Sol Marshall looked at the aging Westside Jewish Community Center and smiled.
“I think it looks great,” he said.
Marshall, 92, served as the center’s first public relations director five decades ago. For an instant, he allowed himself to become lost in remembrance of things past.
“There was always so much going on back then,” he said. “Never a dull moment.”
And so it was on Sunday, Dec. 12, when the Westside JCC threw a 50th anniversary party for itself, and 250 of its friends came. Septuagenarians and octogenarians who hadn’t seen each other for years reminisced about the good old days, when the Westside JCC was considered one of the country’s state-of-the-art Jewish community centers.
Preschoolers and kindergarteners ate ice cream, hot dogs and jumped around on an enormous moon bounce. Fathers and sons in kippot engaged in fiercely contested table tennis games, playing alongside secular Jews in T-shirts and jeans.
“I think this is a new and exciting time for this important communal institution,” said John Fishel, president of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. “There’s a nice feeling here, a lot of energy.”
That the Westside JCC is still standing is itself a minor miracle. When the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (JCCGLA) experienced a major crisis a few years back because of financial mismanagement, the organization threatened to shutter all nine local JCCs. A public outcry forced a reversal.
Although since then, the Southland has seen more centers permanently close than any other part of the country. The Bay Cities JCC no longer exists. Earlier this year, Conejo Valley’s center also disappeared. Valley Cities JCC, which JCCGLA had planned to shut down earlier this year, is actively trying to raise money or find a buyer to purchase the center. Its fate remains unclear.
JCCGLA’s problems spilled over into the Westside JCC, which found its funding slashed. Concerned about the center’s prospects, donors reduced contributions or held back altogether.
Over the past two and a half years, the Westside executives had to make some painful decisions to keep the center in business. They closed the unprofitable health and fitness center, the swimming pool where Olympian Lenny Krayzelburg once trained and cut staff by 50 percent.
Those hard choices staved off disaster, Westside JCC President Michael Kaminsky said. Now, the Westside JCC is in expansion mode, having recently hired a highly regarded executive director — Brian Greene, former executive director of Camp Ramah in California — and reopened some classrooms to accommodate the surging demand for its preschool and kindergarten programs. To generate income, empty spaces have been rented to several nonprofit and academic institutions, including the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Most important, the center has raised nearly half the $14 million needed for an ambitious renovation that Westside JCC leaders hope to begin within two years.
“When this center is outfitted with a brand-new swimming pool and health and fitness center, it’s going to bring in adults,” Kaminsky said. “So when a mother drops her kids off, she’ll go to the new gym.”
“Or, when a new person moves into the neighborhood and says he’s looking for place to workout, people will tell him there’s a real haimish center here,” he continued. “And then he’ll check out the adult programming. That’s how it all starts.”
The center appears in need of a facelift. Some shutters around the windows in the basketball arena are broken. The facility’s tile floor looks like something out of a 1950s hospital. The plumbing, heating and air conditioning are in dire need of upgrades.
But none of that seemed to matter to the revelers, who lent the occasion a levity and lightness.
For many, the highlight of the three-hour soiree occurred when children commandeered the stage and sang Chanukah songs in their high-pitched voices. First up was a group of 20 2- to 3-year-olds. Wearing paper hats decorated with Chanukah candles, they sang the “Dreidel Song” and the “Macabee March.”
Lest their parents miss anything, the sound of camcorders and digital cameras began before a single note was sung. A group of 3- and 4-year-olds and finally 5-year-olds followed.
David Berke and his wife, Wende, beamed as they watched their sons, Isaiah, 3 1/2, and Elijah, 5, perform. David Berke said Isaiah — whom he calls “our little cantor” — had gained such an appreciation of Hebrew songs at the Westside JCC that he recently broke out in a rendition of the Shema at a neighborhood Target.
“It’s important for us to have Jewish identity reinforced not just at home and at temple but also in their education, as well,” said Berke, adding that his boys might not get such an appreciation of Judaism at a public school.
American gold medalist Krayzelburg said he appreciated the Westside JCC for an entirely different reason. The four-time Olympic champion said he had fond memories of the three years in the early 1990s when he worked as a lifeguard at the center and was on the swim team.
At the center, Krayzelburg, then a new Ukrainian Jewish immigrant with a poor command of English, said he forged strong friendships and reveled in the center’s “family-like atmosphere.” Now a much-in-demand product endorser, the 29-year-old former Olympian said he attended the anniversary party to raise money for a place that “touches so many lives.”
Los Angeles Councilman Martin Ludlow presented Westside executives with a plaque commemorating the center’s 50 years. After a menorah-lighting ceremony, the African American politician said the Westside JCC’s revival mirrored another positive trend in his district, which includes the center’s greater Fairfax home.
“The [facility’s] renovation is a symbol of the renewal of the area and of its openness and diversity,” the councilman said. “Just a few miles east of here, you felt a dearth of energy. Now, businesses are moving back. Families are moving back in.”
Russia’s Yiddish actors, playwrights and poets are some of the oft-forgotten victims of the 20th century’s murderous Stalinist purges.
“It was such a crazy-making situation; one minute they were praised to high heaven and the next minute they were torn down,” said Sabell Bender, a retired high school theater teacher who will lecture on the Soviet Union’s Yiddish theater during the Dec. 19-25 intensive language/culture immersion courses at the Skirball Cultural Center.
The California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language (CIYCL) is sponsoring “The Art of Yiddish 2004 — A Bridge of Light Around the World” with klezmer music, four language course levels, plus lectures on Yiddish culture. The Skirball will host a finale concert starring actor and Yiddish “true believer” Theodore Bikel on the evening of Dec. 25.
Some of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater’s artwork was found in a Soviet museum in 1973. After opening amid the world-changing ethnic pluralism promised by communists leading Russia’s 1917 revolution, the theater (also called the Jewish Chamber Theater and the State Jewish Theater during its 1918-1948 existence) attracted a set designer named Marc Chagall. Rather than creating stage backdrops, the Russian-born French artist designed three-dimensional sets and even painted theater ceilings.
