the jewish sound | february 20, 2015
DESCRIPTION
The February 20, 2015 issue of The Jewish Sound, the new name for JTNews | The Voice of Jewish Washington.TRANSCRIPT
f e b r u a r y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 n 1 a d a r 5 7 7 5 n v o l u m e 9 1 , n o . 4 n w w w . j e w i s h s o u n d . o r g
Design by Andrea Rouleau
Previously published as JTNews
GettingtheirshotsDespite low reportage rates,our Jewish schools areenforcing vaccination policiesStory on page 6
Why theJewish Sound?Why did we change our name again?On page 5.
Moishe’s back!Young adults rejoice! You once again have a place to hang out and meet other JewsOn page 8.
A Purim delicacyFamiliar with foulares? You may want to put one in a display case instead of eat it.On page 22.
2 The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
Contact Shelly C. Shapiro, Director of Legacy Giving, (206) 861-8785 or [email protected].
Capitol Hill Campus • 1601 16th Avenue, Seattle (206) 461-3240 • jfsseattle.org
March Family Calendar
OF GREATER SEATTLE
FOR ADULTS AGE 60+
Endless OpportunitiesA community-wide program offered in partnership with Temple B’nai Torah & Temple De Hirsch Sinai. EO events are open to the public and are at 10:30 a.m. unless otherwise noted.
The Eastside Storym Thursday, March 12
Early Twentieth-Century Apartment Buildings in the JFS Neighborhoodm Tuesday, March 17
An Afternoon with the Seattle Symphonym Sunday, March 22
12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
A Heritage and History: The Ben Bridge Storym Thursday, March 26
RSVP Ellen Hendin or Wendy Warman,(206) 461-3240 or [email protected].
VOLUNTEER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Contact Jane Deer-Hileman, (206) 861-3155 or [email protected].
Purim Basket Making and Deliverym Sunday, March 1Times assigned upon registration.
Passover Food Drop Off Daym Sunday, March 22
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Passover Basket Making and Deliverym Sunday, March 29Times assigned upon registration.
Friendly Visitors for SeniorsFamily Mentors for RefugeesTuesday Afternoon Bread Pick Up
PARENTS AND FAMILIES
Positive Discipline: Parenting with Confidencem Wednesdays, March 4 – 25
9:30 a.m. – noonContact Marjorie Schnyder, (206) 861-3146or [email protected].
Raising a Menschm Sunday, March 22
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.Contact Marjorie Schnyder, (206) 861-3146or [email protected].
2015 Jewish Family Service Community of Caring Luncheon
THURSDAY, April 30, 2015For more information, contact Leslie Sugiura, (206) 861-3151 or [email protected].
Passover Food DriveHelp us collect Passover food, and drop off your donations on Sunday, March 22. Necessary items include matzah, gefilte fish, kosher for Passover baking supplies and more. Contact Jane Deer-Hileman, (206) 861-3155 or [email protected].
FOR THE COMMUNITY
Purim Celebrationm Sunday, March 8
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.Contact Marjorie Schnyder, (206) 861-3146 or [email protected].
Kosher Food Bankm Wednesday, March 11
5:00 – 6:30 p.m.Contact Jana Lissiak, (206) 861-3174 or [email protected].
Passover Potluck for Couples and Familiesm Sunday, March 15
5:30 – 8:00 p.m.Contact Marjorie Schnyder, (206) 861-3146 or [email protected].
Passport to Passoverm Thursday, March 19
5:00 – 7:30 p.m.Contact Leonid Orlov, (206) 861-8784 or [email protected].
AA Meetings at JFSm Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m.Contact (206) 461-3240 or [email protected].
Solutions to Senior Hungerm OngoingJFS is helping eligible seniors sign-up for food stamps. Contact Carol Mullin, (206) 461-3240 or [email protected].
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound
3ALL IN A WEEK’S NEWS INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Coming Up: SPRING ARTS, THEATRE & GALLERIES
■ Terror in DenmarkTerror struck Denmark last week, with a Jewish security guard in Copenhagen being
one of the victims of a lone gunman who had killed a Danish director at an earlier free-speech event. The victim, 37-year-old Dan Uzan, was guarding Copenhagen’s central syna-gogue while a Bat Mitzvah celebration was taking place inside. The gunman was identified as 22-year-old Omar El-Hussein.
—Haaretz
■ Blowing coverArgentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was formally accused of trying
to shield Iranian officials from responsibility for a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, which left 85 dead, and the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy, which killed 29. The accusations come one month after the former prosecutor in the case, Alberto Nisman, was found dead in his apartment. Gerardo Pollicita, who took over the case, accused the presi-dent of covering for Iran in hopes of improving trade relations.
—Tablet
■ Building BirthrightCasino tycoon and major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam,
donated $40 million to Birthright Israel Foundation, which sends young Jews on free 10-day trips to Israel. This latest gift brings the couple’s overall donations to the program to $180 million. Approximately 350,000 Jews aged 18 to 26 have gone on Birthright trips since 2000, according to the website.
—The Jewish Daily Forward
■ Unfashionable choicesThe Anti-Defamation League has urged fashion retailer Urban Outfitters to discon-
tinue selling a gray-and-white striped tapestry featuring pink triangles that is “eerily rem-iniscent” of the garb that Nazis forced gay men to wear for identification purposes. This incident marks the second time in less than a year that the store has come under fire; last summer, the retailer carried a t-shirt featuring the Star of David, which the company later said was never meant for sale. Last spring Spanish retailer Zara also apologized for selling a striped shirt with a Star of David.
—USA Today
■ South African angstThe student council of the Durban University of Technology in South Africa voted on
Feb. 11 to encourage Jewish students “who do not support the Palestinian cause” to dereg-ister from the school. University officials rejected the vote as “preposterous.” The incident coincided with the invitation of Leila Khaled, a former plane hijacker for the Palestinian terrorist group PFLP, by the South African boycott and divestment movement. South Afri-ca’s Jewish community held a protest in Cape Town on Feb. 13.
—The Jerusalem Post
■ Parisian strollIsraeli reporter Zvika Klein, wearing a kippah, took to the streets of Paris one month
after the terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket while a friend secretly filmed his interac-tions for a video called “10 Hours of Walking in Paris as a Jew.” At one point, Klein began to be concerned for his own safety and received physical threats as he wandered through the city’s Muslim-dominated neighborhoods. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in France more than doubled in 2014 over the previous year.
—The Times of Israel
Get your art on!
Rabbi’s Turn: Tightening the belt 5Rabbi Seth Goldstein uses his synagogue’s budget as an analogy for what we face as a state, while our legislators hammer out ways to ensure that every one of our citizens is treated with dignity and care.
Why the Jewish Sound? 5You may have noticed that we’re sporting a new name. Here’s why, given our current situation.
Students get their shots 6Despite a widely touted database that stated otherwise, local Jewish schools are reporting and requiring that their students be up to date on their vaccinations.
A foodie transition 7When Stopsky’s Delicatessen on Mercer Island closed its doors last year, it broke a lot of hearts. But a nice Jewish boy from the island has taken over the space with his expanding organic sandwich empire.
Moishe’s back 8The international program that rents houses to host programs for young Jews reenters Seattle.
Social justice and Judaism 8Rabbi Yossi Ives started TAG International Development because he saw having young Jews perform acts of social justice as an important way keep them engaged.
The angel’s own portfolio 15Local angel investor Jon Staenberg is putting his money where his heart is: In wine and in Israel.
Northwest Jewish FamilyAward-winning reads 16Each year, the Association of Jewish Libraries bestows honors on the best books for kids. We’ve got the winners and more for kids of all ages.
Abba Knows Best: Go Giants? 17Yes, Virginia, there is a curmudgeon who doesn’t like the Seahawks. Somehow we continue to pay him to write articles for us.
Turned back by the courts 18Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the family of Rachel Corrie, seeking civil damages following the death of their daughter by a bulldozer driver in 2003, would not be paid for their loss.
MORECommunity Calendar 4Crossword 6What’s Your JQ?: Surviving the Seahawks 10Professional Services/Classifieds 20M.O.T.: A pomegranate and a palliative 21Deliciously Sephardic: Foulares for Purim 22Lifecycles 23The Arts 24
ReMeMbeR When
A Proud Partner Agency of
The Jewish Sound is the Voice of Jewish Washington. Our mission is to meet the interests of our Jewish community through fair and accurate coverage of local, national and international news, opinion and information. We seek to expose our readers to diverse viewpoints and vibrant debate on many fronts, including the news and events in Israel. We strive to contribute to the continued growth of our local Jewish community as we carry out our mission.
2041 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121206-441-4553 • [email protected] • www.jewishsound.org
The Jewish Sound (ISSN0021-678X) is published biweekly by The Seattle Jewish Transcript, a nonprofit corporation owned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, 2031 3rd Ave., Seattle, WA 98121. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle, WA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Jewish Sound, 2041 Third Ave., Seattle, WA 98121.
Board of directorsStan Mark, Chair*; Jerry Anches§; Marilyn Corets;Nancy Greer§; Cynthia Flash Hemphill*; Ron Leibsohn;Cantor David Serkin-Poole* Keith Dvorchik, CEO andPresident, Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Celie Brown, Federation Board Chair *Member, The Jewish Sound Editorial Board §Ex-Officio Member
staff eXt Reach us directly at 206-441-4553 Publisher & Editor *Joel Magalnick 233Associate Editor Emily K. Alhadeff 240 Sales Manager Lynn Feldhammer 264Account Executive Cheryl Puterman 269Account Executive David Stahl Classifieds Manager Katy Lukas 238Art Director Andrea Rouleau 239
From the Jewish Transcript, February 16, 1959.
Mrs. Sam Laurie, left, and Mrs. Nathan Sulman, both members of the Mizra-chi Women’s Organization of America, received certificates of meritorious service at the annual donor luncheon, Mrs. Laurie for her work on a souvenir journal, and Mrs. Sulman for 25 years of service to the organization.
For a complete listing of events, or to add your event to The Jewish Sound calendar, visit jewishsound.org/calendar. Calendar events must be submitted no later than 10 days before publication.
4 community calendar The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
The JeWiSh coMMuniTy cAlenDAR
Candlelighting TimesFebruary 20 ...........................5:23 p.m.February 27 ............................5:33 p.m.March 6 ..................................5:44 p.m.March 13 ................................6:54 p.m.
FRiDAy, FEbRuARy 20Discovery Seminar Weekend
^ 206-722-8289 or [email protected] or www.seattlekollel.org
, Doubletree Southcenter, 16500 Southcenter Pkwy., TukwilaA logic-based exploration of God, meaning and spirituality. Guest lecturers Rabbi Yerachmiel Milstein and Harold Gans. Cost includes two nights hotel/meals/conference costs. Childcare and children’s programs available upon request.
5:30–8 p.m. — Friday Night Services and Dinner Out
^ 253-564-7101 or [email protected] or www.templebethel18.org
, At Temple Beth El, 5975 S 12th St., TacomaPre-service nosh followed by multimedia family services, then head into Tacoma to dine out as a congregation.
7:30–9 p.m. — Kabbalat Tikvah: A Shabbat Evening of Hope and Healing
^ 425-844-1604 or [email protected] or www.kolaminw.org
, Congregation Kol Ami, 16530 Avondale Rd. NE, WoodinvilleWith Jewish musicians and worship leaders Sue Horowitz, Julie Warwick, Ruz Gulko and friends for a Shabbat evening of song and prayer. Focus on healing and wholeness for yourself, your loved ones and the world. Oneg Shabbat to follow. Free.
