May 9, 2008

BREAKING NEWS

Former Football Player’s Complaint To Be Heard, Court Rules
The former Marblehead High School football player who is charging his former coach with assault and intimidation got some good news on Wednesday. Essex County Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman is allowing Timothy Morris’ complaint to go forward and has denied Coach Doug Chernovetz’ motion to dismiss it. . more…

LOCAL NEWS

Complaint against Marblehead Coach Still Pending after Monday’s Hearing
A Superior Court Justice may rule this week on whether or not to dismiss a complaint by a parent who alleges, in a civil action, that the Marblehead football coach assaulted and inflicted emotional distress on his son...... .. .. . . more…

Israel at 60 — A Story Worth Telling
Being in Israel in the 21st century, one often wonders what Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, would think of this modern-day state if he could see it.. . . .... .... more…

Survivor Saw Hitler, Mengele, and Cheated Death Repeatedly
William Schick and Max Levy will be honored during Yom Hashoah services at a Temple Ahavat Achim Sisterhood/Hadassah event at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Middle Street, Gloucester on Friday, May 2 at 7 p.m. Schick will speak about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. .. .. . ... ... more…

Five Preschools Providing Vibrant Jewish Learning
Five Jewish preschools on the North Shore teach hundreds of youngsters English and Hebrew letters, handwriting, science, mathematics, art, the Jewish holidays, Israeli singing and dancing and more.. ... . . . ..... more…

Everett’s Congregation Tifereth Israel Celebrates Its 100th Year
It’s been a while since Everett’s faithful made it to Congregation Tifereth Israel to daven twice a day. But sons and daughters living today remember their fathers praying as a community before and after work in what used to be called the Malden Street Shul. . ... . . . ..... more…

FOOD

Unique Cookbook Preserves Survivors’ Stories, Recipes
A new cookbook preserves the life stories and cherished recipes of Holocaust survivors. The “Holocaust Survivor Cookbook” was self-published by Joanne Caras of Port St. Lucie, Florida.  . . .... .... more…

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Former Football Player’s Complaint To Be Heard, Court Rules

Bette Keva
Jewish Journal Staff

Bette Keva Timothy Morris foreground, his father Michael Morris behind him.

The former Marblehead High School football player who is charging his former coach with assault and intimidation got some good news on Wednesday. Essex County Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman is allowing Timothy Morris’ complaint to go forward and has denied Coach Doug Chernovetz’ motion to dismiss it.

However, the judge denied Morris’ preliminary injunction against Chernovetz in which the 17-year-old student asked the court to keep the coach away from him as he feared for his safety.

“I knew the judge’s biggest concern was that nobody threatened Tim for a while, and does Tim need the protection,” said his attorney, Gerard F. Malone. “But in making her ruling, the judge finds that Tim Morris has shown a likelihood of success against the coach on the charges of assault and violation of civil rights.”

Attorney Malone said he was gratified by the judge’s decision.

“We’re very happy that the judge found a high probability for our success on the merits of this case and we look forward to moving ahead with the discovery process and the trial,” he said. “We know that the evidence will clearly show that this coach’s behavior is beyond the pale, that he cannot control himself, and that an assault took place.”

Some of that evidence will have to await a further ruling from Judge Tuttman as Chernovetz’s attorney Sam Perkins asked her to issue a gag order to prevent news organizations from reviewing documents connected to the case, according to a statement from Malone. The supporting documentation of an investigation into Chernovetz by the school has been sealed. Judge Tuttman said she would rule on Friday, May 9, on whether to lift that ban.

The judge also disallowed a portion of Morris’ complaint, which brought in allegations about an unrelated case that occurred out of state. However, she did allow some of the information to stand, Malone said.

“The judge says that it’s relevant to show a pattern in the coach’s behavior with another student,” Malone said.

A call to Chernovetz’ attorney, Sam Perkins, was not returned by press time.

This story was filed on Tuesday, May 6. See above for later developments.

Complaint against Marblehead Coach Still Pending after Monday’s Hearing

Lawrence judge deliberating on civil rights case

Bette Keva
Jewish Journal Staff

Photos by Bette Keva Football coach Doug Chernovetz, on right, with his lawyer, Samuel Perkins.

Meredith and Michael Morris leaving the courthouse.

A Superior Court Justice may rule this week on whether or not to dismiss a complaint by a parent who alleges, in a civil action, that the Marblehead football coach assaulted and inflicted emotional distress on his son.

In addition, the complaint by parent Michael Morris alleges that Marblehead High School football coach Doug Chernovetz made racially and ethnically insensitive remarks to an African-American, a Jewish and a Polish player, demeaned others and used them as “feces markers” on the playing field.

Justice Kathe Tuttman heard arguments in Lawrence Superior Court on Monday, May 5, from lawyers on both sides

Gerard Malone, attorney for Morris, filed a civil complaint in April in which Morris alleges that his 17-year-old son, former football player Timothy Morris, was assaulted in a school corridor by the coach who cornered him and yelled and screamed at him because he thought Morris was lodging a complaint against him.

