North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015

7/13/2019 North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015

1/48

JSTANDARD.COM

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AUGUSTVOL. LXXXIII NO.

NORTH JERSEY

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2 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014

August 20th

Christopher Cross

Saturday September 13th

Tusk

October 5th

Macy Gray

September 28th

The Wiggles

November 8th

National Acrobats of Peking

November 16th

Pinkalicious

November 30th

Wild Kratts Live

October 14th

Englebert Humperdinck

October 15th

America

October 22nd

Vienna Boys Choir

Friday September 19th

The John K Band


Black 47 with guest The Bill Weevils


Asia

August 21st

Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon

August 25th

Deep Purple

September 3rd

Michael McDonald & Totosponsored by Benzel-Busch


3/48

Page 3

JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014

PUBLISHERS STATEMENT: (USPS 275-700 ISN 0021-6747) is publishedweekly on Fridays with an additional edition every October, by the New

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NOSHES .................................................

OPINION ................................................

COVER STORY ............. ............ ...........

HEALTHY LIVING &

ADULT LIFESTYLES ..........................

TORAH COMMENTARY ............. ......

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ....................

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

CALENDAR ..........................................

OBITUARIES ........................................

CLASSIFIEDS ......................................4

REAL ESTATE ............. ............ ............. 4

CONTENTS

Candlelighting: Friday, August 15, 7:37 p.m.

Shabbat ends: Saturday, August 16, 8:38 p.m.

lPARIS In a penthouse office with a

view of the Eiffel Tower, Olivier Kass-

abi uses a ceramic spoon to extract a

small scoop from a jar labeled Russian

caviar.

Placing a clutch of black globules on

the base of his thumb, Mr. Kassabi licks

it off, savoring every fishy drop of the

salty liquid inside the dark beads as

they pop in his mouth.

As recently as a few months ago,

Russian caviar would have been strictly

off-limits for an observant Jew like Mr.

Kassabi. Sturgeon, the endangered fish

species whose eggs are harvested to

produce caviar, is not kosher according

to most contemporary Orthodox rabbis.

Thats what led Mr. Kassabi to import

and market a caviar substitute that he

hopes satisfies not just the growing

demand among observant Jews for af-

fordable delicacies, but also the desire

for sustainable foods with minimal envi-

ronmental impact.

In the age of mass media and glo-

balization, Jewish communities are

much more exposed to fine cuisine, Mr.

Kassabi said. People see special dishes

on food blogs and they want a taste.

Mr. Kassabi is not the only business-

man aiming to tap into what people in

the food world see as a growing demand

among observant Jews for gourmet

foodstuffs that meet their dietary needs.

Last year, the Brooklyn-based Black

Diamond Caviar started marketing a

caviar substitute from a non-endan-

gered kosher fish called bowfin that is

caught in Louisiana. And in February, Le

Rafael became the first kosher restau-

rant in France to earn two stars from

the vaunted Michelin Guide.

All over the world, average restau-

Yazidi child in Israel for surgerylWisam was born in northern Iraq

17 months ago with life-threatening

congenital heart disease. His family

is one of 200,000 Yazidis who have

escaped to the mountains near their

hometown of Sinjar under persecu-

tion by the Islamic State, the al-Qae-

da terrorist group offshoot formerly

known as ISIS. (The Yazidis follow an

ancient faith based on Zoroastrian-

ism.)

Despite the tragedy playing out

at home, Wisams father accepted

an invitation to bring the toddler to

Israel for free life-saving treatment at

the Wolfson Medical Center in Holonthrough the Israeli humanitarian or-

ganization Save a Childs Heart. The

father and son arrived in June, and

Wisams surgery was performed on

July 10 by Dr. Lior Sasson.

Earlier this summer, SACH doc-

tors performed free heart surgery on

five ailing Palestinian children from

the West Bank and from Gaza. A free

weekly cardiology clinic for Palestin-

ian children has continued to stay

open even as Holon, along with the

entire Tel Aviv area, frequently en-

dured air-raid sirens warning of mis-

sile launches from Gaza.

About half the children admitted to

Wolfson through SACH for free treat-

ment come from Palestinian areas,

Jordan, Iraq, and Morocco.

A SACH spokeswoman said that

Wisams father is staying at his recov-

ering sons bedside as he desperately

waits to hear news about his wife and

newborn twins. ISRAEL21C.ORG

Wisam and his dad at Wolfson

Medical Center.

The roe aheadRussian science brings caviar to kosher tablerant goers are becoming more de-

manding because of the popularization

of the culture of gourmet dining, and

kashrut keepers are no exception to

this trend, said Guy Cohen, one of the

owners of Le Rafael, which is testing

Mr. Kassabis substitute caviar. Clients

have become very demanding and we

are rising to the challenge.

Mr. Kassabis caviar interest was

piqued last year when he read that a

company in Saint Petersburg called

Tzar Caviar was developing a caviar

substitute through a process known as

molecular engineering in which a fishbouillon is made to resemble the con-

tents of sturgeon eggs in taste and con-

sistency. The liquid is then compressed

into a membrane that looks like the soft

shell of a fish egg.

The result is a kosher product that its

producer claims more closely resem-

bles real caviar than most other kosher

fish roes on the market.

Overcoming Tzar Caviars fear of

compromising the secrecy of its pro-

duction methods took some time, Mr.

Kassabi said. But within a few months

he was able to arrange for kosher

supervision from the chief rabbi of

Saint Petersburg, Menachem-Mendel

Pevzner.

Mr. Kassabi and his partner, Yohann

Assayag, have sold hundreds of jars of

Tzar Caviar since they began market-ing the product earlier this year. The

demand is especially strong in France,

where the ostentatious nature of Jew-

ish weddings and other festivities is

so renowned it is the stuff of parody,

most famously in the character of

Coco, an overzealous Frenchman

(portrayed by the Jewish comedian

Gad Almaleh) determined to give his

son the best bar mitzvah the world

has ever seen.

The partners have also sold Tzar

Caviar to Jewish delis in New York and

expect to begin shipping to Israel in the

coming months.

This stuff is flying off the shelf, than

God, Mr. Kassabi said.

Meanwhile, French media were inte

ested in Tzar Caviar not for its kashru

but because of its relative affordabil-

ity. Tzar Caviar is 15 percent cheaper

than real caviar, selling in France for

just under $41 per 50 grams. It also

has a longer shelf life and is produced

without exploiting any endangered

species. Traditional caviar production

has rendered some sturgeon species

near extinction, according to the Wor

Wide Fund for Nature.Assayag was surprised when Tele

Matin, a leading French daytime telev

sion program, didnt bring up the ko-

sher issue at all in an interview, asking

only about the production process an

pricing.

Tzar Caviar hit the market just

months after Raymond Mizrahi began

marketing his own kosher caviar sub-

stitute in New York. Mr. Mizrahi shares

the notion that observant Jews are

demanding more because of exposur

to new culinary pleasures, but believe

that most kosher substitutes have com

up short.

Kosher caviar substitutes are noth-

ing new. Youve always had salmon ro

said Mr. Mizrahi, the owner of Black

Diamond Caviar. But it tends to beha

like a plastic bubble and certainly notlike the finer black kinds. And you hav

other kosher black caviar, too, but the

are of poorer quality.

High-end black caviar or its substi-

tute, Mr. Mizrahi said, will not leave a

black streak on a white plate.

Mr. Mizrahi couldnt vouch for Tzar

Caviars taste, but Mr. Kassabi claims

the product is nearly identical.

I dont know what real caviar taste

like, but experts who do said its nearl

indistinguishable from Tzar Caviar, Mr

Kassabi said.

