Rabbi Harold Schulweis tells a joke about a Jewish man who complains to his father after marrying a convert.
“What am I going to do with her? She wants to go the synagogue every week; she wants the house to be kosher. I didn’t sign up for this,” the man says.
His father replies, “I told you not to marry out of the faith.”
The joke underscores a number of concerns that face Jews-by-choice once they take the leap into Judaism. And while Jews-by-choice can be more inspired about Judaism than Jews-by-birth, they may be stigmatized by some members of the Jewish community who look upon their decision to convert as being a less-legitimate entry into the faith.
Issues like these make up the core of the Embracing Judaism Shabbaton, a learning and fellowship retreat for Jews-by-choice that will be held later this month at the University of Judaism. The Shabbaton, the first of its kind, represents a milestone in the outreach efforts toward converts — a way of showing that the Jewish community is both cognizant of their needs and ready to accommodate them. For Jews-by-choice, the Shabbaton is designed to help them embrace Judaism and to allow them to network with others who share the life-altering experience of choosing Judaism over another religion.
“There was a feeling that Jews do not proselytize, but that is historically false,” said Schulweis, senior rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom. “In the daily Amidah prayer we praise God for gerei tzedek [righteous converts], and throughout the Bible it is repeated 36 times that ‘you should love the stranger,’ and the same word, ger, is used for stranger that we now use for converts.”
Unlike Christianity, which has actively tried to encourage conversions, traditional Judaism has been wary of foisting its faith on others. According to halacha, or Jewish law, potential converts are meant to be discouraged three times before being accepted as worthy candidates for conversion. But once someone converts, he or she is not meant to be stigmatized by the community for not having been born Jewish.
Schulweis, who will be participating in the Shabbaton, thinks that the Jewish community needs to do more to make itself open to those who come from other religions to seek the faith, and that converts should be encouraged, not discouraged.
“I think we have not taken advantage of the unusual curiosity and interest in Judaism showed by engaged, mature people who have a theological and spiritual thirst for Judaism, but who never got the impression that they were cordially invited [into the faith],” he said. “I think that the term ‘Jews-by-choice’ came about as counter to the notion of ‘Chosen People,’ as a mark of choice over fate.”
But while traditional Judaism teaches that those who convert should be accepted into the community just like any other Jew, Rabbi Neal Weinberg, who runs the Introduction to Judaism course at the University of Judaism and organized the Shabbaton, thinks that integration might not be so easy for Jews-by-choice
“After people convert to Judaism we leave them dripping at the mikvah,” said Weinberg, referring to the final stage of the conversion process, when the convert immerses in a ritual bath.
“We expect them now to all of a sudden become part of the Jewish community, but it is all new and people don’t feel that comfortable,” he said. “The purpose of the Shabbaton is that it be a next step for people to be able to network together and talk to people who have chosen Judaism. We don’t want to remind them about their prior status [as non-Jews], but Jews-by-choice have needs that are not being met.”
Weinberg said he decided to organize the Shabbaton because he often receives phone calls around the High Holidays from people who have been through his program, asking him to recommend synagogues they can attend.
“I say, ‘What about your sponsoring synagogue?'” he said, referring to the fact that Jews-by-choice need a sponsoring synagogue when they convert. “People feel really excited when they convert, but because the Jewish partner wasn’t enthusiastic enough, sometimes they fall back.”
“I also just got a phone call from a guy whose wife took our program 10 years ago, and they moved out of town and got divorced,” Weinberg said. “She took the kids with her and enrolled them in a Christian school, and they will be raised as Christians. Had she developed a [stronger] Jewish identity [that wouldn’t have happened]. When you feel Jewish, there is nothing more that you want to be.”
Weinberg structured the Shabbaton to bolster the sense of faith and community for Jews-by-choice. It includes services that are run by Jews-by-choice success stories, such as Rabbi John Crites-Borak of Temple Ner Maarav; actress Lorna Lembeck, who is now studying to be a cantor; and actress Mare Winningham.
The Shabbaton will also have a number of workshops on issues pertaining to Jews-by-choice, such as: “Developing a Jewish Identity,” “Negotiating Observance With Your Jewish Partner” and “Being Single, Being Jewish — Finding Your Way in the Jewish Community.” In addition, there will be a panel discussion on diversity in the Jewish community.
All the workshops are meant to encourage integration into the Jewish community and to bridge the gap between the experience of growing up Jewish and taking it on later in life.
“One of the issues early on with me, was that I grew up thinking of myself as Italian,” said Gary Gentile, a business writer who converted to Judaism six years ago. “I had a problem thinking of myself as Jewish.”
“The first Yom Kippur service that I went to in New York. [My hosts] were all sitting around and talking at the meal before the fast, saying things like, ‘My parents said don’t eat so much salt,’ or ‘Drink a lot,’ so you can fast easier, and I had never celebrated these things before,” Gentile said. “I felt I didn’t belong.”
Gentile, 47, now considers himself a Jew, not a Jew-by-choice, but he still wants to attend the Shabbaton for the being single workshop and because it will be like a “high school reunion” for people who went through the Introduction to Judaism course with him.
Other converts have the challenge of getting their Jewish families as enthused as they are about their new faith. Lembeck, who converted to Judaism years after she married her Jewish husband, director Michael Lembeck, said that getting the family to start practicing Judaism is a slow, ongoing process.
“We start with lighting candles [on Friday night], then we might add the Motzi [the blessing over the bread] and then maybe Birkat ha’Mazon [grace after meals] — but that is over a period of years,” Lembeck said. “The big mistake of the convert is to come running into the house and expect everything to be changed presto.”
“My husband was raised in a wonderful Jewish family, but his family was very secular,” she said. “They had a strong Jewish identity, but they were not particularly religious.”
Lembeck said she had been drawn to Judaism her whole life, but she only seriously considered converting after her daughter asked her, “Am I Christmas or am I Chanukah? I need to know what I am.”
“That lead to a lot of conversations in our household,” Lembeck said. “I was drawn to having a Jewish household, but I didn’t know how to do it. When I started the [Introduction to Judaism] program, I didn’t know the AlefBet or how to do a candle blessing. Now I lead services in congregations.”
But some rabbis believe that a Shabbaton for converts might be interesting but redundant.
“My real feeling is if the proper job has been in the conversion process, then [Jews-by-choice] are inherently going to be the most active members of the Jewish community,” said Rabbi David Rue, the head rabbi of the Bet Din of Los Angeles, an Orthodox religious court. “Most members of the Jewish community are not particularly active. But people who go through the conversion process — the men end up going to shul every day, the women go every Shabbos, and they are more active than then vast majority of the people in their communities. If the person doesn’t have a Jewish identity, then why are you converting them?”
Rue said that his court receives 1,500 conversion applications every year. Of those, he said, one-third of the applications come from Christians trying to infiltrate the Jewish community to convert other Jews, and another third come from people “that are crazy.” Of the remaining third, half drop out after an initial interview, where Rue explains the kind of commitment required to lead an Orthodox life.
“That cuts it down to 200 people, and then you get all sorts of reasons why things don’t work out,” Rue said. “So we [ended up with] 64 conversions out of 1,500 applicants [a year]. But I can say that after five years, at least 95 percent [of the people his court converted] are still observant.”
Rue also said that issues of household religious observance need to be negotiated before a couple marries.
“If you don’t deal with things before people convert, it only gets worse later,” he said. “When people aren’t on the same page religiously, or close to it, when they get married, the chances of them staying married are very low.”
However, other rabbis believe that the Shabbaton will fill a real need in the community.
“I wish that the Conservative movement would make this into a national policy and would encourage all synagogues to have a proactive, proselytizing outreach program,” Schulweis said.
Embracing Judaism, the Angel and Alan Schneider Family Shabbaton for Jews-by-choice, will take place Oct. 29-30 at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles. For more information, call (310) 440-1273.
The Shabbaton is open to Jews-by-choice from all denominations.
Santa Monica Art Studios: 6-9 p.m. Grand opening of Yossi Govrin and Sherry Frumkin’s airport hanger art studios, including works by Shelley Adler. 3026 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 397-7449.
