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JANUARY 25, 2019

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Page 3
Rhino birth catches
zookeepers off guard
l One of the rhinoceroses at the Ramat Gan Safari has
given birth to a healthy female calf. Judging by her
behavior so far, the newborn has inherited her mother’s
adventurous spirit.
On December 30, heavily pregnant rhino Keren Peles
started showing signs that she was close to going into
labor. She began pushing away her older offspring, Kip-
enzi (Swahili for Beloved), who was born 3 1/2 years ago.
Keepers aimed to cordon Keren Peles off in a private
section where she could give birth without interference
from the rest of the rhino herd and other animals in her
enclosure. But before they could put the plan into action,
she went ahead and produced a healthy young calf.

Sagi Tabachnick/Ramat Gan Safari

In order to give her time to herself and enable her to
care for the newborn, keepers quickly directed Keren
Peles to the enclosure they’d prepared. The pair stayed
there for three weeks, bonding, in sight of, but out of
touch with, the other rhinos.
Although the zoo planned to keep mother and
daughter in their private boudoir for another month or
two, last week the young calf decided to take matters
into her own hooves and squeezed through the sur-
rounding fence into the main enclosure.
The escape had its dangers. As the calf scampered
about, she came across one of the male rhinos, Atari,
who began pushing her around, as her helpless mother
watched from their enclosure. But their keepers re-
leased the mother and she stepped in to defend her
daughter and keep Atari at bay.
Since then things have settled down, and the new ar-
rival is adapting to the herd.
Keren Peles also has a reputation for wandering out
of bounds. She made headlines in 2015 when she and
two other rhinos slipped out of a gate and into the street
while a zookeeper dozed off. They were quickly returned
to the zoo, but not before startling a few passing joggers.
Keepers have begun putting together a list of pos-
sible names for the newborn. All of the candidates are in
Rhino Keren Peles 
and her newborn calf
Swahili and share the first letter K.
The white rhinoceros, also known as the square-
lipped rhinoceros, is in danger of extinction. Some 78
zoos are taking part in a European breeding project that
so far as seen the birth of 301 rhinos. The Ramat Gan
Safari has a larger herd than any in Europe and so far
there have been 31 white rhinos born at the park.
“The safari is the leading zoo in Europe for breeding
rhinos and each birth like this is a sensation and great
source of pride,” according to a statement the zoo re-
leased. “This is an animal which is in danger of extinc-
tion and breeding rhinos is especially important.”
Stuart Winer/Times of Israel
CONTENTS
Noshes���������������������������������������������������������4
briefly local���������������������������������������� 14
cover story������������������������������������������� 18
jewish world���������������������������������������24
oPINION����������������������������������������������������� 30
d’var torah������������������������������������������ 34
arts & culture�������������������������������������35
calendar�������������������������������������������������36
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE��������������39
crossword puzzle���������������������������39
obituaries����������������������������������������������� 41
classified ads������������������������������������� 42
real estate�������������������������������������������� 45

Blind girl’s bat mitzvah leads to Braille tech innovation

l When a 12-year-old Jewish girl
from Washington, D.C., told her
family she wanted to have a bat
mitzvah like everyone else around
her, it caused great joy but also sur-
faced some concerns.
Her modern Orthodox family has
trope by heart. But Batya’s Torah
portion was particularly long, and
although her community, Ohev
Sholom — The National Synagogue,
is liberal in some ways, getting even
one note wrong would have been
an issue.
they are not caught off guard.
The family faced another issue
— the questionable legitimacy, in
some sectors, of Torah reading by
the blind. The issue has been a con-
tentious one for a long time. Some
rabbis insist the reader must see
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no problems with girls becoming
bat mitzvah. That wasn’t the issue.
The possible problem is that Batya
Sperling-Milner is blind.
The Washington Post reported
on Batya’s goal and the challenges
it presented.
Bar or bat mitzvahs often read
from the Torah, as well as conduct
other parts of the Shabbat service.
And though Braille Bibles exist,
there are no Braille characters for
the trope — the special notations
that signal how each word must
be sung.
Some blind children learn the
“When I stand up here, I think
about people who read before me
and I want to do what they did,”
Batya said during a practice ses-
sion. “I want to do what you’re sup-
posed to according to Jewish law.”
The family recruited an Israeli
friend, software engineer Danny
Sadinoff, to create all-new Braille
characters for the trope, and to
design a program that can take any
notated text and turn it into Braille
text with the musical symbols.
Sadinoff even created a Braille
symbol that alerts readers that a
musical notation is coming up, so
the scroll as he or she reads.
That led Batya’s mother, Aliza
Sperling, to prepare a 2-hour-long
lecture to the congregation on the
issue before the bat mitzvah. In
the end, Batya’s right to have the
ceremony was accepted by all and
the festive day was pulled off with-
out a hitch.
The congregation’s leader,
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, summed
it up: “Every single person in the
synagogue showed up to hear her
read, and we all felt we were in the
presence of greatness.”
Times of Israel
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Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019 3

 JS-4*

Noshes “As a Jew, there’s no other prison you can

get services like that.”
— Earl Smith David, a former inmate at the minimum-security camp
at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, N.Y., as quoted
in a New York Times story, “Michael Cohen’s Prison of Choice:
Well-Known to Jewish Offenders.” The prison offers kosher food,
shul, and Torah classes.

ROOTED INTERESTS:

‘Identical Strangers’
spurs film version
SHERYL SAND- stellar reviews and it’s and classic ballet German Jewish refugee,
BERG, 49, a likely Oscar nominee. choreographers of will play gangster Rich-
Facebook’s chief It’s such a hit that last all time. ard “Dickie” Moltisanti,
operating officer, will be July it was announced LOGAN LERMAN, the father of gangster
a featured guest on the that a big-budget fea- 26 (“Perks of Being Christopher Moltisanti,
PBS celebrity ancestry ture film based on the a Wallflower,” “Percy a lead character in the
show “Finding Your brothers’ story will be Jackson”), will co-star “Sopranos” TV show.
Roots.” Her episode first made. By the way, the in “The Hunt,” a 10-epi- COREY STOLL, 42, will
airs on Tuesday, January Louise Wise agency sode Amazon original play a yet undisclosed
29. The February 5 also placed ANDY series. Al Pacino, who is character. I wouldn’t be
episode will feature SAMBERG’s Jewish appearing in his first TV surprised if he plays an
former House Speaker mother with her adop- series, is co-starring as Italian gangster. Chase,
Paul Ryan. It’s already tive parents (see the Sheryl Sandberg Logan Lerman well. Details are sparse who is Italian-American,
been made public that January 8 episode of right now, but I know once said that he tried
Ryan was surprised “Tracing Your Roots”). that Lerman plays a to cast Italian-Amer-
when he learned, on air, young man named Jo- icans in Italian roles
that he had about 3 Remaking nah Heidelbaum (whom in the TV show, but
percent Ashkenazi a classic I bet is Jewish). After he didn’t care if Jews
Jewish ancestry. A new film his grandmother is played Italians, since
The documen- version of the murdered, Jonah tracks they were so similar.
tary “Three Identical great musical down the killer (whom I (JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER,
Strangers” (2018), a “West Side Story,” bet is Nazi-connected). now 37, played the
surprise hit when it directed by STEVEN As he tracks the killer, daughter of lead char-
played in theaters, will SPIELBERG, 72, is now he encounters a mys- acter Tony Soprano.)
be shown on CNN, coming together. Of terious organization But the big news is
starting on January 27 course, the filmmakers called the Hunt, which that JON BERNTHAL,
at 8 p.m. There’s been will use the incredible Corey Stoll Jon Bernthal is dedicated to hunt- 42, likely will play Tony
a lot of media cover- score by the late ing down Nazis living in Soprano’s gangster
age about the subject LEONARD BERN- female lead. She was original 1961 film. By America. Pacino plays a father Johnny. It makes
of this documentary: STEIN, with lyrics by found in a nationwide the way, all but one Nazi hunter who men- sense. He has the
three identical Ameri- STEPHEN SONDHEIM, casting call — and, no, (Natalie Wood) of the tors Heidelbaum. tough-guy aura that
can Jewish baby boys now 88. Last year, shucks, she isn’t Jewish original four leads in A prequel “Sopra- some Jewish actors
who were separated TONY KUSHNER, 62, at all. Rita Moreno, 87, the 1961 movie are still nos” movie, called “The have, the aura that
at birth, in 1961, by wrote a revised story whose late husband, alive. ELIOT FELD, now Many Saints of Newark,” makes them great
Louise Wise, a Jew- for the musical (we DR. LEONARD 76, who played Baby is in the works, helmed Mafia-part actors.
ish adoption agency, know the teen gangs GORDON, was Jewish, John, the youngest by David Chase, the (Think JAMES CAAN
and placed with three will remain Puerto has been cast in the member of the Jet creator of “The Sopra- in “The Godfather.”)
Jewish families. I will Rican and white). re-worked character of gang in the original nos.” The film is set Berenthal now stars as
not spoil the surprises Casting is mostly done; Doc, the owner of a film, wasn’t a lead. But in Newark circa 1967, Frank Castle, an Italian-
in the documentary for Ansel Elgort, 24, who luncheonette that was he and Moreno went where racial tensions American super tough
viewers less familiar had a Jewish paternal neutral territory for on to have the biggest flared until they cul- guy, in the Netflix
with the story’s details grandfather, will play both gangs. Moreno careers of the 1961 minated in one of the series “The Punisher.”
(details like the shock- Tony, the male lead. won a best supporting movie cast members. worst riots in Ameri- Berenthal does his own
ing reasons why they Just last week, 17-year- actress Oscar for her Feld now is universally can history. Alessandro stunts, is an amateur
were separated). I will old Rachel Zegler was portrayal of Maria’s held to be one of the Nivola, whose paternal boxer, and owns three
add that this film got cast as Maria, the best friend in the greatest modern dance grandmother was a pit bulls. –N.B.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard Middleoftheroad1@aol.com

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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 5

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Local
‘The Fragile Dialogue’
This year’s Sweet Tastes of Torah program looks at the growing divide
between American and Israeli Jews; there’s also dancing and food
JOANNE PALMER He has watched “the growing rift” on

W
Israel, as American Jews “became a little
hen Israel first was more right wing or a little more left wing.
declared an indepen- I think the gaps are widening. Alongside
dent nation, in 1948, in that, I also see a growing apathy, both for
the wake of the Second its own sake — people just aren’t so inter-
World War, Americans, certainly includ- ested in things that happen outside their
ing American Jews, generally considered own four walls — and because the situation
it to be a miracle, a phoenix arisen out of on the ground in Israel causes people to
the ashes of devastated Europe. distance themselves from it.”
Over time, that perception has changed. One of the basic disconnects between
To some extent, Israel has lost some of its Israeli and American Jews is the con-
mythic luster, and now seems to many cept of home, he said. “Americans keep
people to be a country more or less like thinking that America is the default.” Of
any other, although relatively new, shad- course, part of that is because the place
owed by history, predicated on history, where you grow up and your family lives

RABBI JOSH WEINBERG

and surrounded by bloodthirsty, impla- actually is home, but he thinks that it
cable enemies. goes deeper than that. “It really was hard
Some Americans still see the state of for people to swallow the fact that I made
Israel as an expression of God’s will, while aliyah,” he added.
others consider it to be uniquely evil, “And Israelis are taken aback when
somehow far worse than any other coun- American Jews don’t want to move to
try, or possibly worse because it’s held to Rabbi Josh Weinberg holds up a Torah scroll at the Kotel as part of the World Israel immediately.” When Israeli Jews
higher standards, possibly because it’s the Union for Progressive Judaism’s meeting in Jerusalem in June, 2017. press their American counterparts on
Jewish homeland. It’s often the target of making aliyah, as Rabbi Weinberg says
anti-Zionism that verges over toward and includes most of the area’s Conservative That’s because if the discussion is not they do, “they say ‘Wait a second. We’re
occasionally merges with pure anti-Semi- and Reform clergy members; after the jumpstarted, at least in the liberal commu- here for a first trip. We hope it will be
tism. It’s often a blatant, huge bull’s-eye, keynote, prominent local rabbis will lead nity, it won’t happen, he said. “American meaningful. But we are not refugees from
attracting poisoned arrows. small-group discussions, most of them Jews are averse to confrontation. No one war-torn places.’
Given all that, it’s not surprising that centering on the perception and the real- likes to have a confrontation, especially in “I remember saying to some of my fam-
many rabbis don’t want to talk about ity of Israel today. It also includes some what is supposed to be a safe place. And so ily, on the eve of making aliyah, when they
Israel, and that in fact many Jews steer food, lots of chances to meet people and you end up not talking about it — which I told me that they want me to realize how
clear of that discussion. It’s just too divi- talk, and Israeli folk dancing. think is both sad and wrong.” good America has been to me, ‘I am not
sive. Too unpleasant. Too risky. Rabbi Weinberg will talk about “what Rabbi Weinberg knows what he’s talk- running away from America. I am going
That’s not healthy, according to the I see as the growing rift between Ameri- ing about. A native of Evanston, Ill., a for ideological reasons. I am going to build
editors of “The Fragile Dialogue: New can Jews and Israel,” he said. “What does suburb just north of Chicago, he grew up a life in a place where I think the future of
Voices of Liberal Zionism,” a new com- it mean to have a connection to Israel? I a proud Reform Jew; as an undergradu- Jewish life is.’
pilation of essays from the Reform will give some statistics about the grow- ate at the University of Wisconsin he “And now we have to see what we
movement’s CCAR Press. ing rifts between different demograph- spent three semesters in Israel, and then, have to offer each other beyond our
At Sweet Tastes of Torah, the author of ics, and how Israelis might perceive when he was 25, in 2003, he made ali- pocketbooks.”
one of the essays, Rabbi Josh Weinberg, American Jews.” yah to Israel. He served in the IDF, taught He thinks that the diaspora has many
will give the keynote address. He’ll ask: “Is That’s what “Fragile Dialogue” explores. Jewish history for six years, and eventu- useful models to offer Israelis.
Love of Israel Conditional?” “It’s meant to be a conversation starter,” he ally went to Hebrew Union College, the “I think that Jews outside Israel have
That talk will be one of the highlights of said. “Its editors, Rabbi Stanley Davids and Reform movement’s rabbinical seminary. figured out how to create a vibrant com-
Sweet Tastes of Torah, the Saturday night Rabbi Larry Englander, said that we need Unlike most American Jews ordained munity in a privatized economy, where
program that brings together rabbis and new voices talking about Israel. We need by HUC, his ordination came from the the government does not support or
laypeople from across Bergen, Hudson, to keep publishing intellectual approaches school’s branch in Jerusalem. control religion,” he said. “I do think
and Passaic counties. It’s sponsored by to the conflict. We have to get more voices He, his wife, Mara, who has a doctorate that there are other models outside the
the North Jersey Board of Rabbis, which — specifically progressive voices.” in sociology and now teaches at Brooklyn United States, in countries like Germany
College, and their four young daughters or the Netherlands.”
Who: Rabbi Josh Weinberg moved back to the United States in 2015. Those examples, and the inspiration
The move was not because the family gave to be drawn from them, are necessary
What: Will give the keynote talk at this year’s Sweet Tastes of Torah
up on Israel; it was, instead, because Rabbi because the Israeli government supports
When: On Saturday evening, February 2; doors open at 6:30 p.m.; Weinberg was tapped to lead Arza, the only Orthodox institutions. “So in Israel,
community-wide Havdalah at 6:50.
Reform movement’s Zionist organization. we have to figure out how to build Jew-
Where: Temple Beth Rishon, 85 Russell Ave., Wyckoff Because ARZA now is part of the Union for ish communities without governmental
How much: $15 per person by January 29; $20 at door (cash or check only) Reform Judaism, “I also have the honor support,” Rabbi Weinberg said. “We are
How to register: Google “Sweet Tastes of Torah 2019” and follow the links. of serving as the URJ’s vice president for doing it here in the United States because
Israel,” he said. it is important to us. We support clergy

6 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019

 JS-7

and buildings and maintenance from our

pockets. That is a mode that we have to
export to Israel.”
American Jews often are accused of try-
ing to impose American-style Reform or
Masorti (as the Conservative movement is
called outside North American) Judaism
on Israelis, who, the country’s govern-
ment-supported chief rabbi’s office says,
are not authentic Jews, and certainly not
authentic Israelis.
That can change, Rabbi Weinberg
said. “The more organically we can
make change, the more the authority
and the monopoly of the chief rabbin-
ate will erode.”
There has been movement, he said,
even if the chief rabbinate tries to hide
it, and it comes from the intersection of
Israeli and diaspora Jews. Most of the stu-
dents in his rabbinical school class grew
up in Israel. “Yet 95 percent of the stu-
dents came to the program after some
eye-opening and formative experience
with Judaism abroad,” he said. “Different
experiences — some were shlichim,” emis-
saries, representatives of Israeli culture
“from the Jewish Agency, or to summer
camps, and some spent a few years in New
York, or wherever, and some just had been
on holiday.” They saw Judaism practiced in
ways that astonished and moved them to
the point that they made those practices
their own, and then took it farther.
Rabbi Weinberg told the story of a rab-
binical school colleague “who had been in
Wales on Yom Kippur and found a Reform
synagogue.
“He came back to Israel and told the
head of his program that he wanted to be
a rabbi, and the head of the program said
‘It’s wonderful that you are so enthusiastic.
“‘But you are a dentist!’
“And the guy said ‘You’re right. I am a
dentist.’ And then he took another pro-
gram in Jewish history, and then he went
to rabbinical school. And now he’s a rabbi
in Ramat HaSharon.
“A vibrant movement is being built and
is growing in Israel,” Rabbi Weinberg said.
“It is changing the discussion about what it
means to be Jewish; 70 years later people
are waking up to a whole new reality.
“The polarizing dichotomy between
religious and secular does not answer the
needs of the mainstream any more. Israe-
lis are searching. They want access to the
Torah and the Jewish bookshelf. They
The polarizing dichotomy
between religious and secular
does not answer the needs of the
mainstream any more. Israelis are
searching. They want access to the
Torah and the Jewish bookshelf.
want to find meaning and community.
That is what we want to provide.
“It is not too different from American
Jews, who outside of the Orthodox world
are not necessarily going to synagogue out
of halachic obligation, but because they
want their kids to have Jewish experiences
and meet like-minded people.”
Rabbi Steven Sirbu of Temple Emeth in
Teaneck and Rabbi David Widzer of Tem-
ple Beth El of Northern Valley in Closter
are Sweet Tastes’ co-chairs.
“I’m very excited about the topic,”
Rabbi Sirbu said. At Sweet Tastes, “we
often have stayed with topics related
directly to the Torah or to this time of
year, but this year we are wrestling with
the issues around Israel.
“We’re also excited to have a new
rabbi in the community hosting the pro-
gram.” That’s Rabbi Beni Wajnberg of
Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff. “This
is the chance for him to introduce him-
self to the greater community.”
There will be two sessions of classes,
Rabbi Sirbu said, and more than 20 rab-
bis on hand to teach them. And there
also will be “the chance to buy the
book,” he said; “The Fragile Dialogue”
will be for sale in Beth Rishon. He hopes
that people not only will buy the book
but then will read it. The more voices
that can join the conversation — the
more people who can reconsider their
connection to Israel, and draw closer to
it — the better.

