New Jersey Jewish Standard, January 11, 2013

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January 11, 2013 · Vol. LXXXII · No. 16 · $1.00 JSTANDARD.COM

201281N E W J E R S E Y

JewishStandard

Havana nagilaPostcard from Federation’s mission to

Cuba

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2 Jewish standard JanUarY 11, 2013

JANUARY 27

OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEYJewish Federation

JFNNJ.ORG/SUPERSUNDAYfor more information contact Dana Garay

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THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE. THE POWER OF COMMUNITY.

Howard Chernin | Matt hew LibienAmy Shafron

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START OFF THE NEW YEAR WITH A TOUCHDOWNON

PUBLISHER’S STATEMENTJewish Standard (USPS 275-700 ISN 0021-6747) is published weekly on Fridays with an additional edition every October, by the New Jersey Jewish Media Group, 1086 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. Periodicals postage paid at Hackensack, NJ and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Jersey Jewish Media Group, 1086 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. Subscription price is $30.00 per year. Out-of-state subscriptions are $45.00, Foreign countries subscriptions are $75.00.The appearance of an advertisement in The Jewish Standard does not constitute a kashrut endorsement. The publishing of a paid political advertisement does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate political party or political position by the newspaper, the Federation or any employees.The Jewish Standard assumes no responsibility to return unsolicited editorial or graphic materials. All rights in letters and unso-licited editorial, and graphic material will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and subject to JEWISH STANDARD’s unrestricted right to edit and to comment editorially. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. © 2013

FYI

Tax cut fine printLarry yudeLson

You may be relieved the fiscal cliff discussion is over.But the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey wants

to bring your attention to some of the fine print of the tax cuts approved by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama last week.

In particular, it wants those 70½ or older who are taking a minimum distribution from their IRAs to know that they are again allowed to donate the distribution directly to charity and “it won’t count toward your taxable income,” according to Robin Rochlin, the managing director of the federation’s endowment foundation.

Rollovers now are allowed for 2013 — and, retroactively, for 2012.But to have the rollover count for the 2012 tax year, the paperwork

must be completed before the end of January.For more information, call Rochlin at (201) 820-3970 or email her

at [email protected] federation said that its efforts to maintain the charitable tax

deduction — through its representatives at the Jewish Federation of North America — were successful.

The bill does reinstate the so-called “Pease limitation,” which imposes a so-called haircut of 3 percent of income in excess of $300,000 on certain itemized deductions, including the charitable contribution deduction. This provision first was introduced into the tax law in 1990, and according to JFNA it has had minimal impact on the level of charitable giving.

letters to the edItor PAGe 14

Jewish holy places in Israel belong to all Jews of every denomination and kind.

Shel Haas, Fort Lee

CANdlelIGhtING tIMe: FrIdAY, jAN. 11, 4:30 P.M.shABBAt eNds: sAtUrdAY, jAN 12, 5:34 P.M.

Noshes ...................................................................................................5oPINIoN ...............................................................................................12Cover storY......................................................................16torAh CoMMeNtArY .................................34Arts & leIsUre ...........................................................35

lIFeCYCle ....................................................................................38ClAssIFIed .............................................................................40GAllerY .........................................................................................42hoMe desIGN ................................................................... 43reAl estAte ...................................................................... 45

Contents Yes and no, I went to dinner and was home before midnight. 0%

No, I stayed home. 1%

Yes, I went to a party. 99%

Did you go out for New Year’s Eve?

Should the Senate confirm Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense?

To vote, log onto jstandard.com

IsrAel

Can Sharansky make peace at the Wall? 22

Arts & CUltUre

Eye on the New York Jewish Film Festival 35

loCAl

Rabbi takes aim at gun violence 11

Arts & CUltUre

Talking daguerreotypes in Teaneck 8

loCAl

The politicians of Ridgewood’s Temple Israel 6

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Jewish standard JanUarY 11, 2013 3

On the cover: Gale s. and david Bindelglass pose with the israeli and Cuban flags in one of havana’s synagogues. Photographs by their son Perry Bindelglass.

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Bringing politics closer to homeridgewood shul boasts two elected officials

Lois GoLdrich

While the phrase “shul politics” conjures up images of con-gregants arguing heatedly

over issues from clergy to prayer books, at Ridgewood’s Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center politics and syna-gogue life intersect in a different way.

Not only can the synagogue claim Ridgewood mayor Paul Aronsohn as one of its own, but on November 6 another congregant, Tracy Silna Zur, won a seat on Bergen County’s Board of Chosen Freeholders.

For his part, Temple Israel’s Rabbi David J. Fine, is pleased to have them as members of the shul.

“While congregations in the D.C. area will often have senators and members of Congress in their ranks, having local politicians in shul is, in a sense, more special because with local politicians, the relationship with the constituency is so much more immediate,” Fine said. “We at Temple Israel in Ridgewood are honored to have Mayor Aronsohn and Freeholder Zur as part of our congregation, as they bring honor to the Jewish community as well as the wider polity.”

Fine said he has always been inspired by the saying of Hillel, “Do not separate yourself from the community.” When he

graduated from rabbinical school some 14 years ago, he said, “we each had to choose a favorite quotation from the vast corpus of rabbinic literature, and that was what I chose. Judaism teaches us to be always involved and engaged in the public good. I am thrilled to be able to work together with Mayor Aronsohn and Freeholder Zur towards that good, and in setting an example for others.”

In speaking with the Jewish Standard, both politicians cited their desire to serve the community as the major impetus for their political involvement.

“I love Ridgewood, and I love public service,” Aronsohn said. He grew up in Fort Lee, where he attended high school.

After years spent in Washington, D.C., and New York, he came back to New Jersey, ultimately settling in Ridgewood. Elected to the village council in 2008, he was re-elected in 2012 and chosen as mayor then.

While technically the position is not full time, “it feels like it,” Aronsohn said. His day job — director of executive communications at Bristol-Myers Squibb — takes him to Princeton four days a week.

“It’s not easy, it’s a juggling act,” he said. Fortunately, a lot of the village work can be done at night, when most meetings are held. Still, to stay current, “I carry my iPad, return emails, and step out to make phone calls.”

Aronsohn’s political resume is impressive.

Graduating from George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in political communication in 1982 and a master’s in political science, again from GW, in 1992, he went on to work for the Clinton administration in the areas of foreign policy and national security.

He also had an opportunity to serve three American ambassadors to the United Nations: Madeleine Albright, Bill Richardson, and Richard Holbrooke.

The UN community did not treat Israel well, Aronsohn believes; but “the United States always has been one of Israel’s

staunchest, most reliable supporters” there, and all three ambassadors under whom he worked focused on that problem. Under Holbrooke, he said, the United States was able to help change the policy that made Israel the only country precluded from joining a regional group.

“We were able to fix that,” he said. “As an American Jew, I took great pride in that effort.”

Moving back to New Jersey, he spent a year as communications director and spokesperson for former Governor James McGreevey. Then, in 2006, he ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 5th District.

Since 2008, Aronsohn has served on the Ridgewood Village Council.

“I started off in national and international affairs, then state, then local. I knew I loved public service, but when I joined the council, it was my first time as an elected official,” Aronsohn said. “I’m surprised by how much I love it — from parking issues to budgets. I love working with people, and this gives me an opportunity to do it even more closely.”

While his work on the Ridgewood council has involved him in areas from commerce to citizens’ safety, his proudest achievement has been the creation of the Ridgewood Community Access Network, a local group formed to address disability-

related issues.“Disability is a personal issue for me,”

he said. “My sister has significant physical disabilities, and this has informed my thinking over the years.”

Since joining the council he has run monthly meetings dealing with various aspects of this issue, from educational initiatives to parking access to programs for special-needs children.

Aronsohn credits Jewish values with influencing his political and personal outlook.

“Part of Jewish identity is commitment to family, community, and public service,” he said. “But I’d have to say that the most profound impact [came from] my father. He was a World War II veteran who taught me about patriotism, sense of country, and service.”

Aronsohn said that one of his goals is to get local residents more engaged in the process of government, “to make it more transparent, more user-friendly. It makes it more challenging when more people come and express their views, but at the end of the day, it will be a better community.”

The mayor, who lives with his wife, Marie, and stepchildren Anna and Luke, described Ridgewood as “one of the most inclusive places I’ve ever lived.

“We’ve got a vibrant interfaith community, with four interfaith services during year,” he said. One of those gatherings commemorates the Holocaust.

Noting the importance of having a supportive family, Aronsohn said that “when you live a public life like this, demands are felt by the entire family. My family has been 110 percent behind me.”

In addition, he said, the entire family has a commitment to public affairs. He met his wife when she was a journalist for New Jersey Network; his daughter, Anna, is a student activist; and his son, Luke, is a history buff — “watching every history documentary.”

-Tracy Silna Zur, who was sworn in as

a Bergen County freeholder last week, is equally passionate about public service. The longtime Franklin Lakes resident, who grew up in Woodcliff Lake, credits her strong communal commitment to her family.

“We had it with our Wheaties,” she said, reeling off some of the positions held by her father, Daniel Silna, who has been

“We at Temple Israel in Ridgewood are honored to have Mayor Aronsohn and Freeholder Zur as part of our congregation.”

— Rabbi David J. Fine

New freeholder Tracy Silna Zur with Ridgewood’s Mayor Paul Aronsohn, left, and Rabbi David J. Fine. Johanna resnick rosen/candid eye

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president of UJA-NNJ (now the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey), the Bergen County YJCC, and Temple Emanuel in Woodcliff Lake.

Zur has been active in her own right, serving JFNNJ as a Women’s Philanthropy board member, sitting on the board of the Gerrard Berman Day School, and volunteering for Alternatives to Domestic Violence and Meals on Wheels.

She also learned important lessons from her grandfather, who emigrated to Palestine from Latvia and later moved to the United States.

For him, “love of our country” was critical, she said. “He told us that we were fortunate to live in America, and in communities that are tolerant. Our job is to make sure that they continue to thrive.”

Noting that her father served on the council in Woodcliff Lake, Zur said she “grew up seeing that you can make a difference; that being involved and engaged was important. It was a way to internalize the whole concept of tikkun olam, to make the community better.”

Like Aronsohn, she described her new job as technically being part-time. But, she said, “I feel it will be what occupies most of my days.”

She already is quite busy. A prosecutor for the city of Hoboken, she also works with the Rutherford law firm Fahy Choi.

This in addition to raising three children — ages 6, 10, and 15 — together with husband Bobby.

A lifelong Bergen County resident, Zur holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Fordham University. She is now pursuing a master’s degree in public administration from Rutgers University.

While Zur has been involved in New Jersey politics — she was legal counsel and scheduler for Rep. Bill Pascrell in 1997— this is her first elected office.

“I was a judge in municipal court for five years,” she said. “When the term ended, I decided to go back to graduate school for public administration. The government side of things was the part I liked best — where you get to make a difference in people’s lives. Government service was a way of doing that on a broader scale.”

Before serving as a judge, she was a public defender in Englewood, “so I certainly was always involved and engaged with government in some way. I’ve also been involved in a supportive role, helping other qualified and competent individuals get elected.”

Zur said her husband and children have been totally supportive of her political aspirations.

“My daughters were giving out flyers

and going with me to parades and events,” she said. “My husband manned the fort to make sure nothing was falling through the cracks at home.” Her extended family — parents, cousins, and nephews — helped out as well.

Zur said that with her election as a county freeholder, there are now three women on the seven-member board.

“Women have come a long way,” she said, paying tribute to State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, whom she called “tremendously supportive.”

“Women bring a lot to the table,” Zur said. “There’s a certain perspective we can vocalize and insights we can bring to the board. As for challenges,” she laughed, “I’m sure I’ll learn.”

She did note, however, that women in politics tend to have “Rolodexes that aren’t as deep” as those of men, and they are often called upon to negotiate challenges related to family life.

Still, she said, “I have a family that’s with me 100 percent, so I’m well situated to take challenges at full throttle.”

Zur said the freeholder board meets every Wednesday night. She will chair three different committees — law and public safety, health services, and planning and economic development. She will also serve as liaison to Bergen Regional Medical Center and the county

board of social services.“It will end up being a full-time

job.” she said. “I’m not delusional. It will require a lot of work. I’ll do my homework – reading through everything, formulating opinions, delving into all sides of an issue. [But] this is the kind of work I’m passionate about, making a difference for people in Bergen County.”

Zur described the Board of Freeholders as a “county legislature, providing services for all 70 towns and doing wide-ranging work” from overseeing law and public safety issues to making decisions about education, special needs services, and public works.

“There are so many different areas in which the county is involved and providing services,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity. All 905,000 residents of Bergen County are my constituents.”

The new freeholder said that she brings to her new position the skill of being a “good listener — one of the most important things in government.” She plans to have an open-door policy, to learn “what the people need and what their priorities are. It’s the beauty of our democratic process of government.

“Throughout the campaign I gave out 20,000 business cards with my cell phone number on it,” she said. “I plan to be

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present at community events and interface with different constituent groups, different ethnic and religious communities, and have a dialogue about issues in the community.”

Among her priorities will be dealing with the relationship between county police and the sheriff’s department, strengthening the Bergen Regional Medical Center and Bergen Community College, attracting businesses to the county, and providing for such groups as seniors and children with special needs.

Zur commended the county’s response to the wave

of anti-Semitic acts that occurred during the past year. But, she said, “the Jewish community is diverse and is benefited by all [county] services,” such as rides for seniors and meals on wheels. For example, she noted, “We all want safe parks to play in and access to special services for those who need extra help.”

She noted that Rabbi David Fine performed the invocation at her swearing-in ceremony.

She said she “loves the congregation, not just because of its focus on educating my children Jewishly but for being socially cognizant,” engaging in such projects as interfaith park cleanups.

“It fulfills us spiritually as well,” she said.

Ridgewood from page 7


“We want to focus on change that would be real and meaningful, not on fruitless debates with diehard gun advocates. The battle is not with the NRA” — the National Rifle Association. “For now, we want to focus on closing the gun show loophole, limiting the number of guns people could buy in a month to one, passing legislation that would limit the number of bullets in a clip, let’s say to 10, and demanding universal background checks on gun buyers.” (The gun show loophole allows unlicensed vendors to sell guns without background checks.)

The goal “is to create a broad coalition on this issue,” he continued. “We don’t want it to be just of liberal progressive folks, but of people across the range of political and religious perspectives who think it is time to act.”

The group that met, as diverse as it was, was interestingly united in its understanding of the problem of gun violence, Mosbacher said. An entirely unscientific poll on the four issues the group wants to address drew unanimous agreement.

The meeting ended with a plan.The New Jersey participants came from many

legislative districts. “We’ve already done some research, and we know that five members of the New Jersey delegation to Washington historically have not been supportive of gun control legislation, so we’re trying to get meetings with them,” Mosbacher said “We’ve already asked for a meeting with [Rep. Scott] Garrett [R-Dist. 5]. A number of people there were from [Rep. Rodney] Freylinghausen’s [R-Dist. 11] district and will ask for a meeting with him. We would like to ask about their plans on how to limit gun violence in this county.

“The intention is to do that in private, with groups of clergy, across lines of race and faith and class and geography.

“That’s Step 1.“Step 2 — we’re hoping to put together a public

gathering in the next few weeks, where we would report back on those meetings, share stories from our members about how gun violence has affected us. In the ideal world, we’d have these legislators with us at the meetings, and we would ask them publicly the same questions we’d asked them privately.

“The public meeting is for everybody,” Mosbacher continued. “We would share stories about why this matters. We hope the legislators, if they could come, would be willing to support some of those things, and we’d publicly celebrate them. Or if not they could come and debate with us.”

This, Mosbacher said, is the group’s northern New Jersey strategy.

On the statewide level, “in the beginning of February, we are going to put together a clergy gathering, with the idea of trying to meet with all the members of the New Jersey delegation who historically have not been supportive of gun control legislation.”

The plan is to be bipartisan. Although Democrats are in favor of gun control legislation in New Jersey while Republicans tend to be against it, Mosbacher said, that pattern does not hold across the country.

Many Democrats support the NRA. The issue of gun control ideally should not be bound by partisan politics, Mosbacher believes.

On the most ambitious level — the national stage — Mosbacher dreams of organizing a march on Washington “that might bring together an unlikely, diverse group of people – clergy, police officers, doctors, other health care workers. The goal is not just to bring the usual progressive coalition.

“If it’s just northeast progressives, we’ll feel good about it, but it won’t be as effective,” he said. “We want everyone there, in the same space.”

It is important to act now, he added, “because there is a limited window of time.” Why? Because people forget.

“They already are forgetting. The horror that we all felt after Newtown will fade, and soon the president and vice president will propose whatever legislation they propose, and heels will begin to dig in in Washington, as they always do.”

Mosbacher knows gun control isn’t the only issue. “We feel we can make a significant impact, but it will not completely resolve the problem of gun violence. Do we have to have a conversation about access to mental health care? Yes. Do we have to have a conversation about violence in the media? Yes.

“Right now, we’re trying to highlight or identify a few concrete, potentially winnable steps that could make an impact right away.”

Mosbacher is propelled into this work both by an abstract belief in its importance and a more personal understanding of the misery a gun can cause. “Fourteen years ago, my father was murdered,” he said. “He was a victim of gun violence – although the sad truth is that no legislation is likely to have saved him.”

Mosbacher’s father owned a small business on Chicago’s South Side. “He was held up, and it turned into a murder,” Mosbacher said.

“I’ve always known that nothing good could come out of his murder. He will never come back.

“We know the names of the victims of Newtown and the people who were at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the victims of Aurora and Columbine. And we should know them. But there are 30,000 victims of gun violence every year. Nobody knows their names.”

He was not the only person at the meeting to have been affected personally by gun violence, Mosbacher said. “It was amazing how many people have connections to it. We think that it’s an urban problem – that it doesn’t affect Jews, or people who live in the suburbs. We’re wrong.

“There are 300 million guns in private hands. I have to be clear. We are in no way saying that it is our goal to take back those guns.” Instead, he hopes for legislation that controls how they are bought, sold, and used.

Mosbacher knows that the problem is huge and seemingly intractable, but he is not daunted.

“This is a community organizational model,” he said. “People of faith who have organized money and organized people can be powerful. We hope that out of this gathering of people of faith will grow powerful efforts on a wide range of issues.

gun Violence from page 11

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Daguerreotypes from the trailteaneck author talks about the adventures of an early Jewish photographer

Charles Zusman

What would prompt a man who is successful in business and active and respected in his Jewish community to take leave of a loving

wife and three children and trek over the Rocky moun-tains in winter, on foot and by mule and horseback?

