RABBI DAVID FINE TO TALK CHRISTIANITY IN FORT LEE page 8

MENDY GANCHROW'S SAUDI COUNTERLIFE pages 10

TEMPLE EMETH SIGNS UP WITH HIAS FOR REFUGEES page 14
TRYING TO RESCUE ROMANIA'S YIDDISH THEATER page 44

OCTOBER 13, 2017

VOL. LXXXVII NO. 4 $1.00 86 2017
7

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Fort Lees
flying ace
Gerry Gersten
remembers WWII
bombing raids over
Germany for JCC
film screening
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2 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Page 3
Building
a better
world
one booth
at a time
l Sukkot has always been a holiday about enjoying the
season, accepting human vulnerability, and eating and In Tel Aviv, a group hosted 25,000 people in a sukkah to promote pluralism
perhaps sleeping in a fragile temporary booth, and so The group Beit Tefilah Israeli an experimental and creative Jewish-Israeli congregation built a
appreciating divine protection. But every year Jews 7,000-square-foot sukkah at the Tel Aviv port so they could host events for some 25,000 people of
and sometimes non-Jews find ways to also make the different backgrounds. This is a place where we can meet different sectors of Israeli society in celebration
holiday about improving the world. ultra-Orthodox, Reform, Ethiopian Jews, and also Arabs, Rabbi Esteban Gottfried, who co-founded the
Weve rounded up a few unique sukkahs that were used community, told the Times of Israel. The sukkah hosted traditional Sukkot observances as well as yoga,
to build bridges, break stereotypes, and spark change. lectures, and musical performances.
JOSEFIN DOLSTEN/JTA WIRE SERVICE
In London, Jews built a
sukkah inside a mosque as
part of an initiative to help
In New York, rabbis marched Syrian refugees
with a portable sukkah to Jewish, Christian, Muslim,
support immigrants and secular groups launched
Two dozens rabbis, members a program to help settle
of Truah: The Rabbinic Call Syrian refugees by building
for Human Rights, carried a a sukkah inside the East
portable sukkah that they London Mosque in the citys
erected outside Trump Tower. Whitechapel neighborhood.
The gesture was meant as Sukkot is the festival when
an act of protest against Jews live in temporary booths
the presidents stance on and are reminded of the frailty
immigrants and refugees. of their existence, Rabbi Danny Rich, who heads the countrys Liberal Judaism
Sukkot teaches us that what movement, said at the initiatives launch on Monday, according to the Docklands &
protects us is the community East London Advertiser. I expect Jews to be particularly sympathetic to those flee-
we build, not the walls or barriers we construct, said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Truahs ex- ing persecution and disruption with their historical experience.
ecutive director. What makes America strong is the diverse group of people who
come here seeking refuge and who build families and communities here. HIAS, the In northern Israel, an Israeli-
Jewish immigration advocacy agency, was a co-sponsor of the march. Arab couple hoped to build
bridges
Khalil and Reem Bakly, Muslim
In San Francisco, a sukkah
Arab dentists who live in
outside a church sparked
Upper Nazareth, invited Jews
discussions about identity
and Arabs to eat together in
During each night of Sukkot,
their huge homemade sukkah.
guests were invited to a
The sukkah is 100 percent up
sukkah that just happens to be
to Jewish religious standards:
outside St. Ignatius, a Catholic
The pair ordered kosher food
church near Golden Gate
and got an Orthodox Jew to
Park, to talk about identity,
supervise the construction.
difference, responsibility,
My dream is for this to serve
and faith. The Open
as a springboard for more and more gatherings of this type that will help foster a
Doors sukkah, organized
shared society for Jews and Arabs in this country, Khalil told Haaretz.
jointly by University of San
Franciscos Swig Program in
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JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 3

Noshes PSA (Jew-specific): dont make
etrog jam or vodka, you guys.
Those things are loaded with super
heavy pesticides. (Sorry).
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg on Twitter
NOBEL WINNERS:

Tribe members
take the prize
RICHARD THALER,
72, a University of
Chicago professor,
won the Nobel Prize in
economics. Thaler is
better known than most
economists. His work has
shown that most people
dont follow a conven- father was a cantor.
tional economic model
that assumes they are
highly rational. His books
for the lay public (includ-
ing the best-selling
Nudge) show how LIGO detector and the
irrational behavior can be
harnessed for a better
outcome. Thaler gives
great credit to the two
Israelis who opened up a
field thats now called The family was living in
behavioral economics:
DANIEL KAHNEMAN, 83,
who won the Nobel in
2002, and Kahnemans to the Nazis. They were
collaborator, AMOS
TVERSKY (1934-1996).
Thaler was born in East
Orange and is a Newark
Academy graduate. His
late mother, ROSLYN
MELNIKOFF THALER,
was the daughter of
Russian Jewish immi-
grants. She grew up in
Essex County and was a
teacher and real estate
agent. His father, the late
ALAN THALER, an actu-
ary, was born and raised
in Canada.
MICHAEL ROSBASH,
73, a professor at
Brandeis University,
was one of three co-
winners of the Nobel for
medicine/physiology.
The trios award is for refused to distribute an
discoveries that explain
how plants, animals,
and humans adapt their
biological rhythm so that
it is synchronized with
the earths revolutions.
Rosbash was born in
America, the son of Ger-
man Jewish refugees. His
RAINER WEISS, 85,
BARRY BARISH, 81, and
Kip Thorne were awarded
the physics prize for deci-
sive contributions to the
observation of gravita-
tional waves. Weiss was
born in Germany, the son
of a Jewish father and
a non-Jewish mother.
Czechoslovakia in 1938
when the Munich agree-
ment gave the country
allowed to come to the
States in 1939 because
the prominent St. Louis
family, the Stixes, who
were Jewish, sponsored
them (as they did many
others). In an interview,
Weiss recounted how
many years later he per-
sonally thanked ERMA
STIX, the elderly widow
of ERNEST STIX, SR.
Barishs paternal grand- born in Omaha but grew
parents left Poland and
eventually settled in Sioux
City, Iowa, where his
grandfather, HYMAN, and
his two brothers founded
a Ford dealership. His
maternal grandparents
also were from Poland. In
1921, the Barish brothers
his employer, a rich
anti-Semitic paper that
Richard Thaler Michael Rosbash
Barry Barish Josh Gad
Henry Ford sponsored. woman. Court rules
Instead, they forced the required that he work
Ford company to buy with a local lawyer, and
them out. The brothers Jewish attorney SAMUEL
moved to Omaha, where FRIEDMAN (JOSH GAD,
they opened a Dodge 36), who had no criminal
dealership. Barry was law experience, agreed
to be his associate. They
up mostly in Los Angeles. had the Herculean task
Marshall is based of convincing the jury connections) from
on a true story. In that the sex was consen-
1941, future Supreme sual. The screenplay is by
Court Justice Thurgood MICHAEL KOSKOFF, a
Marshall (Denzel Wash- Connecticut lawyer, and
ington) agreed to defend his son, JACOB, an
a black chauffeur who experienced screenwrit-
was charged with raping er. (Opens October 13)
HBO premiered the
Connecticut white original documen-
as an original Netflix film,
but Netflix was smart
enough to pick it up as a
Netflix original following
its premiere at the recent
Cannes Film Festival. The
Cannes premiere crowd
gave it a four-minute
standing ovation. Its
directed and written by
NOAH BAUMBACH, 48.
(Begins streaming
October 13)
Rainer Weiss DUSTIN HOFFMAN,
80, stars as Harold
Meyerowitz, a self-
absorbed four-times-
married sculptor with
a minor reputation.
ADAM SANDLER and
BEN STILLER, both 51,
co-star as Harolds very
different sons (they are
half-brothers). Variety
praised Sandlers perfor-
mance and even noted
the irony that his first
Oscar nomination may
Noah Baumbach come via a Netflix film.
Sandler plays the sort of
tary Spielberg on nebbish he usually plays
October 7. Of course, it is in his other films, but
about the life and films without, Variety says, the
of STEVEN SPIELBERG, cloying shtick.
70. Reviews were good, Sandler and Hoff-
if not absolutely glowing. man have been friends
It is certainly comprehen- for about 17 years. In a
sive, covering his life recent Tonight Show
(and many Jewish appearance, Hoffman ex-
plained that his children
childhood to the present. were still young when
Spielberg is extensively the hit Sandler comedy
interviewed, as are his Billy Madison came out
contemporaries Martin in 1995. His kids asked
Scorsese, George Lucas, their father to invite
and Brian DePalma. Sandler to dinner so they
The Meyerowitz could meet him. Adam
Tales, a comedy/ was invited, and the two
drama, didnt begin hit it off. N.B.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at

Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard Middleoftheroad1@aol.com

4 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 h a ndc r a ft e d by ou r w inem akers
se le ct e d for you

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 5

Carmel Selected Ad_2.indd 3 8/30/17 5:15 PM
Local
Rethinking Jeffersons conundrum
JCC U offers talk on the ongoing civil war, civil rights, and the way forward
JOANNE PALMER
T
he news has made it unavoid-
ably clear that the Civil War,
declared over in May 1865, is not
really over.
Instead, it looms and thuds behind
our shoulders like some ghastly undead
being that we cannot bury, because a sig-
nificant number of people in the country
we all share and love wish it to continue
above ground.
Dr. Robert Carey, the dean of graduate
studies and a professor at Empire State
College, part of the State University of New
York system, is a historian who has studied
the effects of the Civil war, then and now.
He teaches what he knows. As the white
husband of a black woman who married
at a time when interracial marriages were
not only scandalous but actively illegal in
parts of this country, he has lived through
terrible times and triumphed over them.
He will talk about all of this at the JCC U
this week. (See box for more information.)
His talk will try to capture the unrelent-
ingly central reality of the way in which
race and racial categories shape our col-
lective life, Dr. Carey said. Part of it will
be a historical reflection on the Civil War
and its consequences, and how it has a
sort of shape-shifting quality that I really
want to explore.
When he talks or teaches about this
subject, he often introduces two texts, Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.s famous and pow-
erful Letter from a Birmingham Jail and
a speech that Frederick Douglass gave in
1842. One of the things that Douglass does
it introduce us to a way the whole Ameri-
can narrative can be addressed and under-
stood, and Ill be ringing some changes on
that, he said. Ill be making it relevant
to contemporary issues, which are very
much in the forefront of the debate.
Usually theyre not so much center
stage, but theyre always present. Ameri-
cans have a way of using very heavily
coded language when they talk about these
things, so I want to peel the onion. I want
to see where the core issues are, and take
the measure of their continuing strength.
Who: Dr. Robert Carey
What: Will explore When Will The Civil War Be Over? for the JCC U
When: On Thursday, October 19, at 10:30 a.m.
When: At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Avenue, in Tenafly
AND ALSO
At the afternoon session of the JCC U, Professor Thomas Germano will talk about
Judy Chicagos famous piece, The Dinner Party.
For more information: Go to www.jccotp.org and click on Adults, and then on Lec-
tures and Learning, and then on JCC U.
6 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017
How can we think conceptually in
larger terms, to create a more vibrant and
open civil culture? Thats one of the path-
ways that Ill be treading.
What will he peel as he talks? Again
and again, we are told that America is the
great nation, Dr. Carey said. That kind of
self-congratulatory rhetoric has more than
a little merit in it, but it just papers over
the overall strength of the country and the
variety of its people.
Were stuck in the middle of Jeffer-
sons conundrum, he continued. Thats
Thomas Jefferson. Here he is, a poly-
math, the author of major documents that
shaped our politics and he is the father
of children by a slave woman. When we
take Jefferson, we have to take all of it.
Part of the challenge of the American
past is whether we can rethink and recon-
ceptualize to say goodbye to that conun-
drum and begin to work out a different
way of understanding and seeing our-
selves and our fellow citizens.
Can we look beyond slogans to take the
full measure of how much race as an exclu-
sionary political force has organized our
shared life? We are organized along par-
ticularly exclusionary terms. That is one
of the things that we have to be aware of
as we ask ourselves what is going on here.
Who is at the table? Who is still not at
the table? What is standing in the way?
And what about the Jews?
Jews are part of our immigration story,
Dr. Carey said. We constantly celebrate
immigration in terms of people becoming
American. When you look at the history
of slavery and the realities of race, part of
the reality of immigration is how white you
have to be to become part of the American
fabric. How fast does it happen?
The Jewish experience is always in a
sense not so fast, because of the communi-
tys consistently voting for a more expan-
sive, inclusive community. That has been
one of those threads that should be revis-
ited. What are the values at play there?
How can we both preserve those threads
and continue to work on inclusion?
Race is in many ways a fiction on the
most obvious level, you cannot always
that were coming out of Enlightenment
Dr. Robert Carey
know what race someone is, and defini-
tions of race vary wildly. It is a fiction,
Dr. Carey said. But one reason its so hard
to deal with is the American and prob-
ably the purely human impulse to per-
sonalize. I dont think many people say
I cant be prejudiced because some of my
best friends are black, any more, but the
reality is that it is easy for people to wake
up on third base and think they hit a triple.
Thats the structural reality, and we have
to be able to see it so we can talk about it.
He looks forward to the time when we
dont have authors and black authors
or for that matter authors and women
authors. We shouldnt be colorblind. No.
Instead, we should see each person in all
their fullness.
Those are some of those things that we
have to unpack.
America truly is an extraordinary coun-
try, he said. To become an American by
affirming that you are going to support the
Constitution. That is singular. It pushes
back against the notion of blood and soil
terms that we heard very recently, as the
white supremacists and neo-Nazis shouted
it, along with Jews will not replace us,
as they marched with their tiki torches
through Charlottesville and the idea of
citizenship as a zero-sum game, he said.
The rhetoric we need is the notion of
a more perfect union, not blood and
soil, he said.
The countrys founders knew that, Dr.
Carey added. They were a planter elite,
for the most part. A colonial elite. But they
also subscribed to a whole range of ideas
thought and articulating them. They gave
us an extraordinary notion of community.
When he talks at the JCC U, Dr. Carey will
give a brief outline of his life; his life and
his work are inextricable. In the 1960s,
when I was reading for my degree in theol-
ogy at Union Theological Seminary, I went
to West Africa with Dr. James Robinson.
(Dr. Robinson was the founder of Opera-
tion Crossroads Africa, which, the New
York Times told us in its 1972 obituary for
Dr. Robinson, was a group that since 1957
has been giving black and white American
and Canadian young people an experience
of practical work in the independent coun-
tries of Africa. )
At the same time, his future wife, Patri-
cia Morris, who now is the associate dean
for student affairs at NYUs Steinhardt
School, was in East Nigeria. They met, and
for a few years they conducted an epis-
tolary relationship as if we were in the
19th century, Dr. Carey said. He drew
an inside straight, he said, and went to
Atlanta to work in the Ebenezer Baptist
Church. I stayed a year, and then a sec-
ond year, and then longer, he said; he did
work on civil rights that drew threats from
the Ku Klux Klan.
But Bob and Pat were in love, and even-
tually they married; they had to leave
Atlanta because interracial marriage
was not legal there then. We have been
married since 1952, Dr. Carey said; that
would be a notable accomplishment even
had they not had to overcome impedi-
ments that most people do not face and
no one ever should face. They have two
grown children.
Dr. Carey will talk about all of these
things public issues, public problems,
and to some extent private challenges and
joys at the JCC U on Thursday.
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Local
A Jewish look at Christianity
Ridgewoods Rabbi David Fine offers lectures in Fort Lee
LOIS GOLDRICH
W
hen he was in rabbinical school at the Jew-
ish Theological Seminary in the late 1990s,
Rabbi David J. Fine developed a particular
interest in Christianity.
The development of the synagogue occurred at the same
time as that of the church, he said, noting that his interest
in Christianity dates back to his studies of ancient Judaism,
particularly the influences that go back and forth between
the rabbis and the early church fathers. A lot of newer schol-
arship points more to mutual cross-fertilization between
the two.
We need to understand Christianity as an outgrowth of
Judaism, and rabbinic Judaism as an outgrowth of the same
core culture, he said. In addition, I dont think you can
understand the origins of Christianity without understand-
ing Judaism though sometimes the Jewish origins of Chris-
tianity are not as well known to the Christian population.
To spread that understanding, beginning on October 19
Rabbi Fine who is the religious leader of Ridgewoods
Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center will offer a
series of six lectures on Judaism and Christianity: The His-
tory of a Challenging Relationship for the CSI Scholar Fund
of the JCC of Fort Lee. (See box.)
This is not the first time that Rabbi Fine, who holds a
doctorate in modern European history, has brought his
interest in religious interchange into the public arena.
In 2010, he attended the Oberammergau Passion Play
in Germany as part of an American Jewish Committee
effort to engage in interreligious dialogue. (Passion plays
show the last hours of Jesus, and frequently include anti-
Semitic tropes.) Led by Rabbi Noam Marans of Teaneck,
AJCs Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations,
the trip included a meeting with the plays directors,
among others.
My reaction was positive, Rabbi Fine said, adding that
he was favorably impressed by the significant changes
from previous passion plays. This was not Mel Gibsons
movie, he said. The most significant change from past ver-
sions, he said, was stressing that Jesus and his followers
were Jewish. Hes constantly referred to as rabbi, and he
says brachot at the Last Supper, Rabbi Fine said.
The play, he continued, had Jesus and the disciples
wearing tallesim. That is not the traditional iconography.
That reminded the rabbi of a comment by a JTS professor
that Jesus was the first historical rabbi, or at least the first
person in literature to be called rabbi. The New Testa-
ment is older than the Mishnah, Rabbi Fine said. Its the
oldest source where someone is referred to as a rabbi.
Acknowledging that more changes must be made to the
play, Rabbi Fine said they necessarily will be incremental.
Are drugs or alcohol causing a problem in your life? In your relationships?
Join us on the road to recovery. Come for support, strength and hope.
Anonymity is respected.
JACS Support Group meets the rst Wednesday of every month 7:30pm - 8:30pm
1485 Teaneck Road, Teaneck
8 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017
Rabbi David Fine  JO ROSEN PHOTOGRAPHY
Its an inherited story, he said. It has to end up the way
the New Testament tells the story. The problem remains
how to deal with legacies of Christian stories where Jews
are on the negative side.
Closer to home, Rabbi Fine has been the president of
Ridgewoods Interfaith Religious Council for five years.
Last Sunday, he spoke at the towns St. Elizabeth Episcopal
Church. That was the second time he gave a guest sermon
there. Its important to talk about Judaism at a church, he
said. Talking about our common heritage is important.
For his upcoming lecture series, Rabbi Fine will focus
on those areas I find more interesting for example, the
ways the rabbis in the Mishnah deal with Christianity. Some
passages that exist are fascinating because they were all cen-
sored out, something Rabbi Fine learned from research-
ing older manuscripts. They were all excised. In addition,
sometimes you have to read between the lines, or look for
code words.
Rabbi Fine said that Jews should know about Christian-
ity because, especially in the current political atmosphere,
Its important to understand that the ties that bind us are
greater than the differences.
We tend to focus on differences. Theyre not unimportant,
but especially in this day and age, with the polarity in politics,
if we can focus on what ties us together, thats critically impor-
tant in terms of our broader society.
Also, he continued, It helps us understand the early
development of Judaism and the long and complicated
relationship with other groups. Anti-Semitism is not quite
the same as anti-Judaism in the medieval period, he said.
In earlier days, they loved to convert Jews. Modern anti-
Semites condemn people with Jewish blood. Theres a big
difference there, Rabbi Fine said. Sometimes we dont
focus on that important differentiation.
The medieval experience is complicated, he said. Part of
church doctrine was that Jews should be allowed to exist,
albeit as second-class citizens. They had a right to be there.
He added that the church often protected Jews against
Visit www.jfcsnnj.org for more information
popular uprisings. For example, during the First Crusade,
Jews were attacked in the archbishops palace. He was try-
ing to protect them. The mob surrounded them. They didnt
respect sanctuary.
And during the Holocaust? Well never get a complete
answer because of the nature of the material, Rabbi Fine
said. Certainly it was the case that there was more that
the pope could have said, and that church leaders could
have said, but we have to understand that in that context,
nobody understood quite what they were up against. With
many Jews, themselves, blind to the extreme danger, we
cant blame others as well for not seeing the handwriting
on the wall.
As for the churchs decision to try to influence the
Nazis behind the scenes, its hard to say whether at
the time that was the right decision. Still, he pointed
out, Many brave pastors spoke out and were arrested
and put in camps. Of course, there could have been
more. We do know that when the church spoke out
against euthanizing people with disabilities, the govern-
ment pulled back. Perhaps, had they spoken out more
for the Jews, more lives could have been saved, he said.
Were still looking for resolution because the wounds
are still there, Rabbi Fine said. We want to find bad guys
and the church is still around.
Rabbi Fine would characterize Jewish-Christian rela-
tions today as strong, though there are still things we
have to work on. Israel is another complication, because
we have more of a natural relationship with mainstream
churches, and many of them endorse the BDS movement.
In terms of Jewish-Christian relations, that is not help-
ful, he said.
We have wonderful work happening on the national
level, but Ive always felt that we needed more on the local
level, to get these issues into the pew, he added. Weve
always been involved in interfaith efforts locally, but we
have to move beyond planning a joint Thanksgiving ser-
vice and have real dialogue, focusing not on finding a com-
mon denominator with platitudes but being able to appre-
ciate each others unique traditions.
Who: Rabbi David Fine
What: Judaism and Christianity: The History of a
Challenging Relationship
When: On Thursdays, Oct. 19, Nov. 2, 9, 16, and 30, and
Dec. 7 . Refreshments will be served at 12:30 p.m., the
lectures will follow at 12:45.
Where: JCC of Fort Lee/Congregation Gesher Shalom,
1449 Anderson Ave., Fort Lee
Information: Call 201-947-1735 or go to geshershalom.
org

