campaign “didn’t do it
through traditional media because they didn’t want the
criticism. That was a primitive example of what targeting
could look like, and how effective it could be.
“In this municipal election and in the next general elec-
tion, we will see much more effective targeted campaigns,
Cambridge Analytica-style,” she said, referring to the Brit-
ish firm that allegedly used data from tens of millions of

S aam m yy’s’s say that the public sphere has become more extreme.” Facebook accounts to profile voters in support of Donald

S m m And while Altshuler does not believe that Israeli soci- Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
ety has become markedly more racist overall, she says the Micky Gitzin, director of the New Israel Fund in Israel,

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which funds progressive causes, says his
group has been turned into a “scapegoat”
by those claiming that “the NIF supports
Hamas and terrorists, and they support
such-and-such a candidate.
“It’s so surreal,” he said. “This strategy
is based on what Netanyahu did with the
Arabs during the last elections. That’s the
strategy that got people really fired up in
the national elections and all the cam-
paigners are trying to imitate it now.”
Gitzin says not much is being done
against it.
“One of the most important things to do
is to call it out and to say that fake news will
be part of the next elections,” he said. “This
kind of rhetoric breaks society and creates
a high level of mistrust and hatred. It takes a
long time to come back and believe we can
come together and live and work together
despite disagreements. When this time is
over, we need to leave ourselves quiet time
for recovering and rebuilding society.”
Echoing Netanyahu’s 2015 texts, the Jew-
ish Home party was reported recently to
have sent targeted texts to voters in Haifa,
warning of an Arab “takeover” of the city.
It’s not just the left that is targeted by
online venom.
In June, Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh
Atid party was attacked on seemingly
Schumer
FROM PAGE 33
Committee convened a hearing last
month to consider more conservative
federal court nominees while the Senate
technically was in recess.
Schumer’s alleged fecklessness in the
face of GOP aggression even was the
subject of a harsh piece in the satirical
website the Onion, which suggested that
Schumer did not receive one of the bombs
mailed to other liberal icons because he
had “never taken a stance meaningful
enough to inspire someone to mail him
an explosive.”
“Phew, this is where constantly equivo-
MENAHEM KAHANAAFP/GETTY IMAGES
cating and avoiding any issue that’s even
remotely controversial really pays off,” the
Onion imagines Schumer as saying.
Schumer defenders say he is a ferocious
and effective fundraiser for the party.
They also say he led his colleagues in dis-
ciplined opposition to the president on
health care and taxes.
Last week, Schumer appeared to be
sensitive to the attacks from his own side.
(His office did not return a request for
comment.) By October 24, he had joined
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House
minority leader, in squarely blaming
Trump for promoting divisiveness.
“Time and time again, the president
has condoned physical violence and
divided Americans with his words and
his actions,” the joint statement said.
Jewish World
grassroots Facebook pages that showed
signs of orchestrated funding. The Labor
Party later admitted it hired a company to
create the pages.
Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
The party was unapologetic.
“We are trying to reach new audiences,
especially a young audience that con-
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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 35
Editorial
Citizenship, truth, murder,
KEEPING THE FAITH

Election Day gravitas

and votes — lots of votes

W T
e shouldn’t forget the pipe bombs.
That was just over a week ago, but
somehow it seems like a purer,
more innocent time.
They didn’t explode, there were so many of
them that over the course of two days we some-
how became desensitized to them and, well,
whatever. Just a stupid stunt, right?
We somehow have managed not to deal with
the fact that a deranged if thankfully incompetent
bomber sent packages of potential death to two
former U.S. presidents, a former presidential can-
didate, a senator, at least two members of Con-
gress, and a former attorney general. This is not
funny; the idiotic bomber’s meme-speckled van
made it odder but not more amusing. Just more
pathetic and worse.
During that dark time, something good hap-
pened in my family. My son-in-law, David Vais-
berg, who was born in Canada, was naturalized
as an American citizen. I joined my daughter and
sister at the courthouse in Newark last Thursday,
as we went through stepped-up security (that
entailed our standing single file in a long queue
winding around the building in the surprising
cold), through a few stages, each one more hope-
ful, in a string of fluorescent-lit rooms, ending in
a partially wood-paneled room where the candi-
dates for citizenship sat in front and the rest of us
perched behind them.
The woman in charge told us that there were
80 people about to become American citizens,
and that they came from 34 countries. She asked
everyone to stand when she read the names of their
countries of origin aloud. It turned out that there
was someone from every continent except Antarc-
tica. When she asked them to stand again, this time
for the Pledge of Allegiance, she asked everyone to
remove their headgear, unless it was for religious
reason. Dave, a Reform rabbi, was wearing a kip-
pah, and there was a woman wearing a headscarf.
Both were able to stand proud and covered.
That was what American should be, used to be,
we hope will be again. I cried, with pride and joy.
(Yes, that cliché turns out to be true.)
And then the murders in Pittsburgh happened,
just three days later. The unspeakable evil really
happened.
And then all those things that we’d allowed our-
selves to overlook came flooding back. The hate-
ful words that have assaulted all of us. The insults.
his Tuesday is Election a British newspaper, saying he has
Day. “never seen the Klan grow at the
Tuesday is our day to pace it’s growing now….”
respond to the growing That Trump is their Enabler-
hatred in America — especially in-Chief is what Chris Barker and
hatred against Jews — that cost his evil ilk say — not what I say, or
the lives of 11 worshippers in Pitts- what left-wing pundits say, but what
burgh’s Tree of Life synagogue they say. It is what David Duke says.
last Shabbat. Duke — the white supremacist, anti-
Tuesday also is our day to send Semitic conspiracy theorist, Holo-
President Trump a message: This caust denier, and onetime KKK
is your fault, and you need to fix Grand Wizard — was thrilled with
it now. Trump because, he said, Trump
The severe spike in anti-Semitic embraced “most of the issues…I’ve
incidents began in mid-2015. Jew championed for years. My slogan
hatred suddenly exploded in Amer- remains ‘America First.’”
ica, going up 34 per- That is significant.
cent in 2016, and “America First” is the
Rabbi David Vaisberg another 57 percent slogan Trump says
in 2017, according defines his presi-
The lies. The cesspool that has become our public to the ADL. In 2016, dency — and his use of
life. The environment that has led to this day, to according to the FBI’s that phrase is part of
these 11 murders, to the hatred oozing up through statistics, there were what the haters mean
our drains and clutching at our ankles. more acts commit- when they say Trump
There are not good people on both sides here. ted against Jews and speaks their language.
There are good people on one side, and bad peo- Jewish institutions “America First” has
ple on the other. than were commit- Shammai been a virulently anti-
We know what truth is. We know that words ted against all other Engelmayer Semitic catchphrase
matter. We know that insults burn, and empower religious groups since before World
people to move from violent words to violent combined. War Two. It is a direct
actions. In Pittsburgh, the murderer was exposed What happened in mid-2015 lift from Charles Lindbergh’s pre-
to hatred and insults and lies; he believed them that could explain this horrifying World War II virulently anti-Semitic
and grew in their dank night soil. He moved from rise in hate? “America First Committee.”
writing hateful posts on a far-right platform that Simply stated, that was when the At Charlottesville last year, Duke
acted as an incubator for evil, and turned foul haters came crawling out of their said this: “We are going to fulfill the
thoughts into foul actions. His hideous thoughts holes. They did so, by their own promises of Donald Trump,” adding
turned into hideous reality. words, because that was when there that “we voted for Donald Trump,
Happily, there is something very real that all of arose a candidate for a major party’s because he said he’s going to take
us — at least those of us over 18, lucky enough to presidential nomination who spoke our country back.”
be American citizens, and registered — can do and their language, and promoted their To Duke, taking America back
that is to vote. agenda. Donald Trump. means taking it back from the Jews.
Voting always matters, but this year it matters Hate groups, especially the vio- In Charlottesville that horrible night,
more than ever. lence-prone ones such as the Ku one of the chants was “Jews will not
Think about your values. Think about the val- Klux Klan, suddenly felt more replace us.” Charlottesville, Duke
ues of truth and honesty and decency and love. emboldened than ever before. said, was the fulfillment of Trump’s
Think of the real-world harm done by lying and Their ranks even may be growing vision for America.
demeaning and dehumanizing. Decide which again. Chris Barker, who heads one After the president’s widely criti-
candidates and which party lie, demean, and of our nation’s most active Ku Klux cized performance at the Helsinki
dehumanize. Decide who represents your values. Klan chapters, crowed as much to summit, Duke said this:
And then go vote. Vote as if your life depends
on it. Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades,
Election Day is November 6. Go vote. —JP now in Fort Lee.

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36 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018


“[In] my lifetime, I have never seen
such a courageous attack on the whole of
the…Zionist Occupied Government of the
United States, and the Zionist Occupied
Media! Today Trump is a Hero…! Bravo
Trump! Bravo Russia! Bravo to all the true
American Patriots who put America first…
before the Zionist Deep Evil State ruling
American Media and Politics.”
From the day in 2015 when he announced
his candidacy, Trump has used such catch-
phrases, all taken from the White National-
ist playbook. On October 22, he went further
than ever before when he called himself “a
nationalist,” a word favored by the haters here,
and by some of the most evil haters in history.
Remember, please, that “Nazi” is shorthand
for “the Nationalist Socialist Party.”
October 22, by the way, was the day the
first of 14 pipe bombs appeared (this one
at the home of George Soros), launching
a week of hate ending in a day of horror,
and included an attempted mass shooting
in a black church in Jefferson, Kentucky.
Because the perpetrator could not gain
access to the church, he went to a nearby
supermarket and killed two shoppers.
That is the true face of this country’s
“nationalists.” Of course, the far left also har-
bors hatred for Jews and always has, but the
great threat to us today comes from the vio-
lence-prone extreme right.
Here is a frightening fact about hate
groups: They do not all hate the same sets
of people. They all specialize — except
when it comes to the Jews. We are the one
hate they all have in common.
We saw that in Charlottesville. That was
supposed to be a protest against removing a
statue of Robert E. Lee from a public square,
but the “protesters” goose-stepped through
the streets wearing swastika armbands, with
their right arms raised in a Nazi salute. They
shouted anti-black slogans along with anti-
Jewish ones. The Jews of Charlottesville
were in great fear that night. Here is how
the Atlantic reported it: “As Jews prayed at
a local synagogue…, [white supremacists]
dressed in fatigues [and] carrying semi-
automatic rifles stood across the street….
Nazi websites posted a call to burn” the
synagogue to the ground. The worshippers
snuck out the back of the building, and took
the Torah scrolls with them.
The Atlantic then sought to explain why
Jews were targeted at what essentially was an
anti-black rally: “Anti-Semitism often func-
tions as a readily available language for all
manner of bigotry…,” it noted. “In the world
sketched by white supremacists, Jews hover
malevolently in the background, pulling
strings, controlling events, acting as an all-
powerful force backing and enabling the other
targets of their hate.”
To back this up, the Atlantic quoted Uni-
versity of Chicago historian David Nirenberg,
who has spent his career studying anti-Jewish
movements and beliefs. “Ever since St. Paul,”
Nirenberg told the magazine, “Christian-
ity and all the religions born from it — Islam,
the secular philosophies of Europe, etc.—
learned to think about their world in terms of
overcoming the dangers of Judaism. We have
these really basic building blocks…for think-
ing about the world and what’s wrong with it…
by thinking about Judaism.”
Consider this: After the horrors of Char-
lottesville, the KKK’s Chris Barker thought
it would be fun to be interviewed by a
Latina journalist for Univision. He told her
that groups such as his soon would burn
out all immigrants from America. When
asked how they planned to “burn out” 11
million immigrants, here is what he said:
“We killed six million Jews the last time.
Eleven million is nothing.”
We are the glue that unites all haters.
The man who opened fire on worshippers
at the Tree of Life professed no love for Don-
ald Trump — because Trump has too many
Jews around him. What prompted his horrific
act, however, was Trump’s over-the-top state-
ments about the caravan of people from Hon-
duras and elsewhere fleeing violence in their
home countries and now approaching the U.S.
border — a caravan some Trump supporters,
including at least one Republican member of
Congress, claim is being paid for by George
Soros, with help from the Hebrew Immigrant
Aid Society. Trump, by the way, admitted to
journalists on camera on October 23 regard-
ing his absurd anti-caravan rhetoric, “There’s
no proof of anything. There’s no proof of any-
thing. But there could very well be.” That has
not stopped him from repeating his claims
over and again — a tactic we know only too
well from one of its most successful advocates,
the Nazi propaganda minister Paul Joseph
Goebbels.
Trump encourages the extreme right in
other ways as well. He openly advocates vio-
lence against liberal journalists and praises
those who engage in it. In his two budget
requests to Congress so far, he has refused to
fund an Obama-era grants program that gives
money to organizations working to coun-
ter the damage done by white supremacist
extremism, especially on campuses.
Exodus 22:20-23 deals with the mistreat-
ment of the powerless, but it cannot decide
whether it is addressing one person or many
people. The commentator and grammar-
ian Abraham Ibn Ezra said this was deliber-
ate. The Torah was warning us, he said, that if
we see a stranger being oppressed, or a poor
person, or a widow, or an orphan, and we
do nothing to stop it, or if we know of such
oppression, but we do not speak out against
it, and we do not take action to root out that
evil, then we are as guilty of the crime as the
actual oppressor.
The famous philosopher and activist Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel put it a bit more gen-
tly: “In a free society, some are guilty,” he said.
“All are responsible.”
That is what we must think very carefully
about on November 6 and beyond.
Before casting our votes (or before decid-
ing not to vote at all, which is a vote in
itself ), we must think very carefully about
whether we want to encourage the Enabler-
in-Chief, or whether we want to send him
the message that he needs to change his
tactics before it is too late.
Opinion
When Shabbat was broken
S
habbat was broken. Whether
we heard about it during the
day, whether at synagogue or
later, or in the evening, we all tion of the democratic principle that dif-
heard and felt how the sacredness and
peacefulness of Shabbat was shattered
by the bullets of a terrible anti-Semite,
a white supremacist anti-immigrant
ultra-right individual driven by ancient
and contemporary hatred, envy, and
evil intent. That act of anti-Semitic ter- my words. I wasn’t upset that they dis-
rorism, the worst attack against Jews
on American soil in history, broke
more than one Shabbat. It broke the
heart of American Jewry.
Shabbat already had been broken
for me. After reading the passage in
the Torah about the binding of Isaac
I reflected in my sermon about the
yahrzeit of Yitzhak Rabin. I spoke
about the pain I felt
then, and still feel now,
in recognizing how he
fell victim to a toxically
divided and vilifying dis-
course where posters of
the prime minister pho-
toshopped as wearing
an SS uniform were seen
all over Israel. Why can
we not honor our dis- Rabbi Dr.
agreements, celebrate David J Fine
our diversit y, rather
than spew hatred on
the other side, I asked. The Mishnah
gives us the model of the schools of
Hillel and Shammai, who disagreed
on almost everything but still recog-
nized that each other’s views both
were the words of the Living God.
At a gathering of the Jewish com-
munity of northern New Jersey on
October 29 in memory of those
who lost their lives in synagogue in
Pittsburgh, Senator Cory Booker
reminded us of another lesson from
the pages of ancient Jewish history
when he recounted how the histo-
rian Josephus explains that the dev-
astation the Romans brought upon
Jerusalem was all the worse because
of the fighting and hatred between
the residents of the city. On Shabbat
morning, I bemoaned how we still
suffer from the results of hateful par-
tisanship, as we were finally “resting”
from a week of attacks from another
domestic terrorist, the mail bomber.
I applauded the president’s firm con-
demnation of political violence and
then urged that we all must find a way
to go beyond that, to root out hatred
and bigotry from all sides.
Looking toward what I thought at the
The opinions expressed here 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 NOVEMBER 2, 2018 37
time would be a better week, I reminded
those in the room of the importance of
voting, for whatever side, as an affirma-
fering values and perspectives can co-
exist respectfully with each other.
Shabbat then broke for me when I
encountered a couple of people, vis-
iting the congregation that day, who
were particularly angry with me and
agreed with what I said. One of the most
important things I learned in rabbinical
school is that if everyone agrees with
what we say, then we haven’t really said
anything. And neither was I despondent
because they interpreted my words as
overly partisan when my intention was
to lower the wall of partisan divide.
Another thing I have learned through
my years in the rabbin-
ate is that no sermon is
perfect, that we rabbis are
not infallible, and that,
God willing (and with the
consent of our congrega-
tions), we always will have
another Shabbat to speak
again and reclarify our
message. Every year we
return to the same pas-
sages of the Torah as we
are given another chance
to read it anew.
What broke my heart that Shabbat
morning was the accusation that I “was
probably one of those rabbis who sat
shiva two years ago when Trump was
elected.” “God forbid!” I responded. I
never would express such disrespect
against a president of the United States.
I am a proud American and I am proud
of our democracy. I may disagree with
the president. (I have disagreed with
certain policies of every president and I
certainly disagree with most of the poli-
cies of this president.) But I am faithful
and loyal to the Constitution and the
democratic system that it guarantees.
Respecting leaders we disagree with is
the test of democracy. To sit shiva over
an election would be to sit shiva over
democracy. God forbid. The inability of
my disgruntled visitors to recognize this
on Shabbat reminded me of the chal-
lenge that remains for us as we continue
to fight for the freedoms and values that
we hold dear.
And then Shabbat was shattered.
The very peace of a sanctuary and its
celebration of life was denied to 11 fallen
Shabbat worshippers and the scarred
survivors. We were all jarringly woken
SEE SHABBAT PAGE 39
Opinion
Don’t blame Donald Trump for the attack
T
he domestic terror-
ist attack on the Tree
of Life Synagogue
in Pittsburgh is a
disturbing horror, the logical
conclusion of white suprema-
cist ideology, and clear proof
of the persistent danger of
anti-Semitism.
The Jewish community and the Joshua
country should be vigilant against Einstein
threats from any and all suprem-
acist and extremist ideologies
advocating violence. The entire Jewish community must act
together as a communal leader in exposing violent xenopho-
bic hate to the light of day. It cannot do so while ignoring any
sources of xenophobic violence and it cannot do so by allow-
ing the domestic terrorist attack by white supremacists to be
manipulated into a get-out-the-vote campaign by far-left parti-
sans pretending to care about the Jewish community.
Just as all Jews are targeted by anti-Semitism, anti-Semi-
tism comes in all political types. The deplorable efforts by
political operatives to hijack the terrorist attack for personal
political benefit is morally wrong because the murderer
didn’t ask if someone is a progressive or conservative Jew.
Nor do other anti-Semites. They want to kill all Jews. Nor did
What Trenton can do in the wake of Pittsburgh
H
ow do you prevent
terror?
H ow d o yo u
stop someone full
of rage and hate from shoot-
ing up a synagogue on Shab-
bat morning?
And, beyond the generic
you, what can we, the specific
individual Jews in our New Larry
Jersey synagogues and voting Yudelson
booths, do to prevent terror in
our country?
One solution is to make the means of mass murder
difficult to acquire.
When Akash Dalal came back to New Jersey, after hav-
ing been radicalized while volunteering for the Ron Paul
campaign in New Hampshire in 2012, he was determined
to fight the Jews. Fortunately, the Walmart in his North
Jersey neighborhood offered spray paint and the ingre-
dients for a Molotov cocktail — but no weapons of war.
He and his accomplice, Anthony Graziano, terrorized
our community — but no blood was shed. And in large
measure, we have our New Jersey state government and
representatives to thank because here, unlike in Penn-
sylvania, guns are not easy for casual buyers to get, and
that in Dalal’s attacks on five synagogues, not one drop
of blood was spilled.
But while getting weapons of war out of the hands of
anti-Semites across the country remains a worthy goal,
it’s not going to happen as long as the National Rifle
Association-approved Republican party is in power in
Washington. On Saturday, after tweeting out condo-
lences on Saturday and ordering flags be lowered to half
mast, the president of the United States tweeted out an
approving link to a video of the president of the NRA.
38 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
the terrorist likely know the nuances of the different Jewish
religious movements — the anti-Semite did not target Tree
of Life because it was a Conservative synagogue, he did so
because it was Jewish. Anti-Semites like the murderer do
not care if their victims are Reform, Conservative, Ortho-
dox, chasidic, or a secular Jew. They just want all Jews dead.
This terrorist attack, like others before it, and like the ris-
ing tide of anti-Semitism that began in 2015 and since has
grown, must be addressed by the entire Jewish community.
It must not be used as a political football. We must hold
communal and political leadership to task to prevent future
attacks by supporting organizations developing method-
ologies to reach potentially violent extremists in order to
deprogram them and find concrete ways to protect Jewish
community institutions. We must not act in disunity and
allow political operatives to use those who were murdered-
while-Jewish for Election Day gain because the victims
deserve more.
We must demand people in our community stop calling
President Trump and his supporters Nazis and Amalek, as if
there weren’t a plethora of Jews in his inner circle, and as if
the murdering terrorist of the attack on the Tree of Life Syn-
agogue didn’t also say that he hated the president because
Trump is philo-Semitic.
The political operatives struggling to create an ideo-
logically motivated minstrel show out of this anti-Semitic
Hours after the massacre, he took time to reassure heav-
ily-armed Americans that their private arsenals are safe
on his watch.
Another way to tackle domestic terrorism is to make radi-
cal ideas less viral, less easy to pick up. At the most basic
level there’s the very hard question of how to make Ameri-
cans more immune to conspiracy theory and hate. That’s
something that groups like the Anti-Defamation League have
been working on for decades — by some measures, with
some success.
And then there’s the newer question of how to make evil
ideas less contagious, less capable of propagating over the
internet and the airwaves. That can be done — though it
would require some soul-searching from the corporations,
large and small, which try to squeeze every drop from the
media platforms they run by prioritizing emotional engage-
ment over other values. Like truth.
It has been documented that sites like Google’s YouTube
consistently recommend conspiratorial videos to its view-
ers. Some are relatively benign, like those pronouncing the
earth to be flat. Others, attacking gays and promoting anti-
Semitic conspiracies, are outright dangerous.
Google and its fellow so-called-tech-but-actually-media
companies have been long on action and short of results in
solving this problem. While some suspect that at its manage-
ment levels Twitter is deeply sympathetic to the alt-right,
Google and Facebook are both headed by nice-enough, if
not communally engaged, Jews. It’s time to start holding
Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg person-
ally responsible for the hate their companies spread. Jew-
ish organizations such as the ADL and Simon Wiesenthal
Center have talked about working together with Google
and the other platforms to deal with extremism and have
avoided publicly shaming them. We hope they will reassess
the admittedly difficult trade-offs of cooperation versus con-
demnation. The time for public shaming may have arrived.
Anti-Semites like
the murderer do
not care if their
victims are Reform,
Conservative,
Orthodox, chasidic,
or a secular Jew.
They just want all
Jews dead.
domestic terrorist attack must be told no. These are often
the same people who make the claim (which I first heard at
the Million Mom March in 2000) that all Republicans are
bigoted racist anti-Semites. They pretend that Trump is
worse than Hitler, yet forget to mention the Jewish advisers
and administration appointees Hitler never had. These are
often the same people who call Trump racist, but abstain
from explaining why a racist would celebrate the histori-
cally low rates of minority unemployment his policies cre-
ated. These frequently are the same people who say the
conservatives are white supremacist but ignore the many
Public shame also should apply to the old-media world of
Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News networks. Hours after
the shooting in Pittsburgh, Fox Business News repeated
a segment where a guest claimed the migrant caravan in
southern Mexico was being funded and directed by the
“Soros-occupied State Department.” That was an anti-
Semitic conspiracy theory too far for even Fox, which said
the guest would not be allowed back. But the network
repeatedly has spread the xenophobic conspiracy theories
that motivated the Pittsburgh anti-Semite to take action on
Shabbat morning. It’s time for the ADL to look at the sort
of anti-Semitic and anti-Semitic-adjacent conspiracy theo-
ries that Rupert Murdoch peddles, and reexamine whether
he truly deserved the “International Leadership Award” it
granted him in 2010.
But the easiest change to make, and the one that we citi-
zens of New Jersey can implement moving forward, is to
start arresting potential terrorists for the smaller crimes they
commit — crimes to which our authorities regularly turn a
blind eye.
I refer here to online harassment, which should not be left
just to Twitter and Facebook and Google to take down, but
should be treated by police as the criminal threats they are.
If Cesar Sayoc lived in New Jersey and called an
acquaintance to say, “We will see you for sure. Hug
your loved ones close every time you leave home,” he
could have been prosecuted for terroristic threats. But
because he made such threats online, the victim felt she
had no recourse. Would her local police investigate?
Would the FBI if it crossed state lines? Would they sub-
poena Twitter for Sayoc’s identity if the account was
pseudonymous? Don’t be ridiculous. Twitter wouldn’t
even respond to the victim’s demand that Sayoc be rep-
rimanded for the attack, which violated its ostensible, if
erratically enforced, terms of service.
Yet had the police investigated the public threats made

