Jewish Standard Newspaper 4/29/16

8/17/2019 Jewish Standard Newspaper 4/29/16

1/56

201685NORTH JERSEY

FETING CANTOR ROMALIS page 10

EXAMINING THE DEATH PENALTY page 14

LEARNING THE YIDDISH WE ALREADY KNOW page 16

RECONSIDERING DISRAELI page 43

APRIL 29, 2016VOL. LXXXV NO. 34 $1.00

THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM

We reprint an essay by

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg

of Englewood on his

10th yahrzeit

What is

Zionism?page 26


2/562 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 29, 2016


3/56

Page 3

JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 12, 2

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Candlelighting: Friday, April 29, 7:33 p.m.

Shabbat ends: Saturday, April 30, 8:37 p.m.

NOSHES ...............................................................4

OPINION ...........................................................20

COVER STORY ................................................26

D’VAR TORAH ................................................42

ARTS & CULTURE ..........................................43

CALENDAR ......................................................44

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................46

OBITUARIES ....................................................49

CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................50

GALLERY ..........................................................52

REAL ESTATE ..................................................53

What a kippah really tells you about its wearerThe Pew Research Center this week repackaged its recent findings on Israeli

Jews into an explainer, laying out what a kippah tells you about its wearer.

Pew does not exhaust all the possibilities in this field, though. Below is our

research department’s guide to some styles that Pew left out. If you’ve ever

donned a kippah, even if only for your third cousin’s bat mitzvah, we’ve got a

category for you.

Pew reports: Your kippah countsWhat would we do without Pew?The intrepid religious survey organization has now ventured where many a Jew-

ish man has gone before, and calculated the statistical meaning of Israeli Jewish

headgear. They’ve cross-tabulated survey questions with self-reported yarmulke

identification, and have produced a fancy table we’re happy to reprint in toto.

LARRY YUDELSON

Donald Trump, Bernie Sandersleading the candidate kippah race● Donald Trump’s brand is taking

America by storm. Bernie Sanders sup-

porters are rising up in the streets.

Such is the state of the presidential

candidate kippah business, accord-

ing to Marc Daniels. The Jewish-head-

covering tycoon has been selling kip-

pot online and at campaign rallies for

months, but the whims of the elector-

ate remain a mystery to him.

“It’s strange there’s such a dispar-

ity,” he said, unable to offer a definitive

explanation.

On Daniel’s website, marcsjubilee.com, Trump trumps everyone, with 203

kippot sold. Sanders, the Independent

senator from Vermont running as a

Democrat, is a distant second (77), fol-

lowed by his rival, former Secretary of

State Hillary Clinton (31).

Trump’s Republican competitors, Sen.

Ted Cruz, R-Texas (23) and Ohio Gov.

John Kasich (6), come in fourth and

fifth, respectively.

At rallies, on the other hand, Sand-

ers supporters are the biggest buyers.

Daniels sold out of all 20-some kippot

he brought to the Millennials March for

Bernie in lower Manhattan on Saturday.

By contrast, he could barely unloa

three Clinton kippot at a recent ge

out-the vote event for her campai

Daniels first realized how much

ers supporters were feeling the kip

Bern when he sold 30 head cover

at a March 12 rally for the Jewish c

date in Bloomington, Illinois.

“With Bernie, Jewish or not, peo

want to identify with the Jewish g

he said.

Last month, though, Sanders fai

show up at the Super Bowl of can

date kippah sales events — the Amcan Israel Public Affairs policy con

ence — leaving the field wide open

Trump.

At the AIPAC confab in Washing

D.C., Daniels sold 10 Trump kippot

had to turn down requests for abo

more after his supply ran out. Clint

came in next at 15, then Sanders a

and Cruz at 5.

Those of us whose favorite — or

least home-state — candidate is no

longer in the running need not des

Daniels still is selling Chris Christie

kippot. He’s just moved them into

Purim 2017 category.RON KAMPEAS/JTA WIRE

Large pink satin kippah: You are

attending Stacie’s bat mitzvah.Puffy kippah that sits on your head

like a dumpling: You are a politician

visiting a synagogue for the first time.

Matching kippah-tallit set: You wore

it once — at your bar mitzvah.

Crocheted kippah that looks like a

slice of watermelon: You were the

class clown in Hebrew school.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kippah:

You were bar mitzvahed in 1989.

Marc Daniels selling his kippot at a Bernie Sanders rally in Union Square in l

Manhattan.

Giant red kippah: You are a macher in

the Catholic Church.

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL/JTA WIRE SERVICE


4/56

Noshes

4 JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 29, 2016

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

(1880-1920) and thecomplexity of assimila-tion. CAROL KANE, now63, got a best actressOscar nomination for herstarring role as a piouswoman whose immigranthusband settled on theLower East Side andbecame very Americanbefore sending for herand their young son.Roberts co-stars as aneighbor who becomesKane’s great friend andinvaluable guide toAmerica. No premiumservice is now streaming

“Hester Street,” but youcan see the entire film forfree on Youtube. It’s ahigh quality copy. Justenter the film title.

Here’s most of the

publicity release

for the Fox series

“Houdini & Doyle,” which

premieres on Monday,

May 2, at 9 p.m.: “Two

great men of the 20th

century — Harry Houdini,

master magician, escape

artist and paranormal

debunker; and Arthur

Conan Doyle, prolific

writer, creator of Sher-

lock Holmes and para-

normal aficionado — join

forces with Adelaide

Stratton, New Scotland

Yard’s first female

constable ever, to

investigate unsolved and

inexplicable crimes with

a supernatural slant. In

the series’ debut, Houdi-

ni, Doyle and Adelaide

investigate the murder of

a nun…. A witness claims

the killer is a young

woman who was tor-

mented by the nun. The

only problem is, that

young woman has been

dead for six months

HOUDINI (1874-19born Erik Weisz, wacourse, Jewish. Doywasn’t Jewish, and ton is a wholly fictiocharacter. Houdini iplayed by MichaelWeston, 42. He’s a gfriend of ZACH BRA41, and has had rolethree Braff films, inc

ing “Garden State.” may know him for ping Olivia Benson’s brother on several “and Order: SVU” epsodes. Weston, whoborn Michael Rubenstein, is the son of JRUBENSTEIN, 69, aactor whose creditsclude a co-starring in the ’80s series “CLike a Fox.” The famJewish virtuoso classical pianist ARTHURUBINSTEIN (1887-was John’s father aMichael’s grandfathJohn’s mother wasnJewish, and I don’t that Michael’s mothminor actress Judi Wis Jewish either. OneArthur Rubenstein wfamous prodigy whtoured the world whe was young. He wonly 19 in 1906, whemade his debut at Cegie Hall. Thereforeentirely possible thamet Houdini and/orsaw one and other performance.

Anton Yelchin

AT THE MOVIES:

Dark taleplayed out inthe ‘Green Room’

Kate Hudson Jon Lovitz

Doris Roberts Carol Kane Michael Weston

Patrick Stewart

reportedly is truly

frightening in

“Green Room.” He plays

Darcy, a diabolical club

owner. The story: a

raggedy punk band

agrees to play a run-

down backwoods club in

Oregon. When they get

there, they find out that

Darcy and his patrons

are neo-Nazis. They playthe gig and are ready to

depart when one band

member realizes she left

her cellphone backstage

in the green room. When

she goes back, she and

another band member

witness a murder by

Darcy’s racist associates.

Darcy orders the death

of the band members

and the rest of the film is

the cat-and-mouse

combat between the

band and Darcy’s men.

All the action is played

out in and around the

backstage area, which

adds to the film’s

intensity.ANTON

YELCHIN, 27, co-stars as

Pat, the band member

who proves to be

Darcy’s most resourceful

enemy.