In the case of Solomon Nunes Carvalho, 38 at the time, it was the lure of a “Remarkable Western Adventure.” In 1853, Carvalho began work as a photographer with John C. Fremont’s fifth expedition to map a railroad route to the West Coast.

“Remarkable Western Adventure” also is the subtitle of a book by Arlene Hirschfelder of Teaneck, who tells Carvalho’s story,

The book, “Photo Odyssey, Solomon Carvalho’s Remarkable Western Adventure,” was published in 2000. It is now the subject of a nearly completed one-hour doc-umentary, and Hirschfelder, the author of some 25 works mainly dealing with Native American history and culture, will speak about Carvalho on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Teaneck General Store, 502 Cedar Lane. Her presentation will include an 11-minute trailer on the film.

Carvalho worked with daguerreotypes, an early form of photography developed in France by Louis-Jacque-Mande Daguerre. Daguerreotypes did not require negatives. Instead, images were stored directly on silver coated copper plates, requiring a cumbersome devel-oping process. The cameras that captured the images were large, boxy, and cumbersome. A modern 35 mil-limeter device would have been an impossible dream to the 1850s photographer — much less today’s cellphone camera.

Carvalho had to pack a lot of heavy, awkward gear and chemicals, dragging it all over mountains and through blizzards — all the while putting up with recalcitrant pack mules with minds of their own.

Carvalho was a city boy. He had lived in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, making his living as a por-trait painter and photographer. Nevertheless, he left his urban ties behind and signed up for the adventure of his life.

As Hirschfelder recounts, Solomon Nunes Carvalho was born in Charleston, S.C., a city with a vibrant Jewish community, in 1815. The family was Sephardic, with roots in Portugal.

Solomon’s father, David, helped establish the first Reform congregation in the country, and his son held on to his traditional Orthodox roots. Keeping kosher along the trail was a challenge, as Hirschfelder writes, but Carvalho did his best.

“He often ate nothing or had to make do” with what-ever the Indian hunters who were part of the expedition could supply, she writes. He compromised. He devel-oped a taste for horsemeat, and ate mule meat as well. After all, as Jewish law requires, he acted to save a life, in this case his own. But when a hunter in the party killed a coyote, Carvalho went hungry rather than eat the flesh of

an animal that fed on carrion. Similarly, although he ate the meat of furry rodents, he drew the line at porcupine — he thought that the animal looked too much like a pig.

Fremont hired Delaware Indians as guides and hunt-ers for the trip, and Carvalho encountered Cheyenne and Ute along the way. Thus, he met representatives of a number of Native American tribes.

Hirschfelder, a Chicago native, lives in Teaneck with her husband, Dennis. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Brandeis University and a master’s in art ed-ucation from the University of Chicago. Her book about Carvalho is the product of an enduring interest in Native American affairs.

She has been on the lookout for stories of Jewish-Indian connections. The two groups first met in the 1600s, when Jewish traders began traveling among the Native Americans, she said. She read the book “Jews Among Indians” by M.L. Marks, and there she found a chapter on Carvalho.

“He spoke to me,” she said, recalling the excite-ment of her discovery. “He tapped me on the shoulder.” Carvalho’s story seemed tailor-made for her. “It all came together,” she said. “Here was an Orthodox Jew who learned how to hunt buffalo.”

Carvalho survived blizzards, prairie fires, and near starvation in the Rockies, she said. He learned to chop wood and saddle a horse. His mentors were Indian guides and hunters. (For the record, Hirschfelder uses the terms “Native American” and “Indian” interchange-ably. Both are correct, she says.)

Eventually the bedraggled party — skinny, unwashed, hungry — found itself in Parowan in southern Utah, where the men were taken in and nurtured by Mormons. After regaining his health, Carvalho went to Salt Lake City, where he met and carried on philosophical discus-sions with Mormon prophet Brigham Young.

In the end the grand adventure was just that, an ad-venture. Congress never acted on Fremont’s findings and the railroad he worked to map out never was built.

Hirschfelder sees a strong link between her religious affiliaton and social justice. “Dennis and I are Reform Jews,” she said. “Reform Jews marched with Martin Luther King.” When she was a staffer with the Association of American Indian Affairs, she helped the Coushatta tribe in Louisiana gain federal recognition, a status that brought the tribe economic benefits. She taught at the New School in New York and has conducted workshops for teachers. She has written some 25 books about Native Americans.

Indians have had “such a powerful presence in U.S. history, and were more influential than many would think,” she said. She is disturbed by the negative imagery often associated with Indians. “They have been so stereo-typed,” she said.

Hirschfelder drew heavily on Carvalho’s own words for her book. They come from his journal, “Incidents of Travel in the Far West with Col. Fremont’s Last Expedition.” She illustrated her book with contemporary engravings and painting. One, by Carvalho, is of Wakara, a peace-making Ute chief.

Carvalho took hundreds of daguerrotypes, but most were shipped to a warehouse and were lost in a fire, Hirschfelder said.

Carvalho died in 1897 in New York. He was 82.

the hour-long documentary “Carvalho’s Journey” is scheduled to be completed this year, according to its director, steve rivo. it will be distributed by the national Center for Jewish Film and broadcast by PBs, he added.

arlene hirschfelder’s book provides the core of the film, which relies heavily on the work of robert shlaer, an artist and photographer who made daguerreotypes as he retraced the Fremont route. the film includes interviews with historians, dramatic reenactments, and voice-overs. it was partly filmed in the western United

states, using Carvalho’s journal as a guide. rivo said the film, which he called a “labor of love,” is a story of early photography as well as a chronicle of Carvalho’s adventure. it is funded by grants from foundations and individuals.

an 11-minute trailer will be shown sunday as part of hirschfelder’s talk at 10:30 a.m. at the teaneck General store.

For more information, go to www.jewishfilm.org/fiscal_sponsorship_carvalho.htm.

Who: arlene hirschfelder

What: will talk about her book about the early photographer solomon nunes Carvalho

When: sunday, January 13, 10:30 a.m.

Where: the teaneck General store, 502 Cedar Lane.

For information: (201) 530-5046

Arlene Hirschfelder’s book includes daguerreotype portrait of Solomon Carvalho. Charles Zusman

This typical daguerreotype was found in an antique store.

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Interested in baking?Want to help those in need?

It is difficult to fathom Israel’s rapid transformation from theearly pioneering days to the landscape of today, but thanks tophotos taken by the founders of the Society for the Protectionof Nature in Israel, the accelerated development comes intocrystal clear focus. In this multi-media presentation, MichelleLevine will review Israel’s natural treasures and discuss thestatus of recent environmental issues and projects in Israel.

Join us for fun sessions of cooking, discussion of Jewish values, and chesed, and learn a new bread recipe each class!Each session will include baking one loaf of bread for yourself,another for Senior Adults, and donating the value of a thirdloaf to the Center for Food Action.

Tu B’Shevat Program Special Event

For more information call Robyn at 201.408.1429 For more information call Robyn at 201.408.1429

Environmental Victories in Israel

Free and

Open

to the

Community

BREAD for HUNGERA Family Education & Social Action Programfor Parents and Children Ages 10 +

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From the office to the Tablealan sweifach looks back at his years at north Jersey’s federation

Larry yudeLson

W hen you work for a Jewish communal orga-nization, the normal frustrations of the workaday world — the spreadsheets that

won’t print properly, the deadlines that pile up, the nightmarish conversations with the phone company — are overshadowed by the twin thrills of helping people and playing a role in the grand arc of Jewish history.

For Alan Sweifach of Teaneck, the specific spread-sheets will change as he concludes an almost 12-year tenure at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and begins work at the Jewish Federations of North America in lower Manhattan on Monday. But the mean-ing will be the same. Having focused on community planning for the New Jersey organization, and particu-larly on the relationship between the federation and its affiliated agencies, Sweifach now will help the umbrella organization of federations plan for the needs of the global Jewish community.

Looking back on his time at the Paramus federa-tion, Sweifach said he is most proud of helping local synagogues and agencies write homeland security grant applications, which have brought in $3.6 million to the community institutions.

He’s happy about the direct good the grants achieved in making the community safer.

And he’s also pleased that his grant-writing helped show the community “the value-added that the fed-eration provides in the community, and why you need a strong federation to have strong agencies and institu-tions,” he said.

Sweifach came to the federation after working at the Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest New Jersey in East Orange, where he was involved in resettling refu-gees from the former Soviet Union. It was experience that proved invaluable in his connections with federa-tion’s agencies.

“He’s loved by the agency execs and their leadership,” David Goodman, president of the federation, said. “He’s loved by the lay leadership. I’m really saddened we’re going to lose him in this community.”

“Alan’s gain through this job is going to be our loss,” said Paula Shaiman, who worked with Sweifach as a leader of both the federation and the Jewish Family Service of North Jersey. “But it will be wonderful to work with him in his new position.”

Sweifach began working for the federation in March 2001. The biggest change in the charity since then?

“It is becoming more donor-centric,” he said. “Part of it is out of necessity. For the younger donors, it’s not a given that people will give to Federation.”

Sweifach is a big believer in “the power of collective giving and collective action” — and is happy to have a chance to demonstrate it through his work.

Appealing to donor’s interests is fine, he said, but he cautions that “you still have to keep in mind what the community’s interests are — and sometimes they don’t coincide as much as you hope they will. You try to ex-

plain and you hope the message is compelling enough and you explain why you do what you do. You hope when you meet one on one with the donors and explain it to them that they will get it.”

Sweifach points to the power of collective action in resettling Jews from the former Soviet Union.

The federations “were able to act as a system,” he said. “We as a system identified a need, and we as a system moved two million Soviet Jews to Israel and to North America. Whether or not Akron, Ohio, for ex-ample — or any other community — resettled a single Soviet Jew, they were expected to raise the money and contribute toward this national effort. Those that did not resettle Soviet Jews were expected to raise the mon-ey and contribute toward this national effort. Those that did resettle Soviet Jews were helped through the system by the communities that did not.

“The question is, what are the next issues and topics that we as a system should be tackling on behalf of the Jewish people?”

That will be a central question he will help the fed-eration system address in his new role as senior director for the Global Planning Table of the Jewish Federations of North America. Initially, the Global Planning Table will examine overseas projects funded by the federa-tions, but Sweifach looks forward to it eventually dis-

cussing “needs here in which we can act as a system. Is it Jewish unemployment? Is it Jewish hunger? Is it the elderly? I think that’s what the Global Planning Table has the potential to do. There is a value to the system in taking collective action, not only to identify the needs, but to provide the funding. This will help us to raise the dollars and show the relevance of the system.

“I believe with all my heart there is relevancy for it, which is why I’m so excited about being a part of it.”

The worst of times

Helping bring Homeland Security grants to northern New Jersey was the highlight of Alan Sweifach’s career at the Jewish

Federation of Northern New Jersey.But what was the lowlight?“My worst moment was two months after I

started here in Federation. I had picked up doing the demographic study we were doing. We had hired the contractor, hired the workers, had paid over $100,000 to the demographers, had publicized that the survey was taking place at such-and-such a time — and then Verizon told me they needed one month’s notice to hook up the telephone lines and the date was in three weeks. I thought all Verizon had to do was to flick a switch. Really, Verizon had to assign telephone numbers to all the lines.

“And they told me that would take a month.“I thought I was going to lose my job two months

after I started.”But his wife worked at Verizon.“It took my wife’s connections to get all the lines

all done,” he said.

Alan Sweifach faces new job but familiar challenges. Courtesy JFNNJ

“The question is, what are the next issues and topics that we as a system should be tackling on behalf of the Jewish people?”

— ALAN SWEIFACH

“He’s loved by the lay leadership. I’m really saddened we’re going to lose him in this community.”

—DAVID GOODMAN


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Public school students attend NCSY event in ConnecticutMore than 270 public school teens from across the country gathered last week at the Stamford Hilton in Connecticut for NCSY’s National Yarchei Kallah. NCSY is the Orthodox Union’s international youth movement.

The kallah is a five-day learning program designed to connect public high school teens with their Jewish heritage through learning Torah and discussions, as they have fun during their winter break.

The primary focus of the week was delving into Megillat Esther. There also were classes in Talmud, psalms, prayer, Jewish law, prophets, ethics, chasidic mysticism, and Jewish thought. Eitan Katz performed on Thursday, and the kallah ended with a Shabbaton in Teaneck. Every participant received two books from the classes they attended thanks to a donation by Touro College.

Briefly local Superstorm mitzvah eventBarnert Temple’s 13th annual Mitzvah Mall, set for Sunday, January 13, from 9 a.m. until noon, will showcase 10 organizations actively involved in the Superstorm Sandy relief effort.

Organizations include Family to Family, the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, Good People Fund, Jewish Association Serving the Aged, Jewish Helping Hands, the Moonachie/Little Ferry Relief Fund, Nechama – Jewish Response to Disaster, New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness, Seer Farms, and the West End Temple.

Interactive tables will be set up to help participants learn more about the organizations and donate to those to which they resonate most.

Over the past 10 years, Barnert’s Mitzvah Malls have netted on average between $20,000 and $30,000 per year.

The Mitzvah Mall is open to everyone and will be held at the synagogue, 747 Route 208 South, Franklin Lakes. The men’s club will host a pancake breakfast and the sisterhood will raffle baskets. Call (201) 848 1800.

Chesed drive in EnglewoodCongregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood will hold a chesed drive on Sunday, January 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants can donate blood through New York Blood Center, bring food for a drive to benefit the food pantry at Jewish Family Service of Bergen and North Hudson, and participate in a bone marrow registry (until noon). Bottled water, cans of tuna fish, salmon, soups, peanut butter, detergent, and paper goods are especially needed. The synagogue is located at 240 Broad Ave. in Englewood. Call (201) 568-1315.

Courtesy NCsy

Doing something about gun violenceMahwah rabbi convenes interfaith group to look for real-world, grassroots solutions

Joanne Palmer

Feeling moral indignation about gun violence is an important first step, and

prayer is an activity that he val-ues tremendously, Rabbi Joel Mosbacher said.

But those things, as fundamental as they are, simply are not enough.

Gun violence has become an epidemic in this country, he feels, and it must end.

Mosbacher is the rabbi of Beth Haverim Shir Shalom in Mahwah, a congregation whose principles lead it to a great deal of social activism. This week, he convened a group of local clergypeople to figure out strategies that could lead to real-world change.

Twenty clergy members — 17 from northern New Jersey and three from Rockland County — have joined the group; 15 of them came to the first meeting. The group includes Reform and Conservative rabbis and representatives from Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Dutch Reformed churches and the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson.

“The purpose of the gathering is to explore some initial steps toward making an impact on gun legislation from a moral, ethical, and religious perspective,” Mosbacher said. “We feel that we could have a powerful voice because we come from religious traditions that speak powerfully about saving lives, and about our obligation not to stand idly by the blood of our neighbors.

“The impetus for me, and I think for everyone there,

was that we’ve all been at vigils,” he said. “Not only for Newtown” — the Connecticut village where 20 young children and six adults were killed by a gunman, fresh from murdering his mother, using his mother’s guns — “but for Aurora” — where a body-armored gunman opened fire in a movie theater, killing 12 and grievously wounding dozens — “and for Tucson” — where another crazed shooter killed six people and severely wounded others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — “and for Columbine” — where two high school students shot up their school and killed 13 students, injuring two dozen more.

They have prayed, Mosbacher said, “and maybe it is an occupational hazard but I believe that prayer is important.

“But the question is what are we praying for? Can we act? Yes, prayer is an act, and expressing moral

indignation is an act, but can we do more to effect change?”

Clearly, he believes that the answer to that last rhetorical question is yes.

“Our general goals are to work for the kinds of legislation that protect children and innocent citizens while respecting hunters and sportsmen who use guns in a responsible way for sporting purposes,” he said.

He stressed that the group is not trying to test the boundaries of the Second Amendment, much less work for its repeal. “I have congregants in my own congregation who are worried about legislative slips, who worry that banning 80-round clips will lead to banning all guns,” he said. “That is not my goal.” Nor would it be a realistic goal anyway, he added.

see Gun violence page 32

“The public meeting is for everybody. We would share stories about why this matters. We hope the legislators, if they could come, would be willing to support some of those things, and we’d publicly celebrate them. Or if not they could come and debate with us.”

– Rabbi Joel Mosbacher

Rabbi Joel Mosbacher

No way to lead

“Is anybody there?” asks John Adams in the musical “1776,” referring to the Continental Congress. “Does anybody care?”

There are times when we wonder the same thing about Congress or the White House. In fact, we question whether anyone in Washington actually understands what it means to lead.

The fiscal cliff and Sandy relief debacles converged in late December into an object lesson in how not to con-duct the people’s business.

We are not unmindful that the end of December is tra-ditionally a lost cause when it comes to productive work, at least in the public sector. We understand the need for people to take time out to be with friends and family as the December holidays unfold.

What troubles us is the petty partisanship that passes for government today. There is no reason why the leg-islative and executive branches of government can-not resolve their differences over crucial issues in late November, or even early December, without the high drama of clocks ticking down and hysterical pronounce-ments of the dawn of an economic apocalypse. There is no reason why the people’s elected representatives can-not deal swiftly and forthrightly with restoring homes and rebuilding shorelines and giving hope and help to those among the people who feel hopeless and helpless in the wake of a natural disaster.

Yet that is the picture we all saw— our government in inaction. This is a great country and it deserves great leaders. None seem anywhere to be found. Instead, our “leaders,” from the president on down, went on their merry way out of town, either to return home or to go to lush and lavish vacation spots. When some people are homeless, their leaders teeing off on a golf course in Paradise is insensitive. Being choked with tears upon being handed a gavel smacks of theatrical posing, not genuine concern.

Yet again, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. That is not leadership; that is open contempt for us, the people being led. Neither party acquitted itself well in these last weeks. Both served us ill.

Surely, they must assume some of the blame. We, the people, however, share a greater part of that blame. We have become careless in exercising our democratic responsibilities. Too few people vote. Of those who do, too few actually take the time to study the issues and the candidates. We are content to let self-serving so-called political pundits guide us, rather than taking the time and making the effort to make up our own minds for the right reasons. We prefer to put our own individual inter-ests ahead of society’s interests.

We should not expect our leaders to do their jobs if we are not prepared to do ours

The hassle over Hagel

The nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of defense is causing many on the right to say, “See, we told you so.” It is proof,

they say, that President Barack Obama is getting ready to sell out Israel, while it is a green light to Iran to move forward with its plans to build a nuclear bomb.

There may have been better choices for the post than Hagel, but two things he is not: He is not anti-Israel and he is not for a nuclear Iran.

