north jersey jewish standard, february 13, 2015
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A look at wh Jewish laand ar
Jewish schoo have to s
about vaccin
JSTANDARD.COM
201584NORTH JERSEY
A VISIT TO FRANCE page 7
DECODING ESTHER’S SECRETS page 10
THIS BUS IS BOUND FOR SHABBOS SERVICES page 12
‘GETT,’ A FILM OF RELIGIOUS BUREAUCRACY page 43
FEBRUARY 13, 2015VOL. LXXXIV NO. 21 $1.00
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J e w i s h S t a n d a r d
1 0 8 6 T e a n e c k R o a d
T e a n e c k , N J 0 7 6 6 6
C H A N G E S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D
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2 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
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CONTENTS
Candlelighting: Friday, February 13, 5:10 p.m.
Shabbat ends: Saturday, February 14, 6:11 p.m.
Le’Or wants tolight up policy debate●When we hear of a new Jewish orga-
nization starting up in these recession-
ary times, our first question often is:
What are they smoking?
In the case of the year-old Le’Or, theanswer is pretty obvious. Its tag line is
“Illuminating Jewish Perspectives on
Drug Policy Reform.”
“Our goal is to erode the stigma, so
that the Jewish community at large
can see that supporting marijuana
legalization is not just the right thing to
do, it’s the Jewish thing to do,” said Roy
Kaufmann, who founded Le’Or with his
wife, Claire.
Speechwriter for Oregon’s governor
by day, the Israeli-born Kaufmann, 36,
is a staunch opponent of America’s
decades-long War on Drugs. Launched
by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s
and expanded during the Reagan era,
the ongoing drug war has resulted in an
unprecedented number of U.S. citizens
— and a disproportionate number of
African-American males — being sent
to prison for drug-related offenses.
The seeds of Le’Or — “to illuminate”
in Hebrew — were planted when the
Kaufmanns began to lament the lack
of Jewish communal involvement in
pushing for marijuana legalization.
“There’s a disconnect between the
civil rights issue and the number of
Jewish people who, let’s be honest,
enjoy the cannabis plant,” said Claire
Kaufmann, now a marketing and
branding consultant for the burgeoning
cannabis industry. “It seems to me to be
a contradiction.”
Specifically, it outraged the couple
that while white Americans —
themselves included — could casually
smoke marijuana and get away with it,
their black counterparts were far too
often arrested and incarcerated for the
same low-level crime.Roy Kaufman led the first campaign
to legalize marijuana in Oregon. He
was struck by how few rabbis and
Jewish communal leaders jumped on
board. After the failed bid, he turned
to Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap Company
for seed funding to back his idea for a
Jewish pro-cannabis group.
Dr. Bronner’s has played a leading
role in hemp and marijuana legalization
efforts since 2001, when David
Bronner, the company’s president and
grandson of the spiritually minded
German-Jewish soap maker, launched
a successful lawsuit against the Drug
Enforcement Agency to allow hemp
imports into the United States. The
Vista, Calif.-based company uses non-
psychoactive hemp oil imported from
Canada in its all-natural line of soaps.
Bronner, 41, was raised Protestant,
but he also grew up reciting the Shema,
and he said he feels a strong connection
to his Jewish roots. His grandfather’s
universalist “All-One” message — touted
on famously wacky soap labels with
references to Rabbi Hillel and Jesus —remains at the core of the company’s
progressive philosophy.
But the opponent of marijuana
reform with the deepest pockets also
is Jewish: billionaire Sheldon Adelson,
who pumped $5 million into the
campaign to defeat a Florida ballot
initiative that would have legalized
medical marijuana. The casino
mogul’s Israeli-born wife, Miriam, is a
drug addiction specialist who runs a
rehabilitation center in Las Vegas and
believes that marijuana is a “gateway
drug” to harder, more dangerous
substances — a belief that legalization
advocates dispute, citing studies to the
contrary. (One study estimated that 60
percent of casino revenues come from
players with a gambling addiction.)
While its cause is different from
other Jewish organizations, perhapswhat makes Le’Or most unique is that
it proudly displays a photograph of
President Nixon on its “about us” page,
along with a quote from a conversation
between Mr. Nixon and top aide H.R.
“Bob” Haldeman, recorded by the Oval
Office taping system:
“You know, it’s a funny thing, every
one of the bastards that are out for
legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the
Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob,
what is the matter with them?”
REBECCA SPENCE/JTA WIRE SERVICE
A long correction for a small error● They say you learn
the most from your
mistakes.
As mistakes go,
one in a movie
review two weeks
ago was minor.
Eddie Cohen,
one of the four
first members of
the Israeli air force
mentioned in our
review of the new
film “Above and
Beyond,” may not,
in fact, have been an
Israeli.Like the Americans profiled in the
film, he was a foreign volunteer — in
his case, from South Africa.
Not a big mistake — but an
important one for one of our readers,
who, as it turns out, was Eddie
Cohen’s cousin. (The cousin prefers
to keep his own name out of this
paper. “I’m private,” he said.)
Eddie Cohen had qualified as a
pilot in the South African air force
after the end of World War II, his
cousin told us. When Israel’s war of
independence broke out in 1948, he
was among the 800 South Africans
who went north to fight for Israel — a
disproportionately large delegation,
which was nearly a quarter of all the
foreign volunteers.
Whether Mr. Cohen would havereturned to South Africa or not we’ll
never know. He was the first casualty
of the nascent air force, killed when
his plane was shot down over the
Negev.
Neither his plane nor his body were
discovered until a couple of years
later. Our reader remembers that Mr.
Cohen’s squad mate Ezer Weizman
called Mr. Cohen’s parents andasked them to come to Israel for the
funeral. (Weizman would command
the Israel Air Force between 1958
and 1966 and then serve as Israel’s
president from 1993 to 2000.)
Our reader remembers visiting his
cousin’s grave on Mount Herzl during
a 1955 visit to Israel.
Our reader left us with this
memory of his cousin from before
the war. There was an ice skating
rink right outside of town. And
Eddie Cohen was a champion skater.
Skaters would skate up a ramp and
jump over barrels. And no one could
fly over more barrels than Eddie
Cohen.
And one more bit of family lore.
Eddie Cohen’s sister married a man
named Lubowitz and they had a son
named Manfred. Manfred Lubowitz
went on to record hit records
under the name Manfred Mann. The
most successful was a cover of the
song “Blinded by the Light” by a
young New Jersey musician, Bruce
Springsteen.
Amazing how much you can learn
from one small mistake.
LARRY YUDELSON
Ezer Weizman
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Noshes
4 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
“Niggunim [are] Chassidic melodies that soundsimilar to the scene in Star Wars when thebad guy’s ship is arriving.”– Singer and former chassid Matisyahu, in an essay describing his escape
from the “cage” of strict Orthodoxy timed to promote his new single
Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard
tion. SNL and NBC have
been very quiet about
what the special will
contain (new stuff or
mostly clips?). However,
most of the guest list has
been leaked. The
following tribe members
will be on the special:
Two — JERRY SEIN-FELD and PAUL SIMON— were not cast mem-
bers. The other three
— ADAM SANDLER,ANDY SAMBERG, andMAYA RUDOLPH — were.