ONE MOTHERS JOURNEY
WITH GAUCHER DISEASE
With a little hashgacha, a family can finally begin healing
Mrs. Rachel Friedman* sat anxiously on the edge of
the seat in the doctors office. She and her husband
had been shuttling their daughter, Basya, from doctor
to doctor for over three years now. At nearly eight
years old, Basya was a bright child with no other
health issues. The only problem was, she couldnt
walk. She had repeatedly broken bones from light
falls -- which Rachel thought might be cause for
concern -- but all x-rays showed that the bones
had healed fine. The fact that Basya was in almost
constant pain and still couldnt walk was a mystery.
Ima, I just cant walk, it hurts too much, Basya
told her, sitting down in the grocery store last week.
This had become unfortunately a regular occurrence
in the last few years. Rachel could barely make it
a single block without Basya falling down in pain.
She had resorted to carrying her daughter in a
carriage when possible, but at seven years old it was
becoming impossible to continue this way.
It was a mothers worst nightmare. Rachel had taken
her daughter to every pediatrician, orthopedist, and
neurologist who she thought might find an answer to
her childs mysterious illness. Upon recommendation
of the doctors, she had submitted her daughter to
uncomfortable procedures, including a biopsy that
turned up no results. In the meantime, Basya was
almost constantly in physical pain and depressed.
Rachel felt like she was running around in the dark,
while her daughters condition only worsened. I felt
that the doctors were treating the symptoms, Rachel
explained. But no one was finding the cause.
I felt that the doctors were
treating the symptoms, Rachel
explained. But no one was
finding the cause.
Then, two years ago, in an event of pure hashgacha,
the picture completely changed. Rachel gave birth to
a baby boy. At the hospital, the nurse asked if she
would like to have the baby tested for four additional
genetic diseases they had on their list. About two
weeks later, the nurse called back with the news that
would change the Friedman familys lives.
I dont want to scare you, but your baby tested
positive for Gaucher disease.
Rachel was surprised. When she was in 12th grade,
her school did a Dor Yeshorim screening for all the
girls. Her husband took the same test at his yeshiva.
Leading up to their hasaneh, Rachels mother urged
the couple to do an additional screening, just to
be sure. Rachel and her husband went back to Dor
Yeshorim for the additional tests, and were told that
everything came back negative.
The nurse from the hospital was quick to assure
her that a lot of children have the N370S gene
mutation, and they never have any symptoms.
Unfortunately, the nurse was sorely misinformed.
*Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the family.
There seems to be a fairly common misconception
that patients with Type I Gaucher who have
two copies of the N370S mutation will have no
manifestation of the disease whatsoever, or at
the worst only mild symptoms, explains Dr. Neal
Weinreb, Associate Professor of Hematology at
the University of Miami and Gaucher specialist.
Significant numbers of individuals with this mutation
will in fact have serious manifestations, such as an
enlarged spleen, bone pain and potential bone
crisis. If you have the N370S gene mutation, you
shouldnt hesitate to get checked out by a Gaucher
expert who can advise you on whether you need
treatment or not.
If you have the N370S
gene mutation, you shouldnt
hesitate to get checked out by a
Gaucher expert who can advise
you on whether you need
treatment or not.
Rachel immediately took Basya back to the hospital
to get tested. When she tested positive for Gaucher,
Rachel had a strong mothers intuition that this was
the cause of her daughters suffering.
Rachel and her husband immediately followed up
with doctors, but the doctors were skeptical that their
daughter had Gaucher and were hesitant to send
her to treatment. As the Friedmans grew increasingly
frustrated, it was discovered through a bone density
scan that Basyas bones tested at negative four,
indicating full-blown osteoporosis. If the cause of the
breakdown wasnt treated soon, Basyas condition
could deteriorate into bone crisis, chas vshalom.
In another event of hashgacha for the Friedman
family, during Shavuos of last year Rachels
sister-in-law saw an ad for the National Gaucher
Foundation (NGF). In the ad, it asked: do you have
these symptoms? And then it listed the exact three
symptoms that the Friedmans daughter was suffering
from: osteoporosis, joint pain, and bone pain.
Rachel decided to call the contact number in the ad
immediately after the holiday ended.
The next day, Rachel got in contact with Samantha
Rubenstein, the Vice President of Awareness and
Patient Advocacy at the NGF. Samantha promptly
provided Rachel with valuable information about
Gaucher, including the importance of seeking
guidance through a Gaucher specialist. The
Friedmans were able to make an appointment with
Dr. Pramod K. Mistry, a professor of pediatrics and
medicine at Yale School of Medicine and director of
the National Gaucher Disease Treatment Center.
Dr. Mistry was quick to dispel the three common
misconceptions surrounding Gaucher disease that the
other doctors had been telling Rachel:
Paid Advertisement
1. Basyas low chitotrisidase count number, a
common biomarker for Gaucher, meant that
she didnt have active Gaucher. (Dr. Mistry had
seen patients with low numbers suffering severe
symptoms, and vice versa.)
2. No infiltration of Gaucher cells had been found
in Basyas bones during an MRI. (Unbeknownst
to non-Gaucher specialists, pediatric patients
almost never reveal Gaucher cells in their
bones.)
3. Many doctors assume that bone pain or crisis
is one of the last symptoms to arise in Gaucher
patients, not the first. (In fact, bone pain can
be one of the first problems that indicate the
disease is active.)
Basya Friedman is currently receiving Enzyme
Replacement Therapy for Gaucher disease. After
years of tsores, the Friedman family is finally looking
forward to a brighter future. Baruch HaShem, with
a proper diagnosis and treatment Gaucher patients
can go on to lead healthy and full lives.
Gaucher disease is the most common
inherited Jewish genetic disease. Gaucher
disease type 1 is the most common form of
the disease in the United States and Europe,
particularly among Jews of Ashkenazi
descent.
Common signs and symptoms include:
Bone and joint pain
Chronic fatigue
Enlarged abdomen
Low platelet count
Easy bruising and bleeding, or
frequent nosebleeds
There is an unfortunate misconception that
individuals with Gaucher disease who have
double (homozygous) N370S mutations
will never suffer symptoms or complications
of Gaucher disease. This is absolutely
NOT TRUE! Expert physicians know that
some N370S homozygous patients can
have severe disease that requires treatment
to avoid not only blood, spleen and
liver complications but also potentially
disabling bone disease. In accordance with
vnishmartem meod es nafshoseichem,
every child and adult with Gaucher
disease needs to be carefully evaluated
and followed by knowledgeable doctors
who can advise if and when treatment
is necessary. With proper medical
supervision and BSD, all type 1 Gaucher
patients, regardless of genotype, should
be able to live long and healthy lives.
If you suspect you or a loved one
has Gaucher disease, please call
us at 718-669-4103.
JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 9
Local

The Five Day War

Dr. Mendy Ganchrow of the OU and Fort Lee writes a thriller
Joanne Palmer

T
he desire to play what if with
our lives seems to be a basic
human impulse.
What if wed gone to a differ-
ent school, made different friends, studied
more, worked harder, played harder, cho-
sen to be a lawyer or a doctor or a dentist
or a ceramicist or a florist or a ballerina or
a spot welder? Or not chosen to be a law-
yer or a doctor or a dentist or a ceramist
or a florist or a ballerina or a spot welder?
Dr. Mandell Ganchrow of Fort Lee is
not immune to that impulse; in fact, hes
gone along with it in a big way. Hes just
published his first novel, The Five Day
War, a book that allows him not only to
explore what a protagonist like but unlike
him might have done with an opportunity
he actually was offered, but also what the
larger world could do to make things not
only different but better.
To back up, Mendy Ganchrow he isnt Dr. Mendy Ganchrow, above, in surgical garb in Vietnam, wrote The Five Day War, right.
sure where his mother came up with the
name Mandell, he said, but only people of panoramic, calming, exciting, jaw-drop- daughter, and at the time it seemed like from the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in
who knew him from elementary school or ping Hudson River view that makes a visi- the worst possible thing in the world, to be Washington, inviting me to be chief of
never met him use it, and he uses it only tor want to stand and stare. Never mind that far from my wife and my daughter, but colorectal surgery at the Saudi air force
when I am being really serious or writing this interview stuff as I look back I see that I gained surgical base in Riyadh. I thought it was ludicrous.
a check has had an eventful life, full of But we digress. experience and self-confidence there. He I showed it to a few people, as a joke.
choices that led to ever-wider horizons. Dr. Ganchrow was born in Brooklyn; also earned the ability to make emotional And then I went online and I saw that
Hes a retired colorectal surgeon, a for- his parents, Kate and Morris, both were connections to the politicians hed meet there was a medical job search service in
mer president of the Orthodox Union, a American-born as well. His father, a rabbi, later who also were Vietnam vets. I knew Stuttgart, Germany, that was looking for
man whose walls are filled with pictures worked for Yeshiva Universitys devel- John McCain well for some time, he said. a colorectal surgeon in Riyadh. That was
of him and his wife, Sheila, with Ameri- opment department. Dr. Ganchrow was He also functioned as a chaplain for Jew- odd.
can presidents and senators and repre- educated in Orthodox schools; he went ish soldiers; he led a seder that drew large And anyway, he thought, if it was a joke,
sentatives and other politicians, as well to the Crown Heights Yeshiva, Yeshiva numbers of them few of them Orthodox why spend so much on such clearly high-
as Israeli prime ministers and Knesset University High School, and then Yeshiva and was deeply emotional, he said. quality, expensive parchment?
members. And those wider horizons are College, before he moved to Chicago for When he returned from Vietnam, Dr. Maybe it was real.
physical as well as metaphoric. The Gan- medical school. Once he was through Ganchrow established himself profession- I figured out that probably they really
chrows live in an apartment with the sort medical school he moved back east, first ally. I was the senior man in a four-man did need a colorectal surgeon. How would
to Brooklyn and then to Monsey, in Rock- surgical group, he said. I was a professor you go about that? Youd go to the College
Who: Dr. Mendy Ganchrow land County. of surgery at New York Medical College, I of Colorectal Surgery. But not that many
What: Will talk about his book and sign All perfectly straightforward for a good had written 19 papers, finished a few-year countries have that. We do, but in most
copies Orthodox boy. But then Dr. Ganchrow stint as chief of colorectal surgery at Good countries its mainly done by general sur-
went to Vietnam. Samaritan Hospital, and had many other geons. So they probably took the list, took
Where: At the Young Israel of Fort Lee
at 1610 Parker Ave When I was in medical school I grad- professional accomplishments on his bio. the obviously Jewish names off it, and sent
uated in 1962 there was a draft, but we In 1994, he retired. My father died at age the letters.
When: On Thursday, October 19, at
werent in Vietnam yet, Dr. Ganchrow 56, and his father died at 54, he said. So I And Ganchrow is not an obviously Jew-
7:45 p.m.
said. They came to us and said, Listen, decided that if I could afford it and if I was ish name.
For more information: Go to www.
you are subject to the draft when you fin- in reasonable health, when I get close to Dr. Ganchrow eventually threw out the
yiftlee.org.
ish your internships. You can decide to that age I will retire and devote myself to letter something he regrets now but
AND HE ALSO WILL BE take a chance, but if you are drafted, you the Jewish people. that what if that it represented ignited
Where: At the JCC Rockland at 450 W. will go in as a medic. That step down The year that he retired he became OU his imagination.
Nyack Road in West Nyack, N.Y., as part would not appeal to a doctor. president, its first and so far only lay leader And so, now, one memoir and four
of the JCCs Arts, Books, and Culture Instead, the interns could take advantage to work fulltime at the volunteer position. books of Torah talks later those last four
series.
of the so-called Berry Plan, which would From there, and from his leadership at books hold essays that he has collected,
When: On Sunday, November 19, at 7 allow them to finish their internships and AIPAC and other Israel advocacy groups, not written Dr. Ganchrow has done a
p.m. then spend two years in the military, prac- he went on to have a long-term effect on great deal of research and written a novel
What else: There will be wine and ticing their medical specialty. One year the Jewish world. based on that letter.
cheese; it costs $18 in advance, $25 on would be at home, and the other in service. But meanwhile, Dr. Ganchrow had If you are writing a biography, thats
Sunday. A book is included; $10 of each Thats the option Dr. Ganchrow chose. never completely forgotten an incident, one thing, but its different writing a
ticket will be donated to Leket, which
Of course, when I finished my train- minor but puzzlingly odd, that he could novel, he said. I decided to give it a whirl
works to alleviate hunger in Israel.
ing, the war in Vietnam was on, so after not quite figure out. but how do you put together a plot that
For more information and to buy tick- one year in Fort Monmouth they sent me About 15, 20 years ago I received a let- would be interesting?
ets: Go to jccrockland.org/abc
to Vietnam. I was married and I had a ter on very heavy parchment, with gold, He decided to base it on the range of

10 Jewish Standard OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Local

his experiences, and have the main character be medical school, he got a red card that
someone like him if his own choices had been allowed him into fire zones as a sur-
entirely different. geon, thus, he said, impressing some of
Dr. Ganchrows protagonist is a childless, unmar- his dates, and thats just one of many
ried young doctor whose parents divorced, whose exploits to know that his next venture
mother remarried, and whose new stepfather isnt necessarily predictable either.
changed the boys Jewish surname to a non-Jewish Dr. Ganchrow will be at a book sign-
one, thus allowing him to pass as gentile. ing in Fort Lee this week and in the
This protagonist Rob Savarin, ne Goldberger JCC Rockland next month. See box for
gets the same letter Dr. Ganchrow got, and decides details.
to follow up on it, but not before getting in touch
with the Mossad and finding out how he could
use his position in Saudi Arabia to help Israel and
world Jewry.
A complicated plot takes Dr. Savarin through a
range of adventures, putting him close to the Saudi
king, giving him a satisfactorily if belatedly fulfilled
romance, and allowing him to change the course of
world history by causing Israel and Saudi Arabia,
as well as other parts of the Sunni world, to realign
Dr. Ganchrow with
by making common cause against Iran. Dr. Gan-
Senator John McCain,
chrows extensive work in Israel and with Israeli
above, and New Jerseys
and American diplomats gives him the opportu-
Senator Frank Lautenberg.
nity to make it sound plausible, because he knows
what hes talking about. There even is a father-son
reconciliation.
So what is Dr. Ganchrow going to do next?
Probably not write another novel. My wife says
she will divorce me if I try that, he said. But hes
done enough unexpected things when he was in

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Jewish standard OCtOBer 13, 2017 11

Local

First on the scene

IsraAID helps people throughout the world
LOIS GOLDRICH

W
e all know its true. But it doesnt hurt to
hear it again if only so we can derive
vicarious pride from it. Israeli organiza-
tions provide assistance to countries all
over the world and not only do they rush in to help with
emergencies, but some groups, like IsraAID, remain there,
sometimes for years, to ensure that the communities they
assist will function successfully.
In short, our mission is to help people, said Yotam
Polizer, co-CEO of the Israeli group, a non-profit, non-
governmental organization founded in 2001. (The other
co-CEO is Voni Glick.) We provide support during crises
and emergencies around the world and work with com-
munities as they move from crisis to sustainable commu-
nity development. In other words, he said, You dont
just give a community fish, or even teach residents how
to fish, but you teach them how to build fishing nets.
Polizer will speak about his organization at Teanecks
Congregation Beth Sholom on October 26. (See box.)
Mr. Polizer, who was born and raised in a small village
in northern Israel, has worked with juvenile delinquents
in a rehabilitation center, launched a program pairing
Israeli army volunteers with special-needs children, set up
a youth leadership and community development project
in Bedouin villages in the Negev, and for more than three
years worked in Nepal as project coordinator with Tevel
BTzedeks development project there. He joined IsraAID Yotam Polizer, second from right, stands with a family of Syrian refugees in Lesbos, Greece.  ISRAAID

after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and now

refugee crisis, Mr. Polizer said. In many cases, were
he oversees all of the organizations fundraising and stra-
tegic partnerships around the world. asked to come, or we may ask the local Jewish commu-
IsraAID has ongoing projects in Sierra Leone, South nity or a local NGO, or a UN agency. They know how to
Sudan, the Philippines, Japan, Haiti, Kenya, Jordan, Ger-analyze a situation in its early stages. Generally, govern- In an emergency, we
many, Liberia, Nepal, Uganda, Greece, and even the ments dont appeal for help, but they know they have
United States, where it is based in Palo Alto, California. As
needs, and that we have the expertise that fits well with
offer direct support
the group says proudly on its website, For over a decade,
those needs. medical and
our teams of professional medics, search and rescue
squads, post-trauma experts, and community mobilizers
The group never has been turned away, but at times
it has been asked to refocus. We have been asked to
psychological support,
have been first on the front lines of nearly every major provide support in a specific area, Mr. Polizer said. On access to clean water
humanitarian response in the 21st century.
We sent a mission to Japan after the tsunami, one to
a few occasions, where other organizations were not
so open to working with his group, when they saw
we bring filters
Sierra Leone after the Ebola outbreak, to Nepal after thethe work on the ground, they shifted their position. food and supplies,
earthquake, and to Greece and Germany to deal with the We always clarify that were not governmental or
spreading propaganda, but
cleaning and
rather engaged in long-term construction materials,
professional humanitarian
support. It may take a while
and we may do search
to understand thats what and rescue.
were doing some times
longer than usual. Aviv, has 270 paid staff members. Most are local in
Mr. Polizer said that his work- the countries where we operate, he said. The orga-
ers have occasionally faced nization also calls upon some 1,100 volunteers, peo-
some safety concerns, not ple with their own day jobs, like doctors and nurses,
because of our Israeli identity who we send on short-term missions. Sixty percent of
but because they are working the groups funding comes from private donors, and
in unsafe areas. For example, money comes also from institutions, the UN, the World
in some places in Africa they Bank, the Japanese and German governments, and a
have relied on helicopters to little from the Israeli government.
evacuate staff when necessary. Mr. Polizer said there is a vast difference between the
We always have very strict services IsraAID offers during emergencies and those
security protocols and good needed for long-term development. In an emergency,
resources in the security world we offer direct support medical and psychological
Actress and social activist Susan Sarandon joined IsraAID on Lesbos and in to help us, he said. support, access to clean water we bring filters food
Berlin to offer help to incoming families. She later wrote about her experi- According to Mr. Polizer, and supplies, cleaning and construction materials, and
ence, and posted photos, on her Facebook page.  ISRAAID IsraAID, which is based in Tel we may do search and rescue.

12 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Local

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Visit www.thejewishstandard.com
In the United States, he continued, his organiza- and click on SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY
tion is working with Team Rubicon, doing disaster
relief and removing debris so people can go back
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organizations there. 201-567-3181 or 732-895-8696
For long-term recovery and community devel-
opment, IsrAID offers not only leadership training
but also assistance in managing water, sanitation,
and psychological counseling. How long its teams
remain varies, but a typical stay is two years. But
IsrAID has been working in Haiti for eight years.
We are really appreciated, Mr. Polizer said of the
communities it serves there. There are so many
stories, situations where people are in tears just to
be able to meet Israelis and interact.
Mr. Polizer is especially proud of IsraAIDs pro-
fessionalism and its ability to attract highly quali-
fied people, from leading therapists to top agrono-
mists. He also is a strong champion of partnership.
We have built strong connections with all signifi-
cant parties operating in each region, such as gov-
ernment, international and national organizations,
and the local communities themselves, he said.
While the sites of all recent disasters need help,
Mr. Polizer called Puerto Rico and Dominica com-
pletely devastated the neediest places. But, he
added, needs are everywhere, like in Uganda,
which, he said, has received a million refugees
from Sudan since the beginning of 2017. The needs
of Syrian refugees also are critical, he said.
Mr. Polizer said that people who work with IsrAID
want to help. Its in a lot of peoples DNA. Many do
volunteering. And in the younger generation, peo-
ple are interested in global issues. His own eye-
opener occurred during his work with Bedouin
teens in the south of Israel. It was a great learning
experience, not just altruistic work with people who
are underserved, he said. Instead, it showed him a
way to combine his social work and service experi-
ence with the possibility to work with other cul-
tures and provide support and build bridges.
I call it active anthropology. And the best way to
learn is during work.
He hopes that his audience on October 26 will get
involved and spread the word. Not enough people
know about us, and not just in the Jewish world.
Were open to people who want to get involved.
The organization recently created a summer
internship program, the IsraAID Humanitarian
Fellowship. Its participants will get to take part in
one of the groups projects around the world. Once
they are back on campus, they will be expected to
do programs highlighting IsraAIDs work.
Help Migdal Ohr provide a home, love,
Who: IsrAID co-CEO Yotam Polizer and education to thousands of poor,
What: Will speak about the nonprofit Israeli orphaned, and at-risk children across Israel.
organization Lift them from the deepest of despair to
When: On October 26 at 8:15 p.m. a bright, dignified, and productive future.
Where: Congregation Beth Sholom, 354 Maitland Your donation goes to work immediately
Ave., Teaneck to improve childrens lives. Donate today.
The program is free and open to the public.
For more information about IsraAID, go to Visit migdalohrusa.org/donate Lighting the way.
israaid.org

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 13

AMFO_NJJewishStandard_HalfPageIsland.indd 1 6/29/17 10:12 PM
Local

A welcoming congregation
Temple Emeth aligns itself with HIAS
LARRY YUDELSON

L
ast month, Temple Emeths
board voted to join the HIAS
Welcoming Congregations
program.
The program, although it is largely sym-
bolic, indicates each members advocacy
for immigration and its desire to help
immigrants gain entry into the country
and to establish lives here. The Reform
congregation in Teaneck joined more than
350 other congregations from the liberal
denominations, including another five in
North Jersey, in making the pledge.
The other local congregations are
Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, the
Glen Rock Jewish Center, the United Syna-
gogue of Hoboken, Temple Beth-El in Jer-
sey City, and Shomrei Torah in Wayne.
But Temple Emeths decision to align
itself with HIAS, the one-time Hebrew Immi-
grant Aid Society, goes back
at least to last year, when con-
gregant Peter Adler made the
High Holiday appeal on behalf
of the organization.
And it may well go back to Temple Emeth members get ready to board the bus to the HIAS rally in Manhattan.
1940, when HIAS would reg-
ularly visit the Washington look at ourselves as if we followed by decades of bipartisan sup- Kirsch, each a former president of the
Heights apartment where Mr. went free from Egypt, port to ensure that the world never congregation, wanted to do something.
Adlers widowed mother was or telling the stories again turns its back on innocent people They met with Rabbi Sirbu as they
raising Peter and his brother. of our ancestors only seeking safety. searched for appropriate action.
The family had fled Germany three or four genera- A year and a half ago, Mr. Hetfield Funny you should ask, he told them.
to America just weeks before tions ago. spoke about the Syrian refugees at Tem- I have a request here from HIAS to sup-
the war began and depended Peter Adler Jewish texts, Rabbi ple Emeth. Then, he was advocating for port their rally.
on HIAS to make ends meet. Sirbu said, prohibit refugees. Now, he and his organization And so the Kirschs organized a bus
Mrs. Adler worked, cleaning apartments the harassment of someone in a new must also advocate against an adminis- from Teaneck to the rally, held in lower
and waiting on tables, but she earned less place. tration that wants to limit refugees and Manhattan, in sight of the Statue of Lib-
than $12 a week. He called on his congregation to go to demonize immigrants. erty. Nearly 50 people went, most from
Mr. Adler told a story: I still remember HIASs website and send emails to Con- But being at odds with the White House Temple Emeth; some came from nearby
the day that the HIAS lady was due to show gress urging that President Trump, who has only increased attraction that Temple Congregation Beth Sholom.
up when my mother asked me to hide the launched his campaign by libeling immi- Emeth members feel toward HIAS. That showed the interest was there,
new lamp in the back of our coat closet grants, to allow 75,000 refugees into the After the election, Dan and Laura Mr. Kirsch said.
so that the HIAS lady wouldnt think that United States in the new fiscal year.
we were unacceptably affluent. She didnt Whether or not congressional repre-
want to lose the small financial support sentatives noted the emails they received,
that thankfully HIAS was supplying. and whether or not the representatives
Hard to believe today, isnt it? But Im reached out to the White House, Presi-
sure that there are many new immigrants dent Trump has proposed capping refugee
who are having similar experiences all resettlement at 45,000. That is the lowest
over the world. number set by a president since the Refu-
Mr. Adler then praised HIAS for its work gee Act became law in 1980.
with Syrian refugees in Greece, Egypt, and The 45,000 refugees the administra-
the United States, and asked congregants tion is willing to accept contrasts with the
to donate to it. 85,000 who were resettled in the United
This year, Temple Emeth directed its States two years ago. In the last fiscal year,
High Holiday appeal to fight for religious the Obama administration set the ceiling
pluralism in Israel. Still, the subject of at 110,000, in light of the increased num-
Rabbi Steven Sirbus Rosh Hashanah ser- ber of refugees, but the Trump adminis-
mon was welcoming refugees. tration substantially reduced that number
Rabbi Sirbu said he began with differ- through two executive orders.
ent texts about the ways that we as Jews HIAS has condemned this change. The
welcome the stranger. We take the immi- administration, HIASs president, Mark
grant story so personally, whether it is Mai- Hetfield, said, is betraying the com-
monides offering the quote, We should all mitments we made after World War II A young Peter Adler hides behind his mother and his brother, Frank, in 1940.