Regarding the latter, it is being said that Hagel opposes a military strike on Iran, if such is the only way to prevent that country from achieving its goal, and this suggests that Prsident Obama opposes it as well. Yet only two months ago, a Washington Post op-ed that Hagel co-authored with several others, including a former ambassador to Israel, Thomas Pickering, discussed the positive values of the military option. A “U.S. attack,” the op-ed said, not only would demonstrate that the United States is a faithful ally, but it “would derail Iran’s nuclear ambitions for several years, providing space for other, potentially longer-term solutions,” by which the authors mean negotiations. “An attack would also make clear the United States’ full commitment to nonproliferation as other nations contemplate moves in that direction.”

Hagel and his co-authors made it clear where they stand: “Our position is fully consistent with the policy of presidents for more than a decade of keeping all options on the table, including the use of military force.... If the United States attacks, it could set back for several years Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. If the objective

were large-scale damage to Iran’s military and weapons capability, the United States could achieve substantial success.”

Their concern, Hagel and his colleagues wrote, was what happens after such an attack. In addition to the potential political fallout, there is the more important matter of ending the threat of a nuclear Iran for all time. Both the United States and Israel acknowledge that Iran probably has the know-how to produce a bomb. An attack will set back its plans, but “without large numbers of troops on the ground,” the op-ed’s authors write, “we doubt that U.S. military attacks from the air — even if supplemented by other means such as drones, covert operations and cyber attacks — could eliminate Iran’s capability to build a nuclear weapon, unseat the regime, or force it to capitulate to U.S. demands.”

This is no ringing endorsement for a military option, but it also is not a denial that such an option is — and must remain — on the table. As Jewish groups prepare to take sides on the Hagel nomination, we urge them to stick to the facts, not exaggerate them and engage in the kind of scare tactics we saw during the last year’s election campaign.

Regardless of what we feel about Hagel — and we have serious reservations about him on many fronts — his nomination does not signal that President Obama has abandoned any option when it comes to Iran.

As for the president selling out Israel, his support for Israel in its most recent (and post-election) attacks in Gaza should already have put that canard to rest.

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We have to stay away from the Hagel debateSherwin Pomerantz

My guess is that none of you have ever heard of Robert Leeds.

Robert is a 13-year-old former Angelino now living in Sacramento, California, who just cel-ebrated his bar mitzvah. Given his understanding of the real meaning of this milestone in his life, he asked the guests not to give him gifts but to contribute to a fund he had established to buy an ambulance for Magen David Adom’s branch in Ashkelon. (Magen David Adom is Israel’s emergency ambulance service.)

In the speech at his party he said: “I realize that in life I have been very blessed. This is my bar mitzvah state-ment and the responsibility that I am taking on. It’s my hope to show Israel and the city of Ashkelon that I stand with them and that’s what becoming a man means to me.”

Nice story, is it not? A young man sets an example for all of us of what it means to really feel an obligation to your people and your community. But this is not the whole story.

Ashkelon is Sacramento’s 10th sister city abroad, which was approved at a stormy city council session in 2010 and only after the city approved its 9th sister-city relationship with Bethlehem in 2009. This was the only way that Ashkelon could have been approved, because the local Palestinian community was vehemently against a relationship with any city in Israel. Welcome to the new American reality.

In the Sacramento Bee, which carried the story, the talkbacks also are instructive. Two examples follow:

“A nice gesture, but someone should tell this kid we already send billions of dollars to support their war ma-chine so they can tell us what our foreign policy should be.”

“We give Israel $8 million a day that we borrow from China. They use it to wage war against their neighbors, who hate us more each day we give $8 million to Israel.”

So we have to ask the question: Is America getting tired of its Jews? Is the country that has been the most hospitable to our people in the entire history of hu-mankind tired of seeing the Jewish/Israeli issue on page one every day? By continually analyzing every single presidential appointment in terms of whether or not it is good for us and then acting accordingly, are we mak-ing friends or losing supporters? Is anyone asking those

Sherwin Pomerantz, who has lived in Israel for 29 years, is president of Atid EDI Ltd., an economic development consult-ing firm, and a past national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel.


editorial

questions? Do we even want to know the answers?This week President Obama did what many ex-

pected him to do and nominated former Sen. Charles Hagel, a decorated war veteran and generally well-respected legislator, to be his secretary of defense. For the last few weeks there has been editorial after edito-rial, op-ed after op-ed, discussing the potential of this appointment. The Wall Street Journal, AIPAC, and the ADL came out squarely against the appointment, citing what negative things will be in store for Israel if he is confirmed. JStreet, Tom Friedman, Roger Cohen, Peter Beinart and others of note came out in favor of the ap-pointment and how it really will be good for Israel to have someone at Defense who looks at Israel honestly.

Does any of this activity help us when it comes to continued U.S. support for Israel, or does it hurt us? I think it hurts us, and that we should stay out of the de-bate altogether.

According to most analysts, the U.S. Congress does not support Israel because of the great personal love that each individual legislator has for Israel. Rather it is because in most cases there is a body of voters who support each legislator and who are both vocal about their concerns and prepared to put their financial re-sources behind candidates who respond to those con-cerns. If, heaven forbid, the body politic in the United States begins to fracture on the issue of support for Israel, we will see a concomitant reduction of support in Congress. We cannot afford that.

We already are seeing a splintering of support for Israel among American Jews. The fact that the president now gets mixed signals about Israel from different ele-ments of the Jewish community, while providing him with continued significant support at the voting booth, most certainly makes him feel that as a second term president he need not worry too much about what we think or how we feel. Examining every one of his ap-pointments with a fine-tooth comb and then taking the battle to the press simply is not the most productive tactic for a community that seems to have forgotten the potential risks of being a vocal minority during a period of an economic downturn.

Is America getting tired of its Jews and their prob-lems? Not yet, and that may never happen. But there are worrying signs, both within and outside the Jewish community, that should give all of us pause. We who live in Israel cannot afford to lose our one friend in the world, even if that friend sometimes is not as friendly as we would like it to be.

Our political leaders here are doing enough damage to that relationship without our having to worry that the American Jewish community is adding fuel to the fire.

To repeat Robert Leeds’ words: “It’s my hope to show Israel and the city of Ashkelon that I stand with them and that’s what becoming a man means to me.” We here need the American Jewish community to stand with us, and to choose its battles intelligently.

Let the Senate confirmation process run its course and stay out of the fray. We have nothing at all to gain from getting further involved in this. Continuing this effort will be a lose-lose situation, no matter who wins.

In defense of public service Dovi meleS

The call from the Department of the Army came to me on a random day in the sum-

mer of 2012, an unexpected offer to serve our country as an Army civilian.

The opportunity presented to me that afternoon had all the perks that any young professional would dream of: on-the-job training, continuing education, mentorship and apprenticeship, in addition to job stability and security with lifelong benefits and opportunity for job growth with the federal government. The catch, however, would be a commitment of two years of public service to our military — anywhere in the world.

The offer came from the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, known within the Army as OCPA. Headquartered in Washington D.C., OCPA is the United States Army command responsible for explaining and justifying the intricacies of the Army to the public. OCPA fulfills the Army’s obligation to keep the American people and the Army informed. The job is not an easy one; you must explain and balance the intricacies of the United States Army while protecting national security interests.

Upon learning more about the position and its responsibilities, I began to realize what an honor and privilege it would be to join a group of unique people who undertake such a complex mandate with integrity and pride. Who was I to turn down such an offer? The average young professional fresh out of graduate school, with limited job experience, especially in today’s economy, more than likely would not think twice of accepting this job offer.

But I, as an Orthodox Jew, had to think twice about it.Still, once I realized that I would be fulfilling my lifelong

dream of public service to my country, which has given so much to me, my family, and my community, I accepted the Army’s offer. It is a decision I will never regret.

At the time of the offer, I was living on New York’s Upper West Side, which is a bastion of modern Orthodoxy and the place to live if you are young, single, and Jewish. At the time I was working for a Jewish not-for-profit, where I gained valuable work skills but yearned for higher job growth. OCPA officials told me I would have to leave New York; my initial assignment would be in Philadelphia with later assignments in Maryland and Washington. When I completed my training I would be assigned to a yet-to-be-determined location based on the needs of the U.S. Army.

I welcomed the opportunity to move back home to Philadelphia, where I was born and raised. While many people probably would hesitate to move many times over the course of two years, I saw it as a unique chance to live in and explore other cities while serving the needs of our country.

You may be wondering what young, single, Orthodox Jewish professional would give up a stable job in New York City and take on a career that could move him to places where there is little or no Jewish community or identity. There are plenty of Jewish organizations where I could have worked, serving the Jewish community. I saw OCPA’s fellowship, however, as a unique career opportunity — a way of representing my Jewish roots outside of the Jewish community.

As I began to work for the Army, I quickly came to realize, just as I had realized previously, when I was interning at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, just how few Orthodox Jews work for our federal government. (I interned at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and had come to this realization then as well.) This is apparent particularly in the national security agencies — defense, homeland security, and

state. As a student in Yeshiva University, I remember being encouraged to understand political developments and realities by working through the dozens of Jewish organizations that exist, but never to help shape policy decisions directly, from inside the government.

Why is there such apathy within our community toward participating and working within our government? Here is a thought — perhaps relationships and trust are fostered from within, not without.

I believe that many Orthodox Jews share an unspoken fear that leaving their communities would mean risking the loss of their Jewish identity and possibly losing their religious observance. I can tell you from personal experience that this fear has no basis. I have found that since I took on my new role, quite the opposite has occurred. If you have been empowered with a tightly rooted Jewish identity by your family, school, and community, then working in the secular realm, in a country that allows freedom of religion, should assuage any fears of alienation.

To the contrary, my Jewish identity has been strengthened in my new career. I have not changed who I am and what I believe nor been swayed by anyone. The non-Jewish community, and in particular the military community, has treated me as an equal and welcomed me into its ranks. I am respected for who I am and what I believe in. Since many of my co-workers have not worked with Orthodox Jews in the past, I am many times seen more as a curiosity. I am asked many questions about my practices simply because most people are unaware of what we believe and why we practice the way we do. I find it sad that many members of our community have isolated themselves to the point where we are aware of our secular neighbors, yet they know nothing about us. How can we in this country create unity and religious tolerance if we refuse to proudly show who we are?

For me, working for the U.S. Army is much more than just a paycheck. In addition to an exciting and fulfilling career, my job is filling what I consider to be a real void within the Orthodox Jewish community. The federal government invests a significant amount of money into training people for fellowships and internships in all branches of the government, with the promise for enriching and rewarding careers. But by and large, the government does not go to Orthodox Jewish colleges such as Touro and Yeshiva University to recruit new talent. This is largely because our community does not show an active interest in taking part in public service.

It is vital for religious Jews of all ages to be involved in public service in some form or another, but the numbers of those opting to pursue professional career paths in this field are embarrassingly low. My passion and commitment to public service make it all the more disappointing that most of my Orthodox friends do not consider public service for a career. I firmly believe and hope that by educating my peers in the Orthodox community I can show them that you can work in a government position and maintain your religious practice.

Once Orthodox Jews show an active interest in such careers, government recruiters will take a more active role in hiring people from within the Orthodox Jewish community. We should be proud not only to serve our community but our country as well. I encourage everyone in my community to get involved.

Dovi Meles holds a master’s degree in social work from Temple University and a bachelor’s in psychology from Yeshiva Uni-versity. He has held many positions within Jewish non-profit organizations and now works for the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs at the United States Army. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Songs of Freedom: Natalie Douglas in ConcertWED | JAN 16 | 7 P.M.

Join Natalie Douglas and friends for an uplifting concertof Civil Rights songs, including Lena Horne's anthem“Now,” which she sang to the tune of “Hava Nagila.”

$15, $12 students/seniors, $10 members

A Comedic Salute to Hava Nagila WED | JAN 23 | 7 P.M.

Loosen your Borscht Belts for an evening of laughs hostedby Emmy winner Dave Konig and other comedians, withspecial guest Cory Kahaney (Last Comic Standing).


The Power of Witnessing:Reflections, Reverberations, andTraces of the HolocaustSUN | JAN 27 | 2:30 P.M.

In observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day,psychologists Nancy R. Goodman and Marilyn B. Meyersjoin artists and survivors to discuss how the trauma of theHolocaust is processed.

Free with suggested donationTickets available starting at 11 A.M. 1/27. Separate ticket needed for Museum admission.

Transfigured Night with the Merlin Ensemble Vienna WED | JAN 30 | 7 P.M.

Martin Walch, violin; Till Alexander Koerber, piano; and LuisZorit, cello perform pieces by Jewish composersMendelssohn, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky, and others.


Let the president leadRabbi Engelmayer’s comment that we have no leaders “in either house of Congress, not even the White House itself” does not recognize the reality of what has gone on in Washington the last four years (“It’s all our fault,” December 28). Factions within the Republican party, for whatever reason — ideological, racial, or partisan — have never accepted the legitimacy of the Obama presidency. They (this particular faction) had set as their primary goal the defeat of the president. Their method was obstructionism at ev-ery turn. Whatever President Obama was for, they were against, whether or not they had been for it in the past. At any cost to this country and its economy, the presi-dent was not to be allowed a victory that might increase his stature.

We are a democracy that depends upon cooperation to make things work. Compromise cannot be seen as evil and legislation cannot be viewed as a zero sum game where, if I win, you lose. To fault President Obama for a lack of leadership in the face of the forces arrayed against him is unrealistic. What he has achieved is to be admired.

Bernard AppelRingwood

Love, lust, and laundrySilly me, no wonder my marriage for love lasted only 25 years.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s dicta (“The importance of desire,” December 7) that Jews should marry for lust may be the way to go. I envision a day in the list of the lucky lady as follows: She is in an unfinished basement, arms in soapsuds to the elbows, scrubbing hubby’s underwear on a corrugated washboard. Suddenly there is a loud thumping on the unrailed steps. Hubby hurries before the pill fades, and speaks lustfully. “Darling, this is the moment!” She takes her dripping arms out of the water, throws her sopping apron around his neck, and says rapturously, “You have decided to let me buy a washing machine!”

Jacqueline WolfEnglewood Cliffs

We should care more about JewsI would like to comment on your edito-rial (“Time to get the guns”) and Joanne Palmer’s op-ed (“They were all God’s chil-dren”) in your December 21 issue.

I agree entirely with your editorials

about the urgent need for gun control and for the release of Jonathan Pollard. Every day that goes by without gun control extends the risk of more mass murders of children and adults. As to the consequences of gun violence, I agree with Ms. Palmer that “We are united in our grief and outrage” and “That all of [the children and staff] were innocent and that all 26 dead deserved to live….” But that is not “all that matters” to me.

If one of those who was murdered was one of my family, I still would grieve deeply for all the others, but I would grieve more intensely for my relative. Noah Pozner was a Jewish “little man,” as his mother called him. Therefore, he is a member of my extended family. All mankind is bound together, but some more closely than others. I grieve for all the people in the world dying of starvation or murderous wars, but I am more concerned for the safety of my cousins in Israel than I am about similar conditions for other people. I could rely on general media for news about the

world, but I read the Jewish Standard because you focus on issues of concern to our Jewish community.

Furthermore, there is a difference in being Jewish in Newtown. The community memorial service was held in a church. Comfort for the bereaved is sometimes offered in Christian terms. At this time of year everyone is wishing each other a merry Christmas and a happy new year. To the extent that this isolates the Pozner family, we should let them know that they and Noah have a special place in our hearts. And maybe the murder of innocents means more to us because of the Shoah and the insecurity in Israel.

We are human beings first, but we should not be ashamed to stand up as Jews as well.

Stephen TencerNew Milford

Opinions expressed in the op-ed and letters columns are not necessarily those of The Jewish Standard. Include a day-time telephone number with your letters. The Jewish Standard reserves the right to edit letters. Write to Letters, The Jewish Standard, 1086 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666, or e-mail [email protected]. Hand-written letters are not acceptable.

Reclaiming the values of the kibbutz movementDr. erica Brown

“We hoped the experiment would suc-ceed and would be tried by others, and we knew we had a lot to learn.”

—Joseph Baratz, “A Village by the Jordan”On Oct. 29, 1910, a group of 10 men and two women

founded the first kibbutz in Israel: Kibbutz Degania, not far from the Kinneret. Joseph Baratz, who was the father of the first child to ever be born on a kibbutz, was one of the 10 men, and in 1960 he wrote his memoirs of half a century of kibbutz life.

Eleanor Roosevelt, who visited Degania, wrote an in-troduction to the book. The social experiment fascinated her, and she observed that the “desire to live in common and share in common” represents “high thinking and unselfishness of action.”

I recently saw the kibbutz and found an English translation of Baratz’s book, and I could not put it down. Looking around the green fields and early kibbutz stone buildings, it is hard to imagine what it had been like to come to a desolate expanse of swampland, unprotected and rife with malaria. When he was 16, with the passion of a young Zionist, Baratz left his family in Ukraine to be-come a peasant of the soil of British Palestine. He writes of reacting against his upbringing and the surrounding culture, believing that “in order to construct our country we had to first reconstruct ourselves.”

He was afraid to tell his parents. When he finally confessed his desire to go to Palestine, his father went

straight to the rabbi, who offered an emphatic “no.” A boy of 16 should not undertake such a journey; he might “fall among free-thinkers” and drift into irreligious ways. But his parents eventually broke down and gave him the money for the journey. His mother called out as the train left the station: “Joseph, my child, be a good Jew,” and Joseph was off to a new life.

Joseph found a group of like-minded new friends who wanted to work the land. All the theory that they had dis-cussed about nature and human nature was then put to the test. Growing food was not about supporting people, as necessary as this was to a country that was not yet a country. It was a philosophical statement for these fledg-ling Zionists about “the wholeness” they lacked in exile.

The group was totally committed to its goal of living collectively and tending the land and had a heated dis-cussion about putting off marriage and children for at least five years until the kibbutz had initial success. One of the chief debaters against marriage at the time fell in love a month later, married,and had the second child born on the kibbutz: Moshe Dayan.

The idea, radical as it was at the time, was that people would lack nothing because they possessed nothing; strength would come from the community and go back into the community. “Nobody would have to be ambi-tious or to worry for himself.”

Degania, which means cornflower in Hebrew, would, over the next decades, attract some of the most famous

Zionists and politicians, including A. D. Gordon, Joseph Trumpeldor, and the poet Rachel. It became a flagship kibbutz, spawning other kibbutzim and collective proj-ects. In Baratz’s words, it fulfilled a dream of what the Jewish nation could become on its own terms: “The land had lost its fertility, and it seemed to us that we ourselves, divorced from it, had become barren in spirit. Now we must give it our strength, and it would give us back our creativeness.”

