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Jewish Journal

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November 8, 2007

Obituaries

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Jean Abramson died Oct 5 at 86. She is survived by her daughters, Donna, Barbara (Bob) and Roslyn (Rick Fackle) Siegel; son, Mitchell Siegel; and four grandchildren. Hillside

Sharon Baldassari died Oct. 7 at 62. She is survived by her daughter, Leah (Tanya) Sussman; son, Eric; granddaughter, Sonia Sussman; and siblings, Steve (Raquel), Arnold, Maris and Barry (Ellen) Herr. Mount Sinai

Leonard Bassoff died Oct. 3 at 79. He is survived by his brother, Bill (Sally); sister, Lorraine (Seymour); nieces; nephews; great-nieces; and great-nephews.

Barbara Black died Oct. 1 at 77. She is survived by her daughter, Beth; son, Anthony (Kathleen); three grandchildren; brother, Stanley (Inger) Colton; and companion, Maurice Starr. Mount Sinai

Suzanne Brandt died Sept. 28 at 86. She is survived by her son, James (Lauren); daughter, Marla Judith (Steven) Simon; brother, Burt Crausman; and four grandchildren. Hillside

Ruth Brooks died Sept. 30 at 64. She is survived by her husband, Arthur; son, Derek (Sheila) Underhill; stepchildren, Michelle (Robert) Brooks-Silver and Baron; grandchildren, Amanda and Jessica; sister, Marsha Miller; and brother, Norman Traub. Mount Sinai

Dr. Neil Brourman died Oct. 5 at 48. He is survived by his wife, Gina; parents Dr. Harold and Phyllis; sons, Daniel and David; brother, Steve; and sister, Debbie Schllenberg. Hillside

Bertha Chanin died Oct. 7 at 92. She is survived by her niece, Lynda Wallerstein. Sholom Chapels

Harvey Cowan died Oct. 1 at 75. He is survived by his wife, Judy; daughter, Linda (Jon Sugiyama); sons, Randall (Jocelyn), Jefferson (Carol) and Daniel (Annette); and 10 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Frances Gilmore died Oct. 5 at 99. She is survived by her daughter, Joan; husband, Robert Zane; four grandchildren; and one great grandchild. Hillside

Abe Gregory Glatt died Oct. 3 at 86. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte; daughters Janet (Paul) Kaufman and Lanie (Scott) McCraw; and four grandchildren. Sholom Chapels

Gabriella Gold died Sept. 30 at 76. She is survived by her daughters, Agnes (Semyon) Emert, and Edith (Gabor); six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and sister, Vera. Mount Sinai

Lola Green died Oct. 4 at 86. She is survived by her son, Carl (Wendy); three grandchildren; and brother, Harry (Rena) Drexler. Mount Sinai

Bernard “Bernie” Hellinger died Oct. 3 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughter, Faith (David) Wascher-Marson; sons, Jay (Helene) and Lee; grandchildren, Philip (Sierra) and Alonna; great-grandson, Caden Wascher; brother, Irving (“Gerty”); sister, Frances (Leslie Albert) and four nephews.

Gizella Kahn died Oct. 1 at 100. She is survived by her daughters, Kathlin Feurerstein and Mary Anne Berman. Hillside

Martin Kinsler died Oct. 5 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Florabel; son, Warren (Kay); daughter, Sandra (Brian Leshon); and grandsons, Michael and Matthew. Mount Sinai

Marilyn Emily Jacobson died Oct. 5 at 77. She is survived by her daughter, Debbie (Ray) Jankowski; son, Stephen (Karon); sister, Loretta Weiss; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Sam Jaffe died Sept. 29 at 97. He is surivived by his wife, Rosa; children, Dr. Devra Lee Rutigliano and Barry; grandchild, Thomas (Mindy) Rutigliano; three great-grandchildren; and brother Robert (Seema). Hillside

Anne Joelson died Sept. 30 at 91. She is survived by her daughter, Judith; daughter-in-law, Sarah, four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Hillside