African American, Hispanic, Indian, and
other minority leaders in positions of
authority in the Trump and past Republi-
can administrations. These are commonly
the people who have called African Ameri-
can conservatives, such as the hundreds
who visited the White House at the recent
Young Black Leadership Summit, “Uncle
Toms.” These are often the same people
who have attempted and failed to sweep
the loud and proud anti-Semitism of
Linda Sarsour and Louis Farrakhan, the
expansionist clerical regime of Iran, and
violent Islamic supremacists across the
world (such as the Pulse night club ter-
rorist) under the rug. These are the very
same people who are attempting to use
the targeted murder of Jews by a terrorist
to score a few more percentage points on
Election Day, November 6.
The Jewish community must be united
against anti-Semitic and all bigoted suprem-
acist ideologies, against terrorism, and
against using the murdered and mourned
as political tools. We cannot allow far-left
partisans to succeed in their counterfactual
by Cesar Sayoc, they might have stopped
him before he began mailing pipe bombs
to more than a dozen of the president’s
political opponents.
But why have we come to accept that
online abuse must be tolerated? It is not
1995, when being online is just a hobby.
Many of us work online, socialize online,
meet the loves of our lives online. Why
should this realm allow harassment?
Why should someone be allowed to put
a threatening swastika in our inbox, any
more than he would be allowed to spray
paint it on our front door?
Asking the police to police terroristic
threats online sounds like an impossible job,
but really it’s not. The government could
stop a lot of rape threats — standard fare for
female journalists on Twitter — just by start-
ing to prosecute a few. By levying a price on
harassment and verbal assault, there will be
less of it.
And by the same token, having to watch
their words will give haters a chance to
calm down. It’s not a coincidence that the
Pittsburgh murderer marinated in the hate
of Gab, an online platform he went to after
the most prominent Nazis and haters were
booted from Twitter and Facebook and Red-
dit. There he could be reinforced in his con-
viction that we Jews are the root of all evil,
and worry only about the “optics” of his
self-righteous, murderous crusade, not its
ethics. (Gab, which bills itself as the online
home of free speech but spews anti-Semi-
tism on its Twitter account, was cut off by its
efforts to pretend anti-Semitic extremist
violence doesn’t affect the entire Jewish
community, whether progressive or con-
servative, Democrat of Republican. Anti-
Semitic murderers want to murder all Jews.
We cannot allow political operatives to
play games with the danger to Jewish lives
posed by those who call Jews termites and
advocate for our extermination. But if we
work together we can push into civil society
efforts to identify and deprogram followers
of violent extremist ideologies, we can find
ways to better secure Jewish institutions,
we can restore the sense of safety to Jews
and all Americans, and we can help create
a world in which this hopefully was the last
terrorist attack.
Joshua Einstein is a founding member
of the Hudson County Regional Jewish
Council, an elected member of the New
Jersey Republican State Committee, sits
on the executive board of the New Jersey
State Young Republicans, and has been
published in more than 14 newspapers and
websites on Jewish and political topics.
payment and web hosting providers within
hours of the massacre. It will not be missed.)
Banning the threats also will stop the
one-upmanship among the furious hat-
ers. If I threaten and you threaten, Alice
and Bob will feel entitled to start send-
ing threats too. But after a certain point,
threats start to seem weak. The logic of
extremism, of escalating rhetoric, of self-
radicalism is to take action. That’s what
we want to stop.
And that’s what we know our political
leaders in Trenton — if not in the White
House — want to stop. So as our state poli-
ticians reflect on the horror in Pittsburgh,
we’d like to ask our legislators to form a task
force with the attorney general’s office to
explore the question of online threats. How
common are online threats? (Make sure to
ask outspoken Jewish women what they
experience on Twitter.) What sort of threats
are illegal now? What could be banned by
legislation? And at least as importantly, how
can local or state police agencies respond to
reports of online threats?
There is no question that the problem of
how to police online threat is difficult. But
it’s one we believe our representatives in
Trenton are capable of addressing. They
have the power to start making online
spaces safe — and in so doing, to make the
physical world of synagogues and potential
shooters a little safer as well.
Larry Yudelson of Teaneck is the associate
editor of the Jewish Standard.
Shabbat
FROM PAGE 37
up from a dream where we thought we
found safe haven on these shores, a
place to engage in society without fear
of physical assault. And now, 80 years
after synagogues were destroyed across
Nazi Germany in the terrible “Night of
Broken Glass,” we still find ourselves yet
endangered, the object of bitter hatred.
Amidst the shock and the mourning,
amidst the calls for more security and
more sensible gun legislation, the coun-
try is engaging in a discussion about the
nature of our rhetoric and how words
can inspire terrible acts of violence. The
hatred with which certain sectors of
our country are turning away from the
value of helping others, of the words
on the Statue of Liberty that welcomed
my ancestors when they arrived in this
country—”Give me your tired, your
poor, your huddled masses yearning to
be free”—should call us all to action to
stand up and defend what was and has
been the greatness of America.
The Rabbinical Assembly, the inter-
national association of Conservative/
Masorti rabbis, noted in its statement in
the wake of the attack upon Tree of Life
Congregation in Pittsburgh: “The Jewish
community, proud descendants of refu-
gees who, like all of America’s diverse
communities, found safety and happi-
ness on America’s shores, remain stead-
fast in our commitment that these tragic
losses will be given meaning by our wor-
thy and courageous actions, and that the
memories of the fallen will be a blessing
to the living. It is not lost on us that Tree
of Life appears to have been singled out
for celebrating HIAS Refugee Shabbat.”
Historians are trained to see the con-
nections between the various dots that
make history. Anti-Semitism always has
been closely tied to nativism, to ultra-
nationalism, and to a general preju-
dice against minorities, immigrants,
and refugees. The Israeli ambassador
to the United States obviously was try-
ing to be diplomatic after the shooting
in Pittsburgh, when he asked about
the rise of anti-Semitism in America
and its relationship to the president’s
rhetoric. Foreign diplomats are trained
not to criticize their hosts publicly. The
ambassador said that there are anti-
Semites on all sides. The ambassador
did not endorse the president’s notori-
ous remark after Charlottesville, when
he said that there were good people on
both sides. The ambassador’s twist on
that statement was that there are bad
people on both sides.
But we are left with the same disturb-
ing moral equivalency. For sure there
are anti-Semites on the right and the
left. And in the center. We Jews are pain-
fully aware that there are people every-
where who hate us. But the problem
with allowing for a moral equivalency is
that it implies an acceptance of hateful
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 39
Opinion
discourse. There are anti-Semites on all
sides. But the worst anti-Semites, our
worst enemies, are white nationalists.
Is 80 years to the day since the pogrom
against German Jewry in the Third Reich
too long to remember that?
Hateful discourse is dangerous when-
ever it is let loose. This time, again, it was
let loose against us.
We must affirm the freedom of speech
so that we can speak love against hate.
We must affirm the freedom of the press
so that our journalists can continue to
serve as the friends of the people. And
we must affirm the freedom of religion
so that we can worship without fear.
Through such work will we remember
There are anti-
Semites on all
sides. But the
worst anti-
Semites, our
worst enemies,
are white
nationalists. Is
80 years to the
day since the
pogrom against
German Jewry in
the Third Reich
too long to
remember that?
those who fell last Shabbat in synagogue
in the sanctification of God’s name.
Last week Shabbat was broken. But
we believe in the mending of broken
pieces, in what we call tikkun olam. Last
week Shabbat was broken, but Shabbat
comes again every week. To fix Shabbat,
let us work on fixing the broken pieces
of our country, especially as we remem-
ber this Shabbat that a different country
across the sea was broken 80 years ago.
Let us begin anew to celebrate the real
America, as a broken-hearted American
Jewry remembers the promise made to
the Jewish community by our country’s
first president, “For happily, the govern-
ment of the United States…gives to big-
otry no sanction.”
Dr. David J. Fine is the rabbi of Temple
Israel and Jewish Community Center in
Ridgewood and president of the New
Jersey Rabbinical Assembly. He holds a
doctorate in modern European history
and is an adjunct professor of Jewish law
at the Abraham Geiger and Zacharias
Frankel colleges at the University of
Potsdam in Germany.
Opinion
Guns do kill people. So do people
I
am shocked and saddened by Satur-
day’s horrific mass murder of innocent
Jewish people.
Eleven people are dead. Eleven
worlds have been destroyed, according to Jew-
ish law.
I grew up in Pittsburgh. Its Squirrel Hill
neighborhood has a lot in common with
Teaneck. I know Tree of Life Congregation,
a place where many of my friends celebrated Eric Weis
their bar mitzvahs. My family belonged to
Temple Sinai, no more than a mile from Tree of Life. My
school was in the same area, just blocks away.
I still have friends at Tree of Life. Undoubtedly they have lost nation was a loose confederation of independent states. The
their friends, and God forbid, family members. I also have fam-
ily there in a suburb near the airport. Thank God, they are all
safe. No matter where I live, I will always be a part of Pittsburgh that held the nation together — until he left office in 1797.
and its Jewish community. So Shabbat’s loss is my loss too.
Following a shooting massacre, a debate about guns inevi-
tably arises in the aftermath. Someone asked me, after New-
town and Parkland, is there any hope for change? I continue
to have faith that the long arc of history will bend toward jus-
tice. To that end, I mulled over the never-ending gun debate.
Many well-meaning people say that people kill, and that
guns have nothing to do with it. Gun regulation therefore
will be ineffective, and it will not prevent criminals and oth-
ers from getting their hands on guns. Beside the fact that
this view is not supported by statistical evidence, it is also
one-dimensional.
This subject cannot be viewed either or — that guns and
people are mutually exclusive. The links and causality sim-
ply are logical. So how did we get to the belief that guns are
not a factor, and that regulation is not an option? The short
answer is money. The long one is historical evidence.
Today’s anti-gun control attitudes are influenced by a pro-
paganda barrage perpetrated by the private for-profit gun
manufacturers who back the NRA. If we wish to know the
truth hidden behind the curtain, we need to delve into his-
tory. We must study the Second Amendment and the times
Building on solidarity, growing away from hate
T
his morning on the subway I was
approached by a middle-aged
Caribbean woman, a self-identi-
fied Jehovah’s Witness and Wall
Street bond trader. Seeing my yarmulke, she
confirmed that I was Jewish, and then it all
came out — she selected me to offer all of us
her heartfelt condolences for the 11 victims of
Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life victims, murdered on
Shabbat. Michael
I could tell that she had been searching for Cohen
answers and for an explanation for such an
unspeakable event.
Over the 48 hours after the murders I have seen such
reactions from my non- Jewish friends and colleagues as
never before; people who were moved from deep within
their soul and wanted to act in some way, seeking to be a
part of something better.
Immediately after Shabbat concluded I saw a text mes-
sage from Bill LaForet, the mayor of Mahwah, who boldly
stood up in the face of anti-Semitism last year. He wanted
to let me know that he was ordering the municipal-
ity’s flags lowered to half-mast to honor those who were
40 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
in which it was written (by three authors).
We also must study the state constitutions
that preceded the federal Constitution, after it
became apparent that our original Articles of
Confederation were not adequate to insure the
survival of the new nation.
From these original sources, we can under-
stand that the Second Amendment was never
about individual rights. It addressed the sub-
ject of collective and mandatory obligations.
That interpretation is easily explained, and it
clearly was the mindset of the authors of the Bill of Rights.
In the years following the American Revolution, the young
interests of New England and the southern plantation states
were extremely diverse. George Washington was the glue
Up to that time, there was some security associated with
his ability to reconvene a national army. But as Washington
faced retirement, that security waned.
In the run-up to 1789 and the formation of the United States,
the founders knew that keeping militias alive and well pre-
pared was essential for defense, once the “volunteer” Conti-
nental Army disbanded. They wanted Washington to be able
to raise an army quickly. So men were required to keep their
weapons. They had their own gunpowder (hopefully dry) and
musket balls. They kept their uniforms. They were expected
to muster as a “well regulated” militia.
The intent of these regulations was to facilitate the quick
assembly of a force, which would be ready to fight. These
militias were under state or county jurisdiction. Incidentally,
today’s militias include county sheriffs’ departments, state
police, and — to a lesser extent —units of the National Guard.
The idea of self-defense had little or no relevance to the
defense of a state or the entire nation, which needed an army.
Over the course of American history, people who armed
themselves (the Whiskey Rebellion, John Brown, the West-
ern outlaws, Bleeding Kansas, the Wilmington Insurrection)
always have been treated as criminals, without any pretense
murdered and in solidarity with the Jewish
community.
In my standard Monday morning call
to the Englewood city manager, the first
words we said were “Where are we going as
a country?” Even a former colleague from
a government relations firm sent a private
message to me about how his heart goes out
to me and to the Jewish community at large.
D. In our society’s desperate pursuit of some-
thing positive that could come from this abom-
inable tragedy, I think the answer lies in the
fact that so many people have expressed—both
here and around the world — their solidarity with us Jews.
Our community should try to build on this new solidarity to
counter those who use “intersectionality” to create unfair
animosity toward our community.
We can see right here and now an opportunity to alter those
damaging false narratives. As the larger diverse American
communities reach out in this unique way, a way that I sim-
ply cannot believe is happening only among my personal uni-
verse of contacts, we need to use this opportunity to prove to
the families affected that we are all affected, that this suffering
about a Second Amendment right to bear weapons. It was
unacceptable for an individual to disrupt society. There was
no out for gun ownership.
Violent behavior on the frontier or elsewhere could be, and
was, regulated. Eventually, the Wild West was tamed. Farmers
and others might have guns, but no one person, no family, no
private group was allowed its own personal armory.
This changed in the mid-20th century, after two world
wars, as weapons makers became enchanted with the profit
potential for marketing to civilians. Their production costs
were declining as a function of factory automation. Inexpen-
sive gun models and ammunition proliferated. They even
marketed toy guns to kids. I loved playing with my fake Colt
45, packaged in a cool red velvet gun case.
The gun makers became larger and wealthier. They jumped
on the propaganda bandwagon to preserve their power. The
NRA became their loudspeaker. The argument about indi-
vidual rights was hammered home, and the last clause of the
Second Amendment was conveniently disregarded. Thus the
interpretation of the Second Amendment changed as well. So,
today, the individual right to bear arms supersedes the Consti-
tution’s original intent about collective responsibility.
Here’s the bottom line. Guns in the hands of unhappy,
unstable, or deranged people kill. Neither factors, guns and
people, can be ignored as causes of the unusually high rate
of mass shootings in the United States, compared to the rest
of the world. Gun regulation cannot be left off the table.
Until we tackle this part of the problem, more mass shoot-
ings are inevitable. And the next questions will be, after
Newtown, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, after Tree of Life,
is there any hope for change at all? When will morality and
pragmatism replace profit and propaganda? Or will these
killing fields continue to plague America? Perhaps only God
knows, and is crying along with us.
Eric Weis of Wayne, a native of Pittsburgh, is the treasurer
of Mercaz USA, the Zionist branch of the Conservative
movement, a past president of New Jersey region of the
Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, and sits on the FJMC’s
board of directors. He is a physicist involved with the
development of instrumentation in radiation science and
measurement.
has meaning, that it can become a touchstone to a movement
looking to eradicate such hatred from our civic life.
As police and news reports continue to shed additional
light on the horrific details of that day, we increasingly see
the usage of social media venues by those who seek to do
us harm. The late Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin
famously said, “If an enemy of our people says he seeks to
destroy us, believe him. Don’t doubt him for a moment.
Don’t make light of him. Do all in your power to deny him
the means of carrying out his satanic intent.”
At the Simon Wiesenthal Center, we take every threat to
the Jewish people and to all people seriously, and we work
to combat that hate and promote the virtues of tolerance.
Whether on social media or elsewhere, we will continue to
develop and deploy the tools and resources necessary to
meet these challenges, and we hope that the generous out-
pouring of consolation will grow into a strategic unified front
among all peoples as we stand together against hate.
Michael D. Cohen of Englewood is the eastern regional
director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He represents his
city’s Second Ward on Englewood’s City Council, and he
belongs to Congregation Ahavath Torah there.
 MANY VOICES: ONE MESSAGE
Project S.A.R.A.H. (Stop Abusive Relationships at Home)
Community Awareness Campaign 2018
We join together in working to end domestic violence and sexual abuse in the Jewish community.
Rabbi Joel N. Abraham, Temple Sholom of Scotch Plains/Fanwood,
Scotch Plains
Rabbi Moshe Abramowitz, Congregation Bais Yitzchok Chevra
Thilim, Elizabeth
Rabbi Yosef Adler, Congregation Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck
Rabbi Benjamin Adler, Adath Israel Congregation, Lawrenceville
Rabbi Jacob Adler, Congregation Kehilat Shalom, Belle Mead
Rabbi Leron Arev, JCC on the Palisades, Tenafly
Rabbi David Bassous, Congregation Etz Ahaim, Highland Park
Rabbi Shalom Baum, Congregation Keter Torah, Teaneck
Rabbi Philip Bazeley, Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, New Brunswick
Rabbi Eli Belizon, Young Israel of Fair Lawn, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Nathaniel Benjamin, Chavurah Beth Shalom, Tenafly
Rabbi Jonathan Bienenfield, Young Israel of Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Michael Bleicher, Elmora Hills Minyan, Union
Rabbi Adena Blum, Congregation Beth Chaim, Princeton Junction
Rabbi Akiva Block, Kehillat Kesher, Englewood
Rabbi David Bockman, Congregation Beth Shalom, Pompton Lakes
Rabbi Mendel Bogomilsky, Chai Center for Living Judaism, Short Hills
Rabbi Nasanayl Braun, Congregation Brothers of Israel, Elberon
Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, Chabad House Jewish Student Center,
New Brunswick
Rabbi Shmuel Choueka, Ohel Simha Congregation, Long Branch
Rabbi Aharon Ciment, Congregation Arzei Darom, Teaneck
Rabbi Aaron Cohen, Tifereth Israel, Passaic
Rabbi Daniel Cohen, Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, South Orange
Rabbi Tanchum Cohen, Congregation Beth Abraham, Bergenfield
Rabbi Eric Cohen, Flemington Jewish Community Center, Flemington
Rabbi Mark Cooper, Oheb Shalom, South Orange
Rabbi Benjamin David, Adath Emanu-El, Mt. Laurel
Rabbi Jerome David, Temple Emanuel, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Chaim Davis, Bais Medrash L’Torah, Passaic
Rabbi Marc Disick, Temple Emanu-El of West Essex, Livingston
Rabbi Joseph Domosh, Congregation Ner Tamid, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Jeremy Donath, Congregation Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Dov Drizin, Valley Chabad, Woodcliff Lake
Rabbi Reuven Drucker, Agudath Israel of Edison, Highland Park
Rabbi Adam Dubin, Congregation Mount Sinai, Jersey City
Rabbi Dr. Andy Dubin, Jewish Center of Northwest Jersey, Washington
Rabbi Dovid Dubov, Chabad Lubavitch of Mercer County, Princeton
Rabbi Menashe East, Mt. Freedom Jewish Center, Randolph
Rabbi Renee Edelman, Temple Sha’arey Shalom, Springfield
Rabbi Eric Eisenkramer, Temple B’nai Shalom, East Brunswick
Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman, Ahavas Israel, Passaic
Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer, Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades
at the New Synagogue of Fort Lee, Fort Lee
Rabbi Ephraim Epstein, Congregation Sons of Israel, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Noah Fabricant, Temple Beth Or, Washington Township
Rabbi Adam Feldman, The Jewish Center, Princeton
Rabbi Daniel Feldman, Congregation Ohr Saadya, Teaneck
Rabbi Cathy Felix, Temple Beth Am, Bayonne
Rabbi David J. Fine, Temple Israel & JCC, Ridgewood
Rabbi Steven Fineblum, Temple Sinai, Cinnaminson
Rabbi Mark David Finkel, Pine Brook Jewish Center, Montville
Rabbi Ariel Fisher, OU JLIC - Princeton University, Princeton
Rabbi Joseph Forman, Or Chadash, Flemington
Rabbi Gerald Fox, Temple Beth Shalom, Brigantine
Rabbi Jennifer Frenkel, Congregation M’kor Shalom, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Daniel Fridman, Teaneck Jewish Center, Teaneck
Rabbi Gerald Friedman, Temple Beth Sholom of Pascack Valley, Park Ridge
Rabbi Eli Garfinkel, Temple Beth El of Somerset, Somerset
Rabbi Gordon Geller, Congregation Shirat Hayam, Ventnor
Rabbi Menachem Genack, Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Englewood
Rabbi Stuart Gershon, Temple Sinai, Summit
Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Short Hills
Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, Young Israel of Passaic/Clifton, Passaic
Rabbi Arnold Gluck, Temple Beth-El, Hillsborough
Rabbi Zev Goldberg, Young Israel of Fort Lee, Fort Lee
Rabbi Robert Green, Congregation Bnai Israel, Basking Ridge
Rabbi David Greenstein, Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Montclair
Rabbi Laurence Groffman, Temple Sholom of West Essex, Cedar Grove
Rabbi Moshe Grossbaum, Chabad of Paramus, Paramus
Rabbi Ira Grussgott, Freehold Jewish Center, Freehold
Rabbi Lindsey Healey-Pollack, Kol HaNeshama, Englewood
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, Congregation Netivot Shalom, Teaneck
Rabbi Avrohom Herman, Elmora Avenue Shul, Elizabeth
Rabbi Asher Herson, Chabad Center of North West NJ, Rockaway
Rabbi Moshe Herson, Rabbinical College of America, Morristown
To contact Project S.A.R.A.H. call (973) 777-7638 Ext. 154 or visit our website: www.projectsarah.org
Rabbi Joshua Hess, Congregation Anshe Chesed, Linden
Rabbi Dovid Hirsch, Kehilas Bais Yosef, Passaic
Rabbi Ron Isaacs, Beth Judah Temple, Wildwood
Rabbi Howard Jachter, Shaarei Orah, Teaneck
Rabbi Paul Jacobson, Temple Avodat Shalom, River Edge
Rabbi Gedaliah Jaffe, Ahavas Yisrael, Edison
Rabbi Michael S. Jay, Jewish Community Center of LBI, Spray Beach
Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky, Congregation Bris Avrohom, Hillside
Rabbi Mendel Kasowitz, Chabad of West Orange, West Orange
Rabbi Marc Katz, Temple Ner Tamid, Bloomfield
Rabbi Eliyahu Kaufman, Congregation Ohav Emeth, Highland Park
Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, Temple Emanu-El (associate rabbi), Closter
Rabbi E. Samuel Klibanoff, Congregation Etz Chaim, Livingston
Rabbi Marc Kline, Monmouth Reform Temple, Tinton Falls
Rabbi Jay M. Kornsgold, Beth El Synagogue, East Windsor
Rabbi Beth Kramer Maser, Temple Sinai of Bergen County, Tenafly
Rabbi Aaron Krauss, Beth El Synagogue, Margate
Rabbi Jonathan Kremer, Shirat Hayam, Margate
Rabbi Binyamin Krohn, Young Israel of Teaneck, Teaneck
Rabbi Aaron Krupnick, Congregation Beth El, Voorhees
Rabbi Clifford Kulwin, Temple B’nai Abraham, Livingston
Rabbi Steven C. Kushner, Temple Ner Tamid, Bloomfield
Rabbi Joshua Leighton, Jewish Congregation of Kinnelon, Pompton Lakes
Rabbi Yitzchak Lerman, Congregation Beth-El, Rutherford
Rabbi Benjamin Levy, Congregation Etz Chaim, Monroe Township
Rabbi Steven C. Lindemann, Temple Beth Sholom, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Yaakov Luban, Congregation Ohr Torah, Edison
Rabbi Shalom Dov Lubin, Congregation Shaya Ahavat Torah, Parsippany
Rabbi Lisa Malik, Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael, Aberdeen
Rabbi Laurence Malinger, Temple Shalom, Matawan
Rabbi Mark Mallach, Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael, Springfield
Rabbi Eliot Malomet, Highland Park Conservative Temple - Congregation
Anshe Emeth, Highland Park
Rabbi Chaim Marcus, Congregation Israel of Springfield, Springfield
Rabbi Bob Mark, Clifton Jewish Center, Clifton
Rabbi Randall Mark, Shomrei Torah Wayne, Wayne
Rabbi Andrew Markowitz, Congregation Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Sara Metz, Congregation Beth Mordecai, Perth Amboy
Rabbi Bennett Miller, Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, New Brunswick
Rabbi Ellie Miller, Temple B’nai Or, Morristown
Rabbi Jordan Millstein, Temple Sinai of Bergen County, Tenafly
Rabbi Steven Miodownik, Congregation Ahavas Achim, Highland Park
Rabbi Eliezer Mischel, Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center, Livingston
Rabbi Loren Monosov, Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley, Woodcliff Lake
Rabbi Randi Musnitsky, Temple Har Shalom, Warren
Rabbi Avroham Mykoff, Congregation Poile Zedek, New Brunswick
Rabbi David Nesson, Morristown Jewish Center - Beit Yisrael, Morristown
Rabbi Levi Neubort, Anshei Lubavitch Fair Lawn, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger, Congregation Beth Abraham, Bergenfield
Rabbi Jesse M. Olitzky, Congregation Beth El, South Orange
Rabbi Debra Orenstein, Congregation Bnai Israel, Emerson
Rabbi Yanky Orimland, Young Israel of Margate, Margate City
Rabbi Melinda F. Panken, Temple Shaari Emeth, Manalapan
Rabbi Micah Peltz, Temple Beth Sholom, Cherry Hill
Rabbi Eli Perlman, Congregation Beit Shalom, East Brunswick
Rabbi Robert Pilavin, Congregation Sons of Israel, Manalapan
Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky, Congregation Beth Shalom, Teaneck
Rabbi Jeff Pivo, East Brunswick Jewish Center, East Brunswick
Rabbi Stuart Pollack, Har Sinai Temple, Pennington
Rabbi Michael Pont, Marlboro Jewish Center, Marlboro
Rabbi Charlie Popky, White Meadow Temple, Rockaway
Rabbi Ethan Prosnit, Temple Emanu-El, Westfield
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser, Temple Emanuel of North Jersey, Franklin Lakes
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck
Rabbi Eric Rosin, Congregation Neve Shalom, Metuchen
Rabbi Julie Roth, Princeton Hillel Center for Jewish Life, Princeton
Rabbi Ronald Roth, Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation Bnai Israel,
Fair Lawn
Rabbi Steve Roth, Congregation Eitz Chaim, Passaic
Rabbi Ira Rothstein, Temple Beth Shalom, Manalapan
Rabbi Laurence Rothwachs, Congregation Beth Aaron, Teaneck
Rabbi Moshe Rudin, Adath Shalom, Morris Plains
Rabbi Solomon Rybak, Adas Israel, Passaic
Rabbi Yonasan Sacks, Agudas Yisroel Birkas Yaakov, Passaic
Rabbi Douglas Sagal, Temple Emanu-El, Westfield
Rabbi Sheldon Schevelowitz, Perrineville Jewish Center, Perrineville
Rabbi Kenneth Schiowitz, Shaare Tefillah, Teaneck
Rabbi Jennifer Schlosberg, Glen Rock Jewish Center, Glen Rock
Rabbi Robert Schumeister, Temple Beth El, Hackensack
Rabbi Daniel Schwab, Khal Bnei Torah of Clifton, Clifton
Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz, Congregation Adas Emuno, Leonia
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Schwartz, Congregation Adath Israel, Elizabeth
Rabbi Rachel Schwartz, Temple Beth El Mekor Chayim, Cranford
Rabbi Illana Schwartzman, Beth Haverim Shir Shalom, Mahwah
Rabbi Dan Selsberg, Temple Sholom, Bridgewater
Rabbi Reuben Semah, Congregation Magen Abraham, West Long Branch
Rabbi-Cantor Inna Serebro-Litvak, Temple Shalom, Succasunna
Rabbi Ellie Shemtov, Congregation Kol Am, Freehold
Rabbi Ely Shestack, Congregation Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Alan Silverstein, Congregation Agudath Israel, Caldwell
Rabbi/Cantor Meeka Simerly, Temple Beth Tikvah, Wayne
Rabbi Ephraim Simon, Lubavitch of Bergen County, Teaneck
Rabbi Shlomo Singer, Passaic Torah Institute, Passaic
Rabbi Steven Sirbu, Temple Emeth, Teaneck
Rabbi Andrew Sklarz, Temple Beth Am, Parsippany
Rabbi Debra Smith, Or HaLev, Succasunna
Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky, Congregation Ohr HaTorah, Bergenfield
Rabbi Mendel Solomon, Chabad of Short Hills, Short Hills
Rabbi Geoffrey Spector, Temple Beth Shalom, Livingston
Rabbi Marc Spivak, Congregation Ohr Torah, West Orange
Rabbi Cy Stanway, Temple Beth Miriam, Elberon
Rabbi Moshe Stavsky, Bais Medrash of Bergenfield, Bergenfield
Rabbi Rachel Steiner, Barnert Temple, Franklin Lakes
Rabbi Kenneth Stern, Gesher Shalom, Fort Lee
Cantor Steven Stern, Temple Beth O’r Beth Torah, Clark
Rabbi Michael Taubes, Congregation Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck
Rabbi Elliot Tepperman, B’nai Keshet, Montclair
Rabbi Yaakov Tesser, Young Israel of Aberdeen, Aberdeen
Rabbi Howard Tilman, Congregation Beth Israel, Scotch Plains
Rabbi Neil Tow, Temple Beth El Mekor Chayim, Cranford
Rabbi Efraim Unterman, Young Israel of East Brunswick, East Brunswick
Rabbi David Vaisberg, Temple Emanu-El, Edison
Rabbi Eitan Webb, Chabad of Princeton University, Princeton
Rabbi Donald Weber, Temple Rodeph Torah, Marlboro
Rabbi Schachne Weinberger, K’hal Tiferes Boruch, Clifton
Rabbi Arthur D. Weiner, JCC of Paramus, Paramus
Rabbi Nathan Weiner, Congregation Beth Tikvah, Marlton
Rabbi David Widzer, Temple Beth El of Northern Valley, Closter
Rabbi Ezra Wiener, Congregation Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck
Rabbi Eric Wisnia, Congregation Beth Chaim, Princeton Junction
Rabbi Daniel Wolff, Congregation Beth Tefillah, Paramus
Rabbi Robert Wolkoff, Congregation B’nai Tikvah, North Brunswick
Rabbi Jonathan Woll, Progressive Havurah of Northern New Jersey, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Stephen Wylen, Congregation Knesseth Israel, Bound Brook
Rabbi Steven Wylen, Temple Beth Rishon, Wyckoff
Rabbi Benjamin Yudin, Congregation Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Ari Zahtz, Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck
Rabbi Berel Zaltzman, Bris Avrohom of Fair Lawn, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Alberto Baruch Zeilicovitch, Temple Beth Sholom, Fair Lawn
Rabbi Daniel Zucker, Temple Hatikvah, Flanders
Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler, Ahawas Achim B’nai Jacob & David, West Orange
Cantor Rebecca Zwiebel, B’nai Shalom of Sussex County, Franklin
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Greater Mercer County
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Monmouth County
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Northern Jersey
Jewish Family Services of Ocean County
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern New Jersey
Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey
Jewish Family Service of Clifton-Passaic
Jewish Family Service of Metrowest
Jewish Family Service of Middlesex County
Jewish Family Service of Somerset, Hunterdon & Warren Counties
Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls
National Council of Jewish Women - Bergen County Section
National Council of Jewish Women - Concordia Section
National Council of Jewish Women - Essex County Section
National Council of Jewish Women - Monroe Twp NJ
Rachel Coalition c/o Jewish Family Service of Metrowest
Center for Hope and Safety
The Frisch School
Torah Academy of Bergen County
Bruriah
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 41
Keeping Kosher
Stop for a nosh or a sandwich
at toasty new Teaneck eatery
Beth Janoff Chananie
The Humble Toast —A Sandwich Experi-
ence, the newest restaurant on Queen
Anne Road in Teaneck, opened last week,
in the space previously occupied by Gotham
Burger. The RCBC-supervised restaurant is
open for lunch and dinner; it offers deli
sandwiches, burgers, salads, fish, and more.
According to owner/chef Shalom Yehudiel
everything is fresh and homemade — the
bread is baked in Brooklyn. That’s its stan-
dard — the freshest and the best.
The corned beef and pastrami are
smoked and cooked at the store, and the
beef is ground daily for the burgers. Sha-
lom hopes guests leave feeling they had a
great experience and will return for more.
The chef, who was born in Israel, has 10
years of culinary experiences in the food
world, including in non-kosher venues; he
was the executive chef at Catal and Uva Bar
& Café in Disneyland. He chose to return to
his kosher roots and opened the Teaneck
establishment.
To date, the most popular dish on the
menu is the Jerry — house cured corned beef
or pastrami, remoulade dressing and cole-
slaw, on grilled marble rye, with the option
of adding an egg. That sandwich, like oth-
ers, is named for family and friends. (The
Jerry is named for his wife’s grandfather.)
Business was brisk when I visited late
in the afternoon, with the staff busily
Challah braiding
and baking 1.0
Hebrew school students from the Glen
Rock Jewish Center made challah. For the
hands-on activity, students were given
three pieces of dough to shape, braid, and
bake.
GLUTEN FREE, NUT FREE KOSHER BAKERY!
All baking from scratch and done on premises
Brownies • Donuts • Linzer Tarts • Hamburger Buns • Rolls • Challahs
20 Varieties of Coconut Bars! • “Grandma’s” Coffee Cake
204 Diamond Bridge Ave., Hawthorne, NJ • 973 - 304 - 4500
www.ibglutenfree.com • Wed. – Sat. 9 am – 6 pm
Kitchen certified kosher dairy by OK Kosher
Store supervised by Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg/Kosher supervision
42 Jewish standard nOVeMBer 2, 2018
Cedar Market is a great place
for comfort foods of autumn
Check out many new fall items at Cedar The team at Cedar Market strives to go
Market in Teaneck. Step out of the cold above and beyond the needs of the cus-
and grab a warm BBQ brisket or chicken tomer and offer great service.
sandwich, or a rotisserie chicken. Fall pro- Next, the store will gear up for Thanks-
duce includes varieties of pumpkins and giving and Chanukah. Fruit, vegetable,
gourds, as well as an expanded selection and sushi platters are always avail-
of precut fall veggies. The newest seasonal able to order. Follow Cedar Market on
veggie mix is perfect for roasting; just add Facebook and Instagram to see new
oil and seasoning to taste. items, tastings, flash sales, and more.
Cedar Market has a variety of new If you are not already signed up for its
items that are constantly filling the weekly savings email, sign up at www.
shelves in each and every department. thecedarmarket.com.
Kaplen JCC to host wine tasting F
at Grape D’Vine in Sparkill, N.Y. E
Wine aficionados 45- to 60-years-old are welcome W
Shalom Yehudiel demonstrates the to a sampling at trendy Grape D’Vine in Sparkill, t
proper way to cut romaine lettuce N.Y., on Thursday, November 15, at 7 p.m. The tast- p
with some Humble Toast employees. ing is presented by Reclaiming My Time at the b
Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly. Wine edu- p
Courtesy JCCotP
preparing for the dinner crowd. The res- cator Heidi Normand Berge will lead the fun social e
taurant is super clean and the aroma of the evening, where participants can sample a variety
food cooking is enough to make you want of wines. The group will meet at Grape D’Vine, 6 t
to stay, taste the delicacies, and come back Depot Square, in Sparkill. For more information, s
for more. go to jccotp.org/adults-DO or call Kathy Graff at i
Catering for Shabbat and events is (201) 408-1454. Heidi Normand Berge
planned for the future. The restaurant is
at 1383 Queen Anne Road in Teaneck. For
information, call (201) 897-3080, email
info@thehumbletoast.com, or go to www.
Tenafly bread store is your go-to
thehumbletoast.com. for baked goods, holiday delights
B re ad B ou t i qu e a n d C a fé ,
Tenafly’s leading kosher spot for
premium baked goods already,
is looking forward to Chanukah
and making its famous sufganiyot
(donuts).
The menu’s baked goods
include cookies, croissants, chal-
lah, and rugelach. There also
is coffee by La Colombe Coffee
Roasters, Mediterranean salads,
and more. It’s a great place to stop
Courtesy GrJC
in to enjoy a sandwich or pastry
(how does Nutella babka sound?) Choose a
with coffee. Catering also is available. pharmacy
To accommodate customers for Chanukah, the bustling thatcoffeeshop
stands will be open
apartOrders
later to provide its devoted customers with the freshest donuts. from for 30 or more
donuts will be accepted beginning November 15; flavors include
the Lotus, Oreo/white
rest...
chocolate, Nutella, jelly, dulce de leche, and chocolate with sprinkles.
(917) 514-6380 or go to breadboutiqueandcafe.com. Parkview
The store is at 15 West Railroad Ave., Tenafly. For more information, call
Pharmacy
More than
Our pharmacy stands apart 411,000 likes.
from the rest...
Like us on
Discounted Kosher Vitamins Facebook.
Your one-stop
Full Prescription Service • Accepting All Insurances independent pharmacy
for over 30 years!
Greeting Cards • AHAVA • Notary
Parkview Pharmacy
1430 Queen Anne Rd. · Teaneck, NJ · 201-837-6368
facebook.com/
M-F 9-6, Sat 9-1 Free Delivery jewishstandard
 Serving The Kosher Way Since 1976
Keeping Kosher