SAtuRDAy, FEbRuARy 21Meditation Workshop with Rabbi Yoel Glick ^ Rabbi Shmuel Brody at or rabbibrody@
jewishmeditationgroup.com , Ashreichem Yisrael, 5134 S Holly St., Seattle
Session 1, Saturday at 8 p.m.: “Expanding Our Inner Awareness.” Session 2, Sunday 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: “Building a Jewish Meditation Practice.” Hot lunch served. $45.
6–10 p.m. — Temple Beth El Red Hot Auction
^ Stacy Van Wagoner at 503-423-7348 or [email protected]
, Temple Beth El, 5975 S 12th St., Tacoma.Cocktails and a silent auction with gifts from local businesses, fun baskets, handcrafted art pieces and unique experiences. Dinner catered by Neighborhood Bistro, desserts by local bakeries and temple members. $54.
7:30–8:30 p.m. — In The Image
X PAge 18
SunDAyS9:30–10:30 a.m. — Journey of Judaism: An
In-Depth Survey of Jewish Life and Lore ^ 425-603-9677 or [email protected]
or templebnaitorah.org , Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St.,
BellevueRabbi David Lipper explores the nearly 6,000-year journey of the Jewish people.
10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m. — A Course in Hebrew and Its History (Part 2) ^ 425-603-9677 or [email protected]
or templebnaitorah.org , Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St.,
BellevueLearn Hebrew alongside its history.
MonDAyS7:30–8:30 p.m. — Weekly Parsha Class with
Rabbi Yechezkel Kornfeld ^ 206-275-1539 or [email protected] or
www.shevetachim.com , Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th
St., Mercer IslandMaariv service at 7:15 p.m. prior to the class. Free.
tuESDAyS7:30–9 p.m. — Women’s Jewish Heritage Class
^ Chanie Levitin at 206-931-4100 or [email protected]
Chanie Levitin leads a journey through Jewish heritage for women. Contact for address, Seattle.
WEDnESDAyS11 a.m.–12 p.m. — Torah with a Twist
(and Chocolate!) ^ Congregation Shevet Achim at
206-275-1539 or [email protected] or www.shevetachim.com
, Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th St., Mercer IslandWomen’s Torah study with Rabbi Yehuda Bressler. Free.
12–1:30 p.m. — Israel Current Events ^ 425-603-9677 or
[email protected] or templebnaitorah.org
, Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St., BellevueMonthly, repeats on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Led by Nevet Basker. $5.
4–5 p.m. — Prophets/Navi class with Rabbi Yechezkel Kornfeld
^ 206-275-1539 or [email protected] or www.shevetachim.com
, Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th St., Mercer Island.Free.
ongoing cAlenDAR
X PAge 14
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound OPINION
“This is a great way to get the younger generation, who are perhaps much less hinged to the traditional assumptions about Jewish community.”— Rabbi Yossi Ives, whose organization TAG International Development seeks to engage Jews through social justice work. See the story on page 8.
The RAbbi’S TuRn
write a letter to the editor: we would love to hear from you! Please limit you letters to approximately 350 words and submit to [email protected] . letters guidelines can be found at www.jewishsound.org/letters-guidelines/. the deadline for the next issue is february 24. future deadlines may be found online. the opinions of our columnists and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the views of the jewish sound or the jewish federation of greater seattle.
leTTeR FRoM The eDiToR5
On the backs of those who most need our helpBy Rabbi Seth Goldstein, Temple Beth Hatfiloh
Here is a scenario: A syn-agogue is faced with a tight budget. Examining its options, the board of the congregation decides not to do any addi-tional fundraising, but instead decides to just cut programs.
Doesn’t sound too realis-tic? As a congregational rabbi myself, I understand that there is a limit to cutting programs — how far does one cut back? Do we get rid of our youth education program? Deny well-deserved pay raises for our staff? Instead, prudent spending cuts need to be coupled with examining new avenues of fundraising: Do we raise the expected annual commitment? Have a special event? Maybe a special High Holi-day appeal?
This is the situation our state faces. Bound by law on much of its spending, our state is facing a tight budget. So there are two choices: Cut services or raise reve-nues. And with many of the services on the chopping block being the social services that help the most in need in our state, it becomes imperative that we look at new areas to raise revenue to secure these ser-vices that are so desperately needed.
But the need for more revenue rather than balancing the budget on the backs of those most in need is only one major issue of economic justice facing our state. Our state taxation system is extremely regres-sive — it puts more of the burden on those who can least afford it. In other words, the poorest in our state are paying a higher percentage of their earnings in taxes than the richest in our state.
How regressive? Out of 50 states, Washington ranks 50th.
According to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, an independent think tank that studies federal, state and local tax issues, Washington State has the most regressive tax structure in the United States. According to its most recent report (which can be found on its website www.itep.org), the poorest citizens of our state are taxed at a rate of 16.8 percent, while the richest — the top 1 percent of wage earners — pay only 2.4 percent in taxes.
Again, to the synagogue analogy, it’s like expecting your poorest congregants to pay more in dues than your richest con-gregants.
If we combine the two issues, we see that failing to raise revenue while cutting social services will mean a double hit on
our poorest: they will pay the most in taxes while the state cuts the services meant to sup-port them.
I often find it interesting that a state that seems to be progressive when it comes to social issues — the voters of the state of Washington passed by ballot marriage equality, gun control, and marijuana legal-
ization (the first two with the official sup-port of the organized Jewish community) — continues to be so regressive when it comes to economic policy.
While our legislature currently meets here in Olympia, they continue to wres-tle with this dilemma. Already our gov-ernor has introduced various revenue packages for consideration. Other issues of economic justice have come in front of our lawmakers as well: A raise in the min-imum wage, for example, should also be seriously considered.
I’m not an economist or a policy ana-lyst, so I will hesitate to weigh in on the pros and cons of various solutions; I don’t know the right answers. But I am a rabbi, and I can say that budgets are moral doc-uments that reflect a community’s priori-ties and values. To continue to maintain such a regressive tax system, and to cut social services without raising new reve-nue, is immoral.
We as Jews need to be concerned with economic justice — it is rooted in our text and tradition. This Shabbat is Para-shat Terumah, in Exodus. Having escaped from Egyptian slavery, the Israelites — through the gift of Torah — are to build a new society for themselves. One aspect is the ritual and ethical laws we explored in last week’s Torah reading. Another aspect is the communal institutions that will serve as a centerpiece to the community.
In this week’s portion, in Exodus 25:8, God tells Moses, “let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” The portion continues, describing in detail the plans and materials that will be used to construct the tabernacle and its fur-nishings. Those materials come from the people. All the people.
The economic issues facing our state are our issues, not only as citizens, but as Jews. We all must contribute to the devel-opment of our community. That is what our tradition teaches. And it also teaches that we do so justly and fairly.
Why the Jewish Sound? Why now?
You’ve likely noticed two phenom-ena when you received your papers in the mail this month. First, in our February 6 issue, was the announce-ment that the JTNews as you knew it will cease to exist and, come August, a new magazine will emerge in its place. Second, as you may have noticed in these pages and on the cover, the JTNews name has been retired and we are now publishing under the name
“The Jewish Sound.”It might seem counterintuitive to
change our name when we’ve got only a month or so to use it, but it’s what we’re doing. And the question you’re probably asking (because it’s the ques-tion so many people have asked me) is, why? Here’s the simple answer: We made a promise to you, our read-ers, and we’re going to follow through with it.
Here ’s the more complicated answer: We have known for quite some time that the name JTNews, which we created about a decade ago to try to be more attractive to people who hadn’t been picking up the paper, never really resonated with our community. Many of our readers were upset that we no longer had the word “Jewish” in the name. Others didn’t feel like it meant anything. Yet the name Transcript felt like it belonged in the play we recently produced that celebrated our history — not what anchored our future.
So as we prepared to relaunch our website last year, we thought it would be a good time to think about another name change. We spent a lot of time figuring out what would work and res-onate with our readership, and the moniker Jewish Sound really jumped out at us: For our geography, for the pronouncement of our voice of the community, and for having us be Jewish not only in spirit and content,
but also in name. Plus, everyone we spoke with really
liked it — as did we. But at the same time, many of our readers got con-fused: What should they call us, and who were they supposed to be making a check out to? So several months ago, before the decision was made about our impending transition, we set out to reinvent ourselves yet again. And that is where you find us today.
So for this issue and our remaining three, we will be known as The Jewish Sound. And who knows? Perhaps the magazine that opens in our stead will carry on a name in high gloss that had such a short life in newsprint, offering a bit of continuity in our ever-changing community.
Speaking of the magazine, many readers have asked what will become of our staff during this transition. We’re still having conversations, but it’s my hope that several of the people you’ve come to know over the years will move to SagaCity Media to help build this new magazine from the ground up, while others may land either in the office of our owners, the Jewish Feder-ation of Greater Seattle, or other Jewish agencies around town.
As for me, after sitting at the helm of this publication for more than 12 years — the second longest tenure in the editor position after the paper’s founder — I’ve decided that after we print our final issue on March 27 I will be moving on. With the emergence of a new magazine celebrating Jewish life, it is also time for a new voice of Jewish Washington. But until then, this ship will continue to steam ahead.
Joel MagalnickPublisher & EditorThe Jewish Sound
6 community news The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
Protect What is Preciousby Mike Selinker
© 2015 Eltana Inc. All rights reserved. Puzzle created by Lone Shark Games, Inc.Edited by Mike Selinker and Gaby Weidling. Crosswords of Wisdom, 1538 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122
Answers on page 23
“What is the purpose of a fence?” asks Rabbi Noah Weinberg. “To guard and protect. If there’sa hole in the middle of the street, the municipality comes and erects a fence so no one will get hurt by falling in. The fence keeps us safe from danger.” What we have that’s most precious,we protect. In the three long entries, we’ve fenced in those most precious things, of 4, 4, and5 letters respectively.