Lillian Katz died Oct. 2 at 92. She is survived by her son, Gary Barton. Malinow and Silverman

Frank Allen Ladner died Oct 7 at 57. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; children, Alyssa and Jonny; father, Frank (Anne), and sisters, Ruth Campbell and Betty Page. Hillside

Maurice Lazerus died Oct. 5 at 95. He is survived by his sons, Michael and Gary; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Hillside

Sally Lee died Oct. 6 at 94. She is survived by her daughters, Barbara (Uriel) Rosoff, Elaine Sylvester and Loretta Sheppard. Mount Sinai

Harriet Lewis died Oct. 6 at 87. She is survived by her daughter, Rochelle Levy; sons, Greg Gleicke and Loren Miles; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Arnold Isadore Leytus died Sept. 29 at 83. He is survived by his wife, Joyce; children, James (Troy), Judy (Diana) and Roger; grandchildren, Shauna (Jeff Porter) and Katie; and brother, Bernard. Hillside

Evelyn Mollie Lobel died Sept. 30 at 91. She is survived by her daughter, Nancy; sons, Barry (Sharon) and Howard (Donna); four grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; sister, Rebecca Plotkin; and brothers, Oscar (Shirley) and Stanley (Eileen) Stone. Malinow and Silverman

Celia Nadel died Sept. 30 at 68. She is survived by her husband, Marcelo; daughter, Andrea (Jason) Markle; son, Danny; and one grandchild. Mount Sinai

Joseph Najdicz died Oct. 1 at 89. He is survived by his daughters, Eileen Markley and Nina Seiden; and grandchildren, Graham and Lindsey. Mount Sinai

Jules Perlman died Oct. 1 at 100. He is survived by his son, Dr. Jon; daughter-in-law, Renee; and grandchildren, Jessica and Justin. Mount Sinai

Ruth Pepper died Oct. 4 at 85. She is survived by her sons, John and Gerald; daughter, Janet; and six grandchildren. Hillside

Joseph Port died Sept. 30 at 80. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; daughter, Stacey (Frank) Ahlvers; sons, Mitchel (Lori), David (Lorin) and C.J.; and six grandchildren. Mount Sinai

David Rabinoff died Oct. 1 at 56. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; stepsons, Alex and Richard; and stepdaughter Claudia Rodriguez; Hillside

Ann Ratner died Sept. 29 at 97. She is survived by her sons, Alan Rushkin and Robert; friends and family. Hillside

Sam Roska died Sept. 30 at 89. He is survived by his wife, Theodora; son, Marty; daughter, Laurel Wood; and five grandchildren. Hillside

Jules Sandford died Oct. 3 at 79. He is survived by his wife, Betty; daughters, Randy (David Smith) and Leslie (Francisco Lo Baco); son, Kevin; and four grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Dr. S. Alan Savitz died Oct. 3 at 71. He is survived by his wife, Maxine; children, Adam and Alison; daughter-in-law, Lisa; son-in-law, David Glass; four grandchildren; sister, Sylvia Keller and brother, Ellit. Hillside

Obituaries Read More »

When you’re wealthy, you don’t need God

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Sometimes, the religious get rich because of their faith, and not always for wholesome reasons. But more commonly, the wealthier people are, the smaller a role God plays in their lives. This was the reasoning behind Jesus’ famous aphorism that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

I’ve repeated this reasoning to my friends often because, being a fairly self-sufficient, not-poor American, it’s easy to forget to say “Thank God” when people ask how I am doing. (I admire Orthodox Jews who are better about remembering this.)

Anyway, I’m a journalist, and for journalists a story becomes newsworthy when a new study that proves reality. Thanks Pew Research Center.

Pew found that there is “a strong relationship between a country’s religiosity and its economic status.” The poorer a country, the more “religion remains central to the lives of individuals, while secular perspectives are more common in richer nations.”

The United States is the “most notable” exception. Other exceptions are oil-rich, mostly Muslim nations like Kuwait.