The heyday of the kibbutz movement is long past. Much of the social experiment failed, but we also failed it. We have traded group laundry for the iPod, shared dining for Facebook networking. But we cannot forget Baratz’s youthful enthusiasm, which turned into a mature phi-losophy of obligation to land and country. In its largely secular flavor, the kibbutz movement imprinted Israel with values that twinned the deepest biblical connection to the earth with the Talmudic sensibilities of collective responsibility.

What will our modern ideologies build to replace what we have lost?

JNS.org Wire Service

Dr. Erica Brown is a writer and educator who works as scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and consults for the Jewish Agency and other Jewish non-prof-its. She is the author of “In the Narrow Places,” “Inspired Jewish Leadership,” “Spiritual Boredom,” and “Confronting Scandal.”

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Women of the WallFirst I doubt that Rabbi Elyse Frishman would consider herself in the same league as Rosa Parks (“Furor over Frishman’s fringes,” December 28). Rosa Parks did it without a net, taking a stand with no press or iPhones on ready to record the moment. Rabbi Frishman and her col-leagues were following the women who had taken the risk to worship in a respect-ful way at the center of Jewish geography. Alan Mark Levin’s comments that wor-ship by non-Orthodox women at the Wall is an act of “American Jewish cultural imperialism” (Letters, January 4) is a non-sensical over-the-top statement that does nothing to help resolve appropriate ac-cess to this holy place. I have been to the Wall three times; it is easy to see the poor worship conditions provided to women, Orthodox women, compared to the men’s side. There will be a way forward for both women and men, for Jews of all back-grounds to worship respectfully at this place. There will be many women coming forward to push this goal along, helped by the stupidity of the Israeli police and authorities whose actions only highlight the unfair situation faced by women of all backgrounds, including the Orthodox.

Dr. Deborah E HammondRidgewood

One answer to Rabbi Goldin is to do what they always do. Stand around and wring your hands for a few hundred years and maybe the women will get tired and go away.

Lawney BaldwinJonesborough, Tennessee

Jewish holy places in Israel belong to all Jews of every denomination and kind. Some Orthodox Jews do not even believe in the State of Israel. The issue of the wall is fascinating in that no one actually can prove that it was part of the Holy of Holies, the place where the two tables of commandments rested. All other parts of the Temple were places where worship-pers could congregate. They were not holy. There is no mention in the Torah about the right time or place to wear a tal-lit. Women, according to our history. have the same rights as men. It was the men who chose several women to lead Israel, from the days of Deborah until today.

According to the Torah, you are a Jew because your father was a Jew. The rab-bis changed that, and since the days of the sages, that has become the rule. The Torah does not differentiate between the sexes regarding the tallis. The Orthodox follow rabbinic interpretations of the Torah, as do many other sects of Judaism. Many Jews do not believe in man’s inter-pretation or man’s improvisation or man’s many additions. The prayer wall has no

meaning to them. The reality is that God gave the Jewish people their wish to have a Temple like those of the other religions. They wanted a place for their God. God gave them that chance several times and finally decided enough was enough. The Temple became the focal point of Judaism and God decided that was not what Judaism was all about and had it demolished. God should be in the minds and hearts and deeds of man, not in the remnants of a wall or pieces of paper in cracks of that wall. Some pray at the wall bemoaning the days of its destruc-tion. The past is past. God judges man by deeds not prayer no matter what the place. The words inscribed by the finger of God are ours to observe in mind and action. All else is of little importance.

Shel HaasFort Lee

Birthright responds to story on sober tripsRegarding your story about the JACS group trip to Israel (“The sober side of Birthright,” January 4), Taglit-Birthright Israel would like to clarify a few points in this story.

Birthright is proud to be celebrating its bar mitzvah year in 2013. Approximately 400,000 Jewish young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 have participated in

Birthright since its inception.The focus of the Birthright program

is to bring young Jewish adults, who have little to no connection to the Jewish community, to Israel, with the hope that they will discover and develop a personal connection to the land and people of Israel. Independent surveys have shown the positive effects of the Birthright program. Professor Len Saxe of Brandeis University found that more than 80 percent of participants said they felt connected to Israel, and nearly 75 percent called Birthright a “life changing experience.” Participants are also much more likely to marry a Jewish spouse and said that raising their children to be Jewish was “very important.”

The consumption of alcohol is not part of the Birthright itinerary, nor is it encouraged by trip leaders or organizers. That being said, the legal drinking age for adults in Israel is 18, and what participants may do after daily program activities is their own responsibility. In the rare case where a participant has consumed too much alcohol, he or she has been removed from the trip. However, of the 400,000 participants who have gone through the Birthright program, the number of times this measure has been enacted has been miniscule.

Gidi MarkCEO

Taglit-Birthright Israel

Larry yudeLson

Gorgeous buildings in disrepair.Ration cards to purchase food.Jewish teenagers leading syna-

gogue services.Cuba is a country “filled with con-

tradictions and ambiguities,” said Zvi Marans, describing his experiences and impressions after returning Sunday from a three-day mission to visit the Jewish community of Havana with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. Marans is set to become the group’s president this summer.

“On the one hand, it’s a repressive Communist regime,” he said. “On the other, it’s a Latin society, with a feeling of open-ness and joie de vivre.”

“And then there’s the Jewish part, which is really fantastic.”

More than half of Cuba’s 1500 Jews live in the capital, Havana. When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, Cuba became an atheist country. There was no circumci-sion, no Jewish weddings, no kosher food, virtually no synagogue practice. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba moderated its atheism and began allowing the world Jewish community to assist the

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Yiddels with Fidel

Local donations help bring relief and renewal Photographs by Perry Bindelglass

Larry yudeLson

Gorgeous buildings in disrepair.Ration cards to purchase food.Jewish teenagers leading syna-

gogue services.Cuba is a country “filled with con-

tradictions and ambiguities,” said Zvi Marans, describing his experiences and impressions after returning Sunday from a three-day mission to visit the Jewish community of Havana with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. Marans is set to become the group’s president this summer.

“On the one hand, it’s a repressive Communist regime,” he said. “On the other, it’s a Latin society, with a feeling of open-ness and joie de vivre.”

“And then there’s the Jewish part, which is really fantastic.”

More than half of Cuba’s 1500 Jews live in the capital, Havana. When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, Cuba became an atheist country. There was no circumci-sion, no Jewish weddings, no kosher food, virtually no synagogue practice. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba moderated its atheism and began allowing the world Jewish community to assist the

country’s Jews.But religious freedom has

not been matched by freedom of the press, or by economic freedom. There is no internet. A typical doctor earns $35 a month. Jason Shames, the federation’s CEO, said the “economic oppression” sur-passed anything he had seen in travels to Ethiopia, Ukraine, or Russia.

“You could still own a busi-ness in Ethiopia,” he said. “There are restaurants and banks in Ethiopia. You don’t have that in Cuba. Driving around you see no real busi-nesses of any kind. There are no accoun-tants. There are no lawyers. Imagine a Jewish community without lawyers and accountants.

“It’s beyond grim. For food, you’re on a ration card system. You’re given x amount of rice, x amount of beans. It’s illegal to sell and buy beef, except for the Jewish community, because they acknowledge that Jews can’t eat pork.

Mission participants Dr. Zvi Marans and Nathan and Shari Lindenbaum enjoy lunch with Dr. Rosa Behar, a retired gastroenterologist and dedicated volunteer who is in charge of the Patronato Pharmacy.

David Cantor, Joan Krieger, David Bindelglass, Judy Siboni, David Petak, and Jason Shames stand on the steps of Temple Bet Shalom, otherwise known as the Patronato, Havana’s Conservative synagogue.

A performance by an Israeli dance troupe followed Havdallah at the Patronato.

The federation’s Jodi Heimler, managing director for development, and Jason Shames, its CEO, stand in front of an image of Cuban revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos on the Ministry of Informatics and Communications building at the Plaza de la Revolución.

Fusterlandia, the studio and residence of artist José Rodriguez Fuster.

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Gabe Marans stands next to a car far older than he is.A tour of the Museum of the Revolution, formerly the Presidential Palace, in Havana.

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“There’s no antibiotics. There’s no medicine. We brought supplies of over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol,” Shames said.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee provides material aid, in the form of Shabbat chicken dinners, milk for children, and medicines, through a communal pharmacy. And it provides spiritual aid, send-

ing Argentinean couples on two-year tours of duty to help rebuilding the Jewish community.

“The middle-aged people grew up without any Jewish background, but the kids are being educated now by these Joint emissaries and gaining Jewish identity. We saw teenagers leading services in synagogue, reading Hebrew, singing the songs with the community. We saw

a thirst in the community for all things Jewish. It was really a beautiful experience. It was very inspirational,” Marans said. Last year, the federation allocated more than $300,000 to Joint activities around the world.

The Museum of the Revolution features caricatures of U.S. presidents.

A ration market in Havana.

The Patronato Pharmacy was dedicated by Judy and Ron Gold of Norwood. Inset, Dr. Rosa Behar stands outside the pharmacy.

Havana is home to 850 Jews and three syna-gogues. From the top, they are Adath Israel, the Orthodox shul; the Sephardic Hebrew Center, and Temple Beth Shalom, also known as the Patronato. The Patronato Pharmacy is housed in the synagogue.

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While Cuba suppressed religion for de-cades, it never persecuted Jews. “There’s no anti-Semitism. A few years back, Fidel Castro came to visit the community on Chanukah and light the candles. We were walking around wearing kippot, people would come out of the shul and would keep their kippot on. There was absolute-ly no anti-Semitism,” Marans said.

Some of Cuba’s Jews are Sephardic, tracing their roots back to Turkey and before that to Spain, but most are from

Eastern Europe. “They happened by chance to have landed in Cuba, whereas my grandparents landed in Ellis Island, but really they came from the same place,” Marans said.

“We all came back home with a renewed sense of what our money re-ally goes for. When you see on the ground what our money is doing to help these Jews, it is a strong reminder to us of why we do what we do, and a great impetus for us to do more each year,” he said.

a thirst in the community for all things Jewish. It was really a beautiful experience. It was very inspirational,” Marans said. Last year, the federation allocated more than $300,000 to Joint activities around the world.

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Jewish groups softening resistance on Hagel nominationRon Kampeas

WASHINGTON – Now that Chuck Hagel is officially President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, Jewish groups concerned about Hagel’s record on Israel and Iran are faced with a choice.

Do they fight hard to derail his nomi-nation, joining common cause with Republican opponents? Or do they tem-per their fire for a Vietnam War hero who insists that opponents have distorted his views on Israel and has a good chance of securing one of the most sensitive posts in the U.S.-Israel relationship?

So far, it appears to be the latter.Jewish opponents appear to be toning

down the criticism that greeted the news last month that Hagel, a Republican who was a U.S. senator from Nebraska from 1997 to 2009, likely would be Obama’s defense choice.

The Anti-Defamation League, one of the most outspoken critics of Hagel’s po-tential candidacy, issued a statement reit-erating some of its concerns after Obama made the announcement Monday — but deferred to the president.

“Sen. Hagel would not have been my first choice, but I respect the president’s prerogative,” Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s

national director, said in the statement.In his statement, Foxman alluded to

past proposals by Hagel to engage with Iran and with terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the nominee’s skepticism about sanctions and the ef-ficacy of a military strike on Iran, and his criticism of Israel on how it deals with the Palestinians.

Foxman called on Hagel to address positions that the ADL chief said seem “so out of sync with President Obama’s clear commitment on issues like Iran sanc-tions, isolating Hamas and Hezbollah and the president’s strong support for a deepening of U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation.”

The National Jewish Democratic Council drew back from the tough criticism it leveled against Hagel in 2007, when he was considering a run as a Republican presidential candidate. NJDC said Monday that it is now “confident” that Hagel would follow Obama’s lead on Israel.

On Monday, Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who has asked to be appointed interim senator should Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) become secretary of state, soft-

ened his opposition to Hagel based on his comments about Jews and gays.

The shift on Hagel in some Jewish cor-ners may be enough to give the 11 Jewish senators room to support Hagel, or at least to not oppose him — a significant

gain in a body in which senators tend to take their cues on special interests from colleagues who belong to the group in question.

The dimming of the prospect of an all-out lobbying effort against Hagel’s

At the White House, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, left, and potential succes-sor Chuck Hagel listen as President Obama announces that he is nominating Hagel for the defense post. DOD phOtO by U.S. Navy petty Officer 1St claSS chaD J. McNeeley

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candidacy by some pro-Israel groups ap-pears to be the product of White House outreach to Jewish groups in recent weeks, pushback by Hagel’s supporters, and Obama’s own record on Israel.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee was silent on the nomina-tion — and not just because tradition-ally it does not comment on nominations. Capitol Hill and pro-Israel insiders told JTA that AIPAC has not taken a stand in this battle.

Steve Rosen, a former foreign policy director for AIPAC who now consults for a number of pro-Israel groups, said it would not help Israel’s interests to under-cut a candidate for this key security post.

“It’s about making friends, not getting into fights with people,” Rosen said.

Rabbi Steve Gutow, who directs the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said his public policy umbrella group would not take a position on Hagel but that he looked forward to a thorough vetting process.

In an interview with the Lincoln Journal Star in his home state, Hagel said his record of support for Israel was “un-equivocal” and had been subject to “false-hoods and distortions.”

“I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said. “I have also questioned some very cavalier attitudes taken about very complicated issues in the Middle East.”

Hagel suggested that differences on

policy were a matter of nuance and tac-tics, not of goals.

“I have not supported unilateral sanc-tions” on Iran “because when it is us alone they don’t work and they just iso-late the United States,” he said. “United Nations sanctions are working. When we just decree something, that doesn’t work.”

In the interview, Hagel did not refer to the controversy over his use in 2006 of the term “Jewish lobby” and his assertion when he was a senator that his loyalty was to the United States, not Israel.

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York and a contributing fellow at the Israel Policy Forum, said Israeli leaders naturally would have con-cerns about past Hagel statements. But Pinkas said they would deal with Hagel not as the loquacious one-time senator who often was critical of Israeli policy, but as the defense secretary hewing to a policy set by Obama of a close U.S.-Israel security relationship.

“What a senator says at a three-martini lunch and what a secretary of defense says are two different things,” Pinkas said.

Obama made clear that the White House would tout Hagel’s bona fides ag-gressively as a wounded Vietnam War vet-eran, twice calling him a “patriot.” There also was a veiled reassurance to Israel in Obama’s remarks.

“Chuck recognizes that American leadership is indispensable in a danger-ous world,” Obama said. “I saw this in

our travels together across the Middle East. He understands that America stands strongest when we stand with allies and with friends.”

Peter Medding, a political scientist at Hebrew University, said Israel’s leaders understand that the White House shapes the defense relationship and it would be counterproductive to create distance with the U.S. president at a time of increased regional tensions.

“Making policy is a matter for Obama, and the Israelis are not interested in tak-ing on Obama at this time,” Medding said.

Hagel is by no means out of the woods. A number of Republican senators already have pledged to vote against him. His apostasy on President George W. Bush’s Iraq policies — in 2007, Hagel supported Democratic legislation requiring a troop withdrawal from Iraq — is still an open wound in the party. A lone Republican senator could hold up the nomination unless the Obama administration is able to muster 60 votes, which could be daunt-ing in a chamber in which Democrats control 55 of the 100 seats.

Support among Democrats and liberal groups also is not assured. Gay groups want to hear more about his apology for opposing a 1998 ambassadorial nomina-tion because the nominee was gay. In the Senate, Hagel was a pronounced con-servative on domestic issues, including government spending, abortion, and gun control.

Susan Turnbull, a former vice chair-woman of the Democratic National Committee and now chairwom-an of Jewish Women International, called Hagel’s views “knee-jerk” and “worrisome.”

A range of rightist pro-Israel groups remains committed to upending the nomination, among them the Zionist Organization of America, Christians United for Israel, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and the Emergency Committee for Israel, which on Monday launched a website headlined “Chuck Hagel is not a responsible option.”

Among centrist Jewish groups, the American Jewish Committee has written to Democratic senators urging them to oppose the nomination.

“AJC has shared our concerns with members of the U.S. Senate, who have the responsibility to ask the probing ques-tions about Hagel’s record and vision,” the group wrote in a statement.

For their part, Hagel’s Jewish al-lies have pushed back hard. J Street, Americans for Peace Now, and Israel Policy Forum all have endorsed him.

“It is particularly troubling that some claiming to represent the pro-Israel com-munity have tried to impugn Sen. Hagel’s commitment to the U.S.-Israel special relationship and our countries’ shared security interests,” J Street director Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote in a letter sent to all sena-tors. JTA Wire Service

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Can Natan Sharansky fix the Western Wall?Ben SaleS

TEL AVIV – He brought unprecedented attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. He stood up to the KGB. He sur-vived nine years in Siberia. He served in Israel’s fractious government.

Now Natan Sharansky is facing his next challenge: finding a solution to the growing battle over women’s prayer restrictions at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.

In recent months, diaspora Jewish activists have grown increasingly incensed by the arrests and detention of women seeking to pray publicly at the site. Their ac-tions are in keeping with their religious practices — but in violation of the rules of the wall under which women may not sing aloud, wear tallitot (prayer shawls), or read from the Torah.

The controversy threatens to drive a wedge between diaspora Jewry, where egalitarian prayer is common, and Israel, which has upheld Orthodox rules at the wall, also known as the Kotel. American Jewish leaders in the United States say the rules alienate Reform and Conservative Jews. Within Israel, too, the wall has be-come a flashpoint for non-Orthodox religious activists and the Kotel’s charedi Orthodox leadership.

Two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, to look into the controversy and pro-pose solutions. The question is whether the former re-fusenik leader and human rights advocate can resolve a dispute that pits Jew against Jew.

“Will it happen through Sharansky?” asked Anat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, a group

that organizes monthly women’s services at the Kotel. “That I doubt, but I’m willing to give him a chance. Sharansky will understand how much traction this issue has.”

Hoffman was arrested in October for wearing a tallit at the Kotel, and several more of the group’s members have been detained at subsequent services. Last month, Rabbi

Elyse Frishman of Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes was detained by Israeli police.

Sharansky declined to comment on the issue until he gives his recommendations, but activists on both sides of the issue say the gaps between the site’s leadership and pluralism advocates may be too wide for him to bridge.

Shmuel Rabinowitz, the wall’s chief rabbi, would like

The men’s section of the Western Wall, the center of an escalating battle over restrictions on women’s prayer. Ben SaleS

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to maintain the status quo, where men and women are separated by a partition and only men may wear tallit and tefillin, convene a minyan (prayer quorum), and read aloud from the Torah. Hoffman and her allies have proposed alternatives that involve the religious streams sharing time and space in the Kotel Plaza, with each praying according to its own precepts.

