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October 21 - November 3, 2005 |
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Local
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Local StoriesDespite Drizzle, Lynn Rally Draws Israel Supporters Ben
Harris
Braving overcast skies and intermittent drizzle, roughly 100 protesters
gathered outside the home of Martin J. McNulty on Oct. 10 to voice their
opposition to an anti-Israel sign the Lynn attorney and former mayoral
candidate had posted in the window. The protest was attended by several local dignitaries and rabbis, a large contingent of Lynn’s Russian Jewish population, and several members of the Christian Renewal Church in Salem. Herbert Belkin, an organizer of what was described as the “Israel Truth Rally,” said that the rally was a response to the recent vandalism at the Chabad synagogue in Swampscott as well as to McNulty’s sign, which he referred to as “a great lie.” “We’re
here to say that it is falsely untrue, a great lie, that must be confronted,”
said Belkin. “These events must be answered.” “Just as thousands of years ago, the call of the shofar called Israelites to defend their country,” said Belkin, “so today, thousands of years later in the twenty-first century, once again we respond to the call of the shofar to defend Israel. Thank you for answering the call of the shofar.” Belkin was followed on the makeshift podium by Tim Phelan, of the Lynn City Council. “I thought it was an insult to the people of the community,” said Phelan of the sign. “It was a matter of absolute poor taste.” The event was interrupted on several occasions by a group of four counter-protesters. Clad in Arab-style keffiyehs and brandishing Palestinian flags, the group chanted anti-Israel slogans and held signs reading “Intifada: Free Palestine,” and “Victory to the Intifada.” “How much land are you gonna steal? What about the genocide of the Palestinians?” yelled a Newton man who identified himself only as Pete. When asked how he could protest on behalf of free speech while interrupting the speech of others, Pete replied, “If you want to hear what these people have to say, turn on your TV, turn on Fox News.” Both camps traded barbs and insults and even a few fists. Some in the pro-Israel group responded with cries of “fascist.” “You don’t know history,” replied one man. A single Lynn police officer was forced to call for backup when scuffles between the two camps spilled over onto McNulty’s lawn. For the most part, however, the rally remained peaceful. State representative Doug Petersen said that despite the gloomy weather, the rally represented a ray of hope. “We will not be defeated today,” said Petersen. “This is a celebration of people coming together to defend Israel.” Petersen mentioned a trip he had taken to Israel, which he called “profound,” and he pledged to continue efforts on Israel’s behalf in the state legislature. Abraham Kelman, rabbi of Congregation Ahabat Sholom, also spoke at the rally. He later told the Journal that the sign was not acceptable political speech since the expression “land-grabbing” is meant to evoke the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” “Whenever you associate blood and Israel, we know exactly what that means,” said Kelman. Kelman added that he thought signs like McNulty’s should be illegal. McNulty told the Journal that the idea that he was deliberately conjuring up the blood libel was “ridiculous.” He described the linkage the rally’s organizers made between his sign and the vandalism at the Chabad synagogue as “the lowest and the rottenest thing.” “That just shows you how dishonest the extreme Zionists are that they would even associate me with that type of thinking,” he said. McNulty says he took the sign down during the rally because he feared it might ignite the crowd. “To the extent that the sign would have boosted the rally and given them some encouragement, I took the sign down just for the rally,” he said. “That same afternoon after the police left I put the sign up.” McNulty says the sign was only placed in the window in the first place because the Lynn Daily Item had refused to publish his letter to the editor. Lynn Teacher Cleared of Rape Charges Ben
Harris LYNN
— On June 5, 2002, a police detective arrived at the Solomon Schechter
Day School in Newton and informed Ellen Garfield, the school’s longtime
music director, that she had been accused of raping a child. That evening, the school’s headmaster phoned Garfield at home and told her not to report to school the next day. She was placed on administrative leave without pay and a letter was sent to school parents explaining her absence. Some months later, her reputation in tatters, Garfield says she was fired. Last month, a jury at Middlesex County Superior Court in Cambridge acquitted Garfield, a resident of Lynn, of all charges – two counts of rape of a child and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She got the news the week before Rosh Hashanah. “The hand that had been clutching my heart had suddenly released it,” she says. The complaints reported to the Newton Police Department on May 31, 2002 concerned events that were said to have occurred several years before. One of the incidents was alleged to have taken place in the fall of 1999 at an event at Congregation Ahabat Sholom in Lynn. Garfield was indicted in July 2002. According to Garfield’s attorney, Benjamin Entine, the court was presented with photographs taken during the event at Ahabat Sholom, as well as a blueprint of the synagogue’s floor plan, both of which, he says, demonstrate that the incident could not have occurred as alleged. Entine says he further challenged the accuser’s credibility by showing that he had approached Garfield about helping his girlfriend’s mother find employment at Schechter several weeks prior to lodging his complaint with the police. Entine says on June 14, 2002 Schechter hired the woman less than two weeks after Garfield was dismissed. “This is one of the most bizarre cases I’ve encountered in 30 years,” says Entine. After Garfield lost her job at Solomon Schechter, she found work at the Borders bookstore at Vinnin Square in Swampscott. “She does a really good job,” said Kendra Soule, the store’s assistant manager. When Soule learned of the accusations against Garfield, she found them “preposterous.” “By that time, we’d known Ellen for over a year and it just seemed ridiculous,” she said. Garfield also began teaching in the religious school at Temple B’nai Abraham in Beverly, but that job didn’t last. Garfield says she was dismissed from that position as well. Neither Temple B’nai Abraham nor the Solomon Schechter School in Newton were willing to comment for this article. The trial itself was concluded in about a week and the jury took less than a day to return a not-guilty verdict. “The blood was pounding in my head when the verdict came in,” she says. “I almost couldn’t hear them.” Garfield says that after the verdict was announced, jurors crowded around her, saying they were sorry that she had even been charged. While Garfield’s legal record has been cleared, her reputation in the community is another matter. She says that the community reaction was mixed, with some individuals offering tremendous support and others refusing. Rabbi Edgar Weinsberg of Congregation Shirat Hayam testified on Garfield’s behalf at the trial. “I have known Ellen for 17 years,” he told the Journal. “There’s no way I could ever conceive of her harming another child in any way, sexual or otherwise.” Weinsberg said that while Garfield did suffer a degree of “ostracism,” the community should restore her to the same esteem she enjoyed before the accusations. “If we fail to do so, I feel like it’s morally reprehensible and shame on us,” he said. Garfield doesn’t see that as particularly likely in the short term. “In cases such as this, you are guilty until proven innocent. I’m going to walk around with a ‘P’ on my shirt for along time,” she says, a reference to the ‘A’ worn by the adulterous character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” The ‘P’ stands for ‘pedophile.’ Entine believes the case highlights a larger problem. “The accusation itself is sufficient to cause everyone to run,” he says of charges of child sexual abuse. In the name of protection, children have been empowered to speak up when any kind of improper contact with an adult takes place. “We don’t consider its potential for abuse,” he says. Garfield won’t say whether she will pursue further legal action to clear her name. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she says. “We’ll improvise as we go along.”
