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By Joanne WeintraubOn the one hand, there’s the
grandmother who offers homemadeknishes, blintzes, rugalach and theadoring advice, “Ess, e ss, me inkind!” — ”Eat, eat my child!”
On the other, there’s the motherwho sees you at the refrigerator doorand warns, “Are you sure you’regoing to be able to fit into that dressyou bought for Cousin Traci’s wed-ding?”
Add in the fact that these twomaternal figures are often the sameperson, and is it any wonder Jewishwomen have some issues about foodand body image?
OK, it’s easy to blame Mom. Thefact is, most women, Jewish or not,have a hard time balancing the lean,lithe, willowy ideal with the realityof the (usually) rounder, softer bodythey live in.
Add in a heritage where sour
cream is practically a cultural touch-stone and where the genetic predis-position is not to resemble HeidiKlum, and Jewish women can findthemselves confused, depressed,resentful and sometimes even thevictims of serious eating disorders.
“Ours is a culture where food isused for all kinds of celebrations andgatherings, and none of these arelow-fat, low-carb kinds of foods,”says Dr. Stacey Nye, a Mequon ther-apist who specializes in the field ofeating disorders, body image,women’s issues, depression and anxi-ety.
Then there’s the traditional bodytype of Eastern European Jewishwomen, the ethnic group fromwhich most of American Jewisdescend.
“It’s round, curvy, often with a bignose and kinky hair,” says Nye, whorecently joined the staff ofOconomowoc’s Rogers MemorialHospital as eating disorders programspecialist. “It’s not the Western idealof beauty.”
As a result, some Jewish womencan become preoccupied with how
“wrong” their bodies are, and howmuch they need to change them.Nose jobs for Jewish teens havebecome so common that many par-ents don’t question them, Nyenotes. Judging one’s worth by thesize of one’s thighs is perceived asperfectly ordinary.
Anorexia and bulimiaMara Schulman knows well what
relentless self-judgment can lead to. At 29, Schulman is in recovery fromyears of eating disorders that includ-ed both anorexia, which involvescompulsive self-starvation, andbulimia, which is gorging on foodand then intentionally purging.
A longtime volunteer at theHarry & Rose Samson Family Jew-ish Community Center who nowworks professionally at the JCC’sGan Ami preschool, Schulman is agraduate of Nicolet High Schooland Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.
She’s a dark-eyed, lively womanwho speaks with warmth about herlifelong immersion in Wisconsin’sJewish educational programs,including her many years at Steveand Shari Sadek Family Camp
Vol. XXXIII, No. 5 May 2010 • Iyar/Sivan 5770 www.jewishchronicle.org
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Editor’s Desk: Arizona’s new law:
“Papers, please”Page 4
Shavuot recipesPage 12
Celebrating yoursimchas
Section II
Israeli serenade — Kinneret Mordoh, from the Israeli singing groupKolot, serenades a group of teenage girls during the Yom HaAtzmaut concerton Monday, April 19 at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish CommunityCenter. The concert was part of a two-day celebration of Israel sponsored bythe JCC and the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Photo by Elana Kahn-Oren.
New Catholic-Jewish centerwill continue scholar’s
interfaith workBy Leon Cohen
In academia, it often happensthat “If you have someone with aparticular passion or interest,” andwho has created a niche for it inthe institution, “when that personretires or leaves, it ends.”
And as Richard Lux, Ph.D., saidin a telephone interview on April18, he doesn’t want his “particularpassion and interest” to end whenhe completes his 37-year tenurethis spring as professor of scripturestudies at Sacred Heart School ofTheology (SHST).
Why should the Jewish commu-nity care what happens at thisCatholic seminary that primarilytrains men for the Catholic priest-hood, and has at present 100 semi-narians and 40 other students inother programs?
Because Lux’s “particular passionand interest” for much of his careerhas been Catholic-Jewish rela-tions; and that has made him a sig-nificant figure in the MilwaukeeJewish community.
Both in his academic and hiscommunity-service activities, Luxhas worked with Milwaukee Jewishreligious and interfaith leaders tocreate what is one of the strongestsuch interfaith community rela-tionships in the entire country.
”If I had to point to one person
who changed the landscape ofCatholic-Jewish relations in Mil-waukee, it would be Richard Lux,”said Kathy Heilbronner, interimdirector of the Jewish CommunityRelations Council of the Milwau-kee Jewish Federation and long-time co-chair of the MilwaukeeCatholic-Jewish Conference. “Hehas been the quintessential bridge-builder.”
But with his coming retirement,Lux said, “I was afraid that what Ihad done at the school” in this area“would fall into a black hole.”
So with the help of several peo-ple in the Jewish community, theschool is taking steps to continuehis work.
In March, the school announcedits plans to create the Lux Center
Continued on page 25
Richard Lux, Ph.D.
Hungry and unfulfilled: Jewishwomen struggle with their bodies
Continued on page 21
Were American Jews silentduring the Holocaust?
By Leon CohenIn the summer of 1956, teens at
the Reform movement’s UnionInstitute camp (later renamed OlinSang Ruby Union Institute) inOconomowoc, Wis., publishedtheir own literary magazine.
And while this magazine wasfilled with recollections of campactivities, the teens who wrote thearticles obviously felt haunted bysomething else — the destructionof European Jewry during WorldWar II; and they referred to it often.
New York University historianHasia R. Diner mentioned andquoted from this magazine at thebeginning of her 2009 book, “WeRemember with Reverence andLove: American Jews and the Mythof Silence after the Holocaust1945-1962” (New York UniversityPress, 2009).
That magazine was just one itemin an abundance of evidence Dinerhad uncovered showing that, con-trary to a commonly believed myth,
during the first two decades afterWorld War II, Jews throughout theUnited States were not indifferentto, nor did they try to avoid or sup-press discussion of, the Holocaust.
Indeed, as Diner said in a tele-phone interview on April 16, “Iwas pretty irritated, kind ofappalled, by the way other histori-ans wrote about this subject”because they made their claims
Continued on page 25
Hasia Diner
What’s Nu?Wisconsin Jewish ChroniclePage 2, Section I • May 2010
Candlelighting TimesMilwaukee Madison Green Bay Wausau
May 7 7:41 p.m. 7:47 p.m. 7:45 p.m. 7:53 p.m.May 14 7:48 p.m. 7:54 p.m. 7:53 p.m. 8:01 p.m.May 18 7:53 p.m. 7:59 p.m. 7:57 p.m. 8:05 p.m.May 19 9:04 p.m. 9:07 p.m. 9:08 p.m. 9:16 p.m.May 21 7:56 p.m. 8:02 p.m. 8:00 p.m. 8:09 p.m.May 28 8:02 p.m. 8:08 p.m. 8:07 p.m. 8:16 p.m.
HANDYMAN SERVIC EQUALITY WORK - AFFORDABLE RATES
HONEST, RELIABLE SERVIC ERESIDENTIAL - COMMERC IAL
STEFAN GENDELMAN
414-688-7732
Melrood receives lifetime award
Paul Melrood received the Life-time Yiddish Service Award fromthe International Association ofYiddish Clubs during its 13th con-ference, held April 23-26 in SanFrancisco.
President of the associationsince 2005, he is a native Yiddishspeaker and active member of Mil-waukee’s Yiddish Club, which ishosted by Congregation Shalom.
Former Chronicle editorwins UN reporting prize
Ruth Eglash, former assistanteditor of The Wisconsin JewishChronicle, has been named a co-recipient of the X-Cultural Report-ing Award organized by the UnitedNations Alliance of Civilizationand the International Center ofJournalists.
Eglash, social affairs reporter atThe Jerusalem Post, and Jordanianjournalist Hani Hazaimeh won theaward for their cross-border report-ing on the dismal state of relationsbetween the two states.
Gellman receives Tikkun Olam award
Former Milwaukeean LarryGellman and his wife, Kristen,received the Tikkun Olam Awardfrom the Tucson Hebrew Acade-my, where he has been board presi-dent for three years.
Before moving to Arizona, Gell-man was an active volunteer leaderat the Milwaukee Jewish DaySchool, Milwaukee Jewish Federa-
tion and Development Corpora-tion for Israel/Israel Bonds. He alsoserves as national chair of CLAL-The National Jewish Center forLearning and Leadership.
Menorah honors Rubinstein, Kahn
Temple Menorah will honorDebby Rubinstein with its Womanof Valor Award and Irving Kahnwith its Leadership & DedicationAward at the synagogue’s Shabba-ton and Honors dinner on May 7.
The evening includes Shabbatservices at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7p.m. For dinner reservations,required by May 3, call the syna-gogue at 414-355-1120.
JCF awards $27,000 in scholarships
The Jewish Community Foun-dation awarded scholarships to 63local children to attend 18 differ-ent overnight camps this summer.A total of $27,000 was awarded.
The JCF is the endowmentdevelopment program of the Mil-waukee Jewish Federation.
Locals rise to national federation leadership
Several members of the localcommunity were chosen fornational positions with the federa-tion’s umbrella organization, theJewish Federations of North Amer-ica.
Andrea Schneider was nominat-ed to the board of directors ofJFNA’s National Women’s Philan-thropy; Phillip Katz and Henry“Trip” Stern have been invited to
join the National Young Leader-ship Cabinet; and Susan Stern hasbeen given the Ritual and Judaicaportfolio of the National YoungLeadership Cabinet.
In late April, Susan Stern trav-eled to Morocco on a cabinet mis-sion.
Robins to sing National Anthem
Cantor Rebecca Robins of Con-gregation Sinai will sing theNational Anthem at the May 16Milwaukee Brewers game versusthe Philadelphia Phillies.
Lerman honored for social justice work
David Lerman received the JackRosenberg Award for lifetime com-mitment to social justice from theWisconsin Community Fund at itsApril 29 Milwaukee celebration.
One of two local prosecutorswho serve as restorative justicecoordinators for Milwaukee PublicSchools, Lerman has conductedtrainings on the topic for the IsraeliMinistry of Justice.
Hochberg student centerwins design award
The Barbara Hochberg Centerfor Jewish Student Life at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison willreceive the Future LandmarkAward for Innovative New Designby the Madison Trust for HistoricPreservation.
The award will be given May 6at the Orpheum Theater in Madi-son.
WisconsinWisconsin Jewish Chronicle May 2010 • Section I, Page 3
Two Jews, Three Opinions:Inside American
and Israeli Politics
Professor Fred Lazin, Guest ScholarFaculty, Ben Gurion University
of the NegevVisiting Scholar NYU
Rabbi Dudley Weinberg MemorialScholar-in-Residence Weekend
Friday, May 21Dinner 6:00 pm
Shabbat Evening Service 7:30 pmReligious & Ethnic Conflict in Israel
Saturday, May 22Shabbat Morning Study Minyan 9:00 am
Jews in American PoliticsDessert/Discussion/Havdalah 7:00 pm
Update on Israeli Politics
Sunday, May 23Discussion 9:45 am
Israelis’ Changing Collective Identity
All programs are free and open to the community;the only charge is for meals. Call the synagogue
office or check out our website for a complete listingof events and times.
2020 W. Brown Deer Rd.River Hills, WI 53217414-228-7545www.ceebj.org
Celebrating Over 31 Years and 3100 Families Served!
The Home Selling Team ofBruce and Jeanne Nemovitz
“Helping You Design TheBest Years of Your Life”
262-242-6177Fax: 262.242.5159
Toll Free: 888.243.1545Jeanne and Bruce Nemovitz
Email: [email protected] Website: www.brucesteam.com Integrity
THE MILWAUKEE JEWISH COMMUNITY CHORALE
presentsZimriah ~ Come Together in Song
May 23, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun
2020 West Brown Deer Road, River Hills
Guest soloistCANTOR DAVID BARASH
Special this year will be the Zimriah~ Coming Together~ ofmany of our local congregational choirs in song and harmony
Admission: $18, $15 for seniors and students, $7 for 12 and under
In celebration of its 30thanniversary, Wisconsin Institutefor Torah Study will dedicate anew Torah scroll on Sunday, May23.
The scroll is being donated byalumni Shua Ray and Nachy Sha-bat, of the classes of 1992 and1991, respectively. In addition tofulfilling the commandment towrite a Torah scroll, the gift is “theultimate representation” of theirfeelings of gratitude toward theschool’s rabbis, they wrote in afundraising letter.
Beginning at 11:15 a.m., WITSalumni, students, staff and commu-nity members will gather at 3238N. Marietta Ave., where the lastfive letters of the Torah will bewritten. Accompanied by musicand dancing, they will then escortthe new scroll down Lake Driveand into the school.
That afternoon, WITS will holda banquet celebrating the Torahdedication and the school’sanniversary at Hilton MilwaukeeCity Center, 509 W. WisconsinAve., in Milwaukee. The receptionwill begin at 2:30 p.m., followed bydinner at 3 p.m.
WITS opened in 1980 with 11students. Classes were held in rent-ed classrooms at Henry ClaySchool in Whitefish Bay. Now inits own building at 3288 N. LakeDr., in Milwaukee, the school nowhas 130 students — 80 in the highschool program and 50 in the post-high school program.
For information about the Torahscroll or the event, contact alumnidirector Rabbi Jay Hellman, 414-963-9317, or [email protected].
WITS alumnihonor school
with new Torah scroll
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will establish a center for Yiddishculture, to be directed by Henry Sapoznik, an expert on klezmer music andYiddish and American popular culture.
The Mayrent Insitute of Yiddish Culture will be funded by a $1 millionendowment from Sherry Mayrent and Carol Masters via the Corners Fundfor Traditional Cultures, a donor advised fund of Boston’s Combined Jew-ish Philanthropies.
According to the UW’s Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, theinstitute will be the only such institute devoted to fostering an understand-ing of the world of Yiddish through the arts.
The centerpiece of the new institute will be Mayrent’s collection of6,000 78-rpm discs of Jewish music, which she plans to donate to UW-Madison’s Mills Music Library.
Read an in-depth article about the new Yiddish institute in the Juneissue of The Chronicle
UW-Madison to open institute forYiddish culture
The Morris R. Guten Auxiliary No. 487 of the Jewish War Veterans ofthe USA will present 13 scholarships to high school graduates to usetoward their first year of college.
A ceremony will be held Sunday, May 16, 1:30 p.m., at CongregationBeth Israel.
Recipients of $1,000 scholarships are: Natanya Russek, Dr. Paul andAnn Guten Memorial Scholarship; Louis David Cooper, Nancy LynnRadbil Memorial Scholarship; Monica Ste. Marie, Bonnie Lynn MechanicMemorial Scholarship; Nathan Frazer, Harry Hecht and Family MemorialScholarship.
