1. religion and spirituality
2. judaism

JEWISH NEWS
THE CHICAGO
July 25 - 31, 2014/27 Tammuz 5774
www.chicagojewishnews.com
One Dollar
GOING
BACK
IN TIME
Yonit Hoffman,
who works with
Holocaust survivors
in Chicago,
traveled to
Germany and Israel
on a voyage
of discovery
to better understand
her father’s life
Interview with Lubavitcher
Rebbe’s right hand man
LeBron James’ new
and Jewish coach
Rabbi Kurtz on
importance of Israel
WAR IN
GAZA
Four full
pages of
coverage
2
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Shalom to the enshrined: Cooperstown’s Jewish mayor,
Hall of Fame chief greeting baseball’s elite
By Hillel Kuttler
JTA
For Jeff Idelson, the director
of the National Baseball Hall of
Fame and Museum in Cooper stown, N.Y., induction weekend
is all about teamwork.
“When you get to signature
events [and] you’re in a small
community, all the pieces have
to come together effectively for
it to be a grand slam,” Idelson
said recently from his office in
the central New York village of
1,852.
The team includes Mayor
Jeff Katz, like Idelson a passionate baseball fan, and they’ll be
overseeing this year’s festivities as
the unofficial welcoming com-
mittee for the game’ s elite and
the tens of thousands of fans who
come to pay them homage.
Former White Sox Frank
Thomas, former Cub Greg Maddux, along with T om Glavine,
and ex-managers Joe Torre, Tony
LaRussa and Bobby Cox are this
year’s inductees.
Calling Cooperstown home
is heavenly for the two officials.
“To be the mayor of a place
like Cooperstown is a special
thing,” Katz said, sitting in Idelson’s office filled with shelves of
bobbleheads representing baseball and pop-culture figures as
well as Idelson’s Little League bat
– a Mike Schmidt mo del – on
the side.
The men have been friends
ever since Katz, his wife and their
three sons moved to Cooper -
stown more than a decade ago.
The families gather for Passover
seders, and Aaron Idelson and
Joey Katz were classmates who
graduated Cooperstown High
School in June.
The two Jeffs work together
occasionally – and always when
induction weekend rolls around.
“The village has always been
there to work with hand in hand,
whether it’s parking issues [or]
dealing with crowds,” said Idelson, 50. “That’s enhanced now
because we have a mayor who really loves baseball.” He adds
quickly that previous mayors
“have all been great,” too.
On induction weekend, the
eyes of the American sports
world turn annually to the onesquare-mile, one stoplight village
that has been revered as base-
Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz, left, with New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. (JTA)
Israel asked for our help.
We are responding.
When Hamas rockets terrorize the Jewish state, JUF helps Israel cope.
Chicago was the first community to respond to the request of Israel’s
government for help, advancing $1.5 million to fill urgent humanitarian needs.
How can you help? Please contribute to JUF’s Israel Emergency Campaign
to provide essential support to vulnerable Israelis.
Through the Israel Emergency Campaign we have:
O
Moved children and families outside the most frequently
targeted zones
O
Provided special assistance to the elderly, disabled, the homebound
and at-risk children
O
Replenished the Fund for Victims of Terror
O
Addressed widespread trauma
Every conflict with Hamas creates vast human needs. To learn more about the
situation, humanitarian needs in Israel, our responses, and other ways you can
participate, please visit www.juf.org/IsraelEmergency.
Thank you for your support, and for caring about our extended Jewish family
during this crisis. Please call 312.444.2869, or donate online at
donate.juf.org/IsraelEmergency.
Sincerely,
Lee I. Miller, 2014 General Campaign Chairman
ball’s birthplace ever since the
myth arose of Abner Doubleday
inventing the game there in
1839.
Besides the large induction
class of 2014, this midsummer’ s
gathering is notable for falling
near the museum’s 75th anniversary and the centennial of the
major league debut of slugging
icon Babe Ruth, a member of the
Hall of Fame’s inaugural class.
The weekend also follows
on the heels of another spectacle:
President Obama becoming the
first chief executive to tour the
Hall of Fame when he visited
Cooperstown to deliver a speech
promoting tourism.
Idelson guided Obama and
Hall of Famer and former Cub
Andre Dawson through some exhibits. Obama even grasped the
baseball used by William Howard
Taft when in 1910, he became
the first president to throw a ceremonial first pitch at a game.
The days prior to Obama’ s
visit felt “like I was cramming for
a final,” Idelson said.
“I was so nervous he’d ask a
question I wouldn’t have an answer to.”
Katz, 52, is kept busy responding to queries, too.
His home on Chestnut
Street is a 10-minute stroll from
work, but it often takes an hour
to get there when residents stop
him to chat. That’s been a common occurrence, especially since
paid parking was instituted in
2013 on village streets during the
summer tourist season.
The measure wasn’t universally popular.
“People would say, ‘Go back
to Chicago,’ ” Katz said.
That was where Katz had
lived and earned a hefty income
as an options trader, enabling his
family to relocate to Cooper stown, where Katz had wanted to
purchase a second home. He’ s
served in unpaid positions as a
Cooperstown board of trustees
SEE HALL
ON
PAG E 1 9
3
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Fleeing ‘place full of death,’
Jews from eastern Ukraine
weep for homeland
head of operations in the Dnepropetrovsk region for JDC. A
separate relief operation is being
carried out by the Chabad-led
Jewish community of DneD N E P R O P E T R O V S K , propetrovsk.
Ukraine – Anatoly Lazaurenko’s
The Lazaurenkos decided to
face betrays no emotion as he
leave Slavyansk last month after
watches footage of an old woman government forces began engaghe used to know lying in the rub- ing the separatists. But Ludble of what once was his home in mila Lazaurenko does not blame
the war-torn city of Slavyansk.
Ukrainian troops, who launched
Oblivious to her mangled
their offensive following the
face, Anatoly, 8, points to a cor- standoff with the rebels.
ner of the computer screen to in“We were pro-Russian,” Lazadicate the bombed-out apartment urenko said of herself and her parin eastern Ukraine that his fam- ents, N adezhda and Alexander
ily fled last month as a tense
Belovol, who fled with her and
standoff between pro-Russian
Anatoly. “But that changed after
separatists and Ukrainian gov- we saw how they fought from inernment forces escalated into ur- side the houses of civilians, with
ban warfare.
no regard for their lives. There is
Like many Ukrainians, the no excuse for that.”
boy has become inured to disTwo weeks after the family
turbing sights after months of vi- left, they learned from a televiolent conflict in his country . sion news broadcast that their
Even after watching the video, house had been blown up.
Anatoly says he would rather be
“We started crying when we
home – under fire, but with his saw that nothing was left,” Lazafriends and classmates. But his
urenko said. “We have nothing
mother insists they are staying
now.”
with relatives near DnepropetroFor those without relatives
vsk, far from the battle zone, as to take them in, JDC and the
long as the fighting persists.
Jewish community of Dne“Every day Anatoly asks me propetrovsk have arranged rooms
in tears if we can go back yet,”
in the community’s various instisays his mother, Ludmila.
tutions. The Beit Baruch old age
The Lazaurenkos are among home reached its capacity last
hundreds of Jews made refugees week after 28 people were given
by the fighting in eastern
spots in vacant rooms.
Ukraine, part of a larger moveAmong them are Rosa
ment of tens of thousands of peo- Dvoskina and Sofia Sanina, two
ple who have fled since
women in their 80s who fled
pro-Russian militias – some tot- Slavyansk and Lugansk, respecing heavy caliber machine guns tively.
and mortars – took up arms
“I made it out, but I can’ t
against government troops in
stop thinking about my poor
March.
friends and neighbors who are
Hundreds already have died still trapped there without water
in the fighting, including the 298 or medicines in a place full of
passengers and crew aboard a
death,” said a weeping Dvoskina,
Malaysia Airlines jet shot down who had lived in her apartment
over eastern Ukraine by what building for 40 years before havAmerican and Ukrainian offiing to leave.
cials say was a Russian anti-air Like most refugees, Dvoskina
craft missile fired from rebeland Sanina say they fled out of a
controlled territory.
general concern for safety unreTwo Jews – Svetlana Sitlated to the fact that they are Jewnikov and her daughter, Anna – ish. But their neighbors at Beit
were killed in an explosion in the Baruch, an Ortho dox family of
eastern city of Lugansk.
seven from Donetsk who reThe Jewish refugees are sur- quested not to be named, said
viving on assistance from local
anti-Jewish graffiti began to apand foreign Jewish groups that in pear in the city as the rule of law
recent weeks have launched
weakened.
major rescue and relief opera “We started seeing swastikas
tions. The American Jewish
painted on park benches, buildJoint Distribution Committee
ings,” the family’ s grandfather
and community officials are
said.
helping to provide housing,
Amid lingering uncertainty
monthly stipends, food and med- about the future of Ukraine’s emicine in what they describe as
battled eastern border cities,
one of largest mobilizations in
Dvoskina and Sanina are thinkthe history of Ukrainian Jewry.
ing about immigrating to Israel,
“We’re talking about a
though they would prefer to remulti-element package designed turn to their homes. Other
to improve the situation of each refugees, including Elena Libina
and every person who left the
battle zone,” said Yoni Leifer, the
S E E U K R A I N E O N PAG E 1 9
By Cnaan Liphshiz
JTA
Best
Independent Living
for Active Seniors!
Y Gourmet Kosher Meals Prepared Daily
Y Synagogue with Full-Time Rabbi
Y 9 Acres of Landscaped Grounds
Y Weekly Housekeeping
Y 24/7 Wellness Center on Site
Y In-House Therapy Department
Y Beauty and Barber Shop
Y Daily Exercise Classes
Y Theater, Museums and Cultural Outings
Y Round Trip Chauffeur Services
Y Multiple Daily Social Events and Opportunities
Y Daily Live Music, Movies and Lectures
Y Free Parking
Y 24-Hour Security
Y Studios, 1 and 2 Bedrooms
Y Furnished and Unfurnished
Y Long and Short Term
Apartment Rentals
Call us to schedule your visit!
Best
value
start
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 Y 773.465.6700 (Yehuda)
www.
chicagojewishnews
.com
The Jewish
News place in
cyberspace
4
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Contents
Jewish News
■ The SodaStream company reportedly fired 60 Palestinian employees from its West Bank plant over a dispute on breaking the
Ramadan fast. The evening shift workers reportedly received dismissal notices a day after complaining that the food they received
to end the daily sun-up to sundown fast during the Ramadan holy
month was not enough. They are prohibited from bringing their
own food into the plant due to the observance of kosher laws there.
On the evening they complained, the workers were sent home with
promises that the issue would be resolved. They received the ter mination notices the following day. SodaStream said in a statement
that the workers were dismissed because they called a wildcat strike,
which the company said was without cause. SodaStream has been
in the news in recent months following the signing of actress Scarlett Johansson as a spokeswoman and the ensuing controversy over
its West Bank factory. Johansson resigned as a global ambassador for
Oxfam over her position with the company, which employs Jewish
and Palestinian workers.
■ A federal judge rejected a request by a Venezuelan Jewish detainee for an emergency transfer from an Alabama prison over
complaints that it was not providing kosher meals. In a ruling on
the case of Rafael Alberto Lloveras Linares, U.S. District Court
Judge Karon Bowdre found that Linares was offered an alternative
kosher diet, although he complained that it was not prepared in
accordance with Jewish tradition. Linares, a federal immigration
detainee, had asked to be transferred from the Etowah County
jail in Huntsville to a prison in New Jersey or Florida. He alleged
that he was assaulted by other prisoners after filing suit to demand
kosher food.
■ A 27-year-old Israeli was among the 298 victims who died
when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in Ukraine.
Dov Avnon, the father of Itamar A vnon, announced his son’s
death on Facebook. “They say life is short – yes it is true,” wrote
the Israel-born Dov Avnon, who lives in the Netherlands. An
acquaintance of Itamar Avnon said he was in the Netherlands for
a wedding and was on his way to Australia, where he studied, via
Malaysia. Itamar Avnon served in the Israel Defense Forces as a
paratrooper in 2007.
■ Israel recognized the murdered Palestinian teen Mohammed
Abu Khdeir as a victim of terror. The decision by the Ministry of
Defense followed the indictment of three Jewish Israelis in the
slaying, the ministry said in a statement, as well as the findings
from the investigation pointing to the nationalistic motive of the
killing. The designation entitles the family to benefits from the
state. Also, the teen’s name will be included on the Memorial
Day list of killed soldiers and terror victims. The three Jewish suspects, who reportedly reenacted the crime, have confessed and
said the slaying was in revenge for the kidnapping and murders of
Israeli teens Gilad Shaar , N aftali Fraenkel and Eyal Y ifrach.
Khdeir was kidnapped from outside a mosque in his eastern
Jerusalem neighborhood, hours after the funerals for the three Israelis. Khdeir’s badly burned bo dy was found hours later in the
Jerusalem forest.
■ Carolina Raquel Duer of Argentina defended her World Boxing Organization bantamweight title for the second time. Duer ,
popularly known as “The Turk,” defeated Ana Maria Lozano of
Venezuela by unanimous decision in Lanus, a city in Buenos Aires
Province, to take the crown in the 115- to 118-pound class. After
the 10 rounds, two judges scored the bout 98-92, and one had it
97-93. The Jewish boxer raised her professional record to 17-3.
