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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

October 9, 1997

Up Front

Leave a Comment / Old Stories, Up Front /

Los Angelesare planning to give Israel a very special present for its 50thbirthday — an ambulance.

Over the course of the school year, children fromall day schools, Reform to Orthodox, will contribute their tzedakahmoney and hold special fund-raisers in order to purchase a $50,000ambulance for the country’s Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent tothe Red Cross. “Given all the negative intra-Jewish news,” said Dr.George Liebowitz, chairman of the Day School Principals Council, “wethought it would be very good to have people come together for themitzvah of pikuach nefesh,” or saving souls.

Each school will organize its own fund-raisingprogram. The organizers are hoping to raise $4 from each of the 9,000Jewish day-school students and $2 from each of 12,000 Hebrew-schoolpupils.

There also will be an educational component to theefforts. A fully decked-out ambulance will make the rounds of thecampuses so that children can see where their money is going. Theambulance the students actually purchase also will be displayed tothe children before it is shipped to Israel. Accompanying the vehiclewill be a sign reading, “From the Children of Los Angeles to thePeople of Israel.” Happy Birthday. — Robert Eshman, Associate Editor

Books for South Africa

>

Marilyn Woods, assistant principal at AbrahamJoshua Heschel Day School, shares curriculum information with thestaff from Hewat/Cape Town Institute of Education andTraining.

 

Like the abolition of slavery in this country, theend of apartheid in South Africa hasn’t brought instant equality topeople long divided by class and color. This is particularly evidentin the schools in the black and colored townships, according toMarilyn Woods, assistant principal at Abraham Joshua Heschel DaySchool in Northridge. Woods recently returned from a trip to SouthAfrica, where she was a guest lecturer at the Hewat/Cape TownInstitute of Education and Training, a teaching college.

Having made extensive visits to township schools,the Heschel administrator was appalled at the conditions she found –cramped classrooms of 70 or more students, crumbling walls, brokenwindows, no heat or electricity, and blackboards on which nothingcould be written. Woods was particularly struck by the lack ofmaterials. “I visited some classes where there were three or fourbooks. The teacher writes everything on a blackboard that you canhardly write on or see.”

Upon returning to Heschel, Woods rallied supportfor a book drive among elementary- and middle-school students, withthe books to be sent to the townships. In a stroke of serendipity,she had met on the plane home a man who offered free space in graincontainers that are being shipped from Decatur, Ill., to Cape Town,where the books will be warehoused before distribution. The projecthas caught fire not only at Heschel but at Moorpark High School, AdatAri El Day School and Rand McNally, which will ship some surplusmaps.

At press time, Woods was preparing to make apresentation to the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Principals Council,with the aim of expanding the project to other Jewish schools. Shehopes that the initial book drive, which ends on Dec. 16, will spawnan ongoing mission to provide desperately needed materials not onlyto South African schools but to other needy students around theworld.

“This is just a pilot project,” she said. “Wedon’t want it to get too large immediately.” — Ruth Stroud, Staff Writer

Up Front Read More »

21 Years Ago: The Truth Hurts

Leave a Comment / Old Stories /

Before God created the human being, according to alegend of the Midrash, He consulted the angels of heaven. The angelof peace argued, “Let him not be created; he will bring contentioninto the world.” But the angel of compassion countered, “Let him becreated; he will bring lovingkindness into the world.” The angel oftruth argued, “Let him not be created; he will be deceitful and fillthe world with lies.” And the angel of justice countered, “Let him becreated; he will attach himself to righteousness.” What did God do?He threw truth into the Earth and proceeded to create the humanbeing.

The Rabbis knew that there is a fundamentalincompatibility between human beings and truth. We don’t want truth.We can’t tolerate truth. Especially truth about ourselves — ourfailures, our limitations, our finitude. Once a year, at Yom Kippur,Jewish tradition forces us to face the truth.

Yom Kippur is an unusual holiday. We are such apassionately life-affirming culture. We cherish and sanctify life.Any ritual law of the tradition may be suspended to save or protect ahuman life. We say “L’Chaim!” (“To Life!”) over every glass ofwine.

But on Yom Kippur, we confront death. We rehearsedeath. We deny the body — fasting (which, for Jews, is a form ofdeath), abstaining from sexual intimacy, and removing our jewelry andfinery, our fashionable clothes, our polished, comfortable shoes, todon the simplest of garb. Tradition dictates the wearing of a kittel– a death shroud. In medieval monasteries, monks slept each night intheir coffins, to remind themselves that the wage of sin is death.That’s morbid. But to don a shroud once a year, to seriously confrontdeath, is cleansing. For, in the face of death, all therationalizations, all the excuses, all the defenses fall away, and weare forced to see who and what we really are.

The philosopher Franz Rosensweig taught that onYom Kippur, the Jew is given the unique opportunity to see his or herlife through the eyes of eternity. From the vantage of eternity, whatin our lives matters? What is real? What is important? What isvaluable? And what, from eternity’s perspective, are all the needlessobsessions and worries that waste our souls and sap ourstrength?

Despite all our evasions, the truth is that wedon’t have an endless string of tomorrows. Life is finite. And life’sfinitude forces us to have priorities and makes our choicesimportant. Pretend for a moment that you had only 25 hours to live.To whom would you run to say, “Thank you” or “I’m sorry” or “I loveyou”? What relationships would you attempt to resolve, to repair?What would you be proud of in your life? What would you regret? Whatwould you most miss? Now, why are you waiting? I have been a rabbilong enough to know that the saddest, most bitter tears at thegraveside are those for the life not lived, for the love not shared,for the tenderness not expressed, for the words unspoken.

“Teach us to number our days,” prays the Psalmist,”to get us a heart of wisdom.” Ordinarily a morbid thought. But oncea year, confronting the truth liberates us from the bondage ofillusions and excuses so that we can begin the new year with renewedstrength, with renewed vision, with renewed hope. Gemar Tov. May yoube sealed in God’s Book of Life for a year of sweetness and peace.

Ed Feinstein is rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom inEncino.