The surviving Chagall set pieces will be discussed by Bender, who said Chagall’s art shows how Russia’s Yiddish artists, “really fought to maintain their Jewish identity and their Yiddish theater. There is still Yiddish theater in Montreal, Toronto, New York certainly, Tel Aviv, Melbourne — wherever there are pockets of Yiddish-speaking Jews.”
Miriam Koral, CIYCL’s director, said about 300 people will attend at least part of the intensive Yiddish courses, with about 40 to 50 Yiddish lovers at all the language courses, up from 35 people who attended all of last year’s courses.
“We thought more people would be able to attend during their vacation time,” Koral said of the post-Chanukah Yiddish week, now in its fifth year.
“The Art of Yiddish 2004 — A Bridge of Light Around The World,” Dec. 19-25, Skirball Cultural Center. For more information, visit Windows to the Yiddish Soul Read More »
Tis the season for cocktail parties, so why not one more. The Anti-Defamation League hosts its 2004 Los Angeles Celebration this evening, complete with dinner, dancing, martini bar and keynote speech by Harvard professor/defense attorney/Israel defender Alan Dershowitz.
6:30 p.m. $250. For location and reservations, call (310) 446-8000, ext. 260.
Sunday, December 19
This evening, an aural treat presents itself in the form of the Levantine Cultural Center’s “Middle East Concert for Peace.” The Naser Musa-Adam del Monte Ensemble’s sound is described as “vibrant Arab, Sephardic and Flamenco world music.”
6 p.m. (reception). 7 p.m. (concert). $12-$25. Hollywood United Methodist Church. (310) 559-5544.
Monday, December 20
Cantorial music meets West Coast jazz in trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s new album, “Diaspora Hollywood,” in a way that has many a critic raving. Have a listen live at tonight’s CD release concert at Temple Bar, where Bernstein will perform with Pablo Calogero on brass and woodwinds, DJ Bonebrake on vibraphone, David Piltch on bass and Danny Frankel on drums and percussion.
10:30 p.m. $5. 1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. www.templebarlive.com.
Tuesday, December 21
Bruria Finkel has gathered newish and established area artists for Santa Monica Art Studios’ ARENA 1 inaugural exhibition, “Santa Monica Originals.” Featured in the show are pieces that have a historical or contemporary connection to Santa Monica, including works by John Baldessari, Sam Francis, Rachel Lachoicz and Frank Gehry. Interestingly, Gehry’s 1987 model for a 37-acre renovation proposal for the airport commons, which is displayed in the show, would have eliminated many artist studios around the airport, including the one housing this exhibit.
Runs through Feb. 5. 3026 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 397-7456.
Wednesday, December 22
True, Chanukah’s over, but now that you’ve collected your loot, maybe it’s appropriate to give a little back — and get a head start on next year. Hungry for Music is a nonprofit that brings music into the lives of underprivileged kids, and proceeds from their “A Chanukah Feast” CD, featuring 21 Chanukah tunes in just about every style imaginable, benefit the worthy group.
$15.99. www.hungryformusic.com.
Thursday, December 23
Today, the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre kicks off its latest series, a tribute to comedy teams of bygone days, “Too Much Monkey Business: The Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello and The Three Stooges.” It all adds up to a lot of funny Jews, beginning with tonight’s double feature (and a half) of Groucho & Co. in “Animal Crackers,” followed by Moe, Larry and Curly in “A-Plumbing We Will Go” and ending with Bud and Lou in “Buck Privates.”
7:30 p.m. $6-$9. 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. (323) 466-3456.
Friday, November 24
The Fonz gets you in the holiday spirit at today’s free “45th L.A. County Holiday Celebration” at the Music Center. The six-hour performance hosted by Henry Winkler features 39 groups reflecting “the cultural mosaic of Los Angeles,” including America Chinese Dance Association, Celtic Spring Irish Step Dancing, Hollywood Klezmer, Yuval Ron Ensemble, Church of Scientology Choir, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and Mariachi Sol de Mexico. Patrons are free to come and go as they please throughout the event. If you can’t make it, be sure to catch the action live on KCET.
3-9 p.m. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. www.holidaycelebration.org.
The Israel advocacy group StandWithUs filled the University of Judaism’s main auditorium for its Dec. 5 Festival of Lights concert. Actor-comedian Larry Miller hosted the event on crutches, and provided a light comic stream amid the tributes and music. He reminded the overflow crowd that expecting terrorists to have a change of heart is like holding out hope for sour milk: “The milk is sour; maybe it’ll be fresh tomorrow.”
Musicians Sam Glaser and Peter Himmelman, cantors Alison Wissot and Chayim Frankel and Israeli singer Hedva Amrani Miller all performed.
“Too bad the tourists don’t come; Israel needs our help,” Amrani said. “I have two hearts; one heart in Israel and one here.”
StandWithUs began in 2001 as a sort of informational guerrilla unit working among larger, entrenched Jewish institutions trying to grasp the extent of current anti-Semitism, especially on college campuses. Despite the Festival of Lights’ naturally festive mood, a video captured the gravity of what StandWithUs monitors, showing a Muslim cleric on Palestinian television saying, “Jews are dogs. Jews are pigs.”
Two of the group’s main backers, Newton Becker and Mark Karlan, were honored at the Festival of Lights with menorah trophies that almost dominated the stage podium.
“In Europe, Israel is perceived as Nazi Germany,” Becker said. “We’ve lost the war of ideas in Europe. The Jews in Europe have not countered the lies. They need our help and they’re not used to doing it themselves.”
Karlan praised StandWithUs for using donations effectively, saying, “I like the fact that they deliver more bang for our tzedakah buck.” – David Finnigan, Contributing Writer
ORT Support
The Jewish vocational organization ORT honored Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief William Bratton at its Dec. 5 Chanukah brunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Jewish community philanthropist Jona Goldrich pledged $10,000 to the ORT’s $500,000 annual budget goal.
