December 8, 2005

New Punims in Sports Hall of Fame

Leave a Comment / Sports, Up Front / Tom Tugend

Freestyle swim champion Jason Lezak of Irvine and fellow Californian, hot rodder Kenny Bernstein, have been elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame for 2006.

In all, four Americans, one British Australian and one Brazilian are among the chosen athletes, with a New York sports writer rounding out the seven inductees.

Youngest of the group is Lezak, who won four medals, including two gold, in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. He is the world-record holder in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle.

Bernstein of Forest City is the six-time National Hot Rod Association champion and in 1972 became the first driver-owner to break drag racing’s 300-mph barrier.

Tenpin bowling champ Marshall Holman of Medford, Ore., is the winner of 22 major Professional Bowlers Association championships and the first bowler to top $1.5 million in career earnings.

The only woman in the group, Adriana Behar of Rio de Janeiro, is Brazil’s beach volleyball star. She and her partner won silver medals in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and ranked as the world’s number one team in 2000, 2001 and 2004.

Two great champions of the past, Al Singer and Albert Rosenfeld, were also elected.

Singer of New York won the world lightweight boxing crown in 1930 with a first-round knockout of reigning champ Sammy Mandell. Singer, who died in 1961, won 61 of his 72 pro fights, 25 by KO.

Rugby legend Rosenfeld started his playing career (1909-24) in his native Australia, but won the bulk of his laurels with England’s Huddersfield Club. His record of 80 tries scored in a single season remains unbroken and he was an original member of the Rugby League Hall of Fame. He died in 1970.

The seventh inductee is Ira Berkow, New York Times sports feature writer and columnist for the past 24 years. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his series “How Race Is Lived in America: The Minority Quarterback,” and also wrote biographies of Hank Greenberg, Casey Stengel, Bill Bradley and others.

The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Museum is located on the campus of the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport in Netanya, Israel. Since 1979, it has inducted 315 athletes and sportspersons representing 24 countries.

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My Moment With Goering

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Ernest W. Michel

This article was adapted from a speech Ernest W. Michel gave at the German Justice Ministry in Berlin on Nov. 21, 2005.

On Nov. 20, 1945, at age 22, having been kicked out of school in the seventh grade because I was a Jew, after surviving five and a

half years in Nazi forced labor and concentration camps — among them Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, Buchenwald and Berga — and seven months after my escape from the final death march, I entered the press gallery in the courtroom of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.

It was the opening of the International Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal and I was there as a reporter for the German news agency, DANA.

In front of me were the 21 defendants, the surviving top leaders of the Nazi regime. There was Hermann Goering, wearing his Reichsmarshall uniform. There were Rudolf Hess, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Julius Streicher. All the men responsible for what happened to us Jews during the Holocaust.

I could not keep my eyes off them. Often I had the urge to face them: “Why? Why? What had I done? Why did you kill my parents? My 85-year-old grandmother? Losing my education, my friends!”

“But I can’t. I am here as a reporter,” I said to myself.

On Nov. 21, 2005, 60 years later, at the invitation of the German government, I am in Berlin to address a major German audience on the 60th anniversary commemoration of the opening of this historic event. If someone would have told me in Auschwitz that I would be in Berlin 60 years after my run for freedom, 60 years after the Nuremberg trials, I would have thought they were out of their minds.

Back then, my first thought when I entered the press gallery was of my parents and my friends who were brutally murdered and who would never know that there would come a day when those responsible for their murder could be brought to justice. It seemed unreal, incongruous. I could not believe this was real, that I was not dreaming.

I will always remember one defendant after another being asked: “How do you plead?” The answer: “Not guilty.”

Of all the incredulous moments at the trial three stand out in my memory.

The first was when the Russian prosecution showed a short film: The footage was taken as the Russian army took over the Auschwitz complex on Jan. 27, 1945. Nine days before, on Jan. 18, we the 60,000 surviving inmates were sent on foot, on a three-day death march to the West in the freezing cold Polish winter. It must have been quite a sight, 60,000 of us in our blue-and-gray striped clothes marching through the countryside. Half survived.

The courtroom went dark. I could not take my eyes off the screen. It showed the remains of the gas chambers, the crematoria, the hundreds of wooden barracks, the bodies piled up. There was little narration. The pictures spoke for themselves.

This is how we lived. Five-hundred men in one barracks. No toilets, no water. Three men in a cot on straw, never knowing whether we would live to see the next day. Five-hundred calories a day. That was my life. Life expectancy: four to six months. Slaves were treated better. This is how my friends died. This was Auschwitz, a name that will forever be part of history.

I never gave up hope, but I will never understand how I survived.

When the lights went on, I looked at the defendants. Some were smiling. “Propaganda!” I was told was their major reaction.

The second memory was the day that Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, entered the witness stand. This Hoess [different from Rudolf Hess, who was Hitler’s deputy] was bent over and read what was one of the most horrifying statements ever made in a courtroom.

In a monotonous tone, he stated that according to his estimate, 2.5 million people were exterminated at Auschwitz. Another 500,000 died from hunger. Most were Jews. In fact, he exaggerated. The actual number was “only” 1.5 million. My parents were among them when they were deported to Auschwitz. I arrived there in 1943. That day they needed laborers, otherwise I would not be alive.

The third most memorable event of the trial was my bizarre meeting with Goering.

One day I ran into his defense attorney, Dr. Otto Stahmer. He told me he had read my articles in the German papers.

“So you really were in Auschwitz and Buchenwald?” he asked.

Then he told me that Goering had also been reading my articles.

A few days later he approached me and asked whether I would be interested to meet Goering. I was flabbergasted. Why would Goering want to meet me?

I agreed, so one day after the end of the daily proceedings, Dr. Stahmer took me to meet him. He made it clear that I could not write or talk about it.

I must admit I was nervous. What would I say? When I entered, Goering got up and reached out his hand.

I asked myself: “What the hell am I doing here? Should I shake his hand? Am I supposed to ask Goering about his reaction to the trial? How do you feel?”

I must admit I simply could not handle it. I froze. Without uttering a single word, I turned around and asked to be let out. The last thing I remember was Goering standing there with his outstretched hand. Still today, I am glad that I never exchanged a single word with the top Nazi in Nuremberg.

The trial lasted about six months. Eleven of the defendants were hanged. Seven were given various prison sentences. Two were freed. Goering, the night before the sentences were carried out, committed suicide by taking a poison pill.

When the trial ended I went back to Bad Nauheim, the DANA headquarters. They asked me if I was interested in a permanent job.

“We could use somebody with your background as Germany is being rebuilt,” they said.

I was tempted, but then decided that I could not stay in the country that was responsible for what happened to me, my family and the 6 million who were killed. In the summer of 1946, I left Germany and arrived in the United States to begin a new life.

That was 60 years ago. I was lucky to have survived one of the greatest tragedies in all of human history when an effort was made to wipe out the Jewish people from the face of the earth. It was the first time in history that the top leaders of a country, one of the great civilized, cultural nations in the world, the country of Beethoven, Schiller, Goethe, were brought to trial for crimes against humanity and waging war.

