New Jersey Jewish News December 2, 2022 Flipbook PDF

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Page 3 Shul sues for being buffeted by Margaritaville l The other night, passing through Times Square with a visiting Californian, we pointed out the Margaritaville Resort, owned by Florida singer Jimmy Buffet. “Sure, it’s a cheesy chain outpost in the heart of New York City,” we said. “But there’s a Jewish angle. “The developer agreed to maintain the Garment Center Congregation, which had been housed at the site,” a story we had mentioned on this page back in September 2021. So imagine our disappointment the following day, when we read in the New York Jewish Week that what we had thought had been an example of Big Apple cultural coexistence is now a court case. As the headline put it, “Times Square Margaritaville left synagogue ‘homeless,’ suit says.” According to the Jewish Week, which based its story on reporting in Crain’s New York, the congregation said that developer

Sharif El Gamal had failed to fulfill his promise of finding a home for the synagogue after buying and demolishing its building to build the Margaritaville. Instead, the shul’s suit argued that El Gamal “has intentionally withheld or delayed performing its obligations in the hopes that the congregation’s temporary dislocation would result in depletion or death of its membership, collapse of its community and cessation of its religious and social activities.” Earlier, El Gamal had bragged that he would be the first Muslim in New York to build a synagogue. “It sets a real example of the cooperation and the brotherhood and the coexistence that has always existed between us,” Gamal said at the time. But if the congregation’s court filings are to be believed, what had promised to be an only-in-New-York story turned into just another day in New York. LARRY YUDELSON

CONTENTS

Walmart stops selling fishy tallit l Who doesn’t want a Christian tallit marketed as a beach shawl? Walmart, it turns out, which removed that item from its website after Jews noticed it — and greeted it with a mixture of ridicule and outrage. Walmart’s site described the product as “Elegant Sunscreen Scarves Sun Block Shawl Scarf Beach Shawl Towel Clothing Accessories for Women Judaism (Blue),” a description clearly optimized for search engines if not cultural sensitivity. Once discovered, reactions ranging from curiosity (“I have so many questions,” tweeted Atlantic columnist Yair Rosenberg) to outrage (from the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism). By the next afternoon, Walmart had removed the item, which had been listed for $40.99, as well as a second product with a similar name from a different seller that had been available for the cut-rate price of $14.39. “Walmart has a robust trust and safety program, which actively works to prevent items such as these from being sold on the site,” a spokesperson said. “After reviewing, these items have been removed.” Like other products that have drawn criticism from Jewish consumers — including “Schindler’s List” leggings printed with scenes from the iconic Holocaust film — the “elegant sunscreen scarves” reflect the oddities of contemporary merchandising. In this case, the products were sold by third-party vendors using Walmart’s online marketplace, where shoppers can browse up to 60 million items. Those products are not subject to the same practices as those that Walmart sells directly, and many of them

NOSHES.......................................................... 4 AROUND THE COMMUNITY....��12 COVER STORY.......................................14 CHANUKAH GIFT GUIDE.....................19 FRAZZLED HOUSEWIFE.�� 22 CROSSWORD........................................22 OBITUARIES�� 23 OPINION................................................26 CLASSIFIED.................................................32

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have names that are more a list of keywords than an accurate description of what a customer might receive. Additionally, the tallitot for sale were not actually intended for use by Jews. The printed Bible verses on the corners and the fish imagery visible in some of the product photos are giveaways that the items are made for Messianic Jews, who pray using the trappings of Jewish tradition while also believing in the divinity of Jesus. Messianics and others who appropriate Jewish practices, including, increasingly, right-wing Christian activists, represent a growing market for ritual items. A search for “tallit” returned 286 items on Walmart’s website; some were clearly marked as Messianic but many others lacked language indicating that they are not traditional Jewish ritual items. A search on Amazon, home to the internet’s largest storefront, turns up even more results, some coming from reputable Judaica brands but many others from brands seeking to appeal to Messianics and traditional Christians. PHILISSA CRAMER/JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

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NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 3

Noshes

“I’ve never been called a ‘mensch’ for making a co*cktail before.” — Naomi Levy, telling the NY Jewish Week about the Maccabee Bar, a Chanukah-themed pop-up bar she opened in Boston in 2018. This year it is coming to Ollie’s in the West Village, from Dec. 13 through 31.

Special ‘holiday shows,’ returning series, and more This is the time of the year when holiday shows begin flooding every visual media outlet. Usually, this means Christmas-related shows, but just because it’s called a holiday show, or a holiday edition, that doesn’t mean the show has much to do with Christmas. For example, two game shows airing this week claim they are special holiday shows — but really they’re the same old show. The NBC series That’s My Jam is hosted by Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. It is based on various games (trivia, etc.) that Fallon gets his celeb guests to play on the Tonight Show. The regular season episodes of Jam feature two two-person teams of celebrities who play for their favorite charities. The special holiday show, as NBC calls it, also features two-person teams of celebs who play for a charity. Frankly, I am

not sure what is special about it. The Jam holiday special show airs on NBC on Monday, Dec. 5, at 10 p.m. The guests, like Fallon, are all former SNL cast members. Fred Armisen and Ana Gasteyer join forces to compete with the team of RACHEL DRATCH, 56, and Melissa Villasenor. ABC calls Celebrity Wheel of Fortune a “special holiday episode.” Pat Sajak and Vanna White, who host the regular-people version of Wheel, also will host the celeb version. The three celeb contestants can win up to a million dollars. (All winnings go to charity.) The contestants are JACK BLACK, 52, Sasheer Zamata (another former SNL cast member), and Kal Penn (the co-star of the comedic “Harold & Kumar” movies). The show airs on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. I’m sure many people out there in TV land think of this episode as the Wheel Christmas show. I’m

Rachel Dratch

Jack Black

also sure that many people who think this way would be upset if they knew that the Christmas episode of Wheel features a funny Jew (Black), a funny gay Hindu (Penn), and a funny African American Christian who is a strong feminist and a spokesperson for the ACLU (Zamata). In July 2021, I wrote about the premiere of Gossip Girl and My Unorthodox Life. They got big enough audiences to get the go-ahead for a second season. I imagine fans have been looking forward to a second season. Well, the long wait is almost over. I won’t re-hash the plot of Gossip Girl. Suffice to say that this comedy/drama has two Jewish leads: TAVI GEVINSON, 26, as Kate Keller and ADAM CHANLER-BERAT, 35,

as Jordan Glassberg. (Premiered Dec. 1 on HBO Max.) Chanler-Berat grew up in Pomona; his father, BERT BERAT, is a documentary maker and photographer. Adam acted in Clarkstown School District productions before turning pro. He’s starred in several Broadway shows, including a musical, and he’s had several TV guest roles. My Unorthodox Life is a reality series that follows fashion designer JULIA HAART, 51, and her adult children. She is a former member of an ultra-Orthodox community. (Premieres Dec. 2 on Netflix.) The Calling, an original Peaco*ck series, streamed its entire eight-episode first season on Nov. 10. The lead character is an observant Jewish NYC police detective.

CHILDREN’S MENORAHS!!

I had a mixed reaction to the series. The Jewish detective is assigned two hard cases during the first season. The first case took up the first four episodes; the last four were about the second case. The early scenes were intriguing, because the lead character is so novel. But The Calling, overall, meandered in the first three episodes. However, the case-concluding fourth episode was pretty exciting and surprising. (I won’t give out any spoilers about it.) Overall, I give the show a mild thumbs-up. Peaco*ck is a weird hybrid. There are free shows and movies on the channel, but most content is behind a pay wall. For example, you can see only the first episode of an original series without subscribing. It’s $5 for a monthly sub, which allows you to see everything, but you have to watch ads — and

they hit you with a lot of them. It costs $10 to see everything without ads. It’s worth subscribing for one month to see The Calling and some of Peaco*ck’s movie offerings. The latter includes the charming “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (2021) a surprise hit in theaters, and a Peaco*ck exclusive. (British actor JASON ISAACS has a supporting role). Peaco*ck carries the live stream of many channels, including three Hallmark channels. On Dec. 18, Hallmark premieres its first holiday season Chanukah movie (“Hanukkah Rye”). It will probably be a so-so flick, but it is a first worth catching. I’ll tell you all about “Rye,” and other (cheap) ways to view it, not long before it premieres. Next week, an unreported fun Jewish connection to the (soccer) –N.B. World Cup.

California-based Nate Bloom can be reached at [emailprotected]

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Local Moving toward the radical center Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz of B’nai Jeshurun describes a ‘brave space’ in his new book JOANNE PALMER

he tension that’s distorting and weakening the bonds that hold all of us together in this country is also an existential threat to all of us, Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, recognizes, with sadness. But those bonds have not dissolved yet, despite the ways that they’re being tugged, he believes. And they don’t have to dissolve at all. In fact, they can be strengthened. That’s what Rabbi Gewirtz sees as his mission, the goal at the heart of his rabbinate. As he details in his new book, “To Build a Brave Space: The Making of a Spiritual First Responder,” his life experiences, many of which he details in this part-memoir, part-philosophical or theological treatise, have led him to his belief in radical centrism. He wrote the book — his second — “because I was existentially, professionally, and socially exhausted by the polarity all around me,” he said. “When it started, it seemed like we were just being civil to each other. Now, it feels like much more than that. “We are talking to each other with incivility.” When we Americans talk about anything – and even when we’re not talking about politics overtly, often we end up back there — “we are full-on taking each discussion as if our lives depend on it,” Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz he said. “Not only do we tell each other that we’re wrong, but that our whole Both the political left and the political right have philosophy of the world is wrong.” strong religious connections — albeit very different ones When he first heard of the concept of the radical center, “I liked it, but it sounded wimpy,” he said. But it — Rabbi Gewirtz said, but “what about a radical center?” Rabbi Gewirtz started writing about his political phigrew on him. “I feel strongly that we have to make sure losophy in 2018, when the country was already riven, that we still have a democracy,” he said. “That we still but before it had gotten to where we are now. Then the talk to each other. That we understand that we each pandemic struck, and he and his publisher reconsidhave to give up a little of what we want, so that this very ered. Originally, he was going to write a work of theoldiverse country can have as much as possible.” ogy, “but my publisher said, ‘I want this to be a memoir. Another way to describe the radical center is the I want you to take every crisis you confronted and show exhausted majority, Rabbi Gewirtz continued. “At least how you confronted it.’ His feeling was that if I build my 65 percent of us want to talk to each other, if we can do bona fides with readers, then the readers might listen it in good faith.” Once he’d defined the problem to himself, and outto my politics. Otherwise, they’re going to think, ‘Who lined, at least in very general terms, how to fix it, he is a rabbi to talk about politics?’” came up against another set of questions. “Can a spirRabbi Gewirtz grew up first in Lynbrook, on Long itual leader play a role in getting people together?” he Island, and then, after his parents divorced, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His Jewish education was said. “Can we have good-faith, grown-up discussions that broad, if perhaps shallow; he and his family belonged get us to a place where that 65 percent of us can agree to a Reform synagogue; he went to HANC, an Orthodox or disagree, so that we can move the country forward?” 6 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

day school, for two years, and after his parents’ divorce his father moved to Brooklyn and joined an Orthodox shtiebel there. Matt often would go there with his father, and the shtiebel’s rabbi, Elkanah Schwartz, was a strong influence on his life. “Don’t forget what authentic Judaism is,” Rabbi Schwartz told not-nearly-Rabbi Gewirtz. “I was raised by two incredibly bright people, a college professor” — his father, Dr. Arthur Gewirtz -– “and a teacher,” — his mother, Tabitha Gewirtz — Rabbi Gewirtz said. They taught him to care deeply about issues of fairness and social justice, “but there was a lot more emotion than substance. When I got older, I knew what I believed in, but I wasn’t necessarily sure why. The issues got conflated with being in a warm Jewish home.” He’s 58 now; when he was growing up, the Upper West Side was the home to very liberal, fairly secular Jews that it had been and continues to be, but it was a much rougher, more dangerous place. He often felt out of place, and occasionally was in real danger. Between the Upper West Side and Brooklyn, “I was mugged 20 times,” he said. “I was prime meat, as a Long Island kid.” An unsophisticated outof-towner. But he learned. He found ways to engage with the kids who had been his tormenters, “and that means that later in life, I was prepared for a lot. I had street smarts.” He also developed genuine empathy for people whose backgrounds were unlike his; people who could be dangerous but also had much real goodness. Matt Gewirtz went to the High School of Music and Art. He played the violin — passably but not well, he says now. “I was above average. I was the last chair second violin. At the end of senior year, I got into the senior orchestra, so I got to play in Avery Fisher Hall. We played Beethoven’s First Symphony, and in the middle of it I stopped playing because I just wanted to look around.” He didn’t play violin after high school, he said, but he’s very glad that he became good enough to get into Music and Art. “It kept me out of the trouble I would have been in otherwise. And playing violin is good for the brain.” Rabbi Gewirtz got his undergraduate degree at Hofstra University, where his father taught. After three uninspiring years in the corporate world — where he

