North Jersey Jewish Standard, May 22, 2015

Israeli veterans and American Jews bond through Zahal Shalom

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Congratulations Dean Steven Huberman!Chancellor Rabbi Doniel Lander, President Dr. Alan Kadish and Chairman of

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CONTENTS

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Candlelighting: Friday, May 22, 7:55 p.m.Shabbat ends: Saturday, May 23, 9:02 p.m.

How Sam Catchem davens Minchal weve been reading the reviews of the apple watch from trend-setters who have been using the seasons hottest gadget for a few weeks now. the device offers the promise, first conjured by the dick tracy comic strip back in the 1930s, of wrist-based video chats. alas, reviews say the watchs tiny speaker makes conversations sound tinny.Yet if the apple watch doesnt

quite meet dick tracys needs (its only version 1.0, after all), a new up-date from Jewish software developer rustyBrick would make the phone very handy for one of Mr. tracys partners, sam Catchem. Catchem, introduced in the comic strip in 1948, is Jewish. rustyBrick has released a new edition of its siddur app for the iPhone, which links up to the apple

watch. the watch now can remind you to pray Mincha before sunset, Maariv after sunset the text of both prayers are on the watch and locate the nearest (Orthodox) minyan. Perhaps best of all for the busy detective on the beat, if you are about to recite Grace after lunch and your boss calls with the latest bulletin on Flattop, you can press a button and the watch will remind you about benching in 15 minutes. its a snooze button for praying, in other words.the rustyBrick siddur app is

$9.95 for the iPhone, with the apple watch functionality thrown in for free. the apple watch starts at $349 but with luck, you can get one for free by entering our annual readers Choice survey at jstandard.com/survey Larry yudeLson

When shes 65l a 65-year-old charedi Orthodox woman became the oldest woman in israel and one of the oldest in the world to give birth to a child.Chaya sarah schachar of Bnei

Brak delivered her first child, a healthy boy, on Monday at the Meir hospital in Kfar saba, the Jerusalem Post reported.schachar, who is chasidic, had

been trying to get pregnant since she got married, more than 45 years ago. the baby, delivered by Cae-sarean section, was conceived with donor sperm.schachar and her husband, shm-

uel, attributed her successful preg-nancy to a blessing from their rabbi, according to the times of israel.Last year, a 61-year-old woman

gave birth to her first son at shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem.it is not clear who is the oldest

woman in the world to have given birth. in 2013, the United Kingdoms

daily Mail reported that rajo devi Lohan of india was the record-holder, having given birth six years earlier at 69. however, aBC news in 2008 reported on another indian woman, Omkari Pankwar, who gave birth to twins at 72.dr. tal Biron, an obstetrician/gy-

necologist at Meir hospital, told the Jerusalem Post that schachar can breastfeed the baby despite her age.while noting that we do not

recommend attempting pregnancy beyond age 54, Biron said, we were very excited during the deliv-ery. i have no doubt she will be an excellent mother. she is a very spe-cial person. the baby is very cute.all this raises the question: how

long can this trend of ever-older mothers continue? will hadassah hospital best the biblical sarahs record of 90? will one day doctors fulfill the old Jewish blessing, until 120? JTa Wire service

George W. Bush made a painting for Sheldon Adelsonl Jewish casino magnate and politi-cal mega-donor sheldon adelson is now the proud owner of a painting by a reclusive artist whose works are rarely seen in public and happens to be a former U.s. president.the new York times recently re-

ported that George w. Bush, who after making a bold imprint on the canvas of the Middle east early this century be-gan painting amateur portraits in 2012, gave adelson one of his original paint-ings at last months republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas.according to the times, the painting

is of adelsons Marina Bay sands resort and casino in singapore, which is one of the most expensive buildings ever constructed.the fiercely pro-israel adelson will

likely spend tens (if not hundreds) of millions on the next republican presi-dential candidate.since his sister dorothys email ac-

count was hacked in 2012 and the world learned of his artistic exploits, Bush has focused mainly on portraits of world leaders, such as former italian

Prime Minister silvio Berlusconi and for-mer British Prime Minister tony Blair. he has even painted former israeli Prime Minister ehud Olmert.so perhaps the gift was more than

just a selfless gesture?either way, if the painting is compa-

rable to Bushs previous portraits, it will be, in the words of one art critic, of at least high amateur quality. the ques-tion is, where will adelson display it?

Gabe Friedman / JTa Wire serviceyouTube

Wikimedia commons

on the cover: amandazoneraichofwyckoff(center)andzahalshalomsoldierssagisalahandhezireuven PhoTo by Johanna resnick rosen/candid eye

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e greatest songwriter of modern times is Bob Dylan. David Letterman, introducing Mr. Dylan, who then played a song Frank Sinatra recorded in 1941.

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

work for a child.The first season of

American Crime Story, a true-crime spin-off of American: Horror Story, the hit FX series which tells a different horror story each season, is now being filmed. This first season is subtitled The People v. O.J. Simpson. In many ways, the arrest and trial of O.J. Simpson was the first celebrity reality show. So its fitting the Kardashian family, who have built a market-ing powerhouse based on their own reality se-ries, figure prominently in the story.DAVID SCHWIMMER,

48, of Friends fame, plays the late Robert Kar-dashian, a great friend of

O.J.s and a lawyer who briefly represented the football star after his ar-rest. SELMA BLAIR, 42, another Jewish thespian, plays Kris Kardashian Jenner, Roberts ex-wife. But the biggest real-life Jewish players in the O.J. saga, defense attorney ROBERT SHAPIRO, now 72, and prosecutor MAR-CIA CLARK, now 61, are played by two non-Jew-ish actors, John Travolta and Sarah Paulson.

