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Page 3 Poll: Pig tax popular  Would you pay higher taxes to rid your town of marauding wild pigs? That’s the question University of Haifa researchers posed to Haifa residents recently, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. The survey followed a spike in the wild boar population, prompted in part by covid restrictions that kept people off the streets. The study found the average Hai-

fanik would pay $65 a year in extra taxes to let the city beat back the boars through such means as improving street sanitation and setting up a volunteer anti-pig patrol. There was a clear demographic breakdown in the response, with richer residents, who are more likely to live in areas not prone to porcine incursions, less willing to support a LARRY YUDELSON tax increase.

CONTENTS NOSHES ......................................................... 4 AROUND THE COMMUNITY.... ..............16 COVER STORY ...........................................20 GIVING TUESDAY .....................................26 THE FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE ..............29 CROSSWORD.............................................29 JEWISH WORLD .......................................30 OBITUARIES ...............................................30 OPINION ...................................................... 32 CLASSIFIED ADS ......................................38 NOTEWORTHY ......................................... 40 REAL ESTATE..............................................41

A fishy first supper  Israel has long been famous as the site of the Last Supper. Now, scientists affiliated with a half dozen universities in Israel and beyond have uncovered what they claim is the first supper — or at least the earliest evidence until now of humans cooking with fire. The multi-university team of experts from several Israeli and foreign universities came to this conclusion by counting fish bones at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, near the Jordan River in the Hula Valley, north of the Sea of Galilee. Twenty years ago, scientists at the site reported finding evidence of controlled fire. In a report published last week in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, scientists answered the ancient question: What was cooking? The team analyzed fish teeth found at the site — and the lack of fish skeletons accompanying the teeth. They concluded that the fish had been cooked at temperatures high enough to melt the skeletons but not enough to burn the teeth — temperatures quite conducive for roasting fish. The scientists date the ancient dinners to roughly

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“There’s going to be a lot of yarmulkes here.” — An observer’s prediction — which turned out to be accurate — about the fans at a basketball game between Motor City Cruise and the Wisconsin Herd in Detroit. The kippot were on the heads of young fans of Yeshiva University phenom Ryan Turell; the team’s in the NBA G League.

Troubled Jewish family, cannibals, fun stuff, more “Fleishman is in Trouble” is an eight-episode miniseries that began streaming on Nov. 17 on FX/Hulu. It is based on the novel of the same name by New York Times journalist TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER, 46. The novel and the series are about a just-divorced couple. It was a bitter divorce. The couple are Toby Fleishman, a medical doctor (JESSE EISENBERG, 39), and Rachel (Claire Danes), a successful talent agent. The couple’s two best friends, who are Jewish, are important characters. They are SETH (ADAM BRODY, 42) and LIBBY (LIZZY CAPLAN, 40). JOSH RADNOR, 48, plays Libby’s Jewish husband. Early in the novel/ series, Rachel disappears, leaving Toby with their two children. We see Toby trying to juggle his kids, new women, and his job. In the midst of all this, Toby has a revelation: his wife’s disappearance is tied to things that happened in their marriage that he never faced honestly. “Bones and All” opened in theaters on Nov. 23. It is not for everyone. Based on a best-selling novel of

the same name, the film follows cannibalistic lovers Maren (a woman) and Lee, as they embark on a road trip across Reagan-era America. TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET, 26, plays Lee. MICHAEL STUHLBERG, 54, has a large supporting role. You might call this film high-art horror. It has an A-list star (Chalamet) and a top European director. “Bones” got very good reviews following a showing at the recent Venice Film Festival. Well, after that, some light stuff. First, there is “Wednesday,” an original Netflix series. The whole first season — eight episodes — premiered on Nov. 23. It focuses on Wednesday, the very memorable young daughter in the “Addams Family” TV show and movies. The Addams Family TV show and movies didn’t have much of a Jewish actor presence. Yes, Carolyn Jones, who co-starred as Morticia Adams in the TV show, converted to Judaism when she married future megaproducer AARON SPELLING. But she stopped practicing when they split in 1964 — the year the

Adam Brody

Lizzy Caplan

Josh Radnor

Michael Stuhbarg

TV show began. The two movies had, successively, two Jewish actresses play the part of Grandmama Addams (the late JUDITH MALINA and CAROL KANE, now 70). I was peeved when I saw that not a single Hebrew actor was in the large cast of “Wednesday.” Then I saw that someone named KAYLA ALPERT produced the show and wrote three of the episodes. I figured she was Jewish. Every Alpert I ever

heard of was Jewish. Some public record checking revealed that her late parents were Jewish. Her mother arrived in the U.S. from Israel, when she was 10, in 1956. A little research revealed that Alpert, 52, is a Harvard grad and has been a comedic jack-of-all-trades for decades, producing and writing sitcoms. The Rothschilds are the most famous Jewish family in the world and their still great wealth makes them the

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subject of inane and dangerous antisemitic conspiracy theories (such as Marjorie Tayler Greene’s 2018 claim that they caused California fires via space lasers they control). But how Jewish are the Rothschilds today? I began looking into this when I got into the background of actress KYLE RICHARDS, 52, a convert to Judaism. Her sister is the (Catholic) mother of Paris and Nicky Hilton. In 2014, Nicky married James Rothschild, who is active in the family’s finance business. James’ father was AMSCHEL ROTHSCHILD (1955-1996), who also was active in the family business. Amschel’s father was VICTOR ROTHSCHILD, a Brit who was the third Baron Rothschild. (Whoever holds this title is the most prominent British Rothschild.) Victor’s first wife converted to Judaism, and she was the mother of NATHANIEL ROTHSCHILD, now 86, the fourth Baron Rothschild. Nathaniel’s late wife, the mother of his children, was not Jewish and she didn’t convert.

Amschel, who did help Jewish charities, is the son of Victor’s second, non-Jewish wife. Amschel’s widow, James’ mother, is a member of the famous Irish Protestant banking-and-beer Guinness family. Serena Guinness, another beer family member, is the current wife of the famous playwright TOM STOPPARD, 85. The couple were guests at Nicky and James’ wedding. As you may know, Stoppard’s play “Leopoldstadt” is now a hit on Broadway and in London. The play follows a wealthy Austrian Jewish family from 1899 to 1955, as they assimilate into the Christian world or outright convert out. I have to think that Stoppard was a bit inspired by seeing the one-quarter-Jewish James Rothschild marrying a Catholic Hilton. I could go on. But the bottom line appears to me that both the British and French branches of the Rothschilds are rapidly assimilating out. Lesser members are often getting married in –N.B. churches.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at [email protected]

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 5

Local Cherishing and protecting relationships Talk at Fair Lawn’s Shomrei Torah to focus on supporting loved ones who have chosen an alternate direction in their Jewish observance LEAH ADLER

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here’s a saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — but, of course, that’s not always the case. While children often make decisions similar to those their parents have made, it is by no means rare for some of them to take very different paths. These situations can be challenging for families to navigate, particularly when some of the decisions involve something as all-encompassing as religion and when the choices conflict with family religious beliefs or practices. “Inspired by Ilona, Embracing All Differences” is a series of panel discussions designed to address challenging issues that may have a stigma attached or that can make a family feel Rabbi Menachem Bombach isolated or not accepted by the community. The programs are intended to provide support and guidance to families struggling with these types of issues and to start a communal dialogue. The series is coordinated and sponsored by Nancy Fish Bravman and Larry Bravman of Fair Lawn in memory of their daughter Ilona. Ms. Bravman described Ilona as vibrant and very bright, doing everything with joy and determination and inspiring those around her. She also was physically disabled, suffering from spinal muscular atrophy. She died in 2021 at the age of 28. “Ilona taught us to focus on strengths and to appreciate our children no matter what,” Ms. Bravman said. As the famDr. Shoshana Poupko Rabbi Larry Rothwachs ily sat shiva, many people talked about how Ilona had inspired them to see abilities rather than just disabilities. Some said she set an example of how to live The first discussion took place last winter and with adversity, others said she had inspired their career focused on disabilities. The second program, on choices. “Ilona had a very meaningful life, she taught “Unconditional Love: Cherishing and Protecting Relationships When Family Members Are on a Different those around her so much,” Ms. Bravman said. “This Path,” is being presented as a two-part series; the first series enables Ilona’s life to continue to have meaning took place last month and discussed supporting loved and allows people to continue learning.” ones who identify as LGBTQ+. “The last panel attracted hundreds of listeners, giving all participants the clear Who: Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, Dr. Shoshana message that they are not alone –- that many others are Poupko, and Rabbi Menachem Bombach navigating similar situations,” Ms. Bravman said. What: Will talk about “Supporting Loved Ones The second part of the program on “Cherishing Who Have Chosen an Alternate Direction in Their and Protecting Relationships” will focus on supportJewish Observance” as part of the series “Inspired ing loved ones who have chosen an alternate direction by Ilona, Embracing All Differences” in their Jewish observance. Rabbi Larry Rothwachs When: On Tuesday, December 6, at 8 p.m. of Teaneck, Dr. Shoshana Poupko of Englewood, and Where: At Congregation Shomrei Torah in Rabbi Menachem Bombach, who lives in Israel, will Fair Lawn/ Livestream available at speak at Congregation Shomrei Torah in Fair Lawn on inspiredbyilona.com December 6. (See box.) For more information: inspiredbyilona@ Rabbi Rothwachs heads Congregation Beth Aaron in outlook.com Teaneck; he is also a licensed social worker, the head 6 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

rabbi of Camp Morasha, and the director of professional rabbinics at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Rabbi Rothwachs talked with his daughter, Tzipora, on David Bashevkin’s podcast “1840.” The podcast explores Jewish thought and ideas and addresses contemporary issues openly and honestly. The discussion was about how the father and daughter maintained their relationship while Tzipora battled an eating disorder. Dr. Poupko is a mental health professional at Achieve Behavioral Health and the rebbetzin of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood. She was also an educator and taught in modern Orthodox high schools for more than 20 years. Rabbi Bombach is a communal leader and educational entrepreneur in the charedi community. He is the rosh yeshiva of a high school for boys in Beitar Illit and has established a network of charedi schools whose mission is to help students integrate into Israeli society. Rabbi Bombach wrote a blog post on the Times l of Israel, published on September 26, 2021, with the title “Thou shalt love your child who leaves religion,” about his commitment to maintaining a loving relationship with his daughter, Ruth, after she chose to leave ultra-Orthodox observance. Dr. Poupko will speak about this issue from different perspectives — as a mental health professional, a rebbetzin, and an educator. “I think the Torah perspective is very much in line with the mental health perspective in terms of how to cope and relate to your child once they have decided to uphold a different degree of religious observance, from what they were raised with,” she said. “Our job as parents is to educate and to help lay the foundation for our kids to be adults who are proud of themselves. One of the most challenging aspects of being a parent to adult children is embracing that they are not simply a reflection of us. They are now going to shape their own lives. Unconditional love means loving them throughout this process, which can be challenging for both the parents and children; it means being devoted to raising and mentoring them and to giving them nurturance and love which is not conditional upon their living an observant lifestyle. “There are many different reasons teens or young adults will walk away from religion,” she continued. “There are emotional, cognitive, and experiential factors, as well as personality and circumstances which have a real impact. One of the mistakes we often make is oversimplifying and pointing to one factor as being ‘the’ reason. Trying to isolate one reason and

Local

narrowing things down through one lens will almost always fall short. “Sometimes a young adult won’t make a conscious decision to walk away, but there will be more of a gradual shift away from observance, especially but not exclusively if they don’t have a strong foundation motivating them to continue to observe. “To ensure that our kids receive a solid foundation, we need to have our best and brightest going into Jewish education. Our kids are complicated, the world we live in is complicated, and they need to learn in an environment which doesn’t shy away from complexity and nuance. It is also important to recognize that kids are inspired both through the mind and through the heart. It’s a tall order to ask of our teachers, but it’s absolutely attainable when parents and schools partner together.” Rabbi Bombach agreed that there are many different reasons why teens or young adults might choose to leave religious observance, and that schools can play a role in helping some teens stay connected. In the charedi community, unfortunately, many of the yeshivot have the same culture, he explained. That culture is not a good fit for all kids and can cause some to feel that the system does not fit their needs. Offering different types of schools might allow some to find a better fit and enable them to explore interests or pursue hobbies

Celebrate a

within the framework of the community. And Rabbi Bombach stressed that whatever the reason, maintaining a loving relationship with a child who decides not to be religious “is not just a nice idea or a suggestion, it’s a must. A home needs to be welcoming for each individual child.” And often, it is when a child is struggling that he or she is most in need of that love and support. Ruth continues to live with the family, and she and her parents love each other and respect each other, he said. “We know that every child, in every generation, wants to create their own identity,” Rabbi Bombach continued. “They need to be independent and to find their own path. That’s the way the world is built -– it’s not new. It’s natural for parents to want their children to follow a similar path, but a teenager is a teenager.” And some teens and young adults are able to forge their own identities because they feel confident that their parents will continue to love them no matter what, Rabbi Bombach said. So while it may seem counterintuitive, for some children it is their security in that relationship that enables them to muster the courage to embark on a different religious path. On the other hand, children who have “abandoned religion in their hearts” but are afraid to act on their feelings because

Joyous Hanukkah

‘One of the most challenging aspects of being a parent to adult children is embracing that they are not simply a reflection of us. They are now going to shape their own lives.’ they are worried their parents will reject them “lead a double life, which is soul-destroying.” And while it certainly can be upsetting for parents if a child chooses a different religious path, it helps if parents can be honest with themselves about what it is that they find upsetting, he said. Often, the concern is less about theology and more about culture and what the community might think.

Jewish Family & Children's Services of Northern NJ

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with Jewish Home’s FREE, HOT, KOSHER Meals!

We will deliver free, hot, kosher meals to the doors of seniors in Bergen County on Sunday, December 18th. To Register: Whether you or someone you know is 65 or older, call 201-518-1171 or email [email protected] by Friday, December 9th to register. To Volunteer: YOU can help the Jewish Home perform this mitzvah by volunteering to help deliver meals! Call 201-478-4265 or email [email protected].

Hanukkah begins Sunday evening, December 18th.

PARKINSON’S CENTER REHABILITATION ASSISTED LIVING LONG -TERM CARE MEMORY CARE HOME HEALTH OUTREACH

Be Your Best Self is a 4 week in-person support group focusing on enhancing social and emotional growth in elementary school children. We’ve all been impacted by the pandemic and this group is an essential opportunity to tune up and practice healthy social and emotional skills in a group setting.

What's the Price? $72 for a 4 week group How long is Each Session? 1 hour each week Who is it For? Children in 1st through 5th grades Pre-assessment required: 10 minute virtual session with parent/guardian and child.

JFCS is a licensed mental health agency. To sign up for this group, please contact: (201) 837 9090 [email protected] jewishhomefamily.org

This program is made possible through funding by Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey.

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 7

Local

Jersey City becomes a sister with Beit Shemesh Both ‘are built on a combination of willpower and responsibility’ ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

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n November 9, Jersey City’s Mayor Steven Fulop and Beit Shemesh’s Mayor Aliza Bloch signed a sister city agreement between the two municipalities — which are 5,686 miles from each other as the crow flies. Initiated by the New Jersey-Israel Commission, an agency that’s part of the New Jersey Department of State, the agreement aims to maximize the resources of both cities by optimizing their shared industries and finding solutions to their shared needs. Those needs include streamlining immigration and integration, developing the local workforce, and responding to increased demand for housing in the face of rapid population growth. Jersey City, the county seat of Hudson County, is the second-largest municipality in New Jersey, with a population of 292,449 as of 2020. Considered one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, Jersey City is home to immigrants from many countries including India, the Philippines, China, and Egypt. It has a growing Jewish population and a Jewish mayor in Mr. Fulop. Jersey City has 15 other sister cities that reflect its population. Those cities include New Delhi, Karpathos, Greece, Nantong, China — and Jerusalem. Beit Shemesh (literally House of the Sun) is between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, near the site where the Bible tells us that David and Goliath fought their nation-defining battle. It has approximately 144,000 residents –many of them immigrants from countries including the United States, Russia, and Ethiopia — and is expanding rapidly. The local economy features light manufacturing, services, and a fledgling tech sector. Beit Shemesh has six other sister cities. Three are in the United States — Ramapo, New York, Cocoa, Florida, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. One is in Asia — Hangzhou, China — and the other two are European — Nordhausen in Germany and Split in Croatia.