Beside those three,
here are the past 40
years of Jewish cast
members (main cast
or “featured player”):
LARAINE NEWMAN,GILDA RADNER, AL FRANKEN, HARRY SHEARER, SARAH SIL-VERMAN, BILLY CRYS-TAL, CHRISTOPHER GUEST, VANESSA BAY-ER, RACHEL DRATCH,
JON LOVITZ, CHRIS KATTAN, ROB SCHNEI-DER, PAUL SHAFFER,BEN STILLER, ROB-ERT SMIGEL, GILBERT GOTTFRIED, and ALAN ZWEIBEL. FYI: Kattanis the son of a Jewish
father and non-Jewish
mother and always has
been secular. Likewise,
the secular Christopher
Guest has a non-Jewish
first name, but his moth-er is an American Jew
and his father is a British
Jew. He actually holds
the title of 5th Baron of
Haden-Guest. It’s a com-
plex story — but suffice
it to say it is not an old
title — it was created in
1950 so Guest’s grandfa-
ther, a big Labour Party
supporter, could sit in the
House of Lords and help
balance out other par-
ties’ members.–
– N.B.
Brett Gelman
THE GUYS:
Brett, Felix, Oscar back in limelight
Tony Roberts
Neil Simon Lindsay Sloane
Comedian BRETT GELMAN, 38, whoco-stars in the FX
series “Married,” co-
wrote and co-stars in a
new special for the
“Adult Swim” corner of
the Cartoon Network.
“Dinner with Brett
Gelman’s Family” will
premiere on Friday,
February 13, at 12:30 a.m.
(DVR it!) This live-action
special, which probably
will have a lot of Jewish
content, co-stars Patti
Lupone as Gelman’s
mother and TONY ROBERTS, 75, as his dad.Roberts had big roles in
several WOODY ALLEN films.
A new version of
“The Odd Couple,”
the famous 1965
stage show written by
NEIL SIMON, now 87, willpremiere on Thursday,
February 19, on CBS. The
show stars Matthew
Perry (“Friends”) as
Oscar, a slovenly, long-
divorced sports writer,
and Thomas Lennon as
Felix, a neat-freak
photographer. As you
probably know, they areold friends; when Felix’s
wife leaves him, he
moves into Oscar’s
apartment. LINDSAY SLOANE, 37, plays Emily,who lives in Oscar’s
building and attracts the
guys’ romantic attention.
Sloane has been a TV
guest star or series
regular since she was a
teen. She was a star of
“Grosse Pointe,” a
short-lived but critically
praised series that was a
parody of “Beverly Hills,
90210.”
Because it is such a
great joke, I have little
doubt that a segment
from the original play
will make the new series.
Felix starts leaving Oscar
notes reminding him to
do chores. Finally, Oscar
blows up at Felix and
says, “You leave me little
notes on my pillow. I told
you 168 times I can’t ..
stand .. little notes on
my pillow! ‘We are all outof Corn Flakes. [signed]
F.U.’ It took me three
hours to figure out that
‘F.U.’ was Felix Unger!”
Neil Simon says that
many people have spec-
ulated that he gave Felix
Unger that name simply
to set up this joke. Simon
denies it, though. He says
that the joke came to
him way after he created
a character whose initials
are “F.U.”
“Saturday Night
Live,” which was
created in 1975 by
LORNE MICHAELS (bornLorne Lipowitz), will
celebrate its 40th
birthday with an anniver-sary special that will air
on NBC on Sunday,
February 15, at 8 p.m.,
with a red carpet special
starting on NBC at 7 p.m.
Michaels has been the
producer of the show for
most of its long run. (He
wasn’t its producer from
the fall of 1980 until the
spring 1985) and he is
very much a hands-on
executive. He has the
ultimate say in cast
hiring, firing, and promo-
‘Slap’ may resoundas a big hit on NBC● An eight-part miniseries, “The Slap,” started last nigh
— Thursday, February 12, at 8 p.m. on NBC. It’s based o
a big Australian novel and TV series of the same name.
NBC is clearly trying to compete with HBO with this
prestige series: LISA CHOLODENKO, 50 (“The Kids a
Alright”), who got a Golden Globe nomination for HBO’
“Olive Kitteridge,” is the principal director and JON ROBIN BAITZ, 53, a respected playwright and the cre
ator of TV’s “Brothers and Sisters,” wrote the pilot. The
title refers to what develops when a man slaps a child h
isn’t related to at a suburban barbecue. Co-stars include
Peter Saarsgard (MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL’s husband)
and Uma Thurman (whose non-Jewish maternal grand-
father fled Nazi Germany rather than betray his Jewish
business partner).
– N
Lisa Cholodenko
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13 , 2015
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Local
6 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13 , 2015
Family pays tribute to Tikvah programRamah’s special needs initiative spurs their son’s personal and Jewish growth
LOIS GOLDRICH
For the past ive years, 20-year-
old Adam Berzin of Ramsey
has spent his summers at
Camp Ramah Wisconsin, at the
camp’s Tikvah program.
Created more than 40 years ago and
offered at nine Ramah camps in the
United States and Canada, Tikvah wel-
comes children, teens, and young adults
with a wide range of learning, develop -
mental, cognitive, and social disabilities,
“enhancing Jewish identity and teach-
ing Jewish values in a supportive, inclu-
sive, fun environment,” according to its website.
Parents Rita and Mitch Berzin clearly
believe that the program more than ful-
ills this commitment.
“We make the effort to send Adam
to this program, which is so far away,
becaus e the effec ts on his self-esteem,
independence, and identiication with
the Jewish community have been so
powerful,” Ms. Berzin said. While other
Ramah camps have programs of this
kind, “what made this one unique for us
was that it was more inclusive.”
Adam has high-functioning autism, she
said. “He’s not so below his peers that he
needs a tremendous amount of support,
but he needs more than his typical peers
and he needs to be challenged. This pro- gram included him so he didn’t feel he
was in a parallel camp,” but rather one
that fully included him, where he did not
feel “separate.” The Berzins also chose
the Wisconsin camp because it offers the
program to people in Adam’s age group.
“He loves it,” she said, recalling that
one year she put Adam in a camp that
was geog raph ically clos er but not as
inclusive. “It didn’t group kids according
to their abilities,” she said. “It put them
all together.” After that summer, “Adam
was lobbyin g to go back” to Ramah,
despite the fact that usually “he’s not a
self-advocate. He really wanted to do it .”
Adam lives for his summers, she said,
telling people that “his summer home is
at Camp Ramah Wisconsin.”The camp “plays to the kids’ strengths.
At school, he never quite felt like he quite
it in; he was used to being told what he
couldn’t do, not what he could do” she
said, noting however that Adam, who
plays saxophone, participated in the
Ramsey High School marching band. At
camp, “they had him play the ‘Star-Span-
gled Banner’ before a big baseball game.
They picked out what he likes and let him
excel at it.
“There are programs for children withdisabilities in this area, but few if any that
include the children with their typical
peers,” she continued. “Generally they
are segregated programs, but that’s not
what the real world is like. Finding inclu-
sive experiences for children is dificult,
especially for teens and young adults
who are not greatly impaired. Inclusion is
what I think Ramah Wisconsin does well.
The children are so well integrated that
they really feel as if there are no differ-
ences. And the typical peers start to see
that the Tikvah campers have strengths
and good qualities.”
Over the Martin Luther King weekend,
Adam and two other campers from New
York and New Jersey went to Chicago to
attend a Tikvah/Atzmayim Shabbaton.(Atzmayim is the vocational arm of the
special needs program.)
“The excitement in my home was pal-
pable for weeks,” Ms. Berzin said. “He
had a great time, and it was an experi-
ence that has energized him to return to
camp for the Atzmayim vocational pro-
gram this summer.”
The Shabbaton was special, among
other reasons, because “he got to fly
on a plane back and forth. [Kids] need
to separate from their parents. We maycoddle them too much. This was a great
opportunity for him.”