By the way, the Stew-art versus Yelchin castingin “Green Room” hasthe air of a “Star Trek”episode in which an evilversion of a normallyheroic series star charac-ter battles a good seriesstar. Stewart is best

known for his star turnas Capt. Picard on “StarTrek: Next Generation.”Yelchin’s most-seen roleis Chekov in the latest re-boot series of “Star Trek”films.

“Mother’s Day” is

another holiday

film directed by

Garry Marshall (who

seems Jewish, but isn’t).

Like his previous flicks,“New Year’s Eve” and

“Valentine’s Day,” it is a

collection of schmaltzy

interrelated stories

relevant to the title and

featuring a huge cast.

KATE HUDSON, 37,

co-stars as the best friend

of a woman (Britt

Robertson) who was

adopted. Hudson encour-

ages her friend to seek

out her birth mother

(Julia Roberts). Jennifer

Aniston stars in the other

major story line. JON

LOVITZ, 58, appears to

have one of the larger

supporting roles.

DORIS ROBERTS,best known as RayRomano’s mother

in “Everybody LovesRaymond,” died on April17. She was 90. Her longcareer included a majorsupporting role that youhave to see — or seeagain. “Hester Street”(1975) arguably is thebest film ever madeabout the heyday ofEastern European Jewishimmigration to America

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

[email protected]

“So give your pups a piece of leoverbrisket to say thanks.”

— Alexandra Levine in the New York Times, quoting Rabbi David-Seth Kirshne

Temple Emanu-El of Closter as he told the story of the guard dogs who didn’t

that night in Egypt, when the Israelites escaped from Pharaoh.

benzelbusch.com

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Prices, programs and promotions effective Sun., May 1 thru Sat., May 7, 2016 in ShopRite® Stores in NJ, North of Trenton (excluding Ewing, Hamilton Square, Hamilton Marketplace, Pennington and Montague, NJ, and Rockland County, NY), including E. Windsor,Monmouth & Ocean Counties, NJ. Sunday sales subject to local blue laws. No sales made to other retailers or wholesalers. We reserve the right to limit purchases of any sale item to four (4) purchases, per item, per household, per day, except where otherwise noteMinimum or additional purchase requirements noted for any advertised item exclude the purchase of prescription medications, gift cards, gift certificates, postage stamps, money orders, money transfers, lottery tickets, bus tickets, fuel and Metro passes, as well as cigarettes, tobacco products, alcoholic beverages or any other items prohibited by law. Only one manufacturer coupon may be used per item and we reserve the right to limit manufacturer coupon redemptions to four (4) identical coupons per household per day, unotherwise noted or further restricted by manufacturer. Sales tax is applied to the net retail of any discounted item or any ShopRite® coupon item. We are required by law to charge sales tax on the full price of any item or any portion of an item that is discounted withof a manufacturer coupon or a manufacturer sponsored (or funded) Price Plus Club® card discount. Not responsible for typographical errors. Artwork does not necessarily represent items on sale; it is for display purposes only. Copyright© Wakefern Food Corp., 201All rights reserved.

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6/56

Local

6JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 29, 2016

All in the familyThurnauer director to be feted by, among others, her violinist daughter

LOIS GOLDRICH

When violinist Sha-

ron Roffman —

concertmaster

of the Orchestre

National du Capitole de Toulouse

— comes back to New Jersey next

month to play in the JCC Thurnauer

School of Music Annual Gala, she

will have a chance to do two things

at once.

First, by performing at the Gift

of Music concert — which beneits

Thurnauer’s scholarship program

— Ms. Roffman will get to play withnoted musician Joshua Bell. That’s

something she has wanted to do for

a long time.

Second, and perhaps equally important,

she will get to honor her mother, Thurnauer’s

founding director, Dorothy Kaplan Roffman,

on her 75th birthday.

“I grew up listening and watching my mom

teach,” Sharon Roffman said. “I was in lessons

with her when I was a baby.” While she never

formally studied at the Thurnauer school —

she was already settled into a music program

in Manhattan when Thurnauer was created —

“I grew up there,” Ms. Roffman said.

Thurnauer, she added, “is my mom’s pas-

sion and her life.”Begun 32 years ago, the school has been

named a major arts institution by the New Jer-

sey State Council on the Arts. Its director, too,

has been publicly recognized, receiving a Dis-

tinguished Service award from the New Jer-

sey chapter of the American String Teachers

Association. In 2013, it also won a Milestone

Certiicate of Appreciation from the National

Guild for Community Arts Education.

Sharon Roffman, “a card-carrying Franco-

phile,” has been in Toulouse since February.

From 2009 to 2011 she was a member of the

Orchestre National de France. “I love the life

there,” she said. A versatile musician who has

played all over the world, music “is a part of

my DNA,” Ms. Roffman said.

“I remember being conscious of havingan aha moment when I was a junior in high

school and my friends started talking about

college and the future — and all of a sudden I

realized that was not a question I had to ask

myself,” she said. “This was a realization in

and of itself. I learned a lot from that.”

Ms. Roffman, who is now 37, started play-

ing the violin when she was two years old.

“The Suzuki method starts with baby steps,

like how to hold the bow,” she said. “You

don’t start playing immediately,” any more

than children learning to talk “start by saying

mama and dada.” Instead, irst they babble,

gurgle, and coo.

While the violin has been her focus, “I hada brief flirtation with the saxophone,” Ms.

Roffman said. “We were not meant for each

other. I did it to be in the band at school.”

She attended Tenafly High School, which she

described as “amazing. I got a great educa-

tion. I think back on public school educa-

tion fondly,” she said, adding that the school

helped her arrange her schedule so she could

leave early to practice.

“I doubled up on things in my freshman

and sophomore years so in my junior year I

could get out at 1:30. I was always very seri-

ous, even as a child,” she said. Still, “I con-

sider myself a well-rounded person. That’s

important to me.

“I’ve never been one of those prodigies

who practices all day and never leaves theirroom. I’ve always had hobbies, interests, and

friends. That doesn’t mean I’m not serious.”

Ms. Roffman said that she went to the Man-

hattan School of Music, where her mother

has been a faculty member for more than 30

years, “from the time I was two weeks old. I

went with my mom every Saturday.” Taking

advantage of the many performance oppor-

tunities there and elsewhere, when she was

16 she won a concerto competition.

“I left high school early to go to the Uni-

versity of Southern California and study with

violin teacher Robert Lipsitt,” she said, credit-

ing Tenafly High School with allowing her to

count her college credits toward high school graduation. “After one year of college I got to

graduate with my class,” she said. She didn’t

even have to miss the prom.

Moving on to the Cleveland Institute of

Music to study with Donald Weilerstein,

she then spent four years at Juilliard work-

ing with, among others, Yitzhak Perlman.

“He’s a fantastic human being,” she said. “We

bonded over our love of food and wine.”

After leaving Juilliard, Ms. Roffman spent

several years living in New York, “playing and

doing various things, living the life of a free

musician.” Nevertheless, she wanted to see

more of the world. “I moved to Paris; lived

in Sydney and worked with the Australian

Chamber Orchestra; lived in Bremen, Ger-

many, and did a variety of different thingswith different groups in different countries.

It’s fascinating to see how different people

work.”

(Asked if Amazon’s series, “Mozart in the

Jungle,” is a realistic portrayal of backstage

orchestra life, Ms. Roffman said that “while a

lot of things are ridiculously overdramatized,

it brings up some interesting points. It’s a

mélange. I enjoyed its silliness.”)

