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| August 13 - August 26, 2004 | |||||||||||||||
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Approved Mark
Arnold Beating their own deadline by more than three weeks, the two Swampscott synagogues seeking to join forces and form a new congregation won the required two-thirds vote of their total membership necessary to approve their union. But the hardest decisions may lie ahead. Driven by rising costs and declining revenues, members of temples Israel and Beth El — rival Conservative synagogues whose buildings are across Atlantic Avenue from each other — voted overwhelmingly in favor of combining forces in an initiative they call B’reisheit, or New Beginning. The balloting began July 11 and will last until August 22. “Ballots are still coming in but at more of a trickle pace,” said Beth El President Helaine R. Hazlett, who had planned to wait until the last day to announce the results. She and other leaders had hoped to avoid what they call the “California voting effect,” in which people are upset to learn that the election has been decided before they have had a chance to cast their own ballots. But that’s exactly what happened when word leaked out that the “magic number” had been reached by both congregations much earlier than expected. “Some members are clearly feeling disenfranchised,” conceded one leader. “We hope we can win them back.” Now comes the task of designing the shape of the merger. In the interests of creating as large a majority as possible for the union, leaders purposely avoided making any decisions that might alienate members of either congregation in the 15 months leading up to the vote. Fourteen committees composed of equal numbers from each synagogue — 60 to 70 members in all — will now turn their attention in earnest to hammering out details of the agreement. Among the crucial questions to be decided in the next 12 months: Which building? Both temple facilities — Israel’s, constructed in 1948, Beth El’s in 1968 — are in relatively good physical condition. Beth El, with an ocean view and ample parking, can command a much higher price if it were to be sold. On the other hand, being on one floor, it is more handicap-accessible and may require less renovation to serve both groups. The engineering firm of Meredith & Grew, Inc., of Cambridge, is doing a two-stage study of the buildings. Phase one: Marketability of the property, Phase two: Ability to meet the needs of the new congregation. What staff? Each congregation has a cantor as well as a school administrator (pre-school at Beth El, Hebrew School at Israel) who are under contract, as well as teaching staff, aides and maintenance workers. No decisions have been made on who will be retained, beyond saying that all existing contracts will be honored and all staff treated with respect. The biggest question in members’ minds: What spiritual leader? Rabbi Edgar Weinsberg, 60, has served Temple Beth El for 18 years, is well-liked by his congregation, and respected in the community. Temple Israel’s popular Rabbi Neal Loevinger has signed on for a third year but plans to leave next summer. Weinsberg supporters say he can provide a needed sense of continuity to the new congregation, but leaders say that despite lots of speculation, no discussions between congregations have yet been held on the subject. Governance, dues, fundraising, endowments, ritual practices, treatment of non-Jewish spouses, and a host of other issues. The joint committees will provide recommendations on these issues and others such as how to combine sisterhoods, plaques/memorials and cemeteries. Each congregation this month will name 20 members to serve on a new 40-person Implementation Board, which will rule on recommendations from the 14 joint committees. An executive committee of 15, drawn from that Board, will make “routine implementing decisions” about the merged entity, while each temple’s existing board will run the day-to-day affairs of their respective congregations. When the merger is complete — September 1, 2005 if all goes according to plan — the separate temple boards will be dissolved along with their congregations, and a new joint congregation, still without a name, will be formed under a new governing structure and bylaws. “I’m thrilled at the response so far,” says Marla Gay, Temple Israel president told the Journal in the days after the vote was announced. When the official tally is complete on August 22 she says, “we will sit down with our calendars and begin coordinating the tricky part, making it all come together.” The writer is a long-time member and former president of Temple Beth El. He has been a frequent participant in joint minyans of the two congregations. Mah
Jongg Madness Susan
Jacobs Every Thursday evening for the past two years, Arlene Padulsky, Estelle Rostoff, Annette Feinstein, Diana Goldberg and Sandy Kamens have gathered around a table in the clubhouse at the Summit Estates in Swampscott to play mah jongg. While Sandy methodically unpacks and arranges her set of celery-colored tiles on the table, the other women put on their glasses and pull out pushkes (purses) containing five dollars in quarters. For the next three hours, the women happily chat about their lives and families over the staccato clicking of tiles. This scenario is not unique to the North Shore. From Boca Raton to Beverly Hills, Jewish women meet regularly to play the popular game. It used to be that only older Jewish women and Asian men played, however a growing number of young people are discovering that mah jongg is a challenging and fun social activity that can be enjoyed with friends. “The younger generation should learn how to play,” asserts Lynn Zabar, 38, who took a Beginning Mah Jongg class last December. “It’s not hard to learn, and once you know how to play, it’s a lifelong skill that you can always enjoy.” Zabar’s mother played mah jongg, and Lynn recalls “going to sleep hearing the neighborhood gossip and the clicking and clacking of tiles.” Lynn watched her mother play, noting “I wanted to learn, but it’s hard to do it while people are playing because they are so quick at it.” The six-week class, offered at the JCC in Marblehead, gave Lynn the foundation she needed to initiate her own group. Today she meets every other week with several young women like herself who play for fun rather than money. Unlike their mothers, they find it difficult to carry on a conversation and play at the same time. “In time, we’ll be able to do that, but the game requires a lot of concentration. We only chat when the game comes to a lull,” she admits. Lynn looks forward to her regular mah jongg night out. “I am a preschool teacher and a mother of two. I spend most of my day helping others. This is a guaranteed time for me to have a little fun,” she says. Diana Goldberg, a realtor at Sagan Agency who has played mah jongg on and off for 50 years, says “I’ve never particularly liked the game, but I love the people I play with so that’s why I keep doing it. It’s about fun, friendship and feelings,” she says. “It’s about camaraderie,” agrees Annette Feinstein, who works as an RN at the Jewish Rehabilitation Center and has played continuously for 30 years with different groups. “Men have always played poker and gin. This began as an outlet for women who had babies to get away from. Their husbands would stay home, and they would get a night out with other women. Good friendships came of it.” Although the Summit Estates group initially came together over mah jongg, their friendships have deepened and they now regularly celebrate each other’s birthdays and went to see Menopause the Musical together. “We discuss our personal lives while we play. We have some great laughs and forget the world. It becomes a world of crack, bam, dots and jokers,” says Arlene Padulsky of West Peabody, who used to play as often as three times per week and once won $500 in a professional tournament. “Mah jongg is not a game you play to make money,” asserts Estelle Rostoff, who quips, “We only gamble on football.” When she formed the Summit Estates group two years ago, she wanted the stakes to be $15 per person. When the other participants balked, they settled on $5. Estelle says it was easy to find four other contemporaries to play with. “You must come from either Revere or Chelsea to be part of our group. Diana is from New York, but she married a man from Revere so we let her in,” she explains. When queried as to why the game appeals to Jewish women, the Summit Estates group shrugs. “I don’t know why it appeals to Jewish women. We don’t like to chip our fingernails — it’s a mystery why we play,” says Estelle. Sandy Kamens, who is retired and lives in Salem, theorizes that Jewish women from New York’s Lower East Side originally learned the game from Asian women in Chinatown when they lived side-by-side in ghettos. “If you were Jewish, lived in New York, and didn’t play, you were a social outcast. It was a good way to meet other women,” she states. Most mah jongg players learned how to play from their mothers or a friend. Last year, JCC Membership and Marketing Director Penny Schuler, a lifelong mah jongg aficionado, came up with the idea to offer a beginner class. She will offer it again this fall through the JCC (see sidebar) along with a mah jongg tournament. Penny, who is now 52, learned how to play when she was 12 or 13. She grew up on the New Jersey shore where beach clubs with cabanas were clustered near the ocean. The mothers, who were homemakers, took their children to the beach and played mah jongg all afternoon. “We’d
