Jtnews | The Voice Of Jewish Washington, Sept. 4, 2009

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Leyna Krow

Jewish Federation president and CEO Richard Fruchter, second from right, and Federation Special Initiatives Fund Committee chair Jack Almo, right, present Jewish Family Service board president Dianne Loeb and JFS executive director Ken Weinberg, left, with a check for the JFS Food Bank on Capitol Hill on Mon., Aug. 31. The money is part of the Federation’s Challenging Times Economic Impact Grants, which were created to help local organizations cope with the recession. JFS is one of six Seattle-area agencies to receive the grants, which total $65,000 in all.

Endowment to boost NCJW’s Shalom Bayit Push on Iran JTNews Correspondent It takes fortitude and bravery for a woman to walk away from a life of abuse. It’s a walk that means dealing with deep issues of self-esteem, a failed relationship or a loss of financial security. It often also means leaving behind a lifetime of memories, familiar surroundings and friends and the material goods that everyone needs to survive from day to day. She may leave a comfortable home to escape a dangerous home life. To get relief from emotional or physical abuse may mean giving up a warm bed, a clean bathroom, and a well-stocked kitchen for the back seat of her car, a friend’s sofa bed or a women’s shelter. When she comes out the other side, she may have her children with her and her fragile self-esteem may be rebuilding. She might even get transitional housing and then an apartment of her own. But once she is there, it may be nothing more than a roof over her head and a place to hang her meager wardrobe or keep a few of the kids’ toys. She likely landed on her feet without things most of us take for granted — cooking and eating utensils, chairs and a table, towels and a firm bed. That is where Shalom Bayit: Furnishing Peaceful Homes, a program of the Seattle Section of the National Council of Jewish Women comes in. The program, founded in 2000, works to solve that issue by gathering new and gently used furniture and other household items and distributing them to women in need. This summer, that program received a huge boost when Karyn F. King, a long-time supporter of Shalom Bayit, donated $25,000 in seed money for an endowment to take care of the underlying costs such as transportation and storage. King freely admits that she comes from a home where her father and brother were abusive. That has made her quick to step up when Shalom Bayit needed something.

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“I have limited disposable income, but I have always put some aside for doing good,” she said. But this gift has a special meaning to her. “My father passed away last spring and the first distribution of his estate was made this summer,” she said. “There is a nice symmetry to using that money to help with a program that helps women in this situation.” King says she left home when she was 18, back in the mid-’60s. It was a different time. “There was no ‘domestic violence,’ the cops didn’t care,” she said. “Women had nowhere to go. Many really were trapped.” King’s gift is only a start. She is hopeful that others will help build the endowment for one of the only “furniture banks” in the country. Wendy Thomas, president of NCJW’s Seattle section, agrees. “The endowment will be a great help,” she said. “But there will still be a need for donations of both money and furnishings,” she said. Much of the cash goes to purchase items that are not often suitable for secondhand use, such as mattresses, bedding and kitchen items. “We want these women to feel like they are getting a fresh start, with a place and things they can take pride in,” she said. Women are referred to Shalom Bayit by agencies throughout the region that assist women transitioning to housing from domestic violence situations. They then are taken to a warehouse and assisted with getting the items they need. “We charge donors a small fee to pick up items,” Thomas said. “But everything for our clients is without charge.” More information about Shalom Bayit, and how to donate is available at www.ncjwseattle.org or by calling 425-558-1894.

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sanctions, Mideast peace talks expected in September Ron Kampeas JTA World News Service

ANALYSIS

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Timing, if not intent, inevitably is weaving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process into the efforts to end Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. The major powers are meeting this week in Germany to coordinate Iran policy ahead of the U.N. General Assembly later this month. At the same time, Israeli officials are in Washington planning a joint summit of the Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders during the General Assembly. President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have steadfastly denied linkage between the two issues. Obama says he is determined to contain Iran whether or not Israel plays ball on the Palestinian issue, and Netanyahu insists he is doing all he can to advance the peace process however Iran sanctions play out. Nonetheless, recent events have driven both processes into a synchronicity, including meetings Netanyahu held with European leaders last week that focused both on Iran and international calls for a Jewish settlement freeze in the West Bank. When the International Atomic Energy Agency issued an unusually blunt report on Aug. 28 saying that Iran

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September 19 – OctOber 18, 2009

It’S tIme tO bag Hunger In Our cOmmunIty FOOd FOr tHOugHt:

Our community-wide Food Drive is here. Help us help others. In these challenging times, the need has surpassed all expectations. Last year alone, JFS distributed over 240,000 pounds (120 tons) of food here at home.

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Even though the response to last year’s community Food Drive was overwhelming, the annual demand still exceeded donations by over 80,000 pounds — which JFS had to purchase outright to make up the shortfall. If you believe the headlines, there is no end in sight.

cHew On tHIS:

The JFS Food Bank serves over 1,000 households month-in and month-out. This is an increase of 40% compared to the number of local families the JFS Food Bank served just three years ago.

yOu’ll Feel better InSIde:

Starting on Rosh Hashanah, most major local congregations will be collection sites for your taxdeductible donations of non-perishable food. Please use our nutrition-friendly shopping list. Donate a lot, donate a little — but please, donate something…food doesn’t need to be kosher.

cOme One, cOme all:

The Food Drive Food Sort is Sunday, October 18th, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Acme Food Sales Warehouse. This is an ideal opportunity to drop-off your organization’s delivery of collected food — and please, bring volunteers with you to unload the donation. Advance registration is required. Contact Jane Deer-Hileman, Director of JFS Volunteer Services, at (206) 861-3155 or [email protected].

FOOd drIVe SHOppIng lISt h h h h h h h h h h h h h h

Canned Tuna Canned Pears or Peaches Canned Tomato Products Canned Vegetables Canned Soups Peanut Butter (not in glass) Cooking Oil (plastic bottles) Pasta & Rice Soap & Toothpaste Toiletries Laundry Detergent Cleaning Supplies Grocery Store Gift Cards Reusable Grocery Bags

JEW-ISH .COM For more information, please call (206) 461-3240 or visit www.jfsseattle.org

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rabbi’s turn

The litmus test of belief Reading between the lines of the High Holiday machzor can help build our relationships with God

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum Kavana Cooperative Although the month of Elul is my busy season as a rabbi, I really love this time of year. For me, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are accompanied by meaningful customs, beautiful melodies, and a sense of new possibility. For a number of my community members, though, I know that the High Holidays pose a real challenge and have the potential to feel alienating. For many, the key challenge is that the observance of these holidays (more than many others) is focused around prayer. Moreover, the High Holiday liturgy is filled with images of God that seem anthropomorphic and sometimes even conflict with the belief system of contemporary Jews. This time of year, I am often asked: Why should I say words that I don’t believe to be true? I think the problem is that many of us learned to approach the liturgy far too literally. Perhaps if we reframe how we approach the liturgy, we can remove the

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stumbling block posed by this litmus test of belief. The words of the prayer Unetaneh Tokef serve as a great case-in-point. This medieval piyyut (liturgical poem) has come to play an integral role in the Rosh Hashanah Musaf service, and it contains some of the most classic (and potentially alienating) images of God. The prayer opens with the image of each individual standing before God in a courtroom, while God (the judge) makes decisions about who will live and who will die in the coming year. The God portrayed here knows all and has the power to “remember everything that has been forgotten” — much like Santa Claus in the song, who “knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.” If taken literally, this image induces in me a feeling of panic. Because we are all human and therefore imperfect, no one can be assured that the judge will rule favorably. I can understand why — if presented only with the false dichotomy between reading this prayer literally or not showing up — many Jews would prefer not to engage with this liturgy at all. If we can learn to read the liturgy less literally, though, then the words of the machzor (the High Holiday prayerbook) become poignant in a much more positive and potentially transformative way. In order to do this, however, we first have to accept that the machzor presents not one image of God, or of the relationship between God and human beings, but rather a composite sketch, a collage of many images. These images are far too diverse to be understood literally. Instead, I believe, the machzor invites us to temporarily inhabit each metaphor, and to think about what truths each image can teach us about God, ourselves, and the world. In doing so, the language of the liturgy provides us with a

roadmap for how we might engage in the very human processes of self-reflection, teshuva, and self-improvement. Read in this way, Unetaneh Tokef ’s fearful image of God as a judge takes on a different valence. If we understand it as a metaphor, we can ask what effect it will have on us — emotionally, psychologically, and behaviorally. If even the angels are gripped with fear and trembling on this day, as the text of the prayer says, then it makes sense that we too are supposed to experience a sense of fear or awe on Rosh Hashanah. The courtroom setting also emphasizes that we bear full responsibility for all of our actions. Hopefully, this realization will motivate us to scrutinize our deeds in a deeper way. From there, Unetaneh Tokef quickly moves on to a second image: That of God as a shepherd. In contrast to the judge-defendant relationship, the shepherd-flock metaphor is softer, as it implies a level of caring. Whereas a good judge is supposed to be impartial and detached, a shepherd has a vested interest in ensuring the well-being of his sheep. This shepherd, in particular, cares about each creature individually, “causing each one to pass beneath his staff.” If we can inhabit this image fully, we might feel cared for, protected and nurtured. It is human nature that when we feel safe in this way, we can challenge ourselves more deeply, and we therefore have the power to change more profoundly. Finally, the prayer ends with a set of increasingly fleeting images. It says: “We are fragile as pottery, so easily shattered, like the grass that withers, like the flower that fades, like the fleeting shadow, like the vanishing cloud, like the wind that rushes by, like the scattered dust, like the dream that flies away.” As the text transitions through all of these stages — from pottery

to grass to shadow and ultimately to dream — each step of the succession becomes less concrete, and more ethereal and abstract. Emotionally, this reinforces the idea that we are all small and insignificant in the greater scheme of things. Although it wouldn’t be healthy to think this way all the time, when coupled with the courtroom image in which what we do matters deeply, this last set of images provides a beautiful counterpoint. The end of the prayer gradually transitions us into being able to contemplate the world without us in it; in other words, it provides a gentle entry point to one of the most difficult things we are called upon to do during the High Holidays: To confront the fact of our own mortality. I believe the structure and diverse images of the High Holiday liturgy were crafted to challenge, support, and push us, and ultimately to allow us to reorient our lives in a transformative way in a short period of time. The concrete images of the machzor evoke such different emotional responses in us, and in this way, experiencing the liturgy leads us on a journey. For me, the key question is not whether we “believe in” the words we are saying (at least, not in a literal sense). Instead, if we can learn to read prayer in the language of metaphor and poetry, we can open ourselves up to the very human experiences of reflecting on our lives, confronting our limitations, and changing and growing each year. With the time that remains in the month of Elul, I wish all of us great success in preparing ourselves for this emotional journey. Rachel Nussbaum is the rabbi of The Kavana Cooperative (www.kavana.org). She was recently awarded an AVI CHAI Fellowship for her innovative approach to building Jewish community.

Letters The hitch It isn’t easy to be a Jewish liberal these days. You agree with all your non-Jewish liberal friends on everything: Government control of health care, turning the world green, the mainstreaming of homosexuality, silencing Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, banishing religion from the public square, obliterating gender roles, and most importantly eating only organic food. But one pesky little issue separates you from them and invites their scorn and ostracism: Israel. They hate Israel. They see Israel as the new South Africa, an oppressive little island of Western greed and exploitation in a vast peaceful sea of Third World authenticity and virtue. To liberals Israel is “an historical error” as Bertrand Russell used to say. It deserves no support. But you cannot bring yourself to hate Israel. For one thing, making negative comments about Israel annoys your parents who remember 1967 and 1973 and maybe even 1948 when Israel’s life hung by a thread. And thinking about Israel awakens deep down in your soul a feeling of Jewish pride. Plucky little Israel, surrounded on all sides by rich, resourceful, implacable Arab enemies 50 times her size, knowing nothing but siege, terror, and war for 60 years, but by some miracle still there, still standing, still existing as a Jewish state, still gathering in all the Jews of the world who want to come, still showing the world that murdering another 6 million of us will not be as easy as the first time.

No, my liberal Jewish friend, you cannot bring yourself to hate Israel. But how do you get back in good standing with your non-Jewish liberal comrades? Have no fear, J Street is here. Yes, J Street (“First Stop: Seattle,” Aug. 21), the new liberal-oriented “pro-peace” Jewish lobbying organization that will lobby the American government to stop supporting Israel unless the Israeli government makes more concessions to the Arabs and pursues “peace” more aggressively. So there you are. At the next meeting of your liberal friends just show them your J Street membership card. You’ll be in like Flynn. Jeffrey Weiser Redmond

Being aware In your article “First Stop: Seattle” (Aug. 21) you neglected to mention that Federal Election Commission filings show that J Street has Muslims and Arabs as donors, as well as people connected to Palestinian and Iranian advocacy. Jeremy Ben Ami admits that at least 3 percent of their money comes from Muslims and Arabs. Now, it’s very understandable why the Arabs donate to J Street, but tell me why a “pro-Israel” group would accept such money unless they are not pro-Israel, which is what many observers feel. People should be aware of what they’re getting involved with if they think joining J Street is joining a pro-Israel or “pro-peace” organization. Susan Benyowitz Los Angeles, Calif.

Welcome everyone I would like to remind Edith Isaacs Ervin that the recent murders of gays in Tel Aviv were tragic losses to our entire community (letters, Aug. 21). That they were targeted due to being gay should be shocking and very concerning to every Jew, because it demonstrates the rising level of violence in present-day Israel and it illustrates the terrible results of intolerance and ignorance. I hope that Edith will educate herself about homosexuality and understand that it is an orientation and not a choice. I would hope that she would be broad minded enough to realize that there are many gay parents who set as fine examples of loving parenting as any “straight” couple. I would hope that it is our “broad goal” to welcome and fully include all Jews regardless of color, nationality, religious affiliation, gender, or sexual orientation. That would be a more positive and practical way to assure the growth and continuity of the Jewish people. Jack Fackerell Redmond

Replacements and responsibilities All of the evidence that I know of strongly supports the notion that sexual orientation is not a choice, but inborn. So, gays and lesbians who marry would still be gay and lesbian, but simply attempting to repress their true selves.

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In favor of rational discussion Cut the clamor for desperately needed health care reforms Rachel Goldberg JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — There’s a lot of noise about health care — wildly false claims, meetings being disrupted, shrill voices shouting down legislators. Amid the din, real ideas and concerns are getting lost. It’s easy and lazy to criticize something. What’s difficult and bold is to recognize that a critically important part of our country’s infrastructure is severely broken and come up with a plan to fix it. The premise of many health reform naysayers is that the system isn’t bad now, but it will be if we “reform” it. The next part of that theory is that what Canada and England have creates problems that do not exist in the health care utopia we currently occupy. (Incidentally, none of the congressional proposals would adopt their systems.) Even assuming the initial premise is true — and it’s not unless you are wealthy and lucky — we still know the next parts are demonstrably untrue. If we do nothing, employer-based coverage will continue to erode, even as our unstable job market means more people are losing access to employer plans. And when people lose or switch jobs, often they are unable to acquire coverage in the private market. That can mean long periods without coverage, or with costly catastrophic

of bankruptcy in the United States). coverage, and dangerous Catch-22 proThe numbers of people who don’t visions down the line: You can’t get covvisit doctors or fill prescriptions because erage if you didn’t have coverage in the they are underinsured is rising. Meanpast — that pesky pre-existing condition while, t he t raveling clinics created exclusion. to serve disease-ravaged parts of the Particularly offensive are attempts developing world now also visit underby opponents to convince older people served communities in poor and rural that reform proposals would steal their parts of the United States. People travel benefits or destroy Medicare. Many many miles and wait countless hours of the Medicare “cuts” are deliver y for those services. system reforms that aging advocates In the face of this crisis, some have have been urging. We actually could see chosen venom, demimprovements to the Medicare program If we do nothing, employer-based agoguery and misinif reform occurs — coverage will continue to erode, formation over real changes that won’t even as our unstable job market dialogue — jeoparhappen otherwise. means more people are losing dizing t he chance Sen iors a re a n access to employer plans. And to make life better important constitu- when people lose or switch jobs, for millions. A better ency because they often they are unable to acquire health care system, k now t he i mpor- coverage in the private market. we should not forget, would provide real tance of health care security for everyone — even those who and care about their children and grandlike whatever arrangement they have children. Using fear to turn them against now. reform is reprehensible. As a human rights organizat ion, Also outrageous: Raising the specter B’nai B’rith is dedicated to health care of Nazis to promote the absurdist scare for all. We have not yet endorsed any tactics about fictional death panels, too. piece of legislation — we see problems, The U.S. health care system is broken. as well as real promise, in each of them. In the richest nation in the world, about Legislators are working hard to do more 47 million Americans have no health than stake out ideological and political insurance. Millions of Americans are territory. underinsured, unable to afford co-pays At the most basic level, health care or prescriptions, or even are forced into coverage needs to be comprehensive, bank ruptcy by uncovered expenses affordable and secure. It must ensure (medical costs are the biggest single cause

that people can keep the coverage they like and acquire coverage they can afford. Realistic health care reform must address long-term services and be both politically feasible and financially fair. A reform plan should include provisions for the high costs of prescription drugs and long-term care issues. Our population is aging and the latter’s costs have the potential to further erode our current system. Americans, regardless of their opinion or knowledge base, obviously are passionate about health care: Just watch any town hall meeting with members of Congress or listen to callers on talk radio. Health issues can serve as the great leveler of our society. Everyone gets sick and needs medical attention. It’s time for a better system. There are real proposals on the table that could expand coverage. Will everyone like every element of the proposals? Of course not. But if we can quiet the shouting and stay in touch with the reality that demands we do something, we have an opportunity to work together to reach an effective compromise. That compromise could improve, and even save, millions of lives and deliver the human right of health security to a country in desperate need. Rachel Goldberg is the director of aging policy for B’nai B’rith International.

QFC Proudly Supports Seattle Children’s Hospital By Kristin Maas, QFC Public Affairs Director

I am the mother of a 9-year old boy and I am thankful that I have never needed the services of Seattle Children’s Hospital. However, I rest easier knowing if my son should ever need it, there is a hospital right here in Seattle that is dedicated entirely to the care of children. The history of this hospital is both heartwarming and inspiring. It’s the story of a Seattle woman named Anna Clise who watched her six-year-old son, Willis, die of inflammatory rheumatism. Anna turned her grief into hope, leading the effort to create a hospital dedicated to the care of children, which was founded in 1907. Today, Seattle Children’s is one of the nation’s leading pediatric hospitals, combining unsurpassed medical skill, groundbreaking research, and profound human compassion in the effort to cure and prevent childhood disease. It’s a special place designed around, and for, children and their families. They are committed to helping all children, regardless of the family’s ability to pay. I believe Anna Clise would be pleased with her legacy.

In 2001, Seattle Children’s provided nearly $25 million in uncompensated care. In 2008, that figure reached more than $86 million and projections show that uncompensated care may top more than $100 million in 2009. So, what can you and I do to help this incredible organization in their mission to help children in need? During the month of September, QFC will feature Seattle Children’s as our checkstand charity of the month. Customers can donate to Seattle Children’s at any checkstand using the $1,

$5, or $10 scan cards; dropping their coins in the coin boxes at the checkstands; or designating their 3 cent bag reuse credit as a donation to Seattle Children’s. In addition, QFC will make a donation of $10,000 to Seattle Children’s. As a parent, you hope you will never need Seattle Children’s. But aren’t you glad they’re here, just in case?

