| The Jewish Journal Archive | ||||||||||||
| April 22 - May 5, 2005 | ||||||||||||
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Local
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Local StoriesBrandeis to Become No. 1 in Demographic Research Richard
Asinof WALTHAM — How many Jewish children are enrolled in Jewish preschools? How many Jewish preschools are there in America? How many Jewish families include newborns? Surprisingly, according to Rabbi David Gedzelman, executive director of the Jewish Life Network in New York, there are no accurate numbers that measure these demographic trends. For philanthropists, federations and Jewish communal organizations, quantifying these trends is not just an academic exercise. The ability to reverse the decline in the American Jewish population, many community leaders believe, may hinge in large part on the success of Jewish education programs targeted at young children. But which programs work? Which reach their audience? And why? To remedy what he sees as a lack of good data, philanthropist Michael Steinhardt and his Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation have joined forces with Brandeis University to create the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. Under the direction of Leonard Saxe, head of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis, and backed by Steinhardt’s initial $12 million gift, organizers hope that the institute, which will open officially in September, will become the premier site for collection and analysis of statistical datA about American Jews, cornering the market on the country’s Jewish demographics. “The amount of data that doesn’t exist is astounding,” Steinhardt told JTA in an interview. “The Jewish community is in the 19th century in terms of data, and the quality of the data that does exist is poor.” When the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey was released more than a year late in September 2003, it was dogged by controversy over both methodology and lost data. The actual data sample was based on telephone interviews with 4,523 people, representing a 28 percent response rate. According to the study’s findings, during the previous decade Jewish population had declined from 5.5 million to 5.2 million; intermarriage was on the rise, with 47 percent of Jews choosing a non-Jewish partner since 1996; and about 4.3 million Jews were active “Jewishly.” But some researchers questioned both the numbers’ reliability and the assumptions made about those numbers. Further, the methodology used for the 2000-2001 study was different than the methodology used for the 1990 study, creating problems in data comparisons. In response to questions on the issue, Glenn Rosenkrantz, UJC’s director of media affairs, gave the following statement: “United Jewish Communities commends Michael Steinhardt for his generous support of so many causes and initiatives designed to benefit the Jewish community. If this new effort helps all of us in the communal world better understand the challenges we face in building Jewish community and continuity, then we will all benefit.” Saxe, the Institute’s director, who began his career as a scientist with the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, told JTA that all the data will be accessible and all the methodologies transparent. At first the focus will be on gathering basic data about the size and characteristics of the American Jewish community, but Saxe emphasized that the new Steinhardt Institute at Brandeis will be more than just a repository for information. “We will be out there, asking questions, and developing new methodologies,” he said. “We’re going to have the opportunity to synthesize, analyze and collect our own data, to try to understand better the American Jewish community.” Saxe also firmly believes that the methodologies must change. In the past, he said, many studies often collected dozens and dozens of lists of people who had some contact with Jewish philanthropic and cultural organizations. “What happens,” he asked, “if you add lists from organizations, say, that promote Jewish dating?” The result, he said, is that you might reach many more Jews. The people answering the survey vehicle from, say, JDate, may not be people who donate to the local federation. Saxe is working with Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies in its 10-year study mapping the local Jewish community. No firm date has been set for the release, but it is expected to be completed by the fall. Advocacy for Homeless Awareness Gary
Band PEABODY — Samantha Yanco of Lynn, a senior at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, created a program that changes perceptions of and helps people who are homeless or in transition. During a February 2004 Panim el Panim conference in Washington, DC, along with other teens from the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, Sam was moved by the “Encounter with Homelessness” program in which two local homeless people spoke to the group. One year later, serving as the Social Action/Tikkun Olam Vice President of the New England Region of United Synagogue Youth, after reading an article in the Boston University newspaper about a student who beat up a homeless person, Sam wanted to bring the program to the North Shore. “In my own school, I’ve heard comments like, ‘Homeless people are bums,’ ‘Why don’t they just get a job?’ and ‘All homeless people are drug addicts or mentally ill.’ These ignorant and uniformed comments are the motivation for my efforts,” Sam said. And while she is not suggesting that all students should walk up to every homeless person they see and offer a greeting, “I am trying to spread knowledge about the extent of the problem and some choices for a solution.” To that end, Yanco spoke with her USY director, contacted the director of the Salem Mission Homeless Shelter, and began working with individuals who then speak to groups of students while she moderates. The first presentation was with two people, Kevin and Kathy, at the end of March to a group of 100 students at the USY office in Newton. “The crowd was very receptive and touched by the stories they heard,” Yanco said. Many had never met a homeless person before and were unaware that homeless people exist in large numbers outside of Boston.” Sam first asked the Salem Mission director if he could think of two or three people who would be comfortable telling their stories, then builds relationships with and coaches the people who give the presentations. She and her boyfriend, a senior at St. John’s Prep, the only one she says who wears a yarmulke and tzitzit, took Kevin and Kathy out to dinner. Sam has also had them and others over to her parents’ house. “When I first met with a 22-year-old woman and asked, ‘How are you,’ she said that was the first time someone asked her that in long time. Not only can this program change perceptions kids have, but to see what it does for the homeless person really makes a difference.” Sam believes if she keeps one person from being discriminated against, the program works. Kevin and Kathy spoke at St. John’s Prep on April 22, will speak at Lynn Classical after vacation, and Sam is speaking to superintendents in an effort to extend the program to public schools. A past recipient of the Derek Sheckman Award, Sam will attend George Washington University in the fall. Stores Dish Up Passover Foods Susan
