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October 7 - October 20, 2005 |
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Local
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Local StoriesState
Considers Barring Questions About Past Travel to Israel Ben
Harris “I was 35 years old, in good health, and unable to get a policy,” says Samuels. “I tried for over a year to get a life insurance policy that was respectable for my family and was turned down on the basis that I had traveled to Israel.” Rabbi
of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, Samuels was informed through
an insurance broker that Northwestern Mutual, Mass Mutual, and several
other companies had deemed his application “incomplete.” Now, Jewish leaders are seeking to pass a similar law in Massachusetts. A bill introduced in the state legislature would prohibit insurers from canceling or denying coverage, or from charging a higher rate, on the basis of “past lawful travel experiences or future lawful travel plans.” Samuels, who says he opposes the practice on principle, is slated to testify at a hearing on the bill. “I think it’s kind of crazy,” says State Representative Daniel E. Bosley, a Democrat from western Mass. who sponsored the bill. “We pay [insurance premiums] based on actions we take,” said Bosley. “If you’re traveling to someplace that has had trouble in the past, it doesn’t mean you’re going to have trouble in the future.” Insurance companies counter that travel history is a vital piece of information that helps determine overall risk. “You always want to know the risk you’re underwriting — that’s the basis of insurance,” says Doug Nadeau, a public affairs specialist with State Farm Insurance. “To do that, you have to get as much information as you can. If this type of restriction were put into place, it would make it that much more difficult to properly underwrite risk.” Supporters of the bill contend that companies considering past travel do so on the basis of a list of high-risk countries compiled by the U.S. State Department. Israel is listed alongside about 20 other countries — including Yemen, Colombia, Sudan and Liberia — as a place where Americans should “carefully weigh the necessity of their travel.” “It’s something to take into account,” says Nadeau, referring to the State Department list. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, which is spearheading the effort to get the bill passed, maintains that Israel is not a high-risk country at all. “The data that I’ve seen say that overall you’re actually safer there than over here,” says Brad Kramer, the JCRC’s director of government affairs. “We think they should use some other criteria other than just whether a country is on the list or not. We don’t feel that merely being listed on the State Department travel warning list is a sound substitute for a case-by-case determination.” Representatives of the insurance industry said they do in fact make individualized determinations about coverage, and that this issue has nothing to do with Israel. “We don’t single out any country,” says Nadeau. “We do try and take as much information in as is publicly available. Everyone is on a case-by-case basis.” Robbie Meyer, associate general counsel for the American Council of Life Insurers, the country’s largest trade association of life insurance companies, says in fact companies do use a range of criteria in determining risk, and that inclusion on the State Department list is not the end-all, be-all of their considerations. “The fact is that companies use lots of different things, just as they should, to make their underwriting decisions,” said Meyer. “This really is part of a much broader issue of looking at factors that may cause individuals to have increased risk.” The same is true, says Meyer, of past travel to Israel. “What some companies do is look at past travel to see whether it is a harbinger of future travel,” she said. “If you have a certain profession, if you’re a teacher, if you’re a rabbi, if you are a missionary and you’ve been over several times in the past … they’ll look at that. We do look at past behaviors. That’s a basic part of underwriting.” “If we can’t look at all these factors and put them all together,” Meyer continued, “it does jeopardize our ability to make underwriting decisions and charge premiums that are fair.” Meyer says that her organization will oppose the proposed legislation. “If they have a better idea we’re open to it,” says Kramer. “This is not a take it or leave it thing. We’ve identified a problem and we’ve come up with what we think is a good solution. If they can come up with a solution and convince us that it will resolve the concerns of the Jewish community, then we’re happy to discuss it.” The insurers the JCRC says have discriminated on the basis of travel to countries on the State Department list include: Fidelity, John Hancock, Prudential, Travelers, State Farm, New York Life and TIAA-CREF. A
source at the State House in Boston contends that the insurance industry
isn’t properly doing its homework in relying on the State Depart-ment.
“[Coverage] has to be based on the actual risk and not on a perceived
risk,” he said. “That’s the problem. You stand a greater
likelihood of dying in the U.S. than you do in Israel.” Meyer says there are publicly available studies by the U.S. government demonstrating that Israel does pose a high risk to travelers. Swampscott Voters Approve Temple Purchase Staff Report SWAMPSCOTT — By a unanimous vote, Swampscott town meeting members decided on Sept. 26 to authorize Town Administrator Andrew Maylor to actively pursue the purchase of the Temple Israel property on Humphrey Street and Atlantic Avenue. The four-acre land parcel and 43,000 square foot building have become available as a result of the recent merger of Swamspscott’s Temple Israel and Temple Beth El. The vote, which authorized the town to pay up to $3.75 million for the property, came after town meeting members representing all six precincts in Swampscott heard a report presented by Gerald Perry of the Temple Israel Study Committee. The Committee, which was appointed last spring to investigate the purchase, strongly supported the purchase. In explaining the committee’s position, Perry cited the “deplorable” condition of Swampscott’s police station, the impracticality of renovating the existing station, and the many “lost opportunities” to acquire property in the past. Heated discussion at the meeting centered around usage of the land parcel. Residents and town administrators agreed that the Swampscott Police Station currently located on Burrill Street desperately needs renovation. Rather than retrofit the antiquated building, many would like to see a new police station built on the Temple Israel property. Some neighbors in the area have expressed concern about potential problems involving noise, traffic and violence. In his presentation, Perry referred to the temple’s reservations, expressed in a letter to Maylor. He emphasized the sacrifices other Swampscott neighborhoods had made in the public interest. “No
neighborhood should be exempt from its civic responsibility,” said