Duer, 35, was the WBO super flyweight champion, for fighters
weighing 112 pounds to 115 pounds — a title she defended six
times. She is the first Jewish woman to hold a WBO crown. The
country’s National Public Television covered the fight live and
broadcast it free under a federal program designed to make satellite television more accessible, including in high definition. Duer
this year began to announce boxing on National Public T elevision, and she will be in Las Vegas on Sept. 13 as the special commentator for Argentine TV at the rematch between American
boxer Floyd Mayweather and the Argentine Marcos Maidana.
Duer, a favorite in Argentina, is the daughter of Syrian immigrants. She attended the Jaim Najman Bialik Primary School in
Buenos Aires and spent more than a month in Israel in her
younger years working on a kibbutz and touring the country .
■ A public Belgian bus company distanced itself from employees who displayed the Palestinian flag on at least one of its vehicles. A spokeswoman for the Brussels-area Stib bus company
disassociated his company from the flag display.
JTA
THE CHICAGO
JEWISH NEWS
Vol. 20 No. 42
6
Joseph Aaron
Community Calendar
Editor/Publisher
Golda Shira
Senior Editor/
Israel Correspondent
8
Torah Portion
Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
Managing Editor
Joe Kus
9
Your Money
10
Cover Story
Staff Photographer
Roberta Chanin
and Associates
Sara Belkov
Steve Goodman
Advertising Account Executives
Denise Plessas Kus
Production Director
16
Fall Fashion
Kristin Hanson
Accounting Manager/
Webmaster
Jacob Reiss
16
CJN Classified
Subscriptions Manager/
Administrative Assistant
Ann Yellon
of blessed memory
18
By Joseph Aaron
19
Death Notices
www.
chicagojewishnews
.com
Some of what you’ll find in the ONLINE version
of Chicago’s only weekly Jewish newspaper
DAILY JEWISH NEWS
For the latest news about Jews around the world, come by
everyday and check out what’s making headlines.
ARCHIVES
Look back at articles from the past, including recipes,Torah
portions, Joseph Aaron’s column and more.
Office Manager
Product and establishment advertising
does not constitute a Kashrut endorsement or endorsement of products or
services.
Believing in providing our readers with
a range of viewpoints, the Chicago
Jewish News does not take editorial
stands on issues. The opinions expressed by any of our columnists are
theirs and theirs alone and do not necessarily represent the position of the
newspaper.
The Chicago Jewish News (ISSN
1084-1881) is published weekly by the
Chicago Jewish News Front Page
Council in Memory of Chaim Zvi. Office of publication: 5301 W. Dempster,
Skokie, Ill. 60077. Subscription by
mail: $40 for one year. Periodical
postage paid at Skokie, Ill.
POSTMASTER: send address
changes to Chicago Jewish News,
5301 W. Dempster, Skokie, Ill. 60077.
PHONE NUMBER
(847) 966-0606
Advertising
Ext. 18
Circulation
Ext. 21
Editorial
Ext. 13
Production
Ext. 19
THE FORUM
Express your views on a Jewish issue in the news or about
any article you’ve read in the Chicago Jewish News.You can
even get into a discussion with others.
MAZEL TOVS
Someone you know celebrating a simcha, a bar/bat mitzvah,
engagement, wedding, birthday, anniversary? Send them
congratulations.
Classified
Ext. 16
Accounting
Ext. 17
FAX
(847) 966-1656
CONDOLENCES
Send a message of condolence to those who have lost a loved
one.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
You can not only check out what’s coming up in the Jewish
community but you can add your event to this comprehensive calendar.
PERSONALS
Find Mr. or Ms. Jewish Right.
For Israel Advertising
Information:
IMP Group Ltd.
972-2-625-2933
Like Chicago Jewish News
on Facebook.
5
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
THEMaven
Chicago Jewish News
REMEMBERING
THE REBBE …
■ Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky
regularly comes in at number
one or two on Newsweek’s list
of Most Influential Rabbis, but
sitting in a Chicago hotel lobby
for an interview, he seems more
like a twinkly grandfather – one
with thousands of children and
grandchildren.
Those would be the
shluchim or emissaries that the
Chabad Lubavitch movement
sends out into every corner of
the world, a practice started by
Krinsky’s late boss, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the
Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The 81-year-old Krinsky
had come to Chicago to speak
in commemoration of the 20th
anniversary of the Rebbe’s
death. His talk, sponsored by
Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois,
was called “The Lubavitcher
Rebbe: Personal Reflections
From Up Close.”
Krinsky began as the
Rebbe’s secretary and ended up
as his spokesman and the
spokesman for the entire
Chabad movement. Today he
chairs a number of its central
organizations and is considered
the movement’s most influential
figure.
It’s a movement that is
thriving – to the surprise of
some pundits – two decades
after the death of its revered
leader, who had no children and
no successor.
Krinsky’s reception in
Chicago demonstrated the
health of Chabad in microcosm,
Krinsky said. When he came to
the lecture hall in the afternoon
for a sound check and saw hundreds of chairs, he doubted the
audience would fill the hall. In
truth his talk was standing room
only.
In 1992, when Schneerson
had a serious stroke, “the pundits and journalists said that
Lubavitch Chabad would cease
to exist because without the
watchful eye of the Rebbe and
his hands-on directives they
couldn’t survive,” Krinsky said.
“But they made a mistake,”
he said, quoting Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks, former chief
rabbi of Britain, who said of the
Rebbe that great leaders create
great followers. Schneerson
“empowered (his followers) to
go and do the work that has to
be done – not because you depend on him. No, you do it because you feel you have to do
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky during his appearance in Chicago.
it,” Krinsky said. The Rebbe
conveyed to his followers that
“you represent me, and I have
trust in you that you will do
what has to be done,” he said.
The message from the
Rebbe, Krinsky said, is “to reach
every single Jew. No Jew should
be left behind. He meant it in
the literal sense, it wasn’t just a
slogan.” To that end, beginning
in the mid-‘50s, the Rebbe established the system of shluchim
– young married couples and
their children going to countries all over the world to represent Chabad and staying for life.
Today the Crown Heights
headquarters is flooded with
young couples, often coming
just after their marriage, “asking, where can I be helpful,”
Krinsky said. “They go wherever they are needed. They are
almost not selective.”
Life is easier today for
shluchim because of technology
and social media, he said. Their
children are able to receive a
good education through online
classes and they can stay in
touch with friends, relatives and
other shluchim much better than
was ever possible before.
Yet Chabad’s main message,
the ones the shluchim convey to
Jews in their far-flung communities and that Chabad representatives everywhere
communicate to the Jewish
world, has not changed, he said.
“The message today is the
message the Rebbe created
when he became Rebbe in
1950: to reach every single Jew.
The message was the one the
Rebbe gave us and taught all of
us: how important it is to live
according to Torah and
mitzvot.”
Social media “is very helpful in getting the message across
on a much broader scale than
the Rebbe would be able to,” he
said, noting that he often asks
his eight- and nine-year-old
grandchildren for tech help.
“You have to have a good message, the content has to be real
and invigorating and you have
to take the time to read it or listen to it. The message is an
eternal message going back
2,000 years. It is not media-invented,” he said.
“One person with one message with one telephone can
turn the world topsy-turvy,” he
said, citing the example of the
Arab Spring. Chabad’s message
“is a very interesting, meaningful message and it works,” he
said.
One who got that message
across in a highly efficient and
meaningful way was Rabbi
Daniel Moscowitz, the Illinois
Chabad leader who died suddenly in March at the age of 59.
He was on the organization’s executive board in New York and
Krinsky, who knew Moscowitz’s
father and knew Daniel
Moscowitz as a child, had frequent contact with him.
“We miss him terribly,” he
said. “He had a tremendous impact on the state of Illinois. He
had a special quality of getting
along with people. When there
were controversies he could settle things. He was a mediator.
He excelled in that and he was
a lovely person. He loved people and that’s why people admired him so much.”
His death at a relatively
early age “is one thing we can’t
understand,” Krinsky said. “It is
beyond us. There are so many
tragic things in the world in so
many places. We can’t judge
that. We have to accept certain
things. The main thing is not to
stop because of the problems
and tragedies. You have to keep
moving forward, and it is not
easy.”
The Rebbe was not exempt
from doubts and misgivings,
taking over leadership reluctantly when his father-in-law,
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the previous Rebbe, died
unexpectedly in 1950, he said.
Indeed, Krinsky said, he believes it was his wife who convinced Schneerson – an
introvert and brilliant scholar –
to take over the mantle of the
Chabad movement.
“I was told that she told
her husband, if you don’t get involved everything that happened over the last 250 years of
Chabad going back to the Baal
Shem Tov (the founder of the
Chasidic movement) will evaporate. I think he realized there
was no alternative, no option.”
Even after he became
Rebbe, Krinsky said, “he spoke
publicly but it didn’t seem to be
his forte. He would rather just
live his life as an individual but
he couldn’t, he was thrust into
the public eye and he created
such a stir with his wisdom, love
and attitude toward the value of
every individual.”
Noting that the name
Menachem means “to comfort,”
Krinsky said the Rebbe “comforted the Jewish people as a
whole after the Holocaust. He
changed the landscape of Jewish
life all over the world by showing the world how Jews have to
live. With each other, he and
his wife spread the message of
Yiddishkeit all over the world.”
As for himself, Krinsky said
he has had “a blessed life in
every way.”
He knew Schneerson from
the time he was a teenager, and
began studying in Chabad
schools when he first came to
New York from his native
Boston in 1946. In 1957, after
he married, “the Rebbe’s office
asked me what my plans were
for the future,” he said. “I was a
student, I didn’t have any plans.
They asked if I would become
part of the secretariat to the
Rebbe. That became my life’s
vocation, an enormous pleasure,” he said. His wife, who
comes from “Chasidic stock,”
consented fully to the plan.
With the Rebbe, “every
moment was a new adventure –
fresh – nothing done by rote,”
he said. “Every human being
was precious to him. He was full
of concern no matter what the
issue was, what the community
or individual was.”
He recalled with particular
fondness the Rebbe’s habit of
standing for hours outside
Chabad headquarters in Crown
Heights handing out dollar bills
for people to give to their favorite charities, a custom he
continued until he had a stroke
two years before his death.
“Thousands of people came
every Sunday,” Krinsky recalled.
“Everybody came – mostly Jews
but not necessarily. Plain folks,
dignitaries, heads of state, the
whole gamut, a kaleidoscope of
human beings. He received
everyone cordially and had
something for every individual.
They may have gone by quickly,
but his eyes focused on their
eyes and locked in, and they felt
it was just them and the Rebbe.
It’s an instant of eternity in
their lives.”
While marking the Rebbe’s
20th yahrzeit and the success of
the Chabad movement, Krinsky
said he tells audiences, like the
one in Chicago the night before, that “we haven’t yet begun
to fight. You haven’t seen anything yet. In Jewish life what
does 20 years signify? It says in
the Talmud that certain things
aren’t complete yet in their maturity.”
Chabad, he said, while very
successful, has many more tasks
to complete.
“There is so much more to
be done,” he said. “Assimilation
is rampant. They say you can’t
fight gravity, but the truth is
you can fight gravity” as the
Rebbe did when he “pulled the
Jewish world out of the doldrums” after the Holocaust, he
said.
“I told people last night
that 20 years have gone by and
Chabad has done very well but
hasn’t yet begun to scratch the
surface,” he said. “Much has
been accomplished but there is
so much more to do. We need
to redouble and triple our efforts, go to more communities,
help others. We have to build
on that so it keeps on growing.
And that’s what we plan to do.”
Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
6
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Community Calendar
Sunday
July 27
Beth Hillel Congregation
Bnai Emunah Sisterhood
holds Rummage and Book
Sale. 9 a.m.-1 p.m., also 911 a.m. Monday, July 28,
3220 Big Tree Lane, Wilmette. (847) 256-1213.
Ezra-Habonim, the Niles
Township Jewish Congregation presents “Sundays with
Rabbi Weill” featuring stories and playtime for children to age 6 and the young
at heart, 9-10 a.m. 4500 W.
Dempster, Skokie. Reservations (847) 675-4141.
Chicago Jewish Historical
Society holds Chicago’s
Jewish South Shore bus
tour led by Herbert Eiseman. 11:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m.
departing from Bernard
Horwich JCC, 3003 W.
Touhy, Chicago, or noon-5
p.m. from Marriott Hotel,
541 N. Rush, Chicago. $40
CJHS members, $45 nonmembers. Reservations,
chicagojewishhistory.org or
(847) 432-7003.
Tuesday
July 29
Chicago YIVO Society’s
Summer Festival of Yiddish
Culture presents vocalist
Bibi Marcell and pianist
Gail Mangurten. 2 p.m.,
Wilmette Public Library,
1242 Wilmette Ave., Wilmette. (847) 256-5025.
Sunday
August 3
B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim
Sisterhood holds annual
Congregational Rummage
Sale featuring boutique,
clothing, jewelry and accessories, baby equipment,
toys, household items,
books and more. 9 a.m.-4
p.m., also noon-7 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 4, half price
for unsold items. 1201 Lake
Cook Road, Deerfield. (847)
940-7575.
BAY Shul hosts discussion,
“Surviving the Holocaust
and Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder” featuring speakers Howard Reich and Dr.
Yonit Hoffman; includes buffet lunch and tour. 11 a.m.3:30 p.m. Illinois Holocaust
Museum and Education Center, 9603 Woods Dr., Skokie.