21 Years Ago: The Truth Hurts Read More »

21 Years Ago: Redemption, Hollywood Style

Leave a Comment / Old Stories /

Let me be direct and come to the point right off the mark:

“Seven Years in Tibet,” appropriately filmed in Argentina — whereold Nazis go to be rehabilitated or to die, whichever comes first –is a turgid piece of filmmaking and as dishonest as, well, “TheDevil’s Own,” Brad Pitt’s last outing on film.

The story of Austrian athlete Heinrich Harrer’s sojourn on theroof of the world, where he became a tutor to the Dalai Lama –pronounced by Pitt, for reasons known only to his voice coach, as the”Dolly Lomo”– would not have raised a schilling from the moguls hadit not been that golden boy Brad found something familiar in thisstory of a self-absorbed fellow striving for meaning.

New Age interest in Tibet, the Dalai Lama and Pitt, notnecessarily in that order, may bring the multitudes to the multiplex,but I doubt it.

Those who do go will see some very pretty scenery — the Andes notthe Himalayas — some fine acting by the wondrous young man fromBhutan who plays the Dalai Lama, and a picture of a singularlyunpleasant Austrian climber, selfish, egotistic, banal to the pointof boring — but a Nazi? Bite your tongue.

The news broke first this summer in Stern magazine: Harrer, itseemed, had been a sergeant in the SS, a fact he tried to slough offas a career move. He had also — and this was harder to explain away– joined the SA storm troopers in 1933, when he had to breakAustrian law to do so. He had even applied to no less a personagethan Heinrich Himmler for permission to marry, providing properdocumentation to prove that he and his future wife had impeccableAryan credentials.

Following publication of these interesting historical facts, therewas so much egg on Hollywood faces that you could have servedbreakfast for 500.

The filmmakers Mandalay Entertainment, French directorJean-Jacques Annaud and Pitt engaged in some rapid damage control,hastily adding voice-over commentary that would, they said,acknowledge Harrer’s party membership.

This is what they added: As Chinese troops storm their way intoTibet, mowing down the pathetically outgunned Tibetan troops, Pitt’sHarrer says: “It reminds me of the aggressiveness of my owncountry…. I shudder to recall how at one time I was no differentfrom these Chinese.”

Maybe I need one of those hearing-assist devices provided bycinemas these days, but I didn’t hear the word Nazi in thereanywhere.

During the course of the action, when he is congratulated on someGerman athletic achievement, Pitt’s Harrer answers, “Thank you, butI’m Austrian.”

When the British show up upon the outbreak of war to arrest him asan enemy alien, he protests: “You don’t understand. I’m Austrian; Ihave nothing to do with your silly war.”

This is known as the “Sound of Music” defense: We Austrians weretoo busy climbing mountains, picking edelweiss and being gemutlich tobe involved in any of that Third Reich unpleasantness.

A swastika flag is handed to Pitt/Harrer as he climbs on board thetrain taking him to the Himalayas. He grabs it with all theenthusiasm of a lawyer being served with a subpoena. And, strangely,he seems to have left at home this time the SS lapel pin Harrer worewhen he was photographed standing next to Adolf Hitler at a receptionin 1938.

Director Annaud says that he was aware that German climbers, theperfect exemplars of the ubermenschen, and therefore wonderfulpropaganda vehicles, wore swastikas on their climbing bags. So whereare they in the film?

On a visit to the real Harrer in his Austrian home, Pitt, with allthe sense of history, not to mention sensitivity, of a Hollywoodscreen idol, wrote in the guest book in the impressive museum Harrerbuilt to his own glory: “It’s an honor to sit in your home. It’s anhonor to share in your life. We will not let you down.”

Director Annaud says that he discussed Harrer’s past with Pitt.

“From the beginning, he understood he had to play a veryunpleasant character,” Annaud says. “That’s why he dyed his hair andwent for a Germanic accent which is perceived as quite unpleasant.”

Oh, I get it. This is a new form of movie shorthand. From theyellow hair and the phony accent, we’re supposed to know that he’s aNazi without having to be told. So when Pitt’s accent disappearscompletely, by about September 1942 by my reckoning, are we to assumethat he is no longer a Nazi or simply that Pitt is no Meryl Streep?

British actor David Thewlis, who plays Harrer’s climbingcompanion, Peter Aufschnaiter, went along on the same visit toHarrer. Thewlis, who works most of the time in a world far removedfrom the dream factories of Hollywood and, consequently, seems to bethe only person in this whole enterprise who is remotely in touchwith reality, had this to say about the mountaineer:

“He was a very garrulous old man who talked so much, you couldn’tget a word in edgeways. He’s quite proud of himself and has built ahuge museum as a monument to himself, which he loves to show you.When [Annaud] asked him how he felt when Germany was defeated in thewar, he never quite answered the question. That’s why I wasn’tsurprised about the more recent revelations of his dubious past.”

At the end of the film, Pitt is shown climbing a mountain with theson with whom he has recently reunited, planting a Tibetan flag onthe summit. This is redemption, Hollywood style. In real life, PeterHarrer was repeatedly rejected by his father and quite sensibly, inhis turn, rejected mountain climbing and went to work for Swisstelevision.

The story of the Dalai Lama and Tibet’s struggle against theChinese is a wonderful subject for a movie, but “Seven Years inTibet” isn’t it. It’s as phony as Pitt’s accent and Harrer’s redemption.

Sally Ogle Davis is a Southern California-based free-lancewriter whose work has appeared in magazines and newspapers in NorthAmerica and around the world.

 

All rights reserved by author.

 

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Oh, What a Tangled Web…

Leave a Comment / Old Stories /

The botched assassination attempt on a Hamas official in Amman onSept. 25 has turned into a security, as well as a diplomatic,disaster for Israel. Commentators are calling for the resignations ofboth Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and chief of the Mossadexternal security service, Gen. Danny Yatom.

Ze’ev Schiff, the dean of Israeli defense writers, branded theattack on Khaled Meshal, the head of the Palestinian fundamentalists’political bureau in Jordan, “one of the worst operational failures inthe history of Israel’s intelligence services.” It had, he contendedin the heavyweight Ha’aretz, “caused the country serious strategicdamage.”