Actress Helen Mirren will receive the

World Jewish Congress Recognition Award for her role as MARIA ALTMANN in the biopic The Woman in Gold. The film chronicles

Altmanns effort to reclaim a famous Gustav Klimt portrait of her aunt, ADELE BAUER-BLOCH, from the Austrian government. (The Nazis stole the painting from her late uncle.) Mirren said about the award, Being a part of this film and preserving Maria Altmanns legacy has been a truly exceptional experience from the start. I am utterly moved to be receiving an award from the World Jewish Congress, an organiza-tion that does such

important work all over the globe in advocating for Jewish rights. By the way, you now have the opportunity to see both Klimt portraits of Adele for the first time since they were recovered. The more famous portrait, Adele Bauer-Bloch I, nicknamed the Woman in Gold, is on permanent exhibit at the Neue Gallery (very near the Metropolitan Museum) and Adele Bauer Bloch II is on special long-term loan to the Museum of Modern Art. N.B.

Damon Lindelof

FUTURIST FANTASY:

Clooney, Robertsontrek to Tomorrow

Harry Shearer

David Schwimmer Selma Blair

Tomorrowland is a sci-fi fantasy starring George

Clooney as a former boy genius who bonds with a bright, science-minded teen (Britt Robertson). Together they embark on a dangerous, life-altering mission to a mysterious place called Tomorrow-land. The screenplay is by DAMON LINDELOF, 42, who also produced it. A Teaneck native, hes best known as the creator of the TV series Lost and The Left-overs.Fantasy of a more hor-

rific sort is found in Pol-tergist. Yes, it is a re-make of the classic 1982 film about evil spirits in-vading a suburban home and capturing a young child, which was writ-ten by STEVEN SPIEL-BERG. The new version has been brought into the present day and co-stars Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt. It was produced by SAM RAIMI, 55, a master of horror, and directed by GIL KENAN, 38. Kenan, who was born in Israel and raised in Los Ange-les, has directed two big studio movies: Monster House (2006), a charm-ing animated film that was a hit and an Oscar nominee, and City of Ember (2008), a fan-tasy that wasnt a hit.

Youve probably heard that HARRY SHEAR-

ER, 71, has opted to walk away from a multimillion-dollar contract renewal with Fox rather than allow them to have veto power over his outside projects (although rumors say they still may make a deal). Shearer is, of course, the voice of many Simpsons characters, including Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Rev. Lovejoy, and Kent Brockman. Fellow Jewish cast member JULIE KAVNER, 64, will stay on as the voice of Marge Simpson.Shearers other no-

table roles include play-ing a member of the rock group Spinal Tap, the hilarious 1984 mocku-mentary he co-wrote. By the way, this is not the first time that Shearer left a lucrative role. He was a child actor with a few minor credits when he appeared in the 1957 pilot for Leave it to Bea-ver, He played Frankie, a not-so-nice boy. (His character probably was a model for Wallys friend, the creepy Eddie Haskell.) When Beaver was put on the sched-ule, his parents declined an offer for Shearer to be a series regular. They thought it was too much

Duchovny plays cop on Manson trail Aquarius stars DAVID DUCHOVNY, 51, as Sam Hodiak, Los Angeles police sergeant who is looking for a missing teen in early 1968. He is aided by Brian (Grey Damon), an undercover officer dressed like a hippie. Unknown to both of them, their investigation will lead them to Charles Manson, a year or so before Manson became infamous worldwide. You can watch Aquarius on TV (premieres Thursday, May 28, at 9 and every week thereafter at that time), or you can watch the entire 13-episode first season online starting on May 29. (Yes, NBC is pulling a Netflix.) N.B.

David Duchovny

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

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Everybodys on the busBergen, other local counties send 1,500 to lobby for Israel on Capitol HillLOIS GOLDRICH

The relationship between Israel and the United States might be somewhat strained right now, so at least 1,500 concerned Jews from around the area traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to plead Israels case.

Many of the members of that Norpac del-egation are from Bergen County.

It was very gratifying, said Norpacs pres-ident, Dr. Ben Chouake of Englewood. Nor-pac brought 33 buses to the nations capital on May 13.

We cut off registration on May 4, the deadline date, he said, noting that while the organization has been known to extend the deadline, this year, as the number of would-be attendees steadily grew, that was not possible.

The turnout was really impressive, said Dr. Chouake, adding that the large number of legislators who cleared time in their calen-dar to meet with members of his group was impressive as well.

In fact, Dr. Chouake said, the group arranged for some 470 meetings.

Describing itself as a bipartisan, multi-can-didate political action committee working to strengthen the United States-Israel relation-ship, Norpac brings about 1,000 people to Washington each year to advocate toward that end. Generally, participants attend a brief plenary session, where they hear from members of the Congressional leadership. Next, they meet in small groups with mem-bers of Congress and their staffs to discuss the years talking points.

Arranging meetings is no easy job, said Dr. Chouake, who noted that he had spent the last couple of weeks getting the appoint-ments. He attributes his success to the fact that Norpac is well known to legislators, prepares its members well, and sends the printed resources to members of Congress before the meetings.