$50, $36 students with ID.
Reservations, bayshul.com or
(847) 602-1902.
Congregation B’nai Tikvah
hosts K-5 Family Event
with Rabbi Nate Crane.
Bring nut-free dairy dish to
share. 4-7 p.m., Jewett Park
Pavilion, 836 Jewett Park
Drive, Deerfield. RSVP, (847)
945-0470.
Under the Stars. Bring own
food, temple provides
drinks, paper goods and an
Oneg. 6 p.m., 8610 Niles
Center Road, Skokie. (847)
676-1566.
Congregation Beth Shalom
holds Prospective Member
Shabbat followed by dinner. 6:45 p.m., 3433 Walters
Ave., Northbrook. $40 family. RSVP, (847) 498-4100.
Wednesday
August 6
Sunday
August 10
Chicago YIVO Society’s
Summer Festival of Yiddish
Culture presents historian
Anette Isaacs giving a slide
lecture on “From Survivors
to DPs: Jews In Post-War
Germany.” 7 p.m., Highland Park Public Library, 494
Laurel Ave., Highland Park.
(847) 432-0216.
Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation AG Beth Israel
holds third annual Settlers
of Catan Jewish Youth
Tournament. 11 a.m.-5
p.m., 7117 N. Crawford, Lincolnwood. Preregistration,
jewishsettlerstourney@
gmail.com.
Thursday
Tuesday
August 7
American Community Gardening Association hosts 3day 35th Anniversary
Conference in Chicago beginning 1:30 p.m. KAM Isaiah Israel, 1100 E. Hyde Park
Blvd., Chicago. For information on costs, lodging, additional venues, schedule of
events and registration,
communitygarden.org or
(773) 924-1234.
JUF/Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Chicago’s
Young Leadership Division
holds “WYLD in Paris”
party honoring young Jewish movers and shakers in
annual “Double Chai in the
Chi: 36 Under 36” list. 7
p.m., Studio Paris, 59 W.
Hubbard St., Chicago. $20
advance; $30 door. Register,
juf.org/yld/wyld_paris.aspx
or [email protected].
Chicago YIVO Society’s
Summer Festival of Yiddish
Culture presents vocalist
Eileen Berman and pianist
Jane Kenas performing
“Favorite Yiddish Musical
Gems.” 7 p.m., Indian Trails
Public Library, 355 Schoenbeck Road, Wheeling.
Reservations required, (847)
459-4100.
Friday
August 8
Temple Judea Mizpah holds
picnic dinner and Shabbat
August 12
Chicago YIVO Society’s
Summer Festival of Yiddish
Culture presents film in
French, some Yiddish, with
English subtitles, “Two
Lives Plus One” (“Deux
Vies Plus Une.”) 2 p.m.,
Skokie Public Library, 5215
Oakton, Skokie. (847) 6737774.
Sweet Singers of Congregation Ezras Israel perform
program of Yiddish, Hebrew, Israeli and English
songs at the Lieberman
Home. 2 p.m., 9700 Gross
Point Road, Skokie. (773)
764-8320.
Friday
August 15
members. Register, (847)
634-0777.
Friday
Congregation Beth Shalom
presents Shabbat with a
Twist for families with children up to pre-K for challah-making, stories and
song. 11-11:45 a.m., 3433
Walters Ave., Northbrook.
(847) 498-4100.
Temple Beth Israel holds
Shabbat at the Park. Bring
dinner and a dessert to
share. 6:30 p.m., Lovelace
Park, 2740 Gross Point
Road, Evanston. (847) 6750951.
August 22
Congregation B’nai Tikvah
holds Simchat Shabbat
Under the Stars with instrumental accompaniment
for family, friends and
prospective members followed by Oneg. 6:30 p.m.,
1558 Wilmot Road, Deerfield. (847) 945-0470.
Sunday
August 24
Monday
August 18
Congregation B’nai Tikvah
hosts Family Fun Evening
for new and prospective
members with hot dogs
and treats, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
1558 Wilmot Road, Deerfield. Reservations required,
(847) 945-0470.
Tuesday
August 19
Congregation Beth Judea
holds A Fun and Fitness
Night with workouts (bring
your own attire), chocolate
and wine, 7 p.m., Adult and
Pediatric Orthopedics, S.C.,
555 Corporate Woods Parkway, Vernon Hills. $15.
RSVP, (847) 634-0777.
Wednesday
August 20
Chicago Jewish Historical
Society holds South Haven
and Benton Harbor bus
tour led by Leah Axelrod. 8
a.m.- 8:30 p.m. departing
from Bernard Horwich JCC,
3003 W. Touhy, Chicago, or
8:30 a.m.-8 p.m. from Marriott Hotel, 541 N. Rush,
Chicago. Pack meal or snack
to enjoy at last tour stop,
Sinai Temple in Michigan
City, Ind. $88 CJHS members, $93 non-members.
Reservations, chicagojewishhistory.org or (847) 4327003.
Ezra-Habonim, the Niles
Township Jewish Congregation presents “Sundays
with Rabbi Weill” featuring stories and playtime for
children to age 6 and the
young at heart, 9-10 a.m.
4500 W. Dempster, Skokie.
Reservations (847) 6754141.
Thursday
August 28
Wednesday
August 13
Chicago YIVO Society’s
Summer Festival of Yiddish
Culture presents Jan Lisa
Huttner giving slide lecture
on “My Fiddler: From
Grodna to Broadway,”
commemorating 50th anniversary of “Fiddler on the
Roof’s” Broadway premiere. 2 p.m., Northbrook
Public Library, 1201 Cedar
Lane, Northbrook, (847)
272-6224. Also 6 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 14, Harold
Washington Library Center,
Multi-Purpose Room, 400 S.
State, Chicago, (312) 7474702 and 2 p.m. Tuesday,
Aug. 19, Wilmette Public Library, 1242 Wilmette Ave.,
Wilmette, (847) 256-5025.
Chicago YIVO Society’s
Summer Festival of Yiddish
Culture presents Rabbi
Barry Schechter speaking
on “Yiddish and Laughter.” 2 p.m., Evanston Public Library, Community
Room, 1703 Orrington Ave.
(847) 448-8600.
Congregation Beth Shalom
and Congregation Beth
Judea present Rabbi Jordan
Bendat-Appell, co-founder
and director of the Center
for Jewish Mindfulness,
leading workshop titled
“From Broken House to
Leaky Hut: The Spiritual
Arc of the Season of
Awe,” 7-9 p.m., Congregation Beth Shalom, 3433
Walters Ave., Northbrook.
$5, Beth Shalom and Beth
Judea members, $10 non-
Consulate General of
Poland hosts evening commemorating the 70th anniversary of the
liquidation of the Lodz
Ghetto featuring Chazan
Alberto Mizrahi of Anshe
Emet Synagogue, photo
and film displays of Lodz
before the Shoah and the
Ghetto, 5:30-8 p.m., Union
League Club, 65 W. Jackson,
Chicago. [email protected].
Bernard Weinger JCC hosts
“Say It in Hebrew Live
Chat!” 7 p.m., 300 Revere
Drive, Northbrook. [email protected] or (847)
763-3627.
7
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
LeBron James’s new coach
shaped by summer on a kibbutz
and Jewish ‘life lessons’
By Robert Gluck
JNS.org
Influenced by his Jewish upbringing and a summer on a kibbutz, basketball coach David
Blatt is embarking on his highest-profile challenge yet: coaching LeBron James, the four-time
National Basketball Association
(N BA) Most V aluable Player
who has made waves for returning to his hometown Cleveland
Cavaliers.
After guiding Israel’s storied
Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball
franchise to its 51st Israeli league
championship and 6th Euroleague title this past season,
Blatt landed the Cavaliers headcoaching job in June. Just weeks
later, northeast Ohio native
James rocked the NBA universe
by leaving the Miami Heat for
Cleveland, where he had spent
his first seven seasons in the
league.
Blatt, 55, grew up in Framingham, Mass., listening to the
raspy radio voice of Boston
Celtics’ announcer Johnny Most.
During his sophomore year at
Princeton University, where he
played for legendary hoops coach
Pete Carril and majored in English literature, Blatt was recruited
to play for a basketball team at
Kibbutz Gan Shmuel in Israel
over the summer.
“I really had not had designs
on making aliyah growing up or
well into my college experience,
but I was invited to spend a summer in Israel by a nice gentlemen
and a coach in Israel who saw me
play with Princeton, and I fell in
love with Israel,” Blatt said.
“That was a life-changing experience because I ended up spending 33 years there.”
The six-week kibbutz experience had helped “me to enter
into Israeli society and life,” recalled Blatt.
“Beyond that I can tell you
that some elements of the communal living [on kibbutzim] certainly can be found in the
dynamics of teams sports, most
importantly that all should work
for the common goo d, and that
the better we do as a unit, the
more the individual will benefit,”
he said.
Blatt, who coached the
Russian national basketball team
to a bronze medal at the 2012
Summer Olympics in London, is
known as an excellent communicator who gets the best out of
his players and teams. At a press
conference introducing the new
coach, Cavaliers’ General Manager David Griffin called Blatt
“an authentic leader .” Might
Jewish values be the secret to his
success?
“The lessons of Judaism are
life lessons to begin with,” Blatt
told . “Without question, the values, the morals, and the ethics
that I’ve taken from my Jewish
upbringing have greatly influenced me in every walk of my
life. Above all, the basic respect
for people, accepting people for
who they are, and what they are,
is a guiding force in all of my relationships and all forms of communication.”
Additionally, Blatt credits
his parents for instilling in him
the right attitudes and habits.
“I was born to two very intelligent parents,” he said. “The best
things they taught me were to
read and to pay attention to what
was going on around me. So I
had a good start and I tried to develop it with good habits.”
In May, Blatt led underdog
Maccabi Tel Aviv to a stunning
comeback from a 15-point deficit
against CSKA Moscow in the
Euroleague semifinals, before another upset victory in the championship game over Real Madrid.
Maccabi’s win prompted massive
celebrations in Israel.
“Certainly the Jewish community will understand the par allel to David and Goliath,” Blatt
said of the Euroleague title run.
“One of the differences being,
from our perspective, we did it
twice in a weekend and not
once.”
Less than a month after
Maccabi’s championship, Blatt
announced that he would leave
the Israeli team to pursue his
dream of coaching in the NBA.
About a week later he was hired
by the Cavaliers, becoming the
first coach to move directly from
the European leagues into an
NBA head-coaching job.
“I’m proud to bear that distinction, but more importantly I
feel responsible going forward
and hope I can open the door
wide enough so others can do the
same,” he said.
Blatt said there are obvious
cultural differences among all the
societies in which he has
coached: Israel, Russia, Greece,
and Italy.
“Each country has a somewhat different style of basketball,” he said. “It’s played a little
differently, officiated a little bit
differently, followed a little bit
differently, managed a little bit
differently, and therefore is
coached a little bit differently .
There certainly are differences in
the rules between the NBA game
and European game. Each situation requires education and attentiveness to where you are and
how you need to act.”
N ow, Blatt’s focus shifts to
coaching a young Cavaliers
squad that will be led by the man
widely considered to be the best
SEE COACH
ON
PAG E 1 6
Danziger
Kosher Catering
“The Ultimate in Kosher Catering”
Exclusively available at many of
Chicago’s & South Florida’s
throughout the metropolitan area.
Call for an updated and complete
listing of available locations.
Chicago
South Florida
Glatt Kosher
3910 W. Devon Avenue
"
#$%'$!$$
!
()#$%'$!$
$'*+,-/
"
#'5%''55
242(,,' ()#'5%''5
www.danzigerkosher.com
Did you have a Yahrtzeit Plaque
at Shaare Tikvah Bnai Zion?
When Shaare Tikvah Bnai Zion closed
the Yahrtzeit Plaques were
removed and are now in storage
If you are interested in retrieving your plaques
send an email with
the subject: Plaques
to: [email protected]
We will have two Sunday mornings a month available to
meet at the facility in Morton Grove, IL to locate and
retrieve your plaques
OR
for a nominal charge we have arranged for a service that will
travel to the facility, locate, and mail your plaques to you.
8
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Torah Portion
CANDLELIGHTING TIMES
4
July 25
7:57
August 1
7:50
Estate Conser vation Strategies, Financial Planning, Life Insurance
Disability Income Insurance, Health Insurance
Long-Term Care Insurance, Auto & Home Insurance
Dr. Irving Birnbaum
CFP, CLU, ChFC, RHU, LUTCF, CLTC, CASL
Senior Financial Services Executive/Financial Planner
Cell: 773-569-5186
[email protected]
Visit our website:
www.chicagometlife.com
MetLife
6200 North Hiawatha, Suite 200 • Chicago, IL 60646
Office: 773-725-4167 • Fax: 773-725-4168
Some health insurance products offered by unaffiliated insurers through the Enterprise General Agency Inc (EGA)., 300 Davidson Avenue Somerset, NJ 08873-4175. Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company (MLIC), New York, NY 10166. Securities products and investment advisory services offered by MetLife Securities, Inc. (MSI) (member FINRA/SIPC), a registered investment adviser. Auto
& Home insurance is offered by Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Company (MET P&C®) and affiliates, Warwick, RI. EGA, MLIC, MSI and MET P&C® are MetLife Companies.
L0713331222[0714][IL]
We Buy Antiques!
Collectibles, Paintings, Costume Jewelry
Furniture, Lamps, Light Fixtures, Clocks, China, Etc.
