Jewish Post & Opinion

OpinionThe Jewish National EditionPost&Presenting a broad spectrum of Jewish News and Opinions since 1935.

Volume 79, Number 8 • May 8, 2013 • 28 Iyar 5773www.jewishpostopinion.com

Cover art by Jackie Olenick

(see About the Cover,p. NAT 2).

popular the world over, it’s hard to imaginenow how they could have been treated sopoorly. African Americans were not allowedto stay in hotels even when their band wasproviding the musical entertainmentthere. Restaurants refused to serve them.Much worse treatment took place, but apoignant scene in the movie showedwhen simply using a public restroom anda drinking fountain was forbidden.

The second program was an interviewwith Jewish author and feminist MSMagazine co-founder Letty Cottin Pogrebin.I watched this on my computer at the following site: http://www.makers.com/letty-cottin-pogrebin.

Again many issues that have not beenthought about in the last 20 years werementioned. For example, when Pogrebingraduated college in 1959, even a woman with a Ph.D. had these choices for a career – secretary, receptionist,telephone operator, nurse or teacher.

When she first started working after

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college, Pogrebin said women had to putup with constant sexual harassment. Awoman had to cooperate and be cheeryabout this, because otherwise she couldn’tget through the day so “you made yourbargain with the devil and simply laughedit off”. Because a woman who made trouble was fired, Pogrebin had timeswhen she thought,“What’s my job worth?How much of this am I going to tolerate?”

In 1971 when she and fellow activistand writer Gloria Steinem published thefirst issue of MS, woman’s magazines

2 The Jewish Post & Opinion – NAT May 8, 2013

Editorial Inside this IssueEditorial.....................................................2About the Cover ......................................2Rabbi Benzion Cohen

(Chassidic Rabbi).....................................3Rabbi Jon Adland

(Shabbat Shalom).....................................3Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.

(Wiener’s Wisdom)..................................4Amy Hirshberg Lederman

(Jewish Educator) ....................................4Jim Shipley

(Shipley Speaks) ......................................5Melinda Ribner

(Kabbalah of the Month) .........................6Ted Roberts

(Spoonful of Humor) ...............................7Dr. Miriam Zimmerman

(Holocaust Educator) ..............................8Anne Frank sapling planting..............10Rabbi Moshe ben Asher andMagidah Khulda bat Sarah

(Gather the People)................................12Henya Chaiet

(Yiddish for Everyday) ..........................13Rabbi Elliot B. Gertel

(Media Watch).......................................14Sybil Kaplan

(Seen on the Israel Scene)......................15Rabbi Israel Zoberman

(Book Review)........................................16Comfort and hope

(Book Review)........................................16Dr. Morton I. Teicher

(Book Reviews) ......................................17Sybil Kaplan

(My Kosher Kitchen) .............................18Mensch on a Bench ...............................19

Ruth and NaomiBy Jackie Olenick

“Wherever You Go I Shall Go.” This is a 13”x13” limited edition, signed andnumbered print. It is a favorite for all loversand especially appropriate for anyone whohas converted to Judaism.

Olenick creates Judaicilluminations in severalmediums based upon her favorite Torah text,psalms and prayers. Shealso designs personalized,illuminated ketubot forthe bride and groom. The images createdare joyful, contemporary, inspirational andspeak to issues that guide us on our day-to-day journey. They are intended to bringblessing and holy reminders to everyJewish home. She also creates beautifulspiritual jewelry appropriate for men,women and teens. All jewelry is designedwith words and symbols, to bring onecloser to the sacred, to lift one up andopen ones heart.

Olenick presents and teaches hands-onworkshops for temples, schools andorganizations where participants of allages and all levels of skill can learn aboutJudaic art and create their own uniquepieces for their home.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi hashonored Olenick as an artist and artisan inthe Sacred Guild of the Disciples ofBetzalel.Two of her images are included inthe set of the Coen Brothers movie, ASerious Man.

About the Cover

Jackie Olenick

(see About the Cover, page 5)

Recently three different programs – amovie, an interview and a sapling planting– demonstrated how far we haveadvanced as a society in looking past ourdifferences to treat each other with morefairness and compassion. We still have along way to go but we have made muchprogress in a relatively short span –approximately 70 years since the end ofWorld War II.

I have several nieces and nephews whoare in their 20s and 30s. One who is thinkingabout marriage and children recentlyexpressed concern about being able to bea good parent and wondering what lifewill be like for children growing up inwhat seems to be a turbulent world.

I grew up in the 1960s when majorchanges were taking place relating to racismand sexism. Widespread demonstrationswere held to help bring more rights forwomen and minorities, and against thewar in Vietnam. Those were the years thatPresident John F. Kennedy, his brotherRobert F. Kennedy and Martin LutherKing were assassinated.

Just before I started college the universitylibrary I was about to attend was set onfire by protesting students. That same yearunarmed student protestors were shot byOhio National Guardsman at Kent StateUniversity in Kent, Ohio, killing four andwounding nine.

Many brave individuals risked their livesto help bring needed changes to our society.Two of those were my older sisters MiriamGlickman and Debbie Cohen. Miriam wentto Albany, Ga., in 1963 after graduatingBrandeis University to help AfricanAmericans register to vote. She wasarrested for vagrancy.The police thought itwas suspicious for whites and blacks to beworking together. Debbie traveled toFayette, Tenn., in 1965 as part of the samecivil rights movement.

Recently I saw the movie titled, 42. Ittakes place in 1947 when Jackie Robinsonwas the first modern African Americanmajor league baseball player. This was ahuge challenge for him and his family asthey endured unrelenting racist hostilityon and off the field from players and fansalike. He wore jersey number 42, hencethe movie’s title.

Those born after 1970 did not livethrough some of these major conflicts thatbrought improvement, they only readabout them. Even I had forgotten aboutsome of those advances in justice forblacks until I saw the movie.

Today with an African American president,before him a Joint Chiefs of Staff, aSecretary of State, and a talk show host (see Editorial, page 18)

1427 W. 86th St. #228Indianapolis, IN 46260email: [email protected] and fax: (317) 405-8084website: www.jewishpostopinion.compublisher & editor: Jennie Cohengraphic designer: Charlie Bunes

OpinionPost&The Jewish

Jewish News and Opinions since 1935.

May 8, 2013 The Jewish Post & Opinion – NAT 3

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BY RABBI BENZION COHEN

Chassidic Rabbi

(see Benzion, page 19)

We will soon be celebrating Shavuos,the holiday of the giving of the Torah.Every year at this time Hashem gives us theTorah again. I bless all of our readers andall of the house of Israel to receive theTorah with happiness and to learn andinternalize as much of it as possible.

On the first day of the month of Iyarwe observed the yartseit of our belovedfather, Gavriel Moshe, the son of YitzchakMichoel Cohen, of blessed memory. Heedited and published the Jewish Post &Opinion for almost 75 years. On this occasion I would like to share some storiesthat I heard from him.

My father grew up in Louisville, Ky. Inthose days there was no Jewish DaySchool, so he went to public school. Hisparents made him a Bar Mitzvah, andbrought him a pair of tefillin. For a fewmonths he put on tefillin and prayed every morning in his room before eating breakfast and going to school. After awhile he lost interest and decided to stoppraying. (I understand this. He was only13 years old, and praying all by himself).

His mother told him that he won’t getbreakfast until he puts on tefillin. He continued putting on tefillin until one dayhe got an idea. He took a piece of rope andwrapped it 7 times on his forearm to leavesigns as if he had put on tefillin. Thisworked fine until one day his mother caughthim red-handed. She lifted her hands toheaven and said “Dear G-d, What morecan I do?”Forty-six years went by until myfather started to put on tefillin again.

I was 18 years old, and I left HebrewUniversity to learn in the LubavitcherYeshiva in Kfar Chabad, Israel. Soon afterthis my father had a private audience withthe Lubavitcher Rebbe. They spoke for anhour. The Rebbe told him how importanthis work was, that for some of his readersthis was their only connection with theirJudaism. After seeing the Rebbe my fatherstopped going to his office on Shabbosafternoons. When I would visit he wouldbe happy to put on tefillin. I lived in Israel,but I tried to come to Indianapolis everyyear or two to see my parents and siblings.

On one visit I took out my tefillin andasked Dad if he wanted to put on tefillin.He said,“No”. I said,“Why not?”He said,“I already put on tefillin today! I now dothis mitzvah every day! “

Wow! What a pleasant surprise! I askedhim how this came about, and here is thestory he told me: “Rabbi Ronald Gray’swife gave birth to a baby boy, after threedaughters. We were all very happy to hearthis good news. However, the baby was

not healthy, and they had to put off making his bris. The baby’s health gotworse, and his life was in danger. RabbiGray called the Lubavitcher Rebbe andasked for a blessing for his son. The Rebbeblessed the baby and told the father tocheck his tefillin.

“There is no one in Indianapolis whocan check tefillin, so he sent his tefillin toa tefillin scribe in Chicago to be checked.There they found that there was a problemwith the leather boxes of his tefillin. Theyfixed them and made them kosher. Thebaby’s health started to improve, and aftera few weeks he was ready to have his bris.Rabbi Gray told us this story at the bris.That gave me the push to put on tefillinevery day.”

Here we see two miracles. The baby’slife was saved, and my father started to puton tefillin. But many more miracles followed. My father put on tefillin everyday before going to work for the next 25years, until he was 95. He drove to work (8 miles each way) 6 times a week in his90s. Not too many people live to 98, andeven less drive to work every day in their90s. I would guess he was the only one inall of the Midwest.

ShabbatShalomBY RABBI JON ADLAND

May 3, 2013, Behar/B’chukotaiLeviticus 25:1–27:34, 23 Iyar 5773

For my friends in Kentucky, it is Derbyweekend. Maybe this is the year for a newTriple Crown winner. For the Brotherhoodof Temple Israel, this is reverse raffleweekend when the community enjoysgood food, good friends, and a chance towin the big prize. Tonight at Temple is ourreligious school Shabbat which will be ledby our students – the future of our Jewishcommunity – lights that shine each andevery day.

For Northeast Ohio, spring has officiallyarrived though summer is right behind.The trees are in bloom and the grass isgreen. At the Adland home, the fishpondis open and working. The goldfish arebusy doing whatever it is they do whileswimming around and the frogs are in fullvoice. Though it is always good to be ableto wake up and see the sunrise andbreathe in the breath of life, this is alwaysa particularly wonderful time of year aseverything outside is coming back to itsfull life and glory.

This is not to say that the world is healedand all the ills that plague our society and

world have come to an end, but lookingout my window and seeing how beautifulit is outside is truly inspiring. I know that Iam strange, but I look forward to cuttingmy grass today and taking a few minutesto work the fresh compost into our newvegetable garden that will get plantedsoon. I look forward to planting annualsand some perennials in the next couple ofweeks when we know all chance of frosthas passed us by. I look forward to sittingon the deck and just enjoying the life Godhas blessed me with – family, friends, aloving congregation.

Our Torah portion this week challengesus with the concept that if we followGod’s commandments, then God willbring the rains to produce the food, grantpeace in the land, and that we will beblessed with progeny. Lev. 26:13 says, “11Iwill establish My abode in your midst, andI will not spurn you. 12I will be ever presentin your midst: I will be your God, and youshall be My people.” Thus, with all theblessings that I listed above, I must be following God’s commandments becauseGod is obviously walking with me. Yet, Istruggle knowing that there are manypeople who are better than me, kinderthan me, more loving than me who seemto be “cursed.”

Will they look out their windows todayand see what a beautiful day it is or will their struggles in life to just live oneday at a time keep them from breathing inthe breath of God? For me to be trulyblessed, then I need to give back, to makea difference, to do Tikkun Olam so that allpeople will know that God walks withthem and listens to them. This is not myworld, but our world. My life is not livedalone, but in connection with my family,friends, and community. My joys areheightened knowing that others are beinglifted up, even just a little.

Shabbat is a great opportunity to stepback from the everyday and think aboutwhat is truly important and how we cantake those thoughts and feelings andtranslate them into creating a beautifulday throughout more than our backyards.Shabbat is a foretaste of the world when ithas come to fulfillment and completion,but that time is determined by what we dotoday, you and me – all of us – in creatinga better society. Lighting candles, sippingwine, eating challah, saying prayers,singing songs, are all a part of Shabbat,but they are just symbols and signs helping to lead us down the path towardthis better time and place. We must do thework and then we will truly get to rest onGod’s eternal Shabbat.

When you light your Shabbat candlesthis week, light one for the beauty thatsurrounds us. May our senses help us to

(see Adland, page 19)


Wiener’sWisdomBY RABBI IRWIN WIENER, D.D.

Remembering the sacrifices – in memoriam,Memorial Day 2013

Each year we pause to pay tribute tothe men and women who gave so much inthe cause of freedom. Yet, it seems that isreally not sufficient. There are memoriesthat cannot and will not leave us. The painseems to be unbearable. All we have arewords to offer as an indication of our gratitude – words of remembrance. Aslong as we have breath, they will neverdie. This is our respect, because to forgetwould desecrate their memories.

On this day perhaps we should pray toAlmighty God to help us remember thegreat and the small, the tall and short, thestout and thin, the black and white. We are sad and at the same time, we are glad.We are sad that they are no longer with us because they gave their all for theircountry. We are glad because we had themwith us however short the time. Theywalked with us, laughed with us, criedwith us, and died knowing that theirnation cares for them and will alwaysacknowledge their deeds.

As our words ascend to You, God, weshould also pray that they will be acceptedas an indication of Your appreciation,goodness and mercy as You continue tocaress the brave souls we honor at thistime of the year.