The LAPD chief, who attended the brunch with his wife, Court TV personality and legal analyst Ricki Kleiman, was named the L.A. ORT chapter’s Man of the Year. Bratton told the 200 ORT supporters that police officers and ORT instructors are in similar roles because they try to “make a difference.”
KNX 1070 reporter and L.A. ORT advisory council member Laura Ornest was the emcee for the brunch, which was coordinated by third-generation ORT supporter Deena Eberly, while Rabbi David Baron of Temple Shalom for the Arts gave the invocation.
Goldrich was not the only donor pledging big bucks to the organization. ORT’s L.A. chapter founder Stanley Black – whose name graces the L.A. ORT Technical Institute building on Wilshire Boulevard – started the brunch’s fundraising by pledging $18,000, and then Black’s 10-year-old grandson donated $10.
ORT’s global budget of $300 million supports schools in 60 countries.
“College prepared me for the advertising business, but ORT prepared me for the world,” said a young Argentine immigrant who studied at an ORT school. – DF
Hopes and ‘Dreams’
Domestic violence blights even wonderful communities, which is why organizations like the Jewish Family Service’s Family Violence Project (JFSFVP) are working to stop it. On Oct. 27, the mid-Wilshire Domestic Violence Prevention Collaborative – a joint venture of JFSFVP and 14 other organizations – honored eight individuals and two groups for their efforts to raise awareness of domestic violence in Los Angeles, especially in underserved communities where information on the issue has been largely unavailable.
The ceremony was held at the West Hollywood Community Center on Santa Monica Boulevard, and was hosted by West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem Abbe Land. Other dignitaries in attendance included state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles), Beverly Hills City Councilman Jimmy Delshad and Paul S. Castro, executive director of Jewish Family Service.
Honored at the ceremony was the cast and crew of the NBC TV series “American Dreams.” Sarah Ramos, 13, who plays Patty Pryor in the show, spearheaded an effort on the set to help victims of domestic violence, and since the show’s debut two years ago the cast and crew have collected donations for domestic violence victims.
Other honorees were the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (Asian community); Dr. Gerry Rosen (African immigrant community); Esther Batres (Latino community); Sattareh Farman Farmaian (Iranian community); Matthew Pulling (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community); Cori Jones (Jewish Orthodox community); Maya Segal (Russian community); Julieana Tores (youth community); and officer Chris Curry, of the LAPD Wilshire Division (law enforcement).
Safire at Sinai
The Adult Education Committee at Sinai Temple, chaired by Rosa Berman Ruder, hosted award-winning New York Times columnist William Safire as its Rabbi Jacob Kohn scholar-in-residence on Nov. 20 and 21. Safire spoke twice over the weekend – once on Shabbat, where he discussed the book of Job, and then again at a breakfast on Sunday, where he spoke about his ardent support for Israel and U.S. politics. In his Sunday speech, Safire analyzed the 2004 presidential race with warmth and humor saying that the difference between President Bush and Sen. Kerry was that Bush was playing to win, whereas Kerry was playing to not lose.
“That’s why you had Bush’s certainty and Kerry’s nuances,” he said.
Safire said that he expected the 2008 democratic ticket to be headlined by Sen. Hillary Clinton and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. He also said that he supported an amendment to the constitution that would allow foreign-born citizens to run for president.
After his speech, Safire sat down for a Q-and-A session with Sinai Temple’s Rabbi David Wolpe.
Safire will soon retire from his New York Times Op-Ed column, but will continue writing the On Language column published in the New York Times Magazine.
Spiritual Relaxation
N’Shei Chabad of Los Angeles held its annual Rest and Ruchnius retreat – ruchnius is Hebrew for spirituality – at the Oxnard Marriott Oct. 29-31. The retreat was for women only – although they were allowed to bring along nursing babies – and its purpose was to provide some respite from the pressures of careers and home life by ensconcing the women in a nice hotel, with good food and great speakers. This year, the featured speaker was New York-based teacher and author Shimona Tzukernik, who spoke about chasidut (piety) and the spiritual lessons she learned on a recent safari trip through her native South Africa. Other speakers at the retreat included Devorie Kreiman and the Chai Center’s Olivia Schwartz.
Appointment Time
In August, Na’amat USA, an organization that raises funds to support the social service of Na’amat Israel, appointed its first president to hail from the West Coast – Alice Howard of Encino. Howard, who has taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 28 years, previously served the national organization as coordinator for the Western Area, financial secretary and chair of the Golda Meir Child Development Fund. She is a second-generation Na’amat USA member– her mother, Sarah Bocarsky, is a life member and was president of California’s Lake Elsimore club for 10 years.
Na’amat, which is Israel’s largest women’s movement, supports the largest network of day care centers in Israel, as well as technological high schools, women centers, legal aid services for women, centers for the treatment and prevention of violence in families and many other services.
Dori Sher, who serves as director of after-school children’s services for Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Sherman Oaks, was recently accepted in the Teen Professional Mentor Program with JCCA of North America. Sher was the only person selected from the Western Region for this prestigious program.
The Teen Professional Mentor Program is a nationally recognized curriculum that invests $18,000 worth of training, in-service and conferences/trips into each participant. The program has achieved numerous honors over the years for their work with teens throughout the United States.
For more information on the program, call (818) 786-6310.
Planet Partners
On an unusually chilly autumn night under the stars, The Coalition of the Environment and Jewish Life of Southern California (COEJL/SC) presented its fifth annual Environmentalist of the Year awards. A far cry from its first awards, the elaborate party at the home of Richard and Daphne Ziman drew hundreds of Los Angeles’ Jews, environmentalists, businesspeople and politicians, like former Gov. Gray Davis, mayoral candidate Bob Hertzberg and Michelle Kleinert, deputy director of community affairs for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“When you think about the environment and Jewish life in Southern California, you think Ed Begley,” said the lanky blond actor, who served as the master of ceremonies for the evening.Begley said he believes in COEJL/SC because it is sounding the clarion call to save the planet: “God gave us this planet, it’s our responsibility to preserve it.”