14 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Local
Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
Interior Designer
(former interior designer of model
rooms for NYs #1 Dept. Store)

For a totally new look using

your furniture or starting anew.
Staging also available
973-535-9192

c a l l e d
w h y its
D
s
Temple Emeth members rally with HIAS in

i
L
Thi s
I E
Manhattan in February.

H Y
It was really important that we step up, Mrs.

I G
Kirsch said.

H
When Trump announced his travel ban, all I

N G
could see in my head was the picture of the Saint

K I
Louis coming into the harbor with the children lin-

E C
ing the rail and being turned away, she said.

CH
That cant happen here again. Thats not who
we are.
Mr. Kirsch said his perspective on immigration also

your
has been shaped by the years he was on the Hacken-
sack Board of Education.
e f r o m
or
I saw firsthand the problems of children who came
Earn m account.
ng
checki
here at a young age, he said. Those are the young
people known as the Dreamers. We educated them.

2.01
Theyre great kids. Theyre really Americans because
they know no other country. To see them ending up

%
with dead ends after graduation because they couldnt
get jobs and couldnt afford to go to college its an
outrage. They were some of our best and nicest kids,
forced into the shadows through no fault of their own.
The Trump administrations promise to arrest ille-
gal immigrants is having an impact on Hackensack, he
said. Business is off dramatically. People are afraid to
come out. The police report that they are not getting
reports of crimes because they are afraid.
The Kirschs have been members of Temple Emeth
APY*
for a long time. They joined in 1970. Temple Emeth
historically always had a very strong social action
On balances up to $25,000
and civil rights presence going back to the civil rights when you meet account terms**
movement and the Vietnam era, Mr. Kirsch said. Up to $25 monthly nationwide ATM fee refund
If you look at whats going on in the world today,
No minimum balance required No monthly service fee
the young people, in their twenties and thirties and
forties were in our seventies are getting more
and more active politically for issues and causes, and
immigration is one of them. Temple Emeth is ready
to step up and take its place as one of the institutions
supporting human rights.
What does this mean going forward?
Temple Emeths social action committee met Sun-
day morning and began putting together a program
that will look at the issues of refugees and Dreamers.
42 Banking Oces
The program likely will feature attorneys from the
800-273-3406
synagogue who will discuss the legal issues. It will
lead to a discussion of how people can take action
kearnybank.com
*The APY (Annual Percentage Yield) is accurate as of 7/11/17 and is subject to change without notice. Minimum to open account is $50. Rate tiers are as follows when terms are met each
in their communities. Mr. Kirsch noted an effort in statement cycle: 2.01% APY applies to balances of $0.01 - $25,000 and 0.25% APY applies to balances over $25,000. If terms are not met, 0.05% APY applies to entire balance. **To meet terms
Hackensack to declare the city a welcoming commu- of the account, you must do all of the following: 1. enroll in eStatements, 2. make at least 10 Kearny Bank debit card purchases each statement cycle, and 3. have a qualifying direct deposit or
automatic payment each statement cycle. Transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a branch location or ATM do not qualify as a direct deposit. Rates may change after the
nity to immigrants. account is opened. ATM fee refund up to $25 per statement cycle when terms of the account are met. Available for personal accounts only. Not responsible for typographical errors.

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 15

Briefly Local

Spin 4 Sharsheret on October 29

In recognition of National Breast Can-
cer Awareness Month, the Kaplen JCC on
the Palisades in Tenafly will hold Spin 4
Sharsheret on Sunday, October 29. It will
offer three 45-minute morning classes;
they are set for 8:15, 9:15, and 10:15. A
10 a.m. Zumba class is new this year.
The high energy spinathon is designed to
encourage women to set goals for healthy
living and support an important cause at
the same time. All proceeds will support
Sharsheret, the local nonprofit organiza-
tion that supports young women and fami-
lies who are battling breast cancer.
Participants will be entered for a chance
to win a free massage at the JCC Spa.
ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA
PRESENTS
The 2017 Superstar Gala Award Dinner
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2017 | GRAND HYATT HOTEL, NYC
RECEPTION 4:30 PM | GLATT KOSHER DINNER 6:00 PM
For information: visit zoa.org/dinner2017 or call 212.481.1500
To purchase tickets: zoadinner2017.eventbrite.com
COURTESY EMANU-EL
They also will receive acupuncture and
nutritional information, giveaways, and a
chance to win one free service at the Graf
Center for Integrative Healing at Engle-
wood Hospital and Medical Center, includ-
ing a one-month pass to meditation classes.
Spin 4 Sharsheret will be held in the Welcome back to shul
JCC Cycling Room. Bike selection will be Temple Emanu-El of Closters clergy from left, Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, Cantor
offered on a first-come-first served basis, Israel Singer, and Rabbi Alex Freedman welcomed new and returning members
30 minutes before each session. Partici- with the Back to Shul Luau last month.
pants should wear something pink in
recognition of breast cancer awareness.
Register online at www.jccotp.org/spin-
forsharsheret. For information, call Hagit
Tal at (201) 408-1477 or email her at htal@
jccotp.org. Fair Lawn
Mayor John
Cosgrove, center,
congratulates
Ira Kastrinsky,
TBS president,
left, and Rabbi
Alberto (Baruch)
Zeilicovich on the
shuls upcoming
anniversary.
PHOTO COURTESY TBS

*Reserve a guest room at a special ZOA rate at the Grand Hyatt Hotel for Nov. 11 & 12:
https://aws.passkey.com/go/zoa2017

Temple Beth Sholom

to celebrate 60 years
Temple Beth Sholom of Fair Lawn marks was a groundbreaking for a new build-
Iris & Shalom Maidenbaum
Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award its 60th anniversary with a celebration ing. It was completed in 1962 at a cost
Sen. Tom Cotton Amb. David Friedman planned for Sunday December 3. It will of $120,000 and included a sanctu-
Dr. Bob Shillman Outstanding
Dr. Miriam and Sheldon
Adelson Defender Diplomacy Award be catered by RAVE! Caterers and Bnai ary, classrooms, a library, kitchen, and
of Israel Award
Jazz will entertain. There will be a pro- offices. In the early 1970s, Helen Troum
gram highlighting the shuls history and began the nursery school that now bears
MP

a commemorative ad journal will be her name. In 1978, there was an expan-

TA

Steve Bannon Sen. Joe Lieberman

printed. sion project, and over the years, two
AS

Fmr. Chief Lifetime Achievement

Strategist to Pres. Award
ZO

Before 1957, the only synagogue in synagogues joined Temple Beth Sho-
W

Fair Lawn was on the west side of town. lom; in 1981, Congregation Ohav Shalom
NE
LS

That year, a group of 40 met to discuss of Rochelle Park, and in 2007 the Elm-
AE

the possibility of forming a community wood Park Jewish Center became part of
ISR

Amb. Danny Danon

Israels Amb. to U.S.
Christopher Ruddy
Mortimer Zuckerman
closer to their homes. Brothers Martin the community.
Oustanding Journalism
Award and Murray Sincoff donated a Torah and Rabbi Nussenbaum was followed by
a dream was born. Within the first year, Rabbis Isaac Lubin, Robert Aronowitz,
Rabbi Max Nussenbaum was hired and a Gary Listokin, interim Gerald Zelermyer,
Hebrew school began with 150 students; and for the last seven years, Alberto
classes, taught by volunteers, met at the (Baruch) Zeilicovich.
Liz Claman
Fox News Anchor,
Bernard Henri-Levy Edison School. High Holy Day services Ad blanks are available from the syn-
Leading French
Emcee
Intellectual, were held at the former Fair Lawn Beach agogue office and can be downloaded
Zionist Activist

Dr. Miriam & Sheldon Adelson

Morton A. Klein Club on Saddle River Road. from the website, www.tbsfl.org. The ad
ZOA National
Global Philanthropists President Three years later, the shul bought land deadline is October 27.
zoa.org | info@zoa.org | dinner@zoa.org | 212.481.1500 | follow on Twitter @mortonaklein7 on the corner of Fair Lawn Avenue and For more information, call (201) 797-
Saddle River Road; the next year there 9321 or go to www.tbsfl.org.

16 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

upcoming at Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Tot Shabbat
ages 9-24 months
Children will enjoy a warm and meaningful Shabbat
experience with music, singing, movement, stories and
lots of fun! Challah and grape juice provided.
Fridays, Oct 20-Jan 19, 9:30-10:15 AM, $10 Drop in fee

November Vacation Camps

When school is out let the JCC fill your childs
day with fun!
ages 2-4: Build fundamental skills across a variety
of sports.
grades K-5: Special half-day trips, (Billy Beez
and the Movies), sports, art, and swimming fun.
Extended care available till 6 pm on Thursday.

Thur & Fri, Nov 9-10, 9 am4 pm,

$85 per day by Oct 31, $100 after

The Matzo Ball Manifesto: A New

Take on Traditional Jewish Food
with JoJo rubach
The JCCs very own JoJo adds an Asian twist to
the foods we love: rotisserie chicken, ramen soup,
matzo balls, Korean style flanken stew, kimchi
stuffed cabbage, and moreand youll be sampling
all of them!
Thur, Oct 26, 7-9:30 pm, $63/$75

ADULTS fiTneSS kiDS

Book Study Group:
Lecture & Discussion
Join Professor Ben Nelson as he leads
our book group in exploring these deeply
affecting contemporary works.
Oct 25: Everybodys Fool, Richard Russo
Nov 15: Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri
Dec 13: Nutshell, Ian McEwan
3 Wednesdays, 1:30-3:30 pm,
$45/$60 series, $20/$25 per session
Spin 4 Sharsheret
use your worKout for good and support
breast cancer awareness!
Join us for a high-energy, empowering spin-a-thon
and work out to raise funds for Sharsheret, a
non-profit organization supporting young women
facing breast cancer in our community and
their families.
Sun, Oct 29, starting at 8:15 am,
$36 per person, per session
New this year: Zumba, 10 am, $36 per person
Wear pink in recognition of breast cancer awareness.
Open to the entire community.
Sign up on line at jccotp.org/spinforsharsheret
Infant/Toddler CPR & First Aid
Learn prevention, recognition and treatment of
first aid emergencies. Topics covered will include
choking and common first aid emergency handling
with a hands-on practice on mannequins. This is a
non-certifying course, which is perfect for parents,
grandparents and caregivers!
Fri, Oct 20, 9:15-11:15 am, $10/$15
Register: jccotp.org/parenting-special-programs
to register or for more info
visit jccotp.org
stay in the Know! liKe us on
facebook.com/KaplenJCCOTP

Kaplen JCC on the Palisades taub campus | 411 e clinton ave, tenafly, nJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 17
Cover Story
A radioman reflects Gerry Gersten of Fort Lee remembers his WWII experience
as filmmaker presents Bagels Over Berlin at the Tenafly JCC
Joanne Palmer
T
here are things that Gerald Ger-
sten of Fort Lee doesnt know,
and probably never will know.
Some of them are small and per-
sonal, and some of them arent.
Why did the U.S. Army Air Force pick
him?
Why did it decide to train him as a
radioman?
Why did the heart murmur that made
him undraftable vanish undetected three
months later?
Why did the United States, under-air-
planed and under-airman-trained and
underprepared for an air war, eventually
win the war?
Why did 19-year-old Gerry and the eight
other men in his team survive?
Why did two of them die young soon
afterward?
Why was he able to go on to have a very
good, prosperous life, a happy, loving, and
still-flourishing marriage, three children
who would make anyone proud, and many
beloved grandchildren?
There are other things that he does
know stories, and details, and hunches.
He knows what it was like to be Jewish in
the U.S. Army Air Force; how anti-Semi-
tism revealed itself and how in the end it
didnt get in the way of the bonds unlikely
people formed and maintained.
He knows how to live having seen things
that no one should ever have to see, much
less someone barely out of adolescence.
He knows how to take joy from the
moment, particularly when you dont
know what the next moment might bring.
He knows what it feels like to fly a bomb-
ing mission over Germany. And well he
should he flew 33 of them.
Mr. Gersten is among the Jewish fliers
interviewed in Bagels Over Berlin, a doc-
umentary film of their wartime experi-
ences. The Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in
Tenafly is screening it on Wednesday; Mr.
Gersten and its director, Alan Feinberg,
will be on hand to talk about it. (See box
for more detailed information.)
Gerrys parents, Sam and Anna, both
came from Bukovina, one of the central
18 Jewish Standard OCTOBER 13, 2017
European places that was traded between
more powerful neighbors; in its case,
those neighbors included, at different
times, Romania, the Ukraine, Poland, the
Austro-Hungarian empire, and the Soviet
Union. (Its now part of Ukraine.) It wasnt
a great place for Jews, so Sam and Anna,
like many of their extended family, left.
Easter, my father and his friend hid up
in a tree, and when they came to beat up
Jerry Szubin
the Jews, my father and his friend jumped
them and beat them up. His fathers quick
removal to the United States followed, not
coincidentally.
Annas father became a butcher in Bos-
ton, and Sams father had a newspaper
stand on East 116th Street, near Park Ave-
nue, in Harlem. His customers were all
Mafia members, Mr. Gersten said.
Sam and Anna were distantly related,
but they didnt meet until Annas mother
met Sam on a train, bound for the same
family wedding, determined their relation-
ship and from it his eligibility, and said,
Have I got a girl for you! (Have I got a
boy for you! she later told her daughter.)
The newly married couple started their
lives together in Boston, where Gerry Ger-
sten was born on October 25, 1924; when
he was six months old, his parents moved
the family to the Bronx. Sam Gersten
became a grocer. The family moved from
neighborhood to neighborhood; Gerry
started high school at James Monroe and
finished at Morris. I had just finished high
school, he said. Ill never forget it. I was
at the 92nd Street Y, and somebody yelled
Hey, the Japs just bombed Pearl Harbor,
and I said, Wheres Pearl Harbor?
Everyone was dying to join the army,
he added.
Mr. Gersten always wanted to be in the
Air Force; from the time he was a kid, I
would rather fly than anything else, he
said. He took a course the Air Force taught;
it was serious but it did not offer enlist-
ment; in fact, it guaranteed nothing. He
passed the course and the stringent exami-
nation that followed, but when he went for
the physical that would lead to enlistment,
he was rejected. They said I had a heart
murmur, he said.
So he lived at home and worked in his
fathers grocery store. When they told
me I had a heart murmur, I thought I was
going to die, he said. Not that the heart
murmur would kill him, but that the disap-
pointment and embarrassment about hav-
ing to stay home while all his friends were
going off to war would do him in.
Three months after the Air Force
rejected him, Mr. Gersten was drafted.
This time, the physical showed no heart
murmur. I dont know what happened,
he said. The physical was for the Army;
recruiters for the Marines approached
some of the young men waiting their turn,
offering them a chance to try for that ser-
vice rather than the bigger, less glamorous
army. The Marines wanted only the stron-
gest, he said. He was strong and rugged;
the Marine sergeant made a play for him,
but Mr. Gersten said no. He was inducted

-
,
a
e
;
Old U.S. Navy planes in flight over Miami CourTeSy alan FeinberG Inset; Airman Gerry Gersten
instead into the United States Army.
r Induction began with a whole series of
shots; the administration of that battery of
jabs did not particularly take the recruits
comfort in mind. The guy in front of me
s was very rugged looking, Mr. Gersten
d said. They stuck him with the needles
and he fell flat on his face, with teeth and
blood all over the place. He broke his jaw
and I was next. They sent a guy with a mop
and a broom to clean up.
e I didnt feel anything, he said. I was coffee they took shovelfuls of coffee. They
numb. But later I got sick from all the
e shots.
He went home to pack all his stuff; he
t had to report in the next day or two. My
parents were sorry about my leaving,
but that was that, he said. There was a
d war on. My mother was crying, my father
, shook my hand and that was that.
- He went to camp, still sick from the
injections, Mr. Gersten said. I went to sick
call, the doctor said I should take tomor-
; row off, I asked for it in writing, and the
next day the sergeant came in and told me
that I was on KP. Kitchen patrol. I said
that I couldnt because I was sick, and he
said, Youre on KP.
And then he said, Boy, you better give
your soul to God, because your ass belongs
to me.
He was from South Carolina, and peo-
ple from South Carolina hated New York-
ers like poison. And Jews were like poison.
The next day, he was sent to the kitchen,
and I was on pots and pans. The pots
were 50 gallon pots, and when they made
in Miami Beach for basic
gave you G.I. soap to wash those pots.
The soap had a lot of lye in it, and not
only did it peel off the dirt, it also peeled
off your skin.
But things changed unexpectedly.
(They always do.) A guy walks by and
says, Is there a Gersten here? I said yes,
and he said, Youre shipping out. I had to
give in all my stuff and they gave me new
stuff, a parka, snow boots, equipment for
the far north.
And then I had to get on a train with
all that equipment. I couldnt figure it out,
because the guy in charge was an Air Force
Cover Story
lieutenant. And the next
thing you know, I wind up in
Miami.
I had to give all that stuff
back. Snow boots and a
parka were not useful in
Miami. So why the charade?
It was army secrecy, Mr.
Gersten said. They were
afraid of spies.
He was housed in a hotel
training. Some people in
the hotel didnt want to give
up their rooms when the
army asked if they could
rent them, Mr. Gersten said. So every the room who got them all right.
morning at 5 or 6, a 12-piece band would The next thing I know, they ship me off
walk down Collins Avenue, playing. to Sioux Falls. To radio school.
P.S. They rented the rooms. He knows why he got into radio school,
Toward the end of basic training, he and but not why he was in the Air Force in the
other servicemen took a battery of tests. first place. I never found out how they
There were maybe about 1,000 guys in picked me, he said. I never figured it out.
the room, and they sent out audio signals, From Miami Beach, Mr. Gersten went
he said. They asked if they were the same to Sioux Falls, where it would snow in
or different signals. I was the only guy in May. And they had a crazy arrangement,
Jewish standard OCtOBer 13, 2017 19
Cover Story
where the bathroom was separate from
the shower room, which was about a
block away. So we would take a shower
and wear shorts and a towel to go from
one to the other.
There were about 10,000 students, and
about 8,000 got pneumonia. I was there
for two days when I got pneumonia too.
If he had healed as he should have, Mr.
Gersten would have shipped out with the
15th Air Force. Everyone in his class went,
and everyone in that class got killed, he
said. It was a bungled raid, and he still is
angry at the pointless, mindless waste.
But Mr. Gersten, as the result of some
shenanigans with a white lab coat and the
ensuing friendship with a doctor, was
invited to a party. It was a very big party,
and I had a relapse and was back in bed,
he said. He eventually was shipped to
Langley field in Virginia, and there they
lined up the pilot, copilot, navigator, bom-
bardier, engineer, four gunners, and a
radio operator. We were crewed up.
One of the 10 of them eventually left the
unit, but the remaining nine guys stayed
together, one tight, bonded unit. They
were sent to England, the 392nd bomb
group of the Eighth Air Force.
The unit sounds like the cast of a World
War II movie, Catholics and a Baptist and
even a Norwegian, Mr. Gerstein said.
We had two guys from North Carolina
who had never met a Jew, he added, but
he was not the only Jew in the unit. I
spent a lot of time showing everyone that
Jews are human, Mr. Gersten said. When
you are past Pennsylvania, a Jew is like a
devil. We had to make people realize that
Jews are human beings. And he did.
Someone called me a Jew bastard, and
my engineer flattened him, Mr. Gersten
said. If a unit were to become cohesive,
The team that stayed together for 33 bombing missions are at the center. Short Round was the pilot.
20 Jewish Standard OCTOBER 13, 2017
it could not afford the distractions that
come from warring worldviews, and if
there were distractions, they all would
die. (Even without such distractions, it
was entirely possible that they all would
die anyway, as all of them knew.)
Combat flying was voluntary, Mr.
Gersten said. Thats because we lost so
many men. But if you wouldnt fly, if you
couldnt fly, they would put you in the
infantry. At first, flying was hard for him.
He would throw up every time he went
up in the air. But eventually he realized,
as counterintuitive as it seemed, that if he
would eat before taking off, hed be fine.
And you had to be actively terrified of
flying before youd want to go back to the
infantry.
There was no such thing as rank in
our unit, Mr. Gersten continued. The
pilot was the head, but we were one unit.
There were nine men; so they would
always send us a radar operator on each
mission.
I was 19, the engineer was 19, the tail flying the biggest plane there was, he said. And then we had our first bombing
gunner was 18, the navigator was 23, the It was a four-engine B24. A bomber. assignment.
bombardier was 23, the pilot was an old So we shipped out, and we had no This was in 1944. In Germany, we
man, he was 29. He was the best pilot idea where we were going. There were 50 bombed almost every city except Berlin,
there was. And he taught us how to fly. planes and some brilliant genius decided he said.
Most of the men in the unit could do most that we would have to radio in so they The Germans were far superior to us,
of the other jobs in the unit. could tell us where to go. There are two he continued. We were far behind until
His pilot was called Short Round, after channels in radio, tone and CW. CW car- we came out with the P51 fighter, and that
the bullet that is too short to go through rier waves is not as strong as tone. But was an absolute failure in the beginning.
a gun. Thats what its called, Mr. Gersten they all were supposed to use CW. And And then the British said, Why dont
said. He was one of those little guys who visualize 50 guys trying to get through on you use our engines? and we did, and
said, Ill show you. His real name was one little channel. it became the finest fighter plane in the
Dale W. Enyard. The navigator was called So I said the hell with it, and I went on whole world.
Bucket Butt Smith. I dont know his real tone. And I got in. Most of our pilots were horrible, Mr.
first name, Mr. Gersten said. Gerry Ger- We went to Goose Bay, Labrador, and Gersten said. It takes a year to get a pilots
stein became Gert. five of those 50 planes didnt make it. license, but in less than a year they had to
After the crews were assigned and they From there we went to Iceland, then to learn to fly a four-engine bomber. And we
learned to fly together, they were told to Wales, and then to England, to our base would fly in high formation, and planes
fly from Connecticut to England. We were there. We had a few practice missions. would crash into each other. It was the
Gerald Gersten, in a colorized portrait.
 Cover Story

most terrible thing to see a plane going down.