Graffiti Found on Walls of Swampscott Chabad Ben
Harris Anti-Semitic graffiti was found painted across the walls of the Chabad synagogue in Swampscott on Saturday morning, Oct. 1. Two congregants discovered the vandalism in the synagogue’s social hall when they arrived for Shabbat services and promptly notified the police department. “We’re saddened and we’re deeply disappointed that this is something in general that we still have to address, and particularly before the holidays,” said Yossi Lipsker, rabbi of the Chabad of the North Shore. Initial reports differed on whether the graffiti was overtly anti-Semitic in nature. Lipsker described them as “profanities” and noted that the vandals appeared not to have entered Chabad’s sanctuary. “It doesn’t seem to be the work of an organized hate group,” said Lipsker. “The anti-Semitism aspect of it was the fact that they broke into a synagogue and wrote profanities.” Swampscott police refused comment on an active investigation, but Detective Ted Delano, who is handling the case, concurred that there was no evidence that the vandalism was the work of an organized group. Delano considers the markings to be anti-Semitic and is treating the case accordingly. “We have been in touch with the Attorney General’s office, the civil rights division, and we are treating it as a hate crime,” Delano told the Journal. Lipsker praised the sensitivity and cooperation of the police department, saying they behaved like “supreme menches.” In a letter, Lipsker described the vandalism and response of the Swampscott police department. “Senseless acts of hatred demand only one response,” wrote Lipsker. “We must retaliate with random acts of kindness.” Cohen Hillel Academy Celebrates 50th Susan
Jacobs MARBLEHEAD
— On Oct. 9, approximately 300 people gathered under cloudy skies
at Cohen Hillel Academy to mark its 50th anniversary. The ceremony was
the first in a series of events to celebrate the Jubilee Year of CHA,
one of the oldest non-Orthodox Jewish day schools in the country. The entranceway will ultimately contain dozens of engraved bricks purchased by CHA supporters. The ongoing sale of the bricks, underwritten by the Turkanis family, will allow CHA to “build the future on solid ground.” A granite plaque in the center of the walkway was donated by Slotnick, Canter and Schneider of Everett, and three park benches were donated by local families. A highlight of the afternoon was the opening of a time capsule placed in the cornerstone of the Marblehead building when it was first built more than 18 years ago. Teacher Larry Lodgen, who along with students helped load the original time capsule, ceremoniously pulled out and displayed its contents. Along with an edition of the Jewish Journal dated September 25, 1986, Lodgen found artwork, Mickey Mouse ears, a book read by the fourth grade class, a photo of the school principal, and a tape of popular music from that era. The
school will refill the time capsule with contemporary relics, and plans
to open it again 18 years hence.
Jewish Mediums Help Others Communicate With Spirit Susan
Jacobs Joanne Gerber is a friendly Marblehead native who had a bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in Swampscott. Nancy Garber is a down-to-earth former teacher who enjoys playing poker. Rita Berkowitz is an accomplished painter who was raised as an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn. The three friends are also professional psychic mediums who make their livings communicating with the spirits of those who have passed on. Gerber and Garber do spirit readings, while Berkowitz sketches portraits of the people she communicates with. “People are very skeptical about the work we do,” admits Gerber. “As a medium, I want validation and am always looking for proof.” During readings, Gerber purposely tells clients not to volunteer information. “I don’t want to know anything in the beginning. The less I hear the better,” she says. She asks the spirit to provide evidence such as names, specific memories, dates, anniversaries, objects and articles, which she then transmits to the sitter. If the medium is good, people are often astonished by what they hear. Maria Rosen of Newton attended a group reading last October. She hoped to receive a message from her father, who had passed away a year earlier. “Joanne was able to connect with him. As she gave a physical description of him, she said he was talking about Mary and Maria. Mary is my mother, and my name is Maria, which Joanne had no way of knowing. She then asked: ‘Can you understand Bolton?’ Bolton is where my parents went apple picking on many Sundays. We all went there as a family shortly before my father passed. I remember pushing him around in his wheelchair because he was too weak to walk. It brought back some nice memories, and to me, it was real proof that Joanne was really communicating with him,” she said. Debbie Harary of Holliston had a reading in February with Garber, who lives in West Roxbury. “Prior to the reading, I didn’t tell Nancy anything about myself – not even my last name. She named names and accurately described physical characteristics of my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, and my aunt Phyllis. She told me things that were so specific that I had no doubt that she was actually communicating with my relatives,” said Harary. “One of the most interesting things she said was that a grandfather on the other side was showing her a knitted yarmulke and saying, ‘David should have the yarmulke.’ Nancy didn’t know that I was Jewish or that I have a son named David who at the time was planning for his bar mitzvah (which occurred this September at Temple Israel in Natick). “After the reading, I asked my relatives if our grandfather had owned a knitted yarmulke. My sister, who lives in New York, remarked, ‘I don’t know about Grandpa, but I think Daddy had a knitted yarmulke in his tallis bag, which I have at home.’ Then suddenly I got it. My father, who was David’s grandfather, wanted him to wear the yarmulke on the occasion of his bar mitzvah!” Harary, who runs an in-home daycare center, says, “It gives you a sense that there’s more to life than what you see. During my reading, my family’s mannerisms, smells and basic essence washed over and enveloped me. I found it very comforting.” Not all Jews are so comfortable with the concept (see sidebar). “My brother is quite Orthodox, and he disapproves of this,” admits Harary. “He believes that although it may be intriguing, it’s not something you’re supposed to play around with. It’s forbidden. Yet after my dad died in 1998, we were sitting shiva and I asked Rabbi Jeremiah Wohlberg from Merrick, N.Y., about life after death. He said, ‘Just like a fish can’t experience fire doesn’t mean that fire doesn’t exist.’ That always gave me hope.” Medium Joanne Gerber believes that for the most part, the Jewish religion is tolerant of the paranormal. “The Catholic religion really frowns upon mediumship as devil worship, but the Jewish religion doesn’t really do that. Moses and Abraham were well-known mediums, and the Torah and Talmud are channeled works,” she states. Although she was raised a Conservative Jew, the 42-year-old Gerber now attends services at the Swampscott Church of Spiritualism. “There is no conversion process,” she says. “I still believe in Judaism and study the Kabbalah. There is actually a large population of Jewish people who go to spiritualist churches. I am open-minded to the theory and philosophy of all religions. I believe that all religions lead to one source, which is God,” she says.