Morris alleges that his son, Timothy, who has stayed out of school since April 8, fears bodily harm from the coach if he returns to school. Morris’ complaint asks that Chernovetz be kept from returning to the school.

Although the alleged assault of Timothy occurred in November 2007, Morris didn’t file the complaint until April because he said he believed the school “would do the right thing,” by not rehiring the coach. When it became clear to Morris that the school may rehire the coach (who was working for a $10,000 stipend on a one-year contract), Morris filed his court complaint.

Attorney Samuel Perkins, speaking on behalf of Chernovetz, said most of Morris’ allegations are “hearsay,” and is asking that the case be dismissed. The attorney is also attempting to strike a number of allegations from the complaint, saying they are either scandalous or irrelevant.

When Morris lodged his complaints against the coach the end of last year, the Marblehead school district conducted its own investigation covering the period from September through December 2007. (See sidebar.)

The school found evidence to substantiate five of the nine complaints and meted out disciplinary action against the coach, according to Superintendent Paul Dulac’s summary of the investigation. The school found that Chernovetz brought his dogs onto the practice field in violation of school rules, but it did not find evidence that players were demeaned as “feces markers” or asked to pick up the feces.

The school also found that improper language was used, but not that there were “sexual overtones” to the language.

The school found that there were “numerous allegations” of “retaliation, racial stereotyping, civil rights violations, inconsistent application of rules and a hostile environment.” The school found that “the coach spoke to certain players in an inappropriate and racially/ethnically insensitive way. In doing so, he showed poor judgment in his interactions with some of the players. Moreover, the confrontation between Mr. Chernovetz and the student of the complainant after the complaint was made was also improper.”

Dulac’s summary notes that disciplinary action was taken.

Coach Doug Chernovetz

The school found that Chernovetz chewed tobacco in front of his players in violation of state and school rules. He will get a two-game suspension in the coming season, if he is rehired.

Finally, the school found that Chernovetz used intimidation and lack of sound judgment in telephoning Timothy Morris’ eighth-grade cousin, encouraging him to join the football team next season. The school admits that it was unaware that making such an overture, a long-held practice in Marblehead, was a violation of MIAA rules. The school promises to discontinue the practice of having coaches make such calls.

Morris also alleges that 13 of 44 football players left the team since 2007 “due to the aberrant behavior of Chernovetz.”

However, one of the captains of the football team, Sam Perlow, disagrees. He said of the 13, four or five left because of injuries and two others because of academics. Of two captains who left the team, both asked to come back, Perlow said.

On Monday, May 5, 21 Marblehead High football players came to the Lawrence court in support of Chernovetz. None was asked to give testimony but as they passed him they shook his hand. Several mothers who had driven the boys to court, also attended.

Athletic Director Michael Plansky, who also attended the hearing, said that he made an announcement over the loud speaker in school on Friday that there would be an after-school meeting of the football players. He said, however, that the administration had nothing to do with the players attending court; it was strictly on their own initiative.

At 10 a.m., in the courtroom on Monday approximately 15 of the football players rose to leave. Attorney Perkins explained to the judge that according to Marblehead school rules, the boys had to return to school by 11 a.m. if they were to participate in extracurricular activities that day. Another half dozen football players remained in the courtroom until proceedings ended around 10:30 a.m.

Plansky said the administration did not grant permission or make prior arrangement of the football players attending the hearing.
“There was absolutely no support for or against this situation,” Plansky said. “Kids are allowed to decide what they want to do on their own. Hopefully, with the support of their parents.”

Whether or not Judge Tuttman dismisses Morris’ plea for an injunction against Chernovetz contacting his son, Morris will continue with his complaint against the coach, said his attorney, Gerard Malone.

Summary of School’s Investigation

The Marblehead School District conducted its own investigation of the complaints against Coach Doug Chernovetz by Michael Morris during the period from September 2007 through December 2007.

While the school would not release the report, the Journal has obtained a copy of Superintendent Paul Dulac’s four-page summary.

Dulac states that the investigation is based on information from the Morris family, Coach Chernovetz, other coaches in the football program, and students who might have information regarding Morris’ complaints.

Regarding the complaint about the coach bringing his three dogs onto the practice field and then using football players as “feces markers” and/or asking them to pick up the feces, the school found that dogs were on the fields in violation of school policy, but there was no evidence that any student was asked to pick up feces.

The school did mete out disciplinary action against the coach for having the dogs on the field.

Regarding the complaint that Chernovetz used improper language with explicit sexual overtones, the coach admitted that he had done so. “However, there was no indication that the language was sexually explicit” or that it was used to degrade players, states Dulac’s report.

The school took disciplinary action against Chernovetz.

