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Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Community Calendar
Saturday
October 11
Lincolnwood Jewish Con-
gregation AG Beth Israel
holds Succot Across America program featuring a
Melaveh Malkah and showing of baseball documentary, “10 0 Ye ar s of Wri gle y
F ield .” 8:15 p.m., 7117 N.
Crawford, Lincolnwood.
RSVP to [email protected] or (847) 676-0491.
Sunday
Tuesday
October 12
October 14
Ezra-Habonim, the Niles
Township Jewish Congregation hosts br un c h to c e lebr at e Rab b i Nei l B ri ef ’s
80t h bi rt h day. 11 a.m.,
4500 W. Dempster, Skokie.
$36. (847) 675-4141.
Ketura Hadassah hosts ice
cream social and open
meeting with Rabbi Carmit
Harari speaking on “Tales .”
12:30 p.m., succah of Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation A. G. Beth Israel, 7171
N. Crawford, Lincolnwood.
$3. (847) 673-0773.
NCSY presents Commu nity
Day at Six Flags Great
Am er ica, including boxed
lunch from Milt’s BBQ for
the Perplexed. 11 a.m.-11
p.m., 1 Great America Parkway, I-94 at Route 132,
Gurnee. Pre-purchase tickets, $45, from midwest.ncsy.
org or Midwest NCSY office,
(847) 677-6279. No ticket
sales at door. Discounted
parking passes available
through the NCSY office.
Best
Independent Living
for Active Seniors!
Gourmet Kosher Meals Prepared Daily
Synagogue with Full-Time Rabbi
9 Acres of Landscaped Grounds
Weekly Housekeeping
24/7 Wellness Center on Site
In-House Therapy Department
Beauty and Barber Shop
Daily Exercise Classes
Theater, Museums and Cultural Outings
Round Trip Chauffeur Services
Multiple Daily Social Events and Opportunities
Daily Live Music, Movies and Lectures
Free Parking
24-Hour Security
Studios, 1 and 2 Bedrooms
Furnished and Unfurnished
Long and Short Term
Apartment Rentals
Call us to schedule your visit!
Best
valu
start e
ing a
t
$
1,750
Owned and operated by NWHA, Inc. (an Illinois not-for-profit Corporation)
6840 N. Sacramento Avenue, Chicago
www.park-plaza.org
773.465.6700 (Yehuda)
Northbrook Community
Synagogue holds Su nd ay
Suc c ah Sp ec t ac u lar with
hot dogs, inflatable obstacle course, 25- foot rockclimbing wall, pony rides,
arts and crafts. 11:30 a.m.2:30 p.m., 2548 Jasper
Court, Northbrook. [email protected] or (847)
509-9204.
Congregation Beth Judea
holds annual B les s in g o f
th e An im al s. Make sure
pets have all up-to-date
vaccinations. Noon, Route
83 and Hilltop Road, parking lot, Long Grove. (847)
634-0777.
Congregation Beth Judea’s
Men’s Club hosts annual
“ S t e a k a n d S c ot c h i n t he
Suc c ah ” event. 5-9 p.m.,
Route 83 and Hilltop Road,
Long Grove. RSVP,
[email protected] or (847)
634-0777.
Congregation Beth Shalom
holds Suc c o t pr og r am f or
sp ec ia l n eed s c om m un it y.
6 p.m., 3433 Walters Ave.,
Northbrook. [email protected] or
(847) 498-4100.
Response’s Parent and Family Connection and North
Shore Congregation Israel
present Israeli film, “M e lt in g Aw ay, ” about parents
coping with their child’s
transgender identity, followed by panel discussion.
Recommended for high
school age and older. 9
p.m., 1185 Sheridan Road,
Glencoe. (224) 625-2946 or
[email protected].
Saturday
October 18
Maxwell Street foundation
of Chicago hosts inaugural
luncheon for people to
share stories about old
Maxwell Str eet and ideas to
preserve it for the future.
Phil Ranstrom and CJ Henderson will speak. Noon-2
p.m., Hilltop Restaurant,
2800 W. Foster, Chicago.
[email protected].
Sunday
October 19
Beth Hillel Congregation
Bnai Emunah Men’s Club
hosts breakfast featuring
genealogist Judith R. Frazin
speaking on “ Get ti ng
St ar te d in Gen ealo g y.”
9:45 a.m., 3220 Big Tree
Lane, Wilmette. Donations
accepted. RSVP, (847) 2560398.
Temple Judea Mizpah holds
Blessing of the Animals.
Noon, 8610 Niles Center
Road, Skokie. (847) 676-1566.
SPOTLIGHT
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presents a screening of HBO
film “50 Children: The Rescue Mission
of Mr. and Mrs. Krauss” followed by
discussion with the filmmaker, Steven
Pressman, and Robert Williams, coordinator for special research for
the Museum’s Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 21, Am Shalom, 840 Vernon Ave., Glencoe. Free but registration requested at ushmm.org/events/ 50children-glencoe. More
information, (855) 218-6836 or [email protected].
3
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
In heavily Muslim Dutch neighborhood,
a sukkah stirs controversy
By Cnaan Liphshiz
JTA
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
– For the tour guides that lead
visitors through the Van Ostade
Housing
Project,
Fabrice
Schomberg’s sukkah is one of the
few signs of the neighborhood’s
Jewish roots.
Built in the 19th century for
impoverished Jews, the enclave
today is surrounded by the largely
Muslim
neighborhood
of
Schilderswijk, an area that the
Dutch media have taken to calling the “Sharia Triangle,” referring to Islamic religious law.
Fewer than 10 Jewish residents
remain and, aside from
Schomberg’s sukkah, there are
virtually no markers of the area’s
Jewish past.
Now even the sukkah’s fate
is in doubt.
After weeks of negotiation
with the city, Schomberg was informed that he could build his
sukkah only on condition that he
dismantle it by 9 o’clock each
night. According to Schomberg,
the police had advised the city
against allowing a sukkah at all,
since it might invite Muslim
vandalism.
To Schomberg and his supporters, the city’s reluctance to
allow a sukkah in Van Ostade is
emblematic of the Dutch approach to the rise of Muslim fundamentalism – urging targeted
communities to keep a low profile rather than standing up for
individual freedoms. But others
fault Schomberg, alleging that he
has used religion to stir conflict
at the community’s expense.
“Resistance to my sukkah is
not just about building permits,”
said Schomberg, a British-born
artist who has erected a sukkah
outside his door for the past three
years. “There’s a wider context.”
That context includes three
demonstrations this summer, all
featuring flags of the ISIS jihadist
group; two included calls to murder Jews. A few dozen people attended each of the rallies. The
city has since banned all demonstrations in Schilderswijk.
Schomberg was himself verbally assaulted in Schilderswijk
while in the presence of a film
crew that he had invited to see
what happens when he wears his
yarmulke in public.
“Advertising one’s Judaism
is dangerous here,” said one Jewish resident who asked to remain
anonymous to protect her safety.
“I don’t wear any Jewish symbol
on the street and I installed my
mezuzah on the inside.”
Despite these concerns, she
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AV Y STEIN
ARI SHAVIT
Honoring Avy Stein with the
Leadership Award from the Midwest
Region, American Committee for the
Weizmann Institute of Science.
Israeli Author of the Best Selling
Book: My Promised Land, The
Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Avy Stein is the chief executive officer
of Willis Stein & Partners. He serves as
chairman of the board of directors for
Education Corporation of America®,
Strategic Materials, Inc., Velocitel, and
Lincoln Renewable Energy and as lead
director for Roundy’s Inc (NYSE) and
Interval Leisure Group (NASDAQ).
Mr. Stein serves on the following civic
boards: Ravinia Festival, Harvard Law
School Leadership Council, Western
Golf Association among others. He and
his wife, Marcie, are also co-chairs of the
Development Council for B.U.I.L.D.
Ari Shavit is a leading Israeli columnist
and writer. With the recent publication
of his internationally acclaimed book
My Promised Land: The Triumph and
Tragedy of Israel, he has become one of
the most talked about and influential
authors of 2014.
4
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Contents
Jewish News
■ Only 12 Jews remain in Egypt, the remnant of a community
of some 100,000 that lived there until the 1950s, the community’s leader said. “We are dying, we are drowning, we are finished,” Jewish community head Magda Haroun told the BBC.
Haroun told the BBC that her “first duty is to take care of the
human beings,” the remaining Jews, “the old ladies which have no
family, are alone.” “And my second duty and most important one
is these things that will never die,” she said, pointing to the religious and ritual objects. Most of Egypt’s Jews left in the 1950s and
1960s when Egypt and Israel were at war and Jews were accused
of being spies. Haroun was elected head of the Jewish community
in April 2013 following the death of Carmen Weinstein. At the
time there were about 40 Jews in Egypt, mostly elderly women
split between Cairo and Alexandria. Her father, Chehata Haroun,
was a nationalist politician who was anti-Zionist.