They would fall down like leaves.
And a piece of you would go down with it,
every time.
Much of what Mr. Gersten describes
straightforwardly, dryly, almost without emo-
tion or without visible emotion, which is
not at all the same thing is terrifying. On
one mission, there was a lot of flak, he said.
Flak was like BBs, little pellets that would
be packed into a shell. The pellets would be
white hot, and they would go through the skin
of the plane and right into your skin, right
though your bones. There were millions of
pieces of flak flying, and we would fly right
into it.
The Germans were so far ahead of us. It
was a miracle that we won.
Of course, the Americans and the Brit-
ish flyers were able to see and critique each
others habits, since both groups were sta-
tioned in England. The Royal Air Force flew
bombers called the Lancaster, Mr. Gersten
said. It was the same size as ours, but it
carried more than double our bomb load,
because we had top turrets with gunners Above, the French Legion of Honor medal and certificate; below,
with machine guns on each plane. They had Mr. Gerstens dog tags and a commemorative medal.
three to seven men on each plane, instead of
10, and they went on the bomb runs at night, when the distribute the forged and profoundly anti-Semitic Proto-
Germans couldnt see them and they had less of a chance cols of the Elders of Zion but we couldnt lower our
of being shot down. landing gear and we couldnt open our bomb bay doors.
The Americans kept going. In the beginning, if you flew We couldnt keep up with the formation, and we had to
25 missions they would send you home, Mr. Gersten said. turn back. That is called an abortion. When you come
And then they upped it to 30 missions. Later they made back without dropping the bomb, it doesnt count as a
it 35. He flew 33, he said, because the war ended before mission.
his unit could get up for the 34th. When we came back, all of a sudden we saw a P51 com-
He and his unit mates saw horrors, and often they ing at us.
escaped them for inexplicable reasons. Once, he said, they The P51 was an American plane, but the Germans
had a three-day pass, and planned to spend it in Brighton, would shoot them down and fly them to get information
a seaside town. But it is always raining in England, and from us. Theyd fly under a false flag; at times the Ameri-
who wants to go to the beach in the rain, so we wound up cans didnt know whose hands the planes were in until too
in Scotland instead. They had a less-than-exciting break. late. We were all flying with our guns pointing at it, Mr.
And when we got back, the barracks were empty. The Gersten said. And as he got closer, he lowered his landing
others had gone up on a bombing run, and they were gear. That means, I surrender. And as we got closer, we
shot down. were able to see that he was a black man. He was one of
After each mission, a number of guys would come back the Tuskegee boys. the wings start to crumble the gasoline is stored in the
and put their jackets over their heads. They were crying. The so-called Tuskegee airmen were the African Ameri- wing and the pilot lands the plane with the wheels hit-
They didnt want to do it anymore. It was too hard, with can soldiers who became fighter pilots, and fought with ting the runway, and the pilot gets into the grass. There are
the planes crashing into each other and the bombs falling great distinction. He worked his way up to become a puddles of gas all over.
all over. colonel, Mr. Gersten said; like the Jews, black people in Because he had chosen to wear a backpack parachute
On one run, he nearly died. We were flying in forma- the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II always had to instead of one strapped to his side, like most of the other
tion, and all of a sudden our number three engine conked prove themselves, over and over again. guys, I cannot get out of the plane, Mr. Gersten said. Hes
out, Mr. Gersten said. That engine controls the hydrau- The Tuskeegee airmen accompanied Mr. Gersten and too big, particularly with the device strapped to him. But
lics, so it is the most important engine on the plane. We his group part of the way back to their base, and then they the copilot gets me a parachute, it opens, and I bounce off
were going to bomb the Henry Ford factory a factory had to turn back. The engine, of course, still didnt work, the wing. The others are all running away from the plane.
the Germans named after the notoriously anti-Semitic and the plane by all rights should have crashed, but the And nobody got even one scratch that day.
American car magnate who donated money to print and pilot managed to land it, although the bombs fall out, There was another raid, when the Americans were

Rabbi Dr. Josh Joseph, Senior Vice President, Yeshiva University

Join Michelle Greenberg Kobrin, J.D., Director of the Indie Film Clinic, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
CB Neugroschl, Head of School, Samuel H. Wang, Yeshiva University High School for Girls

Jewish standard OCtOBer 13, 2017 21

Cover Story

supposed to take out a ball-bearing factory. When the
Americans found out that the Germans were working on
a rocket plane that would be 100 miles an hour faster than
any American planes, using ball bearings, they decided
to get rid of the factory, Mr. Gersten said. They sent out
three raids in three days.
When the crew opened the airplanes doors to drop a
bomb, they had to fly straight for 10 minutes. That pre-
dictable path made a plane a prime target. The bom-
bardier said, Open the bomb bay doors, Mr. Gersten
said. When the bombardier says open the doors, you
open the doors.
So I didnt hear him when he said open the doors.
And then I heard and I opened it and I dropped my
oxygen mask and my heated suit short-circuited. It was
about 50 degrees below zero. Every 1,000 feet you go
up into the air, the temperature drops by two degrees
or more. So when you are flying at 30,000 feet, its 30
degrees colder.
So my heated suit was short circuited and I didnt
have any oxygen. I looked up to the heavens. I was getting
hypoxia. That makes you feel happy. I felt so happy! But
when you have it, in five minutes you die. I looked up to
heaven, and I said, God, please dont let me die, because
if I do, my mother will kill me.
Obviously, Mr. Gersten didnt die. My engineer was
in the top turret, and he saw it. He jumped down and
plugged me in and I got oxygen. My suit still was short-
circuited and I got frostbite on my finger and my toes, and
I lost all my nails.
Roz and Gerry Gersten.
The bomber crews were treated very well, Mr. Gersten
said. We had special food. We ate better than anyone
else. We had steak and eggs and fries. And we had Milky
Ways, and I took one with me. That Milky Way turned into
a bar of ice.
It was really cold up there, he emphasized. We had
to wear three pairs of gloves. My father had a pair of silk
gloves. Those were my base gloves. And then there was
a leather glove, and then a gauntlet. With temperatures
from minus 20 to minus 60, if you blew your nose, icicles
would come out of your nose. If your nose ran, nothing
ever came out. And even tears would freeze.
He is not quite sure how the Allies won the war, but his
theory is that as the highly trained Germans ran through
their aces, the Allies started learning how to get better at
waging air war.
We were very fortunate in that we bombed the gaso-
line dumps, so the Germans began running low on fuel,
he said. Their pilots were so far superior to ours. If one of
our guys made 25 kills, he was a hot shot, but the Germans
had guys who shot down 250 planes.
And then the war went on, and we kept shooting down
their stars, and they started replacing them with green-
horns. They had no one else. And we went after their oil
wells and we began getting their trains.
What did it feel like to be on their bombing raids? We
didnt have emotions, Mr. Gersten said. Maybe you got
a little excited. There was some fear but there is a brave
fear and there is a coward fear. We didnt have the coward
fear. We had the brave fear.
I used to say Shema Israel the Shema, the Jewish
worlds central statement of faith and belonging before
we took off on every mission, and then I would say the
VeAhavta, the paragraph that follows. One of the crew
members asked, What is that? and I said it again. And
after a while, the whole crew said the Shema, and I said
the rest of it.

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22 apple
Jewish Standard
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Mr. Gersten spent about eight months overseas, and
about 31 months in the Air Force. After V-E Day, he was
sent to Sioux Falls, where he was an MP a member of
the military police force. After he was discharged, he went
back home. My family was sitting shiva for my Uncle
Manny, who was discharged a couple of months before
me and was killed by a bus in Birmingham, Ala. He went
through the Battle of the Bulge without a scratch, and then
he was killed by a bus.
After the war, Mr. Gersten went back to the Bronx, and
then to Westchester County, moved from retail grocery
to wholesale food distribution, married Roslyn, had chil-
dren, eventually retired, moved to Fort Lee with Roz,
and flourished. Recently, his daughter Shari asked him
what hed learned from his wartime experiences. Brav-
ery is an instinct, he said. Either you have it or you
dont. I come from a family of fearless people. We were
gutsy people.
A few years ago, film director Alan Feinberg became fas-
cinated with the popular understanding of World War II. I
had heard that a large proportion of high school students
in New York thought that the United States partnered with
Germany to fight Russia in World War II, Mr. Feinberg
said. This was some time in the 1990s. Ken Burns once
wrote that people dont know history, they are not taught
government, they dont know civics, and they just dont
care. World War II is as far away from them as the Spanish-
American War was to me.
What began as the germ of an idea for a film about
World War II veterans quickly became a film about Jewish
World War II veterans.
When he started thinking about what he really wanted
to say with his film, Bagels Over Berlin, I realized that
my motivation in filming these airmen was the anti-Sem-
itism that they overcame, and the fact that people dont
know about the contributions the Jews made. It was a story
about the Army Air Force. The air war was so primary in
Rabbi Dr. Zev Eleff, Chief Academic Officer, Hebrew Theological College
Meet Avital Chizhik, Faculty, Stern College For Women
Rabbi Mordechai Willig, Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS
World War II
servicemen at
a seder.
ALAN FEINBERG
Alan Feinberg at work.
winning the war. We might not have won the land war. If
the Germans already had jets in the air by the end of the
war, or if the war had gone on six months longer, we could
have lost it.
And Mr. Feinberg soon realized that the numbers of Jew-
ish navigators and radio operators were disproportionate
to their numbers in the population. There werent many
pilots, he said; the image of the lone ace, the World War
I hero sitting in magnificent isolation in his tiny, flimsy
plane, his leather helmet strapped on, his scarf flying
behind him (dangerously and ridiculously, you realize
when you stop to think about it), his gaze firmly fixed on
the horizon that couldnt be a Jew. But the brainy side-
kick well, that was another story.
Jews served in the military in a higher percentage than
their presence in the population in the first place, Mr.
Feinberg said. Some of them felt that they had more to
prove because they were Jewish. Others were loyal and
patriotic. Of course, those two categories could overlap
a great deal. Some of them were overwhelmed by the
anti-Semitism they grew up with, with quotas that made it
hard to get into some schools and get some jobs, but above
all they appreciated that they lived in a country that they
loved and wanted to serve.
Most of them were the children of immigrants, he
added.
The reason so many were navigators or radio opera-
tors jobs that took brains and skill as well as courage
and intuition was because the kids who were drafted
or volunteered from the country in Alabama or the corn-
fields of Iowa did not have the experience of the large
public high school that the Jewish boys had. They did not
take algebra and calculus. The Jewish servicemen might
not have been smarter than their rural non-Jewish coun-
terparts, but on the whole they were more sophisticated
and more ready to learn complicated concepts in a noisy,
confusing environment.
Cover Story
In Bagels Over Berlin, Mr. Feinberg tries to show the
complications the Jewish airmen faced, and the courage
and heroism they used to conquer them. I interviewed
about 30 veterans, he said. I pre-interviewed them on
the phone, first to be sure that they still were lucid. I also
wanted good stories, and I asked questions to elicit the
lighter side.
There was a lot of humor, and I kept it in, he added.
These guys are tremendous. There is both humor and
sadness in the stories.
One surprise interviewee was Norman Lear, Mr. Fein-
berg said. He was a radioman and bombardier, and he
flew some 40 missions. He agreed to be interviewed at
the last second, and when I interviewed him he knew
that what I wanted was not to talk about Hollywood or his
fame, but about the war.
He is the one who said that I felt that I had more to
prove, because I was Jewish.
Mr. Feinberg learned a great deal from making this film.
It was a tremendous experience, he said. Things have
changed a great deal between then and now, he said.
Thats why it is so important that we honor the heroes
of the past. This film is about overcoming the difficulties
of growing up in the 1930s and fighting for your country.
They did it because they believed in it, he said.
Who: Gerald Gersten of Fort Lee, one of the U.S. air-
men featured in the film, and its director, Alan Feinberg
What: Will answer questions about the film, Bagels
Over Berlin, being screened
When: On Wednesday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: At the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East
Clinton Avenue in Tenafly
Why: To talk about the experiences of Jewish Air
Force flyers during World War II.
For more information: Call (201) 569-1496.
Jewish Standard OCTOBER 13, 2017 23
Jewish World

Three Supreme Court cases

Jews are watching closely
RON KAMPEAS

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court is

back in session with a full bench of nine
justices, so expect more momentous deci-
sions after nearly a year of caution.
Now that the high court is back to its pre-
vious equilibrium four solid liberals, four
solid conservatives, and one wavering con-
servative expect all eyes to be focused on
the waverer, Anthony Kennedy.
And after a relatively quiet season,
owing to the absence of a ninth justice
following the death in February 2016 of
Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon, Jew-
ish groups are on alert as well. President
Barack Obama nominated Merrick Gar-
land, a well-respected judge who is Jew-
ish to fill Scalias seat, but the Senate
majority leader, Mitch McConnell, argu-
ing that a president was not entitled to fill
a Supreme Court vacancy during his last
year in office, did not allow Garland even
the courtesy of meetings, much less a hear-
ing
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24 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Jewish World

Trumps first appointee, appears to be slip-
ping comfortably into Scalias slot.
So far, the Federalist Society would
approve, said Marc Stern, the general
counsel for the American Jewish Commit-
tee, referring to Gorsuch, who joined the
court in April as its previous season ended,
and the leading conservative legal group.
Presidents and their staffs now vet
judges more closely, Stern said, and sur-
prises are much less likely.
The judges now have known tendencies,
its much more institutionalized, he said.
The return to a conservative majority,
with Kennedy an occasional swing vote,
worries liberal Jewish groups and heart-
ens right-leaning ones, mostly Orthodox
especially in the case of a baker who
refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay cou-
ple. Civil liberties groups also are closely
watching a case of what they see as ger-
rymandering by the Republican-led State
Legislature in Wisconsin.
Heres a look at some of the cases and
where Jewish groups are.
Masterpiece Cakeshop,
Ltd. v. Colorado Civil
Rights Commission
Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker, refused to
bake a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and
David Mullins in 2012, saying that to do
so would violate his religious beliefs. The
couple took him to the states Civil Rights
Commission, which ruled that he could
not turn away gay couples. A state court
upheld the ruling; now its at the Supreme
Court. Last month, a prominent ally joined
Phillips: the Trump administration.
Jewish groups are filing friend-of-the-
court briefs on both sides of the case, with
an array of Orthodox groups siding with
Phillips. The Anti-Defamation League and
the Reform movement are siding with
the couple.
The ADL has already been involved with
the case at the state level. In a statement,
the group said it urged the court to reject
arguments that religious or moral disap-
proval is a legitimate basis for discrimina-
tion against minority groups.
The National Jewish Commission on
Law and Public Affairs, a group helmed by
the father-daughter legal team of Nathan
and Alyza Lewin, which often represents
Orthodox groups, is backing the baker. Its
amicus brief cites talmudic prohibitions on
assisting others in carrying out avodah
zarah, or prohibited acts.
The personal duty to avoid meaning-
ful participation in another persons reli-
giously prohibited behavior is, under
Jewish Law, a primary obligation and not
merely a form of secondary observance,
the brief says.
The Orthodox Union and Agudath
Israel of America, which signed on to the
SEE SUPREME PAGE 26

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Dr. Danielle Wozniak, Dorothy and David I. Schachne Dean, Wurzweiler School of Social Work

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 25

Jewish World

Supreme
FROM PAGE 25
Lewins brief, also have joined other sepa-
rate friend-of-the-court briefs in a reflec-
tion of the importance of the case for
the Orthodox.
For a religious minority community,
the Masterpiece case is a big case, said
Nathan Diament, the Orthodox Unions
Washington director, which joined another
brief. Theres a way to balance religious
liberty and LGBT rights that doesnt have
to end in culture wars.
Oral arguments, the equivalent of tea
leaves for Supreme Court watchers, have
yet to take place, so it may be too early to
speculate on how the court will split. One
possible clue: In 2015 Kennedy wrote the
decision that codified gay marriage as legal.
Gill v. Whitford
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Gins-
burg says that this case, involving redis-
tricting, is among the most important fac-
ing the court this session, and an array of
Jewish civil liberties group that signed on
to an amicus brief agree.
The case addresses redistricting by the
Wisconsin State Legislature in 2011 that
created a situation in which, the ADL said
in a statement, Republicans would be
able to maintain a 54-seat majority (of the
99 Assembly seats) while only garnering
48 percent of the statewide vote, while
Democrats would have to get 54 percent of
the vote to capture a majority of the seats.
That poses a threat to American democ-
racy, according to a brief filed on behalf of
a number of civil liberties groups, three of
them Jewish: the ADL, the American Jew-
ish Committee, and the National Council
of Jewish Women.
Severe partisan gerrymanders cannot
be resolved by the democratic political
process, because the very nature of the
problem is that severe partisan gerryman-
ders subvert the democratic political pro-
cess, the amicus brief reads. Without this
Courts intervention and setting of limits
on severe partisan gerrymandering, our
system will devolve into precisely what
our Founders declared our independence
from: government administered by an
entrenched ruling class, rather than by the
consent of the people.
The AJCs Stern said a far-reaching rul-
ing finally could crack the epidemic of
gerrymandering, which has plagued Dem-
ocratic-led states as well, including Califor-
nia and Maryland.
It is the blockbuster case that will affect
the nature of American democracy for the
foreseeable future, he said.
Court watchers say the four liberal judges
likely will move to remove redistricting
powers from the legislature, while the four
solid conservatives will uphold the legisla-
tures right to go about its business without
federal interference. Oral arguments took
place last week, but Kennedy the swing
vote did not show his hand.
International Refugee
Assistance vs. Trump
This case addresses President Donald
Trumps two executive orders earlier this
year placing a temporary ban on entry
to refugees and to citizens of six Muslim
majority countries. In September, Trump
added Venezuela and North Korea non-
Muslim majority countries to the travel
ban. That led the court to remove the case
from its schedule and ask the litigants to
consider whether the case is now moot
because the case for religious discrimina-
tion appears to have diminished.
The government is arguing that the
case is indeed no longer relevant. The
plaintiffsincluding HIAS, the lead-
ing immigration advocacy group in the
Jewish community say they still want
their case in court, arguing that even if
religious discrimination is no longer the
issue, the status of refugees remains very
much relevant.
In an amicus brief filed before the
courts removal of the case, the ADL, the
Reform movement, and the Jewish Coun-
cil for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for
Jewish public policy groups, made the pro-
tection of refugees central to their argu-
ments against the ban, in particular citing
the tragic results of European Jews being
turned away before the Holocaust
We turned our backs on the St. Louis,
a ship with nearly 1,000 Jews fleeing Nazi
Germany, condemning hundreds of them
to their deaths; we passed laws that overtly
excluded and discriminated against the
Chinese; and we rounded up more than
100,000 Japanese Americans and interned
them in prison camps in the 1940s, the
brief says. In each instance, when we
later realized that we had strayed from our
principles, we were left to apologize to the
people who had suffered, or to their descen-
dants, or to the memory of those who per-
ished without descendants, in each case
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26 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017


BRIEF
ADL: Possible new UNESCO head
has anti-Semitic connections
The Anti-Defamation League expressed concern that former Qatari Culture Minister
Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari, a leading candidate to become the next director-general
of the United Nations cultural body, UNESCO, has overseen or endorsed projects that
propagate base anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
These include a forward he wrote in a book that includes charges of Jewish domina-
tion of the media, as well as his endorsement of Culture Ministry-organized book fairs
that included anti-Semitic speakers and texts, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,
the ADL said.
Jewish World
In July, UNESCO approved a resolution denying Israels sovereignty in Jerusalems Old
City as well as a measure declaring Hebrons Cave of the Patriarchs, where the biblical
Jewish matriarchs and patriarchs are believed to be buried, as an endangered Palestinian
heritage site. In October 2016, UNESCO passed two resolutions ignoring all Jewish and
Christian connections to Jerusalems holy sites.
Regrettably, there are too many among UNESCOs members who have seen the body
as a vehicle to further divisive and denigrating campaigns directed at Israel, ADL CEO
Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. It is important that UNESCO be led by a direc-
tor-general who best exemplifies and champions the values and ideals of this institution
and works for peace, respect and fundamental freedoms.
Al-Kawaris home country, Qatar, funds terror groups such as Hamas and the Muslim
Brotherhood and cooperates with Iran, leading to an ongoing dispute between Qatar and
other Arab states. JNS.ORG

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JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 27

Jewish World
BRIEFS
Mexican president thanks soldiers and officers from the IDFs Home Front Command and
the Israeli Air Force was dispatched to Mexico last month on
Israel for earthquake relief the eve of Rosh Hashanah after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto thanked Israeli Prime about 76 miles southeast of Mexico City, killing hundreds. Israel
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Jewish states contribu- organized the largest aid mission in Mexico, in addition to being
tions to relief efforts following the recent major earthquakes the first country to arrive on the scene and the last to leave.
in the North American country. Earlier in September, Israel sent aid to Mexico following a
An Israeli aid mission comprising of approximately 70 previous 8.2-magnitude earthquake. JNS.ORG
ew i s h
Pr o u d to b e J
Why do we give to Jewish Federation?
We trust their expertise in understanding
the needs of our Jewish community.
W e k n o w o u r g i ft.t
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Jewish Federation has shown us the
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our families strong and vibrant by
supporting our synagogues, agencies,
and day schools. Weve seen firsthand
the impact Jewish Federation has made
on people in need, making them feel
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jfnnj.org | 201.820.3900
28 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017
Israeli woman killed
in jeep accident in Nepal
Israeli backpacker Vered Aviyashar, 26, from Kib-
butz Ein Hanatziv, was killed when her jeep over-
turned in Nepals Annapurna mountains Monday.
Aviyashar was critically injured and died on the way
to hospital.
Eight other Israelis were injured in the accident
and were evacuated to a hospital in Kathmandu.
One of seven siblings, Aviyashar served as a teacher
in the IDF Education Corps and later received her
graduate degree in philosophy, economics and polit-
ical science from He-brew University of Jerusalem.
Anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her,
even a little, fell in love with her smile, and the sim-
ple and natural joy that she radiated, Aviyashars
family said in a statement. She was bright and bril-
liant; she could play any instrument and sang so
beautifully. She loved nature and hiking, loved peo-
ple, loved and enjoyed life. JNS.ORG
Belgium freezes funding for
Palestinian Authority schools
Palestinian Media Watch, an organization that mon-
itors Palestinian incitement, said its research has
prompted Belgiums government to freeze funding
of Palestinian Authority schools.
After PMW recently notified Belgium that a PA
school it had funded was renamed for terrorist
Dalal Mughrabi, who masterminded an attack that
killed 37 Israelis (including 12 children) in 1978, the
watchdog Monday quoted a Belgian Foreign Ministry
spokesman as saying the country will put on hold
any projects related to the construction or equip-
ment of Palestinian schools. The ministry added
Belgium was previously unaware of this name
change at the school and is awaiting a formal
response from the PA on the issue.
According to the Belgian Development Agency,
Belgium has built 23 Palestinian schools since 2001
and had plans to construct 10 more.
Earlier this year, Norway secured the return of
funds it gave to a PA-affiliated womens center that
was named in honor of Mughrabi.
JNS.ORG
Shin Bet: Israeli man
likely killed in terror attack
Israels Shin Bet security agency said it has evidence
indicating that Reuven Schmerling, a Jewish man
whose body was discovered last week in a storage
facility he owned in the Arab town of Kfar Kassem,
was killed in a terrorist attack carried out for a
nationalist motive.
The Shin Bet said that Israeli forces arrested two
Palestinians from Kabatiya on suspicion of murder-
ing Schmerling, a resident of the West Bank com-
munity of Elkana who was found dead just before
his 70th birthday. Before the security agencys
announcement, it had been suspected Schmerling
was killed due to a business-related dispute.
We want to thank the security forces for their
extensive efforts over such a short period in search
of the culprits, and to thank the community of
Elkana and all those who supported us, and the
warm embrace on all levels, the Schmerling family
said in a statement. JNS.ORG
 Ready for The World of Tomorrow?
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Lamdeinu at Congregation Beth Aaron 950 Queen Anne Road Teaneck, NJ | Dean, Rachel Friedman | Program Coordinator, Ruth Hartstein

