JSTANDARD.

COM
2013 83
DECEMBER 27, 2013
VOL. LXXXIII NO. 16 $1.00
SCHECHTER OFFERS MENU OF MINYANS page 6
REMEMBERING EDGAR BRONFMAN page 10
FIGHTING WARILY FOR A FREE UKRAINE page 26
HEBREW DIALOGUE IS HIGHLIGHT OF HANDLE page 33
the year
in review
page 20
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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JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 3
JS-3*
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NOSHES ...................................................5
OPINION ................................................ 16
COVER STORY .................................... 20
TORAH COMMENTARY .................... 31
CROSSWORD PUZZLE .................... 32
ARTS AND CULTURE........................ 33
CALENDAR .......................................... 34
OBITUARIES ........................................ 37
CLASSIFIEDS ...................................... 38
GALLERY ..............................................40
REAL ESTATE ....................................... 41
For convenient home delivery,
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CONTENTS
LETTERS
Each child, having diligently practiced, reads a
passuk directly from a Torah scroll.
RUTH ROTH, DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS/PR, BEN PORAT YOSEF, PARAMUS
F.Y.I.
Single-malt whiskey
from the Holy Land
The year is 2014, and
youre in search of a
traditional, fine single-malt
whiskey.
Pick the bottle with the
logo of a cow decked out
in honey-bee colors. Take
a look at the label youll
be delighted to find this
Highlands-inspired flavorful
whiskey comes from Israel
and is kosher.
The Milk & Honey
Distillery Israels first
single malt whiskey
distillery is not a fantasy.
The Israeli spirit enthusiasts
behind it are so serious
about their traditional craft
distillery that theyve invested nearly
$1 million of their own funds and ran a
crowd-sourcing campaign for another
$65,000.
We are dedicated to using traditional
craft distilling techniques to make a
high-quality whiskey in the Holy Land.
Israeli whiskey that we can all be proud
of, according to the Milk & Honey
pact on the teams website.
Theyve got a seven-meter-tall copper
3,500 liter still now being handcrafted
in Germany and another handmade
9,000 liter wash still waiting to be used
in a warehouse near the port of Ashdod.
And while the Israeli team is made
up of whiskey enthusiasts, they made
sure to hire a master distiller, the world
renowned James (Jim) Swan. Mr. Swan,
who hails from Glasgow, has detailed
knowledge about making the golden
beverage and is the leading expert on
whiskey production in warmer climates.
It will be a signature single-malt
whiskey not peaty, but rich flavorful
Speyside-style, Mr. Swan said. The
ingredients used in producing the
whiskey will be carefully selected and
mostly locally sourced.
Simon Fried, co-founder of Milk &
Honey Distillery, was out drinking with
five other whiskey devotees in 2012
when one of them threw out the idea
that Israel should have its own whiskey.
That proposal sparked grander plans,
and today the six-member team is
putting final touches on blueprints for
a distillery and visitors center near
Mikhmoret, about 30 minutes north of
Tel Aviv.
Mr. Fried said the traditional craft
whiskey distillery will make use of local
ingredients where possible, without
going too far off on a tangent.
Were whiskey geeks; we want to
play it straight and narrow, he said.
We love whiskey so much and
we think its a great way to project
something different outwards from
Israel, he continued. Weve seen how
Israeli wine has done great things for
Israels reputation on the world stage,
and wed love our whiskey to achieve
the same.
The Milk & Honey team dedicates
part of its website to Mary the
Jewess (aka Maria Prophetissima,
Maria Prophetissa, Mary Prophetissa,
Miriam the Prophetess). While the first
fermentation and distillation traces
back to Hellenistic Egypt, it seems
that Mary estimated to have lived
between the first and third centuries
of the Common Era is considered
the first non-fictitious alchemist in the
Western world.
Her story appears in the works of
the Gnostic Christian writer Zosimos
of Panopolis. Zosimos credits Mary the
Jewess as the inventor of the tribikos,
the first distilling equipment.
VIVA SARAH PRESS / ISRAEL21C.ORG
Candlelighting: Friday, December 27, 4:16 p.m.
Shabbat ends: Saturday, December 28, 5:21 p.m.
Same-sex penguin couple
nests together in Israeli zoo
lDashik and Yehuda, two male grif-
fon vultures, first made headlines
when they raised surrogate chicks to-
gether at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
back in 1999. Now, Suki and Chup-
chikoni, two female Jackass penguins,
are waving a new rainbow flag at the
Zoological Center Ramat Gan (Safari)
just outside of Tel Aviv.
Safari keepers say it was pretty
obvious that Suki was a female
because of her size. As soon as she
and Chupchikoni coupled up and
started collecting nesting materials
together, the zoo staff wrongly
assumed that Sukis black-footed
penguin companion was a male.
Penguins pair for life, and there was
no mistaking Suki and Chupchikonis
attraction to each other.
There is no way of telling a male
penguin from a female just by looking
at them, says Safari spokeswoman
Sagit Horowitz. But usually the
keepers can guess the gender by size
and behavior.
It was an Israeli veterinary students
research on diagnosing avian malaria
that outed Suki and Chupchikoni.
Blood samples taken from the
South African penguins showed that
Chupchikoni also was a female.
We had no doubt about Suki, as
she is quite small, said Tamuz Setti,
head of the Safari Avian Department.
The Safari supports the new couple,
and even promoted their status with a
press release and photos.
This is our first lesbian animal
couple at the Safari, Ms. Setti said.
And because there are a few young
available males in the colony, we are
certain that this is a choice they made
to be together, and not a coupling by
default.
VIVA SARAH PRESS / ISRAEL21C.ORG
COVER PHOTO BY JERRY SZUBIN
On a wing and a prayer briefly
lTravelers on El Al last week were
surprised to hear the recitation of
Tefilat Haderech the travelers
prayer over the loudspeaker as
they entered the plane and once
again as the plane was taxiing to
its takeoff position, Yedioth Aha-
ronot reported.
An airline employee told Yedioth
that about two years ago, the
company placed a sign with the
text of the Travelers Prayer at
the entrance, and passengers
did not complain because they
barely noticed it. But now were
receiving complaints from the air
crews and the passengers, the El
Al employee said.
El Al responded to the
complaints by saying that playing
the prayer on a planes public
address system was initiated by
the company chaplain, Rabbi
Yochanan Chayut.
They also announced that the
prayer would be removed by the
end of the week. Rabbi Chayut was
ordered to attend a hearing before
the company brass on his decision.
YORI YANOVER
Simon Fried is buying equipment for the Milk &
Honey Distillery.
Suki and Chupchikoni, two female
Jackass penguins, are waving a new
rainbow flag at the Ramat Gan Zoo-
logical Center.
4 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-4
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Local
6 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-6*
Other paths to God
Schechter students enjoy elective minyanim
LARRY YUDELSON
C
an baseball be a path to God?
Some students at the Solo-
mon Schechter Day School of
Bergen County in New Milford
are exploring that possibility.
The school has begun supplement-
ing the schools traditional daily prayer
services by offering seventh and eighth
graders the chance to explore different
avenues of spirituality every Tuesday
and Wednesday morning.
The schools rabbi, Fred Elias, leads a
group talking about the religious values
that can be found in the great moments
of baseball. Students in Minyan in the
Gan pray in the schools garden when
the weather allows it, and they are devel-
oping an environmental siddur. In the
Five Senses minyan, students experi-
ence meditation, yoga, and Zumba, and
a music minyan has created a school wor-
ship band.
The idea is to find different ways upon
which the students can connect things
they love to do with tefillah that is,
with prayer Rabbi Elias said.
Before the discussions, students pray
an abbreviated service, which includes
the most important prayers.
And on the other three days of the
week, the students join for the traditional
full morning prayer service.
Behind the notion of offering untra-
ditional minyanim is the ancient con-
flict between structure and spiritual-
ity in prayer or in Hebrew, keva and
kavana. We use the alternative minya-
nim as a complement to the keva por-
tion, explained Ilan Marans, the schools
music and video specialist.
In effect, the school is swapping
some of the words of the prayer book
for a chance to have students focus on
the underlying questions of God and
meaning.
It turns out that the emphasis on kava-
nah, spirituality, two days a week pays
dividends on the days when the worship
fully conforms to the keva, the tradi-
tional structure.
The students show a certain higher
level appreciation for the time and space
that we are in our regular minyan with
the traditional davening, he said.
They feel stronger connections that
come out with greater participation, he
said. That connection can be seen in an
increased desire to take on leadership
roles in the regular minyan.
The students also have taken a lead-
ership role in thinking up new ideas for
minyanim that are scheduled to start in
the spring semester.
One new group, which will integrate
contemporary fiction, will be called the
ShahaLit a play on Shaharit, the name
of the morning service, which the school
spells without the c and look at con-
temporary fiction; the other, ShahaShir,
will bring in Israeli songs.
Mr. Marans leads the musical group,
which is learning to play tunes from the
liturgy so that in the end we can bring
our Shacharit Live Band to our main min-
yan as an accompaniment to the regular
service.
The group includes a drummer, two
saxophone players, a trumpet player,
and a student who doesnt really have
experience playing but plays a hand
drum during lessons, Mr. Marans said.
Theyve been working on a tune for
the lines at the conclusion of the Shmone
Esrei, practicing making that as perfect
as we can, he said.
Theyve also spent time improvising,
and talking about how music can com-
municate in a spiritual way.
Part of the purpose is to allow kids
to experiment with how they approach
their spirituality in different mediums,
Mr. Marans added.
Rabbi Elias prayer group, by contrast,
is by the book the book in this case
being Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing
Beyond the Game, which looks at the
spiritual dimension of the game.
When he picked up the book in June,
he wondered whether he could start a
minyan around the concept, where
kids look at elements of sacred time and
sacred space as they appear in baseball.
While the book itself has allusions to
Christian faith and belief, it has a number
of reflections on Jewish faith and belief
as well. It has really engaged some of
our kids who are very enthusiastic about
sports, he said.
Last week, one of the authors of the
book, Peter J. Schwartz, came to the
school to talk about it.
The Schechter educators empha-
size that all this is a supplement, not a
replacement, for traditional services,
so dont go replacing your synagogue
membership with season tickets to the
Yankees.
While gathering together at the base-
ball field may offer a spiritual experi-
ence, Rabbi Elias said, we also believe
in the sanctity of people gathered in the
purpose of spirituality. It takes place at a
different religious and elevated level in a
synagogue community, he said.
Abe Teicher plays guitar during Shaharit Live, one of five elective minyanim at
the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County.
PHOTOS COURTESY SSDS OF BERGEN COUNTY
The schools rabbi, Fred Elias, shows students a video as part of the Baseball
as a Road to God minyan.
Students pray outdoors in Schechters organic teaching garden as part of the
Minyan in the Gan minyan.
Local
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 7
JS-7*

Shaar Communities
Choose Your Gate. Open Your Soul. Find Your Community.

Upcoming Events:

Rosh Chodesh Learning Series
Drink & Think, $25 per person
Tuesday, January 7, 2014, 8:0010:00 pm, $25 per person
At a private home in Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Discussion of Sex Trafficking and Slavery in America today, with special guest Debra
Brown Steinberg, Attorney and founder of the website
VS: Confronting Modern Slavery in America, award-winning authority on the issue

Parents of LGBTQ Teens
Tuesday, January 14, 2014, 7:30 pm
At a private home in Tenafly
New Jerseys first Jewish LGBTQ teen initiative, parents gather to discuss issues
relevant to their children and families, explore how to best engage and support
their teens as well to create nurturing and meaningful bonds as parents in a safe
and trusting setting.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE!
January 24, 2014, 6:30pm, $35 per person
Call for location details.
Enjoy music-filled, spiritual Shabbat services followed by a delicious dinner.
Commemorating the yartzeit of Debbie Friedman zl.

Mother/Daughter Spa Shabbat
Friday, January 31 Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Lodge at Woodloch, Hawley, PA
Relax your body and refresh your soul in the height of luxury and the depths of
feeling.
For more information contact our Director of
Communities at joanne@shaarcommunities.org
Or visit our website www.shaarcommunities.org
2014 Benet Dinner
Please join us to support our
communitys school for Jewish children with special needs
HONORING
David & Marjorie Bernstein
GUESTS OF HONOR
Temimei Lev Award
William & Gail Hochman
Nedivei Lev Award
Aryeh & Arielle Sheinbein
Rigshei Lev Award
Maadan Caterers
Stuart Kahan & Yossie Markovic
Tovei Lev Award
Cantor Joseph & Beatrice Malovany
Yishrei Lev Award
Sunday Evening
FEBRUARY 9, 2014
Bufet Dinner at 5:15 PM
Program Promptly at 6:45 PM
MARRIOTT GLENPOINTE HOTEL
Teaneck, New Jersey
201-833-1134, ext. 105
www.sinaidinner.org/support
Please remember us in your year-end charitable giving
School auction to benefit
hospitalized child
Moriah students rally
to support a beloved family
LOIS GOLDRICH
F
or the last 11 years, Englewoods
Moriah School has held a student
council goods and services auc-
tion at the end of Chanukah to
raise funds for a worthy cause.
According to Rabbi Akiva Wolk, director
of student programming for the middle
school, while students always enjoy the
event and participate enthusiastically, this
year was especially meaningful. It benefits
a family the students know and, more
specifically, it helps one little girl.
Rabbi Chaim Poupko, assistant rabbi of
Ahavath Torah in Englewood a beloved
rabbi to many of our students has a
daughter, Chana, diagnosed with cancer,
said Erik Kessler, Moriahs director of
admissions and communications.
The students wanted to do something
to help the family. This was a way to help
them.
One of our student council representa-
tives, whose family is close to the Poupko
family mentioned that Chana [is living]
on the pediatric oncology floor of Hacken-
sack Hospital, Rabbi Wolk said.
The unit recently got a Wunderwagon, a
colorful animal-shaped wagon that can be
used to pull children around the hospital.
Apparently, it was a big hit.
All the kids were very excited, Rabbi
Wolk said. Everyone wanted to play with
it.
The Moriah student council member
said she thought it would be a good idea
to focus on raising money for another
Wunderwagon to donate to the hospital so
that the children and especially Chana
could use it.
The idea was embraced immediately,
and students bid in record numbers to
achieve the goal. In the end, the auction,
with raffle tickets priced at $1 each, raised
$2,400 from the middle school in one day
the most successful weve been since its
inception, Rabbi Wolk said. Based on
the prices, we hope to purchase three of
Moriahs two eighth-grade chesed coordinators, Julia Blinder, left, and Atarah
Kaner, helped Rabbi Wolk organize and execute the auction. MORIAH SCHOOL
SEE AUCTION PAGE 24
Local
8 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-8*
New mikvah to open in Teaneck
At south end of town, it will be open Friday nights
JUNE GLAZER
B
ecause the Jewish population in Teaneck and
surrounding towns has been growing for
three decades, the idea of a Friday-night mik-
vah south of Route 4 has been on the drawing
board for nearly 20 years.
That need is expected to be met next month, when,
rains permitting, a satellite mikvah opens in the town-
ship on Sterling Place.
While the facility is complete, 1,100 gallons of pure
rainwater must be collected before the mikvah can func-
tion, Rabbi Larry Rothwachs said. Thats why the open-
ing date is uncertain.
Rabbi Rothwachs, spiritual leader of Congregation
Beth Aaron in Teaneck, is point rabbi for the new
facility, which is about two miles south of the main mik-
vah, on Windsor Road.
For an immersion to be kosher, the mikvah must con-
tain pure rainwater that never has been contained in a
receptacle. The rainwater must be collected in a bohr,
or in-ground collecting pool, and ultimately will mix
with regular, filtered water in the immersion pool. Rabbi
Rothwachs estimates that as of this writing, the bohr
holds about half that amount.
The new mikvah, containing one immersion pool, five
preparation rooms, and one waiting area, is
slated for use only on erev Shabbat Friday
nights and erev yom tov an evening on
which a holiday begins. Groundbreaking for
the project took place last year, on the heels
of a major renovation of Teanecks main
mikvah.
When we began the Windsor Road renova-
tion, we decided the time had come, and we
would focus next on building a mikvah for
the south side of town, said Miriam Greens-
pan, president of the Teaneck Mikvah Asso-
ciation. The Windsor Road mikvah is also
available for Friday night and yom tov use,
but to get there could be a three-mile walk
for some women, said Greenspan. That is
an issue because most of the women who
use the mikvah do not drive during those
times.
There are as many as 600 families on the south side
of Route 4, from which this new mikvah will draw, said
Rachelle Mandelbaum, the Teaneck Mikvah Associa-
tion board member who is in charge of the project. She
oversaw its various stages, including finding and buying
the property from the Teaneck Jewish Center, hiring an
architect, managing the construction, and shepherding
the project through the Teaneck zoning process.
While there are mikvahs in Englewood, Fair Lawn,
Fort Lee, Paramus, Passaic, and Tenafly, the Sterling
Place mikvah is the only one in the area built specifi-
cally with the restricted use in mind. Mandelbaum said
she toured eight of the nearly two dozen Friday-night
mikvahs in Monsey with Monsey mikvah board member
Adeena Mayerfeld before the Teaneck project began.
In a statement, she said: The opening of the Friday
night mikvah represents a momentous time in our mik-
vahs history and in our community. It is the result of
the hard work of many people over many years and was
truly a team effort. We are extremely grateful to Mir-
iam Greenspan and the board of the Teaneck Mikvah
Association for their commitment to the project and for
their assistance in bringing it to fruition.
We thank our local rabbonim for their support and
guidance through the process and to our contractor, Eli
Kolb, for his attention to detail, expertise, and going
above and beyond to ensure the completion of the proj-
ect to the highest standard.
Rabbi Rothwachs noted the halachic injunction that
building a mikvah takes precedence over building a
house of worship. While there is no shortage of syna-
gogues in Teaneck, he said it is appropriate to go to great
lengths with regard to a woman fulfilling the mitzvah of
tvilla, or immersion in a mikvah, firstly because it is a
religious duty.
But also, taharat hamishpacha the laws of fam-
ily purity, which mandate that a woman immerse in a
mikvah after her menstrual period ends before she can
resume intimate relations with her husband serve to
refresh the intimate relationship between husband and
wife, and that relationship is the foundation upon which
family life is built.
Given the religious and emotional characteristics of
the mitzvah, he said, It is best to fulfill it in the most
optimal way. So, when it happens that a womans time
to go to the mikvah is Friday night, we dont want incon-
venience to be a reason for delay.
Additionally, Judaism views marriage and intimacy as
matters of holiness, and Shabbos is the holiest day of the
year, he continued. So it stands to reason that there
really is no more appropriate time to celebrate this
aspect of our holy lives than on Shabbos. Mikvah aside,
our rabbis tell us that marital intimacy is encouraged
on Friday night. Its the fulfillment of the greater goal of
Shabbos, which is to instill our lives with holiness.
Until the water is collected, the mikvah will remain
closed, and as proscribed by halachah, the doors will
be taped shut. That is to ensure that no one enters and
nothing can contaminate the water. In Teaneck, that is
more a theoretical than an actual concern, Rabbi Roth-
wachs said. Based on recent and predicted weather pat-
terns, he hopes the mikvah will be open within the next
month.
Were just waiting for rain, he said.
