why jews in france might give right-wing populist …...liberty to dress modestly, but a statement...

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DECEMBER 15, 2016

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VOLUME IX, NUMBER 24

Why Jews in France might give right-wing populist Francois Fillon a chance

At right: Francois Fillon, seen in a 2008 photo, is the front-runner to become French president in next year’s elections. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ(JTA) – If the French right-wing poli-

tician Francois Fillon is elected president next year, it won’t be for his skills at promoting interfaith dialogue. The sec-ularist candidate widely favored to win the election in May managed to enrage many Jews, Muslims and even Catholics with a single explosive statement he made recently during a radio interview shortly after winning the Republican Party prima-ries in France. Frenchmen need to fight against Muslim sectarianism, Fillon told Europe1 on November 23, like “we fought against a form of Catholic sectarianism or like we fought the desire of Jews to live in a community that does not respect the laws of the French Republic.”

His remark unleashed a “furious re-action” by Muslim community activists like Yasser Louati, a former spokesman of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, who called Fillon a xenophobe. And it certainly offended some members of the Jewish community, where congre-gants regularly recite a special prayer in their synagogues for the republic’s well-being and success.

UEJF, the left-leaning Jewish student group, criticized Fillon. But mainstream representatives of French Jewry remained unusually silent on the statement, giving observers the impression that Fillon is

getting a free pass on expressing anti-Jew-ish bias because many Jews support his anti-Muslim stance and view him as the best hope in preventing the far-right Na-tional Front party under Marine Le Pen from reaching power.

“I was amazed by the silence of com-munity representatives who are usually never shy in condemning any shred of anti-Jewish bias on what is clearly a very problematic statement by Fillon,” said Michel Zerbib, news director at Radio J, the French Jewish station.

Bruno Benjamin, president of the Mar-seilles branch of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, called Fillon’s statement “clumsy,” but “not unusual during campaigns.” He added: “I’m not about to polemicize what Fillon said.” His forgiving attitude was unusual for his organization, which is usually

quick to denounce any expression of bias against Jews.

Fillon’s statement, however, did alarm some French Jews. Following his landslide victory in the primaries with 65 percent of the vote, Fillon is poised to become president. In May, he will be running against a yet-undeclared candidate from the ruling party of President Francois Hollande, an uncharismatic candidate with dismal approval ratings amid discontent over Islamism and economic stagnation.

Fillon, with his charged statements on Islam – he has said that French Muslims who engage in “Islamic totalitarianism” cannot be considered truly French – will also be running against Le Pen, who is projected to win 25 percent of the vote. “But his firm stance is likely to be very bad news for her,” said Zerbib, joining other commentators who expect that Fillon will steal many of her would-be voters.

The remark on Jewish sectarianism – a reference, apparently, to the Napoleon-ic-era bargain in which Jews accepted emancipation in exchange for declaring themselves first and foremost French citizens – is not the first time that Fillon, a hard-liner and ex-prime minister under former President Nicolas Sarkozy from 2007-12, has taken aim at Jewish cus-toms. In 2012, Jewish and Muslim groups condemned him for telling Europe1 that minorities need to abandon “ancestral traditions” and ritual slaughter “to adapt in the modern world” and science.

Fillon’s spokesman said the week of November 29 that his boss was “mis-understood” and had wished to express his opposition to “all forms of religious fundamentalism,” especially by Muslims. “The Jews of France are French like the Christians of France are French and the Muslims of France are French, except for those who partake in Islamic sectarianism,

in Islamic totalitarianism, which needs to be fought against,” said the spokesman, Jerome Chartier.

Benjamin said he found the clarification “satisfactory.” Zerbib disagreed, saying, “I think Fillon needs to clarify what he meant by his statement and his positions on religious freedoms in general.”

Fillon’s apparent suspicion or disdain for religious customs fits into the French concept of laicite, a strict form of secu-larism. In recent decades it has gained traction among French politicians and thought leaders, who regard it as a tool to check what they regard as the spread of Islam and its effects on French society. In summer, laicite advocates, including some leaders of French Jewry, cited the concept in defending a controversial ban on wearing full-body swimsuits, or bur-kinis, at some beaches.

“Going with it [a burkini] is not in-nocent, it’s sending a message,” Moshe Sebbag, the chief rabbi of Paris’ Grand Synagogue, told JTA in August. Conced-ing that Jewish Orthodox women wear similar garb while bathing, he said the Muslim burkini “is not about women’s liberty to dress modestly, but a statement as to who will rule here tomorrow.”

Amid pressure, Sebbag later retracted his words. But it was nonetheless a demon-stration of a willingness by a growing number of French Jews and non-Jews to accept theoretical limitations on their own freedoms in the hope of addressing

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THE REPORTER ■ DECEMBER 15, 20162

A MATTER OF OPINION

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To the Community:My friend Rabbi Jack Paskoff, of

Lancaster’s Temple Shaarai Shomayim, reminds me that all roads seem to lead to Scranton. Perhaps this is because he learned of Scranton’s unique Jewish community when he was a student rabbi in Bedford and shared rabbinic responsi-bilities with Rabbi Sarah Messinger, who married Scrantonian Rabbi Jeff Eisenstadt. Or is it because I am always yammering about growing up Jewish in Scranton?

It could be both, but what is the likeli-hood that three Jewish people from Scran-ton who lived on the 700 block of Madison, the 800 of Monroe and the 900 of Quincy would all belong to the same synagogue in Lancaster? Well, it happened. I lived at 716 Madison Avenue, next to the Sisters of Mercy Convent. Ann Golden Leisawitz lived at 837 Monroe and James – if you’re from Scranton he is Jimmy – Wimmer lived at 912 Quincy. How we all attend the same shul are three different stories, yet there remains that common Scranton connection among the three of us.

These Scranton Jewish connections triggered wonderful memories for me. I thought living on the 700 of Madison was the best place in the world. So many kids and so much to do with the Green-bergers, Gittlemans, Marcuses, Oldsteins, Schwartzes, Rubins, Slawitskys, Engle-myers, Moskovitzes, Ackermans, Kanigs, Weisses and Adelmans! As I mentally and nostalgically walked from the 700 of Madison to the 900 of Quincy, I was flooded with memories of the Kutzweils, Karfunkles, Thiers, Marcuses and Blocks on Gibson Street. The same feeling held as I walked down the 800 of Monroe, where the Robinsons, Brandts, Sabsowitzes, Finebergs, Pardos, Rothmans, Rubels, Wolkoffs, Smertzes, Ganses, Goldens and Greenes lived. As I took the next step up Myrtle Street to Quincy Avenue, there were memories of the Grossingers, Edelsteins, Lebowitzes, Goodmans, Gelbs, Troys and the Eisenstadts. On the 900 of Quincy there were recollections of the Wimmers, Kornfelds, Schwartzes,

All roads lead to Scranton Kahanowitzes, Kaplans, Niverts, Wein-traubs, Lebowitzes, Steins, Hinerfelds, Wints, Cantor Dubner’s family and, of course, Fuzzy Popick!

There were so many kids, so many memories, so many nice families! But let’s take the Lancaster-Scranton Jewish connection a few steps further.

� Lancaster resident Robyn Berg Lazarus’s mother and father were well-known television personalities in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s as they appeared as Hal and Nancy Berg on “Carousel” on WNEP TV. Nancy Berg hosted the children’s TV show “Hatchy Milatchy.” The Bergs lived in Kingston, but had family in Scranton.

� The late Mickey and Joe Brown were residents of Lancaster during Joe’s tenure with Anderson Pretzel Bakeries.

� Edith and Earle Thall, former Scran-tonians, lived a few miles away from us until their deaths, but we never knew them.

� Former Shaarai Shomayim member and Lancaster resident Rick Wolff, now an Arizona resident, can trace his roots to his fraternal great-grandparents Harris and Fanny Cohen, who resided at 304 Alder Street, and his maternal great-grandparents Aaron and Dora Bloomberg, who lived at 601 Adams Avenue. The Bloomberg’s daughter Tillie married Alan Cohen, whose daughter, Ruth Cohen Wolff, was Rick’s mother. Rick’s maternal aunt and uncle, Rae and Butch Morris, lived in Scranton until they died in the 1990s.

� Lancastrian Ken Firestone can trace his Scranton roots to his grandfather Jacob, who married Lena Pensak – think Wilkes-Barre’s Pensak’s Deli – and set up housekeeping on the 700 block of Monroe Avenue. Ken’s father, Gerald, was the eldest of the seven Firestone children – Millie, Sam, Helen, Jerome, Saul and Marvin.

� Rabbi Paskoff officiated at my broth-er’s graveside service at Dalton Jewish Cemetery, a few miles north of Scranton, in 2003. A few weeks later, he returned to Dalton to officiate at a service for Barry Applebaum’s sister, Susan Applebaum Helpler. Barry’s parents, grandparents and

great-grandparents are buried at Dalton, along with all of my family and Jimmy Wimmer’s parents as well.

I haven’t lived in Scranton since 1967, when I left home to attend Millersville State College, a small state-run college outside of Lancaster with a Jewish student population of 16. Yet, despite this 50-year timespan, my memories of the Scranton community of my youth remain crisp and warm.

I wonder if any age bracket other than baby boomers will have the same memories I do: The YMHA with its third floor gym and two bowling alleys in the basement. Manny Cohen always threat-ening to administer a frisk and a frosk. Campville, Camptown, Goose Pond, Camp Archbald, Chapman Lake, Oak-mont Pool, Dorfman’s, Jenkins’, Spitz’s, Nicholas’ Pizza, Abe’s, Shooky’s, Saul’s, AZA, BBG, ULPS, TBE and SAR.

The exodus from the Hill Section to the suburbs, akin to the exodus from the Flats to the Hill Section, has changed the Jew-ish landscape in Scranton. Our children experienced a taste of Jewish Scranton through their JCY conventions when they stayed at the homes of their fellow JCYers (Bishops, Ufbergs, Naharis and others) and visited my mom during their time there. The next generation may live these experiences through stories of their great-grandmothers and fathers, zadies, bubbies, pop-pops and nanas.

The stories will remain as robust and exciting in the minds and memories of the storytellers, but may seem rather mundane to the listeners. Yet, if Scranton comes up in a conversation, there will be an immediate connection of one generation to another and one family to another. Despite the passing of time, if you grew up Jewish in Scranton, you’ll more than likely agree with Rabbi Paskoff’s assess-ment that all roads do lead to Scranton. Sharing Scranton Jewish history, and davening with Ann and Pete and Linda and Jimmy, affirms his belief.

Bob [email protected]

BY ETHAN MICHAELI(JTA) – Forged at the dawn of the

20th century as both peoples arrived in northern cities, the political coalition between African-Americans and Jewish Americans has endured through defeat as well as victory.

Jews and African-Americans were Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s two most enthusiastic constituencies, as they have been for every Democratic candidate for decades. They have continued to vote together even as the communities have followed different trajectories and come to hold different agendas. But in the current era of upheaval, it is an open question if this alliance will survive.

I explored the origins of the relation-ship between African-Americans and Jews while researching the history of the Chicago Defender, a newspaper owned by African-Americans that opposed lynching and Jim Crow, fostered the Great Migration of millions from the South to the North and focused the electoral power of black America to elect congressmen, mayors and presidents, including Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy.

I had been inspired to research the Defender’s history because I had worked there for five and a half years in the 1990s, first as a copy editor and then as an investigative reporter. I am white and Jewish, raised in a suburb of Rochester, NY, and arrived at the Defender as a fresh graduate of the University of Chicago with

A white Jewish reporter, a black newspaper and a century of common causesa bachelor’s degree in English literature.

I had no particular interest in civil rights and no prior knowledge of the newspaper’s history. I had been recommended for the job by a friend, another white, Jewish, University of Chicago grad. When my friend mentioned that the Defender was an “African-American-owned newspaper,” I didn’t appreciate the significance frankly, thinking naively that we were then living in a post-racial era in which some newspa-pers would have white owners and others would have black owners.