Jacobs Local markets that cater to Jewish customers are dishing up a plethora of freshly-prepared Passover fare. As a result, North Shore residents can enjoy traditional beef brisket, homemade gefilte fish, apple walnut charoset and matzah kugel without spending hours toiling in the kitchen. Buyers should be aware, however, that while all of the food is Jewish-style, not all of the Passover delicacies being offered are kosher and/or kosher-for-Passover. Larry Levine’s in Peabody has been peddling traditional seder dinners for 25 years. This year, Todd Levine expects to sell one thousand packaged dinners to organizations, families and college students unable to cook a complete Passover meal themselves. The dinners, which range from $14-16 per person, include a choice of gefilte fish or chopped liver, chicken soup with matzah balls, a choice of roast chicken, turkey or brisket, with sides of potato or farfel kugel and carrot tsimmis, “We are the only shop north of Boston and south of Montreal that offers a full line of kosher-for-Passover food prepared under strict Orthodox supervision,” says Levine, who points out that all items must be picked up by April 22 since the store is closed during the week of Passover. In addition to seder dinners, Larry Levine’s sells sweet and sour meatballs, kishke and a full line of Passover baked goods including jelly rolls, 7-layer cake, mocha cakes and biscotti. “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it,” he says with a smile. For more than five years, all Whole Foods Markets in the Northeast region have offered customers a menu of Passover foods prepared with a healthy twist. Although none of the items are kosher-for-Passover, several are certified kosher. According to Diana Rodgers, Marketing Team Leader, many of the recipes come from Jewish workers. Miriam’s Braised Beef Brisket, for example, came from a 16 year-veteran who currently works in the Wayland store. Whole Foods offers an array of interesting vegetarian appetizers and side dishes including a vegan “chopped liver” (made from green beans, walnuts, tofu, matzah and carmelized onion), and a matzah stuffing with mushrooms and spinach. Desserts are particularly appealing and include matzah fudge brownies with rich mocha ganache, chocolate matzah crunch made by drizzling matzah with caramel and pure chocolate, and apple rhubarb crisp created from tart rhubarb and sweet apples, covered with a matzah crisp topping. The natural food retailer, which recently opened a location in Swampscott, uses organic ingredients when available. None of the prepared foods have artificial colors, preservatives, trans fats or hydrogenated oils, and the meat does not contain antibiotics or growth hormones. Items will be sold in the deli area throughout the Passover week, and the store will maintain its regular hours. J & S Brandi’s, a small family-owned and operated delicatessen in Marblehead, has a special kosher-style Passover menu. Most of the recipes come from co-owner Sherri Carpineto’s mother, a renowned Jewish cook. According to Sherri’s husband Joe, the store will feature apple walnut charoset, potato kugel, vegetable tsimmis, beef brisket with potatoes, carrots and gravy, potato latkes with apple sauce and sour cream, and stuffed chicken breast with matzah stuffing. Although the friendly owners have taken pre-orders for many of the main dishes, they promise to have plenty of walk-in items available during the week of Passover, especially appetizers and desserts such as flourless chocolate cake, honey cake and macaroons. They will be open their regular hours during Passover. Shubie’s is another family-owned gourmet shop in Marblehead that will feature homemade Passover delicacies during the holiday week. Co-owner Carol Shube points out that their Jewish chef will prepare kosher-style roast chicken, beef brisket, chicken soup with matzah balls, kugel, tsimmis, stuffed cabbage, chopped liver and potato kugel. Some items will go quickly, so Shube recommends that shoppers come early for the best selection. “Each Passover, I am surprised by how many people leave the cooking to us,” remarks Shube. “While some people get the entire meal, others purchase specific side dishes (such as our homemade kugel) or just want a taste of the holiday and will purchase a half-pound of tsimmis. Whether people do part, or all, of our Passover menu, we are happy to service our Jewish community,” she adds. To complement the food, Shubie’s stocks more than a dozen different kosher wines. Grossman’s Delicatessen, also in Marblehead, is preparing kosher-style brisket dinners, vegetable tsimmis, mushroom matzah and apple matzah kugel, knishes and farfel stuffing. Since they are closed for vacation during the Passover week, all orders had to be placed by April 20 and picked up before Passover. North Shore residents willing to drive to Brookline will find more than 2,000 kosher-for-Passover items at The Butcherie, a family-owned business started by a pair of brothers in the late 1950s. “We have a great selection of glatt kosher fresh meat and chicken, and will have over 100 different prepared foods for Passover, including specialty items like New Orleans style brisket and chicken piccata,” says Josh Ruboy, director of catering. “We’ve been making beef and vegetable knishes for 50 years, and have them in regular and cocktail sizes. We also sell gefilte fish with our unbelievable homemade horseradish ... once you’ve had it, you’ll never go back to anything else,” he promises. The Butcherie prepares all the traditional favorites including chopped and pickled herring, stuffed cabbage, meat loaf and Middle Eastern salads. For health-conscious customers they have regular and no-cholesterol kugels. They also stock a large assortment of Israeli products. Special orders are not necessary, says Ruboy, who assures that everything on their Passover menu will be available throughout the holiday. To accompany Passover holiday meals, check out Kappy’s and Vinnin Square Liquors. Both stores feature a large selection of kosher-for-Passover wines from around the world. Choices range from simple Kiddush wines, to sparkling champagnes and fine French-style varietals that have received distinguished awards. For those who are too busy (or don’t have transportation) to go to a market, several prepared Passover options can be ordered online. Homemade chicken soup with matzah balls can be sent anywhere in the country, thanks to a brother/sister duo who make it fresh in Woburn. To order, visit www.GrandmasChickenSoup.com or phone 1-87-SEND-SOUP. For dessert, Edible Arrangements of Beverly cuts fresh fruit into beautiful floral shapes and can deliver an arrangement on the same day, if requested. A variety of bouquet styles and sizes in various price ranges are available. For details, visit www.ediblearrangements.com or phone 978-927-3120. Temple Emanu-El Celebrates 50 Years Gary
Band MARBLEHEAD — Following a year of commemorative events, Temple Emanu-El will conclude its 50th year festivities with a May 14 Anniversary Gala honoring five couples and celebrating the long, happy life of this Reform congregation. Chairing
the Gala are Carol Lev and Dana Young, and the five honorary couples are
Barbara and Bill Cantor, Carla and David Herwitz, Margie and Jerry Somers,
Estelle and Bitzy Bitman, and Ruthie and Robert Salter. “It’s been a very exciting, challenging and extremely fulfilling time in my rabbinate,” Rabbi Meyer said of his tenure to date. He says the congregation has experienced tremendous growth, both in membership and programming. The temple has increased its staff as well over the last few years, adding a full-time executive director, Judith Emanuel, and education director, Jed Filler. “The professional staff is just outstanding,” Meyer says. “They are full partners in the guidance of the synagogue.” In addition to his role on the bima, Rabbi Meyer has been active in the community, leading the annual ADL Interfaith Seder (which began at Emanu-El) four times, as a recent past president of the North Shore Rabbinic Association, the current head of the Marblehead Ministerial Alliance, and a newly-appointed member of the Essex County Anti-Crime Council. He also plays the guitar, is in a softball league, and runs the Boston Marathon. Of the congregation, he says, “Because of its diversity and that it incorporates education, worship, and community service, we offer a lot for people who want a meaningful synagogue affiliation.” Rabbi Meyer is especially proud of the Sunday morning family service in between the early and late Hebrew school programs. “We’ve broken the cycle of drop-off and pick-up at Hebrew school,” he says. On the secret of Jewish continuity, Meyer doesn’t believe there’s one simple solution. “People come into Jewish life through many different doors: some through religious school, some through meaningful worship, some through social opportunities. It’s important to offer a variety of