Recipients of $500 scholarships are: Rebecca Katz, Barbara Stein Schol-arship; Jennifer Winston, Florence and Sammy Cohen Memorial Scholar-ship; Sharyn Graves, Walter W. Peltz Memorial Scholarship; Julia Irwin,Zavik/Bubrick Memorial Award in honor of the marriage of Cheri andHoward Bubrick;
Michael Edwards, Zavik/Bubrick Memorial Award; DesmondRodriguez, Gary and Marcia Rose Scholarship; Halee Lynn Wilson andJacob S. Levey, Morris R. Guten Auxiliary Scholarship; and RachelleSophia Brick, Al Green Memorial, Erv Chudnow Memorial, Walter W.Peltz Memorial Scholarship.
War Veterans award 13 scholarships
A woman’s view — Sherry Blumberg, Ph.D., (front row, second fromleft) spoke at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue Sisterhood’s April 12 program onthe topic, “Women and God.” Photo by Sandy Kaner.
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Editor’s DeskPage 4, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Commentary
Quoted
By Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman
The fury over Richard Gold-stone, the internationallyrenowned judge and South AfricanJew, has reached new levels. He hascanceled plans to attend his grand-son’s upcoming bar mitzvah aftersome South African Jews warnedthat they would protest his pres-ence at the Johannesburg syna-gogue.
The United Nations-commis-sioned Goldstone report detailedthe three-week war in Gaza in late2008 and early 2009 and chargedthat both Israel and Hamas delib-erately targeted each other’s civil-ian populations and committedwar crimes. Judge Goldstone wascondemned as a traitor to his peo-ple and many in the organized Jew-ish community shunned him forissuing this report.
Nevertheless, many Jews wereappalled to learn that the South
A f r i c a nZionist Fed-eration isthreateningto disruptJudge Gold-stone’s grand-son’s barmitzvah cere-mony, andsome whovehementlydisagree with the Goldstone reporthave publicly declared that the vit-riol has gone too far.
The very notion that Jews wouldprotest a grandfather’s participa-tion in or even presence at a barmitzvah is particularly distasteful.It is one thing to critique Gold-stone in the political arena; it issomething else to intrude into hisprivate affairs.
This incident, egregious as itmay be, did not emerge from a vac-uum. It was borne of a climate inthe Jewish community that has
become increasingly intolerant ofdissent. Jews who dare to raise theirvoices in critique of Israeli policyare often disparaged as traitors andself-hating Jews. They are told,sometimes quite directly, that theyare not welcome in our congrega-tions and community institutions.
While there used to be a widerange of discourse on Israel in theJewish community, Jews with dis-senting opinions have either cho-sen to silence themselves or leavethe community.
South African Bet Din headRabbi Moshe Kurstag, noting theanger that many in the SouthAfrican Jewish community feeltowards Judge Goldstone, said thatthe agreement for him to stay away“was quite sensible to avert all thisunpleasantness.”
Judge Goldstone’s presence insynagogue would certainly beunpleasant for some. But toencourage a fellow Jew to stay awayfrom a family simchah? To deprive
a grandfather the joy of watchinghis grandson read Torah? There is areal cost to avoiding unpleasant-ness, and it not only affects the per-sonal situation of Judge Goldstoneand his family. It erodes our com-munal obligation to serve all Jews.Closing a synagogue’s doors to a
Jew because of his or her positionon Israel is destructive to our com-munity.
Ignoring or isolating Jews whohold dissenting views allows us tosurround ourselves with peoplewho agree with us, shield ourselvesfrom difficult questions, and avoid
One of the most important lessons I learned frommy grandfather is to always listen to your instinctsand stand up for what you know to be right. Even
when everyone around you is telling you you’rewrong, listen to your gut. It was Tuvia’s strong con-nection to his instincts that gave him the uncannyability to always know to do the right thing at theright time, and this is what helped him to survive
and save so many lives. And thus he sought safety inthe woods. Many around him had difficulty under-
standing the realities; even people who had lostentire families thought, “This won’t happen to me.”
Sharon Rennert, filmmaker and granddaughter ofTuvia Bielski, who spoke April 15 on “Defiance:
The True Story” at an event sponsored by Lubavitch of Wisconsin and the Nathan and
Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center,a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s
Coalition for Jewish Learning.
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Jewish Federation, Inc. 1360 North Prospect AvenueMilwaukee, WI 53202-3094
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Guide to Jewish Wisconsin published in the fall.
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Arizona’s new law: Why we should care By Elana Kahn-Oren
Three of my grandparents cameto this country seeking safety and asecond chance. They traveled, likeso many other immigrants fromEastern Europe, crammed intoships, thankful for the opportunityto get out and surely fearful of thevast unknown before them.
When they arrived in Milwau-kee, they continued to speak Yid-dish in their homes and lived inneighborhoods populated by other“greenehs,” new immigrants, andextended family members.
This story is common. Theygave birth to children who spokewithout accents and married otherAmericans, who made their way inthe world of Jell-O molds, Chevro-lets, higher education andrespectable jobs.
Two generations later, I marrieda man from Israel who became an
American immigrant. Our chil-dren, like my parents, see the worldfrom two perspectives — as thenative and as the newcomer.
Our story is typical in the Unit-ed States, a country built and pop-ulated by immigrants. So inherentis the ideal of sheltering newcom-ers that it is immortalized at theStatue of Liberty with EmmaLazarus’ poem, “The New Colos-sus,” which ends with the words:
Give me your tired, your poorYour huddled masses yearning to
breathe free, Th e wre t ch ed re fuse o f your
teeming shore.Send th ese, th e h omeless, th e
tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside th e golden
door.The nation has strayed far from
that ideal to SB 1070, Arizona’snew immigration bill that was
signed intolaw April 23.The law,which is sup-posed to takeeffect 90 daysafter the leg-islative ses-sion ends,requires thatpolice checkthe immigration status of anyonesuspected of being an illegal immi-grant and makes failure to carryimmigration documents a statecrime.
The law has been roundly con-demned as a mandate to discrimi-nate on the basis of race and eth-nicity. If illegal immigrants arediscovered, they are to be trans-ferred immediately to the custodyof U.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement or Customs and Bor-der Protection.
As American Jews, we shouldfind this particularly troubling. Wemust be alarmed by the notion ofArizona police officers stoppingLatinos and asking, “Papersplease.”
Not long ago, we were strangersin the U.S. Not long ago inEurope, Jews were forced to carryidentification papers and lived infear of being stopped or questioned.This singling out of Jews in Europeled to horrific end. What willbecome of immigrants in thiscountry?
Like European Jews in our recentpast, will immigrants, legal andnot, be afraid as they shop, visitmuseums and eat in restaurants?Will they learn to distrust policeofficers rather than depend onthem for protection from realharm?
Elana Kahn-Oren
Lessons for Goldstone’s grandson
Continued on page 27
Continued on page 27
Rabbi LaurieZimmerman
Dissent and free
discourse
strengthen us as a
people
May 2010 • Section I, Page 5Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Two Views
By Joshua Levine GraterPasadena, Calif. (JTA ) — When Presi-
dent Obama took office last year, ourcountry seemed to be teetering. Eightyears of war, monstrous deficit spending, abreakdown of diplomacy, and a disdain forscience and civil liberties welcomed thenew president into office.
A mere 15 months later, our nation,while by no means completely healed,surely is on its way out of this dark period.The economy is improving and jobs areslowly beginning to return, stabilized bythe needed, albeit not popular, stimuluspackage.
Doing the hard work that is needed ingovernment is often unpopular, but Presi-dent Obama does it anyway, and his hardwork is paying off.
President Obama passed health carereform, possibly the greatest domestic poli-cy achievement in a generation. He isstanding up to the greedand self-interest of WallStreet. He supports awoman’s right to chooseand successfully appointedJustice Sonia Sotomayorto the Supreme Court.
He is committed to end-ing the proliferation ofnuclear weapons. He takesglobal climate changeseriously. He values gov-ernment transparency. Heis working to reintroduceAmerica into the world asa partner for peace andjustice after eight years ofisolation on the worldstage.
And then there is Israel. PresidentObama has committed himself to the Jew-ish people by committing himself to work-ing for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Has it gone smoothlyso far? Certainly not.
However, since all parties to the conflictagree that there is no military solution,President Obama, a statesman capable ofunderstanding nuance and complexity, isprecisely the kind of leader we need now.
He has surrounded himself with MiddleEast experts, including many Jews, and islistening to the American-Jewish commu-nity, the majority of whom support a two-state solution.
Battle for reformAmerican Jews overwhelmingly sup-
ported Obama in the 2008 election, andthe majority continues to support himbecause his vision for our country — avision of inclusion, strength throughdiplomacy, peace and providing for theneediest among us — resonates deeplywith Jews.
The battle for reform and improvement,
especially in the faceof fear and misinfor-mation, is a long onethat requires persever-ance. We would bewise to embrace perse-verance when consid-ering whether weshould abandon thepresident after onlyone year.
Ancient Jewish tra-dition in Pirke Avot, the Ethics of ourAncestors, teaches, “While we are notcalled upon to finish the job, we are cer-tainly called upon to never cease from try-ing.” For Jews, this applies to the task ofbuilding a nation that lives up to theideals of both our Jewish sages and ourAmerican founders.
There are those who feel threatened bythe accomplishments of the past half cen-
tury in the civil rightsmovement, the feministmovement, the environ-mental movement and thegay rights movement.
They decry any effort bygovernment to addressserious problems like job-lessness, health care andthe environment. Theyseek communities onlywith those who think andbelieve as they do. Theseare the political forces thathope Sarah Palin will runfor president.
With the challenges weface, including the threat
of Iran to both the United States andIsrael, we need an American presidentwho is methodical, smart, courageous andwilling to do what is right even if it is notpopular.
We need a leader who understands theworkings of the world, has the respect ofthe world and, when needed, can stand upto the world.
Being U.S. president is more than ignor-ing those with whom you disagree andthen attacking them if they do not capitu-late. Being the president requires vision,courage, perseverance and respect fordiversity.
The Jewish community knows that Pres-ident Obama is this kind of leader, and weshould continue to support him in hisefforts to better our country and be a truefriend to Israel.
Rabbi Josh ua Levine Grater is th e spiri-tual leader of th e Pasadena Jewish Templeand Cen t e r and se rv e s on t h e nat i onalad v i so ry b o ard o f J S t re e t . Th e v i e wse x p re sse d h e re are so l e l y t h o se o f t h ewri t e r and do no t re p re sen t any o f t h eorganizations h e serves.
By Benyamin KornPhiladelphia (JTA) — The Obama
administration’s tilt against Israel, its tacitacceptance of a nuclear-armed Iran and itsweak approach to combating Islamic terror-ism all pose a direct challenge to JewishAmericans.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hasdescribed the “Obama doctrine” in U.S. for-eign policy as “coddling our enemies whilealienating allies.” Palin has emerged as theleading public voice in opposition to Presi-dent Obama’s dangerous new direction.
For these reasons, my colleagues and I arelaunching a national organization of JewishAmericans for Sarah Palin, supported by thenew Web site JewsforSarah.com — HomePage for Jewish Independents.
JASP is comprised of academic, religiousand community leaders who are dedicated topromoting consideration of Palin’s policypositions in the wider American Jewishcommunity. We are uncon-nected to any politicalcampaign or fund-raisingorganization.
We find Palin’s positionson Israel, Iran, nationalsecurity, fiscal responsibili-ty, energy and social policy— as well as her record onthese issues as governor ofAlaska and candidate forvice president of the Unit-ed States — to be serious,substantive and politicallymainstream.
Though not at present acandidate for any office,Palin’s track record in pub-lic office has been exemplary and has with-stood the test of the most demanding scruti-ny of investigative news media.
Thatcher and ReaganIn her time, Margaret Thatcher was first
dismissed as unintelligent, unsophisticated,the wrong gender and incapable of takingher place among the world’s statesmen.
In the end she proved her detractorswrong and restored Britain’s economic,political and national security institutions totheir former greatness. Today and for poster-ity, she is reckoned among the handful ofpivotal world leaders of the late 20th centu-ry.
Likewise, Ronald Reagan was lookedupon initially with scorn both by AmericanJews and even by many conservatives. Com-mentary magazine editor Norman Podhoretzwrote recently that his early support of Rea-gan’s 1980 presidential candidacy was greet-ed by his friends with derisive remarks about“this B-movie star.”
In the end, conservatives came to respectand then revere Reagan. In the 1980 elec-tion, 60 percent of American Jews desertedPresident Jimmy Carter, with most of them
voting for Reagan.Podhoretz sees a paral-lel to Sarah Palin. Sodo we.
In recent days,prominent Jewish lead-ers and other Jewishpolitical figures havepublicly challengedPresident Obama’s for-eign policy in termsthat were unimaginable only a few weeksago. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch,a lifelong Democrat, has excoriated the pres-ident for “demeaning and slandering” Israel.
“There is a foul whiff of Munich andappeasement in the air,” Koch has written.
Anti-Defamation League leader AbrahamFoxman has raised the prospect of a Jewishmarch on Washington to protest Obama’stilt against Israel.
World Jewish Congress President RonaldLauder has taken out full-page ads in major Americannewspapers to criticizeObama for pressuring Israelto retreat to the “indefensi-ble borders” of 1967.
U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieber-man (I-Conn.), chairmanof the Senate HomelandSecurity and GovernmentalAffairs Committee, hascharacterized the presi-dent’s refusal to include mil-itant Islam in his list of ter-ror promoters as “offensive,”and said it “contradictsthousands of years ofaccepted military and intel-
ligence doctrine to ‘know your enemy.’”President Obama’s disgraceful personal
treatment of Israel’s prime minister on hisofficial visits to Washington and the uglypersonal tone that the president has injectedinto U.S.-Israel relations has angered evenmany of his supporters and driven Obama’spopularity to an all-time low among theIsraeli public.
The suddenness of the president’s changein his policies toward Israel, after havingcampaigned vociferously in 2008 as a friendof the Jewish state, has caught many in theAmerican Jewish community off guard. Nolonger.
We believe it is time for American Jews todeclare independence from President BarackObama, and we believe that Gov. SarahPalin’s heartfelt and unflinching support forAmerica-Israel friendship reflects the truespirit of the American people, among whomlove and respect for the Jewish state hasnever faltered.
Benyamin Korn is th e former executiveeditor of th e Jewish Exponent of Ph iladel-ph i a and a v e t e ran Jewi sh commun i t yorganizer.
Jews must stay on visionary Obama’s side
Rabbi JoshuaLevine Grater
We would be wise
to embrace
perseverance when
considering
whether we should
abandon the
president after only
one year.
