OpinionVolume 78, Number 6 • March 28, 2012 • 5 Nissan 5772

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Cover Art by Jackie Olenick(see About the Cover, p.3).

2 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

mess hall. At the last minute, all of the 45waiters got scared and were going to leave.

At that time the Catholic Church ruledwith an iron hand. They had instructedtheir members not to listen to the religiousservices of any other religion. Bernsteinran and found their Catholic chaplain whoknew some Italian. She asked him to tellthe waiters that half of the service would bein Hebrew which they would not be able tocomprehend and the other half would bein English, also not understandable to themwithout a translator. He convinced themthat they would not be violating any rules.

There was a Jewish chaplain fromCaserta Army Headquarters who hadabout 300 of the Maxwell House CoffeeHaggadahs that he brought for the men touse. On the night of the Seder about thatmany soldiers showed up in their hospitalrobes. Probably less than half were Jewishbut the men had heard there was going tobe a great meal! There was no way to tellwhich ones were Jewish so they acceptedall of them. All sat down and participatedin the Seder. None of the other hospitalshad a Passover Seder that year because nonehad a Jewish dietitian. It turned out to bea wonderful evening for all in attendance.

This story and others will be part of abook titled, Sir, I come from Indiana: Truestories of a female in a man’s army in Italyduring World War II. Jessie Bernstein mether future husband, David Bernstein, z”l, aU.S. soldier in Naples when someonepointed out to her that they were bothfrom Indianapolis.

There was only one synagogue inNaples during the war. Because there wereapproximately 500 bombings of that area,the rabbi and cantor had left. She andDavid were married during the war by theshammas of that synagogue. (A shammasis a person who assists in the running of asynagogue.) After the war they returned to

This week I received a check for a two-yearsubscription renewal. You might be thinking,“Nothing earthshaking about that.” If I toldyou it was from a woman who is 102 yearsold you might reconsider.

Perhaps she has lived to that age becauseshe has always been optimistic and a positivethinker. I call it chutzpah to subscribe not forone, but two more years when most peopleover 98 do not even buy green bananas. Bizhundert un tsvantsik! (You should live till 120!)

For this Passover issue I am reprinting my editorial from March 18, 2009. (Jessieturned 95 in December.)

This editorial is dedicated to Jessie(Levin) Bernstein. It is a story about aPassover Seder that she organized in 1944in Naples, Italy. She was a dietitian for theUnited States Army and she served sixstation hospitals at that location startingin 1943 for a year and a half.

In the beginning of 1944 there had beena lot of artillery and airplanes droppingbombs. After the fighting subsided and acouple of months before Passover, sheasked permission to hold a Seder for theJewish soldiers who were hospitalized inher area. The army issued her cans of beefwhich she immediately exchanged forcanned chicken.

Naples is a port and when she heard theNavy was in town, she got a driver and ajeep to take her to talk to the Navy captainso she could see about getting more fooditems for the Seder. He was not Jewish butwas very supportive of her mission. Hetook her canned chicken and exchanged itfor what turned out to be much tastierfrozen chicken on the bone. She also wasable to get a half grate of fresh eggs. Theyhad dehydrated eggs which were no comparison to fresh eggs which no onehad seen for more than a year.

The officers were already being favoredwith fresh fruit and vegetables so she wasable to get those fresh greens for the Sederplates along with the fresh eggs. TheJewish Federation saw that they got all ofthe matzah and Mogen David wine theyneeded for the Seder. She used whitesheets on the tables for tablecloths.

There was only one Jewish cook but allthe cooks pitched in. There was one littlehand grinder that was used to makematzah meal for the matzah balls for the soup. About two weeks before theSeder, Bernstein put notices about thedate and time on the bulletin boards of allsix hospitals.

She didn’t want the hospitalized soldiersto have to stand in line for a Seder so shehired 45 extra waiters who were friends ofthe wait staff who worked in the officer’s

Editorial Inside this IssueEditorial.....................................................2Rabbi David Wolpe

(Why Faith Matters) ...............................2About the Cover ......................................3Rabbi Benzion Cohen

(Chassidic Rabbi).....................................3Melinda Ribner

(Kabbalah of the Month) .........................4Bits of Wit .................................................4Amy Hirshberg Lederman

(Jewish Educator) ....................................5Rabbi Jon Adland

(Shabbat Shalom).....................................5Rabbi Moshe ben Asher andMagidah Khulda bat Sarah

(Gather the People)..................................6David Bruce ..............................................7Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso ..............7Rabbi Irwin Wiener

(Wiener’s Wisdom)..................................8Ted Roberts

(Spoonful of Humor) ...............................9Howard Karsh

(Jewish America) ...................................10Seth Ben-Mordecai

(The Roads from Babel) .........................10Rabbi Steven M. Leapman

(Addictions Counselor) .........................11On this Day in Jewish History ...........11Avi and Adele

(Confidentially Yours) ...........................12Irene Backalenick

(Jewish Theater).....................................13Morton Gold

(As I Heard It).......................................14Rabbi David Zeller, z”l ........................14Rabbi Elliot B. Gertel

(Media Watch).......................................15Rabbi Israel Zoberman

(Book Review)........................................16Tami Lehman-Wilzig ............................16Dr. Morton I. Teicher

(Book Reviews) ......................................17Sybil Kaplan

(My Kosher Kitchen) .............................18Sybil Kaplan

(Seen on the Israel Scene)......................20

Indianapolis and raised three sons. Theoldest became an attorney and theyounger two became rabbis.

Chag Pesach Sameach!!Jennie Cohen, March 28, 2012 AAAA

1427 W. 86th St. #228Indianapolis, IN 46260email: jpostopinion@gmail.comphone and fax: (317) 405-8084website: www.jewishpostopinion.com

OpinionPost&The Jewish

Why FaithMattersBY RABBI DAVID WOLPE

The first words a Jew is to say uponwaking are addressed to God: “Modeh AniLifanechah...” I am grateful before You.Gratitude – before we think about thetasks, the schedule, our problems, oursadness, before even our anticipation andour joy. Thankful to be alive. If we beganeach morning in that spirit, how muchmore beautiful our days would be. ~ 3-23-12

Rabbi Simcha Bunim taught that everyperson should carry two pieces of paper,

j i (see Wolpe, page 3)

March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 3

PesachWe wish all of our readers and all of

Israel a Kosher and a Happy Pesach.Pesach is always a special time for me.Pesach is the holiday of redemption. Ourancestors were slaves in Egypt. Hashemsent Moses to take them out of Egypt andshow them how to find real freedom.

I, too, grew up as a slave. Not in Egypt,but in America. Not physical slavery, spir-itual slavery. I was taught “Look out fornumber one.” Take care of yourself.Nothing else, nobody else, matters. Learna good profession, make a lot of money.Then you can buy a beautiful house and afancy car and find real happiness.

My life was a misery. We had a nicehouse and a Chevrolet station wagon, but sowhat? Other people had nicer houses inbetter neighborhoods, and drove Cadillacs.Baruch Hashem, I was healthy, but so what?I wasn’t on the football or basketball team,and I wasn’t very popular at all. I had veryfew friends. True friendship comes whenyou really love and care for others. I wastaught to love and care only for myself.

I suffered for many years. Finally,Hashem had mercy on me. He sent Mosesto take me out of Egypt, to help me findreal freedom. In every generation there isa Moses. The Moses of our generation isthe Lubavitcher Rebbe. We believe that heis the long awaited Moshiach, who willbring complete and final redemption to eachand every one of us and all of the world.

The Rebbe and his followers showed methe way to freedom and happiness. Live alife of Torah and Mitzvos.

What is the difference, for example,between football and Torah? At the end ofa football game, one team and their fansare happy. They won. But the other teamand their fans lost. They are sad. And thepoor boys who wanted to join the teambut weren’t good enough are even sadder.

When we live a life of Torah, everyonewins, everyone is happy. If I give charity, Iam happy. I just did a big Mitzvah. Theperson who receives the charity is alsohappy. Now he can buy himself somelunch, and he won’t be hungry.

Love your fellow man. Don’t be selfish.

Do you want to be happy? Easy enough!Go out and make someone else happy! Tryit! It really works! Five days a week I visitthe geriatric ward at our local hospital. Iknow some of the patients there for years.We have come to love each other a lot. Inthe beginning, I would smile at them andgive them a blessing and some love, andthey would smile back. Now, wheneverthey see me they already smile. It warmsmy heart and soul.

We are living now in a very special time.The Rebbe told us that our generation isthe last generation of the exile, and will bethe first generation of the final redemption.If we only open our eyes, we can see thatthis is really happening, right now.

I, personally, found freedom andredemption, and so have many millionslike me. Dictators are falling left and right.For thousands of years the nations of theworld made war with each other. Nowthey are making big efforts to help eachother and bring peace to the world.

The Rebbe also told us that this is alsodependent on each of us. It is up to us tocomplete this process. We ourselves haveto work to bring freedom and redemptionto ourselves and to all of the world. How?By living a life of Torah and Mitzvos, bylearning and following the teachings ofthe Rebbe, we can find personal freedomand happiness. Then we can be a goodinfluence on our family and friends, andall of those who come in contact with us.They will see that we are living a good andhappy life and will be inspired to followour example. Who wants to be miserable?Learn the secret of happiness and share it,until all of world will be free and happy.

Our rabbis taught us that in this month,the month of Nissan, our fathers wereredeemed from Egypt, and in this monthwe too will be redeemed. Let us make areal effort that it should happen this year.

We want Moshiach now! Long live theKing Moshiach!

Rabbi Cohen lives in K’far Chabad, Israel. He can be reached by email at bzcohen@orange.net.il. AAAA

BY RABBI BENZION COHEN

Chassidic Rabbi

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Shmot: From Darknessto Light – fromSlavery to FreedomBY JACKIE OLENICK

This sweet picture tellsthe story of the exodusfrom the time Moses wasrescued until we rejoiceand receive the Torah at Sinai. This is acompanion piece to “Breisheit.” They worktogether as a set, or stand beautifully on their own. A beautiful addition for“children of all ages.” This signed piecemeasures 12x14”in the double mat and isprinted on fine art velvet paper witharchival ink.

Olenick creates Judaic illuminations inseveral mediums based upon her favoriteTorah text, psalms and prayers. She alsodesigns personalized, illuminated ketubotfor the bride and groom. The images created are joyful, contemporary,inspirating, and speak to issues that guideus on our day-to-day journey. They areintended to bring blessing and holyreminders to every Jewish home. She also creates beautiful spiritual jewelryappropriate for men, women and teens.All jewelry is designed with words andsymbols, to bring one closer to the sacred,to lift one up and open ones heart.

Olenick presents and teaches hands-onworkshops for temples, schools andorganizations where participants of allages and all levels of skill can learn aboutJudaic art and create their own uniquepieces for their home.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi hashonored Olenick as an artist and artisan inthe Sacred Guild of the Disciples of Betzalel.Two of her images are included in the setof the Coen Brothers movie, A Serious Man.

The Union of Reform Judaism (URJ) hasselected several of Olenick’s images forbook, CD and songbook covers. Manyimages adorn greeting cards, which can bepurchased at fine gift and Judaica shopsthroughout America.

The artist’s work has been exhibited andextensively collected throughout Americaand is in private, organizational and synagogue collections.

She works in several mediums includingacrylic and collage/multimedia, for whichshe is noted. Olenick has created bold andbright, large pieces that are appropriate for a temple or can serve as a focal point ina home.

Olenick is married to Rabbi/ChaplainLeon Olenick. They have three grown

children and nine grandchildren, fromwhom she constantly draws inspirationand naches.

To see more of her artwork, go towww.cybershuk.com. Also check onFacebook and Twitter. AAAA

About the Cover

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one in each pocket: in one pocket, “For me the world was created.” and in theother, “I am but dust and ashes.” When we have moments of self loathing take out the first; in moments of grandiositythe second. Our souls are poised betweengreatness and nothingness; in knowingboth are we blessed. ~ 3-21-12

From Facebook posts of Rabbi Wolpe.Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Temple Sinai in Los Angeles and author of several booksincluding Why Faith Matters. AAAA

WOLPE(continued from 2)

4 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

Below is a meditation that I have sent outfor several years right before Passover. I stilllike it and do not feel the need to write something new, even though Passover is allabout ushering in the new. Pre-Pesach timemay not be easy. Old issues may surface. I hope that this meditation is healing andsupportive, and helps you to open to the newlight and blessings that are available at thisauspicious time.

Meditation for Passover and its preparation

As Passover is quickly approaching, it issuch a busy and intense time. Whether weare rushing around either preparing forthe holiday or simply living our lives,doing what we need to do, it is importantto remember to give ourselves some time to simply be each day and focus ourintention. Just like we eat to nourish thephysical body each day, every day oursouls require a time for prayer, centering,meditation and attunement.

Even as you read this note, take a longconscious and deep breath, relax, attuneyourself to the present moment, and openyour heart. Breathe into the heart. Allowthe mind to quiet, let go of thoughts of theday and all the things you must do. Giveyourself the gift of the awareness of yourbreath and life force energy. Open to theexperience of being breathed. We do notbreathe by our own will but rather we arebreathed by Divine will. Open to receivethe divine support, love and nurturing inthis very moment. How loving and faithful is God who sustains our lives.Every day, and even every moment wereceive so much. Experience the stillnessin the spaces between the breaths as youslow down the breathing. It is here thatyou touch the higher levels of your soul.Allow yourself to soar beyond this world.