ways to engage people.” Jerry Somers of Swampscott has been a member of Emanu-El for 30 years. He believes Reform Judaism is attractive in that it “speaks to gender equality, advocacy of outreach to the interfaith community, and patrilineal descent…. When I look at the services, over the years there’s been greater participation, more singing and more Hebrew,” he says. Lowell Gray of Nahant joined Emanu-El 13 years ago, and has served as its president since 2004. Rabbi Meyer named all four of his and his wife’s children, and recently led their oldest in becoming a bat mitzvah. Gray says he most appreciates Emanu-El’s worship services, the strong sense of community, and the warmth of the congregation. As president, he says his main endeavors have been the temple’s capital campaign, the upkeep of the 40-year old synagogue (the congregation was housed for its first 10 years at Marblehead’s Old North Church), and compiling a temple time capsule, filled with tapes, CDs and pictures, to be opened in 25 years. Dana Young of Marblehead grew up in Emanu-El, is a member of the Sisterhood and has served on the temple board for eight years. “If my kids get what I got, they’ll stay involved in Jewish life,” she said. “I started crying when I saw my fourth-grade Hebrew school teacher Mrs. Glazer teaching my kid.” Carol Lev of Marblehead also grew up at Emanu-El, has kids in the Hebrew School, and has served on its board for a year. She likes the changes in the way religious school is taught, the Sunday morning family services, and family programming. Bitzy Bitman of Swampscott has been an Emanu-El member for 25 years, and served as president from 1989-91. Active in the 200-member Temple Brotherhood for the last 14 years, Bitman has brought numerous jazz musicians to the temple. Congressman John Tierney also speaks at a special annual Brotherhood Breakfast. But despite Emanu-El’s growth over the years, Gray is not taking the next 50 years for granted. “As leaders, we need to continually evaluate how well we’re serving the community. It’s all about the families we serve and who give of themselves to ensure the future of the temple.” For more information about the May 14 Gala, call 781-631-9300. Whiz Kid Excels at Science, Fundraising Susan
Jacobs SWAMPSCOTT — When he’s not building a robot or figuring out how to drop an egg from five meters without it breaking, 14-year-old Craig Broady can be found battling online Star Wars opponents from as far away as Ireland and Indiana. Broady, who describes himself as a cross between a nerd and geek, is a freshman at Boston University Academy, a small private high school in Boston specializing in science and technology. Teens at the highly-regarded school take college-level courses and utilize the facilities of BU. Yet Broady is more than just a whiz kid. Ever since his younger sister, Marissa, was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, a debilitating disease that destroys the body’s connective tissue, he has worked to raise money for the National Marfan Foundation. As a youngster, he raised funds via a lemonade stand and the sale of Marissa teddy bears. Craig has continued to support the cause despite the fact that Marissa succumbed to the disease at age four in September of 2000. For the third consecutive year, in memory of his sister, he will participate in The Marissa Walk on Sunday, May 15. The walkathon, sponsored by Eye of the Tiger Karate and Shaping Zone for Women, raised $35,000 for the National Marfan Foundation the first year and $28,000 the second year. This year, Broady hopes to raise even more money. He created a Power Point presentation that he believes will motivate his school and classmates to participate. His parents, Eric, an education financing loan officer, and Robin, a dental hygienist, are understandably proud of their only son. Young Broady has a packed schedule. Up at dawn, he faces an hour-plus commute from Swampscott on trains and subways in order to arrive at school on time. After classes, he participates in school-related science clubs, so he usually does not get home until late afternoon. As a black belt karate student, Craig takes (and teaches) martial arts classes several evenings per week at Eye of the Tiger, where he has studied for seven years. After dinner and homework (done online), Broady relaxes with computer games or plays with his pet turtle, Cookie. On weekends he often participates in scientific competitions. He recently won a bronze medal at the state Science Olympiad in Framingham where he and a teammate had only 40 minutes to build an electricity-generating windmill out of just two pieces of paper, some compact discs, scissors and tape. In March, Broady and his BU Academy team placed a respectable 16th-out-of-52 in a national robotics competition with their design; a five-foot-tall remote controlled robot named #246. The graduate of Cohen Hillel Academy figures he will attend college at MIT or BU (which will accept all his credits). “I’d ultimately like to go into artificial intelligence, or develop digital animation for films,” says the teen of his career goals. His parents always knew that their quiet, studious son would do something in the field of science or engineering. “Craig was always interested in figuring out how things work. He’s been fiddling with puzzles and Legos since he was a year old,” remarks his mother. “He knew how to turn on the VCR before he could even read what the buttons said.” Students from Newburyport, Hillel Visit Holocaust Museum Amy
Sessler Powell Arielle Boches of Newburyport learned about the Holocaust in Hebrew school at Congregation Ahavas Achim, but when she visited the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. the images of the Holocaust became quite visual to her. Jake Waldman of Marble-head said his classroom study of the Holocaust at Cohen Hillel Academy was “basically learning all the facts, but going is unexplainable.” Boches and Waldman were two of several teens who traveled to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. recently. Their trips were subsidized by the Jewish Continuity Committee of the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, which sponsors programs that are helping to keep our children Jewish. The
Foundation subsidized the students and one parent each from the Newburyport
Hebrew school and the entire eighth-grade class at Cohen Hillel Academy.
In June, a group of 43 students and one parent for each from the Hebrew
schools at Temples Ner Tamid and Beth Shalom in Peabody and Ahavat Achim
in Gloucester will go. All the Hebrew schools in the Lappin Foundation
service area can apply for these grants. “One of the goals of the class is to open channels of communication between parent and child about their Jewishness. The Holocaust has shaped our character as a people,” said Goldstein. “The way we feel about Israel and the need we have for Israel is precious. The reason we do the trip with parents and children together is because we want them to talk about it with each other. We hope they see the value of being Jewish, the miracle of survival, and their individual responsibility for the survival of the Jewish people.” Lori Dameron, Arielle Boches’ mother, had been to the museum before, but found the trip with her daughter to be different. “The museum is such an amazing place, but this time I saw it through her eyes.” Boches also found comfort in her peers. “It is really sad going there, but it is also a good experience and I’m glad I got to do it with the people I have been friends with in Hebrew school. We learned a lot about our religion together and so it helped to be together,” Boches said. Karen Madorsky, an eighth-grade teacher at Hillel, said the teachers stay in constant dialogue with the children. “It is a very powerful experience and quite a few were blown away by it,” she said. Liliya Perelman of Swampscott, who went on the Hillel trip, said that even after three months of study at Hillel, the Holocaust seemed asbtract until she got to the museum and saw the real artifacts. “It is really moving to see it all come together in one place,” said Perelman. “It was amazing to see everything we learned about.”
