new jersey jewish standard - dec. 27, 2013
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SCHECHTER OFFERS MENU OF MINYANS page 6
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JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
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NOSHES ...................................................5OPINION ................................................16
COVER STORY ............ ............ ............ 20
TORAH COMMENTARY ....................31
CROSSWORD PUZZLE .................... 32
ARTS AND CULTURE........................33
CALENDAR ..........................................34
OBITUARIES ........................................ 37
CLASSIFIEDS ...................................... 38
GALLERY ..............................................40
REAL ESTATE .......................................41
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CONTENTS
F.Y.I.
Single-malt whiskeyfrom the Holy Land
The year is 2014, and
youre in search of a
traditional, fine single-malt
whiskey.
Pick the bottle with the
logo of a cow decked out
in honey-bee colors. Take
a look at the label youll
be delighted to find this
Highlands-inspired flavorful
whiskey comes from Israel
and is kosher.
The Milk & Honey
Distillery Israels first
single malt whiskey
distillery is not a fantasy.The Israeli spirit enthusiasts
behind it are so serious
about their traditional craft
distillery that theyve invested nearly
$1 million of their own funds and ran a
crowd-sourcing campaign for another
$65,000.
We are dedicated to using traditional
craft distilling techniques to make a
high-quality whiskey in the Holy Land.
Israeli whiskey that we can all be proud
of, according to the Milk & Honey
pact on the teams website.
Theyve got a seven-meter-tall copper
3,500 liter still now being handcrafted
in Germany and another handmade
9,000 liter wash still waiting to be used
in a warehouse near the port of Ashdod.
And while the Israeli team is made
up of whiskey enthusiasts, they madesure to hire a master distiller, the world
renowned James (Jim) Swan. Mr. Swan,
who hails from Glasgow, has detailed
knowledge about making the golden
beverage and is the leading expert on
whiskey production in warmer climates.
It will be a signature single-malt
whiskey not peaty, but rich flavorful
Speyside-style, Mr. Swan said. The
ingredients used in producing the
whiskey will be carefully selected and
mostly locally sourced.
Simon Fried, co-founder of Milk &
Honey Distillery, was out drinking with
five other whiskey devotees in 2012
when one of them threw out the idea
that Israel should have its own whiskey.
That proposal sparked grander plans,
and today the six-member team is
putting final touches on blueprints for
a distillery and visitors center near
Mikhmoret, about 30 minutes north of
Tel Aviv.
Mr. Fried said the traditional craft
whiskey distillery will make use of local
ingredients where possible, without
going too far off on a tangent.Were whiskey geeks; we want to
play it straight and narrow, he said.
We love whiskey so much and
we think its a great way to project
something different outwards from
Israel, he continued. Weve seen how
Israeli wine has done great things for
Israels reputation on the world stage,
and wed love our whiskey to achieve
the same.
The Milk & Honey team dedicates
part of its website to Mary the
Jewess (aka Maria Prophetissima,
Maria Prophetissa, Mary Prophetissa,
Miriam the Prophetess). While the first
fermentation and distillation traces
back to Hellenistic Egypt, it seems
that Mary estimated to have lived
between the first and third centuries
of the Common Era is considered
the first non-fictitious alchemist in theWestern world.
Her story appears in the works of
the Gnostic Christian writer Zosimos
of Panopolis. Zosimos credits Mary the
Jewess as the inventor of the tribikos,
the first distilling equipment.
VIVA SARAH PRESS / ISRAEL21C.ORG
Candlelighting: Friday, December 27, 4:16 p.m.
Shabbat ends: Saturday, December 28, 5:21 p.m.
Same-sex penguin couplenests together in Israeli zoolDashik and Yehuda, two male grif-
fon vultures, first made headlines
when they raised surrogate chicks to-
gether at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
back in 1999. Now, Suki and Chup-
chikoni, two female Jackass penguins,
are waving a new rainbow flag at the
Zoological Center Ramat Gan (Safari)
just outside of Tel Aviv.
Safari keepers say it was pretty
obvious that Suki was a female
because of her size. As soon as she
and Chupchikoni coupled up and
started collecting nesting materials
together, the zoo staff wrongly
assumed that Sukis black-footedpenguin companion was a male.
Penguins pair for life, and there was
no mistaking Suki and Chupchikonis
attraction to each other.
There is no way of telling a male
penguin from a female just by looking
at them, says Safari spokeswoman
Sagit Horowitz. But usually the
keepers can guess the gender by size
and behavior.
It was an Israeli veterinary students
research on diagnosing avian malaria
that outed Suki and Chupchikoni.
Blood samples taken from the
South African penguins showed that
Chupchikoni also was a female.
We had no doubt about Suki, as
she is quite small, said Tamuz Setti,
head of the Safari Avian Departmen
The Safari supports the new coup
and even promoted their status with
press release and photos.
This is our first lesbian animal
couple at the Safari, Ms. Setti said.
And because there are a few young
available males in the colony, we are
certain that this is a choice they mad
to be together, and not a coupling b
default.
VIVA SARAH PRESS / ISRAEL21C.O
On a wing and a prayer brieflylTravelers on El Al last week were
surprised to hear the recitation of
Tefilat Haderech the travelers
prayer over the loudspeaker as
they entered the plane and once
again as the plane was taxiing to
its takeoff position, Yedioth Aha-
ronot reported.
An airline employee told Yedioth
that about two years ago, the
company placed a sign with the
text of the Travelers Prayer at
the entrance, and passengers
did not complain because they
barely noticed it. But now were
receiving complaints from the air
crews and the passengers, the El
Al employee said.
El Al responded to the
complaints by saying that playing
the prayer on a planes public
address system was initiated by
the company chaplain, Rabbi
Yochanan Chayut.
They also announced that the
prayer would be removed by the
end of the week. Rabbi Chayut was
ordered to attend a hearing before
the company brass on his decision.
YORI YANOVER
Simon Fried is buying equipment for the Milk &
Honey Distillery.
Suki and Chupchikoni, two female
Jackass penguins, are waving a new
rainbow flag at the Ramat Gan Zoo-
logical Center.
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Local
6 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
Other paths to GodSchechter students enjoy elective minyanim
LARRY YUDELSON
Can baseball be a path to God?
Some students at the Solo-
mon Schechter Day School of
Bergen County in New Milford
are exploring that possibility.
The school has begun supplement-
ing the schools traditional daily prayer
services by offering seventh and eighth
graders the chance to explore different
avenues of spirituality every Tuesday
and Wednesday morning.
The schools rabbi, Fred Elias, leads a
group talking about the re ligious values
that can be found in the great momentsof baseball. Students in Minyan in the
Gan pray in the schools garden when
the weather allows it, and they are devel-
oping an environmental siddur. In the
Five Senses minyan, students experi-
ence meditation, yoga, and Zumba, and
a music minyan has created a school wor-
ship band.
The idea is to ind different ways upon
which the students can connec t things
they love to do with teillah that is,
with prayer Rabbi Elias said.
Before the discussions, students pray
an abbreviated service, which includes
the most important prayers.
And on the other three days of the
week, the students join for the traditional
full morning prayer service.Behind the notion of offering untra-
ditional minyanim is the ancient con-
flict between structure and spiritual-
ity in prayer or in Hebrew, keva and
kavana. We use the alternative minya-
nim as a complement to the keva por-
tion, explained Ilan Marans, the schools
music and video specialist.
In effect, the school is swapping
some of the words of the prayer book
for a chance to have students focus on
the underlying questions of God and
meaning.
It turns out that the emphasis on kava-
nah, spirituality, two days a week pays
dividends on the days when the worship
fully conforms to the keva, the tradi-
tional structure.The students show a certain higher
level appreciation for the time and space
that we are in our regular minyan with
the traditional davening, he said.