As I reflect on this historic event 60 years later, I ask myself what are the lessons of Nuremberg?

A new word has since entered our language. It is called “genocide.” It means the killing, starvation, rape or murder of millions of innocent people for religious or political reasons or for no reason at all — on the order of elected or self-appointed presidents or dictators.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, some 170 million innocent men, women and children in 26 countries all over the world were starved, shot, murdered, massacred and tortured by all kinds of means. That is more than half the population of Europe. More than half the population of the United States. The world stood by doing nothing.

The term genocide was coined by a Polish lawyer, a Jew, by the name of Raphael Lemkin. Revolted and deeply affected by the revelations of what became known as the Holocaust, Lemkin became a one-man force to get the then newly formed United Nations to outlaw government-sponsored terrorism and killings.

He never married, had no money, lived on handouts in a walk-up, one-room apartment in Manhattan. All alone, totally obsessed, he cornered government leaders, U.N. officials, ambassadors, religious leaders, U.S. congressmen, senators, wealthy personalities — anyone who would listen to him in his single-mindedness to get the U.N. to confront this issue and deal with it.

One U.S. senator, William Proxmire of Wisconsin, became his supporter and was able to enlist colleagues in the U.S. Congress for what was then called “The Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” It was formally adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Eventually it was ratified by 137 nations.

Lemkin lived to see the issue become international law. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize, but never received his due recognition.

Lempkin died in 1959. Seven people came to his funeral.

Genocide continues until today although the number of victims has declined. The latest genocide is taking place now in Darfur, Sudan.

I believe that genocide is a product of hate and evil. It is a crime of indifference and political inertia. It is moral bankruptcy.

Most genocides don’t just happen. They start with speeches, sermons, incitements and then lead to genocide. This is what happened in Germany. Nobody believed Hitler’s rantings. We know the rest.

Now Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Israel must be “wiped off the map.” We must recognize the hatred early and do something about it now. Not later or worse, not at all.

What did Nuremberg mean to me personally?

After surviving the horror of the concentration camps, never knowing if I would live to see the next day, the greatest experience of my life was to witness justice being served.

Ernest W. Michel has been a member of the staff of United Jewish Appeal since 1946, first as a speaker, then as a professional. He retired in 1989 as executive vice president, now emeritus of UJA-Federation of New York.

My Moment With Goering Read More »

Bomber Hits Israeli Shopping Mall

Acts of Faith

Leave a Comment / Community, Judaism / Amy Klein

Blurring Lines of Church-State

Should religion play a larger part in America’s public life. Yes, say many Americans — a fact the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) finds troubling.

“American Attitudes Toward Religion in the Public Square,” a national poll of 800 American adults conducted by the ADL in October, found that 64 percent believe religion is “under attack,” and 53 percent of Americans believe that religion as a whole is “losing its influence” in American life.

Other numbers paint a different picture — indicating increased support of a more direct role for religion in the public arena, with large numbers favoring organized prayer in public school (47 percent), the teaching of creationism alongside evolution (56 percent), and the display in public buildings of religious symbols, such as the Ten Commandments (64 percent).

“Our nation’s proud tradition of church-state separation is threatened as never before,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director.

But others say Foxman has exaggerated the threat.

“I don’t see any evidence of government being influenced by faith-based organizations,” said Avi Davis, executive director of the Israel-Christian Nexus, a local organization founded to link Jews and Christians in common support of Israel.

The increased support in faith-based organizations in America, Davis said, is due to a “moral vacuum” in society.

Davis just returned from a mission taking 30 pastors to Israel: “We find it extraordinary the level of deference evangelicals give Jews and Judaism. The real threat to civil liberties, Davis said, is radical Islam: “Not from Christians, not from those who support Judeo-Christian values.”

Reform Reforms

Non-Jewish spouses should be encouraged to convert to Judaism, and their children should be raised in only one religion, the leader of the Reform movement announced at the movement’s biennial convention in Houston last month.

“We want families to function as Jewish families,” Rabbi Eric Yoffie told 4,500 delegates at the Union for Reform Judaism’s convention, which took place Nov. 16-20 in Texas. “While intermarried families can surely do this, we recognize the advantages of an intermarried family becoming a fully Jewish family, with two adult Jewish partners.”

Yoffie’s remarks fit into the Reform movement’s recent move to the right religiously, incorporating more traditional practices into its platform. This call to encourage non-Jewish spouses to convert to Judaism comes 27 years after the Reform movement officially welcomed non-Jewish spouses into synagogue life in 1978.

Yoffie said that the Reform movement has, over the past quarter-century, made non-Jews feel comfortable and accepted in Reform congregations, but “perhaps we have sent the message that we do not care if they convert,” Yoffie said. “But that is not our message,” he said. “It is a mitzvah to help a potential Jew become a Jew-by-choice.”

Yoffie also said that interfaith families should raise their children in one faith. A child “recognizes at a very young age that he cannot be ‘both,’ and that he is being asked to choose between Mommy’s religion and Daddy’s religion,” he said.

He encouraged congregational leaders to enforce a 1995 resolution that encourages congregations to enroll only those children who are not receiving a formal religious education in any other religion.

Ed Case, the president of Interfaithfamily.com, said he thought Yoffie’s speech on encouraging conversions was very respectful and tolerant of non-Jewish partners, calling them “heroes,” but was worried that members of the movement will only hear the call to convert.

“My concern is that if you promote conversion too much, it will turn people away,” he told The Journal.

And although Case believes children should be raised Jewish, he thinks the Reform movement should allow children of a non-Jewish parent to attend religious school for a trial period instead of denying them flat-out. That is the way the Chabad movement treats children of non-Jewish parents, Case added.

Other resolutions at the four-day convention included a call to curb sexual activity among teenagers, and to emphasize loving and caring relationships. Teenagers experimenting with sex is hardly new, said Yoffie, 58.

“But what is happening now is radically different. We are witnessing changes that go far beyond sexual experimentation of the past,” he said.

Yoffie said that while the movement’s youth groups and summer camps do well at monitoring children’s behavior, they have to teach the values of Jewish tradition.

“We are not very good at saying ‘no’ in Reform Judaism,” he said.

OU’s West Coast Biennial

The Orthodox Union will be holding its annual West Coast Torah Convention for three days starting Dec 22. “The Polarization of Orthodox Judaism: Finding Harmony in Diversity,” as the conference is titled, begins Thursday night and continues throughout Shabbat at various shuls in Los Angeles in the Valley.

Session topics during the convention will include pluralism in Orthodoxy, Torah and science, post-Gaza Zionism, women’s influence on the community and the educational synthesis between schools, shuls and parents.

For more information, visit www.ou.org/west or call (310) 229-9000.