“Together, as a community, we can make real changes,” said Jewish Environmentalist of the Year Marlene Grossman, the executive director of Pacoima Beautiful. She pointed to TreePeople for its outstanding conservation work. “Tonight is the night we teach that to our children, and tonight is the night we bequeath it to us all,” she said.
Interfaith Environmentalist of the Year went to Terry Tamminen, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency; Business Environmentalist of the Year went to Toyota, which manufactures the hybrid Prius.
The lifetime achievement award was presented to Dorothy Green, the founding president of Heal the Bay. Green said she was honored and privileged to be able to work to restore habitat and that she was glad people of different religions were coming together to work on the environment.
“To bring together communities of faith – that is the future of the environment,” she said.
“Throughout all religions, teachings and moral commandments it is clear that we must care for creation to protect future generations,” said Lee Wallach, president of COEJL/SC. “Only in coming together we can do that.” – DF
I read with great interest your article on Jewish special education (“Support Still Lags for Special Needs,” Nov. 12). Like I do with any article related to this topic, it penetrates to my very being because I am a person with special needs.
I was born in the early ’50s with moderate cerebral palsy. Making a place for me in Jewish life was provided by compassionate religious school teachers and camp staff.
I was the token one. Yes, I benefited but could have benefited beyond my wildest dreams if there were programs designed for me.
Today, I’m an advocate for one of the regional centers. Although this agency is not Jewish, our mission is the same – inclusion. Inclusion, that’s the key word we advocate in all our presentations. We have come far in raising people’s consciousness, but we have somewhat further to go.
I’m wondering if the Commission of Jews With Disabilities is still in existence. I was once a member of this group that was composed of members with and without disabilities. We tried hard to shake the Los Angeles community with thought-provoking innovative ways of demonstrating that this population had many viable messages to teach.
I respect the notion that more has to be done in this arena. I look forward to hearing about future progress.
Susan Cohn San Jose Kosher Slaughter
Agriprocessors’ and Agudath Israel of America’s responses to PETA’s accusations are shameful, slanderous and insulting. Whether one believes that shechitah [ritual kosher slaughtering] is humane is irrelevant to this complaint, and PETA’s representative has stated as much (“Kosher Slaughter Controversy Erupts,” Dec. 3).
Agriprocessors demeans both the Jewish community as a whole and the events of the Holocaust by stating, “We’ll put them [PETA] on the wall with Hitler.” A recent inappropriate advertising campaign by PETA, which equated the meat industry with the Holocaust, was appropriately denounced by the Jewish community; Agriprocessors assertion equating PETA with Hitler should also be denounced.
Whether one agrees with the underlying motivations of the parties involved in this dispute, Jewish organizations should avoid accusations of anti-Semitism where none exist. This habit of crying wolf will seriously undermine legitimate claims in the future.
Dr. Alexander Werner Studio City
Interfaith Marriage
Shame on The Jewish Journal (“A Happy/Merry Solution,” Dec. 3). Never would I have thought that a Jewish paper would accept interfaith marriages. It is one thing to condone interfaith marriages (95 percent of my friends have interfaith marriages). It is another thing to accept them, and tell them how and where to buy Chanukah/Christmas cards.
Are the Torah and Talmud just antiquated short stories? Does Jewish identity mean nothing to you guys? A Christmas tree does not belong in a Jewish person’s home. Plain and simple.
Interfaith marriages are forbidden by Jewish law. If you don’t believe in that, you might as well change your name to the Jewish-Christian Journal.
Eric Muscatel via e-mail
L.A. Museum of the Holocaust
As the executive director of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, I feel that I must respond to some recent letters by Rabbi Harry A. Roth and Lawrence Weinman in regard to our capital campaign to build a permanent museum in Pan Pacific Park (Letters, Nov. 26).
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is the oldest Holocaust museum in the United States. We have been in existence since 1961 and have been providing Southern California with ground-breaking educational progamming over the last four decades.
Thousands of schoolchildren, mostly non-Jewish, tour our museum annually, and we are the only museum in Los Angeles that is always free and open to the public, a true blessing in a city where many students and school districts simply cannot afford field trips. The museum pays for busing for districts that cannot afford transportation, as well.
The plan to construct a museum in Pan Pacific Park is not a new idea and has been the ultimate goal for the last 20 years. The new building will create a cohesive unit in Pan Pacific Park, as it will encompass the already existing Holocaust Monument that has stood there for many years.
From our new location, we will continue our important work, work that is not repeated by other cultural and religious institutions in the city. The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust has partnered with the Museum of Tolerance, the Anti-Defamation League, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the University of Judaism, the Skirball Cultural Center, UCLA, the Gay and Lesbian Center of Los Angeles, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and countless other organizations.
I would encourage those who have not been to the museum or attended any of our programs to do so immediately. I can assure you, once you walk through our doors, you will not be disappointed.
Finally, I am not sure why Weinman and Roth see a connection between the oldest Holocaust museum in the country and the day school crisis in Los Angeles. Weinman and I disagree: I do not see us as a “community of limited resources” but rather a community of endless talent, resource and possibility.
Rachel Jagoda Executive Director Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Peace Recipe
I was touched by reading “Whose ‘Land’ Is It?” (Nov. 19), Gaby Wenig’s insightful, personal review of Barbara Grover’s photographic exhibit, “This Land to Me,” which helps us listen equally to Israeli and Palestinian stories that matter.
When our fears from this conflict hijack our best judgment and wisdom, art like Grover’s and other shared, positive human experiences can help us realize the equal humanity of the “other” and begin to treat one another far better.
Here on the San Francisco Peninsula, my wife, Libby, and I are part of a 12-year-old Jewish-Palestinian living-room dialogue group, preparing for our 151st meeting, still learning to change “enemies” into partners. There are now 10 similar groups here.
Another art – shared foods – and the human stories behind them, inspired us to print last month a first-of-its-kind 100-page cookbook, “Palestinian and Jewish Recipes for Peace.” Like Grover’s exhibit, it seeks to reveal the humanity of our two fine peoples. It’s described more at traubman.igc.org/recipes.htm.