Hoffman says her minimum demand is for women to receive one hour at the beginning of every Jewish month — excluding Rosh Hashanah — when they can pray as a group with tallit and tefillin, and read the Torah. Ideally, Hoffman says, she would want the Kotel’s partition be-tween men and women to be removed for several hours each day so that women and egalitarian groups can pray there undisturbed, but she acknowledges that such a scenario has virtually no chance of being approved by Rabinowitz.

Other activists say the solution lies in adding a parti-tion rather than removing one. Yizhar Hess, the CEO and executive director of the Masorti movement, as Conservative Judaism is called outside North America, advocates dividing the Kotel Plaza into three sections: one for men, one for women, and one for egalitarian groups. Hess also said that he would like to see the rear section of the plaza opened to such cultural activities as concerts and dancing, which now are prohibited.

“There are many egalitarian groups who come to the wall and view it as the peak of their emotional and spiritual experience in Israel,” said Uri Regev, a Reform rabbi who runs Hiddush, an Israeli religious pluralism nonprofit. “The fact that they can’t express that spiritual

experience in a spiritual way is a missed opportunity.”According to a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling,

non-Orthodox and women’s prayer groups can pray at Robinson’s Arch, an archaeological park adjacent to the Kotel Plaza, where an admission fee is required. Regev suggested that Sharansky may recommend improve-ments to Robinson’s Arch, including an expanded prayer area and free admission for prayer groups.

That may be the maximum compromise that Rabinowitz would make.

“I think what’s happening today at the Kotel is the best for all viewpoints of the world,” Rabinowitz said. “No one gets exactly what they want — not charedim and not Women of the Wall. If someone thinks they can bring something better, I’d love to hear it.”

Rabinowitz declined to comment on time- or space-sharing proposals.

Meanwhile, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which controls the Kotel, announced recently that wom-en no longer are allowed to bring tallit or tefillin into the Kotel Plaza.

The Prime Minister’s Office, one official there said, hopes that Sharansky will bring his “unique experience and abilities in serving as a bridge for all streams within the Jewish people” to bear on the problem.

One potential bridge between Rabinowitz and Hoffman are Modern Orthodox rabbis who believe in both Orthodoxy and pluralism.

The Kotel “is a holy place, but needs to belong to all of Israel,” said Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, who co-founded the Modern Orthodox rabbis’ organization called Tzohar.

Cherlow says he isn’t throwing his backing behind any particular solution, but he thinks that a time-sharing ar-rangement may work.

Daniel Goldman, chairman of the religious-secular nonprofit Gesher, says the only way to reach a compro-mise is to find people who occupy middle ground and can foster some sort of accord.

“If Natan Sharansky could broaden the people in-volved in that debate beyond Rabbi Rabinowitz and Women of the Wall, it’s possible to use this issue to cre-ate a more constructive dialogue,” Goldman said. “If you get Anat Hoffman and Rabbi Rabinowitz in a room, it’s quite obvious and clear that there will be no com-promise solution.” JTA Wire Service

Natan Sharansky will make recommendations on Western Wall controversy. Ben SaleS

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Israeli election heats upFocus on the american immigrant vote is intense

Ben SaleS

TEL AVIV —The debate moderator asked the candidates what their parties would do to prevent a third intifada, an increasingly common concern in the Israeli election campaign. In his answer, Jeremy Gimpel drew from his upbringing — in Atlanta, Ga.

“I’m from America,” Gimpel said in English. “We don’t talk to terrorists. In

America, we eliminate terrorists.”Soon after Gimpel had finished, New

Jersey native Alon Tal shot back.“There are graves in the wild west that

say, ‘Here lies John Smith, who exercised all his rights,’” Tal said, also in English. “Do we want to find a pragmatic solution or do we want to be self-righteous?”

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Tal is a candidate for the center-left Hatnua party, while Gimpel is running with the hard-right Jewish Home faction. They are two of a handful of American-born candidates at the forefront of an intensive push to win over English-speaking voters before they go to the polls in Israel’s January 22 elections.

While English-language campaigns aren’t new in Israel, candidates and observers say that this year’s effort feels larger and more sophisticated than those of elections past.

American-born candidates such as Gimpel, Tal, and Dov Lipman of the centrist Yesh Atid party, are hosting parlor meetings in American homes. Party leaders, including Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid and Jewish Home’s Naftali Bennett,

have addressed large crowds in English. The Jerusalem Post has sponsored four English debates in Anglo-heavy population centers. Some parties have English bumper stickers and fliers.

“The English-speaking community is finally stepping up to the plate, as we become more comfortable and understanding of the system,” said David London, executive director of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, which co-sponsored the Jerusalem Post debates.

London noted that like American Jews, Anglo Israelis are just a small fraction of the population — estimates are between 3 and 4 percent — but they tend to be more financially successful than the average Israeli. About 300,000 native English speakers live in Israel, according to AACI. The majority of them are American.

Gimpel, Tal, and Lipman hope to replicate American economic success in the political arena. Israel has not had an American-born member of Knesset since 1984, when the ultranationalist Rabbi Meir

Kahane was elected. His party, Kach, later was deemed racist and disqualified from running in the 1988 elections.

The polls show Gimpel 14th on the Jewish Home list and Tal 13th on Hatnua — on the verge of winning Knesset seats. Lipman, 17th on the Yesh Atid slate, is a more unlikely victor.

“My mother tongue is English, so I wanted to empower the English-speaking immigrant community,” said Gimpel, 33, who moved to Israel when he was 11. “They have someone they can turn to.”

While the three candidates come from different parts of the political spectrum, they agree that most English speakers care about strengthening the state’s democratic values and reforming its fragmented political system, in which as many as 15 parties may enter the next Knesset.

Tal and Lipman both noted that Americans, who come from a tradition of religious pluralism, also emphasize issues of religion and state and tend to oppose

“Do we want to find a pragmatic solution or do we want to be self-righteous?”

– Alon Tal

“We don’t talk to terrorists. In America, we eliminate terrorists.”

– Jeremy Gimpel

English speakers are “very much in line with mainstream Israel.”

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government support for charedi Orthodox institutions.

“In America, charedim have education, there are opportunities, and they work,” said Lipman, who himself is charedi Orthodox. “That issue bothers us more because we know there’s no contradiction” between working and being charedi.

All three candidates agreed that a common stereotype Israelis have of American voters —that they care only about supporting settlements — is false.

“Part of the Anglo immigrants are right-wing religious, but a large percentage are not,” Tal said.

Lipman added that English speakers are “very much in line with mainstream Israel,” and like a majority of Israelis, they are prioritizing economic issues in this election.

Many Israelis, and especially politicians, speak fluent or proficient English, but Lipman said English-speaking voters can identify particularly well with native English-speaking candidates.

“Your English can be as good as you want it to be, but if you’re coming from America you can connect with immigrants in a much better way,” he said. “My passion to make Israel great is driven by us being relatively new.”

American candidates also come with American quirks. Tal plays fiddle in a bluegrass band. Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett, whose parents are American, loves the film “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Although Anglo political influence is on the rise, it’s unclear if English speakers will follow in the footsteps of Russian

immigrants, who formed their own powerful Knesset party, Yisrael Beiteinu. Gil Troy, a McGill University history professor who is now a fellow at Jerusalem’s Shalom Hartman Institute, said that English speakers have historically tried to blend into mainstream Israeli society rather than form their own distinct culture.

“There was always this kind of American immigrant zeal to be truly Israeli and out-Hebraicize the Hebraists,” Troy said. “There’s a lot of American immigrant feeling of inadequacy in our Hebrew, so you try to overcompensate by not acknowledging that you’re a separate community.”

Gimpel said that Americans are eager to integrate into Israeli society because they came to Israel by choice, unlike Russian or Ethiopian Israelis, who were fleeing oppression.

“If Americans were interested in themselves they would have stayed in America,” he said. “They want what’s best for Israel.”

JTA Wire Service

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Order Twitter to divulge anti-Semitic tweeters, French students ask courtFrance’s main Jewish student union asked a Paris court to order Twitter to divulge details about users who post anti-Semitic comments.

Tuesday’s hearing came on the heels of a weekend of Twitter posts using the hashtag #SiJetaisNazi, or #IfIWereANazi, which was one of the country’s top five trending topics on January 5.

The court is expected to hand down a decision in the case on January 24.

In October, the Union of French Jewish Students asked Twitter to take down of-fending tweets that had flooded the site under the hashtag #unbonjuif (#agood-jew), with examples including: “#agood-jew is a dead Jew.” The hashtag became the third most popular in France.

The students’ union said it would sue if Twitter did not comply with demands to remove the tweets and disclose details about the users that posted them.

A Twitter spokesman refused at the

time to comment directly on the tweets about Jews and reiterated the company’s standard response that it “does not medi-ate content.” According to the standards, Twitter cannot delete tweets, but does allow for accounts generating content in breach of its rules or considered illegal to be suspended.

Twitter also said it would not hand over details of account holders unless or-dered by a judge. However, since French and American speech laws differ, the American-based company has said it will only recognize the judgment of a U.S. court.

The groups I Accuse! International Action for Justice, SOS Racism, the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, and the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between People are supporting the stu-dents’ union in the case.

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In Israeli campaign, Netanyahu gets hit from the right and leftBen SaleS

T EL AVIV – “Ooh, aah, look who’s coming!” the crowd of young people chants. “It’s the next prime minister!”

Hundreds of voices rise from a packed dance floor Sunday as Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minis-ter, enters the room, grinning, singing along with the pounding music overhead, and leaning over the stage — somewhat uncomfortably, it seems — to shake hands with supporters.

It’s a rally for Young Likud, the youth wing of Netanyahu’s faction. His picture illuminates a screen behind the disc jockey, and huge banners hang above the dance floor emblazoned with the word “Machal” — the name for Likud that will appear on the ballot in Israel’s January 22 elections.

“For whoever wants to defend and expand the state, there’s only one vote: Machal, Machal, Machal!” Netanyahu exhorts the crowd. “Bring everyone to the ballot box!”

For the prime minister, the message becomes more urgent by the day.

While pundits and polls for months have all but guaranteed him another term, Netanyahu’s path to vic-

tory in the past two weeks has hit two major obstacles: an ascendant challenge from the right and a center-left that threatens to unite against him. The result has been a dramatic drop in Netanyahu’s poll numbers.

In October, when Likud merged lists with the nation-alist Yisrael Beiteinu party, polls had the joint list main-taining its current 42 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Now most polls peg the joint list at 34 or 35 seats, with some going as low as 32. It’s still the Knesset’s largest party, but with a much smaller margin.

Instead of moving across the political map, most of those votes have shifted even further to the right, to the hard-line Jewish Home party.

Led by Naftali Bennett, 40, a charismatic former army officer and high-tech entrepreneur whose par-ents immigrated to Israel from San Francisco, Jewish Home has staked out some progressive social posi-tions on housing and budget reform. On security is-sues, however, Bennett has taken a hard line. He favors annexing large swaths of the west bank, firmly op-poses Palestinian statehood, and has tried to portray Netanyahu as inconsistent on security policy.

Jewish Home traditionally has been the party of

930 words/use stock Netanyahu photo

Benjamin Netanyahu: No longer a sure thing.

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Israel’s religious nationalist sector. But Bennett, with his clean-shaven face and barely noticeable yarmulke, has tried to appeal to all sectors of Israeli society. Fifth on his faction’s list is Ayelet Shaked, a secular woman from the traditionally leftist northern Tel Aviv.

“I want to make it possible for anyone to live in Israel, especially young people,” Bennett told a crowd of English speakers in Tel Aviv last month. “We’re open-ing the party for the religious, secular, for charedim, for everyone.”

Bennett’s hawkishness at times has gotten him into trouble. He suggested that he would disobey an army order to evacuate settlements, and this week he said he would oppose drafting charedi yeshiva students in Israel’s universal conscription. Even so, polls have put Jewish Home at 14 or 15 seats, which would make it the Knesset’s third-largest party after Likud-Beiteinu and Labor. In the current Knesset, Jewish Home has just three seats.

Votes moving from Likud-Beiteinu to Jewish Home, both rightist parties, won’t hurt Netanyahu’s reelection chances because the right-wing bloc will remain the same size, and Likud-Beiteinu still is expected to be the largest party.

What could unseat the prime minister, though, is a center-left majority in the next Knesset. The center-left is split into three major parties: Labor, led by former journalist Shelly Yachimovich; Yesh Atid, which was founded last year by media personality Yair Lapid, whose father was a Knesset member; and Hatnua, the party founded last year by former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni that emphasizes Israeli-Palestinian peace. The latest polls have Labor winning 18 to 20 seats, with Yesh Atid and Hatnua at nine to 11 apiece.

Last week, Livni called on the three parties to unite before the election. Instead of joining a Likud-led coali-tion, Livni wants the parties to form a “blocking bloc” in the Knesset to stop Netanyahu from leading the government.

But the center-left has been plagued by infighting throughout the campaign. Following an unsuccess-ful meeting on Monday with the leaders of the three parties, Yachimovich and Lapid accused Livni of using them for “political spin.” Livni still is pushing for unity.

“I’ll obviously be happy if you vote for Hatnua, led by me,” Livni said Tuesday in a video message. “But more importantly, vote for one of the centrist parties. You know what? In these elections there are only two ballots: an extremist ballot and a moderate ballot.”

Even with a fragmented center, recent polls show a tightening race. A poll conducted last week by the Times of Israel noted that 31 percent of voters have yet to choose a party, and that most undecided voters are likely to break toward the center-left. And throughout the campaign, majorities of voters have said they care most about socioeconomic issues, which are being championed by Labor and Yesh Atid.

Likud has responded to attacks from the right and left by calling in its campaign for “a strong prime minis-ter, a strong Israel.”

With a comfortable lead in the polls, Netanyahu’s challenge is to draw voters even as most Israelis expect a Likud-Beiteinu victory.

“It’s not every day that a prime minister puts on jeans and goes to hang out in Tel Aviv,” Netanyahu quipped to reporters as he headed into the Young Likud rally. Then he straightened up and said, “A leftist bloc necessitates a strong Likud-Beiteinu.”

JTA Wire Service

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In Antwerp, charedi pariah forces girls’ school to go coedCnaan Liphshiz

ANTWERP, Belgium – With a soft smile and two young boys in tow, the mild-mannered Moshe Aryeh Friedman appeared undeserving of his reputation as the scourge of the local charedi Orthodox community as he walked his sons to school on Monday.

Until, that is, he led them straight into Benoth Jerusalem, a girls-only public school that was forced by a judge to admit Friedman’s boys on the grounds that Belgian schools cannot discriminate on the basis of gender.

In the charedi community, gender segregation is the norm, and Friedman’s push for admission is considered so sensitive that Belgian police assigned an escort, lest the Friedman boys be attacked upon their arrival.

“This is a fascinating development in our society,” Friedman told the 15 or so Belgian journalists who had turned out to see his sons — Jacob, 11, and Josef, 7 — at-tend their new school. “Finally boys and girls can study together, ending centuries of discrimination.”

Friedman, a 40-year-old Brooklyn native, is an un-likely champion of gender equality in Jewish schools. The charedi rabbi became a pariah after attending a 2006 conference in Iran questioning the Holocaust and for his friendship with the country’s presi-dent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A fierce anti-Zionist, Friedman has befriended the leaders of Hamas and has said he doubts whether 6 million Jews actually died in the Holocaust.

As a result, Friedman was excommunicated by Jewish communities in Antwerp and Vienna, where he had lived for several years, and his children were denied entry to communal institutions. In 2007, Friedman sued the Viennese Jewish community after three of his daughters were expelled from Talmud Torah, a private school. Friedman said the expulsion was because of his trip to Tehran; the school cited unpaid fees.

In 2011, Friedman returned to Antwerp with his wife, Lea Rosenzweig, a Belgian national. When no charedi schools would admit their sons, Friedman tried to en-roll them in schools for girls. That failed, too, so he sued.

“We had very few public schools to choose from,” Friedman said. “The element of collective punishment against my children is well known.”

Friedman says the Jewish community is taking re-venge on him because of his opinions.

Aron Berger, the father of one of Benoth Jerusalem’s 200 female pupils, acknowledged that Friedman was left with little choice. But he added, “We need to ask why this community and the one in Vienna left him no choice. There’s trouble wherever Friedman goes.”

In a separate and pending case, Friedman has sued a Zionist all-boys yeshiva in Antwerp for denying admis-sion to his daughters.

By involving the Belgian courts, Friedman has violat-ed the Orthodox norm of resolving conflicts internally. That is a move unlikely to improve his standing in the community. Perhaps even more important, he has com-promised the charedi community’s pedagogical auton-omy and separation of the sexes — two hypersensitive points for a devout group striving to insulate itself from Belgium’s secular and often unsympathetic society.

“It’s a sad day for the community, which has lost a battle which is important to it and its tradition,” said Michael Freilich, who as editor in chief of the Joods Actueel Jewish monthly has been writing about Friedman for years.

At an improvised news conference outside the school, Friedman declined to comment on the Holocaust, his private life, his past, and the accusa-tions against him. Instead, he confined his remarks to the legal issue at hand, which he presented as a matter of gender equality. Friedman did not respond to more questions that JTA tried to ask him by phone and email.

Friedman has been a thorn in the Jewish side for years. In 2006, the Associated Press reported that he had announced a new “coalition” between himself and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe, after a meeting in Stockholm with Atef Adwan, a senior Hamas figure. Friedman also has been accused of hav-ing dealings with Austria’s extreme right.

A Jewish umbrella group in Flanders filed a com-plaint against Friedman for Holocaust denial a few years ago. More recently, a lawyer from Antwerp ac-cused him of not paying his debts in the United States and Austria. In 2007, Friedman reportedly was attacked by Jewish pilgrims during a visit to Poland.

“Pretty much any charedi community would shun Moshe Friedman,” said Freilich, who maintains that Friedman’s problems are less about his politics than his tendency to “use the law as an instrument of terror, which makes the community afraid of him.”

For now, the Benoth Jerusalem school is struggling to adjust to its sudden fame. The leader of the Belz cha-sidic community, to which the school is affiliated, asked community members to let things take their course regardless of their personal feelings. The school sent parents and staff a letter asking the same.

But the community is anything but resigned to the new status quo.

“For 30 years I have managed to do my work in si-lence and devotion, but now, to our detriment, we have been made famous by Moshe Friedman,” said Leibl Mandel, the school’s director. “It’s bad for education.”

It also may be bad for Friedman’s children, as they may be sucked deeper into the escalating fight. Henri Rosenberg, a lawyer from Antwerp who has compiled a file on Friedman’s business transactions in Vienna and the United States, last month called for child welfare services to investigate their domestic circumstances.

“Enrolling them here is child abuse,” Berger said. “They can have no social interaction here, when the girls play among themselves.”