Come to the awareness that the holidayof Passover will soon be upon us. Passoverbrings in a new order in your life and theworld. Your intention, your kavannah is mostimportant. It will shape your experience.This time can be a springboard for you toreally go forward in your life to greaterfreedom. That is if you want it to be.

Are you open to newness? Are you opento living more authentically and withgreater meaning, joy and purpose? What

do you want to open up to in your life?Will you let go and leave what no longerserves you? Will you stand in the question,“What does God want of me right now?Take a few moments to breathe and alignyourself.

As we approach Passover holiday, weneed to remember that we each have ourown personal Egypt, that place of narrowconstraints that comprise all the energeticblocks, the imagined fears, the unhappyways we feel constrained internally orexternally in our lives. Some of us thinktoo much of ourselves, others think too little. It does not matter what category you are in, for each Passover there is theinvitation to go beyond yourself, to leavethe box of your personal Egypt and be inthe not knowing.

Everything begins with your desire,with your yearning. God can give youonly what you are open to receive. Take amoment to accept the invitation that isgenerously given to you by God duringthe Passover holiday. Be grateful that youdo not do this life journey alone. You arenot here on your own accord. God lovesyou and will help you.

Hear these words spoken directly toyou. It is good to repeat them to yourselfand to share them with others. WhenHashem says to open your mouth, I suggest that you literally do this. Openyou mouth like a baby ready to receivenourishment.

“I am the Lord who has taken you out ofEgypt. Open your mouth wide and I willfill it. Tell me what you truly want. Yourneeds and your desires are important toMe. Pour your heart out to Me. Make aspace for Me in your life.To give you whatI want and what you really want, youneed to let go of your old habits, changeyour vessels, open your heart, so you canreceive something new from Me. I amyour healer and your redeemer. I loveyou. I took you out of Egypt in the pastand I will take you out in the future. Iwant you to be free and joyful.The holidayof Passover is a special time for Me to pourmy light and love upon you if you areopen to receive it.

To best receive from Me, go on aPassover diet, eat simply, pray, sing, behappy and have faith and trust in Meespecially during this time. If you attachyourself to Me and my Will, I will liberateyou. I will bring you close to Me. I willattach Myself to you. You will then knowtrue love and a joy that is beyond thisworld. You cannot live this life withoutMe. You cannot free yourself without Myhelp. I have entrusted you with a veryimportant mission of perfecting Myworld. I will empower you to do what youneed to do. I am here for you. I love you,more than you can imagine.”

At the Passover Seder, take some timeto share with others the blessings andthe miracles that you have already experienced in this last year as well aswhat blessings you would like to receivein the coming year. We each have so muchto be grateful for. Miracles are taking placeall the time.

Hashem tells us to eat matzah onPassover in the Torah. Matzah is called thebread of affliction, the bread of humility,the bread of healing, the bread of faith.Matzah is all of these things. How special

Kabbalahof the MonthBY MELINDA RIBNER

Prepare for PassoverNissan began March 23

(see Ribner, page 13)

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T’was the Night After Seder

T’was the night after Seder,and all through the houseNothing would fit me,not even a blouse.The fish and the kugel,(oh my, what a taste)After both the sederim,went straight to my waist.When I got on the scale,I couldn’t believe it!The treadmill and bicycle wouldn’t relieve it.I remembered the marvelous meals I prepared;The light airy matzah balls everyone shared.The brisket, the turkey,the tzimmes so sweet;Oy, let me recline and get off of my feet.I know we made kiddishand recited each plague,But right now I’m soggy,and my memory is vague.So, don’t give me matzah,chopped liver, or wineI’ll do my aerobics and never more dine.I’m walking to shul,so what if it’s far?I’m not even thinking of taking the car.With 10 lbs. to lose and 10 inches to shrink,Macaroons when wrapped tightly,can so nicely freeze.Pack the sponge cake and tayglach away, if you please.Out of sight, out of mind – by this oath I’ll abide;Bring me the boiled chicken with romaine on the side.I’ll keep on that program,to my diet adhere,And let’s all get together for Pesach next year! AAAA

A Bit of Wit

March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 5

our house in order, just as the Seder creates an order to the telling of thePassover story.

As we walked home along King GeorgeStreet, we watched the city in its closingmoments of cleansing; a community making its way from winter to spring, darkto light, chametz to matzah. The streetswere hushed; the smells of burning breadand cake all but gone.

I understood for the first time the longing that for centuries has dominatedthe Jewish heart and spirit. Passover is notjust a time to cleanse our kitchen cabinetsof last year’s cookie crumbs and “Next yearin Jerusalem” is not just a physical call tobring people from all over the globe to themost holy city in the world.

Passover is meant to inspire all Jews – asdiverse and conflicted and divided as wemay sometime seem, to work together tobring a sense of order and renewal, asense of purpose and hope to our lives,our future and the world. It is a holidaythat gives us a chance to renew our commitment – to our faith, tradition, and eachother – to live a life of dignity and freedom.

Lederman is an award winning author,Jewish educator, public speaker and attorneywho lives in Tucson. Visit her website atamyhirshberglederman.com. AAAA

JewishEducatorBY AMY HIRSHBERG LEDERMAN

Passover: The holiday ofrenewal and hope

Passover in Israel is a magical time ofyear. The winter rains and chilly air arereplaced by a flurry of activity and sense ofrenewal that is unequal to any other season. Flaming poppies, black-eyedSusans and Queen’ Anne’s lace fill thefields while birds travel back to the HulaValley to build their nests. In the north theBanias River, swollen with winter rains,tempts even the most timid nature lover totake off her shoes and socks and feel thespringtime mud squish between her toes.

But it is not just winter waking up tospring that intrigues me. It is the transitionof a country moving from chametz tomatzah, a country in the process of cleans-ing itself that makes me marvel at thepower of Jewish tradition and faith.

On the eve of Passover during the year Ilived in Israel, I walked with my husbandfor more than 3-miles from our apartmentin Bakka to Mea Shearim, Jerusalem’sfamous ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.The city was working double time to getitself ready for Passover and Shabbat,which, like this year, fell on the first Sedernight. The clanging of pots and dishes resonated as restaurants and bakeriesfrantically labored to convert theirkitchens for Passover. A symphony ofsounds accompanied us as we movedthrough the streets. People laughing,babies crying, closet doors banging, hornsblasting; the air was charged with energyand purpose. But the smell was what gotto me. The dense smell of the last vestigesof burning bread products hovered over uslike a cloud, reminding me of fall in NewJersey when we would burn big piles ofleaves in our driveway.

Huge cauldrons of boiling water linedStrauss Street enabling people to kashertheir pans and utensils for the holiday.I thought of our tiny Jerusalem kitchenand how, earlier in the morning, my family and I had spent hours soapingdown the counter tops and washing outthe cabinets. We felt so clean and tidyafterwards, “all spic and span” as mymother would say. There was somethingdeeply gratifying about the process ofcleaning up our home, as if we had linedour nest with downy, new feathers. We put (see Adland, page 6)

to include a perek (verse) each week.(There are six chapters in all.) You canlook up the verse if you choose and find a commentary or five on the internet.Pirke Avot (literally the “verses of ourfathers,” but more commonly translatedtoday as the “sayings of our ancestors”) is a tractate (section) of the Mishnah(Oral Law) and is used extensively in theSiddur (prayerbook) and Jewish ethicalteaching. I don’t usually comment on the perek at the top, but let it stand alone for you to read. This week’s verse,though, is one that is particularly meaningful to me and my life and probably to others as well.

Many of you who have gone to Jewishsummer camp might know the words inHebrew: “Lo a-le-cha ham-la-cha ligmor….”as it is part of a popular song. Anyone whohas participated in thinking and studyingabout social justice or Tikkun Olam hascome face-to-face with these words ofRabbi Tarfon, “It is not incumbent upon youto finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it.” All of us must feel theobligation to participate in making thisworld a better place or as I like to frame it– to finish God’s creation. On the sixth dayof Creation, God said it was “very good.”God didn’t say it was perfect or done orcomplete. It was “very good.”Rabbi Tarfonteaches us that we must participate in finishing what God started; bringing the“very good”to fruition, even if we can’t bethere to see the final product. Our rewardwill be in the time to come which I believeis in someday knowing that what we didtoday helped bring the world toward this completion.

It is important to realize that we can’t doeverything. I am on the CCAR Peace,Justice, and Civil Liberties committee. Wemet at the recent convention in an opencommittee forum and as we went aroundthe room I heard people’s different passions. Whether it was organizing hotelworkers, community organizing, women’sissues, feeding the hungry or more, I recognized that my colleagues had anissue or two that moved them to do thiswork, but these issues were varied.Together, as a group, we touched on manyof the problems, concerns, or troubles weface in our communities. As individuals,we can only work on a few issues at a timeor several over a career. The importantthing is to not feel overwhelmed that ouractions won’t solve the problems. To paraphrase our rabbi, just because there is so much to do and the end may not bein sight does not free us from participatingin the process of helping or trying to solvea problem or a world ill. The food bank in Indianapolis uses the tag line, “Untilevery bowl is filled.” Who knows when

ShabbatShalomBY RABBI JON ADLAND

Pirke Avot 2:21 – Rabbi Tarfon used tosay: It is not incumbent upon you to finishthe task. Yet, you are not free to desist fromit. If you have studied much in the Torahmuch reward will be given you, for faithfulis your employer who shall pay you thereward of your labor. And know that thereward for the righteous shall be in the timeto come.

March 23, 2012, VayikraLeviticus 1:1-5:26,

Hachodesh Exodus 12:1-20, 29 Adar 5772

Before I begin my words, a shout out tomy big sister Susan who becomes the finalsibling to read from Torah. The four of usdidn’t attend Hebrew school, but each ofus has found a way to learn a bit ofHebrew and to read from Torah. Mazal TovSusan on your accomplishment tomorrow.I wish I could be there.

The verse from Pirke Avot at the top of the page brings to a close chapter two. Starting about a year ago I decided

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6 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

Our first secular experiences of ashes –both of us had similar backgrounds growing up in Southern California – wereof cleaning them out of our family’s incinerators, which were widespreadbehind backyard garages in the 1940s and 1950s.

Although it was a chore we regularlyresented and mightily resisted, there was a kind of wonder attached to it.So much interesting stuff – colorful wrappings, gift boxes, magazines, and the like – was reduced to a shovel-full of ashes in a matter of minutes by thehypnotic flames, as we watched intentlythrough the open loading door. And then we quickly disposed of the ashes inthe de rigueur metal trashcan that wedragged down the driveway to the streetfor the weekly pickup.

Ashes hardly entered our consciousnessagain for many years, not until we tooknotice of Jews who were planning on cremating their remains after they died –an idea that seemed both unsettling and alien.

So ashes came to represent for both ofus the final, conclusive end of life, whetherof human life or its artifacts now findingtheir way into massive municipal inciner-ators.

Then many years later we took notice of the verses in parashat hashavua(weekly Torah reading) Tzav in which the kohen (priest) is to “…put on his linengarment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up theashes to which the fire has consumed theelevating offering (olah) on the Altar…Then he shall put off his garments and put on other garments and carry forth the ashes outside the camp to a pureplace.”(Vayikra 6:3–4)

Our first inclination was to project ontothese sacrificial ashes all of our secularexperience. They simply represented theend of what had been an offering on theCopper Altar of the Sanctuary. But whenwe began to study the Torah commentaryof Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch(1808–1888) on terumat hadeshen, the “lifting up” of the ashes by the kohen, a

whole new realm of understandingopened up.

Strange as it seemed to us initially, thisdaily early morning ritual was performedonly by a kosher kohen fully dressed in formal priestly attire.

To take out the ashes?!But the irony dissipates when one

understands that the ritual was a“…remembrance of the devotion represented by the sacrifices of the pastday to God and to His holy Torah…”Everyday individuals brought offerings to theSanctuary, symbolic surrogates of theirown commitment to kill the animal within and use their free will to marshaltheir mental and spiritual powers in theservice of God and Torah.

In effect, the daily repetition of this “lifting up” of the ashes signaled to theentire nation that the new day was but a continuation of the previous day’s devotion to its national mission. It alsosignified implicitly that the Jewish child of every generation has the same Torahinheritance and responsibility as thosewho pledged themselves to God andTorah through their offerings on the Altarof the Mishkan.

There is an even stranger irony, however,in the ultimate disposition of these ashes.Typically, once an object has satisfied itssacred function, it is no longer forbiddenfor ordinary use; but in the case ofhadeshen (the ashes) they remainedkodesh (sacred, separate and set aside for a special purpose) even after beingtaken outside the camp and deposited intheir final,“pure”resting place. They werenot to be used for any other purpose.(Pesachim 26a)

But why should ashes from the offeringson the Altar remain permanently holy?

It’s almost certainly because they have asymbolic meaning beyond being theremains of the offerings that were sacrificed to empower the pledges beingmade for those striving upwards to Godand Torah.Those strivings were not simplythe exertions of individuals seeking atonement (kaparah) and closeness to God(kirvat Adoshem), but together representedthe eternal mission of the Jewish people –which, as history has verified, has anineluctable kedusha (holiness).

It’s no wonder that the kohen wasdressed in his priestly finery when removing the ashes from the Altar – not asa show of position or piety, but to bolsterhis own kavanah (intention), to clarify andstrengthen his inner mental and spiritualpurpose in carrying out this symbolicallyladen ritual.