Another veteran military analyst, Ya’acov Erez, in the tabloidMa’ariv, called for a commission under a Supreme Court judge toinvestigate “not only the debacle itself but the calculations bywhich Jordan was selected as an arena of activity.”

After a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, Cabinet Secretary Danny Navehaccused the local media of “irresponsible attacks on the primeminister, which derive, in large part, from unacceptable partisanpolitical motives.” Yet Schiff and Erez are no knee-jerk leftists,hell-bent on bringing down the elected government at any price.

Nor is Yitzhak Shamir, Netanyahu’s predecessor as Likud leader,who said that he had long ceased to be surprised by anything theprime minister did. The Amman mission, added Shamir, himself a formersenior Mossad operative, had complicated relations with both Jordanand Canada (the assassins were carrying forged Canadian passports).”I can only see that trouble has come from this.”

The depth of Israel’s humiliation became more apparent with everypassing day. The operation, for which Netanyahu acknowledgedresponsibility as the Mossad’s political supremo, was designed toavenge two suicide bombings in Jerusalem that killed 21 Israelicivilians and the shooting of two guards at the Israeli Embassy inAmman. Israel was showing that the men behind the bombers and thegunmen would pay a price, wherever they might be.

In fact, the mayhem outside the Hamas office has had the oppositeeffect. Because the mission failed, and because members of the hitsquad were caught and identified, it has damaged Israel’s capacity towage war on Islamist terror and to recruit the Jordanian andPalestinian secret services as essential allies.

The undisputed winner is Hamas, whose founder and spiritualleader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, has returned in triumph to Gaza afterserving eight years of an Israeli life sentence for planning terrorstrikes, including the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers.The 61-year-old Moslem preacher, feted like an equal by King Husseinand Yasser Arafat, was released without giving any assurances abouthis future conduct.

It will also be infinitely harder for the king to restrict theactivities of the Hamas political office in Amman — and for anybodyto touch the new hero of Islam, Khaled Meshal — even if, as Israelclaims, the politicos call the shots for the terrorists.

Netanyahu seems to have been so determined to show his muscle thathe did not pause to weigh what would happen if anything went wrong.As a former Mossad commander, Nahum Admoni, put it this week, theline between success and failure in such undercover operations isnever more than a hair’s breadth.

The current Mossad chief, Yatom, denied reports that he hadresisted pressure from Netanyahu to go for the assassination. In itsconvoluted statement, admitting yet not admitting Israeliinvolvement, the Cabinet confirmed that standard procedure had beenfollowed.

“Israel’s decision-making process is such,” the communiquésaid, “that the relevant security and intelligence branches bringtheir recommendations to a forum consisting of the heads of thesebranches, and afterward to the prime minister for authorization.Under no circumstances is the process forcibly reversed.”

Senior officers of the Shin Bet internal security service and ofmilitary intelligence hastened, however, to tell their media friendsthat they had not been consulted on the specifics of the operationand had certainly not endorsed it. As several commentators noted,success has many fathers; failure is an orphan. And the Hebrew wordfor “orphan” just happens to be “yatom.”

Since Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, KingHussein has been Israel’s only consistent friend among Arab rulers.Unlike Egypt, which made a distinctly cool peace two decades ago,Jordan maintains a warm relationship with its western neighbor. Whena Jordanian soldier shot dead seven Israeli schoolgirls last winter,the king not only paid condolence calls on their families but ensuredthat the killer was tried and sentenced.

He was sticking his neck out, defying the strong anti-Israelsentiment that prevails among Jordan’s educated elite — lawyers,doctors, engineers — and among the 60 percent of his subjects, whoseroots are across the river in Palestine.

Hussein was understandably furious that the Mossad invaded histerritory, especially since Jordanians go to the polls next month andthe assassination attempt could boost the Islamist opposition. “A manopens his house to a foreign guest,” the king complained to theLondon-based Arabic paper, Al Hayyat, “but when the host turns hisback for a moment, the guest rapes his daughter.”

His venomous reaction was not just pique. He cannot afford to besmeared as an Israeli collaborator. As a schoolboy prince in 1951, hewitnessed how such charges cost his grandfather, King Abdullah, hislife.

So King Hussein, the supreme survivor, is imposing his own termsfor maintaining relations, which he knows are as much his long-terminterest as they are Israel’s. He accepted the credentials, presentedas scheduled last Sunday by the new ambassador, Oded Eran, butexacted maximum restitution for the Mossad’s insult and credit forhimself.

First, he forced Netanyahu to send an Israeli doctor with anantidote to the poison injected into Meshal’s ear. Then he insistedon the release of Sheikh Yassin. And as part of a deal for therepatriation of two Mossad agents captured after the Meshal attack,Israel had to free more Palestinian prisoners.

If past prisoner exchanges are any guide, many of them will returnimmediately to the struggle. And if Netanyahu is setting a badexample by releasing terrorists, how will he look Arafat in the eyeand order the Palestinian Authority president to keep hundreds oftheir comrades behind bars?


All rights reserved by author.

Oh, What a Tangled Web… Read More »

Life’s a Mixed Bag

Leave a Comment / Old Stories, Womans Voice /

Life’s a Mixed Bag

Who shall live? Who shall die? And what do weleave each other? Here are three whose lives touched mine, gone thisyear. Their names are part of my Yizkor prayers.

Elizabeth Hobson was lying in her bed at NewYork’s Lenox Hill Hospital when I saw her a few months ago. She had abroken hip and an upset stomach; she had lost more than 50 pounds.Her proud, athletic body had shrunk since Passover; her bright silverhair was dull. In a few weeks, she would be lying in a different bedin California, fantasizing madly through her pneumonia about escapingher captors by “jumping into the Danube.” But at this moment, the90-year-old woman everyone called Bozsi Neni, Aunt Elizabeth inHungarian, still had insouciance and verve to spare. Her pale handgripped mine, and she looked directly at me.

“Get yourself a sex life,” she said. “It’s notgood to be alone.”

She would know.

Life was a mixed bag for Bozsi Neni, a mix of luckand querulous misfortune, and it was getting hard to know which waswhich. Even her safe passage to America in 1947, after the war andbefore the Hungarian Revolution, came back to haunt her.

