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INSIDE THIS ISSUEJews in Harlem

Harlem is undergoing a Jewish renaissance a century after its original Jewish heyday.

Stories on pages 6-7

Dutch diary A Dutch survivor’s diary is being called an Anne Frank story with a “happy” ending.

Story on page 12

UNESCO uproar A UNESCO resolution ignores any Jewish or Christian ties to the Temple Mount and Kotel complex.

Story on page 5

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VOLUME IX, NUMBER 20

SPOTLIGHT

NEWS ANALYSISBY ALEX TRAIMANJNS.org

JERUSALEM – A newly approved plan to build 98 homes in the Shiloh Valley in northern Samaria has renewed longstanding tensions between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of West Bank settlement construction.

Both the U.S. State Department and the White House have issued statements strongly condemning the plan – continu-ing a pattern of condemnations whenever Israel announces plans builds homes in territories captured from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War. These territories lie at the center of a 50-year land dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Israeli government intends to build the new West Bank homes as replacements for residences on the nearby hilltop of Amona, a few miles south of the Shiloh valley. Some 40 Amona homes are slated by Israel’s Supreme Court for demolition before the end of the year.

“From Israel’s perspective, the Netanyahu government is trying to resolve a problem that it is under pressure to dismantle what, accord-ing to Israeli law, is an illegal settlement, and it is trying to find a solution for those people in

BY GABE FRIEDMAN(JTA) – It’s a fact of life: Scores of no-

table people pass away each year. But for some reason – whether it’s the continued aging of the baby boomer generation, the increasingly loud echo chambers on social media of condolences, or maybe just the expansion of who (or what) constitutes a celebrity in our collective psyche – the past year has been marked with an unusually high number of high-profile deaths, including David Bowie, Prince and Muhammad Ali.

Within the Jewish world, there were striking losses, too. This past year has tak-en many notable and influential members of the tribe from all walks of life. Here are just a few of those whose passings left a lasting mark on 5776.

� Elie Wiesel, 87Nobel Prize winner, writer of more than

50 books, moral conscience – the honors and titles abound for Elie Wiesel. As JTA’s Ben Sales wrote after his passing in July, the “Night” author’s books and activism seared the horrors of the Holocaust into American cultural consciousness and arguably did more to unite American Jews than any other figure. After his death, the House of Representatives approved a res-

Building 98 new homes near Shiloh renews U.S.-Israel settlements debate

another settlement,” said Professor Jonathan Rynhold, a senior lecturer at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University and senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Many within Israel’s ruling coalition are against the demolition in Amona – the site of a violent clash between police and protesters during a previous demolition of nine homes on the site in 2006. “The Ne-tanyahu government is stuck between the White House and his right-wing coalition partners,” Rynhold told JNS.org.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner was the first to condemn the build-ing, saying the plan, “contradicts previous public statements by the government of Israel that it had no intention of creating new settlements. And this settlement’s location deep in the West Bank, far closer to Jordan than Israel, would link a string of outposts that effectively divide the West Bank and make the possibility of a viable Palestinian state more remote.”

Following that, White House Spokes-man Josh Earnest then called into question the health of the friendship between the two strategic allies. “We had public assurances from the Israeli government that contradict this new announcement – so when you talk about how friends treat each other – this is also a source of concern,” Earnest said.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry shot back with a statement claiming, “The 98 housing

units approved in Shiloh do not constitute a ‘new settlement.’ This housing will be built on state land in the existing settlement of Shiloh and will not change its municipal boundary or geographic footprint.” The statement continued, “The real obstacle to peace is not the settlements – a final status issue that can and must be resolved in negotiations between the parties – but the persistent Palestinian rejection of a

Jewish state in any boundaries.”The spat between Israel and the U.S.

on settlements, according to Rynhold, “reflects the longstanding disagreement between the Israeli right and the United States all the way back to 1967.”

On October 6, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan confirmed on Is-rael’s Kol Chai radio that Netanyahu told Obama that no new settlements would be established throughout the duration of a newly-signed $38 billion military aid pack-age to Israel, but claimed that the buildings would not constitute a new settlement. In a “strongly worded” rebuttal to the White House and the State Department, Ben-Da-han said, the pledge “does not make Israel a hostage of the United States.”

According to Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy of the Council of Judea and Samaria (Yesha), “there should be no contention about building within the municipal boundaries of the existing com-munity of Shiloh. The Jewish connection to ancient Shiloh goes back thousands of years. It was the first capital of the ancient Jewish kingdom of Israel and site of the Holy Tabernacle for 369 years.”

View of an outpost situated near the Israeli settlement of Shiloh, outside of Jerusalem, in March 2014. (Photo by Mendy Hechtman/FLASH90)

Ten inspiring Jews who died in 5776

olution honoring his life, which included a proposal to build a memorial statue of him at the Capitol. He was also honored with a photo exhibition in Russia, whose Jewish community he advocated for in his 1966 book “The Jews of Silence.”

� Shimon Peres, 93Few people had as much of an impact

on Israeli history as Shimon Peres. In fact, Peres – born Szymon Perski in Wiszniew, Poland – fought for Israel before it was a state, leading divisions of the Haganah, the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces. He would go on to hold numerous Cabinet positions – including minister of defense and of foreign affairs – and served as pres-

ident from 2007-14. (And while he never won an election to become prime minister, he filled that position three times.) Over his decades in public service, Peres won a Nobel Prize for negotiating the 1993 Oslo Accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and became a symbol of the movement for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors – something he promoted until his death on September 28. “A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “Shimon Peres was a soldier for Israel, for the Jewish people, for justice, for peace, and for the belief

See “Shiloh” on page 8

Shimon Peres spoke during an interview at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on April 10, 2013. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Elie Wiesel, the author of more than 50 books, in the study of his New York City home on October 14, 1986. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images)

See “Inspiring” on page 4

THE REPORTER ■ OCTOBER 20, 20162

A MATTER OF OPINION

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FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MARK SILVERBERG

On September 25, 1916, in the midst of what was then referred to as “the war to end all wars” – long before the slaughter of two-thirds of European Jewry and the birth of the modern state of Israel – the first Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Scranton convened under the chairmanship of its president, Samuel Samter.

He began his ad-dress with the fol-lowing words: “The Talmud tells us that he who saves one life is considered as if he had preserved the whole world. As Jews, and most especially as Jewish leaders, that is our responsibility. This Federation was established as a concerted communal ef-fort, the purpose of which is to care for the sick, the handicapped, the widow and the orphan; to relieve temporary distress; to rehabilitate families; to find employment for those willing and able to work; to fur-nish personal service to those in need; to provide educational opportunities for our children; to guide the immigrant and help him understand America and become a useful citizen of the land of his adoption. In a word, it aims to do what man should do for man, in a simple and human way.”

This statement was endorsed by the founders of the Scranton Jewish com-munity – people like Jacob Brandwene, Israel Greenberger, Jacob Harris, Leon Levy, A. B. Cohen and Jacob Nogi – many of whose descendants continue to hold

Visions from another generationleadership positions in this community. These leaders and their contemporaries now rest peacefully in Providence, Dalton and Dunmore cemeteries, but in their time, their vision and commitment built the institutions that became the forerunners of Scranton’s Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Service Agency and the

Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania.Many of the founders who came to

Northeastern Pennsylvania to build their lives here more than a century ago (and, in the case of Honesdale, two centuries ago) barely spoke English. Yet, despite antisemitism, despite what must have been difficult financial circumstances, they were able to educate their children, care for their poor and indigent, keep our traditions alive, build synagogues and Hebrew schools, establish a Hebrew Free Loan Association, build a YMHA and leave sizable endowments to ensure that Jewish life would continue long after their time.

They are no longer with us. Now it’s our turn.

If there are to be thriving Jewish communities in Northeastern Pennsyl-vania in the years to come, it will be because of us – because of our collective vision, our collective will, our collective endowments and our collective annual UJA gifts for our people and for Israel. It is our vision that matters today. As President Kennedy said in an era long since past, the torch has been handed to a new generation. As such, the continuity

of Jewish life here, in Israel and around the world now rests upon us.

Remember what it was like for Jews when there was no Jewish state, when even one Jew was considered too many, when the nations of the world closed their doors to our people. Now, more than ever, we have a responsibility to those who

will follow in our footsteps to ensure that Masada shall never fall again.

As students of history, we know very well that we are the barometers of the societies in which we live. The Jewish people have been like a cultur-

al surfboard throughout history, riding the crest of the world’s civilizations – rising as they rose, falling as they fell, from Babylon to modern times – but always rising to new and even greater levels of human achievement. If we have learned anything from our past, it is that as it has gone with democracy, so it has gone with us – and as it has gone with us, so it has gone with democracy. If pain and suffer-ing could ennoble, then truly the Jewish people could challenge the aristocracy of any nation on this earth. So we must never take our freedom for granted. Nor must we ever take the existence of the Jewish state for granted, especially today when there are those who proudly proclaim their messianic duty to “wipe Israel from the face of the earth,” who deny the first Holocaust yet state their intention before an uncaring world to bring on the second.

I want to close with a brief story – part of which you may know and part of which you may not. On July 4, 1976, while we were celebrating our Bicentennial, Israeli commandos, under cover of darkness, flew 4,000 miles under enemy radar to rescue 248 passengers, mostly Jews, who had been taken hostage by the PLO and flown

to Entebbe, Uganda. When it was over, two passengers and the sayeret matkal leader, Yoni Netanyahu were dead, but because of their sacrifice, hundreds of our people survived.

Now, fast forward 25 years to October 28, 2001 – barely a month after 9/11. Our 2001 Israel Mission participants visited Mt. Herzl, Israel’s military cemetery. After paying our respects at the grave of Theodore Herzl, we walked through rows and rows of thousands of small white marble gravestones marking the final resting places of those who died so that Israel might live.