Unlike most groups, the training of our members who go down to Washington is substantially better, Dr. Chouake said. We send out talking points ahead of time, and we show a video on the way down. The Norpac delegation is knowledgeable, practiced, and prepared, and well trained on the issues.

Often, congressional meetings are secured by members who have a connection, he said. If they have a connection, we use it; the better the connections, the better the meetings. Sometimes, members of Con-gress ask to meet only with their own constit-uents, but the vast majority are considerate enough to give time to members even though theyre not constituents.

Norpac was founded in Bergen County and grew concentrically from here

outward, Dr. Chouake said. The group now includes people from central Jersey, Highland Park, Rockland County, Westchester, and New York City. Were also getting people from Deal, he said.

On May 13, We met with everyone, leaders of the House and Senate, Dr. Chouake said. If a senator or representative was in a meeting, Norpac delegates met with his or her staff. I was supposed to meet with [John] McCain, he said, but he ended up chairing a closed session of the armed services committee. That meeting also precluded a visit with rank-ing member Jack Reed, who couldnt come but called me on the phone.

Most of the members know us, he said. We go down every year and theyre familiar with us. Still, there are a lot of new mem-bers, a lot of turnover. That makes it more of a challenge, but by and large what works is

our consistency.Not only do Norpac members visit Wash-

ington each year, but we hold meetings [with members of Congress] each year in our homes. We have about 35 fundraising events for Congress every year, so about 15 percent of Congress is in one of our homes every two years. Thats a lot.

Dr. Chouake said that Norpac targets legis-lators based on the importance of the mem-ber on a specific issue or on a key committee, like armed services or foreign affairs. In the House, he said, decision-making is a pyra-mid. While leaders are clearly at the top, the committee chairs are like cardinals, and the majority party has huge amounts of authority compared to the minority party.

In the Senate, however, Every senator is a priority a power center. Every sena-tor can jam the works for example, by

engaging in a filibuster.Each year, Norpac selects different issues

related to specific pieces of legislation to pres-ent to members of Congress.

Foreign aid is always on agenda, Dr. Chouake said, pointing out that the armed services committee has asked for millions of additional dollars for the Iron Dome missile defense system, most of it targeted toward the anti-ballistic missile system called Davids Sling.

Norpacs goal is to convince legislators to vote for both authorization and funding.

I met with [Sen.] Barbara Mikulski, rank-ing member of the appropriations commit-tee, Dr. Chouake said. It was very positive. This is a priority for her. She is a leader on the issue, and the first one to introduce sup-plemental appropriations for Iron Dome, he added. I also spoke with [Sen.] Patty Murray, who said that funding is tight, he said. Still, she agreed that this was a priority, especially in the current environment. We shouldnt be hostages to small countries that develop these weapons.

He said he was pleased to see that Sen. Murray still displays a Norpac award with the likeness of a shofar in her front office.

From left, Shira Rachlin, Dr. Eli Rachlin, Sharon Kintslinger, Diane Fogel, Rep. Tom MacArthur, Nancy Friedman, Renee Brown, Ellen Gertler, Milton Markovitz, and Dr. Howard Kaufman. The visitors were among the 1,500 delegates Norpac sent to Washington last week.

This was May Muskins first trip to Washington with Norpac.

From left, Sen. Bob Menendez, Dr. Ben Chouake, mission co-chair Dr. Richard Schlussel, and NORPAC board member David Schlussel wait their turns to speak.

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Generally speaking, everyone is talking about partisanship, Dr. Chouake said, not-ing that there certainly is friction between the two major parties. But missions like this help that a lot, he said. It reinforces the bipartisan nature of the relationship, and leaves people feeling good.

Norpac delegates also expressed their concern about the Hezbollah sanctions bill, recently introduced in the House and soon to be raised in the Senate.

Sen. [Richard] Shelby will get it to com-mittee, Dr. Chouake said. Last year it passed in the House but didnt get to committee. This year it will get through. Were expecting it to be successful, with the chair in support.

A major issue of discussion was the threat posed by Iran.

The biggest threat is an Iran armed with nuclear weapons, Dr. Chouake said. We put most of the other issues on a secondary tier, because the prospect of nuclear geno-cide overshadows everything. What we did is explain the dangers of Iran to the members of Congress. Even if they know it, theyve got a gazillion things on their plate. When you explain it, it gets better attention and focus. When members understand it, they can explain it to constituents.

Dr. Chouake said a U.S. agreement with Iran must have the backing of the members

and the American people. This means that these constituencies must understand the nature of the issue. Norpac is looking to help provide that information.

The issue of Iran was put front and cen-ter in the groups talking points, supple-mented by a score card for evaluating any agreement that would come before members of the House and Senate based on a state-ment by the administration and the frame-work they described, Dr. Chouake said. A scorecard was sent to legislators before the mission, and many of them indicated that they found it helpful.

It was extremely well received, he said. Easy to read and a fabulous tool. We spent an enormous amount of time doing this, he added, noting that his organization had con-sulted three experts in the production of this resource. And while Norpac often works with other organizations, he said, the materials we put together have yet to see their equal in terms of usability and practicality.

The nature of the [Washington] meetings was positive, he concluded. Members were attentive. They read and appreciated our materials, and on an incredibly busy day they gave us a lot of time. We are very grateful.

