jtnews | september 3, 2010 section a

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new at professionalwashington.com connecting our local Jewish community www.facebook.com/jtnews @jew_ish or @jewish_dot_com 60 YEARS IN THE DESERT LIVING HOLOCAUST STUDY SHANA TOVA BOOKS FOR FALL september 3, 2010 • 24 elul 5770 • volume 86, no. 18 THE VOICE OF JEWISH WASHINGTON 7A 12A 18A SEC. B Aſter seven years of praying in a basement, the cor- nerstone has been laid for Pierce County’s only Orthodox presence to have a synagogue of its own. On Sun., Aug. 29, approximately 200 people attended a Torah comple- tion ceremony and groundbreaking for Chabad of Pierce County at its new West Tacoma home. “It was just a very, very upliſting experience,” said Rabbi Zalman Heber, who opened the South Sound Chabad center when he arrived in Tacoma from New York in 2003. “ere was a certain festivity in the air that the Jewish community hasn’t seen in a long time here.” e completion of Chabad’s Torah marks what is likely the only such cer- emony in at least 70 years — if ever. “It’s really monumental, histor- ically, from that perspective,” said Earl Vernon, a Chabad member and member of the building project com- mittee. Following the completion of the Torah, in which supporters came up and wrote the final letters with the assistance of scribe Moshe Klein, the entourage danced with the Torah on a five-block walk to the city’s Professional Development Center, where Chabad holds High Holiday services and large events, for a dinner buffet. In his remarks to the audience, Heber said that when he first arrived in Tacoma people questioned whether there was a need for a Chabad. “By just looking at all of us gathered here together, it is obvious, that just a short seven years later, the question no longer remains.” Vernon, one of those people who became attracted to Chabad, first affiliated five years ago when he learned Tacoma Chabad breaks ground on new synagogue JOEL MAGALNICK Editor, JTNews PAGE 6A X JAMIE FRANK

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Page 1: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

new

at professionalwashington.com

connecting our local Jewish communitywww.facebook.com/jtnews@jew_ish or @jewish_dot_com

60 years in the desert living holocaust study shana tovabooks for fall

september 3, 2010 • 24 elul 5770 • volume 86, no. 18

t h e v o i c e o f j e w i s h w a s h i n g t o n

7A 12A 18A sec. B

After seven years of praying in a basement, the cor-nerstone has been laid for Pierce County’s only Orthodox presence to have a synagogue of its own. On Sun., Aug. 29, approximately 200 people attended a Torah comple-tion ceremony and groundbreaking for Chabad of Pierce

County at its new West Tacoma home.“It was just a very, very uplifting experience,” said

Rabbi Zalman Heber, who opened the South Sound Chabad center when he arrived in Tacoma from New York in 2003. “There was a certain festivity in the air that

the Jewish community hasn’t seen in a long time here.”

The completion of Chabad’s Torah marks what is likely the only such cer-emony in at least 70 years — if ever.

“It’s really monumental, histor-ically, from that perspective,” said Earl Vernon, a Chabad member and member of the building project com-mittee.

Following the completion of the

Torah, in which supporters came up and wrote the final letters with the assistance of scribe Moshe Klein, the entourage danced with the Torah on a five-block walk to the city’s Professional Development Center, where Chabad holds High Holiday services and large events, for a dinner buffet.

In his remarks to the audience, Heber said that when he first arrived in Tacoma people questioned whether there was a need for a Chabad.

“By just looking at all of us gathered here together, it is obvious, that just a short seven years later, the question no longer remains.”

Vernon, one of those people who became attracted to Chabad, first affiliated five years ago when he learned

Tacoma Chabad breaks ground on new synagogueJoel Magalnick Editor, JTNews

Page 6a X

JamiE FraNk

Page 2: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

2A JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

CONSIDER THIS YOUR CALL TO ACTION.Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippurprovide us with an opportunity forreflection on the previous year.But the year ahead is still anopen book, full of opportunity to make the world a better place. Begin theNew Year with an act of tzedakah.Volunteer. Donate. Make a difference.

www.JewishInSeattle.org/DonateNow

WE ALL HAVE HOPES & DREAMS FOR THE

NEW YEAR.

Page 3: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews OpiniOn

letters to the editor

Write A letter to the editor: We would love to hear from you! our guide to writing a letter to the editor can be found at www.jtnews.net/index.php?/letters_guidelines.html,

but please limit your letters to approximately 350 words. the deadline for the next issue is september 7. Future deadlines may be found online.

“What did I do to deserve this privilege? How will I pass it on?” — Debbie Carlson, on her recent study tour of Holocaust sites in Budapest and Prague. See page 12A.

BlAtAnt discriminAtionI want to urge all members of the Jewish community to resign any membership that they

have with ADL.ADL is supposedly dedicated to fighting discrimination and defamation against people

because of their religion or nationality, among other objectives. The ADL claims that a Muslim center near the Trade Center is an affront to those killed in 9/11 and has taken a lead role in fighting against the center.

Apparently, the ADL has equated all Muslims with the terrorists responsible for the Trade Center disaster. This blatant discrimination against Muslims is exactly what the ADL used to fight against. They are stereotyping all Muslims as terrorists, by implication, and from their attack on the center, they are claiming that Muslims do not have a right to have a center near the Trade Center, along with all of the strip joints.

Stereotyping has always been used against Jews. Now an organization dedicated to fight-ing discrimination is engaging in the worst kind of discrimination, based on one’s religion.

If any of the members of our community are also members of the ADL, I am urging all to resign and never again give them financial support. The ADL is a disgrace to us Jews who have been fighting against bias, racism, prejudice, and discrimination. The ADL no longer deserves to exist and the only way to make sure that this happens is to cut off their finan-cial support.

Let all members of the ADL send a message to them: Resign from this bigoted organization.

John rothschildseattle

NEW YORK (JTA) — On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, many of us are haunted by the ubiquitous liturgical refrain asking, “Who shall live and who shall die?”

As I sit in synagogue and hear these words chanted over and over again, I can’t help but question whether the righteous are really being rewarded in a world where brutal leaders enjoy great material wealth while more than 1 billion people world-wide are hungry and too many cope with extreme poverty and overwhelming disas-ters.

On these Days of Awe, I am comforted by the empowering emphasis on repen-tance as a means to alter reality, to change ostensible fate. The centrality of repen-tance in our High Holiday liturgy and tra-dition affirms that our actions and choices can impact our personal fate and the fate of the world.

Our active role in pursuing justice is more important than ever today. Since January, when the worst natural disaster in the Western hemisphere in centuries hit Haiti, we have all seen images of mass destruction close to our shores that are unlike anything we could ever have fath-omed. Eight months after the earthquake, the circumstances faced by Haitians on the ground are still appalling. More than 1 million people are living in Internally Dis-placed Persons camps, where rain floods their streets, rape is on the rise, and too many basic services are not provided.

The Jewish community has been gen-erous in the aftermath of this disaster, doing our best to help in the emergency phase. But now we must hold our leaders accountable to addressing the long-term needs of the Haitian people.

In a recent report, the U.S. Senate For-eign Relations Committee identified 10 key elements for a successful, long-term rebuilding effort. These include creating a plan of action, building Haitian gov-ernment leadership, coordinating inter-national aid, and integrating the voices and interests of Haitian people into the rebuilding process.

It is this final recommendation that has not received nearly enough attention from the global community. The involvement of local civil society — people and organi-zations who know the needs, understand the culture, and can mobilize their nation — ultimately will determine whether Haiti can become a viable state.

American Jewish World Service recog-nizes this. Recently, AJWS funded the dis-tribution of thousands of hand-held solar flashlights to a camp where lack of elec-

tricity and streetlights rendered nighttime acutely dangerous, especially for women. Women were afraid to walk to bathing areas and latrines at night because rape and other forms of violence had reached epidemic proportions. Yet once the lamps were distributed, the women in the camp felt emboldened to organize safety patrols, acting as escorts for other women and cre-ating lit pathways.

These efforts, in turn, have spawned further community organizing, helping residents of the camp build self-esteem and begin income-generating activi-ties, and helping empower the people to change their circumstances.

This story illustrates that when we invest in building a future for Haiti, we must think not only about supplies and money, but also about how to harness the power and creative energy of the Haitian people.

Now we must insist that the U.S. gov-ernment follow five key strategies for aid in the months and years ahead:• Consult with Haitians from affected populations and sectors. To date, leaders of Haitian civil society have not had suffi-cient opportunity to participate in setting priorities. An example of the disconnect this vacuum has created was the recent fiasco in which the Agriculture Ministry accepted a multimillion dollar donation of seeds from a large multinational corpora-tion. The government did not solicit input from rural development groups concerned that this could foster costly, long-term dependence on imported seeds. Thou-sands of farmers marched in protest and pledged to burn the seeds, embarrassing the government and international donors who should have asked before assuming this solution met local needs. • Decentralize resources from Port-au-Prince to help build rural capacity. Both donors and the Haitian government must make more of an effort to understand the needs of the communities outside Port-au-Prince doing a great deal of the heavy lifting. AJWS’s grantees report that while almost all aid and rebuilding work is con-centrated in the city, hundreds of thou-sands of displaced people are moving into small villages that are hard-pressed to feed them, provide meaningful work, offer psy-chosocial support, and integrate children into their schools. These rural grassroots groups want desperately to absorb these refugees, and it is vital they do so. If they fail, and a reverse migration ensues, it will only exacerbate the problems with sanita-tion, shelter, water and personal security that are crippling the capital.

Holidays remind of what we still need to do in HaitiRuth MessingeR JTa World News Service

• Put Haitians back to work. Ultimately, the goal of reconstruction efforts must be to improve the Haitian standard of living by creating meaningful work opportu-nities. A study by Oxfam recently found that the biggest priority for Haitians is not food, water or shelter, but employment. Let’s use our aid dollars to create jobs and enable Haitians themselves to restart their economy. • Procure goods locally. An import-dependent economy worsened by the disaster has stifled the development of a domestic system that could generate jobs and revenue for the Haitian people — 80 percent of whom lived on less than $2 per day even before the earthquake. The best way to break this cycle of poverty and dependency is by procuring materials, food and labor from Haitian businesses. Funding local procurement also benefits American taxpayers, sparing us the costs of shipping, and eventually reducing the need for American aid altogether. • Ensure effective, accountable aid pol-icies. Congress is currently considering the Haiti Empowerment, Assistance and Rebuilding Act — a piece of proposed leg-islation that clearly articulates U.S. aid priorities for the $2 billion committed to Haiti. It sets up benchmarks for success and requires local procurement of goods and services, and also includes a transpar-

ent reporting and accountability system, so that both U.S. taxpayers and Haitians can see where the money is going and whether or not it is achieving the desired impact. You can lend your voice by send-ing a letter to your senator urging support for this bill, which we’ve posted on our Web site (ajws.org/takeaction).

Each year, we work to improve and refine ourselves, generating the inspiration and motivation to build a better world. In the days that follow, let us begin to put this aspiration into action, and let us do so humbly, side by side with those in need.

Despite a history of slavery, debt and subjugation, the Haitian people have a strong and resilient spirit. Even after this catastrophe, Haitians are not waiting for the international community to rebuild for them. Our vocal support for their efforts to organize at the grassroots level and to shape their own future represents the essence of the High Holiday season. It is the most important act of friendship we can offer them.

Ruth W. Messinger is president of American Jewish World Service, an international development and human rights organization based in New York.

Page 4: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

4A commuNiTy News JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

The Jewish Agency for Israel wishes you a sweet and happynew year and wants you to say:

Make your dreams a reality.Meet with your Aliyah Shaliach today.

[email protected]

השנה, בירושלים!This year in Jerusalem!