Since I grew up in Westwood and graduated from University High, I was interested that “This Land to Me” was generously backed by Wally and Suzy Marks, who also helped develop the historic Helms Bakery Building.
I was raised on Helms breads and Knudsen milk. Later in my life, it was educator Gene Knudsen Hoffman, daughter of the creamery’s founder, who first said what I’ve learned is profoundly true: “An enemy is one whose story we have not heard.”
When Grover’s exhibit leaves, Libby and I encourage your Jews and Palestinians there to keep listening to one another’s stories. It can do small miracles. And sometimes big ones.
Len Traubman San Mateo
Stands Firm
In response to Sandra Helman and Eric Gordon who disagreed with my stand on travel to Cuba (Letters, Dec. 6), I stand by my statements that travel to Cuba really only benefits Castro.
Yes, it feels good to help a few people. It’s nice to think of all the conversions and the revival of the Cuban Jewish Community.
I’m glad you try to stay in Paladors. The ad I complained about promoted tourist hotels.
The most important thing for Cubans is how they are going to survive. This means that they participate in Castro’s rallies, they pretend to be Jewish or Presbyterian or anything to get handouts. Synagogues are a source of needed items. This is not revival this is survival.
Cuba’s recent apparent relaxation of laws regarding religion is deceiving. Religion is infiltrated by and under the control of state security. (Castro’s equivalent of Hitler’s SS). Cuba’s Jewish community relies on many outside organizations for assistance. That’s money, which always ends up in Castro’s pockets, since his Mafia-type regime controls all retail stores on the island.
I won’t enumerate the human rights abuses, the involvement in international terrorism, the trafficking in human persons, the prostitution; this is documented by many sources, including the State Department.
Tourism is Cuba’s most important moneymaker. It is also an apartheid industry. The average Cuban is excluded from the tourist areas, suffers from food shortages, has no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom to travel and no freedom to choose how to educate their children.
The island is a prison. The president vetoing the lifting of the travel ban is correct.
The fact that countries do business with Cuba, including Israel, and that tourism is flourishing, doesn’t make it right. I will wait until Cuba is liberated to visit.
Kathleen Sahl San Pedro
Cause for Concern
In the review of Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America,” I can find something of comparable concern in the events of today (“When We Elected Lindbergh,” Nov. 12). I’m sure many of your readers will see the same parallel, also in your article “The Left and the Islamists”
We Jews are in a worrisome situation as a result of the reports following the election. It is astonishing to see the joint support of Kerry by the Jewish community of 75 percent and the Muslim community of 90 percent.
We also worry about Kerry’s desire to seek support from “allies” in conducting his foreign policy. Would he subordinate the American foreign policy to the U.N? Would Kofi Annan be able to veto our foreign policy? In effect would Kofi Annan be president by default?
Jews, typically liberal, and the Muslims currently most threatening to the West is a strange alliance, very dangerous to us Jews.
Of 26 members of Congress who are Jewish, only one is a Republican supportive of the president. Of the ll Jewish senators only two are Republicans supportive of the president’s support for Israel.
If Kerry would have shown an inadequate concern for fighting terrorism, would his election have been a serious cause for concern for Israelis as well as our American Jews?
Jerome Greenblatt via e-mail
Horrific Business
As a Jew, I appreciate the condemnation by rabbis across the country of the abuses videotaped at the largest kosher slaughtering plant in America (“The Kindest Cut,” Dec. 10). However, simply being outraged by animal cruelty isn’t enough. Each one of us must take responsibility as consumers and realize that our choices have consequences that can’t be ignored.
Slaughtering is a horrific business, and, whether we want to admit it or not, the animals suffer greatly. As if a painful death isn’t bad enough, the animals endure systematic abuses throughout their abbreviated lives on factory farms. The vast majority of farmed animals never go outside, rarely move freely and often endure mutilations without painkiller.
These facts alone should be enough for all of us to truly follow God’s intention of compassion and mercy and remove animal products from our diet. It’s up to us.
Josh Balk Outreach Coordinator Compassion Over Killing Takoma Park, Md.
Animal Slaughter
I am an Orthodox Jew who is horrified by the reporting of what goes on at the Agriprocessors meat processing plant (“Kosher Slaughter Controversy Erupts,” Dec. 3). Though I am well aware that PETA has a double agenda, promoting vegetarianism as well as stopping the inhumane treatment of animals – and I only identify with the second (though my daughter is a vegetarian) – I wholeheartedly support PETA’s campaign against inhumane killing of animals masquerading as the most kosher type of shechitah.
As of today, I will no longer purchase any Aaron’s Best Meats or Rubashkin’s Meats.
Dr. Chaim Milikowsky Ramat Gan
The Orthodox Union is to be commended for initiating an end to the horrible treatment of animals at the Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse that were revealed on the PETA videotapes. But what about the many other violations of Jewish teachings related to animal-based diets and agriculture?
When Judaism mandates that we treat animals with compassion, can we ignore the cruel treatment of animals on factory farms, where they are raised in cramped, confined spaces without sunlight, fresh air or opportunities to fulfill their natural instincts?
When Judaism stresses that we must diligently protect our health, can we ignore that animal-based diets are major contributors to the epidemic of heart disease, many forms of cancer and other killer diseases and ailments afflicting the Jewish community and others?
When Judaism mandates that we be partners with God in protecting the environment, can we ignore the significant contributions of animal-centered agriculture to air, water and land pollution; species extinction; deforestation; global climate change; water shortages, and many other environmental threats?
For the sake of our health, the sustainability of our imperiled planet, Jewish values, as well as for the animals, it is essential that we consider shifting toward plant-based diets.
Richard H. Schwartz Staten Island, N.Y.
Bush Voters
With regard to the ridiculously sterile opinions article by Cathy Young (“Idea of Dumb Bush Voters Lacks Reality,” Dec. 3). I am going to speak as a humanitarian, to perhaps shed some light on why people believe Bush supporters are “dumb.”
We believe that people like myself (a full-time waitress, full-time student) should not be paying nearly $400 a month in taxes. We believe that fear is not a good enough reason to vote for someone.