Estate Sales Professionally Conducted
36 Years Experience
Free estimates ~ We Make House Calls
Paying a Premium Over Scrap for Gold and Silver
Call Linda Mark: 773-348-9647
www.miscellaniaantiques.com
L & L APPLIANCE MART
Slightly Blemished NEW Appliances
& Rebuilt Used Appliances in
EXCELLENT CONDITION
Refrigerators • Stoves • Heaters
Bedding • Freezers • Washers
Dryers • Air Conditioners
Large Quantities Available
For Developers & Rehabs
Lowest Prices • 773-463-2050
FREE DELIVERY IN CHICAGO
3240 W. LAWRENCE
Mon. - Sat. 10-7
Closed Sun.
4250 W. MONTROSE
Mon. - Sat. 10-6
Closed Sun.
2553 W. NORTH AVE.
Mon. - Sat. 9-5:30
Closed Sun.
www. chicagojewishnews .com
The Jewish News place
in cyberspace
Importance of the Land
State of Israel
is our past
and our future
By Rabbi Vernon Kurtz
Torah Columnist
Torah Portion: Masei
Numbers 33:1-36:13
In the portion of Masei there
is a description of the boundaries
of the Promised Land, and the
manner in which the land was to
be apportioned. The Midrash in
N umbers Rabbah uses the occasion to teach us about our love of
the land and our obligations towards it.
The Torah states: “Instruct
the Israelite people and say to
them: When you enter the land of
Canaan, this is the land that shall
fall to you as your portion, the
land of Canaan with its various
boundaries.” The Rabbis in the
Midrash, however, were not concerned about the boundaries of
the land, they were concerned
with the ongoing relationship of
the Jewish people to its homeland.
In N umbers Rabbah 23:7
they state: “Halachah: Before they
entered the land, what blessing
did they say after meals? Our
Rabbi taught: Before they entered
the land of Israel they used to recite one blessing, that is, ‘Who
feeds all.’ When they entered the
land of Israel they recited also the
blessing, ‘For the Land and for the
food.’ When the land was destroyed they added the blessing,
‘Who rebuilds Jerusalem.’ When
the people slain at Bethar (during
the Bar Kochba revolt) were given
burial the blessing, ‘Who is goo d
and does good,’ was added.”
The Midrash continues: “Of
all the blessings there is none
more precious than the one ‘For
the land and for the food.’ For our
Rabbis have said that anyone who
does not mention in the Grace after Meals the blessing, ‘For the
land and for the food,’ ‘a desirable
land,’ the covenant of circumci sion, the Torah and life, has not
fulfilled his duty.”
While the Rabbis understood
that the land would have geographical borders, they viewed the
attachment to the land as a daily
occurrence. Every time we have a
meal that includes bread, we recite
the Grace after Meals and it is incumbent upon us to mention our
relationship to it.
When this interpretation was
written, no longer did Israel dwell
in its own land. Our people were
exiled and another people ruled
the land. So it was for 2,000 years.
were expelled from Arab countries, and to Jews the world over .
Even though Israel has not experienced a day of peace in its 66
years, its citizens have created a
society that has achieved great
things. Yes, we can disagree with
certain policies of an individual
government, but let us always recall our responsibility to the land
and our people who dwell therein.
I am privileged to serve as
president of the American Zionist
Movement, the umbrella Zionist
organization of this country affiliRabbi Vernon Kurtz
ated with the W orld Zionist Organization. For some, Zionism has
become a dirty word. I am proud
As my colleague, Rabbi
Bradley Shavit Artson, has writ- to call myself a Zionist and a lover
ten: “Any visitor to Israel cannot of Zion.
In that very same pamphlet
help but be moved by the archeoSchechter wrote: “Zionism is an
logical testimony of the Jewish
past: David’s city, the steps leading ideal, and as such is indefinable. It
up to Solomon’s Temple, Masada, is thus subject to various interpretations and susceptive of different
site of the Jewish resistance
aspects. It may appear to one as
against Rome, the tomb of Maithe rebirth of national Jewish conmonides, the synagogues of the
sciousness, to another as a reli4th and 5th centuries, the synagogues of the medieval mystics of gious revival, whilst to a third it
Safed. Each age of Jewish civiliza- may present itself as a path leading
tion has left its mark on the Land to the goal of Jewish culture; and
to a fourth it may take the form of
of Israel, and the great treasures
which have come to light due to the last and only solution to the
the careful studies and exploration Jewish problem.”
He goes on to state: “On one
of Israel’s archeologists – the most
notable of which are the Dead Sea point, however, they all agree,
namely, that it is not only desir Scrolls – enrich our sense of belonging and of peoplehoo d for able, but absolutely necessary, that
Palestine, the land of our fathers,
Jews everywhere.”
In 1906 Solomon Schechter, should be recovered with the purpose of forming a home for at least
then chancellor of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of Amer - a portion of the Jews who would
lead there an independent naica, against the prevailing attitional life.” These words were
tudes present at his time, at his
school and in American Jewry , written in 1906. It took 42 years
wrote a pamphlet entitled “Zion- for them to come to fruition and
for the land to be reclaimed once
ism: A Statement.” He wrote:
“The great majority of Zionists re- more by our people.
As a Zionist I support the
main loyal to the idea of Zion and
Jewish people’s right to dominion
Jerusalem, to which history and
tradition, and the general Jewish in a state of its own; as a Zionist I
sentiment, point. It is ‘G-d’s coun- continue to look to Jerusalem as a
try’ in the fullest and truest sense beacon of light; as a Zionist I continue to aspire to a Jewish state
of the words. It is the ‘Promised
that shall be a mo del for all; as a
Land’ still maintaining its place
Zionist I recognize the beauty of
in every Jewish heart.”
I believe that these words of Hebrew, the necessity of creating
one of the great teachers of Con- an indigenous Jewish culture in
servative Judaism remain in force. Israel, and the need to support our
It would have been impossible for people in Israel and throughout
Schechter to envision a world in the world.
The State of Israel is not only
which there would be a sovereign
democratic State of Israel able to a place of our archeological past, it
protect its citizens and serve as a is the hope of our Jewish future.
spiritual beacon for world Jewry . Each time we recite the Grace afWe are fortunate that it is a real- ter Meals we recognize our tie to
the land and give thanks to G-d for
ity in our own day.
We may disagree on different it. What a privilege it is to live in
aspects of Israel’s political, mili- a world where we have a State of
tary, religious and social policies, Israel and what a responsibility we
have to make sure that it lives in
but let us never forget what it
means to live in a world without security and peace, as it attempts to
mold a model Jewish society.
the State of Israel. Only a few
years removed from the Shoah,
Rabbi Vernon Kurtz is the rabbi
our people experienced a rebirth,
returned to our ancient homeland, of North Suburban Synagogue Beth
and opened its doors to the sur - El (Conservative) in Highland Park.
vivors of the Shoah, to those who
9
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Your Money
The roe ahead: Russian science
brings ‘caviar’ to kosher table
By Cnaan Liphshiz
JTA
In a penthouse office with a
view of the Eiffel Tower, Olivier
Kassabi uses a ceramic spoon to
extract a small scoop from a jar
labeled as Russian caviar.
Placing a clutch of black
globules on the base of his
thumb, Kassabi licks it off, savoring every fishy drop of the salty
liquid inside the dark beads as
they pop in his mouth.
As recently as a few months
ago, Russian caviar would have
been strictly off-limits for an observant Jew like Kassabi. Stur geon, the endangered fish species
whose eggs are harvested to produce caviar, is not kosher.
That’s what led Kassabi to
import and market a caviar substitute that he hopes satisfies not
just the growing demand among
observant Jews for affordable delicacies, but also the desire for sustainable foods with minimal
environmental impact.
“In the age of mass media
and globalization, Jewish communities are much more exposed
to fine cuisine,” Kassabi said.
“People see special dishes on
food blogs and they want a
taste.”
Kassabi is not the only businessman aiming to tap into what
people in the food world see as a
growing demand among obser vant Jews for gourmet foo dstuffs
that meet their dietary needs.
Last year, the Brooklynbased Black Diamond Caviar
started marketing a caviar substitute from a non-endangered
kosher fish called bowfin that is
caught in Louisiana. And in February, Le Rafael became the first
kosher restaurant in France to
earn two stars from the vaunted
Michelin Guide.
“All over the world, average
restaurant goers are becoming
more demanding because of the
popularization of the the culture
of gourmet dining, and kashrut
keepers are no exception to this
trend,” said Guy Cohen, one of
the owners of Le Rafael, which is
testing Kassabi’s substitute caviar.
“Clients have become very demanding and we are rising to the
challenge.”
Kassabi’s caviar interest was
piqued last year when he read
that a company in Saint Petersburg called Tzar Caviar was developing a caviar substitute
through a process known as molecular engineering in which a
fish bouillon is made to resemble
the contents of sturgeon eggs in
taste and consistency. The liquid
is then compressed into a membrane that looks like the soft
shell of a fish egg.
The result is a kosher pro duct that its producer claims more
closely resembles real caviar than
most other kosher fish roes on
the market.
Overcoming Tzar Caviar’ s
fear of compromising the secrecy
of its pro duction methods took
some time, Kassabi said. But
within a few months he was able
to arrange for kosher supervision
from the chief rabbi of Saint Petersburg, Menachem-Mendel
Pevzner.
Kassabi and his partner ,
Yohann Assayag, have sold hundreds of jars of Tzar Caviar since
they began marketing the pro duct earlier this year. The demand
is especially strong in France,
where the ostentatious nature of
Jewish weddings and other festivities is so renowned it is the
stuff of parody, most famously in
the character of Coco, an
S E E C AV I A R
ON
PAG E 1 6
Fast, free pickup—IRS tax deductible
Donate Your Vehicle
Lifetime Income
for Retirement.
And an even greater outcome
for Israel, science and education.
Learn why Ruth chose her plan.
See a video profile: afhu.org/cga3
Sample AFHU Hebrew University Gift Annuity Single-Life Rates
Age
67
70
75
80
85
90
Rate
6.2%
6.5%
7.1%
8.0%
9.5%
11.3%
Rates are calculated based on a single life. Cash contributions produce annuity payments that are substantially tax-free.
CALL OR EMAIL NOW.
THE RETURNS ARE
GENEROUS. THE CAUSE
IS PRICELESS.
For information on AFHU Hebrew University
Gift Annuities, please call AFHU Midwest Region
Executive Director, Judith Shenkman at
(312) 329-0332 or email: [email protected]
CAR tMOTORCYCLE tRV tTRUCK tBOAT
to
The ARK
Help The ARK help the thousands
of needy families who depend on us.
500 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1530
Chicago, IL 60611 s 877-642-AFHU (2348)
afhu.org/CGA3
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Research engine for the world. Engine of growth for a nation.
Call 773-681-8978
www.arkchicago.org
Scan the QR code
to visit us online.
Illinois Non-Profit Organization.
Community Funded. JUF Grant Recipient.
10
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
GOING BACK IN TIME
Yonit Hoffman, who works with Holocaust survivors in Chicago,
traveled to Germany and Israel on a voyage of discovery
to better understand her father’s life
zling to me. What did that mean,
‘a friend?’ My father was a prisoner in the (Flossenburg concentration) camp, and the name of
the person didn’t sound Jewish to
There are so many threads me.”
tying Yonit Hoffman to a time
She called the individual
before she was born, weaving
who wrote the letter, who turned
through every part of her life.
out to be the nephew of the
A kibbutz in Israel. A city in friend searching for her father .
Germany. A concentration camp She then contacted an educawhere a stranger on the outside tional center in Flossenburg that
performed acts of kindness.
helped with translations. And
Hoffman tied up some of the the whole remarkable story beends of these threads with what came clear.
she calls a journey of Holocaust
The friend who was looking
discovery to Israel and Germany, for Hoffman’s father was a resinot the first time she has made dent of the town of Flossenburg
the trip but possibly the most
named Anton Sailer, a non-Jew.
emotional.
He had grown up in a house
The Holocaust is part of her across the street from the
professional life as well. HoffFlossenburg camp, an enormous
man, who has a Ph.D. in clinical complex that held some 100,000
psychology, is the program direc- prisoners. Sailer was about 10
tor of Holocaust Community
when Gershon, then known as
Services at Jewish Child and
Gerhardt Hoffman, arrived at
Family Services in Chicago. The the camp. Hoffman was 20 but
agency assists Chicago-area sur- was so emaciated that Sailer
vivors with financial aid, social- thought they were about the
ization opportunities and other same age.
services, with a goal of keeping
Part of Hoffman’s duties inthem in their homes rather than volved unloading boxcars from a
being institutionalized.
railroad; as he performed this
Hoffman has long studied
work just outside the camp, he
the subject of resiliency in sur - and Sailer told each other their
vivors of trauma and loss, and
names. Hoffman was hungry, and
part of the reason for her trip was Sailer asked his mother if he
to attend a conference at Hebrew could bring him some bread. She
University in Jerusalem. There agreed, and Sailer began regushe presented a paper titled “Oral larly smuggling bread to HoffHistories of Holocaust Survivors man, passing it to him when the
and Their Descendants: Memory N azi guards weren’ t looking or
and Meaning in the Intergener - hiding it in a hollow gatepost for
ational Transmission of Relater retrieval. A desperate
silience and Identity .” The friendship developed.
conference itself was titled
“It was really just stunning,
“Looking at Then, Now.”
this story of kindness, this unHoffman says that could be usual connection,” Yonit Hoffa description of her whole trip.
man says.