This was the first time May Muskin of Teaneck participated in a Norpac mission.

Why now?

Theyre concerned with a whole bunch of issues close to my heart, she said. I couldnt get off from work [in other years], but I could this year. I was glad to use this time to go on the mission.

Ms. Muskin said she was somewhat sur-prised seeing the sheer number of people on the mission. It was quite impressive, she added, noting that our presence alone counts for a lot. Its gratifying to see so many supporters of Israel congregate in one place. The relationship between the U.S. and Israel is especially strained recently. Its more important than ever.

She said she found the trip to be a tremen-dous learning experience in terms of how the U.S. government works. While she has been to Washington before, You have better access with a group like this and having that type of access was very gratifying. It was an opportunity to learn things I couldnt learn otherwise.

There was a range of reactions and ways in which we were welcomed, Ms. Muskin continued. Some were very welcoming and well-informed, while others were not so well-informed. We were bringing to their attention things they didnt know about, like the Hez-bollah sanctions law.

In addition, Its important to thank those who have supported us in the past, and those

on the fence we can have some positive impact on, she said, adding that she particu-larly enjoyed the speech by Sen. Bob Menen-dez (D-NJ), who spoke from the heart. Hes taken a bullet for us, she said. He spoke about our homeland, our roots, that we were not formed as a consolation prize, a result of the Holocaust.

It was brilliant, and he was public about it, she said.

She and eight or nine other participants also spent time with legislators from Califor-nia and Indiana. The latter, she said, spent 25 minutes with us and had a good grasp of the issues. It was a high point.

Ms. Muskin agreed that the Iran score-card was excellent. It really crystallizes different issues regarding the framework of dealing with Iran, she said. She also appreciated the training session Norpac offered before the visit.

This is the first time I have been this active, she said. Maybe it will encourage me to become more actively involved. In the meantime, I will actively encourage people to do this. Theres strength in numbers and articulating the arguments we need to make. We cannot take anything for granted or rest on our laurels.

We need to advocate for Israel, and for a good relationship.

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The North, the South, the Civil War, and usIn Teaneck, Princeton rabbi to examine the wars roots, its results, and its effects on the Jews

JOANNE PALMER

Maybe you think that we fought the Civil War to stop slavery.Maybe you think that the causes of the war were entirely economic, and had nothing to do with slavery.

Maybe you think that good and evil were clear in the Civil War, and that the North that would be us represented unsullied virtue.

Well, youd be wrong, according to Rabbi Eric Wisnia of Congregation Beth Chaim in Princeton Junction. The North was as morally culpable as the South in the great vice of slav-ery. There were no angels. He will discuss his understanding of American history at length and in detail during Kabbalat Shabbat services at Temple Emeth in Teaneck on Friday, May 29, at 8 p.m., in a talk hes called An Impartial Jewish View of the War of Yankee Aggression. The talk coincides with the 150th anniversary of the wars end.

Rabbi Wisnia, who grew up as an avid supporter of the North, came by his love of freedom and of liberators logically. His father, David, came from Warsaw; he was imprisoned in Auschwitz, sent out to work as a forced laborer my daddy was strong. We Wisnias are a hale, hearty bunch, he said jumped off a train, was picked up by American soldiers, worked as the personal interpreter for the captain in charge of the parachute regiment that rescued him, and eventually was given U.S. citizenship.

(His father recently went back to Auschwitz for the com-memoration of its liberation, 70 years ago; it was David Wis-nia, now 86, who chanted El Moleh Rachamim there.)

When he came to the country, David Wisnia became a sales-man. He sold encyclopedias so well that his company moved him, his wife, Hope, and their children to Levittown, Pa.

Rabbi Wisnia is an unstoppable storyteller, unable to resist the lure of any side story as it beckons to him. Soon after World War II, Bill Levitt built two eponymous towns. One was on Long Island, the other in Pennsylvania. Both were filled with mass- produced houses that also were sturdy, well-planned and well-constructed, and affordable to recently discharged servicemen and their families, particularly through the G.I. Bill. Bill Levitts daughter is a member of my synagogue now, he said. Bills wife, Sonia, is still around, and I tell her how wonderful Levittown was.

It was through Levittown that he developed his lifelong obsession with the Civil War, Rabbi Wisnia said.

There I was, little Eric Wisnia, living in Levittown, Penn-sylvania. In the late 1950s, a craze hit America. It was the Civil War Centennial a nationwide commemoration that began in 1957 and ended in 1965. Everybody was talking about it. Everybody.

It was in Life magazine. It was in Look magazine. It was the

cool thing to talk about.I started hearing about

it as a good Northern boy in Levittown, how those nasty Southerners were racists, and the good Northerners were the boys who saved the black man. And I bought it. I drank the Kool Aid.

And of course the South-erners lived up to their ste-reotype by beating up civil rights workers, Rabbi Wis-nia said. It was pretty clear to me that we Yankees had fought the war to free the slaves, and that those Southerners were bad.

In August of 1957, however, a black family tried to move into Levittown, Pennsylvania, Rabbi Wisnia said. They were not well received.

There was a cross burned on their lawn, and then there were race riots.

So here I was, an 8-year-old boy, studying the Civil War, and then to see this I kept saying, No, no, no. This is not true. This cannot be happening in Levittown. This is not Georgia.