We believe that there are more issues to worry about than the war in Iraq and Israel. We believe that the Patriot Act is, first and foremost, an infringement on our constitutional rights. We connect more with a woman and her status as a human being than with a fetus and its pending status as one.
Liberals could care less about political IQ. We’re too busy worrying about the people who inhabit our world.
Chelsea Los Angeles
I found this article to be perplexing, to say the least The implication is that Democrats consider people who voted for Bush to be dumb.
On the contrary, people voted for Bush for a variety of reasons. The voters included those who believed in one or more of the following: the RNP best supported Israel (blatantly false), provided the best defense against terrorism, believed in the Iraq War, held ideological beliefs consistent with the evangelical right-wing Republican Christians or knew their financial future was assured with this candidate.
Of course, there were others who had concerns with Sen. Kerry or perceived that the Democrats lacked a clear message regarding a wide range of topics (e.g., peace, jobs, outsourcing, fairness for everyone, health care, etc.).
However, implying that Democrats are not reflecting deeply on their vision and mission is simply untrue. A quick review of the Op-Ed section of The New York Times (Dec. 8, 2004) reveals no less than four articles regarding the need for the Democratic Party to energize itself. Many ideas are being considered, such as engaging citizens in the rural communities and using new methods to increase Democratic turnout in 2006.
Letters I have received from Sen. Boxer and the New Democratic Network, as well as articles from The Nation, also voice the need and commitment for the Democratic Party members and leaders to reflect deeply regarding a new vision that will attract a new base of Democrats for the future.
I see nothing dumb about this intelligent and thoughtful response.
Marcia Albert Los Angeles
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Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve — wear it on your wrist. And with the new Shalom bracelet, you can. The Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles is distributing 25,000 of the blue elastic bands adorned with a white dove and the word “Shalom” throughout the community.
It carries a simple message: Israel wants peace.
Yael Swerdlow, director of media relations at the consulate, said the target audience for the bracelets is a universal one.
“They are for anyone who wants peace,” Swerdlow said. “We are getting requests from all over the country, from yeshivas in New Jersey to human rights activists that vilify Israel. It’s an opening to dialogue.”
The public relations department at the consulate came up with the idea for the bracelets using Lance Armstrong’s yellow “Livestrong” bracelet as their inspiration. Bracelets are all the rage this year, with the yellow bands leading the pack. Although unlike the free blue Consulate bracelets, the yellow ones sell for $1 in Nike stores with profits benefiting cancer patients. Similar bracelet campaigns include several varieties of pink bracelets that support cancer research. They include the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer foundation bracelet (five for $5), the Melissa Etheridge bracelet (one for $5), and Target’s Share Beauty, Spread Hope bracelet (10 for $10).
Jewish organizations may have been ahead of the craze. AllforIsrael.org is currently selling silver memorial bracelets, engraved with the name of victims of terror, for $2. Hillel and various synagogues nationwide began selling the bracelets in 2003, a concept created by the Israel Solidarity Fund in 2000.
“People wear this jewelry to make a statement,” Swerdlow said, “and we hope to make ours.”
To get your Shalom bracelet send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, 6380 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Attention: Consul Yariv Ovadia.
Q: When does a Christmas tree become a Tu B’Shevat tree?
A: When a Westwood church and a Santa Monica synagogue decide that having one tree do double duty is good both for the environment and the spiritual awareness of their congregants.
After the hard-working tree has done its dual job, it will be planted in a public park for everyone to enjoy.
Fifty Jewish families from Beth Shir Sholom and 50 Christian families from the Westwood Hills Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ are each contributing $36 to jointly purchase one tree, for a total of 50 trees.
The trees, in planters, were delivered to the church on Dec. 12, during a joint celebration with temple members.
After the Christmas season, on Jan. 9, the trees will be delivered to Beth Shir Sholom families, who will care for them for the next three weeks.
Although Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of Trees, falls on Jan. 25 this year, the actual tree planting will be delayed until Sunday, Jan. 30.
On the morning of Jan. 30, the Christian and Jewish families will meet at the temple and nosh on the fruits symbolic of the holiday, after blessings by the rabbi.
Immediately afterward, the trees will be transported to the Ed Edelman Park in Topanga Canyon and planted there with the help of the TreePeople, Malibu Creek State Park and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
“This project marks the convergence of two traditions, without detracting from the integrity of either one,” said Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Sholom, the “Progressive Reform” congregation long active in interfaith relations. “In both traditions, trees symbolize new life and hope.”
“We tend to link Christmas and Chanukah because they happen around the same time,” said the Rev. Kirsten Linford-Steinfeld of the church. Linford-Steinfeld, who is married to a Jewish man, warmly endorsed the project. “I think it’s a neat idea to connect two of our holidays in a different way, especially since Tu B’Shevat comes exactly one month after Christmas this year.”
The project was the brainchild of Nurit Ze’evi, who thought of the idea when she remembered her childhood in Israel and the Tu B’Shevat holiday.
This year, the project will be on a trial run, but Ze’evi already has more ambitious plans for the future.
In a poem she wrote for the occasion, Ze’evi envisions that in the years to come, hundreds and then thousands of Christians and Jews will join hands in planting Christmas/Tu B’Shevat trees in Los Angeles, the United States and across the world.
After more than four years of the Palestinian intifada, a debate is raging in Israel over whether the rigors of combat against terrorists who exploit and hide among the Palestinian civilian population is eroding the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) moral standards.
The debate follows publication of a number of incidents in which Israeli soldiers are suspected of violating moral norms. But after years in which Israelis lauded their army as the most moral fighting force possible in such difficult conditions, the reports raise a key issue: Are the suspected violations aberrations or do they reflect widespread brutality?
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the IDF remains the most moral army he knows, but critics suggest that the relentless terrorist war has brutalized young soldiers who frequently vent their frustrations on Palestinian civilians.
While insisting that the incidents are aberrations, the IDF is taking the criticism very seriously, and has launched a campaign to root out such conduct.