They feel stronger connections that
come out with greater participation, he
said. That connection can be seen in an
increased desire to take on leadership
roles in the regular minyan.
The students also have taken a lead-
ership role in thinking up new ideas for
minyanim that are scheduled to start in
the spring semester.
One new group, which will integrate
contemporary iction, will be called the
ShahaLit a play on Shaharit, the name
of the morning service, which the school
spells without the c and look at con-
temporary iction; the other, ShahaShir,
will bring in Israeli songs.
Mr. Marans leads the musical group,
which is learning to play tunes from the
litury so that in the end we can bring
our Shacharit Live Band to our main min-
yan as an accompaniment to the regular
service.
The group includes a drummer, twosaxophone players, a trumpet player,
and a student who doesnt really have
experience playing but plays a hand
drum during lessons, Mr. Marans said.
Theyve been working on a tune for
the lines at the conclusion of the Shmone
Esrei, practicing making that as perfect
as we can, he said.
Theyve also spent time improvising,
and talking about how music can com-
municate in a spiritual way.
Part of the purpose is to allow kids
to experiment with how they approach
their spirituality in different mediums,
Mr. Marans added.
Rabbi Elias prayer group, by contrast,
is by the book the book in this case
being Baseball as a Road to God: SeeingBeyond the Game, which looks at the
spiritual dimension of the game.
When he picked up the book in June,
he wondered whether he could start a
minyan around the concept, where
kids look at elements of sacred time and
sacred space as they appear in baseball.
While the book itself has allusions to
Christian faith and belief, it has a number
of reflections on Jewish faith and belief
as well. It has really engaged some of
our kids who are very enthusiastic about
sports, he said.
Last week, one of the authors of the
book , Peter J. Schwart z, came to the
school to talk about it.
The Schechter educators empha-
size that all this is a supplement, not areplacement, for traditional services,
so dont go replacing your synagogue
membership with season tickets to the
Yankees.
While gathering together at the base-
ball iel d may offer a spir itu al exper i-
ence, Rabbi Elias said, we also believe
in the sanctity of people gathered in the
purpose of spirituality. It takes place at a
different religious and elevated level in a
synagogue community, he said.
Abe Teicher plays guitar during Shaharit Live, one of five elective minyanim at
the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County.
PHOTOS COURTESY SSDS OF BERGEN COUN
The schools rabbi, Fred Elias, shows students a video as part of the Baseball
as a Road to God minyan.
Students pray outdoors in Schechters organic teaching garden as part of the
Minyan in the Gan minyan.
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Loca
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
Shaar CommunitiesChoose Your Gate. Open Your Soul. Find Your Community.
Upcoming Events:Rosh Chodesh Learning Series
Drink & Think, $25 per personTuesday, January 7, 2014, 8:0010:00 pm, $25 per person
At a private home in Englewood Cliffs, NJDiscussion of Sex Trafficking and Slavery in America today, with special guest Debra
Brown Steinberg, Attorney and founder of the w ebsiteVS: Confronting Modern Slavery in America, award-winning au thority on the issue
Parents of LGBTQ Teens
Tuesday, January 14, 2014, 7:30 pm
At a private home in TenaflyNew Jerseysfirst Jewish LGBTQ teen initiative, parents gather to discuss issues
relevant to their children and families, explore how to best engage and supporttheir teens as well to create nurturing a nd meaningful bonds as parents in a safe
and trusting setting.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE!January 24, 2014, 6:30pm, $35 per person
Call for location details.Enjoy music-filled, spiritual Shabbat services followed by a delicious dinner.
Commemorating the yartzeit of Debbie Friedman zl.
Mother/Daughter Spa ShabbatFriday, January 31 Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Lodge at Woodloch, Hawley, PARelax your body and refresh your soul in the height of l uxury and the depths of
feeling.
For more information contact our Director of
Communities at [email protected]
Or visit our website www.shaarcommunities.org
2014 Benefit DinnerPlease join us to support our
communitys school for Jewish children with special needs
HONORING
David & Marjorie BernsteinGUESTS OF HONORTemimei Lev Award
William & Gail HochmanNedivei Lev Award
Aryeh & Arielle SheinbeinRigshei Lev Award
Maadan CaterersStuart Kahan & Yossie Markovic
Tovei Lev Award
Cantor Joseph & Beatrice MalovanyYishrei Lev Award
Sunday Evening
FEBRUARY 9, 2014
Buffet Dinner at 5:15 PM
Program Promptly at 6:45 PM
MARRIOTT GLENPOINTE HOTELTeaneck, New Jersey
201-833-1134, ext. 105www.sinaidinner.org/support
Please remember us in your year-end charitable giving
School auction to benefithospitalized childMoriah students rallyto support a beloved family
LOIS GOLDRICH
For the last 11 years, Englewoods
Moriah School has held a student
council goods and services auc-
tion at the end of Chanukah to
raise funds for a worthy cause.
According to Rabbi Akiva Wolk, director
of student programming for the middle
school, while students always enjoy the
event and participate enthusiastically, this
year was especially meaningful. It beneits
a family the students know and, more
speciically, it helps one little girl.
Rabbi Chaim Poupko, assistant rabbi of
Ahavath Torah in Englewood a belovedrabbi to many of our students has a
daughter, Chana, diagnosed with cancer,
said Erik Kessler, Moriahs director of
admissions and communications.
The students wanted to do something
to help the family. This was a way to help
them.
One of our student council representa-
tives, whose family is close to the Poupko
family mentioned that Chana [is living]
on the pediatric oncoloy floor of Hacken-
sack Hospital, Rabbi Wolk said.
The unit recently got a Wunderwagon, a
colorful animal-shaped wagon that can be
used to pull children around the hospital.
Apparently, it was a big hit.
All the kids were very excited, Rabbi
Wolk said. Everyone wanted to play with
it.
The Moriah student council member
said she thought it would be a good idea
to focus on raising money for anotherWunderwagon to donate to the hospital so
that the children and especially Chana
could use it.
The idea was embraced immediately,
and students bid in record numbers to
achieve the goal. In the end, the auction,
with raffle tickets priced at $1 each, raised
$2,400 from the middle school in one day
the most successful weve been since its
inception, Rabbi Wolk said. Based o
the prices, we hope to purchase three
Moriahs two eighth-grade chesed coordinators, Julia Blinder, left, and Atarah
Kaner, helped Rabbi Wolk organize and execute the auction. MORIAH SCHO
SEE AUCTIONPAGE
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7/22/2019 New Jersey Jewish Standard - Dec. 27, 2013
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JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
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Call 201.408.1448 or stop by membershipto find out more.
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Local
10 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
Local memories of Edgar BronfmanArthur Hertzbergs daughter talks about her fathers friend
JOANNE PALMER
Edgar Bronfman, who died on Saturday
at 84, was a very rich man, insulated
from most of us by the huge fortune he
inherited, shepherded, and increased.
Susan Hertzberg of Haworth remem-
bers him not just as an icon, but also as
a person.
Ms. Hertzberg is the younger daugh-
ter of the late Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg.
She grew up in Englewood, where for
decades her father was rabbi of Temple
Emanu-el there. (It since has moved toCloster.) The two men, Mr. Bronfman
physically imposing, elegant, and pow-
erful, and Rabbi Hertzberg much smaller
but a towering intellect, both supremely
self-conident that their way of looking
at the world was the only correct way to
see it, worked together for many years.
Ms. Hertzberg saw much of that work
irst-hand.
Dad and Edgar got to know each
other through their work in major Jew-
ish organizations in the 1970s, she said.
Dad was involved in the American Jew-
ish Congress, and later in the World
Jewish Congress, and Edgar became its
chair.