This view of Beit Shemesh was taken from above. 8 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

From left, Beit Shemesh’s Mayor Aliza Bloch, New Jersey-Israel Commission Executive Director Andrew Gross, and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop talk. Jasaun Boone, chief of staff to New Jersey’s Secretary of State Tahesha Way, is behind Mayor Fulop. COURTESY OF NEW JERSEY-ISRAEL COMMISSION

Yuval Donio-Gidon, the New York-based Israeli consul for public diplomacy, explained that sister city agreements are meant to “pave the way for strengthening economic and cultural cooperation between municipalities and thereby uniting multiple diverse populations.” In Beit Shemesh, violent conflicts have occurred at

times between extreme ultra-Orthodox and secular or religious nationalist residents over the past decade or two. Though tensions are markedly lower since Dr. Bloch took office in 2018, occasional incidents continue. Among those incidents, extremists sprayed some local polling stations with a noxious liquid to prevent residents from voting in the recent national elections. Jersey City, too, has seen its share of violent conflict among ethnic groups. Three civilians and a police officer were killed in a shooting that targeted a kosher grocery store on December 10, 2019, and the George Floyd murder in 2020 triggered what Mr. Fulop called “large and emotional protests.” As Beit Shemesh projects a population growing to 360,000 within the next few years, Dr. Bloch said one of her core goals is “increasing social cohesion and understanding” among the city’s diverse ethnic and religious groups. She found a like-minded partner in Mr. Fulop. “It is no coincidence that this special partnership was founded between the cities of Beit Shemesh and Jersey City,” Dr. Bloch said. “Beit Shemesh has become a major player in the field of absorption and immigration, similar to Jersey City, where thousands of Jews found a refuge during the Holocaust. The connection between these two cities known for their diversity is built on a combination of willpower and responsibility.” Mr. Fulop said he hopes to reach “a meaningful, longterm relationship with Beit Shemesh that will establish more trade partnerships, work with corporations that can invest in both sides of the ocean, and make sure we have an opportunity to grow together.”

Local He added that the new agreement “is an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment in Jersey City and New Jersey to making sure that there is a strong bond with Israel as we see an unfortunate resurgence of antisemitism across the country and certainly in this region.” “As our world faces unprecedented uncertainty, I am reassured that by working together, exchanging ideas, and crossing borders in this way, our society will be strengthened and we will meet the challenges of our time,” Karin Elkis, co-chair of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, said. Andrew H. Gross, the commission’s executive director, emphasized that New Jersey’s Governor Phil Murphy “has been a strong supporter of the New Jersey-Israel relationship since he was first elected, and has made it a priority. He’s been to Israel several times as governor and is incredibly supportive of our mission to connect New Jersey and Israel economically to help create jobs and investments in both regions.” The municipality of Lakewood has a sister city agreement with the municipality of Bnai Brak –- both of which have large ultra-Orthodox populations — and Mr. Gross said another sister city agreement is in the works. “It’s important for the commission to ensure the benefits of these partnerships reach the local level so that New Jersey communities can benefit directly from the relationship,” Mr. Gross said, emphasizing that Jersey City and Beit Shemesh likely will cooperate on economic initiatives between relevant industries, urban planning, diversity and inclusion, and workforce development.

Jersey City has an imposing skyline, as seen from the other side of the Hudson River.

“A lasting bridge is being built by this new partnership that will enhance key relationships between Jersey City and Beit Shemesh, including through economic development,” New Jersey’s secretary of state,

Tahesha Way, said. “I remain committed to bringing people together across every corner of New Jersey and am confident that this alliance will further that mission.”

Project Ezrah invites the community to join us at our annual dinner MOTZEI SHABBAT, DECEMBER 10, 2022

21ST ANNUAL DINNER

AHAVATH TORAH 240 Broad Avenue Englewood, NJ Honorees Shoshana and Rabbi Chaim Poupko Tziporah and Avi Koslowsky The Project Ezrah Baby Gemach Volunteers:

CELEBRATING COMMUNITY HEROES

Ginnine and Avi Fried, Coordinators and Tamar Chaitovsky, Stacy Horowitz, Deborah Pearlman, Sipporah Tracer, Shana Schmidt

Dinner Committee Dorya and David Barth Cheryl and Evan Borenstein Marcy and Adam Cohen Rina and Nahum Felman Batsheva and Jordan Glick Racheli and Danny Heumann Becky and Avi Katz Dena and Moshe Kinderlehrer Ahuva and Jon Lamm Cheryl and Lee Lasher Margaret and Andrew Levy Bassie and Adam Lewis Cherie and Steve Mayer Elissa and Eric Meltzer Esther and Moshe Muschel Elana and David Ochs

Deena and Gilad Ottensoser Careena and Drew Parker Nechama and Israel (Tuly) Polak Erika and Eliyahu Rabin Drorit and Michael Ratzker Elana and Marc Rothenberg Tammi And Bennett Schachter Arielle and Dani Secemski Miriam and Eli Shteingart Joy and Barry Sklar Sandy and Alex Solomon Shevy and Eddie Solomon Sonya and Moshie Solomon Ally and Sam Ulrich Sara and Daniel Walzman Rachel and Aaron Wertentheil

To make your reservation please go to Ezrah.org Project Ezrah, 95 Cedar Lane, Suite 12, Englewood, NJ 07631 201-569-9047 Fax: 201 569-0906 • www.ezrah.org • [email protected]

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 9

Local

‘We are always trying to put ourselves out of business’ Project Ezrah’s executive director describes the organization’s quiet help LEAH ADLER

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zrah means help, and for 21 years Project Ezrah has been quietly helping Bergen County residents. Quietly, because so much of the organization’s important work happens behind the scenes to ensure the privacy of the local families who benefit from its services at some point in their lives. In 2001, shortly before Rosh Hashanah, a distraught man confided in long-time Teaneck resident Rabbi Yossi Stern that he was out of work, he did not have health insurance, and his wife needed an expensive life-saving surgery. Rabbi Stern did not have the money to fund the surgery, but he wanted to assist the couple, so he took it upon himself to quickly raise the necessary funds. At the same time, he realized that there was an important need for such help in the community. Rabbi Stern worked with Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, who then headed Teaneck’s Congregation Bnai Yeshurun — he’s now its rabbi emeritus — to start Project Ezrah and ultimately dedicated the last 12 1/2 years of his life to the organization. Over the years, Project Ezrah has grown to encompass many programs that provide job search counseling, financial assistance, case management and financial education. Rachel Krich took over the helm of Project Ezrah in 2020 when her predecessor, Robert Hoenig, retired. Rachel Levinson was born in northern California and grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in a family that was very philanthropically involved. Her grandfather

Rachel Krich

established a family foundation, and she has been involved in it since she was very young. “I’ve seen nonprofit work for many years from the donor perspective,” she said. The Levinsons moved to Elizabeth for a year when she was in 12th grade, and she graduated from Bruriah High School for Girls in Elizabeth. The family then

Students from Naaleh High School in Fair Lawn do volunteer work for Project Ezrah. 10 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

moved to Brooklyn and Ms. Krich enrolled in Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, where she majored in history and minored in political science. Next, she earned a master’s degree in public administration from Teaneck’s Farleigh Dickinson University and began her journey in Jewish nonprofit work. “I wanted to spend my days doing something meaningful,” Ms. Krich said, explaining her career choice. “The Jewish community has amazing infrastructure and support, and helping to provide those services is important to me. I find this work very rewarding.” Ms. Krich and her husband, Daniel Krich, a pediatric pulmonologist at Westchester Medical Center, live in Fair Lawn. The Kriches have five children: Ariella goes to Naaleh High School in Fair Lawn, Aryeh and Shoshana are students at YBH of Passaic, Alex is 3, and Max is 1. Ms. Krich began her career at the Shorefront Jewish Community Council in Brooklyn. That organization is part of a network of social service organizations that provide services to their local communities. Shorefront’s surrounding community was made up mainly of seniors, many of whom were Russian immigrants. Services included a large kosher food pantry, immigration assistance, case management work, and a variety of social services. Ms. Krich remained at that organization for about 10 years, first as site director, then as executive director. When the opportunity to lead Project Ezrah came up, Ms. Krich was excited to be able to “bring my experience to the community I live in.” The shorter commute was an added perk. Project Ezrah assists Bergen County families, Ms. Krich said. “We may help the person who sits behind you in shul or the family of a child who rides the school bus with your child. We help your neighbors the way you would if you knew they were hurting, and we help in a way that helps them not need our help anymore. “As an Englewood-based organization, we tend to work with most shuls in our immediate vicinity and to have a close relationship with most of the shul rabbis,” she continued. Rabbis often refer clients to Project Ezrah, and sometimes rabbis and rebbetzins remain involved throughout the process. Although most of those relationships are with rabbis within the Orthodox community, Project Ezrah offers its services to all Bergen County residents. Project Ezrah will celebrate community heroes at its annual dinner scheduled for Saturday, December 10. The honorees are people who play an active role in helping the organization help the community. (See box.) Project Ezra has grown significantly over the past 21 years, Ms. Krich said. The original focus was on providing crisis support. Clients would ask for help, or be referred to the organization, when they were experiencing significant financial hardship, and Project Ezrah would step in with immediate job search assistance, health care, or basic living expenses. But the outreach has evolved over the years. While Project Ezra’s original two pillars of a job development program and a case assistance and financial assistance program remain its core missions, these services are now more extensive and offer help to a wider range of community members. “Instead of waiting until people

Local reach a crisis point, we have expanded our services to include programs that offer help earlier and are designed to prevent families from winding up in a crisis situation,” Ms. Krich said. The job search assistance it offers has become much more extensive. Project Ezrah now provides a range of services that are available to the entire community including help with strategizing a job search; creating or updating a resume; networking online, including setting up a LinkedIn profile; interview preparation, and salary negotiation. “We can also refer candidates to employers we work with,” Ms. Krich said. “Last year the organization held a job fair, which was very successful at connecting job candidates with potential employers.” Project Ezra also offers a variety of classes, open to the entire community, on topics including resume building, effective interviewing techniques, taking charge of your career, behind the scenes of a job search, and best practices for speaking over Zoom. Though most of the people who use these services are experiencing some financial difficulties, they are available to the entire community. “We find that having these services open to everyone takes away a certain level of stigma and makes those who really need the help more willing to utilize the services,” Ms. Krich said. “And when job candidates who are not struggling financially benefit from this assistance, they tend to become donors or to offer pro bono services to our

clients. Everyone winds up helping each other.” The financial assistance program has also grown. It originally offered very comprehensive assistance, consisting of financial help, financial micromanagement, and guidance on becoming financially stable. While this approach — called the Partner Program— still is used, two other programs were added in 2021 to support people who need less extensive support. The Spark program is for people who require only a small amount — a spark — of help. It connect clients with eligible services, including such community resources as food pantries, government benefits for which they are eligible, and professionals who provide pro bono work. The Boost program is a better fit for people who need more help. Boost was designed to support people who find themselves in a situation “that is challenging but not dire,” Ms. Krich said. It offers budgeting help and some temporary financial assistance. There seems to be a need for this broader range of services. The number of clients enrolled in the core financial assistance or job search assistance programs has increased significantly since the Boost and Spark programs were added. “We went from serving about 180 families in 2019 to serving about 270 in 2021 and about 500 so far this year,” Ms. Krich said. “I think we are seeing more clients because we offer a wider range of support now.” The goal of the services is to help clients become, or

remain, financially independent, Ms. Krich said. So all three of the financial assistance programs help clients review and track spending and learn how to budget and spend in a mindful way. “We are always trying to put ourselves out of business,” she said. Project Ezrah also tries to forestall the need for its financial assistance services by disseminating financial information into the community. It does so through a variety of classes and seminars that are open to the entire community. One such program is Aisle, aimed at engaged or newly married couples. Other classes provide information on mortgages, monitoring credit, and mindful budgeting. “As we work with clients, we look for the types of issues that tend to get people into a difficult financial situation and try to educate the community on those types of issues to help prevent others from winding up in the same position,” Ms. Krich said. In 2020, Project Ezrah added the State Health Insurance Assistance Program. SHIP counselors are state-certified to help people navigate Medicare. “We find that many people in the community gain a lot by getting an impartial guide to help make their Medicare decisions,” Ms. Krich said. “In 2021, we provided 50 SHIP counseling sessions and are currently well on our way to seeing many more than that during the current open enrollment period.” In the last couple of years, Project Ezrah has added new programs offering one-time grants for such SEE PROJECT EZRAH PAGE 13

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Women’s Philanthropy group honors members at kosher Japanese-Peruvian lunch in midtown The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey held its Women’s Philanthropy Lion of Judah luncheon on November 16 at Sen Sakana, a kosher restaurant in midtown Manhattan with a Japanese and Peruvian-inspired menu. A Lion of Judah is a woman in the community who donates $5,000 or more. For more information, email Women’s Philanthropy director Barbara Joyce at [email protected] or call her at (201) 820-3953.

Stacy Esser of Tenafly, Donna Weintraub of Haworth, Amy Zagin of Manhattan, and Karen Farber of Closter

Debbie Davis of Manhattan Debra Hirschberg of Cresskill, Anna Stein Merker of Englewood, and Roberta Abrams of Montvale

Dina Bassen and Judy Taub Gold, both of Tenafly 12 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Joelle Halperin of Manhattan and Lauri Bader of Englewood

Lisa Spivak of Norwood, left, and Amy Zagin of Manhattan

Local

Chaya Glaser Certified Sound Healing Practitioner with over 15 years of music education experience

group sound meditation events individual tuning sessions meditation and self-care workshops [email protected] @Chai.Sound www.Chai-Sound.com

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Valley Chabad Eternal Flame Presents

MY LIFE IN A Children work with their parents as volunteers. Here, they make tzedakah boxes on Winter Family Fun day.

Project Ezrah FROM PAGE 11

expenses as day camp and school vacations. Another new offering is a Passover grant, to help cover the additional costs associated with the holiday. These programs serve a variety of functions, Ms. Krich said. They help people who are mostly fine with day-today expenses but need just a little assistance with one-time expenses. These programs also present another point of entry to Project Ezrah’s services; more often than not they lead to a family getting additional services. Another recent addition is the baby gemach. The gemach, which used to be an independent entity but recently came under the Project Ezrah umbrella, loans equipment and provides diapers and formula. It serves about 300

families each year, most of whom do not receive other Project Ezrah services. In addition to the services added over the past couple of years, a Young Leadership Council was started to help educate a new generation of Bergen County residents about Project Ezrah’s important work. “Looking forward, we are planning to create a grocery gift card grant opportunity similar to our Passover grant, but it will be open all year,” Ms. Krich said. The program is being started by Jared and Debra Okun in memory of Ms. Okun’s brother, Zev Horowitz. “This will be just another door to enter Project Ezrah for clients. A client will be able to reach out for help with food and get to know us and, hopefully, if greater intervention is needed, be willing to work with us more.”

A Historic Evening with Itu Lustig AN AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR Rounded up by the Nazis and sent off to Auschwitz at a tender age, Itu Lustig endured the horrors and atrocities committed on humanity during the Holocaust. Against all odds Itu survived, tragically losing both her parents and 6 siblings along the way. Today at 93, Itu, a beloved grandmother with an indomitable spirit, tells the tale of her hellish experience. Her story will make you cry, her journey will make you sing.

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What: Project Ezrah’s 21st annual dinner When: On Saturday, December 10, at 8 p.m. Where: Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood Honoring: Dr. Shoshana and Rabbi Chaim Poupko; Tziporah and Avi Koslowsky; the Project Ezrah baby gemach volunteers: coordinators Ginnie and Avi Fried, and Tamar Chaitovsky, Stacy Horowitz, Deborah Pearlman, Sipporah Tracer, and Shana Schmidt Reservations: go to Ezrah.org

jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 13

Local

Federation women played with purpose Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Women’s Philanthropy’s “Play with Purpose” was on November 16 at Montammy Country Club in Alpine. The program raised funds to benefit women and children in the community. Participants played mah jongg and canasta, and there were raffles prizes awarded. The evening was a way to come together for a good cause before the holiday season kicks off.

Sarah Brie of Cresskill with Alison Teicher and Julie Katz, both of New York City

Jayne Petak and Donna Kissler, both of River Vale, and Joy Shorr of Hillsdale

Top, from left: Shari Alster of Closter, Robin Miller of Tenafly, and Sharon Fox of Demarest; Robin Abramow of Alpine is seated.

Susan Benkel of Woodcliff Lake and Eva Jakob of Park Ridge Shari Dabby, Loren Paulen, Lauren Kluger, and Karen Miller, all of Tenafly

Judy Taub Gold of Tenafly and Lauri Bader of Englewood

14 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Michele Horowitz of Closter, Stacey Weiss of Cresskill, and Merrill Langsam of Haworth

Local

JFCS celebrates the Goodman family More than 200 people gathered on Sunday, November 13, for Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Northern New Jersey’s annual celebration. This year, the agency honored the Goodman family: Lawrence z”l and Rosalyn Goodman, David and Hope Goodman, Caryn Goodman and Mitchell Caplan, and Mindy and Jason Sickle. Celebration co-chairs Arline Herman and Paula Shaiman highlighted an emotional video showcasing the Goodman family’s five-decade commitment to giving back to the JFCS community.