Yiddishkayt Los Angeles: “L.A. Confidential: The Hidden Story of Yiddish in Los Angeles” weeklong celebration of Yiddish culture in Los Angeles. See story on page 33.
10/Sunday
EVENTS
City of Hope: 8:30 a.m. Eighth-annual “Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer” 1-mile walk. $15-$30. City of Hope Campus, 1500 E. Duarte Road, Duarte. (213) 241-7184.
Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary: 11 a.m. Memorial to honor entertainer Eddie Cantor with service conducted by Rabbi Sheldon Pennes. 6001 Centinela Ave., Los Angeles. (800) 576-1994.
American-Israel Cultural Foundation: 5 p.m. Special concert and dinner in memory of Seymour Owens and Dr. David and Helene Rottapel. Musical program features Israeli classical clarinetist, Tibi Cziger. $150. Wyndham Bel Age Hotel. West Hollywood.
(310) 476-5397.
University of Judaism: 7-9:30 p.m. Movie screening of “Outfoxed” followed by interview with director Robert Greenwald conducted by Rob Eshman, editor-in-chief of The Jewish Journal. $10. 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel Air. (310) 440-1246.
OPEN HOUSE
New Community Jewish High School: 10:30 a.m.- noon. Open house.
7353 Valley Circle Blvd., West Hills.
(818) 348-0048.
LECTURES
Valley Beth Shalom/Americans for a Safe Israel: 10:30 a.m. “What Is at Stake for American Jews and for Israel in the Forthcoming Elections?” Public debate with Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Van Nuys) and Republican Robert M. Levy, moderated by Rabbi Edward Feinstein. Free. 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 788-6000.
Westlake Hyatt: 2 p.m. Lecture “On how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” with Josef Avesar. Coffee and cookies included. Free. 880 S. Westlake Blvd., Westlake Village. (818) 324-3182.
University of Judaism: 2 p.m. Comedy and music series, “A Conversation With Michael Feinstein.” $40. 15600 Mulholland Drive,Bel Air. R.S.V.P., (310) 440-1547.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Cal State University Northridge:
2 p.m. “An Afternoon with Theodore Bikel: The Man and His Music” with special guest star Lainie Nelson. Performing Arts Center,
18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. R.S.V.P., (818) 785-8885.
Skirball Cultural Center: 4 p.m. L.A. Theatre Works presents “Ride Down Mt. Morgan” by Arthur Miller.
$25-$42. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 827-0889.
11/Monday
LECTURES
Roosevelt Hotel: Michael Levine and Friends. $30. Cinegrill, The Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. R.S.V.P.,
(323) 769-7269.
Temple Judea: 9:30 a.m. Project Vote Smart with Paul and Tad Franz. Free. 5429 Lindley Ave., Tarzana.
(818) 758-3800.
UCLA: 6 p.m. Introduction to Info-Aesthetics with Lev Manovich. Free.
104 Kinross Building, 11000 Kinross Ave., Westwood Village.
(310) 825-8000.
CLASSES
Pressman Academy: 7-9 p.m. Beginning and intermediate Hebrew class for parents. Also on Tuesday mornings starting Oct. 12. $125 (10 classes). 1055 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. R.S.V.P., (310) 652-2002.
Israeli Dancing: 7:30-10 p.m. Israeli folk dancing with Jason Hecht.
$5-$6. Barbara and Ray Alpert Jewish Community Center, 3801 East Willow St., Long Beach. (562) 426-7601.
12/Tuesday
EVENTS
Hadassah: 11:30 a.m. Kinneret luncheon meeting with fashion show by Vivian. $20. Marriot Hotel,
13480 Maxella Ave., Marina del Rey.
(310) 568-0797.
Temple Beth Sholom: 6-9 p.m. Simcha Fair with photographers, videographers, caterers and DJs.
2625 N. Tustin Ave., Santa Ana.
(714) 628-4600.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Iranian American Parents Association: 7-10 p.m. See a performance by the AVAZ International Dance Theatre. $100. Grand Ballroom, Beverly Hilton Hotel, 9876 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. (323) 663-2829.
Skirball Cultural Center: 7:30 p.m. “Los Angeles Now” documentary about the transformation of Los Angeles, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Phillip Rodriguez, Fernando Guerra, Joel Kotkin, the Rev. Robert B. Lawton and DJ Waldie. Free. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles.
(310) 440-4500.
LECTURES
Magicopolis: 7:30 p.m. “Challenging Politics” with Howard Rosenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning media critic, in conversation with Scott Carter, executive producer of “Real Time With Bill Maher.” $25. 1418 Fourth St., Santa Monica. (310) 471-3979.
13/Wednesday
CLASSES
Adat Ari El Sisterhood: 9:30 a.m.-noon. Multi-Interest Day Showcase of Classes 2004-2005, with coffee and food. 12020 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village. (818) 766-9426.
Temple Beth Torah: 6:30 p.m. Rosh Chodesh meditation service led by Cantor Sharone Rosen. 16651 Rinaldi St., Granada Hills. (818) 831-0835.
Israel Cancer Research Fund: 7 p.m. “Everything You Ever Want to Know About Prostate Caner” lecture with urologic surgeon Dr. Dudley S. Danoff. $7. Loews Beverly Hills Hotel, 1224 Beverwil Drive, Beverly Hills. R.S.V.P., (323) 651-1200.
Yoga and Jewish Mysticism:
7:30-9 p.m. “Yoga and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life” taught by Dr. Hannah Chusid. $80 for six-series classes.
2236 26th St., Santa Monica. R.S.V.P., (310) 450-0133.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Cerritos Center of the Performing Arts: 7:30 p.m. Sierra Nights with violinists Zachary DePue and Nicolas Kendal and double bassist Ranaan Meyer perform “Time for Three” eclectic string program ensemble. $20. Sierra Room Theatre, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. (800) 300-4345.
Santa Monica Public Libary: 7 p.m. See a screening of Isaac Bashevis Singers’ “The Cafeteria” with Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan as master of ceremonies. The Arcadia, 250 Santa Monica Pier, next to the carousel, Santa Monica.
(310) 458-2295.
14/Thursday
EVENTS
Hadassah Metro: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. “Your Body Is a Beautiful Responsibility: Women’s Health Day,” includes continental breakfast and kosher lunch. $25-$30. University Synagogue, 11960 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 276-0036.
OPEN HOUSE
Sinai Akiba: 8:30-10:30 a.m. Open house. 10400 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. R.S.V.P., (310) 481-3282.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Gallery Row Organization:
Noon-9 p.m. Downtown Art Walk, including walking tours of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Neon Art, Gallery
727, Bert Fine Art, Art Share and Milla Angelina Gallery. Free. www.downtownartwalk.com.
CLASSES
Temple Adat Elohim: 7-9 p.m. Eighteen-week course on the basic principles and practices of Judaism. 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. (818) 907-8740.
Congregation Kehilas Yaakov:
8 p.m. Prepare yourself for Shabbat with Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s contemporary halacha class on the weekly parsha. 7211 Beverly Drive, Los Angeles. (323) 932-6333.
15/Friday
LECTURES
Jewish Renewal Education Conference: Early registration deadline for the Nov. 10-12 conference “Tikkun HaNefesh: Renewing the Spirit through Jewish Education.” Temple Beth Shalom, Chandler, Ariz. www.spiritedjew.org.
UCLA Live: 8 p.m. Paul Krugman, New York Times op-ed columnist and Princeton professor, shares his views on topics from economy to government to corporate scandals. Royce Hall. Westwood. (310) 825-2101.
SHABBAT
Congregation B’nai Israel: Seventh- and eighth-grade community Shabbaton with 150 youth from 16 congregations of Orange County and Long Beach. One Federation Way, Irvine. (949) 435-3450.
EVENTS
Emma Lazarus Jewish Women’s Club: Noon. Monthly luncheon with speaker Larry Frank, attorney and political analyst who will talk about the upcoming election. $6.50. 543 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles.