In a related development, about 800 women honored
Miriam Feman, the head attendant at the Winsdor Road
mikvah, when she was feted in November for 27 years
of service to the community. Held at Congregation Keter
Torah in Teaneck, the women-only fundraising event
paid tribute to the Iranian-born Teaneck woman, who
escaped her native country alone in 1979, when she was
16. That was on the eve of the Iranian revolution and
the Shahs downfall. A video interview with Ms. Feman
recounted her harrowing journey and the miracles that
led her to safety.
Miriam Feman and her husband, Rabbi Dov Feman.
The new mikvah at Sterling Place in Teaneck will
open as soon as it has collected enough rainwater.
JS-9
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 9
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to nd out more.
Local
10 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-10*
Local memories of Edgar Bronfman
Arthur Hertzbergs daughter talks about her fathers friend
JOANNE PALMER
Edgar Bronfman, who died on Saturday
at 84, was a very rich man, insulated
from most of us by the huge fortune he
inherited, shepherded, and increased.
Susan Hertzberg of Haworth remem-
bers him not just as an icon, but also as
a person.
Ms. Hertzberg is the younger daugh-
ter of the late Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg.
She grew up in Englewood, where for
decades her father was rabbi of Temple
Emanu-el there. (It since has moved to
Closter.) The two men, Mr. Bronfman
physically imposing, elegant, and pow-
erful, and Rabbi Hertzberg much smaller
but a towering intellect, both supremely
self-confident that their way of looking
at the world was the only correct way to
see it, worked together for many years.
Ms. Hertzberg saw much of that work
first-hand.
Dad and Edgar got to know each
other through their work in major Jew-
ish organizations in the 1970s, she said.
Dad was involved in the American Jew-
ish Congress, and later in the World
Jewish Congress, and Edgar became its
chair.
The two men were drawn together
because each had reached the pinnacle
of his own world, and they recognized
each other from neighboring mountain-
tops. They found that they had a lot of
interests in common, she continued.
Edgar hadnt really had much of a Jew-
ish education, and he grew to rely on my
father for his classical Jewish knowledge.
They spent a lot of time together, dis-
cussing the issues of the day; as a prag-
matic businessman, Edgar had a lot of
interesting and novel ideals about how to
approach some longstanding problems
in American Jewish society, particularly
the disaffection of younger people with
organized synagogue-based religion as a
source of Jewish identity.
Given Mr. Bronfmans continuing
focus on how to engage young people,
Ms. Hertzberg said, it made sense that
he chose to create the Bronfman Youth
Fellowship in Israel, and later to become
involved actively in Hillel. That grew
out of Edgars desire to enlarge the Jew-
ish perspective of young people in Amer-
ica, who were born Jewish but didnt feel
Jewish.
Edgar observed a disengagement
in Judaism on the part of kids who had
gone to Hebrew school in the 1960s and
70s, until bar mitzvah, and then drifted
away, she continued.
So he looked for tools to bring these
young people back. One of his great
thoughts was to give young people the
experience of going to Israel as a way of
stimulating their interest in the Jewish
religion, Jewish culture, and support of
Israel.
The two men collaborated in forming
a minyan where both would celebrate
the High Holy Days. After my father
retired as a pulpit rabbi, he wanted a
shul in which he would feel comfortable
praying, Ms. Hertzberg said. Edgar too
wanted to be able to feel comfortable.
So the two hatched a small, invitation-
only minyan for their family and some
friends.
The minyan met three times a year;
Mr. Bronfman always managed to find
a public space that was appropriately
Edgar Bronfman, philanthropist and
Jewish communal leader, dies at 84
JTA STAFF
NEW YORK Edgar Bronfman, the billion-
aire former beverage magnate and leading
Jewish philanthropist, died on Saturday.
He was 84 years old.
As the longtime president of the World
Jewish Congress, Mr. Bronfman fought for
Jewish rights worldwide and led the suc-
cessful fight to secure more than a billion
dollars in restitution from Swiss banks
for Holocaust victims and their heirs. As
a philanthropist, Mr. Bronfman took the
lead in creating and funding many efforts
to strengthen Jewish identity among
young people.
According to a statement, he died peace-
fully at his home in New York, surrounded
by family.
Mr. Bronfman spent the 1950s and 1960s
working with his father, Samuel, at Sea-
gram Ltd., the familys beverage business.
He became chairman of the company in
1971, the year of his fathers death.
Just a year earlier, in 1970, Mr. Bronfman
took part in a delegation to Russia to lobby
the Kremlin for greater rights for Jews in
the Soviet Union. He would later credit the
trip with inspiring his increasing interest
in Judaism.
It was on those trips to Russia that my
curiosity was piqued, Mr. Bronfman said.
What is it about Judaism, I asked myself,
that has kept it alive through so much
adversity while so many other traditions
have disappeared. Curiosity soon turned
into something more, and that something
more has since turned into a lifelong
passion.
In 1981, Mr. Bronfman became the presi-
dent of the World Jewish Congress, step-
ping up the organizations activism on
behalf of Jewish communities around the
world. From his perch at the WJC, in addi-
tion to battling with the Swiss banks, he
continued the fight for Soviet Jewry, took
the lead in exposing Kurt Waldheims Nazi
past, and worked to improve Jewish rela-
tions with the Vatican. In 1991, he lobbied
President George H.W. Bush to push for
the rescission of the United Nations reso-
lution equating Zionism and racism.
In terms of defending Jews, Im a Jew,
Mr. Bronfman said in 2008. And I was in
a position to do so, so I did so.
Mr. Bronfmans final years as president
of WJC were marred by allegations of
financial irregularities revolving around
his most influential adviser on Jewish
political affairs, the organizations secre-
tary general, Rabbi Israel Singer. Mr. Bron-
fman never was implicated in any of the
financial allegations, but the controversy
and feuding surrounding his top aide dom-
inated the final years of his decades-long
stint as WJC president.
The office of then-New York Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer issued a report in
2006 that found no criminal offense, but
criticized the WJCs financial management,
and it ordered that Rabbi Singer be pro-
hibited from making financial decisions
in the organization. Mr. Bronfman initially
stood by Rabbi Singer before ultimately fir-
ing him in 2007. Several months later Mr.
Bronfman stepped down.
But he did not disappear from the public
stage. A staunch supporter of the Israeli-
Palestinian peace process, he continued
to be a vocal and public backer of liberal
politicians in the United States and Israel.
And as president of the Samuel Bronfman
Foundation, he dedicated most of his final
years to his Jewish philanthropic causes.
Arthur Hertzberg and Edgar Bronfman
Please join NCSY and 312 public
school students from across North
America at NCSYs Yarchei Kallah
Shabbat in New Jersey
DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
Bnai Yeshurun
Rabbi MicahGreenland
International Director, NCSY
Keter Torah
Rabbi MicahGreenland
International Director, NCSY
Ohr HaTorah
Rabbi YaakovGlasser
Director of Education, NCSY
Rinat Yisrael
Rabbi MosheBenovitz
Director, NCSY Kollel
Dean, NCSY Summer
Zichron Mordechai
Rabbi EthanKatz
Regional Director, NJ NCSY
Shabbat Morning
Friday Night
Bergen County Scholarship Dinner
HONORING
Rabbi Yaakov and Dr. Ruth Glasser
NCSY thanks Congregation Keter Torah and the Teaneck/Bergeneld
community for opening their synagogues and homes to the students
of NCSYs Yarchei Kallah.
www.ncsy.org
NCSY is the international
youth movement of the OU
YARCHEI
KALLAH
Shabbat of Inspiration
Words of Inspiration
SAVE THE DATE!
February 17, 2014
Keter Torah
600 Roemer Avenue
Teaneck, NJ
Yarchei Kallah is
sponsored in part by
NCSYs Ben Zakai
Honor Society
Sponsored in part by
Touros Lander Colleges
Local
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 11
JS-11*
sized and furnished to fit the minyan comfortably
and stylishly. It was a combination of services
and learning, Ms. Hertzberg said. There always
also was a Talmud lesson, discussion of different
prayers, and relating the liturgy to things going on
in the world.
The joke was that it was the favorite synagogue
that either of them ever had been affiliated with,
because there was no board of directors.
The minyan lasted for more than 10 years; eventu-
ally Rabbi Hertzbergs failing health made it impos-
sible for him to continue it.
Edgar Bronfman and her father did not always
get along easily, Ms. Hertzberg said. They would
often disagree, but they sparked each others think-
ing. They were both very strong egos. Sparks flew
because the ferocity of their intellectual engage-
ment with each other was flint on flint.
Her father also was close to Mr. Bronfmans
widow, Jan, who is a an accomplished painter in
her own right, Ms. Hertzberg said.
Her overwhelming feeling about Edgar Bronfman
is that he was insightful and decisive, she said. He
was truly interested in people.
In 1987 Mr. Bronfman founded the Bronfman Youth Fel-
lowship, a young leadership program that brings together
Jewish high school students from Israel and North Amer-
ica. In the 1990s he worked to revive Hillel, serving as the
founding chair of the campus organizations board of gov-
ernors. In 2002, he provided the funding to launch MyJew-
ishLearning, a digital media entity that now also includes
the Jewish parenting site Kveller and boasts 1 million visi-
tors per month.
Bronfman and his first wife, Ann Loeb, had five chil-
dren: Sam, Edgar Jr., Matthew, Holly and Adam. He and
his second wife, Georgiana Webb, had two daughters, Sara
and Clare. In 1994, he married the artist Jan Aronson. He is
survived by Ms. Aronson, his seven children, 24 grandchil-
dren, and two great-grandchildren, as well as a brother,
Charles, and a sister, Phyllis Lambert.
Edgar Bronfmans Jewish philanthropies were wide
ranging and youth oriented.
Local
12 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-12*
Sending formula to China
Local student spearheads drive
to help her younger sisters orphanage
MEITAL FUKSBRUMER
Eve Zvulun feels she owes a debt to the
Chongren Orphanage in Jiangxi Prov-
ince, China.
After all, thats where the 16-year-old
got her sister.
Her 8-year-old sister, Eliana Tilem, was
adopted from the orphanage when she
was a baby.
Now Eve, a junior at the Frisch School
in Paramus, is selling bracelets for $2 a
pop in order to raise money for baby for-
mula for the orphanage.
Eve found out about the orphanages
needs through Peggy Gurrad, who works
with various orphanage foundations.
The two corresponded by email over
the past few months, and she decided
to raise funds through selling the Arm-
strong-style bracelets.
When I heard that they needed baby
formula, I wanted to raise the money
they need to provide a better, healthier
life for these children, Eve said. It will
certainly increase their chances of sur-
viving under the harsh living conditions
they are in.
Eve knows firsthand how adopting a
child can change the life of a family for
the better. She and her parents, Ellen
and Peter Tilem, lived quietly until Eli-
ana came to live with them, she recalls.
Eve describes Eliana as lively, abso-
lutely adorable, extremely athletic. She
is a wonderful friend and she is kind,
caring, and brilliant.
She is beautiful and I love her very
much. In fact, she said, she cant imag-
ine life without her any more than she
can imagine life without her other sis-
ter, Leila. Now, following Eves path, the
two younger sisters both are students at
Yeshivat Noam in Paramus.
The response to the bracelet sale
has been overwhelming, Eve said. Her
friends are helping by hanging up flyers
around the school, and they are buying
and selling the bracelets too. Some even
donated extra money to the cause.
I feel this is so important because
when I think about how Eliana has
impacted my life and my family, and
then I think of the other children who
are still in the orphanage I feel the need
to impact their lives just like Eliana has
impacted mine, Eve said.
I want to make sure that these chil-
dren are living happy, healthy lives
while they are waiting to be adopted.
Thankfully Eliana was blessed, and was
adopted from the orphanage as a happy,
healthy baby. However, the other chil-
dren in the orphanage who have not
been adopted yet are still living there
waiting for a family.
To think that they are there without
being properly fed makes me want to do
something. My sister was once no differ-
ent from these children.
For more information, email Eve at
eve.zvulun@frisch.org.
OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
Jewish Federation
www.jfnnj.org | 201-820-3900
On behalf of everyone we serve,
thank you
for your commitment
to the Jewish people in our
local community, Israel, and abroad.
Wishing you a healthy and happy
22001 4 1 4 000000
Mickey Mouse posed for a photo with the three sisters; from left, Leila, Eliana,
and Eve. PETER TILEM
www.jstandard.com
JS-13
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Local
14 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-14*
Young leadership supporters at the Truth or Dare to Make a Difference gala
played casino games.
FIDF Young Leadership gala
raises necessary funds
The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces,
NY Young Leadership Division, raised more
than $500,000 at its 11th annual gala on
December 7 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in
Manhattan.
More 1,400 young professionals and FIDF
supporters from across the New York metro-
politan area were there. Funds will benefit
the groups recently adopted Israel Defense
Forces Brigade, Iron Trail, as part of the
FIDF Adopt a Brigade Program.
Guests at the gala included FIFD national
chair Nily Falic; its national director and
CEO, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yitzhak ( Jerry) Ger-
shon; young leadership president Howard
Schor; gala co-chairs Stefanie Cohen, Jake
Dardashtian, and Jane Oster, and national
young leadership director Dan Haskell.
Shabbat services and brisket
Neal Klausner, president of Temple
Sinai of Bergen County, and his wife,
Susan, sponsored a free congrega-
tional Shabbat dinner on December 13.
The evening included a brisket com-
petition that attracted seven competi-
tors. More than 90 congregants came
to the dinner, which was coordinated
and prepared by board vice president
Anne-Marie Bennoun. A Rock Shab-
bat musical service followed. Go to
this weeks Cooking with Beth blog
at www.jstandard.com for the winning
brisket recipes.
From left are Yitz Stern, Mayor Davidi Perl, Shani Simkovitz, Ben Gutmann, Jill
Janowski, and Philip and Marlene Rhodes. GERRY BERNSTEIN
Teaneck JNF council dinner
yields historic project funding
This years Teaneck Council of the Jewish
National Fund dinner drew more attend-
ees than ever more. It raised more than
$200,000 for the Historic Sites Renovation
Project at Gush Etzion Visitors Center and
other JNF projects in Israel.
The Northern New Jersey JNF boards
incoming president, Jill Janowski, pre-
sented a Circle of Excellence award to
outgoing president Ben Gutmann, and
Bob Levine, JNFs national vice president,
presented the same award to Philip and
Marlene Rhodes. The Community Service
award was presented to Teaneck Council-
man Yitz Stern by Mark Levenson, chair
of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, who
was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie.
Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameedud-
din was at the dinner, as were several
Teaneck Council members, who presented
citations to the honorees and to Tracy
Silna Zur, who represented the Bergen
County Freeholders. Speakers included
Gush Mayor Davidi Perl and Shani Simko-
vitz, head of the Gush Etzion Foundation.
Greenfield named NCSY director
The Orthodox Union has
named Rabbi Micah Green-
land of Chicago as interna-
tional director of NCSY, the
OUs youth movement. For
the last year he has acted as
interim director, succeeding
Rabbi Steven Burg, who held
the position for eight years
before joining the Simon
Wiesenthal Center as east-
ern director.
For 12 years, Rabbi Greenland was
director of the Chicago-based NCSY
Midwest region. He assumed the
regional directors role
immediately after receiving
smicha from Yeshiva Univer-
sity, where he also earned
his undergraduate and mas-
ters degrees. Throughout
his six years at Yeshiva Uni-
versity, he was a volunteer
NCSY advisor; he first joined
NCSY when he was 9 in his
hometown of Rochester,
N.Y. As a high schooler at the Skokie
Yeshiva in Skokie, Ill., he was national
vice president of NCSY and regional
vice president of education.
From left, Neil, Alexandra, Max, and Susan Klausner lit Shabbat candles.
Rabbi Micah
Greenfield
Second place brisket winner, Peggy Kabakow,
left, and Arnie Wechter, first-place winner, flank
Anne-Marie Bennoun. PHOTOS BY ILENE WECHTER
JS-15
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 15
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades 411 EAST CLINTON AVENUE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO, VISIT
jccotp.org OR CALL 201. 569.7900.
UPCOMING AT
FOR
ALL
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
ADULTS
More Songs That She
Loved: A Tribute Concert
A joyous musical evening dedicated to
remembering Stephanie Prezant with live
music provided by her friends and family and
some of the most beloved musicians and
vocalists in the community. Funds raised from
this concert will help support the Stephanie
I. Prezant Maccabi Fund at the JCC. For
more info, contact Sharon Kestenbaum at
201.408.1406 or register online at jccotp.org.
Sat, Feb 8, 8 pm, $30 per person,
$15 students to age 18
Tax Seminar
Just in time for tax season! Join us for a lecture with a
tax specialist from Gideon Adler & Co., CPA to become
more familiar with all the laws and regulations pertaining
to ling your personal income tax. Brought to you by the
Israeli Center. For more info please call Aya at 201.408.1427.
Sun, Jan 5, 4 pm, free
Support Groups
WITH JUDY BRAUNER, LCSW THERAPIST
WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS: YOU ARE NOT ALONE
This bereavement group for those recently widowed
provides an opportunity to share your feelings with
others that understand.
6 Mondays, Feb 24Mar 31, 6-7:30 pm, $100/$125
UNCOUPLING: COPING WITH DIVORCE AND SEPARATION
The group will help you process your feelings about the
end of an important relationship and the experience of
being on your own.
6 Mondays, Feb 24Mar 31, 7:45-9:15 pm, $100/$125
For more info contact Esther at 201.408.1456 or
emazor@jccotp.org
EGL FOUNDATION COMPUTER CENTER
FOR ADULTS 40+
Open House & Orientation
Learn how to sharpen your computer skills,
meet our instructors and coaches, attend a
FREE class on Most Interesting Websites,
and get a chance to win a free computer
course of choice. Register for classes by
January 13 and get 20% of all classes
(excludes workshops). For more info please
call Rachel Pasher Eijkenaar at 201.569.7900,
ext. 309.
Tue, Jan 7, 10:30 am-12:30 pm, Free
The Aordable Care Act:
Whats It All About?
DISCUSSION WITH JEFFREY LEVITT, CFP, MBA
Join us for an information session to better understand
and address misconceptions surrounding ACA and how
to get the most out of your healthcare dollars. Q&A
to follow. Sponsored by the Berit and Martin Bernstein
Open Forum Endowment Fund and the Edwin S.
Soforenko Foundation.
Wed, Jan 15, 4 pm, Free and Open to the Community
Dont miss out on the great winter we have lined
up for kids of all ages. Classes begin the week of
Jan 26. Sign up early to make sure you get the classes
you want! Music, cooking, art, drama, dance, tae kwon
do, gymnastics, swimming, basketball, soccer, tennis &
more. Visit jccotp.org or consult the program brochure
for a full list of early childhood, school age and teen
programs.
ITS REGISTRATION
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TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
Truth to power
Democratic senators bravely
oppose Obama on Iran
E
ven since Hassan Rouhani became president
of Iran on August 3, he has tried, in the words
of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
to be a sheep in wolfs clothing.
He has failed.
Not because of any personal missteps, mind you. Rou-
hani has been a model of the smiling, Western-inclined
ruler, who tweets humorously on Twitter and wishes
Jews a happy new year. But he has been undermined
not only by the continued brutality of his regime but by
the wolf-in-wolfs clothing, his boss and the real power
in Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, whose hatred for Israel
and Jews not to mention the West is so strong that
his cup spilleth over.
