| The Jewish Journal Archive | ||||||||||||
| May 6 - May 19, 2005 | ||||||||||||
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Local
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Local StoriesA Renaissance of Spirit at Chelsea’s Temple Emmanuel Gary
Band CHELSEA — In 2001, one of the two remaining synagogues — in a city once home to some 20 houses of worship operating in the 1920s, 30s and 40s — was in serious financial trouble. Citing long declining membership rolls, high overhead and increased maintenance costs, Temple Emmanuel — founded in 1929 at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and housed on Tudor Street since 1940 — nearly closed its doors forever. But then something unexpected happened. In a letter to the membership informing them of the crisis and the need to close, the response was a resounding “No. We can’t let this happen.” And it didn’t. While the financial crisis continued and moves were still being made to try to sell the land, efforts were underway to revive the 70-year-old congregation. Rabbi Benjamin Rodwogin led Emmanuel for 54 years until he passed away in March 1999. In 2001, Emmanuel hired Rabbi Leslie Tannenwald, 55, of Newton, whose grandparents and parents were once active members. Sara Lee Callahan (née Saievetz) of Swampscott, who grew up in Chelsea and whose parents Rose and Mayer were active Emmanuel members, took over as president of the temple from Richie Clayman in the summer of 2004. And with the help of temple vice presidents Barbara Salisbury and Carol Brown and a host of other temple officers and volunteers, Callahan said “everything just snowballed from there.” Newly inaugurated, Callahan and others began reaching out to the many families who had moved from Chelsea to both the North and South Shore. Also a member of Temple Israel in Swampscott, Callahan has never ceased to be an Emmanuel member, and says “There is enough room in the Jewish heart to belong to more than one synagogue.” “Come home for the holidays,” she encouraged former Chelsea residents. “Come sit where your Zayde sat.” And they did. For the first time in years, close to 200 people attended High Holiday services, large Chanukah and Purim parties were held, and 130 people attended the temple’s Passover Seder. As a result of everyone’s efforts, 26 new family members joined Emmanuel in the last year bringing their rolls close to 200 families. “I think we build our strengths and hopes for tomorrow on where we came from,” said Callahan, who grew up on Clark Avenue and still owns the building. Her grandfather came to Chelsea in 1890 and started a rag business. “For so many people, Jewish life in America has been a journey. I’m a firm believer in that to look forward we have to honor our past.” Callahan’s brother Ben was the first one to have his bar mitzvah in the temple’s new social hall in 1954, and her teenage children feel a strong connection to their family’s past. Her husband, who converted to Judaism last year, is the treasurer of the temple’s Brotherhood. Callahan said the small circle of temple volunteers is growing and Jewish people are starting to move back to Chelsea. “If you’re looking for a reasonably priced, warm and welcoming synagogue where you can become active right away, this is the place,” she said. “We’re getting a reputation that if you don’t come to an event at Emmanuel you’re really missing out on something.” Carol Brown is one of four temple vice presidents. She moved to Chelsea’s waterfront neighborhood of Admiral’s Hill in 1990 and began coming to Emmanuel in 1995. “It’s like Beacon Hill,” she said. Initially concerned about the safety of the area, before buying, Brown said she sat in her car late at night for a number of days to make sure she could live there. She stayed for a while before moving to Marblehead and renting out her brownstone, but missed the area and its proximity to Boston and moved back. For the last few years, Brown has cooked breakfast for those who attend Sunday morning services. “The people I’ve met in my neighborhood and through the temple have been so warm and welcoming,” Brown said. “As more and more Jewish professionals come to this community, joining a synagogue lends itself to a sense of belonging.” Rabbi Tannenwald is now entering her fifth year as Emmanuel’s spiritual leader. She also gives bar and bat mitzvah lessons to special needs children, serves as a chaplain at the Chelsea Soldiers Home and several assisted living facilities, and performs a host of life cycle events throughout Greater Boston. Aside from loving the congregants, because her grandparents lived in Chelsea and were active temple members, Rabbi Tannenwald feels a very strong connection to Emmanuel. She came to lead the congregation by coincidence, but believes it was something more. Emmanuel’s interim rabbi had a daughter in her son’s high school class and word reached her that he was moving to Florida. Tannenwald was leading a congregation in Medway at the time, was looking to relocate, and the match was made. “This is a very special place for me,” she said. “I feel like I’ve gone full circle and come back to my roots.” She credits the work of Callahan and Brown for reviving temple life. “The enthusiasm on the part of the leadership here cannot be surpassed.” She said that when the Passover Seder was being planned, members came out of the woodwork to help prepare a meal with all the trimmings. “People don’t want to let this congregation whither,” the rabbi said. “The idea now is to build up the spirit, and hope it will continue to catch on.” The magic of Chelsea continues to bring people from across the state back to a place where they once worshipped and socialized. “On the High Holidays we had people from Worcester, Peabody, Swampscott and all over the North and South Shore. Word of mouth is spreading.” Emmanuel leadership insists that no one will be turned away. It offers nominal first-year membership dues of $54. They will hold a gala celebration with a Manhattan and Coney Island theme on Saturday, June 11, and a breakfast on August 21, the day after the Chelsea Grand Reunion, at which a reported 800 people will attend at the old Chelsea High School across from the Walnut Street Shul. “I really feel the community spirit returning to this area,” said Rabbi Tannenwald. “I’m not ready to give up and neither is the membership. Am Yisrael and Temple Emmanuel chai.” For reservations and information on the June 11 Gala and August 21 breakfast, call the temple at 617-889-1736. Third-Generation Family Business Closes Mark
Arnold SWAMPSCOTT — Alan Samiljan was 11 years old when he earned his first paycheck. It’s framed in his home here, a dog-eared $1 bill, mounted crooked, with this hand-written caption in a child’s hand: “My First Job.” In his tiny, cluttered office on the second floor of PhotoGraphics. Inc. — the business in Vinnin Square he started with his father Joe 25 years ago — Alan smiles as he remembers his start in the family film business: “I shlepped a 16mm sound projector, reels and a screen to entertain at a kid’s birthday party.” If that was the beginning, the end comes later this month when he and his younger sister Maria close out the remaining two stores, in Beverly and Gloucester, of what was a flourishing enterprise that pioneered the concept of camera sales, film developing, and video rentals. The pair closed the flagship Swampscott store April 30. During the go-go years of the 1990s, when their brother Peter was also a partner, PhotoGraphics, Inc., had a fourth store, in Marblehead, 125 employees, and a video rental library that included all new releases plus hundreds of film classics. The stores sold picture frames and photo albums, restored old photos, and took passport pictures. PhotoGraphics was a landmark on the North Shore, with a customer base numbering in the thousands, drawn to PhotoGraphics by its product range, family atmosphere, and old-fashioned personalized service. So, when the “Store Closing/Everything Must Go” signs went up in April, many people on the North Shore asked each other: “What happened?” The answer, Alan Samiljan says, is technology, competition, and terrorism. He explains: “After 9/11 people stopped traveling and taking pictures as much as they did before. We had these big developing machines but fewer rolls to develop. Plus photography went digital. We could sell digital cameras, but a lot of people went to the chain retailers to buy them. Plus there are chain video stores within a quarter mile of all of our stores. And services like [TV] video-on-demand.” It’s been downhill ever since. The Samiljans have been in the film business, in one form or another, for three generations. Grandfather Monty Samiljan, who immigrated to the U.S. as a child with his parents, was born in Latvia, and started the Mass. Motion Picture Service in 1946. The business rented out 16mm movies, which Monty had collected as a hobby. He rented feature films and education films at first, then branched out into selling home movie equipment and later cameras when servicemen came home and started families after World War II. He also sold projectors and repaired photo equipment. Television