CNAAN LIPHSHIZ/JTA WIRE SERV


4/48

Noshes


schmutz, schtum, or even tuchus

Yiddish words meaning dirt, silence, and behind added to the new fifth

edition official Scrabble dictionary, making them kosher for play in the word game.

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

say it works pretty well,while others say that itis too sweet and formu-laic. The screenplay isby ELANMASTAI, 39, aVancouver native whohas finally got noticedwith this film, which hasracked up a lot of Cana-dian awards. His father,MOSHE, is big in real

estate, and one of his sis-ters works for VancouverJewish Family Services.His maternal grandmoth-er fled Austria in 1939and went to England, aKindertransport child.(This film opened in afew theaters last Fridayand in a few more today.Look for on-demand/DVD viewing if it doesntopen near you).

Its rare for aprominent TV jour-nalist to casually

gives us bits about his orher Jewish background.Journalists prefer to askquestions, not answerthem, and they tend tobe buttoned-up abouttheir private life. But Iguess RICKKLEIN, 37,the political director ofABC News, was in anexpansive mood when

he recently spoke to theHill, a political news web-site. Klein, a Long Islandnative, a Princeton grad,and the father of twoyoung sons, droppedthese Jewish nuggets:I will never forgive D.C.for its lack of diners andsolid Jewish deli optionsand I was big into dramaclub in high school. Iplayed Tevye in Fiddleron the Roof, under thestage name Ricky Klein.

N.B.

Odeya Rush

AT THE MOVIES:

Odeyas a rushin The Giver

Daniel Radcliffe

Elan Mastai Rick Klein

The Giver is adystopian action-adventure film

based on a multi-award-winning young adultnovel of the same name.In the future, humankindapparently has solvedall its problems butone young man, Jonas(Brenton Thwaites), dis-covers that this harmony

comes at a terrible price.ODEYARUSH, 17, whowas born in Haifa, playsJonas friend and loveinterest, Fiona. Odeya,whose first name meansThanks to God in He-brew, moved to Americawhen she was 9 (herfather took a job with anAmerican security com-pany). The Giver hasa great supporting cast,including Jeff Bridges,Meryl Streep, TaylorSwift, and AlexanderSkarsgrd. (Opens widetoday August 15)

Rush has acting abil-ity; she is blessed aswell with striking blueeyes and lips just a littlesmaller than AngelinaJolies. Her first promi-nent role was in a 2012Disney film, The OddLife of Timothy Green,a modest hit. She is theco-star of a big budgetfilm, Goosebumps,which is set to open nextsummer. Its inspired bythe best-selling series ofchildrens novels byR.L.STINE, 70. Stine, playedby JACKBLACK, 44, is

a main character in thefilm. Rush plays Stinesdaughter, Hannah. Theplot twist is that theelder Stine keeps theGoosebumps monsterslocked up in his booksuntil a teen friend ofHannahs lets them out.By the way, Rush wonthe Olay Fresh EffectsBreakout Star Award at

the recently aired 2014Teen Choice Awards.

What If, an Irish-Canadian romanticcomedy, shame-

lessly uses as its advertis-ing tag line the questionCan men and womenreally be friends? I sayshamelessly becausethis was a question re-peatedly asked in thegroundbreaking 1989 filmWhen Harry Met Sally,written by the late NORAEPHRON. What If starsDANIELRADCLIFFE, 25,as Wallace, a nice guy.He meets Chantry, a verycute girl, played by ZoeKazan (a granddaughterof famous director EliaKazan). Wallace likesChantry romantically,but hides his feelingswhen he learns, early on,that she has a boyfriend.So, this films questionis: Can Wallace stay inthe really good friendzone forever or will heopen his heart and eitherget the girl or lose hisfriend?

Smart critics are divid-ed on What If some

Shatners orbitStar Trek inspired generations of astronauts and

space engineers. So, when WILLIAMCaptain Kirk

SHATNERtweets NASA and the European Space

Agency, they respond quickly and politely. On August 2

he asked NASA how it was doing and NASA responded

that the space station was doing well and wished Shatn

a happy weekend. On August 6, he asked the Europe-

ans how they were doing and they responded that thei

Rosetta space probe was just about to orbit a comet.(That mission on August 8.) Shatner responded that

he didnt know about Rosetta. The European Agency

replied that Rosetta has been on a 10-yr mission, to

boldly go where no one has gone before.

N

William Shatner

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

[email protected]

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Local


A friend indeedIntergenerational program at JCC enriches seniors, children

LOIS GOLDRICH

Watching the face of an elderly person

surrounded by smiling 3-year-olds is

amazing, says Judi Nahary. So amazing,

in fact, that the Kaplen JCC on the Pali-

sades in Tenafly has created a program

speciically designed to multiply those

interactions.

According to Ms. Nahary, director of

the JCCs senior adult services depart-

ment, the joy such meetings bring both

the seniors and the children explains the

success of the centers GranFriend pro-

gram, which brings older visi tors into

the many classrooms of the JCCs nurs-ery program.

Working with Jo Sohinki, the director of

the early childhood department which

serves some 300 youngsters during

the past year Ms. Nahary began match-

ing members of her programs with nurs-

ery classes. Since then, GranFriends has

taken on a life of its own, with increasing

numbers of seniors eager to join the 10

now participating.

GranFriends are sent to classrooms

with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds.

There were requests from the

younger classes, with 2-year-olds, but it

would have been more challenging, Ms.

Nahary said.

GranFriends range in age from 85 to

95, and each one is assigned to a spe-ciic class. Its a collaborative effort,

Ms. Nahary said, noting that she and Ms.

Sohinki meet regularly to discuss class

schedules. Then each week the Gran-

Friend visits their class to read a book,

tell a story, or join an ongoing activity.

The result, while not surprising, still is

heartwarming, she said.

A relationship forms between the

kids in that class and their senior, she

added. Its remarkable.

So far, seniors have been eligible to par-

ticipate if only they are mobile enough to

go up and down the stairs leading to the

classrooms. But next year, the program

will try to bring child ren to visi t t hose

seniors who cant get around.At times, some seniors get to feel like

a burden, like theyre not contributing,

she said. But this gives them a sense

of purpose, like theyre still able to do

something. Some, she said, teach the

children about the Jewish holidays, or

about their backgrounds in Europe, or

about Jewish traditions.

The program is not one-sided. It adds

so much to the kids lives, Ms. Nahary

said. And it gives them an additional

level of compassion. Their own grandpar-

ents may not be as old or frail. Theyre

very careful with them.

Also, she said, for some children such

as the Israeli youngsters whose grandpar-

ents are far away this adds somethingspecial to their lives.

Recreational therapist Marlene Cer-

agno, who escorts the seniors to the

classrooms, calls the program amazing.

You just cant believe what a fabulous

program this turned out to be, she said.

The seniors feel so good, and the kids

get so exci ted to see them. Our senio

wait in the hallway for their bus. If a cla

is coming or going, they call out to the

senior. It gives me goose bumps. Its ju

the cutest thing.

Its gained so much momentum, s

added. More seniors are requesti

GranFriends, and they ask every day

its their turn to visit. They also ask if w

can increase the number of times th

visit the classes.

The children are so enthused abo

the program that some parents are ve

eager to meet their childs special senio

who often i s called by a special name

the class.Rob Schirmacher of Lodi, father

4-year-old Daniel, said, My son doesn

open up to people he doesnt know, b

with Bubbe Dawn, there was an insta

connection. Now he has a grandma,

mima, and a bubbe.