Perry, to enthusiastic applause. One issue was the “potential restriction” of the property’s use as a police or fire station. The letter, co-signed by Mark Friedman, president Congregation Shirat Hayam (the new congregation formed by the merger of Temple Israel and Temple Beth El) and Arthur Epstein, of the real estate sale committee, continued: “Based on the volume of input we are receiving from our neighbors, we do not feel we can support a use as a police or fire station. We are happy to consider offers that preclude this use of the property.” Contacted by the Journal several days after the meeting, Maylor was optimistic that differences with the temple could be worked out. “The temple leadership is willing to discuss the purchase even with the police station as a possible reuse by the town,” said Maylor. “I appreciate the open mindedness that the temple leadership has shown.” The feeling, it seems, is mutual. “The
congregation is interested in continuing good faith negotiations with
the town,” Friedman told the Journal. Caring
for Creation Susan
Jacobs Local religious leaders from various faiths will discuss global warming at a free forum, entitled Caring for Creation — Linking Religious Communities to Solutions on Thursday, on Oct. 20. The event, which is co-sponsored by HealthLink and Clean Water Action, will take place at HealthLink’s new headquarters located in the Church of the Holy Name on 60 Monument Ave. in Swampscott. The symposium is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. Featured panelists include Rabbi Lee Levin of Temple Shalom in Salem, Reverend Jeff Barz-Snell from the Unitarian First Church of Salem, Lara Hoke of Interfaith Power and Light in Worcester, Sister Lorraine Connell of Sisters of Notre Dame convent in Ipswich, Colette Wood from the Episcopal Diocese on Faith and the Environment and Cindy Luppi from Clean Water Action in Boston. HealthLink’s Jane Bright will moderate the discussion. Although this is its first forum to include members of the religious community, HealthLink has sponsored many public forums on health and environmental issues since its founding seven years ago. “Much of our work involves forming partnerships with various communities,” says Lynn Nadeau of Marblehead, who formed the organization in 1998 in her living room. “In the past we have targeted health professionals, students, parents and pet owners. We recognize the importance of religion in our country today, and know it is important to reach out to this community.” “It’s interesting to note that this forum is occurring around the High Holidays,” remarks Susan Yochelson of Salem, who, like one-third of HealthLink’s active members, is Jewish. “The High Holidays are all about addressing the sins of the past, and making a commitment not to repeat them in the future. It is a perfect time for us to look at the sins we have committed against the natural environment,” she says. “The High Holidays are referred to as ‘The Days of Awe.’ At this time of year especially, we should look around and acknowledge the awe of nature, which was created by God. And we should recognize and address how our actions are damaging the planet,” she adds. Although Yochelson first became involved with Health-Link as a volunteer, she is now a paid staff member who is helping manage an extensive air pollution study in Beverly, Salem and Marblehead. She is assisted by a core group of perhaps 20 passionate and fiercely dedicated activists who together have successfully battled a variety of corporate foes, most notably the power plant in Salem. In the past, the not-for-profit grassroots organization has struggled financially. However last year, an infusion of $100,000 in state and federal grants propelled HealthLink to a new level of prominence. With the money, the organization has been able to hire two part time staff members, open an office, and fund educational programming like the upcoming forum. For more information about HealthLink, call 781-598-1115 or visit www.healthlink.org. Local Genealogist Tracks Down Torah Crown Ben
Harris MARBLEHEAD — Murry Rich has spent years searching for his relatives. In the 1960s, he wrote to the Red Cross seeking information on members of his family left behind in the Ukraine when his parents immigrated to the United States. No one responded. He placed an advertisement in a Russian newspaper in the 1980s, to no avail. Two years ago, he tried another tactic, logging on to Jewish genealogy website www.jewishgen.org. He never found the long-lost relatives he had been looking for, but he did find another treasure: a Torah crown from his grandfather’s synagogue in the Ukrainian town of Stavishche. “It’s probably the only surviving Jewish artifact from the town,” says Rich, a retired dentist living in Marblehead. The
story of the crown’s journey from a tiny Ukrainian town on the road
from Kiev to Uman, to a Conservative temple
in suburban New Jersey, is the kind of tale that encapsulates much of
the Jewish experience in the 20th century. The
rabbi was able to salvage a scroll, along with its breastplate and two
crowns, and bring them to America. A researcher from Wayside, NJ, Weinblatt shared Rich’s interest in Jewish genealogy and in tracing the history of her Ukrainian ancestors. “I have always been interested, going back to Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ when I was a kid,” explains Weinblatt. “I had a grandmother from Stavishche and I started to tape her. I went around with my tape recorder and taped other people from the town.” Weinblatt has accumulated a wealth of material that she is now trying to forge into a book. “This is a forgotten period of Jewish history,” she says. “A lot of attention has been on the Holocaust, and rightly so. But 20 years before the Holocaust, nearly a quarter of a million Jews were murdered in the Ukraine.” With her research skills, Weinblatt was able to trace the journey of those Torah crowns from Ukraine to the Bronx, where the rabbi from Stavishche once led a congregation. After his death, the crowns were passed to his children and eventually landed at White Meadow Temple in Rockaway, NJ. Rich traveled there to see them. “I’m thrilled to have seen this Torah crown because it’s a connection to the town and to the family history on my mother’s side,” says Rich. “It came all these thousands of miles, through all these terrible events, and survived — more than some of these people did.” For Rich, finding these Torah crowns is almost as if he had actually found a living relative. “A Torah is like a person, but the Torah crown is almost like a person,” he says. “It’s really a very significant thing to have.” With the discovery of the Torah crown, Rich has likely followed the genealogical trail as far as it will lead. Still, he has no intention of giving up the search to find more relatives. “I still go on the Internet all the time,” he says. “I’m hopeful, but as time goes by, they’re dying off and it’s less and less [likely].” “It’s being a detective,” says Weinblatt, attempting to explain the enduring appeal of genealogical research. “You can find people from the same ancestral town with the same surnames and you can connect. It’s a piece of history. It’s putting together the pieces of the past.”