Our prayers should also contain thewish for the safe return of those still on a mission of mercy to relieve human suffering. For all these things and more,we need to implore our Father in Heavento not only listen to our supplications, butalso to hear the sincerity in our hearts.

Memorial Day has become a day of celebration and relaxation. Some criticizethat we take the solemnity of the experience and make it a festival. That isthe essence of renewal. We pause, reflect,remember, and cry. And, when we wipeaway the tears, we rejoice in this exerciseof remembering and rejoicing.

This is life in full cycle. People live anddie, but what happens in between can bedaunting. Hearing news that a loved onehas fallen in battle, traps us in a cycle ofpain. Once there was vibrancy, gaiety, nowthere is misery. Where is God? Why did

this happen? Where are the days filledwith laughter? We search for answers andrealize that there are none.

God can be found in our reaching out to each other to offer comfort and solaceto a grieving mother, widow, children orsiblings who are searching as they beginto adjust to the emptiness. God can befound in turning to Scripture, because thatis our direct link to our connection withHim. Scripture offers us the opportunity totalk to God in ways that are unimaginable.

God is there to provide a certain balancein life. On the one hand, He extends Hishand to lift the spirit, as the other handunderstands the affliction. The ProphetIsaiah reminds us that God will comfort usand give us the ability to cope. No wordsalone can suffice to bring solace, and noaction taken by others will give us theability to forget the anger and frustration.It is up to us to return to the center of life through reliance on our family, ourmemories, and ourselves.

On this Memorial Day, we should pause,not only to pay our respects, but also toensure that through this endeavor we willhonor those who are still with us as well.We should honor the infirmed, sick,wounded warriors who struggle day after

(see Lederman, page 5)(see Wiener, page 7)

We sat with our friends on the rooftopof their apartment building, a glorious display of fireworks exploding over ourheads in the Jerusalem night sky. In thestreets below, thousands of men, womanand children cheered and sang in joyouscelebration. Children on roller-skatespassed mischievous teens spraying colorful, plastic string on passers-by while Israeli’s danced until dawn. It was a night to be remembered and savored,one that only 50 years before seemedimprobable. This was Yom HaAtzmaoot,Israel’s Independence Day in 1998.

It is 15 years since my family and I livedin Israel and celebrated her 50th birthday.But Israel at 50 was a very different Israelthan the one we now know at 65. In 1998,we were optimistic that the progress madesince the signing of the Oslo Accords in

1993 would bring peace between Israeland the Palestinians. Tragically, thatmomentum was halted when the SecondIntifada erupted in 2000. Today, peaceseems less than remote: the wall beingerected between Israel and thePalestinians stands as testimony to howfar apart both sides are now from thehopes of peace that existed a decade ago.

When I first lived in Israel in 1974 during my junior year of college, I read apoem that has held a special place in myheart ever since. Written by the lateYehuda Amichai, considered by many tobe the greatest modern Israeli poet, itdescribes an Arab shepherd who issearching for his goat on Mount Zion andon the opposite mountain, a Jewish manwho is searching for his little boy. Thesefew lines poignantly depict their angst:

“An Arab shepherd and a Jewish fatherBoth in their temporary failure…Our two voices met aboveThe Sultan’s Pool in the valley between us.Neither of us wants the boy or the goatTo get caught in the wheelsOf the ‘Had Gadya’ machine.”The “temporary failure” that Amichai

describes is what all of us fear most: theloss of what is most precious to us, be itour children or the animals we tend forour livlihood. Arab and Jew come togetherin their desparate search, fearful that what they love most will be lost in thedeath machine.

The poem concludes with an image ofthe two men laughing and crying, as thegoat and the son are found together in thebushes. We witness for a second time, thecoming together of Jew and Arab, as loveand life overcome fear and death.

“Afterward we found them among the bushes

And our voices came back inside us,laughing and crying.

Searching for a goat or a sonHas always been the beginning Of a new religion in these mountains.”Amichai was no romantic. He saw

Israel for what it was – and portrayed itthrough all of its grit, humor, tragedy andcomplexities. Almost 50 years ago, he hadthe vision to imagine a moment in historywhen the love for our children and what ismost precious to us conquered the fear,anger, and hatred that has led two people,historically linked as brothers, to destroyeach other’s families.

Amichai refers to the sacrifices – thegoat and the son – that are part of the narratives from which Judaism and Islamwere born. A ram, found in the bushes, wasoffered by Abraham in lieu of sacrificinghis beloved son, Isaac. And Ishmael,Abraham’s other son, was banished withHagar, yet survives to become the family

The search for peace on Mount Zion

JewishEducatorBY AMY HIRSHBERG LEDERMAN

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column for more than 20 years and is directorof Trading Wise, an international trade and marketing company in Orlando, Fla. AAAA

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BY JIM SHIPLEY

Planting the seedsI and most of the world was struck

by the photo of young Martin Richard,tragically killed by the bombing at theBoston Marathon. Martin is holding aposter he created saying simply: “NoMore Hurting People” and underneath“Peace”. Martin will never get to knowwho set the bomb or why. Nor will theyoungsters killed while sitting at theSbarro Pizza Parlor in Jerusalem.

One wonders, what, no matter theirreligious views or governmental conceptswould make someone actually take theaction of killing and maiming innocentpeople who have little or nothing to dowith the particular cause or causes thatmotivate these killers. The nation ofAustralia is concerned about youngLebanese émigrés and migrants whoheaded to Syria; afraid of them becoming“radicalized”.

Ahlam Tammimi, the convicted conspiratorin the Sbarro bombing was released froma life sentence as part of the deal to freeGalid Shallit. She has no repentance. Her“act” was to “liberate” Palestine and thedeath of young innocents she feels, was ajust step towards that goal.

A baby is not born with this twistedview of humanity and how to make a“point”. It has to be taught – but beyondthat, is there a basic flaw in the humanthat absorbs the seed and permits it togrow? To think so little of yourself that youcan allow a philosophy of causing deathand crippling injury to permeate yourbeing is beyond most of our capabilitiesno matter who is telling us different.

If you feel that the “system” is workingagainst you, anger is a natural response.And from that the need to “get even” cancome next. “Even” with whom or what?What is it that makes a prejudice burn sodeep within that a mass killing or a seriesof them seems justified?

Within my lifetime there was a lynchingwithin an hour’s drive from our home.The lynchings that took place throughoutthe South were attended in many cases bycrowds of onlookers. Why? What burns sodeep within someone that an act like thatfeels justified?

As Jews we think that this is abhorrentbehavior and we are right. Killing of theinnocent is ingrained in our religion, ourpeoplehood and our tradition. But do we,the Jews, being human of course, have

prejudice of some sort within us? Well, yes– but only if it has been taught.

You are not born racist or homophobicor a religious fanatic. All that has to betaught to you by someone else. But havingbeen taught, as we mature and learnabout real life – it becomes less sensible.We know the world is not flat in a geographical sense. We know that theworld is a great deal older than 5,000years. I mean what year is this on theJewish calendar? Climate change? Giveme a break! Look at downtown Beijingand tell me all that grime headed for theatmosphere has no effect on us below.

We know that nobody is gay by choice.Most of us know that killing others whodo not believe as we do will not help thefuture of mankind. But we are a long wayfrom Martin Richard’s hope that there willbe “No More Hurting People”.

Islam is a complicated religion. The hate between Shia and Sunni makes thearguments between Orthodox andConservative or Reform Jews looks silly.Some Ultra-Orthodox throw stones, butthey do not bomb synagogues.

As this is being written, the hunt for theperpetrators of Boston is making progress.Did they really believe that there would beno consequences? They set bombsdesigned to maim rather than kill wherethe world could and would see it.Whatever and whomever, this you can besure of. There is a basic flaw within thosepeople. If they were taught that this is justbehavior – something inside allowed thatto take root.

In a world where Midrashim in Pakistanand Saudi Arabia are teaching that violence and death is justified becausesomeone does not accept your belief –something is being planted inside youngminds that is like a tumor. It will growunless it is treated and treated early.Otherwise, by the time they mature, theybecome like Ahlam Tammimi or JeffreyMcVeigh or those who bombed theMarathon where the internal rot is incurable.

We all have beliefs and feel we are right.I remember when it was conventionalwisdom that blacks were inferior – for thatmatter women could not achieve whatmen could in business or science. Both ofthese prejudices had been proven falselong before their rebuttal finally becameconventional wisdom.

Boston is not a wake-up call, unfortunately.Too many insides have been rotted out.Best we can do is fight prejudice whereverwe find it or we could be sitting in agrandstand one day when the unthinkablehappens.

Jim Shipley has had careers in broadcasting,distribution, advertising, and telecommuni-cations. He began his working life in radio in Philadelphia. He has written his JP&O

ShipleySpeaks

from which Islam is born. From the beginning of Biblical time, sacrifices havebeen required in order to survive andthere is hardly an Israeli today who woulddebate that a lasting, meaningful peacewill require them. The Oslo Accords werepremised on that belief.

Sacrifices cannot be unilateral; theymust be made on both sides. Amichai’spoem inspires us to believe that peace isstill possible. When Jew and Arab searchtogether to save rather than to destroywhat is most precious to them, be it theirchildren or their land; when Jew and Arabmutually agree to educate their childrenabout the necessity and benefits of peace,rather than to deploy them as suicidebombers; and when love for life trumpshatred and revenge, then we will see anew beginning in the land of Israel.

Amy Hirshberg Lederman is an author,Jewish educator, public speaker and attorney who lives in Tucson. Her columnsin the AJP have won awards from theAmerican Jewish Press Association, theArizona Newspapers Association and theArizona Press Club for excellence in commentary. Visit her website at amyhirshberglederman.com. AAAA

LEDERMAN(continued from page 4)

The Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) hasselected several of Olenick’s images forbook, CD and songbook covers. Manyimages adorn greeting cards, which can bepurchased at fine gift and Judaica shopsthroughout America.This year the URJ hasselected Jackie’s artwork exclusively fortheir calendar.

The artist’s work has been exhibited andextensively collected throughout Americaand is in private, organizational and synagogue collections.

She works in several mediums includingacrylic and collage/multimedia, for whichshe is noted. Olenick has created bold andbright, large pieces that are appropriate for atemple or can serve as a focal point in a home.

She is married to Rabbi/Chaplain LeonOlenick. They have three grown childrenand nine grandchildren, from whom sheconstantly draws inspiration and naches.To see more of her artwork visit her website at www.jackieolenickart.com oremail her at [email protected] check on Facebook and Twitter. AAAA

ABOUT THE COVER(continued from page 2)

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As a Jew, I am saturated with holidays.Every seventh day is a holiday. Almostevery month, there is a holiday of somesort. I do not feel the need for any more.So for the most part, I ignore Americanholidays like Thanksgiving, for I haveHanukkah. For Halloween, I have Purim.But with Mother’s Day and Father’s Dayapproaching, I regret that I did not honorthese holidays more when my parentswere alive. I was blessed with two lovingparents. I wish I could tell them directlyjust one more time how much I love themand how grateful I am for all the love andcaring they gave to me.

My father died in 1981. I was sad. I cried,but I was able to easily move on with mylife. My adult life was just blossoming withmy dream job, lots of dates, great spiritualteachers and a rich community life. Andmost of all, I still had my mother. Mymother died in 2009 on Tisha B’Av.Because of the date of her death, I compared my mother to the ancient HolyTemple in Jerusalem. Just like the Templewas the foundation of the Jewish people,my mother was my foundation. When mymother died, it was like the floor I wasstanding upon collapsed from under me. Inow had to learn how to stand on air.How does one live without a mother?

During the first year, I cried almost daily. I did not anticipate the emotionaldevastation and anguish I experiencedover my mother’s death. I had lived independently from my mother most ofmy adult life. I only moved to be near herfor the last years of her life. I was surprisedby the depth of my grief. I had to fortifymyself with reminders that I would getthrough this time of intense grief, but Iwondered if I would ever get over it. Bycontinuing to live in her home, I wasreminded of her constantly, more keenlyaware of her presence and also herabsence than I might had I been livingelsewhere.

After the first year, my pain magicallysubsided, but it did not end. To this day,three years later, a day still does not go by without my mourning her passing insome way for at least a few moments. Ieven continue to talk to her in my mind

from time to time and sometimes even out loud. My mother would call me“sweetheart”at times. So I call myself thatwhen I need comfort.

Why is it that I could move on easilyafter my father’s death and not my mother’s? It was not a difference of love. Iloved my father as much as my mother.Family was my father’s priority more thananything else in the world. My father wasthere for me as much as my mother. Was itbecause I had my mother longer than myfather and I was so much younger whenmy father died? Was it because I lived withmy mother prior to her death and servedas her caregiver during the last months ofher life? Was it that I was older and mymother’s death forced me to confront myown mortality in a way that I would not dowhen I was much younger? I am not sure.All of these factors definitely significantlyimpacted on my expression of grief. Theydo not however sufficiently address thedifference between the loss of a father anda mother. What is the difference?

I have come to understand that thegreater grief I experienced for my motherlies more in the unique nature of a mother and a woman. Previous to ourbirth, most of us spent nine months in herwomb, when we were actually a part ofher. She is the only person who wasalways with us, from even before we hadphysical life, independent of her. What sheate, how she was feeling, what she wasdoing affected us deeply, unconsciously inways that we can never fully know. Justbecause we do not remember this time,does not mean that it does not impact onwho we are. What is hidden, what isunconscious, is even deeper than what weknow consciously.