Just last month, the man who oversees the worlds
foremost terror regime said once again that Israel is des-
tined for annihilation. Just to make sure we all got the
message about his attitude toward Jews, he added that
Zionists are rabid dogs.
Nice. Especially coming
from a pious man of reli-
gion. Youd think that Kha-
meini could have controlled
his mouth, at least until Iran
pulled its scam deal on the
West to keep its centrifuges
spinning while getting $10
billion in sanctions relief.
But sometimes hatred is so
strong is just vomits forth,
sewage-like, without any
restraint.
Then, of course, there
was the public dialogue between philanthropist and
casino-owner Sheldon Adelson, Pulitzer Prize winner
Bret Stephens, and YU President Richard Joel, where
Sheldon said that a nuclear demonstration in an empty
Iranian desert, that he said would harm no one, should
be employed to show the Iranians that America means
business. Yet again Khameini, the gentle man of faith,
could not quell his acid tongue and told a huge crowd
that Adelsons head should be crushed. I found it
interesting that a terrorist mastermind with sleeper
cells all over the world felt threatened by an elderly
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is the author of
29 books. His most recent, Kosher Lust: Love is Not
the Answer, is due out soon. Follow him on Twitter @
RabbiShmuley.
16 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-16*
Rabbi
Shmuley
Boteach
Bronfman Youth
Fellowships in Israel
W
hen he created, refined,
and funded the Bron-
fman Youth Fellow-
ships in Israel, Edgar
Bronfman gave the teenagers lucky
enough to be selected for it an entre
into the Jewish world that will benefit
them for the rest of their lives.
The Bronfman brothers clearly
believed in the importance of a trip to
Israel in cementing a young persons
Jewish identity, and at least to some
extent affecting his or her connection
to Israel. Charles Bronfmans baby,
Birthright Israel, has taken more than
360,000 Jews between the ages of 18
and 26 to Israel, where they are given
a whirlwind 10 days of exposure to the
beauties and delights and, at times,
the ironies of the land. It is free. It is
a marvelous program, and has had
a profound effect on some travel-
ers lives, and a more-than-negligible
effect on many others.
Edgar Bronfman, meanwhile,
funded a program that was in many
ways very similar and in others
entirely different. The Bronfman
Youth Fellowship, begun 26 years
ago, selects 26 people 13 girls and
13 boys, all Jewish, all in their junior
year of high school as they submit
their applications and sends them
for a five-week, all-expenses-paid,
extraordinarily in-depth trip both
to Israel and around the chasms
and potential cataclysms of the
Jewish people. In other words, the
26 students who are chosen all are
frighteningly bright and most are
extraordinarily driven, but they
come from every possible corner of
North American Jewish life.
When they get to Israel, those
young people are thrown together
and expected to work things out.
Not in a global way, of course, but
they are expected to come to some
sort of modus vivendi. Most of them
learn both that such rapprochement
is difficult and that it is possible.
This is a huge gift.
Once they are back in North
America, the gift continues to give.
Bronfman Fellows form a tight
group, and the organization nour-
ishes them. The BYFI is a leadership
program, and Edgar Bronfmans
organization knows that while some
leaders are entirely self-propelled,
most profit from direction, and all
can profit from mentoring.
Mr. Bronfman has died, but his cre-
ation is flourishing. The deadline for
applications for the summer of 2014
is January 6; all applicants must be 16
by July 2014. For more information,
go to www.bronfman.org.
Thank you again, Mr. Bronfman. -JP
Praising the pedagogues of prayer
One who fixes his prayer, Rabbi
Eliezer is quoted as saying in the
Mi shnah, hi s prayer i s not a
supplication.
In the Jerusalem Talmud, Rabbi
Abuhu explains: One should not
recite ones prayers as if he were
reading a letter. Rabbi Aha takes it
to mean that one must add some-
thing new each day.
The Babylonian Talmud inter-
prets Rabbi Eliezer as requiring a
lower standard of spontaneity, with
Rabbi Jacob ben Idi saying that
Rabbi Eliezer is referrering to any-
one whose prayer is like a heavy
burden on him.
Nowadays, most people who
dont like to pray dont have to go
to synagogue.
But students in day schools have
less choice, with worship as man-
datory as mathematics or social
studies.
The challenge is to go beyond
crowd control of keeping kids
quiet during services to making
prayer not feel burdensome but
actually inspiring.
Its a bigger challenge than teach-
ing fractions.
We admire all those who play a
part in educating the next genera-
tion about our ancient tradition of
prayer.
That includes all those who teach
the aleph bet, the words, the mean-
ings, and the courage to stand up
and lead services for their peers.
And we hold particular admira-
tion for those who go the extra mile
to make the service extra mean-
ingful to students not naturally
inclined to prayer, those who are
writing new curricula and trying
new approaches to make old words
resonate with a new generation.
We write about one such effort
this week on page 6. The Solo-
mon Schechter Day School of Ber-
gen County in New Milford has
begun offering prayer electives
chances to explore other modali-
ties of spirituality following a bare-
bones abbreviated service.
Rabbi Eliezer would be proud. We
are too. -LY
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
Truth to power
Democratic senators bravely
oppose Obama on Iran
E
ven since Hassan Rouhani became president
of Iran on August 3, he has tried, in the words
of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
to be a sheep in wolfs clothing.
He has failed.
Not because of any personal missteps, mind you. Rou-
hani has been a model of the smiling, Western-inclined
ruler, who tweets humorously on Twitter and wishes
Jews a happy new year. But he has been undermined
not only by the continued brutality of his regime but by
the wolf-in-wolfs clothing, his boss and the real power
in Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, whose hatred for Israel
and Jews not to mention the West is so strong that
his cup spilleth over.
Just last month, the man who oversees the worlds
foremost terror regime said once again that Israel is des-
tined for annihilation. Just to make sure we all got the
message about his attitude toward Jews, he added that
Zionists are rabid dogs.
Nice. Especially coming
from a pious man of reli-
gion. Youd think that Kha-
meini could have controlled
his mouth, at least until Iran
pulled its scam deal on the
West to keep its centrifuges
spinning while getting $10
billion in sanctions relief.
But sometimes hatred is so
strong is just vomits forth,
sewage-like, without any
restraint.
Then, of course, there
was the public dialogue between philanthropist and
casino-owner Sheldon Adelson, Pulitzer Prize winner
Bret Stephens, and YU President Richard Joel, where
Sheldon said that a nuclear demonstration in an empty
Iranian desert, that he said would harm no one, should
be employed to show the Iranians that America means
business. Yet again Khameini, the gentle man of faith,
could not quell his acid tongue and told a huge crowd
that Adelsons head should be crushed. I found it
interesting that a terrorist mastermind with sleeper
cells all over the world felt threatened by an elderly
Op-Ed
businessman armed with slot machines.
Which brings us to Elie Wiesel.
In October I asked Wiesel, my hero and friend of 25
years, if he would produce an ad telling the truth about
Iran and warning the world against its retention of
nuclear facilities. You are the foremost moral voice in
the world, I told him. Youre the only one with the
authority to be taken seriously. Neither the President,
nor the Senate, can afford to ignore your call.
In the end the ad, sponsored by my organization and
our board member and Birthright co-founder Michael
Steinhardt, appeared on the day that our very own Sena-
tor Robert Menendez courageously introduced legislation
to increase economic sanctions against Iran. Menendez
was looking for co-sponsors and the voice of Elie Wiesel,
in full page ads in the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal, gave many Democratic senators the moral cover
they needed to go against Barack Obama. One of the
heroes who signed the ad, and who once again demon-
strated his unmitigated love for Israel and Jewry, is our
junior senator, Cory Booker.
Wiesels ad was extremely moving:
If there is one lesson I hope the world has learned
from the past it is that regimes rooted in brutality must
never be trusted Should we who believe in human
rights, trust a regime which stones women and hangs
homosexuals? Should we who believe in freedom trust a
regime which murdered its own citizens when the peo-
ple protested a stolen election in the Green Revolution
of Summer, 2009? Should we who believe in the United
States trust a regime whose parliament last month
erupted yet again in Death to America chants?.. Amer-
ica adopted me and gave me a home after my people
were exterminated in the camps of Europe. And from
the time of the founding fathers America has always
stood up to tyrants. Our nation is morally compromised
when it contemplates allowing a country calling for the
destruction of the State of Israel to remain within reach
of nuclear weapons.
I appeal to President Obama and Congress to demand,
as a condition of continued talks, the total dismantling
of Irans nuclear infrastructure and the regimes public
and complete repudiation of all genocidal intent against
Israel. And I appeal to the leaders of the United States
Senate to go forward with their vote to strengthen sanc-
tions against Iran until these conditions have been met.
I once wrote that history has taught us to trust the
threats of our enemies more than the promises of our
friends. Our enemies are making serious threats. It is
time for our friends to keep their promises.
How sad that President Obamas reaction was to
threaten his first ever veto of economic sanctions, just
as the bill was introduced. But how courageous of 16
Democratic senators to speak truth to power.
JS-17*
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 17
I appeal to President
Obama and Congress
to demand, as a
condition of
continued talks, the
total dismantling of
Irans nuclear
infrastructure.
ELIE WIESEL
The answer to BDS is Jewish power
O
n a virtual stroll through the website of the U.S.
Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boy-
cott of Israel a deeply unpleasant experi-
ence, I should add I came across an article
that drew an analogy I hadnt encountered before. Intellec-
tually ludicrous and morally ugly, the writer compared the
situation of Aida, a Palestinian refugee camp near Bethle-
hem, with the bombing by the
German Luftwaffe of the Basque
city of Guernica in 1937, during
the Spanish Civil War.
The Aida camp is not the most
luxurious place on earth, yet it
is far from being the worst. Its
residents dont live in tents, but
in proper housing that clusters
tightly around dilapidated-look-
ing streets, a common enough
sight across the developing
world, and in certainly far better conditions than prevail in
large parts of Africa or Asia. By contrast, the bombing of
Guernica the subject of a famous Picasso painting was
one of the true horrors of the 20th century. The destruc-
tion wrought by German bombers, wrote George Steer, a
British journalist who witnessed it firsthand, was unparal-
leled in military history. Steer described the human cost of
the raid in plain terms: In a street leading downhill from
the Casa de Juntas I saw a place where 50 people, nearly all
women and children, are said to have been trapped in an
air raid refuge under a mass of burning wreckage... When
I entered Guernica after midnight houses were crashing on
either side, and it was utterly impossible even for firemen
to enter the centre of the town.
Here, in a nutshell, is why Jews are so rightly infuriated
by the movement to boycott Israel. In its quest to portray
the Palestinians as the most oppressed, downtrodden peo-
ple on the face of this earth, there are few comparisons
to which Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions proponents
wont stoop, no matter how outlandish whether thats
the parallel with Guernica, or the Holocaust, or apartheid
South Africa, or the slander that what Israel has done to
the Palestinians approximates a genocide.
The moral vacuum at the core of the BDS movement has
again come to the fore since the American Studies Asso-
ciation, an academic body with 5,000 members, revealed
that it was signing up to the academic boycott of Israel.
That was the second such announcement in 2013, fol-
lowing the same decision by the Asian American Studies
Association in April. A third academic group, the Native
American and Indigenous Studies Association, now also
has joined the Israel boycott. What has stood out, unfortu-
nately, in the media coverage of ASAs shameful decision is
not the fact that less than 1,000 ASA members supported
the boycott, in a vote that attracted only one quarter of
the entire membership, or the rank hypocrisy of boycot-
ting Israel, given the slaughter that has consumed Syria
next door. Instead, we are left with the sense that the boy-
cott is a bold new initiative that will, as a New York Times
headline put it, be regarded as a symbolic sting to Israel.
There is, however, another way of looking at this. And
that requires us to remember that the academic boycott
wasnt launched this month, but 10 years ago. And while
its activities have roiled universities in the United King-
dom, Europe, South Africa, and Australia, it has signally
failed to become a mass movement. We should be heart-
ened by the knowledge that Israels robust economy and
its universities first-class academic reputation have eas-
ily withstood this propaganda onslaught. Moreover, the
American Association of University Professors, the closest
thing in this country to a representative body of academ-
ics, has roundly rejected the boycott as an assault on aca-
demic freedom.
I dont point to those facts to make the case that we
shouldnt be worried. We should be. There is no room
for complacency in the face of a movement whose world-
view is rooted in the struggle against Jewish sovereignty
in much the same way that the Nazis saw the Jews, or the
communists saw the bourgeoisie, as the ultimate enemy.
But in fighting the academic boycott and BDS more gener-
ally, we should not lose awareness of the power we 21st-
century Jews have, nor our ability to wield it.
Hence, lets by all means ridicule the pretensions of the
BDS movement to be a latter-day incarnation of the move-
ment against apartheid in South Africa. Lets not hesitate
in pointing out its failures. At the same time, lets not per-
mit it to mushroom because we dont think its a threat.
Both Brandeis University and Penn State Harrisburg
have pulled out of ASA since the boycott was announced,
and we should push for a similar outcome in the case of
similar initiatives. Much as some Jews are uncomfortable
with acknowledging this reality, we have the power to
harass, frustrate and crush the BDS movement wherever
it appears. Let us do so without mercy. JNS.ORG
Ben Cohen, JNS.orgs Shillman analyst, writes on Jewish
affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His work has been
published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz,
Jewish Ideas Daily, and many other publications.
Ben Cohen
The entrance to the Aida Palestinian refugee camp. A writer on the website of the U.S. Campaign for the
Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel compares the situation in Aida with German Luftwaffe bombing of
Guernica in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. MRBREFAST VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.
Op-Ed
18 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-18
Boycotting the boycotters can only backfire
D
oes an organiza-
tion have a right
to tax-exempt sta-
tus from the coun-
try it advocates boycotting?
This is the question facing
Israel s Knesset , whi ch
i s bei ng asked to pass
gover nment - s pons ored
legislation taxing foreign
donations to any organization
which calls on others to
boycott or sanction either
Israel or Israeli institutions.
A parallel challenge faces many Jewish
organizations in North America with regard
to whether to allow within their institutions
a platform for individuals and organizations
which do the same or for one-statists who
do not support the right of Israel to be an
independent Jewish state.
As is so often the case, complex issues
give birth to immediate, opposing knee-
jerk responses, which instead of furthering
discussion and understanding actually
close it down. Each side portrays the matter
as a pivotal value issue which is self-evident
despite the fact that the debate proves that
it is anything but.
On the one side stand the advocates who
conflate free speech with tax-exempt status
and/or the right to speak from any platform.
Free speech must be given precisely to
those who aggravate us the most, they say,
and it is only a society and community
which fosters unlimited dissent that will be
able to contain its diversity and give birth
to the ever-new thinking necessary for its
growth.
Those arguments fail to convince the
proponents of such limits, for they too see
themselves as advocates of free speech. For
them, the issue is not freedom of speech
but whether a society or an organization
has to support as distinct from allowing
speech which actively calls for its harm.
It is not dissenting opinions that they
seek to curtail, but the support of those
dissenting opinions when they advocate for
boycotts, divestment, and sanctions or the
dissolution of Israel as a Jewish state.
Conversely, the supporters of such
legislation, and those calling for the
boycotting of the boycotters, defend their
positions with the value of self-defense. A
country and a peoples first responsibility
is to enable and support its own existence.
Looking after ones own self-interest
is neither immoral nor amoral but a
foundational moral responsibility. Love
your neighbor as yourself. What is hateful
unto you do not do unto others. Love of
self and the protection of ones own needs
and interests have moral priority. As Chief
Justice Aharon Barak famously argued, a
citizens inalienable rights exist only within
the context of a society and cannot be
defended when the exercise of those rights
threatens the very society within which
they are born.
This argument too falls on
deaf ears, for the advocates
of unencumbered speech
view such speech as essential
to Israel and the Jewish
peoples survival and well-
being. They too support
the moral obligation of self-
preservation. But unlike Chief
Justice Baraks argument,
which permits the torture
of terrorists in the case of a
ticking bomb, BDS speech,
not to speak of the one-statists, they argue,
poses no such immediate and severe a
danger. Israel is strong, and the goal of
the one-statists and some within the BDS
community is not to destroy Israel but to
redefine it or create the economic and
political pressure necessary to help steer it
back to its proper course and true self.
The debate is thus set up as between
free speech and securit y, bet ween
allowing for dissent and the undermining
of our peoples right to exist. It is a debate
which has nowhere to go, for ostensibly
both sides can share the same values,
and instead of debating their application
they portray the other as disloyal to a self-
evident value, which the other side does
not feel they are even debating. In Hebrew
we call this, du siach shel chirshim, a
dialogue of the hearing-impaired. We
are having ever-increasing types of such
dialogue, and more than any legislation
or policy under debate, this poses a real
threat to Israeli and Jewish collective life.
Leaving aside the boundaries and limits
of the right to dissent, and to voice ones
dissent, a community that has lost the art
of how to dissent, how to disagree and
to talk with each other, is a community
under severe distress.
BDS is repulsive to me and alien to
my Jewish consciousness. My love and
loyalty to my people and my country
obligate me to fight my country wherever
I believe it to be flawed. I fight it, however,
through speech and advocacy, and at the
ballot box. The coercive and punitive
dimensions of BDS I find both arrogant
and inappropriate to a debate amongst
brothers and sisters. The right of Israel
to be a Jewish state is also self-evident
to me, and I am always amazed at the
duplicity of the one-statists for whom the
only nation-state which is morally flawed
and illegitimate is the Jewish state. I see
nothing inherently wrong or morally
flawed when a country, while allowing
such positions to be advocated, does not
feel that it needs to privilege them. Nor
do I feel that Jewish institutions which are
inherently pluralistic sin to their mission
when they want to set boundaries to that
pluralism, when the debate about Israels
future moves to whether it should have
a future.
I believe that boycotting the boycotters
or one-staters, whether in Israel or
particularly on college campuses, is a
serious strategic error. Starting with
Israel, while the Middle East remains
an extremely dangerous place, and
our survival never ensured, we are
nevertheless a powerful country. Power
is not merely a gift which enables one to
withstand the attacks of outsiders, it is a
gift which enables one to take chances
for the sake of ones values and ideas.
Powerlessness is a reality and at times a
crutch which both inhibits and allows one
to lower ones expectations from oneself,
hiding behind the proverbial, in the
future we will be able to.
Israels success has enabled us to touch
this future and obligates us to spend its
dividends. The unresolved conflict with
the Palestinians, coupled with the sense
of insulating power, has not served Israels
democratic values well. The reality of
occupation and the ability of Israels
military to sustain it at an acceptable
cost to Israelis, coupled with the Israeli
perception that the Palestinians and their
leadership have yet to make the strategic
decision toward peace and coexistence,
has begun to callous many Israeli s
democratic sensibilities. Whether it leads
to a de facto devaluing of peace, to calls
for the annexing of Judea and Samaria
despite demographic consequences, to
the perpetuating of inequalities toward
Israeli Arabs, the fact is that Israels future
is far more secure than its democracy.
It is time for us to give priority not merely to
the defense of our borders and our economy
but to our values as a Jewish-democratic state.
Our challenge now is less with the limits of
free speech than with those who want to limit
it. While every society allows for emergency
measures which can suspend for a time
democratic principles and rights, right now
we need emergency measures which will
suspend legitimate legislation for the sake
of ensuring our democratic principles and
rights.