Four cases have been highlighted over the past few weeks: the deliberate killing of a 13-year-old schoolgirl near an Israeli strongpoint in Gaza, a Palestinian man filmed playing his violin at a checkpoint near Nablus, photographs of Orthodox soldiers posing next to body parts of a Palestinian suicide bomber and naval commandos shooting dead a wounded Islamic Jihad operative.
The girl, Iman al-Hamas, was shot by Israeli soldiers as she strayed from her regular route to school. The commander of the outpost then approached her and fired several rounds into her body at close range to make sure she was dead.
Soldiers said they thought the girl might be a decoy for a terrorist attack or wearing an explosive belt. The commanding officer, an Israeli Druse, is now standing trial.
The Palestinian violinist, Wissam Tayim, says he was ordered to play a “sad tune” at the checkpoint. The incident conjured up images here of Jewish violinists being forced to play for the Nazis.
The soldiers, however, deny that they forced Tayim to play. They say they merely ordered him to open his violin case for inspection — Palestinians previously have transported bombs in music cases — and that he started playing of his own accord and was quickly told to stop.
There is a lack of clarity over the body parts incident, too. An army probe suggests that the religious soldiers did not touch the parts, and that photographs showing them doing so had been doctored. The parts had been touched by police carrying out normal identification procedures.
The fourth incident involves a elite naval commando unit known as 13. Palestinians say the commandos shot dead Mahmoud Qamail, an Islamic Jihad leader, after he had been wounded, and after Palestinian neighbors had dragged him closer to the Israeli force and handed over his gun and cellphone.
The soldiers say Qamail ran out of a house they had surrounded wearing a heavy coat. Though he had been shot and wounded, they had no way of knowing whether he was wearing an explosive belt or concealing another weapon. The unit already had lost six men in close encounters over the past year, including two in incidents where consideration shown to suspects proved fatal.
Sharon rejects any notion of moral decline in the army.
“We should not forget who our soldiers are fighting against — the most depraved killers, who are trying to hit at us without respite,” he told journalists in the Knesset last week. On Sunday he raised the issue in the weekly Cabinet meeting, accusing the media of a “sick drive to publish things even if they aren’t true.”
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon, both pointed out to the Cabinet that army orders at all levels are transparent, and that every complaint is thoroughly investigated.
However, in an earlier interview with Ze’ev Schiff, military analyst for Ha’aretz newspaper, Ya’alon was less complacent. He questioned his own position, asked whether top officials were sending mixed messages to soldiers in the field, and spoke of the “scars of war” — of how seeing dead and wounded, manning roadblocks or breaking into homes of terrorist suspects inevitably hardens young hearts.
But, Ya’alon said, the army should not allow that to undermine its moral basis. If there is an erosion of values it is the army’s job to stop it by clearly defining what is and is not permissible, he said.
Opposition legislators expressed concern. Commenting on the naval commando incident, Labor’s Ofir Pines-Paz declared that “this is another shocking case in a string of similar cases, which show that the chief of staff has lost control of the brakes on the army. We are talking about total loss of control in the IDF.” Demobilized soldiers also suggest that the humiliation of Palestinian civilians is far more prevalent than the army admits. A group calling itself “‘Soldiers Breaking Silence” has been holding an exhibition in Tel Aviv showing photographic and other evidence of soldiers harassing Palestinian civilians.
On the whole though, it seems that the extent and nature of the Israeli aberrations pale beside those of other armies in similar situations. There have been no massacres or torture on the scale of the U.S. military in Iraq and Vietnam or the French in Algeria — and many commentators believe that long after the headlines of problematic incidents subside, military strategists around the world will emulate the IDF’s tactics in urban combat and against terrorist organizations.
According to the IDF, since the beginning of 2004, 29 Palestinian civilians were killed in crossfire or accidents. Of the 267 Palestinians killed this year, 119 were terrorists and 119 were civilians involved in attacks on soldiers.
Nevertheless, the IDF is doing all it can to make sure the message now is clear. Mofaz says he has issued orders to senior officers to severely punish any soldier who violates the norms, and Ya’alon is going from unit to unit to clarify the IDF’s rules of engagement and its moral code.
In strong language a week ago, the United States renewed its security warning against travel to Israel. Nevertheless, millions of visitors are certain to ignore it — including both the most welcome tourists and the least desirable arrivals of all.
Five hundred million visitors return to Israel in good years and bad, either wintering here or dropping in en route to other destinations. I was part of a group of Israelis who gathered last week to welcome them in the marshy rain-soaked countryside. In order to greet them up close, we were cautioned not to talk loudly nor make sharp movements. Wrapped in ponchos and wearing old sneakers, we all carried one indispensable apparatus — binoculars.
We were rewarded with the sight of multitudes of flamingos and kingfishers, warblers and spoonbills, mallards and herons, gulls and cormorants. Flocks of majestic pelicans rose to circle and fly in perfect formation in search of further meals and further vistas. We saw egrets nobly nodding, ducks gliding upon ponds, stilts treading nimbly upon muddy flats and storks perching upon one leg or two. I was surrounded in that short morning with the symmetry and grace of more birds than I had ever seen trekking elsewhere.
Israel is the beneficiary of this gorgeous spectacle because it fortuitously lies on the aviary migration routes from Europe to Africa, offering among the best bird sighting opportunities in the world.
But other, much-less welcome airborne visitors are descending these days upon this part of the world. Duplicating the biblical plague upon Egypt, millions of locusts are zooming in upon the towns and fields of Israel. These winged grasshopper-like creatures, colored a garish pink and measuring up to three inches long, blanket their destination in dense swarms.
The locusts originate in West Africa, to which they are endemic. Inadequate control measures have ballooned their numbers to epidemic proportions, creating the world’s worst locust outbreak in 15 years. They are now invading as far west as the Canary Islands and to the east in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. Two people who witnessed the last locust attacks in Israel almost half a century ago during the 1950s vividly described to me their repulsion at being caught in a living cloud of insects. One had his car enveloped in a swarm; the other recalled her body covered with crawling creatures, the feeling of them moving through hair and over cheeks, and the sound of them crunching underfoot. It was a loathsome sensation whose memory never faded.