ACROSS1 In the thick of5 Mrs. Truman9 Curiosity is theirs13 Blanchett who played Galadriel14 ___ Seltzer15 Of the moon16 Hollywood biz19 Person in a videogame “City”20 Progressive spokeswoman21 “Kid-Tested, Mother-Approved” cereal22 “Charlie on the ___”23 Elliott who joined Katy Perry onstage during
Super Bowl XLIX25 Air traffi c regulators, for short26 Alert27 Knock silly28 ___ Minella (Muppet monkey)30 Mille ___ (automotive card game)32 Oncoming34 Rapper on a YouTube cooking show36 City founded as the Hellgate Trading Post41 Computers accept them42 It might come with pita43 Medical journal named for a scalpel46 Tina’s late ex48 Drive-___49 Hasn’t much upside or downside50 Have52 What trackers might discover54 Prefi x for spell or understand55 What it takes to make a thing go right56 ___ Z57 Actress ___ Dawn Chong59 Person like a Medici or Kickstarter backer63 Wading bird64 Data’s brother on Star Trek65 Joe is Barack’s66 Long-tongued supervillain67 Horror movie emotion68 Result of a countercurrent
DOWN 1 New Testament book2 Fish whose name means “very strong” in
Hawaiian3 Lists off4 Hip, in 1980s slang5 Casino in the middle of the Strip6 Furry TV host7 Head down the slopes8 Decaf brand9 Greek letters10 Marvel fi lm starring Paul Rudd11 He said “If you are lonely when you’re alone,
you are in bad company”12 Blonde people15 Old-timey soap brand17 Conditionals18 Fantasy game franchise24 Needing Dramamine25 “You Got Me ___” (Hendrix classic)26 Corresponded with27 Jinping-I is the world’s largest29 Rights-defending org.31 Babe comment33 Over35 Administrative center of the Siberian Cossack
Host37 Like Billy Joel’s “Girl”38 Hated39 Emulated Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird and its
upcoming sequel (!)40 Aladdin monkey43 Aquatic snail44 Bagel-topping cheese45 Cosa ___47 Old Testament book51 Writer of A Haunted House53 Writer of The Fall of the House of Usher55 Kiddo56 Razor brand58 Sports award60 Like Bozo’s nose61 Nemesis62 “___ Maria”
Day school students are vaccinating, records showBy Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent
When the Seattle Times released a tool on its website in early February that showed vaccination rates based on the 2011-12 school year — and only one of the six Jewish day schools showed that it had provided data — anxious and upset parents lit up the Internet with their questions and concerns about who and what their children might be exposed to. Current data, however, tell a more com-plete story.
Of the six Jewish day schools in King County that reported their vaccination rates to the Washington Department of Health, four reported in time for the 2014 cutoff and two missed last year’s Nov. 1 deadline, but all had reported as of 2013 and all are within the 90 per-cent vaccination exemption rate that the DOH prescribed in its latest 2011 law update.
While the vaccination debate contin-ues to rage around contentious and con-flicting values — those who support the parental right to decide vs. proponents of the public health as a priority argument and the herd immunity advocates vs. the so-called adherents to a herd mentality — are dug in for a fight.
“We collect immunization data from our parents annually,” Amy Adler, the Jewish Day School’s director of admis-sion and tuition assistance, told The Jewish Sound. With the county’s largest Jewish day school population — 197 stu-dents — only 3 percent of parents sub-mitted personal exemption forms for their children in 2013, the last year it reported.
“We require all parents to complete an immunization form or an exemp-tion,” she said.
Washington’s exemption rate was one of the highest in the country — 6.2 per-cent — before the newest version of the law took effect, according to the state’s DOH 2009-2010 figures. Most states are now closer to the 3 percent exemp-tion rate.
“We collect data annually, since no child can begin the school year with-
out the school having their most cur-rent immunization records,” said Shoshi Bilavsky, head of school at the Seattle Jewish Community School.
Of the 94 students enrolled in SJCS in 2013, slightly over 3 percent opted for personal exemptions.
Vaccinations have become an issue in light of a measles outbreak at Disneyland in January that affected children across the country. On Feb. 10, the Orthodox
Union and the Rabbinical Council of America stepped into the fray, issuing a formal statement saying that it “strongly urges all parents to vaccinate their healthy children on the timetable recom-mended by their pediatrician.”
Since 2011, Washington State’s law allows parents who want to decline vac-cinations for their children to opt out for religious, personal, philosophical, or medical reasons, but they have to have documentary paperwork.
To get a medical exemption, a doctor has to sign off on each vaccine category on a certificate of exemption. For a reli-gious waiver, parents must document their faith group on a different section of the same certificate and sign off on their membership status.
Parents have 30 days to vaccinate a child and get the paperwork into the school. During that time, the child can attend school on a conditional basis.
“We do not deny admission to those students whose families have opted out,” said Rabbi Bernie Fox, head of school at the Northwest Yeshiva High School on Mercer Island, which has 74 students and reported a 1.8 percent personal exemp-tion rate in 2013. “We require submit-tal of the documentation required by the state. Our policies are guided by state law. We do encourage all families to vac-cinate their students.”
Whether you’re a “pro-vaxxer” or an “anti-vaxxer,” neither side accepts the other’s evidence for their position. Research statistics and clinical studies
X PAge 7
NHSE/CrEativE CommoNS
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound community news 7
HNT Purim Shpielers Present
Herzl-Ner Tamid 3700 East Mercer Way, Mercer Island - (206) 232 - 8555 - h-nt.org
From blintzes to big sammies: One Northwest Jewish upstart makes way for anotherBy Boris Kurbanov, Jewish Sound Correspondent
The sign posted on the front door read: “Stopsky’s was a project of the heart whose mission was to reconnect people to Jewish heritage, connect the community, and create homemade Jewish comfort cuisine from scratch. We achieved a lot of this, but in the end could not discover the magic formula to break even… we made the call to not be in the industry. No regrets.”
That was last summer, just three years after the Mercer Island-based Stopsky’s Delicatessen, tucked in the Islandia Shop-ping Center, opened its doors, boasting its “fresh sheet would feature cuisines from regions where Jewish people have settled,” including Italy, the site of the oldest Jewish community outside of Israel. In addition to honoring Jewish heritage, the Stopsky’s menu offered traditional Northwest fare.
Much of what Stopsky’s sold was pre-pared on site, including blintzes, latkes, bagels, pickles and smoked meats. Things were looking bright for Stopsky’s and its owners, Jeff Sanderson and his wife Lara, who named the deli after Jeff’s grandfa-ther, Gilbert Stopsky. Gilbert and his four brothers had arrived in the U.S. in 1905 from Ukraine and changed their surname to Sanderson.
Stopsky’s received impressive acco-lades, including being featured in Bon Appétit and Sunset Magazine, as well as being named one of America’s best delis by Food & Wine in early 2014. Stopsky’s was also listed as one of “new artisanal Jewish delis” in The New York Times just three months before closing shop.
Sanderson said he was happy with the way the closure worked out, and that his
clientele was sad, but was also understand-ing because of the difficult nature of the restaurant business. As he was preparing to sell the deli, he had heard that Home-grown, the organic, made-to-order sand-wich shop, was looking to Mercer Island for its next location as part of its goal to open three locations on the Eastside in 2014.
“It was a fortuitous set of circumstances in the sense that I was looking to close the restaurant and wanted to have the commu-nity served, but served in the way that we set out — to try to be organic and sustain-able, as well as high quality,” Sanderson said. “And they’re Jewish kids from Mercer Island, so it was a nice fit.”
Sanderson, whose new venture, Stop-sky’s Pickles & Preserves, has picked up where the shop left off, promises to keep the deli’s spirit in its jars. The artisan, hand-crafted products, which include pickled vegetable, smoked olive, fruit and preserve lines, are available at DeLauren-ti’s in Pike Place Market, as well as Tacoma Boys, E. Smith Mercantile and Terra Bella, a stone’s throw away from Stopsky’s old location on Mercer Island. Sanderson said he is gearing to sell and ship directly to consumers around the country.
Homegrown opened its eighth location on Mercer Island on Jan. 7.
“It was both a hard and an easy decision to close the restaurant, as it’s a very tough business, but the concept and the heart and the spirit of Stopsky’s was right,” Sander-son said. “People loved the place, Jews and non-Jews alike, and we still felt the brand was worth preserving — no pun intended.”
For Homegrown co-founder Ben Fried-man, it’s a coming home of sorts. Friedman and co-founder Brad Gillis had a vision: An environmentally friendly business with a sustainable menu. The two childhood friends returned to Seattle after graduation from college to pursue a dream of owning a green business together. Homegrown emerged from that vision in 2009 with a single shop in the Fremont neighborhood, and has slowly expanded since. When the pair learned about Stopsky’s impending closure through their real estate broker, they knew where their sandwiches were headed next.
“It has been so fun opening up shop in our hometown,” Friedman said. “We can’t walk in the store without seeing the mom of a childhood friend…. Our reception has been really positive. It’s a very family-ori-ented community so we have lots of kids in there all day long. We’re super grateful for everyone’s support.”
Opening shop on the island was not always in the plan, Friedman said. Real estate professionals advised that Mercer Island wasn’t a fit for quick service. The low density, coupled with the small population, tends to scare business owners, but Fried-man and Gillis felt they instinctively knew the market. They also wanted to fill a gap in healthy fast food on the island.
“Homegrown fills a void in most neigh-borhoods in which we open stores, offer-ing high quality ingredients, ethical food sourcing and fast- food convenience. It’s hard to check all those boxes and we knew Mercer Island didn’t have anything like that,” Friedman said. “It’s the same reason
that Homegrown has had a successful launch in greater Seattle area — we’re fill-ing a void. Most successful businesses are solving a problem, filling a void, finding a special niche. For us, we saw a hole in the market and went after it, and that’s atypi-cal for a restaurant group, quick service or otherwise.”
Since opening that first Fremont loca-tion, Homegrown has practiced sandwich environmentalism, using a mix of organic and local grains and flours. Its menu has landed on Seattle Met’s “100 Reasons to Love Seattle” list.
Friedman said he and Gillis have learned a lot of lessons in six years, but the important one is perhaps this: “Social entrepreneurship is harder, but more rewarding,” he said. “Be customer-centric.”
CourtESy HomEgrowN
Homegrown co-founder Ben Friedman inside his newest store, in the former Stopsky’s space on Mercer Island.
are discounted by both sides. Actor and model Jenny McCarthy may be one of the most hated proponents of the anti-vaxxer movement due to her widely pub-licized views that they are linked to the rise in childhood autism. Still, others who are pro-vaccine say they’re not sure they want to live in a country that would require vaccinations for all.
Torah Day School, which has 93 stu-dents, also has a low rate of exemptions, 3.2 percent, and is the only Jewish day school that reported all of them to be on religious grounds.
In a letter home to parents concern-ing vaccinations, TDS’s interim head of school Rabbi Yona Margolese assured them that the school follows all state laws for vaccinations and reporting.
“In the event of any medical con-cern,” wrote Margolese in the letter shared with The Jewish Sound, “we are in contact with the Department of Public Health. In addition to TDS directly reporting any disease concerns, the pedi-
atricians also report the name of the child, the diagnosis, and the school being attended. We then follow the advice of the Department of Public Health to the letter.”
TDS, however, said it does not require non-immunized children to stay home if there is an outbreak, although Washington State allows it.
Of the 152 students enrolled at the Seattle Hebrew Academy, the data showed 37 personal exemptions for 2013 — a 24.3 percent exemption rate.
SHA’s head of school Rivy Poupko Kletenik said that percentage dropped to 5.7 percent for families that declined the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, all citing personal exemptions.
“As of now SHA’s percentage of exempt families is well below the per-centage of concern,” Kletenik told The Jewish Sound.
In 2014, the Menachem Mendel Seat-tle Cheder reported a student body size of 58 students and a 1.8 percent per-sonal exemption rate, according to King County Records.
W vaccINatIONS PAge 6
8 community news The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
Incubating Jewish identity — without leaving the house By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound
This is the true story of three to five strangers picked to live in a house to work together for pluralistic and innovative Jewish programming.
Moishe House, with 75 houses across the country and in 17 cities internationally, is dedicated to bringing Jewish 20-somethings together in communal living situations to study, program, and grow their Jewish iden-tities. (No, it’s not a taped reality show, but I would watch it if it were.)
Thanks to a funder who wants to see more U.S. houses, a Seattle house is slated to open this year.