Acts of Faith Read More »

The Circuit

Leave a Comment / Circuit / Norma Zager

SOCK AND SACK

Temple Emanuel celebrated its annual Mitzvah Day last month, with the Beverly Hills congregation coming together to perform benevolent activities focusing on those in need. One event, the Sock and Sack Day, was held at the Midnight Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

Temple Emanuel congregants, together with Rabbi Laura Geller, made lunches and gave away new white socks to nearly 600 homeless people, including children, who live on the streets of downtown. The Midnight Mission and its marvelous team publicized the event and brought the homeless into its facilities for the giveaway.

The captain of Sock and Sack Day was 15-year-old congregant Erik Krasney, who has been actively involved with the cause of the homeless in Los Angeles.

FULFILLING EVENING

The Fulfillment Fund honored Imagine’s award-winning producer Brian Grazer at the annual “Stars Gala” at the Beverly Hilton last month. The evening was emceed by Chris Rock and included an auction, featuring surprise guest Sinbad auctioning items with board member Tom Sherak.

The event raised more than $2 million for the Fulfillment Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping economically disadvantaged students graduate from high school and go on to college.

For more information, visit The Circuit Read More »

Letters

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor / Jewish Journal

Interfaith Dialogue

As Rabbi Harold Schulweis wrote (“Interfaith Dialogue Can Bring Change,” Nov. 25), interfaith dialogue is indispensable for countering mainline Christian divest-from-Israel campaigns. But dialogue alone simply has not and cannot turn the tide, much as we wish it could.

Despite the rabbi’s claim, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has not revoked its 2004 divestment resolutions, and other denominations are still active in the larger, well-orchestrated campaign to demonize Israel and turn divestment into this era’s cause celebre.

The church effort is especially dangerous because it legitimizes anti-Israel propaganda and is influenced by Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian group that has infused anti-Semitism into the debate. Many of us attended Sabeel conferences and heard the lies and distortions this purportedly Christian ‘peace’ group uses to whip up support.

If the tide does turn, it will be because many Christians mobilized to revoke the resolutions, because pro-Israel activists protested and exposed these groups and because some Jewish leaders sent a forceful, clear message that divestment would seriously damage interfaith relations and hopes for peace.

The Jewish community should not be lulled into thinking interfaith dialogue alone will solve the problem.

We must continue to act forcefully on all fronts: dialogue, supporting Christian friends, exposing the lies in divestment resolutions and firmly asserting that demonization of Israel is unacceptable.

Roberta P. Seid
Director of Research and Education
StandWithUs
and Member Coalition for Responsible Peace in the Middle East

Roz Rothstein
Executive Director
StandWithUs
and Member Coalition for Responsible Peace in the Middle East

Rabbi’s Death

I was so saddened upon the death of Rabbi Tucker (“Car Crash Claims Northridge Rabbi,” Nov. 18).

He is not a man I knew at all well, except through the programs and Tot Shabbat services he conducted at Temple Ramat Zion, where my grandchildren are students in the preschool. He had such a sweet and gentle manner with the children.

The speculations and conversations regarding his passing went on endlessly, and clearly, his family wanted and needed to have complete privacy.

When it became clear that his death was through extraordinary circumstances, it was not the place of The Jewish Journal to report those particulars. Simply printing an obituary, along with the highlights of his life and the comments of colleagues, should have been enough.

It was indeed sensationalistic journalism on your part to discuss the specifics, and this, too, must have further troubled Tucker’s family.

Better judgment on the part of the writing staff should have been used, and I hope that in the future, you will consider the long-range implications of your words.

Jo-Carole Oberstein
Van Nuys

Swastika in Binder

I would like to respond to Elizabeth Chase’s article on “The Swastika in My Binder” printed on Dec. 2. I was elated to read that someone had the guts to write in and state that this type of action of inscribing a swastika, in a high school no less, is in fact a “hate crime.”

I think back to 1997, when my family moved us from Manhattan to the Deep South, in Atlanta. My parents enrolled me in a Christian preparatory school, Westminster, as it was one of the best prep schools in the Southeast.

I remember coming out of chemistry class, and the most beautiful girl walked up to me and stopped me in the hallway. I thought, wow, this girl wants to get to know me.

She asked me: “I want to know if it’s true what everyone is saying, are you really a Jew?”

I responded, “Yes.”

And she did a 180 and walked away from me, never again acknowledging my existence. Other kids in school treated me the same. They either ignored me or picked fights with me.

But the point that I’d like to make is this: I did nothing about it. I let them do this to me. Maybe it was because I was outnumbered. Or perhaps I put the fault on myself for just not being able to fit in.

The real truth is that there is anti-Semitism in America in schools. And to let people walk on us while remaining quiet would be like replaying how the Holocaust began.

Therefore, Elizabeth, what you just did was a giant leap; something that I never did in my three years of anti-Semitic abuse in the South.

So, thank you for standing up, because if we don’t, who ever will?

Gregory Diamond
Los Angeles

Stick to Issues

I was shocked at David Klinghoffer’s attack on Abe Foxman in your Thanksgiving issue (“ADL Stokes Fear as Ploy to Raise Funds,” Nov. 25). Reasonable people can disagree on whether fundamentalist Christianity is a threat to American Jews, but where Foxman lays out a rational argument, Klinghoffer attacks Foxman in a very personal way. Klinghoffer should stick to the issues. He might be more convincing.

Barry Wendell
North Hollywood

Republican Party

As a 33-year-old “South Park Conservative,” I found the Republican Jewish Coalition conferees hip, young, fun and optimistic (“Lincoln’s Party Parties,” Dec. 2). What The Jewish Journal fails to understand is why middle-class people like me are Republicans. The answers are twofold:

1) My parents are retired teachers who owned no stocks but did possess common sense. They worked hard, emphasized honor and integrity and wanted their government to do what government should do: lower their taxes and leave them alone. They left Long Island for South Florida and a lower tax burden in a nicer house.

2) My father is a Holocaust survivor, rendering me unable to sing “Kumbaya” with homicidal lunatics whose main objection to the Jewish community (and all Americans) is our obstinate refusal to allow them to murder us.

We are at war. The fate of the world is at stake. Civilization or barbarianism is the choice. Barbarianism must lose. Civilization must win.

Republicans understand that the reason Barbra Streisand can charge people $25,000 per concert and The Jewish Journal can distribute its newspaper is because American soldiers are fighting and dying for these freedoms.

The Republican Party is totally committed to reducing taxes, killing terrorists and leaving people alone when they wish to teach their children parental values, not governmental values.

For these reasons, I, along with ever-increasing multitudes of young Jews, are committed to the GOP.

Eric Golub
Westwood

Marc Ballon’s coverage of the Republican Jewish Coalition All-California Conference was more witty than wise. There is a rule of history that is as axiomatic as plane geometry: Yesterday’s revolutionaries have a way of becoming today’s insufferable bureaucrats and tomorrow’s tyrants.