Local was surprisingly employed, appreciated, and happy in his side gig as a Hebrew school teacher in Temple Beth Am in Merrick, because “they saw something in me that I didn’t see,” he said — he decided to go to rabbinical school. He applied to Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan, was accepted, and went off to Israel to begin his rabbinical school career, and the rest of his life. After he was ordained, Rabbi Gewirtz became an assistant rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan, on his familiar Upper West Side. He was at Rodeph during the terrorist attacks of September 11. It was then that Rabbi Gewirtz matured as a rabbi, saw, heard, and lived through that time’s unexpected horrors — members of his community died, and others were left widowed, orphaned, bereft, and he ministered to them — and learned greatly from them. He wrote a book, “Grief,” that explores that period and how he and his congregation lived through it. There is a phenomenon that comes from grief, he said. “I call it the gift of grief. It is not grief, but no matter what, no matter who, when grief comes your way, it strips you bare. Do you become the same person again afterward, the same person you always were, or do you become someone else? “Nachman of Bratslav says it makes you become who you were supposed to be.” In 2006, Rabbi Gewirtz, then 41, became the senior rabbi of B’nai Jeshurun. It’s a large congregation in Short Hills, housed in an imposing modern building,

‘Can we have good-faith, grown-up discussions that get us

to a place where that 65 percent of us can agree or disagree...?’

sitting fortress-like at the top of a hill; it’s one of the communities that flourished in Newark and then moved to suburban Essex County, along with most of its congregants. To lead that congregation is to undertake a very public role. Just two years after he arrived in Short Hills, the community dealt with another unforeseen but enormous crisis, the economic collapse of 2008. It affected the congregation deeply; that it pulled through, with most of its members intact, is a tribute to the community’s strength as well as to Rabbi Gewirtz’s leadership. (To be clear, Rabbi Gewirtz does not put it in those terms, but that truth is inescapable.) During his tenure at B’nai Jeshurun, Rabbi Gewirtz has learned that there is life outside the bubble in which he grew up and lived. “I learned about the diversity in Jewish political thought, that there are Jews who

think differently than they do on the Upper West Side. Growing up, liberal politics and the Jewish religion were one thing. “Now, I have learned that a lot of Republicans are really great Jews. At first, they were as wary of me as I was of them.” But he has changed. No, he hasn’t become a Republican, but he no longer is a Democrat. In order to minister most thoughtfully to his community, he now is an independent. “I know that some of them thought that I couldn’t pastor to them because their politics were different from mine. And that made me wonder what it was that they do think. “So I started to have bike rides and coffees with them, and talk to them, and I realized that we have the same values.” For example, “none of us believe that homelessness is something that this country should allow, but what’s different is how we get to a solution. “Take immigration. We all believe in loving strangers as ourselves, and in having security on our borders. We don’t have to treat people horribly to be safe, and we don’t have to give away the country to be compassionate. “What we want is the same. How we get there is different.” Rabbi Gewirtz writes with great love about his wife, Lauren Rutkin, who runs a family foundation, and who has supported him throughout his career. They have three children, Jake, Natalia, and Sadie.

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Local

Hearts for Emma Transplant recipient writes, talks about her childhood experiences ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN

here was a good reason why Emma Rothman chose to launch her book, “Things My Therapist Doesn’t Want Me to Say, Ten Years Post Heart Transplant,” at Temple Sholom’s Friday night service November 4 in Scotch Plains. After Ms. Rothman, now 23, had an emergency heart transplant at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York in April 2011, the synagogue’s members and its clergy, Rabbi Joel Abraham and Cantor Vicky Glikin, stood by her family. “Our communities, especially Temple Sholom, became our extended family and picked my family up and carried us forward when we couldn’t ourselves,” she told congregants. “The blanket you made me, the meals that were cooked for us, and all the prayers and positive energy sent our way, made a really terrifying and uncertain time in our lives, a breath easier.” The timing of the paperback’s launch, similarly, was not random. The month of November is designated for National Donor Sabbath events by the NJ Sharing Network, the federally designated nonprofit organization responsible for the recovery and placement of donated organs and tissue in the state. National Donor Sabbath is an opportunity to educate faith-based communities about the critical need for organ and tissue donations from both live and deceased donors, and the role faith plays in making the decision to register as a donor. According to United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 Americans –- nearly 4,000 of whom live in New Jersey -– are waiting for a lifesaving transplant, said Alyssa D’Addio, vice president of hospital and community services for the NJ Sharing Network. “Most of the world’s major religions hold official positions that look positively upon organ and tissue donation as an unparalleled gift of generosity and compassion,” she said. “We are extremely fortunate to have strong partners in our local faith-based communities who support our lifesaving mission by discussing organ and tissue donation with their congregations and by sharing their inspirational stories and unique perspectives about donation.” Ms. Rothman said her original intention in writing her story was to give herself a fuller understanding of what she went through. “For most of my life,

when I was asked about what happened, I was relying on my parents or doctors to help me tell the story,” she said. “I didn’t feel I had the tools or even the details to answer this question myself.” As she was writing, she realized that she also wanted to create a sense of community for three types of readers: “People who have gotten organ, eye, or tissue donations; people who spent a lot of their childhood in the hospital and are coming to terms with how to move forward as adults and being comfortable with their identity and their health and what happened; and people taking care of a sick person.” She also hopes cardiology residents will read her book to better understand how they can enhance their bedside interactions with patients –- especially young patients. The book seems to have struck a chord; the electronic version reached the top of the “Medical Specialties New

Emma Rothman

is different than the team that talks to loved ones about the patient’s wishes, and different from the clinical team that is in charge of the organ and tissue recovery procedure.” She also challenges the myth that registering as a donor is a hassle.

‘Our communities, especially Temple Sholom, became our extended family...’ Release” list on Amazon just a day after its release in September. In her book talks, Ms. Rothman dispels common organ and tissue donation myths “because as a community, one of the most powerful things we can do is disseminate what we learn and share it with others.” One of the biggest misconceptions she addresses is the notion that registered organ donors do not receive the same quality of medical care when suffering a life-threatening incident, presumably because the staff is eager to transplant the patient’s organs or tissues. It is “so important to understand” that this isn’t true, she said. “During a medical emergency, no matter when, what kind, or who the person is, first responders and clinical professionals are not concerned with your organ donation registration status. “Their job is to do everything they can to sustain life, and only after the patient is declared brain dead or suitable to undergo tissue and organ recovery do organ and tissue donation conversations enter the room. “Literally and physically, the medical team whose job it is to keep you alive

8 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

“There is no age limit and registering online has never been easier; you can even do it on your iPhone’s health app,” she said. Another option is registering at any motor vehicle agency. “This information is so vital that I even published it on the back cover of my book,” she said. Ms. Rothman acknowledged that many people have difficulty discussing the subject of donating body parts. “You’ll find a glossary in the back of my book because I want to make these conversations as accessible as possible so everyone in the community can participate,” she said. “Sometimes these conversations can be hard, awkward, and even uncomfortable because talking about organ and tissue donation is acknowledging that the only difference between you and a sick person or you and a chronically ill person, like myself, is time.” She said that she hopes her book allows readers to “think about these topics from a different perspective, from a really sick and scared kid’s perspective. Sharing these messages fills me with so much gratitude that people are willing to listen and join my community.”

Organs that can be transplanted are the heart, kidney, liver, pancreas, lungs, and intestines. Tissues that can be transplanted include corneas, skin, muscles, bones, veins, and heart valves. In fact, one tissue donor can restore the health of about 75 people. Living people can donate a kidney or a portion of their liver -- or rarely, both, as Teaneck’s Rabbi Ephraim Simon did in 2009 and 2019 — as well as skin, bone marrow, and blood-forming cells. According to the NJ Sharing Network, “organ and tissue donor registrations in the Garden State continue to increase thanks to strong community education and outreach efforts and expanded ways to register. New Jersey donor registration jumped 8.3 percent in 2021, ranking New Jersey No. 4 in percentage of state population on the National Donate Life Registry.” Last year, the network reports, “233 individuals in New Jersey gave the gift of life, an all-time high for a single year. In addition, 42,112 eye and tissue donations enhanced the quality of life for those in need.” Soon after Ms. Rothman’s transplant, her family established Hearts for Emma through the NJ Sharing Network to support local education and advocacy efforts. In August, the Hearts for Emma Partner Fund of the NJ Sharing Network Foundation awarded a scholarship to Sam Prince of North Caldwell, a 2022 graduate of West Essex High School who received a heart transplant when he was 8 years old. Now a Rowan University freshman, Mr. Prince has long been an active volunteer with the NJ Sharing Network. His fundraisers over the years have raised more than $100,000 for the NJ Sharing Network Foundation. He recently was honored at MetLife Stadium during a Giants game and encouraged the crowd of 80,000 people to register as organ and tissue donors. Ms. Rothman grew up in Cranford, where her parents, Nancie and Mark, still live. After graduating from Syracuse University in 2021, she moved to the Chicago area but is frequently back in New Jersey to visit her family and get regular medical checkups in Manhattan. She hopes to have a career in patient advocacy. “Right now, I am focused on giving book talks,” she said. “If any bookstore or synagogue is interested, please contact me through my website, emmarothman.com.”

Local ANGRY DWARF CHRONICLES

Fire and ice Putin’s war against Ukraine takes a devastating new turn JOANNE PALMER

he war that began on February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, promising to denazify it, has changed, Alexander Smukler of Montclair says. Mr. Smukler, our Russian-born-and-bred Jewish American analyst, who takes and synthesizes information from his many contacts in both Russia and Ukraine, is not sanguine about the next few months. December 2 will be the 285th day of the war, Mr. Smukler said. British intelligence reports, which he credits as accurate, “reported that 84,270 Russian soldiers lost their lives during 280 days of the war. Nobody publishes the casualties from the Ukrainian army, and different sources give a wide range of estimates. But the losses on the Ukrainian side are said to be between 100,000 and Alexander 400,000.” That is a huge Smukler range; even the low end is a monumental loss of life. “The Ukrainian government keeps the number of losses secret, which is very understandable, but we already can see that this is an incredibly high number,” Mr. Smukler said, and it includes neither wounded fighters nor civilian deaths or injuries. Given those numbers, and the length of the front line where Russians are stationed — longer than 1,200 kilometers, or nearly 750 miles — “This is the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. “Compared to Russia, Ukraine has no problem sending more and more men, mobilizing more and more people,” he continued. “The country is basically under martial law, and every man under 60 has to go into the army. Not everyone has been recruited yet. Potentially, Ukraine has almost a million people involved in various aspects of the military conflict, including the front lines and territorial defense.” On the other hand, the “Russians have about 400,000 to 450,000 soldiers on the front line,” which, if you consider its length, “is not much,” he said. That lack of soldiers –- or cannon fodder, their real function — has led to such Ukrainian victories as the Russian withdrawal from Kherson. “Now, the Russians are concentrating their efforts with the counteroffensive in the northern part of Ukraine,” the four regions it annexed in the fake referendum earlier this year. That seems good for Ukraine — but Mr. Smukler fears that the balance will shift. “A few months ago, we said that winter was coming,” he said. “Now winter came. “Now the whole nature of the military action has changed.”

Now, the Russians are aiming at Ukrainian civilian infrastructure; a few months ago, they aimed at civilian buildings, as in this ruined Ukrainian apartment house.