Guests enjoyed the company and the food by Foremost Caterers at Alpine Country Club in Demarest, as longtime JFCS supporters and newer ones joined to celebrate JFCS’s mission of empowering people and transforming their lives. Thanks to loyal donors and dedicated friends, JFCS is close to its goal, ensuring that it can continue to provide vital services to everyone who needs them. Through its four pillars of support –- mental health services, older adult services, food insecurity services, and basic

needs assistance –- JFCS has become a safety net for the northern New Jersey community, and it is because of the community’s generous donations that it is able to continue to do so. JFCS is a social services agency that serves Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson counties, dedicated to ensuring the well-being of everyone who needs its help. No matter the personal situation, JFCS is there, ready to lend a hand. Learn more about what JFCS can do at JFCSNNJ. org or call (201) 837-9090.

Gregg and Joan Krieger with Sue Ann and Steven Levin The Goodman family are this year’s honorees. Bruce Feldman, JFCS board member Andrew Kent, and Robert Feuerstein

Steven and JFCS board member Sari Gross and Allyn Michaelson.

JFS CEO Susan Greenbaum and Bergen County Commission Chairwoman Tracy Silna Zur JFCS board member Paula Shaiman is with Arline Herman, JFCS board president Rachel Scheff; and JFCS CEO Susan Greenbaum. JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 15

Around the Community Tuesday  NOVEMBER 29 JNF women’s program: Jewish National Fund-USA hosts “Empowering Women from Generation to Generation” at Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston. Dr. Logan Levkoff, Ph.D., a sexuality educator, relationship expert, and author, is the speaker. 6:30 p.m. [email protected] or (973) 593-0095.

Blood drive in Teaneck: Congregation Rinat Yisrael holds a community blood drive with the New York Blood Center at the shul. Covid precautions observed. 1-7 p.m. 389 W. Englewood Ave. Register: nybc/newjerseydrive.

Friday  DECEMBER 2

Naomi Adler

Hadassah CEO in Wayne: Naomi Nancy Jo Sales

Social media and women: Bestselling author, New York Times journalist, and filmmaker Nancy Jo Sales will discuss “The Impact of Social Media on Girls and Women” for the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New Jersey, a philanthropic giving circle that supports women and girls in local communities. 7 p.m., at a private home in Montclair. RSVP, [email protected] or JWFNJ.org.

Managing stress: Myrna Bruno, a senior wellness specialist from the nutrition and wellness unit at Bergen County’s Division of Senior Services, talks about “Understanding & Managing Stress,” for the JCC of Northern NJ’s Active Seniors group at Temple Avodat Shalom in River Edge. Supported by Jewish Federation of Northern NJ and Bergen County Division of Senior Services. 11 a.m.; kosher lunch follows. jccnnj.org or (201) 666-6610.

Adler, Hadassah International’s CEO and the wife of the shul’s rabbi, Rabbi Brian Beal, talks about “Israel Today — A Light Unto the Nations World Leadership and Advances in Science, Technology and Medicine” for Temple Beth Tikvah’s annual Rabbi Shai Shacknai memorial lecture during services. Festive oneg. 7:30 p.m. www.templebethtikvahnj.org

Saturday  DECEMBER 3 Casino night in Wayne: Shomrei Torah has a casino night with tricky tray, 50/50 raffle, refreshments. 7-11 p.m. Admission fee includes casino money for betting. Tova. [email protected].

Sunday  DECEMBER 4

Learning in Wyckoff: Rabbi Joshua Waxman’s “Learning for Life” series at Temple Beth Rishon continues with the “Mystical Hebrew Alef-Bet.” 7 p.m. (201) 891-4466 or templeoffice@ bethrishon.org.

Wednesday  NOVEMBER 30 Lunch and learn in Wyckoff: Rabbi Stephen Wylen discusses “The Tsaddik: The Hasidic Ideal of Leadership,” for Temple Beth Rishon. Bring a dairy lunch; beverages and dessert provided. 12:15 p.m. (201) 891-4466 or [email protected].

Special needs webinar — what comes after the diagnosis? The Sinai Schools Community Education & Support Webinar series continues with “We Have a Diagnosis. Now What?” on Wednesday, November 30, at 8 p.m. It will be led by Rabbi Dr. Yisrael Rothwachs, the dean of the Sinai Schools, and Judi Karp, the associate dean. Receiving a diagnosis is the first Rabbi Dr. Yisrael Rothwachs and Judi Karp step in the journey of a parent or caregiver of a child with learning challenges or special needs. Rabbi how they should make decisions and Rothwachs and Ms. Karp will discuss keep their child moving forward. frequently asked questions, including Submit questions in advance to [email protected]. For information, whether parents should reset goals for go to www.sinaischools.org/webinar2. their child’s future, how they should talk about it with family and friends, and

Shuttered Jersey City shul distributing its memorial plaques to families Several months ago, the board of trustees of B’nai Jacob in Jersey City made the difficult and sad decision to close the synagogue’s doors permanently. As they do so, they are safeguarding the community’s most valuable physical objects. The sanctuary’s stained-glass windows were installed in a new home at Temple B’nai Shalom of West Orange. Now, memorial items from the building, including wall and bench memorial plaques and the tags from the tree of life, are being removed, and B’nai

Jacob’s leaders hope that the plaques can be claimed by the families whose members they memorialize. The plaques will be at the Jersey City synagogue on Tuesdays and Thursdays in December and January from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Thursday evenings from 4 to 7 p.m. (They cannot be shipped.) B’nai Jacob’s leaders are looking for volunteers to help distribute the plaques. For more information, email [email protected] or call the office at (201) 435-5725.

Yeshiva University Library Book Talk Florian Schantz Jazz

Great American songbook: The Florian Schantz Jazz Combo offers “Songs from the Great American Songbook Concert,” in person and on Zoom, for the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County. 2 p.m. www.jhmomc.org.

Bazaar in Teaneck: Temple Emeth holds its annual bazaar. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Early birds enter at 9:30 with a $10 donation. Emeth. org.

16 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman, assistant professor of Jewish education at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School and assistant rabbi of the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn, will give an online book talk on Monday, December 5, at 8 p.m. He will discuss his book, “Psyched for Torah -– Cultivating Character Rabbi Dr. and Well-Being Through the Mordechai Weekly Parsha,” which includes Schiffman tools for finding psychological themes in Jewish texts to help us lead happier, more fulfilling lives. Register at yu.edu/ psychedbooktalk. For more information about the book and to get 25% off, go to kodeshpress.com and enter promo code WINTER2022.

Around the Community Active shooter training and spontaneous celebration

Ruth Krasner

Esti Mellul

Dean Rachel Friedman

Lamdeinu to host annual Chanukah breakfast on December 11 Lamdeinu, an educational institute in Teaneck that provides high-level Torah learning for women and men of all ages, will host its eighth annual Chanukah breakfast. It’s scheduled for Sunday, December 11, at 9:15 a.m., at Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck. Ruth Krasner and Esti Mellul are the honorees and Mollie K. Fisch and Ina Tropper are the program chairs. Speakers will include the honorees and Lamdeinu’s dean, Rachel Friedman. Ruth Krasner, an active Lamdeinu member and supporter, studies with Dean Friedman at Lamdeinu on Mondays; she’s been a student since its inception. A former officer and board member of Amit Women, she is devoted to Torah learning and Israel. She was instrumental in founding a committee at

Young Israel of New Rochelle to promote female scholars. A retired occupational therapist and instructor at the Touro School of Occupational Therapy, she and her husband, Dan, divide their time between the United States and Israel, where their children and grandchildren live. Esti Mellul, who was a program director for Lamdeinu from 2018 to 2021, will get the Lamdeinu Gemilut Chesed award. She now works as a campaign manager for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She is an accomplished singer-songwriter. To register, go to www.lamdeinu.org/ breakfast by November 29. For information, email Debbie Negari at [email protected]. Donations can be made online at www.lamdeinu.org.

Announce your events We welcome announcements of upcoming events. Announcements are free. Accompanying photos must be high-resolution, jpg files. Not every release will be published. Please include a daytime telephone number and send to: [email protected]

On November 6, the Hackensack Police Department held an active shooter training program at Chabad of Hackensack. The pro gram was planned months in advance, but as it turned out, it happened less than 72 hours after the FBI in Newark issued a warning about “credible information of a broad threat to synagogues in New Jersey.” The presentation included active shooter scenario exercises and a talk about how to get people to safety. Rabbi Mendy Kaminker with a Hackensack “Judaism places trepolice officer mendous significance on saving lives,” Rabbi Mendy Kaminker of Chabad of Hack“Saving a life is one of the greatest ensack said. “We pray and hope that mitzvot.” we will never need to use this inforWhen Rabbi Kaminker learned that mation, but being prepared for any one of the police officers was Jewish, situation and defending ourselves is, he offered him the opportunity to in fact, a mitzvah.” wrap tefillin, something the officer The officers discussed the core never had done before. The participants celebrated with him. concept of run, hide, and fight, and “To me, this was such a beautiresponded to many questions. One ful way to connect the dots,” Rabbi participant asked the rabbi whether Kaminker said. “Judaism is about throwing a book can be a distraction being aware of all possible dangers, for a perpetrator. “I understand that yet still living lives infused with joy and this is a sacred book, but I hope God service of God. This event was about will forgive you for throwing it,” the active shooter training, but it was a officer said. “Not only will God forgive spontaneous celebration as well.” you, but you will also be doing a great mitzvah,” Rabbi Kaminker added.

JLE holds its annual dinner As the Jewish Learning Experience of Bergen County held its 37th annual fundraising dinner on November 12, it celebrated three people connected to the organization. Rabbi Justin Wexler was recognized as JLE’s immediate past director. Leah Mizrahi of Teaneck was honored as an active participant who often brings her mother to events with her. Dr. Richard Dr. Richard Seaman and his mother, Leah Mizrahi and her mother, Rabbi Justin and Pearl Wexler Seaman of Manhattan was honored for Ina Seaman Mira Mizrahi JOY SPERBER his contributions as an a capella singer at many JLE events; he also sang his hit, through a variety of services, events, classes, and meals. For more information, “Mechitza in the Middle,” at the dinner. email its director, Rabbi Jesse Shore, at [email protected], or call him The JLE, an outreach organization based in Teaneck, serves Jews of all backgrounds. Its mission is to reacquaint Jewish adults with their religious heritage at (610) 329-2953.

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 17

Around the Community Kean University to mark 40th anniversary of its Holocaust center and foundation

Auschwitz survivor to speak at Valley Chabad

Kean University’s Holocaust in the STEM Auditorium at Resource Center and HoloKean University in Union. caust Resource Foundation The in-person program is present “Musical Theater supported by the Holocaust and Nazi Era Narratives: Resource Foundation. Exploring a Complex HisDr. Judah Cohen, Lou and tory” with Dr. Judah Cohen. Sybil Mervis professor of The annual Murray Panthe study of Jewish culture tirer memorial lecture is at Indiana University, will Dr. Judah Cohen in conjunction with the address musical theater as 40th anniversary coman artistic language that crimemoration of the university’s Holotiqued Nazis politics in 1930s. caust Resource Center and Holocaust For more information, email the cenResource Foundation. The program is ter’s director, Dr. Adara Goldberg, at set for Tuesday, November 29, at 7 p.m., [email protected]

In response to the recent surge in antisemitism from influential Americans, Valley Chabad’s Eternal Flame will host “My Life in a Death Camp.” The evening with Itu Lustig, a 93-year-old Auschwitz survivor, will be at the Hilton Woodcliff Lake on Sunday, December 4, at 4 p.m. Ms. Lustig was born in Romania. When she was 12, she, her parents, and six siblings were stuffed into a cattle car and sent to Auschwitz. She was the only one of her immediate family to survive. Itu Lustig She endured Mengele’s selection process, had a number tattooed on her arm, and survived the death march and Bergen Belsen. Ms. Lustig lives in Brooklyn; she is a proud grandmother with faith and a loving family. For information, go to EternalFlame.org.

Musical Shabbat

Project Ezrah dinner Project Ezrah holds its 21st annual dinner on motzei Shabbat, December 10, at Ahavath Torah in Englewood. This year’s dinner is in celebration of community heroes. The honorees

are Shoshana and Dr. Rabbi Chaim Poupko, Tziporah and Avi Koslowsky, and the Project Ezrah Baby Gemach volunteers. For more information, go to Ezrah.org or call (201) 569-9047.

Takeout and Delivery

Teaneck’s Congregation Beth Sholom welcomes Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz as its musician in residence for Shabbat, December 2 and 3. Rabbi Sacks Mintz is the Hadar Institute’s director of tefillah and music. All are welcome for a Shabbat of song, joyous prayer, learning, and community. The deadline to register for meals is November 29. For more information, go to www.cbsteaneck.org.

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Cover Story Remembering Fort Lee’s flying hero Gerry Gersten’s story is about harrowing WWII bombing raids over Germany JOANNE PALMER

T

here are things that Gerald Gersten of Fort Lee doesn’t know, and probably never will know. Some of them are small and personal, and some of them aren’t. Why did the U.S. Army Air Force pick him? Why did it decide to train him as a radioman? Why did the heart murmur that made him

20 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

JERRY SZUBIN

In 2017, the Jewish Standard published a story about Gerald Gersten of Fort Lee. He was an Army Air Force radio operator aboard B24 Liberator bombers in World War II, and told his story in a documentary, “Bagels Over Berlin,” that was screened locally that year. We are reprinting that story now. Mr. Gersten died on November 9, at 98; his burial, with full military honors, was on Veterans Day. His wife, Rosalind, died in 2019, at 86. The Gerstens had been married for 65 years. He was survived by his three children and their spouses — Barry and Merryl Gersten, Shari Gersten and David Rosenblatt, and Lisa Gersten and David Gerwin — and by seven grandchildren, Jessica, Mikaela, Sam, Yardena, Arielle, Zeke, and Adina. We are retelling his story now because it’s extraordinary, and we should not forget heroes like Mr. Gersten. We also are retelling his story now because it is Thanksgiving. We — as American Jews, as Jews, and as Americans — have much for which to be thankful. Among those reasons for gratitude are lives like Gerry Gersten’s; lives offered, and often sacrificed, to save the rest of us. And lives lived by real people — funny, surprising, brave, smart people, normal people who because far more than normal because circumstances demanded it of them, rose to those circumstances. So here is our story, presented to you, our readers, again, in thanks to Mr. Gersten and in celebration of Thanksgiving.

Why was he able to go on to have a very good, prosperous life, a happy, loving, and still-flourishing marriage, three children who would make anyone proud, and many beloved grandchildren? There are other things that he does know — stories, and details, and hunches. He knows what it was like to be Jewish in the U.S. Army Air Force; how antisemitism revealed itself and how in the end it didn’t get in the way of the bonds that unlikely people formed and maintained. He knows how to live having seen things that no one should ever have to see, much less someone barely out of adolescence. He knows how to take joy from the moment, particularly when you don’t know what the next moment might bring. He knows what it feels like to fly a bombing mission over Germany. And well he should — he flew 33 of them. Gerry’s parents, Sam and Anna, both came from Bukovina, one of the central European places that was traded between more powerful neighbors; in its case, those neighbors included, at different times, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, the Austro-Hungarian empire, and the Soviet Union. (It’s now part of Ukraine.) It wasn’t a great place for Jews, so Sam and Anna, like many of their extended family, left. “One Easter, my father and his friend hid up in a tree, and when they came to beat up the Jews, my father and his friend jumped them and beat them up,” Mr. Gersten said, retelling a family story. His father’s quick removal to the United States followed, not coincidentally. Anna’s father became a butcher in Boston, and Sam’s father had a newspaper stand on East 116th Street, near Park Avenue, in Harlem. “His customers were all Mafia members,” Mr. Gersten said.

undraftable vanish undetected three months later? Why did the United States, under-airplaned and under-airman-trained and underprepared for an air war, eventually win the war? Why did 19-year-old Gerry and the eight other men in his team survive? Why did two of them die young soon afterward?