Regarding the charge that Chernovetz used retaliation, racial stereotyping, civil rights violations, inconsistent application of rules, and created a hostile environment, the school found that “numerous allegations flowed from this portion of the complaint including allegations of comments based on racial stereotypes and ethnic slurs. Based on student interviews and information learned through an earlier investigation, it is determined that the coach spoke to certain players in an inappropriate and racially/ethnically insensitive way. In doing so, he showed poor judgment in his interactions with some of the players. Moreover, the confrontation between Mr. Chernovetz and the student of the complainant after the complaint was made was also improper.”

The school meted out disciplinary action against the coach for the above actions.

It was found that the coach used chewing tobacco during practice or competition in violation of Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association rules and Marblehead school district policy.

Chernovetz’ got a two-game suspension (25 percent of the upcoming 2008 season) for the offense, imposed by the MIAA and the school.

A charge of “intimidation and lack of sound and proper judgment” regarding telephoning the eighth-grade cousin of Timothy Morris to encourage him to attend MHS was deemed improper as it is a violation of MIAA rules. However, the school admits that it has been a standard practice at the school. “We are now aware that this practice violates MIAA rules and the Athletic Department has been directed to stop the practice,” states Dulac’s summary.

Several other complaints were found to be unsubstantiated.

The school also investigated a complaint that Chernovetz improperly touched and kissed players. After interviewing athletes, “there was no evidence of athletes feeling uncomfortable due to the coach’s action.” Since the complaint did not give names of players who allegedly felt uncomfortable by the coach’s action, “these incidents do not rise to the level of inappropriate touching,” states Dulac’s summary.

Dulac based his summary on the report conducted by himself, Marblehead High School Principal John Ziergiebel, MHS Athletic Director Michael Plansky and MHS Harassment Officer Paula Dobrow.

Bette Keva

 
Israel at 60 — A Story Worth Telling

Uriel Heilman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Being in Israel in the 21st century, one often wonders what Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, would think of this modern-day state if he could see it.

The malarial swamps of prestate Palestine have been replaced by rapidly growing cities with glitzy shopping districts, carefully landscaped parks and six-lane highways that run between high-rise office buildings and limestone apartment complexes.

struggled to sow the seeds of the new nation-state armed with triangular hats and simple hoes, have been succeeded by sunglasses-wearing settlers in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley who have installed high-tech drip-irrigation devices to hydrate hybrid tomatoes for export to markets in London, Paris and New York.

And the nation whose birth defied the odds in a war of independence against invading Arab armies to the north, east and south, has become a regional military superpower with an assumed nuclear arsenal, a crack air force and peace treaties with two of its four Arab neighbors.

Agricultural settlements have turned into sprawling cities; the 1948 population of roughly 800,000 has swelled to more than seven million and — perhaps most important of all — the Jewish state has become home for Jews from Russia, Europe, Iran, Ethiopia, Argentina, Egypt, North America, India and too many other places to count.

Sixty years on, Israel has much to celebrate, having raised a vibrant, diverse and occasionally bewildering society virtually from scratch.
In all likelihood, Herzl would not even recognize the place.

“I think Herzl would be so perplexed,” says veteran Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a conservative think tank in Jerusalem. “Israel bears no resemblance to what Herzl imagined, conceiving a Jewish state from the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.”

Herzl envisioned a socialist utopia that would combine the best of European culture and Jewish ingenuity.

Halevi says Herzl would find Israel’s radical Jewish diversity most perplexing.

“The East-West mixture, the racial mixture of Israel, Ethiopian culture, Moroccan music — all the elements that make Israel so unpredictable and so interesting are elements Herzl couldn’t conceive of sitting in Vienna in the beginning of the 20th century,” Halevi says.

In many ways, however, Herzl’s dream of a Jewish state has been fulfilled.

Israel has secured its place among the nations even though its leaders bemoan the existential threat posed by Iran and the demographic threat represented by the Palestinians. Israel boasts metropolitan cities, concert halls, theaters, centers of science and learning, skyscrapers, a stock exchange and a thriving nonprofit sector.

Israel also has poor people, failing schools, government corruption, run-down neighborhoods, traffic, drug problems and criminals.
And after 60 years, Israel still faces basic questions of existence and character most countries have resolved long ago: Can the state be both Jewish and democratic? What will the final borders of the country look like? Where, exactly, is the balance between religious and secular, Arab rights and Jewish character, change and preservation, future and history?

Sixty years on, the battle for Israel’s soul is far from over.

Tel Aviv leftists debate right-wing settlers about whether the final borders of the state should encompass the West Bank or run along the pre-1967 border. Secular yuppies from Herzliya lobby to be able to buy pork products and shrimp in their local supermarkets while Knesset-sanctioned inspectors slap fines on malls that open on Shabbat.