Palin has emerged
as the leading
public voice in
opposition to
President Obama’s
dangerous new
direction.
Palin’s policies reflect Americans’ spirit on Israel
Benyamin Korn
Connecting you to the Jewish world
www.jewishchronicle.org
By Elana Kahn-OrenZion Ozeri wants to combat
“frontal education,” the experienceof having a teacher stand before aclass and deliver information.
“As a kid, you think, what doesthis have to do with my life today?”Teachers, Ozeri believes, have tomake that connection for their stu-dents.
So the New York-based photog-rapher developed a way for teens touse cameras and photographs aslearning tools. His six-year-old proj-ect, the Jewish Lens, is now used inJewish schools and in communitiesin the U.S. and Israel.
In Milwaukee, teens from fourschools, five synagogues and Wis-consin Region BBYO are participat-ing in the semester-long projectsponsored by the Coalition for Jew-ish Learning, the education pro-gram of the Milwaukee Jewish Fed-eration, and funded by theCovenant Foundation.
He will speak at a reception andexhibit of student photography onTuesday, May 11, 7-9, p.m., at theHarry & Rose Samson Family Jew-ish Community Center.
Through its curriculum, the Jew-ish Lens “engages the next genera-tion of Jews worldwide in an explo-
ration of Jewish identity, values andpeoplehood,” according to its Website.
First, students learn to observephotographs and reflect using text,Ozeri said during an interview.
What is the pshat (the intendedmeaning) and what is the drash(the interpretive meaning)? “Whatare the literal words saying andwhat do we read between the lines,”Ozeri posed. What is the objectiveand what is the subjective?
“Instead of dictating what Jewishvalues are,” let them discover thosevalues through images. “They find itand they reflect on it” and look forit in Jewish sources.
“It’s very empowering for stu-dents,” Ozeri said. Students feel,“That means that what I have to sayis important. How I see the world isimportant.”
Students then use that knowl-edge, plus practical training, toshoot their own photos.
Born in Israel to Yemenite immi-grants, Ozeri is best known for his
dramatic photos of Jews fromaround the world, a subject thatsprings from his personal experi-ence, he said.
“The founding fathers and moth-
ers of Israel were mostly European.The influx of Jews from Arab landswith no formal education were rele-gated to menial jobs. AshkenaziJews had one up on them.”
The inequity continued atschool, he said,where “the cur-riculum includesmore Europeanhistory and not somuch my ownbackground….Growing up likethat, you try tofind your place inthat society.”
“Many times, I think that thereason I go and highlight smallcommunities around the world is…. kind of a dahaf, an impulse, togive weight, to give legitimacy tothese communities that are part ofJewish peoplehood.
But, he added, “of course it’s
important not only to show peopleon the margins. Even in a biggercommunity, there’s a big mosaic.”
That mosaic is the subject oflocal students’ photographic aspira-tions. And Ozeri understands thechallenge of taking remarkableshots of everyday local scenes.
“Taking photographs in India orin Africa, because it’s so exotic, isalmost easy. But taking a photo ofsomething familiar, something wedon’t even think about, the famil-iarity of it makes it almost boring.”
“To look at something that wehave seen many times and to findthe angle or [ask,] ‘How do I see it?What do I want to say about it?’ [isdifficult], especially in America,where we think our lives are somundane.”
Though the program’s primarygoal is to educate about Jewish val-ues and identity, it also helps stu-dents develop technical aptitude.
“We want them to hone theirskills so that they will be better attaking photographs, so that theirphotographs will be more meaning-ful and will convey what they wantto convey,” he said.
Ozeri’s local involvement beganlast summer, when he worked withthe five teens who traveled to Israelwith CJL’s Israel Alive Project. That
trip was the impe-tus for a programthat he’s develop-ing to help Amer-ican studentslearn about Israel.
It is one in aseries of similarinitiatives basedon the Jewish
Lens platform of using photos toteach and explore ideas, includinga public school program in NewYork called The Diversity Lens andHebrew-language programs inIsrael. The Bedouin Lens operatedin some Bedouin schools this yeartoo.
Page 6, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Arts & Culture
~ You Are Invited ~
Sponsored byThe Committee for Truth and Justice
The Coalition for Jewish LearningAdvocates for Israel
For further info: [email protected]
The Case for Israel: Democracy’s OutpostThis landmark documentary film
featuring Alan Dershowitz, will be shown
Sunday, June 67:00 P.M.
in the Daniel M. Soref Community Hall of the Harry and Rose Samson Jewish Community Center,
6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd.
Israel Center/Community Schlicha Paz Goldschmidt, Moderator.
The film “presents a vigorous case for Israel — for its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism
and to defend its borders from hostile enemies.”
Admission is free
Discovering values through imagesPhotographer helps students look, reflect and shoot
Zion Ozeri’s “The Secret” is one of the photos that students used in their studyof Jewish values and identity.
If you go“My Jewish Lens…” Exhibit and
ReceptionMay 11, 7-9 p.m.
Harry & Rose Samson FamilyJCC
More information:www.youngjewishmilwaukee.org
May 2010 • Section I, Page 7Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Page 8, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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Jody HirshJody Hirsh, director of Judaic education for the Harry & Rose SamsonFamily JCC, is scholar-in-residence at Congregation Beth Israel. Topicsinclude Jewish theater, the written word and Jewish art. May 7 and 8; Cost of Friday’s Shabbat dinner and lecture: Adults $15,children under 12 $7.Congregation Beth Israel, 6880 N. Green Bay Ave., MilwaukeeContact: 414-352-7310.
Middle-Eastern music concertIraqi-American musician Amir ElSaffar will perform with the PresentMusic chamber music ensemble. A folk dance party with local ensembleEthnictricity will follow the concert. Ticket prices are $30, $20 and $10.May 8, 7:30 p.m. Turner Hall Ballroom, 1032 N. 4th St., MilwaukeeContact: 414-271-0711 or www.presentmusic.org.
Milwaukee Brewers gameYoung Jewish Adults of Milwaukee gather to watch the Milwaukee Brewers vs. the Atlanta Braves. RSVP deadline is May 4.May 11, 7:10 p.m. Miller Park, 201 S. 46th St., MilwaukeeContact: 414-967-8393 or [email protected].
Jewish Lens exhibitReception and exhibition featuring the photos of more than 100 JewishMilwaukee teens. Guest speaker: Israeli photographer Zion Ozeri. Sponsored by the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program ofthe Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Free.May 11, 7 p.m.JCC, 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd., MilwaukeeContact: 414-963-2710 or www.youngjewishmilwaukee.org.
Shalom Baby playdateShabbat-themed playdate for parents, their babies aged 0-18 months andtheir siblings to age 4. Sponsored by the Harry & Rose Samson FamilyJCC and the Women’s Division of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Free;reservations are required.May 13, 9:30 a.m. JCC, 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd., MilwaukeeContact: Dana Emold, 414-967-8174 or [email protected].
Amy-Jill Levine, Ph.D.Amy-Jill Levine, Ph.D. discusses “Common Origins, Distinct Paths: Jewsand Christians in Conversation.” Sponsored by a coalition of NortheastWisconsin synagogues, churches and other groups. May 14-16; various sessions and locations in Green Bay. Call or e-mail forfull program informationContact: 920-465-0492 or [email protected].
Professional advisor seminarFeaturing law professor Christopher R. Hoyt, on the topic “Hot Topics inCharitable Giving.” Sponsored by The Greater Milwaukee Foundationand the Jewish Community Foundation and presented by Marquette
Continued on page 9
May 2010 • Section I, Page 9Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
“Let her glean even among the shearersand put her not to shame...” Ruth 2:15
Donate to Area Shelters & AgenciesA Project of TikkunHa-Ir of Milwaukee
Integrating Jewish ThoughtAnd Social Action
This year we will be collecting...• Seasonal clothing• Toiletries• Linens/twin bedding• Toys/books/craft supplies• Kitchenware/small electric appliances**See complete list at www.thi-milwaukee.org
Please bring items to the Glean Machine. A clearly marked vehicle will be parked at the following locations and times:
Funded by Jewish Womens̓ Endowment Fund
Mon. May 24 2-5pm Beth El Ner Tamid/Shir HadashTues. May 25 10am-1 pm Congregation SinaiWed. May 26 2-5pm Congregation ShalomThurs. May 27 10am-1 pm Congregation Beth IsraelFri. May 28 10am-1 pm Congregation Emanu El Bʼne Jeshurun
Only those items listed will be accepted. Items must be in boxes,heavy-duty trash bags or on hangers.
Questions? Want to help? Call Cindy Cooper (414) 354-6380.
Associates. Cost: $25, includes breakfast.May 18, breakfast at 7:30 a.m., program at 8 a.m.Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave., MilwaukeeContact: 414-390-5712 or [email protected].
Kindertransport survivorJacki Lewis, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, will speak about theKindertransport and her grandparents’ experiences.May 19, 1:30 p.m.Sarah Chudnow Campus, 10995 N. Market St., MequonContact: 262-478-1500.
Chorale concertThe Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale presents “Zimriah — ComeTogether in Song,” featuring guest soloist Cantor David Barash. Cost: $18for adults, $15 for seniors and students, $7 for children 12 and under.May 23, 3 p.m.Congregation Eman-El B’ne Jeshurun, 2020 W. Brown Deer Rd., River Hills.Contact: [email protected].
JCC annual meetingThe Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC’s annual meeting and awards ceremony. Free and open to the public.May 26, 7:30 p.m.JCC, 6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd., MilwaukeeCall 414-967-8224 to register.
Glean MachineAnnual mid-year collection project to restock local shelters and agencies.Bring the following items: spring and summer clothing, household items,linens, toiletries and school/craft supplies. Bathing suits, large-sizedclothes, washcloths, sunscreen and umbrellas are in particular need. Sponsored by Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee.May 24 • 2-5 p.m. at Beth El Ner Tamid/Congregation Shir Hadash.May 25 • 1 a.m.-1 p.m. at Congregation Sinai.May 26 • 2-5 p.m. at Congregation Shalom.May 27 • 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Congregation Beth Israel.May 28 • 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun.Contact: Cindy Cooper at 414-354-6380.
Family Fun DayFamily Fun Day at Jewish Museum Milwaukee, including family friendlyactivities and a bookmaking workshop led by local artist Robin Kinney.Cost: Free admission, $12 per family for the workshop.May 30, noonJewish Museum Milwaukee, 1360 N. Prospect Ave., MilwaukeeContact: Ellie Gettinger at 414-390-5742 or [email protected].
Economic ForumGov. Jim Doyle speaks at Economic Forum, a program sponsored by theMilwaukee Jewish Federation. Cost: $15, includes kosher lunch.June 1, noon-1:30 p.m.Rubenstein Pavilion of the Jewish Home and Care Center, 1414 N.Prospect Ave.Contact: 414-390-5770, www.milwaukeejewish.org.
What’s up in May? Continued from page 8 Auction for Haiti — Jim
Heisler, assistant activities coordina-
tor at Chai Point Senior Living
Apartment Complex, leads the sell-
ing at an Auction for Haiti, held on
April 13 at the Jewish Home and
Care Center’s Rubenstein Pavilion.
Organized by Chai Point residents,
the auction raised $1,200, enough
to purchase a ShelterBox that can
house and protect up to 10 people
during the rainy season. Photo by
Jeanne Paluszynski/MJF.
Page 10, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
May 2010 • Section I, Page 11Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Obituary
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By Leon CohenIt seems to be almost impossible
for some Madisonians to imaginethe Goodman brothers, Robertand Irwin, separately. Nearly allaccounts of these renowned busi-nessmen and philanthropistsdescribe them together, and interms of each other.
Robert, who died this past April1 at age 90, was the extrovertedone in public, “very gregarious,”according to Steven H. Morrison,executive director of the JewishFederation of Madison. “He reallytold ‘groaner’ jokes” and “enjoyedbeing with people.”
Irwin, who died this past Augustat age 94 (see September 2009Chronicle), “was very reserved,”said Morrison.
Indeed, most accounts of themsay that in the downtown Madisonjewelry store they ran successfullyfrom 1937 until their retirement in1998, Robert was the greeter in theshowroom, while Irwin worked inthe back.
Yet in private, they seemed toreverse roles. Irwin became “themore verbal one” and Robert “theshy one,” said Morrison.
But “their values … were com-pletely shared and identical,” saidMorrison. “They had genuine lovefor the community, the university,and the people here.”
And they left permanent markson Madison’s Jewish and generalcommunities. Said Ghita Bessman,who knew the Goodman brotherssince 1950. “There’s not a Madisonnewspaper that doesn’t have aGoodman something in it… Everyaspect of the community was ofinterest to them.”
And Morrison added: “There’sbarely anything in this Jewish com-munity that has not received their
support and encouragement andfunding.”
Sensitive to individualsThe Goodman brothers became
most famous for larger gifts andprojects. These included in thegeneral community Madison’s firstcommunity swimming pool (forwhich they donated $2.8 million;and in the Jewish community theIrwin A. and Robert D. GoodmanJewish Community Campus, the154-acre recreation and education-al facility in Verona.
But they also made gifts thatwere anonymous and personal.“They were very sensitive to indi-viduals with needs,” said Bessman,who also is a former president ofthe Madison Jewish federation anda former Hadassah regional presi-dent. “There was just real kindnessabout them.”
And for all their differing per-sonalities, they apparently werewarm people who did not get angryor express negative emotions veryoften.
Indeed, Morrison said, “One ofthe few times I saw them get upsetwas when Israel would be criticizedunfairly” on television or in news-papers. Indeed, they were “passion-
ate supporters of Israel and long-time Zionists,” who visited the areaeven before Israel became a stateand many times since.
Morrison said their favoritelunch hangout “typified them.”Though they were both vegans —i.e., vegetarians who eat only plantproducts — they often ate at a par-ticular Ponderosa Steak House inMadison because “they had devel-oped a relationship with theowner,” who both created a boothspecifically for them and made surea vegan meal would be prepared forthem.
Their diet was only one aspect oftheir lifelong interests in healthand activity. These natives of St.Paul, Minn., were athletes whenyounger and “were great fans of allkinds of sports” throughout theirlives, said Bessman.
They also frequently supportedexercise and nutrition programsand facilities — not just the Madi-son community pool, but also theaquatic center on the Jewish com-munity’s campus.
Even after death, the Goodmanbrothers — who always livedtogether and never married — willkeep on giving to Madison,through their own GoodmanFoundation and through fundsthey had established at the univer-sity, United Way and elsewhere,said Morrison.