There is no simple interpretation of the findings. Perhaps as “people get less religious, they get wealthier,” wrote Kevin Drum of the Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog. “Or perhaps the other way around. Or perhaps there’s something else behind both trends.”

  Mr. Drum concludes that it’s “probably a bit of all three.”

 

When you’re wealthy, you don’t need God Read More »

The ‘Jewish hustler’ gets some real green

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Dov Charney is a self-described “Jewish hustler,” and today he hustled some real dough out of the deal that is buying out his clothing company, American Apparel. Mark Lacter, whose LA Biz Observed is my main source of financial news, has the info and reports that AA employees now sign a document stating:

“American Apparel is in the business of designing and manufacturing sexually charged T-shirts and intimate apparel, and uses sexually charged visual and oral communications in its marketing and sales activity.”

Lacter also linked to this New York Times article about Charney:

Mr. Charney has gained a reputation as the Hugh Hefner of retailing, decorating his stores with covers of Penthouse magazine and admitting in interviews to sleeping with employees. In lawsuits filed in 2005, several employees charged him with creating a work environment in which women did not feel safe. They claimed in the lawsuits, for example, that Mr. Charney conducted job interviews in his underwear and gave a vibrator to at least one female worker. Mr. Charney has denied the charges, and judges have dismissed some of the lawsuits against him. In the interview, Mr. Charney said that the media had “exploited American Apparel on certain issues,” adding, “I would never do an interview in my underwear.”

Sure, every know and then an AA ad is innocuous, even cute like that unauthorized billboard of Woody Allen as “der heyliker rebe.” But Charney really has a knack for provocativeness. “I could pull my penis out right now,” he told The Jewish Journal a few years ago, “and I guarantee you no one would be offended.”

The ‘Jewish hustler’ gets some real green Read More »

Rabbi will pay for love

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My editor got a lot of letters in response to a column a few months ago that said rabbis should encourage Jewish woman to date gentile men. I’m not sure if Rabbi Donald Weber read the column, but shortly after the New Jersey rabbi offered a unique approach to get Jews to marry each other.

Six weeks ago, in his Yom Kippur sermon at Temple Rodeph Torah, a Reform synagogue, Weber offered to personally pay for six-month memberships to JDate, the popular Jewish Internet dating service, for any singles in the congregation who asked.

JDate charges $149 for a six- month membership, and so far, nine people have taken the rabbi up on his offer. He and his wife, Shira Stern, initially pledged $1,000 to the effort but just donated a second $1,000 as more people came forward.

“All they have to do is claim it,” said Weber, who received a slight group discount from JDate. “We’ll do this as long as there’s a need, and as long as there’s a desire.”

 

Well, considering the declining American Jewish population and the crisis of intermarriage that some Jewish sociologists have been crying gevalt over for decades, I hope Rabbi Weber and his wife have a large savings account.

Rabbi will pay for love Read More »

More aid to Palestinians means more murders

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This stark graph from Mere Rhetoric shows that homicides in the West Bank and Gaza closely follow the amount of international aid flowing to Palestinians, adjusted for a one-year lag.

We found this CAMERA study through a Minneapolis economics blogger named Captain Capitalism. It looks at what happens to the number of people Palestinians murder in the year after an increase or decrease in aid. Hmm:

 

Every time aid increases, homicides increase. Every time it decreases, homicides decrease. There’s a not uncompelling theory about how cultures degenerate into corruption and depravity when they have to rely on outsiders to literally feed and clothe them. That explains some of what’s going on, but it isn’t enough to explain such a strong and consistent correlation.

(Hat tip: Seraphic Secret)

More aid to Palestinians means more murders Read More »

Comedy for a cause

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Laughter is not only the best medicine, it’s also the best fundraiser.

Comedians + Hollywood venue + food + worthy cause + young Jewish professionals = a really successful benefit

The Jewish Federation’s Entertainment Division put this tried-but-true formula to work for Laugh Out Loud 2 on Thursday, Nov. 1 at the Laugh Factory, and the result was predictably fabulous. They raised nearly $50,000 to send inner city kids to Camp Max Straus, which is operated by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters.