In North America, Jewish institutions
face a different struggle. It is perfectly
legitimate for institutions with a particular
ideology to foster that ideology and not
offer a platform to those positions in which
it sees no value, not to speak of harm. That
said, it is important to recognize that those
institutions which are attempting to reach
the more marginally or non-affiliated face
today a particular and daunting challenge.
This challenge is neither to protect our
impressionable youth from harmful ideas,
nor to equip them with the tools to defend
Israel. Those who believe so are on a boat
that left the port over a decade ago. The
front line is whether our youth will care at
all, be it about Israel or Judaism. When we
attempt to generate criteria for loyalty or
litmus tests for Israel supporters, we cause
the unaffiliated or not strongly affiliated
to question the grounds for their loyalty.
When we silence certain voices within our
institutions, they question the very value of
these institutions.
We live in an open marketplace of ideas,
and uninhibited access to these ideas. The
fantasy of limiting debate and conversation
is precisely that, a fantasy and an ineffective
and short-sighted policy. In a world where
individuals choose their identities and
affiliations, when Judaism and Israel
project fear and weakness, we become
unattractive. When that fear inspires an
image of closed-mindedness, we become
repellent. Israel will find a place on the
radar screen of our next generation when
it is a place which can be debated and
engaged with without restriction. The case
for Israel can be made without projecting
that it needs the protection of censorship.
Good fences make good neighbors. Good
fences and boundaries are necessary to
protect an identity. When that identity is as
yet unformed, boundaries of conversation
will keep more people out than keep them
from leaving.
We have worked hard as a people,
whether in Israel or in North America, to
achieve the success and prosperity that
we have attained. It behooves us to move
beyond preserving our past successes and
instead to use them as a catalyst to move
further. To reinforce where necessary
values that are being weakened and to
reach out to those that we are in danger
of losing. While we need not be so open-
minded as to allow for our dissolution, we
also need to recognize that we are not so
weak that we cannot take chances for our
ideals. We have reached the moment that
our security need not force us to tolerate
mediocrity but rather is a force that enables
us to be confident and reach higher.
THIS OP ED FIRST APPEARED IN THE TIMES OF ISRAEL.
COPYRIGHT TIMES OF ISRAEL.
Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman is president of
the Shalom Hartman Institute and director
of its iEngage program. He spent many years
living and teaching in northern New Jersey.
Rabbi
Dr. Donniel
Hartman
I believe that
boycotting the
boycotters or
one-staters,
whether in Israel
or particularly
on college
campuses, is
a serious
strategic error.
Letters
JS-19
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 19
will be starting a
Te Caregiver Support group will be held at
CareOne At Teaneck
544 Teaneck Road
Devorah Sinensky, geriatric specialist,
will be the facilitator, and it is free
and open to the community. for more
information or to RSVP, please contact
OHEL at 201 692 3972
Caregiver Support
Group
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at 1:30pm
together with the
NEW BEGINNINGS GROUP (senior adult group)
of the Teaneck Jewish Center.
www.jstandard.com
Good not to go
In your December 13 editorial, Mis-
placed frugality, you criticized Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
for declining to attend Nelson Man-
delas funeral in South Africa. In fact,
todays South Africa has one of the
worlds highest murder rates, and vio-
lence is endemic in that society. In read-
ing between the lines, I would guess
that security would have to have been a
major concern, if not the major concern.
For Mr. Netanyahu to insist on bring-
ing his own sizable security contingent
would, no doubt, have been rejected
by the government of South Africa as
insulting, for implying that they were
unable to provide adequate security.
Therefore, I cant blame Mr. Netan-
yahu for not going. If I were in his shoes,
I would have done the same.
Harry Eisenberg
Glen Rock
New years resolution
Much as Yom Kippur provides a time for
reflection and consideration of the com-
ing year along with typical intentions or
resolutions, I believe that the current
new year provides another opportunity
for forward thinking and action steps.
Quite simply, Judaism and Israel are
under dramatic global siege. From the
growing BDS movement, consistent anti-
Israel U.N. resolutions, Irans continued
threat to annihilate Israel, the growth
of global anti-Semitism, and rising rates
of intermarriage, we face incredible
challenges. In addition, Hezbollah and
Hamas have rearmed, and the Palestin-
ian Authority arrests Palestinians who
befriend or do business with Jews invok-
ing a 2010 Palestinian anti-settlement
products law intended to create anti-
normalization, the staunch refusal
to create normal inter-community
relationships.
Ive also recently learned that Hamas
has ordered a revisionist history book
that denies Israels existence and will be
mandatory curriculum for 55,000 Pal-
estinian eighth- to tenth-graders. There
has been special programming for years
specifically during Ramadan that vilifies
Jews and Israel and is broadcast across
the greater Muslim/Arab world.
The barbarous lies about Israel open-
ing floodgates during the recent storms
to intentionally flood Gaza while in
reality Israel delivered four generators
to help those impoverished. The lie
about occupied territories, when in real-
ity these lands were under full Arab con-
trol for 19 years, from 1948 to 1967, and
never a word about Palestinian state-
hood. The PLO was actually formed in
May 1964, a full three years before these
territories were lost in the Six Day War.
Their intention was, and is, to liberate
the entire Middle East of Jews. Its never
been about territory, its about recogniz-
ing Israels right to exist.
While we may have our differences,
we all have a common bond. We were
born into this global tribe that we have
a responsibility to support. And yes
J Street, sometimes blindly. Things are
spiraling downward and we need to
speak up and be proud of who we are
and our accomplishments. Israel puts
every single Arab and Muslim country
to shame regarding human rights, basic
freedoms, and treatment of its citizens.
Its time that each of us sends a clear
message to the world and discusses it
with our children and families. It is time
to stand up and be heard and be proud!
Rich Hausler
Manalapan
Rebooting isnt Jewish
In my opinion, Jews who accept the con-
cept that God created the world and gave
the Torah to the newborn Jewish nation
at Mount Sinai through our teacher
Moses, and who pursue its moral pre-
cepts as eternal commandments, are
practicing Judaism.
Jews who do not accept this simple
concept either are agnostics or are pur-
suing their spiritual needs in religions
other than Judaism.
Rebooting will not be effective
(Reform Judaism tries for reboot,
December 20).
I strongly believe that only Torah true
Judaism will persist and endure for end-
less generations of Jews.
Jerrold Terdiman M.D.
Woodcliff Lake
When a Jew isnt
I would like to respond to the letter that
says that belief in Jesus does not disqual-
ify someone as a Jew (Messianic Jews are
Jews, December 20).
I believe the letter-writer, Harry Eisen-
berg, takes several quotes out of context.
First of all, the talmudic saying that no
matter how much he sins a Jew is still Jew-
ish is never meant to include a convert to
another faith. It simply means that some-
one does not need a specific ceremony to
return to the Jewish faith. Had Mr. Eisen-
berg asked an Orthodox rabbi, he would
have answered that a believer in Jesus of
Jewish origin would be excluded from all
participation in any sort of Jewish ritual.
The exclusion of converts to Christian-
ity is not limited to Orthodoxy. The Zion-
ist movement at its beginning included
atheists but excluded converts to another
faith. The Israeli Supreme Court in the
Brother Daniel case excluded a Carmelite
monk from claiming citizen under the law
of return.
As I indicated in my earlier letter, a con-
vert to another faith repudiates Jewish his-
tory in a way that an atheist or agnostic
does not. To expand Jewish identity the
way that Mr. Eisenberg wishes to do ren-
ders Jewishness meaningless.
Alan Levin
Fair Lawn
I believe that
boycotting the
boycotters or
one-staters,
whether in Israel
or particularly
on college
campuses, is
a serious
strategic error.
Cover Story
20 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-20
ALINA DAIN SHARON
As 2013 draws to a close, we take a look at
its biggest news stories from Israel and the
Jewish world that have shaped the outgo-
ing year.
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Secretary of State John Kerry has vis-
ited Israel and the Palestinian territories
nine times since February in an effort to
encourage Israeli-Palestinian final status
negotiations, which were renewed in July.
As part of the negotiations, Israel agreed
to release 104 Palestinian terrorist prison-
ers, a move that was highly criticized by
Israeli politicians, families of terror vic-
tims, and other members of the public. To
date, 52 of the 104 prisoners have been
released.
In March, President Obama went to
Israel. It was his first trip to the country
as president.
Iran
In June, Hassan Rouhani was elected
Irans new president, replacing Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. In September, Obama
called Rouhani. This was the first direct
conversation between heads of the two
governments since 1979.
In November, the U.S. and other P5+1
powers reached a six-month interim deal
with Iran on its nuclear program, despite
opposition from Israel, Jewish groups, the
U.S. Congress, and Saudi Arabia. Under
the agreement, Iran promised to dilute its
20-percent-enriched (high grade) uranium
stockpiles to 5 percent, and it is allowed
to continue production of 3.5-percent
enriched uranium while the agreement
is in force. The United States agreed to
provide Iran with sanctions relief that the
Obama administration said amounted to
$7 billion, but could actually be worth $20
billion, according to a Haaretz report.
Syria
The death toll in Syrias civil war has risen
to more than 125,000, according to recent
estimates by the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights.
After the U.S. determined that Syr-
ian President Bashar al-Assads regime
in August used chemical weapons in a
Damascus attack that killed more than
2013
JEWISH NEWS
YEAR
IN REVIEW
The Iran nuclear programs heavy water reactor in Arak. Israel, Jewish
groups, and the U.S. Congress all have criticized the interim nuclear deal that
Iran and world powers reached in November. NANKING2012 VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been behind yearlong U.S. efforts to facilitate
Israeli-Palestinian final status negotiations, is pictured with chief Palestinian negotiator
Saeb Erekat and chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni. STATE DEPARTMENT
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 21
JS-21
1,400 people, the Obama administration
lobbied for a military strike on Syria and
said it would seek approval from Congress
for such action, but ultimately agreed to
a surprise Russian-brokered deal for Syria
to hand over its chemical weapons to
international control. Before the deal was
reached, Israelis scrambled to obtain gas
masks as a precaution for Syrias response
to a U.S. strike that never materialized.
Amid the ongoing conflict in Syria, hun-
dreds of Syrian refugees have been treated
both by IDF medics and at northern Israeli
hospitals.
Egypt
Andrew Driscoll Pochter, a Jewish student
at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, was
fatally stabbed on June 28 in Alexandria
during clashes between the Muslim Broth-
erhood governments supporters and pro-
testers trying to oust President Mohamed
Morsi. On July 3, Morsi was removed from
power by the Egyptian military.
The Muslim Brotherhood has blamed
the Coptic Christian community and Cop-
tic Christian Pope Tawadros II for Morsis
ouster, leading to increased persecution of
Egyptian Christians.
Israeli Election
In January, Israeli Prime Minister Benja-
min Netanyahu was re-elected for a third
term. The biggest surprise of the Israeli
election was scored by former Israeli tele-
vision news anchor Yair Lapids Yesh Atid
party, which placed second in the election
by winning 19 Knesset seats.
Netanyahu later assembled a gov-
erning coalition featuring his ruling
Likud-Beiteinu party, and an alliance of
Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu, Yesh Atid,
HaBayit HaYehudi, and Hatnuah.
Chuck Hagel
A political firestorm erupted in late 2012
and continued into early 2013 regarding
the controversial nomination of former
Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel for Secre-
tary of Defense. In 2008, Hagel had told
former Middle East negotiator Aaron
David Miller in a quote that appeared in
Millers book, The Much Too Promised
Land, that the Jewish lobby intimidates
a lot of people in Washington. Hagel has
also said he is a United States senator, not
an Israeli senator.
Hagel was confirmed in February in a
58-41 Senate vote. No defense secretary
had ever been confirmed with more than
11 opposing votes.
Israel on Campus
In February, Brooklyn Colleges political
science department hosted an anti-Israel
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions move-
ment event, drawing the outrage of pro-
Israel students and Jewish groups.
Several student governments at Califor-
nia universities UC Berkley, UC Riverside,
UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Santa Bar-
bara, and Stanford University held votes
on measures calling for their schools to
divest from Israel; some of the measures
passed and others were defeated.
In November, Brandeis University
announced the suspension of its decade-
old partnership with Al-Quds Univer-
sity following what it considered an
inflammatory apology by Al-Quds for a
Nazi-style rally at the Palestinian school in
Jerusalem. The Al-Quds apology focused
on vilification campaigns by Jewish
extremists against the university, rather
than exclusively addressing the Nazi-style
rally. At the November 5 rally, Al-Quds
students wore black military gear, carried
fake automatic weapons, gave the Nazi
salute, and surrounded the main square
of their campus with banners depicting
images of martyred suicide bombers.
In December, Swarthmore Colleges Hil-
lel branch resolved that it would be will-
ing to host or partner with any speaker
at the discretion of the [student] board,
regardless of Hillel Internationals Israel
guidelines. The guidelines forbid engage-
ment with groups or speakers who dele-
gitimize, demonize or apply a double
standard to Israel. Hillel CEO Eric Fing-
erhut warned Swarthmore Hillel that the
umbrella expects all campus organiza-
tions that use the Hillel name to adhere to
these guidelines.
Jewish-Christian relations
Since becoming the new pontiff in March,
Pope Francis has made Jewish-Christian
relations a priority, continuing the legacy
of his predecessors. He praised the Jew-
ish people for keeping their faith in God
despite centuries of persecution, and also
declared in June that a true Christian can-
not be anti-Semitic.
The Church of Scotland agreed to
amend a report titled The Inheritance of
Abraham after outrage over the reports
questioning of the biblical Jewish connec-
tion to the land of Israel.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin
Welby, affirmed Israels right to exist in
security and peace during his visit to the
Jewish state in June.
Israeli Innovation
In June, Google announced the acquisition
of Israeli navigation and traffic app Waze
for more than $1 billion.
In October, two Israeli scientists and
one American Jewish scientist won the
Nobel Prize in chemistry for work that
made it possible to map the mysterious
ways of chemistry by using computers.
In December, the governing council
of CERN, the European Organization for
Nuclear Research, voted unanimously to
admit Israel as its first non-European full
member.
Anti-Semitism in Europe
In November, the European Union Agency
for Fundamental Rights released a survey
showing that more than 40 percent of
Jews in France, Hungary, and Belgium say
they have considered emigrating because
of anti-Semitism.
In September, Greek Prime Minister
Antonis Samaras vowed to eliminate the
countrys neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
Twitter in July agreed to release data
identifying users to French authorities in
response to a January ruling by a French
court regarding anti-Semitic tweets posted
under the hashtag #unbonjuif (#agood-
jew). Users tweeted phrases like a good
Jew is a dead Jew.
European countries such as Germany,
Poland, and Sweden passed laws banning
ritual circumcision and ritual slaughter. In
SEE YEAR PAGE 22
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of Congregation Ahavat Torah in Engle-
wood met Pope Francis twice this year. RABBI SHMUEL GOLDIN Novembers Nazi-style rally at Al-Quds University. TOM GROSS
Cover Story
22 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-22
December, the Council of Europes Parliamentary Assem-
bly decided to revisit its October ruling against ritual cir-
cumcision following a meeting with an Israeli parliamentary
delegation.
Hugo Chavez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died March 5 at 58 after
a two-year battle with cancer. During the 2006 conflict
between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Chavez was the
first head of state to condemn Israels actions. In reaction
to the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident, Chavez said, Damn you,
State of Israel!
Chavez will probably be remembered as the one who
made Venezuelan Jews feel that for the first time they were
not welcome in their own country, a chilling reminder of
past tragedies, said Sammy Eppel, director of the Human
Rights Commission of Bnai Brith Venezuela.
Turkey
In March, Netanyahu, at President Obamas request, apolo-
gized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for
the 2010 altercation on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship,
which attempted to breach Israels maritime blockade of
Gaza. Yet Israeli-Turkish diplomatic relations were not fully
restored, with Erdogan demanding the lifting of the Gaza
blockade.
Later in the year, protests began in Istanbuls famous
Taksim Square over government plans to turn nearby Gezi
park into a shopping mall modeled after Ottoman-era army
barracks. The protests erupted into a widespread rebuke of
Erdogans Islamist rule over the past decade.
Boston Marathon Bombing
In April, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deto-
nated bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon,
killing three people and injuring hundreds. Many of the
injured were rushed to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, where two senior staff members are Israelis. Alas-
dair Conn, chief of emergency services at Massachusetts
General Hospital, said it was Israelis who helped us set
up our disaster team so that we could respond in this kind
of manner.
Iraqi Jewish Archive
In November, the U.S. National Archives displayed 24 out of
2,700 Jewish books and ancient documents that were recov-
ered in the basement of the Iraqi intelligence ministry dur-
ing the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
According to an agreement the U.S. signed with Iraqi
authorities, the collection will be returned to the Iraqi gov-
ernment when its restoration is complete. But the Iraqi
Jewish community says the Saddam Hussein government
originally confiscated the materials from a synagogue
in 1984. Forty-two groups, led by the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations,
released a statement calling on the U.S. to assure that
the archive would be protected and accessible to Iraqi
Jewish communities worldwide.
Thanksgivukkah
November 28 saw the convergence of Thanksgiving
and the first day of Chanukah in a calendar anomaly
that will not occur for another 75,000 years. Market-
ing professional Dana Gitell coined and trademarked
the term Thanksgivukkah for the occasion, which
attracted an enormous following in the United States
and around the world.
Typhoon Haiyan
Jewish groups organized relief efforts after Typhoon
Haiyan struck the Philippines, killing at least 10,000
people, injuring at least 27,000, and displacing an
estimated 3.9 million Filipinos from their homes. The
IDF set up a 148-member field hospital in the Philip-
pines, and the first baby born in the hospital was
named Israel.
The manuscript of a Passover Haggadah that is part
of the Iraqi Jewish Archive. The books and documents
are on display in Washington, D.C., and set to return
to Iraq after the Washington exhibition. Iraqi Jews say
the Iraqi government confiscated the materials from
them. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
University of Southern California professor Arieh
Warshel at an October 9 press conference for his
Nobel Prize in chemistry. USC PHOTO/GUS RUELAS
A Thanksgivukkah menorah. JERRY SZUBIN
Year
FROM PAGE 21

JS-23
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 23
Cover Story
JS-23
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 23
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Holiday Greetings
May the holidays ll your home with joy,
your heart with love
and your life with laughter.
Wishing you and your loved ones peace,
health, happiness and prosperity
in the coming New Year.
Teaneck A Fair Trade Community
www.teaneckchamber.org
(201) 801-0012
Wonder Woman
Israeli actress Gal Gadot was cast in
the role of Wonder Woman in Ameri-
can director Zack Snyders Batman
vs. Superman movie.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, former chief
Sephardi rabbi of Israel and the
spiritual leader of the Orthodox
Shas political party since its incep-
tion, died in October at 93. Yosef was
responsible for several breakthrough
halachic rulings, including declaring
a collective recognition of the Jewish-
ness of Ethiopian Jews and ordering
the Shas party to vote in favor of a
law recognizing brain death as death
for legal purposes.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela, who became the first
president of democratic South Africa in
1994 after having been imprisoned for 27
years under the apartheid regime, died in
December at 95. Jewish groups joined the
global community in mourning his death.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald
S. Lauder called him one of those very
rare leaders who were revered not just by
their own people but universally, across
all political and communal divides.