Still, Morrison said, their deathsare a great personal loss. “The real-ity is, I just miss them so much.That permanency that deathbrings reminds you to take theopportunity that there is to be withpeople you care about.”
Formerl y op -ed ed i t o r, LeonCohen has written for The Chron-icle for more than 25 years.
Gregarious Goodman shared hisquiet brother’s community values
Robert Goodman
New York (JTA) — Recently my3-year-old granddaughter playedwith a music box she had receivedfrom her parents at Chanukah.
“What is Chanukah?” I askedher.
“It’s the candle holiday,” she said.At such an early age, she was
impressed by the drama of this pow-erful symbol. Yet she’s not oldenough to realize that Jewish holi-days are rife with symbols that sparkthe imagination and sometimesmemories of favorite foods.
If Purim is the hamantaschenholiday, Passover the matzah holi-day, then Shavuot could be consid-ered the dairy holiday.
Arriving seven weeks afterPassover, Shavuot (on May 19 thisyear) has evolved over time.
In the Bible, Shavuot was anagricultural festival, a celebration ofthe end of the barley harvest andthe beginning of wheat season.
Shavuot originally commemorat-ed the ancient Israelites bringingthe first fruits of the seven species tothe Temple in Jerusalem. Thespecies were wheat, barley, grapes,figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.Along with Passover and Sukkot,Shavuot was one of three harvest
festivals.Early on, the Rabbis worried that
Shavuot celebrations might wanebecause the holiday was notattached to a historical event theway Passover was connected to theExodus.
To ensure Shavuot’s survival, bythe third century the Rabbis decid-ed to link its observance to theChildren of Israel receiving theTorah at Sinai, thus elevatingShavuot to a multifaceted holiday.
Despite this effort, Shavuot neverbecame associated with any specificrituals and remains an importantholiday that falls under the radarscreen of many Jews.
There is no definitive answer asto why dairy foods are prevalent onShavuot menus, but several theorieshave been offered. In the “Song ofSongs,” the verse “Honey and milkon your tongue” is assumed to referto the Torah. The whiteness of milkis considered a symbol of the Torah’spurity.
In Israel, “the Land of Milk andHoney,” Shavuot falls at a time ofyear when there is an ample supplyof barley and wheat for cows to feaston, causing them to gush with milk.From a practical point of view,
enterprising cooks had to find cre-ative ways to incorporate this fillingyet refreshing ingredient intorecipes.
In America, Shavuot is usuallycelebrated as a bagels-and-loxbrunch. This much-loved sandwichoften is served alongside kugels,blintzes and pickled herring withsour cream. Cheesecake has becomethe classic dessert.
As my family eats bagels and loxevery chance they get, I wouldnever drop this delicacy from themenu. However, I like to shake upthings occasionally by offering someexciting alternatives to elevateShavuot from typical Sundaybrunch fare to a holiday as cher-ished as a dollop of sour cream overblintzes.
As friends and family arrive, I putout crudites with a curry cream dipalong with a bowl of marinatedmozzarella balls. Alongside plattersof smoked fish, bread puddingaccented by cherries is a surprisingchange from noodle kugel. AtShavuot, recipes calling for cherriesare a culinary tradition in Hungary.I also serve a trendy mesclun mixthat I augment with unexpected fla-vor and texture.
I cap off the meal with a butterykuchen, a coffee cake, which hasbeen a popular pastry in Jewish
homes for centuries. Often contain-ing fruit, kuchens are usually raisedby yeast. However, my easy recipebypasses this trickiness. Acquiredfrom my Viennese mother-in-law,this lovely dessert is topped by sea-sonal fruit. Once you try this cakefor Shavuot, you’ll bake it again andagain all summer.
Most Jewish holidays revolvearound foods compatible with meat;Shavuot is a time to let loose withthe wholesome richness of milk. It’sa time to savor foods oozing withbutter, yogurt and sour cream, toserve whipped cream with abandon.It’s a time to smile and say cheese.
The following recipes have beendeveloped by Linda Morel.
Marinated Mozzarella Balls(Dairy)
This zesty hors d’oeuvre tastesbest when prepared a day inadvance. It will disappear fasterthan you can imagine.
1 pound (golf ball-sized) mozzarella balls, preferably made with salt
1/4 cup olive oil3 garlic cloves1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, or more,
if desired1/4 teaspoon dried basil1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Drain water from mozzarella
balls. Place them on paper towels todry.
Pour olive oil into a smallsaucepan. Squeeze garlic clovesthrough a press. Place the pressedgarlic in the oil. Discard the fibrousparts of the garlic remaining insidethe press.
Heat oil on a low flame for 2 min-utes, or until oil becomes fragrantwith garlic. Be careful not to scorchthe garlic. Remove pan from flame.
Add the remaining ingredients tothe warm oil; stir until combined.
Transfer balls to a plastic contain-er with a top that has a tight seal.Pour oil mixture over the balls.Close the container and gentlyshake until all the balls are wellcoated. Refrigerate balls for 24hours. Every few hours, shake ballsto insure even coating of oil.Remove from the refrigerator anhour before serving.
Yield: 14-16 mozzarella balls
Cherry Cream Challah Pudding (Dairy)
This divine pudding must beassembled the night before andthen baked before serving, makingfor easy entertaining.
Butter for greasing souffle dish, plus 1/4 cup, melted
1 (16-ounce) can of cherries
Page 12, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Food
Dairy, dairy, Shavuot is quite contrary to holidays’ meat traditions
Continued on page 13
May 2010 • Section I, Page 13Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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2 (8-ounce) bars of cream cheese8 slices of challah, cut about 1/4-
inch thick8 eggs1 3/4 cups milk1/4 cup sour cream1 tablespoon sugar1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Coat a 2 1/2 quart soufflé dishwith butter. Using a strainer placedover a bowl, drain liquid from cher-ries and reserve.
Cut bars of cream cheese into 6slices and place in a microwave safebowl. Pour 1/4 cup of the cherry liq-uid over cheese and discard the rest.Microwave at high power for 90seconds or until cheese softens. Mixtogether with a fork. Juice doesn’tfully incorporate.
Cover the bottom of the souffledish with 4 slices of challah. Slicesmay overlap. Spread half of thecream cheese mixture over thechallah. Spoon the cherries overthe cheese mixture.
Cover cherries with the remain-ing challah. Spread the remainingcheese mixture over the challah.
Place the remaining ingredientsin a large bowl and beat at highspeed until well combined. Eggsturn frothy but butter clumps. Pourthe egg mixture over the layeredchallah slices. Gently wiggle aspoon along the souffle dish’s edgesto ease the egg mixture into everycrevice. Cover and refrigerateovernight.
The next day, preheat oven to350. Bake bread pudding for 90minutes, or until it domes like asouffle. Serve immediately.
Yield: 8 servings
First Fruits Shavuot Salad(Dairy)
This salad is dotted with figs,grapes, olives and dates, four of theholiday’s seven first fruits. A sprin-kle of blue cheese adds a dairy twist.
1/4 pound mesclun mix, rinsed under cold water and dried in a salad spinner or in paper towels
25 red or green seedless grapes, cut in half
20 kalamata olives, pitted and cut in half
10 medjool dates, pitted and cut into thirds
10 dried figs, stems removed and cut in half
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbledPlace all ingredients in a large
salad bowl and toss with A SimpleVinaigrette (below).
Yield: 6-8 servings
Simple Vinaigrette (Pareve)
2 tablespoons olive oil1 tablespoon red wine vinegarKosher salt to taste
Place ingredients in a jar, closetop and shake until well combined.Pour over salad immediately.
Summer Fruit Kuchen(Dairy)
This cake tastes best when bakedone day ahead. Like many Euro-pean pastry recipes, this onerequires the weighing of ingredi-ents, which is no harder, and farmore accurate, than measuring byvolume.
No-stick vegetable spray3 eggs, plus 1Sugar
Butter Flour1/2 teaspoon vanillaZest from 1/3 of a lemon5 or 6 peaches, nectarines, plums
or other summer fruit, skinned, pitted and sliced thin
• Note: the amount of sugar, butterand flour depend on the weight ofthe eggs.
Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with no-stick spray.
Using a kitchen scale, weigh 3eggs and record their weight.Reserve the eggs.
Using the scale, measure outamounts of sugar, butter and flourequal to the weight of the 3 eggsand place all 3 ingredients in sepa-rate bowls. (For instance, if the 3eggs weigh 1/2 pound, then measureout 1/2 pound each of sugar, butterand flour.)
In a large mixing bowl, cream thebutter and sugar with an electricmixer until light and creamy. Oneat a time, add all 4 eggs, mixing wellafter each addition.
Add the flour, vanilla and lemonzest, mixing until incorporated.Pour batter into prepared pan.
Gently place sliced fruit on thesurface of the batter, covering itcompletely. Place fruit end to endwith no spaces between. You canuse more than one kind of fruit.Bake for 30 minutes or until testerinserted in the center comes outclean. The batter may swell oversome of the fruit. Cool to room tem-perature. Cut into squares.
Yield: 24 squares
Shavuot recipesContinued from page 12
Page 14, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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New Arizona law brings renewedattention to immigration reform
By Melissa ApterWashington (JTA) — Jewish
groups are slamming Arizona’sstringent new immigration-enforcement law, but hope outrageover the measure will reigniteefforts to push comprehensiveimmigration reform on a nationallevel.
“I believe that it has absolutelyignited a movement across thiscountry for comprehensive immi-gration reform,” said U.S. Rep. JanSchakowsky (D-Ill.), the daughterof Jewish immigrants, who is a co-sponsor of a bill that would provideillegal immigrants with an oppor-tunity to normalize their status.
“You see people pouring out oftheir homes and into the streetsand halls of government rejectingthis notion of allowing our countryto become a police state.”
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signedthe Support Our Law Enforcementand Safe Neighborhoods Act intolaw last week, though the measurewon’t go into effect for 90 days.
The new law requires that policecheck the immigration status ofanyone suspected of being an ille-gal immigrant, a tactic civil liber-ties groups and several Jewishorganizations say effectively man-dates racial profiling.
Proponents of the law say the
tough measures are necessary —given the federal government’s fail-ure to act — to rescue the statefrom a flood of illegal immigrantsfrom Mexico that they say sap tax-payer-funded programs and, insome cases, commit violent crime.
They also note that the gover-nor has issued an executive order
establishing a training program onhow to avoid racial profiling whenimplementing the new rules.
On Monday, following a week-end of protests, vandals — appar-ently opposed to the new law —smeared refried beans in the shapeof swastikas on the windows of theArizona State Capitol buildings,The Associated Press reported.More protests were being planned.
The new law has been criticizedContinued on page 27
Protesters at the State Capitol building in Phoenix compare the new immigra-tion-enforcement law to Nazi tactics, April 25, 2010. Photo by Kevin Bondelli /flickr.
See related Editor’sDesk, page 4.
By Leon CohenYehuda Halevi (1070-1141) was
one of — if not the — greatest ofthe Hebrew poets during the cul-tural flowering of the Jews inMedieval Spain. And why shouldanybody today care?
Readers may well ask that ques-tion as they begin the biography“Yehuda Halevi” (353 pages, $25hardcover) that U.S.-born Israeliauthor and translator Hillel Halkinwrote for the outstanding “JewishEncounters” series produced bySchocken Books and Nextbook.
Halkin starts with a partlycharming, partly puzzling chaptershowing how the young Haleviwon the friendship and patronageof Moshe Ibn Ezra (1055-1135),wealthy poet, philosopher and gov-ernment official in Granada.
The chapter describes how poet-ry was central to the pleasures ofpeople, Jewish and Arab, belong-ing to the cultivated classes of thattime and place. To be able to writea poem was an important socialskill.
People would send poems asinvitations and RSVPs, give poemsas gifts, or try to top or completeeach other’s poems as party games.And people who excelled at thisbecame celebrities.
Halevi shined in this milieu, andHalkin devotes several pages toanalyzing the poem he sent to IbnEzra, a bit of virtuoso extemporiz-
ing done at a party, to show howgifted Halevi was. One is willing totake Halkin’s word for it, but hisdemonstration is technical and dry,and can only be of interest toanother Hebraist.
Yet I would advise readers not toget bogged down by this chapter,but to press onward through thebook. For Halevi – a rabbi, physi-cian and theologian as well as apoet — was a fascinating personwho lived in a fascinating time.
Halevi vs. MaimonidesHis poetry may be only of aca-
demic interest today — although Iwould encourage enterprising com-posers to explore them, especiallythe secular ones, for possible set-ting. (At least one already mighthave; Halkin says that Naomi She-mer lifted a couple of Halevi linesfor her “Jerusalem of Gold.”)
But Halevi’s great book aboutJudaism, “The Kuzari: The Book ofProof and Demonstration inDefense of the Despised Faith”(completed around 1140), raisesand explores issues eternally perti-nent to Jewish life. Indeed, Halkinand others pair it with the “Guidefor the Perplexed” by Maimonides(1135-1204) as the greatest worksof medieval Jewish theology.
These two books, however, areantipodal, according to Halkin.“[E]very Jewish intellectual mightbe called a Maimonidean or a
Halevian. He either believes thatJudaism can and needs to be har-monized with the advancedthought of his age [like Mai-monides] or he doesn’t [like Hale-vi]…. Of course, such antithesesare simplistic.… Still, whoeverreads both … will tend to feelinstinctively more drawn to one orthe other.”
Halevi’s life also communicatessome important messages. Hearrived at the end of the “goldenage” of medieval Spanish Jewry,which Halkin demonstrates wasnot as “golden” as many wouldclaim.
At that time and place, Jewscould rise in status, wealth andeven political power. But in a
Spain divided between rival andoften warring Christian and Mus-lim realms, “the higher Jews didrise, the more they aroused theanger and resentment of the Mus-lim and Christian majority, and themore vulnerable they became. Theculture of tolerance stretched onlyso far… In the long run, the antag-onism prevailed.”
In the decade before Halevi’sbirth, Muslims of Granada massa-cred 3,000 Jews. During his life-time, the Christian Crusaders car-ried out massacres of Jews on theirway to the holy land and murderedthe Jerusalem Jewish communityonce they got there.
No wonder Halevi, who livedand worked in both Christian andMuslim Spain, described Judaismas “the despised faith” that neededa defense.
And also no wonder that at theend of his life, Halevi decided hejust couldn’t go on living in exile,but had to try to settle in the landof Israel, even though it was ruled
by the Crusaders. One of his poemsstill encountered today expressesthat longing – “My heart is in theEast and I am at the edge of theWest.”
That message has personal reso-nance for Halkin, who describeshow he himself struggled with hisAmerican and Jewish identitiesbefore he moved to Israel, and howhe found in Halevi an inspiring“proto-Zionist.” But he acknowl-edges that others have and do seeHalevi differently, and “This is as itshould be.”