Contemporary liberalism, being true to the cycle, is quickly moving from the “insufferable bureaucrat” stage to the “tyrant” stage. Jews have a record of bitter experience with this cycle and the warning signs are everywhere.

This is not just a Jewish phenomenon.

Members of the Spanish-speaking community tend to be devout Catholics and have very traditional values. They are miles away from being “Brentwood politically correct.”

Furthermore, it is no coincidence that some of the most articulate conservative voices in our nation are black Americans; they have suffered most from liberal tyranny.

The time is nigh for the Jewish, black and Spanish-speaking communities to join hands in casting off the pharaoh of contemporary liberalism.

Rabbi Louis J. Feldman
Van Nuys

Take a Chance

I have to respond to Amy Klein’s singles article (“He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Dated,” Nov. 25). In regards to her wanting to say “Me … what’s wrong with me,” why not say it?

And this is what really gets me: Guys can’t read minds or some of the subtle clues like women expect us to. Let us know you are interested.

What is the worst that can happen? Rejection? Waa waa, your poor fragile ego! Guys get rejected constantly. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We may just want to be friends, or we may be dying for the hint or knock over the head to let us know you are interested. Sure “The Rules” may advise against it. But what have you got to lose?

You might be the one that we have been waiting for. The one that we are willing to commit to and give up the waitresses for.

Remember men and women are different. Use your friendships to understand men and find a way to use that knowledge to turn that “friendly” conversation into a potential romantic one.

Dan He-Who-Could-Be-Dated(name withheld by request)

Rights Commission

I testified at the briefing of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on campus anti-Semitism and disagree that any of the commissioners were “testy” or unsympathetic to the hostility that Jewish students are facing on our college campuses (“Libby, Judaism and the Leak Probe,” Nov. 11).

All of the commissioners expressed concern about the problem, though legitimate questions were raised about how best to address it without impinging on constitutionally protected rights.

In fact, the commission expressed an interest in issuing and circulating a publication to inform students of the protections afforded them under Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act.

This would be an important step in helping Jewish students be aware that if their university administrations are failing to address any harassment, intimidation or discrimination they are experiencing, legal recourse is available.

Susan B. Tuchman
New York, N.Y.

Where’s the Justice?

The U.S. Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law. The exception appears to be former Jewish Defense League (JDL) members. Let’s summarize the information provided in The Jewish Journal article (“JDL’s Krugel Killed in Phoenix Prison,” Nov. 11): In 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane is assassinated while giving a speech. In spite of hundreds of witnesses, his murderer gets off scot-free. In 2002, Irv Rubin dies in a Los Angeles jail. Officials call it a suicide, although his family suspects he was murdered. Now, Krugel is murdered in a Phoenix jail, yet FBI and prison authorities are silent on the matter.

Who killed Krugel and why isn’t there an investigation? Are the deaths of Rubin and Krugel related? As Jews, we should ask: Where is the justice? Where is the outcry?

Dr. Ted Friedman
Los Angeles

Letters Read More »

Obituaries

Leave a Comment / Obituaries / Jewish Journal

JACK ADRIANUS ABBENHUYS died Nov. 11 at 73. He is survived by his domestic partner, Helen Jasik; sons, Jimmy and Jerry; and brother, Frank. Hillside

Rosalyn Abrams died Nov. 16 at 77. She is survived by her son, Howard (Dawn); daughters, Sherry (Marc) Rosenberg and Elaine (Richard) Lucia; six grandchildren; and brother, Edward (Fay) Schneier. Mount Sinai

SIDNEY MELVIN BAKER died Nov. 12 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Lucille; sons, Neil and Gary; and one grandchild. Hillside

Irving Baron died Nov. 14 at 86. He is survived by his son, Fred; grandchildren, Jennifer (Michael) Van Iersel and Josh (Tracy); great-grandchildren, Ethan and Alec; and sister-in-law, Florence Kirchner. Mount Sinai

Gary Anton Berge died Nov. 6 at 51. He is survived by his mother, Fay. Groman

Allan Bluestein died Nov. 8 at 90. He is survived by his wife, Selma; and daughter, Ilene Kosof. Malinow and Silverman

Elizabeth Straus Boasberg died Nov. 10 at 89. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Turner; son, Dr. Peter; and sister, Barbara Weil. Malinow and Silverman

Jonathan Delamere Booth died Nov. 18 at 53. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; sons, Sean and Michael; daughter, Andrea Yakerson; two grandchildren; mother, Mary Scibetta; and brothers, Nat, Jim, Bill and Tom. Groman

BERNARD BROWN died Nov. 16 at 94. He is survived by his son, Roger; daughter, Barbara ( Edward); grandchildren, Ryan (Amy) and Erica (Bill), four great-grandchildren; sister, Zelda; brother, Harold; companion, Shirlee Tzinberg; nieces; and nephews. Hillside

Blanche Brussell died Nov. 18 at 82. She is survived by her daughters, Bobbette Kemp and Heidi Brosnan; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Groman

HELEN CHAPNICK died Nov. 4 at 98. She is survived by her son, Michael. Sholom Chapels.

Vivian Churg died Nov. 7 at 88. She is survived by her sons, Warren and Dr. Andrew; and two grandchildren. Groman

ANITA COHEN died Nov. 3 at 86. She is survived by her daughters, Karen Knapp and Marilyn Candus; son, Richard Candus; and grandchildren. Sholom Chapels.

RALPH DAYAN died Nov. 17 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Nina; daughters, Irma Silberman and Judy (Tony Jones); grandchildren, Ilana (Kevin) Hinners and Aaron Silberman; brother, Clement; and sisters Alice, Allegra and Nina. Sholom Chapels.

RENE DOMROY died Nov. 3 at 85. She is survived by her son, Ted (Donna); two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Hillside

Bernice Duban died Nov. 8 at 88. She is survived by her daughter, Susan; and son, Larry. Malinow and Silverman

Seymour Eidman died Nov. 9 at 79. He is survived by his wife, Rhoda; son, Richard (Lisa); daughter, Adrienne (Val Tierney); grandchildren, Rachel Wells and Daniel; sister-in-law, Natalie Goodman; and brother-in-law, Saul (Lenore) Roseman. Mount Sinai

Dorothy Fisher died Nov. 15 at 91. She is survived by her son, Mark; daughter, Arlene; and three grandchildren. Hillside

STAN FLINKMAN died Nov. 15 at 81. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; sons, Lewis, Michael (Penny) and Russell (Marta Jevenois); daughter, Linda (Marty Humphreys) daughter-in-law, Gina Oken; and three grandchildren. Hillside

J. Harold Fox died Nov. 15 at 98. He is survived by his friends. Malinow and Silverman

DONALD LEON FRANKLIN died Nov. 9 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Marie; son, Cary; grandchildren, Emily and Hannah; and sister, LaVerne Kayne. Hillside

Marilyn Freeman died Oct. 14 at 72. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Paul Freeman; daughters, Louise (David) Goldstein and Sandy (Bob) Hart; and three grandsons. Mount Sinai.