We stopped in front of one nondescript grave in the middle of a long row of white marble stones. It was Netanyahu’s grave. One member of our Mission asked our Israeli guide why Yoni’s gravestone was so ordinary. “After all,” he said, “Yoni Netanyahu is a hero.”

The Mission guide looked at him and replied quietly: “Because everyone who lies here is a hero.”

At moments such as these, we solicit funds for millions of our people in Israel and around the world who cannot plead their case to you. If they could, they would, but that is my job. I ask on their behalf. It is a small price to pay. Israel is sacrificing its children, so that ours will have a Jewish state.

So, in asking for your gift, I ask it for our community, for our people, for Israel and on behalf of the founders of our respective communities who believed that leaving a legacy to ensure Jewish continuity was of paramount importance to their lives. Let us remember what they achieved and sacrificed for us, and why we owe them so much.

Mark Silverberg’s editorials and articles have been archived at www.marksilverberg.com.

As an African Israeli, I find claims of state racism against Falash Mura outrageous

BY SHIMON MERCER-WOOD(JTA) – “We are committed to helping

ensure that the state of Israel welcomes Jews of all colors.”

“We say, we have black lives that matter in Africa.”

“In America, race has been a central area of Jewish concern historically.”

These are all statements that have been made in the course of a well-orchestrated public relations campaign to hasten the implementation of an Israeli government decision, reached in 2105, allowing the immigration of a number of Ethiopian citizens. These Ethiopians claim Jewish lineage as Falash Mura, descendants of converts to Christianity, and family ties to Ethiopian Jews.

While the Israeli Cabinet decided that members of the community be brought to Israel and recently sent a senior official to Ethiopia to begin implementing that decision, advocates for the community protest that the process has been delayed.

As the statements cited above clearly show, the campaign has become steeped in the language of the struggle against racism. The dog-whistle message of this language is unmistakable: “Israel is de-laying the implementation of this decision because the people in question are black. Had they been white, they would have long been living in Israel.”

In remarks to journalists and com-munity leaders, one of the leaders of the campaign, Dr. David Elcott, left the unequivocal impression that the question is one of racial discrimination.

I also met with Dr. Elcott, who presented

his initiative as an heir to the civil rights movement. I was consumed with anger, literally unable to sleep for several days. I was surprised by the intensity of my emo-tional reaction. After all, having represented Israel in diplomatic missions across the world for more than 10 years, I had already become accustomed to hearing many such calumnies against the Jewish state.

So why was I so enraged by this one?It eventually dawned on me that I was

outraged not as an Israeli, but as an Afri-can. My own father came to Israel from Africa with the Ghana Embassy in 1965, at the height of the “love affair” being rekindled today between the Jewish state and the African continent. On the eve of the Six-Day War of 1967, my father threw in his lot with the embattled Jewish nation and was subsequently witness to its miraculous salvation. He went on to convert to Judaism, join the Israeli army and make Israel his one and only home.

Always having been proud of my African heritage and lineage, I was incensed by the assumption implicit in the racial tenor of this campaign: “If it involves Africans, it’s proba-bly about race. Race is, after all, the essential, defining property of Africans, isn’t it?”

The racial framing of their supporters’ campaign is not only in language, but in ar-gument. Advocates have claimed that Israel is applying a standard to black Africans that it did not apply to Europeans who were wel-comed as olim even when questions arose about their Jewish lineage. This is simply and factually false. The one and only criterion for making aliyah, which in Israel is a legally binding term, is the Law of Return. It speaks

not of being a Jew according to halachah, or rabbinic law, but of having been born to a Jewish grandparent. The law has always applied and will always apply equally and unwaveringly to any human being – of any race and of any persuasion.

The fact that the government of Israel has had to make, and is in the process of implementing, a special ad hoc humanitar-ian decision to facilitate the immigration of these communities in the first place is precisely because the Africans were found not to meet the criteria for aliyah set out in the Law of Return. Nonetheless, in view of the hardships they face and on account of family ties to Jews in Israel, the Israeli government unanimously decided to facilitate the naturalization of people from these communities and even grant them full benefits as olim.

This demonstrates that Israel is not less sensitive to the community in Ethiopia, but in fact more sensitive to their plight than to that of any other such group in the world. Once this fact is obfuscated, the spotlight turns naturally and unjustly to the question of race.

Moreover, in the public debate in Israel over the Falash Mura and their relations, the staunchest voices against their immigration were often those of Ethiopian Jews. They complained that Ethiopian Christians, who had come to Israel by claiming Jewish lineage, had no intention of identifying as Jews and were even continuing to use the same antisemitic slurs against the Ethiopian Jews – “Falasha” and “Buda’” – as they

See “African” on page 6

3 OCTOBER 20, 2016 ■ THE REPORTER

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The Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute of the University of Scranton will present “The Anne Frank You Never Knew,” a lecture by Professor Oren Stier, of Florida Atlantic Uni-versity, on Tuesday, November 1, at 7:30 pm, in Brennan Auditorium.

Stier will hold a multimedia presentation on the ways the image and persona of Anne Frank have survived the Shoah, leading her to become “one of the most notable icons of the Holocaust,” according to organizers. Utilizing rare photographs and other materials, Stier will reveal “the young girl and teenage diarist that [readers] never knew.” Drawn from Stier’s recent book,

Lecture on Anne Frank to be held at University of Scranton on Nov. 1

Professor Oren Stier

“Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory,” the presentation will provide insight into the “life and afterlife” of “one of the Holocaust’s most famous victims and paradoxically one of its most famous ‘survivors,’ as well.”

Stier is professor of religious studies and director of the Holocaust Studies Initiative at Florida International University. He is the author of two books, “Holocaust Icons: Sym-bolizing the Shoah in History and Memory” (Rutgers University Press, 2015) and “Com-mitted to Memory: Cultural Mediations of the

Holocaust” (University of Massachusetts Press, 2003) and

(JTA) – As the death toll from Hurricane Matthew continued to rise, Jewish groups were working to help victims in the United States and the Caribbean. The storm, which the National Hurricane Center downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on October 9, killed at least 19 people in the U.S., including in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, according to NBC.

In the Caribbean, much of the damage was concentrated in Haiti, where the death toll was said to have reached 1,000, Reuters reported. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was focusing its efforts on Haiti, where it was working with relief group Heart to Heart International to provide hygiene kits, water purification tablets and other aid to those on the island’s highly affected southern part. Also in Haiti, the World Jewish Relief was providing emergency assistance, including food, water,

shelter and hygiene kits. The American Jewish World Service was sending relief funds to aid groups in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Mexican Jewish hu-manitarian group Cadena dispatched volunteers to Haiti to help with search-and-rescue efforts and relief work there.

Chabad emissaries in U.S. states helped provide assistance to victims, including by using their houses to provide shelter and distributing Shabbat meals and care packages over the October 9 weekend to students and residents in Florida.

The Jewish Federations of North America was opening an emergency fund to collect money to mobi-lize humanitarian support and provide relief to Jewish communities in the path of the hurricane (https://secure-fedweb.jewishfederations.org/page/contribute/hurricane-matthew-relief-fund).

In Hurricane Matthew aftermath, Jewish groups lend a hand

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co-editor of a third, “Religion, Violence, Memory, and Place” (Indiana University Press, 2006). A past recipient of a Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Stier has published articles in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Prooftexts, Jewish Social Studies, B’Or Ha’Torah, and Numen, among others. Stier is currently working on his next book, “Elie Wiesel’s Testament: Between Speech and Silence.”


that we can be true to our best selves – to the very end of our time on Earth.”

� Gene Wilder, 83From Willy Wonka to Dr. Frankenstein

to the rabbi in “The Frisco Kid,” Gene Wilder – born Jerome Silberman – played some of the quirkiest, most beloved film characters of the 1970s and ‘80s. After Mel Brooks gave him his first major role as Leopold Bloom in the “The Produc-ers,” the Jewish comedic team went on to collaborate in other classics, such as 1974’s “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” As a teenager, Wilder spent time at a military school, where he claimed he was beaten up for being the only Jewish student. In 1984, he married Jewish comedian Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989. In addition to acting, screenwriting and directing, Wilder went on to publish multiple novels and a short story collection. He died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease in August.

es and singles events. In 1973, Jungreis held a rally at Madison Square Garden to inspire Jewish awakening; 10,000 people came. “The Rebbetzin,” as she was com-monly known, died of complications from pneumonia in August.

� Garry Shandling, 66Before shows like “Curb Your Enthusi-

asm” and “Louie” gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the comedy industry, there was “The Larry Sanders Show,” Garry Shandling’s Emmy-winning and somewhat dark take on the life of a late-night talk show host. And before “Larry Sanders,” Shandling created an even more meta show with an appropriately postmodern name: “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” which frequently saw its creator break the fourth wall. But before all of this, Shandling was born to Jewish parents in Chicago. He be-came a respected standup comedian before getting into TV and eventually mentored other comics, including Sarah Silverman and Judd Apatow. “Yesterday we lost our most brilliant comic mind,” Silverman wrote after his passing in March from complications due to hyperparathyroidism. “The symptoms are so much like being an older Jewish man, no one noticed!” Shan-dling said in an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” filmed not long before his death.

York City. (She was born in St. Louis, but was raised in the Bronx). She passed away in her sleep in April.