Pew study
In early October, Jews across the coun-
try discussed the findings of the Portrait
of Jewish Americans released by the Pew
Research Center as part of its research into
religion in this country.
There was no little irony in the study
coming from Pew; until recently the
Jewish community had done its own stud-
ies, but they had been attacked for their
lack of scientific rigor. So social scientists
from outside the community reported
back facts that most people had intuited
but few had in writing.
The Pew study could have been called
Bad News For Jews. It showed that almost
everything seemed to be shrinking except
the ranks of the unaffiliated; even the
growth in the Orthodox world turned out
to be among the charedim on the far right,
and related to its birthrate. In response to
the study requiems were chanted for the
Conservative movement, and the Reform
world quaked a bit too.
It was, of course, not news, it just con-
firmed much that most of us had known.
If it is a wake-up call for actions that are a
genuine response to the world we live in
rather than wishful thinking, it will end up
to have been good news. JNS.ORG
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef AMOS BEN GERSHOM/GPO/FLASH90 Gil Gadot ANDREW EVANS/PR PHOTOS
Jewish World
24 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-24
the wagons.
He noted that the Poupko family was very excited when
they learned about the project.
Shoshana Poupko, Chanas mother, said that her daughter
had been diagnosed with neuroblastoma at age 13 months
and began treatment immediately.
Treatment is 12 to18 months, she said. We feel blessed
to be at Hackensack Hospital, where they are both profes-
sional as well as incredibly caring and accommodating. We
are also incredibly blessed to have received an outpouring
of support from our community in Englewood. We would
not be able to do this without them.
Our students really rose to the occasion, participating
wholeheartedly and most generously in this incredibly
important cause, Mr. Kessler said.
Describing the auction, Rabbi Wolk said middle school
teachers and administrators offer goods and services, such
as ice cream parties, class trips, shared meals from local
restaurants, and educational toys or gadgets.
Mr. Kessler noted that teachers also may offer tutoring or
help studying.
During Chanukah, students bought the $1 raffle tickets.
On the last day of the holiday, they write their names on the
raffles and place them in boxes bearing labels for each prize.
We have a big drawing, Rabbi Wolk said; he has coordi-
nated the event for the last six years. Its a lot of fun, and
the kids get pretty excited. About a month before Chanu-
kah, I meet with the student council to talk about which
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organization to donate the money to. Over the years,
the event has raised funds for groups such as Chai Life-
line, Tomchei Shabbos, and various Israeli charities.
The teachers also are enthusiastic about the auction.
Theyre excited about the opportunity to offer the
services and about where the money is going, he said.
Most of the teachers take it upon themselves to speak
in advance about the cause its going to.
This year, both teachers and students were particu-
larly moved by the fact that the money was not going
to a large organization but to a speciic child.
It hit home and resonated with the kids, Rabbi
Wolk said. Thats why it was our most successful auc-
tion. We showed them pictures of the girl, and said it
would put a smile on her face.
Students Kira Fox and Isaac Merkin, both from
Englewood, clearly agree with the middle school
teacher.
This year, the cause was more meaningful to stu-
dents because we know the person we are helping,
said Kira, an eighth-grader. Isaac, who is in seventh
grade, said this years fundraiser was more success-
ful than in the past because tzedakah starts in the
community. Students know Chana because shes our
neighbor and we want to make her happy.
While most students participated, Rabbi Wolk said,
some bought only a few raffles and some bought 50,
60, or 70. There were some heavy hitters. He said
he also appreciated the generosity of parents, point-
ing out that flyers and announcements had been
emailed to students homes in the days leading up to
the auction.
Mr. Kessler said that as Jewish educators, its
important to organize charity initiatives, especially
on Chanukah, when our kids are used to getting a lot
of great things. They need to take time to think about
others and give of themselves to someone else. In this
case, the participants could put a face to the [recipi-
ent]. Its really special for our students to do a project
where they are able to see the tangible result to buy
the wagon and give it to someone they have a connec-
tion to. Its touched so many of them.
We are also
incredibly blessed
to have received
an outpouring of
support from our
community in
Englewood. We
would not be able
to do this
without them.
SHOSHANA POUPKO
Like us on Facebook.
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JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 25
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FIRST PERSON
Putting aside historical slogans,
protesting for a better Ukraine
JEREMY BOROVITZ
KIEV, Ukraine As I stood as one of the
few Americans among the masses of pro-
testers at Kievs Independence Square, the
frigid cold reminded me that this was my
fourth year trying to survive a harsh Ukrai-
nian winter.
The crowd seemed to be warming up
thanks to the incessant chants and hot
breath that kept emerging from the hun-
dreds of thousands of throats on hand:
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to its heroes!
I wasnt sure whether to join in. This
chant has a history. Its the rallying cry of
Ukrainian nationalists and was popular-
ized by Ukrainian militias during World
War II who fought the Russians and collab-
orated in Nazi atrocities against Jews. But
now it was being used to protest a corrupt
Ukrainian government drifting away from
the West and into Russias orbit.
Standing there with a kippah hidden
under my warm winter hat and my tzitzit
well tucked in, I could tell that my Jewish
Ukrainian friends and I we were strug-
gling with the same question. How do
you express patriotism when the nation-
alism associated with your country has
such a horrible history? Did our pres-
ence demand that we chant a slogan once
anathema to our grandparents?
We were there to show our love for
Ukraine, a country that molded me into the
man and Jew that I have become. And the
protests, which began as pro-Western dem-
onstrations, have come to symbolize the
desire for dignity in a country where the
aristocracy rules and cracks in the social
safety net could swallow whole villages.
When I first told my friends and family
that I was going to be a Peace Corps volun-
teer in Ukraine, they were less than enthu-
siastic. It wasnt exactly a conventional
path for a Jewish day school graduate from
Paramus.
Some of my relatives painted pictures of
pogroms chasing me around every bend
and begged me not to go. But I wanted
to do something different, and my deep
shtetl nostalgia led me to the former Pale
of Settlement.
On my first night in my village of
Boyarka, in June 2010, Mikolya, the barrel-
chested farmer who lived next door and
principal of the local school, asked me if I
wanted to go to church on Sunday. I hesi-
tated. No, I told him, I will not go to church
because I am a Jew.
Oh, he replied. We dont have any of
them here.
It was months before Mikolya would
begin to open up to me about the forgotten
Jewish history in our village. He showed
me the old cemetery, largely destroyed
and abandoned. He showed me where
synagogues once stood and where the van-
ished shtetl had laid its foundations. We
collected interviews and artifacts, spent
time in the archives and together discov-
ered a past that had long been lost.
The history we learned wasnt always
pleasant.
The Jewish community of Boyarka was
destroyed by 1920. Three pogroms by
three different groups slaughtered more
than 100 of its inhabitants. The descen-
dants of these pogromniks were my
neighbors, my students, and my friends.
How much responsibility does wonder-
ful, precocious, 9-year-old Yana bear for
the crimes of her great-great-grandfather?
When do I tell Yana who came to study
English with me three days a week, who
despite her absent father and alcoholic
mother always has a smile on her face,
who wants to be a translator and see the
world about these horrible deeds?
And what do I say to Mikolya when he
stumbles into my home drunk one night
asking me why all Jews are either angels
or demons?
How do I react to Zavalski, whose
grandfather was Jewish and was killed by
the Nazis, when he comes over and takes
the kippah off my head and puts it on his
own. How do I prevent myself from crying
when he tells me that I am the first Jew he
ever met in his life who was proud of who
he was, and that this makes him proud, too?
And what do I say to all the wonder-
ful Jewish friends I made in Kiev who are
shocked that I speak Ukrainian, the lan-
guage of Boyarka, such a peasants tongue,
rather than the much more cosmopolitan
Russian? How do I explain to them that
these village folk arent simpleminded?
That they are beautiful and complex?
These protests, like most things in
Ukraine, are not so black and white. Here
we were, out on the square, Jews pro-
testing alongside Ukrainian nationalists,
joined in opposition to a regime ruled by
an elite that seems to care little for the
common man, that does nothing when
universities charge bribes for admission,
that allows the countrys main highways
to resemble backwoods paths?
We stood there, shoulder to shoulder,
because the protest isnt about the histori-
cal meaning of some slogan. Its about peo-
ple who feel helpless to do anything but
stand in the cold and demand change. It is
a protest about creating a fair and just soci-
ety where children like Yana have a chance
to succeed. And it is also about creating a
better future, where very dark moments of
history can be explored and where recon-
ciliation can begin.
For now, we stand, Jews with Ukrai-
nians, young with old, because we dont
know what else to do. It is not yet clear that
there is a solution to Ukraines problems.
As the speaker shouts Glory to Ukraine!
I think not of anti-Semites and fascists and
murderers but of universities and jobs and
freedom. And when I choose to be silent
with my friends, to support them in their
decision not to join in with Glory to its
heroes! I recall all the amazing people I
have met, members of every tribe, who may
yet lead this country to salvation.
JTA WIRE SERVICE
Jeremy Borovitz spent 3 1/2 years in Ukraine
working as a Peace Corps volunteer, as well
as with the Jewish community in Kiev. He
now lives in Jerusalem, where he is studying
at the Pardes Institute. His father is Neal
Borovitz, rabbi emeritus of Temple Avodat
Shalom in River Edge.
Protesters against the Ukrainian government cheering a speaker in Kievs Independence Square on December 5.
BRENDAN HOFFMAN/GETTY IMAGES
Jewish World
JS-27*
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 27
Many U.S. Jewish cemeteries neglected
Lack of long-term plans and funds cause problems
JULIE WIENER
F
or years, the historic Jewish
cemetery was so overgrown
with weeds, plagued by toppled
headstones, and littered with
fallen branches, beer cans, and snack-
food wrappers that at least a quarter of its
graves were impossible to reach.
Even now, after a $140,000 cleanup and
improved maintenance procedures, the
35,000-grave cemetery relies on the gen-
erosity of a non-Jewish volunteer to repair
its tombstones, fences, and mausoleums.
The cemetery isnt in Eastern Europe.
Its the Bayside Cemetery in Queens, and
its among countless Jewish cemeteries
across the country in varying states of dis-
repair. About 40 to 50 of them are in the
New York area alone.
There are a plethora of reasons for
Jewish cemeteries troubles. Many are
owned by synagogues, associations, or
burial societies that no longer exist or are
on their last legs. Once a cemetery stops
bringing in revenues selling new graves
the operating budget dries up unless suf-
ficient money has been set aside for the
long term. At Bayside, annual cemetery
upkeep costs $90,000.
Based on current practices, substan-
tially all Jewish cemeteries will be unable
to pay for their upkeep within 25 to 50
years after their last grave is sold, said
Gary Katz, president of New Yorks Com-
munity Association for Jewish At-Risk
Cemeteries, a group founded in 2007 and
funded largely by UJA Federation of New
York.
While most nonprofit cemeteries are
required to put aside a certain percentage
of their revenues into endowment funds
for the future ranging from 10 percent to
40 percent, depending on the state most
experts say that amount is not enough to
ensure that a cemetery will remain finan-
cially viable. Furthermore, many Jew-
ish cemeteries are registered as religious
organizations and wholly exempt from
state regulations. At such cemeteries, plot
owners have no way of knowing whether
the family plot will be maintained two or
three generations on.
Mark Stempa, who according to tax fil-
ings earned more than $500,000 in 2012
running two large nonprofit Jewish cem-
eteries in Queens Mount Zion and Mount
Carmel and is a paid board member of
a third, says his cemeteries are approach-
ing capacity and already relying on invest-
ment income to cover operations.
We conservatively invest, and hopefully
that income generated from the trust
funds is going to care for the cemetery
in the future, he said. But, Mr. Stempa
A section of Bayside Cemetery in Queens before a cleanup funded by the UJA
Federation. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH AT-RISK CEMETERIES.
SEE CEMETERIES PAGE 28
Jewish World
28 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
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acknowledged, Whats going to happen in 100 years, I
really dont know.
By the time a cemetery is full, it should have 20 times
its annual operating expenses in an endowment, accord-
ing to Stan Kaplan, chairman of the Jewish Cemetery
Association of North America and executive director of
the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts. But
few do, he said. As the community changes, well have
more defaults.
In city after city, local Jewish communities often, as
in Baysides case, the local federation are having to
step in and put up money to save Jewish burial grounds.
If the cemetery doesnt have enough money and its
owners abandon it, whose responsibility will it be to
take care of it? asked David Zinner, executive director
of Kavod vNichum, a national organization that pro-
vides training to Jewish burial societies.
A number of communities are trying to ensure that
their Jewish cemeteries are cared for in perpetuity by
reshaping the way their cemeteries operate. The focus is
on collaboration and long-term financial planning.
The Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati was
established as a nonprofit in 2004 by pooling the
endowments of struggling and financially viable ceme-
teries and raising $6 million. The organization now runs
most of the Cincinnati areas Jewish cemeteries.
We were very fortunate to have the Jewish foundation
willing to put up a lot of money to make this happen,
said David Hoguet, executive director of the organiza-
tion. If money were available in other cities, youd see
more of this happening.
The Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts,
created in 1984, now manages 108 cemeteries. It orig-
inally took over only insolvent cemeteries, but later
absorbed several healthy and operational ones as well.
It has raised $10 million to endow its operations. That
is one-fourth of what is needed to cover its annual
expenses in perpetuity.
A cemetery association launched in 2004 by the Jew-
ish federation in New Haven, Conn., has taken owner-
ship of eight cemeteries and created a centralized main-
tenance system that other Jewish cemeteries pay to use.
But cemetery collectives are the exception rather than
the rule. Most Jewish communities dont have any cen-
tral association to deal with cemeteries, and those that
do often have minimal funding or limited purviews. Its
also hard to get operational and financially healthy cem-
eteries that might be able to subsidize the care of other
cemeteries to come under a communal umbrella.
Mr. Zinner says Jewish communities need to face the
challenges of cemetery maintenance collectively and
ahead of time.
Dont wait until theres a disaster, he said. Every
Jewish cemetery should have a representative of the
Jewish community at large on its board.
JTA WIRE SERVICE
The same section of Bayside Cemetery after the UJA Federation-funded cleanup.
Cemeteries
FROM PAGE 27
Jewish World
JS-29
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 29
In hardscrabble villages,
Bedouin want recognition,
not relocation
BEN SALES
WADI AL-NAAM, ISRAEL In this
unofficial Bedouin town of 14,000 not
far from Beersheva in the Negev Des-
ert, families live in clusters of shanties
with intermittent electricity provided
by generators or solar panels.
A communal structure has soft plas-
tic walls and dirt floors, with a small
pit at one end for an open fire that pro-
vides the rooms only heat. Roads in
many places are demarcated only by
piles of rocks.
For decades, Bedouin tribes like
those living in Wadi al-Naam and simi-
lar settlements all over southern Israel
have waged a battle with the Israeli
government over land rights, with the
government refusing to recognize the
unofficial settlements or give them
electricity or infrastructure and the
Bedouins refusing to move.
Ismail Barfash, a local locksmith, says
if he wanted to move to the nearby rec-
ognized Bedouin town of Segev Sha-
lom, he would have done it long ago.
I like the quiet here, Mr. Barfash
said. No one comes here to ask what
youre doing. I prefer to die here and
not move somewhere else.
Last week, Israel was set to bring
a major resolution to the dispute by
enacting a law years in the mak-
ing and following months of Knesset
debate that would have legalized
some Bedouin villages and given them
infrastructure while forcing others to
relocate to recognized towns, where
they would be given small land plots
and some cash grants.
But the plan was shelved a few
weeks ago, with no vote taken, after
opponents on both the right and the
left expressed concerns. Now the gov-
ernment must go back to the drawing
board.
Some opponents of the law and many
Bedouin say the government wants to
confiscate their land and profit from
it, using it for industry or the military.
The government says it wants to settle
the claims so that it can use the lands
to develop housing and infrastructure.
The law would have addressed the
status of approximately 110,000 Bed-
ouin who live in unrecognized villages
in the northern Negev.
Its not about taking the Bedouin
and making a transfer, said Doron
Almog, director of the Office of Eco-
nomic and Community Development
of the Negev Bedouin in the Prime
Ministers Office. Its relocation from
poverty to modernity. This will happen
together with the Bedouin.
In Lakia, one of seven Bedouin towns
set up by the government about four
decades ago as an experiment in transi-
tioning the historically nomadic group
The city of Rahat is the largest Bedouin settlement in Israel. YOSSI ZAMIR/FLASH 90
SEE VILLAGES PAGE 30
No one comes
here to ask what
youre doing. I
prefer to die here
and not move
somewhere else.
ISMAIL BARFASH
Jewish World
30 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
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to a more modern, urban lifestyle, one vexing issue is
what the newly resettled nomadic Bedouin would do
in their new urban digs.
Bedouins used to plant olive trees and work the
land, but that isnt appropriate for the city, said
Nabhan El-Sana, project director for the Lakia Local
Council.
Life in the Bedouin towns is not easy. According
to Israels socioeconomic rating system, no Bedouin
town scores better than a two out of 10. Residents tend
to be poor, unemployment is high, infrastructure is in
short supply, and municipal budgets are small. Those
who work usually do so outside of town in nearby Jew-
ish villages or cities.
The situation is very difficult, said Talal Alkrinawi,
mayor of Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in Israel. The
worst communities are the Bedouin towns. The rea-
son is that the government didnt invest resources to
develop industry and economy in the Bedouin cities.
They didnt worry about quality of life.
Mr. Alkrinawi says that 79 percent of Rahat residents
live below the poverty line. In 2009, the unemploy-
ment rates for Rahat and Lakia were 12 percent and 19
percent, respectively, compared to 6 percent nation-
ally. In Rahat, the average annual salary is less than
$20,000, compared to more than $32,000 nationally.
A government-sponsored employment program in
Rahat run out of a new community center for young
people aims to put more of the citys young adults
to work. It offers employment counseling, profes-
sional certification programs and entrepreneurship
coaching.
But Hasan Abu Zaid, the youth centers director,
says many challenges persist. One of the greatest is
the relatively small proportion of Bedouin with college
degrees. About 46 percent of Israelis between 25 to 64
years old have college degrees, according to the Orga-
nization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
but only 6 percent of Rahat residents do.
The picture is not rosy, Mr. Abu Zaid said. We
believe that employment must be accompanied by
business development in the town. The Bedouin pop-
ulation always worked. Its not that they dont want
to work.
Government officials say that programs like the
youth center plus a final settlement to land disputes
will help growth in Bedouin employment rates and
quality of life. The government is developing an indus-
trial park outside Rahat, as well as a new neighbor-
hood in the city that will offer subsidized housing to
local Bedouin.
We need to plan things and execute them slowly,
said Ami Tesler, head of the Community Relations
Department for the Bedouin in the Prime Ministers
Office. If you understand you have a certain number
of families in a certain area, you have to plan schools
and roads. Its a process.
Many Bedouin living in the unrecognized villages do
not see relocation as the answer, however. Attia Ala-
sam, head of the Regional Council of Unrecognized
Villages, says he prefers that the government instead
recognize the unofficial villages, settling land disputes
and providing the villages with infrastructure and
basic services.
They need to solve this with dialogue, he said.