swept America in the fifties, dealing a deathblow to the movie rental
business. Monty’s son Joseph and his brother Ed morphed their dad’s
business into Mass. Camera, selling cameras at retail, first in Lynn,
later in Boston and then all over New England. Joe later had the camera
concession at Boston’s famed Raymond’s Department Store, and
at all Bradlees’ discount stores, which were owned by Stop &
Shop. “I had been working for dad for five years at that point,” says Alan, “but I had never made a commitment to stay in the business till this opportunity opened up,” recalls Alan, an earnest man in his early fifties now, who is striving valiantly to remain upbeat about life and the future while he presides over the dismantling of the enterprise to which he has devoted his entire adult life. On
July 4, 1980, with a small bank loan co-signed by grandpa Monty, Alan
and Joe opened Photo-Graphics in 1,300-square feet of rented space in
Vinnin Square. They sold cameras, developed film, and had “The business took off almost from Day One,” says Alan, who sold cameras, kept the books, made the deposits, swept the floors and cleaned the bathroom. The gallery concept — a throwback to Alan’s days as a photography and fine arts major at Rochester Institute of Technology — never worked. In search of a product line that would be countercyclical to camera sales, they hit upon the new videotape craze in the early eighties. “Stores were charging $100 for memberships plus a rental fee,” remembers Maria, who joined the business in the mid-eighties after graduating from the University of Massachusetts. “We charged $1 to belong, plus the fee. Wow did that bring people to the stores.” In 1995, Joe died of a brain tumor at age 70, survived by both his parents. It was a terrible blow to the family, which included his wife Bunny, and two other Samiljan sons, plus grandchildren. “Besides being a wonderful human being, a man whom people genuinely loved, he was always our guiding light,” remembers Alan. “But he taught us well, and the business survived.” At least till 9/11. Since then, Alan and Maria and Peter tried to reinvent the business in other ways: photo enlargements, digital prints, reproductions, photos on coffee mugs and tee shirts, DVD rentals, photography classes. An extremely effective salesman and expert on photography, Alan and his siblings couldn’t find a way to offset the lost business they were suffering. Peter, who had joined in 1989, left two years ago to pursue his own new business: Cameras to Cash. He buys and sells used cameras on the internet. Now Alan and Maria are contemplating what to do with the rest of their lives, once they have finished selling off their inventory and closing out the stores. Both are married with two children – Alan’s are both in college. Retirement is not an option. “In a way I’m looking forward to the next phase,” says Maria: “When you’re in retail, you’re on call 24/7. Someone doesn’t show up, the burglar alarm is set off, the pipes burst in one of the stores. Now we can take some time to smell the roses. I’m a firm believer that when one door closes, another one opens. And I’m ready for it.” Holiday Guidelines Passed Gary
Band The North Shore Jewish Community Leadership Council — comprised of the professional directors and lay leadership of the nine Jewish North Shore organizations and nine synagogues — passed a policy recommendation April 5 regarding observance of religious holidays and days of operation. The vote was unanimous, with one abstention. While the guidelines are not intended to represent the council’s interpretation of Jewish law, nor to mandate when certain organizations should close in observance of one holiday or another, they were drafted in part to “establish the right of every Jewish communal worker, without penalty or consequence, to observe the Jewish festive days to their fullest extent.” With exceptions built in for certain agencies to fulfill their obligations, in addition to Shabbat, the 13 major holidays are Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah (both days), Sukkot (first two days), Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah (two days), Pesach (the first two and last two days), and Shavuot (both days). According to Federation Executive Director Merritt Mulman, the passing of these guidelines “demonstrates that difficult issues can be approached reasonably and collaboratively with a substantive outcome. Raising the bar Jewishly is what this policy is about,” he said. “If adhered to and implemented, the guidelines show great respect for all Jewish people, their beliefs and practices,” said Debbie Coltin, executive director of the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation. Rabbi David Klatzker, chair of the North Shore Rabbinic Association, said this is a significant step forward for the community. “I hope that all the boards of Jewish institutions will take these guidelines seriously and find ways to implement them.” Greg Ehrlich is president of the North Suburban Jewish Community Center. He said as a day care and pre-school, the NSJCC must remain open during seven of the nine additional holidays beyond Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur suggested in the guidelines. Once closed for all of them, the NSJCC needed to make adjustments to its holiday schedule to remain a viable choice for working parents. “If we had to go back to the way it was, we would not survive,” Ehrlich said. “I think Rabbi Klatzker did a great job chairing the subcommittee. H e, Debbie Coltin and Bob Tornberg all listened and took time to understand our situation. That speaks volumes for the leadership of this community.” Jewish Journal Editor-Publisher Mark Arnold was the one abstention in the leadership’s vote to approve the guidelines. “We would like to try and work with them, but we’re faced with a rather inflexible schedule from our printer, planned a year in advance, that makes it difficult to conform to these guidelines. Our board will have to seriously weigh the options and decide what to do.” Rabbi David Meyer of Temple Emanu-El in Marble-head was struck by the wide range of organizations represented, the services they provide and the limitations they have with regard to complying with the guidelines. “Although there was not a tremendous amount of support at the beginning, we approached this project with openness and respect for one another. And when you listen and have that respect, it’s remarkable how much can be accomplished." Teen Spearheads Used Sporting Goods Drive Susan
Jacobs SOUTH HAMILTON — Nate DeGroot is a handsome and athletic 17-year old who plays varsity football and basketball at Hamilton Wenham Regional High School. Four years ago, DeGroot organized a highly successful used sporting goods drive as a community service project in honor of his bar mitzvah. Now, he is resurrecting the project as part of his Youth to Israel program requirements, and is turning to the community for help. “A lot of people have old mitts, bats, soccer balls, hockey sticks and inline skates collecting dust in their basements. Here’s an opportunity to do some spring cleaning. What you consider clutter might be useful to some needy kids who would really appreciate it,” he says. “Organized sports is a passion of mine, and I’ve been very fortunate to have had all the equipment I ever needed. Not all kids are so lucky. I want to give some less fortunate kids the same opportunity that I had been afforded,” adds DeGroot, who as a youth played soccer, lacrosse and baseball, in addition to football and basketball. As he did before, DeGroot is donating the equipment he collects to The Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club in Dorchester. He is seeking all types of gently-used sporting goods except ice skates and skiing gear, which the organization does not want. He can accept sport specific apparel (such as jerseys and cleats), as well as gym bags. “Last time around, I was able to donate over $7,000 worth of goods to the Boys & Girls Club thanks to the tremendous generosity of local citizens, businesses, and schools. My goal is to exceed the $7,000 mark I set as a seventh grader,” says DeGroot, who plans to deliver the gear by early June. “Four
years ago I had so much stuff that we had to rent a U-Haul to deliver
it. You should have seen the faces of the kids when we pulled up. They