Ms. Roffman said that she has been a fan of

Joshua Bell since she was three. “Seventeen

Magazine sponsored a violin competition,”

she said. “It was a famous competition and

launched a lot of careers. He won it when he

was 14. I distinctly remember m

lin teacher posting [an article

it]. It was the irst time I he

him. I love his playing.

“He’s one of my favorite viol

Mr. Bell “has an amazing

of architecture when he play

continued. “His pacing makes

A piece can have, say, 50

notes. If someone plays ever

the same, it becomes an end

flat landscape. He creates land

that make sense. There’s som

special about the way he plays

Mr. Bell “has been a friend

Thurnauer Music School for yshe said. “This will be his

concert. He’s a great violinis

brings in an audience that b

generations. He’s so charismatic.”

She is “super-excited” that she wi

the opportunity to play with him, an

the concert falls at a time when she

to leave work, she added. “We have

friends in common,” she added, point

that while she hasn’t yet had the oppor

to play with him, it’s likely they woul

played together at some point. She i

cially pleased that the irst such perfor

will be at the JCC.

“Thurnauer is unique because it is

munity music school open to everyonit’s also got the highest standards of an

sive conservatory,” she said. “That

unique and what makes it stand ou

any other music school I know of.” As

mother, “you’ll never ind a better peda

either speciically for violin or for m

general,” Ms. Roffman said. “She’s an

lievably warm and nurturing teacher.

times, we in our society honor peopl

big important jobs. People on the gr

like mom — teaching, talking to pare

kids every day, talking with teachers

make a difference in the world. They

and change lives.”

“Music is the most effective way to

empathy — the key to a peaceful worl

added. “When you’re playing, you havin touch with your emotions. The poi

express feelings, beauty, and things yo

say in words. It forces the music-mak

the listener to reflect and to connec

emotional parts of their personality.

tion and emotion are the keys to bu

empathy.”

The upcoming gala has two compo

she said. For the average attendee

being present will offer you a great c

with great music, great performers, a

entertaining evening.” But in addition

people who come will have the added

of actively helping the community by m

Who: The JCC Thurnauer School of Music

What: Presents its annual Gift of Music Gala Benefit, featuring violinist Joshua Bell

When: On Monday, May 2, at 7 p.m.

Where: At the Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 N. Van Brunt St., Englewood

Honoree: Founding director Dorothy Kaplan Roffman, celebrating her 75th birthday

How much: Tickets start at $25 for students, $50 for adults, and $90 for premierseating. VIP seating, at $250, includes premier seating and pre and post-concertmeet-the-artist receptions

For more information: Go to www.jccotp.org/GoM

Sharon Roffman Joshua Bell Dorothy Roffman


7/56

Loc

JEWISH STANDARD APRIL 29, 2

June 27 – August 5, 2016

Camp DiscoveryFor children entering 1st thru 7th grade

• Programs and activities include: – Science & Nature

– Arts & Crafts

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i

Here isa small

reminder ...

Photograph of Yocheved Farber, July 10, 1939. Yocheved lived with her mother and father during the Nazi occupation of the Vilna Ghetto.

She was abducted by the Nazis during one of their many roundups of children; she was killed. Collection of Rabbi Kalman Farber.

E D M O N D J . S A F R A P L A Z A

3 6 B A T T E R Y P L A C E

6 4 6 . 4 3 7 . 4 2 0 2 | W W W . M J H N Y C . O R G

# Y O M H A S H O A H

Y O M H A S H O A H ,

H O L O C A U S T R E M E M B R A N C E D A Y,I S T H U R S D A Y , M A Y 5 , 2 0 1 6 .

At the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust,we remember the six million Jews who were murdered

and reflect upon the meaning of their loss.

M AY 1 AT 2 P.M. Annual Gathering of Remembrance

NYC’s oldest and largest Holocaust CommemorationListen to the audio stream via mjhnyc.org/agr

M AY 3 AT 4 P.M.

Film screening and discussion of Voices from the Attic and Echoes from the Attic , free

M AY 4 AT 7:30 P.M.Yom HaShoah Program for Young Professionals

Presented by the Young Friends of the Museum and Manhattan Jewish ExperienceTickets: mjhnyc.org/yfyomhashoah

M AY 5 Visit the Museum without charge and speak with Holocaust survivors

Survivors in galleries from 10 A.M. - 2 P.M.; Museum open until 5:45 P.M.

music education available to those who can’t

necessarily afford it. Thurnauer never turns

anyone away. The beneit is an important

part of helping to ensure that it can always

happen.”

For her part, Dorothy Kaplan Roffman

— who, with her husband, Eric, has three

daughters, one son, and six grandchildren —said she has no plans to slow down her work

at Thurnauer. “It’s my ifth child,” she said.

“Because we live so close to the school, the

distinction between home and work is very

blurred. I roll out of bed and roll over there,”

something she has been doing for 32 years.

And, she added, “It’s so much fun.”

Why did the community need the Thur-

nauer school?

“We felt that there was a need for good

high-quality music education in Bergen

County,” Ms. Roffman said. (The “we”

includes Dr. Sandra Gold, with whom she

worked closely to create Thurnauer.) “Many

private teachers are very good, and there

are programs around that are good. But we

wanted a school all in one place, where stu-dents could begin younger than age 3 with

general music classes, grow into choosing an

instrument, or into being part of a chorus, or

orchestra, or chamber [group]. There was a

need for that. We didn’t think a lot about how

large it would become. We wanted to create

an important and meaningful music educa-

tion for people of all ages.”

The school opened in 1984; in 1987 Maria

and William Thurnauer of Teaneck endowed

it, and it took their name. Both Thurnauers

took an enduring interesting in the school;

many of Maria’s photos of children learning

and making music there still hang on its walls.Both Maria and William Thurnauer have

died; Mr. Thurnauer’s second wife, Lilo,

who now lives in Fort Lee, maintains the

family’s close and loving connection to the

school.

“People are very busy,” Ms. Roffman said.

“I hope that we represent the ability and

opportunity for people to take the time out of

their busy lives to enjoy either making music

or listening to it. That’s something extremely

important, especially now in our history,

where there’s a great deal of stress and rush-

ing around. You have to sit back and listen,

slow down. Learning to play an instrument,

you have to slow down. I hope we are con-

tributing to that in people’s lives.”

And what is her proudest achievement?“I don’t know how to answer that,” she

said. “I wanted always to create a community

of music lovers and music learners. I love my

faculty — I love working with them and learn-

ing from them, being in it together. I wanted

to create a certain tone and atmosphere of

warmth and enjoyment of music and learn-

ing of music with a sense of cooperation and

not competition. I think that’s how we all

feel.”

The school serves between 450 and 500

students a year, “except it didn’t start that

way,” she said. “It started with 30, then dou-

bled, then doubled again. It was a few years before we plateaued at 450. And those are

just the actual students who come to school.”

But in addition to teaching, “We do so

many other things — masters classes state-

wide, concerts for the entire community,

the Gift of Music,” she said. “People come

from all over. We impact many more than

just students who come to the school itself.”

The goal of the gala, she added, is “to cel-

ebrate the remarkable achievements of our

students, while raising critical scholarship

funds for children in our community who

wish to study music, but whose families lack

the inancial resources.”

Since the school opened, it has awarded

more than $2.6 million in need-based schol-

arships. Nearly 25 percent of its student body now receives inancial assistance. The

school also has sustained its 18-year “Music

Discovery Partnership” with the Engle-

wood Public School District, providing a

high-quality afterschool music education to

underserved children.

Ms. Roffman said that Drs. Joa

Alan Handler came up with the id

the annual Gift of Music gala 26 year

and they continue to sponsor it. “W

incredibly lucky to have wonderful

come as a gift to the school,” she sai

so necessary for us to raise funds for

arships. Josh Bell has come in 1992,and now.”