The state says I want to do good to you. When it
destroys my village, whats good about that?
JTA WIRE SERVICE
Villages
FROM PAGE 29
Bedouins used to plant
olive trees and work
the land, but that isnt
appropriate for the city.
NABHAN EL-SANA
Dvar Torah
JS-31*
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 31
Parashat Vaera: The heart of the matter
L
ogi cal i nconsi s-
tencies are grist
for the mi l l of
Torah study. In
this weeks Torah portion,
Vaera, we find ourselves at
the heart of the story of the
exodus, the ten plagues that
God sent upon Egypt. As the
portion progresses the drama
grows as Moses brings Gods
notice of yet another plague
that is about to come: the
Nile turned to blood, frogs,
swarms of insects, flies, cattle
disease, boils, hail. These first
seven of the ten plagues are found in Para-
shat Vaera. Each time God sends another
plague Pharaohs heart hardens and he
refuses to let the Children of Israel go.
Hold on a minute! the careful student of
Torah might say. After the first five plagues
the Torah text says that Pharaoh hardened
his heart. But, when we get to the sixth
plague, boils, it says that God hardened
Pharaohs heart. That phrase is used repeat-
edly over the last several plagues The
Eternal hardened Pharaohs heart. Why
the change in wording? More importantly,
doesnt Pharaoh, like all peo-
ple, have free will? Isnt that
a basic principle of Judaism?
And, furthermore, if God does
harden Pharaohs heart so he
refuses to let the Israelites go
doesnt that mean that Pha-
raoh wasnt responsible for
his actions? Why then would
God seek to punish him with
more plagues? It just doesnt
make sense!
True. But, it is just such logi-
cal inconsistencies that lead
our Sages of Blessed Memory
to some great insights. In the
Midrash, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai voices
his deep concern that heretics could point
to this passage and say that Pharaoh was not
given the opportunity to repent, that God
was unjust. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish replies,
When God warns a man once, twice, and
even a third time, and he still does not repent,
then does God close his heart against repen-
tance. God sent five times to him and he
took no notice. (Exodus Rabba 13:3)
Erich Fromm, a learned Jew as well as a
great psychologist, takes this point and puts
it in more familiar psychological language
for us: What the biblical text stresses here is
one of the most fundamental laws of human
behavior. Every evil act tends to harden a
mans heart, that is, to deaden it. Every good
act tends to soften it, to make it more alive.
The more mans heart hardens the less free-
dom does he have to change; the more is he
determined already by previous action. But
there comes a point of no return, when a
mans heart has become so hardened and so
deadened that he has lost the possibility of
freedom, when he is forced to go on and on
until the unavoidable end. (You Shall Be As
Gods, p. 101).
While we do have free will, thought pro-
cesses and behavior patterns become more
ingrained and harder to change the more we
repeat them. Eventually, it is almost as if we
are no longer able to control ourselves. At
first sin is like a spiders web, the midrash
teaches, but in time it becomes like a ships
cable. (Genesis Rabba 22:6) We are familiar
with this type of behavior pattern, for exam-
ple, when we talk about the various addic-
tions that plague us as human beings. We
can break these patterns of behavior but the
longer they last the more difficult it is to do.
At the same time we can take this teach-
ing and turn it in a positive direction. Just
as repeated negative behaviors can become
ingrained, so too can repeated positive
behaviors. For example, in discussing the
mitzvah of tzar baalei chayim, concern for
the suffering of animals, Sefer Hachinuch
points out that one of the reasons to practice
kindness to animals is that it will lead one to
be kind to human beings. It is as important to
habituate ourselves and our children to doing
deeds of kindness as it is to warn against mis-
conduct. In synagogue life we often bemoan
the fact that the same people end up doing
the volunteer work that keeps the commu-
nity going, while helping others outside the
community as well. But, its no accident. Its
the pattern of goodness that they have incul-
cated in themselves. Mitzvah goreret mitz-
vah, one mitzvah leads to another just
as averah goreret averah one sin leads to
another (Pirke Avot 4:2).
As we come to our secular New Year and
think about making New Years resolutions
it doesnt have to be our Jewish New Year
for us to do teshuvah! let us not just think
about the bad habits we want to break. As
with Pharaoh in days of old, bad habits are
hard to break. Instead, focus on doing a few
good deeds. You never know, perhaps youll
end up making a habit of it!
Rabbi Jordan
Millstein
Temple Sinai of
Bergen County,
Tenafly, Reform
BRIEFS
Lawyer: Virtually no serious
U.S. engagement with Cuba
since Gross imprisonment
The lead attorney for Alan Gross said that the recent
release of Jacob Ostreicher, who had been held for more
than two years in Bolivia, does not shed any light on
Grosss case.
December 3 marked the fourth anniversary of Grosss
incarceration. He is serving a 15-year prison term for help-
ing Cubas Jewish community gain access to the Internet
while he was a subcontractor for the United States Agency
for International Development.
I think that each of these cases has its own set of facts,
including the country thats holding these people, and that
really helps to determine what happens, Grosss attorney,
Scott Gilbert of Gilbert LLP, said. The United States has a
decades-long history of negotiating to obtain the release
of Americans whove been held in foreign countries that
we either have very good diplomatic relations with or very
hostile relations with.
Gilbert said there has been virtually no serious engage-
ment with the Cuban government to attempt to negotiate
Alans release since his imprisonment.
The Cuban government, at the highest levels, has
made very clear to us both privately and publicly that they
would sit down with the United States with no precondi-
tions to discuss the conditions of Alans release and try to
negotiate a resolution, and the United States has yet to sit
down and do that, he said. JNS.ORG
Israeli officials condemn
reported U.S., U.K. spying
Israeli officials condemned the reported American and British
monitoring of email traffic at the offices of the Israeli prime
minister and defense minister, revealed over the weekend
through documents leaked by National Security Agency whis-
tleblower Edward Snowden.
Reports in the New York Times, the Guardian, and Der Spie-
gel said the NSA and the United Kingdoms communications
headquarters broke into the e-mail accounts of former Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Defense Minister
Ehud Barak in 2009.
Its quite embarrassing between countries who are allies,
Israeli Tourism Minister Uzi Landau said in reaction to the
reports.
We share everything with them, Strategic Affairs Minister
Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio about intelligence cooperation
between Israel and the U.S., the U.K., and Germany. Under
these conditions, it is unacceptable to behave this way.
JNS.ORG
Bomb explodes on bus near
Tel Aviv after evacuation
In what police have called a terrorist attack, a bomb
exploded on a bus south of Tel Aviv on Sunday after being
spotted by passengers, who were evacuated before the
explosion.
According to the Jerusalem Post, one of the passengers
on the bus traveling from Bnei Brak to Bat Yam opened a big
black bag and described what looked like a pressure cooker
inside of it, with a red wire coming out. The driver evacuated
the bus, and when the police arrived, the bomb detonated
before they could defuse it, with the explosion slightly injuring
a police officer. JNS.ORG
Israel working all the time to free
Jonathan Pollard, Netanyahu says
Israel is working all the time to convince President
Obama to free imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard,
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu rejected
the connection of advocacy for Pollards potential release
to new reports that U.S. intelligence has been intercept-
ing correspondence between high-ranking Israel officials.
We dont need any special event to spur us to action
to free Pollard, said Netanyahu, Israel Hayom reported.
We are busy with this all the time. There is no connec-
tion between reports stating that the U.S. collected data in
Israel and the potential release of Pollard.
Officials calling for Pollards release this month include
Bill Richardson, former New Mexico governor and U.S.
ambassador to the U.N., and Angelo Codevilla, a senior
staffer on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee at the
time of Pollards 1985 arrest.
You would hope that at this point and time, it would
be enough people who know what went on [to call for
Pollards release] that justice and humanitarian concerns
for his health would dictate that he be free, Rabbi Pesach
Lerner, executive vice president emeritus of the National
Council of Young Israel, said. Rabbi Lerner frequently vis-
its Pollard in prison, told JNS.org. JNS.ORG
32 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
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READERS
CHOICE
2013
FIRST PLACE
ANTIQUE DEALER
Nice Jewish boy, looking to buy all antiques, fne art,
Judaica, military, Tiffany lamps, bronzes, paintings,
Persian rugs, dolls, toys, very fne furniture and
everything wonderful!
Were only in business for 47 years
Largest antiques store in the Tri-state
Located in a 30,000 sq. ft. warehouse
Complete estates & clean outs
Crossword BY DAVID BENKOF
Across
1. The ones on the vials of oil in the
Chanukah story were broken
6. ___ Medurah (Campfire dance)
10. Sunday English ___ (Jewish Daily
Forward feature)
14. Many an Eddie Fisher song
15. Tattoos for Jews: ___ of the last
10 years
16. ___ Haam Tapas (Tel Aviv restaurant)
17. Cain and Ishmael and Esau and
Reuben
19. The Jewish ___ and Girls Brigade
(United Kingdoms oldest Jewish
youth group)
20. ___ Israel (large synagogue in the
U.S. capital)
21. Human rights activist Hagai
22. Rue ___ Rosiers (Paris street with
much Jewish culture)
23. Cyprus-Israel ___ (sailing race)
25. British geneticist Philips
28. With Richard Rodgers, he created
Nellie Forbush and Ado Annie
31. Marcel Marceau
34. Ctry. almost all of whose Jews
emigrated in 1962
35. Hassan Rouhanis country
36. He won Oscars for An American
in Paris and Gigi
40. What a feller needs?
41. ___ palabra: one word in Ladino
42. British pianist Myra
43. Former Hawaii Governor
47. Ezra, e.g.
48. The second group of cows Joseph
sees in his dream
53. Loews Cineplex competitor
54. Femme fatale Goldsmith
56. Frank patriarch
57. Tape sent to a music exec
59. TV Show Jewish Cooking in
America with ___
61. 1989 Israel Prizewinner Menachem
62. Utter
63. ___ Troller, filmmaker (Where to
and Back)
64. Pupiks attract it
65. Sinai Campaign and Lebanon
66. Bendy letters
Down
1. Israel has never had a woman presi-
dent (___)
2. Say Lil Abner, say
3. What ___ (Im bored)
4. Jacob ben Jacob Moses of ___
(Noah Weinbergs ancestor)
5. Workspace for Mel Brooks
or Woody Allen
6. WZOs weekly newspaper, 1907-1950
7. Singing star Haza
8. The Virtue of Selfishness author
9. They make money for
The Jerusalem Post
10. League of Nations Interim Report
on the Civil Administration of ___
11. King of Persia in the Book of Esther
12. 1600 Penn actor Josh
13. Koch and Asner
18. Zeta ___ Tau (Jewish fraternity)
22. Shaare Zedek employees (abbr.)
24. ___ He Kissed Me (Crystals hit
produced by Phil Spector)
25. Yetzer hara (evil ___)
26. Novel The ___ Gospel
by Naomi Alderman
27. ___ Lewis (Senior adviser
to Hillary Clinton)
29. Calendar thats an alternative
to the Jewish one
30. English for the Hebrew measurement
amah
31. ___ Monday (song sung
by Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles)
32. Israeli astronaut who died
before returning to Earth
33. Author, Amazing Adventures
of the Jewish People
37. Styne who wrote the score
for Gypsy and Funny Girl
38. Modeh ___ (wake-up prayer)
39. ___ Hirsch School of Education
(Reform teachers college)
40. Capp and Hirschfeld
44. The Goldbergs network
45. Quick flashes of light
46. Pianist Fleisher
49. Theyre placed in the Kotel
50. Fundamental values
51. ___ Mesto (Prague district
with many Jewish sights)
52. Salad servers
54. 1978 Michael Douglas film
55. Wolfs ___ (Hitlers first Eastern Front
military HQ)
57. Jack Markell is the first Jewish
governor of this st.
58. Hostel director Roth
59. Throw the ___ Down the Well
(infamous Borat sketch)
60. Jack Bennys was 39 perenially
Solution to last weeks puzzle.
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Arts & Culture
JS-33*
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 33
Handle with Care
MIRIAM RINN
F
luent Hebrew speakers who long
to hear the language on stage
should enjoy Charlotte Cohns
rapid-ire delivery in Handle
with Care, the new comedy at Westside
Theatre/Downstairs on 43rd Street, but
they will have to put up with a plot so
corny and contrived that they may gasp
at the chutzpah of it all. Written by Jason
Odell Williams and directed by Karen
Carpenter, Handle with Care tells the
unconvincing story of two brokenhearted
Jews one American, one Israeli who
miraculously ind each other in a dumpy
motel in rural Virginia on Christmas Eve.
Williams script alternates between the
nights of December 23rd and December
24th to advance the action, as well as tog-
gling between Hebrew-and-English and
English-thats-supposed-to-be-Hebrew.
Cohn, who in real life is the playwrights
wife, gamely tries to keep her languages
straight, but she often loses control of her
accents. Who could blame her?
Broadway luminary Carol Lawrence
the original Maria in West Side Story
and star of many other Broadway shows
plays Edna, a determined Israeli grand-
mother traveling with her reluctant grand-
daughter Ayelet (Cohn) on a mysterious
trip through the low spots of the East
Coast. Explaining why they are carefully
avoiding any sites of tourist interest, Edna
insists thats the best way to learn about a
country stick to back roads and crappy
diners and youll absorb the essence of the
place. As soon as they hit a motel, Safta
vanishes for a while, saying shes going out
for something to eat. Lawrence is a thor-
ough pro, giving her character as much
spunk and charm as she can, and she and
Cohn have a nice rapport.
When the play opens, however, Edna
is a corpse, who unfortunately has been
stolen, along with the delivery truck she
was stowed in. The trucks driver, Ter-
rence (Shefield Chastain), has desper-
ately called his one brainy Jewish friend,
Josh, to help him out of this ix. After all,
its Christmas Eve, so who else would be
available? As played by Jonathan Sale, Josh
brings a modicum of comic timing and
naturalness to the play.
Ayelet cannot speak Engli sh, so
expresses her dismay at her grandmoth-
ers disappearance in Hebrew, and Ter-
rence is convinced that Josh will be able
to understand her. Although Josh tries
to explain that his knowledge of Hebrew
is limited to what he memorized for his
bar mitzvah, that means nothing to Ter-
rance, and not much to Ayelet either, of
course. The irst challenge to our credulity
is that any young Israeli would be unable
to speak or understand enough English
to get along in such a situation, and the
eventual explanation is too preposterous
to mention.
Cohn and Sale are an attractive pair, and
they work hard to create some chemistry,
but they are struggling against an accumu-
lation of clichs that becomes insurmount-
able. Josh is in mourning for a wife who
died suddenly, and Ayelet is depressed
because she is sure that she will never ind
the right guy. Terrance is the simpleton
who believes in Providence, while Josh is
the academic skeptic. How were these two
ever childhood friends, especially since
Terrances Southern accent is as thick as
peanut butter and Josh sounds like a news
anchor?
Handle with Care has been playing at
regional theaters and opened at the West-
side on December 15. Its predictable sto-
ryline may be satisfying to some, but its
better if you want to practice your Hebrew.
Sheffield Chastain, Charlotte Cohen, and Jonathan
Sale star in the romantic comedy Handle with Care.
PHOTOS COURTESY DOUG DENOFF
Carol Lawrences big break, years ago,
was as Maria in West Side Story.
Calendar
34 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-34*
Monday
DECEMBER 30
Senior program in
Wayne: The Chabad
Center of Passaic County
continues its Smile on
Seniors program at
the center, 11:30 a.m.;
a representative from
the heart center at
St. Josephs Regional
Hospital of Wayne will
discuss keeping hearts
healthy during the
winter. $5. 194 Ratzer
Road. (973) 694-6274 or
Chanig@optonline.net.
Thursday
JANUARY 2
Blood drive in Teaneck:
Holy Name Medical
Center holds a blood
drive in the hospital
parking lot, 1-7 p.m.
Donors will receive a red
Super Community Blood
Drive wristband and
have the opportunity to
win two tickets to Super
Bowl XLVIII. 718 Teaneck
Road. (800) 933-BLOOD
or www.nybloodcenter.
org.
Friday
JANUARY 3
Shabbat in Paramus:
The Young Jewish
Families club of the
Jewish Community
Center of Paramus/
Congregation Beth
Tikvah hosts a service
and Tu BShevat program
for young families,
7:30 p.m. Dairy oneg/
playtime in the gym
follow. East 304 Midland
Ave. (201) 262-7691 or
yjf@jccparamus.org.
Shabbat in Emerson:
Congregation Bnai Israel
hosts a fun and casual
Adon Olam service,
7:30 p.m., with members
and non-members
invited to share a few
stanzas of Adon Olam
to various melodies. 53
Palisade Ave. (201) 265-
2272 or www.bisrael.com.
Saturday
JANUARY 4
Shabbat in Fort Lee:
Congregation Gesher
Shalom/JCC of Fort Lee
offers tot Shabbat led
by Roberta Seltzer, with
songs, props, stories, and
a giant siddur, 11 a.m. Also
a family service led by
education director, Cory
Chargo. 1449 Anderson
Ave. (201) 947-1735.
Sunday
JANUARY 5
Adult holiday workshop
in Woodcliff Lake:
Rabbi Benjamin Shull
continues the Jewish
Experience with
Shabbat Unplugged:
A Day to Reconnect!,
a workshop for parents
and grandparents at
Temple Emanuel of the
Pascack Valley, 10:15 a.m.
87 Overlook Drive.
(201) 391-0801 or email
events@tepv.org.
Israel summer program/
gap-year fair in
Teaneck: The Bergen
County High School
of Jewish Studies
hosts its Israel summer
programs/gap-year
fair, with school and
program representatives,
at Maayanot Yeshiva
High School for Girls,
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
1650 Palisade Ave. (201)
488-0834 or office@
bchsjs.org.
Family activity/lunch
in Paramus: The Young
Jewish Families club of
the Jewish Community
Center of Paramus/
Congregation Beth
Tikvah hosts a meat
lunch, with hot dogs,
and arts and crafts for
Tu BShevat including
making a terrarium,
11:30 a.m. East 304
Midland Ave. (201) 262-
7691 or yjf@jccparamus.
org.
Monday
JANUARY 6
Kindergarten open
house in Woodcliff
Lake: Temple Emanuel
of the Pascack Valley
holds a program for
parents of children
entering kindergarten in
September, 10 a.m. 87
Overlook Drive. (201)
391-8329 or amy@tepv.
org. The synagogue
offers a full-day
kindergarten program.
Tuesday
JANUARY 7
Computer open house
in Tenafly: The EGL
Foundation Computer
Center for adults 40+
at the Kaplen JCC on
the Palisades offers an
open house/orientation,
10:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m.,
with a class, Most
Interesting Websites,
and a chance to win a
free computer course.
Refreshments. 411 East
Clinton Ave. Rachel, (201)
569-7900, ext. 309.
Wednesday
JANUARY 8
Caregiver support in
Rockleigh: A support
group for those caring
for people who are
frail or suffering from
Alzheimers disease or
related dementia meets
at the Gallen Adult Day
Health Care Center at
the Jewish Home at
Rockleigh, 10-11:30 a.m.
Topics include long-term
care options, financial
planning, legal concerns,
and the personal toll of
care-giving. 10 Link Drive.
Shelley Steiner, (201)
784-1414, ext. 5340.