In fact, Mr. Schirmacher said, the on

time Daniel would speak about school

when he would share stories about Bub

Dawn. Even during a Shabbat sing, whe

parents would participate, Daniel wou

just wave and s it with her. Hi s broth

Mikey even came to the JCC to meet he

Ceragno said that when teachers a

excited about the program, they cr

ate additional opportunities for intera

tion. For example, they invite their cla

senior visitor to join holiday parties, ietrips, and graduations.

Debbie Shenkin, one of those teac

ers, said that Rabbi Z Rabbi Zeli

Block of Englewood has been su

a wonderful GranFriend to my clas

The children enjoy listening to all h

stories, and it really created a spec

Bubbe Dawn with her class. Daniel, with blue stripes on his sleeves, is beside her.

GranFriend Robert Cohen sits in a class of 4-year-olds. Rabbi Z gets a hug from some of the kids in his class.


7/48

Loca


One Child -One Hour -Unlimited PossibilitiesBecome a Reading Buddy

Volunteer one hour a week and help a child learn to read.

Contact Beth Figman for more information

201.820.3947 | [email protected]

Bergen

ReadsBerg

en

Reads

www.jfnnj.org/bergenreadsOF NORTHERN NEW JERSEYJewish Federation

JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL

generation al bond. As a retired rabbi ,

Rabbi Z also brought a unique and per-

sonalized approach to teaching my class

about the Jewish holidays. The children

grew very fond of him and we developed

a real classroom community where the

children and Rabbi Z began sharing per-sonal experiences. The GranFriend pro-

gram was an amazing experience for the

entire class, and both generations ben-

eited from the visits.

For his part, Rabbi Z was equally

enthusiastic.

When I was irst approached to par-

ticipate, I felt challenged because I had

no idea how I was going to teach and

share information with children who

are almost 100 years younger than me,

he said. But once I began visiting this

lovely group of children, the experience

did more for me than it did for them.

It reawakened such feelings of love for

children and their honesty; feelings that

were always there in me, bu t dormant,

and visiting the children in their class-rooms brought those feelings back. From

a physiological point of view, I think this

program provides a healthy way for

seniors to connect in new ways and enjoy

new experiences. You can teach an old

dog new tricks!

Nursery school teacher Debbie

Freesman, whose class of 3-year-olds

adopted Bubbe Dawn last year, is

equally pleased with the intergenera-

tional program.Bubbe Dawn embraced the children

wit h trem endo us warmth and enthu-

siasm, she said. She visited our class

weekly and participated in various activi-

ties, including hamantashen baking and

story time. Her visits were illed with

hugs, giggles, and an abundance of con-

versation. The children were fa scinated

by her stories and she loved listening to

anything they wanted to share. At the

end of the year, the children decided to

donate the tzedakah funds that they col-

lected throughout the year to the senior

adult program at the JCC.

Bubbe Dawn aka Dawn Diamond of

Fort Lee said she thought the whole

program was a wonderful idea.

The children were a delight to bewith. Ms. Debbie, the head teacher, was

a friendly person and made me feel very

welcome and included in the program. I

was a very good cook, but I never baked;

the children taught me how to bake when

we mad e ham ant ash en tog eth er for

Purim. I felt very good when the children

called me Bubbe Dawn and was sad when

the program ended, but Im looking fo

ward to next fall when Ill be Bubbe Daw

to a new class.

GranFriend Helen Gorki of Fort L

was very proud of her children part

ularly one youngster who reads alrea

and does puzzles well too.I love the teachers; they were unb

lievably nice. I like children. Without th

program, I wouldnt have the opportun

to be with children. Im happier with t

children than I am with the adults. I ca

wait till school starts to see my kids agai

It makes them feel like a million d

lars, Ms. Ceragno said, recalling

incident where children passing by t

senior lounge came running in to gre

their senior.

I saw tears in his eyes, she sai

Theres something about childr

that brings so much happiness and jo

We need to increase intergeneration

programs. The JCC has also begun

Gramper/Camper program for

young campers, she said.Weve started to build on this init

tive because weve had so much succe

The program will continue and will g

bigger and better.

When I was firstapproached to

participate,Ifelt challengedbecause I hadno idea how Iwas going to

teach and shareinformationwith

children whoare almost 100years younger

than me.RABBI ZELICK BLOCK


8/48

Local


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www.jfsbergen.org

NCSY summer programs make adjustments

Despite missiles from Gaza, Orthodox UnionIsrael trips for teens provide fun, opportunities

ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

Its gorgeous up here, said Alisa Neu-

groschl, one of 550 North American teens

taking part in eight summer programs in

Israel sponsored by NCSY, the youth move-

ment of the Orthodox Union.

The Bergenield 16-year-old was speak-

ing from the Upper Galilee, far from the

Hamas rockets raining down on Israels

southern and central regions. Theyre

keeping us up north for safety reasons,

and weve been doing touring and hiking,

she said.

Operation Protective Edge oficially

started just one day before the campers

arrived in Israel on July 9, but the missileire had been intensifying over the previ-

ous week. David Cutler, NCSYs director

of summer programs, saw that a fast and

major overhaul of the programs carefully

planned six-week itineraries was necessary.

Certainly the teens would not be able to run

a day camp in Sderot, as students have done

other years, now that the Code Red sirens

were blaring constantly there.

The Sderot kids did, in fact, have their

NCSY fun day, but it was in Jerusalem

rather than in Sderot. In cooperation with

a social-welfare organization in the Gaza

border town, a full bus of children came

for the day.

We were able to turn the situation into

an unbelievably positive experience, said

Mr. Cutler, who kept up daily contact with

parents. What we were able to accom-plish under these conditions is because

of our wonderful staff and the magic

performed by our tour provider. It could

have been a tough summer, and it was

incredibly meaningful.Alisa was a participant in GIVE (Girls

Israel Volunteer Experience), which had

a packed schedule of good deeds that r

the gamut from running two carniva

for underprivileged children in Safed clowning in several Jerusalem hospit

after a lesson from a professional medic

clown.

Its amazing that were able to com

to Israel and give back to the commu

ties, said Alisa, who is a student at t

Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls

Teaneck. A lot of us have basic Hebre

and there are also Israeli counselors o

the program who help us communicat

As long as youre having fun and smilin

you dont have to talk much; the childr

and the elderly just enjoy your presence

Mr. Cutler said there were just eight ca

cellations between the eight different pr

grams. A ninth program intended for Isra

targeted speciically to public-school teen

was canceled when half the 400 registranbacked out; the other half joined an NC

program on the U.S. West Coast rather th

going to Israel.

In all, more than 50 teenagers fro

North Jersey took part in Israel NCSY pr

grams this summer.

Jonathan Schwa rtz man of Teanec

a 16-year-old Torah Academy of Berg

County student, said one of the hig

lights of BILT Boys Israel Leadersh

Training was the Gadna military tra

ing camp where they did team-buildi

activities and had the opportunity to

commanders.NCSY Kollel campers sing at the Western Wall. NCSY

What we were able to accomplishunder these conditions is because o

our wonderful staff and the magiperformed by our tour provider. I

could have been a tough summer, andit was incredibly meaningfu

DAVID CUTL


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I think the situation in Israel this summer inspired

me, he said. It made me happy that I could support

Israel at such an amazing time.

Shana Adler, 16, of Teaneck described on GIVEs

blog that on one Jerusalem day of the trip her group

packed food at Ohr Meir & Bracha, an organization

that supports victims of terror attacks; danced and

sang with clients at Melabev, a day program for peo-

ple with Alzheimers disease, and threw a carnival

for children at Zichron Menachem, which supports

youngsters with cancer.

