AOC-01

OurChildren
About
Events &
Celebrations
spri ng 2018
Useful Information
for
the Next Generation
of Jewish Families
THE THREE AGES OF MY FATHER page 8
FEDERATION OFFERS HEALTH PLAN TO DAY SCHOOLS page 12
ROCKLAND: ALAN MOSKIN, GI JEW AND LIBERATOR pages 18
IN THIS ISSUE A 'TALE' OF ABUSE page 41
Englewood Is for Kids

87
Special Section

Kids Support Our Troops

Ah-Choo! Seasonal Allergies
MAY 25, 2018
Supplement to The Jewish Standard • June 2018

VOL. LXXXVII NO. 36 $1.00 2018

NORTH JERSEY THEJEWISHSTANDARD.COM

Making
It Home
How Tenafly’s Cynthia Massarsky
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
came to furnish new beginnings
Teaneck, NJ 07666
page 22
1086 Teaneck Road
Jewish Standard
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2 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

SR2018_11x14.indd 1 4/25/18 10:41 AM


It’s a ( tall) baby ‘Toy’!
● When a baby giraffe was born at the Jerusalem
Biblical Zoo on the very same night that an Israeli
singer won the Eurovision song contest, her keepers
knew immediately what to call her: “Toy,” after the
winning song by Netta Barzilai.
Gilad Moshe, head of the herbivores section at the
zoo, said that choosing a name for new animals often
can take some time, as many things are taken into
consideration. However, in the case of Toy, it was clear
right away what her name would be, he told Ynet.
“She was born on the day of the final and when we
Page 3
arrived at the zoo on Sunday, it was already clear to
everyone that must be her name,” he said.
Toy, born overnight May 12, now stands 5 foot 3 and
weighs around 220 pounds. She is being kept out of
sight with her mother inside the zoo’s giraffe house
for the time being.
Within a few weeks she will be released to join the
rest of the zoo’s small herd in the Africa enclosure,
where she can meander with zebras, rhinos, and a
wallowing hippo. STUART WINER/TIMES OF ISRAEL

Jerusalem robot car runs a red

● Most of us would drive with extra caution if
a TV crew were riding along with us, filming.
That much intelligence, apparently, has not
yet been granted to self driving cars.
Last week, Mobileye wanted to show off its
autonomous driving technology and invited
Channel 10 to watch. The Israeli company,
which was acquired by Intel for $15.3 billion
last year, had just announced that it has been
piloting its technology with a fleet of 100 self-
driving cars in the streets of Jerusalem.
Not the best time to run a red light.
Channel 10 aired the damning footage of
the vehicle failing to slow down for a red light
and entering the intersection.
Mobileye said that transmitters the TV team
had put on the car’s roof interfered with sen-
sor frequencies. That’s why it ran the light, the
company said.
Mobileye says it hopes car manufacturers
will include its autonomous vehicle technol-
ogy by 2021, but the traffic offense its car
committed means it still has obstacles to
overcome before that vision is realized.
Dr. Amnon Shashua, Mobileye’s co-founder
and CEO, published an editorial on Intel’s
website last March after an accident; in the
United States, an Uber self-driving car hit a
woman and killed her.
Shashua said that the tragic death of the
49-year-old pedestrian, Elaine Herzberg,
should not be used as an excuse to “stifle” the
important work of developing self-driving cars. Shashua said that society expects self-driv-
“I firmly believe the time to have a meaning- ing cars to be held “to a higher standard than
ful discussion on a safety validation frame- human drivers.” But sensors’ ability to detect
work for fully autonomous vehicles is now,” and classify objects, and interpreting that in-
he wrote. “We invite automakers, technology formation, remains a challenging task, and no
companies in the field, regulators, and other shortcuts can be taken in safety-critical areas,
interested parties to convene so we can solve he said. MICHAEL BACHNER/TIMES OF ISRAEL
these important issues together.”

A game of shtetls and dybbuks CONTENTS

● Take Tevye’s shtetl. Add magic.
Now, cast yourself and your
friends in the role of Sholom
Aleichem, making up the plot as
you go along.
That’s the basic premise of
“Dream Apart,” a role-playing
game created by writer Ben-
jamin Rosenbaum. Unlike the
original role-playing game “Dun-
geons and Dragons,” “Dream
Apart” doesn’t use dice and is
designed to be friendly to new
players and newcomers to the genre.
Jewish fantasy, Rosenbaum believes, is differ-
ent: “It’s never about leveling up to get better
at violence. Or a final battle between good and
evil. It’s about tricksters and survivors. Mediators
and mystics. It’s about the struggle to be a moral
agent in a complicated world.”
On the game’s Kickstarter page, a non-Jewish
player described her hesitation at playing the
game for the first time — she knew so little about
Judaism! — and the happy results: “I became
Gittel, the Matchmaker. I was a pietist, seeking
atonement for the chaos that my family life had
descended into. My husband was a sorcerer, who
had all but left me as the spirit world started to
demand more and more of his energy. Who even
knew where he was sleeping most nights? My
daughter was in love with a goy. The state of my
family’s affairs was starting to call my competen-
cy as a matchmaker into question.”
Her conclusion when the game was over: “The
whole session was great. It was so beautiful and
so powerful.”
The game is being published as a paperback
book together with another game that uses the
same rules: “Dream Askew,” which takes place not
in a shtetl but in a queer enclave enduring the col-
lapse of civilization. You can find it on Kickstarter
at http://kck.st/2Gi5lfh. LARRY YUDELSON
NOSHES ...............................................................4
BRIEFLY LOCAL ..............................................14
ROCKLAND ...................................................... 18
COVER STORY ................................................ 22
JEWISH WORLD ............................................ 27
OPINION ........................................................... 32
D’VAR TORAH ................................................ 39
THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ...................40
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ................................40
ARTS & CULTURE ...........................................41
CALENDAR ...................................................... 42
OBITUARIES .................................................... 45
CLASSIFIEDS ..................................................46
REAL ESTATE..................................................49
PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT: (USPS 275-700 ISN 0021-6747) is pub-
lished weekly on Fridays with an additional edition every October,
by the New Jersey Jewish Media Group, 1086 Teaneck Road,
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written permission from the publisher. © 2018

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call 201-837-8818 or bit.ly/jsubscribe Shabbat ends: Saturday, May 26, 9:06 p.m.

JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 3

Noshes
AT THE MOVIES:
A second
Jewish Solo
Star Wars as
a ‘space western’
“Solo: A Star
Wars Story,”
which opens on
May 25, is described as a
“space Western.” The
film covers Han Solo’s
early days as a smuggler
and his friendship with
Chewbacca, a Wookie.
We also find out how
Solo met Lando Claris-
sian. ALDEN EHREN-
REICH, 28, plays Solo,
and Donald Glover plays
Clarissian. Ehrenreich,
who was discovered at a
bar mitzvah reception by
STEVEN SPIELBERG,
told Collider.com that the
young Solo “was more of
an idealist” than the one
in the original films. He
also added that he
consulted with the
“original Solo,” HARRI-
SON FORD, now 75,
about how to play the
role. (Ford’s late mother
was Jewish. He’s always
been secular).
The script is by LAW-
RENCE KASDAN, 68,
and his son, JONATHAN
KASDAN, 38. The elder
Kasdan co-wrote two
of the best “Star Wars”
films, “The Empire Strikes
Back” (1980) and “Return
of the Jedi” (1983). The
younger Kasdan has a
small role in “Solo” as Tag
Greenley. JON FAVREAU,
51, provides the voice of
Rio Durant (described as
a very cool and impor-
tant alien character in the
film’s publicity).
Want to read more noshes? Visit facebook.com/jewishstandard
4 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
Woody’s at Coney
Island again
“Annie Hall”
(1977) is univer-
sally regarded as
one of WOODY ALLEN’s
best movies and it is one
of only seven comedies
to win the best picture
Oscar. It includes
hilarious short scenes in
which Alvy Singer’s
childhood is described
and then shown in
flashback. The first such
scene is prefaced by
Singer (played by Allen)
saying: “My analyst says I
exaggerate my child-
hood memories, but I
swear, I was brought up
underneath the roller
coaster in the Coney
Island section of Brook-
lyn. Maybe that accounts
for my personality, which
is a little nervous, I think.”
The film then cuts to
his working-class Jew-
ish family, in the late
1930s, attempting to live
a normal life as the roar
of the roller coaster fills
the house and vibra-
tions shake plates off
the table. It’s an absurdly
funny scene.
Well, Allen, now 83, re-
turned to Coney Island in
his film “Wonder Wheel.”
Directed and written by
Allen, it received mostly
bad-ish critical reviews
when it opened in a few
theaters in 2017. Amazon
produced the film and
will begin streaming it on
June 1.
Consistent with most
“You have to hear in private my Brother
what Principals think of ‘Clown prince’s’
efforts and his plan! Nobody would
even waste cup of coffee on him
if it wasn’t for who he is married to.”
— George Nader to Elliott Broidy, in email quoted in a story by the Associated
Press; the two men, both embroiled in the Trump-Russia scandal, are talking
about Jared Kushner.
Alden Ehrenreich Lawrence Kasdan
Jon Favreau Woody Allen
of Allen’s later work, this includes DAVID KRUM-
film is mostly dark. The HOLTZ, 40.
joie de vive of “Annie
Hall” is nowhere to be On Ronan Farrow
found. The story is set in We can’t say that
Coney Island in the early Allen’s career is
1950s. Justin Timberlake sputtering. He’s
plays Mickey Rubin, a 83, and few filmmakers
Jewish guy and aspir- his age are even working.
ing playwright who is But you can’t say that
attracted to two sisters Allen is on any sort of
(Kate Winslet and Juno hot streak. On the other
Temple). Both sisters hand, his biological son,
are profoundly troubled RONAN FARROW, 30, is
in different ways, and the hottest thing in
spoiler alert (!), it’s an journalism now.
unhappy story with just Farrow’s list of accom-
a glimmer of hope at the plishments is extraordi-
end. The supporting cast nary: he graduated from
Jonathan Kasdan
Ronan Farrow
college when he was 15
years old. From 2001
to 2009 he worked for
UNICEF. He also attended
Yale Law School dur-
ing his last three years
with UNICEF, graduating
in 2009. In 2009, Far-
row joined the Obama
administration as Special
Adviser for Humanitarian
and NGO Affairs. He was
part of a team of officials
recruited by the diplomat
RICHARD HOLBROOKE
(1941-2010), for whom
Farrow previously had
worked as a speechwriter.
After leaving govern-
California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at
Middleoftheroad1@aol.com
ment, Farrow was named
a Rhodes Scholar and
attended Oxford. In Octo-
ber 2017, his investigative
article for the New Yorker
blew the whistle on HAR-
VEY WEINSTEIN, and in
many ways started the
ball running on the MeToo
movement. That work
earned Farrow a Pulitzer
Prize this year (shared
with JODI KANTOR, 43,
and Megan Twomey of
the N.Y. Times, who also
investigated Weinstein).).
He also co-wrote the May
7, 2018 New Yorker piece
that ended the career of
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN,
63, the New York State
Attorney General. (His co-
author on that one was
Jane Mayer.)
I’m not sure how
Woody Allen has been
able to mentally com-
partmentalize the whole
Soon-Yi scandal, but it
must be made harder by
seeing Ronan’s name in
the news all the time and
knowing that Ronan has
expressed only contempt
for him.
I don’t know if Ronan
has any religious beliefs
(my sense is he does not).
But I was oddly cheered
by something he recently
said on NPR—he said that
Holbrooke, the man who
ended the slaughter in
Bosnia, was “the closest
thing I ever had to a fa-
ther.” Holbrooke’s parents
were Jewish. His mother
was a German Jewish
refugee. –N.B.
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Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018 5

Local
Bringing back a swamp
Leon Sokol of Teaneck talks about his work with the
American Friends of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
JOANNE PALMER

T
he pioneers who founded Israel
were human, and therefore
were not free from the law of
unanticipated consequences.
When they first got to Israel, the pio-
neers battled the swamps in the Galilee,
which not only made agriculture difficult
but often made life impossible. The mos-
quitoes that bred in the swamps carried
malaria, which is deadly if it is not treated.
So, in the early 1950s, soon after the State
of Israel was recognized, the swamps
in the Hula valley were drained. It was a
major Zionist victory, a triumph of science
and strength and will over brute nature.
But brute nature fought back.
The draining of the Hula caused a whole
range of problems; the exposed peat that
had been beneath the swamps proved
toxic, and the wildlife that had flourished
died. In the mid 1990s, part of the valley
was reflooded.
In 1953, as the draining of the swamp
began, a group of prescient Israelis, who
foresaw some of the problems and intuited Geese land in the Hula Valley; it’s a major stop on their migration south. REMI JOUAN VIA WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

others, formed the Society for the Protec-

tion of Nature in Israel; the reflooding of
some of the valley, 40 years after it was
drained, is due to the group’s tenacity and
commitment both to nature and to science.
“That was very early for the environ-
mental movement,” Leon Sokol of Teaneck
said; he and Russell Rothman, who lives in
Oradell, are the co-chairs of the American
Friends of SPNI. “They were way ahead of
their time. And from that sprang the devel-
opment of SPNI. Now it has more than
160,000 members.” Mr. Sokol recently
returned from a trip to Israel with AFSPNI
— the most recent of many such trips.
The group is firmly planted in Israeli
life, Mr. Sokol said. “They are the lead-
ers in terms of education advocacy. They
have a seat on every local planning board,
and they are a voice for protecting air and
water quality, and for sustainability.”
On some of his trips to Israel, Mr. Sokol
has seen one of the most visually striking
(and perhaps globally important) results of
the resurgent wetlands in Hula. The area
is part of the Syrian-African Rift Valley that
connects Africa, Europe, and Asia, and it
is on the route that migrating birds take
twice a year.
“Five hundred million birds fly
over Israel,” Mr. Sokol said. “That’s
500,000,000, as in eight zeros. In the
spring, they go north from Africa, and they
land in Eilat for what would be refueling
Last year, Leon, center, and his late wife, Marilyn, their daughter Debbie, and two
grandchildren, Zoe and Alex, went to Israel together. It was Marilyn’s last trip there.
were they engines, not mammals; in the
fall, they come from Europe and Asia to
go south for the winter. Then, their major
stop is in the Hula Valley.
“It takes about three weeks, and it is
incredible to watch,” Mr. Sokol said. “One
day, we were there when a flock of cranes
from Sweden was heading south. A crane
has a six-foot wing span, and they fly in a
perfect triangle. The same flock will land
on the same spot on the bank of the Hula
every year, and do the same thing in the
other direction. Their navigational skills
are incredible.”
So are their organizational skills. “They
fly in squadrons,” he said. “Each squadron
has about 30 or 40 cranes. They rotate
leaders, because the birds in the back
work the least.” That’s because they don’t
have to fight the air currents, as the birds
in the front do, but instead can coast on
their work. The rotation makes it all work
out fairly.
“And when they come in, each squad-
ron settles as if they were directed by an
air traffic controller,” Mr. Sokol said.
“Israelis know all about it,” he added.
“You ask any Israeli, and they will tell you.”
The SPNI includes “some of the world’s
foremost birding experts,” Mr. Sokol said.
Its birding team, Champions of the Flyway,
enters — and wins — competitions around
the world. Those competitions include
the annual World Series of Birding in Cape
May; the team won a competition in that
series last weekend, as it has almost every
year for decades.
Back in Israel, would-be birders can
learn from the experts. The SPNI “main-
tains field schools for guided hikes,” Mr.
Sokol said. Tourists can stay there; “the
rooms are Spartan, but they’re nice,” and
the instruction is serious.
The SPNI’s definition of nature goes
beyond the flora and fauna; it is also
vitally interested in human nature. One of
its key projects is the creation of kehillot,
communities of interest, in Israel. “We
SEE NATURE PAGE 17

6 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

A DAY OFF
means more time
with Family

JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 7

Local
FIRST PERSON

How my father was three different ages — at the same time

JUDITH LIEBMAN

O
nce upon a time there was a shtetl in the Aus-
tro-Hungarian Empire, which became a shtetl
in Russia, and then a shtetl in Poland. It was
called Kapitchinitz.
Each time the borders shifted, after wars and skirmishes
and treaties, there were new teachers in the schools, a differ-
ent portrait on the wall — it could have been of Franz Josef or
the Czar — and a new flag to salute. But these changes meant
nothing to the people, because they knew those changes
would make little difference in their lives. Their only hope
of escaping the poverty, the pogroms, and the hatred aimed
at them because they were Jews was to emigrate to a bet-
ter life in the “goldina medina,” America, where, they were
told, the streets were paved with gold.
So my grandfather, Hersch, and his two daughters, Emma
and Gertie, with financial help from family already in New
York, emigrated in 1927, leaving my grandmother, Rachel,
and their two sons, William (my dad) and Paul, behind.
There wasn’t enough money for everyone to go. But my
grandfather was sure that soon he would earn enough
money to send for the rest of the family.
It didn’t happen.
Although New York City in the 1920s wasn’t Eastern
Europe, still, life wasn’t easy for immigrants fresh off the
boat, speaking no English. It took years before my grandfa- Judith Liebman
ther was able to save up enough money to go through the
bureaucracy to get documents and then send money to the resort I sent a copy of the application for the disputed
family back in Poland. For example, Rachel and Hersch had life insurance showing the later birth date. Payment was
to have a proxy marriage, with Hersch here and Rachel in approved.
Poland, since according to Polish law they had not been mar- William Nussbaum, left, with his mother, Rachel, and So now we know how my father could be three dif-
ried legally. They had been married by a rabbi in Poland, but his brother, Paul. ferent ages at the same time. Was he really three years
only weddings performed by a priest were registered. older than his revised Polish birth certificate showed?
So time passed, William grew older, and pretty soon he last resort his older sister wrote a letter attesting to his birth Was he really two years older, as the social security
was 18. That made him eligible for compulsory service in date. Social security would give him only two years, instead office determined? Or was he three years younger, as
the Polish military. He had to be younger if he was to get the of the three he requested. the insurance company decided?
papers that would allow him to leave Poland. His birth cer- So he became two years older. This story is an homage to my father, who had a won-
tificate was changed to make him three years younger. This Again, time passed, even more quickly, and William died derful sense of humor. He enjoyed telling the story of his
was done — for money. in 1989. He was 79, according to the social security office three different ages. He would have gotten a kick out of how
Corruption had its benefits. The family reunited in 1933 decision. He had a life insurance policy that he had taken I proved to the insurance company that he was three years
and life moved on. out years before. The insurance claim was filed along with younger. The important thing is he was able to come to the
Time passed — rather quickly it seems. And suddenly the death certificate. According to the insurance adjuster, United States, before his town was completely destroyed,
William realized that he wanted to collect social security in the insurance company would be unable to pay the full and everyone who stayed was killed.
order to retire when he reached 65, but his records showed amount if William indeed was older than he said he was
him to be three years younger than he really was. He went when he took out the policy. I told the company that my Judith Liebman of Hackensack retired as a program
to the local social security office; the administrators there father was from Europe, and no one really was sure when development specialist for the New Jersey Commission for
had no problem with his request. They knew that many peo- his birth date was. The adjuster said that I should send three the Blind and Visually Impaired. She belongs to several
ple from Europe and elsewhere had inaccurate birth cer- pieces of evidence to show that he really was younger than groups advocating for the advancement of women and the
tificates. They asked that he show three pieces of evidence the date on the death certificate. prevention of domestic violence, including the Bergen County
proving his real age. He did have a school report card with a I sent his driver’s license showing the later birth date section of the National Council for Jewish Women and the
birth date on it, he had his bar mitzvah certificate, and as a and a business license showing the later date, and as a last Zonta Club of Northern Valley, NJ.

Get up, get moving, GET REGISTERED!

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New, beautiful routes! Opportunity to Hike or Bike!
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8 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
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JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 9

Local

‘Thank you, Kate Middleton’

Teaneck woman designs, creates, and sells fascinators
BANJI GANCHROW

T
here is a whole list of things you
need to start a business.
An idea, talent, education,
money, support — but even if
you have all these things, if you don’t also
have a little bit of luck, it won’t work.
Sheila Elaine is a fashion accessories
company started by Sarah Wagner. Ms.
Wagner, who was born in Memphis, Ten-
nessee, and now lives in Teaneck, knows
what it feels like when that little bit of luck
takes you to the top — and then drops you
back down to square one.
It all began with a scarf.
“I was shopping in Manhattan in 2005
and saw a scarf in a high-end boutique on
the Upper West Side,” Ms. Wagner said.
“It was selling for a small fortune. My
mother bought it for me as an early birth-
day present, when she saw how much I
adored it. I noticed that the scarf was
nothing more than a piece of cut wool
that involved no sewing.”
That inspired her creativity so she
immediately went to a crafts store to buy
material. She wanted to make that scarf
herself. “As I was looking for fabric, I stood
in front of stacks of cut felt squares, in a
range of colors. In an instant, I had men-
tally designed my first scarf.
“An obsession was born.”
Ms. Wagner did not start out as a Sarah Wagner stands by some of her fascinators.
designer of fashion accessories. She grad-
uated from Yeshiva University’s Stern Col- But before 2006, when Ms. Wagner gave Within its first year — 2006-2007 — at Henri Bendel, I lacked the confidence
lege for Women in 1991 with a degree in birth to her company, she had given birth Sheila Elaine almost broke even. “We necessary to sell to buyers,” she said. “I
communications and pursued a career in and devoted time to raising her three chil- were written up in trade magazines, as made a few sales — but not enough to make
advertising. “I worked at McCann Erick- dren. Her son Simcha was born in 1997; he well as Life and Style magazine,” Ms. Wag- another go of it.”
son for three years as a creative assistant, was followed by her daughter Meira two ner said. “One of our belts even ended up It was around this time that she decided
working on a few campaigns including years later. Her younger daughter, Eliana, being selected by the stylists of a What Not to focus on designing and selling the one
Coke, Smirnoff, and McDonalds,” she said. was born 11 months after that. Simcha to Wear segment to accompany an outfit accessory that she didn’t need to out-
“I was attracted to advertising because it now is a student at Clark University, Meira for their client. source. Fascinators.
allowed me to express my creativity, and is in her gap year at Amudim in Modiin, “The success of the line validated my “Even though it was my least profit-
it was an amazing environment to work in. Israel, and Eliana is going to be graduating creative impulses,” she continued. “I was able accessory, it was the only one I could
“But it was also a highly competitive Ma’aynot High School for Girls this spring. no longer engaged in a hobby, making design, make, and sell on my own,” she
industry,” Ms. Wagner continued. “It “While I had always had a creative scarves at my dining room table, I was said. “I knew it would not be easy but I was
became clear that I was not going to be streak and loved fashion — as in clothes designing pieces that women wanted to determined to give it a try.”
successful as my inspiration, Ken Olin’s shopping — I could never have imagined buy — for a lot of money — and wear.” When she wore one of her fascinators
character from ‘Thirtysomething,’” the myself a designer,” Ms. Wagner said. “I had Then the recession of 2008 hit. Almost to shul in 2007, nobody knew what they
hit TV show that finished its run just as no formal training in fashion design and overnight shoppers stopped shopping, were. They certainly couldn’t think of
she graduated. my only sewing experience was in fifth and stores’ buyers stopped buying. wearing one. Women were sporting either
Much as she loved working in advertis- grade, when I took a sewing class with Mrs. By the end of 2009 it was clear that Ms. hats or doilies.
ing, the months she spent at her dining Glassman. I hated it, she hated me, and I Wagner no longer could keep the business It took a long time for the trend to catch
room table, creating original felt scarves, was terrible at it.” going. “Early in 2010 , I let go of the small on. But it finally did. “Thank you, Kate
was even more fun than those campaigns Ms. Wagner continued her adventures work space I rented in the city, as well as the Middleton,” Ms. Wagner said.
had been, Ms. Wagner said. So with a lot in business. “In less than six months, I two people who worked for me,” she said. So began the next chapter of Sheila
of encouragement and seed money from had developed a line of scarves, belts, and “I was left with $40,000 worth of inventory, Elaine. It has been a more modest enter-
her mother, along with an introduction bags,” she said. “My rep and I were doing including bags, capes, belts, jackets, and prise, but Ms. Wagner continues to find
to Shelbee Teller, a family friend who was trunk shows at Henri Bendel, selling an hats, and 50k of credit card debt.” the work rewarding.
looking for a job in fashion, Sheila Elaine average of $3,000 a week. It wasn’t long Ms. Wagner admits that it was hard not There have been many bumps along
accessories was born. The company was before we began doing trade shows and to feel sorry for herself then. “I tried to sell the way, Ms. Wagner said. “I remember
named for two of Ms. Wagner’s aunts, selling our line to stores like Searle NY, the 40k worth of inventory on my own, the roughest bump came from one of my
Sheila Seider and Elaine Katz, both of Takashimaya, and New York Look, as well but it soon became clear that while I had a first clients. Her son was getting married,
whom were fashion icons and who both as to boutiques across the country and talent for designing accessories and selling and she wanted a head covering for the
died “far too soon.” around the world.” them directly to customers, as I had done SEE FASCINATORS PAGE 17

10 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

 AJA
Launch
Cultivating ConneCtion through Community

June 5, 2018 | FactorY 220, Passaic, nJ

Registration: http://www.ajanj.org/event/launch
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JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 11