“It was exciting when they reached out,” said Josh Furman, director of programs and strategies at Hillel at the University of Wash-ington and the past director of Jconnect, Hillel’s young adult organization. “Why wouldn’t we want it here? It can provide something totally different than what Jcon-nect can do, and they will be a wonderful complement.”
According to Furman, Jconnect is Moishe House’s “thought partner” on the ground, helping the organization get its bearings in a new city.
“We’re the feet on the ground. We know people. We’re helping them try and find people to live in the house,” he said. “And
they’re pluralistic, so they’re a perfect part-ner for us. A win for both us and the com-munity.”
Furman is also excited about the home-based nature of Moishe House, which pro-vides an alternative vibe to traditional, institution-based programs.
“It could bring such different people together,” he said. “When it’s constituent- driven it feels more accessible to people. Having something at someone’s home cre-ates a beautiful, caring, thoughtful space. We are thinking of how to do that more in Jconnect, and this is a great way to get more of that in the Seattle Jewish community.”
This is not Moishe House’s first go around in Seattle. Seattle, in fact, was home to the second Moishe House ever, just after the fledgling organization launched out of the Bay Area in 2006.
Jonathan Herzog, who enjoyed having Shabbat dinners with his single friends at the time, remembers then-Hillel director Josh Miller returning from a conference saying, “‘There’s this guy with a lot of money who wants to build community.’”
In exchange for subsidized living expenses, Herzog and his friends started hosting eight events a month for young Seattle Jews, like the Shabbat dinners they
were already doing as well as social events. “It was as organic [a process] as I’ve ever
been part of,” said Herzog by phone from Oakland, where he now works as a therapist for children with behavioral issues. “We did it for a total of a year and a half. It was amaz-ing how much it grew.”
Without realizing it, by the time the house organizers started coupling off and moving on, they had hosted close to 300 people. The impact mirrors the interna-tional growth: Moishe House claims to reach 88,000 young Jews around the world a year through 5,200 unique programs.
“When we were ending, a handful of people came to me and said, ‘this is a huge part of my social life,’” he said. “None of us realized we were being effective. I was sur-prised by that. This has actually been effec-tive without me realizing it.”
That first Moishe House evolved into the Ravenna Kibbutz, which followed a differ-ent model and closed its doors in 2013.
Furman is optimistic the second run of Moishe House will be successful. It’s inter-esting, he says, that half of the Hillel staff has been a Moishe House resident at some point, and there is an obvious alignment in how the two organizations view com-munity.
In addition, “Seattle is the kind of city where co-ops thrive,” he said.
“Seattle is a great booming city with a vibrant Jewish community,” said Eve Lowinger, the Midwestern regional direc-tor for Moishe House. “There should be a Moishe House there.”
According to Lowinger, every house has autonomy and its own identity, and the organization is currently seeking out three to five “interesting, diverse individuals who are eager to engage their community members,” she said. The cost of housing is subsidized according to the amount of pro-gramming residents do. They are not yet sure which part of the city the house will be in.
Furman is looking forward to Moishe House as another outlet for young Jews to grow their identities and shape the future of Seattle. For Furman, the “ideal Jewish com-munity” is one where when people move to town, he knows the perfect place for them.
He looks forward to getting to the point where Seattle has so many great things hap-pening, that he can say, “Here’s what’s per-fect for you,” he said.
“Young people are the future of this city,” said Furman. “We need to start giving them a chance to start saying what they want.”
a matchmaker in love and relief workBy Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent
TAG International Development isn’t a public relations firm, but its founder and CEO, Orthodox rabbi and Londoner Yossi Ives, fervently believes PR can go a long way toward recasting Israel’s image in the world.
The Israel-based nonprofit matches Israeli experts with local partners in poor countries setting up humanitarian projects that improve their standard of living, but the work, Ives said during a Seattle visit in early
February, is really the destiny and the future of the Jewish people.
“One of the ways we can support Israel is to capitalize on its unique abilities and make it harder to portray it as this baby-killing heartless entity,” he said, “and start to estab-lish it as a recognizable force for good.”
Ives was quick to add that he in no way advocates that Israel retreat from its attention to defense or its strategic alliance with Amer-
ica — only that it widen its scope of influence. “This is in addition to recognizing that
Israel is still in need,” said Ives, “but is now in a position to give an enormous amount. It is a very powerful way that we can strengthen Israel.”
TAG is an acronym that describes the group’s core values — Torah, avodah (service), and gemilut chasadim (acts of kindness). Headquartered in Seattle since
September 2014, TAG is located in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
Among its many programs within Israel, the group works with emergency health organizations, the Bedouin community, Isra-el’s agency for international development, Hadassah Hospital, and Bishvilaych, which does outreach to the ultra-Orthodox com-munity in Jerusalem.
Outside of Israel, TAG operates projects with women and children in Indonesia, small business ventures with villagers in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and an agricultural training farm for orphans and victims of genocide in Rwanda, among others.
It was no coincidence that TAG chose Seattle as its world headquarters. The region just understands the mission the organiza-tion is committed to, Ives said.
“We are speaking to people here who instinctively get it, there is a kind of reso-nance here that works,” said Ives. “To them Israel is a thriving country, not a struggling developing country. They are also aware that a large part of the world lives in abject pov-erty and struggle daily just to eat.”
TAG opened its first project for the Seattle area — a successful Hoops for Kids program started in Israel. The after-school basket-ball clinic and coaching opportunity serves over 500 kids in Israel and is now operating in Kenya. TAG’s plan is to host a delegation of youth from Seattle to visit Kenya and help
X PAge 9
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound community news 9
cONGREGATION kOL aMI “fUN”DRAISER
CASINO NIGHT
SATURDAY, march 146:30 - 11:00 PM
Event produced by
www.teamcasino.net
$75 PER couple $40 PER PERSON
OR
Silent AuctionA portion of the proceeds
Benefit Jewish Family Services
Support your community
Texas Hold’em Black Jack
Craps Roulette& BingoMust be
21Cash Bar
Bring Your
Friends!
Brightwater Center 22505 State Route 9 SE, Woodinville, WA
(just north of Costco)
Event catered by
woodinville
An Evening of Fun, Food and FriendsAn Evening of Fun, Food and Friends
Call 425-844-1604for tickets!
implement the program there. “This is a great way to get the younger
generation, who are perhaps much less hinged to the traditional assumptions about Jewish community,” said Ives. “The younger generation is saying, ‘We’ve done very well, but what are we doing to solve the problem of billions of people living in abject poverty and under tremendous hardship?’”
Ives also advocates a new approach to the study of Israel in the American Jewish day school system, from grade school on, because youth today don’t relate to the tra-ditional portrayal of Israel as the so-called “underdog.”
“They’re not hostile to Israel necessarily, and they’re not hostile to the Jewish com-munity, but they just don’t connect with the values of their parents,” said Ives. “We now need to add to our sense of mission. Memo-rializing the Holocaust, investing in the State of Israel, and reestablishing the Jewish com-munity in North America, these have actu-ally been achieved. The particular infusion
of Jewish values, the support of Israel, and the general concern for the plight of the most underprivileged people on the planet — that combination resonates very well.”
The 41-year-old self-described social entrepreneur who lives in London with his wife and seven children holds a doctorate degree in coaching psychology and is the author of five books, all dealing with Jewish values, Jewish mysticism and coaching psy-chology. He is also the founder of the TAG Institute for Jewish Social Values.
In addition to his work around the world and in Seattle, Ives visited Los Angeles during his West Coast tour and garnered a contribution of $350,000 for another project that is close to his heart — relationship coun-seling and organizing Jewish singles events.
“We need to focus on platforms to get them together,” Ives said. “The other half is getting them to work out. There’s some internal struggle and somewhere it’s gotten stuck.”
W mATchmAker PAge 8
loves our advertisers.Give them a call!
10 what’s your jQ? The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
Marvin Meyers
Long-term health is not guaranteed.Long-term care can be.
206-448-6940 7525 SE 24th Street, Suite 350, Mercer Island, WA 98040
Russ Katz, RealtorWindermere Real Estate/Wall St. Inc.206-284-7327 (Direct)www.russellkatz.com
JDS Grad & Past Board of Trustees MemberMercer Island High School Grad
University of Washington Grad
Sitting shiva for the SeahawksBy Rivy Poupko Kletenik, Jewish Sound Columnist
Dear Rivy,Is it “Jewish” to be so sad-
dened and consumed by the loss of a football team — or any professional sport? Person-ally, I am not this way. But sur-veying the Facebook postings and media reports after the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl, it’s all about the extraordinary blow and the sadness. Is it okay to mourn something that is not holy or symbolic of our connec-tion with God? Is it purely human, making it acceptable because we are emotional beings that God created? Or would tradi-tional Judaism say that the sports world is trivial and frivolous and detracts from that which is sanctified, such as our obser-vance, health, family, livelihood, and free-dom?
In just one letter you punted quite a number of issues. First, you toss out the issue of the sadness that many Jewish Seattleites are experiencing as a result of our city’s painful loss. This calls to mind the relationship and loyalties we Jews are expected to have in regard to the cities and countries where we live.
The second matter is whether there is an ideal emotional state of being for Jews: Happiness and joy versus sadness and mourning, and the ensuing challenge of then achieving said desirable emotional state.
Finally, you wonder about the question of a Jewish approach to sports and physi-cal activity. Quite the scrimmage.
Three biggies. All taking the field on account of an interception. Now, if only the ball had gone to Marshawn Lynch, who might have barreled through the Patriots defense for a Seahawks touch-down. Boy, life would be different. Just ask Pete Carroll.
That said, let’s tackle them one at a time.
What about this feeling of a sense of communal sadness? Of getting deeply wrapped up in football fever? Is this our deal? No twinge of guilt for not spending all our time and energy cheering for — hmm — something Jewish?
Even I, an avowed Steeler loyalist, could not help but get caught up in this
most recent Seahawks fever. In the weeks building up to our Super Bowl game, you could feel a certain shared common sense of belonging, affinity, and collective bonding. Folks were wearing their blue and green, hanging 12th man flags on cars and homes. We might be strangers, but we were all on the same team!
It ’s a phenomenon as ancient as time. A group of
people rallying around a common cause, a shared enemy, all decked out in the same colors, adorned in fantastical face paint, nail polish and wild get-ups, speaking an inside language and belting out cheers along with lots of food and drink to lift the spirits. The adrenalin is aflow, talk of beating the opponent, civic pride, war-rior worship and the triumph of physical strength and out-strategizing the oppo-nent.
And all of this with no real enemy, no actual loss of life, and no threat to our being. It is a game! But my, how intense it can be and how caught up in it we all can get. We humans love this stuff of Anthro-pology 101.
Enter the uber men, man-by-man, name-by-name, college-by-college. The national anthem is sung with heartfelt intensity, as if in this battle of gladiators all things we hold dear is at stake.
And for what is all this pageantry? For profit. For financial benefit to the players, the owners, and to our city. Sorry to be a party pooper. But it’s fun! It’s nitty-gritty life: A coach, a team, a strategy! It’s also a more-than-welcome diversion from our day-to-day realities of life. It’s the kind of fun we folks have been making for time immemorial. But when you drill down to what’s at stake here, it’s a lot of dol-lars. And, don’t be quick to pooh-pooh that! As foibles and fluctuations plague us nationally and globally, there’s noth-ing wrong with getting behind a robust healthy local economy. Game days bring lots of action into area businesses and buoy industries. So what’s not to like?