Report: More Withdrawals Planned Leslie
Susser JERUSALEM — Buoyed by American support for his plan to evacuate Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reportedly is considering a second unilateral “disengagement” that will determine Israel’s permanent borders. Though Sharon strongly denies such a plan, and President Bush continues to insist on a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian agreement based on the internationally approved “road map” peace plan, the Israeli political establishment is in an uproar over the idea. At their mid-April summit in Crawford, Texas, Sharon and President Bush agreed on the potentially historic importance of Sharon’s first disengagement, scheduled for the summer, and agreed that the next step should be Israeli-Palestinian peace talks based on the road map. But Sharon fears the road map may prove unworkable. And though he denies that he is now working on plans for a follow-up, second disengagement, one of Sharon’s closest aides has acknowledged that if the Palestinians are unable to deliver on their road map commitments — principally, dismantling terrorist groups and eradicating the terrorist infrastructure in Palestinian society — a second unilateral disengagement will be one option Israel considers. Such a plan is not without its problems: It’s likely to meet opposition from the international community, the Palestinian and Israeli politicians on both the left and right of the political spectrum. The international community, the Palestinians and the Israeli left almost certainly would prefer bilateral negotiations toward a final peace deal. On the right, settler leaders accuse Sharon of planning another step in “the sell-out of the Land of Israel.” And, more significantly, leading members of Sharon’s own Likud Party say they’re determined to block any attempt to push through a second disengagement plan. Nevertheless, speculation in Israeli political circles about a second disengagement is rife. Some analysts argue that it may yet prove to be Israel’s best option, and that the Americans may come around to supporting it. Though Bush has expressed great admiration for the planned pullback from Gaza and the northern West Bank — describing it as a seminal event that could change the face of the Middle East — Sharon insists that he has not broached the subject of a second unilateral disengagement. On the contrary, he says he made clear to Bush at the Crawford summit that Israel will renew peace talks with the Palestinians if they first dismantle terrorist militias and carry out promised security, economic and governmental reforms. But Sharon will face a major dilemma: If the Palestinians don’t carry out their commitments, will Sharon accept a situation of political inertia that could easily degenerate into renewed violence? And if they do, will he embark on peace talks that he thinks are bound to blow up over the issues of Jerusalem and refugees? Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a second disengagement would be a big mistake, giving away key territorial assets while getting nothing in return. All things considered, by next year Sharon may decide to pursue the second disengagement route. But will the international community be prepared to listen? Will the Palestinians? And will he have the domestic political base to make the move? Manners
Maven
Back in the mid-90s I was fortunate enough to attend a change management seminar taught by Michael Hammer. As a graduate student in a room full of executives, I was enthralled. One of my favorite learning points from Professor Hammer’s program was about Moses as a change agent. The Israelites were anxious about leaving Egypt. For people who had spent their lives as slaves, freedom was a daunting thought. Professor Hammer described Moses’ leadership style as the “wedge and magnet” theory of change management. The wedge creates dissatisfaction with the current state, and the magnet is the promise of something better. If modern business leaders can learn from ancient texts, I wondered if there were some business lessons that could be applied to our Passover seder. Anyone who has ever hosted a business meeting and a seder will tell you the answer is yes. Passover Preparation: As the seder host, you must know your audience. To best plan the evening festivities, you should know who will be at your table. A seder with many elementary school children may involve animal masks, flying frogs and ping-pong ball hail. A seder with many older children may involve skits and a songfest. A seder with many college students may involve more commentary, discussion and debate. Passover, with its focus on telling the story in a way the listener can understand, is the perfect holiday to adapt your seder program to fit the group gathered at your table. Ladling Logistics: Sometimes in the cleaning/cooking frenzy, there hardly seems enough time to plan the timing well. The person leading the seder and the person coordinating the food must take the time to review the order of the evening to know which foods should be brought out and when. Some hosts will even create signals to communicate quickly during the seder. When considering the timing, it is important to consider the time it takes to clear one course and set the next. If help has not been hired, be sure to solicit volunteers in advance to assist with the kitchen duties. For seders that request more formal attire, be sure to provide extra aprons! Sticky Seating: For any seder with more than four participants, a seating plan is a necessity. The hosts should consider any family feuds, areas of interest and appropriate ages when planning who will sit where. To have all of the children nearest the seder leader seems to make sense, until the children have eaten and leave to search for the afikomen. Suddenly the seder leader is alone at one end of the table making conversation with the karpas. Establishing Expectations: When welcoming guests to your seder table, be sure to set expectations for those who have gathered. Since each seder can run a bit differently, tell guests when - either time or page - you plan to have the meal so they have an idea of what to expect. You may also want to set some ground rules about the seder. Some seders are raucous events, others are a bit more reserved. Let your guests know which way your seders lean. Guest Guidelines: There are also responsibilities for guests attending the seder. Guests with strict dietary restrictions must speak with the hosts in advance. (At the seder table is too late to mention a gluten allergy.) With advance notice, most hosts will be willing to accommodate. Guests should arrive with a gift for the host/hostess. Younger guests should bring along a toy or two to help keep quiet during the seder. And, all guests should have a witty and interesting answer to the age-old question of “So, what’s new?” For both business events and Passover seders, a bit of forethought and planning will ensure a successful gathering. And unlike business meetings, which can seem endless, we know our seders must end by midnight. Wishing you a Passover filled with family, friends and four cups of fabulous wine. Single
Situations Dana
Greene We didn’t part on such good terms. What could he be sending me? I wondered. There were no ticking sounds. Could it be an early birthday present? When I could not take the suspense anymore, my fingers ripped the package open. There was a note and an item of clothing. It turned out he had returned my suit jacket, the gray one I’d been missing since my trip north. Nice of him to return it, I thought. But it set me to thinking — is there an expiration date on returning personal effects to/from our ex’s? Do we owe an ex anything once the relationship is over? My close friend Anne is a yoga aficionado and entrepreneur who started her own business last year. But I’m not quite sure I’d agree with her dating etiquette. “In my shed, I have one of my ex’s favorite pictures,” Anne admitted. “It’s always hidden behind something. So I have intentions of sending it back, but I never get around to it.” That relationship ended five years ago. “I don’t want to throw his stuff away because that’s just rude. I just haven’t had a chance to give it back. I’m not going to ship it, so the only way to give it back is to drive it to his home and that’s in another state,” she explained. Another friend had not spoken with her ex in over two years. But she still did not want to give his clothes away. She waited until she returned to New York where he lived to make the hand delivery. She liked her ex so much that she had his clothes dry-cleaned and then left them with his doorman on 87th between Lexington and Park. “It just felt cathartic to extricate myself by doing it in a nice way,” she said. My friend Dan, a handsome doctor you’d want to call your own, reasoned: “I think it’s kind of weird that a person would hold on to an item for so long. If that happened to me, I’d hand deliver or mail the item back as soon as possible,” he told me. Other friends advised: “Throw that stuff out!”… “Throwing items away becomes a cleansing experience.”….“Do you really need the items taking up storage space?” “There should definitely be an expiration date on holding onto baggage,” Lisa said. “It depends what the item is. If it’s CDs or clothes, etc., the window should be open for about one month. However, I would not go out of my way to give anything back. But if the person emailed or called and really wanted the item, then I would make arrangements to leave it outside my door for him to pick up. If an ex doesn’t call within a month, then I don’t think he will call at all. If a relationship didn’t work out, I just don’t want anything to do with that person,” she added. “And I believe many singles feel the same.” Not necessarily true. I think returning items has less to do with what you owe an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend than with common courtesy. It’s best to treat someone the way you wish to be treated. And returning items from the past subconsciously frees the mind, finalizing the relationship’s end. In a way, it’s the same closure that funerals or memorial services provide. So am I happy to have my suit back? Of course! It’s practically new and will be a welcome addition to my wardrobe. Do I wish things had worked out differently? Not one bit. When it’s wrong, it’s wrong. And I’m told when it’s right, it’s really right. Dana Greene is an award-winning syndicated columnist based in San Diego. Contact her at dgreene74@aol.com. Lest We