Local

On the federation’s plan

JFNNJ rolls out health insurance for day schools now, synagogues and others soon
LARRY YUDELSON

Here’s a sentence you don’t get to read

(or write) very often: There’s some good
news about health insurance.
Before you get too excited, the news
doesn’t apply to everybody.
Right now, it only affects a few hun-
dred people.
But down the road, it might even
affect you.
The news is that the Jewish Federation
of Northern New Jersey has launched
the Jewish Federation of Northern New
Jersey Group Health Association Plan —
and opened up the plan to all the area
day schools.
The Sinai Schools just switched its
more than 130 employees to the new
plan.
“Health insurance has been an intrac-
table problem,” Sam Fishman, Sinai’s
managing director, said. “Each year it’s
been some variation of a nightmare,
when we get the quote from the cur-
rent carrier of how much they’re going
to increase our premium. Ten, 20,
sometimes 30 percent a year. It often
involves a scramble to look for A brochure on the kehillah cooperative.
alternative coverage.
“Now we are offering our staff the most attractive for insur- administrator,” she said.
plans that provide superior cov- ance agencies. Practically speaking, employees are
erage and benefits and are actu- “Hopefully, we’ll even be members of a Cigna Preferred Provider
ally costing our employees as able to offer it to individuals, Organization (PPO).
well as Sinai less money,” he said. because there are many indi- When it comes to using their benefits,
Ben Porat Yosef in Paramus viduals who are suffering from “The employee will not know any differ-
also enrolled its staff in the plan, high insurance costs,” she said. ence between what they had before and
and the community’s other day “It’s another program only what they have now,” Ms. Gottlieb said.
schools are expected to come on Federation can bring to the That’s not to say that the coverage will be
board as it becomes time for their table,” Jason Shames, the fed- the same, but that there will be no paper-
annual insurance renewals. eration’s CEO, said. “There’s no work hurdles to overcome.
And come the fall, the federa- charge for the community on Mr. Fishman of the Sinai Schools, which
tion expects to expand the plan this. We do this wholly on our provides specially tailored education to
to include federation-affiliated Jason Shames Debbie Gottlieb annual campaign resources. students with special needs inside other
agencies and synagogues. “Given the enormous utiliza- day schools, said, “It’s actually been a
“It’s been a goal of ours for many years,” have while exhibiting quite a bit of savings. tion of day schools, the ability to impact pleasure to work with Federation in put-
Debbie Gottlieb said of the new health It was a matter of finding the right key to staff expenses by lowering them is tremen- ting this together.
plan. Ms. Gottlieb runs the federation’s open the door. It had to be the right agent. dous,” he said. “In the end, what’s come out of it is a
Kehillah Cooperative Community Purchas- It had to be someone who had done this Ms. Gottlieb said she already has heard win for Sinai, a win for our staff, and it’s
ing program, which has saved $3.5 million before with non-profits, had to be some- from some agencies and synagogues that a win for the children we serve with spe-
for the community’s institutions over the one who dealt with large groups. want to take part, and she wants to hear cial needs, because the savings we’ve been
course of 10 years by negotiating group “The key was to get a large risk pool so from more of them. able to achieve through the plan will allow
discounts for such products as office sup- we can make sure the carriers take notice “I would encourage any institution or us to use those funds for programming
plies and such services as landscaping and of us, and to be able to be a large group agency that is interested to reach out and and providing more for our students.
snow removal. while also maintaining everyone’s individ- let me know so we can start the paperwork “In the bigger picture, what Federation
Ms. Gottlieb said that the eight day uality and risk loss factor,” she said. and they’re not overlooked when we roll it has done is a win for our community by
schools that responded to her inquiries The program also includes vision, den- out,” she said. reducing the overhead of our community
stand to save a combined $780,000 a year tal, and life insurance. “The synagogues are really the ones organization.”
under the new plan. The program started with the day who are feeling this terribly because they “Federation has been a very valuable
“It’s been a thorn in the side of all our schools because “day schools have the have only two to three full-time employ- resource and partner to us beyond the
organizations that healthcare costs have largest amount of staff that are under ees. They are at the mercy of the insurance generosity of their allocations. Insurance
been rising,” she said. “We’ve tried numer- their insurance” compared to synagogues companies. They’re really going to feel the is a serious financial issue for us as well as
ous ways to get this done, but there were and other non-profits, Ms. Gottlieb said. impact tremendously.” the other schools and organizations in the
some roadblocks that prevented it. We “The day schools were challenging Technically speaking, the federation area,” Mr. Fishman said. “Federation has
were finally able to put it together in a way because the population is predominately has created a “level funded self insur- been there for Sinai and I know for other
that answered all the questions people female of childbearing age, which is not ance plan, working through a third party organizations as a partner over the years.”

12 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

 25
Jewish Federation celebrates 25 years of women’s

Lion Of Judah Endowment

In Memoriam

Ella Berman Belle Bukiet Marion Cutler Miriam Josephs Ellen Kaufman

Zelda Levere Barbara Moss Adele Rebell Martha Richman Barbara Seiden

Yvette Tekel Lilo Goldenberg Beate Voremberg Helen Wajdengart

Thurnauer

Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Endowment Foundation

remembers these outstanding women who gave graciously to Jewish
Federation during their lives, and perpetuated their gifts by establishing
Lion of Judah Endowments (LOJE).
We thank them for their foresight and generosity. Their legacies continue.
Jayne Petak
Endowment Foundation, Chair

Donna Kissler For more information, please contact

Joan Krieger Robin Rochlin at 201-820-3970 | robinr@jfnnj.org
LOJE Co-chairs
Len Fisher at 201-820-3971 | lenf@jfnnj.org
Star of David Society

Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018 13

Briefly Local

Adi Rabinowitz, president of the SSDS board of trustees, left, and head of school Ruth Gafni, right, flank Susan Kardos and Guy Baracassa in the first photo; flank
Marlene and Philip Rhodes, in the middle photo; and flank Golan and Dana Yehuda in the right photo.

Schechter holds 44th community celebration

More than 400 parents, grandparents,
alumni, and friends celebrated the Solo-
mon Schechter Day School of Bergen
County’s 44th year at its annual commu-
nity celebration on May 6 at the Hilton
Pearl River. The nationally accredited
school recently became the first Jewish
day school in the tristate area to be autho-
rized as an International Baccalaureate
World School for the Middle Years Pro-
gram. SSDS joins three Jewish schools in
North America and six public and private
secular schools in New Jersey to win this
accreditation.
The IB was envisioned to create diploma
programs that would be accepted by the
world’s leading universities. There are
more than 5,000 IB World schools with
authorized primary, middle, high-school,
or career-related programs throughout the
Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa,
and Asia.
Over time, the program has emerged
as a globally minded, rigorous frame-
work centered on challenging students to
make authentic, real-world connections
in every subject, taught by trained faculty
members who incorporate higher-level
concepts in each unit of study they plan.
It also provides ways for teachers to track
student progress from year to year and
across subjects and grade levels so they
may better guide an individual student’s
academic journey.
Schechter also is the first Jewish day
school to take the IB Middle Years Program
one step further by tailoring the gold-stan-
dard educational framework to its Judaic
studies curriculum, creating a uniquely
Jewish experience so students can con-
nect their Jewish learning and values to
the world around them and to turn their
learning into action.
The celebration featured a performance
by the “Schechter Singers,” led by violinist
and music educator Carey White, a silent
auction, and the presentation of awards.
Among this year’s honorees were Schech-
ter parents Susan Kardos and Guy Bara-
cassa of Englewood, winners of the Tree
of Life award; alumni parents Marlene
and Philip Rhodes of Teaneck, recipients
of the Shirley and Harris z”l community
award; and Schechter parents Dana and
Golan Yehuda of Tenafly, who won the Hai
award.

NCJW celebrates 95 years as it installs officers

The Bergen County section of the National Council
of Jewish Women will celebrate its 95th anniversary
at the Alpine Country Club in Demarest on June 5, at
11 a.m. There will be a cocktail hour on the outdoor
terrace, lunch, awards, a raffle, and a silent auction.
It also will mark the publication of “Our 95th Anni-
versary: A Celebration Through History,” compiled
and written by NCJW’s historian and past president,
Bea Podorefsky. Bill Ervolino, an author and colum-
nist for northjersey.com and the Record/USA Net-
work, will be the guest host.
The Hannah G. Solomon award will be presented
to Dr. Shelly Wimpfheimer and Carole Benson will
be named Woman of the Section.
Ms. Wimpfheimer is the executive director of the
Community Chest, a Bergen County nonprofit orga-
nization in existence since 1933. She also has been
executive coach to middle and senior management
staff of the Division of Child Protection and Perma-
nency, the New Jersey Department of Children and
Families, and the New Jersey Department of Human
Services, executive director of the Partnership for
After School Education, and vice president of Youth
and Family Services of the YMCA of Greater New
York.
Ms. Benson grew up in a family that advocated
for the importance of social justice and community
involvement. She rallied with fellow students and
activists to “Ban the Bomb” in Trafalgar Square in
the 1950s and spoke out for women’s equality in the
1960s. She and her husband, Gerry, owned and ran
a furniture showroom in Manhattan and worked in
the computer industry. She has worked with NCJW,
Inc. on the national level and is a past president of
Carole Benson Dr. Shelly Wimpfheimer
the Bergen County section, where she chaired and
served on many committees. She is the chair of Israel
affairs and communications, overseeing the section’s
print and technology publicity outreach.
The organization also will install its officers. Co-
presidents Jane Abraham, Elizabeth Halverstam,
and Ruth Seitelman will be installed for another
year of service; Marilynn Friedman, Susan Azaria
Kanrich, Karen Kurland, Elaine Meyerson, Bari-
Lynne Schwartz, and Ilene Wechter will continue to
serve as vice presidents; and Norma Goldsmith will
remain as recording secretary. New officers are vice
presidents Elaine Bieger, Phyllis Betancourt, Nanette
Matlick, and Joan Orenstein, and treasurer Liz Roditi.
Tickets and proceeds benefit the Bergen County
section of NCJW, which includes 1,000 members
committed to improving the lives of women, chil-
dren, and families. For more information, go to
www.ncjwbcs.org or call (201) 385-4847.
Senator Jon Tester, left, with Leah and Reuven Escott
NORPAC hosts
Montana senator
Last week, Leah and Reuven Escott hosted a NORPAC pro-
Israel meeting in support of Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) at their
Bergenfield home.
Mr. Tester is a member of the Senate Appropriations Com-
mittee, which decides on the allocation of government funds,
including those to Israel, and of the Banking Committee,
which oversees sanctions legislation as well as BDS-related
bills. He is a co-sponsor of the Combating BDS Act of 2017,
which protects states that divest from pro-BDS companies
from being sued.
In 2016, Mr. Tester, along with Senators David Perdue (R-GA)
and Chris Coons (D-DE), introduced S. Res. 383, bipartisan
legislation to recognize the economic accomplishments of
the U.S.-Israel economic partnership and support new agree-
ments for collaboration across a variety of sectors within the
technology sphere.
Mr. Tester is serving his second term in the U.S. Senate and
will run for re-election this year. His primary election is in June.

14 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

UPCOMING AT KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
JCC U—Spring Term:
Keep Learning
Top professors and experts present on a
diverse array of topics. JUNE 7: WNYC’s Matt
Katz presents How Trump’s Immigration
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Professor Seth Gopin presents Frank Lloyd
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Thur, Jun 7, 10:30 am-2 pm, $35/$42

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Keep Learning

Yoga on the Lawn

WITH ALISON MILLER, ROBERT HOON,
ZASHA DELVALLE & JUSTEEN NASON

Yoga
Don’t miss this FREE 75-minute all-level outdoor

FREE yoga class led by an inspirational team of JCC

instructors on our expansive camp field. Wear
sunscreen and prepare to stretch out; please bring
a mat, towel and water bottle.
Sun, Jun 10, 9-10:30 am, Free and Open to the
Community
Visit jccotp.org/yogaonthelawn

ON THE LAWN

KIDS COMMUNITY FILM

Pre-Summer Camps Hazon CSA at the JCC - Asbury Shorts

Looking for something really fun to fill the
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Visit jccotp.org/children-mini-camps
Community Supported Agriculture
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member, you can enjoy optional shares of fruit,
free-range eggs, European-style butter and maple
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Registration Deadline: May 30
Visit jccotp.org/jewish-community-events
AN EVENING OF THE WORLD’S BEST SHORT FILMS
Join us for our annual presentation of Asbury Shorts,
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KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades TAUB CAMPUS | 411 E CLINTON AVE, TENAFLY, NJ 07670 | 201.569.7900 | jccotp.org
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 15
 The
Jewish Community Center of Paramus/Congregation Beth Tikvah

The Harold Lerman Fund for

Israel Education and Engagement*
invites you to attend our third annual event on

Sunday ~ June 3 ~ 6:15 pm

Israel@70: What Does the Future Hold for Israel
and the Middle East?
A conversation on Israel featuring

Bret Stephens

Bret Stephens is an op-ed columnist at

The
New York Times and the former
deputy editorial page editor of the Wall
Street Journal. He is also a former
editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. He
won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in
2013 for his foreign-affairs column
Global View in the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Stephens published his first book,
America in Retreat: The New
Isolationism and the Coming Global
Disorder, in 2014. In 2005 the World
Economic Fund named him a Young
Global Leader. Mr. Stephens is a regular panelist on the political talk show
Journal Editorial Report. He holds the distinction of having interviewed every
Israeli prime minister since Shimon Pe
*The Harold Lerman Fund for Israel Education and Engagement
was established by the children of the late Harold Lerman,
to honor his passion for Jewish life and the State of Israel.
304 East Midland Ave., Paramus, NJ · (201) 262-0063 or JCCParamus.org

16 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018


Nature
FROM PAGE 6
have taken vacant lots in low- or mid-
dle-income neighborhoods, empty lots
like the ones you see in Brooklyn or the
Bronx that have been turned into gar-
dens. We take those lots, and we say,
‘Let’s clean up the lot, and we will show
you how to plant a garden.’”
Those lots often are in ethnically
mixed neighborhoods, some of them
mainly Jewish, some not. Mr. Sokol
talked about a lot in Haifa, in “a neigh-
borhood that had a lot of Eastern Euro-
pean and North African Jews, and some
Arabs.
“The SPNI took those lots and devel-
oped them. Not only did they bring a
horticulturalist, they also brought a
social worker. The groups had not been
integrated, but the social worker taught
them how to be a neighborhood.
“There are individual plots in the gar-
den, and people also work together. So
now, instead of people who happened
to live near each other, you also have a
community.
“So our work isn’t only environmen-
tal. It’s also social.”
SPNI even has been able to get osten-
sible enemies to work together to solve
shared problems. “Rodent infestation
was a big issue for farmers in Israel and
in Jordan,” Mr. Sokol said. “We figured
Fascinators
FROM PAGE 10
ceremony. She had gotten my name from
a high-end dress shop in Englewood
where she had purchased her dress.
“She had selected a fascinator in the
shape of a petal, which was one of the
features on her dress.” So Ms. Wagner
made her a fascinator, based on that
shape. The client “liked the piece, but
wanted it to have more coverage in the
back,” she said. “I told her that more cov-
erage in the back meant more coverage
in the front, and she needed to under-
stand that it was going to fit differently
than the piece she had tried on. She
agreed, and when I delivered the fasci-
nator she had ordered, she was disap-
pointed and furious.
“She left a long nasty message on my
machine, saying that I had not given her
what she asked for, and for added mea-
sure told me that her daughter-in-law
forbade her to wear it to the wedding.
She had no intention of paying for it.
“That was a low point. I wanted to call
it quits, but kept at it for no other reason
than to pay off the large credit card debt
the business had incurred.”
It has been eight years since Sheila
Elaine reboot, and Ms. Wagner has
become much more confident in her
skills as a designer and businesswoman.
Local
out that barn owls can get rid of the a hydroponic garden to grow the herbs to coast, the shore, the pinelands — which is
rodents without pesticides, and they scent the soaps and candles, and to grow the 25 percent of land in New Jersey.” Environ-
taught farmers in the West Bank and herbs they use in the kitchen. mental law in New Jersey, as in the country
Jordan how to do it. And now they get “That’s the kind of thing that SPNI does. as a whole, as in Israel, is about “striking a
together to protect their crops.” It’s not sexy — but it makes a difference.” balance that allows land development but
Working together is a value that SPNI Mr. Sokol has been on AFSPNI’s board respects the environment,” he said. And,
practices as well as preaches, Mr. Sokol for 20 years and has been its co-chair for of course, striking a balance always sounds
said. In Beersheba, SPNI worked with eight. It was a natural cause for him. “I’ve easier than it is.
the Jewish National Fund to help clean always been involved in environmental- Mr. Sokol now is a senior partner at Cul-
up the river. The clean-up — a huge job ism,” he said. His first law firm, Sokol Behot len and Dykman in Hackensack; the envi-
— was done mainly by the JNF and other LLP, was an early practitioner of environ- ronment continues to be his passion, and
groups; the SPNI contributed by offering mental law. “It deals with land use and the AFSPNI gives him a way to put that passion
programs “in the schools and the com- rivers, wetlands, and waterways along the into action.
munity,” Mr. Sokol said. “There is an
environmental club in the high school,
and an Arab girl is president. They all
have a common interest.
“We are one of the organizations that
Sandi M. Malkin, LL C
gets involved with trying to get more
communication between Arabs and Jews
in protecting their communities.”
Interior Designer
In yet another example of the idea of (former interior designer of model
the environment as including people, rooms for NY’s #1 Dept. Store)
and of the importance of various groups
working together as parts of one larger
ecosystem, “in the town of Bat Yam,
For a totally new look using
south of Tel Aviv, there is a halfway your furniture or starting anew.
house for people who suffer from men-
tal illness,” Mr. Sokol said. Enosh House, Staging also available
as it is called, is run by the Israeli Mental
Health Association. Part of the rehab it
973-535-9192
offers is to teach people how to cook and
work; the kitchens offer vocational train-
ing too. They also make scented soaps
and candles, and SPNI plans to “set up
“I learned a lot from my rookie mistakes,”
she said. “I would advise anyone contem-
plating starting a business of any kind to
write and follow a business plan. I did not.
“Passion and talent without discipline
can only take you so far.”
As it often happens, when one part
of a life gets back on track, another gets
derailed. As her fashion business started
to gain traction, Ms. Wagner’s marriage
began coming apart at the seams. “The English Speaker? Looking to study BA?
setback of the success of my company
paled in comparison to the pain I felt as
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act, because I have done it before.”
Her kids have been supportive and
Communications & Political Science
helpful, she said. “Meira’s English name
is Sheila Elaine, so she was particularly Communications & English Literature
proud when this second act began. Communications & Sociology
“I think my kids learned most from me (Integrative Hebrew/English Program)
that it is important to do something that
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JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 17
Rockland
‘What we saw there was so horrific’
Nanuet’s Alan Moskin liberated a concentration camp when he was 18
Larry Yudelson

I
t took Alan Moskin, who turns 92 on Wednesday, 50
years to start talking about his experiences during
and after World War II.
On Sunday, June 3, he will talk about it at the
Rockland Jewish Film Festival as part of the screening of
the film “G.I. Jews,” in which he appears.
Mr. Moskin was one of the half million American Jews
who served in the U.S. military during World War II, the
subject of the 90 minute film that recently aired on PBS.
They made up about 3 percent of the 16 million Americans
mobilized, but they were a full eighth of the American Jew-
ish population at the time.
Mr. Moskin was born and raised in Englewood, and
returned there after the war and after law school. He prac-
ticed law in Englewood and Hackensack for many years
before moving to Rockland County. He now lives in Nanuet.
His grandfather, Max Moskin, was one of the founders Alan Moskin talks
of Congregation Ahavath Torah. His father, Albert Moskin, about the horror of
was a pharmacist and the mayor of Englewood for three the Holocaust. Right,
years in the 1950s. “My grandfather was very patriotic,” Moskin as a soldier
Mr. Moskin said. “He appreciated the country to no end.” in World War II.
Others shared that patriotism. “After the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor, people were running to the draft
board. They were lying about their age. Everybody
wanted to fight.”
But Alan wasn’t old enough then. He was 15 in 1941. But
when he turned 18 in 1944, he was called for his physical,
and in September he was drafted and sent to basic training Moskin’s infantry division published this brochure
at Camp Blanding, Florida, to join the infantry. “We were about the concentration camp it liberated.
learning how to shoot an M1 rifle, learning how to survive
in combat, learning how to kill or be killed,” he said. Jews from the camps?” they ask him. His reply: “The presi-
Growing up in Englewood’s Fourth Ward, attending dent knew about it. We didn’t know about it.”
Dwight Morrow High School, he took diversity for granted. Before Mr. Moskin and his comrades saw the camp,
There were black kids and Jewish kids, Catholics and Prot- As a combat soldier, they smelled it. “The stench was so overpowering it would
estants. “It made me realize we’re more alike than differ-
ent,” he said. “I didn’t think about the color of skin.”
“the problem we had knock our brains out.
“We saw this barbed wire campus with ‘arbeit macht
So basic training in the south was an education. “I saw was the Waffen SS and frei’ on top. We had to kill one German SS guy who
the prejudice the southerners had about colored folks, as
they called them,” he said.
the Hitler Youth. They wouldn’t drop his gun.
“There were piles of skeleton-like bodies on the right
He saw it, and then he experienced it “when they saw were full of hate, and on the left. Those who were alive were so emaciated
me with my arms around another guy in a basketball situ-
ation. They called me a ‘nigger lover.’ I had a mark on me.
fanatical, only 14 or 15 it defies description. They looked like bones with no flesh,
with sores all over their body.”
They called me ‘kike’ and ‘Jew bastard.’ I had to get over years old. We didn’t They were starving. He saw inmates digging with tree
it. In the south, that’s how it was.”
It was painful. “We were supposed to be the good guys
have hate. We just bark into the guts of a horse. “They reached in and pulled
out the entrails of a dead horse and started biting and
fighting the Nazis.” wanted to win the war chewing, the blood squirting all over. That’s what starva-
When he left training and arrived in Europe in early
1945, however, “none of that crap existed in combat.”
and go home.” tion does to people.
“We gave out K rations. We handed out some of the food
He was part of General George Patton’s 3rd Army, fight- and they started choking. Our medic screamed, ‘No solid
ing in the Rhineland campaign that started in France and court martial me.” food! No solid food!’ They couldn’t take it.
worked its way through Germany and Austria. When the On May 4, three days before the war’s end, Mr. Moskin’s “General Eisenhower told our officers to tell us that if we
Nazis surrendered on May 7, he was not yet 19. He stayed unit was in Austria, occupying the town of Gunskirchen. didn’t know what we were fighting for, we were fighting evil.
in Germany with the occupation army for another year. And they liberated the concentration camp there, one of “He made us bring the people in from town to look at
As a combat soldier, “the problem we had was the nearly 100 scattered throughout Austria as subdivisions of the bodies and the camp. They said, ‘Nobody knew any-
Waffen SS and the Hitler Youth. They were full of hate, the Mauthausen camp. thing.’ What they knew or didn’t know — hell, if all your
fanatical, only 14 or 15 years old. We didn’t have hate. We “What we saw there was so horrific,” he said. Jewish neighbors are taken away and you see the smoke
just wanted to win the war and go home. Auschwitz had been liberated by the Soviet Army back coming out of the smokestacks and you smell the smell….”
“One of them spit in my face and called me a schwei- in January. But the news hadn’t made its way to Mr. Moskin Later that year, in October, the trials of the Nazis lead-
nhund. I think it means pig hound. I wanted to blow his and his fellow infantry grunts. ers began in Nuremberg. Mr. Moskin still was in Europe,
brains out.” This fact surprises the school children he speaks to serving in the army of occupation. When he got time off,
Mr. Moskin’s commander stopped him. “He said he’d about his experiences. “Didn’t you go over to liberate the he would use his passes to go to Nuremberg and attend

18 Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018

 Rockland

the trials. “I wanted to be a lawyer,” he said. “I wanted to

watch what’s going on.
“I couldn’t believe how one group of people could treat
another people like this,” he said.
“The testimony I heard there. About the mothers and
their little babies, the teenage girls, going in allegedly to be
deloused. They went in and the doors shut and instead of
water they got gas. They killed hundreds of thousands of
women and girls because they couldn’t work.
“If you heard the testimony about what Dr. Mengele did
with twins — it’s so gross. You can’t believe the cruelty.
And then he came home. He resumed his studies at
Syracuse University — he had enrolled at 17 before being
drafted — and this time the GI Bill paid his tuition. He went
to NYU Law School and went to work as an attorney. He
did not tell people what he had seen, heard, and smelled.
“The main thing is that I didn’t talk about it for 50
years,” he said. “I’m sure I had PTSD like most combat
soldiers. They called it shell shock.
“General Patton didn’t believe in any neurological
stuff. He told us to suck it up unless you had a physical
wound. He didn’t believe in it. He said, ‘I don’t want to
hear about it.’
“I sucked it up for 50 years. I didn’t want to talk about
it. I was scared it would bring back the terrible night-
mares in the army of occupation when I couldn’t sleep
because I was crying.”
And then, in 1995, “a lady from the local Holocaust
museum called me on the phone. She said, ‘Is it true
you’re a soldier and a liberator?’ She begged me to speak.”
I sucked it up for 50 years. I didn’t want
to talk about it. I was scared it would
bring back the terrible nightmares in
the army of occupation when I
couldn’t sleep because I was crying.
When he spoke about his experiences for the first are some people who are so anti-Semitic they’re going
time, “It was like a catharsis of all the poison I was bot- to deny it. That’s why I’m here to tell you and your
tling up.” friends. When we’re gone, the survivors, the libera-
In the more than 20 years since, he has spoken at tors — in 10 or 15 years we’re going to be gone — your
more than 100 middle schools and high schools across generation has go to tell what you’ve heard. When the
the country, reaching some 75,000 students. Just last deniers come out of the woodwork, they’ve got to hear
week, he was a keynote speaker at a Holocaust sympo- from you. Don’t be bystanders, be upstanders. Get rid
sium before “a whole bunch of parochial Catholic school of the hate and bigotry.’
kids” in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and at a program in “My generation failed. We didn’t get rid of the hate and
Franklin Lakes. He would welcome more chances to prejudice. It’s still out there. They’ve got to do the job.
speak close to home, in Rockland or North Jersey — he’s “That’s the main reason I speak,” Alan Moskin said.
finding plane travel more exhausting these days.
“It’s like a calling to me now,” he said. “I want the
young people to know that the Holocaust was no myth. Save the Date
A lot of the wackos say the Jews made it up. We thought
we got rid of all that garbage when we beat those Nazis. What: Screening of ‘GI Jews: Jewish Americans in
World War II’, followed by Q&A with Alan Moskin
“I had a kid say yesterday, ‘How can they say the Holo-
and director Lisa Ades
caust didn’t happen when all the people like you talk
Where: Lafayette Theater, 7 Lafayette Ave., Suffern, N.Y.
about where they were, when there are photographs,
the Nuremberg war crime trials? How much: $10
“I said, ‘Look, I can’t give you that answer. There

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Rockland

Federation’s year-end
celebration/graduation
The Jewish Federation of Rock-
land County’s annual meeting,
celebration, and graduation
is set for Thursday, June 7, at 7
p.m., at the Rockland Jewish
Community Campus Schwartz
Family Social Hall.
New board officers will be
elected and there will be a
kosher buffet dinner.
Steven M. Cohen, a research
professor at Hebrew Union Col- Steven M. Cohen
lege-Jewish Institute of Religion
and director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at Stan-
ford University, is the guest speaker. He will discuss “Jew-
ish Demographic Trends and Why They Matter in Rockland
and Worldwide.” Florence Melton School graduates Sanra
Berg, Susan Edelstein, Barbara Gold, Judith Guterl, Susan
Orlando, BonnieBen Pilar, Karen Stein, and Jacalyn Walzer
will be honored.
For information, call Rebecca at (845) 362-4200, ext. 121.