Getting to the airport too late to meet
the other campers and counselors out-
side, Adam’s parents took him to the
security gate. He navigated through secu-
rity by himself and found his friends at
the gate waiting for him to board.
“He did it,” his mom said.
Ms. Berzin said Adam, who graduated
from Ramsey High School — “where we
fought to have him mainstreamed” — now
attends a transition program. She hopes
that he will attend college next year.
“Camp has been good preparation for
that,” she said, adding that he’s learned
to ask for help when he needs it.
People with Adam’s disability “tend tohave a lot of anxiet y,” she said. “They’re
afraid of trying, afraid of failing.” But
when Adam comes home from camp,
he brings with him a growing sense of
independence.
“Things he would not attempt at home,
he had to do at camp,” she said. “He had
to work in the kitchen packing lunches,
so I told him if you could do it there, you
can do it here. They also had to clean
their cabin.”
Adam comes home from camp wi
more self-esteem,” she said. “You cou
just see that he was more of his own pe
son. He didn’t seem to need as muc
prompting and encouragement.”
On the Jewish front, although Ada
had a bar mitzvah, “and did well, the
was not much to conne ct him” to th
Jewish commu nit y after that , said h
mother. “At Ramah he put on teillin an
did morning prayers. He loves Shabba
You can see a greater sense of [Jewis
identiication.”
Ms. Berzin said that because “kids wi
learning and emotional differences ha
trouble with change,” it is particularhelpful that Adam generally can look fo
ward to seeing the same campers an
counselors year after year. “It provid
continuity,” she said. His move to the voc
tional program will also be smooth sin
last year’s Tikvah program was “pre-voc
tional,” and Adam spent one day a week
the camp ofice, distributing mail.
“It will be an easier transition,” h
mother said, noting that he will be li
ing with other campers in an arrang
ment that resembles a college dorm. T
group will be responsible for planni
and making meals and will be “treated
staff more than as campers.”
Ms. Berzin believes this will help Ada
when he goes to college.
“We’re looking for a program withfocus on work skills,” she said. “This w
help prepare him for that.” His camp l
ing arrangements also will help him pr
pare for living in a dorm.
It also helps that throughout the yea
Tikvah campers “get together weekly o
Sunday evenings for an online Shavu
Tov talk,” she said. “It’s run by the cou
selors who usually have a theme th
discuss and relate to the campers’ dai
lives. Then they all speak regarding the
week. It’s something that keeps them a
connected, since they are from differe
states.”
Adam also participates in commun
activities. He plays with teen jazz grou
at the music school at the Kaplen JCC o
the Palisades in Tenafly “to keep his skiup,” Ms. Berzin said. That’s because the
aren’t enough people with musical abi
ties in his transition program.
“He has also discovered the Chaba
Friendship Circle and has a student com
visit him once a week,” she said. And wh
he’s not a good it for the group’s comm
nity events, he volunteers with Chabad
Woodcliff Lake’s sports league. In add
tion, he volunteers one day a month at th
Mahwah Center for Food Action.
Adam Berzin, right, celebrates bowing with Joseph Eskin, head of the Tikvah pro-
gram at Camp Ramah Wisconsin.
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FIRST PERSON
French Jews face
uncertain futureA look at some stories from a local leaderDR. LEONARD A. COLE
In the wake of the terror attacks at the
Charlie Hebdo magazine ofice and
the Hyper Cacher grocery store — a
kosher market — I participated in a
Jewish Agency mission to Paris.
Our delegation of Americans and Israelis
arrived last week to show solidarity with the
French Jewish community. We also sought
to better understand the threat of height-
ened anti-Semitism in France (and, indi-
rectly, elsewhere in Europe). We met with
more than 40 French Jewish community
leaders and activists, all of them open tosharing their concerns.
On January 7, Islamist terrorists murdered
a dozen Charlie Hebdo staffers as retribution
for the magazine’s cartoon depictions of the
prophet Mohammed. Two days later, another
terrorist held a bunch of Jewish grocery
shoppers hostage, killing four, which French
President Francois Hollande acknowledged
as an “appalling anti-Semitic act.”
Following the attacks, an anti-terror
march in Paris drew more than a million
participants. Led by Hollande and other
world leaders, including Israeli Prime Min-
ister Benjamin Netanyahu, many in the
crowd held signs declaring Je Suis Charlie
(I am Charlie). A few signs said Je Suis Juif
(I am a Jew). But despite the commendable
show of unity and of respect for the attack
victims , t he threat of terrorism remains
undiminished. Given the rise in anti-Sem-
itism, the Jewish community seems espe-cially vulnerable.
The Jewish population in France is about
500,000 and shrinking. The Muslim popu-
lation is 5,000,000 and growing. These
trends are sources of anxiety for many
French Jews as they weigh their options.
Sandra Charabi, 29, is a survivor of
the Hyper Cacher attack. As we stood in
front of the grocery store, now closed,
she recounted her harrowing experience
there. Sandra, who has long, straight black
hair and an open, friendly smile, had just gone into the stor e; she was tryi ng to
decide what to buy for Shabbat dinner
when a gunman entered, shooting . Amid
the chaos and yelling, she and four or ive
others ran downstairs to the basement.
She locked herself in the toilet, where she
remained for ive hours, when inally t
police ended the siege.
Sandra still is frightened. As a result
the attack, a life in France no longer seem
possible. She and her boyfriend soon w
immigrate to Israel.They will not be alone. In 2014 som
7,000 French Jews made aliyah, more th
double the previous year’s number. Wi
assistance from the Jewish Agency, 15,00
are expected to make aliyah this year.
Dr. Leonard A. Cole of Ridgewood at the memorial to victims of the Charlie
Hebdo attack in Paris. LEONARD CO
SEE FRENCH JEWS PAGE 4
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Local
8 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
Are the w inter blues
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Are you withdrawing from friends and family?
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State of the Jewish nationFilmmaker presents pro-Israel documentary in Teaneck
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
Award-winning documentary producer-
director Gloria Greenield will be in Teaneck
on February 24 for the screening of her new-
est work, “Body and Soul —The State of the
Jewish Nation,” at 7:45 p.m. at the Teaneck
Cinemas on Cedar Lane.
The ilm examines the profound connec-
tions between the Jewish people and the
land of Israel over the past three millennia,
through interviews with historians, archae-
ologists, political scientists, religious leaders,
and international law and media experts.
Among the 16 interviewees in the ilm are
Harvard professors Ruth Wisse and Alan
Dershowitz; the UK’s former chief rabbi,
Lord Jonathan Sacks, Israeli archeologists
Israel Finkelstein and Aren Maeir; ProfessorEugene Kontorovich of Northwestern Univer-
sity School of Law, and Itamar Marcus, direc-
tor of Palestinian Media Watch.
Ms. Greenield, founder of
the nonproit Doc Emet Pro-
ductions in Lexington, Massa-
chusetts, said she began con-
ceptualizing the ilm toward
the end of 2012 as an antidote
for Jewish illiteracy, particu-
larly in the Diaspora. (“Emet”
means “truth” in Hebrew.)
“By ‘Jewish illiteracy’ I am
referring to the lack of knowl-
edge about our more than
3,500-year-history, about our
litury and about our texts,”
she said. “At a time when the enemies of the Jewish people and Jewish state are engaged in
a vigorous campaign to erase our history and
fabricate pseudo-history, multigenerational
ignorance of what it means to be a member
of the Jewish people — of who we are, and
where we came from — makes us dangerously
vulnerable.”