The Defender in those years held its own as one of the city’s three daily newspapers, despite lacking the circu-lation or resources of the Tribune or the Sun-Times, and my initial months were a crash course in African-American history as well as the mechanics of journalism. After 18 months on the copy desk, I was promoted to investigative reporter, where I covered the police beat as well as the political turmoil over the city’s massive high-rise public housing developments.

Working at the Defender changed my understanding of race in America and revealed to me the pivotal role that Chi-cago’s African-American community in general, and the Defender in particular, had played in American history – a point that

was driven home when Barack Obama, to whom the newspaper had given an early stamp of support, was propelled from his Illinois State Senate seat representing the South Side first to the U.S. Senate and then in short order to the White House.

The Defender was founded as a weekly in 1905 by Robert Abbott, a Georgia native who had come to Chicago initially as a college student participating in the 1893 World’s Fair. There he was inspired by his meetings with the great Frederick Douglass as well as the crusading journalist Ida B. Wells. Brilliant and resourceful, Abbott adopted modern newspaper techniques – large, red headlines and separate sections for news, editorials, sports and features, among other innovations – and worked with Pullman porters and other railway workers to build a readership around the country.

Publishing in Chicago and sending his newspaper through the mail as well as over the rails, Abbott was safe to write about lynchings and other atrocities in the South. But the Defender also regularly printed articles that detailed conditions for other oppressed minorities around the globe, including the Jews of Eastern Europe. In January 1910, an editorial lamented that conditions for African-Americans in the South were a “paradise compared to

the way the Jews are treated in Russia,” referring to the pogroms that were taking place with increasing frequency.

Contacts with the Jewish community were local as well. The same year, the De-fender’s fine arts critic, Sylvester Russell, visited the teeming Jewish community on Chicago’s West Side, where he watched a Yiddish musical in a noisy, crowded movie theater. He came away praising the actors’ “enviable masses of black, curly hair,” as well as their musical skills and choreogra-phy, concluding that Jews had “the same warm temperament” as African-Americans.

As World War I saw millions of Jews trapped between the advances and retreats of various armies, their brethren in the United States organized both relief and political support, only to prompt suspicion and derision from many newspapers who claimed to discern a mysterious cabal behind the humanitarian campaign. The Defender, however, urged African-Ameri-cans to support the Jews and even replicate their strategies.

“The fight is a common one, a humane one, and one that should enlist the sympa-thies and aid of every liberty loving per-son,” stated an editorial in 1915 headlined “What The Jews Are Doing.”

See “Causes” on page 4

3 DECEMBER 15, 2016 ■ THE REPORTER

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Thursday, December 29 .............. January 12Thursday, January 12 .................. January 26 Thursday, Janaury 26 .................. February 9Thursday, February 9 ................ February 23

The Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania partnered with the Lackawanna Bar Association for a private screening of “Denial” on November 17 at the Cinemark Theater in Moosic.

Based on the book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier,” “Denial” recounted Deborah Lipstadt’s legal battle “to prove the Holocaust occurred” against David Irving, who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier.

The first part of the CLE/Federation program was a presentation by Professor Tim Hinton on the topic “De-nial: The Movie and Law of Defamation” – a lecture for lawyers and their guests, for which attorneys attending acquired CLE credits. Following the lecture, members of the Jewish communities of Northeastern Pennsylvania were invited to watch the movie as well.

Representatives of the Jewish Federation of Northeast-ern Pennsylvania and the Lackawanna Bar Association said they were “honored to have partnered this important historical program.”BACKGROUND TO “DENIAL”

In 1993, Professor Deborah Lipstadt, of Emory University, wrote “Denying the Holocaust: The Grow-ing Assault on Truth and Memory” to expose the lies, distortions and political agendas that drive Holocaust denial. In her book, she discussed a number of specific Holocaust deniers, including David Irving, whom she called a “dangerous spokesperson” for Holocaust denial.

In 1996, Irving sued Lipstadt and her British publisher, Penguin Books Ltd., for libel, saying his reputation as a historian was defamed. The suit was filed in the U.K., where libel laws favor plaintiffs. Therefore, Lipstadt

Federation and Lackawanna Bar Association screened “Denial” film

and her legal team, led by Richard Rampton, Anthony Julius and James Libson, had to prove that Irving knew he was lying when he claimed the Holocaust did not occur. Irving represented himself.

The trial started on January 11, 2000, and ended on April 11, 2000, when Judge Charles Gray handed down his judgment. Lipstadt and Penguin Books had won their case resoundingly, and court costs in excess of $3 million were ultimately assessed against Irving.

Gray found that Irving had “for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence” in order to portray Hitler “in an unwarrantedly favorable light,” particularly in his treatment of the Jews. Irving had “significantly” misrepresented, misconstrued, omitted, mistranslated,

misread and applied double standards to the historical evidence in order to achieve his ideological interpretation of history. Gray also found that Irving was an “active Holocaust denier; that he is antisemitic and racist, and that he associates with right-wing extremists who pro-mote neo-Nazism.”

L-r: David I. Fallk, CRC chairman of Federation; M a r k S i l v e r b e r g , Federation executive director; Leeann Munley, e x e c u t i v e d i r e c t o r o f Lackawanna Bar Association; and J. Timothy Hinton, who presented the lecture.

Bais Yaakov teachers attended an educational in-ser-vice on November 14 given by Rabbi Joshua Levy, education consultant and teacher trainer for Torah U’mesorah. The in-service was held in the Scranton Hebrew Day School for its faculty. Bais Yaakov faculty were invited to attend. Levy shared his experiences and gave practical, hands-on ideas on how to communicate

Bais Yaakov teachers’ in-servicewith parents and taught the participants the skill of reflective listening.

Bais Yaakov students also heard Levy speak. He gave examples of “true acts of chesed,” both from the Torah and how people can learn from their ancestors, and of more recent great individuals, the “true meaning of chesed” and how “far reaching” it is.

BY JTA STAFFYaffa Eliach, a well-known historian of the Holocaust

who opened the first center for Holocaust studies in the United States, has died. Eliach, a Holocaust survivor, died on November 9 at 79, The Jewish Press reported.

In 1974, she opened the Center for Holocaust Studies in Brooklyn. It later merged with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. Eliach created the “Tower of Life,” or “Tower of Faces,” exhibit for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The three-story exhibit features 1,500 photographs from Eishyshok, her

Yaffa Eliach, pioneering Holocaust historian, dies at 79

Lithuanian birthplace near Vilna, showing life there before the war. Nearly all of the village’s 3,500 Jewish inhabitants were killed during World War II, according to The New York Times. Eliach also published several books about the Holocaust.

Following World War II, she fled to prestate Israel in 1946. Several family members had been killed in the war. In 1954, she moved to the U.S. with her husband, David Eliach, and studied at Brooklyn College and the City College of New York. In 1969, she started working at Brooklyn College, teaching Jewish studies.

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the Muslim radicalization that is behind hundreds of antisemitic attacks annually, including several deadly assaults since 2012. Hundreds have died in France and Belgium in jihadist attacks, including in the Bataclan concert hall in November 2015 and more recently in Nice, where 84 people were murdered in July.

This sense of threat “may also be behind the weak reaction to what Fillon said,” Zerbib said. “It may be that Jewish groups are willing to look the other way because they don’t want to be seen as partisan, or because he comes across to some as an ally.”

Reflecting the alarm of many French Jews, Benjamin, who recently called for Marseilles Jews to conceal their kippahs for security reasons, said that “Islamiza-tion is an existential threat on France.” While stopping short of endorsing Fillon, Benjamin said it “seems he is committed to offering solutions” to a “problem that will perhaps become insolvable by the 2021 election.”

Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls are widely credited by French Jews for extraordinary efforts to protect them from this threat, Zerbib said, including by posting 12,000 soldiers at Jewish areas following the murder of four people last year at a Paris kosher shop. “But Hollande is an unpopular leader also among Jews,” Zerbib noted. Valls, however, “may command considerable support by Jews if he becomes the So-

cialist candidate,” Zerbib said.Faced with this feeling of threat, a

growing number of French Jews have been tempted to support the National Front, a party shunned by the Jewish establishment because of the antisemitism of some of its founders. The party, which once had nearly no Jewish supporters, now attracts 12 percent of the Jewish vote, polls from 2014 suggest, “and the current level of support among Jews may be higher,” Zerbib said.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front’s founder and honorary president – and Ma-rine Le Pen’s father – was finally booted from the party this year for minimizing the Holocaust. A French court determined earlier in November that he may keep the title of honorary president. In addition to kicking out her father and several other members who made antisemitic statements, Le Pen has courted French Jews by expressing support for Israel and promising Jews her party will be “their shield” against Muslim radicalism.

But in October, Le Pen reiterated her support for a ban on wearing religious garb, including by Jews, to curb what she calls the spread of Islam. “Jews can understand that if we ask for this sacrifice from them,” she told BFMTV.

French Jews largely rejected Le Pen’s request, yet Zerbib said they appear to be more willing to give Fillon “concessions that would not have been on offer to most politicians under normal circumstances.”

France Continued from page 1

That same year, the Defender covered the trial of 31-year-old Leo Frank on charges of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl who worked at the pencil factory in Marietta, GA, where he was a manager. Despite questionable evidence, a flawed trial and a national appeal organized by prominent Jewish organizations, Frank had been convicted and sentenced to death. Georgia’s governor commuted the sentence, but in the middle of the night, a well-organized mob of men – the state’s leading citizens, by all reports – invaded the prison where Frank was being kept, snatched him from his cell, drove him to Marietta in a convoy of private cars and hanged him in a downtown park.

The Defender’s editorial page colum-nist, Z. Withers, expressed his condolences to Frank’s family and supporters, then

observed that allegations of sexual trans-gressions were also used to justify similar mob lynchings of 3,453 African-American men during the previous decade. Withers maintained that these charges were manu-factured precisely to arouse outrage from the white, Christian majority, and that the lynchers’ actions were calculated to terrorize rather than achieve justice.

“Will we retain lynch law at the terrible cost of endangering our own free insti-tutions?” Withers asked. “We mention the name Leo Frank and kindly ask that you look behind this terrible tragedy for an answer.”

When the United States entered World War II in late 1941, many African-Amer-icans were ambivalent about supporting an effort to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny while they were still subjected to legal segregation at home, even in the U.S. Armed Forces. But African-American newspapers around the country ultimately got behind the war effort, launching a “Double V” campaign to advocate for victory abroad and victory at home.

The Defender published a special “Vic-tory Through Unity” edition with guest essays from President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, as well as a multi-racial, international array of intellectuals and luminaries. Author Langston Hughes wrote an essay for the edition arguing that the Nazis and their allies represented an existential threat, and that there was no alternative to war.

“Although Alabama is bad, the Axis is worse,” Hughes wrote. “Negro editors know what democracy is about because they haven’t got much of it – and they want it. But we do have in America a freedom of speech denied, for instance, to Jews – and Negroes – in Germany.”

Remarkably, the “Victory Through Unity” edition was assembled by Ben Burns, the Defender’s first white, Jewish editor, who had come to the newspaper as an act of journalistic redemption follow-ing several years in which he had written propaganda for publications affiliated with the Communist Party. He appreciated the irony when he noticed that the building housing the Defender at that time had been built several decades earlier as a synagogue for the Anshe Dorom – “Men of the South” – congregation.

Burns was just the first in a long line of white journalists, men and women,

including many Jews, who worked at the newspaper through the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, even as civil rights gave way to Black Power. When I arrived in the early 1990s, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan had become one of black America’s most prominent leaders with a message of racial separatism and explicit antisemitism.

The Defender was careful to cover the Nation as a significant force in black Amer-ica, but it made a subtle statement about where the newspaper stood on the issue of the need for an integrated society by assigning me to cover Farrakhan. For his part, Farrakhan accepted my posting and even granted me an exclusive interview, once he read my reportage and concluded that I wrote about him accurately.