Widowers meet
for a night of creativity
Club W, a social gathering space for widows and widow-
ers , will meet on Tuesday, May 29, at 7 p.m. The program
will be “Sparkle, Color, and Shape,” and participants will
work with acrylic paint and mixed media. No experience
is necessary. Donations support bereavement services at
Rockland Jewish Family Service.
For information, call Carol King at (845) 354-2121, ext.
142, or email cking@rjfs.org.
Rockland
friendship walk/
family fun day was May 6
More than 600 people walked in support of children
with special needs at the Friendship Circle of Rock-
land’s Friendship 1K Walk at the Rockland Community
College Fieldhouse. All proceeds will fund social and
educational experiences for people with special needs.
After the walk, participants and their families celebrated
at a fair with inflatables, rides, art, face painting, and an
open vendor booth market. There was also a “Cirque
Tacular Show” performance. For information, go to
www.RocklandFriendshipWalk.com.

L ’ Shana L ’ Shana
March inTovah!
Tovah!
the Celebrate Israel parade on June 3
Join the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland
County and the Rockland community as they march
Community Campus, 450 West Nyack Road, West
Nyack, at 8 a.m., to board buses taking the contin-
down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in the annual Cel- gent to NYC. Register to get a spot on the bus and a
ebrate Israel Parade. This year’s theme is Seventy “Seventy and Sababa” tee-shirt. For information, go
Wishing you a sweetyou
and Sababa (awesome). Meet at the Rockland Jewish
Wishing newa sweet
year. new year. to JewishRockland.org.

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 Rockland

Local cantor is
Hadassah actress
Rabbi Geri Zeller of Hillsdale, cantor
emerita of Beth Am Temple in Pearl
River, N.Y., performed with her fellow
Hadassah Players, members of the
Pascack/Northern Valley Chapter
of Hadassah, at the Jewish Home of
Assisted Living in River Vale, Temple
Beth Shalom in Park Ridge, and at the
Jewish Home at Rockleigh.
This original production was written
by Pascack/Northern Valley Hadassah
members Hannah Price, Berthe Nathan-

Photo provided
son, and Arlene Rifkin. Hal Keshner is
the piano accompanist.

Celeste Ciulla, left, with Robert Zukerman. Chris Yacopino

Einstein in Rockland
Penguin Rep Theatre, the award-winning professional Equity theater under Reducing stress and anxiety
the leadership of founding artistic director Joe Brancato and executive direc- On the first Wednesday of each month, with music, mindfulness, and other sim-
tor Andrew M. Horn, opens its 41st season with the New York premiere of Rockland Jewish Family Service offers ple tools you can use in daily life. All levels
“Relativity.” The new play, by Mark St. Germain, is about Albert Einstein. It mindfulness and meditation and other are welcome.
opened on May 18 and has a limited run through June 10. The cast under Mr. techniques to reduce stress and anxiety. The next class is June 6 at 11 a.m. RJFS
Brancato’s direction includes Celeste Ciulla as Margaret Harding, Susan Pel- Meditative practices have been deeply is at 450 West Nyack Road in West Nyack.
legrino as Miss Dukas, and Robert Zukerman as Einstein. rooted in Judaism for thousands of years. All proceeds support RJFS’ mission. Call
The Penguin Rep Theatre is in historic Stony Point in Rockland County. Experience deep relaxation and peace (845) 354-2121, ext.142.
For tickets or information, go to www.penguinrep.org or call (845) 786-2873.

WELCOME CENTER NOW OPEN

Bereavement support at RJFS
Bereavement specialists at Rockland
Jewish Family Service provide coun-
seling for people and families who are
dealing with the death of someone they
loved. RJFS also has bereavement sup-
port groups and assists schools and
other institutions when grief counseling
is needed. All bereavement services are
insurance reimbursable.
RJFS’s support groups, After Shiva
and Moving On, are open to people
of all faiths. After Shiva is for people
mourning the death of a spouse or
Race aims to remember
Holocaust victims
The Holocaust Museum & Center for Tol-
erance and Education is hosting its inau-
gural “Run for The Six.” The community
run/walk is on Sunday, June 10, at 9:30
a.m., at the Rockland Community Col-
lege track and field, 145 College Road in
Suffern. Registration begins at 9.
Together, the group will walk six laps
on the RCC track. On each lap we will
remember one million of the six million
Jewish victims of the Holocaust. A chil-
dren’s Spartan run, for 5- to 10-year-olds,
at 10:30, is on the field in the middle of
the track. Participants will be greeted by
the local Holocaust survivor community
partner, and Moving On offers spouses
and partners who already have been
part of a bereavement group at Rock-
land Jewish Family Service or else-
where the opportunity to continue
meeting in a facilitated group setting.
Members discuss their challenges and
experiences as they consider the pro-
cess of adapting to life without their
The Most Exciting
New Retirement Community
loved one. Is Coming to Rockland County.
For information, call Carol King at
(845) 354-2121, ext.142, or email her at
cking@rjfs.org.
Brightview is bringing
carefree, resort-style living –
Call Cindy or Dorothy
with no large entrance fee –
to Rockland County. to schedule your visit.
845.203.2338
Brightview Lake Tappan offers
access to tri-state shopping,
as they cross the finish line.
Festivities include inflatables, entertain- culture, entertainment, and
ment, music, refreshments, and more. endless on-site opportunities
The museum’s mission is to educate for a rewarding retirement.
the community to never forget the Holo-
caust. With this in mind, they invite all
those who are dedicated to undoing
hatred and prejudice to be a part of the Reserve your apartment
walk/run to remember. Event proceeds
will benefit meaningful social and educa-
now to enjoy exceptional 61 Hunt Road • Orangeburg, NY 10962
tional programs for Holocaust survivors savings. On the Reservoir
and school-aged children. www.BrightviewLakeTappan.com
For information, go to holocauststudies.
org/runwalk.html, call Emily at (845) 574-
4099, or email holocaustrcc@gmail.com. Independent Living • Assisted Living • Dementia Care

Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018 21

Cover Story
Filling
the house
Cynthia Massarsky of Tenafly
talks about how she started the
nonprofit that furnishes empty
Cynthia Massarsky
spaces for people who need that help

Clients relax in their newly

furnished homes. “You should
see their faces when a couch
comes through the door,”
volunteer Deb Herman says.

22 Jewish standard MaY 25, 2018

R
JOANNE PALMER
emember what it felt like when
you moved into the place you
now call home?
It was bare. It echoed. It was
empty. It was full of possibili-
ties, and of hope, but first it needed some
stuff. It needed someplace where you could
sit, someplace where you could eat, some-
place where you could relax, someplace
where you could sleep.
If you feel like you’re camping, it’s not
home.
For most of us, that feeling of empti-
ness lasted just until the moving van with
our old stuff, or the truck with the exciting
new things we’d just bought, pulled up, and
the guys on the truck unloaded tables and
chairs, couches and beds and TVs and book-
shelves and boxes and boxes of books.
But some people don’t have that.
There are public and nonprofit agencies
in Bergen County, including Bergen Coun-
ty’s Housing, Health and Human Services
Center and the county’s Division of Veteran
Services, that provide housing for homeless
people, victims of domestic abuse, veterans,
and others who are down on their luck. That
housing helps them immensely. But all the
county can give them is four walls, topped by
a ceiling and set on a plain floor. The rest is
up to them, and it can be a depressing — if not
actively too expensive and therefore impos-
sible — task for them to furnish it.
That’s where Cynthia Massarsky of Tenafly,
and her barely two-year-old organization,
Making It Home, come in.
Ms. Massarsky saw a need, and her back-
ground positioned her to recognize it and
figure out how to fill it. In doing so, she has
made hundreds of lives significantly better.
It is, she says, a form of tikkun olam. Of
repairing and healing the world.
Her background — decades at the inter-
section of the profit and nonprofit worlds,
watching, learning, and taking from one sec-
tor, where tangible success is valued, to the
other, where helping people is the core value
but that isn’t free — led her logically to Making
It Home. To providing physical objects — fur-
niture — to help people lead better, happier,
more secure, more productive lives.
Making It Home takes barren
spaces and makes them places
where people can live. And Cynthia
Massarsky made Making It Home.
Cynthia Wilson grew up in New-
ton, Mass. “I was raised a Conser-
vative Jew,” she said. “I belonged
to Congregation Mishkan Tefila on Chest-
nut Hill, the temple that Leonard Bernstein
and his family belonged to. The rabbi there,
Israel Kazis, was not afraid of anything. His
sermons were provocative. He took stands.”
She did not forget him. “I’m sure this
relates to how I became who I am,” she said.
“I was a little bit of a rebel. When people said
‘You can’t,’ I said ‘I can.’”
She majored in early childhood education
at Simmons College in Boston; she also mar-
ried and divorced early, and so, by the time she
graduated, “I really needed a job,” she said. She
became a secretary for the two groundbreak-
ing women who ran Simmons management
school — Simmons was a women’s college, and
the management school “was one of few first
business schools for women in the country,”
she said — and “I started typing case studies
that were written using the Harvard case study
method,” she said. “I would type them, and
get lost in them. They all sounded so wonder-
ful. I saw one about Frances Howe,
who ran all the childcare centers at
Harvard.” She was intrigued, asked
permission from her own deans to
approach her — because being aggres-
sive was one thing, but risking inap-
propriate cross-institution relations
was entirely another — and was told
to go right ahead.
Frances Hovey Howe “was a prim
and proper Brahmin-type woman
who lived on Beacon Hill and
clearly was a woman of significant
wealth,” Ms. Massarsky said. “But
she had a passion for Harvard and
for childcare, and so she created
all five of the childcare centers at
Harvard.
“She clearly was not doing it for
the money,” Ms. Massarsky said.
“She spent a fortune setting up
these things.”
Jewish standard MaY 25, 2018 23
Cover Story

The centers were open for married stu-
dents’ children, and eventually for other
community members as well. She ran a
few herself, and others were run by exec-
utive directors. She had just set up her
latest childcare center at Harvard’s busi-
ness school. “She was looking for some-
one to help her run it, and she hired me.”
It was 1976.
“I was the assistant director, and she
was the director, but she never came in,”
Ms. Massarsky said. “I was running the
whole place. I was hiring. I was setting up
the systems. I was so busy and so excited
and so challenged.” Her father ran his own
family business — not childcare but scrap
metal, but running a business to some
extent is running a business. “I would ask
him for advice,” she said.
She loved that experience. From there,
she helped start neighboring Brookline’s
afterschool childcare program. She learned
a great deal from these experiences —
including the idea that she should go to
business school. She landed at Cornell.
“At business school, I desperately tried
to get excited about private sector work,”
she said. “I knew that I was never going to
do investment banking or finance. I was a
little interested in marketing, but I ended
up deciding that I wanted to do something
at the intersection of the private and non-
profit sectors.
“I wanted to take the tools of the private
sector and apply them to the nonprofit
world.”
She wasn’t sure exactly how to do that,
but as she searched for a job, she met her
husband, Barry Massarsky, who grew up in
Teaneck, and whose mother, Irene, a real-
tor, now lives in Fort Lee.
“We found jobs,” she said. “My col-
leagues were making a lot of money, but
I took a job at the nonprofit Foundation
Center.” She was the director of develop-
ment. “They are publishers; now they’re
super-data-base-oriented, and they report
on who gives what to whom. It’s a giant
relational database.
“They were looking for someone to
replace a woman on maternity leave.”
That was the job she took. “Everyone said
I was crazy to do it, but I knew I wasn’t.”
Because of all the work she’d done in child-
care centers, “I knew she wouldn’t come
back.” She didn’t. The job was Cynthia’s.
“I was only there for 18 months, but I
created what was essentially fund-raising
software. I did it with Hewlett-Packard,
who gave us a grant. I didn’t write the
code, but I knew what we needed.” She
provided the direction for what was a very
early relational database. “That’s basically
what fund-raising is now,” she said.
Another accomplishment from those
years, “although it sounds silly, is that I got
the director to be specific when asking for
a grant. Before that, he wouldn’t ask for an
amount, so he would get either nothing or
a paltry amount. But I said that if you ask
for an amount, you might get it.
“It was hugely successful.”
She left the Foundation Center because
“it was not my dream job. I wanted to do
something in corporate philanthropy,
but at that time, in 1981, corporate phi-
lanthropy was in its infancy. People then
didn’t see any reason whatsoever for com-
panies to contribute any of their profits.
Some companies did it anyway, but cer-
tainly there were no departments within
a corporation taking care of it. No one was
hired to do it.”
So she went to work for New Ventures,
run by the man she still speaks about
with great affection, her mentor, Edward
Skloot. New Ventures “was about business
ventures for nonprofits, to help them earn
income.” It pioneered such now-obvious
businesses as museum gifts shops. “You
look at what your assets are, whether
they’re personnel-oriented or physical or
skill-based,” she said. “The idea that non-
profits could do that legally was not widely
accepted then.” Now, needless to say, it is.
“Now it is so commonplace that most grant
applications ask nonprofits how they are
earning income.”
She loved working with Mr. Skloot, and
stayed there until he closed the business. “I
went on to do a number of things, including
working with Marlo Thomas” as director of
marketing and licensing for the Ms. Foun-
dation for Women/Free To Be You and Me
Foundation. Then she went to Scholastic,
Inc., as product and marketing manager.
This work involved licensing, a field then
in its infancy. It was exciting — but then it
got frustrating. “We did things that people
didn’t do, and now they are commonplace,”
Ms. Massarsky said. “I was in at the begin-
ning of everything, but I wouldn’t stick
through to see it happen. I got frustrated.”
She was a deputy director at the Yale
School of Management — Goldman Sachs
Foundation’s partnership for nonprofit
ventures, and a consultant on strategic
initiatives for the Growth Philanthropy
Network and the Social Impact Exchange.
In both of those positions, she worked on

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24 Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018

Another client points to artwork that just got hung on her wall.
adapting for-profit programs for nonprofit organiza-
tions. For example, she said, “nonprofits can scale their
operations worldwide. High-performing organizations
that have proven models should scale up the way the
for-profit sector does. They should get bigger and better,
and serve more people.”
And in her spare time, she wrote and edited books
about nonprofit management for Jossey-Bass.
Ms. Massarsky still is the president of her own man-
agement consultant firm, but in 2014 she decided to
retire from fulltime work. “I said I’ll pack it in,” she said.
“We own a house at the Jersey Shore, so I took the sum-
mer and spent it at the beach.
“It was glorious. I stayed through September, and
then by October I said, ‘Okay, this isn’t working. I am
totally bored.’”
Then Hurricane Sandy struck and Ms. Massarsky had
something to do. There was a local family with children
with disabilities whose house had been demolished.
They needed furniture; she was able to get Bob’s Dis-
count Furniture to help them.
Next, she moved on to garden apartments in Tenafly
that house people with disabilities. Working with the
United Way, and its head, Tom Toronto, she furnished
them, matching donors with the new furniture her
United Way partners demanded. “I created an online gift
registry where people could see pictures of the things
we wanted,” she said. That meant that donors knew
what they were giving.
Apartment residents were chosen by lottery, and
applicants came from across the county. Reaction to
it could have gone in any direction, and some of those
directions would have been bad.
Ms Massarsky knew that she had to overcome the Not-
In-My-Backyard feeling that many people have when
they learn that people with disabilities — people not like
themselves, people who might seem threatening, peo-
ple whose presence might lower property values — are
moving into the neighborhood. She did it with panache.
“We will flip Nimby on its end,” she recalls telling the
mayor of Tenafly, Pete Rustin, and her United Way part-
ner, Mr. Toronto. “Instead of keeping it quiet, we will
announce that this is the kind of community that we are.
We will welcome everybody.
“The mayor was totally in favor, and supported it
financially. We said that we will do a big glossy postcard,
which you can’t miss. Every household in Tenafly got it
twice. And we had a rendering of the building, and it
was going to look gorgeous.
Cover Story ‫בס״ד‬
VA L L E Y C H A B A D I N V I T E S Y O U
T O A N I G H T O F C E L E B R AT I O N
A G A L A D I N N E R C E L E B R AT I N G
18 YEARS OF
COMMUNITY. EDUCATION. OUTREACH.
JUNE 5, 2018
6:30PM
“We got all the furniture fully funded,” she said. “We
JAY N E P E TA K, O P E N I N G R E M A R K S
paid for everything. We did it on GoFundMe. So my
fund­raising skills and my marketing skills taught me
how to do it.”
Once she had finished that project, the mayor asked
her if she wanted to continue fundraising for it, but she
said that she did not. “I wanted to do the furniture part,”
Honorees
she said.
“In the process of getting the furniture for this project,
I kept getting calls from people who said that they had
furniture to donate,” she said. “I realized that there is a
huge market for gently used furniture.”
In fact, demographics are contributing to a surfeit of
good but unwanted furniture. As the New York Times
C H A I L I F E AWA R D
reported last August, in “Aging Parents With Lots of Stuff,
and Children Who Don’t Want It,” many older people are Bernice &
downsizing (and of course, as always, steadily they are Bernie Gola
dying), and their children increasingly do not want their
furniture, as sturdy and well-made as often it is.
They have their own furniture, their own tastes, their
own homes, their own lives. But they hate the idea of
throwing out their parents’ furniture; either it’s fairly
new and therefore far too good for the garbage truck’s
maw, or it’s well-made and old and with a lifetime of
memories that should not be dumped on the street.
She thought about all the calls she’d gotten. “And then S H E M TO V YO U N G L E A D E R S H I P
AWA R D AWA R D
the lightbulb went off,” Ms. Massarsky said. “I just had to
get the furniture from the people who wanted to get rid of Esther & Elana &
it to the people who needed it. But I also had to get ware- Warren Feldman Lawrence Bibi
house space, and to find the people who can move it.
“It takes a crazy coordination effort. It’s not a new
idea, but no nonprofits want to go through all that.” TEENS
At first, Ms. Massarsky couldn’t find anyone who was
willing to work with her. “All the nonprofits I talked to
said that this wasn’t the business they were in, and the
homeless people — well, they had nothing.
“But then, I heard about this woman, Julia Orlando,
who runs the homeless center in Hackensack. I went to
see her, and she said, ‘Yes. When can we start?’” Maddy Gold Mitchell Bloom
Ms. Orlando, the director of Bergen County’s Next TEEN VOLUNTEER “OUR FUTURE” AWARD
Step Initiative and her staff are case managers who help
people find housing, as well as provide other kinds of
help. “They find Section 8 housing landlords who will
take vouchers, and also they find regular apartments
ROCKLEIGH COUNTRY CLUB
for rent that are inexpensive enough. Julia works with
people in a whole slew of ways. 2 0 1. 4 7 6. 0 1 5 7
“The shelter and the Veterans Administration in C E L E B R AT I O N 1 8 . C 0 M
Bergen County are our two main sources of referrals,”
Ms. Massarsky said. “We also work with victims of
Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018 25
 Mazal Tov to Wendy Federman on her Cover Story
Tony Award nominations!

Wendy Federman Tony Shaloub Nathan Lane

and Tony Kushner (“The Band’s Visit”) (“Angels in America”)
(“Angels in America”) and Wendy Federman and Wendy Federman

Mazel Tov to Wendy Federman on her FIVE 2018 Tony Award

nominations as co-producer of this Broadway season’s productions
of “Angels in America,” “The Band’s Visit,” “Three Tall Women,”
“The Iceman Cometh,” and “Carousel.” She is pictured with Tony
Kushner, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright of “Angels
At the grand opening of the Veterans Supportive Housing Project
in America;” Tony Shaloub, Tony Award-nominee for Best Actor in a in Emerson, Chris Schwake, left, and Cynthia Massarsky, second
Musical in “The Band’s Visit;” and Nathan Lane, multi Tony Award- from right, and A.J. Luna of Bergen County Veterans Services in
winner and a Tony Award-nominee for Best Supporting Actor in brown suit and tie, stand with veterans and officials.
“Angels in America.”
domestic abuse.” let it go to someone who needs it and can
Wendy is a Multi Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer
She talks to clients and gets some idea benefit from it.
Critics Circle award-winning producer. She is now a 27 time Tony of the kinds of furniture that they want. “This is all about repairing the world
Award-nominee. Go to www.foolishmortalsproductions.com for more “We don’t go until they sign a lease,” one little step at a time. If I can do that, it
about Wendy’s Broadway credits. she said. “After they sign a lease, we makes me very happy.”
meet them, or the case manager. We Making It Home now is part of the Vol-
take measurements in the apartment, unteer Center in Hackensack. The center
because we have learned that we have asks each of the organizations of which
to.” There’s nothing like schlepping an it is composed to honor volunteers. This
otherwise perfect couch, say, from the year, Making It Home chose to honor Joff
warehouse to an apartment, only to Jones and Deb Herman, a husband and
find that it doesn’t fit in the elevator, or wife team who own a video production

Happy Father’s Day through a door.

Ms. Massarsky has been honored for
her work by the Bergen County Housing
Development Corp. for furnishing hous-
Enter to Win a ing for 14 veterans in Emerson.
Marcia Strongwater has lived in Engle-
company and have made videos for the
group. Mr. Jones, who also is a musician,
composed and sang the song that goes
under its closing credits. The center also
honored two other Making It Home volun-
teers, Tim Franco and Joanne Carluccio.

$50 Gift Certificate wood for almost four decades, and now
she and her husband are downsizing.
How that came to be is mildly circu-
lar, but bear with me for a moment. In

to They had good furniture; they didn’t

215 W. Englewood Avenue
Teaneck, NJ
201-530-7300
One winner will be chosen in a random drawing
from all entries received by June 10, 2018.
NAME __________________________________________________________________
STREET __________________________________________________________________
CITY/STATE/ZIP ___________________________________________________________
PHONE __________________________________________________________________
EMAIL __________________________________________________________________
MAIL TO: JEWISH STANDARD, 1086 TEANECK ROAD, SUITE 2F, TEANECK, NJ 07666
OR FAX TO: 201-833-4959 BY J UNE 10, 2018.
*BY ENTERING THIS CONTEST YOU AGREE TO HAVE YOUR NAME ADDED TO THE JEWISH STANDARD
E - MAIL NEWSLETTER LIST.
want to throw it out, but they had nei-
ther enough space nor much desire to
bring it with them.
As it happened, Ms. Strongwater said,
she’d taught psychology at the Dwight-
Englewood School, and Julia Orlando
had been one of her students there. So
she made a call and “Julia connected me
with Cynthia,” she said. It’s surprisingly
difficult to find something to do with fur-
niture, she added.
“The people who picked up the furni-
ture — a couch, and chair, and an otto-
man — could not have been lovelier,” Ms.
Strongwater said. “They were very pro-
fessional, and just really nice.”
The people who pick up the furniture,
like almost everyone else who works for
Making It Home, are volunteers. Many of
them are police officers.
Ms. Strongwater is glad that her fur-
niture will have a second life. “I think
it will help someone who has been in a
shelter,” she said.
She’s realistic, too. “My kids didn’t
want me to let it go — but they are still
holding onto stuff from my parents,” she
said. “They are not going to get to it, so
late 2016, I wrote a story about Making
It Home. Ms. Herman is a graphic art-
ist for the Jewish Standard. She read the
story, “and the pictures that it painted
in my mind — a picture of people who
had a room and a bed and nothing else
— stayed with me,” she said.
“Joff and I thought about what we could
do to help, so over the past year Joff has
been shooting videos of people getting
their furniture. Anything we can do to
help such a good cause is just paying it for-
ward. We wanted to help, we didn’t have
furniture to give — but we could show
what people need, and what they got.”
Which are the most touching stories
the couple has filmed? “Unfortunately,
all of them are touching,” Ms. Herman
said. “You wish that people did not have
to go through this. You wish that they did
not have to have nothing. You are thank-
ful that Bergen County does give them
some help — but Cynthia is the one who
coordinates everything else.
“What makes a house a home is the
little things. That’s what makes a place
not seem cold.”
That’s a truth that Making It Home also
knows.