Before a reading, Gerber silently says the Sh’ma “because it is the highest prayer to bring you closer to God.” She also wears a pendant with the Sh’ma around her neck; a cherished gift from B’nai Brith to her mother, who died several years ago. Nancy Garber was raised Jewish in Boston, but her family was not particularly religious. “I’ve always believed in God, but our family did not belong to a temple. Yet I believe that if you’re born Jewish, you’re always Jewish. The smell of matzah ball soup is always going to make you happy, and culturally you’re always connected. Now I consider myself a spiritualist. I go to “church,” but I use that word loosely for lack of a better one. It’s more like an uplifting meeting where healing is part of the service,” she says. Some of Garber’s more religious relatives (including a cousin who is a Conservative rabbi) were initially skeptical about her ability to communicate with the dead. After experiencing personal readings, she says they are now more accepting of her and her work. Psychic artist and psychological counselor Rita Berkowitz, 57, grew up Orthodox in Brooklyn. Today she is an ordained minister and pastor of the First Spiritualist Church in Quincy. “As a child I went to synagogue, but I was not sent to Hebrew school because I was a girl,” says Berkowitz, who was not allowed to participate in many of the Orthodox rituals. “I enjoyed the philosophic conversations, but I needed to experience more than I was permitted to. I became active in the Spiritualist Church as a participator. To those who call me a traitor to the Jewish religion I say, ‘I bless you on your path; I hope you will do the same for me.’” Before discovering she had the uncommon ability to see and accurately sketch spirits, Berkowitz was an accomplished artist with a studio in Boston’s South End who taught art at the college level. During readings, which can occur in person or over the phone, Berkowitz sketches a portrait of the person in charcoal or pastels. The results are so uncanny that Berkowitz has even surprised herself. “About 21 years ago I was brought by a Jewish woman to hear a rabbi speak about healing. The spirit of my grandmother, Rachel Schneider from Poland, came to me. She died in the Holocaust — I had never met her. I sketched her, and when I uncovered an old photograph of her years later, it was profound. The picture matched exactly,” she said. Yet Berkowitz did not initially embrace her new-found skills. “I was a reluctant prophet. All I wanted to do was paint. I was dragged into this, but when I realized I was helping people, I had to continue doing it. It’s emotional and stressful work. But every time I’ve tried to walk away, I get called back,” she says. Garber and Gerber also feel drawn to their work. Nancy Garber was a former school teacher who had also worked as a counselor in a mental health unit at Newton Wellesley Hospital. Although psychic since she was a child, she never considered it as a career. As she perfected her art, however, she realized being a medium “felt like a shoe that fit.” She journeyed to England to train at Arthur Findlay College, a very respected “Harry Potter” type of school which she says “was more difficult than getting my master’s at Northeastern.” Joanne Gerber holds a degree in Business Administration from Salem State College and is a former business owner. “I am college educated and could be working for a big company, but it would not be as fulfilling. I live for this work, and nothing else as a profession comes close,” she says. The popularity of television shows such as Medium and Crossing Over, and the success of Hollywood movies like The Sixth Sense, suggest that mediums have moved into the mainstream. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that people are more accepting of psychic phenomena. “Sometimes I’ll be in line at Stop & Shop and really want to tell the lady in front of me that her mother’s spirit is standing behind her. I have to hold myself back because I know that not everyone is ready for this type of information,” remarks Joanne Gerber. “But don’t be afraid to have a reading. You don’t have to believe in it, but just keep an open mind and open heart,” she suggests. California Rejects Textbook for Biases Against Jews and Hindus Sue
Fishkoff SACRAMENTO, Calif. (JTA) — In a surprise move, an advisory body to California’s board of education rejected a sixth-grade history program that Hindu and Jewish groups blasted as biased, erroneous and culturally derogatory. During a two-day hearing before the state’s curriculum development and supplemental materials commission, Jewish critics lambasted the Oxford University Press textbook and related materials for subjecting early Jewish history to a more rigid standard of proof than Christian or Muslim history; for including stories that have traditionally fomented anti-Semitism; and for misstating key concepts of Judaism. The rejection was a major upset for the prestigious publishing company, which for the first time was trying to enter the lucrative California market for teaching materials. California is the nation’s largest textbook purchaser, and often sets the tone for what is adopted by other states. David Gershwin of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles laid out for the commissioners Oxford’s depiction of the Exodus. Not only, he said, does the Oxford text note that there is no historical record of the Exodus – a caveat not included in descriptions of the seminal religious events of other faiths – it incorrectly states that the story is important to Jews mainly as a way to set themselves off from other people. When Jewish groups asked Oxford to change that passage to reflect the importance of the Exodus as a story of national and personal liberation, they were rebuffed. “It is difficult for us to comprehend why the beliefs of other religions are presented without critical comment, while the essential event of Judaism is subjected to a historical analysis that can only be described as disdainful and highly subjective,” Gershwin testified. One Hindu speaker pointed to a chapter called “Where’s the Beef?” and said it offended him to have his faith presented “in the manner of an outdated television ad.” Following the public criticism, 14 commissioners voted against adopting the Oxford materials, and one commissioner abstained. Their rejection came as a surprise because a special review committee had recommended its adoption to the commission. California has mandated the study of religion since 1987. Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are studied in sixth grade, and Islam is covered in seventh grade. Oxford is one of 12 publishers whose programs were being considered for adoption by the state of California, which means school districts can use state money to purchase them. The curriculum commission rejected the programs of two other publishers as well, but those had not been recommended by the review committee, which said they did not meet state standards. The state board of education will make its final decisions on all the programs on Nov. 3. Although Jewish groups picked out Oxford’s materials as the most egregious, none of the publishers escaped criticism. Jackie Berman, educational consultant of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council, and policy analyst Susan Mogull, spent the last few months poring over the offerings of all the programs vying for the California market. Speaking for the JCRC’s new Institute for Curriculum Services project, they sent extensive reviews of the proposed materials to state commissioners in late August. Their reviews said that “many of the texts contain narrations of the Crucifixion that blame or clearly implicate the Jews, presentations of the parable of the Good Samaritan that identify uncaring passers-by as Jews, and Paul as a persecutor of Christians when he was the Jewish Saul — all of these have been used throughout history as a means of implanting anti-Semitism in young minds.” Berman said that while other publishers “worked well with us” to resolve issues of concern to the Jewish community. The Oxford team did not. In a Sept. 27 memo to the curriculum commission, Oxford University Press criticized the Institute for Curriculum Services’ concerns as “an apologetic defense of Judaism” and said the Jewish group was “not looking for historical objectivity but a religious agenda.” The Oxford response stated it “is not relevant” to bring up how the Good Samaritan parable may have been used by anti-Semites through history. “Many religious texts in all traditions have been used to justify bad behavior,” the memo said. On the contrary, said Anne Eisenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women. “Jew hatred still exists and, in some places, thrives,” she told the commissioners. “This is a book that millions of children could potentially read,” Berman added. In addition to rejecting the Oxford text, the curriculum commission passed a motion requiring publishers to make changes requested by the Institute for Curriculum Services before their programs can be adopted by the state board in November. After the hearing, Oxford University Press representatives said they had “misunderstood” the public comment procedure, and are eager to work with Jewish and Hindu groups to make needed changes before November, when they plan to resubmit their program to the California state board. “We will be reaching out to the Jewish and Hindu organizations that brought up specific issues in our text, so they’ll feel comfortable withdrawing their objections,” Casper Grathwohl, the reference division publisher of Oxford University Press, told JTA after the hearings. The “Where’s the Beef?” chapter heading was intended “to grab readers’ attention,” said Amanda Podany, a co-author of one of the Oxford sixth-grade textbooks. “No offense was intended,” she said, and the heading will “certainly” be changed. Both she and Grathwohl say that the Oxford series devotes more space to Judaism than the other course programs under consideration. This both indicates their serious interest in the topic, and provides more to criticize, they said.