The two men were drawn together
because each had reached the pinnacle
of his own world, and they recognized
each other from neighboring mountain-
tops. They found that they had a lot of
interests in common, she continued.
Edgar hadnt really had much of a Jew-
ish education, and he grew to rely on myfather for his classical Jewish knowledge.
They spent a lot of time together, dis-
cussing the issues of the day; as a prag-
matic businessman, Edgar had a lot of
interesting and novel ideals about how to
approach some longstanding problems
in American Jewish society, particularly
the disaffection of younger people with
organized synagogue-based religion as a
source of Jewish identity.
Given Mr. Bronfmans continuingfocus on how to engage young people,
Ms. Hertzberg said, it made sense that
he chose to create the Bronfman Youth
Fellowship in Israel, and later to become
involved actively in Hillel. That grew
out of Edgars desire to enlarge the Jew-
ish perspective of young people in Amer-
ica, who were born Jewish but didnt feel
Jewish.
Edgar observed a disengagement
in Judaism on the part of kids who had
gone to Hebrew school in the 1960s and
70s, until bar mitzvah, and then drifted
away, she continued.
So he looked for tools to bring these
young people back. One of his great
thoughts was to give young people the
experience of going to Israel as a way of
stimulating their interest in the Jewish
religion, Jewish culture, and support of
Israel.
The two men collaborated in forming
a minyan where both would celebrate
the High Holy Days. After my fatherretired as a pulpit rabbi, he wanted a
shul in which he would feel comfortable
praying, Ms. Hertzberg said. Edgar too
wanted to be able to feel comfortable.
So the two hatched a small, invitation-
only minyan for their family and some
friends.
The minyan met three times a year;
Mr. Bronfman always managed to ind
a public space that was appropriately
Edgar Bronfman, philanthropist andJewish communal leader, dies at 84
JTA STAFF
NEW YORK Edgar Bronfman, the billion-
aire former beverage magnate and leading
Jewish philanthropist , died on Saturday.
He was 84 years old.
As the longtime president of the World
Jewish Congress, Mr. Bronfman fought for
Jewish rights worldwide and led the suc-
cessful ight to secure more than a billion
dollars in restitution from Swiss banks
for Holocaust victims and their heirs. As
a philanthropist, Mr. Bronfman took the
lead in creating and funding many efforts
to strengthen Jewish identity among
young people.
According to a statement, he died peace-
fully at his home in New York, surrounded
by family.
Mr. Bronfman spent the 1950s and 1960sworking with his father, Samuel, at Sea-
gram Ltd., the familys beverage business.
He became chairman of the company in
1971, the year of his fathers death.
Just a year earlier, in 1970, Mr. Bronfman
took part in a delegation to Russia to lobby
the Kremlin for greater rights for Jews in
the Soviet Union. He would later credit the
trip with inspiring his increasing interest
in Judaism.
It was on those trips to Russia that my
curiosity was piqued, Mr. Bronfman said.
What is it about Judaism, I asked myself,
that has kept it alive through so much
adversity while so many other traditions
have disappeared. Curiosity soon turned
into something more, and that something
more has since turned into a lifelong
passion.
In 1981, Mr. Bronfman became the presi-
dent of the World Jewish Congress, step-
ping up the organizations activism on
behalf of Jewish communities around the
world. From his perch at the WJC, in addi-
tion to battling with the Swiss banks, he
continued the ight for Soviet Jewry, took
the lead in exposing Kurt Waldheims Nazi
past, and worked to improve Jewish rela-
tions with the Vatican. In 1991, he lobbied
President George H.W. Bush to push for
the rescission of the United Nations res
lution equating Zionism and racism.In terms of defending Jews, Im a Jew
Mr. Bronfman said in 2008. And I was
a position to do so, so I did so.
Mr. Bronfmans inal years as preside
of WJC were marred by allegations
inancial irregularities revolving aroun
his most influential adviser on Jewi
political affairs, the organizations secr
tary general, Rabbi Israel Singer. Mr. Bro
fman never was implicated in any of th
inancial allegations, but the controver
and feuding surrounding his top aide dom
inated the inal years of his decades-lo
stint as WJC president.
The ofice of then-New York Attorn
General Eliot Spitzer issued a report
2006 that found no criminal offense, b
criticized the WJCs inancial managemenand it ordered that Rabbi Singer be pr
hibited from making inancial decisio
in the organization. Mr. Bronfman initia
stood by Rabbi Singer before ultimately
ing him in 2007. Several months later M
Bronfman stepped down.
But he did not disappear from the pub
stage. A staunch supporter of the Israe
Palestinian peace process, he continu
to be a vocal and public backer of liber
politicians in the United States and Isra
And as president of the Samuel Bronfm
Foundation, he dedicated most of his in
years to his Jewish philanthropic causes
Arthur Hertzberg and Edgar Bronfman
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Please join NCSY and 312 public
school students from across North
America at NCSYs Yarchei Kallah
Shabbat in New Jersey
DECEMBER 27-28, 2013
Bnai Yeshurun
Rabbi Micah GreenlandInternational Director, NCSY
Keter TorahRabbi Micah Greenland
International Director, NCSY
Ohr HaTorahRabbi Yaakov Glasser
Director of Education, NCSY
Rinat Yisrael
Rabbi Moshe BenovitzDirector, NCSY Kollel
Dean, NCSY Summer
Zichron MordechaiRabbi Ethan Katz
Regional Director, NJ NCSY
Shabbat Morning
Friday Night
Bergen County Scholarship Dinner
HONORINGRabbi Yaakov and Dr. Ruth Glasser
NCSY thanks Congregation Keter Torah and the Teaneck/Bergenfield
community for opening their synagogues and homes to the students
of NCSYs Yarchei Kallah.
www.ncsy.org
NCSY is the internationalyouth movement of the OU
YARCHEIKALLAHShabbat of Inspiration
Words of Inspiration
SAVE THE DATE!
February 17, 2014
Keter Torah600 Roemer AvenueTeaneck, NJ
Yarchei Kallah issponsored in part by
NCSYs Ben ZakaiHonor Society
Sponsored in part byTouros Lander Colleges
Local
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
sized and furnished to it the minyan comfortably
and stylishly. It was a combination of services
and learning, Ms. Hertzberg said. There always
also was a Talmud lesson, discussion of different
prayers, and relating the litury to things going on
in the world.
The joke was that it was the favorite synagogue
that either of them ever had been afiliated with,
because there was no board of directors.
The minyan lasted for more than 10 years; eventu-
ally Rabbi Hertzbergs failing health made it impos-
sible for him to continue it.
Edgar Bronfman and her father did not always
get along easily, Ms. Hertzberg said. They wouldoften disagree, but they sparked each others think-
ing. They were both very strong egos. Sparks flew
because the ferocity of their intellectual engage-
ment with each other was flint on flint.
Her father also was close to Mr. Bronfmans
widow, Jan, who is a an accomplished painter in
her own right, Ms. Hertzberg said.
Her overwhelming feeling about Edgar Bronfman
is that he was insightful and decisive, she said. He
was truly interested in people.
In 1987 Mr. Bronfman founded the Bronfman Youth Fel-
lowship, a young leadership program that brings togetherJewish high school students from Israel and North Amer-
ica. In the 1990s he worked to revive Hillel, serving as the
founding chair of the campus organizations board of gov-
ernors. In 2002, he provided the funding to launch MyJew-
ishLearning, a digital media entity that now also includes
the Jewish parenting site Kveller and boasts 1 million visi-
tors per month.