The ilm project also attempts to “re-
polish the honor of Zionism, which is the
national liberation movement of the Jewish
people, and to expose the vicious campaign
to destroy the Jewish people through the era-
sure of our history,” she added.
Ms. Greenield sowed some 30 years of
strategic planning, marketing, publishing,
and management expe-
rience into the founding
of Doc Emet Productions
in 2007. As former executive director of theDavid Project, she launched groundbreaking
Israel advocacy training programs for Ameri-
can students in Israel.
Doc Emet’s irst two releases were “The
Case for Israel — Democracy’s Outpost” and
“Unmasked Judeophobia” a ilm about the
resurgence of lethal Jew-hatred around the
world.
“Body and Soul” premiered in Jerusa-
lem last October. It was followed by a post-
screening discussion with Robert Wistrich,
Yoram Hazony, and Eugene Kontorovich,
moderated by journalist Melanie Phillips.
Its North American premiere, at Symphony
Space in Manhattan, was emceed by Bret
Stephens of the Wall Street Journal.
Patty Borodach of Teaneck, who
attended the Manhattan screening, said
that the experts in the ilm “all had moreor less the same message about the historic
Jewish claim to the land and how that has
developed over time. But they were many
different voices — male and female, young
and old. It wasn’t didactic like a history les-
son. It was people speaking from the heart
and from the mind in a way that was easy
to absorb.”
Ms. Borodach added that she was pleas-
antly surprised at the makeup of the audi-
ence. “It was a very diverse audience
in terms of age and religious leanings,”
she said. “I had expected to see only the
Orthodox.”
Ms. Greenield said she is getting positive
feedback about “Body and Soul” from Jewand gentiles alike. She wants the ilm to
seen by “everyone from policymakers
educators to students to good and dece
people.”
“Even those who self-identify as adv
cates of Israel require much deeper unde
standing of the centrality of the land
Israel to Jewish identity, of the intellectu
history of the development of Zionism, an
of the legal history of Jewish rights to sove
eignty in the land of Israel,” she added.
The ilm has been shown in Texas, A
bama, Washington, Michigan, Indiana, a
Vermont and is scheduled to be screened
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Car
lina, Washington D.C., New York, Connec
cut, California, New Hampshire, Canad
South Africa, and England over the next femonths. It will be shown in New Brunswi
on February 26 and in Jersey City on Ap
19, and will be available soon with subtit
in seven or eight languages.
The Teaneck screening of “Body an
Soul” is sponsored by the New Jersey cha
ter of the Zionist Organization of Ameri
and American Friends of Yeshivot Bn
Akiva. The latter organization supports
network of 74 schools throughout Israel.
“American Friends of YBA is excited
promote ‘Body and Soul,’ which reflec
the values of modern Zionism,” Americ
Friends of Bnei Akiva’s associate directo
Natalie Sopinsky, said. “This the Bnei Aki
ideoloy — the unbreakable Jewish bond
the land of Israel, the ancient history an
eternal spiritual connection, and the moern call to all Jews to support the Jewi
state with their heart and their hands.
“I’m sure American Jews will enjo
this ilm, and will ind it educational an
enriching.”
The Teaneck screening will be follow
by a discussion with Ms. Greenield, an
preceded by a private wine and sushi rece
tion for sponsors paying $36, $75, or $12
General tickets cost $12.50 until February
or $15 afterward. DVDs of the documenta
will be available for $14.95.
For more information, go to www.bod
andsoulthemovie.com, or email the ZOA
[email protected], or call (201) 4241825.
Gloria Greenfield’s “Body and Soul” will be screened in
Teaneck on February 24.
Gloria Greenfield
-
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Mitchell First continues his sleuthing
of spellings and historical clues in
“Esther Unmasked.”
ExploringmysteriesLocal scholarunearths cluesto textual andhistorical questions
ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
Was Purim heroine Esther a real person
or a igment of the Jewish imagination?
According to Teaneck’s Mitchell First,
Queen Esther and King Achashverosh
can be identiied with the Queen Ames-
tris and King Xerxes Greek historians
have mentioned.
How he reaches this conclusion is
outlined in his newest book, “Esther
Unmasked: Solving Eleven Mysteries of
the Jewish Holidays and Litury,” pub-
lished by Kodesh Press, released this
week just in time for the annual Yeshiva
University book sale that continues
through February 23.
Ten of the essays in this heavilyresearched antholoy have already been
published in earlier forms in such peri-
odicals as Hakirah, Biblical Archaeoloy
Review, AJS Review, and Journal for the
Study of the Old Testament, as well as
online at seforim.blogspot.com.
Several of Mr. First’s articles are the
irst of their kind, no pun intended.
Especially groundbreaking are his
identiication of Esther in secular
sources; the origins of the fast (ta’anit)
of Esther; his discovery of an alternativ
Hebrew spelling of the famous phra
“l’taken olam” from the Aleinu praye
usually cited as a source of the mode
Jewish value of “tikkun olam,” repairi
the world, and the implications of h
inding that the order of the Hebrew le
ters “ayin” and “peh” were reversed
ancient Israel.
Mr. First, an attorney by professio
and a Jewish historian by avocation an
academic training, says that it took a v
lage to produce the book. That villa
is populated by fellow members of th
township’s Congregation Beth Aaro
where he often has lectured on his stu
ies over the last two decades with th
encouragement of its former spirituleader, Rabbi Ephraim Kanarfogel, an
now by Rabbi Laurence Rothwachs.
“If I lived on an island, I could nev
have accomplished any of this,” he sai
naming the most influential Beth Aaro
contributors to his research and th
development of his ideas as Sam Bor
dach, Rabbi Moshe ( Jordan) Yasgu
Rabbi Ezra Frazer, Rabbi Mordy Frie
man (now in Israel), Meylekh Viswanat
and Allen Friedman.
-
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“Rabbi Yasgur walked home from
shul with me for years and was willing
to listen to me ramble on about the ori-
gin of Ta’an it Esther, no matter what
season it was in the Jewish year,” Mr.
First said. “He also shared his own var-
ied and creative insights and tremen-dous library with me.”
His curiosity about the authentic
wording of Aleinu was piqued when he
happened to sit in a pew next to Yehiel
Levy one day and saw that Mr. Levy’s
Yemenite prayer book contained a dif-
ferent spelling of “l’taken olam.”
A talk by Rabbi Rothwachs is what
motivated Mr. First to research the
Mishnaic interpretation of the phrase
“Arami oved avi” from the Passover
Haggadah. That is in the book, too.
“Beth Aaron members sometimes
pointed me to articles and sources that
I was not aware of, and it was always
benei cial to hear their different per-
spectives on whatever issue I was work-
ing on,” he said.“Esther Unmasked” has a preface
by R abbi Hayyim Angel, the national
scholar at the Institute for Jewish Ideas
and Ideals at Yeshiva University.
“Mitchell First … forthrightly ques-
tions several basic traditional Jewish
assumptions and demonstrates why
they often lack a sound foundation,”
Rabbi Angel wrote in the preface. “He
then combines extensive research into
primary sources, the contributions of
other contemporary scholars, and his
own original ideas to build stronger
structures in the pursuit of truth.”
Mr. First, whose earlier book, the
1997 “Jewish History in Conflict,” dealt
with rabbinic chronoloy, says he did
not set out to produce a book aboutmysteries. Many Beth Aaron congre-
gants, however, said that they had won-
dered about the same questions he was
researching and speaking about at shul.
Turning each oral presentation into a
fully footnoted essay took another four
to six months.