His irst visit “was at the beginning

career. We’ve cherished him as a pers

as a magniicent artist. He’s a ine viol

will be an evening of wonderful music

In addition to Mr. Bell, Ms. Roffma

pianist Allesio Bax, the Thurnauer Sym

Orchestra will perform — it will rehear

play with Mr. Bell. So will violin group

Thurnauer, “showing many levels of ar

The school chorus will perform as wel

“I’m struck by how much inanci

port is available at more advanced leve

Roffman said, citing such schools as Ju

and Yale. “I feel that support has to h

at the very beginning, to give childr

opportunity to be as good as they wanTo realize their potential.

“It’s not about creating professiona

about giving them a good music edu

and making it possible for them to go

direction they want. It enriches thei

and gives them something forever.”


8/56

Local


Get up, get moving, GET REGISTERED!Have a great time while raising awareness and funds to fight hunger in our community.

All proceeds support the kosher meals-on-wheels program and the JFS Food Pantry.

Father’s Day, Sunday June 19, 2016

Go to ridetofighthunger.com to register today

For more information contact us at 201-837-9090 - www.jfsbergen.org

What does six million look like?Linda Hooper of Paper Clip Project fame to speak locally for Yom Hashoah

ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

It all started in 1998, when an eighth-grader

in Whitwell, Tennessee, asked teacher San-

dra Roberts, “What does six million look

like?”

Whitwell Middle School principal Linda

Hooper had asked Ms. Roberts and asso-

ciate principal David Smith to develop a

Holocaust education class for an optional

afterschool program. But the mostly white,

Christian students struggled to grasp the

hard-to-understand scale of the number

six million — the number of Jews murdered

during the Holocaust.

Guided by Ms. Roberts, the educators

decided to collect six million paper clips,

each one a tangible symbol of each soul

who died. They chose the clips becausesome Norwegians wore them as a silent

protest against Nazi occupation during

World War II.

On Wednesday, May 4, at 7 p.m., the eve

of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Has-

hoah), Ms. Hooper will speak about the

Paper Clips Project in a public lecture at

Temple Avodat Shalom, 385 Howland Ave-

nue in River Edge.

The project ultimately extended over

several years and culminated in the collec-

tion of 30 million paper clips, which now

are on display along with 50,000 donated

documents and other artifacts in Whit-

well Middle School’s Children’s Holocaust

Memorial, housed inside a German railcarthat was used to transport Jews to concen-

tration camps.

Ms. Hooper also will speak at River Dell

Middle School and Solomon Schechter Day

School of Bergen County earlier on May

4, and she will make a presentation to the

River Dell Interreligious Clery Association.

“I have spoken to every type of group,

from Muslim and Jewish schoolchildren

to church groups and civic organizations

across the United States and in Australia

and South Africa,” as well as at Yad Vashem

in Israel, Ms. Hooper said.

“It always impresses me that when peo-

ple hear this story they hear it as people,

not as different cultural groups. We have a

strong tendency in our country to divide

populations into Jewish, Anglo-Saxon, Afri-

can-American, Buddhist, or whatever — but

I ind people respond basically the same

everywhere,” she continued.

“The Paper Clip Project began with

a group of children who learned about

something that was foreign to them, in a

community that had no experience of the

Holocaust. The message these children are

trying to give to the world is that we should

look at each other as people who suffer and

try to alleviate that suffering.”

A 2004 documentary, “Paper Clips,”

captured how the Whitwell students

responded to learning about the Holocaust

and inspired people to send paper clips

from all 50 U.S. states and from all corners

of the world.

“I try to challenge people to do what

we challenged our own community to do:

Look around you and see what needs to be

done in your community to make it better,”

said Ms. Hooper, who retired from

well Middle School in 2010. She is t

unteer coordinator of the Children’s

caust Memorial and does other cha

work with her husband, Edward.“When we speak with school gr

especially middle- and high-schoo

they are particularly interested in fol

up with an activity. For instance, in

rado one community started a tutorin

gram for students who did not have

to the best education. And we’ve ha

who challenged their group to do on

vah per person per month.”

Another outgrowth of the Paper

Project is the Chattanooga-based non

organization One Clip at a Time,

offers an interactive service-learnin

gram and accompanying educato

designed to motivate and empowe

dents in ifth grade and above to

Above, Linda Hooper stands with

year’s group of student tour guide

Whitwell Middle School’s Children

Holocaust Memorial in Tennessee

shown at left.

SEE SIX MILLION PA


10/56

Local


Touching people’s soulsAbout to retire, Cantor Charles Romalis looks back at50 years in one place, Temple Beth Tikvah in Wayne

JOANNE PALMER

There might have been a time and place where 50

years could go by and very little would change.

Maybe in the Middle Ages, say, in some

obscure, uncontested corner of some relatively

peaceful kingdom, far from the seat of government. The

people would change — probably the life expectancy would

have been less than 50 — but the primitive technoloy, sea-

sonal rhythms, and basic assumptions would go on.

That, needless to say, was then.

Now, someone who has a 50-year career as the cantor in

one place — and by deinition that is a very unusual person

— sees a head-turning number of changes.

Take, for example, Charles Romalis, the (clearly, given

the weight of the evidence) much-loved cantor at Temple

Beth Tikvah in Wayne. Cantor Romalis began his job asthe then still fairly new synagogue’s irst full-time cantor,

straight out of cantorial school. During his nearly unprec-

edented tenure, he has seen changes in just about every-

thing, from the town to the country to the shul itself.

Cantor Romalis will retire in the next few months, when

he will be given emeritus status. The synagogue has been

without a rabbi this year, and Cantor Romalis will stay on

until the new, still-to-be-voted-on-by-the-congregation

rabbi transitions into the job. Meanwhile, the synagogue

has been feting him all year with a series of celebrations

— see the box for the parties and commemorations still to

come — and the cantor has been taking the opportunity to

look back over the last half-century and marvel.

Charles Romalis was born in East New York, Brooklyn,

in 1944, to American-born parents, Morris and Anita Sch-

langer Romalis. Morris Romalis was a cantor, whose ownfather was not a cantor but had a good voice, loved to sing,

and would have loved to be able to do so professionally.

Morris Romalis, who studied and was ordained privately,

had his own long stint — an ultra-respectable 36 years —

at one synagogue. That was in the Fresh Meadows Jewish

Center in northeastern Queens, where Charles Romalis

moved when he was 9, and where he spent the rest of his

childhood and adolescence.

The Fresh Meadows Jewish Center was “Conservative,

almost Conservadox,” Charles Romalis said. It was a huge

and successful synagogue, “with about 800 families and

a caterer. My father sometimes did two, three, even four

weddings a weekend.” (The shul since has fallen on harder

times as its demographics changed — in other, more direct

words, most of the Jews moved out of the neighborhood.Almost 15 years ago, it merged with the Flushing Jewish

Center, and even so its membership is far lower than it

had been at its peak.)

Charles Romalis always loved to sing. At Jamaica High

School, he sang in the choir; at the Fresh Meadows Jewish

Center’s USY chapter, he was Albert, the lead — the Dick

Van Dyke part — in “Bye Bye Birdie.” He met his wife, Lou-

ise Rosenfeld, in choir in high school. “It was love at irst

sight,” he said. When he was Albert, she was Rosie. (That’s

the Janet Leigh part.) They’ve been married for 51 years;

she’s a recently retired social worker who began working

with women on their way out of jail and ended helping

military veterans getting back on their feet. The two still

love to sing together.

When Charles was in high school, the entire Romalis

family — his parents and his younger sister, Susan — would

sing together in the Romalis Family Choir, performing for groups like Hadassah and ORT. Charles was a boy singer at

weddings. “They don’t have those any more,” he said sadly.