Think pickles for Thanksgiving and every day DELI • RESTAURANT • CATERING
The family-run Pickle Licious on Cedar Lane in Teaneck is the place to
go to order pickle and olive platters as hostess gifts. It also has many Avi & Haim 894 Prospect Street
Proprietors Glen Rock, NJ
items besides these, including cold-pressed olive oils, tapenades, rel- Tel: 201-445-1186
Under Rabbinical Supervision
ishes, sea salts, dips, marinades, candy, and even gift items. The store is www.koshernosh.com Fax: 201-670-5674
certified kosher under the Orthodox Kashruth supervision of the RCBC.
Pickle Licious, rated #1 multiyear Jewish Standard Readers’ Choice
store for pickles, is open Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Monday through
Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and on Fridays, from 10 a.m. to one hour
before sundown.
It is located at 384 Cedar Lane in Teaneck. For information, call
(201) 833-0100 or go to www.picklelicious.com. Kosher Market
Kylie and Taylor Chananie of Clifton enjoy “pickles-on-a-stick” Meats ✡ Chicken ✡ Deli ✡ Appetizing
as their mother shops for pickles and olives at Pickle Licious. Prepared Foods ✡ Groceries ✡ Frozen Foods ✡ Catering
67 A. East Ridgewood Ave. · Paramus, NJ 07652
201-262-0030
Food pantry appeals for replenishment www.harolds.com
MON-WED 8-6; THURS 8-7; FRI 8-4; SUN 8-3; CLOSED SATURDAY
UNDER RABBINICAL SUPERVISION
Each year the senior and social services department in these families who need holiday baskets. Unfortunately,
Wayne compiles a list of local families in need of assis- the need now exceeds the capacity of WIN’s usual
tance during the Thanksgiving season and enlists sup- resources.
port from the community in preparing Thanksgiving WIN urges all individuals and service-oriented orga- TAKING ORDERS FOR CHANUKAH
baskets. Each basket contains the makings of a com- nizations to consider helping provide for these families
plete holiday meal, including a frozen turkey, fresh veg- this Thanksgiving. To contribute, send checks or super- Foster Village DINE
IN OR
Courtesy JCCOTP