arrive at the beach at 11 a.m., and by 12:30, there were tables of women
playing mah jongg and eating. All you heard was the clicking of the tiles
and the sounds of women laughing and children splashing in the water,”
recalls Penny. History Mah Jongg as it is generally played today can be traced back to the end of the last century. In the early 1900’s, two brothers introduced the game to the English clubs of Shanghai where it quickly gained popularity among the foreign residents. Most tiles at that time were carved from bamboo. Joseph P. Babcock, who was the Soochow representative of Standard Oil Company, began importing the tiles to America, putting English numerals on them. He simplified the game and in 1920 copyrighted and published his version of the rules. Two years later, a lumber merchant named W. A. Hammond formed the Mah Jongg Sales Company of San Francisco and began importing large quantities of sets. The mah jongg craze reached a climax in the United States in 1923, when the number of sets exported from Shanghai grossed more than $1.5 million. By that time, most mah jongg tiles were made from cow bone. To meet the demand for production of new sets, cow bone was shipped from Kansas City and Chicago to Shanghai. Mah jongg may have singlehandedly rescued the ailing Milton Bradley Company from the brink of bankruptcy, as it had its factories working round the clock to meet the demand for new sets. Mah jongg players are noting a resurgence of interest in the game. Today there are thousands of clubs and tournaments worldwide, and websites devoted to the subject abound. Manufacturers are selling basic mah jongg sets for about $50, and charging several hundred dollars for customized sets. Vintage sets from the 20s and 30s are fetching high prices from collectors, while many young people enjoy playing computerized versions of the game online. Temple Israel Welcomes New Cantor Gary
Band SWAMPSCOTT — Following a brief period of indecision over its spiritual leadership, the rabbi and cantor team at Temple Israel is in place for the foreseeable future. Together with Rabbi Neal Loevinger, Cantor Emil Berkovits will lead the congregation in song and prayer for the High Holidays and the new year. Originally
from Montreal and a graduate of McGill University, Berkovits hails from
a long line of cantors. “My dad was a cantor, my brothers and uncles
were cantors, it’s in my blood,” he said. After one season, he attended and graduated college and joined the retail work force. He soon decided it wasn’t for him and enrolled in cantorial school in Montreal. After graduation, he served a congregation in Montreal for 10 years before accepting a position at Beth El Synagogue in Omaha, Nebraska, a community of 6,500 Jews, where he stayed for 22 years. “It was a good community,” Berkovits said. “Very active. Three synagogues, a JCC. I wanted to leave a few times, but something always happened to make me stay.” He finally did leave, relocating temporarily to Sunrise, Florida where he freelanced for a year before getting the call to come to Swampscott. “It’s a perfect location. It’s a beautiful area and close enough to visit some of my family.” Two of his wife Lily and his four grown kids and four of their six grandchildren live in Montreal. Their two other kids and grandchildren live in Israel. Of Rabbi Loevinger, Cantor Berkovits says, “He’s received me well and I think we’ll make a good match. We both feel we have our own areas to work in and that we’ll make a good team.” The cantor will be teaching Hebrew school in the afternoons, tutoring the b’nai mitzvah students, and helping the adult congregants in any way he can. His greatest nachas comes from seeing kids learn and take pride in their accomplishments. “Their success is my pleasure,” Berkovits says. With his 30 years of experience, Cantor Berkovits knows the synagogue business well. “It’s not about me, but the congregation,” he says. “You have to be a team player, and I hope to be around to see the congregation continue to grow.”
Borys Zinger: A Sage Among Us Michael
Sidman LYNN — Eighty-eight-year old Borys Zinger sits in his Lynn apartment surrounded by black and white photographs. They are images from a time he does not need help remembering — a time when he and every Jew in Europe fought to survive. Born into a poor Jewish family in Krakow, Poland, Zinger left home at the age of 11 after the deaths of his parents, and grew up in the care of a Jewish orphanage. When he was 23, Hitler declared war on the world and on the Jews, and Zinger was forced to literally run for his life. He made it to the Russian partition, and though Russian soldiers were threatening to shoot him, Zinger refused to turn back and found refuge in Russia. Zinger’s story is far more complicated than this story, geographically spanning a distance from China to America, and filled with heartache. Years after the war ended, Zinger discovered that his brother and two sisters had been killed by the Nazis. His brother, just a teenager during the war, was shot in the head for not being able to keep up with a work detail. While working at Benjamin and Schwartz shoe stitching in Lynn, Borys met a man who was in the concentration camp Plaszow with Borys’s two sisters. The man informed Zinger that his two sisters had been hung as punishment for a fellow prisoner who had tried to escape. To have lived through these horrors, one must have a way to analyze and to attempt to make peace with them. It is no surprise, therefore, to see Zinger’s apartment filled with poems that he is constantly writing. “A person living with all this inside,” he says, “I have plenty of material.” Having been a student of literature before the war, writing poetry is a vestige of a life taken from Zinger. Though Polish is his native tongue, and he struggles some with English, Zinger began writing his poems in English in 1979, after the death of his wife. Aided only by a small Polish-English dictionary and a thesaurus, Zinger writes poems about the many people who populate his dreams, most of whom died during World War II. Zinger’s poems are tributes, perhaps a way of saying thank you, to those who died so that he and others might live. One is about a man that Zinger met in Russia — a leftist Jew who joined the Russian army and fought against Hitler. Another is a memorial to the man who ran Zinger’s orphanage. While others ran, this man stayed to save the lives of the boys in his care, and perished as a result. “This is to remember a person who put his life away for us,” Zinger says while reading his own poem. “Jewish people fought and died; then they sacrificed for Israel and for hope. These are for the people who died.” As the years pass, it becomes difficult to find many who lived through the Holocaust. It also becomes difficult for younger Jews to imagine the hardships and horrors of that time. In the midst of privileged Jewish life in America, Zinger is a living reminder of what an entire generation of Jews endured. Zinger does not think of himself as a sage, but he has advice for young Jews. “Follow reading, reading, and more reading,” he says. “Know more history — what was and what is. Only with knowledge can you influence others.” As Zinger walks slowly around his apartment filled with the lessons of the past, telling jokes and smiling sweetly, he stops at a poem called “To A Friend”: There is still a long race to be run, And a lot to be done. Do not haste to an unknown place. The ground Toward which all of us our bound. We have our orders to obey. That means patience; here we stay. The world is endlessly renewing All the while without our knowing. The adventure is full of excitement, All kinds of possible enlightenment, And we, the inhabitants of this globe, Have still many mysteries to probe. To beautify our paradise, and take at last our deserved entitlement. Borys Zinger lived to tell his story, and writes so that future generations will never forget.