■ One of Romania’s oldest Jewish cemeteries was hit by fire
that consumed some 50 acres. The fire spread through the Jewish
cemetery of Iasi, which opened in the 18th century and contains
80,000 graves, the local news website ziaruldeiasi.ro reported. It
consumed dense vegetation that grew between headstones, the
result of many years of neglect. Firefighters put out the blaze and
stopping it from spreading. The report did not say how many
headstones were damaged and to what extent. The fire may have
been started by locals who periodically burn dry vegetation as a
way of clearing agricultural land and preventing uncontrolled
fires, according to the news site. A similar fire in 2012 consumed
large parts of the nearby Jewish cemetery of Pacurari, damaging
several dozen headstones. Footage from that fire showed ancient
graves surrounded by flames that fed off a thick bed of dry grass,
twigs and dead trees. Iasi used to be among the centers of Jewish
life in Romania until its entire Jewish population was annihilated
in 1941 in a series of pogroms perpetrated by locals and through
the deportation of Jews to Nazi-run and local concentration and
death camps. The cemetery of Iasi features a monument in memory of the 15,000 Jews murdered by locals in pogroms. More than
350,000 Jews were murdered in areas held by pro-Nazi Romanian
troops during World War II. The country currently has approximately 6,000 Jews, according to the European Jewish Congress.
■ Two Jewish groups joined a brief on behalf of a Muslim
woman whose right to wear a headscarf in a retail job is under
consideration by the Supreme Court. The American Jewish Committee and the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism
joined a friend-of-the-court brief with Christian, Muslim and
Sikh groups. The Anti-Defamation League and the Orthodox
Union also are considering amicus briefs. The federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission brought the suit against
Abercrombie & Fitch on behalf of Samantha Elauf, who had been
recommended for hiring at an outlet in Tulsa, Okla. The outlet
subsequently reversed its recommendation. A lower court, the
10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, ruled against Elauf, saying that she needed to give “explicit notice of the conflicting religious practice and the need for an accommodation for it, in
order to have an actionable claim for denial of such an accommodation.” That decision described Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Look
Policy,” which, the court said, the retailer considers “critical to
the health and vitality of its ‘preppy’ and ‘casual’ brand.” Elauf
contends that wearing the headscarf during her interview and
communications with managers through a friend who worked at
the store was sufficient. The friend had checked with one manager who, citing the case of an employee who had worn a yarmulke, said there should not be a problem. Elauf interviewed with
another manager who was not certain of the policy and after consulting with her superiors dropped her initial recommendation to
hire. Elauf did not explicitly raise her faith as an issue.
■ Andrew Schapiro highlighted his family’s ties to the Czech
Republic as he took over as the U.S. ambassador there. Schapiro,
51, a Chicago lawyer, handed his credentials to the Czech president. His late mother, Raya, was born in Prague in 1934 and fled
to the United States in 1939 after the country then known as
Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany. “It is very fulfilling to serve at the embassy which gave my mother a visa and
saved her life,” said Schapiro, who is Jewish. Raya Czerner
Schapiro became a psychiatrist, author and educator, a choice influenced by her Holocaust experiences. In her 2006 book, “Letters from Prague: 1939–1941,” she compiled correspondence from
her grandmother and uncle who stayed in Prague and died under
the Nazi occupation.
JTA
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Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
TRINITY’S TORAH
The story of how a Chicago Evangelical Christian divinity
school acquired a rare 500-year-old Torah scroll
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
Managing Editor
The Torah scroll was so large
that six foldout tables had to be
set up to hold it in its unrolled
state.
The guests who came to see
it marveled at its size (some 100
feet long), antiquity (it dates
from the 15th century) and unusual features, such as enlarged
letters used to mark especially
significant passages.
The display was neither at a
synagogue nor a museum. This
ancient Torah scroll now has an
unusual home: Trinity International University, an evangelical
Christian institution in Deerfield.
The scroll was a donation to
the university from Kenneth and
Barbara Larson, collectors of ancient manuscripts who live in
Little Canada, Minn. The owner
and CEO of a home furnishings
retailer with 128 stores, Kenneth
Larson has served on Trinity’s
Board of Regents and held leadership positions in the Evangelical Free Church of America,
which operates Trinity, according
to information from the university. The Larsons have donated at
least one other Torah scroll to
another Christian university.
By all accounts, everyone at
Trinity, from the president of the
university to its professors and
students, is beyond thrilled with
the gift.
Just a week after it arrived
on campus, Dennis Magary, chair
of the Old Testament and Semitic Languages Department,
took his advanced Hebrew Reading students to see the scroll, and
they read several passages from
Deuteronomy. Magary describes
it as a remarkable experience.
But could placing such a
scroll in the hands of an evangelical Christian institution pose
a problem for the Jewish community?
irst, though, a look at how
the Trinity community is
reacting to the gift of the
Torah scroll.
Scott Carroll, a Michiganbased expert in rare written texts,
scrolls and books who is sometimes referred to as “the Indiana
Jones of biblical antiquities” was
among those who spoke at the
unveiling of the scroll at Trinity.
In a recent phone conversation,
F
he called the gift “spectacular”
and said its date places it among
the earliest two percent of surviving German Torahs.
Carroll organized an exhibit
of Torah scrolls at the Vatican
several years ago, with 12 rare
scrolls on display, and says that
“this one is as unique, beautiful
and elegant as the ones chosen
for the exhibit there. It’s a nice
Torah.”
He was involved in tracing
the scroll’s history, along with
the donors, and while it was not
possible to follow it through all
of its 500 years, Carroll found
that it came to the donors from a
family in Jerusalem that has a
large collection of Torahs. The
donors, he says, “have a genuine
appreciation of the Torah and
want to share the experience.
They feel and hope the presence
of the Torah itself will motivate
students and professors – will encourage and challenge them.”
The Larsons are also providing a digital version of the Torah
scroll.
Unusual features of the
scroll, Carroll says, include numerous enlarged letters that
stretch over two lines. Scribes
still sometimes use enlarged letters when writing a Torah, he
says, often to emphasize particularly important passages, but in
the current scroll, “the way the
letters are shaped is unique.
There are different viewpoints
on why that was done – for the
sake of beauty of a meditation on
the text. They represent a kind
of
individualistic
flourish.
They’re absolutely beautiful letters that you normally don’t see
in later Torahs,” he says. The
Torah scroll is not kosher.
It’s quite unusual for a Christian institution to have a Torah
scroll, Carroll says. In the case of
Trinity, “they realize they are just
caretakers to the Chicago community,” he says. “They are eager
to make it available and put it on
display to the Chicago community.” (Trinity says it will reach
out to the Jewish community as
well as soon as the Torah has a
suitable home on campus.)
Students, Carroll says, will
experience “thrill and awe” in
the presence of the scroll.
“They will be awestruck by
the history that is enveloped in
it and have a greater appreciation for the teachings of the
Torah. It will give them a much
better appreciation for Judaism,”
he says, adding that he sees the
Giving the Torah scroll a closer look.
acquisition of the Torah by Trinity as “enormously positive.”
That’s also the attitude of
Magary, the Trinity professor and
department chair.
“We are delighted and excited about this gift. It is a resource, an original we can
actually work off of in pentateuchal studies. The potential for
understanding the transmission
of the Bible, the orthography, the
formation of the letters, so many
of the things our students read
about” are present in the scroll,
he says.
Magary, who has been at
Trinity for more than 35 years,
says he is particularly excited
about the Torah.
“How many schools, universities, Christian seminaries have
a (Torah) scroll? Basically none
of them have an original scroll,”
he says. “For over 35 years I
never would have thought of the
possibility that we would have a
Torah scroll. No thinking or
dreaming, what would we do if
we suddenly got a scroll? Then
the gift was given.”
The Larsons, who had children who attended Trinity,
“wanted people to be able to
study, to do work from an original Torah scroll,” he says.
When the scroll arrived,
Magary says, “we had a colleague
read from the scroll. It was
breathtaking. Several of the faculty members were on the verge
of tears.”
Trinity then arranged a
weeklong program of events and
lectures “highlighting the significance of Old Testament studies
on Trinity’s campus,” according
to a campus news story. They included a lecture on early Hebrew
scribes and a colloquium led by
Carroll on the history and significance of the Torah scroll at
Trinity. An unveiling and display
S E E TO R A H
ON
PAG E 6
6
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Torah
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
5
of the scroll capped the week’s
events.
agary and others say
that they are eager to
come together with
Jewish leaders around the Torah
scroll, and are tentatively planning several events once the
scroll’s permanent campus home
is complete. The president’s office sent invitations to a number
of rabbis to some of the events
surrounding the scroll but as far
as he knows, none came, he says.
“The general reaction (in
the Jewish community) has been
one of surprise that a Christian
institution would have a Torah
scroll,” he says.
A number of Jewish leaders
contacted for this article said
they didn’t know anything about
the scroll at Trinity and couldn’t
comment on it until they knew
more about it.
Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, longtime spiritual leader of North
Suburban Synagogue Beth El in
Highland Park, also said he didn’t know anything about the
scroll but felt it was appropriate
for Trinity to have it as long as it
was not a kosher Torah and was
afforded proper respect. (A
kosher Torah has no mistakes
and all the letters must be legible, as well as being made from
kosher materials.)
“If it were a kosher Torah, I
would not feel comfortable having it displayed there. If it could
be used ritually in a synagogue it
might make a difference, but I
wouldn’t know that until I see
it,” he says. “Knowing their background as an evangelical school
with an interest in the Old Testament I know they will treat it
with respect.”