Bronfman and his irst wife, Ann Loeb, had ive chil-
dren: Sam, Edgar Jr., Matthew, Holly and Adam. He and
his second wife, Georgiana Webb, had two daughters, Sara
and Clare. In 1994, he married the artist Jan Aronson. He is
survived by Ms. Aronson, his seven children, 24 grandchil-
dren, and two great-grandchildren, as well as a brother,
Charles, and a sister, Phyllis Lambert.
Edgar Bronfmans Jewish philanthropies were wide
ranging and youth oriented.
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Local
12 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
Sending formula to ChinaLocal student spearheads driveto help her younger sisters orphanageMEITAL FUKSBRUMER
Eve Zvulun feels she owes a debt to the
Chongren Orphanage in Jiangxi Prov-
ince, China.
After all, thats where the 16-year-old
got her sister.Her 8-year-old sister, Eliana Tilem, was
adopted from the orphanage when she
was a baby.
Now Eve, a junior at the Frisch School
in Paramus, is selling bracelets for $2 a
pop in order to raise money for baby for-
mula for the orphanage.
Eve found out about the orphanages
needs through Pegy Gurrad, who works
with various orphanage foundati ons.
The two corresponded by email over
the past few months, and she decided
to raise funds through selling the Arm-
strong-style bracelets.
When I heard that they needed baby
formula, I wanted to raise the money
they need to provide a better, healthier
life for these children, Eve said. It willcertainly increase their chances of sur-
viving under the harsh living conditions
they are in.
Eve knows irsthand how adopting a
child can change the life of a family for
the better. She and her parents, Ellen
and Peter Tilem, lived quietly until Eli-
ana came to live with them, she recalls.
Eve describes Eliana as lively, abso-
lutely adorable, extremely athletic. She
is a wonderful friend and she is kind,
caring, and brilliant.
She is beautiful and I love her ve
much. In fact, she said, she cant ima
ine life without her any more than sh
can imagine life without her other s
ter, Leila. Now, following Eves path, t
two younger sisters both are students Yeshivat Noam in Paramus.
The response to the bracelet sa
has been overwhelming, Eve said. H
friends are helping by hanging up flye
around the school, and they are buyi
and selling the bracelets too. Some ev
donated extra money to the cause.
I feel this is so important becau
when I thi nk about how Elian a h
impacted my life and my family, an
then I think of the other children w
are still in the orphanage I feel the ne
to impact their lives just like Eliana h
impacted mine, Eve said.
I want to make sure that these ch
dren are living happy, healthy liv
while they are waiting to be adopte
Thankfully Eliana was blessed, and wadopted from the orphanage as a happ
healthy baby. However, the other ch
dren in the orphanage who have n
been adopted yet are sti ll livi ng the
waiting for a family.
To think that they are there witho
being properly fed makes me want to
something. My sister was once no diff
ent from these children.
For more information, email Eve
OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
Jewish Federation
www.jfnnj.org | 201-820-3900
On behalf of everyone we serve,
thank you
for your commitment
to the Jewish people in our
local community, Israel, and abroad.
Wishing you a healthy and happy
4Mickey Mouse posed for a photo with the three sisters; from left, Leila, Elian
and Eve. PETER TIL
www.jstandard.com
-
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12/43
Affordable luxury with amenities that include:
Scan with your smart phonefor more information
To Schedule a Tour, Call 973.929.2725
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And much, much more...
Owned and Managed by the Jewish Community Housing Corporation of Metropolitan New Jersey
903-905 Route 10 East, Whippany, NJ
Low and moderate income units also available, as low as $1600 per month
www.jchcorp.org
Dont Just Live Life
Love It!
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Local
14 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
Young leadership supporters at the Truth or Dare to Make a Difference gala
played casino games.
FIDF Young Leadership galaraises necessary fundsThe Friends of the Israel Defense Forces,
NY Young Leadership Division, raised morethan $500,000 at its 11th annual gala on
December 7 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in
Manhattan.
More 1,400 young professionals and FIDF
supporters from across the New York metro-
politan area were there. Funds will beneit
the groups recently adopted Israel Defense
Forces Brigade, Iron Trail, as part of the
FIDF Adopt a Brigade Program.Guests at the gala included FIFD national
chair Nily Falic; its national director and
CEO, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yitzhak (Jerry) Ger-
shon; young leadership president Howard
Schor; gala co-chairs Stefanie Cohen, Jake
Dardashtian, and Jane Oster, and national
young leadership director Dan Haskell.
Shabbat services and brisket
Neal Klausner, president of Temple
Sinai of Bergen County, and his wife,
Susan, sponsored a free congrega-
tional Shabbat dinner on December 13.
The evening included a brisket com-
petition that attracted seven competi-
tors. More than 90 congregants came
to the dinner, which was coordinat
and prepared by board vice preside
Anne-Marie Bennoun. A Rock Sha
bat musical service followed. Go
this weeks Cooking with Beth bl
at www.jstandard.com for the winni
brisket recipes.
From left are Yitz Stern, Mayor Davidi Perl, Shani Simkovitz, Ben Gutmann, Jill
Janowski, and Philip and Marlene Rhodes. GERRY BERNSTEIN
Teaneck JNF council dinneryields historic project funding
This years Teaneck Council of the Jewish
National Fund dinner drew more attend-ees than ever more. It raised more than
$200,000 for the Historic Sites Renovation
Project at Gush Etzion Visitors Center and
other JNF projects in Israel.
The Northern New Jersey JNF boards
incoming president, Jill Janowski, pre-
sented a Circle of Excellence award to
outgoing president Ben Gutmann, and
Bob Levine, JNFs national vice president,
presented the same award to Philip and
Marlene Rhodes. The Community Service
award was presented to Teaneck Council-
man Yitz Stern by Mark Levenson, chairof the New Jersey-Israel Commission, who
was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie.
Teaneck Mayor Mohammed Hameedud-
din was at the dinner, as were several
Teaneck Council members, who presented
citations to the honorees and to Tracy
Silna Zur, who represented the Bergen
County Freeholders. Speakers included
Gush Mayor Davidi Perl and Shani Simko-
vitz, head of the Gush Etzion Foundation.
Greenfield named NCSY directorThe Orthodox Union has
named Rabbi Micah Green-
land of Chicago as interna-
tional director of NCSY, theOUs youth movement. For
the last year he has acted as
interim director, succeeding
Rabbi Steven Burg, who held
the position for eight years
before joi nin g the Simon
Wiesenthal Center as east-
ern director.
For 12 years, Rabbi Greenland was
director of the Chicago-based NCSY
Midwest region. He assumed the
regional directors ro
immediately after receivi
smicha from Yeshiva Univ
sity, where he also earnhis undergraduate and ma
ters degrees. Througho
his six years at Yeshiva U
versity, he was a volunte
NCSY advisor; he irst join
NCSY when he was 9 in h
hometown of Rocheste
N.Y. As a high schooler at the Skok
Yeshiva in Skokie, Ill., he was nation
vice president of NCSY and region
vice president of education.
From left, Neil, Alexandra, Max, and Susan Klausner lit Shabbat candles.
Rabbi Micah
Greenfield
Second place brisket winner, Peggy Kabakow,
left, and Arnie Wechter, first-place winner, flank
Anne-Marie Bennoun. PHOTOS BY ILENE WECHTER
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JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades411 EAST CLINTON AVENUE, TEN AFLY, NJ 07670| 201.569.7900| jccotp.org
TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFO, VISIT
jccotp.orgOR CALL 201.569.7900.
UPCOMING AT
FOR
ALL
KAPLEN JCC on the Palisades
ADULTS
More Songs That SheLoved: A Tribute ConcertA joyous musical evening dedicated to
remembering Stephanie Prezant with live
music provided by her friends and family andsome of the most beloved musicians and
vocalists in the community. Funds raised from
this concert will help support the Stephanie
I. Prezant Maccabi Fund at the JCC. For
more info, contact Sharon Kestenbaum at
201.408.1406 or register online at jccotp.org.