What I began to find out in a hard way is that racism is as American as apple pie, he said. The Yankees have man-aged to whitewash their conscience by blaming racism on the South. But the stories we have always been taught about the Confederacy it aint necessarily so.

That was the beginning of a lifelong passion for Rabbi Wis-nia. He is a self-taught but serious historian of the Civil War. His undergraduate degree, from the University of Pennsylvania,

was in religion logical enough for someone who knew he wanted to be a rabbi and his ordination was from Hebrew Union College, but his spare-time reading was all about the antebellum period, the war itself, and its aftermath.

Wait. What about the Jews? The Charlestown census of 1860 shows that before the war, there were about 800 Jews living there. They were free and equal, and those Jews owned 50 slaves. I am not proud of that fact, as a rabbi, but lest you condemn those Jews, you will notice, right near that in the census, that there were 1,000 free black citizens of Charleston.

They were free and equal, those black citizens. And they owned 1,500 slaves.

This sorry story started far before the Civil War.When some of my colleagues and friends get on their high

horses as Yankees, often I point out to them that of course they should have supported the British during the colonial rebellion, because the British freed all their slaves.

John BrownHarpers Ferry insurrection

Robert E. LeeRabbi Eric Wisnia

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The British took New York immediately after the American revolution began, and it became a haven for free blacks, he said. There had been slaves in the city, but the British freed them. There were many free blacks in British-controlled New York. When the British left, what do you think happened?

Yes, he said. The Americans we Americans re-enslaved them.

New Jersey was a slave state, he said. Hes right. Presi-dent Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation freed only the slaves held by the South. The Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, was passed in 1865, over New Jerseys objections, Rabbi Wisnia said. New Jersey did not ratify it until 1966; it was one of the last states to do so.

There are many romantic myths that cloak the brutal-ity, madness, and fratricide that made up the Civil War, Rabbi Wisnia continued. He believes that John Browns raid at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, was the catalyst that started the war, and that John Brown was not a hothead or a stern abolitionist pushed to sacrifice by and for God, but a sociopathic butcher.

John Brown was a murderer, and he decided that the only way to free this country was to cleanse it with blood, Rabbi Wisnia said. He decided that he would take the armory in Harpers Ferry, give guns to the blacks, and have them rise up and slaughter the white Southerners.

Ironically and tragically the first man killed in the raid was Heyward Shepherd, a free black man whose job was to guard the arsenal. Virginia allowed him to carry a gun, Rabbi Wisnia said. He refused to hand over his keys to John Brown and John shot him. (One of the ways that Rabbi Wisnias deep immersion in the Civil War manifests itself is his tendency to talk about its characters by their first names, as if he knew them then. Certainly he knows them now.)

Brown was crazy, and he scared the crap out of every Southerner, Rabbi Wisnia continued. The newspapers handled it as if he was a hero. And so from that point on, they were convinced that the Northern-ers would free the slaves and give them guns, and that theyd kill everyone.

Thats what led to the secession of the first Southern states, he said. The second group of states left over the principle of states rights, but the first seceded because they were afraid that if they did not, President Lincoln would arm the slaves, and the slaves would kill them.

Most Southerners did not own slaves, Rabbi Wisnia said. That did not stop them from prejudice. They were all bigots, he said firmly. But it did mean that they did not have the same economic interest in slavery that the slave-owner had.

And theres more.It cost $2,000 to buy a good black male slave, Rabbi

Wisnia said; that would be the equivalent of $60,000 today. Lets say that you were to buy 10 slaves. That would be a lot of money. Youd have to go to the bank to finance them.

And guess where the banks were? In New York. So who really owned all the slaves in America? New York banks!

Rabbi Wisnias defense of the South is not a defense of slavery, or of bigotry, or of racial discrimination. It is an attack against hypocrisy and denial. I think racism is ter-rible, he said. I think skin color is less important than blood type. My campaign is about the fact that we have to understand our history.

The Yankees whitewashed the war by portraying themselves as good guys. They never had to face their own racism.

The more we know about the Civil War, the more we will begin to deal with racism in this country. Lets admit it and move on. Lets have a frank discussion.

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A band of sistersFamily-based band Glaser Drive has local rootsLOIS GOLDRICH

It makes sense, really. There was music everywhere. They were a family immersed in music, four sis-ters who sang together for years, a talented songwriter, and dreams for the future that always included music.

What else could the Glaser sisters do?I always wanted to be a singer in a

band, said the eldest sister, Faige Glaser Drapkin, 34, who, with her sister Chaya, one year younger, helped make that dream come true.

Chaya, too, wanted music to be a big part of my life.

Much of it had to do with the link between music and family. When I saw the Mamas and Papas on Ed Sullivan, I actually thought they were a family, she said. I loved their harmony, spirit, and colors, and it looked like they loved what they were doing! I knew that I wanted in on that beautiful fun too.

Then, I learned that they werent a family at least not by blood but that didnt change anything.

So, although, according to her older sis-ter, she has a phenomenal talent as a song writer, Chaya didnt want to sing her songs alone. It was all about family.

I started arranging them with Faige, Chaya said. Then we started singing and performing around the city.

The sisters grew up in Teaneck and San Diego. Faige, a music and Jewish studies teacher at Congregation Rodef Shalom on Manhattans Upper West Side now mar-ried and the mother of a 16-month-old has returned to Teaneck, where her par-ents live as well. Chaya, a music teacher at the Ramaz School, lives in Manhattan.