Lest
We Forget Herbert
Belkin A bright flame of Jewish conscience has gone out. Simon Wiesenthal, the dedicated Nazi hunter, passed away last month at the age of 96. Wiesenthal took the searing experience of a Holocaust survivor and turned it into a life-long search for, as he put it, “not vengeance, but justice.” Wiesenthal’s enduring passion to hunt down Nazis who murdered Jews was shaped from his early childhood. As a young boy in the Galician village of Buczacz, Wiesenthal was slashed on his thigh by a marauding Cossack. This was the first scar that Wiesenthal would bear, but certainly not the last. As a prisoner in German concentration camps, Wiesenthal acquired many more psychological and physical scars that would spur his search for justice. In 1936, Wiesenthal started work as an architect in the Ukrainian city of Lvov where he enjoyed a few years of married and professional happiness until 1939 when he was arrested and almost killed by Ukrainian soldiers. Shortly thereafter he was put in a concentration camp where he was imprisoned under the most brutal circumstances for the next four years. When he was liberated, the 6-foot Wiesenthal weighed 97 pounds. The flame of conscience burned brighter when a German guard in Mauthausen bet Wiesenthal that no one in the future would believe the horrors that took place in the concentration camps. Wiesenthal dedicated his life to prove that guard wrong. After the war Wiesenthal was eager to start hunting Nazis, but the world had other priorities. The chaos in Europe in 1945 and the beginning of the Cold War made old enemies friends and former allies enemies. Many former Nazis and German scientists were put to work for the United States in intelligence work or building weapons to confront the new Russian threat. After the Nuremburg trials, the world had little interest in tracking down Nazi murderers. While the rest of the world turned away, Simon Wiesenthal relentlessly pursued Nazi criminals. Wiesenthal’s greatest accomplishment during the 1950’s and ’60’s was continuing the hunt for former Nazis when the world showed little interest in that pursuit. His was almost the only voice that cried out for justice during that time. It was only later that governments, including America’s, joined Wiesenthal in the active hunt for Nazis trying to escape their murderous past. As Wiesenthal’s reputation as a Nazi hunter grew, he received valuable information about the hiding places and new identities of former Nazis. During the trials of these Nazis, Wiesenthal became the contact for Holocaust survivors that were eager to testify against their former tormentors. One of Wiesenthal’s successes was uncovering the secret organization named ODESSA. This organization helped Nazis escape from Europe and assume new identities in Argentina. The most infamous Nazi to follow this escape route was Adolph Eichmann. Wiesenthal took much of the credit for the capture of Eichmann, but his claim was later refuted by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, that actually abducted him. Wiesenthal’s career was checkered by conflicting claims about his actual role in capturing Nazis criminals. Now, however, it is commonly agreed that Wiesenthal was directly or indirectly responsible for exposing more than 1,000 former Nazis. Simon Wiesenthal’s lifelong pursuit of bringing Nazi murderers to justice can best be summarized by his own words, “When my life is over and I meet up with the victims of the Holocaust, I shall have the privilege of saying to them, I have never forgotten you.” The passing of Wiesenthal and his fellow survivors raises the burning question: Who will continue the search for justice? Herb Belkin is a writer and speaker on the Holocaust. He can be reached at beachbluff@comcast.net.’’ Book Catalogs the Wonders of Israeli Ingenuity and Innovation Chanan
Tigay NEW YORK (JTA) – Each year, more than a half-billion birds traverse Israeli skies en route from Africa to Europe and Asia. Israeli bird-watchers love that their skies are a sort of avian Spice Route, but air force pilots, who fly at about the same altitude as the migrating birds, are less sanguine: Between 1972 and 1998, 3,000 Israeli military planes struck birds, losing three pilots and eight aircraft in the accidents. Thanks to the ingenuity of Israeli researcher Yossi Leshem, however, bird-strikes have plummeted by 76 percent during the last 20 years, according to a new book about Israeli innovations in fields from science and technology to agriculture, medicine and outreach. Leshem’s work isn’t the kind that’s likely to make headlines, especially coming from a region long dominated by violence and political turmoil. But for one British philanthropist – who conceived and funded the book “Israel in the World: Changing Lives Through Innovation” – it was just the kind of story he wanted to read, and wanted others to have access to. “Other books tell you how to argue for Israel,” said Trevor Pears, who directs the Pears Foundation. “They don’t tell you why you should.” The
new book “encourages me to argue the case because I think Israel
is doing some good stuff,” he said. The project, which is credited with the drop in bird-related accidents and is being emulated around the world, was an enormous undertaking: Some 280 species of birds take to the skies above Israel and each has its unique patterns and eccentricities. Leshem
now works closely with the Jordanian and Turkish air forces to help prevent
bird strikes, and many Western governments have sought out Leshem and
the Israeli air force for guidance on preventing collisions. Pears’ favorite story in the book is about Yoel Margalith, an Israeli scientist known worldwide as “Mr. Mosquito.” Margalith is credited with saving millions of lives through his discovery of Bti, a naturally occurring bacteria that kills disease-carrying mosquitos and certain types of flies. Bti does not harm the environment, as past chemical mosquito killers have, but it’s lethal to the tiny creatures that spread malaria and river blindness. The discovery has saved lives outside of Israel, including some in Africa and China. But what impresses Pears most is that Margalith is a survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the Teresienstadt transit camp. Margalith’s achievements make clear the “waste of creativity and humanity” perpetrated during the Holocaust, Pears said. Among
other Israeli innovations detailed in the book are: “It’s breathtaking how broad Israel’s innovative genius has become in the 21st century,” said Larry Weinberg, executive vice president of Israel21c, an organization that works to give a fuller picture of Israel beyond the conflict with the Palestinians. A number of the stories in “Israel in the World” are from Israel21c’s archives, Weinberg said. “People look at this book and go, ‘Wow!’ Even Jews don’t know what Israel has become in the 21st century,” he said. Many Israelis, too, aren’t aware of their county’s achievements, said Mark Waldman, a Canadian philanthropist and chair of CIJA-PAC, a Canadian Jewish advocacy group. “The surprising thing is, when I gave copies to friends in Israel – and when other Israelis looked at the book – they all came back and said they had no idea how much Israel had contributed to the world,” he said. “There’s so much negative stuff in the media about Israel and we let the media try and define Israel, but the way they define it isn’t what Israel really is.” Waldman said he has been promoting the book in North America to Jewish federations and other nonprofits, and is trying to attract the interest of the media. Pears, to whom the authors dedicated the book, said the idea came to him as he looked around for something to read about Israel’s achievements. “I
couldn’t find the kind of book I was looking for and figured perhaps
I might make it happen,” he said. Weidenfeld set Pears up with the Orion Publishing Group. From there, journalists Helen and Douglas Davis were drafted to write the book, and it was released about 18 months later. Launch parties have been held in New York, London and Toronto. “Israel in the World” includes a foreword by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. “From media and telecommunications to I.T. and banking, Israeli technological advances are key contributors to the progress and strength of the global economy,” writes Murdoch, whose News Corp. controls NDS, a television technology company profiled in the book. The book can be bought online at Amazon.com and is available at bookstores. Proceeds are going to the Emet Foundation, created to use its profits to take on projects that offer positive approaches to Judaism, Pears said. “Emet” is the Hebrew word for truth. The book has had two printings already and a third is being considered. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has purchased about 2,000 copies of the book, and Jewish federations are giving it to donors. Those involved with the book say a French translation is a possibility. “To know that it’s in most Israeli embassies around the world and that they’re giving them out showing a face of Israel that has just not seen -- that’s a success,” Pears said. Waldman agrees that the book may prove influential. “I think it can have a big impact in changing people,” Waldman said. “Maybe it can get someone to invest in Israel, to visit Israel, to benefit from all the great things that come out of the country,” he said.