26 Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018


Know your oligarch
A guide to the Jewish machers in the Russia probe
RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON — The special prosecu-
tor’s probe into Russian meddling in the
2016 election offers an unsettling jour-
ney for anyone steeped in Russian Jewry,
and the transition from the repression of
the former Soviet Union to the relative
freedoms of the Russian Federation.
Of 10 billionaires with Kremlin ties
who funneled political contributions
to Donald Trump and a number of top
Republican leaders, at least five are Jew-
ish. (The Dallas Morning News has a
handy set of interactive charts.)
There’s Len Blavatnik, the dual Brit-
ish-American citizen who dumped huge
amounts of cash on Republican candi-
dates in the last election cycle, much of
it funneled through his myriad invest-
ment firms. (The same Len Blavatnik
funds scholarships for IDF veterans and
is friends with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.) Alexander Shus-
torovich is the president of IMG Artists,
a titan among impresarios, who gave
Trump’s inauguration committee a cool
$1 million. He arrived in New York with
his penniless family in 1977, when he
was 11. They were fleeing Soviet perse-
cution of Jews.
The list goes on — we explore some
of the names below. But first: What was
going on in the Soviet Union as it headed
towards collapse in the late 1980s that
led to the proliferation of Jewish names
among its oligarch class?
“Not all oligarchs are Jewish, of
course, not the majority, but there is a
significant number,” said Mark Levin,
the CEO of the National Coalition Sup-
porting Eurasian Jewry, who joined its
predecessor, the National Council on
Soviet Jewry, as a staffer in 1980. “They
were in the right place at the right time.”
Here are some of the factors that
put them in the “right place at the
right time.”
You can go home again
Many Soviet Jews left the country
because bigotry and punitive Soviet pol-
icies kept them, among other indigni-
ties, from getting jobs in their preferred
professions. But with the collapse of the
USSR, and with opportunities opening
up at home, a number of these younger
emigrants drew on the entrepreneurial
strain, training, and connections they
found in their new countries, be it the
United States, Britain, or Israel.
In the late 1980s, when they heard
that the policy of glasnost was loos-
ening up markets, a number of them
went back to their homeland seeking
Jewish World
opportunity, armed with savvy and make the transition from a command econ-
with moneyed connections in their omy to a market economy,” he said.
new countries. They were in place after Author Michael Wolff, profiling tech entre-
1991, when Russia and its former repub- preneur Yuri Milner in 20111, wrote, “The
lics rapidly privatized everything from Jews in Soviet Russia, often kept from taking
mines to media. official career paths, came to thrive in the
“I know people who left the Soviet gray and black markets. Hence, they were
Union, it imploded, they went back, among the only capitalists in Russia when
they had friends and acquaintances capitalism emerged.”
who were telling them there were great Bullough said the scientific disciplines that
opportunities,” Levin said. “There were accepted Jews under the old system were
business people who were partnering suddenly in demand under the new.
with people in Russia and other coun- “Jews were often excluded from the kind
tries because they had the connections of universities that produced diplomats, and
to complete business deals.” therefore pushed more towards pure sci-
ences, which meant there was a dispropor-
Networks tionate number of Jewish mathematicians Leonard Blavatnik and Emily Appel-
The Jews who stayed behind kept in who were able to engage with the new bank- son at the Grammy Awards in New
touch with friends and family who were ing industry,” he said. York on Jan. 28, 2018.
succeeding overseas and were able to SEE OLIGARCH PAGE 28  DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES FOR NARAS
tap them for investment opportunities.
“Jews in the ex-USSR had a ready-
made network of trusted contacts in the
U.S. and Israel who they could go into
business with,” said Oliver Bullough,
a British author and journalist whose Brightview.
expertise is Russian history and poli-
tics. “It was harder for Russians who
had no contacts abroad to achieve
Bright Life!
this. This also, in my opinion, explains
why ex-KGB people did well, since
they had a network of former spies in
other countries.”
Glasnost opened doors
The policy called glasnost, or open-
ness, that was instituted by Mikhail Gor-
bachev, the last Soviet leader, included
opening up plum government jobs to
minorities who previously had been
marginalized. That accelerated Jewish Discover exceptional senior living
entry into higher ranks of the bureau-
cracy, just when it was opportune to be for Mom and Dad
in a position to know what sector was
about to be privatized, and which gov- • Respectful, customized care
ernment-owned business was about to
be broken up. • Cultural and social events
It was also helpful, Levin said, that Inspiring • Experienced associates
the end of communism unspooled dif-
ferently in Russia and the former Soviet
republics than it did in the rest of east-
Bright Lives • Luxury amenities
ern Europe. In Russia and its satellites,
the elites remained in place. Only the
for All Our • Gourmet meals
ideology of communism was jettisoned.
“Russia and most successor states of
Residents • Specialized dementia
the Soviet Union went through a much care neighborhood
different transformation than the for-
mer communist European nations,”
he said. “Most of the governing elite Call Richard and Lindsay to
didn’t change.” schedule your personal visit.
Moreover, the very professions to
201.817.9238
which Jews were restricted under the
old Soviet system were the ones that
55 Hudson Avenue • Tenafly, NJ 07670
proved useful in the new economy. www.BrightviewTenafly.com
Jews were likelier to be entrepreneurs.
“There were Jews who were helping to
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 27
Jewish World
Oligarch
FROM PAGE 27
But who really knows.
Most of all, Levin said, there was chaos.
Massive sectors of the economy were up
for grabs. At times, there seemed to be no
controlling authority. When the dust set-
tled, Russia had entered the age of the oli-
garchs. “In the beginning, it was like Chi-
cago in the 1920s,” he said. Connie Bruck,
profiling Blavatnik in the New Yorker
in 2014, quoted a new Russian phrase:
“Never ask about the first million.”
Here are some of the businessmen
with Soviet Jewish roots who have been
named in stories about the Trump-Rus-
sia investigation.
Leonard Blavatnik, 60
Oligarch factor: U.S.-British citizen.
Forbes lists him as the 48th richest man
in the world. Access Industries, which
he founded in 1986 while he was at Har-
vard Business School, exploded in its
earlier years through investments in
uranium and oil in the collapsing Soviet
Union. It since has expanded into massive
media holdings.
Trump factor: Gave more than $6 mil-
lion in the 2016 election cycle, virtually all
to Republicans, after a pattern of relatively
modest donations to both political par-
ties. Longstanding business ties to Viktor
Vekselberg, the oligarch allegedly linked
to secret payments to Trump lawyer and
fixer Michael Cohen. Last year, Blavatnik
donated $12,700 to a Republican party
Andrew Intrater, on right, with USC Shoah Foundation board member Mickey
Shapiro, left, Steven Spielberg, and William Clay Ford, Jr., in Dearborn, Mich., on
Sept. 10, 2015.  DUANE PROKOP/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE USC SHOAH
Tallesim Cleaned • speCial shabbos Rush seRviCe
28 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
Alexander Shustorovich at a fundraiser
with Inga Rubenstein in New York on
April 12, 2016. NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES
FOR FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESS
legal fund that has helped to pay Trump’s
lawyers in the Russia inquiry.
Jewish ties: He has served on the board
of Tel Aviv University, the Center for Jew-
ish History, and the 92nd Street Y. His fam-
ily foundation funds a Colel Chabad-run
food bank and warehouse in Kiryat Mala-
chi in Israel, which sends monthly ship-
ments of food to 5,000 poor families in 25
Israeli cities. He is friends with Netanyahu,
and has been questioned by police in con-
nection with the investigation into gifts
the prime minister allegedly has received
from wealthy benefactors. He funds schol-
arships for Israeli army soldiers.
Andrew Intrater, 55
Oligarch factor: A cousin to Vekselberg,
who has a Jewish father but does not
We want your business and we go the extra
mile to make you a regular customer
identify as Jewish. Intrater, a U.S. citi-
zen, is the CEO of Columbus Nova, the
investment company with close ties to
Vekselberg’s Renova. An SEC filing from
2007 lists Intrater as the chairman of the
board of CableCom, a Moscow-area cable
TV provider.
Trump factor: Columbus Nova funneled
payments from Renova to Michael Cohen.
Intrater also donated $250,000 to Trump’s
inaugural committee.
Jewish ties: Intrater, the child of a
Holocaust survivor, has given more than
$500,000 to the University of Southern
California’s Shoah Foundation and has
donated to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foun-
dation Committee. Intrater’s brother, Fred-
erick, the design manager for Columbus
Nova, bought up a batch of domain names
with associations with the alt-right in the
summer of 2016, when support for then-
candidate Trump on the far right was ris-
ing and Get Out the Vote drives were inten-
sifying. Frederick Intrater said he made
the purchases without Andrew’s knowl-
edge, and later regretted it, allowing the
URL names to wither. “To conclude that I
support white supremacy or anti-Semitism
is unreasonable given what I’ve described
above, and also taking into consideration
that I am a Jew and son of a Holocaust sur-
vivor,” Frederick Intrater said.
Alexander Shustorovich, 52
Oligarch factor: Shustorovich, a U.S. citi-
zen, traveled to Moscow in 1989, a year
after graduating from Harvard, and imme-
diately became a player in media there,
starting scientific publications. He unsuc-
cessfully sought to get his company, Ple-
iades Group, into the $12 billion deal that
sold Soviet nuclear fuel to the United
States. He now is CEO of IMG Artists, a
company that manages talent in classical
music and dance.
Trump factor: Shustorovich gave $1
million to Trump’s inaugural committee.
Notably, his attempt to give the George
W. Bush campaign $250,000 in 2000 was
rejected, in part because of his ties at the
time to Russia’s government.
Jewish ties: Shustorovich arrived in New
York at 11 in 1977 with his family; they did
not have enough money to buy food. His
father, Evgeny, pushed out of work in Rus-
sia as a chemist because of his hopes of
emigrating, joined Kodak in Rochester,
N.Y., and soon rose to prominence in his
field. For a period in 1986-1987, Evgeny
Shustorovich was one of the faces of the
Soviet Jewry movement as he became an
ardent advocate for the right of his brother
We offer repairs
and alterations
Simon Kukes at a news conference
in Yukos headquarters in Moscow on
Nov. 4, 2003.  GETTY IMAGES
— also named Alexander — to emigrate
from the former Soviet Union.
Simon Kukes, 72
Oligarch factor: Kukes, a U.S. citizen, left
the Soviet Union in 1977, settling in the
Houston area. A chemist, he was an aca-
demic for a time, and then worked in the
Texas oil industry. He returned to Russia
and became an executive in the post-Soviet
oil industry there. In 2003, he became
head of the Yukos oil company after
another Jewish oligarch, Mikhail Khodor-
kovsky, was jailed by Russian leader Vladi-
mir Putin for tax evasion and theft — but
mostly, most observers think, for funding
opposition parties.
In 2003, the Guardian uncovered CIA
documents linking Kukes to bribery,
charges that he has denied. From 1998
to 2003, before his year-long gig helming
Yukos, Kukes was the president of TNK,
another oil company, whose principal
stakeholders were Blavatnik and Veksel-
berg. In 2012, when he headed the Russian
arm of Hess, Forbes reported that Kukes’
former chauffeur, who had risen through
the company ranks, was a Russian mafia
boss. The man denied the charges, but
Kukes pushed him out of the company.
Last year, Kukes was a U.S.-based CEO
of Nafta, a consulting firm for investors
in Russia’s energy sector. Nafta’s website
since has been scrubbed.
Trump factor: With no major history
of GOP giving, Kukes suddenly funneled
$285,000 into the Trump reelection effort
— much of it after June 2016, when Russian
interest in the possibility of a Trump presi-
dency intensified.
Jewish ties: Kukes does not have appar-
ent formal ties with the organized Jewish
community, although he tells interviewers
SEE OLIGARCH PAGE 31
1245 Teaneck Rd.
Teaneck
837-8700
 CEDAR LANE MANAGEMENT GROUP presents

TEANECK’S
NECK’S
CEDAR LANENE
FAMILYLY NS
FESTIVAL VETERA
MEMORIAL DAY UR

C R A F T S • I N T E R N AT I O N A L F O O D S • G R E AT S H O P P I N G
G O
MON, MAY 28, 2018 SALUTIN
11AM-6PM Rain or Shine
11AM
Service at the
Municipal Green
12 PM
Black Box
Singers M argaerr
et
1 2: PM
u e
e t t e Mo
ntag
1 5 Aak
Theresa Sareo
ouin Izzy d
AAnntto
Infiel
12:30 PM Pro .f .
A
Memorial Day Veterans Tribute Davigdford
Lan
Presentation of the Hon. Lizette Parker
Memorial Award for Civic Achievement:
to Prof. David J. Langford
Special Guests of Honor:
Margaret Aaker,
Co-Founder Teaneck Farmers Market
Izzy Infield,
President Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corp.
J & J Pharmacy, rmacy
& J Pha , Owner
Celebrating Its 70th Anniversary J
edida
ael F
Matt Okin, n
M i c h
o
Founder & Artistic Director Genia
Pe t e r s
Black Box Performing Arts Center
Genia Peterson,
Founder
Educating Every Child
Carl Sabatino, Mattn Cartlino
Vietnam War Oki Saba
Veteran & Author
Blueberry Pie Eating Contest 1:30 PM r
Teaneck Community Chorus 2 PM L i n d a Mille

Tate School Performers 2:30 PM

Linda Miller, Vocalist 3 PM
Patric Hale - Frank Sinatra &
Dean Martin Tribute 4 PM
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JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 29

Jewish World

Chasidic volunteers, kicked out of a major N.Y. hospital,

blame a clash over medical ethics
DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN

F
or years, volunteers from the
Satmar chasidic movement have
fanned out across the city every
day, boarding private buses and
carrying bags full of kosher food cooked
at the organization’s commercial kitchen
in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, every morning
(except Shabbat).
Members of the Satmar Bikur Cholim
go to a dozen hospital and rehabilitation
centers, bringing food and paying a quick
visit to any patient who requests it. The
volunteers also provide specific recom-
mendations for doctors and rehabilitation
centers when requested, and the organi-
zation can provide financial assistance to
needy patients.
But at one of New York City’s largest and
most-respected hospitals, NYU-Langone
Hospital in Manhattan, the volunteers are
no longer welcome. The hospital now bans
all non-family-members and friends from
patient floors.
“For the safety and privacy of our
patients, we have limited outside volun-
teers, vendors, delivery people, and other
non-visitors and staff from going directly
onto patient floors and into patient
rooms,” NYU-Langone spokeswoman Lisa A view of the Ronald O. Perelman Emergency Center at NYU Langone Hospital in 2014.  GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO/FLICKR

Greiner said in a statement. She did not

respond to a question, repeated many
times, about what specifically prompted
the policy change.
Greiner said that the policy isn’t spe-
cific to Satmar Bikur Cholim, though
members of the group insist it is. They say
that the NYU health system’s approach
to end-of-life care has changed, and con-
flicts with the Orthodox Jewish approach
to issues surrounding ending life support
and administering palliative care — and
the hospital doesn’t want observers wit-
nessing decisions that to Orthodox eyes
may fall short of extending life by any
means available.
Satmar Bikur Cholim supporters now
are urging Jews to steer clear of the hos-
pital and are threatening to start a formal
boycott, said the Bikur Cholim director,
who did not want to be named.
The hospital today is “almost like a
legal killing machine,” she said. Since its
founding in 1952, Satmar Bikur Cholim has
refused to speak with media outside of the
charedi Orthodox community. It considers
the current conflict such a crisis that now
it is willing to, she said.
Over the three-day holiday that included
Shabbat and Shavuot last week, circulars
widely distributed in Brooklyn Ortho-
dox neighborhoods warned that Jew-
ish patients would be risking their lives
by going to NYU-Langone. The main
NYU-Langone hospital is on Manhattan’s
East Side, a quick drive from charedi
neighborhoods like Williamsburg, the
headquarters of the Satmar community.
“Our patients are in danger when they
go there,” the Satmar Bikur Cholim direc-
tor said.
Earlier this year, when the hospital insti-
tuted its new policy barring volunteers
from patient floors, the five or six Satmar
Bikur Cholim volunteers who have gone to
NYU-Langone every day tried slipping past
security guards with fresh-cooked kosher
food hidden inside Macy’s shopping bags.
But they were followed into elevators, and
most recently stopped at the hospital’s
front doors.
The group serves anyone who calls and
most of their recipients are not chasidic,
the Bikur Cholim director said.
A 950-member group called the Rabbin-
ical Alliance of America wrote a letter to
NYU-Langone’s leadership requesting that
it find a way to allow Satmar Bikur Cho-
lim to continue its work. It has received
no response, Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, the
RAA’s executive vice president, said.
Greiner noted that NYU-Langone has
“bikur cholim rooms” stocked with kosher
food in its main Manhattan hospital and its
Brooklyn hospital, and is in the process of
building one at its orthopedic hospital in
Manhattan. (“Bikur cholim” is Hebrew for
“visiting the sick.”)
It also has Jewish chaplains and four
or five people it calls liaisons to the Jew-
ish community. “We always have and will
continue to address the cultural and reli-
gious needs of the communities we serve,”
Greiner wrote in an email. “If any family
cannot visit the Bikur Cholim room, our
volunteers deliver food directly to them
consistent with their medical condition.
Most of the community and outside orga-
nizations understand and agree with this
policy, but a few volunteers want unsuper-
vised access to patient floors and rooms
and have tried to distort the truth.”
On a web page titled “Culturally Sen-
sitive Care” NYU-Langone says that its
Brooklyn location provides special liaisons
to the Arab, Chinese, and Orthodox Jew-
ish communities.
Rabbi Meyer Leifer, the Orthodox Jew-
ish community liaison listed by NYU-Lan-
gone for its Brooklyn hospital, declined
to be interviewed, referring a reporter
to Greiner.
Greiner did not respond to a request
for the names of the Jewish liaisons at its
main hospital, and that information was
not found on its website. The Satmar Bikur
Cholim director said that it has had a long-
standing relationship with NYU-Langone’s
Orthodox Jewish chaplain, but suddenly
he has stopped returning their calls.
Earlier this year, Satmar Bikur Cho-
lim leaders met several times with Dr.
Andrew Brotman, NYU-Langone’s chief
clinical officer and senior vice president
for clinical affairs and strategy. The meet-
ings were fruitless, the volunteer group’s
director said.
“We weren’t asking for anything more
than to be able to continue our mission,”
she said. “Why can’t we continue doing
what we’ve been doing for 70 years? It’s
his clients who are asking for it.”
Greiner declined JTA’s request to speak
with Brotman.
The Satmar Bikur Cholim director says
that the policy change “had to do with
our advocacy in the hospital. Because
we’re very big in patient care manage-
ment and advocacy, the hospital did not
like that we’re watching them so closely.
NYU Hospital’s policies have changed and
have become more difficult for the Jew-
ish community.
“Our advocacy has gotten more intense,”
she continued. “We’re very much pro-life
and life being respected. Currently the
hospital has initiated hospice and end-of-
life care which goes against our communi-
ty’s halachic perspective. It comes up very
often, weekly, and sometimes daily where
people call us with feeding tube issues or
ventilator care.”
Although halacha, or Jewish law, is com-
plex when it comes to end-of-life issues,
it essentially includes the premise that
as long as the heart continues beating, a
patient is considered alive. That brings
Jewish law into conflict with medical
professionals who want to remove brain-
dead patients from life support, or not to
SEE CHASIDIC PAGE 44

30 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

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Editorial
Spring, summer,
and hope
T B
his has been such a wild few weeks that it’s
hard to breathe, much less think, much less
think straight.
Between Jerusalem and Gaza, between the
terrifying instability of our national politics, and between
the two very different three-day weekends that together
wreak absolute unvarnished havoc on our schedules,
rational thought has been very much at a premium.
I look back with great pleasure on Shavuot. For me, it
was crowned with the tikkun leyl Shavuot. I live on the
Upper West Side, and I went to the JCC in Manhattan. It
was extraordinary. The place was packed. There were 18
choices from 10 to 11, another 18 from 11:15 to 12:15, and
yet another 18 from 12:30 to 1:30. There were fewer in the
two later sessions, but even from 3 to 4, there were five
choices. People were turned away from many sessions,
but there were enough choices, and enough desserts, to
keep everyone happy.
I went to a session taught by the wonderful young
teacher Rachel Rosenthal (soon to be Dr. Rosenthal),
who teaches Talmud with passion and wit. I went to
another one taught by Bret Stephens, who seems to have
perfected the art of being almost provocative but stop-
ping just short of actual offensiveness. I went to a session
taught by Ruth Calderon (her second; the first was too
packed to get anywhere near), whose brains and charm
both were evident even in the middle of the night. I went
to a smaller session, taught by my friend Lizzie Leiman
Kraiem, where we all actually could talk rather than just
be talked to. And at all the sessions, the high intellectual
level not only of the teachers but also of the students
was striking.
It also had everyone. Absolutely everyone. The age
range was great; just judging by clothing, so was the range
of religiosity. There were Americans, Israelis, and other
people whose accents made it clear that they were from
far away. And not everyone was white. It was thrilling.
Next weekend is Memorial Day, which is like a Jewish
holiday in its reverence for the past and its remembrance
of the dead. It is a genuine civil and civic holiday, a time
when maybe we could be drawn closer together. That’s
not likely in this climate, but maybe it’s not impossible.
It’s a holiday that’s usually when spring is just about to
tip over into lush summer; all the trees are in leaf, all the
spring colors are gone and everything is green, greener,
even greenest. (Who knows this year, of course, but we
can hope, can’t we?)
I hope that this Memorial Day ushers in a season that’s
— well, at any rate, that’s better than the old, soggy, cold,
divisive, ugly spring we’ve soldiered through. And hope
springs eternal, doesn’t it? —JP
Jewish Editor
Joanne Palmer
Standard Associate Editor
Larry Yudelson
1086 Teaneck Road
Community Editor
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Beth Janoff Chananie
(201) 837-8818
Fax 201-833-4959 About Our Children Editor
Heidi Mae Bratt
Publisher
James L. Janoff
Associate Publisher Emerita
Marcia Garfinkle
thejewishstandard.com
32 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
Poland should move
its embassy to Jerusalem
eing at the opening of the American embassy
in Jerusalem was a once-in-a-lifetime opportu-
nity to witness history. It was moving beyond
words. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I
saw the words — etched in stone quite literally — Embassy
of the United States of America, Jerusalem, Israel. Those
who were fortunate to be present — about 700 in total —
will never forget the feeling of uplift and inspiration as the
world’s foremost superpower and most influential nation
recognized Jerusalem officially as the eternal capital of the
Jewish people.
Over the next few days other nations, like Guatemala
and Paraguay, also courageously moved their embassies
to Jerusalem. Still more nations are considering the move.
But one country in particular could make a very special
kind of history in moving its embassy, and that is Poland.
I have written in these pages, over the past
few weeks, about the special challenges pre-
sented by the Polish-Jewish relationship. On
the one hand, the Jewish people sojourned
in Poland for more than 800 years; originally
Poland offered a place of refuge when few
other nations would take the Jews in. On the
other hand, the Jewish presence in Poland
ended with a tragedy beyond description
when the German Nazis swooped in and
murdered more than 90 percent of the Jew- Rabbi
ish population. Since then there has been Shmuley
a heated and important debate about the Boteach
extent to which the Poles themselves par-
ticipated in atrocities against the Jews. The
recent Polish government Holocaust law, forbidding dis-
cussion of official Polish collusion with Germany in the
Holocaust, only served to exacerbate Jewish feelings that
Poland was, and remains, anti-Semitic.
But such feelings do not address, nor help, the necessary
partnership of the Jewish people with the Poles in com-
memorating the memory of about four million Jews who
were murdered on Polish soil. The Polish government is
now entrusted by providence with preserving the mem-
ory of the Nazi extermination camps and telling the story
of the annihilation of Polish Jewry. Working together with
Poland, as the March of the Living does admirably, is criti-
cal to preserving that memory.
There is one thing that Poland can do, however, monu-
mental and historic, to address traditional charges of anti-
Semitism in one fell swoop, and that is to move its embassy
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the author of 30 books, including his most recent, “The Israel Warrior.” Follow him on Twitter
@RabbiShmuley.
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Poland has become one of Israel’s closest friends in
Europe and resisted repeated pressure from EU countries
to join in various condemnations of Israel. Unfortunately,
the relationship became frayed with the passage of the
Holocaust law, threatening to punish anyone who suggests
Poles played any role in the crimes committed by the Nazis.
While that law remains on the books, pending a court deci-
sion on its constitutionality, it is likely that Polish-Jewish
relations in general will remain tense. Still, the Polish gov-
ernment could change the narrative by joining the United
States in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and mov-
ing their embassy to the city.
Poland deserves praise for taking a stand against the
anti-Israel activists in the EU, but no one should think the
relationship with Israel is a one-way street. In addition to
the normally positive diplomatic ties, Israel
and Poland have become increasingly close
strategic partners as well. Polish pilots, for
example, participated in the 2017 Blue Flag
exercise, the largest aerial training exercise
to ever take place in Israel. Israel also has
sold Poland its David’s Sling missile defense
system.
Moving the Polish embassy to Jerusalem
would be a powerful symbol of friendship. In
prior years it might have been highly contro-
versial, but in light of the American decision,
it should not create any political problems.
We have already seen how, despite apocalyp-
tic warnings, the Muslim and Arab world did
not blow up over the issue. Poland can expect criticism,
but even Israel’s enemies recognize the reality that Jerusa-
lem has functioned as Israel’s capital for the last 70 years
and has been the Jewish people’s historic capital for 3,000.
None of them are prepared to punish Poland for following
in America’s footsteps. In fact, it is likely they will be joined
by other Eastern European nations.
This year also is a fitting time for Poland to do what is
right. It is not only the 70th anniversary of Israel’s decla-
ration of independence, it is also the 75th anniversary of
the Warsaw ghetto uprising. A small number of coura-
geous Jews stood up to fight the mighty Nazi army at a time
when many governments rolled over and let the Germans
occupy their countries. The Polish people, Jews and non-
Jews, were among the few to resist.
Israel was not created because of the Holocaust, but it
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Jerry Szubin
Founder
Morris J. Janoff (1911–1987)
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Deborah Herman
Editor Emeritus
Meyer Pesin (1901–1989)
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Rebecca Kaplan Boroson

