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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

August 18, 2005

Spy Kids’ Bar Mitzvah

Leave a Comment / Up Front /

It’s not easy for a kid to find out that his parents are spies, and that he and his sister have to rescue them from evildoers.

But it’s not as hard as trying to learn Hebrew from scratch in six months for a bar mitzvah — especially when the spy scenario is fictional and the bar mitzvah is real.

So it was for Daryl Sabara, the cherubic red-headed star of three “Spy Kids” films. He and his twin brother, Evan, also an actor who appeared in “Spy Kids,” were bar mitzvahed at Chabad of Brentwood last month after studying with the synagogue’s rabbi, Baruch Hecht, for half a year.

As professional actors, it would have been a cinch for the Sabaras to memorize their Torah portion phonetically, just like many kids who don’t know Hebrew. But the twins really wanted to learn Hebrew — and about their heritage.

“Before this, they didn’t know anything about Judaism,” Hecht told The Journal. The rabbi talked to them about what it means to be a Jew, tefillin, the Torah and the Jewish holidays, like Purim and Passover, which occurred in March and May during their studies.

“Some kids, especially kids with a background of no real religious training, would say, ‘Oh this is just a pain in the neck. Let’s get to the party,'” Hecht said. “Their attitudes were exactly the opposite.”

Daryl Sabara, in Northern California filming “Her Best Move,” about a 15-year-old girl soccer prodigy, told The Journal by phone: “I didn’t want to have a big party or anything. We just wanted it to be meaningful.”

“Our portion was about the story of the red heifer. It’s about somebody who is fortunate, and they try and give a helping hand. That’s the way I [try to] live my life.”

 

Spy Kids’ Bar Mitzvah Read More »

Obituaries

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Irvin Atkins died July 14 at 88. He is survived by his wife, Ida Mae; and daughter, Marilyn Feiman. Groman

LILLIAN BADEN died July 14 at 90. She is survived by her son, Jerry; grandchild, Dylan; and many relatives. Hillside

Theodore Berg died Aug. 9 at 91. He is survived by his wife, Sarah; daughters, Elayne, Sandi and Judy; grandchildren, Beth and Michael; and sister, Esther Gillman. Mount Sinai

ANNE BOVILL died July 13 at 90. She is survived by her daughter, Davida; son, Martin (Pirjo); sister, Esther Morris; and many relatives. Hillside

Beryl Caron died July 19 at 81. He is survived by his wife, Helene; son, Daniel (Debra); daughters, Cherie Hickok, Kathy Mandell and Suzie Caron; and five grandchildren. Groman

Rose Cohen died July 18 at 87. She is survived by her daughters, Shelley (Mike) Lubinsky and Sandra Gallob; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren; and brother, Meyer (Margie) Jacobs. Malinow and Silverman

STANLEY COOPER died July 16 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; and daughter, Shelley. Hillside

Bessie Farash died July 17 at 93. She is survived by her son, Marty (Judy); daughter, Marilyn (Murray) Cohen; three grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Alexander Farkas died July 19 at 75. He is survived by his wife, R. Barbara; son, Steven (Susan); daughters, Marilyn (Scott) Pilcher and Ellen (Gary) Davidson; and six grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

LOIS FRANKEL died July 19 at 75. She is survived by her brothers, Walter and Richard. Hillside

Abraham Froch died July 15 at 78. He is survived by his wife, Lois; daughter, Alieen (Gil) Borok; sons, Michael (Jill) and Larry (Cari); and five grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Karl Gerwer died July 14 at 73. He is survived by his wife, Satoe; and sons, Scott and Eric. Groman

Bess Helen Gold died July 18 at 95. She is survived by her son, Peter. Chevra Kadisha

Sumner Granby died July 18 at 88. He is survived by his sons, Alan and Mark; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Groman

Gloria Glauber died July 18 at 77. She is survived by her daughter, Micki (Mark Flint) Hollien; son, Russ (Olivia); five grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren; brother, Sidney (Dolly) Goodman; and sister-in-law, Judy (Lou) Shaltzer. Mount Sinai

Bertha Hellman died July 16 at 96. She is survived by her son, Bryce (Hannah); daughter, Racelle Manes; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Sholom Chapels

Marilyn Bella Horowitz died July 16 at 76. She is survived by her husband, Irving; son, Alan; daughter, Sherry; and four grandchildren.

Michael Bernard Horowitz died July 18 at 59. He is survived by his wife, Diane Ganley; stepson, Tom Ganley; sister, Margie Bonar; and brother, Thomas. Malinow and Silverman

Ruth Horowitz died July 14 at 87. She is survived by her daughter, Judith; one grandchild; two great-grandchildren; sisters, Frances Aoltz, Belle Schneider and Sylvia Hallman; . Groman

ESTHER HOUGH died July 16 at 53. She is survived by her brother, Randal Grant Powers; and sister-in-law, Shendl Diamond. Hillside

TERRY JACKSON died July 17 at 91. She is survived by her son, Michael (Alana); and three grandchildren. Hillside

Fred Kelly died July 12 at 76. He is survived by his son, Robert (Debbie); daughter, Helaine (Andy) Rogers; and two grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Robert Kranz died July 15 at 63. He is survived by his wife, Madelon; son, Bryan; daughter, Tamara (Eran) Bikovsky; one grandchild; and mother, Irene. Malinow and Silverman