Kristin Maas is the Director of Public Affairs for QFC. She can be reached at [email protected] or 425-990-6182.

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Health care reform, yes. Big government, no. Let the market decide how health care happens in this country Larry Greenfield JTA World News Service LOS  ANGELES (JTA) — Government insurance for health care — the public option — is an inappropriate cure that the American body politic is rejecting. Canadians spend 10 percent of their annual GDP on health care, while Americans spend 16 percent. However, Canadians experience long waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment, rationed care, and limited access to doctors and new medical devices. You can get private medical care in Canada — if you are a pet and your doctor is a vet. Otherwise, tens of thousands of Canadians flock to the United States each year for private care to reduce pain or to save their lives. Famously, Liberal MP Belinda Stronach advocated for government health care but then traveled to California herself for private breast cancer surgery. Even Canada’s top court struck down a Quebec ban on private health care as violating a patient’s right to life, liberty and security of person. Nationalized health care systems abroad depend upon cost and medical effectiveness panels that frequently deny drugs and surgeries to the elderly. That is not the American way. Neither is socialized medicine’s obvious disincentive to scientists and entrepreneurs to research and develop innovative biologics, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Americans, by contrast, produce and consume the best health care in the world and export life-saving drugs across the planet. A mer ic a n s a re over w hel m i ng l y impressed with the high-quality healthcare testing, technology and treatment they receive. Note that there are 12 patients in Europe for every nurse, compared to just six in the United States. Approximately 260 million Americans have private health insurance. The 40 million people who do not include many young and healthy who choose to become insured when they grow older and build families. It also includes 10-15 million illegal immigrants, a number that would rise with single-payer health care. It further includes the successful who choose not to purchase insurance and the poor who choose not to enroll in already existing public plans. There are actually only about 8 million chronically ill patients who require insurance and do not have it. We can and should cover them with vouchers, tax credits, and savings from the waste, fraud and abuse in the system. How to reduce costs for all Americans? How about medical liability reform, to reduce defensive medicine (unnecessary, expensive tests) and defensive documentation (hours a day on paperwork) and the $200+ billion a year in trial court judgments? As they say, ask your doctor.

Health insurance coverage for most people can be for catastrophic, not comprehensive, care. One size fits all is bad health care policy. Government mandates and rules prevent interstate competition among the 1,300 private insurance companies, keeping Americans from choosing good plans, thereby driving down costs and increasing health care accessibility, affordability, portability and price transparency. There are many sincere reforms (such as allowing well-qualified nurse practitioners to care for your cold at the local store) to increase consumer choice and health care supply, promote healthy living and keep medical professionals from leaving the field. Big government is clearly not the answer. The free market is already being crowded out in the United States. Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP account for 47 percent of health care costs. But they are going broke, as they cost billions more per year than promised when these programs were created. In 1965, Medicare began with predictions that it would cost taxpayers $12 billion by 1990. The bill came in 10 times higher. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office now predicts new, massive expenditures as utilization rates would soar under government health care. Mr. Obama’s senior economic officials have telegraphed the possibility of huge tax

increases to come. We hear the common refrain: If you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free. A mer ica ns have become deeply concerned about the rapidly growing government role in our economy (nationalization of banks, insurance companies and the auto industry), bizarre centralized economic planning schemes (directives not to hold government conferences in the convention destinations of Orlando or Las Vegas), and the Democratic Congress’ record-setting deficit spending. Poll numbers have shifted dramatically against t he extremely liberal president and Congress because their fearmongering about a looming Depression produced rushed, unread and ineffective stimulus legislation. The president again has overreached, cynically trying hard to pass Obamacare prior to wide public discussion. In the light of hot summer debate, even Obama now reveals ambiguity as he touts Fed Ex and UPS compared to the U.S. Post Office. Exactly. The left’s repeated prescriptions for bigger government are not what citizens desire or deserve. Larry Greenfield is an American Studies fellow at the The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship & Political Philosophy. Statistics come from the Pacific Research Institute, which opposes universal health care and works to advance “free-market policy solutions.”

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community news

New energy at Beth El Tacoma congregation brings in new rabbi for cantorial and educational duties Malkie Cramer JTNews Intern On August 17, Tacoma’s Temple Beth El opened its doors to Rabbi Elizabeth Wood as its new director of education and cantorial soloist with an inauguration that included her leading the congregation for Shabbat services. “Her musical abilities are outstanding and she has a passion for Jewish education,” said Beth El’s senior rabbi, Bruce Kadden. Originally from West Lafayette, Ind., Rabbi Wood long knew she was destined to become a spiritual leader. At the age of 15, on a confirmation trip to the college where she would later be ordained, Wood was drawn to the prospect of becoming a rabbi, particularly by the rabbinical students she met. “They were fun, young, and inspired people,” Rabbi Wood said, “They were people who loved Judaism. It was inspiring.” Wood grew up in a strong Reform home, celebrating all the major holidays and keeping Shabbat. Both parents have been very active in their Jewish community most of her life. Her mother first served as president of their congregation in Indiana 15 years ago and her father followed — he is the synagogue’s current president. “My family really helped infuse my Jewish identity,” Wood said.

Peter Haley/The News Tribune

Rabbi Elizabeth Wood, who started in August at Temple Beth El in Tacoma. In 2004, she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies and political Science from Indiana University in Bloomington and received the Indiana University Piser Prize in Jewish Studies for most outstanding graduating senior. Wood was ordained in June at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a rabbinic student she served congregations in Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan. She also worked at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Goldman Union Camp Institute in Zions-

ville, Ind. where she was on staff for six years, first as a counselor for youth and then later as unit head. “I realized I could be who I was, be fun and young, and still be a rabbi,” Wood said. “It was a combination of how I grew up and who I was exposed to. It was a calling.” One aspect of that calling is Wood’s love of music. Her musical experience includes serving as a rabbinic intern for the URJ’s Mifgash Musicale Conference in Cincinnati and as vocalist for “Friday Night Live” Shabbat services.

“Jewish music really transcends who we are as a community.” Wood said. “It’s sacred. It’s not only important to who we are, and our heritage, but to our spirituality as well.” Through the placement office of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Wood came across Temple Beth El. The synagogue, located in Tacoma, seemed to be a place where she could exercise both her musical background and her enthusiasm for education. “Both the cantorial soloist aspect and the educational aspect was very appealing to me. Coming out of rabbinical school I really wanted the perfect fit and Beth El was it.” she said. Lisa Sobel, Temple Beth El’s president, wrote in an e-mail that she was thrilled to have Wood join the congregation. “Rabbi Wood is a wonderful addition to our congregation this year,” Sobel wrote. “We have hired her as our religious [education] director/cantorial soloist to bring a continuity between the two positions. Her love of music and commitment to Jewish education will definitely enhance our community as she integrates her ideas with our congregational vision and goals.” Sobel added that Wood’s position as a rabbi means she can take over any duties in Rabbi Kadden’s absence or be available for any other sort of rabbinical function. As the religious education director at Beth El, Wood is in charge of family education, Sunday school, and Hebrew school. In addition, as a soloist, Wood is in charge of the music of the synagogue. “I really liked that [Beth El] had a holistic way of showing what a rabbi could be,” Wood said.

Come Taste the Sweetness of Judaism with our Temple Family Spiritually Engaging Dynamic Participatory Vibrant

Learning Torah History Culture

Tikkun Olam Involvement Justice Equality

‫בס’’ד‬

Dedication of our new Chabad House Cordially invites you to attend the Dedicated in loving memory of

Rabbi Gabi & Rivky Holzberg ‫הי’’ד‬ Shluchim of the Rebbe to Mumbai, India

Completion Ceremony of a new Torah Scroll and the

Donated by Mr. Mendy & Chanie Fischer ‫שליט’’א‬ and family of Brooklyn, N.Y.

� Sunday, September 13th beginning at 3:00pm Writing of last letters in the Torah

Cocktails, Musical Presentation and Torah Completion Ceremony

Community

at the Lakeside Montessori School in the Issaquah Highlands 2001 15th Ave. NE Issaquah, WA 98029

�

Inclusive Welcoming Respectful

Parade with new Torah scroll down Black Nugget Road

towards the new Chabad House at 24121 SE Black Nugget Road

For information about Membership, High Holy Days, Religious School and Lifelong Learning, please call the Temple at 206-525-0915

TEMPLE BETH AM

2632 NE 80th Street, Seattle, WA 206-525-0915 • www.templebetham.org The Reform Synagogue in Seattle’s Jewishly Happening North End

with live music and dancing

�

Followed by the Dedication of New Synagogue

Unveiling of the Tree of Life • Dedication of new Ark (Aron Kodesh)

Lighting of the “Ner Tamid” (Eternal Flame) and Preschool Dedication

�

RSVP 425-985-7639 or [email protected] Festive attire suggested

friday, september 4, 2009

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jtnews community news

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Learning incentive Torah High offers high school credits for Jewish studies Leyna Krow Assistant Editor, JTNews For Torah High dean Ari Hoffman, the biggest challenge in providing afterschool Jewish educational opportunities for teens isn’t getting kids to show up. It’s convincing them to keep showing up week after week. “Our biggest problem last year was regular attendance,” he said. “There was nothing keeping them.” So for its second year, Torah High is offering a new incentive for students — actual high school credits. Starting this fall, Torah High, a Jewish studies program run by the National Conference of Synagogue Youth and based at the Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath and Sephardic Bikur Holim synagogues in Seattle’s Seward Park neighborhood, will allow students to take classes that will count toward graduation from their regular high schools. Torah High is accredited through the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools as a supplemental institution. So, as Hoffman explained, any course completed through Torah High can earn students credits at other schools, just as it would if they were to take courses from a local junior college or a foreign exchange program. The Torah High program in Seattle is modeled after a similar program in Canada that has proved successful

at attracting and retaining students in several Canadian cities over the last five years. Rabbi Stephen Berger, director of education for Torah High Vancouver, said that between school, sports and other extracurricular clubs and activities, religious education for teens often gets pushed to the side. Programs that offer real academic incentives are a good way to draw in kids who might not otherwise be able to find the time. “Kids are so over-programmed, you have to have something special to offer to get them to take a look at their heritage,” he said. “This gives them a grade and one less class they have to take in school.” And it’s working. He noted that the Torah High in Ottowa, where the program first got started, reenrolled 500 students last year. Hoffman isn’t quite so ambitious as to expect those kinds of numbers in Seattle, however. Last year, 30 kids participated in Torah High. Hoffman said he hopes to see that number double now that students can take Torah High classes for credit. “Honestly, I’d like to see as many kids as possible sign up,” Hoffman said. “If 1,000 enrolled tomorrow, I’d find a way to accommodate them. We’re even offering free transportation from other neighborhoods, because Seward Park isn’t the easiest place for everyone to get to.”

Courtesy Ari Hoffman

Instructor Larry Russak demonstrates Commando Krav Maga techniques on Torah High dean Ari Hoffman. As an added bonus, any students who enroll for the fall will be entered into a raffle to win an iPod or a 42” HDTV. Kids who convince their friends to sign up get extra raffle tickets. Of course, prizes and free rides mean little if the classes themselves aren’t engaging. Hoffman k nows t his and worked to put together course offerings on a variety of topics including “Jewish Philosophy,” “Culinary Arts” and “Rock Band Jew.0.” Last year, Hoffman said,

Torah High’s most popular class (and one that will be offered again this time around) was a course on Krav Maga, the style of martial arts used by the Israeli army. “So this isn’t just sitting in a classroom hearing about Jewish history,” he said. Hoffman has also made efforts to enlist popular teachers in hopes of drawing kids in with familiar names. “I asked kids, ‘if you had your pick of teachers, who would you want?’” he said. “We’ve got people from SHA, TDHS, all over. It’s like the cream of the crop from the Jewish schools.” Torah High is supported financially by NCSY and the Jewish Student Union, as well as a grant from the Samis Foundation, which, according to grants director Rob Toren, has been a longtime supporter of NCSY programming in Seattle. The cost to attend is $350 per student per semester. Students must be Jewish to participate in Torah High, but Hoffman stressed that kids from all denominations are welcome and that there is no required level of observance. “Last year we had a good mix,” he said. “We had kids who had been going to day schools their whole lives, and some who had never set foot inside a synagogue before. So it really is for everyone.” For more information, visit w w w. torahhigh.org or contact Ari Hoffman at 206-295-5888. Classes begin Sept. 14.

CONNECTOR 2 0 3 1 T h i r d Av e n u e | S e a t t l e , WA | 9 8 1 2 1 - 2 4 1 2 | p : 2 0 6 4 4 3 - 5 4 0 0 | I n f o @ J e w i s h I n S e a t t l e . o r g | w w w. J e w i s h I n S e a t t l e . o r g

Coordinating Efforts Across the Community

Community-wide initiatives support nonprofits, fight poverty and connect people to the Jewish community.

Laugh Your Way to Giving: Drawing A Diverse Crowd They just keep rolling in: Single seats, whole rows and pre-reception registrations. And Seattleites are notorious for late RSVPs. What makes Laugh Your Way to Giving on September 16 such a draw? Maybe we as Jews don’t laugh together often enough. Maybe the affordable ticket price of $36 is a key feature. Maybe it is the promise of seeing the full diversity of the Jewish community at the dessert schmooze-fest afterward. All three certainly add up to the celebration we have in mind.

$36

/

/

TICKETS: $54

The broad participation adds up too. The community’s diverse needs are best met by participation in the Community Campaign by the full breadth of people in our Jewish community. Helping Jewish immigrants resettle in Israel can’t be done alone. Feeding the growing numbers at Jewish Family Service’s food bank can’t be done alone. Making Jewish families new to Seattle feel welcome can’t be done alone. Convincing elected officials to keep those in need at the forefront of their minds at budget cutting time can’t be done with a single voice. It is community that Laugh Your Way to Giving is all about. Feeling it. Being it. Helping it.

Due to popular demand, tickets will remain at $36!

Bringing More Home for the (High) Holidays

In synagogues, rabbis will address the topic of poverty from the bimah. Speakers from “Real Change” homeless paper will be made available to share their own personal stories with congregants. Individuals can act too. Congregations and organizations are pairing up with human service agencies – in a Mitzvah Match – to collect targeted goods and services the human service agency needs. Everyone is invited to participate. As the Seattle Jewish community celebrates Sukkot – a holiday recalling our wandering in the desert – we are reminded that there are many people in our Seattle community who are homeless and hungry and lack other basic necessities of life. We hope you will join with the Jewish Federation and other Jewish organizations in our community as we collectively focus on, and fight, poverty. Visit www.JewishInSeattle.org for more details.

Our High Holidays Outreach Initiative – in partnership with JTNews and Jew-ish.com – provides information, in the form of a website and a newspaper guide, to people who are looking for last-minute, low-cost or family-friendly services in the greater Puget Sound area.

Get plugged in to ISRAEL UNPLUGGED Seattle’s community trip to Israel May 23-June 1 2010. Email: AnnaF@ JewishInSeattle.org

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Wishes You a Happy & Healthy New Year www.HolidaysInSeattle.org

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The economic recession is testing our community and families. Applications for food stamps are on the rise, food bank lines are growing and unemployment is up. The need for our Jewish community to come together to address poverty in our community has never been greater. For the second year in a row, the Jewish Federation is spearheading “Focus and Fight: A Call to End Poverty.” During Sukkot, October 2-9, the Jewish community will be working collectively to alleviate poverty through a series of focused events and activities.

For many Jews, the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are like Easter for Christians: the one time of year people go to religious services. However, just dropping into the largest cathedral in town does not quite translate to Judaism.

www.jtnews.net

jew-ish.com s e at t l e

By reaching out broadly through advertisements in Looking for High Holiday services? Explore the options at www.HolidaysInSeattle.org local neighborhood newspapers and signage at bagel stores, bookstores and grocery stores, we hope to spread the word about www.HolidaysInSeattle.org to reach people not yet connected with the Jewish community. Whether you’re unaffiliated with a synagogue or just looking to get a sense of the breadth of options available, www.HolidaysInSeattle.org is the place to look.

Have a sweet and healthy new year.

Sponsors: Anti-Defamation League, Cardozo Society of Washington State, Caroline Kline Galland Center, Congregation Beth Shalom, Evergreen Region BBYO, Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation, Hillel at the University of Washington, Jewish Family Service, Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, JTNews, Kadima, Kol HaNeshamah, Maimonides Society, National Council of Jewish Women, Rodef Tzedek, Stroum Jewish Community Center,Temple Beth Am, Temple B’nai Torah, Temple Beth Or, Temple De Hirsch Sinai, Washington State Jewish Historical Society and Young Leadership (As of 8/21/09)

Who is your Jewish Community Hero?

www.JewishCommunityHeroes.com/Seattle

What do the founder of an urban kibbutz, a one-woman show who helps Jews coming to Seattle for specialized medical treatment find housing, food and support, and the man behind the Greater Seattle Jewish Business Network have in common? They are Seattle Jews who have been nominated by local community members to become the Jewish Community Hero of the Year. Join the Jewish Federation and United Jewish Communities for the inaugural Jewish Community Heroes campaign, celebrating the selflessness and courage of individuals who are bettering their communities through service and outreach. Somewhat like American Idol, the top vote-getters will be honored as Jewish Community Heroes with one receiving $25,000 to put toward his or her work. Let’s get behind our Seattle Jewish community heroes. Vote online for your favorite(s) as many times as you like through October 8. Don’t see your hero yet? Nominate them! Don’t miss the opportunity to recognize our local heroes on a national stage!

jtnews

n m.o.t.: member of the tribe

friday, september 4, 2009

Eternal light shines bright in Africa Also: Running for life

Diana Brement JTNews Columnist Sculptor and glass artist Gabriel Bass, a Mercer Island native now living in Jerusalem, recently completed and installed a ner tamid (eternal light) and menorah commission for the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda. The commission came from a California couple who are deeply involved with the Abayudaya. They “felt the synagogue needed an eternal light and turned to me for that,” Gabe says. (The menorah was added later.) Gabe admits he’d never heard of the African Jews, but as soon as he started talking about the project, all sorts of connections revealed themselves. “Doors just started opening left and right,” he says. Friends, neighbors, even clients had heard of, donated to, visited, and even worked with the Abayudaya. “Support just started coming in,” and it didn’t take long for him to decide to perform the installation himself. It was a long but uneventful 24-hour journey from Jerusalem to Kampala, with two layovers and a four-hour drive

from the airport to the village. Gabe carried the works, “just to make sure” they arrived safely. He stayed two weeks, visiting most of the local Jewish communities. “They say there’s eight,” Gabe says, “but there’s different things happening, different communities cropping up, [other] people that are becoming Jewish.” Both pieces are made of glass and wood from a single Israeli cypress tree. The ner tamid is red, black and yellow, the colors of the Ugandan flag. It runs on a battery attached to a solar collector, keeping it lit during the many blackouts and power shortages. “The synagogue is the only building with electricity,” in the villages, says Gabe. The menorah has glass fittings and oil lamps on tops.