etables, and all the fixings. market gift cards earmarked for “Thanksgiving” to the
Kosher Delicatessen
TAKE
OUT
The Wayne Interfaith Network food pantry is a coali- Wayne Interfaith Network, POB 3341, Wayne, NJ 07474-
tion of volunteers from local houses of worship and 3341. For more information, go to www.winfoodpantry. APPETIZERS · SALADS
service organizations in the greater Wayne area. It aids org or call (973) 595-1900. SOUPS · ENTREES
in this effort by committing to serve a large portion of SIDE DISHES · DESSERTS
Great Food, Great Service, Reasonable Prices
469 S. Washington Ave. • Bergenfield, N.J.
Vegetarian delight or perfect side 201-384-7100

Beth Janoff Chananie
I use Kosher.com, the premier online community for
kosher cooking and living, as my go-to for tips and reci-
pes. This recipe by Sylvia Fallas is one of many available.
Squash and Thanksgiving go hand in hand. This recipe
is easy, you can prep ahead, it’s colorful, and its veg-
etarian. It makes a pretty main course for non-turkey
eaters. For everyone else, it is another side. The creator
cuts up pareve bakery corn muffins as a shortcut (smart
lady)- or if you prefer, make a few. I’m sure you will have
grateful tasters.

Cornbread stuffed acorn squash

ingredients
3 acorn squash
cooking spray
Stuffing:
2 tablespoons Bartenura olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced, or 4 cubes Gefen frozen
garlic
1 carrot, minced
2 ribs celery, minced
1 small onion, minced
Courtesy Kosher.com

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup fresh cranberries
1 Granny Smith apple
2 cups fresh baby spinach
2 store-bought pareve corn muffins
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt, pepper
2 eggs

Directions
Parcook the squash. Using a sharp knife, cut a small
piece of the bottom of the squash so that it stands
flat on a cutting board. Cut each squash in half
through the equator. (A knife should slide through
the flesh easily.) Using a small spoon, scoop and dis-
card the seeds. Place squash halves, cut-side up, on
a cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray and roast
at 425 degrees for 45 minutes.
Prepare the stuffing. Cube the corn muffins into
half-inch pieces. Spread on a greased 9- x 13-inch
pan in a single layer. Bake at 425 degrees for 15
minutes, until slightly dried out. Peel and mince the
garlic, onion, carrot, and celery. Warm oil in a skillet
and add minced vegetables, mushrooms, cranber-
ries, thyme, salt, and pepper.
Sauté for 15 minutes, and stir in spinach, corn muf-
fin cubes, and diced green apple. Mix in the eggs.
(The dish can be refrigerated at this point and baked
later on).
Stuff each squash with the vegetable mixture.
Spray the top of each squash with cooking spray
and place carefully on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425
degrees for 20-25 minutes. (Stuffing should be firm
and golden and squash should be very tender).

Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 2, 2018 43

Keeping Kosher

Combining Jewish and Japanese cuisines,

from gyoza kreplach soup to mochi latkes
JOSEFIN DOLSTEN

K
ristin Eriko Posner recalls feeling torn right
before she finalized her conversion to Judaism.
Though she felt an affinity to the religion
from a young age and was eager to embrace
her fiancé’s faith, she worried that converting would
negate another important part of her identity.
“I got really scared that if I became Jewish, it would
overshadow the Japanese parts of myself, and I felt a
lot of guilt about that,” recalled the San Francisco-based
home cook, whose mother was born in Japan and whose
father is the descendant of immigrants from there.
But her rabbi encouraged her to continue to explore
her Japanese roots, and in the end, becoming Jewish did
just the opposite of what she had feared. The journey
inspired Posner to create a lifestyle brand that serves as
a resource for others who share her background.
“I feel like becoming Jewish has enriched my Japanese
life,” Posner, 33, said in a phone interview last month.
Last year, she founded Nourish, a web-based commu-
nity and lifestyle brand that celebrates Jewish and Japa-
nese culture as well as fusions of other cultures. The site
is home to a collection of recipes — all created by Posner
— that meld Jewish and Japanese cuisines. Among the
dishes, many of which are tied to Jewish holiday celebra-
tions, are gyoza kreplach soup, mochi latkes, and fish
cakes that are inspired both by gefilte fish and a similar
Japanese patty. These Japanese fish cakes are inspired by gefilte fish. PHOTOS COURTESY KRISTIN POSNER

Nourish has other components as well, including an

online newsletter and Facebook group. Posner also is
planning to sell ritual and household items made by
Israeli and Japanese artisans through the site.
Posner’s mother immigrated from Japan, and her
father is a third-generation Japanese-American. During
her childhood in Los Angeles, Posner remembers grow-
ing up with Japanese culture and visiting the country
every few summers. But as she grew older, she resented
feeling different from her classmates and felt embar-
rassed by the traditional Japanese food her mom would
pack in her lunch box.
“I would beg her to make me sandwiches like the
other kids, and I was just really painfully uncomfortable
in my own skin and turned away from my heritage for a
while,” Posner said.
But after graduating from college and working in
public relations for a few years, Posner felt she didn’t
know enough about her Japanese background. So she
spent two years teaching English in Nichinan, a city in
the south of Japan, before returning to California. While Kristin Eriko Posner creates
studying and later working in interior design, Posner recipes that combine Jewish and
met her now-husband, Bryan, a secular Jew. Japanese culinary influences. Kristin Eriko Posner serves this gyoza kreplach soup for Sukkot.
As she got to know him, she sought to learn more about
Judaism, a religion to which she had felt connected ever Posner found that food served as one way for her to mess up it’s really obvious,” she said.
since going to Chanukah parties at a neighbor’s house as connect to both Jewish and Japanese traditions. She now That feeling has motivated Posner to continue engag-
a child. “I was super curious about his family and their incorporates Japanese influences into her observance ing in Jewish learning, including by becoming a bat mitz-
traditions, and I had to dig a little bit because they didn’t of Jewish holidays, such as at a Passover seder dinner vah this spring. She calls the experience “awesome.”
do some of them anymore,” she said. last year when she served matzah ball soup with Japa- Posner hopes that with Nourish she can provide a
As their relationship became serious, Posner real- nese chicken meatballs, brisket with Japanese barbecue home for others who may share similar insecurities or
ized that much of the responsibility of building a Jewish sauce, and cherry blossom malabi. feel pulled between cultures. Though most of the reci-
home would rest on her. The couple belong to Congregation Emanu-El, a pes on the site fuse Jewish and Japanese culture, she has
“I knew I would be the person who would really Reform synagogue in San Francisco. Though Posner received messages from couples in which the partners
need to learn about his family’s heritage and tradi- says the community is “very welcoming,” she sometimes are navigating various cultural backgrounds.
tions, and kind of be the person who does them for feels self-conscious as one of the few people of color. “I’m really just doing what I do best, which is Japa-
our family and for our future children,” she said. “There’s definitely this slight insecurity about that and nese and Jewish,” she said, “but if I can inspire other
In 2015, she became a Jew by choice, and the couple wanting to make sure that I do things correctly, or being people, then that’s amazing.”
married the following year. afraid that I stand out and people are watching, so if I  JTA WIRE SERVICE