CHARLOTTE LAKSBERGER died July 17 at 97. She is survived by her son, George (Robin) Lakes; daughter, Annette (Ron) Massman; six grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Eve Lester died July 19 at 82. She is survived by her husband, David; son, Larry Gay; daughters, Julie Moores and Susan Meyers; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Groman

CAROL MARJORIE LEVIN died July 15 at 84. She is survived by her husband, Marty; sons, Steve (Pam) and Robert (Julie); and three grandchildren. Hillside

Michael Levine died July 17 at 65. He is survived by his wife, Yehua Zhu-Levine. Malinow and Silverman

Ruth Levine died July 12 at 82. She is survived by her sons, Steven (Elizabeth) and Mitchell (Sharon); and by five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Thelma Jo Lewis died July 19 at 85. She is survived by her friends. Malinow and Silverman

Kay Gertrude Lipton died July 18 at 83. She is survived by her sons, David and Jay; and one grandchild. Groman

SHARON WEISS HARRIS LUSSIER died July 18 at 75. She is survived by her husband, Paul; son, Larry Harris; daughter, Jill Cordova; four grandchildren; and one great grandchild. Hillside

Shirley Manoil died July 17 at 89. She is survived by her daughter, Melinda; son, Robert; three grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Vera Miller died July 14 at 87. She is survived by her husband, Solomon; son, Stephen (Celia); daughter, Sharon (Brian) Olson-Ahern; and four grandchildren. Chevra Kadisha

Fahimeh Nathan died July 12 at 61. She is survived by her husband, Manoucher; sons, Ramin and Elly; daughter, Noushin (Morris) Farajola; two grandchildren; sisters, Frough (Sion) Shooshani, Mangeh (Manoucher) Gohre, Gili (Firous) Tabiri and Mino (Mandour); and brother, Iraj (Faraba) Raouf. Mount Sinai

Rhoda Neiman died July 14 at 71. She is survived by her husband, Harold; daughters, Jillana and Paula; brothers, Harry, Mark and Bernard Wisner; and sister, Brandi Wisner. Chevra Kadisha

Joe Orloff died July 13 at 96. He is survived by his wife, Ruetta; daughters, Tami (Robert) Finkbeiner, Penny and Rikki; son, Michael (Karen); seven grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Klara Sapirshteyn died July 17 at 93. She is survived by her son, James. Malinow and Silverman

Gertrude Jane Schwab died July 16 at 87. She is survived by her sons, Howard (Michelle) and Richard (Colleen); daughter, Helen; and four grandchildren. Groman

Julius Selinger died July 12 at 80. He is survived by his wife, Elinor; daughter, Anita Anderson; sons, Henry and Gary; six grandchildren; brother, Frank. Malinow and Silverman

Hertzel Shirazi died July 13 at 49. He is survived by his wife, Mitra; brother, Mike; and brother-in-law, Abe Manzour. Chevra Kadisha

Julie Ann Siem died July 19 at 44. She is survived by her daughter, Elisha; son, Jordan; and parents, Donald and Lois Arnstein. Mount Sinai

Dan Silberberg died July 19 at 67. He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; daughters, Jennifer and Nicole; brother, Naftali; sisters, Inga Rubin, Ruth Lester and Alice (Leo) Granierer. Mount Sinai

ETHEL SOLOMON died July 17 at 94. She is survived by her friends. Hillside

J. Dorian Sonnenschein died July 17 at 56. He is survived by his brother, Marco; and sister, Miriam (Max) Feit. Malinow and Silverman

Sidney Stonehill died July 14 at 74. He is survived by his wife, Joan; son, Anthony; and daughter, Dena Stonehill Penney. Groman

Theresa Remes Suffin died July 15 at 86. She is survived by her son, Steve (Leah); and daughter, Fay Shinder. Chevra Kadisha

Morton Wolk died July 12 at 89. He is survived by his daughter, Rolinda Suttle; granddaughter, Tessa Suttle; and significant other, Annette Naftal. Mount Sinai

Mitchell Wortsman died July 19 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Edith; daughter, Melissa Applebaum; and brother, Abner. Groman

Yahya Jonathan Yasharpour died July 17 at 76. He is survived by his wife, Louise; son, Sami; and daughter Yasamin. Chevra Kadisha

Marcus Gershun Zilber died July 17 at 85. He is survived by his wife, Anna; daughters, Sima Epshteyn and Masha Serebryany; and grandchild, Inna. Chevra Kadisha

Obituaries Read More »

Letters

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor, Opinion /

Discussion Difficult

Bernard Goldberg’s response to Rob Eshman’s critique turns out to be a fine example of why some conservative voices make intelligent discussion so difficult (“My Work Is Not to Blame for Jew-Haters,” Aug. 5).

Goldberg starts out with, “Usually I only respond to fair and thoughtful criticism, but I’ll make an exception in this case, because people I respect tell me that Rob Eshman … is both a smart and decent guy.”

Let’s look at that sentence. Despite the begrudging “smart and decent,” Goldberg reveals that he really does not believe Eshman’s criticism to be “fair and thoughtful.” In that case, why is he sending in a response?

He goes on to whine, “It never occurred to me to count people by their religion. It’s my friends on the left who love to put people in groups…. Liberals love diversity — just not the intellectual kind.”

He says that liberals love to put people in groups — not some liberals, not even most liberals, just liberals. The man has just put all liberals into a group.

His book includes one or two conservatives like Michael Savage, whose ravings are so maniacal that even Goldberg cannot stomach them. But aside from these exceptions, it is clear that the “people who are screwing up America” are the liberals. Another prime example of those conservatives who think that those who do not agree with them are unpatriotic and anti-American.