Forget Herbert
Belkin Two Jewish groups recognized the terrible danger that the Jews in Germany were subject to under a Nazi regime. Both groups were committed to saving as many Jews as possible from Hitler’s rabid anti-Semitism; but the controversial result had one Jewish group enter into an agreement with Hitler while undoing the efforts of the other. The story begins in 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. He wasted no time in putting his anti-Jewish agenda into practice. Jews were expelled from civil service. Jewish doctors, lawyers and professors had to leave their professions. Jewish shops were closed and Jewish employees of German firms were dismissed. Along with these civil atrocities, Hitler’s Storm Troopers regularly engaged in beating, arresting, and sometimes killing German Jews. The outcome was that many German Jews were unable to make a living and the German Jewish community as a whole was slowly reduced to poverty. At the same time, the German economy was staggering under rampant inflation, the 1929 Depression and the reparations it had to pay after losing World War I. Hitler understood that he could remain in power only if he could restore a stable German economy and reduce widespread unemployment. Further, Hitler’s plans to rebuild a German war machine were dependent on economic stabilization that rested on Germany being able to export goods and earn foreign credits. American Jews were horrified by what was happening to their brethren in Germany. Under the leadership of Rabbi Stephen Wise of the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish War Veterans, their answer to Nazi atrocities was a widespread boycott of German goods. Economic boycott was a device American Jews knew to be effective: In the 1920s a Jewish boycott of the Ford Motor Company had forced Henry Ford to cut back his anti-Semitic activities. The drive for a boycott against German goods came to a head with a rally on March 27, 1933 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. That evening 55,000 were gathered in and around the Garden to hear Rabbi Wise. An estimated 1,000,000 Jews rallied for a boycott. After the rally, the cry for a German boycott gathered steam with Jews and non-Jews alike. The boycott movement was also heard — and feared — in Nazi Germany. The Nazis knew that a boycott against their manufactured goods would seriously threaten their hold on power and whatever plans they had for developing another war machine. At the same time in Palestine, Labor Zionists, Mapai, under the leadership of David Ben Gurion reacted to the cries of German Jews. The Zionists, however, approached the problem with a different philosophy, developed 30 years earlier by their founder, Theodor Herzl. Herzl wrote that the emancipation and assimilation of Jews into gentile cultures would only lead to increased anti-Semitism. Herzl’s solution, the very basis of Zionism, was to found a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Zionists in Palestine tied the solution of the plight of the German Jews to the development of Palestine as the Jewish state of Israel. This Zionist cause would be greatly strengthened if the German Jews, together with their talents and assets, could help build the raw land of Palestine into a modern state. The ability to move German Jews to Palestine ran into two roadblocks.The first was the requirement of the British who ruled Palestine that Jews had to have the equivalent of $5,000 before they could gain entrance. This was well within the means for most of the embattled German Jews, who came from middle-class backgrounds. The second roadblock was that the assets of the German Jews had been frozen by the Nazis. The proposed solution that would unlock Jewish assets, provide the $5,000 required by the British and satisfy the Germans was called the Transfer Agreement. Simply put, under the Transfer Agreement the German government would release Jewish assets so that Jews would have the entrance fee required by the British. The catch was that the $5,000 could only be used to purchase German goods. Under this arrangement, German Jews would not receive the money directly but the funds would be routed through convoluted banking arrangements to buy German products that would be sold in Palestine. Only if and when the German goods were sold would the sale proceeds be credited to linked Jewish banking accounts in Palestine. German Jews would be able to escape the Nazi terror with at least some of their assets, the British would have their $5,000 entrance fee and the Germans would have a market for their goods that would improve their economy by providing jobs. The Transfer Agreement proposed by the Zionists brought howls of anger from Jews outside of Palestine. If this agreement were implemented, the boycott that had been so carefully nurtured would be seriously undermined and, worse, the world would see some Jews making deals with their oppressors. The emotionally charged issue was relief or rescue. The boycott would hopefully bring relief to Jews because of the economic pressure that would be brought against the German government. The reasoning behind the rescue of German Jews through the Transfer Agreement was that a Jewish homeland would be established to provide sanctuary for Jews caught in the current crisis; and, as Herzl proposed, a homeland for future generations of Jews that might need it. These weighty issues were argued at length and emotionally through the fall of 1933. In August of that year, the Eighteenth Zionist Congress convened in Prague. The question of the Transfer Agreement was debated interlaced with a power struggle between different factions of Zionists. The Zionist Congress was closely followed in September in Geneva by the Second World Jewish Conference. The debate at the Conference was equally acrimonious with charges and countercharges flying through the convention hall. After all the murky debate and challenges at the two Jewish conventions, the Transfer Agreement survived, shaken but intact. The issue of relief or rescue is still being debated today. Did the agreement between Hitler and the Zionists save Jewish lives or was it a betrayal of Jewish honor? Perhaps the deciding factor is that about 60,000 German Jews with some of their assets were able to immigrate to Palestine through the mechanism of the Transfer Agreement. These 60,000, together with Zionists already there, prepared a Jewish homeland that was ready to receive the thousands of Holocaust survivors that desperately needed to leave the graveyard of Europe after the war. Herb Belkin is a writer and speaker on the Holocaust, dedicated to preserving its lessons so that this tragedy never happens again. He can be reached at beachbluff@comcast.net.
People in the News
Arts & EntertainmentOn May 3, PBS Airs Haunting, Memorable ‘Last Letter’ Michael
Fox She appears as an apparition; a ghost, a spirit from the world beyond. We don’t know her name; only that she is a Ukrainian Jew whom, we quickly deduce, was murdered by the Nazis. She isn’t even speaking to us but to her grown son, Vitya, who is somewhere far away, well beyond the reach of the Nazis. But we are her intended listeners, of course. As long as the wicked strike the weak, there will be intended listeners. The Last Letter, a fictional monologue that quietly reverberates at every moment with the clarion blast of truth, is a brilliant and mesmerizing addition to the canon of Holocaust films. It airs Tuesday, May 3 at 10 p.m. on PBS as part of PBS’ “Independent Lens” series. An adamant affirmation of life, love and human decency, the one-hour piece is adapted from a chapter of Vasily Grossman’s suppressed 1960 novel Life and Fate. The Russian author died in 1964, long before his masterpiece was finally released by a Swiss publisher in 1981. The Last Letter was originally presented onstage in a collaboration between the legendary documentary maker Frederick Wiseman (Titicut Follies, High School) and the remarkable French actress, Catherine Samie, of the Comédie-Francaise. The 70-year-old Samie is Catholic, but as a child she joined her mother in guiding Jews across the border to Switzerland during the war. It is that experience, no doubt, that infuses her work with the aura and gravity of a witness being summoned. Surely it is nothing short of amazing that there are only a few brief moments when one gets the impression of an actress delivering a performance. Wearing a Star of David on a simple black dress that, in silhouette, looks like a shroud, her character recounts how life changed after the Nazis occupied her town. The closet anti-Semites showed their true nature, even to a respected doctor like herself. It is her nature, though proud, defiant and incapable of self-delusion, that elevates