“I was just fortunate to be able to ind
the time and have the necessary schol-
arly background to delve into these top-
ics; I have a master’s degree in Jewish
history from YU’s Bernard Revel Gradu-
ate school,” Mr. First, who earned his
law degree at Columbia University,
said. “Because I am not an academic, I
had no deadlines and was not forced to
publish prematurely. This gave me the
patience to come up with strong, well-researched answers to the mysteries.”
The identity puzzle to which the
book ’s tit le refe rs rest s on the gen-
eral assumption that Esther’s name
does not appear in secular sources.
Mr. First found that by the mid-19th
century, scholars agreed that Achash-
verosh was the king whom the Greeks
called Xerxes. But the identiication of
Esther with Amestris, Xerxes’ queen
as described by Herodotus, was rarely
suggested because of certain passages
in Herodotus that made the identiica-
tion problematic.
“What I discovered is that it is very
easy to identify her with Esther,”
Mr. First said. “The name essentially
matches — MSTR vs. STR; the ‘is’ at theend of Amestris is just a sufix added
by the Greeks . On c lose analysis, the
dificulties raised by the passages in
Herodotus are easily surmountable.”
Before so many sources were avail-
able online, Mr. First spent many Sun-
days in the libraries of Yeshiva Uni-
ver sit y and the Jewi sh Theolo gical
Seminary. These days, YU will email
scholarly articles for free, and there
are websites devoted to developments
in Jewish scholarship, such as thetal-
mudblog.wordpress.com and genizah.
org, the latter containing fragmentsfrom the Cairo Genizah that shed light
on early liturgical versions.
In addition to written resources, he also
emailed professors across the world with
speciic questions. “Most have responded
and been very helpful,” he said.
His most surprising discovery con-
cerned the authentic spelling of the
famous phrase in Aleinu. His research
led him to understand that the prayer
originally referred not to “repairing”
the world under divine sovereignty but
to “establishing” a world under divine
sovereignty. “Tikkun olam may be a
widespread concept in Judaism, but it
is not found in Aleinu,” he concluded.
In addition to the subjects mentioned
above, the book examines the origin ofthe word “mechilah” (forgiveness); the
meaning of the cryptic Mishnaic state-
ment “Ani Ve-Ho,” recited in the Suk-
kot litury; the meaning of the names
“Maccabee” and “Chashmonai” in rela-
tion to Chanukah; what may have moti-
vated the Syrian-Greek king Antiochus
to issue harsh decrees against the Jews,
and the early wording of the Hagga-
dah’s Four Questions. (Spoiler: it used
to be three, not four.)
Mr. First, anattorney by
profession and a Jewish historian
by avocationand academictraining, saysthat it took a
village to produce
the book.
-
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12 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
Take the Shab-bus‘Horizontal Shabbat elevator’ picks up congregants in North Bergen and Cliffside Park
LARRY YUDELSON
You’ve been walking to synagogue every
Shabbat for years. For decades.
Now your shul is closing. Well, “merg-
ing.” But all the services are taking place in
the other partner in the merger, the syna-
gogue that’s just a bit stronger than yours,
that has been able to keep a rabbi on its
payroll.
But that synagogue is ive miles away.
Five miles is too far for a comfortable
Shabbat morning stroll.
What are you to do?
Are you just going to stay home on
Shabbat?
Are you going to go against your con-
science and start driving on the Sabbath?You raise these concerns with the rabbi
of what would be your new synagogue.
It turns out that the rabbi has been
worrying about the same thing.
“It was weighing on my mind,” said
Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer of Temple
Israel of Cliffside Park and — pending reso-
lution of merger negotiations — Beth El of
North Bergen, both Conservative congre-
gations. “These people would be left with-
out a shul if we merged, and the merged
shul would be in Cliffside Park.”
So Rabbi Engelmayer made you a
suggestion.
“What if I could come up with a halachic
alternative that would get you to shul?” he
said.
And to convince you that his offer islegit, he promises to run his proposal by
Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz of Teaneck, who
is on the faculty at the Jewish Theological
Seminary and until recently a member of
the Conservative movement’s Committee
on Jewish Law and Standards.
Rabbi Engelmayer’s idea: “A Shabbos
elevator, except instead of going vertically,
it goes horizontally.”
A Shabbos elevator, common in Israeli
hotels, is an elevator programmed to run
continuously up and down the building,
stopping at every floor. No one has to press
a button to open the doors.
Since Rabbi Engelmayer can’t build a
subway line connecting Hudson and Ber-
gen counties, his horizontal Shabbos ele-
vator is a Shabbos bus. The Shab-bus, ashe calls it, is not, as of now, a bus; it’s a
six-seat cab with a non-Jewish driver, hired
from a local cab company. Like the Shab-
bos elevator, which stops on every floor,
the Shab-bus stops at every stop along its
run and waits for two minutes — whether
or not anyone is getting on or off. Like an
elevator, it takes the same route and makes
the same stops in both directions. It makes
two runs in the morning, and then two
runs after services.
In coming up with the idea, Rabbi Engel-
mayer reached back to the days when
he studied in the Orthodox yeshiva that
ordained him.
“One of the things we were taught once
which always stuck with me is that there’s
no issur — no prohibition— on going on a bus on Shabbos. The prohibition is getting
on the bus if nobody else is at the stop, or
getting off if there’s no one else on the bus,and, obviously, paying for it,” he said.
Those who ride the bus sing its praises.
“I love it. What can I tell you?” Myra
Beth Brodsky said. She lives in Guttenberg,
a four-block-wide town in Hudson County
next to North Bergen, and has been a
member of Beth El there “since forever.”
She walked to Beth El. “I like waking,
but it’s too dangerous to walk from here to
Cliffside Park,” she said.
“It’s very convenient, very comfortable,
and the drivers are exceedingly nice,” said
Pearl Sodow, who has lived in Cliffside
Park for 40 years. She and her husband
use the bus now. Before, sometimes they
would walk to synagogue and sometimes
they would drive.
The question of a Shabbos bus has been a matter of sporadic discussion
among experts in Jewish law over the
decades. In 1930, Rabbi Ben Zion Uziel,
the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, told a
rabbi in Bombay that Jews could ride a
trolley to and from synagogue if it were
driven by non-Jews, made no stops spe-
ciically to pick up Jewish passengers,
traveled through predominately non-Jew-
ish neighborhoods, and did not require
the Jewish riders to pay a fare or carry
a ticket. Later, however, he reversed this
decision.
Rabbi Uziel’s ruling was cited in the
1980s in a responsum by the Union for
Traditional Judaism, a group that broke
from the Conservative movement in oppo-
sition to its decision to ordain women asrabbis. (Rabbi Rabinowitz, by contrast,
had advocated for women’s ordination on
the Law Committee.) The union’s Rabbi
David Novack admitted that “a halachic
case could be made, at least in theory,
for permitting a Shabbat bus,” but ruled
against it.
More recently, an Orthodox rabbi, Jack
Simcha Cohen, wrote a halachic defense
of the idea in his book “Shabbat, The Right
Way: Resolving Halachic Dilemmas.” Rabbi
Cohen, who was born in Asbury Park a
died last summer, was rabbi emeritus
Congregation Aitz Chaim in West Pal
Beach, Florida, the irst Orthodox syn
gogue in Palm Beach County.
“I’m looking at the greater good,” Rab
Engelmayer said. “Shuls drying up incommunity is a tragedy, especially if the
are people in the community who need
go to shul. We have people coming no
from North Bergen who hadn’t come
shul in years.”
Besides letting people who couldn
walk come to shul, the Shab-bus servi
also provides a safer way to get to shul f
people who are happy to drive on Sha
bat, even though they can no longer dri
safely. “If I can prevent them from doin
that then that would be wonderful,” Rab
Engelmayer said.