Our mother is the very first person wesee when we enter the world. She is thefirst person who loves us. How she holdsus, speaks to us, responds to our cries, andeven plays with us when we are infantsinforms us whether the world is safe for usto be authentically true to who we are. Wecannot overestimate the impact she hashad on our lives. Unfortunately, many ofus did not receive the message that wewere unconditionally loved by our mother.Our mother was herself wounded anddefensive. Consequently, she could notgive this transmission to us as much asshe may have wanted. We deserve to seekremedial therapeutic help to re-parentourselves so we know the experience ofunconditional love. This is fundamental toour life and our health.

In our adult life, we may run to manydifferent teachers, we may study manysubjects, practice many disciplines, neverfully acknowledging that it was our mother who was our first and primaryspiritual teacher in our life. There is a

reason why the Jewish religion is passedthrough the woman and not the man. If awoman marries a non-Jew, the offspring isa full, fledged Jew. It is not true if a Jewishman marries a non-Jewish woman. This isnot a matter of biology but the Torah recognizes the supreme influence that awoman has in raising a child. Similarly, anill person is identified by his or her mother’s name because it is the motherwho is acknowledged as the one who candraw down blessings of healing more thanthe father.

It was only in the wake of my mother’sdeath that I realized and fully acknowledgedthat it was she who was my greatest spiritual teacher and my best friend, as sheoften reminded me, especially when shewould offer me instructive criticism that Imay not have required. It was my motherwho transmitted to me the deep sublimewomen’s Torah that could not be found inbooks. I did not understand this until aftermy mother’s passing. Like so many thingsin life, it is only when we no longer havethem that we fully value them.

I dedicated my newest book, The SecretLegacy of Biblical Women; Revealing theDivine Feminine to my mother. It was onlythen that I was able to work on this bookwith fervor and devotion. This book wasnow not just for me. It was my gift to her. Knowing that, I was empowered andeven driven. I wanted her to get credit inheaven as soon as possible.

My mother was not particularly interested in my other books. I do noteven recall her ever saying to me that sheenjoyed or even read them. But she waspassionate about this newest book. Shehad read earlier chapters of the book, andchallenged me to find my unique voice asa woman. “If you would be authentic,brutally honest, and courageous, youcould do something important, that wouldbe redemptive to her, to all women andespecially to me.” Her words empoweredme to write from the heart.

Like many women and men today, mymother was what is often called assimilated.Most of these Jews like my mother believedeeply in God, but they stand outside ofthe Jewish religious establishment, notidentifying with any of the streams ofJewish life. My mother would sometimesgo to synagogue but that was only becauseshe wanted to be with me. She would tellme that she prayed in the synagogue in herown words in the same way she had prayedon her own alone since she was a child.

God for my mother was everywhereequally. Isn’t that the deepest teaching?Her worship of God, her experience ofGod, was perhaps the greatest duringthose moments of creativity when shestood before a blank canvas. As if in

BookExcerptBY MELINDA RIBNER

A tribute to my mother onMother’s Day

(see Ribner, page 7)


response to a spiritual call within her, shewould embody a message of love from thehigher spiritual realms in each of herpaintings of beauty and color. Interestingenough, she primarily painted women.Unlike most artists, my mother neverattempted to capture what was physicallybefore her, but rather she was inspired toexpress on the canvas the inner stirrings ofher own soul.

I conclude this essay with a rhetoricalquestion. Can we ever repay our mothersfor all the love and all that they have donefor us? Can we ever sufficiently honor biblical women for the courageous andindependent choices that they made tochange the world for the better?Nevertheless, we owe it to ourselves andto them to hear their stories, heed theirwisdom and honor them as best as we can.

For those with living mothers, may youcelebrate Mother’s Day with your fullheart and presence. May my book on biblical women and this article inspireeveryone to show their appreciation andgratitude to their mothers, and to allwomen who gently embody the love anddepth that is unique to women and is toooften unappreciated. Happy Mother’s Day.

Melinda Ribner L.C.S. W. is the author of The Secret Legacy of Biblical Women,Everyday Kabbalah, Kabbalah Month by Month, and New Age Judaism.Internationally known for her pioneeringwork in kabbalistic meditation and healing,she is also a spiritual psychotherapist and formore than 30 years has used kabbalistic wisdom as part of treatment. She offers a free newsletter on meditation, healing, kabbalistic energies of the months, holidays,and so forth – www.kabbalahoftheheart.com. AAAA

RIBNER(continued from page 6)

day to forge a new life from the shatteredone that is in the process of healing.

Memorial Day is not only to rememberthe past. Memorial Day should remind usto be grateful for all that God has to offer,always remembering that life is eternaland is the very core of God. There is noend. There is continuation of life. There isimmortality. There is life after death.Thereis grace and forgiveness. This is why weshould also rejoice. May God continue tobless the United States of America.

Rabbi Wiener is spiritual leader of the SunLakes Jewish Congregation near Phoenix, Ariz.He welcomes comments at ravyitz @cox.net.His new book Living with Faith was publishedin April 3, 2013 (see review p. NAT 16). Itcan be obtained on Amazon.com. AAAA

WIENER(continued from page 4)

j i

the stork concept. It sounds so much more logical.”

Earthly Informant: well the stork story is full of baloney. It’s like I just told you –but even wilder. You won’t believe it.There’s some bond as invisible and powerful as gravity between the life giverand the birthling. The mother creatureseems dedicated to the well being andsurvival of the new creature. To protect it, if it’s threatened, she will surrender her time on this earth for the offspring.And this force is universal throughout the female of the mammalian species. Wefind it in snakes and hawks – wolves andhula dancers.”

Visitor; “Well, after the ‘mother’ – is thatwhat you call it? – is deceased – if you take her apart and examine all her mechanisms, can you isolate and analyzethe machinery that motivates this altruistic behavior?”

Earthly Informant; “Nope. It’s as wellhidden as another compartment of thehuman condition we call the soul – evenmore complex. We’ve never found it eitherand we’ve been arguing about it for 4–5millenia. But let’s save that puzzle for yournext trip.

Finally, the inquisitive visitor rushes upthe ramp to his space ship – all eight legs in a blur. He needs to get back toXyphon before “Swamp Day”– an annualcelebration of the great Bog that periodically repopulates his planet.

His earthly guide gives him two parcelsto take back home that further explain this mothering phenomenon; a big cardboard box with a tabby cat and fivenursing kittens lined up on her belly; anda video of the best maternal melodramaever produced in our galaxy – I RememberMama. A fine, old movie without a single vulgarity, explosion, fistfight,maiming, disrobing, seduction, robbery,or sociopolitical message except; remember Mama and try to emulate her. They don’t make that kind any more. Who’d play Mama, Sharon Stone?Demi Moore?

You could, in fact, invite the old ladyover this Mother’s Day. Give her a flower,a fat pizza with four toppings of herchoice, and sit her down in front of a TV litup with that old movie I Remember Mama.She’ll love it.

Ted Roberts, a Rockower Award winner, isa syndicated Jewish columnist who looks atJewish life with rare wit and insight. Tedlives in Huntsville, Ala., where for 25 yearshe has served as bar mitzvah teacher. Hisinspiration is his patient wife, Shirley. Checkout his website: www.wonderwordworks.com.Blogsite: www.scribblerontheroof.typepad.com. His collected works The Scribbler on The Roof can be bought at Amazon.comor lulu.com/content/127641. AAAA

It’s appropriate this time of year topraise and glorify an old fashioned, lowmaintenance support system that dispenses love, advice, tears, caresses,wisdom, supper, and bedtime prayers.MAMA – the best of all four-letter words.Appropriately, every infant’s first word.

“A man assured of his mother’s love can conquer the world,” said LudwigBemelmens, a children’s storyteller andinsightful essayist. Ludwig, who had afine, loving mama, sure got that right.

So, now in early May when the planet ispanting with new birth, we elevate Mom.Mom, in her apron, stained with barbecuesauce, or sukiyaki, or cinnamon kugel, orbaklava, or cabbage shreds – dependingon your ethnic home. Mom, who wouldn’teven know how to hitchhike along theshoulder of the information highway.Definitely not a 20th century goddess.Now picture a visitor from the outermostplanet of Andromeda III, where life-formsbubble up from a great central swamp on the planet’s skin. He’s come here – to planet earth – to study our human biopropagation technique.Touring suburbia,he wanders into an open kitchen door andconfronts his first earthling.

“Who are you? What do you do, frumpylady in a blue and white apron?”

“I’m only a mother. I’m the system who molds the next generation so it canparticipate wholesomely in the humanadventure.”

Shocked, the alien voyager retreats to alocal bar to meditate over this mystery.Next to him sits a friendly imbiber who’swilling to explain the human condition inexchange for a Corona Lite.

Interplanetary visitor: “Okay, so you’retelling me a mixed gender couple with a fondness for each other does this incredible trick (they’ll never believe itback home). Then, lemme make sure I got this right – later, the new creaturematerializes out of the flesh and blood ofthe female creature. And it consumes hernutrients? Sucks the nourishment rightout of her? For this she gets a box of candy every year – IF the new life formremembers! We hear this rumor onXyphon, but our best scientists believe

My Yiddeshe mama– Let’s rememberMama on her day

Spoonful of HumorBY TED ROBERTS


(emphasis mine throughout). Because oftheir intrinsic value, persons “shouldalways be treated as an end in themselves,”and not as a means to an end.

A second key ingredient to I-Thouencounter is “acceptance of the other asdifferent from ourselves.”It is not expectedthat participants must agree with each other (emphasis mine). There must be awillingness to affirm the very person withwhom we might have a conflict. Thisacceptance and affirmation permits trustso that the parties are ready to enter intodialogue, despite those very differences.

A third characteristic is a willingness toenter into the life of the other as they liveit. She quotes Buber’s The Knowledge ofMan: A Philosophy that describes thischaracteristic as “a bold swinging … intothe life of the other.”The Native Americanprayer to the Great Spirit, “Grant that Imay not criticize my neighbor until I havewalked a mile in his moccasins,” came tomy mind at this point in her presentation.

As I read more of the good Rabbi’shandout, I realized I had before me aphilosophical justification of my work forthe last 15 years of sustained dialoguewith Palestinians. Not that I need such ajustification for myself, but now, I havetools to deal with my detractors, some ofwhom are very close to me. “What gooddoes it do for a group of American Jewsand Christian Palestinians to get togethereach month to talk?” or “How can youexpect to bring peace to the Middle Eastby such a waste of your time?”is criticismI often encounter.

Now I can say, citing Buber and Eilberg,that dialogue enables one to enter intorelationship such that conflicts can bedealt with effectively. Jews andPalestinians, if they are to achieve a lastingpeace between them, must change thequality of their relationship (emphasismine). That goal is exactly what Jewish-Palestinian dialogue is all about. WithBuber backing me up, I can assert that weare not just a bunch of Jewish-Americans orPalestinian-Americans talking, we aretransforming our relationship from enmityto amity so that we can each become an emissary for the other.

Just as Rabbi Eilberg synthesized Buber,so, too, will I synthesize her thoughts on dialogue, in my own words and frommy own teaching experience. A coursethat I designed many years ago at NotreDame de Namur University, “Persuasionand Presentation,” incorporated thesethoughts, even though I did not namethem as “dialogue”or as having emanatedfrom Martin Buber.

The course was equal parts publicspeaking skills, rhetorical theory (argument),and use of PowerPoint to create persuasivepresentations. I explained to students

Briefly put, the macro- micro- continuumposits that the same psychological motivations and dynamics that existbetween two individuals in conflict alsoapply to conflicts in families and organizations; conflicts among ethnic andtribal groups; and among nation states at war. Comparing the macro-level of conflict to the micro- is, to borrow ametaphor from Tolstoy, like “the sunreflected in a drop of water.”The corollarythat I tried to teach my students was thatthe more we understand the dynamics ofinterpersonal conflict and how to managethem, the more able we will be to manageconflict on the macro-level: world war.

Rabbi Eilberg’s handout began with two quotes from Martin Buber’s seminaltext, I and Thou: “All actual life isencounter” and “In the beginning is therelation.” One of my takeaways from thisconcentrated hour and ten minutes oflearning with Rabbi Eilberg was that themore one is in genuine dialogue withanother, the less there will be conflict. Iwish I could tell that to my warring clients,intent on obtaining a divorce. Successfulnegotiation, I would like to tell my clients,is about the quality of your relationship,not about the conflict per se. But then, nothaving a good relationship is probably whythey are getting a divorce in the first place.

The Rabbi cited longer passages from avariety of Buber texts that supported thisconclusion.“Dialogue is the way we weremeant to be … yearn to be,”she asserted,citing Buber. “It (dialogue) defines ourhumanity – that moment of encounter…”with another human being. The teachingsof Martin Buber have “widened our aware-ness” of the dimensions of dialogue. Shepointed out that to be in dialogue withanother can “feel like a spiritual practice.”Yet one can be halachically (according to traditional Jewish law) observant butnot practice the “I-Thou” relationship asadvocated by Buber.

Buber distinguishes between real andfalse dialogue. There must be somethingintentional in one’s relationship, anawareness of mutual presence and regardfor the other’s wellbeing, for theencounter to be truly “dialogic.” Based onBuber’s works, the Rabbi has synthesizedrequirements for genuine dialogue,resulting in the “I-Thou” relationship.First and probably foremost, there must be an awareness of the other’s humanity

HolocaustEducatorBY MIRIAM L. ZIMMERMAN

For the sake of heaven

Limmud means “learning” in Hebrew.The international grass-roots Limmudmovement promotes Jewish learning andculture and taps into local talent around theworld to celebrate Jewish life in all aspects.But how were we expected to concentrateon head-spinning presentations by rabbis,researchers, and lay leaders at the 2ndannual Bay Area Limmud duringPresident’s weekend 2013? The rusticallybeautiful beachside Asilomar ConferenceCenter in Pacific Grove, Calif., with deerroaming freely among the wooden cabins,ensured that nature was an omnipresentguest in all programs.