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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 7

 JS-8*

Local

‘A scary time for us’

Rockland’s Jewish community reacts as insults fly over yeshiva and shul zoning proposals
Larry Yudelson

R
ockland Jewish leaders fear that increased cit-
izen activism on zoning issues may be bleed-
ing into anti-Semitism.
“Citizens have the right and duty to get
together and organize themselves to respond to develop-
ments they’re not comfortable with,” Gary Siepser said.
“That’s America. That’s a good thing. Where it becomes
problematic is where the conversation doesn’t have a
good factual basis, or is motivated by bigotry or gross
misconceptions about people. Frequently at these meet-
ings there are statements made that are hate-filled and
don’t reflect the facts of the situation.”
Mr. Siepser is the chief executive officer of the Jew-
ish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County in
West Nyack.
He was responding to the initial meeting of Citizens
United to Protect Our Neighborhoods of Greater Nanuet.
The meeting was on January 10, the group has raised The proposed sale of the Grace Baptist Church building in Nanuet, above, to Atetes Bais Yaakov
more than $11,000 in an online crowdfunding campaign. Academy of Rockland has provoked opposition from a group called Citizens United to Protect
The meeting drew more than 500 people to Nanuet High Our Neighborhoods of Greater Nanuet.
School’s auditorium and was called in
response to the proposed sale of Grace meeting about the sale of the property In Chestnut Ridge, next to Nanuet, activists have
Baptist Church’s building to Ateres last year. organized CUPON Chestnut Ridge to fight efforts by
Bais Yaakov Academy of Rockland. The After the CUPON meeting in Nanuet, village officials to change the zoning codes to legal-
school, housed in trailers seven miles the Rockland County Republican Par- ize shtibels — the in-house congregations common
away in New Hempstead, now educates ty’s Facebook page reported that the in the ultra-Orthodox community. The proposed
300 girls. If it were to move to Nanuet, meeting was “focused on how the com- revised zoning ordinance would allow the village to
the yeshiva would be able to enroll 450. munity can protect themselves from a authorize residential houses of worship that could
The school, which goes from preschool hostile invasion.” hold up to 49 people, as well as larger neighborhood
through high school, offers a full secular That’s the kind of language that Mr. congregations that would require extra parking but
curriculum, including Advanced Place- Siepser finds disturbing. would be smaller than the full-sized congregations
ment courses. The day after the meeting, the Clark- that require five acres of property.
Rabbi Aaron Fink, the school’s dean, Garry Siepser stown building inspector denied the CUPON Chestnut Ridge says it has brought in hun-
had been the principal of Ashar, Rock- yeshiva a permit to operate in the church, dreds of complaints against the proposed change,

L ’ Shana
land’s modern Orthodox elementary school. In 2014, the the Journal News reported this week. To open, the yeshiva which the village may pass next month; there already
Forward hailed him as an inspiring rabbi for the warmth would have to get a zoning variance from the town. have been several hearings. On the CUPON Chestnut

L ’ Shana
he showed to a couple who had left the chasidic commu-
nity of Kiryas Joel and wanted to enroll their daughter in
Of course, for the opponents of the yeshiva, the issue
isn’t simply the changes to traffic patterns or occu-
Ridge’s Facebook page, the group complained that
while village officials gave them a chance to speak at a

Tovah!
his school. pancy plans that were the subjects of complaints and hearing earlier this month, their objections seemed to

Tovah!
“Rabbi Fink’s degree of tolerance comes at a price the grounds for the denial. It’s a fear that permitting a have been noted but ignored.
in this community of mostly chasidic and ultra-Ortho- yeshiva would herald a change in the nature of Nanuet — On the other side, a group of the village’s self-
dox families, where the liberal Orthodox population is and ultimately, of the entire town of Clarkstown, which described ultra-Orthodox synagogues filed suit against
nearly extinct,” the writer Frimet Goldberger, who was encompasses it. Clarkstown borders on Ramapo, which the village last week. They claim the village’s zoning
the mother in this anecdote, wrote. “He is religiously sus- includes the growing Orthodox communities centered ordinances discriminate against religious institutions
pected by other rabbis and people in Monsey.” on Monsey, and Clarkstown residents are mindful of the by requiring they be located on five acres of land,
In Nanuet, Rabbi Fink found himself under suspicion conflicts in the East Ramapo school board, where con- infringing on the First Amendment rights of Orthodox
Wishing youWishing
by potential neighbors, who were not Jewish. a sweetyou
newa sweet
year. new year. trol rests in the hands of Orthodox Jews who do not send Jews and violating the Religious Land Use and Institu-
“We don’t want you,” one resident shouted at a their
Jamie and Steven Dranow • Larry A. Model • Harvey Schwartz own children to the public schools. tionalized Persons Act.
Jamie and Steven
Gregg Brunwasser • Michael L. Rosenthal, General ManagerDranow • Larry A. Model • Harvey Schwartz CUPON Chestnut Ridge has endorsed two candi-
Gregg Brunwasser • Michael L. Rosenthal, General Manager dates for the village’s March elections. One of them is
As your local Dignity Memorial® providers, we wish you the best this Rosh Hashanah.
Candlelighting
As your local Dignity Memorial ®
providers,
We reaffirm our commitment of service to the Jewish community. we wish you the best this Rosh Hashanah. Jerry Liebelson, who wrote a six-page letter of oppo-
We reaffirm our commitment of service to the Jewish community. sition to the proposed zoning changes in which he
January 25 ...........................................4:46
Hellman-Garlick Memorial Chapel urged that the village correct code enforcement and
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a complete inscription provider. and inscription provider.
service monument Some of the language being used, particularly in
Large display on premises. 845-425-2256
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Hellman Memorial Chapels the chairman of the federation’s Jewish Community
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He compares the uproar over the effort to bring a

8 Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019

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 JS-9

Local

Let us mind your business -

we just might see what you are missing
yeshiva to Nanuet to “growing up in a Jewish neigh-
borhood in the ‘60s. When the first black person Steven Morey Greenberg, Esq.
moved in, everybody was freaking out and saying it’s
going to ruin the neighborhood. Of course it didn’t. Greenberg & Lanz, LLC
“CUPON talks about keeping the community in the
spirit it was. I don’t know what that way was. I don’t Business Attorneys
know what makes one group of people or one reli-
gious group change that. People are reacting unfairly Please phone us for a free consultation
because of what happened in one community. regarding your business concerns including:
“There are issues in the ultra-Orthodox community.
That doesn’t mean every religious school echoes what Strategic and Succession Planning, Acquisitions/Sales,
every other religious school is doing. They hear the Partnership Disputes and Litigation.
word yeshiva and one of the leaders of the Republi-
can party says it’s like a hostile invasion. These are the
Two University Plaza · Hackensack, NJ 07601
words that you hear.
“Even with the outbreak of the measles — some of
the posts on Facebook are absolutely disgusting. Calling
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smg@greenberglanz.com · www.greenberglanz.com

A lot of these
Facebook groups SWEET TASTES OF TORAH
are causing this Community-wide evening of education
Presented by the North Jersey Board of Rabbis
agitation. They post
these outrageous
statements and
Conversations on Zionism Today
stories just so There's no doubt that the topic of Israel
people can react to stirs up controversy within the broader
them. It’s horrible. Jewish community. Following Havdalah,
Rabbi Josh Weinberg, URJ Vice President
them” — ultra-Orthodox Jews who don’t vaccinate their
children — “animals and pigs. One person said they for Israel and Reform Judaism, will deliver
should just lock them in their homes and bomb them.
“A lot of these Facebook groups are causing this
a keynote on Is Love of Israel Conditional.
agitation. They post these outrageous statements and Breakout classes will focus on the role Israel can play in the
stories just so people can react to them. It’s horrible.”
Mr. Gold says he feels embarrassed to say he lives in
lives of contemporary Jews. Lively discussions are guaranteed
Rockland County. based on various approaches to the topic: moral, political,
“The division and the hate that has arisen over the
past couple of years is disgusting. My concern is that
religious. Dessert, Israeli folk dancing, and schmoozing follow.
as the November election comes closer, the rhetoric
is going to get worse. ‘We’re going to make sure we Saturday, February 2
don’t become East Ramapo’ is going to be the slogan Temple Beth Rishon, 585 Russell Avenue, Wyckoff
for everybody.
“A lot of the politicians and party leaders are talking
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
to their bases. That’s sad. The base is not what Rock-
land County is about. Rockland County is about diver- $15 per person pre-registered by January 29; $20 per person at door
sity, which we’ve always had and always enjoyed, Questions? 201.652.1687 sweettastesoftorah@gmail.com
without the hatred that is so public now.”
Mr. Gold’s parents were Holocaust survivors, and
what he sees on Rockland’s anti-development and Program and online credit card registration at
anti-Orthodox Facebook pages bothers him. www.sweettastesoftorah.weebly.com
“It’s scary,” he said. “Some posts said that Hitler
didn’t do his job. When we tell these Facebook pages
Or mail your check, payable to the North Jersey Board of Rabbis:
that there’s a horrible post, they’ll say they can’t moni- 32 Franklin Place, Glen Rock, NJ 07452
tor everything but we’ll take it down. Name(s): ________________________________ Email: __________________
“I believe if you are going to have a public post, you Phone:____________________________________ Cell: _________________
have a responsibility to monitor what people will write. For security reasons, please include names of ALL attendees
It’s a scary time for us.”

Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019 9


Local
‘Joachim Prinz: I Shall Not Be Silent’
Teaneck to screen film about Newark rabbi
who fled Germany and marched with MLK
LARRY YUDELSON
T
he confluence of Martin
Luther King Jr. Day on the
third Monday in January
and Holocaust Remem-
brance Day on January 27 is a recent
development.
The first date was established in
1986; the second one, marking the
liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, in
2005. But if you had to pick one per-
son to best reflect both commemo-
rations, that person would probably
be Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who fled
Germany in 1937, led a synagogue
in Newark for decades, and spoke in
the August 1963 March on Washing-
ton for Jobs and Freedom immedi-
ately before Dr. King himself.
That makes “Joachim Prinz: I Shall
Not Be Silent” the perfect documen-
tary to show on Sunday afternoon Rabbi Joachim Prinz, second from left, confers with Martin Luther King Jr. at an American
in the Teaneck Public Library. (See Jewish Congress fundraising event.
box.) The screening is co-sponsored
by the Northern New Jersey Holocaust
Museum and Education Center com-
mittee and Teaneck’s Enslaved African
Memorial Committee. The two groups
are working to develop a Garden of
Human Understanding on the Teaneck
Municipal Green that will commemorate
both the Holocaust and American slavery,
although the two will be kept separate.
In the summer of 1963, Rabbi Prinz
was the president of the American Jew-
ish Congress. He was, in many circles —
certainly among the older generation — a
bigger celebrity than young Bob Dylan
and Joan Baez, who sang for the crowd
of a quarter-million marchers.
But several decades later, when Rachel ally a religious imperative because of the
Pasternak was studying for a graduate
degree in Jewish history at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America, she
had never heard of Rabbi Prinz, who
had died in 1988. She was looking for a
research project. Her grandparents had
been members of his Temple B’nai Abra-
ham in Newark and her family recalled
him as a rabble-rouser.
Her research led her to the rabbi’s
daughter, Deborah Prinz, who had a
then-unpublished memoir by her father.
And that ultimately led Ms. Pasternak to
partner with her friend, Rachel Fischer,
in creating the documentary.
Dr. Fischer — the filmmaker has a
Ph.D. in religious studies from the Uni-
versity of California, Santa Barbara —
said what sold her on the Rabbi Prinz
10 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-10*
project was reading his speech at the
Washington March.
“I was blown away by what he had to
say,” she said. “I had studied modern Jew-
ish thought, had studied African Ameri-
can history in college. Yet I had never
heard of Rabbi Prinz. And here was this
speech that was delivered before I was
born, saying something I always wanted
to hear.”
The core of the speech, Dr. Fischer
said, “is his description of the intrinsic
Jewish religious reason for working for
civil rights. Rabbi Prinz’s point of view is
that you don’t work for civil rights to be
nice or to be a good person, but it’s actu- Fischer said. “He had really great cha-
commandment to love your neighbor.
That really resonated.”
And then there was the lesson he
brought from his experience in Germany,
the lesson which gives the film its silence:
“When I was the rabbi of the Jewish
community in Berlin under the Hitler
regime, I learned many things,” Rabbi
Prinz told the crowd in 1963. “The most
important thing that I learned under
those tragic circumstances was that big-
otry and hatred are not the most urgent
problem. The most urgent, the most
disgraceful, the most shameful, and the
most tragic problem is silence.
“A great people which had created a
great civilization had become a nation of
silent onlookers. They remained silent in
the face of hate, in the face of brutality,
AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS
and in the face of mass murder.”
The film tells the story of how Rabbi
Prinz, who grew up in a secular, assimi-
lated family, one of the only Jews in his
town, became a rabbi and a Zionist in an
act of rebellion. (He has his own entry in
the Internet Movie Database, for his role
in writing “Hatikvah,” a 1936 documentary
about Zionism created to encourage Ger-
man Jews to emigrate to Palestine.)
A key moment came when he was a
young boy and saw a crowd gathering
around a violin player in the street.
“I’m going to be like that,” he thought.
“He knew from an early age,” Dr.
risma and an incredible speaking ability.
I don’t think he ever thought he wouldn’t
use that talent to make things better for
people. Then he was called to do that by
the situation in Germany.”
“He was a natural on stage,” Ms. Pas-
ternak said. “When he gave a sermon
at his temple, he would jump down the
steps. He was trained in Germany not
to use notes when preaching. It led to
a dramatic style of presentation. When
Stephen Wise was trying to bring him to
America, he wrote ‘We need his voice.
We need him to explain what’s happen-
ing in Germany and what’s going on.’”
And indeed, on arriving in America, he
began touring the country, lecturing on
behalf of what was then called the United
Palestine Appeal.
His travels in America, and his
experiences in Newark, “awak-
ened him to issues of segregation
and justice very early,” Ms. Pas-
ternak said. “He was traveling the
country speaking about the need
to help Jews in Germany get to
Palestine, and he observed and
empathized with what African
Americans were experiencing.
Once he became the president of
the American Jewish Congress” —
he served from 1958 to 1966, and
headed the Conference of Presi-
dents of Major American Jewish
Organizations from 1965 to 1967 —
“he had the opportunity to have
a soapbox for civil rights and to
bring the entire organization into
the forefront of civil rights work.”
There’s a piece of film footage
from 1958 that is one of Ms. Pas-
ternak’s favorite moments of the
documentary.
“It doesn’t involve Rabbi Prinz
per se,” she said. “It’s an African
American woman in Newark talking
about white flight.” She had run across
a refence to the clip, from a network
news segment, in indices to old footage.
“It was hard to get our hands on it. We
were really proud when we found it. It
sort of surprises people, to have a black
woman of that time speaking for herself
and being the star.”
For Dr. Fischer, some of the most mov-
ing moments are when the film ventures
into the 21st century.
“Toward the end, we loop back to the
present day. After Rabbi Prinz’s congre-
gation moved from Newark to Livingston,
they kept up a relationship with the evan-
gelical church that moved into the syna-
gogue. The congregation is still linked to
Newark because it was so important to
Rabbi Prinz.”
And then came a moment, late in the
film’s production process, when Presi-
dent Barack Obama received a humani-
tarian medal in Israel and quoted from
Rabbi Prinz’s Washington speech.
“It brought a new life to the story,” she
said. “It added a whole other layer.”
What: Film, “Joachim Prinz: I Shall
Not Be Silent,” followed by discus-
sion with its directors.
When: Sunday, January 27, at 2 p.m.
Where: Teaneck Public Library, 840
Teaneck Road, Teaneck
Cost: Admission is free
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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 11

 JS-12*

Local

Understanding fashion
Chasidic college student from Teaneck
wins marketing scholarship for a second time
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
When Kayla Garb of Teaneck — a college student and a
Lubavitch chasid — won a competitive $5,000 scholar-
ship from the nonprofit YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund
last year, the achievement was remarkable not only on its
own merit but also because few chasidic women pursue a
college degree, much less in fashion merchandising.
Now there is even more reason to be impressed with
Ms. Garb: She won another $5,000 FSF scholarship this
year. The funds may be used toward her tuition at Yeshiva
University’s Stern College for Women, where she is a
junior marketing major in the Sys Syms School of Busi-
ness honors program.
Applicants in the marketing and merchandising disci-
pline in the most recent FSF Case Study Competition were
HADASSAH PENN
updated assortment architecture strategy should be cre-
ative, fit your target new market, and display strong con-
sideration for expected profitability of this new venture.”
Ms. Garb picked Ulta, a nationwide chain selling cosmet-
ics and beauty services, because of its wide range of price
points. And she decided to expand it to Mexico, “because
Mexico is our neighbor, logistically that makes sense, and
also Mexico has a growing economy with a growing mid-
dle and upper class,” she explained.
Her research taught her that much of the retail
exchange in Mexico is done through “changarros,” small
shops or kiosks. So she took that into account in formulat-
ing the 10-page proposal she submitted to the FSF judges.
“I wanted to appeal to the Mexican consumer and make it
relatable and familiar,” she said.
Because she’s never actually been to Mexico, she chose

required to create a hypothetic campaign to globalize any
retailer of their choosing.
“Your launch plan should be rooted in an under-
standing of which customer segments you are hoping to
Kayla Garb attract,” the guidelines say. “Your marketing tactics and an
Al Golzari, an adjust professor of marketing at Sy Syms, as
her mentor. He is a product development and sourcing
executive who understands the retail realities in Mexico.
Despite all her hard work, she did not expect to win
a prize.

A play of their own

Local Hadassah women brainstorm their newest production
LOIS GOLDRICH
Hadassah has much to brag about. The volunteer
women’s organization — founded in 1912 by Hen-
rietta Szold — is not only one of the largest inter-
national Jewish organizations, but its fund-rais-
ing work on behalf of community programs and
health initiatives in Israel and the United States
attracts international renown.
What else can we say about a group that already
enjoys so much well-deserved acclaim? We can
say that for the last two decades, some of its local
chapter members — none of them professional
musicians — have wowed the community with
their original musicals.
Hannah Price, Berthe Nathanson, and Arlene From left, Berthe Nathanson as Barbra Streisand, Arlene Rifkin as
Rifkin have much in common. They all were Ber- Jackie Kennedy, and Hannah Price as Molly Goldberg in their show,
gen County teachers. They are all longtime Hadas- “The New View.”
sah members — although Hannah and Arlene
belong to different chapters and Berthe recently moved to
Boston — and they have evolved over the years as talented
writers, actors, and directors. And, it would seem, the suc-
cess of their group, the Hadassah Players, has continued to
evolve as well.
The story of the three women’s journey into the com-
munal spotlight began in 2010, “when someone gave us
a play,” recalled Hannah Price of Montvale, a member of
the Pascack Valley/Northern Valley chapter. “We had been
writing original plays for Hadassah for years and years.”
Each subsequent year brought forth new ideas and a new
show. This year, an idea that started out as just another
way to contribute to their beloved organization morphed
into something much larger; the group is offering five per- “famous people, stars who came back to life.”
formances of its latest production.
While the details are hazy, Ms. Price remembers that
sometime around 2012, someone from the Jewish Home
in River Vale invited the Hadassah troupe to perform
there. The show they brought was based on “The Bintel
Brief,” a Yiddish advice column that printed anonymous
readers’ questions and the editor’s replies.
The column was started by Abraham Cahan,
editor of Der Forverts — the Forward — in
1906. Recent Jewish immigrants asked for
advice on matters including economic, fam-
ily, religious, and theological difficulties.
“We had done ‘A Bintel Brief’ for Hadas-
sah,” Ms. Price said. “We took that and had
different women read the letters. Then we
asked the residents for their opinions on how
they would solve the problems. Then we read
what the editor said.” Following that perfor-
mance, the Hadassah Players began to receive
regular invitations from the River Vale home,
and later from the Jewish Home at Rockleigh.
“We did ‘Calendar Girls,’ in 2013,” Ms. Price
said. “We went through the months of the
year referring to Jewish themes.” She remem-
bers that for Yom Kippur, they had a song
about “Al Het,” the confession of sins. “In 2014 we did ‘The
New View,” based on the television show and featuring a
panel including people like Zsa Zsa Gabor. Guests included
The ideas just kept coming. In 2016, “The Traveling
Matchmaker” featured four Jewish women traveling out
West with a ditzy tour guide; in 2017 “The Cut-Off” was
about a baby who was supposed to have a bris but disap-
peared instead; in 2018, “The Golden Age of TV” included
SEE HADASSAH PAGE 23

12 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019

 JS-13

Local

“I was surprised to win a scholarship again,” she
said. “Throughout the past year, the YMA organization
had networking events that I attended, and I heard
that this year was more competitive than usual, with
about 700 applicants.”
For her FSF Case Study Competition proposal last
year, Ms. Garb had to demonstrate how digital technol-
ogy can be combined with a traditional retail model in
order to improve the performance of a specific retailer.
She created a model for J.Crew that would enable
stores to keep less merchandise on display and avoid
long lines at check-out. Shoppers would view item
samples on display and then they would use an app to
request that specific items in their size to be brought
to the fitting room. They would be able complete their
purchase in the fitting room as well.
Ms. Garb emphasized that both times she entered
the competition, she was among nearly 200 contes-
tants to win a $5,000 FSF scholarship, to be used
toward tuition, summer housing for an internship,
or a study-abroad program. She was not among the
top-scoring four finalists, who each won $30,000 to
$35,000 scholarships, nor among the next top four
who won $10,000 scholarships.
Nevertheless, the 21-year-old Lubavitch woman
certainly stood out from the 1,500 attendees at the
January 2019 Awards Gala for FSF winners — held
at the New York Hilton Midtown, only a mile and a
half from Stern College’s 34th Street and Lexington
Avenue campus — at which Ryan Seacrest and Martha
Stewart were keynote speakers.
One of the few scholarship winners or audience
members to request a kosher meal, she was given
gourmet fare from Abigael’s on Broadway.
Ms. Garb said she felt honored to meet other future
fashion-industry professionals from as far away as
Alaska, and from other parts of North America where
there is not much of a Jewish presence.
“I’m probably the only religious Jew they will ever
meet, so I tried to represent Judaism and my school
well,” she said. “I explained all about kosher food, and
people were also interested in this tiny college on 34th
Street and why I go there.” (Stern College students
account for slightly less than half of YU’s total under-
graduate enrollment of approximately 2,700).
Ms. Garb was born in Brooklyn, but she’s lived in
Teaneck since she was 4. The oldest of three children
of Shneur and Rachi Garb, she is a graduate of Bruriah
High School for Girls in Elizabeth.
“My parents were always very encouraging of what-
ever I wanted to do and very adamant that I get a good
education,” she said. “But for a girl to go to college,
and especially to be going into a nontraditional field
like marketing, is definitely out of the box within the
Lubavitch community.”
However, she observed with a laugh, “My last
name is Garb, so it’s kind of in my blood. My grand-
mother is a salesperson in Esti’s, a high-fashion store
in Flatbush.”
An art minor at Stern, Ms. Garb enjoys drawing
portraits and recently started teaching herself to play
the ukulele and to embroider. Next, she wants to take
sewing lessons. She also is an adviser to the Orthodox
youth group NCSY.
This summer, she hopes to have an internship in the
fashion industry. Thanks to the FSF award, she already
has been recruited for four interviews. Ulta would be
an obvious choice, but its main headquarters is in Illi-
nois and she prefers to stay in the New York area.
The YMA has awarded FSF scholarships since 1937.
(The organization — an educational fashion nonprofit
— does not explain the original meaning of the acro-
nym that now is its official name.) Its stated goal is
“to advance the fashion industry by encouraging gifted
and enterprising young people to pursue careers in
design, merchandising, retailing and business, ensur-
ing the industry will continue to attract dedicated,
capable and creative individuals.”