My experience at the Defender removed any illusions I had that the African-American/Jewish alliance was grounded in internal similarities between the two communities, which, after all, are no longer proximate to each other, geo-graphically or otherwise. But researching the history of the newspaper, in turn, confirmed for me that this partnership was

Causes Continued from page 2formed in response to the threat of white supremacy at home and abroad, and that it has persisted because the menace never truly vanished from the scene.

The resurgence of white supremacists in this recent election and its aftermath – especially President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to hire as his senior adviser a man who once called his web-site a “platform for the ‘alt-right,’” and the horrifying spectacle of neo-Nazis rallying in Washington, DC – suggests that for the foreseeable future, Jews and African-Americans will continue to hold together politically. They will likely be joined by Muslims, undocumented immigrants, women’s rights activists, GLBTQ advocates, journalists and civil libertarians – out of an instinct for self-preservation, if not a shared vision for a tolerant, inclusive nation.

Ethan Michaeli is the author of “The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America” [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016], which was just listed as one of The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2016.Press celebrates Agnon

December marks the 50th anni-versary of S.Y. Agnon’s receiving

the Nobel Prize for Literature – the first and only Hebrew writer to receive the prize. In honor of this milestone, the S.Y. Agnon Library at The Toby Press has released the first English translation of Agnon’s final, posthumous novel titled “In Mr. Lublin’s Store.” Set in Leipzig during World War I, “In Mr. Lublin’s Store” has been called a “profound commentary on assimilation and faith, Germans and Jews, and the pull that the past exercises on the present.” It is the 13th volume in the S.Y. Agnon Library. Agnon’s works deal with the conflict between traditional Jewish life, language and the modern world, and are said to “constitute a distillation of millennia of Jewish writing – from the Bible through the rabbinic codes to Chasidic storytelling – recast into the mold of modern literature.”

While some of Agnon’s works have been translated in the past by other pub-lishers, The Toby Press’ new series is the fullest collection of Agnon’s works in English. Each volume also includes new content, such as a revised translation, fore-word and illustrated annotations written by scholars in Hebrew literature.

For more information about the S.Y. Agnon Library, visit www.tobypress.com.

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“Birthright for moms” resonates with world’s small Jewish communities

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZATHENS, Greece (JTA) – Amid preparations for

her wedding 12 years ago, Errika Abouaf was happy to skip the mikvah, the ritual bath where Jewish brides traditionally undergo immersion before marrying in an Orthodox ceremony. Her excuse for opting out was that her tiny Jewish community of Larissa in northern Greece has no mikvah. “But it’s also because I didn’t feel like doing it,” said Abouaf, who now lives in Athens with her son and husband. “I felt an aversion of some kind.”

It’s a common sentiment in a country where 87 percent of Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Members of Greece’s present-day Jewish community of 5,000 perceives its Jewish identity as mostly cultural and independent to religion, community leaders say.

But Abouaf changed her outlook last year after visiting a mikvah for the first time in Israel as part of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project. The group, founded in 2008, runs subsidized, week-long trips to Israel that aim to bring non-observant Diaspora women closer to Jewish practice – a so-called “Birthright for moms.” Thousands of women have participated in the trips, with each one bringing together about 400 women. “The trip changed me and my fear of Judaism,” Abouaf said.

The excursions are popular in Jewish communities from Sydney to San Francisco for what participants describe as a bonding and empowering experience for women – not to mention the welcome break it provides from the grinding routine of parenting. But they seem to have a particularly strong effect on women from small, crisis-stricken com-munities where mothers face a growing uncertainty over the viability of raising their children as Jews.

“Turkish Jews don’t have many options to choose from for Israel trips; this is not New York,” said Suzette, a mother of two and an organizer of Renaissance trips in Istanbul, who requested her last name be withheld for security reasons. “When we do go to Israel, it’s for family visits. A group visit to Israel, to really connect to the country, is very rare and meaningful.”

Abouaf visited Israel last year as one of 15 Greek

Errika Abouaf presentedan Israel soldier with a drawing her son made for him in Greece in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project)

participants in a Renaissance trip with women from various countries. She had visited Israel twice before but saw little of the country, as both trips were to undergo training for her volunteer position as a Jewish commu-nity guard. The Western Wall brought her to tears, but the hugs from other women in her group proved no less powerful. “They didn’t ask what’s wrong, just hugged all the time that day,” Abouaf recalled.

In addition to connecting to Jewish sites and traditions, Abouaf said she was also scoping out the country as a possible alternative to Greece, where rising political extremism and the lingering effects of a financial crisis are major concerns.

According to a 2015 Anti-Defamation League survey, Greece is the most antisemitic country in Europe, with 67 percent of the population harboring antisemitic sentiments. It is also the only European country with a far-right party, Golden Dawn, whose rhetoric echoes that of Nazi Germany.

Golden Dawn, whose flag features a variant of the swastika against a red background, has 18 seats among the 300 in the Greek parliament and its leaders have inveighed against Jews. The party’s main spokesman, Ilias Kassidiaris, sports a swastika tattoo, and Christos

Pappas, the second highest-ranking official, said in 2014 that Greeks are the “eternal enemies” of Israel.

“I don’t see a future for Elias here,” said Abouaf of her 10-year-old son, who attends the only Jewish school in this city, the Greek capital. “When I was in Israel with the Renaissance project, I was looking at the country for the first time to see whether I could live there, what would my family do here.”

Lori Palatnik, the founding director of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, said the trips play a vital role in supporting communities facing rising anti-Jewish sentiment. “Bringing women from countries like Turkey and Greece, which struggle with renewed antisemitism, is critical in keeping the strength of those Jewish com-munities alive,” Palatnik said.

See “Birthright” on page 12

spread the light!

The Rodriguez Family

May God bless us all!


Anyone 70-and-a-half and older who has an Individual Retirement Account can consider how the IRA charita-ble rollover can be a benefit to them, and how they can make a gift to the Jewish communities of Northeastern Pennsylvania, in addition to saving taxes.

IRA assets are among the most highly taxed. Mak-ing a qualified charitable distribution (the term used in the law) from an IRA directly to the Federation, before year-end, is an opportunity for donors said to be often overlooked.

Distributions from an IRA can save taxes because the distribution counts toward the required minimum

IRA charitable rollover can be good for you, and Federation

One’s charitable contribution to the Jewish Federa-tion can be made with a gift of long-term appreciated securities (such as stocks, bonds and/or mutual funds) that have realized significant appreciation over time. It is considered one of the most tax-efficient ways to give.

Making a gift using appreciated securities generally offers a two-fold tax savings.

� The Federation is a charitable organization; when

distribution, but is not included in taxable income if the distribution is made directly to the charity. This tax-free distribution of up to $100,000 is available for donors who itemize and those who do not.

Distributions from an IRA directly to the Federa-tion can be used in many ways, including creating a permanent endowment fund. In recent years, donors have used these IRA distributions to directly benefit the Jewish community. Distributions cannot be made to a donor advised fund, supporting a private founda-tion or for a life income plan, such as a gift annuity or remainder trust.

Contributing gifts of securitiesone makes a gift of securities, one avoids paying any capital gains tax on the increase in the value of the securities transferred.

� Gifts of appreciated securities are fully deductible (subject to certain limitations) for the full fair market value of the securities at the time of the gift.

To qualify for these year-end deductions, one should have owned the securities for more than one year and ensure the gift of securities is delivered to the Federation before December 31.

Those who choose to contribute mutual fund shares to the Federation will receive the same tax advantages as if they had donated appreciated stock. However, because of the complexities involved in the transfer of mutual fund shares, donors have been encouraged to begin the transfer process well in advance of December 31.

A stock broker or trust officer can arrange to trans-fer a year-end gift of securities from one’s account to the Federation. For details, have them contact the Federation at 570-961-2300, ext. 3.

This material was presented for informative purposes only and should not be construed as legal, tax or financial advice. When considering gift planning strategies, one should always consult with one’s own legal, tax and financial advisors.

One way to make this gift is to instruct one’s IRA administrator in writing to distribute any amount, up to $100,000, from one’s IRA to the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Many plans have standard forms that can be used to make this gift. Qualified charitable distributions take time to process, Federation representatives urge donors not to wait to get started.

This material was presented for informative purposes only, and should not be construed as legal, tax or financial advice. When considering gift planning strategies, one should always consult with one’s own legal, tax and financial advisors.

About the coverThis year’s holiday cover was designed by Jenn

DePersis, production coordinator of The Reporter.

Israel’s blood goes undergroundBY MARA FAHLJNS.org

For most organizations, moving underground would be an ominous decision. For Israel’s National Blood Services Center, it’s an exciting one. November 16 marked the groundbreaking for the Jewish state’s new state-of-the-art central blood bank. Located in Ramla, the facility will be the world’s first completely underground national blood services center. Israel’s reality affects every key aspect of the design of the center, including its subterranean location.

Every day, bright yellow vans traverse Israel to collect blood donations. Many who donate through the vans are simply passing by, and sometimes com-munities organize blood donor events. Essentially all Israelis are familiar with these vans, which they can’t help but notice. The fully equipped vehicles, which collect 17 percent of Israel’s annual blood supply, are the most visible part of the mobile units of Magen David Adom – Israel’s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The entire system of mobile units gathers 90 percent of the blood that is donated annually.

What happens to the blood after it is collected? That is lesser-known – and it will soon be even harder to see.

Just 15 minutes outside of Tel Aviv, Israel’s technol-ogy and culture capital, is the country’s current central blood bank. The National Blood Services Center is a clearinghouse for sorting, packaging and storing blood, which is then delivered to hospitals and critical care units around the country. Of the 280,000 blood units that pass through the center’s doors each year, 250,000 are sent to hospitals around the country as needed. An additional 37,000 liters of surplus plasma are used by MDA’s pharmaceutical plant to prepare products such as Factor VIII, albumin and gamma globulin.

No drop of this resource goes to waste, but because it is concentrated in a single and vulnerable location, there is a risk that major damage to the center could decimate the nation’s entire system of blood resources. In fact, any damage to the center could reverberate throughout Israel if it slowed down or cut off the blood supply for hospitals and emergency centers.

After the Hamas terror group’s rockets rained down on Tel Aviv during the Gaza conflicts of 2012 and 2014, forcing the current central blood bank to operate from what it described as the woefully insufficient workspace of a bomb shelter, the need to secure the country’s blood supply became clearer than ever. Israel has responded by starting the construction of the forthcoming underground blood services center in Ramla. But security is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the carefully considered elements of the center.

See “Blood” on page 8

Each year at this time the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania calls upon members of our community to assist in defraying the expense of issuing our regional Jewish newspaper, The Reporter.The newspaper is delivered twice of month (except for December and July which are single issue months) to each and every identifiable Jewish home in Northeastern Pennsylvania.As the primary Jewish newspaper of our region, we have tried to produce a quality publication for you that offers our readership something on everythingfrom opinions and columns on controversial issues that affect our people and our times, to publicity for the events of our affiliated agencies and organizations to life cycle events, teen columns, personality profiles, letters to the editor, the Jewish community calendar and other columns that cover everything from food to entertainment.The Federation assumes the financial responsibility for funding the enterprise at a cost of $26,400 per year and asks only that we undertake a small letter writing mail campaign to our recipients in the hope of raising $10,000 from our readership to alleviate a share of that responsibility.We would be grateful if you would care enough to take the time to make a donation for our efforts in bringing The Reporter to your door.As always, your comments, opinions and suggestions are always welcome.With best wishes,Mark Silverberg, Executive DirectorJewish Federation of NE Pennsylvania601 Jefferson AvenueScranton, PA 18510


Jewish Federation Participants “ESCAPED” the NEPA Virus

on Saturday evening, November 12th


D’VAR TORAH

Blood Continued from page 6

BY RABBI MOSHE SAKS, TEMPLE ISRAEL OF SCRANTON

Vayishlach, Genesis 32:4-36:43One of the most fascinating accounts in the Torah

is in this week’s Torah portion. We read in Chapter 32, verses 25-33, of Jacob wrestling with a “man” during his travels. Jacob is victorious and receives a new name (Israel), at the cost of a bruised thigh.