Every day as the kohen removed theashes, he communicated to every observer– both those present to witness his taskand those who might imagine it in their

mind’s eye – that the mission of the nationis eternal, and that each day we are toapproach that mission with fresh hearts,eyes, and limbs. The kohen’s dedicatedand disciplined service in the Sanctuarywas a reminder to each and every memberof Am Yisrael.

Each day as the kohen removed theashes from the Altar, he lifted up a symbolic banner that eschewed self-satisfied complacency, every day proclaiming his renewed conviction andcommitment and calling for the samefrom the entire nation.

It was and remains an extraordinary lesson:

In Jewish life ashes are sacred becausethey signify not an ending, but a call to theever-fresh beginning of our eternal mission as a nation.

© 2012 Moshe ben Asher & Khulda bat SarahRabbi Moshe ben Asher and Magidah

Khulda bat Sarah are the Co-Directors ofGather the People, a nonprofit organizationthat provides Internet-based resources forcongregational community organizing anddevelopment (www.gatherthepeople.org). AAAA

BY RABBI MOSHE

BEN ASHER, PH.D.AND MAGIDAH

KHULDA BAT SARAH

Gather the People

From secular to sacred ashes

everyone will have enough food?Hopefully that will be tomorrow, but if it isn’t then we must continue to worktoward that day.

My hope in life is to fulfill the Jewishvalue of leaving this world just a bit betterthan when I entered it. If that happenswith each person, then over time we canand will finish God’s creation. Don’t feeloverwhelmed by the enormity of the task so that it prevents you from doingsomething, as to do something is betterthan doing nothing. We are not free to desist.

When you light your Shabbat candlesthis evening, light one to remind us thatwe are part of the process. No matter how young or old, we can participate infinishing God’s creation. Light the othercandle to remind us that it is the light ofour work that helps prevent the darknessof despair.

Let me add one note to this ShabbatShalom. My heart is filled with sorrowabout the murders in Toulouse, France thisweek. Let us keep in our thoughts thefamilies of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler,his two sons Arieh and Gabriel, andMyriam Monsenego. May their memoriesbe for blessing.

Rabbi Adland has been a Reform rabbi for more than 25 years with pulpits inLexington, Ky., Indianapolis, Ind., and currently at Temple Israel in Canton, Ohio.He may be reached at j.adland@gmail.com. AAAA

ADLAND(continued from 5)

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March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 7

Four Children,Four Stages ofGrowth, FourParts ofOurselves

Excerpt from David’s, The Jewish SoulHaggadah

Since children and adults have varyingneeds and different levels of understandings,we must look at the various ways that wecan share our tradition’s teachings. We dothis in order to reach them in ways thatwill be beneficial. While the traditionalHaggadah ordinarily shares these levels inthe opposite order than you will find here,by representing them in the followingway, one can see how they depict thegrowth stages of people’s lives.

1) The one who doesn’t even ask questions - Like a baby, or one who isvery early in their development, this childneeds help with the first step. They mustbe taught to crawl before they can walk orrun. This one is not even aware that theyare missing out. When one is at this level,it is necessary to keep things simple.Explain to them that we are celebratingthis festival because God saved us from ahard and terrible life.

2) The one who is just starting todevelop – Most often referred to as the “simple child,” this term can be misleading. Everyone has to start somewhere, and just the fact that this oneis asking,“What is this all about?”is a stepin the right direction. Because they are stillat an early, youthful stage in their growth,it is important to teach them the basics.Since they are not yet developed enoughto comprehend all the technical, in depthinformation, we need to spell it out in away they can understand. Explain thatGod cared about us enough to work miracles in order to bring us out of slaveryin Egypt.

3) The one who is rebellious – This onemost closely portrays the teenager whoquestions authority. Not understandingthe value of what is happening, this onemay take a seemingly confrontationalapproach in asking, “What’s the point ofall this nonsense?”Yet, just the fact thatthey are still questioning presents us withan opportunity. Since a part of them is stillseeking, we must take advantage by providing them with answers in a way thatwill help them to learn. We have to teach

them that they are part of a unique peoplewith a special heritage. By helping them tounderstand our relationship to a DivineEntity Who would intercede on our behalfin ways unknown throughout all the rest of existence, we can help them to recognize their own importance as part ofour community.

4) The one who seeks wisdom – Aspeople continue to grow and learn, trueseekers strive to fulfill their potential.Having already developed a maturity thatallows them to understand the true valueand importance of Passover, people at thishigher stage seek more responsibility.This type of individual wants to know allabout God’s mitzvot. Since they are up tothe challenge, they should be instructed inall the means by which they can continueto grow as a person, and as a Jew. This is the person who will eventually find true success and fulfillment in their life by becoming someone who feels goodabout who they are and what they are accomplishing.

In viewing the “four children” in thisorder, it is easy to see how the differentperspectives are just a reflection of the lifegrowth process. Each of these stepsdepicts a stage of development necessaryto achieving the next level. Since they are actually parts of all of us, perhaps thatis why we are referred to as the “Childrenof Israel.”

Bruce David is a Judaic artist and Jewisheducator from Bloomington, Ind. His artmay be viewed by visiting www.davidart.com. He also welcomes comments at thataddress. He is also president of Light of theNations (lotnexperience.org) a contemporaryJewish educational outreach organization. AAAA

BY BRUCE DAVID

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Imagine we had the means to reduceinfant mortality and improve newbornhealth; that we could significantly reducethe number of abortions each year; thatwe could cut teenage pregnancy by 77percent; strengthen family relationships;lessen a woman’s risk of developingendometrial and ovarian cancer; and evenprovide short-term protection against colorectal cancer. Imagine the expenseswere low and saved money in the long run.

Who among us would not celebrate andact to ensure these possibilities for everyone?

The truth is that we have the means: theavailability of contraception.The tragedy isthat instead of celebrating, we are arguing.

BY RABBI SANDY EISENBERG SASSO

The issue has gone from an internal religious debate to a national diatribe.

Individuals and groups certainly havethe right to preach against the use of contraception, even if more than 98 percent of sexually active women of childbearing age are not listening, even ifcontraception has a clear health benefit.However, they do not have a right toimpose their morality on others.

Catholic hospitals and educationalinstitutions employ and serve people ofdiverse faiths. The Obama administrationis not requiring that those organizationsprovide health insurance that includescontraception. It is requiring insurancecompanies to provide it free of charge. Ifthis were to result in higher health insurance premiums to the hospital, anargument could be made that, in effect,the hospital is paying for the service. Butthe opposite is true. Such coverage willlower premiums, since contraception is farless expensive than pregnancy.

To convince those who care about awoman’s right to control her health andreproductive choices, an effort has beenmade to frame this as an issue of religiousfreedom. In other words, you can bothbelieve in the need for access to contraception and oppose government’srequiring a religious organization to provide for it in its insurance plans.

It is a popular argument, but it is false.Catholic churches are not required to providecontraception as part of their health insurance benefits and now neither areCatholic hospitals or educational institutions.No woman is required to use it. Accordingto a press release issued by the ReligiousInstitute, a multifaith organization dedicatedto sexual health, Christian Scientists whorun secular organizations must providehealth insurance even though they preachagainst seeking medical care, andJehovah’s Witnesses who do the samemust provide insurance that covers bloodtransfusions, even though that contravenestheir religious principles.

As Catholic hospitals expand andabsorb secular public hospitals, this issuebecomes one of increasing importance. Itis not about religious freedom; it is aboutreligious coercion.

Religious leaders who represent millions of people of faith – Protestants,Jews and even Catholics – have signed astatement supporting the White House’sdecision on contraceptive coverage. Morethan 20 religious denominations havepolicies affirming birth control. The Rev.Debra Haffner, executive director of theReligious Institute, said in the pressrelease that the debate is not about religious liberty, “but (about) playing politics with women’s lives.”

(see Sasso, page 8)

ReligiousInstitutions & Birth Control

We have the cost-saving means to promote and improve women’s health.Providing access to contraception is aboutthat and nothing else. Denying it is a disservice to women, prudent medicalcare, and individual and religious freedom.

Sasso and her husband Rabbi Dennis C.Sasso have been senior rabbis at CongregationBeth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis for 34 years.Reprinted with permission from TheIndianapolis Star, Mar. 6, 2012. AAAA

SASSO(continued from 7)

8 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

Can you imagine how the Israelites feltafter experiencing visions and connectionto history, then finding themselves subjugated by people who cannot fathomtheir existence? The Torah and theHaggadah teach us that their spirits werebroken and their lives indescribable asthey toiled day in and day out with nohope for a future.

The Jewish people collectively witnessed a determined effort to eradicatenot only the memory of their existence,but also their very souls. They were systematically destroyed – both body and spirit. They were cast into the dumpheap of history.

The world turned their back. Godseemed to have turned away. The promiseof tomorrow as described to our forefathers and mothers and then continuedwith the Prophets appeared to be ancienthistory. The penalty for being messengersof the Most High was a terrible burdenculminating in destruction beyond understanding.

If these lessons of age and infirmitiesand prejudice teach us anything it is thatlife is to be lived. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that boggle themind or have no explanation. However,remembering a life or a friend or familymember is the act of kindness that allows the hurt to dissipate, if only for ashort time.

We certainly cannot explain away theinhumanities that exist nor should wemake excuses for them. What we can do islearn that humanity is also capable ofgood things that make the experiences oflife worth living. There is an obligation tosurvive so that the generations that followwill be able to redeem the future withmemories of the past.

We cannot forget even though at timesit seems that we cannot remember. Weshould not forget our neighbors, ourfriends, our families and our history. Werepeat the stories because to understandthe present and look forward to the futurewe need to remember how we got here.We need to remember who brought us tothis moment in time. Even in sorrow, weacknowledge with gratitude the One whogave us the ability to survive regardless ofthe suffering we experience.

An essay I read, I believe, speaks to thismost eloquently. The author is unknown.

The RainIt was a busy morning, about 8:30, when

an elderly man in his 80’s arrived to havestitches removed from his thumb. He said hewas in a hurry as he had an appointment at9:00 a.m.

I took his vital signs and had him take aseat, knowing it would be over an hourbefore someone would be able to see him. Isaw him looking at his watch and decided,

Wiener’sWisdomBY RABBI IRWIN WIENER, D.D.

Where does ourresponsibilitybegin and end?

You shall stand before those who are old,and show respect for those who are old. ~ Leviticus 19:32

One of the most daunting prospects inhuman existence involves growing oldand the feeling of abandonment.Sometimes we have visions that we willbecome helpless and a burden to thosewho know and care about us. The thoughtof not being able to dress ourselves orcomplete routine acts such as bathing ormaneuvering independently can leave us depressed.

A large segment of the senior population gravitates to retirement communities that offer the comfort ofsameness.There is a feeling of togethernessand the ability to commiserate with storiesof ailments and reminisces of days longgone. There is the joy of visits from children and grandchildren. They come,they go, which is one of the benefits ofbeing a grandparent.

However, when the dust settles and thecar has left the driveway, there is a feelingof loneliness accompanied by a feeling ofdespair. We open the door, enter our homeand find room after room filled with pictures of yesterday. Where has the timegone? Where there used to be laughterand tumult there are echoes of silence.

Then we suddenly cannot remember aname or an event and fright sets in. In alucid moment, we realize that we are forgetting more than we remember. Apuzzled look settles on our face. Who arewe? What are we? Why are we here? Ourlife flashes before us and with it thedreams of yesterday and perhaps the reality of today.

The most discouraging feeling gives uspause because we, for that short momentare feeling discarded. Some of us relocateto different environments that are morehospitable to our new disabilities. Ourfriends who once joined us in all kinds ofactivities are no longer within reach. Wesit lonely and quiet in thoughts of whatwas and will no longer be. No more visits– it is too far or too much of an effort. Wedial the phone to keep the connection butthe conversations are short and becomeinfrequent.

since I was not busy with another patient, Iwould evaluate his wound. On exam, it waswell healed, so I talked to one of the doctors,got the needed supplies to remove his suturesand redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I askedhim if he had another doctor’s appointmentthis morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The man told me no, that he needed to goto the nursing home to eat breakfast with hiswife. I inquired as to her health.

He told me that she had been there for awhile and she was a victim of Alzheimer’sdisease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upsetif he was a bit late. He replied that she nolonger knew who he was, that she had notrecognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him, “And youstill go every morning, even though shedoesn’t know who you are?”

He smiled as he patted my hand and said,“She doesn’t know me. But I still know whoshe is.”

I had to hold back tears as he left. I hadgoose bumps on my arm, and thought, “Thatis the kind of love I want in my life.”

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. Life is not about how to survive thestorm, but how to dance in the rain.

Communities pride themselves onbeing caring and supportive. Let us notrelegate those feelings to just our immediate confines. If you have hadfriends that were part of you, continue to keep them in your lives through visitsand calls and letters and cards. Each ofyou is a member of your extended family.

As we approach the holiday of Passoverand the commemoration of the Holocaust,we should remember that God did notabandon His people. Our survival is a testament to that. We too should not isolate those who need our connection, ifonly for a moment of our time. Amen.

Rabbi Irwin Wiener is spiritual leader ofthe Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation nearPhoenix, Ariz. He welcomes comments atravyitz@cox.net. AAAA

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March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 9

Spoonful of HumorBY TED ROBERTS

What I like bestabout Judaism

How do I love Judaism? Let me countthe ways.

1) I love that big, fat book that drives ourethics and our ethos. I mean the TotalBook; Humash, prophets, and writing; our Tanach. I love its honesty. It is a soapopera of saints and sinners. The celestial spotlight reveals every blemish in thecharacter of our ancestors. There’s nocover up. It is bound in credibility andillustrated in truth. It is not a Neiman-Marcus brochure. Whether written by thefinger of G-d or dictated by him to theheart, soul, and mind of a mortal mouth-piece, it speaks truth. A no-spin zone.