Adat Chaverim: 7:30 p.m. Valley Congregation for Humanistic Judaism meeting. 13164 Burbank Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 623-7363.
Screamfest: 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles Horror Film Festival 2004 runs until Oct. 24 and celebrates the independent filmmakers, including Stan Winston who will receive a career achievement away. Screening of “Cube Zero” followed by Q-and-A with director Ernie Barbarash. Loews Universal Studios Cinemas, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. (310) 358-3273.
Jewish Sports Connection seeks young writers, ages 12-16, for its quarterly publication sponsored by The Center for Sport and Jewish Life. For more information, contact:
The Center for Sport and Jewish Life, P.O. Box 66461,
St. Petersburg, FL 33736
or JewishSport@yahoo.com and specify “young writers” in subject line.
SINGLES
9/Saturday
Singles Helping Others: Friends of the Family: Second annual festival of readers at L.A. Mission College.
13356 Eldridge Ave., Sylmar. R.S.V.P., (818) 884-5332.
Jewish Singles, Meet! (30s-40s):
5 p.m. Buffet dinner followed by a movie in Northridge. R.S.V.P.,
(818) 750-0095.
Magbit: 7:30 p.m. Red II cocktail party, must wear something red to get in. 450 Trousdale Place, Beverly Hills. R.S.V.P., (310) 472-9363.
Elite Jewish Theatre Singles: 8 p.m. See the musical “The Boyfriend” a romantic spoof about the roaring ’20s. $24. R.S.V.P., (310) 203-1312.
10/Sunday
Singles Helping Others: 10 a.m.-
2 p.m. Build float for the Rose Parade. Sierra Madre. R.S.V.P., (818) 345-8802.
Harbor Jewish Singles (55+): 11 a.m. Walking in Huntington Beach, bring your own lunch and picnic in the park. Meet in front of the Huntington Beach Playhouse. 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach. (714) 751-0469.
Nexus: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fright Fest at Magic Mountain. www.jewishnexus.org.
Balboa Park: 11 a.m. Walk around the park and lake followed by a picnic you bring yourself. Meet at the parking lot with the red balloons. R.S.V.P., (310) 204-1240.
International and Israeli folk dancing: 7 p.m. Dancing with Avi Gabay. Avant Garde Ballroom,
4220 Scott Drive, Newport Beach. (310) 560-4262.
11/Monday
Project Next Step: 8 p.m. “Coffee Talk” with coffee and pastries. $7. 9911 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.
(310) 552-4595, ext. 27.
12/Tuesday
The New JCC at Milken: 8-11 p.m. Israeli folk dancing with instructor James Zimmer. $5-$6.
22622 Vanowen St., West Hills.
(310) 284-3638.
Westwood Singles (45+): 7:30 p.m. Discussing on “Why do people outgrow each other?” with therapist Maxine Geller. $10. R.S.V.P.,
(310) 444-8986.
13/Wednesday
New Age Singles (55+): 6 p.m. Valley dinner group no-host dinner. R.S.V.P., (818) 789-9421.
Nexus (20s-40s): 6 p.m. Volleyball followed by dinner at a local restaurant. End of Culver Boulevard, near court 15, Playa del Rey. www.jewishnexus.org.
14/Thursday
Conversations at Leon’s: 7 p.m. Discuss “Why Should We Vote?” with Mark Austin Thomas, L.A. radio executive and personality. $15-$17.
639 26th St., Santa Monica.
(310) 393-4616.
New Start/Millionaire’s Circle:
7:30 p.m. Social and light dinner in Brentwood, ages 21-49 and in Beverly Hills, ages 50+. For those who are or have the potential to be. R.S.V.P.,
(323) 461-3137.
15/Friday
Kosher Shabbat Singles Dinner: Men ages 40-55 and women ages 35-45 are invited to attend. Call for location. R.S.V.P., (310) 277-8177.
New Age Singles (55+): 6 p.m. Shabbat Fest at Valley Beth Shalom with musical entertainment, dinner and services. Meet at Densmore Street and Ventura Boulevard. R.S.V.P.,
(818) 764-6747.
Elite Jewish Theatre Singles: 2 p.m. See the show “Side by Side by Sondheim” performed by Broadway star Davis Gaines followed by dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. $50. R.S.V.P., (310) 203-1312.
Words can elevate and words can destroy. There was a time when the Jewish community too glibly and carelessly disregarded words of accusation of sexual abuse against clergy. That was clearly wrong, and Gary Rosenblatt of The Jewish Week helped to correct that. The pendulum has now swung to the opposite extreme, as evidenced in Rosenblatt’s column “Unforgiven” (Oct. 1).
The column reports an allegation concerning a relationship from 25 years ago – when Rabbi Mordechai Gafni was 19 and 20 and not yet a rabbi – in a situation where he had no pastoral relationship with the person in question. Gafni has a completely different account of what happened, which was not clearly related in the article (including the fact that nothing even vaguely resembling sexual relations took place).
Furthermore, we can attest first hand that several years ago, Gafni made serious attempts to contact this woman in a therapeutically mediated context to clarify the huge gulf in their understandings of what happened and, if necessary, to apologize for any way in which she felt hurt. This offer was rejected and the decision was apparently made that the press was a more appropriate vehicle for conversation.
The story also reports unsubstantiated allegations that are 20 years old. The story critically omits the fact that Rabbi Kenneth Hain, a former president of the Rabbinical Council of America, along with a psychologist, investigated the charges and found them to be baseless, and fully cleared Gafni of any wrongdoing.
We have collectively looked at this issue again in the last six months and come to a similar conclusion. Further, Rabbi Gafni has long expressed his desire to meet with any of the parties who feel he has wronged them – even when he has a completely different account of the situation.
We, like Rosenblatt, have struggled with the question of what gravity to assign to persistent rumors. Our conclusion differs from that of Rosenblatt.
We have independently, over many years, spoken to virtually everyone who would speak to us who was directly involved in order to examine the accusations against Gafni. We have found them totally not convincing. Further, there is simply no evidence that Gafni’s public role constitutes a risk to Jewish women or to anyone for that matter.
We pray that this unfair scandalous moment will soon be forgotten and that Gafni will be able to free his spiritual energy and formidable intellect in order to help build Jewish consciousness and commitment.
Rabbi Saul J. Berman
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin Rabbi Tirzah Firestone
I would really like to know exactly what the purpose was of your article on Rabbi Mordechai Gafni. Is The Jewish Journal so hard up for something to write about that you find unsubstantiated rumors regarding events that happened 25 years ago newsworthy? That article was disgusting, and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
My husband and I both applaud Rabbi Eli Hersher for behaving like a true rabbi and not getting sucked into the gossip that has threatened destroy the life of this great teacher (“Herscher: Gafni Still Welcome in L.A.,” Oct. 1). If Gafni were not as electric, dynamic and brilliant as he is, no one would be trying so hard to bring him down.
Until these crimes are proven, you are guilty of throwing gas on the fire. This article makes you look awful.
Shelley Schuster Malibu
Single-Issue Voter
Does anyone else see the irony of being lectured to by Bill Boyarsky about the perils of being a single-issue voter (“Look Beyond Israel,” Oct. 1)?
Boyarsky is the ultimate single-issue voter. If you are a Democrat, he will vote for you. If you are a Republican, he will not. Period – end of story.
For Boyarsky, a fundamentalist Democrat, to decry the lack of open-mindedness and big-picture thinking takes a considerable amount of chutzpah. There are none so closed minded as he who believes in his own open-mindedness as a matter of faith.
Rafael Guber Los Angeles
Views on Bush
In his endorsement for the presidential election (“Why George W. Bush,” Sept. 17), Dan Cohen asks rhetorically, “Why George W. Bush”? Why, indeed. If Bush is so great for Israel and the Jews, I have a few other “why” questions to ask:
Why has the situation in Israel during his presidency been the worst since the country’s founding in 1948?
Why is worldwide anti-Semitism at the highest level since Hitler dominated half of Europe?
