Jewish Standard, September 25, 2015

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THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM 2015 84 NORTH JERSEY IN THIS ISSUE: ABOUT OUR CHILDREN, FALL SPICE ENGLEWOOD’S NEW SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT page 6 REMEMBERING MIKE ADLER page 10 ROCKLAND: NYACK’S MISSOURI BARD page 30 SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 VOL. LXXXV NO. 2 $1.00 Jewish Standard 1086 Teaneck Road Teaneck, NJ 07666 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Meet Dov Abramson, a graphic designer who wants to help you invite women to your sukkah page 26 Our Children About Supplement to The Jewish Standard • October 2015 Hut on High Heightens Sukkot Ending Procrastination: Now or Later Gratitute Attitude Useful Information for the Next Generation of Jewish Families FALL SPICE A supplement to the Jewish Standard · Fall 2015

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Transcript of Jewish Standard, September 25, 2015

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    201584NORTH JERSEY

    IN THIS ISSUE: ABOUT OUR CHILDREN, FALL SPICEENGLEWOODS NEW SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT page 6REMEMBERING MIKE ADLER page 10ROCKLAND: NYACKS MISSOURI BARD page 30

    SEPTEMBER 25, 2015VOL. LXXXV NO. 2 $1.00

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    CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

    Meet Dov Abramson,

    a graphic designer who wants to help you invite women

    to your sukkahpage 26

    OurChildrenOurAbout

    Supplement to The Jewish Standard October 2015

    Hut on High Heightens SukkotEnding Procrastination: Now or Later

    Gratitute Attitude

    Useful Information for the Next Generation of Jewish Families

    FALL

    SPICE

    A supplement to the Jewish Standard Fall 2015

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    englewoodhealth.org

    Four generations. One hospital.The Ippolitos have had their share of health scares. Cancer. Stroke. Heart disease.

    And more broken bones than you can count. But theyve also had many reasons to celebrate.

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    reason to make Englewood Hospital and Medical Center

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  • Teaneck native pranks Alex Trebek with Celebrity Jeopardy reference If it were a Jeopardy question, it might go like this: Teaneck native who became a social media sensation for making host Alex Trebek say Turd Fer-guson.To which the answer (or question, in

    the distinct lingo of the long-running game show) would be: Who is Talia Lavin?Ms. Lavin, who worked at JTA for

    about a year starting in the summer of 2013 and now is a fact checker at the New Yorker, didnt win much money as a contestant on Jeopardy on September 16, but she did win quite a bit of fame. She was trending on Facebook the next morning and mentioned everywhere from Cosmopolitan to USA Today.Her winning moment was a reference

    to Celebrity Jeopardy, one of the popular recurring skits of late-90s-era Saturday Night Live. In the skits, Will Ferrell impersonated Mr. Trebek and dealt with actors playing a host of raucous characters, from Sean Connery to John Travolta. Often, a devious Burt Reynolds (played by Norm Macdonald) asked Mr. Trebek to call him the nonsensical name Turd Ferguson.When Ms. Lavin was stumped on the

    shows Final Jeopardy question, she wrote in the words: What is the love ballad of Turd Ferguson? P.S. hi mom.Mr. Trebek consequently was forced

    to say Turd Ferguson on Jeopardy.The audience laughed politely at the

    reference, but the Internet exploded

    with responses, and Ms. Lavin quickly became a trending topic on Facebook by Thursday morning.Before she became an Internet

    darling, Ms. Lavin wrote on news and pop culture topics for JTA. She also was JTAs resident Ukraine expert during the 2014 Euromaidan revolution in which President Viktor Yanukovych was deposed. (Ms. Lavin, who is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, had spent the previous year as a Fulbright Fellow in Eastern Europe.)But Ms. Lavin disclaimed the fame,

    posting as a comment to this JTA story: Im no hero, just a red-blooded American who likes oversized hats.

    GABE FRIEDMAN/JTA WIRE SERVICE

    Media blames Israel for murder This weeks headline that would be considered anti-Semitic if it werent in the Jewish media is courtesy of JTA:

    Tiger who killed New Zealand zookeeper born in Israel.

    I cant picture people talking about me 50 years from now.

    Trail libraries give hikers food for thought Jerusalems Shalem College has a message to the Israelis who will spend their holiday vacations hiking Israels National Trail: Sit down and read.Shalem, a self-proclaimed Great

    Books College, has its own press where it prints Hebrew translations

    of classical works of Western thought. It has donated volumes from its collection to library stations set up at select campgrounds.The trail libraries are stocked with

    Shalem Press books on philosophy, literature, and poetry. Hikers may borrow and return books at any of the branches, operating solely on an honor system.Israel also has beach libraries and

    bus-stop libraries not surprising in a country full of bookworms.

    ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN/ISRAEL21C.ORG

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    NOSHES ...............................................................4OPINION ...........................................................20COVER STORY ................................................ 26ROCKLAND .....................................................30SUKKOT RECIPES ..........................................42CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................44ARTS & CULTURE ..........................................45CALENDAR ......................................................46OBITUARIES ....................................................49CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................50REAL ESTATE .................................................. 52

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    Sandy Koufax, talking to Sports Illustrated in 1965 about his ranking among baseballs greatest pitchers. It was fifty years ago, on October 6, 1965, that Mr. Koufax, an L.A. Dodger, sat out the first game of the World Series because it also was Yom Kippur.

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    LIZ GARBUS, 45, is ter-rific, and probably leaves you more informed than any attempt at dramati-zation.There is a much lighter

    tone in Hotel Transylva-nia 2, an animated mon-ster comedy directed by GENNADY TARTA-KOVSKY, 45. The direc-tor was born in the for-mer Soviet Union and his Jewish parents immigrat-ed to America in 1977. His parents were doing well in Russia his father was a prominent den-tist and his mother was

    an assistant principal. However, like thousands of other Soviet Jews they left because they feared the effect of anti-Sem-itism on their children. Gennadys first feature film, Hotel Transylvania (2012), turned out to be a huge box-office smash and even got a Golden Globe nomination.The original movie had

    Dracula, voiced by ADAM SANDLER, 49, running a hotel where monster-types could get a rest from human civilization. In the sequel, Dracula

    has opened the hotels doors to humans. Hes worried, however, that his half-human grandson, Dennis, isnt showing his vampire side, and he decides to put the young boy through monster-in-training boot camp. Den-nis is voiced by 6-year-old ASHER BLINKOFF. Denniss human dad, Johnny, is voiced by ANDY SAMBERG, 37. Johnny is married to Mavis (Selena Gomez), Dracs daughter. As in the original, MEL BROOKS, 89, voices Dracs cantan-

    kerous dad, Vlad. The sitcom Grand-

    fathered premieres on Fox on Tuesday, Septem-ber 29, at 8 p.m. John Stamos (Full House) stars as Jimmy, a suave restaurant owner who finds out that not only is he a father but his previ-ously unknown-to-him son has a young daugh-ter. JOSH PECK, 28, an actor whose charm and talent, I think, sneak up on you (he is kind of low-key), plays Jimmys son, Gerald.Another sitcom, The

    Grinder, starts on Fox at 8:30, right after Grand-fathered. Rob Lowe plays Dean, an actor who decides to move back home to Idaho and join his familys law firm after eight years playing a lawyer on TV. Problem is that Dean has no law license or formal legal training. His brother, Stewart (FRED Won-der Years SAVAGE), is a real-life lawyer who has to cope with Dean inject-ing Hollywood into his law practice and other Dean-related mishigosh. This is Savages first big acting role since Won-der Years. Hes been a very busy TV director. He has three kids with his Jewish wife, JENNI-FER. Lowe isnt Jewish, but his wife of 24 years is, and the couples two sons were raised in their mothers faith. N.B.