In its present form and position, the story concerns struggle with people and with God. The unnamed “man” (angel?) symbolizes every person with whom Jacob struggled – Esau, Isaac and Laban – and yet, the “man” at the beginning of the story is certainly God at the end, for who else is it whose name cannot be spoken? When else did Jacob struggle with God? The account, therefore, blends Jacob’s conflict with people and with God into one event. First, Jacob prayed “Rescue me from my brother, Esau” (verse 11), then he named the wrestling site “God’s Face,” saying, “My life has been

Meeting God “face to face”rescued.” Secondly, after wrestling, he says (verse 30), “I have seen God face to face.” Later, when he met Esau (in chapter 33, verse 10), he said, “To see your face is like seeing God’s face.”

To utter his name (“Yaakov” – to cheat or to deceive) was to speak about his character; acknowledging that his relationship with Esau (and to a great extent, Isaac and Laban) was not an episode, but a way of life. The “wrestling” was Jacob’s need to face his own character, his own failings, and to change his relationship with others, and with God.

This story has profound implications for all of us, in that we need to be totally honest with ourselves, not only on the High Holy Days, but all year, always, in order to effect positive change in ourselves, and thus change our surroundings, our community and the world. We all need to “wrestle” with that part of ourselves that prohibits us from change and improvement. Let this story be a lesson to everyone!

While Ramla is not one of Israel’s largest cities, it is one of the country’s most centrally located municipalities and is about 11 miles from Ben Gurion International Airport. Even though Israel is a small country, the new building’s easy access to major highways is considered crucial for the quick delivery of blood to hospitals.

The dangers that Israel faces, meanwhile, are not always related to war and terrorism. Israel lies on two geological fault lines and is subject to small-scale earthquakes somewhat regularly. Although there hasn’t been a major earthquake in the country in 100 years, earthquakes are a real concern in the Israeli construction industry, and the new center will meet the highest level of safety standards.

When Israel’s current national blood center was built in 1987, the country’s population was just 4.4 million. Today, it is more than eight million. With MDA supply-ing blood for both civilians and members of the military in need, capacity is as much a concern as security, said MDA Director General Eli Bin, who told JNS.org that “due to the challenges faced by our country both in terms of security and possible natural disasters, MDA must maintain its high standard and build a blood services center that’s compatible with Israel’s population growth rate as well as the aforementioned challenges.”

The facility will be named the Marcus National Blood Services Center following the Marcus Foundation’s recent $25 million donation toward the cost of the $110 million project. A total of about $74 million has been raised for the project so far, largely as a result of the efforts of American Friends of Magen David Adom, the Israeli organization’s U.S.-based fund-raising arm. Once the center is built, Israel’s current National Blood Services Center will be used as an annex, allowing MDA to expand its services even further.

While the rocket attacks from Hamas-ruled Gaza may have been a catalyst for the project, Professor Eilat Shinar, MDA’s chief blood services officer, said the rockets only confirmed what the organization already knew. “After the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Operation Cast Lead in 2008, and the other conflicts with Gaza in 2012 and

A sketch of Israel’s new Marcus National Blood Services Center. (Photo courtesy of Magen David Adom)

2014, it became very clear to us at MDA that the current National Blood Services Center simply doesn’t cut it,” Shinar told JNS.org. “We realized that if we wanted to prevent a major health crisis in Israel, we must build an improved and highly secured blood bank.”

Orthodox learning programThe Orthodox Union will present a day

of Torah, learning and more, including a dis-cussion on the future of Orthodox Jewry on Sunday, January 15, from 8:45 am-6:15 pm.

Among the topics to be featured are halachah, Tanach, haskafa and Israel. Among the speakers will Rabbi David Lau, Harav Yonason Sacks, Mina Glick, Rabbi Shalom Rosner, R. Menachem Genack and more.

Both women and men are welcome to attend any part or all of the event. Admittance is $18, and there will be free parking and kosher food available. The event is being held indoors at Citi Field Convention Center, Queens, NY. For more information, contact Vicki Garfinkel Jakubovic at 973-519-8926 or [email protected].

Co-Presidents: Esther Adelman & Steven Seitchik

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THE REPORTER! It is so important to remember when you go to get your hair done

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Six new Chanukah kids’ books to help enlighten the holiday

BY PENNY SCHWARTZ(JTA) – From a new audio version of

“Hanukkah Bear” – a holiday favorite by National Jewish Book Award winner Eric A. Kimmel – to a novel for young teens set during the Festival of Lights, there is a fresh crop of Chanukah books that are sure to delight young readers of all stripes. The first Chanukah candle is kindled this year on the evening of Sat-urday, December 24. So if you’re looking to enliven and enlighten your Chanukah – or simply just send the perfect gift to a loved little one – look no further than these six new books.

� “Hanukkah Delight” by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Amy Husband (Kar-Ben $5.99), ages 1-4. Toddlers and preschoolers will have fun celebrating Chanukah with a family of bunnies, an owl, kitty and even a friendly alligator in this delightful rhyming board book that’s perfect for introducing young ones to the rituals and traditions of the holiday. Award-winning writer and poet Leslea Newman (“Heather Has Two Mommies”) and artist Amy Husband capture the warmth of Chanukah’s glow with gleaming candles, crispy latkes and “Dreidels spinning through the night, chocolate gelt... come take a bite.”

� “Celebrate Hanukkah with Light, Lat-kes and Dreidels” by Deborah Heiligman (National Geographic $15.99), ages 6-9. The glow of Chanukah radiates in this global tour of the Festival of Lights, with stunning photographs from India, Israel, Uganda, Poland and more. The straightforward text traces the ancient

roots of the holiday, as well as explains the rituals and blessings said while lighting the menorah. Part of National Geographic’s “Holidays Around the World” series, “Celebrate Hanukkah” allows readers to discover the meaning behind holiday traditions, as well as the ways different families celebrate around the world. In this updated version of the 2008 edition, Heiligman explores the themes of religious freedom and the power of light in dark times.

� “Potatoes at Turtle Rock” by Susan Schnur and Anna Schnur-Fishman; illustrated by Alex Steele-Morgan (Kar-Ben$17.99), ages 5-9. In this enchanting fictional tale, Annie leads her family – along with their goat and chicken – on a Chanukah adventure. It’s a snowy winter night in the woods near their farm, and as they stop at various locations, Annie poses Chanukah-related riddles: How did their great-grandfather keep warm during the long winter in the shtetl? (With hot potatoes.) Why is it so dark? (There is no moon in the sky on the sixth night of Cha-nukah.) What do they use for a menorah out in the woods? (Potatoes!) Along the way, the family lights candles, recites the blessings, enjoys some tasty treats and, in the end, shares a prayer of gratitude for the blessings of Chanukah.

This is the second Jewish holiday book set at Turtle Rock by the mother-daughter team who also co-wrote “Tashlich at Turtle Rock” – both based on the family’s real-life holiday traditions. Aside from being a writer, Susan Schnur is a Reconstructionist rabbi. The book, she told JTA, reflects her

conviction as both a parent and rabbi that when children are empowered to create their own rituals, they find meaning in Jewish holidays.

� “A Hanukkah with Mazel” by Joel Edward Stein, illustrated by Elisa Vavou-ri (Kar-Ben $17.99), ages 3-8. In this heartwarming tale set in the outskirts of an Old World shtetl, a kindhearted, but poor, artist named Misha adopts a cat who turns up in his barn one cold, snowy night during Chanukah. Misha names his new black-and-gray-striped feline friend Mazel – “good luck” in Yiddish. Misha has no Chanukah candles, but he finds a creative way to celebrate the Festival of Lights using his paints and brushes. However, when a peddler arrives at Misha’s home on the holiday’s last day, he recognizes Mazel as his lost cat, Goldie. In the uplifting ending, the two find hope for the future, with the peddler offering to sell Misha’s paintings and Misha taking care of Mazel while the peddler travels. Kids will have fun following the playful Mazel, who turns up in every scene in artist Elisa Vavouri’s large, vivid illustrations.

� “Dreidels on the Brain” by Joel Ben Izzy (Dial Books $17.99), ages 10 and up. Meet Joel, an awkward yet endear-ing 12-year-old boy who is looking for Chanukah miracles in Temple City, CA, where he lives with his family. In the opening pages, Joel tries to strike up a conversation with God, looking for some sign of better things to come – his life, so far, has had its share of disappointments and hard times. Author Joel Ben Izzy

brings his award-winning storytelling style to this tale that unfolds during the eight days of Chanukah in 1971, as Joel navigates home, friends and school, where he is the only Jewish kid. His Chanukah takes a downward spin when Joel’s family is invited to light a menorah in front of the whole school – he’s worried about being embarrassed, but bigger worries follow when Joel’s father is hospitalized. Joel eventually discovers that magic and miracles may come in unexpected ways. Readers will have fun with the dozens of inventive spellings of Chanukah, including “Ch-anyukah” and “Kchkanukkah.” The novel is loosely based on the author’s childhood – Ben Izzy described himself in an e-mail to JTA as a “nerdy 12-year-old magician” who was the only Jewish kid in his school.

� Hanukkah Bear (audio version) by Eric A. Kimmel, author; narrated by Laural Merlington (LLC Dreamscape Media$14.99), ages 4-8. On the first night of Chanukah, one huge, hungry bear smells Bubbe Brayna frying her legendary latkes. The bear shows up at her door – at the same moment, it happens, that she’s expecting the village rabbi. Thanks to her poor eyesight, a fun-filled case of mistaken identity ensues as Bubbe Brayna thinks the bear is the rabbi; she feeds him latkes and insists he play a game of dreidel and light the menorah. This book won a National Jewish Book Award in 2013 and now young children can snuggle up to this newly recorded audio version.

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THE REPORTER ■ DECEMBER 15, 201610 Israel’s first Chanukah candle factory endures

77-year history

A display of Menorah Candle Company Chanukah candles. (Photo courtesy Menorah Candle Company)

Ilan Ben Moshe, owner of Menorah Candle Company, in the small synagogue on the factory premises. ( Photo by Judy Lash Balint)

BY JUDY LASH BALINTJNS.org

SDEROT – The Menorah Candle Company, manu-facturer and exporter of millions of Chanukah candles worldwide, is one of the oldest businesses in the industrial zone of Sderot, the Negev city better known as a frequent target for Hamas rockets than for its commerce.

Menorah produces the small, bright-blue box filled with 44 multicolored candles and printed with iconic images designed by Boris Schatz of the early 20th century Bezalel art movement. This simple box of candles has been a Chanukah holiday component for Jews around the world for decades.

Today, the factory is run by an idealistic CEO, Ilan Ben Moshe, who considers the operation a business and a national mission. The factory was moved to Sderot from Tel Aviv in 1988 by its previous owner, a Holocaust survivor, who bought the company from its founders. The original business started in 1939 as the first candle manufacturer in Palestine. Menorah now employs 40 workers, all residents of Sderot and the surrounding area.

“We’ve gone through two wars here in the past four years,” noted Ben Moshe, referring to Israel’s eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012 and 2014’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip. “Sderot is less than a mile from Gaza and has been under fire for 14 years, but people here are very brave,” he added.

On a recent afternoon, Ben Moshe invited a visitor into the operation and the large protected area where workers take shelter when Israel’s Red Alert siren gives a 15-second warning of an imminent rocket attack. In the 2012 war, Menorah was forced to close for 10 days when the area came under fre-quent bombardment, and anxiety among workers was a constant companion. In June 2014, a direct rocket hit on a near-by paint factory was one of the attacks that brought Israel into the month-long Gaza War. The factory was completely destroyed in the attack and four workers were injured.