Israelis Sneak into New Orleans to Help Katrina Victims Chanan
Tigay NEW YORK (JTA) — Washington may have rebuffed Israeli offers of expert assistance in the days after Hurricane Katrina, but a team of Israeli rescue personnel managed to deploy in some of the worst-hit areas around New Orleans, JTA has learned. The 18-member team — which included physicians, mental health professionals, trauma specialists, logistics experts and a special unit of Israeli police divers — arrived in St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish on Sept. 10 and spent a week and a half assisting fire department search-and-rescue squads and sitting in on daily planning meetings that included local leadership and a complement of FEMA, police, military and fire representatives, the Israeli team’s leader said. The team administered first aid to survivors, rescued abandoned pets and discovered victims of the storm, which ravaged the Gulf Coast. Carting equipment ranging from axes and ropes to electrical generators, satellite phones and three weeks worth of food, the group arrived in the United States in civilian garb, waiting until they hit the decimated areas to don T-shirts featuring the group’s logo and other identifying garb that would mark them as uninvited rescue personnel. “We had tools like Jack the Ripper,” said Gal Lusky, a diver who founded Israeli Flying Aid, a non-governmental organization that undertook the mission along with the IsraAID relief group. “We had plenty of stuff and we had to justify it at immigration. When we were asked what is all that equipment, we said we were going to the Jewish community to teach youth groups how to prepare summer camps.” Asked about the Israeli personnel aid, a spokesman for FEMA said only that “there were many volunteer groups from different countries who came to Louisiana to help the people and the state.” “FEMA wants to thank them for the assistance and the hard work they did,” he said. Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) said he was grateful for the Israelis’ work. “The work being done by IsraAID and their team members to help the people of Louisiana is greatly appreciated,” Jindal told JTA in an e-mail message. “They are providing support services for people who have been devastated by the tragedy, offering whatever assistance is needed as it is needed. Their presence will make the effort to get people home and on with their lives that much easier.” Rep. Charles Melancon (D-La.) said the Israelis “performed courageously in south Louisiana when we needed them most.” “I’m personally very grateful for their efforts and I know that those they touched will always remember the generosity of the Israeli people, who sent help from so far away,” he said in an e-mail to JTA. Before entering the affected areas, the team had to work around Louisiana medical accreditation policies that, like those in other states, require that physicians be recognized by the state in question in order to practice. The Israeli doctors were not accredited in Louisiana and could not provide medical services without this stamp of approval. Perry Witkin, president of the Minnesota-based relief organization Nechama, was in contact with the medical director of Louisiana’s Public Health Department, and together they were able to come up with a formula for the Israelis’ participation. The team would be allowed in but the doctors would not be “practicing medicine, but would be there as physicians to help the Israelis should something happen to them,” said Witkin, who was on the ground along with a team from the American Refugee Committee, the Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota and The College of St. Catherine’s. In addition, he said, they could “use their skills in search/rescue and recovery and their emergency response skills as first-aid responders.” Once that was hammered out, the Israeli team received a two-ambulance escort onto a ferry and from there headed into the outlying parishes, where they were received with slightly puzzled appreciation. “The soldiers were shocked seeing us,” Lusky said. They asked the Israelis, “How come you came from so far? You have your own troubles. You’re such a small country.” “The answer,” Lusky continued, “is that we’re a small country but big friends. For us it was so obvious. America has been such a good friend for ages.” Several days into the ordeal, the Israelis were working with a fire department team when they learned that one of the firefighters, a man named Ervin, had lived in a house on the street they were clearing. They had checked Ervin’s house the previous day, it turned out, but he hadn’t had the heart to go in and survey the damage. “So I took him hand-in-hand to his house,” said Sarit Vino Elad, a singer-actress who works in psychodrama. “It was another ruined, muddy, ugly house — but for him it was home. He was looking at his house, at his wife’s china collection, at his dining room. His cat was dead on the couch in the living room.” The place was badly damaged but Ervin was pleased to find that his bed, which his wife had made before evacuating, was still made, and her silk pajamas were lying neatly on the comforter. In the attic, where the heat was especially intense, the only thing that had escaped destruction was a case of family photographs Ervin had stowed away before Katrina hit. “He opened the box of pictures and on the top of the box was a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day — and he burst into tears,” she recalled. The group received funding from the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the Philadelphia-based investment firm CMS Companies, which first came in contact with IsraAID when it was organizing an effort to raise money for relief after last winter’s Southeast Asian tsunami. “I picked up the phone and I called the IsraAid people and said, ‘What are you doing vis-a-vis Hurricane Katrina?’” said Mark Solomon, CMS chairman. “They said, ‘We have a team of 20 people and we’re ready to go. The problem is we don’t have any money to pay for them.’ I said, ‘OK, let’s see what we can do.’” CMS raised six figures from its partners and clients, and was able to provide the Israelis with debit cards to pay for expenses. The team received additional logistical support — cars, housing, contact with local officials — from federations in Houston, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in addition to the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Lusky said the toughest part was not finding dead bodies; she had done that before in Israel, in Sri Lanka after the tsunami and elsewhere. The hardest part, she said, was that there simply wasn’t enough personnel to remove corpses from their homes right away. Sometime they had to be left where they were for 24 hours after they were discovered. “That person has a name, has kids, has a wife,” she said. “It’s terrible.” New York Shelter Helps Jewish Efforts to Curtail Elder Abuse Gabrielle