30 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Jewish World

Why its easier to ordain Orthodox women in Israel

BEN SALES

Ever since Rabbi Avi Weiss began training female clergy

and appointing them to leadership positions, hes been
mired in controversy.
Graduates of his womens seminary in Riverdale, New
York, have been banned from serving as clergy or in a
position of spiritual authority by two umbrella Modern
Orthodox organizations. Weiss left the Orthodox Rabbini-
cal Council of America in protest of its policies. Rabbis
to his right frequently question his Orthodox credentials.
What would happen if a rabbi in Israel did something
similar? After all, Israel has a charedi Orthodox chief rab-
binate, a growing charedi population, and government
policies that discriminate against liberal Jewish move-
ments. The backlash would be even worse, right?
Wrong.
Actually, Israel might be the friendliest environment for
Orthodox women seeking something on par with rabbinic
ordination. The country has a parallel to Weiss organi-
zation an educational network that advances Orthodox
women, headed by a prominent, outspoken liberal Ortho-
dox rabbi and its enjoyed greater acceptance and had
less backlash than Weisss efforts have met.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the charismatic modern Ortho-
dox rabbi from New York who founded the West Bank Rabbi Shuki Reich, left, seminary head of the Susi Bradfield Womens Institute of Halakhic Leadership, and
settlement of Efrat, has been giving Orthodox women the Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone, present Rabbanit Shira Zimmerman with her certifica-
SEE ORDAIN PAGE 32 tion as a spiritual leader and arbiter of Jewish law at a ceremony in Jerusalem in January 2017. OHR TORAH STONE

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JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 31

Jewish World

Ordain
FROM PAGE 31
equivalent of rabbinic training for a decade. His Susi Brad-
field Womens Institute of Halakhic Leadership, founded
in 2007, offers women the same curriculum as Orthodox
Israeli men studying for rabbinical ordination.
After five years of study, the women take the same tests as
the men, and as Riskin said, they graduate with the ability to
teach and direct Jewish law, just like a rabbi. The school is
not that different from Weiss seminary, Yeshivat Maharat,
whose four-year curriculum gives women the necessary
skills to be confident and compelling spiritual leaders in the
Jewish community, according to its website.
Studying Torah and developing leadership within Torah
is part of every human being, Riskin said. Men and women
equally are created in Gods image, and one of the miracles
of our generation is Torah learning for women.
But while the Orthodox Union and the RCA have issued rul-
ings against Maharat graduates, the Bradfield Institute received
a vote of confidence from the modern Orthodox establishment
last week: Rabbi Kenneth Brander of Teaneck, a vice president
of Yeshiva University, the flagship modern Orthodox school, will
replace Riskin next year, after Riskin retires.
Brander will become president of Ohr Torah Stone,
the network of educational institutions that Riskin
founded and leads. Along with the womens seminary,
the network includes primary and high schools, acad-
emies for young adults, and higher education for men.
It also offers a program to train women to be advo-
cates in courts of Jewish law.
Riskin, 77, will remain involved with the organiza-
tion in an unofficial capacity and remain chief rabbi
of Efrat.
Brander has a history of advancing Orthodox
women: He led the Graduate Program of Advanced
Talmudic Studies and Biblical Interpretation for
Women at Y.U., where he serves as vice president for
university and community life. Before arriving at Y.U.,

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he was rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue, a large
HOUSE modern Orthodox congregation in South Florida.
CALLS Engaging women to study and engage in leader-
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thats excited me, Brander said. It does us proud and
empowers us when were able to allow them to play
leadership roles.
Graduates of Bradfield are called morat horaah,

WE PAY CASH FOR which Riskin roughly translates to Jewish legal

leader. The term is similar to the title given to gradu-

SINGLE ITEMS TO ates of Weiss seminary maharat, an acronym for

Jewish legal, spiritual, and Torah leader. Yeshivat

ENTIRE ESTATES! Maharat graduates have gone on to serve in syna-

gogues and schools. Bradfield graduates likewise have
served as teachers and spiritual leaders.
Watches, Clocks, Pocket Watches Brander and Riskin both declined to comment
directly on Yeshivat Maharat. But Riskin suggested that
Paintings, Prints, Bronzes because Orthodoxy is so dominant in Israeli religious
life, theres more space to subdivide into groups and
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JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 33

Editorial
Welcome back to the world
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES

Stab the Iran deal

T in the heart and kill it
his week, the Jewish college students care less about
world comes back to Israel than their parents do. Its not

rejoin the outside world
after the intense month
of inwardness, reflection, and
celebration that began with Rosh
Hashanah and ended today with
Simchat Torah. (Today, that is, if
you got your paper on the day it
was intended for your doorstep.
Thats Friday.)
Next week, and in the weeks
that follow, there will be a flood
of speakers and programs and
film series and book signings and
lunches and dinners as the gates
open and the world rushes back in.
The month has been marvelous, if
insanely food intensive (its striking
how even Jewish fasts end in feasts),
and in a way it is sad to see it go. But
its also true that rejoining the world
has many advantages. We plan to
take advantage of the wonderful
opportunities blooming all around
us, and we hope you do too.
As we do every year, we also
encourage parents of 11th graders
to encourage their children to apply
for the Bronfman Fellowship, the
program that takes 26 Jewish ris-
ing high school seniors to Israel for
a free five-week program, and fol-
lows up with seminars during the
school year, and creates a network
of friendships that can connect
them to each other and weave in
more and more people and connec-
tions and opportunities, and will be
there for the rest of their lives.
And when I say we, I mean I.
This is a personal appeal. My chil-
dren were Bronfman fellows, so I
know firsthand how extraordinary
the program is.
For one thing, it gives the fel-
lows a real look at Israel; they see
Israels success and its challenges,
from an unvarnished but loving
perspective. Even if they know
a lot going in, theyll know even
more coming out. We have heard
recently that high school and
dislike or alienation, its just a sort
of disconnect. This program coun-
ters that disconnect.
Bronfman fellows travel with
Jewish kids exactly their age the
program is only for high school
students in the summer between
11th and 12th grades but from
a wide range of Jewish affiliation,
from Orthodox through secu-
lar. All the fellows are very smart
and accomplished the program
looks for high academic achievers
and its highly competitive and
they are all Jewish, but otherwise,
they represent an entire world of
differences.
We live in a divisive time. (Yes,
I know Im telling you something
you dont know, right?) One of the
many gifts the Bronfman Fellow-
ship gives these students is the
chance to spend five weeks with
these other kids, and to learn to
talk, argue, squabble, compromise,
negotiate, understand, and eventu-
ally surmount.
Its also a leadership program.
Thats a squishy term, perhaps not
entirely desirable in a culture that
so bristles with leaders that follow-
ers often are in short supply, but if
you are going to have people who
fancy themselves as leaders, it
would be good for them to become
acquainted with what the term
means. The Bronfman Fellowship
does that.
And oh yes, the students whom
the Bronfman people take to Israel
also do manage to have fun. And
that also matters.
So if your child is interested in
the Bronfman Fellowship, please
urge him or her to go to bronfman.
org, and explore the program.
See what its about, what its look-
ing for in applicants, and what it
offers. The application deadline is
January 4.
Good luck! JP
O
ne way or another, this coming Sun-
day will be historic.
On that day, President Donald
Trump will decide whether or not to
re-certify a waiver on sanctions against the Islamic
Republic of Iran, a legal measure that represents
the American commitment to Obamas JCPOA
nuclear agreement.
If he opts not to, Congress has the power to re-
enact crippling economic sanctions against both
Iran and its international business partners, reap-
plying the type of pressure that might actually
stop Iran from going nuclear the pivotal end- justify the deals revocation by a new administra-
goal the current deal fails to provide.
If, however, he blesses the deal, Iran
will march ever closer toward the
soon-to-be inevitable prospect of
nuclear power.
This day will be as critical to the
safety of the Jewish people and
Israel as the day Barack Obama
signed the original catastrophic
agreement.
Not that youd know it. Rabbi
In the Jewish community, espe- Shmuley
cially, barely a word has been Boteach
uttered by leaders and activists alike.
Even those who worked tirelessly to
stop the deal back in 2015 have gone suddenly
mum. To give an important example, back then,
AIPAC heroically spent tens of millions of dollars
and organized massive fly-ins of supporters to
stampede the halls of Congress all in an effort to
stop Obama from agreeing to the deal. Though
they now have the administration on their side,
AIPAC announced just days ago that it would not
advise the president to decertify the deal.
Thats quite a change.
Perhaps they, like so many others, have been
seduced by the chorus of media commentators
begging Trump not to scrap the deal one that
has been as loud as it has been constant.
The arguments offered by these advocates gen-
erally boil down to the same two points. Firstly, if
we abandon the deal, our international reputation
will suffer as we show we cant be trusted. Second, bluntly last week that Americans will not be
even if we do opt out, our allies may not follow. In
Shmuley Boteach is the founder of the World Values Network and the international author of 31
books, including Judaism for Everyone. Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
other words, weve lost our leverage.
Fortunately for us, these arguments arent
worth the web space theyre beamed on.
Lets start with the primary point raised by the
deals supporters. If America pulls out of a deal it
signed onto, our international standing will take
a debilitating hit. After all, who will ever want to
sign an agreement with a partner that has a his-
tory of pulling out?
Usually, such an argument would hold. Here, it
doesnt.
Firstly, the dangers of a nuclear Iran more than
tion. This is especially true consid-
ering the fact that as a democracy,
administration and policy changes
are to be expected from the United
States. It might not be something
a dictatorship like Iran can under-
stand, but something that we as
Americans certainly should.
It was Senator Tom Cotton who
famously wrote to Ayatollah Kha-
meini that given that President
Obama chose not to ratify the deal
with Congress, it could be revoked
by a different president with the
stroke of a pen.
Much more critical is the fact that Iran
isnt keeping the deal. In September, Israeli
intelligence learned that international IAEA
inspectors were denied entry into a critical
Iranian military installation at Parchin. Last
week, the Institute for Science and Interna-
tional Security, a conglomerate of leading sci-
entists, released a report demanding that the
IAEA gain access to Parchin, an area they said
was marked by plenty of evidence of past
Iranian nuclear weapons activity and most
likely houses high-explosive storage bunkers
and shock-physics laboratories. Though the
deal stipulates that Iran must allow inspec-
tors access to all sites of suspected nuclear
development, an official from Irans nuclear
implementation committee announced quite
allowed to inspect the military bases.

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34 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017


So much for Irans cooperation.
Moreover, those heralding the reputation risks ignore
the far-more-delegitimizing effects that would accompany
a continued American commitment to the deal. After all,
in signing the Iran agreement America endangered some
of its most important allies, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE,
Kuwait, Bahrain, and most importantly the State of Israel,
all of whom legitimately fear Iranian hegemony in the
Middle East. In fact, were already feeling the effects of
the plummeting value of our friendships. Just last week,
t King Salman of Saudi Arabia made the first ever royal visit
to Americas foremost international competitor, Vladimir
Putin. According to the Guardians diplomatic editor, Pat-
t rick Wintour, the message was clear. The kingdom [is]
looking to diversify into wider set of alliances, due no
doubt in part to their fears about U.S. reliability.
- America must stop Iran and restore the faith of our
most dependable allies. To continue to prioritize a hor-
t rible agreement with a sworn and swindling enemy over
decades-old alliances with vital and moral friends like
Israel amounts to pure stupidity.
- Which brings us to most commonly used argument, that
- America cant retreat from the Iran deal because Europe
, and Asia are making too much money to renege. After all,
the other signatories of the Iran agreement have vowed to
stand by the deal even if we dont. So long as they refuse
to sanction Iran, the rogue regime will maintain the eco-
- nomic capability to produce a nuclear weapon.
To this, I respond simply: Russia, China, and Europe
will abide by any move we make.
The United States, the worlds largest economy, boasts
- a financial system worth a whopping $19 trillion. No major
t economy will risk losing access to that. Certainly not in
exchange for access to Irans $400 billion economy.
Sure, Russia, China, and Europe will threaten non-
compliance. But in the end, theyll comply. In fact
as explained by Richard Goldberg, one of the leading
architects of congressional sanctions against Iran
thats exactly the pattern. When Senators Mark Kirk
A (R-IL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) put together a bill
l imposing crippling sanctions on the National Bank of
t Iran, a livid Obama administration begged them to
- withdraw. European allies, they warned, had sworn
- not to comply. In the end, every European and Asian
ally that had come to Capitol Hill to lobby against the
amendment fully complied with it after it came into
t force. The same occurred months later, when Europe-
t ans refused to cut Iran out of the global SWIFT finan-
cial network. Legislation was drafted to cut SWIFT out
of U.S. markets, and the Europeans gave in. Precisely
- the same story played out through the passage of the
r Iran Threat Reduction Act and the Iran Freedom and
r Counter-Proliferation Act.
The lesson: Cry as they might along the way, no Euro-
pean or Asian corporation is going to choose a terrorist
regime over access to the U.S. dollar.
In short, we as a nation already have the power to stop
Iran. Or, to speak President Trumps language, in this
instance, America is Already Great Enough.
The opinions expressed in this section are those of
the authors, not necessarily those
of the newspapers editors, publishers, or other
staffers. We welcome letters to the editor.
Send them to jstandardletters@gmail.com.
Opinion
A call to disarm
L
et me begin with a thought that might sound like
heresy to some citizens of the United States: The
Second Amendment to our Constitution is not
scripture.
Indeed, neither the Bill of Rights nor the U.S. Constitution
itself were handed down to us by God. Nor are they said to
have been dictated from on high, or be the product of divine
inspiration. Rather, they are the product of human beings,
subject to human flaws and human error. And they are a
product of a particular time and set of circumstances, some
of which are no longer in effect, such as slavery, and some of
which have changed radically, such as the likelihood of a sol-
ider being quartered in a private home, an infringement that
is the subject of the Third Amendment.
The founders of our republic clearly were aware of their
own limitations by including Article Five of our Constitution,
which allows for the possibility of amending our governmen-
tal framework, and lists the procedures to be followed in
order to propose and ratify a constitutional amendment.
Famously, new amendments have abol-
ished slavery, granted voting rights to women,
and lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Infa-
mously, the 18th Amendment prohibited the
manufacture, importing, transportation, and
sale of alcohol in the United States. Thirteen
years after it was established, this amendment
was repealed by the 21st Amendment, ending
the period characterized by crime and violence
known as Prohibition.
We the people can amend the U.S. Constitu- Dr. Lance
tion, and we can amend our amendments. In Strate
theory, we can amend our amendments to our
amendments, and so on ad infinitum, but the
important point is that amendments can be repealed. And I
want to join the chorus of sane and concerned voices calling
for the repeal of the Second Amendment.
Bret Stephens, in a recent New York Times op-ed arguing
for repeal, concluded with the following: The true foun-
dation of American exceptionalism should be our capacity
for moral and constitutional renewal, not our instinct for
self-destruction.
Everybody knows that the Second Amendment is written
in a torturous manner that makes it impossible to determine
its precise meaning: A well regulated Militia, being necessary
to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep
and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Historians tell us that
the first clause is the main point, to guarantee the right of indi-
vidual states to maintain their own armed forces, as a matter
of collective defense. In part, the motivation had much to do
with skepticism about maintaining a standing army on the fed-
eral level. The idea that the Second Amendment refers to indi-
vidual rights is a later interpretation, with its roots in the after- pened. In this instance, that question is proving to be harder
math of the Civil War, and largely a 20th century innovation.
The Second Amendment is not scripture, and therefore
should not have to undergo talmudic exegesis, just so that it
can serve as a pretext for preventing any and all regulation
of firearms. The initials NRA do not stand for the National
Rabbinic Association, so that organization does not have the
moral or intellectual authority to dictate its interpretation of
the amendment to the American citizenry.
And what about scripture itself? Of course, there were no
firearms in the ancient world, but there are references to
other weapons. Look at the famous words of the prophet Isa-
iah: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks, in reference to warfare; in
another Jewish context, the Christian Bibles Gospel of Mat-
thew has Jesus admonish one of his followers by saying: all
who take up the sword, will die by the sword.
Of course, we would expect to find messages of nonviolence
dominating the sacred texts of our nations Judeo-Christian
heritage. And we might well wonder how it is that so many
people of faith in our country can resist any efforts to reduce
gun violence so zealously. In another New York Times op-ed,
David Brooks argues that guns are a proxy for larger issues,
for a much larger conflict over values and identity.
In other words, its the culture war, stupid.
And let us make no mistake about it. Resistance to gun
safety legislation is linked to the populist movement that gave
us the Trump presidency, it is linked to the alt-right, to white
supremacy and neo-Nazi movements, to anti-immigration
sentiment, to Islamophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism. It
should be pretty clear which side we ought to be on.
If there is a passage in scripture that might be the ancient
equivalent of the Second Amendment, it might be found in
the Holiness Code in the Book of Leviticus, in the command-
ment You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neigh-
bor. This suggests a right to self-defense that might translate
to a right to bear arms. But it also implies a collective right
to be safe and secure, the right implied by the
prophet Micah, and alluded to by George Wash-
ington in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation
of Newport, Rhode Island, that they shall sit
every man under his vine and under his fig tree;
and none shall make them afraid.
Psalm 115 incorporates a polemic against
idol worship, characterized as the work of
mens hands, concluding that they that make
them shall be like unto them, yea, everyone
who trusts in them. If people treat the Second
Amendment as scripture, are they not in effect
worshipping firearms as their idols? And con-
sequently, doesnt that transform them into
instruments of violence, molded into the image of their mol-
ten gods, tools of their own invention?
This summer I published a book called Media Ecology: An
Approach to Understanding the Human Condition. One of
my central arguments in that book is that our tools and tech-
nologies are never neutral, that they have inherent character-
istics and tendencies that influence how they are used. Just
as objects tend to roll down rather than up a hill, and stones
are hard not soft, so guns are inherently designed as instru-
ments of violence. This is a tendency, not an absolute. In some
instances, the presence of guns may deter violence, it is true,
but on the whole, the more guns in a situation, the greater
the potential for violence, and the greater the frequency and
harm of violent events.
You may notice that I have made no reference to the spe-
cifics of the most recent mass shooting, and that is because
the details do not matter. As of this writing, journalists cover-
ing the story are obsessed with the question of why it hap-
to answer than usual. But in my view, the why is irrelevant.
The why will always be different, individual, personal. Taking
a media ecology approach, what matters is not why, but how.
And the how remains consistent across the 131 mass shootings
that have occurred over the past 50 years.
Its the guns, stupid. Its the firearms.
The answer to why often is some form of insanity, as if there
were ever a sane reason to commit mass murder. But allow-
ing for that, the same side of the culture war that defends the
Second Amendment also opposes funding for research into
the causes of gun violence, and funding for mental health in
general, and funding for universal health care, which would
aid the victims of gun violence. There is no moral equivalence
between the two sides.
And while one side argues for the Second Amendment in
absolute or near absolute terms, the other asks, you might say
SEE DISARM PAGE 37
JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 35
Opinion

Breitbart, racists, and the dirty work

of laundering the alt-right

S
tephen Bannon, whose anti-
globalist insurgency at Breitbart
News was interrupted briefly
by his tenure as chief adviser to
the Leader of the Free World, always has
been adamant that his right-wing news
site and worldview is neither anti-Semitic
nor racist.
When he referred to Breitbart as a
platform for the alt-right, Bannon didnt
mean, he insisted, that he personally
supported the white supremacists and
racists who attached themselves to his
populist nationalist movement.
Are there some people that are anti-
Semitic that are attracted? Maybe, he
told Mother Jones in July 2016, a month
before he was tapped to lead Donald
Trumps presidential campaign. But
thats just like, there are certain elements
of the progressive left and the hard left
that attract certain elements.
Truth be told, the evidence that Breit-
bart News is anti-Semitic always has been
weak. Bannon and Breitbart often deal in
tropes that set our anti-Semitism detec-
tors a-tingling mongering of global
economic conspiracies, creepy talk about
dangerous elites but stop short of sin-
gling out Jews. And Bannon can point to
the sites reliably pro-Israel reporting,
which is often to the right of mainstream
Jewish groups on some Israel issues.
Its through that framing of Breitbart
that I read the lengthy expose in BuzzFeed
that purports to lay bare how one of Bre-
itbarts erstwhile stars the far-right pro-
vocateur Milo Yiannopoulos sought the
help and blessings of white nationalists
and neo-Nazis while laundering their input
and participation in the enterprise.
Based on emails and other documents
obtained by BuzzFeed, the article fea-
tures correspondence between Yian-
nopoulos and charmers like Andrew
weev Auernheimer, described as a sys-
tem administrator of the neo-Nazi hub
the Daily Stormer; Devin Saucier, who
helps edit the online white nationalist
magazine American Renaissance under
the pseudonym Henry Wolff, and Cur-
tis Yarvin, purveyor of the fringe anti-
democratic neoreactionary movement
who has argued that neither Nazism nor
slavery were as bad as we
have been told they were.
The documents show that
Yiannopoulos sought input
from all three men for an
article he was writing that
would explain the emerging
alt-right to a general audi-
ence while staking Breit-
barts claim as the news site Andrew
most congenial to its jum- Silow-Carroll
ble of ideas. But those men
werent just interview sub-
jects Yiannopoulos and his co-author
sent them drafts of the article for their
approval, with the implicit understand-
ing that while the published version
would be racially charged, it would be
careful to dissociate Breitbarts version of violent revolution.
the alt-right from the movements racist
and anti-Semitic fellow travelers.
Published in March 2016, the resulting
article, An Establishment Conservatives
Guide to the Alt-Right, certainly was
racially charged. It describes the move-
ments natural constituency as mostly
white, mostly male middle-American
radicals, who are unapolo-
getically embracing a new
identity politics that priori-
tizes the interests of their
own demographic.
Yiannopoulos and his
co-author are careful to
distinguish the alt-rights
community of the more
reasonable white identitar-
ians from the real racists
and bigots. The latter, they
explain, represents old-
school white supremacy and invokes
Hitler as a role model. Members of the
alt-right, by contrast, focus more on
building communities and lifestyles
based around their values than plotting
Feel better about the alt-right? Theyre
not Nazis and racists they just want to
preserve their white identity in the face
of mass immigration and liberal political
correctness. Or, as Yiannopoulos writes,
They want to build their homogeneous
communities, sure but they dont want
to commit any pogroms along the way.