Well, don’t you kind of wish that we could fill a stadium full of people cheer-ing on Torah scholars? Yes. Some folks standing in awe making noise over our
“A” students? Might we want more dollars dispersed to social agencies and to folks in need? Oh boy, do we. A bit of enthusiasm around folks who huddle around trying to solve the world’s problems? Curing cancer? And fixing our threatening cli-mate change? Sure we do. But don’t hold your breath. I don’t see a swap out for American football anytime soon.
So, let’s be inspired by the not-for-profit prophet Jeremiah, living in the time of the exile in Babylonia, 586 BCE. He urges the Jews who find themselves for the very first time on foreign land to “seek the peace of the land wherein they live — for in their peace you will find your peace.” Though the Beast Mode is far from the battlefields of ancient times, the mes-sage is applicable: If it benefits the larger community, we as Jews must support the effort. Pass the wings. The 10th man meets the 12th man, if you get my drift!
Next? Time to second that emotion. Now that we are all caught up in the fray, how do we manage the concomitant mood swings and emotional roller coasters we’ve been riding? A “moshel berucho” is a person who “rules their emotions.” This is no small task. Our tradition espouses a single-minded idea of serving the Lord with joy, “Ivdu et Hashem besimcha,” which has generated a school of thought that leans toward a mandate of happi-ness. The Talmud lauds the state of happi-ness as necessary for prophecy, for Torah study, and puts forth optimism as sign of faith. The Hasidic masters struggle against melancholy, a state of mind understand-able given the broken world we live in, saying that to give oneself over to sadness is an intolerable indulgence.
That said, we cannot expect a healthy personality to never feel sadness or to deny authentic feelings. Grief and despair are natural and expected around tragedy; disappointment and suffering and must be expressed. Indeed, Kohelet, Ecclesi-astes, reminds us that there is a time for everything: A time for joy and a time for sadness. In spite of this, the Judaism I am most familiar with is one more of delight than depression.
When that sadness presents itself, we must patiently move toward resilience and perspective. We can feel our very real sadness and then try to cast our particular
circumstance in the light of a healthy real-ity check and hopefully return to a core of a baseline inner joy.
What of a Super Bowl loss! It is natural to feel an immediate sense of disappoint-ment; however, keep in mind: It’s better to have played and lost than never to have played at all. Perhaps too soon for some, given the swift and dramatic loss so fresh and so full of pathos, a pass so stealthily intercepted.
Perspective, folks! It’s a game. On to a particularly sporty question. Are kick-offs kosher? Are athletics apostasy? Is the gym for gentiles? Is there holiness in the huddle?
Remember Hanukkah? The battle over Hellenism? The gymnasium and all that blood spilled over our cultural conflict? So, yes, at the time of the Greco-Syrian threat and later during the Roman take-over of Judea 70 CE and for a number of centuries Judaism looked askance at the workout, the sporting life and the empha-sis on the body. We find the emphasis on exercise decried in the Book of the Macca-bees, Josephus, and of course, the Talmud and Midrash. The focus on the body was seen as at odds with our focus on worship, study, piety and deeds of lovingkindness.
This slowly evolved to modernity with the 20th–century sports phenomenon, starting in Europe with Jewish sports leagues, then here in America with Jewish summer camps, YMHAs, JCCs, Maccabi-ahs, Zionism and the New Jew, day school competitive sports and American life — oh, and did I mention the Yankees? The pendulum has most assuredly swung.
We seem to be in the iteration of every-thing in moderation, in a time of the best of both worlds.
Which is really okay. Keeping our bodies fit, giving our youngsters oppor-tunities to develop leadership, sports-manship and athletic skills is important for confidence and growth. That together with a balance of schoolwork, Torah, and tradition, I think we’ve got a touchdown!
Rivy Poupko Kletenik is an internationally
renowned educator and Head of School
at the Seattle Hebrew Academy. If you
have a question that’s been tickling your
brain, send Rivy an e-mail at
What’s your JQ?
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound b ’nai mitZVah celebrations 11
Twelve questions for choosing a photographer for your Bar or Bat MitzvahBy Scott Matsuda, Red Fish Blue Fish Photography
1. How long has the photographer been in business and do they have B’nai Mitzvah experience?2. Do they have a great portfolio showing examples of what’s important to you?3. Can they provide referrals including repeat customers? 4. Do they have technical ability to deal with lighting, action, portraits, detail, etc.? 5. Is their website professional and easy-to-navigate?6. What’s the backup plan in case of an emergency?7. Do they have up-to-date, high-quality, professional equipment with backup? 8. Do they have a reputation for being fun, energetic and enjoyable professionals? Do you like them?9. Can they show you their business liability insurance that protects the venue and your family from accidents?
10. Do they possess valid Washington State and local city business licenses? 11. Do they have an A+ rating with the Washington State Better Business Bureau?12. Will you receive all the high-resolution images with shared copyright at no extra cost?
MITZVAH! PARTY! PORTAITS! STUDIO-ON-THE-GO!
redfishphoto.com • 425.670.2018
MAZEL TOV!Fueled by fun and creativity, youʼll be hard pressed to find more fun and professional photographers to work with. And just wait till you see the results! Our team of exuberant and talented photographers will find unique and endearing ways to capture your event.
B’nai Mitzvah Celebrations
Advertiser Guide
Ben Bridge Jeweler ....................................... 14Ben & Jerry’s .................................................. 13Dennis Warshal Arts & Events ................... 14Embassy Suites Seattle-Bellevue ............ 12Herzl-Ner Tamid Judaica Shop .................. 12MagnetTimes/Events-4Life ....................... 14Red Fish Blue Fish Photography ................11The Ruins ........................................................ 12The Westin Seattle ....................................... 13Woodland Park Zoo ..................................... 14
SPeciAl ADveRTiSing SecTion
PHoto by rEd FiSH bluE FiSH PHotograPHy
12 b’nai mitZVah celebrations The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
Experience the Embassy Suites Seattle-Bellevue’s transformation to a contemporary upscale design combined with comforting accents. With a complete renovation
including lobby, meeting space for up to 300 attendees, atrium, guestrooms and restaurant, our refurbished hotel will transform every aspect of your event into a
revitalizing experience that is sure to delight.
What hasn’t changed is our unparalleled service and value including our spacious two-room suites, complimentary cooked to order breakfast and
complimentary evening reception.
Be the first to be showcased at our transformed hotel unveiled June 2015. Contact our sales department at 425-644-2500 or
[email protected] to schedule a site tour!
Reinvent youR event at the embassy suites seattle-bellevue
wheRe style and seRvice meet unpaRalleled value
012915_ESS_Ads.indd 5 2/3/15 2:24 PM
570 Roy ◆ Seattle
(206)285-RUINwww.theRUINS.Net
EVENT SPACE & fULL-sERVICE cATERING
YOUR SPECIAL EVENT IS OUR CHALLENGE
AND DELIGHT!
AD draft darker grey exclamation.indd 1 2/14/2015 3:06:01 PM
Ben Bridge JewelerIn 1912 a personal jeweler opened a family-run store in downtown Seattle. Over a
hundred years later, Ben Bridge Jeweler is still a family-run business. Today, Ben’s grand-sons, Ed and Jon Bridge, manage the company. They attribute Ben Bridge’s longevity and success to the company’s commitment to quality and customer service.
“We want our customers to feel confident with every selection,” explains Ed Bridge. “That’s why Ben Bridge has more Certified Gemologists than any other jeweler in the country.”
Even after 100 years, Ben Bridge is still growing. This includes opening multiple stores dedicated to the wildly popular jewelry line Pandora. As they look to the next 100 years, the Bridge family knows one thing will never change: Ben Bridge is dedicated to being your personal jeweler. Visit them online at www.benbridge.com.
Ben & Jerry’sBen & Jerry’s ice cream catering, serving Western Washington, is the ultimate way to
bring a fun and exciting experience to your next party or event. Ben & Jerry’s has always been committed to serving nothing but the freshest and highest quality ice cream pos-sible. Whether you are looking for a new and refreshing way to celebrate a special occa-sion, thank a client, or congratulate your staff on a job well done, they can accommodate your needs.
From scooped ice cream to sundaes and ice cream bars, whatever you choose, their staff will deliver everything right to your event — set up, serve, and clean up! Kosher-certified ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet, as well as an array of hot and dry toppings are available.
For more information, to reserve a date, or receive a price quote, please visit their catering website at www.wabenjerry.com or contact them toll-free at 877-333-4799.
Dennis Warshal Arts & EventsYour guests will enjoy and appreciate your beautiful chuppah, too! Custom canopies
and standards are easily fabricated. Your chuppah may be simple and natural, modern and sculptural, laden with flowers, or draped in billowing satin. Dennis Warshal spe-cializes in bringing your vision to reality! You may simply want to rent the chuppah and have your florist decorate it, or Dennis Warshal can deliver, install and decorate the chuppah for you. Dennis is a creative wedding florist, and collaborates with you to design your wedding ceremony and reception with room layouts, linens, and theatrical
lighting. Looking for a local chuppah resource for your wedding? Call Dennis Warshal at 206-949-6663.
Embassy SuitesSeattle-Bellevue
Experience the new, contemporary upscale design of Embassy Suites Seattle-Bellevue. Style and service meet unparalleled value. Be the first to be showcased at their new trans-formed hotel, unveiled June 2015.
Whether it is a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Embassy Suites Bellevue can help make your dream come true, featuring a beautiful six-story garden atrium, elegantly appointed ballrooms for up to 300 attendees, and delicious food and two-room suites for your overnight guests. Choose one of their pre-planned menu options, or their executive chef is happy to accommodate custom menu requests. With a great location just off I-90 they offer plenty of free on-site parking.
For more information call 425-644-2500 or visit www.seattlebellevue. embassysuites.com to schedule a tour.
Herzl-Ner Tamid Judaica ShopHerzl-Ner Tamid Judaica Shop has what you need to “Do Jewish!” From traditional
to unique, artisan to boutique, come see an amazing variety of merchandise to make your simcha special: Ketubot or personalized kippot; jewelry in gold, silver, enamel, ceramic, acrylic; tallitot in many fabrics, sizes, and colors; mezuzot in metals, acrylic, wood and mixed materials; ritual and holiday items, and much more. See artisan Judaica by Adi Sidler, Judit Leiser, Emily Rosenfeld, Gary Rosenthal, Lalo and other artists. Open Wednesdays 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and some Sundays 10 a.m.–noon. Also open by appoint-ment for your convenience. Call Kari Haas at the shul office at 206-232-8555. For more information visit www.h-nt.org/about-us/judaica-shop. At 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island.