As a retired university professor of communication and fulltime mediator, Iwas pleased to attend Rabbi Amy Eilberg’ssession,“Martin Buber on Conflict in Ourlives and in Our World.” In 1985, RabbiEilberg became the first female rabbiordained by the Conservative JewishTheological Seminary. Rabbi Eilberg wasan early pioneer in the Jewish healingmovement and demonstrated an ability to relate to a diverse group on a deep spiritual level during the AIDS crisis.According to her Limmud bio, she “servesas a peace educator, conflict specialist, andspiritual director. She is at work on a bookon Judaism, peace and conflict, with theworking title, From Enemy to Friend: theSacred Practice of Jewish Peacemaking.”

Rabbi Eilberg began her session withwhat she called the “macro- micro- continuum” regarding conflict. As someone who included a hefty segmenton conflict resolution in every relevantcommunication class I taught for morethan 25 years, I, too, developed such acontinuum. I was delighted to learn thatwhat I thought was my unique idea, wasalso espoused by such a national luminaryas Rabbi Eilberg.

Interesting side note: the same ideaarising from different sources in differentplaces at the same time is an example of what psychiatrist Carl Jung called “synchronicity.” If Freud had not discovered the unconscious, someone else would have. If Shakespeare had not written Hamlet, then someone elsewould have; or, would have written a playthat served the same place in literature.But I digress…

…the more one is in genuine dialogue withanother, the less there

will be conflict.

May 8, 2013 The Jewish Post & Opinion – NAT 9be constructive. As an example, the core ofdemocracy is constructive conflict.

The bulk of Rabbi Roth’s presentationexplained how arguments can be constructive. In true Talmudic style, theRabbi began his explanation by asking aquestion: “What will continue after theconflict?” and then answered it: “The people and the connection between themstill exists.” Controversy can strengthenand not destroy the relationship.

He cited Jewish law regarding theenemy from the Mishna: “the definition of an enemy is when there is no longercommunication (between the parties).”When done properly, when each sideargues thoroughly, better solutionsemerge, according to this learned rabbi.A question that needs to be activethroughout such arguments: “Can welearn from each other?”

Agreements between disputing partiesneed to be active as well. Such agreementsinclude: acknowledge where your ego is in the argument, acknowledge that contradictory points may each have anelement of truth, and activate curiosityand respect throughout. At the end, eachparty is to concede to the other.

“You are not a Torah scholar until youcan explain 49 ways of controversy –defend each side passionately. Theessence of Talmud Torah is to be able toargue both sides,” according to thisTalmudic scholar. He continued,“The goalof Talmud Torah is to be able to explainwhy both sides are right.”

Rabbi Roth distributed a seven-pageEnglish/Hebrew handout titled, “Sourcesfor the Jewish Day of ConstructiveConflict.” All of his explanations that he cited in his lecture had bases in Jewish texts. My takeaway: the process ofresolving conflict, that is, the way it isdone is as important as the content of thearguments. True to Talmudic form, thehandout ended with a question: can readers think of one way they could practice constructive conflict?

In my Jan. 16, 2013 JP&O column,“Neuroscience Explains Gaza,” I talkedabout recent research in the explodingfield of neuroscience that has begun tomap out the physiological basis of theexperience of conflict in the brain. Thiscolumn attempts to portray different waysthe Jewish religion teaches about conflictresolution. With the help of empirical science and creative religious leaders like Rabbis Eilberg and Roth, may all ourarguments soon become arguments forthe sake of heaven.

Dr. Miriam L. Zimmerman is professoremerita at Notre Dame de NamurUniversity in Belmont, Calif, where she continues to teach the Holocaust course. Shecan be reached at [email protected]. AAAA

(I missed the first), filled in a lot of information gaps for me. Rabbi Roth’shandouts from both sessions that Iattended included Hebrew and Englishcolumns of relevant texts from the Talmud,sometimes with his own comments.

Rabbi Roth began by answering thequestion, “Who was Amalek over the generations?” He distributed a handoutthat pictured Amalek in a variety of incarnations over the centuries, beginningwith the biblical Edomites, descendants of the grandson of Esau, and ending upwith today’s Palestinians. His scholarshipexceeded my ability to sum up the complexity of the Talmudic sources andcommentaries he cited, Jewish texts thatcan guide one as to how to think aboutand act on conflict.

Rabbi Roth never did fully answer myquestion after he called on me, “Who gets to decide who is Amalek?”It seemedto me that naming someone as “Amalek”opens up doors to treating that person/group/nation as the enemy with negativeconsequences for the relationship. Myunconfirmed takeaway: Amelek waswhomever the Rabbis decided was Amelek.The consequences of “naming” someoneas the enemy are profound. Jewish textscan help us better understand not onlyhow to treat the enemy but also how toavoid such a relationship altogether.

In his final presentation on conflict resolution, “The 9th of Adar/ February19th – The Day Peaceful ConstructiveConflict Became Violently Destructive,“weparticipants learned how to “argue for thesake of heaven.”The title of his talk wasbased on the Pardes Center for Judaismand Conflict Resolution (PCJCR) havingdeclared an international Jewish Day ofConstructive Conflict on the 9th of Adar.Anyone can participate by reading andstudying more about conflict resolutionand by attempting to manage conflicts in amore constructive and cooperative spirit.

According to tradition, on the 9th ofAdar about 2,000 years ago, an argumentfor the sake of heaven (Machloket l’shemshamayim) between the House of Hilleland the House of Shammai ceased beingpeaceful and constructive. The ensuingviolence resulted in the loss of up to 3,000lives, according to some sources; a tragicday for the Jewish people.

The key ingredient in arguing for thesake of heaven is that the argument must

that the most compelling arguments wereones that included the logic of the other. Itis a risk to be open to your opponent’sarguments, to affirm them, to understandthem completely. To do so in a persuasivepresentation means you must have complete confidence in your own point ofview and not be afraid to present andrespond to the other’s perspective.

Certainly, in interpersonal relationshipsand the divorce mediation context inwhich I work professionally today, it couldmean the difference between saving amarriage and ending it. In acknowledgingthe validity of the other’s argument, onetakes a risk in making oneself vulnerableto perhaps the superior arguments of your partner. Especially in close intimaterelationships, it is essential to realize thatbefore you have the right to change yourpartner (it’s always their fault!), you mustbe open to be changed by your partner.

This is very tricky to do since at that sametime, there must be an acknowledgmentof the non-negotiable right of the other to be affirmed and valued by you.Communication must remain respectful at all times. Maintaining respect when a conflict appears to attack one’svery identity is extremely difficult.Unfortunately, most of our families do notteach their children how to accomplishthis with the result that, as adults, manycannot manage conflict in their most intimate of relationships: the marital one.

This rationale for including the other’sperspective that I used in my course is anapplication of Rabbi Eilberg’s theories that she presented at Limmud. I haveincorporated her teaching for years,without knowing that I have done so. Iwas to find out the next day at Limmudthat what we both have been doing isteaching people how to argue “for the sakeof heaven.”

Rabbi Eilberg’s talk provided a bridgeinto Rabbi Daniel Roth’s presentations onconflict resolution as grounded by theTalmud. Rabbi Roth is the first director ofthe Pardes Center for Judaism and ConflictResolution in Jerusalem. According to hisLimmud bio, he is a Ph.D. candidate atBar-Ilan University’s Program for ConflictResolution and Negotiation. He writes on themes of Jewish models of conflictresolution, peacemaking and reconciliation.He is also an Israeli certified court mediator. The Rabbi received his ordination from Yeshivat Har-Etzion andholds an M.A. in Talmud from HebrewUniversity. At Limmud, I was fortunate toattend two of Rabbi Roth’s three sessionson conflict resolution.

“Remember What Amalek Did to You! –Reconciling Intractable Identity Conflictsin our Tradition and Society Today,”the title of Rabbi Roth’s second session

The key ingredient in arguing for the sake of

heaven is that the argumentmust be constructive.


Excitement filled the air in front of The Children’s Museum (TCM) inIndianapolis, Ind. on April 14 as notedspeakers prepared to plant a sapling fromthe chestnut tree that stood outside theSecret Annex in Amsterdam where AnneFrank hid with her family and others from1942–1944. Although saplings from thistree have already been planted all over thecountryside in Holland, this was the firstone planted in the United States.

All the local television stations andnewspapers were on hand to capture thisevent for their audiences on this warmand sunny but windy morning.This was instark contrast to the time period in historythis event recalled when racial prejudicewas rampant.

The purpose of the Anne Frank PeacePark where the sapling was planted is to remind us of what can happen whenintolerance and hatred go unchecked. Avariety of people of different ages, races,and religions were on hand to show theirsupport of this purpose and to concur howimportant it is to never cease striving forthe time when humanity will no longerneed this reminder.

Three of the speakers were JeffreyPatchen, President and CEO of TCM;Yvonne Simons, Executive Director of The Anne Frank Center USA (see photo below); and Rabbi Brett Krichiver ofIndianapolis Hebrew Congregation (seeexcerpts of their speeches on p. 3). Otherspeakers were David Sousa, Public AffairsManager of Dow AgroSciences; DavidGray, Chairman of the Board of TCM; and

Anne Franksapling plantingceremony at TCMBY JENNIE COHEN

L to R: David Sousa, Public Affairs Manager of Dow AgroSciences; Yvonne Simons,Executive Director of The Anne Frank Center USA; David Gray, Chairman of the Board ofThe Children’s Museum (TCM); Philanthropists Gerald and Dorit Paul, Rabbi Brett Krichiverof Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation; and Jeffrey Patchen, President and CEO of TCM.

Rabbi Brett Krichiver of Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation extemporaneously noted howappropriate the Super Heroes exhibit banner was for the sapling planting because not allof our Super Heroes wear costumes, sometimes even a teenage girl can be a Super Hero.

L–R: Yvonne Simons, Executive Director ofthe Anne Frank Center USA and TCMPresident and CEO Jeffrey Patchen.

Philanthropists Dorit and Gerald Paul,funders of the Peace Park. Thanks to thegenerosity of Dow AgroSciences, TCMwas able to provide essential care andfeeding for several of the saplings.

When Rabbi Krichiver came to podium,he admitted his first comment was notwritten down. It was about the Super Heroesbanner on the outside of the Skywalk tothe museum (see photo below). He said hehad not noticed it before because he usuallywalks into the museum via the Skywalk.One cannot see the banner from inside,but from the outside, it cannot be missed.

He said he had seen the Super Heroesexhibit inside the museum and it is verygood. He continued about how appropriatethis banner is for this program becausenot all of our Super Heroes wear costumeslike the ones in the exhibit, and sometimeseven a teenage girl can be a Super Hero.

A very interesting speaker was JohnGoodson (photo opposite) who portraysOtto Frank, Anne’s father and the onlysurvivor of their family. A few times everyday in the Anne Frank exhibit inside TCM, he and an actress who portraysAnne, give short monologues. This brings


the story to life, making it seem more thana distant history.

After the planting was over, I attendedhis live performance. Goodson talks witha German accent and comes across assomber, yet uplifting. After the performance,he leaves the “room”and comes back withno accent. He says he is there to answersany questions the audience has about thediary, the family, and Miep Gies whohelped hide and bring food to the family.Gies is the woman who found Anne’sdiary and kept it safe for Otto.

Dr. Caryn Vogel of Indianapolis, daughterof Holocaust survivors Michael Vogel, ofblessed memory, and Agnes Vogel, who wasalso in attendance (see photo above), hadthe following comments about this event.

“Each year there are fewer livingHolocaust survivors and each year itseems that the memory of the Shoah fades(both for Jews and non Jews). This livingtree will serve as a tangible memory ofthose who died in the Holocaust, but also a tangible reminder of how good cantriumph over evil. It is wonderful that The Children’s Museum has chosen tohighlight the story of Anne Frank as animportant educational tool.

“On a personal level, my father, MichaelVogel, worked closely with Jennifer PaceRobinson (Vice President of ExperientialDevelopment and Family Learning at TCM)on one of their first Holocaust relatedexhibits. He and my mother volunteeredmany hours as docents and school lecturersfor that project. They forged a close relationship with Jennifer and other staffat the museum. I am touched that theystill remember my parents and honor myfather’s memory by including us!”

I saw how pleased the Vogels, likewiseother Holocaust survivors and their children, were with this program. It was obvious that many hours of planning and preparation had taken place. This was greatly appreciated not only by thiswriter, but everyone in attendance.

Editor’s note: I would like to give a special “Thank you” to Director of Publicand Media Relations at TCM, KimberlyHarms, who helped provide so much information for this sapling planting story.

Excerpts of speechesJeffrey Patchen:Today is a day where what we are about

to do truly matters, not just for childrenand families here in Indiana, but also forchildren and families throughout thecountry and across the world who arefamiliar with the Anne Frank story andwho understand that everything we do asa society to perpetuate that story and itslessons are incredibly important andmeaningful.

It is a real privilege for the Museum tobe a permanent site of one of the AnneFrank Tree saplings and to have had theopportunity over the past three years toserve as host for eight other saplings asthey were in quarantine pursuant toIndiana and federal DNR regulations.