Fighting for whats right

D
idnt you notice a powerful
and obnoxious odor of men-
dacity in this room? There
aint nothin more powerful
than the odor of mendacity. You can smell it.
It smells like death.
-Burl Ives as Big Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin
Roof
Just about two weeks ago, we broke the fast
of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. Its
a time when we hope that we have been given
a clean slate. Immediately after that came the
horror of Las Vegas, and the following day,
Burl Ives as Big Daddy and Paul Newman as Brick in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof.
October 2, Tom Petty died.
This is not a good way to begin the new
year.
For me, Tom Pettys sudden death was a
painful loss. Dont Do Me Like That, Ameri-
can Girl, and Free Fallin are just a few of
the many songs he and the Heartbreakers
made famous. As an artist, his songs are leg-
end, not only for their entertainment value
but for their ingenious lines. Who could for-
get lyrics like A rebel without a clue from
Into The Great Wide Open, or You can
stand me up at the gates of hell, But I wont
back down from I Wont Back
Down.
Another stanza from the
song was,
Well I know whats right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on
pushin me around
But Ill stand my ground.
And for Tom Petty, this Martha
wasnt just a lyric. He lived it Cohen
and he fought for us, his fans,
even when it affected his bank
account and risked his career. For those who
dont know what I am referring to, in the
early 1980s, Tom Petty stood up to his record
company and said NO. No, you will not use
my new album, Hard Promises, to raise the
price of all albums.
This was not an easy fight. He even threat-
ened to change the title of the album to The
$8.98 Album since the record companys
plan was to ride Pettys popularity to raise
the price to $9.98. That was a tremendous
increase at the time.
Tom won the fight and we all enjoyed $8.98
albums for a long time. That was due to his
moral core, to his doing what he knew was
right. And to his humility. This wasnt about
him, it was about his fans. As he said in an
interview, MCA has done a great job selling
our records, but they couldnt
see the reality of what its like
on the street. They couldnt
see that raising the albums
price wouldnt be fair.
We respected him because
he was a man of character,
who would fight for what he
felt was right. We cant afford
to lose people like that in this
world.
And then we ended the
week with the New York
Times revelations about Harvey Weinstein,
co-founder of the powerhouse company
Miramax, reborn as the Weinstein Company
years ago after its deal with Disney went
south, leaving Miramax legally as part of
Disney.
The Weinstein Company is a formidable
player in the world of entertainment. It is not
surprising that those women whom Harvey
Weinstein allegedly sexually harassed were
afraid of what would happen to their careers
some in their nascent stage if they did not
acquiesce to his advances.
As the article tells us, In public, he pres-
ents himself as a liberal lion, a champion of
women and a winner of not just artistic but
humanitarian awards. And thats not all. He
cast a tremendous shadow as a contributor

36 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017


This, mind you, is the version of the
article Bannon was happy to publish, as
emails between him and Yiannopoulos
attest. They indicate that Bannon con-
sidered Yiannopoulos a protg of sorts,
calling the younger man a war corre-
spondent in Bannons assault on the
establishment and engineering his rise
as a Yippie-ish nemesis of feminists, Mus-
lims, Black Lives Matter activists, women
in tech, and social justice warriors.
Its not clear how much Bannon knew
or wanted to know about the ways the
article was vetted by the very groups he
says will be washed out of the alt-right.
But it appears other editors at Breitbart
made sure that Yiannopoulos and his
stable of writers and sources didnt cross
over from white identity politics to overt
racism and anti-Semitism on its site. The
documents obtained by BuzzFeed show
Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow
editing out of Yiannopouloss work what
BuzzFeed describes as anti-Semitic and
racist ideas and jokes.
There are two ways to look at the evi-
dence in the BuzzFeed story. The more
to many campaigns and the Democratic
National Committee over decades, donating
his personal funds and even more impor-
tantly, acting as a conduit to the multimillion-
aire arena of the entertainment world. Being
supported by Weinstein brought with it the
ultimate celebrity cool factor, and his fund-
raisers and introductions reaped significant
benefits to any politician he supported. In
the case of President Obama, that reportedly
totaled almost $700,000 in 2012.
Unlike Tom Petty, Weinsteins letter in
response to the allegations makes clear that
he doesnt care about anyone but Harvey.
Rather than taking full responsibility for his
inappropriate conduct, he tries to convince
us that this is the way men were taught to act
in business if they were growing up in the
1960s and 70s.
Really, Harvey? If you were born in the early
50s, this is how you were taught to behave?
You must believe we are all morons to think
this explanation will fly. Then you attack
Trump and the NRA, setting a retirement
party for them in the same place you had your
bar mitzvah. No, Harvey. Dont bring Judaism
into your sleazy, narcissistic mess.
A bar mitzvah is a time when every young
Jewish person begins to take on the respon-
sibilities of adulthood, which include mutual
respect, inner reflection, kindness, and per-
sonal accountability. It is abundantly clear
from your actions and this letter that you
have none of these qualities and are trying to
charitable is to regard Bannon, Marlow,
and other Breitbart editors as gatekeep-
ers trying to keep the loonies and bigots
out of a movement they consider reason-
able and well-intentioned. After all, as
Bannon is known to ask, doesnt the left
work hard at keeping the communists
and anarchists and anti-Zionists out of its
own mainstream? According to this read-
ing, Bannon might be compared to Wil-
liam F. Buckley, who used his platform at
the National Review to purge the conser-
vative movement of its anti-Semites and
Birchers and other lunatics.
But the more apparent portrait is of a
budding media empire that seems intent
on growing its own market share, and politi-
cal power, by courting some of the coarser
and most hateful elements on the American
right, or least by turning a blind eye to the
staffers doing the dirty work. It shows its
one-time star literally seeking the approval
of the farthest of the far right, even as he
and they agree that Breitbart risks too much
in acknowledging their influence.
That was the conclusion conservative
blogger Ben Shapiro reached when he
co-opt the Jewish and liberal communities to
support you at this very difficult time.
However, Harvey, the bar mitzvah actu-
ally is an interesting metaphor for a politi-
cal candidates relationship with the Jewish
community. In 2016, in our state of New Jer-
sey, anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
legislation was signed into law, prohibiting
public worker pension funds from investing
in companies that engage in BDS. The bill
was written carefully to assure that there
was no infringement on any First Amend-
ment rights. There was full consensus from
the governor, the lieutenant governor, and
the entire New Jersey legislature but for
three votes, all from the assembly. One of
those votes belongs to Shelia Oliver, the
former assembly speaker and the person
that New Jersey gubernatorial candidate
Phil Murphy has chosen to be his lieuten-
ant governor.
And so it is perhaps time to ask our-
selves how we measure whether a candi-
date understands our concerns and will, as
Tom Petty did, walk the walk and not just
manufacture a faade, as Harvey Weinstein
did. Its nice that Phil Murphy has taken
numerous trips to Israel, but do trips alone
constitute a real relationship with our com-
munity? Or are the trips almost like the bar
mitzvah party, a beautiful celebration that
is in no way indicative of that young man or
woman filling a future seat in the synagogue
that has just joyously accepted them?
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
Stephen Bannon
resigned from Breitbart in March 2016.
Breitbart has become the alt-right
go-to website, with Yiannopoulos push-
ing white ethno-nationalism as a legiti-
mate response to political correctness,
and the comment section turning into a
cesspool for white supremacist meme-
makers, Shapiro wrote, referencing the
Establishment Conservatives Guide.
E arlier thi s year, Yiannopoulos
resigned from Breitbart after a video
Considering that the BDS movement is dis-
criminatory, demonizing, and isolates only
Israel, Olivers decision to vote against this
bill has sent our community a direct, unam-
biguous message. And there is no doubt that
the deliberate, ugly misinformation of this
unrelenting movement has resulted in the
targeting of our children and families in our
local communities and in countless colleges
across our country. Given this, how can we
not question Phil Murphys selection of Sheila
Oliver as not only his running mate but as the
person he considers best to become governor
if he is unable to finish his term, if elected.
This was enough of an issue for one cur-
rent gubernatorial candidate in Illinois that
he no longer has his pro-BDS lieutenant gov-
ernor on the ticket.
Disarm
FROM PAGE 35
begs, for modest modifications that might
not make more than a modicum of differ-
ence. Is there any wonder that the outcome
is more of the same, over and over again?
It is time for a new abolition movement,
one dedicated to the repeal of the Second
Amendment, because that in turn would
open the door to substantial Federal gun
safety legislation. This is not a call for a
prohibition on firearms, but rather to open
JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 37
Opinion
DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
Milo Yiannopoulos
emerged in which he seemed to condone
pedophilia. Bannon is out of the White
House and back at Breitbart, plotting
what he calls a day of reckoning for the
Republican establishment. When he left,
President Trump wished him well, tweet-
ing, Fake News needs the competition!
 JTA WIRE SERVICE
Andrew Silow-Carroll of Teaneck is the
editor in chief of JTA Wire Service.
In Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Burl Ives says,
Boy, Ive lived with mendacity, now why
cant you live with it?
Youve got to live with it, theres nothing
to live with but mendacity, is there?
No, it doesnt have to be this way unless we
allow it. Now is not the time to be silent. It
is the time for clarity. We cannot live in the
mendacious world of Harvey Weinstein but
must demand that those that want to repre-
sent us have the character and humility of
a Tom Petty. The BDS vote was a moment
of absolute clarity. Lets not allow words to
obfuscate the message.
Martha Cohen is an award-winning producer
and creative executive. She lives in Fort Lee
with her husband and son.
the door for reasonable safety measures,
so that we all can sit under our vines and
fig trees, in our concert halls and movie
theaters and night clubs and malls, and in
baseball fields and schools and houses of
worship, and in our streets and homes, and
none shall make us afraid ever again.
Dr. Lance Strate of Palisades Park is a
professor of communication and media
studies at Fordham University in the
Bronx, and the president of his synagogue,
Congregation Adas Emuno in Leonia.
Opinion

Dancing with the Torah searching for its author

I
ts that time of year again, the conclu-
sion of our high holidays, when we
celebrate the beginning of the new
cycle of the reading of the Torah
the same Torah we received at Sinai.
It is also during this time of year that I
go back and recall an incident that chal-
lenged me to contend with this sacred
tradition.
It took place several years ago, when I
registered for a course in Jewish history
at the Jewish Theological Seminary. I
expected it to follow along the milestones
of our long history, about which I wanted
to learn in greater depth. I am a modern
Orthodox Jew, yet Ive enjoyed many
events at the JTS campus, and I always
appreciated its rich history. Thus I didnt
expect to face the depth of controversy
with which Id have to contend during
our weekly meetings.
Let me first clarify that as Id expected,
the teachers were competent and the
classes were interesting. From the very
beginning, however, our instructors
made it clear that theyd be following the
doctrine that the Torah was not a divine
document, and that became an underly-
ing theme throughout the course.
Dont get me wrong. I was familiar with
the JEDP theory, which ascribes the dif-
ferent books of the Pentateuch to differ-
ent authors and claims that a redactor
assembled them all into what we now
call the Five Books of Moses. What did
surprise me, however, was the passion
with which this theory was used in class
and around which all instructions were
based.
Richard Friedmans book Who Wrote
the Bible? highlights the documentary
hypothesis, the leading theory among
scholars in the field of biblical criticism,
which argues that the Torah was edited
and redacted somewhere during the 4th
to 5th centuries BCE, most likely by Ezra,
when the Israelites returned from the
Babylonian exile.
The documentary hypothesis origi-
nated sometime around the mid-18th
century, where the critical study of dou-
blets (parallel accounts of the same inci-
dent) and of changes in style and vocabu-
lary of the biblical stories gave rise to the
belief that the Bible must have had more
than one author. Not surprisingly, and
despite it having been started initially
by Spinoza, a Jew who was excommu-
nicated by his own people, the hypoth-
esis subsequently was used as part of an
anti-Semitic dogma. Yet it is surprising to
discover how many Jews have subscribed
to this doctrine along the way, and more
importantly, how JTS has used it to
reform Jewish halacha to suit its theology.
To argue the case against their claims
of biblical critics will take a while, but we
can easily debunk many of the claims.
After all, the Bible is not a history book,
and the use of doublets and different syn-
tax comes to give us different messages.
Just as parents give instructions to their
children, and repeat them often, some-
times in anger and sometimes in joy, so
too the Bible mentions different events
in different contexts to deliver different
messages. Its that simple. The fact that
one would choose to ignore this as a legit-
imate interpretation is troubling.
More troubling is that rarely has any
Orthodox Jewish authority been willing
to debate this topic, for fear of lending
it legitimacy, and thereby allowing it to
be the only game in town. As such, some
form of explanation needs to be prepared
as a valuable educational strategy.
An excellent starting point in discuss-
ing the different approaches of Ortho-
doxy to biblical criticism are the pub-
lications of Rav Dr. Mordechai Breuer,
Rav Hoffman, and Rav Hirsch. They are
classic examples of approaches to the
boundaries that should be Hebrew that I and many
used when studying Chu- other Jews have grown to
mash, while remaining appreciate, I have no doubt
faithful to the doctrine of as to the Torahs divine ori-
Torah min hashamayim gins. I am further supported
the divinity of the Torah. by the fact that Jews have
My personal preference never been without their
is to look at it less academi- Torah, and that there never
cally. That brought me to has been a force on earth
David Klinghoffers book Soli Foger that could have separated
The Discovery of God, us from its text just to con-
where he writes, The Bible fuse us with what is real and
had to be divine, for if it was not, what what is not. More importantly, the Torah
would ever be? By itself this may not be doesnt favor anybody, thus it is unlikely
a finite argument, but in understanding for it to have been written by either the
the gravity of the matter, this proverbial priests, when they could not own prop-
angle helps us to see the idea of God and erty, by the kings, when they too were
the Bible less as a question and more as a limited by the Torahs edicts, or by the
quest. Otherwise, we leave it in the hands prophets, who were hated and often
of experts in philology, history, ancient persecuted.
religions, archeology, artifacts, and so Lastly, as we read at the beginning
on, when in fact the Torah is greater than of Pirkei Avot Ethics of our Fathers
the sum total of its parts. Moses received the Torah from Sinai
In the scientific and academic worlds, and he gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave
research is always constructed around it over to the Elders, the Elders gave it
the concept of isolating parts of the uni- to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it
verse in order to focus on each of their over to the Men of the Great Assembly,
unique and individual parts; hence, the and so on, down to my grandfather, the
disconnect between the creationists, the Alter Adler, a gabbai in a shul in Cherno-
scholars, and everybody in between. vitz, and he gave it to my father, who,
One of the major acts of limiting legiti- despite being a socialist, passed it on to
mate biblical research is in separating down to me.
the Bible text from the oral tradition. I know that none of these men in this
However, despite their insistence against long chain of dedicated Jews have ever
it, the Bible is inseparable from the oral lived disconnected from the Torah. Nor
tradition in the same way a movie cannot would they ever mislead me. Thus I still
be shown without a soundtrack. am a believer. On this Simchat Torah, I
Notwithstanding my respect to their rejoice in dancing with our sacred Torah,
commitment to Judaism, in listening to and I will in turn pass it on down to my
these teachers and in following their sons, and so the chain continues
claims of our prejudice, I found them to
perhaps inadvertently have prejudices Soli Foger, an architect and writer, was born
of their own, which we encounter only in eastern Europe and grew up in Israel; he
when we begin to confront their dogma and his wife, Dr. Tani Foger, an educator,
head-on. have lived in Englewood for 27 years. They
When I read the text, in the biblical have four sons and four grandchildren.

Letters

Stop shooting bears
I am firmly in agreement with Angi Metler, the director of
B.E.A.R., who advocates non-lethal means of bruin and
other animal control.
I applaud Phil Murphy, the Democratic candidate for
governor, for his intention to impose a moratorium on
future bear hunts.
All hunting is cruel!
This is especially true of bow hunting. Cruelty is defined
as frivolous imposition of suffering on sentient animals.
Torah-true Judaism forbids hunting for sport. Hunting
is permitted only in cases where the survival of the hunter
and his community is in question. This certainly is not the
case for the vast majority of hunters in our society.
In my opinion, lethal hunting for recreation panders
and caters to the most primitive human instincts. Many
psychologists affirm that it ultimately leads toward cru-
elty to people by desensitizing a persons perception of
violence.
Non lethal methods of control are best. They are moral,
humane, and effective when human discipline is in play.
Jerrold Terdiman MD
Woodcliff Lake
We deserve better
President Trump is an embarrassment to the world. When
he addresses the United Nations General Assembly and
calls the North Korean leader by a nickname, Rocket
Man, when he insults the mayor of Puerto Rico follow-
ing her public declaration for immediate help, when he
tosses rolled paper towels into the crowd at a relief center
in Puerto Rico, when he tells Puerto Rico, youve thrown
our budget a little out of whack, but thats fine and com-
pares their death total to Katrina, when he compares the
Afghan war to the remodeling at the 21 Club in New
York.
I find such behavior appalling. How I wish we had a
president who has humility, empathy, and curiosity, and
could stop tweeting. There isnt a day that goes by that he
doesnt say or do something stupid.
He has no communication skills, no sense of history or
of the Constitution of the United States.
What a sad commentary. This country deserve better.
Grace Jacobs
Cliffside Park

38 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Arts & Culture
The 55th New York Film Festival
ERIC A. GOLDMAN

E
ver since I moved to the New
York area for graduate school,
the New York Film Festival has
been my go-to venue for the lat-
est in cinema.
The festival always mixes films from
around the world with American cinema,
and mixes narrative movies with docu-
mentaries. It is known for both introduc-
ing new talent and also showing fresh
works by some of cinemas greats. But
somehow it almost never includes many
films of Jewish interest or movies from
Israel. This year is no different.
Over the years, the culture attach at the
Israeli consulate often would meet with
the festivals producer, the Film Society of
Lincoln Center, with the hope of persuad-
ing programmers to include Israeli and
Jewish works in a festival that takes place
in a city a quarter of whose population is
Jewish. But it hasnt worked.
Yes, a few Holocaust films have been
screened, but with a few exceptions, the Above, Dustin Hoffman and Ben
festival is devoid of any real Jewish pres- Stiller in the Meyerowitz Stories;
ence. I can think of only four Israeli films below, one of the women in Claude
that have been included in the 55 years Lanzmanns Four Sisters.
that the New York Film Festival has been in
existence; this year, Toronto International
Film Festival screened four Israeli films. In A quartet of films by documentarian
one year. extraordinaire Claude Lanzmann also is
American Jews, unfortunately, often having its premiere at the festival. Lan-
need a secular or non-Jewish venue to zmann spent years documenting Holo-
legitimize Jewish work. When that hap- caust survivors, eventually releasing his
pens, the audience turns out in droves. monumental 9 hour work, Shoah, in
I.B. Singer was largely ignored here until 1985. Since that time, he has made a num-
he won the Nobel Prize. He needed that ber of films, including documentaries
outside hashgachah! about the Israel Defense Forces and the
Years ago, a Yiddish film that had been prisoners uprising at the Sobibor extermi-
shown at a JCC in Queens drew an audi- nation camp. Over the last decade, draw-
ence of about 10 people. But then the New Netflix this weekend. Spielberg. Though I have been a devotee ing from unused footage shot largely for
York Film Festival showed it and it was Another two films that had their pre- of the film director since his earliest films Shoah, he has created newer documen-
the first film to sell out that year. The festi- miers at the festival are documentaries, made decades ago, I learned a great deal taries on a variety of people. This year, the
val had given it a stamp of approval. produced for HBO, about two of the most not only about his work, but also about festival is premiering four of those films,
But most of the time, the NYFF seems remarkable Jewish artists of our time. his family, his humanity, and his special built around four women from four differ-
unwilling to give Israeli or Jewish film that Rebecca Millers portrait of her father, connection to Judaism. To see this truth, ent areas of Eastern Europe, each with a
stamp. Arthur Miller, who is acknowledged as one largely coming from Spielberg himself, was different destiny.
There were a few Jewish films of note of Americas greatest playwrights, is very reassuring. In todays America, successful Twenty-eight years ago, the Jewish
screened this year. As both writer and special. The filmmaker pulled together artists in the secular world often distance Museum, partnering with the Film Society
director, Noah Baumbach brought The recordings from a variety of sources as themselves from their Jewish background. of Lincoln Center, created the New York
Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) to well as footage that she shot, providing But not Steven Spielberg. He talks about his Jewish Film Festival. It is a delight to go to
the screen. In that film, Baumbach exam- us with great insight into the man, his life, earlier attempts to separate from and later Lincoln Center each January to see new
ines a dysfunctional family of New York his politics, and his relationships. Arthur return to his Jewish roots, his marriage to and classic Jewish cinema, and I salute
artists and intellectuals. They are classic Miller narrates much of the work and he Kate Capshaw following her conversion to both institutions for creating that experi-
New York Jews but no one ever says so. tells us about how, while he was in col- Judaism, and Kates constant support in ence. But that is not an excuse for such a
The characters certainly dont except lege, he was attracted to the non-Jewish his search for spirituality and religiosity. paltry sprinkling of Jewish and Israeli cin-
possibly in every action and word. Baum- woman who became his wife. He also talks Spielberg is a Jewish American who whole- ema at this years New York Film Festival.
bach chose key male players Dustin about his own celebrity, especially during heartedly and unabashedly is a supporter The festival ends this Sunday.
Hoffman as the dad and Ben Stiller and his years with Marilyn Monroe, and how of Israel. He is a proud Jew and he is not
Adam Sandler as his sons who certainly that affected him as a writer and a human afraid to express that truth, both in his Eric Goldman is a film critic for the Jewish
seem Jewish. I liked the intricate dynamic being. The work, due to be released in the words and in his work. Bravo, Steven! And Standard and an adjunct professor at
between the three actors and the women spring, is incisive and worth the wait. bravo, Susan Lacy for putting it on film! Yeshiva University. He writes and lectures
in their lives. The film will be available on I was totally blown away by Susan Lacys The documentary is playing now on HBO. about Jewish and Israeli cinema.

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 39

Calendar Perspective, 7:30 p.m.; College in Mahwah,
Sunday Rabbi Steven Sirbu
discusses The June 1967
7 p.m. The project
focuses on stories of
OCTOBER 15 War at 8:40. Classes Mischlinge (half-Jews)
through November 28. and German Jewish
Israeli advocacy in 1666 Windsor Road. converts in Germany
Teaneck: Dr. Sharon (201) 833-1322 or www. before, during, and
Goldman, deputy Emeth.org. after the Holocaust.
director for AIPACs Sponsored by Ramapos
Northeast region,
discusses Being an Wednesday Gross Center for
Holocaust and Genocide
Israeli Advocate in OCTOBER 18 Studies. 505 Ramapo
2017: Navigating the Valley Road, Mahwah.
Challenges as American (201) 684-7409.
Zionists at Temple
Emeth Byachad
breakfast, 10:30 a.m.
1666 Windsor Road.
Breakfast reservations,
(201) 833-1322 or www.
emeth.org.

Monday Rachel Friedman

OCTOBER 16 Jewish learning in
Teaneck: Lamdeinu, Film in Tenafly: The
Kaplen JCC on the
a center for Jewish
Palisades screens the
learning that meets
documentary Bagels
at Congregation Beth
Over Berlin, 7:30 p.m.
Aaron, offers a class,
The films director Alan
Two Readings of the
Feinberg, and Gerald
Tower of Babel, with its
Gersten of Fort Lee,
dean, Rachel Friedman,
featured in the film,
10:15 a.m. 950 Queen
OCT. Author Francine Klagsbrun discusses her new Anne Road. Register at
will be there. The film
From Dont Think is based on interviews
book, Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of lamdeinu.org.