stands as a statement of the Jewish people’s
determination to stand strong and ensure that
no Jew is ever threatened with annihilation
again. The brave Jews led by 23-year-old Mor-
decai Anielewicz knew they were going to die,
but fought anyway to prove Jews were willing
to resist tyranny and genocide. The people of
Israel have no intention of allowing genocidal
regimes such as the one in Iran, or murder-
ous terrorists from Hamas or Hezbollah, to put
them in the position of having to die to make
that point again.
The Polish people appreciate this determi-
nation to live. At least three million Poles, and
possibly many more, died in World War II. More
Poles suffered and died under the brutal Com-
munist regime. They never want to be in a posi-
tion where their lives can be threatened again.
That common fear is one reason for Israeli-Pol-
ish military cooperation.
After I criticized the Holocaust law, Polish
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote to
me that the tension between Poland and Israel
“deeply saddens” him, and he said his country
is an ally of Israel. I subsequently met with him
I can think of
no better act to
bring our peoples
together than for
Poland to move
its embassy to
Jerusalem and
recognize
Israel’s capital.
and he reiterated his desire for Poland to have
a closer relationship with the Jewish commu-
nity and Israel.
These were comforting and necessary senti-
ments, but words are not sufficient to accom-
plish this objective. Deeds are required as well.
I can think of no better act to bring our peoples
together than for Poland to move its embassy
to Jerusalem and recognize Israel’s capital. This
will not completely erase the pain cause by the
“Holocaust Law,” which I hope will be struck
down by the Polish courts as unconstitutional,
abridging, as it does, full freedom of speech. But
it will concretely demonstrate Poland’s commit-
ment to the welfare of the Jewish people and a
desire to forge a new and lasting friendship.
The opinions expressed in this section
are those of the authors,
not necessarily those of the newspaper’s
editors, publishers, or other staffers.
We welcome letters to the editor. Send them to
jstandardletters@gmail.com.
Opinion
I’VE BEEN THINKING
An illogical impulse
F
or decades I’ve been reading the New York Times’
obituaries. And no, not because, as George Burns
famously said, “I get up each morning, read the
obituary column, and if my name’s not there, I eat
breakfast.” (I must admit, though, that recently I’ve been pay-
ing closer attention to the ages of the people in the obituaries.)
Rather, I read them because they’re both interesting and
educational, covering almost everything that people do or
think about. They also expose readers to the scintillating prose
of Margalit Fox, who I thought was the best obituary writer at
the Times until a journalist friend corrected me and said, “No,
she’s the best writer at the Times.”
Obituaries teach us about science, music, law, movies, lit-
erature, war, sports, mathematics, architecture, politics,
medicine, civil rights, business, art, newspapers, computers,
crime, philosophy, religion, and on and on and on. I’m sure
that in the last few years I’ve read at least one obituary about
someone who did something memorable in each of those
fields, teaching me things I never knew even if I didn’t fully
comprehend everything I read (think philosophy).
One small example. A few weeks ago, there was an obituary
about Robert N. Hall, a physicist who built the
first solid state laser in 1962, and whose inven-
tions and work are behind lasers that read bar
codes at supermarkets, microwaves, electric
locomotives, gamma ray detection in nuclear
research, and lots of other things that make our
life so much easier even if we (make that I) don’t
really understand how they work, or even what
they do. While I learned about his life a bit too
late, it was, nevertheless, a worthwhile educa-
tional experience. In fact, it was more than a bit Joseph C.
too late, for although Dr. Hall died in 2016, his Kaplan
obituary appeared only this month when the
Times, editing its prepared obituary, learned of
his death only when it sought to interview him. Sic transit glo-
ria mundi.
One somewhat unfortunate aspect of obituaries is that
someone can be remembered not because of wonderful things
accomplished over a lifetime but because of one mistake, or,
to put it in sports terms, one passed ball, home run pitch,
base running slip, or running the wrong way in the Rose Bowl.
Think Mickey Owens, Tracey Stallard, Fred Merkle, or Roy Rie-
gel, each of whose Times’ obituaries led off with their fateful
(or is that fatal?) gaffe. Bill Bruckner, you should live a long
life, but nothing you do will ever change the first paragraph of
your prepared obit.
There’s another side to this obituary coin, however. The
Times prints obituaries of most Congressional Medal of Honor
winners, and in one respect many are quite similar. They’re
about regular folk, who lived conventional lives as doctors,
farmers, construction workers, nurses, teachers, or other non-
celebrity jobs, made no great discoveries, were not luminaries
in any field, and at first blush seemed to have done nothing
special to earn them a mention in the Times. Except that early
in their lives, when they were 18 or 20 or 23 — ages when many
of our children still are in college or graduate school — they
performed acts of heroism so spectacular that if they weren’t
written black on white in the Paper of Record they would be
difficult to believe.
And then, after those spectacular acts of courage, these
men — the only woman who was awarded a medal of honor
did not receive a Times obit — went home to live lives of nor-
malcy, getting married, raising children, going to work, help-
ing their neighbors, and serving their communities. And so
their obituaries start not with a recitation of a booted ground
ball or the invention of the microwave, but with acts of valor
in the service of others.
James Shaw Jr. holds his daughter, Brooklyn, at a vigil
for the victims of Waffle House shooting.
It was with this background in mind that I read
the news article about James Shaw, Jr., rushing
the Waffle House shooter and disarming him (a
classic case of “the only thing to stop a bad man
with a gun is a good man without a gun.”) And as
much as I admire Mr. Shaw, it pains me that I have
to disagree with his statement, or at least part of
his statement, which he gave after the shooting —
“I’m not a hero. I’m just a regular person. I think
anybody could’ve done what I did if they’re just
pushed in that kind of cage.”
I believe him when he says he’s just a regular
person, but that doesn’t make him any less a hero.
The Congressional Medal of Honor winners, heroes all, were
also just regular people who, when they were “in that kind of
cage,” were able, like Mr. Shaw, to dig deep within themselves
to find the bravery necessary to put others and principles before
their own safety.
That’s what heroism is. And it’s also John McCain refusing to
be released from the Hanoi Hilton without his compatriots after
he’d been captured and tortured (and still a hero, Mr. President),
not pitching a tough world series game; it’s Yosef Mendelevich,
Sylva Zalmanson, and Natan Sharansky maintaining their faith
in a Soviet prison, not a celebrity setting up a foundation.
But being a hero doesn’t require a firefight in a war zone or
disarming a shooter; you don’t have to give up years of your life
— or, indeed, your life — for a principle. Heroes include those
who stand up to bullies picking on the defenseless, those who
fight for the rights of the weak outside their community even
against the wishes of those within, those without power who
still speak truth to power. Heroes are those who risk losing some-
thing significant — whether their reputations, wealth, friends, or
even their lives — for the greater good.
Everyone can be a hero. As Jeb Bartlett (were he only our real
president) said so memorably, “The streets of heaven are too
crowded with angels, but every time we think we have mea-
sured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re
reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time
for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve
what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach
for the stars.”
Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular columnist, is a long-time resident
of Teaneck. His work also has appeared in various publications
including Sh’ma magazine, the New York Jewish Week, the Baltimore
Jewish Times, and, as letters to the editor, the New York Times.
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 33
Opinion
Sorry, but I’m not sorry
N
o, I have no apologies for the recent events
in Gaza. Here’s why:
1. How many Molotov cocktails do Pales-
tinians have to throw before they stop being
“peaceful protesters”?
That’s a trick question, because as long as they are
throwing them at Jews, the number seems infinite. Same
with flaming kites (arson isn’t violence for Palestinians.
Who knew?), improvised explosive devices, knives, gre-
nades, and automatic weapons. And slingshots. FYI, a
stone leaving a slingshot travels at 100 miles per hour,
with the stopping power of a .44 magnum and a range
of a quarter mile. Look it up. No matter what the Pales-
tinians do, though, the media describes them like ‘60s
flower children sticking daisies in the barrels of National
Guard rifles.
And that moral blindness is not as bad as the moral
imbecility demonstrated by many of the talking heads.
One particularly bizarre example was the Guardian
newspaper commentator who asked how Israelis would
like it if Hamas killed 50 Jews on the streets of Tel Aviv.
First, please note the comparison of apples and oranges.
The proper comparison would be if Israelis intention-
ally killed 50 random innocent Palestinians, minding
their own business, walking down the street in Gaza. Of
course, that would never happen.
But second, and more important, the whole point of
defending the border of Israel — which the reporter con-
demns—is precisely to make sure that such a mass terror
attack in Tel Aviv never happens! Duh.
2. A thought experiment: Imagine that everything the
Palestinians did at the border was moved back a couple
of hundred yards. The Palestinians could have waved
as many Palestinian flags (and burned as many Israeli
and American ones) as they wanted. They could have
A Jewish vision, not a Eurovision
L
ess than two weeks ago, Netta Barzilai became
Israel’s top heroine for taking the first prize in
Eurovision 2018.
Her loud, colorful persona, her statement-
making lyrics, and her attention-grabbing sound effects
captivated audiences worldwide, and filled many Israelis
with tremendous national pride. Netta’s victory represents
the triumph of the strong and brash woman who refuses to
conform to male-dominated society’s imagery over the tra-
ditional woman, whom she perceives as submissive.
This week, in contrast, we read the story of Ruth. There
is nothing brash, nothing rebellious, nothing anti-feminine
or anti-masculine in Ruth’s personality, and yet she exudes
an unmistakable aura of strength and heroism. In fact, Ruth
reminds us that heroism does not need to be loud and eye-
catching. Her strength is in the love and devotion that she
quietly and selflessly gives to Naomi, while expecting noth-
ing in return, certainly no public recognition.
Ruth reminds us that loud public appearances, procla-
mations, and accusations are not the greatest demonstra-
tions of strength for either one of the sexes. Ruth has two
clear goals: the first is supporting Naomi tangibly and emo-
tionally, and the second is carrying on the name of Nao-
mi’s family. Neither of those goals are about Ruth. In both
cases she puts herself second. Ruth is ready to leave behind
the warmth and love of her family and the comfort of her
people in order to give warmth and love to her bereaved
34 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
invited representatives from the EU, the
World Council of Churches, and Jeremy
Corbyn. They could have had entertain-
ment by Roger Waters and Lorde, famous
Israel boycotters, as well as speeches from
“intellectuals” Norman Finkelstein and
Judith Butler. They could have had them-
selves a regular anti-Semitic hootenanny—
unless the Hamas PR people successfully
convinced people to say “kill all the Zion- Rabbi Robert
ists” instead of “kill all the Jews,” in which L. Wolkoff
case the hootenanny would be merely
“anti-Israel.”
Not a single person would have been killed. Not a sin-
gle person would have been wounded. (With the pos-
sible exception of Judith Butler, whom they would prob-
ably have wanted to kill just from boredom.)
In fact, this is what the Israelis encouraged them to
do (not kill Butler, just stay away from the fence). They
dropped leaflets saying, “Don’t go near the fence. You
might get killed.” And Hamas responded by paying peo-
ple a hundred bucks a pop to go to the fence and get
killed.
3. And the Israelis, with their “disproportionate use of
force”? Please, spare me. Sure, 99 percent of the protes-
tors were non-violent. Well, 99 percent of the protestors
didn’t get killed. In fact, 99.9 percent of the protestors damental right to be left alone. That means no rockets.
didn’t get killed. And of those who did, nearly all were
Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists. I’ll cry for them as
much as I will for dead Isis terrorists. Which is to say,
not one tear.
I do, of course, feel sorrow for any innocents who
were killed or wounded. But that’s not the same as an
apology for it. After all, who put these innocents in
harm’s way?
mother-in-law instead. She then is willing to
subordinate her romantic potential to her
decision to carry on the Elimelech family
name. Ruth’s courage is in her ability to step
into the unknown for the sake of the ones she
loves and loved; she gives and she builds, but
not for her own sake.
Ruth’s hard work and courage aim higher
than self-interest. Moreover, Ruth allows her-
self to trust Boaz, placing her honor at risk, Rahel
putting faith in him to join her in aiming higher Rocklin
than self-interest. Ruth is too busy striving to
accomplish her goals to focus on how she is
perceived by those around her, whether it be the Israelites
in general, Boaz’s farmhands, or Boaz himself.
Ruth was fortunate; her kindness and faith were met with
kindness and trustworthiness. She risked her modesty and
was not betrayed. Not all women are so lucky as to be met
with decency and respect in response to their trust. This is
the unfortunate source of the MeToo movement and of the
popularity of women like Netta. Netta, along with others,
represents a liberation from vulnerability.
The truth, however, is that there is no way to close off
all vulnerability without closing off the potential for great
accomplishments. Twenty-first-century society teaches us
to put ourselves first. By taking care of our physical and
emotional needs first, we are told, we will be able to give
I want every Jewish mother who thinks
it’s a good idea to bring her kids to a place
where shots are being fired to raise her
hand. No takers? Didn’t think so.
And just for the record, I absolutely have
no apologies for the fact that no Israeli
soldiers died. Thank God no Israeli sol-
diers died. We don’t have to let our chil-
dren die just to even the score for Amnesty
International.
4. Last, and most crucial. There are those
who suggest that Israel should have let peo-
ple cut through the border fence and then
arrest them. That way, no one would have had to die.
Sounds just dandy, until you grapple with the deeper
implications. In the real world, you don’t let people cut
through your border fence. Because if you do, the next
step is to let them go to nearby Israeli towns and farms
(to which Hamas had thoughtfully provided maps). And
the next step is to let them destroy property but not
people. And the next step is to let them attack people,
but not kill them. And the next step…. You get the point.
You think it wouldn’t go that far? Refer to point 1, above.
It is infinitely better to remind the Palestinians that
good fences make good neighbors. And bad fences make
dead neighbors. Understand this: We Jews have a fun-
Not one. No stabbings. Not one. No border breaches. Not
one. And no dead Jews (or even dead Zionists). Not one.
The sooner this lesson is learned, first by the world
that enables this madness and then by the Palestin-
ians who are its primary victims, the sooner the Pales-
tinians will stop imagining that the deadly cocktail of
bloody histrionics and sympathetic headlines is a rea-
sonable substitute for studied diplomacy and mature,
and produce more. But, in reality, the self-cen-
tered approach becomes under-productive.
Too many modern women are so focused on
building themselves up that they are losing
sight of true greatness.
In real life, there is a conflict between the
fame of the stage (whether it be the actual
stage or another career that offers public com-
mendation) and the demands of family and
community. We gain nothing from pretending
that the two are anything other than contra-
dictory. Our individual success comes at the
cost of our national identity.
And for both women and men, it is our national identity
— not our personal fame — that determines our place in eter-
nity. For the Greeks and Romans, heroism meant establish-
ing a name through famous individual accomplishments.
Speaking to a society with this mindset, Socrates and later
Hellenistic philosophy struggled with the question of why
we ought to do the right thing when no one is looking. Juda-
ism teaches us that we find our eternity in the memories of
our loved ones and in the national memory that perpetu-
ates the selfless deeds we do for our fellow Jews in a cov-
enant with God — something we all share together. The most
obvious purpose of the Book of Ruth, after all, is to teach
us how the eternal House of David — king of Israel for all
time — came about through the selfless actions of Ruth and

Israeli soldiers stand watch on the fields of Nahal
Oz on the Israeli Gaza border, near the Gaza
neighborhood of Shajaiya, on May 15, 2018.
 LIOR MIZRAHI/GETTY IMAGES
dispassionate compromise.
And the sooner Palestinian mothers will stop getting
up from their mourning, picking up a fading newspa-
per clipping, and asking, “Was this really worth the
life of my child?”
Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff has lectured and written
internationally on Israel and Judaism. He is the rabbi
of Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick and
is a JNF Rabbi for Israel.
Boaz. They are remembered. Orpah, Ruth’s sister-in-law,
looked out for herself first, going back to her people and to
obscurity. As for the man who shirked the responsibility to
marry Ruth before Boaz, out of concern for his own inter-
ests, the book does not even see fit to mention his name.
Because he was so focused on his own future before that
of his fellow Jews, he missed his chance for eternity. He is
literally called “anonymous.”
Without a doubt, we have the right and even the respon-
sibility to demand that men treat us with respect, both in
bed and in the workplace, but if that becomes the be-all
and end-all, we will have taken a step back, not forward.
Jewish tradition prizes the type of greatness that Ruth
achieves. Her priorities are kindness to the forlorn Naomi
and the provision of a future to her family within the Jew-
ish people. And Ruth’s love for her family and people wins
God’s heart, becoming the basis of the eternal House of
David — which, throughout the Bible, God preserves out
of love, even when it is undeserving.
So we are left with a choice. We can make our national
pride contingent on Europe and its vision of a heroism of
fame as the highest aspiration, or we can be part of Ruth’s
great tradition of heroism that derives its eternity from its
very selflessness.
Rahel Rocklin of Teaneck is a Jewish educator now leading
a group-schooling project from her home.
A reflection on our communal tragedy,
through the lens of the book of Ruth
I
wanted to say a few words about the
great tragedy in our community last
Thursday — the school bus accident
that killed a student and a teacher.
We mourn with the Williamson and Vargas
families. We express our concern and offer
prayers for those who had been injured and
pray for their refuah shelamah — for their
speedy recovery — and we wait for news and
hope for the best. We know that life will go on Rabbi Arthur
but in the moment we know that things will Weiner
never be the same.
I was glad to be at East Brook Middle
School to try to help, and I was proud to represent our
entire community. We are an important part of Paramus,
and as one of its leading institutions we have been a part
of the community response.
An event like this naturally raises important questions.
We hear about these types of things all the time. Some
community somewhere will face a similar calamity today.
So Thursday it was a bus accident in New Jersey. Friday,
another school shooting in Texas. We can ignore these
things, or at least the theological challenges they raise,
when we are removed from it. But in our own community?
So allow me share an idea with you that is based on a
Shavuot observance. It had to do with the reading of Megil-
lat Ruth—the Book of Ruth.
There is a common understanding that among other
things, the Book of Ruth is a paean to conversion. When
Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, face
the prospect of a future as destitute widows in the land
of Moab, Naomi implores her daughters-in-law to stay in
Moab, reestablish families, and carry on with their lives.
Orpah says good-bye, yet in some of the most stirring rheto-
ric in the Bible, Ruth tells Naomi that she will return to the
land of Israel with her. “Wherever you go, I will go; wher-
ever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people
and your God my God.” Ruth remains the model of the
righteous convert, and thus the Book of Ruth is the proof
of the importance of conversion.
I want to suggest a different explanation about the mean-
ing of Megillat Ruth, its significance on Shavuot, and why I
am talking about it today in the context of our communal
tragedy. A true understanding of the glory of Torah is con-
tained within this precious section of the Bible.
The Book of Ruth begins with tragedy. There is a famine
within the land of Israel. People are dying and society is fall- what 30 years in the rabbinate has taught me, whether in
ing apart. That’s what happened during times of famine in
the ancient world. Remember what Abraham and Sarah are
forced to endure when famine first drives them from the land
of Israel? Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, go to Moab, an
enemy of Israel, to survive. Then Elimelech dies. Their sons
marry local women, Ruth and Orpah, and then the sons die
and the women are left destitute and alone.
Naomi decides to return home. She makes an honorable
and reasonable choice: to allow her daughters-in-law to
return to their homes. Ruth refuses. She tells her mother-
in-law she will not leave her for anything. In the midst of
their pain and sadness they agree to stay together and help
each other, and return to Israel.
Life in Israel is hard. Ruth goes out to find food for them, anyone else. Yet what it does guarantee are people and
and soon she is surprised by the kindness she is shown by a
relative of Naomi’s late husband, the honorable and virtuous
Boaz. He not only offers her kindness but warns his workers
not to bother her. When she asks why Boaz is being so nice
to her, an alien, a widow, Boaz tells her, “I have had a full
report for all you have done for your mother-in-law since the
Opinion
death of your husband, how you left your father
and mother and the land you were born in and
came to a people whom you had never known
before. May the Lord reward your work.” Boaz
responded to Ruth’s difficult plight with respect
and kindness that she could not have possibly
anticipated. And later in what is admittedly
one of the most enigmatic scenes in the entire
Bible, when Naomi encourages Ruth to either
(a) seduce, or (b) trap, or c) propose marriage to
Boaz (because that’s what poor people do when
they are in danger of starving, something that
thank God we know nothing of, but what some
of our grandparents actually did,) something wonderful hap-
pens. Boaz praises her loyalty and promises to do all that
she asked, all the while looking out for her safety and virtue.
The point of the Book of Ruth and the reason we read it
on the holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah is that
against the backdrop of loss, evil, and sexual immorality,
this is a story of a people acting righteously, even under
the most difficult of circumstances, and those acts of righ-
teousness transform their world. The heroes in the Book of
Ruth are ordinary people whose actions are motivated by a
real and honest concern for the welfare of others, whether
family or strangers. The Book of Ruth is a metaphor for
the entire Torah: living responsibly, caring about others,
responding to real human needs of all in the community
not only will bring rewards—it is the reward.
As our rabbis teach, mitzvah goreret mitzvah, one
mitzvah leads to the performance of another mitzvah.
Such acts of righteousness can transform the world and
as Ruth teaches, transform the bitterness of today into
tomorrow’s possibilities.
Admittedly this wasn’t what was on my mind as I assisted
with the emergency response at East Brook Middle School
on Thursday. But I have to tell you that seeing the response
of our local police, fire department, EMS, the staff of the
mayor’s office, the county executive, the governor of New
Jersey all coming together was beautiful despite the horror of
the moment. They were all there to assist and comfort. Their
actions could do no more to reverse the loss of life than Boaz
could bring back Naomi’s dead husband. But the future for
the families who were so personally affected is yet to be writ-
ten. And though what they are experiencing is painful and
difficult, they do not experience it alone.
I can’t know what that future is going to be like. But
the pulpit or in the military, is that simple acts of compas-
sion and righteousness, people doing the right and kind
thing, just like Naomi and Ruth and Boaz did, will make a
real difference in helping the survivors cope and eventu-
ally move on with their lives.
Reading the Book of Ruth on Shavuot challenges us in the
same way. It reminds us that it is the Torah’s message and our
eternal responsibility to rise above what is petty, immoral,
and evil, and do what is good and right. That’s why the Torah
was given to the Jewish people. Torah reminds us not only
who we actually are, but what we yet might be.
Our efforts to live our truth and fulfill our responsibil-
ities will not guarantee a pain-free life for ourselves or
institutions that will be there to help us, no matter what
life may throw at us.
Rabbi Arthur Weiner is the rabbi of the Jewish Community
Center of Paramus/Congregation Beth Tikvah. He is also a
chaplain for the Paramus fire department.
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 35
Opinion
Some journalists are misleading readers
and contributing to the loss of Palestinian life
M
onday, May 14, marked the 70th anniversary
of the creation of the State of Israel, a momen-
tous occasion for many Israelis and Jews
around the world.
The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by the United
States and the ceremony to commemorate the opening of the
US embassy in Jerusalem elevated an already historic day, and
filled many with tremendous joy and immense gratitude.
The happy feelings wouldn’t last long, however — the
chance to soak in the achievement would be quickly derailed
by grief at the reality of what was unfolding in Gaza and how
those events were being covered by many members of the
media. What follows are but four of the incredibly mislead-
ing characterizations that were found in articles and/or videos
published by such mainstream publications as CNN and the
New York Times:
1) FALLACY: THE PROTESTS WERE PEACEFUL AND
THE PROTESTORS WERE UNARMED.
Truth: Many of the published images of the protests showed
Gazans surrounded by smoke without noting that the smoke
had been caused by Gazans burning tires in an attempt to
mask their movements as they attempted to breach the secu-
rity fence. On the morning of the protests, Hamas urged
Gazans via its Facebook page to “bring a knife, dagger, or
gun...(and) keep it under your clothes” and that if they were
successful in breaching the fence to “kidnap Israeli civilians
and transfer them immediately to Hamas.” Pictures taken
by various media outlets show Gazans with wire cutters or
with slingshots used to throw stones at Israeli soldiers. Other
Gazans were hurling Molotov cocktails at the fence and flying
burning kites over it in an effort to start fires in Israel. Rioters
set aflame the only border crossing between Gaza and Israel,
Accepting the reality of Jerusalem — and the reality of the
threat of Iran
Garabedian: “Your new editor, he’s a Jew, right?”
Mike: That’s right, yeah.
Garabedian: Well, see...He comes in and suddenly everybody
is interested in the Church. You know why?
Mike: No.
Garabedian: Because it takes the outsider. Like me, I’m Arme-
nian. How many Armenians do you know in Boston?.......
This city, this people. Making the rest of us feel like we don’t
belong. But they’re no better than us. Look at how they treat
their children. Mark my words, Mr. Rezendes, if it takes a vil-
lage to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.
-- Spotlight (2015)
T
he Boston Globe investigation that uncovered
evidence of extensive sexual abuse in the Boston
archdiocese, going back decades, was chronicled
in the riveting movie “Spotlight.” The film did an
excellent job of showing what happened to the few men
who tried to take on the church before the Globe began its
investigation. They were marginalized, demeaned, and/or
intimidated with the loss of their reputation and livelihood
within a state where the church controlled the police, the
legal establishment, and even the newspapers, including
the Globe — until this inquiry began after a new editor-in-
chief was hired. And it wasn’t just fear that kept some people
quiet. Some felt that what they perceived as a betrayal of the
36 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
which is used almost solely to transfer food and
humanitarian aid into Gaza, causing more than
$8 million in property damage. Furthermore,
Israel released video and photographs showing
armed Gazan fighters shooting at Israeli soldiers
and attempting to set off explosive devices to try
to take out parts of the security fence.
2) FALLACY: ISRAEL WAS OUT TO KILL
PALESTINIANS.
Truth: A common headline read “Israelis kill 58 Joshua
Palestinians in Gaza Protests.” In a world where Borenstein
most people consume news and information
in a matter of seconds, it is shoddy reporting
to use a headline that will leave the casual reader with the
impression that Israel was the aggressor, intentionally killing
innocent Palestinian protestors. In fact, the exact opposite is
true. Israel was defending its border and sovereignty from
thousands of angry rioters who actively chose to disregard
warnings by Israel to not approach the security fence; Israel
used the media and loudspeakers to convey its warning and
also it dropped countless leaflets throughout Gaza (in Arabic).
Israel went to great lengths to limit the loss of life by using rub- ing indiscriminately on unarmed civilians do not appear inter-
ber bullets and tear gas and aiming for the legs of protestors
when it had to resort to live ammunition. It’s worth consider-
ing that if Israel’s aim actually was to kill Gazans (as opposed
to doing its best to thwart an attack on its sovereignty), other
weapons could have been used, and the death toll could have
been considerably higher.
Those in Gaza who repeatedly rushed the security fence
did so with full knowledge that they were putting themselves
in grave danger, but persevered, knowing that they would
be hailed as martyrs if they were killed. In fact, video was
church was something they couldn’t do, not in
very Catholic Boston.
Thus the significance of the opening of
the American embassy in Jerusalem on May
14 cannot be overstated. The most powerful
country in the world recognized the reality
that the Jewish people are indigenous to the
land of Israel, and that throughout millennia
the one and only capital of the Jewish people
was Jerusalem. With that physical recogni- Martha
tion, both the country and the Jewish people Cohen
no longer are the only second class citizens of
the world. With the recognition of Jerusalem
as its capital on the world stage, the hope of Israel’s enemies
to drive it into the sea becomes even more ridiculous. The
state is a fact, not a passing fancy.
And though the PA and Hamas want the world to believe
the embassy move is the reason for their days of outrage, we
know better. As was true for the church, embracing reality
means giving up power and control, something that Hamas,
supported by Iran, and the PA desire more than the welfare
of their people, deliberately sacrificing their children to cre-
ate a heartbreaking false and deadly narrative. Who could
forget watching Yasir Arafat gleefully telling young children
to go out and die for the Palestinian cause while he slept in
a different location most nights to avoid any encounter with
captured and published of protestors shouting
in Arabic, “Death to America! Death to the Zion-
ists! Martyrs in the millions march to Jerusa-
lem.” While the pain and suffering of the loved
ones of each Gazan killed is significant, Hamas
is not-so-secretly cheering on each death at a
macro level as it counts on the fact that it will
generate more media coverage as the Palestin-
ian death toll rises, which in turn will lead to
the condemnation and demonization of Israel.
When members of the media fall into this
trap, they are indirectly encouraging Hamas
to continue to employ tactics that increase the
number of casualties. Furthermore, a rising death toll engen-
ders further antipathy toward Israel, distracts from Hamas’
failures in governance, and creates continued support for
Hamas’ misappropriation of humanitarian aid toward tunnels
and weapons to attack Israel. On Wednesday May 16, Hamas
official Salah al-Bardaweel explained that 50 of the casual-
ties (more than 80 percent of those killed) were member of
Hamas, but those journalists who claimed that Israel was fir-
ested in setting the record straight. They seemingly are happy
to leave people with the impression that Israeli soldiers are
wanton killers.
3) FALLACY: ISRAEL INTENTIONALLY KILLED CHILDREN.
Truth: Throughout the West, laws against child endanger-
ment often lead to charges against parents whose negligence
results in the death of their children. It was initially reported
that an eight-month-old baby tragically was killed as a result
of tear gas inhalation close to the security fence, though a
doctor in Gaza told the Associated Press that the baby had
Israeli justice? There are no words to describe
such evil and depravity.
But what is even more disheartening is that
for the past 70 years, the Western world, the
United States included, was fine with dictating
to Israel that of all the nations in the world,
only Israel was not allowed to select its own
capital. Even if you declare it to be, we will
make it irrelevant by ignoring it and placing
our embassies in another place, of our choos-
ing. And there are still too many people,
even in our own country, who are aching to
embrace a capital in Jerusalem for the Pales-
tinian Arab state that will be Jew-less by decree, according
to the PA, but are enraged by this acceptance of historical
fact. Though other nations are following the American lead,
there are still too many that feel empowered or intimidated
by stronger nations to keep the Jews strangers in their ances-
tral home, keeping them dependent on the whims of lead-
ers of other countries for their lives. But with the U.S. chang-
ing, it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world will
acknowledge reality.
This comes at a crucial time, when not only Israel but
our own country must finally recognize that Iran and its ter-
rorist-supported tentacles are rapidly infiltrating our hemi-
sphere, even our own nation. The time to act is now.