    Andrew Garfi eld

    CHESS AND EVICTION:

    Two new filmsmake the moves

    Edward Zwick Liz Garbus

    Gennady Tartakovsky Andy Samberg Fred Savage

    99 Homes is a thriller starring ANDREW GAR-FIELD, 32 (Spider-Man) as Dennis Nash, a single father of a young son and the caretaker of his elderly mother. Nash has hit hard times; along comes Rick (Michael Shannon), a ruthless property speculator who evicts him and his family from their Florida home. Desperate for an income, Nash agrees to work for Rick evicting people from their homes and is gradually seduced by the glamorous and wealthy lifestyle that working for Rick can provide. The glamour quickly fades when Nash learns that his deal with the devil en-tails real danger.Tobey Mcguire, anoth-

    er ex-Spider-Man, stars as Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), the world chess champion, in Pawn Sac-rifice, directed by ED-WARD ZWICK, 62. This film opened in limited release on September 18 and opens wide on Sep-tember 25.Fischer is an especially

    charged subject for any Jewish audience. His mother was Jewish, as was his virtually cer-tain biological father, the brilliant Hungarian mathematician PAUL NEMEYI. You could track Fischers gradual descent into madness by the number and viciousness of his anti-Semitic and

    anti-American remarks. The anti-Semitism, as the film shows, began before the 1972 world chess championship, although the public didnt know about it then. The movie begins with Fischer as a child chess prodigy in Brooklyn, where his mother, REGINA (ROBIN WEIGERT, 46), raised him along with his older sister, JOAN (played by Lily Rabe, the daughter of the late actress JILL CLAYBURGH, whose father was Jewish). Reginas leftist ties, the film implies, helped turn Bobby into a fanatic anti-Soviet. His conversion to a Christian sect also is touched on.Pawn shows Joan

    and Paul Marshall, Bob-bys attorney/manager (MICHAEL STULBARG, 47), trying to get Fischer mental help not long before his match with the then-reigning chess champ, Soviet Boris Spassky (LIEV SCH-REIBER, 47). However, Bobbys chess coach, a Catholic priest (Peter Saarsgard), vetoes it, thinking it will impair his genius. Advance reviews praise the performanc-es but its very hard to explain madness or great chess genius in any film, and Pawn, most reviews say, has not quite succeeded. A 2011 docu-mentary, Bobby Fischer against the World, by

    California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at [email protected]

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    An unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis. The New York Times description of a bagel in 1960, before bagel-machine-inventor Daniel Thompson, who died this week at 94, revolutionized or, as many Jews saw it, bastardized the craft of bagel making.

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    An educators pathBergenfield man goes from music to cakes to teaching to supervising Englewoods schools

    JOANNE PALMER

    Change is hard, were often told. Many people most people are uncomfortable with change, the common wisdom goes. Theyre risk-averse. They like to stick with what they know.

    All those stuck-in-a-rut people should meet Robert Kravitz, the newly named superintendent of the Englewood school system, who is set to begin his new job on October 1. He has never met a rut he has not turned into a well-ordered and successful roadside attraction and then left in search of the next challenge.

    Before we look at Mr. Kravitzs unlikely but inspirational career, though, we should point out one element that never has changed. Mr. Kravitz, 47, was born in Bergenfield, to a mother who grew up there and a father who has lived there since early in his marriage. Not only do Mr. Kravitzs parents, Brenda and Al, still live in Bergenfield, so do he, his wife, and their three children.

    His mothers familys local roots go way back. My grandparents grew up in Jersey City. My great uncle Morris that was Morris Kantoff came to Bergenfield in 1939, and he was a founding member and major supporter of the Bergenfield Jewish Center, a synagogue that merged out of existence years ago. My mom graduated from Bergenfield High School in 1958.

    His parents marriage was mixed. My dad is from Brooklyn, but my mom wouldnt live across the bridge, Mr. Kravitz said. They started off in Fort Lee, and then moved back to Bergenfield.

    Mr. Kravitz and his sister, Jill Kravitz, who now lives in Englewood, went to Bergenfield High. My parents had a great work ethic, Mr. Kravitz said. They gave me whatever I wanted, provided I did it to the fullest extent. I always had to work my tail off.

    I wanted to study drums, so my parents got me the greatest music teacher. And then, six months later, I wanted to stop, and they said no, I couldnt. That was the greatest experience of my life. It also was a worldview clearly visible in the work Mr. Kravitz has done since.

    At Rutgers, Mr. Kravitzs next stop, I went in as a music and political sci-ence major and came out with a business degree, he said. When I got to music theory 3 and counterpoint, I said This is not for me. He had planned on becoming an entertainment lawyer thats why the political science but instead I went into business.

    Specifically, into the bakery business.Al and Brenda Kravitz owned a

    two-family house in Hackensack, an invest-ment, and in walked an Italian pastry chef, Robert Kravitz said. The business relationship grew to include friendship, the Jewish family and its Italian tenant shared food, the pastries were delicious, and Mr. Kravitz discovered a talent for selling as he began marketing the bakers work to res-taurants. We realized that this was a niche market, he said. My sister had an MBA from Rutgers, and she said that shed do it with me. His parents joined their children, and the family incorporated the business as K Enterprises in 1989.

    I continued to work with the pastry chef, but I realized I needed to know more, so I got a culinary arts degree from the Culi-nary Arts Institute at Hudson County Com-munity College, Mr. Kravitz said.

    Had he been interested in baking before? Not at all, he said. I hadnt been inter-ested at all in cooking, and my family never knew much about cakes or desserts. Now I love cooking. I cook at home almost every night. Baking, not so much anymore.

    The business grew. We got an SBA loan, bought a building in Bergenfield, and we were doing $1.2 million in sales a year, and we became the Ben and Jerrys wholesale distributor for New Jersey. I went back and got an MBA from St. Peters in Englewood Cliffs.

    At the peak of the business, Mr. Kravitz was selling cakes from a range of high-end bakeries, including World of Chan-tilly, the hugely successful kosher bakery in Brooklyn (when he sold those cakes to non-kosher restaurants, he didnt mention their hechsher; the cakes sold themselves,

    he said) to restaurants including Sant Ambroeus on the Upper East Side, where their pastry-chef friend eventually went to work.

    In 2002, he realized it was time to move on. I wanted to have a family, we were working a lot of hours, and we agreed as a family that it was time. It was sad but we had a buyer.

    For his next act, Mr. Kravitz began to teach in the Create Charter High School in Jersey, a now-defunct school in a tough neighborhood in Jersey City. It was not on its surface an intuitive move, but it made sense to him. My wife, Sandrine, was a French teacher in Paramus High School. I figured I was selling information, sharing informa-tion, teaching chefs I would walk into a restaurant and say Take this slice of cake, take this syrup, we can go from the $1.63 its worth to charging $6, and thats your profit. Its all marketing and its all teaching.

    So I taught business and entrepreneur-ship which is my love in high school. He did not have teaching credentials, but in New Jersey, if you have experience in the subject matter, you can start to teach and earn the credits within a year.

    So I became a teacher, and at the same time I pursued my masters in education.

    After a year in Jersey City, which pre-sented a challenging commute from Ber-genfield, Mr. Kravitz moved to Fort Lee High School, where he taught accounting and computer applications in the schools new academy of finance. He also became the yearbook adviser, because I had a business

    background and for the first time ever the school made a profit on the yearbook. It shined a light on Robert Kravitz, Mr. Kravitz said. Who is this guy who makes a profit on a yearbook? The district superin-tendent started to ask questions.

    In 2008, Mr. Kravitz was promoted to become vice principal of Fort Lee High School and director of its academy of finance. And that August, he moved to the boroughs failing School Number 3, an ele-mentary school where only 66 percent of students passed state exams.

    So there he was hed never been a prin-cipal before and hed never worked in an

    elementary school before either the brand new principal of a failing ele-mentary school.

    Why?I was the business guy.

    I liked high school, but Id been a vice principal and I wanted to run my own school. It was a natural progression.

    To jump to the conclu-sion obviously waiting at the end of this part of the story, Mr. Kravitz turned

    the school around. Using his triangle theory he believes not only in the conventional idea that parents, administrators, and teach-ers are necessary for a childs success, but that the corners joining them must be rein-forced to keep a child from slipping out an interstice unnoticed he worked wonders.

    The base, he said, is listening to parents, doing what they ask of the school, and mak-ing sure that they do their part as well. (He took the lessons he learned from his drum lessons and applied them.) We found out that a lot of the innovative programs the school had the parents didnt want, he said. The parents didnt understand them, the teachers werent trained properly in them and didnt like to use them so they went out. Instead we returned to basics.

    He is not philosophically opposed to innovation in school, he added. Its that each school is different; each schools com-bination of demographics, socioeconomics, and cultural assumptions demands different approaches. Thats why it is so important to listen to each group of parents.

    School Number 3 had a largely Japanese and Korean population. They werent happy with the wordiness of math prob-lems. They wanted rote mathematics because thats what they were used to. So when we said we would teach rote mathematics they used flash cards the parents were happy, and so were the

    Above, Robert Kravitz, his wife, Sandrine, and their three chil-dren, Alex, Jeremy, and Leila. Inset, Bob and Sandrine have moved through many career changes together.