When that happened, Ben Moshe, who makes the 90-minute commute from Jerusalem every day, said he considered moving his factory to the Jerusalem area, but, ultimately decided to “stay here forever. I consider it our mission to be here.”

“Candles have soul,” Ben Moshe asserted. That’s what attracted him and two partners to buy the veteran company in 2012, after a successful career as a vice president of several large Israeli corporations and a brief experience producing candles in Turkey.

Ben Moshe, 44, the son of a Canadian-born mother and an Iraqi father, served as an IDF paratrooper and is the father of four. An observant Jew, he takes pride in providing for the religious needs of Jews worldwide.

He’s quick to note that Menorah has expanded over the years to produce and export Shabbat candles, memorial candles, Havdalah candles and, in the last year, individual

cups of olive oil. Many in Israel prefer to commemorate the Chanukah miracle of a single cruse of oil lasting for eight days in its original form.

Individual oil cups now constitute 15 percent of Menorah’s Chanukah trade, a number Ben Moshe expects to rise as more Jews abroad adopt the olive oil custom.

The company tries to locally source paraffin, wicks, olive oil and dye, all the components that go into making the signature candles.

A parallel part of the Menorah ethos is providing employment and occupational therapy to local people with special needs. Ten of the 40 workers at the 75,000 sq. ft. plant are from the special needs community and are involved in various aspects of packing and shipping thousands of

oil cups and candles daily.Commercial candle making is a relatively simple,

but exacting, process using paraffin and oil. The Sderot plant uses machinery manufactured and imported from Germany and China some 30 years ago that still func-tions well today. The wicks are eight-layers strong to create a steady flame. To create different colors, sizes and shapes of candles, many kinds of paraffin additions are required.

To keep up with demand and an exacting export schedule, production starts four months ahead of the holiday. Menorah’s biggest customers outside of Israel are in North America, France, Australia and South Africa, with business growing an average of 10 percent every year, Ben Moshe said.

One last stop on the factory tour is the small synagogue on its premises that is used for daily Torah study. Ben Moshe reflects on the candle legacy he’s perpetuating and growing bigger.

“God sent me here,” he said with a smile.


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The Greek delegation of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project baked challahs in Jerusalem in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project)

The Greek delegation of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project visited Jerusalem in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project)

Shirley Matsa, a member of the Greek delegation of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2015. (Photo courtesy of Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project)

Birthright Continued from page 5

The trip is designed primarily for women who do not observe Shabbat, though some participants said their ap-plication was approved even though they do observe. Most participants are not observant and the project, which has ties to the Jewish outreach organization Aish Hatorah, aims to bring that group closer to Judaism, organizers said.

In Greece, the project is run by Necha-ma Hendel, a France-born emissary of the Chabad Chasidic movement who recently participated, along with Abouaf and several other women, in a bread-baking festival in Athens. The women prepared challah that they learned to make during a workshop in Israel. “Everyone from the Turkish Jewish community has been to Israel, but rarely in a group,” said Betty, one of two volunteers who helped orga-nize the trips in Turkey. “We don’t have the wealth of study groups, missions and delegations to Israel that go to Israel from America. So this is a rare opportunity for us to strengthen our attachment both to Israel and among ourselves.”

Betty and Suzette are unusual in their community because, unlike most Turkish Jews, they observe the Sabbath. Still, the trip to Israel strengthened Suzette’s resolve to observe the day of rest despite the temptation to violate religious laws by watching television or driving a car.

Trips to Israel are an expensive treat for the Jews of Turkey, where the average monthly salary is only $430. All expenses for the Re-naissance trips are covered except for flights.

The trips for Jews in “smaller Jewish communities like Greece and Turkey have the potential to affect their future dramatically,” said Dvir Kahana, director general of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which helps fund the trips. Aware of the “big challenge to maintain Jewish life outside Israel and especially in small communities,” he said, Israel is “proud to give women from different backgrounds and places this remarkable opportunity to strengthen their Jewish identity... [and] transfer this to their children.”

dants, to the leaders of Egyptian Jewry describing the holiday as “the festival of Sukkot celebrated in the month of Kislev rather than Tishrei.” Since the Jews were still in caves fighting as guerrillas in Tish-rei 164 B.C.E., they had been unable to honor the eight-day holiday of Sukkot, which required visiting the Jerusalem Temple. Hence it was postponed until after the recapture of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Temple. Many scholars believe it is this – not the talmudic legend of the cruse of oil that lasted eight days – that explains why Chanukah is eight days long.

3. The books of Maccabees, which tell the story of Chanukah, were not included in the Hebrew Bible – but they are in the Catholic Bible.

There are different theories explaining why the first-century rabbis who canonized the scriptures omitted the Maccabees, rang-

Kids spun dreidels at the Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York City. The game of dreidel was inspired by a German game played at Christmastime. (Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

Nine things you didn’t know about Chanukah

BY JULIE WIENER(MyJewishLearning via

JTA) – Chanukah, which starts at sundown on Sat-urday, December 24 – also Christmas eve – is among the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in the United States. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing new to learn about this eight-day festival. From the mysterious origins of gelt to an Apocryphal beheading to Marilyn Monroe, we’ve com-piled an item for each candle (don’t forget the shammash!) on the Chanukah menorah.

1. Gelt as we know it is a relatively new tradition – and no one knows who invented it.

While coins – “gelt” is Yiddish for coins, or money – have been part of Cha-nukah observance for centuries, chocolate gelt is considerably younger. In her book “On the Chocolate Trail,” Rabbi Deborah Prinz writes that “opinions differ” con-cerning the origins of chocolate gelt: Some credit America’s Loft candy company with creating it in the 1920s, while others sug-gest there were European versions earlier that inspired Israel’s Elite candy company. Prinz notes, as well, that chocolate gelt resembles a European Christmas tradition of exchanging gold-covered chocolate coins “commemorating the miracles of St. Nicholas.”

2. The first Chanukah celebration was actually a delayed Sukkot observance.

The second book of Maccabees quotes from a letter sent circa 125 B.C.E. from the Hasmoneans, the Maccabees’ descen- See “Nine” on page 14

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“Ticks” in the margins: how a Baptist pastor unearthed his father’s Holocaust heroism

M a s t e r S g t . R o d d i e Edmonds. (Photo courtesy of Chris Edmonds)

BY JEFFREY BARKENJNS.org

Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds never spoke about his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Roddie survived an arduous march through frozen terrain and was interned for nearly 100 days at Stalag IXA, a POW camp near Ziegenhain, Germany. “Son, there are some things I’d rather not talk about,” Roddie would tell his boys, Kim and Chris Edmonds, when they were young. “We were humiliated.”

When Roddie died in 1985, Chris, now a Baptist pastor, inherited his father’s war diaries. The books are a chronological record of POW camp life and, among other pastime anecdotes, detailed plans for a restaurant that Roddie and three of his compatriots had hoped to open after the war. Now that his father’s wartime stories are known, Chris said his life has been “turned upside down.” The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, an organization that identifies non-Jewish rescuers of Holocaust survivors and pays tribute to their courage, were scheduled to honor Roddie’s memory on November 28 with the Yehi Ohr Award during the foundation’s annual dinner at the New York City Public Library.

Roddie has already been recognized by Yad Vashem – the state of Israel’s official Holocaust memorial and research institute – as “Righteous Among the Nations,” the Israeli honorific for non-Jewish saviors of Jews during the Holocaust.

For Chris, there was initially an element of mystery to his father’s writings. He could only guess what the faded “ticks” in the margins of the diary entries referred to. “Jewish friends moved out,” “Dogs,” “Before the Commander,” “Scottish Chaplain,” read several of the startling, undated notes. “Those must have been reminder markers,” Chris told JNS.org. “Something happened in the camp that he didn’t want to talk about.”

Answers to Chris’ questions about his father’s war record finally began trickling in when he discovered a New York Times article published in late 2008, in which Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds is mentioned. The article rehashed the difficulty that disgraced former President Richard Nixon experienced in the 1970s, when he sought a place to live in New York and found that most prospective neighbors despised him. Oddly enough, a lifelong Democrat named Lester Tanner, although fundamentally opposed to the former Repub-lican president’s policies, found space in his heart to forgive Nixon and offered to sell him his house. In the 2008 article, Tanner reflects on how his experiences as a Jewish prisoner of war during World War II, and specifically the bravery of Roddie Edmonds, saved his life and inspired his worldview.

Several years passed before Chris Edmonds managed to track down Tanner. “Not a day goes by that I don’t thank Roddie,” Tanner told Chris during their 2013 meeting. The portrait of Roddie that has emerged from their subsequent conversations, as well as meetings with other associated veterans, has unlocked the stories behind the mysterious notes in the margins of Roddie’s diary. “Before the Commander,” it turns out, refers to a display of extraordinary bravery that saved the lives of nearly 200 American-Jewish POWs.

In January 1945, Tanner explained to Chris, “all

the Jewish POWs in Stalag IXA were ordered to report to the parade ground.” Since Roddie was the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer at the camp, he had assumed command of the pris-oners. Unwilling to sell out his fellow soldiers, Roddie ordered his men, both Jews and non-Jews, to report in soli-darity. The American POWs dutifully followed his order.

The sight of all the camp’s inmates standing at attention in front of the bar-racks stunned and infuriated the German officer, Maj. Siegmann, who had issued the sordid order. “They cannot all be Jews!” he barked.

“We are all Jews,” Roddie replied. Blinded by rage, Siegmann pointed his pistol at

Roddie’s head. “Your father didn’t waiver,” Tanner re-called when speaking to Chris. Roddie told the German commander, “[Per] the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank and serial number. If you shoot me, you’ll have to shoot us all and when we win the war, you will be tried for war crimes.” At this point, Tanner remembered that the German commander “turned white as a ghost. Then he began to tremble.” Eventually, Siegmann lowered his weapon and retreated from the scene. In the final days of the war, the POWs ultimately self-liberated the camp and rejoined the approaching American army.

“Over the years, we have worked with and honored many Holocaust survivors and their rescuers, but the story of Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds saving 200 Jew-ish-American soldiers truly distinguishes the man and

leader he was,” said Harvey Schulweis, chairman of the JFR foundation, in a statement on the upcoming posthumous honor for Roddie.

Chris recounted the unexpected call he received from Stanlee Stahl, JFR’s executive vice president. “Is this the real Chris Edmonds?” she asked. Once Chris confirmed his identity, he embarked on an adventure he had previously only dreamed about. JFR made it possible for Chris to travel to Germany and retrace his father’s wartime path. “The more I learn, the more alive [Roddie’s] diaries become,” Chris told JNS.org.

Yehi Or, the name of the honor Roddie will receive, is translated in Hebrew as “let there be light.” In line with the award’s name, Chris said he is pleased that JFR will “share dad’s story with students around the world through their educational programs.”

Chris has also observed a change in his mission as a Baptist pastor. “I’m an ambassador of the Christian faith to the Jewish world and I’m also an ambassador from the Jewish world to the Christian world,” he said, reflecting on the close relationships he has forged with the three 90-year-old Jewish veterans who helped him piece together Roddie’s story.

While Chris regrets that his father never told him about his heroic deeds and couldn’t be honored during his lifetime, he knows that a powerful set of morals resonate in the diaries Roddie left behind. “My father’s story teaches that life is about all of us, not one of us,” Chris said. “We need to esteem others much more than ourselves.”

For more information, please contact Dassy at570-961-2300 x2 or [email protected]

The movie shownat the Kristallnacht

program,“No Place on Earth”is now a part of the

FederationFilm Library, and available to be

borrowed.


ing from the text’s relative newness at the time to fears of alienating the Roman leadership then in control of Jerusalem.