“I’ve had a sad life, but I’m not entitled to beunhappy,” she said. A few years ago, she began to write her stories.In one, she tells of a Nazi roundup, when she was herded onto theroof of a cattle car, forced to keep her balance by linking arms withnuns and prostitutes. In another, she tells of being among atransport of starving Jews all keeping their eyes on a basket offresh eggs hoisted precariously on a woman’s head. The train lurchesforward. The basket tilts. The eggs fall. Heartbreak.

Bozsi Neni was born poor, the only girl amongthree brothers (two would become international soccer stars) in asmall farming town outside Budapest; she was the prize pupil of theone-room schoolhouse. She was widowed, and married at least twice.She always had big dreams.

In America, Bozsi began as a seamstress to NewYork’s hoi polloi, and eventually ran her own sportswear line,designing clothes for lines like Lane Bryant and Catalina. Soon, shehad season tickets to the opera and belonged to the art museum. Shetook classes at the New School, vacationed at the Spa. She designedher own gowns, copies of the great European fashions; she collectedhats, and shoes.

For all this, she kept to herself. Then came thereal lucky break, if you ask me. One day, she called my girlfriendMarika right before her son, Jason, was born. “You have no parents,”Bozsi said. “I’m coming to help.”

Who could have detected the well of love beneathwhat appeared to be a frozen heart? Bozsi Neni, though never aparent, was a natural at grandparenting. She designed costumes andvelvet dresses for Marika’s daughter, Ariel. She diapered and changedJason and climbed into bed with him to read stories. On her visits,she made herself at home, sewing curtains and drapes for kitchen andbedrooms and saving fabric scraps for pillows.

She made demands in return. She sat at the holidaytable, snarling about the brisket, just like one of us. The house wasalways too cold; they were wasting money by leaving the lights on. Ifshe didn’t receive a phone call on her birthday, she wept.

When Bozsi Neni died on Erev Rosh Hashanah, sheleft word: cremation, with no religious ceremony. Well, she can orderus not to bury her, but she can’t restrict what I do with her memory.I’m dedicating my sex life to her.

Alfred Sheinwold, whose name is synonymous withprofessional bridge, died in March, at 85. Obituaries told of hislong life creating new “hands,” but less of the man himself, for whomthe word debonair was created. Born in London to a religious family,he was an amateur Shakespearean actor, a cryptographer during thewar, a Phi Beta Kappa in economics. He sang lieder . He was an extraordinaryjoke teller and an even better audience. For all the evenings myhusband and I spent with him and his glamorous wife, Paula, he neveronce made me feel that I, at 40 years younger, had no business beingwith the adults. He tolerated the fact that I didn’t know cards atall.

He was a newspaper legend, but that’s not all.Some men’s lives are markers. They know how to play the cards they’redealt. They walk the planet with ease. Alfred Sheinwold wasone.

I missed the tribute at the Improv to stand-upcomic Lotus Weinstock, who died of a brain tumor last month at age54. I hear David Zasloff played “My Funny Valentine” on the shofar,which was just right. She was indeed of two worlds, as she saidoften. When I met Lotus, she was reclaiming an interest in Judaism.Her given name was Marlene, which may be why we connected. She toldme she was going to have a reverse nose job, to put the bump back in.That’s how much Judaism meant to her, she said.

Lotus, who came from a wealthy Philadelphiafamily, believed in living by her passion. She was a pianist, asinger, an actor, a playwright, a pro. She turned my Passover sederinto a musical drama, playing and singing and directing all theparts.

She wrote a play about separation anxiety when herdaughter, Lily Haydn, now a 27-year-old gifted violinist, left forcollege. But in real life, it was Lily who protected her mother.”She’s going to watch you like a mother hen,” Lotus warned me aboutmy daughter. “She won’t want you out of her sight.”

About this and much more, Lotus had itright.

May their memories be for a blessing.

Marlene Adler Marks is editor-at-large of TheJewish Journal. All rights reserved by author.

October 3, 1997 — AndNow For Something Completely Different

September 26, 1997 — An OpenHeart

September 19, 1997 — My BronxTale

September 12, 1997 — Of Goddesses andSaints




August 22, 1997 — Who is Not a Jew




August 15, 1997 — A LegendaryFriendship

July 25, 1997 — A Perfect Orange

July 18, 1997 — News of Our Own

July 11, 1997 — Celluloid Heroes

July 4, 1997 — Meet theSeekowitzes

June 27, 1997 — The Facts of Life

June 20, 1997 — Reality Bites

June 13, 1997 — The Family Man

Life’s a Mixed Bag Read More »

Letters

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor, Old Stories, Opinion /

Regarding “Forgiving and Pardoning Jonathan Pollard” (Oct. 3):Irving Greenberg puts forth far too many reasons to release Pollardand not one real reason to keep him incarcerated.

I say that the traitor should be expelled from our countryand let him seek his sanctuary wherever he can find it. And goodriddance!

Jerry Rabinowitz

Encino

Rabble-rousing Rabbis

I have tried to write this very carefully, so that I do not causeembarrassment for any particular rabbi or group of Jews. Since manyare guilty, you may have to ask yourself if the shoe fits in order tofigure out if I am talking about you.

Your congregations trust you. They look at you as the role modelsto whom they have come for guidance and spiritual uplifting. You givegreat speeches about being careful not to harm others with carelesstalk, and you teach us to be all inclusive and kind to one another.So tell us, Rabbi, why are you rabble-rousing?

If you are Reform, have you recently told your congregation not tosupport Orthodox charities because you do not feel that your sectgets enough respect from the Orthodox leadership? If you areOrthodox, have you recently told your congregations that yours is theonly correct way to bring up children, and that the other movementsare incompetent? If you are Conservative, are you creating anatmosphere of anger and resentment toward the Orthodox because youdon’t like their brand of rules?

Please rabbis, help us stop this inflammatory divisiveness. Findanother way to inspire us. You are creating discomfort among us. Youare pushing us away and apart. Where shall we now go, if so many ofour rabbis are dishonoring the rules of lashon hara?Particularly during the High Holidays, how unbelievable! Can’t youfind other ways to make your political points? Does it have to belike this?