were smiling ear to ear when they saw all the gear,” said DeGroot,
who is storing the goods he is currently collecting in a locker generously
donated by Essex Mini-Storage in Essex. Those with used sporting goods are encouraged to contact Nate DeGroot by phone at 978-468-4661, or by e-mail to NateED1@comcast.net. He will happily arrange for the pick up of any donations. Solomon Schechter to Honor Jan Brodie Gary
Band When the Merrimack Valley Jewish Federation hired Jan Brodie of Swampscott as its executive director in 1998, 10 years after the organization was first incorporated, the former North Shore Federation campaign director was charged with increasing the MV Federation’s visibility in the more than 20 cities and towns it serves. Now, after seven years on the job, Brodie has reportedly done that and more. So much so that Solomon Schechter School Merrimack Valley has chosen him as the recipient of its 12th Annual Healers of the World Award, to be presented on June 5 at the North Shore Music Theater in Beverly, following the production of the musical FAME. “He’s really our unsung hero,” said Patricia Herman of Merrimac, a board member of Federation and Schechter. “With a small staff, this quiet and humble man is chief cook and bottle washer. He’s always on message, and the glue that holds our community together.” Dianna Huff is director of admissions and development at Solomon Schechter. “Jan has been so supportive of Jewish education for both kids and adults, increasing Federation programming, and getting the word out about community events. He’s very worthy of this honor.” While there’s been a Jewish presence in the Merrimack Valley for 100 years, the center of Jewish life has moved from Lawrence and Lowell to Andover and North Andover. There are now approximately 4,500 families throughout the region. And where Federations continue to support Israel, more attention has been focused in this generation on programs for families, singles and events that bring communities together around the holidays and educational endeavors. “Jan has really helped create a strong presence in the community and initiated programs we could have only dreamed of building,” said MV Federation Board President Bob Bender. Rabbi Robert Goldstein of Temple Emanuel in Andover says Brodie has worked his whole life to strengthen Jewish community wherever he goes. “In one way or another, he has quietly but consistently labored to further the cause of Jewish continuity, education and charity.” “Jan, above all, is really a mensch,” said Rabbi Ira Korinow of Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill. “He is someone who has always stood up for what is right, and has certainly been a good friend to Solomon Schechter. In an area where it’s hard to do, Jan has done a tremendous job of creating a sense of community in the Merrimack Valley.” For his part, Brodie has increased the donor base by 60 percent, from 700 to around 1200 contributors to the annual campaign, brought the Rekindle Shabbat program to nearly 100 families, coordinated speakers and other events with Merrimack College, and made the annual Chanukah First Light celebration — attended by 500 people last year in Andover with singer Debbie Friedman — a signature event. Other events created during his tenure include the annual women’s seder, the fifth held this year and attended by over 100, and a Salute to Israel celebration which drew over 300 to Camp Hadar last summer. Calling the work a labor of love, Brodie thanks his dedicated staff and volunteers who have made the MVJF what it is. “The work we do is so important,” Brodie said. “Between programming, education and tzedakah, the Federation movement is the one organization that encompasses every segment of Judaism.” Brodie says the greatest nachas he gets from the job is “to see that this community is progressing spiritually and becoming more unified.” One of the challenges he faces is increasing programming and growing the campaign. “We certainly have the potential demographically and wealth-wise to create more programming and a greater presence.” Brodie
says fundraising and ways of reaching out to donors has changed a great
deal over the last 20 years. While people still want very much to support
Israel, many are interested in what a federation is doing locally. For tickets to Solomon Schechter’s June 5 Spring Gala, the musical FAME and the dinner honoring Jan Brodie, call 978-372-4140. Ezer Weizman 1924-2005 Dov
Burt Levy The people of Israel mourned the death of a nationally beloved military leader, politician and statesman, friend and hero, when Ezer Weizman died on April 24. In Israel and around the world, most politicians and public figures have intense supporters and equally intense detractors; people either love them or hate them. Weizman uniquely enjoyed respect and popularity across the board. Ezer Weizman’s popularity came from his many contributions to Israel’s history. He was a heroic pilot before becoming the driving force behind the Air Force’s growth. As a politician, he changed parties, moving to the peace camp out of principle and not for advantage. And finally he served his country for six years as its president. Born in Tel Aviv in 1924, Weizman grew up in Haifa. He learned to fly at 16 and in 1942 volunteered for Great Britain’s Royal Air Force. After World War II, he was a pioneer in Israel’s fledgling Air Force and a daring Spitfire pilot during the nation’s War of Independence. From 1958 to 1966, he commanded the Israeli Air Force. In the 1967 war, he was head of Israel’s Defense Forces Operations. In 1977, Weizman moved from “hold on to every square meter of war-captured land” to the peace camp, where he made a large impact on Menachem Begin’s peace initiative with Egypt. Weizman never wavered from his belief that Israel’s true security lay in peace with its neighbors rather than in enlarged territories and prolonged military action. Still, he criticized successive governments for sometimes going too slowly, sometimes moving too fast, in working for peace. Politically correct he was not. Those who felt his “shooting from the lip” include women, gays and Jews in the Diaspora. He owned up to this shortcoming, for which he was fairly criticized but never hated. During his presidency, which ran from 1993 to 2000, Weizman began the custom of presidential visits to the shiva of every fallen soldier, and hospital visits to the wounded. He and his wife, Reuma, made those heartbreaking trips, not three-minute breeze in-and-out affairs, but lengthy sit-downs; drink tea, eat something, and talk about the soldier, the sorrow and the sacrifice. Ezer Weizman had earned the right to be buried on Mt. Herzl with Israel’s heroes, presidents and prime ministers. Instead, he chose the municipal cemetery in Or Akiva, a small, modest town, next to Casearea, where he lived. Yaakov Edri, former mayor of Or Akiva, said, “Ten years ago, when his son Shauli and daughter-in-law Racheli were killed in a traffic accident, Ezer came…and asked to buy a burial plot for him and Reuma next to their graves. Or Akiva was his protégé. He used to sit in a restaurant and play backgammon with the locals. That was Ezer Weizman for us.” For Ariel Sharon, “Ezer was a symbol and example of the Israeli sabra. Every station in his life was a cornerstone in the building of this country.” Shimon Peres called Weizman unique. “In war, he showed incredible bravery, and when peace appeared on the horizon, he enlisted for it, he always searched for the original, the daring and the new. He knew how to warm the hearts of thousands.” Volunteers Knit Handmade Treasures for Children Awaiting Adoption Susan