Cover Story

Old U.S. Navy planes in flight over Miami

COURTESY ALAN FEINBERG

Sam and Anna were distantly related, but they didn’t meet until Anna’s mother met Sam on a train, bound for the same family wedding, determined their relationship and from it his eligibility, and said, “Have I got a girl for you!” (“Have I got a boy for you!” she later told her daughter.) The newly married couple started their lives together in Boston, where Gerry Gersten was born on October 25, 1924; when he was six months old, his parents moved the family to the Bronx. Sam Gersten became a grocer. The family moved from neighborhood to neighborhood; Gerry started high school at James Monroe and finished at Morris. “I had just finished high school,” he said. “I’ll never forget it. I was at the 92nd Street Y, and somebody yelled ‘Hey, the Japs just bombed Pearl Harbor,’ and I said, ‘Where’s Pearl Harbor?’ “Everyone was dying to join the army,” he added. Mr. Gersten always wanted to be in the Air Force; from the time he was a kid, “I would rather fly than anything else,” he said. He took a course the Air Force taught; it was serious, but it did not offer enlistment; in fact, it guaranteed nothing. He passed the course and the stringent examination that followed, but when he went for the physical that would lead to enlistment, he was rejected. “They said I had a heart murmur,” he said. So he lived at home and worked in his father’s grocery store. “When they told me I had a heart murmur,

Inset: Airman Gerry Gersten

I thought I was going to die,” he said. Not that the heart murmur would kill him, but that the disappointment and embarrassment about having to stay home while all his friends were going off to war would do him in. Three months after the Air Force rejected him, Mr. Gersten was drafted. This time, the physical showed no heart murmur. “I don’t know what happened,” he said. The physical was for the Army; recruiters for the Marines approached some of the young men waiting their turn, offering them a chance to try for that service rather than the bigger, less glamorous Army. “The Marines wanted only the strongest,” he said. He was strong and rugged; the Marine sergeant made a play for him, but Mr. Gersten said no. He was inducted instead into the United States Army. Induction began with a whole series of shots; the administration of that battery of jabs did not particularly take the recruits’ comfort in mind. “The guy in front of me was very rugged looking,” Mr. Gersten said. “They stuck him with the needles and he fell flat on his face, with teeth and blood all over the place. He broke his jaw — and I was next. They sent a guy with a mop and a broom to clean up. “I didn’t feel anything,” he said. “I was numb.” But later “I got sick from all the shots.” He went home to pack all his stuff; he had to report in the next day or two. “My parents were sorry about my

leaving, but that was that,” he said. “There was a war on. My mother was crying, my father shook my hand — and that was that.” He went to camp, still sick from the injections, Mr. Gersten said. “I went to sick call, the doctor said I should take tomorrow off, I asked for it in writing, and the next day the sergeant came in and told me that I was on KP.” Kitchen patrol. “I said that I couldn’t because I was sick, and he said, ‘You’re on KP.’ “And then he said, ‘Boy, you better give your soul to God, because your ass belongs to me.’ “He was from South Carolina, and people from South Carolina hated New Yorkers like poison. And Jews were like poison.” The next day, he was sent to the kitchen, “and I was on pots and pans. The pots were 50-gallon pots, and when they made coffee they took shovelfuls of coffee. They gave you GI. soap to wash those pots.” The soap had a lot of lye in it, “and not only did it peel off the dirt, it also peeled off your skin.” But things changed unexpectedly. (They always do.) “A guy walks by and says, ‘Is there a Gersten here?’ I JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 21

Cover Story said yes, and he said, ‘You’re shipping out.’ I had to give in all my stuff and they gave me new stuff, a parka, snow boots, equipment for the far north. “And then I had to get on a train with all that equipment. I couldn’t figure it out, because the guy in charge was an Air Force lieutenant. And the next thing you know, I wind up in Miami. “I had to give all that stuff back.” Snow boots and a parka were not useful in Miami. So why the charade? “It was army secrecy,” Mr. Gersten said. “They were afraid of spies.” He was housed in a hotel in Miami Beach for basic training. “Some people in the hotel didn’t want to give up their rooms when the Army asked if they could rent them,” Mr. Gersten said. “So every morning at 5 or 6, a 12-piece band would walk down Collins Avenue, playing. “P.S. They rented the rooms.” Toward the end of basic training, he and other servicemen took a battery of tests. “There were maybe about 1,000 guys in the room, and they sent out audio signals,” he said. “They asked if they were the same or different signals. I was the only guy in the room who got them all right.

“The next thing I know, they ship me off to Sioux Falls. To radio school.” He knows why he got into radio school, but not why he was in the Air Force in the first place. “I never found out how they picked me,” he said. “I never figured it out.” From Miami Beach, Mr. Gersten went to Sioux Falls, where “it would snow in May. And they had a crazy arrangement, where the bathroom was separate from the shower room, which was about a block away. So we would take a shower and wear shorts and a towel to go from one to the other. “There were about 10,000 students, and about 8,000 got pneumonia. I was there for Roz and Gerry Gersten two days when I got pneumonia too.” he still is angry at the pointless, mindless If he had healed as he should waste. have, Mr. Gersten would have shipped out But Mr. Gersten, as the result of some with the 15th Air Force. Everyone in his shenanigans with a white lab coat and class went, and “everyone in that class got the ensuing friendship with a doctor, killed,” he said. It was a bungled raid, and “was invited to a party. It was a very big party, and I had a relapse and was back in bed,” he said. He eventually was shipped to Langley field in Virginia, and there “they lined up the pilot, copilot, navigator, bombardier, engineer, four gunners, and a radio operator. We were crewed up.” One of the 10 of them eventually left the unit, but the remaining nine guys stayed together, one tight, bonded unit. They were sent to England, the 392nd bomb group of the 8th Air Force. The unit sounds like the cast of a World War II movie, Catholics and a Baptist and even “a Norwegian,” Mr. Gerstein said. “We had two guys from North Carolina who had never met a Jew,” he added, but he was not the only Jew in the unit. “I spent a lot of time $0 MONEY DOWN + LOW MONTHLY PAYMENT OPTIONS showing everyone that Jews are human,” Mr. Gersten said. “When you are past Contact a Generac dealer for full terms and conditions Pennsylvania, a Jew is like a devil. We had to make people realize that Jews are human beings.” And he did. “Someone called me a Jew bastard, and my engineer flattened him,” Mr. Gersten said. If a unit were to become CALL NOW BEFORE THE cohesive, it could not afford the disNEXT POWER OUTAGE tractions that come from warring worldviews, and if there were distractions, they all would die. (Even without such distractions, it was entirely possible that they all would die anyway, as all of them knew.) “Combat flying was voluntary,” Mr. 7-Year Extended Gersten said. “That’s because we lost Warranty* – A $695 Value! so many men. But if you wouldn’t fly, if *To qualify, consumers must request a quote, purchase, install and activate the you couldn’t fly, they would put you in generator with a participating dealer. Call for a full list of terms and conditions. the infantry.” At first, flying was hard for him. He would throw up every time he

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went up in the air. But eventually he realized, as counterintuitive as it seemed, that if he would eat before taking off, he’d be fine. And you had to be actively terrified of flying before you’d want to go back to the infantry. “There was no such thing as rank in our unit,” Mr. Gersten continued. “The pilot was the head, but we were one unit.” There were nine men; “so they would always send us a radar operator on each mission. “I was 19, the engineer was 19, the tail gunner was 18, the navigator was 23, the bombardier was 23, the pilot was an old man, he was 29. He was the best pilot there was. And he taught us how to fly.” Most of the men in the unit could do most of the other jobs in the unit. His pilot was called Short Round, after the “bullet that is too short to go through a gun. That’s what it’s called,” Mr. Gersten said. “He was one of those little guys who said, ‘I’ll show you.’ His real name was Dale W. Enyard.” The navigator was called Bucket Butt Smith. “I don’t know his real first name,” Mr. Gersten said. Gerry Gerstein became Gert. After the crews were assigned and they learned to fly together, they were told to fly from Connecticut to England. “We were flying the biggest plane there was,” he said. “It was a four-engine B24. A bomber. “So we shipped out, and we had no idea where we were going. There were 50 planes and some brilliant genius decided that we would have to radio in so they could tell us where to go. There are two channels in radio, tone and CW. CW —carrier waves — is not as strong as tone.” But they all were supposed to use CW. “And visualize 50 guys trying to get through on one little channel. “So I said the hell with it, and I went on tone. And I got in. “We went to Goose Bay, Labrador, and five of those 50 planes didn’t make it. “From there we went to Iceland, then to Wales, and then to England, to our base there. We had a few practice missions. “And then we had our first bombing assignment.” This was in 1944. “In Germany, we bombed almost every city except Berlin,” he said. “The Germans were far superior to us,” he continued. “We were far behind until we came out with the P51 fighter, and that was an absolute failure in the beginning. And then the British said,

Cover Story ‘Why don’t you use our engines?’ double our bomb load, because we had and we did, and it became the finest top turrets with gunners with machine fighter plane in the whole world. guns on each plane. They had three to “Most of our pilots were horrible,” seven men on each plane, instead of Mr. Gersten said. “It takes a year to get 10, and they went on the bomb runs at a pilot’s license, but in less than a year night, when the Germans couldn’t see they had to learn to fly a four-engine them and they had less of a chance of bomber. And we would fly in high forbeing shot down.” mation, and planes would crash into The Americans kept going. “In the each other. It was the most terrible beginning, if you flew 25 missions thing to see a plane going down. They they would send you home,” Mr. Gersten said. “And then they upped it to would fall down like leaves. 30 missions. Later they made it 35.” “And a piece of you would go down He flew 33, he said, because the war with it, every time.” ended before his unit could get up for Much of what Mr. Gersten describes the 34th. straightforwardly, dryly, almost without emotion — or without visible He and his unit mates saw horrors, emotion, which is not at all the same and often they escaped them for inexplicable reasons. Once, he said, they thing — is terrifying. “On one mission, had a three-day pass, and planned to there was a lot of flak,” he said. “Flak spend it in Brighton, a seaside town. was like BBs, little pellets that would Mr. Gersten’s dog tags and a commemorative medal, left, and the French Legion “But it is always raining in England,” be packed into a shell. The pellets of Honor medal. and who wants to go to the beach in would be white hot, and they would the rain, “so we wound up in Scotland go through the skin of the plane and Of course, the Americans and the British flyers were instead.” They had a less-than-exciting right into your skin, right though your able to see and critique each other’s habits, since both break. bones. There were millions of pieces of flak flying, and groups were stationed in England. “The Royal Air Force “And when we got back, the barracks were empty.” we would fly right into it. flew bombers called the Lancaster,” Mr. Gersten said. The others had gone up on a bombing run, “and they “The Germans were so far ahead of us. It was a miracle that we won.” “It was the same size as ours, but it carried more than were shot down.”

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Cover Story After each mission, “a number of guys would come back and put their jackets over their heads. They were crying. They didn’t want to do it anymore. It was too hard, with the planes crashing into each other and the bombs falling all over.” On one run, he nearly died. “We were flying in formation, and all of a sudden our number three engine conked out,” Mr. Gersten said. “That engine controls the hydraulics, so it is the most important engine on the plane. We were going to bomb the Henry Ford factory” — a factory the Germans named after the notoriously antisemitic American car magnate who donated money to print and distribute the forged and profoundly antisemitic “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — “but we couldn’t lower our landing gear and we couldn’t open our bomb bay doors. We couldn’t keep up with the formation, and we had to turn back. That is called an abortion. When you come back without dropping the bomb, it doesn’t count as a mission. “When we came back, all of a sudden we saw a P51 coming at us.” The P51 was an American plane, but “the Germans would shoot them down and fly them to get information from us.” They’d fly under a false flag; at times the Americans didn’t know whose hands the planes were in until too late. “We were all flying with our guns pointing at it,” Mr. Gersten said. “And as he got closer, he lowered his landing gear. That means, ‘I surrender.’ And as we got closer, we were able to see that he was a Black man. He was one of the Tuskegee boys.” The so-called Tuskegee airmen were

the African American soldiers who became fighter pilots and fought with great distinction. “He worked his way up to become a colonel,” Mr. Gersten said; like the Jews, Black people in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II always had to prove themselves, over and over again. The Tuskeegee airmen accompanied Mr. Gersten and his group part of the way to their base, and then they had to turn back. The engine, of course, still didn’t work, and the plane by all rights should have crashed, but the pilot managed to land it, although “the bombs fall out, the wings start to crumble — the gasoline is stored in the wing — and the pilot lands the plane with the wheels hitting the runway, and the pilot gets into the grass. There are puddles of gas all over.” Because he had chosen to wear a backpack parachute instead of one strapped to his side, like most of the other guys, “I cannot get out of the plane,” Mr. Gersten said. He’s too big, particularly with the device strapped to him. “But the copilot gets me a parachute, it opens, and I bounce off the wing. The others are all running away from the plane. “And nobody got even one scratch that day.” There was another raid, when the Americans were supposed to take out a ball-bearing factory. “When the Americans found out that the Germans were working on a rocket plane that would be 100 miles an hour faster than any American planes, using ball bearings, they decided to get rid of the factory,” Mr.

Gersten said. “They sent out three raids in three days.” When the crew opened the airplane’s doors to drop a bomb, they had to fly straight for 10 minutes. That predictable path made a plane a prime target. “The bombardier said, ‘Open the bomb bay doors,’” Mr. Gersten said. “When the bombardier says open the doors, you open the doors. “So I didn’t hear him when he said open the doors. And then I heard and I opened it and I dropped my oxygen mask and my heated suit short-circuited. It was about 50 degrees below zero. Every 1,000 feet you go up into the air, the temperature drops by two degrees or more. So when you are flying at 30,000 feet, it’s 30 degrees colder. “So my heated suit was short-circuited and I didn’t have any oxygen. I looked up to the heavens. I was getting hypoxia. That makes you feel happy. I felt so happy! But when you have it, in five minutes you die. I looked up to heaven, and I said, ‘God, please don’t let me die, because if I do, my mother will kill me.’” Obviously, Mr. Gersten didn’t die. “My engineer was in the top turret, and he saw it. He jumped down and plugged me in and I got oxygen. My suit still was short-circuited and I got frostbite on my finger and my toes, and I lost all my nails.” The bomber crews were treated very well, Mr. Gersten said. “We had special food. We ate better than anyone else. We had steak and eggs and fries. And we had Milky Ways, and I took one with me. That Milky Way turned into a bar of ice.” It was really cold up there, he

The team that stayed together for 33 bombing missions are at the center. Short Round was the pilot. 24 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

emphasized. “We had to wear three pairs of gloves. My father had a pair of silk gloves. Those were my base gloves. And then there was a leather glove, and then a gauntlet. With temperatures from minus 20 to minus 60, if you blew your nose, icicles would come out of your nose. If your nose ran, nothing ever came out. And even tears would freeze.” He is not quite sure how the Allies won the war, but his theory is that as the highly trained Germans ran through their aces, the Allies started learning how to get better at waging air war. “We were very fortunate in that we bombed the gasoline dumps, so the Germans began running low on fuel,” he said. “Their pilots were so far superior to ours. If one of our guys made 25 kills, he was a hot shot, but the Germans had guys who shot down 250 planes. “And then the war went on, and we kept shooting down their stars, and they started replacing them with greenhorns.” They had no one else. “And we went after their oil wells and we began getting their trains.” What did it feel like to be on their bombing raids? “We didn’t have emotions,” Mr. Gersten said. “Maybe you got a little excited. There was some fear — but there is a brave fear and there is a coward fear. We didn’t have the coward fear. We had the brave fear. “I used to say Shema Israel” — the Shema, the Jewish world’s central statement of faith and belonging — “before we took off on every mission, and then I would say the Ve’Ahavta,” the paragraph that follows. “One of the crew members asked, ‘What is that?’ and I said it again. And after a while, the whole crew said the Shema, and I said the rest of it.” Mr. Gersten spent about eight months overseas, and about 31 months in the Air Force. After V-E Day, he was sent to Sioux Falls, where he was an MP — a member of the military police force. After he was discharged, he went back home. “My family was sitting shiva for my Uncle Manny, who was discharged a couple of months before me and was killed by a bus in Birmingham, Ala. He went through the Battle of the Bulge without a scratch, and then he was killed by a bus.” After the war, Mr. Gersten went back to the Bronx, and then to Westchester County, moved from retail grocery to wholesale food distribution, married Roslyn, had children, eventually retired, moved to Fort Lee with Roz, and flourished. Recently, his daughter Shari asked him what he’d learned from his wartime experiences. “Bravery is an instinct,” he said. “Either you have it or you don’t. I come from a family of fearless people. We were gutsy people.” In 2016, film director Alan Feinberg

Cover Story released a documentary called “Bagels Over Berlin.” Mr. Gersten was featured in that film. It began when Mr. Feinberg became fascinated with the popular understanding of World War II. “I had heard that a large proportion of high school students in New York thought that the United States partnered with Germany to fight Russia in World War II,” he said. “This was some time in the 1990s. Ken Burns once wrote that ‘people don’t know history, they are not taught government, they don’t know civics, and they just don’t care. World War II is as far away from them as the Spanish-American War was to me.” What began as the germ of an idea for a film about World War II veterans quickly became a film about Jewish World War II veterans. When Mr.Feinberg started thinking about what he really wanted to say with his film, “Bagels Over Berlin,” “I realized that my motivation in filming these airmen was the antisemitism that they overcame, and the fact that people don’t know about the contributions the Jews made. It was a story about the Army Air Force. The air war was so primary in winning the war. We might not have won the land war. If the Germans already had jets in the air by the end of the war, or if the war had gone on six months longer, we could have lost it.” And Mr. Feinberg soon realized that the numbers of Jewish navigators and radio operators were disproportionate to their numbers in the population. There weren’t many pilots, he said; the image of the lone ace, the World War I hero sitting in magnificent isolation in his tiny, flimsy plane, his leather helmet strapped on, his scarf flying behind him (dangerously and ridiculously, you realize when you stop to think about it), his gaze firmly fixed on the horizon — that couldn’t be a Jew. But the brainy sidekick — well, that was another story. “Jews served in the military in a higher percentage than their presence in the population in the first place,” Mr. Feinberg said. “Some of them felt that they had more to prove because they were Jewish. Others were loyal and patriotic.” Of course, those two categories could overlap a great deal. “Some of them were overwhelmed by the antisemitism they grew up with, with quotas that made it hard to get into some schools and get some jobs, but above all they appreciated that they lived in a country that they loved and wanted to serve. “Most of them were the children of immigrants,” he added. The reason so many were navigators or radio operators — jobs that took