As this new year envelopes us, I pray that you will rethink yourown speeches, and omit the lashon hara. Help us get along, help us betolerant, even if you need to protect your own group and/or your ownpolitics. Please think more clearly about what you are doing to yourcongregations and to the Jewish community at-large.

Who am I to question how the rabbis are utilizing their pulpits? Iam a Jew like many other Jews, who is connected to friends within allsects of Judaism, and I believe we can be far less bitter in order toaccomplish goals. I still believe in our unity, throughconsideration.

May Los Angeles rise above all of the self-protective group(within a group) behavior, and find healthier ways to impact itsJewish community. I am sorry if I have offended you, and even sorrierif I have not found the right words to motivate you to think moreholistically, before you speak.

Name Withheld By Request

Hurtful Attacks

I am not as learned or pious as Rabbi David Eliezrie. But stilleven I was surprised to read his Rosh Hashana column ridiculingReform rabbis for speaking during the High Holy Days about attacks onthe authenticity of Reform Judaism (“It’s Time to Talk,” Oct. 3). Myrabbi addressed these attacks, but used her sermon to encouragecontinued support for Israel and reconciliation with those Orthodoxwilling to engage in a dialogue with other Jews. It was asoul-searching message about how to respond to slander and wastotally in keeping with the spirit of the holidays.

I welcomed her sermon because it addressed a subject that hascaused me much heartache. It has been painful to hear supposedlylearned and pious men make statements that imply that my father’sfuneral was not Jewish because my rabbi is Reform. Eliezrie’s cynicalsuggestion that Reform rabbis discuss these attacks only to garnerdonations evidences utter indifference to the wounds that have beeninflicted by his religious allies.

I was surprised because I assumed that during the High Holy Days,Rabbi Eliezrie would have reflected on the appropriateness of his ownactions rather than exploit the occasion as an opportunity to renewhurtful attacks on others.

Victor Gold

Los Angeles

Mendel and Moses

Regarding the on-going “Mendel and Moses” Hebrew-Christianmissionary controversy (Sept. 5): The Journal should always be opento reviewing any work that it deems as being of interest orimportance to the Jewish community, regardless of the religiousaffiliation of the author or artist. I agree with Mr. Lichtenstein’seditorial policy on that point. And I’m sure that we’re in agreementtoo that the “wolves” have as much right to live in this world as the”sheep.”

But Lichtenstein and the Journal should know as well as anyonethat a wolf in sheep’s clothing is not only the most dangerous kindof wolf, it’s the most dangerous kind of sheep.

Art Verity

Van Nuys

A Welcome Visitor

Not only does Rabbi Edward Tennenbaum attend to his Temple BethZion (“A Lot of Life Left,” Aug. 8), but I had the honor of havinghim pay a “sick call” visit to me. I was out of ICU, from anear-fatal heart attack and transferred to another room at St.Vincent Hospital when this kind gentleman appeared. We spoke togetherand it made me feel so good to see “one of ours” come and visit asick patient.

It was a wonderful feeling when he made a get-well prayer at mybedside.

Thank you Rabbi Tennenbaum, and may you continue your work andvisits to the sick.

Ruth B. Levine

Los Angeles

Tower of Flowers

I read your article about Bernie and Eddie Massey’s Project 9865(“Flower Tower,” Sept. 12). I would like to congratulate you on anexcellent and complete article. It takes an intelligent person withvision and sensitivity to bring out the fantastic humanitarian workthat the Massey brothers have been expressing and doing for at least10 years. They are young Jewish men committed to our society andshould be an inspiration to young and old.

Carmen de la O.

West Los Angeles

Thank You

Every Friday I receive your Jewish Journal. I not only lookforward to receiving it, but I thoroughly enjoy all the columns,articles and even the ads.

For all of these reasons, I feel it’s about time I said a big”Thank you.”

Keep it coming!

Jack Flamer

Calabasas

Volunteer for Israel

I recently volunteered for two weeks in the Israeli Defense Forcesand found the experience very meaningful. I had volunteered twicebefore and was volunteering again, hoping for new adventures and tomeet other people who also value adventure. I had hoped that notkeeping a leisurely travel schedule would inspire me to be moredisciplined in the goals I had for myself, namely to pray regularlyand improve my Hebrew.

I interacted with soldiers and non-commissioned officers andenjoyed people-watching. I was able to learn about the army and itsculture and tour military installations not open to the public.

Each workday we traveled by bus 30 minutes down a mountain, acrossthe Arik bridge on the Jordan River and to the base, where we builtfortifications — essential and highly specialized work — for thecountry.

I saved a bullet, which I found at the Syrian border where wewalked through underground trenches, climbed up in a tower and lookedthrough a telescope at a village on the other side of the border. Wesaw minefields and a special sand along the side of the road thattells the soldiers instantly if anything has crossed. We were in theGolan Heights and saw how natural formations of extinct volcanoes areused to defend the border. On a later date, we had a tour andexplanation of the “good fence,” Israel’s border with Lebanon, whereLebanese enter to work in Israel.

We enjoyed Israeli hospitality — from the commander of the basewhere we lived, the commander in each place where we worked and ourmadrechot, the women soldiers who were our leaders in theSar-El (Volunteers for Israel) Program. The madrechot were with us aspart of their army service. We had festive meals prepared for us andwere treated well by the soldiers.

But as much as we enjoyed being with Israelis, we loved getting toknow our fellow volunteers. Out of about 25 volunteers in our groupranging in age from 18 to 60, about 18 were from the United Statesand Canada. From eating, rooming and traveling together we becamequick friends. Many of us will continue to be friends after theprogram.

Volunteers for Israel can be contacted at (310) 470-1316.

Pamela Kong

Los Angeles

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Murder Sparks U.S.-Israel Flap

Leave a Comment / Israel, Old Stories, Politics, Power, United States /

Amid the bizarre string of foreign-policy fiascos in which Israelfound itself mired as it greeted the new year, surely none was quiteso bizarre as the case of runaway teenager Samuel Sheinbein ofMaryland.

Sheinbein, 17, a high school senior from Montgomery County, anaffluent suburb of Washington, D.C., is a suspect in one of thestate’s most grisly murders in recent memory. He fled to Israel Sept.21, two days after a charred, dismembered corpse was found near hishome. Israel detained him a week later, but announced it could notextradite him. He claims Israeli citizenship, and Israeli law barsextradition of its citizens.