2) I love it that we don’t have a Pope ora hierarchy of any sort. My city doesn’thave a head rabbi, nor does my state. Idon’t even know the name of the headrabbi of Jerusalem. If I wanted to ask himhow to improve my brother-in-law’s ethical behavior, I’m sure I’d have troublelocating him – the head Rabbi, not mybrother-in-law. We respect the teacher,the rebbe, but we know the way is notgiven to him alone.

3) I love the tenderness expressedtoward the fragile creatures that share the male, warrior-centered culture of biblical times. Imagine. It’s an age ofmight makes right. The World WrestlingFederation – vintage 2000 BCE – is incharge. Yet, here’s this book of history,ethics, and poetry that says pile drivingyour opponent into a granite cliff is illegal – unless he’s a pagan who thinkssticks and stones and clay figurines runthe universe.

4) I love the tenderness in Deuteronomythat cares about the muzzled ox and forbids plucking the mother bird from itsnest. Not to mention its regard for theweakest of the down-trodden; widowsand orphans. You should allow them toharvest your orchards and “the corners of your field”. A revolutionary concept:Such ethics in the Bronze Age are as rare as pomegranate bushes in the Sinai Desert – not to be found in any ofliterature of the times; except in our Book.It is our idea, like monotheism, we shouldbe proud. None of the ancient writingsthat skeptics claim influenced our Book reflect tenderness, compassion, or ahumane code of conduct.

Yes, other cultures of the day, the cynicsremind us, are also abounding with creation myths and flood myths. Evenheroic figures cast, as infants, upon themercy of the river tide. (Sound familiar?)True. But their pantheons were stockedwith comic strip characters with all the warm heartedness of Conan theBarbarian. Grotesquely sexual, grotesquelyevil. The pagan myth-makers could not imagine a supernatural force thatconjoined love and power. Why would awarrior king even glance at the powerless.

I love our no-inbetween Thunderer whoabominates the evil of pagan Canaan(“and you shall utterly destroy them”) but gushes over widows, orphans, andstrangers. And yes, the birds of the air and beasts of the field. Unsurprisingly,He is a spirit of moods like his creation,humanity. He said He made man in hisimage and that might imply a reciprocalrelationship – a small measure of man inG-d, so it appears in our limited vision.

5) I love the mysticism of the Chasidsand their like who add a galactic dimension to the G-d of Sinai. With due reverence to tradition, they add theirown story of the sparks that fuel theuniverse. Metaphorically, kin to the BigBang Theory – an expanding light, a mistof matter flooding the infinite space that is the universe. Irreverent? No more than Ecclesiastes, no more than Micah,no more than the Talmudists who dared to boldly interpret the word of G-d andfabricate our Oral Law. Who says that Etz Chayim, our Tree of Life, doesn’tflourish in time and bend with the windand grow with the rain? Truth, like theuniverse, is still expanding.

I love it that in our Book there’s a chapter called Song of Songs, a love storythat could have been penned by a 5thCentury BCE Jacqueline Suzanne. And a skeptical philosophic chapter calledEcclesiastes. How did they make the cut?There’s enough theological room inJudaism for an army of kibitzers. They,too, may dwell in the Tent of Covenant.

I like the idea that the Prophets are crit-ical of temple worship. They deride thenotion – as would most rabbis of today –that the Almighty spirit that hung galaxiesin infinity, invisible to us, is pleased by thearoma of barbecued beef or mutton. Thecherished sacrifice, they say, is of theheart. They speak loudly of this – in our Book – even though over a hundred of the mitzvahs command our attentionto the temple.

I like the idea that the Book of Judaismis big enough to give voice to Micah(“walk humbly with your G-d”) as well astwo fat chapters called Leviticus andDeuteronomy with hundreds of rules. Andyet we honor Hillel who said that it all

boiled down to not poaching on yourneighbor’s fig tree unless you wanted himpoaching on yours.

6) I like the idea that the history,narrative, and downright schmoozing ofthe Humash never neglects an opportunityto exercise the most blatant Leshon Hora.Truth is never subjugated to politicalcorrectness. Judah and David are castigatedas skirt chasers. Solomon, too. And furthermore, he’s an idolater. What do youexpect from a man with a thousand paganwives – curvy, uninhibited, acrobatic, whoattend Friday night services on hilltopshrines. Our flawed ancestors are neverdeified. And the book doesn’t hold itsnose at biting criticism.

7) I like the fact that Judaism, withminor exception, waves a strong non-monastic banner. This planet, this day, isthe challenge. Don’t hang around thehouse or synagogue all day bending over Talmud – go fix something. Theworld cries for perfection. Deeds, notmeditation. Abraham was a shepherd.Rashi was a vintner. The Rambam was adoctor like Jonas Salk. And David spent alarge part of his day composing music andwriting lyrics (like his kinsman, GeorgeGershwin). Rebbe Menachim Schneersonwas a physicist.

8) And most of all, I like the mystery ofour survival: an ever-present conundrumof worldwide consequence; and then thelinked curiosity that every nation thatseriously devoted itself to our destructionhas fallen, with immense suffering. Egypt,Spain, Germany and Russia. Is the Arabworld, seething with Jew hatred, next?

I love the splendor of our holidays and their constant reminder that there ismore than this time, this place. How ourfeasts and ceremonies light up our cultureand history! At the Seder, brilliant withceremony, who can forget our slaverydays. Chanukah, Purim, even Tisha B’Avawake our ancestral – you might say tribal – memory.

The house note is due, the boss thinksyou’re dumber than dirt, and the 12 yearold wallpaper in the dining room cries forreplacement. But how trivial, comparedto the travails of Esther and her people,our people. Had some Persian soldierplunged his sword into the heart of myprogenitor a hundred generations ago, Iwould never have walked this cool, greenearth. Bosses, dining rooms, a relative’spettiness, even a child’s illness fade intoanother dimension like last year’s short-lived TV sitcom. And somehow we survive– oh mystery of mysteries.

Judaism is a revolutionary creed. Ourbible is studded with the “HE” and “WE” dialogue between the judge and the defendant. It’s as though the U.S.

(see Roberts, page 12)

10 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

The Roads from BabelBY SETH BEN-MORDECAI

Adonai controlsforces of natureascribed toEgyptian gods

“Upon all the ‘gods’ of Egypt, I will execute judgments – I – Adonai,” declaresGod in Exodus 12:12.The passage promisesthe utter destruction of the Egyptian gods,yet curiously, the Book of Exodus seemsnot to describe a single judgment againsta god of Egypt. Now, some might dismissthe “broken promise”as a redacting error,a careless scribe’s leaving the battlebetween God and gods on the cuttingroom floor. But if we honor the text by remembering that it was written for people steeped in Egyptian culture,we soon see that the promise is not broken. Our understanding of the contextis deficient.

JewishAmericaBY HOWARD W. KARSH

Six million Jews in America – fact or fiction

You know that with statistics, you canprove anything, but anytime you see statistics about the Jewish population inthe United States, you have to be onguard. It certainly is not because someoneor some group is out to deceive the Jewishnation, but of course, the matter is always,who exactly are you counting?

While Jews are almost always countedin the category of “Religions,”Jews requirean asterisk.* At least one. Jews are members of a historical “Peoplehood,”another category that almost no oneknows how to define. The best way tothink about it is that in its broadest sense,it defines everyone who descended thetime of the Patriarch Jacob, who left Egypt,stood and affirmed their faith at Sinai,or came by way of conversion. The“Conversion” inclusion is one of the centers of dispute because conversionseems to always be in question. Was sheor he a “righteous”convert, and what doesthat mean?

And then there is the position that“Once in is always in.” That is how welive in a world with “Jews for Jesus,”Buddha-Jews and descendants of Jewswho still are counted often against theirwishes. Hitler didn’t care about any definition other than his own. You couldopt out during the Inquisition, but not inStalin’s Russia.

Anyway that is how it is done. And formany Jews, it is also comforting. There isno one I know and respect who deniesJews their right to call themselves Jewish,even if they do not participate in any formof attachment. We just refer to them as“fallen away.” And there has always been a willingness to welcome them back, although the re-entrance rituals may be different.

In our current era, we seem plagued byintermarriage, assimilation, conversion toother faiths, and often in terms of Jewswho move on to leadership. But the number seems fixed. Decade after decade,it seems that 6 million is a comfortable figure, for positing and for just comfort.

There is really nothing we could do if weaccept a lower figure, perhaps 2.5 million,which represents Jews who do anything

more than acknowledging their historicconnection. There might be less than thatwho contribute to any Jewish organization,institution, newspaper, magazine, or whoonly bowl. Many more might eat Jewishfoods, like Jewish humor or who feelwarmed by how many Jews perform well.

It really doesn’t do us any good tobecome frustrated over things that wehave no control over, unless we weregoing to make some conscious effort to dosomething about what we found out, andtruthfully because we are a “stiff neckedpeople,”if we did come together, it wouldbe bedlam.

For now, it is just a big umbrella that wepull out if it meets our political needs, likesupport for Israel, or sometimes, trying to get someone to consider making something you’d like to eat, kosher; butthose are even problem areas.

We are divided about our feeling forIsrael, except that we want it to exist, andthere are now hundreds of “kosher symbols”. As you would imagine, there isabsolutely no consensus about whichones to honor. It is in fact, just a Jewishway to look at the world.

Howard W. Karsh lives and writes inMilwaukee, Wisc., and can be reached athkarsh@gmail.com. He has recently beennamed as a community columnist for theMilwaukee Journal-Sentinel.AAAA

In that regard, Egyptians personified theforces of nature important to the wellbeing of the people and worshipped thoseforces as gods. Over 2,000 years, Egyptiangods’ names and functions sometimeschanged, but the correlation of naturalforces with gods was a constant ofEgyptian theology. With that context, thewondrous events of the Book of Exodusare transformed from mere parlor tricks todemonstrations that God controls theforce of nature the Egyptians ascribed togods. And as events unfold and the godscrumble, Egyptians become progressivelydisheartened and the Israelites grow ever more hopeful that God can and willfree them. Three examples demonstratethis proposition.

Aaron and Moses appear before Pharaoh,and Aaron’s staff becomes a tannin whenthrown to the floor. “Tannin” means “crocodile”in Hebrew, though it is usuallymistranslated as “serpent.” Egyptians andIsraelites knew that the god Sobek, depictedas a man with the head of a crocodile, wasPharaoh’s personal god who symbolizedPharaoh’s power of life and death over hissubjects. By transforming Aaron’s staffinto a crocodile that swallowed the staffsof Pharaoh’s courtiers, God demonstratedthat Pharaoh’s days were numbered;Sobek could not help him. Sobek hadbeen judged.

The Egyptian fertility goddess, Heqat,was depicted as a frog. Indeed, the nameHeqat meant “frog.”In the second plague,frogs proliferated, became an unbearablenuisance, died and stank until the Egyptiansbegged Moses to remove “Heqat”– goddessand frog.Thus, Heqat was adjudged a merehuman creation, not a controller of fertility.

The meaning of the fourth plague, arov,became obscure centuries ago. Some commentators translated it as “insects”while others as “a mixture of wild beasts.”In early Hebrew, arov was pronounced“gharab,” a cognate of the Egyptian word“khpr” (and its variant “khrb”), whichmeant “scarab beetle” and also Scarab-god. A scarab lays eggs in dung, which itforms into a ball and rolls into a hole in theriverbank. Eventually, the eggs hatch andscarabs emerge from the mud. By analogy,Egyptians believed that Scarab-god rolledthe sun across the sky by day like a dungball, pushed it into a hole in the west atsunset, rolled it inside the earth at night,and pushed it out in the east at dawn torepeat the cycle. In contrast to other gods,Scarab dwelt in the interior of the earth,not on or above it. And Exodus alludes toScarab-god’s dwelling place, stating: “Egypt’sbuildings and even the ground they are on will fill up with scarabs…so that[Pharaoh] will know that I, God, am in theinterior of the Earth.”(Exodus 12:17–19.)

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(see Ben-Mordecai, page 13)

March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 11student pulpit I served in Texas, I recall avery decent gentleman who called me“Rabbi.” I was in my second year of a five-six year program and surely felt I wasnot yet a rabbi, but he wanted or neededor chose to call me that. I was honoredand hopefully a bit wiser in hearing hisintention, his respect, and mostly, hishuman need to have a person to call“rabbi.” Some of the sailors in the Navy or Marine Corps called me “Chaps” or“L.T.” Yet, despite all this, I sometimeslabor under the presumption I’m “still”thesame guy who went to high school in Millersville, Pa., later, seminary inCincinnati, and later yet, graduate school in Indiana. Where is that “guy”or those “guys” now? What do I see when I subject my “I” to the SerenityPrayer in this manner?

So, it seems that individual essence ismore fluid than we thought; it appearsthat whatever, or whoever, it is that makes us consistent, makes us solid,makes us cohesive, could be in question orat least be found somewhat equivocal.Suddenly, the very personality we thoughtwas steady and certain is a bit harder to ascertain. Not only must we confrontwhat changes us, but do we even remain the same across life stages andphases? This quandary might cause a great deal of anxiety without a spiritualfoundation to sustain us. HistoricalJudaism has ideas and concepts that have been the hallmarks of our legacy and can be fruitfully plumbed to avail us in a post-modern age. ContemporaryJudaism is compelled to ask such questions or risk the peril of irrelevancy.Relevancy beckons!