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apple bk - JEWISH STANDARD - TREASURY MM - 1-31-2019.indd 1

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 13
1/4/2019 9:47:17 AM
 JS-14*

Briefly Local

Israel Bonds brunch

scheduled in Rockleigh

COURTESY ISRAEL BONDS

The Israel Rockland/Bergen Women’s Division Lila Stern
premiere brunch is on Sunday February 3 at the Rock-
leigh at 9:30 a.m. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, author of
the national bestseller, “Harpoon,” will be the featured
speaker. The Rockleigh is at 26 Paris Ave., Rockleigh. All
are welcome. For information, call Ilana Saghian at Israel
Bonds, (845) 405-4028.
Nitsana
Darshan-Leitner
Ruth and Edward Lubat Dr. Nathan Fox

Norpac to welcome
Louisiana senator
Drs. Esther and Ben Chouake host a pro-Israel Norpac
meeting featuring Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Sunday,

COURTESY NORPAC
February 10, at 6 p.m., in Englewood. For more infor-
mation or to RSVP, email Avi@NORPAC.net or call (201)
788-5133

Jennifer Wolf Seidel Rabbi Neil Fleischmann Senator Bill Cassidy

PHOTOS COURTESY FRISCH

Four chosen for honors

at Frisch February dinner
“Soaring With Frisch,” the 45th
annual Frisch School dinner, is set for
Saturday, February 9, at 8 p.m., at the
Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe.
Edward and Ruth Lubat of Engle-
wood, the guests of honor, began their
association with Frisch when the first
of their five sons entered the school
in 2001. Ruth was the treasurer of
the Frisch Parents Association for 10
years, and Ed has been on the Frisch
board for the last 9 years. The Lubats
are the parents of four Frisch gradu-
ates and one student; two of their
four daughters-in-law also graduated
from Frisch. They are founding mem-
bers of the East Hill Synagogue, where
Ed is on the board and is one of the
gabbaim.
Dr. Nathan (Natie) Fox, the Nediv
Lev award-winner, lives in Engle-
wood with his wife, Dr. Michal Agus
Fox. They have twin Frisch graduates,
another child who is a student there,
and a 12-year-old.
Natie has been on Frisch’s educa-
tion committee for two years.
Jennifer Wolf Seidel of Bergenfield,
who graduated from Yeshivat Frisch
in 1987, will receive the Alumni Rec-
ognition award. She and her hus-
band Tzvi, have three children, all
of whom have attended Frisch, and
she is a member of the Frisch Parents
Association. As part of the FPA, she
has coordinated tours for the families
of prospective Frisch students since
2015. The family belongs to Congre-
gation Keter Torah.
Rabbi Neil Fleischmann, the Rav
Shlomo Kahn a”h Memorial award-
recipient, has been at Frisch for 23
years. He has taught public speaking,
Gemara, and Nach, chaired the school
Department of Torah Guidance, and
advised the College Bowl and Model
U.N. clubs. He now teaches Chumash,
including an elective that he created
about life lessons from Torah, and is
both an academic guidance counselor
and the faculty adviser for the poetry
and improv clubs. He also is a writer,
poet, actor, and comedian whose
work has appeared in the Jewish Stan-
dard, the Jewish Week, Mima’amakim
Journal, and “All of Our Lives: An
Anthology of Contemporary Jewish
Writing.”
He is the author of a book of haiku
poetry, “In The Field,” and is the
most recent winner of the Stand Up
N.Y. “Funniest Rabbi in New York”
competition.
For more information, go to www.
FrischDinner.com.
RANDY GROSSMAN, ESQ
RANDY GROSSMAN, ESQ.
of Tenafly, NJ, is the Hudson
County Bar Association
award recipient of the 2018
Workers Compensation
Attorney of the Year.
Mr. Grossman is the
managing partner of the law
firm of Greenberg, Walden &
Grossman, L.L.C., located in West New
York (Hudson County), New Jersey. Mr.
Grossman concentrates in the practice
of workers’ compensation, personal
injury; and his firm handles litigation
in the areas of Personal Injury, Family
Law, and Municipal Court matters. Mr.
Grossman is admitted to practice law in
New Jersey, New York, and the District
of Columbia; and is a member of New
Jersey Association for Justice as a PAC
member, American Association for
Justice, NJ State and Hudson County Bar
Associations, North Hudson Lawyers
Club, and the New Jersey Council on
Safety and Health.
Mr. Grossman is a graduate of The
George Washington University, BA
degree; and The Jacob D. Fuchsberg
Law Center of Touro College, JD degree,
during which he was on the law school’s
Dean’s List, was the research editor of
the Moot Court Board, and interned for
the Hon. Sherwin Lester in the Chancery
Court of Bergen County.
— Paid Announcement —
Mr. Grossman has extensive
experience trying cases in state
and administrative courts of
NJ and NY. He has experience
handling complex matters,
which includes cases involving
accidental injuries as well as
hazardous and toxic exposures
causing internal diseases or death.
Mr. Grossman has been Certified and
Re-Certified to date by the Supreme
Court of New Jersey as a Workers’
Compensation Law Attorney. He has an
AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell; and
has been named to the New Jersey Super
Lawyers list every year since its inception
in 2005. He has lectured and presented
papers to NJAJ and the NJ State Bar
Association, as well as at Muhlenberg
College and Drexel University Thomas R.
Kline School of Law.
In addition, Mr. Grossman has been
involved in charity and community
service organizations, including the
New Jersey Bar Foundation’s Mock
Trial Program, serving as the attorney-
advisor to Bayonne High School’s Mock
Trial program for twenty (20) years;
and has mentored several of his former
mock trial students. He is a golf and
swimming enthusiast, is proficient in
American Sign Language, and enjoys
spending time with his wife Jackie, and
son Matt and his fiancé Ariel Mendelson.

14 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019

 JS-15

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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 15

 JS-16*

Briefly Local

GBDS students
entertained by The GBDS choir and
a cappella choir Binghamton’s Kaskeset
group sing “Hatikvah”
together. Hannah
The Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School wel-
Greenwald, a GBDS
comed Kaskeset, SUNY Binghamton’s Jewish a cap-
alumna, is in the back
pella group, at its annual Israeli dinner. The informal
row, second from right.
family event is a part of the school’s annual fundrais-
 SANDRA ALPERN
ing initiative that brought together generations of
GBDS students and their families.
Hannah Greenwald, an Academies at GBDS alumna
and a Kaskeset member, was among the performers.
At GBDS, she was a member of the school’s choir and
she performed in the school play every year. Other
GBDS alumni joined the dinner to support a fellow
graduate and to spend time with their teachers.
Among the event sponsors were Zaides Bake Seventh-graders served
Shop and Food Showcase, both of Fair Lawn, Shop- authentic Israeli food
Rite of Oakland, and Stop & Shop of Wyckoff and they helped prepare with
Franklin Lakes. their parents.
For more information, call Lina Shuster at (201)  PHOTOS COURTESY GBDS

337-1111, ext. 208, or go to www.ssnj.org.

Members of
the Kuo and
Iliadi families
PHOTOS
COURTESY JFCS

Honoring MLK
through service
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
families from the Elisabeth Morrow
School of Englewood visited the Teaneck
food pantry at Jewish Family & Children’s
Services of Northern New Jersey for a day
of service. There, they discussed the leg-
acy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and they
learned that the JFCS food pantries serve
about 200 families in Bergen and Passaic
counties each year. The children stocked
the shelves with the generous food dona-
tions they brought. For a family tour or to
donate to the JFCS food pantries in Fair
Lawn and Teaneck, call (201) 837-9090. Elisabeth Morrow teacher
Phoebe Search with members of
the Cohen family

16 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019


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JS-17
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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 17

Cover Story
‘I live a blessed life’
Roberta Abrams, the new president of the Jewish Federation
of Northern New Jersey, talks about what makes her run
Joanne Palmer
W
hen he was at that age
when you’re old enough
to want the world to
make sense, but not old
enough to realize that often it doesn’t,
one of Roberta Abrams’ two sons asked
her about her job.
Other people get paid for their work,
she remembers him saying. But you —
the more work you do, the bigger the
title you get, the more you have to pay
the people you’re working for. It’s sort of
like a reverse paycheck, he said. What’s
that about?
Ms. Abrams remembers that story
because her son got it absolutely right
— and she’s exactly where she wants to
be, doing the work she most believes in,
putting both her money and her brains
where her mouth is. And where her
heart and soul are as well.
Ms. Abrams, who lives in Montvale,
is the new president of the Jewish Fed-
eration of Northern New Jersey. She’s
made her way to that position as she
moved logically through small, more
local groups to the umbrella organiza-
tion that has a central role in Jewish phi-
lanthropy in the area — and that she fer-
vently believes in as the center that will
and does hold. As she’s done so, she’s
carried on the work that her parents
began — and still uphold — and that her
grandparents positioned her to do.
Ms. Abrams’ four grandparents all
were born in the United States, and they
lived the dream version of the immigrant
story, where all the hard work and sweat
equity and risk-taking allows you, your
children, and even your grandchildren
not only to live in comfort, but also with
an understanding of how they got there
and their obligations to others.
She also comes from a line of strong
women, she said.
Her mother’s side was highly educated; her father’s
side wasn’t. “Graduate degrees on one side, just middle
school on the other,” Ms. Abrams said. “But the money
is on the uneducated side.” And of course both sides
have stories.
First, the strength of women.
Her mother’s grandmother, Rose Kagno, was married
18 Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-18
to Jascha, who was a bookbinder in Europe and then in
the United States. “Their son, Isidor, contracted polio
from a public pool when he was a toddler,” Ms. Abrams
said. This was just a decade or so into the 20th cen-
tury. “Their daughter, Florence — I called her Grandma
Shaina because she always called me mamashaina” —
a term of endearment for a beloved little girl — “had a
cleft palate. So Rose took the kids to a Catholic hospital
in Chicago to have surgery for it. She
earned money for the trip by doing
mending for the nuns.”
The surgery was successful. Isidor,
Florence’s brother, became a mathema-
tician and taught at Columbia; “he has a
theorem named after him,” Ms. Abrams
said. Florence earned a degree in archi-
tecture; her husband, Ms. Abrams’
grandfather, Mortimer Kent, was a law-
yer. Their daughter, Elaine, grew up on
Long Island; that’s where she met Allan
Abrams. Elaine was 13 and Allan was 15
when they met. They’ve been together
ever since.
While the Kent family was going to
school, becoming professionals, and liv-
ing happy upper-middle-class lives, Ms.
Abram’s grandfather, Morris, was devel-
oping into a brilliant entrepreneur.
Where did his fortune come from?
Staples. (Not the store Staples, but
the object, the fastener, that simple lit-
tle object that offices need if they are to
function.)
Morris Abrams worked as a sales-
man for a staple manufacturer, and he
decided that “the way to go into busi-
ness would be to make your own excel-
lent staples — and then make propri-
etary machines for those staples.” So
he did. He tinkered, worked with other
people who had more of a background,
and “designed a staple that looked like
an arrow.”
That was the start of the Arrow Fas-
tener Company.
“My grandfather came from peas-
ant stock,” Ms. Abrams said. “He had
nothing. His parents had twins, and the
younger one wore hand-me-downs from
the older one.
“He started by making staples in his
basement at night and selling them dur-
ing the day, and expanded to a huge fac-
tory in Saddle Brook.” Eventually her
father took over the business; “he employed hundreds
of people. He took it international.
“I’m really grateful to my grandfather and my father,
who made it possible for me to live a life of philanthropy
and allow me to devote my life to working for others,”
she said.
Ms. Abrams believes in the philosophy handed down
by her grandfather to her father, and then on to her.

“Arrow always stood for quality,” she said. “We
would not sacrifice quality for price.”
Eventually, the business changed; Arrow
was “priced out of the stationery business
by cheap imports, but it maintained a strong
presence in the DIY and contractor markets
for stapling machines, glue guns, and rivet
tools.” The company’s no longer in the family,
but the original building, with the name still
on it, is visible from Route 80.
When Elaine and Allan Abrams married,
they moved first to Bayside, Queens, where
Roberta was born. The Arrow factory was in
Brooklyn then, but Mr. Abrams soon moved it
to Saddle Brook. He commuted from Queens
As you fall harder
and harder in
love with an
organization, and Roberta, wearing her Lion of Judah necklace, is flanked, from left, by her mother, Elaine; her son Max; her son
with what they do, Isaac; and her father, Allan.
and how they are
remaking the
world, you just
want to give more.
to Bergen County for a year, but it was hard on
the family. So, when Roberta was 18 months,
they moved to Woodcliff Lake. Except for col-
lege and then a few years in Texas, she’s been
in New Jersey — in northern Bergen County —
ever since.
(She also has two brothers, David and Josh;
David and his wife, Sandra, live in Upper Sad-
dle River with their three children. Josh has
three kids.)
“Woodcliff Lake was very rural then,” she
said. “Mostly it was farms — the Tice family,
the Van Ripers family, the Demarest fam-
ily.” (Those are names familiar from the farm
stands the families ran until fairly recently.) Isaac and Max surround Roberta, who is wearing her favorite
There weren’t many Jews in that part of the sweatshirt. Max graduated from RPI and Isaac is a senior there.
county then, Ms. Abrams said. She went to
nursery school at the Y, which was in transit between
its old home in Hackensack and its new one in Washing-
ton Township. The entire institution was called the “Y
Without Walls” then — ironically enough, when the YJCC
in Washington Township closed in 2015, it re-adopted
that name as it redefined its future — and the nursery
school met “at the back of a strip mall in Westwood.”
Next it moved close to Paramus, where it stayed for
many years. “My dad was president of the YM-YWHA
of Bergen County.
“I am really proud that my family has a history of
building community.”
The Abrams family belongs to Temple Beth Or; there
hasn’t been a time since the 1970s, when they first
joined, that there hasn’t been an Abrams at Beth Or, Ms. Ms. Abrams said. “We’d all spend a fraction of what
Abrams said.
JS-19
The year that she was to become bat mitzvah, the
shul’s rabbi, Philip Berkowitz, decided that all bar and the president of the Y, her mother was president of the
bat mitzvah candidates had to have a full four years of mid-Bergen section of the National Council of Jewish
Hebrew school first. That meant that everyone in her
year marked the milestone in May and June, 1979. “The
boys all had Shabbat morning services, and the girls all the names of NCSW’s sections, as historic artifacts, trace
had Havdalah services,” she said.
That raised a practical issue. All the parties were
within two months — “my theme was butterflies,”
she said — and all the families would find themselves
renting tables and chairs. That would be expensive
for everyone. So Elaine Abrams had a brilliant idea.
“We should buy them together, share them, and then
donate them to the temple when we all were done,”
we’d spend if we had to rent them, and then at the end
we’d have something to donate.
“That’s my mother,” she added. “It’s her
seichel,” her wisdom. “It’s practicality with
charity.
“I’m so very proud of her — and the temple
still is using the tables.”
She has another story of how practical tzeda-
kah works. “My sons were at nursery school at
the facility that my dad helped to build, and my
parents donated the pool. It was named after my
grandfather, Morris Abrams.
“My son Max loved to swim, and he’s swim-
ming in the pool named after my grandfather
Morris, who he was named after,” Ms. Abrams
said. Similarly, “when I graduated from nursery
school, my parents gave the school a water and
sand table,” she said. “And my son and I are tak-
ing a Mommy and Me class, and there is a water
and sand table, and we turn it over and there is
a plaque saying that this was a gift to the Y from
the Abrams family in my honor. And their grand-
children end up among the beneficiaries.”
Roberta grew up learning not only about giv-
ing but also about leadership. Not only was her father
Women. (When you look at a map, you see that Wood-
cliff Lake is nowhere near the middle of Bergen County;
the Jewish community’s moves through the county over
time.) When she was in third grade, the family moved to
Saddle River, and she went to public school. Although
by the time she hit ninth grade there were Jews in Wood-
cliff Lake, there still were far fewer in her alma mater,
Ramsey High School. “There were three Jews in my class,
out of 200,” she said. But she still had her Jewish com-
munity, both at Beth Or and in BBG — B’nai B’rith Girls.
She became president of BBG’s Pascack Valley chapter.
After she graduated from Ramsey, Ms. Abrams went
Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019 19
 JS-20

Cover Story

to Emory University in Atlanta, where deeply involved. Soon she was on

she majored in business administra-
tion; it also was there that she met
the father of her two sons; they mar-
ried the year after she graduated and
divorced about 13 years ago. In 1988
the young couple moved to Dallas,
where she worked for Netherland
Sewell and Associates, the oil and gas
consulting firm; in 1992 they moved
back to northern Bergen County, and
they both started working for Arrow.
In 1994 Max was born, in 1998 Isaac
was born, and during that time Rober-
ta’s career as a volunteer nonprofit
professional was born as well.
Her path was heavily influenced by
her mother’s; when she was pregnant
with Isaac, Roberta was nominated
to be president of her NCJW chap-
ter, and she was elected just before
he was born. “We had to delay the
Two IDF soldiers — the older one a colonel — show a group from the Jewish Fed- installation ceremony for 20 minutes
eration of Northern New Jersey how to make coffee like an Israeli. From left, CEO because I had to finish nursing him
Jason Shames; Roberta Abrams; Ofer Lichtig, who provided a federation presence first,” she said.
in Israel; former federation president Jayne Petak; and Ethan Behling, the director When her sons went to the Y nurs-
of federation’s Center for Israel Engagment. The group paused for a break near ery school, Ms. Abrams started vol-
Israel’s border with Lebanon. unteering there and quickly became
the board, and then on the executive
board. And soon she stopped what
had become a part-time job at Arrow
to work full time as a volunteer.
When Max began to go to Hebrew
school at Beth Or, “I became involved
there,” Ms. Abrams said. “First I was
the religious school co-chair, then the
vice president of education, and even-
tually president of the synagogue.”
She was president of Beth Or dur-
ing the financial crisis that hit in
2008. Its longtime, beloved rabbi had
just retired, and it had started a capi-
tal campaign. “It was a rough time
to be president,” she said; of course,
rough times are educational times, if
you survive them. She had to face a
lot of raw pain. “A tremendous num-
ber of people were in need who never
had been in need before, and never
thought they would be,” she said.
“You just do what you have to do.
“And then, after my presidency at
Beth Or, I became more involved with
Federation.”
She sees her progression in