Lou Charloff
Encino

Junk Science

In the fossil record, many forms of complex life all of a sudden explode on to the scene. There is not a smooth transition from one species to another (“Junk Science,” Aug. 12).

Darwin’s theory is one that believes in gradual changes. In fact, in Darwin’s book, he pleads with the reader to ignore the fossil record. The more of the fossil record that is unearthed, the more it disproves the theory of evolution as Darwin proposed it.

The idea of intelligent design is just as valid as the theory of evolution. To believe in evolution takes just as much blind faith as believing in intelligent design. To teach evolution as if it is a proven fact is junk science.

Dr. Sabi Israel
West Hills

Gaza Disengagement

I am loath to understand why Jews should be prohibited from residing in areas under Palestinian control, when almost 1.3 million Arabs live in Israel proper (“We Must Show Unified Pullout Support,” Aug. 12). Why must it be that to establish peace and live in harmony with Arab neighbors, their territory must be Judenrein. No Jews allowed?

The very idea of establishing policies which preclude even one Jew from living in even one place unearth historic realities that are painful.

Rabbi I.B. Koller
Richmond, Va.

The matter of Israel’s expulsion of Jews from Gaza keeps many of us up at night, uncertain as to the efficacy of such a policy. Reasonable people may disagree as to whether or not it’s a good idea.

The letter from Dr. Aryeh Cohen (“Letters,” Aug. 12) is a disturbing example of an illogical argument used to support a policy of which many Jews are wary.

Cohen uses the specious, context-free logic employed by those who wish to destroy the State of Israel — just point out some statistics, and it seems obvious that Israel is “mercilessly oppressing” the Palestinian people, who are being “denied” their “rightful” homeland.

Cohen’s flawed argument in support of “disengagement” from Gaza assumes that there’s no history — that the United Nations has not been backing the maintenance of the Palestinian refugee camps all these years, that the Palestinians have not purposefully murdered innocent civilians for their own political ends and that the Palestinians have not missed numerous opportunities to make peace.

If I buy Cohen’s argument, we may as well withdraw from all of Israel proper right now to avoid any chance of ever being an “oppressor,” and then go heal ourselves by “re-engaging with morality.” By insinuating that the Israelis are the only ones who have acted immorally, Cohen undermines his own position.

Time will tell whether Israel’s expulsion of Jewish settlers from Gaza was wise or not. Cohen’s use of the flawed logic of our enemies to defend what may be a reasonable position is more appalling than deluding ourselves that we are as blameless and innocent as he posits the Palestinians to be. That such an argument comes from a professor at our distinguished University of Judaism is more appalling still.

I hope and pray that something good will come out of this heart-wrenching decision by the Israeli government. Am Yisrael chai.

Gary Lainer
Los Angeles

Baffled

Thank you for Toby Klein Greenwald’s thoughtful piece (“Barbed Wire Fails to Separate Hearts,” Aug. 12). Although I am sadly baffled by the pro-expulsion view of the Southern Californian Board of Rabbis, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee (don’t they read “From Time Immemorial” by Peters or arutzsheva.com?), I find it quite telling that The Journal’s “Losing Faith” (Aug. 12) headline really refers more to the Peace Nowniks’ unfortunate lack of faith, understanding in the Torah and vision of Yisrael.

Joshua Spiegelman
Sylmar

Mischaracterize

Rabbi Harvey Fields and David Pine mischaracterize support for ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Gaza Strip as support for Israel (“We Must Show Unified Pullout Support,” Aug. 12). Those who truly support Israel oppose that gift to our enemies over which they have prepared a celebration.

Anything those would-be genocides of our people celebrate is cause for our mourning. They have made no secret of their intent to use every parcel of our land they grab as a base for grabbing all the rest of it, “from the river to the sea.”

There is nothing “courageous” in surrender, particularly when the enemy is militarily and morally inferior. No relief can be expected when we give them control over their air, sea and land conduits for re-armament.

The dream of a Palestinian Muslim state as a “peace-seeking neighbor” is contrary to all their propaganda, their declarations (in Arabic), their education in the schools and their actions throughout the generations.

That Jews occupy 18 percent of the land and use 75 percent of the water in the strip is indeed a shame: Both numbers should be 100 percent, as the ancestors of the present Arab occupiers, when first they invaded from Arabia, themselves were calling all the land “the land of the Jews.” They are imperialist settlers in our country, and have no right to be anywhere in it.

Despite that, we have generously allowed full Israeli citizenship to those of them that want it. What would the writers say had Israel made any province of the country Arabrein? Is there any place in the world outside of our homeland that they think should be Judenrein? Is there any other people they think should not be allowed to live in certain places?

Louis Richter
Encino

Independent Mind

I am a Jewish voter, and I voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger. When he runs again for governor, I will vote for him again (“Schwarzenneger Is Losing Jewish Votes,” Aug. 5) .

However, I vote as an individual and not as a member of religious or ethnic mindthink. This article states that Jews vote alike on a platform of democratic values, and are all pro-choice and advocates of reform.

While this may or may not be true, this is no different than the person who claims the African American vote is unilateral, and all African Americans think and vote alike. I personally find this not only a racist concept, but an offensive one. Jews, like all people, vote according to their own personal beliefs, and not part of a Jewish conspiracy.