Courtesy Gabriel Bass

Gabriel Bass works with members of the Ugandan Abuyudaya synagogue in finishing the menorah he designed for the congregation.

Many villagers came to help install the project. The community has established a religious school, and “a lot of the yeshiva kids helped me,” Gabe says. “Everyone wanted to give a hand.” Then, that Shabbat “we had a really nice festive meal.” Gabriel grew up on Mercer Island and his family attended Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation (appropriately), although they moved away while he was in high school. He and his wife, Gabriela (Hammer), who also grew up at Herzl, re-met and married after college. They now live in Jerusalem with their two children. Gabe, who did some of his training with the Musqueam tribe of British Columbia, creates a lot of synagogue furniture and Judaica. “About half my work is shipped back to the United States,” he says. Chabad of the Central Cascades recently purchased an aron kodesh (ark) from him. See more of Gabe’s work at his Web site, www.customcarving.org, where you can learn how to visit his studio when you’re in Jerusalem. He’ll be in North America in November, speaking at the URJ biennial in Toronto, making other presentations and visiting clients in the Northeast. ••• Last summer we received an e-mail from Esther Lott reporting that she and some of her family had run in the Swedish SummeRun 5K race, and that she had done quite well.

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I was a little slow on the uptake, so by the time I called, Esther and her husband, Al, were away for the winter and we didn’t connect. This year I called early in the summer to see if she was running again. Indeed she was, and did on July 26. “It was great,” she says, “I got first place in my category.” However, at age 77, “I was the only one running!”

Bob Solomon

Three generations of runners in this year’s Swedish SummeRun: Celina Solomon, left, who took second place in her division, her mother Susan Solomon, center, and Susan’s mother Esther Lott, who took first place in the 60-and-over division. It’s not much to beat yourself, but Esther was gratified to learn that she had also bettered runners in the 60-and-up category with her time of 31 minutes. “I got my gold medal in the mail,” she says. “That made me feel good.” Esther ran with her daughter, Susan Solomon, and her granddaughter, Celina.

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Wishing You a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Looking to connect for the High Holidays? Find ticket information at www.HolidaysInSeattle.org

The Jerusalem Post Crossword Puzzle Actresses of Note

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n 10 jtnews a view from the u

“For the sin we have committed through mis-spelling” How an academic lifer manages the dual New Year

By Matt Gaffney

Martin Jaffee JTNews Columnist

Across 1 Jazzman Getz 5 House, to Sephardim 9 Manischewitz product 14 Volcano outpouring 15 Is in the red 16 Dan, for one 17 Best Actress of 1960 & 1966 20 “The Advocate’s ___”(Dershowitz novel) 21 Yente’s opening 22 Easy tennis play 23 ___ Bundy (Katie Sagal role) 25 Ending for Freudian 27 Best Supporting Actress of 1969 33 Saudi name part akin to Jewish “ben-” 36 Comic Boosler 37 “It’s ___ what you think!” 38 Cheer 40 Between lather and repeat 41 Freud’s “self” 42 Righteous indignation 43 Like 1492 44 ___ in “apple” 45 “___ With No Name” 46 Ending for Japan 47 Best Supporting Actress of 1968 49 “___ said it!” 51 Rare tic-tac-toe victory 52 “Caught you!” 55 “Fuzzy wuzzy was ___...” 58 Salk conquered it 63 Best Actress of 1968 66 Funnyman Kovacs 67 Give a nudge 68 Dieter’s word 69 Lost a lap? 70 No 71 Nose stimulus

Answers on page 27

Down 1 Rosebud, for instance 2 I.L. Peretz work, often 3 Israeli rocker Geffen 4 “Soup ___” (“Seinfeld” character) 5 Corn place 6 “Anchors ___” 7 Adam’s third 8 Wimbledon winner of 1975 9 Jewish ones have six points 10 Bawl 11 Countryside feature 12 “Peek-___!” 13 “Kvetch” or “schmooze” 18 Swiss 19 Mar 24 Wide shoe size 26 “The ___ Has Two Faces” 27 Winger’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” co-star 28 Middle Eastern staple 29 Bowling places 30 “High School Musical” channel 31 Woody Allen quality 32 Court 34 Room’s go-with 35 “That’s false!” 39 Stoyteller’s segue 41 Seine contents 42 Goldberg who won an Oscar in 1990 44 Caribbean resort 45 In time past 48 King genre 50 Powered one’s rowboat 52 Fortas and Lincoln 53 TV personality Kitty Carlisle ___ 54 Florence’s river 56 Jason and Randy Sklar network 57 Razor name 59 Where Wiesel picked up his Nobel 60 Put (down) 61 Having as a hobby 62 German-Polish river 64 Celebrity story 65 Breyer rival

friday, september 4, 2009

Sometimes I can’t believe that I’ve been “in college” (with a year or two off here and there) for over 40 years — to be precise, since autumn 1966, when I first set foot on the campus of Syracuse University. I’ll never forget the crisp late-September air of upstate New York during Orientation Week; the excitement of live “soul music” (Sam & Dave, the Four Tops, and the local favorite, Otis and the All-Night Workers, among others) blaring from the front porches of the stately Greek-letter mansions on Crouse Avenue’s fraternity row; the delight at discovering that my dormitory roommate, one Pete Zucker, could hold a lit Kent in the corner of his mouth while playing Frisbee with one eye closed against the smoke; the thrill of sauntering into the local campus bar, “The Orange,” and ordering up my first legal “7 & 7”! And so on. There was, of course, a Hillel House at Syracuse that, as the advertisement went, “served the needs of Jewish students” by offering High Holiday services. Maybe it did, but my “needs” (as I imperfectly grasped them in those days) didn’t propel me through the Hillel House door even once during the entire seven years it took me to get my degree (this was, after all, the late ’60s, and much needed doing). Like so many Jews of my grandparents’ generation who f led European persecutions for the freedom of di goldene medina, and like virtually all of their grandchildren who were my peers at Syracuse, the last thing that entered my mind upon tasting the freedom of college was confining myself in a dark Jewish suit to klop Al Khet on Yom Kippur or even take advantage of a “delicious Rosh Hashanah meal with a local family.” Besides, as a budding fan of the Mothers of Invention, I was not going to place myself willingly within speaking range of anyone who, like the figure presiding over the Syracuse Hillel, was known to the faithful as “the beloved Rabbi Elefant!” Well, obviously, I eventually outgrew my antipathy to Judaism, but I won’t shlep you through the tale. Suffice it to say that one thing I learned from my “college experience” is that you simply can’t predict how a Jew will rediscover the flame of the pintele yid that somehow burns despite years of oxygen deprivation. Maybe because I’ve been “in college” virtually every autumn since 1966, the beginnings of this dual New Year — the academic year and the Jewish season of spiritual renewal — always coincide in my mind. The excitement of one feeds the other. Somehow the thrill of an early autumn “Battle of the Bands” on that long-ago and far-away Syracuse campus shapes my anticipation of the first notes of the hazzan’s High Holiday ma’ariv nusach on erev Rosh Hashanah. Sounds preposterous, I know — but there you have it. A fact!

Stranger still is the odd way the emotional world of the Season of Atonement colors as well my approach to the new students I first meet in my classes in the fall. I view each of them as the embodiment of those whom the Talmud calls “all the world-dwellers who pass in judgment before You like wayward flocks.” Like the Master of the World, I review my “f lock’s” sins, committed in the course of their written work, and pass compassionate judgment upon appropriate evidence of atonement. Among the relatively minor academic sins, soon to pass from the scene in this era of spell check, are the howlers of misspelling that keep me awake as I ponder the fate of student work. Here I’ll report on one of my favorites. Would you believe that, in any given year, perhaps a dozen students, while writing about Jewish history in ancient times, will inform me of the “ancient Jewish homeland of Palestein?” For years I’d scribble in the margin of such papers sardonic notes like: “As in Rubenstein, Goldstein, and Bernstein?” But then it dawned on me that this sort of common mistake is in fact a cultural phenomenon that carries with it its own “teachable moment” (thank you, Prof. Gates, for restoring this conceit of ’60s activism to our working vocabulary!). So, I began, at the first opportunity, to turn the topic of “Palestein” into a 20-minute rehearsal of the various names by which successive conquistadors (pagan, Christian, Muslim, and Imperial) have identified what Jews call “the Land of Israel.” In order to vary the shtick, I have in recent years tended to take a more aggressive route to correction. Abandoning my ponderous, rigorously technical disquisition on the aliases of biblical Canaan, I now make my point with music. Fighting force with farce, and exploiting my painlessly acquired native-competence in American-Jewish pop culture, I bring to class a laptop and a couple of CDs and call out, “Party Time!” Believe me, no student who beholds Prof. Jaffee expounding Eddie Cantor’s 1930s recording of “Leena, the Queen of Palesteena” will ever again spell the Roman name for the Jewish homeland is if it were a Rheinland dukedom! Similar instruction benefits anyone who contemplates Alan Sherman’s terrific riff on Ashkenazic names, “Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max, My Boy.” As My Son the Folksinger says: “Here’s Brumberger, Shumberger, Minkes and Pincus, Stein with an e-i and Styne with a y!” So far, this approach has worked well. By the end of autumn quarter, I have extended kapparah to virtually all sinners — except for the inevitable essayist on “the Jewish dietary laws” whose studies unearth the news that “the Bible prohibits Jews from boiling children in their mothers’ milk.” For such a one I reserve a special seat next to Amalek in the boiling wastes of the back row of Gehinom Hall. But that’s a story for another occasion — maybe Purim! Martin S. Jaffee currently holds the Samuel & Althea Stroum Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Washington. His award-winning columns for JTNews have recently been published in book form as The End of Jewish Radar: Snapshots of a Post-Ethnic American Judaism by iUniverse press.

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Join us in welcoming the New Year with High Holy Day Services

friday, september 4, 2009

Who’s discriminating against whom? Israelis speak about race and racism in their country

Photograph by Gail Frank

Led by our inspirational clergy team

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AssociateȱRabbiȱYohannaȱKinberg,ȱSeniorȱRabbiȱJamesȱMirel,ȱȱ CantorȱDavidȱSerkinȬPooleȱ

Selichot - Saturday, September 12 JointlyȱConductedȱatȱTempleȱDeȱHirschȱSinai,ȱBellevueȱȱ 8:00ȱpmȱ Serviceȱ

Erev Rosh Hashana - Friday, September 18 5:00ȱpmȱȱ 8:00ȱpmȱȱ

ContemporaryȱServiceȱȱ TraditionalȱServiceȱȱ

Rosh Hashana - Saturday, September 19 9:00ȱamȱȱ 9:00ȱamȱȱ 12:30ȱpmȱȱ 3:00ȱpmȱȱ 4:00ȱpmȱ

TraditionalȱServiceȱȱ TeenȱServiceȱȱ ContemporaryȱServiceȱȱ Children’sȱ&ȱFamilyȱServiceȱȱ TashlichȱatȱPhantomȱLakeȱȱ

Kol Nidre - Sunday, September 27 5:00ȱpmȱȱ 8:00ȱpmȱ

ContemporaryȱServiceȱȱ TraditionalȱServiceȱȱ

Yom Kippur - Monday, September 28 9:00ȱamȱ 9:00ȱamȱ 12:30ȱpmȱȱ 12:30ȱpmȱȱ 3:00ȱpmȱȱ 4:00ȱpmȱȱ 5:00ȱpmȱȱ 6:00ȱpmȱȱ 7:00ȱpmȱȱ

TraditionalȱServiceȱȱ TeenȱServiceȱȱ ContemporaryȱServiceȱȱ SocialȱActionȱWorkshopsȱȱ Children’sȱ&ȱFamilyȱServiceȱȱ MinchaȱServiceȱȱ Yizkorȱȱ Ni’ilahȱConcludingȱServiceȱȱ CongregationalȱBreakȬtheȬfastȱ

WeȱwelcomeȱyouȱtoȱjoinȱusȱforȱHighȱHolyȱDaysȱWorship.ȱ CallȱtheȱTempleȱofficeȱforȱticketȱinformation.ȱ 425.603.9677ȱ www.templebnaitorah.orgȱ 15727ȱNEȱ4thȱStreet,ȱBellevue,ȱWAȱ98008ȱ

Erez Ben Ari

This 1939 informational brochure from the now-defunct Palestine Cigarette Company attempts to describe the different types of ethnic groups in what is now the state of Israel.

Erez Ben-Ari JTNews Correspondent There’s no denying the Jewish people have been victimized by racism more than most any other minority group throughout history. Every boy and girl in Israel studies the history of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust from an early age, and the topic is discussed nationwide on the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. This being such a major part of Israeli or Jewish culture, one would expect the modern Jew to be as openminded and opposed to racism as possible. Yet this, according to some, is not the case. Have we learned something from our enemies? Racism is defined as a belief that inherent differences among various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others. Racism often manifests itself as hatred, intolerance or discrimination against another group of people. In reality, things are more complicated. Is an Israeli that crosses the street when he sees a group of Arab-looking young adults doing so out of racism, or is it just common sense, given the history of violence that afflicts Israel? Yossi Gurvitz, a journalist from Petach Tikva, feels that despite having been persecuted, the Jewish people are still plagued with racism. “The law in the state of Israel is not racist, but you will frequently find legislation that is,” he says. “For example, the Jewish National Fund holds a significant part of the land in Israel and by definition does not sell it to non-Jews. Another example is the fact that marriage in Israel can happen only between two Jews, and that forces many to travel abroad to marry, because they are not, or because their religion is called into question,” Gurvitz says. Shmulik Brantz, of Jerusalem, feels quite the opposite. “This is a complicated topic, because there are so many groups in this country, and each has its own interests,” he says. “It’s not easy to draw the line where things are truly racial, or just action that has no significance to that end.”

Brantz admits to having heard of cases where a certain individual has been badly treated, but feels it is rare and on a personal level. “A government official would never mistreat a citizen on a racial basis,” he reiterates. Gil Halamish, a resident of Modi’in, concurs that the government is not racist, but, rather, mistreats everyone equally. “It’s easy to look at the government, because it has a high profile,” he says, “but you can find racism lurking away in private organizations.” For example, Halamish has seen high-tech companies that will hire only Russian-born Jews, and quite a few employers won’t hire religious women, he says. “They don’t think of themselves as racist, but rather excuse their behavior as pragmatic, claiming that a religious woman would be away for several weeks every year with childbirth leave and that’s a problem for the business,” he says. Boaz Bismut, a journalist from Tel Aviv, believes racism issues go back a long way — to Israel’s origins as a country of immigrants. “There’s a process of sorts, where there’s a new immigration every generation, and the latest wave always takes the worst beating,” says Bismut, who wrote about the latest two immigration waves. “The state of Israel has invested so much in bringing the Ethiopian Jewish community here,” he says, “but now we hear stories about horrifying discrimination and racial cruelty popping up. At least we can see the enormous response by the local press, and that reflects our desire to eject this sort of thing from our midst.” In the past 20 years, Israel has absorbed a huge number of immigrants. The early ’90s saw a huge Russian migration, and shortly after, a considerable influx of Ethiopians. Has there been any change in the way the local population sees these newcomers? This is an interesting question, especially considering that many of the current population were themselves new immigrants just a handful of years before that.

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jtnews 13 Generations

Family food festivals An electronic welcome to the New Year Masada Siegel and Stefanie Zweig JTNews Columnists Generations is an across-the-world e-mail conversation between 30-something writer Masada Siegel and 70-something author Stefanie Zweig. From: Masada Siegel Wed., Sept. 24, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. To: Stefanie Zweig Subject: Partying too much? Hi Stefanie! Have you been having too much fun celebrating your birthday? Have you been really annoyed with the construction workers? Have you run off and joined the circus? Have you been swamped with too much work? Just wanted to check in… Big Hugs! Masada Stefanie Zweig Wed, Sept. 24, 2008 at 11:37 p.m. To: Masada Siegel Subject: No party Dear Masada, Thank you for being worried about me. No, I was not partying — we had a quiet dinner on my birthday, all five of us — the fifth having never been to a restaurant in his 13-month life. He was very good and was stuffed by his mother with biscuits. I am a gladly seen person in that restaurant (Vietnamese) because I wrote an article about them in a paper that recommends eating places. And my article is in every menu. The construction workers are wearing me out. I haven’t had a shower for weeks. No, I have not run off to the circus. I don’t like circuses and I loathe lions jumping through hoops and people flying through the air. I have very much work, but not so much as to not wish you and

your parents a good year with health and sweet thoughts, and you a partner suiting your happy nature. And don’t forget: You are too old to only play, too young to have no wishes… It is my life motto, originally by Goethe. A special Rosh Hashanah hug from Stefanie. P.S. I keep on forgetting to tell you that we pinned your lovely postcard to our board in the corridor and delight in it every day. From: Masada Siegel Date: Oct. 1, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. To: Stefanie Zweig Subject: Rosh Hashanah Family & Food Festival Hi Stefanie, Hope your Rosh Hashanah has been wonderful. Mine has been delightful. My mom is giving me cooking lessons — she’s amazing and I need practice! I learned the art of making a turkey the other day, and just helped set the table, cut flowers from the garden.... What is interesting is that when my grandparents moved from Germany to Africa, they took their Rosenthal dishes with them, and we use the same beautiful plates. It’s special to use the same plates, and celebrate the holidays with them; it’s just a connection, ever slight, but a nice one. Yesterday at lunch, we went to the Menashes, as we have done ever since I can remember. When we first moved to Arizona, my Dad met them — they are from Rhodesia and we have become great family friends. One day, my dad and Sol were looking at Sol’s photo album and they found photos of my dad! Can you imagine, they traveled in the same circles as kids back in Africa and re-met up years later in Arizona? They are marvelous cooks! The menu was salmon, leek patties, crêpes with mushrooms and asparagus, coucous salad, potato and tiny spinach bourekas. I took photos. How silly am I?