Hearing screenings:
The Wayne YMCA offers
free hearing screenings
conducted by Total
Hearing Care, 1 p.m.
Refreshments. 1 Pike
Drive. The Metro YMCAs
of the Oranges is a
partner of the YM-YWHA
of North Jersey. Wendy,
(973) 595-0100 or Mariet
at THC, (862) 257-1370.
Friday
JANUARY 10
Shabbat in Wayne: The
Chabad Center of Passaic
County hosts an Israeli-
style Hebrew school
Shabbat family meal,
6 p.m. 194 Ratzer Road.
(973) 964-6274.
Shabbat in Franklin
Lakes: Barnert Temple
offers Shabbat Shirah
musical services, 7 p.m.,
with a potluck supper.
747 Route 208 South.
Natalie, (201) 848-
1800 or ncohen1847@
barnerttemple.org.
Shabbat in Woodcliff
Lake: Temple Emanuel
of the Pascack Valley
offers Shabbat
Tikvah, a service of
inspiration and renewal,
8 p.m., followed by
chocolate and other
sweets at a reception
at 7:45 p.m., and an
optional discussion in a
quiet corner on Mending
Relationships during the
oneg. 87 Overlook Drive.
(201) 391-0801 or www.
tepv.org.
Saturday
JANUARY 11
Shabbat learning in
Teaneck: In honor
of Jewish Federation
of Northern New
Jerseys One Book One
Community program,
Temple Emeth offers a
day of learning focused
on themes in the selected
book, By Fire, By Water,
by Mitchell James.
Program begins at 9 a.m.
with Torah study and four
concurrent programs
at 10:30, including
tot Shabbat; a family
activity; Longing for
Sefarad: Why the Jews of
Spain Matter, presented
by Florette Rechnitz
Koffler, professor emerita
of romance languages
and literature at Thomas
Aquinas College; and
Shabbat services.
Following lunch, there
will be a screening of
The Key from Spain:
The Songs and Stories
of Flory Jagoda. 1666
Windsor Road. (201) 833-
1322 or lindaposkanzer@
msn.com.
In New York
Saturday
DECEMBER 28
Eric Goldman
Israeli films: CUNY-TV in
New York presents New
Israeli Films, a series of
five Israeli films, as part
of its City Cinematheque
program. Eric Goldman,
film editor for the
Jewish Standard, leads
a discussion for the first
film, The Syrian Bride.
Singles
Sunday
JANUARY 12
Senior singles meet in
West Nyack: Singles
65+ meet for a social
event/brunch at the JCC
Rockland, 11 a.m. 450
West Nyack Road. $8.
Gene Arkin, (845) 356-
5525.
Singles meet in
Caldwell: New Jersey
Jewish Singles 45+
meets at Congregation
Agudath Israel, 12:45 p.m.
20 Academy Road. (973)
226-3600 or singles@
agudath.org.
Set your DVRs for a
premiere of the new
American Masters
documentary, Marvin
Hamlisch: What He Did For Love,
on PBS, tonight, 9-10:30 p.m.
Check local listings. It will be
available on DVD on January 14
via PBS Distribution. COURTESY PBS
DEC.
27
Announce
your events
We welcome announce-
ments of upcoming events.
Announcements are free.
Accompanying photos must
be high resolution, jpg les.
Send announcements 2 to 3
weeks in advance. Not every
release will be published.
Include a daytime telephone
number and send to:
NJ Jewish Media Group
pr@jewishmediagroup.
com 201-837-8818
Ohel offers
caregiver
support
Ohel Childrens Home &
Family Services is starting
a caregiver support group
on Wednesday, January 8,
at 1:30 p.m., at Care One in
Teaneck. The group is in
conjunction with the New
Beginnings group of the
Jewish Center of Teaneck.
For information, email
Devorah Sinensky, Devo-
rah_Si nensky@ohel f a-
mily.org. Care One is at
544 Teaneck Road, (201)
862-3300.
Calendar
JS-35*
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 35
NEW JERSEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER ONE CENTER STREET, NEWARK, NJ
For tickets and full 201314 schedule visit njpac.org or call 1-888-GO-NJPAC
Sleeping Beauty
State Ballet Theatre
of Russia
Sun, Feb 9 at 3pm
All-Beethoven!
Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra
Pinchas Zukerman,
conductor and violin
Fri, Jan 10 at 8pm
Part of the
Bank of America Classical Series
The Tenors
As Seen on PBS
Sat, Feb 15 at 8pm
All-Tchaikovsky!
St. Petersburg
Philharmonic
Orchestra
Yuri Temirkanov,
conductor
Denis Kozhukhin,
piano
Sun, Feb 16 at 3pm
Part of the
Bank of America Classical Series
The Peking Acrobats
& JIGU!
Thunder Drums of China
Sun, Feb 23 at 3pm
*
Use code: 4PACK.
Restrictions apply.
Family
4-PACK
$100!
*
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Celebration
Dance Theatre of
Harlem with
special guest speaker
Rev. Dr. DeForest B.
Soaries, Jr.
Fri, Jan 17 at 7:30pm
Presented in cooperation with the
Newark Unit of the NAACP,
celebrating 100 years.
NJPAC_jewishmedgroup_5x6.5_ad_12-27.indd 1 12/20/13 9:30 AM
Areyvuts New Years Day carnival
Areyvut, a non-profit based in Bergen-
field, is hosting its New Years Day carni-
val fundraiser on January 1, from 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m., at the Garden State Exhibit
Center in Somerset. There will be 15
mechanical and inflatable rides, carni-
val booths and games, kosher food, and
entertainment for all ages. Live shows
include the Gizmo Guys comedy jug-
glers, a BMX stunt show, and the Chicago
Boyz from Americas Got Talent. Call
Shoshana at (201)-244-6702, email her at
shoshana@areyvut.org, or go to www.
newyearsdaycarnival.com.
Mini film courses for teens
The Bergen County High School of Jew-
ish Studies, the community Hebrew high
school of Northern New Jersey, will be
running three mini-courses open to all
Jewish teens in the greater Northern
New Jersey region.
Dr. Eric Goldman, the Jewish Stan-
dards film reviewer, leads two courses
for the Reel Stories, Real Lives series.
He will show full length movies, and dis-
cussion and learning sessions will follow.
Beginning on February 6, tenth
through twelfth-graders can attend
Israel Through Film at the Kaplen JCC
on the Palisades in Tenafly.
Beginning February 10, eighth and
ninth-graders can enroll in Being Jewish
in America, a perspective on the twen-
tieth century and present-day American
Jewish life.
Rabbi Ely Allen will lead The After-
life, open to ninth to twelfth- graders,
beginning January 6 at a location in
Bergenfield.
For information, call (201) 488-0834 or
go to www.bchsjs.org.
JS-36
Its been a very good year.
And the winners are....
American Jewish Press Associations Rockower awards
First place for excellence in reporting: Love and hate in Bergen County
by Abigail Klein Leichman, Josh Lipowsky, Larry Yudelson, and Charles Zusman.
Second place for excellence in single commentary: Obamas distorted Israel image by Shammai Engelmayer.
New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists awards
First place for review writing: Rebecca Kaplan Boroson
First place for column writing: Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner
Second place for column writing: Joanne Palmer
Second place for profile writing: Joanne Palmer
Third place for review writing: Miriam Rinn
Thanks to you, our loyal readers, the Standard is must reading.
We value the trust you place with us and we take our relationship with you seriously.
Weve got some major announcements coming in 2014. So watch these pages.
For now, we wish you all a happy and healthy new year.
Obituaries
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 37
JS-37
Veterans are Honored Here
We are committed to celebrating the significance of lives that
have been lived, which is why we have always made service
to veterans and their families a priority.
We assure that all deceased veterans have an American
Flag and a Jewish War Veteran Medallion flagholder placed
at their graves at the time of interment. Our Advanced
Planning service has enabled us to expedite military
honors, when requested, because the need for the
documentation is immediate and it is part of the pre-need
protocol. And if requested, an American Flag may drape the
casket at a funeral service.
We have also established an Honor Wall of veterans names,
and it is a part of our Annual Veterans Memorial Service.
GUTTERMAN AND MUSICANT
JEWISH FUNERAL DIRECTORS
800-522-0588
WIEN & WIEN, INC.
MEMORIAL CHAPELS
800-322-0533
402 PARK STREET, HACKENSACK, NJ 07601
ALAN L. MUSICANT, Mgr., N.J. LIC. NO. 2890
MARTIN D. KASDAN, N.J. LIC. NO. 4482
IRVING KLEINBERG, N.J. LIC. NO. 2517
Advance Planning Conferences Conveniently Arranged
at Our Funeral Home or in Your Own Home
GuttermanMusicantWien.com
Established 1902
Headstones, Duplicate Markers and Cemetery Lettering
With Personalized and Top Quality Service
Please call 1-800-675-5624
www.kochmonument.com
76 Johnson Ave., Hackensack, NJ 07601
201-791-0015 800-525-3834
LOUIS SUBURBAN CHAPEL, INC.
Exclusive Jewish Funeral Chapel
Sensitive to Needs of the Jewish Community for Over 50 Years
13-01 Broadway (Route 4 West) Fair Lawn, NJ
Richard Louis - Manager George Louis - Founder
NJ Lic. No. 3088 1924-1996
Serving NJ, NY, FL & Israel
Graveside services at all NJ & NY cemeteries
Prepaid funerals and all medicaid funeral benefts honored
Always within a familys nancial means
Our Facilities Will Accommodate
Your Familys Needs
Handicap Accessibility From Large
Parking Area
Conveniently Located
W-150 Route 4 East Paramus, NJ 07652
201.843.9090 1.800.426.5869
Robert Schoems Menorah Chapel, Inc
Jewish Funeral Directors
FAMILY OWNED & MANAGED
Generations of Lasting Service to the Jewish Community
Serving NJ, NY, FL &
Throughout USA
Prepaid & Preneed Planning
Graveside Services
Gary Schoem Manager - NJ Lic. 3811
Ruth Berkowitz
Ruth Berkowitz, ne Weisberg, 92, of River Edge and
Tinton Falls, died December 19 in Rockleigh.
Born in Brooklyn, she was an executive in the imports
office at Bloomingdale's in New York City for 25 years
before retiring in 1983.
Predeceased by her husband, Alfred, sisters, Adrian
Weisberg and Sally Ascher, and a sister-in-law, Beulah
Cohen, she is survived by her children, Joseph (Kathy),
Ronald (Sharon Berke), Nancy Steinhart (Harris), and
Terry Berkowitz.
Donations can be sent to the American Cancer Society.
Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant Jewish
Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Richard Darwick
Richard L. Darwick of Teaneck, 85, died December 18.
Born in New York City, he worked for the New York City
School System for 35 years as a teacher, assistant principal,
and principal. He was a co-founder and director of Pine
Brook Day Camp.
Predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Barbara, he is
survived by sons, Randy, Jeff, and Alan; three daughters-in-
law, and seven grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant Jewish
Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Shirley Greenblatt
Shirley Greenblatt, ne Berman, 93, of Fort Lee died
December 15.
Born in Weehawken, she was an elementary school
teacher for the Teaneck school district.
Predeceased by her husband, Irving, she is survived
by her children, Robert, Dr. Donald, and Suzanne Ronay;
a brother, Gerry Berman; six grandchildren, and four
great-grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Eden Memorial Chapels, Inc.,
Fort Lee.
Hyman Nutkis
Hyman Nutkis of Bayonne died November 21.
Born in Jersey City, he was a World War II veteran.
He worked in military surplus and was a member of the
Farban Labor Zionist Organization.
Predeceased by his wife, Shirley, ne Bayuk, he is
survived by daughters Naomi Sprira (Robert), and Bonnie
Lowell (Gary).
Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant Jewish
Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Perry Schneider
Perry J. Schneider, 81, of Dumont died on
December 22.
An Army veteran of the Korean War, he was a
lithographer before retiring.
Predeceased by his wife, Frances, he is survived by
his children, Norie W. McCabe of Paramus, and Robert
(Anna) of Fanwood; three grandchildren,
and one great-grandchild.
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel,
Fair Lawn.
Betty May Thaler
Betty May Thaler, ne Smith, of Laurel Hollow, N.Y., died
December 15.
Born in Philadelphia, she was a medical office manager.
Predeceased by her husband, Dr. David, and a brother,
Irving Smith, she is survived by her children, Dr. Bruce
(Abdullah Kayaalp), Dr. Fred (Sharon), and and Jean
(Roni); sisters, Gabrielle Weinstein and Shirley Fletcher;
four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Contributions can be sent to Hadassah or Feed the
Hungry. Arrangements were by Gutterman and Musicant
Jewish Funeral Directors, Hackensack.
Obituaries are prepared with information
provided by funeral homes.
Correcting errors is the responsibility
of the funeral home.
LOTTE MANDEL
Lotte Mandel (ne Rosbasch)
Born in 1915 in Baden-Baden, Germany. Te youngest of
ve children, Lottes father was taken by the Nazis, marched
through town, and put into a synagogue, which was set on
re; he escaped and the entire family ed to America.
Her German credentials werent accepted here so she
worked during the day while getting her BA from Brooklyn
College and then her masters from the Bank Street College
of education. Lotte ran the pre-K and K programs at the
Shorefront YM-YWHAs in Brooklyn (Coney Island,
Brighton Beach, and Kings Bay) and created the Head Start
program in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.
After retirement she worked tirelessly for the National
Council for Jewish Women, taking two busses down to
Flatbush Avenue to help out in their thrift shop a few days
a week.
One day while attending a funeral in Brooklyn, a casting
director spotted her and cast her in the role of Bubbie in
the feature lm Prime starring Meryl Streep and Uma
Turman but the main role of her life was keeping her
family together.
She is survived by a son, Rabbi Lenny Mandel, his wife
Shelly, a grandson, Wayne, her grand-daughter in law,
Stacie, three great-grandsons, Dylan, Ari, and Spencer, and
35+ nephews and nieces, to the fth generation.
Lotte spent her last few years as a resident of Lester
Senior Housing (independent living) in Whippany, New
Jersey. She had a smile that wouldnt quit and a joie de vivre
that was so infectious that even farbissen people had to
smile.
G-d leans down from the heavens and ends Moses life
with a soft, gentle kiss. He did the same for Lotte and took
her home 18 months short of her 100th birthday. Would
that each of us be granted the same gentle and loving death.
We miss you, terribly!!!
Classified
38 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-38
(201) 837-8818
We pay cash for
Antique Furniture
Used Furniture
Oil Paintings
Bronzes Silver
Porcelain China
Modern Art
Top Dollar For Any Kind of Jewelry &
Chinese Porcelain & Ivory
Over 25 years courteous service to tri-state area
We come to you Free Appraisals
Call Us!
ANS A
201-861-7770 201-951-6224
www.ansantiques.com
Shommer
Shabbas
ANTIQUES
201-894-4770
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Established by Bubbe in 1940!
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Top Prices Paid
Oil Paintings Silver
Bronzes Porcelain
Oriental Rugs Furniture
Marble Sculpture Jewelry
Tiffany Items Pianos
Chandeliers Bric-A-Brac
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tylerantiquesny@aol.com
Sterling Associates Auctions
SEEKING CONSIGNMENT AND OUT RIGHT PURCHASES
Sculpture Paintings Porcelain Silver
Jewelry Furniture Etc.
TOP CASH PRICES PAID
201-768-1140 www.antiquenj.com
sterlingauction@optonline.net
70 Herbert Avenue, Closter, N.J. 07642
ANTIQUES
ANTIQUES
Fuel surcharge added up to 10% Additional charge may be applied to credit card payment
CAR SERVICE
Residential Dumpster Specials 10 YDS 15 YDS 20 YDS
(201) 342-9333 (973) 340-7454
WE REMOVE
Pianos Furniture
Junk Appliances
Demo Work
WE CLEAN UP
Attics Basements Yards
Garages Apartments
Construction Debris
RUBBISH REMOVAL
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83 FIRST STREET
HACKENSACK, NJ 07601
ROOFING SIDING GUTTERS LEADERS
HACKENSACK HACKENSACK HACKENSACK HACKENSACK HACKENSACK
R RR RROO OO OO OO OOFING FING FING FING FING
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ROOFING
FLORIDA CONDO FOR RENT
VACATION CONDO-
DELRAY BEACH
Magnifcent new 55 plus com-
munity. Beautifully furnished 1
Bedroom. Great location! Near
Beach, Shopping, Restaurants.
Reasonable! Available April &
May nicest months of year! (one
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FLORIDA RENTALS
DELRAY area - Two Senior wom-
an, clean & non-smoking, looking
for 2 bedroom, furnished apartment
for month of February. 973-333-
5348; 973-696-5821
CRYPTS FOR SALE
BETH ISRAEL Cemetery, Wood-
bridge, N.J. Triple Crypt for three.
Outside garden level 4. $7,500, ne-
gotiable. including transfer fees.
Value over $20K. 917-445-5293
HELP WANTED
NEEDED:
Substitute Teachers for
General and Judaic Studies in
Early Childhood through grade 8
at
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155 N. Farview Avenue
Paramus, New Jersey
To expess interest, please
submit CV to Helen Lichter at
helen.lichter@yavnehacademy.org
TUTORING
GENERAL STUDIES TUTOR
Experienced
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SITUATIONS WANTED
A CARING experienced European
woman available now to care for
elderly/sick. Live-in/Out. English
speaking. References. Drivers lics.
Call Lena 908-494-4540
CARING, reliable lady with over 20
years experience willing to work 10
to 12 hours anytime/nightime shift
at $10. hour. Excellent references.
201-741-3042
CHILD/SENIOR Care - Rent my
grandma part-time. Excellent driv-
er. Previous Medical Assistant. Fun
and reliable. Available immediately!
516-669-1666
COMPASSIONATE Caregiver to
care for elderly/sick. Over 20 years
experience with Jewish families.
Live in/out. Excellent references.
Own car. 973-809-9186
HEBREW Day School Teacher.
Fluent in Hebrew, English, Russi-
an. Five years experience teaching
in Israel. Email: E.M.S.Rosen-
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RICHALEX DIGNITY
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Assistance w/bathing
Hsekeeping Companionship
Errands Meal Preparation
Laundry Medication reminder
Compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness & patience.
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companionship
interactive,
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Assist w/shopping,
errands, Drs, etc.
Organize/process
paperwork,
bal. checkbook,
bookkeeping
Resolve medical
insurance claims
Free Consultation
RITA FINE
201-214-1777
www.daughterforaday.com
SITUATIONS WANTED
`CERTIFIED Home Health Aide/
Companion. I take care of elderly
people! Live-out/day/night/any
hours. Experienced! Good referen-
ces! Call for more particulars.