and inspires us. She lovingly describes the books she packed when the Jews were ordered into the ghetto. Then, instead of despair or denial, she discovers dignity behind the fence. “I had expected to be horrified. But once inside the cattle pen, I felt a sense of relief. Don’t think I have the soul of a slave! Now I was surrounded by others who shared my fate. No more being paraded in the street like a horse.” Shot in black and white without a note of music, The Last Letter is both spare and poetic. It is a eulogy for one’s self and a plea to be remembered, but it is also a blessing handed down from mother to son. Shortly before the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, in one of the few sorrowful passages in the film, she mourns, “I see that this world will disappear. Life will begin again after the war, but we will have disappeared. Just like the Aztecs.” Then she reiterates her love for Vitya, and her unending pride. Now it is up to him to carry on her legacy of decency, culture and courage. The Last Letter had a two-week run at a Manhattan theater in 2003 and screened at a few Jewish film festivals around the country. The PBS broadcast will reach a much larger audience, and it deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. It is simply stunning. Michael Fox is a Los Angeles-based film critic. He may be reached at foxonfilm@yahoo.com. Editorial Passover and the Spread of Freedom Passover, which begins with the first seder April 23, is the ancient Jewish -festival of freedom. It celebrates the Almighty’s deliverance of our fore-fathers from Egyptian bondage, signaling the birth of the Jewish nation. This year, the drive for freedom our ancestors set in motion has taken on new life. Especially in the Middle East, nations long ruled by dictators are suddenly showing signs of emerging from their own special bondage. The winds of change unleashed by the Bush Administration’s controversial invasion of Iraq two years ago are coursing through the region. That invasion’s effect on world opinion was overwhelmingly negative, to be sure. But with Iraq’s free elections and those of the Palestinians, both in January of this year, a new sense of empowerment is raising expectations of the Muslim masses across the Middle East, and the results so far look promising. Lebanon is in the process of throwing off the shackles of its Syrian masters, triggered by mass popular protests in the streets of Beirut. Saudi Arabia has allowed the first free elections in that country’s history, though only men were allowed to vote. Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak has decided to allow other names on the ballot in his bid for a fifth term later this year. All is not rosy, of course. Most of the Arab world still appears committed to Israel’s destruction. Though Mahmoud Abbas, the first freely elected Palestinian leader, talks a good game, he has lacked either the will or the power — or both — to crack down on the terrorist organizations he inherited from the duplicitous Yasser Arafat, who died in November. Israel’s democracy faces a monumental challenge this summer when the Sharon government plans to uproot Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and cede that land to the Palestinian Authority. We may see the awful specter of Jews fighting Jews over biblical turf. No one can say with assurance what Israel will do if terrorism rears its ugly head again and its perpetrators can retreat behind new internationally sanctioned Palestinian borders. None of the positive trends in the Middle East is irreversible. What is irreversible is the drive for freedom. It resides in the hearts of men and women everywhere. In that, we Jews should take pride as we drink the Passover wine, rejoice in the seder with friends and family, and retell the story of the birth of our own freedom. — Mark R. Arnold Close Encounters of the Nazi Kind
Here’s a question I received after last issue’s column telling of the encounter in which the newspaper and I were charged with being “left-wing, commie pinkos.” “My
nephew went to bid on a building renovation job last evening in a town
west of Boston without (much of) a Jewish population. In the course of
the conversation, the homeowner asked Bob where he lived. When Bob replied
“Brookline,” the man said: “There are a lot of Jews
there, aren’t there? Hitler died too soon!” [Note: Nephew
is Jewish, a recent immigrant from Ireland with a deep brogue and without
a typical Jewish name.] I have my opinions, but I was also curious about what others would say, so I contacted 20 other readers of my column and asked how they would respond. Everyone said they would walk away from the possible contract. Here are some examples of what they would say. An engineer: I would have left saying, “I can’t bid on this job, thank you.” A 75-year old former banker would have said, “Do your own renovations, I don’t work for Nazis.” A retired businessman would have told the homeowner, “WOW! What planet are you living on? Try coming into the 21st century. But, stay away from me. I’d be embarrassed to be seen talking to you.” A young businessman: “My first instinct would be to grab this man, slam him to the ground, while telling him what I think of him. However, a piece of trash like this is not worth getting arrested for. Better to berate this man with “choice” words as to what I thought of him before telling him to take the job and shove it. Since I am 6’4” tall and a former college football player, the anger in my voice should give the desired effect.” One
college professor said, “F*** you, a**hole!”, close to what
Vice President Cheney told a Senator last year. Two people thought that reason might help change this antagonist. A former banker and government official, a Christian, offered to send the man a copy of Downfall, a powerful film about Hitler’s atrocities. A lawyer wrote that a response could be a question like, “That’s interesting. What do you mean by that? Not in an angry, defensive, adversarial tone, but rather, a genuine, non-judgmental, non-angry, expression of surprise, and interest. Often the person will be taken off guard, and answer honestly. Once engaged, the conversation can continue with the goal of seeing each other as persons. It is much harder to make a hateful comment if you have a relationship with someone.” “The chances of such an incident occurring again are negligible,” wrote a retired government official, “Better things to do with time than carry around such baggage, like being prepared to respond to someone calling you a dirty Jew.” He’s right, of course; such encounters, at least today, are happily few in a lifetime though years ago they were much more frequent. Still, forewarned is forearmed. I don’t believe it is possible to change a bigot’s attitude or future behavior in a brief encounter. I have no “best response,” just the goal of not having to think later that I had not responded to this bigot with my own best instincts and values. What is equally likely is that in our own families, neighborhoods, social or work groups, someone will make a stereotyped, prejudicial or just plain nasty remark about African-Americans, Hispanics, gays, immigrants, others or Jews. That’s when we are faced with doing the right thing for others as well as ourselves, as we hope others would do for us. Silence, especially in a group setting, is not an acceptable option. Women Are (Still) Slaves on Passover
Thank you, Elayne! Thank you, Maria! Last year I was a slave and this year I am free. Because last year Passover was at my house, and this year we are guests at yours! Does anyone else see the supreme irony of this holiday? We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt for four hundred years. Then, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, the God of our foreparents came and plucked us out of Egyptian bondage, man and woman, parent and child. All of the children of Israel, male and female, were delivered out of Egypt. And to celebrate this momentous event, our God given freedom, how have we chosen to commemorate it? By having Jewish women remove every article of food from our kitchens, pantries and larders. By Jewish women putting away all the dishes — the milk, the meat, and the pareve. By having them clean every molecule of chametz from their homes, and setting up new kitchenware that they only use for 8 days. We luxuriate in our freedom by sending over-worked Jewish women to crowded stores to drag home all new food, properly marked with Pesach hekshers and purchased for obscene prices. Then we have them cook the food — huge quantities of several courses — and serve it to their families and guests, while father sits propped up on pillows and reads the story of our salvation, “leading the seder,” we call it. Yes, Uncle Tom. I know that many women say they enjoy it. Others will tell you that their husbands share the work with them, or that it’s not exactly the way I’ve described. And then, given the atraditional composition of the Jewish family — less observant, intermarried, not always a mom and a dad — not every woman ends up burdened with the chore of Passover. Perhaps, if they are financially able, they hire help. But if memory and anecdotal evidence serves me — and here I’m calling on my own experience and the tales told by others — women are the ultimate burden bearers of this most enslaving holiday. Fond memories of a karp in the bath tub aside. The golden broth and silky matzaball not withstanding. The charm of tradition, the guilded memories of childhood, the compelling message of the Hagaddah and its delightful songs, sung after four cups of wine. But under it all is one exhausted woman. The rabbis decided thousands of years ago not to burden women with too many mitzvot. In their wisdom, they understood the compelling demands of motherhood and its conflict with time-bound responsibilities, thus giving women a simple three: go to the mikveh, bake the Shabbat challah, and light the Shabbat candles. It may not be one of the 613 mitzvot to prepare one’s home for Passover and the seders, but it is one of my most daunting responsibilities. Perhaps the rabbis didn’t consider women working outside the home… or women not living in extended families… or maybe the rabbis of the Talmud didn’t consider women much or at all. A Judaism that depends so heavily on women for its continuity should be more sensitive and more humane. It should properly preserve and extend to us the freedom so magnificently bestowed upon men AND women in our exodus from Egypt. And it should seriously address the dramatic disproportion of domestic work handed to women on Pesach, the holiday of our freedom. Last year we were slaves; this year we are guests. And next year? Don’t Pass Over the Real Story