The Gift That Kept Giving Gary
Band SALEM — Thirty-three years before Arthur Zolot made his invaluable contribution to Israel, on July 21, 1971, Sylvia Brown of Swampscott donated an ambulance to Israel’s Magen David Adom in memory of her late father, Morris. Brown, 79, now of Salem, is very proud of that donation and the legacy of philanthropy her late parents left her. “My parents decided that they wanted to make the donation in celebration of the 55th wedding anniversary,” Brown said. But her father died before the date arrived, and she and her mother saw the donation through. “It was just something they felt they had to do,” Brown said. “My parents were that kind of people.” Originally from Malden, Brown and her parents were members of Congregation Ahabat Sholom, where the picture of the ambulance surrounded by family and friends was taken. The Browns have family in Israel; in Netanya, Haifa and Tel Aviv. Sylvia still has a letter which was sent from Magen David Adom in 1982. Though an ambulance’s life span in Israel is between five and seven years, 11 years after it was donated the letter writer said it had been converted to an administrative vehicle at MDA Headquarters in Tiberias. But from 1972-79, the ambulance was part of MDA’s Central Emergency Fleet, saving the lives of soldiers in the Yom Kippur War, and transporting the wounded from the scene of a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in 1978. The letter writer says, “You may rest assured that your noble act in the name of your dear father not only contributed enormously to our life-saving services, but has also been engraved in the hearts of all those who benefitted from your ambulance’s availability.”
Maccabi Athletes Gear Up As the Games Hit Boston Daniel
Postilnik While Athens prepares for the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics, Boston is hosting a similar competition: the 2004 Maccabi games. From August 15-20, nearly 1700 teenage athletes from 41 North American delegations and five international delegations from Australia, Israel, Poland, Venezuela and Great Britain will converge upon Boston to play sports, socialize, and perform acts of community service. Forty-seven
teens, including three assistant coaches and two star reporters, make
up the North Shore delegation. A total of 250 participants come from the
Greater Boston area. The athletes, who range in age from 13 to 16, have
been training all summer to prepare for these competitions. David Lloyd, 17, of Marblehead, will be traveling with the North Shore delegation for the fourth time this year, no longer as an athlete but as a “Mac,” or an assistant coach, for the Maccabi basketball team. He chose to coach this year because, he says, he wants to “pass on the tradition” of having a strong North Shore basketball team each year at the Maccabi games.
The basketball team has been practicing for two hours every Sunday throughout the summer. According to Lloyd, they have been doing drills, going over plays, and have had several scrimmages. “The talent level isn’t as good as it’s been” (the team on which Lloyd played won the silver medal three years in a row) but we’re working the hardest we can.... We have a tough act to follow,” says Lloyd of this year’s team. Jordan
Yorks, 13, of Marblehead, practices every Sunday with the North Shore
Maccabi team. He has been playing basketball for seven years. He recently
played in a national AAU under-13 basketball tournament in which his team
won first place, but has never participated in an international competition
like the Maccabi games. He is hosting three athletes, ages 13 and 14 from
New Jersey. “I feel good, I feel like we’re going to do well, and have a good experience,” says Marissa Glazer, 15, of Peabody, who’s been playing basketball for nine years but joins the Maccabi team for the first time. She found out about the Maccabi games from an article in the Jewish Journal, and joined the North Shore delegation girl’s basketball team with some of her friends. Even Jordan Yorks’ inexperience gets him fired up: “I’m really excited because it’s my first year.” Melissa Gold, 16, of Marblehead, has no qualms whatsoever about swimming at the Maccabi games. “I’m excited. It’s going to be so much fun,” she exclaims. Security doesn’t seem to worry the athletes either, though an international Jewish sports competition in a major city could be a potential terrorist target. “The
policemen [were] everywhere,” says Gold of previous Maccabi Games.
Though efforts to keep the games safer may have increased the overall
cost of the games, they have not gone unnoticed. “I always [felt]
really safe. After September 11, security was really heightened,”
says Jaki Fishkin, a veteran of the 2002 and 2003 Maccabi games and one
of this year’s delegation captains. For new athletes unsure of what the Maccabi experience will be like, or teens interested in participating next summer, the message coming from returning athletes is a positive one. “I love [the games] – I wish they were longer,”says Fishkin. “The first year, when I came home, the first thing I said to my parents was ‘I want to go back next year’…It’s one of the better weeks of my life… For the past two years I’ve just enjoyed myself so much.” For veteran athletes like Gold, the most valuable aspect of the Maccabi experience is the opportunity for 1700 Jewish athletes from across the globe to compete in one city. The sight of so many Jews walking through a stadium during the opening ceremonies reassures even the most skeptical among them that the key to Jewish survival lies in community and organization. However, playing games while you’re at it never hurts.