World War II servicemen at a seder.

brains and skill as well as courage and intuition — was because “the kids who were drafted or volunteered from the country in Alabama or the cornfields of Iowa did not have the experience of the large public high school that the Jewish boys had. They did not take algebra and calculus.” The Jewish servicemen might not have been smarter than their rural non-Jewish counterparts, but on the whole, they were more sophisticated and more ready to learn complicated concepts in a noisy, confusing environment. In “Bagels Over Berlin,” Mr. Feinberg tries to show the complications the Jewish airmen faced, and the courage and heroism they used to conquer them. “I interviewed about 30 veterans,” he said. “I pre-interviewed them on the phone, first to be sure that they still were lucid. I also wanted good stories, and I asked questions to elicit the lighter side. “There was a lot of humor, and I kept it in,” he added. “These guys are tremendous. There is both humor and sadness in the stories. “One surprise interviewee was Norman Lear,” Mr. Feinberg said. “He was a radioman and bombardier, and he flew some 40 missions. He agreed to be interviewed at the last second, and when I interviewed him he knew that what I wanted was not to talk about Hollywood or his fame, but about the war. “He is the one who said that I felt that I had more to prove, because I was Jewish.” Mr. Feinberg learned a great deal from making this film. “It was a tremendous experience,” he said. Things

ALAN FEINBERG

difficulties of growing up in the 1930s and fighting for your country. “They did it because they believed in it,” he said.

have changed a great deal between then and now, he said. “That’s why it is so important that we honor the heroes of the past. This film is about overcoming the

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SINAI Schools Legacy Circle Anonymous (x4) Adam & Ilana Chill Ron & Pam Ennis Sam & Esther Fishman Jack & Pearl Gross Robert Gross & Abigail Hepner Gross William & Gail Hochman Rabbi Mark & Linda Karasick Micah Kaufman Robert & Linda Kinzelberg Bernard & Laurette Rothwachs Rabbi Yisrael & Wendy Rothwachs Yoni Saposh & Arielle Greenbaum Saposh Bruce & Sheryl Schainker David & Alona Shapiro Bruce & Robyn Shoulson Tzvi & Erica Solomon Avi & Aviva Vogel Moshe & Arianne Weinberger

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As you decide where to allocate your end-of-year charity this Giving Tuesday, please consider Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Northern NJ ( JFCS). JFCS is a social services and mental health agency that acts as a safety net for hundreds of families and thousands of individuals who rely on it for help. Every donation JFCS receives goes toward supporting the wide variety of direct services it provides to the community. These services include customized therapy options, a kosher food pantry, kosher meals on wheels, services for older adults, programing for Holocaust survivors, career services, case management services, and

emergency financial assistance. JFCS has offices in Teaneck and Wayne, and supports the communities in Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic counties. No one is turned away because of their inability to pay. JFCS can offer most of these services for free or at little cost to the clients thanks to generous donors and supporters like you. So please consider JFCS for your Giving Tuesday donations this year! If you would like to learn more about JFCS, please reach out to Michele Wellikoff at [email protected] / 201837-9090 x250, or donate online at donate.jfcsnnj.org.

Giving Tuesday for senior nutrition After the stuffing, thinking about our community’s seniors LISA HARRIS GLASS

I

t’s a contradiction. As the news reports seem ridiculously focused on the upcoming holidays and the incredible consumption this time of year brings, there are still many people in our community who are hungry and unsure where their next meal will come from. It’s true, most of us don’t see seniors and families suffering from food insecurity — but, as Federation sees every day, they are here. Jewish Federation is dedicating this year’s Giving Tuesday to bringing hunger relief to over 1,000 senior adults in our community. Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey raises funds for several programs that address senior food insecurity. We have many partners in this effort, including Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Northern New Jersey, the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, the JCC of Northern New Jersey, and Jewish Home Family. From programs that support home delivered meals to homebound seniors, to providing group meals with opportunities for social interaction, Federation aims to meet the needs of senior food insecurity across the community. You can help us reach our community’s goal of serving over 125,000 meals to our

seniors this year. Federation has worked to secure three county grants, totaling $241,000, to help with funding the Kosher Meals on Wheels program in Bergen and Hudson Counties and the kosher senior congregate meal programs in Bergen County. But we anticipate the cost of feeding our seniors in 2023 to be over $1.3 million. That’s right: over one million dollars. So, as you can see, there is a huge gap that we must fill. And we are relying on your kindness and support to feed our seniors. What never ceases to amaze us is the generosity of this community. We are asking you to, once again, think of those in our community who need your assistance. Please join us this Giving Tuesday, on Tuesday, November 29, to help ensure that seniors in our community have enough food on their tables. You can make a donation at jfnnj.org/ givingtuesday. One hundred percent of any gift you make on this day will help fill our community’s gap in senior nutrition. Lisa Harris Glass is the chief operating officer of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey.

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The Jerusalem Institute for the Blind

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JI Bhasbeeneducat i ngand empower i ngchi l dr enwi t h bl i ndnessacr ossI sr ael f or1 20year s

DONATETODAY JEWI SHBL I ND. ORG/ DONATE

T H I S C H A N U K A HP L E A S E M A K E AG I F T T O J I B A N D B R I N G L I G H T T O AC H I L DL I V I N G W I T HB L I N D N E S S

28 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

he Jerusalem Institute for the Blind ( JIB), in Israel known as Beit Chinuch Ivrim, was established 120 years ago when a merchant walking on the streets of Jerusalem caught sight of a young child nearly trampled to death by camels and immediately ran over to help. He soon discovered that the child was in fact blind, totally illiterate, and lacking even the most basic skills necessary to navigate life. He also learned that there were many others like this child, aimlessly and hopelessly roaming the streets of Jerusalem. Unable to put this potentially tragic incident out of his mind, he reached out to his prominent contacts, and, soon after, the first bricks of JIB were laid. JIB was officially founded in 1902. It has since grown into a widely respected Jerusalem landmark located in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, operating a school serving children from 6 to 21 years old, and a broad array of extracurricular activities and supportive programs all aimed at educating, enriching, and empowering children, teens and young adults living with blindness to lead independent, dignified, and meaningful lives devoid of crippling dependency. At JIB kids are encouraged to view their blindness as a challenge that is meant to be overcome as opposed to a disability that defines them and limits their potential. Our vision is to cultivate a world of acceptance and inclusivity in which all people with

blindness can be equal and active members and participants. As a testament to our institute’s track record, we recently sent a team to compete at the Paralympics and brought home a bronze medal. Since the Abraham Accords, JIB has received numerous invitations to local Arab countries to share our best practices of educating and empowering blind children and teens. We cannot emphasize enough that we would not be able to educate, enrich, and empower these children without our generous partners in the USA. JIB is a unique organization in that it absolutely guarantees its benefactors transformational impact, because every child with blindness that is guided through our school and enrichment and supportive programs develops an ability to learn, function independently, and a positive self-image and confidence. At JIB, we encourage each and every one of our children and teens to actualize their full potential and become a contributing member of their respective communities and society as a whole. If you are interested in learning more about JIB and making a gift as part of our Chanukah campaign, please visit our website, jewishblind. org. If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to email Sarah Felsenthal at [email protected]. 

JERUSALEM INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND

The Frazzled Housewife

Kosher Crossword

“CREATURE FEATURES” BY YONI GLATT [email protected] DIFFICULTY LEVEL: CHALLENGING

My cell phone doesn’t work

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n the olden days, we had that is on my broken phone. 17 phone books. They came months’ worth of videos of Strudel. I can’t lose those!! What will I delivered to your driveway, or look at when I am on my walks? maybe you could pick them up And pictures that I never develsomewhere. I don’t exactly recall. I oped, because why would I need remember my mother always having to print them out when they are on us look for her address book, which my phone? (Truthfully, I still do not contained all the phone numbers know how to print them out and and addresses of friends and family. rely on Son #3 to help me with that Because, in the olden days, people stuff.) And then all of the WhatsApp would send each other cards and call groups and other very vital informaon the phone and whatnot. tion that I have saved…. Does any of I still have one of those filo-fax it really matter? No more Instagram books that have daily calendars and or Facebook — though that might places to write phone numbers. The not necessarily be a company was going out bad thing… of business and I had to When I was groworder a whole bunch of ing up, we used pay calendars, and I always p h o n e s w h e n we joked with my dad that couldn’t get to a landI only had a few years line, but then we knew left to live, because all of the important what would I do when phone numbers by I ran out of daily calendars? It’s not so funny heart. I still rememBanji ber the phone numanymore, but still. Ganchrow Anyway, if you are bers of elementary waiting for me to get school friends — sad, to the point of this litbut true. I still rememerary tirade, here it is. My phone ber the credit card number from my is broken. My cell phone. My good dad that would pay for the phone old-fashioned landline still works calls made on those pay phones. like a charm, but that is of little help And as I have written in other columns, I can remember those bits of right now. So what does it mean useless information, but I cannot that my cell phone is broken? Well, remember things that happened I can’t google how to fix it because three hours ago. it doesn’t work. I can’t text my kids And then the question of how to tell them that my phone is broken and I am running late because do I get my phone fixed. Does this it doesn’t work. I can’t confirm with mean six hours at an Apple store? Is the people I have appointments with it AT&T’s jurisdiction because that is because it doesn’t work. And I can’t my carrier? Was I not supposed to call any of these people on my landreveal that information to all of my line because their phone numbers readers? I have no idea. All I know is are in my cell phone and it doesn’t that I am feeling very sorry for Husband #1 right about now, because he work. I can’t figure out how long it has to listen to me carrying on about will take to get to the Island of Long my broken phone. Because it is probto see Son #2 and Dil #2, who are in ably his fault it is broken. I am kidfrom Israel for 96 hours because of ding. This is actually not his fault. a family wedding, because my cell Well, thanks for letting me vent. phone doesn’t work. Do you see where I am going with And if I am supposed to see you this this??? week and you don’t hear back from This is the age-old issue of how is me, now you know why. technology good for us when we rely on it so much that when something Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is almost happens, we throw the broken item positive that her Oreos are going to in question on the floor because we tell her that this is a sign from above are so frustrated because we have that she shouldn’t have a smart phone no way of doing anything because in the first place. Which will not be we have relied so heavily on said helpful to her at all. But, to make a technology!! long story short, Dil #1 saved the day And then I think about what will and fixed the phone, and all was right happen if they can’t save everything with the world.

Across 1. “Pinafore” designation 4. Ancient Roman gathering place 9. Make like Drake 12. Mishnaic measurement 13. Angry 14. Roth who makes movies 15. Humongous “Lord of the Rings” creature? 17. Be in pain 18. Second half of a major tefilla? 19. Shloof 20. Minim preceder 21. Winged Harry Potter creature for Rabbi Issac Alfasi? 24. Start of several west coast cities 25. Glow 26. “It’s ___. Sorry.” 29. Mama sheep 32. Ark finder, in cinema 35. Boucing in-law creature from “Winnie the Pooh”? 39. Freshman cadet 40. Dude 41. Overhead railways 42. Kumi ___ 44. “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” author’s inits. 47. Adorable furry creature from “Star Wars”? 53. Classic Nestle drink 54. She got her father’s land 55. Aetna alternative 57. Type of Australian boot 58. Eating display for antagonistic “Star Trek” creatures”? 60. “That feels nice” 61. What many people have done recklessly, nowadays 62. Players in the majors 63. When we “spring ahead”, for short 64. Mouthful? 65. IRS abbr.

Down 1. Pulitzer Prize journalist Seymour 2. Language of New Zealand 3. Tediously totes 4. Part of a notable Israeli seven 5. Ape from Borneo, briefly 6. Tool for meteorologists 7. Israel during most of King Solomon’s reign, perhaps 8. EGOT winner Brooks 9. Change furniture around 10. Criminal’s concern 11. Rice dish 12. Office number abbr. 16. Chassidic singer known by his first name 20. Have ___ in one’s throat 22. Shabbat activity 23. Mountain overlooking Tokyo 26. Pharaoh’s symbol 27. Org. that couldn’t play outdoors in the summer 28. Send quickly 30. You surf it without a board 31. Mess up 33. Surf denizen 34. Sophs of two yrs. ago 36. Apple laptop of the early 2000s 37. Quarterback Smith 38. Bull in Barcelona 43. “___ guy” (referral words) 45. Scottish water 46. Cuts corners 47. Anti-Israel congress members, with “The” 48. Grant and Laurie 49. Times long past 50. Salaries 51. Roles in “Frankenstein” movies not created by Mary Shelley 52. Energy company done in by fraud 56. Reno and Holder, briefly 58. K-pop supergroup 59. Sow’s hangout

The solution for last week’s puzzle is on page 39 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 29

Obituaries/Jewish World

Birthright Israel to scale back again ANDREWLAPIN

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irthright Israel is drastically cutting back on the number of free trips it plans to offer to Jewish young adults, scaling back its operations by up to a third, the organization announced. The cuts come amid what the organization said is a mix of financial pressures, chiefly inflation and heightened travel expenses in a post-covid world. It plans to make added appeals to its top donors but still expects to heavily reduce its Israel trips in 2023 to as few as 23,500 participants, down from 35,000 this year and 45,000 annually pre-pandemic. “The significant cost increases of our program mean that we will not be able to accommodate as many applicants in the coming years,” Birthright CEO Gidi Mark said in a statement. However, Birthright’s own fundraising has not been affected. A Birthright spokesperson said that the organization actually expects its funding to increase from 2022 to 2023, but that the growth won’t be enough to

compensate for the rise in expenses and inflation. The group has shown other signs lately of scaledback operations for its free 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. Earlier this year Birthright said it would lower the maximum age of participation back to 26, after five years of allowing Jews from 27 to 32 to enroll. The group’s leadership said at the time that the increased age limit was backfiring by convincing younger Jews to keep delaying their trips. Birthright also merged with Onward Israel, another Israel travel program for young adults, during the pandemic. The program was founded in 1999 as a means of encouraging greater Israel engagement among younger generations of Jews, and studies commissioned in the two decades since have shown that Jews who participated in Birthright trips were more likely than peers who applied but did not go to marry somebody Jewish and to feel a deeper connection to Israel. One such study was released last week. “Without a major immediate increase in fundraising, we will be hard-pressed to have the positive effect we’ve had on many individuals,” Mark said.

The Birthright Israel Foundation, its fundraising arm, is making a large appeal to donors for increased funding this year. Though it receives large portions of its estimated $150 million annual budget from the Israeli government and large donors such as the Adelson Family Foundation, the foundation’s CEO, Izzy Tapoohi, said it is “a myth” that “just a few large donors” fund Birthright. It’s been a difficult period for several of Birthright’s most stalwart funders, from various legal troubles for founder Michael Steinhardt to potential sanctions for Russian Jewish philanthropists in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Young American Jews also have indicated in demographic studies that they feel less culturally and politically connected to Israel than previous generations, and the group IfNotNow, which aims to end American Jewish support for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, urged a boycott and other protests of Birthright. Israel’s recent election, which propelled a far-right bloc into government, is widely seen as likely to drive a deeper wedge between Israel and many young American Jews.  JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

The officers, board, and staff of Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey mourn the recent passing of

GEORGE LISS z”l

George dedicated his life to being a community leader. He served as president of Jewish Federation and president of the Preakness Country Club. George was a self-made man with a larger-than-life personality. He had many hobbies, which included motorcycles, traveling, art, and physics. He was deeply devoted to his wife Hali and his children and grandchildren. George was committed to and passionate about Israel and the Jewish community. He will be sorely missed and the community is indebted to him for his commitment to excellence. May his memory only be for a blessing.