A Lesson in Harmony: Peace Through Music Susan
Jacobs Music might be the bridge that unites Israelis with Palestinians. At the very least, experts believe, music can help teach people from divergent cultures how to live together harmoniously. Conductor Daniel Barenboim, composer Yuval Ron and Brandeis professor Judtih Eissenberg (among others across the nation and globe) are working to build Middle East peace through music. “Music ‘sings’ of the diversity of the many cultures of the world. It can be a profound entry into a deeper exploration of the multiculturalism we embrace and are also challenged by,” says Eissenberg. The Brandeis faculty member is director of MusicUnitesUs, an organization founded in 2003 to further the understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures through music. This week, MusicUnitesUS hosts the Los Angeles-based Yuval Ron Ensemble for four days worth of workshops, concerts and classes in Waltham. The Ensemble is comprised of Israeli, Lebanese, Armenian, French and American musicians from decidedly different backgrounds whose common mission is to build peace through music. On Saturday, Oct. 22 at Brandeis, the Yuval Ron Ensemble presents a performance open to the public entitled, The Mystical Music of the Middle East. The intercultural collaboration unites the traditions of Judaism, Sufism (Islamic mysticism) and Christianity, featuring Sufi songs from Turkey, Jewish prayers from Morocco, Yemen and Israel, and Armenian chants. Aziz, a Sufi, will perform the sacred Whirling Dervish dance. Formed in 1999. the ensemble is led by Israeli-born composer/producer Yuval Ron, a 1989 graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He has recorded five solo albums and composed numerous film, television, modern dance and theatrical scores. The
ensemble’s latest release, “Tree of Life,” intertwines
music from Morocco, Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Armenia, Andalusia, and Bukhara
(Uzbekistan). The songs are sung in Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino (a Spanish-Jewish
language) and Turkish. “The Yuval Ron Ensemble represents a vision of hope about the possibility of peace in the Middle East,” says Eissenberg, who in addition to being a Brandeis professor is a violinist who performs with the Lydian String Quartet. “We wanted to address the conflict in the Middle East by bringing the power of the arts to the peace table.” “The
Yuval Ron Ensemble weaves together the music of cultures that are often
seen as being at odds,” agrees Cynthia Cohen, co-chair of the Intercultural
Residency Series at Brandeis. “Their evocative performance invites
us to experience these three traditions brought into harmony, resonating
with each other and inspiring a yearning for reconciliation.” When he was older and had established himself as an internationally acclaimed conductor and musical director, Barenboim partnered with Palestinian intellectual Edward Said to spearhead a revolutionary experiment. In 1999, they invited young musicians from Israel and the Middle East to spend several weeks together during the summer studying music and reflecting on the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Young people, who might otherwise never have met, shared music stands and living quarters. They ate together, played soccer with each other, dialogued, and created music. The results were profound. The focus of the West-Eastern Divan Workshop and Orchestra was to initiate harmony, not debate political ideology. Although Said died in 2003, Barenboim has continued the project each summer with other musicians including the celebrated cellist Yo Yo Ma. Hundreds of Arab, Israeli and Western students have participated. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has toured each summer since 2002, performing to enthusiastic reviews in the United States, Europe and South America. The 2005 tour culminated in late August with a concert in Ramallah, which Barenboim viewed as a declaration of reconciliation and harmony. Barenboim, who has worked as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1991 but plans to leave at the end of this season, was recorded leading the 2004 ensemble in concert in Geneva. On this recently-released CD, the young musicians perform serious, dramatic selections such as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, the Overture from Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, and Sibelius’ Valse Triste. Warner Classics has packaged the CD with “Lessons in Harmony,” a DVD documentary about Barenboim’s peace-making project. The Yuval Ron Ensemble performs at 8 p.m. Oct. 22 at Brandeis University. Tickets are $20/adults; $10/students and seniors. A free pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. features musicologist Kay Kaufman Shelemay.For details, call 781-736-3400.
Festival Screens Two Films in Danvers Susan
Jacobs North Shore residents who want to take part in this year’s Boston Jewish Film Festival need go no further than Hollywood Hits in Danvers. Thanks to support from the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, and the Benjamin Olanoff Community Endowment Fund, the 17th annual BJFF will screen two films at the local cinema. The two movies to be shown in Danvers are “Campfire,” which will be followed by a dessert reception/discussion at the JCC in Marblehead, and “The First Time I Was Twenty.” “‘Campfire’ is an Israeli feature film that won a number of 2004 Israel Film Academy Awards and should appeal to a broad audience with an interest in Israel,” according to BJFF executive director Sara Rubin, “‘The First Time I Was Twenty’ stars up-and-coming actress Marilou Berry (who also starred in ‘Look At Me,’ which played in Boston last year), and is a delightful comedy. These two films were selected to screen in Danvers because they make a complementary pairing.” Both films explore the themes of feminism, community, companionship and belief in one’s own ability and strength. “Campfire” But just when the settlers overcome their reservations and decide to accept the Gerlik family, Rachel’s daughter Tami is molested at a Lag Ba’Omer bonfire by some boys from her youth movement. When the girl is accused of bringing the attack on by being flirtatious, Rachel must choose between hushing up the incident (as the people from the settlement request) or fighting to save her daughter’s reputation. The ensuing crisis cements Rachel’s relationship with her daughters and helps her become more aware of her own strength. The film raises complex and thought-provoking issues about feminism, sexuality and being alone. Although “Campfire” is the story of one woman’s personal journey, it is also a portrait of a movement that had a profound effect on the country of Israel, as well as on the film’s director. Joseph
Cedar, who was born in New York but emigrated to Israel with his family
when he was a youngster, is the celebrated director of “Time of
Favor,” winner of six Israeli Academy Awards. He was thirteen when
most of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank were established. Although
his observant Zionist family did not personally participate in the movement,
many of his friends’ families did, making a big impression on him.
