north jersey jewish standard, august 15, 2015
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Kayaking to Canaan and moreTRANSCRIPT
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7/13/2019 North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015
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JSTANDARD.COM
201483
AUGUSTVOL. LXXXIII NO.
NORTH JERSEY
Teaneck nativeDov Neimands
solo sea voyagefrom Barcelona
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2 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
August 20th
Christopher Cross
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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
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Noshes
4 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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
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Local
6 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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.
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7/13/2019 North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015
7/48
Loca
JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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
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8 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
Telephone Reassurance -a friendly voice
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Special Projects
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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]
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10 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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.
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JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
EACH YEAR, ABOUT A THOUSAND LONE SOLDIERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD JOIN ISRAELS DEFENSE FORCES.
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o learn more, visit FJC.org or call 1-888-GIVE FJC or 212-714-0001Tis advertisment is sponsored by FJC, A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds.
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Soldiers from the Elite Egoz Unit Take Their Final Te
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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.
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12 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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.
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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.
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Local
14 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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.
-
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Local
JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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].
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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.
-
7/13/2019 North Jersey Jewish Standard, August 15, 2015
16/48
Editorial
1086 Teaneck RoadTeaneck, NJ 07666(201) 837-8818Fax 201-833-4959
PublisherJames L. Janoff
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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
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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
16 JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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.
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Opinio
JEWISH STANDARD AUGUST 15, 2014
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