� Imre Kertesz, 86Many novelists who have taken on

the Holocaust seek to evoke a sense of empathy from the reader through intense or graphic description. By contrast, the novels of Imre Kertesz – recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature – seek to describe life in Nazi concentration camps as faithfully as possible, without indignation. Take the Nobel committee’s description of “Fateless,” his 1975 book: “The novel uses the alienating device of taking the reality of the camp completely for granted, an everyday existence like any other.” The Nobel award was extremely unexpected for Kertesz, who worked in relative obscurity in his native country of Hungary, where he supported himself by translating German works. “What I discovered in Auschwitz is the human condition, the end point of a great adven-ture, where the European traveler arrived after his 2,000-year-old moral and cultural history,” he said in his acceptance speech.

from 2002-11, also wasn’t afraid to blast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hawkish posture toward using a military option against Iran. But when he died of liver cancer in March, even Netanyahu had high praise for him – and referred to a photo of Dagan’s grandfather in a Nazi camp about to be killed. “Meir was de-termined to ensure that the Jewish people would never be helpless and defenseless again,” Netanyahu said.

� Anton Yelchin, 27It might sound cliché, but the untime-

ly death of Russian-Jewish actor Anton Yelchin can only be described as a freak accident. Friends found Yelchin – a rising Hollywood star who appeared in dozens of films, such as the “Star Trek” reboot series – pinned between his Jeep and a brick pillar in the driveway of his Los Angeles home on June 19. He had appar-ently left the car, which rolled into him, in neutral. However, soon after the accident, the Associated Press revealed that the model of Jeep Yelchin owned was in the process of being recalled for a problem with its gear shift that made it difficult to tell when it was in park. Yelchin’s parents, former figure skaters who qualified for the 1972 Olympics (but were not permitted to compete by Soviet authorities, likely because they were Jewish), have sued Fiat Chrysler over the tragic incident.

Inspiring Continued from page 1

Gene Wilder was beloved for his roles in such films as “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “The Producers.” (Photo by Art Selby and Al Levine/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

� Esther Jungreis, 80Many try to promote observance among

the Jewish masses, but only one was nicknamed the “Jewish Billy Graham.” Jungreis, who as a child in Hungary sur-vived the Holocaust, founded the Hineni organization in 1973 with the aim of bringing young Jews into the Orthodox fold. In addition to holding colorful rallies for the cause that often included elaborate lighting and musical accompaniment, she wrote self-help books and organized class-

Esther Jungreis, seen in a photo from 2016, founded the organization Hineni to bring young Jews closer to Orthodox Judaism. (Photo courtesy of Hineni.org)

Garry Shandling arrived at the world premiere of “Iron Man 2” in Hollywood, CA, on April 26, 2010. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Doris Roberts at the Fourth Annual Comedy Celebration Benefiting the Peter Boyle Fund in Beverly Hills, CA, on November 13, 2010. (Photo by Jason Merritt)

Imre Kertesz posed at the 55th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, on February 15, 2005. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

� Doris Roberts, 90She is most widely known as the snappy

Italian mother of Ray Romano’s charac-ter on the hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” – a role which earned her four Emmy Awards – but Doris Roberts (née Green) was proud of her Russian Jewish heritage. Although she primarily played mothers or grandmothers in the late stages of her career, her six decades in theater, television and film also included roles on the detective show “Remington Steele” and films such as “The Honeymoon Kill-ers” and “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” Roberts told the Jewish Virtual Library that one of her favorite roles was in “Hester Street,” a film about a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants living in New

� Meir Dagan, 71After a decorated 30-year career in

the IDF, in which he rose to the rank of major general, Meir Dagan became known as one of Israel’s most brilliant military minds. He went on to head the Mossad, where among his accomplishments he was credited with overseeing the creation of the Stuxnet virus, which wiped out a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges. Dagan, who headed the Israeli intelligence agency

Anton Yelchin at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 19, 2014. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

� Goldie Michelson, 113Who would have thought that two

Jewish bubbes named Goldie would be two of the oldest people in the world? After the passing of Goldie Steinberg last year, Michelson likely became the oldest Jewish person in the world. Then, after the passing of Susannah Mushatt-Jones in May, Michelson became the oldest living American. Michelson, née Corash, migrated with her family from Russia at the age of 2 to Worcester, MA, where she lived for over a century. She wrote her master’s thesis at Clark University on the Jews of Worcester and volunteered for Hadassah. The secret to her longevity? It’s a simple one: walk every day (although she enjoyed chocolate and lobster, too). She passed away in July, only a month away from her 114th birthday.

Goldie Michelson in 2008 outside the theater named for her at Clark University in Worcester, MA. (Photo courtesy of Clark University)

Major-Gen. Meir Dagan, a former Mossad chief, attended the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism ceremony in Jerusalem on May 30, 2011. (Photo by Kobi Gideon/Flash90)

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BY SEAN SAVAGEJNS.org

The United Nations cultural body, UNESCO, passed a resolution on October 13 that condemns Israeli actions at Jeru-salem’s holy sites and ignores any Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall complex. Calling the vote “another hallucinatory decision” by the group, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “To say that Israel has not connection to the Temple and the Western Wall is like saying that China is not connected to the Great Wall of China or the Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. I believe that historical truth is more powerful and this truth will prevail.”

The resolution was backed by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan on behalf of the Palestinians. Despite passing with 24 in favor and six against, notably 26 countries abstained from the vote, which is greater than those who supported it. The six countries voting against it were the U.S., Germany, U.K., Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia.

The resolution affirmed “the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions” and goes on to denounce Israel as an “occupying power,” condemning it for a number of “aggressions and illegal measures” at the holy site. It also blames Israel for inciting violence on the Temple Mount, which it exclusively refers to as the Al-Haram Al-Sharif, a Muslim term for the holy site that means in Arabic “The Noble Sanctuary.”

UNESCO “firmly deplores the con-

UNESCO resolution denies Jewish, Christian ties to Temple Mount

tinuous storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces, and urges Israel, the occupying Power, to take necessary measures to prevent provocative abuses that violate the sanctity and integrity of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif .”

Additionally, it condemns Israel’s con-struction work in the Western Wall Plaza by referring to it by its Muslim name “Al-Buraq Plaza,” a reference to the horse from Islamic mythology that transported the prophet Mu-hammad from Mecca to Jerusalem.

Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS.org, “The move is ironic in the sense that the Israelis have probably done more than any other sov-ereign that has controlled Jerusalem to ensure that all faiths can have access to the city and practice their faith.”

The latest UNESCO resolution follows another one passed in April that also ig-nored Jewish ties to the Temple Mount. That resolution passed with 33 votes in favor, six against and 17 abstentions.

Schanzer said that the politicization process at UNESCO has been growing since the Palestinians joined the interna-tional body in 2011. “This sadly shows that UNESCO is heading in the direction of the U.N. Human Rights Council where it is a caricature of itself,” he said. “This underscores the dangers of the Palestinian statehood initiative, this process after the Palestinians joined of delegitimizing any-thing regarding Israel without any basis

See “UNESCO” on page 13

Ellen Katz, a renowned entertainer, teacher, andstoryteller will regale us with an engaging

Power Point and video presentation of the show’s evolution from page-to-stage & script-to-screen

in a remarkable story – a Miracle of Miracles! Ellen performs the favorites – join in and sing along!

DON’T MISS A NOTE!Ellen’s presentation will be followed by a special Oneg:

A “Chai” tea, featuring scones, crumpets, finger sandwiches, pastries and an assortment of delicious teas (including Chai).

This special event is only $18 (Chai) p/p, payable to:Temple Hesed, 1 Knox Road, Scranton, PA 18505

(Please write “Fiddler” in the memo line of your check)

The paid reservation deadline is November 4thFor more information, contact Michael Krakow at (570)698-9815

or Temple Hesed at (570) 344-7201

Save the Date!Temple Hesed and Ellen Katz

Invite You to Celebrate the50th Anniversary of

Fiddler on the RoofSunday, November 13th at 2pm

at Temple Hesed


BY GABE FRIEDMANNEW YORK (JTA) –

It’s a very humid Friday evening at an outdoor plaza at Manhattan’s tony Lincoln Center. But despite the oppressive weather, some 200 people have gathered to hear live gospel music. The singers, seven African-American teen-agers, are dressed in plaid button-downs and polos, and appear a bit timid as they stand onstage wait-ing for their cue to begin. Standing on stage left is a white man with slicked-back hair wearing a dark suit and holding a cherry red electric guitar. He starts to pick and strum the instrument, and the teens loosen up. They launch into an array of gospel tunes like “Shine on Me” and “Don’t Let the Devil Ride,” rotating solo verses and clapping their hands.

“I’m just happy to be their teacher,” the guitarist, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, says after a round of loud applause.

The 32-year-old Reed, who has released four studio albums of bluesy, soulful pop rock, is the main attrac-tion this evening. His own songs, which he played with a full band following his students’ set, brought dozens of audience members out of their chairs and into a dancing frenzy, despite the withering heat. While Reed kept the Christian themes going with his commanding Motown-style voice (“This one is about your sins!” he yelled before one tune), he’s actually Jewish – and hails from the very Jewish Boston suburb of Brookline, MA.

A couple of weeks after the Lincoln Center concert, Reed spoke to JTA at a café near his current home base of Kensington, Brooklyn, NY, eschewing the retro preacher-rocker look for a white T-shirt, sneakers and clear-framed glasses. Nevertheless, Reed’s latest album,

had done in Ethiopia. Some even reported attempts by such groups to convert Ethiopian Jews to Christianity.

One can criticize these voices for holding the many responsible for actions of the few and for bearing long-standing grudges. Indeed, it is to the great credit of the Israeli government that it decided to allow immigration from Gondar and Addis despite the accusations. But the objections of Ethiopian Israelis belie the notion that the question at hand is one of white versus black.

To continue portraying the issue as one of race is symp-tomatic of a difficulty to see Africans outside the prism of skin color. In the year-and-a-half since I came to the United States, for every day of which I am truly grateful, I have encountered this attitude on numerous occasions, an experience not always pleasant. At so many dinner tables, speaking engagements and social gatherings, I have been met with incredulous stares and blinking eyes.

“Aren’t you going to talk about your ‘background’?” the question rings time and again.