44 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018


Your talmudic advice column
Dear Rabbi Zahavy,
I just read an opinion by an outspoken
Orthodox rabbi that made sense to me.
He said that many centuries ago Ortho-
dox Judaism resolved the terrible problem
of the harassment of women by institut-
ing many practices and customs to govern
relations between men and women. Isn’t
he right? Shouldn’t we men speak up now
about this, and let the world know how to
resolve the #MeToo crisis by promoting and
enforcing our Jewish rules?
Protector of Women in Paramus
Dear Protector,
I believe you refer to the recent article
by an Orthodox rabbi, “A safer space for
women in Orthodox Judaism’s rules for
sex.” He calls the traditional regulations in
this arena “realistic and wise.”
And do you know what? After the
intense struggles of the past year over
#MeToo, which brought down more than
200 powerful men who were accused of
harassment (according to the New York
Times), it’s really tempting to pause, con-
sider the alternatives, and declare to the
rabbis’ team a “touchdown” — to admit
we need “rules for sex” and consider seri-
ously advocating for the rabbinic system.
But allow me to develop a sports anal-
ogy. Sure, we “referees” can look at the
hard-fought struggle on the field, and the
struggle in our society, and then declare
that tradition has the “touchdown” solu-
tion to the problems.
But then we may need to call timeout
and send that call up to the referees in the
booth for an appeal, to have them look
hard at the “videotapes” and see if they
will reverse that call.
As a trained historian of religions and
an expert on religious texts and practices,
I can tell you that some religions besides
Orthodox Judaism have tried to regulate
relations between the sexes.
We know that American puritanism in
colonial New England decreed many mod-
esty practices in actual law codes. And we
know that based on verses in the Quran,
some Islamic traditions even today require
women to wear a burka to cover their bod-
ies when they go out in public.
Yet more than any other religion that
I know of, rabbinic Judaism has codified
detailed laws relating to sexuality. Let
Tzvee Zahavy has been a professor of
Talmud, Jewish law codes, Jewish liturgy,
Jewish history, Near Eastern and Jewish
studies, and religious studies at major U.S.
research universities and seminaries. He
received his Ph.D. from Brown University
and his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva
University. He is a prolific author who has
published numerous books and articles
about Judaism and Jewish law. Details at
www.tzvee.com.
me review the main topics in these laws,
those halachot that might deter sexual
harassment. Let’s look at what topics we
find in the rabbinic texts from the Talmud
through to the medieval law
codes and responsa that clari-
fied and prescribed to Jews
the proper and improper sex-
ual contacts and relationships
between individuals.
Rabbinic ideas and rules of
sexuality fall into these major
categories: The laws of yihud
teach us that a man can’t be
alone in a room with a woman Rabbi Tzvee
who is not his wife. That would Zahavy
seem to be a perfect way to pre-
vent most episodes of sexual
harassment from ever getting started.
The laws of tzniut teach that a woman
must dress modestly, prescribing a long
skirt and long sleeves, and mandating that
a woman cover her hair if she is married.
The assumption in such rules seems to be
that how a woman dresses indicates her
sexual availability. It seems intuitive (but
by no means certain) that the prevalence
of less provocative attire will decrease the
incidence of outright harassment.
The laws of negiah regulate that a man
cannot touch a woman who is not his wife,
even to shake hands in a polite social ges-
ture. Needless to say, a hug or kiss is not
allowed. That rule should be a full stop
to harassment.
The laws of kol ishah say that a woman’s
singing voice is a provocative manifesta-
tion of her sexuality. Hence women may
not sing in public in the presence of men.
We can grant that these rules might deter
bad actions, even though it’s not as overt
as the preceding examples.
The complex laws of niddah — the rab-
binic menstrual taboos — are worthy of
mention too. They make up an entire trac-
tate of Talmud. These regulations prohibit
a couple from having sex if the woman
has menstruated but not immersed yet
in a mikvah pool. It does sound like that
body of law could inhibit many instances
of harassment, if such rules were to be
propagated and observed within a society.
Wow, it looks like the ancient rabbis
anticipated the crisis of 2018 in America
and their many solutions are right there
in plain sight in the rabbinic law. You ask,
shouldn’t we tell the rest of the world that
we already have the perfect solution to
#MeToo? It sounds like that’s the advice I
should give to you, our questioner.
Accordingly, it seems at first glance like a are being protected — not discriminated
big score for the rabbis. A touchdown. But
going back to my earlier analogy, upon fur-
ther examination of the video tapes up in
the booth, the decision by the referees on
the field may have to be reversed. It’s appar-
ently not going to be a touchdown at all.
Why? If laws are out there on the books,
Dear Rabbi Zahavy
yes that might inhibit some men. But cer- against? To clarify this, let’s look at some
tainly not all. It’s not enough to just have of the main problematic examples.
the laws on the books — you need for your The rabbis say that women cannot
people to observe them. sing in the presence of men. But okay,
Sex is a strong drive, perhaps that is meant to protect them
perhaps the strongest from harassment.
in human motivations. The rabbis say that women must sit in
Freud described the id the back of the synagogue behind walls
as that part of the human and curtains. Sure, but again, you could
psyche — the primitive say that is to protect them from harass-
and instinctual part of the ment during the services.
mind that harbors sexual They say that in synagogue women can-
and aggressive drives and not get an aliyah to the Torah. They rule
submerged motivations. that women cannot lead the services. And
The rabbis themselves according to most Orthodox authorities,
recognized the daunting women cannot become rabbis. So, is all
power of our sexual urges this benevolent protection, or is it out-
to override our inhibitions. right discrimination?
Now the apologists among us, who Furthermore, rabbis rule that women
preach how perfect our system is, tell cannot testify in a Jewish court. That one
us that in Orthodox communities the is tough. I cannot figure how to make the
instances of sexual harassment are low. case that such a diminished status protects
But the problems are that we do not know women from harassment.
the record of how well this system works And finally, in Orthodoxy women can-
to prevent harassment because, simply not divorce their husbands — even in the
put, the rabbis are men, and the good old case of an abusive spouse. There is no way
boys may not report each other’s viola- to claim that protects women.
tions to the authorities. So here we are now in a world full of
The cases of serial harasser Rabbi talmudic contradictions, in a world that
Shlomo Carlebach and the mikvah peep- is beset by ongoing acts of men harass-
ing-Tom rabbi are just two examples of ing women.
many, far too numerous to list, where Now, let me consider adding to that
observant men violated rabbinic stan- another layer of complexity. In secular soci-
dards of “protecting” women. And many ety in 2018 the goalposts have been moved.
a woman may be reluctant or unable to Social mores and public norms about
report sexual harassment in a community harassment have changed. We need
that could turn around and blame her. to ask ourselves, why have the limits
But for the sake of argument, let’s say changed now? Have we finally matured
the numbers are good, and sexual harass- in our society to a higher ethical plane?
ment is lower in the observant world. And Is culture changing for the better? Have
if there are fewer episodes of harassment we progressed?
in Orthodox communities, that is a good The interest in harassment today is
thing, right? not necessarily an indication that soci-
Well, just keep this in mind. A defendant ety has found it needs to be more sensi-
is not advised to plead in court, “I only mur- tive or moral. One motivator may be fear
dered one person — and that is statistically of legal liability for damages. And it also
insignificant because there are 7 billion may be that women are finally getting a
other people in the world, your honor.” So voice, by gaining political, economic, and
even one victim is one victim too many. social power.
Effective or not, there is another problem So in the end, what is my advice to you?
with advocating the rabbinic system to pro- Do we turn to religious laws that margin-
tect women — the big bitter ironic contradic- alize women while purporting to protect
tory hypocritical elephant in the room. them? Should religious men promulgate
In rabbinic Judaism women are officially the notion that we solve the #MeToo prob-
discriminated against and denied equal lem by hiding and segregating women and
rights. The rabbinic system places much by making touching them taboo?
of the burden of “protection” by stipulat- Putting it more broadly — we should rec-
ing how women must conduct themselves. ognize that the realm of sexual relations is
Wait, before I get started on this path, of utmost complexity, and sex drive can be
shouldn’t I just accept that maybe women a potent force in our personal and social
SEE DEAR RABBI PAGE 55
The Dear Rabbi Zahavy column offers mindful advice based on Talmudic
reasoning and wisdom. The author aspires to be equally open and meaningful
to all the varieties and denominations of Judaism. You can find the column
here usually on the first Friday of the month. Please mail your questions to the
Jewish Standard or email them to zahavy@gmail.com
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 45
D’var Torah
Hayyei Sarah: The dashes of our lives
M
y mother and I have had
a tradition of visiting the
cemetery. Together, we
drive through the cemetery
and visit our family. I have the role of navi-
gator — although I have been fired from
this position on more than one occasion —
and my mother has the role of storyteller.
Most of the graves we visit are of people
that did not live to see me be born.
My mother and I have a routine at each
grave that we visit. I search for a stone
to leave behind and she trims the shrub-
bery. My mother trims in silence as she
updates each person about what is hap-
pening in our lives. Inevitably, I finish
first and as she continues to trim, I stare
at the tombstones. I stare at the dates of
my family members’ lives — but really I
stare at the dashes between the years of
their births and deaths. I wonder what
their lifetimes were full of.
Then my mother steps back and says:
“It looks better than before, right? Let’s
go.” That is my invitation to begin ask-
ing her questions about each person — to
find out what each person’s life was like.
As we walk to the car and drive to the
next stop on our visit, she tells me about
the person’s life. And as we drive home
together, we get lost in the family history
and family stories — we get lost in all of
Talk
FROM PAGE 12
keep it shorter, I promise.) My second day,
however, starts on a radically different note.
As I walk in, smiling 20somethings (I’ll
admit to an immediate bond with what
seemed like the only other young people
there) hand me “booklets that were cen-
sored from your GA bag.” I see more of them
standing on the lawn in front of the building,
holding a huge cardboard sign: “WE NEED
TO TALK about the occupation.” Seems the-
matically appropriate to me, but I’m sur-
prised at how many people are just walking
past, rolling their eyes, even scoffing. (I’ve
always thought that “scoffing” seems like
the sort of thing that people stopped doing
at the turn of the millennium, but the con-
ference-goers once again find a way to sur-
prise me.) I hear one teenager mutter to
her friend, “Why talk? It’s not our fault,”
and while I don’t know where I stand with
regard to the second half of her statement,
the first half infuriates me.
The defensiveness and unwillingness
to start a dialogue prompted me to think
more critically of the GA as a whole. Are
we really talking? Are our little mono-
logues really adding up to a dialogue?
46 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
the dashes of their lives. There were many stages
This week in our Torah of Sarah’s life, as noted by
reading, parashat Hayyei the midrash. At age one hun-
Sarah, we are confronted dred Sarah was blameless in
with the gravestone of Sarah. sin like a twenty year old. At
In the opening verse of the age twenty her beauty was
parashah, we learn what the like that of a seven year old.
span of Sarah’s life was — the These are the dashes in Sar-
bookends of the dashes of ah’s life.
her life. The text states that Rabbi Loren At the end of Sarah’s life,
the lifetime of Sarah con- Monosov Rashi notes that all of the
sisted of one hundred years, Temple Emanuel of years of Sarah’s life were
the Pascack Valley,
twenty years, and seven good. Yet, life was not always
Woodcliff Lake,
years. Although it seems as Conservative easy or good for Sarah, as we
though the text is merely know from previous parshy-
reporting on the number of iot. We do not have to look
the years Sarah lived in her too far back to recall that her
lifetime, there is much more being said in only son was almost sacrificed by her hus-
this one brief verse. band. But, what was good was how Sarah
Rashi, in his Torah commentary, notes lived her life, especially in the moments
the repetition of the word year that breaks when things were not always so good.
Sarah’s life into three parts, describing Throughout each phase of her life, Sarah
how Sarah was at different stages through- lived with righteousness and dignity. In
out her life. Rashi incorporates a midrash spite of the challenges and pain she faced,
into his understanding of this verse in she lived her life well.
order to explain that the text comes to tell As my mother and I go from grave to
us about Sarah’s life, not her death. Thus, grave and in and out of our family sto-
the opening verse of our Torah portion is ries, I hear stories that define my family’s
not merely a reporting on Sarah’s age at history. The stories are never about how
her death, but rather, a telling of the life of great each person was or how great their
Sarah. More to the point, a telling of what lives were, but rather about how they sur-
filled the dashes of Sarah’s life. vived in difficult times and ensured that
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is interviewed by Jewish Federations of
North America chairman Richard Sandler at the General Assembly.
Are we even discussing uncomfortable need to talk”?)
things? If so, why does it seem like every- I spent most of the day talking about
one is in total agreement? (I went to a this, discussing and criticizing the GA, and
session on pluralism, and heard people I’m glad of it. If I had my day of admira-
from all walks of life — Israelis, Ameri- tion, then to balance it out I need a day of
cans, Orthodox, Reform — all basically disillusionment.
agree that they want Israel to be more Of course, that brings me to the third and
pluralistic. But is that really talking? Isn’t final day of the convention. I’d like to say
the obvious next step to include a charedi that today I am “re-galvanized by the power
anti-pluralist? Isn’t that the conversation of communal action,” or that seeing Bibi
we need to have, the distant “we” of “we speak (oh, did I mention yet that I got to hear
there was a promising future for the next
generation — for my mom, for me, and
for my children — in a land of hopes and
dreams. Most of the people that we visit at
the cemetery have one thing in common—
they were Holocaust survivors. They each
have their story about how they survived
Nazi Germany and came to America in
search of a brighter future. Although the
stories of how they survived are each dif-
ferent — one thing remained the same —
no matter how bad it was, no matter how
hard their lives had become, they main-
tained their dignity and lived with righ-
teousness and goodness. They lived well
—even during the most chaotic and diffi-
cult times. These are the dashes I stare at
in the cemetery. These are the stories that
define my family.
We all have various stages of our own
lives. Some periods in our lives will be
wonderful and some will be filled with
struggle. We will have moments of great
joy and moments of great heartbreak. We
will have moments of wild success and
moments of devastating defeat. Although
we do not have control over the time-span
of our life, we do have control over what
fills our lives. As we go through the various
phases of our lives we have the possibility
of ensuring that our days are equally good
— that our days are all well lived.
the Israeli PM live?) restored my faith in the
GA or the JFNA or the JA or whoever. (Also,
I have to point out that these organizations
need better, more distinctive acronyms. I
mean, this is just getting ridiculous.) I wish
that I could say those things, but I can’t.
Communal action remains cool. It was defi-
nitely an experience to see Bibi. But I came
into the day with a storm of emotions, and
those aren’t enough to seriously sway me.
That said, one thing does break through
my shell: as David Friedman, the U.S.
ambassador to Israel, is speaking, he starts
casually quoting some Tehillim, comment-
ing on them, bringing them forth. And that’s
when I realize: I’m listening to a politician
give a dvar Torah! So I start to really let it
seep into my bones that I’m now living in a
Jewish state, that this state of affairs makes
sense. I bask in that for a while, enjoying the
feel of the thought in my head. Even if I’m
not overly impressed by every part of the
GA, I will admit that in that moment, they
gave me a big gift. And then, almost before I
know it, (and certainly before I’ve processed
it,) it’s over. The GA is done, and I’m leaving.
So this is how I’m coming out of this
year’s GA: a little confused, a little fright-
ened, a little proud, a little enlightened.
Trust me, it’s a good place to be.