Do it for mama.Subscribe to JTNews, the voice of Jewish Washington and very best way to connect with our local Jewish community. In our comprehensive community calendar, you’ll discover the many ways to get involved — and pick what’s right for you. Get an inside look at community news makers, trend setters, and the stories that define us. Whether you read JTNews in print or online, please support the work we do by subscribing. Subscribe online at www.jtnews.net or call Becky at 774-2238 and she’ll get your subscription started right away. New subscribers pay only $36 for a full year.

Subscribe to JTNews.

CourTESy JDS

above, JDS students Robert, Noam, elyse, aliya and Madeline try to stay dry on their first day.

CourTESy SHa

Seattle Hebrew academy students try out the new climbing wall, acquired through an opportunity grant from the SaMIS Foundation.

CourTESy SJCS

above, second grader Lily is already working on her first day of school at the Seattle Jewish Community School.

CourTESy JDS

Below, Justin and Jacob try to get out of the rain on their first day of school at the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle.

School’s in!The kids were all excited to load up their backpacks and head to their first day of school at the Seattle area’s Jewish day schools.

CourTESy SJCS

at right, Jack shows off his new raincoat, which he needed on his first day of the 1st grade at the Seattle Jewish Community School.

Page 5: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews iNside

JTNews is the Voice of Jewish Washington. Our mission is to

meet the interests of our Jewish community through fair and

accurate coverage of local, national and international news,

opinion and information. We seek to expose our readers to

diverse viewpoints and vibrant debate on many fronts, includ-

ing the news and events in Israel. We strive to contribute to

the continued growth of our local Jewish community as we

carry out our mission.

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JTNews (ISSN0021-678X) is published biweekly by The Seattle Jewish

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STAff Reach us directly at 206-441-4553 + ext.

Publisher *karen Chachkes 267

Editor *§Joel magalnick 233

Assistant Editor Eric Nusbaum 240

Account Executive Lynn Feldhammer 264

Account Executive David Stahl 235

Account Executive Stacy Schill 292

Classifieds Manager rebecca minsky 238

Art Director Susan Beardsley 239

BOArd Of direcTOrSPeter Horvitz, Chair*; Robin Boehler; Andrew Cohen§; Cynthia

Flash Hemphill*; Nancy Greer§; Aimee Johnson; Stan Mark; Daniel

Mayer; Cantor David Serkin-Poole*; Leland Rockoff.

richard Fruchter, CEO and President,

Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle

ron Leibsohn, Federation Board Chair

*Member, JTNews Editorial Board§Ex-Officio Member

P u B l I S H e D B y j e W I S H T r A n S C r I P T m e D I A

T H e v o I C e o f j e W I S H W A S H I n g T o n

Remember when

inside this issuelAdino lessonWelcome to JTNews’ new feature, Language Lessons. Each issue we will alternate

between a saying in two of of the Jewish people’s archaic but still-used languages, Ladino and Yiddish. Cantor Isaac Azose, who leads weekly classes in Ladino, and Murray Meld, co-chair of the Seattle Yiddish Group, will give us a saying, then the translation, and an example of how it would be used.

Thanks to both for giving us a taste of history, but first some background from Cantor Azose on his first language:

The language of the Jews who were expelled from Spain is known invariably as Judeo-Espanyol, Judezmo or Ladino. Those in academia refer to it generally as Judeo-Espanyol and never as Ladino. They say that Ladino refers only to the language as written in holy books, such as the bible. Despite this, I, who was born to a Ladino-speaking mother and father, never heard them, or their contemporaries, refer to the language as anything other than Ladino. The Ladino Romance songs are referred to as Ladino Romansas. I belong to a Yahoo forum called Ladino Komunita (Ladino Community), in which all e-mails are writ-ten in Ladino.

En boka serrada, no entra moshka.In a closed mouth, a fly does not enter.In other words, if one opens one’s mouth (to say something) inappropriately, he could cause himself a lot of trouble.

From the Jewish Transcript, Sept. 6, 1929.

Leopold the violinist returns to Seattle after training in New York, starting his own studio after a five-year adventure that started with an extraordinary perfor-mance of High Holy Day music.

on the coverEran Zantkofsky and his son complete a letter of Chabad of Pierce County’s new Torah while Torah scribe Rabbi Moshe Klein guides them. This was the first known completion of a Torah in Pierce County, which also marked the groundbreaking for the Chabad’s new synagogue, which is expected to be completed late next year.

Diving into Hebrew 11ASeattle Hebrew Academy started the school year with a drastic change — its entire lower school is now engaged in Hebrew immersion. Seattle Jewish Community School is doing it, too, though on a smaller scale, and the Jewish Day School is beefing up its program as well.

on-site Holocaust education 12AThe Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center took a group of teachers from around the state to Europe this summer to see firsthand how the Holocaust affected the continent. Some of those teachers wrote about their impressions.

jewish stories — live! 16AACT Theatre and Town Hall, two mainstays of the Seattle arts scene, have come together to do dramatic readings of stories by Jewish authors. Read about the hows and whys.

fall books 18AWe’ve got our reviews for books for fall, and some great Jewish fiction abounds. See capsule reviews on page 19A.

Shana Tova Section BThe second section of this week’s paper has all manner of putting yourself into the mood for the High Holy Days, from the meditative to the gustatory to, interestingly enough, the humorous.

moreThe Synagogue Chronicles: Celebrating 60 years in the Tri-Cities 7Am.o.T.: A scholar and a fellow 8AA view from the u: Put in his place 10BWorld news 25Alifecycles 31AThe Shouk Classifieds 28A

Correction: Due to an editing error, the total amount of federal dollars going to local Jewish orga-nizations (“Federal grants boost local organizations,” Aug. 20) mislabeled which money was intended for security grants and which goes toward social services. JTNews regrets the error.

look for9-17-10Bar & Bat mitzvahs

10-01-10Jewish Weddings

Page 6: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

6A commuNiTy News JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

Kristin Maas is the Director of Public Affairs for QFC. She can be reached at [email protected] or 425-990-6182.

QFC proudly supports local charities each monthBy Kristin Maas, QFC Public Affairs Director

As fall approaches, I thought this might be a nice time to recap our Checkstand Charity of the Month program.

Our Checkstand Charity of the Month program not only raises funds for local nonprofit organizations, but it’s a tool to help educate people about these local organizations and the great work they do, through in-store signage, articles on our website, and advertorials that appear each month in local community news–papers, such as this one.

At QFC, we do not actively “sell” these charities at our checkstands. We don’t ask our customers if they’d like to donate, every time they come through our checkstands. Although this would raise substantially more money for each organization, we know that customers get downright tired of being asked to donate to a cause every time they come through a store. Therefore, we work to balance our customers’ experience in our stores with the fundraising needs of the organizations.And judging by the results, I believe we have reached a good balance.

We offer several ways that customers may donate to our Charity of the Month: n We have $1, $5, and $10 scan cards at each

checkstand. n We have coin boxes at each checkstand. n And we offer a 3¢ credit to customers for

every bag they bring in to reuse while grocery shopping in our stores. Customers may choose to keep this 3¢ credit and have applied to their bill or they may designate it for donation by QFC on their behalf. In 2009, we raised and donated more than $64,000 through this bag reuse program; 3¢ at a time.

The following is a brief, year-to-date, recap of the organizations QFC has supported and the funds we have raised through our Checkstand Charity of the Month program. n In January we had a new charity partner, the

Multiple Sclerosis Society. In four weeks, we were able to raise and donate more than $18,000 to this organization.

n February was “Go Red for Women”, benefiting The American Heart Association. Together, we raised and donated more than $15,000.

n In March we raised and donated nearly $24,000 to Treehouse in Washington and Trillium Family Services in Oregon, both benefiting local foster children.

n April is the month we support The Nature Conservancy. This organization has been a partner of QFC’s for more than 20 years. Thanks to the generosity of our customers, we were able to donate nearly $16,000 to The Nature Conservancy.

n QFC is the Local Presenting Sponsor of the Susan G. Komen Puget Sound Race for the Cure. In May, we raised nearly $28,000 through checkstand donations.

n With the start of summer, June is the perfect month to partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs. Together, we were able to raise and donate more than $20,000.

QFC will continue to support great local charities

throughout the year. We want to thank our customers and our employees for their incredible generosity and we look forward to helping more organizations together!

that because his mother had been Jewish, though not practicing, that made him Jewish according to halachah. He said the new synagogue “means that I have a place to pray, as well as my wife and family, which is significant.”

Tacoma has one other synagogue, the Reform Temple Beth El. The only orga-nized Orthodox presence in the city prior to Chabad’s arrival was Congregation Talmud Torah, which evolved into a Con-servative synagogue in the late 1930s. That synagogue subsequently merged with the then-Reform temple to become Beth El in the 1950s.

But given the size of the crowd at the event, there is clearly a demand for a more observant presence, despite the lack of services more available in Seattle such as supermarkets with kosher sections, a bevy of Jewish agencies, and a mikvah.

“It’s just what this area needs,” Vernon said, “some infrastructure to maintain a healthy Jewish community, and building a synagogue is a good start.”

Vernon challenged Jews in Seattle to help in supporting the buildup of Taco-ma’s Jewish community.

The photo opportunity of Heber in a hard hat and shovel alongside his father, Rabbi Shmuel Heber, Rabbi Shalom Ber Levitin, director of Chabad of Washington State, Chabad supporter Mark Friedman and state attorney general Rob McKenna

was in many ways symbolic. More than any-thing it marked the completion of the per-mitting process by the City of Tacoma to allow the tearing down of a five-car garage on a lot behind the property that cur-rently houses the Chabad to build a nearly 8,000-square-foot synagogue. They are still working on completing financing terms.

“The City of Tacoma should really be praised for granting us the land-use permit to build the building, because there was opposition to the project,” said Vernon. “They stood up for our consti-tutional rights, they stood up for cultural and religious diversity in Tacoma, and so it’s a good project.”

Some neighbors had opposed the proj-ect during a public hearing in Sept. 2008, with some of the complaints having tinges of anti-Sem-itism. The presence of elected officials at the event — Tacoma city manager Eric Anderson, Pierce County Councilmember Tim Farrell, Gig Harbor Councilmember Derek Yong, and Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor — showed the official support for the project. And many neighbors came out with cameras during the ceremony, with some joining in on the

celebration. “We hope that the neighbors embrace

this project and see the benefits to the greater community,” Heber said.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to build a strong Jewish community in the west end of Tacoma,” added Vernon. “I think that’s the ultimate end goal.”

CHaBaD W Page 1a Dancing from left to right, attorney general Rob McKenna, Mark Friedman, Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin, director of Chabad of Washington State, Rabbi Zalman Heber, director of Chabad of Pierce County, and Rabbi Shmuel Heber, Zalman Heber’s father, dance around the cornerstone at the Chabad’s groundbreaking on aug. 29.

Below: Mendel Heber, Rabbi Heber’s son, scoops some dirt.

JamiE FraNk

Page 7: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews The syNAgogue chroNicles 7A

L’shana Tova

u-meTukah

TikaTeivu

May you be inscribed for a good and sweet year.

Preschool–8th Grade 425-460-0260 www.jds.org

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February 13, 2011

Julie Lyss & David Loren Honorees

David Korch Lillian z’l & Charles z’l Kaplan Award

Julie Klein Gala Chair

Carl & Joann Bianco Herb & Lucy Pruzan

Honorary Committee

Seattle Jewish Community School 206.522.5212 www.sjcs.net

Back in 1950, 15 Jews got together to pray, socialize and celebrate holidays in Richland, a small town known for little other than being a major site of the Man-hattan Project during World War II.

This small gathering grew into Congre-gation Beth Sholom, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a gala on Sept. 26 at Anthony’s Event Center in Richland.

Located 83 miles from Temple Shalom in Yakima and 55 miles from Congre-gation Beth Israel in Walla Walla, Beth Sholom is the only congregation serving

the 250,000-strong Tri-Cities of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick. It is also the only synagogue of the three affiliated with the Conservative movement (Temple Shalom and Beth Israel are Reform).