Daniel M. Shlufman President

Jason M. Shames

Chief Executive Officer

30 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

jfnnj.org

Obituaries/Jewish World Established 1902 Headstones, Duplicate Markers and Cemetery Lettering With Personalized and Top Quality Service

Shalom Hartman Institute hires ex-Ramah Berkshires director JACKIE HAJDENBERG

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ix months after a lawsuit claimed that he mishandled an allegation of sexual assault between campers at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, the camp’s former director, Rabbi Ethan Linden, has a new job. Linden is now director of educational operations and design for the Shalom Hartman Institute, the Jewish education nonprofit confirmed. The job involves supporting Hartman’s educational programs throughout the year in a “vital internal coordination and consultative role,” according to a Hartman spokesperson. The Shalom Hartman Institute runs more than 1,000 programs over the course of a year, ranging from one-off lectures to convenings of thought leaders to a gap year program in Israel. It also operates two high schools, one in the United States and one in Israel. The spokesperson declined to say whether Linden would have any contact with the teens involved in Hartman’s programs but said in a statement, “We maintain rigorous processes for screening and evaluating prospective employees for competence and character in our commitment to the excellence of our work.” The new job caps a tumultuous period for Linden, who was one of three parties named in a lawsuit filed in early May by a former camper at Ramah in the Berkshires, where he had been director since 2016. The camp and Linden told the court in August that they

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had reached a settlement with the former camper, which was finalized last month. The lawsuit alleged that Linden and others overseeing the camp had “acted with deliberate indifference” in the summer of 2018 after the camper alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by a male camper. The lawsuit alleged that Linden did not inform the camper’s family of the assault, and instead pressured her not to tell her parents and involved the police only after her parents learned about the alleged assault. The suit also claimed that Camp Ramah and National Ramah Commission, the organization that oversees all the Ramah camps, was aware of the alleged assault and how it was handled by at least January 2019, and that they allowed Linden to remain in charge. Both groups said in a statement in May that the camp had previously cooperated with law enforcement. Linden was placed on leave one week after the lawsuit was filed, and National Ramah Commission Director Amy Skopp Cooper led Camp Ramah in the Berkshires last summer. On Nov. 1, Susie Charendoff took over as its interim director. The camp told families on Oct. 16 that Linden had resigned, saying, “We wish him all the best and know that we will miss his many talents, his energy and spirit, his warmth, and his passion for Jewish camping.” Linden had worked as a rabbi at Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation in Metairie, Louisiana, and at three other Ramah camps.  JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

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Arthur Rush

Arthur Rush, 87, died on November 4. He grew up in Bayonne and worked in the computer field. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Myrna; their children, Helaine Suserman (Florian), Wendy Kossin (Darin), and Robert (Ayeda); six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Arrangements were by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

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JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 31

ALAN L. MUSI MARTIN D. JEREMY BRU SHERRY BE

Editorial

Opinion

Happy Thanksgiving

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It’s beginning to look like we have a problem

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t’s been a really weird year. Covid is over — except it’s really not over. So many people, including people I know — people who have been extremely careful but let their guards down momentarily, at what turned out to be the wrong moment — got sick with covid again, for the second or third or even fourth time. But — there’s usually a but here — they haven’t gotten nearly as sick as they would have without the vaccine. We’ve had the vaccine for almost two years now, and it’s been miraculous. The midterms are over, with all the loathing and feelings of apocalypse that they brought, but it just means that the 2024 election has begun. That makes me hear Glinda the Good Witch, in her awe-inspiring what-exactly-is-she-wearing black-and-so-very-white costume, telling Dorothy that she’s killed one witch, but the Wicked Witch of the East’s sister, the Witch of the West, is still around, and “she’s worse than the other one was.” There’s nothing like hope, is there? But the thing is, there really still is hope. I think about the cover story this week, the one about Gerry Gersten, the World War II pilot who survived 33 bombing raids over Germany and died at 98. Yes, antisemitism is on the upswing, but not like it was in 1943, when he was drafted. Americans didn’t know what was going on in Europe, what was happening to the Jews, but one of the most concentrated events of pure orchestrated evil in human history was going on there then. It’s not like that now. We have been given room, opportunity, and equality in the United States of America. We have much to be grateful for. I sit writing this now in the golden light of late afternoon in the late fall. (Okay, so late afternoon is not quite 4 o’clock, mid-afternoon six months from now, but whatever.) The light is so beautiful, so pure, that it almost makes me want to cry. Part of the beauty is in the sharpness of its

Jewish Standard 70 Grand Avenue River Edge, NJ 07661 (201) 837-8818 Fax 201-833-4959 Publisher James L. Janoff Associate Publisher Emerita Marcia Garfinkle

shadows, part of it in my knowledge that it won’t last, and part in the accompanying understanding that it will be back tomorrow, just as gold, just as sharp, and just as ephemeral as it is today. I am grateful to the United States for allowing me to appreciate this beauty. I am grateful to it for taking in my grandparents and great-grandparents, and for all the immigrants from all around the world who’ve made their homes and sought their fortunes here. I understand it to be far from perfect — I think about the ships of Jews who were sent back to their deaths during the Holocaust, the children who have been separated from their parents since, the Dreamers who have spent their lives here but legally cannot yet and maybe never will be able to call it home. I am grateful for Thanksgiving, when we can get together with our families and once again giggle and eat and drink and reminisce and talk about almost everything and look at each other in person, not on screen, and gossip about the world together. As we gather our strength for the wearing season of other people’s joy that follows, here is a photo of a carpet store on Main Street in Metuchen. Its owners are Jewish, and if it could have a caption, it would be: “If Jews really did rule the world…” We wish all our readers a happy Thanksgiving weekend. —JP

Editor Joanne Palmer Community Editor Beth Janoff Chananie Our Children Editor Heidi Mae Bratt Copy Editor Jonathan E. Lazarus

thejewishstandard.com 32 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Correspondents Warren Boroson Lois Goldrich Banji Ganchrow Abigail K. Leichman Miriam Rinn Dr. Miryam Z. Wahrman Contributor Larry Yudelson

ith ThanksgivGreetings” or “Happy Holidays” ing behind us, we instead of “Merry Christmas.” should be looking A 2016 survey by the non-profit forward to ChanuPublic Religion Research Institute, kah, but many of us will do so with a for example, asked whether, out of sense of unease because of the ubiqrespect for other faiths, retail busiuitous holiday displays and their nesses of all kinds should rely only musical accompaniment that retailon the neutral greetings. Sixty-seven ers hope will attract shoppers to percent of Republicans said “No,” their stores for what they hope will while 66 percent of Democrats said be a sell-out holiday shopping season “Yes.” (Before the letter writers rush — but not our holiday season. for their keyboards, both Presidents That season began today, known Barack Obama and Donald Trump popularly as Black Friday. Philadelwere known to wish everyone a phia police began calling it that in “Merry Christmas.”) the early 1960s because the “huge While this is the season of discomfort for many of us, there are others crowds [of shoppers] created a headache for the police, who worked lonamong us who have chosen a differger shifts than usual ent route — and that is as they dealt with trafan even greater reafic jams, accidents, son for cringing as this shoplifting, and other season begins. That is issues.” (This quote because these people and more information have adopted an “if are online in www.briyou can’t beat ’em, join tannica.com’s piece, ’em” approach. “It’s “Why is it called black beginning to look a lot Friday?”) like Christmas,” goes Shammai Virtually every the popular seasonal Engelmayer municipality lights up song, but that can now for Christmas as well, be applied to Chanukah, as well, and way probably to entice beyond the strings of blue-and-white shoppers into local stores. These lights that now hang in all too many days, municipalities with significant Jewish windows each year. Jewish populations and even some Lowe’s, for example, sells a metal retailers throw in some Chanukah dreidel with LED lights to put on the decorations, but these are no match lawn that can be seen from 100 yards for the larger displays. away. It costs around $190. Amazon For many of us Jews, these display makes us feel more than a bit offers a cheaper alternative: an outdoor four-foot inflatable dreidel uncomfortable, as if they suggest with built-in LED Lights for around that we somehow do not belong $48. Chanukah wreaths to place on here. This feeling is intensified by the front doors range from around $35 growing “War on Christmas” debate to around $180. There are so many over whether stores and politicians, more such products to be found. especially, should say “Season’s Shammai Engelmayer is a rabbi-emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades and an adult education teacher in Bergen County. He is the author of eight books and the winner of 10 awards for his commentaries. His website is www.shammai.org.

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Founder Morris J. Janoff (1911–1987) Editor Emeritus Meyer Pesin (1901–1989) City Editor Mort Cornin (1915–1984) Editorial Consultant Max Milians (1908-2005) Secretary Ceil Wolf (1914-2008) Editor Emerita Rebecca Kaplan Boroson

Opinion Then, of course, there is the “Chanukah bush,” which may have been the invention of the television and radio pioneer Gertrude Berg (the “Oprah of her day,” according to NPR’s Susan Stamberg). In an episode of her radio show, her character, Molly Goldberg, brings a “Chanukah Bush” into her home to placate her children, who felt like outsiders because everyone else had a Christmas tree. Make no mistake: Such displays are wrong on so many levels, but trying to copy the practices of adherents of other religions tops the list. Judaism has been against “copying the nations” ever since Moses’s time. Of immediate concern to Moses and to God, the Torah’s ultimate author, were the practices of Egypt, which Israel had only just left, and Canaan, the place to which it was headed. The prohibition against following either nation’s practices is stated in Leviticus 18:3. In Leviticus 20:23, which deals only with Canaanite practices, God explains the reason for the prohibition: It is because “I abhorred them.” In Deuteronomy 12:30, Moses adds another reason, the fear that copying some of these practices would lead Israel to adopt all of them. It is possible that what prompted this admonition was the sin of the Golden Calf. Some theories suggest that this abomination was meant to honor the Egyptian goddess Hathor, who was often depicted as a cow (not in the pejorative sense common today). There was a temple dedicated to her in the southwest Sinai Peninsula, along the probable route of the Exodus. According to the prophet Ezekiel, mimicking “the ways of the nations” was among the reasons for the destruction of the First Temple and the subsequent First Exile. (See Ezekiel 11:12.) The biblical prohibition led to a class of laws and regulations usually referred to as “chukat ha’goyim,” or laws and customs of the nations (meaning every nation but our own). The Talmud’s designation is darchei ha’emori, the way of the Amorites, in which the Amorites stand in for everyone else. (See the Babylonian Talmud tractate Shabbat 67a and b for some interesting examples, including a ban on husbands and wives exchanging names.) In brief, any “chukat goyim” that are idolatrous in nature, or are based on superstition that is rooted in idolatrous belief, are banned. (Warding off the evil spirits among the gods was apparently behind the spousal name-switching, which is why that is no longer included in the prohibition.) If a law or custom has nothing to do with religious ritual or worship, most authorities have no problem with mimicking that behavior. The same holds true for superstitions that have no religious underpinnings. Not all authorities agree, however. In the more religiously rigid communities, for example, the mode of dress is deliberately designed not to be similar to the non-Jews, even including an aversion to wearing ties in some communities. At least one clothing concern for most of us may be traced to “chukat goyim”: covering our heads during prayer. It is considered mandatory today (as it always should have been), but it was not always so. In talmudic times, “men sometimes cover their heads and sometimes uncover their heads.” (See BT Nedarim 30b.) Because in those days only the prayer leader

(the “agent of the congregation,” the shaliach tzibbur) did the actual praying, BT Soferim 14:15 required them and the Torah readers to cover their heads so as not to recite God’s name bareheaded. That rule should have been extended to everyone in the congregation once prayer books became common. Yet even as late as the 16th century, when the Shulchan Aruch first appeared, there was no such mandate, although this law code does suggest doing so out of respect for God. (See the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 2:6. It also states there that Jewish men should not walk more than approximately six feet bareheaded, a rule first suggested by the Babylonian sage Rav Huna [see BT Kiddushin 31a.]) “Chukat goyim” enters the picture in the 17th century, precisely because non-Jews prayed while bareheaded. That caused David Halevy Segal (known as the Taz) to make it mandatory to cover our heads during prayer so as not to violate the Torah’s prohibition. (See his Turei Zahav commentary to Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 8:2). Despite his ruling, however, there was still no such mandate even in the 18th century, according to the Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman). In his comment to Orach Chayim 8:2, he said, “there is no prohibition on the uncovered head at all,” and “it is permitted to enter a synagogue [bareheaded] and to pray.” He added, however, that covering our heads is “a good moral practice.” That brings us to the Chanukah-Christmas conundrum. On the one hand, we have a minor Jewish festival that involves only one ritual—the lighting of an eight-branched menorah, or chanukiah. On the other, we have one of the two major observances of Christianity, this one involving the birth of that religion’s titular founder. There is no comparison, except that they both fall out at about the same time in most years. This year, the seventh day of Chanukah occurs on December 25. Among the Christmas traditions, in addition to the heavily decorated tree (itself a probable violation of the “tree of the field” commandment in Deuteronomy 20:19-20), is hanging wreaths on doors and windows; decorating homes with strings of lights and letters that spell “merry Christmas” ( Jews now decorate their homes with cut-outs of dreidels and strings of letters that spell out “Happy Chanukah”); and Christmas lights (for which we now have those “Chanukah lights” mentioned earlier). Let me be clear: Christmas is a religious holiday. Its customs and traditions are meant to enhance it; they are religious in nature and, therefore, covered by the “chukat goyim” prohibition. On the other hand, the Tosefta states that it is permissible to wish a non-Jew a happy holiday, “for the sake of peace.” (See its commentary to Mishnah Avodah Zarah 1:3.) Given the various surveys, though, including the one mentioned above, wishing someone a happy holiday could be viewed as a “war on Christmas” and thus more likely to start an argument. Chanukah is our gift to the world because it brought religious freedom into it. It gave others the right to celebrate their own sacred days as their beliefs dictate. We honor that gift for ourselves when we observe Chanukah as our beliefs dictate.

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 [email protected]

My new hero — Steven Spielberg

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teven Spielberg has always been on my radar since I was an NYU graduate student in cinema studies. Like many of my generation, I still remember sitting in a movie theater, shaken by surprise when the shark suddenly appears in “Jaws.” I can still picture Dr. Jones (Harrison Ford) in “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,” when he didn’t engage with a swordsman — he pulls out his pistol and shoots him instead. Each time I watch “Always,” I get teary-eyed when Peter (Richard Dreyfuss), a dead spirit from beyond, connects his sweetheart Dorinda (Holly Hunter) with a new love to ensure her happiness. And many of Spielberg’s themes resonate with me, especially his emphasis on home. Remember when E.T. wants to phone home in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”? How about when Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) has nowhere to go and sets up home at J.F.K. airport in “The Terminal”? Recall in Eric A. “Munich,” when the MosGoldman sad commander Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) tells one of his operatives (Eric Bana), as they walk along New York City’s East River, to “Go home!” — to go back to Israel. The concept of home is so central to Jewish life! To date, the accomplished Spielberg has produced more than 165 films and directed 58. How remarkable! But for me, he always held a special place because of his comfort as an American Jew, and readiness to create Jewish projects without fear or hesitation. In fact, at age 75, he has made movies that touch on three of the most pressing issues for American Jewry today— the Shoah, Israel, and antisemitism in America. The Shoah: American cinema waited 13 years before truly tackling the Holocaust! Films like “The Young Lions,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and “Judgment at Nuremberg” were released starting no earlier than 1958. Twenty years later, NBC’s miniseries “Holocaust” treated the subject more fully, though some criticized it as too Hollywood-like. When Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” was produced in 1993, it exposed the world to a more realistic, raw look at the Shoah. Spielberg easily could have continued making lucrative pictures, but instead he was committed to telling this story. Equally important, he funneled the film’s profits toward the establishment of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, now called the USC Shoah Foundation. No less than 55,000 survivors SEE SPIELBERG PAGE 34

Eric A. Goldman of Teaneck is host of “Jewish Cinematheque,” televised and streamed on the Jewish Broadcasting Service (jbstv.org). He is the author of “The America Jewish Story through Cinema” and an adjunct professor at Yeshiva University. JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 33

Opinion

The Palestinian Authority is falling apart Is Israel paying enough attention?