Some non-kosher Torahs
can be made kosher, depending
on what their condition is, and if
that were the case, “then the
question would be, should it be
used ritually in a Jewish community? I don’t know that answer. I
would have to have somebody
examine the scroll,” Kurtz says.
“I appreciate their interest
in using it as an educational tool
and I hope they reach out to
someone in the Jewish community to make sure it is appropriately displayed and appropriately
used,” he says.
Rabbi Victor Mirelman, a
professor of Jewish history at
Spertus Institute for Jewish
Learning and Leadership, says he
doesn’t see a problem with Trinity having and using the scroll as
long as it is not kosher. “They
will treat it with respect, I’m
sure,” he says.
He is interested in finding
out the history and provenance
of the scroll, he says. “It may
have survived the Holocaust or a
German Jewish family might
M
have taken it to the United
States in the 1930s. It is always
interesting to see how it came
from Jerusalem to Minnesota,”
he says, adding that he plans to
reach out to Trinity for the opportunity to undertake that
study.
Yochanan Nathan, one of
the Chicago Jewish community’s
leading sofers or scribes, is working with Loyola University, another Christian school that has a
Torah scroll, and says that “generally speaking, I wouldn’t go
ahead and donate a Torah to one
of these places.” But he doesn’t
see a problem as long as the institution gives the scroll the
proper amount of respect and
honor.
“It depends on what their
purpose really is,” he says. “Some
of these places are fairly innocuous and some are not. It wouldn’t be my first desire (for Trinity
to have the scroll) but I feel they
will do OK with it. There’s nothing else we can do, they have it
now anyway. Who knows, they
may actually come around to our
way of thinking,” he says with a
chuckle.
t Trinity, meanwhile, a
permanent home is being
prepared for the Torah.
An “artifact room” will be created out of a classroom in the library; Trinity will work with
Spertus and the Oriental Institute to determine the optimum
temperature and lighting, Magary says.
But the scroll won’t be kept
forever under glass, untouched,
he adds.
“I will be taking my Hebrew
A
reading class over there as soon
as the room is built and we will
read from the scroll,” he says. “I
will schedule my classes in advanced exegetical study in Genesis, Deuteronomy and Leviticus
in that room. We will look (at
the scroll) closely and do comparisons. I am trying to get a
scroll reading course in the curriculum next year, a course devoted to reading the Five Books
of Moses.”
When he took his students
to look at the scroll for the first
time, “we found Genesis 37, the
Joseph story, and I just found myself reading it without even
thinking. It made me wonder
who was the last person who read
this, how many centuries ago.”
Daniel Block, a Trinity
alumnus and professor of Old
Testament at Wheaton College
in Wheaton, Ill., also gave a talk
at the scroll’s unveiling and says
he is particularly excited about
the scroll as a scholar of
Deuteronomy. He has spent 15
years studying that book and
written several volumes on it.
“What we wrestle with
most, especially in evangelical
Christian circles, is, in what
sense is the Torah scripture for
us?” he said in a recent phone
conversation. “Unfortunately in
many places it provides primarily
a negative foil against which to
interpret the New Testament. I
said unfortunately.”
His own work, he says, “has
gone in a different direction. I
have been encouraged along the
way by a lot of Jewish scholars. In
Deuteronomy I see the law given
by G-d to Moses as brilliant
gospel.” Reading the Torah in its
original form can help answer
many questions, he says.
“Now we can show our students a very meticulously produced scroll which shows the
great respect in Jewish tradition
for this document.”
t Trinity, Magary, university president David S.
Dockery and others are
planning for the scroll’s future –
not only how it will be displayed
but how it will be used.
Dockery issued a statement
describing how thrilled the Trinity community is to receive the
scroll. “We are incredibly grateful to the Larsons for their generous kindness to Trinity. This gift
will open new educational opportunities for our biblical studies area, for our students and
faculty. We will also be pleased to
welcome visitors from the greater
Chicago community to see this
very special scroll,” he wrote in
an email to Chicago Jewish
News.
Magary says he plans to research whether there were many
such outsized Torah scrolls created at the same time and what
the enlarged letters represent. He
would also like to know more
about the indented dots known
as trope, which, he says, are “like
putting commas and periods in.
You have to get close to see the
indentation marks – they look
like something that would be
made with a paper punch.”
When he told his students
how to use the trope to make the
end of a sentence or paragraph,
“by the end of the hour they were
using the trope used by Yemenite
Jews 500 years ago.”
A
He anticipates students (the
university has both undergrads
and graduate students) working
on a paper or thesis “looking at
all the places the unusual letters
appear or examining the pattern
of trope. Plus a lot of the letters
have these feather marks coming
up from the top. The only place
I’ve ever seen those is in mystical
writings. I don’t know the significance, whether this is the distinctive signature of the sofer or
whether it has to do with the
time period.” All of these questions will make for fruitful research, he says.
But most of all, Magary says,
he is looking forward to joining
with Jewish scholars, teachers
and rabbis in the endeavor.
“We’re very interested and
eager to interact with (the
Torah) through a junction with
Jewish leaders,” he says. “The
ideas are just beginning to come.
I would like to have a day or
evening or afternoon to invite
some rabbis in the area to be
with the scroll and hear their
thoughts and share in the reading of the scroll.”
He hopes to see the school
establish an annual lectureship,
“to reach out to the academy and
also to the Jewish community
and have them join us,” he says.
“”We’re going to go down to
Spertus and see what they do
with their scrolls in terms of the
appropriate housing, lighting and
temperature. This is possibly the
most valuable artifact the school
has ever had. We want to take
very good care of it for later generations, and it would be wonderful if it could bring us closer to
our Jewish friends.”
7
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
BY CONOR McPH E R SON DIRECTED BY H E N RY WISHCAM PE R
Featuring ensemble members Francis Guinan and Tim Hopper with Helen Sadler, Dan Waller and M. Emmet Walsh
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8
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Arts & Entertainment
‘Grace’ful new musical
World premiere
looks at iconic
song, author
“the city’s liveliest, most versatile vocal ensemble”
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
Managing Editor
— Chicago Tribune
Global Transcendence:
World Sacred Harmony and Chant
Hear the musical intersections of the world’s faiths, as acclaimed
vocal ensemble Chicago a cappella explores harmonically stunning
and mystical sacred vocal traditions. From Jerusalem to Athens,
Rome to Mumbai, be awed by the music of Jewish, Hindu, Baha’i,
and other traditions at this inspiring and inventive concert event.
Saturday, October 18, 8:00 pm
Nichols Concert Hall
1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston
Additional performances in Oak Park (Oct. 11), Naperville (Oct. 12),
and Chicago (Oct. 19)
TICKETS: www.chicagoacappella.org or (773)281-7820
CHICAGO A CAPPELLA
GLOBAL TRANSCENDENCE Concert
Chicago Jewish News
5.784” x 5.875”
V1
www.chicagojewishnews.com
The Jewish News place in cyberspace
Ask any random individual
on the street (or, indeed,
Wikipedia) if “Amazing Grace”
is a Christian hymn and they
would no doubt say yes. They
would be making a mistake, Josh
Young contends.
He plays the author of the
iconic hymn, a tortured former
slave trader named John Newton, in an unlikely and much anticipated new musical with the
same name as the song, which
has been covered by hundreds of
performers and is one of the most
recognizable tunes in the English
language.
Young, by the way, is Jewish.
“Amazing Grace” the musical, in a Broadway in Chicago
production, began previews earlier this week and officially opens
Oct. 19 for a pre-Broadway run
through Nov. 2. After five years
of the usual workshop process
that a potentially big Broadway
musical goes through, “Amazing
Grace” will reveal its fully staged
self to Chicago audiences before
any others, with hopes of moving
to Broadway in 2015.
The musical, with music,
lyrics and book by a virtual unknown, Christopher Smith, focuses on the life of Newton
(1725-1807), an Englishman
who was originally a slave trader.
On slave ships he gained notoriety for violent disagreements
with colleagues, for his exceptionally profane language and
the obscene poems and songs he
wrote about the captain.
He later underwent a religious conversion, adopted an
anti-slavery point of view and,
along with other poems and
hymns, penned at least the words
to “Amazing Grace.” (No one is
quite sure where the tune came
from.) The song was passed down
through the ages; in the 20th
century it was used as an antiVietnam War anthem by Judy
Collins and has since been covered by an astonishing variety of
performers from Arlo Guthrie (at
the Woodstock Music Festival in
1969) to Mahalia Jackson,
Johnny Cash to opera singer
Jessye Norman. Bill Moyers
made a documentary about it in
1990.
The new musical “Amazing
Grace” “takes a chunk from the
bio of John Newton,” Young said
in a recent phone interview.
Josh Young
“Most people don’t know who he
is, but he really planted the seeds
for emancipation for African
American slavery throughout
Europe.”
Noting that Newton was
once a slave trader himself,
Young says, “when referring to ‘a
wretch like me’ (in the song’s famous first verse), he is referring
to himself. He was reforming
himself and finding his way to
becoming a mensch. He became
the voice of freedom in Europe
and that echoed in America.