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Ms. Abrams speaks at the federation’s major gifts dinner in September.
volunteerism and philanthropy as logi-
cal and symbolic. “I went from my tem-
ple, which I think of as my home, to the
Y, which I think of as my town, to the
federation, which is like the world that
I live in.”
Once again, she was following her
mother, who had been a planning and
allocations chair for the federation.
“I live a blessed life.”
She was also a Berrie fellow, she
added, a member of its first cohort;
the Berrie Fellowship, according to its
website, is an 18-month program, now
co-sponsored by the Russell Berrie
Foundation, the Jewish Federation of
Northern New Jersey, and the Shalom
Hartman Institute of North America,
for “visionary lay leaders from North-
ern New Jersey, representing a range
of religious denominations and politi-
cal philosophies.” Lessons she learned
there have influenced much of her
work since, Ms. Abrams said.
“Part of being a Berrie fellow is going
to Israel, and being in Israel and look-
ing at myself and others helped me
realize many things about myself,”
she said. “And it was being in Israel
that also made me realize that being in
Israel grounds me.”
Ms. Abrams also is a Lion of Judah.
That means that she’s a member of a
philanthropic sisterhood of givers, part
of an organization that’s run by the
Jewish Federations of North America.
She’s also a member of the board of
JFNA, the sort of super-umbrella group
to which local federations, themselves
umbrella groups, belong.
At the local level, at the Jewish Fed-
eration of Northern New Jersey, Ms.
Abrams chaired a number of commit-
tees, including planning and alloca-
tions. “In 2011, the federation under-
went a strategic planning process, and
I chaired the collaboration committee.
That’s right in my wheelhouse, because
JS-21
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The work that the planning and allo-
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way the federation distributes funds,
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sions, and at the same time weeding 67 A. East Ridgewood Ave. · Paramus
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orating with our partner agencies to
invest in them,” she said. Originally the
plan had been to allocate funds only
for programming, but “we realized that
100 percent program-based funding is
#WeRemember the past to build
not possible.” That’s because some a better tomorrow
money has to go “to fund lights and
building maintenance and staff and
administration and even toilet paper,”
JFCS supports our
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is to function. They had that covered. • Kosher Meals-on-Wheels
It’s about “investing in excellence
with impact,” Ms. Abrams continued.
• Home Care Services
“Excellence and impact are Roberta • Dental Services
words.” • Cafe Europa
She is passionate about the impor-
tance of Jewish federations. Because
of the work local federations do, and
because of the network they form, “We
were able to be in Pittsburgh on Satur-
day,” she said. That was the Saturday
of the massacre in which 11 Jews died
at the Tree of Life synagogue. There
were other federations, all connected
through the JFNA, in place there. “And
you can give to federation and 100 per-
cent of the donation can go to emer-
gency funds,” she said. “It can go to the
emergency immediately. We don’t have
to create an infrastructure.
“We could be in Pittsburgh on Sat-
urday because we existed there on
Friday. To learn more or to Donate
“It was federation that was on the
ground after Parkland. And the Israe-
Please call 201-837-9090
lis were on the ground 24 hours later www.jfcsnnj.org
in Pittsburgh, with psychological sup-
port for trauma. We were in Houston
after the hurricane. We went to help Professional, compassionate services to effectively meet life’s many challenges
after an avalanche in Nepal. And that’s
Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019 21
 JS-22

Cover Story

all because we support these agencies day in, day out, that
they are ready to ramp up when something happens that
makes it necessary.
“We also worked with Muslim and Christian communi-
ties, because we are in real and deep relationships with each
other. And that’s because we take care of our own, and we
take care of the world.”
She loves the federation system, and donates both her
money and her time, energy, intellect, and attention to
it, locally, nationally, and internationally, because “I have
found my people. It hits all my hot buttons. Federation
checks off all of who I am. It gives locally. It gives overseas.
It is concerned about the safety net, and about feeding
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Holocaust survivors, and about the con-
tinuity of the Jewish people.
“I know that when I make an invest-
ment in the federation, it is an invest-
ment in the Jewish people. And I
can say that because I am personally
involved in it. I know that dollars go
where they are supposed to go, that
they are invested wisely, and there is
not a lot of waste. We are not invest-
ing in duplicative programs. If a part-
ner agency is not performing well, we
try to help it perform to our standards,
and if it cannot, we stop funding it. We
hold our agencies accountable, and we
believe that the program-based fund-
ing model that we use helped our agen-
cies understand their own strengths
and weaknesses.”
As to her own vision for the fed-
eration, “I know that each president
brings something different to the table. Roberta Abrams relaxes by knitting.
What I bring is that I am a very strate-
gic thinker. I can look at things at both the micro and philanthropies for which she works, and at the path
macro level.” She knows that as president it’s now her she took to get there — the path marked by her parents
job to look at the macro level, but her history, as a and their parents — she repeats something she says
member and then a leader of so many organizations, often. “I am very blessed,” she said.
means that she knows what the micro level looks like Jason Shames is the federation’s CEO and execu-

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too. She also knows how those levels are both con-
nected and at times disconnected from each other.
NEW Oyster chicken ribs with “I consider myself a federation donor, but for me,
physical and financial philanthropy go hand in hand,”
sticky sweet & spicy BBQ sauce Ms. Abrams said. “I feel that if you can do both, you
should do both. They say you should put your money
where your mouth is. I put my money where my heart
is. I give to many organizations, but I give the bulk of
my philanthropy to where my heart and soul belong.
“As you fall harder and harder in love with an orga-
nization, and with what they do, and how they are
remaking the world, you just want to give more,” she
said. And she does.
She also has another, perhaps more surprising pas-
sion. Ms. Abrams knits. She started knitting when she
was 19; in fact, she loves knitting so much that she has
taken on a part-time job at a knitting store, just to be
able to be part of a community of knitters.
She finds it therapeutic, she said. “It’s when you’re
MAKE YOUR OWN sitting at a meeting, and you’re kind of bored, and you
can doodle or knit instead of day-dreaming. If you day
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tive vice president. “I think Roberta brings a lot of
smarts and intellect to the job,” he said. “She is a
very cognitive person, who likes to reason and likes
to build consensus. She is very thoughtful in terms
of the delivery of services and building community.
And I do think she is passionate about the unity of
the Jewish people.
“She has worked very hard, because it matters to
her,” Mr. Shames continued. “Being involved is very
meaningful for her. She wants to be engaged in the
work not at all for ego, but for commitment and
identity.
“I think that Roberta wants to see a Jewish commu-
nity in northern New Jersey that is very pluralistic,
very relationship-based, and very welcoming. She has
been devoting herself to that for her entire life.
“She once told me that she knew that her parents
were out of the house a lot, but that was because they
were helping the Jewish community. She didn’t resent
it — she respected it. It was a noble cause, she said, and
if you have the ability to do it you should do it.
“She adores and respects her parents, Elaine and

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Looking back at her deep connection to the
22 Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019
Allan,” he concluded. “They have been role models
for her. They have shown her the way.”
Lisa Harris Glass is the federation’s chief planning
officer; she and Ms. Abrams have worked together
closely for years.
“Roberta is such a great thought partner,” Ms. Glass
said. “She is brilliant, and she has not only intelligence
but also imagination. And that is critical.
“Roberta takes her leadership role seriously. She
sees it as her job. She is so dedicated. She cares so
much. And what is really neat is that she got it from
her parents.
“Our community is lucky that Roberta understands
that the federation is the greatest forum to have the
most impact on the community in a broad way.
“She has a memory that is insane. She remembers
details. And she thinks about how she wants to articu-
late the things she cares about in the world. She is pur-
poseful. She is directed.
“It is a pleasure to work with her,” Ms. Glass said.

Local
Hadassah
FROM PAGE 12
excerpts from famous television shows; and — new
this year — “Momma Knew Best” will highlight the
relationship of two bickering sisters who come
together after their mother’s death to reminisce.
“They remember when they went to Radio City
and when they visited Israel,” Ms. Price said. “There’s
a lot of Jewish content. And we always try to put in
something Hadassah women can relate to. There’s a
line about shopping for an outfit for a bar mitzvah and
a Hadassah luncheon.”
While Ms. Price is not a professional lyricist, she did
launch an off-Broadway show many years ago, “to good
reviews.” Her daughter, Nancy Feldman, is an actress
and cabaret performer; she “has had leading roles with
the Bergen County Players,” her mother said. Ms. Feld-
man and Janita Carpenter, “a comic actress who loves
to sing,” will perform in the new show. The rest of the
cast is made up of seniors. “The two young actresses
bring it to a new level,” Ms. Price said.
In general, she added, “people come in and out” of
the group. It’s time consuming — there are 10 rehears-
als per show.
Accompanist Hal Keshner “can play in any key,” Ms.
Price said. In addition, “he stepped up to the plate
and now acts in our shows, and loves it.” Men are
not easy to come by, given that Hadassah primarily
is a women’s organization. And while not many cast
members have a great deal of singing experience, the
group has included several cantors.
Ms. Price said that the three writers have worked
together well. Each has a different strength. “We
bounce ideas off each other,” she said. “The ideas go
back and forth. That’s the best part.” Now that Ms.
Nathanson has moved, Ms. Price and Ms. Rifkin —
who lives in Paramus and is a member of the Para-
mus Bat Sheva chapter — will bring in a third partner.
“I love the writing part the best,” Ms. Price said.
“Directing is fun, but there’s nothing I’d rather do
than get together with the two girls and write the
show.” As for costuming, she leaves that to Ms. Rifkin.
Ms. Rifkin said that she and Ms. Price have worked
together for a long time. She recalled the two of them
creating a puppet show for B’nai B’rith. “Hannah was
in Paramus then,” she said. The show, which was later
picked up by a community television channel, was
about Brotherhood Week. It was filmed at William
Paterson College.
“It’s win/win,” Ms. Price said. “The cast members
love to perform, we love to write, and the audience
loves it.”
Who: The Hadassah Players
What: Will perform their new musical, “Momma
Knew Best”
When and where:
February 13, 2:30 p.m. at Jewish Home Assisted
Living, 685 Westwood Ave., River Vale
February 14, 8 p.m. at Temple Beth Sholom, 32
Park Ave., Park Ridge
February 17, 2:30 p.m., at the Jewish Home at
Rockleigh, 10 Link Drive, Rockleigh
The group also will perform for a Hadassah
group at Five Star Residences and for the
Paramus Bat-Sheva Hadassah chapter.
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Jewish World

Buzzfeed’s Democratic drift-on-Israel report isn’t gospel

Ron Kampeas
“Israel Will Be The Great Foreign Policy Debate Of The
Democratic Primary” is a BuzzFeed article that made the
Jewish Federation presents
rounds last week.
The broad premise is one with which readers are famil-
iar: Democrats are becoming more disenchanted with
Israel for myriad reasons, including a lack of progress and
new ideas on the Palestinian issue, the parlous rela-
tionship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, and Netan-
yahu’s close embrace of President Donald Trump.
The more narrow premise — that the Boycott
Israel movement is making headway among Demo-
crats, and that this will tear apart the 2020 primary
field — seems based more on the wishful thinking of
some of the interviewees (an array of Israel skeptics
who want Democrats to confront Israel, a Republi-
can who wants Democrats to confront Israel) than
on the reality.
There are some small errors in the story — the
anti-BDS bill that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

Ari Zoldan
CEO, Quantum Media Group, LLC

Thursday
January 31, 2019
7:30 pm This article made claims that seem to be
wishful thinking on the part of the authors,
Jewish Federation Ron Kampeas writes.

50 Eisenhower Drive
Paramus
Sushi tasting and
light refreshments
Register Today!
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$10
Ari Zoldan is the CEO of Quantum Media
Group, LLC, a global marketing and
media company based in New York City.
As an on air TV personality, Zoldan
can be seen regularly on FOX News,
CNN and CNBC covering technology,
business and innovation. He holds
press credentials on Capitol Hill and
the United Nations and is a member
of The National Press Club in
Washington, DC. He is one of the
few selected individuals to hold
the position as an “IBM Watson
Futurist.”
of them and what can we do to keep the
Ariella Noveck
AriellaN@jfnnj.org
201-820-3946
‘RBG’ nominated
for an Oscar as
best documentary
“RBG,” about the life and impact of Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, received an Academy
Award nomination for best documentary feature.
“BlackkKlansman,” a film about a Jewish cop who
teams up with an African-American detective to infil-
trate the Ku Klux Klan, was one of eight films nomi-
nated for best picture. Adam Driver, who plays the
Jewish police officer, was nominated for best sup-
“Can Israel Sustain
porting actor in the film, which also nabbed a best
director nomination for Spike Lee. (Neither Driver
nor Lee is Jewish.)
Itself as The Start- Rachel Weisz was nominated for best supporting
actress for portraying a friend of England’s Queen
Up Nation?”
Anne in the 18th-century costume dramedy “The
Favourite.” The film also picked up a best picture
nomination and seven other nominations, including
best costumes.
Composer Marc Shaiman was nominated for best
The country the size of New Jersey has original score for “Mary Poppins Returns” and for
mounting pressure to keep innovating best original song, “The Place Where Lost Things
Go,” from the film. “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”
to survive. What challenges lay ahead
also received a best original song nomination for the
writing and producing team that included Jewish
momentum. songwriter, producer, and DJ Marc Ronson.
Filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen received
the nomination for best adapted screenplay for “The
Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” JTA Wire Service

24 Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019

 JS-25

Jewish World

no longer backs is not the one the writers are refer-
ring to — and there also are some broader conclu-
sions that have little to support them.
“Some of the Democratic Party’s brightest new
stars believe Israel is a rogue state that should be
treated like apartheid South Africa” is the lead para-
graph, and that’s backed up by naming precisely two:
Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida
Tlaib of Michigan, who both back the Boycott, Divest-
ment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.
Then there’s this summary paragraph: “The ques-
tions regarding Israel won’t change: Do you believe
that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel? Should the US
Embassy be in Jerusalem? Should the United States
provide aid to Israel? Does the United States support
Israel’s right to defend itself? But if candidates want
to win young left-leaning voters, the candidates may
find that they have to give different answers.”
The “may” in that last sentence is doing some
heavy lifting.
Certainly, the polling shows Democrats are less
This is the same Chuck and Nancy who appeared at the
annual conference of the right-leaning Israeli-American
Council in December and assured the crowd that they
would not budge an inch in their support of Israel. The
then speaker-designate dropped one of her famously dis-
missive Pelosi-isms in reference to Tlaib and Omar: Don’t
pay “attention to a few people who may want to go their
own way,” Pelosi said.
Expect the same outlook among many if not all of the
candidates now fattening the Democratic field: Not one
has even come close to embracing BDS. Nor has Israel
or the Middle East crept into their campaign launch
announcements.
As the BuzzFeed story notes (and as we have reported),
Bernie Sanders did open avenues to criticism of Israel
within the party, particularly during a primaries debate
with Hillary Clinton in 2016. But Clinton’s robust response
to Sanders in that debate suggests the defend-Israel crowd
maintains deep roots in the party (Clinton won the nomi-
nation), and Sanders, in that debate and throughout his
campaign, made clear he supported Israel as a country —
“100 percent” is how he said it in the debate.
Yes, the pro-Israel community has its work cut out if it
wants to keep support for the Jewish state a top-tier issue
for Democrats, but that’s still very much in the long run.
Don’t expect any radical announcements before the 2020
presidential election.
At the Forward, Batya Ungar Sargon takes on the same
article and explains why the BDS argument will not be
over whether the movement is worthy — no sitting senator,
Republican or Democrat, endorses it — but over whether
legislation penalizing BDS is constitutional. JTA Wire Service

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She has promised reforms in the union. “For
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“We need to wait with the reforms, because as a
board we will act as a team and harmoniously, so
we want to work together to develop a program for
the union.”
Krawczyk, who heads a seven-member board,
said that the process of returning prewar property
to the Jewish community remains a priority.
JTA Wire Service

Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019 25


Jewish World
FIRST PERSON
YIVO conference finds new audience
for the history of Yiddish anarchism
Andrew Silow-Carroll
To the degree that you know anything about Yiddish anar-
chism, it probably boils down to one name: Emma Goldman.
And even then you probably are more familiar with Gold-
man as an immigrant firebrand and ur-“nasty woman” than
for the truly radical content of her political philosophy.
And by “you” of course I mean me, the kind of person
who showed up as a blank slate last Sunday at an all-day
symposium on Yiddish anarchism held at the YIVO Institute
for Jewish Research in Manhattan. What organizers figured
might be a sparsely attended gathering of Yiddishists and
nostalgic radicals turned into a standing-room-only occa-
sion for recalling and rehabilitating an overlooked political
legacy on the Jewish left.
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“I told YIVO that maybe 70 people would show up
and sit down for an anarchist conference,” conference
co-organizer Spencer Sunshine said. More than 450
people attended.
Sunshine assured attendees like me that we weren’t
alone in our ignorance of the topic. Sunshine, who
wrote his doctoral dissertation on post-1960 anar-
chism in the United States said the Jewish immigrant
radicals were largely ignored by scholars and institu-
tions who wished that “the anarchists never existed.”
Nevertheless, the conference attracted almost a
minyan of scholars who have been exploring the
topic, often using the material that had been gather-
ing dust in YIVO’s archives.
Their subjects include once well-known figures
like poet David Edelstadt and lexicographer Alexan-
der Harkavy, and popular publications like Vahrheit
(Truth), Freie Arbeiter Stimme (Free Voice of Labor),
RCBC and Der Arbeiterfreund.
Kenyon Zimmer of the University of Texas at Arling-
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ton, Sunshine’s co-organizer, noted that by 1914 the
Freie Arbeiter Stimme had a circulation of 30,000,
or one-third that of the popular Forverts, which had
a more mainstream democratic socialist bent. Zimmer
also pointed out that Morris Sigman, the president of
Gift
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the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union from
1923 to 1928, identified as an anarchist. (So did Leon
Moiseff, the chief engineer on the Manhattan Bridge.)
So what did these Yiddish anarchists actually
believe?
While anarchism often has been associated with
violence and disorder, its followers appear to be a lot
more, well, mainstream in their radicalism. Yes, they
opposed the idea of the state and borders, and pos-
ited a society that organized itself without authority.
They rejected communism and socialism because both,
like capitalism, depended on a centralized state. But
a philosophy that sounds unrealistic and utopian also
was matched by a practical bent: Anarchists focused
on smaller cooperative movements, like labor unions,
housing cooperatives, alternatives schools, and the like.
Moiseff’s bridge still stands.
As for the Jewish anarchists, Zimmer said they
shared a commitment to secular Yiddish culture, mili-
tant atheism, fighting anti-Semitism, and rejecting
the idea of a Jewish homeland — of any nationalism,
for that matter. They also rejected the idea that Yid-
dishkeit is defined merely by biology or descent — a
principled pluralism that made it possible for a Yid-
dish-speaking German gentile like Rudolf Rocker to
About 450 people
showed up for a
conference on the
history of Yiddish
Anarchism at the
YIVO Institute for
Jewish Research
in Manhattan on
January 20, 2019.
JTA Photo
1245 Teaneck Rd.
Teaneck
837-8700
 JS-27

Jewish World
Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
Interior Designer
become one of the leading Yiddish anarchist editors (former interior designer of model
and organizers of his day. rooms for NY’s #1 Dept. Store)
Anna Elena Torres, an assistant professor of
comparative literature at the University of Chicago,

For a totally new look using

spoke about the cultural contributions of the Yid-
dish anarchists, who left behind some 20 newspa-
pers and a tradition of “svetshop” poetry that cel-
ebrated “bodily autonomy, a world without borders, your furniture or starting anew.
a radical future and a world above and beyond the
state.” Emma Goldman edited Mother Earth (1906-
1917), an anarchist journal that published poems, Staging also available
stories, and essays focused on women’s rights, birth
control, and civil liberties. 973-535-9192
Like much of secular Yiddish culture, Yiddish
anarchism began to fade after the 1920s, an inevi-
table victim of immigration quotas and assimila-
tion in the United States, and later the destruction
of European Yiddishland by the Nazis. Freie Arbe-
iter Stimme hung on until 1977, and aging anarchists
mentored young radicals through the 1970s and ‘80s.
The symposium’s keynote speech was delivered by
Anatole Dolgoff, whose parents, Sam and Esther,
spent most of their lives in the radical movement.
Sunshine noted how unpopular views got the Yid-
dish anarchists read out of Jewish immigrant history,
and none of their views were more unpopular than
their rejection of Zionism. But that, he suggested,
also is what makes them attractive to a younger
generation of Jews on the far left, who he guessed
(and audience reaction confirmed) made up a good
chunk of those in attendance on Sunday.
“Radical Jews who reject Zionism are probably
interested in Yiddish anarchism because they are
looking for a variety of historical alternatives which
they can ransack for materials in their quest to build
a new, radical, positive Jewish identity,” Sunshine
said in his introduction.
Such alternatives are scarce in a far left increas-
ingly focused on anti-Zionism, he suggested.
“I would guess that some of this [curiosity] is
fueled by an exhaustion with the role of the anti-
Zionist Jew, which unfortunately is the only Jewish
identity that’s on offer in the radical left of today,”
Sunshine said. “And while there is nothing wrong
with this, it is a purely negative thing that has noth-
ing positive to say about Jewish identity or tradition,
and people who I think are firm anti-Zionists want
to have an affirmative role about the Jewish people.”
After the conference, I spent an evening reading
up on anarchism while cable news murmured in the
background. The federal government was still shut
down and the executive and legislative branches
couldn’t agree on a way out. The administration’s
practice of separating families who crossed into
the United States without papers appears to have
been far larger and more chaotic than previously
reported. A report said hundreds of rural hospitals
have closed or are at risk of closing because states
chose not to expand Medicaid eligibility to more of
their low-income residents.
That kind of news suggests why a philosophy like
Goldman’s will always remain seductive, and rel-
evant. Anarchism, she wrote, “is not a wild fancy
or an aberration of the mind.” Rather it stands for
“individual liberty and economic equality, the twin
forces for the birth of what is fine and true in man.”
JTA Wire Service