After several years of performing as a duo, my two younger sisters, Eden and Doren, got older and moved to the city, Chaya said. It was a natural transition to have them join us. Doren is an early child-hood special education teacher, and Eden, whose full name is Eden Glaser Mehl, works in the fashion industry.

So then there were four, and Chaya, Faige, Eden, 26, and Doren, 25 together with three musical friends: a drummer, a bassist, and a guitar player formed Gla-ser Drive, which performs throughout the New York area. In March the group released its debut EP, Come and Find Me, a CD that contains five of their songs.

The group recently participated in the Cape May Singer Songwriter Festival and has been asked to give two performances at the Make Music Festival on Governors Island in June. Also in June they will per-form at Manhattans Rockwood Music Hall.

The band, incidentally, was not named

after the sisters family.Its named after a street in San Diego,

Faige said.Describing their music as folk Ameri-

cana, with a bit of rock, depending on the song, Faige said that Chaya writes most of the music. Her lyrics are phenomenal. They really paint a picture. She added that whoever looks beyond the voices and the rhythm into the words will see that theyre very beautiful, very descriptive.

Something happens and I want to write about it, Chaya said. The melody follows the experience.

Both Faige and Chaya play guitar, and all four singers use percussion instruments or tambourines when the music calls for them.

Faige said that singing with her sisters is a joy.

It flows, she said, citing, for example, the process of working out harmonies. We go over the same word, or same three words, over and over. Its intense, but then we reach the aha moment. It sounds beautiful.

Or sometimes, she said, Chaya will make up the harmony and teach it to the other sisters.

Harmonies are arranged so that singers can weave in and out and no one is left singing a whole part, Chaya said. While she and Faige are sopranos, Eden and Doren are altos, but can also sing soprano.

Performing with her sisters, often in front of friends and people she knows, there are connections, Faige said. Our other life is there when were performing. Its an experience every time.

Chaya said that with a family so close, they do occasionally butt heads, but, as someone said, The family that sings together stays together. Even when we get intensely passionate about our visions for a particular song, we end up having fun.

Both Chaya and Faige credit their family with influencing their lives. Dad plays jazz piano, both parents sing, and my mother plays folk guitar, Chaya said. Both par-ents sang us to sleep, and they were always singing show tunes. As they grew up, the children also were close with their great aunts and uncles, who sang four-part har-mony versions of spirituals.

They would sing to us all the time, Faige said. They sang old folk and gospel tunes and Yiddish tunes.

We listened and enjoyed their spirit, Chaya said, noting that Jewish songs helped draw the family closer to tradition. Every Shabbat, the whole family sang. Each of the sisters also attended a Jewish day school.

Chaya said that she and Faige are 15 months apart, and Eden and Doren are 14 months apart. There is a seven-year-gap between the two sets of Glaser sisters.

In the beginning, she said, because we were older, Faige and I had more experi-ence singing; but now we kind of all even each other out.

Chaya said its not likely that Faiges new status as a mother will hinder her participation in the band. After all, she pointed out, We had a performance 25 days before her due date. She estimates that the group has performed some 20 times a year since becoming a full band in 2012.

Until Glaser Drive hits it big, the women all will keep their day jobs, Chaya said. But she is passionate about teaching, Faige said, so if the group does taken off, shell want to continue to teach.

For more information, go to the bands website, www.glaserdrive.com.

Glaser Drive is, from left, Doren Glaser, Eden Glaser Mehl, Faige Glaser Drapkin, Chaya Glaser, Erik Nausland, David Keesey, and Elly Geldwerth. ABBIE SOPHIA PHOTOGRAPHY

11 Jewish standard MaY 22, 2015

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Family Caregiver Training Arm yourself with essential information, acquire day-to-day strategies and skills, and learn how to properly prepare for a new role as a caregiver for a loved one. Topics to be addressed include recognizing early warning signs of Alzheimers and dementia and techniques on how to best deal with them. Hear from Eldercare law experts; get advice for proper legal and financial planning, and learn essentials of monitoring associated health issues. Register online or contact Marlene at 201.569.7900, ext. 439.4 Tuesdays, Jun 15, 22, 29 & Jul 6, 7-8:30 pm, $80/$100

Welcome to Emekan israeli language and cultural after-school programWe bring everyday spoken Hebrew into every childs life in a fun, hands-on way. We offer a well-established program designed specifically for non-native Hebrew speakers, small classes and individual attention. Contact Aya at 201.408.1427 or visit jccotp.org/emek.chalav udvash: For Kindergartners & 1st gradersivrit beivrit: For 2nd-5th gradersFall enrollment now open

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ADL Global 100: an index of anti-semitismJoshua Cohen, the Anti-Defamation Leagues Regional Director in NJ will discuss the magnitude of anti-Semitism around the world; where it is most problematic and how pervasive it is in certain regions. Sponsored by the Berit and Martin Bernstein Open Forum Endowment Fund and the Edwin Soforenko Foundation.Mon, Jun 1, 7:30 pm, Free

CSA: Community Supported Agriculture Buy a share in a local farm and receive fresh, organic produce each week from late spring to mid-fall. Full shares average 7-10 vegetables a week. Fruit, butter, egg and maple syrup shares available as well. Pick-up on Tuesdays for 22 weeks. Registration ongoing through May or until shares sell out. Contact Ruth at [email protected] or 201.408.1418.