Gerhardt Hoffman repaid
our years ago Hoffman re- his friend whenever he could.
ceived a letter from the
Trained before the war as a
International Red Cross. graphic artist, he made a colorful
Her husband had recently doEaster card for Sailer and his
nated to the organization, and, family and gave it to Sailer’ s fathinking it was a thank-you, he ther, who worked in a nearby
almost threw it away.
quarry. And once when it was
The letter was actually a no- very cold and Sailer didn’t have a
tification from the Red Cross
hat on, Hoffman gave him one
tracing service that “a friend of he had found, knowing that the
(Hoffman’s) father” from FlosNazis would take it from him if
senburg, Germany had been
he wore it.
searching for several years for
Hoffman had just lost his
him or his descendants.
brother, age 13, when the family
Hoffman’s father, Gershon was deported from their home
Hoffman, had died when his
town of Hamburg to a ghetto in
daughter was three on the Israeli Belarus, and Y onit Hoffman
kibbutz he and others founded.
thinks he saw Anton Sailer as a
The inquiry, Hoffman said kind of surrogate.
in a recent interview, “was puzSome 4,000 Jews from HamBy Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
Managing Editor
F
Gerhardt Hoffman with his parents and cousin.
burg were sent to the Belarusian
ghetto in 1941, she says; fewer
than 30 survived. Hoffman was
the only one in his family to do
so.
In her work with survivors,
Hoffman has met individuals
who were in a neighboring
ghetto, and she found out many
details about what life was like
there and, by extension, in the
ghetto where her father was
taken, she says.
The Easter card Hoffman
made for Sailer’s family was delivered a few weeks before he and
others in the camp were taken on
a death march from Flossenburg
to Dachau. During that march,
they were liberated.
After spending several
months in a displaced persons
camp in Bergen Belsen, Gershon
Hoffman in 1946 sailed on an illegal ship to Palestine, soon to
become the State of Israel, where
he and other Holocaust survivors
helped to found Kibbutz Shoval,
a pioneering communal settlement in the Negev.
He met Hoffman’ s mother
when he toured the United
States as an emissary of
Hashomer Hatzair, the Jewish
youth movement. She lived in
Detroit and was a group leader in
the movement. They married
and moved back to the kibbutz,
where Yonit was born. Her father
died suddenly when she was
three and she and her mother
moved back to Detroit, where
Hoffman grew up.
Even here, the Holocaust
was part of her life: Her maternal
grandmother, who had left Ger many in the late 1930s, was a social worker who worked with
survivors, and her physician
grandfather examined survivors
in connection with restitution
efforts.
offman traveled to
Germany for the first
time two years ago as
part of an effort by the city of
Hamburg – and many other German cities – to reach out to sur vivors and their children. From
there she went to Flossenburg
and met Anton Sailer and his
nephew, who had originally contacted her, and other members of
their family.
The nephew told her that
Anton had mentioned her father’s name for as long as he
could remember, but had little
hope of finding him until the
Red Cross opened and digitized
many of their archives.
“He was very persistent. It
took five years to track me
down,” Hoffman says. “We went
to the nephew’s house for dinner,
and he showed me a stack of letters he had received” during the
search.
This year, when Hoffman received another invitation from
the city of Hamburg to visit and
decided to combine it with her
Israel trip, there was an even
H
more urgent reason to go to
Flossenburg again: Anton Sailer
had had a stroke and was in a
nursing home. This might be the
last time she would talk to him
and by doing so recapture that
lost part of her father’s past.
This time her family – husband Paul Peterson and children
Ariella, 20, and Joshua, 16 – accompanied her on the journey.
“It was an opportunity to explore both parts of my identity
and have it be a very comprehensive time” between the research conference in Israel and
the visit to Germany , Hoffman
says.
Her children feel a strong
connection to the grandfather
they never knew – Ariella is
partly named for him, and Josh
was born on his birthday – and
“it was very powerful for them
both to be there,” Hoffman says.
For Hoffman, visiting the
kibbutz where she was born was
a particularly emotional experience.
“Being in Israel is always
very emotional and powerful for
me. I’ve been back many times
and each time I feel a different
kind of connection and belonging,” she says.
On the kibbutz they met
several of the other founders who
had been friends with her father,
a powerful connection for her
children in particular.
“I felt more of an urgency ,
meeting the people he knew ,”
11
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Hoffman says. “They are very
elderly and there are very few
left. Each time I go it’s a little bit
different. It’s hard.”
Going to Germany left her
with even more confusing feelings.
“I never thought I would go
to Germany, ever,” Hoffman says.
“Being there was very strange.”
But in Hamburg, her father’s
home until he was 18 and was
deported to the ghetto, “life
seemed not so much different
than our lives. That’s what is so
interesting about going to Ger many, seeing the apartment
building where my father lived,
going to the actual school he
went to. It was a very important
part of the journey to see what
life was like before the war , before Flossenburg, and connect
what that was like for him, what
it must have felt to be pulled
away from that,” she says.
Her family joined 10 others
with family members who were
originally from Hamburg, most of
whom had lost grandparents and
other relatives to the Holocaust.
Two elderly survivors joined the
group, all of them getting an opportunity to speak about their
experiences and feelings.
“I want to tell the group that
I’m here for the past and the future, to try to capture a small
piece of the past that belonged to
the grandparents and uncle I
never knew, and, even more so,
to the father I barely knew ,”
Hoffman writes on a blog she is
keeping of the trip (www.jcfs.org,
go to “Yonit’s Journey”).
In Hamburg, she says, she
was assailed by a swarm of emotions, some of which she is still
sorting out.
“So many people there were
very interested in and wanted to
understand our stories,” she says.
“That was healing, but at the
same time, there is that constant
trying to understand why we
were there, how unbelievable it
all was.”
Each member of her family,
Hoffman says, had a different reaction. For her, “it was incredible
Inside survivors’ minds
Yonit Hoffman’s trip to Israel and Germany was not just
a personal journey, but a continuation of an inquiry into a
question that has permeated
both her personal and professional life: How do survivors of
traumas like the Holocaust
manage to cope?
As a psychologist, Hoffman wasn’t always focused on
Holocaust survivors in her
practice, but she did work with
other populations that had suffered loss and trauma. And in
her own history, she knew that
her father and grandparents
had survived horrors and gone
on to lead pro ductive lives.
How did they do that?
Her research and her work
with survivors in her position
as director of Jewish Child and
Family Services’ Holocaust
Community Services program
have yielded some insights.
“It’s always a combination
of things, and it has a lot to do
with the individual,” she says.
“With the Holocaust and in
general, there is always a big
part of it that is happenstance
– being in the right place at the
right time.”
Another factor she has
gleaned from talking with those
who have survived various
kinds of trauma “has to do with
their internal capacities to
weather difficult situations and
making connections with other
people. During war and trauma
you can make personal relationships that are meaningful
or even have someone in your
mind that you can think about”
during the difficult times.
One part of her research
focused on “resistors and nonresistors,” including those in resistance movements, Hoffman
says. Among the findings: “A
strong collective orientation
before the war, a sense of belonging to a group,” helped survivors cope.
“In terms of Zionism, those
who had the hope of being able
to go to Israel had something to
Yonit Hoffman
look forward to,” she says. “It
was a sort of us-against-them
(mentality). They lost family
but filled in some of the empty
spots that way.”
Some of her thinking is
based on her discovery of a
heretofore unknown cousin of
her father’s and a letter her father had written to the cousin’s
father right after liberation.
“It was a 15-page letter ,
and he talked about his experiences – the death of his parents
and grandparents, the ghetto,
the experiences in Flossenburg
– and how he survived. Talking
about resilience, I can see a lot
of it emerging in this letter ,”
Hoffman says.
Her father also tells how
he went through a lot of the experiences with a man he met in
the ghetto and became friends
with. “He talks about how they
were like brothers and how
they literally and figuratively
helped each other up,” Hoffman says. “There are also references to not letting the
Germans win, not letting them
succeed. Being part of a group,
part of a bigger whole is also
something that helps people
get through.”
She is constantly dealing
with these issues in her work
with Holocaust survivors, she
says. While many people feel
there aren’t many survivors left,
she finds that’ s not the case,
even though the population is
clearly dwindling (it’ s estimated there are about 6,000
survivors in the Chicago area,
she says).Child survivors born
toward the end of the war are
only in their 70s now , she
points out.
Many survivors in the
Chicago-area community live
below the poverty level, and
her agency provides them with
financial assistance and essential services as well as providing
services to their caretakers,
who may be second-generation
survivors.
One of the most important
of those services, she says, is
making sure elderly survivors
can stay in their own homes as
long as possible.
“Being in a nursing home
is difficult for any elderly per son,” she says. “For survivors it
can be triggering of traumatic
experiences.”
Providing socialization opportunities, such as ongoing
“coffee and conversation”
groups and a recently launched
group for Russian-speaking survivors, can be important, she
says. After all, they draw on the
same skills of closeness and
connection that may have
helped the individuals survive
in the first place.
Gerhardt Hoffman with his kindergarten class, 1929.
to learn more about my father
and meet people whose families
had been in similar circum stances and incredible to be with
a group of people who went to
the same Jewish day school”
which is actually a Jewish day
school again, for the many Russian Jews who have settled in
Hamburg, Hoffman says.
She saw her uncle’s name on
a plaque, listed among students
from the school who were mar tyred.
“To see the name made
things very tangible for the children and me,” she says. “The
visit brought the stories closer to
my children. They were the
youngest ones in the group but
there were a couple of other third
generation children in their 20s,
and it was really interesting for
them to meet other people who
get it, who understand.”
Her husband’s reaction was
different but no less compelling.
A convert to Judaism, “he comes
at it from a very different upbringing but it is very powerful to
him,” Hoffman says. “He was
close to my grandparents and he
feels very connected to my family. He sometimes is able to ask
the questions that are so hard for
me to ask.”
he visit to Flossenburg
evoked very different
emotions, Hoffman says.
The concentration camp – now
partly a museum and education
center – is huge and still dominates the landscape of the small
town even though not all of the
original buildings are left.
“It’s striking how central it is
in terms of the location of this
little town,” she says. “It’ s not
something that could have been
hidden. The prisoners were walking through the streets and my
father was working in the quarry
right in front of Anton’s house.”
In fact, Anton Sailer’ s son
still lives in the same house
across from the rail station. “You
realize the proximity of the house
to the road and how it would
have been possible” for Anton
T
and her father to connect, she
says. The camp was erected in
1938, and “this kid was watching
it every day since he was four.”
Anton’s mother had worked
for a Jewish family in a neighboring town, and Hoffman speculates that experience made her
more sympathetic to the prisoners. Their experiences at the
camp were so horrific that a third
of them died from working at
hard labor, Hoffman says.
“It’s so hard to comprehend.
I’ve heard stories of survivors my
whole life, I work with survivors,
and every story is still a shock,”
she says. “For my kids, there was
something very important and
valuable in meeting people who
were able to be kind.”
The family visited Anton
Sailer in the nursing home and
found him “in pretty bad shape.
It was very very hard to see him,”
Hoffman says.
When they first visited him
two years ago, Hoffman was astonished when he pulled out the
Easter card her father had made
for him in 1945. He wanted to
give it to them. Hoffman refused,
saying “this is something my father gave to you.”
This year, “Anton’s son said,
my father needs you to have this
card. He can’t die peacefully unless the card is in the hands of
Gerhardt’s daughter.” Hoffman
took the card.
onit Hoffman will participate in a discussion, hosted
by BAY Shul, on “Surviving the Holocaust and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” 11
a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3 at
the Illinois Holocaust Museum and
Education Center, 9603 Woods
Drive, Skokie. Also participating
will be Howard Reich, whose book
“Prisoner of Her Past” documents
his Holocaust survivor mother’s
late-onset Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Cost of $50 includes
lunch; $36 for students with school
ID. For more information, call
(847) 602-1902 or contact [email protected].
Y
12
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
WAR IN GAZA
Tunnel vision: Why Hamas’ tunnels are the new front in the war with Israel
By Uriel Heilman
JTA
Until this latest war, if you
asked most Israelis about the
threat from Gaza, they would
probably start talking about
Hamas rockets.
But that has changed over
the last few days of fighting, for
two reasons. One, the much-heralded success of the Iron Dome
missile defense system has all but
neutralized Hamas’ rocket
threat. Two, and far more troubling for Israelis, they have
woken up to the true extent of
the subterranean threat from
Gaza: the tunnels that snake underneath the densely populated
coastal territory into Israel
proper.
What do the tunnels look
like?
The tunnels are hardly
crude. With years of experience
digging passageways under the
Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle
weapons, people and goo ds into
the blockaded territory – including items as large as cars – Hamas
knows how to burrow.
The tunnels discovered by
the Israel Defense Forces are reinforced by concrete walls and ceilings. Some are 90 feet deep and
extend more than a mile in
length, terminating inside Israel
not far from residential neighborhoods. Israeli troops have discovered phone lines, electricity wires,
pulley systems and stockpiles
of explosives and weapons in the
tunnels.
Many of the tunnels have
multiple branches and a multitude of exit points, which explains why the precise number
the IDF says it has found keeps
fluctuating. The number so far is
66 access shafts as part of 23 tunnels.