” target=”_blank”>www.jewishla.org or Comedy for a cause Read More »

Jewish fashion mogul reveals why his family left Iran in 1950’s

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Uncategorized /

New York fashion mogul Elie Tahari, is one of the many very successful individuals in the world hailing from an Iranian Jewish heritage. Even though he was born in Israel and came to New York 35 years ago without a penny to his name, Tahari now 55, commands a $500-million sportswear empire. In a recent interview with the online fashion magazine, Portfolio.com he revealed the reasoning behind his family leaving Iran in the 1950’s after the late Shah of Iran was temporarily deposed:

“My father had a fabric store, and he used to sell fabrics, and uh, one of the reasons he left Iran was because of persecution. They burned the store down. Yes, a lot of anti-Jewish sentiment the shah kept at bay as long as he could. But as soon as, you know, the shah died or had left Iran, a lot of Jews fled” said Tahari.

While many people are well aware of the mass exodus of Jews from Iran in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s because of Iran’s radical fundamentalist Islamic regime, others are unaware of the small migrations of Iranian Jews to Israel during the 1950’s. Despite the significant environment of religious tolerance that was fostered under the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran between 1925 and 1979, Jews in Iran still encountered anti-Semitism and discrimination from the Muslim majority. I personally have relatives who immigrated to Israel in the 1950’s for this exact reason, since they were fed up with being harassed by close minded intolerant Muslims. Leaving Iran and making new roots in Israel at that time was not easy because Israel was a new nation that was not developed. At the same time many Jewish families in Iran had attained substantial prosperity through trade and commerce. So there was less of an incentive for Jews to leave the country in 1950’s and 1960’s.

Today we see the children of those Iranian Jewish immigrants flourishing in Israel; with Moshe Katsav the former Israeli President, or Shaul Mofaz the Israeli Minister of Transportation, or Dan Halutz the former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, or Eitan Ben Eliahu the former Israel Air Force chief. It simply amazes me that despite the intolerance and hardship Jews endured in Iran and in leaving behind livelihoods in the 1950’s or 1970’s, they have still managed to thrive in all aspects of life. Whether it be business, science, medicine, law, government, art, or even comedy—Jews of Iranian heritage seemed to have risen above the hardships to succeed in a substantial way.

Elie Tahari’s story along with the stories of Jews from Iranian heritage are heart warming but need to be kept alive for future generations to appreciate their history.

Jewish fashion mogul reveals why his family left Iran in 1950’s Read More »

Briefs: Interfaith call to action from Reform organization, Conservatives reflect on future

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Interfaith Call to Action

The prophet Amos said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream.” Why the word “justice” and not “charity?” Because justice addresses the root of a problem, Rabbi Suzanne Singer said, paraphrasing Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of America’s Union for Reform Judaism and the man who started the Reform movement’s lobbying arm, the Religious Action Center.

“Congregations tend to be good at doing a mitzvah day — feed the hungry, clothing the poor — and that’s very important, but we also need to spend time addressing the root of the problem, so there are fewer hungry people, fewer poor people,” said Rabbi Singer, the chair of Interfaith Call to Justice: LA 2007. The Nov. 11-12 conference will be a two-day interfaith social justice training and community strategy planning conference.

Singer organized her first advocacy conference in 2005 at Temple Sinai of Oakland, and the upcoming southern conference follows the same model. An interfaith effort with some 60 sponsors, “the point of the conference is to help congregants get involved in [local] legislative and public policy advocacy,” she said. While her first conference focused on the problems — housing costs, hunger, poverty, etc. — this one will focus on how to solve those problems, by teaching participants effective advocacy, community organizing, and working with existing organizations in those fields.

But why interfaith?

“Each one of our faiths mandates that we must take care of strangers, widows, orphans,” Singer said. “We really need to join forces and come together. We can set our differences aside and work for common goals.”

Organizers request that participants sign up online by Friday, at http://www.call-to-justice.org.