I am also offended by the comparisons to the AM radio crowd, as if all who listen are again part of the vast right-wing conspiracy. I stand as woman, a Jew and a person who is capable of making up my own mind on how to vote, who to vote for and on what issues are important to me, a citizen of the United States, a resident in California and of independent mind.

Allyson Rowen Taylor
Valley Glen

Letters Read More »

Kids Page

Leave a Comment / Kids & Teens /

Catch a Wave

There’s nothing better than spending a hot summer day at the beach. Sink your toes in that golden sand and surf those blue waves.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s hit the beach!

Sea That?

What will you find at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium?

The following words all start with the word sea:

Sea + It shines in the sky and on the movie screen __ __ __ __

Sea + A cool, green vegetable __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Sea + UR + part of your face __ __ __ __ __ __

We’re Cleaning Up!

Heal the Bay invites you to leave “Nothin’ but Sand” on the beach.

Come to Santa Monica Beach on Aug. 20, 10 a.m.-noon.

Park in lot 4S at 2030 Barnard Way and meet other volunteers at the north end of the lot at the end of Bay Street. Get involved. Help clean up our beaches!

Beachy Beatles

The Fab Four wrote many incredible songs about all sorts of people and places. Can you think of two Beatles songs that have to do with the sea? You might want to ask mom or dad for help with this one — but beware, they just might start singing.

 

Kids Page Read More »

The Circuit

Leave a Comment / California, Circuit /

Founder Farewell

Jonathan Jacoby, who helped found the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) in 1993, will move his primary residence from New York to Los Angeles in October and, shortly thereafter, step down as IPF’s executive director. Jacoby has been a leading participant in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict for the past 20 years. The announcement was made, with “regret,” by Seymour D. Reich and Marvin Lender, president and board chair, respectively, of IPF, the organization that advocates an active American engagement in bringing about Israeli-Arab peace. It has its headquarters in New York and an office in Washington, D.C.

Reich and Lender have formed a committee to seek a new executive director and said Jacoby will continue to serve in that position until his replacement begins, at which time his IPF role on the West Coast will be determined.

A Sure Bet

More than 300 young Iranian Jewish professionals attended Eretz-SIAMAK’s second annual Casino Night held at its Tarzana cultural center on Saturday, July 23. Guests enjoyed the easy-going sounds of a live jazz band while gambling at the poker, craps and roulette tables. A portion of the evening’s proceeds was donated to Cure Autism Now, a national nonprofit organization seeking to find a cure for autism.

“We wanted to raise awareness and funds for autism research because it has really impacted the Jewish community but hasn’t received much attention” said Alan Fakheri, chair of the Eretz-SIAMAK Young Professionals Committee.

Federation Feast

South Bay women feasted on a generous serving of warmth and humor as well as a delicious lunch at The Federation’s South Bay Council annual Women’s Division fundraiser. The Heart and Spirit Event, held in May at the Depot Restaurant in Torrance and hosted by comedian chef extraordinaire Michael Shafer, raised more than $73,000.

Shafer’s performance was part cooking class, part stand-up comedy. Those who weren’t laughing too hard learned how to prepare a delicious, kosher Shabbat dinner. Event co-chairs Zvia Hempling and Iris Lee Knell were delighted with the ladies’ enjoyment of their day as well the overwhelming success of the fundraising effort.

“This was definitely among the South Bay Jewish community’s most successful events ever,” said Robin Franko, director of the South Bay Council. “I could not be more excited about the support, encouragement and dedication of our close-knit community.”

Beth Labelson, Suzan Waks and Leslie Werksman were recognized at the event for their generosity and each received the Lion of Judah pin, which is awarded to women who make a minimum gift of $5,000 to The Federation’s annual campaign.

For more information on South Bay programs, call (310) 375-0863 or visit www.jewishla.org. — Julie M. Brown, Contributing Writer

Young Fighters

The young professionals of Los Angeles recently turned out to support the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Young Leader’s Committee annual Summer Soiree to reaffirm their commitment to leadership in their battle against hated and prejudice.

The party mood didn’t deter for one moment the seriousness of efforts to curtail the ever-present ravages of anti-Semitism and bigotry.

These young professionals believe in securing fair and just treatment for everyone and are shaping the future of this important effort through leadership roles in the agency’s many human relations, community service and civil rights programs.

They invite others to become involved as a donor, board member, committee volunteer or Salvin Leadership Institute participant. This annual fundraiser was designed to not only raise funds but awareness.

The evening featured food, dancing and an opportunity to win prizes and to name a martini.

All proceeds benefited the ADL’s fight against anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry.

For more information, call (310) 446-8000.

Briskin at the Beach

Entering the next chapter of its 83-year history, Temple Beth El and Center of San Pedro is excited to welcome Rabbi Charles Briskin as its new spiritual leader. He brings youthful energy and a passion for learning, worship, social justice and community building to Temple Beth El.

“Temple Beth El has a wonderful history and reputation,” Briskin said. “It is known to be a community of genuinely caring and friendly families, served by a solid group of devoted lay leaders and an excellent team of talented and well-established professionals.”

Briskin, his wife, Karen, and toddler son, Ezra, come to Temple Beth El from the San Francisco Bay area. There, Briskin served as the associate rabbi of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, where he worked with Rabbi Janet Marder, a national leader in the Reform movement.

Temple Beth El serves Reform Jews from the Beach Communities, Torrance, the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the Harbor Area in its two locations: the main synagogue building in San Pedro, and the Temple Beth El Peninsula Family Center in Torrance.