Masada Siegel

Homemade delicacies from Masada’s family Rosh Hashanah meal.

time. My nephew goes by himself, and on the other days we all go and have lunch somewhere in town. On the second day we do Tashlich and throw our sins (bread) into the Main river (Main is the name of the river). It is supposed to be done on the first day, but my father always did it on the second, and we are not going to change traditions. I have sat on my seat in synagogue for 60 years. You would, I suppose, be very surprised if you attended the services, everybody talking and the children making a hell of a noise. But what most people don’t know: Synagogue does not mean a place of worship. The word is of Greek origin and means a place to assemble and meet your friends. I was delighted with your beautiful postcard and I was a slight bit proud of the thought that a book club is going to read my book. Now it is back to work today. It’s pouring outside, and I have promised myself a visit at the market after doing my work, but I don’t know if that is possible. Lots of hugs, Stefanie

Dessert was wonderful and now I am heading to the pool, hoping to work off the napoleon, chocolate ice cream, marzipan, chocolate, apple cake and countless cookies I ate! Truly a wonderful way to start a New Year with my family, friends and amazing food! Hoping yours was sweet, too. Masada From: Stefanie Zweig Wed., Oct 1, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. To: Masada Siegel Subject: Rosh Hashanah Family No Food Festival Dear Masada, Delighted that yours was the first letter in 5769… We had our small family together, and the little 13-month-old Mam (my great nephew) sat at the table with us and enjoyed his willing audience who clapped every time he clapped. I did not cook, but bought the cold fish delicacies, which we all (accept sausage-eating Wolfgang) like. I am not good at cooking and going to the synagogue at the same

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14 jtnews fall books

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friday, september 4, 2009

The women speak New fiction and memoir by female authors Diana Brement JTNews Columnist We are lucky to live in a time and in a society that expects each of us to fill at least some of the limitless promise with which we are born, whether we are male or female. We also know that many people fail to fulfill this promise. How do we fall from grace? How do we derail from this train of promise? Here are four stories, told by women, about women, that examine what we do with the lives we are given and the role environment plays in the outcome. In Irina Reyn’s debut novel, the wellwritten What Happened to Anna K. (Simon and Schuster, paper, $14), a familiar young Russian literary character is recast as a modern-day New Yorker. (Published last year in hard cover.) Here, Anna K. is a Jewish émigré from the Soviet Union, brought to New York — Rego Park, Queens, specifically — by her parents as a teen. Out of place in Russia as a Jew, out of place in the U.S. as a Russian, she is smart, gorgeous and moody, and, even as a grown woman, never quite at ease. While her main character becomes more and more out of control, Reyn fills her fascinating book with rich and delicious (there is a lot of food in this book!) details about Russian Jewish immigrant life in New York’s outer boroughs, with its pressures to conform and its old-European social order. Dahlia Finger, the protagonist of The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert (Simon and Schuster, paper, $14), doesn’t fall from grace because she never had much to begin with. (Also published last year in hard cover.) Dahlia comes from a home that is not just broken, but shattered — shattered when her mother returns permanently and inexplicably to her native Israel, when her once-beloved brother turns on her and her father removes himself emotionally from the family.

Scientists study resilience, trying to determine if it is an inborn or learned trait. In Dahlia’s case, it doesn’t really matter, because she has none. Her life is a mess and she doesn’t care, that is, until she is diagnosed with a brain tumor. While suffering through the horrors of treatment and the knowledge that this thing is growing in her head, Dahlia begins to examine a life she has, until now, left unexamined. She pulls vivid pieces out of her memory with painful honesty that is funny, dreadful and poignant. As the reader sticks with her — and you should, just as you would stick with a crabby friend who had cancer — the reader will be forced to ask and answer questions about how we judge a “good” or “bad” life. (Please don’t read the reading group guide and author “Q & A” until you’ve finished the book!) A voice from long ago comes to us in The Dance of the Demons by Esther Singer Kreitman (Feminist Press, paper, $15.95). There are two stories here, the novel itself and the life of the author. Kreitman was the sister of the much more famous Yiddish language writers, I.B. and I.S. Singer, in whose shadows she grew. That her brothers achieved such fame, praise and encouragement was a source of great angst to Kreitman and her novel addresses, in fictional form, some of the inequities she suffered being a young Jewish woman in early 20th-century Poland. Life for Deborah, her protagonist, is quite grim as she struggles — and fails — to go along with the conventions and demands of her family and society. Born into a world that does not expect much of her, she is rendered unable to expect much of herself. In this case, some knowledge about the author enriches our appreciation of the materials and the publisher provides three additional essays, an analysis by Ilan Stavans, a biographical note from the translator (Kreitman’s son) and a short memoir from her granddaughter.

A Dynamic Home for Judaism

These three novels are clearly not lighthearted, so for a more uplifting conclusion, turn to Rachel Simon’s memoir, Building a Home With My Husband (Dutton, cloth, $24.95). Readers may recognize Simon as the author of Riding the Bus With My Sister, her previous memoir about spending a year with her developmentally disabled sister, trying to become closer to her by participating in her favorite activity. Now she relates the story of her and her architect-husband’s decision to remodel their 100-year-old Delaware row house. As most of us know, even the bestplanned project is almost guaranteed to

wreak havoc in your life. Simon’s experiences are no different, but each phase of construction reminds her of other times in which she struggled with family and with personal and emotional challenges. Simon’s gift is the clarity with which she describes her own emotional turmoil, both current problems and the past family issues they arouse. Simon considers past moves forced by her father’s new job, by her parents’ divorce, and by her mother’s clinical depression. We move with Simon through the chapters of the book and the chapters of renovating her home, her marriage and her family life — to its completion.

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friday, september 4, 2009

Books in brief A little local, a little historical and a few laughs in between Diana Brement

Or “Koshare…Eating traif from someone else’s plate.” So, nu, if you find those funny, there’s more over-the-top mishegas here for the likes of you!

JTNews Columnist

History

seems the most conventional. Elias is “a former nun and now a Sufi Jew” and Redding is “both a Muslim and a Christian” (Redding, a former priest, was defrocked by the Anglican Church earlier this year for her declaration of adhering to both religions). Although these cross-religious labels made me squirm, that is what this volume is all about, showing

An American E xperience: Adeline Moses Loeb and Her Early American Jewish Ancestors, John J. Loeb, et al., (cloth, Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, $49.95). It’s enviable to have the resources to compile a 300-plus page memoir of your family, as Ambassador Loeb has done, complete with detailed genealogies and color reproductions of your ancestors’ portraits. Most of us can’t touch this, but we can enjoy the fruits of the Loeb family’s labor. Although it’s a family story, it will still appeal to readers interested in early American Jewish history (in the North and South), in Jewish genealogy, even in American portrait art.

Humor Yinglish, by Sasha Klotz (Kensington, paper, $12.95). This book is for those who find the mere sound of Yiddish amusing, as well as those who appreciate the art of the multi-lingual pun. The author has taken Yiddish-English blended words, originally mistakes made by immigrants learning a new language, and creates deliberate and updated versions for contemporary use. How about “brith control…What the mohel better have.”

Rock, Rahman is moved by the combined sounds of the prayers of worshippers at the Western Wall, the Muslim call to prayer and church bells tolling. Mackenzie, Falcon (outgoing rabbi of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue) and Rahman admit it’s not always easy getting along, but they make it seem as though it could be. (The “three interfaith amigos” read at University Village Barnes & Noble on Sept. 11.)

Interfaith Dialogue at the Grass Roots, Rebecca K rat z Mays, editor (Temple University, paper, $15). Published by the Dialogue Institute at Temple University, this collection of essays by clerg y and lay people from Judaism, Christianity and Islam who have participated in the Temple U. program, offers practical advice from “Understanding Dialogue” to “The Art of Heeding” and “The Power of Hope.”

Memoir

Local/Interfaith “It would be nice if our traditions consistently taught the messages of compassion and love that are reflected through every page of our holy books. But that is simply not the case.” — Getting to the Heart of Interfaith I have to admit to a bit of discomfort reading the bios of the co-authors of Out of Darkness Into Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Quran with Reflections from Christian and Jewish Sources, by Jamal Rahman, Kathleen Schmitt Elias and Ann Holmes Redding. (Morehouse, paper, $30). Rahman, a Muslim Sufi minister at a Seattle interfaith church

us that all three “Abrahamic” religions have common foundations, here focusing on positive parts of the text. This is also an easy and accessible introduction to Islam. We hear more from Rahman in Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The EyeOpening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi and a Sheikh, by Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon and Sheikh Jamal Rahman (Skylight, paper, $16.99). No, it’s not the beginning of a joke. If you believe that we must all learn to get along, books like this do give hope for that. These three clergymen and their congregations have been hanging out together for quite a while, so all have good things to say about reaching out to those of other religions. I was especially interested in their trialogue about their joint trip to Israel. Standing at dusk at the Dome of the

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American Girl Meet Rebecca: 1914, by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, (American Girl, paper, $6.95). You can count on American Girl for a high quality, well-written book about a piece of history told through the perspective of a schoolage girl. In this case it’s Rebecca Rubin, living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1914 where she learns to make do with her family’s limited resources and the importance of doing mitzvahs, as she adapts to her new American life. And she’s a doll, too! Part of a series of six books.

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Rage Against the Meshuggenah, by Danny Evans (NAL, paper, $15). Don’t be put off by Evans’ use of sexual imagery and scatalogical humor, or his ragging on Jewish life in this tale of his descent into madness and ongoing recovery. He is just giving us a brutally honest look into the workings of his brain (and, perhaps, for those of us from the female half of the population, an education about how guys really think…really???). Often funny, often poignant, and altogether moving, the author of the Dad Gone Mad blog (DadGoneMad.com) delivers a rough-hewn, but altogether moving self-portrait complete with a redemptive ending.

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jtnews 15 fall books

Interfaith

Travel/History The Marco Polo Odyssey: In the Footsteps of a Merchant Who Changed the World, by Harry Rutstein (Marco Polo Foundation, cloth, $27.95). A fascinating account of the author’s three expeditions that accurately traced the route that Marco Polo took from Venice to Beijing, complete with photos and excerpts from Polo’s own 14th-century book. The expeditions took place in 1971, 1981 and 1985 (see JTNews, Aug. 21, 2009), but Rutstein’s recent completion of the book allows it to be politically up to date. It’s a chance to follow along on a journey that few of us would actually take. The volume, which can be ordered online (www.marcopolofound.org), also includes a DVD.

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16 jtnews fall books

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friday, september 4, 2009

Coming of age in the ’70s A powerful novel on the balance between Chassidic and secular societies Rabbi Rachel Esserman The Binghamton Reporter Coming-of-age novels have become so common that writers of almost every ethnic group and nationality have used the genre to tell their tale. While it’s tempting to dismiss yet another work detailing a young man’s journey into adulthood, readers would do well to pick up a copy of Joshua Halberstam’s wonderful A Seat at the Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices (Sourcebooks Landmark). What makes Halberstam’s novel stand out is its narrator, Elisha, a Chassidic Jew, who, in New York City during the 1970s, is looking to balance his love of family and Judaism with his attraction to secular culture. Elisha’s life is complicated by the fact that he is the son and grandson of the rabbis who lead his unnamed branch of Chassidism. The family not only expects him to become a rabbi, but to one day take the reigns at their synagogue. To make matters even worse, the majority of his relatives are Holocaust survivors who have managed to keep their faith even through the most difficult times. But, as much as Elisha loves his family and enjoys learning Talmud with his father, the secular world — particularly its books, movies and music — fascinates him. He is also intrigued by his Uncle Shaya, who, although he manages to keep a foot in the secular and religious worlds, has no answers to Elisha’s questions about how to reconcile his conflicting desires. Although Elisha had promised his father that taking courses at a secular college wouldn’t affect his religious life, Elisha finds that “the submerged doubts of his high school years were now unrelenting. These past months he peppered his father with questions about religious belief and the authority of Jewish traditions and, as always,

his father gave him a wide berth for his interrogations, a freedom of inquir y his teachers [at the yeshiva] would not have allowed. But even his father had his limits, and Elisha was careful to couch his challenges within those borders.” Unfortunately, Elisha finds himself stepping over that border when he becomes friends with a non-Jewish woman, Katrina, who is as fascinated by his religious life as he is by the secular world. What makes A Seat at the Table work is that both sides of the issue are presented with great care and understand-

ing. When estranged from his family, Elisha deeply misses his study time with his father and the camaraderie he experienced with the older men at shul. He doesn’t consider the hours he spent studying Talmud a waste; it’s just that he no longer wants to dedicate his entire life to that study. Halberstam also makes real the despair Elisha’s father feels

over the separation from his son. Even when other family members disparage Elisha’s life choices, his father makes it clear that his son will always have a seat at his table. What the two men do have in common is a love of tales, especially Chassidic tales, which Elisha’s father uses to impart emotional truths he can’t otherwise share. When young, Elisha loved these stories: “His fondest memories were of climbing into his father’s bed on fitful nights to hear magical tales of Chassidic rebbes, relishing a special thrill when they were about his own wondrous ancestors. He’d journey on a carpet of his father’s words to the enchanted place of his forefathers where a flicker of human decency and wisdom would upend the danger at the door or soothe the storm in a man’s heart.” Yet, it’s stories that first attracted Elisha to the secular world: Those forbidden books that illuminated an unfamiliar universe. When babysitting his cousins, he stumbles on Tropic of Cancer, a novel his Uncle Shaya has hidden behind the journals on his book shelf. The book fascinates him: “It was all so unfathomable, all so wonderfully impermissible. Elisha stretched out on the carpet; his imagination fired beyond imagination. Who knew one could also read with one’s skin.” When his uncle discovers him with the book, he is not distressed; instead, Shaya encourages him to read everything and anything, telling him, “How else can a person live more than one life?” Yet, Elisha also discovers that the tales of his father, when revised with his own voice, can also impart important truths. Readers will find themselves rooting for Elisha, even if they are unsure which direction he should follow. That is the beauty of A Seat at the Table. This marvelous, moving tale shines a great light on the difficult pathways of the human heart.

Death and Despondence A ut hor Jon at h a n Tr opp er ’s fifth novel tells the story of Judd Foxman, an unemployed 30-somet hing New Yorker who, shor t ly after separating from his wife of almost a decade (whom he caught sleeping with his boss), returns home to join his broken, emotionally distant siblings to sit shiva for their father. In spite of its absolutely miserable premise — or perhaps because of it — This is Where I Leave You is an absolute joy to read. The book alternates between scenes of heartbreak and scenes of laugh-out-loud absurdit y. An entire chapter is dedicated to the moment Judd walks into his own bedroom to discover his wife and employer having sex. It’s agonizing, it’s brutal, it’s explicit and it’s hilarious. And it only gets better from there. — Leyna Krow

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Boaz Pnini, Cantor

HigH Holy Day SErviCES Selichot Services Erev rosh Hashanah rosh Hashanah 1st Day 2nd Day yom Kippur Kol Nidre Erev Sukkot Sukkot Chol Hamoed Shemini atzeret Erev Simchat torah Simchat torah

1st Day 2nd Day

9/12 10:30 pm 9/18 7:00 pm 9/19 9:30 am 9/20 9:30 am 9/27 6:15 pm 9/28 9:30 am 10/2 7:00 pm 10/3 9:30 am 10/4 9:30 am 10/9 6:00 pm 10/10 9:30 am 10/10 7:00 pm 10/11 9:30 am

Reception prior

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Wishing you a happy and healthy Rosh Hashanah! Prices effective through Sept. 29, 2009

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Some items not available in all stores. While supplies last. No rain checks. For the best selection, please visit:

2755 - 77th Avenue Southeast, Mercer Island, WA RAIN CHECK: We strive to have on hand sufficient stock of advertised merchandise. If for any reason we are out of stock, a Rain Check will be issued enabling you to buy the item at the advertised price as soon as it becomes available. Savings may vary. Check price tag for details. We reserve the right to limit quantities. Please, No Sales to Dealers. AVAILABILITY: Each of these advertised items is readily available for sale at or below the advertised price in most Albertsons stores while supplies last. Some items may not be available at all stores. Prices for limited hour or limited day sales are effective in-store only and are not available for online shopping ©2009 SUPERVALU INC. Albertsons, the Albertsons logo, Good things are just around the corner, the Sav-on Pharmacy logo, the Osco Pharmacy logo, the 10 for $10 logo, Culinary Circle, the Blue Ribbon Beef logo, the Steakhouse Choice logo, Wild Harvest, equaline, HomeLife, essensia, Albertsons Community Partners. Giving back for youth. One Cart at a Time., Java Delight, Pick of the Pros, Pick’d Ripe and Freshness First are trademarks of SUPERVALU INC. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

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n 18 jtnews community calendar

friday, september 4, 2009

september 4 –16, 2009 The JTNews calendar presents a selection of ongoing events in the Jewish community. For a complete listing of events, or to add your event to the JTNews calendar, visit www.jtnews.net. Calendar events must be submitted no later than 10 days before publication.

Ongoing Friday ■■9:30-10:30 a.m. – SJCC Tot Shabbat Dana Weiner at 206-232-7115, ext. 237 Parents with children ages infant-3 celebrate Shabbat with challah, live music, singing, and dancing in the JCC’s foyer. Free. At the Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■11 a.m.-12 p.m. – Tots Welcoming Shabbat 425-603-9677 or www.templebnaitorah.org This Temple B’nai Torah program for kids ages infant-5 includes songs, stories, candle lighting, challah, and open play. Free. At Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE 4th St., Bellevue. ■■12:30-3:30 p.m. – Drop-in Mah Jongg Roni Antebi at 206-232-7115, ext. 269 A friendly game of Mah Jongg. Free for members, $2 for guests. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■12:30-3:30 p.m. – Bridge Group Roni Antebi at 206-232-7115, ext. 269 Prior bridge playing experience necessary. Coffee and tea provided. Bring a brown bag lunch. Free for members, $2 for non-members. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island.

Saturday ■■9-10:30 a.m. – Temple B’nai Torah Adult Torah Study 425-603-9677 Discussion of each week’s parshah. No experience needed. Temple B’nai Torah youth room, 15727 NE 4th St., Bellevue. ■■9:45 a.m. – BCMH Youth Services Julie Greene at 206-721-0970 or [email protected] Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath Congregation has something for all ages: Teen minyan, Yavneh program, Junior minyan, Torah Tots, Mommy and Me, and Navi class. Starting times vary. At Congregation Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, 5145 S Morgan St., Seattle. ■■10 a.m. – Morning Youth Program 206-722-5500 or www.ezrabessaroth.net Congregation Ezra Bessaroth’s full-service Shabbat morning youth program focuses on tefillah, the weekly parshah and the congregation’s unique customs in a creative and fun environment. For infant to 5th grade. At Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, 5217 S Brandon St., Seattle. ■■10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. – Herzl Mishpacha Minyan 206-232-8555 or www.herzl-ner-tamid.org A Shabbat morning service at Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation that meets twice a month and features songs, stories and treats for 2- to 5-year-olds and their families. Meets first and third Shabbat of the month. At Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation, 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island.

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Wishing you a good & sweet New Year!

Q Full range of health care services including assisted living and nursing care services

u Page 20A

The SummiT aT FirST hill, a showcase of retirement living, currently has beautiful one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as a limited number of assisted-living units available for immediate occupancy at competitive market rates. There are no entrance fees. a full complement of services is provided in a traditional Jewish environment. amenities include beautiful common area gathering places, an outdoor terrace, library and more. a stimulating recreational and educational activities program is offered daily, plus scheduled transportation and home care services including an in-home nurse clinic complete The Summit retirement living. The Summit is a part of the Kline Galland Center’s continuum of services, along with The Polack adult Day Center and the Caroline Kline Galland Nursing home.

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Sunday ■■9 a.m. – Shabbat in Practice Marilyn Leibert at 206-722-8289 or [email protected] An ongoing course taught by Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus on the Abridged Book of Jewish Law, known as the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. Free. At the Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■10 a.m. – Mitzvot: The Fabric of Jewish Living 206-722-8289 or [email protected] An ongoing course about the philosophical underpinnings and practical implications of the 613 mitzvot. Free. Part of the Seattle Kollel’s “Breakfast Club,” offering bagels, lox and cream cheese, Starbucks coffee and Krispy Kreme Donuts. At the Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■10:15 a.m. – Sunday Torah Study Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 Weekly study group. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle.