Richland was chosen as a Manhat-tan Project site due to its location near the Columbia River, which could provide ample water to cool the nuclear reactors. Engineers, physicists and other valuable workers and their families relocated to Richland, and the town began to grow. With many Jews in the scientific profes-

sions, Richland soon became the home of a small Jewish commu-nity.

In its first year, what was then known as the Richland Jewish Con-gregation instituted a religious school, Bar and Bat Mitzvah train-ing, Shabbat services, and it acquired prayer books and created a constitution. Dues

Beth Sholom celebrates 60 years of serving Tri-Cities’ tenuous Jewish communityeMily keeleR JTNews Correspondent

Page 30a X

CourTESy BETH SHoLom

The home of Congregation Beth Sholom in Richland.

Page 8: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

8A m.o.t.: member of the tribe JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

1 The Bronfman Foundation has been sending small groups of select teens to spend a summer in Israel for 24

years now, and Mercer Island’s Madeline Brown was one of 26 North American young people to be selected for their five-week Youth Fellowship this summer.

Madeline had heard from a friend that the program was “incredible,” and she agrees.

The best part, she explained, was getting to spend time with “kids from all different backgrounds.” Participants represented major Jewish movements, and atheists as well. “You can discuss so much,” she says, from the theological to the political. “We learned a lot of Talmud…a lot of contemporary Jewish thought, poetry…exploring issues, social and political,” in Israel.

Like many visiting groups, they met with “influential figures” and “did a lot of hiking and traveling.”

She singled out a dawn ascent of Masada as a highlight. “It was really cool.” It helped, she explained, that “I’m kind of a history nerd.”

While attending Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder’s Girls High School for Judaics, Madeline, almost 18, is home schooled in general studies. She also takes college classes online and locally, includ-ing Latin at the University of Washing-ton and science at Bellevue College. “I love Latin and Greek,” she said, which she calls “windows to the past,” and enjoys reading ancient poetry in the original.

Madeline and her parents, Michael and Shelly Brown, attend Congregation Shevet Achim on Mercer Island, where she helps out in their kids’ program. She’s also a black belt in karate, for which she is training for her second degree, and has just taken up yoga. When she has time — which is not recently — she likes to make jewelry and other metalwork.

Back home, Bronfman fellows are asked to devise and lead local Jewish com-munity or social action projects.

“We view the summer as something much bigger than just five weeks in Israel,” said program director Rabbi Shimon Felix, calling Bronfman alumni a “talent bank for the Jewish people.” They include Rhodes and Fulbright scholars, Supreme Court clerks and authors, including Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) and Jonathan Safran Foer.

2 There probably isn’t a better spokes-person and cheerleader for the Washington State Holocaust Edu-

cation Resource Center than Jo Cripps, a Seattle Public Schools teacher who was a Memorial Library Summer Fellow at New York’s Holocaust Education Network in July. The City College of New York-spon-sored program brings together 25 U.S.

educators to improve Holo-caust education nationwide.

Jo started teaching the Holocaust about 10 years ago at a local high school with a high rate of bullying, homophobia and racism.

She came to the Holocaust Center on a “cold call,” she said. “I had no information, no curriculum.” The center, she said, “held my hand…loaned me books,” and sent her to numerous seminars, including one with the Jewish

Foundation for the Righteous.“They taught me everything I know.

They are amazing,” said Jo, now an expert in her own right, sharing what she knows with other local teachers.

She saw the positive effect of her teach-ing at the school. Bullying went down, hallway behavior improved, and the coun-seling department saw fewer referrals.

“What really shaped the kids was the speakers bureau,” she said. Hearing six or seven survivors’ personal stories each school year allows students to connect “in a way that a classroom teacher doesn’t.”

Research shows that Holocaust educa-tion increases civility in classrooms and hallways. “Kids who identify as under-dogs…start to see that any sort of bullying is unacceptable,” Jo said.

WSHERC’s program also connects the Holocaust with other genocides, con-temporary and historic. “Our center’s commitment to…genocide prevention is exceptional,” she said.

Ilana Kennedy, the Holocaust Cen-ter’s director of education, said it has been a privilege to work with Jo for the past-several years.

“She’s outstanding — her creativity, her skill, her ability to connect with her students, and her motivation to always keep learning inspire me,” Ilana said. “Our schools are better because of Jo.”

Jo now teaches the Holocaust in her current 7th and 8th grade classes at Seat-tle’s Alternative School #1, the last K–8 alternative program in the city. Writing is an important component of her approach, which includes the Holocaust Center’s invitation to students to use the center’s

A summer of learning • Israel and Holocaust education thrill student and teacherDiana BReMent JNews Columnist

tribe

Answers on page 27A

The Jerusalem Post Crossword PuzzleBy David Benkof

Across1. Taunt5. Dershowitz and Greenspan10. Downer14. Mideast’s Gulf of ___15. NFL owner Jeffrey16. Become chametz17. One kind of kosher dishes18. Righteous gentile Sendler19. Genuine20. Writer and illustrator, “Where the

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Harvey10. Something for Joseph to interpret11. Talk show hostess, 1993-200412. Tisha B’Av substance13. Bill of divorce21. Wrath22. Source of Biblical honey25. Stars on stage26. Beame and Vigoda28. Prison guard, in slang29. Ages30. ___ Ben-Canaan (“Exodus” hero)32. Torrents33. Ethnicity of 36-Across34. Baron of Jewish history36. Kind of yarmulke37. Good point38. Delivery vehicle39. More needy, perhaps45. Copper and zinc46. God, e.g.48. Birth-related49. “Limelight” actress Claire50. Talmudic commentator51. Pig ___52. Hamentash, e.g.54. Spain’s “Golden” one and others55. Following56. Penny, perhaps57. St. where Linda Lingle is governor58. Before, in verse

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honoring

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blog at holocaustcenter.blogspot.com. The center also put her students in

touch with the two Seward Park syna-gogues that were vandalized last Septem-ber. The students wrote letters of support and congregants responded. “It helped [students] see that they are part of a com-munity,” Jo said. “The whole point is to activate kids,” to get them past the horror and “to understand that they are global cit-izens and can make a difference.”

3 Correction: Many apologies to Rose Yu, one of the Congregation Beth Shalom STP riders profiled in the

last issue. Not only is she Jewish, but she is also a member of the synagogue. See a response from Rose on page 32A. Also, on day two the CBS team rode with Team Guts, which raises money for Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s Camp Oasis. Disproportionate numbers of Jews are affected by Crohn’s and Colitis, so it was significant for both groups.

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10A JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

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ENTWhile their students enjoyed vaca-

tions, the faculty at Seattle Hebrew Acad-emy spent its summer in the classroom — themselves as students. As students began classes this week, the school intro-duced Hebrew immersion into its Judaic Studies program for the upcoming school year, a major transition for students and teachers alike.

The change will be immediate and simultaneous: Instead of gradually imple-menting immersion with incoming classes, students at all grade levels at SHA will begin speaking Hebrew for half the day.

“The first month is going to be difficult, but hopefully we will get past that,” said Rivy Kletenik, head of school at SHA. “I think it’s going to be a transition that we are going to rise to.”

A major compo-nent of that tran-sition is TaL AM, a popular Hebrew curriculum for 1st through 5th graders already in use locally at the Jewish Day School of Metropol-itan Seattle in Belle-vue. JDS partnered with SHA to earn a $15,000 opportu-nity grant from the Samis Foundation. The grant will help offset the costs of educating teachers in TaL AM, fund a mentor to work with the faculty of both schools, as well as one teacher from the Seattle Jewish Commu-nity School, where TaL AM is being intro-duced only for 1st graders.

Nancy Cohen Vardy, who for the past decade has taught at JDS — which has used TaL AM since the curriculum’s inception —will serve in the mentor position. Cohen Vardy will move between the two schools, working to help both new and more expe-rienced TaL Am teachers. In addition to the SHA faculty, which is entirely new to TaL AM, and the SJCS 1st grade teacher, JDS has three new teachers for the 2010-11 school year.

“I am thrilled that she’s doing it,” said Maria Erlitz, JDS’ head of school, of Cohen Vardy. The mentor position was writ-ten into the grant with Cohen Vardy spe-cifically in mind. The role gives all three schools a chance to collaborate.

“I don’t think Samis would have funded the grant for just my three teachers,” Erlitz said.

Kletenik, who feels the transition to Hebrew immersion will have an imme-diate impact on her students’ education, echoed the enthusiasm. To her, the tran-sition is more homecoming than risk, and Hebrew is a crucial part of Jewish culture and education.

“We feel that if we really want there to be success with our students in Hebrew,

we’ve got to get to them much earlier,” Kletenik said.

The impetus for moving to Hebrew immersion came from an unlikely source: Kletenik was seated at a conference next to the head of a French-American school, who explained that their students spoke only in French, whether discussing litera-ture or passing a teacher in the hallway.

“She spoke with such great pride in that and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, what are we doing wrong?’” Kletenik said of the exchange. “We need to be doing so much more in our school because Hebrew is such a vital part of being Jewish.”

And for local Jewish day school stu-dents, TaL AM has begun to emerge as a vital part of learning Hebrew. TaL AM

was designed to integrate Hebrew with Jewish education for grades 1 through 6, treating Hebrew not as a second language but rather as a vital part of a cultural iden-tity. The Montreal-based organization has regional coordinators assigned to help schools all over the world implement the curriculum.

“I don’t have any knowledge about a better program that exists in the market for day schools,” said Shoshana Bilavsky, the new head of school at SJCS. Bilavsky said she wanted to take the year to evaluate the school’s Hebrew program before deciding to implement TaL AM beyond first grade.

Although SJCS is taking a slower approach to Hebrew immersion, Bilavsky is confident the transition at SHA will be a success. Faculty and parents at SHA share that confidence, said head of school Klete-nik.

“I’ve heard only excitement and enthu-siasm,” said Kletenik. “We feel that after a year of success we will be able to recruit to this program and be able to say that our students are studying Hebrew.”

And what of the challenges that come with reaching that point and actually get-ting students to speak Hebrew?

“Hebrew is a miracle,” Kletenik said. “After 2,000 years of it not being actively spoken, it became a spoken language. It is the only case in the history of the world that an ancient language was resurrected.”

Day schools dive into HebreweRic nusBauM assistant Editor, JTNews

CourTESy SHa

Kaden Oppenheimer leads a first-grade class at Seattle Hebrew academy.

Page 12: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

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Editor’s note: Earlier this summer, the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center and the Seattle-based Museum Without Walls took an entourage of 21 people —most of them teachers — from around Washington State to spend 12 days in Hungary and the Czech Republic to visit important sites related to the Holocaust and to meet people who had survived it. Two of the teachers wrote about the impact of their experiences to share with JTNews readers.

Travel, inspiration, and education. What teacher does not seek any oppor-tunity to experience these for personal enrichment? For this teacher, they all came together when offered the chance to travel to Budapest and Prague on a Holo-caust study trip. It was a real-life answer to a five-year goal. A curiosity and pas-sion for knowledge about all things Holo-caust-related, and a desire to plant seeds of compassion, tolerance, and service in the

hearts of my 8th grade students fueled my fire to go on this trip.

As our group walked the streets of what had been the Budapest Ghetto and I touched the remains of the ghetto wall, I knew I was in some sort of sacred sanctu-ary. As a non-Jew, I struggled with feelings of not belonging — I had not struggled and suffered. Somehow I was not worthy. I had to rely on my desire to know and under-stand so I could pass on to my own stu-dents a true picture of just how wrong it is to judge, punish, and murder people simply for their ethnicity and ancestry. We are all outsiders somewhere. I must teach them that we all belong everywhere. Every human being has value and worthiness.