In many ways, these saplings have beenthe Museum’s most precious and fragileartifacts over the past three years. Ourwork… in caring for these fragile saplingsand that which we plan in the comingyears around telling the Chestnut Tree’sstory and the meaning it gave to Anneduring her time in hiding is truly one ofthose opportunities where science, art andhumanistic elements come together in waysthat will change the lives and perspectivesof children and families who visit.

I am pleased to introduce YvonneSimons, Executive Director of the AnneFrank Center, whose foresight in conceivingthe Sapling Project truly made all that wecelebrate today possible.

Yvonne Simons:On behalf of the Anne Frank Center

USA, I am very pleased to collaborate withThe Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

(TCM) on the planting of the first of theAnne Frank saplings in the United States.

The Anne Frank Center is a partnerorganization of the Anne Frank House inAmsterdam. Located in Lower Manhattan2 blocks north of the 9/11 Memorial andMuseum, we occupy a large gallery andeducational space. It is our mission to raise awareness on the consequences ofintolerance – all kinds of intolerance –through our educational programs andtraveling exhibits, which have been viewedby nearly 6 million people in this country.

This week is Yom HaShaoh, HolocaustRemembrance week, in which we commemorate the murder of 1.5 millionchildren. No children anywhere in theworld, under any circumstance, on eitherside of any conflict, should be victimized.What the Children’s Museum stands for,together with the Anne Frank Center, isthe celebration of children – ALL childrenin this world – because they signify hopeand innocence.

Anne Frank saw the tree only from asmall window in the attic, and it gave hera sense of hope, beauty and renewal. Wehope that in her absence many generationsof children will see this Chestnut treegrown into all she wanted it to represent.

Please go to our website www.annefranktreeusa.com and become part of thismission by confronting intolerance.

Rabbi Brett Krichiver:Once while walking along a road, Honi

saw a man planting a carob tree. He askedhim: “How long will it take for this tree tobear fruit?” “Seventy years,” replied theman. The sage then asked: “Are you sohealthy a man that you expect to live thatlength of time and eat its fruit?” The man answered: “I found a fruitful world,because my ancestors planted it for me.Likewise I am planting for my children.”(Babylonian Talmud Ta’anit 23a)

Trees have a particular significance inthe Jewish tradition. In Proverbs we read that our Torah is a Tree of Life tothose that hold tight to it and everyonewho upholds it is happy. Its ways are waysof pleasantness, and all its paths are peace(after Proverbs 3:17–18).

It takes 70 years for a tree to bear its fullfruit, according to the ancient texts. Thissymbolism is not lost on us today,especially as we consider the lessonslearned almost 70 years since the death ofAnne Frank. We consider the thoughts shehad while peering out the window of herhiding place, when she wrote: “I want togo on living even after my death!”– AnneFrank (April 5, 1944)

We bless this occasion, when we striveto bring new life to the memory of AnneFrank, young victim of the Shoah, theNazi Holocaust, who teaches us so muchfrom her inextinguishable optimism. AAAA

L–R: Dr. Caryn Vogel with her mother,Holocaust survivor Agnes Vogel, andJennifer Pace Robinson, vice president ofexperiential development and familylearning at TCM. Behind: Howard Vogel,Caryn’s brother.

Rabbi Brett Krichiver (R) speaks with John Goodson (L ) who portrays OttoFrank, Anne’s father, at TCM.

for the newborn baby, without meaninguntil much later in life. It is the parentsand, to a lesser extent, family and friendsand members of the community, forwhom the rite is a powerful and long lasting source of hope.

The power of the physical act itself,when connected with the religious ritual,cannot go unnoticed or be experiencedwith indifference by the parents. In amanner of speaking, it bludgeons theminto consciousness of their newly acquiredresponsibility for the moral career of thisindividual that they have brought into the world. To a lesser extent, most of the family and friends and communitymembers who are present also feel somepull of responsibility for that individual’smoral career.

Not only is the new life a source of hopein itself, but the commitment of the parents, family, friends, and community toensure that that life will be one dedicatedto righteousness cannot help but reinforceover the years their hopefulness withevery act they contribute to the child’smoral career.

We pass each year with weekly Shabbatobservance, each of which is not only anongoing training ground for our moralcareers, but an extraordinarily deep well ofhope for the Jewish people. Shabbat marksan incremental step toward the Days ofMashiach (Messiah) and our redemption,over which we exercise great control.

Although we are commanded to “keep”and “guard” the Sabbath, possibly moreimportant is the expression la’asot, that we are “to make” the Sabbath. Shabbat isnot something that happens to us, butsomething that we cause to happen.

What is it we do to make it happen? Shabbat happens when we cease trying

to control the creative forces in our environment, in other people, and in ourselves. It’s a time of not living in theordinary sense, but learning how to liveextraordinarily. It’s a time of recreation,re-creating our selves by reclaiming ourTorah tradition of wisdom, which holdsout a vision and path of liberation for ourspirits and bodies. It’s a time to be withthose we love, a time of gemilut hasadim(loving-kindness). It’s a time when wediscover that we are loved and lovable andthat the world need not always be a cold,

Hope is the palpable feeling that goodness is going to emerge in the world,the uplifting, sometimes even joyful experience of anticipating good things tocome. It’s like warm bread; it not only fillsus up, it fuels our contentment – whateverelse is happening in our lives, things lookand feel better when we’re hopeful. Werun on hope; when it fades or disintegrates,despair and depression replace it, and webecome immobilized or worse.

But how are we to feel hopeful when thepossibilities are so bleak, when what welove and cherish is threatened, and nagging fear has replaced what onceseemed to be an impenetrable security?

Is hope always accessible, even in theworst of times? And, if so, how are we to regain it? To what extent are we responsible for our own hopefulness orlack of it? And what’s the link betweenbeing Jewish and our hopefulness?

Our deepest source of hope as Jews is the history of our people and our civilization – that we’ve survived! – andwhat has followed throughout the worldfrom that history.

Our common historical root is the liberation and exodus from Egypt, and theextraordinary events at Mount Sinai –Mattan Torah, giving and receiving thelaw, the covenant between God and the“mixed multitude,” which then becamethe Israelites. For the first time moralitywas understood as the supreme moral willof God. Prescribed behavior reflected notthe fickle will of warring gods, but eternaldefinitions of moral right and wrong.The law reflected predictable uplifting ordegrading consequences, given the will of the One Creator, as revealed in theworkings of creation.

Moreover, morality was never again tobe an entirely private matter. The wholepeople, acting together as one, acceptedthe covenant, thus the whole peoplebecame responsible for one another’sobservance and moral lapses. Thecovenant is not merely a theological idea,then, but marks the creation of a moralspiritual community, binding together in anation the communal life of a body of

people through their assumption of ashared moral “yoke.” No longer were wealone in finding the path and staying on it.

Liberation shattered the ancient paradigmof social life and relations – that all existedin permanently fixed orbits. For the firsttime it was possible to conceive of humanlife uplifted for thousands, even millions.This radical transformation of consciousnesswas the underpinning for all subsequentsocial and political revolutions – and asource of everlasting hope.

Much later, about a century after the firstexiles returned to Jerusalem following theBabylonian galut, “a solemn convocationtook place in which the law of God wasformally enacted as binding upon thecommunity with ‘a curse and an oath.’”That action is preserved in the narrativeprayer of Ezra. The painful experiences ofthe community, its poverty and subjugation,were attributed to the failure of the peopleto observe the law. So the priests, Levites,and princes declared an official orthodoxy,that “the covenant is primarily the oath to obey the accumulated tradition…ascanonized in the Torah.”

The Torah is the method of achievinghope – in effect it embodies the principlesand pathways that sustain hope.

Our greatest pain and suffering – thechallenges to remaining hopeful – oftencome not from events themselves, butfrom our confusion and uncertainty whenfaced with moral dilemmas. The problem,typically, is not about choosing betweenright and wrong – most of us see thatchoice, agonize briefly, and make it quickly.No – despair comes when the choice isbetween two seemingly evil or seeminglygood possibilities. It’s in making thosechoices and living with the consequencesthat we need concrete help to sustain ourhope when it’s strained.

Our continued hope lies in thecovenantal commitment to Torah as theunimpeachable guide for our day-to-daylives, our recognition that “even in theworst of times, in your mitzvot(commandments) our hope is found.”

The covenant, brit or cutting, is anarchaic form in social life that is related to hope. Its antecedent is the cutting of asacrificial animal in two parts and havingparties to a contract pass between them, a symbolic identification of thosemaking promises with the animal that was slaughtered. It’s a graphic way of demonstrating the fate of one who contemplates violating the covenant,thereby disappointing the hope of theother party to the agreement.

The brit milah, the rite of circumcision,which is an adjunct to the Covenant, isanother important Jewish source of hope.The circumcision itself is but a momentaryand quickly passing instant of discomfort

BY RABBI MOSHE

BEN ASHER, PH.D.AND MAGIDAH

KHULDA BAT SARAH

A Jew doesn’t lose hope

(see Ben Asher/Bat Sarah, page 13)

Gather the People12 The Jewish Post & Opinion – NAT May 8, 2013

Our continued hope lies in the covenantal

commitment to Torah asthe unimpeachable guidefor our day-to-day lives…

cruel place.There is a crucial link between the

covenant, the Sabbath, and the Days ofMashiach – each leads to the next.

BEN ASHER/BAT SARAH(continued from page 12)

When the skeptics and cynics dismiss thepotential of bringing Days of Mashiach,those who keep Shabbat answer that theyhave already experienced it, if only for oneday in the week. That experience is madepossible through our covenantal learningand teaching every week that God andhumankind have an ability to respondtogether to “complete” the creation, to co-create a world of righteousness, truth,and justice, freedom, peace, and kindness.

There are two competing kinds of faiththat underpin our ability to respond – onedirected externally and the other directedinternally. The external faith is a consciousconfidence or trust that, if we satisfy theconditions established by Torah, God will act lovingly and compassionately toprovide for our needs. This is mostly faith in God’s responsibility or ability torespond. The internal faith can be thoughtof as an internalized conviction or motivation (i.e., not in the conscious mind yet usually demonstrated in ouraction) regarding the possibility for goodto emerge in the world, despite our consciously recollected reason and experience to the contrary. This is faith in our responsibility or ability to respond.

Both types of faith regard the humancapacity for goodness to be created byGod. The external type of faith reflects abelief that God has created within us thewherewithal to believe that God can act inways that are entirely outside of our reason and experience. Here “leap of faith”means we set aside our reason and experience to believe that God will creategreater goodness in the world. The internal type of faith reflects a belief that,because of what God has created withinus, we can act in ways that are entirely outside of our reason and experience.Here “leap of faith” means that we allowourselves to create greater goodness in the world even though our reason andexperience reject that possibility. Most ofus experience these two types of faith to a greater or lesser degree; they’re notmutually exclusive.

What are the connections between faithand hope?

With external faith, we become morehopeful when our confidence in God’saction is borne out by events, although wecan sustain hope by prayer, notwithstandingdiscouraging events. With internal faith,sometimes we fail to recognize this faithas faith, and thus we fail to act on it. Thatis, although for inexplicable reasons wefeel motivated to create more goodness inthe world, maybe even taking first steps to do so, when we begin to reason andrecollect our experience we decide that wemust be “out of our mind”to continue.

But if we don’t misunderstand our faithand, instead, allow it to operate as a

stimulus, its manifestation in our action tocreate goodness is the most importantsource of reinforcement for our hopefulness.So every completed act of goodness thatwe create through our own initiative givesus greater hope that goodness will emergein the world. And to the extent that wechoose to associate with other people whoare also committed to actively creatinggoodness, consciously avoiding peoplewho are not doing so, we stimulate andreinforce our own hopefulness.

Yet withal, one might reply: that’s allwell and good, but the world in which I’mliving is a devastating destroyer of hope.

Is it possible to open our eyes and lookdirectly into the sickliness and deathlinessaround us – and not lose hope? Can welook into the world of terrorism, war,violent crime, toxic pollution, and politicalcorruption – and somehow remain hopeful?

Is it possible to feel sustained and hopefulas we read King Solomon’s words inKohelet (Ecclesiastes), that, “all is vanity”(i.e., emptiness)? How can there be hopein the consciousness that everything is futile?

Because from Solomon we learn thatwe’re not alone in this vale of tears. All of us together share these painful circumstances, and together we can helpto bring Days of Mashiach.

But of course there are no quick or simple solutions. Our God with whom we covenant is a God of history, willinglysharing with us the power of creation asco-producers, but over the course ofdecades and centuries, if not millennia.

So we can understand why it’s said inMidrash Rabbah that,“everything is boundup with waiting”? But in what ways aresuffering, sanctification of God’s Name,and desire for Days of Mashiach bound upwith waiting?

Rabbi Enoch Zundel ben Joseph ofBialystok (d. 1867), commentator on theMidrash, reminds us that when we sufferand struggle together, we hope with faithfor relief. We hope to sanctify the Name ofGod, to do an important act with our livesthat praises God and goodness. We hopefor Days of Mashiach, through willingnessto wait, not in passive receptivity, butrefusing to give up hope by constant initiative and application of Torah teaching, working at tikun olam (repairingthe world).

A Jew doesn’t lose hope because, evenwhen waiting for goodness to emerge, aJew refuses to give up working to creategoodness – which in turn sustains hope.

© 2013 Moshe ben Asher & Khulda bat SarahRabbi Moshe ben Asher and Magidah

Khulda bat Sarah are the Co-Directors ofGather the People, a nonprofit organizationthat provides Internet-based resources forcongregational community organizing anddevelopment (www.gatherthepeople.org). AAAA


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Geh nisht mit shlechteh chaverim.(Don’t associate with bad friends.)