Abraham Lincolns Religious Worldview and the Jewish PerspectiveOn the 150th anniversary of Lincolns assassination, Rabbi Yossi Prager offers an in-depth look at Lincolns second term, with a focus on his religious beliefs, his view of Judaism, and how that impacted his presidency. Offered as part of the Swift Lecture Series, held at Congregation Ahavath Torah, 240 Broad Avenue, Englewood, NJ. For additional information, call 201.568.1315.Thur, May 28, Mincha/Maariv 8:05 pm, Lecture 8:30 pm

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How to become a liberal Europe rabbiRussian rabbinical student, intern at Temple Israel in Ridgewood, tells his storyJOANNE PALMER

Its a neat trick, but Alexander Grodensky pulls it off.

At just 32, he manages to be an entirely singular person, with a life that has taken a number of unpredictable turns, and at the same time a walking, breathing symbol of Jewish life in Europe today.

Howd he do it? And what does he symbolize?

Lets start at the beginning.Mr. Grodensky who will become

Rabbi Grodensky in August, when he is ordained by the Abraham Geiger College, part of the University of Potsdam is in Ridgewood through the end of May. Hes here for a six-week stint shadowing Rabbi David Fine of Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center in Ridgewood. Rabbi Fine teaches at both Geiger and the new Zacharias Frankel College, also at the Uni-versity of Potsdam.

Note that Abraham Geiger College, like its namesake, and like Mr. Grodensky, is Reform. Zacharias Frankel College, again like its namesake, and like Rabbi Fine, is Conservative. File that fact away for now. Its part of the European side of the story.

Mr. Grodensky was born in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 1983, to parents whose own parents had fled to that Central Asian Soviet republic from Oshmyany, in what is now Belarus, during World War II, and had stayed there. His grandfather, an engineer, was in the Soviet military. His father, Boris, also an engineer by trade, was in the mili-tary as well; in 1990, when he was posted in the Soviet Republic of Komi, he took the family Alexander, Alexanders mother, Marina, and his sister, Evgenia to live in its capital city, Syktyvkar.

Komi is in Russias far north, in Europe, west of the Ural Mountains. The Komi peo-ples language resembles Finnish, but not many people speak it; most people spoke Russian, Mr. Grodensky said. There was no anti-Semitism, but there also were very few Jews. Although many people who lived there were from elsewhere, and although you speak the main language, still, you dont belong to the regional affiliation. You always feel like an outsider.

During my childhood, the only Jewish connection I had was through family, he continued. We were a typical Soviet Jew-ish family, with no religion at home. As a kid, I never went to synagogue.

I felt Jewish, and since we were always outsiders it was kind of in the air I never felt completely Russian.

A side story about Mr. Grodenskys fam-ily it is very compact, he reported. Thats because his mothers mother and his fathers father both died when their children were young. When Mr.

Grodenskys parents married, their wid-owed parents met each other, fell in love, and married. So I grew up with one set of grandparents, and we all had the same surname, he said.

When Mr. Grodensky graduated from high school, I used the first opportunity to get out of Komi, he said. He went to university in the closest big city, St. Peters-burg. The system is different there, he said; a university is far more like a trade school than a liberal arts college here, Rabbi Fine explained later. We have a straightforward five-year program, and you graduate with a masters, Mr. Groden-sky said.

He studied public administration and political science at school; out of school, acting out of a newly discovered hunger, he devoured Jewish learning and explored Jewish life.

When I was in St. Petersburg, it was

the first time I could feel Jewish, he said. I went to services. I joined Hillel. I had student jobs in the Jewish community. I started to work in a Jewish kindergarten, and then a rabbi from the community asked me to work with him as an assistant. I was a kind of liaison between the rabbi and the schools.

Next, he took courses at a local yeshiva; eventually, he went to Israel for a year of study.

These were very transformative years for me, Mr. Grodensky said.

Why was he so drawn to Judaism? The extremely articulate Mr. Grodensky is uncharacteristically unable to explain it clearly, although he gives it a game try. I guess its from a feeling that youre always an outsider, but you dont understand what kind of outsider you are, he said. In high school, I saw that although everyone was secular, they all had some kind of con-nection to their ethnic communities. But my connection to the Jewish people was basically only biological for me.

It was kind of very shallow. I wanted to go deeper.

So he did.There was a bit more, of course. I was

attracted by tradition, by being part of something bigger than I am, by connecting to generations. And I know that my great grandmother and that generation were pretty traditional. For me, it was a restora-tion of the connection.

The infrastructure of the Jewish com-munity in St. Petersburg, and in much if not most of Russia, is Chabad. Its

mainstream there, Mr. Grodensky said. Therefore, the rabbis try to be more open and accommodating. They are trying to fill the rabbinic role not as a Chabad rabbi but as the rabbi of a city. (And of course the concept of a city having a chief rabbi, as is true in so many places around the world, is foreign to Americans.)

I didnt go to the yeshiva full time I had my own life in the university, Mr. Grodensky said. But I was observant. I kept kosher. I was shomer Shabbat. I was Orthodox.

That was easy to do at school, he said. Russia then was a new country. I didnt have any problem being Jewish. Ameri-cans assumptions that Russia was teeming with anti-Semitism are inaccurate, based on the experiences of people who left in the 1970s and 80s, when it had been. I didnt really have any problems in my life with anti-Semitism, he said. Of course, I did grow up in a completely non-Jewish area, where nobody knew what Jewish even was. In my university, it just was not an issue.