Sharon Defuses Crisis Leslie
Susser JERUSALEM — For a day or two in early August, Israel and the United States seemed to be heading for a showdown neither side wanted. Quick action by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon managed to avert a looming crisis over Israeli building in the West Bank — but the tension could resume as Israel comes under pressure to meet its commitments to dismantle illegal settlement outposts and not to expand existing settlements. Tension between Washington and Jerusalem was triggered by reports of massive Israeli construction in and around the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, a bedroom community some three miles east of Jerusalem. The Americans also wanted to know why Israel hadn’t removed dozens of “illegal” or “unauthorized” West Bank outposts, despite earlier promises. During early August talks in Jerusalem, Sharon was able to convince a high-level American envoy, Elliot Abrams of the National Security Council, that he was acting in good faith and that he soon would take extensive action to dismantle the outposts. In parallel, Sharon took a number of steps to show the Americans he meant business: He froze several Housing Ministry projects despite the fact that they already had received government approval, and he offered the Americans detailed explanations of what was happening on the ground and his government’s difficulties in dealing with the settler problem. Israeli officials also went to unprecedented lengths to coordinate data on the outposts with the Americans. For the first time, the two sides were able to produce an agreed-upon list of which outposts should be dismantled. Sharon told the Americans that he had ordered a Justice Ministry attorney to prepare new legislation that would make it easier for Israel to dismantle the outposts before the U.S. presidential election in November. Sharon also ordered Dov Weisglass, his bureau chief, to give the Americans a progress report in the next few weeks. To ensure there would be no confrontation with the Americans, Sharon froze a number of projects approved by former Housing Minister Effie Eitam, the hawkish leader of the National Religious Party, who resigned over Sharon’s plan to withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank. In his capacity as acting housing minister, Sharon ordered the suspension of tenders for about 1,300 housing units in the settlements of Ariel, Kiryat Arba, Betar Elit, Geva Binyamin, Karnei Shomron and Ma’aleh Adumim, until the new minister, Tzippi Livni of Sharon’s own Likud Party, examines whether the projects contravene understandings with the Americans on halting settlement expansion. As for the building that is proceeding in Ma’aleh Adumim, Sharon explained that this was an old project, approved by former Prime Minster Ehud Barak’s government in 1999 and now nearing completion. It was not something his government had approved or could stop, Sharon said. Some
in the Israeli media confused the building in Ma’aleh Adumim with
a far more significant plan to join the city to Jerusalem through a continuous
conurbation scheme known as A-1, which dates to the administration of
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. According to Israeli officials, the A-1 plan was designed to preempt an opposing Palestinian scheme to cut Ma’aleh Adumim off from Jerusalem by continuous north-south building, connecting the villages of Abu Dis, Issawiya and Anata, preventing Jewish territorial contiguity. So far neither side has done very much on the ground. In his talks with Abrams, Sharon noted that the plan hadn’t yet been approved in its entirety and maintained that it was not on the agenda, at least for the time being. For now, the Americans seem prepared to give Sharon the benefit of the doubt on building in existing settlements, but they want to see action soon on removal of outposts. As a first step to show it is acting in good faith, Israel has charged a senior Defense Ministry official, Baruch Spiegel, with comparing Israeli and American data on the outposts and reaching agreement on numbers and locations. The bottom line is that Israel and the United States now agree on the figures: There are 82 outposts in all, including 23 built after March 2001, when Sharon came to power, and which he has promised to remove first. “These 23 are the main focus of our work now,’’ Spiegel told Israel TV. The same model has been adopted with regard to the legal issues pertaining to removal of the outposts: A Justice Ministry official, attorney Talia Sasson, has been assigned the task of formulating new legislation to ease their removal. The old laws, based on Jordanian and Turkish precedents, afford protection for illegal buildings. Ironically, a system that successive Israeli governments exploited to build settlements is now being used to prevent the government from taking them down. Sasson has been given two months to come up with new legislation that will radically alter the legal position. Sharon has promised the Americans to act quickly once the legislation is in place, and to start evacuating outposts well before the presidential election. Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Report.
Features Community
Forum Editor’s Note: The Journal encourages submissions from readers on subjects of general interest. Other viewpoints are also welcome. Jewish tradition has held to a core of essential social values throughout the ages. Despite changes in the world and the conditions of the times, the values have remained intact; the only change is in the means of realization. For the most part, these values are outlined in the Torah. The oft-repeated phrase, “for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” becomes an experiential rationale for the care we must give to those who live on the margins of society. For centuries, Jews often lived in isolated, self-governing communities that took care of themselves and created institutions to maintain social values within their own rubric. Modern society has broken down the walls that separate us from the world around us, making us increasingly interdependent and interconnected with the outside world. In the expanded marketplace of ideas and ideals, we as Jews can ask if the social values of our tradition, those that can be writ large to universal experience, stop at the line that separates Jew from gentile. When we have the option of supporting a political party or candidate, which way should we, as Jews committed to social values, offer our support? Should we support those who believe that it is the responsibility of society, through governmental institutions, to offer opportunity to those who exist on the margins of society so that they may be able to lead respectable, independent lives? Or do we support those who offer rhetorical support for those values while cutting programs that meet those needs? Do we stand behind those who support education so that there is “no child left behind,” so that all Americans may have the opportunity to afford a college education, and so that when there are shifts in the marketplace, workers can obtain job retraining so that they can find reasonable work for reasonable wages? Or do we stand behind those whose support for these initiatives are no more than empty rhetoric when they deny the appropriations needed to make these programs a reality? Do we sponsor those who want to protect our environment, or those who have cut regulations and funding that have led to abuses of our environment and natural resources? When it comes to Israel, do we trust a president whose support appears absolute, but whose close ties to Saudi elites raises some questions, or do we trust a US senator whose record shows unwavering support for Israel and her search for peace? When it comes to war and peace, do we trust a man who sought to evade combat duty, but has sent thousands of American soldiers into harms way in support of a morally dubious objective and in opposition to world opinion? Or do we vote for one who went to war, saw friends die, learned its horrible lessons, and knows that sometimes our greatest strength comes from restraint? The answer is that if we as Jews should make political decisions that are consistent with Jewish values, a vote for George W. Bush and his Republican cohorts is unthinkable. His term in office has been antithetical to the best of social values as treasured by Jewish tradition and those traditions that have inherited its basic values. A Jewish vote of conscience is a vote for John Kerry and Democratic candidates who share those traditional Democratic values as espoused in the party’s platform. Rarely has the choice been so clear, and rarely is the choice so crucial. People in the News