Americans don’t know him but
they really should; it should be
something we are taught in
school.”
As for Young, who was
raised in a Conservative Jewish
home outside of Philadelphia, he
sees something very Jewish in the
story of someone who went from
“sinner” to “saint.”
“What the song, and therefore the show, is trying to convey
is really that anybody who is lost
can be found,” he says. “It’s universal. People think of (the song)
as a hymn, but it’s been covered
by people all over the world. I
would hate for people to think
this is a Christian show. The
message is that a slave-trading
wretch of a man can become one
of the greatest world changers for
good that’s ever been.”
His own goal, Young says, is
“for families to walk out of the
theater and not take things for
granted. (Newton) took everything for granted in his life. Then
at one time he was held as a slave
himself. During his enslavement
he realizes all the things he’s
taken for granted in his life.”
Young says Newton is his favorite role yet, and that’s saying
something. He originated the
role of Che in the first national
tour of “Evita”; played Judas in
“Jesus Christ Superstar” on
Broadway, for which he received
a Tony Award nomination;
starred as Marius in a U.S. national tour of “Les Misérables
and Tony in an international
SEE GRACE
ON
PAG E 1 6
9
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Focus on Education
Center for Companies
that Care
(312) 661-1010
www.companies-that-care.org
Does your teenager have difficulty making and keeping friends?
Do they struggle in social situations? Perhaps even do things that
alienate peers or teachers, rather
than endear themselves to others?
Would they benefit from a proven
social skills intervention? PEERS
(Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills), is a
proven, 14-week social skills intervention for teens and young adults
that was developed by Ph.D. researchers at UCLA.
The President of Center for
Companies That Care discovered
PEERS and brought it to Chicago
because she couldn’t find an effective social skills intervention for her
own teenage and young adult children. Only Center for Companies
That Care is certified by UCLA to
offer this program in Chicagoland.
PEERS classes are structured so
that teens and their parents attend
once a week together, but are
trained in separate workshops.
For more information, call our
office at (312) 661-1010 or contact
Paulette Herbstman by email at
[email protected]. 100% of parents who
have participated in PEERS at Center for Companies That Care see a
positive change in their children because of the class.
S E E E D U C AT I O N
ON
Limmud Chicago
5th Annual Festival
of Jewish Learning
PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT
SOLUTIONS, LLC
• Conducting full individual evaluation for all
educational needs.
• Outcomes designed to maximize academic and
social-emotional success.
• Bringing fresh eyes to academic problems.
• Working collaboratively with parents and schools to
generate solutions.
• Providing educational advocacy and facilitation of
parent-school communication.
Dr. Sandra L. Wirth, Ed.D., Ed.S.
Licensed School Psychologist
224.308.2456
[email protected]
Wherever you
are on your
Jewish journey,
Limmud will
take you one
step further.
Amyra W. Henry, LCSW, ACSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
847.380.2591
[email protected]
New Special Exhibition
Opens October 12
November 15-16, 2014
Saturday night 6:30 pm - 10 pm
Sunday 8 am - 6 pm
Doubletree Skokie Hilton 9599 Skokie Blvd. Skokie IL
www.limmudchicago.org
PAG E 1 0
Opportunity knocks. Research,
internships, study abroad, and
service learning are built into nearly
all of Grand Valley’s 200+ areas of
study. These, along with our liberal
education foundation that fosters
Experience the first national exhibition to tell the stories of race
from biological, cultural, and historical points of view.
Co-Presented by:
critical thinking, creative problem
solving, and cultural understanding,
prepare you well to answer the call
of a rewarding career and life.
www.ilholocaustmuseum.org
www.ywca.org/evanston
October 12, 2014 – January 25, 2015
at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
9603 Woods Drive, Skokie
gvsu.edu/find
#RACEexhibit
10
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Focus on Education
Education
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
9
Chicagoland Jewish High School
(847) 470-6700
www.cjhs.org
Admission House Events
Middle School Open House, Grades 6–8
Saturday, October 25 | 1 pm
Chicagoland Jewish High
School (CJHS) is a co-ed, collegepreparatory high school committed
to academic excellence and has
served the Chicagoland Jewish
community for 13 years. Our misChicago ORT Technical Institute
sion is to create a culture of aca(847) 324-5588
demic excellence that inspires our
www.ortchicagotech.edu
students to think critically and to
achieve their full potential, while
On a beautiful Sunday in April
preparing them to live Judaism as
2014, women at Ort America’s
responsible and involved citizens in “Lunch With A View” gathered to
CJN
Sinai Preschool2_CJN
Sinai
the
modern
world. CJHS offers
a Preschool 10/19/11 9:39 AM Page 1
CONTINUED
Register at: fwparker.org/openhouse
Francis W. Parker School
330 W. Webster Ave., Chicago, IL 60614
773.797.5107
fwparker.org
O N N E X T PAG E
THE WONDER OF DISCOVERY!
Dedicated, nurturing teachers, innovative classroom
materials & outdoor play space help each child build
self esteem and foster natural curiosity and creativity.
Upper School Open House, Grades 9–12
Saturday, November 22 | 10 am
For the 2015–16 School Year
Application Deadline: Monday, December 1
Apply online at fwparker.org/apply
comprehensive education, which includes exceptional general and
Jewish studies programs, supplemented by strong athletic and fine
arts programs, and numerous extracurricular activities and leadership opportunities.
If you are a prospective family
interested in learning more about
Chicagoland Jewish High School,
join us for Open House on Sunday,
Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. at 1095 Lake Cook
Road in Deerfield.
15 West Delaware Place
Chicago IL 60610
312.867.7010
www.sinaipreschool.org
FLEXIBLE PROGRAMS
Two, three & fifive-day
ve-day programs
programs
Junior
kindergarten
12 to 24 month parent/tot classes
Parent/tot classes
Enrichment
program
Enrichment program
Experienced
teachers
Experienced student/teacher
teachers
Exceptional
ratios
Exceptional student/teacher ratios
Matriculation to all private, parochial & public schools
Matriculation to all private, parochial & public schools
Metropolitan Chicago Region
ORT America is a Jewish organization committed to
strengthening communities throuout the wold by
educating people against all odds and obstacles.
2014
FALL
EVENT
Be !"#ing Scholarships for Students in
ORT Argentina Schools
IMPROVing the lives of ORT students worldwide
Vicki and Ken Kohn
2014 EVENT CHAIRS
Entertainment by:
Lori Kahn
PRESIDENT, METROPOLITAN CHICAGO REGION
Ellen Doppelt
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,
METROPOLITAN CHICAGO REGION
Sunday, October 19, 2014
6 - 8:30 pm
Viper Alley
275 Parkway Drive, Lincolnshire, IL
Evening Includes Cocktails, Dinner and Entertainment
Casual Attire
ORTChicago.org
Facebook.com/ORTAmericaChicago
Barbara
Statland
dinner
and entertainment
Director Metropolitan Chicago Region
Attire
KathyCasual
Greenberg
Midwest Major Gifts Director
For more information or to
make a reservation: 847/291.0475
or [email protected]
For More Information or to Make a Reservation Contact:
The Claire and Bob Mazer Family Metropolitan Chicago Region Office
at 847/291.0475 or email Barbara Statland, Director,
Metropolitan Chicago Region at [email protected]
11
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Focus on
Education
CONTINUED
Jon Medved
F RO M P R E V I O U S PAG E
raise money to enhance the educational opportunities available for
those who could benefit from a
scholarship or grant. From this
fundraising event, Chicago ORT
Technical Institute raised funds to
provide a full scholarship for 10
young Jewish women interested in
the school’s Medical Assisting program. There are still a few spots remaining and the school is currently
accepting applications from young
women who may benefit from this
generosity.
The Chicago ORT Technical
Institute strives to provide the professional skills and knowledge necessary for employment and career
advancement. The Medical Assisting program is an11 month program
which includes an externship. This
enables students to get certified as
a Certified Medical Assistant, Phlebotomy Technician and EKG Technician. These certifications are
included in the scholarship.
The Institute offers training by
well qualified faculty who are working professionals in their field. The
small class size of 10-15 students
enables ORT to provide individualized attention. The mission of the
school is to meet the educational
and vocational needs of diverse
students in a supportive, caring environment that provides skills and
knowledge necessary for employment and career advancement.
“[an] engaging,
visionary, pioneering
venture capitalist”
GEORGE GILDER IN
THE ISR AEL TEST
“mesmerizing”
THE JERUSALEM REPORT
Grand Valley State University
www.gvsu.edu/find
Grand Valley State University
has established a reputation for
creating unique learning opportunities that attract top students from
across the Midwest and around the
world. Its liberal education focus
emphasizes critical thinking, creative problem solving, and cultural
understanding. Through personalized learning enhanced by active
scholarship, we accomplish our
mission of educating students to
shape their lives, their professions,
S E E E D U C AT I O N
ON
PAG E 1 2
Sunday, October 26
from 10 am to 12:30 pm
Please join us for an unparalleled event at Spertus
Institute, as entrepreneurs from the business world
and social sector, in Israel and North America,
from within and beyond the Jewish community,
come together to inspire ideas for individual,
organizational, and community-wide innovation.