The family was close. Music was a powerful shared bond.

Other than that, Charles did not particularly relish being

the cantor’s son. “I had to be the perfect model student

— which I was not,” he said. “I think I rebelled more than

anyone else.”

That meant that when he graduated from high school,

with the war in Vietnam raging — the draft scooping up

young men and depositing them to be shot at half a world

away — college was a haven, a place to shelter at least for

the amount of time it took to get a bachelor’s degree.

The problem was Charles Romalis’s grades. “They were

not good enough for a public college, and my parents

couldn’t afford a private college,” he said. He had w

to be a dentist, but it was very clear very soon, at le

him, that that career path was closed to him.

What to do?

“I went to Hebrew Union College, because I thoug

it was the only place I could get into, and I though

it would get me out of the army.” HUC, now the H

Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, has fou

puses. Cantor Romalis went to the one in Manh

which had a cantorial school. That means a few t

First, he went as an undergraduate, something t

not possible today. Now the cantorial school is for c

graduates. Second, many cantorial students then p

HUC only because they thought it was their ticket

the army. They did not intend careers as cantors, a

fact did not have them. Third, it is Reform, and C

Romalis grew up Conservative.As it turned out, these last two points posed no pr

for Charles Romalis.

“Within my irst week there, I knew that this was

said. “I knew that this was what I wanted to do wi

rest of my life.”

He lived at home, and “my father and I went ov

music together every night.”

As for the Reform part, “my father told me that h

constrained by the Conservative movement. He co

drive on Shabbat. If he wanted to go to a restaura

could only order coffee. He told me, ‘If you are go

become a cantor, do it Reform.’

“I love the Reform movement,” Cantor Romalis c

ued. “I love the organ.”

Of the 11 students in his year, he added, only two o

became cantors. “And now, if you look at the direyou see that I’m the only one from that time there.”

He’s the only HUC-educated Reform cantor to ho

same job for 50 years, he added.

It was during his time in school that Cantor Romal

came to New Jersey. He was the student rabbi at T

Sholom in River Edge.

In 1965, Charles and Louise got married, in May 19

graduated from HUC, and that July they moved to W

where they have lived ever since.

When he irst came to the community, Cantor R

had the same sensation he’d felt ive years earlier,

Celebrating CantorCharles Romalis

All year, Temple Beth Tikvah has been celebratiCantor Romalis’s 50-year tenure. There are thre

more celebrations to come. They are:

On Friday, May 6, many of the approximately 2,

students who became bar or bat mitzvah or we

confirmed under Cantor Romalis’s guidance wi

gather for dinner and services at the synagogu

On the evening of Saturday, May 7, the synagog

will host a gala in his honor at the Preakness Hi

Country Club.

On Sunday, June 5, the year will culminate in th

Jubilee Concert at the synagogue.

For information, call the synagogue office dur-

ing the day at (973) 595-6565 or go to its webs

www.templebethtikvahnj.org.

Susan, Anita, Morris, and Charles Romalis, here at

Charles’s bar mitzvah, sang together as the Romalis

Family Choir.

SEE ROMALIS PA



Dr. Benjamin Rosenbluth’s advanced care at Holy Name Medical Center is grounded in an

intense passion for helping others. To him, Holy Name’s appeal is about more than just the innovative

practice of medicine. It’s about a deep, dynamic commitment to touch lives in a way that matters.

Like everyone at Holy Name, Dr. Rosenbluth shares a common goal:

providing the best experience for each of our patients. That is the Holy Name difference.

To learn more about us, visit holyname.org or call 877-HOLY-NAME (465-9626).

Healing begins here. • 718 Teaneck Road • Teaneck, NJ 07666

—Benjamin Rosenbluth, MD, Radiation Oncologist

My job: Treating cancer My passion: Our patients


12/56

Local


he began his studies at HUC. “I knew that

this was where I wanted to be,” he said.

“I knew that I could come here, live here,

and grow with the community, and with

friends. And it all worked out exactly that

way.“My feeling is that the most important

thing is that the community should be cohe-

sive,” he said. “I try to mend, not to split.”

Cantor Romalis had interviewed and

auditioned in larger synagogues, including

Holy Blossom Temple, the huge Toronto

institution, which offered him a job. “I just

thought that they’d eat me up alive,” Can-

tor Romalis said. “I was only 22 years old,

and those places are corporate.” He also

was offered a job at a 1,000-family syna-

gogue in Baltimore, “but I didn’t want to

go to Baltimore.”

Beth Tikvah was a very different kind of

place; smaller, younger, not at all urban. It

was founded in 1956, by families who had

moved from Paterson, Fair Lawn, NorthBergen, and, surprisingly, Queens, among

other places, to the wide green open farm-

lands of Wayne. (Of course, the Romalises

also moved to Wayne from Queens.) The

shul’s irst full-time rabbi, Shai Shaknai,

was young, exciting, and inspirational. It

was Rabbi Shaknai who welcomed even

younger Cantor Romalis to the shul. “He

was the reason why I came here,” Cantor

Romalis said. “He was my teacher at HUC;

he felt the temple needed a full-time can-

tor, and he recommended me.

“He was a prince. Really a prince.”

We have no way of knowing what Rabbi

Shaknai would have done, where he might

have taken the synagogue, had he not got-ten sick and then died at 37, three years

after Cantor Romalis joined his staff.

Beth Tikvah’s next rabbi was Israel

Dresner, a social activist who took on some

of his time’s burning moral issues, and

who is now the synagogue’s rabbi emeri-

tus. “He was a Freedom Rider, he famously

went to jail with Martin Luther King Jr.,”

Cantor Romalis said. “He had an agenda

that was mostly about social action, and he

let me do what I wanted to do.

“So I did a lot of musical programming

while he was off doing his stuff. I covered

for him pastorally when he was away.”

The next rabbi, Stephen Wylen, who

was there for about 10 years, was “a dif-

ferent kind of rabbi,” Cantor Romalis said.It was Rabbi Wylen’s departure last year

that put Cantor Romalis in the position

of having to take on many more pastoral

duties than most cantors handle. It was,

however, a position for which the last 49

years had prepared him.

Over his ive decades at Beth Tikvah,

Cantor Romalis has seen not only the syn-

agogue but also the town change. “When

I irst came here, everything was about

growth,” he said. “And then people got

older. I am friendly with other people who

also have been here for 50 years; about

a third of the members are over 80, and

we’re trying to build from the other end.”

Much of that situation, he added, is

a direct result of economics. “It’s very

expensive to live here,” he said. “When

a young person is starting an adult life —how do you afford to live here, unless you

have family money?”

The town changed too. What once was

farmland is “now almost entirely devel-

oped,” he said. “It used to be vegetable

farms, lettuce farms, dairy farms. There

used to be a lot of vegetable stands by the

side of all the roads.” But no, there never

were any farmers who were members of

Beth Tikvah.

The synagogue has a religious school,

which now has about 100 students. “When

I started, there were about 250, 275 chil-

dren,” Cantor Romalis said. “It grew to

about 630 kids in the late 70s, early 80s,

and then people got older, and we didn’thave that influx. Forty, 50 families used to

come in each year; now we are happy get-

ting 10 or 11.” Still, he added, “100 students

is still a decent size school.”

During his time at the shul, Cantor

Romalis started programs that include the

Renaissance Club, aimed at people 49 and

older. “Together, we do things that range

from breakfasts with speakers to week-

ends away. We’ve taken trips to Israel and

to Europe, we’ve gone on Jewish heritage

cruises, we’ve done a lot that has kept us

together.” The group, of course, is aging,

he said ruefully; “the millennials have

their own way of thinking” that does not

involve trips with synagogue members old

enough to be their parents or even — andperhaps more likely — their grandparents.