What I have been discussing is ourdualities – as if our “self”was tattered andbroken into (at the very least) oppositesand extremes, “eithers” vs. “ors.” This memory confronts us, that recollectiondisturbs us, another incident arises andappears to cast a shadow of sarcasm onour worth and merit. It is as we were viewing a photo album which arrangedpainfully selected, solitary, isolated examples of woe, worry and blatant waywardness. We look in the mirror andour mind’s eye sees fissures and cracks.Religion and psychology can providehealing to the degree which we are attentive to our personal evolution. Issuesof “now,”not “nostalgia”compel us!

Aren’t we the people who proclaim that God is One, that in Judaism, What is Sacred has Unity, Wholeness,Completeness, Peace and Peacefulness?Our siddur holds instances where Unity isnot only a lesson, but an idea which mightbring comfort. God as One teaches us toseek our own wholeness, our “one-ness.”Examine our Saturday night Havdalah

blessings, specifically “Ha’Mav’deel”whichbespeaks a dynamic of combinationswithin Creation that seek resolution and gather in harmony. It is not a contest between “this” or “that” but anappreciation of each aspect’s necessity inthe unified whole.

Consider “Yotzer Or” in the morningservice or “Ma’areev Aa’raveem” in theevening liturgy. Again, the blending of apparent differences and outrightdiversities is precisely what mirrors the non-duality of the Jewish God and isThe Image in which we are created. Yes, Iam aware our ancient sages taught thatthe notion of “being created in God’sImage”is a reference to humanity’s moralattributes, but we must do more with ourJudaism that enshrine its past poignancy,we must claim it and apply it today!

And so, I “blame” the Serenity Prayer for it is a modern document, composed by a Lutheran pastor, which is beloved by the recovery-community and others I am honored to serve and learn from as a therapist. I cherish this prayer for it challenges and directs me as a contemporaryJew and rabbi, looking to tools and teachingsmodernity affords to build a Judaism thatdoes not reside in the past.

Today’s struggles require more than apining for old countries and old ways.Applying the Serenity Prayer to my Jewish identity in this fashion is a dialectic; an interaction and exchangecharacterizes and completes varyingepisodes of my life. Judaism reminds each person that her individuality matters,that his life holds the significance ofCreation in its very fabric and fiber. We arepart of something beyond our years, yet todisregard and misunderstand these daysand decades will diminish ourselves andour legacy. Such is our challenge, such isour opportunity. Shalom!

Rabbi Steven M. Leapman, LMHC,LCAC is licensed as a clinical addictionsand mental health counselor in the State ofIndiana. He is a former US Navy / USMCchaplain who currently serves a staff therapist at Samaritan Counseling Center inSouth Bend, Ind. He is interested in pastoraland general counseling, bereavement and loss,interfaith relations, and creative writing. AAAA

Words have tremendous power! Evenmore powerful is “how” words are used.“How”we speak,“how”we hear,“how”werepeat,“how”we react to words leaves animpact and an echo. Within the addictionstreatment culture,“The Serenity Prayer” isoften recited: God, grant me the serenity toaccept the things I cannot change, thecourage to change the things I can, and thewisdom to know the difference! What ofthese words?

One might legitimately call these words a mantra of “recovery.” Yet, like any oft-repeated phrase, it is easy to mutter and race through these words,leaving the sounds stated but hollow intheir reception and weakly penetrating aneedy spirit.

One exciting exercise is to have a group of people write out the SerenityPrayer, one word per line, then after eachindividual term, write or state what theword means that day, at that time andplace. Thus, when speaking “God” onecould state, “You know, despite myself, Ikind of need to believe in that old man inthe sky, at least today!” For “accept” onemight note how in Hebrew the concept of “receive” is very similar and thus, onemight be asking God to help him or her literally receive situations and certainfolks whose actions are not readily contained or controlled.

That insight is very useful as we come to realize that what prompts fear and frustration “yesterday” may prove itself alesson “today.” The fact is that very fewincidents and adventures can or will leaveus “the same.”In fact,“change”continuallypresents in our lives.

Given this perspective, what about thewords “I” and “me” found in our SerenityPrayer? “How”is my “I”different as I typethese words between clients on a lateWednesday afternoon, and the “I” who will sit down later tonight or tomorrow tocontinue constructing this article; if I amaware of what I am writing,“who”is reallyat the keyboard? And “me” is defined bywhich “we,” the other therapists I workwith, my family, or other congregants atthe synagogue we attend?

I sometimes refer to Lancaster, Pa.,as the-town-where-I-can-still-be-called-“Stevie!” During my year at the first

AddictionsCounselorBY RABBI STEVEN M. LEAPMAN

Blame “The Serenity Prayer”

On this date inJewish history

On March 28, 1917Turkish authorities expelledJews from Jaffa and Tel Aviv.

~ From The Jewish Book of Days published byHugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., New York.

12 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

Dating your Friend’s ExDear Avi and Adele:

What’s the best way to handle dating afriend’s ex-boyfriend? My friend and herboyfriend broke up a few months ago afterdating for about a year. He and I enjoyed a few coffee dates together recently. I’m surprised to find myself really enjoying hiscompany. I think it could go somewhere, buthow do I preserve my friendship while seeing where this leads? ~ Think He’s Cute

Dear Think:Why is it that so many of you love

your friends’ former loves? What is theappeal of this once-discarded beau orbelle? Why would you risk the doubleimpact that this would have on the significant other, and perhaps more significantly, your friendship?

Because we, as humans, are designed tobelieve in this thing called “love.”We knowyou’ve already spent time plucking daisypetals while dreaming of a time ten yearsfrom now when you, your special motek(honey or sweet), and your friend who didall sorts of unmentionables with saidmotek, will all look back on this awkwardtime of hidden romance and endearingdeceit and laugh and laugh and laugh.

Put down that flower right now andstep away from your future memory lane. Dating a friend’s ex is dangerous territory and your highest priority shouldmost definitely be preserving your friendship. (Alternatively, if it’s a friendwho you’ve been trying to oust from your life, go ahead and plow forward with abandon.)

How does one proactively manage afriendship whilst pursuing a romancethat said friend has rejected in a very personal way? Communicate. Perhaps it’s a test-the-waters comment like,“I raninto Yaakov the other night at the PurimCarnival and realized that he’s a darnfunny guy!”or, for the more brave of heart,“I know that you didn’t care for Rebekah,but when I saw her a couple weeks back Ijust had to ask her out. And you knowwhat? We’ve really been enjoying eachother’s company.” Your friend need notknow the intimate details of what you do together and likely doesn’t want tohear it.Your friend will also appreciate youopening the door to conversation and it’sup to him or her to share if there is anydiscomfort in the early days.

BY AVI & ADELE

ConfidentiallyYours

Once you’ve begun all this communicativegive and take, you will likely want to givea little deeper thought to what you’re hoping your friend’s response will be. Areyou seeking to just inform your friend ofyour new love or do you seek your friend’sapproval? Be clear to avoid heartache andhurt feelings.

When you’ve been officially dating your friend’s ex for a meaningful time of, say, two to three months, a deeper conversation with your friend is in order,explaining that you are now exclusivelydating this person. If properly primed,your friend will not sit shiva in mourningof your friendship, but will become comfortable with the idea of your relationship happiness.

Red flag alert: If your friend wasdumped by the ex, or if the ex cheated on your friend, think twice about datingthe ex at all, even if casually. Your friend will undoubtedly feel that you aresiding with the ex and it cannot under any circumstances end well. Consideryourself warned!

Googling Loved OnesDear Avi and Adele

I’ve enjoyed hanging out with the reallyawesome woman I met at synagogue a fewmonths ago. Trouble is, I’m a little uncomfortable that I found a google searchshe did of me open on her computer screenwhile I was hanging out at her house, bymyself while she went for a run. There’s really nothing scathing or sordid about methat she would find on the internet (or anywhere else). Should I say something toher? ~ Nothing to Hide

Dear Nothing to Hide:To search or not to search? That is the

question.Back in the shtetl days, all a girl had to

do to learn more about a guy was ask thelocals. A yenta or two would surely stepforward with all sorts of background information, probably to a depth thatexceeds what Google or Bing could everoffer. But today, we hang our dirty shmattas out on the internet and thenwonder who knows what about us.

Your question is particularly intriguingin that you were using her computer while she was away. We’ll assume that you had permission, that this is a regularoccurrence for the two of you and that shetrusts you enough to use it unsupervised.With all that said, we can understand why you were bothered to discover her research.

You may not need to jump to conclusions: she could have merely forgotten when your birthday was or

was checking your official mailing addressso as to send you a surprise gift fromJewishLovePresents.com. Perhaps youmentioned that you wrote a really fascinating senior thesis on the role ofgender in ancient shtetl life and she wanted to see if it was available online.Maybe she’s trying to get in good withyour mom and can’t admit that she’s longsince forgotten your mother’s name.

On the other hand, conclusions may berunning amuck as we typically think it afaux pas to do the research in the shadowsof the internet, sneaking about in thedepths of someone else’s closet. You sayyou have nothing to hide, but one man’streasured life may be a girl’s trashy gossipplayground. If your girlfriend is of theclever sort, she could easily find out realestate holdings and mortgages you hold,any past legal issues you’ve had in yourcounty (like divorce, domestic violence,foreclosure, petty theft, and so forth),some employment and volunteer history,and a host of random other tidbits.

You seem to really be asking the question,“Why? Why would she do that?”And that, our friend, is best asked of her.We support you in asking her straight up

j i

(see Avi&Adele, page 13)

ROBERTS(continued from page 9)

Constitution began with the dictum that“We the people shall eternally question,debate, argue, and kibbitz with the conceptand character of this constitution”.Patriarchs, priests, prophets, and evencommoners like Teyve the dairyman bedeviltheir creator, from Genesis to Malachi withcriticism and comments. And this besiegedcreator, like the CEO at the shareholdersmeeting, is so busy answering complaintsthat you wonder how he has time to runhis business — the universe.

The creator, himself, with divine irritationrepeatedly calls us a stiff necked people.What a theology! Formally bound by amaze of laws – written and oral, implicitand explicit, carved in stone and whispered– yet the holiest of our books is one longdebate of our covenant; flaring withdiscussion, disagreement, disobedience,and dissonance. A human/ divine marriagein a bizarre divorce court, in which theJudge promises his love forever. And ahappy, kiss and make-up ending.

Ted Roberts, a Rockower Award winner, is a syndicated Jewish columnist who looksat Jewish life with rare wit and insight.Check out his Web site: www.wonderwordworks.com. Blogsite: www.scribblerontheroof.typepad.com. His collected works TheScribbler on The Roof can be bought atAmazon.com or lulu.com/ content/127641. AAAA

March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 13

marries) Macheath. This impels Peachuminto betraying Macheath, leading to hiscapture and hanging (or does he hang?).

Alas, the Marvell Rep show does notlive up to its strong beginnings. Many ofthe performers are rank amateurs, lackingsolid singing voices and believable stagemovements. Though the leads move withassurance, larger scenes with more castmembers lead one to believe that this is astudent acting class. But Angus Hepburnand Joy Franz (as Mr. and Mrs. Peachum,respectively) are thoroughly professional,always in character, whether singing,pontificating, or interacting with others.Matt Faucher interprets Macheath as alikeable scoundrel, always popular withthe ladies, but one would have liked to seemore bite and menace in the portrayal. Asto Mac’s many women, Ariela Morgensternstands out as Jennie Diver. She is stunning,and it is only in her solo number that shestumbles, twisting her mouth awkwardly.Emma Rosenthal is credible as PollyPeachum, but falters in her songs, tendingto screech on the high notes, as do others in the cast. But she has an effective scene with Kelly Pekar, as the two vie forMacheath’s love. And finally, a note ofpraise to Chad Jennings who never faltersas Macheath’s buddy, Tiger Brown, thepolice official.

JewishTheaterREVIEWED BY IRENE BACKALENICK

The ThreepennyOpera on New York stage

How did The Threepenny Opera,written in 1928, move from its status as a protest piece to worldwide fame, froman intriguing little show to a classic?Certainly it captured the mood and spiritof pre-Nazi Germany. Certainly later itwould be banned by the Nazis, as weremany lesser works. And certainly its composer Kurt Weill (a Jew) and writerBertolt Brecht (an anti-Nazi) would ultimately flee the country.

Brecht and Weill would set their piece in 1837, at the time of Queen Victoria’scoronation, but this corrupt world ofthieves and whores could indeed be applicable 100 years later. But earlier history indicates that The ThreepennyOpera was based on a 1728 piece, JohnGay’s The Beggar’s Opera, a satirical balladopera complete with a shocking, grittyatmosphere that would wear well.

And now, once again, The ThreepennyOpera makes its appearance on a New Yorkstage.This off-Broadway version presentedby the Marvell Rep is appropriatelyhoused on a tiny third floor stage. Much ofthe spirit is captured with its tattered curtains, awkwardly-lettered sceneannouncements, and ragged costumes.The piece opens with a character seatedon the toilet, performing (both his bodilyfunctions and his rendition of “Mac theKnife”). A memorable moment indeed.

The story – which has remained intactthrough the years – deals with Macheath(aka: Mac the Knife) captain of a gang ofthieves and his amorous adventures. PollyPeachum, whose father is king of the beggars, runs off to marry (or thinks she

L-R: Joy Franz as Mrs. Peachum and EmmaRosenthal as Polly in The ThreepennyOpera. Photo credit: Jill Usdan.

j i

to share this bread with others. We need tobecome like matzah, simple and humble.