On The Future of Judaism

Being Jewish in the next generation is largely a matter of choice, Rabbi Arnold M. Eisen, the new chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) said last Friday night at Temple Sinai. The seventh JTS chancellor was the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Scholar-in-Residence, and in the course of the weekend delivered three lectures on the future of American Judaism, including “Modernity, Mitzvah and the Future of American Judaism,” “The Meanings of Mitzvah” and “Rethinking Conservative Judaism.”

“Moses Mendelssohn already recognized that volunteerism, choice, autonomy, individual responsibility — while wonderful, wonderful things — complicate the job of [building] Jewish community,” Eisen said. Unlike Rashi and Rambam, Mendelssohn was the first Jewish thinker “who had to worry that the Jews who read his book might decide not to be Jewish because they didn’t like what he said in his book,” he said.

In other words, Jews today must confront the fact that — unlike in the past — being Jewish is largely voluntary. “Therefore, since we must persuade every Jew to step into a Jewish time and space … you can’t anymore presume that they should be here, or you have the right to demand they be here, because they’ll just run the other way if you do that — and you have to fill these spaces with contents that are so full of joy and excitement that they need to be here,” Eisen said. “This is not an easy thing.”

The way to do it is by building community — particularly Jewish camps and day schools that imbue the values of the community. “We are in the business of building communities. If we do not do this, nothing else will be successful in 2007 in the United States of America.”

Eisen spoke about denominationalism and the future of Conservative Judaism in greater depth on Sunday, but on Friday night he said the current trend toward post-denominationalism, or groups who may be Conservative in practice but don’t identify as such, are not a problem for the movement. “Conservative Jews don’t see it as a loss if they participate in a group that’s not labeled Conservative, but just Jewish,” Eisen said. He himself is a product of this trend, since years ago he belonged to the non-denominational Minyan Ma’at in New York, which later produced many of the faculty at JTS.

“What is best for the Jewish [community] is best. We’re not here to build up a particular movement; we’re here to build up the Jewish people,” Eisen said.

Nevertheless, he did say that where denominations fit in is that one can’t be a Jew in general, but eventually must make decisions such as where to send kids to school, what type of prayers one wants, what is one’s outlook on the world. “You’ll have to answer questions like this,” he said. “You’ll very likely band together with people who see things like you do.”

“I think that we have to get our minds around a different notion of what denominations are. They’re not ends in themselves. They’re not ultimate. They’re adjectives. There are things that are far more important,” he said. “It is not truly important whether there are Conservative Jews 100 years from now; it is important whether Torah exists, that God is talked about and believed in and acted upon. That is ultimately important….”

Briefs: Interfaith call to action from Reform organization, Conservatives reflect on future Read More »

Can Olmert and Abbas deliver at high-stakes Annapolis summit?

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

In the final run-up to the Annapolis peace parley, leaders on all sides are emphasizing the burning need for success and the potentially huge price of failure. Although the focus is on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all the main players see it as only a small part of a much bigger regional drama: the ongoing battle for regional sway between the moderate Middle Eastern camp, led by America, and the radicals, led by Iran.

The stakes are high: the price of oil, the future of Iran’s nuclear program and America’s exit strategy from Iraq are all part of the wider equation.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are well aware of the stakes; but, for domestic reasons, both are too weak to deliver a peace agreement that would spell unqualified success at Annapolis.

Instead, both are looking for a formula that papers over their political difficulties and keeps the momentum going. They have therefore agreed to redefine Annapolis as a launching pad for intensive negotiations rather than a forum for the end game.

For lack of choice, the United States is going along with the low-key approach. But the Americans remain keenly aware of the underlying regional issues that they were hoping the parley would help them shape.

Speaking in Jerusalem Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the connection between violent ideologies sponsored by Iran or linked to Al Qaeda and success or failure on the Israeli-Palestinian track. She warned that if Palestinian leaders are unable to deliver on hopes for an independent state, then “the moderate center could collapse forever and the next generation of Palestinians could become lost souls of unbridled extremism.”