”It is one of the measures of liter-ary greatness that we see ourselvesin it,” Halkin writes. “The goodreader reads with his whole mind;the best reader, with his whole life.Yehuda Halevi brings out the bestin us.” And that is why we mightcare about Halevi today, and whythis book about him is well worthreading.
Formerl y op -ed ed i t o r, LeonCohen has written for The Chron-icle for more than 25 years.
May 2010 • Section I, Page 15Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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Biography captures fascination of poet and theologian Yehuda Halevi
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New York (JTA) — If Knessetmember David Rotem has his way,Israel will enact a new law to makeit easier for non-Jewish Israelis toconvert to Judaism.
This will have the effect of bet-ter integrating tens of thousands ofIsraelis of Russian extraction, if nothundreds of thousands, into IsraeliJewish society, according to Rotemand Israeli Deputy Foreign Minis-ter Danny Ayalon, whose party, theRussian-dominated Yisrael Beit-einu, is sponsoring the bill. Mostimportant, they say, the measurewill make it easier for the Russiansto marry other Israelis.
“This is not a one-time placebobut a real, serious effort to keep theJewish people together,” Ayalontold JTA.
But critics, including some Dias-pora Jews and non-Orthodox lead-ers in Israel, are not happy with theproposal. They say the bill does notgo far enough to ease the conver-sion process, expands the power ofthe Chief Rabbinate, delegitimizesnon-Orthodox conversions anddoes nothing to secure recognitionin Israel for conversions performedin the Diaspora.
The objections are part of whatprompted a U.S. explaining tourthis week by the two legislators
from Yisrael Beiteinu, whoseleader, Foreign Minister AvigdorLieberman, promised in the lastcampaign to tackle marriage andconversion issues. Rotem andAyalon spent three days visitingAmerican Jewish organizationalleaders in a bid to allay concernsabout the proposed bill.
The point of the tour, Ayalonexplained, was “to alleviate anyconcerns from our brothers and sis-ters in the Conservative andReform movements that theywould be adversely impacted by
any form of the bill.”Rotem and Ayalon also met with
the Orthodox Union and federa-tion executives, among others, todiscuss the proposed legislation.
“I want them not to worry it’sgoing to harm them,” Rotem said.“This law doesn’t deal with conver-sions done abroad. We have tosolve an internal Israeli problem.”
Rabbi Uri Regev, a leadingReform rabbi in Israel and nowpresident of Hiddush, a group thatadvocates for religious freedom in
Impact of proposed Israeli conversion law under debate
Continued on page 18
David Rotem, seated, chats with Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieber-man, Israel’s foreign minister, during a Knesset session, March 2, 2010. Photoby Miriam Alster / Flash90 / JTA.
May 2010 • Section I, Page 17Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
By Shelly M. SamponOn most days, the archives of
the Jewish Museum Milwaukee area quiet place where research is per-formed and vast collections of arti-facts and materials are meticulous-ly catalogued.
On Monday mornings, however,visitors witness a flurry of activityand the buzz of conversation asvolunteers lend a hand by process-ing materials for the archives.
The number of volunteers, ledby Clarice Resnick, chair of thearchives catalogue committee,varies on any given Mondaydepending on the time of year, butthe group has 19 volunteers intotal, with years of service rangingfrom one year to 24, reaching backto the creation of the archives in1986.
When I visited the archives inmid-March, I was greeted by ninevolunteers who were elbow-deepin paper, but happy to share theirexperiences and current and pastprojects with a fellow history buff.
The main charge of the volun-teers is to sort and catalogue itemsdonated by organizations and peo-ple in the Jewish community. Cur-rent projects include items fromthe former Milwaukee JewishCouncil for Community Relations(now the Jewish Community Rela-tions Council of the MilwaukeeJewish Federation), the NationalCouncil of Jewish Women and theHelen Bader Foundation.
Harriet Dizack, who is process-ing Soviet resettlement archives,finds interesting items along theway. “It’s been fascinating to findlittle notes people write and post-cards from people getting out of
Russia. That to me is more funthan the press; anyone can read thepress.”
Though the volunteers enjoyworking with any artifacts, eachadmits to having favorite projects.
“Not being a Milwaukee native,I find that I have learned moreabout Milwaukee working on largeprojects in the Archives,” said Ber-nice Spivek, a 16-year volunteerwho is currently working on per-sonal biographical archives.
Arlene Mann recently finishedcataloguing sermons by variousrabbis, including Rabbi Jay Brick-man and Rabbi Harry Pastor, andeventually used parts of sermonsdating back to 1941 for her ownPassover seders.
“I like projects that involve peo-ple who make a difference. We cangrab that back and make it impor-tant today,” said Mann.
Stories of how the volunteerscame to the archives are almost as
varied as those they catalogue.Many of them were referred byfriends. In at least two cases, whatstarted out as a trip to the archivesto donate personal items ended inyears of volunteer service.
“We came to donate and theytricked us!” laughed Marlis Lippow.
Others like to see and feel histo-ry for themselves. “I love to lookthrough things, and I’m reallyenjoying myself. I learn as I go
along,” said Lil Rakita. The archives volunteers come
from various backgrounds, but allshare an interest in history, andespecially historical preservationand genealogy. They are commit-ted to preserving their own histo-ries, and most volunteers havetheir own files to which they rou-tinely add items.
Joan Barnett, who curated ashow at the Milwaukee Art Muse-um, submitted the exhibit’s cata-logue to her file, and Harriet Diza-ck routinely adds news clippingsabout her grandson, a jazz trum-peter, to hers.
All of the volunteers havebecome the archives’ and JewishMuseum Milwaukee’s best ambas-sadors, urging their friends, familyand neighbors to donate theiritems.
Said Barnett, “I tell my childrenand grandchildren that after I’m
gone, to look for everything in theJewish archives.”
The Monday morning volunteergroup has become a family, withstrong friendships and even far-
ther-reaching connections. Thefirst day Marlis Lippow worked inthe Archives and saw Harriet Diza-ck, her former Brownie troopleader whom she hadn’t seen foryears, she was pleasantly surprisedand addressed her as “Mrs. Dizack,”to which Harriet replied, “I thinkenough time has passed. You cancall me Harriet now!”
Overseeing the group and itsprojects is archivist Jay Hyland,who believes the volunteers’ effortsare priceless.
“They are my mentors, becausegoing into this I had little informa-tion about the Jewish community,but they have all taught me somuch,” he said.
“They are the backbone of thearchives, and the archives and Jew-ish Museum Milwaukee would notbe what they are without them.”
The volunteers have equalpraise for Hyland’s guidance: “Weadore him,” said Dizack. Spivekadds, “He is our gold find.”
The importance of the archivesextends beyond Milwaukee’s Jew-ish community, as requests forinformation have been submittedfrom worldwide as people tracetheir family histories and studentsof all education levels working onterm papers.
The archives were the mainresource for John Gurda’s 2009book, “One People, Many Paths: AHistory of Jewish Milwaukee.”
“The Archives tell the history ofour community and preserves thelegacy of the Jews,” said AnnaleeSosman. Mann agreed. “It’s ourhistory, and we’re important. Jewsin history are important. I cannotimagine Milwaukee without the
Jewish Museum or the archives.This is who you are.”
The Jewish Museum Milwaukeeand its archives are a program ofthe Milwaukee Jewish Federation.You can help ensure that work inthe archives continues by makingthe most generous gift possible tothe 2010 Annual Campaign of theMilwaukee Jewish Federation,which provides essential support tothis vital program. Invest in theprograms that define our commu-nity.
Make your gift today by visitingwww.milwaukeejewish.org or mail-ing a check to The Milwaukee Jew-ish Federation, 1360 N. ProspectAve., Milwaukee, WI 53202.
Preserving our history: museum archives volunteers
Archivist Jay Hyland works with Joan Barnett and other volunteers in thearchives of the JMM. Photo by Shelly M. Sampon/MJF.
The Jewish Museum Milwaukee
1360 N. Prospect Ave. Hours: Monday-Thursday 10a.m.-4 p.m.; Fridays 10 a.m.-2p.m.; Sundays, noon-4 p.m.
Preserve your history and donate your items to the archivesof the Jewish Museum Milwaukee.
Please call Jay Hyland at 414-390-5759 or [email protected] for more information.
By Shelly M. SamponThe Shnat Sherut (Shin Shin) program of the Israel
Center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation is lookingfor a few good host families.
The Israeli, teen-aged young emissaries, known asshin shinim, spend a pre-army year of volunteer serviceby serving the Milwaukee community, especially byteaching Israeli culture at institutions throughout Mil-waukee’s Jewish community, including the MilwaukeeJewish Day School and the Harry & Rose SamsonFamily Jewish Community Center.
The Israel Center is looking for families to host the
emissaries for five months; from August 2010 until Jan-uary 2011, and from January until June 2011.
During this time, the teens will become members ofthe host families and follow household rules, gainingvaluable experience of living with an American Jewishfamily on a day-to-day basis and celebrating holidayswith them.
If you are interested in learning more about this pro-gram or becoming a possible host family, please call ore-mail Paz Goldschmidt at 414-390-5705,[email protected] or Elsie Crawford at 414-390-5762, [email protected].
The 2010 Annual Campaign of the Milwaukee Jewish Federa-tion is moving into its final phases.
Under the strong leadership of campaign chair Moshe Katz andwomen’s campaign chair Andrea Schneider, the 2010 campaign hasbenefitted from the energy of a highly motivated, deeply committedgroup of volunteers.
Over the next few weeks, they will be working hard to reach outto donors and finalize gifts. On May 4, they will be making phonecalls to facilitate the giving process.
This has been a year of financial uncertainty and partial recovery.Our agencies continue to be strained by the combination of addi-tional demands and these financial challenges.
Our future as a vibrant Jewish community is strengthened byevery gift that comes in. If you haven’t yet made your gift, visit usonline at www.milwaukeejewish.org, mail a check to MJF at 1360N. Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202 or answer the call onMay 4. There’s still time to support the community you love.
2010 Annual Campaign nears close
Libraries exhibit local Jewish artifactsBy Shelly M. Sampon
In the month of May, Jewish artifacts provided bythe Jewish Museum Milwaukee will be on display attwo local libraries. The Milwaukee Central Library(814 W. Wisconsin Ave.) will host a display about Jew-ish lifecycle events, and the North Shore Library(6880 N. Port Washington Rd., Glendale) will featureitems focusing on Jewish weddings.
Among the displayed items will be a ketubah, wed-ding contract, from 1903, a mohel (ritual circumci-
sion) knife, a prayer guide and a New Method HebrewSchool Bat Mitzvah class photo from 1949.
JMM educator Ellie Gettinger will speak about Jew-ish marriage rituals at the North Shore Library on May10, 7:00 p.m.
To experience more Jewish Milwaukee history, visitthe JMM, located at 1360 N. Prospect Ave. Hours areMondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Fridays,10 a.m. – 2 p.m.; and Sundays, 12 noon – 4 p.m.
The Jewish Museum Milwaukee is a program of theMilwaukee Jewish Federation.
Shin Shin program seeks host families
Israel, says that American Jewishleaders should not be distractedfrom the real harm the bill does inIsrael.
“The devil is in the details,”Regev said. “What he’s not tellingyou is that the bill would result inserious ramifications in terms ofthe legal status of converts in gen-eral, of non-Orthodox converts inparticular, and will not provideRussian olim with the kind ofaccess and protection he claims.”
Local powerThe conversion bill aims to
address several problems with thestatus quo in Israel, according toRotem, the chairman of the Knes-set Constitution, Law and JusticeCommittee.
In the 1990s, hundreds of thou-sands of people from the formerSoviet Union immigrated to Israelunder the Law of Return, whichgrants the right to Israeli citizen-ship to anyone with a Jewishgrandparent.
While most of the Russian-speaking immigrants were Jewishaccording to halachah, or Jewishlaw, many did not have a Jewishmother and so were classified inIsrael as non-Jews.
That has led to all sorts of prob-lems for the estimated 350,000 to400,000 Israelis in this category,
particularly when it comes to mar-riage, which is controlled by reli-gious authorities.
Israeli law makes no accommo-dation for civil marriage, whetherbetween a Jew and a non-Jew orbetween two people of no religion.So the only way these Israelis canwed is if they convert to Judaism— no easy process in Israel.
Would-be converts must takeclasses, pass exams and pledge to bereligiously observant, and theapproval for conversions is subjectto the whims of special conversioncourts.
Complicating matters further,rabbinical courts in Israel in thepast two years have invalidated anumber of conversions performedyears ago, casting doubt on thou-sands more conversions and pro-voking a firestorm of controversy.
The Israeli Rabbinate also hascircumscribed acceptance of con-versions performed overseas,including Orthodox conversions,rankling Diaspora rabbis.
Rotem says his bill would addresssome, but not all, of these prob-lems.
The measure would empowerany rabbi who is or was on a districtrabbinate in Israel, or was or is thechief rabbi of a city or town, to per-form a conversion for any Israeliregardless of place of residence.
This would free would-be con-verts from the whims of the special
conversion courts. It also wouldeliminate the current curricularrequirements for converts, insteadleaving conversion to the discre-tion of local rabbis.
Under the proposed law, conver-sions could be voided only if the rab-binical court that conducted theconversion determined it took placeunder false pretenses, subject to theapproval of the president of thenational Rabbinic Court of Appeals.
And under Rotem’s proposal, aconvert seeking to marry but
encountering obstinacy at his localrabbinate could return to the rab-binical court that converted him toacquire his marriage license.
A few months ago, Rotem man-aged to get a separate bill passed toenable couples with no religion toenter into civil unions. Criticscomplain, however, that the law’slimitation to couples of no religionlimits its impact to some 100-200couples in Israel per year, and thatit leaves unclear whether theseunions will be recognized overseasas marriages.
The bill does nothing to helpinterfaith couples, who are barredby law from marrying in Israel, orJews who want to get married civil-
ly rather than through the rab-binate.
Dangerous provisionsThe conversion bill faces signifi-
cant hurdles in the Knesset. Ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, parties are fight-ing provisions of the bill that wouldease the conversion process, and somenon-Orthodox leaders complain thatcertain provisions of the bill maymake matter worse for converts.
Rotem says the conversion bill isessential for Israel’s future. With-out it, he warns, the non-Jewish,non-Arab population of Israel willswell to 1 million by 2035.
“There is a historic opportunityhere to solve and dismantle a tick-ing time bomb that when itexplodes, we in Israel won’t knowwhat to do with ourselves,” Rotemtold JTA.