The tunnels begin inside
buildings in Gaza, where it is easy
to conceal digging from outsiders, including the omnipresent
Israeli drones that scrutinize goings-on in the coastal strip.
Their end points inside Israel are difficult to detect because
the terminus often isn’ t dug out
until Hamas fighters are ready to
pop up and perpetrate an attack.
When the moment arrives,
Hamas assailants dig the last few
feet and emerge from the hole –
heavily armed, usually well camouflaged and sometimes disguised
as Israeli soldiers.
Why is this threat so significant?
Israel has yet to figure out an
effective way to systematically
Israeli paratroopers inspecting the entrance of a tunnel they discovered in the northern Gaza Strip. (JTA)
address the multitude of threats
the tunnels present.
Hamas could use them to
kidnap Israeli soldiers, as it did
with Gilad Shalit in 2006, or
even to kidnap civilians. Israeli
troops have found Hamas infiltrators in recent days armed
with tranquilizers and handcuffs for just such operations, according to the IDF.
For its part, Hamas has made
clear that one of its main goals is
to pull off a successful kidnapping. An abducted Israeli could
be used to bargain for the release
of Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons. That would give
Hamas a way to demonstrate to
its constituents that it can deliver for Palestinians and “resist
the occupation” in a way that
President Mahmoud Abbas’
Palestinian Authority cannot.
Infiltrators also could use
the tunnels to sneak behind
enemy lines and perpetrate attacks inside Israeli cities, towns
or kibbutzim.
The “terror tunnels,” the
IDF said in a statement, are
meant “to carry out attacks such
as abductions of Israeli civilians
and soldiers alike; infiltrations
into Israeli communities, mass
murders and hostage-taking scenarios.”
With so many Israeli troops
active in the area around Gaza,
Hamas also is using the tunnels
to ambush IDF soldiers. Israel
has been killing most of the infiltrators, but not all. Some have
managed to scurry back into the
tunnels leading toward Gaza.
There have been at least five
tunnel infiltration attacks.
How can Israel combat the
tunnel threat?
For now, unlike with the
rocket fire, there’s no technological fix to the tunnel problem.
Instead, Israel’s primary method
for combating the tunnels is decidedly low-tech.
Israeli ground troops are
looking for tunnel openings in
the buildings they’re searching
inside Gaza. Troops in Israel near
the border are mobilized and on
the lookout for new infiltration
attempts. Residents of the Israeli
communities near the border
area have been warned on several occasions over the last few
days to stay inside on lockdown.
It seems that the extent to
which the ground underneath
the Gaza-Israel border resembles
Swiss cheese has caught the IDF
– and the Israeli public – by surprise.
What does the discovery of
all these tunnels mean for the
duration of this war?
Before Israel launched its
ground invasion, the Israeli government seemed reluctant to
send troops into Gaza and pay
the price in Israeli bloo d, Palestinian collateral damage and international censure that a ground
invasion probably would entail.
Israel quickly agreed to a ceasefire offer a week into the conflict
(Hamas ignored it) and gave
Hamas at least two other lulls in
which to change its mind.
But now that Israel has
awakened to the true extent of
the tunnel threat and Israeli
troops are already fighting and
dying in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems
determined to have the IDF destroy as many tunnels as it can.
“The operation will be expanded until the goal is
achieved: restoring quiet to the
citizens of Israel for a long period,” N etanyahu said, keeping
things vague enough so as not to
be boxed into a corner.
If the war ends before the
tunnel threat can be addressed
adequately, the IDF’s job in Gaza
will have been left unfinished.
Though Israelis are agonizing
over the death toll on their side –
which already has exceeded the
toll from the last two Gaza conflicts combined – they don’ t
want those soldiers to have died
in vain.
This is seen inside Israel as a
war of necessity, not of choice.
Will international pressure
end the war soon?
SEE TUNNELS
ON
PAG E 1 3
13
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
War in Gaza
Tunnels
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
12
With the Palestinian death
toll soaring since the launch of
the ground invasion, interna tional pressure for a cease-fire is
growing. President Obama called
for an “immediate cease-fire,”
and the U.N. Security Council
held an emergency session to demand an immediate end to the
fighting. U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry flew to Cairo to try to
negotiate some kind of an end to
the crisis.
While Israel’s eagerness for a
cease-fire and well publicized efforts to avoid civilian casualties
bought it some time early on, the
escalating violence and rapidly
mounting Palestinian civilian
deaths – including several welldocumented cases of Israeli strikes
killing children, wiping out multiple members of the same family
and targeting a hospital – are
shifting international opinion
away from Israel’s favor.
It remains to be seen how
long N etanyahu can withstand
the pressure, or how the fighting
that lies ahead will affect the calculus.
For its part, Hamas doesn’ t
appear to want to stop fighting either. It views every Israeli death
as a triumph and every Palestinian civilian death as fodder with
which to build international criticism of Israel. Hamas may already have captured the bo dy of
one Israeli soldier who is presumed to have died in a missile
attack on an armored personnel
carrier; it would love to use the
opportunity the fighting presents
to accomplish its goal of capturing a live one.
How are ordinary Israelis
reacting?
One of the remarkable
things about Israel is that even
though it is buffeted by threats
on nearly every side and often
finds itself engaged in bloo dy
battles, for the most part the
fighting happens elsewhere.
The mini-wars with Hamas
in 2009 and 2012 were fought on
Gaza’s turf, not inside Israel. Violence in the West Bank generally stays in the West Bank. The
2006 Second Lebanon War took
place in Lebanon, not Israel. Yes,
both the Gaza conflicts and the
Lebanon war involved deadly
rocket fire into Israel, but there
were no pitched battles on Israeli
streets. The real battlefield was
elsewhere.
The last major exception to
that rule was a decade ago during
the second intifada, when Israeli
buses, restaurants and nightclubs
became the front line. The erection of the W est Bank security
fence helped end those attacks
by making it harder for terrorists
to get into Israel.
But now the existence of
tunnels through which terrorists
can infiltrate the country again
threatens to bring the war into
Israel, and that’ s a frightening
thought for Israelis.
The country still well remembers the Maalot massacre of
1974, when Palestinian terrorists
slipped across the border from
Lebanon and took more than
100 children hostage at a school
in the northern Israeli town of
Maalot. More than 25 Israelis
were killed during that incident,
which ended when Israeli troops
stormed the school building.
With the Israeli death toll
rising fast, this war already has
turned into a nightmare for many
Israelis, particularly those burying their loves ones. But there’s a
reason IDF troops are still pushing hard in Gaza: They’re working to avert something worse.
At the sound of an air raid siren, Israelis fall to the ground to protect
themselves from incoming rockets.
Easing life in hard times
Yehudeet Counne has
been thinking about the little
things that make life harder for
the families of Israeli soldiers
called up to the army during
the current fighting.
Dinner every night. Baby
sitting. Keeping the house
clean and the kids taken care of
in between frequent trips to the
bomb shelter.
Counne, a Chicago woman
who grew up in Israel and has
many friends still living in the
Jewish state, decided, along with
some friends, to do something
about it.
She started a page on GoFundMe, a charity donation
site, called Help the Families of
Israeli Reservists and has so far
raised close to $15,000 and
helped more than 100 families.
“One of my friends’ husbands was called up into the
army and she was talking about
how stressful it is for her, taking
care of two kids, running into
the bomb shelter, being worried
that her husband is in danger,”
Counne said during a recent
phone conversation.
She and several of her
friends decided to help the
woman, sending her dinner
every night from a nearby
restaurant and helping out with
baby-sitting funds.
“She told us her life
changed since we started doing
this for her,” Counne, a stay-athome mom of two kids, says.
“Then we were thinking, why
don’t we start doing this for
other families?”
She joined with friends in
Los Angeles, Baltimore, N ew
York, Moscow and Israel to
launch the GoFundMe page as
well as a Facebook page called
Eishat Chayal – Supporting the
Army Wives. (The name
means “wife of a soldier” and is
a kind of play on “eshet chayil”
or “woman of valor.”)
The effort started off by
Yehudeet Counne
word of mouth, Counne says,
and “got around the army
bases. Now people are sending
names of friends through Facebook, and we have a waiting
list already.”
The money, she says,
shouldn’t be construed as charity but just something to make
life easier for the Israeli wives
(and in some cases husbands
and wives when both are in the
army). “That family was able to
come home for one night, so
we sent them dinner for that
night,” Counne says.
“We’ve been in touch with
two of the wives whose husbands
were injured and they’re back
and forth to the hospital,”
Counne, who lived in Israel for
11 years, says. “We just want to
say we appreciate what you guys
Israeli soldiers saying morning prayers before heading out to battle.
are doing and thank you and help
make your life a little easier.”
The group is receiving
thanks from the families and
sometimes from the soldiers
themselves, Counne says. One
reservist wrote, “When I know
my wife is being taken care of
and is happy , so am I. That
gives me the strength to continue staying strong.”
To join the effort, go to
GoFundMe.com and search for
Help the Families of Israeli Reservists.
“’We’re planning to keep
on doing this until the war is
over,” Counne says. “We’re trying to raise more and more
money. There are 40,000 reservists.”
Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
14
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
War in Gaza
For two Americans, service to Israel ends in tragedy
By Hillel Kuttler
JTA
Sean Carmeli, a sergeant in
the Israeli army, was stationed in
Israel’s South awaiting possible
orders to enter Gaza.
He was exchanging Facebook messages with his friend Ian
Benisti, a U.S. Marine reservist
who was visiting Israel from California. The two had planned to
get together, maybe go to the
beach. But Israel was in the midst
of an escalating conflict with
Hamas.
“Bro’, hope this’ll be over
soon, so we can meet up,” the
Texas-born Carmeli wrote to
Benisti in their last Facebook exchange.
The wish went unfulfilled.
Two days later, Israel launched a
ground invasion of Gaza.
Carmeli, 21, and another
American, Max Steinberg, a 24year-old from W oodland Hills,
Calif., were among the 13 Israeli
soldiers – all members of the
Golani Brigade – killed during
heavy fighting in Gaza.
“He was a very sweet, nice
kid – the mellow , calm, happy
guy people want to be around,”
Benisti said of Carmeli.
Carmeli was raised in the resort town of South Padre Island,
Texas, and after his freshman
year of high school moved with
his two younger sisters and their
Israeli parents to Raanana, a city
not far from Tel Aviv.
Alon and Dalya Carmeli
were back in T exas working at
their T-shirt shops on South
Padre Island when they learned
of their son’s death and immediately returned to Israel, said
Benisti, who attended Carmeli’s
funeral in Haifa. The funeral
drew an estimated 20,000
mourners.
Carmeli “always had an
angel on his shoulder, always had
a smile on his face and a twinkle
in his eye,” said Aaron Edelman,
who knew Carmeli from their
Golani service.
Steinberg’s connection to Israel was a more recent development. He first visited the country
two years ago on a Birthright Israel trip.
“He fell in love with the
country and the people, and he
knew he wanted to be there,”
said Danny Derakhshannia,
Steinberg’s childhood friend
from California.
Steinberg moved to Israel
and became a “lone soldier ,” a
term for Diaspora Jews who move
to Israel to serve in the Israeli
military without having close relatives in the country.
According to the Lone Soldier Center, an Israeli nonprofit,
5,700 such personnel currently
serve in the Israel Defense
Forces.
The center was founded in
honor of Michael Levin, a lone
soldier from Philadelphia who
was killed in 2006 during the
Second Lebanon War.
Hearing of the two Ameri cans’ deaths is “reliving everything we went through with
Michael,” said Levin’ s mother,
Harriet.
Lori Trott, the principal of
Saint Joseph Academy , the
school in Brownsville, T exas,
that Carmeli and sisters Gal and
Oranit attended, said he was the
first student in her 14 years there
to be killed during military service. She said the school will commemorate Carmeli’s life when
the new term begins in early August.
Sean Carmeli
Max Steinberg
A vigil in Steinberg’s memory was held at a park near where
he grew up. Derakhshannia said
he and Steinberg often went
skateboarding and bicycling
there.
“It was an emotional gathering,” said Alex Cohen, another
friend from the area.
Derakhshannia recalled that
Steinberg – known as “Little
Max” because of his short stature
– would take some big hits dur ing recreational football games
but would always bounce right
up.
“He was a tough, tough kid,”
said Derakhshannia, who knew
Steinberg since they were middle-school classmates. “Max
would never hold a grudge. He’d
always be smiling.”
Derakhshannia, who identifies himself as a non-practicing
Muslim and whose own parents
are emigres from Iran, called
Steinberg “a true patriot.”
“He didn’t just stand with
the Israeli people; he was standing up for what’ s right,” Der akhshannia said, adding, “That’s
why he went to Israel: to help
democracy there.”
Kaddish for a Texan who gave his life in Gaza
By Ben Sales
JTA
TEL AVIV – The soldiers
walk past us, two single-file
lines between the gravestones,
their blank, sunken faces barely
visible in the darkness. The coffin appears, hoisted on their
arms and wrapped in an Israeli
flag. We follow in its wake.
Within minutes, some
20,000 people have massed
around the final resting place of
Sean Carmeli, T exas native,
IDF soldier, soon to be declared
a Hero of Israel.
We stand silent as the rabbi
chants verses of psalms begging
for mercy. We shrug off official
instructions on protocol should
a siren sound.
Then a broken, crying,
panting voice comes over the
loudspeaker. Word by impossible word, Sean’s father is saying
Kaddish. We say amen, and it
hits home: a 21-year-old boy is
dead.