Ess ah bisseleh nor zaul daus zeineppes goot. (Eat a small amount but besure it is something special.)

Zizeye nisht farnotisht. (Don’t be afanatic!)

Vaus der mensch lehrent zich aus gaitnisht farloren. (Whatever a person learnsnever gets lost.)

Ah mol iz besser ahz nieh shvaikt.(Sometimes the best answer is none atall.)

Ahz meh lehpt der lehpt mehn. (If youlive long enough everything will happen.)

Der mensch dahf zach tzoo graytentzoom shtarben, nor meh darf nishtvarten. Ahz der malach ahmauvess hautdein kvitel vet err deer gehfinen. (Weshould prepare ourselves for the inevitabledeath, but don’t sit around waiting for it tohappen. When the angel of death has yourticket, he will find you wherever you are.)

Ah zay vee meh lept ahzay shtarptmehn. (The way you live your life is theway you die.)

Ahz meh kaucht shane, macht mehnah bissel mere effshare veht imehtzerkumen. (When you’re already cooking,cook a bit more – never can tell whensomeone might drop in.)

Ah mol iz besser ahz meh hert nisht ahzay goot. [On her deafness] (Some thingsare better not heard.)

Henya Chaiet is the Yiddish name forMrs. A. Helen Feinn. Born in 1924 ten daysbefore Passover, her parents had come toAmerica one year prior. They spoke onlyYiddish at home so that is all she spoke untilage five when she started kindergarten. Shethen learned English, but has always lovedYiddish and speaks it whenever possible.Chaiet lived in La Porte and Michigan City,Ind., from 1952 to 1978 and currentlyresides in Walnut Creek, Calif. Email:[email protected]. AAAA

10 wise sayingsfrom my mother

BY HENYA CHAIET

Yiddish forEveryday


have to do much convincing for the rabbito give him a crash (week’s!) course.

“Young father” is particularly apt herebecause the standing joke on the series isthat Burt became a father at age 17 after“knocking up”his high school sweetheart,now his wife, and that his son has followed in his footsteps, becoming ayoung father of baby Hope whose motheris a serial killer. This standing joke ismilked in this episode for all that it isworth, especially in the Hebrew Schoolclassroom where Burt (rather half-heartedly) warns the adolescent boysagainst becoming fathers at age 17.

It is interesting that there are no girls inthe class. Is this supposed to be a more“traditional” synagogue? The men andwomen sit together during services, wherethe rabbi has to correct every word read byBurt for hours. If the rabbi is traditional,he certainly did not do due diligence indetermining whether or not Burt is Jewish,not to mention in preparing him for theoccasion. As it turns out, Burt learns thathis parents made up the whole Jewishthing just so that they could bank his barmitzvah presents as payback for all theirgifts for the graduations and other lifecycle ceremonies of their friends’ moreaccomplished children. (Mom refers tothose children as “horrible.”)

After services, the rabbi overhears Burt’sdiscovery that he is not Jewish. When Burtapologizes,“My goyim parents told a littlefib,” the rabbi totally cuts him off, saying,“You wasted enough of my time. Shalom,sir.” To Burt’s, “But, rabbi,” the rabbiresponds emphatically and dismissively,“Isaid, ‘Shalom.’” Surely such a turn ofevents would require pastoral attention –and understanding. But the writers obviously want everyone to be at theirworst in this episode, if not in the entireseries. So the rabbi cannot look good.Neither can the very ceremony of barmitzvah which is reduced here to how it isdescribed, as “the first major pay day for aJewish kid.”

I must confess that it bothered me a bitto see everyone’s jumping joy at the end ofthis episode in putting the whole “Jewishthing”behind them. One suspects that therabbi’s dismissiveness was hardly a factor inthe jubilation to be rid of Judaism.Virginiaspeaks for all when she proclaims,“O.K., theJewish thing is officially over. Everybodyback to our house for some glazed ham.”

Nowadays Jewish educators strenuouslypoint out that “bar mitzvah”or “bat mitzvah”is not a verb but a noun, that one becomes abar mitzvah but does not get “bar mitzvahed.”Whether intentionally or unintentionally,this episode betrays the fallacy in therationalization of bar or bat mitzvah ceremonies as object lessons in following

deeply than had been thought possiblewhen he wonders aloud, “I don’t feelJewish. Maybe that’s why they call it‘Jewish.’ If people find out and don’t feelfull Jew they feel ‘Jew-ish.’”This is the bestline in the whole episode, which quicklydegenerates into cheap shot stereotypes,then becomes momentarily touching untila deception is revealed and the closing,cheapest shots are delivered.

The half hour even provides a fewextended musical sequences. They are afar cry from the Fiddler on the Roof musicaltradition, though, perhaps, one routine is akind of homage to it. Burt visits a kosherdeli to inquire about Judaism, and witnesses, at least in his mind’s eye, all ofthe employees and customers, including achasid, dancing to lyrics about “whatmakes a Jew a Jew” – like “over-bearingmothers,” “movie-making brothers,”“fathers who earn money,”“books aboutthe Holocaust and Streisand on CD.”In a second musical montage in the supermarket, when Burt’s wife inquiresabout a seder, the clerk croons a rathernasty song about his ex-wife who, though“shrewish,” was genuinely “Jewish,” buttaught him how to do a seder despite herfrigidity. (“Seder” is rhymed with “neverlaid her.”) I suppose I should have seenthe rhapsody on “shrewish”Jewish womencoming as soon as the word “Jewish” was“parsed” and the rhymes began to flow.I won’t even go into the third musicalnumber, a Gothic rock deal in which a“modern”rabbi hurls a Sefer Torah and thebar mitzvah man and son literally ride one.(In that number, the rabbi is depicted asdancing with a couple of chorus girls butthe “bar mitzvah”maintains his dignity.)

Burt does decide to have a bar mitzvahceremony, hoping that his parents granthim atonement for never having graduatedfrom high school or even finished a bookreport. “I never followed through on anything because I never became a man,”he confesses. “I think I need to get barmitzvahed.” His wife asks: “Are you sureyou really want to do this? The Jewishthing is a lot of work.”But the determinedyoung father finds the nearest synagogueand Hebrew School and doesn’t seem to

MediaWatchBY RABBI ELLIOT B. GERTEL

Bar Mitzvah onRaising Hope

By any standard of good taste, thepenultimate episode of this season’sRaising Hope would have to be classifiedas one of television’s most vulgar depictions of Jews and of Judaism. Yetwriters Mark Torgrove and Paul A. Kaplan,while still fully responsible for this ratherirksome and unoriginal fare, are not fullyto blame for the half hour’s tastelessness.At least some of that blame rests with the bar and bat mitzvah process in mostsynagogues and the rhetoric and rationale(not to mention the rituals of conspicuousconsumption in the gifts and the celebrations) which often attend the popular ceremonies.

With the advent of Easter, Burt Chance’sparents (Shirley Jones and Lee Majors)visit with astounding news. They haveattended a bar mitzvah, and Mom claimsthat she learned that she is not only acousin to someone named Goldberg that she is fully Jewish, and that Burt istherefore Jewish, too. Mom wants Burt(Garret Dillahunt) to “get bar-mitzvahed”and to “become a man” because he hasnever followed through with anything(like graduating from high school). As Dad points out, Mom has really learnedhow to lay on the guilt since finding outthat she is Jewish. He also complains, “Ihaven’t had a healthy stool since yourmother changed religions.”

The revelation makes things a bit awkward and hard, especially for Burt’swife, Virginia (Martha Plimpton), who has resourcefully and proudly acquired amonumental ham for a landmark Easterdinner. Burt’s mom declares, “We nolonger celebrate Easter. We’re Passoverpeople.” Virginia tries to put a positive spin on the “different songs, more holidays” that will probably change theirlives, but Burt, who, although blessed with good looks is challenged in the intelligence departments, both emotionaland intellectual, wonders whether heshould punch a friend “for that hilarious[anti-Semitic] joke he told me last week.”In their pillow talk Virginia speculates thatthere must be some amazing Passoverrecipes for the Easter ham. Burt suggeststhat they keep asking themselves, “Whatwould Jesus do?”

Burt shows signs of thinking more

Burt Chance (Garret Dillahunt) in RaisingHope imagines what makes a Jew a Jew.

(see Gertel, page 19)

May 8, 2013 The Jewish Post & Opinion – NAT 15has disappeared. I’m looking forward tofalafel or shwarma or ice cream or maybe ourfavorite, café afukh. And I know as I walkthrough the streets that I belong here.

Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day,May 7-8, 2013

“Ten measures of beauty were bestowedupon the world; nine were taken byJerusalem and one by the rest of theworld.”This is read in Tractate Kiddushim49:2 of the Babylonian Talmud.

May 7–8 is the 28th of Iyar, the newestholiday on the Jewish calendar, establishedin 1998 by the Israeli government. Fromthe time King David made Jerusalem hiscapital, it has remained the eternal capital –whether it was conquered by Christians orMuslims or others.

With the War of Independence in 1948,Jerusalem was divided and the easternsection was occupied by Jordan and ruledfrom its capital, Amman. On June 5, 1967,Israel’s neighbors challenged her borders.Syria fired at the north and in the air;Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran and sent100,000 troops into Sinai. Jordan openedfire on Jerusalem.

On June 7, the third day of the Six-DayWar, the Israel Defense Forces brokethrough Jerusalem’s dividing wall, fightingagainst the Jordanian army which hadoccupied, desecrated, destroyed and devastated Jerusalem’s Old City for 20years. The Israel Defense Forces liberatedand reclaimed the Old City for the Jewishpeople and made United Jerusalem thenation’s capital.

Jerusalem – the holy cityFact: Jerusalem has always been described

and revered in Jewish law. Jews pray facingeast to Jerusalem. At the Passover seder,we say,“Next year in Jerusalem.”

Fact: For 3,000 years, Jerusalem hasbeen at the heart of the Jewish people.Thecity has only been divided twice in history– once in the period of the Maccabees, 22centuries ago, and from 1948 to 1967when Jordan occupied its eastern part.The only time it was a capital was underJewish rule.

Fact: The holiest place in Jerusalem forJews is the Western Wall, the remains ofthe wall built around the Second Templeand the Temple mount above.

Fact: There is no mention of Jerusalemin the Koran, because there is no historicalevidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. Mecca and Medina areMuslim holy sites, not Jerusalem.

Fact: It was Arafat’s uncle, grand mufti of Jerusalem, in the 1920s and 1930swho concluded for the first time thatMohammed ascended into heaven fromthe site known as the Dome of the Rockon the Temple Mount. It was he, in the last

century, who started the myth that therewas a Muslim connection to the city.

In a piece called “A Letter To the WorldFrom Jerusalem,”the writer says:

“There was a Jerusalem before there aNew York. When Berlin, Moscow, Londonand Paris were miasmal forest and swamp,there was a thriving Jewish communityhere. Three times a day we petition theAlmighty: ‘Gather us from the four cornersof the world, bring us upright to our land;return in mercy to Jerusalem, Thy city anddwell in it as Thou promised.’

“For the first time since the year 70,there is now complete religious freedomfor all in Jerusalem. For the first time sincethe Romans put the torch to the Temple,everyone has equal rights.

“Let me add, in conclusion, Jerusalemhas been a remarkable city for 5,000 years. What other city can say it has beenfought over by Babylonians, Macedonians,Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines, Persians,Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Turks,British and Jordanians. All have left theirimpressions upon the city.

“’If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may myright hand wither! May my tongue cleaveto the roof of my mouth, if I do notremember you, if I do not count Jerusalemthe greatest of my joys.’”

Fact: On March 22, 1990 the U.S.Senate unanimously adopted a resolutiondeclaring that “Jerusalem is and shouldremain the capital of the State of Israel”and “must remain an undivided city inwhich the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected.”

On April 30, the House adopted a resolution declaring Jerusalem to be theundivided capital of Israel in languageidentical to that passed by the Senate.

Fact: In 1995, the United StatesCongress overwhelmingly passed a lawrequiring the U.S. government to move itsEmbassy to Jerusalem. Presidents, however,may invoke their authority to waive thelaw based on the “national security”interests of the United States, and this iswhy the move has not taken place.

Jerusalem Day is a day for all Jews tocelebrate!

Visit the Maine Friendship House –Heritage and Museum

If you happen to drive down AuerbachStreet in Jaffa, you will stop suddenly tosee a wooden house with a plaque on thefront. It is open Fridays noon to 3 p.m. andSaturdays, 2 to 4 p.m.The 12-minute videoshown in the basement and a visit withJean and Dr. Reed Holmes, tells it all.

Jean and Reed met in 1980 when Reed (now a sprightly 96 years old) wasbringing groups to Israel. On Jean’s firsttrip in 1981, they came to a neighborhood

Yom Hazikaron, April 15, 2013

Today is Yom Hazikaron which isMemorial Day for the fallen soldiers. Asiren sounded last night at 8 p.m.to markthe start of the day and another onesounded at 11 a.m. Thank G-d, we do notknow anyone personally who was killedas a soldier although we do know somefamilies who have lost sons. This eveningit will end and roll over into YomHa’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day.

Yom Ha’atzmaut, April 16, 2013As a Zionist from the age of 16, Israel has

always played a central role in my life. Imade aliyah in 1970 and every experience,every day, for ten years was special for me as I lived and worked as a foreign correspondent. As my autobiographicalaccount of those years is titled, I was a“Witness to History” and loved everyminute of it – because I belonged here.