Regev, a staunch critic of thebill, says that while well-meaning,the measure contains several dan-gerous provisions.
For one, it expands the Ortho-dox-dominated Chief Rabbinate’sjurisdiction by bringing conver-sions, until now the province ofspecial conversion courts, underthe explicit authority of the ChiefRabbinate.
For another, it requires the con-sent of the president of the nation’sRabbinic Court of Appeals for aconversion to be revoked. Whilethat might be an improvementover the current situation, inwhich lower rabbinic courts areunilaterally voiding conversions, italso raises the specter that the posi-tion could be taken up by a funda-mentalist who would take a
tougher line against converts.Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who is seenas a relative moderate, occupiesthe post until 2014.
Moreover, the conversion billdoes not guarantee that rabbinatesin Israel will recognize conversionsperformed overseas. While Israelilaw recognizes such conversions asvalid, in practice Israeli rabbinatesoften disregard them and bar suchconverts from marrying Jews —particularly in the case of non-Orthodox conversions.
Rotem dismisses this problem,saying that a convert from theUnited States always can find somerabbinate in Israel willing to granthim a marriage license — it’s just amatter of “legwork” going from cityto city to find one.
Regev says this is ridiculous.“Instead of allowing people to
marry as they see fit, with the start-ing point being freedom of mar-riage, there are acrobatics whenthe chief rabbi of the city makesproblems for a convert who wantsto marry,” he said.
This scenario also opens thedoor for fundamentalist rabbis toexercise whatever coercive powerthey can — from ostracization tointimidation — to compel mem-bers of lenient district rabbinatesto fall into line.
Just how liberal a district rab-binate can be in Israel remains tobe seen. They are exclusivelyOrthodox and frequent battle-grounds between moderate andfundamentalist Orthodox rabbis.
Ultimately, Rotem acknowl-edges that his bills may not go farenough, but says they are animprovement over the status quo.
“Let’s start with this,” he said.
Wisconsin Jewish ChroniclePage 18, Section I • May 2010
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May 2010 • Section I, Page 19
Page 20, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
World
By Ruth Ellen Gruber Rome (JTA) — The Jewish reac-
tion to the April 10 death of PolishPresident Lech Kaczynski anddozens of other senior Polish officialsin an air tragedy highlights aremarkable change in how the Jew-ish world views Poland.
The prayers, public statementsand personal tributes, including aspecial remembrance during theMarch of the Living, were normalexpressions of grief and solidarity fora close friend and ally — in short,heartfelt sentiments that probablycould not have been made 20 oreven 15 years ago.
Poland looms large in the collec-tive Jewish consciousness. Hugenumbers of North American Jewstrace their ancestry to Poland, andbefore World War II Poland wasEurope’s Jewish heartland. Some 3million Polish Jews were killed inthe Holocaust.
Until fairly recently, however,much of the Jewish world regardedPoland as little more than a vast,anti-Semitic Jewish graveyard.These attitudes were exemplified in1989 by Israel’s then-Prime MinisterYitzhak Shamir, who famouslydeclared that Poles “suck in” anti-Semitism “with their mother’smilk.”
Today, however, Poland is one ofIsrael’s best friends, and Jewish lead-ers hailed Kaczynski and others on
the doomed plane for their dedica-tion in helping write a new chapterin Polish-Jewish relations. Kaczynskiwas buried Sunday.
Jewish life in PolandThis change in Jewish attitudes
by no means came overnight. It wasthe fruit of a deliberate, sometimerocky post-communism Polish poli-cy aimed at convincing the Jewishworld that Poland — and Poles —could be trusted partners.
This included organized outreach,Poland’s emergence as an ally ofIsrael and extensive Polish interac-tion with international Jewishorganizations on both a formal andinformal basis.
In 1995, the Polish governmenteven established the unprecedentedpost of roving ambassador to theJewish Diaspora to foster contactsand provide a conduit for communi-cations.
Meanwhile, lacerating publicdebates in Poland over anti-Semi-tism and the Polish role in the Holo-caust, sparked by several books andfilms, also demonstrated to the Jew-ish world a willingness in Poland totackle these troubling issues.
“Jewish attitudes became morepositive as the world began to recog-nize Poland as a modern democraticnation rather than the apocryphalplace of our ancient sufferings,” saysMichael Traison, a Jewish American
lawyer who has maintained an officein Poland since the mid-1990s.
“And attitudes were impacted bythe growth of information flowingout of Poland to the Jewish world aspeople learn that ‘Am Yisrael chai’[the Jewish people lives], even inPoland.”
Jewish figures themselves playedkey roles by demonstrating theirown openness to Poland and high-lighting the revival of contemporaryJewish life in the country.
Shevach Weiss, a Polish-bornHolocaust survivor and formerspeaker of the Israeli Knesset,became a popular and even beloved
figure among locals as the Israeliambassador to Poland from 2000 to2004.
I’ll never forget seeing him plungeinto a crowd of 10,000 frenzied fans,most of them Catholic Poles, whocrammed into the main square ofKrakow’s old Jewish quarter, Kaz-imierz, for the final concert of theannual Festival of Jewish Culture in2002.
The Krakow Festival and the newMuseum of the History of PolishJewry under construction in Warsawalso have won enthusiastic Ameri-can supporters.
Poland’s American-born chief
rabbi, Michael Schudrich, has beentireless in spreading the word that asmall but living Jewish communityexists in Poland.
Organizations such as the SanFrancisco-based Taube Foundationand the American Jewish Commit-tee now make it a point to bringJewish groups to Poland not just tocommemorate the Holocaust butalso to take part in Jewish culturalevents and meet local Jews andCatholic Poles.
“The story of Judaism in Polanddid not end with the Holocaust,”promotional material for Taube-ledtours says.
What all this means is that afterdecades of looking at Polandthrough a lens tinged darkly withtragedy and distrust, Jewish leadersincreasingly are willing to demon-strate belief that Poland haschanged. Or at least is changing.
To be sure, this does not meanthat Polish anti-Semitism has van-ished; on the contrary. It does recog-nize, however, that other forces arein play, too.
To someone like me, whose rela-tionship with the Jewish experiencein post-Holocaust Poland goes backnearly 30 years, this change of atti-tude is as dramatic as it is welcome.It remains to be seen, though, howfar it has trickled down.
Reaction to tragedy showcases changes in Polish-Jewish relations
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were laid to rest afterfuneral services at St. John’s Cathedral in Warsaw, April 18, 2010. Photo byAndrzej Rybczynski / AFP / Getty Images.
Interlaken in Eagle River. As Schulman recalls, food wasn’t
a subject of great drama in her fami-ly. Yet she wasn’t more than 5 yearsold before she stood at the mirrorand thought, “I need to lose weight.”
When she was a little older, shebegan skipping breakfast and eatingonly half her sandwich at lunch. Inhigh school, being 5-foot-5 and justover 100 pounds still seemed toochunky to her.
But it wasn’t until she became anInterlaken counselor that thingstook a more serious turn. Trainingthe camp’s lifeguards, she spentmany strenuous hours in the water— and at the same time, decided togo on a juice fast.
Fatigue andundernourishmenttook their toll, andsoon her supervi-sors noticed. In2006 they tookaction.
“I was asked toleave until I couldgo and get myselfhealthy,” she says,and it’s clear thememory is stillpainful. “I was insuch denial that I didn’t even knowwhat they meant.” Reluctantly atfirst, she enrolled in the first of whatwas to be a series of eating-disordersprograms. Only in the last year hasshe felt confident enough to describeherself as in recovery.
Part of what motivates Schulmanto maintain a healthy weight isworking with young people andknowing that she’s a very visible rolemodel.
At Interlaken, she says, “my heartsank when I would hear young girlswho weren’t at all fat talk about whatwas wrong with this part of theirbody and that part of their body, andhow they needed to lose weight.”
She’s very conscious, she says, that
the little girls at Gan Ami look toadults like her for cues on how to eatand how to look — and she’s deter-mined to project a healthy image.
Nye, too, believes it’s important towalk the walk as well as talking thetalk. For her, at 47, that means beingcomfortable in her 5-foot-4 inch, size16 body. After years of yo-yo diet-ing, she now thinks less about hersize and more about her health. Sheexercises, eats well, enjoys dressingup and notes that “the size of mythighs isn’t part of my identity.”
For someone who first joinedWeight Watchers in her native Lin-colnwood, Ill., at age 12, that’s anaccomplishment.
“I take care of myself, and I loveadorning myself,” Nye says. “But assoon as you start looking at yourselfand start thinking, ‘This or that has
to change,’ youmight want to askyourself why.”
A uniquely Jew-ish approach topreventing eatingdisorders andbody-image prob-lems among girls isoffered by the pro-gram “Bishvili: ForMe,” developed byHarvard Universi-
ty’s Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adairwith support from the HadassahFoundation.
The program aims to countermainstream messages about “good”and “bad” body types by “strength-en[ing] girls’ connection to theirJewish identity as a source of spiritualnourishment that increases their self-and body acceptance.”
“Bishvili” serves as a Jewishadjunct to Steiner-Adair and LisaSjostrom’s 2006 book “Full of Our-selves: A Wellness Program toAdvance Girl Power, Health andLeadership.” Learn more atwww.bishviliforme.com.
Joanne Weintraub is a month lyarts columnist for th e MilwaukeeJournal Sentinel and a freelancewriter and editor.
May 2010 • Section I, Page 21Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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Body imageContinued from page 1
‘Judging one’s worth
by the size of one’s
thighs is perceived
as perfectly
ordinary.’
By Rabbi Saul PrombaumMy name is Ruth. I am an iconic
figure in the Bible, a symbol of self-lessness, kindness and loyalty, amodel righteous convert. I’m cur-rently on a national tour toutingmy new book, “Ruth, My Truth.”
In part, the book is a response tothe question I’m asked wherever Igo. “If you lived in the 21st centuryinstead of the biblical period of theJudges, would you still convert toJudaism?”
My agent’s mantra is, “Buy the
book and find out,” but I figure if Ishare this tidbit from a contempo-rized “what if” version of my story,you’ll buy the book anyway.
I love my mother-in-law Naomi,although we never speak anymore.I always will love her. Followingthe death of her husband Elim-elech and her two sons in the fieldsof Moab, she persuaded my sister-in-law, Orpah, to return to herMoabite family.
I, on the other hand would notbe dissuaded from my plan to fol-
low Naomi back to Bethlehem, inJudah. I was young, naive and ide-alistic. I thought that somehow, nomatter what, we would be togetherforever. Naomi’s plan was to get usout of poverty by having a relativeof Elimelech repurchase the estateshe was forced to sell years before. Iwould marry our benefactor, Boaz,and we would live happily everafter tilling the soil. Through me,Boaz would sire a progenitor of theMashiach (Messiah).
To my surprise, the Boaz I met
was a secular Israeli living in TelAviv. Boaz, a conflicted leftist inthe current political climate, won’thave anything to do with propertyon the West Bank until final statusnegotiations with the Arabs.
Naomi, on the other hand, dis-covered a religious Zionist fervorshe didn’t know she had. Shefound a lawyer living in the GushEtzion bloc near Elimelech’s prop-erty (located at the center of aneighboring Arab village) who willpress her claim for the land, which,incidentally, sits on rich soil per-fect for growing wine grapes rival-ing the best grapes on the GolanHeights. Naomi, who now callsherself a settler, stands to become awealthy woman.
Sadly, I could not stand with her.Part of it was the political senti-ments I shared with Boaz; the otherreason was much more disturbing.Through her newly-found nation-alistic lenses, Naomi didn’t look atme; she looked through me.
She introduced me as a Moabite,a foreigner, her live-in caregiver, amigrant worker picked up througha labor contractor, a refugee wait-ing for a work permit: anything butwhat I was.
“Naomi,” I cried. “I pledged myloyalty to you and to your people. Igave up everything for you. Is thisany way to treat a convert?”
“The validity of your conversionis not in my hands,” Naomi saidmatter-of-factly. “You will have totake it up with the Chief Rab-binate.”
Boaz was more sympathetic tomy plight. I later discovered thatmy conversion would not be recog-nized by the Rabbinate because I,like the patriarch Abraham andmatriarch Sarah before me, con-verted myself without proper aidus(legal witnesses).
That’s right. Abraham andSarah, Judaism’s original converts,
didn’t make the cut either. Coldcomfort.
Boaz offered to take me toCyprus for a civil marriage. I lovedBoaz but didn’t want to share mylife with him; the chemistry wasn’tthere. Besides, I overheard hismother say she couldn’t accept me,or any convert for her son.
“My son must have a girl withyich us (a prestigious Jewish pedi-gree). After all, we’re a prominentfamily.”
Boaz would have done anythingfor me. When I told him I wasleaving Israel, he was hurt. “Whatabout the messianic progenitor wewere going to make together?
“If Mashiach has waited thislong,” I said, “Mashiach can wait alittle longer.”
My famous quote, “Your peoplewill be my people,” has reverberat-ed through the ages. I never goback on my word. So I decided togo where my adopted people need-ed me most. I went to the UnitedStates and was ordained by theReconstructionist Rabbinical Col-lege.
I found my life-partner Naomion JDate.com. I serve as a JewishRenewal rabbi in California, apeace and social justice activistaiding migrant workers.
My Naomi agreed that Boazcould be our artificial inseminationdonor. This Shavuot, I will beinduced. With G-d’s help, Naomiand I will be blessed with a babydaughter confirmed by ultrasound.
Because I take my role as mes-sianic progenitor very seriously,and further believe that theMashiach will arise from theLubavitch community, our daugh-ter will be named MenachemMendel.
Rabbi Saul (Simcha) Prombaumh as served Congregation Sons ofAbraham in La Crosse since 1982.
Page 22, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Torah
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414 352 9040 www.HeartsToHomeLlc.com
Ruth: I would not be deniedA Shavuot holiday satire
Norman GoldbergNorman Goldberg, the man
known as the Candy Man to many,died April 4 at age 90.
He earned the nickname by reg-ularly distributing candy to chil-dren and adults at his synagogue,Congregation Beth Jehudah, andschool, his family said.
A Milwaukee native, Goldbergworked as a metal recycler for JoeStevens Scrap Metal. He was a32nd degree mason. His nephewLouis (Dolly) Friedman and nieceLynn (Jeff) Marcus, both of Mil-waukee, cared for him in recentyears.
He was preceded in death bywife Ruth Goldberg (neeHirschbein) and is survived by hisbrother Herman Goldberg of Deer-field, Ill., and 12 nieces andnephews.
Burial was in Agudas AchimCemetery. Rabbi Benzion Twerskiofficiated and the Jewish Commu-nity Funeral Home handled thearrangements.