He also started a choir, which used

to meet once a month and now comes

together a bit less frequently. Its mem-

bers, though, are iercely loyal to him and

to each other.

Has the music he leads during services

changed? “I try to do a blend, to make peo-

ple feel comfortable,” Cantor Romalis said.

“On the holidays, I will do some big can-

torial pieces, and also some Debbie Fried-

man in between. I have tried to make that

balance, and I think that it works.

“On Friday nights, I do more of the

Reform repertoire, and on Saturday morn-

ing I do more to show the flavor of what

Jewish music is. It’s very important to have

both, and I like both.”

During his tenure, Cantor Romalis“taught every grade level here, from kin-

dergarten to high school.” He also trained

about 2,200 bar and bat mitzvah students.

On the side, he was the president of his

cantorial school alumni association and

has been active in the American Confer-

ence of Cantors, the Reform movement’s

cantorial association, holding many lead-

ership positions there. HUC gave him an

honorary doctorate in 2000.

He also was active in the outside world.

“I was a real estate appraiser,” Cantor

Romalis said. “I had to put my kids through

college!” He and Louise have two children,

Jenny and Joshua. Jenny’s husband is Wes

Winters; Josh’s wife is Elin Westrick, and Josh and Elin have two sons, Taouyan Riis

and Joah.

Cantor Romalis also was involved in

Wayne’s Chamber of Commerce and

helped organize its irst Project Gradua-

tion, which steers kids away from trouble,

in the form of drugs and alcohol, on gradu-

ation day.

Janice Paul of Wayne, who is now Beth

Tikvah’s president, has been at the syna-

gogue even longer than Cantor Romalis, so

she has known him throughout his career

there. “I was raised at Temple Beth Tik-

vah,” she said. “I grew up in Wayne. Can-

tor Romalis came there the year I was in

kindergarten, and we shared the next 50

years. And now I am president as he cel-ebrates 50 years here.

“I have a 14-year-old son,” she added.

“His bar mitzvah was 16 months ago. For

Cantor Romalis to have presided over all

of my Jewish life-cycle events, and then to

preside over my son’s bar mitzvah — it was

just extremely special to me.

“We have been to Israel together twice,

irst when I was 16 and then when I was 38.

“He is an integral part of my family tap-

estry. And my story is not unique. He has

been an integral part of so many family’s

tapestries.”

Arthur Barchenko of Wayne was the

executive vice president, in line to b

ident, when Cantor Romalis was a

at HUC, half a century ago.

“Rabbi Shaknai and I went to the

rial school and interviewed a numcandidates, and we chose Cantor

lis,” Mr. Barchenko said. “He came

temple with his lovely wife, Louise,

a home here in Wayne, and took ov

responsibilities of cantor and teac

the Hebrew school.

“He matured and grew with the c

gation, and through the years he an

ise played an integral role in the g

of the temple. And this last year, wh

have been without a rabbi, he has

both cantor and rabbi, and he hel

the stabilization of the temple durin

dificult time.

“He has been a very important p

Temple Beth Tikvah all these years.”Mickie Strickler of Wayne, Beth Ti

immediate past president, is in cha

the celebrations of Cantor Romalis d

this year. “He is very beloved by eve

at the temple,” she said. “I have see

do everything — -bar and bat mitz

weddings, funerals, baby namings.

been to funerals where his elegies a

beautiful. And he lights up our se

with music every week.”

Ellen Goldin of Wayne is both a m

of Beth Tikvah and the head of its H

school.

“He is unique,” she said. “No

tion about it. He engages everybod

reaches out and touches people’s

with his music, his personality, hisness, his consideration. He is just a

derful human being.

“When he conducts services, he

a lot of reaching out to the congre

to sing, and we are a singing congre

because of him.

“When you work with him, he is re

ful and knows how to be collabor

He is always interested in other pe

points of view.

“I know that I sound like a Goody

Shoes, but it’s true. It’s been the op

nity of a lifetime, the chance to kno

and work with him,” Ms. Goldin said

Romalis FROM PAGE 10

At left, Charles and Louise Romalis on Beth Tikvah’s bimah; right, Cantor Romalis leads choir practice.



Young Leadership Award

Lillian PravdaFounder and CEO (Chief

Eyesight Optimist)

Vision for and from Children

Lillian Pravda, age 16, is the

Founder and CEO (Chief Eye-

sight Optimist) of Vision for and

from Children, a U.S.-based

global 501(c)(3) dedicated to

providing eye surgeries and vision services to children

who lack access to such care. To date, she has helped

26,210 children receive the gift of sight in the United

States and developing regions.

Lillian is a 2014 national Jefferson Award recipient and

has been profiled by ABC, CBS, Fox Business, Bloomberg

TV, Fast Company, Crain’s 20 Under 20 and in TheWall Street Journal. Through her speaking engagements

at schools and conferences worldwide as well as at the

United Nations and as an invited TEDx speaker, Lillian

has impacted over 1 million lives with her message of

public service and humanitarianism.

Community Leadership Award

Jay FeinbergCEO, Gift of Life Bone Marrow

Foundation

A 20 year transplant survivor,

Jay Feinberg is Gift of Life’s

founder and chief executive

officer. In 1991, he was diagnosed

with leukemia and told that his

only hope of a cure was a bone marrow transplant. With

the help of his family and friends, Jay embarked on

a groundbreaking international search for a matching

donor. After organizing 250 drives and testing 60,000

potential donors, Jay’s match turned out to be the very

last donor tested at the very last drive.

Under Jay’s leadership, Gift of Life has become one ofthe world’s most effective volunteer donor registries.

To date, the organization has facilitated transplants for

approximately 3,000 cancer patients around the world.

To accomplish this feat, Gift of Life has been an innova-

tor in the field of donor recruitment.

Jay has received numerous awards, including the prestig-

ious Charles Bronfman Prize, the National Marrow Donor

Program’s Allison Atlas Award, and Hadassah Interna-

tional’s Citizen of the World Award.

Please join us at our

Annual Breakfast Honoring

Lillian PravdaYoung Leadership Award

Jay FeinbergCommunity Leadership Award

Sunday, May 15th

Breakfast 9:30 –11:00 am

Presentation 10:30 am

Congregation Bnai Yeshurun

641 West Englewood Avenue

Teaneck, NJ 07666

Areyvut, translated from Hebrew, means “responsibility”—

responsibility to one’s community and responsibility to the

world. But when it comes to Areyvut, responsibility is just

the beginning.

Areyvut’s mission is to infuse the lives of Jewish youth

and teenagers with the core Jewish values of chesed (kindness), tzedakah (charity) and tikkun olam (social

action). Areyvut creates innovative programs that make

these core Jewish values real and meaningful to them

and offers Jewish day schools, congregational schools,

synagogues, community centers, and families a variety

of opportunities to empower and enrich the lives of their

youth and children.

To learn more about Areyvut and our programs,

to contribute, or to register for the breakfast, please

visit our website and follow us on social media.

147 South Washington Ave.

Bergenfield, NJ 07621

P: 201-244-6702

F: 201-338-2427

[email protected]

www.areyvut.org

facebook.com/areyvut/

twitter.com/areyvut

linkedin.com/company/areyvut

instagram.com/areyvut/

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This Year’s Honorees


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Is the death penalty moral?In Franklin Lakes, a Jewish look at capital punishment

JOANNE PALMER

There are some hot-button issues

that can destroy friendships —

abortion, gun control, immigra-

tion, to name just a toxic few.