Jacobs NAHANT — “While waiting to adopt my son, Conor, from Belarus and my daughter, Ava Rose, from Russia, I taught myself to crochet and made them their first blankets. It made me think of all the babies left behind who would never have a handmade treasure,” says Susan Caccivio, who adopted her children with the help of Jewish Family Service in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Caccivio formed the group Knitting for Angels a little more than a year ago. Susan, along with her “power knitting” mother-in-law Gloria Caccivio, and several other volunteers, whipped up a bunch of blankets, hats and sweaters to send to children awaiting adoption in orphanages and hospitals in Russia and Belarus. Since then, the group has grown to about 40 members — some of whom knit or crochet, while others provide financial support or donations of yarn. The group includes several seniors from the Friendship and Golden Age Clubs at the Marblehead JCC, who recently donated 50 handmade hats to the cause. Friends Gloria Gruber of Salem and Minnie Singer of Lynn are newcomers to the group. “I’ve been knitting on and off for years,” explains Gruber, 75, who used to make colorful hats for children stricken with cancer. “I learned about the Knitting for Angels project from the JCC, and love the idea of doing something I enjoy for charitable purposes. Although many seniors can’t knit anymore because of arthritis, fortunately I can still do it,” says Gruber. Gruber likes to make scarves because they are fast and easy. “When fancy scarves became fashionable last year, I made a wardrobe of them for my daughter — one to go with each different outfit,” she says. She is delighted to make scarves for needy children. “I am currently working on a scarf designed for a teenager, but after that I plan to shift gears and make a series of mittens, booties and baby blankets,” she says. The network of crafters, who work independently from their own homes, are given free reign to create whatever they want. Yarn, patterns and other knitting supplies are provided for free, and members receive a regular newsletter. When the crafter has completed a collection of items, a volunteer will pick the items up, or the person can bring them to a “boxing party” at Susan Caccivio’s home in Nahant. At these bi-monthly gatherings, knitters kibbitz, admire each other’s handiwork, attach cards onto each piece, and box the handmade treasures for shipment. In addition to orphanages in Russia and Belarus, Knitting for Angels has sent items to Afghanistan and Ukraine using established organizations to help distribute the goods. The most recent shipment of items, sent off in April, was earmarked for those affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and was coordinated through the Chernobyl Children Project, USA. Because they make woolen blankets, sweaters and scarves, the group focuses on cold weather countries. After the devastating tsunami of December 2004, the group contemplated making items for the victims in Southeast Asia. “But what could we knit — bikinis?” asked Gloria Caccivio. Susan Caccivio points out that knitters of all ages and abilities are welcome to join the group. “We have people in their thirties, and people in their seventies. We have those who have been knitting for years, as well as rank beginners. In fact one lady who just joined our group made a baby blanket — the first thing she’s ever made — and donated it to the project.” Caccivio is especially interested in reaching out to the older Russian, Jewish population in Lynn, whom she believes may delight in making and sending handcrafted items home to their motherland. “People who knit or crochet are always looking for their next project. Their children and grandchildren typically have everything they need. This is a wonderful outlet. They can use their skill to make something that brings warmth and comfort to a child across the world whos would otherwise never have a handmade treasure to cherish,” says Susan. Knitters, crocheters and individuals who would like to financially help support the work of Knitting for Angels can contact Susan Caccivio at 781-592-2868 or 617-821-4521 Who Will Guide AIPAC? Matthew
E. Berger and Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON — Not so long ago, the word on Steve Rosen, policy director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was that he was so knowledgeable that he trained the group’s board members in the ways of Washington. In his 23 years with the pro-Israel lobbying powerhouse, Rosen’s encyclopedic knowledge of Middle East geopolitics and Beltway power politics nurtured AIPAC’s lay leadership and guided its policies. Now that the same leadership has fired Rosen because, AIPAC says, of information arising out of an FBI investigation into alleged mishandling of classified Pentagon documents, the question is raised: Who will guide AIPAC now? Rosen’s imprint remains in substantial ways: Iran’s threat to Israel, his top priority in recent years, is the centerpiece of this year’s AIPAC’s policy conference, which begins May 22. The conference will feature a walk-through exhibit on how close Iran is to developing a nuclear weapon. Yet tactically Rosen’s departure already is being felt as AIPAC returns to its roots, working Capitol Hill and moving away from the executive branch lobbying that was emblematic of Rosen’s approach. Significantly, the only on-the-record statement proffered by AIPAC since JTA revealed that AIPAC had fired Rosen and Keith Weissman, its senior Iran analyst, who also has been targeted by the FBI, emphasizes congressional lobbying. “With growing membership, record attendance at events around the country, and continued successes on Capitol Hill, AIPAC is energized and focused on the future,” spokesman Josh Block said. Some of the group’s recent successes on the Hill include backing Congress’ approval of $2.6 billion in foreign aid for this year, extending the duration of Israel’s loan guarantees and attaching strict oversight guidelines to $200 million in assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The Senate also unanimously passed a bill expanding homeland security cooperation between Israel and the United States. The House of Representatives passed a resolution urging the European Union to put Hezbollah on the E.U. terrorist list and overwhelmingly passed two resolutions condemning Syria for its occupation of Lebanon and continued human-rights violations. A key House panel has approved the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which has garnered more than 155 co- sponsors in less than three months since its introduction. AIPAC’s grass-roots supporters have sought assuran-ces that the FBI investigation won’t impinge on the lobby’s effectiveness. AIPAC hosted a conference call for Jewish leaders to address the revelation that Rosen and Weissman had been fired. The key message: AIPAC as an organization was not the target of the FBI probe. A measure of AIPAC’s determination to reassure its base is its recent willingness to go on the record about its Capitol Hill successes, a sharp reversal of a longstanding policy to play down AIPAC’s influence. AIPAC officials say the grass roots are solidly on board. AIPAC expects 5,000 people at the policy conference, which culminates with a day of show-of-strength lobbying on the Hill. The number is commensurate with previous conferences, AIPAC officials said. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon are slated to address the conference, a show of support from both governments. A wide list of congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), also will be featured. Officials say that financial contributions continue to grow, and that 5,000 people have attended AIPAC events across the country in the past five weeks. Off the Hill — especially at the State Department and the Pentagon — Rosen’s departure is expected to diminish AIPAC’s Washington visibility. “Steve Rosen is not a politically known Hill quantity,” one former AIPAC staffer said. “But he was very well known in the State Department, Pentagon and Israeli Embassy.” Still,
lower visibility in those areas might not be a bad thing for now. It was
precisely the relationship between Rosen and Weissman and a Pentagon Iran
analyst, Larry Franklin, that precipitated the FBI’s investigation. However, several reports subsequently said that the FBI threatened Franklin with prosecution unless he mounted a sting against the two AIPAC staffers, giving them false information about an imminent threat to alleged Israeli agents in Kurdistan. Once Rosen and Weissman relayed that information to Israel, according to those accounts, the FBI moved in, confiscating files from their offices in August and December. Franklin since has returned to work for the Defense Department, albeit in a nonsensitive post. After the August raid, and again in December, AIPAC stood squarely behind the two men. A rift began to show around January, about the time several top staffers were testifying before a federal grand jury convened by Paul McNulty, the U.S. attorney for eastern Virginia. That was when AIPAC placed Rosen and Weissman on paid leave. The
rift was revealed to be final last week. After prodding by JTA, lawyers
for Rosen and Weissman issued the following statement: “Steve Rosen
and Keith Weissman have not violated any U.S. law or AIPAC policy. Contrary
to press accounts, they have never solicited, received or passed on any
classified documents. They carried out their job responsibilities solely
to serve AIPAC’s goal of strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship.” Within hours, AIPAC countered: “The
statement made by Rosen and Weissman represents solely their view of the
facts. The action that AIPAC has taken was done in consultation with counsel
after careful consideration of recently learned information and the conduct
AIPAC expects of its employees,” an AIPAC statement said.