When you go to the Seder and itbecomes time to eat matzah, eat it without talking. Hashem is feeding you allthat you need at this time. Do not wastethis precious time with idle talk. Duringthe Seder, I heard that some people evenkiss the maror. Wow! That takes faith, loveand humility to be grateful for all thehardship because it brought us to wherewe are in this moment. Try kissing themarror this Pesach. It feels liberating andexpansive just to think about doing it.May this holiday be beautiful, healing,transforming for you and all of Israel.

Melinda (Mindy) Ribner, L.C.S.W. is aspiritual psychotherapist and healer in private practice (www.kabbalahoftheheart.com). She is a teacher of Jewish meditation and Kabbalah for over 25 years. Author ofKabbalah Month by Month, New AgeJudaism, and Everyday Kabbalah, she isalso the founder and director of Beit Miriam(www.Beitmiriam.org). She can be reachedby email at Beitmiriam@msn.com orMiriam@kabbalahoftheheart.com. KabbalahMonth by Month offers guidelines, meditations, strategies, stories to promotepersonal growth and healing each month. AAAA

RIBNER(continued from 4)

All told, this is not the strong ThreepennyOpera one would love to see on the NewYork stage, but it is nonetheless hearteningto see Mackie and his pals back in town.

Theater critic Irene Backalenick coverstheater for national and regional publications.She has a Ph.D. in theater criticism fromCity University Graduate Center. Her bookEast Side Story – Ten Years with the JewishRepertory Theatre won a first-place nationalbook award in history. She welcomes comments at IreneBack@sbcglobal.net andinvites you to visit her website: nytheaterscene.com or at: jewish-theatre.com. AAAA

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As discussed in The Exodus Haggadah,Israelites and Egyptians would readilyhave understood each plague, as well asthe killing and eating of lambs and thedrowning in the sea, as judgments againstthe gods of Egypt – demonstrations thatAdonai controls the forces of natureascribed to those gods, who control nothing and are nothing. Yet uttering thegods’ names would honor them. (Cf.obliterating Haman’s name at Purim.)Thus, with one exception, the Book ofExodus mentions the gods obliquely, bytheir symbols or Hebrew names for thenatural forces ascribed to those gods. Theexception is the fourth plague, scarabs.Because scarabs do not occur in Canaan,Hebrew had no native word for scarab andthe Book of Exodus used the actual nameand address of the Egyptian Scarab-god,properly modified to fit Hebrew phonology.

An attorney and Semitic linguist withdegrees from Brandeis, Stanford and Univ.of Calif., Seth Watkins (pen name, Ben-Mordecai) merges linguistic analysis withlegal sleuthing to uncover lost meanings ofancient texts. His Exodus Haggadahuniquely includes the full story of theExodus in an accessible format. When notlawyering or writing, he enjoys feeding“his” raccoon Ranger, and Ranger’s twocubs. Email: Seth@VayomerPublishing.com. AAAA

BEN-MORDECAI(continued from page 10)

j i AVI&ADELE(continued from page 12)

what she was looking for.You can ask herwhat she found. And then ask her whatyou might find if you googled her. Beready for anything and, as always, keepcommunicating!

Livin’and Lovin’, Avi and AdeleTo submit questions to Confidentially

Yours: Avi and Adele, please email aa@letmypeoplegrow.org. For additional Jewishcontent, please go to www.letmypeoplegrow.org. AAAA

14 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

As I Heard ItREVIEWED BY MORTON GOLD

Longing for traditional music at synagogue

I had planned on reviewing a newlyreleased CD, but alas I have not yetreceived it so “no can do.”

It has occurred to me that in a recentcolumn I vented on this and that and maywell have been too hard on some of our“spiritual leaders.” Without commentingon the merits of my discomforts, our rabbis are subject to many conflicting congregational pressures and beinghuman tend to react to a variety ofsqueaky wheels. Since my area of concernis music, this is a sore subject for me.

When I was a lad, not too many yearsago, most Jews “went to temple” as muchto listen to a good hazzan interpreting the prayers – usually with the assistance ofan organist and a mixed choir – as muchas to pray. Next in the order of importancewas the rabbi’s sermon, and last were the chanting of the Torah and Haftorahportions. While there was some responsive reading (in English) as well ascongregational singing, these last twoitems did not occupy a significant amountof time.

Probably last in importance as well as inthe time consumed was the preliminaryservice which was usually led by theshammes or hazzan sheni, as he was oftenlater referred to. While there were fewerworshippers on Saturday morning as contrasted to the late Friday evening service, in general attendance was goodand did not have to depend on a bar or bat mitzvah to fill the worship space. Thatwas then.

Then a funny thing happened; overtime, Jews stopped “going”to services, justlike their non-Jewish neighbors. LateFriday evening services gave way to potluck communal suppers with the rabbi literally teaching folks to sing Kiddish andsuch, and it became a kind of teachingseminar for young parents that had children in Hebrew school. Oft times theservices that followed were for folks whohardly ever set foot in temple since theirown bar or bat mitzvah! Why or how didthis transformation occur? Well, forgiveme please, I want to look at what I see, orbetter put, hear now.

The longest part of the actual worship

occurs with the preliminary service.Unlike their non-Jewish friends where theservice actually begins at a stated time,Yiddn (like everybody else) tend to votewith their feet. In order words, they comewhen it is convenient for them, usually atleast a half hour after the official startingtime. For those who actually are presentfor the p’kudei v’zimra, the individual serving as reader usually stitches togetherthe few prayers leading to a variety ofcommunal singing.

While commenting on the quality of thetunes employed may be a matter of taste,what is observable fact is that they are allsung at a snappy pace for the benefit ofthe few who can actually get the wordsout. After the brief section where the Torahis taken out is the time for the rabbi to beheard. The rabbi’s sermon has beenreplaced with some observations relatingto the Torah portion and is usually followed by a “discussion.” From my perspective these discussions are frequently pointless and give the folkswho are there an opportunity to be heard,and heard and heard.

Then the real movers and shakers take over. These are the “few, the proud,”the readers of the Torah and Haftorah.The preliminary and service proper services take about 40 minutes or so,the rabbi’s comments and discussion,about another 40 minutes. Musaf, (the additional service) where it still done, along with “announcements” takeanother 20 minutes. (The length of allthese are only approximate and are oft times longer!)

In smaller and rural congregations thereis no longer a professional hazzan.Appropriate Nusach for the various parts of the service is another casualty.This would have been scandalous 50 yearsago. Not today. Attendance at Saturdaymorning services is generally poor whenthere is no bar or bat mitzvah.

Since there is no hazzan, there is also no accompanying organist and since thecongregation does all the singing, no needfor a choir either. I am etwas a musicianand I have to confess that I “go”to shul onShabbos in spite of the music I know I willhear there. I do not fault the rabbis for thequality or quantity of the music used forcongregational singing as they areresponding to the desires of people intheir congregations.

I confess that the pastiche of tunes usedfor ka-ka-tuv (second paragraph of Aleinu)I find to be particularly offensive. I conclude with a question: Is there anycausal relationship between attendance atShabbos services these days and theinsipid, childish, as well as quasi Chassidicmelodies used at these services whichhave no relationship to the words, and

do not lend any sense of the sacred to the proceedings?

My opinion for whatever it is worth is that there is. One will not be moved by the “concord of sweet sounds” at many services given at a Conservativetemple these days. Change is not alwaysprogress. This is how I feel. If you feel the same way, be your own squeakywheel! Then perhaps we may “go back to the future!”

Dr. Gold is a composer/conductor and amusic and drama critic. He may be reachedat: drmortongold@yahoo.com. AAAA

BY RABBI DAVID ZELLER, Z”L

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Matzah iscalled the breadof affliction andit is also calledthe bread offaith. Faith isn’tblind belief. Forexample,“Tell methis and I’llbelieve it, give me new information and Iwon’t believe it.” Belief is probably thelowest level of knowing. Most of our perception is a belief type of perception.An example of faith is: “I don’t know if I’llever be able to see you for who you are,but I know who you are. It doesn’t matterwhat I see or hear or what anybody says.It doesn’t matter what I do or say, whatyou do or what you say. I don’t know you,I don’t understand you, I don’t believeyou, I faith you.” Matzah is the bread offaith, the way to reach into that level ofvision. It is not based on our merit or onour understanding or how good we are,just based on our faith.

I learned from Shlomo Carlebach thatwhen we break the matzah, we cover halfof it up, conceal it and hide it. There’s awhole part of me I don’t know, it’s hidden.I lost it. In the Gemora it is said thismatzah breaking is done to keep theattention of the children so they don’tleave the table. Carlebach says theafikomen, the half of the matzah that iscovered up represents the part of you that is lost and the only ones that canbring it back to you are your children.What our children can reveal to us aboutourselves is precious.

Another teaching from Carlebach isabout marror (bitter herb). What is thereason we say a bracha (blessing) over

(see Zeller, page 15)

Matzah, Marror, & Dishes

March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 15

they believe that it is the source of theintelligence, achievement and family values that they associate with Jews. Few,if any, Jewish filmmakers desire to seekout such a source nowadays, though such pursuit would make for a rathernovel film.

Rabbi Gertel has been spiritual leader ofConservative Congregation Rodfei Zedeksince 1988. A native of Springfield, Mass.,he attended Columbia University and Jewish Theological Seminary. He is theauthor of two books, What Jews Knowabout Salvation and Over the Top Judaism: Precedents and Trends in the Depiction of Jewish Beliefs andObservances in Film and Television. He has been media critic for The Jewish Post & Opinion since 1979. AAAA

man’s evil and avarice, enlists otheremployees and friends in a plan to stealback their money from Shaw. The caper’sconspirators of color, Eddie Murphy andGabourey Sidibe, actually get to spoofsome of the stereotypes associated withAmerican and Carribean blacks, but thewriters and producers are reluctant tohave a Jewish hero, though Kovacs couldbe a Jewish name, as was true of the legendary Ernie Kovacs.

Ironically, Stiller has never been soadmirable and likable in a film. This is,happily, a far cry from the self-serving andsneaky rabbi he played in Keeping theFaith, or the self-indulgent passive andaggressive fool of “Focker”franchise fame.The Stiller character here is idealistic,generous and self-sacrificing. Why is thereresistance to identifying such a characteras – a Jew?

The word,“Jew,” is also not used in thefilm, New Year’s Eve, a sweet and well-intentioned, but rather unimpressivemelodrama directed by Garry Marshalland written by Katherine Fugate, with aweak attempt at mystery. It comes across as a cluster of old TV movie and sitcom concepts. Though filled with topname stars, they are all eclipsed by thebreathtaking shots of New York City.

A possible Jewish character is a dyingman, Stan Harris (Robert DeNiro) whohas declined cancer treatments but wantsto see the ball drop in Times Square. Thesuggestion is made a few times that at onepoint he abandoned parental or maritalresponsibilities or both. He says, “The only people I ever cared about I pissed offlong ago.”

Why should I assume that he is a Jewish character? My precedent is television shows of the 1980s and 1990s, like St. Elsewhere andThirtysomething, which depicted Jewishfathers in this way. But then again,the hero of this picture is the electricalwhiz who saves the day by figuring outwhich of many possible mechanical failings is balling up the famous New Year’s ball. This fellow is a Russiannamed Kominsky (Hector Elizando) who, we learn, had been fired for askingthe probing questions that anticipatedsuch a possible malfunction. He does, ofcourse, have a name that could be Jewishor generically Russian.

The only reason I raise the question thathe might be Jewish is that I am still of thegeneration when films and TV showsextolled Jewish brains (yiddisher kopf),culminating in Independence Day (1996).But that may reflect nostalgia for an imageof Jews no longer prominent in theAmerican media, though I recently readthat many families in South Korea nowstudy the Talmud in translation because

MediaWatchBY RABBI ELLIOT B. GERTEL

Tower Heist andNew Year’s Eve

There was a time when films and TV shows about New York felt some obligation to feature Jewish characters or at least to mention Jews or use Jewishexpressions. After all, there are a lot ofJews in New York.

Yet Tower Heist doesn’t mention Jews atall. Judd Hirsch plays an efficient, smartmanager of a post high rise with no specific Jewish references. The capable,devoted, sympathetic secretary, Rose(Marcia Jean Kurtz) is identified as Italian.

I can understand and appreciate whythe villain of the film, the viciouslyexploitative Mr. Shaw (Alan Alda), aPyramid scheme monster, is not indentified as Jewish. Thankfully, thoughthe name could be a Jewish one, directorBrett Ratner and writers Ted Griffin andJeff Nathanson are careful to depict a horrid personality type, best described by M. Scott Peck in People of the Lie, ingeneric terms. This showed mercifulrestraint, considering that the world’smost infamous convicted Pyramidschemer is Jewish, was identified as such,and financially and morally damagedmany Jewish causes.

In this beautifully filmed and nicelyacted and amusing enough fare, a loyaland capable concierge staff member, JoshKovacs, played by Ben Stiller, who hastrusted Mr. Shaw and urged investment ofthe employees pensions with him, andwho now understands the extent of the

Ben Stiller (L) and Eddie Murphy (R) leadan all-star cast in this hilarious comedycaper about a staff of workers seekingpayback on the Wall Street swindler (AlanAlda, not pictured) who defrauded them.Also includes (middle L-R) MatthewBroderick, Michael Peña, and Casy Affleck,and Gabourey Sidible and Téa Leoni (notpictured). Photo © www.towerheist.com.