For some in the U.S., there is something inherently puzzling about an African Jew discussing, say, Middle Eastern geopolitics and not making any reference to race relations. Again, it is assumed, if there is an African

African Continued from page 2

involved, it must somehow relate to race.To be clear, I am not ascribing this attitude to straight-

forward racism. More often than not, the positions artic-ulated toward me qua “racial issues” are supportive and sympathetic. But that does not make any less alienating the perception that everything I do, everything I am involved in and everything that concerns me must somehow be in the context of race. Even in the case of the current campaign for those claiming to be Falash Mura, one of its advocates, while trying to exhort me to come on board, quoted from the Book of Esther, saying “maybe this is the moment for which you got to where you are.”

Really? I thought to myself. The culmination of my diplomatic career necessarily predicated on the color of my skin?

The desire of American Jews to see the implementation of a humane and compassionate decision by the govern-ment of Israel is a noble one. Their campaign is welcome and praiseworthy. Jews in America are and must always see themselves as stakeholders in the Jewish state and as rightful partners in its decision-making process. This government decision, as well as others, must certainly be followed through with effective and determined action. The 50 rabbis and community leaders who initially attached their names to a petition on the Ethiopians’ behalf, several of whom I know and cherish, were expressing the best of the ethical legacy of Judaism. This campaign could be a true blessing to the community and to the state of Israel.

But wrongly invoking racial conflict, misappropriat-ing the language of the the struggle for racial justice in America and insinuating that the decisions of the Israeli government are informed by racism are harmful, hurtful and unjust. Propagating the perception that Israel is on the wrong side of the fight against racism introduces a toxin into the relations between American and Israeli Jews – a toxin that will take many years to expunge. Who can expect young American Jews to want anything to do with Israel if they are systematically led to believe it is racist?

Moreover, such language threatens to taint and discredit a cause that could otherwise be a beautiful example of the sincere and caring conversation within the Jewish people.

The implementation of the Israeli government’s concerning remnants of the Falash Mura community with family ties to Israel will continue, and so must the campaign supporting it. But for the sake of all of us, let us not make this one a question of race.

Shimon Mercer-Wood is spokesman and consul for media affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.

A Jewish rocker rediscovers his sonic roots – by teaching gospel music in Harlem

Eli “Paperboy” Reed is a Jewish songwriter who mines a number of classic genres, such as blues, soul and gospel. (Photo courtesy of Yep Roc Records)

think tank – first introduced him to the program. At the time, Reed was at the zenith of his career – he was gearing up to release his second album on a major label (“Nights Like This” on Warner Bros.) and had seen a few of his songs featured in commercials for Nike and Toyota. He agreed to volunteer for the program, and set out to teach some teenage boys the gospel quartet style, which allows singers to take turns soloing and helps them develop vocal confidence. Then Reed was struck with unfortunate news: a series of layoffs at Warner Bros. depleted the resources behind his album. Eventually he was dropped from the label, and suddenly the Gospel for Teens class was his main gig. (Notably, Reed still refused payment for the work, even though his fellow teachers were paid.)

See “Rocker” on page 8

“My Way Home,” released in June through the indepen-dent Yep Roc Records label, sounds like the product of a grizzled veteran crooner. The well-received record mines a variety of classic African-American genres, from blues rock to gospel, and stays meticulously true to them – perhaps even more so than recent blues revivalists like Jack White or the Black Keys.

Reed, whose real name is Eli Husock, admits that teaching gospel music to teens, which he has done for three years through the Harlem-based Gospel for Teens program, led to that genre’s seeping into “My Way Home.” But it turned out that teaching gospel became a savior of sorts for him, too – and not in a Christian way.

In 2013, Reed’s father – a former music writer who now works for the Manhattan Institute, a conservative

Each year at this time the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania calls upon members of our community to assist in defraying the expense of issuing our regional Jewish newspaper, The Reporter.The newspaper is delivered twice of month (except for December and July which are single issue months) to each and every identifiable Jewish home in Northeastern Pennsylvania.As the primary Jewish newspaper of our region, we have tried to produce a quality publication for you that offers our readership something on everythingfrom opinions and columns on controversial issues that affect our people and our times, to publicity for the events of our affiliated agencies and organizations to life cycle events, teen columns, personality profiles, letters to the editor, the Jewish community calendar and other columns that cover everything from food to entertainment.The Federation assumes the financial responsibility for funding the enterprise at a cost of $26,400 per year and asks only that we undertake a small letter writing mail campaign to our recipients in the hope of raising $10,000 from our readership to alleviate a share of that responsibility.We would be grateful if you would care enough to take the time to make a donation for our efforts in bringing The Reporter to your door.As always, your comments, opinions and suggestions are always welcome.With best wishes,Mark Silverberg, Executive DirectorJewish Federation of NE Pennsylvania601 Jefferson AvenueScranton, PA 18510



BY BEN SALESNEW YORK (JTA) – Living in the

Jewish mecca of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Rabbi Laurie Phillips was loath to uproot her family when her rent shot up two years ago. But in looking for housing around the city, Phillips was drawn to Harlem’s diverse culture – not to mention its spacious apartments.

Phillips, 48, now lives with her hus-band, stepson and dog in a brownstone building with a backyard near Marcus Garvey Park, in the heart of this city’s historically African-American quarter. “We started looking further uptown and downtown, and loved the neighborhood in Harlem,” Phillips told JTA. “We’re excited about being in a diverse place, a place that had more texture and energy. For the same amount [of money], we have more space.”

Phillips is one of a growing number of Jews moving to a neighborhood that a century ago boasted one of the largest Jew-ish communities in New York – perhaps even the world. Attracted by the location, the relatively affordable apartments and the diverse population, the new Jewish Harlemites are among a wave of recent arrivals that have transformed the neigh-borhood since the turn of the millennium. According to an analysis by The New York Times, by 2008 Harlem’s African-Amer-ican population made up only 40 percent of the neighborhood.

According to “The Jews of Harlem,” a soon-to-be-published book by Jeffrey Gurock, central Harlem’s Jewish popu-lation increased ninefold between 1990 and 2011 – from 300 to 2,700. As of 2011, Gurock wrote, Jews made up about 20 percent of central Harlem’s approxi-mately 13,000 Caucasian residents. The

Harlem’s new Jewish renaissance

JCC Harlem held a launch dinner on August 17. The 6,000-square-foot space will host Jewish and local community programs. (Photo by Angelica Ciccone)

6,000-square-foot facility – with a large atrium, classrooms and a small lofted area – aims to serve as a gathering space for a number of local organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish, as well as promote Jewish life in the neighborhood.

“There are Jews here, and they probably want to experience Jewish holidays and meet other people and take Jewish values for a walk,” said Rabbi Joy Levitt, JCC Manhattan’s executive director. “The fact that this place doesn’t have synagogues and much infrastructure isn’t an indication that the folks who live here don’t want Jewish life.”

According to Gurock, Harlem’s prior Jewish community included well-to-do Jews living in relatively large homes, as well as poorer families who were squeezed out of the Lower East Side. But after World War I, many Jews

moved to newly constructed neigh-borhoods across the city, while many African-Americans, barred by racist policies, stayed in Harlem. At its peak in 1917, Harlem’s Jewish community numbered 175,000 – a figure that plum-meted over the next 60 years.

Today, some Harlem Jews depict their community as a growing hodgepodge of young families with varying beliefs and affiliations. Steven I. Weiss, whose family lived in the Manhattan Jewish neighborhoods of Washington Heights and the Lower East Side before moving to Harlem in 2013, says the local Jewish community’s makeup is as if “you ran-domly chose Jewish families from the rest of New York and placed them here.

“The lines get blurred,” he said. “It’s to a degree what you see in smaller towns, where people just get along with each other because they can’t choose their friends based on having a complete overlap of ideological and religious and cultural viewpoints.”

Weiss is a member of the Harlem Minyan, an independent egalitarian prayer group that meets for monthly Friday night services, as well as holidays and the occa-sional Saturday morning. And that’s not the only game in town: Phillips founded Beineinu, a group that facilitates infor-mal Jewish experiences throughout New York. Lab/Shul, which describes itself as an “experimental community for sacred Jewish gatherings,” has held services in Harlem and recently hosted a pre-Rosh Hashanah service at JCC Harlem.

“I think people that move to Harlem are seeking something a little bit differ-ent than Brooklyn and Manhattan,” said Naomi Less, Lab/Shul’s associate director.

new Harlemites have launched a handful of Jewish initiatives, from independent prayer groups to an Israeli café. The neigh-borhood also boasts a Chabad Center, which was founded nearly a decade ago, and a Hebrew-language charter school that opened in 2013.

“The return of Jews to Harlem is part of the gentrification of the city, in the same sense that young Jews have moved to new neighborhoods all over the city,” said Gurock, a professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University. “You walk 125th

Street in the evening, you have all these cafés, bars and restaurants. Harlem is a little behind [in terms of gentrification], but growing immensely.”

Earlier in October, with the opening of JCC Harlem, an extension of the Upper West Side’s JCC Manhattan, Har-lem’s Jewish footprint grew larger. The See “Harlem” on page 10


D’VAR TORAH

“No other nation has more of a legal, biblical or his-torical right to Shiloh,” Revivi told JNS.org.

Yet the White House, as well as members of Israel’s opposition, disagree. Left-wing Israeli governments had offered the land to the Palestinians during previous negotiation attempts.

Gilad Grossman, a spokesman for the nongovernmental organization Yesh Din, which filed the legal claim in Israel’s Supreme Court against the houses in Amona, insisted that houses would constitute a new settlement. “Our position is that all settlements and outposts are illegal,” Grossman told JNS.org. “Building new ones is against international law.” Yet, Grossman noted, the plans need to go through

Shiloh Continued from page 1

additional approvals before being built. “There are many steps that the plan needs to go through

before it is fully approved,” he explained. “We have to see now if the new plans abide by existing Israeli laws.”