Nothing in the statements from either side suggested that action by McNulty was imminent. Former AIPAC staffers say there are good and bad things about Rosen’s departure. With Rosen pegged by those staffers as a “loose cannon,” some hope the organization can become more focused without his pervasive presence. “He was a brilliant bureaucratic infighter,” one former staffer said. “He knew how to do the little things to further his agenda.” Rosen’s connections with bureaucrats and appointed officials helped AIPAC garner insider information on Middle East policy. Policymakers on the Hill and Jewish donors craved the tidbits Rosen’s operations uncovered, and helped the organization gain a loyal fan base in Washington. Rosen also crafted strong ties with AIPAC board members, which helped him win internal political battles over the years, former staffers said. “You can’t look at AIPAC now and say it is successful despite Steve Rosen,” one former staffer said. Steve Grossman, a former AIPAC president, said Rosen had a “virtually encyclopedic knowledge of the issues.” But he believes the organization has many other professionals who can pick up the mantle. Former staffers, many of whom did not get along with Rosen, suggested that he could try to sabotage AIPAC or the pro-Israel agenda if he is unhappy with his severance settlement from AIPAC. Grossman said he did not believe that was possible. “Steve’s committed to and personally dedicated to the cause of U.S.-Israeli relations,” Grossman said. “It is such a critical part of his life that I have no concerns at all.’’
Sharansky Quits Israeli Government Dan
Baron JERUSALEM — Forever the rebel with a cause, Soviet-refusenik-turned-democracy proponent Natan Sharansky has left the Israeli government rather than take part in the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Sharansky tendered his resignation as Diaspora Affairs Minister May 2, accusing the Sharon government of failing to demand Palestinian reform as a prerequisite to peace moves. “As
you know, I have opposed the disengagement plan from the beginning, on
the grounds that I believe any concessions in the peace process must be
linked to democratic reforms within Palestinian society,” Sharansky
wrote in an open letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon,
who lost two right-wing coalition partners and a Cabinet member from his
own Likud Party last year over the plan to withdraw from Gaza and the
northern West Bank this summer, took Sharansky’s walkout in stride.
He voiced regret at the decision and thanked Sharansky for “combating
anti-Semitism the world over.” In any event, Sharansky pledged in his letter, “I will continue my lifelong efforts to contribute to the unity and strength of the Jewish people both in Israel and in the Diaspora.” By quitting the Cabinet, Sharansky effectively finds himself outside of Israeli politics, because he does not hold a Knesset seat. But his shift to private citizen seemed to many to be a natural move for the author of the recent best-seller The Case for Democracy, which President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly praised. The Jerusalem Post speculated that Sharansky would focus on promoting the book. Former colleagues commended his resignation as an act of integrity. Dalia Itzik of the Labor Party suggested that Sharansky had stayed in office in the hope of seeing the Gaza plan somehow rescinded. “It seems he realized that disengagement is going ahead after all, and drew his own conclusions,” she told reporters. But Meir Sheetrit of Likud took issue with Sharansky’s reasoning. “The prime minister has always insisted that until there is democracy in the Palestinian Authority, there will be no peace talks. The disengagement from Gaza is a unilateral, intermediate step done for Israel’s good,” he said. Despite polls showing that most Israelis support the Gaza plan, it has deepened rancor among right-wing segments of Israeli society to the point where some officials fear there may be major civil strife. Concern
for the Jewish state’s internal harmony was another motivation cited
in Sharansky’s letter. Sharansky was jailed in the Soviet Union in 1977 on charges of spying for the United States. He spent a decade in Soviet prisons before international pressure forced the Soviet government to allow him to leave.
Cartoonist Eisner Skewers ‘The Protocols’ Jared
Pliner The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, by Will Eisner; W.W. Norton, New York/London 2005, 142 pages, 1995. The past century has seen myriad anti-Semitic pamphlets and literature circulated throughout the world, but none more vicious, or more fictitious, than The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The document, which professes to be an actual Jewish scheme to take over the world, is perhaps the most anti-Semitic tract in history. Created by the Russian Tsar’s secret police, it was designed to deter extensive criticism of the Russian government in the early 1900s. In a newly published satire of the notorious tract, The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, acclaimed narrative cartoonist Will Eisner traces the twisted history of The Protocols, including the role in their dissemination played by historical figures such as Tsar Nicholas II, auto magnate Henry Ford, and Adolf Hitler. Regular readers of Saturday morning comic strips, which appear in the Boston Globe, know that the true intentions of featured cartoonists are to, first, provide the reader with a hefty dose of laughter, and second, satirize and even mock society in an attempt to improve the culture or uncover the truth. Applying a cartoonist’s twist, Eisner has accomplished just this, to reveal The Protocols for what they are. Flipping through its pages, I was overwhelmed by the intricate drawings, laden with devilishly grinned characters, virulently spreading lies about what they term the “Jewish peril.” For a subject as serious as this, some may question whether Eisner presents this issue in a way that really hits home. I believe that Eisner sketched the characters with the intent of making them look laughable and ridiculous — to mock the ugly style in which Jews were portrayed in 1930s Nazi propaganda. Unfortunately, The Protocols are still an issue, used by the Ku Klux Klan, various neo-Nazi organizations, and even Islamic fanatics, to preach messages of hate and seek to prove an international Jewish conspiracy. With Eisner’s death in January, I encourage readers to pick up a copy of The Plot, not only to honor him but to join in his mission for the truth, in a world where anti-Semitism still exists. Reviewer Jared Pliner, a sophomore at Marblehead High School, serves as an intern at The Journal. He may be reached at dapliner@comcast.net People in the News
Arts & Entertainment‘A Jew Among the Germans’: Reconciling Relations Susan
Jacobs Polish-born Marian Marzynski was a child survivor of the Holocaust who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto by hiding on the Christian side of the city. As a young man, he enjoyed a successful career as a talk-show host in Poland; however his real passion was film. After anchoring television news shows and producing/directing television docu-dramas and plays for networks throughout Europe, Marzynski began making documentary films. In
1972, Marzynski emigrated to the United States with his Catholic wife,
an architect, and their three-year-old son. Their daughter Anya (whose
life Marzynski documented in the acclaimed 2004 film Anya In and Out
of Focus) was born in America in 1973. After a stint teaching film
at the Rhode Island School of Design, Marzynski moved to the Boston area.
He currently lives in Brookline, where he routinely works on PBS FRONTLINE
documentaries, as well as productions for CBS, Nova, and National Geographic.