MagnetTimes/Events-4LifeFor more than 20 years, Ruti Cohenca, Events-4Life founder, has devoted her time to
serve the Jewish community, both in Israel and the U.S.She coordinates unforgettable events, plans to perfection with personal care and a spe-
cial touch. Ruti coordinates the event to fulfill your vision. From catering, entertainment, décor, flowers and more, she will create that special moment in your life based on your
Herzl-Ner Tamid Judaica ShopTallitot, Gists, and more
Simcha Gist �e�ist�� ��aila�le Open Wednesdays 11am-3�00 pm, some Sundays and �y appoint�ent�
Call 206-719-2224 - 3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island
SPeciAl ADveRTiSing SecTion
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound b ’nai mitZVah celebrations 13
©2015 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, Westin and their logos are the trademarks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its affiliates. For full terms & conditions, visit westinseattle.com
CELEBRATE WITH US
Celebrate your special day at the newly renovated Westin Seattle. From Bar/Bat Mitvahs to weddings and more,
our event specialists will help to ensure every detail is perfectly in order. You and your guests will delight in personalized,
impeccable service and a delectable Kosher menu created by our experienced catering team and our synagogue partner,
all under Va’ad supervision.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANNING YOUR NEXT EVENT AND ABOUT OUR MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR,
COMPREHENSIVE EVENT SPACE RENOVATION, VISIT WESTINSEATTLE.COM OR CALL 206.728.1000
wes1055_JewishTransNewsAd_2015_9.75x6.25.indd 1 2/3/2015 12:23:31 PM
tradition, personality, passion and budget.Recently, Events-4life added an amazing new service called MagnetTimes. It’s the
only service of this kind in the Seattle area. MagnetTimes creates memories that last a lifetime in your cherished events, capturing moments of happiness and instantaneously printing them on convenient magnets for you and your guests.
Stick your souvenirs and turn your precious moments into an unforgettable occasion.Let Events-4Life take care of your event and give you the opportunity to truly enjoy it!
No hassles, just fun and memories.For more information contact [email protected] or 425-737-9014 and visit
www.magnetTimes.com, or [email protected] and www.events-4life.com.
Red Fish Blue FishPhotography
Red Fish Blue Fish Photography has been photographing B’nai Mitzvah since 2004 and they love it! Their experienced team captures it all, from donning the tallit to family por-traits and holding the Torah to the last lift in the hora. They’ll be there to capture it in style.
Studio-on-the-Go is now a B’nai Mitzvah staple and the perfect complement to your party! You’ll love the large, professional, lights-and-backdrop studio with immediate on-site printing. With no walls to box you in, there are no limits to what you can do and who you can squeeze in. Families, couples, BFF’s — you name it, they can capture it. Just grab your favorite prop and hop in! Their photographer will help you look your best and guests will walk away with a beautiful print in a personalized folder. It’s a fun, interactive activity and great party favor!
Call Jennifer and Scott at 425-670-2018 or visit www.redfishphoto.com.
The RuinsThe Ruins is a stylish and attractive party destination, located in lower Queen Anne,
in operation since 1993. They are able to handle all the catering needs for a celebration, reception or wedding. The Ruins has a garden entry, with four beautifully appointed rooms in a variety of style and size. Every party is custom-designed for menu, decoration and service, and then they give close attention to the detail of its execution. The service staff maintains close attention to the customer’s wishes, with the customer’s satisfaction being the primary goal. Capacity ranges to 150 guests for a seated dinner, and 220 for a stand-up reception. They offer you and your guests a unique and memorable experience for your celebration. Call 206-285-RUIN, or visit www.theruins.net.
The Westin SeattleCelebrate your special day with them.From Bar/Bat Mitzvah to weddings and more, the event specialists at The Westin Seat-
tle will help to ensure every detail is perfectly in order. You and your guests will delight in personalized, impeccable service and a delectable kosher menu created by their experienced catering team under Va’ad supervision.
Your special event will benefit from a brand new, multimillion-dollar renovation to be complete in March 2015. All function space, including the grand ballroom, are currently undergoing a complete transformation.
For those who decide to indulge in the Westin’s comfortable, relaxing accommodations, their spacious, well-appointed guest rooms and suites will ensure a restful and rejuvenating stay. All rooms feature their lavish Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Bath, complete with the new Westin Heavenly Shower by Kohler, offering a luxurious spa-like experience.
To learn more about planning your next event at The Westin Seattle, visit westinseattle.com or call 206-728-1000.
Woodland Park ZooEvents at the zoo are a roaring good time! Set among 92 lush and beautiful acres,
the zoo is the perfect venue for private events of all kinds. With 11 unique spaces to choose from, your groups of 20 to 250 will enjoy an event on the wild side. By hosting your event at Woodland Park Zoo, you help save animals and their habitats both here in the Northwest and around the world.
Celebrate local, save global! [email protected] or 206-548-2590.
©Ben &
Jerry
's Hom
emad
e, Inc
. 2008
Cow
s: ©Wo
ody J
ackso
n 199
7 168
59
Have Ben & Jerry’s at Your Next Party!
www.wabenjerry.com Catering Hotline: 1-877-333-4799Contact us to plan your next event!
Ice Cream Trucks, Carts &the CowMobile. We’ll help you plan your ice cream event to suit your cateringneeds and budget.
I didn’t knowwe did this! Really?
SPeciAl ADveRTiSing SecTion
14 community calendar The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
Because another day together is a special occasion.
Downtown Seattle 206-628-6800, Alderwood Mall, Bellevue Square, Everett Mall, Kitsap Mall,
Northgate Mall, Tacoma, University Village, Westfield Capital Mall, Westfield Southcenter
benbridge.com
Large ScaleSmall Scale
InfiniteEvent Theme
Options
Okay,Let’s Collaborate!
A unique service brought to you by
MagnetTimes creates memories that last a lifetime.
We capture moments ofhappiness and print them onmagnets instantaneously foryou and your guests.
Stick your souvenirs and turnyour precious moments intoan unforgettable occasion.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:[email protected] US AT:www.MagnetTimes.com
Let us create your lifetime souv enir!
New in Seattle
area!
TAKE YOUR EVENT OUT OF THE ORDINARY…
AND INTO THE EXTRAORDINARY!Seattle’s beloved and award-winning community resource is the perfect setting for weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, company picnics or dinners, family reunions, and other private celebrations. For more information call 206-548-2590 or email [email protected]
WWW.ZOO.ORG
Photos: Christopher Gendron (top left); Unknown (top right); Caroll Roll (center); Dennis Dow, WPZ (bottom)
7 p.m. — Jewish History Chavurah ^ Jeannie Moskowitz at jwmoskowitz@
yahoo.com or Phil Gerson at [email protected]
, Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St., BellevueFocusing on Jewish history and cultural aspects of the Jewish journey. Meets monthly. Free.
7:30–8:30 p.m. — Jewish Law/Halachah Class
^ 206-275-1539 or [email protected] or www.shevetachim.com
, Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th St., Mercer Island
Weekly class led by Rabbi Yechezkel Kornfeld. Free.
thuRSDAyS12–1 p.m. — Talmud Class
^ 206-275-1539 or [email protected] or www.shevetachim.com
, Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th St., Mercer Island Led by Rabbi Yechezkel Kornfeld. Free.
SAtuRDAyS9–10 a.m. — Sacred Study: Clergy and
Lay-Led Torah Study ^ 425-603-9677 or rsvp@templebnaitorah.
org or templebnaitorah.org , Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St.,
Bellevue. Free.
9–10:15 a.m. — Torah Study and Walk in Kirkland
^ 425-844-1604 or [email protected] or www.kolaminw.org
, Aura Café and Bakery, 116 Central Way, KirklandBi-monthly Torah study and walk by the lake.
Laws of Shabbat ^ 206-275-1539 or [email protected]
or www.shevetachim.com , Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th
St., Mercer IslandWith Rabbi Mendy Kornfeld every Shabbat afternoon between mincha and maariv (times vary). Free.
W ONgOINg caleNDar PAge 4
the jewishsoundthe sound.the nation.the world.
jtnews
o’Cl CK
news3SIGN UP.STAY INFORMED.jewishsound.org
the jewishsoundthe sound.the nation.the world.
jtnews
o’Cl CK
news3SIGN UP.STAY INFORMED.jewishsound.org
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound community news 15
a risktaker who keeps a portfolio of his lifeBy Janis Siegel, Jewish Sound Correspondent
In today’s high-risk, high-reward venture capital scene, longtime Seattle entrepreneur and angel investor Jon Staenberg of Staen-berg Venture Partners has funded his share of startups and brokered hundreds of deals by using conventional wisdom — stick to the businesses you know and to the compa-nies you like.
Since 1997, his company has funded what are today well-known entities that include Squaretrade, Docusign, and Facebook.
Staenberg is most comfortable in tech and social media startup communities. Stay-ing within his ken gives him the confidence it takes to invest hundreds of thousands of dol-lars into an early-stage startup in return for a piece of the action.
“I invest mostly in Seattle and San Fran-cisco because it’s my backyard and I know the players and the entrepreneurs and the kinds of deals and the competition,” Staen-berg told The Jewish Sound.
“I’ve made over 200 angel investments over 20 years and almost all of them are tech-related,” said Staenberg. “To get the kind of fast growth and return profile an angel inves-tor normally seeks out, it almost always needs to be tech.”
In 2006, Staenberg turned his business focus toward another one of his passions and co-founded the Hand of God winery in the Maipu region of Argentina, dedicated to high-end, “ultra-premium” varietal wines.
Its first release of RivkaSimone Wine, dedicated to the birth of his daughter in 2008, sold out that year. Since then, Staenberg recently opened an appointment-only tast-ing room in downtown Seattle.
“There are exceptions, of course,” said Staenberg, who seemingly violated his own rule of making a quick profitable turnaround from investments by opening the winery. “I know, seeing firsthand in the wine business, it’s very hard to grow a physical goods com-pany with inventory quickly. These days, you can go from zero to a million customers quite quickly with an iPhone application much more easily.”
The Jewish single father of a six-and-a-half-year-old daughter who lives in San Francisco was raised in Omaha, Neb., and originally moved to the Northwest in 1988 to take a job with Microsoft. Staenberg earned his undergraduate, graduate, and master’s degree in business administration from Stan-ford University. He speaks Chinese, and lived in Asia for three years because he “loves the language and the culture,” he said.
Today, he’s blended the loves of his life — his daughter, wine, fine food and his passion for the proverbial good life.
Earlier this month, Staenberg invited nearly 50 accredited angel investors to a lunchtime meeting at his private club, event space, and “pop-up restaurant” in Seattle called The VUDE, the Velvet Underground
Dining Experience, when the founder and CEO of the Jerusalem-based startup and crowdfunding platform Jon Medved from OurCrowd called.
“We’ve talked about me potentially working with them as a channel partner who will help them source deals,” said Staenberg. “I’ve actually spent a fair amount of time looking at deals but these take a lot of time to bring to market.”
OurCrowd in the Americas vice presi-dent Audrey Jacobs told The Jewish Sound in October 2014 that the company had 6,000 registered accredited investors from 54 coun-tries.
According to the Haaretz newspaper, OurCrowd has amassed $85 million in investments, with only 20 percent of its com-panies located outside of Israel.
In Seattle, they ate, they talked startups, and Staenberg calculated.
“I am interested in OurCrowd deals, but I don’t know the players and I don’t have the time to get there and get up to speed,” he said. “I expect I will invest in Israel, through them. I think their message is a good one, a strong one, a coherent one, and a compelling one.”
Back in the Northwest, Staenberg said he is intrigued by the increasingly innovative biomedical and biotech research hub that is developing here, speculating he may have to risk some capital in that burgeoning sector.
“I certainly am very bullish on what’s
going to happen in that realm in the next decade, and I do want some investment exposure, but it usually requires a level of study, knowledge, and expertise that I don’t have,” he said. “I wish I was smarter about it.”
Staenberg is convinced that opportunities are out there for even the greenest of entre-preneurs and sees a bright future in startups.