Jewish Standard JANUARY 25, 2019 27

 JS-28

28 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019

 JS-29*

Jewish World

Boston Jewish community council says members

cannot work with anti-Zionist Jewish groups
JOSEFIN DOLSTEN Circle, a group with socialist roots that
promotes Jewish culture and Yiddish,
Boston’s Jewish Community Relations still is a member of the umbrella organi-
Council passed a resolution saying its zation, JCRC Executive Director Jeremy
members cannot partner with Jewish Burton said last Friday.
groups that are anti-Zionist, setting up a “There are certainly decisions that
showdown with one of its members, the they can make, which would ensure their

COURTESY OF JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE

local branch of the Workmen’s Circle.
The resolution, approved last Thurs-
day evening, says that working with Jew-
ish anti-Zionist groups, specifically by co-
sponsoring events or signing statements
organized or co-organized by such orga-
nizations, “could be grounds for removal
from the JCRC.”
The vote follows discussions that
started in July, when the member group
Boston Workmen’s Circle signed a state-
ment by Jewish Voice for Peace, an
organization that supports the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions movement
against Israel.
The council — made up of member
Young members of Jewish Voice for Peace protest Birthright.
groups and community representatives,
as well as the organization’s officers,
board of directors and past presidents
remaining within our coalition, and there
are certainly decisions that they can
make that would involve withdrawing
from the coalition or that would bring it
back for another discussion at a council
meeting in the future,” he said.
The B oston Workmen’s Circle
slammed the resolution in a statement by
its board of directors and said it would
be holding a meeting for its “members to
decide as a community how we choose
to proceed from here.
“This motion conflicts with traditional
— passed the resolution in a 62 to 13 vote, Jewish values that respect diversity of
with eight members abstaining. opinion and encourage robust, honest
As of now, the Boston Workmen’s SEE BOSTON PAGE 43

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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 29

Editorial
Bridges and walls
L (then again, maybe not)
ast Shabbat, my son-in-law,
Rabbi David Vaisberg, hosted
a minister, the Rev. Dr. Ron-
ald L. Owens of Metuchen’s
New Hope Baptist Church, at his shul,
Temple Emanu-El of Edison.
The Rev. Owens is a good speaker,
charismatic, exciting, and elegant. It
was the Friday night before Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, and the Rev. Owens
talked about the strong connections
between his faith and ours, and how
the strength of that connection, the
Exodus story that speaks to all of us —
them far more recently — has profound
meaning for all of us, then and now.
The Rev. Owens spoke forcefully
about bridges and walls, and about
how what we need now — what we
need always — are bridges. Walls can be
important, he said. Sometimes there
are external threats, and they keep
those threats out. But bridges make the
kind of connections between people
that can obviate the need for walls.
Of course it’s much easier to be met-
aphoric than real. The stakes are far
lower. But I thought about bridges the
next day, as I drove from Metuchen to
Lake Success to Manhattan and back,
over — this is not the right order, but
I’m too geographically challenged to
do it right — the George Washington,
the Throggs Neck, the Whitestone, the
Triboro, the Outerbridge, the Goeth-
als, and the Verrazzano. (Yes, it cost an
absolute fortune.) (And fun fact — the
Outerbridge is actually the Outerbridge
Crossing, because the family name was
Outerbridge. And a scion of that early
American family married a Horsey;
Outerbridge Horseys have been sena-
tors and congressmen for centuries,
although the last one, the father of
no other Outerbridge Horseys, Outer-
bridge Horsey VII, is an architect, not
a politician. But once again I digress.)
Bridges!
And walls.
We know, for example, that once the
wall that divides Israel from the West
Jewish Editor
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30 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-30*
Bank — which is controversial — was
built, the number of terrorist attacks
went down and fewer people died as a
result of suicide attacks.
Walls are an ancient protective device
— Jerusalem was walled, and we remem-
ber the story of Rahab, who lived by the
wall, was not reputable, but saved the
Israelite spies. We also know that walls
traditionally have been used to keep
people — as in Jewish people — in fetid
ghettos, in the medieval period and
during the Holocaust. On the whole,
they have not been good for Jews.
Bridges, on the other hand, are high
and open and free; you soar above the
water and watch the small boats and
hustling ferries and huge freighters
below. (If you are driving, of course,
you do that carefully.) Some of the
bridges seem to be working-class —
they are somehow muscular, more
solid than graceful, made of great slabs
of steel, and they tend to be set next to
railroad bridges, over industrial areas.
Others are made of swoops of cable,
going up to high arches and then back
down toward the road, then up again.
Your eye soars with them, and so does
your spirit.
The Verrazzano is perhaps the most
beautiful of the bridges, similar to
the George Washington but narrower,
steeper, and even more dramatic.
When you drive over it, you see New
York Harbor on either side of you, head-
ing out to the ocean on one side, and on
the other presenting you with the city,
many boroughs of the city, all open to
you, all connected by sparkling water.
You could go anywhere. The bridge con-
nects everything, and it lets you fly.
It was through those waterways, into
that harbor, that many of our grandpar-
ents and great grandparents entered
the city. It wasn’t easy for them, but it
gave them life.
So while there certainly is a need for
walls, we should remember that the
human heart and mind and spirit infi-
nitely prefer bridges. —JP
Correspondents
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KEEPING THE FAITH
More meat to chew on
M
y last column discussed it is derived from Deuteronomy 4:15,
some halachic issues which has nothing to do with health, it
regarding laboratory-cre- is the basis for Jewish law promoting a
ated meat. healthy lifestyle.
One question that I did not address The late 19th century commentator
there is why we might bother with such Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch put it this
meat in the first place. There is livestock way in his voluminous work, Horeb: “You
aplenty from which to get meat to eat. may not weaken your health in any way or
Jewish law, however, would seem to favor even shorten your life.... Therefore, avoid
lab-created meat — especially whether we anything that could possibly injure your
should be eating meat from live animals at health.” (See Chapter 62, Verse 428.)
all. More about that below. Several Torah laws illus-
First, however, let us trate the point, but two in
consider that category of particular do so for our pur-
Jewish law known as bal poses. Deuteronomy 21:20
tashchit, do not destroy. As prohibits overeating and
noted here so often, this overdrinking. Deuteron-
category of law is based omy 14:3 prohibits ingest-
on Deuteronomy 20:19- ing any harmful substance.
20, and forbids indiscrimi- It follows from these two
nately destroying anything laws that if there are sub-
of value to anyone or any- Shammai stances in food that may be
thing. Judaism’s environ- Engelmayer harmful (rather than are
mental protection laws outright harmful, which are
derive from this. For exam- forbidden from the start),
ple, because of bal tashchit, it is prohib- we must at least limit our consumption
ited to burn fossil or even replenishable of those substances. A 2017 study by the
fuel too quickly. (See the Babylonian Tal- National Cancer Institute and published
mud tractate Shabbat 67b.) in the British Medical Journal found that
Global warming is a concern of bal tash- eating a lot of red meat increases by as
chit. In October 2018, a United Nations much as 26 percent a person’s chances of
report, issued by the Intergovernmental contracting a number of diseases, includ-
Panel for Climate Change, argued that the ing cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes,
fewer food animals there are in the world, infections, kidney disease, liver disease,
the better it will be for the environment. and lung disease.
Livestock emit methane, which is consid- Obviously, if lab meat can produce
ered to be among the most potent green- “fatty meat” that also is healthier meat
house gases. The IPCC study found that (that is the plan), “take exceeding care for
livestock methane emissions have been yourselves” also is satisfied.
climbing steadily in the last few years. If An aside: While meat-eating is allowed,
lab meat can obviate the need for ever- the emphasis clearly is on eating fresh
increasing herds of livestock, that would fruits and vegetables (see, for example,
satisfy bal tashchit. BT Shabbat 68a). That is why the Talmud
Another important area of law to con- tells us, “It is forbidden to live in a city that
sider falls under the rubric “You shall take does not have a vegetable garden.” (See JT
exceeding care for yourselves.” Although Kiddushin 4:12, 66d.)
Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades, now in Fort Lee.
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Actually, to say “meat-eating is allowed” is overstating the
Torah’s view. Despite the Sages of the Talmud promoting
“meat and fish” (basar v’dagim) as required staples of ritual
meals, “Jewish tradition does not command carnivorous
behavior...,” according to the contemporary halachist Rabbi
J. David Bleich, who is no advocate of vegetarianism because
eating meat on sacred days, at least, “result[s] in feelings of
gladness and joy.” (See his article, “Survey of Recent Halakhic
Periodical Literature: Vegetarianism and Judaism,” Tradition:
A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, vol. 23, no. 1, 1987,
pages 82–90.) Meat-eating was not commanded by God. It is
a concession God made when He realized both humans and
animals would eat meat no matter what He said.
In the beginning, God clearly intended all creatures to be
vegetarians (see Genesis 1:29-30). “Ideally,” wrote the late
Rabbi Pinchas Peli, “according to the Torah, humans would
confine their eating to fruits and vegetables, and not kill for
food.” (See his Torah Today, page 118.)
In commenting on Genesis 1:29-30, the mid-20th century
rabbi and scholar Umberto Cassuto put it this way: “We may
not…slay [animals] in order to eat their flesh; [our] proper
diet shall be vegetable food…. Not only man but even the
animals were expected to show reverence for the principle
of life.”
The concession came after the rampant bloodlust that led
to the Great Flood. As Genesis 9:1-6 states, “Every creature
that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give
you all these.” Cassuto, for one, maintained that the prohibi-
tion regarding eating meat was only “temporarily suspended”
after the Flood, but was “never annulled.” In the Messianic
Age, he wrote, “the prohibition [will] come into force once
more.” (See his “A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part
One, pages 58 and 59.)
Moses himself hints at this being a concession to the lust-
ful urge for meat in Deuteronomy 12:20, when he amends an
earlier law by expanding the permission to eat meat because
“you have the urge to” do so. That phrase is gratuitous, unless
meat-eating was not the Torah’s ideal (in which case, it makes
no sense).
Why was meat-eating originally proscribed entirely, and
why does the Torah eventually place limits on the meat-eat-
ing it allows? It is directly related to the fact that to eat meat
means an animal must die. The Torah is very sensitive to ani-
mal suffering of any kind, much less to killing an animal for
any reason, including eating.
It also clearly wants us to be cognizant of the fact that all
creatures have feelings. “Judaism regards animals as sen-
tient beings. They may not think or speak, but they do feel,”
wrote Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks in a Torah commentary to
the Torah portion Kit Tetzei in 2008. “They are capable of
distress. There is such a thing as cruelty to animals , and as
far as possible it should be avoided.” (See, for example, the
laws in Deuteronomy 22:6-7 and 10, and Deuteronomy 25:4.)
So serious is the Torah about this, it even commands us
to respect an animal’s need for rest (the Shabbat command-
ment, among others makes this clear; see Exodus 20:9 in this
week’s Torah reading).
This sensitivity is subsumed in the category of law known
as tsar baalei chayim, giving pain to living creatures. It follows,
then, that lab meat, which inflicts no pain on animals and
takes no animal’s life, is not only to be preferred over “real
meat,” but is something we should encourage and support.
The current government shutdown prompts me to digress
from meat-eating and end by citing three laws from Leviti-
cus 19:11-14: “[Y]ou shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with
one another…. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with
you until morning…. You shall not … place a stumbling block
before the blind [by making false and misleading claims]. You
shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”
JS-31*
Opinion
Why Jews need RFRA laws
T
he New York State Commis-
sioner of Education, MaryEl-
len Elia, recently reminded
Jews of their vulnerability to
government meddling.
In November, she empowered local
public school boards to determine
whether private schools’ curricula were
“substantially equivalent” to those used
in public schools. If public school offi- Rabbi
cials determined that a private school Mitchell
failed to meet that standard, the state Rocklin
could shut the private institution down.
Leaders of yeshivas and private Chris-
tian schools protested that this created a
conflict of interest. Public schools could
use the regulations to shut down their
own competitors. Writing in the Wall
Street Journal, two rabbis acknowledged
that “government may have an interest
in ensuring that every child receives a
sound basic education,” but expressed
concern that “the new curriculum Howard
demands so much time that it crowds Slugh
out Torah study, our sacred mission.”
The Catholic school system indicated that
it would not cooperate with public school administra-
tors. Political pressure has forced the state to backpedal
somewhat, but the issue has not been finally resolved.
Our purpose here is to highlight a related and dis-
turbing fact: Jews in New York and New Jersey have no
access to the most potent defensive measure available
to religious Americans looking to protect their obser-
vances from unnecessary governmental interference.
This measure, a state-level Religious Freedom Res-
toration Act, requires the government to justify any
infringement on religious exercise as strictly necessary
to further a compelling governmental interest. Jews
nationwide should push their states to adopt RFRAs
in order to obtain this protection.
A brief history of RFRAs demonstrates why such
laws are critically important to Jews.
In a case called Employment Division v. Smith, the
Supreme Court held that the First Amendment’s free
exercise clause can invalidate only laws that specifi-
cally target religious practices, but not laws that apply
to everyone and merely incidentally burden religious
exercise. Under this ruling, a regulation that imposed
specific burdens on yeshivas would be unconstitu-
tional unless it was the only way to achieve a com-
pelling government interest. But a regulation that
affected all private schools and merely incidentally
Rabbi Mitchell Rocklin is a resident research fellow at
the Tikvah Fund. He is also a chaplain with the rank
of captain in the New Jersey Army National Guard
and a doctoral candidate in U.S. history at the City
University of New York. He lives in Teaneck with his
wife and two daughters.
Howard Slugh is the general counsel of the Jewish
Coalition for Religious Liberty.
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.
impacted yeshivas would not receive
any constitutional scrutiny.
In Smith, Justice Antonin Scalia sug-
gested that if religious groups want
exemptions from generally applicable
laws, they should obtain accommoda-
tions through the political process on a
case-by-case basis. Obtaining case-by-
case consideration might be manage-
able for members of majority religions
whose practices are well known, but
it is impractical for minority religions.
Government entities are not especially
likely to burden majority religious prac-
tices accidentally, because those prac-
tices are well known and well under-
stood. Therefore, members of majority
religions would not have to seek politi-
cal accommodations very often.
Government actors are more likely
to innocently burden minority religious
groups like Jews, whose religious obliga-
tions are less well known. Thus, under
Justice Scalia’s proposal, members of
minority faiths are more likely to find
themselves lobbying government agen-
cies for accommodations. Such a requirement is likely
to impose significant costs on Jews, and the success of
such efforts is uncertain at best. This is borne out by
the data; a law review article published in 2017, titled
“Sex, Drugs, and Eagle Feathers: An Empirical Study
of Federal Religious Freedom Cases,” confirmed that
“minority religions are significantly overrepresented
in religious freedom cases.”
Congress passed RFRA to solve this exact problem.
It is certainly possible that New York’s commissioner
of education did not understand the devastating con-
sequences that her regulation might have on the state’s
yeshivas, but that does not make the harm any less
painful. RFRA offers a solution by providing blanket
exemptions to laws that burden religious exercise
unnecessarily, regardless of whether the burden was
intentional. If religious adherents can demonstrate that
a law substantially burdens their religious exercise, the
government must either show that the law is strictly
necessary to further a compelling government interest,
or it must grant a religious based exemption to the law.
Unfortunately, RFRA’s protections are not available
to protect Jews from state or local laws in either New
York or New Jersey. The Supreme Court limited RFRA’s
application so that it defends only against federal over-
reach. If a state wants to offer it citizens the same pro-
tections that Congress granted in RFRA, it must pass its
own state RFRA, which neither state has done.
Where it is available, Jews have used RFRA to pro-
tect their religious freedom. For instance, Jewish mili-
tary personnel often rely on it to obtain kosher meals
and Shabbat accommodations. RFRA is taught in mili-
tary chaplaincy curricula and is a basis upon which
chaplains and commanders accommodate service
members of all faiths.
SEE RFRA PAGE 33
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 31

Opinion
Don’t make us choose: Fighting BDS vs. free speech
T
he very first bill introduced by
a majority party in Congress
each year sends an important
message about what its legisla-
tive priorities are.
So, what is the Senate Republicans’
first bill for 2019?
The Strengthening America’s Security
in the Middle East Act or S-1.
Title I of the Bill would: Dr. Mark
i) Expand U.S.-Israel defense cooperation Gold
by funding cooperative efforts in the area of
anti-missile defense. (Not a bad thing, coop-
eration is always a plus.)
ii) Set the current foreign military assis-
tance ceiling of $3.3 billion a year as a future
floor. (Bigger is better, right?)
iii) Extend the timeline for the provi-
sion of U.S. loan guarantees, authorize
conditional transfer of precision guided
ordnance to Israel, permit the conditional
export of controlled weapons from Israel. Hiam Simon
(That should make the neighborhood safer.)
iv) Enhance cooperation with NASA and
the Israel Space Agency. (Up, up, and away.)
v) Integrate Israeli participation in foreign aid activities commercial relations with Israel or persons doing busi-
in developing nations. (The U.S. wants Israel to arrange a
meet and greet)
vi) Initiate cooperation in anti-drone technologies.
(Start-Up Nation all over again.)
Title II and Title III are equally positive in their
direction for progress in the Middle East
Title II expands cooperation with Jordan in the area
of security, economic development, and aid for dis-
placed Syrian refugees. (also a good thing)
Title III would establish sanctions against the gov-
ernment of Syria and people who provide technical
support for Syria. (And don’t they deserve it.)
Most of these provisions are likely to gain consider-
able support in Congress. However, buried at the very
end of the bill is Title IV — and it is there that we find
the fly in the ointment. This section is titled “Com-
bating BDS Act of 2019.” If this bill passes into law, it
would make supporting BDS a federal crime. But the
actual provisions extend beyond BDS and raise both
political and constitutional issues.
As of this writing, 26 states already have passed
local laws banning their employees and contractors
from boycotting Israel. This includes blue states like
California and New York, red states like Texas and Ala-
bama, and all six swing states that flipped from Obama
in 2012 to Trump in 2016.
Supporters of the Senate bill argue that the U.S. needs
to take several bold actions to further help our friends
Dr. Mark Gold of Teaneck holds a Ph.D. in economics from
NYU. He is on the executive board of Partners for Progressive
Israel, a member organization of the American Zionist
Movement and an affiliate of the World Union of Meretz.
Hiam Simon of Englewood is the past chief operating officer
of Ameinu, the leading progressive Zionist membership
organization in the United States. He lived in Israel for
many years, where he was the dean of students at what is
now the Alexander Muss High School, and he served in the
IDF as a noncommissioned officer in the artillery.
32 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-32*
(in this case Israel and the West Bank) and
punish our enemies (in this case not Russia
or North Korea). Opponents, on the other
hand, counter that the bill’s provisions
both expand and protect state and local
governments that already punish Israel
boycotters. They claim that this bill threat-
ens individuals’ freedom of speech rights
as protected by the Constitution.
The bill encourages additional states to
adopt the very same anti-boycott laws that
two federal courts already have blocked
as unconstitutional on First Amendment
grounds. The legislation, like the state
anti-boycott laws it condones, sends a mes-
sage to Americans that they can and will
be penalized if they dare to disagree with
their government.
In recent months, nine states have passed
laws to deny money to people or organiza-
tions that engage in “a commerce-related or
investment-related boycott, divestment, or
sanctions activity in the course of interstate
or international commerce that is intended
to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit
ness in Israel or Israeli-controlled territories (emphasis
added) for purposes of coercing political action by, or
imposing policy positions on, the Government of Israel.”
Not state employees, not contractors, private citizens, and
non-governmental organizations.
It is clear that these local actions have foreign policy
implications, implications that are a federal government
responsibility and not an arena where state governments
should tread. The point of the bill in the Senate is to elimi-
nate the very possibility of the State Department or the
federal government nullifying the state laws.
Boycott activity against the State of Israel is not new.
Back in December of 1945, the Arab League sought to
cut all business ties with the pre-state Jewish pioneers
and pressured multinational companies to cease doing
business in Israel or with Israeli representatives. For
example, for years, there was no Pepsi or any Japanese
cars (except Subaru) available for sale in Israel. Peace
treaties with Egypt in 1979, the Palestinian Authority
in 1993, and Jordan in 1994 officially ended the boycott
activity of these states as part of the conditions of the
treaties. Today, only Syria, Lebanon, and Iran back a pri-
mary boycott of Israel and most Arab states feel free to
trade and deal with Israel directly
In 2005, however, 170 Palestinian NGOs scattered
around the world organized a Boycott, Divestiture, Sanc-
tions campaign against Israel, targeting Israel, Israeli
companies, and Israeli academic institutions and profes-
sors. The Israeli government, pro-Israel groups around
the world, and Zionist organizations quickly mobilized to
oppose this BDS campaign.
The authors have reviewed the history of BDS and
explained our strong opposition to it in a previous col-
umn. It is clear to us that the blanket targeting of Israel
and Israelis reveals a broader motivation for BDS,
not as a protest against particular policies but as an
effort to delegitimize Israel itself. Even if it were only
intended to target particular policies, we find it mis-
guided and counterproductive, broadly unifying Israe-
lis against it and giving cover to Israelis, who exploit
it as a reason to abandon the two state solution and
annex the West Bank.
However, S-1 is not meant to target BDS alone. It also is
designed to sanction protests that specifically target activ-
ity in the occupied territories outside the State of Israel. In
doing so, it effects a reversal of U.S. policy and effectively
supports an indefinite occupation by the federal govern-
ment of the United States.
It is important to note that the terms of these state
laws that S-1 is designed to shield can result in the very
real threat that public employees and contractors who do
not disavow opposition to the occupation could be termi-
nated. Recipients of state financed or guaranteed loans,
would lose those loans. The terms of these state laws effec-
tively deny citizens their First Amendment rights.
This is not a hypothetical concern. Recently an Ameri-
can Muslim speech therapist in Austin, Texas, named
Bahia Amawi was told that she could no longer work in
the Texas public school system unless she signed an oath
promising that she does not now and will not in the future
boycott Israel or “an Israeli-controlled territory”. Accord-
ing to the Texas law, Amawi is perfectly free to engage in
any political activism against the United States, participate
in an economic boycott of any state or city within the U.S.,
or work against the policies of any other government in
the world — except Israel. In other words, Texas’s anti-BDS
bill doesn’t only impinge on the free speech rights of U.S.
citizens. In a bizarre attempt to “stand with Israel,” it turns
every potential contractor with the state of Texas literally
into that anti-Semitic canard of dual loyalty. Texas citizens
now are expected to be more loyal to Israel than they are
to the United States insofar as they may say and do things
to their own country that they may not engage in vis-à-vis
Israel. But we will get back to that later.
First let us again differentiate between Israel proper
and the West Bank and Gaza. In 1967 the armies of Egypt,
Jordan, and Syria gathered on Israel’s borders, prepared
to drive Israel into the sea. Israel’s stunning victory and
survival resulted in the control of a portion of its biblical
homeland that until then had rested outside its interna-
tionally recognized borders. On this land was (and still is)
a large non-Jewish population. The consensus of Israel’s
political leaders at the time waas to use the West Bank
and Gaza as leverage for a peace agreement with the Arab
world — land for peace. Sadly, the Arab and Palestinian
leadership of the time resisted. At the same time, the Jew-
ish settler movement, which combines messianic extrem-
ism and national chauvinism, began to seize land within
the West Bank. The Israeli political leadership at first
acquiesced to and later aided in that project. The goal of
the settler movement was then and remains today to put
facts on the ground that would make a land-for-peace deal
impossible and to retain the West Bank under permanent
Israeli control.
Tucked in between the Jordan River and the Mediter-
ranean Sea, scattered across Israel, the West Bank, and
Gaza, are approximately 13 million people. This crowded
population is split roughly in half between Jewish and non-
Jewish residents. The clear and undisputed demographic
trends are such that the non-Jewish population soon will
grow to become the majority — according to some surveys
it already has. Israel can maintain control of this entire
area only in one of two ways. The first is to continue its
occupation indefinitely. This solution has been described
by Prime Minister Netanyahu as “managing the situation.”
SEE FREE SPEECH PAGE 44
 JS-33*