201-313-6956;201-927-9659
Estates Bought & Sold
Fine Furniture
Antiques
Accessories
Cash Paid
201-920-8875
T U
NICHOLAS
ANTIQUES
CLEANING & HAULING
JIMMY
THE JUNK MAN
Low Cost
Commercial Residental
Rubbish Removal
201-661-4940
FLOORING
American Oak
Hardwood Floors
25 Years of Experience
Installation of All Types of
Carpets, Floors & Borders
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Complete Repair Service
Quality Products
Free Estimates
Fully Insured
Oakland Rutherford
201-651-9494 201-438-7105
FURNITURE FOR SALE
PARSON TABLE
Cherry wood frame
with Glass Top
25H x 56L x 21D
Like New $100.00
Call Karen
201-321-1839
HANDYMAN
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Hardwood Floors
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Appliances
Furniture
WoodMetals
Construction
Debris
Homes Estates
Factories Contractors
JS-39
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 39
K9JS 2010JS
RCBC
KOSHER
MEALS
provided by
The Kosher
Experience
Teaneck
Gallery
40 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-40*
2
4 3
1
n 1 Roman Polonsky, second
from right, director of the
Russian-speaking department
at the Jewish Agency for Israel,
recently met leaders and staff at
the Jewish Federation of North-
ern New Jersey. The discussion
focused on how JAFI connects
Jews in the diaspora to Israel and
their Jewish roots, and about
Jewish camps in the former
Soviet Union. From left, Vanya
Bowden, Gary Siepser, Sharry
Friedberg, Mr. Polonsky, and Amy
Silna Shafron. COURTESY JFNNJ
n 2 Alan Elsner, vice president
of J Street, discussed When
Should We Speak About Israel
and What Should We Say? Amer-
ican Jews and the Two-State So-
lution, for a brotherhood break-
fast last month at Temple Sinai of
Bergen County. From left, Rabbi
Jordan Millstein, J Street regional
field organizer Amy Levin, Mr.
Elsner, brotherhood president
David Klein, and rabbinic intern
Johan Zinn. OPHELIA ADIAO YUDKOFF
n 3 Students in the Dvorim
class at Gan Aviv in Bergen-
field painted with marbles as
part of the curriculum theme
of the month, Creation and
Innovation. COURTESY GA
n 4 Touro Colleges undergradu-
ate schools and NCSY, the Na-
tional Conference of Synagogue
Youth, share a relationship stem-
ming from the importance that
Touros founder and first presi-
dent, Dr. Bernard Lander, placed
on each organization. NCSY
serves more than 20,000 teens
throughout North America. Touro
students often have partici-
pated in the youth group in high
school. Here, adviser Bari Fuchs,
a student at Lander College of
Arts and Sciences in Brooklyn,
is pictured with participants at
an NCSY event. COURTESY TOURO
n 5 Childrens author Floreva
Cohen, top row, second from
right, visited pre-K students at
Yavneh Academy in Paramus.
She read from her popular
book A Hanukkiyah for Dina.
After hearing the story, the stu-
dents made a chanukiyah out
of potatoes, just like Dina did
in the book. COURTESY YAVNEH
5
Real Estate & Business
JS-41*
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 41
Allan Dorfman
Broker/Associate
201-461-6764 Eve
201-970-4118 Cell
201-585-8080 x144 Ofce
Realtorallan@yahoo.com
FORT LEE - THE COLONY
1 BR High oor. Updated. $179,900
2 BR Full river. Renovated. $399,000
2 BR Fully renovated. Low oor.
Largest 2 BR, 2 terraces. $509,000
2 BR Gut renovation and more. Full
river view. $775,000
3 BR SE corner. High oor. $549,000
Wishing you a
Happy, Healthy 2014!
Real Estate Associates
Ann Murad, ABR, GRI
Sales Associate
NJAR Circle of Excellence Gold Level, 2001, 2003-2006
Silver Level, 1997-2000, 2002,2009,2011,2012
Direct: (201) 664 6181, Cell: (201) 981 7994
E-mai l : anni eget si t sol d@msn. com
123 Broadway, Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677
(201) 573 8811 ext. 316
Each Ofce Independenty Owned and Operated
ANNIE GETS IT SOLD
EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY
HOUSING EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY
Need Help With
Your House Purchase?
We can help with a wide variety of
available programs, quick underwriting
and closings! Rates are still low, so call
us for a pre-approval or to look into
renancing into a 15-year xed,
ARM or for cash out!
Classic Mortgage, LLC
Serving NY, NJ & CT
25 E. Spring Valley Ave., Ste 100, Maywood, NJ
201-368-3140
www.classicmortgagellc.com
MLS #31149
Larry DeNike
President
MLO #58058
ladclassic@aol.com
Daniel M. Shlufman
Managing Director
MLO #6706
dshlufman@classicllc.com
SERVING BOCA RATON,
DELRAY AND BOYNTON BEACH
AND SURROUNDING AREAS
Advantage Plus
601 S. Federal Hwy, Ste. 100
Boca Raton, FL 33432
Elly & Ed Lepselter
(561) 826-8394
THE FLORIDA LIFESTYLE
Now Selling Valencia Cove
and Villaggio Reserve
FORMER NJ
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SPECIALIZING IN: Broken Sound, Polo, Boca West, Boca Pointe,
St. Andrews, Admirals Cove, Jonathans Landing, all the Valencia
communities and everywhere else you want to be!
Dwight-Englewood students tour
their community medical center
Pupils enjoy a friendly experience
during a day at Englewood Hospital
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center
hosted students from Dwight-Englewood
School in an interactive learning program
about the hospital experience, including a
behind-the-scenes tour of various medical
center departments.
Englewood Hospital President and CEO
Warren Geller welcomed the second-grade
students, who were given backpacks, hospi-
tal workbooks, and customized name badges
that read, Future Healthcare Leader.
Students were introduced to a child-life
specialist, emergency medical technicians,
and Dr. Ted E. Bear, who helped the chil-
dren understand what to anticipate during
an unexpected trip to the hospital or emer-
gency room. EMTs demonstrated how they
use their equipment, including an oxygen
mask and tank.
A registered dietitian discussed the
importance of a healthy, balanced diet.
Students were introduced to My Plate
during snack time and talked about smart
food choices, such as grains, fruits, pro-
tein, and vegetables. Radiography stu-
dents educated the children about the
bodys skeletal, immune, digestive, circu-
latory, muscular, and nervous systems.
Afterwards, students participated in a VIP
tour of the food and nutrition department,
the department of pathology and laboratory
medicine, and the emergency department.
Students also made get well cards that will be
distributed to patients at EHMC.
We were thrilled to have Dwight-Engle-
wood School students visit their community
hospital, said Lori Villa, community affairs
coordinator at the hospital. This interactive
learning program is designed to help famil-
iarize kids with the hospital experience by
providing a behind-the-scenes look at the dif-
ferent departments and jobs within a medi-
cal facility. These students are very bright and
this type of early exposure is a great way to
positively impact our possible future health-
care leaders.
www.jstandard.com
Elisabeth Morrow
School schedules
an open house
The Elisabeth Morrow School, a country day school in
Englewood for grades three through eight, is hosting
an open house on Wednesday, January 15. The pro-
gram, starting at 9 a.m., will feature remarks from the
head of school and a panel discussion with members
of the class of 2014. After the presentation, families
are invited see the classrooms and to tour the 14-acre
campus that includes technology labs, science labs,
performance spaces, libraries, playing field, two gym-
nasiums, working gardens, and nature trails.
We believe that theres no better way for families
to understand all that Elisabeth Morrow has to offer
than by seeing the school in action and listening to our
eighth graders talk about their experience here, said
Blair Talcott Orloff, director of admissions and finan-
cial aid. Since we are in a residential neighborhood,
parents are often surprised to see how expansive the
campus is, and just how well it meets the needs of chil-
dren, both academically and physically. She added
that busing is available from New York City and many
parts of Bergen County and more than 70 communi-
ties are now represented in the student population.
At Elisabeth Morrow we have intentionally created
an environment that meets the needs of students at all
stages of childhood from three-year-olds to emerg-
ing adolescents, said Aaron Cooper, head of school.
Our experienced teachers and our challenging cur-
riculum ensure that as children mature, they are
offered many opportunities discover their passions,
and become leaders. That is what families see when
our eighth- graders speak.
Families planning to attend the Open House should
rsvp to the Admissions Office at (201) 568-5566, ext7212,
or via e-mail atadmissions@elisabethmorrow.org.
Jeff@MironProperties.com www.MironProperties.com
Ruth@MironProperties.com www.MironProperties.com/NJ
Each Miron Properties office is independently owned and operated.
Contact us today for your complimentary consultation!
ENGLEWOOD
Phenomenal .43 acre property. $725,000
ENGLEWOOD
Quaint Colonial. Expansion possibilities. $758K
ENGLEWOOD
Classic E.H. Colonial. $1,345,000
ENGLEWOOD
State-of-the-art estate. $2,400,000
J
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!
J
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5
8 A
C
R
E
!
P
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S
T
I
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S
A
R
E
A
!
TENAFLY
Tuscany in Bergen County.
TENAFLY
Beautiful Contemporary on a cul-de-sac.
TENAFLY
Old world charm. Timeless elegance.
TENAFLY
One-of-a-kind manor. $3,748,000
J
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S
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!
J
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S
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!
A
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E
A
D
Y
S
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E
V
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Y
L
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!
FORT LEE
Great 2 BR/2.5 BTH corner unit. $538,000
FORT LEE
2 BR/2.5 BTH. NY skyline view. $599,000
TEANECK
Vintage Col. Great potential. $649,9000
TEANECK
Picturesque setting. Private oasis.
B
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K
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H
A
M
T
O
W
E
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T
H
E
P
A
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A
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S
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N
,
L
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N
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A
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Y
S
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CHELSEA
Spacious ex 1 BR. Chelsea gem.
MURRAY HILL
Magnicent loft living. Roof Deck.
GREENPOINT
3,200 sw. ft. Greek revival details.
WILLIAMSBURG
Great duplex. Sleek 3 BR penthouse.
U
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S
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WILLIAMSBURG
Stylish building. Heart of Bklyn.
UPPER EAST SIDE
Continental Towers. City views.
TRIBECA
Posh penthouse. Prime location.
CHELSEA
Grand 3 BR/2.5 BTH. $3,750,000
S
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Jeffrey Schleider
Broker/Owner
Miron Properties NY
Ruth Miron-Schleider
Broker/Owner
Miron Properties NJ
NJ: T: 201.266.8555 M: 201.906.6024
NY: T: 212.888.6250 M: 917.576.0776
Remarkable Service. Exceptional Results.
Real Estate & Business
42 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-42*
SELLING YOUR HOME?
Call Susan Laskin Today
To Make Your Next Move A Successful One!
2013 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC.
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com Cell: 201-615-5353
D
id you set up a trust for children or
grandchildren in Israel?
Changes in Israeli tax law
threaten to take a bite out of the
trust. Just how big a bite depends on a deci-
sion that trustees have to make within the next
month.
For many years, when U.S. citizens estab-
lished U.S. trusts for their children and grand-
children living in Israel, and when the U.S.
trustee was not a close relative, Israel did not
tax the income of these trusts; only U.S. income
tax was paid. This all changed when the Israeli
Knesset passed its recent tax reform law, effec-
tive January 1, 2014, subjecting many previously
tax-exempt trusts to significant Israeli reporting
requirements and Israeli income tax liability, in
addition to the U.S. tax. The new reporting and
tax obligations discussed below are imposed
even if there are no trust assets in Israel, no
trustee resident in Israel, and the trust creator
is not an Israeli resident.
Since the law imposes a number of deadlines
that occur in early 2014, time is of the essence to
plan and comply. Many open questions remain,
however, and it is unclear when further guide-
lines promised by the Israel Tax Authority will
be published. With this new law, Israel went
from one extreme to the other from impos-
ing no tax or reporting requirements on U.S.
trusts to imposing rigorous reporting require-
ments and significant taxes on U.S. trusts where
the beneficiary is the only connection to Israel.
Given this dramatic reversal, Israel should give
trustees and beneficiaries more time and
more information to figure out how best to
plan and comply with this new law.
According to the new law, an Israeli benefi-
ciary trust is a trust under which all creators
are foreign residents, and there is at least one
Israeli resident beneficiary. An Israeli benefi-
ciary trust can be either a relatives trust, when
the creator is the parent, grandparent, spouse,
child, or grandchild of the beneficiary, or a non-
relatives trust, a designation that applies to all
other Israeli beneficiary trusts.
The tax implications of a non-relatives trust
are straightforward: such a trust is taxable as an
Israeli resident trust and subject to income tax
in Israel on all of its world-wide income. There
are no choices or elections to be made here
simply a new tax to be paid. The more compli-
cated tax-planning issues arise in the context of
the relatives trust.
Trustees of existing relatives trusts must
notify the Israeli tax assessor of the existence
of such trusts by late January 2014 (or within
60 days of the creation of a new relatives trust).
If the trustee takes no further action, the Israeli
resident beneficiary is taxed on income at a 30
percent rate when distributions are received.
The trustee of a relatives trust may instead
make an irrevocable election by February 2014
to be taxed under an alternative system, which
imposes a 25 percent tax at the trust level on
a yearly basis on the portion of the income
Tax law changes will deeply impact
U.S. trusts for Israeli beneficiaries
DEBRA T. HIRSCH AND SARA Y. WEINBERG
allocated to Israeli ben-
eficiaries (but imposes
no tax on beneficiaries
upon subsequent distri-
butions). Regardless of
which system is chosen, at the death of the
trust creator, the trust would become an
Israeli resident trust, subject to Israeli taxes
on its worldwide income.
Much is still unknown about the appli-
cation and implementation of the new
law, and it is unclear when further guide-
lines will be released; therefore, tax plan-
ning recommendations remain unclear.
Given the imminent reporting and election
deadlines in the law, this is particularly
challenging.
The Israeli government has not yet even
released the forms necessary to fulfill the
reporting and election requirements. Prac-
titioners in Israel are attempting to obtain
an extension of the approaching dead-
lines, so that the government has time
to release a form and so that people can
make informed decisions about this new
law. Whether such efforts are successful
remains to be seen.
There are also important questions
with important planning implications
surrounding the issue of double taxation.
Will trusts that fall under this new system
be forced to pay taxes in both the United
States and Israel without credit in one for
the other? Furthermore, the law as it cur-
rently stands does not offer any basic step-
up upon the laws effective dates to reduce
the impact of tax on appreciation prior to
the laws effective date.
The new Israeli income tax law has cre-
ated far more questions than answers. It
is far-reaching but frustratingly unclear. It
is hoped that regulations and guidelines
will be issued in the near future to address
the many open issues, and that extensions
for reporting and electing will be granted
until such clarifications can be made. In
the meantime, tax practitioners are con-
sidering various options to navigate the
new law and mitigate the tax ramifications
for affected clients. Many factors must be
considered in choosing between the pos-
sible tax systems, and clients with affected
trusts need to consult with qualified U.S.
and Israeli tax counsel.
Debra T. Hirsch is a partner and Sara Y.
Weinberg is an associate in the taxation
and wealth planning department of Fox
Rothschild LLP. They can be reached at
dhirsch@foxrothschild.com or sweinberg@
foxrothschild.com.
Debra T. Hirsch Sara Y. Weinberg
Provident Bank announces winners
in Committed to Share sweepstakes
54 take home cash
and matching donations
are sent to aid charities
The Provident Bank has announced the
three top prize winners and charities in its
annual Committed to Share Sweepstakes,
which ran October 1 to November 23, and
gave New Jersey residents the opportu-
nity to win cash and support their favorite
charities.
During its eight-week run, the bank
awarded $10,800 in prizes to 54 daily
sweepstakes winners and their favorite
charities. These daily sweepstakes win-
ners were also entered for a chance to win
one of the three top cash prizes that were
awarded December 14.
The grand prize of $5,000 and match-
ing charitable donation went to Janet Boud
of Allenhurst and the Food Bank of Mon-
mouth and Ocean Counties, based in Nep-
tune. The first-place prize of $2,500 and
matching donation went to Martha Cha-
nese of Fords and the Newark-based G.I.
Go Fund. The second-place prize of $1,000
and donation went to Angelina Flanagan
of Parlin and the Middlesex and Union
County region of the Special Olympics of
New Jersey, based in Mountainside.
Provident notified the winners a week
earlier that they were the three sweep-
stakes finalists. On Saturday, December 14,
they attended a ceremony at Providents
Administrative Office in Iselin, where bank
president and CEO Chris Martin announced
the winners.
We are genuinely excited to once again
help those in need through the charities
our participants chose to support, Mr.
Martin said.
After receiving the matching grand prize
of $5,000, Linda Keenan of the Food Bank
of Monmouth and Ocean Counties thanked
Provident Bank as well as Ms. Boud for
selecting her organization.
Thank you so much for this donation as
you have no idea how far this donation will
go, Ms. Keenan said. For every one dollar
donated to the food bank we can currently
feed three people. Therefore, our organiza-
tion will be able to feed 15,000 people as a
result of this donation.
JS-43
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013 43
Jeff@MironProperties.com www.MironProperties.com
Ruth@MironProperties.com www.MironProperties.com/NJ
Each Miron Properties office is independently owned and operated.
Contact us today for your complimentary consultation!
ENGLEWOOD
Phenomenal .43 acre property. $725,000
ENGLEWOOD
Quaint Colonial. Expansion possibilities. $758K
ENGLEWOOD
Classic E.H. Colonial. $1,345,000
ENGLEWOOD
State-of-the-art estate. $2,400,000
J
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TENAFLY
Tuscany in Bergen County.
TENAFLY
Beautiful Contemporary on a cul-de-sac.
TENAFLY
Old world charm. Timeless elegance.
TENAFLY
One-of-a-kind manor. $3,748,000
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FORT LEE
Great 2 BR/2.5 BTH corner unit. $538,000
FORT LEE
2 BR/2.5 BTH. NY skyline view. $599,000
TEANECK
Vintage Col. Great potential. $649,9000
TEANECK
Picturesque setting. Private oasis.
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CHELSEA
Spacious ex 1 BR. Chelsea gem.
MURRAY HILL
Magnicent loft living. Roof Deck.
GREENPOINT
3,200 sw. ft. Greek revival details.
WILLIAMSBURG
Great duplex. Sleek 3 BR penthouse.
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WILLIAMSBURG
Stylish building. Heart of Bklyn.
UPPER EAST SIDE
Continental Towers. City views.
TRIBECA
Posh penthouse. Prime location.
CHELSEA
Grand 3 BR/2.5 BTH. $3,750,000
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Jeffrey Schleider
Broker/Owner
Miron Properties NY
Ruth Miron-Schleider
Broker/Owner
Miron Properties NJ
NJ: T: 201.266.8555 M: 201.906.6024
NY: T: 212.888.6250 M: 917.576.0776
Remarkable Service. Exceptional Results.
Sara Y. Weinberg
Provident Bank announces winners
in Committed to Share sweepstakes
and donation went to Angelina Flanagan
of Parlin and the Middlesex and Union
County region of the Special Olympics of
New Jersey, based in Mountainside.
Provident notified the winners a week
earlier that they were the three sweep-
stakes finalists. On Saturday, December 14,
they attended a ceremony at Providents
Administrative Office in Iselin, where bank
president and CEO Chris Martin announced
the winners.
We are genuinely excited to once again
help those in need through the charities
our participants chose to support, Mr.
Martin said.
After receiving the matching grand prize
of $5,000, Linda Keenan of the Food Bank
of Monmouth and Ocean Counties thanked
Provident Bank as well as Ms. Boud for
selecting her organization.
Thank you so much for this donation as
you have no idea how far this donation will
go, Ms. Keenan said. For every one dollar
donated to the food bank we can currently
feed three people. Therefore, our organiza-
tion will be able to feed 15,000 people as a
result of this donation.
44 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
JS-44
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