Last year I was almost run over in front of a Jewish bakery by a woman on a mission to buy a jellyroll. It seems like people get pretty fired up around Jewish holidays, especially when it comes to food and family. I shouldn’t poke fun at people scurrying to bakeries at the last minute since I was ready to sell my first born for a pound of almond macaroons, but I think we should pause for a moment and reflect on exactly why Moses parted the Red Sea. I don’t think it was to create a storyline for Sesame Street and Rugrats videos, but it did. Seems like Passover has created some great marketing opportunities for scores of folks to cash in on. I just discovered that you can spend “Passover in Paradise” in Cancun playing golf and sunbathing at a four-star hotel or enjoy glatt kosher cuisine and a spa treatment in the Grand Canyon State. I can see Moses now on the green, stoked up to get a birdie. I don’t know about you, but here’s what I recall of the Passover of my youth. We’d all gather round the table and my Zayde would insist that we recite the entire story. It was non-negotiable. We were there for the journey. Through my young eyes, I think the sedar lasted at least 15 hours. Highlights included the four questions, the mean Pharaoh, Moses saying “Let My People Go,” the big escape, the four sons, the 10 plagues, the quick baking of the bread, Had Gadyah and Dayanu. If I’m really going to be honest, my real focus was on finding the afikomen and ensuring that I made it to the fruit slices in front of my cousins. The first sedar signaled a week of Passover lunches where I’d haul a lunchbox to school that weighed more than me each day. I’d lovingly stare at my classmates’ fluffernutter sandwiches counting down the days until I could be reunited with bread. Eight days seemed like an eternity to a kid who loved peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies more than life itself. I felt different and separate but proudly connected to my past. So much suffering for a young child, but then there was the joy of the Wonder Bread reunion. Silly as it seems, I know that while I was fidgeting on my chair to get a head start to the fruit slices, I somehow got the point. My Zayde told the story. I listened and I remembered. There was matzah ball soup and there was family. That was my Passover in Paradise.
Community Supported This Family in Divorce It saddened me to read the article, “Divorce: a Jewish Perspective” (March 25 – April 7), in which a community member felt unsupported during a difficult time for her family. As stated in the article, divorce is a life-altering experience for the entire family. Michael and I found the North Shore Jewish Community to be extremely understanding and caring to our children and us. From the time of our divorce to the present day, the Jewish community, including the Jewish Federation, North Suburban JCC, Temple Ahavat Achim, and Cohen Hillel Academy, have remained critical support structures for us. The leadership of the organizations, lay volunteer leaders, and community members have been caring, compassionate and sensitive to our needs. When our divorce became imminent, I met with Bob Tornberg, Head of Cohen Hillel Academy. He listened empathetically and asked how they could help our family. I still remember his words 10 years later, “Janet, we are your community, your extended family and we will be there for you”. Truer words were never spoken. The teachers, parents of my children’s friends, and the leadership of CHA were and are there for us. During parent/teacher conferences (we still have one child attending CHA), the teachers and leadership continue to ask how we as a family are doing and what can they do for us. It is with great pleasure that I am able to report that all of us are doing great! The support we’ve received has certainly assisted us in the process of healing. Cohen Hillel Academy helps parents raise their children. They assist by fostering an environment where Torah, tikkun olam, and being kind and generous is taught and learned daily. It does take a village to raise a family, and the Jewish community of the North Shore is an integral part of my family’s village. Michael and I both thank them. Janet
Cline No Cause for Gloom Contrary to Mark Arnold’s “gloom and doom” report of our Jewish community, “Fed Drives New Planning Effort,” April 8-21, the facts speak otherwise about our state of affairs. Revitalization is underway in our Jewish community. For the past several years, Federation’s campaign has been on the rise, due in large part to the devoted leadership of Stan Black, Peter Lappin, Dotty Tatelman and Shari McGuirk. There is a renewed sense of ruach, spirit in the community with the creation of Congregation Shirat HaYam, resulting from the successful merger of Temples Israel and Beth El. A group of young dedicated leaders rallied and worked hard to save the Peabody JCC from closing. Camp Menorah, on the verge of being sold a couple of years ago, is stronger than ever. This year, our community has a record number of teens, 115, participating in Youth to Israel, continuing our record as the highest community in the country, per capita, for teens participating in a teen Israel experience. The North Shore Hebrew School has been named a Framework for Excellence School, an accomplishment achieved by only five Conservative religious schools in the state. Record numbers of Jewish educators from every preschool and religious school are engaged in ongoing professional development, which is revitalizing our schools and inspiring our children to learn. Across the board, partici-pation has increased in the Jewish living and learning programs offered by the Lappin Foundation, with notable increases in conversions to Judaism, classes for adults, and family education programs. With the creation of unique and exciting programs, such as Rekindle Shabbat, The Magic of Sh’ma and our community’s Great Shofar Blowout, for which we achieved a Guinness World Record, thousands of Jewish people are involved with the Jewish community. True, our institutions need to raise more money, and in some cases reduce their overhead and operating costs. This obvious conclusion will be the principal finding of the $100,000 (starting price) Project Solel. But contrary to the article and editorial, ours is one of the most vibrantly Jewish communities in the country, and in fact, a model, whose programs are admired and being replicated in many other communities. With a declining American Jewish community, it should be no surprise that the number of Jews on the North Shore is in decline too. If we, as a community, stay focused on what’s important, we will continue to build on our successes. Our efforts should focus on raising more money and on keeping our children Jewish, because at the end of the day, this is what matters the most. Deborah
Coltin, Not a Dime to Jewish Institutions I read with much interest your editorial in the April 8 issue about Project Solel and agree this effort is long overdue. After almost a lifetime of being involved in Jewish life and temple life, I will not join any Jewish institution or give one dime to support any of them for probably the rest of my life, and I can tell you exactly the reason why. If Mr. Friedman or anyone else on the committee wants to know some of the answers, I will be glad to share with them my experiences at the hands of the Jewish institutions in this area for at least the past 25 years. I can be reached at pk3851@comcast.net. Ruth