Months ago, Mr. Smukler said that the advantage the Ukrainians got from the dense foliage covering much of the country would be gone as the seasons changed. The leaves have fallen, and the men and weapons below them are visible. “It is now extremely difficult to hide artillery

and tanks from satellites and drones. Both sides’ artillery and missile systems are much easier to discover and to eliminate than they were just a few months ago. “You don’t have to be an expert to have predicted that.” It’s been murderously cold in Ukraine; November was

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Local Mr. Smukler said. “There is no unusually frigid, Mr. Smukler said. power there. “It’s extremely hard for the soldiers “That means that elevators are not to be on the front lines, because it working. Water purification stations requires heat sources. The soldiers sit are not working. The hospitals are in underground bunkers; when you out of energy; only emergency rooms heat them, the smoke is visible. It is and operating rooms have generavery dangerous.” tors, but there are just a few of them. Many of the Russian soldiers come “So the cities are without water, from the country’s far north — from without heat, without transportaSiberia, and the Urals — where they tion. Everything is shut down. And are used to even colder temperatures, the cities have no sewage system. and their equipment is better suited to “I didn’t know this before, but conditions than what the Ukrainians I learned that sewage systems use put into the field. pumps, and they are not operating.” Mr. Smukler pointed to three historic episodes where the Russians won Because Ukraine’s cities are modern, with tall apartment buildings, over better-equipped enemies because the lack of power is a huge problem. of the cold. First, Napoleon, who Mr. Smukler knows people in that sitinvaded Russia in 1812 and lost everything. “He did not understand how uation. “My friends live on the 19th difficult it would be for his army to floor of a high-rise. There are no elevators and no water and no working survive during the winter. He invaded toilets. You can’t survive there.” in August and took Moscow in a few Modern urban life needs power. months.” But the weather, and the A discarded hat is in the foreground; behind it is the devastation of a Ukrainian city. Without power, traffic would be Russians’ ability to withstand it, devastated the French. “Napoleon gave anarchic — traffic lights don’t work. like comparing people who live in northern Canada to the order to withdraw, and 90 percent But that problem is somewhat neutralized because there are few cars on the roads. WithMidwesterners, Mr. Smukler said. There’s major winter of his army was killed on the way back to France. Killed out power, the pumps at gas stations don’t work either. in the Midwest — but not like in northern Canada. or frozen to death. “So, basically, the Russians have entirely changed “I can see that right now, the situation is changing “The second example is in December 1941, when the tactics. They realized that they don’t have to bomb to the Russians’ benefit,” Mr. Smukler said grimly. Germans were 14 miles away from Moscow. It was an civilian apartment buildings. They don’t have to fight “Because of the weather, because of the winter, incredibly cold winter, minus 30 Celsius” — that’s 22 on the front lines. They just have to destroy the civilian because of the cold, and because of the exhaustion. We below Fahrenheit — “and that’s why the Russians won infrastructure and freeze the cities.” see signs that the Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted, and the battle of Moscow. They were better prepared to This is not just a short-term problem. “If the water so is the system, the supply chains, the logistics, and fight in the wintertime. system is not operating, and the pumps are not worktheir population. “The third example is the battle of Stalingrad, in “This is after nine months of war, and as winter came.” ing, all the pipes will freeze,” Mr. Smukler said. “They 1942,” he continued. The Russians killed nearly a million German soldiers, because it was winter and the Vladimir Putin’s new strategy, which he has begun to will burst in a few months. Russians were better equipped for it. use against the exhausted, depleted Ukrainians, is not to “The Russians are destroying civilian infrastructure The analogy isn’t exact; in all three examples Rususe — and use up — his soldiers. Instead, it’s fire and ice. in the largest cities in Ukraine — Kyiv, Kharkov, Odesa, sians were defending their country, so they were the “The Russians are slowly destroying the Ukrainian Mykolaiv, Dnipro. The damage is enormous. It will cost equivalent of the Ukrainians today, but it shows their civilian infrastructure,” Mr. Smukler said. “The first trillions of dollars to bring it back.” ability to understand and even weaponize winter. It’s target is Ukrainian energy and power stations, power “This is just the first layer of the Russians’ new tactics,” he continued. “The second layer is destroying supplies, and power lines. the transportation infrastructure.” Ukraine’s railroad During the last two weeks, system is highly developed, extensive, and sophistithey destroyed almost 45 cated; it’s the second most-advanced such system in percent of the Ukrainian Europe, second only to Russia’s, he said. But the Ruscapacity for electrical power sians have rendered most of it entirely inoperable in the generation. last few weeks. “The Ukrainians have started using very “Today, every Ukrainian old-fashioned trains — they have a few of them — that nuclear power station is disconnected from the main are powered by diesel, or even with coal.” electric lines. Most Ukrainian Yet another problem with railroads — even when power stations and hydro those old coal-power trains chug along their tracks, stations on the Dnieper River what about the switches? Without them, trains just are shut down. Some of them keep going straight. But it takes either electricity or can produce power, but they a person, a switchman, standing by each switch to can’t transport it to major change it manually. cities. And the Russians conDemolishing the railroads not only punishes civiltinue to destroy Ukrainian ians, it also affects the military, Mr. Smukler said. “The power stations and power Russians fully understand that by shutting down the supplies. Ukrainian railway system, they basically shut down the “During the last t wo major supply artery for the Ukrainian military.” weeks, from satellite images, Fire and ice. Ukraine at night looks like a How are people surviving? “We already see that black hole.” everyone is trying to move out of Kyiv,” Mr. Smukler Life in Ukrainian cities has said. “It is impossible to live there.” become very difficult. “Kyiv On the other hand, he continued, “not everyone can This nighttime satellite view of Eastern Europe shows how the lights are has three million people, leave. For example, my friend on the 19th floor, Marout across Ukraine. garita. She has an elderly mother, who has millions and it is completely shut,” 10 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

Local of medical issues. She cannot simply move. They don’t have any relatives in villages. They don’t have any place to go. Just to have water, they have to bring it upstairs.” Remember, there is no functioning elevator, and the toilets do not flush. Therefore, “they spend most of the time in the shelter in the subway. It’s warm there. There are generators. The mayor of Kyiv organized hundreds of places where people can stay. They can charge their phones” — which is vital because that’s the only way they can stay in touch with family and friends — “and the toilets work. “Margo said that she doesn’t’ know what to do. She doesn’t have money to get to Poland, and she can’t abandon her mother. It is a tragedy, and thousands of people are facing that same tragedy. “The next three months will be extremely exhausting, and it will be difficult for the Ukrainians to survive as a state,” he said. “The population will run away.” Men under 60 are not allowed to leave, although they are free to move within the country. Women, children, and older men can immigrate elsewhere. “Those who can will cross the border to Poland or Romania or Moldova or Slovenia. Almost 9 million Ukrainians are displaced; about 4.5 million are seeking refugee status. This winter will push millions and millions of people away from the big cities. That will create an enormous migrant crisis in Europe. “That is what Putin wants. “The new tactic is not to fight to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, but to create the conditions where the Ukrainian government will have no choice except to sign a peace treaty for the exchange of territory.” Mr. Smukler is certain that Putin will not try to invade and conquer Ukrainian cities. If that still was his goal, he would not destroy them. There is no point to taking over an unlivable city. “It is totally clear to me that he is trying to destroy Ukraine as a country and exhaust the Western countries that are helping Ukraine. They want the West to spend billions of dollars to restore Ukraine, after Ukraine signs a peace treaty. “So now it all depends on how long Ukraine can survive without electricity, without water, without railways, without transportation, and how the country can supply and hold onto the front lines.” This war is extraordinarily expensive; for now, the Russians seem to be able to afford the cost. “But hopefully the sanctions will start working, and maybe in a few months we will see signs that the Russians also are exhausted, but today there are no signs

of that,” Mr. Smukler said, raising hope only to dash it. There is something else that has been bothering Mr. Smukler, whose strong support for Ukraine has been clear since the war started and remains unchanged. Still, “as a Jew from Montclair, I was very disturbed by the message we got from what happened in the city of Vinnytsia,” an ancient city that ricocheted between Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian control, and is in Ukraine today. “There was a brutal ghetto there during the war,” Mr. Smukler said. “There was a major avenue in Vinnytsia named after Leo Tolstoy. “It was renamed for Stefan Bandera,” the Ukrainian nationalist who many Ukrainians revere, but who was a vicious antisemitic Nazi collaborator responsible for the deaths of many Jews, and also many non-Jewish Poles. “For me, as a Jew, I found this so disturbing,” Mr. Smukler said. “In a time when we are all supporting and sympathizing with the Ukrainian people in the tragedy, I can’t believe that in Vinnytsia, a town that used to be a famous Jewish shtetl, with a Jewish district called Yerushalinka, for little Jerusalem, there would be a street named for Bandera. “Tolstoy was the one among the Russian intellectuals who stood up against the pogroms in Ukraine and Bessarabia. He was the one who condemned the czar’s government for organizing pogroms. He was a major voice in the Russian empire against antisemitism. “That is why for me personally, in the city that used to have a large Jewish presence, to name a street not for Tolstoy, but for Bandera, who had Jewish blood on his hands, is so hard. “We feel empathy for modern-day Ukraine, but also a certain sorrow.” By now, Mr. Smukler said, “the situation in Ukraine is becoming so difficult that I don’t see any reason for Jews to stay there. They can go to Israel. More and more people are going there, thousands and thousands of them, from Russia and especially Ukraine. The Jewish Agency is working so actively for them. “And more and more Jews are going to Germany.” Under that country’s law of return, “any Jew born in the former Soviet Union” could go there, Mr. Smukler said. The war in Ukraine continues to rage, however, as the cities become increasingly unlivable, and Vladimir Putin, the angry dwarf whose miscalculations have led to catastrophic death and misery, continues to try to take control of a sovereign nation that does not want to live in his would-be empire. And he keeps trying to get it back, through fire and ice.

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Around the Community Friday DECEMBER 2 Hadassah CEO in Wayne: Naomi Adler, Hadassah International’s CEO and the wife of the shul’s rabbi, Rabbi Brian Beal, talks about “Israel Today — A Light Unto The Nations World Leadership and Advances in Science, Technology and Medicine” for Temple Beth Tikvah’s annual Rabbi Shai Shacknai memorial lecture during services. Festive oneg. 7:30 p.m. templebethtikvahnj. org.

Museum of Monmouth County. 2 p.m. www. jhmomc.org.

Monday DECEMBER 5

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

Sunday DECEMBER 4 Great American songbook: The Florian Schantz Jazz Combo offers “Songs from the Great American Songbook Concert,” in person and on Zoom, for the Jewish Heritage

Book talk: Yeshiva University holds an online Library Book Talk with Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman, author of “Psyched for Torah — Cultivating Character and WellBeing Through the Weekly Parsha.” 8 p.m. Register at yu.edu/ psychedbooktalk.

Tuesday

All Differences,” begins its second series, “Cherishing and Protecting Relationships When Family Members Are on a Different Path,” a two-part series. Rabbis Larry Rothwachs and Menachem Bombach and Dr. Shoshana Poupko will discuss “Supporting Loved Ones Who Have Chosen an Alternate Direction in Their Jewish Observance.” It’s an in-person and livestreamed panel discussion at Fair Lawn’s Shomrei Torah. The series is inspired by Ilona Bravman, z”l, 28, of Fair Lawn, who died in 2021, and lived with Type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy. 8 p.m. inspiredByIlona@ outlook.com and www. InspiredByIlona.com.

Sunday DECEMBER 11 Afternoon with artist: The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County presents “An Afternoon with Artist Harvey Levy,” in person — with brunch — and on Zoom. 2 p.m. (732) 252-6990 or www.jhmomc.org.

DECEMBER 6 Supporting your loved ones: “Inspired by Ilona: Embracing

The Masorti movement’s post-election future in Israel The Fair Lawn Jewish Cenworked for more than 15 ter/Congregation B’nai Israel years as a pulpit rabbi, serving in Rhode Island, Conwill hold an online discussion on the “Masorti Movenecticut, and Pennsylvament/Conservative Judaism nia. Rabbi Levin, who now in Israel Today” with Rabbi lives on Kibbutz Hanaton in Amy Levin, president of Israel, is on the Committee the Rabbinical Assembly of on Jewish Law and Standards and the Vaad HakaIsrael. It’s set for Wednesday, Rabbi Amy Levin vod, the Ethics Committee December 7, at 8 p.m, via of the international RabbinZoom. Rabbi Rachel Salston ical Assembly. of the FLJC/CBI will moderate. Rabbi Levin was the second woman Rabbi Levin’s talk will focus on the ordained by the Masorti movement’s impact of Israel’s recent election, which Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in saw the right-wing national camp of Jerusalem. She trained at the Jewish former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu achieve a parliamentary majorTheological Seminary and the Alban ity. This program is free and open to the Institute and has taught at the Schechter Institute, Hebrew Union College, public. For information and to register, and the Conservative Yeshiva. She also email [emailprotected]. 12 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

Clockwise from right, JFS Holocaust Service case manager Tova Reich; JFS Cafe Europa volunteer Sheila Appel, and Holocaust survivors, Gizella Mann, in pink, and Sylvia Zyto of Whippany. COURTESY JFS

Survivors enjoy Café Europa Jewish Family Service of MetroWest hosted more than 30 Holocaust survivors and their caregivers at Café Europa last month. The program was “Oldies & Swing Music” with Rick P of Ella Events. Café Europa is a program for

Holocaust survivors that allows them to socialize, connect through shared experiences, and add to their quality of life. JFS Café Europa meets at Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange bimonthly. For information, call (973) 637-1704.

Comedy in Caldwell Comedian Eric Neumann will perform at the comedy night Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell on Saturday, December 10. CAI’s comedy night is an annual program but was paused by the pandemic; it’s returning for the first time in three years. The evening begins with snacks and wine at 7:30; the show is at 8. A dessert reception follows. It’s sponsored by Claire Akselrad and family in memory of Claire’s husband, Abe Akselrad. For more information, go to www.agudath.org.

Eric Neumann

JFS offers new services for older adults Jewish Family Service of MetroWest, New Jersey’s Older Adult Case Management, is a free program that focuses on the unique needs of each person as it helps older adults adjust to life changes and plan for their future. This new program is made possible by a gift from Carrie and Jed Nussbaum. “Having been involved with JFS for more than 10 years, Jed and I know how much JFS relies on funding to expand their program offerings,” Ms. Nussbaum said. “We feel so fortunate to be able to underwrite the new older

adult case management service for our community as our aging seniors need the care and compassion that JFS is known for.” The program’s goal is to allow older adults to stay in their own homes for as long as possible through the use of community supports, both professional and volunteer. For more information, call Nicole Viola, JFS Older Adult case manager, at (973) 637-1705 or go to www. jfsmetrowest.org/older-adults.