Russian Israelis say Israeli immigration policies unfairly exclude their non-Jewish relatives, while yeshiva rabbis warn that an influx of foreign laborers and non-Jewish immigrants erode the state’s Jewish character. Arab Israelis from Jerusalem ask why their Palestinian cousins from nearby Bethlehem are barred from visiting them while a Jew from Chicago can become an Israeli citizen simply by showing up at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with a letter from her rabbi.

These are the growing pains of a state that 60 years after its founding still hasn’t quite decided what it wants to be.

One would be hard-pressed to find another country in the world that has experienced as rapid growth over the span of just six decades. That the growth has occurred amid frequent wars, the constant scourge of terrorism and other daily challenges has made it all the more remarkable.
And despite the apparent lack of natural resources in Israel — the country has no oil reserves to tap, no verdant breadbasket and a relatively small population — Jewish ingenuity has made Israel a center of innovation.

Israel has more companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange than any other outside the United States. The world’s leading technology companies, including Intel, IBM and Microsoft, maintain extensive R&D facilities in Israel. The country has the highest proportion in the world of university graduates per capita. Outside of Europe and North America, Israel leads in the number of patent applications.

Israelis invented the video camera that fits inside a pill, giving doctors a new non-invasive way to view their patients’ insides. Four young Israelis invented the first instant-messaging technology, known as ICQ, which was later sold to AOL. The disk-on-key, now almost universally used in place of diskettes, was created in Israel.

Despite the worrisome headlines about Iran, Hezbollah’s resurgence along the Lebanon border and Hamas’ growing power in the Gaza Strip, Israel has become an increasingly stable, normal country. In 2007, terrorism-related deaths in Israel fell to 13 — the lowest level in years.

The question for Israel isn’t so much whether people will be able to live in the country in 10, 20 or 30 years, but whether they will want to.
After 60 years of focusing on survival, Israel must now address its internal challenges, Israelis say, particularly the ones that threaten national unity: the religious-secular gap, the Arab-Jewish gap, the rich-poor gap, the right wing-left wing gap.

This, essentially, is how Israel has developed throughout its six decades — always in a state of emergency, under the threat of wars or terrorism, and with the great questions of society still unanswered.

Yet all the while, Israelis have forged communities, launched companies, started rock bands, built cities, gone to cafes and raised their families. This perseverance — the carrying on of daily life, despite all the craziness in the country — is what makes Israel at 60 a story worth telling.

Survivor Saw Hitler, Mengele, and Cheated Death Repeatedly

Bette Keva
Jewish Journal Staff

William Schick as a young man.

Courtesy of William Schick William Schick, circa 1980.

William Schick and Max Levy will be honored during Yom Hashoah services at a Temple Ahavat Achim Sisterhood/Hadassah event at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Middle Street, Gloucester on Friday, May 2 at 7 p.m. Schick will speak about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor.

William Schick was born on December 16, 1920. Twenty-three years later, on his birthday, he was shipped to Auschwitz from his home in Prague.

That he is alive today to tell his story is something of a miracle that isn’t lost on him for a moment. He talks of “cheating death twice,” but in reality, people listening to him come to realize he survived far more than twice; and he is alive because he was strong, able-bodied and could perform the backbreaking labor the Nazis needed from people like him.

Sitting in his comfortable antique home on a hill in Gloucester where outside the birds chirp wildly and spring is just starting to burst from every tree on the sprawling landscape, Schick talks about a heinous period in his life that he once kept bottled up. Now he will talk to those who want to listen.

He speaks softly, conversationally, without anger or outward emotion.

“When I was in the camp, I stopped believing in religion,” he said. “I saw innocent people, decent people killed, gassed.”

When re-minded that some — like him — did survive, Schick replied that the percentage was very small.

Two times while at the Auschwitz death camp he was sent to the gas chamber. The first time, it didn’t work. The Jews that were to be gassed that day were given a reprieve.

The second time he was to go to the gas chamber in early 1944, 10,000 Jews arrived on a transport from Hungary and descended on the camp. Again, as he puts it, he cheated death.

If some were unaware that Jews were being herded into the crematoria and gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, only a mile away from the labor camp, that certainly didn’t apply to Schick.

“I knew on my second day,” he said. “A Polish prisoner working in the camp said, ‘See that chimney. That’s your people.’ You could smell it, smell the hair.”

But the story of the young, exceptionally handsome soccer player from Prague starts earlier. His family was comfortable, living in a beautiful, large third-floor apartment building in Prague. Schick’s father was a representative for a textile company. The family even had a maid and a telephone, both rarities in those days.

That ended in March 1939, when Czecho-slovakia was taken over and occupied by the Germans.

“I saw Hitler. He was standing 50 feet away from me. He came into Prague, standing in an open convertible when the occupation began,” Schick said. “Life changed almost instantly. We had to wear the [Jewish] star, we couldn’t go out after 8 p.m. Jews could only shop certain days and hours. You couldn’t go to a movie. They took you out of your home and put you in a ghetto. They shipped all the Jews to Prague’s Old Town. We lived three, four families to an apartment.”