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■■5 p.m. – The Ramchal’s Derech Hashem, Portal from the Ari to Modernity Rabbi Harry Zeitlin at 206-524-9740 or [email protected] This is the earliest systematic and reliable explanation of Kabbalah, which is grounded in tradition and comprehensible to contemporary, educated Jews. At Congregation Beth Ha’Ari Beit Midrash, 5508 35th Ave. NE, Seattle.

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n 20 jtnews community calendar

Calendar t Page 18A ■■1–4 p.m. – Shalom Bayit Warehouse Volunteer Work Party Rachel at 425-558-1894 or [email protected] Help organize donated items for survivors of domestic violence and their children. This event takes place every second or third Sunday. Call for exact dates and location. ■■7:30-10:30 p.m. – He’Ari Israeli Dancing Ellie at 206-232-3560 or [email protected] israelidanceseattle.com Seattle’s oldest Israeli dance session. Couples and singles welcome. Call for schedule changes. Cost is $6. At Danceland Ballroom, 327 NE 91st St., Seattle.

Monday ■■10 a.m.–2 p.m. – JCC Seniors Group Roni 206-232-7115 ext. 269 The Stroum JCC’s Seniors Group meets on Mondays and Thursdays for activities and celebrations. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■10 a.m. – Jewish Mommy and Me Giti Fredman at 206-935-4035 or [email protected] Giti Fredman leads a weekly playgroup for Jewish moms and young children. Sponsored by the Seattle Kollel. At the Hiawatha Community Center, 2700 California Ave. SW, Seattle. ■■4:30 – 6:30 p.m. – Modern Conversational Hebrew Sharron Lerner at 206-547-3914, ext. 3 or [email protected] or www.kadima.org Kadima Reconstructionist Community offers conversational Hebrew classes for students in the 3rd–7th grades. Open to non-members. At Kadima, 12353 8th Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – CSA Monday Night Classes [email protected] Weekly class taught by Rabbi Yechezkel Kornfeld on topics in practical halachah. At Congregation Shevet Achim, 5017 90th Ave. SE, Mercer Island.

friday, september 4, 2009

■■7-8 p.m. – Ein Yaakov in English Joseph N. Trachtman at 206-412-5985 or [email protected] Ein Yaakov has been studied since its publication in 1516 by those desiring an introduction to the Talmud through its stories. Free. At Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch, 6250 43rd Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■7:30 p.m. – Torah Scroll Class for Men [email protected] Shemer Berkowitz, a professional Ba’al Koreh, will teach students to become their own Torah readers by learning the cantillation marks and becoming familiar with the secret of Torah reading. At the Eastside Torah Center, 1837 156th Ave. NE #303, Bellevue. ■■7:45-8:45 p.m. – For Women Only 206-527-1411 Rabbi Levitin offers classic commentaries on the weekly parshah, Rashi, Rambam and Or HaChaim. At Congregation Shaarei Tefilah, 6250 43rd Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■8-10 p.m. – Women’s Israeli Dance Class Ruth Fast at 206-725-0930 Learn Israeli dance steps in an all-female environment. At the Lakewood/Seward Park Community Club, corner of 50th Ave. S and Angeline St., Seattle. ■■8:30 p.m. – Iyun (in-depth) class in Tehillim [email protected] Class led by Rebbetzin Shirley Edelstone and sponsored by the Seattle Kollel. For women only. Free. Location provided upon RSVP. ■■8:30 p.m. – Talmud in Hebrew Rabbi Farkash at [email protected] An in-depth Talmud class in Hebrew for men taught by Rabbi Mordechai Farkash. At the Eastside Torah Center, 1837 156th Ave. NE, Suite 303, Bellevue. ■■8:30 p.m. – Talmud, Yeshiva-Style [email protected] This class tackles sections of ritual, civil and criminal law. Be prepared for lively discussion, debate and analysis. Students must be able to read Hebrew and should have had some experience with in-text Torah study. At the

5770

Eastside Torah Center, 1837 156th Ave. NE #303, Bellevue.

Tuesday ■■11 a.m.-12 p.m. – Mommy and Me Program Nechama Farkash at 425-427-1654 A chance for parents and kids to explore the child’s world through story, song, cooking, crafts and circle time. At a private address. Call for location. ■■12 p.m. – Torah for Women Rochie Farkash at 206-383-8441 or [email protected] Rochie Farkash leads a group of Eastside women in a discussion of the weekly Torah portion. At Starbucks (backroom), Bellevue Galleria, Bellevue. ■■7 p.m. – Crash Course in Hebrew Reading Level 2 [email protected] Five-week course taught by Rabbi Dovid Fredman. At the Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Teen Center Ari Hoffman at [email protected] Video games, game tables, food, and fun for high school students. Hosted by NCSY. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7:45 p.m. – Mystical Understanding of the Hebrew Alphabet Dovid Fredman at 206-251-4063 or [email protected] Discover the mystifying depth and beauty of the Hebrew letters. Free. At Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings Eve M. Ruff at 206-461-3240 or [email protected] Meeting for anyone who has stopped or would like to stop drinking. At Jewish Family Service, 1601 16th Ave., Seattle. ■■7 - 8:30 p.m. – Intermediate Conversational Hebrew Janine Rosenbaum at 206-760 -7812 A course for students with some Hebrew back-

ground interested in expanding their conversational skills and understanding the basic principles of Hebrew grammar. $65 plus materials. At Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation, 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7:30 p.m. – Weekly Round Table Kabbalah Class [email protected] Explore the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. At a private home.

Wednesday ■■11 a.m.–12 p.m. – Torah with a Twist 206-938-4852 Women learn Torah with Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz of the Seattle Kollel at this weekly class. At a Mercer Island location. Call for directions. ■■11:45 a.m.–12:30 p.m. – Downtown Maimonides Class Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus at 206-722-8289 A weekly discussion based on the text of Maimonides’s Thirteen Fundamental Principles of the Jewish Faith by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. Sponsored by the Seattle Kollel. At Tully’s Westlake Center, 400 Pine St., Seattle. ■■ 1:30 p.m. – Book Club at the Stroum JCC Roni Antebi at 206-232-7115, ext. 269 Book discussions the first Wednesday of every month. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■3 p.m. – The Mother’s Circle Marjorie Schnyder at 206-461-3240, ext. 3146 A program for moms from other backgrounds raising Jewish kids to get support, learn about Jewish rituals, practices and values, and get connected to the Jewish community. Sponsored by Jewish Family Service. Every other Wednesday. At Whole Foods Market, 1026 NE 64th St., Seattle. ■■7–9 p.m. – Teen Lounge for Middle Schoolers Ari at 206-295-5888 Foosball, ping-pong, pool, basketball, arcade

u Page 21A

L’ Shana T ova !

Apples, honey, and a subscription to JTNews, the voice of Jewish Washington. Subscribe online at www.jtnews.net Or call 206-441-4553 and we’ll get you started.

friday, september 4, 2009

Challahpalooza!

Calendar t Page 20A games and optional classes. Yavneh building at Congregation Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, 5145 S Morgan St., Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Beginning Israeli Dancing for Adults with Rhona Feldman Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 Older teens and all experience levels are welcome. $40 for a five-session punch card. Discount for members. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Wisdom for Women 14+ Rabbi Bresler at 206-331-8767 or [email protected] Jewish Women ages 14 and up are invited to take part in an afternoon of thought provoking learning, wisdom, and ideas from the Torah. Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Introduction to Judaism 425-603-9677 A 20-week class taught by Rabbi James Mirel and guest scholars. Free and open to the community. At Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE 4th St., Bellevue. ■■7-10 p.m. – Parsha and Poker [email protected] A look at the Torah portion of the week followed by a friendly game of poker with proceeds going to tzedakah. Led by Rabbi Josh Hearshen. At Herzl-Ner Tamid, 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7:15 p.m. – The Jewish Journey 206-722-8289 or [email protected] This two-year comprehensive program guides students through the historical, philosophical and mystical wonders of Judaism’s 3,500-year heritage. Cost is $360, plus a $36 registration fee. At the Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■7:30 p.m. – Parshas Hashavuah [email protected] This class provides a general overview of the Torah portion of the week accompanied by Midrashic commentaries, philosophical insight, and practical lessons. At the Eastside Torah Center, 1837 156th Ave. NE #303, Bellevue.

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Sun., Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. at NYHS, 5017 90th Ave. SE, Seattle.

W hole Foods Roosevelt Square hosts a tasting event for Rosh Hashanah foods. Challahpalooza! will feature different local artisan bakeries and their challahs as well as the Whole Food’s bakery’s apple cake and honey cake and a sampling of smoked salmon, kosher beer and wine. This event is cosponsored by Jewish Family Service and Jconnect. Free and open to the public. Fri., Sept. 11 from 3–6 p.m. at Whole Foods Roosevelt Square, 1026 NE 64th St., Seattle.

able. To register, visit www.kavana.org /family/parenting-and-teshuva. Tuesdays, September 15 and 22 from 7- 9 p.m. Location provided upon RSVP.

Chabad dedication Chabad of the Central Cascades will celebrate the completion of its Torah and the dedication of its new building on Sun., Sept. 13. The events begin at 3 p.m. at the Lakeside Montessori School at 2001 15th Ave. NE, Issaquah for the writing of the last letter of the Torah. Then there will be a parade with the new Torah to the Chabad house at 24121 SE Black Nugget Rd., Issaquah.

NYHS sport court dedication

Historic Vancouver walking tours The Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia present historic walking tours of Jewish Strathcona and Gastown. A tour guide from the museum will provide insight into the landmarks, architecture, events and evolution of Vancouver˙s East End neighborhoods while sharing anecdotes of Jewish community life in the area. The tour lasts two hours and is two kilometers in distance. Cost is $10 per person and includes a copy of the book In the Footsteps of Jewish Vancouver. Tickets can be purchased by calling 604-257-5199. Tours will take place Fri., Sept. 4 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., and Thurs., Sept. 17 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., departing from 700 E Pender St., Vancouver.

“Parenting and Teshuva: Rupture, Repair and Return”

Northwest Yeshiva High School invites the entire community to the school for the dedication of its new sport court. Celebration will include food, basketball and other games. For more information, contact Melissa Rivkin at 206232-5272, ext. 515 or [email protected].

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum of Kavana and Marjorie Schnyder of Jewish Family Service discuss teshuva, the process of self-reflection, and how it relates to healthy parenting. Cost is $20 per person or $30 per couple. Scholarships avail-

Thursday

JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7:30 p.m. – Judaism: The Ultimate Journey [email protected] Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum leads a course called “From Slavery to Freedom: Political Activism and Personal Ethics in the Bible and the Age of Democracy.” At Herzl-Ner Tamid, 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■8–10 p.m. – Teen Lounge for High Schoolers Ari at 206-295-5888 Foosball, ping-pong, pool, basketball, arcade games and snacks. At the Yavneh building at Congregation Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, 5145 S Morgan St., Seattle.

■■6:50 p.m. – Introduction to Hebrew Janine Rosenbaum at 206-760 -7812 Helps students build fluency and comprehension of the prayers of the Friday evening service. $50. At Herzl-Ner Tamid, 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7 p.m. – Junior Teen Center Ari Hoffman at [email protected] Video games, game tables, food, and fun for middle schoolers. Hosted by NCSY. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7 p.m. – Beginners Bridge Class Roni Antebi at 206-232-7115 ext. 269, or [email protected] An eight-week class to familiarize students with the basic principles of bridge. $60/JCC members, $70/non-members. At the Stroum

■■9:30-10:30 a.m. – Women’s Talmud Sasha Mail at 206-323-7933, ext. 301 The Talmud from women’s perspectives, presented by Rivy Poupko Kletenik. Free. At Seattle Hebrew Academy, 1617 Interlaken Dr. E, Seattle. ■■12 p.m. – Ramban on Chumash for Women Marilyn Leibert at 206-722-8289 A discussion of foundational Jewish concepts through the eyes of Nachmanides on Chumash in the Book of Genesis, as well as an analysis of key Rashis. Prerequisite: the ability to recognize the Hebrew letters and a desire to learn basic Hebrew grammar. For women only. $25. Sponsored by the Seattle Kollel. At a private home, Mercer Island.

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jtnews 21 community news

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&HOHEUDWHD7UDGLWLRQ7KLV 5RVK+DVKDQDK:LWK+HOS)URP4)& SEPTEMBER 4TH - SEPTEMBER 11TH

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n 22 jtnews community calendar

friday, september 4, 2009

Calendar t Page 21A

Candle Lighting Times 9/4/09 9/11/09 9/18/09 9/25/09

7:27 p.m. 7:13 p.m. 6:59 p.m. 6:44 p.m.

September Friday 4 ■■8 a.m. - 12 p.m. — JEC Back-To-School Special Sasha Parsley at [email protected] Workshop led by Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld for early childhood to kindergarten teachers in day and supplementary schools. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island.

Sunday 6 ■■9:30 a.m. – Mason Lake Hike Laura at [email protected] A five-mile hike around Mason Lake with Jconnect. Meet at Hillel UW, 4745 17th Ave. NE, Seattle.

Monday 7 ■■ 9:45 a.m. - 12 p.m. – Labor Day Learning [email protected]. A special day of classes at the Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle.

Wednesday 9 ■■6:30 p.m. – StandWithUs Community Luncheon [email protected] StandWithUs’ celebration of Israel and annual fundraising event. At the Westin Hotel, 1900 5th Ave., Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Curriculum Night at NYHS for All Parents Michelle Haston at 206-232-5272 or [email protected] Open house for parents of all students attending NYHS. At Northwest Yeshiva High School, 5017 90th Ave. SE, Mercer Island.

■■7 - 8 p.m. – Slice of Chai Ari Hoffman at [email protected] Free pizza for NCSY teens. At Island Crust, 7525 SE 24th St., Suite 100, Mercer Island. ■■7:30 p.m. – Seattle Jewish Chorale Auditions 206-708-7518 or [email protected] Seattle Jewish Chorale is seeking new members for the ’09-’10 season. Location provided upon RSVP.

Thursday 10 ■■1 p.m. – SJCC Annual Meeting Marcie Wirth at 206-388-1998 or [email protected] Meeting in celebration of the Stroum JCC’s 60th anniversary and to honor staff members and volunteers for their service. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island.

Friday 11 ■■3 - 6 p.m. – Challahpalooza! A tasting event for Rosh Hashanah foods. Free. At Whole Foods, 1026 NE 64th St., Seattle. ■■7:15 p.m. – Sheva Brachot Ari Hoffman at [email protected] Teens are invited to join Seattle NCSY in celebrating the marriage of chapter alumni Joshua and Rachel Russak. At Sephardic Bikur Holim, 6500 52nd Ave. S, Seattle.

Saturday 12 ■■8:30 p.m. – Do the Puyallup Ari Hoffman at [email protected] A trip to the Puyallup Fair with NCSY. $25. Meet at Sephardic Bikur Holim, 6500 52nd Ave. S, Seattle.

Sunday 13 ■■10 a.m. – Bike & Brunch Anna Frankfort at [email protected] Bike ride and brunch sponsored by Women’s Philanthropy in conjunction with the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. RSVP for starting location.

■■10 a.m. – NYHS Sport Court Dedication Northwest Yeshiva High School invites the entire community to the school for the dedication of its new sport court. At Northwest Yeshiva High School, 5017 90th Ave. SE, Seattle. ■■2:30 - 5:30 p.m. – “Peter Pan” Auditions Daniel at [email protected] Children ages 8 and older are invited to audition for a musical production of “Peter Pan.” At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■3 p.m. – Chabad Dedication Chabad of the Central Cascades celebrates the completion of its Torah and the dedication of its new building. At Lakeside Montessori School, 2001 15th Ave. NE, Issaquah. ■■5 p.m. – Annual Alki Beach BBQ Ari Hoffman at [email protected] Beach sports and food with NCSY. $10. Meet at Sephardic Bikur Holim, 6500 52nd Ave. S, Seattle.

Monday 14 ■■5:30 - 7:30 p.m. – “Peter Pan” Auditions Daniel at [email protected] Children ages 8 and older are invited to audition for a musical production of “Peter Pan.” At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7 p.m. – Genealogical Discoveries www.jgsws.org Sally Mizroch and Nancy Adelson present a talk on “Genealogical Discoveries from Cemeteries in the Old Country and the New World.” Sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State. At the Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island. ■■7 p.m. – Women’s Night of Jewish Learning Anna Frankfort at 206-774-2226 or [email protected] Monthly interactive Jewish learning, dessert, and schmoozing sponsored by Women’s Philanthropy in conjunction with the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Location provided upon RSVP.

Tuesday 15 ■■6:30 p.m. – Prospective Member Open House Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or [email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.org A chance to learn more about Beth Shalom membership and a free class in preparation for the High Holidays. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■7 - 8:30 p.m. – Lashon Hara Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or [email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.org An in-depth look at Jewish texts concerning lashon hara (gossip) and its relevance to the High Holidays. Free. RSVP. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■7 - 8:30 p.m. – Holiday Challah Baking Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or [email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.org Learn to make challah in time for the holidays. RSVP requested. Free. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. –“Parenting and Teshuva: Rupture, Repair and Return” www.kavana.org/family/ parenting-and-teshuva Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum of Kavana and Marjorie Schnyder of Jewish Family Service discuss teshuva, the process of self-reflection, and how it relates to parenting. Location provided upon RSVP.

Wednesday 16 ■■7 p.m. – Preparing for the High Holidays Rabbi Fredman at [email protected] Get a fresh perspective on the High Holidays. Seattle Kollel, 5305 52nd Ave. S, Seattle. ■■7 p.m. – Laugh Your Way to Giving Rebecca Cohen at 206-774-2272 or [email protected] A night of comedy featuring “World of Jewtopia” to benefit the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. At Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle.

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206-441-4553

Wednesday, September 9, 7:30 p.m. Alison Gopnik Author reading

Tuesday, September 15, 7 p.m. A.J. Jacobs Author reading

Author/psychologist (and mother) Alison Gopnik shares insights from her latest book, The Philosophical Baby, about new science around the psychological and philosophical development of very young children, transforming parents’ understanding of how babies see the world. Tickets are $5 and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800838-3006. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Babies are welcome to attend. Downstairs at Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave., Seattle.

Author A.J. Jacobs reads from his new book, The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment, a collection of humorous essays about experiments Jacobs has undertaken for the sake of personal betterment. Jacobs is also the author of Know-It-All and A Year of Living Biblically. At University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, Seattle.

the arts

Wednesday, September 16, 7-10 p.m. “Laugh Your Way to Giving” Benefit comedy show

sept 9 – 16

Saturday, September 12, 8 p.m. “The Stay Up Late Show” featuring Josh Feit Theatre www.stayuplateshow.com Josh Feit, editor of the Seattle politics blog Publicola, gives a civics lesson on “The Stay Up Late Show.” Feit will be joined by Ade, hostess of Re-Bar’s Special Ladies, The 5 Spot’s lunch lady and The Crypt. Hosted by Rebecca Mmmmm Davis. Cost is $10. At ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., Seattle.