Opinion

Flying to Israel — joy: Flying to Zurich — not so much

I
n two days from this writing my wife Shabbat, of saying Shabbat shalom to my taxi a few hours earlier now must go undercover (literally, as I
and I will fly to Israel via Zurich. driver on Friday afternoon as he drives me trade kippah for hat). No Jew can travel in Europe without
The trip to Israel we have made to the Kotel, and of saying Shabbat shalom giving thought to the problem of renewed anti-Semitism.
many times, thank God, and as to every soldier I see protecting my people. It’s almost like taking a trip through history in reverse,
always there’s a certain amount of preflight At the same time, I am always fearful going from the safety and security of Israel to the linger-
anxiety. I speak not of the anxiety of pack- of those moments of intolerance and irre- ing insecurity of Jewish life in Europe.
ing and being certain to remember contact sponsibility that seem to find me (of course, How our forbearers yearned to be able to leave behind
lens solution, ear plugs in case my Airbnb because that’s what matters to me most — the tragedies of Jewish history and the diaspora and — at
has noisy neighbors, and loading a book being tolerant and responsible). I fear the great expense and risk — undertake the arduous journey
onto my tablet that I can read on the plane. Rabbi moment when in someone else’s mind I am to Israel. Yocheved and I will relax in our safe and comfort-
These mundane matters create anxiety Elchanan not holy enough for my Shabbat shalom to be able seats, eat our over-salted kosher meal, and watch a
no matter where I’m going. Nor am I con- Weinbach answered (even though I have never encoun- movie or two before touching down in the Holy Land. We
cerned about the safety of my flight. tered an Arab who would not reply to my will brace ourselves against the fear and disillusionment
Rather I am anxious about Israel and greeting of sabach al cher, good morning). I and focus on how in our times we are incredibly blessed
Switzerland, although for different reasons. fear those moments when the monopoly of religious author- by God to be able to make the journey to Jerusalem door
I love visiting Israel. Along with our deep historical and ity devalues the rights and contributions of Jews who do not to door in less than a day. I’ll don my baseball-style cap in
religious connection, I always feel a sense of pride at any believe correctly enough. And while my faith in God and our Zurich as we enjoy a new place. And we will pray that nei-
moment where Jews are comfortable about being Jews, no IDF is strong, as I look to the west of Jerusalem or the north ther we nor the Jewish people will forget that for all of our
matter what they’re doing. Whether it’s driving a taxi, sell- of the Galil or east from Tzefat I am unsettled by the proxim- blessings and advances we still have so far to go to fulfill
ing spices in the shuq, or flying a fighter jet, it is an end- ity of madmen and their weapons. the dream, a dream whose birthplace was Israel, whose
less source of pride for me when a Jew feels comfortable Still and all, my time in Israel is always a joyous one. I residence is Israel, and whose future — as promised by
and secure about being openly Jewish. I look forward to revel in the modern miracle that is the revival of the Jew- God — is Israel.
the energy and diversity of the Israeli youth who transform ish nation, its strength and its diversity, and its democratic What’s to worry about?
the Mahane Yehuda market into a festival after the close of institutions.
business each Thursday and Saturday, to being immersed in I also have a second fear, perhaps remote but still real. Elchanan Weinbach is the rabbi of Congregation Shaarey
the Hebrew language (by day three my vocabulary is fully On our return flight we have the opportunity to spend a Israel in Montebello, N.Y. He has been a pulpit rabbi for
restored), and to an inexhaustible supply of kosher eateries. few hours in Zürich. I’m sure the city is beautiful and the 13 years, a school head for 15 years, and a consultant,
I look forward to saying Shabbat shalom on Friday morn- chocolate is delicious, yet it will be an instant reminder presentor, or scholar in residence in New York, Kansas City,
ing to the spice merchant who delights in enhancing my that the comfort and pride I felt in being overtly Jewish just and Florida, and at LimmudLA.

RFRA
FROM PAGE 31
RFRA has a sister statute, the Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act. That statute functions in
effectively the same manner, but in limited circumstances
it still applies to states. Jews have used RLUIPA to defend
their rights to build synagogues and religious schools in
the face of restrictive zoning laws. Jewish prisoners have
used RLUIPA to obtain kosher food, sacramental wine,
and other necessary religious objects.
One way to highlight the importance of RFRA is to
explore how vulnerable Jews are in instances where it
does not apply.
In 2016, in California, an animal rights group sued to
prevent a rabbi from performing the kapparot ritual
before Yom Kippur, a practice in which some Jews tradi-
tionally have slaughtered chickens to feed poor families.
In this case, the plaintiffs sued under a generally appli-
cable unfair competition law to prevent the rabbi from
killing chickens. In its legal briefs, the animal rights group
acknowledged that if California had a RFRA law, the rabbi
might have a defense. But because California has no such
protection, the group claimed that the California need
not accommodate religious observances. The group suc-
ceeded in dragging out the litigation long enough to pre-
vent the rabbi from performing the ritual that year.
California has seen efforts to prohibit circumcision, and
there have been attempts to bring a growing European
phenomenon to America — the banning of shechitah.
Without state RFRAs, such restrictions would be difficult
to challenge. But even if we assume that such laws could
never pass in America, we ought to consider our vulner-
ability in an activity as vital as educating our children, a
danger highlighted by the current situation in New York.
While here in New Jersey we are fortunate to live in one
of the best states for curricular freedom, this easily could
change. As public school curricula continue to change in
ways that marginalize traditional Jewish beliefs, private Jew-
ish schools may find themselves pressured to conform to
new anti-traditional expectations. Jews in Britain, Ontario,
and Alberta already have struggled with this problem, with
governments forcing them to teach students the government
line on topics from sex education to comparative religion.
With no RFRA in place, the problem may spread beyond
mandatory curricula. Yeshiva day schools may find it diffi-
cult to maintain an expensive array of services and technol-
ogies necessary to meet baseless state requirements. The
full panoply of potential conflicts is impossible to predict.
Most importantly, without a state RFRA, the observant
Jewish community lacks the most effective tool needed to
press for exemptions from such laws. Jews in New Jersey
and New York should use their political capital to push for
such legislation.

LETTERS

Let’s have a referendum
I believe that POTUS and Congress are
playing a game of chicken over the explo-
sive issue of the security wall along our
southern border. They are not compe-
tent to resolve this conundrum in the best
interest of our country.
They appear to be obsessed with the
goal of victory and political power.
I therefore am convinced that the vot-
ing public should have the final say via a
national referendum.
I am not an expert on referendums. How-
ever, my understanding is that an issue is
presented to the electorate. The opposing
sides then campaign vigorously for their
view. The informed public (not Congress or
POTUS) then vote their (majority) decision.
I believe that there is no precedent or
protocol for this in our history, but I assume
that it would be very similar to any national
election. (We know that the British did a
recent referendum over the issue of Brexit.)
We need to settle this critical and
polarizing conflict which threatens to para-
lyze our government.
Jerrold Terdiman M.D., Woodcliff Lake
Giuliani has no integrity
I can’t get over how former New York City
mayor Rudy Giuliani has lost all integrity.
His comments describing Joe Biden as “a
moron” and “a mentally deficient idiot” are
despicable.
It is hard to believe that at one time,
Giuliani was a zealous prosecutor and
referred to as “America’s Mayor.” He has
a problem speaking truthfully — must be
catching from the lying commander-in-chief
in the Oval Office.
Giuliani bashes the Justice Department
by saying it is “framing the president,”
and when he was abroad, he continued
bad-mouthing our justice system. He is
shameless.
Rudolph Giuliani is a disgrace to his
profession.
Grace Jacobs, Cliffside Park

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 33


D’var Torah
Yitro: The responsibility thrust on us
W
hat is this thing you are doing to the
people?” This is the question Yitro,
priest of Midian, asks his son-in-law
Moses after observing the way Moses
is attempting to address every one of the Israelites’
problems himself, without any assistance or delega-
tion of authority. The people at this moment are in
disarray, a disorderly mob of refugees without any
idea of where to go or what to do. In the absence of
any other kind of leadership, they come to Moses with
their questions and he does his best to answer them,
from sunup to sundown, day after day without rest.
Yitro, himself a leader of his people, accurately recog-
nizes organizational disfunction for what it is, realizing
that neither Moses nor his people can keep up this way
of life very long without collapsing from exhaustion.
It isn’t simply an organizational problem Yitro is diag-
nosing here, however, but a spiritual one as well. This peo-
ple is not simply a tribe bound to one another by a com-
mon ancestry — they are also a holy community brought
together for the service of the Divine. And yet connection
to the Divine is at this point concentrated into a single
point in the person of Moses. Israel may have been called
to be a holy people, but to what extent can they hope to
realize this purpose so long as their connection with God
soap
JCC PATRON OF THE ARTS AND THE KAPLEN FOUNDATION PRESENT
myth
the
January 27, 7 pm
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS |
34 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-34*
is mediated through the person of a charis-
matic leader?
The consequences of this imbalance are
revealed all too clearly later on in the parsha.
Overawed by the majesty of God’s self-revela-
tion at Mount Sinai, the people retreat from
the encounter, begging Moses, “Let not God
speak to us, lest we die.” Just as the strange-
ness and uncertainty of freedom in the wil-
derness makes them long for the familiar Rabbi Leiah
oppression of Egypt, in this case the terrify- Moser
ing immediacy of a direct contact with God Reconstructionist
leaves them grasping for something a little Congregation Beth
more mediated. And Moses, perhaps him- Israel, Ridgewood
self a little uncomfortable with the strange
new world of shared authority, seems only
too willing to fall back into the exhausting but comfortable
role of central authority and intermediary. “Don’t worry,”
he says, “this has all been a test to make sure you fear God.
It’s alright — you passed!” It’s enough to make one wonder
who he’s trying hardest to reassure, the people or himself?
If the story had ended there, I don’t know if our tradi-
tion would have withstood the test of time. Indeed, it is
unclear whether it would have withstood the death of
Moses! It is not surprising that the people reacted in terror
AwithREADING
ed asner &
tovah feldshuh
411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 |
to the responsibility that had been thrust
upon them and pushed it away. What is sur-
prising, and inspiring, is their subsequent
efforts to reclaim that responsibility, to
make it their own. That effort has persisted
throughout Jewish history — in the lives of
this generation of former slaves struggling
to find their way in the wilderness, the lives
of judges willing to risk death to end slavery
and oppression, the lives of prophets will-
ing to challenge the self-satisfied religious
and political establishment of their day in
the name of justice and compassion, and
in the lives of rabbis carefully moulding the
received tradition into new forms capable of
surviving centuries of exile and persecution.
The thread that runs through their lives continues
to run through our own, and through the lives of every
generation that finds within itself the strength to wrestle
with God — that is, to acknowledge the divine challenge to
tear down all human systems of injustice in the name of
a higher authority. It is this thread that allows us to read
the words of the people, “Let not God speak to us, lest we
die,” not as a prophecy, but as a challenge — the challenge
to reclaim, for ourselves, the responsibility to speak.
The critically acclaimed Soap Myth, by
Jeff Cohen, starring the legendary 7-time
Emmy Award winner Ed Asner and
featuring 3-time Tony Award nominee
Tovah Feldshuh, dramatically explores
the Nazi atrocity of soap. The Soap
Myth questions how a survivor survives
surviving, and asks who has the right to
write history - those who have lived it and
remember, those who study and protect
it, or those who would seek to distort and
desecrate its very existence.
VIP $100 Exclusive for JCC Patron of the
Arts subscribers
Includes reserved VIP seating, meet
and greet dessert reception with photo
opportunity
PREFERRED $50, priority seating
GENERAL $25
TICKETS
jccotp.org/soapmyth
For more information, contact
Nina Bachrach 201.408.1406,
nbachrach@jccotp.org
jccotp.org

Solitary diners in a scene
from “The Invisibles”
Two new Holocaust films
‘Who Will Write Our History?’ and ‘The Invisibles’
I
MIRIAM RINN
’ve been watching and writing
about Holocaust movies for
almost 40 years, and yet every
year films are made about
aspects of that historical event
that surprise me.
It’s astonishing. At this rate, filmmakers
will be discovering new Holocaust topics
to make movies about 40 years hence.
“Who Will Write Our History?” tells one
of those unexamined stories. In Novem-
ber 1940, soon after the Nazis herded
all of Warsaw’s Jews into the ghetto,
the historian and Yiddishist Emanuel
Ringelblum and a clandestine group of
60 scholars, journalists, and community
leaders began to gather a secret archive
of documents. Working under the code
name Oyneg Shabes, Ringelblum and
his associates urged ordinary people
to write down everything they saw and
experienced in order to create a histori-
cal account from a Jewish perspective.
The collection, which was modeled
on YIVO, the great Yiddish library and
research center in Vilna, included dia-
ries, poems, posters, jokes, and songs,
along with first-hand narratives of daily
JS-35*
Arts & Culture
life and eyewitness accounts of Nazi hor-
rors. When the Germans began to empty
the ghetto and send the residents to Tre-
blinka, Oyneg Shabes buried 60,000
pages deep underground in the hopes
that the documents would survive, even
if the collectors didn’t.
Ringelblum may be an unfamiliar
name to many, but his project was com-
mon knowledge in the survivor commu-
nity where I grew up, as was the world’s
indifference to the accounts of the Nazis’
extermination plans he managed to
smuggle out to London.
Writer/director Roberta Grossman,
an experienced documentarian, has
approached her subject through a
variety of nonfiction filmmaking tech-
niques. There are interviews with talk-
ing heads — experts on the Holocaust
and Polish Jewry, both Jews and Poles Aaron Altaras portrays Eugen Friede in “The Invisibles.”
— a ton of archival photographs and
films, and extensive recreations of the the Ghetto and the Holocaust in gen- on the courageous and noble work that
men and women in Oyneg Shabes and eral comes from German propaganda Ringelblum and his associates pursued.
the Ghetto, using Polish actors speak- films. That has to affect our perception Our guide is Rachel Auerbach (voiced
ing both Yiddish and Polish. The skillful of what we see, since the German goal by Joan Allen), one of the few survivors
combination of these techniques makes was to portray the Jews as degraded and of Oyneg Shabes, who initiated the exca-
the film extraordinarily vivid and com- wretched creatures who were less than vation of the manuscripts after the war
pelling. Grossman is sensitive to the real- human. Using dramatized recreations and later worked for Yad Vashem in
ity that almost all the footage we have of helps to balance that impact and focus SEE FILMS PAGE 46
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 35
 JS-36*

Calendar
Sisterhood annual
book review with
bagels and spreads, 11
a.m. 40-25 Fair Lawn
Ave. (201) 797-9321.