As with Cedar’s previous work, “Campfire” tells the
story of the insular settler community of Israel from an insider’s
perspective. “The
First Time I Was Twenty” The feisty femme (played by Marilou Berry) is smart and funny, but she is overweight and not particularly attractive. A double bass player, she yearns to become a member of the high school jazz band. The ensemble, which is all male, does not want a female aboard and they do everything they can to discourage her. Despite the -opposition, she auditions anyway. Viewers can’t help but pull for the underdog with two strikes against her: she’s a girl, and she’s Jewish. Although this charming period piece is set in the 1960s, the film, by first-time director Lorraine Lévy, portrays a universal story about teenage angst, fitting in, and being accepted by one’s peers. “Campfire” screens at Hollywood Hits in Danvers at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6. “The First Time I Was Twenty” screens at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Tickets for both films are $10/general admission; $9/seniors, students, BJFF, MFA, CCT, and WGBH members. Advance tickets for these films can be purchased at the JCCNS in Marblehead. For details, phone 781-631-8330. For general information about the festival, call 617-244-9899 or visit www.bjff.org. Charles Ponzi: The Man Who Invented The Swindle Ben
Harris It’s not easy to turn one’s name into an adjective. Freud managed to do it. So did the painter Peter Paul Rubens and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. And so did Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant whose name has become synonymous with financial scandal. Like so many immigrants, Ponzi arrived in the New World flush with ambition and dreams of streets paved with gold. But unlike the tired and poor who flooded American shores in the early twentieth century, Ponzi was uninterested in hard work and perseverance. He wanted to get rich, and get rich quick. His taste for the good life originated as a university student in Rome, where he hobnobbed with the children of privilege and enjoyed the city’s thriving cafe life. But the modest stipend provided by his family couldn’t cover Ponzi’s lavish expenditures, and he left the university in disgrace. It was the first of many failures Ponzi would endure on the road to financial notoriety. Ponzi arrived in Boston in 1903 and drifted from one job to another, always dreaming of the next scheme that would make him fabulously wealthy and provide for the lifestyle he felt was rightly his. The plan that ultimately made his name, described in glorious detail by Mitchell Zukoff in his new book “Ponzi’s Scheme,” was a simple variation of the age-old scam of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Ponzi established a front — the Securities Exchange Company — and promised investors fantastic rates of return. So long as money poured into his coffers at an accelerating rate, Ponzi could keep the ruse alive. Zuckoff thrillingly recreates the Boston of the 1920s, a world of robber barons, crooked politicians, and hard-knuckled newspapermen. It was the beginning of a decade we now think of as roaring and where the ascendant wealth and progress of the United States made nothing too good to be true, even a 50 percent return on investments in 45 days. As Zuckoff describes it, “In 1920, anything seemed possible. Especially when it came to money. A new ethos was emerging, one that would reshape what it meant to be an American. No more pennies saved and pennies earned. Money was best when it arrived fast, easy, and in large quantities.” Though hardly one to dwell on the ethical shortcomings of his plan, Ponzi didn’t set out to be a schemer. His business plan, such as it was, was born of his discovery of International Reply Coupons, a sort of postal currency meant to facilitate overseas commerce. Ponzi believed that by purchasing quantities of the coupons in one country and redeeming them for higher prices in Boston, he could exploit currency fluctuations and make millions. By the time he discovered there was no way to redeem the coupons for cash, he was already deeply in debt but had acquired a glowing reputation amongst the hordes of Bostonians who believed he possessed the Midas touch. So with unfailing confidence that he would find a way to make good on his promises, Ponzi soldiered on. Everything went swimmingly so long as long as the money continued to pour in. And for a time, it did. At its height in July 1920, the Securities Exchange Company took in $6.5 million in a single month. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $69,578,121. In its seven months of operations, Ponzi attracted 30,000 investors. But like all good things, this one, too, came to an end. Once the confidence of investors had been punctured, his fall was quick. Ponzi plead guilty to fraud charges in November 1920 and was sentenced to five years in jail. Zuckoff, who teaches journalism at Boston University, has a novelist’s ear for narrative. He relishes in descriptions of the Ponzi mansion on Slocum Road in Lexington, the aspiring financier’s eagerness for acceptance by the Brahmins that lorded over Boston, and his modest wife who wanted only a simple life with her husband and children. The picture that emerges is not one of a ruthlessly immoral financier, but of a gentle soul seeking comforts for his wife and the approval of his mother. Even in the age of Enron, Ponzi’s scheme is shocking in its audacity. When rising suspicion threatened to bring him down, Ponzi went on the offensive, inviting the authorities to audit his books. When investors began lining up outside his offices demanding their money, Ponzi styled himself as a man of the people, escorting old ladies through the mobs and generously tipping the newsboys. Ponzi was flamboyant and charming, dressing like a well-heeled dandy and flaunting his fabulous house and his shiny Locomobile, the priciest car in the country at the time. His consumption patterns have more in common with contemporary movie stars or professional athletes with than captains of industry. Even the Boston Post, which doggedly pursued him throughout the summer of 1920, acknowledged his “bubbling vivacity, his boundless imagination, his smooth and ready tongue, coupled with a remarkable and winning charm.” But in Zuckoff’s account, Ponzi is not the villainous forbearer of Ken Lay and Dennis Kozlowski. He’s a tragic figure trying to make his rags-to-riches dreams come true. One finds oneself rooting for Ponzi to find a way out of the jam even as we know the story cannot end well. Unlike the robber barons of our current gilded age, Ponzi was not interested in turning his millions into billions, but in living out the American Dream. And it’s hard to resist a man with a dream. Mitchell Zukoff will be appearing Nov. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore as part of Jewish Book Month. . When to Defend Israel Nahant
Street in Lynn was the scene of a remarkable show of unity last week.
A sign on display in a second story window, accusing Israel of “land-grabbing”
and “bleeding America,” drew together various diverse constituencies.
The Jewish community stood shoulder to shoulder with its Christian friends.