Schick’s mother was sent to Theresienstadt. He doesn’t mention his father.

“In November 1941, I was sent to work in Theresienstadt. It used to be a garrison for soldiers and a town of 2,000 Czech people,” Schick said. It was named after Maria Teresa, the mother of Joseph II. Schick compared it, before the war, to the Pentagon.

“The Germans used it for a ghetto because of all the walls around it,” he said. He was sent to build the walls even higher. “Within one month, people started arriving from all over Europe — Hungary, Germany, Denmark. There were 60,000 people, all Jews. They came in trains.

Theresienstadt wasn’t as bad as the other camps I was in. At least there weren’t gas chambers there until the very end of the war.”

When it got too crowded in Theresienstadt, they made a “selection.”

“They looked at you. If you worked in a kitchen or in jobs that were not [valued] much, they signaled their hand, this way to Auschwitz,” the death camp. The other hand signaled toward the other direction, to work.

Although Schick was a cook, he could see that those workers ended up in Auschwitz, so he dirtied his hands and when he came before the Germans he told them he stoked the fire for the 200- and 300-gallon kettles.

“I said, ‘I’m a stoker.’ It saved my life,” he said. “So that’s one of the lucky breaks I got. It was the last minute. I decided the Germans didn’t like cooks. There were too many. We didn’t have that much to cook with. We put vegetables in a pot. It wasn’t hard. It was a fairly decent job and you could get a little bit extra to eat.”

On his 23rd birthday, he and his brother, Zoltan, three years younger than he, were rounded up and locked into closed cattle cars with 3,500 people for an interminable two or three day journey to Auschwitz. He recalls standing the entire time and having no food. There was a bucket to relieve yourself but it was in a far corner and, “I never made it to the bucket.”

“There were a lot of dead people. We stepped on dead people all the time. That’s the only way we could find a place to lay down. I forget whether there was a bucket [to drink water] or not. I remember that there was no room, absolutely no room.”

The cattle car pulled into Auschwitz on a frigid dark winter night. Polish guards, also prisoners, unlocked the doors and shone lights into the prisoners’ faces. It was unforgettable, Schick said.

“The Polish prisoners hit you over the head. ‘Get out of this car! Get moving.’ Old people couldn’t get out, couldn’t jump down. There were no stairs.”

Those who still had strength were given striped uniforms, no underwear, no socks and wooden shoes. Auschwitz contained 50 or 60 sub-camps for Jews, Gypsies and others targeted for extermination by Hitler.

But the clock was ticking on the defeat of the Nazis. Schick and the other prisoners had no way of knowing it, but soon — for many, not soon enough — there would be an end to their path to the gas chambers and crematoria.

Here is yet another incident where Schick cheated death.

“Before I got out of Auschwitz, Dr. Josef Mengele came to our camp and wanted to find enough people who could do a month’s work because everything was bombed in Germany,” Schick said, speaking of the infamous Nazi doctor who performed genetic experiments on humans in concentration camps.

The Germans needed able-bodied people to clean up the debris and destruction wrought by American planes.

“I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a trick to go to the gas chambers, but it wasn’t a trick. I weighed 99 pounds. I stood in front of Dr. Mengele stark naked for at least 15-20 seconds. He had this unbelievable uniform on. Shiny boots, a beautiful black leather custom-made uniform. You could see yourself in his boots. He was an elegant dresser. I always have to say Mengele saved my life. What a joke! He went like this,” said Schick motioning with his thumb in one direction. “Those guys who could hardly stand up, they stayed in Auschwitz and got gassed.”

Because Mengele felt Schick still had a month’s worth of work in him, his life was spared.

“Believe it or not, I went in a regular train to Schwartzheide, Germany, a little camp attached to a factory that made artificial gasoline out of coal. Every day at 12 o’clock the Americans bombed it. You could set your watch by it. We had to get out and clean up all the mess.”

Once, by accident, a stray bomb hit one of the bunkers and killed about 40 people. “We had to push burning cars away from the factory so they wouldn’t explode,” he recalled.

After six months there, in early 1945, the Germans evacuated the camp and put the prisoners on a march, but they could feel that something was changing.

“We could hear cannons, the noise from the big guns,” Schick said. “The Russians were coming closer every day. We didn’t know the Germans were losing the war. We had no idea what was going on. The Germans had the idea that we would march to another camp, 600-700 miles away at Monthausen, Austria. Of course it was a joke. People were falling left and right. The Germans would put a bullet through you. We had to bury the dead right on the side of the road.

“When we left the camp, there were 3,000 of us. After the death march, there were 250.

After marching, the prisoners got on cattle cars, but that didn’t last five miles before Schick remembers someone yelling “The Germans are gone.” After a while, prisoners started getting out of the trains by themselves and saw that there were no German guards in sight.

Schick, who was leaning on his brother for psychological and physical strength, looked at the terrain and realized they were four miles from Leitmeritz Train Station, about four miles from Theresienstadt, where their odyssey had begun five years earlier.