JOEL FRIEDHEIM died Nov. 5 at 53. He is survived by his wife, Sherry; children; and parents, Max and Pat. Sholom Chapels.

Meyer Friedlander died Nov. 7 at 82. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; sons, Norman, Gary and David; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and brother, Murray. Groman

Eunice Fruchtman died Nov. 6 at 75. She is survived by her son, Michael; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and brother, David Dashevsky. Groman

Jean Gardsbane died Nov. 13 at 84. She is survived by her husband, Herman; sons, Steven Dale and Kenneth; and three grandchildren. Groman

Muriel Roselyn Garver died Nov 3 at 79. She is survived by her son, Bruce (Alicia); and daughter, Rita Margaret Besikof. Chevra Kadisha

Alfred Geibelson died Nov. 5 at 88. He is survived by his wife, Mitzi; son, Jeffrey (Melody); daughter, Vicki Sostman; 18 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Al Gerow died Nov. 3 at 78. He is survived by his daughters, Barbara Flax and Sharon (Jeff) Jacobs; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and sister, Claire Freeman. Groman

David Goldberg died Nov. 8 at 90. He is survived by his son, Joel. Malinow and Silverman

Ettie Golden died Nov. 5 at 90. She is survived by her sons, Steven (Nancy) and Kenneth; daughter, Susan Weinreb; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Anne Goldstein died Nov. 12 at 88. She is survived by her son, Jerry (Colleen); daughter, Lea (Brian) Greenberg; grandson, Brian; and brother, Ben (Sally) Slavkin. Mount Sinai

MALCOLM GREGORY GORDON died Nov. 17 at 81. He is survived by his wife, Annette; son, Bruce; daughter, Heidi (Bob) Bendetson; and six grandchildren. Hillside

Ann Gorowitz died Nov. 10 at 76. She is survived by her daughter, Susan (Andy); son, Warren (Phil Levin); and grandsons, Alex and Harrison Trachman. Mount Sinai

STEPHEN LEWIS GRACE died Nov. 7 at 77. He is survived by his wife, Marcia; daughters, Marjorie (Jeffrey) Grace-Sayers, Anna (Jim) Blanc and Debora; six grandchildren; brother, Irv; sisters, Alice Lapan and Rose; and niece, Marion Lapan. Hillside

Henry Grossberg died Nov. 8 at 76. He is survived by his wife, Lola; sons, Leonard and Rudy; and five grandchildren. Mount Sinai

THEODORE HARRIS died Nov. 3 at 86. He is survived by his wife, Constance; and son, Steven. Sholom Chapels.

Hyman Samuel Heimowitz died Nov. 17 at 78. He is survived by his niece, Barbara Goldberg. Malinow and Silverman

Shirley Lana Heller died Nov. 3 at 59. She is survived by her sister, Linda Scholl. Malinow and Silverman

Ann Bachner Hirsch died Nov. 16 at 93. She is survived by her son, Samuel (Arleen) Bachner; daughter, Glenda (Melvyn) Schneidman; four grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and sisters, Faye Reisman and Shirley Miller. Mount Sinai

Janet Hyman died Nov. 13 at 72. She is survived by her husband, Edward; daughters, Kathi (David) Sandweis, and Laura (Brett) Kaufmann; three grandchildren; sister, Zona; and brother, Stephen (Barbara) Bernstein. Mount Sinai

Joseph Horst Joffe died Nov. 8 at 85. He is survived by his wife, Janet; sons, Larry (Sharon) and Martin (Kathy); three grandchildren; sisters, Judith Schwartz and Seldi (Harold) Ruchlin; and brother, David. Malinow and Silverman

Harold Kahn died Nov. 16 at 92. He is survived by his wife, Lucille; son, Richard; daughters, Dr. Myra Lipsey and Marlene; and two grandchildren. Groman

IRENE KALLISON died Nov. 5 at 90. She is survived by her husband, Marvin; daughters, Jane (Harry) Bruckel and Lynn; sister, Alma Malet; and brother, Leonard Swatt. Hillside

Henrietta Katz died Nov. 12 at 79. She is survived by her husband, Leonard; son, Robert; daughters, Julie Meyers, Laurie Matuso and Marsha Sasville; five grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and brother, Lawrence Lesser; Groman

MARVIN KOMORSKY died Nov. 14 at 73. He is survived by his wife Linda; son, Jason; daughters, Marci, Sherri, and Melissa; and four grandchildren. Sholom Chapels.

Audrey Doreen Koz died Nov. 4 at 73. She is survived by her husband, Melvin Pearlman; sons, Jeffrey and David; daughter, Roberta Wilson; stepdaughters, Debra Pearlman, Linda Lentz and Ellen O’Regan; and eight grandchildren. Groman

RUTH GOLDSCHMIDT KUNZER died Oct. 9 at 90. She is survived by her sister, Mirian Solomons; nieces; nephews; and cousins.

Edward Lash died Nov. 15 at 79. He is survived by his son, David (Beth Becker); daughter, Karen; granddaughters, Drew and Ryan; and sister, Dale (Len) Pitt. Mount Sinai

Ester Lavi died Nov 3 at 81. She is survived by her sons, Parviz and Ibrahim; daughter, Meira Yedidsion; and grandson, Elazar. Chevra Kadisha

ROBERT LAZARUK died Nov. 14 at 74. He is survived by his son, Kirk (Samantha). Sholom Chapels.

Miriam Leboff died Nov. 10 at 75. She is survived by her husband, Samuel; daughters, Dr. Ellen Leboff-Ried, Dr. Judith Leboff-Levi and Karen Migdal; seven grandchildren; sister, Losa (Rabbi Benjamin). Groman

Ethel Lee Lenske died Nov. 5 at 97. She is survived by her sons, Sherman and Stephen; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Groman

Betty Lerman died Nov. 8 at 94. She is survived by her niece, Joanne Talpins. Malinow and Silverman

Maximilian LeRoy died Nov. 3 at 30. He is survived by his mother, Kay; and sister, Carolyn. Malinow and Silverman

HARRY LEVIN died Nov. 14 at 94. He is survived by his wife, Rose; daughter, Fern (Sam Flores); and son, Roy. Hillside

Hedy Linstone died Nov. 15 at 84. She is survived by her husband, Harold, sons, Clark and Fred (Elissa); and two grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ruth Lipsey died Nov. 2 at 87. She is survived by her sons, Lewis and Marty; and sister, Hannah Lotnick. Groman

MARIAN ROSE LIVINGSTON died Nov. 10 at 88. She is survived by her son, Larry; daughter, Laura Beck, six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Hillside

Robert David London died Nov. 15 at 51. He is survived by his mother, Jean. Malinow and Silverman

Murray Louison died Nov. 8 at 81. He is survived by his son, Raymond; and daughter, Stephanie. Groman