“We all lost a brother
today,” Carmeli’s friend, Elior
Mizrachi, says in his eulogy. “He
was my role mo del, my best
friend.”
Mizrachi exhales. Across
the crowd, people begin to sob.
Thirteen soldiers died in a
fierce battle in Gaza, but for
Americans living in Israel,
Carmeli and Los Angeles native Max Steinberg stoo d out.
They were like us, kids who
grew up in the U.S. but moved
here for a feeling, an ethereal
connection. Both were far from
their families but, as Raanana
Mayor Ze’ev Bielski said in his
eulogy of Carmeli, they felt
they had “got to the right
place.”
Many of the tens of thousands who came to Haifa’s Sde
Yehoshua military cemetery
were spurred on by social
media, Israelis calling on each
other to attend the funeral of a
lone soldier who had little famIsraelis attending the funeral of Israeli soldier and Texas native Sean Carmeli, who was killed in Gaza, at a
ily here. Maccabi Haifa,
military cemetery in Haifa.
Carmeli’s favorite soccer team,
asked its fans on Facebook to
bomb sirens ring out.
friends in Israel, and his friends ine you coming through the
“accompany him on his final
“I always thought we’d
in Israel to his parents in Amer- door, throwing your bags on the
road and represent us as one
grow up parallel to each other
ica. Carmeli’s brother-in-law ground.”
family.”
forever,” Mizrachi said. “I didn’t
So much of Israeli life is
telling the crowd about how his
The eulogies they heard
told a story many American Is- house had become Carmeli’ s about remembering the fallen – know forever would be cut so
the sirens on Y om Hazikaron, short.”
raelis could recognize: Carmeli’s second home, so far from the
By time the honor guard
the monuments across Israeli
first.
high school principal recountcities, the shells of tanks on the fired the final salute, the crowd
And then there was the
ing how he worked especially
road to Jerusalem. But we con- was already filing out of the
story’s sad ending.
hard to catch up to his Israeli
stantly push it out of our minds, cemetery, back to life in Israel.
“We miss you so much,”
classmates. Mizrachi recalling
how Carmeli would describe his said Carmeli’s brother-in-law. focus on day-to-day life, return
“It will take awhile not to imag- to our routines minutes after
parents in America to his
15
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
War in Gaza
Finding equality in a Jerusalem bomb shelter
By Aaron D. Panken
JTA
When the siren sounded,
the Rolling Stones’ tortured
1969 track “Gimme Shelter”
popped into my head, o ddly
enough.
That haunting song offered
a stunning reminder of the endless horrors of war, reawakening
a sleepy world with a vivid musical picture of human pain in
times of combat. Merry Clayton’s
evocative vocalization of disturbing lyrics over a harsh musical
background focused global attention on the awful realities of the
Vietnam War.
N owadays, though, one
hardly requires a song to experience war – live news feeds, endless websites and constant
e-alerts satiate us with such input
constantly. Such has certainly
been the case with the ongoing
Gaza-Israel crisis of the past
weeks. Often ignored amid the
images we see, however, are the
more human sides of military
conflict.
In Jerusalem, I witnessed
this more human side. It started
in a crowded lecture hall when
the alarming, warbling music of
the first siren in the city immediately captured the attention of
all present. Quickly, though not
very quietly, we filed into the
“miklat” – the shelter located in
the basement of almost every
building in Israel.
Many Israelis do this with a
practiced nonchalance learned
over many wars and missile attacks. They roll their eyes at the
inconvenience, remark on the
fact that a little siren can take
precedence over even the most
important conversation or event,
chuckle at morbid jokes and generally riff on the annoyance of
such happenings.
It is, I suppose, a way of normalizing the abnormal – if quotidian life can continue even in
the face of the fear, then the victory of Hamas, Hezbollah or
whoever the present enemy may
be is thereby restricted and limited.
In the shelter, the most remarkable equality reigns. Babies,
young children, teens, soldiers,
the elderly are all there – the entire cycle of life walks down
those stairs to seek safety, with all
its glories and challenges blatantly displayed. Those bedecked
in yarmulkes or dressed in the
black suits and hats of the haredi
Orthodox stand alongside those
who live Reform, Conservative,
secular or more postmo dern
lives, along with Israeli Arabs,
Druze, Christians and others.
Some pray, others recite
Psalms, some chat, but most sit
quietly and await the “all clear.”
For a few minutes, the divergent,
contradictory and competitive
streams of life in Israel all converge, and human safety becomes
the sole communal objective.
Walking on the street in
Jerusalem when the alarm
sounds, the scene is even more
profound. As people move to
their private shelters, whoever
happens to be on the street is
welcomed in, no questions asked.
Shopkeepers, normally reticent
to share their precious stockrooms with strangers, welcome
passers-by into their inner sanctum without hesitation. Doors
everywhere fly rapidly open, and
the true value of “hakhnasat
orhim” – welcoming the stranger
– happens all over the country.
On buses and in cars, the
same principle holds true, for
wherever one stops, one is welcomed. Such shared vulnerability unites the country, reminding
everyone of their inescapable
linkage to state and people,
shared government and collective fate.
This particular night, I happened to be with a group of our
N orth American students who
had come to Jerusalem just days
before to begin the first year of
their studies to become rabbis,
cantors and Jewish educators. It
was surreal for them, to be sure,
these young visitors so recently
transplanted into a new and foreign culture at a very challenging
time.
Along with a palpable nervousness, what emerged with
them as we left the shelter together and dispersed into the
balmy Jerusalem night was a
sense of being at one with their
people. A people sheltered together, against whatever the
world might tender.
Rabbi Aaron D. Panken is the
president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
The wife and young daughter of Sergeant Major Bayhesain Kshaun cry over his fresh grave during the funeral ceremony at the Netivot military cemetery. Kshaun, 39, was killed by an
anti-tank missile fired at the force responding to a terrorist infiltration incident.
16
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Coach
Caviar
CONTINUED
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
F RO M PAG E
7
9
overzealous Frenchman (por trayed by the Jewish comedian
Gad Almaleh) determined to
give his son the best bar mitzvah
the world has ever seen.
The partners have also sold
Tzar Caviar to Jewish delis in
N ew York and expect to begin
shipping to Israel in the coming
months.
“This stuff is flying off the
shelf, thank G-d,” Kassabi said.
Meanwhile, French media
were interested in Tzar Caviar
not for its kashrut but because of
its relative affordability . Tzar
Caviar is 15 percent cheaper
than real caviar, selling for just
under $41 per 50 grams. It also
has a longer shelf life and is produced without exploiting any endangered species. T raditional
caviar production has rendered
some sturgeon species near extinction, according to the World
Wide Fund for Nature.
Assayag was surprised when
“Tele Matin,” a leading French
daytime television program, didn’t bring up the kosher issue at all
in an interview , asking only
The Saint Petersburg company Tzar Caviar used molecular engineering
to produce a kosher caviar substitute now available in New York and
Paris. (JTA)
about the production process and
pricing.
Tzar Caviar hit the market
just months after Raymond
Mizrahi began marketing his own
kosher caviar substitute in New
York. Mizrahi shares the notion
that observant Jews are demanding more because of exposure to
new culinary pleasures, but believes that most kosher substitutes have come up short.
“Kosher caviar substitutes
are nothing new. You’ve always
FALL FASHION
Silvie Uma Couture
Silvie Uma established her
design studio, Silvie Uma Couture, 18 years ago after 12
years as lead designer at another company. Silvie’s focus is
unique design for each client,
for their needs, from special occasions, weddings, social
events, business or entire
wardrobes. Silvie produces exceptional garments using high
quality fabrics from around the
world.
Silvie has shown her designs at charity and bridal
events at venues such as the
Ritz Carlton, the Four Seasons
and the Glen Club in Glenview.
Silvie is a member of Fashion
Group International. Her business motto is very simple, “if
you look good I look good.”
Some of Silvie’s design can
be seen on Facebook, SilvieUmaDesigns. Silvie works by appointment only. Please call
(847) 729-7229.
had salmon roe,” said Mizrahi,
the owner of Black Diamond
Caviar. “But it tends to behave
like a plastic bubble and cer tainly not like the finer black
kinds. And you have other
kosher black caviar, too, but they
are of poorer quality.”
High-end black caviar or its
substitute, Mizrahi said, “will not
leave a black streak on a white
plate.”
Mizrahi couldn’t vouch for
Tzar Caviar’s taste, but Kassabi
claims the product is nearly identical.
“I don’t know what real
caviar tastes like,” Kassabi said,
“but experts who do said it’ s
nearly indistinguishable from
Tzar Caviar.”
basketball player on the planet.
“Obviously we are all
thrilled to have LeBron coming
back home,” Blatt said. “It’s great
for our team, it’s great for the city
of Cleveland, and it’ s great for
the state of Ohio. He raises the
bar without question, in terms of
his greatness as a player, his ability to raise those around him, as
well as his character and his
drive to succeed, and his ability
to play the game at a high standard and high team standards.”
When it comes to winning
an N BA championship, something the Cavaliers have never
accomplished since their founding in 1970, Blatt is preaching
patience.
“We have to be very smart
and deliberate in building our
team into the highest-quality
team possible and to compete
every night,” he said. “W e’ll see
what happens. Talking about a
championship on day one is a little premature. Certainly we will
come to compete and be the
highest level team we can be
right away.”
Blatt was a Celtics fan while
growing up in Massachusetts. At
the time, the team was led by
Jewish coach Red Auerbach,
who won nine N BA championships in 10 years.
“I was very young when
Coach Auerbach was winning
David Blatt
championships and I didn’ t understand all his tactics back
then,” Blatt said. “But I did understand that teamwork was
above all, and that the power of
the team was greater than the
power of the individual. That
stuck with me throughout my career.”
Just as LeBron James is returning home, so is Blatt. He has
come full circle, landing back in
America and realizing his dream.
Can he make the transition from
decades of coaching overseas to
the pressure-packed NBA?
“I’m used to the pressure,”
he said. “In Israel, if you do not
win [a game] by 20 [points] they
seem to feel you lost. But if you
come prepared and work hard,
you don’t feel the pressure as
much. If you play the game right,
it doesn’t make a difference
where you play it.”
CJN Classified
REAL ESTATE
NEED HOME HEALTH?
NEED CARE GIVER?
MISCELLANEOUS
HEBREW & YIDDISH
78 rpm records
wanted
to buy for cash
CALL LARRY LEVINE
773 960 6300
SERVICES
OFFERED
SHIMON LERNER
To advertise your
VALUABLE SERVICES
to our readers call 847-966-0606.
[email protected]
347-610-6745
Professional Genealogist
20 years experience
• Find lost relatives
• Trace your ancestral town
• Locate family documents
• Discover/prove your roots
• Visit cemeteries
CEMETERY LOTS
Shalom Memorial Park
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Two Adjacent
Cemetery Plots
Section 4 - Carmel
$4500 each
Contact Marcia
231.360.3296
Two Plots
Available in
Section 3/Ramah
Shalom Memorial Park
Arlington Heights, IL
$4800 per lot, negotiable
Call (847-219-1971)
[email protected]
6 NEVER USED GRAVES
will divide 2/4/6
Best & Final Offer $3200.00 each
Inclusive of deed & endowments
Section XI - Hebron
SHALOM MEMORIAL PARK
Larry – 847-778-6736
[email protected]
17
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
By Joseph Aaron
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
DO YOU COOK
FREQUENTLY
USING YOUR
RANGE HOOD?
18
in Europe that nobody pays attention to. And yet we let them scare
us. Oh no, see Europe turning against us, oh no it’s like the Holocaust
all over again. No it’s not. This time the governments are on our side,
are allies and friends of Israel, have voiced support for Israel’s right to
defend itself.
And then we even had Woody Allen, a Jew uncomfortable being a Jew and so one who almost never talks about his religion or the
Jewish state. And yet even he came out in support of Israel.
“I feel that the Arabs were not very nice in the beginning, and
that was a big problem. The Jews had just come out of a terrible war
where they were exterminated by the millions and persecuted all over
Europe, and they were given this tiny, tiny piece of land in the desert.
If the Arabs had just said, ‘Look, we know what you guys have been
through, take this little piece of land and we’ll all be friends and help
you,’ and the Jews came in peace, but they didn’t. They were not nice
about it, and it led to problems.”
What is wrong with us that we only see the ugly and negative,
what little there is of it, and fail to see the supportive and positive, with
all that there is of it.
As exhibit A allow me to present the findings of a new survey by
the respected Pew organization which found that Jews, yes Jews, are
the most popular religious group in the United States.
Surprised aren’t you? Didn’t see that coming did you? That’s because you focus on the few nutbags and so decided nobo dy likes the
Jews, everybody is out to get the Jews.
But Pew found that Jews are the most warmly regarded religious
group in America. Jews rated higher than Catholics, evangelicals, Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons. And guess who got the lowest rating of
all? Yes, Muslims.
The truth is that when we are in the right, people notice. Especially when we not only do the right thing but say the right things.
And as reluctant as I normally am to say anything nice about Bibi
N etanyahu, I must admit his words and deeds during this whole
chaotic mess have gone a long way to the world seeing us as it should.
And so it mattered when Bibi harshly condemned those Jews who
took it upon themselves to commit a revenge killing of a young
Palestinian after the murder of three Israeli yeshiva students.
“Vigilantes have no place in our democracy,” Bibi said “Our security forces continue to investigate the background to the shocking
murder of the boy whose bo dy was found in the Jerusalem forest.