Meanwhile, the debate on the legitimacy of settlements rages on both sides within Israel, as well as between Israel and the U.S. Tensions between the strategic allies are likely to continue through the remaining months of the Obama presidency.

According to Revivi, the longtime mayor of Efrat, one of Israel’s largest settlements, “Our communities were built on strong moral and legal ground, and the law isn’t as simple as suggested by the State Department.”

“In the post-Amy Winehouse era there were a lot of major labels that wanted to sign soul singers, so I had a lot of people competing for me at that time,” he said. “But when the company was sold, the bottom fell out of the whole thing.”

After a difficult period last year, Reed decided to record a new album on his own. The result, “My Way Home,” has jump-started his career. “When you teach something, you kind of have to dissect it and think about it in a different way,” Reed said. “[The class] made me think more and more about how that music has influenced me as a writer.”

Reed said he loves teaching gospel and agrees the music might sound deeply Christian to some. Howev-er, he firmly identifies as Jewish, and to him gospel is more “inspirational” than religious. “Obviously there’s language that you can’t avoid, but I’m hoping that the understanding of that language has been that people can interpret the lyrics in their own way,” he said. “And not ‘Jesus Christ is their Lord and savior,’ which is not what it’s about for me. But if someone is a Christian and hears this record and it affirms their faith, that’s fine with me. I would rather make music for everybody.”

Reed said he’s always been comfortable working in the world of African-American music. His father, Howard, who wrote for the Boston Phoenix – and is becoming more Jewish with age, Reed says – turned him on to soul music when he was a kid. After high school, Reed spent a year in Clarksdale, MS, to help restart a local oldies radio station. When that fell through, he ended up playing music regularly with a bunch of local musicians, such as blues drummer Sam Carr. The musicians gave him the “Paperboy” nickname for the “Newsies”-style hat he liked to wear.

BY RABBI EVAN SHORE, SHAAREI TORAH ORTHODOX CONGREGATION OF SYRACUSE

Sukkot (Shabbat Chol Hamoed), Exodus 33:12-34:26All of the Jewish holidays have unique aspects and

names attached to them. The holiday of Sukkot is no different. Our rabbis refer to the holiday of Sukkot sim-ply as Hachag: the holiday. What makes the yom tov of Sukkot so outstanding that it is known as “the holiday”? Sukkot possesses a trait that is manifested more on this holy day than all the others. This trait is one of achdut: Jewish unity.

In Leviticus 23:40, the Torah commands us, “You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a citron tree, the branches of date palms, twigs of a plaited tree and brook willows, and you shall rejoice before Hashem, your God, for a seven day period.” The Torah is commanding the Jewish people to take what is known as the arba minim, the four species: the etrog, lulav, willow branch and myrtle branch. We are to bind them together as one and wave them in all four directions, up and down. By fulfilling this command we will rejoice before Hashem. How are we driven to rejoicing by taking these four species, aside from the fact that God commanded us to do so?

Our saintly rabbis have taught us that the four species

Achdut: Jewish unityreflect four different types of Jews in regard to Torah knowledge and good deeds. The etrog possesses both traits. By virtue of its taste and aroma, the etrog sym-bolizes the Jew who has both knowledge and deeds. The lulav bears delicious fruit, but lacks aroma. This is like the Jew who has knowledge of the Torah, but lacks good deeds. The myrtle branch has the aroma, but lacks taste. There are Jews who have good deeds, but are lacking Torah knowledge. Finally, we have the willow, which is devoid of both taste and aroma. This symbolizes the Jew who is lacking both Torah knowledge and good deeds.

The Torah is calling out, screaming out, for all Jews to come together, regardless of level of observance and knowledge. The ultimate joy that we can experience is the realization that we are one: one nation, one people, united together in the service of Hashem. All Jews are needed for this to become a reality. If any are left out or excluded, we will not be successful. On the holiday of Sukkot, if we are lacking one of the four species, or if they are not tied together as one, the mitzvah is not fulfilled.

It is my hope and prayer that this year for Sukkot may all of klal Yisroel come together as a united people. Please God, may we all merit rejoicing before the Lord our God and truly experience Hachag on its highest level.

Rocker Continued from page 6

Reed then spent a year at the University of Chicago, a school entrenched on the city’s South Side – the mostly black and low-income region stigmatized as a hotbed of gun violence. Instead of attending class, he focused on developing his soul music show on the college radio station. Reed spent his time hanging fliers for his show by local barbershops and stores. He cultivated a following and local musicians began asking that their music be played.

After meeting Mitty Collier, a singer who put out several singles on the legendary Chess Records label in the 1960s, Reed began playing piano in her newly formed storefront church. Reed became disillusioned with school – he said the students didn’t appreciate the rich culture of the South Side – and returned to the Boston area to begin his own music career. His first album of original material, “Roll With You,” earned him an international tour, and his ensuing album, “Come and Get It,” was released on Capitol Records.

Offstage, Reed is a walking soul music encyclopedia who name-drops influences like Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. His No. 1 idol – as a “singer, guitarist, songwriter and performer – is the late Bobby Womack, who wrote several hits in the ‘70s. Reed can also effort-lessly explain the rich history of Jews involved in soul and blues music – such as Phil and Leonard Chess, the immigrants behind Chess Records, along with “literally every single independent record label,” he said. Being Jewish, he said, undoubtedly impacts his understanding of music “from a cultural point of view.

“My [Jewish] grandfather, for instance, loved Handel – so you can appreciate the artistry of something separated from the religious elements,” Reed said. “It’s all about trying to get to the heart of what’s important musically.”

Co-Presidents: Esther Adelman & Steven Seitchik



How exiled Spanish and Portuguese Jews are returning home to Israel

BY MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANJNS.org

Sonya Loya never felt Catholic; it was Judaism she was drawn to. In the 1990s, the New Mexico-native, while in her late 30s, discovered her family’s hidden secret. “I found out my ancestors were Jews forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition,” she said.

Loya traced her family line to a rabbinic dynasty in Spain dating back to 1430. Since then, she has delved into the Jewish religion. At her first Shabbat dinner, she witnessed the woman of the house lighting Shabbat candles, which sparked something inside her. “That was what my grandma used to do,” Loya said. “The dreams I had had begun to finally make sense.”

When she shared her discovery with her parents and asked for their blessing to convert back to Ju-daism, not only were they supportive, but her father said he’d known since he was 6 that he was Jewish.

“His uncle… came back from liberating the [Nazi] camps and told his mother and brothers it was still not safe to be a Jew,” Loya said. “They swore my father to secrecy at that time, he held onto that secret for 64 years.”

Today, Loya runs travel tours to Israel for Bnei Anusim (a term for the descendants of forced Sephardi Jewish converts to Christianity) from the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities. “There is such a longing to reconnect to my people Israel and to the land of my forefathers,” she said.

Around the world, there are an estimated 100 million to 150 million Bnei Anusim, according to Ashley Perry, president of Reconectar (Spanish and Portuguese for “reconnect”) and director general of the relatively new Israeli Knesset Caucus for the Reconnection with the Descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Communities. He was advisor to Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2009-January 2015.

The Spanish Jewish community was regarded as one of the strongest and most powerful until Catholic mon-archs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ushered in the

Spanish Inquisition, which lasted for centuries, forcing conversion to Christianity, along with persecution and expulsion. Some 200,000 people were forcibly converted between 1491 into the 16th century.

For today’s descendants of Jews forced to convert, the group Reconectar provides them with personalized tools to explore, learn and connect with Judaism, the Jewish community and Israel. It also helps communities and organizations with this process. An individual fills out a questionnaire on the group’s website, including an explanation of why they would like to connect. Then the group responds by linking them with the right resources. Since the site’s recent launch, 300,000 people have visited Reconectar, of which 14 percent said they self-identify as Jewish. Another 30 percent said they’re aware of their ancestry and want to know more.

“There are those who want to formally convert and become a part of the Jewish community, and others

who are just exploring, and everything in between,” explained Perry, who lives in Israel and is simulta-neously bringing together politicians, diplomats, academics and heads of Jewish organizations to embrace the cause.

Perry is dedicated to this cause as “It is a moral, ethical and even halachic (Jewish law) imperative,” noting that many rabbinical figures, who ruled on the Jewish status of people forced to convert, determined they were still Jewish.

He said reconnecting Bnei Anusim with Juda-ism could have many benefits for today’s Jewish community, which faces challenges that include antisemitism, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, diplomatic disputes, shrinking affilia-tion and assimilation. “We are taking a top-down approach and a bottom-up approach through the people,” he added.

Until 2008, Jay Sanchez was living in what he calls “blissful ignorance,” until he discovered that he’s likely a descendant of Spanish and Portuguese Jews on his mother’s side. Sanchez embarked on a

standard ancestral search when he learned his mother’s maiden name, Dorta, was associated with a small number of families spread predominantly throughout the Canary Islands. “I found references to more and more Dortas, and each and every one of them was referred to as either a Jew or a New Christian, until the 1700s, by which time the Dortas seem to have assimilated,” he said. Today, Sanchez’s bookshelves are packed with Jewish books, as he grapples with his Jewish roots.

Many thought the Ethiopian aliyah would be the last major influx of lost Jews into Israel, Loya said. But she believes the return of Jews from the Sephardic exile will be much larger, with Bnei Anusim moving to Israel from Cuba, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, India, South America, the Canary Islands and the Southwest United States. “Our Spanish Jewish community has been lost and raped of its identity and the beauty of what Judaism is,” Loya said. “My goal is to get them home.”