We did everything from face painting, to sand art,and basketball games. It was an amazing sight to see

huge smiles appear on the faces of these children, as

we hung out with them, she reported.

For many of the campers, the fast of Tisha BAv was

especially meaningful. They went to the Western Wall

as the fast day was ending, sitting on the ground in a

large circle singing songs appropriate to the day.

Girls on the Michlelet program organized a wedding

at a Beit Shemesh event hall for an indigent couple

identiied by Rivka Yudin, the programs director

and also the daughter-in-law of Rabbi Benjamin Yudin

of Fair Lawn through a partner organization. The

girls found sponsors, threw a bridal shower, made cen-

terpieces, and even served as waitresses at the recep-

tion and the guests were unaware of the tzedakah

element of the affair.

Though the kids did not get to go south, they did not

forget about the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.Many troops are deployed in the Galilee and Golan, so

GIVE participants drove up to a base with an ice cream

truck to serve cold treats, while NCSY Kollel partici-

pants made and distributed tzitzit ritual fringes.

And, of course, plenty of fun was built into every

programs itinerary water parks, barbecues, sports,

concerts, color war, scavenger hunts, chocolate-mak-

ing, and even a flash mob before they all ended on

August 12.

Its the best experience Ive ever had in my entire

life, Alisa said.

NCSY GIVE campers bring ice cream to soldiers

in the north. NCSY

To be included in the

2015 Guide to Jewish LifeCall 201-837-8818

or email [email protected]


10/48

Local


Going home as a lone soldierYoung American-Israeli Tenafly woman talks about her choices

ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

Doctors Orna and Arie Rosen did not

intend to get stuck in the United States

for 28 years.

They expected to return to their native

Israel soon after coming to America to gain

experience in their subspecialties. How-

ever, they ended up working here he as

a head and neck surgeon in Hackensack,

she as a neonatologist at Monteiore Chil-

drens Hospital in the Bronx and raising

their two children in Tenafly among a large

Israeli expatriate community.

But it seems that now the second gen-

eration is leading the way back home.

Earlier this week, Orna and her daugh-

ter, Roni, flew to Israel on separate flights.

Roni was one of 108 future lone soldierson a Nefesh BNefesh charter flight mak-

ing aliyah through Tzoim Garin Tzabar,

a program intended to ease the way for

Israeli citizens living abroad who choose

to return to perform military service with

their peers in Israel.

Im coming 11 hours ahead of her

because I want to be at the Garin Tzabar

ceremony at Tel Aviv University on August

13, Dr. Rosen said. Well have only one

day together to run some errands, because

from the reception theyll take them to

where they are being housed.

Roni Rosen will be living at the absorp-

tion center in Raanana, not far from many

of the relatives she visited every summer

growing up.

Now 22, Ms. Rosen was active in the

Tenafly chapter of the Israel Scouts prgram , Tzo im, whic h spon sors Gar

Tzabar. Last June, she graduated fro

Brandeis University with a degree in bi

oy; she plans to apply to medical schoo

in Israel and in the United States.

If I decide I want to stay in Israel, I

go to medical school there if I get in, M

Rosen said. She is a trained emergen

A special Nefesh BNefesh flight brought new IDF members to Israel.

Roni Rosen of Tenafly flew to Israel t

become a lone soldier in the IDF.

Working with lone soldiersYoung Teaneck woman recalls summer at Michael Levin center

JOANNE PALMER

Lone soldiers Israel Defense Force members

whose parents do not live in Israel or cannot sup-

port them have been much in the news this harsh

summer.

Estimates put the number of lone soldiers at about

5,800, and add that at least 750 of them are Ameri-

can. Two of those lone soldiers Max Steinberg, 24,

from California, and Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, from

Texas died this summer as they fought for Israel

in Gaza.

Despite the idealism that brings young recruits to

the IDF, and that sustains them as they ight, it is a

hard path that they have chosen. Luckily, there are

organizations, including the New Jersey branch of

the Friends of the IDF, that work to meet some of

their needs.

In Israel, the Lone Soldier Center in Memory ofMichael Levin provides, as its vision statement says, a

warm, supportive, inclusive community for lone sol-

diers before, during, and after their service. The

young man whose name the center carries, a Philadel-

phia native, moved to Israel, joined the IDF as a lone

soldier, and died in Lebanon in 2006 at the hands of

Hezbollah. He was 21.

Leora Kagedan of Teaneck, 20, graduated from the

Frisch School in Paramus, spent her gap year in Israel,

and inished her freshman year at Brandeis University in

the spring. This summer, she returned to Israel throughthe Boston branch of an internship program called

Onward Israel.

The program sets everyone up with a different

internship, based on their interests, Ms. Kagedan said.

Im not sure about my major, and I wanted to ind a

good organization that helps people. That was the Lone

Soldier Center, where she had a front-row seat well,

not exactly a seat, the job didnt involve much sitting still

to the drama taking place in Israel and Gaza.

Ms. Kagedan arrived in Israel on June 1, for Shavuot,

and began working at the Jerusalem-based centera week later. On June 24, three teenagers Naftali

Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah were kid-

napped, and on June 30 their bodies, dead since June

24, were discovered. That was the catalyst for the sit-

uation in Gaza that is winding down, with 64 Israeli

soldiers and about 1,600 Palestinians dead so far.

If you wanted to help the IDF, it was the right time

to be at the Lone Soldier Center.

It didnt feel so crazy at the beginning, when the

boys were kidnapped, but then when we heard that

they were dead, and then the rockets started, it got

crazy, Ms. Kagedan said. But I had been in Israel a

bunch of times, including during Pillar of Defense in

2012, so it wasnt so shocking to me.

Ms. Kagedan went to the three teenagers joint

funeral. I have never been around so many people

at the same time in my whole life, she said. And

everyone was doing the same thing. There was tons ofsinging. Very few people there knew any of the three

boys. It was insane getting home after it was over took

forever but somehow it was energizing.

It was all of Am Israel the people of Israel

together, with one purpose. Everybody was there of

all backgrounds, religious, not religious everyone was

together, she said.

That feeling of unity that has so struck visitors to

Israel this summer was evident to Ms. Kagedan as well.

There are rallies all the time, she said. Id be walking

Leora Kagedan with David Moed of Englewood and

Davidi Ronen of Teaneck, old friends from home who are

now lone soldiers.


11/48

Loca


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to work the center is on the always-bustling

Ben Yehuda Street and Id see it. You really

felt the unity.

The center received huge numbers of sup-

plies for lone soldiers, brought from around

the world. It was overwhelming, she said;

one day she counted hundreds of pairs ofsocks. People came in to see what they could

do. Parents of lone soldiers came to Israel to be

closer to their children.

Many of Ms. Kagedans friends were them-

selves lone soldiers. She remembers that a

friend told her how good it was to see people,

she said. Not anyone in particular, just ran-

dom strangers, walking freely. He had been in

Gaza, and he didnt see anyone not in his unit,

because all the people who lived there had run

away, she reported. When she was able to take

a trip down south, to a big base that allowed

visits, My friends looked so happy to be with

friends, she said. They were talking about the

army, but they also had normal conversations

about the outside world.

It was funny they were asking me about

what was going on in the world, and I said, Youwere there, and that is all the world is talking

about.

It was crazy, Ms. Kagedan concluded.

When I was younger, I would always hear

about soldiers, but they werent my age. But

now that is my age.

I was never scared for myself I was in

Yerushalayim Jerusalem, she said. But my

friends were at war. That didnt leave my mind.