Birkner NEW YORK (JTA) — They are flesh-and-blood examples of the golden years gone terribly wrong: An 86-year-old suffers a broken elbow after being assaulted by her son; a 73-year-old collects cans to pay for food after being robbed by her daughter; an 85-year-old, disillusioned by her children’s ongoing verbal abuse, flees home bound for nowhere in particular. These three seniors are among the growing number of elderly Americans for whom the promise of growing old gracefully has been thwarted. They are the victims of elder abuse, and their plight has long been shrouded in secrecy and shame. The issue is just now creeping into public consciousness the way domestic violence and child abuse did a generation ago. Now, with the inauguration of what is being called the nation’s first full-service elder abuse shelter at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, NY, some abuse victims have a place to seek refuge. The opening of the $3 million Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention — it has been operating since January, but held its high-profile launch event on May 25 — signals this problem plaguing the aged has reached a tipping point. With baby boomers inching towards seniorhood, the problem could get worse unless resources are directed to preventing and treating elder abuse. “I’m still shocked that there aren’t other communities doing this,” said Daniel Reingold, the Hebrew Home’s chief executive. “When it comes to elder abuse, we are today where we were with child abuse and domestic violence 25 years ago.” While many social service agencies work with and advocate for victims of abuse — some even allow seniors to spend a night or two away from home — experts say the new shelter is only the second comprehensive elder abuse shelter in North America, the first being Canada’s Kerby Rotary House in Calgary. With so few safe havens, many elderly abuse victims often have no choice but to remain in their abusive environs. Start-up costs for the shelter were shouldered by a $1 million matching grant from the Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. Hebrew Home officials said they expected yearly operating costs to run about $1.2 million per year. “In the end, if you count up the costs of ambulances, emergency room visits and police involvement,” Reingold said, “it’s more expensive not to do it.” The new shelter, whose 31 beds are scattered throughout the home’s leafy Riverdale facility so the victims are not stigmatized, offers round-the-clock triage, one-on-one counseling and legal aid. Staff social workers also make arrangements to ensure a safe return home for the victims. That can mean obtaining an order of protection, hiring a home health care aide, arranging for meal delivery or enrolling seniors in adult day care programs. In addition, the shelter sponsors seminars to teach law enforcement and others in regular contact with seniors — doormen, bank tellers, beauticians — to recognize and report abuse. Hebrew Home executives expect most elder abuse victims will be referred to the shelter by law enforcement officials or social service agencies, and will stay at the facility for about 30 days. “For a person in a crisis situation in need of immediate shelter that’s anonymous, it’s a place to go and regroup and get away from the person who might be intent on doing them harm,” said Jennifer Wortham, the Manhattan district director of Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, a social service agency. “First and foremost it’s a safety issue. “They’ll also have psychological support and, potentially, peer support. That’s important because when [seniors] have to re-create their lives, it’s a very big, rather daunting task.” Reingold said the Hebrew Home, which already serves 1,300 nursing home residents and 1,500 seniors living at home in the Bronx, Manhattan and Westchester County, is the ideal place to house the country’s first elder abuse shelter. “It doesn’t surprise me that it’s a Jewish institution doing this,” he said of the historically Jewish, nonsectarian geriatric center. “Jewish institutions have always been the first to intervene when there’s been a social need. It’s part of the mission of tzedakah.” Thus far none of the seven seniors treated at the shelter have been Jewish, but elder abuse cuts across all religions, races and socioeconomic backgrounds, said Joy Solomon, the shelter’s managing attorney. “It definitely happens in the Jewish community, but it’s not embraced by the Jewish community as a major problem,” said Solomon, who specialized in elder abuse during the last two years of her decade-long tenure in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. “It was the same thing that happened years ago when people tried to talk about domestic violence in the Jewish community.” Ellen Kolodney, elder abuse coordinator in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, added: “There is no economic or ethnic monopoly on elder abuse. In upper-middle-class and well-to-do homes it’s more hidden. There’s a lot more shame.” Kolodney said she receives about 200 calls each year reporting elder abuse. Only a small percentage of these incidents are investigated, and even a smaller number are prosecuted, she said. “The elderly person is generally very reluctant to come forward about their grandson or granddaughter,” said Kolodney, noting that the abuse victim is often the main barrier to bringing charges against the perpetrator. “The biggest thing they say is ‘I want help for them. I don’t want them to get arrested.’ “ This is why in some cases prosecutors of elder abuse cases are increasingly attempting to build evidence-based cases that do not rely exclusively on victim testimony. Kolodney said that financial exploitation — increasingly in the form of predatory lending schemes and identity theft — is the fastest growing form of elder abuse. “There’s really a growth of scams that [prey] on the isolated elderly,” she said, noting that as technology becomes more advanced, cons become easier to pull off. “People can be brazen and soulless. It’s so distressing.” Misuse
of joint accounts, stealing or unreasonable dependence on an elderly person
for basic needs and spending money are other types of financial abuse
that take place most often within families. Neglect is another form of maltreatment the shelter plans to tackle, Reingold said. “Often an adult son taking care of his elderly mother isn’t making sure food is in the house, isn’t cleaning the house,” he said. “And there’s also a lot of self-neglect, when seniors aren’t bathing or taking their medication. These people need to be in a protected environment.” Many times the neglect is not deliberate. For example, an elderly man caring for his bedridden wife with dementia may have the best of intentions but is unable to provide appropriate care. According to “A Response to the Abuse of Vulnerable Adults,” a 2000 study commissioned by the National Center on Elder Abuse, state-run adult protective services departments reported 101,000 substantiated complaints of elder abuse during the prior year. In New York State alone there were nearly 27,000 complaints of adult abuse. Of them, 19,700 were investigated, though the state did not provide the number of elderly victims or the percentage of substantiated claims. The survey also showed that nationally, elder abuse victims of the substantiated claims are 30 percent more likely to be women; perpetrators are 36 percent more likely to be men; 62 percent of abusers are family members; and abuse most commonly occurs in domestic settings. Solomon said that as a result of demographic shifts in an aging population, elder abuse is on the rise. “With housing prices going up, more adult children, many unemployed, are moving in with their elderly parents,” she said. “When the situation becomes abusive, the elderly persons physically can’t get rid of them or aren’t emotionally prepared to kick them out.” Yet the prevalence has made people more cognizant of the problem in recent years. And elder advocates say awareness is the first step toward preventing and treating abuse. They also see the Hebrew Home’s shelter as a model to be replicated. Said Solomon, “Experts advise elder abuse victims fearing bodily harm to call 911. In non-emergency situations, abuse victims or those who suspect abuse can call their district attorney’s office or a senior-serving social service agency.