Sonya Loya (right) leads Bnei Anusim on a tour of the ancient Sephardic community of Safed. (Photo courtesy of Sonya Loya)

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Silvana, an Israeli café and live music venue in Harlem, is run by an Israeli who has lived in the Manhattan neighborhood for more than a decade. (Photo by Ben Sales)

“Every neighborhood has its own flavor... and so what we found with Harlem is that people are willing to show up and be part of [it] and roll up their sleeves.”

JCC Harlem plans to collaborate and provide space for local Jewish groups, but doesn’t want to take space from Harlem’s African-American community. To that end, JCC’s staff has embarked on a listening tour of sorts to hear how the center can work with its black neighbors, and plans to encourage Jewish volunteers to work with community groups.

One store owner who hopes to benefit from the JCC is Alvin Lee Smalls, an African-American man who has been baking cinnamon-nut rugelach since the 1960s and owns a small shop down the street from the JCC adver-tising “rugelach by a brother.” Smalls hopes the JCC will bring more customers, but worries that continued gentrification will push longtime black residents out of Harlem. “What can we do?” he said. “It’s bad for all the people that were living around here that can’t afford the rent here, but for business it’s good.”

Smalls says gentrification hasn’t created strife between Harlem’s blacks and Jews. Another Harlem restaurateur, Sivan Baron, says if anything, she feels interracial rela-tions are improving. Baron, an Israeli, is the proprietor of Silvana, an Israeli café near the JCC, and also owns a local French restaurant as well as a music venue.

Sitting in her bright café surrounded by the artisanal goods – like shoulder bags or scarves – she sells from around the world, Baron says she encountered some hostility when she first moved to Harlem. But now, many locals are used to the neighborhood’s changing demographics. “I got all kinds of remarks – ‘Go back to where you came from,’” she recalled. “Today we’re open to everyone, and I have a lot of black American neighbors, and they come here to Silvana.”

But though her businesses are successful, Baron herself will soon be leaving the neighborhood. With prices rising, she and her husband are moving to a house in the Bronx.

Harlem Continued from page 7

BY RABBI RACHEL ESSERMANThe desire to recreate a place that lives only in mem-

ory: that phrase summarizes short story collections by Helen Maryles Shankman and Abraham Karpinowitz. The two works of connected tales recall a Europe and a reality that no longer exist. Their approach to the material, though, is very different. In “Vilna My Vilna” (Syracuse University Press), Karpinowitz uses heightened realism to portray his former hometown in Lithuania. Shankman, on the other hand, adds a touch of magical realism to the tales her parents told her of Poland in “In the Land of the Armadillos” (Scribner). (The paperback version of the book, due out in October, will have a different title: “They Were Like Family to Me.”) While most of Karpinowitz’ stories take place before World War II, Shankman recalls tales of heroism and horror that occurred during the war and after.

Shankman allows readers to see her characters through a variety of lenses – not only in different tales across the book, but within individual works. For example, in the title story, an S.S. officer is not only a cold-blooded killer, but a loving father who tries to protect the Jewish artist who wrote and drew his son’s favorite book. Max Haas views himself as a kind, caring man, although once in a while he’s forced to face a different version of himself. The mix of good and evil within a single individual makes the story extremely powerful, as does its surprising and moving ending.

The contradictions inherent in most human beings is also clearly shown in “The Jew Hater,” when an inform-er is forced to pretend that a young Jewish girl is his relative. Its element of magical realism (a talking dog) heightens the tension, as does the question of whether or not forgiveness is ever truly possible. That theme plays a major role in the post-war tale “They Were Like

Family to Me,” when a priest tours Poland to uncover secrets hidden in small villages. He approaches an old man, who speaks for the first time of events that still chill his soul. Other tales focus on men who do horrible things during the course of a day, and, yet, also take risks to save the lives of the few Jews they’ve taken under their wing.

My favorite story, “The Messiah,” is a wonderful and funny tale with a bitter note in its center. When this messiah arrives in town, he claims his purpose is not to save lives. Only after the Jews of Europe serve as a sacrificial ram – much like the one Abra-ham sacrificed in place of Isaac – will they return to the Promised Land. The question of whether or not he is truly the messiah matters less than the awe-in-spiring events that do occur. My second favorite story is “The Golem of Zukow,” which shows how man’s inhumanity to man can create golems. Yet, this lovely, moving tale also allows us to see how great miracles can occur in the midst of despair. All the stories in “In the Land of the Armadillos” are beautifully written and emotionally heartrending. My hope is that the paperback version brings even more attention to this outstanding work.

While Shankman learned her tales second-hand, Karpinowitz writes of people he knew. This collection of his stories, translated from the Yiddish by Helen Mintz, focuses on life in Vilna. The tales were written after the war when Karpinowitz lived in Israel and blend fact and fiction, except for the two memoirs at the end of the book. Those tell of his father’s ob-session with the Yiddish theater – an obsession not shared by his wife.

The stories somehow manage to feel a touch nostalgic while still clearly portraying how difficult life could be

for the poorer Jews of the town. The title tale shows the amazing transformation of the narrator from Itsik the Hare, a small time thief, to Mr. Jack Grossman in Canada, a “big shot” in the hotel business. When visiting Vilna after the war, Grossman looks for the city he knew – focusing more on what’s not there than what’s actually

BOOK REVIEW

Tales of two cities

See “Cities” on page 12


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before his eyes. Although the past was far from perfect, he believes something special has been lost.

Although Abke the Nail Biter doesn’t understand political theory, he finds himself in prison after helping a radical throw a red flag over an electric wire in “The Red Flag.” Abke learns that while theft is not really a problem (he’s been in and out of prison before), an act against the government must be punished by a longer sentence. Abke’s actions impress his lawyer and his fellow prisoners, who discuss politics with him even though he has no real understanding of the arguments and theories they debate.

Other stories include the interconnected “The Folk-lorist” and “Chana-Merka the Fishwife,” which serve as lovely tales of misunderstanding and love. “Vladek” focuses on two boys – one Jewish and one not – who grow up together, although their friendship is strained by nationalist forces. The Vilna underworld is explored in several stories, including “The Lineage of the Vilna Underworld,” which tells of a group of very odd gangsters trying to exist under Soviet rule.

“Vilna My Vilna” contains a glossary, which not only offers translations of Yiddish and Hebrew phrases, but notes which characters and events are based on real life. Some tales felt slightly familiar, if only because others have written about the colorful characters of this period. The stories serve an important purpose, though, by allowing us to glimpse this lost Jewish time and space.

Editor’s note: “Vilna My Vilna: Stories by Abraham Karpinowitz,” translated by Helen Mintz, is the winner of the 2016 J. I. Segal Literary Awards of the Jewish Public Library’s translation award for a book on a Jewish theme.

Cities Continued from page 10

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZAMSTERDAM (JTA) – A Holocaust survivor

dubbed “Rotterdam’s Anne Frank” in her native Neth-erlands published her wartime diary, which she wrote while hiding in the bombed-out city. “At Night I Dream of Peace,” the Dutch-language diary of 89-year-old Carry Ulreich, hit bookstores in the Netherlands the week of October 3. The book generated strong interest from the national media, which likened and contrast-ed Ulreich’s story with that of Frank, the murdered Jewish teenager from Amsterdam whose diaries in hiding were made into one of the world’s best-read books about the Holocaust.

Ulreich, who immigrated to Israel in the years after World War II, was two and a half years older than Frank when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and sent many of the country’s 140,000 Jews into hiding. Unlike Frank, whose writings have been described as offering a universalist worldview, Ulreich displays a distinctly Jewish one, describing her deep emotional connection to Jewish prayer and traditions.

Whereas Frank and many of her relatives were among the 104,000 Dutch Jews murdered in the genocide, Ul-reich survived to have three children, 20 grandchildren and more than 60 great-grandchildren. She took her wartime diary, spread over several yellowing notebooks, to Israel, but reread it only two years ago, deciding to publish. In an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw, she described her story as “like Anne Frank’s, but with a happy end.”

The book, in which Ulreich documented her family’s battle to survive as the world around them became increasingly dangerous, is among a handful of detailed testimonies of life in hiding in Rotterdam, which unlike most Dutch cities was largely destroyed

Dutch survivor’s diary called an Anne Frank story with a “happy” ending

Carry Ulreich, right, and her older sister, Rachel, in a photograph taken during their time in hiding in Rotterdam during the Nazi occupation. (Photo from Boekencentrum/Mozaïek)

in massive aerial bombardments both by the Germans and later the Allied forces. It affords a rare account of the sometimes awkward encounter between the Ulreichs, a Zionistic and traditionalist family from Eastern Europe whose members were proud of their Jewish heritage, and their deeply religious Catholic saviors, the Zijlmans family.

Whereas the Franks, a family of secular and cosmo-politan Jews from Germany, lived apart from the people who hid them, the Ulreichs lived with the Zijlmans in conditions that required considerable sacrifice on the part of the hosts and led to some friction as the two households interacted. The Zijlmans couple, who were recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations in 1977 for risking their lives to save the Ulreichs, gave their bedroom to the Ulreichs and moved into a small room where potatoes were stored. They also severed

their social contacts to avoid detection as their guests lived in fear.

“We are simply terrified that they will report us to the Waffen-SS for neighborhood disturbance,” Ulreich wrote of the neighbors. “Then they will come with their truck, and we’ll have to go to Westerbork and then to Poland and after that... death?”

Westerbork was a Nazi transit camp in Holland’s northeast.

Ulreich also recalls hearing a chazan, or cantor, offer a prayer for Holocaust victims on a British radio transmission, which she said made the Jews cry and feel “connected with him by heart.” But she complains over the airing of the prayer on Shabbat, when Jews are not supposed to turn on the radio. “The Christians try to support us, but they simply don’t understand these things,” she wrote.

“Carry shows, next to the enormous gratitude for the hospitality, the discomfort of two different fami-lies who suddenly have to live together,” wrote Bart Wallet, the editor of the diary and expert on Dutch Jewry with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “The tension and complete dependence are almost tangible for the reader.”