Why has the United States gone from being an object of universal empathy and support after Sept. 11 to the most despised and distrusted nation on earth, severely compromising our ability to serve as a champion for Israel or any other complex cause?
Why does Bush continue to coddle and shield from scrutiny his good friend Saudi Arabia, which is the fomenter and funder of worldwide Islamic radicalism and the country that attacked us on Sept. 11?
Why is Bush’s most loyal constituency, and the one he most panders to, the fundamentalist Christian right, a group whose entire world view is antithetical to the social, economic, religious, intellectual and cultural life of mainstream Judaism?
The Bush presidency has been a disaster for Israel, America and the world. Even if Kerry is elected, it will take at least two generations to reverse the damage that’s been done.
But the alternative – four more years without even the semblance of restraint in his misadventures from concern over re-election, and the prospect of two or three Supreme Court appointments to cement his homegrown version of Wahhabism – is too frightening to contemplate.
Dr. Wayne W. Grody Pacific Palisades
When it comes to the Jewish community, history will prove that George W. Bush is the absolute worst president. This president seems to think that by only advancing pro-Israel policies, then Jewish voters would or should flock to him.
Think again. President Bush is advancing a domestic agenda that should scare us. Religious freedom, privacy rights, reproductive rights and civil liberties are at stake in this election as the next president will appoint at least two Supreme Court justices.
Jeffrey L. Hoffer Westlake Village
Dan Cohen writes that Bush will promote economic growth by eliminating the “death tax.” In doing so, he participates in Bush’s tactic of deceiving and misleading the general public into believing that when the time comes for parents savings to be passed onto their heirs, thanks to him, they will be tax free. When the truth is that for 95 percent of the public, those savings are already tax free, and the further truth is that “death tax” is a contrived name for the estate tax, a name which points in the direction of the very wealthy 5 percent who are the only ones who will benefit if such a tax is eliminated.
That the president would knowingly deceive the general public for a self-serving purpose is shocking. That Cohen would knowingly go along with that deception casts a dark shadow over his article.
Arnold Laven Encino
Kerry’s Words
Ralph Nurnberger remarks about John Kerry’s 100 percent record of supporting Israel security, especially his remarks that he is in favor of Israel building the barrier (“Why John Kerry?” Sept. 17).
What about his remark to the Arab American Institute National Leadership Conference, where he criticized Israel for building the fence and said, “We do not need another barrier to peace?”
Can you still depend on a person who speaks from both sides of his mouth with different words?
Joe Samuels Santa Monica
Jews in Baseball
Seth Swirsky says that of all the Jews who have played professional baseball, only two, Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, are bona fide stars (“Friday Night Game Earns Green a Strike,” Oct. 1). Greenberg and Koufax are the only Jews elected to the player’s wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the game has had other bona fide Jewish stars.
I’ll spare you the bios and most of the stats, but had Cleveland Indians’ four-time All-Star/American League MVP Al Rosen not had career ending injuries after only seven American Leagues seasons, he’d be side-by-side with Koufax and Greenberg in the Hall of Fame. Then there’s Sid Gordon, Harry Danning, Buddy Myer, Kenny Koltzman, Goody Rosen, Larry Sherry, Cal Abrams, Morrie Arnovich and 1981 American League Cy Young Award-winner Steve Stone.
Joe Siegman Beverly Hills Founder, International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Netanya, Israel
Strikes a Chord
Ted Roberts’ first person article struck a chord with me (“Tale of Two Schools,” Sept. 3). Although I did not attend Vollentine School, my public school experience was much like his. Mr. Levine was my teacher, also.
I was the only girl in class of a dozen taunting, teasing boys. I did not experience the ruler, but many pinches on the cheeks.
It was Mr. Levine’s commitment and dedication that kept me coming, despite all that. He was determined to instill Yiddishkayt in each student, and he succeeded, and we knew that he loved every one of us.
Reva Weinberg Funk Los Angeles
Not Apathetic
My name is Carla Tanchum and was very surprised to see my name at the top of an article that I vaguely remember being interviewed for (“The Dangers of Apathy,” Oct. 1). As I continued to read, I was extremely upset to see that my comments were used to make a rather huge and incorrect statement about me.
While I recall making all the statements mentioned, I was never asked any questions specifically to do with voting. I will definitely be voting in this election. I feel that it is every American citizen’s obligation to do so.
The article stated that “what she doesn’t have time to do is vote.” How dare Ivri make an assumption like that based on my comments. If he had wanted to know if I was going to vote, he should have asked me, himself.
Carla Tanchum via e-mail
Editor’s Note: The line Ms. Tanchum refers to was added during the editorial process and was not written by Idan Ivri. We apologize for the error.
The Ba’al Shem Tov, a famous rabbi, once said: “The Torah wants to dance, but she has no feet. You must be her feet.”
On Simchat Torah, we do precisely that. We dance with our Torahs, because we have finished reading it from start to finish. The Torah is like a dance: it circles round and round.
Quiz for Torah Wiz
How long does it take to write a Torah?
a. 2,000 hours
b. One year
c. Six months
d. A and B.
A Torah is not
considered kosher if :
a. One letter is added
b. One letter is deleted
c. One letter is
touching another
d. All of the above
A Torah scroll that is
not kosher must be:
a. Burned
b. Buried
c. Dismantled
d. Erased
Math Madness
Solve this problem to discover how many letters there are in each Torah. Send in the answer and get a prize.
600,000/2 + 5000 – 195 = ?
Crowning Glory
The Torah is written with Hebrew letters that have crowns on them, because they are like kings and queens. Draw a line between the words and their matching Hebrew letter:
There are some new faces at UCLA. Rabbi Aryeh and Sharona Kaplan were recently hired to be the Torah educator couple for the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC). The Kaplans flew out to Los Angeles from Teaneck, N.J., to replace Rabbi Uri and Julie Goldstein, who will be returning home to the East Coast after three years in Los Angeles.
The JLIC serves to encourage and enhance the observance, commitment and education of Orthodox students and to increase the Torah knowledge of the general Jewish student community on campus.
The Kaplans see their role as salespeople, as well as teachers and counselors, and they plan on making the rounds of Orthodox synagogues in Los Angeles “to get the word out about what exists at UCLA in terms of the kosher opportunities, the learning opportunities and the Shabbat opportunities,” Aryeh Kaplan said. “We want families of prospective UCLA students to know that they don’t have to leave Los Angeles to have a rich Orthodox life as part of their college education.”
For more information, visit www.ou.org.
RETURN TO AUSCHWITZ
Auschwitz is one of the most notorious places of Jewish history – synonymous with gas chambers, slave labor and mass graves. Yet few people know that before Auschwitz became the ultimate symbol of the Holocaust, it was a normal town in Poland known as Oswiecim, which had a thriving Jewish community. During World War II, all Jewish life in Oswiecim was obliterated, except for one synagogue.
In 2000, the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation restored the synagogue, purchased the property adjacent to it and established the Auschwitz Jewish Center.
The center, which is just minutes away from the former death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau, is now the only permanent Jewish presence in Auschwitz. The building functions as a synagogue for people to reflect, pray and say Kaddish.
Since its opening, the center has hosted thousands of visitors from all over the world, and it has also established a number of educational programs and scholarships to educate people about the Holocaust and Jewish life in Poland before World War II.
Now, the center is raising money to transform the Klieger House, the home of the last remaining Jew in Oswiecim, into the first Jewish historic house museum in Eastern Europe to provide a deeper experience and a more profound understanding of what Jewish family life was like before the war.
On July 22, Mark Schurgin, chair of the West Coast division of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, and Ron Spire hosted a cocktail reception at Spago in Beverly Hills to inaugurate the West Coast division.
Guest speakers were Renee Firestone, a Holocaust survivor who was featured in the documentary, “The Last Days,” and is now a lecturer at the Musuem of Tolerance, and Klara Firestone, founder and president of Second Generation of Los Angeles.
There was also a presentation by Dr. Michael Berenbaum, director of the Sigi Ziering Institute and a professor of theology at the University of Judaism.
This month, the Auschwitz Jewish Center will host a mission to Poland and Amsterdam, during which participants will visit the future site of Klieger House.