Mitzvah planning/
party showcase
in Park Ridge: The
Jewish Federation
of Northern New
Jersey and the Ed Asner
JCC of Northern PHOTO COURTESY JCCOTP
New Jersey offer a
workshop, “Making Dramatic reading in
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs More Tenafly: The Patron
Meaningful,” at the of the Arts and Kaplen
Park Ridge Marriott, foundations at the
11 a.m., followed by Kaplen JCC on the
a party showcase, Palisades sponsor a
Celebrate, noon-4 p.m. dramatic reading of
The bar/bat mitzvah Jeff Cohen’s play “The
planning program is Soap Myth,” starring
presented by Mitzvah seven-time Emmy
Market. Participants and five-time Golden
get free and early Globe-award winner
access to the Mitzvah Ed Asner and two-time
Expo. 300 Brae Blvd. Emmy and four-time
Sign up at JFNNJ. Tony Award nominee
org/mitzvahprogram Tovah Feldshuh, 7 p.m.
or (201) 470-6268 or (201) 408-1406, www.
FEB. Valley Chabad Center for Jewish Life presents “The Mob, CelebrateShowcase. jccotp.org/soapmyth, or
com. nbachrach@jccotp.org.
The Jews, & Israel,” an evening with Myron Sugerman,
2 the so-called last Jewish gangster, at a private home
in Woodcliff Lake, 8 p.m. Known as the “chief rabbi” of
Monday 
JANUARY 28
the gambling machine business, Sugerman continued his father’s
success in the sales and operation of slot machines, jukeboxes, Music in Tenafly: The
cigarette machines, and anything else that ran on coins and provided Thurnauer School of
Music at the Kaplen
amusement, all while dealing with powerful members of the Mafia, JCC on the Palisades
including the Genovese and Gambino families. Sugerman will presents the String
discuss the mob’s impact on the American Nazi Party and its role in Camerata winter
Film in Franklin Lakes: concert, 6 p.m.
supporting the underground Jewish armies during Israel’s quest for 411 E. Clinton Ave.
Temple Emanuel of
independence. (201) 476-0157 or www.valleychabad.org. MYRON SUGERMAN North Jersey screens (201) 408-1465.
the 1938 English
language tragicomic Tuesday 
“Two Sisters” in
JANUARY 29
Friday  Saturday  Sunday  a restored video
screening starring
JANUARY 25 JANUARY 26 JANUARY 27 Yiddish theater’s Blood drive in
Jennie Goldstein, Teaneck: Holy Name
Shabbat in New City: Shabbat in Pearl Book club in Paramus: 1:30 p.m. Popcorn Medical Center holds a
Temple Beth Sholom River, N.Y.: Beth Sandy Jonas discusses and ice cream. 558 blood drive with New
will host the choir and Am Temple holds a Mark T. Sullivan’s High Mountain Road. Jersey Blood Services,
congregation of the Tu B’Shevat seder “Beneath a Scarlet (201) 560-0200 or a division of New York
Berea Seventh-Day during Shabbat, Sky” at the JCC of www.tenjfl.org. Blood Center, 1-7 p.m.
Adventist Church at 10:15 a.m. Traditional Paramus/Congregation 718 Teaneck Road.
a Martin Luther King Tu B’Shevat dishes, Beth Tikvah, 10 a.m. (800) 933-2566 or
Jr. Shabbat service, fruits and nuts, Refreshments. East Book club in Fair www.nybloodcenter.
7:30 p.m. 228 New and bagels. 60 304 Midland Ave. Lawn: Diane Haft will org.
Hempstead Road. East Madison Ave. (201) 262-7691. review Heather Morris’
(845) 638-0770 or (845) 735-5858 or novel “The Tattooist
www.tbsrockland.org. www.bethamtemple.org. of Auschwitz” for
Temple Beth Sholom’s

36 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019

 JS-37*

Calendar

Friday 
wide evening of study,
music, and celebration, Teddy bears stay, kids go home
FEBRUARY 1
featuring break-out
sessions with local at GBDS sleepover event
rabbis, is at Temple
Shabbat in Wyckoff: Beth Rishon. Doors
Temple Beth Rishon The Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School
open, 6:30 p.m.,
hosts Shabbat Kulanu musical Havdalah at in Oakland holds its first annual “Stuffed Ani-
— a new Shabbat 6:50. 585 Russell Ave. mal Sleepover” on Saturday, January 26. The
experience for (201) 652-1687, or 2- to 8-year-olds are welcome from 6:30 to 8:30
everyone — on the sweettastesoftorah.
first Friday of each p.m.; their stuffed animals will stay all night.
Brad Ruder weebly.com.
month, at 6:13 p.m. Children’s author Amalia Hoffman will present a
COURTESY NCJW
(to evoke the 613 Klezmer Bunch program, with stories and pup-
Improving a structure mitzvot). Music and a Sunday  pets for the children and their stuffed friends;
and lives: Brad story will replace the FEBRUARY 3 the children will pick up their stuffed animals on
Ruder, president of sermon. 585 Russell
Ave. Reservations, Sunday morning at 10.
Brad-Core, a design, World Wide Wrap
construction, and (201) 891-4466 or in Closter: Temple Bring a favorite stuffed animal and wear paja-
property management www.bethrishon.org. Emanu-El participates mas. There will be a bedtime snack. Anyone who
company, will lead in the Federation of brings two friends will receive a signed copy of Ms. Hoffman’s book.
“Timely Topics and
Tasty Treats” with a
Saturday  Jewish Men’s Clubs’
World Wide Wrap to
Admission is free. For information, call (201) 337-1111 or go to SSNJ.org/
discussion, “Humanism FEBRUARY 2 spread the mitzvah of LibrarySleepover.
in Building,” for the tefillin, 9 a.m. At 10, the
Bergen County section religious school will
of the National Council assemble snack packs
of Jewish Women for the Center for Food
Bergen at Senior Action. 180 Piermont
Source at the Shops at
Riverside, second level,
Road. (201) 750-9997
or buchert@
Anti-bias and diversity training
in Riverside Square templeemanu-el.com. The Jewish Federation of Northern discussions, works to provide the
Mall, Hackensack, New Jersey offers “Open Heart and benefits of reducing unconscious bias
2:30 p.m. Refreshments. Israel Bonds at
(201) 385-4847 or Rockleigh: Israel Mind: Softening Bias and Racism in while providing resources to help K-12
www.ncjwbcs.org. Dr. Jeffrey Rubenstein Bonds Rockland Ourselves and Our Teaching,” an anti- educators.
County Women’s bias and diversity training session for The program, which is co-spon-
Shabbat in Division holds the
Thursday  Englewood: NYU’s annual Lila Stern
teachers and educators, on Wednes- sored by Rockland’s Holocaust
JANUARY 31 Dr. Jeffrey Rubenstein premiere brunch at the day, February 6, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., Museum & Center for Tolerance and
discusses his new Rockleigh, 9:30 a.m. at JFNNJ headquarters, 50 Eisenhower Education, includes a light dinner.
book, “The Land of Nitsana Darshan- Drive in Paramus. For more information, email Ariel-
Truth: Talmud Tales, Leitner, an activist The interactive program, with laN@jfnnj.org, go to jfnnj.org/training,
Timeless Teachings,” Israeli attorney and
during a lunch and a leader in the fight hands-on critical-thinking games and or call (201) 820-3946.
learn at Congregation against Palestinian
Kol HaNeshamah. and Islamic terror
Services are at group financing,
9:45 a.m. rsvp@khnj. is the speaker.
org. (845) 405-4028.

Shabbat in Emerson:
Ari Zoldan
Talking about
Rabbi Debra Orenstein
and certified yoga Singles
Israel: The Jewish teacher Andrea Collier
Federation of offer the chance to
incorporate Jewish
Sunday  Singer Tanya
Northern New Jersey Garzia with
continues “FedTalk: mindfulness and yoga FEBRUARY 3
the Reflections
Israel,” a series of into the traditional
Shabbat service at Singles brunch/ Jazz and Swing
discussions focused
on current issues in Congregation B’nai puzzle mixer in Orchestra.
Israel. Ari Zoldan, Israel, 10 a.m. Wear Clifton: North Jersey
CEO of Quantum comfortable clothes Jewish Singles 50- COURTESY BETH

Media Group LLC and bring a yoga mat 60s+ at the Clifton AM TEMPLE

and an IBM Watson or towel. 53 Palisade Jewish Center hosts a

Futurist, will discuss Ave. (201) 265-2272 or brunch with a puzzle
“Can Israel Sustain bisrael.com. mixer; switch tables
Itself as the Start-Up
Nation?” 7:30 p.m.
Community Torah
and table mates
every 20-25 minutes, Dance with Beth Am’s stars
learning in Wyckoff: 11:30 a.m. 18 Delaware
50 Eisenhower Drive. Sweet Tastes of Torah, St. (973) 772-3131 or Beth Am Temple in Pearl River hosts Swing Orchestra featuring Tanya Gar-
www.jfnnj.org or the North Jersey “Dancing With Our Stars” on Satur- zia will play a selection of swing, Latin,
(201) 820-3946. join the group at www.
Board of Rabbis’ meetup.com. day, February 2, from 7 to 11 p.m. and foxtrot tunes.
annual community- The friendly dance competition will The evening includes social danc-
pair synagogue members with profes- ing, a raffle, desserts, wine, and
sionals from the Fred Astaire Dance beverages. For more information,
Announce your events Studio of Bardonia, who also will
demonstrate their skills in a special
call (845) 735-5858, email office@
bethamtemple.org, or go to www.
We welcome announcements of upcoming events. Announcements performance and lead a group les- bethamtemple.org. The snow date is
are free. Accompanying photos must be high resolution, jpg files. son. The 18-piece Reflections Jazz and Saturday, March 2.
Send announcements 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Not every release
will be published. Include a daytime telephone number and send to:
pr@jewishmediagroup.com • 201-837-8818 x 110

JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 37


Calendar
Rabbi Dov Drizin teaches at Valley Chabad’s Academy of Jewish Studies
 COURTESY VALLEY CHABAD
Criminal justice and the Jews
Valley Chabad Academy of Jewish Stud-
ies in Woodcliff Lake offers “Crime and
Consequence,” a six-session course on
the Jewish approach to criminal justice,
taught by Rabbi Dov Drizin and attor-
ney Jeffrey M. Eilender. It begins on
Tuesday, February 5, at 7 p.m., and will
explore the Jewish approach to ques-
tions of crime, punishment, and justice.
38 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-38*
The program has won early endorse-
ments from distinguished law profes-
sors and criminal justice campaigners
and is accredited for Continuing Legal
Education. It’s at the Valley Chabad
Center for Jewish Life, 100 Overlook
Drive, Woodcliff Lake.
For more information call (201) 476-
0157 or go to www.valleychabad.org.
Summer campers at the Kaplen JCC.
Family Fun Day in Tenafly
For the first time, summer camps at
the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades will
be open to non-members as well as
members. To showcase all its exciting
offerings, the JCC welcomes the com-
munity to Family Fun Day on Sunday,
February 3, from 1 to 3 p.m.
The JCC’s camps, for 3- to 14-year-
olds, include a daily swim, lunch,
snacks, towel service, and access to
transportation and extended care.
At Family Fun Day, families can
enjoy an afternoon of Neil Klatskin
Summer Camp activities including
sports, dance, drama, art, science,
and technology, as well as face paint-
ing, balloon making, a moon bounce,
and more. Participants also will get
to meet camp directors, leaders, and
specialists.
The programs at the Neil Klatskin
Day Camp (a traditional camp for
3-year- olds to second- graders)
includes Red Cross instructional swim
and Hebrew immersion options. The
Neil Klatskin Specialty Camps for
Clubs join for Super Bowl party
The men’s clubs of the Jewish Center
of Teaneck and Congregation Beth
Aaron, also in Teaneck, host a Super
Bowl viewing party at the JCT. The
Sunday, February 3, party begins at
6:30, and the game will be broadcast
on a 10 by 10 screen. Dinner will be a
Chinese buffet by Chopstix. Everyone
www.thejewishstandard.com
COURTESY JCCOTP
Grades 3+ include options in fine arts,
science, Big Idea Hi-Tech, Multi-Sport,
basketball and tennis, Dance Inten-
sive, Center Stage Musical Theater,
Broadway Showtime, and comedic
acting. For families looking to fill the
time between school and camp, and
then between camp and school, there
also are many full-day mini-camp
options in sports, dance, music, and
more.
Families who register for camp at
Family Fun Day will get $50 JCC Cash
per week and will be entered into a raf-
fle to win one free week of camp. Camp-
ers returning to Specialty Camps save
an extra $50 per week as well. Families
who decide to sign up for an annual JCC
family membership that day also will
receive $200 JCC Cash to use on any JCC
camp or class.
Parents who cannot attend but
have questions about camp or want
to schedule a tour can call the camp
office at (201) 567-8963 or email
nkdc@jccotp.org.
13 and older is welcome. The evening
will include a raffle to benefit future
men’s club events. It’s sponsored by
Steve Dennis and Dr. Caron Rockman
in honor of Peshe Dennis.
To register, email mensclub@jcot.
org. There is a discount for registra-
tion by Wednesday, January 30.
 The Frazzled Housewife
Three more years …
G
rowing up, my parents
bought their cars every
couple of years. Tank-sized
Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Cadil-
lacs. I think we had every shade of blue, time. That just isn’t possible.
always four doors and always with the
latest entertainment system, ranging
from a CB radio to eight–track tapes to
CDs. They never leased
cars. In fact, I didn’t even
know what it meant to
lease a car until I became
a grown-up and moved
into a home with two little
boys. Apparently, leasing a
car was the way to go.
Though, I will confess,
we had bought our first
minivan because we had
yet to know the joys of Banji
paying yeshiva tuition Ganchrow
and we had found a really
good deal on the van
through some car-buying website. This
was also confirmed with the leasing
guy who had said, “I never would have
been able to get you such a good deal.”
Though going back to the leasing for a
minute — doesn’t it make more sense to
lease a car, because you get a new one
every three years and when you buy a
car, it usually starts to fall apart every Cheerios in the most unexplainable
three years and you have to pay to fix
it? And how is it that I always need new
tires right before my lease ends? Or new
windshield wipers? Or new brakes?
Anyway, as I was saying…
It seemed that my life started to be
lived in three-year intervals, because
that was the length of the lease.
When we leased the first van it was,
“Can you believe that in three years
all of our boys will be in elementary
school together?” And then three
years passed. “Can you believe that in
three years we will have a kid in high
school?” And then three years passed.
“Can you believe that son #1 will be able than vodka bottles, but who knows.
to drive this van himself???” Yup, and
then another three years passed. Car-
pools to nursery school. Carpools to
camp. Carpools to camp to save money
on busing. Carpools to the bus stop
(were we really that lazy?). Carpools
to TBO (Teaneck baseball). Carpools to
hockey practice. (One year, I had both
goalies in my carpool — they should
make a Febreze with that heavenly
scent.). Carpools to high school. Car-
pools to junior varsity hockey practice.
Carpools to varsity hockey practice.
And then the unbelievable statement,
“In three years, we will be finished with hoping to do that this week, but the little
carpools and son #3 will be a senior.”
I am sorry, what did you say? Did you
say I was going to be finished with car-
pools? Did you say my baby, the little
Kosher Crossword
“THE FRENCH CONNECTION”
BY YONI GLATT, KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: CHALLENGING
boy whose foot was as big as my thumb
when he was born… Did you say son #3
will be a senior in high school? No, I am
sorry. Three years is a very, very long
But then the time passed, like time
tends to do. Three more years went
by. All three of my boys had their driv-
ers licenses, two of my
boys had graduated high
school, one graduated
college, and my adorable
little baby, who is now
the tallest Ganchrow
offspring in family his-
tory (and I finally weigh
less than he does…for
another column) is a
senior in high school. So
not only is this lease up,
but it is the end of the era
of the minivan.
No more minivan.
I am pretty sure that it was just yes-
terday that I took my first minivan for
a test drive and I had all the windows
open, listening to ’80s music, bawl-
ing my eyes out at the official loss of Across Down
my youth. So now not only has my 1. 2017 Disney smash 1. Newton of note
5. Barbra’s “Funny Girl” co-star 2. Soccer stadium cheer
youth passed me by, but I am officially
9. Borders on 3. One might rush in Phoenix
done with the minivan stage. Finding 14. Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Freed or to Rome?
15. “Anything Goes” songwriter Porter 4. First word of “The Raven”
places possible. Half-eaten lollypops 16. Katmandu’s land 5. Well-armed animal?
stuck under the seats. Crumbs, crumbs, 17. “Thanks for the etrog” 6. Brick-layer’s material
and more crumbs. What happened to 19. Small sample 7. Shower gel ingredient, perhaps
20. Indicate 8. Kevin Bacon in “Footloose”
no one being allowed to eat in the van?
21. Ran 100 yards, perhaps 9. Tums, e.g.
Hahahahahahahaha. That never hap- 22. Village in northern Israel that’s 10. Ark twosomes
pened, especially when big mama driv- also a common Israeli name 11. Final result
ing the van always has a selection of 24. Busy bee in Apr. 12. Mashed dish, in slang
snacks making a mess all the way up in 25. Trojan hero, and others 13. Snow toys
the front. 26. Say hi to Blitzer and Bernstein 18. Alias user, briefly
29. Alarm sounds 21. Pastrami purveyor
And let us not forget the water bot-
30. Anti-perspirant brand 22. “Sesame Street” lessons
tles. The full ones, the half-full ones, 31. Autobiography subject 23. James who was known as the
the half-empty ones (for those of us not 32. Jamaican music “Pineapple King”
so positive). The empty ones….they are 33. “Got it!” cries 25. Lashon ender
usually everywhere and under every- 37. See 28-Down 27. Land developing org. established
where … I guess better water bottles 39. Bear, as a witness in 1901
41. Closed off korban locale 28. The “catastrophe”, to many a
45. Locals 37-Across
The bottom line is that there is no 46. ___ Od Milvado 32. Chutzpah
more minivan. There is no more car- 47. Its members usually have high 33. Org. that might raid a gun shop
pool and there is no more going back in GPAs 34. Dutch brew
time to grab our youth by its neck and 48. Removed wrinkles 35. “Kiddush HaShem” writer Sholem
pull it back. So what do we do? Wake up, 49. John of “Fawlty Towers” 36. Sanctified women: Abbr.
51. One running easily 37. Purely and simply, for two
thank God for the gift of being able to do
52. “And here’s your Chanukah dish!” 38. Stalk in a swamp
that. Get in our now much smaller car, 55. David’s oldest brother 39. Lion name, for a girl
drive it safely, and hope the next three 56. Mrs. Clooney 40. Athlete’s foot
years will bring only exciting and won- 57. Orbital period 41. “It’s Too Late” songwriter King
derful things to this next stage of life. 58. Grills 42. Eden, e.g.
59. Last word of a Ricky Martin hit 43. Straight and narrow
60. Fangorn Forest residents 44. Disease aggravated by gluten
Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck will be
45. A Dr. Crane from TV
writing about her adventures in the 49. “Catch a Falling Star” crooner
Sunshine state next week. She was 50. Eye sore
The solution to last week’s puzzle 52. Kilmer who played Moses
sister, at the table next to us, did not end is on page 42. 53. Take part in a Siyum
up stabbing the bigger sister with her 54. Those who may spend next
year in Isr.
fork. So now I need some other material
to work with…
JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 39

Jewish World
How the Forward ran low on cash — and miracles —
before ending its print edition and laying off top editors
BEN SALES
A
decade ago, the publisher
of the Jewish Daily Forward
asked his board to believe in
miracles.
“We are supposed to believe in miracles;
we are forbidden to rely on them, “ Sam
Norich, who lived in Teaneck at the time,
wrote in an email to the board of the For-
ward Association on December 25, 2008.
“That means that miracles only happen if
we do our part to help them along.”
And according to the attached minutes
of a November 2008 board meeting, the
venerable Jewish newspaper could have
used a little divine intervention in the
thick of the financial crisis. Just five years
after it sold its radio signal for $73 mil-
lion, the Forward began that September
with $63 million in invested assets. By the
end of the month, as the stock market
plummeted, that number had dropped
even further, to $54 million — a $9 million
loss within 30 days. A couple of months
later, the board would discover that it
had lost $355,000 in Bernard Madoff ’s
Ponzi scheme.
But Norich had good news. Months
earlier, the Forward had appointed a new
editor, Jane Eisner. Norich called Eisner,
an alumna of the Philadelphia Inquirer,
a “phenomenal professional with very
high aspirations.” Her appointment, he
said, “augurs well for the future of the
Forward.”
Ten years later, the picture looks grim-
mer. On Wednesday, news broke that
after 121 years, the Forward would be
ceasing its print edition and laying off 10
people — 20 percent of its staff — includ-
ing Jane Eisner.
“Today was a tough day,” Rachel Fish-
man Feddersen, the Forward’s publisher
since 2016, wrote to the newsroom in an
email on Thursday that did not mention
Eisner or any of the other laid-off staff
by name.
For years, the Forward has been run-
ning a loss of about $5 million per year,
financial documents show. In 2015, the
Forward transferred the vast majority
of its assets to a separate new nonprofit
called the Forward Fund, which allowed
the publication to protect its assets in
case of a debilitating libel suit. The For-
ward Fund’s records show a 2016 drop
in net assets from $44.3 million to $38.5
million. In 2017, the Forward’s annual
report shows that it broke even by vir-
tue of $4.9 million in “Funds drawn from
investment accounts.”
Neither the Forward Association nor
the Fund made its 2017 financial records
40 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-40*
Former Forward editor-in-chief Jane Eisner, left, stands with Fran Drescher
and the Forward’s CEO and publisher, Rachel Fishman Feddersen, at a For-
ward gala at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan on Nov. 13, 2017.
available to JTA. But Feddersen said that
at the end of 2017, the Forward Fund had
$37,728,140 in the bank.
(Norich, who was the Forward’s pub-
lisher from 1997 to 2016, directed ques-
tions to Feddersen, as did Jacob Morow-
itz, the chair of the Forward’s board.
Mark Mlotek and Ron Sernau, the cur-
rent and past board treasurers, did not
return calls seeking comment.)
“We are making many changes at the
company, and that comes with saying
goodbye to some treasured colleagues,”
Fedderson wrote. “And that hurts.”
The death of the Forward’s print edi-
tion, and the slashes to its masthead,
cap off decades of financial bleeding at
one of the country’s most storied Jew-
ish newspapers. And they usher in an
era of uncertainty at a publication that
has helped define the American Jewish
experience — and hold its institutions
accountable — since the beginning of the
20th century.
“The mood was tense and the remain-
ing management didn’t seem to have a
clear plan for what happens next,” a staff
member who wished to remain anony-
mous wrote in an email about the atmo-
sphere in the office.
Feddersen said that the changes were
a necessary pivot toward the way peo-
ple consume news now, enabling the
publication to maintain its reporting
standards while staying financially sta-
ble. She said that the organization had
JERRY LACAY
been losing money since the middle of
the last century.
“Running a media business is really
expensive,” she said in a phone inter-
view. “The Forward has been running
at a loss since 1945 and it has supported
itself by selling off assets…. There was
always a commitment to a quality of jour-
nalism that fulfilled our mission.”
One cost the publication has paid
recently is Norich’s retirement package,
which cost the Forward nearly $700,000
paid out in three lump sums, according
to Norich. Those payments ended in
2017, Feddersen said, and Norich now
receives no compensation as a Forward
Association board member.
Feddersen and another board member
who asked not to be identified said that
the organization should now be finan-
cially sustainable. Feddersen wrote in an
email that with print costs gone and the
staff significantly reduced, there will be
“substantial savings” in 2019.
Adam Langer and Helen Chernikoff,
the publication’s culture and news edi-
tors, respectively, will run the news-
room during the search for a new editor
in chief.
Feddersen said that Eisner was let go
because the publication needs an edi-
tor with more digital experience. But
it was not long ago that the Forward
was putting Eisner front and center.
Last month, Eisner was an honoree
at a Forward gala that highlighted
“#FearlessWomen in Journalism.”
In 2017, the Forward launched a
weekly email newsletter by Eisner
called “Jane Looking Forward” that fea-
tured her perspective on recent events.
In 2016, the Forward hired an external
public relations firm to pitch her to other
publications as an expert. In 2015 she
interviewed President Barack Obama.
“We are extremely proud of our asso-
ciation with her and of everything she’s
done here,” Feddersen said of Eisner.
The Forward Association board member
who wished to remain anonymous said
that “there’s such affection for Jane.”
But a former board member, Tom
Freudenheim, said that firing Eisner and
other senior staff does not track with the
goal of maintaining strong reporting.
“I’m an admirer of Jane Eisner and
Dan Friedman,” said Freudenheim, a
retired museum director, referring to the
laid-off executive editor. “I don’t know
how you can run a newspaper, whether
it’s online or in print, if you don’t have
seasoned, senior, professional journalists
running it.”
Eisner declined to comment, point-
ing to a statement she gave to the New
York Times in which she said she had
“embraced visionary, fearless and
impactful journalism that served our
community with distinction.” She added
that she has “cherished my time at The
Forward.”
While she was still at the Forward, Eis-
ner oversaw the shift away from print. In
2017, the Forward switched from being
a weekly newspaper to a monthly maga-
zine with a glossy cover.
The Forward has 2 million monthly
visitors online, and had 16,000 print sub-
scribers, according to Feddersen.
“Over the last couple of years this was
a preordained process,” the anonymous
board member said. “People even a cou-
ple years ago knew we’d go from weekly
to monthly and probably not have a print
publication.”
That move marks a new era for a pub-
lication that has had a variety of lives.
Under the leadership of Belarusian immi-
grant Abraham Kahan who took over in
1897, the Forward, then a Yiddish daily
with socialist leanings, became a cir-
culation powerhouse with more than
275,000 subscribers nationally at its peak
in the early 1930s. It also owned a radio
station, WEVD. (The call letters of the sta-
tion stood for Eugene V. Debs, the peren-
nial socialist presidential candidate.) The
Forward headquarters on the Lower East
Side was a local landmark.
SEE FORWARD PAGE 46