The diary also describes theological discussions between the families. “This book reveals a lot of infor-mation about a, until now, highly undiscussed topic: the religious life in hiding,” Wallet wrote. “It shows how the Jews struggled to eat kosher and how they still tried to celebrate their holy days.”

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for it. It is a warning for any other U.N. agencies that may begin with working with the Palestinians.”

Despite the latest outcome, not a single European country voted in favor of the resolution, with countries like France, Spain, Slovenia and Sweden all abstaining. Other allies of Israel such as India also abstained.

Israel’s Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Haco-hen said the outcome of the vote was a “significant” victory for Israel. “The Palestinians have lost all support in Europe, including France, Spain and even Sweden,” Shama-Hacohen said. “Along with the shift of position of key countries such as India and Argentina to abstention, the vote constitutes a significant achievement [for Israel] compared to the opening conditions for prior votes.”

The Temple Mount – the site of the first two Jewish temples – has long played a pivotal role in Jewish affairs and worship. Yet after the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in the first century C.E., the site passed through a succession of foreign rulers, from the Muslim caliphs and Crusaders to more recently the Ottoman and British empires. While the site was under control of the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate in 691 C.E., the Dome of the Rock was built over the site of the former Jewish Temple.

After failing to gain control of Jerusalem’s Old City during the 1948 War of Independence, Israeli forces captured the Old City and the Temple Mount from Jor-dan during the 1967 Six-Day War. Despite regaining Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount, for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, Israeli leaders relinquished religious sovereignty over the site to the Jordanian-run Islamic Waqf. Under that arrangement, which became the “status quo,” Jewish prayer was forbidden on the Temple Mount and non-Muslim access was restricted to certain days and hours.

Meanwhile, before the vote, the Israeli Foreign Min-istry launched an all-out diplomatic blitz to convince as many countries as possible to either reject or abstain from the vote.

As part of that effort, the Foreign Ministry created a brochure detailing the Temple Mount’s Jewish history, including a picture of the Arch of Titus in Rome, which depicts a Jewish menorah carried off by the Romans. Similarly, a bipartisan group of 39 U.S. lawmakers led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

UNESCO Continued from page 5

An aerial view of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

(R-FL) wrote a letter to the UNESCO Executive Board asking its members to vote against the resolution.

“UNESCO’s anti-Israel agenda has long been apparent and this latest lopsided vote in favor of this shameful resolution is no different,” Ros-Lehtinen told JNS.org. “This resolution attacked the historical connection be-tween Judaism and Jerusalem as part of a larger effort throughout the U.N. system to delegitimize the Jewish State with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Ros-Lehtinen added that UNESCO’s continued an-ti-Israel focus “once again proves that this organization is in desperate need of reform, and until those reforms are made, I will continue to ensure that Congress does not allow any U.S. taxpayer dollars to be used to fund this broken organization.”

Prominent Jewish and Christian groups also weighed on condemning the UNESCO resolution. “UNESCO’s leadership has approved a blatantly biased resolution that attempts to erase the specific deep-rooted, historical connection of Jews (and Christians) to Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital,” the Orthodox Union said in a statement. “It also unjustly singles out Israel with false accusations and criticism with regard to recent acts of terrorism.”

World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer said the resolution is “a document which is full of false accusations

against Israel, and of aggressive language that will only serve to stoke unrest and exacerbate tensions.”

Susan Michael, U.S. director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, told JNS.org UNESCO’s efforts to deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem also denies the Christian history as well. “The Jewish history of Jerusalem is also Christian history, and the Jewish Tem-ple was the scene of numerous New Testament stories,” she said. “Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem and the Christian scriptures record His teachings and miracles that occurred there. If the Christian world does not stand up for the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, then one day we will discover that our own historical and spiritual connection to the holy sites there has also been erased.”

The move by the UNESCO Executive Board is ex-pected to be followed by a similar resolution to be voted on by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO later this month.

NEWS IN BRIEF FROM ISRAELFrom JNS.org

Hamas suicide bombing plot uncovered by Israel

A 22-year-old resident of Shuafat in eastern Jeru-salem has been arrested and indicted for planning a suicide bombing in the Israeli capital, security officials announced on Oct. 11. Muhammad Fauaz Ibrahim Joulani was arrested in early September by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency. He was only days away from carrying out his plan to detonate himself on a bus in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood. His parents were reportedly aware of his activities, as was the terror group Hamas, whose operatives in the Gaza Strip he was in touch via the internet. The terror organization funded Joulani through a grant of $1,840 dollars delivered through a Hebron resident. Such an operation would be “the way of God,” Joulani said, according to his indictment. “This investigation reit-erates and highlights the unrelenting effort by Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip to instigate severe terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank,” the Shin Bet said in a statement reported by Israeli media.

CAN ANYONE REALLY PUT A PRICE ON HOPE AND DIGNITY?

ACTUALLY, YES.Everything has its price. A counseling session for an abused child costs $36. Groceries for a family in crisis cost $100. $50 serves hot meals to 10 homebound seniors.When you can't afford to take care of the most basic needs, it's easy to feel hopeless. On November 6th, 2016 when your phone rings on Super Sunday, please make a gift to our 2017 UJA Campaign… and restore hope.Any gift you make is very much appreciated.

Sunday, please make a gift t


Feature Films (as of September 2016)Dough - An old Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce) takes on a young Muslim apprentice to save his failing kosher bakery. When his apprentice’s marijuana stash accidentally falls in the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves! DOUGH is a warmhearted and humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places. (Shown at the 2017 UJA campaign opening event)Everything is Illuminated - “Everything is Illuminated” tells the story of a young man’s quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazi invasion. What starts out as a journey to piece together one family’s story under absurd circumstances turns into a meaningful journey with a powerful series of revelations -- the importance of remembrance, the perilous nature of secrets, the legacy of the Holocaust, and the meaning of friendship. (Donated by Dr. and Mrs. David Malinov)Europa Europa - Based on the autobiography of Solomon Perel, this movie recounts the severe actions a young boy must take in order to survive the Holocaust. (Donated by Dr. and Mrs. David Malinov)Hidden in Silence - Przemysl, Poland, WWII. Germany emerges victorious over the Russians and the city comes under Nazi control. The Jews are sent to the ghettos. While some stand silent, Catholic teenager, Stefania Podgorska, choose the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic.Inspired by real events, Munich reveals the intense story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate the 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli athletes - and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it.Music Box - In this intense courtroom thriller, Chicago attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange) agres to defend her Hungarian immigrant father against accusations of heinous war crimes committed 50 years earlier.Remember - With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with demntia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family. (shown at the 2017 UJA campaign opening event)Munich - Inspired by real events, Munich reveals the intense story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate the 11 Palestinians believedto have planned the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli athletes - and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it.Son of Saul - October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul (Géza Röhrig) is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners forced to assist the Nazis. While working, Saul discovers the body of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.(shown at the 2017 UJA campaign opening event)The Book Thief - THE BOOK THIEF tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a new family in World War II Germany.The Jolson Story - THE JOLSON STORY is classic Hollywood biography at its best; a fast-paced, tune-filled extravaganza following the meteoric rise of legendary performer Al Jolson. THE JOLSON STORY was nominated for six 1946 Academy Awards , winning two, (Best Musical Scoring and Best Sound Recording). The Other Son - As he is preparing to join the Israeli army for his national service, Joseph discovers he is not his parents’ biological son and that he was inadvertently switched at birth with Yacine, the son of a Palestinian family from the West Bank. This revelation turns the lives of these two families upside-down, forcing them to reassess their respective identities, their values and beliefs.Woman of Gold - Based on the true story of Maria Altman, played by Helen Mirren, who sought to regain a world famous painting of her aunt plundered by the Nazis during World War II. She did so not just to regain what was rightfully hers but also to obtain some measure of justice for the death, destruction and massive art theft perpetrated by the Nazis. (Donated by Dr. and Mrs. David Malinov)

Non-Feature Films 2016Above and Beyond - In 1948, just three years after the liberation of Nazi death camps, a ragtag group of skilled American pilots - both Jewish and non-Jewish, answered a call for help. In secret and at great personal risk, they smuggled planes out of the U.S., trained behind the Iron Curtain and flew for Israel in its War of Independence. This band of brothers not only turned the tide of the war, they also embarked on personal journeys of discovery and pride. (Shown at the 2016 UJA campaign opening event)Everything is a Present: The Wonder and Grace of Alice Sommer Hertz - This is the uplifting true story of the gifted pianist Alice Sommer Hertz who survived the Theresienstat concentration camp by playing classical piano concerts for Nazi dignitaries. Alice Sommer Hertz lived to the age of 106. Her story is an inspiration.Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story - Yoni Netanyahu was a complex, passionate individual thrust into defending his country in a time of war and violence. The older brother of Benjamin Natanyahu, the current Israel Prime Minister, Yoni led the miraculous raid on Entebbe in 1976. Although almost all of the Entebbe hostages were saved, Yoni was the lone military fatality. Featuring three Israeli Prime Ministers and recently released audio from the Entebbe raid itself.Hava Nagila (The Movie) - A documentary romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy and more, the film follows the ubiquitous party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America.If These Knishes Could Talk tells the story of the New York accent: what it is, how it’s evolved, and the love/hate relationship New Yorkers have with it. It features writer Pete Hamill, director Penny Marshall, attorney Alan Dershowitz and screenwriter James McBride, along with a cast of characters from Canarsie to Tottenville. In between, it explores why New Yorkers eat chawclate and drink cawfee, and how the accent became the vibrant soundtrack of a charming, unforgiving and enduring city.Israel: The Royal Tour - Travel editor Peter Greenberg (CBS News) takes us on magnificent tour of the Jewish homeland, Israel. The tour guide is none other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The viewer gets a chance to visit the land of Israel from his own home!Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (narrated by Dustin Hoffman)- This documentary portrays the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning that baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. More than a film about sports, this is a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry, heroism, the passing on of traditions, the shattering of stereotypes and, most of all, the greatest American pastime.Nicky’s Family - An enthralling documentary that artfully tells the story of how Sir Nicholas Winton, now 104, a British stockbroker, gave up a 1938 skiing holiday to answer a friend’s request for help in Prague and didn’t stop helping until the war’s beginning stopped him. He had saved the lives of 669 children in his own personal Kindertransport.The Case for Israel - Democracy’s Outpost - This documentary presents a vigorous case for Israel- for its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism, and to defend its borders from hostile enemies.The Israel Course - A 7-part Israel education series that sheds light on the Holy Land through the ages. Featuring biblical scholars and Middle East experts, including Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Ambassador Dore Gold, Princeton professor Bernard Lewis and many others.The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - As baseball’s first Jewish star, Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg’s career contains all the makings of a true American success story.Unmasked: Judaophobia - the Threat to Civilization – This documentary exposes the current political assault against the State of Israel fundamentally as a war against the Jewish people and their right to self-determination.