4. Marilyn Monroe owned a music-playing Chanukah menorah (the Marilyn Monrorah?).

When the Hollywood star converted to Judaism be-fore marrying the Jewish playwright Arthur Miller, her future mother-in-law gave her a menorah as a conversion gift. The Chanukah lamp, which the menorah’s current owner says Mrs. Miller brought back from Jerusalem, has a wind-up music box in its base that plays “Hatik-vah,” Israel’s national anthem. The Marilyn menorah is featured in the Jewish Museum in New York City’s exhibit “Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn,” but sadly you cannot wind it up.

5. The game of dreidel was inspired by a German game played at Christmastime that itself is an imitation of an English and Irish one.

Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hey and shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the British totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half, and S = Stell ein = put in. In German, the spinning top was called a “torrel,” or “trundl.”

6. Oily food (think latkes and sufganiyot) isn’t Cha-nukah’s only culinary tradition.

Traditionally, Chanukah has included foods with cheese in recognition of Judith, whose liberal use of the salty treat facilitated a victory for the Maccabees.

7. On Chanukah, we celebrate a grisly murder.The aforementioned Judith had an ulterior motive for

plying the Assyrian general Holofernes with salty cheese: making him thirsty so he would drink lots of wine and pass out, enabling her to chop off his head and bring it home with her. The beheading – particularly the fact that a woman carried it out – was said to have frightened Holofernes’ troops into fleeing the Maccabees.

8. The next “Thanksgivukkah” (sort of), is only 55 years away.

In 2013, the convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah on November 28 inspired everything from turkey-shaped menorahs to a giant dreidel float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. While experts say a full day of Chanukah won’t coincide with the fourth Thurs-day in November for thousands of years, the first night of Chanukah will fall in time for Thanksgiving dinner (assuming you have the meal at dinnertime rather than in the afternoon) on November 27, 2070.

9. The largest menorah in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is 32 feet high and weighs 4,000 pounds.

The Shulchan Aruch stipulates that a menorah should be no taller than about 31 feet. Incidentally, Guinness lists at least three other Chanukah-related records: most dreidels spinning simultaneously for at least 10 seconds (734), most people simultaneously lighting menorahs (834) and largest display of lit menorahs (1,000). We’d like to know the most latkes ever eaten in one sitting.

Julie Wiener is the managing editor of MyJewishLearning.

Nine Continued from page 12

Once-verdant Irish Jewish community paling over timeBY MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANJNS.org

An Israeli and an Irish Jew walk into a bar. After a shot of whiskey and a pint of Guinness, they discuss neither leprechauns nor the verdant landscape, but rab-binics. That’s because Irish Jews’ claim to Jewish fame is the late Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog and his son, former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, the latter who was actually born in Belfast, Ireland. Chaim Herzog’s son, Member of Knesset Isaac Herzog, is the Israeli legislature’s current opposition leader.

“We are all very proud of that,” said Malcolm Gafson, chairman of the Ireland Israel Friendship League.

Chaim Herzog was the first chief rabbi of the Irish Free State (as Ireland was known from 1922-1937) before immigrating to Israel. He was trained in law in Dublin before going on to his Israeli political career. Herzog National Park, opened in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar in 1995, is a site frequented by Jewish tourists in Ireland.

“One of Herzog’s first visits abroad as [Israel’s] pres-ident was to Ireland,” Gafson said proudly.

According to Gafson, many Irish Jews cling to this bit of Irish-Jewish history because it reminds them of better times. Today, Ireland’s Jewish community is no longer robust.

Ireland’s 2011 census revealed that there are 1,900 Jews in the country. Dublin-based Cantor Alwyn Shulman said the actual Jewish population figure is likely lower because many Jews remaining in Ireland are intermarried or non-practicing. Others are transient Israelis working in Ireland’s high-tech sector.

Shulman and Chabad-affiliated Rabbi Zalman Lent serve the Hebrew Congregation, a 150-member Orthodox synagogue. Around 12 people attend daily prayer services, and up to 80 attend on Shabbat. Two other synagogues remain in Dublin. According to Stuart Rosenblatt, head of the Irish Jewish Genealogical Society, a second Or-thodox synagogue, which does not communicate with the other, has just more than a dozen members. A liberal synagogue that doesn’t communicate with either Ortho-dox synagogue has 180 members. A fourth synagogue

in Belfast has around 60 registered members. Jews have a rich history in Ireland – Rosenblatt re-

counts how, according to Irish mythology, a “Hebrew princess” came to the European country from the east, bringing with her the harp that is until today Ireland’s national symbol. The Hebrew princess also brought the Stone of Destiny, considered the rock on which the biblical patriarch Jacob rested the night he wrestled with an angel. When Scottish tribes conquered Ireland, this stone was brought back with them and became known as the “Stone of the Scone.”

“Scottish kings and later British kings have been crowned on it ever since,” Rosenblatt told JNS.org.

The first formal record of Jews living in Ireland is the year 1079, when five Jews “came to Ireland from over the sea, bringing with them gifts to Toidelbach, king of the Munster, and then were sent back to sea,” said Rosenblatt. A handful of Jews immigrated to Ireland in the 1200s following the Jewish expulsion from Britain by King Henry III, and then again in the 1490s and 1530s following the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. The first Irish synagogue was established in 1660 and the first Jewish cemetery around 1718, both in Dublin.

Jewish immigration picked up in the late 1800s, mainly from Lithuania. By 1900, Ireland was home to more than 3,000 Jews, said Rosenblatt. The largest influx of Jews came between 1880 and 1910, when approximately 2,000 Jews arrived from Eastern Europe. Most settled south of the center of Dublin in an area eventually dubbed “Little Jerusalem.” The community peaked around the end of the 1940s, with approximately 5,500 Jews, mostly Holocaust refugees. Since then, the community has been declining.

Rosenblatt said the first Jewish immigrants in Ire-land were peddlers, petty traders and money lenders. Second-generation Irish Jews became a force in the clothing and furniture manufacturing business, and later doctors and lawyers.

Multiple synagogues and a Jewish day school thrived in 1940s Ireland. Born in 1942, Rosenblatt remembers a “vibrant childhood” of involvement with Jewish Scouting, the Bnei Akiva youth group, a Jewish dra-

ma society, a golfing club, writers’ circles and many charities. Stratford National School remains open, but caters mostly to transient Israeli Jewish children and Catholic students; a separate team of educators teach Hebrew studies to the few Jewish pupils.

See “Irish” on page 15



In the 1990s, the Irish Parliament had one Jewish member in each of the country’s three major political parties. In recent years, only one Jewish representative remained, Alan Shatter of the Fine Gael Party, but he lost his seat in last February’s election.

“Times have changed,” Rosenblatt said with a sigh.The majority of Irish Jews have immigrated to the

United States, where Rosenblatt has tracked more than 56,000 individuals with Irish-Jewish connections. Approximately 500 Jews of Irish descent live in Israel.

Gafson said the Israeli-Irish community continues to celebrate its Irish roots “with zest,” including throwing St. Patrick’s Day and Bloomsday parties. The Ireland Israel Friendship League hosted a conference marking 40 years of diplomatic exchanges in conjunction with Open University in the central Israeli city of Ra’anana for politicians, ambassadors and professors.

Irish music and dancing is increasingly popular in Israel, said the Friendship League’s Gafson. The Israeli Academy of Irish Dance has six active branches.

In Ireland, however, the government is increasingly hostile toward Israel. In 2014, thousands of protesters symbolically sieged Dublin’s Israeli embassy, calling for expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to Ireland. Cantor Shulman said there is a rise in antisemitism in Ireland, in line with the rest of Europe.

Nonetheless, many Irish Jews remain active supporters of Israel. The Irish4Israel initiative hosts Israeli cultural and political events, and advocates for the Jewish state through letter writing and other campaigns. Shulman’s synagogue raises funds for Israel through an entity called the Jewish-Irish Appeal. “Could build up the community again?” asked Shulman. “It’s bleak at the moment, but there’s always hope.”

Irish Continued from page 14

At first Jewish Comic Con, artists and geeks revel in tradition

A man examined a comic book for sale at the inaugural Jewish Comic Con, held at Congregation Kol Israel, a Brooklyn, NY, synagogue, on November 13. (Photo by Ben Sales)

BY BEN SALESNEW YORK (JTA) – After Brett Parker’s great-grand-

father fled the pogroms in Europe and came to the United States, he opened a drug store where he sold comic books. Each week he would give his grandson, Parker’s father, five comic books to take home. Growing up during the early years of Superman instilled in Parker’s dad a lifelong love of comics – many of them written by Jews – that he passed on to his son.

“Imagine if he kept them,” Parker said laughing, picturing the first editions of Superman that would now fetch high prices. But as a kid, Parker preferred another superhero, also created by Jews: Batman. “What I liked about Batman was that he didn’t have any superpow-ers,” Parker said. “This is so Jewish: He didn’t have any superpowers, he studied, he learned, he perfected himself, he taught himself, he was very intellectual, he had a gadget for everything.

“And more than that, it was all about ‘tikkun olam’ for him,” he added, referring to the Jewish imperative to repair the world.

Parker and his son Bayard, 9, were two of the 140 or so attendees at the first Jewish Comic Con, a comics convention hosted in a small synagogue in Brooklyn. The gathering – mostly adults with some children – gave Jewish artists a space to show their work, talk shop, delve into the historical connection between Jews and comics,

and analyze Jewish characters from the vast universe of comic books.

The major Comic Cons in San Diego and New York draw well over 100,000 people each and are held in convention centers with atriums filled with stands and super-fans in costume. They are destinations for actors, Hollywood types and geeks alike who want to spend a few days with their ilk.

The recent Jewish Comic Con was a much more intimate, low-key and, well, Jewish affair. It opened with Shacharit, the morning prayer service, and broke in the middle of the day for an afternoon prayer. Two rows of tables in the synagogue sanctuary were set up in front of wooden pews that had been pushed to the wall, while guests in kippahs, ritual fringes or long skirts perused comic books retelling liturgy, Holocaust stories, Jewish history or biblical tales. The convention had little of the involved costumery that colors the larger Comic Cons, but attendees wore Batman, Superman or Marvel Comics shirts, and a kid in a Spider-Man costume played by the Torah ark.

“I thought it was a story that was important to present,” said Fred Polaniecki, who organized the convention. “I thought it was even more important to present the people who are following in the footsteps of the Kirbys, the Lees and the Kanes” – meaning Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Bob Kane, three legendary Jewish comic artists.

Some of Kirby, Lee and Kane’s followers at the

convention – both artists and en-thusiasts – said the Jewish role in creating the comic book industry sparked their interest in the field. Julian Voloj, who is writing a graphic novel about one of the creators of Superman, Joe Shuster, said Jewish immigrants could relate to how Superman balanced two competing identities.

“What made Superman appealing was that he was, to use a Yiddish term, a ‘gornisht,’” said Voloj, using a word meaning “nothing.” “But in reality he was a superhero. In a way it’s a metaphor for the immigrant experience. You’re one thing, and you’re seen by people as one thing, but in reality, you’re so much more.”

The variety of comics and graphic novels for sale reflect the variety of current Jewish comics efforts. At the event, Voloj sold his graphic novel, “Ghetto Brother,” about a Bronx gang leader turned activist with Jewish roots. Jewish historian Rafael Medoff and comics historian Craig Yoe sold an anthology of political cartoons from the 1940s called “Cartoonists against the Holocaust.” Isaac Goodhart, 29, hawked his comic, “Postal,” about a detective working in a town full of criminals, where he includes Hebrew writing and Jewish themes. Jordan Gorfinkel, who worked as part of the management team of the Batman comics, displayed samples of his weekly comic strip “Everything’s Relative,” which appears in The New York Jewish Week.

See “Comic” on page 17


Deciphering the past

BY JNS STAFF(JNS.org) – A rare 3,800-year-old Bronze Age figurine

was unearthed by a team of archaeologists and Israeli high school students, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced.