There was one thing that both attracted Mr. Grodensky to Chabad and kept him from becoming fully part of it. I didnt really think then that I was gay, he said. I wanted to escape gayness. I was nave. I thought that I was attracted to men, but maybe it was just a phase, and with the right training and lifestyle I could have a regular Jewish family.

But it didnt work.The Orthodox community was quite

comfortable. No one asked me any ques-tions about why I wasnt dating. We just all decided not to notice.

It was during this time that Mr. Groden-sky went to Israel to study at Shvut Ami, a charedi Russian-speaking yeshiva. Its Litvak, and I felt more connection to them intellectually than to Chabad.

After he graduated from university in 2006, Mr. Grodensky had to decide what to do next. It was a question of whether I should continue to work in the Jewish community, or I go for public service. And in Russia, the entry-level public service sal-ary is so much less than the salary in the Jewish community. In Russia, if you work for the federal government, the salary is almost nothing, and in the provincial gov-ernment it is a very little more than almost nothing.

And the question also was whether I wanted to live in Russia anyway. Being Jew-ish, understanding that I am gay, I knew that I wanted to have a Jewish family but with a man. There was no option in Russia.

What to do?He learned about a business school

that the American philanthropist Ron-ald Lauder had founded in Vienna. It is

Alexander Grodensky, left, with Rabbi David Fine in Ridgewood JOHANNA RESNICK ROSEN/CANDID EYE

Alexander Grodensky and Isak Schneider

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Jewish, Mr. Grodensky said. It is a public school, funded by the Austrian govern-ment, so its admission department must be ethnicity blind, but they did direct marketing only to the Jewish commu-nity, so it is about 90 percent Jewish. The other 10 percent is Austrians who want to learn English.

(Mr. Grodenskys own fluent, nearly flawless English had its genesis in high school; he has buffed and refined it ever since. He did not speak German then.)

I already had cut my ties with Chabad, and when I got to Vienna I had a kind of religious crisis, he said. I didnt have to be a professional Jew, so I could take my time, and find meaning. Being gay, and being analytical, I read books, history, philosophy, everything I could find. For certain amounts of time I wasnt observant. I had to find my own way.

I went to a Reform synagogue in Vienna, Or Chadash, a small community, basically bilingual. It was very difficult for me. It was very foreign to me. I felt like I was in a church at the beginning. I felt that it was not authentic.

But both because he was gay and because he had developed real theologi-cal differences with Orthodox theology, including its position on the status of

women, that world no longer was right for him either.

Or Chadash was very small, and they needed people, so I thought that I will get involved and change things, make it more traditional, he said. It was diffi-cult to change anything on Friday night, so I started having Shacharit on Shabbes morning. They had it once a month, but we started every Shabbes. It was fun, and I knew that I could go further.

Mr. Grodensky finished business school, and then I thought that actu-ally this business stuff doesnt interest me. He worked in the Jewish commu-nity again, he taught Judaism in a pro-Israel Christian evangelical school, and I started looking for rabbinical schools, he said.

He also met Isak Schneider, the com-munications consultant who now is his husband.

Mr. Schneider, who now is Jewish, comes from Vienna. His mother is Dan-ish; his father is half Persian and half Austrian, and the Austrian part is Jew-ish, Mr. Grodensky said. And his Chris-tian background is both Catholic and Protestant.

It is a very multicultural family, he understated. And thats why his

SEE GRODENSKY PAGE 17

Mr. Grodensky on a visit to Jerusalem in 2005

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14 Jewish standard MaY 22, 2015

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Old books, new art

Larry yudeLson

Theres a 10-year-old cover from the Jewish Standard pinned to a panel in the social hall of Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck.The cover is from the first time this paper

reported on Beth Sholoms Artists Beit Midrash. While the program is now con-cluding its 11th year, the art produced by its students is new. It will be on display at Beth Sholom over the Shavuot weekend.

The Beit Midrash or study hall has three components. There is an hour of text study, led this year by Rabbi Gary Karlin, a

doctoral student in Jewish education at the Jewish Theological Seminary, who is writing a curriculum on Jonah for the Schechter day school network. In the six fall sessions the group studied the book of Jonah, which is read during the afternoon on Yom Kippur; in the six spring sessions it looked at the Book of Ruth, which is read on Shavuot. Then there is an hour of more artistic study, led by Harriet Finck this year. Ms. Finck brought in art and literature related to the biblical texts, and she led discussions of the third compo-nent: The art project that students worked on at home.

The program is open to everyone. Many

Artists Beit Midrash at Teanecks Beth Sholom displays creations

The Threshing Floor by Maxine Silverman of Nyack.

Debbie Schore created this artwork featuring pirates and a Jew to represent the Book of Jonah.

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participants are members of the congregation, but some come from as far as Nyack.

You sit in the same room and study the same thing and you get all these different perspectives, Myra Schulman of New Milford said. Ms. Schulman made a tallit bag for her grandson featuring Jonah. When God tells you to do something, do it! she said, sum-marizing the books message for her grandson.

Rabbi Karlin said the text study influenced the art produced by the students.

By and large these works are pretty well known. People can tell you the outline, he said. People, even with strong day school backgrounds, realized how lit-tle they knew of the details.

The overall theme of his teaching of the Book of

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