The Budapest tour was rich with Hun-garian history and culture, magnificent architecture and loveliness, and the largest synagogue in Europe, but one small memo-rial on the banks of the Danube River will be forever imprinted in my mind: A group-

Teaching the teachers: a Holocaust study trip to Budapest and PragueDeBBie caRlson anD taMMy gRuBB

Page 13: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

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ing of bronzed shoes of all sizes and styles. These are the remains of the innocent, bru-tally shot straight into the Danube because they were deemed not worthy to live.

If the Budapest Ghetto was a sanctu-ary, this was the altar. I had read historical accounts of the evil Arrow Cross and how the blood of the Jews made the waters of the Danube “run red,” but seeing this Shoe Memorial sucked the air right from my lungs. There are no adequate words.

If my experience in Budapest included a sense that I was in a sanctuary, my expe-rience in the Czech Republic was one of visiting holy ground. I knew Terezìn was unique in the Nazi system of concentra-tion camps. As I was led on a tour of the prison and walked the streets of the village as it is today with two survivors from the

camp, Frieda and Eva, we stood in a tiny, only recently discovered Jewish Prayer Hall within the ghetto, I had a sense that I should speak only in whispers.

I was standing in what used to be a Nazi concentration camp. My mind did not focus on the horrible, unjust treatment of its former inhabitants; instead, all I could think about were the lives. The place had been full of children, men, women, and

young adults, most of whom never got the chance to live out their dreams and goals. How will I truly honor these people? Here were Frieda and Eva standing arm in arm smiling, laughing, and pointing out the window of the space they shared as pris-oners. They had been 14 years old, forced to work, starved, abused, humiliated, and now they live on and share them-selves with people like me who will prob-ably never really understand all that they

endured. What did I do to deserve this privilege? How will I pass it on?

One experience in the Czech Repub-lic that caught me off guard was our visit to the village of Lidice, just a few kilome-ters from Prague. There was never a Jew in town. It was Catholic. But, just as more than 6,000,000 Jews were brutally mur-dered during World War II, so were the people of Lidice. They were made scape-

goats for the death of Hitler’s number one man in Czechoslovakia. Lidice had been suspected of being against the Nazi occu-pation and for possibly harboring local resistance partisans.

For this, all of the men of the village were executed, the women and some children sent to concentration and death camps, and the “Aryan-looking” children, suitable for “Germanization,” placed with Nazi SS families while the village itself was bombed, burned, and leveled to the ground. All that remains are a few excavated foundations as part of a memorial. A few women sur-vived and returned to the new village of Lidice. We often read about concentration and death camp horrors, but it is not often we learn about attempts to annihilate entire villages. It is not that Hitler’s list of atroci-ties needs another example, but my Lidice experience gave me new insight into the need for respect of humanity.

Debbie Carlson teaches the 8th grade at Meridian Middle School in Kent.

This summer, a dozen other teachers and I had the privilege of taking a 12-day trip to Budapest and Prague through a Holocaust study program for educators developed by the Washington State Holocaust Educa-tion and Resource Center. In both cities, we spent time with scholars, survivors, and some local guides who generously gave

Page 14a X

Terezìn survivors of Frieda Soury, left, who traveled with the group from Seattle, and eva, right, who lives in Prague, in front of their former barracks. The two have remained close friends.

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®Home owners club of their time and expertise, helping us to gain a greater depth and breadth of knowl-edge, along with a greater perspective on the entirety of the Holocaust.

In Budapest we met Laszlo Csosz, a Hungarian Holocaust scholar who guided us on a walking tour of the Jewish Old Town. His passion and compassion for the history was compelling. We also met with Eva, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen, and lis-tened as she tearfully shared her unique story and told of the challenges she faced in getting that story to a wider Hungarian audience.

In Prague, we saw the Pinkas Synagogue to view the walls covered with names of vil-lages and families, all lost. Frieda Soury, a survivor of Terezìn, traveled with us, tell-ing her story and pointing out details and places from her childhood.

Much of what is well-documented and available for Holocaust study is from Western Europe and Poland, the history not buried under what was first Nazi and then Communist control. In Budapest and Prague, it was harder to find — hidden, shadowy, and in some ways forgotten until 1989 and the fall of the Soviet Union. It is starting to reemerge, be rediscovered, and relearned.

Without a doubt, experiences such as this have helped me—and other teachers—

become more informed about the history and impact of the Holocaust as it continues to play out, more than half a century later, across Europe and even around the world.

Study trips and other first-hand expe-riences and opportunities like this make teachers better; a highly trained, well-informed, and compassionate educator is the single-most important element to a quality education. I think this is especially true of Holocaust education and there is no doubt that WSHERC programs have helped me become a better teacher. Since 2005, center study trips have provided me the opportunity to travel to Holocaust sites in Poland, Berlin, and the most recent visit to Budapest and Prague. Each of these trips has afforded me the chance to see places and speak with people I could never access on my own. These sorts of “primary source” experiences have been invaluable in my classroom, helping my students and I understand the complex story that is the Holocaust.

Tammy Grubb teaches in the Eastmont School District in East Wenatchee.

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Saturday, September 4, at 9 p.m.eli roSenblattmuSicSeattle musician Eli Rosenblatt blends Klezmer and Afro-Cuban into sunny, danceable melodies. Listen for songs in English, Hebrew, and Spanish about topics ranging from love and dancing to outer space. The composer guitarist and vocalist will be leading a new nine-piece band. At the Nectar Lounge, 412 N 36th St., Seattle. Tickets at www.ticketweb.com.

WedneSday, September 15, 7:30 p.m.Keep YOur WIVes AWAY FrOm ThembookSEditor Miryam Kabakov and contribu-tor Elaine Chapnik will read from this anthology, in which women reconcile queerness with Orthodox Judaism. Keep Your Wives Away from Them includes personal stories from still-closeted writers and those who have come out and are now struggling to lead integrated lives. Other con-tributors include musician and writer Temim Fruchter, Professor Joy Ladin, writer Leah Lax, nurse Tamar Prager, and the pseudonymous Ex-Yeshiva Girl. At Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle. Kavakov will also read at Elliott Bay Book Co. on Sept. 12 from 2-3 p.m.

arts

Page 16: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

16A ArTs & eNTerTAiNmeNT JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

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“The interesting thing about many short stories is that they are wonderful live per-formance texts,” said Kurt Beattie, artistic director for Seattle’s A Contemporary The-atre. ACT, in conjunction with Town Hall Seattle, will perform dramatic readings of short stories by Jewish American authors on Sun., Sept. 12 at Town Hall.

“Short Stories Live: The Jewish Imagi-nation” was inspired by New York’s Sym-phony Space program, “Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story.” Former Town Hall executive director David Brewster created the Seattle-based event. Upon his departure, he asked Beattie to be curator, and Wier Harman took over for Brewster at Town Hall

For Beattie, this seemed like a natural collaboration.

“We have reconceived ACT in theatri-cal terms,” he said. “The point of our exis-tence is to create consciousness.”

The concept of the performance derives from a fear that short stories are becoming an endangered literary species.

“It’s going out of style,” Beattie said. “This program came about as a love for them.”

Choosing Jewish American short sto-ries emerged as an obvious choice.

“There is such a tremendous contri-bution of writers with Jewish heritage,”

Beattie said. The production will feature three works by influential Jewish writers: Saul Bellow’s “Looking for Mr. Green,” JD Salinger’s “Laughing Man” and Woody Allen’s “Hassidic Tales, With a Guide to their Interpretation by the Noted Scholar.” The stories will be dramatically read by actors Beattie, Frank Corrado and Chris Ensweiler.

The pieces were mainly chosen as a result of their authors’ influence on the lit-

erary landscape, their artistic quality and themes.

“Salinger and Bellow are foundational writers,” said Beattie. “Why not start with them?”

In the future, he would like to see sto-ries come from different viewpoints in the Jewish American world, particularly from younger generations and from women. For now, Bellow, Salinger and Allen not only have the name recognition, but their stories are also historically and culturally impor-tant. The “cultural obligation is to remem-ber,” Beattie added. “That’s one reason for starting with the older writers. If you don’t keep it in front of the public, it disappears...and what it has to teach us goes away.”

The stories are different enough to pro-vide variety, but their themes of personal, spiritual, and moral quests complement one another.

“Much of short story writing is about mortality, it’s about dysfunction,” Beat-tie said. “We all need redemption, and we all need to be entertained from time to time.”

In Bellow’s Depression-era “Look-ing for Mr. Green,” a white government employee’s search for a poor, crippled black man asks questions of not only race and identity, but also of the value of spiri-tual pursuit. On the other hand, Salinger’s

postwar “Laughing Man” depicts a child’s dim revelation about American grown-ups through an obsession with a grotesque fairytale. Finally, Woody Allen charac-teristically steps in for the last laugh with uncomfortable parodies of Hassidic tales.

Bellow’s and Salinger’s stories do not center around Jewish issues. Moreover, Bellow hated to be called a “Jewish writer” and Salinger barely ever identified as a Jew, which begs the question: What makes stories Jewish, and what makes writers Jewish writers, especially when Judaism itself is so hard to define?

Beattie defends the production’s choices.

event showcases works of well-known Jewish authorseMily keeleR JTNews Correspondent

Page 23a X

If you go:

“short stories live: the Jewish imagination” will be performed sun., sept. 12 at 4 p.m., downstairs at town hall seattle, located at 8th and seneca. tickets cost $10-$13. Visit www.townhallseattle.org or www.acttheatre.org for further details, and www.brownpapertickets.com/event/119971 for tickets.

CourTESy aCT

Kurt Beattie, artistic director of the aCT Theatre.

Page 17: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews 17A

B”H

Shluchim and RepReSentativeS of the lubavitcheR Rebbe o.b.m., WaShington State

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Lubavitcher Rebbe OBM

In memory of Shmuel ben Nisan O.B.M. — Samuel Stroum — Yartzeit March 9, 2001/14 Adar 5761Sponsored by a friend of Samuel Stroum and Chabad-Lubavitch. For more information on any of these events and/or service times in all Washington State locations,

please contact Chabad House at 206-527-1411, [email protected], or visit our Website at chabadofseattle.org.

These days at the end of the outgoing year, and on the eve of the new year, may it bring blessing to us all, call for self evaluation in respect of the year about to end, and — in the light of this self-appraisal — for making the necessary resolutions for the coming year.

Such a “balance sheet” can be valid only if the evaluation of the full extent of one’s powers and opportunities was a correct one. Only then can one truly regret, in a commeasurable degree, missed opportunities if there are any, and resolve to utilize one’s capacities to the fullest extent from now on.

The period of time before and during Rosh Hashanah is not only the occasion which demands spiritual stock-taking in general, but it also begs for a profound inner appreciation of the tremendous capacities which one possesses, as a human being — the crown of Creation, and as a Jew whom the Creator has given His Divine Law of Life (Toras Chayyim). For Rosh Hashanah is the day when Mankind was created.

When Adam and Eve, the first humans were created, the Creator immediately apprised them of their powers and told them what their purpose in life would be:

“Replenish the earth, and conquer it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:28).

Man was given the power to conquer the whole world and to rule over it, on land, sea and in the air, and he was enjoined so to do; this is his task.

How was this “world conquest” to be attained in the spiritual sense, and what is the purpose and true meaning of it? This is what our Sages teach us in this regard:

When G-d created Adam, his soul — his Divine image permeated and irradiated his whole being, by virtue of which he became the leader over the entire Creation. All the creatures gathered to serve him and to crown him as their creator. But Adam, pointing out their error, said to them: “Let us all come and worship G-d, our Maker!”

The “mission” which was given to man as his purpose in life, is to elevate the whole of Nature, including the beast and animals, to the service of true humanity, humanity permeated and illuminated by the Divine Image, by the soul which is veritably a part of G-d above, so that the whole of Creation will realize that G-d is our Maker.