19 Twice with Jewish airmen who

Israel, at the Jewish Museum on Thursday, Torah in Closter: The fought in the U.S. Army
October 19, at 6:30 p.m., in a program co- Film forum in Tenafly: Torah Institute with Rabbi Air Corps during World
The Kaplen JCC on the War II. (201) 408-1496 or
presented with the Jewish Week. Copies of the book Palisades begins its Film
David-Seth Kirshner
JCCOTP.org.
meets weekly at Temple
will be available for sale and signing after the event. The Forum with film critic Emanu-El of Closter,
program will be introduced by Gary Rosenblatt, the Mike Sargent, 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m., to study the Thursday
The seven-film series
Jewish Weeks editor and publisher. (212) 423-3337 or opens with Dont Think
past, present, and future
OCTOBER 19
of the Jewish people.
go to TheJewishMuseum.org/calendar. JOAN ROTH Twice. 411 E. Clinton Dates extend into spring.
Ave. (201) 408-1427 or 180 Piermont Road.
www.jccotp.org. (201) 750-9997, kramer@
Musaf, and kiddush. For templeemanu-el.com,
Friday location information,
email teaneck.womens.
Saturday Tuesday or www.templeemanuel.
OCTOBER 13 OCTOBER 14 com.
tefillah@gmail.com. OCTOBER 17
Book sale: Friends of Shabbat in Closter: Shabbat in Washington Art discussion in
the Englewood Library Temple Beth Els Guest Township: Temple Beth Cliffside Park: Jewish
hold its bargain book Artist Shabbat service, Or holds an open house Women International
sale, including Judaica led by Rabbis David for a community Taste Skyview chapter meets
and Holocaust titles, Widzer and Beth Kramer- of Torah, 8:30 a.m. Rabbi Morning movie in
in the community Closter: Temple Beth
10 a.m.-6 p.m. At Mazer and student cantor Noah Fabricant leads a room of 200 Winston
Renaissance Office discussion of the weekly El screens the historical
Julie Staple, features Drive to hear Charles
Center (side entrance), 15 reading; the group just drama Denial,
violinist Sharon Yamada Schreiber talk about
Engle St., next to library. completed reading 10:15 a.m. Presented
and Keisuke Ikuma on his experiences as an
(201) 568-2215 or www. the Torah and will Carolyn Enger by Kari Heitzner. 221
the English horn and art advisor to many
englewoodlibrary.org. focus on the Haftarah. Schraalenburgh Road.
oboe, 7:30 p.m. 221 celebrities, noon. Lunch.
56 Ridgewood Road. Intermarriage in the (201) 768-5112 or www.
Schraalenburgh Road. Thelma, (201) 886-6998.
Simchat Torah for (201) 664-7422 or www. Third Reich: Concert tbenv.org.
(201) 768-5112 or www.
women: Teaneck tbenv.org. templebethornj.org . Jewish university in pianist Carolyn Enger
Womens Tefillah has gives a multimedia Genealogy in Wayne:
Teaneck: Temple Emeth The Jewish Genealogical
its annual celebration, offers the Mini University performance, including
beginning with Shacharit, parts of her latest Society of North Jersey
of Jewish Studies. meets at the Wayne
8:45 a.m., followed by Various people will teach project, The Mischlinge
hakafot, Torah reading, Expos, at Ramapo YMCA for a discussion,
Stories From a Jewish The Intersection of

40 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017


Genetics and Genealogy,
with Anthony May,
in order to develop
mutual understanding,
7:30 p.m. The Charles social tolerance and
& Bessie Goldman a future of peace?
Library will be open for Hosted by the PCC
resources and socializing. Community Outreach
Refreshments. 1 Pike Team at Packanack
Drive. (973) 595-0100; or Community Church,
Susan, (732) 412-7606, 6:30 p.m. Turkish meal
president@jgsnj.org, or served. 120 Lake Drive
www.jgsnj.org. East, Wayne. Register,
Communityinterfaith
Friday dialogue.evenbrite.com.
OCTOBER 20
Sunday
OCTOBER 22
Blood drive in Closter:
Temple Emanu-El hosts
a Closter community
blood drive in
conjunction with New
Jersey Blood Services,
a division of New York
Blood Center, 9 a.m.-
Marion Kaplan 1:30 p.m. 180 Piermont
Road. (201) 750-9997,
Lisbon port of last
(800) 933-2566 or www.
resort: NYU professor nybloodcenter.org.
Marion Kaplan discusses
Lisbon, the Port of Walkathon: The house: The high school
Last Resort, and the Jewish Association
Jewish Refugee Crisis
for Developmental
of World War II at Disabilities holds its Also Tuesday, November
Ramapo College in annual walk, rain or
Mahwah, 1:45 p.m. shine, at Van Saun
Sponsored by Ramapos Park, Pavilion C, 10 a.m. org. (212) 784-1234 or
Gross Center for The day includes a
Holocaust and Genocide carnival, activities,
Studies. 505 Ramapo
Valley Road, Mahwah.
refreshments, and prizes.
Proceeds benefit adults
(201) 684-7409. with developmental
disabilities; J-ADD
Shabbat in Teaneck: provides kosher homes in
Temple Emeth hosts a Bergen County to adults
festive kosher Shabbat with developmental and
dinner at 6 p.m., followed intellectual disabilities.
by services and the (201) 457-0058,
annual Rabbi Joshua events@j-addorg, or
Trachtenberg Memorial www.J-ADD.org.
Lecture. Rabbi Yossi
Chajes, Ph.D., of Haifa Israel scholarship event:
University will discuss Solomon Schechter
Jewish Magic and Day School of Bergen of the future: education,
Magical Judaism at 8.
1666 Windsor Road.
County invites the
community to the sixth
Dinner reservations, annual Israel Night, An tomorrow. On YUs Wilf
(201) 833-1322 or www. Evening With Israeli
emeth.org. Innovators, 5-7 p.m., St., 9:30 a.m.-2:20 p.m.,
benefitting the schools featuring 20 speakers.
Shabbat in Woodcliff Stephanie Prezant zl Go to yu.edu/
Lake: Temple Emanuel
Israel Scholarship Fund.
of the Pascack Valleys Schechter parents/Israeli
cantor emeritus, Mark tech entrepreneurs Gil
Biddelman, and its
Cantor, Alan Sokoloff,
Eyal, co-founder/CEO of
social media HYPR and
host Shabbat Yachad, Ron Teicher, founder/
Hebrew prayers set to
easy-to-sing melodies,
CEO of cyber-intelligence
EverCompliant, are the
8 p.m. Part of the shuls speakers. Tickets include
yearlong program, Alive
a vegetarian Israeli
With Music. 87 Overlook dinner. 275 McKinley
Drive. (201) 391-0801 or Ave. Alyssa Wolf,
www.tepv.org.
(201) 262-9898, ext. 275,
awolf@ssdsbergen.org,
Saturday or www.ssdsbergen.org.
OCTOBER 21 Archaeology and
religion in ancient
Community interfaith
Israel: Dr. William Dever,
dialogue in Wayne: archaeologist and author,
Rabbi Meeka Simerly will ask Did God Have by Jemma, and mingle
of Temple Beth Tikvah a Wife? Archaeology
in Wayne is among and Family Religion
the panel participants
in Ancient Israel, at
in Unlearning Fear: Congregation Beth
How do we overcome Sholom in Teaneck,
suspicion, disharmony,
7 p.m. 354 Maitland Ave.
and prejudice of each (201) 833-2620 or www.
others faith traditions
cbsteaneck.org.
and cultural norms
Tuesday
OCTOBER 24
Anti-Semitism and
hate: Eternal Flame,
a project of Valley
Chabad, presents Anti- Rockland meet for dinner
Semitism, Bigotry &
Hate, a discussion and Orangeburg, N.Y., 6 p.m.
message of hope, with
Holocaust survivor Dr.
Jacob Eisenbach, author
of Where You Go, I Go,
at the Hilton Woodcliff
Lake, 200 Tice Boulevard,
7:30 p.m.; doors open at
7. Signed books available
for sale. (201) 476-0157
or Eternalflame.org.
In New York
Wednesday
OCTOBER 18
Heschel school open
(646) 529-8748 or
at the Heschel School
holds an open house.
14. 30 West End Ave.
Iris Klein, iriski@heschel.
heschel.org.
Sunday
OCTOBER 22
Conference focuses
on future: Yeshiva
University presents
Inaugural World, a
conference about the
vast interdisciplinary
resources the YU
community has to tackle
four evolving spheres of
influence on the world
values, the marketplace,
and leadership of
campus, 500 West 185th
worldoftomorrow.
Singles
Sunday
OCTOBER 15
Singles gather in
Bayonne: Temple
Emanu-El hosts Single
and Sound by David
Lang Productions, for
Jewish singles 30s-60s,
3-7 p.m. Barbecue,
wine, films, discussion
with dating expert,
musical healing sounds
with participants from
10 shuls and many
tri-state MeetUP
groups. 735 Kennedy
Boulevard. Rabbi Jacob,
(917) 225-4045 or Barry,
(201) 362-9529.
Calendar
Wednesday Annual challah bake
Participants are welcome to join more than 800 Jewish
OCTOBER 18
women of all ages and religious backgrounds for an eve-
Seniors meet in ning of inspiration, unity, and fun as they bake challah
Orangeburg: Singles together at the Jewish Journeys Great Big Challah Bake.
65+ from the JCC
The October 25 bake begins at 7:30 p.m. at Factory
at Hogans Diner in 220, at 220 Passaic Street in Passaic. Volunteers are
needed to help presort ingredients, set up the tables
Individual checks. 17
and the room, work the registration booth, and be a
Dutch Hill Road. Gene,
(845) 356-5525. table coach. Sign up at bit.ly/VolunteerNNJGreatBig-
ChallahBake. For more information email nnjgreatbig-
Friday challahbake2017@gmail.com or go to www.showclix.
com/event/NNJGreatBigChallahBake.
NOVEMBER 3
Shabbaton: Sharon Ganz
& Friends host a Tachlis
Shabbaton for Jewish Chihuly in the Bronx
singles, late 20s-30s- Join TORA (Teaneck Orthodox Retiree Association)
40s, at Young Israel of
Avenue J in Brooklyn,
and Dor LDor of Englewood for a trip to the New York
through Saturday night. Botanical Gardens on Wednesday, October 25, to see
Fee includes three the exhibition by glass artist Dale Chihuly.
Shabbat meals at the The trip begins at 10:30 a.m., with brunch and a lec-
shul, Flatbush tour,
ture about the Chihully exhibit at Congregation Ahavath
and Saturday night
party. 1721 Avenue J. Torah in Englewood. It includes round trip bus trans-
portation, and admission for a self-guided tour. Register
(718) 575-3962.
online at www.ahavathtorah.org/form/dorldor-chihuly.
Teaneck film festival tickets on sale
The 12th annual Teaneck International The centerpiece event, Celebrating
Film Festival, a project of the Puffin Immigrants, is set for Saturday, Novem-
Foundation, themed Activism: Making ber 4, at 8 p.m. at Temple Emeth, with a
Change, begins on Thursday, Novem- screening of Dolores. The evening will
ber 2, at 7:30 p.m., at Teaneck Cinemas, include food and wine.
with a 25th anniversary restoration of Bob McGrath, a familiar face on Ses-
Daughters of the Dust. The festival runs ame Street, will return to host Kid Flix
through November 5 and includes inde- Mix at the Puffin Cultural Forum, on Sun-
pendent features, documentaries, and day, November 5, at 11:15 a.m. Its 60 min-
shorts, as well as talkbacks with filmmak- utes of live and animated shorts for 4- to
ers and actors. 8-year-olds.
Films include Fannys Discounted tickets are
Journey, based on a true available online at www.
Holocaust story about the teaneckfilmfestival.org and
courage of children, spon- will be sold at the TIFF table
sored by the Jewish Stan- at Teaneck Cinemas on
dard; and Birthright: A Tuesdays and Thursdays,
War Story, a documen- October 17, 19, 24, and 26,
tary about the attack on from 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8
womens reproductive p.m., and on Sundays, Octo-
rights, sponsored by the ber 15, 22, and 29, from 1 to
Bergen County section 3 p.m.
of the National Coun- Senator Loretta For more information, go
cil of Jewish Women and Weinberg to www.teaneckfilmfestival.
by state Senator Loretta  COURTESY NCJWBCS org or call (201) 203-1723.
Weinberg.
JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 41
r Calendar
Englewood historical celebration
at Mackay Park
The Englewood Historical
Society celebrates its third
Mackay Park Event Day
on Sunday, October 15,
from 1 to 5 p.m., with an
exhibition the 100 Year
Commemoration of the
U.S. Entry Into World War
I and the First 25 years of
the 20th Century in Engle-
wood. It is funded in part
by a grant from the Bergen
County Division of Cultural
)
and Historic Affairs
The exhibition, com-
Isadore Katz
 PHOTO PROVIDED
k plete with photos, memo-
e rabilia, life-size blow ups, historical docu-
ments, artifacts, music, and videos, shows
- how events in Englewood were a micro-
h cosm of that period in Bergen County, and
- nationally.
r Among the World War I memora-
bilia are pages from Congregation Aha-
vath Torahs Oral History Project, where
Art in Tenafly
The Kaplen JCC on the Palisades
Waltuch Art Gallery presents From
Realistic to Abstract, mixed media
collage works by Barbara Landberg of
Tenafly, through October 30. A meet-
the-artist reception is set for Tuesday,
October 17, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The JCC is at 411 E. Clinton Avenue in
Tenafly.
For information on gallery exhi-
bitions, call Nina Bachrach at (201)
408-1406 or email her at nbachrach@
jccotop.org.
Mixed media by Barbara Landberg.
 COURTESY JCCOTP
World of tomorrow conference at YU
Yeshiva University and
the World of Tomorrow,
a symposium on the many
resources the YU commu-
nity plans to use to trans-
form the future, including
education, values, the mar-
ketplace, and leadership,
is set for October 22 from
9:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. It will be held on
YUs Wilf Campus at 500 West 185th St. in
Manhattan and will include 20 speakers
from the university and a diverse range
of professional fields. We live in a rap-
idly changing world: technology, medi-
cine, education, and communications are
progressing and shifting in fundamental
ways, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, the fifth
president of Yeshiva University, said at
1 42 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017
members speak about their
lives and experiences in
Englewood during the 1920s.
Isadore Katz, who came to
Englewood in 1909, gave an
account of people and places
of the period; his words
are featured in the exhibi-
tion, which is in the historic
Mackay Park gatehouse. Isa-
dore Katzs grandson, Ken
Katz, is the Mackay Park Ice
Rinks manager and program
director.
Other events include the
ice arenas season opening,
from 2 to 5 p.m., sponsored by the Friends
of John T. Wright Arena and the Engle-
wood Recreation Department, featuring
the NJ Devils mascot and refreshments.
Everything that day is free, except for
skating. Mackay Park is at 130 West Engle-
wood Ave. For information, call (201) 871-
6551 or email irmarinac@yahoo.com.
his investiture last month.
This presents daunt-
ing challenges but also
extraordinary opportuni-
ties for humanity. Armed
with a 3,000-year-old tra-
dition of wisdom, Yeshiva
Universitys mission is to
guide our students and
broader society in seizing these oppor-
tunities and transforming our world of
tomorrow for the better. We will dedicate
ourselves to empowering morally mature,
market-ready graduates with the skill sets
for lifelong success, endowing them with
both the will and the wherewithal to make
a historic, significant impact on an ever-
changing world. For information or to
register, go to yu.edu/worldoftomorrow.
From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Register for teen drama classes
The School of Theater Arts at the Kaplen Choose from Acting in Comedy &
JCC on the Palisades is enrolling stu- Drama for Teens, an accessible theater
dents for fall sessions in a progressive class taught by Deborah Dine, or Super
program that helps them advance their Singers with Katherine Keyes. Both
talent, develop professional level per- classes begin on Thursday, October 19, at
forming skills, speak confidently in front 6 p.m. Advanced Musical Theater Work-
of an audience, and prepare to perform shop with Deborah Roberts begins on
as professionals in New York theater, Monday, October 16, at 5:30. Advanced
film, and TV pilots and commercials. Acting with Joy Kelly Smith of Theater-
Broadway theater professionals teach Works begins on Tuesday, October 17, at
exciting classes. Classes and workshops 6:15.
for children and teenagers 10 and older For more information or to register,
are open to both JCC members and
non-members.
go to www.jccotp.org/drama or call the
School of Theater Arts at (201) 408-1493.
Local artist displaying in NYC
Rachelle Weisberger of artists. Ms. Weisberger is on
Englewood will exhibit the groups board. Her work
one of her paintings, has been exhibited in leading
Sarah, in the Liv- galleries in the tristate area
ing Room Gallery of St. and is represented in private
Peters Church, on 619 collections.
Lexington Ave. in Man- Ms. Weisberger also is the
hattan, through January author of a book, Biblical
3. The opening recep- Beauty: Ancient Secrets and
tion will be on Thursday, Modern Solutions. She is a
October 19, from 6 to 8 member of both the East Hill
p.m. Ms. Weisberger will Matriarch Sarah by Synagogue and Congrega-
talk about her work on Rachelle Weisberger tion Ahavath Torah in Engle-
Tuesday, November 7, at wood. A lifelong supporter of
7:30 p.m. Israel, she is affiliated with the charitable
Ms. Weisbergers piece is part of a
group show, Art as Sanctuary, spon-
organizations Amit, Emunah of Amer-
ica, and Hadassah, the Womens Zionist
sored by the New York Society of Organization of America and AIPAC. For
Women Artists, a professional associa- more information, go to www.rachelle-
tion of painters, sculptors, and graphic weisberger.com.
Michael McDonald
at bergenPAC
For more than four decades, five-time Grammy
Award-winner Michael McDonald has entertained
audiences with his distinctive and soulful voice.
His hits include the Doobie Brothers classic What
A Fool Believes, the solo I Keep Forgettin (Every
Time Youre Near), and the Patti LaBelle duet On
My Own.
He will perform at the Bergen Performing Arts
Center in Englewood on Thursday, October 19, at
8 p.m. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster. Michael McDonald
com or (201) 227-1030.