For more information on the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, visit www.ajcf.org.
MITZVAH NIGHTS
Your days may be for working, but your nights can be for mitzvahs, if you attend Congregation Beth Meier’s new young professionals program, Mitzvah Nights, a series of dinners designed to promote social bonds and give Los Angeles young professionals an opportunity to give back to the community. The first mitzvah night is on Oct. 15, and will feature guest speaker Adlai Wertman, the CEO of Chrysalis, the Los Angeles based nonprofit devoted to helping economically disadvantaged individuals gain self-sufficiency through employment.
“Beth Meier’s mission is to construct community with love for humanity and closeness to Torah,” said Rabbi Aaron Benson of Beth Meier Synagogue. “The work of Chrysalis beautifully embodies these values and we are proud to help them in their noble mission.
Other upcoming Mitzvah Night speakers include, Judea Pearl of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, David Suissa of OLAM magazine, and Ari Zev of the Shoah Foundation.
For more information about Mitzvah Nights, call at (818) 769-0515. Beth Meier Synagogue is located at 11725 Moorpark St., Studio City.
MONEY FROM CHOCOLATE
About 250 fans of Israeli education attended the Sept. 18 chocolate-themed fundraiser for the American Friends of Hebrew University (AFHU), with an evening event held at the one-time Beverly Hills home of mobster Bugsy Siegel.
The host of Chocolate Affaire was AFHU Western Region scholarship chair Renae Jacobs-Anson, who told those assembled that “the new wave of Zionism is our support for education.”
The event attracted Jacob-Anson’s childhood friends, such as Kim Gladstone, who flew in from Detroit.
“It’s a great way to combine higher education and support for Israel,” said Gladstone, a nonprofit executive.
“I knew Renae when I was 8,” said Susan Feinstein, a Valley Village food processing executive. “I gave a big donation so now I come to all the events. Actually, it’s the only charity I’ve given to so far.”
Actress Renee Taylor of “The Nanny” walked through the party barefoot since her shoes were being auctioned along with a chinchilla coat that fetched $2,300 and a $3,500 private jet weekend getaway to Las Vegas.
The event’s honorary chair, Richard Ziman of Arden Realty, said the AFHU’s $10 million Campaign for Students was critical because budget cuts and exhaustive counterterrorism measures mean the Israeli government now is funding less than 30 percent of Hebrew University’s budget, compared to 62 percent in more peaceful years.
“There is no institution equal to the Hebrew University outside of perhaps [schools in] the United States,” Ziman said.
The $150-per-ticket evening included gift bags from Gay Jacobs, the host’s sister-in-law who included all manner of things chocolate, even chocolate chip cookie-scented cologne, chocolate-scented massage oil and soap, a copy of Chocolatier magazine and most, fittingly, a slim volume titled “The Great Book of Chocolate.” – David Finnigan, Contributing Writer
THE ANTI-‘FAHRENHEIT’
West Hollywood’s expansive Pacific Design Center hosted the Liberty Film Festival Oct. 1-3, where Jewish Republicans joined their fellow conservatives in watching decidedly politically incorrect films such as the comedy short, “Greg Wolfe: Republican Jew” and three documentaries dissecting filmmaker Michael Moore.
The festival ended on a Jewish note with a rare print screening of Cecil B. DeMille’s Bible blockbuster “The Ten Commandments,” which was to movie ticket sales in 1959 what Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ, was to this year’s box office.
“If there has ever been a sure-fire box office formula, it’s the religious epic. How can this mighty engine of popular culture that flourishes beyond these walls ignore that?” said radio talk show host Michael Medved, who flew in from his Seattle home on his 56th birthday to introduce the DeMille epic.
KABC radio talk show host Larry Elder, a fixture at the annual Israel Independence Day festival in the Valley, received a standing ovation for his anti-Moore film, “Michael and Me,” about the Second Amendment. Similar standing praise was given to Jewish screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd’s “Celsius 41:11,” which included Medved as a talking head. Besides the Moore films, the festival hosted the pro-Israel documentary “Relentless” and the 1942 drama “Desperate Journey,” starring Ronald Reagan.
In its maiden voyage, the festival received support from conservative scribe David Horowitz’s Center for the Study of Popular Culture, the local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition and RJC leader and Santa Monica dentist Dr. Larry Strom and his wife, Holly. – DF
As Israeli troops moved deeper into northern Gaza to put a stop to Palestinian rocket fire on the small Negev town of Sderot, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was confident that the huge military operation would radically change the situation on the ground.
However, his critics on the right and on the left, as well as some independent analysts, say it will prove yet another futile exercise. Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and the northern West Bank was at the center of the argument.
The prime minister hopes the operation, code-named Days of Repentance, will set back Kassam rocket production by the radical Hamas terrorist organization, put Sderot out of range by creating a nearly five-mile-wide rocket-free zone and convince Palestinian society that firing Kassams at Israeli civilians will cost it dearly and is not in its interest.
His opponents on the left, though, maintain that the large-scale operation will only exacerbate feelings of vengeance on the Palestinian side and, ultimately, lead to more violence.
The answer to the Kassams, said legislator Zehava Galon of Yahad-Meretz, should be to advance the timetable for withdrawal and, by leaving Gaza, reduce Palestinian motivation to carry out terror.
The prime minister’s right-wing critics, however, argue that the operation will have only a fleeting impact precisely because of Israel’s planned pullback.
National Religious Party leader Effie Eitam said, “The prime minister has already told the Palestinians they have won. You can’t fight a war when you say in advance that next year you intend to flee.”
Once the Israel Defense Forces units withdraw, he asserted, there will be nothing to stop the Palestinians from producing bigger and better rockets and firing them at Israeli civilians even further afield.
Operation Days of Repentance was launched Sept. 30, after months of almost daily rocket attacks on Sderot. For Sharon, the killing of two young Ethiopian children by rocket fire the day before was the final straw.
He convened the military and told it to do whatever was necessary to stop the shelling. The result was a large, coordinated land and air operation inside northern Gaza, with the IDF overrunning the Beit Hanun area, from which most of the Kassams had been launched, and entering the northern outskirts of the sprawling Jabalya refugee camp.
Sharon insisted that by launching a huge military operation, he is not being sucked into Gaza by the terrorists in a way that might subvert his withdrawal plan. On the contrary, he said the IDF has gone in to create conditions for an orderly withdrawal of settlers and soldiers, when the time comes.
According to military intelligence, the aim of Hamas rocket fire is to create the impression that the militants forced Israel to withdraw, and that when the withdrawal takes place, it will be seen to be occurring under fire. Sharon is determined to prevent them from plausibly making any such claim.
A week after launching the offensive, Sharon spoke of “important achievements.” And, to some extent, the results on the battlefield seemed to bear him out. The IDF plan was to locate and destroy Kassam launching teams, engage other Hamas militants and drive home to Hamas and the civilian population that there was a price to be paid for targeting Israeli civilians.
Sharon also wanted to send another message: Something on the scale of this operation would be the minimal Israeli response the Palestinians should expect if they continue firing Kassams after the withdrawal.
Within the first week of the operation, some of those goals had been achieved. At least seven Kassam launching teams had been spotted by Israeli helicopters or unmanned drones and destroyed. Over 75 Palestinians, most of them militants, had been killed. It was clear, too, that the civilian population was suffering.
However, the plan was not a total success. It did not lead to any significant Palestinian civilian pressure on Hamas to stop firing Kassams, as the IDF had hoped. On the contrary, as the operation wore on, support for Hamas on the Palestinian street seemed to grow.
The more Israel weakened Hamas’ military capabilities, Israeli analysts argue, the stronger it seemed to grow as a political organization. That was one of two major dilemmas Israel faced. The other was how to maintain a rocket-free security zone, while supposedly limiting its military presence in Gaza, not increasing it.
On this issue, Deputy Defense Minister Ze’ev Boim explained that the idea was to keep the Kassam launchers out of range, but that did not necessarily require a permanent Israeli presence in a security zone. The concept was more dynamic, with troops moving in and out of the five-mile swath as needed.