Rabbis stood with lay leaders. North Shore natives stood with a healthy
representation from the Russian Jewish community. And elected officials
expressed solidarity with their outraged constituents. But not everyone in the community felt that way, and they raised an entirely reasonable point: Calling out the cavalry in response to one man’s sign would afford it far more attention than it would otherwise command. The rally would also provide a ready-made platform for Israel’s antagonists to make their voices heard. The presence of several Palestinian supporters intent on disrupting the proceedings shifted the focus of coverage, in this newspaper and others, from a display of unified support for the State of Israel to a confrontation between two opposing views of the conflict in the Middle East. It should not be controversial to suggest that there are times when silence is the appropriate response to the claims of extremists. It has been common practice, for example, to refuse to engage Holocaust deniers in debate. Doing so would lend a certain credibility to their claims and make it appear that denying the Nazi crimes against the Jewish people is simply another point of view. For the most part, the strategy has succeeded. Holocaust denial has been largely banished from the mainstream and few afford such claims any legitimacy. Whether intentionally or not, the rally has demonstrated the exact opposite of the views expressed by the window sign in Lynn. The counter-demonstrators showed that the belief that Israel is a land-hungry nation does have supporters. Anyone present at the rally knows that the pro-Palestinian contingent wasn’t interested in engaging in any kind of discussion, only in raising a ruckus. But it is far from clear whether or not they will be regarded as a lunatic fringe that will be readily dismissed or as a legitimate strain of political opinion to be taken seriously. That is for the public to decide. It is for our community to decide whether that’s a reasonable risk to take. Is the price to be paid in anti-Israel publicity worth the unified demonstration that took place in Lynn? That decision can only be made though the type of reasoned, public discussion in which the counter-demonstrators showed absolutely no interest. The Jewish community must allow itself to consider whether and when to call for a massive protest and when to allow opposing views, wrongheaded as they may be, to simply stand. Thus far, it seems, that discussion has yet to take place.
Who Says a Man Cannot Have a New Year Makeover?
I need a makeover. I’m not talking about Botox, plastic surgery, or some pricey makeup at Saks or Macy’s. No, I’m talking about improving my health, building my strength, boosting my physical fitness. I am not the most obese or the least exercised guy around. I just have this high cholesterol gene that requires that I be at the top of my form, not just so-so. Cholesterol-laden fatty deposits clog arteries all over the body and require surgery (now including stents) to keep the blood flowing. I’ve had three open-heart surgeries. And three weeks ago, my carotid artery, responsible for blood flow to my brain, got a cleanout at Beth Israel Hospital. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for your pity, money, or time. I just want you to remember this public commitment. That way, when you see me at the JCC, or the supermarket, or anywhere else, just give me thumbs up or thumbs down, whichever I deserve. Thumbs up if I am working out at the gym or in the pool; thumbs down if I am eating cake or junk food. Thumbs up if my supermarket cart contains fruits, vegetables, oatmeal and fish. Thumbs down for almost everything else, especially salt filled canned goods and red meat. Here’s the whole story. I had my first coronary bypass operation at age 47. Pre-surgery, I bargained for more time and promised I would improve my weight, strength and muscles. The promise was easy, implementation hard. Working in Washington D.C., while I sat at desks, in conferences or traveling, I came to believe that I needed a dramatic change. I didn’t want to die while dictating a memo or chairing a meeting. My father had died at 51 of heart disease, just before bypass surgery became common. I had previously spent four months in Israel on two trips. So, I flew from Washington to Kibbutz Afek, north of Haifa, and began what became almost three years of work in the orchards. By 5 a.m., we were in the fields for eight hours of work that I followed later in the day with jogging, bicycle riding, and sports. A new Dov emerged like a bear from hibernation. Falling in love with Israel happens in many ways: Zionist groups, a visit to the country, attending Jewish day schools or summer camps. But for me, a former president of the Student-Zionist Organization at Boston University, nothing compared with months of planting, weeding, picking, pruning on a kibbutz that judged you by your quality and commitment to work, not on your college degrees, wealth or social status. A dozen years later, when I had my second bypass, I had left the kibbutz, was a professor in Tel Aviv, and in less than top physical shape. My second makeover involved my becoming, what I called, a fitness-travel writer. For one month every year, I traveled to a new country, walked six to eight hours a day, did aerobic classes, ate mostly rice and vegetables and returned home thinner, stronger and healthier than when I left. Plus, I had a story to write. Besides, walking a city for five to eight hours a day, checking out every shop, school, hospital, university, library and museum, allows you to know places and people better than you do at home where we drive the same road and see the same people every day. Today, following my Beth Israel surgery, the makeover will not be on a kibbutz or in lengthy international travel. For the next year, I will make good use of the health, exercise and nutrition programs of the Jewish Community Center. I will be at the JCC and walking and biking around town a lot. Your thumbs up or thumbs down will be a big help. A smile and conversation would be great, too.
A New Year’s Promise to Be More Patient
“Oh my gawd, we have so many pop-ups, I am going to smash the computer if I can’t do my homework this instant,” bellows Rachel from my office. “Mommy, where are you? I’ve been waiting outside the school for 30 seconds?” demands Emily. “Growl, ruff,” whines Scout as he taps his paw on the kitchen tile as I rush to serve his kibbles. “Everybody needs something this instant,” I think as I scan boxes in the grocery store for meals that can be made in less than three minutes and don’t involve chopping stuff or tinkering with raw meat. I
anxiously wait at the public library thinking I can telepathically move
the reference librarian’s fingers quicker on the keyboard. “You need to slow down sister,” I think as I wait at the red light for what feels like four hours and unsuccessfully try to multi-task drinking coffee and talking on my cell phone. I am wandering the planet on high alert and haven’t yet figured out why. It’s time to slow down and look around. It is the day after Yom Kippur. I have spent the last couple of days looking in the mirror of my soul to define how I can be a better person. I am going on public record to say that in the Jewish Year 5766 Stacey Marcus will be the paragon of patience. If any of my beloved readers see me honking my horn in traffic, throwing blocks in the pediatrician’s office or cutting lines in the library, I want you to remind me of my oath. Why I chose this facet of my personality to change this year is curious when it’s Emily’s Bat Mitzvah year and the year that Rachel is beginning to look at colleges. I
guess my epiphany is that I realize that everything always works out the
way it is supposed to, so why not enjoy the ride? I shared my revelation with Mitch and told him that I was going to get up 15 minutes earlier every day to walk the dog and reflect on the bounty of our life. Today was day one. It was rainy and the alarm went off late. I patiently thought…there’s always tomorrow. Openness, Laughter, Intellectual Fire: A Prescription for Chevrusa