Ben Younger Hits His ‘Prime’ With New Film Susan
Jacobs Ben Younger, a Yeshiva boy from Brooklyn, hopes to make it big with “Prime,” a sophisticated comedy starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman. The film, which he wrote and directed, screened last month at the Boston Film Festival and will be released nationally by Universal Pictures Oct. 28. One usually associates Meryl Streep with heavy dramas, but she shines in this crisply written comedy. Clad in clunky necklaces and gargantuan scarves, the bespeckled Streep (looking like an intellectual Bette Midler) plays therapist Lisa Metzger. She portrays the character with a perfect combination of New York Jewish sensibility and quirkiness. Uma Thurman is Rafi Gardet, a beautiful 37-year-old who attends weekly sessions with Metzger. Rafi (who is obviously gentile — who ever heard of a Jew named Rafi?) has a fabulous apartment and an important career in Manhattan. With her biological clock ticking, Metzger is helping the divorcee navigate the dating scene. One night at the movies, Rafi meets the dark and handsome David Bloomberg (played by newcomer Bryan Greenberg). Bloomberg is a 23-year-old artist living in Brooklyn with his Jewish grandparents who have plastic covers on their sofa and are always offering him food. Rafi and Dave tentatively begin a romance. Although she is very attracted to Dave, she is concerned about the vast age difference and the fact that they share almost nothing in common. Each week, she discusses the blossoming relationship with her therapist, sharing all the juicy details of their sex life. Metzger listens patiently and encourages Rafi to enjoy it. That is — until she discovers that Rafi’s new stud is, in fact, her own son David. And like all Jewish mothers, she wants him to marry someone Jewish. Although “Prime” will appeal to women, it should not be dismissed as a chick flick. The dialogue-driven story line, honest romantic realism and funny characters make it more reminiscent of crossover films like “When Harry Met Sally” or “Chasing Amy”. As with most films, production was fraught with problems. Actress Sandra Bullock was originally cast as Rafi. Two weeks before shooting, she abruptly dropped out. Although Younger was never officially told why, he speculated in an interview with the Journal that Bullock became intimidated about the prospect of working with Streep. Younger enjoyed collaborating with Streep, calling her “the best actor I ever worked with.” “She’s a true professional who gets it on the first take, but then she’ll take each scene even further, adding expressions and actions that bring even more depth to the character. Although she said she’s never been to a shrink, she totally understood how to play one. She’s therapized without going to therapy,” he says. Casting the male lead was another challenge. “It’s not so easy to find a young, sexy Jewish guy. Casting Heath Leger in the lead role would have been a stretch,” jokes Younger. He and co-producer Jennifer Todd, who previously worked together on the film “Boiler Room,” felt the role was well suited for an up-and-coming actor. They chose Greenberg, who had done some television work but was relatively unknown. Although the film is not autobiographical, Younger was inspired to write the script based on some of his own life experiences. “My mother is a shrink and has a different last name from me,” he said. “A girlfriend of mine was seeing a therapist, and I got to thinking how funny it would be if the therapist was actually my mother. As it turned out, it was not, but that’s how the story was born.” Younger worked on the script for eight years. To support himself, he took a job as a telemarketing trainee selling initial public offerings. Younger got sucked into an underworld where people became instant millionaires but had to engage in questionable ethics. Fascinated, he switched gears and wrote a screenplay called “Boiler Room” based on his experiences. He turned it into a film, which opened in 2000 to enthusiastic reviews and established him as a bona fide screenwriter/director. After “Boiler Room,” Younger was anxious to create what he calls “a real movie, about real people and real emotion, and a film about a mother who cares.” He also wanted his follow-up film to have strong female characters. “I also like to see women teaching men things — I think that’s very true to life,” he says. The film he made was “Prime.” Why is it so titled? The obvious answer would be that each character is in his or her prime, however Younger shares another thought. “My step father is a math teacher who revealed to me that 23 and 37 are both prime numbers. I didn’t realize that when I named the movie.” Younger, who cites Woody Allen and “The Three Stooges” as early comic influences, enjoyed making a comedy. His next project, however, is a western entitled “17 Bullets.” “I’m not stuck in any one genre,” he says with a shrug. The film, which begins shooting this winter in Cabo San Lucas, takes place in Mexico with an all-Mexican cast. Younger grew up in Flatbush and Staten Island, NY and attended Jewish Schools. Still observant, he is a member of a temple on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Before becoming a filmmaker, Younger studied political science at the City University of New York and ran several successful political campaigns. He sees some similarities between managing a political campaign and making a movie. “In both jobs, you need good people skills and need to make everyone feel appreciated,” he remarks. Although Younger wanted to study filmmaking, he says he didn’t have the money to go to film school. To learn the business, he became a grip and worked on several feature films and music videos with the ultimate goal of writing and directing his own material. He laments that society doesn’t encourage young people to actively pursue the arts. “There have been plenty of Jewish writers, painters and artists, but our rabbis never encourage us to do these sorts of things. They don’t discourage us, but they don’t actively encourage us. There is a difference. Similarly, guidance counselors don’t suggest to students, ‘Why don’t you go to film school?’” he says. “My
feeling is — go be an artist if you have the inkling. The Community of Nations Last month, world leaders gathered along Manhattan’s East River for what United Nations officials repeatedly noted was the largest such gathering in history. The U.N. has had more than its fair share of historic get-togethers in recent years. In 2000, the millennium summit saw world leaders assemble in New York to make ambitious promises about eliminating poverty and hunger and disease, promises that, five years later, have barely begun to be fulfilled. The following year, after postponing their yearly meeting following the attacks of September 11th, leaders vowed to eliminate the menace of global terrorism. This promise, too, has failed to materialize. At this year’s summit, coinciding with the U.N.’s 60th anniversary, the agenda was perhaps the most urgent of all — the salvaging of the organization itself. The UN’s recent debacles — the oil-for-food scandal, allegations of sexual improprieties by peacekeepers, the demonstration of its marginality by the U.S. administration’s cavalier dismissal in the run-up to the Iraq war — have made reform a top priority. In a famously fractious organization, there is broad agreement on at least one thing — if the U.N. doesn’t get its act together, it might not make it another 60 years. The United Nations was built on the rubble of two world wars and charged with the most noble of objectives — to protect mankind from the scourge of war. By virtually any measure, the subsequent 60 years have been a monumental failure. The past year in particular has brought forth daily reminders of how far we are from realizing the ideals enshrined in the organization’s charter. Worse still, the U.N. itself has become a cruel parody of the very values it was meant to champion. Nations where slavery is still practiced sit in judgment of the human rights records of others. Dictators