Needless to say, before a person sets out to influence the world, he must first begin with himself, through the subjugation of the “earthly” and “beastly” in his own nature. This is attained through actions which accord with the directives of the Torah, the Law of Life — the practical guide

a RoSh haShanah meSSage fRom the Rebbe o.b.m.contRolling and tRanSfoRming oneSelf and the WoRld at laRge

The ‘charge’ to mankind, upon its creation — “Replenish the earth, and conquer it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

—Gen. 1:28

Chabad-Lubavitch of Washington State would like to wish the entire Jewish community a Wonderful & Blessed New Year.

in every-day living, so that the material becomes permeated and illuminated with the light of the One G-d, our G-d.

G-d created Adam and Eve and He imposed upon them this said duty and task. Herein lies the profound, yet clear, directive, namely, that each human being is potentially capable of “conquering and transforming the world.”

If a person does not fulfill his task completely, and does not utilize his inestimable divine powers, it is not merely a personal loss and failure, but something that affects the destiny of the whole world.

In these days of introspection, we are duty-bound to reflect that every one of us — through carrying out the instruction of the Creator of the World which are contained in His Torah — has the capacity of transforming the worlds. Everyone must therefore ask themselves, how much have they accomplished in this direction, and to what extent have they failed, so that they can make the proper resolutions for the coming year.

G-d, Who looks into the heart — on seeing the determination behind these good resolutions, will send His blessing for their realization in the fullest measure — in joy and gladness of heart, and affluence, materially and spiritually.

With the blessing of Kesivo Vachasimo Toivo for a happy and sweet year.

—Rosh Hashanah letter, year 5721

20th annual Yom KippuR SYmpoSiumTuesday, September 14 Mincha Services at 7 pm, Program at 7:15 pm

Refreshments will be served

Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch 6250 43rd Avenue Northeast, Seattle, WA 98115

Join community Rabbis for discussion and reflections on Yom Kippur concepts and Mitzvot.

Rabbi Simon Benzaquen Sephardic Bikur Cholim Congregation

Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin Regional Director, Chabad-Lubavitch Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch

Rabbi Moshe Kletenik Congregation Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath

Rabbi Bernard Fox Dean, Northwest Yeshiva High School

Rabbi Avraham David Rosh Kollel — Kollel Seattle

Rabbi Mordechai Farkash Director, Eastside Torah Center Kollel Seattle

Moderated by Rabbi Yechezkel Kornfeld Education Director, Chabad-Lubavitch Director, Chabad-Lubavitch, Mercer IslandRabbi, Congregation Shevet Achim, Mercer Island

Chabad-Lubavitch Annual Sukkot ConcertFeaturing the rising stars Mendel Simons & Choni ZuckerCongregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch

For more information or tickets, contact 206-527-1411 or e-mail [email protected]

Save the dateSunday, September 26, 2010

7:15 pm

Rabbi and Mrs. Sholom Ber Levitin Regional Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Pacific Northwest Rabbi, Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch

Rabbi and Mrs. Elazar Bogomilsky Director, Northwest Friends of Chabad Director, Friendship Circle

Rabbi and Mrs. Yossi Charytan Head of School, Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder

Rabbi and Mrs. Cheski Edelman Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Thurston County

Rabbi and Mrs. Yechezkel Kornfeld Educational Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Pacific Northwest Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Mercer Island Rabbi, Congregation Shevet Achim

Rabbi and Mrs. Zalman Heber Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Pierce County

Rabbi and Mrs. Eli Estrin Director, University of Washington Campus Activities

Rabbi and Mrs. Avrohom Yarmush Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Whatcom County

Rabbi and Mrs. Avroham Kavka Administrator, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Pacific Northwest Director, Gan Israel Day Camp

Rabbi and Mrs. Shmulik Greenberg Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Clark County

Rabbi and Mrs. Zevi Goldberg Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Snohomish County

Rabbi and Mrs. Avi Herbstman Educator, Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder

Rabbi and Mrs. Shimon Emlen Educator, Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder

Rabbi and Mrs. Mordechai Farkash Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Bellevue Rabbi, Eastside Torah Center

Rabbi and Mrs. Sholom Ber Farkash Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of the Central Cascades

Rabbi and Mrs. Yisroel Hahn Director, Chabad-Lubavitch of Spokane County

Rabbi and Mrs. Sholom Ber Elishevitz Educational Director, Eastside Torah Center

Page 18: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

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Though modern Israel’s creation is not a direct result of the Holocaust, and despite new generations that have grown up or emigrated there, its legacy still weighs heavily on the country’s authors. Still struggling to come to terms with the magnitude of that genocide, they claim it in their own words, sharing memory and vision before the survivors are gone.

Recent books from two of Israel’s most popular novelists tackle the Holocaust from a child’s perspective, one during, and one after the war.

Aharon Appelfeld’s latest novel pub-lished in translation is Blooms of Dark-ness, (Schocken, cloth, $25.95). Now 78, Appelfeld has made Holocaust remem-brance the focus of his prolific career.

While he often uses allegory (as in his last novel, Laish), here he tells a more realistic tale through the eyes and words of a child. Hugo — sheltered and some-what immature — has just turned 11 in the ghetto when his mother tells him he must go into hiding. He spends the rest of the war in the closet of his mother’s child-hood friend, a gentile Ukrainian prostitute, whose love as much as anything allows Hugo to survive the end of the war. Appelf-

eld manages to capture the child’s confu-sion and naiveté by sticking rigorously to Hugo’s sad and confused perspective.

Another beloved Israeli novelist, Haim Sabato, picks up the post-Holocaust nar-rative in Israel in the early 1950s. The Miz-rachi rabbi uses his childhood memories as the basis of a thinly veiled fictional account

of his first years as a refugee in Israel in From the Four Winds (Toby, cloth, $24.95).

Sabato’s family came from Egypt and our young (2nd grade) narrator is finding his new home quite confusing. His mother is busy with her younger children and his father works day and night, so no one is available to explain this odd custom of

wearing costumes for Purim.“And why would they dress up on

Purim as a cowboy or an Indian? And what was a cowboy anyway?... I ruminated on the Hebrew word ‘cowboy’ and tried to think of its origins. Of course I didn’t dare ask.”

But through his childish puzzling about the new world into which he’s been thrust, young Haim becomes aware of the expe-riences and the suffering of his European neighbors during the war, compounding their poignancy through his youthful and innocent observations.

Sabato also paints a wonderfully vivid picture of life in a resettlement neighbor-hood in 1959, with its varieties of immi-grants and their attempts to get along.

The Holocaust is at the center of an excellent debut novel, Sara Houghteling’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Vintage, paper, $15), but this story focuses on Paris before and after the war and the tragedy of a dif-ferent kind of annihilation — the looting and destruction of France’s most valuable art by the Nazis.

Max Berenzon is the son of one of Paris’ most successful art dealers. His father

Fall books: excellent new Jewish fictionDiana BReMent JTNews Columnist

Page 20a X

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fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews fAll books 19A

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Shana Tova from

SuspenseThe Executor,

by Jesse Keller-man (Putnam, cloth, $25.95). The author is the son of two famous novel-ists (Faye and Jonathan), so you may have fallen into the trap of dismiss-ing his work. If

so, climb out quickly: Kellerman fils proves a worthy heir. The prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author and playwright wins praise all around. He does not mimic the action-packed writing of his parents here, but uses most of this crime novel to paint an in-depth portrait of his main character, the failed philosophy student Joseph Geist. There’s not much Jewish content here, although Joseph’s ex-girlfriend is from an Iranian-Jewish family. No spoilers here for this enjoyable and suspenseful read.

The Last Ember, by Daniel Levin (Riv-erhead, paper, $16). A very good debut by Levin, a good-looking young lawyer with a classics background whose main character is…a good looking lawyer with a classics background. I assume the similarity ends

there as that character, Jon-athan Marcus, is unwittingly thrust into an a r c h e o l o g i c a l Rome-to-Jeru-s a l e m - a n d -back mystery that spans 2,000

years. It’s a formulaic thriller made more interesting by the ancient Jewish subject matter and intrigue involving a lot of bad guys who should be good. No spoilers here either, but here’s a general thriller take-away: if you think you’ve killed someone, make sure they’re really dead before you walk away.

BiographyGilded Lily, Lily Safra: The Making of

One of the World’s Wealthiest Widows, by Isabel Vincent (Harper, cloth, $25.99). Authored by a veteran investigative jour-nalist, this is a book for those interested in the lives of the rich and famous, in true crime, and maybe just for the voyeur in us. Lily Safra is the widow of the wealthy Bra-zilian-Jewish banker Edmond Safra, found dead after an apartment fire in Monaco in 1999. An accident, or murder? Eleven years later it’s still unclear. Four times married to wealthy men, twice widowed,

twice divorced, Lily still travels in wealth and style.

L o u i s D . B r a n d e i s , b y Melvin Urof-sky (Pantheon, cloth, $40). In writing this very long (700-plus pages) biogra-phy, Professor

Urofsky of the University of Virginia had access to personal and professional doc-uments never before available. The book focuses on Brandeis’s adult life and career from graduation from Harvard law school before age 21, to his involvement in the American Zionist movement (he visited Palestine in 1919), to his appointment

to the Supreme Court . Urof-sky makes sure we know Bran-deis tried to cor-rect economic injustices he saw in this coun-try, problems that included “manipulation of stocks and

securities, the overweening power of big banks, irregular employment, and, of course, the curse of bigness.”

ValuesEvery Day,

Holy Day: 365 Days of Teach-ing and Prac-tices from the Jewish Tradi-tion of Mussar, by Alan Morinis ( T r u m p e t e r , paper, $17.95). The daily guide-lines and teach-

ings offered in this little book are taken from Mussar, a Jewish spiritual tradi-tion that asks us to pay attention to our extreme traits — good and bad — and through study, bring them back to a bal-anced center. Developed in 19th-century Lithuania and almost obliterated during the Holocaust, Mussar is again becom-ing popular. Each page includes a read-ing from rabbinic, Talmudic and Torah sources, a key phrase, an instruction for each day, and a small area in which to make notes.

Renewal: A Guide to the Values-Filled

Books in brief: Suspense and family valuesDiana BReMent JTNews Columnist

Page 21a X

Support JTNews. Subscribe. Online at www.jtnews.net

or call Becky at 774-2238.

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20A fAll books JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

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guides him to medical school, insisting he lacks the instinct for the family business. After the war he and his father return to Paris from their hiding place in the coun-try to find their gallery and home looted and occupied. Anxious to prove his worth, Max goes to the brink of madness trying to locate the things most important to him: The family paintings, his best friend, and his paramour, who becomes the key to the mystery of the artworks’ fate.

Houghteling based her book on exten-sive research and interviews. It’s through her we feel the pain of the loss of these great works of art, few of which have been recovered.

Modern Israel is the location of Amer-ican Joan Leegant’s captivating first novel Wherever You Go (Norton, cloth, $23.95). Intriguing and well crafted, Leegant tells the stories of three very different Ameri-cans in Israel for equally different reasons: A young woman trying to connect with her estranged sister who lives in a religious

settlement; a young man with a famous father trying to carve out a radical identity for himself; and a scholar, a baal teshuva, struggling to find his place in the Ortho-dox community in which he teaches. Their lives collide dramatically as Leegant subtly demonstrates the destructive nature of religious extremism and the political and religious contradictions in that country.

Finally, a little off topic — although one could argue a link between Medieval Europe, the Holocaust and Israel — comes a clever novel from Kenneth Wishnia, The Fifth Servant (Morrow, cloth, $24.99). Wishnia combines an intricate historical novel with a classic murder mystery, all while demonstrating excellent knowledge of Jewish texts. The setting is Prague in 1592 and Benjamin has arrived in the city to work as a shammes for the famous Rabbi Lowe — or is that shamus? Almost as soon as he arrives, a young gentile girl is mur-dered, Jews are accused, and clever Ben-jamin must save the Jews from Christian wrath. It’s a complicated plot, but an enter-taining offer that meets lots of interests.