Although angel investing was once reserved for the well-connected living in Sil-icon Valley, he said, technology, commu-nications, and social media has changed all of that.
“I think for years it was a bit of an insid-er’s club,” said Staenberg, “but now there’s more money coming in. The numbers last quarter were quite large, and part of it is because you’ve got this angel investment cat-egory that’s increased. I think overall it’s a good thing.”
CourtESy JoN StaENbErg
Jon Staenberg enjoys the fruits of his labors at his new downtown Seattle velvet Underground Dining experience restaurant and tasting room.
( Same as last year)
Name
Day Phone
Address
City/State/Zip
Check 1 artwork selection and1 message.
Payment Details • All greetings must be paid in full in ad vance.
Please enclose your check for the full amount, or use your VISA or MasterCard.
Card # Exp. /
Signature
GREET ING DEAD LINE MARCH 20, 2015.
Total $
L’Hitraot — Until We Meet Again
___ Happy Passover!
___ Passover Greetings!
___ Pesach Sameach
___ Farewell & Best Wishes!
___ (personalized message see space on right)
Print your short message and/or names here:
Quarter Page
$304
$1508” Box
$1146” Box
$392” Box
$965” Box
$764” Box
Check/select your size greeting.
PASSOVER/L'HITRAOT GREET ING
$593” Box
1a
1b 2
3
March 27 is our Passover issue andThe Jewish Sound’s last issue!
Help us say “L’Hitraot, until we meet again” to The Jewish Soundalong with your Passover greeting. Deadline is Friday, March 20.Com plete this simple 1-2-3 form, clip and return this ad with your check or
credit card number to: The Jewish Sound • 2041 Third Avenue • Seattle, WA 98121Call or email Katy at 206-774-2238 or [email protected] for more information
or to charge your greeting to your credit card:
1
2
3
4
4
Farewell!
A JEWiSH SouND SPEciAL SEcTioN FRiDAy, FEBRuARy 20, 2015
Pass on the values and traditions in a FUN way –
fill your lives with Jewish songs and books
free of charge!
Sign up for PJ Library
(6 months - 8 years old)
and our NEWPJ Our Way(9-11 years old).
Every month, a FREE, high-quality book or CD will arrive
at your door.
FREE JEWISH BOOKS!
An easy way to connect love for reading with love for Judaism! www.pjlibrary.org www.pjourway.org
Raising readers: Award-winning books recommended by librariansBy Rita Berman FrischerA delightfully illustrated retelling of an old story provides us another slant on recycling, a graphic novel sensitively shows a French child her grandmother’s story of how she and her mother survived the Holocaust, and an imaginative take on the Noah story puts a 16-year-old stowaway on the Ark to witness the family’s struggle as they care for the animals to ensure the continu-ance of life on this earth.
E v e r y y e a r, t h e Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the international Asso- ciation of Jewish Libraries evaluates the latest crop of books
for children, looking for those with literary quality that also reflect authentic aspects of Jewish life and experience.
Here are the most recent winners and honor books:For younger readers (Pre-K–2nd Grade)In “My Grandfather’s Coat” (Scholastic Press,
2014), author Jim Aylesworth and illustrator Barbara McClintock provide a delightful version of the Yiddish folksong “I Had a Little Overcoat.” Showing a Seattle-like dedication to never wasting a thing, it tells of an immigrant grandfather who became a tailor and made, over the years, a productive life — an American life.
After he celebrates his marriage by making himself a beautiful wedding coat, the illustrations show him recycling this coat into different forms, each marking important moments for his family. Finally, frayed and worn out, its remnants become a nest for mice and its history becomes the story between the covers of this book. In 1999, AJL recognized “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat” by Simms Taback for very young children. This version, however, is enhanced by back pages with comments by both author and illustrator and added a quirky guide to making “Grandfather’s Coat Cookies” on the back of the colorful book jacket.
Honor books: “Goldie Takes a Stand” by Barbara Krasner (Kar-Ben, 2014), illus-trated by Kelsey Garrity-Riley; and “Never Say a Mean Word Again: A Tale from Medieval Spain” by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Durga Yael Bernhard (Wisdom Tales, 2014). The first describes America-born Golda’s first venture into using her leadership skills for others; the second, based on a Spanish legend, shows how to find the path to cross-cultural understanding if someone takes the first challenging step.
For older readers (3rd–6th grade)In “Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust” (First Second, 2014), Loïc
Dauvillier and illustrator Marc Lizano use the graphic novel format to show a grandmother hesitantly sharing with her granddaughter what she experienced as a Jewish child hidden in Nazi-occupied France. With Greg Salsedo’s color work, the illustrations clearly indicate a dark and scary time, but the format and the text make this visual introduction to the Holocaust appropriate for upper elementary and middle grade readers.
Honor books: Jennifer Elvgren’s “Whispering Town” (Kar-Ben, 2014), illustrated
by Fabio Santomauro, shows Danish vil lagers working out a way to hide a Jewish mother and son unti l they can safely escape to Sweden. Sadly, Denmark and Jews have become a timely topic, linked by the latest senseless hate-filled attack. In “Death by Toilet Paper” (Delacorte Press for Young Readers, 2014) by Donna Gephart, Benjamin Epstein faces many challenges after his father’s death, mostly f inancial, even to the threat of being evicted from his home.
For teen readers (12 and up)“Storm” by Donna Jo Napoli (Simon & Schuster Books
for Young Readers, 2014) is based on the story of Noah’s Ark, told through the viewpoint of 16-year-old stowaway Sebah. She describes the severe conditions of the flood that took the lives of her family and her own experiences while she shares her observations of the turmoil on the ark between Noah and his family members as well as among the animals.
Honor books: “Isabel’s War” by Lila Perl (Lizzie Skurnick Books), takes a different look at World War II as Isabel, a spoiled American girl, grudgingly resigns herself to sharing her room with a refugee German girl. Along with Isabel, readers will gain much seam-
lessly integrated factual knowledge, along with heightened curiosity and compassion about the European events that shaped Helga’s past. “Like No Other” by Una LaMarche (Razor Bill, Penguin Group, 2013) is an unusual, but believable, story told from two viewpoints: One, a Hasidic girl, Devorah, who gets stuck by chance in a hospital elevator during a power outage, with Jaxon, a young African American teen. Unlike her family’s fearful stereotype of black boys, we learn gradually that Jaxon is respectful, close to his family, and dependable. The secretive friendship creates conflict for them both between their individual loyalties to their families and cultures, their mutual attraction, and Devorah’s growing desire for autonomy.
Available on Amazon.comwww.nourish.net
Cinema Books
4735 Roosevelt Way ne
206-547-7667
Books Posters stills
From all your favorite movies
loves our advertisers.Give them a call!
FRiDAy, FebRuARy 20, 2015 n WWW.JeWiShSounD.oRg n The Jewish Sound 17
MonDAySParenting Class: Creative Beginnings
9:30–10:45 a.m. or 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ^ Laura Selby at [email protected] , Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801
E Mercer Way, Mercer IslandA time for your child, with a parent or caregiver, to explore the richness of the SJCC Early Childhood School through art, sensory experiences, and creative play.
WEDnESDAySThe Art of Parenting
9:15–10:15 a.m. , Congregation Shaarei Tefilah, 6250 43rd
Ave. NE, SeattleLearn how to motivate, establish independence, and prepare children for the long road ahead. Led by Rabbi Cheski Edelman.
Mommy and Me 10–11 a.m.
^ 206-275-1539 or [email protected] or www.shevetachim.com
, Congregation Shevet Achim, 8685 SE 47th St., Mercer IslandWeekly workshop for mothers and babies from newborn to 3 years of age led by Chanala Kornfeld. Free.
thuRSDAySPJ Library Neighborhood Song and Story
Time at Temple Beth Am10–11 a.m.
^ Alexis Kort at 206-525-0915 or [email protected]
, Temple Beth Am, 2632 NE 80th St., SeattleWith snacks and an art project and a chance for parents and caregivers to connect. Free.
FRiDAySSeattle Jewish Cooperative Playschool
^ Dana Weiner at [email protected] or 206-388-1992
, Seattle Jewish Community School, 12351 Eighth Ave. NE, SeattleThese hands-on parent-toddler classes are led by an early childhood educator, and include playtime and exploration as well as songs, projects, music, and snacks. Age 18 months-3 years: Fridays, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Age 3-4: 12-2 p.m.
Tot Shabbat 9:45–10:30 a.m.
^ Sarah at 206-232-7115 or [email protected]
, Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer IslandCelebrate Shabbat with songs and challah.Free.
Northeast Tot Shabbat10:30–11:15 a.m.
^ 425-844-1604 or [email protected] , Congregation Kol Ami, 16530 Avondale
Rd. NE, WoodinvilleCelebrate Shabbat with prayer, songs, challah, juice and candles. Holiday celebrations. Monthly crafts. Ideal for babies, toddlers, and pre-K.
PJ Library Song and StorytimeJewish Junction Style
11–11:30 a.m. , Ravenna Third Place Books, 6504 20th
Ave. NE, SeattleBetsy Dischel of Musikal Magik leads songs and stories from the PJ Library collection.
Tots Welcoming Shabbat at Temple B’nai Torah 11:15 a.m.–12 p.m.
^ Irit Eliav Levin at 425-603-9677, ext. 209 or [email protected]
, Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St., BellevueSinging, prayer, and challah and grape juice, led by Cantor David Serkin-Poole and Chava Mirel.
SAtuRDAy, FEbRuARy 2811 a.m.–1 p.m. — Shabbat Mishpachah ^ Cantor Elstein at 253-564-7101 or
[email protected] , Temple Beth El, 5975 S 12th St., Tacoma
Intended for babies through primary grade students with singing, praying, dancing, and stories. Bring a kosher-style dairy dish to share after the service. Contact with any questions.
Go, um, Giants?By Ed Harris
Jews have a long history, until relatively recently, as outsiders. This collective cultural memory served me well during the recent Seahawks playoff run, which ended in heartbreaking fashion for most — but not all — of the local denizens. One exception: The author of this column.
I’ve called Puget Sound home for nearly a quarter century. The f irst Jew, Abraham, left his birthplace to begin life in a new land. I did the same, though in my case I sojourned to a region glistening with mountains and forest, and peopled by software developers, coffee lovers and entrepreneurs, plus a small sprinkling of Jews, at least as compared to the New York City of my childhood.
Seattle is indeed now my true home. One of my three children was born in Kirkland, and the other two, who
arrived by stork, were both raised here. For the most part, I’ve embraced the Pacific Northwest ethos completely. After all, what’s not to love about a state with stunning scenic beauty, no income tax, and a welcome mat out for stoners?
The single exception in my otherwise thoroughly Seattle soul: A lifelong rooting interest for the New York Giants football team. Wordsworth observed that “the child is the father of the man,” a statement never more true than when describing one’s earliest emotional memories, especially of those growing up in a household of Giants fans.
When it comes to football, therefore, I remain an outsider. In this regard, I am reminded of grade school, where I always refrained from singing particularly religious songs during the annual Christmas assembly. I had no problem as a fourth-grader with Frosty the Snowman; celebrating the birth of Christ the Lord, not so much.