Ariel Beery
Jay Goltz
A panel of trailblazers will assemble on one stage
to discuss key characteristics and best practices of
entrepreneurship. They will share what it takes to design
successful, transformative ventures, as well as how this
knowledge can be leveraged to advance Jewish life.
Keynote presenter
Jon Medved is the CEO of OurCrowd, a crowdfunding
platform for Israeli startups called “one of the largest
crowdfunding organizations on the planet” (Forbes).
He has invested in 140 new ventures, bringing 12
to values in excess of $100 million. A passionate
and informed speaker, he appears regularly as a
commentator on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg.
Francis W. Parker School
Serving Junior Kindergarten
through 12th Grade
(773) 797-5107
www.fwparker.org
Parker is a school where inspired teachers, dynamic curriculum and a diverse community of
learners thrive. Instilling a passion for learning and developing
the capacity for independent
inquiry are central to a Parker education.
Our discussion-based
courses encourage a love of learning that has proven to last a lifetime. There is no better preparation
for college. Register for a Group
Tour or Open House event at fwparker.org/admission.
Entrepreneurship,
Innovation, and
Jewish Leadership
Toby Rubin
Hal Lewis
This is the inaugural event of the Center for
Jewish Leadership, an initiative supported
by generous grants from the Crown
Family and an anonymous foundation.
We are grateful for their support.
Panelists
Ariel Beery, past Global CEO of social venture
accelerator PresenTense, is the co-founder/
CEO of MobileOCT, an Israeli biophonics startup
enabling mobile phones to detect cancer.
Jay Goltz is the local entrepreneur who pioneered the
rebirth of Chicago’s Clybourn Corridor. He blogs about
small business for the New York Times.
Dr. Hal M. Lewis is the president/CEO of Spertus
Institute and a recognized expert on Jewish leadership.
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and
Leadership is a partner in serving the
community, supported by the JUF/Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
Toby Rubin is the founder/CEO of Upstart,
a national nonprofit that drives social
entrepreneurship in the Jewish community.
This event is open to the public.
Attendees are invited to stay for a
post-presentation networking lunch.
Learn.
Lead.
Inspire.
Tickets are $25 | $30 including lunch
Buy tickets online at spertus.edu
or call 312.322.1773.
Discount Parking
$11 with Spertus validation at the
Essex Inn, 8th Street and Michigan Ave.
12
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Focus on Education
Education
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
11
and their societies.
Academic Excellence. With 86
undergraduate and 33 graduate degree programs, Grand Valley offers
an academic experience one would
expect from a small private college
and the programs and resources
only available from a major university. Virtually all of the university’s
areas of academic study incorpoS E E E D U C AT I O N
ON
Does your teen struggle with
making and keeping friends?
PAG E 1 6
Discover Chicagoland Jewish High School
,
Sunday 2 at
er
Novemb p.m.
1:00
OPEN HOUSE
REGISTER
NOW for
PEERS
®
Social Skills Workshop
for Teens with
Invisible Differences
Through 14 weekly sessions, teens with emotional,
neurobehavioral, & learning disabilities learn to:
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Chicagoland
Experience CJHS! Tour the school, meet the teachers and discover why
!"#$%&$'()$*+$ (,%-).$/,0$1,0)$%23,0145,2$,0$',$6#789$-,2'4-'$6%:$;<2-(9$
Jewish
of Admissions, at 847.324.3706 or [email protected].
High Director
School
Engage in natural, two-way conversations
Appropriately use humor
Handle rejection, teasing, and bullying
Handle rumors and gossip
Handle arguments and disagreements
Choose appropriate friends
Have successful get-togethers with friends
PEERS® classes are forming now.
Contact Center for Companies That Care
312-661-1010
[email protected]
!"#$%&'($)**'$+,$$$-$$$.((/0(1,2$3%$$$-$$$456756!786!!$$$-$$$9997:;<=7*/>
A partner in serving our community, supported by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
O ROT
‫אורות‬
CENTER FOR
NEW JEWISH
LEARNING
WITH THE CENTER FOR
JEWISH MINDFULNESS
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR
A NEW WAY TO LEARN,
ENGAGE, EXPLORE
MEANING IN JUDAISM?
Orot: Center for New Jewish Learning
!
is the new home for pluralistic, multidisciplinary
Jewish learning and practice in the Chicago area
Our Orot faculty ~ Rabbi Josh Feigelson, Jane Shapiro,
Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell, Rebecca Minkus-Lieberman,
and Rabbi Sam Feinsmith
Join us at our Fall classes beginning the week of
October 20th:
• A Partner in Holiness: The Transformative Wisdom of
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev
• Asking Big Questions of the Talmud
• Jewish Mindfulness Meditation
• Haftorah: The Forgotten Torah Cycle
Orot is a recipient of the Joshua Venture Group Dual Investment Program Fellowship
Orot is fiscally sponsored by UpStart Bay Area, a nonprofit organization
that accelerates innovative Jewish organizations.
!
orotcenter.org ~ [email protected]
facebook.com/orotchicago
13
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Senior Living
There when you need them
By Nicole Bruce
Special to Chicago Jewish News
CJE SeniorLife’s Consumer
Assistance team responds to the
growing needs of seniors and
people with disabilities by helping them navigate the maze –
face-to-face.
Even with the Internet’s vast
resources at our fingertips, it’s not
always easy to find relevant information for complex circumstances. Think about how many
times an automated answering
system asks us to push any number from 1 to 9 depending on the
type of information we are seeking. This “trapped in a phone
tree” experience can be especially frustrating and non-productive especially when our
inquiries are complex and very
personal such as:
How can I continue to afford life-sustaining medications
on a limited income?
My house is going into foreclosure, how can I find an affordable place to live?
My mother is beginning to
show signs of dementia. Where
can I get help?
Why have my benefits been
significantly reduced without
warning?
What’s the best Medicare
plan for my budget?
Help… I’m about to retire,
what are my next steps?
These are difficult questions
requiring real answers from real
people. That is why CJE SeniorLife has been making a personal
connection with seniors, people
with disabilities and their families for more than 40 years. CJE’s
main number – 773.508.1000 –
receives more than 12,000 calls a
year from people in the Chicago
area and around the country who
need some information about
local services and options available to them. In addition, more
than 1,400 individuals a year
come to various service sites for
free one-on-one consultations –
amounting to almost 2,500 hours
of service provided.
As a person’s first point of
contact with CJE, the Consumer
Assistance team walks people
through service options that will
best support their unique and often pressing situations. The team
also empowers and creates ongoing relationships with people by
building an innovative action
plan based on a mini-assessment
of their needs.
Often, people are not sure of
what they really need and that is
why the individual “discovery
process” initiated by our expert
staff is so critical. For example, a
son may ask for a home health
nurse to visit his recently-widowed dad with early signs of dementia. But after talking to our
team, the more immediate need
is for someone to fix his dad’s
lunch, straighten up the house
and do a bit of laundry.
Paying for medical expenses is
one of the biggest concerns for
older adults on a limited income.
Many people struggle to pay supplemental insurance premiums,
deductibles and co-pays on medical care and prescription drugs,
which is why CJE’s trained Illinois
Senior Health Insurance Program
(SHIP) counselors encourage seniors to take a look at their
Medicare plans each year during
the open enrollment period in the
fall. From October 15 to December
7, all people with Medicare can
change their 2015 health plans
and prescription drug coverage by
joining a new Medicare Advantage plan or a new stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP).
The team can walk seniors
through the best prescription
drug and supplemental plans for
their needs in the complex system of health insurance. They
can also help communicate with
government agencies, doctors,
hospitals and insurance companies to untangle medical insurance issues, apply for patient
assistance and find scholarships
SEE HELP
ON
Fast, free pickup—IRS tax deductible
Donate Your Vehicle
CAR tMOTORCYCLE tRV tTRUCK tBOAT
to
The ARK
Help The ARK help the thousands
of needy families who depend on us.
Call 773-681-8978
www.arkchicago.org
Scan the QR code
to visit us online.
Illinois Non-Profit Organization.
Community Funded. JUF Grant Recipient.
PAG E 1 4
Join us for a series of speakers that will
EDUCATE & CAPTIVATE!
Transition to Wellness
FREE CEUs
1.0 Free CEU for Nurse s and Social Workers
per pr o g ram
F C   P 
Lieber m an C e n t e r f or
Healt h an d R e h abi l i tat ion
We i nber g Communit y f or
Senior Liv ing
9700 Gr oss Poin t R d. | S kok i e I L
1551 L ake Co ok Rd. | Deer f iel d I L
You & Your Heart Health
Medical Marijuana!