According to Gilad Itach, the IAA’s excavation di-rector, the eight-inch-tall figurine sitting upon a jug was unearthed on the last day of excavations at a site in the central Israeli town of Yehud, before construction was about to commence.

“It seems that at first the jug, which is typical of the period, was prepared, and afterward the unique sculpture was added, the likes of which have never before been discovered in previous research,” Itach said. “The level of precision and attention to detail in creating this almost 4,000-year-old sculpture is extremely impressive.

“The neck of the jug served as a base for forming the upper portion of the figure, after which the arms, legs, and a face were added to the sculpture,” he added. “One can see that the face of the figure seems to be resting on its hand as if in a state of reflection.”

The figurine was discovered along with a number of other items, including daggers, an axe head and arrows that archaeologists believe were buried as part of funeral offers for a respected member of the ancient community.

The Israeli high schoolers who took part in the dig were part of a new high school matriculation program offered by the IAA and the Israeli Education Ministry to help train future archaeologists.

Israeli teens help unearth Bronze Age figurine

At r igh t : The Bronze Age fig-urine unearthed by archaeologists and Israeli high school students. (Photo by Clara Amit)

BY JNS STAFF(JNS.org) – Israeli researchers from the University

of Haifa have deciphered a rare inscription found on an underwater artifact. The inscription sheds new light on Roman rule over the province of Judea prior to the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

Archaeologists uncovered a massive rectangular stone bearing the name Gargilius Antiques during a maritime excavation at the Tel Dor archaeology site, which is located south of Haifa. The inscription enabled researchers to determine with certainty that Antiques was the Roman procurator who ruled over Judea just prior to the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

“Not only did we manage to identify with certainty for the first time the name of the procurator that controlled

BY JNS STAFF(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) – Remains of

plants believed to be 780,000 years old were unearthed during excavations at Gesher Bnot Yaakov, a Stone Age archaeological site in the Hula Valley in northern Israel. The discovery provides proof of a plant-based diet in the Paleolithic era, countering the common claim that ancient humans’ diet was based heavily on animal products.

In a study published in the scientific journal Proceed-ings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar of Institute of Archaeology revealed that more than 20,000 remains of edible plants were dis-covered at the site, providing evidence of the variety of plants and vegetables available to prehistoric humans. The discovery is the “earliest known archive of food plants,” according to the study.

Israeli researchers decipher rare Roman-era artifact found underwater

Israeli archaeologists reveal prehistoric man’s plant-based diet

At right: A fossil of Archaefructus liaoningensis, a prehistoric plant. (Illustrative. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

In recent years, we were met with a golden opportu-nity to reveal numerous remains of fruits, nuts and seeds from trees, shrubs and the lake, alongside the remains of animals and man-made stone tools in one locality,” said Goren-Inbar, who along with Bar-Ilan University’s Dr. Yoel Melamed identified 55 species of edible plants.

“Our region is known for its abundance of plants, but the real surprise was a discovery of plant-based sources in the lake (Hula Lake) itself. We found more than 10 species that grew here in prehistoric times, but don’t exist today,” Melamed said.

Judea during the critical years before the Bar Kokhba Revolt, but this is only the second time that a reference to the name Judea was revealed in any inscription from the Roman period,” University of Haifa’s Prof. Assaf Ya-sur-Landau and Dr. Gil Gambash said in a joint statement.

The Bar Kokhba Revolt, also known as the Third Jewish-Roman War, was fought from 132-136 C.E. amid religious and political tensions following the failure of the First Revolt from 66-70 C.E. The latter revolt – led by Simon bar Kokhba, who promised to restore Jewish independence – ended in a crushing defeat for the Jew-ish people that led to extensive Jewish depopulation in the land of Israel, as well as Roman efforts to erase any memory of Judea and ancient Israel.

See “Artifact” on page 17

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A Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE) is a permanent fund that endowsyour Jewish community Annual Campaign gift as a lasting legacy. A PACE fund will

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Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment

To determine the amount you need to endow your entire campaign gift, multiply your current annual gift by 20. You can fund your PACE by adding the JEWISH FEDERATION OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA to your will, or by making the Federation a beneficiary of your IRA. All contributions to establish a PACE are tax deductible.

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Using appreciated property, such as securities or real estate, affords you the opportunity toeliminate the income tax on the long-term capital gain, will in some instances generate a full incometax charitable deduction and will remove those assets from your estate for estate tax purposes.

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Examples Of Ways To Fund Your Pace Gift Are: * outright contribution of cash, appreciated securities or other long-term * capital gain property such as real estate * charitable remainder trust * gift of life insurance * charitable lead trust * gift of IRA or pension plan assets * grant from your foundation * reserved life estate in your residence * bequest



The Roman-era rectangular stone discovered underwater at the Tel Dor archaeology site, south of Haifa. (Photo by Jenny Carmel)

While the name Gargilius Antiques was also found on an inscription uncovered more than 70 years ago, the portion of the inscription that indicated where he ruled was not preserved. Scholars debated whether or not Antiques was the procurator of Rome’s Syria province or Judea, but the new stone has clarified that debate.

“Immediately after suppressing the Bar Kokhba Revolt, Rome decided to abolish the province of Ju-dea, and erase all traces of its name, and as a result decided to connect it to Syria to create the province of Syria Palaestina,” the University of Haifa researchers said. “So we see an inscription that dates back to very shortly before Judea essentially ceased existing as a province with this name. Out of the two inscriptions that mention the name Judea, this is of course the later one, but in light of its rarity, it is reasonable to assume that few other inscriptions with the name Judea from later on will be found.”

The Tel Dor coastal site where the inscription was found had operated as a port until about the 4th century C.E.

Artifact Continued from page 16

Gorfinkel moved around a lot as a kid and said he found his “best friends” in superheroes who acted as role models he could always trust. He now runs a workshop at Jewish schools and camps, where he teaches children the rudiments of comic art and has them re-imagine a story from the Bible through drawing.

He is working on a graphic-novel version of the Pass-over haggadah complete with traditional text. Gorfinkel says it will engage kids through “dynamic art” in a way a traditional seder cannot. “Kids, and adults that are kids at heart, need to connect to our Jewish texts in en-tertaining ways,” he said. “When you’re sitting around the seder table with a book, what’s the most logical way to bring the story to life? Using a modern medium that also happens to be one Jews created.”

Like many Jewish conventions, this one couldn’t help getting snarled in the thorniest of Jewish debates. At a panel on Jewish characters in comics, the discussion opened by asking who, exactly, counts as a Jewish character.

“If you have one [Jewish] parent and identify as Jewish, you have a lot of characters, including the third Robin,” shouted someone in the audience, referring to Batman’s sidekick.

The man was seated, along with a few others, on a repurposed synagogue pew, while most of the audience of several dozen people sat on folding chairs. On the walls, presenters at the conference advertised comic art for auction, with the proceeds going to the synagogue, Congregation Kol Israel. One panel had a drawing of the “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader saying the Hebrew word for “repentance.”

While the gathering was a far cry from the largest comic cons, in a certain sense, said artist Dean Haspiel, it was the most appropriate feel for the genre. While Marvel and DC Comics films are booming, he said, comic book artists – like Jews – remain a small community invested in its tradition.

“Even though comic books have become popular in movies and costumes, the actual comic book is becoming like a rare breed,” Haspiel said. “What I admire about the Jewish people that were here, they have each other’s backs through thick and thin, and that’s the same way we feel as cartoonists.”

Jewish Comic Con participants listened to a panel on Jewish characters in comics on November 13. (Photo by Ben Sales)

A panel on “Jewish Heroes and Villains” at the inaugural Jewish Comic Con in Brooklyn, NY, on November 13. The panel delved into the question of “Who is a Jew?” (Photo by Ben Sales)

Comic Continued from page 15

The Jewish Federation of NEPA announces the annual

Tzedakah Tzeason Charity DriveThis year we will be joining OPERATION GRATITUDE and sending gift cards

to our servicemen and women and veterans.

Please bring or send your gift card for a chain store, or a prepaid MasterCard/Visa gift card,to the Jewish Federation of NEPA, 601 Je�erson Ave, Scranton, PA 18510

and mark the envelope “OPERATION GRATITUDE”.

We want to send our gift cards out by December 20, 2016 to be received by Chanukah of this year.

Questions? Please email [email protected].


Feature Films (as of September 2016)Dough - An old Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce) takes on a young Muslim apprentice to save his failing kosher bakery. When his apprentice’s marijuana stash accidentally falls in the mixing dough, the challah starts flying off the shelves! DOUGH is a warmhearted and humorous story about overcoming prejudice and finding redemption in unexpected places. (Shown at the 2017 UJA campaign opening event)Everything is Illuminated - “Everything is Illuminated” tells the story of a young man’s quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazi invasion. What starts out as a journey to piece together one family’s story under absurd circumstances turns into a meaningful journey with a powerful series of revelations -- the importance of remembrance, the perilous nature of secrets, the legacy of the Holocaust, and the meaning of friendship. (Donated by Dr. and Mrs. David Malinov)Europa Europa - Based on the autobiography of Solomon Perel, this movie recounts the severe actions a young boy must take in order to survive the Holocaust. (Donated by Dr. and Mrs. David Malinov)Hidden in Silence - Przemysl, Poland, WWII. Germany emerges victorious over the Russians and the city comes under Nazi control. The Jews are sent to the ghettos. While some stand silent, Catholic teenager, Stefania Podgorska, choose the role of a savior and sneaks 13 Jews into her attic.Inspired by real events, Munich reveals the intense story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate the 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli athletes - and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it.Music Box - In this intense courtroom thriller, Chicago attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange) agres to defend her Hungarian immigrant father against accusations of heinous war crimes committed 50 years earlier.Remember - With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with demntia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family. (shown at the 2017 UJA campaign opening event)Munich - Inspired by real events, Munich reveals the intense story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate the 11 Palestinians believedto have planned the 1972 Munich massacre of 11 Israeli athletes - and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it.Son of Saul - October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul (Géza Röhrig) is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners forced to assist the Nazis. While working, Saul discovers the body of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.(shown at the 2017 UJA campaign opening event)The Book Thief - THE BOOK THIEF tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a new family in World War II Germany.The Jolson Story - THE JOLSON STORY is classic Hollywood biography at its best; a fast-paced, tune-filled extravaganza following the meteoric rise of legendary performer Al Jolson. THE JOLSON STORY was nominated for six 1946 Academy Awards , winning two, (Best Musical Scoring and Best Sound Recording). The Other Son - As he is preparing to join the Israeli army for his national service, Joseph discovers he is not his parents’ biological son and that he was inadvertently switched at birth with Yacine, the son of a Palestinian family from the West Bank. This revelation turns the lives of these two families upside-down, forcing them to reassess their respective identities, their values and beliefs.Woman in Gold - Based on the true story of Maria Altman, played by Helen Mirren, who sought to regain a world famous painting of her aunt plundered by the Nazis during World War II. She did so not just to regain what was rightfully hers but also to obtain some measure of justice for the death, destruction and massive art theft perpetrated by the Nazis. (Donated by Dr. and Mrs. David Malinov)