routinely lecture democrats on the evils committed by their governments. Values of good governance and accountability have been trampled by the world’s most bloated and ineffectual bureaucracy. And then there’s Israel. The world’s lone Jewish state, and the Middle East’s only true democracy (Hosni Mubarak’s sham “re-election” notwithstanding), has been subjected to a sustained assault by member states since the late 1960s. Israel is the subject of more condemnatory resolutions than any other country. The U.N. funds a Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR) — the only people-specific body within the U.N. secretariat — that amounts to little more than an internationally-funded propaganda effort against the State of Israel. And Israel has been systematically excluded from the U.N.’s power structure, a situation Israel’s foreign minister hopes to change with his historic — and likely futile — submission of candidacy for a seat on the Security Council. Proposals debated last month centered largely on paring down a sprawling bureaucracy and instituting better oversight mechanisms. Like so many other U.N. initiatives, this one looks wonderful on paper. It has been said that one measure of a society’s values is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. And a measure of the nobility of international society is how it treats the tiny State of Israel. The structural adjustments world leaders have endorsed are only as substantial as the good faith of those implementing them. One indicator of that good faith will be how Israel fares when the dust settles. If the nations of the world continue to see the U.N. not as the embodiment of humanity’s highest aspirations, but as an instrument for achieving narrow partisan objectives, all the bureaucratic oversight in the world won’t ensure its survival another 60 years — until 120. Skiing in the Holy Land? Winter Sports Alive and Well in Israel
Talk about a niche job: Lionel Gaffen, photojournalist for the Jerusalem Post, is the only journalist in Israel writing almost exclusively about winter sports. And he’s got a lot to write about. Who would have thought that the land of milk and honey, half of it a hot desert, would produce so many world-class skaters and other cold-weather athletes? Mount Hermon, at Israel’s northernmost point, has been a ski resort since the early 1970s, serving several hundred thousand skiers, both amateurs and aspiring professionals. Many of the latter head to Europe and North America for advanced training. Metulla, a village bordering Lebanon and just a mile north of Kiryat Shmona, is home to the Canada Centre, the country’s major ice-skating rink and only Olympic-sized ice surface. The Centre serves as the winter sports training ground where Israeli amateurs have learned to compete well in international competition. The Canada Centre was finished in the early 1990s, a project organized by the late Yossi Goldberg, who was then mayor of Metulla, and financed to a large extent by the Canadian Jewish community. What exactly is going on at the Canada Centre? What sports are in play and how are the Israeli athletes doing? In figure skating, ice dancers Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky won a bronze medal in the World Championships in 2002 and will be competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Another ice dance couple, Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky, who grew up in Metulla, finished fourth in this year’s World Junior Championships. The short track speed skating junior teams now compete with Europe’s best, and some of the youngsters have begun to win competitions in their age groups. The
senior national ice hockey team just won a gold medal in its division
of the International Ice Hockey World Championships, while the under 18
national squad, playing against teams that were as much as a year and
a half older, won a bronze medal. There is even an Israeli bobsled team, whose original bobsled is on permanent display at the Centre. All of this is happening in a winter sports program that is just over 10 years old, although hockey has been played in smaller rinks since 1989. Photojournalist Gaffen, like every Israeli, has his unique story of aliya, work, career and family. He brought his family to Israel from Montreal in the late seventies. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Kfar Giladi, a kibbutz located just between Kiryat Shmona and Metulla. His five Canadian-born children have so far produced nine grandchildren, all living in Israel. Gaffen, like all who live on a kibbutz, has held a variety of jobs, ranging from construction manager to bus driver to hotel night manager. (Visit the Kfar Giladi Kibbutz Guest House and meet Lionel in person.) On his own time he became a professional photographer, having been a serious amateur since his college newspaper days in Canada. About being the lone winter sports journalist in Israel, Gaffen says he owes thanks to the late writer Sam Orbaum, also a Canadian, who covered the 1997 Maccabi Games at the Canada Centre for the Jerusalem Post. Lionel was taking photos for the Centre and Sam suggested he submit some to the Post. The editor bought a number of pictures and asked Lionel if he knew of a local writer who could report future games. Gaffen recommended himself. Since then, he has written more than 250 stories on sports and other subjects. Is this not a quintessential Israeli story – Zionist and Jewish values, happenstance, plus enough insight and chutzpa to create an opportunity? By the way, don’t think Lionel Gaffen’s winter sports beat is my only unique Israel story. Some day I will tell you about my Jerusalem barber, Eric Knutsen, an Aleut Eskimo from Alaska whose wife used to be the only Jewish woman in Naknek, and now, living in Jerusalem, he is the only Eskimo.
The Bucket, the Jug, the Jar: Leitmotifs for a Chag
Beside me sits a pile of laundry taller than I am. Dust bunnies mate and multiply on my hardwood floors. Hundreds of student papers cry to me from my book bag, “Grade me. Please, grade me.” The kugel I am serving my guests on Rosh Hashanah is still in its Ur state: a box of noodles on the shelf, a pound of cottage cheese in the fridge, raisins still sticky in their tub. No surprise that all this occurs during Elul, the unsettling month when the Red Sox always seem to lose their grip on the pennant and I am thrown back into another whirlwind semester. The haunting sounds of the shofar. The sudden rationing of sunlight. The habitual contemplation of a year’s worth of misdeeds and unkept promises. For me the Days of Awe hold all the urgency and potential cataclysm of a space vehicle re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. People often describe their religious rituals as minhag, their custom or the custom of their families. As in, “it is our minhag to visit the graves of our ancestors and pray that they intercede with the Most High (God) on our behalf for the coming year.” My minhag – when I find myself listing toward any cosmic threshold – is to buy plastic containers. When life gets overwhelming, when there are simply not enough neurons to engage all the tasks at hand, I simply walk into a store and buy plastic containers: sometimes large laundry bins, sometimes scads of little cosmetic cases, toothbrush holders, chests of drawers, milk crates, photo boxes, trash cans – stackable little suckers that help me contain the incomprehensible chaos of my life. It must be Elul. Yesterday, I found myself at the grocery store, buying extraneous small containers to keep foods in. I literally flew home, tore through the kitchen cabinets, and emptied bags of nuts, raisins, and rice into these charming clear canisters with lids. Contentedly, I labeled each container and placed it on the shelf. This made me feel better. And then, as if I had nothing better to do the week before the High Holidays, when I ran out of plastic canisters, I drove back to the store to get more. I filled my day packing little jars with incidental and inconsequential foods. Labeling them. Shelving them. Creating