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    teachers, and the scores jumped.The next year, the sixth grade, which last

    year had 66 percent of students pass, went to 90 percent, he said. Rote mathematics worked for that particular customer base of that school at that time.

    He also makes a point of knowing each child; of being outside when the buses pull in and the parents drop off their children; of greeting each adult as well as each child; of being both informal and straightforward.

    Mr. Kravitz, it must be said, could be used to illustrate energy. His dark hair stands up on his head as if he is always rushing into the wind, and his eyes are round and wide behind big round glasses. When he greets children, that energy is turned onto them. It wakes them up.

    As a result, in 2010 Fort Lee School Num-ber 3 won the United States National Blue Ribbon award for excellence. Mr. Kravitz and some of his colleagues went to Wash-ington to be honored. The top one-tenth of the top one percent of schools in the United States win that award, he said.

    That year, Mr. Kravitz wrote a book, Blue Ribbon Story, discussing his educational philosophy.

    In 2012, I had the opportunity to become the superintendent of schools in Englewood Cliffs, he continued. It was a different

    demographic he had gone from very low end in Jersey City to middle in Fort Lee to the high end. But the same principles apply. I had coffee hours with the parents, asking them what theyd like to see in the school.

    These parents want their children to learn a foreign language. As a result, the children are immersed, for three hours every day, in French, Italian, or Spanish. We have 9-year-old kids fluent in those lan-guages, Mr. Kravitz said. A parent told me that his kid spoke French to the waiter at the French restaurant in Epcot at Disney World, and another one said Scuzi, Papa, to his father. The program is funded in large part by grants, one from Montreal, another from the Italian government.

    The school also is establishing an Interna-tional Baccalaureate program; it expects to have its application approved in April, thus becoming the first such primary and mid-dle-school program in the state.

    You have to work your way to it, Mr. Kravitz said. A lot of people have a fear of change, but once it happens it becomes a tidal wave.

    Now Mr. Kravitz is on to his next chal-lenge. Englewood Cliffs public school sys-tem has two schools, divided by grade level, that run from kindergarten through eighth grade. Its budget is $11 million.

    Englewoods public school system six schools, prekindergarten through 12th grade has 35,000 students and a $71 mil-lion budget, Mr. Kravitz said. It tradition-ally has dealt with racial tensions the city has wealthy parents who tend to send their children to private schools as well as far less well-off families whose children go to pub-lic schools, and the breakdown seems to go along racial as well as economic lines.

    Mr. Kravitz is energized by the challenged. I think its ripe to be a top-flight system, he said. I welcome everyone. There are distinct populations there also is a distinct middle class and we will work to accom-modate them and give all the children of Englewood the best possible education.

    I will start by listening. It wont be just me its never just me. Its always a team. If its top down it will never work. And if its just parents coming and shouting it wont work.

    He talked again about the triangle, about how it is necessary for all adults parents, teachers, and administrators to build a structure sturdy enough to keep children safe and challenged and grow-ing inside it. Its basic stuff, he said. We hold all of us, including parents, respon-sible. He is not above embarrassing par-ents into working with their children. I

    stand outside every morning Im the superintendent, and I still stand outside and there is a guilt factor.

    There is a way to do it. I wont be threat-ening. Im not hostile. I wont scream at you. There is a way to speak to people, a way that helps ease them into realizing that they are partners in the effort of educating a child.

    I am into education, he said. I worry about kids. I have three kids. I care about kids. We will raise the bar for kids, and thats it. We want them learning, and to be in a safe environment where they can grow intellectually, physically, and mentally. We will give them all the opportunities and help them take advantage of those opportunities.

    There is no reason why the stereotype of Englewood should continue to exist. Those were the old days. These are the new days.

    Mr. Kravitzs own children are Alex, 12, Jeremy, 9, and Leila, 7. All of them go to pub-lic school in wait for it! Bergenfield. Mr. Kravitz is on the board of Temple Emeth in Teaneck, and the family is now preparing not only for Mr. Kravitzs new job but for Alexs rapidly approaching bar mitzvah.

    We can be sure that Alex will be well-prepared for it, the enthusiasm will be cracklingly high, and that the desserts will be superb.

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    Jerusalems loyal oppositionCity council member talks in native TenaflyLARRY YUDELSON

    Dr. Laura Wharton wishes her mother could see her now.

    Back in 1981, Elinor Wharton was a mem-ber of the Tenafly Borough Council.

    Following in her mothers footsteps, Dr. Wharton, a Hebrew University professor, is a member of her citys council. But her adopted city, Jerusalem, has more than 800,000 residents, more than 50 times Tenaflys population of 14,704, and a range of issues conflicts, frankly that dwarf Tenaflys occasional fights over zoning and eruvs.

    Still, the two council jobs have a lot of things in common. Dr. Wharton said. The city council is directly responsible for a lot of things that affect the residents. Its not just theoretical matters of passing laws or issuing statements. It often involves deal-ing with daily issues, everything from the school system to the sewage system.

    Of course, In Jerusalem we have some-what unusual issues: dealing with conflicts about the Temple Mount; regulating hours and behavior at the Western Wall; conflicts among the different Jewish communities; between different Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities, and dealing with tourists.

    Dr. Wharton is back in New Jersey this week for a family simcha. On Sunday morn-ing, she will speak at Temple Sinai in Tenafly on Religion, State and Womens Rights in Israel: A View From Jerusalems City Council.

    Dr. Wharton holds a doctorate in political science from Hebrew University. She made aliyah in 1984, after she graduated from Har-vard with a bachelors degree in government.

    As I was growing up, I became more and more interested in Israel as a home for the Jewish people and more and more involved with what was happening there, she said. I decided it was a great opportunity to be a part of an important period in Jewish his-tory and join those who decided to renew the home for the Jewish people in Israel.

    As it is in Tenafly, serving on the Jerusalem council is a volunteer job. Dr. Whartons paid job is teaching political science at Hebrew

    Universitys Rothberg School for Interna-tional Students.

    She was first elected to the Jerusalem council in 2008. This followed a long period of civic activism, which, like much of Israeli public life, was undertaken through a politi-cal party. She started working with Meretz,

    the left-wing Zionist party, on social mat-ters, gradually working her way up. It was her growing influence within Meretz that led her to be on the partys council slate.

    As in Knesset elections, voters for the city council select a party, not a person, to rep-resent them.

    Meretz is a small party. Vocal on issues of civil rights, it now has only five seats in the 120 member Knesset. In Jerusalem, Meretz ran on a slate with the Labor Party. In right-wing Jerusalem, the two together garnered only three of the councils 30 seats. Recently, one member defected to join Mayor Nir Barkats overwhelming broad coalition. That left Dr. Wharton as the leader of an opposition of two.

    Why stay in the opposition?Its a very problematic coalition, she

    said. Were on okay terms with the mayor. We were in the coalition in the past. But he formed a coalition with members of the extreme right, including a man who is a sup-porter of Meir Kahane, people who formed a list that didnt pass the threshold to be elected to the Knesset because they were deemed too extreme by the public.

    We were also very critical of the deci-sions he made in bringing all the ultra-Orthodox groups into the coalition, including very extremist ones that oppose the draft and rights for women.

    Besides, its important that there be an active opposition. Since were in the opposition, were free to speak against

    him when he makes wrong decisions, she said.

    While as a member of the opposition she has fewer responsibilities than if she were in the councils coalition, as a member of the council she can work on various projects. In the previous term, she formed a council for the elderly. Now shes working on organizing a center for the homebound elderly. She has run a series of workshops for ultra-Orthodox working women to teach them about their rights as workers and as women.

    And then theres the matter of oversight which she exercises with the help of her con-tacts in the public and media.

    For example, at the beginning of this term, the mayor brought up a huge number of appointments to various committees. I was aghast at how few women there were. There was absolutely no Arab representation. The opposition didnt get our due. We brought this to court, and he had to redo the mem-bers of the committee.

    The mayor has a great fondness for things like fast cars, she continued. There was a big demonstration of Formula One cars in the city. Our party came out with an investigation of how much it cost and how it was handled. As a result, the state controller stepped in and the system was changed.

    We were involved in a suit against the mayor because he hasnt been seeing to the allocations the law requires for making the city accessible for disabilities, she said. Were doing a lot to try to make sure the city runs as well as possible.

    Still, Dr. Whartons biggest impact on Jeru-salem this year might not have come through her actions as a council member. Separate from her official civic and political positions, she was one of a group of friends who started a new transportation cooperative.

    Who: Dr. Laura Wharton, leader of the Meretz/Labor opposition on Jerusalem City Council

    When: Sunday, September 27, 9 a.m.