Non-Feature Films 2016Above and Beyond - In 1948, just three years after the liberation of Nazi death camps, a ragtag group of skilled American pilots - both Jewish and non-Jewish, answered a call for help. In secret and at great personal risk, they smuggled planes out of the U.S., trained behind the Iron Curtain and flew for Israel in its War of Independence. This band of brothers not only turned the tide of the war, they also embarked on personal journeys of discovery and pride. (Shown at the 2016 UJA campaign opening event)Everything is a Present: The Wonder and Grace of Alice Sommer Hertz - This is the uplifting true story of the gifted pianist Alice Sommer Hertz who survived the Theresienstat concentration camp by playing classical piano concerts for Nazi dignitaries. Alice Sommer Hertz lived to the age of 106. Her story is an inspiration.Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story - Yoni Netanyahu was a complex, passionate individual thrust into defending his country in a time of war and violence. The older brother of Benjamin Natanyahu, the current Israel Prime Minister, Yoni led the miraculous raid on Entebbe in 1976. Although almost all of the Entebbe hostages were saved, Yoni was the lone military fatality. Featuring three Israeli Prime Ministers and recently released audio from the Entebbe raid itself.Hava Nagila (The Movie) - A documentary romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy and more, the film follows the ubiquitous party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America.If These Knishes Could Talk tells the story of the New York accent: what it is, how it’s evolved, and the love/hate relationship New Yorkers have with it. It features writer Pete Hamill, director Penny Marshall, attorney Alan Dershowitz and screenwriter James McBride, along with a cast of characters from Canarsie to Tottenville. In between, it explores why New Yorkers eat chawclate and drink cawfee, and how the accent became the vibrant soundtrack of a charming, unforgiving and enduring city.Israel: The Royal Tour - Travel editor Peter Greenberg (CBS News) takes us on magnificent tour of the Jewish homeland, Israel. The tour guide is none other than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The viewer gets a chance to visit the land of Israel from his own home!Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story (narrated by Dustin Hoffman)- This documentary portrays the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning that baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. More than a film about sports, this is a story of immigration, assimilation, bigotry, heroism, the passing on of traditions, the shattering of stereotypes and, most of all, the greatest American pastime.Nicky’s Family - An enthralling documentary that artfully tells the story of how Sir Nicholas Winton, now 104, a British stockbroker, gave up a 1938 skiing holiday to answer a friend’s request for help in Prague and didn’t stop helping until the war’s beginning stopped him. He had saved the lives of 669 children in his own personal Kindertransport.The Case for Israel - Democracy’s Outpost - This documentary presents a vigorous case for Israel- for its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism, and to defend its borders from hostile enemies.The Israel Course - A 7-part Israel education series that sheds light on the Holy Land through the ages. Featuring biblical scholars and Middle East experts, including Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Ambassador Dore Gold, Princeton professor Bernard Lewis and many others.The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - As baseball’s first Jewish star, Hammerin’ Hank Greenberg’s career contains all the makings of a true American success story.Unmasked: Judaophobia - the Threat to Civilization – This documentary exposes the current political assault against the State of Israel fundamentally as a war against the Jewish people and their right to self-determination.

NEWTO THE

LIBRARY!



NEWS IN BRIEFFrom JTA

Adolf Burger, last of “Hitler’s counterfeiters,” dies at 99Adolf Burger, a Holocaust survivor who was forced by the Nazis to counterfeit British

banknotes during World War II, has died in Prague at 99, his family said. Burger, a native of Slovakia, was a typographer by profession. He was arrested in 1942 for producing false baptism records for Jews scheduled for transports to Nazi extermination camps and deported to Auschwitz. In 1944, Burger was selected to take part in Operation Bernhard, a Nazi effort to destabilize the British economy by flooding the country with forged pound banknotes. He was moved to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he worked in a special section of the camp devoted to the counterfeiting operation. “I thought some-how I would survive Auschwitz, but was sure I was a dead man in Sachsenhausen. The Nazis planned to kill us so we would never tell anyone what they were doing,” Burger told JTA in 2008. Eventually he was liberated by the U.S. Army in May 1945. After the war, Burger settled in Prague. His memoirs, titled “Number 64401 Speaks,” were first published in 1945. He later rewrote his story, which was released in 1983 under the title “The Commando of Counterfeiters.” The Austrian-German film “The Counterfeiters,” based on Burger’s memoirs, won the 2007 Academy Award for best foreign language film. House passes bill to help recover Nazi-looted art

A bill to facilitate the return of Nazi-looted artworks to their original owners or heirs passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The House passed the Holocaust Expropri-ated Art Recovery Act, or HEAR Act, on Dec. 7. It must still pass the Senate. The bill would extend the statute of limitations for the stolen artwork to six years from the date that the art in question is identified and located, and from when the claimant has shown evidence of possession of the art. In some previous cases, defendants were able to avoid restitution because states had statutes of limitations as short as three years. “With the House’s approval of the HEAR Act, Holocaust victims and their families are one step closer to a clear legal path to recover art stolen by the Nazis,” Ronald Lauder, chairman of the Commission for Art Recovery and president of the World Jewish Restitution Or-ganization, said in a statement. “These cases should be decided on the facts and merit, not hindered by legal technicalities.” Lauder called on the Senate to also “quickly pass” the legislation and send it to President Barack Obama for his signature. The HEAR Act was introduced in the Senate in April by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, along with Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Charles Schumer (D-NY). It was introduced in the House in September by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). Goodlatte chairs the House Judiciary Committee. In June, testimony was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittees on the importance of the act. Among those testifying was British actress Helen Mirren, who said that “restoring physical parts of lost heritage to Holocaust victims and their families is a moral imperative.” Mirren said she became steeped in the issue while playing Maria Altmann in the 2015 film “Woman of Gold.” Altmann battled the Austrian government for years until 2004, when she recovered works stolen from her family by the Nazis. During World War II, the Nazis stole valuable belongings, including art, from Jewish families. Much of the looted property was not returned after the war, and heirs of the families have faced lengthy legal battles to recover their family belongings.Bill to legalize West Bank outposts on Palestinian land passes first reading in Knesset

A bill that would help legalize West Bank outposts built on Palestinian land was ap-proved in its first reading in the Knesset. The Regulation Bill was approved late Dec. 7 following a five-hour floor debate by a vote of 58-51. Two more readings are required to enact the measure. Benny Begin of the Likud party was the only member of the coalition to vote against the bill. He was suspended from his membership in the high-profile Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee after he voted earlier in the week against the preliminary version. Earlier in the week, a section of the bill that would have allowed the government to act against a Supreme Court ruling to raze the Amona outpost by Dec. 25 was cut from the bill, which would recognize other settlements found to be built on private Palestinian land. The bill would allow the Israeli government to recognize construction built with government assistance and in good faith – meaning those outposts whose builders were not aware they were constructing on private land. If the original owners of the land are known, they would be eligible to receive financial compensation from the government. According to the settlement watchdog group Peace Now, the bill could legalize 55 outposts and 4,000 housing units in the West Bank. Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit maintains that the bill is in violation of local and international law, and has said the Supreme Court would likely void it. Meanwhile, the government is working to formulate new plans to house the 40 families who will be evacuated from the Amona outpost. The plans call for half the families to be relocated into temporary caravans in the nearby settlement of Ofra and the other half to live in a school building in the settlement. A new settlement has been ordered to be built eventually near Shvut Rachel in the Binyamin region. Amona residents say they will resist evacuation. Mandelblit rejected the initial plans to move the residents to land nearby classified as abandoned by its Palestinian owners.

Study: Military service contributes to Israeli longevityCompulsory military service added three years to the life expectancy of Israeli men,

according to a new study. The study released on Dec. 6 by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Jerusalem compared data from 130 countries. After controlling for variables that typically influence longevity, the study concluded that only 80 percent of the variance in life expectancy between Israel and the other countries could be explained by factors such as wealth, health care expenditures, educational levels and others. When the researchers controlled for the rate of military spending and length of service among the countries, the gap between Israel and the others shrank nearly to zero. “This variable alone (the interaction between military spending as a percent of GDP and length of mil-itary service) essentially explains Israeli men’s longevity over and above the effect of other variables that were tested,” the study found. “In other words, if Israel did not have the compulsory military service and spending that it currently has, male life expectancy in Israel would probably be much lower.” In 2013, Israeli men had a projected lifespan of 80.6 years compared to 77.7 among men living in the member states of the Organi-zation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a grouping of mostly European and wealthier nations, the Taub Center reported. The world average life expectancy for men was 68.8. “Even if the contribution of compulsory service for public health is not the goal of military service, it is important in that it will impact policy decisions in the future,” Alex Weinreb, a Taub Center researcher, said in a statement. “Health can be affected by investment in institutions that have no obvious connection to health, and the Israeli army is a body in unique position to affect public health.”Chief Rabbinate promises standards for conversion rabbis

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate committed to creating standards for recognizing which Diaspora rabbis it trusts to handle Jewish conversions. The Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbis announced separately on Dec. 7 that they would convene a meeting the week of Dec. 16 with the Chief Rabbinate Council and the Supreme Rabbinical Court to determine the standards. The conversion of Ivanka Trump, the daughter of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, will be recognized under the new standards, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef promised in his statement. “This reform is expected to stop the suffering of many converts who have been through a conversion abroad when they come to register for marriage and divorce in Israel. In contrast to the situation in the past, in which some officials in the Chief Rabbinate assumed the authority to check every case individually, now as mentioned above, every conversion that will be approved by a rabbi who is on the list of the approved rabbis will not be subject to further checking but will be approved automatically,” Yosef said. “For example, what reached the headlines recently was the issue of the recognition of the conversion of Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the president-elect of the United States. Accord-ing to the new proposed outline in which you check the converting rabbi only, their conversion would be legitimized without the need for further checking,” Yosef said. The Rabbinate released a list in April of more than 100 rabbis from the U.S. and 19 other countries whose authority over Jewish conversions it accepts. But the Rabbin-ate attached a letter to the list saying it was “not exhaustive” and simply included rabbis whose authority had been accepted in the past. The letter also said there was no guarantee the rabbis would be trusted in the future. The new list will be compiled based on the standards to be determined the week of Dec. 16, Yosef said.

It’s time once again for the

The Scranton Hebrew Day School Annual

All proceeds benefit the school’s scholarship fund.

Winter Soup Salecoming January 5!cA large variety of dairy, parve and fleishing soups will be available in pint and quart sizes. Please call the school

office for more information at 570-346-1576.All soups are pre-ordered and will be available

for pick-up January 24th and 25th.

Everyone is invited to these free events throughout the Poconos.In the spirit of community and friendship, let’s party with

volunteers from Congregation B’nai Harim! Listen and Learn about the Jewish Holiday of Chanukah,

THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS, play dreidel, eat latkes, sing songs,play games, do crafts and Light the Menorah!

Clymer Library:Saturday, December 17, 2016 @ 3:00 PM

Barrett - Paradise Friendly Library:Wednesday, December 21, 2016 @ 10:30 AM

The West End Public Library:Thursday, December 22, 2016 @ 6:30 PM

Our members Melanie Balzano, Julia Shaykevich (and Rachel)and Norma Krasne-Levine will be hosting the festivities.

�e�ate the F�tiv� � Lights

Bais Yaakov Family Dinner and CarnivalTuesday, December 20 • 5:30-7:30pmToys will be collected at the carnival for the

Chai Lifeline Toy drive which begins on Dec. 9.Toys can be dropped o� at any time at the

Bais Yaakov o�ce in Beth Shalom,1025 Vine St. Scranton

The Bais Yaakov of Scrantonwill present an original play written

by Mrs. Adina (Laury) Turo�, “Tell Me A Story,”

Saturday, February 11in the Beth Shalom Social Hall 8:30p.m.

Save the Dates!


You always wanted to do this, but . . . not in November; or the price was too high; or the trip was too long; actually… who remembers why we didn’t do this?

Scranton / The Poconos / Wilkes-Barre

2017 ISRAEL TOUR

February 19 – March 1, 2017

So now . . .We’re going to Israel with folks from Northeast PA,

on Sunday, February 19.We’ll be back on Wednesday morning, March 1.

We’ll spend 8 nights in Israel andthe land cost is only $2,790!

The rates for airfare to Israel are extremely reasonable,but they change on a frequent basis.

Please call us for the current cost.We hope you’ll join us!

Call Barry Weiss (570-650-0874) or Jay Weiss (570-565-9515)of Odyssey Travel or Mark Silverberg (570-335-2787) of the

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania for further details.

why jews in france might give right-wing populist …...liberty to dress modestly, but a statement...

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