ZELLER(continued from page 14)

something so bitter and why do we wantto remind ourselves of it now that we are free? We are not trying to remind ourselves. The reason we eat it and tasteits bitterness is because we are saying to ourselves, “Thank God, that it tastedbitter when we were in Egypt because if it hadn’t I would have never left.”Sometimes we need to feel the pain and ifwe don’t, we don’t know how much of aslave we are.

The reason we get rid of all our dishesfor Pesach is that all new dishes are exactly that what we need. “The vesselsI’ve had up until now can’t possiblyreceive the vision. I have to have new vessels that have never touched chametz.Chametz puffs us up and fill us with pride.I have to get rid of those slavery vessels. Ineed matzah dishes.”

Rabbi David Zeller, z”l, teaching aboutPassover at Temple Beth Abraham, Oakland,Calif., March 22, 1987. AAAA

16 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

Eight new storiesby admired Israeli author

Adel, is the only Arab living in thatJewish village given his father’s friendlyrelations with Rachel’s late husband whodied suddenly at age 50. Interestingly,Adel is engaged in writing a book comparing the Arab village with its Jewish counterpart. However, the Jewishresidents are antagonistic to Adel’s presence with Pesach believing that he isdigging (the story’s title) at night underneath Rachel’s house, hoping toprove that it once belonged to hisPalestinian family. The title “Digging”is suggestive also of long-standing Israeli pursuit to reconnect to its roots inthe Land of Israel through archeological excavations. Both Israelis and Palestinians,who are competing for the same land,view with suspicion each other’s digging.

Pesach is convinced that the Arabs willnever give up what they regard as theirown land and, moreover, he would havedone the same were he in their shoes.Pesach resents though his own peoplesconduct – referring particularly to thepolitical right – toward the Palestinians.Oz’s political left orientation is loud andclear. Pessimistic and conflicted Pesach,representing the old generation with itsEuropean background, cannot give up hisingrained childhood fear of anti-Semitesand Gentiles in general. He thus sees inAdel a potential enemy.

Throughout this revealing book we findthe author’s special touch of delicatehumor soothing thorny issues lackingclear resolution. The last story, “In a FarAway Place at Another Time”, whichstands on its own, seems to be a satire on a world gone mad. Perhaps it reflectsthe human potential everywhere for low descent.

Rabbi Israel Zoberman is the spiritualleader of Congregation Beth Chaverim inVirginia Beach. He grew up in Haifa, Israel. AAAA

BookReviewBY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

Scenes from Village Life. By Amos Oz.Translated by Nicholas de Lange. HoughtonMifflin Harcourt, 2011. 182 pages. $22.00.

Amos Oz is thebest known andadmired Israeliauthor world-widewhose books havebeen translatedinto 37 languages.His latest work of exquisite artreflects both hisliterary talent,which is of NobelPrize stature, and afaithful commitment to placing the individual Israeli in the larger context of a demanding society, with its uniquedilemmas and tensions. There is high-overlapping between individualconcerns and the collective agendathough with some erosion in recent years due to Israel becoming more of a capitalistic society, along with movingaway in time from its 1948 foundingwhich was socialist based.

The interaction among the book’s characters takes place in the fictional village of Tel Ilan, which would fit common Israeli villages in its landscapeand peoples lives. Once agriculturally supported they have given way to providingnearby city folks with local made cheeses,wines and Far East furnishings. SecularIsraelis, Israel’s majority, flock there driving on the Sabbath.

From among the book’s eight stories,“Digging,” which is my favorite, best captures the author’s inner struggles concerning Israel’s challenges. ElderlyPesach Kedem, a former Knesset memberwhose Labor party was Israel’s dominantpolitical power until 1977, bemoans itsloss of clout while critical of his party’sinternal squabbles and his not being listened to. He’s also in pain over a bygonepast when relationships were more genuine and trustworthy. Yet, he is suspicious of Adel, the Arab student whotemporarily lives in the backyard ofPesach’s daughter, Rachel Franco, withwhom Pesach now shares the house.

BY TAMI LEHMAN-WILZIG

Why is this children’sbook different from allother children’s books?

One could argue thatthe Haggadah is the firstJewish children’s book. Itsaim is to educate. It dealswith four different types ofchildren and how they behave. It containssupernatural elements that wow the reader, and even includes some fun songsat the back of the book. Still, despite all these wonderful elements it doesn’tmanage to keep our children’s attentionuntil the very end. That’s because it

(see Lehman-Wilzig, page 18)

never had a red-pen editor, striking out sentences and axing paragraphs. To thecontrary. Through the centuries our rabbiswent the add-on route. And so, yawn, itreally is hard to keep young ones awakeand engaged.

That’s where you – parents and grand-parents – step in. And I don’t mean withready-made props from local or onlineJudaica stores. More to the point, I meansome good, wholesome, home-made fun,which sadly is missing in our increasinglyvirtual universe.

If you’re Ashkenazi, you might be wondering what I’m talking about, but ifyou’re Sephardi you’re probably smiling,knowing exactly what I mean. As anAshkenazi Jew living in Israel, I havelearned lots from my Sephardi cohorts on how to make Passover a fun-filled children’s events and I’m here to share thetricks of the trade with you – even expandupon them.

Let’s start at the very beginning. Call itthe Sephardi prologue – a short, one-actplay that draws children in. It goes likethis: A designated participant leaves thetable while the Seder leader breaks the middle matzah in half. A behind the scenes transformation takes place with the participant emerging dressed up as one of the Children of Israel (home-made costume, of course). S/hethen knocks on the door, signaling thebeginning of a brief dialog with the Sederleader who starts by asking “Who areyou?”Answer: “I’m one of the Children ofIsrael.” Next question: “But I thoughtyou’re a slave in Egypt.”Reply: “I was. NowI am free.” Question: “Where are yougoing?” Answer: “To Eretz Yisrael – TheLand of Israel.”The leader then wraps it upby saying “Welcome. Come sit at our tablebefore you continue your journey.”Applause. End of play.

Adults smile, children laugh and thereading of the Haggadah begins. Must the theatrical production end here? I don’tthink so. Let’s expand upon it. How aboutthe section dealing with the five rabbiswho stay up all night? It has the makingsof another act, all you have to do is write amore contemporary dialog. What aboutthe four sons? Let’s not be gender specific.Have a configuration of boys and girlsdress up as the four different types of children, each doing a dramatic renditionof his/her part. This leads nicely into ahome-made 10 plagues bag, which canthen segue into a wonderful Persian custom – hitting your neighbor with thelong hollow leaves of a scallion at eachrepetition of the word Dayenu. The reasonbehind this “madness”? To remind us ofthe whips that hit our ancestors whenthey were slaves.

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March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 17Jews, to move the newcomers outside ofNew York and other metropolitan areaswhere they were a source of awkward discomfort to the often wealthy and well-established German Jews. Agriculturalcolonies were precariously established in various parts of the United States,including the future state of SouthDakota, called “Sodokota,” as the settingfor this story The “Galveston Plan” alsosteered immigrants away from the EastCoast, sending them, via Galveston, toless populous places, especially in theSouthern states.

We first meet Minna, the 16-year old“mail-order bride,”when she is subjectedto a humiliating physical examinationbefore boarding a boat in Odessa for thetrip to America. The rigors of the harshand arduous journey are described inrelentless detail. At Castle Garden, she ismet by Jacob, the 15-year old son of Max,her prospective husband who has anotherson, 18-year old Samuel, and who was deserted by his first wife. After a burdensome train ride of several days,Jacob and Minna arrive at the destination.Max’s tiny, poorly furnished, one-roomhome is “more of a cave than a house”andthe fields are filled with rocks.

After Max’s divorce is finalized in accordance with Jewish law, Minna,Max, and his two sons go five miles to the home of Ruth and Leo Friedmanwhere Max and Minna are married without a rabbi. They return home; Minnais unable to conceive; and an accidentoccurs that destroys the house. A newhouse is erected but life continues to beharsh, especially during the severe winter when there is little food and much cold. Through all this hardship,Minna experiences another problem whenshe finds herself attracted to Samuel,her step-son, who is close to her age.She uses all her strength to cope with her craving and to survive. The final developments of her grim experiencesproceed to an inexorable ending.

Aside from the compelling story thatAnna Solomon tells, her superlative writing skills enable her to portray the fascinating characters and the desolateenvironment of her book so that readerswill be caught up in the narrative. It issomewhat surprising to learn that this isher first attempt at writing a novel. Hercomplete success makes us eager to seeher second book.

Dr. Morton I. Teicher is the FoundingDean, Wurzweiler School of Social Work,Yeshiva University (home of the AlbertEinstein College of Medicine) and DeanEmeritus, School of Social Work, Universityof North Carolina at Chapel Hill. AAAA

he “could never fully understand Gaza.”Greitens says nothing about stopping in Israel.

After earning his doctorate at Oxfordwith a dissertation on serving war-affectedchildren, Greitens considered offers toremain there as a faculty member or tojoin some fellow graduates in a businessventure. However, his experiences as avolunteer throughout the world led him to the conviction that without warriors, humanitarians cannot flourish.Accordingly, he decided to enlist in thearmed forces, specifically the Navy Seals.He was 26 years old, only two yearsyounger than the minimum starting age to become a Seal. The rest of the bookdescribes his rigorous training as a Sealand his subsequent military service.

By far, the most rousing part ofGreitens’s narrative is the stirring accountof his tough training. He presents this inconsiderable detail, especially the finaldays, known as Hell Week. His blow-by-blow description of the harrowing tests to which he and his colleagues were subjected will inevitably arouse in readersprofound respect for Greitens and all hisfellow Seals. The success in killing BenLaden by a Seal team with no loss ofAmerican life becomes understandable to all those who read Greitens’s comprehensive chronicle of Seal training.

This well-written book makes readerseager to follow Greitens’s career. He isclearly a man to watch.

The Jewish mail-order bride

The Little Bride. By Anna Solomon.New York: Riverhead Books, 2011. 314Pages. $15.

This remarkable novel highlights twolittle known aspects of American Jewishhistory. One is the “mail-order bride,”a unique custom especially prevalent during the early years of the 1880–1920mass immigrationto the UnitedStates of EastEuropean Jews.Unmarried menwho had alreadysettled in theUnited States,sometimes inplaces where therewere few or no Jewish women,arranged withagents in Eastern Europe to select brides for them with the men paying the transportation costs to America.

The second custom developed out of thedesire of earlier immigrants, the German

Memoir by a Navy Seal – a man to watch

The Heart and the Fist. By Eric Greitens.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.309 Pages. $27.

This excitingmemoir describesthe author’s experiences as astudent at Dukeand Oxford; as avolunteer in coun-tries throughoutthe world; as atrainee to becomea Navy Seal; andas a member of theAmerican armedforces in Iraq, Afghanistan, southeast Asia, and Kenya. It concludes with anexplanation of the organization he founded, The Mission Continues, whichinitially supported wounded and disabledveterans to serve in non-profit organizations, helping both their clientsand themselves. The Mission Continueshas now extended its activities to help all veterans since 9/11 to continue usingtheir skills to provide needed services.

At the age of 38, Greitens is back in his home town, St. Louis, acting as theunpaid executive of The MissionContinues. His unusual experiences as astudent, volunteer, and member of thearmed forces provide a solid base forwhatever he wants to do. Recently, he wasinterviewed on the Charlie Rose show inconnection with the killing of Afghancivilians by an American soldier. His wiseexpertise was demonstrated as heresponded thoughtfully to a number ofquestions. He appears to be attainingcelebrity status as he looks for new opportunities to be of service.

Greitens tells us little about his family,mentioning almost in passing that hismother is Jewish and his father is Catholic.The family observed both Jewish andChristian holidays but he says, “my parents weren’t too bothered by theology.”There are no other references toreligious preferences although, accordingto Jewish law, he is a Jew, depending,of course, on his mother’s antecedents.These considerations do not figure at all inhis description of a brief visit to Gazawhich he made in 1996. He writes that he “was just passing through” and that

Book ReviewsREVIEWED BY MORTON I. TEICHER

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18 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

a few recipes from the cookbook.

Cabbage Soup with Matzoh Meatballs

1 large diced onion4 chopped garlic cloves5 Tbsp. canola oil1 Tbsp. sugar4 diced tomatoes1 large chopped green cabbage8 cups chicken stock1 Tbsp. honey2 cups tomato sauce

Sauté onion and garlic in canola oil untilbrown. Add sugar and carmelize. Addremaining ingredients and bring to a boil.Let boil for 30 minutes then simmer.