FaLL BOOKS W Page 18a

Over the next year, the Washington State Jewish Historical Society will be creating Yesterday’s Mavens, Today’s Foodies: Tradi-tions in Northwest Jewish Kitchens, a cook-book with recipes and photographs that tell the stories of Jewish families throughout the Pacific Northwest. Through the lens of the kitchens of your grandmother, your chil-dren, and you, this book will create a slice of the region’s unique Jewish history that illu-minates Sephardic and Ashkenazic tradi-tions, and combines them with the pioneer spirit of the Pacific Northwest, its bounty of food products, fresh produce and its grow-ing “foodie” culture. But WSJHS needs your recipes!

Find details online at www.wsjhs.org/cookbook.htm, and send stories, photos and recipes no later than Sept. 30, 2010 to [email protected] or via mail to Lisa Kranseler c/o WSJHS, 2031 Third Ave., Seattle, WA 98121. For further informa-

tion, contact Cindy Masin at 206-232-2626 or [email protected] or Carol Starin at 206-325-1631 or [email protected].

Seeking the recipes you grew up with

CourTESy WSJHS

Kathy Fishman’s aunt Sylvia with her artichoke nibbles — one of the many photos to be included in the Washington State Jewish Historical Society’s upcoming cookbook.

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Join us! Log on to jtnews.net and enter your e-mail address in the “join our mailing list” box. Do it right now!

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May the New Year bring health, happiness & prosperity

to you & your family

State Representative Marcie (Halela) Maxwell

41st Legislative District Bellevue, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Newcastle, Renton

[email protected] www.marciemaxwell.org

Citizens for Marcie Maxwell, PO Box 2048, Renton, WA 98056

Best Wishes for a Sweet and Fruitful New Year from Seattle Chapter Hadassah

Visit our website - www.seattle.hadassah.orgFor membership information and donations call the office at 425.467.9099 or email [email protected]

NEW OFFICE: Seattle Chapter Hadassah515 - 116th Ave NE, Suite 131, Bellevue, WA 98004

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Fluent in Spanish

L'Shana Tova

Life, by Shmuley Boteach (Basic, cloth, $22). Cul-tures teach values, but the vast-ness, prosperity and diversity of America has cre-ated a cultureless society. Boteach, the popular TV rabbi , returns

with more insight into what’s wrong with America today, offering spiritual and eth-ical guidelines for change. “We’re the wealthiest nation on earth,” he writes, “and consume three-quarters of its anti-depressants.” The reason? “Embracing the wrong values.” Our superficial desires are conflicting with our deepest needs for sacred time, enlightenment and gratitude.

BrazilContemporary Jewish Writing in

Brazil, edited by Nelson H. Vieira

(Nebraska, cloth, $60). This intriguing collection illustrates similarities and dif-ferences between North and South Amer-ican Jews of the early 20th century, who frequently came from the same parts of Europe, and the influence of local culture

on the succeed-ing generations. Readers will find the exotic and the familiar both in these stories and book excerpts, plus a fascinat-ing introduction to the history of Jewish writing in Brazil.

FamilyI Only Want to Get Married Once, by

Chana Levitan (Gefen, paper, $12.95). A practical and accessible guide for those wishing to cut through the haze of infat-uation that often begins romantic rela-tionships and figure out if that guy or gal is right for you. The Jerusalem-based

author and coun-selor hopes to give people the tools they need “to create a suc-c e s s f u l m a r -riage…the first t ime around.” Her advice can also be used to help with prob-lems in a current

relationship or understand a past divorce.A Baby at Last! The Couple’s Com-

plete Guide to Getting Pregnant, by Zev Rosenwaks, M.D., and Marc Goldstein, M.D. (Simon & Schuster, paper, $15.99). This book, authored by two doctors from the “trailblazing” fertility program at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medi-cal Center, offers a good starting point for couples who think they might be having problems conceiving. (Seattle doctors have blazed quite a few trails in the fer-tility field as well.) Covering causes, emo-tional responses and treatment, the book also includes a chapter on getting preg-

nant after cancer as well as alterna-tive medicine.

First Aid for J e w i s h M a r -riages, by Rabbi Daniel Schon-buch (self pub-lished). At one t i m e , R a b b i S c h o n b u c h (Sweet Book?), a

marriage and family counselor who works with Orthodox couples, might have pho-tocopied his advice, put it in a binder and offered it to his clients as part of treatment. Now, thanks to the new world of self-pub-lishing, he can take those same materi-als and make them into a book, which you can buy at jewishmarriagesupport.com. While the book suffers from some of the usual problems of self-publishing (poor layout, lack of proofreading), there is good basic advice here for couples with problems.

Sandra LevinYour Home, My Commitment

specializing in real estate on mercer island and the eastside

Associate Broker Residential Specialist

206.949.2845 [email protected] www.sandralevin.com

New Year Greetings!

BOOKS IN BRIeF W Page 19a

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22A JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

Wishing all our family and friends

a healthy and Happy New Year

Herman and Faye Sarkowsky Cathy Sarkowsky & son Max

Steven Sarkowsky, Stacy Lawson & sons

Noah & Shiah

L’Shana Tova

Linda & David Stahl

& Family

a good, sweet and healthy year!

Marcie, terry and Fraser wirth

Jessica and Zach duitch

A year of health and happiness for all.

Alvin and SheilaKATSMAN

Leslie, Bruce, Suzanne, Haley & Faith,

Ralph, Lisa, Marisa & Danielle

A Good & Sweet Year!

Bayla, Louis, Mordechai, Avraham and Shmuel Treiger

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Allan & Roberta Pease Amie & Julie

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a happy new year, filled with love, good health and peace.

To families and friends:

Wolf & Frieda HallMary, Esther, Alan, Chuck,

Susan & Grandchildren & Great Grandson

To our members and friends Happy, Healthy & Peaceful

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Mildred Rosenbaum

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a good & sweet year!

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alexis adler Zoe & Max Katz

Brock & diana adler gabriello & rafaello

Jack & Sue BarokasRobert Barokas

Leonard & Marjie Barokas Jackson Brian & Callie Susan

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A Good & Sweet Year to our relatives & friends!

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A Healthy & Sweet Year! Peace for All

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& Family

Page 23: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews world News 23A

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“There are writers of Jewish origin who hate the idea of being identified as ‘Jewish’ writers,’” he said. However, “the mind has to have categories in order to understand the world...it’s not about how the writ-ers would define themselves. It’s just the fact of it.”

Furthermore, he added that American culture defines each writer’s Jewish nature. The gap between American culture and ancient Judaism “creates huge ambivalences...and acute intellectual inquiry.” According to Beattie, the Jewish voice of “Looking for Mr. Green” asks, “I came from somewhere else...am I really here? Do I belong here? How do I know somebody else?”

Regarding Salinger, Beattie said, “Now it’s the nuclear world. It’s the world of aggressively materialistic America that is lacking a kind of spiritual compass, and the Glass family and the whole range of people that come into his stories are people who are in one way or another out-siders, who are aware of this vacuity.”

Allen, said Beattie, is the “crystalli-zation of mordent Jewish humor that is authentically — could only be — Ameri-can and Jewish.” He added, hesitatingly, that underneath Allen’s comedy there is a

moral conversation going on. “The responsibility to live a moral life

is at the heart of Woody Allen,” he said. “There has to be a higher authority to which we appeal...but are we living under absurd conditions that come to us from the past?”

Overall, Beattie sees Allen’s stories as good old comic relief. “They’re kind of celebratory, too. They’re fun. They’re just goofy.”

When a Jewish-centered production like “Short Stories Live” reaches the greater population, many people will, inevitably, ask: “Is it good for the Jews?”

Beattie believes that modern Jewish viewers may relate to the characters.

“You’re out there, existentially, on a limb, and you have to make a decision about how to deal with it,” he responded. “And an aptitude for philosophy is a tradi-tion in Jewish intellectual life.”

By performing short stories by Jewish-born writers, the production attempts to keep both the genre and the culture alive. The short stories contain a dramatic con-text well suited to the stage. Beattie’s pas-sion for the project is evident.

“I am delighted by the fact that they leap off the page,” he said. “It’s quite extraordinary.”

aCT W Page 16a

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration is backing a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-yahu that he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meet every two weeks during peace talks.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated privately and publicly that he hopes to meet with President Abbas every two weeks,” George Mitchell, the senior administration official brokering talks, said in a briefing Tuesday, two days before the formal start of direct talks. “We think that is a sensible approach.”

Abbas has not yet said whether he will commit to such intensive talks. Netanyahu and Abbas were set to meet Thursday for their first direct meeting brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, which was set to last three hours.

The sides have yet to set the parameters for talks; U.S. officials were in intensive efforts to peg them down by Thursday.

“We want to see not just a successful process going forward but an understand-

ing that we will be going forward,” P.J. Crowley, the State Department spokes-man, said in a separate briefing.

Mitchell said the United States planned to be “actively involved” in the process but would not be present at every meeting.

“The United States will play an active and sustained role in the process,” he said. “That does not mean that the United States must be physically represented in every single meeting.”

U.S. officials said they would insist that Netanyahu address settlements during the meetings and consider extending the 10-month partial moratorium he imposed on settlement expansion that lapses Sept. 26.

Abbas has said he will walk out if Netan-yahu does not sustain the moratorium. Netanyahu is under pressure from hard-liners in his Cabinet to restart building.

In his briefing, Mitchell held out the possibility that Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip and sees

u.S. backing biweekly netanyahu-Abbas summitsRon kaMpeas JTa World News Service

Page 31a X

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24A JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

A Good & Sweet Year!

George & Carolyn (Puddin) Cox

Natalie Ray Brooke & Breanna

Austin CoxAdam RayAlexis Cox

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Al Sanft Brina & Louie

Mark & Nettie Cohodas Samantha & Ben

Richard & Barrie Galanti Sam, Oliver & Rachel Ada

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Sara Kaplan David Kaplan & Susan Devan

Sydney Kaplan Daniel & Miriam Barnett

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A Good & Sweet Year!

Stan & Iantha SIDELL

Mark, Leslie, Leah & Hannah

Scott, Pam, Sydney & Emma

Benjamin & Brooke Pariser

Wishing all our family & friends A Happy & Healthy New Year

The Wald FamilyFanny

Lauren & MatthewCarl, Karen, Sean

Lou, Julie, Aaron, Jessica

L’Shana Tovafrom

The Madison Park CafeKaren Binder

L’Shana Tova

Carole & Alvin PearlJoy & Craig Pearl

Zoe, Jack & HarrisonMargaret & Tad Pearl

Jamie & LaurenTracey & Shanin Specter Silvi, Perri, Lilli & Hatti

Sara Blumenzweig and Family

Wishing our children and grandchildren and all our friends a Happy New Year!

To All Our Friends & RelativesA Happy & Healthy New Year

Barbara & Morgan Barokas Janni, Jerry, Stephen & Nicole Morgan Jaffe

Laurie, Michael, Joshua Alan & Aaron Michael Barokas Howie, Karli, Zachary Harvard & Jacob Evan Barokas

Joey Rubenfeld

To all our friends: A Sweet and Healthy New Year

The Spektor FamilyMichael, Wendy, Jordan and Jeremy

A Good & Sweet Year!

Rosenblatt Johnson FamilyJackie, Gary, Josh & Joseph

Page 25: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews world News 25A

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SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Robert M., 58, worked for a news organization in the San Francisco Bay area until Septem-ber 2008, when he lost his job in layoffs that eliminated 15 percent of the compa-ny’s workforce nationwide.

Robert had eight months of savings. They ran out in six months.

After 14 months of unemployment, in December 2009 Robert turned to San Francisco’s Jewish Family and Children’s Services for help with rent, utilities and, hardest of all, food.

“It was gut wrenching,” said Robert, who asked that his last name not be used. “I’d contributed a lot to charities over the years, including JFCS. My wife and I gave to the food bank regularly. Now we were on the other side.”