Sonya introduced us when Yoni, my third, was a babe in arms, and Alex, her first, was just a few weeks old. “It’s a good shidduch,” she said. “You’re both bright, Jewish women at home with kids. You can keep each other company.” That was how Dorothy and I met, at a moment when I was up to my eyeballs with small children, play dates and car seats, and she was a brand new mom, in the middle of building an ambitious addition to her house. “What are you doing with your old cabinets?” I asked her. I needed a new kitchen, but was funneling all my cash into my first day school tuition, which loomed large. Dorothy looked at me like I was demented. What did I want with her old cabinets? And why did I persist in talking about them, calling her at home later in the day to ask again if I could buy them. When Dorothy and Ken came to dinner — I had to invite them because they had no kitchen — my kids misbehaved badly, her baby threw up repeatedly, and I continued my obsession with her kitchen cabinets. To ease the tension, Ken did his Woody Allen impression and Steve explained his dissertation — the history of economic historiography. We all sat around and stared awkwardly at each other. Thank you, Sonya — some shidduch! But of course it was. When a writer who wants to be a psychiatrist and a psychiatrist who wants to be a writer meet — and when they are both ambitious Jewish women, both Freudians, feminists, both struggling to shift gears from professional to maternal — of course there is combustion. Baruch HaShem, I have been blessed with many good friends in my lifetime. But when I met Dorothy, I discovered something beyond friendship. I found my chevrusa. In the Eastern European yeshiva, there were two methods of Torah study. One was the shiur, the formal lesson taught by a rabbi to a class. The other method — what many consider the highest mode of learning — occurred within a chevrusa, a learning partnership. (Chevrusa, deriving from the Hebrew word chaver, “friend,” is the Aramaic word for one-on-one study.) The rabbis understood that a student studying alone could go only as far as his abilities allowed. When he got to a difficult passage and could go no further, his only alternative was to close the book. But a student with a study partner could leverage the knowledge of his friend. Where one was weak the other might be strong. And so they could proceed from strength to strength. Properly paired intellectually, study partners could together develop questions and insights that would elude each of them separately, but transform both of them spiritually. Each could inspire the other to grow through partnership, challenge, and constant repartee. According to Rabbi Akiva, chevrusa is one of the most beautiful and intense relationships in life. Dorothy is one of my best friends. But I recognize her uniquely as my chevrusa, the person who gets under my skin and challenges me to achieve what I couldn’t or wouldn’t have attempted myself. Together, Dorothy and I have processed events and ideas better than either of us could have alone: infertility, birth, marriage, the death of loved ones, life-threatening illness, Jewish education, meaningful work, Diaspora life, faith, the Holocaust, SSRIs, Yiddishkeit, Zionism, and especially childrearing — all within our quirky partnership incorporating openness, laughter, intellectual fire. I wonder if two men, studying any text, can plumb the depths as deeply as two women who are wives, mothers, feminists and Freudians. Sonya was right about the shidduch. Several kitchens later, it’s quite a chevrusa.Give yourself a gift and heed the instructions of Pirke Avot when it tells all Jews to k’nah lecha haver, Go out and get yourself a study partner.
Simchat
Torah/Bereishit 5766
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 5766 are now past. We are in the middle of celebrating Sukkot and soon we will return to the warmth of our homes. However, we have one more holiday to celebrate: Simchat Torah. This last holiday celebrates the completion of the annual Torah reading cycle with dancing and great joy. We have achieved a great accomplishment. We have completed the holy task of reading and studying God’s word. With the holidays and the Torah now finished you might ask, “Can we take a break?” The Jewish answer is “No, you may not take a break.” Instead we sit back down, roll the scrolls back to Bereishit and start the cycle again from the beginning. The lesson behind this practice is that the Torah never ceases to teach us new ideas. The Torah is a great piece of literature and like other literature it is open to many interpretations and readings. The rabbis teach, “There are seventy faces to the Torah. Turn it around and around, for everything is in it.” (Bamidbar Rabba 13:15) The way we turn the text around is by asking questions and seeking answers. Questions pique our curiosity and force us to look more closely at the text. To aid us in our study, many commentaries were written on the Torah. The most famous commentator is Rabbi Shlomo Yitchaki (1040–1105), better known by the acronym Rashi. In his commentary, Rashi asks the most basic questions of literary meaning. He asks about the meaning of a story or a verse and he even asks about single words and letters. Rashi then attempts to answer his questions based on rabbinic Midrash and grammar. The traditional way to study a comment of Rashi is to focus on the question first. We should ask, “What prompted Rashi to ask the question? What did Rashi think was lacking from the text’s plain meaning?” For example, Rashi’s first comment on Bereishit quotes Rabbi Yitchak’s question of why the Torah begins creation and follows Abraham’s family into Egypt. Rashi is bothered by the fact that Genesis is entirely narrative while the Torah is primarily a law book expressing the will of God. What is the purpose of Genesis in the Torah? Rashi’s answer is that Genesis shows that the entire world is God’s dominion. God is not just the God of the Israelites, but the creator of the entire world. This is not the only answer we could give to the question, as Genesis is about more than just God creating the world. What is more important is the question. By reading Rashi we become sensitized to how to ask questions. It is really our own questions on the text that make Torah study so rewarding and holy. As we sit back down to reread Bereishit, may you be full of questions. Israeli Nobel Winner Should Be Honored as a Teacher and a Scholar
The two winners of the 2005 Nobel prize in economics were announced the other day: Thomas Schelling, now at the University of Maryland, before that for many years at Harvard, and Robert J. Aumann of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Paul Samuelson aside, the winners of the Nobel in economics are not usually well-known by the (educated) general public, and Aumann in particular fits that description; they generally work on somewhat esoteric subjects that are not part of conventional daily discourse. In the case of Schelling and Aumann, the field to which they have made the immense contributions that were the occasion for the prize is called game theory. When I learned of the award, that is just about all I knew, save that Aumann has long been affiliated with the Hebrew University’s Center for the Study of Rationality. And there I might have left it had I not chanced upon a photo of Aumann that appeared in the Israeli press the day after the announcement. I confess: I begin with the assumption that a distinguished professor who holds dual citizenship as an American and an Israeli, whose Ph.D. is from M.I.T., and whose field is “rationality” is going to look — well, familiar to me. But no: Aumann, who is 75 years old, has a long — very long — white beard and there, perched on his head, is a yarmulke. So much for idle stereotypes. Thus caught unawares, I was intrigued. Who is this man, and what is he about? Well, he is of course “about” game theory. We’ll get to that. But the biographical details are not without interest. Aumann came to the United States with his family, from Germany, when he was eight years old, on the eve of the Second World War; he made aliyah when he was 26 and has since then been a member of the Department of Mathematics at Hebrew University. As to why he chose to emigrate to Israel, we have his own words, delivered at a ceremony honoring his award. The president of Hebrew University, Menachem Magidor, spoke first and lamented the condition of higher education in