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he beautiful beaches of Israel’s Mediterranean and the bustling streets of Tel Aviv belie the dark clouds of a brewing storm just a few miles away in the Palestinian territories. Terrorism and hostilities there have risen sharply over the past year. Palestinians have killed 24 Israeli citizens and soldiers so far in 2022. In response, Israeli security forces have conducted operations in the West Bank that have killed more than 100 Palestinians, including five women and 24 minors. In the city of Nablus, the Israeli military recently raided a newly formed militant Palestinian group called the Lion’s Den, which has claimed credit for several recent attacks that killed Israeli soldiers. The raid resulted in 26 Lion’s Den members wounded and five dead, including one of the group’s leaders. Last month, during my latest visit Raphael to Israel, an Israeli military unit intercepted a group of Palestinians crossBenaroya ing illegally into Israel, and an Israeli commander was killed in the clash. Israeli security forces also thwarted several other hostile Palestinian acts in mixed Arab-Jewish cities inside Israel. Interestingly, the consensus of local security analysts was that most of the recent clashes in Israel and the West Bank were grassroots actions led by young Palestinians, not organized events led by known Islamist organizations. Nevertheless, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are sure to benefit from the sharp rise of tensions and overt hostilities. As a result, it seems likely that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority may soon find it difficult to control future escalations of violence. Two underlying conditions have led to the current situation. First, the PA has lost control over large sections of the Palestinian territories, and the PA’s leadership, headed by Mohammad Abbas, has lost credibility with many Palestinians, especially younger generations. Second, with Israel heading into a fifth national election in less than four years, political leaders were

Spielberg

preoccupied with garnering votes and left Israel’s security forces to deal with the most recent Palestinian conflict by themselves. To elaborate on these points more specifically: • Abbas and the PA have failed to establish law and order in, and essentially lost control over, large population centers in the West Bank, including Jenin, Nablus, and Hebron. • There are indications that elements of the PA security forces are fomenting hostility toward their leaders and lack motivation to perform their jobs. • The Fatah movement has split into three factions, only one of which is fully controlled by Abbas. • Hamas and the Islamic Jihad oppose Abbas; they want to usurp the PA’s influence throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. • PA government institutions are dysfunctional, the PA parliament is ineffective, the PA’s budget does not adequately address the needs of Palestinians, and corruption within the PA is rampant. • The weakness of the PA and the uncertainty of its future leadership (Abbas is 87 years old) present an opportunity for extreme Islamist elements. No Palestinian leadership vacuum will last long. Accordingly, Israel better pay attention not just to its security forces, which are already fully engaged, but also to its political arm. • Israel has often relied on its security forces to defend itself, but the military is just one of four pillars that support national security, along with a healthy economy, effective foreign relations, and the quality of national institutions. Addressing the risk posed by Palestinian unrest requires all four pillars. Weakness in the quality of political institutions in particular is bound to risk cracking Israel’s national security structure. • Benjamin Netanyahu and other political leaders were absorbed in a bitter contentious process prior to the election and he now tries to pull together a governing coalition. Israel’s security forces have been bearing

the burden of handling the Palestinian hostilities. • Naturally, military leaders tend to view force as an appropriate and viable solution. But when force is applied to suppress hostilities, the reaction tends to be increased violence…which spurs an even stronger application of force…which leads to a vicious cycle of deadly conflict escalation. The stakes for both Israel and the PA are high — and growing. Israel can neither allow nor afford another Gaza to its east. No country can maintain peace when hostile actors, under dysfunctional governance, foment violence a stone’s throw from that country’s largest cities. So what is Israel to do? Israel must augment the use of force with long-term, political, strategic thinking. To address Palestinian unrest, Israel’s civilian political echelon must play a key role in developing and directing priorities, resources, and strategy for national security, working closely with the country’s security arm. When the political echelon is distracted, or missing from the table entirely, no quality bilateral discussion occurs, no civilian wisdom is applied, and security is potentially compromised. We should all hope that the just-concluded Israeli election produces a stable, strong, and functional government that lasts years (not the recent average of seven months). That Israeli government should engage in the current Palestinian conflict with greater foresight — to enable the PA to establish credible leadership, effective Palestinian social and economic institutions, and the PA’s own strong internal security force. Shoring up the leadership, effective governance, and security power of one of Israel’s chief adversaries may seem counterintuitive — but that’s what Israel’s newly elected government should do, sooner rather than later. Doing so will improve the security of both Israelis and the Palestinian people. Raphael. Benaroya of Englewood is an American businessman and philanthropist who has been active in national security matters for over 30 years.

filmmakers who are supportive of Israel have been criticized for making films showing the and witnesses recorded their testimony for that challenges facing the country. Spielberg, too, foundation. was vilified when creating his 2005 “Munich,” Israel: You would think that the story of because he portrayed both good Israelis and Israel would warrant the production of many good Palestinians in the film. Always a lover movies. In fact, very few have been made in and supporter of Israel, he stood firm in noting the United States, largely because the subject what he believed his movie required. Although has always been too contentious. When Leon he understood the risk of exposing Israel’s Uris wrote “Exodus,” the Hollywood studio flaws on the screen, he ignored the criticism, that owned the screen rights refused to make it; especially because of his deep commitment to only when Otto Preminger bought those rights the Jewish state. Paul Dano, Mateo Zoryna Francis-Deford and Michelle Williams Antisemitism: Now the septuagenarian finally was the film made. After “Cast a Giant Shadow,” are “The Fabelmans.” 2022 UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT has chosen to tell his own story in the semi-auwith stars like Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, tobiographical movie “The Fabelmans.” The Frank Sinatra, and Yul Brynner, lost money protagonist is a teenaged American Jew who had never for its investors, producer/director Melville Shavelson Over the years, it became increasingly problematic experienced antisemitism until he moves to the west advised future filmmakers, “Stay out of Israel — even to make a film about Israel. There has been pressure to coast. This film deals with Spielberg’s complex family if you’re Jewish!” represent Israel in only a positive light. Indeed, several FROM PAGE 33

34 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Opinion

Will the tail wag the dog in Bibi’s government?

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90

YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90

ith the Israeli and our own midterm elections behind us, it became apparent how differently American Jews and Israelis vote. Depending on what poll you read, American Jews voted between two-thirds to 75% for Democrats, and more than 60% of Israelis identify with rightleaning parties. But this year the disparity in political sensibilities were widened with the rise of the Religious Zionist coalition led by the ultranationalists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Although their rhetoric has moderated in their pursuit of ministerial positions in the Netanyahu government, we should be concerned Itamar Ben-Gvir and right-wing activists protest in Jerusalem on March 29, 2022. Bezalel Smotrich in 2015. about their calls for changing the Law of Return, annexation, eroding the power forged compromises leading to reforms in of the judiciary, and giving a freer hand immigration and Social Security are replaced to the police in quelling riots. Their coalition is now the third largwith the vitriol spewed daily by partisans on est party and is leveraging as much both sides, with election deniers running for pull as possible to secure its share of statewide office throughout the land. Should power. Nevertheless, only 11% of Israewe ask if we should still support America? lis voted for it, in contrast to the 41% Similarly, on the pages of the Jewish Standard, an author equated any potential Israeli French citizens who voted for the Max L. annexation with Russia’s annexation of Crimea ultranationalist Marine Pen in the last and the Donbas region. Israel conquered this French election. Kleinman territory as a result of Jordanian attacks, while The rise of the Religious Zionists can Russia’s annexation was as a result of its brutal be attributed to concerns about security after the recent riots by Israeli Arabs, the spate invasion, killing tens of thousands. You may disagree Benjamin Netanyahu looks happy the morning of terrorist killings of more than two dozen people in on the disposition of the territories, but the facts speak after the Israeli general elections, Nov. 2, 2022. recent months, and the collapse of the more moderate loudly about how Israel acquired it. Yamina party, formerly led by Naftali Bennet. Netanyahu has said all the right things after his elecWhile there should be concern about how much influmost Jews living outside Israel. As it celebrates its 75th tion. “The elections are over and, as the dust of discord ence the Religious Zionists will have on the new governbirthday, Israel must remember the dangerous disunity between the political camps settles, we must come out ment, some of the reaction from the United States has sown when there was an attempt to change the Law of of the trenches and work together,” he declared. been near hysterical. It is led by Tom Friedman of the Return during its jubilee year. This is the right message, similar to President Biden’s New York Times, who declared that the Israel he knew As Israel seeks to enlarge the Abraham Accords on his inauguration. But will he deliver? was gone; he questioned whether people would quesbeyond its four Arab members, annexation must be Seizing and retaining power has been Bibi’s mantra tion their support of Israel. This came even before the off the table. Netanyahu, in probably his last term of throughout his career. This zeal for control led to his new government was formed and its guiding platform office, seeks an enduring legacy. Bringing Saudi Arabia reneging on the compromise on the Kotel fostered by was finalized. Well, the America I know is also gone. The into the Accords would mark perhaps the greatest dipNatan Sharansky to appease the ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition. He also backed out of his promise lomatic coup of any prime minister. This quest hopedays when President Reagan and Speaker Tip O’Neill fully will help him to protect this guardrail. to rotate the premiership with Benny Ganz. This sense As Iran races for a nuclear bomb and tests its misof anyone but Bibi led to the last shaky government, siles’ efficacy on the Ukrainian civilian population, consisting of the far right and left and an Islamist party, Israel and the United States must be on the same page that lasted barely a year. dynamics while also evoking his sense of otheron confronting this existential threat for Israel. And But there’s another side to Bibi. He’s a true secular ness. Leaving his protected bubble in New Jersey American Jewry, as a member of K’lal Yisrael, also is conservative, who governs cautiously and has been and Arizona, the youth finds himself bullied in a strategic asset for Israel. We must ensure good comon the left flank of Likud, reining in radical calls from munication and avoid surprises that will upset the equinorthern California, simply because he’s Jewish. his right. As Michal Koplow wrote: “As prime minister, librium of the U.S./Israeli partnership and of Israel’s In these last several years, many of us who have he avoided major wars, pursued Gaza ceasefires and relationship with American Jewry. not encountered antisemitism are facing a new backroom deals to keep Hamas sated and the territory The months ahead will help determine whether the America. Spielberg sets his evocative fable up on quiet, did not annex West Bank territory or retroactively legalize illegal outposts despite a clamor in his tail of the Religious Zionists will wag the Netanyahu the screen so that all Americans and spectators party and coalition to do both.” As finance minister, government. Or will Bibi have his sights on his legacy around the world can be made aware of how that he unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit by lifting the and lead despite the slings and arrows he may encounintolerance feels. ter along the way? heavy shackles of an overbearing state-run economy The growing atmosphere of bigotry and hate in Let’s hope it’s the latter. in the 1990s. this country compelled this master filmmaker to There are some critical issues that will arise where make a statement in the medium that he knows so Max Kleinman of Fairfield was the CEO of the Jewish Bibi must protect the guardrails. well. The Steven Spielberg I have come to know, Federation of Greater MetroWest from 1995 to 2014. The Law of Return, the first legislation passed by the and whose work I largely adore, is a proud Jew, He is the president of the Fifth Commandment first Knesset, must be protected. This is the most tangiready to take on issues of import for himself and ble reminder that the State of Israel is there for the DiasFoundation and consultant for the Jewish Community for American Jewry. I am so inspired by what he pora. Israel must respect the religious identification of Legacy Project. has done. He justly is my new hero. JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 35

Opinion

There was that dream

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hen the dream abruptly ended, as dreams do, already I had planned the entire menu. Our four bubbies were coming for dinner. Since all of them had long since moved on to Olam HaBa, this was to be a special meal, a truly amazing, untrue, and unbelievable event. My own two grandmothers were going to break bread with my husband’s. What a feast it would be. And we would have much to talk about. Certainly they would have wanted to hear about their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. We could boast to an audience who would really kvell! And they did! Then they would want to know about life in America in the year 2022. After all, these ladies all had escaped Poland to come to the Goldena Medina, long before the Shoah. They were proud of their decisions even though they would all remember how difficult it had been to leave so many loved ones behind. We told them that America has been a troubled place in recent years. We told them about a despot named Donald Rosanne Trump, and we shared his criminal past Skopp and present. We had just learned that he was planning to run for president yet again. Not many Jews will support him, but the bubbies wanted to understand how any could. They were sympathetic, as only those who have lived in fear can be. Once the group had assembled for the meal, all of the table-talk was in Yiddish. I could understand most of it (after all, it was my dream). And the planning and cooking also were entirely mine. All four of them gazed at the kitchen, inquiring about the many unknowns, like the microwave, the air fryer, the food processor, the dishwasher, and any number of other totally modern inventions. They never before had known aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or Ziploc bags. Electric toaster ovens were simply miraculous. And the freezer. Ah, the freezer! Part of that newfangled refrigerator. Where was the huge chunk of ice anyway? The oven that cleaned itself. The electric hot tray, so useful for Shabbat. And the instant hot water. Wow! They especially loved the garbage disposer, speedily evicting all the peels from the sink. I heard repeated questions, framed thusly: Vas is dus? The sous-vide was a real conversation starter. They refused to believe that I could put a tough piece of meat into a pot of water and cook it low and slow for many hours and deliver a tender, rare piece of beef. I still can’t believe it myself. I knew I had to impress a fabled group of remarkably accomplished cooks. Each of our parents often had commented on the brilliant cooking skills of their own mothers. No one came from a home where the mama couldn’t cook. Not a one! I had to make this special meal perfect. I tried. Believe me I tried. It’s fair to say that I mostly failed. Had my dream turned into a nightmare after all? Maybe. I took out the good dishes. Every Jewish home

has many sets of dishes, and flatware, and all the accouterments. We started with that most popular Jewish food, loved by almost all members of the tribe, sushi. Perched on the middle of the table were beautifully plattered chunks of salmon and avocado, surrounded by rice and seaweed, and rolled into an enticing circle that was sliced and served with a nice kosher teriyaki sauce, not made from chicken bones like the treif sauce. We had all the garnishes plus the chopsticks. The wasabi was in an artistically contrived flower shape, looking tempting and tasting sharp. The ginger accompaniment was tangy and delicious. This first course was entirely pareve, and so appetizing to my husband and me, but I didn’t have to bother. We two, their grandchildren, already in our 80s, were the only takers. Those bubbies were just not into it. The Big Bubbie exclaimed she could never eat raw fish. Never! She, all five feet of her, had been a proficient gefilte-fish maker. Every Pesach she cooked endless seder meals that always started with gefilte fish, which always started with pike swimming around, very much alive, in her bathtub. So she had no aversion to raw fish, just to its consumption. She was entirely capable of slaughtering the creatures splashing around in the tub and then chopping them up, like a character in a horror movie. But she wouldn’t eat them raw. Sushi was not to be her friend. Clearing away the uneaten sushi. I was ready to serve the next course, chicken soup. I put the container of crispy croutons on the table and they wondered what they were, without getting too excited. They knew mandlen very well but this new iteration stumped them. Never mind. They did taste good. They asked how I prepared the soup. I showed them a package of frozen chicken thighs, stored in the freezer. Oy, Tevya, it is a new world! That’s chicken? Where are the feathers? Where is the alarming hanging head? Where are the feet? So good in soup! And where is the body, encasing the giblets, which are nowhere to be found? A chicken without the pupik? Are you kidding? And where are the eggs, those golden globes of utter deliciousness, the eggs that were always worthy of a good fight to decide which lucky family member would get to savor one? And why is the chicken so frozen? That just cannot be chicken! The bubbies clucked for a while about the chicken, while agreeing to taste the soup. I must admit that in my opinion, chicken soup is not as good as it used to be. The chickens of today may have lost their feathers and head and giblets and feet, but they’ve also lost their taste. I throw lots of stuff into the water, all sorts of vegetables, including a sweet potato that my mother always recommended, lots of chicken, an assortment of salt, pepper, and other spices and flavoring agents. Finally, after a few hours, I taste it. I am always disappointed. After all that parsing and peeling and poaching and patchkaing, it tastes like warm water. OK. Hot water.

www.thejewishstandard.com 36 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

My mother’s soup always tasted of chicken. It was luxurious and rich and coated with just the right amount of fat globules. It was inviting and very very delicious. And the bubbies, of course, were all famed for their own simply outstanding chicken broth. Here, bubbies, is mine, a bowl of hot water with some chunky carrots. Sprinkle in your croutons and wonder why the soup tastes so tasteless The bubbies are unimpressed with my soup. It has everything they remember putting into their own more succulent soup, except the missing ingredient, chickeny taste I proceed to the next course. This is a delicious roast, made in the sous-vide machine, tender, rare, and cooked to perfection. At last I have shown them my mettle. They love the tasty beef. They simply can’t get enough of it. I rejoice. The salad is a nice side, but they are not sure what to make of the mixed vegetables that I zap in the microwave. Ready so soon? Really cooked? For a starch, I go all out with a crispy, well-done potato kugel, which is something they recognize immediately. It looks and tastes just like their own. This finally is home. No need to tell them that I’ve avoided shedding any blood while preparing the kugel. No grater came near me. The trusted food processor does an impressive job. I even leave the potato peels on.

Then they would want to know about life in America in the year 2022. After all, these ladies all had escaped Poland to come to the Goldena Medina, long before the Shoah. Of course I’ve made a nice bread to consume with the meal, in my well used bread machine. I show them how it kneads the bread dough, and this really floors them. Could it be used for challah, they inquire. Of course. It kneads whatever you need, I explain! The meal ends before dessert, as I wake up at dawn and am instantly transported to 2022. The real balabustas are gone again. Hopefully they’ll soon return. And hopefully the political chat will turn out to be nothing more than a nightmare that will disappear when I am awake! Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of three. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was!