a pre-existing condition and that tear gas was not likely the
cause of her death. In any event, that innocent baby, and the
other innocent children who died, should have been nowhere
near what was known to be a danger zone, and the people
responsible for putting those children in harm’s way should
be held responsible.
4) FALLACY: THE PROTESTS WERE AGAINST ISRAEL’S
BLOCKADE OF THE GAZA STRIP.
Truth: Following weeks of previous protests each Friday, it
had been widely reported that Hamas was aiming for the pro-
tests to climax on the anniversary of Israel’s independence,
which is a significant day on the Palestinian calendar known
as Al Naqba (“the Catastrophe” in English). The organizers
of the protests in Gaza named the protests “The Great March
of Return.” The stated intent was to break through the secu-
rity fence and return to homes in Israel proper that Palestin-
ians abandoned or fled from during the first Arab Israeli War,
which many articles noted started the day after Israel declared
its independence. The articles failed to mention, however,
that Israel didn’t start the war. In fact, Israel declared its inde-
pendence in line with the territory allotted it in the UN Parti-
tion Plan of 1947, under which the other half of Palestine was
allotted to the Arab population. But instead of building a state
in the territory allotted to them, the Arab population in Pal-
estine and almost every Arab country declared war on tiny,
newborn Israel. Israel overcame great odds to win a defensive
war and subsequently settled hundreds of thousands of Jew-
ish refugees who were expelled from the same Arab countries
that Israel defeated, while at the same time, the Arab coun-
tries avoided settling the Arab refugees from Palestine in their
countries. A common refrain the protestors shouted is “from
the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Gazans who are
hell-bent on storming Israel proper in the pursuit of “Return”
are not actually focused on how to halt the blockade or how
to make Gaza a better place to live. Rather, they are trying to
undo history and undo Israel.
One of the more concerning tactics some journalists and
When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo enumerated 12
points for Iran to meet in order to lift the new sanctions last
Sunday, one point was ending the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards Quds Forces’ support for terrorists and militant part-
ners. Many people don’t realize that this is referencing the
past 30-plus years that Iran, either directly or through its pup-
pet Hezbollah, has been infiltrating our hemisphere. Remem-
ber the AMIA bombing? To show the power of Iran in South
America, you need only to remember that the 1994 bomb-
ing is still an open case. Further, Alberto Nisman, the federal
prosecutor who finally was going to bring this case to justice
in 2015, was murdered hours before he was due to present evi-
dence against former President Cristina Fernández de Kirch-
ner’s cover-up of Iran’s responsibility for the bombing.
Though the press is MIA, Congress has been focusing on
growing Iranian influence. An excerpt from the “Counter-
ing Iran In the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012” law reads:
“reports of Iranian intelligence agents being implicated in
Hezbollah linked activities in the Tri-Border area of Argentina,
Brazil, and Paraguay, and in the past decade, Iran has dramati-
cally increased its diplomatic missions to Venezuela, Bolivia,
Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil.” Translation: The
more embassies Iran has, the more operatives there will be
spreading Iran’s extremism throughout those countries. The
Iranians also built many cultural centers, another place they
use for indoctrination to their genocidal cause.
Many of these countries supported Iran’s nuclear develop-
ment and were vocal in their support of Iran evading sanc-
tions. There was mining for uranium in some countries, as
well as new military academies opened with Iranian support.
In Venezuela, money laundering for Iran was commonplace,
pundits employed was to use the deaths in Gaza as proof
that the decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is an
already failed policy that will hurt the prospects for peace,
although the violence in Gaza started more than six weeks ear-
lier and was a highly calculated decision by Hamas to exploit
the people of Gaza. Some asked how dare Ivanka smile at
the embassy opening while so many are being killed in Gaza.
A more appropriate juxtaposition would have been to look
at the hateful and evil rhetoric that was being preached by
Hamas and the protestors in Gaza as they attempted to storm
the fence versus the moving performance by the talented
Hagit Yaso at the conclusion of the opening ceremony in Jeru-
salem. The singer, an Israeli woman of Ethiopian descent,
effortlessly transitioned between Hebrew, English, and Ara-
bic to sing about peace.
The reality is that the vast majority of Israelis support a two-
state solution and desperately want peace. We would be hard-
pressed to find a single Israeli or supporter of Israel celebrat-
ing the loss of Palestinian life. But when terrorists successfully
kill an innocent Israeli civilian, that is celebrated publicly by
countless Palestinians.
The Palestinians in Gaza and to a lesser extent those in the
West Bank are suffering from a lack of effective leadership
and years of brainwashing that begins at a very young age and
preaches the murder of Israelis. This has led to a significant
percentage of the population continuing to believe that God
is on their side, and that if they continue to fight, Israel even-
tually will be defeated. The Palestinian people, in large part,
have not been conditioned to be willing to accept a Palestinian
state within the areas now largely under Palestinian control.
Palestinian leadership prefers to avoid direct negotiations that
could achieve peace and statehood in the near term, instead
hoping that diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel from
other countries will yield a more favourable outcome. In Gaza,
the leadership situation is even worse, because there Hamas,
an internationally recognized terrorist organization, is in
charge. At some point, the people in Gaza will need to realize
in addition to mullahs flying into the country on a weekly
basis, with the goal of changing the religion of those out-
side of the big cities, to make Venezuela an outpost for the
Iranian empire. The legislation also referenced Hezbollah’s
failed attempt to kill the Saudi ambassador in a Washington,
D.C. restaurant in 2011. The fact that Hezbollah had a strong
enough network to make this brazen attempt in our capital
should have led to ongoing press coverage about growing Ira-
nian influence — but the press generally was silent.
The objective of killing Americans is nothing new. Remem-
ber the American embassy in Western Beirut in 1983, killing
63, of whom 17 were Americans, orchestrated by Iran and
executed by Hezbollah? Or the bombing of the American
barracks in Beirut, slaughtering 241 American soldiers? Or
the American naval diver Robert Stethem, who was brutally
beaten and then murdered when a TWA flight was hijacked
by Hezbollah, 33 years ago this coming June? His body was
dumped onto the tarmac from the plane.
This April, Congressman Peter King (R-N.Y.), chaired a
subcommittee examining Iran’s global terrorism network.
There, he said, “…Iranian support for Hezbollah, which
is active in the Middle East, Latin America, and here in
the United States, where Hezbollah operatives have been
arrested for activities conducted in our own country. Last
summer, two individuals were arrested — one in Michigan
and one in New York City — for plotting attacks in New York
targeting U.S. military and law enforcement and in Pan-
ama targeting U.S. and Israeli embassies. Both individuals
received significant weapons training from Hezbollah. We do
not know when they were planning to carry out their attacks
but it is clear that Hezbollah has the will and capability. But
Opinion
Palestinians protest at the border fence with Israel
in Gaza City as mass demonstrations continued on
May 14, 2018. SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
that Hamas’ strategies are not making them better off.
It’s easy to see Israel jumping at the opportunity to remove
the blockade of Gaza, if Israel could feel confident that doing
so would not result in another arms build-up by Hamas. For
peace to be achieved, I believe, a leader must emerge on the
Palestinian side who is able to inspire the Palestinian people to
yearn for compromise, economic growth, and co-existence,
while also helping to build realistic expectations for what a
peace agreement and Palestinian statehood might look like.
In the meantime, let’s hope that some members of the
media smarten up and stop strengthening the hands of those
who seek death and destruction.
Joshua Borenstein and his wife, the baker Orly Gottesman,
split their time between Englewood and Las Vegas. He is a
former member of the board of directors of Hillel International
and a recipient of Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Nehemiah Gittelson
Medallion for Outstanding Jewish Communal Service. He is an
entrepreneur and technology investor and serves on the board
of Ahavas Torah Center in Henderson, Nevada.
now, they are right here, and there are believed to be Hez-
bollah sleeper cells within the United States, too.”
This is the reality the news doesn’t cover — to our peril.
We can’t let political party bickering, or the excessive cover-
age of it, obfuscate the need for strong and consistent action
and press coverage until Iran is no longer a credible threat —
both nuclear and in conventional acts of destruction.
At the end of “Spotlight,” Michael Keaton, playing Robby,
the editor leading the investigative team, is having drinks
with an old friend who is trying to persuade him not to
betray the Church because it has “a few bad apples.”
Robby: This is how it happens, isn’t it, Pete?
Pete: What’s that?
Robby: A guy leans on a guy, and suddenly the whole town just
looks the other way.
Pete: Robby, Robby. Marty Baron is just trying to make his
mark. He’s gonna be here a couple of years and he’s gonna
move on, just like he did in New York and Miami. Where are
you gonna go?
Robby didn’t stop. He risked it all, saving countless chil-
dren from sexual abuse not only in Boston but worldwide.
We need to be like Robby. We can’t let the Iranians use their
influence to make us feel that we don’t have a right to pro-
tect our country and our children. Iran has made it clear
that if it succeeds, not only Israel but the United States will
not just be ignored — we will no longer exist.
Martha Cohen is an award-winning producer and creative
executive. She lives in Fort Lee with her husband and son.
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 37
Letters
For college,
should I stay inside the bubble?
As my junior year of high school comes to a close, the
college selection process, and the stress that comes with
it, has begun to weigh heavily on my mind. Do I want
to go to a school close to home or venture out of my
geographic comfort zone? Are my grades good enough?
Have I racked up enough worthy extracurriculars? What
educational programs am I looking for? These are just
some of the thoughts that I, and I can only assume other
students, have on a daily basis — weighing all of the fac-
tors again and again, trying to figure out where the next
phase in my life will unfold.
Now, grades and vocational interests are critical
aspects to consider when deciding to which colleges
I will apply and ultimately attend. However, there is
another aspect that is equally critical to me as I evalu-
ate various universities — the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel
sentiment that pervades too many of our universities.
I can speak only for myself, but growing up in an
Orthodox community and attending religious Zionist
schools and summer camps has left me in “the bubble,”
as many refer to it. I’ve always been surrounded by Jews
and really never have been in a personal situation where
I’m not necessarily
intimating that I should
go off and become a
BDS-fighting superhero,
although I know my
parents would be proud
(and scared). All I’m
saying is that I know
that I need to take the
time to get comfortable
and well-prepared for
the situation that I may
someday face.
I felt unsafe or attacked because of my religion. On a col-
lege campus, however, most probably that will change.
I frequently read stories about how BDS movements are
gaining traction on college campuses, how blatant anti-
Israel bias colors the lectures of prominent faculty, and
how resolutions are being passed that demand divesti-
ture from companies conducting business with Israel.
This hostile environment leaves Jewish and non-Jewish
pro-Israel students feeling alienated and threatened.
Now, I face the very real possibility that the stories I have
only read about will become my reality.
What am I to do? Am I to attend a Jewish univer-
sity and stay in the safety of the bubble a bit longer,
or should I go elsewhere and face the threat head-on?
I’m not necessarily intimating that I should go off and
become a BDS-fighting superhero, although I know my
parents would be proud (and scared). All I’m saying is
that I know that I need to take the time to get comfort-
able and well-prepared for the situation that I may some-
day face.
Anti-Semitism is getting worse every day and is attack-
ing from new and unexpected directions. College cam-
puses provide for a concentrated environment in which
anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric is not only allowed,
38 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
but encouraged by faculty. This is a very real issue facing
today’s young Jewish high-school and college students.
I am fortunate to attend the Frisch School, where Israel
advocacy training is part of the standard curriculum. This
training is specifically designed to provide college-bound
students with the tools they need to deal with anti-Israel
and anti-Jewish sentiment on college campuses. I urge all
Jewish high-schools to include these programs in their
standard curriculum. This will better prepare their stu-
dents for the challenges they may face at secular universi-
ties and, sadly, for the rest of their lives.
Chloe Schreiber
Teaneck
He wasn’t a unicorn
I think Tony’s answer to your headline question (“Is it
Tony or Ozer” April 10) would’ve been either “A rose by
any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet
2:1) or “Don’t look at the flask but what is in it” (Avot
4:27) depending on what he thought would best reso-
nate with the questioner. The answer is the same from a
holistic Torah personality, but expresses itself based on
the facts and circumstances.
I knew (to the extent one can know someone) R’Ozer
Yeshaya Hacohain Glickman Z”L for 40 years. In the
early years we learned together regularly, and though
he was certainly far more able than I, he generously
gave of his time and knowledge. I think there’s an
important point to be made regarding what might be
a misconception that a reader might draw from much
of what has been written about this “ish eshkolot”
(renaissance man).
I don’t think R’ Ozer would be happy being held up as
a unicorn, even though his blending of both worlds was
the reason he felt the Yeshiva asked him to be “on the
road” so much. I believe he felt that anyone could do
what he did at their own level. The question the Yeshiva
(and our community) needs to ask itself is have they
encouraged (or perhaps should they? — my uninformed
sense is that RIETS looks at the separate mountain
approach as a vision — a la Rav Soloveitchik’s famous
metaphor) broad lives (a la R’Hutner’s metaphor) in any
of their best and brightest? Do they regularly seek out
role models of that nature or only exceptional examples
in specific accomplishments (e.g. big talmid chacham
or big financial success but not a balancer)? Balancing
priorities is a big challenge in life, if one wants to honor
R’OYG Z”L imho one might start with some cheshbon
hanefesh looking at his balance and its message for us.
(No two of us will likely reach the same conclusions but
that’s what is to be expected — it’s the process not the
results).
Another way to honor his memory would be to think
of something he would say to his shiur along the lines of
“If you want to show kavod to me, don’t stand when I
come in but be prepared for my shiur.” Are we prepar-
ing properly?
Yhi zichro baruch
Joel Rich
West Orange
(or as R’OYG Z”L would say, “The Vilna of Essex County)
What would Hertzberg say?
I read Joanne Palmer’s editorial in last week’s Jewish Stan-
dard with great interest (“Competing truths,” May 18).
I never met Rabbi Hertzberg. He was her teacher, so
of course she knew him well.
I fully acknowledge that he was a great man. I fer-
vently wish that he was alive today, to reply directly to
her implication that he was a pluralist (a believer in the
concept of multiple equally valid but opposing “truths”).
Perhaps he was. Like I said, she knew him well.
I do not hold with the concept of multiple truths. For
me only our Torah imparts absolute truth. The Torah is
absolutely clear that the Jewish People alone own Eretz
Israel. Muslim Jihadist clerics emphatically state that the
land belongs to Islam. These theological assertions are
diametrically opposed and irreconcilable. I hold that
Torah is true and Jihadist Islamism is false (in regard to
the Promised Land).
However, the question of how we Jews should deal
with this conundrum is extremely complicated. We must
be guided in our decisions by great rabbis and states-
men. As I stated above, I wish that Rabbi Hertzberg (who
admirably fit in both categories) was here to advise us.
Regardless of our decisions, there is only one truth. That
is the truth of Torah. Eretz Israel belongs to the Jews!
Jerrold Terdiman
Woodcliff Lake
More on refugees
A letter lamenting the Palestinian refugee problem,
although well-meaning, is woefully incorrect.
In 1948, as the State of Israel was created by United
Nations Mandate and supported by a majority of mem-
bers, the soon-to-be Israelis urged the Arab residents of
the new country to remain and build a nation with them.
At the same time Arab leaders urged them to leave so
the attack could begin and they would have the entire
country free of Jews. This push was led by the Grand
Mufti of Jerusalem, an ally of the late and unlamented
(except in Arab circles) Adolph Hitler.
The British, holders of the expiring mandate, began
to withdraw but did so on a schedule that permitted the
Arabs to move in behind them occupying fortified posi-
tions and taking control of huge weapons supplies. To
the shock of everyone and the dismay of some, the Jews
won and the nation of Israel was born.
The so-called Palestinian refugees sought succor in
neighboring countries. To this day, almost 70 years later
they are still refugees. Not one Arab nation has admit-
ted them as residents/citizens. They are confined to tent
camps and other terrible conditions. Why have their
brethren not brought them in as full citizens? Simple.
So long as they have this dust in the eye, they can use
them politically.
While Israel has been pushed to make concessions
over the decades, nothing has been asked of them. Not
a single concession. The Palestinian charter calls for the
destruction of Israel. Residents of Paterson celebrate
“Nakbah Day.”
In one sector, greenhouses built by Israelis, that pro-
vided bountiful produce, were destroyed within hours
after they departed and turned them over to the so-
called Palestinians. They could have kept them in the
pristine condition in which they were found and pro-
vided food for their people. Instead they were totally
destroyed.
Every time Israel has extended a hand, it has been
bitten. How can you deal with a people whose main
goal in life is to destroy you? It’s time the world real-
izes that these people are pawns on the terrorist lead-
ers and stopped blaming Israel for everything. There are
no demonstrations when rockets are fired into civilian
Israeli territory, but many take to the streets when Israel
defends itself. No demonstrations when an Israeli child
care center is destroyed or a terrorist sneaks into the
home of a sleeping family and murders them all—men,
women and children, but if Israel has the temerity to
respond, the world comes to life in condemnation.
It’s well past time that the press and world began to
have an equal hand in the mid-East situation.
Bob Nesoff
New Milford