    What: Talk with bagel and lox breakfast

    Where: Temple Sinai, 1 Engle St., Tenafly

    How much: Free

    As I was growing up, I became

    more and more interested in

    Israel as a home for the Jewish

    people and more and more involved

    with what was happening there.

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    JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 9

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    www.yu.edu | 212.960.5277 | [email protected]

    The future is in your hands.

    Meet Spencer Brasch, a student at Yeshiva University. On a pre-med track, Spencer is an Honors student pursuing a dual major in biology and music, who also finds time to compete on YUs NCAA Division I fencing team. His commitment to Torah study is actualized as he delves into shiur with distinguished Roshei Yeshiva in our world class Beit Midrash.

    Individual attention and career planning are important

    to him, so Spencer chose Yeshiva University because it enables him to balance his academic goals with his religious commitment. This is the essence of Torah UMadda and what sets YU apart.

    Picture yourself at YU. #NowhereButHere

    Transportation cooperative? Have two duller words ever been written?

    But the name of the cooperative tells the story.

    Its the Shab-bus. As a member-ship organization, it is able to be driven through Jerusalem on Friday night and Saturday without running afoul of the ban on public transport on Shabbat.

    Its something that developed out of a real need to enable people of all back-grounds who are interested in visiting friends and family, or going into the city, or traveling for any reason, she said.

    Membership costs 20 shekels about five dollars. Trips cost about three dol-lars each.

    Its something we run as a public ser-vice, she said. It allows people to get around who cant otherwise. Its a problem that results from a social gap. People like myself who have cars can do whatever they want. Young people, soldiers, people who dont have means are stuck in their houses. Taxis are very expensive.

    We go on major streets; we dont want to bother anyone religious or ultra-Orthodox.

    The cooperative has more than 1,000 members. (Some are supporters from places as far away as New York and Austra-lia.) It has been copied in other Israeli cities.

    Its an example of how a grassroots movement can solve a problem without bothering anyone, she said.

    And then there are the grassroots efforts that cause problems.

    Thats where she places the blame for the recent violence in Jerusalem, centered on the Temple Mount.

    I think its very sad, she said. All of the Israeli religious establishment, the chief rabbis, the chief rabbis of Jerusalem with whom Ive discussed the issue, have made it clear that Jews should not go up to the Temple Mount, for halachic reasons that is, out of concern for Jewish law and out of considerations of the sensitivity of the place. The fact it is considered holy by the Jews is a reason it should be kept quiet.

    Sadly, theres been a lot of escalation lately.

    Unfortunately there have been more and more extremists going up, against rabbinic advice, against rabbinic deci-sions, and against the advice of military intelligence.

    And on the other hand, theres been more and more rock throwing by Palestin-ians, which I of course condemn.

    Ive met with Muslim leaders. All those figures agree that everything should be done to keep peace and quiet.

    Unfortunately, neither side is doing enough to reign in the zealots on both sides. As a result all the rest of us suffer. There have been a number of people killed

    on both sides. Theres the tragic case of the man killed while driving his car.

    Much of this could be avoided if more were done to reinforce the more respon-sible centrist elements and prevent the extremists from both sides from speak-ing out.

    Even a member of the city coun-cil started performing all kinds of rites to re-enact what he and others recon-structed as the ritual of animal sacrifices during the period of the Second Temple. Not enough has been done to condemn this kind of thing.

    The biggest problem we have in Jerusa-lem is the problem of East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem. Anyone who goes to Jeru-salem should visit a neighborhood of East Jerusalem and see the huge social gaps that are there. Its very sad. Thats one of the bases for the upset we have there. There are huge discrepancies in the standard of

    living. I dont think the mayor has done enough to address the problem. As long as Israel is the self-proclaimed sovereign of East Jerusalem, it has responsibility, and it hasnt been doing enough in fulfilling the responsibility in an equal way, she said.

    But Dr. Wharton doesnt want the vio-lence to be the lasting impression of the city she lives in and loves.

    Despite the grim headlines, there are a lot of very active, caring Jerusalemites doing all they can to make Jerusalem a bet-ter place, she said. If you havent been there for a few years, or have never been there, I encourage you to come. Its a thriv-ing city, developing in a lot of positive ways.

    As someone who grew up here in New Jersey and cherishes my relationships with people here, and the relations between Israel and the United States, I encourage people to become involved and help in whatever ways they can, she said.

    Much of this could be

    avoided if more were done to reinforce the

    more responsible centrist elements and prevent the

    extremists from both sides from

    speaking out.

  • Combining creativity, kindness, and steelFamily and friends remember Myron Adler of Franklin Lakes, 1924-2015Joanne Palmer

    When the businessman, entrepreneur, and phi-lanthropist Myron Adler died on September 15, the responses from across the local Jew-ish world and the non-Jewish world, and the non-local world were astonishingly consistent.

    Mike Adler (because no one called him Myron) was real, everyone said. The team that was Mike-and-Elaine because the husband and wife, married since June 12, 1949, were a full and indissoluble part-nership combined a level-headed, even steely analytic intelligence with a basic, gut-level goodness that led them to help others not out of ego, nor out of noblesse oblige, but instead from a genuine desire to help.

    The Adlers applied their combination of steel and heart in a unique way (note that the word unique is overused, but here its simply accurate) in 1993, when

    Mr. Adler suffered a stroke that left him aphasic. The result of their loving efforts, the Adler Aphasia Center in Maywood, not only helped Mr. Adler but also has pro-vided care, programming, and hope to many other people confronting aphasia.

    Or, as Kathy Burke, the assistant dean of nursing programs at Ramapo College one of the many institutions the Adlers have supported said of Mike and Elaine Adler, They were magic.

    Really. They truly were magic.Myron Adler was born at home 318

    Second Avenue in Manhattan on August 6, 1924. His father, David, was a doctor, a general practitioner who worked at Beth David Hospital; Myron was born with the aid of a midwife, but his father, who made house calls, delivered something like 25,000 babies, Elaine Adler said.

    His uncle published a green sheet with tips about racehorses, the Adlers daugh-ter, Marie Adler-Kravecas, recalled having been told. My father would say that his father would sit next to his brother, study-ing the anatomy of people, and his uncle would study the anatomy of the horses.

    Mike Adler tested into Stuyvesant High

    School and then on to NYU, but World War II interrupted his education. He was in ROTC at NYU, and he enlisted when he was 17, Ms. Adler said. He was in Pattons 13th Armored Division; he was in the thick of it. He and his group freed a Polish wom-ens camp; all he would ever say about it was that it was horrible. She paused.

    He was overseas for about three years, and then the war was over and the gov-ernment gathered the troops in Europe to be shipped out to the Pacific. He was in California, all ready to go, on his birthday, August 6, when they dropped the atomic bomb. So that was his birthday present the war was over.

    When he came home, Mr. Adler went back to NYU he was at the schools so-called uptown campus, actually in the Bronx and he finished his undergrad-uate degree. He had been planning on going to medical school he had been

    accepted at Flower Fifth Avenue but he decided that he couldnt sit still for another six years of school, Ms. Adler said. We already had met, and I said Ill support you. It doesnt matter to me if its through six years of medical school or if youre starting a business.

    Mike Adler and Elaine Finkel met through her brother, Jerry, who was a good friend of Mikes; Mike and Elaine knew each other for a year before they started to date, and three years before they married. He was my brothers friend I had my own friends! she said.

    Mike did not come from a business-oriented family, but his sister had mar-ried an entrepreneur, and they discussed going into business together, Ms. Adler said. They began small. Someone came to Ben, the brother-in-law, with a small wallet that he wanted to promote, but he didnt have anyone to make it. Ben

    showed it to Mike, and Mike realized that it had to be sewn, so he bought a sew-ing machine and learned to sew. I said to him, Boy, the only men who really sew, other than tailors, are in jail. But he learned, and then the 14th Street YMCA gave him an order, but he couldnt fin-ish it in time because he had to go on our honeymoon.

    It was okay. The Adlers got married, and Ben finished the order, the first of many. Then a man came to him and showed him a new machine, a heat-sealing machine, an innovative way to work with vinyl. He made eyeglass cases for Ameri-can Optical. That was a huge order. And then they got smart and bought their own machine. He also realized that plastic wrap would keep silver from tarnishing; that worked until his clients realized that they could do it themselves.

    During all these explorations and ini-tiatives, the business Myron Manufac-turing kept growing; it expanded into foreign markets and now has 14,000 employees in at least 10 countries, Ms. Adler-Kravecas said. At its core, the busi-ness-to-business company makes and sells personalized business gifts or advertis-ing specialties anything that helps a business build a product or a brand, she added.