For more information on upcoming events to welcome Briskin, call (310) 833-2467.

 

The Circuit Read More »

Nation & World Briefs

Leave a Comment / United States, Worldwide /

Church Condemns Israel’s Barrier

A Protestant church has condemned Israel’s West Bank security barrier. The proposal, passed Saturday by the Evangelical Lutheran Church’s assembly, denounced the barrier for causing hardships for Palestinians, and also called on the denomination to play a role in “stewarding financial resources — both U.S. tax dollars and private funds — in ways that support the quest for a just peace in the Holy Land,” The Associated Press reported. But it did not specifically mention divestment from Israel or companies that do business with Israel. The vote is the latest taken by Protestant churches to protest Israel’s security barrier.

Travel Warning Issued on Gaza

The U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the Gaza Strip. The advisory, an intensification of prior warnings, calls on U.S. citizens to “avoid crowds, maintain a high level of vigilance, take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness and exercise caution in public places or while using public transportation” during Israel’s withdrawal, which began this week. It also reiterates prior calls on Americans to avoid travel to Gaza, postpone unnecessary travel to the West Bank and weigh the necessity of travel to Israel.

Roberts Backed ‘Moment of Silence’ in Schools

While working in the Justice Department for the Reagan administration in 1985, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts wrote in a memo to his supervisor that he would not object to a constitutional amendment on school prayer. Referring to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a school prayer law in Alabama, Roberts wrote that the idea that the “Constitution prohibits such a moment of silent reflection — or even silent ‘prayer’ — seems indefensible.”

The memo was among nearly 5,400 pages of records pertaining to the Supreme Court nominee released by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Roberts also wrote in a memo that a California group’s memorial service to protest abortion was an “entirely appropriate means of calling attention to the abortion tragedy.” Roberts’ confirmation hearings are expected to begin early next month.

Sharon: More Withdrawals Possible

Ariel Sharon said additional West Bank settlements could be handed over to the Palestinians as part of a future peace agreement. Asked in an interview with the Yediot Achronot newspaper if Israel eventually would withdraw from other West Bank settlements, he said, “Not everything will be there. The issue will be raised during the final-status talks with the Palestinians.” Still, Sharon insisted that the large West Bank settlement blocs would remain intact. In addition, he reportedly noted, “I never replied when asked what the boundaries of the settlements blocs are — and not because I’m not familiar with the map.”

Fund to Buy Up Gaza Hothouses

A private international fund agreed to pay Jewish farmers in Gaza $14 million to buy most of the hothouses they will leave behind. Representatives for the Gaza farmers signed the deal Friday with the Economic Cooperation Foundation, the Jerusalem Post reported. The deal came days before Israel began evacuating the Gaza settlements. The foundation, which organized the collection of private donations to fund the project, will transfer the hothouses to a Palestinian Authority company. James Wolfensohn, Mideast envoy for the Quartet — the diplomatic grouping of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations that is driving the “road map” peace plan — was instrumental in raising funds for the transfer, and himself donated $500,000.

Bedouin Soldier Behind Bars

An Israeli soldier who killed a British activist in the Gaza Strip was jailed for eight years. Wahid Taysir, a volunteer from Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, was sentenced by a court-martial last week to 10 years in prison for manslaughter and another 18 months for obstruction of justice but was told that three and a half years of the sentence would be suspended. It was the toughest punishment handed down to an Israeli soldier for an unlawful killing in a combat zone during the Palestinian intifada. The ex-sergeant confessed to shooting Tom Hurndall, a member of a pro-Palestinian activist group, in the southern Gaza town Rafah in 2003 and to falsely telling investigators that Hurndall had been armed. The court-martial said it chose not to give the defendant the maximum possible sentence of 27 years in prison because of his exemplary combat record and to pre-empt accusations that it was scapegoating a member of an ethnic minority.

Minority in the Homeland

Jews are no longer the majority of residents in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip combined, a study found. According to data supplied last week by the liberal daily, Ha’aretz, Jews constitute slightly more than 49.3 percent of the population in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The figures were supplied by Israel and the Palestinian Authority’s statistics bureaus. The paper included as non-Jews some 185,000 foreign workers in Israel and almost 300,000 immigrants who are not Jewish under Orthodox law. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that the Gaza withdrawal would help Israel demographically by ridding it of responsibility for 1.4 million Palestinians. According to Ha’aretz, demographers say that after the Gaza withdrawal, the percentage of Jews within Israel’s borders will be around 56 percent, a majority that should last for around 20 years.

Oy, Mr. Tallyman

Harry Belafonte retracted his recent statement that Jews were “high up in the Third Reich.” But the singer and political activist told the Jerusalem Post that Jews had contributed to Nazism.

“Was it rampant? Absolutely not,” Belafonte told the Post. “But these things happen and people are not exempt from their behavior.”

To support his contention, Belafonte referred to “Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers,” a book that detailed how some Germans of partial Jewish descent served in the Nazi army during World War II.

Briefs courtesy Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

 

Nation & World Briefs Read More »

Private Author’s Public ‘Memory’

Leave a Comment / Entertainment /

“Omaha Blues: A Memory Loop” by Joseph Lelyveld (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $22).

As a child, Joseph Lelyveld’s parents called him “memory boy.” He was the family’s institutional memory, paying attention and recalling with ease events and people — a useful skill for someone who would reach the top of his profession as a journalist.