No longer waiting
for the rapture
Memoirist Angela Himsel discusses her evolution
from odd fundamentalist Christian sect to Orthodox Judaism
CURT SCHLEIER
A
ngela Himsel has a life she describes as “pretty
Upper West Side Jewish. “I belong to an Ortho-
dox synagogue,” she said. “I’m very active in
the sisterhood. And I was very active in my
kids’ day schools.” (She is the mother of three children.)
“As you know, the Upper West Side is a very tight Jewish
community.”
But if Himsel’s current UWS life is typical for the area,
her background isn’t. The blond, blue-eyed, 57-year-old
writer was raised in rural Indiana, the seventh of 11 chil-
dren. Her family was a member of the Worldwide Church
of God, led by the since disgraced Herbert W. Armstrong.
It was an apocalyptic religion that predicted (until 1975)
that the rapture would occur in 1975, and that all its fol-
lowers would be lifted to Petra in Jordan. It also taught
that British, American, and some Europeans were direct
descendants of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. The church fol-
lowed Mosaic law, including observing the sabbath on Sat-
urdays and celebrating major Jewish holidays.
Himsel tells the story of her journey from small town
girl awaiting Jesus’ return to Jewish mom and wife in her
fascinating, informative, and well written memoir, “A
River Could Be a Tree.”
As a young devotee, she believed the Bible to be fact.
“Fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist Jews
believe that there were six days of creation,” she told me
in a telephone interview. “We believed there was a flood
that destroyed everything.
“To think that that was not true is to say the Bible was
lying. If the book was not historically factual, then you are
saying everything we believed in a was a lie.”
She started to see cracks in the orthodoxy around 1975
when Armstrong’s predicted rapture drew near. “That
was definitely the beginning” of her doubts, she said. But
still she held on to her belief when Armstrong changed
gears, indicating his belief that the Rapture was delayed,
but still coming.
But her appreciation of Judaism started when she was a
student at the University of Indiana. She decided to spend
her junior year abroad. Her first choice was Germany,
where her family was from. Her second choice was England.
“Growing up, I thought about Israel as this magical, mysti-
cal land,” not some place to visit, she said. In fact, it was not
among her top 10 choices. But then fate intervened.
As she considered her options in the university’s office
of overseas studies, she saw a brochure that featured a
building with a large gold dome, and it immediately
brought to mind all of her childhood religious studies. She
Arts & Culture
Angela Himsel
writes: “In my imagination, Israel was imbued with holi-
ness unlike any other place on earth. I was certain that
merely stepping foot on the soil would bring me closer to
God, closer to the Holy Spirit, and thus to salvation.”
It was there that her route to conversion began. “I was
19 and being exposed to Jews, which I hadn’t experienced
before” she said. “This was a whole new world. And look-
ing at this world I realized that maybe not everything I’d
been taught was right. I think questioning yourself and
questioning others is the way you make changes. In Israel
I questioned the church, but I was still pretty convinced
that Jesus was the messiah, or if I questioned it, had a
moment, I quickly squelched that because that put me in
danger of leaving the church — and I wanted to stay.”
But she decided to spend her senior year in Israel too,
and living there took her further and further from the
strict doctrinaire and patriarchal philosophy of a church
that forbade women from wearing makeup.
“I think it was just the whole experience of living with
Jews, the Friday night dinners, and talking about things,”
she said. “Jews were willing to disagree and challenge and
say maybe that’s not true, that there’s another way of look-
ing at it.
“Being able to question, to realize everything wasn’t
white or black and right or wrong, that there are lots and
lots of questions and lots and lots of answers” changed
her.
The final decision to convert came after she returned
to the States, moved to New York, and met her husband
(whose name she prefers not be mentioned). He was 14
years older than she was, the son and brother of Orthodox
rabbis, divorced, and under the impression he couldn’t
have children.
It turns out he was wrong.
Himsel found herself in a conundrum. Her then boy-
friend, though he probably would describe himself as an
agnostic, still wanted her to convert — hopefully before the
child was born so the baby could be Jewish halachically.
Angela wasn’t convinced. “I always felt I had a relation-
ship with God,” she said. “I didn’t feel I needed [formal]
religion to determine my relationship with God. That
was a very Christian way of looking at religion, it was just
between you and God.
“In Judaism you’re part of a community. You have a
past. It’s one thing for me to have a relationship with God;
but if I’m going to have a relationship with Judaism I have
to be part of it.”
She went through the conversion process almost three
decades ago, so I asked how that process changed her. “I
think I changed my vision of God because of Judaism,”
Himsel said. Seen through the prism of “the Talmud,
and also many thousand years of writing,” God isn’t “the
cranky old man, a kind of punitive God.
“It’s not that that God doesn’t exist in the Hebrew Bible,
but I think I now view God more in the context of the
world that the Bible was written in. He is a lot more com-
plex, a God of justice and mercy, too.”
Himsel’s father was surprisingly okay with his daugh-
ter’s conversion. “I think that as a young father he was
an autocratic bully, but as he got older he changed,” she
said. “He saw that one of my older sisters left the church,
and another married a divorced man. By the time he came
to me he said, ‘whatever.’ Also, he liked Judaism because
we celebrated the same holy days, even though we didn’t
believe in Jesus.”
Which really left me with only one more question. I
wondered if Angela had a plan B, just in case there really
was a rapture.
She laughed and said that she had just discussed that
issue with one of her sisters: “I told them if they ever get
the call to go to Petra, they better call me.”
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 47
Calendar all saints episcopal of today & tomorrow,” holds an open house,
Church in Glen rock featuring Broadway 7 p.m. 666 Kinderkamack
will tell his experience performers Janelle road. tamar Kahn,
of addiction recovery a. robinson and J.d. (201) 986-1414, ext. 338,
and how it shaped his webster, with guest welcome@rynj.org, or
role as a pastor. during appearances by MJC’s rynj.org.
the oneg, he will talk cantor, Michelle rubin,
to people individually and its teen and Addiction and
about addiction recovery. youth choirs, 7 p.m. substance abuse
682 harristown road. 34 Montebello road. forum: Congregation
(201) 652-6624 or (845) 357-2430 or www. Keter torah in teaneck
office@grjc.org. montebellojc.org. hosts a panel, “addiction
and substance abuse:
Shabbat in emerson: Understanding the
Congregation B’nai Sunday Landscape and its
israel holds a “torah november 4 impact on Us,” 7:30 p.m.
town hall” service called www.time2talkaddiction.
“Our elections, Our School open house in org.
discourse, Our Future,” Paramus: the Frisch
8 p.m. 53 Palisade ave.
(201) 265-2272 or www.
school holds an open
house at the Mordecai
Monday
bisrael.com. and Monique Katz november 5
academic Building,
Saturday 9 a.m.-noon. 120
west Century road.
november 3 Judith Goldsmith,
(201) 267-9100,
admissions@frisch.org.
register at www.frisch.
org/openhouse.
NOV. “Nana,” based on filmmaker Serena
Dykman retracing her grandmother’s Origami workshop in

4 Auschwitz survival story and an

investigation of how her lifelong
Teaneck: Congregation
Beth aaron continues an
origami workshop series,
fight against intolerance can be passed on to 10 a.m., with “action book discussion: the
Origami,” led by origami Fair Lawn Jewish Center/
new generations, will be screened at the Teaneck artist and congregant Congregation B’nai
Philip Roth
International Film Festival, at Teaneck Cinemas, COURTeSY CbS Yaacov Metzger. all israel holds its Book of
3:40 p.m. Sponsored by the Jewish Standard. A materials supplied. 950 the Lunch program with
Shabbat in Teaneck: Queen anne road. a discussion by Karen
talkback follows with the director and is moderated Congregation Beth (201) 836-6210 or www. sapherstein on armondo
by Dr. Daniel Rynhold, professor of modern Jewish sholom hosts a lunch bethaaron.org/event/ Lucas Correa’s book
philosophy. 503 Cedar Lane. www.teaneckfilmfestival. and learn, “Offender actionOrigami. “the German Girl,” noon.
of the Faith: revisiting Lunch served. 10-10
org or (201) 203-1723. Philip roth,” featuring book brunch: the United norma ave. (201) 796-
Kean University english synagogue of hoboken 5040.
professor daniel Gover, hosts a book brunch with
david widzer and Cantor after shabbat services. congregant dawn raffel,
Friday elizabeth Goldmann, at
7:30. 221 schraalenburgh
Lunch, 12:30 p.m., author of “the strange
lecture at 1. 345 Maitland Case of dr. Couney,”
november 2 road. (201) 768-5112 or 10:30 a.m.. 115 Park ave.
ave. reservations,
www.tbenv.org. (201) 833-2620 or www. (201) 659-4000 or office@
babi Yar massacre: dr. hobokensynagogue.org.
cbsteaneck.org.
Martin dean, historical
consultant at the Babi Jerusalem Post editor
Yar holocaust Memorial speaks: Jerusalem Post
Center, discusses “Babi editor Lahav harkov
Yar and the holocaust in talks about israel at the
Ukraine” in the alumni Yulia Ziskel Glen rock Jewish Center,
Lounges (sC158) at 4 p.m. Organized by Film in Wayne: the
ramapo College in Shabbat in Closter: sisterhood and Men’s Jewish Federation of
Mahwah, 1:45 p.m. temple Beth el offers a Club, and co-sponsored northern new Jersey’s
sponsored by ramapo’s guest artist shabbat with by CaMera-on-Campus israel Film Festival
Gross Center for new York Philharmonic Mark Collins and a GrJC donor. presents “Outdoors,”
holocaust and Genocide violinist/tBe congregant 682 harristown road. 7:30 p.m., at the wayne
Janelle A. Robinson
studies. 505 ramapo Yulia Ziskel and pianist Shabbat in Glen (201) 652-6624 or YMCa. 1 Pike drive.
Valley road, Mahwah. James rensink. Mini- Rock: the Glen rock broadway music office@grjc.org. (201) 820-3907 or www.
(201) 684-7409. concert, 6:30 p.m., Jewish Center marks in Montebello: the jfnnj.org/filmfestival.
followed by wine, fruit, “addictions awareness Montebello Jewish School open house in
and cheese at 7, and the shabbat,” 8 p.m. the Center hosts an evening River edge: rosenbaum
service, led by rabbi rev. Mark r. Collins of of “Broadway Voices Yeshiva of north Jersey

48 Jewish standard nOVeMBer 2, 2018

 Calendar
Drive. Reservations, (201) 262-9898, ext. 203 oneg at 7:45 p.m., Refreshments. 304
(201) 391-0801 or
2redheads@optonline.
or www.ssdsbergen.org/
openhouse2018.
Friday  she will ask “‘Can You
Order Me a Ham on
East Midland Ave.
(201) 262-7691.
net. november 9 Rye? Lifnei Iver in
School open house
Thursday  the Workplace and
Beyond.” On Shabbat in Mamaroneck:
November 8 morning she will give Westchester Hebrew
derashot at the teen High School holds
Lunch and Learn: minyan, 8:30 a.m., and an open house,
Rabbi David-Seth at the minyan at 9. Her 11 a.m.-1 p.m. 856 Orienta
Kirshner of Temple post-Mincha shiur will Ave., Mamaroneck,
Rabbi Yitzchak Emanu-El in Closter be “Timeless Tradition N.Y. Shari Levitan,
offers Lunch & Learn in Meets Modernity: When (914) 698-0806, ext. 308,
Mendel Wagner
NYC and surrounding Halacha is Based on admissions@whhsny.
Marking Kristallnacht areas to study Torah Outdated Science.” 389 org, or www.whhsny.org/
in Hackensack: Rabbi Film in Ridgewood: The and have lunch, which Rabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf West Englewood Ave. page/open-house.
Yitzchak Mendel Wagner, Jewish Federation of is included, at noon. (201) 837-2795.
Northern New Jersey’s Location information, Shabbat in Tenafly: School open house in
the first German-
Lubavitch on the Tenafly: The Idea School
born rabbi since the
Holocaust, speaks at the
Israel Film Festival
presents “Heading
(201) 750-9997.
Palisades hosts an Saturday  holds an open house at
Home” and a bonus Kristallnacht marked in elegant Shabbat dinner november 10 the Kaplen JCC on the
recently opened Chabad
short film, “Getting New City: The Holocaust by Five Star Catering Palisades, 1-3:30 p.m. 411
of Hackensack to mark
Serious,” at the Warner Museum & Center for featuring Rabbi Dr. Laibl Music in Fair Lawn: The East Clinton Ave. Tikvah
the 80th anniversary of
Theater, 7:30 p.m. 190 Tolerance and Education Wolf of Australia, 6 p.m., Fair Lawn Jewish Center/ Weiner, (201) 569-7900,
Kristallnacht, 7:30 p.m.
East Ridgewood Ave. offers a community- who will discuss “Break CBI offers entertainment admissions@
Rabbi Wagner also is
(201) 820-3907 or www. wide Kristallnacht the Habit — Why You to sing and dance to by theideaschool.org, or
the first rabbi in his
jfnnj.org/filmfestival. commemoration with a Do What You Do” after the Hip Replacements, www.theideaschool.org/
hometown, Krefeld, in
program, an illumination dinner. Formal attire. 11 7:30 p.m. Dessert openhouse.
more than 70 years.
ceremony, and a student Harold St. Reservations, reception. BYO kosher
280 Summit Ave. www.
keynote speaker, at the (201) 871-1152, ext. 500, beverages. 10-10 Norma
ChabadHackensack.
Nanuet Hebrew Center, or chabadlubavitch.org/ Ave. (201) 796-5040 or
com/4158605.
6 p.m. 411 S. Little Tor fridaynight. HipReplacements @fljc.
Road. (845) 574-4099 com.
or email holocaus-trcc@
gmail.com. School open house in
Ridgewood: Naaleh
High School for Girls
holds an open house
Rabbi Robert at Temple Israel &
JCC, 7:45 p.m. 475 Author in Tenafly:
Scheinberg Mosab Hassan Yousef,
Grove St. Deena Kobre,
author of “Son of
Jewish wedding (201) 468-8333, www.
Rabbi David Eliezrie Hamas,” talks about
workshop: Rabbi NaalehHighSchool.
Shabbat in Wayne: org/admissions one of the world’s
Robert Scheinberg leads
Author in Wanaque: Temple Beth Tikvah or admissions@ most dangerous
a class on “Planning a
Rabbi David Eliezrie commemorates the NaalehHighSchool.org. terrorist organization
Jewish Wedding” at
discusses his book “The 80th anniversary of at the Kaplen JCC on
the United Synagogue
Secret of Chabad,” for Kristallnacht by showing the Palisades, 7 p.m.
Chabad of Upper Passaic
of Hoboken, 7:30 p.m.
Meet other couples Kristallnacht observed
a documentary, “The Sunday  Sponsored in part by the
County, 7:30 p.m. 1069 Night of Broken Glass” november 11 Israeli-American Council.
who will be married in New Milford:
Ringwood Ave, Suite at 6:30 p.m., followed 411 E. Clinton Ave. Nina,
soon. 115 Park Ave. Solomon Schechter Day
315. (201) 696-7609 or by services at 7:30. All Speaker in Wyckoff: (201) 408-1406 or www.
(201) 659-4000 or office@ School of Bergen County
jewishhighlands.org. survivors, particularly Zalmen Mlotek is JCCOTP/Mosab.
hobokensynagogue.org. holds a community-wide
those of Kristallnacht, are the guest for the
Kristallnacht observance. Film in Jersey City:
School open house welcome. Transportation Distinguished Speaker
Reception, 6:30 p.m., The Jewish Federation
in Teaneck: Yeshivat can be arranged. series at Temple Beth
screening of “Remember of Northern New
He’Atid holds an open 950 Preakness Ave. Rishon. A conductor,
Us: The Hungarian Jersey’s Israel Film
house, 7:30 p.m. 1500 (973) 595-6565 or www. pianist, musical arranger,
Hidden Children” at 7, Festival presents
Queen Anne Road. Gitty templebethtikvahnj.org. accompanist, composer,
followed by Q&A session. “The Cakemaker” at
Eisner, (201) 374-2272, 275 McKinley Ave. (201) and the artistic director
Shabbat in Leonia: the Warner Theater,
ext. 300, or www. 262-9898, ext. 287, or of the National Yiddish
Congregation Adas 7:30 p.m. at Hamilton
yeshivatheatid.org/open- www.ssdsbergen.org. Theatre Folksbiene,
Emuno asks congregants House, 255 Brunswick
house. he also is the musical
Kurt Roberg and St.; building entrance
director and conductor on 10th Street. Movie
Film in Paramus: Maren Friedman to
The JCC of Paramus/ Wednesday  share their memories
of “Fiddler on the Roof”
in Yiddish. Sponsored by
also screens November
Congregation Beth november 7 of Kristallnacht, 18 at Kaplen JCC on
the Fred Emert Memorial the Palisades in Tenafly.
Tikvah shows the 1946 7:30 p.m. 254 Broad Ave.
Adult Education Fund (201) 820-3907 or www.
Orson Welles classic Jewelry/gifts in (201) 592-1712.
with TBR patron jfnnj.org/filmfestival.
“The Stranger” as part Maywood: The Adler support. Breakfast
of a Jewish Film Festival, Aphasia Center hosts followed by talk at
hosted by Cantor Sam Ten Commandments
an open house and 10 a.m. 585 Russell in Teaneck: Professor
Weiss, 8:15 p.m. East holiday boutique with Ave. (201) 891-4466
304 Midland Ave. Jordan S. Penkower
handcrafted jewelry and Film in Teaneck: The of Bar Ilan University
(201) 262-7691. gifts, made by stroke Jewish Federation of discusses “The Ten
survivors with aphasia, Northern New Jersey’s Commandments - From
Tuesday  4–8 p.m. Sales support
the center’s programs
Israel Film Festival the Bible to Rembrandt,”
presents “The Testament” at Congregation Rinat
november 6 and services. Door at the Teaneck Cinemas, Yisrael, 8 p.m. 389
prizes. Tours available. 7:30 p.m. 503 Cedar Rabbanit Sally Mayer West Englewood Ave.
Facing fears/reaching 60 West Hunter Ave. Lane. (201) 820-3907 (201) 837-2795.
goals in Woodcliff (201) 368-8585 or www. or www.jfnnj.org/ Shabbat in Teaneck:
Lake: Susan Greif of AdlerAphasiaCen-ter.org. filmfestival. Rabbanit Sally Mayer,
Art Mends Hearts in
rosh midrasha at Book club in Paramus:
Englewood discusses School open house in Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Dina Stein facilitates
“The Art of Facing Your New Milford: Solomon Overseas Program, is
Fears and Reaching Your a discussion on
Schechter Day School the scholar-in-residence
Goals,” for the sisterhood Amor Towles’ book,
of Bergen County at an adult education
of Temple Emanuel of “A Gentleman in
invites parents of committee meeting
the Pascack Valley at Moscow,” at the JCC of
prospective students at Congregation Rinat
10:30 a.m., and again Paramus/Congregation
to an open house, Yisrael. During tonight’s
at 8 p.m. 87 Overlook Beth Tikvah, 10 a.m.
7 p.m. 275 McKinley Ave.

Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 2, 2018 49

r Calendar

Saturday 
2540 Amsterdam with families; evening
Friday  Teaneck ‘Teen
In New Ave. Jono Fuchs,
(212) 960-5400, ext.
program at Ohr
Torah with comedian Idol’ auditions
november 10 6676, admissions@ Avi Lieberman, november 9
York Ramaz School open
yuhsb.org. Register at ice breakers, and
Shabbaton in This year’s annual Teaneck Teen
yuhsb.org/openhouse. more. Singles of all
house: The Upper Teaneck: The Idol, featuring talented teens singing
Saturday  School of Ramaz
ages are invited for
the Saturday night Shidduch Project for the Teaneck Teen Idol prize, is set
november 3 holds an open house hosts a Shabbaton
at the Morris & Ida Singles program. westorange.
singles.shabbaton@ for modern Ortho-
for Saturday, January 20, at 8 p.m.,
at Teaneck High School. Contestants
ASL-interpreted Newman Educational gmail.com. dox/machmir young
can audition on November 13 and 14
Shabbat service: Center, 7:45 p.m. 60 E.
78th St. Shara Lipson,
Friday  professionals, 23-39,
at Congregation Arzei from 4 to 7:30 p.m., at THS, Room
Town & Village
Synagogue in (212) 774-8093, november 2 Sunday  Darom. Includes three #244 (chorus room). The contest is
Manhattan holds admissions@ramaz. november 4 catered interactive
open to all 13- to-18-year-olds living in
an ASL-interpreted org. Register at www. West Orange meals, speakers
Shabbat service, with ramaz.org/openhouse. Shabbaton: Modern Seniors meet in including Rabbi Teaneck or going to public, private,
full readings from the Orthodox singles, West Nyack: Singles Simcha Weinstein, or religious schools there.
Torah and haftorah,
10 a.m. Kiddush will
Sunday  30-45, are welcome
to “Singles Fall-
65+ meets for a
social bagels and lox
Comic-Con SuperHero
book author; ice
Auditioners will perform a capella
november 11 Back,” featuring breakers, round- for 2 minutes; they must bring proof
follow. 334 East 14th brunch at the JCC
St., between First Shabbat.com founder, Rockland, 11 a.m. robin speed dating, of age, residency, or school atten-
and Second avenues. MTA High School Rabbi Benzion All are welcome, musical Havdalah and dance, and a $5 registration fee.
open house: Klatzko. Kabbalat kumsitz. Hosted by
Underwritten by
Shabbat services
particularly singles
Rachel Ruchlamer
There will be free coaching and
UJA-Federation of The Marsha Stern from Hudson, Passaic,
Talmudical Academy in Smilowitz Beit and Dr. Shani Ratzker. song selection guidance from sea-
New York’s Jewish Bergen, or Rockland
Community Deaf Yeshiva University Midrash for singles counties. 450 West Shid-duchprojects@ soned professionals available. On
Interpreter Fund. High School for only, followed by Nyack Road. Gene, gmail.com or contest night, performance schedule
(212) 677-0368V, Boys (MTA) holds dinner and program; (845) 356-5525. (201) 522-4776.
an open house. Shabbat morning of finalists can be adjusted to Sabbath
www.tandv.org, or
email Bram at bram- Registration, 9 a.m.; singles-only kiddush needs. For information, go to www.
weiser@usa.net. program at 9:30. followed by meals teaneckcommunitychorus.org or call
Jack Aaker at (201) 390-8683.

JCT offers online Torah learning

The Jewish Center of Teaneck offers its
daily and weekly learning on the shul’s
website, www.jcot.org, under the adult
education tab.
The availability of audio recordings
of the shul’s nightly 10-minute mishna
yomi and weekly Navi shiur in Sefer
Shmuel will allow participants to learn
the Torah on their own schedules.

bergenPAC’s photographer hosts exhibit

Relive the excitement from this
year’s headliners when bergen-
PAC’s house photographer, Jeremy
Lebled, exhibits images from his
favorite concerts in the Sandy Ben-
nett Art Gallery. He will talk with
guests about his show experiences
at an artist reception on Thursday,
November 15, from 7 to 9 p.m.
A portion of the proceeds from

Jeremy Lebled
sales of the prints support bergen-
PAC’s nonprofit mission. For more
information, call (201) 227-1030.

9 50 Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 2, 2018

 The Frazzled Housewife
The shul
M
y family spends a lot of
time in shul. A lot of time.
With each baby I had, hus-
band #1 started to go to
shul more. “Honey, the baby is scream-
ing his head off, could you please take
him out of the crib?” “Um, I’m on my
way out to shacharit” (That’s the early
morning prayer.) And since prayer is
more important than helping your wife,
off he went. And really it made a lot of
sense that with three sons, he had an
excuse to go to shul three times a day. I
think it was a heavenly coincidence that
there are three prayer services a day.
The best is on shabbes, when the
days are really long. One
shabbes, when the boys
were probably 5, 4, and 2 1/2
and were having rare jump-
ing-off-the-wall-fun, legos
were flying, puzzle pieces
were being thrown in the
air, and juice boxes were
overtaking the house. Hus-
band #1 stood up, and in his
booming voice announced, Banji
“I think I am going to early Ganchrow
mincha today.” I looked at
him, threw my rolling eyes,
and watched him prance out the door.
Yes, he was actually prancing with glee.
But all good things must come to an
end and mincha was over and Husband
#1 had to come home, poor guy. Home to
his wife and beautiful, miraculous boys.
And there were still six or seven hours
until shabbes was over. What to do?
What to do? A few hours later, husband
#1 announces that he is going to mincha.
“Hey, wait a second,” I said. “I am pretty
sure that you went to mincha already.
Like two hours ago. I might be sleep
deprived, but of this, I am pretty sure.”
Busted. Husband #1 was busted. Did he
really think I was going to let him go to
two minchas?? Maybe if we had four kids,
I would let him get away with it, but that
was never to be the case. Sorry buddy, it’s
still only three prayer times a day… “A” for We love getting lost every time we try to
effort though, sweetie. “A” for effort.
Shul is a home away from home for all
of my kids (and my fourth kid, aka hus-
band #1). They not only go there to pray,
but they go to learn, with each other,
with the rabbi, with their father. Some-
times, their grandfather might even
make a surprise appearance. They love
it there. Sometimes I wonder if they love
it there because I am not there, but we
Shul is a home away
from home for all of my
kids (and my fourth kid,
aka husband #1).
Kosher Crossword
1 1/2 — “MOVEMBER” BY YONI GLATT
KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: EASY 
won’t go there.
In any event, when I had heard what
happened in Pittsburgh, I probably had
the same reaction that most of us had.
Tragic, horrific, incredibly sad, inde-
scribable. I listened to the rabbi of the
shul speak of how he was only able to
get four people out of the first few rows
and the rest, aside from one who was
injured, the rest were slaughtered. By
an anti-Semitic madman. Armed with
his own militia. In a synagogue, where
people pray to God, when people ask
God for help, for strength, for guidance.
When something like this happens in a
shul, there are even more questions to
ask. Why? Why? Why? Shul
is our safe place. For some,
it is their happy place. Our
souls are nourished with
spiritually and words of
Torah. And something
like this happens, and
what becomes of our safe
and happy place? What
happens to our souls?
What has happened to
our country?
Across Down
Shul is a place to find
1. Huff and puff 1. Is worthwhile
these answers. But there
5. Holy Land carrier 2. Plural of 14-Across
don’t seem to be any that sound any- 11. “The Amazing Race” network 3. Org. in “The Martian”
thing other than trite and cliched. 14. Talmudic measurement 4. Rav Yaakov Ben Asher
I wasn’t sure if I was going to write 15. Celebration, in Mexico 5. Start of a line from Tevye
about this, but I felt that I had to. As 16. Color 6. Locate
17. Classic animated character created by 7. Rod’s companion
someone who tries not to question too
Friz Freleng 8. Per se
much and just go with the flow, this is 19. A pint, maybe 9. Home of the Venezia ghetto
a tough one. And the only things I can 20. Israel, as of 1948 10. Isaac’s altar replacement
think to say are that we can’t live our 21. Jewish calendar end 11. Word on a necklace
lives in constant fear. We have to keep 22. Kosher keepers don’t mix it with meat 12. Animal in a Wall Street sculpture
23. Modern address 13. Hunt for
doing the things we love and hope that
25. “Shalom!” 18. Country music singer Haggard
nothing will happen. We can only con- 27. “The Great Dictator” director 22. Backyard burrowers
trol what we are doing, not what others 34. Cheerios grain 24. Arm or leg, e.g.
are doing, and we have to have faith that 35. Austen novel 26. Mth. for Passover
it will be all right. To live any other way 36. Overhauled 27. Howie Mandel doesn’t need one
38. Some GI honorees 28. City near Mt. Carmel
is just giving in to the psychopaths, and
40. Notable 2006 cinematic anti-Semite 29. In the least
we don’t want to do that. 43. Japanese drink (var.) 30. Genre of Joe Trohman’s Fall Out Boy
My family and I have been to Pitts- 44. Note above A 31. Garcon’s list
burgh about five times on our road trips. 46. “___ little harder” 32. “Do ___ to eat a peach?” (Eliot)
We love PNC park and the sister bridges. 48. “King Kong” film studio 33. Haley who stands up for Israel at the
49. 1921 Noble Prize winner in physics United Nations
53. Parsha between Eikev and Shofetim 37. Singer Celine
get to Squirrel Hill, and the community 54. Biblical verb ending 39. Israeli
always was so friendly. But it could have 55. The Old City 41. “Exodus” hero
been any shul in any town. 58. Rainbows, e.g. 42. Actress Daly
Take a minute now to pray that some- 61. “Going ___” (Palin book) 45. Casual attire
65. Mock, in a way 47. The Jetsons’ dog
thing like this never happens again.
66. “Duck Soup” star 50. Brought up
68. Blemish 51. Solomon had a spectacular one to
Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is celebrating 69. Security system part sit on
her birthday this week because life goes 70. Fishing, perhaps 52. First name of Woodrow Wilson
on. She hopes everyone finds something 71. Two-___ tissue 55. Alternative to steps
72. Experts 56. Aussie gem export
to celebrate this week as well.
73. “Prado” handbag, e.g. 57. Exceedingly
59. On the ___
The solution to last week’s puzzle
is on page 54.
60. Northern Brit
62. Wound
63. Renal product
64. Test
66. Fed. construction overseer
67. Store time posting: Abbr.
JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 51
Jewish World
FIRST PERSON

The fast train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv isn’t fast

and doesn’t go to Tel Aviv. I took it so you don’t have to.
BEN SALES

JERUSALEM — As our train hurtled

through the tunnel — my ears popping on
the descent — and then burst out into sun-
light bathing a landscape of fields and rocky
hills, I finally let myself feel impressed.
Along with the entire population of cen-
tral Israel, I’ve spent years anticipating
the high-speed train from Tel Aviv to Jeru-
salem, which became (mostly) operational
in September. When it’s fully online, the
trip between the cities is supposed to take
28 minutes.
That would be a game-changer. Four
years living as a foreign correspondent
in Tel Aviv meant that I would often find
myself busing to Israel’s capital once or
twice a week to cover all matters political
and religious.
For someone without a car, this meant
taking a bus to the nasty Tel Aviv bus sta-
tion, rushing up the stairs, bounding into
the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem bus, sitting in traf-
fic in a cramped seat, then exiting into the
much-less-nasty Jerusalem bus station.
The 38-mile trip took at least an hour
and a half, door to door. It sometimes felt
like friends in Jerusalem might as well have
lived in New York.
Now, at long last, there is high-speed
rail to Israel’s capital — except it doesn’t
leave from or arrive in Tel Aviv. Because
the tracks to Tel Aviv are not yet electri-
fied, the fast train runs only as far as Ben The new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem fast train is going over the Haarazim valley just outside Jerusalem. YOSSI ZAMIR/FLASH90

Gurion Airport, where commuters to and

from Tel Aviv have to transfer to regular-
speed rail. So for now, including trans-
fer time, the trip takes around an hour
— about the same average time as the inter-
city bus. It’s supposed to be finished soon,
though there’s no deadline.
In other words, there’s a fast train from
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv — except it isn’t fast
and it doesn’t go to Tel Aviv.
Still, I wanted to take it. So on Sunday
morning, the beginning of Israel’s work
week, I rushed into Tel Aviv’s Savidor Cen-
tral Train Station and hopped onto a nor-
mal train to the airport. The high-speed
Jerusalem line is right across the plat-
form, but first all passengers have to walk
through a makeshift metal barricade made
of a succession of gates, where a train
attendant checked our tickets one by one.
Once I made it through that gantlet, the
Jerusalem train felt eerily comfortable for
rush hour. I was one of the few people on
the upper deck, which meant I had an
entire quartet of seats to myself and free
use of the accompanying table and outlets.
(By contrast, as I write this, I am sitting
on a weekday local train weaving its way
through the Negev Desert en route to Tel
Aviv. My quartet of seats is filled by a soldier,
a woman who appears to be his mother, and
her backpack. He’s trying to go to sleep, but
keeps waking up to complain about having
left an electronic device at home. I don’t
dare ask to use the table or outlets.)
The train may have been empty because
a week earlier, it had spent more than an
hour stuck in a tunnel between Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv. To rescue that train, the rail-
way had to haul in a diesel engine. A few
days later, skeptical passengers may have
been unwilling to take the risk.
That’s not to mention the time it took
to get the train running in the first place.
Planning began in 2001, with a projected
launch date of 2008 and a budget of about
$1 billion. When the train started running
last month, it was a decade late and nearly
$900 million over budget. And it still
doesn’t go to Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, thankfully, I ran into no
problems. For all of the hassle it involved,
the actual train ride was a mix of tranquil-
ity and majesty. While in transit in Israel,
I’m usually on my phone or my computer.
This time, I let myself enjoy the view
through bulletproof windows.
We left the Tel Aviv area, traversing the
lush green pastoral fields that separate
Israel’s two largest cities. Then we entered
the first in a series of five tunnels, inter-
spersed with bridges, that offered striking
contrasts: The tunnels enveloped the train
in pitch black followed by a sudden rush
of color as we soared across the panorama
of Israel’s rocky hills. As we neared Jeru-
salem, I looked out, a little smugly, on the
cars and buses crawling up the road to the
capital. I could feel the train approaching
100 miles per hour, speeding us toward a
3,000-year-old city.
The Mishnah says, “All ascend to Jeru-
salem.” But when the train enters the city,
it’s 260 feet below ground. To get from the
Jerusalem train platform to the city takes
another few minutes of riding up three
massive escalators and a couple smaller
ones — 4 minutes and 20 seconds, to be
exact. There are elevators on the other
side, but that seemed less fun.
Like the train, the sparkling new station
was oddly empty. The cavernous corri-
dors are built to hold droves of commut-
ers. Instead, on a weekday morning, they
smelled of rubbery and plasticky new-
ness, and felt sterile and lonely. Maybe
that’s because, as a recent study showed,
only a handful of people actually commute
between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Taub
Center for Social Policy Studies found
that as of 2016, only 4 percent of Jerusa-
lemites, and an even smaller number of
Tel Aviv residents, traveled more than 24
miles outside their city for work. And that
could mean anywhere in Israel, not just
the other big city.
After a final short escalator ride, I found
myself surrounded by Jerusalem stone and
the din of its automobiles, people, and
putative prophets. A wide circle cut out of
stone above a courtyard in the train station
opens up to the sky, as if to suggest infinite
possibilities — or endless waiting for unan-
swered prayers.
From there it was on to haggling with
cabbies, sitting in traffic and waiting in a
security line — in other words, life as a for-
eign correspondent in Jerusalem.
Two days later I got one more chance
to ride the train, again from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem. I hoped to again look out the
windows, compare my notes, try to notice
things I’d missed before.
Instead, I sat down on the train, pulled
out my computer and got to work. I had a
deadline to meet. I, unlike my train, would
not be late. JTA WIRE SERVICE

52 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018


BRIEFS
Nefesh B’Nefesh presents Bonei Zion Prize
to seven Anglo olim for their contributions
A pioneer of Israel’s “Start-Up Nation” culture, one of
the Jewish world’s top educators and a founder of the
women’s imaging medical field are among the seven
recipients of the 2018 Sylvan Adams Nefesh B’Nefesh
Bonei Zion Prize on Sunday. The award recognizes olim
(new immigrants) from English-speaking countries who
have made major impacts on Israel.
The ceremony, attended by 350 people, was held
at the Knesset in the presence of Minister of Regional
Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi, chairman of the Jewish
Agency for Israel Isaac Herzog, and Minister of Aliyah
and Integration Sofa Landver.
But even in a time of such recognition came the real-
ization that the Jewish people still grapple with world-
wide anti-Semitism, as the event took place the day after
11 worshippers were gunned down at Shabbat services in
a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
“Unfortunately, it is a very painful day today,” Her-
zog said. “The Pittsburgh Jewish community consists of
50,000 Jews — all committed, Zionistic and well-orga-
nized. We just met their leadership here in Israel last
week, and little could we imagine there would be such
a tragedy.”
Turning more positive, he said, addressing the honor-
ees, “I think it’s exceptional to see such a group of distin-
guished honorees who have done so much for Israel and
humankind at large. You are all incredible people … and
we hope to see many more olim in the future.”
“Israel’s development over the past seven decades
has been shaped by the remarkable contributions, inge-
nuity, and talents of olim,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass,
co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B’Nefesh.
Jerusalem mayor’s race ends in a runoff;
woman wins in Haifa, Tel Aviv stays with incumbent
Israelis woke on Wednesday morning to the tallies of
municipal elections conducted across the country on
Tuesday, which showed that Jerusalem would face
a runoff for mayor between secular candidate Ofer
Berkovitch and charedi-backed candidate Moshe Lion,
and that Haifa’s mayor of 15 years was upset by the
city’s first female mayor-elect.
Moshe Lion, who was supported by Israeli ministers
Avigdor Lieberman and Aryeh Deri, got 33 percent of
the vote while head of the secular faction Hitorerut,
Offer Berkovitch, received 29 percent.
Because the two received the highest number of
votes, but neither reached the 40 percent threshold,
they will face off in a second election to take place on
November 13. Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin,
who received just 19 percent of the vote, and cha-
redi candidate Yossi Daitch, who got 17 percent, were
knocked out of the running.
Three-term Haifa mayor Yona Yahav lost to archi-
tect Einat Kalisch Rotem, who scored 55 percent of
the vote, while Tel Aviv incumbent Ron Huldai was
www.thejewishstandard.com
Obituaries
“They have transformed the landscape of virtually every
professional field and community in Israel.”
This year’s recipients were chosen by a panel of com-
mittee members in a variety of fields, including science
and medicine; community and nonprofit; education;
Israel advocacy; culture, art and sports; lifetime achieve-
ment; and young leadership.
“As much as I believe each and every one of these olim
made a brave and wonderful decision to move to Israel,
the real beneficiary of [their] move is Israel,” Hanegbi
said. “The miracle that is the modern State of Israel …
would not be possible without the contributions of these
olim, and all Israelis owe them a debt of gratitude.”
The 2018 Bonei Zion recipients include Dr. Marcia
Javitt, chairman of radiology at Rambam Hospital
in the field of science and medicine; Rabbi Shlomo
Riskin, founder of Ohr Torah Stone and founding
rabbi of Efrat in the field of education; Linda Streit,
founder of the Daniel Amichai Centre for Rowing and
Nautical Studies in the field of culture, art and sports;
Kalman Samuels, founder and chairman of Shalva, the
Israel Association for the Care and Inclusion of Per-
sons with Disabilities in the field of community and
nonprofit; Arsen Ostrovsky, executive director of the
Israeli-Jewish Congress in the field of Israel advocacy;
Morris Kahn, co-founder of Amdocs won the lifetime
achievement award; and Maj. Keren Hajioff, head of
public diplomacy in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, for
young leadership.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2019 Syl-
van Adams Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize. The dead-
line for nominations is Jan. 14. JNS.ORG
re-elected to his fifth term with 46 percent of the vote.
Rishon Letzion Mayor Dov Tzur, who was arrested last
year on suspicion of corruption, got 31.8 percent of the
vote in his city, while rival Raz Kinstlich, who called on
Tzur to quit the race, got 21.7 percent, which means the
two will also vie for the seat until November 13.
Another runoff will occur in Ramat Gan, where
incumbent Yisrael Zinger will oppose former MK and
former Israeli ambassador to UNESCO and the OECD
Carmel Shama-Hacohen.
In yet another runoff, Ra’anana incumbent Eitan
Ginzburg, the first openly homosexual mayor in Israel,
received fewer votes than opponent Chaim Broyde in
the first round.
In Kfar Saba, incumbent Rai Sa’ar will run against
former police deputy commissioner Yossi Sedbon.
More runoffs will occur in Hod Hasharon, Ma’alot-
Tarshiha and Rosh Ha’ayin.
Landslide victories were declared for Beersheva
mayoral incumbent Ruvik Danilovich and Netivot
Mayor Yehiel Zohar. JNS.ORG
Erna Frolow
Erna Frolow, née Halpern, 94, of Teaneck died
October 28.
Predeceased by her husband, Mortimer, she is
survived by daughters Susan Webber (Marc) and
Marsha Stamler (Menachem); grandchildren Dina
Jacobson (Eddie), Lynsey Miller, Josh Stamler
(Rebecca), Blake Miller (Cathryn), and Taylor Miller,
and seven great grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant
Jewish Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Obituaries are prepared with
information provided by funeral homes.
Correcting errors is the responsibility of the
funeral home.
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 Classified/Dear Rabbi