    Her father was as creative as he was logical and technical, Ms. Adler-Kravecas said. He was so unusual both sides of his brain, both hemispheres, worked so well. He was an amazing marketer and he was great with people.

    And of course Elaine and he made a great couple. She is also highly creative and worked on expanding the company. She made the products not just utilitarian but really beautiful. They really grew the business together.

    The business started in Manhattan, where the family first lived, but by the mid-1950s it needed more space. The Adlers moved the company to Teaneck, and then to Paramus; about 30 years ago, the family moved to Franklin Lakes, where Elaine still lives.

    Mike and Elaine Adler had four children William, Richard, Donald James, and Marie and eventually they had 11 grand-children as well. Life was good. They were dedicated philanthropists and community builders, believing strongly in their obliga-tion to give back.

    And then, in 1993, Mike had bypass sur-gery, which was very successful except that five days later, a piece of plaque broke off and went to his left brain, which became aphasic, Ms. Adler said. He could no longer talk. His cognitive abilities were unimpaired, but his thoughts seemed

    Local

    10 Jewish standard sePteMBer 25, 2015

    JS-10*

    The needy were always visible to

    them. To the Adlers, people in need never were invisible.

    Mike and Elaine Adler formed a formidable business and philanthropic team.

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    Jewish standard sePteMBer 25, 2015 11

    www.yu.edu/apply

    www.yu.edu | 212.960.5277 | [email protected]

    The future is in your hands.

    Meet Lee Sahar, a current student at Yeshiva University. Pursuing degrees in Accounting and Finance, this summer Lee interned at the New York accounting firm Cohn-Reznick. A member of YUs Business Leadership and Finance clubs, Lee also enjoys tutoring fellow students, and participates in a mentorship program through Deloitte.

    Career preparation is very important to Lee. She chose

    Yeshiva University because it enables her to balance academic goals with her religious commitment, offering her the dual curriculum in Jewish and General studies. This is the essence of Torah UMadda and what sets YU apart.

    Picture yourself at YU. #NowhereButHere

    stuck inside his brain.Mike realized that we were the lucky

    ones. We could handle it financially, Ms. Adler said. Just think of when this happens to a breadwinner. What torture that becomes. What double torture.

    He said that he would like to do something to help others, and he hired a woman to go onto the computer to see what was being done in the world of

    aphasia. The truth is that almost nothing was being done. But there was a woman who was considered the aphasiologist; we met her, and she is still working with us. That was Dr. Audrey Holland, the Adler Aphasia Centers research director.

    She is known around the world, and she was able to help us get started.

    In order to start the center, the first hurdle to be jumped was finding a space for it. We happened to own a vacant

    building in Maywood, Ms. Adler said. When you want to start an organiza-tion, the toughest thing in the world is to find a space. There are so many reg-ulations, she said zoning, parking, all sorts of permissions. They were lucky in that too.

    The center has grown and flourished aphasia is a widespread and under-appreciated problem. We now have the

    Adler Aphasia Center attached to Hadas-sah Hospital in Jerusalem, and we also are in West Orange, Ms. Adler said.

    Out of all the philanthropies she sup-ports, there was one she was particu-larly eager to discuss the USA Toy Lending Library. Families can take a toy out for a week, she said. Its an international organization mine is at the Childrens Aid and Family Service of New Jersey in Paramus.

    Mike realized that we were the lucky ones. We could handle it financially. Just think of when this happens to a breadwinner.

    What torture that becomes.

    Mike and Elaine Adler with their children and grandchildren.

    see adler Page 13

  • JS-12

    ADLER APHASIA CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORSChuck Berkowitz, President Sophie Heymann, Vice President Milton Kahn, Secretary-Treasurer

    Elaine Adler William Adler David Albalah Gary Alweiss Linda Bowden Diana DiGirolamo Barbara DrenchNicholas Felice Sandra Gold Steven Morey Greenberg Eddie Hadden Walter Hecht Anthony Iovino Ellen Jacobs

    Peggy Kabakow Bernie Koster David Kravecas William Murray Susan Penn Jill Tekel William Zipse

    In loving memory, the Adler Aphasia Center

    Board of Directors, staff, volunteers and our members

    and families pay tribute to our Co-Founder,

    MYRON (MIKE) ADLERAugust 6, 1924 - September 15, 2015

    www.AdlerAphasiaCenter.org 201.368.8585

    HONORARY BOARD OF DIRECTORSJames Adler Steve Adubato Angelica Berrie

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTORKaren Tucker

    Mikes vision, voice, philanthropic leadership and passionate support has left an enormous void in Bergen County and the aphasia community worldwide. The Adler Aphasia Center will forever

    be grateful and inspired by his important work as we continue to build on his proud legacy.

    PLEASE JOIN US ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 AS WE REMEMBER MIKE AT OUR ANNUAL GALA,

    SHINE A LIGHT ON APHASIA, IN MAYWOOD.

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    Jewish standard sePteMBer 25, 2015 13

    Womens Open House and Israel Fair Sunday, November 15, 2015

    Stern College for Women Sy Syms School of Business

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    Mens Open House and Israel Fair Sunday, November 22, 2015

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    Wilf Campus

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    The future is now. Visit today.

    My dad was a great humanitarian, his daughter summed up. He knew he was lucky. He had such a great life! He knew he was fortunate and he believed in giving back. Thats how he raised all of us.

    The Adlers both were very involved with the Arnold P. Gold Foundation for humanism in medicine. Like Mr. Adlers wife and daughter, Sandra Gold, the foundations co-founder, who lives in Englewood, stresses his combination of level-headedness and compassion. Dr. Gold also focused on the strong bonds that held Mike and Elaine together. Elaine and I talk most nights, she said. She remembered a recent evening. Mike already was sick. It was 10:45, and Elaine said, Im just making lunch, because were going for an infusion tomorrow, and he likes having egg salad, so Im making it for him.

    Ill bring it. Hell enjoy having it.That was the relationship. It was so

    beautiful.I know from J-ADD the Jewish

    Association for Developmental Dis-abilities, which provides group housing locally that Mike and Elaine bought every bed that those men and women sleep in. He did it for the first home, and then without ever being asked they did it for every home.

    The needy were always visible to them. You know how people walk down the street, and if someone asks for money they just walk by, they ignore them or they dont see them. To the Adlers, people in need never were invisible.

    There were hundreds of people at the shiva, and Elaine was busy making sure that the people who came from the aphasia center and who dont walk well who not only dont speak but also have physical disabilities were seated and were comfortable.

    Her hospitality is infinite.Mike was a strategic thinker, Dr.

    Gold concluded. He had a vision of what he wanted to do. He was fair-minded and levelheaded. He would look at a situation and youd get a reasoned, thoughtful analysis of it, and youd get a fair-minded solution.

    Thats the way he was in his busi-ness too. In the industry, his name was synonymous with ethical business behavior.

    Karen Tucker, a social gerontologist, is the Adler Aphasia Centers executive director. It was my honor and privilege to work with a visionary like Mike, she said. Even though he lived with apha-sia, he knew what needed to be accom-plished. They traveled the world, look-ing at what was out there. They knew the three main approaches the senior center model, the clubhouse model, and

    the life participation approach and we blend them here.

    Not only does the center include a satellite in West Orange and another in Israel, there also are six aphasia commu-nications groups across New Jersey.

    Mike said that he loved hearing peo-ple say You gave me back my life, Ms. Tucker said. The Adlers wanted to cre-ate a place where people can live again.

    We will miss him greatly, Ramapo Colleges Kathy Burke said. Mike and Elaine Adler donated money that built the Adler Center for Nursing Excellent there; the center is infused with the humanism that the Gold Foundation nurtures. He was a kind, gentle man, who had made the nursing program here so very different. The program has taken on a whole new identity, and the faculty and students are very particular in honoring his memory, and his and Elaines humanism.

    He was so real. They are both so real. So caring, so gentle but with back-bones of steel. They saw the goodness in every situation, and they focused on it.

    We were very lucky that they were here. You have to look at it the way they would look at it positively. He lived an awesome life, and he impacted the lives of so many people.

    Every nurse who graduates from here will know it and will actualize it. We will be sure of that.

    Peter Mercer is the president of Ramapo College. Mike Adlers death is a great loss for me, both institutionally and personally, he said.

    Like many people who described Mr. Adler, Dr. Mercer mentioned both his generosity and kindness and his steely resolve. Dr. Mercer also described the poignancy of the situation in which his friend found himself, and the way he dealt with it.