Yom Ha’atzmaut back in the old countrywas wearing blue and white and partici-pating in whatever community activitywas being held wherever I was living.

Returning almost five years ago to livein Israel was not so much because I was aZionist but from a more practical point ofview – whether my husband and I couldmake it here financially – and to give support to my daughter who had comebefore us – because we belonged here.I’m thrilled my feelings are in my genes(and in her jeans!).

All of this background is by way of saying that today, Yom Ha’atzmaut has aspecial meaning for me. I am home. Wehave a large circle of friends here, webelong to a nice synagogue where we areactive, I muddle through lots of situationswith my fairly good Hebrew, I am busywith my writing, I am sending hasbarato my papers to enlighten others, and Ibelong here.

Tonight, when Yom Hazikaron ends, wewill do what we have done for many yearsbefore – go downtown and breathe in thefair-like atmosphere of people on thestreets, eating, talking, enjoying, beingpart of Israel Independence Day. I’m hoping the disgusting idea of boppingpeople on the head with plastic hammers

Seen on theIsrael SceneBY SYBIL KAPLAN

Celebrating Israeland Jaffa’s MaineFriendship House

(see Kaplan/Israel, page 20)


deprived for too long of its essential andmultiple gifts.

Born in India to marginally practicingMuslim parents, 13-year-old Rushdiecame to London in 1961 to attend the boarding Rugby School where he discovered that he had three strikesagainst him: being a foreigner, smart,and bad at sports. However, his tryingtransition as a young immigrant probablyhelped shape Rushdie’s resolve later topersevere. He studied history atCambridge University – his father’s almamater – instead of economics that hisfather expected of him, and furthershocked him by opting for writing as acareer. Curiously, he was the only studentat Cambridge in 1967 to take a course on“Muhammad, the Rise of Islam and theEarly Caliphate”.

It took him five years to write his firstbook, Midnight’s Children, about hishomeland India. The book’s success ledhim to quitting his advertising job in 1981to fully devote himself to writing. TheSatanic Verses publication in England onSept. 26, 1988, resulted in threats toRushdie’s life along with the book’s burning on Dec. 2, in Bradford, England,with its highest Muslim presence inBritain. The burning is compared to theNazis’ books’ burning at Berlin’s OperaHouse on May 10, 1933.

Firebombing of bookstores occurred inLondon, and Sidney, Australia, as well asthreats against publishers. The Japanesetranslator, Professor Hitoshi Igaroshi, wasstabbed to death and the Italian translator,Dr. Ettore Capriolo was wounded in aknife attack. William Nyaard, theNorwegian publisher was shot in the back and survived. People died in demonstrations, particularly in India. Allthat weighs heavily on the author as heremains proud of the freedoms he foughtfor, finally reaching the conclusion that hedoes not have to be liked by all – whatmatters is being faithful to his principals.

For twelve and a half years he wasbanned from visiting India, and for nineand a half years he could not fly BritishAirways and other international carriersrefused him as well. Rushdie is mostgrateful to the United States for the warm welcome he received here at theU.S. Congress, Columbia University,and elsewhere.

Most ironically, his book, Fury, a satirical rendition of New York was due to be published in the United States onthe fateful Sept. 11, 2001. That attack reaffirmed for him that his own enemywas also the enemy of WesternCivilization, with his insightful observation, “the fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more thanbuildings…How to defeat terrorism?

Don’t be terrorized. Don’t let fear ruleyour life. Even if you are scared.” Theauthor proved it through his own agonizing experience.

While still in hiding Rushdie was electedPresident of the International Parliamentof Writers, creating the InternationalCities of Refuge Network to offer a safehaven for writers who, like himself arefleeing oppression. He also expresses gratitude to his fellow writers who stoodby him. Rushdie insists that “the story-telling animal must be free”so that humanbeings can grow beyond those boundariesstifling our imagination and the ability toembrace those who are different from us,that we may enlarge our universe, theinner and outer one.

Rabbi Israel Zoberman is the spiritualleader of Congregation Beth Chaverim inVirginia Beach. AAAA

Inspiring defenseof freedom

Joseph Anton (A Memoir). By SalmanRushdie. New York: Random House. 2012.633 Pages. $30.00.

Upon picking upSalman Rushdie’slatest book, JosephAnton, I took avow to read everypage of this heavytome written by aliterary genius whohas earned ourprofound appreci-ation not only for his dazzlingwriting skills, but no less, for his admirablecourage and fortitude facing a death sentence in the form of a fatwa, meted out by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini inFebruary, 1989 for his “blasphemous” TheSatanic Verses.

The author’s life was instantly turnedupside down. For eleven unfathomableyears he became a fugitive, secretly moving from one secure hiding place toanother. For nine of those years living withprotecting Scotland Yard officers in“Operation Malachite,” while trying tomaintain a semblance of normalcy in aworld gone mad. Much of his own moneywas spent on safe houses. His choice forthe required alias of Joseph Anton (thebook’s title) reflects his bond with thegreat writers Conrad and Checkhove whosefirst names he borrowed. The incredibleordeal took its toll on his family life.

He once panicked when unable to reachhis son Zafar and Zafar’s mother Clarissain Rushdie’s “worst day of his life”.He even pondered death as a preferredoption. His humor helped him cope, “A fatwa was not the only way to die.There were older types of death sentencesthat still worked very well”. If he has aweakness, it is his apparent need for thefamous and beautiful whose company hesought though they sought him as well.

This unique memoir and exhaustivediary narrated in third person, challengesthe reader with its myriad of details.Abundantly revealing with brutal honestyof the author’s tumultuous personal life of troubled marriages and relationships,it is nonetheless an inspiring defense of freedom even as he himself was

BookReviewREVIEWED BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

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Living with Faith: A Guide toUnderstanding Ourselves, Others and God.By Rabbi Irwin Wiener. Tate Publishing,$11 paperback, e-book available.

Rabbi Irwin Wiener’s first book is aquick, meaningful read designed to“enhance faith,”he writes in the preface.

“The purpose of(the book) is to tryto give people abetter understand-ing of how faithcan play an impor-tant role in yourlife. You don’t haveto be religious orirreligious to havefaith – it’s primaryhaving faith inyourself and others, and ultimately, youwill have faith in God.”

The spiritual leader of Sun Lakes JewishCongregation has pulled together previouslywritten articles and sermons and compileda book full of advice and stories on a variety of topics from relationships andanti-Semitism to our purpose on Earthand the role of God in our lives.

Wiener uses a number of illustrationsfrom popular culture to help people unfamiliar with religious concepts understand and relate to the ideas of the book. He says he hopes that the bookappeals to a wide audience.

“My only ambition in writing it was totry to encourage people to understandthat there is hope, and there is the value of prayer and the value of feeling a connection to God even though you don’tknow Him or you can’t see Him.”

Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, 5-3-2013. AAAA

Comfort and hope

May 8, 2013 The Jewish Post & Opinion – NAT 17deficiency – the 1939 voyage of the SS St.Louis from Europe to Cuba to Europe withits 937 Jewish passengers. Made into anovel and a movie, this incident arousedconsiderable attention. The Cuban visasheld by the passengers were revokedwhile the ship was still at sea and when the ship reached Havana, only 28passengers were allowed to land. The ship sailed along the Florida coast whileefforts were made to find a solution to theproblem. Immigration quota restrictionsbarred the admission of the passengers tothe United States.

The State Department made feebleefforts to deal with the issue but the shipeventually returned to Europe with itspassengers aboard. They disembarked inEngland, France, Belgium, and theNetherlands. Some critics assert that mostof these people died in the Holocaust.Breitman and Lichtman claim that this isan exaggeration and that “about half of the original 937 passengers eventuallyimmigrated into the United States.”Also,most of the 288 passengers who landed inGreat Britain survived the war. Moreover,they assert that Roosevelt was minimallyinvolved in the St. Louis affair having beenin Hyde Park or confined to his room inthe White House because of illness as theevents unfolded.

Another charge by Roosevelt’s faultfindersis that he refused to bomb the gas chambers,rail heads, and crematoria at Auschwitz.The authors claim that Roosevelt was notinvolved in targeting decisions nor is thereany hard evidence of his reviewing thisparticular issue. In any case, it is their viewthat Roosevelt would have responded byasserting his conviction that the best wayto help Europe’s Jews was to win the war.

While Breitman and Lichtman do notuniformly laud Roosevelt, they generallycome down on his side in the debateabout his relationship to Europe’s Jews.In any event, they have provided a well-written analysis of the controversy, usingthe latest evidence generally to refute hiscritics and to support his adherents. Theireasy-to-read contribution deserves to bewidely read.

Warm and tenderHolocaust memoir

Hiding Places. By Diane Wyshogrod.Albany, NY: State University of New YorkPress, 2012. 307 Pages. $24.95.

Born in New York in 1955 to Holocaustsurvivors Helen and Morris Wyszogrod,Diane Wyshogrod has written a movingbiography of her mother who hid for 16months in a Polish Christian couple’s

released two days before Pearl Harbor. Heimmediately re-enlisted and wound upserving four years in the military. Hereturned to play for three years, retiringafter the 1947 season. His final seasoncoincided with Jackie Robinson’s initialyear in the majors and Greenberg helpedhim to get started despite the hostilityshown by many players. For Greenberg,it was reliving the anti-Semitism heencountered when he started out. He continued to support black players fromthe front-office jobs he held after he wasno longer active on the field.

Although the book’s emphasis is onGreenberg as a baseball player, Rosengrenbriefly describes his personal life,including his two marriages and his threechildren. Greenberg died in 1986 at theage of 75. “His legacy,” Rosengren concludes,“shines a light for all Americansto follow.”

Thoughtful and easy-to-read

FDR and the Jews. By Richard Breitmanand Allan J. Lichtman. Cambridge, MA.The Belknap Press of Harvard UniversityPress. 433 Pages. $29.95.

From 1932 to 1944, Roosevelt ran forpresident an unprecedented four times.The vast majority of Jews enthusiasticallysupported him although some expressedconcern as to whether or not he did everything possible to save the Jews ofEurope. For the most part, however, Jewstended to accept his assertion that the bestthing he could do for European Jews wasto defeat the Nazis. Almost 40 years afterRoosevelt died, this difference of opinioncame to a head in 1984 when David S.Wyman published his harsh criticism ofRoosevelt in The Abandonment of the Jews.Defenders and antagonists followed,writing a number of books on the subject.The latest contribution to the often strident debate is this new book by two American University history professors, Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman. Theirextensive research,using a wide variety of sources,documented in 76pages of footnotes,has resulted in thisthoughtful assess-ment that dispar-ages die-hardextremists on bothsides of the debate.

The authors forthrightly tackle one incident that is frequently utilized byRoosevelt’s critics as evidence of his

The hero of heroesHank Greenberg. By John Rosengren.

New York: New American Library, 2013.392 Pages. $26.95.

There are and have been more thanenough prominent Jewish athletes to warrant the establishment of severalJewish sports halls of fame. Netanya, Israelhas an international one; California hastwo; Canada has one; and thereare many othersthroughout theUnited States.Lists of inductees(easily found onthe Internet) showthe many sports inwhich Jews haveexcelled such asswimming, basket-ball, boxing, andbaseball. Ask a group of Jewish sports fanswho was the greatest Jewish athlete andyou’ll start an interminable argument. But– of one thing you can be sure. If you limitthe roll to baseball, Hank Greenberg’sname will be at the top of most listsalthough some will contend that SandyKoufax deserves to be first.

There’s little doubt as to how JohnRosengren, author of this biography,would answer the question. He is a journalist, specializing in sports, who haswritten several other books and numerousarticles. Hank Greenberg is a special individual and celebrity to Rosengren asclearly demonstrated by his referring toGreenberg as “the hero of heroes.”Moreover, in his epilogue, resolving anypossible doubt, Rosengren writes, “HankGreenberg remains the greatest Jewishbaseball player – nay athlete – of all time.”

The book opens with Greenberg’sdilemma about playing on the HighHolidays since he was brought up in anOrthodox home. He resolved the issue byparticipating on Rosh Hashanah but noton Yom Kippur. His first year in the bigleagues was 1933 when he was the firstbaseman for the Detroit Tigers. Havingbeen born and grown up in New York, hewould have preferred playing for theYankees but Lou Gehrig had a firm lockon serving as the Yankee first baseman.

In Greenberg’s second year, he led theTigers to their first pennant in 25 years.Rosengren details what happened in theensuing years as Greenberg became a star.In 1941, he was drafted into the army and

Book ReviewsREVIEWED BY MORTON I. TEICHER

(see Teicher, page 19)

were publishing articles about “how tomake pot holders into lamp shades”. For17 years, the two women published articleson serious subjects such as equal pay for equal work, childbearing, rape anddomestic violence.

The third program was the planting of asapling from the chestnut tree that AnneFrank wrote about in her diary. It stoodoutside the Secret Annex in Amsterdamwhere she was hiding with her family andothers. It had given hope to a 13-year-oldgirl for whom the outside world was offlimits. The planting took place in front ofThe Children’s Museum in Indianapolis.Read about this event and three speechexcerpts on page NAT 10-11, to get a flavor of what it was like to be there.

The purpose of having that same chestnuttree grow inside the Anne Frank PeacePark in front of the museum is to teachchildren and adults about the hideousinjustice caused by racism and to make surethat humans never treat others as subhumansimply because they appear different. Thismay not seem like a monumental endeavorby today’s standards, but this saplingserves as a reminder about the rampantracism aimed at Jews and other minoritiesin the worst genocide in human history.It was especially heartwarming that 90percent of the attendees and 75 percent ofthe speakers were not Jewish.