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

Around the Community

Christopher Hudak

Ronnie, Alex, and Dylan Oanono

Holly and Jonathan Strelzik

Craig Echenthal

PHOTOS COURTESY JFSCNJ

JFS of Central New Jersey holds gala dinner is this week Jerry and Lori Solomon and program chair Lois Rose. COURTESY JSDD

JSDD executive director Linda Press and Matthew Jarmel

JSDD had a lot to celebrate Almost 200 friends and families of Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled joined in celebration on November 2. The community gathered to honor Matthew Jarmel and the Solomon family — Lori, Jerry, Hannah, Jacob, and Lily — for their extraordinary contributions to JSDD. The party included marking the first anniversary of JSDD’s state-of-the-art building, on Eisenhower Parkway in Livingston. The evening’s big reveal was the

announcement by JSDD board president Larry Rein that the Goodman Perwien Legacy Society — Sustaining JSDD’s Future has been established with a large endowment gift from Laurie Goodman and Mark Perwien. This couple’s outstanding support and belief in JSDD is an inspiration that will ensure the mission of JSDD will continue l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, Mr. Rein said.

The Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey’s gala dinner will be on Wednesday, December 7, at 6 p.m., at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston. The gala is JFSCNJ’s main fundraiser; the organization supports mental health, homecare, Keeping Older Adults Safe, and food insecurity programs that serve the Union County community. Ronnie, Alex, and Dylan Oanono of Blue Industries; Holly and Jonathan Strelzik; Craig Echenthal, and Union County Board of County Commissioners’ vice chair Christopher Hudak will be honored for their contributions to JFSCNJ and to the community. JFSCNJ board members Phyllis Bernstein-Kuchner,

Bernice Fleischmann, Joseph M. Fox, and Myra and Larry Hoffman, who died this year, also will be remembered and honored for their contributions. The dinner committee includes David Brooks, Mark L. Ginsberg, Toby Goldberger, Michael H. Gottlieb, Eric Harvitt, Jennifer Marshall Sofield, Donald Shapiro, Sherry and Henry Stein, Arielle Traub, and Mark Wilf. To register or donate, email info@ jfscentralnj.org, call (908) 352-8375, or go to www.jfscentralnj.org/dinner. Sponsors will be listed on the dinner website and acknowledged on the program’s Scroll of Honor.

Hadassah ladies are ‘chicks with sticks’ Raritan Hadassah wants to help people experiencing stress by teaching them to knit. The organization’s “Chicks with Sticks” meeting is on Wednesday, December 7, at 8 p.m.,

at a private home in Highland Park. The group knits hats and blankets to donate. For more information, email [emailprotected].

Chabad delivers more than 1,300 Thanksgiving dinners

From left, Maddie Abella, Willa Platt, Spencer and Tessa Ellenbogen, and Alex Cohen, all of Livingston, assemble comfort bags. COURTESY TBA

Teens assemble bags to bring comfort to patients Recently, members of Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston donated and collected items for the Comfort Project 360 bags used by patients in the chemo suites at RWJBarnabas Health as part of TBA’s Mitzvah Day. Students formed an assembly line and packed up 100 shopping bags that another group of teens had decorated that day.

The items in the bag included snacks, fuzzy socks, hand sanitizer, and hand lotion for use by patients undergoing cancer treatment. Anything that was left was also sent to the hospital for use in its comfort cart, which delivers healthy snacks to patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation.

Chabad of SE Morris County volunteers delivered 1,345 dinners to the homes of those in need on Thanksgiving morning, helping to share the holiday spirit. “This year more than ever, there are so many people in our community who are all alone and unable to get out, and we are grateful for the Aharona Lubin, Leba Lubin, Allyson Josloff, opportunity to help bring Charlie and Max Magaletta, Matt Magaletta, and dinner and a little joy to Rabbi Shalom Lubin distribute the dinners. help everyone celebrate this holiday, said Rabbi Shalom Lubin, Chabad of SE Morris County’s executive director. Thanksgiving Dinners for the Homebound is a project of Chabad of SE Morris County’s Joyce Newmark Caring for the Elderly Initiative. To be a sponsor or for more information about volunteer opportunities, call Chabad at (973) 377-0707 or email [emailprotected]. NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 13

14 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

Cover Story COVER STORY

Braiding challah, braiding relationships The Challah Prince of Instagram talks about his life and work JOANNE PALMER

Idan Chabasov, the Challah Prince, found his way to baking, at least in part, through meditation. ALL PHOTOS BY ELM_IMAGERY

raids are one of those physical things that work wonderfully as metaphor. A braid is an entwined thing that allows each of its parts to retain its own identity but also to dance around all the others, to touch and back away. It’s strong and durable. It can get messy while remaining entirely braid-like. It can be beautiful. A non-physical braid is a chain, a connection, a series of interconnected human relationships. Challah is made of braids; when it’s baked, it becomes one loaf of bread, which of course has to be deconstructed in order to be eaten — the fate of any challah — but until it’s baked, it’s separate strands. The act of baking changes the nature of the braid, just as the act of baking changes the nature of the dough. There’s an awful lot of mileage you can get from a braid. The Challah Prince of Israel — Idan Chabasov, when he’s not baking — a self-made challah artist (not that he calls himself that), will show a group of BBYO members how he braids challah at an upcoming convention, to be held in north Jersey. (BBYO is the group formerly known as B’nai B’rith Youth Organization; it now choses to go by its initials only.) Before that, he talks about how he came to be the Challah Prince, and we explore the chain of events that brings him here. When Idan Chabasov was 28, he left his home in Israel “for adventure,” he said. “I thought, okay, I need to move. I need to have different experiences in my life.” He had earned a degree in animation and video art in Tel Aviv; before that, he’d been a ballet dancer. He was creative, working in both visual and performance arts. And he was ready for something new. So he moved to Germany. “I thought it would give me the opportunity to explore the art scene outside of Israel.” NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 15

Cover Story

fran lebowitz Sun, Dec 11 @ 3PM Join us for an afternoon of wit and wisecracks with the wickedly entertaining and unapologetically opinionated Fran Lebowitz.

Dark Pale Tour Jan 5 @ 8PM Comedian Jim Gaffigan (Comedy Monster, King Baby, Beyond the Pale, Mr. Universe) hits the stage with brand new material.

sleeping beauty The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine Sun, Jan 15 @ 6PM The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine performs Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky’s fairytale masterpiece.

the simon & garfunkel story Mar 2 @ 7:30PM Hear your favorite Simon & Garfunkel hits live, including “Mrs. Robinson,” “I Am a Rock” and “The Sound Of Silence.” For tickets & full schedule visit njpac.org or call 1.888.MY.NJPAC One Center Street • Newark, NJ 16 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 12_2_NJ Jewish News_3.125 x 13.indd 1

11/28/22 11:05 AM

Idan creates new shapes and patterns for the challah’s braids.

He never thought of baking, he said. He knew a lot of people in Germany, Israelis who’d made a move like his, so he had expected an easier transition than the one he had. He didn’t speak much German then. “There is always some fear when you are in a new place, and that fear really took over. I was depressed for the first year there. So I started to meditate. Then I studied how to facilitate, and I became a meditation facilitator for two years.” And then, somehow, in a move that was more intuitive than logical but seems logical in hindsight, “meditation brought me a passion to bake,” Idan said. “Or at least to reconnect to my Jewish identity through challah, through creation, through making something that was beautiful and fun. “I always knew that I was an artist, but I never thought that I would be creative through food.” Baking, like meditation, is a process that cannot be rushed, he said. “If you aren’t present, you probably will miss something. “I remind people to relax and smile” as they

prepare their dough, knead it, and bake it. “The dough can feel our energy. Each time when I come into the kitchen, it is a different journey, and I don’t know how it will end. I have a vision in my head about how the challah will come out, but until I experience the dough in my two hands, I will never know. “The journey can bring disappointment or happiness or pride or satisfaction. Like meditation, it brings many emotions. It is physical; like active Osho meditation, breathing with expression.” There is so much involved with baking challah that “I love to say that the fact that we also eat it is just a bonus. It’s an extra.” It’s probably not accidental that Idan felt so connected to the Jewish community in Berlin, a place not associated with happy Jewish communities for much of the last century. The community there is small and tight. Braided together, in fact. “It is so beautiful to see how people love it, connect to it, relate to it,” he said. “To see what the challah means to each person.”

Cover Story Idan first got the idea of baking challah when he started noticing that although he and his friends would gather for Shabbat dinner in Berlin, “we always had just bread on the table.” That’s because it’s hard to get challah there, and almost impossible to get good challah. Most of it “is dry and tasteless,” he said. “So I thought, ‘Okay, Idan, you probably have to bake challah.’ His first one “was terrible, but to open the oven that first time, it was heaven.’” Idan is a self-taught baker. He used YouTube videos at first, but after he learned the basics, he found those resources to be more repetitive than useful. “I taught myself; I worked at it every day, and asked my friends, and read about the chemistry, the yeast and the salt and the dough. It took me a while, but I am so happy because I did it on my own. I really found my own way to do things. “I came clean to this process, and that was my biggest gift.” Much of it happened during the early part of the pandemic, when there wasn’t much else to do; that also helped, he said. When he felt confident baking challot, he tried to “bring different tastes,” Idan

said. “I tried to do it with chocolate, with extras. But I discovered that I wasn’t interested in those kinds of recipes. I loved the visual. I always like aesthetics. “So it was like a huge insight, okay, right, these kinds of recipes, they’re just maybe not me. “My role was to bring some new shapes, to challenge myself as an artist.” That’s when he started braiding. Sometimes he creates new shapes;

in Germany, but it was too difficult, and anyway, it was time to go home. So he moved back to Israel in May 2021, and the Challah Prince took off. He’s now a huge and growing presence on Instagram, and he frequently comes to the United States to give workshops. At the workshop at the BBYO convention, he will give participants dough that’s ready to braid; it’s not a baking workshop. It’s a braiding one.

‘It’s like being a dancer. The movements are the same, but you use new sequences.’ sometimes he uses old ones in new patterns. “It’s like being a dancer,” he said. “The movements are the same, but you use new sequences. New choreography. It’s the same with challah. You use the same braids, and place them in different ways. “And then you eat them!” Idan tried to start his challah business

Emily Goodman is BBYO Manhattan’s regional director. She’s bringing teens from Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens to the north Jersey convention. BBYO “is the biggest Jewish teen movement in the country,” Ms. Goodman said. The convention “will have about 150 teens. It’s about leadership, about bringing teens together, having

fun, understanding their Jewish identities, and developing into the leaders that they are. “We’re bringing Idan in for the keynote so kids can make challah and learn from him and his story.” They’ll learn at least the beginnings of how to braid challah, but the lessons will go far beyond that. “The convention theme is mental health and wellness,” Ms. Goodman said. “It’s Yom Menucha” — the day of rest, Shabbat — “taking a break from everyday life, being present, being in the here and now, enjoying the time together. “Kids have a lot of mental health issues now, because of the pandemic, and because of being in high school. We want to show them outlets — through the arts, cooking — other things you can do to feel better.” One of the convention’s goals is to show the connection between creativity and wellness, she said. After Idan gives the keynote talk, there will be two limmud — study — rotations, Ms. Goodman said. “About 60 kids will go into the room with the Challah Prince, and during that time they can try hands-on braiding.

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Cover Story “Kids figure out who they are at conventions, and a lot of them are looking for an outlet to help them figure out what their hobbies and passions are.” Baking and braiding might be one of those hobbies or even one of those passions, as it improbably turned out to be Idan’s. It’s not necessarily easy to get kids in the New York metropolitan area to go to Jewish activities, Ms. Goodman said. “Jewishness is always surrounding you, so you don’t have to look for it.” That’s why Idan will be at the conference. “The better the programs, the more people come to them,” she said. Once BBYO leaders knew that they wanted Idan at the convention, they began to ponder logistics. They need a lot of dough. It has to be prepared, kneaded, and ready to braid. That’s where the other kind of braiding came in. The human kind. It wound through the Kushner Academy in Livingston, whose caterer knew that the bakers needed a huge kosher industrial mixer, and suggested calling Super Duper Bagels in Livingston. That worked. The dough will be mixed there. Some of it will be stored at B’nai Israel in Millburn, and some at Congregation Ahavas Shalom in Newark. And it was through Mariela Dybner, B’nai Israel’s immediate past president and the mother of twin boys who are Eagle Scouts, that the connection to Rabbi Lisa Vernon was made. Rabbi Vernon leads the Boy

Scout troop. In other words, it took Orthodox and Conservative Jews, shuls and schools and stores, and a Boy Scout troop, to get this BBYO program about challah-braiding, aimed at New York kids, to work. “The coming together of all these various streams is different,” Rabbi Vernon said. “I’ve been living in MetroWest for over 30 years, and I have not seen or been aware of this kind of cross-cooperation. It’s great. “I’d love to see it become a more frequent occurrence, people becoming aware of the resources that they all have.” The MetroWest Boy Scout troop — which now includes girls — is 28 years old, Rabbi Vernon said; still, many people don’t know about it. Increasingly, she hopes, people will hear about it. Rabbi Vernon is going to interview the Challah Prince for the keynote talk. “He’ll be able to tell his story, and he can focus on the challah,” she said. “He can be interactive with the kids.” It’s all braided together. Idan Chabasov is on Instagram at challahprince. Local teenagers can learn about BBYO at bbyo.org, and about BBYO’s New Jersey programs at the Greater Jersey Hudson River region, which stretches from Albany to Ocean County and has its headquarters in Scotch Plains, by following the links on that site.