The Legal & Medical Side
Wednesday, October 15 | 8:00 a.m. Registration
9–10:00 a.m. Program | Continental Breakfast
SENIORS WITH ADULT
CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES:
Friday, October 31 | 8:30 a.m. Registration
9–10:00 a.m. Program | Continental Breakfast
Conflicts on
PLANNING FOR AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Wednesday, October 22 | 8:00 a.m. Registration
9–10:00 a.m. Program | Continental Breakfast
Medical & Religious Ethics
Wednesday, November 5 | 5:00 p.m. Registration
5:30–6:30 p.m. Program | Light Dinner
Lieberman: RSVP to Michele Mangrum at 773.508.1034 or [email protected]
Weinberg: RSVP to Lecia Szuberla at 847.462.0885 or [email protected]
CJE SeniorLife™ is a partner in serving our
community, supported by the Jewish United Fund/
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
Searching For Elder Care Has Never Been Easier
14
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Senior Living
Help
The Abington of Glenview provides a complete program for residents on an
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advanced equipment and progressive techniques available. Years of experience and
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5 – star hotel. We invite you to visit us today and experience why we have been
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CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
13
for medications that Medicare
Part D does not cover or are at
the highest cost tier and too expensive for the average senior.
This can often make the difference to seniors considering not
taking critical medications in
order to afford food or rent.
Adults who are 50-plus with
disabilities are also encouraged
to meet with a Consumer Assistance Resource Specialist to learn
more about the new Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicare
plans, retirement information,
Veteran’s benefits, real estate tax
exemptions, financial management, and other government and
community resources. They can
provide knowledgeable guidance
to older adults with disabilities
on their transition to Medicare
and Medicaid.
The Consumer Assistance
team truly understands and advocates for the unique needs of an
older adult population as well as
their family caregiver and people
with disabilities. With every interaction, they are sensitive and
respectful of cultural, generational
and age/disability
Ad #20 related differences. The services and informa-
tion provided by CJE’s Consumer
Assistance team have saved approximately $1.6 million for individuals each year by connecting
them with community resources
and benefits, such as free or reduced RTA passes, utilities, and
landline or cell phone services.
They frequently collaborate with
local service providers while also
maintaining a comprehensive
database, which gives them immediate access to a broad range of
community services and resources. Since they often have to
be creative in coming up with solutions to complex issues, this
enormous bank of resources helps
them devise an innovative, individualized action plan.
Consumer Assistance often
goes the extra mile to facilitate
transitions to appropriate services
at CJE or other local organizations, guaranteeing that the chosen resources are affordable,
accessible and geographically
convenient. In a fairly tumultuous
and shifting health care environment, our team of passionate
problem solvers not only provides
incredible information and support, but dignity, respect and hope
to those who need it most.
Please Review
Needed, Sign a
JEWISH DIRECTORY & A COMPLETE JEWISH GUIDE
125-10 Queens Blvd., Suite 14
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Tel: (718) 520-1000
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JEWISH DIRECTORY & A COMPLETE JEWISH GUIDE
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JEWISH DIRECTORY & A COMPLETE JEWISH GUIDE
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PROOF
PROOF
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Tel: (718) 520-1000
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of your ad
ad
of your
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BIRCHWOOD PLAZA
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The Index: Homecare-Chicago
BAN
15
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Torah Portion
CANDLELIGHTING TIMES
Lessons of Succot
Living in huts
helps us consider
life’s fragility
By Rabbi Vernon Kurtz
Torah Columnist
Chol Hamoed Succot
Succot is celebrated in a
most interesting fashion. We
leave our homes and enter frail
huts. We walk out of our firm
and secure foundations and abide
in temporary dwellings.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz comments: “When the people of Israel entered the land and settled
in it, their lives changed dramatically from an unattached, up-inthe air existence to a life of
permanence and relative security. Such a life affords the possibility of planning for the future,
establishing a permanent place of
residence, and building permanent living quarters.” The time
of harvest and the recollection of
the history of the holiday of Succot usually brings a sense of security, and, therefore, it is “precisely
at this time, everyone is obligated to leave their home and
dwell in a Succah – to return to
the wilderness and to the transience of a nomadic life.”
Rabbi Steinsaltz suggests
that once a person builds a permanent residence, he feels secure
and becomes complacent, smug,
and carefree. These qualities prevent a person from perceiving
dangers and threats, whether external or internal. Living in a
succah is exactly the opposite. It
is a fragile existence and there
are always doubts about what
may occur.
When things go well, we believe that it will continue that
way. We feel a sense of permanence in that security. Sometimes we need to be jolted into
reality to recognize that life is not
that way. Moving from a permanent residence into the frail existence of the succah reminds us of
the transience of human life.
I believe the same lesson is
taught a number of times
throughout the Jewish year. It is
rather interesting that we recite
Yizkor memorial prayers at major
holidays. The pilgrimage festivals
– Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot –
are times of great rejoicing. From
an agricultural point of view we
celebrate the spring, the first
fruits, and the harvest. From an
historical point of view we recall
our Exodus from Egypt, the revelation at Sinai, and our protection during our wilderness
Rabbi Vernon Kurtz
experience. In the midst of all
that joy come the Yizkor prayers
to bring us down to earth with
somewhat of a thud, to recognize
that nothing is permanent, all is
transient. We may rejoice today,
we may mourn tomorrow.
The same lesson is taught on
Chol Hamoed Succot as we read
the scroll of Kohelet, Ecclesiastes. It is the author of Ecclesiastes, which tradition attributes
to King Solomon, who informs
us: “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under Heaven: a time for
being born and a time for dying,
a time for planting and a time for
uprooting the planted.”
The author attempts to find
meaning in life and unfortunately in his search becomes
rather cynical as he says, “Utter
futility! said Kohelet – Utter futility! All is futile!” On Succot,
which is known as the time of
our rejoicing, the Rabbis wanted
us to recognize that even at a
time of great joy we are to recognize that we will not always remain on that high plateau.
Bruce Feiler authored a book
titled “The Council of Dads.” In
2008, he writes, he had dinner
with his publisher and decided
that he would spend the next 10
years retracing the journeys of
American history and would
walk America.
The next morning he went
for a check-up to receive a fullbody bone scan. His internist
had found that there was something wrong with his alkaline
phosphatase number. After going
through the scan the doctors saw
that he had an abnormal growth
in his leg. It was the same leg he
had broken when he was five
years old after falling off his bike.
An MRI was taken again, and
the doctors told him, “The
growth in your leg is not consistent with a benign tumor.” At
that moment, Feiler recognized
that he had cancer. He was distraught, dismayed, and concerned: “One thing, however, I
already knew. I had spent my life
dreaming, traveling, and walk-
ing. Now I might never walk
again.”
He is concerned that his
young daughters might know
who he was, especially as he expected not to be around as they
would grow up. Though his
daughters would have plenty of
resources in their lives, they
wouldn’t have their father. He
reached out to six men whom he
knew and trusted and asked them
to take his place, to stand in for
him, throughout his daughters’
lives. The group of men would
become the Council of Dads, and
that became the title of his book.
One day he was fine and the next
day he contemplated his death.
Thankfully, he was able to overcome his illness and has returned
to his chosen career.
Dr. Erica Brown, scholar-inresidence for the Jewish Federation of the Greater Washington
area, published a book titled
“Happier Endings: A Meditation
on Life and Death.” Her book emanated from a particular experience in September 2009. She
writes, “On that day, my cousin
Alyssa died at age 40. It was unexpected and traumatic. The silence that surrounded death in
my family was suddenly broken
for the worst possible reason; we
were staring out in front of us with
wide, gaping mouths, not knowing what to do or what to say.”
She began to study about
how one prepares for death,
wrote an ethical will, and interviewed people who either were
experiencing a terminal illness or
their caregivers who had experienced that illness with them. By
talking to many people, she
learned that life should never be
taken for granted, that each day
is special, that we should show
gratitude to those around us, and
to G-d as well, for the many gifts
that are ours.
Philosopher Horace Kallen
marked his 73rd birthday by writing, “There are persons who shape
their lives by the fear of death,
and persons who shape their lives
by the joy and satisfaction of life.
The former live dying; the latter
die living.”
Ecclesiastes reminds us that
life is temporal and finite. Everything is transient. We can either
with live with the fear that our
lives will end soon or make the
most of the days that we have.
May our lives be filled with blessings, but more important, may
we recognize those blessings and
live life to its fullest.
Rabbi Vernon Kurtz is the
rabbi of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (Conservative) in
Highland Park.
4
Sukkot
Oct. 10
5:58
Shemini Atzeret
Oct. 15
5:50
Simchat Torah
Oct. 16
6:50
Oct. 17
5:47
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Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
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REAL ESTATE
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CEMETERY LOTS
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MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY
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Recycle this paper
Grace
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
8
tour of “West Side Story,” and
spent two seasons at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
He’s been involved with
“Amazing Grace” for five years,
participating in workshops, readings and informal presentations.
“I’ve grown up with the
show,” he says. “If I was put on
this earth only to play this part
that would be OK.” At the beginning of the process he read
John Newton’s autobiography,
written in 1760, and “reading
that alone kind of changed the
way I look at life,” he says.
The show itself, with a cast
of 34, “is the most grand, epic
sweeping show I’ve ever seen or
been a part of. If you like shows
like ‘Evita’ and ‘Les Miz,’ you’ll
love this show,” he says.
The latter, he notes, is also a
story of redemption, but “what
has Jean Valjean redeemed himself from? He is in prison for
stealing a loaf of bread. And he
betters himself by raising a young
lady into adulthood. From bread
stealer to a man who raises a
woman. Here we have a story of
a man who raises himself from a
slave trader to an emancipator,
from sinner to saint. It’s a huge
chasm we built a bridge across,
and it’s a true story,” he says.