He would like to expand the service in
Edgewater.
The obstacle, however, is money. T
$100 weekly fee for a cab is a strain on th
synagogue’s budget. A full van would co$300 or more weekly. “That’s not the kin
of money we have right now,” said Rab
Englemayer, who is seeking donors for t
bus.
Meanwhile, the Shab-bus and th
merger with Beth Israel has infused h
congregation with new life on Shabb
morning.
“We used to average 25 people, now w
average around 40,” he said. “It’s real
wonderful to see.”
What if I couldcome up with
a halachic
alternative that would get
you to shul? RABBI SHAMMAI ENGELMAYER
-
8/9/2019 North Jersey Jewish Standard, February 13, 2015
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JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
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New location, bigger crowdsfor Royal Wine’s koshersampling extravaganzaED PERETZ
If there was a theme for this year’s
Kosher Food and Wine Experi-
ence, it might be Go Big Or Go
Home.
Restaurateurs and winemakers show-
cased innovations and old favorites at
Royal Wine Corp.’s annual extravaganza.
KFWE drew about 2,500 people to NewYork’s Metropolitan Pavilion on Monday,
its biggest crowd yet. Last year, organiz-
ers had a yacht docked at Chelsea Piers
to accommodate overflow from the
2,000-plus crowd. After several years at
the Piers, the event moved to the Pavil-
ion this year to accommodate the ever-
growing interest.
“The atmosphere is more alive,” said
Mordy Herzog, Royal Wines’ executive
vice president. “It was great every year,
but there’s more room, so people are
more relaxed.”
There are ive other KFWEs around
the world, in Israel, England, Minne-
sota, Miami, and Los Angeles, with two
more U.S. additions slated for next year.
But New York is the home turf for Bay-onne-based Royal Wine, which marked
its ninth KFWE in the city.
With more than 30 restaurants, cater-
ers, and specialty food stores at the
showcase, food seemed to take the spot-
light. But it’s still a wine show, and Royal
had plenty of wines and spirits to high-
light. The trend in kosher wine right now
seems to point to France, according to
Mr. Herzog.
“It shows our palates are maturing,”
he said. “People are more open minde
interested in trying new product
Whites are coming back, France is co
ing back, but more importantly peop
are willing to try more.”
For those who couldn’t make it ou
below is a sampling of new and differe
tastes at this year’s KFWE.
Selection BokobsaChateau La Tonnelle
This cabernet sauvignon and merl
blend has been aged for 12 months in t
barrel, resulting in a smooth, light fr
flavor. It retails for $30-$35.
Eau-De-Vie De FigueThe distillation process removes alc
hol from brandy and leaves a smoo
flavor. For this ive-time distille
brandy, Bokobsa raised the alcohol co
tent from 37 percent to 45 percent. Th
extra distillations have removed muc
of the alcohol that scratches the thro
but left a lot of flavor, which comes
it passes down the throat, said Lion
Bokobsa, whose family has been ma
ing wine since the 1860s. This brandhas been in development for two yea
and will be available for retail in a fe
weeks at approximately $35.
Elvi WinesThis Spanish winery has been maki
kosher wine since 2003. The Heren
Rioja Semi recently joined its line of He
enza Riojas. The Semi is aged six mont
in oak and at least six months in the bo
tle. The Herenza Crianza Rioja is ag
Visitors at this year’s Kosher Food and Wine Experience sample the wares
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Local
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
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Silverleaf Caterers“Our concept is taking non-meat items and turning
them into a main dish,” said Silverleaf’s David Heisler.
“I use it as a challenge.”Silverleaf showcased three unusual dishes to meet
that challenge:
•The All American: A hot dog, spicy fries, and
ketchup wrapped in pizza dough.
•BBQ Sundae: A scoop of mashed potatoes and
bourbon barbecue pulled brisket topped with gravy
and served in a parfait dish.
•Pastrami Chicken Waffle: A pastrami and green
onion waffle triangle with “buttermilk” fried chicken
topped with a balsamic glaze.
The dishes were specially created for the KFWE and
will soon make their way to Silverleaf’s menus.
Abeles & HeymannA&H was formed by Leopold Heymann and Oscar
Abeles — Mr. Heymann’s widow, Sophie, has just
stepped down as the mayor of Closter. The company’s
hot dogs can be found in supermarkets across thecountry. It’s the kosher dog of choice at the Yankees’
and Mets’ ballparks, and also the Teaneck Doghouse.
Co-owner Seth Leavitt of Englewood showed off the
Hillside-based company’s new beer- and whiskey-fla-
vored dogs, which have been on the market for about
a year.
“We were trying to ind a trend we can start,” he
said. “We thought whiskey and beer infused hot dogs
would be a great alternative to a regular hot dog.”
PalisadiumOwner Joseph Abadi has been to KFWE a few times
but this is the irst year as an exhibitor. “It’s a bunch of
people that just want good food,” he said. “People like
good food with their wines.”
The Cliffside Park catering hall, which offers a
glatt kosher menu, showcased chicken lollipops in
spicy mango salsa and a braised short rib and risotto ball.
“Plates have been flying off the table,” Mr. Abadi
said early in the evening. “We made about 2,500 of
each hors d’oeuvre and hope we have enough.”
Gemstone Catering Amid the booths of sushi, pastrami, desserts, and
innovatively prepared but otherwise standard dishes
something not typically found on the kosher scene
stood out: Quince Wood Smoked Rocky Mountain
Oysters, aka, bull testicles. Halfway through the night,
Gemstone was sold out of the delicacy.
Cake & Co.This is the second year at KFWE for Krystina Gianaris,
owner of Teaneck’s Cake & Co. The excitement of last
year drew her back, she said, and she came with wine-
infused desserts created just for this event: chocolatecake with a merlot-infused custard and a vanilla cake
with a white zinfandel-infused mousse.
SprinklesPareve mocha ice cream, Kedem grape juice sorbet
offered a sweet respite for palates overwhelmed by
savory meats. The Sprinkles team is just happy to
meet people at KFWE, co-owner Ari Hoffman said.
Sprinkles makes pareve ice creams and sorbets from
its Hackensack-based factory for its ive stores in the
metro area.
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Local
16 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
Ma’ayanot dinner set for March 7Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in
Teaneck will hold its annual scholarship
dinner on Saturday, March 7, at Congrega-
tion Keter Torah in Teaneck. Seven people
will be honored during the evening.
Rena and Menachem Schnaidman will
receive the Keter Shem Tov award for
their commitment to Ma’ayanot’s mission,
growth, and success. Rena Schnai dman
has been an active Parent Council mem-
ber, sta rte d an ear ly versio n of the
school’s Parnes Hayom program, served
on the Ma’ayanot’s Middle States Accred-
itation Committee, and is a supporter of
the school’s Adult Education Program.
Menachem Schnaidman has served on
Ma’ayanot’s executive board, has been
its inancial secretary and president, and
has sat on the inance and development
committees.