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Baking challah connected him more deeply to his own Jewishness, the Challah Prince said.

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Allaire Community Farm Allaire Community Farm is proud to display the world’s largest dreidel at their holiday light display from now until December 23. Take a magical tractor ride through their picturesque farm and enjoy over 1 million lights on display. TIckets can be purchased online at www.allairecommunityfarm.org

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NEW NEW JERSEY JERSEY JEWISH JEWISH NEWS NEWS NOVEMBER NOVEMBER25, 12,2022 2021 21

Kosher Crossword

“SOCCER TERMS” BY YONI GLATT [emailprotected] DIFFICULTY LEVEL: EASY

The Frazzled Housewife

Thanksgiving

Across 1. Abbr. at the end of a co. name 4. Witch locale in Samuel 9. They’re in until they’re out 13. DA’s org. 14. “I really didn’t say everything I said” speaker 15. First name in daredevilry 16. Soccer term for the end of Yom Kippur? 18. Brazilian soccer star Alves 19. Belonging to a man 20. Beverage leaves 22. Some soccer games end in one 23. “Capital” and “Hellen” endings 25. Soccer term for pubs not often frequented by Jews? 28. Term for Rachel or Leah 29. One making blue tzitzit strings 30. Ross who lost to Clinton 31. Maccabean deeds 33. Kind of tree 34. Soccer term for locales for those in cherem? 38. We all do it 39. One who thinks they’re better than you 41. “Negative, Captain” 44. Part of AAA: Abbr. 45. Some ER staff 46. Soccer term for what Pesach Sheni provides? 48. In that case 49. Pastrami sandwich choice 50. “Cool” amount of bread 51. Jewish “I” 52. Like a fabled duckling 54. Soccer term for the IDF? 59. Pastrami sandwich provider 60. Like a dybbuk 61. Abraham’s nephew 62. What many take on Shabbat 63. Synonym for 39-Across 64. Teeth expert’s degree: Abbr.

Down 1. 54-Across in the sky, for short 2. Org. for the Antetokounmpos 3. Pricy wool 4. Abates, as 47-Downs 5. ___ Tamid 6. Rap Dr. 7. DeSantis or Obama, e.g. 8. Does some yardwork 9. Gave some blintzes to, e.g. 10. #1 all time movie with a new sequel 11. Young Don Corleone portrayer 12. Most cunning 17. Quaint confirmation 21. Headache aid 23. Israeli “man” 24. Word used before nachas 25. Climate or Shemita, e.g. 26. What Shabbat is for 27. French hat 29. Schematic drawing 32. Broadcast booth sign 33. Not true 35. “OK” from Tom Sawyer to Aunt Polly 36. Control tower’s locale 37. 1040 EZ IDs 40. “General” on Chinese menus 41. Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo 42. We all need it 43. “A Streetcar Named Desire” shouted name 44. Actress Quinn of “Annie” 47. See 4-Down 48. Neighbor of Ill. 51. Caught in ___ (trapped) 53. Word repeated by the Sesame Street aliens 55. Alternative to to 56. “Old MacDonald” refrain letters 57. Piece of fishing gear 58. Waze lines: Abbr.

The solution for last week’s puzzle is on page 33. 22 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

looked at Husband #1 and said, invited to a close friend’s house. The “What should this week’s column friend has been to my mom’s for many be about?” He looked back at me a Friday night dinner and was so happy and said, “Thanksgiving 2022.” to reciprocate. My dad, well, I am hoping he was having Thanksgiving with his And then he started to laugh. parents for the first time in almost 20 Yes, I will be writing about Thanksgiving 2022 because, in a way, it was pretty years, so that is a really nice thought. amusing. You will be the judge. My sister is in California, babysitting for Picture your typical Thanksgiving her granddaughter. My brother is on holiday. The whole family coming vacation with his family. together, back to the east coast from all And then there is Husband #1 and me. corners of the earth. Brother Bart and To be fair, we were invited to Husband #1’s sister for the holiday, but since his wife, Treena, and their five little rug we are “team avelut” — mourners — we rats. Timmy just started playing soccer! felt uncomfortable going when there Tina just lost her first tooth! So much were going to be people there who we to catch up on after they flew in from aren’t related to. So we decided that Arizona. And then Sister Louisa and Thanksgiving 2022 was going to be the her husband, Lou. They drove all the one that really stood out, way from Orlando with she wrote facetiously. their three little girls — all, Our Thanksgiving was coincidentally, named bordering on sad. I kept after Disney princesses. crying. Husband #1 was And then the youngest watching football. When I of the clan, Robert. He, wasn’t crying I was watchof course, is the favorite, ing Netflix or Amazon and he is now on his third or Hulu. When Husband wife, Regina. He has four #1 wasn’t watching footboys from his first wife, Banji ball he was in synagogue. one little girl from his Ganchrow When I wasn’t watching second wife, and Regina, television, I was eating. at the ripe old age of 48, And then we ended off is pregnant with triplets! this very festive holiday when I served Can you believe? Husband #1 pizza for dinner. And not The whole mishpacha is so excited to even fresh pizza, the frozen pizza that be together at the rambling old center he likes. Because Thursday is pizza hall colonial that they grew up in. All the night. parents and kids woke up Thanksgiving I would like to say that I was kidding, morning to the smell of mom’s famous but I am not. Truthfully, it was really pancakes and eggs. Dad is brewing coffee and making fresh orange juice after fine. I know I have said this before, but spending the morning outside mowsomeone told me that the first everying the lawn and getting it ready for thing after you lose someone can prove the big family football game that hapto be challenging. And since Husband #1 pens before dinner and before watchand I are going through most of these ing real football. This year, the turkey firsts together, Thanksgiving was just was actually shechted at the local synanother one to get through. Honestly, agogue as a fundraiser. And mom and we thought a lot about Thanksgiving all the daughters and daughters in law 2020. It was covid Thanksgiving and each baked and made desserts and side Husband #1’s mom and dad came to dishes for miles. It was going to be the us because we had no kids home. We best Thanksgiving ever. sat six feet apart and served barbecue The grandchildren are all getting because my mother-in-law likes hamburgers and it was a very special meal. along, making crafts in mom’s crafts It is always nice to hear when your room, to use as centerpieces for the parents love you and are proud of dinner table. The house is filled with you, and Husband #1’s parents had the delicious smells and lots of laughter. chance to say that to him. Ahh yes, Thanksgiving. What a special So there you go. Hope you all had holiday. meaningful Thanksgivings if that is what But wait, what is happening across works for you. the street and 60 miles away at my house? Well, let’s see. Son #1 is in Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck has “school/yeshiva” and Dil #1 and strudel are at home having quality mothkidnapped Strudel for the week. She er-daughter time. Son #2 and Dil #2 are hopes her dil knows how very much in Israel, where Son #2 is also in “school/ she appreciates this time with her and yeshiva,” and Son #3 is in “school/ appreciates her dil for allowing her to yeshiva.” in Maryland. My mother was have this time with her!!!

Local/Obituaries

Art to feed the soul — proceeds to feed the hungry

gain, artist Miriam Stern of Teaneck is selling her work, at a special price, to benefit four organizations. Two are local — the Center for Food Action in Englewood and Tomchei Shabbos of Bergen County. One is national — Mazon — and the fourth is Israeli — Leket Israel. The sale is from December 4 to December 11. Every piece of art costs $200, just during this sale, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to one of these four charities. Each donation is 100 percent tax-deductible.

To look at the art, and then to buy it, go to MiriamStern.net/ Art-to-Feed-the-Hungry.html. Each piece is an original, signed, one-of-a-kind monoprint by Ms. Stern. To buy one, click on one of the four charities, make a donation, and forward the receipt to Ms. Stern. (The instructions are on the website.) “This is a win/win,” Ms. Stern said. “You get to choose an original artwork. You get to donate to a charity. You get to enjoy the art for many years to come. And most importantly, you help feed the hungry during these difficult days.

These three of her works are among the pieces Miriam Stern is selling; all proceeds will go to tzedakah. Clockwise from left, “Berkshires,” “Dizengoff,” and “Crete.”

Steve Redan

Stanley Nathanson Stanley Nathanson, 92 of Boynton Beach, FL and Westfield, NJ passed away on Wednesday, November 23, 2022. Born on January 13, 1930 in Brooklyn NY, he was also known as Stan or Stosh. He was the first of three siblings. He grew up in Brooklyn and attended Tilden High School and the City College of New York. After graduating with a degree in business and accounting, Stan was stationed in the Army in Casablanca. He was also a stand-up comedian in the Army and loved to entertain other comrades. In 1955, Stan met Eileen (née Fine) and they were married in New York City on June 23, 1957. After living in Roselle, NJ for two years, they moved to Westfield where they raised their three children. Stan spent most of his career as the co-owner of the Swan and Benedict Motels in Linden with his brother-in-law, Larry Fine of Springfield, NJ and then with his son, David. Stan was a community man who was very involved in the Westfield Little League and as a congregant of Temple Emanu-El where he served on the Mens Club and the Ritual Committee for many years. Known as the New Jersey Tevye after playing that role in Fiddler on the Roof in several little theatre groups, Stan was a member of the Westfield Community Players, the Scotch Plains Players,

the Cranford Little Theater, the Martinsville Players, and the Foothills Playhouse. Stan also performed and starred as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sancho in Zorba the Greek, Barney Cashman in The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Ben Franklin in 1776, Willy Clark in The Sunshine Boys, and other supporting roles in The Front Page, The Goodbye People, Enter Laughing, and Plaza Suite, just to name a few. Stan and his wife Eileen loved to travel throughout the United States, Israel, Europe, Canada, and Asia. He was an avid coin and stamp collector and loved taking photos of his travels with his wife and his children over the years. He loved to attend the soccer and baseball games of his five grandchildren and always found the best seat on the field at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Varsity soccer games. He is preceded in death by his parents, Rea and Nat Nathanson and his sister, Joan Iris Breitman and is survived by his wife, Eileen; three children Lori (Paul Widman), Randi (Andy) Berger, and David (Amy) Nathanson; five grandchildren, Josh and Ryan Widman, Jared Berger and Jack and Jordy Nathanson; his brother, Robert Nathanson; and nieces and nephews. Stan was always the life of the party and will be missed by all that knew him.

— Paid Obituary —

Beloved Husband, Father, and Grandfather

Steve Redan, 80, was born in Brooklyn, NY and became a lifelong resident of Roxbury Township, NJ at a young age. Steve was married to Sheila for 59 years, and they have been inseparable for life. He adored his children and grandchildren and loved spending time with them. Steve founded Kenvil Power Mower at age 15. Later, he founded KPM Exceptional, and he worked for a total of 65 years as the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of these businesses. Kenvil Power Mower became the largest lawnmower retailer in Northern New Jersey, prompting Snapper Lawnmowers to ask him to distribute their product, and establishing KPM Exceptional. He became a premier distributor of outdoor power equipment in the Northeast. Steve was KPM and KPM was Steve, but as he got older, Steve began to take time off. Steve and Sheila traveled around the world, both solo, with their children, and with their grandchildren. Steve enjoyed spending his winters in St. Thomas, where he was considered the mayor of the beach. Steve frequented Lake Hopatcong in the summers, where he grew up vacationing and in 2001, pursued his dream of buying a boat. Steve considered his grandsons to be cocaptains on the boat. He also became a very active member of Garden

State Yacht Club on Lake Hopatcong. His other interests included skiing, wine making, and golfing with his friends from the club. Steve gave back to the community whenever he could. He volunteered for Roxbury as the Chairman of the Planning Board for over 15 years and served on the Board of Adjustment for Roxbury Township. Early in his career, he was President of the NJ Lawnmower Association, and also served as President of Outdoor Power Equipment Association. He was on the board of the Ritz Carlton Club in St. Thomas for over 20 years. Steve also was on the Board of Temple Shalom. He is survived by his wife Sheila Redan, his children, Stacey Seligson and her husband Jonathan, Scott Redan and his wife Shari, and Shari Redan and her husband Billy Faivus; and his grandchildren, Noah, Cooper, Spencer, Sydney, Sloane, and Jordyn that he loved so much. A funeral service was held on November 27, at Temple Shalom, Succasunna, NJ, with burial at Mt. Freedom Hebrew Cemetery, Randolph, NJ. Donations in his honor can be made to Temple Shalom, 215 S. Hillside Avenue, Succasunna, NJ 07876, tshalom.org, or to the Parkinson Alliance, PO Box 308 Kingston, NJ 08528, parkinsonalliance.org.