Sat, Feb 8, 8 pm, $30 per person,
$15 students to age 18
Tax SeminarJust in time for tax season! Join us for a lecture with a
tax specialist from Gideon Adler & Co., CPA to become
more familiar with all the laws and regulations pertaining
to filing your personal income tax. Brought to you by the
Israeli Center. For more info please call Aya at 201.408.1427.
Sun, Jan 5, 4 pm, free
Support GroupsWITH JUDY BRAUNER, LCSW THERAPIST
WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS: YOU ARE NOT ALONE
This bereavement group for those recently widowed
provides an opportunity to share your feelings w ith
others that understand.
6 Mondays, Feb 24Mar 31, 6-7:30 pm, $100/$125
UNCOUPLING: COPING WITH DIVORCE AND SEPARATION
The group will help you process your feelings about the
end of an important relationship and the experience of
being on your own.
6 Mondays, Feb 24Mar 31, 7:45-9:15 pm, $100/$125
For more info contact Esther at 201.408.1456 or
EGL FOUNDATION COMPUTER CENTER
FOR ADULTS 40+
Open House & OrientationLearn how to sharpen your computer skills,
meet our instructors and coaches, attend a
FREE class on Most Interesting Websites,and get a chance to win a free computer
course of choice. Register for classes by
January 13 and get 20% off all classes
(excludes workshops). For more info please
call Rachel Pasher Eijkenaar at 201.569.7900,
ext. 309.
Tue, Jan 7, 10:30 am-12:30 pm, Free
The Affordable Care Act:Whats It All About?DISCUSSION WITH JEFFREY LEV ITT, CFP, MBA
Join us for an information session to better understand
and address misconceptions surrounding ACA and how
to get the most out of your healthcare dollars. Q&A
to follow. Sponsored by the Berit and Martin Bernstein
Open Forum Endowment Fund and the Edwin S.
Soforenko Foundation.
Wed, Jan 15, 4 pm, Free and Open to the Community
Dont miss out on the great winter we have lined
up for kids of all ages. Classes begin the week of
Jan 26. Sign up early to make sure you get the classes
you want! Music, cooking, art, drama, dance, tae kwon
do, gymnastics, swimming, basketball, soccer, tennis &
more. Visit jccotp.org or consult the program brochure
for a full list of early childhood, school age and teen
programs.
ITS REGISTRATION
TIME
REGISTRATION FOR THE WINTER/SPRING
SEMESTER OPENS JAN 2 FOR MEMBERS
ADULTS
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Editorial
1086 Teaneck RoadTeaneck, NJ 07666(201) 837-8818Fax 201-833-4959
PublisherJames L. Janoff
Associate Publisher EmeritaMarcia Garfinkle
EditorJoanne Palmer
Associate EditorLarry Yudelson
Guide/Gallery EditorBeth Janoff Chananie
Contributing EditorPhil Jacobs
CorrespondentsWarren BorosonLois GoldrichAbigail K. LeichmanMiriam RinnDr. Miryam Z. Wahrman
About Our Children EditorHeidi Mae Bratt
Advertising DirectorNatalie D. Jay
Classified DirectorJanice Rosen
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Account ExecutivesPeggy EliasGeorge KrollKaren NathansonBrenda Sutcliffe
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Production ManagerJerry Szubin
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JewishStandard
jstandard.com
FounderMorris J. Janoff (19111987)
Editor EmeritusMeyer Pesin (19011989)
City EditorMort Cornin (19151984)
Editorial ConsultantMax Milians (1908-2005)
SecretaryCeil Wolf (1914-2008)
Editor EmeritaRebecca Kaplan Boroson
TRUTH REGARDLESS OF CONSEQUENCES
Truth to powerDemocratic senators bravelyoppose Obama on Iran
Even since Hassan Rouhani became preside
of Iran on August 3, he has tried, in the wor
of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah
to be a sheep in wolfs clothing.
He has failed.
Not because of any personal missteps, mind you. Ro
hani has been a model of the smiling, Western-incline
ruler, who tweets humorously on Twitter and wish
Jews a happy new year. But he has been undermine
not only by the continued brutality of his regime but b
the wolf-in-wolfs clothing, his boss and the real pow
in Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, whose hatred for Isra
and Jews not to mention the West is so strong th
his cup spilleth over.Just last month, the man who oversees the world
foremost terror regime said once again that Israel is d
tined for annihilation. Just to make sure we all got th
message about his attitude toward Jews, he added th
Zionists are rabid dogs.
Nice. Especially comi
from a pious man of re
gion. Youd think that Kh
meini could have controll
his mouth, at least until Ir
pulled its scam deal on th
West to keep its centrifug
spinning while getting $
billi on in sancti ons reli
But sometimes hatred is
strong is just vomits for
sewage-like, without a
restraint.Then, of course, the
was the public dialogue between philanthropist an
casino-owner Sheldon Adelson, Pulitzer Prize winn
Bret Stephens, and YU President Richard Joel, whe
Sheldon said that a nuclear demonstration in an emp
Iranian desert, that he said would harm no one, shou
be employed to show the Iranians that America mea
business. Yet again Khameini, the gentle man of fai
could not quell his acid tongue and told a huge crow
that Adelsons head should be crushed. I found
interesting that a terrorist mastermind with sleep
cells all over the world felt threatened by an elder
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is the author of
29 books. His most recent, Kosher Lust: Love is Not
the Answer, is due out soon. Follow him on Twitter @
RabbiShmuley.
16 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
RabbiShmuley
Boteach
Bronfman Youth
Fellowships in Israel
When he created, reined,
and funded the Bron-
fman Youth Fellow-
ships in Israel, Edgar
Bronfman gave the teenagers lucky
enough to be selected for it an entre
into the Jewish world that will beneit
them for the rest of their lives.
The Bronfman brothers clearly
believed in the importance of a trip to
Israel in cementing a young persons
Jewish identity, and at least to some
extent affecting his or her connection
to Israel. Charles Bronfmans baby,
Birthright Israel, has taken more than
360,000 Jews between the ages of 18and 26 to Israel, where they are given
a whirlwind 10 days of exposure to the
beauties and delights and, at times,
the ironies of the land. It is free. It is
a marvelous program, and has had
a profound effect on some travel-
ers lives, and a more-than-negligible
effect on many others.
Edgar Bronfman, meanwhile,
funded a program that was in many
ways very sim ila r and in others
entirely different. The Bronfman
Youth Fellowship, begun 26 years
ago, selects 26 people 13 girls and
13 boys, all Jewish, all in their junior
year of high school as they submit
their applications and sends them
for a ive-week, all-expenses-paid,
extraordinarily in-depth trip both
to Israel and around the chasms
and potential cataclysms of the
Jewish people. In other words, the
26 students who are chosen all arefrighteningly bright and most are
extraordinarily driven, but they
come from every possible corner of
North American Jewish life.
When they get to Israel, those
young people are thrown together
and expected to work things out.
Not in a global way, of course, but
they are expected to come to some
sort of modus vivendi. Most of them
learn both that such rapprochement
is dificult and that it is possible.
This is a huge gift.
Once they are back in North
America, the gift continues to give.
Bronfman Fellows form a tight
group, and the organizatio n nour-
ishes them. The BYFI is a leadership
program, and Edgar Bronfmans
organization knows that while some
leaders are entirely self-propelled,
most proit from direction, and all
can proit from mentoring.Mr. Bronfman has died, but his cre-
ation is flourishing. The deadline for
applications for the summer of 2014
is January 6; all applicants must be 16
by July 2014. For more information,
go to www.bronfman.org.