It was May 7, 1945.

“I walked to Theresienstadt. The Red Cross was there and got us back to life. Our eyes were deep and hollowed. We looked like dead people. I was 24. Very lucky. Not brave, just lucky.”

His brother, whom Schick said was the stronger of the two throughout the war, and whom he credits for saving his life, was damaged by the ordeal.

“I guess, finally, his mental strength wasn’t there,” Schick said. Zoltan remained in Europe, settling in Vienna and died 10 years ago.
Schick never saw his mother again after seeing her one afternoon in Theresienstadt in 1944.
“They shipped her right out to Bergen-Belsen. She died of typhoid two or three months before the end of the war.

Asked about his father, Schick remains silent.

He stayed in Chezoslovakia after the war working for Chez airlines. In 1948, he left for Germany and the western part of Europe as Communism spread east, barring entry into many of those countries. He hated living in Germany — “in those days it was pretty bad” — and worked for the Americans in Munich. Finally, after two years, Schick found a Mr. Livingston, a furrier in Marlboro, Massachusetts, who agreed to sponsor Schick in coming to America.

Five Preschools Providing Vibrant Jewish Learning

Courtesy of NSJCC Toddlers in their Judaica Class with specialist Debbie Reiselman.

Bette Keva
Jewish Journal Staff

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a multi-part series highlighting North of Boston religious schools. The Jewish Journal will honor Jewish educators at a June 15 concert/fundraiser at Endicott College in Beverly. For ticket information,call 978-745-4111.

Five Jewish preschools on the North Shore teach hundreds of youngsters English and Hebrew letters, handwriting, science, mathematics, art, the Jewish holidays, Israeli singing and dancing and more.

Temples Beth Shalom and Ner Tamid and the North Suburban Jewish Community Center — all of Peabody, Congregation Shirat Hayam of Swampscott and the JCCNS of Marblehead develop skills that are laying the foundation for youngsters entering kindergarten and beyond. Children, from approximately 2 months to 5-years-old attend morning, afternoon and/or extended day classes.

All the preschools are open to students of all faiths. Directors say while there is a majority of Jewish children at each one, there is a significant percentage of non-Jews and children coming from interfaith families.

Besides doing their own programming, all five preschools utilize free programs offered by the Robert I. Lappin Foundation. Many of the teachers have journeyed on the Teacher-to-Israel trips, taken Inspirational Jewish Teaching courses, use Hebrew and Jewish studies teachers as specialists, and employ giant maps and hands-on teaching tools provided by the foundation.

This week, most of the preschools were involved in learning about Israel at 60 celebrations — they were singing Israeli songs, performing dances and learning where points of interest are, such as the Western Wall, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

North Suburban JCC in Peabody
At the North Suburban JCC in Peabody, 117 preschoolers are enrolled, there are 25 teachers, and hours range from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Early Childhood Director Susan Novak was enthusiastic about this week’s “We’re going to Israel” theme, where children planned a make-believe trip in which they made passports, luggage, Israeli foods and used the giant map of Israel to identify cities.
Novak is proud of the four-year-olds’ mastery of Hebrew through the JCC’s Masoret class, which is a level higher than the Hebrew they typically learn.

She counts as a highlight going on the Lappin Teachers-to-Israel trip, just as four other teachers in the school have. Another teacher went on the Grinspoon trip to Israel. She said it has transformed the way they teach.

“We use more pictures, more visuals and do more hands-on projects,” Novak said.

JCCNS, Marblehead
The JCC in Marblehead has 160 preschoolers enrolled with 34 teachers. Director Janice Colpitts is particularly proud of the Masoret classes taught by Marla Mindel and Susan Pineault.

Because of the Lappin Foundation grants “we are able to expose all of our JCCNS children to Hebrew,” Colpitts said. “Rachel Jacobson of the Lappin Foundation spends time with our toddler and preschool children once a week, dancing and singing in Hebrew. Marcy Yellin brings Shabbat to life every week. She makes our Shabbat celebration so special as we sing together, dance and recite the blessings sharing challah together.”

Temple Beth Shalom, Peabody
Temple Beth Shalom Nursery School of Peabody, headed by Dawn Sudenfield, has 32 students and eight teachers. Among other programs, teachers took a series of classes offered by the Lappin Foundation called Inspirational Jewish Teaching.

“It gave us some great ideas,” said long-time teacher Barbara Steinberg. “The course showed us how to build a Western Wall with blocks and posters with plants sprouting out of it, and how to put prayers inside. We talked about how special Jerusalem is, taking out maps, talking about language and serving Israeli style food, doing archeological digs in a sandbox, and finding pottery in the sand. It’s good to get new ideas.”

Temple Ner Tamid, Peabody
At Temple Ner Tamid in Peabody there are 15 preschoolers with four teachers.