Selichot

Saturday, September 12 Dessert 7:30 PM • Speaker 8 PM • Service 9 PM

Join us in preparing to open our hearts and for renewal and tikkun. SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

RUTH MESSINGER

President, American Jewish World Service Ms. Messinger is an internationally recognized advocate for peace, human rights and social change.

Global Teshuva: Changing Ourselves while Changing the World Free and Open to the Community Join our Temple community in meditation, prayer and hearing the shofar’s call to redemption.

Rosh Hashanah

Friday, September 18 • 6:15 or 8:15 PM Saturday, September 19 • 8:30 or 11:45 AM Children’s Service 2:45 PM • Tashlich 4 PM

Yom Kippur

Sunday, September 27 - Kol Nidre • 6:15 or 8:15 PM Monday, September 28 • 8:30 or 11:45 AM Healing Service 11:30 AM Teen Service 11:45 AM • Children’s Service 2:45 PM Afternoon Service 3:45 - 7 PM includes Yizkor, Neilah and Havdallah

For information about High Holy Days tickets, please call 206-525-0915

TEMPLE BETH AM

2632 NE 80th Street, Seattle, WA 206-525-0915 • www.templebetham.org The Reform Synagogue in Seattle’s Jewishly Happening North End

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n arts & entertainment

friday, september 4, 2009

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle launches it 2010 Community Campaign with a night of comedy featuring “World of Jewtopia” and a dessert reception. “World of Jewtopia” is a one act play starring Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson that combines scenes from their original show comedy show “Jewtopia,” re-enactments from their bestselling book, Jewtopia: The Chosen Book for the Chosen People, interactive audience participation (i.e. the Jewish “Apollo”), stand-up comedy, and a multimedia presentation. Tickets are $36. At Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle.

September Worship Experiences atTEMPLE Friday, September 11 6:00 PM • Bellevue Rock Shabbat NO SEATTLE EVENING SERVICE

Friday, September 4 6:00 PM • Bellevue Shabbat Unplugged 6:00 PM • Seattle Classic Shabbat

Saturday, September 12 9:30 AM • Seattle Torah & T’Fillah Together 10:30 AM • Seattle 10:30 AM • Bellevue Shacharit Service

Saturday, September 5 9:30 AM • Seattle Torah & T’Fillah Together 10:30 AM • Seattle 10:30 AM • Bellevue Shacharit Service

HIGH HOLY DAYS 5770

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S EL IC H O T Saturday, September 12th

Selichot Service - Bellevue 8:00 pm - Joint service with Temple B’nai Torah…at our Bellevue Campus. An evening of nosh and celebration culminating in a 10:00 pm service of reflection, music and prayer—the ultimate preparation for the High Holy Days.

EREV ROSH HASHANA Friday, September 18th

SHABBAT SHUVAH Friday, September 25th

6:00 pm - Rock Shabbat Shuvah – Bellevue 7:30 pm - 4th Shabbat Shuvah – Seattle

Saturday, September 26th

10:30 am - Shacharit Services - Seattle NO BELLEVUE AM SERVICE

KOL NIDRE Sunday, September 27th

Evening Service* 7:30 pm - Seattle and Bellevue

Evening Service* 7:30 pm - Seattle and Bellevue

Morning Service* 10:00 am - Seattle and Bellevue - OR Kids’ Kehillah* (Ages 6-9) 10:00 am - Bellevue only Kulanu* (Ages 5-11 with parents) 10:00 am - Seattle only Family Services (Open to the public) (No ticket needed) 1:30 pm - Seattle and Bellevue Tashlich casting off our sins 3:00 pm - Luther Burbank Park, Mercer Island

Morning Service* 10:00 am - Seattle and Bellevue - OR Kids’ Kehillah* (Ages 6-9) 10:00 am - Bellevue only Kulanu* (Ages 5-11 with parents) 10:00 am - Seattle only Family Services (Open to the public) (No ticket needed) 1:30 pm - Seattle and Bellevue Afternoon, Yizkor & Neilah (Closing) Services : pm - followed by Break-The-Fast Receptions Seattle and Bellevue

ROSH HASHANA Saturday, September 19th

Y

YO M KIPPU R Monday, September 28th

Please Note: * Ticket Required For Admission. All Non Ticketed Services/Events Are Open To The Public. For more information call (206) 323-8486 or log onto www.tdhs-nw.org

Seattle Sanctuary 1441 - 16th Avenue (206) 323-8486

TEMPLE De Hirsch Sinai

click on TGIS @ TDHS at www.tdhs-nw.org

Bellevue Sanctuary 3850 - 156th SE (425) 454-5085

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n 24 jtnews arts & entertainment

friday, september 4, 2009

Sunny days New ‘Shalom Sesame’ using Grover to bridge Israel-Diaspora gap Dina Kraft JTA World News Service HERZLIYA, Israel (JTA) — Grover has been getting to know Israel. The furry blue “Sesame Street” character has visited the Dead Sea, Caesarea, the Western Wall and even Jerusalem’s shouk to sample the produce.  Along with Disney Channel star Annelise van der Pol, Grover has been exploring the Jewish State as part of a Sesame Workshop production called “Shalom Sesame.” The 12-part series is geared toward North American Jewish children and their families to forge a sense of Jewish identity by providing a taste of Israel, Jewish traditions and culture. It will include celebrity appearances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Debra Messing and possibly Ben Stiller, among others, and is scheduled for a Hanukkah 2010 release. A 1986 production of the same name sold 1 million copies and is considered the top-selling Jewish educational title. More than 20 years later, it was time to update and overhaul the content. “The needs of the Jewish community have changed,” said Danny Labin, the project’s executive director, speaking at the studio outside of Tel Aviv where segments are being filmed. Labin noted shifting demographic realities such as intermarriage and Israel’s large immigrant populations from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Two of the new human characters reflect this diversity in Israel: One is an Ethiopian Israeli woman, the other a Russian immigrant. Scr ipts a nd concepts have been reviewed with the help of a team of senior experts in Jewish education representing the religious streams and a range of backgrounds, from Chabad to Reform. “We are trying to make something that is accessible to those not ensconced in a formal Jewish framework to help parents feel more comfortable and get them interested in a search for identity themselves,” Labin said. The project also intends to supplement the TV show with an interactive Web site and other media platforms, including plans to use joint online projects to help connect Jewish Israeli and American children with the show as a vehicle. In t he f i rst episode of “Sha lom Sesame,” the character played by van der

Koby Gideon/Flash 90

Grover chats with an Israeli boy at an overlook of the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City during the filming of “Shalom Sesame.” Pol — a Jewish-American actress who was named after Anne Frank — is seen on a plane flying to Israel for her first visit. After hearing Grover, cast as a flight attendant, shout out “Kosher meal! Aisle 10!” they strike up a friendship and decide to travel together throughout the country. Throughout the series the pair remain in Israel — a device that lets children see various landscapes, meet Israeli children, and even learn a little Hebrew. There are episodes on the Jewish holidays, mitzvah themes such as loving animals and treating others k indly, animation segments and interviews. The Hanukkah episode will feature a visit with a family whose menorah has remained in the family for generations. The Rosh Hashanah episode opens with a discussion about new beginnings as the audience sees an Israeli girl start her first day at school and her brother learn how to blow a shofar. In an exclusive interview with JTA, Grover discussed why he was excited about the project. “My home is ‘Sesame Street,’ but I love meeting people from all over the world, and one of those places is Israel, where I have been able to make new friends and learn,” he said in his trademark highpitched tone. “I have learned a few words in Hebrew, like ‘todah’ [thank you] and ‘boker tov’ [good morning], and that pretty much gets me by.”

Come join us… in our celebration of the High Holy Days Services held at Seattle First Presbyterian Church 1013 - 8th Ave in Seattle

9/18 Erev Rosh Hashanah 7:30pm Service 9/19 Rosh Hashanah 9:30am Children’s Service 10:30am Main Service & Tashlich 9/27 Kol Nidre 7:30pm Service 9/28 Yom Kippur 9:30am Children’s Service 10:30am Main Service 2pm Study Sessions 4pm Afternoon Service

Visit kol-haneshamah.org

for more information and childcare reservations

Eric Jacobson, the puppeteer who assumed the voice and actions of Grover about 10 years ago after the legendary Frank Oz retired, said Grover seems to connect with audiences young and old both in Israel and around the world. “L et’s sta r t w it h t hat Grover is blue,” Jacobson said during a break from filming. “No one I know is blue, and therefore he can be anybody.” Three other puppets join Grover in the cast, including a floppy-haired Arab Israeli named Mahboub.

Shahar Sorek plays another human character, an archeologist who is religiously observant and wears a kipah. Often he is the one to explain some of the Jewish rituals and Bible stories. “I think it’s important to protect and present our Jewish heritage, and this is a tool for helping to do that,” Sorek said. The Sesame Workshop has co-productions with some 18 countries, including an Israeli version called “Rehov Sumsum” and a Palestinian version called “Shara’a Simsim.” “Shalom Sesame” is the first series intended to reach out specifically to an American Diaspora audience, but similar programs are planned for children of Arab Americans and of Indian Americans based on “Sesame Street”-style programs in Egypt and India. During a scene shot last week from the final episodes of “Shalom Sesame,” at a farewell party for Grover and van der Pol, a wistful van der Pol looks around at her new friends and says, “I can’t believe my Israel adventure is over. It’s been the most amazing experience of my life — the friends, the fun.” “The falafel!” pipes in Grover, prompting a round of laughs. Shoshana, who plays an Israeli family friend of van der Pol’s character, turns to her and says, “You will always have a home here. You are our mishpacha now, part of our family.” The director calls out, “Okay everyone, get a little mushy now.”

Rena Berger

Torah Day School 2nd graders Devorah, Shifra, Esti, Rochel, Yael and Gabi try out their desks on their first day of school on Tues., Sept. 1.

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n national & international news

friday, september 4, 2009

world news updates, daily at www.jtnews.net

The unobtainable truth Facts, fiction and fury in the battle of human rights groups vs. Israel Ron Kampeas JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — The fighting in Gaza ended months ago, but the fight over the war rages on between Israel and NGOs. NGOs have been issuing reports accusing Israeli of war crimes. In response, the Israeli army recently released a 163-page, 460-point account seeking to rebut such claims and discredit those making them. At issue is the three-week Israeli invasion of Gaza starting in December 2008, launched in response to thousands of Palestinian rocket attacks against civilian targets in the south of Israel. Approximately 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, many of them militant fighters associated with Hamas, the Palestinian group in control of Gaza. But hundreds of Palestinian civilians are also believed to have been killed. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including several civilians. Hamas rockets during the war reached as far as the Israeli cities of Yavneh, Beersheva and Kiryat Gat. Some of the arguments between Israel and the NGOs revolve around alternating versions of the facts of the war, others address theories of the laws of war, and still others lunge with ferocity at the very legitimacy of one side or the other to even make an argument. The stakes are high — as high as the threat of charges against Israeli officers and an effort by some Israeli officials to use the law as a weapon to limit international funding of human rights groups. From the outset, the Israeli report cites an array of international law readings to show that Israel’s war was just. It also takes aim at what it describes as the tendency of some critics to rush to draw conclusions of national guilt from scattered evidence. “Often,” the Israeli report stated, “these leaps of logic bypass the most basic steps, such as

identification of the specific legal obligation at issue and explanation of how it was violated.” To buttress its case, the Israeli army paper cited a wealth of recommended practice from U.S., British and Dutch military manuals, as well as rulings concerning the NATO action against Yugoslavia in Kosovo in 1999; the goal was to establish that there is a legally tolerable threshold of civilian death, particularly in cases of urban warfare. At times, the Israeli report devolves into petty sniping at critics. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, top Israeli officials smear critics with ancient guilt-by-association accusations. It’s not much prettier on the human rights side: Reconstructions of the horrific death of civilians replete with painstakingly gathered evidence are coupled with bewildering omissions of context and blended into a package that assumes an inherent Israeli immorality. The Israeli report repeatedly expressed frustration with efforts to turn criticism of individual officers and soldiers into a wholesale indictment of Israel’s military establishment and the decision to resort to military force. It’s a pattern in evidence in three successive reports published by Human Rights Watch, perhaps the most prominent of the groups engaged by the government since the end of the war. One in March dealt with the use of white phosphorus; another in June dealt with high-precision missiles fired from pilotless drones; the most recent, earlier this month, deals with the killings of individuals bearing white flags. Only the first report, on the use of phosphorus, chronicles what could be described as an alleged pattern of abuse. The other two reports from Human Rights Watch focus on a relatively small number of cases: Six instances of Israeli drones allegedly hitting civilian targets isolated from fighting and seven shootings

resulting in 11 deaths. Still, even in those reports, Human Rights Watch uses language suggesting pervasive violations. The HRW reports fail to assess evidence — including videos of Israeli forces holding their fire because of the presence of civilians — that Israel has provided to show that such incidents were the exception to the rule; they fail to examine what measures Israel has taken to prevent civilian deaths, which would be pertinent in examining any claim of war crimes. Israeli officials are also guilty of omissions. The army report cites tonnage of food and medical equipment allowed into Gaza during the operation for humanitarian relief; it does not, however, translate these raw figures into proportions and fails to address claims by an array of groups — including Human Rights Watch — that Israel used humanitarian relief as leverage, and the result has been malnutrition and want. Similarly, in describing the lead up to the war, the Israeli army provides a persuasive, blow-by-blow account of the intensification of indiscriminate rocket fire that led it to launch its invasion; but it omits any mention of the three-year siege Israel has imposed on Gaza, or that Hamas rulers in Gaza used the siege as a pretext for the rocket fire. In one line, the Israeli report states that Gaza is free of occupation, but fails to note that Israel continues to control all but one point of entry into the area. One of the more bizarre omissions in the Israeli army report is how it deals with the deaths of 42 police cadets in a missile strike in the first days of fighting. Human rights groups allege that the police were not a legitimate target; they were recruits, drawn from the massive ranks of Gaza’s unemployed, who were “at rest” at a graduation ceremony. Moreover, they were supposedly slated for non-combat patrol roles. The Israeli army report does not mention the strike at all, or the deaths. Instead, it spends five pages generally

justifying attacks on police, and noting that in some cases terrorists have doubled as police — although groups, including B’Tselem, have suggested that in the matter of the cadets, this assertion was questionable at best. Two high-ranking Hamas security officials present at the ceremony were also slain in the attack, one of at least 30 strikes on police stations on Dec. 28, the second day of the war. Israeli spokesmen also repeatedly question the reliability of the human rights reports, saying witnesses must be compromised by fear of Hamas retaliation. “Human Rights Watch is relying on testimony from people who are not free to speak out against the Hamas regime,” Mark Regev, the prime minister’s spokesman, told the BBC on Aug. 13. In fact, HRW attempts to get witnesses alone, and corroborates their accounts with medical examinations and forensic evidence. Israeli government spokesmen, moreover, do not account for the fear of retaliation — albeit of a less lethal kind, involving social ostracization — when they dismiss accounts of atrocities compiled from soldiers by groups such as Breaking the Silence. Then there are the examples where facts simply diverge: Israel says it used white phosphorus as an obscurant when it faced Hamas anti-tank forces; human rights groups have alleged that the presence, in some cases, of armed forces was minimal and did not justify the use of the phosphorus, which upon skin contact may maim and kill. Israel says the number of civilians killed was in the low hundreds; human rights groups place it at closer to 1,000. Some divergences have to do with the perspective of the claimant. The Israeli army report says warnings to civilians to leave an area were as precise as they could be without betraying tactics and putting

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September 11–October 4, 2009

A Christmas Story

November 27–December 20, 2009

Arcadia

February 5–21, 2010

Love, Sex and the IRS April 9–25, 2010

And Then There Were None June 11–27, 2010

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friday, september 4, 2009

Did Sweden fumble or Israel overreact? A look at the organ harvesting controversy Gil Shefler JTA World News Service

ANALYSIS

NEW YORK (JTA) — A Swedish newspaper is pushing forward with its farfetched claims that the Israeli army harvested body organs from Palestinians. But for many Israel watchers the debate has shifted to whether the Swedish government fumbled the controversy or the Israeli government went overboard with its incensed reaction. The decision by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet to publish the story, which included no evidence — and an admission to the contrary— that the allegations were true, drew swift Israeli and Jewish denunciations, as well as a condemnation by Sweden’s ambassador to Israel. But then the Swedish Foreign Ministry disavowed that condemnation in the name of free speech, infuriating Israeli officials. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman charged that the Swedish government position was reminiscent of the country’s policy of neutrality toward Nazi Germany during World War II. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded a formal condemnation from the Swedes. And the Israeli Government Press Office delayed accreditation of two Aftonbladet reporters for a visit to Israel this month by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

For their part, Stockholm officials argued it is not the government’s place to comment on press reports out of concern for freedom of the press. Meanwhile, some members of Sweden’s small Jewish community said this week they were bewildered by Israel’s handling of the affair. Some Israelis also criticized their government’s response as an overreaction. “The Israeli reaction was very harsh, and it created a storm on a diplomatic scale,” Lena Ponser, president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, told JTA. “On the one side, it is understandable. On the other, it shifts the focus from the main issue at hand: Instead of trying to expose [the falsehood of the story], all the other papers are now supporting the freedom of press.” In an editorial, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz said Lieberman’s invocation of the Holocaust and Sweden’s neutrality during World War II caused political damage for Israel and dishonored the memory of victims of Nazism. “The argument cheapened the Holocaust, blew the article out of proportion and caused an international uproar, pushing Sweden — which currently holds the presidency of the European Union — into an unnecessary confrontation with Israel,” the editorial said. “Lieberman must understand that freedom of the press exists in Sweden — for both good

journalism and bad — and that just as in Israel, the government does not dictate what is published. Its purpose is not to condemn news stories.” The controversial article penned by freelancer Donald Boström ran on Aug. 17 in Aftonbladet, a tabloid and one of the two leading newspapers in Sweden. In his piece, Boström tied the recent arrest of Lev y-Izha k Rosenbaum, a Brooklyn Jew suspected of tr ying to sell a kidney, to allegations by Palestinians in the West Bank that the bodies of family members killed in clashes with Israeli forces were returned with organs missing. The next week, the newspaper followed up with another report on allegations of organ harvesting, calling on Israel to investigate the issue. The newspaper’s editor also penned a piece defending the decision to publish the stories. Sweden’s ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, called the original article “shocking and appalling.” But Sweden’s foreign minister later disavowed her statement on his blog, saying the government had no right to comment. Lieberman called the report a blood libel. “The story published this week is a natural continuation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and blood libels like the Beilis trial, in which Jews were accused of adding Christian children’s blood to

Passover matzoh,” he said, according to reports. Jewish Swedes have watched with dismay as the controversy has ballooned. Anders Carlberg, the outgoing chairman of the Jewish Community in Gothenburg, Sweden, said Israeli officials should have responded by publishing a rebuttal to the allegations in Aftonbladet. “The stance of the community in general is that it’s strange that this has become a government issue at all,” Carlberg said. “It falls along the lines of Voltaire: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it.” In the United States, however, Jewish organizational officials were strident in calling for Sweden to condemn the report. David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, called on Bildt to embrace the statement made by Sweden’s ambassador in Tel Aviv. “Assuming you disagreed with the article, all you had to say was that you found the report odious and welcomed the reaction of Ambassador Bonnier,” Harris wrote in a letter to the Swedish foreign minister. “That would have been the right thing to do in a case that has garnered global attention.” Condemnation of the news story came from some unexpected sources, too. Matthew Cassel, a blogger for the pro-Palestinian Web site Electronic Intifada, called the Aftonbladet story “highly irresponsible” and said it “lacked credibility.” But Cassel also said Israel was exploiting the controversy for its benefit.