— Paid Obituary —

NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 23

Obituaries

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its board of directors. He was also a past vice-president and board member of Temple Beth El in Huntington, New York. Mr. Schlosser was an Emeritus member of the Ethics and Compliance Officer’s Association, and a member of the Marine Corps League, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and the Jewish War Veterans. He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Heather, two daughters Judy Meghnagi and Stephanie Steiner, a son David, and seven grandchildren, Cammy Meghnagi, Miriam Meghnagi, Vito Meghnagi, Marissa Steiner, Andrew Steiner, Finley Schlosser and Riley Schlosser. Mel is also survived by his brother Larry Schlosser. He is predeceased by his parents Mary and Herbert Schlosser and by his brothers Daniel, Robert and Edwin Schlosser. Services were held on Thursday, December 1, 2022 at Menorah Chapels at Millburn, Union, New Jersey. Donations in Mel Schlosser’s memory can be made to the Center for Hope Hospice and Palliative Care, 1900 Raritan Road, Scotch Plains, New Jersey at https://www.cfhh.org/donate.html or the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest New Jersey at https://www. jfedgmw.org/ways-to-give/donate/ general-campaign-donations/?typeA= This+gift+is+dedicated+to+someone+ special.

— Paid Obituary —

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Obituaries Michael S. Oksenhorn

J.L.

Michael S. Oksenhorn, the best son, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend that anyone could ask for. Mike was the owner of Oksenhorn Jewelers - first in Newark then in Millburn, NJ. He was a long time member of Temple Beth Shalom and Crestmont Country Club. He was the UJA Metrowest Country Club chairman for many years. Predeceased by his parents Pauline and Julius and his son Stewart. Married to Deena Ravin - his childhood sweetheart for 62 years. Father of Howard (Rhonda) and Karyn, grandfather to Jamie (Justin), Ryan, Casey (Jake), Kyle Oksenhorn, Jasmine (Andrew), Charley Bensky, and Olivia Oksenhorn and two great-grandchildren Alma and Faye Knight. He also leaves 3 bonus granddaughters - Taylor, Liza, and Emma Isaac. Mike was an avid golfer (rarely 3 putted) and Jets fan but, Mikes true passion was his family and his customers who he treated like family. Mike will truly be missed by everyone he has ever met. To know him was to love him. In his memory, the family requests donations be sent to Chabad of Short Hills. — Paid Obituary —

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NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 25

NJ-26

Editorial

Opinion

The Jewwashing of Qatar

Antisemitism and rainbows

NJJN

hen Charles Dickens began “A Tale of Two Cities” with “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,…” could he possibly have realized how extraordinarily useful that sentence would be? It’s useful in part, of course, because it’s a lazy way out of explaining what you’re talking about. It’s shorthand. But it’s also useful because life seems to be teaching us that it is one of those self-evident truths. (Yeah, thank you too, Mr. Jefferson.) These are not the worst of times. The Holocaust still is within living memory. For that matter, chattel slavery, as practiced in the United States, did not end in New Jersey until 1866. There have been many terrible historic periods that make this one look like it’s nearly idyllic. But it’s not. As we know, antisemitism is on the rise; even those of us who are native to the New York metropolitan area and have never experienced it firsthand know that by now. The dinner that former president Donald J. Trump shared with the clearly decompensating Ye and the purely evil Nicholas Fuentes is a serious danger sign, and although none of us want to believe that, all of us should. (The oddness of Ye being Black and Fuentes the son of a Mexican father just makes it all the more muddled.) Abe Foxman, the retired longtime director of the Anti-Defamation League, is not more worried now than he has been for some time, though. He’s picking out some slivers of gold in the dross. “The January 6 committee was more successful than most people thought it was going to be, because the people again in the middle, who gave Trump all sorts of excuses, all of a sudden saw how serious his words and deeds were,” Abe said. In reaction to what they saw and heard, “The American people acted sanely.” He sees hope. It’s possible for those Jews who thought that because Trump moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, he was adamantine in his love for Israel, to be more nuanced. “I have said from Day One that we have to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Abe said. “Why can’t we say thank you but no thank you? “I think that people are beginning to say that. Thanks for Jerusalem, but no thanks for discrimination and racism and letting lose all that hatred. No

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thank you for all the other ugliness. “We have to be able to do it. And we have to be able to do it with every candidate. Just because somebody does something we like, that doesn’t clean the slate on everything.” (And to those of our readers to whom the concept of having to be weaned from Trump is foreign — that includes most American Jews — don’t worry about it. Some things are just incomprehensible.) And then there’s the beauty of the world that continues to surround us. On Monday, an unseasonably warm-ish, wettish day, I walked my dogs west on 135th Street in Manhattan, on an elevated stretch of Riverside Drive, high above the Hudson. The Jersey side of the river was pure gold. Just pure molten gold. Windows, buildings, the sky — all of it. Pure molten gold. And there was a thick, highly defined, massive rainbow spanning the sky, from as far north as I could see to as far south. Each color was distinct. Both bases, the north and the south ones, looked as solid and real as the huge structures that hold up the George Washington Bridge, but while the bridge is gray, this arc had every color in the world in it. There was another, fainter arc behind the main one. I knew with my brain that I was looking at light refracted through water — which to be fair sounds amazing enough — but my heart told me that I was looking at magic. The rainbows stayed in the sky for a long time, and then shimmered away to memory. Yes, this is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad —JP world, but it also has beauty and magic in it.

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njjewishnews.com 26 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

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atar is one of the world’s most repulsive regimes. A close ally of Iran, it is also the single greatest funder of Hamas, whose highest purpose is the annihilation of Israel and world Jewry. Qatar imposes the death penalty on gays and lashes for those who engage in premarital sex, which they defend by saying it’s only on the books but rarely carried out. So how did Qatar get to be sports-washed by the World Cup? Where was world Jewry to oppose the globe’s greatest sporting event going to a barbaric government that funds Hamas rockets against Israeli nurseries and hospitals? Answer: Many Jewish leaders actually were supporting Qatar and participating in its attempt to cleanse its despicable image. I trust that the Jewish community still remembers the lobbying efforts, at the start of the Trump administration, of Washington swamp creature Nick Muzin and his associate Joey Allaham, who worked for the Qatari government, allegedly earning millions upon millions of dollars to bring the head of the ZOA, among any others, to Doha. Muzin is an Orthodox Jew Rabbi who wears a kippa. That did not stop him from working for Shmuley the number one supporter of Boteach Hamas, a group that has murdered countless Israelis. Even as Muzin and Allaham allegedly raked in the cash, the ADL was reporting of Qatar in 2018, “Blatantly anti-Semitic books are being promoted by the state-run book fair this week in Doha, Qatar, according to Anti-Defamation League’s experts in Arabic language. These anti-Semitic titles include ‘Lies Spread by the Jews’ and ‘The Myth of the Nazi Gas Chambers.’” At the time, the ADL wrote to William Grant, the U.S. chief of mission at the American embassy in Qatar, “asking that he leverage the embassy’s participation in the book fair to urge the Qatari government to stop promoting such hateful content.” Grant “indicated he and his advisers took immediate action in response to ADL’s letter of concern” and “visited booths at the book fair to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is the author of “Holocaust Holiday: One Family’s Descent into Genocide Memory Hell.” Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @ RabbiShmuley.

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Opinion identify the anti-Semitic materials flagged by ADL. … The Qatari government subsequently withdrew certain anti-Semitic titles from the book fair and issued a circular to participants indicating that intolerant books were not permitted,” the ADL wrote. When I discovered that so many Jewish communal leaders were participating in the Qatari whitewash, I launched a campaign, which included a full page New York Times ad, condemning the effort. My reward, according to the same New York Times on September 20, 2018, was to be hacked by Qatar. Then, on November 4, 2018, in a story titled, “Documents Show Qatar Likely Hacked Boteach, Others Due to Ties With Adelson,” the Jewish Journal wrote this: “A series of messages reviewed by the Jewish Journal show that the nation of Qatar likely targeted Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in a hacking scheme due to his ties with major GOP donor and Israel supporter Sheldon Adelson. “The Journal reviewed a series of WhatsApp messages between Nick Muzin, the former deputy chief of staff for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) presidential campaign, and Joey Allaham, former owner of New York kosher restaurants. The two were reportedly contracted to conduct lobbying efforts on behalf of the Qatari government. “On Jan. 26, Allaham messaged Muzin, ‘This Vegas thing is bothering me,’ referencing that Allaham and Muzin were not going to be welcomed at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s (RJC) leadership retreat in April. A Republican source told the Journal that this was in part due to their ties to the Qatari government. “‘It’s really shocking,’ Muzin replied. ‘Someone very influential there is out to get me. It must be Sheldon [Adelson].’ “Muzin added, ‘I think Shmuley [Boteach] stirred him up.’” Since I recently criticized the Republican Jewish Committee for going all in on the campaign of Dr. Oz while he refused to refer to Israel as the “ancestral homeland of the Jewish people,” let me now praise the RJC for being one of the only Jewish organizations to shun Muzin. The idea that any Jewish organization would welcome paid Jewish agents of the Qatari government to its conferences in disgusting and sickening. Yet Muzin continues to operate in the Jewish community with no repercussions. Then there is Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Hamptons Synagogue. Marc has been criticized in the national press for personal issues. I have always defended him. I have long said that the personal lives of public servants are none of our business. Besides, Marc has done the most incredible job of bringing Judaism to the Hamptons

Going places

through one of America’s most celebrated synagogues. But his continuous whitewashing of Qatar is something else entirely and is deeply troubling. In December 2019, Bloomberg News published a bizarre article titled, “New York Hot Dog Rabbi to Make Qatar Kosher for World Cup.” The rabbi was Marc Schneier and the story, as we now know, was not in any way accurate. Qatar lied to Schneier about hot kosher food in Qatar, even as Schneier this week continued to defend it. Jewish press outlets reported this week that Qatar reneged utterly on its pledge of hot kosher food at the World Cup and, more importantly, on allowing Jewish prayer services in Doha. I’m not surprised. The Qatari government is deeply antisemitic. Yet, true to form, Schneir had Qatar’s back, telling the Jerusalem Post, “ I never asked for hot food. … The only person that spoke to the Qataris about this [on behalf of the Jewish community] was me.” OK. So bagels it is. But why on earth would Rabbi Schneier have spent the last three years “koshering” the treif reputation of Qatar through nonstop advocacy in the media on its behalf, even as it granted refuge to Hamas leaders and continued to fund the terrorists? Here is a typical Facebook post from Marc from December 2021: “My best wishes to all my Qatari friends on their National Day this weekend. Looking forward to visiting Doha in 2022.#QatarNationalDay2021.” Now, given that Qatar, according to the Times of Israel, just last week, “has flung open its doors to Taliban warlords, Islamist terrorists and dissidents, African rebel commanders and exiles of every stripe,” we have the right to ask, Which friends is Marc referring to? And why is he so chummy with Qatar? Surely, the reward of having kosher hot dogs in Doha, which did not even materialize, was not worth the price of overlooking how it funds Hamas rockets on Israeli kindergartens. Bloomberg went further and said that Schneier presented an award to the Qatari head of the World Cup and had said of Qatar’s desire to have kosher hot dogs, “This is an exceptional development that attests to the sensitivity that the Qataris show toward Israelis and the Jewish world. … I responded to the request with joy.” Now I love kosher hot dogs just as much as the next guy. But as Qatar’s client Hamas has a covenant that calls for the annihilation of Israel and the murder of Jews wherever they are found, I’m wondering how the provision of sausages constitutes any particular “sensitivity” toward Israelis and Jews. I’m

rthur Frommer taught us that it could be done. He led us to a life of travel even though we already had two little kids, and no money. We, too, could still be jetsetters. We could take those kids, put them on our passports (as was done in the 1960s), and fly around the world. We could even do it when their numbers increased to three and then to four. And yes, once even with a dog on a leash, if not on a passport. Arthur Frommer wrote a book. I won’t be sacrilegious and call it a bible, but we referenced it a lot. A real lot! His book was called “Europe on $5 a Day.” Since then he has written plenty more but this was our grand entree into cheap travel and I owe him my thanks. It worked and we did it and we have no regrets! When I look back, it really was crazy to do what we did. After all, on that first trip in 1968, we had a toddler, not even 2 years old, and a big girl who was approaching 4. We had a huge mortgage on a house we could barely afford, and we were off to Europe. Up up and away, as they used to say. In essence, we changed our lives. We added excitement and adventure and always expectations of something different, challenging Rosanne perhaps, but usually broadening in a way that Skopp only travel could be. And for the rest of our lives we’ve been traipsing through this beautiful world. Now that we are old, our dreams are more restrained. Feet don’t go as far or as fast. Endurance is clearly not what it was. Life happened to us! But had we delayed or not been always on planes heading for newer places and more excitement, had we said we’ll go here or there when we are ready, when whatever the goalpost ahead of us indicated that we could, chances are we wouldn’t have left New Jersey very often. We would have grown old and suddenly realized it was too late. How sad that would have been! You should know that it took a lot of guts, but, if not then, when? It was our introduction to world travel, and since then we have never looked back with regret. And the icing on the cake is that we succeeded in making all of our children inveterate travelers, and they’ve carried the torch to our grandchildren, and even our three little great-grandsons already have become international jetsetters. Practical people wouldn’t have done what we did. After all, those kids would need tuition, not to mention food and clothing. We should have been saving and budgeting. Instead we were off. We were going places. Lots of places. We were irresponsible parents indeed, and we remain proud of that fact! That first trip was to Europe, with thanks to Mr. Frommer. There was no internet to guide us and help us with reviews. It was strictly Arthur, and he never let us down. We went to five different countries and the kids were wonderful ice-breakers wherever we set down. We met other parents in playgrounds and on strolls. We saw slices of Spain, Switzerland, England, Italy, and Holland, and people befriended us along the way. We even met a doctor in Roma when our little one was diagnosed with pneumonia. She overcame it. (Not so sure about me.) In the end we all caught the travel bug and none of us awaits the right time to take a trip. It never comes. It’s always the right time. I admit that covid19 has been a bit of a deterrent, especially for us two ancients. Nonetheless we’ve still been flying around, albeit less, but the excitement is always palpable. When I look at a map of the world, I can tick off the many, many places we’ve been, but, truthfully, there are still many more where we haven’t been. And to be realistic, I’m 83, he’s 84,