Thank you again, Mr. Bronfman. -JP
Praising the pedagogues of prayerOne who ixes his prayer, Rabbi
Eliezer is quoted as saying in the
Mishnah, his prayer is not asupplication.
In the Jerusalem Talmud, Rabbi
Abuhu explains: One should not
recite ones prayers as if he were
reading a letter. Rabbi Aha takes it
to mean that one must add some-
thing new each day.
The Babylonian Talmud inter-
prets Rabbi Eliezer as requiring a
lower standard of spontaneity, with
Rabbi Jacob ben Idi saying that
Rabbi Eliezer is referrering to any-
one whose prayer is like a heavy
burden on him.
Nowadays, most people who
dont like to pray dont have to go
to synagogue.
But students in day schools have
less choice, with worship as man-datory as mathematics or social
studies.
The challenge is to go beyond
crowd control of keeping kids
quiet during services to making
prayer not feel burdensome but
actually inspiring.
Its a bigger challenge than teach-
ing fractions.
We admire all those who play a
part in educating the next genera-
tion about our ancient tradition of
prayer.
That includes all those who teach
the aleph bet, the words, the mean-
ings, and the courage to stand up
and lead services for their peers.
And we hold particular admira-
tion for those who go the extra mileto make the service extra mean-
ingful to students not naturally
inclined to prayer, those who are
writ ing new curr icul a and try ing
new approaches to make old words
resonate with a new generation.
We write about one such effort
this week on page 6. The Solo-
mon Schechter Day School of Ber-
gen Cou nty in New Mil ford has
begun offe ring prayer elec tive s
chances to explore other modali-
ties of spirituality following a bare-
bones abbreviated service.
Rabbi Eliezer would be proud. We
are too. -LY
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Op-Ed
businessman armed with slot machines.
Which brings us to Elie Wiesel.
In October I asked Wiesel, my hero and friend of 25
years, if he would produce an ad telling the truth about
Iran and warning the world against its retention of
nuclear facilities. You are the foremost moral voice in
the world, I told him. Youre the only one with theauthority to be taken seriously. Neither the President,
nor the Senate, can afford to ignore your call.
In the end the ad, sponsored by my organization and
our board member and Birthright co-founder Michael
Steinhardt, appeared on the day that our very own Sena-
tor Robert Menendez courageously introduced legislation
to increase economic sanctions against Iran. Menendez
was looking for co-sponsors and the voice of Elie Wiesel,
in full page ads in the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal, gave many Democratic senators the moral cover
they needed to go against Barack Obama. One of the
heroes who signed the ad, and who once again demon-
strated his unmitigated love for Israel and Jewry, is our
junior senator, Cory Booker.
Wiesels ad was extremely moving:
If there is one lesson I hope the world has learned
from the past it is that regimes rooted in brutality must
never be trusted Should we who believe in humanrights, trust a regime which stones women and hangs
homosexuals? Should we who believe in freedom trust a
regime which murdered its own citizens when the peo-
ple protested a stolen election in the Green Revolution
of Summer, 2009? Should we who believe in the United
States trust a regime whose parliament last month
erupted yet again in Death to America chants?.. Amer-
ica adopted me and gave me a home after my people
were exterminated in the camps of Europe. And from
the time of the founding fathers America has always
stood up to tyrants. Our nation is morally compromised
when it contemplates allowing a country calling for the
destruction of the State of Israel to remain within reach
of nuclear weapons.
I appeal to President Obama and Congress to demand,
as a condition of continued talks, the total dismantling
of Irans nuclear infrastructure and the regimes public
and complete repudiation of all genocidal intent againstIsrael. And I appeal to the leaders of the United States
Senate to go forward with their vote to strengthen sanc-
tions against Iran until these conditions have been met.
I once wrote that history has taught us to trust the
threats of our enemies more than the promises of our
friends. Our enemies are making serious threats. It is
time for our friends to keep their promises.
How sad that President Obamas reaction was to
threaten his irst ever veto of economic sanctions, just
as the bill was introduced. But how courageous of 16
Democratic senators to speak truth to power.
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
I appeal to PresidentObama and Congress
to demand, as acondition of
continued talks, the
total dismantling ofIrans nuclear
infrastructure.ELIE WIESEL
The answer to BDS is Jewish power
On a virtual stroll through the website of the U.S.
Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boy-cott of Israel a deeply unpleasant experi-
ence, I should add I came across an article
that drew an analoy I hadnt encountered before. Intellec-
tually ludicrous and morally ugly, the writer compared the
situation of Aida, a Palestinian refugee camp near Bethle-
hem, with the bombing by the
German Luftwaffe of the Basque
city of Guernica in 1937, during
the Spanish Civil War.
The Aida camp is not the most
luxurious place on earth, yet it
is far from being the worst. Its
residents dont live in tents, but
in proper housing that clusters
tightly around dilapidated-look-
ing streets, a common enough
sight across the developing
world, and in certainly far better conditions than prevail inlarge parts of Africa or Asia. By contrast, the bombing of
Guernica the subject of a famous Picasso painting was
one of the true horrors of the 20th century. The destruc-
tion wrought by German bombers, wrote George Steer, a
British journalist who witnessed it irsthand, was unparal-
leled in military history. Steer described the human cost of
the raid in plain terms: In a street leading downhill from
the Casa de Juntas I saw a place where 50 people, nearly all
women and children, are said to have been trapped in an
air raid refuge under a mass of burning wreckage... When
I entered Guernica after midnight houses were crashing on
either side, and it was utterly impossible even for iremen
to enter the centre of the town.
Here, in a nutshell, is why Jews are so rightly infuriated
by the movement to boycott Israel. In its quest to portray
the Palestinians as the most oppressed, downtrodden peo-
ple on the face of this earth, there are few comparisons
to which Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions proponentswont stoop, no matter how outlandish whether thats
the parallel with Guernica, or the Holocaust, or apartheid
South Africa, or the slander that what Israel has done to
the Palestinians approximates a genocide.
The moral vacuum at the core of the BDS movement has
again come to the fore since the American Studies Asso-
ciation, an academic body with 5,000 members, revealed
that it was signing up to the academic boycott of Israel.
That was the second such announcement in 2013, fol-
lowing the same decision by the Asian American Studies
Association in April. A third academic group, the Native
American and Indigenous Studies Association, now al
has joined the Israel boycott. What has stood out, unfortnately, in the media coverage of ASAs shameful decision
not the fact that less than 1,000 ASA members supporte
the boycott, in a vote that attracted only one quarter
the entire membership, or the rank hypocrisy of boyc
ting Israel, given the slaughter that has consumed Syr
next door. Instead, we are left with the sense that the bo
cott is a bold new initiative that will, as a New York Time
headline put it, be regarded as a symbolic sting to Isra
There is, however, another way of looking at this. An
that requires us to remember that the academic boyco
wasnt launched this month, but 10 years ago. And wh
its activities have roiled universities in the United Kin
dom, Europe, South Africa, and Australia, it has signal
failed to become a mass movement. We should be hea
ened by the knowledge that Israels robust economy an
its universities irst-class academic reputation have e
ily withstood this propaganda onslaught. Moreover, th
American Association of University Professors, the closething in this country to a representative body of acade
ics, has roundly rejected the boycott as an assault on a
demic freedom.
I dont point to those facts to make the case that w
shouldnt be worried. We should be. There is no roo
for complacency in the face of a movement whose wor
view is rooted in the struggle against Jewish sovereign
in much the same way that the Nazis saw the Jews, or th
communists saw the bourgeoisie, as the ultimate enem
But in ighting the academic boycott and BDS more gen
ally, we should not lose awareness of the power we 21
century Jews have, nor our ability to wield it.