Maryland authorities called the Israeli stance “absurd.” A team ofstate and federal lawyers flew to Tel Aviv on the eve of the new yearto press for extradition. Israel was scrambling for a way to getaround its own law and comply. While the lawyers argued, Sheinbeinspent Rosh Hashanah under suicide watch in an Israeli jail.

The case might have drawn little notice beyond the local news, butfor the fact that the local newspaper in Montgomery County happens tobe the Washington Post, the daily paper of America’s policy elite.The lurid tale has stirred anger from one end of Pennsylvania Avenueto the other, say numerous sources. One key lawmaker, Rep. BobLivingston (R-La.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee,threatened to cut $50 million from Israel’s U.S. aid unless the youthwere sent home. “My sensibilities as a citizen of the United Stateshave been violated,” Livingston said.

The timing could not have been worse for Israel. Congress was duethis week to wrap up next year’s foreign aid appropriation. The billincludes not only Israel’s usual $3 billion, but $100 million for thePalestinians. Pro-Israel lobbyists had sought to link that aid toPalestinian compliance with various obligations — including,administration sources tartly noted, extradition to Israel of accusedPalestinian murderers.

In public, there were few signs that the case would be used fordiplomatic leverage. Congress and the administration alike appearedeager to isolate it from other U.S.-Israeli sore points. There weresigns, however, that the affair might yet damage Israel in ways othercrises have not, by undercutting Israel’s last line of support,heartland conservatives.

The story began Sept. 19, when a real estate agent found anunidentified corpse in an empty house in Wheaton, limbless and burnedalmost beyond recognition. Following a trail of blood to theSheinbein garage, police found damning evidence including an electricsaw. On Sept. 22, a warrant was issued for Sheinbein’s arrest. Bythen he had fled to his grandmother’s home in Israel.

Two days later, police arrested a second suspect, Aaron Needle,17, a friend of Sheinbein’s since their primary school days at alocal Jewish community day school. The victim was now identified asAlfredo Enrique Tello Jr., 19, a friend of Needle’s. Witnessesreported seeing the three together shortly before Tello disappeared.On Sept. 27, Sheinbein was picked up in Tel Aviv, after beinghospitalized for a drug overdose.

The crime story became a diplomatic incident on Sept. 29, whenIsrael announced it could not send Sheinbein home because of a 1977law, inspired by French swindler-turned-Knesset member Samuel Flatto-Sharon, barring extradition of Israeli citizens. Sheinbein isU.S.-born, but claims Israeli citizenship through his father Sol, whowas born in British-ruled Palestine in 1944 and brought to America in1950.

In the manicured suburbs of Montgomery County, diplomacy took aback seat to speculation over the possible motives of the two Jewishday school graduates accused of the gruesome slaying. Both hadhistories of disciplinary problems, and Needle had dropped out ofhigh school. Still, friends and neighbors were hard put to connectthe teens with the crime.

Sheinbein’s parents hired an investigator, who claimed to findevidence implicating Tello in drug dealing. The Sheinbeins reportedlytold a judge their son will plead self-defense, arguing Tello diedtrying to rob the other two. Tello’s family angrily disputes bothallegations. Needle’s attorney says his client killed no one.

Whether the two friends will stand trial together remains unclear.Israel offered to try Sheinbein in Tel Aviv, but Maryland officialssaid it would be nearly impossible. Facing intense U.S. pressure,Israel reportedly was seeking ways to expel Sheinbein on atechnicality — perhaps by annulling the father’s citizenshipVatican-style, through a loophole in Israel’s citizenship law, thusinvalidating the son’s claim.

As international crises go, the Sheinbein affair struck mostobservers as tepid stuff. It evokes no anti-Israel rhetoric orZionist chest-thumping, unlike such flareups as the Ras Al-Amoudsettlement dispute or the botched Sept. 25 assassination attempt on aHamas leader in Amman. Both sides would like the whole thing to goaway.

In a way, the case actually highlights the underlying solidity ofU.S.-Israel ties, which periodically weather such jolts withoutpermanent damage. The Sheinbein case might even offer a lesson aboutother U.S.-Israel disputes: The relationship is stronger thanindividual leaders or their policies.

At the same time, Israel’s inability to resolve the case wasthreatening to accomplish something that no other recent dispute hasdone: alienate Israel’s conservative supporters, in Congress andelsewhere, who are unmoved by Palestinian rights but outraged bycrime.

One sign: reaction to Livingston’s aid threat. “We’ve gottentremendous support from members of Congress and from all across thecountry,” says Livingston aide Mark Corallo. “We’ve gotten hundredsof phone calls, one hundred percent supporting us.”

“It’s not an anti-Israel or anti-Semitic thing,” Corallo said, but”a matter of American justice.” He wasn’t sharing the contents of themessages, though.

J.J. Goldberg is the author of “Jewish Power: Inside theAmerican Jewish Establishment.” He writes from New York.

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Back in Thyme

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment, Food, Israel, Old Stories /

Israel’s newest weapon in its battle for economic well-being andworldwide acceptance is a tall, thin New Yorker with a great lambrecipe.

Her name is Rozanne Gold. New Yorkers know Gold because, whilestill in her 20s, she served as the personal chef for the city’s thenmayor, Ed Koch. She went on to develop Hudson Valley Cuisine,spinning the local ingredients of upstate New York intosophisticated, urban menus. These days, Gold is a consultant toWindows on the World and the Rainbow Room and is author of the JamesBeard Award-winning cookbook, “Recipes 1-2-3” (Viking, $22.95).

And she is fast becoming the Julia Child of Israeli cuisine,popularizing its ingredients among American chefs, fusing its flavorswith French, Italian and American techniques.

Two weeks ago, the Israel Government Tourist Office unveiled Goldto a group of food writers during a luncheon in the Beverly HillsHotel’s aerie-like Escoffier Room. Gold cooked.

From the Hilton’s kosher kitchen, she sent several courses ofdishes that make a mockery out of the perceived wisdom that Israelicuisine begins and ends with falafel and kebab.