Not for a second.

medical technician and twice she volunteered in Hon-

duras with the Brandeis Medical Brigade.

She planned on joining the Israel Defense Forces

through Garin Tzabar long before Operation Protec-

tive Edge began this summer. It happened so close

to the date that there was no turning back, she said.

But Ive been in Israel when times were not very sta-ble and I think I know what its like. Its not as big a

threat as you see in the news, but also the war kind

of strengthened my resolve to go. If anything, this is

when Israel needs soldiers the most.

She had wanted to take a year off between college

and medical school anyway, she continued, and being

in Israel seemed like the most natural choice. We go

almost every year to see family, and I always loved

going to Israel. Im the only one in my family who

wasnt born there.

Ms. Rosen joined Tzoim in eighth grade and

became a c o-head counselor by the ti me she was

a senior at Tenafly High School, where she also co-

founded the Israeli Cultural Club and captained the

hockey team.

We are totally Israelis, Dr. Rosen said. We speak

Hebrew at home so our children, Ido and Roni, are

fluent. We are not religious but we keep the traditionsand the culture, and Roni is very aware of her roots.

She wants to go and live in Israel in order to make a

decision about where to live her life, and we are totally

supportive of this.

About 20 young adults are in Ms. Rosens particular

garin, or seed group. That includes two other Brandeis

graduates and another joined a religious garin. (One

of the garin members lives in Teaneck but declined to

be interviewed for this article.)

Tzoim Garin Tzabar requires attendance at four

seminars where the future soldiers can get to know one

another and learn a bit about the IDF. Ms. Rosen is among

the older members of the group; many teens join right

after high school.

Initially I wanted to do it three years ago with one ofmy best friends, after my freshman year of college, but I

decided it would be better to inish my degree irst, she

said. That gave me time to think about it more and decide

if I really want it.

According to her mother, Ms. Rosens desire to ser

Israel only grew stronger as time passed. She wants

even more now, and shes not afraid of anything, D

Rosen said. She is the kind of g irl who will do what s

wants to do, and we adore her for that.

The planeload of 338 new Israelis landed on Tuesdand was greeted by dignitaries including President Reuv

Rivlin, Interior Minister Gideon Saar, and Jewish Agen

Chairman Natan Sharansky.


12/48

Local


Killed in the name of GodFair Lawn scholar studies medieval Jewish child martyrs

LARRY YUDELSON

Jews rejected child sacriice

3,500 years ago, read the

headline in ads signed by

Elie Wiesel and placed in

newspapers around the world by Rabbi

Shmuley Boteachs Our World organiza-

tion. Now its Hamas turn.

But that may be stretching the truth.

In the 12th century not even a thou-

sand years ago, making it recent by the

standards of Jewish history Jews boasted

of making martyrs of their children, delib-

erately killing them rather than allowing

them to be converted to Christianity.

It was an era in which Jews were

besieged by Christian mobs demandingtheir conversion or death, a horror recalled

by the radical jihadist army of the Islamic

State in Iraq and Syria and its massacres of

non-Muslims.

Child martyrdom among Jews in the

Middle Ages is the core of the historical

research of Dr. Julie Goldstein, who has

just returned from nine months in Israel,

where she had post-doctoral fellowships

at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv Univer-

sity. She earned her doctorate at New York

University.

Dr. Goldsteins research into medieval

history seemed more relevant than ever in

the last few weeks of her stay, when bomb

alerts had her family huddling in their

apartment safe room and her Facebook

page was illed with debates over child vic-tims in Gaza.

(Dr. Goldstein went to Israel with four

children and returned with ive; the oldest

is 12 and the youngest is four months old.

Her husband, Rabbi Uri Goldstein, has led

the Orthodox Congregation Ahavat Achim

in Fair Lawn since 2006.)

Dr. Goldsteins focus on child martyr-

dom came after a doctoral course asked

students to look through different theo-

retical lenses at the historical sources they

were researching and see what we came

up with, she said.

As she worked, she was coping with the

death of a nephew. All over my sources, I

just saw dead children, she said.

Then she noticed that the historical

sources with the dead children were fromthe 12th century. They told the experiences

of the Jews during the First Crusades a gen-

eration earlier, at the very end of the 11th

century in France and Germany. This led

her to write about childhood in the 12th

century, but the broader topic was set

aside as what began as a chapter on child

martyrdom ballooned into 400 pages.

Dr. Goldstein considers herself a cul-

tural historian, dealing with what people

wrote, rather than a social historian, who

would look at the actual treatment of chil-

dren. Shes interested in exploring what

the chronicles from the mid-12th century

say about the Jewish communitys under-

standing of its children. Those accounts

accuracy is a different question.

These accounts were written a half a

century after the acts that were purported

to happen, she said. These are probably

survivor accounts, which adds other levelsof complication. There is survival guilt.

They might be glorifying the martyrs to

build their community.

Yet with all these caveats, the stories told

by these texts are horrifying and in large

measure echoed by the parallel Christian

sources, written in Latin, which also tell of

Jews martyring themselves and their chil-

dren, she said.

With mobs of Christians roaming France

and Germany threatening Jewish commu-

nities with death if they did not submit

themselves to baptism or in some cases,

massacring them without even offering

that choice some Jewish communities

killed their children and themselves, taking

pride that they died as martyrs to sanctify

Gods name.

Its not always clear the mobs are rightoutside the door when they decide to mar-

tyr themselves, Dr. Goldstein said. Some-

time they hear rumors about another town

or another country. They dont want to let

it get to the point of an ultimatum. They

say, We will express our loyalty to the one

God, they say the Shema, and they slaugh-

ter themselves and their children.

One theme that emerged from Dr.

Goldsteins research was the ritual natuof this martyrdom. Jews portray martyri

their children as a kind of ritual. Their a

blessings that are recited, based on t

blessings on sacriices offered in the Te

ple. They talk about children being tak

in front of the synagogue, and their blo

sprinkled on the ark. Theres a strong ri

alistic component. They talk of bringi

the children to the slaughter as if to t

bridal canopy, she said.

With the accounts written by survivo

sometimes you get sense theres som

ambivalence. Maybe they ran away

didnt want to martyr themselves. Som

times, theres one lone, rebellious voi

that very clearly says outrightly, I do n

want to martyr myself, she said.

In one account, Hes a little boy namAaron. His mothers name is Rachel. S

hears the Crusaders are coming. Her so

Isaac, like all the Isaacs in the accounts,

passive. He submits. He is silent. May

because he is very young.

Or maybe because he has been cast in t

role of the Biblical Isaac who acquiesced

his fathers binding him on the altar.

The older daughters, Bella and Adorn

like other women, are almost fanatica

obsessed with the idea of martyrin

Please do it, they say. Let us sharpen t

knife for you. Theyre singing songs

praise for God.

Then theres this boy Aaron who say

Mommy, please no. He runs away. H

hides in a bureau. He very vehement

does not want to be slaughtered. Hmother drags him out and slaughters h

anyway, she said.

These very evocative images opposi

this, she suggests, might be a bit of

inkling of the mentality of the people wr

ing this.

But if there were reservations abo

martyring children, beneath the surface

the chronicles, at the forefront was a cle

Kids in those daysJews and Christians had differentviews of childhood in the Middle Ages

LARRY YUDELSON

What is a child?

In the Middle Ages, said Dr. Julie Gold-

stein, the answer to that question would

depend on whether you were Jewish or

Christian.

Christians see children as born in orig-

inal sin, and Jews dont, she said. It has

an impact on how children are treated.

The younger you are the closer you

are to original sin, so you kind of have

to be whipped into shape as you grow

up, she said, summarizing the Christian

approach.