Dr. Samuel Lyon died Nov. 15 at 90. He is survived by his wife, Shirley; son, Daniel; daughters, Wendy (Robert Wienner) and Dawn (Robert Mann); and four grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Max Marsten died Nov. 5 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Anita; daughters, Loni and Robbi (Tom Schiff); and grandchildren, Matthew and Olivia. Hillside

Helen Maurer died Nov. 17 at 83. She is survived by her sons, Alan and Michael; daughter, Randi; and four grandchildren. Groman

Hannelore McCarty died Nov. 6 at 78. She is survived by her son, Kent (Patty Stewart). Malinow and Silverman

BERT MICHAELS died Nov. 13 at 84. He is survived by his sisters, Joan Weinrauch and Muriel Tower; niece Darielle Podoksik; and nephew, Donn Warshow. Hillside

LINDA MINER died Nov. 13 at 65. She is survived by her granddaughter, Sabrina; and brother, Larry Wohl. Hillside

Esther Moskovitz died Nov. 4 at 93. She is survived by her daughters, June (Murray) Bass and Lois Powers. Malinow and Silverman

Miriam Moss died Nov. 6 at 85. She is survived by her sons, Martin and Jay; daughters, Renal Carol Stone and Bonnie Miller; and 11 grandchildren. Groman

Sara Movshovich died Nov. 9 at 70. She is survived by her son, Roman; and granddaughters, Ariel and Naomi. Mount Sinai

SIMON MUNTNER died Nov. 3 at 75. He is survived by his wife, Janet; sons, John and Joel; daughters, Nancy, Ellen and Jill Howat; and three grandchildren. Hillside

Edna Ostrin died Nov. 6 at 90. She is survived by sons, Murray (Marissa) and Ronald (Leslie); four grandchildren; brother, Ed Nupoll; nieces; and nephews. Mount Sinai

Naomi Ozeran died Nov. 5 at 100. She is survived by her son, Dr. Robert. Malinow and Silverman

Mildred Pakcyk died Nov. 17 at 89. She is survived by her children, David and Alan (Monica); daughter, JoAnne (Dennis) Johnson; grandson, Daryn; and two stepgrandchildren. Mount Sinai

Susan Nisker died Nov. 16 at 56. She is survived by her, daughters, Sari and Heidi (Patrick Kerney); brother, David (Gaylia) Lassner; half-sister, Mary Jean (Bruce) White; and friend, Sherry Kerdman. Mount Sinai

DANIEL PONITZ died Nov. 6 at 74. He is survived by his sister, Linda Stengel. Hillside

ELIZABETH RABINOWITZ died Nov. 13 at 85. She is survived by her daughter, Diane (Jonathan) Bear; and grandchildren. Sholom Chapels.

Edward Esau Rapoport died Nov. 9 at 85. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; daughter, Paula (Leslie) McAfee; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Groman

Don Reynolds died Nov. 3 at 72. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; children, Leslie, Greg (Carol), Samantha (Andrew) and Alan; two grandchildren; and brother, Marshall Reznick (Edie).

Max Rice died Nov. 8 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Maxienne; daughters, Wendy Wintrob and Debra Sadun; sons, David and Michael; nine grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and brother, Harry. Malinow and Silverman

Joseph Rein died Nov. 13 at 89. He is survived by his daughters, Rita Rudolf and Delcine Tartow; and three grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Bernice Rosenfield died Nov. 15 at 87. She is survived by her husband, David; daughters, Susan (Rick Poe) Fin, and Leanna (Ron) Watts; stepdaughters, Shelly (Grady) Smith and Paula (Fred) Weiner; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

JOYCE ROSEN died Nov. 16 at 85. She is survived by her daughters, Jan Morris and Linda Siegel; son, Daniel; five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Hillside

Lucille Rosenthal died Nov. 9 at 87. She is survived by her husband, Eugene; son, Richard (Cathy); daughter, Susan (Larry Grosberg); and three grandchildren. Mount Sinai

ROCHELLE O’BRAND ROTH died Nov. 3 at 61. She is survived by her husband, Hal; daughter, Aliza; son, Aaron; sisters, Marilyn (Larry) Franklin and Diana (Steve) Brown; cousins, Bill and Joan Raskin; and three nieces. Hillside

Esther Rubenstein died Nov. 3 at 90. She is survived by her son, Howard (Lauri) Roberts; daughter, Sun (David) Northrup; granddaughter, Rachel (Tim) Davidson; and great-granddaughters, Emilee and Jacqueline. Mount Sinai

Anne Rubins died Nov. 4 at 86. She is survived by her son, Alex (Valerie); daughter, Janis Gardner; and sister, Frances Neiman. Mount Sinai

Gertrude Rudnick died Nov. 11 at 93. She is survived by her son, David (Sandra); daughter, Joyce Leddel; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and brother, Harry (Shirley) Gershon. Mount Sinai

Rabbi Martin Ryback died Nov. 16 at 87. He is survived by his daughters, Anne (Steve) Schmidt and Elizabeth; son, Charles; and grandaughters, Samantha and Cassandra Schmidt. Mount Sinai

Shirley Shudnow Sass died Nov. 16 at 101. She is survived by her son, Howard (Ronda) Zieff; daughter, Marjorie (Gerald) Finn; grandchildren, Stephanie (Matthew) Landers and Deborah Fin; three great-grandchildren; and brothers, Phillip and Dr. Bernard (Lucille) Shudnow. Mount Sinai

Maxwell Schatz died Nov. 14 at 86. He is survived by his daughters, Laurie (Jerrold) FeiVou and Madeline; grandchildren, Blair and Svetlana; and sister, Pearl. Mount Sinai

Ronald Schneider died Nov. 14 at 76. He is survived by his sons, Brad and Evan; and sister, Shirley Edrington. Malinow and Silverman

Florence Schwartz died Nov. 9 at 82. She is survived by her son, Martin; daughters, Laurie (Michael) Warren and Helene (Joel) Silverstein; four grandchildren; brother, Marvin (Geri) Snyder; and sister, Harriet Guterman. Mount Sinai

Florence Schwartz died Nov. 14 at 78. She is survived by her daughters, Julia Baker and Laura Cohen; and one grandchild. Groman

Miriam Schwartz died Nov. 6 at 78. She is survived by her sons, Barry and Jeffrey (Nancy); daughter, Darlene (Steve) Du Frane; grandsons, Scott Du Frane and Sam; and brother, Marvin Lamm. Mount Sinai

Russell Scott Schwartzman died Nov. 8 at 47. He is survived by his wife, Rita; daughter, Madeline; son, Benjamin; parents, Irving and Edith; sister, June Soberman; and brothers, David (Susan) and Jonathan (Runa). Malinow and Silverman

Elizabeth Bertha See died Nov. 9 at 96. She is survived by her cousin, Peter Glaser. Malinow and Silverman

ANITA LEE SEGAL died Nov. 15 at 78. She is survived by her son, Edward; and daughter, Jan. Hillside

Pearl Semer died Nov. 10 at 90. She is survived by her sons, Allen (Joyce) and Stephen (Ilene); and brother, Jack Pollack. Mount Sinai

GAIL DIANE SHAFRAN died Nov. 7 at 59. She is survived by her husband, Joel; sons Philip and Jonathan; and sisters, Marion Freeman and Deborah Leeds. Hillside

Mildred Eve Sharon died Nov. 2 at 95. She is survived by her daughter, Barbara Goldstone; and two grandchildren. Groman

Ethyle Sher died Nov. 8 at 85. She is She is survived by her family; friends; and caregivers. Mount Sinai

Nancy Shuirman died Nov. 13 at 50. She is survived by her parents, Gerry and Evelyn; sisters Marilyn Maddux; Felicia (Barry) Keller and Lorri Herman; two nieces; and three nephews.