Opinion

The exhausting, never-ending job of debunking antisemitic conspiracy theories

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few days after the comedian Dave Chappelle appeared to justify the never-ending appeal of Jewish conspiracy theories, this sentence appeared in the New York Times: “Bankman-Fried is already drawing comparisons to Bernie Madoff.” I’ll explain: Sam Bankman-Fried is the 30-year-old founder of FTX, the crypto-currency exchange that vaporized overnight, leaving more than 1 million creditors on the hook. Bernie Madoff, is, of course, Bernie Madoff, the financier who defrauded thousands of investors through a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme and then died in prison. It’s a fair comparison, as a former regulator tells CNN: “Bankman-Fried, like Madoff, proved A scene from “The Conspiracy,” a film by Maxim Pozdorovkin.  adept at using his pedigree and connections to seduce sophisticated investors and regulators into missing it might cause to the actual targets of ‘red flags,’ hiding in plain sight.” the conspiracies. Instead, he focuses Nevertheless, seeing these Jewish figon the threat such ideas pose to the ures lumped together, I braced myself for careers and reputations of entertainers the inevitable: Nasty tweets about Jews and like him and West. The “delusion that money. Slander from white supremacists. Jews run show business is not a crazy Plausibly deniable chin-scratching from more thing to think,” Chappelle said, but “it’s mainstream commentators. a crazy thing to say out loud.” He ends What comes next is a familiar script: Jewthe routine by ominously invoking the Andrew ish defense groups issue statements saying “they” who might end his career. Silow-Carroll conspiracy theories traffic in centuries-old That’s what critics meant when they antisemitic tropes and pose a danger to the said Chappelle normalized antisemitism. He described where it’s coming from, explained Jews. Jewish news outlets like ours post explainers why his peers might feel that way, and criticized it only describing how these myths take hold. to the degree that it could lead its purveyors to be canIt’s exhausting, having to deny the obvious: that a celled. It’s like saying, “You don’t have to vaccinate group of people who don’t even agree on what kind of your kids. Just don’t tell anybody.” starch to eat on Passover regularly scheme to bilk innocents, manipulate markets, or control the world. And it This week I worked with a colleague on an article often seems that the very attempts to explain these lies about how the “Jews control Hollywood” myth took and their popularity ends up feeding the beast. hold, and at each step of the way I wondered if we Chappelle’s now notorious monologue on “Saturwere stoking the fire we were trying to put out. No, day Night Live” is a case in point. At first pass, it is a Jews don’t control Hollywood, we reported, but “nearly characteristically mischievous attempt both to mock every major movie studio was founded in the early 20th the rapper Kanye West for his antisemitism, and to century” by a Jew. Those moguls rarely used the movies push boundaries to explain why a troubled Black as a platform to defend Jewish interests, but per Steven entertainer might feel aggrieved in an industry with Spielberg, “Being Jewish in Hollywood is like wanting to a historic over-representation of Jews. Jon Stewart be in the popular circle.” certainly heard it that way, telling Stephen Colbert, A documentary shown Thursday night at the DOC “Look at it from a Black perspective. It’s a culture that NYC festival here in New York teeters on the edge of feels that its wealth has been extracted by different the same trap. “The Conspiracy,” directed by the Russian-American filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin and nargroups. That’s the feeling in that community, and if rated by Mayim Bialik, uses 3-D animation to explain you don’t understand where it’s coming from, then how conspiracists ranging from a 19th-century French you can’t deal with it.” That is a useful message, but consider the messenpriest to American industrialist Henry Ford placed ger. Chappelle appears to disapprove of West’s conthree Jews — German financier Max Warburg, Russian spiracy-mongering, but never once discusses the harm revolutionary Leon Trotsky, and falsely accused French soldier Alfred Dreyfus — at the center of a vast, conAndrew Silow-Carroll of Teaneck is the editor in chief of tradictory, and preposterous scheme to take over the the New York Jewish Week and senior editor of the Jewish world. It connects age-old Christian animosity toward Telegraphic Agency. He is the former editor in chief and the Jews to centuries of antisemitic paranoia and fearmongering that led to unspeakable violence at Kishinev, CEO of the New Jersey Jewish News.

Auschwitz, and Pittsburgh. “This myth has plagued the world for centuries,” Pozdorovkin explains. Or at least that’s the message you and I might have gotten. But I can also see someone stumbling on this film and being seduced by the rage and cynicism of the conspiracy-mongers — who, I should note, are quoted at length. Part of the problem is the film’s aesthetic: a consistently dark palette and a camera that lingers on ugly examples of antisemitic propaganda. Even though these images are seen on a creepy conspiracy wall and connected with that red thread familiar from cop shows THIRD PARTY FILMS/DOC NYC and horror films, I can well imagine an uninformed viewer asking why members of this tiny minority seem to be at the center of so many major events of the 19th and 20th centuries. I was reminded of a joke by the Jewish comedian Modi, ridiculing the ritual of inviting celebrities accused of antisemitism to visit a Holocaust museum. “Which is the stupidest idea, ever,” he says. “You’re taking someone who hates Jews into a Holocaust museum. They come out of there [saying] ‘Wow! Oh my God, that was amazing! I want a T-shirt!’” The poet and essayist Clint Smith, whose cover story in next month’s Atlantic explores the meanings of Holocaust museums in Germany, makes a similar point. After visiting the museum in Wannsee documenting the infamous meeting in which the Nazis plotted the Final Solution, he wonders: “Might someone come to a museum like this and be inspired by what they saw?” The makers of “The Conspiracy” (oy, that title) obviously intend the very opposite. In an interview with the Forward, Pozdorovkin agrees with the interviewer’s suggestion that those “who most need to see this film might be the least likely to be convinced by it.” “My hope is that this film has a trickle-down effect,” he explains. The fault lies not with those who seek to expose antisemitism but with a society that relies on the victims to explain why they shouldn’t be victimized. As many have pointed out, antisemitism isn’t a Jewish problem; it’s a problem for the individuals and societies who pin their unhappiness and neuroses on a convenient scapegoat. Ultra-nationalism and intolerance are the soil in which conspiracies take root. But as long as scapegoating remains popular and deadly, the victims have to keep explaining and explaining the obvious — that, for instance, the fact that Sam Bankman-Fried and Bernie Madoff are Jewish is no more significant than the fact that Henry Ford and Elon Musk, two people who founded car companies, are gentiles. The question is, who is listening? JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022 37

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Noteworthy

be trying, and locating appropriate Filling a critical need for English-language English-speaking practitioners can add mental health services in Israel, Yeshiva University, together with Amudim Israel, opened layers of complexity. Recognizing the challenges faced by the Jerusalem Therapy Center in late October. English-speakers in Israel, in May, WurzThe center offers affordable, quality mental weiler cosponsored a Mental Health Expo health care for English speakers, gap-year students, and Israelis, an essential service during in Jerusalem, which drew over 1,500 participants — just one of many catalysts for the lockdowns and stresses caused by the coviod-19 pandemic and other factors. opening the Jerusalem Therapy Center. The center is being run in partnership Nechama Munk “Our community is in real need of with YU’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work mental health services,” said Nechama and Amudim Israel, a social services organization Munk, director of YU’s Wurzweiler School of Social serving individuals and families affected by trauma, Work Israel Program. “One of our basic values is to addiction, and other mental health-related issues and help those in need, and the center will be here to is staffed by Wurzweiler graduate students, recent offer relief and hope. Getting good, affordable treatment is challenging for all Israelis, and even more so graduates, and other professionals. when your mother tongue isn’t Hebrew.” “Wurzweiler is unique in its ability to both educate Studies have shown that anxiety and depression the next generation of mental health professionals have increased by 25 percent since the onset of the and provide much-needed and high-level services to pandemic. Munk said the pandemic was responsiour community in Israel,” said Dr. Selma Botman, YU ble for exacerbating existing mental health issues. provost and vice president for academic affairs. “As a “When everything was shut down, the people who world-renowned institution, YU is proud to provide were lonely were much lonelier, and the people who exceptional training, support, and expertise to the were depressed became more depressed.” people of Israel.” The center will also create English-speaking clinThe center will also serve other often overlooked ical fieldwork placement for Wurzweiler graduate individuals who may suffer alone with mental health students and will provide training and enrichment challenges: soldiers struggling with PTSD and those seminars for gap-year administrators, educators, who make aliyah and find the financial, cultural, and directors, and therapists. psychological stress overwhelming. The center is at 3 Strauss Street in Jerusalem; For many in Israel’s English-speaking community, for information, email [email protected] or call dealing with mental health issues can be complicated and confusing. Diagnosis and treatment can 02-380-3060.

Valley Hospital first to use SAPIEN 3 heart valve The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood has become the first center in the tristate area to utilize the Edwards Lifesciences SAPIEN 3 Ultra RESILIA Tr a n s c a t h e t e r He a r t Valve, which is designed to improve patient outcomes during a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure. A TAVR procedure is a At Valley Hospital are, from left, Andrea Rein, APN; Francie Kline, Edwards Lifesciences; Rajiv Tayal, MD; Adrienne Lynch, Edwards minimally invasive proceLifesciences; Habib Jabagi, MD; and Hussein Rahim, MD. dure used to replace the aortic valve in patients said Rajiv Tayal, MD, director of the Valley Hospiwith severe aortic stenosis — a narrowing of the aortic valve opening. During the procedure, structural tal’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Structural Heart Program. “We were fortunate enough interventionalists and a cardiac surgeon replace the to receive a limited release of the SAPIEN 3 Ultra diseased valve with a bioprosthetic valve. RESILIA valve for use at our institution, which we Studies have shown that while successful, bioprosthetic valves can deteriorate over time as a result of successfully implanted. “The anti-calcification design will significantly calcium buildup. To improve the average lifespan of a improve the lifespan of the valves we are implanting bioprosthetic valve, Edwards developed the SAPIEN during TAVR procedures, in turn prolonging, if not 3 Ultra RESILIA valve, which incorporates the existing SAPIEN 3 Ultra transcatheter aortic heart valve eliminating, the need for future reintervention. This with RESILIA tissue technology. RESILIA tissue is is especially important for our younger TAVR patients treated with advanced anti-calcification technology, who can now receive a valve replacement that will last which has the potential to improve the valve’s durathem throughout the years, without experiencing detebility and lifespan. rioration or the need for reintervention,” said Tayal. To learn more, go to ValleyHealth.com/TAVR. “At Valley, we look to stay ahead of the curve by offering our patients the latest treatment options,” 40 JEWISH STANDARD NOVEMBER 25, 2022

COURTESY HOLY NAME/CHRIS MARKSBURY

YU launches mental health therapy center in Israel

Holy Name Medical Center’s Breast Center patients enjoy the event marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Holy Name’s Breast Cancer Awareness event Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck closed out Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Oct. 28 by bringing smiles (and treats) to its Breast Center patients. Along with several “surprises and delights” there was live music, “think pink” goody bags, pet therapy, and pink roses. The event reinforced the importance of regular breast care. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The good news is that the death rate has been declining over the last decade, most likely due to earlier detection through screening and increased awareness, as well as improved treatment. Holy Name’s Breast Center is certified by the American College of Radiology and has earned the designation “Breast Center of Excellence.” It offers the latest generation in screening and diagnostic technology, including 3D mammography, focusing on patient care, safety, and privacy, and meeting breast care needs at one location. A board-certified staff of radiologists, registered nurses, and breast imaging technologists offer comprehensive services with efficiency and sensitivity.

Englewood Health gets an ‘A’ for safety Englewood Health received an “A” Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade for fall 2022. This national distinction recognizes the hospital’s achievements in patient safety and marks its 19th “A” rating since 2012. “We are honored to receive an ‘A’ rating from the Leapfrog Group,” said Kathleen Kaminsky, MS, RN, NE-BC, senior vice president, patient care services, and chief nursing officer at Englewood Health. “This grade reflects the commitment of our entire healthcare team to prioritizing patient safety.” “We’re proud to see our team’s dedication to ensuring patient safety recognized once again by the Leapfrog Group,” says Tina Bloemer, RN, MSN, CPHQ, CPHRM, FASHRM, vice president for quality at Englewood Health. “I applaud the hospital leadership and workforce for their strong commitment to safety and transparency,” said Leah Binder, Leapfrog president and CEO. “An ‘A’ safety grade is a sign that hospitals are continuously evaluating their performance so that they can best protect patients.” To see Englewood Health’s full grade details and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org. For information, go to englewoodhealth.org.

Basemen Constru

Real Estate DEAR MONTY

The pros and cons of a home sale contingency RICHARD MONTGOMERY Dear Monty: Our home just went up for sale 10 days ago. We have had two showings. We just received an offer for our asking price, which is acceptable. We are hesitating because the buyer has a home to sell. We asked our agent about the buyer’s home, but the offer came from another company. Our agent had no information about the house. What is your opinion on the best way to proceed? Monty’s Answer: My experience has been that a buyer with a “selling current home” contingency has failed more often than other contingencies. Further, a primary cause is a buyer who justifies the purchase of the new home with an unrealistic expectation of their old home’s value. One could interpret the buyer’s actions like this: “Yes, I will pay $350k for your home if I can get $240k for my $200k house.”

Considerations in accepting a home sale contingency

Market conditions: A sellers’ market, a buyers’ market, and a balanced market are the contenders. The conditions in a hyperlocal market are far more sensitive and can change quickly with few transactions. Both parties need data on homes sold and competing homes in both neighborhoods to make informed decisions. The competition: The primary factor with competition is market absorption rates. If a defined market has 15 homes for sale between $300k and $350k, and that market is experiencing two sales a month at that price point, it may take over a year for those homes to sell. The reverse would be true if two homes were for sale and the market absorbed two a month. You need to know how many similar homes are for sale and how many the neighborhood

A GREENER VIEW

JEFF RUGG

Scale Insect Problem Q: My wife brought in a couple of branches of colorful leaves off a red maple. They were the first to have fall color and they worked very well in a flower arrangement. Upon close inspection we realized they were covered in scale insects. That led to some investigating, and we found scale insects on a palm, a cycad and some other houseplants. What is the best way to kill them and stop the spread? A: If a tree branch gets fall color weeks before the rest of the tree, look to see if it has some kind of insect or disease problem. In your case it was scale insects, and other branches that you didn’t prune probably have some. Scale insects are often very hard to treat. The adult female stays in one spot attached to a plant, protected underneath a waxy scale material that is impervious to water and most treatments. Insecticidal soap seems to work well against them, but you must be able to find them all. They tend to hide in

market absorbs per month. Home condition: Homes are either brand new, like new, in good condition, below average or in poor condition. If a home sale contingent is part of an offer, you want to see evidence of what kind of condition the home is in and at what offering price. Buyer motivation: Homebuyers often have motivations that affect what they will pay for a home. A home will be worth X to one buyer and Y to another. There is no one price for any home. Suppose the motivation is subject to receiving an above-market price without a written sliding reduction scale built into the listing. In that case, this reduces the chances of closing. Ask your buyer about their selling strategy. Seller motivation: Like homebuyers, home sellers have the same data available for their homes. If the data suggests your home is over premium, that can affect your buyer’s pricing strategy. Your home is fresh on the market. Here is an article about seller strategies that you may find helpful.

for the seller to continue marketing with a “trigger” clause, it strengthens the chances for both parties. The trigger clause gives the contingent buyer 24 to 48 hours to eliminate the contingency. With the information written above, both parties can make informed decisions. COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM  Richard Montgomery is the author of “House Money: An Insider’s Secrets to Saving Thousands When You Buy or Sell a Home.” He advocates industry reform and offers readers unbiased real estate advice. Follow him on Twitter at @ dearmonty, or at DearMonty.com.

Happy Thanksgiving

The pros and cons of a home sale contingency

Pros: Researched and implemented correctly, it can lead to a successful sale. Cons: Absent the above data, a seller can lose a buyer with no home to sell and considerably extended market time. When a well-drafted contingency contains the right

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Real Estate tight spots in the joints where leaves attach to the stem, between leaf veins under the leaf or in cracks in the bark. For a few weeks (usually in the spring) there will be males and females with wings that move to other plants. It is unlikely that the scale insects on the branches in the flower arrangement moved to your houseplants. The palm, cycad, other houseplants and landscape plants probably had scale insects all summer. The juvenile-stage insect is called a crawler. It moves around the plant until it finds a suitable hiding spot to settle down into. Crawlers don’t have the protection of a scale, so they are easier to attack with more normal contact insecticides or insecticidal soap. Both stages are small and difficult to treat. It is often better to treat the whole plant. Horticultural oil sprays can be used to coat the plant and to smother the eggs, crawlers and adults. Some oils can only be applied when the plant is dormant so follow the label directions to not harm the plant. Large outdoor plants are sometimes hard to coat completely, and indoor

plants will need to be moved outside for a full treatment. Systemic insecticides are probably the most useful products to use on scale insects. They are soaked up into the plant and kill insects that are feeding on the plant. Scale insects suck plant sap, so they ingest the insecticide. All other insects not feeding on the plants are left alone, including any predators or parasites of the scale, so it is a friendlier approach to the environment. All these treatments — insecticidal soaps, insecticides, horticultural oils and systemic insecticides — are known to kill and harm plants if the directions are not followed. Palms, cycads and other largeleafed tropical plants that are used as landscape plants in warm climates and houseplants in the north are often very sensitive to chemicals. The first thing to do is to look on any product’s label to see if the plant needing treatment is listed and if the pest is listed. The next thing to do is to test the product on a leaf or two to see what happens. I remember not testing insecticidal soap on a poinsettia and I sprayed the whole plant.

Overnight, every leaf on the plant dried up like three-week-old toast — not that I know how dry three-weekold toast is. If I had just tested the spray on one leaf, I could have saved the plant. The scale insect population tends to stop growing in winter and grows rapidly in the spring on outdoor plants. Indoors, the population may continue growing all winter, but not so rapidly that you can’t do some testing and some continuing treatments. Don’t try to kill them all off at once or expect miraculous cures; just start treating and keep at it, and you will eventually win. If you have the time and patience, you can start the systemic treatment and then hand-wipe each plant with

horticultural oil or rubbing alcohol (after testing of course) to reduce the visible population of scale to a manageable level that will die off over time with the systemic application. You will also wipe off any dead scales, which is a good thing since dead scales don’t fall off the plant on their own and can make you think that the plant is still infested with scale. COPYRIGHT 2022 JEFF RUGG DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS

Email questions to Jeff Rugg at info@ greenerview.com. To �ind out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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