Hence, lets by all means ridicule the pretensions of th
BDS movement to be a latter-day incarnation of the mov
ment against apartheid in South Africa. Lets not hesita
in pointing out its failures. At the same time, lets not p
mit it to mushroom because we dont think its a thre
Both Brandeis University and Penn State Harrisbuhave pulled out of ASA since the boycott was announce
and we should push for a similar outcome in the case
similar initiatives. Much as some Jews are uncomfortab
with acknowledging this reality, we have the power
harass, frustrate and crush the BDS movement wherev
it appears. Let us do so without mercy. JNS.O
Ben Cohen, JNS.orgs Shillman analyst, writes on Jewish
affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His work has been
published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz,
Jewish Ideas Daily, and many other publications.
Ben Cohen
The entrance to the Aida Palestinian refugee camp. A writer on the website of the U.S. Campaign for the
Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel compares the situation in Aida with German Luftwaffe bombing o
Guernica in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. MRBREFAST VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMO
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Op-Ed
18 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
Boycotting the boycotters can only backfire
D
oes an organiza-
tion have a right
to tax-exempt sta-
tus from the coun-try it advocates boycotting?
This is the question facing
Israels Knesset, which
is being asked to pass
go ve r nme nt - s po ns o re d
legislation taxing foreign
donations to any organization
which calls on others to
boycot t or sanc tion eith er
Israel or Israeli institutions.
A parallel challenge faces many Jewish
organizations in North America with regard
to whether to allow within their institutions
a platform for individuals and organizations
which do the same or for one-statists who
do not support the right of Israel to be an
independent Jewish state.
As is so often the case, complex issuesgive b irth to i mmediate, opposing knee-
jerk responses, which instead of furthering
discussion and understanding actually
close it down. Each side portrays the matter
as a pivotal value issue which is self-evident
despite the fact that the debate proves that
it is anything but.
On the one side stand the advocates who
conflate free speech with tax-exempt status
and/or the right to speak from any platform.
Free speech must be given precisely to
those who aggravate us the most, they say,
and it is only a society and community
which fosters unlimited dissent that will be
able to contain its diversity and give birth
to the ever-new thinking necessary for its
growth.
Those arguments fail to convince theproponents of such limits, for they too see
themselves as advocates of free speech. For
them, the issue is not freedom of speech
but whether a society or an organization
has to support as distinct from allowing
speech which actively calls for its harm.
It is not dissenting opinions that they
seek to curtail, but the support of those
dissenting opinions when they advocate for
boycotts, divestment, and sanctions or the
dissolution of Israel as a Jewish state.
Conversely, the supporters of such
legislation, and those calling for the
boycotting of the boycotters, defend their
positions with the value of self-defense. A
country and a peoples irst responsibility
is to enable and support its own existence.
Looking after ones own self-interestis neither immoral nor amoral but a
foundational moral responsibility. L ove
your neighbor as yourself. What is hateful
unto you do not do unto others. Love of
self and the protection of ones own needs
and interests have moral priority. As Chief
Justice Aharon Barak famously argued, a
citizens inalienable rights exist only within
the context of a society and cannot be
defended when the exercise of those rights
threatens the very society within which
they are born.
This argument too falls on
deaf ears, for the advocates
of unencumbered speechview such speech as essential
to Israel and the Jewish
peoples survival and well-
be ing . The y too sup por t
the moral obligation of self-
preservation. But unlike Chief
Jus tic e Bar ak s arg ume nt ,
which permits the torture
of terrorists in the case of a
ticking bomb, BDS speech,
not to speak of the one-statists, they argue,
poses no such immediate and severe a
danger. Israel is strong, and the goal of
the one-statists and some within the BDS
community is not to destroy Israel but to
redeine it or create the economic and
political pressure necessary to help steer it
back to its proper course and true self.The debate is thus set up as between
free speech and security, between
allowing for dissent and the undermining
of our peoples right to exist. It is a debate
which has nowhere to go, for ostensibly
both side s can shar e the same valu es,
and instead of debating their application
they portray the other as disloyal to a self-
evident value, which the other side does
not feel they are even debating. In Hebrew
we call this, du siach shel chirshim, a
dialogue of the hearing-impaired. We
are having ever-increasing types of such
dialogue, and more than any legislation
or policy under debate, this poses a real
threat to Israeli and Jewish collective life.
Leaving aside the boundaries and limits
of the right to dissent, and to voice onesdissent, a community that has lost the art
of how to dissent, how to disagree and
to talk with each other, is a community
under severe distress.
BDS is repulsive to me and alien to
my Jewish consciousness. My love and
loyalty to my people and my country
obligate me to ight my country wherever
I believe it to be flawed. I ight it , however,
through speech and advocacy, and at the
bal lot box. The coercive and puniti ve
dimensions of BDS I ind both arrogant
and inappropriate to a debate amongst
brother s and si sters. The right of I srael
to be a Jewish state is also self-evident
to me, and I am always amazed at the
duplicity of the one-statists for whom the
only nation-state which is morally flawedand illegitimate is the Jewish state. I see
nothing inherently wrong or morally
flawed when a country, while allowing
such positions to be advocated, does not
feel that it needs to privilege them. Nor
do I feel that Jewish institutions which are
inherently pluralistic sin to their mission
when they want to set boundaries to that
pluralism, when the debate about Israels
future moves to whether it should have
a future.
I believe that boycotting the boycotters
or one-staters, whether in Israel or
particularly on college campuses, is a
serious strategic error. Starting withIsrael, while the Middle East remains
an extremely dangerous place, and
our survival never ensured, we are
nevertheless a powerful country. Power
is not merely a gift which enables one to
withstand the attacks of outsiders, it is a
gift which enabl es one to take chanc es
for the sake of ones values and ideas.
Powerlessness is a reality and at times a
crutch which both inhibits and allows one
to lower ones expectations from oneself,
hiding behind the proverbial, in the
future we will be able to.
Israels success has enabled us to touch
this future and obligates us to spend its
dividends. The unresolved conflict with
the Palestinians, coupled with the sense
of insulating power, has not served Israelsdemocratic values well. The reality of
occupation and the ability of Israels
military to sustain it at an acceptable
cost to Israelis, coupled with the Israeli
perception that the Palestinians and their
leadership have yet to make the strategic
decision toward peace and coexistence,
has begun to callous many Israelis
democratic sensibilities. Whether it leads
to a de facto devaluing of peace, to calls
for the annexing of Judea and Samaria
despite demographic consequences, to
the perpetuating of inequalities toward
Israeli Arabs, the fact is that Israels future
is far more secure than its democracy.
It is time for us to give priority not merely to
the defense of our borders and our economy
but to our values as a Jewish-democratic state.Our challenge now is less with the limits of
free speech than with those who want to limit
it. While every society allows for emergency
measures which can suspend for a time
democratic principles and rights, right now
we need emergency measures which will
suspend legitimate legislation for the sake
of ensuring our democratic principles and
rights.
In North America, Jewish institutions
face a different struggle. It is perfectly
legitimate for institutions with a particular
ideoloy to foster that ideoloy and not
offer a platform to those positions in which
it sees no value, not to speak of harm. That
said, it is important to recognize that those
institutions which are attempting to reach
the more marginally or non-afiliated facetoday a particular and daunting challenge.