It sounds apocryphal: Former donors to a Jewish charity reduced to seeking help from that very same organization. But as more and more Jews are caught up in the recession, now two years running, food banks across the United States are report-ing the same phenomenon. Middle-class Jews, professional Jews, young people with families — they’re out of work, their sav-ings are gone, and they are showing up for help at Jewish social service agencies.

With unemployment extensions about to run out for many, the problem is expected to worsen.

“In addition to the poor and the work-ing poor, which we’ve always served, there’s been a substantial increase the past 18 months among the middle and upper-middle class who are not in a position to make it, yet are not poor enough to get benefits” from government, said William Rapfogel, CEO and executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Pov-erty in New York.

Even so, the myth persists that Jews are affluent.

“There is denial of the degree of need in the Jewish community,” said Barbara Levy Gradet, executive director of Jewish Com-munity Services in Baltimore. “We have young families as well as retired people looking for work. This is an equal-oppor-tunity recession.”

The Met Council in New York, which serves the largest number of Jewish poor in the nation, distributes food packages at 60 sites in New York City’s five boroughs, part of the $3.5 million in food aid it gives out every year.

Fifteen thousand households receive the packages — up from 9,000 a year-and-a-half ago — and virtually all are Jewish. Whereas before the recession the Met Council saw a lot of haredi Orthodox fam-ilies and the elderly, there has been a dra-matic increase over the last two years in non-haredi Orthodox families and the non-observant, Rapfogel said.

One of the Met Council’s new clients is a 53-year-old grandmother who had an administrative job in a Jewish day school but was laid off in June 2009. She’s still collecting unemployment, which she sup-plemented a few times with food vouchers from the Met Council.

It’s impossible to know just how many Jewish poor there are in America. A 2004 study by the federation umbrella organiza-tion — now known as the Jewish Federa-tions of North America — found 730,000 Jewish individuals, or about 15 percent of the country’s Jewish population, living in economic distress either below or slightly above the federal poverty standard. That was before the current recession.

The federal poverty guidelines them-selves are woefully outdated, say many

experts in the field. They are set at $10,830 annually for an individual and $22,050 annually for a family of four.

“Today, $10,000 does not seem liv-able,” said Joshua Protas, vice president and Washington director of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs.

The JCPA is working in Washington to prevent proposed cuts to the Supple-mental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (formerly known as the federal Food Stamps program), as well as the child nutrition reauthorization bill, which pro-vides 19.4 million children with free or subsidized school lunches, among other things.

“That includes a substantial Jewish population,” Protas said.

Ironically, the U.S. Senate recently passed its version of the bill that proposed funding in part by making additional cuts to SNAP. The JCPA is trying to head off similar cannibalization in the House of Representatives version of the bill.

In addition, the Washington office of the Jewish Federations is working to pre-vent a proposed 25 percent reduction in the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which provides supplemental economic relief to millions of Americans through faith-based community programs and public providers. The cuts would be for fiscal year 2011, which begins Oct. 1.

But many Jews in desperate economic straits fall outside the purview of these federal programs. For them, the private Jewish charities are their only lifeline.

In Seattle, Jewish Family Service’s food bank has seen a definitive upswing in requests.

“We’re a straight up 20 percent increase from a year ago, July to July,” said Carol Mullin, JFS’s director of emergency ser-

vices. But, she cautioned, they have not yet seen the worst.

Where some of that increase can be attributed to the expansion of the Seattle food bank to accommodate more users, there is also an uptick in requests from unemployed professionals for other emer-gency services as well, such as rent, utility payment and health insurance assistance. With unemployment benefits starting to run out for many of these people, Mullin said even the past month has been nota-ble for requests from people who had been working in the high tech and real estate sectors, to name a few.

“We’re really starting to see people who are done with all rounds of extensions in unemployment,” Mullin said.

Fundraising has increased among indi-vidual donors in the past year, and JFS hopes its annual food drive, which begins at the High Holidays, will allow the agency to not have to purchase as much food as it has in the past two to three years to feed its clients.

“It really stretches everything out for…the autumn to winter quarter, which is a time of great need for us,” Mullin said.

San Francisco’s Jewish Family and Children’s Services, which serves about 65,000 mainly Jewish individuals a year, had one food pantry two years ago. Now the organization has five, one in each county it covers.

Executive director Anita Friedman says two-thirds of the program’s food cli-ents signed up within the past year.

“There has always been a small group of chronically poor in our community, but the tsunami is the thousands who have recently lost their jobs,” she said. “Insur-ance, banking, finance, the tourist indus-try, anything related to real estate — all these have been really hurt.”

as recession drags on, middle-class families forced to turn to Jewish food bankssue FishkoFF JTa World News Service

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26A JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

Jennifer, Joel, Ben and Oscar

Magalnick

A Good & Sweet Year!

Best Wishes,Val, Karen,

Debbie & Lori Robins

L’Shana Tova to our relatives and friends

Dean, Gwenn, Robert & Andrea

Josh & Sam Polik

L’Shana Tova and

A Good and Sweet Year!

Jerry & Esther Schor and Rita Leshner

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Fred & Michelle Cohen

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Nate & Judy Ross

Neil Ross & Liz Davis

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Amy Sidell

Sheila & Craig Sternberg & Family

Carol & Alan Sidell & Family

Judith & Marc Sidell & Family

May the blessings of peace, good health and happiness be yours throughout the coming year.

Lucy & Herb PruzanAdam Pruzan

Aaron & Tamsen Pruzan Noah, Nathan & Neve

Alan & Juliet Waller Pruzan Eli

A Good & Sweet Year!

Zane & Celie BrownMelissa, Zane, Rebecca & Mira Brown

Keely & David Berkman

Page 27: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010 . www.JTNews.NeT . JTNews commuNiTy cAleNdAr 27A

Health & Happiness in the New Year

Esther DruxmanLet's Talk Real Estate

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Candlelighting TimesSeptember 3 7:28 p.m.September 10 7:14 p.m.September 17 6:59 p.m.September 24 6:45 p.m.

satuRDay 4 septeMBeR9:15–11:45 p.m. — Selichot Program — B’Charta B’Chaim

Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or

[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.orgJoin congregation beth Shalom for havdalah and a facilitated discussion on rabbinic conversations about the high holy days. Followed by dessert and Selichot service. no charge. rSVp requested. at congregation beth Shalom, 6800 35th ave. ne, Seattle.

sunDay 5 septeMBeR5 p.m. –7 p.m. — CTeen kickoff Event

Rabbi Sholom Ber Elishevitz at

425-957-7860 or [email protected] or cteencentral.comthe local chapter of cteen, a national network for Jewish teens, will hold its kickoff event, discussing the themes of self-discovery, world-view, and how to make the world a better place. at 16908 ne 16th pl., bellevue.

WeDnesDay 8 septeMBeR6 –7:30 p.m. — Prospective member open House

Marjie Cogan at 206-524-0075 or

[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.orgFor new and prospective members, an opportunity to schmooze and nosh with rabbi Jill borodin and other members of the cbS community. at congregation beth Shalom, 6800 35th ave ne, Seattle.

satuRDay 11 septeMBeR9–10 a.m. — meditation Through Breath and movement

Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or

[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.orgthis Shabbat morning practice with Sarah lindsley takes place on the 2nd Saturday of the month. use breath and movement to relax your body and come to a more conscious awareness of the present. Starts promptly at 9 a.m.. rSVp requested. no charge. at congregation beth Shalom, 6800 35th ave ne, Seattle.

MonDay 13 septeMBeR7 p.m.–9 p.m. — Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State’s September meeting

[email protected] or www.jgsws.org

michael Steinore will show how to use czarist decrees for genealogical research and discuss the various myths and realities of Jewish life during that period. at the Stroum Jewish community center auditorium, 3801 e mercer Way, mercer island.

tuesDay 14 septeMBeR7–8 p.m. — Book of Jonah with mark Solomon

Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or

[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.orgthis high holiday preparation class is an introduction to the book of Jonah for learners at all levels. the class will examine the structure of the story and, through rabbinic and modern sources, try to answer some fundamental questions. no hebrew knowledge required. no charge. rSVp requested. at congregation beth Shalom, 6800 35th ave. ne, Seattle.

7–8 p.m. — ometz Lev with Shirah Bell Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or

[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.orgdiscuss the ometz lev with mussar instructor Shirah bell. rSVp requested. at congregation beth Shalom, 6800 35th ave. ne, Seattle.

7 p.m.–9 p.m. — 20th annual yom kippur Symposium

206-527-1411 or [email protected]

or chabadofseattle.orgJoin community rabbis for discussion and reflections on yom kippur concepts and mitzvot. refreshments will be served. at congregation Shaarei tefilah–lubavitch, 6250 43rd ave ne, Seattle.

8:15 –9:15 p.m. — resurrection in Judaism with Jeremy alk

Carol Benedick at 206-524-0075 or

[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.orga look at the M’chavei HaMeitim blessing in the Amidah and discussion of Jewish ideas of resurrection, after-life and reincarnation. no charge. rSVp requested. at congregation beth Shalom, 6800 35th ave ne, Seattle.

WeDnesDay 15 septeMBeR6:30–8:30 p.m. — Tashlich For Survivors of intimate Partner abuse

Michele Lifton at 206-461-3240 or

www.jfsseattle.org/uploads/pdf/Taschlich_2010.pdf (PDF)an evening of discussion and ritual, led by danica bornstein, mSW, licSW. this event is open to survivors of intimate partner abuse and women with controlling partners. all levels of Jewish observance are welcome. rSVp for location.

sunDay 19 septeMBeR10 a.m.–12 p.m. — JFS Food Sort

Jane Deer-Hileman at 206-861-3155 or

[email protected] Join the community to help sort the food collected in Jewish Family Service’s 2010 bag hunger Food drive. rSVp for location.

For a complete listing of events, or to add your event to the JTNews calendar, visit www.jtnews.net. Calendar events must be submitted no later than 10 days before publication.

cal

Page 28: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

september 3, 2010 @jtnews

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Traditional Jewish funeral services provided by the Seattle Jewish Chapel. For further information, please call 206-725-3067.

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Page 29: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

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Vision Improvement Center of Seattle, PSJoseph N. Trachtman, O.D., Ph.D.

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Senior Services

Jewish Family Service206-461-3240☎☎www.jfsseattle.org��

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CPAs (continued)

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Hyatt Home Care Services, LLCIn-Home Care Aides

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Catering

Leah’s Catering, Inc. Seattle’s Premier Kosher Caterer

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Certified Public Accountants

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Congregation Beth Shalom Cemetery206-524-0075☎☎[email protected]☎✉

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Hills of Eternity CemeteryOwned and operated by Temple De Hirsch Sinai

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insurance

Abolofia Insurance AgencyBob Abolofia, Agent

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Eastside Insurance ServicesChuck Rubin, agent

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Mohelim

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Martin A. Rabin, D.M.D., P.S. Kirkland: 425-821-9595☎☎Seattle: 206-623-4031☎☎www.rabinimplantperio.com��

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Financial Services

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Page 30: JTNews | September 3, 2010 Section A

30A The syNAgogue chroNicles JTNews . www.JTNews.NeT . fridAy, sepTember 3, 2010

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were set at $5 per year. In 1956, the con-gregation received a Torah rescued from Europe, and in 1959 they built the syna-gogue. From then on, the Richland Jewish Congregation went by Congregation Beth Sholom. In 1983 it affiliated with the Con-servative movement.

Beth Sholom is entirely lay- and vol-unteer-led, with the exception of its reli-gious school teachers, who receive a modest stipend. Membership dues have increased since 1950 to $175 per year for a young adult or single retiree, $350 for a single adult or a retired couple, or $700 for a family. Rabbis come in to lead High Holiday services and special programs, but otherwise congregants lead services every Friday night and Saturday morn-ing. A women’s league hosts an informal book club, runs the kosher kitchen, and supports the Sunday school and holiday events.