Naso: The divine priestly blessing
W
hen I became a parent, one of the most
exciting moments for me was — and con-
tinues to be — the occasion on Friday
nights when we bless our children:
May God make you like Efraim and Menasheh/ May God
make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.
May God bless you and protect you.
May God shine His face upon you and be gracious
to you.
May God lift His face toward you and give you peace.
The children’s blessing on Shabbat is a moment for every
child to know and feel the parent’s love, regardless of what
else happened that day. For the parents, it’s a moment to
express their love for their child, no matter what else hap-
pened that week.
It’s a shining example of Jewish rituals as vehicles for
creating family memories. It provides a space to say and
show “I love you.”
The text itself, specifically the three-fold blessing, is as
timeless as love itself. Our Parsha, Naso, lists these bless-
ings for the priest to bless the Israelites (Numbers. 6:24-
26). We recreate this in Israel every day in the Amidah’s
repetition, while in the diaspora on the Festivals.
BRIEFS
Israeli book reports
lagging conversion rate
“New Figures in Conversion in Israel: Vision, Achievements
and Challenges,” published in Hebrew and just released by
the Israel Democracy Institute Press, expose how the state
conversion system has failed since its launch in 1996.
The 25 articles contained in the book, edited by Professor
Yedidia Z. Stern and Dr. Netanel Fisher, address the fact that
while 10,000 additional Israeli citizens (olim and children of
olim) are registered as “of no religion” each year, the state
system manages to convert fewer than 2,000 of them. In
other words, around 8,000 people of “no religion” — most
of whom see themselves as Jews and as part of the Israeli col-
lective — are added to the population annually.
In one sector of the population, at least, the conver-
sion rate is high: Of the 50,000 olim from Ethiopia in
the past two decades, 95 percent completed the pro-
cess. But among new immigrants from the former Soviet
Union who are not recognized as Jews when they enter
the country, only 7 percent have done so (29,000 of
more than 400,000); a third of these converted through
a special track in the military.
The data newly published in this book reveal that each
year, about 4,500 children are born in Israel to parents “of
no religion,” while about 5,000 newcomers from the for-
mer Soviet Union are not recognized as halachically Jewish.
Around 80 percent of those who do convert are women.
Stern and Fisher call for a comprehensive reform of the
state conversion system, so that it will better serve the hun-
dreds of thousands of Israelis “of no religion” who face prob-
lems in registering for marriage and in receiving equal rights
because of their status. The editors assert that this situation
is a paramount national challenge on both the ethical and
practical levels.
Articles in the book present the personal stories of
successful converts and of people who chose not to
D’var Torah
These words are at the heart of a fantastic
archaeological adventure too. In 1979, the
archaeologist Gabriel Barkay was exploring
ancient burial caves in Jerusalem, when his
13-year-old assistant discovered a hidden
chamber. Inside were lots of ancient arti-
facts, including two silver scrolls less than an
inch long: amulets. Written inside were the
priestly blessings above. Significantly, said
the archaeologist, they are the only original Alex
biblical verses from the First Temple Period. Freedman
These 15 words moved our ancestors 2600 Associate
rabbi, Temple
years ago, just as they inspire us today. Emanu-El, Closter,
What is so powerful and potent about Conservative
these three lines?
I think this is a prime example of God and
people working together to add holiness to our world. The
previous verses read, “God spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak
to Aaron and to his sons, saying: “This is how you shall
bless the Israelites: Say to them…”’” Exactly who is bless-
ing the Israelites, God or the priests? It appears to be both.
A Midrash relates: The House of Israel said to the Holy
One, “Lord of the universe, You order the priests to bless
convert; examine how conversion impacts the relations
between Israel and the diaspora; review the intra-Ortho-
dox argument about conversion and the non-Orthodox
alternatives; study the gendered aspects of conversion;
and look at the national challenges that conversion
places on the Israeli agenda. JNS.ORG
As tension with Iran rises,
Israel Security Cabinet moves
underground
Israel’s Security Cabinet has begun holding its weekly
meetings in a secure underground complex in Jerusa-
lem, according to reports.
As tensions between Israel and Iran continue to esca-
late, the top-level group of 11 senior ministers headed
by Prime Minister Netanyahu now meet in the National
Management Center, an underground facility first used
in 2011 to train for a national crisis. The bunker is situ-
ated beneath Jerusalem’s government complex and con-
tains command facilities and living quarters.
According to Israel’s Channel 10 news, the move was
made in order to prevent any leaks of information and
to protect sensitive government dealings from spying
attempts by hostile foreign parties. JNS.ORG
New camel law passes
Knesset Finance Committee
The Knesset Finance Committee approved the Camel
Law, initiated by Regavim and Knesset member Beza-
lel Smotrich, for its second and third readings in the
Knesset plenum. Regulations requiring identification
and registration of camels by subcutaneous microchip
were approved, as well as criminal responsibility for
camel owners.
us? We need only Your blessing…” The Holy
One replied to them, “Though I ordered the
priests to bless you, I will stand together with
them and bless you.”
God is the one who makes the blessings
happen: “May God bless you…” But the bless-
ing is only effective when the priests deliver
it. Without the priests, the Israelites cannot
feel God’s love. God’s love is never absent,
but it is invisible. With the priests bestowing
blessings, God’s love becomes more easily
felt. And without God, the priests have noth-
ing to share except personal best wishes.
God and people need each other.
God and people work together to make
God’s presence more apparent. God needs
us to bless our children on Shabbat because feeling a par-
ent’s love is the closest children can come to experienc-
ing God’s love. And we need God to bless our children
because we’re not always there to watch over our kids.
May we have a Shabbat Shalom — of peace and love —
between us and God, between us and our parents and
children, this week and every week.
The law, which is scheduled for its final Knesset ple-
num hearing (“second and third reading”) next week,
was drafted jointly by Regavim, Smotrich (a resident
of the Negev community Retamim) and other Knesset
members.
Under the new legislation, camel owners will bear
criminal responsibility for accidents and damages
caused by their animals. Camels will be required to have
a subcutaneous digital microchip recording the owner’s
details — similar to the microchips with which dogs and
other pets are currently registered. Additionally, the
new Camel Law will require owners to officially register
the sale or transfer of ownership of all camels in a Min-
istry of Agriculture database.
Meir Deutsch, director of policy and parliamentary
affairs at Regavim, explains that the law began to take
shape almost three years ago, after the death of David
Cohen of Retamim in a collision with a camel near the
entrance to his hometown.
“Since the legislative process began, three more peo-
ple lost their lives in tragic, but avoidable, camel acci-
dents,” Deutsch said. “After the most recent accident,
in which 13-year old Liel Almakias was killed, Knesset
Finance Committee Chairman Eitan Cabel took up the
cause and expedited the legislation’s progress. We hope
these new regulations will reduce the problem of wan-
dering camels and help save lives.”
“We approved an important piece of legislation today,
after intensive efforts. Residents of the Negev deserve
to be protected by the state, and those who should be
held responsible will be forced to take responsibility,”
Smotrich said. “With God’s help, the danger to life and
limb and the fatal collisions caused by wandering cam-
els will soon be a thing of the past. Today, we took an
important step towards this goal.
“Better late than never.” JNS.ORG
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 39
Crossword
“Valuable Jews”
The Frazzled Housewife
By Yoni Glatt, Koshercrosswords@gmail.com
Difficulty Level: Medium

Pomp — and when

can I get out of here?

N
ursery school graduations just a little
graduations prettier. One of the rea-
were adorable. sons why this graduation
They would was so long was because
wear those caps and gowns every graduate’s name is
and they would look like called and they each get
teeny tiny graduates. Ador- their fake diploma. (Real
able. Kindergarten gradu- diploma to arrive in the
ation — also adorable. We mail. I hope. That might
got a few cute songs at that Banji be for another column.) So
one. And then eighth-grade Ganchrow about 500 graduates — you
graduation. Still adorable, figure it out. Fortunately,
but bordering on, gasp, the names were all Cohen,
slightly boring (hey, I am just saying what Schwartz, Weinstein, Ganchrow … nice
you all think….) And then high school easy Jewish names. I can only imagine
graduation. That one is pretty emotional how they would have butchered Banji if
— especially for all of us crazy parents I had gotten called up for a diploma in
who decide to send their most precious my day. We didn’t get called up. I think
possessions off to Israel for a year or two the president or dean waved a magic
or three. What are we thinking? This is wand over the crowd and said “bibbity
the graduation where solid friendships bobbity boo” and then all our parents’
have been formed, when those friends tuition money swirled over our heads
become like your sons (or daughters, and was sucked into a giant pot and then
if you have daughters). When your kids we were declared graduates. Easy peasy.
have dreams for the future…. I find this to And then our diplomas came in the
be a pretty intense graduation. Even my mail … eventually.
own high school graduation felt that way. I know that I am supposed to appreci-
The anxious pit in your stomach about ate the beauty of the ceremony and get
Across Down what comes next. excited about the milestone, but aside
1. Cowboy Emmitt 1. Easy mark And then there is the college gradua- from the few moments of “eureka, my
6. “ ___ the Dog” 2. Train and bus overseer, for short tion. These are my thoughts on the four kid is graduating college,” I really just
9. 1930s French premier Leon 3. Where Larry Bird played coll. ball
hours of my life that I am never getting
13. On the briny 4. Giveaway, in poker
14. “New York State of Mind,” essentially 5. Like a Lubavitcher back. I am sitting in the Prudential Cen-
15. Philosopher Descartes 6. All hosts of “The View” ter at the Yeshiva University graduation.
16. Artist whose only (solo) #1 was in 1975
18. Pirkei ___
7. ___ Olam
8. Two before Lev.
You would think I would know what
number graduation it was because they
I can only
19. Compare
20. 502, in Herod’s day
9. Smarts
10. Eponymous jeans maker
announced it so many times, but I was imagine how
21. Fossey animal
24. Animal house
11. “Dos” half
12. Player in 34-Across, once
too busy looking at my son eating the
bag of cereal that he hid under his gown.
they would have
25. More nervous 17. Chain from Scandinavia He was also sharing it with his friends, butchered Banji
28. Sarajevo’s land
30. Make like Randy Savage
20. Celebrity chef Paula
21. Shamed
which showed me that he really did
learn how to share in nursery school,
if I had gotten
31. Where a bat might be found in the
house
22. Winter opening on Broadway?
23. Cosmetics mogul who said “Beauty is and those values have stuck with him all called up for
32. Patel-Kidman film of 2016
33. House, for ex.
an attitude”
25. Set foot (on)
of these years.
But the cereal was pretty much the
a diploma in
34. Former Flushing structure
35. What can be found in each of this
26. One with the most votes, usually
27. Tries to improve, as a lawn
highlight. my day.
I then began to think about my
puzzle’s theme answers 29. Vardalos of “My Big Fat Greek
36. Treadmill setting Wedding” Yeshiva University graduation. I was 21 felt old. Especially because it took 20
37. Cultivate 30. Droop, as flowers years old and on the cusp of adulthood. minutes to get up from the seat I was in,
38. Israeli sandals 32. Dreidel take My whole life in front of me. Graduate and that just wasn’t pretty at all. But four
39. Less than right? 35. Jaffa or Zion school, jobs, will I get married? Will I hours later, that cute little monkey who
40. “E.T.” kid 36. 1994 Jeremy Piven film
have kids? Will I be living in my parents’ slept through the night at six weeks, who
42. Entertained 38. Black, in Bordeaux
43. “So Long, ___” (“Hello, Dolly!” song) 39. Creatures on a slide house for the rest of my life? Who knew? now can almost grow a full beard, could
44. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” soundtrack 41. Annoying The future was mine to explore. How tell the world and future employers that
grp. 42. Part of Nasdaq: Abbr. exciting! What a great, uncertain time of yes, he has a college degree. And hus-
45. His, in France 44. What a kollel member does life. And now I am looking at my son, band #1 and I helped him achieve that
46. Chernobyl’s loc. 47. Actress Sedgwick
who is graduating, and I start to think accomplishment.
47. Moolah, in Israel 48. Guitar bar
49. Gregorius of the Yankees 49. Delicately apply about how my life is probably more than But to be honest, I still think that
51. 2007 NL Rookie of the Year 50. “___ Mine” (“Let It Be” song) half over. Gee, I hope I appreciated my toilet training at two years, seven
55. “I’ll second that” 51. Michael Stipe’s band graduation! (I certainly appreciated the months and three weeks still is a bigger
56. Mess up 52. Didn’t observe Yom Kippur yummy dinner at Tevere 84.) accomplishment.
57. Big insurance carrier 53. College, to an Aussie
What a depressing thought! Congratulations to all….
58. Jewish ice? 54. A Bobbsey sister
59. “Bambi” villain? And it didn’t help that I had four full
60. Ben with a boring voice hours to keep thinking about this fact. Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is still friends
But at least the people sitting behind with many of the amazing women she
The solution to last week’s puzzle in on page 47.
me had nice jewelry to look at. Jew- met at Stern College for Women and
elry always fits, and it makes boring Others. Hard to believe, but true…

40 Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018


‘The Tale’
Actress offers uncomfortable story as ‘tikkun olam’
J
CURT SCHLEIER
ennifer Fox hopes her film, “The
Tale,” garners huge ratings numbers
for HBO. “I want people to bring
their friends together to watch it and
discuss it,” she said. “We’ve got all
sorts of support, including home discus-
sion and facilitator guides” to help.
But the Jewish writer, director, and
actress doesn’t think everyone should be
in that audience. “I would leave it up to
the parents,” she said in a telephone inter-
view. But she suggests that viewers should
be “16 or 17. I wouldn’t go below that.”
Certainly, though, anyone that age or
older — including all parents — should
watch. It is a heart-wrenching, anger-
inducing and very personal story of child
sexual abuse and how one woman, writer/
director Fox, came to grips with it.
It is part fact, part fantasy — old and
young Jennifers have imaginary conversa-
tions — and about memory.
As a young girl, Fox, now 59, was
befriended and subsequently abused by
both her horse riding instructor and her
track coach. “I was very happy to have
the love and attention,” Fox remembers.
“These were esteemed adults I looked up
to and idolized and so when [track coach]
Bill” — played by Jason Ritter — “started
giving me sexual attention, I went forward
and didn’t say no.”
Told that her story sounded like the
tales told by young Olympic gymnasts,
Fox agreed. “It was a gradual manipula-
tion and coercion,” she said. “A child feels
loved and special and taken care of with
a lot of tenderness. That’s why when the
sexuality is introduced, you are not pre-
pared for it in a negative way, because
you trust the person so much. It is classic
grooming.”
It is not a case of suppressed memory.
Jennifer — both the character played by
Laura Dern and the real person, at first
remembered the events, but not as abuse.
That changed — or at least started to
change — about 15 years ago.
Fox is a documentary filmmaker. She
won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for
her 1988 film, “Beirut: The Last Home
Movie,” and received an Emmy nod for her
2014 doc, “My Reincarnation.”
She was working on a six-hour series,
“Flying: Confessions of a Free Women,”
when the truth of what happened hit
her. “I was meeting women everywhere,
Arts & Culture
Jason Ritter and Isabelle Nélisse star in “The Tale.”
around the world, and no matter what
their class, culture, or color, every second
woman had a story. As I listened to these
sexual abuse stories, they all sounded like
mine. When these things happened to
me, I called it a sexual relationship; now
I had to call it what it was, abuse.” When
she had that realization, she said, “I was
45 years old.”
At about the same time, Jennifer’s mom,
Nettie (played in the film by Ellen Burstyn)
discovers an old report a young Jennifer
wrote about experiences she had at sum-
mer camp with riding instructor, Mrs. G
(Elizabeth Debicki) and Bill that at least in
retrospect sounded suspicious.
“She pushed me to make the film,
KYLE KAPLAN/HBO
because she wanted me to face it.”
It was a long and laborious project, in
large measure because of the sensitive sub-
ject matter. Laura Dern, who plays adult
Jennifer, signed on immediately, and that,
given her stature in the industry, made it a
little easier to obtain financing.
Finding an actor to play Bill was harder.
Several were offered the part but turned
it down because “they were just afraid of
the role. Actually it was Laura, who knew
Jason, who suggested him. We pitched him
the film and he said he was at a fork in the
road. He could either hide and protect
himself or stand by his convictions and
do the role. He was actually exactly what I
wanted because he looks so innocent. He’s
Jennifer Fox KYLE KAPLAN/HBO
the guy you’d never expect. Most abusers
are successful, seemingly nice people. I’m
so proud of Jason. I thought he did great.”
Casting young Jennifer — the role went
to Isabelle Nélisse — was a particularly
delicate decision. “She’s an extraordinary
young actress,” Fox said. “Her mother and
father read the script and asked Isabelle
if she was interested. We then Skyped for
two hours, and she asked me lots of ques-
tions. Her parents felt she was able to han-
dle the subject matter.”
Still, as a precaution, her mother was
always on set, along with a psychologist
and the Screen Actors Guild representa-
tive. With good reason.
The scenes appear graphic, though it
is “all artifice,” according to Fox. Thanks
to artful and delicate directing, it appears
that young Jennifer and Bill have a rela-
tionship in front of the camera.
Jason’s scenes are with an adult body
double, and the shots of Isabelle often are
close-ups of her standing in front of a ver-
tical bed reacting to instructions as inno-
cent as “imagine you’re eating something
sweet.”
But viewers don’t know this, and the
scenes are head-turning and painful to
watch.
On the subject of pain, I asked Jennifer if
it was painful for her to revisit this memory.
“I wouldn’t call it painful,” she said. “Most
people work at jobs they hate. I’m an artist.
I struggled to be in artist. It’s a privilege to
spend your time investigating something
you want to understand, something new
SEE TALE PAGE 47
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 41
Calendar after Mincha, scheduled
Thursday  for 7:45, she will address
“What Makes Legal
MAY 31 Loopholes Religious?”
389 West Englewood Ave.
(201) 837-2795.

Sunday 
JUNE 3
Brunch and music in
Bayonne: Temple Beth
Am offers brunch and
entertainment by the
Jewbadors, including
Jewish music, jokes,
Dr. Eric Goldman and stories, 10 a.m. 111
Avenue B. Reservations,
Yiddish cinema: Visiting
(201) 858-2020 or
scholar Dr. Eric Goldman
templebay111@gmail.com.
begins a series, “The
Yiddish Cinema Then Israel’s future: New York
and Now: A celebration Times columnist Bret
of Jewish Life,” at Stephens, also a former
the JCC of Fort Lee/
MAY Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls invites women and girls Congregation Gesher
Jerusalem Post editor-in-
chief who won a Pulitzer
to “Heartbeats 2018 — A Night of Song & Dance” at the Moriah
31
Shalom. Series continues writing for the Wall Street
School in Englewood at 7 p.m. Proceeds benefit Tackle Kids June 5. Refreshments at Journal, discusses “Israel @
12:30 p.m.; program at 1.
Cancer, the Children’s Cancer Institute at Hackensack University 1449 Anderson Ave., Fort
70: What Does the Future
Hold for Israel and the
Medical Center; NY Giants quarterback Eli Manning will match every donation. Lee. (201) 947 1735. Middle East?” at the JCC
53 South Woodland St. Tickets, www.Maayanot.org. PHOTO COURTESY MA’AYANOT of Paramus/CBT, 6:15 p.m.
Friday  The talk is sponsored
by the Harold Lerman
JUNE 1 Fund for Israel Education
Yisrael, 8:45 a.m. Dr. (half-Jews) and German
Sunday  Berkovitz will be an
assistant professor of
Wednesday  Jewish converts in
Germany before, during,
Shabbat in Closter:
and Engagement.
East 304 Midland Ave.
MAY 27 liturgy, worship, and MAY 30 and after the Holocaust.
Temple Beth El holds (201) 262-7691 or www.
services led by Rabbi JCCParamus.org.
ritual, at HUC-JIR in the Carolyn’s father and
Historical Jerusalem David S. Widzer and
fall. 389 West Englewood godmother were both
documentary in Cantor Julie Staple and Concert in Englewood:
Ave. (201) 837-2795. Mischlinges. The shul is
Franklin Lakes: Temple featuring the Shabbat Englewood Hospital and
at 1666 Windsor Road.
Emanuel of North Jersey Cedar Lane family Unplugged Band with Medical Center presents
(201) 978-8492 or
shows 18 short movies festival: Teaneck’s guest artist Benjamin “Survivors Rock,” a rock
email Linda Poleyeff at
filmed from 1896 to 1976, Cedar Lane Management Baron, 7:30 p.m. 221 concert featuring No Evi-
LindaP@JFCSNNJ.org.
commemorating the 13th Group hosts the annual Schraalenburgh Road. dence of Disease — Five
anniversary of the 1967 Memorial Day Family Survivor webinar: (201) 768-5112. Surgeons on a Mission to
liberation of Jerusalem’s Festival on Cedar Lane Sharsheret presents Save Lives, and dedicated
Old City, 2 p.m. The
program, originally
between Elm Street and
American Legion Drive,
“Survivor Strong:
Healthy Living During
Saturday  to cancer survivors and
their families, at Bergen-
screened at Emanuel 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Memorial and After Cancer,” JUNE 2 PAC, 7 p.m. Special open-
in 2014, includes the Day ceremonies, a national webinar ing performance by Jamie
story behind the song performance by the featuring Drs. Jessica Shabbat in Teaneck: Janoff and friends. Free
“Yerushalem Shel Za’hav: Teaneck Community Clague DeHart, Susan Teaneck native Dr. Elana tickets: englewoodhealth.
Jerusalem of Gold.” Ice Chorus, family Love, and Rachel Beller, Stein Hain, director of org/SR2018.
cream and popcorn. 558 entertainment including 8 p.m. A Sharsheret faculty for the Shalom
High Mountain Road. competitive eating Carolyn Enger peer supporter will Hartman Institute of
(201) 560-0200 or www.
tenjfl.org.
competitions, a
performance by Linda Concert in Teaneck:
share her personal story;
Q&A session follows.
North America, is the
scholar-in-residence Singles
Miller, formerly of the Pianist Carolyn Enger Transcript and audio at Congregation Rinat
Monday  Marvelettes, a tribute offers a multimedia
performance including
recording available Yisrael. After Schacharit
at 9 a.m, she will discuss
Wednesday 
to Frank Sinatra and afterward. www. MAY 30
MAY 28 Dean Martin by Caranza, parts of her latest sharsheret.org or email “Would That All of God’s
exhibits from local project, “The Mischlinge skravitz@sharsheret.org. People Were Prophets! On
Liturgy and psalms: Dr. Exposé,” for Jewish Discourse and Polarization Singles meet in NYC: Join
merchants and artisans,
AJ Berkovitz discusses Family & Children’s in the Jewish Community.” a L’Chaim singles party for
non-profit booths from
“How Liturgy Evolves: Services of Northern At pre-Mincha at singles 55+, with dinner
local organizations, and
The Case of Psalms” New Jersey, at Temple 6:45 p.m., the topic will at Jerusalem Café, 6 p.m.
an array of international
at an adult education Emeth in Teaneck, 7 p.m. be “Considering Religious 35 W. 36th St., Manhattan.
foods. staff@cedarlane.
committee meeting The project focuses on Materialism: Challenges Jay, (732) 618-0948 or
net or go to cedarlane.
at Congregation Rinat stories of Mischlinge and Opportunities,” and Mojo796@gmail.com.
net.