SUSAN SMITH died Nov. 9 at 57. She is survived by her sons, Jamie and Shawn Silverstein; mother, Bernice; and many relatives. Hillside

Pauline Snider died Nov. 9 at 88. She is survived by her daughter, Arlene Calhoun; son, Stephen (Hea); granddaughters, Tracey and Kimberly Calhoun; and brother, Hyman (Pearl) Davis. Mount Sinai

ROBERT SPERO died Nov. 3 at 84. He is survived by his wife, Pearl; sons, Mark and Rabbi Gary; and one grandchild. Hillside

Ruth Sternhill died Nov. 14 at 89. She is survived by her daughters, Sherry Lipman, Maryl Magee and Fritzi Feruson; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; brother, Morris Shapiro; and sister, Esther Merches. Groman

Kenneth Suskauer died Nov. 7 at 76. He is survived by his sons, Stuart and Jeffrey; daughter, Eileen Schwartz; and four grandchildren. Groman

Yousef Nourollah Tashkandi died Nov 3 at 71. He is survived by his wife, Sakineh Doulatshahi Moghadam; and sister, Habibeh Naygael. Chevra Kadisha

AARON DANIEL URFRIG died Nov. 16 at 95. He is survived by his wife, Anne; sons, Jerome (Suzanne) and Donald (Carole); daughter, Wendy (Michael) Temple, six grandchildren; four great-granddaughters; brother-in-law, Leo Kolb, and sisters-in-law Jeanette Becker and Naomi Kraus . Hillside

JACK WALLIN died Nov. 8 at 88. He is survived by his sons, Fred (Sandy), Paul (Sharon) and David (Robin); and seven grandchildren. Hillside

Marion Weber died Nov. 7 at 97. She is survived by her daughter, Beverly (Tommy) Williams; grandchildren, Charles Ritch and Judith Gabriel; and great-grandchildren, Alexander and Jameson. Mount Sinai

Melvin Wolf died Nov. 5 at 78. He is survived by his wife, Frances; son, Daniel; daughter, Randee Paller; three grandchildren; and sisters, Eleanor Hammer and Gerry Finegold. Groman

BEVERLY WOLFSON died Nov. 14 at 77. She is survived by her husband, Hershel; sons, David and Bruce; and brother, Robert Blue. Hillside

Sylvia Wolinsky died Nov. 16 at 85. She is survived by her husband, William; daughter, Estelle (David) Horwitz; son, Carl (Laura Vink); grandchildren, Leah and Joshua; and sister, Yetta Berkowitz. Mount Sinai

Betty Yager died Nov. 8 at 74. She is survived by her husband, Herman; daughters, Allison (Joe) Schneider and Molly (Gene) Hofacre; five granddaughters; brother, Shimon (Ruth) Aharoni; and half-sister, Rita (Yankule) Benttaroosh. Mount Sinai

MARK ZAIFMAN died Nov. 17 at 92. He is survived by his wife, Lucy; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Hillside

Roza Zborovsky died Nov 6 at 80. She is survived by her daughter, Marina Kramarov; and grandchild, Basika Kramarov. Chevra Kadisha

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Fifty Nifty Tribemembers

Leave a Comment / Up Front, Worldwide / Gaby Friedman

The weather may be warmer, the people more laid-back, and it may be several-thousand miles away from the larger Jewish communities of New York and Chicago, but that apparently doesn’t stop Los Angeles from having a big toothy influence on national Jewish affairs.

There are, according to The Forward newspaper’s recently published “Forward 50” — a listing of the 50 most-influential Jews in America — at least seven Angelenos whose voices are being heard way beyond the West Coast.

The complete list — which includes the likes of Ruth Messinger of American Jewish World Service, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and entertainers Jon Stewart and Matisyahu — is seen as the Jewish community’s equivalent of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People or Vanity Fair’s New Establishment list. The Forward list is a way of quantifying who is most affecting Jewish life in America today.

From Los Angeles, the list includes regular heavy hitters like filmmaker Steven Spielberg — the No. 2 most influential Jew in America, included because of his upcoming epic “Munich” about the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. But it also registers less famous people, like Rabbi Naomi Levy of Nashuva, Rabbi Sharon Brous of Ikar, Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) Executive Director Daniel Sokatch, J-Date founder Joe Shapira, comic Sarah Silverman and Robin Kramer, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s chief of staff.

“We try to come up with a list of 50 people who we feel are leading and influencing the main trends in Jewish communal life,” said Forward Editor JJ Goldberg. “It’s not an election, and we don’t have people who may be Jewish and prominent but aren’t doing something Jewishly inspired or something to affect the Jewish community. We do try to have geographic balance, and things that happen in Los Angeles tend to have more of a national echo. The Jewish community there is a national community.”

So what does being named to the Forward 50 actually mean for the so-honored?

“I think if it has any impact it is in helping people think of the PJA as a serious organization and a serious force of change in the community,” said Sokatch, who was also named to the list in 2002. “It is certainly something we let funders know about—it is [like] a hechsher in the community. It’s something we feel proud of. In my case, it reflects on our whole organization, and it is definitely a point of pride.”

For Brous, who is on the list for the second year in a row, being named to the Forward 50 bought her a level of national recognition.

“I was on the list last year, and last year it was incredibly significant for [Ikar] because we were brand new and it put us on the map nationally, and it bought people’s attention to what we were doing in the community beyond the people coming to Ikar on a weekly basis,” Brous said. “I get asked to speak at a lot of conferences — including the General Assembly, a lot of rabbis and community leaders around the country are calling me and asking me for their input on how to revitalize their communities. There are new national leadership networks that I was asked to be a part of, and I am sure [all that] has something to do with The Forward.”

Goldberg said that there is no barrier to people being listed in multiple years.

“If someone is doing a good job in a major institution they are probably going to be there,” he said. “There is not a new list every year. As long as they are being effective, we put them on the list.”

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Cool Songs? It’s a Miracle!

Leave a Comment / Personals, Up Front / Naomi Pfefferman

For all the nice Jewish boys looking for other nice Jewish boys, JDate.com has come to the rescue.

The popular Jewish online dating site expanded its search capabilities this month to allow gay men — and also lesbians — to seek matches. The Web site now asks people for their gender and the gender they’re searching, allowing men to search for men and women to search for women.