As for the title song (which
shares the stage with many other
lushly orchestrated tunes) and the
show itself, Young is eager to make
sure potential audience members
know “it is equally relevant to my
fellow Jews. I want to make sure
Jewish people come and see it and
are not misled into thinking it’s a
Christian show,” he says.
The music “deals with belief,” he says. “The show deals
with believing in being able to
become a better person. That’s
kind of universal. It goes along
with all the Ten Commandments
and it goes along with my faith,
with being a mensch. It brought
me closer to G-d.”
Young notes that the producers chose Chicago for a preBroadway tryout because “it’s
such a great theater town, with
such a smart, diverse audience”
and hopes audiences will appreciate the large cast, large orchestra and a variety of settings from
London to Sierra Leone to Barbados, with music that reflects
each culture.
But even more important,
he says, is the message it carries:
“I hope that this is the kind of
show that when people leave,
children hug their parents and
tell them they love them.”
“Amazing Grace” continues
through Sunday, Nov. 2 at the
Bank of America Theatre, 18 W.
Monroe, Chicago. For tickets and
ticket information, visit www.
BroadwayInChicago.com or call
(800) 775-2000.
Focus on Education
Education
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
12
rate its liberal education focus into
the learning process. The result is
that graduates are better prepared
to meet new challenges with confidence and professional expertise.
Illinois Holocaust Museum and
Education Center
(847) 967-4800
www.ILHolocaustmuseum.org
Race is a small but powerful
word. Today, scientists are beginning
to challenge “racial” differences, and
even question the very concept of
race. “RACE: Are We So Different?”
presents the reality – and unreality –
of race using interactive components,
multimedia presentations, and attractive graphic displays to offer visitors
an eye-opening look at its important
subject matter.
Amplifying this exhibition is a
calendar of more than two-dozen
public programs – Scholar Series,
discussions, performances – to engage the public in examining race
through various lenses. Through a
unique partnership between the Illinois Holocaust Museum and YWCA
Evanston/North Shore, our community now has the opportunity to
deepen their understanding of how
this socially constructed notion of
‘race’ impacts us all.
Limmud Chicago
(847) 868-2036
www.limmudchicago.org
“Wherever you are on your
Jewish journey, Limmud takes you
one step further”
This is more than just a tag line
for Limmud - it’s a guiding principle.
As an all-volunteer organization, Limmud is who shows up...who shows
up to plan it, who steps forward to
present and share their learning and
passions, who makes it happen.
Limmud Chicago is a day-long
annual festival of Jewish learning,
taking place for the 5th year on Nov.
15 and 16. Starting with Havdalah,
led for the first time by Neshama Carlebach and Josh Nelson, there will be
sessions Saturday night, and continuing all day Sunday. Attendees will
choose from over 80 different sessions. This year, in addition to Carlebach and Nelson, invited
presenters include Joel Grishaver,
Yaffa Epstein and Amichai Lau
Lavie. The rest of the presenters are
just people who have something
Jewish they want to share, engaging
in all things Jewish - cultural, political,
historical, text-oriented, ritual and
more. Lunch is included.
Orot: Center for New
Jewish Learning
www.orotcenter.org
[email protected]
Orot is a new center for adult
Jewish learning and practice that is
pluralistic, multidisciplinary and
founded in an intentional and reflective methodology. Orot believes that
the creative process of midrash –
learning, seeking, excavating, interpreting, wrestling with, and rereading Jewish text – empowers you to
use the text to more skillfully read
the text of your own life. It opens a
window into the complexity and
richness of living and encourages
you to take hold of the tradition as a
lens for intentional ethical and spiritual growth.
In our partnership with the
Center for Jewish Mindfulness, Orot
offers classes and programs that
combine traditional modalities such
as partnered study (chevruta) and
lecture (shiur) with movement,
dance, music, poetry, art, yoga, and
mindfulness. We offer weekly, ongoing classes, as well as periodic
half-day learning retreats and workshops. Come and learn with Orot’s
outstanding faculty: Jane Shapiro,
Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell, Rebecca Minkus-Lieberman, Rabbi
Josh Feigelson, and Rabbi Sam
Feinsmith.
Psychoeducational
Assessment Solutions
(847) 380-2591
(224) 308-2456
Psychoeducational Assessment Solutions, LLC was established to assist students, parents
and schools find remedies for academic underachievement, leading
to student failure, negative feelings
about school, and low self-esteem.
Dr. Sandra Wirth, School Psychologist, and Ms. Amyra Henry, School
Social Worker, founders of Psychoeducational Assessment Solutions, each have over two decades
of experience working with a wide
range of challenged children and
adolescents in the public schools.
Their evaluations and advocacy address issues stemming from difficulties in the areas of learning,
attention, organization, work completion, functional performance,
emotional and behavioral disorders,
physical and medical needs, as well
as sensory regulation.
Today, many schools are reluctant to conduct student evaluations
due to financial shortfalls. Parents of
struggling students are increasingly
pursuing private evaluations I order to
identify their children’s educational
needs and to attain crucial additional
services. Dr. Wirth and Ms. Henry
have extensive experience in assessment, as well as guiding parents
through the complexities of the special
education process.
Sinai Preschool
(312) 867-7010
www.sinaipreschool.org
The mission of Sinai Preschool
is to provide high quality early childhood education by incorporating
Jewish values and traditions within
a broader relationship-based curriculum.
Sinai Preschool has served
families of all races, religions and
ethnicities in a Jewish setting for
over 50 years. Dedicated, nurturing
teachers help each child build selfesteem and foster natural curiosity
and creativity in our newly renovated, state of-the-art indoor/outdoor play space. We offer Camp,
Parent-tot, Preschool and Junior
Kindergarten programs for children
from infancy to age 5 in 2, 3 or 5day classes with optional Enrichment classes to extend the day.
Lead teachers have master’s degrees and provide exceptional student/teacher ratios. Children
matriculate to all private, parochial
and public Chicago area schools. A
hidden gem in Chicago’s Gold
Coast.
Spertus Institute for Jewish
Learning and Leadership
(312) 322-1700
www.spertus.edu
Spertus Institute for Jewish
Learning and Leadership offers dynamic learning opportunities, rooted
in Jewish wisdom and culture and
open to all. Based on the belief that
a learning Jewish community is a
vibrant Jewish community, these
opportunities are designed to enable personal growth, train future
leaders, and engage individuals in
exploration of Jewish life.
Graduate programs, professional workshops, and mentorships
are offered in the Chicago area, as
well as in select other locations
across North America and through
distance learning. Spertus Institute’s leadership programs for Jewish professionals, under the
umbrella of the new Center for Jewish Leadership, are tailored by our
world-class faculty and staff to
meet individual and community
needs.
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j
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Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
By Joseph Aaron
Sukkah
CONTINUED
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
18
Bibi went? A Manhattan lobster and crab joint called Chart House.
Non-kosher wasn’t enough evidently. He also had to go to a lobster
and crab joint. Even many Jews who don’t observe kashrut refrain from
lobsters and crabs. But not Bibi, prime minister of Israel.
But wait it gets worse. When word got out where Bibi dined while
in New York, he went on Israeli TV and told an interviewer “I have
never eaten non-kosher food.”
Never eaten non-kosher food. What a liar. Beyond what he just
did in NewYork, it has long been known in Israeli political circles that
Bibi has a taste for lobsters and that when he visits major world
cities, he always seeks out the finest restaurants, none of them kosher.
But nope, Bibi told the Israeli public, he has never eaten nonkosher food. When it was pointed out that he just went to two very
not kosher New York restaurants, he said sure he has sat in restaurants
that serve treife food, but he never eats the food himself.
So evidently he ordered the veal chops but only to look at them,
not to eat them.
Man oh manischewitz. He not only eats non-kosher food, veal
chops by day, lobster and craps by night, while in a city with a million
kosher restaurants, but he then goes home to Jerusalem and lies about
it. Ladies and gentlemen, the prime minister of Israel. Liar liar kippah
on fire. Call him Bibiochio.
But you know what? While all that bothers me, there are two
other aspects of this story that really bug me. The first is his choice of
dining companions. It is truly hard for me to think of a bigger Jewish
creep than Sheldon Adelson.
Sheldon Adelson is an ignoramus. He knows nothing about Judaism and yet he has incredible influence in the Jewish state. For
starters he owns the mostly widely read newspaper in Israel. But more
to the point, because he is a billionaire, and supports Bibi politically
financially, Bibi is constantly meeting with him, listening to him, doing what he says, following his advice, hanging out with him.
Of all the Jews in New York, all the rabbis and all the politicians
and all the organizational heads and all the professors and all the scholars, who does Bibi have lunch with? A casino magnate. And one who
has been charged with violating all kinds of laws both in Las Vegas
where he has some casinos and in Macau where he has others.
This is who the prime minister of Israel spends time with, has
non-kosher veal chops with, devotes his very limited time to. Sheldon Adelson. That is Bibi’s choice of lunch companion in a city with
two million Jews? Does he not care how that looks to the world? More
importantly does he not care who he is showing he is so very close to?