For my nieces and nephews concernedabout their future, I have the followingadvice. Judging from these recent programs,it looks like a very promising future is instore for you and your descendants.

Jennie Cohen, May 8, 2013 AAAA

EDITORIAL(continued from page 2)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover a squarebaking pan with foil and butter the foil.

Melt margarine and add to crumbs andtoss. Press onto bottom of pan. Bake inoven 12 minutes or until brown. Removefrom oven and cool.

Filling8 ounces cream cheese1/3 cup sugar3 Tbsp. sour cream1 egg2 Tbsp. lemon juice2 tsp. grated lemon peel1 tsp. vanilla

Beat cream cheese and sugar. Add sourcream and egg then lemon juice, lemonpeel and vanilla. Spread batter over crust.Bake in oven 30 minutes. Cool then chill 2hours. Cut into 16 squares.

Sybil Kaplan lives in Jerusalem.Reprinted from 5-19-10. AAAA


Remove from pan.I am often asked to give recipes for

people who live alone or when there isonly a couple, so here is a small cheesecake for two.

Cheese Cake (2 servings)3 Tbsp. flour1 Tbsp. sugar1 Tbsp. margarine3/4 cup cream cheese1 Tbsp. sugar1/8 tsp. grated lemon peel1/4 tsp. vanilla1 egg2 Tbsp. sour cream, strawberry or

pineapple yogurt1 tsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine flour,sugar and margarine. Press into a 4 1/2–5inch diameter pan. Bake in oven15–20minutes. Remove from oven. Mash creamcheese in a bowl. Blend in sugar, lemonpeel, vanilla and egg. Pour into bakedcrust. Bake in oven 15 minutes. Mix sourcream or yogurt with 1 tsp. sugar. Removecake from oven and spread on top. Chill.

My Mother’s Fancy Cheesecake(8 servings)Crust2 cups crushed graham crackers1/2 cup margarine1/4 cup sugardash cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend crackers,margarine, sugar and cinnamon. Pat into a spring form pan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes.

Filling1 1/2 cups cream cheese2 eggs1/2 cup sugar1/2 tsp. vanilla

Whip cream cheese, eggs, sugar andvanilla with a hand mixer until fluffy. Pourinto baked crust. Bake in oven 30 minutes.

Topping2 cups sour cream2 Tbsp. sugar1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat sour cream, sugar and vanilla in abowl. Remove cake from oven, spread ontop. Return to oven and bake 10 moreminutes. Remove from oven. Top with piecherries, crushed pineapple or strawberrieson top.

Lemon Cheesecake Squares(16 squares)Crust9 graham crackers, crushed5 Tbsp. margarine

My KosherKitchenREVIEWED BY SYBIL KAPLAN

Cheesecakes forShavuot and summer

Anthropologists have found cheesemolds dating back 2,000 years. MatthewGoodman, a writer of the “Food Maven”column in The Forward newspaper,once wrote that he learned from Britishcookbook author, Evelyn Rose, that Jewsfirst encountered cheesecake during theGreek occupation of then Palestine in thethird century BCE. He also says a recipefor cheesecake even appears in a secondcentury BCE cookbook.

Kraft Foods, which producesPhiladelphia cream cheese, advertises thatGreek athletes at the first Olympic Gamesate a cheesecake-like confection in 776BCE, and a version of the dessert wasdescribed by Roman historian, Cato, 600years later.

Cheesecake was also a favorite ofEastern European Jews who made it withcurd cheeses from cows, such as farmer’scheese and pot cheese, and flavored itwith lemon rind, eggs and sugar. Thecreamy cheesecakes favored by Centraland European Jews were called kaesekuchen. Below are some differentcheesecake recipes.

Mini Mocha Cheesecakes(approx. 30)1/2 cup crushed chocolate cookies1 tsp. sugar1 Tbsp. melted margarine2 (2 ounces) squares

semi-sweet chocolate8 ounces soft cream cheese1/4 cup sugar1 egg1 tsp. espresso coffee powder1/8 tsp. cinnamon1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line miniaturemuffin pan cups with paper liners. Blendchocolate cookies, 1 tsp. sugar and meltedmargarine. Press 1/2 tsp. into each paper-lined muffin cup. Melt chocolate.Beat cream cheese until smooth. Addsugar, egg, coffee powder, cinnamon andvanilla. Add in melted chocolate andblend until mixture becomes thick. Filleach muffin cup with 2 teaspoons. Bake inoven for 18 minutes or until tops are firmwhen pressed with finger tip. Removefrom oven and let cool 15 minutes.

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cellar during World War II.The author of this sensitive, well-

written biography grew up in New Yorkwhere she attended Jewish schools,including the Ramaz High School, beforeenrolling at Barnard College. She startedout majoring in English literature but soonswitched to psychology after testing herinterest by volunteering on the psychiatricward at Bellevue Hospital. She then wenton to earn her Ph.D. in clinical psychologyat Long Island University. Five years later,in 1991, she fulfilled a long-standingambition by moving to Jerusalem with herhusband, Chaim, and their three sons,Yonatan, David, and Yehoshua.

As a youngster, Wyshogrod urged herparents to tell herabout their experi-ences in survivingthe Holocaust. Hermother was reluc-tant but her fatherwrote A Brush WithDeath which sheedited and whichwas published in 1999 by theState University of

New York Press. Wyshogrod’s motherfinally agreed to tell her story and did soover a period of years when she and herhusband visited Jerusalem to be with theirdaughter’s family. Wyshogrod taped hermother’s recollections, using her skills as apsychologist to elicit information.

In 1995, to supplement her tapes andher notes, Wyshogrod and her parents visited Zolkiew, the town in Galicia,Poland where her mother grew up and hid.It is now in Ukraine. The occasion for thevisit was the dedication of a monument tothe town’s 3,500 Jews who were murderedby the Nazis in 1943. A few survivors hadpaid for the monument and had organizedthe trip. The description of this experienceis especially poignant as Wyshogrod’smother describes some places she recog-nizes although she fails to find the housewhere she hid. On subsequent visits toIsrael, she arranged to have the names ofthe family that hid her inscribed on theRighteous Honor Wall at Yad Vashem.Before she died in 2007, Wyshogrod’smother read the completed manuscript ofthis book, declared it to be a “nice piece ofwriting” and authorized her daughter “tosend it out.”

This warm and tender book must beranked high among the large number ofHolocaust memoirs that preserve our recollections of Nazi brutality and thatenable us to safeguard and perpetuate thememory of the six million Jews whosemartyrdom must remain forever in ourhearts and in our minds. We are deeplyindebted to the author, her mother, andher family. Wyshogrod has given us “abook about knowing, and not knowing,and all the intersections in between.”

Dr. Morton I. Teicher is the FoundingDean, Wurzweiler School of Social Work,Yeshiva University and Dean Emeritus,School of Social Work, University of NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill. AAAA

TEICHER(continued from page 17)

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through on things. Surely, in Judaism,becoming a bar or bat mitzvah meansmore than “follow-through.”It is, after all,a commitment to a covenant between theDivine and a people with a purpose in theworld. In all fairness, the writers suggestedthis when they had Burt say, “It’s weird.This morning I was just a normal, averageguy and tonight I’m a Jew.” In any event,despite its attempt at being a spiritedromp through Jewishness, this episode lefta bad taste in my mouth precisely becauseit is so spiritless and tasteless.

Rabbi Gertel has been spiritual leader ofConservative Congregation Rodfei Zedek inChicago since 1988. He is the author of two

GERTEL(continued from page 14)

books, What Jews Know About Salvationand Over the Top Judaism: Precedents andTrends in the Depiction of Jewish Beliefsand Observances in Film and Television.He has been media critic for The NationalJewish Post & Opinion since 1979. AAAA

When you do mitzvahs and pray everyday, life is easier and much more meaningful. If you believe in Hashem, lifehas meaning. Hashem created everything,and sent us down to this world to make it holy, by learning Torah and doing mitzvahs. Each mitzvah that we do bringsmore good into the world, bringing uscloser to the days of Moshiach. Then theworld will be completely good and holy.We want Moshiach Now!

Rabbi Cohen lives in K’far Chabad, Israel.He can be reached by email at [email protected]. AAAA

BENZION(continued from page 3)

acknowledge the beauty in this world and our responsibility to it. Light theother candle to help lead us toward thetime when all people shall hear libertyproclaimed and recognize that it is foreveryone everywhere.

Rabbi Adland has been a Reform rabbi for more than 25 years with pulpits inLexington, Ky., Indianapolis, Ind., and currently at Temple Israel in Canton, Ohio.He may be reached at [email protected]. AAAA

ADLAND(continued from page 3)

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“Elf on the Shelf”inspires Jewish version“Mensch on a Bench”

CINCINNATI – Premiering March 29on Kickstarter.com, Mensch on a Benchwas created in the spirit of fun and inclusion for Jewish children during thewinter holiday festivities.

The goal of the Mensch is to serve as acenter point for young Jewish families toinspire them to honor age-old traditions,while also enjoying the opportunity to addnew ones. “The idea for Mensch on aBench dawned on me when my son had“Elf Envy” this holiday season,” said NealHoffman co-creator of the Mensch. “Iwanted to find a way to make Hanukkahmore of an event in our household and bycreating this new tradition was able add alittle more Funukkah in Hanukkah.”

Mensch on the Bench tells the story of Moshe the Mensch, who was in thetemple with the Maccabees when theywon the war against the Greeks. Therewas only enough oil for one night andeveryone was exhausted from the war andwanted to go to sleep. But what if the oilwent out while the Jews were sleeping?

The Mensch loves to play dreidel, eatLatkes (potato pancakes), sing songs, andbe with family…all the things familiesshould be doing as part of Hanukkah.

The Mensch on the Bench will be available as a hardcover book and plushcharacter. The book will tell the eight rulesof having a Mensch, which are meant todrive Jewish family traditions and values.“The Mensch is a tool by which we canteach our children what it means to be aMensch...a true and honorable friend”saidco-creator Erin Hoffman.

For more information please log on towww.theMenschonaBench.com. AAAA


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were on a carriage of Ralph Floyd, a member of the 1866 group. Soon heowned a fleet of light carriages andbecame the founder of modern tourism inPalestine. The Emanuel church was builtnearby, but the houses of the 1866 groupwere abandoned, leaving a neglected site.

Many years before, Dr. Reed Holmes, anhistorian, storyteller and photographer,happened to meet a woman who hadbeen 13 years old and one of the originalsettlers in 1866. She told Reed about theirlife in Jaffa.

“I was getting the feeling that this storyhad to be told.” This led to his research and writing the initial book, TheForerunners in 1981 and its updating in2003. Reed, who comes from Jonesport,Maine, recalls finding a rafter in the woodhouse with the initials of one of thebuilders – MW – Mark Wentworth. Hethen recalled in college, his cousin – MarkWentworth Holmes.

Reed and Jean named the woodenhouse, the Maine Friendship House, andopened a window to the 19th centurypeople through the ground floor museum.A video of the history is shown in thebasement whose walls are adorned withpaintings by Israeli artist Yonatan Kislev.A plaque now also sits on a Tel Aviv beach commemorating where this grouporiginally landed and lived.

For more information on visiting the

Maine Friendship House, or, if you are fortunate enough to meet Dr. Reed andJean Holmes, phone 03-681-9225 or [email protected]. There is also awebsite, www.jaffacolony.com.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, food writer,lecturer and cookbook author. She also leadswalks though Machaneh Yehudah, theJewish produce market in English. AAAA

in Jaffa, which Jean describes as “in shambles with people living in hovels.”This was the American Colony.

“Jean saw great potential in theAmerican Colony on that first trip toIsrael,” says Reed, and soon she, as construction engineer, was going to themunicipality of Jaffa to campaign to savethe colony.

Reed had written a book which waspublished in 1981 called Forerunners,telling the amazing story of the 1866wood building. Jean and Reed then begana love story with the house and its history,first renting the upstairs then buying it in 2002 and renovating it until 2004.Subsequently, they moved to the 1892stone addition next door where they nowlive four to six months a year.

Reed, who is from Maine, learned of thegroup of 157 Christian lovers of Zion(including 48 children) who left Jonesport,Maine, to sail to Palestine with 22 woodenhouses and farming equipment. Thesemembers of the Church of the Messiah, anoffshoot of the Mormons, led by George J.Adams, felt a calling to help the Jewishpeople. They did not believe in convertingJews but “to become practical benefactorsof the land and people, to take the lead indeveloping its great resources.”

George Adams had made one trip toPalestine, then he began traveling along theEast Coast of the U.S. in 1861 preachingthe principles of Zionism until he gatheredthe group to join him.

They set sail Aug. 11, 1866. After 42days on the sea, they arrived in Jaffa and set up camp on the beach. Nine children died during the first month. Theypurchased land, built the wooden housesand planted seeds with the farmingequipment they had brought. By 1868,most of the members left. The Templars (aProtestant sect from southern Germany)built some public buildings nearby.

A new road was built from Jaffa toJerusalem in 1869 and the first wheels

KAPLAN/ISRAEL(continued from page 15)

Lag B’OmerJerusalem 2013This fire was so hotthat the people surrounding it had to move all the wayacross the street.May all our fires represent an accept-able Yahrzeit candlefor the Holy RabbiShimon Bar Yochai.(Caption and photoby Rabbi ReuvenSchwartz.)

Inside the museum.

Jean and Dr. Reed Holmes.

The Maine Friendship House museum.Photographs by Barry A. Kaplan.

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