NEWTO THE

LIBRARY!



NEWS IN BRIEF FROM EUROPEFrom JTA

Swedish, French nationalists attempt damage control after slip-ups on Jews

Far-right parties in France and Sweden faced “strong rebuke” for statements deemed hostile to Jews. In France, Christophe Boudot, the leader of a regional branch of the National Front, apologized the week of Oct. 7 for saying state subsidies should be stripped from a Holocaust memorial museum, which he argued was “too politicized” and seeking “repentance” that he said France did not need to offer. Separately, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said in a statement that the Sweden Democrats party had “Nazi and racist elements” following the publication of an e-mail containing a racist joke about Jews and other minorities written by the party’s deputy vice chairwoman. Boudot’s Twitter apology was over his criticism of the “Maison d’Izieu Memorial for Jewish Children Murdered in the Holocaust,” a museum set up with government funding in 1994 some 300 miles southeast of Paris in the Rhône-Alpes region. Boudot told the French television station TLM in an interview that his party “always voted against such subsidies because they aim to create a form of repentance, always the same one.” While saying he supported commemoration at large, Boudot said the museum “is too politicized, a little too much.” He later acknowledged that he has never visited the site. The statements generated a sharp backlash in France, where the National Front under Marine Le Pen has struggled to improve its respectability by purging politicians espousing the open antisemitism and Holocaust denial of its founder Jean Marie Le-Pen, the current leader’s father. Jean Marie Le Pen the week of Oct. 7 appealed his expulsion last year from the party over a series of remarks considered a liability to the party’s image, including referring to Nazi gas chambers as a “detail” of World War II history. Many of his supporters sympathize with and venerate France’s collaborationist Vichy government, which helped the Nazis murder approximately one quarter of French Jewry. In his Oct. 7 apology over his criticism of the memorial museum in Izieu, Boudot wrote: “Ill-informed about this issue, I made an error of judgment. I offer my apologies.” On the same day, Löfven warned of the alleged racism of the Sweden Democrats, a party that like the National Front has attempted to distance itself from the racist rhetoric of many of its supporters and founders. “This is a party with Nazi and racist roots, but it’s not just that they have these roots, it is there here and now,” the Swedish prime minister told Aftonbladet. His rebuke followed the release of an e-mail by Carina Herrstedt in which she ridiculed attempts to promote diversity in soccer with a joke that featured language deemed offensive to gays, blacks, nuns, Roma and Jews. The week of Oct. 7, the Sweden Democrats were in the news over a party spokesman’s “lighthearted” likening of Jews to sheep at a German abattoir and a lawmaker’s draft resolution singling out a Jewish family for what she said was their control of the media. Party leaders vowed to apply a zero tolerance to racism and said they are probing the party members and staff implicated in the incidents.British Labour Party promotes lawmaker who made Holocaust reference on Gaza

In a move likely to deepen British Jews’ trust issues with Labour, the party’s leader promoted a lawmaker who seemingly compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust. Jeremy Corbyn made Yasmin Qureshi, who has apologized for causing any offense with her remark in 2014, shadow justice minister – a position that makes her Labour’s point person on the subject. Corbyn, who was re-elected in September to head Labour after being elected in 2015, has faced allegations that his pro-Palestinian politics and tolerance of radical antisemites has encouraged hate speech against Jews. He has challenged the assertion and declared a policy of zero tolerance to antisemitism and other forms of hate speech, publishing an internal report on Labour’s antisemitism problem and subjecting dozens of party activists to review for statements deemed antisemitic or hateful. The most senior was former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, whose membership was suspended after he suggested and later insisted that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist. But the Board of Deputies of British Jews labeled the internal report a “whitewash.” The board’s president, Jonathan Arkush, said most Jews cannot trust Labour under Corbyn. The board offered a milder reac-tion to the appointment of Qureshi, who in a speech about the Holocaust said that Israel’s leaders seem to be “quite complacent and happy to allow the same to happen in Gaza.” Noting Qureshi’s apology for what she called an “offensive” statement, the board’s vice president, Marie van der Zyl, was quoted by the Jewish Times of London on Oct. 10 as saying: “Naturally we hope she will be more judicious in her new role as shadow justice minister.” In her apology, Qureshi denied that she had meant to draw parallels between modern-day Israel and Nazi Germany. “The debate was about the plight of the Palestinian people and in no way did I mean to equate events in Gaza with the Holocaust. I apologize for any offense caused,” she said. “I am also personally hurt if people thought I meant this.”Axe-wielding man threatens Jews near synagogue in England

A man carrying an axe made antisemitic threats to a group of Jews in a town near

Manchester, England, on Rosh Hashanah. The man reportedly was inside a vehicle close to a synagogue in the town of Prestwich when he made the threats on Oct. 3, according to The Manchester Evening News. Police were called to the scene and later the same day arrested a 45-year-old man suspected of possessing a weapon and committing a racially motivated public order crime. The man was released on bail until Oct. 31. “This was unfortunately a very ugly incident and we are glad that the police response has been so speedy and correct,” said a spokesman for the Jewish group Community Security Trust, according to The Manchester Evening News. Local police said the incident was still under investigation. Prestwich is home to a Jewish community served by several kosher supermarkets and butchers, as well as clothing shops catering to the modesty standards of observant women.Britain suspends aid to Palestinians over terrorists’ salaries

The United Kingdom suspended millions of dollars in aid payments to the Palestinian Authority amid claims that the money is ending up in the hands of terrorists. Britain’s International Development Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a freeze pending an investigation, The Sun reported on Oct. 7. Earlier this summer, lawmakers demanded action after revelations that U.K. aid supposedly paying for civil servants in Gaza was being transferred to the Palestinian Liberation Organi-zation, which offers payment to terrorists serving sentences in Israeli jails. One Hamas bomber was alleged to have been given more than $100,000. Other stipends paid to terrorists are said to have gone to families of suicide bombers and teenagers attacking Israel. The U.K. Department for International Development has previously admitted the PLO makes “social welfare” provisions for prisoners’ families, but ruled out the idea that U.K. cash was being diverted in this way. The decision by the Department for International Development means that more than $29 million in cash is being withheld this year – a third of the total aid sent to the Palestinian territories. The majority goes to charities in the region. One unnamed government source was quoted as telling The Sun: “We are not stopping the Palestinian Au-thority overall, just delaying it to a date when we know our money won’t be going to people who do nothing in return for it.” The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the reports. “We have long been deeply concerned by the Department for International Development’s assertion that British tax money categorically does not fund terrorism and incitement,” the board’s senior vice president, Richard Verber, said in a statement. “We welcome this move and hope that a robust and thorough investigation will be carried out.” Simon Johnson, the chief executive of Britain’s Jewish Leadership Council, said in a separate statement that British Jews have long feared the misuse of aid to the Palestinians by the British government. “It is vital that the Department for International Development is robust in ensuring funds are used to help those in need, and not to support destruction and disruption within an already tense political climate.”

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We bring security. Throughout Europe, violent attacks target Jewish people and Jewish institutions. Security is posted at synagogues. At Jewish day schools, five-year-olds file past armed guards to get to the playground. Jewish students arriving at college encounter toxic anti-Israel slogans.

Your UJA gift will help restore a sense of security. With your help, we can share expertise and funding to keep children safe at schools, and stand up against hatred so that Jews everywhere can walk without fear - into a synagogue or simply down the street.

That's why there's UJA and the Federation. And that’s why we need you.

Name:______________________________________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________________________________________

City:__________________________________________ State: ________________ ZIP: ___________________

Home phone: _________________ Work phone: ____________________Cell phone: ____________________

E-mail address: ______________________________________________________________________________

____ I’m enclosing a gift of $ ______________ ______ I’ll pledge $ _____________ *

*_____One-time * _____ Quarterly installments (1/4 of total) *______ Monthly installments (1/12 of total)

Authorized signature Date

2017 UJA CampaignJewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510Telephone: 570-961-2300 (ext. 3)

Payment options

_____ Please bill me at the above address.

_____ Enclosed is my check payable to “UJA/Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania”.

_____ PayPal or credit card (www.jewishnepa.org – “DONATE” – “Make an Online Donation”).

_____ On-line banking (designate your payments through your bank auto-draft account to

“UJA/Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania”).

_____ My company ( ___________________________ ) has a matching gift program. I’ll obtain the form and forward it.

ALAN SMERTZ AND SUSIE BLUM CONNORS, CO-CHAIRS OF OUR 2017 UJA CAMPAIGN THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

building 98 new homes near shiloh renews u.s. …elie wiesel, 87 nobel prize winner, writer of more...

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