Lelyveld, the former executive editor of The New York Times who spent almost 40 years at the newspaper, has written an unconventional and compelling book about his family, “Omaha Blues” (Farrar, Straus Giroux). He describes the work as a memory loop rather than a memoir, as he traces a particular circuit of connections, using his reporting skills to research family mysteries and events he seeks to better understand.

“History may be linear but memory, at least mine, isn’t; it runs in loops,” he writes.

The loop circles his heart. The book delves into personal history, which might seem surprising for someone who has a public reputation as a private man. As he told The Jewish Week in an interview in his Upper West Side home, he began this as a personal exploration, unsure whether he would show it to anyone.

In 1996, when his father was dying, a family friend led him to a trunk filled with family memorabilia stored in the basement of the Cleveland synagogue, where his father served as rabbi. He had the contents shipped to his country home, and it took years before he began sifting through it, but he finally found the seeds of this book. He began writing after he retired from The Times in 2001, some months later showed it to an agent and had a contract by the time he completed what he calls his little encore, his return to The Times in 2003.

Lelyveld is the son of Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld, a prominent Reform leader, and Toby Lelyveld, who was less interested in the role of rabbi’s wife than in her own literary studies. His father was kind but largely absent, showing the same warmth to his family as he did to his congregants. His mother preferred independence to family life, and struggled. Their marriage ultimately dissolved. For the memory boy, childhood was neither easy nor happy, as he was often left with grandparents, and once with Seventh-Day Adventists on a Nebraska farm. Early on, he developed a sense of self-sufficiency.

The family lived in Omaha, Neb., where Rabbi Lelyveld led a congregation, before moving to New York, where he took on organizational rabbinic roles, including heading up the national Hillel organization. Although Omaha faded quickly from the author’s memory as a real place, it had symbolic meaning as somewhere he was from, rather than Manhattan. He would go on to have a career as a foreign correspondent, living and working in places that were briefly home, but where he didn’t altogether belong.

He doesn’t have many memories of carefree father/son moments, but this one stands out: The summer he was 16, he and his father were driving on the highway in a new, powder-blue convertible, wearing only sunglasses above their waists, taking in the sun. When they were stopped by a state trooper for speeding, the officer noticed his father’s clerical title on his driver’s license and let them go, saying something about his being “a man of the cloth,” without commenting on how little cloth was visible.

Lelyveld also focuses on a family friend and rabbi named Ben, who gave him the devoted attention he didn’t get from his parents. Before working with Rabbi Lelyveld in New York, Ben was driven from his Montgomery, Ala., congregation for his outspoken support of the Scottsboro Boys, and he was eventually fired by Rabbi Lelyveld for his communist affiliations. Through tracking down family members, combing FBI files and other archives, Lelyveld frames Ben’s biography, weaving his friend’s story into his own.

In an endnote, he tells of how his father, as a Zionist official, would call on the publisher of The Times to advocate for the Zionist cause. He notes the irony that a half-century later “representatives of Jewish groups who wanted to talk about the paper’s coverage were usually steered to his son.”

In conversation, he mentions a visit by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein: The rabbi asked if he was Arthur Lelyveld’s son, and the editor asked the rabbi if he was Joseph Lookstein’s son. Lelyveld recalls that the senior Rabbi Lookstein, who served on his father’s Hillel Board, was at his bar mitzvah at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.

But readers won’t hear about that bar mitzvah in this book. It’s not amnesia but a disinterest in certain coming-of-age details — usually found in memoirs — that makes the author selective in reporting.

Lelyveld, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his first book, “Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White” (Viking, 1986), recognizes that memory is neither truth nor history, but a kind of storyteller. He carefully shapes the narrative, in language that’s precise and poetic, powerful, too. When he might sound whining, he catches himself, grateful for his gifts: He moved from a downcast family life into a strong and joyful marriage and to an illustrious career.

In person, he’s articulate, manages to be both confident and modest, sometimes funny, like the voice of the book. Like his father, he has a firmness of purpose.

Sandee Brawarsky is the book critic for the Jewish Week.

 

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Gaza Protests in L.A., N.Y. Prove Mild

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A rally planned for last weekend outside the Los Angeles Israeli consulate to protest this week’s Gaza settler pullout was canceled, but in its place arose a somber gathering of about 70 people.

“Nothing organized — just people coming together and crying together and expressing pain together,” said Daryl Temkin, a Jewish community activist who spoke at the event.

The local Web site-based movement, www.SaveGushKatif.org, named after the main Jewish settlement bloc in Gaza, last week called for an Aug. 14 prayer vigil at the consulate. It hoped to attract hundreds of pullout opponents, as did a July 24 demonstration that drew about 500. By midweek, however, the rally was canceled.

“It was too much to pull off in one short time,” Temkin said.

But several dozen people did gather at the consulate Sunday night “to express feelings of love and support for what the people of Israel are going through.” People read psalms and spoke extemporaneously, Temkin said.

That same day in New York, several hundred Jews rallied outside the United Nations to pray for settlers in the Gaza Strip who are leaving their homes. The group said it was there to express sadness at the move, not to protest the withdrawal, the Associated Press reported.

The mild tone and modest attendance at the U.S. events contrasted sharply with the vigorous, defiant actions of thousands of demonstrators in Israel.

 

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Evacuees Face Life of Uncertainties

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Shlomi Tabach was trying to pry the bronze mezuzah off his front doorpost with pliers, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Look at that. The mezuzah doesn’t want to leave. It wants to stay in Gush Katif,” said Tabach’s mother-in-law, Yaffa Michaeli, referring to the main Jewish settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip, where the family had lived for 16 years — until last week.