Dear rabbi be the right ones in this case, as they tread

FrOM PaGe 45
lives, one that overrides even the most well-
Call us. intentioned rules and customs. And keep
in mind, we are not sure how effective and
We are waiting for well designed the rules were to begin with.
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your classified ad! of the past for the needs of the present
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Sexuality is such a complex domain of
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variants along the spectrum. And we need
to consider that the rabbinic rules may not
on the rights of the potential victims.
Conclusion from up in the talmudic
booth — the referee reviewing the recorded
videos makes the final call: it’s not a touch-
down for rabbinic law.
Now, for sure we are good sports. And
that negative determination does not
detract at all from the values that tradi-
tion brings to the playing field. But I surely
can’t advise my questioner to go out and
evangelize for our Orthodox laws to be
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Jewish standard nOVeMBer 2, 2018 55

l Local
Education
FROM PAGE 7
than treatment. What I am hoping for, in
making the conversation public, is allow-
ing the schools to talk to each other about
how they deal with the place using has
in our kids’ social circles, and how to
change that.”
So far, he said, most schools focus on
“teaching kids what they need to know
and bringing in speakers to enforce that.
Another area is the punitive — setting rules
to help kids make the right decisions. But
the third area — which we using increas-
ingly — is to figure out how to deal with this
from a public health perspective.
“A public health perspective means
assuming that kids won’t necessarily make
the right decisions. The rational decisions.
The public health model is focused more
on changing communal behaviors, in the
way that Mothers Against Drunk Driv-
ing affected behavior, and the way that
anti-smoking campaign worked to curb
smoking. In the same way that on Satur-
day nights and Friday nights and Simchat
Torah and Purim there are some force that
have taken hold” — forces that encourage
and normalize heavy drinking — “there is
room to change that behavior.”
In order to change behavior, it is neces-
sary to know what the behavior actually is,
Rabbi Harcsztark added. It is important to
gather data, “to develop an approach that
will help us shift culture. And that takes a
little bit of selling.” That’s because people
do not want to take the time to gather data
if they are reacting to crisis; the real work
of culture change, though, is a long-term
challenge, he said.
Rabbi Rothwachs feels very strongly
that the work that the Formans and their
Guthrie
FROM PAGE 10
her father is to so many more.
“I had a wonderful guy come to the
program,” the talk she gives about
Woody’s Jewish connections. “He had
all these books of my grandmother’s. He
was able to sing to me some of my grand-
mother’s song.
“I did a program with Lorin Sklam-
berg, the lead singer of the Klezmatics,
up in Boston the other day. At some point
I asked Lorin, ‘There’s this other song I
heard about from my grandmother that’s
really beautiful. Do you know it?’ He said
‘Of course’ and started to sing it. At least
10 other people in the audience started
singing along.
“I’m humbled and still feel on the out-
skirts of all of this. There are a lot of peo-
ple who know a lot more about Yiddish
music and the arts than I do. I’ve been
digging and digging and digging into my
father’s legacy for so long, discovering so
7 56 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
partners do is vital. “In my opinion, com-
munity plays an important role in three
areas,” he said. “Prevention, detection,
and treatment.”
Prevention can only happen when peo-
ple have the information they need to
understand what is happening beneath
We aren’t
immune from
substance abuse.
It is happening
to people
we know.
their noses. “I don’t think that there is
any way to prevent addictions entirely in
all individuals in the entire community,”
Rabbi Rothwachs said. “That would be an
impossible task, given the realities of life.
But there is no question that we would be
better situated to prevent any further rise.
“Detection is when the community is
aware. When they are armed with infor-
mation, they can be better prepared to
detect a problem, and it is when the prob-
lem is first emerging that it can be nipped
in the bud.
“The likelihood of success in treating an
addiction increases dramatically when it
is detected early. If someone is struggling
with it for years, the likelihood is that the
overall prognosis is going to be less good.”
Also, he added, not only do parents have
to learn to recognize the signs of addiction
in their children, substance abusers, par-
ticularly the ones at the beginning of what
many sides of him.”
Nora says that the connection between
Woody and Judaism goes beyond family
ties.
“It’s very political, very social,” she
said. “In a nutshell, it was mostly the
Jewish community of New York that dis-
covered Woody Guthrie. They had been
through their own oppression, their own
migration, not unlike the people in the
Dust Bowl,” the American families like
Woody Guthrie’s, who were displaced
from the Great Plains by drought and
depression. “There was a natural politi-
cal affinity between the old socialists who
came from Europe and what Woody was
talking about.”
In her talk, “I try to put out teasers,”
she said. “I’m hoping someone out there
will write a big book on this, on Jews and
folk music.”
She has her own book plans from the
archives. “I found a lot of artwork my
father had done illustrating my grand-
mother’s poetry. Hopefully we’ll have a
is likely to be a steep downhill path, should
learn to recognize the signs in themselves.
“And finally, the part that is most near
and dear to my heart — treatment,” Rabbi
Rothwachs said. “There is no question that
overcoming an addiction is an incredible
challenge under the best of circumstances.
When a person feels alone, without the
support of family or friends or commu-
nity, when a person feels somehow like
a disappointment to the community,
like not having lived up to the communi-
ty’s expectations…
“And that’s particularly true when you
are dealing with an insular community,
a community based on values and prin-
ciples. A religious community. That is
not unique to the Jewish religion, but the
Orthodox community, by design, is going
to discourage all the behaviors that lead to
addiction, so that when people do them,
they often will feel completely ashamed,
alone, and more likely to suffer in silence.
“So if the community is more open, it
will be more likely to help recovery.” We
have so many groups to help other peo-
ple, he continued — for cancer, for other
illnesses, for special needs. With cancer,
he said, “there is no shame. No one would
ever think twice about lending whatever
support they can to God forbid a person
stricken with cancer. They say, ‘How can
we help?’”
With addiction, on the other hand,
there is a tremendous stigma; he, the For-
mans, the other experts on the panel, and
many others are working to overcome that
stigma, but it’s not gone yet.
There are many reasons for that, he
said. When a person has a disease, that
person clearly is a victim; when it comes
to addiction, most people assume that the
addict has relinquished his or her personal
nice book coming out of that.”
Aliza Greenblatt’s archives are at the
National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst,
Mass. “My mother was one of the first
founders of the center with Aaron Lansky,”
who created it. “I knew him when he was a
kid of 20 or 21, coming to the house, work-
ing with my mother to raise money. They
were close.”
She’s working to expand her grand-
mother’s autobiography, based on inter-
views after the original biography was
published. The new volume would be
three times the size.
And it shows how the Greenblatt fam-
ily was intimately involved in Jewish life,
Jewish migration, and Jewish culture.
It includes her husband’s stories about
how he came to America from a region
near Odessa when he was 14, and how,
like so many Jews in the 20th century,
he roamed and rambled across three
continents.
His name wasn’t originally Greenblatt,
and his immigration wasn’t strictly legal.
responsibility and therefore is responsible
for it, physiological predilections notwith-
standing. “I consider myself very progres-
sive and open-minded when it comes to
this issue, but I myself cannot help but
default to this view at times,” Rabbi Roth-
wachs says; he knows the inclination and
battles it. “It takes a lot of time and effort
and motivation to be able to rewire our
own brains” and not default similarly, he
said. Just as a person with an eating disor-
der cannot simply make herself eat, just as
someone with depression cannot snap out
of it on command, no matter how often
that command is barked, a drug addict
cannot just make it stop. It takes time,
effort, and will. Most of that must come
from the addict, but community support
is invaluable as well.
Lianne told a story about Elana that
brings it home. It was a story Elana told her
parents. “She said that she was at work,
celebrating one of her co-workers’ birth-
days, and he brought out vodka. A man-
ager offered it to her — he said, ‘Come on.
Just one drink’ — and she said, ‘I just can’t.’
“They know that she is a recover-
ing addict.
“She said, ‘You don’t understand. For
me, it wouldn’t be just one. It would be 20.
I know in my head that it will ruin my life.’
“And I thought,” Lianne said, “what it
would be like to wake up every day and
have to say to myself, ‘I will not drink. I
will not use. I will not drink. I will not use.
I will not drink. I will not use.
“It is a battle that has to be fought every
day. It takes its toll.”
And it is a battle that she plans to fight
every day, on behalf of her daughter, and
on behalf of everyone else’s sons and
daughters. It might not be possible to win
that battle, but she will keep on fighting.
“His birth name was Stuckelman,” she
said. “The family he was traveling with was
named Greenblatt, and they made believe
he was their son.
“Everything she talks about is like a hint,
a clue, for me to take it further and investi-
gate,” Nora said.
In 1920, Isadore went to Palestine; he
wanted to set up a company there, and
eventually to emigrate. He wrote about
his adventures in letters back to his wife.
“He also talked about going back to Rus-
sia, to Ukraine, and seeing his father and
mother and sister for the first time after
20 years,” Nora said. “That’s very moving.
He goes into this little shtetl and everyone
is running and shouting, ‘Isadore is here!
Go tell his mother and father!”
Thirty years later, in 1950, he and Aliza
moved to Israel. After a year, they left.
“She wanted to come back and be with
family,” Nora said.
After all, without Marjorie and Woody
Guthrie, without Arlo and Nora, it didn’t
feel like her Shabbes table.
  Real Estate & Business

Tedesco and freeholders sponsor age-friendly initiative

Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco and the Board of
Chosen Freeholders have announced the creation of a
county-wide Age-Friendly initiative. A resolution affirm-
ing the county’s commitment to this initiative is expected
to be adopted by the freeholders on November 7.
“One of the best measures of a community is how it
treats its senior citizens,” said Tedesco. “We have a lot to
Daylight
be proud of and a lot to look forward to in Bergen County
with our new Age-Friendly initiative to promote oppor- Savings Time
tunities for older Americans. We are looking forward to
engaging in the hard work to become a member of the
SEE TEDESCO PAGE 58

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 57

 Real Estate & Business

Art of Healing exhibit expresses itself again in Englewood Hospital

In an ongoing collaboration, Englewood
Health and The Art School at Old Church
hosted a reception on October 17 cele-
brating The Art of Healing, their annual
art exhibition and community partner-
ship. The reception, which was free and
open to the community, showcased more
than 50 works from 21 local artists who
were present to discuss the art lining the
halls of Englewood Hospital. More than
150 people attended to see the new art-
work debut.
The Art of Healing exhibitions began in
2014 when Linda Senter had the idea to
bring art into the hospital as a means of
connecting with patients, believing relat-
ing to individual experience and emotion
is a strong part of the healing process.
“The goal was to enhance the healing
environment of the hospital through art,
and also to bring in local artists so that they
could have a venue for showing their art-
work,” Senter said. “I think art has a very
positive healing effect. It makes people
feel better, it can distract you from what-
ever the issues or problems are. Hospital
employees, patients, and visiting families
have all been commenting on how positive
they feel when they see the artwork.”
NVE-3560 Fall Mortgage $549 Ad 5x6.5_NVE-3560 Fall Mortgage $549 Ad 5x6.5 9/27/18 10:43 AM Page 1
Submissions for the program come from
students and teachers who are part of The
Art School at Old Church, as well as local art-
ists outside the school. Works are selected
and curated by The Art School. Gallery
manager Emma Abad coordinates layout
and placement in the hospital hallways.
Lisa Beth Vettoso, executive director
of The Art School at Old Church, empha-
sizes the impact of art on patients, beyond
simple aesthetics. “For me it’s really think-
ing about the experience that a patient is
going through from the broader perspec-
tive of the whole person—not just about
their treatment on a medical level, but
also about how they are recovering and
coping mentally and emotionally. A lot of
the work, both in terms of the exhibit and
everything else we do in partnership with
the hospital, is really focused on how each
person is working through a difficult time
so we can bring that little bit of something
that resonates with them, lightens their
spirits, and maybe shifts their focus.”
Vettoso has been excited to grow The Art
of Healing partnership ever since she took
on the role of executive director at The Art
School. The Art of Healing Patient and Fam-
ily Workshops have been a popular aspect
of the program, with two instructors from
The Art School at Old Church spending six
hours a week at The Wilson Kaplen Infu-
sion Center at Englewood Health. The art-
ists, Jill Cliffer Baratta and Brenna Scheff,
varied in their backgrounds and areas of
expertise, have a small art room supplied
with a variety of materials. Patients and
families have the option of coming to the
art room, or participating from their indi-
vidual rooms during treatment. The art-
ists make their rounds offering patients art
supplies and guidance in painting, draw-
ing, and jewelry making.
Among the classes offered at The Art
School at Old Church are a number spe-
cializing in jewelry-making — and one
specifically in glass bead-making. After
hearing about the school’s collaboration
with Englewood Health, the instructor,
Stephanie Maddalena, organized dona-
tions of handmade beads — a popular
material among infusion center patients
— to the instructors visiting the hospital.
“It’s a really nice connection,” Vettoso
said, “because a big priority of mine since
coming on board has been not only about
reaching out to the community, but also
making sure there’s a nice connection
between our students and our teach-
ers and what we’re doing outside of the
school. So, it’s wonderful that it was some-
thing they came up with on their own, as
well as a way to share their hard work.”
Though the program is built around pro-
viding support to patients, it also aims to
help their loved ones. Those along for the
ride often welcome opportunities to stay
busy and engaged.
“We know that if somebody is going
through an illness it doesn’t just affect
them,” Vettoso said, “so that’s another
opportunity for us to bring something to
the hospital for caretakers who want to
participate.”
Englewood Health has also begun rolling
out customizable artwork in patient rooms,
allowing patients and families to choose
from winter, spring, summer, or fall scenes
based on current mood and emotion.
Vettoso hopes this month’s Art of Healing
reception — phase seven — which includes
live jazz and refreshments, will help spread
the word that these artistic opportuni-
ties exist for those both in and outside the
hospital.
For more information on The Art School
at Old Church, visit tasoc.org.

WHO’s Age-Friendly Cities and Commu-

Tedesco
FROM PAGE 57
Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and
Communities which includes 380 members
representing 37 countries.”
Research shows that older Americans
overwhelmingly want to remain in their
homes and communities as they age and
that access to quality health care and
long-term services support is essential for
individuals.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
developed the Global Age-Friendly Cities
and Communities Program to encourage
nities Program identifies core characteris-
tics of an age-friendly community in “Eight
Domains of Livability”; outdoor spaces and
buildings; transportation; housing; social
participation; respect and social inclusion;
civic participation and employment; com-
munication and information; and commu-
nity support and health services.
The AARP launched the Network of Age-
Friendly Communities which operates
under the auspices of the World Health
Organization’s Age-Friendly Cities and
Communities Program to help participat-
ing communities become great places for

CASH BACK AT CLOSING and promote public and private policies to

increase the number of cities and communi-
ties that support healthy aging and improve
the health, well-being, satisfaction and qual-
ity of life for the elderly.
all ages by adopting such features as safe,
walkable streets; better housing and trans-
portation options; access to key services;
and opportunities for residents to partici-
pate in community activities.

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58 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018
 IS A LUXURY
HIGH-RISE FOR YOU?
LEARN ABOUT TRANSITIONING
FROM YOUR HOME TO APARTMENT LIVING

S u n d a y, N o v e m b e r 4 t h • 1 0 A m - 1 2 p m
Linda Stamker, MBA
Sales Associate, V&N Realty Group
Condo/Co-op and Transition Expert
Rabbi Zev Goldberg
Rabbi, Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ
V&N Realty Group
1401 Palisade Ave, Teaneck, NJ
Fort Lee Condo and Co-op expert Linda Stamker
leads this informative event. Learn about:
• The difference between condos & co-ops
• Financial requirements
• Building options & ammenities
• Timing and transition from your current
home to your new home
Meet with Rabbi Goldberg and hear about the
vibrant Fort Lee community. Former Teaneck
residents now living in Fort Lee will be
available to share their experiences
and answer questions.

Brunch will be served.

For more information
call Linda at 646.234.9900.

1401 Palisade Avenue Teaneck, NJ 07666 • vnrealtygroup.com • 201.692.3700

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 2, 2018 59

60 Jewish Standard NOVEMBER 2, 2018