Over a three-year period, Marzynski interviewed artists, architects and planners who grappled not only with the design of the memorial, but also with questions of guilt, responsibility and memory. In the process of making the film, Marzynski struggled to reconcile his own personal relationship to the German people. His reaction to young Germans, whotend to have a different approach to the Holocaust than their parents or grandparents, was particularly profound. Local viewers will have several opportunities to see A Jew Among the Germans, which will be screened at least twice this month in the Boston area, and will air on public television. On Sunday, May 8, the Boston Jewish Film Festival and the Museum of Fine Arts present the film at 6:30 p.m. at the MFA in Boston. A discussion with Marzynski follows the screening. The movie will also be shown on Thursday, May 12, at 7 p.m. at Brandeis University in Waltham. In addition, it will air on Tuesday, May 31, at 9 p.m. on WGBH/2. Mossad Agent Takes ‘Walk on Water’ Michael
Fox The ambitious quasi-thriller Walk on Water has nothing to do with leaps of faith, the title notwithstanding. Its focus is misplaced faith, and the cost of living with blinders. The central character, a Mossad assassin who specializes in taking out Hamas operatives, embraces the righteousness of military solutions. Suspicion and anger are the only feelings he seems comfortable expressing, which his wife finds insufficient. Eyal, the assassin, embodies a certain Israeli attitude and inflexibility which the filmmakers clearly see as anachronistic. The plot they set in motion to shake Eyal of his intolerance has the unmistakable air of contrivance, but a slew of offbeat moments give the film a large measure of idiosyncratic pleasure. Walk on Water, opened in February and has had short runs at several North Shore theaters. It will appear at the Cabot Cinema in Beverly May 16-18. It is not a completely satisfying movie, but it is a fascinating one. In the wake of his latest successful mission and some bad news at home, Eyal (heartthrob Lior Ashkenazi of Late Marriage) is given the innocuous assignment of playing undercover tour guide for Axel, an easygoing German schoolteacher (Knut Berger) en route to Israel to visit his kibbutznik sister, Pia (Carolina Peters). Axel’s
grandfather is a former Nazi scoundrel who has been in hiding in South
America for decades. Eyal’s boss hasn’t given up the ghost
though and dispatches our hero to ferret out the old man’s whereabouts. In
one of the film’s numerous ironies, Eyal learns next to nothing
about Grandpa Himmelman (who died years ago, or so Axel’s father
told his son) but more than he wants to know about Axel (he’s gay)
and Pia (she wants Eyal). The major impediment to warming up to the film is Ashkenazi’s chilly, detached performance. The actor blends rugged good looks and pathological insensitivity like an exotic Clive Owen (Closer). But Ashkenazi fails to convey the pain and despair of a man emotionally closed and less than curious intellectually, opting instead to play Eyal as a sleepwalker slowly awakening. Editorial Community Collaboration: It’s Happening! This Jewish community is often thought of as a loose collection of people, synagogues, and agencies, each doing its own thing, often at cross-purposes. Beneath the surface, increasingly, that picture is changing. Philanthropist Robert I. Lappin began providing funds through Federation to send local youth to Israel more than 30 years ago. Now the activities of the Lappin foundations also finance a wealth of creative programs for children and families aimed at strengthening Jewish identity and pride. They are offered through Federation, Jewish agencies, and synagogues, or directly. The Leadership Council, pioneered by Federation President Debby Ponn, has brought together the professional and lay leadership of every Jewish institution on the North Shore to explore ways to collaborate for the benefit of all. The group meets every other month and its efforts are beginning to bear fruit. A set of Jewish Holiday guidelines, hammered out over a period of months, seek to assure that Jewish institutions can meet the needs of those who depend on them while respecting the major Jewish holidays. The Federation has undertaken to sponsor — with strong backing from agency and synagogue leaders — a critically important strategic planning initiative, Project Solel, to define the community’s priorities for the next decade. Its starting point will be soliciting views and needs from a wide range of groups and individuals, involved and uninvolved. And in a very thoughtful white paper, Fed Executive Director Merritt Mulman has laid out a three-pronged agenda for that umbrella agency’s future. It includes fundraising, of course — the Federation raises money to help all the agencies (including this newspaper) do their jobs. But it also includes community planning and — a renewed area of emphasis — development of the next generation of community leaders. “These are watershed developments for our community,” says Jon Firger, Chief Executive of Jewish Family Service, who has been pushing the movement for collaboration since he came here more ten years ago. Indeed they are, and we are glad to be part of them. Yom Hashoah and the Tragedy of Darfur On Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day — May 5 this year — we Jews like to repeat the mantra: ‘Never Again.’ But the fact is, a number of genocides have occurred since the one that decimated our ranks during World War II. And they continue. Case in point: the Darfur region of the Sudan, where a campaign of ethnic cleansing directed from Khartoum, the capital, has killed 400,000 and displaced more than 1 million African tribal souls. The African Union has deployed a force to keep the peace, but its numbers and logistics are totally inadequate for the challenge, and relief workers are themselves being targeted. This is a crisis the world has sadly, shockingly, turned its back on. We Jews must not turn ours. — Mark R. Arnold Money, Politics and Religion: An Unholy Trio
Sometimes a line comes out of childhood memory that aptly fits a current situation. The situation: Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, Congressman Tom DeLay, Indian tribal money, contributions to a settler group in Israel’s West Bank and an Orthodox day school. The
line: “What a revolting development this is!” (William Bendix,
The Life of Riley, NBC sit-com, 1956-59.) Jack Abramoff asked some of his clients to donate to his family’s Capital Athletic Foundation, whose stated work is to provide sports opportunities to inner city kids. In 2002, three Indian tribes, among the many groups Abramoff represents in Washington, donated over $1 million to the foundation. A
government investigation of Abramoff’s overall activities found
“more than $140,000 of foundation funds were actually sent to the
Israeli West Bank, where they were used by a Jewish settler to mobilize
against the Palestinian uprising. Among the expenditures: purchases of
camouflage suits, sniper scopes, night-vision binoculars, a thermal imager
and other material described in foundation records as ‘security’
equipment.” Ordinarily I don’t write about crooks who happen to be Jewish. Sure, we’ve got ‘em. So has every ethnic and religious group. But Abramoff charts a new high in deceitful chutzpah, a profound and revolting development, with shenanigans that enmesh both Israeli and American Jewish institutions. Jews are ardent supporters of our government’s efforts to close Arab charities in America that support Middle East terrorists. And we should be. Many such secret funnels have been found and closed down and several individuals prosecuted. That’s good. Similarly, no foundation, charity or non-profit organization ought to be sending military gear to Jews in Israel. That is the responsibility of the Israeli government and they do it well enough. Today is not 1948 when Israel, a new state, attacked from all sides, was fighting for its existence. After Abramoff, who could ever explain to the American public the difference between money channeled to Jews in the West Bank for military gear, and money going for military gear or explosives to Arabs in the Occupied Territories? (The West Bank is part of what is called the Occupied Territories by those who don’t believe Israel belongs there.) The $4 million to the Abramoff boys’ Orthodox day school, now defunct, is another can of worms. The glue that holds the American Jewish community together is our network of health, education, welfare, and religious institutions. American public policy helps support these institutions with favorable tax and other laws. The integrity and legitimacy of Hadassah, B’nai B’rith, ADL, and all the others, plus local federations, temples and synagogues, should not be compromised by anybody or any event, let alone a Washington lobbyist, a notorious wheeler-dealer like Abramoff. Published reports say that Abramoff convinced/coerced lobbying clients to contribute to his foundation, reportedly saying that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay would be appreciative, and then using at least a large portion of those monies to fund his private interests in Israel and Maryland. Congressman DeLay himself is now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee (plus a whole bunch of investigative reporters) for taking expensive trips around the world financed by other non-profits with close ties to Abramoff. Here’s a good example: one trip was charged to Abramoff’s personal credit card for $70,000 to pay for a high-class group junket. Abramoff may wear his religion on his sleeve and a yarmulke on his head, but his actions mock those symbols. How he raised and where he spent his foundation’s money makes him huge trouble for the Jewish community and fair game for this columnist and the Jewish press. Will More Jewish Babies Assure Our Future?