When his sister didn’t marry a Jewish boy, Gary Pinsky was told by his mother that he had to. Pinsky, 32, joined JDate several weeks ago, after returning to New Jersey after living in South Africa for several years. He said he thinks he can find more serious suitors on the Jewish dating site.

“I’ve gotten three responses since I’ve joined,” said Pinsky, a production stage manager. “They’ve all been very nice and seem to have a good head on their shoulders.”

That’s a big difference from other gay and lesbian dating sites, he said, where potential matches are less serious, and largely not Jewish.

“I didn’t find a lot of Jews out there,” Pinsky said.

Gail Laguna, vice president for communications at Spark Networks, JDate’s parent company, said the Web site’s revision came at the request of many Jewish singles.

With more than 600,000 active members, JDate has become one of the standards for niche online dating sites. The profiles of two Jewish congressmen have even been spotted on the site.

JDate officials say the original Web site did not intentionally exclude gay searches, but there was not a demand for it when the site was unveiled in 1997.

The new site includes other requested features, including a better system for identifying non-Jews. The site has become popular with non-Jews seeking Jews, and non-Jews now can express a willingness to convert as part of their online profiles.

But the expansion to gay searches has had the most immediate impact. In less than a month, 700 members have registered for same-sex searches, Laguna said.

She added there are no plans to market to the gay community or to include gays and lesbians in JDate’s current media campaign.

The Jewish world’s policies on gay rights and gay marriage vary wildly. Reform rabbis may perform gay unions, and the issue has been a hot topic within the Conservative movement, which unlike the Reform movement, does not permit the ordination of openly gay rabbis.

Orthodox groups oppose homosexual acts. The struggle of gay Orthodox Jews was the subject of a 2001 documentary, “Trembling Before G-d.”

Straight people will not receive profiles of gay members or vice versa. But, alas, there’s not yet a filter for screening out members of Congress.

On Dec. 13, The Leevees (www.theleevees.com) open for Barenaked Ladies at 7:30 p.m. at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica. For tickets, call (213) 480 3232. On Dec. 15, The Leevees play “Hanukkah Rocks!” at 8 p.m. at the Knitting Factory L.A., 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 209. $15 (21 and older only). For tickets, call (866) 468 3399.Â

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Lessons From Nuremberg

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Toby Axelrod, JTA

Their faces stare out in black and white: the defendants of Nuremberg. Today, the rain-spattered images hang outdoors at the Topography of Terror Exhibition and Documentation Center in Berlin.

Sixty years ago, the men behind these pallid masks were tried for crimes against humanity. Many were executed. Some committed suicide in their cells.

The Nuremberg Trials, which opened with the reading of charges against 24 defendants in Berlin on Oct. 18, 1945, and reconvened in Nuremberg on Nov. 20, confronted Germans with the reality of what had been done in their name. It was the beginning of a process of reckoning and repentance that continues to this day.

How do the stories of those men, and the judges who tried them, resonate for Germans now?

The anniversary of the Trials, coming as Germany inaugurates Angela Merkel as its first chancellor born after World War II, has spawned a flood of articles in newspapers and magazines, with interviews, timelines and considerations of the meaning of international courts today.

“At Nuremberg it came out that they planned to kill all the Jews once they took over,” said Ernest Michel, 82, a Holocaust survivor who covered the Trials for a newly reconstituted German press agency and went on to become a pre-eminent Jewish activist with the UJA-Federation of New York. (See sidebar for more on Michel’s experience.)

“It was the most memorable, satisfying day of my life when I was in Nuremberg,” Michel said, “sitting there as a survivor and watching the last German high leaders being brought to justice.”

The public did not always accept the results of the Trials, seeing them as “victors’ justice.” But Nuremberg nevertheless marked “the end of the period of terror and the beginning of a new democracy,” said historian Claudia Steur, curator of the exhibit at the Topography of Terror documentation center.

“The International Court [in the Hague] was born out of the Nuremberg Trials,” she said. “It was the first great trial on German soil against National Socialism, and the first carried out by the four occupying powers. It also was the first time in history” that such a trial was conducted against a state.

Nuremberg also marked “the first time they used the word genocide,” coined in 1944, said Eckard Dietzfelbinger, historian at the Documentation Center of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg.

“Since the Nuremberg Trials, governments or leaders know that their deeds could also be considered in a courtroom,” said Rabbi Andreas Nachama, historian and director of the Topography of Terror center.

Today’s politicians understand these messages, said Michael Wolffsohn, a historian at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich — but the general public barely pays any attention.

Despite the media coverage of the Nuremberg anniversary, “Nobody really cares, frankly speaking,” Wolffsohn said. “[Germans] have practiced democracy successfully. The problem is not overcoming the past of National Socialism,” but facing “the challenges of the present.”

Juliane Wetzel, who is on the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, said many young Germans turn away from the subject of the Holocaust.

Particularly this year, with the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and of the German surrender, “youngsters say they don’t want hear any more about it,” said Wetzel, who helped create a task force subcommittee on “resistance against Holocaust education.”

The Nuremberg Trials were one of the first lessons for many Germans: In daily news dispatches, they read about atrocities committed on a vast scale. It would take many decades and many more trials before the general German public would understand that not only the top Nazis were guilty.

“The Nuremberg Trials really were instrumental in setting precedents,” said Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “But it was clear that the Nuremberg Trials can only relate to the very, very tip of the iceberg of the criminality of Nazi Germany and those who assisted Nazi Germany.”

Zuroff estimates there were 90,000 indictments in West Germany after 1949, and 7,000 people were convicted. East Germany also conducted war crimes trials.

All in all, “a very small percentage of those who participated in the crimes of the Holocaust were indicted,” Zuroff said, because once the allies were no longer in charge of postwar German courts, the will to prosecute was weak.

After the first trial, there was pressure from the U.S. State Department to ease up, said Lawrence Raful, dean of the Touro Law School in New York, which held a conference in Nuremberg’s courtroom last summer.

The U.S. administration’s message was, “We have punished the Germans, and the Cold War has started. We need to win the hearts and minds of the German people, because as bad as the Nazis were, the Communists are worse,” Raful said.

That was a tough message for Holocaust survivors, like his parents, to accept, Raful said.

Meanwhile, the voices of the Trials’ judges and lawyers, and even some of the defendants declaring themselves not guilty, can be heard in Berlin from small loudspeakers at the outdoor photographic exhibit at the Topography of Terror.

“One can hear the original sound,” said curator Steur, who recently accompanied Ernest Michel on a visit to the exhibit. “I have seen parents or grandparents with their children, standing in front of the map of the zones of Allied occupation [of Germany].”

For some, it’s the start of a long-overdue conversation.

“We’re proud that we had the Trials,” Steur said. But “when you know how many of the old Nazis in the German Democratic Republic went back to their old positions — doctors, judges and police — it’s sad.”

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