Minding Your Manners — A Quick Quiz Jodi
R. R. Smith Lately I have been inundated with etiquette emergency e-mails about boorish behavior for some of the most basic adult interactions. Ever wonder about your etiquette? Please take a moment and answer these questions: Do you address everyone by his or her first name? Do you assume everyone remembers your name? Do you ask “Why?” when someone declines your invitation to lunch? Do you begin to eat as soon as your plate is filled? Do you blow your nose at the table? Do you split the bill when you have asked someone out to eat? Do you ask if it was “planned” when a woman announces she is pregnant? Do you say “No problem” when someone says, “Thank you?” Do you presume your presence is enough when invited to someone’s home? Do you chew gum, wear a baseball hat or answer your cell phone in an enclosed public space? If you answered, “Yes” to one or more of these questions, it is time for you to brush up on your best behaviors. The answers and explanations are as follows. Formal First – Just as it is always better to be overdressed than underdressed, so too should an individual’s name default to their formal address. This means that when meeting someone new, you should address him or her by a title (such as Mr., Ms., or Dr.) and their last name. Once the individual has given you permission to call them by their first name, you may do so. If they do not grant you permission for a more casual name, you must continue to address them by their proper title. A rule of thumb for children is to address all women with “Ma’am” and all men with “Sir” until told to do otherwise. A Legend In Your Own Mind – While you may be famous in your own circle of friends and family, you cannot and should not assume everyone else knows your name. When meeting someone for the first, second or twelfth time, do not leave them guessing. Always offer your name and, if you can, a reference as to how you know each other. Abbreviated Answers – One of the things I love about etiquette is that we do not always need to share all of our information. If you ask someone to lunch and they decline, but do not counter-offer (i.e. “I would love to but I am busy that day, can we make it Tuesday?”), you can presume they are not interested in spending time with you. To ask them for a reason why they do not want to spend time with you is uncomfortable at best and could be painful at worst. Simon Says – When eating with others, you should wait for a signal before beginning your meal. If you are with a group of friends, you should wait until everyone has been served. If you are someone’s guest, you should wait until the host/hostess begins his/her meal. If you are attending a function, you should wait for a welcome, invocation, or blessing by the organizer. The only item on the table you may touch in advance is your water. Everything else (bread, wine, salad, etc.) must wait. No Sharing – Please keep your germs to yourself. If you need to blow your nose, excuse yourself from the table and find a rest room. If your nose is a bit runny, you may daintily wipe it on a handkerchief while still seated. Your napkin is not a handkerchief. To blow your nose, you must leave the table. Pay Your Way – When you do the asking, you do the paying. This is true both for personal and professional meals. If a group of friends or work colleagues decide to meet for a meal, then each should pay for their portion of the bill. But when you ask someone to join you, you become the host/ hostess and you pick up the tab. Planned Parenthood – When someone announces they are pregnant, the correct response is “Congratulations!” If they wish to discuss the timing of this child, they will bring up the topic. Gracious Gratitude – The correct response to “Thank you” is “You are welcome.” Variations such as “You’re welcome” or “It was my pleasure” are also acceptable. My personal pet peeve is when purchasing something at a store, the clerk hands me the bag with a “Here you go.” This puts me in the position of having to thank the clerk for actually giving me my purchase instead of the clerk thanking me for my patronage. Arriving Empty – When invited to someone’s home, whether it be for a play date or a formal dinner, you should always have a gift for the host/hostess. The gift should be commensurate with the event. A bottle of wine would be a bit much for a play date, just as sidewalk chalk would be inappropriate for a formal dinner. But you should never arrive empty handed. Beyond The Golden Rule – It used to be said, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Then things changed. Those with boorish behaviors proudly proclaimed “But I don’t mind when people ____.” They then used this as a justification for their own bad manners. Chewing gum, wearing a baseball hat and talking on a cell phone are all great things to do when outdoors and/or alone. When indoors in or a confined public space, please properly dispose of your gum, remove your hat and turn off the ringer on your cell phone. While for most of us are past the new pencil and notebook phase of the classroom, it is never too late to learn something new. Jodi R. R. Smith is the Founder of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting and the author of two new books on social savvy. To ask a question, please visit www.Mannersmith. com. Copyright © 2000-2004 Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting. All rights reserved. Young Jewish Entrepreneurs Artist Creates Adult and Children’s Clothes to Dye For Susan
Jacobs Ellen Stone How
old are you? Describe
your business. How
long has it been in existence? What
motivated you to choose this particular career? What
was your training/ education? What
hesitations or concerns did you have when starting your business? What
were some of the hurdles you faced when you first started out? What
are some of the obstacles or challenges that you face now in your business? Has
being Jewish had any influence on your business? What
are your plans for the future? Anything
else? ‘In the Big Inning’: An Exodus to Cooperstown Rabbi
Steven J. Rubenstein Last summer I had the opportunity to finally make a pilgrimage to that one place all baseball enthusiasts dream of: Cooperstown, NY. Several times on visits to Rochester to visit with family we had passed the sign indicating where to turn. Each time my wife pointed out that we did not have time to make any detours. On my birthday in July of 2003, I was rewarded for my patience when we finally made it to the Jerusalem of baseball. On the evening of my birthday, following our celebration dinner, we went to a place across the street that customized baseball bats. So now I am the proud owner of a 37 inch bat made out of a piece of solid northern ash, just like the pros use! Engraved is my name, Rabbi Steven, and my favorite Biblical phrase from the Book of Genesis, “In the BIG inning”. I am now caught up in a venture of collecting baseball cards of my heroes. I thought it would be useful to look up the history of the cards that I covet, even though Judaism strictly prohibits coveting in every other sense of the word except this one. What I discovered along the base paths of my research is that the first baseball cards were geared not to “kids” but to “adult gentlemen” who were being lured into buying tobacco products. In those early years, baseball was a game being pitched to a refined audience of men. The National League charged spectators fifty cents admission, a hefty price to pay in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most of the men smoked cigars while watching their favorite sport, dressed in suits rather than casual clothes. It was only natural that the tobacco companies found a ready audience to pursue. The tobacco companies promoted individual players by including a card with his photo or caricature on one side, and an advertisement on the other. The cards served the purpose of preventing the package from folding in one’s pocket. Beginning in 1887, these original cards were no larger than one-and-a-half inches wide by two inches long. There were more