During this period, she continued,

Christians have a fear of children. Chil-

dren are magical and scary. There arelots of stories about demon children,

changelings.

Christians are scared of them and try

to distance themselves. Theyre warned

against being around children too much,

she said.

Jews, however, are obsess ed with

educating children, or more speciically,

boys. They see them as raw material for

the inscription of knowledge. Theyre not

only educating children, but giving them

lots of religious responsibility. Even chi

dren as young as 4 are responsible fo

performing certain mitzvot. They form

this almost monastic existence for chil

dren, who are sent off for intense schoo

ing, away from their families, under thtutelage of a rabbi.

Jews see children as somewhat mag

cal too, but they write about children

who get to go up to heaven to get all th

knowledge they need, so it will slowly

unfold when theyre back on earth. They

really view children or more specii

cally, in the texts she studies, boys a

this massive reservoir of intellectual and

religious potential, she said.

Cultural historian Dr. Julie Goldstein has just completed post-doctoral fellow-

ships in Israel, where she researched 12th-century Jewish child martyrs.


13/48

Loca


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conviction among both Jews and Christians that theside whose child was martyred was the side that was in

the right and which side it was became a focal point in

the discourse between Jews and Christians.

Jews represented Judaism as the right religion

through presenting their children as the ultimate child

martyrs, she said.

With her dissertation looking at the 12th century com-

pleted, Dr. Goldstein now is looking at the presentation

of child martyrdom throughout Jewish history.

There were already images of it in the ancient

period, she said, most notably the story in Maccabees

of the woman whose seven sons were martyred by

Antiochus.

After the 12th century, the theme of child martyrdom

receded. Echoes returned in Holocaust imagery of holy

children who have been slaughtered by the Nazis, or at

the hands of Jewish adults. And then theres deinitely

the Zionist imagery of the akeidot the bindings, theterm used to refer to Abrahams near sacriice of Isaac

of the soldiers. Its a national narrative, its a religious

narrative, she said.

Yet Dr. Goldstein has also been witness to the

new anti-martyrdom movement playing out on her

Facebook page. No longer a mark of pride, fortodays Jewish community the willingness of Hamas

to martyr children on behalf of jihad is evidence of

Palestinian evil.

The war provided her with her own mind-bog-

gling moment in which her oldest son became

almost sacriicial.

The rocket siren had sounded, so we went into

the safe room. It was the irst or second time. He and

his brother slept in that room. He knew how to close

the door, which had a jiggly handle that had to be

manipulated a certain way.

The 12-year-old said he would be in charge of clos-

ing the door. The family gathered in the room, all

very nervous and the door would not close.

Were Americans. Were not as nonchalant as the

Israelis. We took it very seriously. For us it was life or

death. This door had to close. It wasnt closing.

Without skipping a beat, he said, Ill go outsideand close it.

What he was saying, and he understood it fully, is

Im going to sacriice myself. Ill close the door and

stand on the outside and youll all be safe.

That was really poignant to me, she said.

Dr. Julie Goldstein and her husband, Rabbi Uri Goldstein,

with their five children, during their stay in Israel.


14/48

Local


Learn what it takesto be a Jewish leaderJewish Federation of Northern New Jersey offers its you

leadership course for Jewish high school sophomores a

juniors. The course aims to teach students the skills th

will need to ensure a Jewish future. Part of the curriculuwill introduce them to prominent American and I sra

leaders as well as to Israeli teen peers.

The course is held on Sunday mornings at the Berg

County High School of Jewish Studies in Teaneck, beg

ning September 14. Some students will be selected later f

a partially subsidized trip to Israel. The deadline to apply

September 2 and an interview i s required. Call Bess Ad

at (201) 4880834, email her at [email protected], or go

www.bchsjs.org.

Teanecks Beth Sholommakes cards for IDF soldiers

Earlier this month, the Tikkun 4 Kids group at Congre-

gation Beth Sholom in Teaneck made pop-up cards to

send to IDF soldiers. The project, supervised by con-

gregant Elana Daniels Goldberg and made by a group

of more than 25 children, included messages of love

and support for IDF troops. CBS member Ami Green-

stein delivered the cards in Israel.

Ilana Picker and Ingrid Goldfein lead Tikkun 4 Kids,

CBSs social action group for children. Past activities

include visiting residents at the Jewish Home at Rock-

leigh and making lunches for volunteers helping with

rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Sandy.

JEC hosts teacher trainingfor unique engineeringand social programThe Jewish Educational Center

of Elizabeth hosted the annualSET3 (Science, Engineering,

and Technoloy, Teamwork,

Training) teacher training

series, led by JEC faculty vet-

eran Joel Javitt. In SET3, teams

of eighth-graders compete to

solve an engineering problem

that also provides a social ben-

eit. Students build a working

prototype machine, and in the

process learn how to work inteams, to make written and

oral presentations, and to use

math problem-solving skills for

real world problems.

Mr. Javitt, who used to work

at AT&T/Bell Labs, developed

SET3 for the Center for Initia-

tives in Jewish Education.

COURTESY JEC

Four synagogues, one school get security grantsFive local Jewish institutions have received more than

$235,000 in grants from the federal Department of

Homeland Security. All told, DHSs Nonproit Security

Grant program awarded $13 million in grants around

the country, with an estimated $12 million of themgoing to Jewish institutions.

Since the program was established by Congress in

2005, it has disbursed more than $150 million.

Two Bergen County Jewish institutions received the

maximum allowable grant of $75,000; Congregation

Netivot Shalom in Teaneck and the Moriah School in

Englewood.

Two synagogues in Franklin Lakes received grants:

Barnert Temple got $23,500 and Temple Emanuel was

awarded $19,0960. Temple Beth Or in Washington

Township received $43,000.Among the criteria used by the Department of Home-

land of Security in awarding the grants is whether the

institution is closely allied with an organization that

has been the subject of an attack by a terrorist organiza-

tion inside or outside the U.S.


15/48

Local


Rabbi Weil will address OU at shore weekend

Rabbi Steven Weil

Wyckoff temple welcomesits new school directorGonen Arad is the new religious

school director at the Henry

and Elaine Kaufman Learning

Center at Temple Beth Rishon

in Wyckoff.

The Israeli-born Mr. Arad

was educ ated in the United

States; he earned a masters

in Jewish education from the

Hebrew Union College Jew-

ish Institute of Religion. In the

last 10 years, he worked in Jew-

ish education in several East Coast communities.

Beth Rishons president, Laura J. Freeman, said, We

are thrilled to welcome Gonen Arad, a world-class educa-

tor who will take our TBR religious school to a new level

of excellence. Born in a kibbutz near Haifa, he grew upunderstanding the beauty and the beneits of living in a

solid community that shares values and beliefs. Its that

spirit, and that message, we want to bring to our school,

and to families throughout northern New Jersey.

Gonen Arad

Assistant principalnamed in Glen RockJanic e Colmar is the new

Glen Rock Jewish Centers

Hebrew school assistant

principal. Ms. Colmar has

a masters in Jewish history

and a certiication to admin-

ister Schechter schools.

Most recently, the Jew-

ish Theological Seminary

awarded her an honorary

doctorate in Jewish educa-

tion. She has also received

several Solomon Schechter awards from the United

Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. For informa-

tion, email her at [email protected].

Janice Kolmar

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In Fair Lawn, U.S. general defends IsraelLARRY YUDELSON

Gen. Wesley Clark, the former NATO

supreme commander and one-time Demo-

cratic presidential candidate, had support-ive words for Israel last week.