Early on in the meal, Gold showed her knack for tweakingtraditional Israeli ingredients. She baked plumped-up Kalamata oliveswith red wine and Israeli olive oil from the Greater Galilee OliveCompany. Biting into her stuffed grape leaves, the guests happilydiscovered not the standard rice-and-lamb mixture but fresh chunks ofsardine, bathed in a tomato cumin sauce.

Next out was a Tian of Eggplant with Tomato. Baked for threehours, the vegetables were intensely concentrated and sweet, balancedwith a pungent za’atar-infused olive oil.

Gold pushes za’atar much as Shimon Peres stumped for the Osloaccords. Israelis and Palestinians dip their breads in the powderymixture. Gold blends it with olive oil and drizzles it over fish andvegetables, or rubs it dry into lamb chops before grilling them. Shebelieves that the traditional blend of wild marjoram, sumac (anonpoisonous Middle Eastern spice with a lemon salt-like tang) androasted sesame seeds will soon rival oregano as America’s pizzaseasoning of choice.

The two luncheon wine selections — a Golan chardonnay and anEmerald Hill cabernet sauvignon — didn’t live up to the food. Butthe pre-meal champagne, a brut from Yarden’s vineyard in Israel, andthe dessert wine, a Carmel Private Collection muscat, both showed thekind of promise that Israel’s wine industry holds.

After a course of St. Peter’s Fish with Tahina and Sizzling PineNuts on a Biblical Herb Salad, Gold presented Loin of Lamb withPomegranate Molasses. The molasses is the boiled-down juice of freshpomegranates, a staple in Persian cuisine and a tart, Port-like foilfor the rich, seared lamb. The Timbale of Barley and Dates thataccompanied the lamb married two ancient, fairly mundane Israeliingredients into the kind of earthy, savory and sweet dish thatmodern chefs favor.

The dish also highlighted another aim of Golds’. She set out tocreate a menu that was not only kosher, but used all of the sevenspecies from the Holy Land mentioned in the Bible: dates, barley,grapes, olives, wheat, pomegranates and figs.

The figs appeared as Poached Figs in Honey Sesame Syrup, and thewheat flour helped build the small, fluted Orange-Cardamom Cakes,served with a Med-Rim Fruit Soup, redolent of Israel’s Galia melons.A scoop of silvery Arak Sorbet, made from the anise-flavored liquorof the region, adorned the figs.

After Gold emerged from the kitchen to applause, she explained howher love affair with Israeli ingredients began while visiting thecountry in 1980. The fresh white cheeses, the olive oils, and spicesand fresh produce were intoxicating. “I realized that Israeli food isthe greatest story never told,” she said.

Many cultures and cuisines thrive in Israel — from EasternEuropean to Palestinian, from North African to French. “Israel is theworld’s smallest melting pot,” said the chef. The variety inspiredher to recast the ingredients in the kind of fusion style that hastypified much of the cooking of young American chefs. A newgeneration of Israeli chefs has done the same, interpreting theirnative foods through French and Asian techniques, creating a dozen orso standout restaurants around the country. Gault Millau, the Frenchfoodie bible, has added an Israeli section to its touring lineup.

Whether foodies will trek to Israel as they do to Italy and Franceremains to be seen. Likewise, za’atar and other more exotic Israeliingredients have yet to become staples in Wolfgang Puck’s kitchen.But Ehud Yonay, the founder of the Greater Galilee Olive Company whois authoring a major book on Israeli cuisine, said at the luncheonthat the best way to popularize Israeli foods and ingredients isthrough American chefs. Case in point: Rozanne Gold.

From Israel, Solid Gold

Any of Chef Rozanne Gold’s dishes from her Taste of Israelluncheon would make a novel addition to a Sukkot meal. With theholiday of harvest and thanksgiving arriving Oct. 15, we selectedtwo:

Wine-Baked Olives

This recipe, from Gold’s book “Recipes 1-2-3,” depends ongood-quality olives and olive oil. Seek out Israeli Nabali or Souriolives (available through the Greater Galilee Olive Company,800-290-1391) or Greek Kalamatas.

1 pound good-quality black olives

1/2 cup dry red wine (cabernet sauvignon)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or garlic olive oil

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Put olives in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to aboil and boil for one minute. Drain well.

3) Place olives with wine and oil in a small oven-proofnonmetallic dish.

4) Bake 30 minutes, stirring once, until most of the liquid hasevaporated.

5) Serve warm or at room temperature. Garnish with thyme sprigs.

Makes about 85 olives.

Med-Rim Fruit Soup

2 cups peach or mango nectar

1/3 cup sweet white wine (muscat)

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoon honey

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

4 cups (about 2 pounds) finely sliced stone fruit (nectarines,peaches, plums, apricots)

2 cups finely diced cantaloupe or Galia melon

Seeds from 1 pomegranate

1) In a medium, nonreactive saucepan, put nectar, wine, water,honey, bay leaf and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmerfor 10 minutes.

2) Discard bay leaf and cinnamon.

3) Wash the stone fruit and cut into 1/4-inch pieces. Remove theskin and seeds from the melon and cut into small pieces. Mix thefruit and place in a large bowl.

4) Pour warm liquid over the fruit. Let cool.

5) Refrigerate until very cold.

6) Garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Makes 6 cups.

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Knowledge for the Good Life

Leave a Comment / Family, Old Stories /

One of mycousins called the other day to tell me that she wasn’t interested ina cousins reunion. “Well, that’s unanimous — if I count silence as ano,” I said. Even though our parents had a family circle that metmonthly, it looked as if their kinder rejected the idea to meet justonce.

Then my cousin and I talked about my new icon,Martha Stewart — the mother of all balebostes — and we jokinglyasked, what if we had a mother like Martha? Would we be making ourown potpourri from herbs grown in the greenhouse we had built theyear before? Would we be refinishing the dining-room table that wehad constructed from old ironing boards?

When I first saw Martha on television, she usedexactly three sheets of The New York Times Business section to make aroaring fire. I considered myself an expert fire maker, but I neededthe entire Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times. I watchedMartha and took notes.