Some analysts argue, though, that the growing political strength of Hamas, precisely because of the blows it is taking, shows just how counterproductive the Israeli operation is. They say Hamas will do all it can to continue to fire Kassams, even as Operation Days of Repentance continues, in the hope that Israel will eventually be forced to withdraw by international or domestic pressure. Then Hamas will claim victory, as a forerunner to the claims it will make when Israel withdraws from all of Gaza next year.
Military analysts like Ze’ev Schiff of the newspaper, Ha’aretz, are not convinced that the military operation is reducing Hamas’ military capacity in any significant way. Schiff maintains that Hamas has many rocket-producing workshops in other parts of Gaza, well outside the limits of the present operation.
“If the entire infrastructure isn’t destroyed,” he writes, “it’s only a matter of time before Hamas increases the range of the Kassam rockets and is able to fire them from deeper inside the Gaza Strip.”
Sharon’s deeper strategic response is that once Israel withdraws from Gaza altogether, it will be able to create a deterrent balance, similar to the one that exists today between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
By withdrawing from Gaza and ending the occupation there, Israel will regain the moral high ground. If Hamas still continues to fire rockets at Israeli civilians, Israel will be able to respond even more powerfully than it has, with the support of most of the international community.
In Sharon’s view, Israel’s withdrawing might enable Hamas to increase its military capabilities, but it should reduce its motivation to attack. And if it doesn’t, Israel’s hands won’t be tied.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue is intensifying the fall-semester buzz at Duke University this year.
In advance of the fourth annual Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, chatter on the limits of free speech and the contours of the Israel-Palestinian conflict have filled the pages of the campus newspaper.
Divisions over the Oct. 15-17 conference represent the latest battle between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian campus activists to take place during the four years of the Palestinian intifada.
The conference, sponsored by the local pro-Palestinian group at the North Carolina-based university, also has some Jewish students and alumni wondering if Duke will lose the momentum it has gained in recent years as a hospitable place for Jewish students.
Conference organizers are calling on universities to drop their investments in Israeli companies, work to “end the Israeli occupation” and accelerate the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.
As it has in previous years, the conference has prompted outrage — an online petition asking Duke’s president to ban the event has garnered more than 66,000 signatures — and less-confrontational responses from mainstream Jewish groups.
Like other universities that have hosted the conference, which in the past has drawn some 150 activists across North America, Duke is permitting the event on the grounds of free speech, but reiterating its policy against divesting from Israel.
“We believe the best antidote to speech that others find disagreeable is more speech, not less,” stated Duke’s senior vice president, John Burness. “We are encouraged, therefore, that the Freeman Center for Jewish Life at Duke is proposing to provide opportunities for others to express differing viewpoints on the Israeli-Palestinian question.”
Indeed, Duke’s Hillel affiliate, the Freeman Center, hasn’t tried to prevent the conference; instead, Jewish students have crafted a response centered on what they believe is a broad-based consensus: condemning terrorism.
From Shabbat teach-ins and lectures to a major rally/rock concert benefiting terror victims, the effort to counter the conference marks a jumping-off point for increased dialogue on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is anchored in opposing terrorism.
“We may not know all the issues, and we may have complex political ideas or not, but we understand terrorism is not good,” said Jonathan Gerstl, executive director of the Freeman Center. “I think we’re really looking at this as a uniting” campaign for the campus.
Indeed, in an open letter published in the campus newspaper last month, the Joint Israel Initiative, a coalition of student groups formed to combat the conference, asked the conference organizers to condemn the murder of innocent civilians, support a two-state solution and engage in respectful dialogue.
But the Palestine Solidarity Movement and Hiwar, the campus pro-Palestinian group hosting the conference, refused to do so.
Rann Bar-on, a local spokesman for the solidarity movement and a Duke graduate student, said the group only supports non-violent action, but “would not sign the statement because it violates the philosophy of the organization, which will not condemn any Palestinian action,” Duke’s campus newspaper, The Chronicle, reported.
“The Jewish people have the right to exist in some state,” but the movement cannot dictate its borders or creation, Bar-on told the Duke newspaper.
Bar-on did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment about the group’s agenda.
The group’s Web site, however, indicates there will be workshops on building a Palestinian presence on campus, promoting divestment and discussing the “anatomy of the organized Zionist community in the United States.”
Meanwhile, the anti-terrorism card pushed by pro-Israel students has won the support of key groups on campus.
Duke’s council of residential halls, the student government and the student union have agreed to sponsor the Oct. 14 “Students Against Terror” concert, featuring the band Sister Hazel, with donations aiding terror victims in the United States, Israel, Sudan and Russia, said Mollie Lurey, who heads the Joint Israel Initiative.
On behalf of one of its prominent shareholders, Mitchell Rubenstein, Hollywood.com will co-sponsor a telecast of the concert on its Web site and on the Hillel Web site, Gerstl said.
Rubenstein is the chairman of the Freeman Center’s advisory board.
The anti-conference effort, which includes the weekend teach-in, featuring former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, along with yearlong educational programming, will cost up to $125,000, he said.
Funding has come from Duke alumni and student groups along with local federations and foundations. To date, Hillel has raised $65,000 for the program, with the biggest donation — a $10,000 check — coming from Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
According to Lurey, of the Joint Israel Initiative, previously unaffiliated Jews have now become involved in supporting Israel.
Still, she says Jewish students are feeling anxious about potential rhetoric at the upcoming conference.
Meanwhile, some worry whether Duke’s hosting of the pro-Palestinian conference will tarnish the university’s reputation in Jewish eyes.
Already, an Atlanta Jewish day school cut ties with Duke’s program for middle school students in response to the conference, North Carolina’s News-Observer reported.
“Jewish Duke alumni are very, very, very concerned that all the advances that have been made at Duke in the past couple of decades will end up being for naught,” said Duke alumnus Steven Goodman, a Washington-based educational consultant for prospective college students.
In recent years, Duke has stepped up efforts to recruit Jewish students, who make up anywhere between 15 percent and 25 percent of the student body, Goodman said. But the school’s relationship with the Jewish community is “much more precarious” than schools like Tufts or the University of Pennsylvania, whose deep, generational ties to the Jewish community could withstand a blip on their record.
Duke could be perceived as “indifferent or hostile to the Jewish community,” which could drive away prospective Jewish students, said Goodman, who penned editorials in Jewish newspapers urging Duke not to host the conference.
Gerstl disagrees: “I think the university has worked very well with the Jewish students [by meeting with students and local Jewish federation leaders].”
“The university knows it makes decisions that aren’t always popular,” he said.
Inside the Mnaje Mojo hospital — “one coconut” in Swahili — it was absolute chaos. The place was teeming with people and I had to push my way through what seemed a never-ending crowd to get to the small room at the end of the corridor.
When I opened the door to the pitch-black chamber, the only light I saw came from a computer monitor in the back. In the top right hand corner of the screen I read the words, “Save a Child’s Heart.”
Two white men sat huddled together, focused intently on the screen, while a black woman wearing a burka sat on a bed holding an infant.
These are the moments that make me proud to be a part of the Jewish people.
The men, Drs. Uri Katz and Lior Sassoun, were Israeli Jewish physicians from the Save A Child’s Heart organization, through which the pair travels around the world examining children with congenital heart problems and bringing them back to Israel for free surgeries and treatment. I was in Zanzibar volunteering for the group.
The organization — now the largest project in the world providing urgently needed, pediatric cardiac surgery and follow-up care for children from third world and developing countries free of charge — was founded in 1995, by American-born Israeli pediatric cardiac surgeon Ami Cohen.
Here we were in Zanzibar, a tiny Muslim island in the tropics off the coast of Tanzania, working in a hospital with virtually no suitable equipment and a poorly trained and overworked medical staff. All they had was the portable echo machine — manufactured in Israel — and their hands to treat many potential pediatric cardiac surgical cases.
And now they had the Israelis.
Lines of hopeful families extended out the door, through the hallway, into the pediatric ward, down the stairs and out into the main hospital courtyard.