A country has a right to defend itself,

General Clark told the Jewish Standard.

Theres just no excuse, theres no

rationale acceptable, for Hamass conduct.

General Clark took the time to answer

questions from the Jewish Standard last

week, prior to an address to an American Legion group

in Fair Lawn. He was there to endorse James Tedesco

III, the Bergen County freeholder who is running for

the county executive post. Both the general and the

freeholder are Democrats.

General Clark said, I think its a terrible tragedy that

they Hamas manipulated these poor people in

Gaza. They abused them. They used their homes to dig

tunnels. They used their schools and their mosques

to hide munitions and weapons in. They

used their streets and backyards as iring

positions.

All with the knowledge that to defend

itself Israel would strike back, he said.I know its asking a lot of the people of

Gaza, but if they allow themselves to be

taken over and manipulated by what is

essentially a terrorist organization, then

they have to understand that nations will

do whats necessary to protect themselves

and Israel has to do that.

Israels no different than any other nation. Of course

theyre going to take action against it. They should,

General Clark concluded.

In his speech to the American Legion, General Clark

highlighted Mr. Tedescos decades as a volunteer

ireighter.

Anybody who puts in 38 years in public service is a

veteran as far as Im concerned, he said.

Gen. Wesley Clark

www.jstandard.com

Rabbi Steven Weil of Teaneck, senior man-

aging director at the Orthodox Union, will

be the guest speaker during the OU Com-

munity Weekend at Congregation Broth-

ers of Israel, 250 Park Ave., Long Branch,

August 22 to 23 Parashat Reeh.

On Friday night, Rabbi Weil will discuss

Transcending the Judeo-Christian Ethic

during a family dinner at the synagogue.

For the Shabbat morning drasha at the

synagogues 752 Ocean Ave. satellite, the

topic will be In the Aftermath of the

Apocalypse. In the evening, Rabbi Weil

will examine Responsi bilit y at seudat

shlishit in the synagogues Park Avenue

location.

The synagogue belongs to OU and is led

by Rabbi Nasanayl Braun.


16/48

Editorial

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

PublisherJames L. Janoff

Associate Publisher EmeritaMarcia Garfinkle

EditorJoanne Palmer

Associate EditorLarry Yudelson

Guide/Gallery EditorBeth Janoff Chananie

Contributing EditorPhil Jacobs

About Our Children EditorHeidi Mae Bratt

CorrespondentsWarren BorosonLois GoldrichAbigail K. LeichmanMiriam RinnDr. Miryam Z. Wahrman

Advertising DirectorNatalie D. Jay

Business ManagerRobert Chananie

Classified DirectorJanice Rosen

Advertising CoordinatorJane Carr

Account ExecutivesPeggy EliasGeorge KrollKaren NathansonBrenda Sutcliffe

International Media PlacementP.O. Box 7195 Jerusalem 91077Tel: 02-6252933, 02-6247919Fax: 02-6249240Israeli Representative

Production ManagerJerry Szubin

Graphic ArtistsDeborah HermanBob O'Brien

BookkeeperAlice Trost

Credit ManagerMarion Raindorf

ReceptionistRuth Hirsch

JewishStandard

jstandard.com

FounderMorris J. Janoff (19111987)

Editor EmeritusMeyer Pesin (19011989)

City EditorMort Cornin (19151984)

Editorial ConsultantMax Milians (1908-2005)

SecretaryCeil Wolf (1914-2008)

Editor EmeritaRebecca Kaplan Boroson

Fading away

If things go as well as they can,

the hostilities in Gaza andover Israels skies will fade

away, ending, if we all are

lucky, with a whimper rather than a

inal series of bangs.

Of course, this is not the irst time

that we have assumed that the ight-

ing was going to had to! end dur-

ing the week to come, and each time

we have been wrong. Still, each time

it seems to have resumed with more

creaky reluctance. And we also

know that even when this operation

is over, the situation will not have

changed substantially. The hatred

aimed not only at Israel but at Jews

across the world is more clear and

easier to call by name, and there is

a great beneit to clear-sightedness,but it is ugly.

And, of course, the strong, tough,

intellectually fecund Israel is circled

by concentric rings of vi olence and

hate.

But as everyone who has visited

reports, there is unusual unity there

now. The idea that Israel had the moral

obligation to defend itself against rock-

ets from its enemies is widely accepted.

As Israeli historian Fania Oz-Salzberger,

a moderate leftist and the daughter of

novelist Amos Oz, wrote in the Times

of Israel, imagine you had a neighbor

who sits on his balcony, his baby on

his lap, shooting into your childrens

bedroom.

Would you shoot back at him?Yes, you would.

The fact that this simple analoy

is controversial outside Israel does

not keep it from being true, or from

being widely accepted in Israel.

Israelis might well be uniied

because t he pressure from the out-

side is pushing them closer together,

but it seems that often, perhaps to

their surprise, they discover, when

they ind themselves at the same

funerals or shivas or rallies, that they

like each other. That often happens

when people actually meet. It is hard

to demonize someone who is palpa-

bly human, genuine flesh and blood.

Meeting each other, demystify-

ing people unlike you, can happencloser to home as well. The JCC on

the Palisades in Tenafly is matching

some of its nursery school classes

with elderly participants in its senior

center; allowing 4-year-olds and

94-year-olds to delight in each other.

(See page 6.) The 4-year-olds have

much to learn, and the 94-year-olds

have much to teach. And childrens

joy can be infectious.

We are not naive. We do not think

that roses stuffed into gun barrels

will stop bullets from f lying. We do

not think that if we could just all get

together and love one another right

now, war would end, with swords

and guns and uniforms all scattered

on the floor. But it would be a start.We hope that the unity at work in

Israel now holds and grows.

As we did last week, as a step in

that direction, we urge that any of

our readers who is able to spend

the time and money it takes to go to

Israel do so. Israels economy needs

it, and its psyche needs it even more.

They should feel free, though, to

fly. As extraordinarily impressive

as Dov Neimands trip is, kayaking

across the Mediterranean to show

your support of Israel is both way

above and well beyond. (See page

20.) Go but take the plane!

JP


Opinion

A military funeral in IsraelWhat it means to be a normal state and a Jewish one

Awhile back, Yuval Hei-

man went to the beach

with his longtime girl-

friend. Somehow their

conversation turned to the risk

of drowning, and he told her that

such a death would have no value.

It is far better, he mused, to die

for a purpose, echoing the words

attributed to the early Zionist hero,

Joseph Trumpeldor, Tov lamut

bad artzenu It is good to die for

our country. Perishing while on

a sacred mission, he surely believed, is to sanc-

tify Gods name, perhaps the only Jewish value

greater than life itself. That conversation was, per-

haps, an Israeli exercise in confronting the real-

ity that Israeli soldiers and at times many of thecountrys civilians as well have to be prepared to

sacriice their lives in defense of the State of Israel.

In the end, Yuval did make the ultimate sac-

riice in the battle to ensure that his fellow citi-

zens would be granted a respite from terrorism

Hamas cynical and indiscriminate launching of

rockets from within their own civilian neighbor-

hoods to kill Israeli Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

My son Aaron knew Yuval from his gap year at

Yeshivat Maale Gilboa. Aaron and I both were in

Israel this summer; he was stafing Ramah Israel

Seminar for American Jewish teenagers and I

was leading the AJCShalom Hartman Institute

Christian Leadership Initiative for U.S. Christian

scholars. So we were both there, together with

hundreds of others, as Yuval was laid to rest at the

military cemetery on Mount Herzl. In her euloy,

Yuvals girlfriend told the story of her belovedsreflections as they sat on the beach. Hers was a

strong and compassionate voice, like that of the

other women who spoke, Yuvals mother and

sisters.