    You have to imagine a man who was extremely vital, forceful in the best sense of the word, a businessman who all of a sudden is left with aphasia, he said. He has all of his other cognitive abilities, but an enormously frustrating inability to express himself. He really has to relearn how to do it.

    It really is a story of him making an advantage out of his disability by found-ing the aphasia center, with Elaine, and becoming an extraordinarily positive force for all the other people who have aphasia.

    He returned to the other constantly repeating theme in the story of Myron Adler.

    The story of Mike will always be the story of Mike and Elaine, he said. One of the most poignant moments I have ever seen is when he gave a public speech and said that his wife would not let him feel sorry for himself.

    Instead, together, they created some-thing new.

    adler froM Page 11

    ADLER APHASIA CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORSChuck Berkowitz, President Sophie Heymann, Vice President Milton Kahn, Secretary-Treasurer

    Elaine Adler William Adler David Albalah Gary Alweiss Linda Bowden Diana DiGirolamo Barbara DrenchNicholas Felice Sandra Gold Steven Morey Greenberg Eddie Hadden Walter Hecht Anthony Iovino Ellen Jacobs

    Peggy Kabakow Bernie Koster David Kravecas William Murray Susan Penn Jill Tekel William Zipse

    In loving memory, the Adler Aphasia Center

    Board of Directors, staff, volunteers and our members

    and families pay tribute to our Co-Founder,

    MYRON (MIKE) ADLERAugust 6, 1924 - September 15, 2015

    www.AdlerAphasiaCenter.org 201.368.8585

    HONORARY BOARD OF DIRECTORSJames Adler Steve Adubato Angelica Berrie

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTORKaren Tucker

    Mikes vision, voice, philanthropic leadership and passionate support has left an enormous void in Bergen County and the aphasia community worldwide. The Adler Aphasia Center will forever

    be grateful and inspired by his important work as we continue to build on his proud legacy.

    PLEASE JOIN US ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 AS WE REMEMBER MIKE AT OUR ANNUAL GALA,

    SHINE A LIGHT ON APHASIA, IN MAYWOOD.

  • 14 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

    JS-14

    Remembering Myron Mike Adler1924 2015

    We proudly honor the life and memory of one of Ramapo Colleges most generous supporters.

    Mike was a philanthropist, business entrepreneur, visionary and community leader who supported

    the College for the past 25 years.

    The students, faculty and programs of Ramapo College have been greatly enhanced by Mikes thoughtful attention

    and unselfish dedication.

    On behalf of the Board of Trustees, President Peter P. Mercer and the Foundation Board of Governors, we thank Mike

    for his kindness and true friendship. He will be greatly missed.

    O F N E W J E R S E Y

    Adler Center for Nursing Excellence

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    Speak, memoryKarnit Goldwasser talks about learning to cope with disappearance of her IDF reservist husbandJOANNE PALMER

    Karnit Goldwasser, who will speak at the JCC on the Pali-sades in Tenafly on October 1, easily could talk about politics.She lived through two years of torment,

    knowing that her husband formally known as Ehud but whom she and every-one else called Udi the love of her life, had been captured by terrorists, but not know-ing whether he still was alive. In 2008 she and his family and the rest of the world learned that Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, another IDF reservist who had been kidnapped along with Udi, were dead.

    The two men had been dead all along,

    almost from the beginning. Hezbollah strung the families along as they maintained hope, lived in a complex emotional stew of dreams and despair, and mobilized support around the world including in Bergen County and the rest of the New York metropolitan area with rallies and speeches in Jewish organiza-tions and in front of the United Nations.

    Now, though, Ms. Goldwasser is not going to talk about politics. People will come to hear a story, and there is a story, and I will talk about what the families went through all those years, she said. But every person, in his own life, has a moment that he will need to take all his strength to get through. By the end of my talk, when people go home, they will think to themselves that I didnt just hear

    a unique story, but I will get motivated.I understand that I have inside me what I

    need to deal with a bad situation. Everyone does. Some situations clearly are worse than others, she added; next to the wak-ing nightmare situation in which she found herself, smaller, more predictable problems might seem less important. But to each one of us, the problems we face loom, at times seemingly insurmountably, and we rarely get to see them as insignificant because other people have bigger ones. Life doesnt work that way.

    I will talk about coping with life, Ms. Goldwasser said. We have to realize that everything we do is a choice. We have the ability to choose what to do and even to

    choose not to do anything is to make a choice.Its not a spiritual thing, she continued

    Its very reasonable.When Mr. Goldwasser was taken, Both

    of us we getting our second degrees, mas-ters degrees, at the Technion, Israels premiere technical university, its MIT, Ms. Goldwasser said. Both were studying envi-ronmental engineering. They were both very smart and highly rational. But although that ability to reason dispassionately helped her, it would not have been enough to see her through, she said.

    It doesnt matter that you are in a bad situation, she said. Every night, when you are going to sleep, you have to think about

    Who: Karnit Goldwasser

    What: Will speak at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly

    When: 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 1

    Why: Ms. Goldwasser will talk about her husband, and his strength, and about what she learned about how to cope through the ordeal she could not escape

    Sponsored by: The Israeli-American Council

    For more information: Call the JCC at (201) 408-1409 or go to www.jccotp.org

    Karnit and Udi Goldwasser.

    SEE GOLDWASSER PAGE 53

  • the music most. The band took off in the Jewish world, where it is well-known and well-loved.

    That wasnt the intent, Mr. Lanzbom said, almost ruefully. I have always been a rocker. But still, he added, This inter-preting the music of Jerry Garcia started with interpreting the music of Shlomo Carlebach.

    Its kind of like were being led, Mr. Turk said. Its like we dont think through things. We do things, from a quiet place, and the universe kind of guides us, and people give us cues, or clues, and we take them.

    Shlomo and Jerry were similar sorts of

    Local

    16 Jewish standard sePteMBer 25, 2015

    JS-16*

    Deadgrass in TeaneckCarlebach and Garcia together at last?Joanne Palmer

    First, the name.Deadgrass is one of those names that

    you either get right away and then prob-ably you love it or you just dont get it at all until it is painstakingly explained to you. Then its clear, and you feel deeply foolish.

    Full disclosure: I am in the second group.

    So the name.Deadgrass is the name that groups two

    founders, C Lanzbom (Mr. Lanzbom cho-ses not to end his initial with a period) and Matt Turk, chose to reflect their love of the Grateful Dead in general and its leader, Jerry Garcia, in particular; grass is the bluegrass that echoes and wails through much of their work here.

    On October 24, Deadgrass will open for musician James Maddock at Mexicali Live in Teaneck.

    So whats Jewish about Deadgrass? Are there any Jewish influences?

    This is Shimon, Cs alter ego, Mr. Lanz-bom said. Have a little more cholent! Then he grew a bit more serious. Both Matt and I have roots in Jewish music, he said.

    I always loved Jewish music, Mr. Turk said. When I was in my early 20s I met Pete Seeger, and we were involved in a project together. He suggested that I look at my own heritage.

    He did; now Mr. Turk, who is involved in a large number of projects and recently released a new album, is the musical direc-tor at Tamid, the Downtown Synagogue, in Tribeca in southern Manhattan, works at other synagogues, and is artist-in-resi-dence at Congregation Bnai Jeshurun on Manhattans Upper West Side. My whole thing is community and using music to bring community together, Mr. Turk said. Its about singing together, quieting the mind, and opening the heart.

    Jerrys music was all about open-ing the heart, having fun, and being in community.

    That line about looking at your own her-itage? In an article that I read, I saw that Jerrys grandmother told him the same thing, to look at his heritage. He resisted it but he did it. (Although Mr. Garcia was not Jewish, part of his spiritual heritage was his first name, Jerome, was in hom-age to the great Jewish American song-writer Jerome Kern.)

    Mr. Lanzbom, who will not disclose his age, said that his parents, who died young, were Holocaust survivors; his familys graphic stories of horror and escape were normal for me, he said. I didnt know anything different. He grew up around the New Jersey egg farms that turned out to be a failed experiment in country liv-ing for Jewish postwar immigrants. It was a whole crew of people who came over from Europe, he said. They played cards every Friday night. I grew up around Lakewood that was in the 1970s, before Lakewood was Lakewood and going to the beach in Point Pleasant.

    Mr. Lanzbom became interested in music his idols were John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana and through them in Indian spirituality. (To repeat, it was the 1970s.) I met someone who said that I needed a Jewish guru, and that person took me to meet Shlomo Carlebach, he said. I took to him immediately not his music but his teaching, his interpretation of Torah. It really set me on fire. He bought me a ticket to Israel.