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Letters t Page 3A

The Unobtainable Truth t Page 25A

Do we really have a responsibility to replace the Jews killed in the Holocaust? What a weird idea, as if individuals can or should be replaced. What a thing to wish on innocent potential spouses, that someone gay or lesbian should repress their desires and marry anyway just to raise children. Would the writer of the letter want to be married to a gay man? Would she want her children to be married to people who would rather be with someone of the same sex? In any case, gay men and lesbians can and do raise children, whether their own biological children or adopted. Margaret Lemberg Seattle

soldiers in danger; Human Rights Watch says the warnings, while welcome, were often too generalized and even confusing. Such differences might have been addressed by dialogue and an exchange of information that would observe limits aimed at preser v ing Israeli tactical secrecy. Israeli officers, for instance, have said that they have names to attach to fatalities that show that the vast majority were combatants; but they have not provided these to human rights groups. Human rights groups have constantly pressed Israeli authorities to address specific claims, and have been brushed off. Yet the release of information that at least 13 incidents were under criminal investigation prior to the July 29 publication date of the military’s report might have gone some way toward refuting claims that Israel was cavalier about abuse allegations.

Time to Unite I am deeply disturbed that the JTNews chose to publish the objectionable and narrow-minded message written by Edith Isaacs Ervin, “Broad Goals,” in response to the article “Gay Israelis Reeling After Shooting Attack.” It is comments such as these that further divide and destroy our already small Jewish community, not the decreased rates of reproduction amongst gay Jewish couples as she alludes to. Young Jews in my generation feel increasingly disheartened by the political, ideological, and religious divisions in the Jewish community that exclude numerous members out of a fear of our differences. Telling gay Jews to “straighten up and fly right” is not an appropriate way to encourage re-population “after the slaughter of World War II” and is an example of the harmful words that turn young Jews away from their tradition. When our community embraces every Jew, regardless of affiliation, political stance, sexual orientation, or gender, we will then fully thrive and flourish. We must never forget our past persecution; however, we must heal, move forward, and celebrate the diversity in our community. As the Talmud says, “Who is wise? The one who learns from all.” Sasha Parsley Western Washington University student Kirkland

of Israel; HRW frequently calls for international investigations, saying that Israel has repeatedly failed “to conduct credible investigations into alleged violations of the laws of war.” The problem with such calls is that Israel believes such international mechanisms cannot be trusted because they are wrapped into the United Nations — a worry Human Rights Watch admits is credible. Moreover, left unsaid is the failure generally among Western democracies to dig too deep when human rights abuses are at hand. The Obama administration reportedly is considering a strateg y for prosecuting individuals who carried out torture, but not those who ordered it. Israeli army spokesmen say it is fairer to note what Israel is doing to prevent the recurrence of abuses, citing as an example the introduction of the ultra-precise missiles.

Instead, Israeli officials have devolved into name-calling, backed by an array of pro-Israel NGOs and lobbying groups that distribute — sometimes anonymously — “backgrounders” that attempt through sometimes tenuous links to discredit the human rights groups. The foreign ministry recently distributed material implicating HRW editor Joe Stork with disseminating radical, anti-Israel and pro-terrorist material in the 1970s; it was an odd volley from the office of a minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who says police investigations of criminal conduct and a youthful flirtation with the racist Kach movement should not bear on his current diplomacy. More substantively, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is now seeking ways to legally cut off foreign government funding for Israeli human rights NGOs. The human rights groups are not above using the law to make an exception

Crossword answers (from page 6)

Karen Coval/JDS

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Teach respect I was shocked and offended by the letter to the editor (“Broad Goals,” Aug. 21). To the best of my knowledge the teachings of the Torah, which I take as the primary goals of the Jewish people, do not require procreation. Love, compassion and respect for all people seem to me to be the essence, the broad goal, of the Jewish people. No person — read: Woman — should be seen as an incubator for future warriors of a state. No person, man or woman, should be chastised should she/he choose not to reproduce. Many heterosexual people choose not to reproduce. Would they too, be the victims of Ms. Ervin’s vitriolic comments? In fact, many homosexuals, male and female, raise children in happy homes. Scientific research has shown these children to be as happy and healthy as children raised in heterosexual homes. I would like to point out that most homosexual adults were raised in heterosexual households. Sexual orientation is not about parents’ modeling behavior. In a world that is overpopulated, in a time when there is so much violence between individuals and groups, it seems particularly sad that people who love one another should be spoken about with such disdain. As an educator I know it is true that we teach by example. I hope Ms. Ervin will begin teaching to those around her the precepts of Judaism that are at our core: Respect for others. Kayla Weiner, Ph.D. Seattle

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Iran Sanctions t Page 1A still was not cooperating with efforts to assess whether it is militarizing its civilian nuclear program, it provided support to the tough line European leaders have been taking recently against Iran. “We already have sanctions in place, but we can go further on sanctions, and we’re ready to do that,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint news conference with Netanyahu on Aug. 27 during the Israeli prime minister’s visit to Germany. Merkel stressed that to be effective, sanctions must include Russia and China, two major trading partners with the Islamic Republic that until now have been reluctant to expand sanctions. “We will not be able to allow for a situation where a few countries of the European Union and America are in on this but we leave China, for example, Russia and other countries outside of this,” she said. There are parallel efforts in the U.S. Congress to pass a unilateral sanctions package targeting Iran’s energy sector and banking system. It s e eme d c le a r t h at G er m a ny, France, Britain and the U.S. were prepared to make the strong sanctions case possible this week when their representatives meet in Germany with representatives of Russia and China at a pre-General Assembly gathering of the “P5 plus 1” — the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany.

friday, september 4, 2009

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said last week that Iran’s discredited election in June robbed the nation of credibility. “It is the same leaders in Iran who say that the nuclear program is peaceful and that the elections were honest,” Sarkozy was reported by Reuters as saying in his annual address Aug. 26 to French ambassadors. “Who can believe them?” The same day, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also expressed skepticism of Iran’s denials that its civilian nuclear program did not have a military end. “The region and world have nothing to fear from a civilian nuclear program in Iran,” Brown said, “but Iran’s actions do not make their arguments convincing.” On Aug. 25, Iranian media reported that Tehran was prepared to offer a new nuclear package to the international communit y. Details were not forthcoming. The prospect of international unanimity on isolating Iran may help pave the way for Netanyahu to freeze settlement building in the West Bank and Jerusalem, a component the Obama administration considers critical to advancing the peace process. Israeli media reports suggest that the Americans and Israelis have arrived at a formula that would end their recent war of words over settlements: Netanyahu effectively would end settlement expansion, including construction in eastern Jerusalem, and the United States would back away from unequivocal demands for a stop to such building.

U.S. officials in recent days seemed to be tamping down their anti-settlement rhetoric. “We want to keep these negotiations in a confidential, diplomatic track,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Aug. 26 when he was pressed on the settlement matter. “We are in a sensitive time.” Netanyahu met in London last week w it h George Mitchell, Obama’s top Middle East envoy, who issued a statement afterward describing “good progress” toward resuming talks with the Palestinians. Mitchell held meetings this week with Mike Herzog, the chief of staff for Israel’s Defense Ministry, and Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s top diplomatic adviser. On the peace process, European leaders have praised Netanyahu’s measures to ease daily life for West Bank Palestinians. “I strongly welcome his recent moves to remove checkpoints on the West Bank,” Brown said last week at his joint news conference with Netanyahu. “An economic road map should underpin and sustain political dialogue, and I know that the prime minister is committed to exactly that.” This week, Israeli President Shimon Peres told reporters that the next step was a summit during the General Assembly bringing together Obama, Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. Oba m a, ac c ord i ng to Ha’are t z , w i l l out l i ne a t wo-yea r t i met able

toward arriving at a final-status deal. That would correspond with the plan announced last week by Salam Fayyad, the P.A. prime minister, to establish a de facto Palestinian state within two years. Abba s a nd Fay yad a re eager to undercut both Hamas, the terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip, and their own Fatah Party’s young guard, who cha l lenged t he establ ish ment leadership dur ing t he recent pa r t y congress. A plan for statehood could underscore the leadership’s seriousness against a recent history that instead has suggested impotence against Israel and Hamas. U.S. officials have welcomed the plan, insofar as it calls for the establishment of critical infrastructure. But Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected Fayyad’s unilateralism, albeit in tepid terms suggesting that Israel might endorse a plan that was less unequivocal about a deadline for statehood. “The Palestinians’ unilateral initiatives do not contribute to a positive dialogue between the parties, and if the unilateral initiative presented by Salam Fayyad is promoted, Israel will respond,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement Monday. “A positive dynamic must be created between both sides without committing to target dates for an overall arrangement, which in the past gave rise to disappointment and frustration, which led to the outbreak of conflict between the two sides.”

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Pooling resources Israeli, Palestinian mayors pitch rare joint industrial project Gil Shefler JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — Even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders argue about the conditions that must be in place for a return to the negotiating table, they are striking similar tones on the need for economic development. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad unveiled an economic plan last week intended to bring about a stable, independent Palestinian state within two years, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been talking for months about the need for an “economic peace.” Some local Israeli and Palestinian officials aren’t waiting for the rhetoric to translate into action. They’re taking matters into their own hands. This week, the Jewish mayor of a region in northern Israel adjacent to the West Bank announced a plan with the governor of the West Bank city of Jenin for a joint industrial zone, coexistence projects and a sports league that would bring together the region’s Israeli and Palestinian children. “We believe that life in the Middle East can be different,” said Danny Atar, the Jewish mayor of the Gilboa Regional Council, a mountainous area of Israel of 22,000 people located between Jenin and the Israeli city of Beit Shean. “We’re

taking responsibility and combining politics with economics. We are building an industrial park that will provide employment for 15,000 Palestinians and 2,000 Israelis.” The plan is unusual not only because it represent s a coord i nated ef for t between local Israeli and Palestinian officials, but also because it involves the Palestinian governor of a city that until recently was known as the suicide-bomber capital of the West Bank, and because the project is being supported by Jewish groups in the United States. Jenin’s governor, Qadoura Qadoura, says now is the time for cooperation. “No two people can live beside each other while one is prospering and the other is not,” he said. Qadoura and Atar, along with Atar’s Israeli-Arab deputy, Eid Saleem, are on a U.S. tour this week trying to sell their idea to the Jewish public and win investors for the project.  The plan calls for establishing a joint Israel-Palestinian industrial park just inside the West Bank that will manufacture products such as olive oil and packaged salad greens to be exported to overseas markets via Israel. It also involves setting up cultural centers to teach Hebrew to Palestinians and Arabic to Israeli Jews, organizing women’s empowerment courses and hold-

ing sports tournaments for children from both communities. “The plans are already all set up,” Atar said at a news conference Monday at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York. “It is in my own benefit as an Israeli that the Palestinians do well, and we hope that two years from now it will start operating. We will provide the infrastructure from the Israeli side, but this is their project. It is entirely up to them to make it succeed, and that makes all the difference.” Robert Zwank, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut who organized the tour, says he hopes the plan will be extended to other parts of Israel and the West Bank. “As a bottom-up initiative, it has to be supported by people in the private sector,” he said in a phone interview. Seven years ago, few could have imagined Jenin as a model of coexistence. A hotbed of militancy from which Palestinian militant groups dispatched suicide bombers to strike Israeli cities, Jenin was the site of a 2002 Israeli army incursion that left many dead on both sides and leveled parts of the city’s refugee camp. Now, however, Jenin is one of the places Palestinian and U.S. officials tout as a model of success for a revamped Palestinian security force, and even some

Israeli officials speak of a changed atmosphere in the city. “I can walk around Jenin without a guard, without any of Qadoura’s people,” Atar said. “It is now a paradigm of good security and good governance.” Qadoura, a member of P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party, says the project will help bolster moderates among Palestinians and weaken support for Hamas and its radicalism. “We have our radicals and it is of concern, but when we have over 50 percent unemploy ment and 6,000 graduates without work, then they become targets for radicals,” Qadoura said. This isn’t the first attempt at a joint Palestinian-Israeli industrial project. Perhaps the best known is the industrial park at the Erez Crossing, on the north end of the Gaza Strip. Once a thriving commercial area that provided employment for thousands of Palestinians, it now lies vacant following repeated attacks by Hamas on the facility. At their meeting Monday in New York, Atar said his project would not suffer the same fate as the Erez park. “This is not an intergovernmental project,” he said. “Our aim is to encourage the private sector to invest.” Atar adds, “What other alternatives are there, to have nothing in the news but how many Palestinians or Israelis were killed?”

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Death announcement

Kennedy seen as giant on domestic issues, Soviet Jewry Eric Fingerhut JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is being remembered in the Jewish community for his impact on domestic issues such as education and health care, but also as a giant in the Soviet Jewry movement. Kennedy “was one of the earliest, strongest champions on behalf of Soviet Jewry,” said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia. “He was always proactive and didn’t wait for NCSJ and other organizations to come to him — he was always looking to see where he could make a difference.” In his 2006 book, The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, Natan Sharansky specifically mentions Kennedy as the first Western politician to meet with refuseniks “in a midnight meeting that was kept secret from the KGB until the very last moment.” And Levin noted that whenever Kennedy met with Soviet officials, in Washington or in the Soviet Union, he would bring lists of those he wanted to see released. “He never forgot we were talking about individuals and families,” Levin said. Kennedy also will be remembered as a strong champion of Israel. Jewish organizational officials noted he was a stalwart supporter of foreign aid, opposed arms sales to Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s, and was a strong backer of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He also publicly rebuked President George H.W. Bush when he linked settlements to U.S. loan guarantees for the emigration of Soviet Jews, and was a leading voice in speaking out against the Arab boycott of Israel.

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Howard S. Keller November 9, 1914–July 19, 2009

Israeli official rushed to praise Kennedy, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the senator “an American patriot” and “a great friend of Israel,” according to media reports. And Israeli President Shimon Peres said Kennedy’s death was “a very big loss to every sensitive and thinking person the world over.” “Kennedy was a clear friend of Israel the whole way, and in every place that he could help us he did help,” he added. The late senator drew praise from a broad range of Jewish organizations, including both the Orthodox Union and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. They noted that he had worked on a vast array of domestic issues over his 47 years on Capitol Hill, from religious liberty bills such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, to his efforts on children’s health insurance. In a statement, the president of the National Council of Jew ish Women, Nancy Ratzan, said: “We were honored to work by his side on so many critical issues: Family and Medical Leave, the Lilly Ledbetter Act, the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights, the Americans with Disability Act, hate crimes prevention, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, health care, the increase in the minimum wage, and numerous judicial nominations — to name a few.” The Nat ional Jew ish Democrat ic Council said in a statement that the “greatest tribute” to Kennedy would be to enact comprehensive health insurance reform. “On the little stuff and the big stuff, he was always there for us,” said Nancy Kaufman, executive director of t he Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. “There wasn’t an issue he wasn’t on top of.”

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Howard S. Keller was born on November 9, 1914, in Portland, Oregon, and passed away surrounded by family on July 19, 2009, in Seattle, at the age of 94. He is survived by Frances, his best friend and adored wife of 69 years, and his grateful children, Leatrice and Jim Keller, Barbara and Stuart Sulman, and Michele and Nick Keller, all of Seattle. He will also be missed by his loving grandchildren, Felice and Colman Becker, Carin and Scott Jacobson, Lainey and Scott Slotnick, Scott Sulman, Caitlin Keller, Michael Keller, and Courtney Keller, and his three great-grandchildren, Keller and Molly Slotnick, and Ryan Jacobson. Howard graduated from Reed College in 1937 and pursued his MBA at Northwestern University in 1939. He founded Keller Supply Company in 1945, which has grown to become a successful, multistate, wholesale plumbing company. He retired in 1982 and enjoyed traveling, tennis, and spending time with his family. He had a great love of learning and reading and was instrumental in fostering the Access Program for adult learning at the University of Washington. He attended more than 100 classes there over 20 years, mostly in history, but also in German, comparative religion, Jewish culture, and other subjects. As members of the History Department’s Visiting Committee, Howard and Frances became aware of the department’s need for additional funds and created the Howard and Frances Keller Endowed Professorship in History, enhancing the UW’s ability to attract and retain distinguished faculty. They also established the Howard and Frances Keller Research Fund and were enthusiastic backers of the UW Athletic Department. Howard supported a variety of worthwhile organizations and was especially committed to promoting education. In addition to his contributions to the University of Washington, he was a proud supporter of Reed College, among other schools. He and his wife also instituted the Frances & Howard Keller Family Lecture Series at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, striving to bring important speakers and educators to the community. Howard will be remembered for his extensive knowledge (developed over years of reading), his sense of humor, his kindness to all people, his entrepreneurial spirit, his true affection and appreciation for the people he worked with, and his love for his wife, family and education. He had countless friends and extended family members who will continue to be inspired by Howard’s friendship, positive attitude, and accomplishments. Memorial services were held at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Jewish Family Service, Kline Galland Center, The University of Washington Department of History, or the charity of your choice.

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Death announcement

Ann Ostrer October 2, 1920–August 15, 2009

Wedding Rebecca Susan Frankel and Daniel Stephen Novick Rebecca and Daniel were married March 21, 2009 in Atlanta, Ga. The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, who is a cousin of the bride. Rebecca is the daughter of Barry and Judy Frankel of Atlanta. Her grandparents are Shirley and Don Wender of Atlanta and the late Milton Romm, the late Meyer Frankel and the late Evelyn Frankel. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Texas at Austin. She works for the El Paso Independent School District. Daniel is the son of Michael and Tina Novick of Bellevue. His grandparents are Dorothy Borschow of Dallas, Texas and the late Paul Borschow and the late Jules and Ruth Novick. Daniel is an alumni of Bellevue High School. He has a Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and government. He is a television news anchor and reporter for KFOX-TV in El Paso.

Bar Mitzvah Michael Aaron Yashar Michael will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on September 5, 2009 at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue. Michael is the son of Mayer and Sara Yashar of Redmond and the brother of Elliot and Noah. His grandparents are Arthur Hartman of Toronto, Ontario, Susanna and David Bensinger of San Francisco, Calif., Monazam Yashar of Concord, Calif. and the late Azizollah Yashar. Michael is in the 7th grade at the Jewish Day School.