The swarms upon Israel are at their inception; at present the country is escaping maximum damage to greenery and crops. Although locusts are notoriously ravenous and can daily consume more than their own weight, the appetites of these young locusts are immature and they have not reached the egg-laying stage. Swarms have thus far landed in the south of the country where most of the agriculture is in covered hothouses and hence inaccessible. The trick will be to eradicate the pests before they breed and before they reach farther north where crops grow in the open air.
During the promise of Mideast peace prior to the intifada, Israeli ornithologists established contact with their Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts to foster bird tracking and research. Although the birds continue to arrive heedless of political strife, the cooperation of the scientists has per force been greatly reduced. For example, gatherings among Israeli, Arab and Palestinian children to learn about the birds that crisscross their common skies have been suspended.
However, the prospect of a locust disaster has begun to galvanize Israelis and Arabs to join hands in at least some way. Israel has been sending plane after plane into the sky to spray against locusts. With the full cooperation and approval of the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture in Amman, Israeli planes sprayed along a region of the Negev on both sides of the border between Israel and Jordan, thus protecting both countries. Israel is awaiting response from Egypt on its offer to spray the locust breeding grounds in the Egyptian Sinai Desert.
The Mideast contains extremes of beauty and ugliness, of blessings and curses, of hope and despair. Bringing exquisite birds and loathsome pests, the heavens, too, bear this out.
The threatening cloud from the sky might succeed in uniting human beings on the ground. Perhaps they will perceive their common interest to be continued cooperation even after the marauding insect invaders have been banished.
Jewish groups will launch an educational program for at-risk Sudanese children. The program will take place in Chad, home to more than 200,000 people made refugees by Janjaweed terrorists backed by the Sudanese government. The $100,000 program is funded through a grant to the Jewish Coalition for Sudan Relief by the American Jewish World Service, the State of Israel, the UJA-Federation of New York, Union of Reform Judaism and United Jewish Communities of Metrowest, N.J.
Israeli Coalition Close
Ariel Sharon hopes to unveil Israel’s new government next week. Political sources said Monday that talks between the Israeli prime minister’s Likud Party and the influential Orthodox party Shas were close to fruition and that a new, broad coalition would be in place within a week. The main opposition Labor Party already is on board, though it remains unclear how many Cabinet portfolios it will get. Media reports said Sharon had wooed Shas by vowing to undo anti-religious legislation pursued by his former coalition partner, the secularist Shinui Party. Another religious party, United Torah Judaism, may also join the government in a bid by Sharon to offset Labor’s bargaining power.
Prisoner Release Seen
Israel plans to release dozens of Palestinian security prisoners. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Cabinet decided Sunday to create a ministerial committee that would decide which prisoners will go free and when, on condition none is serving time for terrorist attacks that killed Israelis. Jerusalem officials said the move was part of an agreement with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak under which Azzam Azzam, an Israeli accused of espionage, was granted early release from a Cairo prison last week.
Doctors Strike for Safety
Israeli doctors went on a one-day strike to protest a wave of attacks on hospital staff. Sunday’s action was declared after relatives of an elderly patient at a Tel Aviv hospital set upon and moderately injured her doctor last week. Authorities also have reported 47 attacks on Magen David Adom ambulance crews over the past year. Under the strike, only emergency care was provided at the nation’s hospitals. Health Minister Danny Naveh vowed to undertake legislation toughening laws against violence in medical institutions.
Study: Immigrants an Asset
A new study found that recent North American immigrants to Israel are a major economic asset to the Jewish state. Each adult North American immigrant represents about $200,000 in value to the Israeli economy upon his or her arrival, according to a study commissioned by Nefesh & Nefesh, a grassroots organization that encourages North American aliyah. The findings of the report and the announcement that almost 3,000 North American Jews immigrated to Israel in 2004 a 20 percent increase from last year – were presented at a news conference Tuesday sponsored by Nefesh & Nefesh and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which works with the private group.
Jewish Music Gets Grammy Nods
A Jewish music organization received two Grammy nominations. The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music received nods in the best small-ensemble performance category for its “Wyner: The Mirror; Passover Offering, Tants un Maysele;” and for David Frost for classical producer of the year, for five Milken CDs: “Adolphe: Ladino Songs;” “Brubeck: Gates of Justice;” “Genesis Suite;” “Jewish Operas Vol. 1;” and “Wyner: The Mirror; Passover Offering, Tants un Maysele.” The Milken Archive began releasing music in 2003.
French Ban Hezbollah Station
A French court ordered a satellite company to cease broadcasts from Hezbollah’s TV station. In its decision Monday, the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, gave the Eutelstat satellite provider 48 hours to end the broadcasts. Failure to do so would result in a fine of around $6,500 for every day the channel continues to broadcast. Eutelstat hosts the channel, which broadcasts throughout the 25-member European Union. Among various claims in recent Al-Manar programs was the accusation that Jews spread AIDS in Arab countries. In the ruling, the court said that Al-Manar programs “fall within a militant perspective which includes anti-Semitic connotations.”
The American Jewish Committee recently wrote to U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow asking that Al-Manar be banned in the United States under existing counterterrorism legislation or by executive order.
Jews Take Sides on Commandments Case
Several Jewish groups are taking sides on a pending case at the U.S. Supreme Court on the public display of the Ten Commandments. A coalition of Jewish groups filed an amicus brief Monday on the case, Van Orden v. Perry, which involves a granite monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds. The brief suggests the monument violates the separation of church and state and shows an “unacceptable preference for Judeo-Christian faiths.” The brief is authored by the American Jewish Congress and signed by the American Jewish Committee, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Union of Reform Judaism, Americans for Religious Liberty and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. A separate brief submitted Monday by the Anti-Defamation League also asks the court to rule the commandments are unconstitutional; Hadassah also weighed in. The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs, which represents the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America, is expected to file a brief in the near future supporting the display as constitutional and endorsing its religious pronouncements.