“Our philosophy is we learn by hands-on experience,” said teacher/director Melissa Comak. “In the four-year-old room we do a Handwriting Without Tears program, we teach the letters of the alphabet and numbers 1 to 10 in fun and easy steps that prepare the children for kindergarten. We have different centers: science, math and art.”

This week, children were singing “Hello Mami, Shalom, Shalom,” and learning the hora in preparation for a Mother’s Day program.

Congregation Shirat Hayam, Swampscott
There are 110 children and a staff of 19 at Congregation Shirat Hayam Preschool.

“The preschool celebrates diversity by introducing children of all faiths to school life within a synagogue,” said Director Leslie Rooks Sack. “A feeling of connection is so important to young children and this connection is infused throughout by cooperative learning and the sharing of ideas. Rabbi Baruch HaLevi and Cantor Emil Berkovits are very much a part of the children’s life here. Every Shabbat and throughout the year on the holidays, both the rabbi and cantor lead the children and teachers in the sanctuary for a ruach-filled morning of singing and Jewish learning.” 

Shirat Hayam Preschool also utilizes Lappin Foundation programming, including the services of Hebrew teachers and Jewish specialists. Four of its teachers have attended the Teachers-to-Israel trip.

Everett’s Congregation Tifereth Israel Celebrates Its 100th Year

Bette Keva
Jewish Journal Staff

Congregation Tifereth Israel in Everett today.

It’s been a while since Everett’s faithful made it to Congregation Tifereth Israel to daven twice a day. But sons and daughters living today remember their fathers praying as a community before and after work in what used to be called the Malden Street Shul.

Tifereth Israel will celebrate its proud history at a Mother’s Day buffet breakfast on May 11 with past and present members, and city and state officials. Past presidents will be honored, there will be entertainment and a few people will talk about the synagogue’s history.

Guests are expected to come from Everett, Winthrop, Revere, Swampscott, Peabody, Wakefield, Needham, Newton and out-of-state.

“They move out of Everett, but Everett doesn’t move out of them,” said long-time congregant Dorothy Waldman.

In its heyday, on High Holidays 300 to 400 people would crowd through the sanctuary doors. But now, Waldman believes only about 50 Jews are left in Everett.

Courtesy photos The original synagogue in 1908.

In 1908, five families formed what was then an Orthodox congregation, meeting in a house. By 1912, there were enough members to erect a shul at 34 Malden Street in Everett with 30 families. In 1928 they built a community center housing the Hebrew school and 10 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations.

In August 1982 an electrical fire destroyed the synagogue. Waldman remembers a priest, ministers and firefighters rushing into the synagogue to save the Torahs.

The congregation lost no time. They rebuilt a modern synagogue on the same footprint and opened its doors the following year. Today it is an egalitarian/traditional synagogue with some 100 members, a kosher kitchen, an endowment and speaker series.

President Gerry Shulman will serve as the master of ceremonies at the Mother’s Day breakfast. Former Rabbi Nechemia Polen, now a Hebrew College professor, will speak, as will others. Leaders of the congregation will honor past presidents.

Cantorial soloist Phyllis Werlin will perform followed by a nostalgic “Morning to Remember.”

A Mother’s Day Breakfast to honor Congregation Tifereth Israel’s 100 years is being held on Sunday, May 11 at 10 a.m., at 34 Malden Street, Everett. The cost is $18. Please RSVP at 617-387-0200.

Unique Cookbook Preserves Survivors’ Stories, Recipes

Susan Jacobs
Jewish Journal Staff
A new cookbook preserves the life stories and cherished recipes of Holocaust survivors. The “Holocaust Survivor Cookbook” was self-published by Joanne Caras of Port St. Lucie, Florida. 

“We sold out of our first printing in eight weeks, and recently sold out of our second printing,” Caras said. She is very proud of how much money the book has raised for Jewish charities. “We have raised over $120,000, and we are just getting started,” she said.

One of the biggest recipients of the windfall is the Carmei Ha’ir Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem, which feeds 500 poor and hungry Israelis each day. To date, the Caras family has presented $36,000 to the non-profit organization. The remainder of the proceeds has benefited a variety of other Jewish charities that purchased 50 or more cookbooks at the wholesale price, and then sold them at retail as a fundraising opportunity. 

Joanne Caras was inspired to create the cookbook after visiting the Carmei Ha’ir Soup Kitchen in 2005. She had gone to Israel to visit her son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Sarah Caras, who had made aliyah earlier that year. The newlyweds were volunteers at Carmei Ha’ir.

Caras was impressed with the dignified way Carmei Ha’ir treated its patrons. Waiters took orders and served people at their tables. If the diners could pay for their meal, they left money in a tzedakah box near the door. If they couldn’t pay, they were still welcomed and treated with respect. Caras returned to America determined to help Carmei Ha’ir.