Whatever the motive may be, this murder must be strongly condemned and we will bring those responsible for this crime to justice.”
Netanyahu continued, “I appeal to all the citizens of Israel and ask
you: Please exercise restraint in your actions and words. Our hearts ache,
our blood boils, but we must remember that we are, first and foremost,
human beings and we are citizens of a law-abiding country. We are making decisions in a responsible, cool-headed and considered manner.”
That is how the Jewish prime minister of the Jewish state should
speak. And believe me the world hears it and is impressed.
So it was when Israel immediately agreed to an Egyptian ceasefire. Hamas did not. So it was when Israel immediately agreed to two
UN requests for humanitarian ceasefires. Hamas did not.
And for once, Israel, so often its own worst enemy in making its
case, has understood it has to be cognizant of how it presents itself and
not either ignore or thumb its nose at the world.
Said Bibi, “Even before we embarked on Operation Protective
Edge, I spoke with major world leaders. I explained to them the impossible situation the State of Israel was facing and our need to defend
our people. Since then, through constant, methodical diplomatic and
media activity, we have been creating the international space – which
is not self-evident – so that we can take systematic and strong action
against this murderous terrorist organization and its terrorist partners…
“The IDF is a moral military without peer; it does not aspire to
harm any innocent person. We are operating only against terrorist targets and we regret any inadvertent civilian casualties. It is the terrorist organizations – which attack our cities and our civilians and use
their civilians are human shields – that bear the responsibility for casualties among non-combatants.”
People know there is a difference between Israel and Hamas. And
know what our values are and what theirs are.
Nothing brought that home more clearly than how Israel dealt
with that murdered Palestinian teen. What the Jewish state did was
recognize Mohammed Abu Khdeir as a victim of terror.
The designation entitles the family to benefits from the state.
Also, the teen’s name will be included on the Memorial Day list of
killed soldiers and terror victims.
What a Jewish thing to do. Talk about acting morally, with dignity and reverence for human life. Can anyone imagine Hamas treating those three yeshiva students the same way?
People see the difference, people know the difference. So please
focus on the many who respect us and what we stand for , and don’t
give any attention to the handful of kookoos.
When was the last time you had your
range hood system cleaned thoroughly?
Residential range hoods should be cleaned periodically
!
"
#
"
A+
OF NORTH SIDE CHICAGO
Call Hoodz of North
Side Chicago Today
for a Free Estimate!
WE HAVE AN
A+ RATING ON
FROM RESIDENTIAL
CUSTOMERS!
773.408.9585
www.northsidechicago.hoodz.us.com
The Chicago Jewish News
gratefully acknowledges the generous support of
RABBI MORRIS
AND
DELECIA ESFORMES
18
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
By
Joseph
Aaron
On our side
www.
chicagojewishnews
.com
The Jewish
News place in
cyberspace
When both Bill Maher and Woody Allen are on Israel’s side, you
know the world is with us.
See the key thing as you sit and get all upset about media coverage of the war in Gaza and get all freaked out about nutty things being said on the internet and nutty things being done in some cities in
Europe, and even some cities in the United States, is to not give so
much focus to the loony birds and crazy haters but instead to watch
the sane people and the influential countries.
There are those who simply hate Israel, hate Jews and so nothing we do is ever goo d or right. And so whenever an opportunity
springs up where they think they can make some hay dumping all over
us, they do. But the truth is people like that don’ t matter, yes they
make a lot of noise, but it’s meaningless, pointless, is ignored.
So yes, there have been ugly demonstrations in Paris against Israel
but did you notice what the prime minister of France said about them.
French Prime Minister Manuel V alls called the fight against
anti-Semitism a “national cause.” Valls condemned recent anti-Semitic incidents and violence that occurred during protests in France
against Israel.
“Traditional anti-Semitism, this old disease of Europe,” Valls said,
“is joined by a new anti-Semitism that cannot be denied or concealed,
that we must face. It happens on the social networks and in workers’
neighborhoods, among ignorant young men who hide their hatred of
Jews behind a facade of anti-Zionism or hatred of the State of Israel.”
Yes, there have been ugly rallies in Berlin but did you see that the
German government backed Israel’ s right to defend itself. As did
United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, as did the European
Union. Yes there was an ugly protest in Seattle but did you notice that
the United States Senate unanimously voted its support for Israel in
the current situation.
The resolution had 78 bipartisan sponsors. A similar resolution
passed unanimously in the U.S. House. The Senate resolution “reaffirms its support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens and ensure the
survival of the State of Israel,” and “calls on Hamas to immediately
cease all rocket and other attacks against Israel.”
No doubt you focused on the anti-Israel rallies, but did you notice that Christians United for Israel held its convention in W ashington which was attended by many major politicians and was unabashed in its full throated support for Israel? Did you see that
pro-Israel demonstrations were held in Australia’s three biggest cities?
Did you hear the words of support from Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper who could not have backed Israel more forcefully?
People are not stupid. People, as Bibi Netanyahu has said, “know
who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and they know Israel is the good guy.” Yes, they do. While we focus on the big mouths
spewing their hate and get all wound up about it, truth is the vast majority of people, in this country, in Europe, around the world, understand well that Israel did not start this, that Israel had three of its young
men kidnapped and murdered, setting the whole thing off, that more
than 1,000 rockets were launched by Hamas against virtually every
city in Israel, forcing Israel to go into Gaza to stop it.
People know, people get it, they deserve more credit than you give
them. By not giving them credit all you do is scare yourself, make your
self feel like a victim when in fact most people in the world, and cer tainly the people who count, the leaders of big countries, the influential voices in influential places, know that Hamas suffers civilian
casualties because it wants civilian casualties, hiding its missiles in peoples’ homes and in schools and mosques, uses its own people as human
shields.
People get it and people get us. Even a super liberal like Bill Maher of HBO, who is an atheist who hates religion and who is a pacifist, spoke out forcefully in favor of Israel on his show “Real T ime.”
Said Maher “there’s just not another country in the world that
would allow missiles to be rained down on them without fighting back.
What I find so ironic is that after World War II, everybody said, ‘I don’t
understand the Jews. How could they have just gone to their slaughter like that? Okay, and then when they fight back, ‘I don’t understand
the Jews. Why can’t they just go to their slaughter?
“It’s like you know what ‘we did that once. It’s not gonna happen
again. You’re just gonna have to get used to the fact that Jews now defend themselves – and by the way, defend themselves better.”
Bill Maher’s is a voice that matters. People listen to him, care
what he says. Unlike the mostly Muslim nuts who are making noise
SEE BY JOSEPH
AARON
ON
PAG E 1 7
19
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014
Ukraine
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
3
from Donetsk, are determined to
leave permanently for Israel.
Libina is staying in a community facility in Dnepropetrovsk only until her immigration
application is approved. Meanwhile, the Jewish community is
arranging for the rescue of her
91-year-old aunt, who remains
trapped in Lugansk.
“We felt the tension rising
and noticed that bus tickets out
of the city were increasingly becoming more expensive,” Libina
said. “When they bombed the
administration building, I left.”
Dnepropetrovsk is one of
Ukraine’s largest Jewish communities, with 50,000 members.
Several oligarchs, including the
banking magnate Igor Kolomoisky, have poured millions
into the community’ s institutions, including several Jewish
schools and the $100 million
Menorah Jewish Community
Center, a 450,000 square-foot facility that includes luxury mikvah baths, kosher restaurants, a
Holocaust museum and a day
care center.
Zelig Brez, the community’s
director general and right hand
of the city’ s influential chief
rabbi, Shmuel Kamenetsky, said
organizing the rescue and relief
operation isn’t merely a religious
duty but part of his responsibility
toward Ukraine’s smaller Jewish
communities.
“It comes with the territory
of being an engine of Jewish life
in Ukraine,” Brez said.
The community has made
wide use of its facilities to help
house the refugees. Elena Konigina and her 12-year-old daughter,
Ksenia, have stayed at a scenic
countryside resort near the Dnepropetrovsk suburb of Pavlograd
since they fled Lugansk in May.
Konigina would like to immigrate to Israel, but Ksenia is a
minor and cannot exit the country without the consent of both
parents. Konigina says she does
not know how to reach Ksenia’ s
father, whom she divorced several years ago.
Even if she could go, Konigina worries that the situation in
the Jewish state won’t be much
better.
“I don’t know what goo d
that will do,” Konigina said.
“They are shooting there, too.”
Death Notices
‘Red’ Klotz, player-coach for Globetrotters ‘opponent’
(JTA) – Louis “Red” Klotz,
the driving force behind the
team that served as the foil for
the Harlem Globetrotters, has
died.
Klotz, who with his Globetrotters counterpart, Abe Saperstein, formed a Jewish-run
traveling basketball show that
has traveled around the world for
more than six decades, died at his
home in Margate, N .J. He was
93, and had suffered several
strokes the past two years.
He was the founder, owner
and coach of the squad best
known as the Washington Generals, which has squared off
against the Globetrotters in over
100 countries dating back to
1952. The 5-foot-7 Klotz, a
standout in college and professionally in the NBA’s forerunner
league, also played for the Generals and often was the victim of
the Globetrotters renowned hijinks.
Their games, at least in theory, were meant to be competi-
tive – as competitive as a team
(Klotz’s) that goes 1-14,000
against an opponent can be. The
Generals’ sole victory, in 1971 in
Tennessee, was documented and
a source of pride for Klotz, although he maintained that an
earlier win went unrecorded due
to a scoreboard operator’s error.
The Globetrotters “had to
play somebody,” Klotz’s biographer, Tim Kelly, said.
The teams were independent organizations that traveled
and practiced separately, he said.
“You’ve got a 5-7 guy , the
son of Jewish immigrants, playing
in front of the shah of Iran, three
popes, at the bottom of a drained
pool and in bull rings,” said Kelly,
whose biography, titled “The
Legend of Red Klotz: How Basketball’s Loss Leader Won Over
the World – 14,000 Times,” was
published last year. To the end,
he added, Klotz “was very , very
aware of [the Generals’] role as
ambassadors.”
A star point guard at South
Philadelphia High School and
Villanova University, Klotz
joined the largely Jewish professional club known as the SPHAs
(for the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association), which was
owned and coached by fellow
SPHS alumnus Eddie Gottlieb.
Klotz would go on to play for
the Baltimore Bullets when it
won the 1948-49 championship
of the Basketball Association of
America, defeating Gottlieb’ s
Philadelphia Warriors. A few
months later, the league merged
into what is now the N ational
Basketball Association.
Klotz served as a player coach the next season for the
Cumberland (Md.) Dukes of the
All-American Professional Basketball League. Dukes management scheduled an exhibition
game against the Globetrotters.
“The Trotters expected to
come in there and walk all over
us,” Klotz said in the Kelly book.
“I told our guys to make them respect you, and they responded.”
Mitzvah
Memorial Funerals
Lloyd Mandel
Founder, 4th generation Jewish Funeral
Director, also licensed in Florida
(no longer with Levayah Funerals)
Seymour Mandel
3rd Generation Jewish Funeral Director
www.comparemitzvah.com
Ludmila Lazaurenko, right, with her son Anatoly and mother Nadezhda
Belovol at their temporary housing near Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.
Hall
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
2
member, deputy mayor and, since
2012, mayor.
Katz is also president of the
Society for American Baseball
Research’s local chapter , and
being in Cooperstown allows
him easy access to the Hall of
Fame’s library. That’s where he
researches the book he’s writing
about the oddity of 1981, when
the players’ strike from June to
August split the season in two
and created first-half and secondhalf champions.
In a previous book, Katz examined the 13-year existence of
the Kansas City A ’s, when the
franchise, in many experts’ view,
was exploited by the New Y ork
Yankees before being sold and
decamping for Oakland.
Growing up in the Canarsie
neighborhood of Brooklyn, Katz
was a diehard N ew Y ork Mets
fan. Idelson, a native of the
Boston suburb of N ewton,
worked in public relations for his
hometown Red Sox before taking a similar position with the
Yankees.
N ow in his 20th year of
working for the Hall of Fame and
his sixth as its president, Idelson
takes the diplomatic stance that
“you don’t love an individual
[player] or an individual team –
you love the game.”
Why was Mitzvah Memorial Funerals entrusted
to direct more than 700 funerals in our first
4 years in business?
We provide compassionate professional service and
significant savings – usually $2,000-$5,000 less
than Chicago Jewish funeral homes with chapels
charge for the same or similar services and casket.
If your synagogue has a discounted funeral plan
with one of our competitors you can still use us.
We guarantee a minimum 25% savings.
William Goodman
Funeral Director, Homesteaders
Insurance Agent (no longer with
Goodman Family Funerals)
Ian “Izzy” Dick
Oldest licensed Jewish Funeral Director
in the State of Illinois
Jerry Sadoff
Director of Shmira
• Graveside Services
• Synagogue Services (yours or
several that are available to
non-affiliated families)
• Cemetery Chapel Services
If you have prepaid funeral services with one of our
competitors you can switch to us. In most cases we
will refund you or your family $2,000-$5,000.
• Alternative Locations & Services
We pre-arrange funerals and fund
these through Homesteaders Life.
500 Lake Cook Road, Suite 350, Deerfield, IL • 8850 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL
630-MITZVAH (648-9824) • www.mitzvahfunerals.com
20
Chicago Jewish News - July 25 - 31, 2014