JTA Wire Service

Moshe Friedman and his wife, Lea Rosenzweig, speak to journalists outside Antwerp’s Benoth Jerusalem. Their two sons are now enrolled in the girls’ school. Cnaan Liphshiz

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The Czech Republic’s Joe Lieberman?Jan Fischer, a Jewish politician, could be europe’s first Jewish president

Dinah Spritzer

PRAGUE – If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first country other than Israel to elect a Jewish president.

Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck and neck in the polls with an-other former government head as the nation holds its first round of presidential elections today and tomorrow.

The two front-runners advance to a runoff, and politi-cal prognosticators are predicting that Fischer will reach the second round.

“He’s like our Joe Lieberman,” said Tomas Kraus, chair-man of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, referring to the failed U.S. vice presidential candidate and long-time senator from Connecticut. “Whether or not you support him, you can’t help but be proud he has come this far.”

Fischer, whose career highlights include running the Czech Statistical Office and serving as vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, slipped from first to second in the polls following a lack-luster performance in a televised debate last week.

His ascent from skilled technocrat to high-echelon politics — and possibly to Prague Castle — sheds light on the region’s nuanced relationship with Judaism and Israel.

Running on a platform promoting economic growth and political transparency, Fischer also is known for his pride in what he calls the Czech Republic’s “very friendly relations with Israel.” He noted that the Czech Republic consistently was one of Europe’s most ardent support-ers of Israel in times of crisis. This tradition goes back to the 1920s, when the first Czechoslovak president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, endorsed the creation of the Jewish state.

More recently, the Czech Republic was among only a handful of countries in the world to vote against upgrading the Palestinians’ status at the United Nations.

Jan Fischer is favored to advance to the second round of the presidential elections in the Czech Republic. Courtesy Jan FisCher Campaign

see CzeCh RepubliC page 30

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Fischer thus finds it unnecessary to bluster in the same way as his chief presidential rival, Milos Zeman, who has declared his support for a preemptive strike against Iran.

“I have no need to demonstrate my friendly attitude toward Israel because everyone is familiar with it, so I don’t need to say something very strong,” he said in a wide-ranging interview, adding that he is well aware that “Iran is the dark force in the region.”

Fischer’s professions of devotion to Israel weren’t always so robust. Before the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, it was dangerous for anyone — especially a government employee — to sympathize with Israel because the au-thorities toed the Soviet anti-Zionist line.

Fischer’s upbringing is a case study of post-World War II Jewish life in Central Europe. His father survived Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, and his mother was Catholic. He celebrated Czech Christmas and attended synagogue.

“My father brought me to the synagogue for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and Purim,” Fischer recalled. “During Pesach we didn’t organize a seder, but we did have matzah. Father was a member of the Jewish community until the end of the 1950s.”

That changed once Czechoslovak Communist leaders became more virulently anti-religious; Judaism was no longer high on his family’s list of priorities.

It changed again — as it did for many of Fischer’s gen-eration — when his son, also named Jan, began to discover his Jewish roots. The young Jan Fischer was born in 1989, the year the Velvet Revolution swept communism from the country.

“He was very interested in the story of the Holocaust and he liked to talk about my father despite [the fact] that he died in 1975,” Fischer said. “Through his discoveries he developed a strong bond with Judaism, and he brought me back.”

Fischer credited the Lauder Jewish School, which his son attended, for educating the whole family.

Fischer’s father, also a Prague statistician, was forced to collect numerical data on Jewish families for the Nazis.

“When he arrived in Auschwitz he didn’t expect to live, but Mengele found out he was a mathematician and thought he could be of use,” Fischer said.

Although some may not deem Fischer as Jewish by hal-achah, or Jewish law, he invokes the Holocaust experience as a defining characteristic of those who view themselves as Jews.

“It is a common tragedy, and based on it I feel part of this community,” he said.

Even in the relatively liberal-minded Czech Republic, however, being Jewish can be a political disadvantage. When Fischer took over as prime minister, a smattering of comments on blogs referred negatively to his Jewish origins. Because one of his advisers also was Jewish, there were hints, too, that Fischer was part of a secret brotherhood.

But Czechs mostly just were curious about their new leader’s religious background. His ethnicity again became a focus of public fixation when his predecessor, thinking he was off the record during a taped magazine interview, slurred a gay minister and Fischer, linking a penchant for compromise to his Jewishness.

During his tenure as prime minister, Fischer was ad-

mired for aggressively pursuing extremist groups that were terrorizing the country’s largest minority, the Roma. As a result of these activities, and partly on account of his reli-gion, Fischer’s son was put under police protection.

Still, asked about anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic, Fischer responds, “This country has so many political problems, but anti-Semitism is not one of them.”

The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy, so its president’s influence as president is limited and his powers largely ceremonial. Still, the head of state occasion-ally does remark on foreign policy issues. And that is where Israel comes up again in conversation.

Fischer is bluntly critical of the European Union’s sometimes muddy statements about Israel. Asked if he agreed with the EU’s repeated condemnation of Israeli settlements, he said, “The voice of the European Union is sometimes strong [on this topic]. It is not the opinion of ev-ery country. The reality is that the EU hasn’t got any foreign policy. I don’t think the settlements are the greatest issue in the region. Iran is the greatest issue.”

If there is a shadow hanging over Fischer in the eyes of Czech voters, it is not his religion but his former member-ship in the Communist Party. Fischer says he joined under pressure to keep his job as a public employee and has apologized publicly for the decision.

“I gave in and it is nothing I am proud of,” he said.Compared to his two larger-than-life predecessors

— human rights luminary Vaclav Havel and Euroskeptic Vaclav Klaus — Fischer is distinguished largely by the fact that he is so reserved. Critics have noted his lack of charisma.

Jiri Pehe, a former adviser to Havel and now a well-known political commentator, doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing. Fischer appeals to the average citizen, he says.

“Czechs are fed up with a presidency where a president has to be highly visible and interfere with party politics, and make speeches on issues like global warming,” Pehe said. “Maybe they want someone ordinary, someone to act as the chief notary, putting a seal on international documents.”

Rabbi Manes Barash, who runs a Chabad synagogue in Prague where Fischer occasionally prays, takes the cha-risma issue a step further.

“A lot of people who are crooks have charisma,” Barash joked. “Maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have charisma.”

On a more serious note, Barash says Fischer might be good for the country, which is among the most atheistic in the world, according to surveys.

“That he is a believer is something very special for the Czech Republic,” Barash said. “Such a secular society, it is missing here.”

JTA Wire Service

Czech Republic From page 29

Jewish Czech presidential candidate Jan Fischer at the Terezin memorial ceremonies honoring the vic-tims of Nazi persecution. Courtesy Jan FisCher Campaign

“This country has so many political problems, but anti-Semitism is not one of them.”

— Jan Fischer

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‘Hava Nagila’ — from shtetl to clichéChavie Lieber

You’re at a wedding or bar mitz-vah, mingling at the bar or catch-ing up with a distant relative,

when you hear it — the opening notes of a familiar tune that as if by some invis-ible force carries you and other guests to the dance floor for the rousing dance circle ritual.

Does “Hava Nagila” work this kind of magic because it was handed down at Sinai and thus encoded in the Jewish DNA? Or is it a tale from the European shtetl, albeit one with a timeless mes-sage and an irrepressible melody?

It is these questions that Roberta Grossman addresses in her new film, “Hava Nagila (The Movie),” which will screen at the upcoming New York Jewish Film Festival before hitting theaters nationwide in March. The film, three years in the making, explores the phenomenon behind the iconic folk song and seeks to explain why the melody has been so beloved over the years.

“When I first started doing research for the film, people thought I was crazy and I was worried I wouldn’t find anything substantial enough,” Grossman said. “But what I really found was that this song is a porthole into 200 years of Judaism’s culture and spirituality.”

Grossman’s inspiration for the film came from memo-ries of dancing to the song at family parties. A product of what she calls a “religiously assimilated but culturally af-filiated” background, Grossman said twirling with family members while “Hava Nagila” blared in the background was a tribal moment with spiritual resonance. Part of a generation raised on the 1971 film adaptation of “Fiddler on the Roof,” she knew the song cold but understood little about its origins.

Turns out, it doesn’t go back nearly as far as Sinai. The song originated as a chasidic niggun, or wordless melody, credited to the Ruzhiner rebbe, Israel Friedman, who lived in the Ukrainian town of Sadagora in the 18th century.

A Jewish shtetl in the Pale of Settlement, Sadagora often was subjected to pogroms, and chasidic leaders encour-aged music as a way to combat the tragedies of everyday life. When a wave of European immigrants moved to Israel in the early 1900s, they took their niggun with them, where

it later became representative of Zionist culture.

In 1915, the prominent musicologist Abraham Zevi Idelsohn adapted the song with Hebrew lyrics. Three years later he unveiled his new variation at a Jerusalem concert. “Hava Nagila,” liter-ally “let us rejoice,” went on to hit its peak popularity in the 1950s and ‘60s, and became a favorite pop tune for American Jews.

“It’s unclear if Idelsohn really knew the extent of how far his song would go, but after that concert celebrating the British victory in Palestine, the streets of Jerusalem erupted and the song took

off,” said Mark Kligman, a professor of Jewish musicology at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Kligman is featured in the film.

“Israel was a vacuum at that point, with immigrants from all over who had very little in common,” he said. “They were dealing with their identity, and the need for music, and this song unified them.”

Decades later, that still is true. The song is widely covered — Bob Dylan, Ben Folds, and Regina Spektor all have performed it. Last summer it was the soundtrack for U.S. Olympian Ally Raisman’s gold medal-winning per-formance in the floor exercise at the London Games. And though the Wall Street Journal recently noted that some see it as cliche and avoid having it played at their parties — Grossman refers to these folks as “Hava haters” — it may be the most popular Jewish song on the planet.

In the film, which includes a hora dancing tutorial, Grossman journeys to Sadagora as well as other obscure places where the song hit. The film notes how popular “Hava Nagila” became with non-Jewish music lovers, and features interviews with such singers as Lena Horne, the Cuban-American salsa performer Celia Cruz, and the pop star Connie Francis.

“I believe that Hava has actually accrued a great deal of meaning and depth on its long journey from Ukraine to YouTube,” Grossman said. “Hava’s journey is our journey. By understanding where Hava has come from, we under-stand where we have come from and more.”

JTA Wire Service

Roberta Grossman spent three years in research for the film.

“Hava Nagila (The Movie)” positions the classic Jewish tune as a portal into 200 years of Judaism’s culture and spirituality. photos Courtesy “have Nagila the Movie”

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$5 million budget hole is latest woe for Conservative synagogue groupGil Shefler

The congregational arm of the Conserv-vative movement

ran a cumulative budget deficit of more than $5 mil-lion over the past two years, JTA has learned, renewing longstanding concerns for the future of one of the movement’s key institu-tional pillars.

According to a financial audit obtained by JTA, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism re-ported back-to-back losses of $3 million in 2012 and $2.7 million the previous year. Over the same period, the organization, which is celebrating its centennial this year and counts hundreds of congregations as mem-bers, has seen a more than 10 percent drop in its overall assets, from $45.2 million to $40.1 million.

United Synagogue’s chief executive officer, Rabbi Steven Wernick, told JTA that the negative cash flows were due mostly to a handful of one-off events. Not counting those expenses, the operational deficit in 2012 is only about a third as large, at $1.1 million.

“We hope to reduce it to $600,000 next year and bal-ance the budget the year after that,” Wernick said.

Still, the numbers are bad news for an organization that unveiled a much-heralded strategic plan two years ago that aimed to reverse years of flagging membership and declining revenues.

United Synagogue leaders are “rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic,” said a senior executive at one of the movement’s largest synagogues who spoke on con-dition of anonymity.

“Operating that far in the red is a big red flag,” the ex-ecutive said. “I think it’s important for them to get their financial standing in order. I think they wouldn’t advise their synagogues that way.”

Once the largest Jewish religious stream in the United States, the Conservative movement has suffered through years of decline brought on in part by an aging and shrinking membership, some bruising philosophical battles, and most recently a string of financial losses. The movement’s flagship institution, the Jewish Theological Seminary, went through two rounds of layoffs in the past four years to close a multimillion-dollar budget gap.

United Synagogue has seen a 14 percent drop in its membership rolls over the past decade. In 2008, three Canadian synagogues quit United Synagogue to form their own partnership, claiming the burden of paying fees to the umbrella group outweighed the benefits.

According to Wernick, the recent financial troubles stem from three one-time expenditures: the settlement of a longstanding lawsuit related to ownership of the movement’s Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem that cost $887,000; structural reorganization resulting in a large number of severance packages; and the cost of imple-menting a new strategic plan.

Wernick said the organization hoped to balance its books through a mix of savings from structural reorga-nization carried out in 2011 and 2012, a new fundraising

arm, and the generation of new revenue by raising mem-bership fees by $1 per household — the first such hike in five years. Under the terms of the strategic plan released last year, synagogue dues were to have been reduced.

At the United Synagogue board meeting last month in Las Vegas, discussion of the audit was limited to just a few minutes near the end, leading some to charge that Wernick was deliberately seeking to avoid scrutiny of the budget. Wernick denied claims of any intentional wrong-doing, saying the limited time was due to unexpected delays.

“In our last meeting we ran out of time, but the pro-cess was a normal, healthy process,” he said.

Wernick has endured something of a rocky tenure in the three years since he took the helm of United Synagogue. On the eve of his appointment, United Synagogue came under intense criticism from some of the movement’s most successful rabbis, united in a coalition that called itself HaYom. Shortly thereafter, the Forward reported on an unsent letter from several synagogue presidents accusing the organization of being “insular, unresponsive, and of diminishing value to its member congregations.”

More broadly, many in the movement are coming to believe the time for large, centralized organizations in Jewish religious life in America has passed.

“The reason why USCJ continues to struggle is be-cause synagogues can have their needs met without it,” said Rabbi Menachem Creditor of Congregation Netivot Hashalom in Berkeley, Calif. “The question fac-ing Conservative Judaism as an American movement is not the same as the USCJ’s financial health. And so as Conservative Judaism continues to evolve in North America, a new movement might emerge to connect our synagogues to one another.”

Wernick strongly defended his organization’s place within Conservative Judaism. He cited a list of programs and activities — including Sulam, a leadership devel-opment program, and the subsidies given to member synagogues in times of crisis, like the recent efforts to aid victims of Superstorm Sandy — as proof of its relevance.

“We believe we’re implementing [our strategic plan] with great success and that the future is only going to be brighter,” he said. “Are some congregational leaders not in love with what we do? Sure, but there are many more coming to us to ask for our support.”

The United Synagogue executive board is set to hold a briefing on the audit’s findings in a conference call on Thursday and put it to a vote one week later. Wernick said the full content of the audit will be placed online after the vote as part of the organization’s commitment to transparency.

“We’re still in the start-up phase and it’s not easy, but we’re moving out of it and we’re growing,” Wernick said. “And you don’t get that in an audit.”

JTA Wire Service

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Rabbi Steven Wernick, chief executive officer of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, says the group’s $5 mil-lion deficit over the last two years stems mainly from three one-time expenditures. Courtesy usCJ

D’var Torah

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Va’era: Stuck in the middle?

Rabbi ShaRon Litwin

Education director, Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center, Ridgewood, Conservative


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Our portion, Va’era, starts and ends in the middle of the story. There is no exciting introduction to new characters: We know Moses, we know

Aaron, we know Pharaoh. We know about slavery and oppression in Egypt. And when it ends, there is still Moses, still Aaron, still Pharaoh, and still slavery and oppression in Egypt, although Va’era presents the first seven plagues that God set upon Egypt in the hopes that Pharaoh would let the Children of Israel go. Va’era is in the middle and, I would assert, this makes the story all the more relevant to us, as we too are in the middle. Most of us have not had new people come into our lives this week and, hopefully, none have left us either.

We’re all in the middle of some form of slavery, all working toward freedom and redemption in our lives with the hope of something better. But, sometimes we

get stuck. When Moses first approaches the Children of Israel, they don’t even want to leave Egypt. The Torah tells us that God instructed Moses to tell the people that God would soon free them. “But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.” (Ex 6:9) Nahum Sarna in his commentary on Exodus teaches that the literal mean-ing of “their spirits crushed” — in the Hebrew, “mikotzer ru’ach” — is that they had a shortness of spirit, they had nothing left with which to motivate themselves. The Hebrew ru’ach, teaches Sarna, “is the spiritual and psy-chic energy that motivates action. Its absence or attenu-ation signifies atrophy of the will.” The Children of Israel were spiritually stuck. They were in the middle of some-thing and they had neither the spirit nor the wherewithal to see the way out even with God’s divine leadership.

Sometimes it is hard to see the meaning of a particular event or series of events in our lives or the lives of our community and its hard to imagine that change can come. Last week, when I read Rabbi Joel Mosbacher’s D’var Torah in the Jewish Standard, he wrote that we need to find serious ways in which we can address chal-lenges and “hold our officials accountable to make the world safer, rather than be complicit in a culture that throws its hands in the air, resigned that we can do noth-ing to curb violence.” He addressed gun violence and asked us not to stand idly by. We are in the middle of something and we seem to be unable or unwilling to get out of it, or maybe just plain old stuck. How many Sandy Hooks, Auroras, Tuscons, Virginia Techs, Columbines do we need to have? How many plagues need to rain down before we are ready to move to the next stage of the story? The Children of Israel were witnesses to the plagues of blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts (or insects), cattle disease, boils and hail in Va’era; and they still weren’t spiritually ready to listen to Moses. It took a few more plagues on their task masters for them to be spiritually prepared to make the change to be ready to leave slavery and oppres-sion and move toward redemption and hope.

I hope we are not stuck for long in the middle of the story of gun violence in schools and on streets. I hope we can find a way to come together in the community and in the United States so that the story moves from plagues and spiritual “stuck-ness” to a place of security and peacefulness. I wouldn’t want us to be comfortable in an environment where we acceptg gun violence as de rigueur, as the Children of Israel accepted their enslave-ment. I wouldn’t want us to be comfortable in an envi-ronment where our neighbors are plagued and we are not able to do anything about it. Of course the plagues in Va’era were sent down to our enemies, but even amongst the Egyptians there were innocent people who suffered.

We’re in the middle now. We don’t know how this story will end. I pray that the ending brings hope and security.

Arts & culture

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The 22nd Annual New York Jewish Film FestivalEric A. GoldmAn

There is little doubt, at least in my mind, that some of the best and brightest are filmmakers. They struggle with the issues of today and record them

in their documentaries or tackle them through their stories. Each year, the New York Jewish Film Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum, introduces us to new Jewish films, offer-ing an opportunity to not only enjoy and be entertained but to grapple with several of the important issues facing Jews today.