Sarah’s grandmother, Golda, a Holocaust survivor, had recently died. Sarah, Jonathan and Joanne Caras came up with the idea to combine stories from Holocaust survivors with favorite recipes that have been passed down within their families. All the profits would be donated to charity.

The “Holocaust Survivor Cookbook” took 2-1/2 years to compile. It contains 129 stories from Holocaust survivors living in the United States, Canada, South America, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and South Africa. The spiral-bound hardcover book features old family photos taken before and after the war, and over 200 kosher recipes.

Although it is billed as a cookbook, the survivors’ tales are almost more compelling than the actual recipes. Readers will be fascinated and even uplifted by the stories of miraculous survival and incredible bravery experienced by the contributors.

This is not a typical cookbook. Caras stresses that the old family recipes have not been altered or “tested” by food experts. Many have been handed down orally from generation to generation, and some lack culinary details. Caras encourages readers to use the recipes as springboards, or to modify them as needed.

While typical cookbooks are divided into sections, e.g. appetizers, entrees, desserts, the format of this book is different. It is catalogued by survivors, with recipes following their stories. To help cooks, the recipes are cross-indexed.

The focus is on traditional Jewish fare. There are a dozen recipes for kugel, six variations of cholent, and a half-dozen different recipes for challah. In this era of low-carb, low-fat eating, there are instructions for preparing nearly forgotten Jewish dishes such as gedempte fleish, beef with prunes, and marinated herring salad.

The collection showcases the multitude of countries the survivors came from. There are recipes for pfanukuchen (German pancakes), kapu’snak (a Polish cabbage dish), schipyeh (a Polish side dish made from cottage cheese and raw vegetables), chicken paprikasch (from Prussia), and kaltsonakia (from Greece.)

While this cookbook is not geared towards health food advocates or dedicated foodies, it certainly has historic and altruistic merit. Buying the $36 book helps support hungry Israelis and is a tribute to the memory of those lost in the Holocaust.
“When you serve a recipe, read the story of the survivor that accompanies it. Take time to discuss the story. By doing this, you will keep both the recipes and stories alive for generations to come,” Joanne Caras said.

To order the book, visit www.survivorcookbook.org.

Rosette Faust Halpern
Rosette Faust Halpern was born in Poland, the youngest of six children. She lives today in Silver Spring, Md. She survived the war by escaping to Ukraine, but still has vivid memories of the Warsaw ghetto.

“The tragic years during the German occupation robbed me of my parents, some siblings, relatives and childhood friends. We were humiliated to the point of ultimate degradation, and forced to leave our home to a closed ghetto where every day was designed to annihilate the Jews. Besides epidemic and filth, we were subjected to unbelievable hunger,” she said.

Stuffed Cabbage
1 large head of cabbage
1⁄2 cup raisins
2 lb. chopped beef
1 large sliced onion
1 chopped onion
1 tart apple, grated
1⁄2 cup cooked rice
7 ginger snaps, softened in hot water
1 egg
juice of 1⁄2 lemon
salt, pepper, garlic
1 small can tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Soak cabbage in boiling water until limp. Separate leaves. Combine beef, chopped onion, rice, egg and spices for filling. Place about 2 tablespoons of filling on each cabbage leaf. Roll up. Slice any extra cabbage finely and line it in a large roaster. Add tomato sauce, raisins, sliced onion, apple, ginger snaps, lemon juice and tomatoes. Add cabbage rolls. Bake covered for 1 1⁄2 to 2 hours, removing the cover for the last 15 minutes. Baste before serving.

Halina Herman

Halina Herman was born in Warsaw, Poland, just as WWII was beginning. Her father, a physician, was killed, and her mother lost her whole family. Halina and her mother survived the war by pretending to be Gentiles.

When she was 10, they moved to Paris, at which point her mother revealed that they were really Jews. “I couldn’t believe this. I thought I was Catholic and even went to a kindergarten run by nuns,” she said. Herman now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mock Chopped Liver Spread
2 cups cooked lentils 1 cup walnut pieces
1 medium onion salt and pepper to taste

Process all ingredients in a food processor to a coarse consistency.

Kuba (Jack) Glotzer
Kuba (Jack) Glotzer was born in Rohatyn, Poland. He was 14 when his father emigrated to the U.S., intending to relocate his wife and three sons after he was settled. However war broke out, and Jack’s mother, brothers, and all remaining members of his family were killed. He survived by hiding in the woods. After the war he came to America, only to learn that his father, his last living relative, had died at age 53. Jack passed away Dec. 31, 2005.

Apple Coffee Cake

2/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup sour cream
1 t. vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1 chopped fresh apple
1/3 cup raisins
1⁄4 cup flour
1⁄4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 T. butter or margarine
1⁄2 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in sour cream, vanilla and egg. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Mix into creamed mixture. Blend well. Combine the last four topping ingredients into coarse crumbs. Spoon half the butter into a greased 8-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle with apples, raisins and half the topping. Top with remaining batters and the rest of the topping. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.