With one more yank, the mezuzah finally came off.

The Tabach family left the settlement of Gadid last week, ahead of the Israeli withdrawal. Settlers who hadn’t evacuated as of Monday were given 48-hours notice to leave, on threat of eviction.

However, the Tabach family left a few days before the evacuation got under way, rising at dawn to pack final boxes with their toddler son’s toys, taking down lace curtains and lighting fixtures. Their sand-swept front yard was crammed with furniture, plastic crates and boxes as they waited for the moving van.

Tabach, 30, and his wife, Ravit, 26, both accountants, have lived in a small one-story house in Gadid for two years.

Ravit Tabach was 10 when she moved to the settlement with her family from the southern Israeli town of Ofakim. Shlomi Tabach, who grew up secular in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Hasharon, met Ravit during their accounting studies and followed her to Gaza.

By last Sunday, the Tabachs had moved into a mobile home in Nitzan, a temporary housing project off the highway leading from the Gaza Strip north to Tel Aviv. Nitzan was designed to absorb the bulk of those evacuated from Gush Katif.

With its rows of mobile homes planted on a huge plot, Nitzan looks a bit like one of the transit camps erected in the early days of Israel to absorb the massive flow of new immigrants. Unlike a transit camp, however, these mobile homes have parking spaces, air conditioning and a bit of space. Reflecting those amenities, they’re not called caravans, the Israeli term for mobile homes, but caravillas.

At the Tabachs’ new home, one enters a spacious kitchen with a small adjacent living room. A hallway leads to four comfortable bedrooms and two bathrooms. The windows, however, look directly into the rooms of the family next door.

Last Sunday, just before the formal evacuation began, Nitzan looked nearly deserted. Most of the expected evacuees hadn’t arrived yet, staying behind in Gush Katif for the final showdown with soldiers coming to evict them. The Tabachs were among the few families who already had settled in.

“On the face of it, everything is all right,” Shlomi Tabach said, “but our entire life is under a question mark. We don’t know how many of our friends will join us here. Ravit’s parents have moved to Ashdod, and we still don’t know whether our one-and-a-half-year-old, Nevo, will have a kindergarten to go to.”

It was getting darker, and Tabach turned on the sprinklers to water carpets of grass newly planted near the mobile home, a marked change from Gush Katif’s greenery.

“We are willing to give up many things, as long as we have peace and quiet,” Tabach said, “but it doesn’t look like we will. I know the Arabs, and I know that their only wish is to see us evaporate away,” and Israeli Prime Minister “Ariel Sharon helps them out. And for this, he will be doomed to eternal disgrace.”

The younger generation’s trauma, however, is marginal compared with that of their parents, the people who built Gush Katif a generation ago. Having finally settled down, with private homes, successful farms and the time to enjoy their children and grandchildren, they were forced to leave.

They find themselves in new neighborhoods, with an unhappy present and an uncertain future.

“The whole thing seems unreal to me. I don’t believe I’m here,” said Michaeli, Ravit Tabach’s mother, referring to Ashdod. “I feel that in just a little while I’ll go back to Gadid.”

But the life that the Michaelis enjoyed in Gadid is no more.

“I used to hand the keys of my $40,000 car to my Palestinian worker to go and have it washed. I trusted him completely,” said Yaffa Michaeli’s husband, Salim, 55. “It was a different world.”

Salim Michaeli spoke of Gadid as if he had just been exiled from the Garden of Eden, ignoring the frequent terrorist attacks that settlers endured during the five-year-old Palestinian intifada. Leaning back on the uncomfortable kitchen chair at his newly rented home in Ashdod, he stared at the world with weary eyes and sighed deeply.

“It was an empire,” he said. “We have left an empire behind.”

Their empire included a 2,500-square-foot, five-bedroom house on a half-acre plot; 15 acres of hothouses, where the Michaelis grew tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers; a 6,500-square-foot packing house; two trucks; a restaurant in the nearby settlement of Neveh Dekalim; and a crew of Palestinian labor.

Before the intifada began in September 2000, the Michaelis employed 33 Palestinians and 11 Thais. Even though that number had dwindled in the past five years, “when we handed out their last salaries on Friday, they cried,” Salim Michaeli said.

The Michaelis rented the house in Ashdod for $1,200 a month, not wanting to cram into one of the narrow caravillas in Nitzan. Their new residence lies on a narrow, crowded street, where a neighbor’s music can be heard blaring loudly throughout the area. Gone are the days of isolated homes near Gaza’s expansive sand dunes.

One of the Michaelis’ sons — Dudu, 22 — stayed behind in Gadid for the final confrontation with evacuating forces. Another son, Naor, 17, is staying with the Tabachs. Only Neriya, the Michaelis’ 8-year-old, is currently with them in Ashdod.

Yaffa Michaeli, who operated the family restaurant and catering services in Neveh Dekalim, is thinking of opening a restaurant in Ashdod or its vicinity, though there is a lot of competition. But her husband Salim is less optimistic.

“My entire life project is collapsing, and I only receive $400,000 in compensation,” he said. “I would need at least half of it to build a new home. And what about living expenses? Who will employ me at age 55?”

“We had an empire,” he said again. But the Gush Katif empire has fallen.