Kruger Open Letter to the Jewish Community of the North Shore It is with much gratitude that the members of Project Solel (Pathfinder) would like to publicly thank the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore for its endorsement of Project Solel. With great excitement and hope we are about to embark upon a voyage that could shape our community for the next decade and this new century. This community planning effort is dedicated to building an even stronger, more committed, knowledgeable, and vibrant Jewish community with institutions (agencies, synagogues, and other Jewish community endeavors), which meet the needs of our community with excellence. The participation of the entire Jewish community is essential to the success of this effort. We have a rich history upon which to build. Our Jewish community has a vast infrastructure of institutions and has enjoyed the benefit of wonderful programs sponsored by the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation. Looking forward, our community can do even more. If we understand that “we are all in this together” and work together in a significant and supportive manner, the future can be even brighter than the past. We must ensure our community is armed with a wealth of qualified, trained lay leaders and adequately funded and endowed institutions. Each must have a viable and complementary near- and long-term plan for how it can best serve the needs of our community. Project Solel is specifically designed to understand our community’s needs and priorities, and to determine what it will take individually and collectively to meet them. Project Solel, undertaken under the auspices of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore and endorsed by an overwhelming majority of our communal institutions’ executive directors and rabbis, shall undertake to engage in a process aimed at (1) gathering important data concerning the current status of our institutions; (2) conducting interviews, focus groups and other community discussions; (3) identifying and understanding the composition, attitudes and needs of our community; (4) analyzing information with the purpose of developing a strategic plan to best use our community resources, both human and financial; and (5) designing for implementation purposes a strategic roadmap, with time targets, accountabilities, cost and funding analyses and success measurements. If we approach the business of our community strategically, we can make our future even brighter. Project Solel will provide extensive opportunities for input and involvement, thereby increasing each member of the community’s personal stake in strengthening our Jewish community. The focus groups will include meetings with representatives of diverse segments of our community. These will include, among others: seniors, singles, teens, young couples new to the community, young couples raised in the community, intermarrieds, new Americans, those living in “outlying areas”, those totally unaffiliated, major financial donors to the community, those disenchanted with the community, congregational leaders, rabbis, and agency professionals. The list remains a work in progress at this time. Following interviews of four very talented and informative candidates, Project Solel has engaged the services of Mark H. Friedman of Real Time Strategy, LLC, a professional with nearly twenty years experience in strategic planning. Mark will help to design and drive the planning process which is expected to take approximately nine months, followed by implementation. Members
of the Project Solel Steering committee were charged with certain critical
premises: All of the above is to be undertaken with the clear understanding that excellence must be the sole objective in anything we do, since you — our constituency — demand it and it must be attained. As
members of the Steering Committee of Project Solel, we will do everything
in our power to ensure the process is open, inclusive and transparent
so as to guarantee community ownership. It is imperative that the results
meet our goal of strengthening our Jewish community in every respect,
be it excellence in health and human services, youth development, life-long
Jewish education, social programming, meeting religious and spiritual
needs, whatever our Jewish community needs. We will offer an infrastructure
aimed at meeting those needs. Today, one needs to ask, “If I were
building a community for tomorrow, what would it look like?” Essential to the success of this effort is your anticipated enthusiastic participation and support. Please feel free to contact any member of the Project Solel Steering Committee with your comments and ideas or, if you prefer, you may reach us by email at projectsolel@jfns.org. Please join us on this most important voyage. Project
Solel Steering Committee:
Project Solel Is No Panacea, Says Campaign Co-Chair I believe that the article, “Fed Drives New Planning Effort,” paints an inaccurate picture of our North Shore Jewish community and presents Project Solel as a panacea for all of our challenges. As a Federation Campaign co-chair for the last two years, a member of Federation’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, a major Federation donor and someone who has been working with all of our major agencies, I believe I am qualified to comment on the article. Jerry Somers is quoted as saying that our campaign has been flat for 10 years. Not so. Thanks to the hard work of Campaign Co-Chairs Peter Lappin and Dotti Tatelman, along with all of our dedicated campaign workers, the campaign has increased from just over $2,000,000 annually to over $2,400,000 in the last two years. This 20 percent, two-year gain puts us at or near the top of campaign increases among all 155 Federations across the country. Although a modest sized Jewish community, we have agencies covering every facet of Jewish life, involved synagogues, a record number of teens pursuing Jewish studies at the high-school level, a dynamic Youth-to-Israel program funded by Federation and the Lappin Foundation, as well as a multitude of nationally recognized programs funded by the Lappin Foundation. We can and should strive to do better, but we must recognize and be thankful for all that we have. Almost every Jewish community struggles with declining populations, inadequate funding of its agencies and the viability of its synagogues. Reading the article would lead one to believe that Project Solel will cure these problems as well as all of the other challenges we face. The process of bringing Project Solel to a board vote was seriously flawed and apologies have been made. It is time to put the process problems in the past. Project Solel has the support of many community leaders and a vote of the board and, on that basis, should go forward. I believe it should be privately funded and have offered to be a contributor to a fundraising effort, although I have considerable doubt as to Project Solel’s ability to transform the community. What concerns me most is that the energy and effort going into Project Solel glosses over some real and immediate problems: Continuity
Committee — Potential loss of our major donor — I know Bob Lappin well enough to state that, contrary to the article, Bob would not pull his gift from Federation due to a difference of opinion over Project Solel. I cannot say that, after over 50 years of consistent support for Federation, he will not pull his gift over other issues that have caused him concern. The loss of the Lappin family gifts would likely result in cuts to our agencies here and overseas of 20 percent or more. This loss of income would also increase our overhead costs as a percentage of contributions to an unacceptable level. We have necessary expenses related to operating a building, paying campaign staff, backroom staff for our mailings, collections and accounting, and all of the other normal expenses of a non-profit. This potential increase in overhead as a percentage of contributions is likely to have a negative effect on this year’s campaign. Loss of Campaign Co-Chairs — We had dedicated co-chairs who chose not to go forward with this year’s campaign because of difficulties within Federation. I believe we had the momentum to continue increasing our campaign to over $3,000,000 during the next three years. This would greatly assist our agencies and could, for the first time, allow us to offer funding to our synagogues. Adequate funding will solve a lot of our community’s problems. Project
Solel has been approved and I am sure that consultant Mark Friedman will
do his best to meet the goals laid out by Federation. Now it is time to
get back to the core mission of Federation: the Campaign. Stan
Black Leaders Support Project Solel Editor’s Note: The following letter, supporting Project Solel and endorsing the Federation’s leadership of it, was sent to Jewish Federation President Debbie Ponn on March 8: As you are aware, the Executives and Rabbis of the community organizations have been meeting regularly for the past seven years. Over that time, there have been changes in participants and topics, but one agenda item has remained on the table – the need for a long-range community plan. In
our most recent meetings, we were briefed on and discussed the community
long range strategic plan – Project Solel — that has been
initiated by a group of community lay leaders. Our last two meetings focused
entirely on the definition of the Solel’s scope and approach. We
agree with and are comfortable with both. On behalf of the community executives and rabbis, we applaud the Federation and [Executive Director Merritt [Mulman’s] demonstrated leadership and commitment to driving this process forward. Building upon a rich programmatic and institutional history of which we can most certainly be proud, we believe Project Solel will be the most critical project taken on by this community for the next decade. Project Solel will help design and shape the future of our Jewish community. We look forward to actively working to engage our institutions and the broader community in this critical effort. The
North Shore Council of Jewish Executives and Rabbis
BADOLATO,
Ruth (Cooper) — late of Revere. Died April 14. Wife of the late
Sam Salvatore Badolato. Mother of Barry Badolato of Nahant, Annette and
John Brady of Marblehead, and Robert and Marlene Badolato of Marblehead.
Sister of Sylvia Goldberg of Brighton, Irving Cooper of KS, and the late
Miriam Greenspan, Jewel Coleman, Edith Taymore, Lillian Bines, Norma Swartz
and Saul Cooper. Grandmother of Steven, Mark, Sean, Cheryl, Kevin, Beth,
Brett and Todd. Great-grandmother of Samantha, Kendall, Alexis and Keira.
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