The problem, I tell my kids (and anyone who will listen to me) is that there aren’t enough Jewish people in the world. You want life to be easier? More restaurants you can eat in? More power at the polls? Better protection from the skinheads and KuKlus? Are you sick of being a minority everywhere you go? Does anti-Semitism tick you off, but you feel helpless to do anything about it? You’re not so helpless. Have more Jewish babies. The problem is our numbers. Because we are so few, we’re always having to recruit others to stand up for us. We wilt in the shadow of other nations. We die for alliances with powerful friends. Right now, many of us are protected by the goodly United States of America. No pogroms here. We swaddle ourselves in the Constitution, and then look nervously toward the Supreme Court. “It can’t happen here,” we tell each other. With our spare change, we sponsor events and institutions to remind America of what we’ve gone through. Aren’t we always the ones handing out the pamphlets about human rights and tolerance? Looking across the ocean at Europe, our hearts skip a beat. We send our children on pilgrimages to the death camps so they will never forget. But it’s the Europeans who need to remember. A huge Muslim population is tipping the scales all over Europe, and we can only look on in horror as anti-Semitism is rekindled in England and France. Why are the Muslims such a force to be reckoned with? Numbers. Vast replicating, multiplying numbers. “Be fruitful and multiply.” It was the first mitzvah, the first piece of advice God gave to us in Eden. Was anybody listening? The last time anyone had cause to fear the Jews was 2000 years ago when Pharoah thought that too many Jewish baby boys just might raise an army against him and ordered them killed. Fast forward to last month. The British Association of University Teachers passed a resolution to boycott Israeli academics (starting with Bar Ilan University and the University of Haifa). Like the UN Resolution that condemned Zionism as racism, it is just another line on a long rap sheet of people who are trying to smother us. But each attempt is a threat, first to reputations and dollars, later to life and limb. UNICEF reports that half of all women in the Arab world are illiterate. Human rights are ostentatiously violated everywhere in the Muslim world. Yet British academics are much more interested in condemning Israel as “a colonial apartheid state more insidious than South Africa.” That the people writing this propaganda are spreading it using technology developed in Israeli universities is ironic. That Israel has more university graduates per capita than any country on the planet and produces more high tech innovation than any place outside of Silicon Valley seems incidental. We are a small and vulnerable people, dispersed over continents, marrying late and reproducing few. It wouldn’t take too large a wave to become a tsunami for so delicate a people. The fate of Jews today is not with the anti-Zionists or the boycotters or the lobbyists or even the government of the almighty United States of America. The future of the Jewish people rests in the wombs and choices of young Jewish women. More Jewish babies? Lu Yehi. Starring in My Own Improv Show Called Motherhood
“Where’s Bambi’s mother?” my children inevitably ask each time we watch the Disney classic. “She kicked the bucket like the rest of the mothers in the Disney stories,” runs through my head, but I resist the temptation to utter my glib idea. I think for a moment during the post shotgun fire as my children’s eyes grow larger than flying saucers and come up with the answer that satisfies their young minds, “She went to Marshalls.” They go back to watching the movie and I giggle at both their innocence and my improvisation skills. Those were the days, a decade ago, when my pithy proclamation and a bowl of popcorn would pacify them. I was an omnipotent leader capable of simultaneously answering any question, drying floods of tears and making macaroni and cheese from a box seem like a gourmet meal. In reality, I was a know-it-all imposter secretly praying that they wouldn’t discover I was winging it second by second. Years passed. The questions got harder. Replacing the Disney quizzes were more perplexing queries that required deeper thought. “Why are there more Christmas trees than menorahs?” asks Rachel as we drive in the snow. “How come my friend’s mothers cook real meals?” demands Emily as we pull away from the drive-through. “Will terrorists come to our house?” asks Emily as I pick her up early from school on September 11. “Do you remember anything about polyatomic ions?” inquires Rachel as I race to the door to walk the dog before I have to respond. Lucky for me I have a gift for communication and can usually sound like I know what I’m talking about even if I haven’t a clue. I’ve learned a lot from being on the job for 16 years. Primarily, it’s vital to show up for work each and every day. When Rachel was a toddler, I read a fortune cookie that said, ”Every child needs a lap.” From my vantage point, it doesn’t matter how old that child is. Nothing can replace the feeling of being safe, loved and cherished by a parent. My kids really don’t care if I know all the answers, am brushed up on the latest fashion trends, or in the process of getting a book published. They just care if I care about them. And that’s the point. On Mother’s Day and every day, remember to show up for work. Your kids won’t mind if it’s an improv show, a reality TV gig or a Broadway musical. They just want to be part of the act, preferably in the leading roles. And they deserve it. What Is Worth Fighting For? The Answer May Not Be ‘Peace’
When the war with Iraq began, some of my neighbors put signs on their lawn that said, “Peace is the Answer.” I never did it, but I really wanted to ask them, “What is the question?” Was peace the answer to King George, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin or Slobodan Milosovic? Most people come out of the film Hotel Rwanda shaking their heads and wondering how we allowed it to happen. Is peace the answer? Perhaps, but what will bring it about? And, in the meantime, the sequel, Hotel Darfur, is being acted out. I was watching Bill Maher’s show and saw an African-American congresswoman railing against the Iraq war and saying how she didn’t think young Americans should be sent to die in Iraq. I really wished Maher had asked her if she thought any should risk their lives for the people in Africa. I suspect the answer would be the same, since I haven’t heard her crusading for any military intervention there. Is force the answer, rather than peace? Certainly not always, but waving a Magen David or a crucifix in front of murderers has never worked very well. Diplomacy sometimes is effective, but blather headquarters, better known as the UN, has done nothing to stop genocide anywhere. Speaking of Rwanda, who was President during that human catastrophe? Coincidentally, wasn’t it the same fellow who sat on his hands while Bosnia was also being ethnically cleansed? Clinton lost my support when he fiddled while Muslims burned. And isn’t it ironic, or perhaps moronic, that the media relies on the former officials whose failures were so catastrophic during that administration to pontificate on current affairs on TV and op-ed pages? The partisan retort is that Darfur is happening on Bush’s watch. The point is well taken, and this administration should have to answer for its failure to stop that slaughter. And you can be sure former Bush officials will become the media’s oracles in the next administration. In the meantime, I don’t recall hearing anyone call for U.S. military intervention to stop the slaughter in Darfur. And, by the way, was peace the answer in Bosnia? You heard lots of people screaming that the conflict there was a civil war that was none of our business, and Americans shouldn’t die to save Muslims. Clinton belatedly decided to use military force, and that did end the violence. It’s always a pleasure to hear Hollywood blowhards express their heartfelt concern for the downtrodden peoples of the world. Now that the U.S. military is bringing freedom to the Iraqi people, they’re suddenly concerned about anything our troops do that may have a negative impact on the Iraqis’ welfare. Of course, you never heard them utter a word of contempt for Saddam or express outrage over his decades of savagery. The antiwar protesters often ask why we intervened in Iraq rather than in a hundred other places ruled by ruthless dictators, but you don’t hear them calling for intervention in those other places either. We all get caught up in the debate of the moment, but does anyone stop and ask, “What is worth fighting for?” What would you fight for? What would you send your child to fight for? When I look at the next generation, I wonder if there is anything they care about enough to provoke them to join the military. Thank God there are courageous young people who do volunteer for our armed services today, who are willing to do what is necessary to protect freedom at home and around the world. But we also know that few of those volunteers are coming out of private high schools or Ivy League colleges. What if Hitler was marching through Europe today? Wouldn’t the antiwar protestors of today still be saying that there’s no reason Americans should die for the French, Germans, Poles, or Swedes? Do you think that any college students would enlist? Opponents of the war in Iraq say that Saddam never attacked the United States. Neither did Hitler. Does it require an attack on our homes to warrant military action? We love the “Never Again” mantra, but do you really believe that Americans would be willing to send their children to fight to save European Jews today? Our resources are limited and we can’t intervene everywhere to save everyone, but whenever I hear about a conflict involving genocide, I ask myself a simple question, What if they were Jews? Somehow, I’m not reassured that peace is the answer.