42 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018


Dara Horn in Teaneck
Novelist Dara Horn discusses her new book, “Eternal Life,” with
Sandee Brawarsky, the New York Jewish Week’s culture editor,
at Congregation Rinat Yisrael, Sunday, June 3, 8 p.m. Ms. Horne
is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, including “In the
Image,” “The World to Come,” and “A Guide for the Perplexed.”
389 West Englewood Ave. (201) 837-2795.
Book talk in Fair Lawn
Eileen Wallerson leads a discussion on David Bezmozgis’
book “The Betrayers” at the Fair Lawn Jewish Center/CBI’s
Book of the Lunch program on Monday, June 4, at noon. A
kosher deli lunch is served. For information and reserva-
tions, call (201) 796-5040.
Lunch and learn in Tenafly
Rabbi Sarah Mulhern, the manager of rabbinic and lay education
for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, joins a lunch
and learn sponsored by Minyan Tiferet on Saturday, June 2, at a
private home in Tenafly. Schaharit is at 9:30 a.m., followed by a
potluck lunch and her program, which will start at 12:15. Rabbi
Mulhern will consider “Standing Out or Blending In?: Passive vs.
Looking Jewish in Texts Today.” Children’s programming will be
provided.
Rabbi Mulhern also is a faculty member and oversees pro-
grams for rabbinical students, Christian clergy, and lay leaders
at the Hartman Institute.
For information, go to minyantiferet.com.
Lamdeinu to begin new semester
At Lamdeinu, a chevrat haparshanut (a group that studies Torah and biblical inter-
pretation in a collaborative style) completed a year of intensive Torah study taught
by Dean Rachel Friedman just in time for Shavuot.
Lamdeinu’s summer semester begins June 5. All are welcome to join. Lamdeinu, a
center for Jewish learning founded by Rachel Friedman, its dean, is at Congregation
Beth Aaron, 950 Queen Anne Road, in Teaneck. For information, go to www. lam-
deinu.org or email lamdeinu@aol.com.
Calendar
CONGREGATION BETH AARON
PHOTOS COURTESY
Dara Horn
Lipman Pike, the first great Jewish baseball player, left; Hank Greenberg,
(Henry Benjamin Greenberg), nicknamed “Hammerin’ Hank,” “Hankus
Pankus,” or “The Hebrew Hammer;” and Mose Hirsch Solomon, nick-
named the Rabbi of Swat, are among the players to be discussed.
The boys of summer
Mark Sommer talks about the “Boy- it’ll be “Extra Innings.” Mr. Sommer is
chicks of Summer: Jewish Aspects of a member of the Society for American
Baseball,” on two consecutive Shab- Baseball Research, the National Baseball
batot — June 2, at 6:55 p.m., and June 9, Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Vin-
at 7 p.m. — at Congregation Beth Aaron tage Base Ball Association. The program
in Teaneck. is sponsored by the Men’s Club. For more
On June 2, the topic will be “Jew- information, call (201) 836-6210 or go to
ish Aspects of Baseball,” and on June 9, www.bethaaron.org.
Israel parade to march up
Fifth Avenue on June 3
New York’s Celebrate Israel Parade, the world’s larg-
Rabbi Sarah est public gathering honoring the 70th anniversary
Mulhern of the State of Israel, marches up Fifth Avenue, from
57th to 74th streets, rain or shine, on Sunday, June 3,
from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s theme is “70 and
Sababa!” (That’s “70 and awesome!”)
Check local synagogues, federations, JCCs, and
organizations for participation information. For
more information, go to celebrateisraelny.org (where
the parade will be livestreamed).
Life care planning
for special needs children
The Jewish Association for Developmental Department of Developmental Disabilites
Disabilities offers an ID/DD informational is the guest speaker. The program is at
workshop, “Residential Housing For Your J-ADD’s new office, 50 Eisenhower Drive
Special Needs Child,” on Tuesday, June in Paramus. To register, call (201) 754-1835
5, at 7 p.m. Courteney Davey from the or email Rnewman@j-add.org.
COURTESY LAMDEINU
Frank Sinatra-style
singer in Englewood
Tickets are on sale to hear Sal “The Voice” Vallenti-
netti on Saturday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m., at the Bergen
Performing Arts Center in Englewood. Valentinetti
sang the classic Frank Sinatra hit “My Way” on the
NBC hit show “America’s Got Talent” in 2016. Tick-
ets are available by calling bergenPAC’s box office at
(201) 227-1030 or at www.ticketmaster.com.
Sal Vallentinetti
JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 43
Jewish World

Chasidic halacha places on the preservation of life. such circumstances is unacceptable,”

FROM PAGE 30
introduce a feeding tube for a terminally ill
patient who is considered close to death.
For example, the Bikur Cholim director
said, “above a certain age, over 60, you
won’t get a feeding tube no matter what”
from NYU-Langone physicians who say the
patient’s situation is irreversible.
The hospital said disagreements over
end-of-life did not play a role in the new
policy. “The issue IS actually about visi-
tors or volunteers being allowed to bring
in food,” Greiner wrote. “Volunteers are
not there to listen to or weigh in on medi-
cal decisions made by the physicians.
That information is only for the patient or
their families. This has nothing to do with
the issue.”
Scott Seskin, a medical malpractice and
personal injury lawyer who is represent-
ing the Satmar Bikur Cholim, rejected the
hospital’s explanation.
“The problem is that the interests of the
patient and the community aren’t aligned
with the interests of the hospital,” Seskin
said. “They don’t want to have the patients
influenced by the Satmar Bikur Cholim.
They want to be able to control the nar-
rative and have family and patient follow
their instructions, so things go the way
they want them to go. They’re using the
food and visitation as the predicate for
keeping them out, but that’s not what this
is about.”
Seskin and others suggested the Ortho-
dox community could hurt the hospital by
boycotting it.
“I would not be comfortable to go there
as long as this question [of why the policy
changed] remains unanswered,” the RAA’s
Mirocznik said. “The frum [Orthodox]
community is very close knit, and word
travels faster than the internet. News gets
from one corner of Borough Park to Lake-
wood in 20 minutes,” he said.
NYU-Langone is one of the largest hos-
pitals in New York City. Last year it logged
27,000 inpatient visits, nearly 127,000
Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the
division of medical ethics at NYU-
Langone, said that doctors bend over
backward to accommodate patients
today.  COURTESY OF NYU-LANGONE
outpatient visits, and 42,000 patients in
the emergency room at its main hospital
on Manhattan’s First Avenue, according to
the New York State Department of Health.
NYU-Langone has other hospitals in its
network, including the orthopedic Hos-
pital for Joint Diseases, Bellevue Hospital,
and the branch in Brooklyn. Altogether,
NYU hospitals had close to 70,000 inpa-
tient stays in 2017.
A Jewish chaplain at another area hospi-
tal suggested that members of Bikur Cho-
lim may have crossed a line between pro-
viding information and interfering. “How
much are they [the volunteers] advocating
or how much are they advising?” the rabbi
asked. “I have heard internal complaints
[from medical staff at the chaplain’s hos-
pital] that it goes into this other realm,
around end-of-life care, that when some-
one recommends palliative care it’s con-
sidered contrary to halacha.”
Disagreements over end-of-life care
point to a conflict between the decisions
doctors sometimes make — based in part
on a patient’s quality of life and the hospi-
tal’s use of resources — and the premium
“Our technology has advanced to the
point where it is getting harder to die in
the ICU,” said Dr. Kenneth Prager of Engle-
wood, a pulmonologist and the head of
medical ethics at Columbia University
Medical Center, also in Manhattan.
“It raises questions of resource utiliza-
tion, family distress, the moral distress
of caregivers, and the suffering of the
patient,” said Prager, who is an Ortho-
dox Jew.
“There is a major, major ethical chal-
lenge that has developed over the last
decade,” Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a world-
renowned Orthodox medical ethicist and
dean at Yeshiva University, said. “Futile
care was never a major factor in bioethics.
These are major challenges to what has
been until relatively recently a consensus.
The halacha and the current practices in
America were pretty well in line with each
other. Now they’re at variance. Under the
guise of some kind of hospice care patients
are being removed from active treat-
ment and being allowed to die months
in advance.”
But Prager said that continuing active
treatment is not always the clear-cut
moral choice.
“A common example is inserting a feed-
ing tube into a patient with end-stage
dementia, who has lost the ability to
swallow,” he said. “Will this patient ever
recover? He won’t. But is it starving a
patient to death by denying him a feeding
tube” — the Orthodox perspective — “or
causing the patient additional suffering
by prolonging his death — which is a more
conventional modern perspective? Medi-
cal ethics consultations are often sought
in cases like this.”
The conflict in values isn’t limited to
Orthodox Jews, but comes up for African-
American, Hispanic, and Asian patients
too, he said.
“People of other religions and nation-
alities feel very strongly that depriv-
ing people of nutrition and hydration in
said Prager, adding that he gets called in
on cases like this 12 to 15 times a month.
“How to mediate these issues can become
very sensitive.”
Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the divi-
sion of medical ethics at NYU-Langone,
agreed that “we’re adding more interven-
tions. Various drugs can be introduced to
control infections people used to die from
and control blood pressure. There are
more choices to be faced.”
However, Caplan said, doctors today
bend over backward to accommodate the
wishes of a patient or their family mem-
bers. “Doctors are more deferential to
patients than they used to be,” said Caplan,
who is perhaps the country’s best-known
medical ethicist. “There’s misapprehen-
sion on the part of many doctors that they
have to do what the patient wants. We got
doctors to listen to patients but it’s swung
toward ‘I can’t even challenge a patient’ or
disagree with a patient.”
He isn’t familiar with his employer’s
fight with Satmar Bikur Cholim, Caplan
said, but in terms of end-of-life care,
“there’s nothing outlandish about what
this hospital does.”
What it comes down to, some say, is the
incalculable value to a patient’s health of
freshly prepared soup and a kind word.
“Read the medical literature just this last
year, what emphasis is being placed on the
psychological welfare of the patient as it
impacts the disease,” Tendler said. “Any-
one who sees these gentle women going
around with the chicken soup, and how
careful they are to offer the patient noth-
ing more than concern for his welfare,
cannot deny that this is a tzedakah” — an
act of goodness — “a chesed” — an act of
kindness — “and it’s also medical assis-
tance to the patient.
“The idea of moving away from this
wonderful humane service, I can’t
imagine why NYU would consider it,”
Tendler said.
 JTA WIRE SERVICE

Arts & crafts fair in Ulster County

The juried Woodstock-New Paltz Art & Crafts Fair,
which features fine art, crafts, handcrafted spe-
cialty foods, live entertainment, and more, will be
held over the Memorial Day weekend at the Ulster
County Fairgrounds. The fair, now in its 37th year,
supports handcrafts, bringing artisans together
with the public.
This year brings award-winning jewelers,
ceramic artists, photographers, woodworkers,
fiber artists, and hundreds of other exceptional
artisans and makers. Featured demonstrations
include hammock-making by Twin Oaks Ham-
mocks, wood-turning by VJB Creations, and Chi-
nese brush painting by Zhong-hua Lu. The hand-
crafted specialty foods exhibit includes coffee
brewing by North River Roasters, treats from the
nationally recognized chocolatier Oliver Kita, craft
beer by BarStream, and regional wine from select
Hudson Valley wineries.
Quail Hollow Events aims to entertain and
inspire creativity in visitors of all tastes and ages.
Its co-director, Ola Rubinstein, said, “children
will enjoy interactive musical performances, a
magic show, and a complimentary supervised
art and crafts tent — where they are free to work
with a wide range of media and indulge in open-
ended creativity — all while their parents sip on
craft beer and wine, shop rows of one-of-a-kind
offerings, and listen to live music by the region’s
best musical artists.”
Discount tickets, and entertainment schedule,
an exhibitor’s list, and sneak-peak media galleries
available at quailhollow.com. The fairgrounds are
at 249 Libertyville Road, New Paltz, N.Y. Woodstock-New Paltz Art & Crafts Fair

44 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018


Russell Berg
Russell S. Berg, 57 of River Vale, formerly of Westwood,
died May 17.
A Rutgers University graduate, he was the COO and
co-owner of E.A. Berg Associates in Paramus. He was a
member of the Orangetown Jewish Center and the Candy
Hall of Fame.
He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Pamela, née
Rosenbaum; sons, Daniel, Adam, and Ethan; his mother,
Florence Berg; his father, Harry Berg (Susan); siblings,
David ( Jackie), Michael (Laura), and Cyndy Jaffe (Steve);
in-laws, Jack Rosenbaum (Renee Barocas), and the late
Marilyn Rosenbaum; brother/sisters in law, Gail Ostrove
and Sharon and Steven Nadelbach; nieces and nephews.
Obituaries
Donations can be made to the John Theurer Cancer
Center c/o Hackensack University Medical Center. Obituaries are prepared with
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, information provided by funeral homes. Correcting
Fair Lawn. errors is the responsibility of the funeral home.
Marcia Rothberg
Marcia L. Rothberg, née Schnittlich, 89, of Highland
Park, formerly of Paterson, Fair Lawn, and Boynton
Beach, Fla., died May 10.
Predeceased by her husband, Martin, she is survived
by sons, Robert of Highland Park and of Massachusetts;
and grandchildren, Jacob, Joshua, and Michelle.
Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Funeral Planning Simplified
Fair Lawn. BergenJewishChapel.com
201.261.2900 | 789 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666

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its commencement ceremony. JTA Wire Service Medal ceremony at the White House on
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Richard Louis - Manager George Louis - Founder W-150 Route 4 East • Paramus, NJ 07652
NJ Lic. No. 3088 1924-1996 201.843.9090 1.800.426.5869

We continue to be Jewish family managed,

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Barry Wien - NJ Lic. No. 2885 WIEN & WIEN, INC. MEMORIAL CHAPELS
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Frank Patti, Sr. Director - NJ Lic. No. 2693 ALAN L. MUSICANT, Mgr., N.J. Lic. No. 2890
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Jewish Standard MAY 25, 2018 45

Classified
Help Wanted
(201) 837-8818
YBH seeks the following for Sept 2018
Morah for 5th, 7th & 8th Grades
Assistants for Limudei Kodesh (Gr. 1 – 3)
Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
Cleaning & Hauling

Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC), a vibrant Modern Orthodox yeshiva Due to expansion, YBH of Passaic ALL
high school for boys located in Teaneck, NJ, seeks experienced and creative
teachers who are passionate about teaching and professional growth for
seeks enthusiastic and experienced staff
for the following divisions:
CLEAN OUTS
Home or Business
the 2018-2019 academic year. Candidates should be proficient in both
Elementary · General Studies Teachers Basement-Garage-Apartment
their subject matter and 21st Century learning skills. Candidates should be
General Studies Assistants Yard & Renovation Debris
committed to working collaboratively and to becoming part of a professional Fire Damage- Flood Debris
Middle School · Earth Science · Learning Center
learning community. Competitive salary and benefits available in a warm, Free Estimates
Middle School General Studies 
collaborative environment. Call Pete McDonnell
Positions open: Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
Biology Teacher · Chemistry Teacher
201-286-8462
NJHIC# 13VH07259700
English Literature Teacher · Lab Technician No Hazardous Waste
Preschool Positions
Qualifications: TEACHERS – PASSAIC,
YBH seeks enthusiastic, NJ
warm and
• Bachelor’s degree (required), Master’s degree (preferred). MON-THUR AFTERNOONS
experienced morahs for our growing preschool. Cleaning Service
• Understands principles of social, emotional and cognitive development
YBH seeks the following forYeshiva
• Is proficient in both their subject matter and 21st Century learning skills
Boys’ Nursery
Sept is interviewing
2018 Gen Kodesh
· Pre-1A Limudei Stud. teachers A POLISH CLEANING WOMAN
for 18’ – 19’ school year.
Pre-1A General Studies · Assistants
Morah for 5th, 7th & 8th Grades - Homes, Apartments, Offices-
• Uses current educational methodology to maximize student engagement 15 years experience, excellent
and to differentiate instruction. Assistants for Limudei Kodesh (Gr.resume:
*Elementary
Email 1 Teachers:
– 3) ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
1st-3rd - 12:45-4 PM, references.
Affordable rates!
Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
• Approaches problem-solving in a positive, creative and encouraging manner 4th & 5th 1:30-4:45 PM Izabela 973-572-7031
Responsibilities : *Jr. High Reg & LD (mild/moderate) small self
• Prepares curriculum, lessons, and assessments Due to expansion, YBHcontained class - Science, Hist, Math, ELA –
of Passaic
• Teaches students in a nurturing environment with differentiated learning 2-5:30 PM – Candidates who are avail 2-3:30 or Cleaning Service
seeks enthusiastic and experienced staff
• Manages classroom effectively 3:30/4-5:30
for the following divisions: PM will be considered as well.. A Team of
• Maintains open communication with, parents, and administrators about the Bldg/Perm Subs also. Bach degree pref in Educ Polish Women
Elementary · General Studies Teachers
students’ progress Clean
or related
General Studies Assistants field or Alt route, 2+ yrs elem or hs • Apartments •
• Works collaboratively with teaching team to plan and facilitate daily
classrm teaching
Middle School · Earth Science · Learning Center exp. Email resume bhykop@ Homes • Offices
activities and special programs Experienced • References
gmail.com
Middle School General Studies  or fax 973-778-5697 201-679-5081
To apply, please submit your resume to office@tabc.org.
Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
Driving Service
YBH seeks the following for Sept 2018 Cemetery Plots For Sale
Preschool Positions MICHAEL’S CAR
Morah for 5th, 7th & 8th Grades YBH seeks enthusiastic, warm and SERVICE
Assistants for Limudei Kodesh (Gr. 1 – 3) LOWEST RATES
experienced morahs for our growing preschool. BETH ISRAEL CEMETERY • Airports • Cruise Terminals
Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org Woodbridge • Manhattan/NYC
Nursery · Pre-1A Limudei Kodesh 2 plots - adjacent • School Transportation
Pre-1A General Studies · Assistants Asking $2500 ea 201-836-8148
973-731-6103 201-314-9592
Due to expansion, YBH of Passaic Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
seeks enthusiastic and experienced staff
Antiques Home Improvements
for the following divisions: Situations Wanted
Elementary · General Studies Teachers
Antiques Wanted BESTof the BEST
A responsible woman looking to B”H

General Studies Assistants We pay cash for care for elderly. Live-in or out. Re-
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Middle School · Earth Science · Learning Center erences. Waiting for your call 347-

Middle School General Studies  Antique Furniture 816-1363 Carpentry

Decks
Painting
Kitchens

WE BUY Modern Furniture

Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org CAREGIVERS available to care for Locks/Doors Electrical
elderly, live in/out/overnight. Cook, Basements Paving/Masonry
clean, drive; starting at $10/hour. Bathrooms Drains/Pumps

Modern Art
201-814-4412 Plumbing Maintenence
Preschool Positions Tiles/Grout Hardwood Floors
• Oil YBH
Paintings • Silver CERTIFIED Home Health Aide

Paintings
General Repairs
seeks enthusiastic, warm and seeks 5 to 7 days position. Live-in
or out. Experienced. Good referen- NO JOB IS TOO SMALL
•experienced
Bronzes morahs for our growing preschool.
• Porcelain ces. 201-285-4091
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24 Hour x 5 1/2 Emergency Services
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Nursery · Pre-1A Limudei Kodesh
• Oriental Rugs Studies ·•Assistants
Pre-1A General Furniture Chinese Porcelain & Art
1-201-530-1873
Email resume: ppersin@ybhpassaic.org
• Marble Sculpture • Jewelry Men’s & Women’s Watches Antiques

• Tiffany Items • Chandeliers Top Dollar for any kind of Sterling Associates Auctions
• Chinese Art • Bric-A-Brac Jewelry, including costume SEEKING CONSIGNMENT AND OUT RIGHT PURCHASES
Sculpture • Paintings • Porcelain • Silver
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• Established by Bubbe in 1940! • Over 25 years courteous service to tri-state area

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Call Us!
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Shabbas 70 Herbert Avenue, Closter, N.J. 07642
FREE APPRAISALS TUESDAYS FROM 12-2
IN OUR GALLERY. CALL FOR APPOINTMENT.

46 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2017

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Handyman plumBing

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APL Plumbing & Heating LLC
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appearance, how you act.
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Tale “I think part of the reason I was so resilient that eventu-

FROM PAGE 41
about memory and the way we construct memory to
avoid trauma.
“I never saw it until I was 45 years old, and that’s
shocking. What I learned, when I finally woke up, is
that many abused people realize they were abused but
don’t admit it until it’s safe. I waited until I was older and
strong enough that I could actually tolerate the concept.”
Jennifer grew up in what she describes as “a wonderful
Call us. We’re waiting for Jewish family. My parents were raised as Reform Jews. We
celebrated all the holidays, and my dad was really active.”
your classified ad! They were very supportive and really “set on bring-
ing us every experience they didn’t have” — up to and
201-837-8818 including horse back riding.
ally I was able to break up with Bill and Mrs. G, I knew
that if I lifted my finger my parents would jump in and
help me. I think a common misconception is that if
something bad like this happens it’s the parents’ fault.
This happened in 1973. We were living in a white, afflu-
ent suburb, and these people were respected in the com-
munity. No one was looking for abuse.”
She attributes at least part of the reason she made this
film to her Jewish upbringing. “First of all, my love of the
arts, that’s very much a part of Jewish culture.
“Also both my parents all the time talked about tikkun
olam, and no matter what you have to give back. This is
my tikkun olam.”
“The Tale” premieres on HBO on May 26 at 10 p.m.

JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2017 47

48 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018
 Real Estate  FORT LEE – THE COLONY BANK-OWNED PROPERTIES
High-Return
Investment Opportunities
Teaneck’s Cedar Lane festival,
Memorial Day rain or shine GARDEN STATE HOMES
25 Broadway, Elmwood Park, NJ
This year’s Cedar Lane Management Group’s annual
Family Festival on Memorial Day, May 28, runs from 11 Martin H. Basner, Realtor Associate
a.m. to 6 p.m. on Cedar Lane between American Legion
A FABULOUS LIFESTYLE AWAITS YOU (Office) 201-794-7050 · (Cell) 201-819-2623
Drive and Elm Avenue in Teaneck. 24 hour concierge • Valet parking • Movie theater
The opening ceremony on the Festival Stage in the State of the art health club with indoor and outdoor pools
Chestnut Avenue Plaza at the corner of Garrison Avenue Close to everything • And more
and Cedar Lane will begin at noon with a performance
by The Black Box Singers. At 11 a.m. Teaneck’s local ■ 1BR 1.5 Baths. Renovated. New kitchen, new doors
veterans’ organizations will hold their Memorial Day and windows. High floor. $178,000
remembrance service in honor of their fallen comrades
at Teaneck’s Municipal Green. ■ 2 BR 2.5 Baths. Low floor. Full river Manhattan view.
At 12:15 p.m. singer/songwriter Theresa Sareo will $439,000
perform several patriotic songs appropriate for Memo- Allan Dorfman
rial Day. The Memorial Day Veteran’s Tribute will Broker/Associate
begin at 12:30 p.m. and awards will be presented to 201-461-6764 Eve
this year’s honorees. 201-970-4118 Cell
At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, around 201-585-8080 Office
1:30 p.m., the blueberry pie eating contest for kids will Realtorallan@yahoo.com For Sale Airmont $799,000
have boys and girls compete to eat without using their 3 Post Lane S. - 4 bd, 3 ba - Over 3200 sqft on 1
hands. There will be a single competition for boys and acre. EIK, In-ground Pool, private yard, built in 1993.
Many amenities.
girls between the ages of 8 and 14. Two prizes will be
awarded: one to the youngster who eats the most pie
in an eight-minute period and a second prize to the
Let Us Finance Your Call Chris Halton, Licensed RE Salesperson,
Keller Williams HVR. 914-413-3824
boy or girl who has the dirtiest face at the end of the
competition. On the day of the competition youngsters
House Purchase
may register by signing up at the Cedar Lane Manage- • Direct lender
ment Group’s information table on Cedar Lane near
Chestnut Plaza or by calling 201-907-0493. Butterflake
• 2 to 3 day approval
Bakery, located at 448 Cedar Lane, is providing the pies • Closings within 30 days
for the competitions. • Northern NJ Appraisers
Scores of local merchants and outside vendors will
line Cedar Lane, offering shopping opportunities, arts • FHA loans w/55% debt ratio
and crafts, clothing, collectibles and international and • Credit scores as low as 580
ethnic foods. Local restaurants and cafes will be avail-
able to hungry festival attendees. A special area featur-
ing children’s activities, including clowns, a face painter,
balloon artists, games and rides, will be located at Cedar
Lane and Elm Avenue and on Garrison Avenue just off
Cedar Lane.
From 2 to 6 p.m., the stage will present an afternoon
of live music and dance, including the Teaneck Com-
munity Chorus, the Tate School Performers, doo wop Larry DeNike Daniel M. Shlufman
singer Linda Miller, tenor Patric Hale’s tribute to Dean President Managing Director
MLO #58058 MLO #6706
Martin and Frank Sinatra, and jazz performer Antoi- dshlufman@classicllc.com
ladclassic@aol.com
nette Montague.
There is free admission and free parking in three Classic Mortgage, LLC Russo Real Estate
nearby municipal lots. Serving NY, NJ & CT
25 E. Spring Valley Ave., Ste 100, Maywood, NJ honors all who serve
201-368-3140 MLS
www.classicmortgagellc.com #31149

Jimmy J
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873 Teaneck Road · Teaneck, NJ
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We do not transport solid or hazardous waste
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JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 49

 NVE-3524 Revise Rate Spring Mortgage Ad 5x6.5_NVE-3518 5/16/18 2:49 PM Page 1

 Real Estate & Business Mortgage rates and options are blooming at NVE Bank.

15-YEAR
7-YEAR MORTGAGE 25-YEAR
MORTGAGE MORTGAGE

SELLING YOUR HOME? 3.500% 3.875% Rate

4.375%
3.935%
Rate Rate

3.611%
APR*
APR* 4.430% APR*

Make your arrangements today!

Finding the right mortgage to fit your needs should be quick, easy and
painless — exactly what you’ll find when you work with our Mortgage
Specialist at NVE. Plus, our decision makers are local — providing a 88

1
7 2018
smooth and hassle-free process from start to finish.

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

or apply online at nvebank.com

NMLS #733094
*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. APR is accurate as of 5/15/18 and may vary based on loan amounts. Loans
are for 1-4 family New Jersey owner-occupied properties only. Rates and terms are subject to change without
notice. The 7-year loan at the stated APR would have 84 monthly payments of $13.44 per thousand borrowed
based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to $750,000. The 15-year loan at the stated
Call Susan Laskin Today APR would have 180 monthly payments of $7.33 per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or
equity for loan amounts up to $750,000. The 25-year loan at the stated APR would have 300 monthly
To Make Your Next Move A Successful One! payments of $5.49 per thousand borrowed based on a 20% down payment or equity for loan amounts up to
$500,000. Payments do not include amounts for taxes and insurance premiums, if applicable. The actual
BergenCountyRealEstateSource.com Cell: 201-615-5353 payment obligation will be greater. Property insurance is required. Other rates and terms are available.
Subject to credit approval.
©2018 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.
An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Owned and Operated by NRT LLC. Bergenfield I Closter I Cresskill I Englewood I Hillsdale I Leonia I New Milford I Teaneck I Tenafly

Wishing the Entire Community Happy Memorial Day

LE LE LE LE
SA SA SA SA
OR R OR R
F FO F FO

Demarest Englewood Fort Lee New York City

95 Knickerbocker Road 71 Glenwood Road Century Towers Unit 14E-15E 1 Bedroom

CT
T RA
ON LD LD LD
R
C SO SO SO
DE
UN

Tenafly Paramus Tenafly Englewood

25 Franklin Street 468 Nevada Street 31 Woodmere Lance 97-99 Tracy Place

Ayelet
Hurvitz NJAR® Circle of Excellence Sales Award® 2017 GOLD
Diamond Society Award Winner 2017
Broker/Salesperson
(Sterling 2014-17)
Exceptional Service, Five Star Professional 2016-2017
Exceptional Results
Direct: 201-294-1844
Alpine/Closter Office: 201-767-0550 x 235
ahurvitz12@yahoo.com • www.ayelethurvitz.com

50 JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018

JEWISH STANDARD MAY 25, 2018 51
 CATCH OF THE DAY
Our beef is so good, even our Fishmonger is trying to get his hands on it

Always Fresh, Always Tender, Always Delicious