skyscrapers of towering plastic containers, while humming the liturgy of the Yom Kippur service. My new son-in-law snickers each time I enact my minhag of the plastics. “Another shopping accident for the bin queen?” he asks (Obviously his mother has a different recipe for chaos). But it is my minhag, my personal ritual. It is only after imposing order on the chaos of my material life that I can gather together the shards of my spiritual world. Today the raisins and the nuts; tomorrow the unfinished mitzvot, the sins of omission, the broken promises. The descent into the deepest lining of my spiritual world is daunting. The bleating, haunting, sometimes deafening sound of the shofar overwhelms me for all of Elul. Soon the Book of Life will lie open on the table and everyone I hold dear will have his turn to be weighed. Even as a metaphor, the thought takes my breath away. The Yom Kippur service includes a compelling little poem that must live in my iPod – it hums itself so often in my brain. We are but clay in the hands of the potter, glass in the hands of the glassblower – vessels in the hands of the Creator, to be formed and maintained at his will. Everyone sends good wishes and dunks apples into honey for a good and sweet year. Me? My leitmotif is the bucket, the jug, the jar, the plastic container. May the Creator scrutinize my cabinets and find them in good order. And may He remember to look toward the Covenant (“LaBrit Habet”) and be merciful in judgment. Yard Sales Tell the Stories of Our Lives
As long as I can remember, autumn has symbolized a season of new beginnings. As a child, I recall fall being a time to sharpen new pencils, cover unread books and don polished Mary Jane shoes. October was the perfect month to crunch leaves, pick up acorns and flee from bees on the temple stairs. Most of all, autumn represented the promise to write chapter one of a whole new year of the story of my life. It seemed fitting that we waited to clean out our garage until this season of reflection and renewal. What better time to sort through endless stacks of useless items and take stock in life? I had finally reached the stage when I was ready to depart with my daughters’ stuffed animals and American Girl dolls. Time to admit that they are growing up, even if I still see them in their preschool tutus pirouetting around the living room. It doesn’t really matter that Rachel is about to get her driver’s license and Emily is studying for her Bat Mitzvah. I am frozen in time, which is probably why our garage is brimming with headless Barbies and six million Polly Pocket people. (For those who are unfamiliar with the wee people, they are minuscule plastic people that fit in tiny houses. I once tripped over one and landed with such a thud that the dog hid under the table.) As I scan the pieces of my life I am ready to jettison into the hands of strangers (and the dumpster), I am stunned at the contents. Can I give up my college typewriter even though the ribbon doesn’t work and they don’t make it anymore? Did I really spend the first year of Rachel’s college tuition on Beanie Babies? Why are we giving away a copy of Good Night Moon? What if they want to hear it just one more time? Did I really wear all those clothes, read all those books and purchase all those toys? When did my girls stop tumbling on the gym mat, sewing on the sewing machine (that’s right they never did), playing dolls and gyrating hoola hoops? In sharp contrast, I look at my brother-in-law’s pile of stuff that he brought over: motorcycle helmets, a chain saw, deer antlers and a golf bag. I know that Mitch is secretly wishing that he could rev up the chain saw instead of dress the American Girl doll. Our garage sale contents tell a slice of the story of our life which we now peddle for pocket change. At the end of the day, we have cleaned the garage, made a few bucks and created room for the pile of stuff from the next phase of life. My eye catches the little girl clutching a stuffed animal. A stranger carries away a slice of history. Now I have space to write the next chapter of the story.
The 5766 Jewish Pundit Quiz on Next Year’s News
Did you enjoy 5765? For Jews around the world, it was the usual mixed bag of bad and even worse news. It was another year of anti-Semitism in Europe, stalemate in Iraq, and ups and downs in Israel’s battle for survival as the terror war waxed and then waned, and Israel left Gaza. But the arrival of a new Jewish year has us asking the same questions about what’s in store for 5766. Can things get worse? Of course, they can! Yet even as we cope with terrorism, hurricanes and the potential for cataclysmic shifts in Israel’s leadership, we shouldn’t lose what’s left of our sense of humor. So before the Almighty writes down just how much worse (or better) it will be for us in the proverbial Book of Life, I present (with apologies, as always, to former New York Times columnist William Safire) the annual Jewish Exponent “Jewish Pundit Quiz” for 5766. So guess — or should I say prognosticate — along with me about the coming year. My answers are at the bottom of the column. And remember, if you are worried about the outcome, teshuvah (“repentance”), tefillah (“prayer”) and tzedekah (“acts of justice and charity”) may avert the severe decree. L’Shanah
Tovah Tikatevu! 2.
Next year’s parliamentary elections in Israel will feature: 3.
By the end of 5766, the Mideast peace process will be: 4.
By the end of 5766, the real democracies in the Middle East will be: 5.
In 5766, the key figure in U.S. policy toward Israel in the Middle East
will be: 6.
By the end of 5766, the war in Iraq will be: 7.
The most influential American Jew in 5766 will be: Tobin’s answers: 1. a 2. d 3. b 4. d 5. a 6. c 7. c. Should Islamic Law Be Enforced by Canadian Courts?
In 1991, the Canadian province of Ontario passed what seemed at the time to be an enlightened, multicultural piece of legislation. Called the Arbitration Act, it stipulates that if two parties agree to engage a commercial, religious, or other arbitrator to settle a civil dispute, the provincial authorities will then enforce the verdict, so long as it is in accord with Canadian law. “People can use any arbitrator they want and can use a religious framework if it is mutually acceptable,” notes Brendan Crawley, spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. “If the award is not compatible with Canadian law, then the court will not enforce it. You can’t agree to violate Canadian law.” Over the years, Jews, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mennonites, and aboriginals, among others, made use of arbitration to settle family law questions without using Ontario’s court system. The system quietly worked. “If there have been any problems flowing from any rabbinical court decisions, I’m not aware of them,” observed the Ontario region chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Joel Richler. Then, in October 2003, an organization called the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice proposed the creation of Muslim Arbitration Boards (internally, it used Islamic terminology for these, Darul-Qada). As explained by the institute’s founder, Syed Mumtaz Ali, the boards, arbitrating on the basis of Islamic law, the Shari’a, would permit a Muslim to live according to Islam’s “complete code of life.” A first news article on this initiative came out in November 2003; within days, prompted by WorldNetDaily.com (“Canada prepares to enforce Islamic law”), a huge dispute got going. A hitherto obscure Ontario provision prompted a sharp national debate and even street rallies in twelve Canadian and European cities. Interestingly, the main opposition came from Muslim women’s groups, who feared that ignorant, isolated females would submit to the inescapably misogynistic Shari’a, a law code that permits parents to marry off pre-pubescent girls, men to marry multiple women, husbands alone to divorce, fathers automatically to win custody of children over certain ages, and sons to inherit more than daughters. The anti-Shari’a campaign suc | ||||||||||||||