Israel. “I’m convinced,” he said, “that for the next ten years, Israeli scientists will be winning Nobel prizes, but they are the fruit of the investment of the last 30 to 40 years. But will there be a Nobel prize-winning scientist in another 30 to 40 years? I have major doubts about that.” And he then launched into a critique of inadequate government investment in higher education. Magidor was followed by Science and Technology Minister Matan Vilnai, who described a program he’s initiated to encourage Israeli scientists to return to Israel after they’ve studied abroad. And then Aumann: “If a scientist chooses to work in the United States, good luck to him. This country [Israel] is for those who want to work in it, and those who have the determination, spiritual devotion and sensitivities. I wanted to come and live here.” Now there’s a free market for you. A word about game theory, lest it remain an undecipherable mystery, this in the language of the Rationality Center itself: “[Game theory] studies what happens when rational agents with different goals interact, each making its own decisions on the basis of what is best for itself, while taking into account that the others are doing the same. These ideas underlie much of economic theory, and have also had an important influence in [many other fields].” Surely the most curious area within the Rationality Center is the Behavior Lab, wherein the behavior of bumblebees is studied. Among the several questions of interest to the ecologists who work there: Can bees count? Go figure, as it were. Aumann is the author of an intriguing (and quite accessible) paper, “Game Theory in the Talmud.” (The paper is dedicated to the memory of his son, Shlomo, a “Talmudic scholar and man of the world,” who fell in the first days of Israel’s war in Lebanon in 1982.) The paper takes a defiantly cryptic problem in bankruptcy that appears in the Babylonian Talmud: If a man dies leaving debts that are larger than his estate can pay, how should his estate be divided among his creditors? While the problem is common, the Talmud’s proposed solution has stumped scholars until now. But, armed with game theory, Aumann uncovers what may have been, or perhaps must have been, the logic of the ancient sages. Along his elegant way, we learn that Aumann is not only a distinguished mathematician and an imposing figure in game theory, but also a close student of the Talmud. All this might easily have elicited a dayenu; enough for the Nobel committee, enough for sure, for me. But it is actually something else that caught my eye as I poked into the biography and work of the laureate. I have taught in three universities and have, in that context, read quite carefully the curriculum vitae of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of scholars. One learns what to expect: The academic appointments, the major lectures, the consulting work, the visiting professorships and honorary degrees. Aumann’s is the first I have ever seen that includes, as well, the names of the doctoral dissertation candidates he has supervised. Why? At the same Hebrew University ceremony I mentioned above, he spoke of what he had learned from his wife, who died seven years ago: The students are the real prize. “The Nobel prize is a wonderful thing . . . but I don’t think that winning the Nobel prize is the peak … There will always be research, students, and students of students, until the end of generations.” I hope the Nobel citation says not only “extraordinary scholar,” but also: Teacher. He deserves it..
Cascades of Third-World Immigrants Put Europe under Siege
Two recent stories dramatically illustrate Europe’s looming immigration problem. One concerns a gang estimated to have smuggled 100,000 illegal immigrants, mainly Turkish Kurds, into Great Britain. These economic migrants paid between £3,000 and £5,000 to be transported via an elaborate and dangerous route. The Independent explains: “Their journeys lasted several weeks and involved safe houses, lorries with secret compartments and, in some cases, clandestine flights to airfields in the South-east.” A senior British police source commented, “It’s a tortuous journey, full of discomfort and danger, but they are determined to get here, given the particular attraction of London’s established Turkish community.” Turks are hardly alone in wanting access to Europe. The second story concerns human waves of impoverished sub-Saharan Africans storming and breaching fences to enter two tiny Spanish enclaves on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla. Until recently, these Iberian vestiges of the Crusades appeared to be curious remnants of a bygone age. Now, however, they are (along with the Canary Islands, Lampedusa, and Mayotte) among the European Union’s most isolated and vulnerable entry points, stepping stones feeding illegal immigrants to the whole of the European Union. Melilla is a town of 60,000 with a six mile border with Morocco, protected by Spanish Legion and Moroccan civil guard units, high fences bristling with razors, and the latest anti-personnel technology (sensor pads, movement detectors, spotlights, infrared cameras). The typical African migrant travels across the Sahara desert to reach the Mediterranean coast, where he idles nearby until the right moment for a run to Spanish territory. “We were just tired of living in the forest,” explained a young man from Guinea-Bissau. “There was nothing to eat, there was nothing to drink.” In mid-September, the Africans began assaulting the frontier en masse. Deploying crude ladders made of branches, they used their weight to bring the fences down in places. As one of them put it, “We go in a group and all jump at once. We know that some will get through, that others will be injured and others may die, but we have to get through, whatever the cost.” The tactic works. When over 1,000 persons tried to enter Melilla at a single go in September, an estimated 300 succeeded. In early October, 650 persons ran for the fence and 350 are said to have made it. “There were just too many of us,” to be stopped, observed one Malian. An estimated 30,000 more Africans await their turn. The confrontation can resemble a pitched battle. The Africans throw rocks at the security forces, which respond with bayonets, shotguns, and rubber bullets. The assaults left about a dozen Africans dead, some trampled in the rush to Spanish territory, others shot by Moroccan police. Madrid eventually prevailed on Rabat to crack down on the remaining Africans-in-waiting, which obliged by flying some 2,000 of them to their countries of origin and exiling another 1,000 to Morocco’s southern desert, far from the Spanish enclaves. The removal was done with some brutality, dumping the Africans and leaving them to fend off the harsh elements almost without help. But the unwelcome signal was received. “I will go back now,” said another Malian, in tears. “I will not try to come back. I am exhausted.” Modern communications and transportation increasingly inspire Turks, Africans, and others (such as Mexicans) to leave their native lands, taking extreme risks if necessary, to reach the West’s near-paradise. In response, Europeans are baring their teeth, brushing aside multicultural pieties such as Kofi Annan’s statement that “What is important is that we don’t make a futile attempt to prevent people from crossing borders. It will not work.” But preventing people from crossing borders is very much on the agenda; it is probably only a matter of time until other Western states follow Spain and Australia and resort to military force. Giant smuggling rings and human waves cascading over fortified positions represent the starkest manifestations of profound and growing dilemmas: how islands of peace and plenty survive in an ocean of war and deprivation, how a diminishing European population retains its historic culture, and how states from Turkey to Mali to Mexico solve their problems rather than export them With no solutions in sight, however, there is every reason to expect these problems to worsen.
Clinician Responds to Baram This letter is my personal and professional response to the letter by Pinchas Baram in the Jewish Journal (Oct. 7). I was shocked, saddened, and angered by Dr. Baram’s letter. Mostly, though, I found his letter to be | |||||||||||||||||