 

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Goodbye Morag

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This tiny settlement near the shores of the Mediterranean, in its last days of existence, has been torn into unhappy — and often angry — factions this week as Israeli security forces loitered around its sandy streets, together with hundreds of activists.

The soldiers are here to evacuate any and all Israelis who remain. The activists, for the most part, are nonresidents who have illegally entered to beef up settler ranks over the past month. Both sides are dug in, determined and confident that they will prevail in a battle of wills over the future of the Israeli settlement enterprise.

A similar scene is playing out over other parts of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in Gaza. Everyone expects discomfort, agitation and grief. No one talks of wanting violence, but that fear — that unknown — also is in the air, carried along in the long days and the intense dry heat of the Mediterranean summer.

Soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces ignore the demonstrators and walk straight up to the front doors of whatever families are left in the sunny community situated along the border near the Palestinian city of Rafah, breaking the tension that had built up prior to the start of the evacuation operation on Monday. They hope to be invited inside for a chance to persuade settlers to leave willingly while they have the chance.

Morag — an isolated settlement of 40 families — was established almost two decades ago by a tight-knit group of Israeli pioneers looking for a better quality of life they hoped to establish on the sandy dunes of Gush Katif. They built up a prosperous middle-class community, with mostly two-story white homes with large backyards. Sent here by the various Israeli governments over the years, many of them speak of their “betrayal” by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — once their biggest supporter — who has pushed through his government’s disengagement policy.

Stopped at the entrance to the settlement by a crowd of several hundred anti-disengagement protesters, Golani Brigade commander Col. Erez Zukerman asks those gathered to accept the inevitable.

“We didn’t come here to clash with you, but to offer assistance and to help you, the people we once protected and worked hand in hand with,” he calls out.

Suddenly, a young man with tears streaming down his face emerges from the mob.

“I was an officer under your command,” says the young man, Liron Zaidan. “You taught me what it was to be an officer and protect the Israeli people. We are not your enemy, but you have turned us into your enemy. Just six months ago, I was wearing an army uniform and serving side by side with you.”

Recognizing his former subordinate, Zukerman grabs Zaidan in a bear hug, and, with tears in his eyes, declares that the Israeli people would remain united forever.

“This is our job,” Zukerman says later. “I love these people, and even though today it appears I am meeting my former officer on the other side of the fence, I am confident he will come back and one day serve alongside me again.”

The settlement’s homes cluster around a main square, which houses the community center and synagogue. Across town from where Zukerman embraces his former comrade, Ya’acov Etzion prays for divine intervention that he believes can still save his home of 10 years. He says he is proud that his father had been a leader of the infamous Jewish underground that had plotted unsuccessfully to blow up the Temple Mount, an Islamic holy site, in the early 1980s.

The goal then had been to thwart Israel’s evacuation of the Sinai Peninsula after the peace treaty with Egypt. The Temple Mount was not destroyed, and Israel and its settlers left the Sinai.

Etzion has no attacks in mind. Instead, he intends to rely on God — and his refusal to begin packing, saying: “I will not lend a hand to this evil deportation.”

When officers show up at his door, Etzion refuses to let them in, meeting them instead on the front steps of his white, one-story house. Etzion pleads with them to refuse orders and to halt this “mission of destruction.”

Neither side prevails in this encounter of rhetoric. But Etzion expects that the soldiers will be back, and next time, they do not intend to stop at entreating words alone.

What will happen then? Etzion says he does not yet know.

“I will make it very difficult for them,” he says, as he sits on the floor, playing with his 1-year-old daughter, Shira. “They will probably succeed in kicking us out, but we won’t go easily.”

Not everyone is as determined as Etzion. Down the street, Gavriel and Nurit Yitzhak have already finished packing up their home of 15 years. They have even pulled the windows out of the walls.

What will they do with the windows?

Nurit shrugs. “As long as nothing is left for the Palestinians, I am happy,” she says with a heavy sigh.

“We will leave,” adds Nurit, looking about a living room filled with boxes and dismantled kitchen cabinets. “It is over for us, and we are not interested in fighting.”

When the military entourage arrives — led by Lt. Col. Assaf Yisrael from the Golani Brigade — Gavriel meets them with open arms and invites them to sit down and talk over coffee.

“I need another container to move my belongings,” Gavriel tells Yisrael, while pointing at his air conditioners and other odds and ends on the floor. Yisrael says he will do his best and would consider bringing by his private military jeep.

Security officials are now talking optimistically, as though they can evacuate the entire Gaza Strip — not in three weeks like originally planned — but by the end of next week, by Aug. 26.

“No one is standing over our heads with a stopwatch,” says Brig. Gen. Hagai Dotan, head of the police evacuation team. “But if things continue to go smoothly, we may be finished with Gaza much earlier than expected.”

While confident that settler resistance won’t halt the pullout, Dotan admits that Palestinian mortar fire on settlements during the evacuation “could slow things down and even suspend the withdrawal.”

Still, with the disengagement practically a done deal for the settlers and the evacuating forces, a whole new reality is coming into play.

Col. Yizhar Peled, an evacuation commander, lives in Kfar Azza — a tranquil, picturesque kibbutz situated within the established borders of Israel, but only three kilometers from Gaza City. After the Gaza pullout, Peled’s hometown, together with cities such as Sderot and Ashkelon, could become the new targets of Palestinian terror organizations acting from just over the border.

“I am aware the pullout could have devastating effects on my hometown,” Peled says. “It will be difficult for us all, but [the Gaza withdrawal] is the law and there is no turning back.”

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