Gloria Jones
Gloria Ann Jones, née Greenspan, 80, of Paramus
died January 17.
She worked in jewelry sales at Saks Fifth Avenue
for over 35 years and was a lifelong member and
former vice president of B’nai B’rith Women of
Paramus.
Predeceased by her husband of 35 years, Arnold,
and a brother, Howard, she is survived by children,
Laurie Nagler (Barry) of Florida, Phil (Luchelle)
of Paramus, and Randi Alexander (Alan) of
Lawrenceville, and five grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Robert Schoem’s Menorah
Chapel, Paramus.
Annette Kleeblatt
Annette Kleeblatt, née Vreeland, 95, of Dumont,
formerly of Amsterdam, died January 15.
Predeceased by her husband, Walter, five sisters
who died the Holocaust, and a sister, Janny, with
whom she survived the Holocaust, she is survived
by sons, Robert (Lauren) of East Hampton, N.Y., and
Gary of Wethersfield, Conn.; grandchildren, and
great-grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant
Jewish Funeral Directors.
BRIEF
Mourners mark the return
of murdered Israeli woman
JERUSALEM — Thousands of mourners gathered for
the funeral of an Israeli woman murdered in Australia.
The mourners walked through the Arab town of Baka
al-Garbiyeh in northern Israel, the hometown of Aiia
Maasarwe, to accompany her body to a local cemetery.
Maasarwe, 21, was killed a week ago in Melbourne,
and her body was discovered hours later.
Her father, Saeed, had flown to Australia to identify
her and bring her home for burial.
It took nearly a week for the Victorian coroner and
the Australian police to release her body for burial,
though Muslim tradition requires a burial as soon as
possible after death.
“This is the message we want to send, we want
to make the world more peace and more safety, and
more beautiful, and more smile; and more forgive each
other,” Saeed Maasarwe told reporters late Monday
before leaving for Israel. “It’s not from me, this is Aiia. I
talk in my voice, but this is Aiia’s mind.”
Maasarwe, an exchange student at La Trobe Univer-
sity in Melbourne for the last five months from Shang-
hai University in China, had been on a Facetime video
call with her sister late on January 15, when it was inter-
rupted. The phone was knocked from Maasarwe’s hand
and her sister heard screaming, according to reports.
Codey Herrmann, 20, a rapper who performs as
MC Codez, was arrested more than two days later and
charged in Melbourne Magistrates Court with murder
and rape.
Several vigils were held in Melbourne for the mur-
dered Israeli woman and a rally was held in Israel dur-
ing which demonstrators accused Prime Minister Ben-
jamin Netanyahu and the government of not doing
enough to return Maasarwe’s body.
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JS-41
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 JS-43

Classified/Jewish World

Boston
FROM PAGE 29
and inclusive dialogue,” the group said. “It sets a danger-
ous precedent of condemnation by association by plac-

“ Being hungry affects your

ing a political litmus test on Council membership based
on partnerships.”
Burton was asked whether there was a way for the
Boston Workmen’s Circle to remain a part of the JCRC if
appearance, how you act.
it stood behind its decision to sign the Jewish Voice for
Peace letter and continued signing such statements. “I When I’m hungry, I’m not in the
“
don’t think so,” he said.
The Boston Workmen’s Circle said it was worried that mood for anything.
the vote could alienate members of the Jewish com-
munity. “We are particularly concerned about Jews
who have long been marginalized within mainstream
community and with Jews who are feeling increasingly
isolated from Jewish institutions because of red lines
like the one approved last night,” its board said in in a
statement.
Burton said his organizations was not trying to create
divisions in the Jewish community.
“[W]e do not seek division, but there are divisions in
our community that are unfortunate and sometimes it is
necessary to take a stand on those divisions,” he said.
The JCRC has a longstanding policy that member
groups cannot partner with Jewish organizations sup-
porting BDS, Burton said.
“This clarifies what we’re talking about when we talk
about BDS in the Jewish community.” Burton said.
BDS is a red line for nearly all major Jewish groups,
although organizations that have rejected BDS but are
critical of Israeli policies have also been subjected to
scrutiny. In 2014, the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations blocked the liberal Mid-
east policy group J Street from becoming a member,
despite a number of leading Jewish groups coming out
in favor of J Street’s membership.
While J Street opposes BDS and considers itself pro-
Israel, opponents said its frequent criticism of the cur-
rent Israeli government and public disagreements with
other Jewish groups were disqualifying. By contrast,
JVP embraces BDS and also says on its website that “We
Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON is a national advocacy
unequivocally oppose Zionism.” organization working to end hunger among people of all faiths and
Burton said J Street’s membership had also been
debated at the JCRC eight years ago, but that the group backgrounds in the United States and Israel.
ultimately was allowed to remain part of the coalition.
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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 43


Opinion
Free Speech
FROM PAGE 32
That would mean keeping the Palestinians as non-
citizen residents under military rule. The second
option would be to annex the West Bank, making it
part and parcel of the State of Israel. If it were to
grant the residents of this now annexed land citizen-
ship, the world could watch as these new citizens
simply voted away all of the state’s Jewish charac-
ter, eliminating the Jewish homeland and adding one
more Arab state to the many that already exist. The
second would be if Israel were to annex the terri-
tory without granting citizenship to its population.
If that were to happen, we would watch the death
of Israel as the “only democracy in the Middle East.”
There are parties in the governing coalition now
already discussing this second option as a viable and
preferred solution. The logic of land for peace and a
two-state solution, however, was to establish a stable
framework through which a democratic Jewish State
could continue to flourish and thrive.
That is why the two-state solution also has been U.S.
foreign policy for decades. The Senate Bill S-1 specifi-
cally rolls together both Israel proper and the territo-
ries. It jettisons the policy in preference for an indefi-
nite Israeli control of the occupied territories as the
U.S. position. This is a policy of permanent instability
involving an occupied people that will soon comprise
a majority of the population in the region.
But let’s get back to Bahia Amawi. The choice she
was presented with was to have her free speech rights
suspended only when it comes to Israel and its settle-
ments in the West Bank — or be denied employment
by the state of Texas. If Senate Bill S-1 becomes law,
then this is a choice with which all Americans will be
presented — suspend your free speech when it comes
to Israel or face financial and commercial penalties.
It’s a choice that American Jews must resist. This
trend, turning pro-Israel advocacy into a weapon to
undermine fundamental American values and rights
protected in our own Constitution, is dangerous.
It is bad for America, it is bad for freedom, and in
the end it will be bad for the Jews. Bafflingly, we see
such efforts supported and defended by leaders who
otherwise claim the mantle of champions of Ameri-
can values. AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and
most Jewish community organizations remain fully on
board in supporting and promoting such legislation.
Indeed, despite the court challenges and opposition
from free speech watchdogs, the legislative campaign
shows no signs of abating.
And so there will be more cases like Amawi’s. For
example, the New Orleans City Council adopted a res-
olution calling for a review of the city’s investments
and contracts. The clearly stated goal of this review
was to bring the city in line with its values as laid out
in the resolution: New Orleans “has social and ethi-
cal obligations to take steps to avoid contracting with,
or investing in, corporations whose practices consis-
tently violate human rights, civil rights, labor rights,
or corporations whose practices egregiously contract
efforts to create a prosperous, educated, healthy and
equitable society.”
It was no secret that Palestinian rights activists,
including those advocating for BDS against Israel, sup-
ported and even helped draft the New Orleans resolu-
tion. Because of that, even though the resolution in
no way singled out or even mentioned Israel or BDS,
it was swiftly denounced as a stealth attack on Israel.
44 JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019
JS-44
Groups like the Anti-Defamation League pres-
sured the Council to rescind it, and a prominent New
Orleans rabbi, Ed Cohn, alleged that the resolution
“cleverly masqueraded as a high-minded civic state-
ment designed to prevent human rights abuses…. It
sounded so good. It took no time, however, to see the
deception.” It looks as if the ADL and the rabbi truly
believe that Israel doesn’t hold up to the standards
that New Orleans sees as basic and just.
This reaction highlights a painful truth. Going for-
ward, any call for the defense of human rights, if
applied universally today, will inevitably raise ques-
tions about Israel, and especially the policies associ-
ated with Israel’s control of the West Bank, East Jeru-
salem, Gaza, and the settlement enterprise that they
support. The only way to insulate Israel from such
questions is to either kill such calls outright, or to
explicitly exempt Israel from the same rules and stan-
dards that apply to the rest of the world.
In making S-1 a bill
that supports
indefinite occupation,
the bill’s sponsors
also preclude any
nuanced anti-BDS
action, which may be
the most effective
way to combat BDS
on college campuses
where the BDS
debate is strongest.
American defenders of Israel often have condemned
critics, and especially BDS advocates, for unfairly sin-
gling out Israel for special scrutiny or holding it to a
higher standard than other countries. Ironically, many
of these same defenders of Israel condemned the New
Orleans resolution for doing precisely the opposite.
They are arguing, in effect, that when talking about
human rights, it is unfair to subject Israel to the same
scrutiny as the rest of the world. They are suggesting
that failing to hold Israel to a different, a lower stan-
dard, than the rest of the world, when it comes to
human rights, is a new form of anti-Israel and there-
fore anti-Semitic behavior.
Sadly, the New Orleans City Council gave in to pres-
sure and rescinded its human rights resolution. In so
doing, it acquiesced to a definition of being pro-Israel
that demands the sacrifice of respect for universal val-
ues, the rejection of global standards of human rights,
and the delegitimization of international law.
With U.S. values and rights threatened at local,
state, and federal levels, politicians and groups
like the ADL are betraying their own values and
principles. They are guilty of throwing traditional
American values overboard in defense of Israel.
In so doing, they are weakening support for Israel
among Americans who are repulsed by the notion
that support for Israel demands the sacrifice of the
values and rights that are at the core of what it means
to be both Jewish and American.
And so was born Senate Bill S-1, which somehow
makes it un-American to hold Israel to a universal stan-
dard of decency — making opposition to permanent
occupation of the West Bank not only anti-Israel but
anti-American.
As a nonviolent campaign of protest, BDS’s stated
goals are ending Israel’s occupation of the Palestin-
ians, ensuring equal rights for Palestinian citizens of
Israel, and securing the right of return for Palestin-
ians who fled in 1948. It is this last goal that is the most
dangerous for Israel’s future as a Jewish state. Just
like annexing the West Bank, it would make Israel a
Muslim-majority.
Others claim that BDS holds Israel to a higher stan-
dard than other problematic states, and thus is inher-
ently anti-Semitic.
But, as we have learned from the Texas oath and
the New Orleans resolution, blanket opposition to BDS
implies that Israel be held to a different standard, its
own, unique, protected standard. By demanding that
Israel alone be treated to its own oath of loyalty, those
who promote anti-BDS laws in support of Israel are
actually demanding Israel be held to a lower standard.
This is not to say that BDS is worthy of support. We,
like many Jews, find BDS disingenuous and dangerous
to the future of the Jewish state.
Even worse, Palestinian activists have been hurt by
the prohibition against normalization imposed by the
BDS movement, making solidarity and cross-border
cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians that
much harder to achieve. And by including in its goals
an impossible one — the right of Palestinian return —
BDS has undermined important and achievable goals
of ending the occupation and equal rights for Palestin-
ians, as well as undermining the work being done by
Palestinian activists on the ground and bringing real
peace to the region.
In making S-1 a bill that supports indefinite occu-
pation, the bill’s sponsors also preclude any nuanced
anti-BDS action, which may be the most effective way
to combat BDS on college campuses where the BDS
debate is strongest.
As bad as BDS is, making it illegal on pain of a state
or federal penalty for an individual to organize over
what they perceive to be an injustice is a grave mis-
take. Abridging First Amendment rights is dangerous.
Once it starts, where will it end? Freedom of speech,
press, and association are rights we Americans hold
dear, and something we seem to recognize as crucial
to our identity as a nation.
But the goal of the S-1 sponsors, and its timing as the
first bill of the year, is not just to block BDS but also to
increase the polarization in our country, polarization
between Democrats and Republicans, between Blue
and Red, between liberal and conservative, and to
fracture our own Jewish community even more. That
is why Senate Bill S-1 was the first bill presented in the
Senate. It has been written in a way to divide us, to
make us choose between support of Israel and Amer-
ican free speech values; between protecting Israelis
from boycott and accepting permanent occupation.
And it has been presented now to force the issue. To
make people take sides in what traditionally had been
bipartisan support for Israel.
They may succeed. At what cost?
 JS-45

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JEWISH STANDARD JANUARY 25, 2019 45
 JS-46

Arts & Culture/Jewish World

Films
FROM PAGE 35
Jerusalem. An essayist and journalist,
with a particular interest in women’s
lives, she also was the Yiddish poet Itzik
Manger’s lover for a while. Through her
writings, we learn about the variety of
Jewish life in Warsaw before the war,
and later, when she takes over the com-
munal kitchens in the Ghetto, we see the
residents’ constant struggle to obtain
enough food to stay alive. Auerbach
and Ringelblum escaped the Ghetto and
fled to the Aryan side of Warsaw as the
Ghetto burned. She survived. He did not.
Two of the three caches that Oyneg
Shabes buried have been recovered.
In 1999, UNESCO included the Oyneg
Shabes Archive in its Memory of the
World Register.
Another excellent docudrama about a
little-known facet of the Holocaust is the
German film “The Invisibles.” Selected
for the 2018 New York Jewish Film Fes-
tival, this movie uses the same mix of
techniques — dramatizations, interviews,
and archival footage — to create a film
filled with suspense and as exciting as a
thriller. After Goebbels declared Berlin
free of Jews in 1943, seven thousand Jews
remained in hiding. Of those, 1,700 sur-
vived until liberation. “The Invisibles”
focuses on four young people — two men
and two women — and recounts through
interviews with the four survivors and
dramatized segments how they managed
to live through the remaining years of
the war. Seventeen-year-old Hanni Levy
dyed her hair blonde and spent her days
wandering the streets, often ducking
into movie theaters, until she found shel-
ter with an understanding movie clerk.
Cioma Schonhaus worked as a passport
forger and became successful enough to
afford a sailboat. Eugen Friede, another
teenager, hid in the home of a sympa-
thetic Communist and eventually joined
a resistance group. Ruth Arndt pretended
she was a war widow and found work as
a maid in the home of a Nazi officer who
was a black marketeer. All of the stories
feel like movie plots, as do so many sto-
ries of Holocaust survival.
It is no surprise that a German film
focuses on the kindness and support that
some Germans provided to vulnerable
young Jews. This approach makes “The
Invisibles” a lighter, pleasanter viewing
experience than “Who Will Write Our
History?” Director Claus Rafle, another
experienced documentary filmmaker,
intersperses the interview material with
the dramatizations in a highly effec-
tive manner, and the actors even begin
to resemble their real-life counterparts
after a while. In lesser hands, dramatiza-
tions in documentaries can be suspect,
a way to juice up the drama, but in both
these films they make the stories more
vital and more comprehensible. They are
excellent additions to the growing canon
of Holocaust films.

Forward
FROM PAGE 40
In 1974, a Chinese-American real
estate family bought the Forward
Building, and the newspaper moved
to midtown Manhattan, sharing space
with the Workmen’s Circle, a Jewish
socialist organization.
In 1990, the newspaper launched a
weekly edition in English under the
leadership of Seth Lipsky, a veteran of
the Wall Street Journal. Lipsky put the
reinvigorated weekly back on the map,
mixing his own neoconservative lean-
ings, his knack for hiring young tal-
ent, and a penchant for scoops with a
formidable culture section headed by
the critic and novelist Jonathan Rosen.
Forward alumni from that era include
Jeffrey Goldberg, now the editor in
chief of the Atlantic; Philip Gourevitch,
a New Yorker staff writer and former
editor of the Paris Review; and Lucette
Lagnado, a memoirist and reporter for
the Wall Street Journal.
Lipsky and the board parted ways in
2000, and his successor was J.J. Gold-
berg, a veteran Jewish journalist whose
politics were more in line with the
newspaper’s left-wing roots.
The Forward’s financial prospects
looked substantially brighter in 2003,
when Disney bought WEVD for a
reported $73-plus million; previously, a
Spanish broadcasting network had paid
the Forward $32.5 million for its cov-
eted spot on the FM dial, according to
the New York Daily News. At the time,
the Forward Association said “proceeds
from the sale would serve as an endow-
ment, ensuring that English, Yiddish
and Russian-language editions would
carry on regardless of the advertising
market.”
In 2010, the Forward and Workmen’s
Circle split the proceeds from the $18.5
million sale of their midtown building
to a developer who resold it the same
day for $20 million.
Enviable revenues from those sales
did not, however, ensure the newspa-
per’s long-term financial health.
“Part of the goal of a responsible board
of any organization is to make sure the
assets don’t get pissed away, which is
what they’re trying to deal with now,”
Freudenheim said. “Those assets were
used to prop up the print Forward, and
we’re living in a different age.”
Ken Doctor, a news industry expert
at the Nieman Lab, said the decision to
fire the most senior staff suggested a
news operation in tough straits.
“Usually it’s among organizations that
have hit the panic button,” Doctor said.
“When you have such a sudden lurch
and you take out the top positions,
that tells me this is not well planned. It
sends a note of desperation.”
Fedderson said it was responsible for
the Forward to act as it did when it did.
“The company was slow to evolve
when all the changes hit the media
landscape for a bunch of reasons,”
Feddersen said in her email. “I was
brought on to ensure the Forward con-
tinues to survive and thrive, and that
includes curbing our expenses. This is
by far the most responsible, best move
we can make to fulfill our mission.”
The Yiddish edition, which has con-
tinued printing alongside the English
paper, also will stop printing and main-
tain its digital presence.
In addition to retaining its left-wing
leanings, the Forward has a tradition of
investigative reporting on Jewish insti-
tutions. In the last year, its reporters
uncovered funders of Canary Mission,
a shadowy blacklist of pro-Palestinian
activists, as well as the history and mis-
deeds of Stanley Rosenfeld, a Jewish
educator who assaulted underage boys
for decades at Jewish schools.
In 2017 it reported on former Trump
White House aide Sebastian Gorka’s
connections to a Hungarian nationalist
group with roots in the Nazi era.
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