This year, we have the opportunity to look at many of the great Jewish personalities of our time, delve into the changing character of Israeli society, wrestle with issues facing Jews in Argentina and France, continue our ongo-ing engagement with the Holocaust, and examine Jewish culture here and in Israel. Sprinkled among 45 fine short and feature-length films from nine countries are several nuggets not to be missed.

If you love music, there is plenty to find this year. The opening night movie is “AKA Doc Pomus,” a film by Peter Miller, Will Hechter, and Sharyn Felder, which tells the remarkable story of Jerome Felder (brother of attorney Raoul), who contracted polio at 6 and found his path through music, heavily influenced by the African-American rhythm and blues he heard on the radio. He emerged as Doc Pomus, a blues singer, but when producers discovered that this incredible writer-singer was not black, but rather a paralyzed Jewish kid from Brooklyn, he had to focus on his writing, eventually turning out some of the great songs of rock and roll. The filmmakers do a fine job telling the story of how Pomus overcame adversity to become one of American music’s greats.

Another story of a Brooklyn boy who rose to the top is Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen’s “Joe Papp in Five Acts.” It is just as much a story of one man’s triumph over bureaucracy to bring theater to the masses as it is a modern day tale of an American Jew who hid his Jewish background only to embrace it late in life. Papp brought us Shakespeare in the Park and the Public Theater, refusing to hear no. In the course of an incredibly productive life, he chose to be married to his work, neglecting those around him whom he loved. The filmmakers tackle all aspects of his complex personality, bringing in many of the fine actors whom he introduced to the theater; they unabashedly throw kisses his way while telling deep truths about all five “acts” of Joe Papp. For me, the most enlightening aspect of the film was how Papp, born Papirofsky, came back to his Jewish roots and reconnected with his mother, who spoke with an accent and whom he shunned most of his life. Papp, along with creating incredible productions of Shakespeare, brought us “Hair,” “A Chorus Line,” and the Yiddish theater production, “Songs of Paradise,” which unfortunately the filmmakers failed to mention.

One film that is sure to be a hit on the theatrical film circuit this year is “Hava Nagila (The Movie).” For more on that movie, go to page 31.

Gabriel Bibliowicz’ “Let’s Dance” provides an unusual window into the changing face of Israel. It is not only a compelling look at the changing character of dance in Israel, it is an observation on Israeli life and culture. Various authorities provide insight into how the hora began as a representation of the pioneering spirit, an expression of the relationship of the halutzim with the land, not only building it but being built up by it. Each held each other up as they danced the hora, as one people in sync in its goals and ideals.

As Bibliowicz uses dance to study Israel, in “The Iron Lady and the Photo House” Tamar Tal uses the photograph and the story of the photo house of Rudi Weissenstein to explore an Israel in transformation. Weissenstein documented in photography Israel’s foundational moments and it is left to his widow and grandson to preserve the past while moving into the future. Both of these Israeli film studies are pearls of the festival.

Dina Zvi-Riklis is one of my favorite Israeli filmmakers, and “The Fifth Heaven,” like her other films, takes a look at the “other” in Israeli society. Iraq-born Zvi-Riklis, who came to Israel as a child, experienced what it is to be an

outsider. She dealt with this in her brilliant 2006 film, “Three Mothers,” and here she presents the story of 13-year-old Maya, who is placed in an orphanage by a father whose wife deserted them and who finds himself incapable of caring for the child. Riklis, married to film director Eran Riklis, now an “insider” and one half of Israeli cinema’s “power couple,” continues to ask tough questions.

The three other narrative feature entries this year from Israel are Idan Hubel’s “The Cutoff Man,” Beni Torati’s “Ballad of the Weeping Spring,” and Nadav Lapid’s “The Policeman.” The highly talented Moshe Ivgy is superb as Gaby the cutoff man, whose job is to cut off water to customers unable to pay in a tough economy. Watching Torati’s “Ballad” is like watching a spaghetti western from the 1960s, just plain fun, with kitsch at every corner. Instead of Clint Eastwood we have Uri Gavrieli, and his search for the perfect musical group is an excuse to perform amazing eastern music. Lapid’s “The Policeman,” which was screened last year at the New York Film Festival, looks at male machismo, societal inequality, and the role of protest in Israeli society. It features command performances by Yiftach Klein and Yaara Pelzig in a difficult and piercing portrait of an Israel in need of fixing.

Some of the best Jewish filmmaking today deals with the Shoah, and “Numbered” and “The Trial of Adolf Eichmann” are just excellent. Michael Prazan is skillful in presenting us with the complete story of the Eichmann trial — the questions of legality, the logistics of the kidnapping, the international repercussions, and what Ben Gurion hoped to accomplish by bringing this trial to Israel. Dana Doron and Uriel Sinai craft a sensitive film in “Numbered,” a look at how survivors reflect, with a combination of humiliation and cachet, on the numbers they carry on their arms. This is a beautiful and insightful visual portrait.

Tickets go fast, so don’t waste any time going to one of the great film events that New York has to offer. For more information and tickets, go to: www.FilmLinc.com or call 212.875.5601.

Eric Goldman teaches cinema at Stern College for Women and The Jewish Theological Seminary.

[bio]

[photos –https://www.box.com/s/tv3l0hm7gp6y5ye8p5y0/1/530692830/5114872474/1

https://www.box.com/s/tv3l0hm7gp6y5ye8p5y0/1/530940360/5116905266/1

https://www.box.com/s/tv3l0hm7gp6y5ye8p5y0/1/530941376/5116916538/1

“Let’s Dance” looks at the changing face of Israel.

Bob Dylan with Jerome Felder, AKA Doc Pomus.

Film tackles the complex personality of Joe Papp.

“Short Outquote”

Calendar

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friday [january 11]

Shabbat in Wayne The Chabad Center of Passaic County hosts a Shabbat Russian- themed meal with entertainment by Hebrew school students, 6 p.m. 194 Ratzer Road. (973) 964-6274 or www.jewishwayne.com.

Shabbat in Paramus The JCC of Paramus hosts a catered Shabbat dinner, beginning with dinner at 6:45 p.m.; services at 8:30. East 304 Midland Ave. (201) 262-7691 or [email protected].

Shabbat in Washington Township Temple Beth Or offers Shabbat Hallelu, a musical family service, 7:30 p.m. 56 Ridgewood Road. (201) 664-7422 or www.templebethornj.org.

Shabbat in Closter Temple Beth El offers a service featuring the music of Debbie Friedman, 7:30 p.m. 221 Schraalenburgh Road. (201) 768-5112.

Shabbat in Wyckoff Temple Beth Rishon holds Shabbat Tzavta (together), a participatory folk-rock service, 8 p.m. Selections from contemporary and classical repertoires, folk rock melodies, liturgical selections, traditional motifs, Israeli melodies, and synagogue melodies from Argentina. Dessert and coffee. 585 Russell Ave. (201) 891-4466 or bethrishon.org.

saturday [january 12]

Shabbat in Paramus The JCC of Paramus offers Club Shabbat, with prayer, songs, Torah experiences, games, playtime, and refreshments, for 2- to 6-year-olds accompanied by a parent, grandparent, or caregiver, 10:30 a.m. East 304 Midland Ave. Judy Fox, (201) 967-1334 or [email protected].

Shabbat in Teaneck Temple Emeth offers a special Shabbat service and day of learning exploring the themes of “The Zookeeper’s Wife” by Diane Ackerman, which is a Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s “One Book, One Community” event. Torah study, 9 a.m., services and activities, 10:30; kiddush lunch, noon; screening of the documentary “Safe Haven,” 2:30 p.m. 1666 Windsor Road, (201) 833-1322.

Family event The Glen Rock Jewish Center offers family fun night, 6:30-9 p.m., with movies, games, dairy and pareve appetizers, and ice cream sundaes. BYO kosher. 682 Harristown Road. (201) 652-6624 or [email protected].

sunday [january 13]

Blood drive in Englewood Congregation Ahavath Torah holds a blood drive with New Jersey Blood Services, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (800) 933-BLOOD.

Mitzvah Mall in Franklin Lakes Barnert Temple hosts its annual Mitzvah Mall, 9 a.m. Pancake breakfast followed by

Shabbat in Closter Rabbi David S. Widzer and Cantor Rica Timman of Temple Beth El are joined by the religious school’s fifth-grade and Rinat Beth El Junior Choir for a family service, 6:45 p.m., preceded by Shabbat dinner at 5:45. 221 Schraalenburgh Road. (201) 768-5112.

Marcia Lyles

Shabbat in Jersey City Temple Beth-El hosts its annual service in tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., 7:45 p.m. Marcia Lyles, Jersey City superintendent of schools, is the guest speaker. 2419 Kennedy Boulevard. (201) 333-4229 or www.betheljc.org.

wednesday [january 16]

Yiddish club Khaverim Far Yidish (Friends for Yiddish) of the Jewish Community Center of Paramus meets, 2 p.m. Tu Bi-Sh’vat refreshments. Group meets the third Wednesday of the month. East 304 Midland Ave. Varda, (201) 791-0327.

Tu Bi-Sh’vat in Tenafly Michelle Levine, outreach and marketing director for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, discusses “Environmental Victories in Israel” at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 7:30 p.m. Cosponsored by the Israel Connections department and the Center for Israel Engagement of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. 411 East Clinton Ave. (201) 408-1429 or www.jccotp.org.

friday [january 18]

Shabbat in Washington Township Temple Beth Or celebrates Mishpacha Shabbat for families with young children, 6 p.m.; regular services at 8. 56 Ridgewood Road. (201) 664-7422 or www.templebethornj.org.

interaction with representatives of 10 charities, dedicated to helping victims of Superstorm Sandy. 747 Route 208 South. (201) 848-1800 or www.barnerttemple.org.

Bagels/preschool class The JCC of Paramus offers a bagel and schmooze breakfast hosted by the Young Jewish Families group, 9:30 a.m. Candle Club, a monthly pre-K holiday class with stories, music, arts and crafts, and nut-free snacks, 9:45 a.m. (201) 262-7733 or [email protected].

Frederick Katzenberg Courtesy yMCA

Concert in Wayne The YMCA of Wayne continues its Sundays Backstage at the Y series with a performance by oboeist Frederick Katzenberg and pianist Gary Klein, 11:45 a.m. 1 Pike Drive. (973) 595-0100, ext. 257.

Party Showcase in Park Ridge Celebrate! Party Showcase’s 21st annual show presented by Mitzvah Market is at the Park Ridge Marriott, noon-5 p.m. Party décor, entertainment, candle lighting poem help, out-of-the-box venues, photo and wearable favors, and treats. Free admission and parking. 300 Brae Boulevard. (646) 652-7512 or Facebook.com/CelebrateShowcase. Sign up in advance to win a pair of “ibeat Beats by Dr. Dre.”

Movie in Hackensack Temple Beth El screens “Crossing Delancey,” starring Amy Irving and Peter Riegert, 2 p.m. 280 Summit Ave. (201) 342-2045.

tuesday [january 15]

Networking in Paramus Jewish Business Network holds a breakfast at Whole Foods Market, 8:15 a.m. 300 Bergen Town Center. www.jbusinessnetwork.net.

Women’s rosh chodesh Rabbi Adina Lewittes offers a discussion, “Self, Identity, and Consciousness in the Torah: The Commentary of Dr. Aviva Gottlieb Zornberg,” at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, 7:30 p.m. (201) 408-1426 or www.jccotp.org.


A musical celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day featuring cabaret star Natalie Douglas and her Broadway ensemble is at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, Wednesday, January 16, 7 p.m. The concert of freedom songs includes “We Shall Overcome” and Lena Horne’s anthem, “Now,” set to the tune of “Hava Nagila.” (646) 437-4202 or www.mjhnyc.org. Presented in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition, Hava Nagila: A Song for the People. Lynn redMiLe

Lunch and learn in Fort LeeRabbi Akiva Block, leader of Congregation Kehillat Kesher in Englewood, discusses “Significance of the Hebrew Language in Observing and Understanding Our Traditions,” at a lunch and learn session at the Young Israel of Fort Lee. The lecture will be on January 16 at noon at the Barad Center in Fort Lee. A light lunch will be served. Call (201) 592-1518 or email yiftlee.org.

Game On at the YJCC Jan. 25The Bergen County YJCC in Washington Township has set its annual “Game On” day for Friday, January 25. The day begins at 9:30 a.m. with continental breakfast. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. it’s time for games, including mah jongg, bridge, canasta, and Scrabble; lunch follows. There also will be raffles. Registration is requested by January 18; proceeds benefit YJCC programs.

Carol Berliner and Karen Feltman are co-chairs. For information, call (201) 666-6610, ext. 5812.

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saturday [january 19]

Havdalah/bingo/ice cream The Jewish Community Center of Paramus offers Havdalah services followed by family bingo with make-your-own sundaes, 7 p.m. $5 per person includes prizes and refreshments. (201) 262-7691 or [email protected].

Music in Ridgewood Temple Israel and JCC of Ridgewood kicks off its second season of “Winter Music Saturdays” with cellist Jennifer Green and pianist Kai Pangune Kim playing a classical chamber music program featuring works by Ernst Bloch, J.S. Bach, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Alexander Glasunov. Havdalah at 7:30 p.m.; concert follows. 475 Grove St. (201) 201-444-9320 or www.synagogue.org.

Comedy in Teaneck Mordechai (Mike) Schmutter invites all comedians to join him for stand-up comedy at the Teaneck General Store, 8 p.m. 502A Cedar Lane. (201) 530-5046 or www.teaneckgeneralstore.com.

Café event in Fair Lawn The men’s club of Temple Beth Sholom and the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation B’nai Israel co-sponsor Café Night/Battle of the Bands at TBS, 8 p.m. Dance to the music of A Touch of Gray and the Prospect Medical Orchestra. Snacks and desserts; BYOB (kosher). 40-25 Fair Lawn Ave. (201) 797-9321.

sunday [january 20]

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. Rabbi Steven Sirbu leads a discussion about Dr. King’s legacy at Temple Emeth in Teaneck’s B’yachad breakfast, 10:30 a.m. 1666 Windsor Road. (201) 833-1322.

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. The Oakland-Franklin Lakes Interfaith Clergy Council offers communal sharing, prayer, and song followed by a potluck supper at

singles

sunday [january 13]

Brunch in Caldwell New Jersey Jewish Singles 45+ meet for brunch at Congregation Agudath Israel, 11:30 a.m. 20 Academy Road. (973) 226-3600, meetup.com (use group name) or [email protected].

For Jewish women A seminar, “Inner Self/Outer Self,” offers a spiritual and physical makeover “from head to toe” for single and married women, with certified makeup artists, professional hair stylists, a nutritional therapist, a personal trainer, a spiritual and dating life coach, an image consultant/stylist, and Zumba. Bring sneakers. Demonstrations, discussions, applications, refreshments, give-aways, and prizes. Congregation Talmud Torah Adereth El, 2-6:30 p.m. Registration, 1:45. 133 East 29th St., Manhattan, between Lexington and 3rd Avenue. (973) 851-9070 or [email protected].

thursday [january 17]

Singles mingle in Scotch Plains The B’nai B’rith Young Professional Network, 23-33, offers “Mingle with Jewish Singles,” with a happy hour and free appetizers, at Stage House Tavern, 5 -7 p.m. 366 Park Ave., Danielle Ross, [email protected].

Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, 5-7 p.m. 747 Route 208 South. (201) 848-1800 or www.barnerttemple.org.

monday [january 21]

Discussing Israel Fair Lawn Hadassah meets at the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation B’nai Israel as the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s shaliach, Avinoam Segal-Elad, discusses “The Judiciary System in Israel.” 1 p.m. 10-10 Norma Ave. Fair Lawn. Varda, (201) 791-0327.

in new york

sunday [january 13]

Film in NYC After a screening of the critically acclaimed film “Portrait of Wally” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust at 2:30 p.m., art expert David D’Arcy, who is one of the film’s screenwriters and producers, will talk about it with museum director David G. Marwell. 36 Battery Place. (646) 437-4202 or www.mjhnyc.org.


Paquito D’Rivera Ensemble to performThe JCC Thurnauer School of Music at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly announces the 23rd annual Gift of Music Gala Benefit Concert, featuring 11-time Grammy Award-winner Paquito D’Rivera and his Latin jazz ensemble, on Wednesday, January 30, at 7:30 p.m. The show will be at the Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street, in Englewood. A VIP reception will precede the concert, at 6:30, and a reception with the opportunity to meet the artists will follow. Proceeds from the evening will benefit all the music school’s programs, including its scholarship fund and its Music Discovery Partnership — a collaboration with Englewood public schools that began in 1997.

The evening also will include a special tribute to Avi and Dr. Galit M. Sacajiu. Avi Sacajiu is a member of the JCC’s board of directors and Dr. Galit Sacajiu is a physician who has devoted herself to rebuilding medical services in Haiti in the last few years. Both are dedicated supporters of the Thurnauer School.

Call (201) 408-1465 or email [email protected].

Art exhibit features localThe Teaneck Public Library Gallery exhibits artwork by Bernice Greenberg of Teaneck this month. Her work has been exhibited in various venues, including the Nassau County Museum of Art; the Jewish Center in Roslyn, N.Y.; and the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly. She also creates ketubot for Judaic Connection.

Lunch and learn in Fort LeeRabbi Akiva Block, leader of Congregation Kehillat Kesher in Englewood, discusses “Significance of the Hebrew Language in Observing and Understanding Our Traditions,” at a lunch and learn session at the Young Israel of Fort Lee. The lecture will be on January 16 at noon at the Barad Center in Fort Lee. A light lunch will be served. Call (201) 592-1518 or email yiftlee.org.

From left, Gail Adler, Karen Miller, Joy Shorr, and Leslie Smith enjoy last year’s “Game On” festivities. Courtesy yJCC

Paquito D’Rivera JAy sAvuLiCh

Game On at the YJCC Jan. 25The Bergen County YJCC in Washington Township has set its annual “Game On” day for Friday, January 25. The day begins at 9:30 a.m. with continental breakfast. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. it’s time for games, including mah jongg, bridge, canasta, and Scrabble; lunch follows. There also will be raffles. Registration is requested by January 18; proceeds benefit YJCC programs.

Carol Berliner and Karen Feltman are co-chairs. For information, call (201) 666-6610, ext. 5812.

A ketubah by Bernice Greenberg. Photo Courtesy of Artist

Saturday January 19th 8pm

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B’nai mitzvah

Tal KopmanTal Kopman, son of Avi and Fanny Kopman of Washington Township and brother of Yonathan, celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah on January 5 at Temple Beth Sholom in Fair Lawn. His grandparents are Eva and Shalom Kopman of Fair Lawn and Malka and Eli Dahan of Israel.