This challenge is neither to protect our
impressionable youth from harmful ideas,
nor to equip them with the tools to defend
Israel. Those who believe so are on a boat
that left the port over a decade ago. The
front line is whether our youth will care at
all, be it about Israel or Judaism. When we
attempt to generate criteria for loyalty or
litmus tests for Israel supporters, we cause
the unafiliated or not strongly afiliated
to question the grounds for their loyal
When we silence certain voices within o
institutions, they question the very value
these institutions.We live in an open marketplace of ide
and uninhibited access to these ideas. Th
fantasy of limiting debate and conversatio
is precisely that, a fantasy and an ineffecti
and short-sighted policy. In a world whe
individuals choose their identities an
afiliations, when Judaism and Isra
project fear and weakness, we becom
unattractive. When that fear inspires
image of closed-mindedness, we becom
repellent. Israel will ind a place on th
radar screen of our next generation wh
it is a place which can be debated an
engaged with without restriction. The ca
for Israel can be made without projecti
that it needs the protection of censorshGood fences make good neighbors. Goo
fences and boundaries are necessary
protect an identity. When that identity is
yet unformed, boundaries of conversatio
will keep more people out than keep the
from leaving.
We have worked hard as a peop
whether in Israel or in North America,
achieve the success and prosperity th
we have attained. It behooves us to mo
beyond preserving our past successes an
instead to use them as a catalyst to mov
further. To reinforce where necessa
values that are being weakened and
reach out to those that we are in dang
of losing. While we need not be so ope
minded as to allow for our dissolution, w
also need to recognize that we are not weak that we cannot take chances for o
ideals. We have reached the moment th
our security need not force us to tolera
mediocrity but rather is a force that enabl
us to be conident and reach higher.
THIS OP ED FIRST APPEARED IN THE TIMES OF ISRA
COPYRIGHT TIMES OF ISRAEL.
Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman is president of
the Shalom Hartman Institute and director
of its iEngage program. He spent many yea
living and teaching in northern New Jersey
RabbiDr. DonnielHartman
I believe thaboycotting the
boycotters oone-staters
whether in Israeor particularly
on collegecampuses,is
a seriousstrategic error
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Letters
JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
will be starting a
e Caregiver Support group will be held at
CareOne At Teaneck544 Teaneck RoadDevorah Sinensky, geriatric specialist,
will be the facilitator, and it is freeand open to the community. for more
information or to RSVP, please contactOHEL at 201 692 3972
C SG
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at1:30pmtogether with the
NEW BEGINNINGS GROUP (senior adult group)
of the Teaneck Jewish Center.
www.jstandard.com
Good not to goIn your December 13 editorial, Mis-
placed frugality, you criticized Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
for declining to attend Nelson Man-
delas funeral in South Africa. In fact,
todays South Africa has one of theworlds highest murder rates, and vio-
lence is endemic in that society. In read-
ing between the lines, I would guess
that security would have to have been a
major concern, if not the major concern.
For Mr. Netanyahu to insist on bring-
ing his own sizable security contingent
would, no doubt, have been rejected
by the government of South Africa as
insulting, for implying that they were
unable to provide adequate security.
Therefore, I cant blame Mr. Netan-
yahu for not going. If I were in his shoes,
I would have done the same.
Harry Eisenberg
Glen Rock
New years resolutionMuch as Yom Kippur provides a time for
reflection and consideration of the com-
ing year along with typical intentions or
resolutions, I believe that the current
new year provides another opportunity
for forward thinking and action steps.
Quite simply, Judaism and Israel are
under dramatic global siege. From the
growing BDS movement, consistent anti-
Israel U.N. resolutions, Irans continued
threat to annihilate Israel, the growth
of global anti-Semitism, and rising rates
of intermarriage, we face incredible
challenges. In addition, Hezbollah and
Hamas have rearmed, and the Palestin-
ian Authority arrests Palestinians who
befriend or do business with Jews invok-
ing a 2010 Palestinian anti-settlementproducts law intended to create anti-
normalization, the staunch refusal
to create normal inter-community
relationships.
Ive also recently learned that Hamas
has ordered a revisionist history book
that denies Israels existence and will be
mandatory curriculum for 55,000 Pal-
estinian eighth- to tenth-graders. There
has been special programming for years
speciically during Ramadan that viliies
Jews and Israel and is broadcast across
the greater Muslim/Arab world.
The barbarous lies about Israel open-
ing floodgates during the recent storms
to intentionally flood Gaza while in
reality Israel delivered four generators
to help those impoverished. The lieabout occupied territories, when in real-
ity these lands were under full Arab con-
trol for 19 years, from 1948 to 1967, and
never a word about Palestinian state-
hood. The PLO was actually formed in
May 1964, a full three years before these
territories were lost in the Six Day War.
Their intention was, and is, to liberate
the entire Middle East of Jews. Its never
been about territory, its about recogniz-
ing Israels right to exist.
While we may have our differences,
we all have a common bond. We were
born into this global tribe that we have
a responsibility to support. And yes
J Street, sometimes blindly. Things are
spiraling downward and we need to
speak up and be proud of who we areand our accomplishments. Israel puts
every single Arab and Muslim country
to shame regarding human rights, basic
freedoms, and treatment of its citizens.
Its time that each of us sends a clear
message to the world and discusses it
with our children and families. It is time
to stand up and be heard and be proud!
Rich Hausler
Manalapan
Rebooting isnt JewishIn my opinion, Jews who accept the con-
cept that God created the world and gave
the Torah to the newborn Jewish nation
at Mount Sinai through our teacher
Moses, and who pursue its moral pre-
cepts as eternal commandments, arepracticing Judaism.
Jews who do not accept this simple
concept either are agnostics or are pur-
suing their spiritual needs in religions
other than Judaism.
Rebooting will not be effective
(Reform Judaism tries for reboot,
December 20).
I strongly believe that only Torah true
Judaism will persist and endure for end-
less generations of Jews.
Jerrold Terdiman M.D.
Woodcliff Lake
When a Jew isntI would like to respond to the letter that
says that belief in Jesus does not disqual-
ify someone as a Jew (Messianic Jews areJews, December 20).
I believe the letter-writer, Harry Eisen-
berg, takes several quotes out of context.
First of all, the talmudic saying that no
matter how much he sins a Jew is still Jew-
ish is never meant to include a convert to
another faith. It simply means that some-
one does not need a speciic ceremony to
return to the Jewish faith. Had Mr. Eisen-
berg asked an Orthodox rabbi, he would
have answered that a believer in Jesus of
Jewish origin would be excluded from all
participation in any sort of Jewish ritual.
The exclusion of converts to Christian-
ity is not limited to Orthodoxy. The Zion-
ist movement at its beginning included
atheists but excluded converts to another
faith. The Israeli Supreme Court in theBrother Daniel case excluded a Carmelite
monk from claiming citizen under the law
of return.
As I indicated in my earlier letter, a con-
vert to another faith repudiates Jewish his-
tory in a way that an atheist or agnostic
does not. To expand Jewish identity the
way that Mr. Eisenberg wishes to do ren-
ders Jewishness meaningless.
Alan Levin
Fair Lawn
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Cover Story
20 JEWISH STANDARD DECEMBER 27, 2013
ALINA DAIN SHARON
As 2013 draws to a close, we take a look at
its biggest news stories from Israel and the
Jewish world that have shaped the outgo-
ing year.
Israeli-Palestinian ConflictSecretary of State John Kerry has vis-
ited Israel and the Palestinian territories
nine times since February in an effort toencourage Israeli-Palestinian inal status
negotiations, which were renewed in July.
As part of the negotiations, Israel agreed
to release 104 Palestinian terrorist prison-
ers, a move that was highly criticized by
Israeli politicians, families of terror vic-
tims, and other members of the public. To
date, 52 of the 104 prisoners have been
released.
In March, President Obama went to
Israel. It was his irst trip to the country
as president.
IranIn June, Hassan Rouhani was elected
Irans new president, replacing Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. In September, Obama
called Rouhani. This was the irst direct
conversation between heads of the two
governments since 1979.
In November, the U.S. and other P5+1
powers reached a six-month interim deal