Despite dozens of earlier visits to Israel through

multiple crises and wars, I never before had been

to a military funeral. Witnessing the unbear-

able collective anguish, it occurred to me that

this Israeli-Zionist-Jewish-religious-military-state

funeral would have been unthinkable before

the founding of the State of Israel and the estab-

lishment of the Israel Defense Forces, events

that changed the course of Jewish history for-

ever. The flag-draped cofin, the honor guard,

wreath presentations from the relevant military

branches, the presence of and comments by

Israeli government leaders, and t

three-gun salute were emblems o

normal state.

A military cantor chanting t

traditional 91st Psalm led the s

diers bearing the cofin on the

shoulders. They lowered it into t

grave and illed it in with earth. T

cantor recited the El Malei Rach

mim memorial prayer, Yuvals po

humous promotion in rank w

announced, and the family said t

Mourners Kaddish. Perhaps t

only concession to pre-Zionist, powerless Jew

history was the absence of the elaborate dre

uniforms and precision marching associated w

serious armies. Maybe Israeli society does n

want to get too comfortable with the formalitymilitary protocol and its disturbing resonance

Jewish memory.

The enemy was barely mentioned in the 9

minutes of eulogies and tributes. Soldiers cri

together with mothers and fathers who thoug

of their own children.

These Jews are not my Jewish grandparen

from Bialystok. They have accepted both the se

determining power of Jewish defense and t

burdens and sometime the tragedies it impos

They will not listen to lectures by those who qu

tion their values, those who cannot distingui

between targeting civilians and inadverten

killing civilians whom terrorists use as hum

shields. They mourn Gazas children and ev

risk their own lives to minimize Palestinian civ

ian casualties. They crave peace, but they live in

dangerous neighborhood.The State of Israel has the power to defend its

and the Jewish people. Yuval Heiman represen

all that is positive in the recent course of Jewi

history. He and so many others are willing to die

defense of the State of Israel, and would go to t

ends of the earth to save Jews, be they in Sder

Addis Ababa, Paris, or New York. It is an hon

just to live in their time.

Yuval Heiman died on a sacred mission. H

died to protect Jews in Israel and beyond. May

memory and the memory of all of our fallen

for a blessing.

Rabbi Noam E. Marans of Teaneck is the

American Jewish Committees director of

interreligious and intergroup relations.

Rabbi NoamE. Marans

And, ofcourse, the

strong, tough,intellectuallyfecund Israel

is circled byconcentric rings

of violenceand hate.


17/48

Opinio


The abstracting of IsraelIts evil! Its perfect! No its human

My new favor-

ite defenders

of Israel are

a Pakistani-

Canadian physician and an

atheist who doesnt believe

in Zionism.

Ill explain. I was in Wood-

stock, N.Y., over the week-

end, where I saw a lone pro-

tester carrying a sign that

read, We are witnessing

the Brutal Failure of Zion-

ism and the Human Failure of the state

of Israel.

It wasnt exactly the kind of rioting

they are seeing in Paris, but his message

still was infuriating. I understand peoplewho are upset with the enormou s loss

of life in the latest Gaza operation. I can

respect those who disagree with Israeli

policy and who demand human rights for

Palestinians.

But when the critics jump from pro-

testing a military operation to question-

ing the historical foundations or very

existence of a sovereign state, Im done

with the conversation. Over the decades

my own government has done many

things people abhor, but those decisions

and actions dont discredit the idea of

the United States or the human beings

who make it up. If someone ever holds

a rally to protest the slaughter in Syria,

I dont expect to see signs talking about

the failure of Syria or hear

speakers calling for a return

to the French mandate.

Its all part of what I call

the abstracting of Israel.

You see it in how protesters

use the word Zionism. Its

our word, I know, but it has

been co-opted by those who

hate Israel. Unable to bring

themselves to say the word

Israel, they ind it a handy

euphemism. And using

Zionism as a curse turns the reality of

Israel into the abstraction of a political

idea. Debating Israels founding ideoloy

allows you to ignore even dehumanize

the eight million people who live thereand arent going to be argued out of their

homes or country.

Sometimes American Jews are guilty

of this abstracting, but in a very different

way. We defend Israels every move as if

it is not run by an elected government

but by an infallible Sanhedrin . We treat

every military action as fully justiied, if

not divinely blessed. We regard anyone

who voices sympathy for the Palestinian

plight as soft on terrorism. And we treat

it not as a real country, but as a sort of

Jewish identity clinic for Americans who

cant igure out their own path.

As a result, our Jewish institutions

including our Jewish newspapers

arent always the best places to have a

sophisticated conversation about Israel.

When they (okay, we) arent defending

Israel from unreasonable attack, were

boosting the morale of supporters, trying

to earn new recruits, or comforting peo-ple who hear enough tough talk about

Israel from the outside.

So it was refreshing to see Israel

defended by two people who seem to

have no dog in this ight. Ali A. Rizvi

describes himself as a Pakistani-Cana-

dian writer, physician, and musician.

All I know about him is that he wrote

a piece for the Hufington Post called

7 Things to Consider Before Choosing

Sides in the Middle East Conflict. Rizvi

is critical of the recklessness, negli-

gence, and s ometime s out right cruelt y

of Israeli forces. But he does ask his fel-

low Muslims why the killing of Arabs by

Jews garners so much more outrage than

the mass killing of Muslims by Muslims.

Why, he asks, does the world defend agroup Hamas whose charter calls for

genocid e, and whose stratey rel ies on

civilian casualties?

Rizvi pulls off a balancing act that

gives credit and blame to both the Israeli

and Palestinian sides in the conflict.

He acknowledges the legitimacy and

restraint of Israel while criticizing settle-

ment expansion, acknowledges the rights

of both sides to a state while abhorring

Hamass moral bankruptcy. Its dificult

but essential reading.

The noted atheist Sam Harris, mean-

while, does not think Israel should exist

as a Jewish state. But dont run away

he doesnt believe any state should be

organized around a religion (hes an

atheist, remember) and admits that Isra

is hardly a theocracy.

That being said, he too defends Isr

els right to defend itself, admires

restraint in doing so, and decries tshocking anti-Semitic discourse in t

Muslim world. And he is able to ho

in his head two ideas that many othe

somehow see as incompatible that

the Palestinians have suffered terrib

for decades under the occupation, an

the Israelis are surrounded by peop

who have explicitly genocidal intentio

toward them. With those two asse

tions he is ready to describe an obviou

undeniable, and hugely consequent

moral difference between Israel and h

enemies. He explains it this way: Y

have one side [Israel] which if it rea

could accomplish its aims would simp

live peacefully with its neighbors, a

you have another side [Hamas] which

seeking to implement a seventh-centutheocracy in the Holy Land.

Neither Harris nor Rizvi would b

the most likely speaker at your next s

terhood breakfast although may

they should be. Israel cant rely just o

American Jews, evangelical Christian

and members of Congress to defen

the country. It needs clear-eyed outs

ers who recognize Israel for what it

a secular, pluralistic, and sometim

flawed democracy trying hard to li

up to its founding ideals in a very b

neighborhood.

Andrew Silow-C arroll of Teaneck is

editor-in-chief of MetroWests New Jerse

Jewish News .

AndrewSilow-Carroll

Not in our nameConfronting Jewish anti-Zionism

Irecently went to Colum-

bus Circle in Manhattan

to savor the atmosphere

at two riv

North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015

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Transcript of North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015