The last time I paid such close attention totelevision was during a PBS show about the relationship betweenhumans and elephants. The elephant owner made 200 leafy sandwichesevery day for his elephant, and they had to be constructed in acertain way for the elephant to trust the handler.

Detail from “The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark” byJan Brueghel, 1613.

I also learned how to bathe an elephant, which isthe essential bonding experience between elephant and human. Theelephant is on its side in the water — a very vulnerable position –and the human efficiently and lovingly scrubs the elephant’s hide,ears, footpads. We’re talking tons of dependent animal relying on theskill and compassion of one frail person.

The elephant has this keen intuition about whoreally cares for him and who’s mistreating him. When the elephant iswell taken care of, he’s capable of loyalty and hard work unknown toany species. When he’s mistreated, he enters your tent late at night,picks you up with his trunk and throws you against a tree.

Although I wish people who mistreat children wouldbe thrown against trees, I don’t get to use much of myelephant-bonding information. But my newly acquired fire-makingability definitely is impressive. I wait until the embers ofnewspaper fly through the air and people start choking, and then Ishyly ask, “Is there anything I can do to help?” The frustratedfailure of a usually male fire maker asks, “What do you know aboutfires?”

Hemingway once wrote: “The old man taught the boyto fish, and the boy loved him.” My first husband and his father wentto the racetrack together. The father taught the boy to read a racingform, and the boy loved him. And when the boy became a father, hetaught his son how to handicap, and the son loved him. My grandmothertaught me how to sew, but Gloria Steinem said that I had choices. Somy daughter and I didn’t sew together. We walked picket lines. Weshould have sewn too.

I had a teacher in college named Dr. Fiore. Shewas a slightly built woman, perhaps in her 30s. She was intense,quiet, with a slow smile. After flunking gym and physics in myfreshman year, I decided to drop out of college and went to heroffice to tell her. Why tell Dr. Fiore, I don’t remember. Shelistened as I matter-of-factly told her that I wasn’t collegematerial and that my mother was right — that I should stop foolingaround, enter the real world, learn how to type and earn aliving.

Dr. Fiore told me to stay in school and to learnsome patience, that I had talent. If I left, the shape of my lifewould be carved from regrets. Dr. Fiore, who did not know me, knewwhat was good for me — good for my soul. I love her to this day forthat knowledge.

Socrates said that health, wealth, beauty, allthese are good insofar as they are well used. And a good use of thegoods of life demands knowledge of their appropriate employment.

Linda Feldman, a former columnist for the LosAngeles Times, is the co-author of “Where To Go From Here:Discovering Your Own Life’s Wisdom,” due out this fall from Simon& Schuster.

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‘If She Couldn’t Pay, She Couldn’t Pray’

Leave a Comment / Community, Old Stories, Other Voices /

As a Jew in his early 30s,I have had many different experiences of beauty and pain during theTen Days of Awe, ranging from the first time I started to reallyunderstand the implications of being on trial for my life, to thefirst Yizkor after my father’s death. Yet last year, I experiencedsomething that made me feel more emotion than I can remember everhaving at this time, and, unfortunately, the feeling was that ofanger toward other Jews.

A friend of mine had not been to services duringRosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur for many years, mainly because she feltthat most temples were filled with hypocrites who were not reallypresent in prayer. Rather, they seemed to be there out of a sense ofguilt or a desire to “network” with other congregants. She had prayedwith Native Americans and Africans, yet she was disconnected from heroriginal faith. An out-of-work actress who was financially strappedat the time, she came to me last year with the desire to attendservices. Although she couldn’t really afford the tickets, she toldme that she would be willing to do menial labor or secretarial workin exchange for being allowed to come pray before the Torah on theseHigh Holy Days. She claimed that after many years of being away fromher tradition and tribe, she would like to reconnect to her roots andstart to experience again the beauty of Judaism. I referred her to asynagogue that I respect, and she called and requested to come toservices. She was told that she would not be allowed to come and prayunless she could immediately pay $150 for tickets. If she couldn’tpay, she couldn’t pray.

She called me back, angry, upset and humiliated.Obviously, if she had the money, she would have been happy to donateit. But she was told by the person at the synagogue that it was themandate handed down by the board of directors and that there was noother alternative. She conveyed to me her frustration, and thisinteraction merely reinforced her pain and discomfort with her owntradition. An opportunity to bring a Jewish woman back to hertradition was wasted, and, even more, she felt antipathy to her ownroots and the ways the culture expressed itself.

I understand that there are important financialneeds in every synagogue. The cost of the rabbis and staff, buildingupkeep, hall rental for the special celebrations, and otherfacilities and services provided are extremely expensive. Like anyorganization, it is a process of love to be on the board of directorsand a difficult job at best. Balancing the books and making sure thatends meet are always tough, and even tougher when all too many Jewsare involved with their synagogue only for the High Holy Days,weddings, bar mitzvahs and funerals. But throughout the financialtrials that we experience, it is imperative that we do not forget whywe are involved with the synagogue in the first place, what it reallymeans to be a Jew, and what our responsibilities are to eachother.

“Do not treat others in a way that you would notwant to be treated. This is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary.”If you did not have the funds to go to services but still wanted togo pray, you would never want to be humiliated and made to feel shamefor wanting to come to the synagogue. The Torah was given to all ofus, and it cannot be stressed too much that we should all help eachother out in times of need. In our wealth and complacence, we haveforgotten that we always need to bind together, that we need towelcome each other into our homes and hearts, that we must take careof each other. If it is a mitzvah to welcome guests to our homes onShabbat, how much more important is it to welcome Jews back tosynagogue on the Shabbat of Shabbats, Yom Kippur?

We all have many friends who are Jewish but whohave no relationship with their culture whatsoever. They have deniedtheir roots and do not even come to the High Holy Days. They have noguilt about this, for, consistently, they feel that the Jewishcommunity turned its back on them, and that this forced them toreject the tradition and culture.

When someone like this has a desire to come backto the culture, this desire should be treated as a delicate spark andbe used to ignite a fire of passion and love for our beautifulheritage. This year, welcome these brothers and sisters. Encouragethem to come and daven with other Jews. Realize that they might useany excuse not to.

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