SEE JEW-WASHING PAGE 28

SEE GOING PLACES PAGE 28

The opinions expressed in this section are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the newspaper’s editors, publishers, or other staffers. We welcome letters to the editor. Send them to [emailprotected]

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of three. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 27

Opinion Jew-washing FROM PAGE 27

wondering whether the residents of Sderot, as they cower in bunkers from Hamas rockets, are thinking to themselves, “Well, at least Israelis at the World Cup get to put mustard and sauerkraut on a hot dog.” But while the Jews were running around protecting Qatar for who-knows-what kind of reward, the Catholic Church was condemning it for the exploitation of migrant workers that would eventually lead to global media reports of some 6,500 deaths. CruxNow.com, which covers the Catholic world, published a May 2018 article titled, “Pope scolds FIFA for slave labor in Qatar.” It told of how up to that time approximately 2,000 migrant workers already had died in near slave-like conditions building Qatar’s World Cup stadiums. The number would more than double by the time the first goal was scored last month. A papal charity named Pontifical Scholas Occurrentes

Going places FROM PAGE 27

how much travel still awaits us? Not enough, for sure. We’ve touched down on all the continents except Antarctica. We’ve been to countless countries, especially in Europe, starting in the very south in Malta, up to Finland, and twice east to Russia, west many times to Great Britain. We’ve been to more obscure places, like Georgia, where the cows kindly share the highways with the vehicles and sometimes the pigs. We’ve been to Slovenia, Croatia, and tiny Monaco, Romania and Estonia and twice to Latvia. We still await our trip to Iceland. We’ve been multiple times to Turkey, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and Holland. We have been to Luxembourg and Montenegro. We made a brief visit to Bosnia. We never forget who we are and how each place treated our people. We seek out synagogues that are, and synagogues that were, and cemeteries with overturned gravestones and those that are still pristine. In Krakow one day we were walking to the Remu shul on Shabbat and we were lost. We heard the voices of Englishmen and we sought out their help. They were heading to the same place. And as often, in adventure, as we chatted, we learned that they were dear friends of our London machetanim (the Jewish world is ever so small). Once we arrived at shul we found, completely serendipitously, an old friend of my sister, Connie, and her husband Jonathan, who founded a Jewish museum in Krakow and invited us to their little flat for cholent. Travel is for unexpected moments, even more than for an organized itinerary. Driving through Romania we came to a roofless shul. It had been destroyed, and there were no more Jews left to rebuild it. It no longer was home to a congregation of Jews. It now housed a congregation of pigeons, busily flying to and fro and using the women’s section as their own. It was haunting and unforgettable. Since that moment I often think of the high hopes of those who built that holy sanctuary and what became of them. What became of their grand plans and their meetings with architects? What became of their Torahs and all the artifacts that make a building into a shul? Were there numerous board meetings before they approved the design, and fundraising for the new shul? In Istanbul we were struck by how elegant the 28 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

presented the pope with a devastating critique of Qatar’s abuse of the workers and the staggering number of dead. The pope then wrote to FIFA, the world soccer body, calling on it to crack down on Qatar. But FIFA, one of the most corrupt sporting organizations on earth, many of whose executives went to jail on charges of bribery related to Qatar receiving the World Cup, chose not even to respond to the pope’s letter. So the pope is leveraging his moral standing to speak up for thousands of workers dying in the Qatari desert heat while Rabbi Marc Schneier is saying of kosher bagels, “Who would have dreamt that there would be kosher bagels in Qatar?” Let me conclude with what may be my most important point. As a tsunami of Jew-hatred erupts throughout the world in general and in the United States in particular, the Jewish community is left scratching its head, wondering, “How in God’s name are we Jews so bad at fighting antisemitism?”

Perhaps the answer lies in just how many Jewish leaders and influencers are undermining the fight. We’ve watched as Ben Schapiro publicly defended his employee Candace Owens for sticking up for the despicable Kanye West. We witnessed another orthodox lobbyist, Ezra Friedlander, become a highly paid lobbyist for Erdogan of Turkey who for a full decade has called Jews Hitler and Nazis. Chabad Washington DC head Rabbi Levi Shemtov had a one-on-one with Erdogan and said, “If no one in the world gets a chance to change, then we can’t expect progress where we need to.” Perhaps he will illuminate us as to what change Erdogan, who has never once apologized for saying Israel was even crueler than the Nazis, has engaged in. In asking the question why we Jews are so pathetic at combatting antisemitism, perhaps it’s time to publicly call out the Jewish apologists for the haters.

women were. I’ve never seen such a collection of magnificently attired women. It was a bar mitzvah Shabbat and clearly these ladies were in their finery, putting their best feet forward. They sat, perfectly still, not a siddur to be seen, but without a sound, when the shamash rapped his hand on his own siddur. Looking up from the main sanctuary, he gazed at the women, and, in Ladino, calling them senoras, ordered them to be quiet. This was clearly a technique to quiet the men, who were, in fact, chatting away. The previous day, Friday, we had heard of a Jewish bookstore. We headed there, with no obvious signs that we were Jews except for my Magen David necklace. We tried to draw out the owner but he was having nothing to do with us and our Jew search, even when we asked him specifically for books about the Jews of Turkey. Not taking our bait at all, we started to leave when he acknowledged our departure with one simple word, “Shalom.” Who would not be struck with tearful emotion in Berlin and Vienna, where brass plates are embedded in the sidewalks in the front of houses bearing the names and deportation dates of Jews who had lived there? We have attended shul where the communities are still vibrant and been struck by the need for tight security in Europe. Now that the ugly wave has reached our American shores, we have become accustomed to seeing security at our own American synagogues. We have driven through the beautiful Europe, places like Alsace and Provence and Scotland and Ireland, green places often bedecked with perfect flowers. And we have bought reminders in markets and fairs. On one trip to France our luggage never arrived. Wow! Did we shop! We’ve been to many spots in Latin America, Australia, Morocco in North Africa, and the Far East. We went to shul in Casablanca, and the old Moroccans totally ignored us. We saw the Shanghai ghetto and its remarkable Jewish museum and dined on kosher McDonald’s in Buenos Aires. We davened in a shul in Hong Kong where the auctions for aliyot began at $10,000 US, and this was years ago. By now, it’s probably double! We’ve visited 48 states in our USA. We bumped into a group of USYers on Wheels on July 3, 1976, in a small town in South Dakota. We joined them in celebrating the brilliant and successful Entebbe raid and mourned the loss of Yonatan Netanyahu. We have been to Alaska twice and Hawaii twice, and they are both beautiful

additions to our formerly 48. In Anchorage we met up with Peggy, my FB friend from my breast cancer group. In the Chabad shul in Oahu we made a new friend. We still need to round off the count by journeying to North Dakota and Kansas. Naturally our best and most favorite spot is Israel. But Israel is not a trip. Israel is home. When we arrive in Israel, we never feel like visitors or tourists. But, what is so very sad is that Israel is in the midst of a region where our travel is so restricted. We long to visit Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran. We’ve been to Jordan, but the other countries are so near and yet so far. Cyprus is on our radar. Egypt remains available but somehow not at the top of the list. Yet when we search the globe, there are so many choices, so many places where we haven’t set down our suitcases and walked the hidden pathways. The world is huge and we started to see it all too late! Wouldn’t it be nice to fly around on Air Force One? People imagine and dream about lots of things. For me it’s a year with Air Force One. Did you ever notice when the presidents get off that plane, no matter how many hours they’ve been aloft, they’re fresh, showered, rested, and well fed. Is life fair? Is it fair that we fly coach (sometimes business) and the presidents have this flying house with all the amenities? They don’t sit squished between strangers. They don’t eat the miserable food that airlines serve. If we have only one life, which I know is all we get, why can’t we fly on Air Force One? I know. It ain’t gonna happen. Sad emoji! But, on the other hand, let me count the ways that travel has brought excitement to our lives. It has brought adventure, beauty, understanding, and enticement. When another trip is on the horizon, the planning alone is sufficient to make us feel like we’ve already been there. Booking hotels these days is a far cry from those we stayed in when we were reading Mr. Frommer’s book and hearing the merits of bathrooms down the hall, but in the same building, against the hotel with the coin-operated shower. When the meter counted down and out, the hot water stopped. That’s called instant cold. These days we pay more, and we attain comfort, at a minimum, and often luxury. Our next planned trip is a mini to Florida, but any travel is always enough for a happy emoji.

Opinion

Modeh Ani on Thanksgiving week

t was supposed to be a glorious Thanksgiving been a post-Thanksgiving Kaplan family Shabbat in week. Teaneck with all our children, their spouses, and our On the Shabbat before Thanksgiving, we grandchildren. Every available bed (and crib) in our attended the second gathering of the rejuvehouse was carefully assigned, and we all looked fornated Davar, our incredible Teaneck community group ward to gathering around our dining room table, enjoying our favorite foods prepared by our favorite chef, (“A Shortcut to Knowledge”), created and spearheaded and catching up on all the things that even family text by Larry Krule and Susan Fader. At the first post-covid groups can’t capture. Man tracht (man proposes). program, Rabbi Ethan Tucker enthralled us; this week Then life intruded. Und Gott lacht (and God Prof. Jeffrey Rubenstein of NYU shared fascinating disposes). insights into talmudic story cycles. Plus a delicious kiddush and warm camaraderie. First, a complex shul political-religious issue that Sunday evening, devoted to culture, was made possiI’ve been deeply involved in unexpectedly became ble by our good friend Hynda, who invited more difficult. Thankfully, good will and us to join her at a performance by the Manrespect was shared by and for all, but, tua Singers in honor of the 400th anniversadly, finding a satisfactory solution consary of the publication of Salamone Rossi’s tinues to be highly challenging. This was collection of 33 choral compositions set to followed by a major screw-up by ShopRite sacred Hebrew texts (“How Matthew Lazar of the order we had submitted weeks ago met Salamone Rossi,” November 16). The to its kosher department to cook and carve concert, presented by the Zamir Choral our Thanksgiving turkey, and the receipt Foundation, was conducted by Maestro of a letter from our Medicare Supplement Matthew (Mati) Lazar, with whom Sharon insurer with an unexpected, unfair, and Joseph C. shares a history of Camp Massad and the improper rate increase. Much frustration Kaplan High School of Music & Art, and under and aggravation. whose direction she sang for years in the And then the coup de grâce (or so I Shirah chorus at the Kaplen JCC in Tenafly. I especially thought; see below). As I arrived home after hearing enjoyed chatting with Vivian, my elementary school R. JJ’s wonderful lecture (yes, I know that’s a tautology), I heard Sharon on the phone with a health care classmate and Far Rockaway neighbor, who is the director of HaZamir, the foundation’s international Jewish provider talking about testing centers. A quick trip to teen choir and, oh yes, Mati’s wife. one of Englewood Hospital’s urgent care facilities conMonday evening brought me to Seasons of Love and firmed our fears. Sharon had tested positive, ending Unity — Teaneck’s annual Thanksgiving celebration – our household’s covid-free status since the onset of in which residents and the leaders of Teaneck’s broad this plague. range of faith communities assembled in friendship That, of course, drastically changed the course of the and good will. It was sponsored by the Teaneck Interremainder of the week’s activities. Our Toronto family faith Community and chaired by my new friend, and stayed in place, I attended the Amit evening without indefatigable volunteer for numerous good causes, Sharon but with an N-95 mask, and we had a distanced Cheryl Hall. Thanksgiving dinner for two in Teaneck rather than for On Tuesday I attended a lecture by Rabbi JJ Schacter 19 in Manhattan –- the first time I can remember having dinner alone with Sharon, with each of us sitting about the life of Maimonides at the Beit Midrash of at opposite ends of our 6-foot-long dining room table. Teaneck. That evening we were scheduled to attend And then my scheduled stag attendance at Aiden’s another spectacular cultural event, “An Evening With birthday party was cancelled because (coup de grâce Itzhak Perlman,” sponsored by Amit in celebration of number two) on Friday morning I tested positive for its soon-to-be-built Kfar Batya campus. My sister and covid (thanks, Sweetie). And so our family Shabbat in brother-in-law, Rena and Bruce, had graciously asked Teaneck was transformed into Shabbat in Teaneck, the us to be their guests at this gala. (A personal highlight Upper West Side, Crown Heights, and Toronto. was being greeted by an Englewood couple who told Not quite as glorious as we had planned and me that they are readers of both the Standard and my anticipated. column and recognized me from my picture -– I guess I So what’s my takeaway? I was initially tempted to was wise to wear a bowtie to the event.) make “man tracht und Gott lacht” the point of this colI set aside most of Wednesday to begin writing this umn but resisted for two reasons. First, I already used column, to be followed by our annual family Thanksgiving celebration at the Riverside Drive apartment of it above; repetition and columns don’t mix well. More my sister-and-brother-in-law, Andrea and David. Friday importantly, upon additional reflection, I heard a different message –- one of blessing and thankfulness. was earmarked for our grandson Aiden’s 2-year-old I’m blessed and thankful for wonderful friends like birthday party in Englewood with my son-in-law Allen’s Larry and Susan and Cheryl, and for institutions like family. We avidly looked forward to both. Davar and Teaneck Interfaith, for all they do for me and The culmination of this special week was to have