The family would appreciatememorial contributions to Congre-gation Beth Jehudah, 3100 N.52nd. St., Milwaukee, WI 53216.
Margaret GoodmanMargaret Goodman, nee Lewis,
died April 8 at age 92. A resident of Manitowoc, she
graduated from Shorewood HighSchool, attended Marquette Uni-versity and the University of Wis-consin-Madison.
She was preceded in death byher husband of 40 years, Dr. PaulGoodman and her brother, MertonLewis.
She is survived by daughterPatricia (Howard) Zimmerman ofManitowoc; sons Dr. John (Patri-cia Gordon) Goodman of Edmons,Wash., and Dr. Lawrence (Linda)Goodman of Houston, Texas;seven grandchildren and one great-grandson.
A graveside service was held atSpring Hill Cemetery. The PfefferFuneral Home handled the funeralarrangements.
The family would appreciatememorial contributions to Make-A-Wish Foundation,
www.wish.org, or Anshe PoaleZedek Synagogue, P.O. Box 2291,Manitowoc, WI 54221-2291.
Rochelle KianovskyMilwaukeean Rochelle
Kianovsky died of breast cancer onMarch 8. She was 71.
A native Milwaukeean, shegraduated from Washington HighSchool in 1955, earned a bache-lor’s degree in sociology and a Mas-ter in Library Science from theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison.
She worked as a librarian at theMilwaukee Public Library andbelonged to the American LibraryAssociation.
She was a member of Congrega-tion Anshai Lebowitz, NA’AMATUSA and Hadassah: The Women’sZionist Organization of America.
She is survived by her husband,Raphael Kianovsky of Milwaukee;daughter Sarah (Frank Friedman)Kianovsky of Brookline, Mass.;sons Zev (Arlene Lukin)Kianovsky of Columbus, Ohio, andNahum (Sarah Rosen) Kianovskyof Maplewood, N.J.; sister DianeBudner of Portland, Ore.; andseven grandchildren.
Burial was in Second HomeCemetery. Cantor Beth Levin andRabbi Mitchell Cohen officiated.Funeral arrangements were han-dled by Blane Goodman FuneralService.
The family would appreciatememorial contributions to YoungSurvival Coalition, 61 Broadway,Suite 2235, New York, NY 10006.
Sophie KoppelSophie Koppel (nee Kaufman)
died Feb. 19, two weeks before her103rd birthday.
The youngest of six children, shewas born in Chicago. After gradu-ating eighth grade, she entered theworking world, first making gasmantles used for lighting and laterat Sears Roebuck and Companyand at L. Klein’s DepartmentStore.
After marrying Eddie Koppel in1926 and having the first child oftheir three children, the couplemoved to Milwaukee. She was afull-time housewife and mother,
her family said.In 1972, the couple moved to
Los Angeles.“Sophie was known as the ‘beau-
tiful girl from Chicago’ who joinedthe large Koppel family that firstcame to Milwaukee around 1890,”her family wrote in a funeral pro-gram.
“Sophie was known for herwarmth, good humor, friendlysmile and hospitality. Everyonewho knew her liked her and want-ed to be her friend.”
Her husband predeceased her in1976. She is survived by daughterAnnette Koppel of Los Angeles;sons Irving (Trish) Koppel ofDurham, N.C., and Stuart Koppelof Los Angeles; and two grandchil-dren.
Funeral services were held in LosAngeles.
Joseph Richard PickJoseph Richard Pick died March
2 of Parkinson’s disease. He was 86.He was born in Frankfurt am
Main, Germany, in 1924 and livedthere until age 14, when he tookrefuge in Alsace, France, withfriends of the family. Two yearslater, his parents escaped Germanyand the family resettled in Milwau-kee, where his father had many rel-atives.
He earned accounting and busi-ness degrees from the University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee and workedfor 37 years as an accountant atPabst Brewery.
In addition to his volunteerwork as a board member of theZionist Organization of America,he was passionate about music andsang in the choir of Beth El NerTamid Synagogue, when it waslocated on Sherman Blvd.
A member of CongregationBeth Israel, he chanted Torah,“upholding centuries of traditionalGerman trope,” his family said. “Itwas a privilege and joy to hear himdaven and chant from the Torah.”
He is survived by wife YvonnePick of Milwaukee; son NathanielPick of Milwaukee; daughterSharon (Victor) Pinsker of Trabu-co Canyon, Calif.; and four grand-children.
Burial was in Beth HamedroshHagodol Cemetery. RabbisMitchell Cohen and Jacob Herberofficiated. Goodman Bensmanfuneral service handled the funeralarrangements.
Betty SandlerBetty Sandler (nee Doren), of
St. Louis Park, Minn., died April 5of complications of Alzheimer’sdisease. She was 82.
A Milwaukee native, she gradu-ated from Washington HighSchool and later married HymieSandler, to whom she was marriedfor 62 years.
“They were married 62 years andnever had a fight,” said her twin
brother Louis Doren of Milwaukee.“She was a wonderful person.”
She belonged to Adath JeshurunCongregation in Minnetonka,Minn.
In addition to her brother, she issurvived by her husband; daughterDebby Saadi of St. Louis Park; sonRabbi Neil (Susan) Sandler ofAtlanta, Ga.; and five grandchil-dren.
Funeral services were held inMinnesota. The family wouldappreciate memorial contributionsto the Helen Sandler CampRamah Scholarship Fund of AdathJeshurun Congregation, 10500Hillside Lane West., Minnetonka,
May 2010 • Section I, Page 23Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Life Cycle
414/276-5122
— SERVING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY —REFORM, CONSERVATIVE AND ORTHODOX
COMPLETE AND HALACHIC TAHOROT
BY THE
MILWAUKEE JEWISH SACRED SOCIETY
AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Enjoy peace of mind knowing that your finalarrangements have been made. We offer free,
no obligation, preplanning consultations.
Thank you to all who were so kind in sendingcards, notes and contributions to agencies,
synagogues and other organizations throughoutthe community in memory of my sister,
Sally Waters, who passed away on January 31, 2010.
With deep appreciation for your care and concern,The Family of Sally Waters
Obituaries
Relatives and friends are invited to attend a memorial dedication cere-mony in memory of:
Ethel B. Aronson, Sunday, May 23, 11:30 a.m., in Temple MenorahEver-Rest Cemetery. Rabbi Gil-Ezer Lerer will officiate.
Eva G. Bernstein, Sunday, May 23, 12:30 p.m., in Spring Hill Cemetery.Rabbi Marc Berkson will officiate.
Deenie Cohen, Sunday, May 30, 11 a.m., in Second Home Cemetery.Rabbi Ronald Shapiro will officiate.
Aron Mydlak, Sunday, May 16, 1:30 p.m., in Agudas Achim Cemetery.Rabbi Jacob Herber will officiate.
Hilda Plotkin, Sunday, May 23, 11 a.m., in Beth Hamedrosh HagodolCemetery. Rabbi Daniel Plotkin will officiate.
Florence F. Sussman, Sunday, May 30, noon, in Spring Hill Cemetery.Rabbi Ronald Shapiro will officiate.
Dedications
Continued on page 24
Page 24, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Life Cycle
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Esther SchwadeBeaver Dam native Esther
Schwade (nee Temkin Liebman)died at age 93 on March 20.
She graduated from WashingtonHigh School and earned a teach-ing degree from Milwaukee StateTeacher’s College. She taught atPalmer Street School and, duringWorld War II, taught afternoonkindergarten at Ninth StreetSchool. She later studied at Cardi-nal Stritch College and became acertified reading instructor.
A member of CongregationEmanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, sheserved on various committees atthe synagogue and in other organi-zations, including the Mt. SinaiAuxiliary and Hadassah: TheWomen’s Zionist Organization ofAmerica. She served as presidentof Hadassah’s Milwaukee chapter.
“Family, Judaism and Jewishcommunity involvement were veryimportant to her,” her family said.
She was very close with her sis-ters and helped create a large,extended family for her children,said her daughter Sandy Schmidtof Milwaukee.
She is further survived by daugh-ter Fran (Ronald) Meyers ofMequon; son Dr. Jim (Karyn)Schwade of Coral Gables, Fla.;brothers Dr. Albert Liebman ofMequon and Dr. Monte Liebmanof Milwaukee; seven grandchildrenand 10 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held atEmanu-El and burial was in Sec-ond Home Cemetery. Rabbi MarcBerkson officiated. The JewishCommunity Funeral Home han-dled the arrangements.
The family would appreciatememorial contributions to Hadas-sah, 6270 N. Port Washington Rd.,Suite 204, Milwaukee, WI 53217;Milwaukee Jewish Day School’s JaySchmidt Computer and Technolo-gy Memorial Fund, 6401 N. SantaMonica Blvd., Milwaukee, WI53217; or Congregation Emanu-El,2020 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwau-kee, WI 53217.
ObituariesContinued from page 23
BirthJoshua Nathan Harkavy
A son, Joshua Nathan Harkavy,was born Feb. 27 to Orete Y. andDavid J. Harkavy of Deerfield, Ill.He is brother to Harrison, 5, andJosephine, 2.
His maternal grandparents areEtta and David Jonas of Glencoe,Ill, and Rosalie and Dr. RaymondHarkavy of Bayside are the pater-nal grandparents.
His Hebrew name is Yehoshua.
Bat MitzvahIsabella Stechschulte
Isabella Stechschulte will celebratebecoming a bat mitzvah on May 14 at Con-gregation Shalom. She is the daughter ofAmy and Thomas Stechschulte of Mequonand has one brother, Julian, 10.
Her maternal grandparents are Dianaand Ken Stein. Nancy and Jack Stech-schulte of Waukesha are her paternalgrandparents.
Isabella is a student at Lake Shore Mid-dle School. Isabella Stechschulte
Moffic awarded ‘Distinguished’ status
H. Steven Moffic, M.D., hasbeen awarded “Distinguished LifeFellow” status of the AmericanPsychiatric Association.
Professor of psychiatry at theMedical College of Wisconsin, hewill receive the award at the asso-ciation’s annual meeting on May24 in New Orleans.
Workplace
StudentsFinkel makes Dean’s List
Alyssa M. Finkel, a senior atWestern Michigan University inKalamazoo, Mich., was named tothe Dean’s List in December 2009.Her major is special education,with a specialization in cognitiveimpairment and learning disabili-ties, and her minor is English lan-guage arts.
Appel joins YALDAH’sboard
Tova Malka Appel, 11, a stu-dent at Yeshiva ElementarySchool, joined the editorial boardof YALDAH Magazine as a writer.She will write a quiz, interview orfiction article for each issue.
Founded in 2004, the magazineis written, edited and publishedexclusively by girls.
The Chronicle publishes life cycle announcements
at no charge. Requirements for publication are listed
on our life cycle forms.Call 414-390-5888
or visit www.jewishchronicle.org
Teen leaders — Wisconsin Region BBYO elected its 2010 regionalboard. They are, as pictured (back row, from left): secretaries Zach Rosen andAmy Hurwitz; treasurers Jordan Schack and Robin Lieberman; schlichim (vicepresidents of Judaism & Social Action) Jake Kupferman and Becca Shertock;membership vice presidents Andy Zolot and Ariel Zangwill; programming vicepresidents Mollie Berger and Sam Cherny. Front row, from left: presidents:David Urintsev and Sadie Teper
for Catholic-Jewish Studies.According to Lux and Heilbron-ner, this will be the first such cen-ter ever to be established at aCatholic seminary in North Amer-ica.
The school will inaugurate thecenter with a dinner scheduled forTuesday, May 11, 5 p.m., at theBoerner Botanical Gardens, 9400Boerner Dr., Hales Corners.
Rabbi Ronald M. Shapiro, sen-ior rabbi at Congregation Shalom,is co-chairing the center’s advisoryboard with Rev. Richard Sklba,auxiliary bishop of the Archdio-cese of Milwaukee.
“I am honored to have this privi-lege. I just think the world of[Lux],” said Shapiro, who hasknown and worked with Lux eversince Shapiro came to Shalom in1978. The new center, saidShapiro, will maintain Lux’s vision“that it is important for seminari-ans to know the intellectual andspiritual treasures of Judaism.”
Jewish members of the center’s11-member executive committeeare Heilbronner, local Jewish edu-cator Sherry Blumberg, Ph.D., andRobert Peterman of the MilwaukeeCatholic-Jewish Conference.
Lux said the center’s organizershave “great ideas and plans” thatinvolve serving both the studentsand the general community. It willdo this via four projects:
• Beginning in the summer of2011, the center hopes to offerSHST seminarians the opportunityto participate in a month-longstudy program in Israel that thecenter will partly subsidize.
• The center is planning to hirean adjunct faculty member toteach Jewish studies.
• The center also hopes to offera named lectureship that will bringJewish studies scholars to Milwau-kee for lectures and seminars thatwill be open to the general public.
• Finally, the center wants toincrease the SHST library’s Judaicholdings from the “modest 1,100items” it now has and make that
collection available to the generalpublic.
However, the school needs toraise money to begin all this. Luxsaid the center will need “a mini-mum of a $350,000 endowment tostart all these projects. We hope tobuild more over the years, but thisis the threshold figure.”
A summer in IsraelLux said his interest in Catholic-
Jewish relations began when hewas a student in Israel in the sum-
mer of 1966, doing archeologicalwork and attending The HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem.
During that time, he was “beingin all the biblical places and seeingthe vibrant Jewish community,”and experiencing “the pain of hav-ing to go Cypress and fly toAmman [Jordan] in order to go tothe Old City of Jerusalem,” whichwas then in Jordanian control.
He also read a classic history of
anti-Semitism, “The Anguish ofthe Jews,” written by a Catholicpriest, Fr. Edward Flannery, firstpublished in 1964. Lux said that inspite of his having attended NotreDame University, he “was unawareof this long and sordid history. Iresolved that the future had to bedifferent.”
As a result, he plunged into Mil-waukee Catholic-Jewish relationswithin a short time after he arrivedat SHST in 1973. Highlights of hiswork in that area have includedbeing one of the co-chairs of thesixth national workshop on Chris-tian-Jewish relations, the first suchevent ever held in Milwaukee,attended by some 650 people.
Most recently, Lux has written abook, “The Jewish People, theHoly Land, and the State of Israel:A Catholic View,” published thisyear by the Paulist Press (175pages, $19.95 paperback).
And he said that after his retire-ment from the school, he willremain active in the local inter-faith dialogue. “I am not a golfer ora fisherman,” he said. “I have noplans like that.”
Formerl y op -ed ed i t o r, LeonCohen has written for The Chron-icle for more than 25 years.