Chani and Rabbi David Moss will receive
the Amudei Ma’ayanot award for their
commitment to ensuring a Ma’ayanot
education is available to all, regardless
of inancial need. He has worked on the
school’s annual dinner committee for
many years and is chair of the school’s
Menachem and Rena Schnaidman Rabbi David and Chani Moss Ari and Sharon Wieder Rabbi Donny Besser
Ben Porat Yosef students attend U.N. ceremony marking Holocaust Junior high students at Ben Porat Yosef
in Paramus visited the United Nations last
month, where they heard Israeli President
Reuven Rivlin and others mark the Inter-
national Day of Commemoration in Mem-
ory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
In addition to hearing President Riv-
lin, who delivered part of his speech in
Hebrew, the students listened to presen-
tations by United Nations Secretary-Gen-
eral Ban Ki-Moon, Holocaust survivor Jona
Laks, and the Holocaust Educational Trust
ambassador from the United Kingdom,
Charlotte Cohen.The students were particularly taken
by Mrs. Laks’ story and message. She
implored them, as part of the next genera-
tion, to take seriously their responsibility
never to let this dark chapter in history
repeat itself.
“The Holocaust didn’t have to hap-
pen then, and we have to make sure that
it does not happen in our generation,”
sixth-grader Aliza Cohn of Bergenield
said. “We have the responsibility to make
sure of that.”
The students were also moved by Ms.
Cohen, 17, who is a youth adviser to the
United Kingdom Holocaust Commission.
She was appointed to that position by Prime
Minister David Cameron. The students felt
empowered listening to a person close to
their own age speak in front of a large audi-
ence about tolerance, acceptance, and the
signiicance of education in countering neg-
ative stereotypes and impressions.
Attending this ceremony gave the stu-
dents a sense of history and also inspired
them to realize their own ability to impact
the world. “It was amazing to sit in t
same room where so many importa
decisions happened in our history,
hear how people sympathize with the h
tory of the Jewish people, and to gain
understanding of how we can make a d
ference,” eighth-grader Ariel Chechik
Bergenield said.
Teaneck shul honors Project Ezra guestsCongregation Beth Sholom in
Teaneck welcomed more 50
guests from Project Ezra, an inde-
pendent, nonproit grassrootsorganization serving the frail
elderly on New York’s Lower East
Side. More than 30 volunteers,
from ages 6 to 76, helped serve
lunch and spend time with the
guests. Entertainment was by the
Bergen County chapter of HaZa-
mir: the International Jewish High
School Choir, as well as Cantor
Estelle Epstein, Glenn Shepard,
and Rabbi Ned Soltz.
development committee. She has been
member of the board and the executi
board, where she is a vice president; s
also chairs both the governance and nom
nating committees.
Sharon and Ari Wieder are being reco
nized as Parents of the Year for their devtion to enhancing Ma’ayanot’s academ
community. Ari Weider has served on t
board and Sharon has been an active P
ent Council member, where she served
vice president for two years. They ha
worked together on the school’s annu
dinner and recruitment committees.
Rabbi Donny Besser, the school’s mas
giach ruchani and Talmud and hal ac
teacher, will receive the Teacher of t
Year award.
All funds raised will help underwri
Ma’ayanot’s scholarship program, whi
awarded more than $1 million to famil
in inancial need this iscal year. For info
mation, email Pam Ennis at ennisp@ma
anot.org or call (201) 8334307, ext. 265.
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Loca
JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13, 2015
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FRANCINE AND AARON STEIN
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Friends of IDF to hearwounded copter pilotThe New Jersey chapter of Friends of the IDF will gather
on Thursday, February 19, at 8 p.m. at Congregation
B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick. Noam Gershony, a
veteran of the second Lebanon war, who won a gold
medal in wheelchair tennis at the 2012 Paralympics, is
the guest speaker. He was severely wounded while serv-
ing as an Israel Defense Forces Apache helicopter pilot.Today, Mr. Gershony travels the world, sharing his
triumphs, and serving as an inspiration. The shul is at
1001 Finnegan Lane. For information, emai l FIDF’s New
Jersey director, Howard Gases, at Howard.Gases@idf.
org, or call him at (646) 2749650.
Presidents’ Day service will featureGettysburg Address in Hebrew
Temple Emanuel of North Jersey will
hold its second annual Presidents Day
service on Monday, February 16, at 8:30a.m., followed by breakfast. The tradi-
tional service will include the Gettysburg
Address, translated into Hebrew, set to
haftarah trope, and chanted, in tribute
to the prophetic quality and moral clar-
ity of Lincoln’s words and leadership.
Mayor Paul Aronsohn of Ridgewood,
State Senator Loretta Weinberg, Bergen
County Freeholder David Ganz, Bergen
County Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur, NJ
State Assemblyman Robert Auth, and
Mayor Steven Fulop of Jersey City all
are expected to be at the service. Robert
Yudin, the chair of the Bergen County
Republican Organization, and that body’s
executive director, Karen O’Shea, will be
there as well. Guests will offer greeting
the breakfast or take roles in the servi
itself.
The shul’s Torahs adorned in red,
white, and blue.
Holocaust memorial observanceneeds candle-lighting familiesThe Jewish Community Council of Greater
Teaneck will hold its annual observance of
Yom Hashoah on Thursday, April 16, at 7:30
p.m. at Teaneck High School. The keynotespeakers, Nancy and Howard Kleinberg,
met in Bergen-Belsen, where Nancy saved
Howard’s life. For up-to-date information on
the memorial, go to www.teaneckyomhas-
hoa.org. A reception for survivors and their
families will be held at 6.
The Holocaust Commemoration Com-
mittee is looking for six families to serve as
candle lighters in the program. To qualify,
there must be representatives of three gen-erations, including a survivor, from each
family who are willing and able to partici-
pate. For information and to participate,
call Regina Koenig at (201) 3871511 or email
Noam Gershony
COURTESY FIDF
Keep us informedWe welcome photos of community events. Photosmust be high resolution jpg files. Please include adetailed caption and a daytime telephone. Mailedphotos will only be returned with a self-addressedstamped envelope. Not every photo will be published.
[email protected] NJ Jewish Media Group1086 Teaneck Rd., Teaneck, NJ 07666(201) 837-8818
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Editor EmeritaRebecca Kaplan Boroson
Jewish experiences
First, please permit me to write in the
irst person. I could say that we have
had a busy weekend going from one
extraordinary Jewish experience
to the other — and that would be accurate,
because my husband went with me — but the
implied we of that sentence sounds more gran-
diose than is good for me. (Or for us.)
Assuming that permission is granted, please
let me tell you about my weekend.
From Friday night to motzei Shabbat, my
husband and I joined 350 others at the Shabba-
ton at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck.
You may say that the Conservative move-
ment, to which Beth Sholom belongs, is in
great trouble. United Synagogue, which speaks
for its shuls, is ever-shrinking and seems inca-pable of attracting any but the most unfavor-
able publicity; Koach, its college program, was
discontinued, and USY, its jewel, has gotten
itself into trouble over a clumsily worded state-
ment about interdating.
But none of that resonates in any way at
Beth Sholom.
The Shabbaton offered three time slots
for classes. Altogether, including sessions for
kids, there were 48 separate meetings. Each
one was taught by a shul member. And the
wild profusion of riches overwhelmed. Andy
Silow-Carroll on Jewish jokes. Rabbi Eliezer
Diamond on irony in Talmud. Rabbi Rebecca
Sirbu on the makeup of the Jewish community.
Dr. Benjamin Sommer on the biblical origins of
kabbalistic theory. Dr. Eitan Fishbane on mysti-
cism. Rabbi Cathy Felix on Jews in the Civil War.
And that, by the way, was a random list of
offerings.
Shabbat included performances by the chil-
dren’s choir, Tziporei Shalom, as well as one
by the adults, and a song they sang together. It
ended with four personal stories, each extraor-
dinarily moving, culminating in Irina Katz’s
personal story of leaving the Soviet Union,
going irst to Israel and then to Fair Lawn. We
all sat open-mouthed, barely breathing as she
spoke.