Finally, topping off this entire sickening mess is that Bibi was accompanied to lunch at Fresco by Scotto by 30, count them, 30 security guards. Pray tell how much Jewish money did that cost? He
couldn’t invite Sheldon to his hotel room to eat but had to take 30
security guards with him to his not kosher lunch. This bugs me because
I’m still mad Bibi made the bone-headed decision not to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral because it would cost too much. All the security and everything.
So he won’t spend the dough to be somewhere most of the
world’s leaders went to honor a paragon of dignity, grace and morality, but he will shell out all kinds of cash so 30 security guards could
watch as he and Sheldon ate treif veal chops?
I am focusing on this story because it is so illustrative of all that
is wrong with Jewish leaders today and with politicians in Israel today.
There is such an erosion of a sense of what is right and wrong, what
image is being projected, how the values of Judaism are being valued.
The world’s leaders all come to New York each year for the General
Assembly of the United Nations. It makes my heart swell with pride
that an Israeli flag flies among the flags of the world’s nations, that an
Israeli prime minister stands at the podium where all the leaders of the
world stand.
But Judaism and Israel stand for something unique. We are a light
unto the nations, we are the chosen people. Which means that the
leader of the Jewish state does not, after making his speech at the UN,
head for a non-kosher restaurant to eat non-kosher veal chops side by
side with the very non-kosher Sheldon Adelson.
Think what that says about him and us. And think what it
would say about him and us if he had gone to a kosher restaurant and
had lunch with Elie Wiesel?
Symbols matter a lot in Judaism, treasuring what Jews have treasured for thousands of years matters a lot. For Bibi to care so little about
Judaism, about the image of Israel that of all the places he could have
lunch in New York he chose a restaurant that serves crabs, and that
of all the people he could have lunch with he chose a guy who makes
his fortune from craps, symbolizes his contempt for Judaism. And for
him to lie about it once he got caught, shows his contempt for the
truth and for Jewish honor.
Worry all you want about Hamas. Me I’m worried about Fresco
by Scotto.
F RO M PAG E
3
supports Schomberg’s fight to
build a sukkah and said she plans
to visit the sukkah over the
Sukkot holiday.
“Banning sukkot is like ban-
ning Judaism,” she said.
Police and city officials
would neither confirm nor deny
Schomberg’s claim that police
had advised the city to deny the
sukkah permit, nor would they
answer questions about the level
of risk facing Jews in Schilderswijk. The city also would not say
why Schomberg must dismantle
the temporary holiday dwelling
at night.
Schomberg, who has appeared several times in Dutch
media this summer because of
the “kippah walks” against antiSemitism that he organized in
Schilderswijk, says his sukkah
helps build bridges to non-Jews
whom he invites as guests.
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– Michael Medved, American radio show host, author,
political commentator and film critic
The Chicago Jewish News
gratefully acknowledges the generous support of
RABBI MORRIS
AND
DELECIA ESFORMES
18
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
Death Notices
Norma Spungen, former Spertus archivist
Norma Spungen, the former
archivist at the Chicago Jewish
Archives at Spertus Institute for
Jewish Learning and Leadership,
has died at the age of 87.
As the archivist at Spertus
from 1986 to 1996, Spungen curated and assisted with several
major exhibits mounted at the
institute dealing with many im-
portant themes in Jewish history.
She later was named archivist
emerita and also served on the
board of directors of the Chicago
Jewish Historical Society.
Her professional work included an interest in Jewish
women who were active in social
service and philanthropy. Spungen’s research appeared in arti-
cles in the Illinois Library Journal and Jewish Social Studies,
and she lectured widely on topics in Jewish history.
Kathy Bloch, the institute’s
director of collections, described
Spungen as “an exceptionally
lovely person – warm, intelligent, funny and very serious
about her work.”
JTA
Gussie Davidson, nee Kaplan.
Beloved wife of the late Eli
Louis Davidson. Cherished
mother of Victor (Linda),
Michael, Marc (Allison) and
the late Janet Davidson. Devoted grandmother of Eric,
Evan and Grace. Dear sister
of Yetta (the late Abe) Cooperman, Morris (the late Modena) Kaplan, Sam Kaplan and
Sol (Ellen) Kaplan. Fond aunt
of Larry Kaplan, Leslie Holz,
Steve Kaplan, Doris Black-
well, Steve Kaplan and Dana
Camodecha and many great
nieces and nephews. Longtime Member of NA’AMAT
and lifelong Cubs fan.
Arrangements by Mitzvah
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Ted Kornick, age 60. Beloved
husband of Sandra, nee Kassel. Cherished father of
Matthew and Jason (Darlene)
Kornick. Dear brother of
Vicki Cook. Contributions in
Ted’s name to the American
Cancer Society would be ap-
preciated. Arrangements by
Mitzvah Memorial Funerals.
Sally L. Sylvan, nee Goldberg, age 82. Beloved wife
for 50 years to the late Marshall. Cherished mother of
Cheryl (Paul) Manilow,
Stephan (Rachel) Fineberg
Sylvan and Sharon (Allen)
Harris.
Devoted grandmother of Ethan and Kayla
Manilow, Evan and Samantha Harris, Carlie and Mira
Fineberg Sylvan.
Active
member of the Jewish War
Veterans Ladies Auxiliary
Skokie Post #328. Contributions in Sally’s name to Sudden Infant Care Services of
Illinois Inc (sidsillinois.org)
would be appreciated.
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Joseph
Aaron
Lobsters and Sheldon
Funny thing is I thought Scotland already was a country.
Guess not. Or not really. You will recall, though it seems like it
was a million years ago in today’s hypercharged iphone twitter facebook driven world where something is a huge, gigantic story one day
and literally totally forgotten three days later, that a month or so ago,
the big news was whether Scotland would leave the United Kingdom
and become its own independent country.
See here’s the thing. I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable fellow, been reading the newspaper avidly daily since I was five, have
worked as a journalist for coming on 40 years now (by the way,
Chicago Jewish News is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary of being Chicago’s only weekly Jewish newspaper. 20 years! But more
about that some other time).
My point is I think I know what’s going on, know a lot about the
world but I must admit this whole Scotland thing completely baffled
and baffles me. Is it a country or not? Always thought it was, but evidently it ain’t. And while we’re at, what is the difference between England and Great Britain? Are they one and the same and if not, what
is the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom?
Anyway, what that Scotland thing showed me is not only that I
am more ignorant than I thought I was (let’s pause a moment for all
the right-wingers out there to tee-hee and shake their heads in agreement) but that Americans really know very little about the world.
Which is never good but especially now when it feels like the
world is a mess and falling apart. Which it isn’t by the way. In fact, you
can make a very good case that the world has never been more peaceful, prosperous, healthy and free. But that too is for another time. Right
now, it feels like all is going haywire with ISIS and Ebola and Syria and
Ukraine and all the other wild and crazy spots in the world.
Which means that Americans need to understand what’s going
on and react appropriately, support things that will make things better. I’m glad, on the one hand, that we finally, much too late, are doing something to stop ISIS, but it concerns me that the main reason
we are is because of those gruesome beheadings. Nothing like a disturbing video to galvanize American public opinion. Ray Rice punching his fiancée in the face, I’m looking at you.
But now is the time for us to use our brains and not react to things
emotionally. The world is entering a new phase and we need to be as
smart in navigating it as we were during the Cold War. Not that I’m
one to talk since I thought Scotland was already a country. Who knew?
Speaking of who knew and reacting emotionally, I must admit
that something happened recently that made me go completely
bonkers, really upset me. Prime Minister Bibi was in the United
States to address the United Nations. And what did he do right after
his speech?
He had lunch in a New York restaurant hosted by casino mogul
Sheldon Adelson.
This makes me sick. Let me count the ways, shall we. First it was
a non-kosher restaurant, at which Bibi ordered veal chops. Now as regular readers of this column know, I am not one for Jews pointing fingers at other Jews. Because a Jew keeps kosher does not necessarily
make him a better Jew than those who don’t. And it is for no Jew to
tell another Jew how to be Jewish. That is up to each Jew and between
each Jew and G-d.
But when you are the prime minister of Israel the rules change.
You are the prime minister of Israel. You represent the Jewish state and
the Jewish people to the world. And that means you don’t publicly desecrate the Sabbath or publicly eat non-kosher food or do anything that
doesn’t well and faithfully represent Jews, Judaism and our traditions.
It’s not about you, it’s about us.
This was so needless and so wrong. It’s not like he was in
Dubuque, Iowa and he had no choice. The guy was in New York,
home to like a zillion kosher restaurants, including some very fancy,
elegant ones with the finest of foods.
Why in New York City did he choose to have lunch at the nonkosher Fresco by Scotto? Why did he not eat at a kosher restaurant?
Why? Give me one good reason. I guarantee you there is at least one
kosher restaurant in New York with veal chops that are very yummy.
I find what Bibi did a disgrace. You are the prime minister of Israel in New York for the United Nations and you can’t go to a kosher
restaurant? Especially since it was during the days of repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
But wait it gets worse. Later in the day, for dinner, guess where
SEE BY JOSEPH
AARON
ON
PAG E 1 7
Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
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Chicago Jewish News - October 10 - 16, 2014
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