my communities. I’m blessed and thankful for loving friends and relatives like Hynda and Rena and Bruce, who are always thinking of Sharon and me, and who generously share experiences with us. I’m blessed and thankful for a cultural organization like Zamir, with Mati at its head, that preserves Judaism’s musical heritage while teaching and performing that music in a way that educates while creating joy and touching hearts. I’m blessed and thankful for an institution like Amit, one to which my mother and Sharon’s devoted so much time and energy, that has not only changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israeli children, but also continues to lead the way in developing cutting edge educational and social support services. I’m blessed and thankful for teachers and friends like JJ, who inform, educate, and inspire me as well as the future leaders of my community, and for friends of my youth like Vivian, who remind me of a special time and place. I’m blessed and grateful to be a member of Congregation Rinat Yisrael, which meets so many of my religious needs as well as those of the many others whom it welcomes under its big tent (literally during covid but always metaphorically). I’m blessed and thankful that due to the vaccines, medications, and increased medical knowledge that were developed by the incredible efforts of numerous scientists, researchers, health care professionals, and others, our covid appears to be more like a very bad cold or flu (pooh pooh) rather than the life-threatening, and sadly for some life-ending, disease that it was for too many over the past 33 months, and that we’re feeling better already (ditto the pooh pooh). I’m blessed and thankful for the Jewish Standard and its editor Joanne Palmer for providing me with this wonderful platform, which allows me to speak to readers a few times every month, and be recognized both with and without a bowtie. I’m blessed and thankful for family beyond those most immediate, who look forward to, and try to create, occasions when we can celebrate together, and who are saddened when those plans fall through. I’m blessed and thankful for daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren beyond compare, who constantly help in deed, advice, and emotional support, while bringing me and Sharon immeasurable pride and joy. And I’m blessed and thankful for a partner of 52 plus years, without whose support and love my life would have been so very different and so very much poorer. Yes, I am truly blessed and thankful. Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular columnist, is a long-time resident of Teaneck. His work also has appeared in various publications including Sh’ma magazine, the New York Jewish Week, the Baltimore Jewish Times, and, as letters to the editor, the New York Times.

www.njjewishnews.com NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022 29

Opinion/Jewish World

Chanukah miracles

to Central and South America that I realized that we ith the holiday of Chanukah approachshouldn’t take our people’s return to Torah for granted. ing, we are reminded of the miracles In my travels, I discovered the peculiar relationship that we celebrate every year: between Mexico’s people, most of whom have indige* The miracle of the Maccabees’ victory over the Greek oppressors who tried to eradicate nous roots, and the Catholic Church, which was introduced to Mezzo-America by the Spanish conquistadors Judaism. in the 16th century. I was surprised to discover the dis* The miracle of the small flask of oil to kindle the connect between the people, most of whom are now menorah, that surprisingly lasted for eight days, illuminating our Temple. Catholics, and the brutal history whereby Yet it was only recently, during a trip the Catholic Spaniards destroyed much of to Mexico, that I realized there was yet the population, tried to eradicate its culture, and forced conversions on the remainanother miracle, often overlooked, without which neither of these other miracles ing inhabitants. The Spanish conquistadors would have had any meaning. This was ruled over Mexico for a little over two centuries but, despite the Mexican natives’ not a miracle performed directly by God, hatred for the Gachupins (native Spaniards) but rather one enacted by our people. and their expulsion in the early 19th cenWhen the ancient Greeks ruled over tury, the population preserved their conancient Israel, they imposed their culSoli Foger tural traditions on the inhabitants of our querors’ new Catholic religion, deserting land. Unfortunately, many of our ancestheir own indigenous traditions. tors adopted their Hellenist customs and abandoned As a Jew, I belong to a nation that has suffered exile, Jewish practices during the two centuries they ruled persecution, and forced conversions that diverted the land. This reached a level whereby the Temple was many of our people from our original faith, whether in fact defiled by our own people before the Greeks during the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, the Muslim domination, or the pogroms perpetrated by other brought in their own idol worship. Interestingly, the European persecutors. Yet despite losing many Jews moment the Maccabees expelled the Greeks from our to foreign religions, our people adhered as best they land, there was a return to Torah and a regeneration of could to Torah, building Jewish life when possible, and Jewish faith among the people who restored the temple moving to places where they could continue to live as and the holy practices in the land (Some of it was done proud Jews. by force.) My tour guide shared the great enthusiasm with While I have always cherished how the heroic Maccabees saved our heritage, it wasn’t until my visit which Mexicans practice their Catholic religion. More

than 85% Mexicans are Catholics; the Church is an important player in their everyday lives, and despite some old indigenous habits and traditions that remain, their followers’ numbers are small. How could this be?! I asked myself. How can victims so willingly adopt their tormentors’ religion? Why haven’t they returned to their ancient traditions? Returning home, I realized how similar our history could have been to that of the indigenous Americans. The conditions among Jews were very precarious as conquerors repeatedly tried to eradicate our observance. This helped me understand that had Jews clung to the new Hellenist beliefs, similar to how the indigenous Mexicans adopted Catholicism, we wouldn’t be practicing our Jewish tradition today. The true miracle of Chanukah is that in addition to the Maccabees’ victory and the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days, our Jewish ancestors fought to maintain Jewish practices, at all costs, carrying it along with them into the future. Today, with Jews living in exile for two millennia, we are once again facing the problem of assimilation, only this time without being forced by the sword. This time, it’s unlikely that the Maccabees will be coming to our rescue. So we need to remember to help our children embrace their heritage and welcome back all who have left our fold, so that our Jewish future and progeny will continue on. Soli Foger, who is an architect, grew up in Israel. He and his wife, the educator Dr. Tani Foger, lived in Englewood for 30 years. They have four sons and six grandchildren.

Leonard Cohen’s 1973 Yom Kippur War concerts to be dramatized in TV series by ‘Shtisel’ writer

eonard Cohen’s momentous trip to the Sinai Desert to perform for Israeli soldiers in the wake of the Yom Kippur War is being turned into a dramatized TV series. “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai” will be written by Yehonatan Indursky, a co-creator of “Shtisel,” the landmark Israeli drama about an Orthodox family in Jerusalem, according to Variety. The limited series, an adaptation of journalist Matti Friedman’s 2022 book of the same name, will film in Israel in 2024. It’s being co-produced by Keshet, the Israeli company that has also produced shows such as “Prisoners of War,” which was adapted for U.S. audiences as Leonard Cohen performs in Hamburg, Germany, on May 4, 1970. “Homeland.” Cohen’s trip to the frontlines of the 1973 war became a turning point in the way the folk — for instance, his 1974 album “New Skin for the Old troubadour incorporated his Jewishness into his songs Ceremony” featured “Who By Fire,” a song inspired 30 NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS DECEMBER 2, 2022

by the Yom Kippur “Unataneh Tokef ” prayer. Despite being internationally famous, Cohen slept in an army sleeping bag, ate army rations, and performed a series of concerts for on-edge soldiers, who decades later told Friedman that they were moved by his support. “In October 1973 the poet and singer Leonard Cohen — 39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end — traveled to the Sinai desert and inserted himself into the chaos and blood of the Yom Kippur War,” the show’s press materials read. “Moving around the front with a guitar and a pick-up team of local musicians, Cohen dived headlong into a global crisis and met hundreds of fighting men and women at the worst moment of their lives. “Cohen’s audience knew his songs might be the last thing they heard, and those who survived never forgot the experience.” GUNTER ZINT/1970 K& K ULF KRUGER OHG/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES

GABE FRIEDMAN

JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY

Jewish World

From McConnell to McCarthy, Republican leaders criticize Trump’s dinner with Holocaust denier RON KAMPEAS

week after former President Donald Trump dined with two men who are known for their outspoken antisemitism, Republican leaders are beginning to speak out — though some are sparing Trump direct criticism. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader in the Senate, said Trump’s Nov. 20 dinner with Kanye West, the rapper and designer who in recent weeks has made a series of antisemitic statements, and Nick Fuentes, a 24-year-old white supremacist who has denied the Holocaust and said he wants all Jews out of the United States, was a blow to Trump’s bid to be reelected in 2024. “First, let me just say that there is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” McConnell said when he met with a gaggle of reporters in the Senate. “And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.” Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the likely next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, did not criticize Trump directly, echoing a number of other Republicans who have spoken out. Referring to Fuentes, McCarthy said, “I condemn his ideology; it has no place in society at all.” About Trump, he said, “The president can have

meetings with who he wants; I don’t think anybody, though, should have a meeting with Nick Fuentes.” McCarthy said Trump condemned Fuentes “four times.” Trump has not done so, although he has said many times that he did not know who Fuentes was and that he was an unexpected guest brought by West, who now goes by Ye. Trump responded to the mounting criticism late Tuesday, saying again that he hadn’t known Fuentes, an organizer of rallies on his behalf, before the meeting, and for the first time indicating disapproval of his views. “I had never heard of the man — I had no idea what his views were, and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted,” Trump told Fox News. The varying responses — McConnell outspoken and McCarthy evasive — reflected where each leader stands in the party. McConnell, who has tangled with Trump since the former president spread lies about winning the 2020 election that led to a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, handily headed off a Trump-backed leadership challenge earlier this month, even as Republicans failed to recapture the Senate in midterm elections. McCarthy, on the other hand, leads a caucus that wrested the House from Democrats but by a bare majority. If he wants to be elected speaker on Jan. 3, the first day of the new Congress, he needs the vote of

a small but powerful faction of House Republicans who remain loyal to Trump. Meanwhile, Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president, has called on Trump to apologize — an action Trump has always been loath to take. “President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite, and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize for it,” Pence said on NewsNation, a cable network. Pence, unfailingly loyal to Trump during the presidency, has broken with the former president since refusing to heed Trump’s pleas to illegally rig the electoral vote count on Jan. 6. The vice president, in a ceremonial role, supervises the count. A number of the rioters who breached the Capitol said they hoped to kill him. A number of GOP senators, confronted by reporters in the halls of Congress as they returned from Thanksgiving break, also spoke out. “I think it’s ridiculous that he had that meeting,” said Joni Ernst of Iowa. “Just it’s ridiculous. And that’s, that’s all I’m gonna say about it. Just crazy.” A handful of Republicans, including several who have criticized Trump for years, spoke out as soon as the meeting with Fuentes was confirmed last Friday. A few others who were close to Trump, including David Friedman, his ambassador to Israel, also spoke out to denounce the meeting.

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B’YACHAD

LEARNING TOGETHER GROWING TOGETHER Early Childhood Day of Learning

More than 200 early childhood educators from across the Greater MetroWest community came together at the JCC Central in Scotch Plains for an inspiring Day of Learning. A special thank you to all the panelists and participants, special guests Dr. Anna Hartman, Shira Kline, and NJ Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, and planning committee members: Robin Brous, JCC Central; Sharon Cohen, Congregation Beth El; Aliza Maslansky, Congregation AABJ&D; Danielle Weitz, Congregation Beth El; Geula Zamist, Congregation Agudath Israel. The Early Childhood Day of Learning was made possible by the generosity of The Cooperman Family Fund for a Jewish Future.

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IN GREATER METROWEST Wednesday, December 14 • 7:30-8:30 p.m. on Zoom The headlines and our social media feeds are teeming with signs of rising antisemitism in our country and even in our own community. Just a few weeks ago we were faced with an FBI warning of a credible threat against synagogues and other Jewish institutions in New Jersey. This disturbing trend weighs heavily on all of us, but your Jewish Federation is working tirelessly to educate, advocate, prepare, and protect our community.

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