than a dozen different tobacco companies that participated. Those of us who collect cards are familiar with the scandalous story surrounding Hornus Wagner, who disapproved of having his face on a card that promoted the use of tobacco. Only 50 of those cards have been found circulating, creating for the first time a limited production to increase the popularity and the scarcity of a single card. The most popular of these cards are the T206 cards, which were manufactured between 1909-1911 and are readily available to collectors in varying conditions. We call them vintage cards. There is a great sense of pride in owning one of these gems. It is as if I have in my private collection a piece of history. The oldest card in my collection is from the Piedmont Tobacco Company and it contains the face of Barney Pelty. According to The Big Book of Jewish Baseball, Barney Pelty proudly bore the nickname “the Yiddish Curver” in an era when many Jewish ballplayers changed their names in order to hide their Jewish identities. Barney was a righthanded pitcher who played for the St. Louis Browns for nine years until he was claimed on waivers by the Washington Senators in 1912. During that time, he suffered an illness quite common to pitchers even today — low run support. One wonders if the Yiddish Curver could have made it to the Hall of Fame had he been given the run support that he needed. Barney Pelty certainly had Hall of Fame numbers. Of his 217 starts over 10 years, 175 were recorded as complete games, and 22 were shutouts. . On Passover, Jews the world over hold up the matzah as a reminder of when they were slaves in Egypt. I can hold up my Barney Pelty card and retell the history of the Jews in baseball and the struggles that they had to endure so that future Jewish ballplayers could play — using their given names without fear of discrimination. It is a story that has been retold by players such as Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, who fought hard to end the suffering of players based upon race, ethnicity and religion. Steven Rubenstein is the Rabbi of Temple B’nai Abraham in Beverly, MA. He enjoys combining his hobby of collecting baseball cards with the aura and the wonder of being Jewish in a professional sport. A Call for Action on Sudan Ronni
Strongin NEW YORK — The Save Darfur Coalition, comprised of a diverse group of faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations, has issued a Unity Statement and Call to Action in response to the massive humanitarian and human rights crisis in Darfur, Sudan. The Coalition, which includes numerous prominent national Jewish groups, seeks to mobilize North Americans and members of the international community to end the atrocities that threaten the two million people in the region. Save Darfur will pursue several united actions to help stop the displacement of the ethnic tribal Africans, end the crimes against humanity and provide massive humanitarian support. In addition to the Unity Statement, the Coalition is organizing a national Interfaith Day of Conscience on Wednesday, August 25 in churches, synagogues, mosques and community centers throughout the country. The Coalition began on July 14 when the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and American Jewish World Service organized a Darfur Emergency Summit at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan featuring Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel. Wiesel inspired the group with his impassioned remarks about the suffering being inflicted on Darfurians: “How can I hope to move people from indifference if I remain indifferent to the plight of others? I cannot stand idly by or all my endeavors will be unworthy,” he admonished the crowd. Jewish groups that have joined the call for inernational action in Sudan include the Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations, United Jewish Communities, UJA Federation of New York, Union of Reform Judaism, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Rabbinical Assembly, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and the Central American Conference of Rabbis, the American Anti-Slavery Group, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish World Services and Anti-Defamation League. For further information, contact David Rubenstein at 202-368- 6100 or visit website: www.savedarfur.org.
Arts & Entertainment‘The Terminal:’ Hanks Saves Spielberg’s Latest Confection Noah
Pohl There are times when one wishes that Steven Spielberg didn’t have to be so darn optimistic. Does he have the ability to travel into darker territory and revel in it? He almost pulled it off with Minority Report, but he bailed out of the darkness in the end. After that, with Catch Me If You Can, it was back to saccharine, pure fun entertainment. In Spielberg’s latest effort, The Terminal, Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a citizen of the Soviet Republic of Krakhozia (Hanks gets miles of material simply out of the pronunciation of this fictional country). As Viktor flies from his embittered country to JFK Airport in New York, a military coup overthrows Krakhozia’s government. As a result, Viktor is not allowed to return to his home country until the United States recognizes the new Krakhozian government. Consequentially, Viktor’s passport is termed “invalidated” and he’s not allowed to enter the United States either. What does this mean? For months, Viktor is stuck living in an airport terminal, waiting for the day he can set foot on real American soil. For Viktor, however, a terminal can be a place of many things: friends, frustration, new love, uncomfortable sleeping positions.... After a breezy opening – Spielberg at his directorial best, flexing all his moviemaking muscles – the camera swoops over this entirely recreated set of JFK, choosing to revel in light-hearted comedy and absurdist moments. With weeks of time on his hands, what better to do that fall for a commitment-fearing flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine-Zeta Jones)? One subplot revolves around Viktor winning the loyalty of the terminal’s workers, and in turn they work to help him win the heart of Amelia. Another subplot revolves around an Airport Homeland Security Chief, Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), who aims to keep Viktor imprisoned in this terminal to show his attention to safety. What Spielberg seems to be saying with this movie is: Despite all the new rules and regulations of our terrorist-conscious society, we must still make room for special cases. In other words: you can’t fit everything into a neat box. Unfortunately, that’s what Spielberg does to his own movie. Frank Dixon is far too clichéd as a villain and the role of Amelia is paper thin and even laughable. There is no depth to these characters – they fit far too neatly into the movie’s scheme. However, it is Hanks performance as Viktor that saves this movie from drowning in its own sugary confection, a performance that ultimately makes the viewer forget that one is watching Tom Hanks. He is sublime, heartfelt and comical. He carries the movie. Likewise, Spielberg’s film, despite being about the immigrant experience, doesn’t quite delve into the complexity it could. For instance, there’s nothing about how the media would handle a situation like this (although the movie is apparently based on the real-life story of Mehran Karimi, who spent 15 years living in Paris’ de Gaulle airport waiting for his papers to be sorted out). There is no comparison of how other countries would deal with this situation. There are very sparse details about “Krakhozia.” But, hey, as a view I can live with that. Why? Because Spielberg is telling a small, human story about the heart — and how we all have the ability to open our own. Despite it being 128 minutes, somewhat pushing it for a romantic comedy, The Terminal will win you over, as it did me. But even if you are the most successful filmmaker in history, you’ve still got to keep those butts glued to those seats – and this movie, for the most part, does so. A high-concept movie with a stellar performance to anchor it, The Terminal is worth checking out on a summer’s rainy afternoon. Noah Pohl of Swampscott, a former Journal intern, is a sophomore at Brown University studying English and film. He has produced and directed several short films and is working on a feature-length documentary.