They were all responding to an announcement on Zanzibari radio earlier in the week inviting parents to bring children suffering from heart problems to be examined by two heart specialists from Israel.
Occasionally, Katz and Sassoun peered out of the exam room to check just how many patients remained to be seen. This was going to be a long week — the Israeli heart doctors committed themselves to examining every single child who showed up at the hospital.
The long lines were nothing new for these doctors. In fact, the duo — as well as other Save a Child’s Heart staff — has become accustomed to such crowds after traveling around the world in search of candidates for cost-free heart procedures at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, south of Tel Aviv.
Since its inception, the group’s staff has operated on nearly 1,000 children ranging in age from infants to teenagers. Patients, who are selected without regard to race or religion, have come from nations around the world, including China, Ethiopia, Moldova, Ghana, Jordan, Nigeria and Tanzania, as well as Zanzibar.
Nearly 40 percent of Save a Child’s Heart’s pediatric cases come from the Palestinian Authority.
In addition to the actual cardiac care and surgeries in Israel, the group has an outreach training program for medical personnel from participating countries.
Doctors and nurses are brought to Israel for in-depth training, and Save’s staff travel overseas to educate and perform surgeries in cooperation with local personnel. The group’s ultimate goal is to make partner countries self-sufficient in performing cardiac surgeries on their children.
On this particular mission to Zanzibar, the doctors were also examining children on whom they had operated in the past to see how they had progressed since their surgeries.
Still, the primary purpose of this trip to East Africa was to select new cases to bring back with them for operations.
I was especially excited to see the post-operative children: I had observed, firsthand, the open heart surgeries of several of these Zanzibari children one year before in Israel.
When I said goodbye to those kids in Holon more than 12 months ago, never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would see them again on their native island — and certainly not good as new.
It was easy to identify the post-op children: When the doctor finished examining them, these little kids would say, “todah rabah” and “l’hitraot” — thank you very much and goodbye, in Hebrew — the words they had learned during their stays in the Israeli hospital.
More apparent, however, were the physical changes. I recognized the faces of children who had arrived in Israel as skin and bones, on the verge of death due to complications from their respective heart problems.
But since their surgeries, many of these children had gained 20-30 pounds and generally looked more energetic.
As an aspiring physician, it was fascinating for me to observe these doctors at work. They graciously explained to me how to read the echo machine and how properly to listen to the patient’s heart and lungs to pinpoint the exact nature of the heart problem.
It was incredible to witness how these experts, after just a few seconds of listening to the heart, before even looking at the echo, were able to diagnose a particular kind of heart murmur, a broken valve, a battered-up septum, a missing ventricle or a malfunctioning artery.
Yet, there were some agonizing moments during those few days. Like the 17-year-old girl the doctor diagnosed with Esptein’s Heart syndrome, a fatal heart disease that is uncorrectable.
This particular girl had developed terrible secondary complications from her heart problems that were clearly affecting her day-to-day living. She was unable to move on her own and had extreme difficulty breathing. The doctors told me that it was a miracle that she had lived this long, but she only had a few months left.
When the doctors sat with the family and explained that the prognosis was not good and their team would be unable to help, I was in tears. Like with so many other children these doctors have come across in these developing countries, if the kids had access to regular health care, perhaps their lives could have been spared with early detection and intervention. But now that their diseases had matured, the situation was beyond repair.
Yet, perhaps the most amazing aspect of my experience in Zanzibar and the Save a Child’s Heart endeavor in general, was watching how, when Katz and Sassoun examined a child, they were indifferent to what the kid or his mother was wearing, whether the child’s name was Abdullah Muhammed or Abrahim Rantissi Jr.
All they saw was a ticking a heart on an echo machine that desperately needed fixing.
For more information on the Save A Child’s Heart organization, visit www.saveachildsheart.com.
I am sitting in Adam’s living room — a carpet on a dirt patio. On one side is a small tent for his five children, as well as two nephews and a niece who have been orphaned. On the other side is a small tent for Adam, his wife and all they could carry out of Darfur.
Around us, the Kounoungo refugee camp is filled with a shattering sound — silence. It is the sound of despair. It is the sound of genocide coming closer and the world turning away.
This year, I observed Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar, in a Sudanese refugee camp in Chad. It is the day when Jews throughout the world abstain from food and drink to assess their lives and seek forgiveness for their wrongdoings. In this tragic moment, I could think of nowhere more fitting to keep the Yom Kippur fast than among people who have fasted for days on end — only not as a ritual but as an agonizing condition of life.
Adam is the only refugee I met who spoke English. He belongs to the Fur tribe and provides me with his analysis of the Sudanese genocide. He speaks calmly and rationally. He tells of how his village was set on fire by the Janjaweed and of other villages that met the same fate.
In his view, the problem is quite simple: The fundamentalist Arab Muslim government in Khartoum intends to eviscerate the African Muslim and tribal people. Listening to him, I think of the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide and other atrocities of the 20th century, where the conflict also boiled down to the ambition of one ethnic group to eradicate another.
Adam appreciates the noble humanitarian effort in the refugee camps but wonders why the international community is not doing more to stop this unfolding catastrophe.
I was in Kounoungo because of Adam — a human being I did not know existed, suffering a fate to which I cannot be indifferent. His condition as a human being is real, not reality television.
The enormity of the suffering — between 50,000 and 100,000 killed, nearly a million left homeless, over 200,000 refugees in Chad, hundreds of thousand more remaining in Darfur — tends to make us more numb than horrified. I find it hard to comprehend the numbers, but I do relate to Adam.
His desperate situation reminds me of the human capacity for cruelty. But his gentle humanity reminds me that kindness and decency are also possible.
Confronted by the misery of Kounoungo, I worry that I do not feel the shame, the embarrassment and even the disgust that I should. Many of us rationalize our indifference and inaction with the false notion that we cannot possibly make a difference. Overwhelmed by the complexity of human affairs, we forget about the human beings involved.
Yet I cannot forget the faces of the people I saw. As haggard and desperate as they are, they are no different than we — just immeasurably less fortunate. To turn away from them is to forget that we are one of them, all of us descended from the very first Adam.
In the Book of Genesis, God searches for Adam in the garden of Eden, asking, “Where are you?” In the Jewish tradition, this has always been understood as a moral question: Where is your conscience? Why are you hiding? Where do you stand?
The question hasn’t changed. What will be our answer?
Rabbi Lee Bycel is a board member of MAZON: A Jewish response to hunger and traveled to Chad under the auspices of the International Medical Corps. For more information, visit mazon.org or imcworldwide.org.
A cold fear is blowing through south Florida’s strip malls, wilted palms and retirement homes — fear of another agonizingly close election fraught with charges and countercharges of vote theft. And standing at the nexus of this storm, for reasons having as much to do with geography as with politics, is the region’s Jewish community.
Florida’s Jewish vote is emerging as crucial to the 2004 presidential contest, and both campaigns are bringing out their top guns to sway the region’s 700,000 Jews, some 4 percent of the state’s total population.
“The difference between John Kerry winning by four points or two points or even closer is the turnout here in Broward and Palm Beach counties,” Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) told a packed hall in a retirement community here over the weekend.
Waving his arm at an alignment of the party’s Jewish superstars on the stage behind him, Wexler told his constituents: “It shows how much they care about the Jewish community here in south Florida.”
Republicans agree: The stakes are high in Florida, and the Jewish vote could be key.
“The percentage of Jewish voters is growing, and they vote more often,” said Sid Dinerstein, the chairman of the Republican Party in Palm Beach county, one of three Jewish-intensive counties targeted by the Democratic blitz this weekend.
Democrats brought in best-selling writer and law professor Alan Dershowitz, erstwhile presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a raft of other Jewish leading lights this weekend.
After the event at the Kings Point retirement campus in Tamarac, the group split up and attended events at synagogues and Jewish community centers throughout the state.
The Republicans haven’t been slacking: former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spoke at a Boca Raton synagogue recently, and his predecessor, Ed Koch, was slated to appear this week at events in Boca Raton and Miami, surrounded by Republican Jewish legislators and mayors.