    I had been playing guitar since I was 7. This happened when I was 19. I asked him if I could bring my guitar to Israel. He said, How could you not?

    Thats what brought me to Jew-ish music. And I took on observance of Judaism.

    Soon, Mr. Lanzbom and his friend Noah Solomon began the band they called Soulfarm. Originally Soulfarm was aimed at the general rather than the Jew-ish market, but it was Jews who loved

    Who: deadgrass

    What: in concert, opening for James Maddock

    When: October 24 at 8 p.m.

    Where: Mexicali Live, 1409 Queen anne road, teaneck

    Information and tickets: (201) 833-0011 or mexicalilive.com

    OR

    When: October 1

    Where: Pinks, 242 east 10th st., Manhattan

    Information: (917) 902-6809

    Deadgrass in concert.

    Above, C Lanzbom; below, Matt Turk.

    musicians, and sources of inspiration, he added.

    Yes, Mr. Lanzbom said. Shlomo was an amazing human being. I was fortu-nate to be close to him. When I first was on stage playing with Shlomo, my whole ambition was to be like Jerry Garcia, and to play with a band like the Dead.

    When I was with Shlomo, I said that this was like playing with the Dead. I mean, I knew it was different, but I still remember saying to myself that it was a little bit the same. It had a deep meaning and a deep impact on me.

    So, exactly what is Deadgrass?Its acoustic Jerry Garcia music and

    stuff Jerry did with the Dead, and with his solo projects, and with David Grisman, Mr. Turk said. Its bluegrass, its old music. We formed this project to interpret Jerrys music.

    Mr. Turk and Mr. Lanzbom have known each other for years, and they both knew that they shared an interest in the music, so it seemed natural for them to come together in this part-time project. We are five pieces, played by five musicians, Mr. Turk said. Fiddle, guitar, five-string banjo, upright bass, mandolin. We do three-part harmonies. Its modeled after another old Garcia project, the band called Old and In The Way.

    Its a vast repertoire, because Jerry was such a prolific and significant artist, and he was having such a blast.

  • JS-17

    JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 17

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  • Local

    18 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

    JS-18*

    Israels justice minister will speak on social, economic goals at YUIsraels Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, will talk about social and economic justice at Yeshiva Univer-sity Museum in Manhattan on Wednesday, September 30, at 7 p.m. Ms. Shaked will be in conversation with Suzanne Last Stone, Univer-sity Professor of Jewish Law and Contemporary Civili-zation at YUs Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

    This talk is inspired by the museums

    exhibi t ion, Fie lds of Dreams: Living Shmita in the Modern World, on dis-play through January 3. The exhibition the first of its kind on the concept of shmita focuses on the idea and practice of the sabbati-cal year, and in the process, highlights the modern story and contemporary relevance of the biblical practice.

    The museum is at 15 W. 16th St. For information, call (212) 294-8330.

    Ayelet Shaked

    Anne Frank sapling to grow in ArkansasThe Clinton Foundation and the Sister-hood of Congregation Bnai Israel, Little Rock, Ark., working with the Anne Frank Center USA, have joined to create a new exhibit, The Anne Frank Tree, on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Park in Little Rock. The permanent instal-lation, which will surround the Anne Frank tree sapling, will open on Friday, October 2, to honor Franks legacy and its mission of tolerance education.

    In 2009, the center was one of 11 places in the United States that was awarded a chestnut tree as part of the Anne Frank Center USAs Sapling Proj-ect. The sapling was taken from the horse chestnut tree that stood outside the Frank familys secret annex when they hid from the Nazis. The young writer cherished the tree, and wrote about it frequently in her famous diary.

    Shul fundraiser celebrates Sinatra, Presley

    Temple Beth Sholom in Fair Lawn will hosts Ol Blue Eyes Meets the King for its annual fundraiser on November 1. The evening celebrates Frank Sinatras 100th birthday and Elvis Presleys 80th. Crooner Steve Maglio and Elvis impersonator Bob

    McArthur will provide the music, and Kosher Nosh will cater a dinner menu combining Hoboken and Memphis fare.

    Sponsorships and program listings are available. The deadline for reservations is October 16. Call (201) 797-9321.

    Israeli soldiers receive New Year giftsThe International Fellowship of Chris-tians and Jews led by Rabbi Yechiel Eck-stein and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, in collaboration with the Asso-ciation for the Wellbeing of Israels Sol-diers, will provide their annual Rosh Hashanah Fellowship $125 gift cards to over 14,000 soldiers-in-need and lone soldiers who are eligible for aid in the Israel Defense Forces.

    At the request of the IDF, the

    Fellowship approved an additional gift card of $65 to 4,500 soldiers-in-need who do not meet the criteria for vouch-ers but still are struggling to make ends meet this holiday season.

    The gift cards can be used in major retail chain stores across Israel to buy food, clothing, shoes, sporting goods, and leisure products.

    For information, go to www.ifcj.org or www.fidf.org.

    Residents build Western Walls at Jewish Homes in advance of tripResidents at the Jewish Home Assisted Living in River Vale and Jewish Home at Rockleigh have built models of Jerusalems Western Wall before the upcoming Jewish Home Familys Mission to Israel.

    Community members and students are invited to visit and tuck their notes and prayers between the cracks of the replicas. Residents will bring the notes to Israel and place them in between the ancient stones in Jerusalem.

    The 10-day Israel journey will begin on October 18. Residents and staff members will visit Jerusalem, the Judean desert, Tel Aviv, the Galilee, the Golan Heights, and other sites. The trip will include an optional visit to Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem to allow the missions Chris-tian participants to engage with the rich

    Christian history in the Holy Land.The mission will be covered live and

    documented. Subscribe to the Jew-ish Home Familys Facebook page for realtime updates: facebook.com/JewishHomeFamily.

    Preschool teacher chosen for honorSarah Koffler, assistant direc-tor of the Leonard and Syril Rubin Nursery School at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, was selected as one of 20 peo-ple nationwide to participate in JCC Associations first Sheva-Covenant Directors Institute.

    The program, funded with a $230,000 Covenant Foun-dation Signature Grant, will develop high quality leadership in the field of early childhood education to ensure excellence in programming and opportunities to ful-fill anticipated leadership shortages in the future.

    The 20 fellows, chosen from diverse communities across the country, will par-ticipate in a three-year program to provide intensive leadership development through in-person retreats, distance learning, and a study tour to Israel. They also will work to earn a national directors credential called Aim4Excellence, offered through the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at the National Louis Univer-sity in Chicago.

    We are so proud that Sarah was cho-sen to participate in a program that is so

    committed to providing lead-ership continuity in the field of early childhood education, Jordan Shenker, CEO of the Kaplen JCC, said. Early child-hood experiences can often provide the foundation for ones life and we are lucky to have dedicated staff like Sarah, who are devoted to shaping the next generations view of the world and to nurture and encourage families to create meaningful Jewish journeys.

    The Leonard & Syril Rubin Nursery School is a state-licensed accredited pro-gram that meets the varying social, emo-tional, and intellectual needs of 16-month-olds to 5-year-olds. The school employs an experienced professional staff and offers a warm, child-centered environment rooted in Jewish tradition, where children can become confident, responsible, and suc-cessful learners. The curriculum includes language arts, science, reading and math readiness, music, art, Judaic program-ming, physical education, and swimming. For information, call early childhood director Johanna Sohinki at (201) 408-1430 or email [email protected].

    Sarah KofflerCOURTESY JCCOTP

    Some of the lone soldiers who received gift cards. INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS

    Replica of Jerusalems Western Wall. JEWISH HOME FAMILY

  • JS-19

    JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 19

    Kaplen JCC on the Palisades taub campus | 411 e clinton ave, tenafly, nJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org

    upcoming at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades

    to register or for more info, visit

    jccotp.org or call 201.569.7900.

    Mens Basketball LeagueJoin our competitive 4-on-4 open league featuring professional referees, scorekeepers, electronic scoreboards and team jersey included. Form your own team or well place you as a free agent. For more info, call Oumar at 201.408.1474.

    17-34 Division: 8 Thursdays, Oct 22-Dec 17, 7-10 pm, $125/$175

    35+ Division: 8 Mondays, Oct 19-Dec 7, 7-10 pm, $125/$175

    film series:

    Top Films You May Have MissedEach screening is introduced with commentary and followed by optional discussion. Participants are given tools to identify plot lines, design elements, character development, thematic nuances and how they contribute to a well-crafted film. Coffee and light snacks provided.