JCC Head Praises Planning Effort IIn
reading your reporting of the April 5th Federation board meeting (“Fed
Drives New Planning Effort,” April 8-21) I would like to offer a
correction to a statement you attributed to me. As a champion of Project
Solel (and perhaps even more importantly, a proponent of the concept of
community planning), I support the recommendation that additional funds
from the allocation process be appropriated to this new initiative. I
qualified my approval by stating that I understood that the agencies’
allocations would not be cut for this purpose. Sandy
Sheckman, Roman Catholicism: An Alternate View Irony of ironies! The “evil empire” that crucified the god of Christianity bequeathed to Roman Catholicism its structure — its outward guise. The pope is the counterpart of the Roman emperor: He too has his legions, the priests and prelates, who owe him absolute allegiance. The pope’s claim to infallibility is comparable to the emperor’s claim of divinity. The chain of command of the Church stretches from all over the world to Rome as in imperial days. The Church adopted the name of the empire and Latin as its official language. Historically, the overwhelming majority of the popes have been from Italy, or, before unification, one of its political subdivisions. Catholicism,
like the Roman Empire, is a great economic and political power, with over
a billion adherents and with landholdings scattered over every continent.
Whatever its spirit and aspirations, Catholicism has not failed to pursue
its political and economic interests. And as Rome was the enemy of the
Jews in the first century of the Common Era, the time of Jesus, so Catholicism
has been the enemy of the Jews over the millennia. Hyman
Goldin, Member Liberals Guilty of Intolerance Dov Burt Levy rightfully objects to the “left-wing, commie, pinko” label (“I was Bushwhacked at a Hadassah Function”, April 8-21). While it is a sorry fact that Jews far out of proportion to our numbers have supported and continue to support Communist tyrannies from the Soviet Union to Red China to the Viet Cong to Cuba, etc., this does not justify incivility. But let us recognize that liberals are at least as guilty as conservatives of gratuitous insults. Mr. Levy’s comparison of George W. Bush to the Tsar is, for example, unconscionable. The Tsars ended pogroms that they started; President Bush told the Palestinians in no uncertain terms that they will receive no support from America until they end terrorism — terrorism that was tolerated by every previous U.S. Administration from Eisenhower to Clinton. Where is the comparison? And who are Mr. Levy’s “hate groups and crazed bloggers?” Are they the tiny fringe that almost all Conservatives and Republicans ignore, or are they those accurate commentators who nailed Dan Rather for his document fraud and called John Kerry for his atrocious conduct after he returned from Vietnam? Calling these people “crazed bloggers” stands on the same sorry plane as calling Mr. Levy a “left-wing commie pinko.” Right-wing haters like David Duke and Pat Buchanan had no seats at the Republican table, whereas the American hating quasi-anti-Semite Michael Moore and the Israel-hating Jimmy Carter were glorified by the Democrats. Unifiers, such as pro-choicers Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani, spoke at the Republican convention. Anti-abortion liberals like Bob Casey (Senior) had previously been forbidden to speak at the Democratic convention. The problem for Mr. Levy and the “guy” from Chelsea is that we live in an area that is politically monolithic, with media to match. Only one point of view gets heard, and liberals convince themselves that their side is the only one worthy of consideration. Conservatives feel frustrated because their voice is not heard. Unfortunately, a small number of us overreact. Edward
Friedman Columnist Levy replies: I feel Mr. Friedman’s pain, even if he sneaks in some low blows. I didn’t compare Bush with the Tsar, and I didn’t say all bloggers were crazed. But most important, he libels Jews by saying that a disproportionate number of Jews support “Communist tyrannies from the Soviet Union to Red China to the Viet Cong to Cuba, etc.” Those four entities as communist government are either dead or almost gone, and mean nothing in political ideology. Communism is dead. Why does he and the Chelsea guy insist on raising communism as a specter of anti-Americanism today? A Tribute to Temple Sinai My husband Arthur and I have been members of Temple Sinai for over 40 years. We chose this temple for us and our children for the congenial family atmosphere. This feeling of mishpachah still -pervades our congregation. Respecting the dreams and goals of our founders and the concerns of our current membership, we are undergoing an exciting renovation of our main sanctuary. Even though the plans were drawn by an architect, members of both the renovation and interior design committees have the final word on design, color, and function. This process reflects the involvement of the membership. Our concern for moving into the future for the benefit of all is the hallmark of Temple Sinai. Already installed is a new state of the art sound system complete with the necessary equipment for the hearing impaired. Our family has celebrated many life cycle events at Temple Sinai, and we feel fortunate to be part of such a warm congregation. We hope all members of our community enjoy the pleasures we have experienced in their lives. Lynne
Zolot
Jewish Education Too Costly Just a brief note to let you know that it is much too expensive to have children and belong to temple and send them to Hebrew school. This is the biggest problem. Our children can’t send their children to both because of the outrageous cost. Thank God they have wonderful Jewish traditional home settings. We as grandparents can’t help them financially to have them belong to a temple any longer. They were very active but no longer due to the outrageous cost. Times have certainly changed. How sad. Name
withheld by request
KAUFMAN,
Lillian (Miller) — late of Chelsea, formerly of Lynn. Died April
22. Wife of the late Harry Kaufman. Aunt of Richard Kaufman of Charlestown,
and Kathi Talluto of North Reading. Sister of the late Louise. Sister-in-law
of the late Erwin Kaufman. Cousin of Rena Katz. (S) In Memoriam Rose Pearlman, Devoted to Family Rose (Shelcovy) Pearlman, 95, of Boston, died April 20, 2005. She was the beloved wife of the late Nath | ||||||||||||