A key to the Republicans’ aggressive strategy with Jews in the state is to bring in figures like Giuliani and Koch who don’t share much in common with Bush on domestic issues, but who say he is the only candidate capable of defending Israel and handling the threat of terrorism.
Locally, one Republican trophy has been Miami Beach Mayor Ron Dermer, a Democrat who has endorsed Bush because of his Israel policies.
There are two reasons for the focus on the Jewish community:
First, the Jewish population is over a 1,000 times the 537 votes that handed Florida and the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000.
In that election, less than 20 percent of Jewish voters nationwide opted for Bush; Republicans are believed to have made inroads since then because of Bush’s unprecedented closeness to Israel’s Sharon government.
Second, out of 67 Florida counties, 15 are planning to use touch-screen voting machines for the first time in a presidential election.
Democrats, who traditionally fare better in recounts than Republicans, oppose the touch-screens because the lack of a paper trail could stymie any recount.
The party is blitzing the 15 counties with appeals to take advantage of Florida’s early voting law, which allows voting beginning Oct. 18 at stations that use the old paper ballot machines.
In hopes of ensuring recounts in those counties, Democrats are aiming to persuade 25 percent of voters in those counties to vote early.
Notably, the three largest counties by far of the 15 — Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward — are areas with substantial Jewish communities.
And Jews, campaign officials suggest, are prime targets for the early-voting campaign because they are practiced enough voters to absorb the complex reasons for voting before Nov. 2.
Leading the early-voting drive for the Democrats is Ron Klein, the Jewish minority leader in the state senate.
“It’s a huge component to the campaign,” said Lale Mameaux, Wexler’s press secretary, who has taken time off to help with the presidential campaign in Florida.
The appeal is resonating with many Jewish retirees who have bitter memories of 2000, when confusing ballots led some Jewish voters to cast a vote for Pat Buchanan, the Holocaust-diminishing Reform candidate, instead of Al Gore.
“I’m concerned there could be finagling,” said Ruth Kaplan Weiser, after hearing Klein speak at Temple Emeth in Delray Beach.
Other Jews indicated they would vote early for practical reasons.
“My husband could get sick and not vote,” said Sima Rosenzweig, who also attended the Temple Emeth event. “If he voted early he could be assured of his vote.”
Further north, in the Century Village retirement village in West Palm Beach, a hurricane recently destroyed the club house where Nov. 2 voting is to take place, a factor that George Loewenstein cited when he said he would encourage his fellow retirees to vote early.
“My feeling is that you’re dealing with a lot of elderly people, changing polling places could be confusing,” he said as he left a Democratic event.
Voting early would alleviate the chaos likely to occur on Election Day, he said.
Beyond such practical considerations, Democrats are concerned that Republicans have succeeded in making inroads in the staunchly Democratic community by highlighting Bush’s pro-Israel record.
“There’s a fear factor,” state Sen. Skip Campbell told the Jewish audience in Tamarac.
“They’re coming here saying, ‘We love Israel and John Kerry doesn’t love Israel.’ “He noted Kerry’s 100 percent voting record in the Senate.
Early on, the Kerry campaign had calculated that Kerry would only have to prove traditional pro-Israel bona fides — a strong congressional voting record, tales of his many visits to the country — and avoid a one-upmanship battle on who was better for Israel.
Instead, the hope was that Jews would be more focused on domestic issues such as the economy and the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Polling suggests that such a strategy was not off the mark — Bush has gained only a few points in recent national Jewish polls — but in a close election, even a handful of votes could make the difference.
So the Kerry campaign is now hammering home Kerry’s Israel record.
A full-page ad handed out as a flyer and appearing in Florida Jewish papers excerpted quotes from Kerry praising Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and supporting the West Bank security barrier.
Kerry supporters attending the events said it was just in time.
Gloria Green came to the event in Delray Beach, which featured Dershowitz, to get talking points to defend Kerry’s Israel record.
“I have a friend who is voting for Bush because he thinks Bush is so good for Israel,” she said.
Like many others, she did not know that Kerry had scored a perfect pro-Israel record in his congressional votes.
Others repeated concerns about friends who said they would vote Republican for the first time.
Adele Chandler said she needed more information from the Kerry campaign to confront such arguments.
“I can’t argue point for point,” she said.
Even Lieberman said such a thrust was overdue.
“People want John to speak up more [on Israel],” the Connecticut senator told a conference call of Jewish house parties on Sunday night.
He said Sunday’s get-out-the-vote effort heartened him.
“This day could be the largest mobilization of Jewish people since the Six-Day War, and I’m hoping to see a similar result,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get right what didn’t turn out right in 2000.”
A measure of the Democratic concern was reflected in a new willingness to attack Bush on his Israel record, a tactic Democrats had previously abjured as unrealistic given Bush’s record.
Deshowitz said Bush had emphasized Iraq to the detriment of Iran, allowing a potential nuclear threat to Israel to fester.
U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) told voters that the Bush administration had stymied his efforts to set up an anti-Semitism monitor at the State Department, and to link aid to Lebanon and Egypt to their performance on relations to Israel.
“Don’t believe the myth that this administration is so good on issues related to Israel and on issues related to anti-Semitism,” said Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress.
The fears of Republican inroads into the Jewish community that drive such rhetoric are justified, said Dinerstein, the Palm Beach Republican Party chairman.
He listed a litany of local Jewish Republican politicians and said low Jewish support for Bush in 2000 was an anomaly, that Jews couldn’t resist voting for a ticket with Lieberman’s name.
He predicted that as many as 40 percent of Jewish voters in Florida would go to Bush this election.
“It’s been building for a generation and we’re ready to spring it on them,” he said.
Interviews with voters suggested that support for Bush and Kerry among Florida’s Jews divided between those who said Israel was their priority and those who said domestic issues mattered more.
Bush supporters placed Israel higher; those who said the economy worried them were likelier to vote for Kerry.
In retirement communities, that came down to practical considerations.
“I get my prescriptions through the Veterans Administration,” sad Sid Rosenzweig of Delray Beach. “Four years ago, I was paying two dollars, now it’s seven dollars, and soon it’s going to be 15 dollars.”
Rita Carness and two buddies found a spot on a stair in the crowded center in Tamarac to listen and to cheer on the pro-Kerry speakers.
“He has a better understanding of the average person and the middle class,” she said.
Moss Ellenvogen, dining on shwarma in a sukkah in a strip mall in the town Sunrise, said the burgeoning deficit worried him, but he would vote for the president on Nov. 2.
“We’re going to pay for these tax cuts in 5 to 10 years,” said Ellenvogen, an accountant, but Bush’s friendliness to Israel counted more.
The domestic/Israel divide helped break up a meeting of the Yiddish club at the Jewish Community Center in Sunrise.
“I think Bush is a better friend to Israel than Kerry,” said Diane Roseff.
Frieda Raucher said she was paying “through the nose” for her medications.
She suggested that voters had to think first as Americans, then as Jews.
“Our kids are getting killed in Iraq,” she said. “It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my son,’ God forbid.”
Raucher’s husband, Nathan, was torn.
“Bush is closer to Israel than Kerry,” he said. “Closer to home, the situation with medication for senior citizens is a hot potato.”
Ultimately, the Democrats might count on an element that runs deeper than the headlines of the day: the traditional bond between Jews and Democrats.
At one of the weekend events, when the speaker who introduced Cameron Kerry, the candidate’s younger brother, noted the younger Kerry’s conversion to Judaism 20 years ago, the audience oohed and ahhed.
“Mazel tov!” one man yelled.
“We have to hold on to our tradition, we started out with Roosevelt in 1932,” Tamarac Mayor Joe Schreiber urged his constituents. “We got to do whatever we can to get rid of this Bush guy.”
Then it was time for the superstars – Lieberman, Dershowitz, et al. — to make their appearance.
The Kerry campaign theme song, Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender,” blasted through the speakers, and the crowd of retirees rocked and cheered.
 481-3244.</em></td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p class=)