    5 Mon, 7:30 pm, $5/$8 per film, $20/$32 series

    oct 19: Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalemnov 2: Sullivans Travelsnov 23: Burnt By the SunDec 7: LaStradaDec 21: Leviathan

    Creative Arts and Crafts for Adults New year! New talents! Find your creative voice and be inspired with one of our Creative Arts Programs at the JCC.

    pottery, Wheel throWing & hanD builDing8 Thursdays, Oct 1-Nov 19, 7-9:30 pm, $190/$230

    beginner & intermeDiate DraWing & sKetching6 Thursdays, Oct 8-Nov 12, 10 am-12:30 pm, $160/$195

    For more info, visit jccotp.org/adult-creative-arts

    JCC Ufall term

    Professors and experts present on a variety of topics. First Thursday speakers are Professor Ronald Brown presenting How to Become President of the USA, and David Leopold presenting The Art of Al Hirschfeld.

    Call Kathy at 201.408.1454 or [email protected]

    Thursdays: Oct 1, 15, 29 & Nov 12, 10:30 am-2:15 pm

    4 Thursdays $110/$140, 1 Thursday $32/$40

    Take Me Out To the Ball GameWith JoJo rubach

    Meatballs are all the rage, so get ready to learn some fantastic new recipes as JoJo leads another entertaining and mouthwatering class. Recipes to include turkey and zucchini meatballs with green onions, lemony leek meatballs, JoJos favorite Italian meatballs and more!

    Thur, Oct 8, 7-9:30 pm, $60/$75

    sportsadults

    the chucK guttenberg center for the physically challengeD

    Annual Special Games Field Day Event register noW! Children, teens and adults who are differently-abled are invited to participate in a variety of fun activities, including soccer kick, basketball, scooters, and more! Each athlete will receive ribbons and a t-shirt, and enjoy a kosher BBQ and DJ entertainment. To register, contact Mindy Liebowitz at [email protected].

    Sun, Oct 4, 12-2:30 pm, $10 registration fee

    cooking

  • Editorial

    1086 Teaneck RoadTeaneck, NJ 07666(201) 837-8818Fax 201-833-4959

    PublisherJames L. JanoffAssociate Publisher EmeritaMarcia Garfinkle

    EditorJoanne Palmer

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    Production ManagerJerry Szubin

    Graphic ArtistsDeborah HermanBob O'Brien

    ReceptionistRuth Hirsch

    JewishStandard

    jstandard.com

    FounderMorris J. Janoff (19111987)

    Editor Emeritus Meyer Pesin (19011989)

    City EditorMort Cornin (19151984)

    Editorial Consultant Max Milians (1908-2005)

    SecretaryCeil Wolf (1914-2008)

    Editor EmeritaRebecca Kaplan Boroson

    Special gifts

    I ts funny not ha-ha funny, that is, but striking that often the stories in any one issue of the Standard tend to concentrate on one theme.This weeks seems to be about being

    true to yourself and reaching into yourself, reaching as deeply as you can, to give to other people gifts that could have come from no one else.

    So, we have Robert Kravitz, business-man, baker, business teacher, educator extraordinaire, tackling the challenges of the Englewood public school system as its new supervisor, bringing his wide-ranging skills to a system that can use them.

    We have Laura Wharton, academic and politician, bringing her Harvard-honed analytic skills to the thorny, non-East-Coast problems facing her deliberative body, the Jerusalem City Council.

    We have Karnit Goldwasser, the young widow of a an IDF reservist captured and killed by Hezbollah, talking about the years she spent not knowing his fate and sharing the wisdom she learned during those years of uncertainty and the years of pure grief that followed.

    And we have Mike Adler, whose obitu-ary made clear that all of us who did not have the chance to know him have missed out. One problem with writing obituaries is learning how much youve missed; real-izing that someone extraordinary is gone irrevocably and your only chance of know-ing him personally now has to be second-hand and mediated.

    All four of these people and really there are five people, because to learn about Mike Adler is to know that he was half of Mike-and-Elaine, a couple whose lives entwined so completely that they became one doubled whole have accomplished feats that no one else could have done.

    Of course, sometimes what you do is based on your opportunity to do it. Some-times that opportunity is a gift Dr. Whar-ton won an election, and Mr. Kravitzs thousands of hours of hard work bolstered his intuition and outside experience.

    Sometimes, though, that opportunity is tragedy. Ms. Goldwassers husband, Udi, is dead; she might always have had the reserves of strength, decency, common

    sense, and sheer brainpower that she called upon when she needed them, but she would have been far happier had she never needed to use them.

    And then there are the Adlers. It is true that part of their good fortune was luck. First, they found each other. Second, their temperaments and gifts allowed them to work together that they had such tem-peraments and such gifts in itself is an unearned blessing and the economy that boomed around them helped them as well.

    But so very much of their success had nothing to do with luck; it was creativity, courage, and hard work. Very hard work.

    There is a culture of giving in this com-munity, particularly striking in its older members, the generation who survived World War II and flourished in the decades that followed, and the Adlers were very much part of that culture. Not all commu-nities can boast of such an atmosphere, and it is not even clear if it will continue here once the generation that fostered it is gone, but for now its still here, and the Adlers are among its most prominent exemplars.

    But it was only when Mr. Adler became aphasic that his true nature became fully clear.

    Instead of giving in to the despair that inevitably would have demolished so many of us, the Adlers, as always work-ing together, decided to take this hugely looming challenge and make something good come of it. Fully aware that most people do not have the resources to do what they could do, they created a place where people with aphasia can feel com-fortable, they can be understood, they are not dismissed as an annoying problem but met with respect and dignity, and where they can continue to grow.

    As one of his friends said in our story, thanks to Mike and Elaine Adler, the Adler Aphasia Center allowed people to get their lives back. No one else could have done it.

    As we enter this season of Sukkot, where we can sit surrounded by nature and marvel in its beauty, we are thankful as well for the beauty of the human gifts that surround us.

    Chag Sukkot sameach. JP

    KEEPING THE FAITH

    The pope, Sukkot, and the environment

    The visit of Pope Francis and the recent Republican presi-dential debate both put envi-ronmental issues on a front burner for now.

    That is perfect timing for Jews, because there is no festival more envi-ronmentally conscious than Sukkot, which begins on Sunday night.

    In June, the Pope entered the envi-ronment debate with his first encycli-cal, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Com-mon Home. Laudato Si is Latin for Be praised, and it echoes a line written by the popes namesake, Fran-cis of Assisi, Catholicisms patron saint of animals and the environment. (Techni-cally, this was the popes second encyclical; his first, however, was actually the work of Pope Benedict, who left the papacy before he could complete it.)

    An encyclical is one of the most important docu-ments issued by popes, and the most authoritative. Usually they are written for narrow audiences, such as Catholic prelates, or Catholics generally. What is most remarkable about this 40,000-word document is that it is addressed to the entire world, and that it is not a uniquely Catholic document. While the monograph was written from a Catho-lic perspective, it was meant for univer-sal consumption.

    In Laudato Si, Francis says that Planet Earth cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.

    Despite his critics, who claim he is taking a far-left radical approach to environmental issues, Francis rejects the far lefts claims that people are mostly responsible for the planets

    environmental ills. He also rejects unreasonable and impractical solutions that ignore human needs. The issue is more complicated than the radical environmentalists claim, Francis wrote in his encyclical.

    A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently wit-nessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system, Francis wrote. In recent decades, this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the

    sea level, and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause can-not be assigned to each particular phenomenon.

    He noted, however, that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the earths orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming

    in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity.

    The problem, he wrote, is aggra-vated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system. Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforesta-tion for agricultural purposes.

    At this writing, the pope is sched-uled to appear before Congress on September 24, where a majority of his audience is hostile to his environ-mental message, but who will applaud him nevertheless because of their own political concerns.

    Interest ingly, the recent GOP

    Shammai Engelmayer is the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades in Cliffside Park and Temple Beth El of North Bergen.

    20 JEWISH STANDARD SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

    JS-20*

    Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer

  • Opinion

    presidential debate revealed that conservative Republicans may not actually reject the notion of global warming and its effects, but they fear that corrective mea-sures would endanger the nations economy.

    Were not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing gov-ernment were under wants to do, said Florida Senator Marco Rubio in the debate. Every proposal they put forward are proposals that will make it harder to do busi-ness in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America.

    Amen, said Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin (before he ended his candidacy); these environmental proposals could cos