EditorialA Pre-Election Warning to Terrorists If al Qaeda wants to assure the re-election of President George Bush in November, they will do their utmost to provoke a major incident in the United States. Why? Because any pre-election disruption here — at this month’s Republican National Convention in New York, at a major airport, bridge, monument, or even a shopping center — would produce a 9/11 rally-round-the-flag effect, propelling Bush into a second term. But al Qaeda probably doesn’t want Bush re-elected. In fact, we believe they want him defeated at all costs. So frankly we don’t expect them to stage a major pre-election incident here. We think they realize their cause is better served by stirring up trouble for the United States abroad: in Iraq, where we continue to lose American servicemen and women every week; in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or at the Olympic Games in Athens. As a nation, there’s no question we need greater security in the aftermath of 9/11. As individuals, we need to be more vigilant too, reporting suspicious activity to proper authorities, for example. But does it make sense for Washington to be spending $60 million for security at each of the national political conventions? Does any of us feel safer as a result of our national color alert system or because of the kind of high-tech surveillance equipment we saw in Boston at last month’s DNC? A determined suicide bomber won’t be deterred by metal detectors or surveillance cameras. He’ll just choose a different target. Al Qaeda has spawned small terrorist cells all over the world, some in our own country operating semi-autonomously. Such cells could, on their own, make trouble for our nation in the coming weeks. So let them, like al Qaeda, heed this warning: If you don’t want to re-elect George Bush, keep away. We’re a patriotic people and we support our Presidents in times of crisis. Want to Make History? Join ‘Great Shofar Blowout’ On Tuesday, August 17, at 6:30 p.m., motorists and pedestrians passing King’s Beach in Swampscott will hear, for a period of probably two minutes or more, one of the strangest sounds known to man: several hundred shofars being blown at once. More shofars than have ever sounded in recorded history, in fact. The event is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the North Shore. London’s Guinness World Records has approved this stroke-of-genius idea from the Continuity Committee’s Debby Coltin: to set a world record for the most shofars blown in unison. Since this is a new category for the record books, its success is assured. A bevy of public officials and clergy will be on hand to authenticate the count. With $14,000 from the Robert I. Lappin Foundations, 267 shofar blowers have been trained already. Sponsors expect the total to top 300. Anyone can join the shofar chorus by calling the Federation (978.745.4222) to reserve a place. At 5:30 on the Burrill Street lawn by Swampscott Town Hall, you can register. You’ll receive a free shofar and a Boston Marathon-type number. And you’ll be trained in the arcane art of shofar blowing. Then you can have fun while helping our community enter the record books. Swampscott Temples Need to Invite People In Temples Beth El and Israel are preparing to tie the knot. They’re officially engaged as a result of a recent vote of their memberships (See story page 1). But the process so far has been a ragged one, and some members feel left out, manipulated, and bitter about the experience so far. Leaders
call the effort to form a joint congregation B’reisheit, a new beginning.
We think those leaders need to act boldly to provide a way for all their
members to become part of planning their common future. — Mark R. Arnold Local ColumnistsSecurity: After the DNC, How Much Is Enough?
The security arrangements for the Democratic National Convention proved again that when smart and/or assertive bureaucrats receive unlimited authority and money, everything and anything can happen. Sure, no terrorist killed anyone, exploded a bomb, or even made an audible verbal threat inside the convention, and that is a happy ending. But was it a result of the security? And what was the downside? And what does it portend for the future? The Secret Service was the lead agency at the Boston convention after the event was named a National Special Security Event by the Department of Homeland Security. Boston got $60 million earmarked for equipment, supplies and extra wages for all the participating local and state municipal and police agencies. With that kind of money and that level of authority, what happened? Forty miles of roads closed for four days including busy I-93; 100 hi-tech cameras installed in and outside the gathering; key buildings fenced in; another area lined with razor-topped fencing to keep protestors away from the eyes and ears of convention delegates; manhole covers welded shut. All the while, the Coast Guard patrolled the water and hundreds of police surrounded the convention site. Local officials were pleased at how well things went, except for the $10 million unspent. With more advance time, every police and fire department would now own every security gadget on their wish list for the past five and the next five years. Fifty million spent for security over five days is mind-boggling. To me, though, it’s less about the money (many argue better uses could have been found) and more about building “fortress America,” a country hysterical about security. Did this level of security halt a terrorist attack at the convention? Or was the attack never conceived, planned or organized? We will never know. But we do know that the negative consequence, the downside, of unbridled security is a society accepting the notion that anything goes in the name of security. We are already sliding on a slippery slope when, for example, the Patriot Act includes provisions for national checks on your library books or incarceration of citizens without legal representation. Discussion of these extreme security measures in Boston was very muted. Protestors complained and got a few sentences in the newspaper, commuters grumbled almost silently and some business owners went on vacation. Had the Secret Service doubled the ante, closing 80 miles of roads and two major highways, would our response have been different? We know America has 35,000 cities and towns open to terrorist attack, a few more or less libraries, schools, playgrounds, churches and synagogues, shopping centers, bridges, tunnels, universities, hospitals. Any one or 10 could be targeted any day or night. We cannot protect them all with a major show of force or fences. For that we need good intelligence both outside and inside the United States. Thankfully, for the past two weeks, both Congress and the White House have been under pressure regarding the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The White House already accepts key commission proposals. Congressional hearings about gathering, sharing and producing accurate “actionable” intelligence are being conducted. Perhaps security issues like the political conventions and the color-coding security system that few citizens seem to understand or care about will also get needed scrutiny. I am grateful that, this month at least, the Department of Homeland Security is not being treated like an untouchable and unquestionable KGB. Now I wish they would stop calling for an intelligence “czar”; a very smart and honorable American will be just fine.
Armchair Commentary and Drinking Lattes on the Green Line
The bombings have subsided — compared to last year — and the news now is less of funerals and shiva, and more of family simchas and outings. Baby Orna smiles now and Elnatan is beginning to crawl. My Israeli cousin is sending by email a big family picture taken at Menachem’s bar mitzvah. But now Molly must hang up the phone. Her daughter-in-law, Shirat, is waiting for her in the car. The whole family — all 25 of them — are going to a political demonstration. “What are you protesting?” I ask, knowing what Steve calls their “right wing politics.” “You know us,” sighed Molly. “Watch the news. Maybe you’ll see us.” Indeed. Although Molly lives in humdrum Rehovot, her brothers and their families live beyond the Green Line in what people call “the territories.” And that Sunday afternoon, in support of Jewish settlers in the Gaza strip, the entire extended Siegel family gathered in a historic rally. From Ha’aretz the next day, I learned that the march was a great success. Over 100,000 people joined in forming a 60-mile human chain, reaching from Gush Katif to the Western Wall — a vibrant human family, our patriotic kippah serugah (knit kippah — denotes moderate religious politics) relatives among them — in non-violent protest against disengagement from Gaza. “It’s your family that’s the trouble,” my friends say over coffee and politics at Starbucks. “We should get the hell out of there — and quick!” Indeed, everyone at the table agrees. From the non-fat vanilla latte point of view, I can see their point. Ending occupation is a no-brainer. We don’t want to dominate the Palestinians. We don’t want to be the bad guys. “Even Hevron?” I ask meekly. “Couldn’t we keep Hevron?” My Jewish identity is neatly fused with the Biblical mythos of origin. “Avraham already paid for it and everything.” My friends glare at me. “Just the cave of the Machpela?” I ask gingerly, about the spot where Avraham and Sara are buried. They sigh and groan. “No, not that either.” “OK, OK! But I don’t think, of all places on earth, that Hevron ought to be Judenrein,” I sulk. They dismiss me like I am a nut job. Left wing Israeli politics seems to be the preferred flavor at this table and in the U.S. in general. But I am struck by how armchair American Jewish political opinions can be. Mission trips, bar mitzvah tours, and the American press are important sources of information. But Molly and her family are on the ground. They are in the front line of this war. What is it that they know that moves them to lock hands and protest? What have they experienced, what do they see, that moves them to send their children out to preserve Jewish society on the West Bank? I know this issue is contested in Israel proper, that not all Israelis are on the same page in this dispute. Still, I am struck by how little we of the Starbucks camp really know of life in the literal trenches. I am reminded of my first pregnancy, how committed Steve and I were to a natural delivery. It was as firm a commitment as ever we had made, the result of LaMaze classes and much diligent research. And yet, after just a few hours of labor, our dedication disintegrated. Someone asked, “Would you like something for the pain?” And in the heat of the moment, enduring the reality of what we had only read and heard about, neither Steve nor I could even remember why we had decided to go it without drugs. Zionism is not racism, though many in the Starbucks of Europe seem to think so. It is not rampant expansionism, though it may seem so over the milk froth and from the arm chair. Perhaps it is only by moving closer to the Green Line that one can see its colorations clearly.