Stellie Leibowitz

Stellie Leibowitz, daughter of Susan and Steven Leibowitz of Woodcliff Lake and sister of Gabby, celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah on January 5 at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley in Woodcliff Lake.

Benjamin PutzerBenjamin Putzer, son of Jane and Jason Putzer of Harrington Park, celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah on January 5 at Temple Beth El of Northern Valley in Closter.

Hailey Ryan

Hailey Nicole Ryan, daughter of Laura and Robert Ryan of Tenafly and sister of Leah, Lauren, Hannah, and Robby, celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah on January 5 at Temple Sinai of Bergen County in Tenafly.

Brian ZahabianBrian Zahabian, son of Shadi and Mahran Zahabian of Paramus, celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah on January 5 at the Jewish Community Center of Paramus.

OBituaries

Nelli AltshullerNelli Altshuller , 86, of Fair Lawn, died December 31. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Eileen ElbergEileen Elberg, 83, of Englewood, died January 1. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Jennifer L. LuethkeJennifer Luethke, 49, of Haworth, died January 2.

She attended Northern Valley Regional High School where she met her husband.

Predeceased by her father, Barry I. Croland, she is survived by her husband, Michael; mother, Joan Croland; sons, Andrew, Benjamin, Michael, and William; siblings, Richard Croland, Heidi Croland-Herman, and Lizabeth Croland-Sarakin; nieces and nephews; in-laws, and friends.

Contributions can be sent to the Center for Food Action, Englewood, or Hospice House at Hackensack. Arrangements were by Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Paramus.

Judith MinkerMartin MinkerJudith Minker, née Goldstein, 81, of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly of Westwood and Park Ridge, died on December 28, eight days before her husband, Martin Minker, 85, who died on January 5. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in November.

Judith was predeceased by a sister, Lenore Solomon. They are survived by sons Bruce (Diane Farre) of Tamarac, Fla., Gary (Elena) of Park Ridge, and Alan (Susan Walters) of Durham, N.C.; Martin’s brother, Arnold, of Bergenfield; a brother-in-law, Arthur Solomon; and six grandchildren.

Judith was a registered nurse at Bergen Pines Hospital in Paramus for 25 years, a president of the Bergen County Nurses Association, a member of the Westwood Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and a patient advocate at several hospitals.

Martin was an Army staff sergeant in World War II serving in Italy. He owned F & F Men’s and Boy’s Wear in Westwood for 30 years and then had a career in commercial real estate.

Donations can be sent to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Dr. Lawrence NessmanDr. Lawrence Nessman, 81, of Wayne, formerly of Brooklyn, died January 6.

He served in the Army Reserves, retiring as a colonel. A doctor with offices in Wayne, he was a member of Congregation Shomrei Torah in Wayne, a member and chair of the Passaic County Osteopathic Association, a member and the first commander of the Jewish War Veterans of Wayne, a member and board member of the YM-YWHA in Wayne, and a chair for State of Israel Bonds.

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He is survived by his wife, Leslie; children, Ravi (Hallie Ludsin) of Delhi, India, Alisa Chafitz (Benjamin) of Jericho, N.Y., Chari Nacson (Yosi) of Plainview, N.Y., and Mali Ben-Shachar (Itamar) of Raanana, Israel; and nine grandchildren.

Donations can be sent to Jewish National Fund. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Selma SchwartzSelma L. Schwartz, neé Littman, of Fair Lawn, formerly of Paterson, died January 1.

Before retiring, she was a math teacher at Thomas Jefferson and Memorial junior high schools in Fair Lawn.

Predeceased by her husband, Milton, she is survived by children Howard, Ann, and Jay (Lilian); siblings, Frances Weiner (Puggy), and Sidney Littman (Linda); and a grandchild, Aidan Mauricio Schwartz.

Donations can be sent to the Adler Aphasia Center, Maywood. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Alvin S. ShoreAlvin Shore, 83, of Fair Lawn, died January 2.

Predeceased by his wife, Florence, he is survived by a daughter, Michelle.

Born in Bayonne, along with his wife he owned Florence Shore Manufacturer’s Outlet in Fair Lawn. He was an Army veteran of the Korean conflict and a member of the Fair Lawn Jewish Center.

Donations can be made to the National Spasmodic Torticollis Association Research Fund, Fountain Valley, Calif. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Stanley B. SidlovStanley Sidlov, 60, of Pompton Lakes, died December 31.

He was a programmer in the finance industry for many years and a former member and board member of Congregation Beth Sholom in Pompton Lakes.

Predeceased by his father, Joseph, he is survived by his wife, Jennifer; his mother, Maria; a daughter, Lizabeth; a sister, Susan Schwerberg; four nephews and a niece.

Donations can be sent to Georgia Tech Foundation Band or Georgia Tech Hillel, Atlanta. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Isabel StarkIsabel Stark, neé Brawer, 72, of Boynton Beach, Fla., died January 1.

A graduate of Syracuse University and Seton Hall University School of Law, she was a lawyer in New Jersey and served as a Superior Court Judge in Bergen County for 21 years.

She is survived by her husband, Harvey Gold; daughters Laura Baker and Diane Stark; sisters, Edith Ratner and Roberta Lobel; and four grandchildren.

Donations can be made to Hospice of Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach, Fla. Arrangements were by Robert Schoem’s Menorah Chapel, Paramus.

Mark J. ZymetMark Zymet, 57, of River Vale, formerly of Teaneck, died January 3.

He was an investment banker for Southwest Securities, Inc., in Bloomfield.

He is survived by his wife, Lynn, née Block; parents, Beverly and Dr. Harvey Zymet of Hackensack; sons, Corey Scott and Jesse Adam; brother, Eric (Marge) of Paramus; brother-in-law Honorable Lawrence Block of Alexandria, Va., and Dr. Lee Surkin (Elizabeth) of Greenville, N.C.

Contributions can be sent to Disabled American Veterans. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

This week’s Torah commentary is on page 34.

Obituaries are prepared with information provided by

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Beatrice chazinBeatrice Chazin (neé Pugatsky) died on January 5, 2013. She lived in Rydal, Pa. Wife of the late Rabbi Pinchos J. Chazin. Mother of Rhena ( Dr. Steven) Kelsen, Judge Meryl “Michal” (Hazzan Leon) Lissek of Teaneck, N.J., and Daniel Chazin. Grandmother of Francine Hannon, Michael (Karoline) Kelsen, Devorah Lissek (Dr. Joshua Barash), Dr. Shmuel (Dr. Zohara) Cohen-Lissek, and Hazzan Shira Lissek, (Lloyd Nerenberg). Great-grandmother of Abraham, Jamie, Molly, Eitan, Jack, Megan, Samantha, Reuben, Carmela, and Maayan. Contributions in her memory may be made to any Camp Ramah or the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center, c/o Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19123. Arrangements were by Goldsteins’ Rosenberg’s Raphael Sacks Funeral Home, Philadelphia, Pa.

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Jewish standard January 11, 2013 41

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PARTYPLANNER

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Join MAZON’s effort to ensure that no one goes hungry.

Help us transform how it is into how it should be.

Donate to MAZON today.

Can you imagine the of a constant struggle to put food on the table?

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P.O. Box 894765 Los Angeles, CA 90189-4765

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Photo licensed under Creative Commons from flickr user [auro].

We don’t blame you for feeling tired of hearing stories about the ever-growing number of families struggling with hunger.

1 Second-graders at the Lubavitch on the Palisades School received

their Chumashim from parents at a celebration followed by a collation. Courtesy LotP

2 A group of 17 women from the Jewish Women’s Renaissance

Project, shown here on Masada, went on a mission to Israel in December. Julie Farkas, who teaches a Judaism class on Sunday mornings in Teaneck, led the Bergen County group. Stops included Tzfet, Herzliya, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Rachel’s Tomb, and the Dead Sea. Courtesy Debra Werner

3 National Council of Jewish Women Bergen County Section

presented a check for $11,000 to Bergen Family Center at the seniors’ holiday party on December 21. Seniors and children at the center will benefit from the donation. Bergen Family Center is one of more than 18 community services supported with funds and volunteers by NCJW BCS. From left are NCJW BCS volunteers Phyllis Schriger, Roz Haber, Marlene Furer, and Celia Argintar; Gladys Laden, co-vice president of NCJW BCS community services; Nouly Lolis, BFC seniors coordinator; Erica Reis, NCJW BCS volunteer; Elaine Pollack, NCJW BCS co-president; and Marcia Levy, NCJW BCS co-vice president of community services. Courtesy nCJW bCs

4 First-graders at Ben Porat Yosef received their first siddurim. The milestone was marked by a musical production, done

entirely in Hebrew, explaining the different parts of the siddur and the reasons why people pray. MiChaeL Laves

5 Teens from Sha’ar Communities met with Jack Antonoff of the Band FUN, pictured back row, center, to talk about Jewish

identity. Rabbi Adina Lewittes of Sha’ar facilitated the discussion as part of a series, “Teens 2.0: Hitting the Refresh Button on Jewish Identity.” Courtesy sha’ar

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HOME DESIGN & REAL ESTATE

Remodeling your kitchen?Prepare yourself with a checklist

Mark J. Donovan

A kitchen remodeling checklist is paramount to a successful kitch-en remodel. A top-level checklist

is composed of a sequence of tasks that should be performed in order to achieve a successful outcome. I say “sequence” because a specific order in working through a remodeling project is essen-tial. If you don’t follow the proper steps, you inevitably will spend more time and money and experience more headaches and hassles in completing your kitchen remodel.

At the top of your checklist should be defining the objectives of your kitchen remodel. Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your new kitchen in regard to features and space, how much money you want to spend on it, and when you want it completed. Answering those three basic questions will help you to establish a top-level budget and a timeline for completing the project.

Next on the checklist is to develop a set of kitchen design plans and the key elements that you want to incorporate into those plans. For most homeowners, it makes sense to work with a professional kitchen designer, as they can provide you with wonderful tips on the latest kitchen cabinetry and countertop features — and can actually generate detailed kitchen design plans for you.

The most important element of a kitchen remodeling project — or any ma-jor home remodeling project for that mat-ter — is hiring the right contractor. Hiring the wrong contractor often leads to large cost overruns, schedule delays and ma-jor frustrations. In the worst cases, it can lead to the project never being completed and the contractor stealing from you by buying excess materials for your project and then skimming the materials for an-other job. Make no mistake: These types

of problems are very common when the wrong contractor is hired.

Consequently, when embarking on a kitchen remodeling project, make sure your checklist includes a thorough process for hiring the right contractor. Often the kitchen designer can help in this process, as well. Whatever you do in regard to hiring a contractor, make sure to check the references of each prospec-tive contractor and view pictures of their complete projects, and if at all possible, go out and visit one of their most recently completed projects. Also, make sure they are a licensed kitchen remodeling contractor in your state and that they are properly insured. Finally, keep in mind that the more thorough a contractor’s bid the more accurate it is likely to be in terms of cost and schedule. Look for quality bids that include detailed schedules and a complete bill of materials.

Once your kitchen remodeling plans are in place and you know what the ex-pected costs are for your project, visit your local building inspector to pull any necessary permits. Failing to pull the nec-essary permits could cost you greatly in terms of steep fines and hassles.

With permits in hand, you can begin to do the actual remodeling work. A well-planned kitchen remodeling project should only take a couple of weeks to complete. During the actual remodeling phase, talk with your contractor about once a day to see whether there are any issues that need to be addressed and to ensure that the project is on track for an on-time completion.

By following this top-level checklist, your chances of a successful kitchen re-model skyrocket. Enjoy your new kitchen!

Creators.com

Mark J. Donovan’s website is http://www.HomeAdditionPlus.com.

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Annual Man-O-Manischewitz cook-off offers $25,000 prizeThe Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off en-courages at-home chefs to experiment with kosher products while preparing deli-cious recipes that could be a new family favorite, or one that has been shared for generations.

The entry deadline is Monday, February 4. To enter, log onto www.manischewitz.com, and click on the Cook-Off Banner to submit your recipe. The recipe must adhere to kosher guidelines, be prepared in under an hour, have no more than 9 ingredients which must include one of the Manischewitz All-Natural broth flavors — new Turkey, Chicken, Reduced Sodium Chicken, Beef and Vegetable — plus one

additional Manischewitz product. Four fi-nalists will be chosen by the judging panel and five semi-finalists will be posted on www.manischewitz.com from February 21 through February 28, allowing consumers to vote online to select the fifth finalist. For complete contest details, go to www.manischewitz.com.

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Allan Dorfman Broker/Associate

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Teaneck277 Edgewood avenue $430’s 1-3PM Prime W. Eng Area. Brick front Col Lr/fplc DR New granite kit/brkfst bar open to huge Fam Rm/deck. 3 bdrms 1.5 new bths C/A/C Gar 151’ deep prop.

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Kitchen Q & Aimprove the storage capacity of kitchen cabinets

Pat Logan

Dear Pat: My house has just an average-size kitchen, and I am totally remodeling it. Do you have any guidelines for selecting or designing kitchen cabinets or counter areas for the most usable space? - Jennifer F.

Dear Jennifer: Your question is an interesting one because the storage in 95 percent of new and remodeled kitchens is very poorly designed. The cabinets and draw-ers may be of high quality and well-made, but the storage basics are just not well-thought-out.

A typical example is having a knife drawer or a com-partment in a kitchen drawer for knives, forks, spoons, etc. This might sound like a wise plan because you always know where the knives are, at least until your children put them in the wrong place.

Actually, a much better way to store cooking utensils is by their specific function and where they are used more often. If you use a paring knife most often by the sink and the bread knife on another countertop, store each closer to where it usually is used. The paring knife can be stored in a slot in the countertop, and the bread knife can be stored in the breadbox.

This one item might save only a few steps and a few extra motions, but when you add up all these extra mo-tions for a large meal preparation, the time saved can be significant. It is not unlike how an industrial engineer lays out a workspace for a worker in a factory. The goal is to minimize the extra motions that just waste time.

Before you buy any of the base cabinets (under the countertop) and upper cabinets (on the walls over the countertop), make a list of the items you want to store in them. Categorize them by how often they are used and where they are used in the kitchen.

For example, there really is no need to store all your spices in the same location. You may have some spices that you use almost every time you cook and others you seldom use. Store the frequently used ones near the front at eye level in a prime storage area. The others can be put in a harder-to-reach location.

Many seldom-used items can be stored on top shelves in the backs of the cabinets to free up the more easily ac-cessible areas. In most kitchens, the backs of many of the upper cabinets never are used, and the front areas are cluttered with these items.

Next, subcategorize the items by their height, because this will determine the required heights of the drawers and cabinet shelves. Some short items can be placed on tilted (staircase) racks inside a drawer to reduce the drawer height. One-inch clearance above the items is all that is required. With this planning, you can have the cabinets designed with drawers and shelves of proper heights.

Keep in mind that the easy-access zone for most people is a height from the floor of about 22 to 55 inches. This area is easy to reach and see without bending or stretching. For handicapped or elderly people in wheel-chairs, the upper range for easy access is about 46 inches. Another storage tip to consider is to store larger plates vertically in racks in the upper cabinets. When they are stacked one on top of another, the top one may be dif-ficult to reach.

Creators.com

Pat Logan’s weekly column, “Here’s How,” can be found at creators.com.

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Looking to buy, sell or rent in NYC?…all you have to do is call Amy!

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57 Grayson, TeaneckJust reduced! Spacious 5BR,3BTH fabulous FDR, great rm. $529K

Thomas C. Senter Elected as chairman of Englewood HospitalEnglewood Hospital and Medical Center is pleased to announce the election of Thomas C. Senter as chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Additional officers elect-ed to the hospital board include Sam Kim, vice chairman, and Robert F. Mangano, elected to a sec-ond term as treasurer. In addition, Jonathan Abad has been elected as a new hospital trustee. The Medical Center’s foundation also announces new trustees: Nancy Brown, Joseph Brad Campoli, Robert H. Feuerstein, Wendy R. Hurst, Eric J. Margolis, Jay Nadel, and Martin Zaikov.

Senter is a partner in the law firm of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, with offices in Woodbridge and Roseland, New Jersey. He is a member of its Tax, Trust & Estates Department and chair of its Employee Benefits Practice Group. Mr. Senter is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the Employee Benefits cat-egory. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Pension Planning & Compliance.

Senter is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He received his law degree from St. John’s University and a masters of laws in taxa-tion from New York University. He and his wife, Linda, live in Tenafly with their children, Meredith and Matthew.

Thomas Senter

Englewood Idol Show at bergenPACArea students will be competing in the Eighth an-nual Englewood Idol Show to benefit the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund on Thursday, January 17, at 7 p.m., at BergenPAC in Englewood.

For more information, visit http://englewoodidol.com.

Israel’s IDE to design and operate new US desalination plantIDE Technologies, a subsidiary of Israeli desalination gi-ant, is to design a new $922 million desalination plant in California that will be the biggest desalination project in the United States.

The new 204,412 cubic meter seawater desalination plant, called the Carlsbad Desalination Project, is to be built in San Diego. It will be designed by IDE subsidiary, IDE Americas, and administered by Poseidon Resources, a subsidiary of Poseidon Water. It will be carried out in part-nership with the San Diego County Water Authority.

San Diego currently suffers a water shortage and has committed itself to supplying seven percent of the region’s water through desalination by 2020.

Construction of the new plant will begin this year, and it is likely to be operational by 2016, according to IDE Technologies, which will receive $150 million for the de-

sign contract, and a further $500 million for operating and maintaining the plant under a 30-year contract.

IDE Technologies, which is based in Kadima near Netanya, has built and operates some of the world’s largest desalination plants, including the Ashkelon and Hadera desalination plants in Israel, which are currently the larg-est in the world. It is also responsible for the new Soreq desalination plant in Israel, which is scheduled to begin operating this year.

The company has worked in 400 plants in 40 coun-tries, and is now building China’s largest and ‘greenest’ desalination plant in Tianjin. “The Carlsbad Desalination Project is a significant milestone for us, California and the US at large, as we believe it will set the stage for the future of desalination in America,” said Avshalom Felber, CEO of IDE Technologies, in the Jerusalem Post. Israel21c.org

JS-47


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20 PINE ST, #518Luxury casa by Armani.

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Each Miron Properties office is independently owned and operated.

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Jeffrey SchleiderBroker/Owner

Miron Properties NY

Ruth Miron-SchleiderBroker/Owner

Miron Properties NJTENAFLY

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Amazing MealsTurkey Shwarma

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New Jersey Jewish Standard, January 11, 2013

Documents

Transcript of New Jersey Jewish Standard, January 11, 2013