“We keep doing it,” said secretary and communications chair Jerry Lewis. “We celebrate the holidays. We put up a sukkah every year and celebrate and eat in it. We

actually do a lot. We have a chevra kedisha [burial society]. We have a nice little library of Judaica and Jewish-related books.”

The community hovers around 60 members, many of whom are increasing in years. With octogenarians sometimes con-stituting up to half the minyan and fewer than 10 kids in the youth group, there is some question as to the future of the con-gregation.

“It’s a little bit scary,” said Lewis. “What’s going to happen?”

He hopes the gala will be a chance to reconnect with members they haven’t seen for a while.

“It would be nice to feel like the con-gregation was rejuvenated a little bit,” he added.

Work and family, not Jewish vibrancy, are what bring people to Richland. Jona-than Berliner, a 24-year-old with a degree in physics, math and economics from Columbia University, moved to Rich-land from New York to work for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Back in New York Berliner was the president of Yavneh, Columbia’s large Modern Orthodox community. Like

other young, connected Jews in Eastern Washington, Berliner does not see himself staying in Richland forever.

“Even looking at the non-Jewish com-munity, there aren’t a lot of people in my age group,” he said. “The dating scene is nonexistent.”

Even so, Berliner enjoys the lack of pressure. “Sometimes I appreciate the slow pace here. It’s important to see the world outside of New York,” he said.

Berliner also notices less pressure from the synagogue to expand and acquire members. He observes that community members “express themselves in different ways.” For example, the members at poker night may not be the same ones at Shabbat services. Programs suit different interests. This fall, activities will include educational programs through the Jewish Learning Institute on medical ethics and interpret-ing the Holocaust today, as well as regular holiday activities. Shofar making is a pop-ular recurring workshop.

While turnout is never very high for any particular event, optimism lives.

“We have different spontaneous groups that are getting together, and that’s kind

of encouraging,” said Lewis. “We had a Hanukkah bazaar that actually turned out to be pretty successful. We ran out of can-dles more than once.”

Regarding long-term planning, though, the congregation’s big event is expand-ing the cemetery. Lewis sees this not as depressing but as a sign of optimism that the community isn’t going anywhere.

Lewis also thinks that bringing a more permanent rabbi to the community could increase turnout, and plans to do so are under consideration. A rabbi would “provide a spiritual focus for the congregation and to provide that kind of pastoral presence,” he said. When a rabbi from Spokane came to speak, Berliner noticed that “the people who showed seemed to really want something.”

That rabbi, Jack Izakson, formerly of Temple Beth Shalom, will lead High Holi-day services this year.

“There are some things to look for-ward to, yet there is still much potential for growth,” said Berliner. For now, Congre-gation Beth Sholom leadership is looking forward to its 60th anniversary gala and gen-erating renewed interest in the community.

SyNagOgue CHRONICLeS W Page 7a

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How do i submit a Lifecycle announcement? Send lifecycle notices to: JTNews/Lifecycles, 2041 Third Ave., Seattle, WA 98121E-mail to: [email protected] Phone 206-441-4553 for assistance. Submissions for the September 17, 2010 issue are due by September 7Download forms or submit online at www.jtnews.net/index.php?/lifecyclePlease submit images in jpg format, 400 KB or larger. Thank you!

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Happy New Year

Death NoticeJoshua Isaac July 31, 1972–August 2, 2010

Joshua Bondi Isaac, 38, was proud of the life he lived. He died on Monday, August 2, 2010 after a decade-plus battle against epithelioid sarcoma.

Above all he was most proud of being a husband to his beautiful wife, Kim Haas Isaac, whom he met in 1991 at Camp Solomon Schechter, where they were both camp counselors. They married on August 20, 1995 in Tacoma. The two had three wonderful children, a source of constant joy — Jacob, Sam, and Sophie. Josh cherished time with his family and, despite the protracted battle with cancer, he made the most of the last few years devoting that time to his wife and kids. They took many trips together and made lasting memories celebrating all moments of life by living each day as a blessing. Although he was dying, these were the happiest days of his life.

He was born and raised in Seattle. A product of the public school system, he graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1990. He went on to pursue his education at Whittier College. He was active with the Orthogonian Society and Whittier Scholars program, where he made lifelong bonds of brotherhood with members of his pledge class, the Untouchable 11. He graduated with a self-designed major called Images and Thought.

His studies built on his love for writing and film, which he took with him when he began his career at the Shoah Foundation. He worked there as a librarian helping to document Holocaust survivor testimonies. In 1997, he moved to Baltimore with Kim and landed a job as a writer in the corporate communications department of Baltimore Gas

life

Express yourself with our special “Tribute Cards” and help fund JFS programs at the same time…meeting the needs of friends, family and loved ones here at home. Call Irene at (206) 861-3150 or, on the web, click on “Donations” at www.jfsseattle.org. It’s a 2-for-1 that says it all.

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and Electric. While working in Baltimore, he continued his education, achieving a Master’s degree in Creative Writing and Publication Design. In 2001, he moved his family back to Seattle, where they bought the house he grew up in from the estate of his parents. He continued his career in corporate communications, joining Microsoft in 2002 as a writer and media producer, where he worked until 2010.

First diagnosed with cancer in 1998, Josh endured multiple chemotherapies, radiations, and surgeries over the years — including the amputation of his left hand. Josh used his creativity to help deal with the situation, making a documentary in 2007 called My Left Hand, which screened locally and won many honors and awards.

Among his hobbies, he loved creative writing and poetry, and sharing his works through poetry readings and on his blog. He remained active in the Jewish community and continually supported Israel as well as keeping involved with Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle, the synagogue his parents helped found.

Josh is preceded in death by his parents Walter and Miriam Isaac. He is survived by his

wife Kim; sons Jacob and Sam and daughter Sophie; his brother Marc and their dear family, Suzie, Eli and Rina; his sister Shauna and her husband Alan. He is also survived by his in-laws and close family Henry and Kate Haas, Gerda Haas, David and Sharon Haas, and Sue and Sarah Haas. He also will be missed by the Rozanek family in Bellevue, uncles Hymie and Freddie Rosenblatt and family in Winnipeg, and the Pinsky family in Vancouver. Also, he also leaves several very good friends behind. He’ll be loved and missed by many.

The funeral took place on August 4. The Isaac family extends their thanks to the Beth Shalom community, Microsoft Corp., and the University of Washington for their unyielding support during this trying time.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Isaac Children’s Educational Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank account #9688563676, or to Congregation Beth Shalom, or The Northwest Sarcoma Foundation.

Read more about Josh’s life at blogs.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/alan_feiler/broken_light/.

wwwwww.jtnews.net

Abbas’ government as illegitimate, might yet join the talks.

“We do not expect Hamas to play a role in this immediate process, but as Secre-tary of State Clinton and I have said pub-licly many times in the Middle East and the United States, we welcome the full partic-ipation by Hamas and all relevant parties once they comply with the basic require-ments of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite,” he said.

Mitchell, who successfully steered Northern Ireland talks in the 1990s, noted that talks were under way for 15 months before Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army’s political arm, reversed policy and agreed to similar terms.

A Hamas leader, however, insisted that violence was the only path forward for the Palestinians.

“As a Palestinian leader, I tell my people that the Palestinian state and Palestinian rights will not be accomplished through this peace process,” Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Damascus, told a sympathetic Huffington Post blogger in an interview. “But it will be accomplished by force, and it will be accomplished by resistance.”

Meshaal confirmed that his officials have been in indirect talks with American officials.

“We know very well that some non-U.S. officials we meet with report to the admin-istration,” he said. “We are interested in meeting with the Americans and the West, but we do not beg for these meetings and we are not in a hurry.”

PeaCe TaLKS W Page 23a

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Editor’s note: This article was written by Rose Yu in response to the Aug. 20 issue’s M.O.T.: Member of the Tribe column in which Yu, who is Jewish and Chinese, but was referred to as being non-Jewish.

I grew up with a bit of anti-Semitism. I knew a handful of Jews in my youth and my first experience was a negative one. Yet inexplicably I’d been drawn to Jews.

Here is my history of Jewish acquain-tances:1. The lawyer who helped my family immi-grate to the US from Taiwan when I was eight years old. (He was wealthy — he owned a farm and horses — and came across as being better than we were. Per-haps my dad didn’t like feeling indebted to him).2. Daniel, a high school classmate who did not want to take me to prom.3. A Delta Gamma sorority sister (I chose her to be my “big sister”).4. Gail, a friend at my first job post-col-lege (Her family had great connections to dressmakers in New York).5. Many classmates at Stanford Universi-ty’s Graduate School of Business. I mar-ried one of them.

I went to Stanford, in part, so I could meet a Chinese mate. Instead, I fell in love with Stephen, whom I didn’t think was

Jewish because he didn’t look it to me and his last name was Brown.

Sixteen years after we were married, my children and I converted to Juda-ism with Rabbi Jill Borodin of Congrega-tion Beth Shalom and the Conservative Beit Din. When my daughter Nora and I emerged from the mikvah we were greeted with such joy my face still lights up reflect-ing back on that day. Coincidentally, the Shabbat immediately following the Jewish Federation shooting in July 2006 was when we chose to celebrate the occasion with our community. We didn’t know if people would show up for fear of other shooters. Three hundred people came — affiliated and unaffiliated Jews along with invited friends — to demonstrate solidar-ity for the Jewish people. I was reminded of the gifts and burdens of joining this reli-gion and this people.

Rabbi Borodin invited me to speak about my journey to conversion for Rosh Hashanah that year. While my son Ash-er’s developmental disabilities provided my initial spark to seek God, many other people, events and miracles led me to rec-ognize and honor my Jewish soul.

One of the people was Denis Walsh, an amazing educator at the Leadership Insti-tute of Seattle who helped me broaden my definition of diversity and deepen my

appreciation of identity development. During a facilitated exercise in my

Master’s program, Denis brought me to my “point of intolerance” with Kevin, a Caucasian classmate who grew up in China as a missionary’s son. Kevin felt he was part Chinese. I thought his claim was ridiculous. You are a privileged white male in America, I righteously thought to myself. Kevin was not Chinese in the only way I recognized, which was ethnically Chinese, so I rejected his self-definition. I knew I was being doctrinaire, but I was helpless to rescind my decree.

I dream I had in which I saw my own death gave me a sense of clarity, as I real-ized that my struggle with Kevin was really a manifestation of my own internal strug-gle around my identity. I had not been able to reconcile the idea of being Chinese and Jewish. Proud of my Chinese heritage, I knew I could not be Jewish in the way ethnic Jews are Jewish.

Unlike other religions, Judaism is com-plicated because it is both a religion and a people. Some identify as Jewish culturally but not religiously; others are converts like me, drawn to the religion but who come from a different cultural background. And there are Jews who identity both culturally and religiously. In light of these dichoto-mies, I can understand how JTNews might

have made that reporting error and iden-tified me as a non-Jew in the article “Beth Shalom shows up for STP bike ride.” Nei-ther my looks nor my name announce my Jewishness. What troubles me was why it was necessary to draw that distinction between our team members.

Identity development for an individ-ual and in groups is fundamental to who we are as human beings. For survival purposes, tribal affinity was necessary to determine who was friend or foe. Yet the process is often taken for granted and evolves at an unconscious level. By taking a closer look at how we decide who we are, we have the possibility of transcend-ing some of the historical biases and prej-udices that keep us from welcoming the stranger.

If Jews are asking others for their toler-ance and acceptance, how are we extend-ing that same hospitality to non-Jews as graciously as our forefather Abra-ham? How do we include and exclude others in ways that contribute to tikkun olam? As the High Holidays approach, I am reminded of the remarkable life I’ve been given and my gratitude that I can finally accept myself as being both Jewish and Chinese — and Kevin as my Chinese brother.

Shana tova.

on being Chinese and jewishRose yu Special to JTNews