Every shul claims to be warm and welcom-
ing; that is, in fact, practically a mantra, voiced
even by places that are frigidly off-putting.
Beth Sholom truly is those things, and intellec-tually and spiritually compelling as well.
That was my irst weekend experience.
Next came the panel at B’nai Jeshurun in
Manhattan, which attracted many people from
this side of the river to listen to second-wave
Jewish feminists Judith Plaskow and Letty Cot-
tin Pogrebin, Orthodox feminist Elana Sztok-
man, Orthodox Rabba Sara Hurwitz, and Stern
College’s Professor Joy Ladin, the irst (and I
assume the only) openly transgender woman
to teach at an Orthodox institution, among
many others.
It provided a wide-ranging exposure to ideas
being widely discussed, debated, even iercely
argued in the Jewish world right now.
Last, we went to the dinner honoring the
Sinai Schools. The Sinai program takes stu-
dents with disabilities and places them inmainstream Jewish schools while educating
them using programs tailor-made for each
child. It is an extraordinary model, inclusive as
appropriate and separate as necessary, done
with love, care, and a huge amount of thought.
The expertly made videos shown through-
out the presentation — which was mercifully
short and therefore breathtakingly tasteful —
were particularly moving because they man-
aged the dificult balance between kindness
and sugarcoating. The videos did not down-
play the dificulties, but they gave hope.
Perhaps the most heartrending of all the
wrenching videos was the story of Nathaniel
Richman Cohen, who died in 2007, when he
was 21. Nathaniel had suffered from Duch-
enne muscular dystrophy, a progressive dis-
ease that doomed him to an early death. Hisparents knew that, but they never gave up
on him. They fought for him and loved him.
Sinai Schools helped Nathaniel get meaning,
purpose, friendship, community, and struc-
ture, just as it does for all its students. Just as
any good school does.
The dinner drew together a huge range
of people, mainly but not exclusively from
the local Orthodox world. In fact, you could
make the argument that the dinner itself
modeled on a small scale the inclusion/sep-
arateness dynamic that makes the school so
strong.
Three communities. Each different, each
strong, each proud, each wonderful.
-JP
KEEPING THE FAITH
The mediais not themessage,it’s the mess
Topping the news this ye
and especially this week
— the news.
That is not good new
for anyone, because we depend o
the media to be the great safeguar
of democracy.
The recent Ebola scare is an exc
lent example. For several wee
Ebola-related reports dominat
the news, including such broadc
come-ons as “how to avoid contraing Ebola on subways and in ele
tors — at 11.”
News outlets knew there th
was no possibility of an Ebola e
demic, and every story carried
throwaway line saying so, but t
barrage of Ebola-related stories a
how they were played or display
scared so many people that near
40 percent of Americans feared
Ebola outbreak was imminent. Th
wrote Maggie Fox, a senior heal
writer for NBC News, on NBC’s w
site, “might be our fault. Us, as
the news media, and the enterta
ment media.”
The Ebola scare was good for r
ings, which translates into proiIn the news business, business
business.
We often see this when it com
to weather reporting — and I do n
mean the recent mostly respo
sible warnings about a monst
storm. I refer, instead, to the kin
of broadcast come-ons used in t
Ebola scare: “There’s a hurrican
in the forecast — at 11”; “A storm
Shammai Engelmayer is rabbi of
Temple Israel Community Center
| Congregation Heichal Yisrael in
Cliffside Park and Temple Beth El
of North Bergen.
18 JEWISH STANDARD FEBRUARY 13 , 2015
Vaccinate your kids
We understand why someparents are afraid of getting
their children vaccinated.
First, it’s unpleasant. It
scares small children, and it hurts them, and
sometimes they run low-grade fevers for the
next day or so, and it makes them crabby. Chil-
dren come to distrust their doctors and their
ofices because they get hurt there. All in all,
it’s an experience parents would like to avoid.
Secondly, although the myth that vaccines
cause autism has been roundly debunked, it
lingers (particularly because often, and coin-
cidentally, symptoms of autism surface just
around the time children are vaccinated).
There is so much that is unpredictable andscary about raising children. Having a child
turn out somehow to be … off … is a huge fear.
It is better to blame it on an outside experi-
ence, something pushed on you, than it is to
think that it’s in your genes, or in your environ-
ment, or somehow in your stars.
Thirdly, few of us — and certainly no one
young enough to have a child young enough
to vaccinate — remember how serious measles
could be. We have no innate fear of it. So it’s
spotty. Big deal. Stay out of school a few days,
try not to scratch, and it’s over. The truth that
measles can kill, and can leave some of its liv-
ing victims brain-damaged, seems like a scare
tactic, even though it’s the truth.
But the unpleasantness passes quickly, vac-
cines do not cause autism, and measles do kill.
It is a Jewish value to take care of yourselfand your children, and of the larger commu-
nity. In this case, although the effort is made
to put those two at odds with each other — a
parent’s right not to vaccinate is at war with
the community’s right to herd immunity — that
is not right. Parents have the responsibility not
to fall for anti-science conspiracy theories that
tell them that to vaccinate their children is to
give in to some outlandish plot. Parents have a
responsibility to themselves, to their children,
and to their community that demands that
they vaccinate their children.
We hope that our community takes that
responsibility to heart. —JP
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Opinion
commute in the morn-
ing for some — at 11.”
Too often, a hurricane is
in the forecast, but it is
so far offshore that the
only thing we will expe-
rience is some mild rain.As for that stormy com-
mute, it will happen —
somewhere else.
Then there is the
Brian Williams news
cycle circus. The NBC
Nightly News anchor and managing
editor was caught in a 12-year-old lie
meant to augment his credibility as a
fearless reporter — that he was on a
Chinook helicopter that took ire in
Iraq in 2003. He was an hour away
from the attack. Williams has been
suspended without pay for six months
by NBC News.
Hyped-up come-ons and souped-
up “reporting creds” are not the most
dangerous concern, however. High inthe news recently — and especially in
the last week, as the number of cases
climbed above 100, including the most
recent addition of a 1-year-old Jersey
City child — is the current measles out-
break, which began in December.
Measles was supposed to be just a
bad distant memory in the United
States. That it may be making a come-
back, we are told by nearl y every
responsible source, is because an
increasing number of parents have
refused to allow their children to be
vaccinated. They base their objections
mainly on a 1998 study that was pub-
lished in the British medical journal
the Lancet. The study of just 12 chil-
dren purported to show a correlation between the measles vaccine (which
also protects against mumps and
rubella, or “German measles”) and
autism.
The study was under attack from
the time it was published. In 2010, it
was proven an “elaborate fraud,” as
another British medical journal, BMJ,
put it following its own investigation
in 2011. Nevertheless, as BMJ said in
an editorial, “the damage to public
health continues,” in part “fueled by
unbalanced media reporting….”
There is no “vaccine controversy.”
The measles vaccine does not cause
autism in anyone. That is the only
thing the media should report. It is
just not what sells newspapers andspikes broadcast ratings. Anti-vac-
cine proponents continue to per-
petuate the autism myth virtually
unchallenged in print and on the air.
Equally dangerous — or perhaps
even more so because of the role it
surely plays in keeping peace from
break ing out betwe en Israe lis and
Palestinians — is the story told in
an article recently published by
online in Tablet. Written by a former
reporter for the Asso-
ciated Press, Matti
Friedman, the article
exposed how outright
hostility towards Israel
— and Jews — at the AP
and other major mediaresults in routine dis-
tort ions and fa lse
reporting that demon-
izes Israel and fuels the
growing anti-Isra