There are other issues that are just as

important, just as emotional, and that seesaw

just as precariously on the knife edge dividing

justice and mercy, but for some reason allow

people to discuss and disagree without think-

ing that people on the other side are inhuman

brutes.

For some hard-to-pinpoint reason, the

death penalty seems to be in that second

category. Reasonable people can disagree civ-

illy — and in fact reasonable people at times break with the consistency of their own politi-

cal positions as they take their own stands.

On May 9, Rabbi Joseph Prouser’s Moral

Literacy series will tackle the question of

the death penalty, asking such questions as

who is bad enough to deserve it, who is good

enough to impose it, and what does Jewish

law and tradition say about it.

Rabbi Prouser, who heads the Conser-

vative Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in

Franklin Lakes, is a registered Republican

and describes himself as “pretty conserva-

tive. But I really break with conservative

thinking on this issue. I am

absolutely opposed to capi-tal punishment.”

It is not a live issue in New

Jersey, he conceded. Capital

punishment has not been

legal here on the state level

since 2007, although it still

is possible in federal cases.

No one has been executed

in New Jersey since 1963. But

it is both legal and not infre-

quent in other parts of the

country.

And, of course, “this debate is an area that

shows that Jewish tradition has an important

voice to contribute to the moral discussion,”

he said. “Jewish tradition has evolved in a

way that should be heard by everyone. Wehave an important perspective to share with

other Americans in this debate, but it’s not

being heard, because Jews instinctively keep

these debates internal, so it becomes just a

Jewish debate.

“We are reluctant to have a public voice on

the big questions, alt

we have well developevolved things to sa

voice generally isn’t he

the American public b

we don’ t raise it. J

morality has been an in

Jewish issue, and we h

felt authorized to impo

perspective on the br

public.”

His own view, wh

have held my entire

life, has been shaped b

ish sacred texts and Jewish traditio

said. “The Torah certainly prescribes

punishment for all sorts of things, fro

bath violations to high crimes, but the

so dramatically limited our ability to icapital punishment that they rend

virtually nonexistent.” Citing the tal

idea that a Sanhedrin — the Jewish c

that period — that oversaw one execu

seven years (or others say, in 70 years

“bloody Sanhedrin,” “the rabbis unde

Rabbi Joseph Prouser

Who: Rabbi Joseph Prouser of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey

What: Presents, as part of the shul’s moral literacy series, a panel on capital punishment

When: Monday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m.

Where: At Temple Emanuel, 558 High Mountain Road in Franklin Lakes

How: Admission is free, but reservations are suggested. Call (201) 560-0200 or

email [email protected]

For more information: Go to Emanuel’s website, tenjfl.org

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that the kind of perfect moral perspective that

is required to take human life is not accessible

to us,” Rabbi Prouser said. “It is ideologically

presumptuous to take human life when there

are other options available. Doing so in the

heat of combat is different, and even targeted

assassinations of people plotting a terroristattack is different, but when you have some-

one who already is imprisoned, you have

options. There is no immediate compelling

moral need to take their lives.”

Then, he added, there always is the chance

that when you sentence someone to death,

you’ll get it wrong. “Israel has sentenced two

criminals to death,” he said. One was Adolf

Eichmann, the absolutely and horriically

guilty Nazi mass murderer whom Israel tried

and executed in 1962. The other was John

Demjanjuk, nicknamed Ivan the Terrible,

who was convicted of being a Nazi guard andmass murderer at Treblinka. But the Israeli

Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s

verdict, saying that there wasn’t enough evi-

dence proving Demjanjuk was Ivan. He was

released. “So even Israel got it wrong 50 per-

cent of the time,” Rabbi Prouser said. “And

I’m not sure that Texas” — which executes

more prisoners than any other state — “uses

the same methods in correcting misguided

decisions.

“I say this while acknowledging that some

crimes are terrible, and I have no problem

with locking people away for life. I’m not

sure that’s more merciful than capital punish-ment. I just think it’s more defensible because

it’s reversible. It’s an expression of theological

humility. We can’t be sure we’re right.”

Rabbi Prouser’s panel is still being formed,

but the three speakers he’s gathered so far

have interesting takes on the subject.

Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congrega-

tion Ansche Chesed on Manhattan’s Upper

West Side is a member of the Conserva-

tive movement’s Committee on Jewish Law

and Standards. In 2013, he wrote a teshuva

— a response to a question about halacha,

or Jewish law — on capital punishment.

The question was about whether it is hala-

chically acceptable for a Jew to participate in

the American legal system in a capital case,

whether as a prosecutor, a judge, a juror, ora witness.

The short answer is yes.

Although “the United States is the only

country in the world with a signiicant Jew-

ish population that has the death penalty”

— leaving aside Israel’s special circumstances

— “the question is not if we’d prefer tha

be there, but if the policies are so bad th

have to resist them and refuse to coop

Because of the directive that unless t

a compelling reason to disagree with it

d’malkhuta dina” — the law of the land

law of the land, and because “every

has to create order, and that always incriminal justice, there is no prima fac

son to refuse to participate in this.

“This is a contested question, a

democracies the people get to decid

tested questions,” Rabbi Kalmanofsk

“It’s a bad policy, and they should c

it, and there are all sorts of reasons

should be changed — not the least of t

the not inconsiderable number of fals

victions — but it would not be correct

that the canons of Jewish law manda

cooperating with the state on it.”

Rabbi Simon Rosenbach, who head

gregation Ahavas Sholom in Newark, a

lawyer and a former assistant prosec

Middlesex County.

New Jersey’s death penalty was down in 1972 and revived in 1982, the

of political machinations (and the sou

many good stories best told elsewhere

In 1982, Rabbi Rosenbach, who wa

is) against the death penalty, found h

Nazi murderer Adolf Eichmann was executed in Israel in 1962.

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Your vocabulary, his missionBennett Muraskin wants to teach you the Yiddish you don’t know you know

LARRY YUDELSON

Ask Bennett Muraskin why you

should want to learn about the

Yiddish words that already are

part of your English vocabu-

lary, and he is quick with the Yiddish

answer:

“Why not?”

But seriously: Mr. Muraskin’s upcoming

presentation at the weekly Yiddish class

at Teaneck’s Temple Emeth is part of his

wide-ranging amateur interest in Yiddish

language and culture.

By profession, Mr. Muraskin, who lives

in Parsippany, is a union representative

for state college workers. By avocation,

he is an enthusiastic advocate for Yiddishculture — albeit one whose own actual

spoken Yiddish is sparse and rusty. He

has published a guide to Yiddish short sto-

ries in translation, written many articles,

and even gone viral, after an article he

had written for Jewish Currents on Jewish

family names was reprinted by Slate and

proved surprisingly popular.

All of which proves that his parents got

their money’s worth when they enrolled

him in a Yiddish school when he was

growing up in Brooklyn’s Borough Park.

His father understood Yiddish and could

speak it “to some degree.” His mother

could not. But they were communists,

and the Jewish communists had a network

of after-school educational programs thattaught Yiddish — or at least tried to teach

Yiddish — along with various aspects of

Yiddish culture.

The International Workers Order

founded the schools in 1930. The

communists were late to the game; theLabor Zionists founded the irst Yiddish

shule, as it was called, in 1910; the social-

ist non-Zionist Workmen’s Circle soon

started one, to be followed by the apo-

litical Sholem Aleichem Institute. At their

heyday, there were several hundre

schools across North America, and20,000 students.

That heyday pretty much coincide

the Second World War. Mr. Mura

shule days came later. Born in 195

went the school in the late 1950s th

the late ‘60s. There were only ive

kids in his class. The politics had

toned down from its Stalinist peak.

didn’t really try to indoctrinate yo

more,” he said. “It was more relaxed

The school did, however, let th

take off if they wanted to attend an

war demonstration.