May 2010 • Section I, Page 25Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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without evidence and in the inter-est of furthering political agendas.
In fact, “the public record is sodifferent,” she said. “All over thecountry, there was engagement,public programs, ceremonies, writ-ten material,” plus survivors “beinginterviewed, giving public testimo-ny, creating survivor organizationsand being connected to otherAmerican Jewish organizations.”
The book she wrote about thiswon a 2009 National Jewish BookAward from the Jewish BookCouncil and theAmerican JewishStudies/Celebrate350 Award.
Diner will bespeaking abouther findings inMilwaukee at aD i s t i n g u i s h e dScholar Lunch-eon sponsored bythe Jewish Muse-um Milwaukee.
The event cele-brates Jewish American HeritageMonth and will take place onThursday, May 13, noon, at theRubenstein Pavilion of the JewishHome and Care Center.
State nativeDiner has more than one reason
for opening her book with aninstance from Wisconsin. She her-self is a state native.
She grew up on Milwaukee’sWest Side. Her father was MorrisSchwartzman, director of andteacher at the United HebrewSchool, which met at the Beth AmCenter that once existed onBurleigh St.
Not only did she study Hebrewwith him, but her father and step-mother, Holocaust survivor ItaEichenbaum (her birth mother,Esther, died when Hasia was 2),spoke Yiddish at home.
Schwartzman also was an activeLabor Zionist, and Hasia during herteen years belonged to Habonim,the movement’s youth organiza-tion, she said.
When she began doing graduatestudy in American history, she said,she realized that her backgroundwould help her do pioneering workin American Jewish history.
“The fact that I had a readingknowledge of Hebrew and Yiddishmeant that I was able to doresearch in sources that many oth-ers could not,” Diner said. “Itopened up the possibility of study-ing aspects of American historythrough the medium of AmericanJewish history.”
Diner is also very interested inwomen’s history, for much the samereason that she is interested in
American Jewishhistory – becauseAmerican history“looks differentwhen you look atit from the mar-gins rather thanfrom the center,”which has been“white, male, mid-dle class Protestantmen.”
Her otherbooks have includ-
ed “The Jews of the United States:1654 to 2000” (2004) and “HerWorks Praise Her: A History ofJewish Women in America fromColonial Times to the Present”(2002).
Diner currently is Paul S. andSylvia Steinberg Professor ofAmerican Jewish History anddirector of the Goldstein-GorenCenter for American Jewish Histo-ry at NYU.
She is married to Steve Diner,chancellor of Rutgers University inNewark, N.J., and has three grownchildren.
The cost of the Jewish Museumprogram is $35 for the lunch(dietary laws observed), museumadmission and program, $10 for theprogram only. For more informa-tion and to register, contact themuseum, 414-390-5730 [email protected].
Formerl y op -ed ed i t o r, LeonCohen has written for The Chroni-cle for more than 25 years.
‘He has been the
quintessential
bridge-builder.’American history
‘looks different
when you look at it
from the margins.’
HolocaustContinued from page 1
Page 26, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
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May 2010 • Section I, Page 27Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Across1. German-Jewish jurist
Eduard5. Swelling10. Rocker Lou14. Improve a report in the
Jewish Star15. ___ Majority16. Car bar17. 1970s talk-show hostess19. Flower holder20. Righteous gentile Sendler21. Yelled23. Georgeʼs brother26. And so on27. Islamʼs “Noble Sanctuary”
in Jerusalem34. One way to get to Toronto
from Israel36. Jerusalemʼs secular
mayor Barkat37. “The Jewess,” e.g.38. Actress Spelling (“Beverly
Hills 90210”)39. Better wine, perhaps42. “Incident at Vichy,” e.g.43. Colorado city45. Israeli master spy Cohen46. Supermanʼs girlfriend47. Subject of the Newsweek
headline “Rhymes with Rich”51. Minor player52. ___ of Galilee53. Olympic sport58. Poet Enid and others63. Something Zac Efron
might try out for64. Grateful Dead drummer
known as a “rhythm devil”67. Son of Judah68. German city with the “Alte
Synagoge”69. Part of 37-Across70. Ding71. “Gypsy” songwriter Jule72. Maccabee, e.g.
Down1. Ein ___2. “___ Hu” (seder song)3. Number of mourning days
in Av4. Marvel comics creator Lee5. Type widths
6. Homer Simpsonʼs remark7. David Bialeʼs “___ and
the Jews”8. Mime Marceau9. Sirens10. Frequent voice in the
gemara11. LSAT or MCAT12. “... or ___!”13. Good ___18. Orthodox women cover
theirs22. “Israel: an ___ of Eternity”
(Abraham Joshua Heschel book)
24. “Objectivism” philosopher Ayn
25. Rabinʼs assassin27. One of Grouchoʼs
brothers28. Foreigner29. Israeli politico Sharon30. Adamʼs ___31. Pass on32. Ahmedinejadʼs country33. Novelist Kellerman34. Another way of saying
26-Across35. Misplace40. Shade trees41. William L. Shirerʼs “The
___ and Fall of the Third Reich”
44. The Bible minus the Torah48. Sherlock ___ (2009
Robert Downey Jr. part)49. Altruistʼs opposite50. “Funny ___” (Barbra
Streisand film)53. Kafkaʼs close friend Max54. “Say Anything...” actress
Skye55. Humorist King56. Abrahamʼs was open57. Grp. for Orthodox
teenagers59. Wicked king60. Satu ___ (ancestral home
of some Hasidim)61. Buffaloʼs county62. Dustin Hoffman, e.g.65. Controversial London
mayor Livingstone66. Needle point?
Answers to puzzle on Page 22
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Jerusalem Post Crossword PuzzleMay 2010
By David Benkof • [email protected]
by an array of Jewish groups,including the Hebrew ImmigrantAid Society, Anti-DefamationLeague, American Jewish Com-mittee, Simon Wiesenthal Center,National Council of JewishWomen and the Jewish Councilfor Public Affairs, a public policyumbrella group comprised of thesynagogue movements, severalnational groups and scores of localJewish communities across NorthAmerica.
Gideon Aronoff, the presidentand CEO of the Hebrew Immi-grant Aid Society, who supportslegislation like Schakowsky’s andthat of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), said he is working activelywith other Jewish organizations todraft a broad statement condemn-ing the federal government’s fail-ure to enact comprehensivereform.
HIAS also is coordinating withits partners in Arizona and antici-pates that rallies, the filing of ami-cus briefs and other actions may bewarranted in the near future.
“Are most of the Latinos whosuffer from this law Jewish? Theanswer is no, but we look at thisthrough the oral commandment of‘welcome the stranger,’” Aronoffsaid.
“We are all Americans, we areall our brothers’ keepers. We havean obligation not to stand bywhen legislation so harmful is put
through.”Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, a
Jewish Democrat, referred to theimmigration bill as one that“nationally embarrasses Arizona”in an Op-Ed piece published Sat-urday in The Washington Post.
“Already, I have called a specialmeeting of the Phoenix CityCouncil to establish standing tosue the state on the grounds thatS.B. 1070 unconstitutionally co-opts our police force to enforceimmigration laws that are therightful jurisdiction of the federalgovernment,” Gordon wrote.
Eight of the state’s Reform rab-bis wrote a letter to Brewer urgingthe governor to veto the measure,calling it “an affront to Americanvalues of justice and our historicstatus as a nation of immigrants.”
And The Jewish News ofGreater Phoenix voiced concernin an editorial that the new lawwould lead to racial profiling andquestioning of U.S. citizens.
Rabbi David Saperstein, direc-tor of the Religious Action Centerof Reform Judaism, said in a state-ment that “Allowing an individ-ual’s accent or skin color to precip-itate an investigation into his orher legal status is an anathema toAmerican values of justice and ourhistoric status as a nation of immi-grants.
The bill is also likely to endan-ger our communities by discourag-ing immigrants from cooperatingwith law enforcement on issues ofnational security.”
Along similar lines, Rabbi Mar-vin Hier of the Simon WiesenthalCenter issued a statement sayingthat “This law makes no sense —it guarantees and stigmatizes peo-ple of color as second-class citizensand exposes them to intimidationand the use of racial profiling as aweapon of bias.”
Amy Laff, chair of the Arizonachapter of the Republican JewishCoalition, told The Jewish Newsof Greater Phoenix that she haslingering concerns about the newlaw.
“I’m concerned that the law willbe viewed by many as mean spirit-ed and hostile to minorities,” shesaid. “I’m also disturbed by theprospect of Arizona residents filingactions against law enforcementpersonnel whom they deem not tobe enforcing federal immigrationstatutes to the full extent of thelaw.”
Another Jewish Republican,state Sen. Barbara Leff, voted forthe law and defended it.
Leff, the only Jewish member ofthe Arizona Senate, told the localJewish newspaper that “no onecan be stopped without probablecause, and no one can be askedanything about their immigrationstatus without there being reason-able suspicion that they are hereillegally. Racial profiling will notbe tolerated in this state.”
De b ra Mo rt o n Ge l b art c o n -t ri b ut e d t o t h i s re p o rt fro mPhoenix.
ArizonaContinued from page 14
A look at our Jewish texts leavesno question as to how we shouldbehave. Leviticus 19:33-34instructs us to act with love andcompassion toward immigrants:“The strangers who sojourn withyou shall be to you as the nativesamong you, and you shall lovethem as yourself; for you werestrangers in the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 24:22 tells us, “Youshall have one law for the strangerand citizen alike.” That extends to“the powerful, the poor, theIsraelite, the non-Israelite, the
stranger and the citizen. This isthe Torah’s social vision,” wroteRabbi David Hoffman in a 2007analysis of that text for the JewishTheological Seminary.
Among the estimated 460,000illegal immigrants in Arizona,according to the Associated Press,most are not Jewish. (Some are,and my colleague, a Jewish jour-nalist from Phoenix, told me thatmany Latino Jews are alreadyavoiding the drive across town totheir synagogue for fear of beingstopped.)
We Jews have an obligation tostand up for others and behave asour brothers’ keepers. We must
learn from history, be informed byour tradition, register our protestto this new law and work to pre-vent other such attempts to harmundocumented immigrants.
Our immigration problem islong-standing and deep, built on asystem that depends on cheaplabor and for years, has allowedthe steady flow of bodies anddrugs through porous borders. Thereal solution, neither quick norsuperficial, is for comprehensiveand compassionate reform on anational level rather than the cre-ation of a police state in Arizona.
Editor’s DeskContinued from page 4
the challenge of wrestling withfirmly held assumptions.
We do ourselves a real disserv-ice by suppressing the diversity ofthought among fellow Jews. Wewill either alienate so many Jewsthat our communities will sufferfrom their loss, or Jewish identitywill simply become so bland thatit will not be compelling to thenext generation of Jews.
It is ironic that the heart of theGoldstone controversy revolvesaround a bar mitzvah, a sacred lifecycle event whereby a 13 year-oldbecomes an adult in the commu-nity and takes on additional reli-gious obligations.
This is an opportunity tobecome more responsible and toact with greater integrity. It is atime of great celebration. Andyet, what exactly are we teaching
this next generation of Jews? I amafraid that we have taught JudgeGoldstone’s grandson that if youdo not toe the party line you willbe humiliated, demonized, andexcommunicated from the com-munity. What a terrible lesson fora young Jew to learn.
Dissent and free discoursestrengthen us as a people. Jewshave a long tradition of debate,and the very act of debate hasmade our communities flourishthroughout the generations.
When Jews care enough tocarefully engage with each otherwe create real opportunities forlearning and growth. The futureof our people lies in our ability totalk to one another, even on issuesas difficult as Israel.
R ab b i Lauri e Zi m m e rm an i sspiri tual leader of Congregat ionShaarei Shamayim in Madison.
ZimmermanContinued from page 4
Rabbi, Jewish officialsarrested at protest
Washington (JTA) — A rabbiand two Jewish officials werearrested in Chicago for their partin immigration reform protests.
Rabbi Joshua Salter of Chicago’sBeth Shalom B’nai Zaken Congre-gation was among 24 protestersarrested Tuesday outside of a federaldetention center, along with JaneRamsey, executive director of theChicago-based Jewish Council ofUrban Affairs, and Tom Walsh, theorganization’s director of advocacy.
The activists were cited for disor-derly conduct after attempting toblock a van carrying detainees fromreaching the detention center.They were released later in the day.
The JCUA is a co-convener of“We Were Strangers, Too: TheJewish Campaign for ImmigrationReform” with Jewish CommunityAction and the Hebrew ImmigrantAid Society.
Page 28, Section I • May 2010 Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
Climbing the hill — A Wisconsin teen delegation met Sen. Russ Fein-gold during a Panim El Panim seminar, held March 21-24 in Washington D.C.The seminar aimed to let teens explore public policy and social activismthrough a Jewish lens. The local teens are participating in an effort co-spon-sored by BBYO-Wisconsin Region and the Coalition for Jewish Learning, theeducation program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Work for bread — Two-year-olds at Gan Ami Beginnings, Preschool &Kindergarten at the Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC made their own matzahduring the school’s Passover celebration on March 24. Photo by Rabbi ShariShamah.
Doodling rabbi— Rabbi Jay Brick-man signs a copy ofhis new book, “PoetryDoodles,” for DavidBlumberg at Congre-gation Sinai on Sun-day, March 14. Photoby Ari Friedman.
We remember — Milwaukee Jewish Day School seventh grader Han-nah Paley reads during the MJDS middle school’s commemoration of YomHaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. MJDS students observed a moment ofsilence and gathered for an assembly to remember fall soldiers. Photo fromMJDS.
UC San Diego student government to vote ondivestment
Los Angeles (JTA) — The stu-dent government at the Universityof California, San Diego is set tovote on a divestment bill targetingtwo companies that do businesswith Israel.
The Associated Students wasscheduled to hold discussions andvote Wednesday evening on a res-olution that calls for studentorganizations and the universitysystem to stop investing in compa-nies that provide technology andequipment to warring countries,specifically Israel.
Sponsored by several campusorganizations, including Studentsfor Justice in Palestine and the Stu-dent Sustainability Collective, theresolution identifies by name Gen-eral Electric and United Technolo-gies, “companies that materiallysupport the occupation of thePalestinian territories.”
The measure is similar to onethat was passed by the student gov-ernment at the University of Cali-fornia, Berkeley, and then vetoedby the Associated Students’ presi-dent. However, the UC San Diegoresolution also condemns humanrights violations around the world.
Opposition on campus is beingled by the Tritons for Israel studentorganization. A Facebook pagecalled Students Against ASUCSDAnti-Israel Bias and Resolutionshas more than 1,000 members.