Matzoh Meatballs

1/2 cup matzoh meal1/2 lb. ground beef3 eggsSalt and pepper1 Tbsp. oregano1 tsp. cumin

While the soup is boiling, mix all ingredients for the matzoh meatballs.Form into balls, then add the matzohmeatballs to the soup. Cook for 20 minutes.(Reviewer’s note: this should be 6-8 servings)

Coq au vin with saffron quinoa

1 cup dry quinoa1/2 cup dry white wine1/2 cup waterPinch of saffron1/2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms4 chicken leg quarters3 Tbsp. olive oilSalt and pepperPaprika

Preheat oven to 400°F. Pour quinoa into a 9x13-inch pan. Season with salt,pepper and saffron. Pour water on top ofquinoa and stir. Sprinkle mushrooms ontop of quinoa. Rub chicken with paprika,salt, pepper and olive oil, place overquinoa in the pan. Pour wine on top of chicken. Cover and bake for 1 hour,then uncover and bake for an additional15 minutes (or until chicken is cookedthrough). (Reviewer’s note: This should be 4 servings)

Viennese Crunch

1 cup margarine1 egg1 tsp. instant coffee1 cup sugar1 cup matzoh cake meal1/4 tsp. salt

My KosherKitchenBY SYBIL KAPLAN

New Passovercookbook and recipes

12 ounces chocolate chips1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Put margarine ina bowl and beat on medium speed, addingsugar slowly until the mixture has acreamy texture. Add egg, coffee, cakemeal, and salt. Spread mixture onto acookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.Remove from oven and sprinkle thechocolate chips on top, spreading them as they melt. Sprinkle nuts on top ofchocolate. Cut into squares while warm.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, food and featurewriter, and author of nine kosher cookbooks.She leads “Shuk Walks” in Jerusalem produce market, Machaneh Yehudah. AAAA

The No-Potato Passover. By AvivaKanoff. BRIO Publishing. $29.99 availablefrom amazon.com or nopotatopassover.com. 2012.

This cookbook is“a journey of food,travel and color,”asthe eclectic authordemonstrates inwriting it to“change the waywe think aboutPassover food andto put an end to thecooking rut.” Writing this as a challenge,she decided to have her cookbook be “anexpression of artistic sensibilities.”

She introduces readers to spaghettisquash and quinoa as potential substitutesfor potatoes and offers a wide variety of recipes using foods for Passover. Thereare 17 soups and salads, 18 side dishes,11 meats, 15 poultry, 10 dairy, and pareve entrees, and 12 desserts – 83 recipesin all.

There are colorful photographs on everypage; the ingredients are clearly writtenand the instructions are numbered. Kanoffdoes not indicate whether a recipes isdairy, meat or pareve; but a bigger deletionis there is no indication for how manypeople the recipes are made.

Among the recipes that caught my eye to give a different approach toPassover were: cabbage soup with matzohmeatballs, quinoa taboule, eggplantlasagna, honey-mustard schnitzel andchocolate chip biscotti.

One time saver for one-third of thedesserts is her use of Passover cake mixes.

Kanoff is an artist who gives paintinglessons, a personal chef and a children’sauthor and illustrator. Her artistic abilityshows in her interspersing of beautifulcolor photographs of the food with photographs from Havana, Prague,Jamaica, Italy, Croatia, England, Arizona,Israel, and more.

It’s especially nice to know there is anew Passover cookbook on the marketand hostesses will surely appreciate this asa seder gift for an “international culinaryexperience” with exotic cuisines. Here are

LEHMAN-WILZIG(continued from page 16)

More than a custom, green onions are a wonderful example of the kinds of props you can use. Here are two moresuggestions. One is even based on an Ashkenazi custom, originating inHungary. Jews coming from this CentralEuropean country decorate their sedertable with gold and silver jewelry as a way of recalling the precious metalsEgyptians gave the Israelites before the 10th plague. What about furniture? No theatrical presentation is complete without it, so try these two options out for size. Forget about your gorgeous dining room set. Bring out the mattressesinstead. That’s what Jews in Tunisia do.They create an authentic experience by“comfortably” sitting on the floor. Notyour style? Stick with your dining roomset and follow the lead of Jews inCasablanca who place a large ornamentedchair with brocaded pillows next to thetable. This is the seat for the ProphetElijah. Does that mean you have to get rid of Elijah’s cup? Certainly not. After all, it’s another prop.

Do these Passover scenarios feel likePurim? Are you getting the picture? Likeall good playwrights you decide howmuch drama your audience can take. Theauthors of the Haggadah have alreadysupplied you with the cast of charactersand the backdrop. Now it’s your turn toget a handle on how to make it fun,relevant and compelling – the reason whythis children’s book is different from allother children’s books.

Tami Lehman-Wilzig is an award-winning children’s book author of ten published books and one children’s book app.Her book, Passover Around the World (Kar-Ben, 2007), is a compilation of eightstories revolving around Passover customsfrom across the globe. Visit Tami’s website:www.tlwkidsbooks.com. AAAA

March 28, 2012 The Jewish Post & Opinion 19

of material, told them the day and timeand place we wished to cross intoBethlehem and gave them the licenseplate and name of our good friend, theBaptist Minister, Al Nucciarone who was acting as our driver and guide.Accompanying us was his wife, Billie, anda visiting Pastor from Mumbai, India,Manoj Magar, on his first visit to Israel.The Pastor in India operates an orphanagefor HIV and other homeless children; the Jerusalem minister and his family volunteered there last summer.

Bethlehem is five miles south ofJerusalem, only a few minutes drive. Itfeels like a small, European town. The narrow streets and many hills are filledwith hotels, restaurants and souvenirshops which feature their three mainproducts – embroidery, olive wood andmother of pearl. Somehow one does notfeel it is touristy.

Today, 15% of the population is Christiansand 85% are Muslims. Fifty years ago, theChristian population accounted for 70%.

Baptist Minister Nucciarone, who comeshere weekly, drove us through town; westopped to chat with a man who runs aguest house; we drove past the terminalfor tour buses and then stopped at theCatholic Action Center. This $2 milliondollar structure opened in 2007 althoughsports and teams used its previous building since 1952. The Baptist Ministeruses its facilities for basketball camps andsports clinics.

Bethlehem-born Issa Hazbound, itsdirector, showed us the fitness center andpointed out the sauna, the multi-purposeroom and the board room. In the summer,there is an outdoor pool, and there areplans to build an indoor pool in the future. For 120 NIS ($32.17) for monthlymembership, one can use the facilities ontimes set aside for women alone, menalone, families or senior men.

On Star Street, we bumped into theMinister’s barber; had hot tea with mint inan embroidery shop with a Muslim andmet his 90-year-old grandfather, who isknown as the “peacemaker”of Bethlehem.

We parked the van and walked down ahill into and across Manger Square. Theresits the Church of the Nativity, where onemust bend very low to get through theentrance (built to keep out horses anddonkeys). Inside are marble floors and amultitude of incense burners hangingfrom the ceiling like chandeliers.

We descended the steps to the grottowhere there are more incense burnersoverhead. To the left is a star on a marblefloor, alleged site of the birth of Jesus; oneafter another persons came to lie down tokiss the floor. In another area to the right,other people laid down to kiss the floorwhere the manger was said to be. Out ofthis area is a large side room, where massis said on Christmas Eve; priests wereleading a service in Italian.

After this is the room where Jerome a4th–5th century Roman Christian priest,theologian, and historian, best known for his revisions and translations of theBible, lived in the last years of his life.In the courtyard was a life-size mangerscene constructed by Friends of Christiansof Trentino, Italy which had been on display since December 18 and is to closeFebruary 12.

In the nearby neighborhood of BeitSahour, Barry saw the shepherds’ fieldswhich the Roman Catholics identify. Thelow cave has been enclosed to make achapel. A church is above this. Legendsays this is the place where shepherds sawangels who told them a baby had beenborn in Bethlehem. (It is said that thesewere the fields where Ruth gleaned forBoaz.) He also spoke with the Franciscanmonks who live there.

Before leaving Bethlehem, we stoppedto visit with a Christian shopkeeper andwere served hot tea with mint by his wife.It was a very special visit, especially guided by Pastor Nucciarone, and wehope to go again with him.

A Travesty Hits CloseA few years ago, Barry chanced to strike

up a friendship with a personable man inhis Ulpan (Hebrew language classes) fromNew Jersey. After a few coffee chats, helearned that Italian Al Nucciarone was the

Baptist minister of the Jerusalem BaptistChurch. The friendship grew as the wivesmet and soon we were sharing dinners;they came to our synagogue for Purim andSimchat Torah; we went to the church fortheir Christmas program and other events.

Monday morning, Feb. 20, a phone callcame to Pastor Nucciarone that vandalshad scrawled “Death to Christians,”“Wewill crucify you,” and “Jesus son of Marythe whore” on the outside walls of thechurch, on a window and on a shed.

Three cars, two belonging to Israelineighbors, parked in the parking lot, werespray painted and had their tires slashed.

Barry spent most of the day, just showing support for Al; our rabbi who hasmet the Pastor on numerous occasions,went with Barry to show support andalerted the Mayor’s office. The Reformsynagogue behind them, which shares theparking lot, sent flowers to show support.

Later in the day, we drove Al to the IsraelBroadcasting building and I accompaniedhim to the building and studio in case heneeded Hebrew translated, where he wasinterviewed on the 5 p.m. English newsabout the incident.

Two weeks ago, similar sentences werespray painted on the Valley of the Crossmonastery and an Arab-Jewish school hadanti-Arab graffiti spray painted on its walls.

Watching the IBA news producer andthree production assistants sitting beforethe formidable wall of 11 large TV screensand 10 mini-screens with boards of lightsand buttons, or looking through the window to watch the studio anchormenbroadcast, ordinarily would have beenvery exciting for me.

In this case, watching the interview ofour friend was disturbing, knowing that Alis so very strongly supportive of Israel. Assomeone said, Baptists have been in Israelsince 1911; they, like Pastor Nucciarone,who has been here 4 years, love Israel.And we share in his hurt from this despicable, thoughtless, hateful act.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, food and feature writer, and author of nine koshercookbooks. She leads “Shuk Walks” inJerusalem produce market, MachanehYehudah. AAAA

KAPLAN/ISRAEL(continued from page 20)

Barry and Sybil Kaplan at Manger Squarewith Church of Nativity in background.

Anti-Christian graffiti spray painted on theoutside walls of the Jerusalem Baptist Church.

Pastor Al Nucciarone.

20 The Jewish Post & Opinion March 28, 2012

($9.21); residents of Jerusalem with theJerusalem card will pay 40 NIS ($10.52)and others will pay 55 NIS ($14.47) withspecial group rates and rates for studentsand children. (Conversion rates are as ofthis writing.) Visitors are asked to bringhats and gloves and dress warmly for the30-minute fixed loop tour.

“O Little Town of Bethlehem:” In the 1993 Oslo Accords, the final

status of Judea/Samaria was to be a subject between Israel and the Palestinianleadership. When Israel withdrew militaryrule from some parts of Judea/Samaria,the area was divided into three administrative areas.

“Area A” comprises Palestinian townsand some rural areas in the north betweenJenin, Nablus, Tibas and Tulkarm; thesouth around Hebron; and Salfit in thecenter; it was to be under Palestinian control and administration.

“Area B” adds other populated ruralareas, many closer to the center ofJudea/Samaria and was to be under Israelicontrol, but Palestinian administration.

“Area C” contains all the Israeli communities, roads to access them, bufferzones and almost all of the Jordan Valleyand the Judean Desert and was to beunder Israeli control and administration.

Bethlehem is governed by the PalestinianNational Authority so for us, as American-Israelis and journalists, we had to requestpermission to enter from the IsraelDefense Forces. We filled out seven pages

Imagine 16,146 feet (the size of fourbasketball courts!) filled with ice sculptures. In Alaska? In Iceland? InSwitzerland? No, in the railroad yardbehind the old train station in Jerusalem.

In November, Zion Turgeman, CEO ofthe Ariel Company, a city-governmentaffiliated event production company,approached the Mayor’s office to createthe first international ice festival in Israel. Feb. 28, hundreds of journalists,photographers and cameramen wereinvited to the opening.

Heavy jackets were handed out to thosewho were unprepared to walk through the -10°C (14°F) to see the work of 35 icesculptors from Harbin, China and fivepieces created by Israelis. This is a versionof the northern China’s annual HarbinInternational Ice and Snow SculptureFestival which also exports these exhibitions all over the world. It took 2500emails in Chinese, Hebrew and English toaccomplish this exhibit in Jerusalem.

And what a show! Entering through anice Jaffa Gate, one walks through the Old City, and the Western Wall, to see iced carriage and windmill of MishkenotSha’ananim; past a section with iced animals, a Noah’s ark, and charactersfrom children’s stories; an iced merry-

go-round, Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage,and iced slides to slide down; a famous“monster” slide known in Jerusalem is allice and an ice bar where vodka drinkswere handed out to guard against thecold. Finally there is a selection of Chinesesculptures. Colored lights continuallychange colors as backgrounds for the ice sculptures.

The 7,000 blocks of ice were made inAshdod and transported by special freezertrucks to Jerusalem. A number of theChinese sculptors from Harbin (where theaverage temperature is -20°C (-4°F) wererelaxing by playing cards and just sittingaround, in a large glassed-in tent whererefreshments, and later lunch, were servedto the press.

The festival, which will become anannual event, is part of a larger vision,said Mayor Nir Barkat, to “developJerusalem and exploit the potential forculture and tourism for the benefit ofJerusalemites, Israelis and tourists from allover the world.”

The ice festival is just the beginning ofan ongoing renovation project for theentire old train station area which willhave 16 movie theatres, shops and restaurants. A building for ice skating anda hockey rink are also part of the area.

The festival will open to the publicMarch 8 and was scheduled to close April30 but it has been decided to extend thisanother month. Isracard, Israel’s creditcard company, and one of the sponsors,announced those holding their cards willbe able to purchase tickets for 35 NIS

Seen on theIsrael SceneBY SYBIL KAPLAN

Ice City in Jerusalem

Ice elephants and pandas.

Wall of Jerusalem carved from ice. Photoson p. 19 & 20 by Barry A. Kaplan/Jerusalem.

1427 W. 86th St. #228Indianapolis, IN 46260

OpinionPost&The Jewish

Ice bar.

Manger scene from Italy.

(see Kaplan/Israel, page 19)