There were classes in Jewish hi

Yiddish language, Yiddish literatur

even Yiddish song, with occasiona

tures into Yiddish dance.“Of course, there’s no such thin

a Yiddish dance,” Mr. Muraskin la

but dance was part of the perform

the students would put on for pa

complete with Yiddish dialogue th

Who: Bennett Muraskin

What: You know more Yiddish than

you think

Where: Temple Emeth, 1666 Windsor

Rd., Teaneck

When: Monday, May 9, 10:30 a.m.

Bennett Muraskin


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Muraskin, at least, didn’t fully understand.

“I never really mastered the language,”

he said.

Going to the IWO school “was exciting. I

knew I was part of a subculture, an under-

ground movement. We were different Jews

than everybody else. The other kids would

go to their regular Sunday school fromtheir synagogues. I didn’t.”

Nobody made a big deal about the dif-

ference, he said. He remembers his father

having “some minor brushes with the FBI.

Nothing spectacular. They would knock on

the door to visit the house and talk to him.

He believed they were trying to pressure

his employer into harassing him. It was

an unpleasant, hostile atmosphere. But I

didn’t really suffer personally too much

from it when I was a kid.”

As an adult, for years he has run adult

education for the Jewish Cultural Soci -ety of New Jersey. Based in Montclair, the

society offers a secular Jewish community,

including God-free Yom Kippur services.

But back to next week’s talk in Teaneck.

“It’s something I thought would be a lot

of fun and educational,” he said.

“There are so many loan words that

have entered into English from Yiddish.

Some of the more colorful words as well.

It’s not going to teach people Yiddish, but

it will teach a lot of Yiddish expressions

that are part of their English vocabulary.”

Mr. Muraskin inds it amazing “that a

small group of people that never made

up more than three or four percent of the

United States contributed hundreds of

words to the English vocabulary.“In 2013, the winning word in the

national spelling bee was knaidel. Unbe-

lievable. And some kid whose parents

were from India” — Arvind Mahankali —

“got it right.”

Bennett Muraskin’s guidesto Yiddish literature

Bennett Muraskin is devoted to keep-

ing Yiddish culture alive. “People,

especially Jews, really enjoy and proit

from reading Yiddish literature intranslation,” he said.

To that end, in 2011 he published

“The Association of Jewish Libraries

Guide to Yiddish Short Stories,” which

summarizes and categorizes 130 trans-

lated Yiddish short stories.

“This is a way for people to have

access to the Yiddish short stories,

based on topics and holidays, instead

of going to the library and picking up

an antholoy and leaing through it to

ind a story that might be appropriate

for the occasion,” he said.

“I saw an opportunity to ill what

was a pretty big gap in Yiddish litera-

ture in English translation: the lack of

any kind of sourcebook.“If we’re going to keep Yiddish cul-

ture alive, these books need to be

read,” he said.

And he wants you to be aware of a

big milestone coming up in two wee

May 13 marks the 100th anniversary

Sholem Aleichem’s death.

“He was the most famous Yiddi writer who ever lived, and the mo

translated,” Mr. Muraskin noted.

So what Sholem Aleichem wo

would he recommend reading to ma

the occasion?

“The Adventures of Mottel, the Ca

tor’s Son,” he said. “I think it is the b

thing he ever wrote. It’s the last bo

he wrote. It’s about the whole imm

grant experience through the eyes

this little nine-year-old mischief mak

as he and his family leave the shte

make their way from country to cou

try, inally travel on the steamship th

takes them to New York, and then g

ting adjusted to the new life.

“It’s a fantastic book for children aadults alike. I read it to my daught

She loved it. When it ended witho

an ending — because Sholem Aleiche

died while writing it — she cried.”

There are so many loan

words that haveentered into

English fromYiddish. Some

of the more

colorful words

as well.


18/56

Local


Zerowins areFair Lawn honoreesThe Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation

B’nai Israel will honor Roni and Jeff Zerowin

at a gala luncheon on Sunday, May 22. The

couple will be feted for their years of service

to the congregation and to many charities.Roni and Jeff, who have been married

for 50 years, will be joined by their chil-

dren, Eva, Jill, and Eric, and their spouses,

Lorenzo, Robert, and Rebecca, and their 10

grandchildren, along with congregants and

friends. For information, call (201) 7965040. Roni and Jeff Zerowin

NJ Supreme Court head to speak atYom Hashoah program in Fort LeeN.J. State Supreme Court

Chief Justice Stuart Rab-

ner discusses “Holocaust

Remembrance for theNext Generation” at Young

Israel of Fort Lee, begin-

ning with Mincha, on

Thursday, May 5, at 6:45

p.m.

Chief Justice Rabner,

the son of Holocaust sur-

vivors from Poland, is the

eighth chief justice to lead

the New Jersey Supreme Court. He

was nominated to the Supreme Court

by Governor Jon S. Corzine and was

nominated for tenure and sworn in by

Governor Chris Christie in 2014. Mr.

Rabner, who grew up

Passaic, was the chair

the Holocaust Resour

Center of the Jewish Feeration of Greater Cl

ton-Passaic. He grad

ated summa cum lau

from the Woodrow W

son School of Public a

International Affairs

Princeton University a

cum laude from Harva

Law School. Chief Just

Rabner and his wife, the former Deb

rah Wiener, have three children.

The synagogue is at 1610 Parker Av

For information, call (201) 5921518

go to yiftlee.org.

Chief Justice

Stuart Rabner

Federation marks Yom Hashoah May 5 Jewish Federation of Northern New Jer-

sey will hold its annual Yom Hashoah

commemoration on Thursday, May 5, at

6:30 p.m., at the Fair Lawn Jewish Cen-

ter/Congregation B’nai Israel. The gov-ernor’s ofice and the New Jersey Com-

mission on Holocaust Education have

designated the program, which started

in Paterson in the late 1940s and is

believed to be the oldest in the country,

as the oficial commemoration for north-

ern New Jersey.

Guest speakers include the associate

director of the NJ Commission on Holo-

caust Education, Dr. Joan Rivitz, and the

federation’s president, Jayne Petak. Zal-

men Mlotek, the artistic director of the

National Jewish Theater Folksbiene, and

his daughter Sarah will perform “Songs

of Spiritual Resistance.” Survivors will

light a candle and a young person willnarrate their stories.

A children’s candle procession will

be followed by a procession of Torah

scrolls rescued from the Holocaust and

now housed in local synagogues, includ-

ing the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/CBI,Congregation Shomrei Torah of Wayne,

Congregation Gesher Shalom in Fort

Lee, Temple Avodat Shalom in River

Edge, Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes,

Temple Emeth in Teaneck, and Temple

Beth Sholom in Fair Lawn. Sima Alper

will give a second-generation response,

and Dr. David Braun will offer a Yiddish

reading. Zalmen and Sarah Mlotek will

join the second and thi rd generations

in leading the Partisan Hymn, survivor

Herman Weinstein will chant El Maleh

Rachamim, and survivor Hy Miklacki will

lead the recitation of Kaddish. The shul

is at 1010 Norma Road. For information,

call (201) 7972164.

Annual NYC gathering of remembrancNew York’s oldest and largest community-

wide Yom Hash oah commemorat ion,sponsored by the Museum of Jewish Heri-

tage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust,

the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organiza-

tion, and the American Gathering of Jew-

ish Holocaust Survivors and their Descen-

dants, is set for Sunday, May 1, at 2 p.m.

More than 2,000 people, including

Jewish Standard Newspaper 4/29/16

Documents

Transcript of Jewish Standard Newspaper 4/29/16