BY YONI GLATT, KOSHERCROSSWORDS@GMAIL.COM
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: MANAGEABLE
Across
1. Gyllenhaal and Arrieta
6. Arika in the Talmud
10. Signs
14. Hello singer who apologized for mak-
ing anti-Semitic remarks in 2009
15. Ooze like honey
16. Buona ___ (Italian greeting)
17. Living legend born in 1922
19. Iranian money
20. Galena or bauxite
21. Fudd voiced by Mel Blanc
22. Have a cow?
23. SNL sketches
25. Apple core youd never make a bless-
ing on?
26. Brings to a bet din, perhaps
27. Day before
29. El Al, e.g.
32. Singer/songwriter Mann
35. Methusaleh, for sure
36. Netivot to Beer Sheva dir.
37. Living legend born in 1922
40. Its a light name
41. Apportion tzedakah
43. One of Sheldon Adelsons casinos
45. 1954 Billy Wilder classic
46. Lbs. and Kgs., e.g.
48. IDF status
49. ___ carte
50. Wieners Mad Men star
54. Theres ___ between us
56. || on a YouTube video
58. Kosher animal in a famous Julie
Andrews song
59. Neshika, in British slang
60. Living legend born in 1915
62. Babka, e.g.
63. ...and she bore ___ (Ruth 4:13)
64. Nemo creator Jules
65. Sound from the staff of Moses?
66. A Netanyahu
67. She put the she in Yeshiva
The solution to last weeks puzzle is on page 47.
Crossword
LIVING LEGENDS
Down
1. Aka Israel
2. Purim wont fall out in it some years
3. Israeli writer Etgar
4. Start of Lag BaOmer?
5. Like the Negev
6. Author of I, Robot
7. Elaine on Seinfeld
8. Goldstar, e.g.
9. Passover mo., generally
10. Gene Simmons, by birth
11. Living legend born in 1927
12. ___ maga
13. You can probably get a Sukkah on this
next week
18. Late great Wiesel
22. Least loquacious
24. Isaac couldnt do it
26. Fries or kugel, often
28. Abolish, like Germany did with Nazi
laws
29. ___ My Sons (Arthur Miller)
30. Mayim Bialik plays one
31. Patriarchal and Davidic
32. Those named after a Judean king
33. Wife of Sacha (Baron Cohen)
34. Living legend born in 1926
35. How many daughters 1-Down had
38. Merkava, e.g.
39. Baruch follower
42. Jaffa fruits
44. Pre Tisha BAv dip
46. Those who went to Touro
47. Israel Journey organization
49. Hi wife was Elisheba in the Bible
51. Decorate a Sukkah, perhaps
52. ___ of Olives
53. Basketballer Gal
54. Writer Sholem
55. ___ Yisrael
56. Shekel alternative to Carlos
57. Green sin
60. It might become cow cud
61. David compared to Goliath, to a Scot
The Frazzled Housewife
Star struck
I
have a confession to family tickets to see him
make. I used to be a play! (Not sure if that part
HUGE classical music of the story is true, but this
nerd (as opposed to just is how I have been telling
being huge and just being a it. In all likelihood, my par-
nerd). ents went and got the tickets
What makes someone a because they are big classi-
classical music nerd? Aside cal music fans as well.)
from the fact that I played the What is it about famous
piano, flute and violin (dont Banji people that gets us all giddy
be impressed, unfortunately Ganchrow with excitement? When I
only remember how to play walk around New York City,
the piano), I would watch the I will inevitably see some-
majestic Van Cliburn competition. From one famous and get all excited. Of course,
what I recall, this competition was aired the problem is that sometimes I dont
on a station that most likely was PBS and know their name or what they have been
showcased all of these incredible concert in and then I spend the rest of the day try-
pianists from all over the world. It was ing to describe to Google what this person
American Idol before there was an Ameri- looked like to see if it can come up with an
can Idol. answer. You know, the guy who looks like
The piano players would be asked to the guy from Flashdance, but isnt the guy
play several different types of pieces by from Flashdance? (I never did find out
different composers, and I thought it was who that was.) I starting thinking about
magical. I was totally obsessed. I think this whole star struck thing because a
that the winner received some sort of cash friend of mine met Nick Jonas when she
prize and a tour, playing in different con- was in the city with her girls and they
cert halls around the country.
(For more details on this com-
petition, you will have to Google
it, because this is all coming
from the depths of my memory,
The man was so
which is covered in a light dust- impressed that this
ing of cobwebs and too much Tab
drinking)
prepubescent girl
knew who he was
The year that I followed it
the most intensely was the year
I watched it with my beloved
that he offered
and highly intelligent maternal my family tickets to
grandmother. And the winner
wasAndre Michel Schub. I was
see him play!
thrilled, as I had been a big fan
of his, hanging onto every note he played. went crazy with the Instagram posts and
Mind you, he was still no Rick Springfield, Facebook posts. The funny thing was that
and I was not going to be hanging a picture another friend of mine must have been in
of Mr. Schub on my wall anytime soon. the same neighborhood, because she and
But his technique was impeccable, and it her girls also had a ton of Nick Jonas posts!
even made me practice just a teeny tiny (If you are too old to know who Nick Jonas
bit more (but not enough to make any sort is, you will just have to look him up. Sorry.)
of difference. Spoiler alert this column And then there are my boys, who get
does not end with me playing a concert in star struck in a whole different way. With
Carnegie Hall.) rabbis. Posters of rabbis adorned my suk-
In any event, fast forward to a few kah this year. I know this is a very com-
months later. I was on a family vacation in mon thing, but for those of you who had
Washington, DC. We might have been in these pictures hanging in your huts, how
a restaurant the details are a little fuzzy many of you spent a whole meal going
(again, because of all of the Tab consump- over the different names and what they
tion gosh darn saccharine) and there were famous for?
he wasAndre Michel Schub. I couldnt Yup, being star struck is all relative. But
believe it. the truth is, whether it be a musician, an
And when I said his name, my mom actor, or a rabbi, they bring out an excite-
probably thought I was talking about ment in us that makes us happy. And there
some kid in my class. (She didnt listen is nothing wrong with being happy.
to me much, me being the unruly mid-
dle child and all) I was out of my mind Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is still waiting
with glee. And I had to go over. The man to meet Barry Manilow on the street so she
was so impressed that this prepubescent can sing Copacabana with him. A girl can
girl knew who he was that he offered my dream.
JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 43
Jewish World
To save Yiddish theater,
Romanian actors abandoned their theater
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA When the roof
of the Jewish State Theater collapsed dur-
ing a 2014 snowstorm, its director reluc-
tantly knew it was finally time to abandon
the century-old building in this capital city.
Maia Morgenstern did not take the deci-
sion lightly.
Following years of neglect by authori-
ties, the Bucharest Jewish community had
fought for decades to keep the storied the-
ater afloat. The Jewish State Theater had
been a major cultural institution for Cen-
tral European Jews before the Holocaust.
Later, during communism, it was the
Romanian Jewish communitys only inde-
pendent institution.
The ornate theater, in downtown Bucha-
rest, flooded severely following the storm.
The wiring was destroyed.
It was obvious that we couldnt stay,
Morgenstern, a well-known actress in
Romania and the theaters director since
2012, recalled last month during an
interview.
So they didnt.
Morgenstern who is best known inter-
nationally for playing Mary, the mother
of Jesus, in Mel Gibsons The Passion of
the Christ and the theaters 20-some
employees packed up the surviving sets,
costumes, and gear.
But the story of Bucharests Jewish State
Theater didnt end there. Instead, the Yid-
dish troupes members leveraged their
forced exile to raise awareness of the need
to preserve the four-story building.
How did they accomplish this?
We just took the costumes and relo-
cated across the street, Morgenstern said,
gesturing toward an empty lot.
For weeks on end in early 2014, the per-
formers put on free shows once or twice a
day out in the open, in the freezing cold.
The actors devotion and talent did not
44 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017
Maia Morgenstern sits in her Jewish State Theater office in Bucharest.CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
go unnoticed. Despite bone-chilling cold,
the shows attracted media and specta-
tors. That, in turn, drew attention to the
theaters uncertain future, despite vague
assurances from city officials that it would
reopen at some point.
The increased exposure, Morgenstern
said, put pressure on officials to solve the
problem of the dilapidated theater, which
was founded in the eastern Romanian city
of Iasi and moved into the Bucharest build-
ing in 1941.
For example, the decision
to perform outside the ruined
theater did not sit well with
the mayors office, Morgen-
stern said.
They asked twice if we
dont mind to stop perform-
ing, she recalled.
But Morgenstern, 55, per-
sisted, citing her employ-
ees salaries, which are paid
Left, the entrance to Bucharests Jewish State
Theater. Above, a view of its collapsed roof last
month.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
by the state. (Morgenstern earns about
$13,000 annually, a figure she revealed
earlier this year to protest low wages in
Romanias cultural sector.)
So if we get paid, we need to perform, and Germany.
she said. And if the state doesnt give us a
theater, well perform in this field.
It wasnt like we were protesting or issue. While that may be true, Marcel
anything, she added with a smile.
Immediately following the collapse, city tive producer, believes the outdoor per-
officials told the media that the building
would be repaired. Behind the scenes,
however, a blame game was being played:
Local officials and a contractor entrusted
with preserving the building argued over
each others responsibility, the responsi-
bility of the theater management.
The sum required for restoring the the-
ater, which last was renovated in 1956,
was staggering nearly $3 million. That
amount made a huge dent in the municipal
budget, which is so overstretched that
even celebrations of Romanias national
day are canceled some years for lack of
funds.
As city officials debated the problem,
Morgensterns team leveraged her celeb-
rity status and the medias interest in the
colorful spectacle outside the building to
pressure City Hall.
This show is meant to be a warning to
public opinion, but also for the authori-
ties, said a statement announcing the Feb-
ruary 2014 open-air production of Mazl
Tov And Justice For All! (Its a musical
comedy about the role of humor in Jew-
ish tradition featuring Yiddish and Roma-
nian songs.) Do not let a theater with a
unique tradition and identity disappear
from Europes cultural landscape because
of carelessness.
And it didnt appear. Last year, the Jew-
ish State Theater boasting a shiny new
metal roof, reinforced foundations, and
a new wooden floor reopened in time
to host Romanias first international Yid-
dish theater event, with troupes appear-
ing from Canada, the United States, Israel,
City officials said they had worked tire-
lessly from the beginning to resolve the
Draghici, the theaters longtime execu-
formances are part of the reason we
reopened last year, he said.
Putting on a major produc-
tion in an empty and frozen field
was certainly a challenge, added
Draghici, who like most of the the-
aters employees is not Jewish.
But in a way it felt like we were
connecting to the old history of
Jewish theater, which was often
COURTESY OF JEWISH STATE THEATER
performed outside in shtetls, with-
out theater houses, he said.
The theater performs mostly
in Yiddish now before a predom-
inantly non-Jewish crowd. And
while the actors take special lan-
guage courses, they dont always
understand the exact meaning of
the words they recite on stage, sev-
eral of them said.
Though speaking in Yiddish can
lead to thespian complications, the
language barrier was a boon dur-
ing the communist dictatorship of
Nicolae Ceausescu, who ruled Romania
with an iron fist until his overthrow and
execution in 1989.
Because we were talking Yiddish on
stage, we could say things that werent
allowed to be said in Romania, Rudi
Rosenfeld, 75, a Jewish actor who has
been involved in the theater since the late
SEE THEATER PAGE 47
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for 10 years and became a
JHR resident last year.
23 years. Formerly of Fair Lawn, NJ passed away
on October 4, 2017 in Boca Raton. She was born Paterson Monument Co.
Carolina; 11 grandchil- Predeceased by her in Paterson, NJ 85 years ago. She was a member MAIN BRANCH
Paterson, NJ 07502 Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
dren; 22 great-grandchil- husband, Rubin Rube in of Beth Ami Congregation in Boca Raton for many 317 Totowa Ave. 681 Rt. 23 S.
dren; and 10 great-great 2002, she is survived by a years. 973-942-0727 Fax 973-942-2537 973-835-0394 Fax 973-835-0395
grandchildren. daughter, Diane Berman; Left to cherish her memory is her loving sons, TOLL FREE 800-675-0727
www.patersonmonument.com
Contributions can be siblings, Tillie Singer, 101, Jonathan (Sandy) Phillips and Lee (Robin) Phillips.
sent to the Dumont Vol- and Bernard Hyatt, 94; Her 4 grandchildren are Marc, Nicole, Katie &
unteer Ambulance Corps. grandchildren, Jamie and Aaron and her devoted brother Stuart (Marcy) 201-791-0015 800-525-3834
Arrangements were by AJ Bianco, Matthew and Emont.
Gutterman and Musicant Eileen Lilien, Brian and Mausoleum services were held on Sunday
LOUIS SUBURBAN CHAPEL, INC.
Jewish Funeral Directors, Chelsea Lilien; three great- Exclusive Jewish Funeral Chapel
October 8, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. at Beth El Mausoleum
Hackensack. grandchildren; nieces and 333 SW 4th Avenue Boca Raton, FL 33432. She
Sensitive to Needs of the Jewish Community for Over 50 Years
nephews. Serving NJ, NY, FL & Israel
was entombed and reunited with her husband
May Hayden Contributions can be
Paul Phillips. Contributions in her memory may
Graveside services at all NJ & NY cemeteries
May Hayden, 90, died sent to the Jewish Home at Prepaid funerals and all medicaid funeral benefits honored
be made to the Beth Ami Congregation 1401 NW
October 8. Arrangements Rockleigh. Arrangements Always within a familys financial means
4th Ave, Boca Raton, FL 33432 or Trust Bridge
were by Louis Suburban were by Gutterman and 13-01 Broadway (Route 4 West) Fair Lawn, NJ
Hospice 5300 East Avenue West Palm Beach,
Chapel, Fair Lawn. Musicant Jewish Funeral Richard Louis - Manager George Louis - Founder
FL 33407.
Directors, Hackensack. Paid Obituary NJ Lic. No. 3088 1924-1996
Melvin Mittler
Melvin Mittler, 87, of
Franklin Lakes, and
Nantucket, Mass., died The Jewish Memorial Chapel is the only non-profit,
October 4. community-owned funeral home in New Jersey
An Army corporal in
the Korean conflict sta- This means that every Jew, regardless of their familys financial
situation, will receive a traditional Jewish funeral.
tioned in Berlin, he was
The Jewish Memorial Chapel upholds the highest standards of
the founder/president of
Jewish law pertaining to funerals. We are a Shomer Shabbos facility and
Mittler Associates, Inc. have a state-of-the-art chapel in Clifton that is near local cemeteries.
Predeceased by We are owned and operated by synagogues and Jewish organizations
his wife of 59 years, in the area. Please contact us for more information and free brochure.
Sydell, he is survived by
his daughters Wendy
Matano, Michelle 841 Allwood Road Clifton, NJ 07012
Hydrusko (Gary), and 973-779-3048 Fax 973-779-3191
Phyllis Cornman (Ste- www.JewishMemorialChapel.org
phen); siblings, Yvette Vincent Marazo, Manager
Bercovitz (George) and NJ License No. 3424
COMMUNITY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1921 NON_PROFIT
Carl (Sheila); grandchil-
dren, Joseph, Daniel
(Alison), Justin (Renee),
Matthew, Andrew, We continue to be Jewish family managed,
Gregory, Michael, Dylan
(Caitrin), Carly, and
A Traditional Jewish Experience knowing that caring people provide caring service.

Elizabeth; and three
great-grandchildren.
Donations can be sent
to the Nantucket Con-
servation Foundation.
Arrangements were by
Robert Schoems Meno-
rah Chapel, Paramus.
Yevgeniya Price
Yevgeniya Price, 77, died
October 5. Arrangements
were by Louis Suburban
Pre-Planning Specialists Graveside and Chapel Services
Barry Wien - NJ Lic. No. 2885
Frank Patti, Jr. - NJ Lic. No. 4169
Arthur Musicant - NJ Lic. No. 2544
Frank Patti, Sr. Director - NJ Lic. No. 2693
327 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ
201-947-3336 888-700-EDEN
GUTTERMAN AND MUSICANT
JEWISH FUNERAL DIRECTORS
800-522-0588
WIEN & WIEN, INC. MEMORIAL CHAPELS
800-322-0533
402 Park Street, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601
ALAN L. MUSICANT, Mgr., N.J. Lic. No. 2890
MARTIN D. KASDAN, N.J. Lic. No. 4482
Advance Planning Conferences Conveniently Arranged
at the Funeral Home or in Your Own Home

Chapel, Fair Lawn.

www.edenmemorial.com GuttermanMusicantWien.com

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 45

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Theater
FROM PAGE 44
1940s, told the New York Times earlier this year. The audi-
ence had headphones on and our colleagues were trans-
lating into Romanian, but they would skip the sensitive
parts.
Morgenstern was among several dozen Jews who gath-
ered at the theater and stayed there during the chaotic
days of the bloody revolt against Ceausescu in which secu-
rity police killed dozens of protesters.
It was my second home, she said. We went there
because it offered us a sense of safety.
The only time that Yiddish was not permitted at the the-
ater was during World War II, when the pro-Nazi regime
of Ion Antonescu allowed the institution to remain open, Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON is a national advocacy
even as preparations were underway for the murder of half
organization working to end hunger among people of all faiths and
of Romanias Jewish population of 800,000.
Today, with Romanias post-Holocaust Jewish popula- backgrounds in the United States and Israel.
tion at about 10,000, non-Jews account for the majority
of the thousands of people who come to the Jewish State
Theater to see its productions a varied repertoire rang- Help us end hunger. Please donate today.
ing from classics by Avrom Goldfadn and Sholem Aleichem
to irreverent satires by the Israeli cinematographer Hillel
Mittelpunkt.
And though they dont speak a word of Yiddish, some of
the regulars prefer performances in that language.
I follow the subtitles in Romanian, said Elena Albu, a
23-year-old university student who comes to the theater at 10850 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 400, Los Angeles CA 90024
least twice a year. But I prefer to go to the Yiddish produc-
tions because its like reconnecting to the rich culture this (800) 813-0557 | mazon.org
city and country lost. JTA WIRE SERVICE

JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 47

Jewish World

Trend of scary clowns lurking after

dark is no laughing matter in Israel
ANDREW TOBIN

TEL AVIV Israelis arent particularly

amused by a recent phenomenon in their
country: teenagers dressing as clowns and
lurking after dark. In fact, the costumed
young people have caused a nation-
wide panic.
Since last week, dozens of the teens
have been rounded up for scaring pass-
ersby in parks and other public places at
night. The incidents have happened in cit-
ies and towns as far flung as Afula in the
north and Beersheba in the south.
The phenomenon is reminiscent of the
killer clown craze that swept the United
States last year. In Israel, the trend has
been widely attributed to the popularity
of the recently released horror movie It,
which is based on a Stephen King novel
and features a murderous clown.
In a Facebook post last week, police
confirmed that they had detained many
youths who had frightened civilians
throughout the country.
In the central Israeli city of Rishon
Lezion, four 16-year-old boys were arrested
for wearing clown masks to frighten visitors
to a local park. Last week, police detained
an 18-year-old man in central Ramle and
four children younger than 12 in the Negev
town of Dimona for similar acts.
While some of the detained were
released after apologizing for clowning
around, a number of incidents reportedly
have resulted in injuries. According to a
television report Tuesday on Israels Chan-
nel 10, two young men dressed as clowns
pepper-sprayed a 10-year-old girl in Beer-
sheba, while a 17-year-old boy in the West Young Israelis dressed as clowns are wreaking a bit of havoc across the country.  TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Bank was lightly wounded when he fell

while chasing a clown with a knife.
Israelis, of course, tend to be well-armed
and generally are attuned to the threat
of terrorism. Mix that with a ubiquitous
rumor of scary clowns and its a potentially
dangerous dynamic.
Case in point: A Dimona resident
expressed relief to Channel 2 that he did
not shoot someone dressed as a clown
who startled him.
As I was walking down the street on
my way home in the middle of the night,
someone jumped behind me with a clown
costume and yelled at me, he said. Luck-
ily I didnt have a heart attack. I had a pis-
tol. Luckily I didnt shoot him by mistake.
This is really not funny.
Indeed, both local and national officials
are not treating the clown phenomenon as
a laughing matter.
In their Facebook post, the Israel Police
vowed that illegal clown impersonators
would continue to face strict and uncom-
promising police enforcement. At the
same time, they urged the public not
to take the law into its hands and not to
harm the youths, most of whom have not
caused any harm to people or property.
The police described the scary clowns
as part of an international trend that has
gathered momentum on social media.
The United States has seen various
waves of hysteria over scary clowns over
the decades. Last summer, hundreds of
sightings were reported across the coun-
try. Many were hoaxes, but some led to
arrests. In October, the White House even
weighed in, with then-press secretary
Josh Earnest saying, Obviously, this is a
situation that law enforcement is taking
quite seriously.
The sightings quickly spread to coun-
tries around the world. But Israel Police
spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said that
this was the first time the phenomenon
had come to Israel in a serious way.
Weve seen a case here or there over
the years, but nothing on this kind of
major or national level, he said.
The Israeli news website Ynet reported
that teenagers were circulating a list of
suggested times and places that clowns
should work across the country. A video
of a clown who appears to be holding a
knife in Beersheba is making the rounds
on Israeli social media.
In response to what it said were reports
by students of scary clowns lying in wait
for civilians and children, the Education
Ministry issued guidelines Tuesday for han-
dling the threats, including advising parents
to promote awareness of the issue and
report any encounters to the police.
For educators, the ministry advised, It
is important to emphasize and take into
account the age of the students. The con-
versations must be adapted to their devel-
opmental stage, and shouldnt frighten
but rather convey soothing messages and
increase their sense of security.
Meanwhile, many professional clowns
in Israel are worried that their image is
being tarnished by the impostors.
Itzik Ozeri has performed for decades
as Itzik the Clown in the local media, at
parties, and at Schneider Childrens Medi-
cal Center in Petach Tikvah. But now,
everybody is afraid now that our jobs will
go down, he said.
Safety is also a concern, he added. Ozeri
said he was nearly assaulted he was
parked outside a gig in Beersheba when a
group of teenage boys walked by and, see-
ing him in costume, one shouted, Its the
killer clown!
The boys picked up stones to attack him,
Ozeri said, but were stopped by a group
of peers who explained, This is Itzik the
Clown. Hes a good clown.
Ozeri said he understood the fear. Even
his 25-year-old daughter, who grew up
with a clown for a father, is afraid a clown
will jump out at her on the streets at night.
Still, Ozeri said he has faith that this
phenomenon like so many others
will pass.
I believe in God, I believe everything
will be OK, he said. Just like this came, it
will very soon pass. 
 JTA WIRE SERVICE

48 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

 Real Estate & Business
TM

PM
T. UN EN
1 Y
15 DA
-4
OC S OP
Bristal Assisted Living
donates to Alzheimers Association
During a well-attended fundraising event, The Bristal County. For information about The Bristal at Woodcliff
Assisted Living at Woodcliff Lake, an assisted and inde- Lake, call 201-505-9500 or visit www.thebristal.com.
pendent living community, presented the Alzheimers
Association Greater NJ Chapter with a check for $2,160 ENGLEWOOD $799,000
towards the organizations fundraising efforts for its CH Col, 5BR, 3 bath features LR w/wood burning fplc, DR,
eat-in kit, central air, brand new high efficiency furnace &
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Sales Associate CRESSKILL
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894-1234
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UNDER
CONTRACT BANK-OWNED $209,000
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From left, Gregory Cain, executive director of 75 x 150' lot size.
The Bristal Assisted Living at Woodcliff Lake; Renovate, rebuild,
Tom Legan, walk manager for the Alzheimers or fix and flip.
Russo Real Estate Presents Association Greater NJ Chapter; and Dean Walk to Temple
Emeline Betances, Realtor Associate Brown, director of business development for Bnai Shalom
Emeline Betances has lived in Bogota, NJ
The Bristal Assisted Living Communities.
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JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 49

Real Estate & Business

Learn how to select Medicare coverage

SELLING YOUR HOME? The Valley Hospital will host a free com-
munity health program, Medicare Made
Easy, on Tuesday, October 17 from 6:30
to 8 p.m. at The Dorothy B. Kraft Center,
15 Essex Road, Paramus.
Medicare open enrollment begins
this month and if selecting coverage for
yourself or a loved one is leaving you
confused, you are not alone. At this pro-
gram, you will learn about what Medi-
care does and does not cover as well as
how to enroll and select a plan that fits
your needs and your budget.
Join Linda Cross, coordinator for
education and outreach with the State
Health Insurance Program (SHIP), to
learn about Medicare coverage and the
options available.
Registration is required. For more
information or to register, please call
1-800-VALLEY 1 (1-800-825-5391) or visit
www.ValleyHealth.com/Events.

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To Make Your Next Move A Successful One!
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com Cell: 201-615-5353
2017 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.

NVE-3454 Fall Mortgage Ad 5x6.5_NVE-3454 Fall Mortgage Ad 5x6.5 10/4/17 4:54 PM Page 1

Our mortgages are ripe for the picking.

1600 Parker Ave. 14E-15E. Beautiful Hudson River NYC view and one
of the nicest apartment in this building! Completely updated 3 bedroom
7-YEAR 15-YEAR 25-YEAR 2.5 Bath duplex in the most desirable full service coop! $625,000
MORTGAGE MORTGAGE MORTGAGE
Ayelet Hurvitz
2.800 %
Rate 3.250 %
Rate 3.875 %
Rate
Exceptional Service, Exceptional Results
Recipient of the NJAR Circle of Excellence Sales Award 2012-2016

2.884% APR* 3.297% APR* 3.906% APR*

Sterling Society Award Winner 2014-2016
Five Star Professional Award Winner 2015-2016

Direct: 201-294-1844
Alpine/Closter Office: 201-767-0550 x 235
Choose from a variety of mortgage options and rates at NVE. ahurvitz12@yahoo.com www.ayelethurvitz.com
Finding the right mortgage to fit your needs should be quick, easy and

Jimmy J
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painless exactly what youll find when you work with our Mortgage
Specialist at NVE. Plus, our decision makers are local paving the way
to a smooth and hassle-free process from start to finish.

Call today at 201-816-2800, ext. 1233,

or apply online at nvebank.com

the Junk Man

NMLS #733094
RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL
*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. APR is accurate as of 10/8/17 and may vary based on loan amounts. WE CLEAN OUT:
Loans are for 1-4 family New Jersey owner-occupied properties only. Rates and terms are subject to
change without notice. The 7-year loan at the stated APR would have 84 monthly payments of $13.12
Basements Baseme
Attics Garages Fire Damage
per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $500,000. The Construction Debris Hoarding Specialists
Constru
15-year loan at the stated APR would have 180 monthly payments of $7.03 per thousand borrowed based
WE RECYCLE
CALL
on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $500,000. The 25-year loan at the stated APR
would have 300 monthly payments of $5.21 per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or
equity for loan amounts up to $500,000.Payments do not include amounts for taxes and insurance CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE
201-661845-600-5941
201-661-4940 - 4940 2
premiums, if applicable. The actual payment obligation will be greater. Property insurance is required.
Other rates and terms are available. Subject to credit approval.

Bergenfield I Closter I Cresskill I Englewood I Hillsdale I Leonia I New Milford I Teaneck I Tenafly
We do not transport solid or hazardous waste
We d

50 JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017

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The Art of Real Estate
e Ruth Miron-Schleider Youre one click away from the most
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543 RIDGELAND TERRACE $748,000 30 SUTTON PLACE 234 CEDAR STREET 320 MOUNTAIN ROAD $5,500,000

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368 WINTHROP ROAD 580 OGDEN AVENUE 836 BELLE AVENUE 264 OGDEN AVENUE

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NORTHBRIDGE PARK, #5-F THE PALISADES, #2507 THE COLONY, #12-L ATRIUM PALACE, #10-P

Call us today for your complimentary consultation!

Office: 201.266.8555 Mobile: 201.906.6024
ruth@mironproperties.com
www.MironProperties.com JEWISH STANDARD OCTOBER 13, 2017 51