“If we don’t act now to show the Palestinians a way forward, others will show them a way forward,” she declared. Therefore, she concluded, “failure is not an option.”

When President Bush launched the Annapolis initiative in mid-July, he had hoped for more. The idea was that a deal between Israel and Palestinian moderates would mobilize a grand coalition of moderate Arab and Muslim countries, from Egypt to Indonesia, to help turn the tide against the radicals, facilitate a U.S. exit strategy from Iraq and increase pressure on Iran to freeze its nuclear weapons program.

Now much will depend on the degree to which the United States is able to sell the more modest Israeli-Palestinian peace effort as a significant breakthrough.

For Israel, success will be simply to keep the process going. Olmert’s dilemma is how to do enough to keep the Palestinians interested without alienating the hawks in his coalition. For now he seems to have come up with a winning formula:

“All the fundamental questions, the substantive issues, all the historical questions burdening our debate, are on the agenda,” he declared, which is music to Palestinian ears. To reassure the hawks, he insisted that there would be no prior agreements, and that Annapolis itself would only be a launching pad for an intensive negotiating process, the outcome of which was not guaranteed.

Then again, he intimated that the aim would be to wrap up a peace deal before Bush leaves office in January 2009, giving the Palestinians something akin to the timetable they have been insisting on.

Success on the Israeli-Palestinian track would mirror the wider regional picture and hurt Palestinian radicals, says Ami Ayalon, a minister without portfolio and former head of the Shin Bet Security Service. He estimates that it could even lead to a split in the radical Hamas, with some Hamas leaders trying to get aboard the peace train.

On the other hand, should the Annapolis process fail, Abbas may have to turn with cap in hand to Hamas, or even lose his job. Hamas would become the major force in the West Bank, as well as Gaza. To prevent this dangerous outcome for Israel, Ayalon proposes an intensive six-month negotiating process with both sides determined to reach a permanent peace deal that would make Hamas virtually irrelevant.

The Iranians are doing all they can to torpedo the processes that could hurt them and marginalize their proxies. U.N. observers recently confirmed that they have supplied Hezbollah — now ensconced in central Lebanon behind the Litani River — with long-range missiles that can reach Tel Aviv and beyond. The Iranians also continue to supply massive arms to Hamas and Islamic Jihad and are training their militiamen.

The game-breaker could be Syria. The biggest coup for America and Israel would be to pry Damascus away from the Iranian-led radical axis. After months of consistently dismissing Syrian overtures as immature or insincere, both Israel and the United States seem to be reappraising their approach.

Rice met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem in Turkey on her way to Jerusalem, presumably to urge the Syrians to come to Annapolis. More importantly, Israeli intelligence now says Syria’s President Bashar Assad is “psychologically ready” for peace with Israel. Even the Mossad, which until recently advised the government against opening talks with Damascus, says that ever since the early September bombing of a nuclear facility in northern Syria, Assad has been displaying a newfound maturity.

Syria moving across to the moderate side of the equation would fundamentally alter the moderate-radical balance. It would have major ramifications for the Iranian, the Iraqi and the Lebanese theaters.

One of the signs that things on the Israeli-Palestinian track could be more serious this time is the fact that after years of quiet, right-wing settlers have again started demonstrating. Although there have been no deals with the Palestinian moderates as yet and Olmert has promised nothing more than to negotiate in good faith, the settlers are convinced that major Israeli concessions are in the offing.

Annapolis and the months following will tell how good the settlers’ antennae are. They realize the importance the Americans attach to the wider regional developments and the linkage they are making between them and the Israeli-Palestinian track. Therefore, the hawkish folks maintain, Olmert is walking straight into a trap: Either he will be forced to succumb to American pressure for concessions or be blamed for failure.

Doves and hawks see opposite sides of the big picture: For the doves, progress with the Palestinian moderates is the key to regional stability; for the hawks, the attempt to engage the moderates is bound to fail and to exacerbate regional tensions.

Next year, 2008, will put both overarching theses to the test.

Can Olmert and Abbas deliver at high-stakes Annapolis summit? Read More »