Make Someone’s Day with the Gift of Kindness
There is the kind gentleman who smiles widely and says, “Hello, beautiful!” Now I know he says that to every female creature that graces his path, but it still makes me feel like a Prom Queen despite the sweat pants and lack of mascara. Next
is the mailman smoking a glowing cigarette butt who doles out biscuits
to Scout and hands me a stack of bills and junk mail with a wink. Even
the speeding college girl who slows down and waves brightens my day if
for no other reason than not running over me or Scout. Some people have natural gifts like musical or artistic talent, while other possess gifts of compassion, beauty or wealth. Who can’t recall the angst-filled teenage years searching for your secret gift that would open the door to popularity, fame and nation-wide acclaim? The ironic twist is that it’s the simple gifts that truly resonate on a very personal level. Who can resist the gift of a baby’s grin, or a really tight hug from a good friend? The Talmud says, “Deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments.” I recently attended a fundraising event where I was stunned by the group dynamics. It seemed like there was a silent understanding that the givers who gave the most money were showered with respect and reverence. Heck, it was a fundraising event and that was the point and I do admire people who generously give of their resources, but it seemed to eclipse other gifts that people had to offer. I can’t imagine that God’s organizational chart is top heavy with people who worship wealth more than kindness. When I mentioned this observation to a friend who is a cancer survivor, she said she couldn’t bother with such trivial matters. She had been given the gift of time and was planning on cherishing it. That’s why I love dogs, for their tail waggin’ appreciation of the simple gifts we have to offer like love, kindness and a kibble. Children also lap up kind acts and return the feeling ten-fold. Rabbi Harold Kushner once said, “When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel.” Wrap a bow on that sentiment and give it to someone you care about. It will make their day.
Determined Minority Mobilizing against Gaza Withdrawal
There are many Judys in Israel at this moment. It was thanks to their door-to-door campaign that the Likud voted against the Sharon-backed plan and, in an even greater show of strength, they mobilized some 120,000 people to form a human chain of protest against disengagement that stretched from the Gaza Strip to the Western Wall. Now they have embarked upon a comprehensive campaign to elicit support for their viewpoint from every household in the country. The success of Judy and her compatriots is extraordinary in view of the fact that every public opinion poll taken over the last few months shows that two-thirds of the population favors immediate withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and, in many cases, from most of the areas occupied during the Six Day War. But disengagement supporters are not out on the streets and show no inclination to take any action whatsoever. They assume that things will work out without any special effort on their part. The minority has no such illusions. If they can’t turn the tide, they believe the nearly 35 years of money, sweat and blood that they have invested in the Territories will go down the drain. So, they predict, will the entire Zionist enterprise. They still hold to the view — once held by Sharon too — that abandoning Netzarim (in the Gaza Strip) will lead to the abandonment of Tel Aviv. Furthermore, when the opponents of disengagement speak, they usually bring in the Holocaust. The more extreme charge is that those involved in implementing the Sharon plan are modern-day counterparts of those Jews who cooperated with the Nazis. More troubling and conceivably more dangerous than civilian opposition to the pullback are rumblings in the military. Some religious soldiers have already made it clear that they will refuse to obey an order to remove Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. In political life, it is not unusual for a small, highly motivated, disciplined group to achieve disproportionate influence. In the United States, it happened in the Republican Party with the Christian Right, and in the 30s, when Communist fronts gained great influence in the Democratic Party. What will happen here remains to be seen. But I personally doubt whether Judy and her friends, however dedicated, will have their way in the end. State’s Silence on Anti-Semitism: Echoes World of War II?
Members of Congress and Jewish organizations are urging U.S. action against anti-Semitism abroad, but the State Department objects to “affording special status to one group,” that is, the Jews. Sound familiar? It happened during the Holocaust. It’s happening again today. In response to the rising tide of often-violent anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East, the U.S. Senate in May unanimously passed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. Initiated by Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), it requires the State Department to compile an annual report on anti-Semitism around the world. But the House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), a Holocaust survivor, has run into opposition from the State Department, which does not want the Jews to receive “special” attention. The State Department’s position is especially troubling in view of the strong statements made by Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Berlin conference on anti-Semitism in June. Was it naive to expect his words to be translated into policy? These developments carry troubling echoes of the past. During the Holocaust, the State Department and other Roosevelt administration agencies did their best to downplay the Jewish identity of Hitler’s victims — even though the Nazi regime had clearly singled out Jews for annihilation. “The refugee problem should not be considered as being confined to persons of any particular race or faith,” the State Department declared in planning the Bermuda refugee conference of 1943, at which the U.S. and Britain feigned interest in the problem but offered no meaningful assistance. FDR’s Office of War Information instructed its staff to avoid mentioning that Jews were the primary victims of Nazi atrocities. Coverage of the Nazi mass-murders would be “confused and misleading if it appears to be simply affecting the Jewish people,” they were told. The Jews were not even mentioned in President Roosevelt’s 1944 message commemorating the first anniversary of the Jewish revolt against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto. A meeting of the American, British, and Soviet foreign ministers in Moscow in October 1943 issued a statement threatening postwar punishment for Nazi war crimes against conquered populations. It mentioned “French, Dutch, Belgian or Norwegian hostages ...Cretan peasants ...the people of Poland” — but not Europe’s Jews. Ben Hecht, the Hollywood screenwriter-turned-rescue activist, responded in a biting full-page newspaper ad sponsored by the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. Hecht depicted the ghost of a Jew murdered by the Nazis sitting by the window sills of the Allied leaders after the Moscow conference, saying: “In the Kremlin in Moscow, in the White House in Washington, in the Downing Street Building in London where I have sat on the window sills, I have never heard our name. The people who live in those buildings — Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill — do not speak of us… The Germans will | |||||||||||||||