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Ann Ostrer was born in the Bronx, New York on October 2, 1920, and passed away at the Kline-Galland Home in Seattle on August 15. She was 88 years old. Ann and her late husband Len were both born and raised in the Bronx and moved to Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in December, 1944. Ann and Len raised three children; Jerry, Elliott and Donna. As a young woman in Seattle, Ann was very active in local B’nai B’rith women’s chapters, and worked full-time with Len in their business in Seattle. In the late 1950s, Ann and Len had a custom-built house constructed in Bellevue a few blocks from the Glendale Country Club. After retirement in the early 1970s, Len and Ann sold their Bellevue “dream house” and moved first to Federal Way, then to Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula, and finally to Scottsdale, Arizona where Ann and Len enjoyed life in the desert sun. After Len died in 1992, Ann continued to reside in Scottsdale until she moved back to Seattle three years ago to be closer to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Ann was a resident of The Summit for three years until a few days prior to her death, when she was moved to The KlineGalland Home due to her deteriorating health. She is survived by her daughter, Donna Mollan (John), her son Jerry (Sue), her sister Irene Cohn, nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Her husband, Len, after over 50 years of marriage, died in 1992, and her son, Elliott (Leslie), died this year. Per Ann’s request, there will not be a funeral service. In lieu of flowers, please send any donations to the charity of your choice.

Wedding Jennifer Bolson and Jonathan Meer Jennifer and Jonathan were married on July 5, 2009 at the Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club. The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi James Mirel of Temple B’nai Torah. Jennifer is the daughter of Edward and Adele Brady Bolson of Redmond. Her grandparents are Carol Bolson of Bellevue and the late Harry Bolson and the late Jack and Audrey Brady. She attended Lake Washington High School as well as the Overlake School and the Jewish Day School. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University. Jennifer works as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. Jonathan is the son of Peter and Ioana Meer of East Brunswick, N.J. His grandparents are the late Solomon and Irina Anton-Manea and the late Paul and Zsuzsa Meer. He has a B.A. in economics from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. He is an assistant professor of economics at Texas A&M University. The couple resides in College Station, Texas.

Death announcement

Joseph M. Voss July 23, 1931–July 28, 2009 Joseph M. Voss was born July 23, 1931 in Julich, Germany to Hugo and Hannah Voss. He drowned in a swimming accident July 28, 2009 in Seward Park. Joe immigrated to Palestine in 1938 and to the U.S. in 1947. He received his elementary education in Palestine, graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in New York in 1948, earned a B.A. in electrical engineering from the Cooper Union College of Art and Engineering in New York in 1953, and a M.S.E.E. from the University of Washington in 1970. On Joe’s graduation in 1953, the Boeing Co. recruited him to the space division. He worked on the Minute Man, AWACS, and MX defense programs and the 777 airplane, retiring in 1995. In 1967, he worked for Boeing in Munich, Germany. In 1972, Joe took his family to Israel where he worked three years for the Israeli defense ministry. Joe was an avid traveler to Europe and the Middle East and a Holocaust researcher. He served on the boards of Congregation Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, and the Jewish Genealogical Society. He was a past president of the Hebrew Free Loan Society. Recently he volunteered at Group Health Co-op Hospital, was an AARP tax preparation consultant, and taught seniors to use e-mail. Joe is survived by his wife, Hannah; son Alex, daughter-in-law Ruthie and their children, Sarah, Joshua and Jeremy; daughter Naomi, son-in-law Michael Potter and their children Ruth, Shira and Daniel. Donations may be made to Hebrew Free Loan, Cong. Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath, the HMB Foundation at Northwest Yeshiva High School, or a charity of your choice.

JTNews Accepts Death Notices for Print and Online Publication Please use our simple online form to submit death notices directly to JTNews for publication. To submit a death notice, please visit www.jtnews.net, log in, click on the lifecycles tab, and complete the simple form. If you would assistance completing the form, please contact Lynn at 206-441-4553. Once you have completed the form, a JTNews representative will contact you within 24 hours to finalize and confirm details. Please note: Your Death Announcement is not complete and will not be published until we have contacted you and confirmed the details. Call Lynn at 206-441-4553 for more information. www.jtnews.net . 206-441-4553

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n 32 jtnews national & international news

friday, september 4, 2009

Sending out an SOS (Save our sandwich) Man on a mission to save the Jewish deli Sue Fishkoff JTA World News Service SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Chicago and Cleveland have the best corned beef. Detroit is tops for rye bread. The best smoked meat is in Montreal, and for pastrami, you can’t touch New York and L.A. When it comes to Jewish delicatessen, 30-year-old David Sax is the go-to guy. A longtime deli aficionado, the annoyingly trim Sax spent three years eating his way through more than 150 Jewish delis to research Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen, a wistful, riotously funny paean to this quintessential slice of American Jewish history. The book, which will be published in October by Houghton Miflin Harcourt, is a delicious romp through a fast-disappearing world. In 1931, Sax reports, there were 2,000 delis in New York Cit y, t hree-quarters of them kosher. Today, Sax says, his research turns up 25 Jewish delis in the city, two-thirds of which are kosher. A similar pattern has followed across Nort h A merica, w it h cit y af ter cit y sounding the death knell for its last traditional deli. Sax guesses there are just a few hundred left worldwide, most of them in the United States. “The Jewish deli is dying,” Sax told JTA. “Each time I hear a deli closes, something inside me dies.” German immigrants brought the deli to New York in the 1820s, Sax reports. By the 1870s and ’80s, German Jews had made their own kosher modifications to the traditional treif recipes: Schmaltz, or rendered chicken fat, instead of lard; ptcha, or jellied calves’ feet, instead of pig trotters.

The origins of the first pastrami sandwich is shrouded in mystery, although writer Patricia Volk told Sax her great-grandfather was the first to slap past rami bet ween two slices of rye bread at his kosher butcher shop in New York in the late 1880s. S a x c h ron ic le s the rise and decline of the “kosher-style” deli, an A merican innovation that originally differed from its kosher counterpart mainly in hours of operation (t hey did not close on the Sabbath) and lack of rabbinical supervision. Reaching its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s, the kosher-style deli eventually succumbed to economic pressure and popular tastes and began putting cheese on turkey sandwiches, offering milk with coffee and using non-kosher meats. From there, it was an easy hop to serving bacon with French toast. Today few such delis use the term “kosher-style,” preferring to call themselves Jewish or New York delis. Sax bemoans the rise of Glatt kosher, a stricter standard for kosher meat that demands round-the-clock oversight by a mashgiach, or kosher supervisor. He says it puts financial demands on deli owners that most cannot meet. That’s why most new delis are not kosher, he claims — it’s just too expensive. “There’s a lot of money in hechsher,” he

W h E R E GREATER SEATTLE Chabad House (Traditional) 206/527-1411 4541 19th Ave. NE Bet Alef (Meditative Reform) 206/527-9399 16330 NE 4th St., Bellevue (in Unity Church) Congregation Kol Ami (Reform) 425/844-1604 16530 Avondale Rd. NE, Woodinville Cong. Beis Menachem (Traditional Hassidic) 1837 156th Ave. NE, Bellevue 425/957-7860 Congregation Beth Shalom (Conservative) 6800 35th Ave. NE 206/524-0075 Cong. Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath (Orthodox) 5145 S Morgan 206/721-0970 Capitol Hill Minyan-BCMH (Orthodox) 1501 17th Ave. E 206/721-0970 Congregation Eitz Or (Jewish Renewal) 6556 35th Ave. NE 206/467-2617 Cong. Ezra Bessaroth (Sephardic Orthodox) 5217 S. Brandon Street 206/722-5500 Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch (Orthodox/Hassidic) 6250 43rd Ave. NE 206/527-1411 Congregation Shevet Achim (Orthodox) 5017 90th Ave. SE (at NW Yeshiva HS) Mercer Island 206/275-1539 Congregation Tikvah Chadashah (Gay/Lesbian) 206/355-1414 Emanuel Congregation (Modern Orthodox) 3412 NE 65th Street 206/525-1055 Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation (Conservative) 206/232-8555 3700 E. Mercer Way, Mercer Island Hillel (Multi-denominational) 4745 17th Ave. NE 206/527-1997 Kadima (Reconstructionist) 206/547-3914 12353 NE 8th, Seattle Kavana Cooperative [email protected]

To

K’hal Ateres Zekainim (Orthodox) 206/722-1464 at Kline Galland Home, 7500 Seward Park Ave. S Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation (Orthodox) 6500 52nd Ave. S 206/723-3028 The Summit at First Hill (Orthodox) 1200 University St. 206/652-4444 Temple Beth Am (Reform) 206/525-0915 2632 NE 80th St. Temple B’nai Torah (Reform) 425/603-9677 15727 NE 4th, Bellevue Temple De Hirsch Sinai (Reform) Seattle, 1441 16th Ave. 206/323-8486 Bellevue, 3850 156th Ave. SE 425/454-5085 SOuTH KING COuNTy Bet Chaverim (Reform) 206/577-0403 25701 14th Place S, Des Moines WEST SEATTLE Kol HaNeshamah (Reform) 206/935-1590 Alki UCC, 6115 SW Hinds St. Torah Learning Center (Orthodox) 5121 SW Olga St. 206/938-4852 WAShinGTon STATE AbERdEEn Temple Beth Israel 360/533-5755 1819 Sumner at Martin AnAcoRTES Anacortes Jewish Community 360/293-4123 bAinbRidGE iSLAnd Congregation Kol Shalom (Reform) 9010 Miller Road NE 206/855-0885 Chavurat Shir Hayam 206/842-8453 bELLinGhAm Chabad Jewish Center of Whatcom County 717 High St. 360/933-4818 Congregation Beth Israel (Reform) 2200 Broadway 360/733-8890

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says, using the Hebrew for kosher certification. “It’s a turf war that uses religion as leverage.” But most of this book is about food, the gloriously fatty, heart-stopping Ashkenazi cuisine that is the signature of the Jewish deli: Braised brisket in wine sauce; pickled tongue; cabbage rolls in sweetand-sour tomato; matjes herring; and, of course, the litany of “k’s,” the knishes, kreplach, kugel and kvetching. He saves his highest praise for the deli meats: Corned beef pickled and boiled in vats of brine; pastrami, lovingly rubbed with secret spice mixtures, then smoked and steamed to perfection. The way to suss out a good deli, he says, is to order the matzoh ball soup and whatever deli meat the city specializes in, be it corned

beef, tongue, pastrami or smoked beef, a softer, gentler Canadian variant. Although delicatessen originated in Europe, American Jews put their own stamp on it. Pastramia, for example, was in its native Romania a method of preparing any meat or poultry, and was in fact originally used most often for duck or goose. In the United States, Romanian Jews applied the same technique to beef, which began pouring in from the great Western plains and was much cheaper than game poultry. “The Jewish deli is rooted in the flavors of the Old World,” Sax says. “Some things are the same, like the chopped liver, t he chicken soup. Ot hers are amalgamations, like the sandwich, an American thing that the Jewish delis appropriated.” A big part of Sax’s mission is to encourage young Jews to take over delis at risk of closing or to open new ones, a goal that might seem counterintuitive in today’s economic climate. But he insists the market for deli food is there, as a new generation looks back nostalgically to a cuisine that represents an earlier, simpler, more comforting era. “People aren’t really looking for innovation in deli,” he insists. “The best things I see in the new delis are a return to tradition.” His favorite new Jewish delis are taking advantage of the organic, do-ityourself movement that is influencing the country’s restaurant scene. “It’s ‘innovative’ today to pickle your own meat or make your own kishke,” he says. In his effort to give props to these newcomers, Sax glosses over the sad but very real possibility that the Jewish deli may not survive outside a few key cities. New York’s deli scene has imploded, he says, and new delis in Portland, Ore. and Boulder, Colo., may be just flashes in the matzoh brie pan.

Wo R S h i p bREmERTon Congregation Beth Hatikvah 360/373-9884 11th and Veneta EVERETT / EdmondS Chabad Jewish Center of Snohomish County 2225 100th Ave. W, Edmonds 425/967-3036 Temple Beth Or (Reform) 425/259-7125 3215 Lombard St., Everett FoRT LEWiS Jewish Chapel 253/967-6590 Liggett Avenue & 12th iSSAquAh Chabad of the Central Cascades (Hassidic Traditional) 24121 SE Black Nugget Rd. 425/427-1654 oLympiA Chabad Jewish Discovery Center 1611 Legion Way SE 360/584-4306 Congregation B’nai Torah (Conservative) 3437 Libby Rd. 360/943-7354 Temple Beth Hatfiloh (Reconstructionist) 201 8th Ave. SE 360/754-8519 poRT AnGELES And SEquim Congregation B’nai Shalom 360/452-2471 poRT ToWnSEnd Congregation Bet Shira 360/379-3042 puLLmAn, WA And moScoW, id Jewish Community of the Palouse 509/334-7868 or 208/882-1280 SpokAnE Congregation Emanu-El (Reform) P O Box 30234, Spokane 99223 509/835-5050 www.spokaneemanu-el.org Temple Beth Shalom (Conservative) 1322 E. 30th Ave. 509/747-3304

TAcomA Chabad-Lubavitch of Pierce County 1889 N Hawthorne Dr. 253/565-8770 Temple Beth El (Reform) 253/564-7101 5975 S. 12th St. TRi ciTiES Congregation Beth Sholom (Conservative) 312 Thayer Drive, Richland 509/375-4740 VAncouVER Chabad-Lubavitch of Clark County 9604 NE 126th Ave., Suite 2320 360/993-5222 E-mail: [email protected] www.chabadclarkcounty.com Congregation Kol Ami 360/574-5169 Service times and location can be found at www.jewishvancouverusa.org VAShon iSLAnd Havurat Ee Shalom 206/567-1608 15401 Westside Highway P O Box 89, Vashon Island, WA 98070 WALLA WALLA Congregation Beth Israel 509/522-2511 E-mail: [email protected] WEnATchEE Greater Wenatchee Jewish Community 509/662-3333 or 206/782-1044 WhidbEy iSLAnd Jewish Community of Whidbey Island 360/331-2190 yAkimA Temple Shalom (Reform) 509/453-8988 1517 Browne Ave.

September 4, 2009

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(continued)

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a

n 34 jtnews national & international news

friday, september 4, 2009

EU official: Israel hijacked Russian ship JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel intercepted a Russian-manned cargo ship allegedly carrying secret weapons that had disappeared, a European Union official said. Adm. Tarmo Kouts, the European Union’s rapporteur on piracy and a former commander of t he Estonian armed forces, told Time in an article posted Monday on the magazine’s Web site that although Russia claimed the ship was carrying lumber, only a shipment of missiles could explain its

actions since the alleged hijacking on July 24. “There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can’t explain this situation in any other way,” Kouts told Time. “As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic.” Russia said the ship, the Arctic Sea, was destined for Algeria with less than $2 million of timber, was hijacked and its tracking device disabled in late July. In mid-August the Russian government

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In addition, Time wrote, Russia sent a disproportionate force that included destroyers and submarines to look for the ship, and returned the small crew and alleged pirates in two enormous military cargo planes. Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dm it r i Rogozin, said Kouts should stop “running his mouth,” Time reported.

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sent out a search party, which recovered the ship and its crew without firing a shot, according to Time. Russia denied the ship was running weapons to the Middle East. According to Time, Israeli President Shimon Peres met with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, the day after the ship was recovered and the leaders discussed “the sale of Russian weapons and military hardware to countries hostile to Israel,” though the Arctic Sea was not specifically mentioned.

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Holocaust museum shooter appears in court WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA) — The man charged with killing a security officer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum made his first appearance in court. James von Brunn, who is charged with gunning down guard Stephen Johns on June 10, was wheeled into a hearing in a Washington federal courtroom. Prev ious hea r i ngs were delayed because of the injuries von Brunn sustained from the return fire of museum security officers after the 89-year-old white supremacist started shooting at the

entrance to the museum. Prosecutor Nicole Waid said at the hearing that von Brunn wanted to “send a message to the Jewish community” that the Holocaust was a hoax. She said von Brunn had planned the shooting months in advance, and had set up funeral plans and put his finances in order because he expected to die in the attack, the Washington Post reported. Von Brunn objected to his lawyer’s request that Judge Reggie Walton order a mental competency exam.

“Your Constitution guarantees me a speedy and fair trial,” he said, according to media reports. “I’m a United States citizen, and as a U.S. Naval officer, I swore to protect my country. I take my vows seriously.” The judge ordered the exam and that von Brunn be detained pending trial. He also delayed von Brunn’s arraignment and scheduled another hearing for Oct. 14.

Racism t Page 12A

views, and are therefore less prone to discriminate.” “It takes about two generations for an ethnic group to adapt to the culture, so with time, things are better,” says Bismut, a sentiment shared by Brantz. However, everyone agrees that the responsibility to foster change falls on their own shoulders. Bismut notes that schools and the army have the best means to enlighten the public to fight racism, but education has to start at home. Brantz adds that shapers of public opinion such as academia, musicians, authors and journalists should carry this burden. “Of course, these are processes that take many years to [come to] fruition,” he notes. Halamish stresses it’s also very important to delegitimize any display of racism, and exposing it when it occurs is crucial.

“The rules and regulations are already here, “he says, “but we have to make the public aware.” W here there is varied opinion on whether racism does exist in Israel, the idea of political correctness, or the use of more euphemistic terms to describe a group of people’s characteristics is met with universal derision. “The rest of the world is used to tip-toeing around the subject,” says Brantz, “but we see that as absurd — a type of hypocrisy. Israelis feel they are being open and honest by not using politically correct terms, and if you are part of this culture, it’s easier to accept this and not see it as racism.” That opinion includes the institutionalizing of concepts often seen as political correctness: “One thing I’m really glad we didn’t adopt yet,” says Halamish, “is affirmative action.”

Gurvitz feels the situation is deteriorating rapidly. “It is becoming harder and harder to be secular in Israel, and I fear that within five to 10 years, we might be at a civil war between Jews and Arabs, and the entire state might become Orthodox. Even now we see incidents of parties trying to pass racist laws,” he says. “Just last April, there was an incident where some missionaries tried to distribute copies of the New Testament, and the city administration had them collected back and burned.” Halamish and Bismut, on the other hand, feel the opposite is occurring and that radical views are decreasing. “We were born and raised here,” notes Halamish, “so we don’t share our parents’

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M.O.T. t Page 9A In 2008, her grandson Bryan ran, too, but this year he was on the NESIYA program in Israel. Esther has been running for 30 years, starting on the advice of her then-exercise teacher at the Stroum Jewish Community Center. “All we were doing was aerobics,” but this teacher insisted the class jog for their hearts. The first day they jogged around the gym. “We gasped and gagged.” But the teacher insisted, “so I just kept doing it.” Soon she could run 10 blocks. “Then I started going down to 40th and up Island Crest Way,” (she lives on Mercer Island). “People would honk…I would wave.” Feeling better and losing weight were her rewards and it took her mind off “menial problems.” Eventually, she ran a 10k race, finishing second, then completed a half marathon. From lectures and classes about running she concluded that shoes were the key to success and freedom from pain. “I spend all my money on my shoes,” she says. “I don’t care about my clothes.” She buys two pairs of shoes every three months, and alternates between them. Esther has slowed down a little in retirement. Once a daily runner, she now runs three days a week, working out at the gym three other days. She has “probably belonged to every organization in the world,” and has been a volunteer for the SJCC, Kline Galland and Hadassah. She and Al have been long-time and active members of Herzl-Ner Tamid.

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