I relived this sense of foreign status in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Unlike much of life, sports are a zero-sum game, where for every winner there must be a loser. In most other cases good fortune is shared. When the economy is humming on all cylinders, many boats get lif ted by the same rising tide. If the
sun is shining, it shines for all of us. But they only crown one champion in athletic endeavors. A year in which any team besides the Giants wins the Super Bowl means heartbreak. To live in a city surrounded by Seahawks zealots simply rubs my nose in my bad fortune. Like a Jew in medieval Christian Europe, I don’t merely fail to fit in: I hold a false belief that runs counter to the prevailing orthodoxy, in this case that we all love the Seahawks. Confession: I don’t.
This probably sounds overwrought. My wife thinks I’m a sore loser, and as is usually the case, she’s right. “Think of all our friends and neighbors who are happy about the Seahawks,” she tells me. “Isn’t that worth celebrating? We do live here.”
Curmudgeon that I am (if cast as one of the seven dwarfs, I’d be Grumpy), my heart remains unmoved.
The game itself demonstrated the power of the Butterf ly Effect, so named because of the belief one tiny f lap of a single Lepidoptera deep in the Amazonian jungle has the power to alter the fate of empires. With fewer than 30 seconds left on the clock, the Seahawks had the ball on the Patriots’ one-yard line and appeared on the verge of scoring a game-winning touchdown. If only Pete Carroll had not explicably failed to call a play for the NFL’s most unstoppable running back, Marshawn Lynch, or if Russell Wilson had thrown his il l-fated pass a mere two feet lower and directly at the chest of his intended target, receiver Ricardo Lockette, the fate of American sports would have unfolded in an entirely different fashion. And in a repeat of last year, nearly the entire populace of Seattle would have assembled to cheer its champions in a raucous parade through the heart of the city.
Had this civic celebration taken place I know one person who would have stayed home. All I can ask is that you keep my sports heresy a secret. After all, I wouldn’t want to offend the neighbors.
Ed Harris, the author of “Fifty Shades of Schwarz” and several other books, was born in the Bronx and lives in Bellevue with his family. His blog, Fizz-Ed, and additional information about his books are available at www.edharrisauthor.com.
Abba Knows Best
Family Calendar
18 world news The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
^ livingjudaism at 206-851-9949 or [email protected] or www.livingjudaism.com
, East-West Bookshop, 6500 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle“Realizing Our Power to Live with Wisdom and Well-Being.” What is the essence of your power, and how can you use it to create the life you want? Part 1: Saturday night. Parts 2 and 3 on Sunday. See website for details.
8:30–10 p.m. — Seattle Mikvah Association Event
^ Sharon Adatto at 206-725-5799 , At the home of Elie and Miriam Levy, address
provided upon RSVP.Seattle Mikvah Association fundraiser party for women.
SunDAy, FEbRuARy 229:30 a.m.–5 p.m. — Sisterhood
Hamantaschen Bake ^ Kerry Geffen at 253-752-7291 or
[email protected] or www.templebethel18.org
, Temple Beth El, 5975 S 12th St., TacomaVolunteer for this fun annual event.
1–3 p.m. — Passport to Washington: Community Storytelling Workshop
^ 206-774-2250 or [email protected] or www.wsjhs.org
, Sephardic Bikur Holim, 6500 52nd Ave. S, SeattleWhere do you come from? How did you, your parents, grandparents, or ancestors end up in Washington State? What motivated them: Freedom, love, opportunity, chance? Learn to tell your story and hear others’ with professional storyteller Merna Hecht.
5–9 p.m. — NYHS Gala Dinner and Live Auction honoring Dr. Jane Becker and
Jason Kintzer ^ Melissa Rivkin at [email protected] , Sheraton Hotel, 1400 Sixth Ave., Seattle
Honor Jane and Jason for their dedication to the community and celebrate NYHS.
thuRSDAy, FEbRuARy 26 12–2 p.m. — Adult Luncheon
^ 253-564-7101 or [email protected] or www.templebethel18.org
, Temple Beth El, 5975 S 12th St., TacomaRobert Shay will talk about his extensive Jewish DVD and video collection and show a short film about a Jewish army doctor in WWII France. $13.
FRiDAy, FEbRuARy 27Scholar-in-Residence Weekend
with David N. Myers ^ 206-524-0075 or
[email protected] or www.bethshalomseattle.org
, Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. NE, Seattle“A Shining Shtetl on a Hill — Isolation and Regeneration in American Jewry.” Presentations include “From Hungary to Williamsburg: The Rise of Haredi Judaism”; “A Hasidic Shtetl in Suburban New York: Kiryas Joel.” Register in advance for Shabbat dinner. Babysitting available. Dessert, Havdallah, and presentation: “From ‘Frum’ to ‘None’ — The Shifting Landscape of American Jewry in the 21st Century” (private home; RSVP online).
SAtuRDAy, FEbRuARy 284:30–6:30 p.m. — Who Changed My
Service: Music in Reform Worship During the Past 100 Years in North America
^ 425-603-9677 or [email protected] or templebnaitorah.org
, Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St., Bellevue.Through words and music, Cantor David Serkin-Poole explores the American cultural influences on the development of Reform Jewish worship music. With hors d’oeurves, followed by Havdalah. Free.
6–9 p.m. — Secular Jewish Circle’s Purim Flash-Spiel and Carnival
^ Malya Muth at 425-876-9155 or [email protected] or www.nwvocalarts.com
, 22430 87th Ave. W, SeattleA raucous and fun evening celebrating Purim with a flash spiel, fresh-made hamantaschen, costumes, food and a children’s carnival. $10 suggested donation.
8–11 p.m. — NCSY’s The Q Trivia Night Annual Fundraiser
^ 206-295-5888 or [email protected] or www.seattlencsy.com
, Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, 5217 S Brandon St., SeattleCompete against your friends and strangers in the ultimate battle of the brains. $36.
SunDAy, MARCh 19 a.m.–2 p.m. — Purim Bake Sale
^ Susan Jensen at 206-722-5500 or [email protected]
, Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, 5217 S Brandon St., SeattleEzra Bessaroth Ladies Auxiliary Purim bake sale, featuring Sephardic baked goods and craft booths. Tell your journey story at the Washington State Jewish Historical Society storytelling booth. Sephardic breakfast served for $8.
12–3 p.m. — SJCC Purim Carnival ^ 206-232-7115 or [email protected] or
www.sjcc.org , Stroum Jewish Community Center,
3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer IslandPlay carnival games, learn about Purim, eat Hamantashen, get your face painted, and more.
5–10 p.m. — Seattle Jewish Community School Auction and Celebration
^ 206-522-5212 or [email protected] or www.sjcs.net
, Mountaineers Seattle Program Center, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, SeattleHonoring Ted and Barbara Daniels. An evening of friends and food. $110.
WEDnESDAy, MARCh 4The 8th Annual Powell-Heller Conference
on Holocaust Education ^ Pacific Lutheran University, Holocaust and
Genocide Studies at 253-535-7595 or [email protected] or www.powellhellerconference.com
, Pacific Lutheran University, 12180 Park Ave. S, TacomaMarch 4-6. Children’s Voices, The Holocaust and Beyond. Free and open to the public.
6:30–9 p.m. — Grand Purim Party ^ Kristin Montgomery at 206-527-1411 or
[email protected] , Congregation Shaarei Tefilah Lubavitch, 6250
43rd Ave. NE, SeattleMegillah reading followed by grand Purim party.
7–9 p.m. — HNT Purim Shpiel ^ Rebecca Levy at 206-232-8555, ext. 207 or
[email protected] , Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation,
3700 E Mercer Way, Mercer IslandHNT’s legendary Purim shpiel with a live band and original song lyrics. Free.
FRiDAy, MARCh 6NCSY’s Portland Shbbaton
^ 206-295-5888 or [email protected] or www.seattlencsy.comShabbos with friends in Portlandia. Open to all Jewish 9th-12 graders regardless of affiliation.
SAtuRDAy, MARCh 79:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. — Workshop with Sylvia
Boorstein: Opening to Inner Clarity: The Gift of a Pure Heart
^ 206-527-9399 or [email protected] or www.betalef.org
, Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue, 1111 Harvard Ave., SeattleA day of contemplation, storytelling, and deepening spiritual teachings punctuated by periods of mindfulness and loving-kindness meditations. $60.
3–6 p.m. — Women’s Interfaith Group Tour of the Gates Foundation
^ 425-603-9677 or [email protected] or templebnaitorah.org
, Temple B’nai Torah, 15727 NE Fourth St., BellevueTBT Sisterhood invites members and women from other faiths to join a reserved tour of the Gates Foundation. $5 for bus ride.
SunDAy, MARCh 810 a.m.–12:30 p.m. — Temple Beth El
Celebrates Purim ^ 253-564-7101 or [email protected] or
www.templebethel18.org , Temple Beth El, 5975 S 12th St., Tacoma
Purim spiel, singing, screaming, and fun.
11 a.m.–6 p.m. — Super Sunday ^ 206-443-5400 or www.jewishinseattle.org
Annual Super Sunday phone-a-thon. Volunteer to make Super Sunday calls; take a volunteer’s call on Super Sunday, or do both.
3–5 p.m. — Pool Party at the J ^ 206-232-7115 or [email protected] or
www.sjcc.org , Stroum JCC, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer
IslandThe pool will be open to families and friends for a float night. Free.
3:15–4:30 p.m. — Chai Mitzvah: Grow your Judaism
^ 425-844-1604 or [email protected] or www.kolaminw.org
, Congregation Kol Ami, 16530 Avondale Rd. NE, WoodinvilleClass 6: “Adding New Insights and Personal Meaning to Passover Seder.”
W cOMMUNIty caleNDar PAge 4
Rachel Corrie’s family loses civil appeal in Israel’s Supreme Court
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision on civil damages in the case of U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Gaza in 2003 by a military bulldozer.
The high court on Thursday, Feb. 12 upheld a ruling by the Haifa District Court exempting Israel from paying civil damages for wrongful death to Corrie’s family since the incident occurred in a war zone.
Corrie, 23, a pro-Palestinian activ-ist from Olympia, Wash., was wearing an orange vest and attempting to stop a bull-
dozer from demolishing a Palestinian home in Rafah in Gaza when she was killed. The army said that the area where the incident occurred was named a closed military zone; the claim has been disputed.
An Israeli army investigation follow-ing Corrie’s death found that the driver of the bulldozer could not see Corrie and did not intentionally run over her. The report accused Corrie and the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement of “ille-gal, irresponsible and dangerous” behavior.
Witnesses say that Corrie was clearly vis-
ible and that activists shouted for the bull-dozer to stop before it hit the college student.
The Supreme Court on Feb. 12 reversed a separate lower court decision, however, on the possible mishandling of the autopsy on Corrie’s body, which will require further investigation by the court into the autopsy and the possible misplacement of some of Corrie’s remains.
The Corries lost a lawsuit against Cat-erpillar Inc., the U.S. company that man-ufactured the bulldozer that killed their daughter. — JTA World News Service
JoE Carr/wikimEdia CommoNS
rachel corrie, standing on a mound in rafah protesting Israeli bulldozers in the hours before her death.
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound camP directory 19
B’nai B’rith CampNestled on a lakeside campus, B’nai B’rith Camp provides a welcoming and nur-
turing camp community based in Jewish values. Campers expand their creativity, develop their Jewish identities, and enjoy a summer filled with music, athletics, art, nature and aquatics. Building friendships for life since 1921! For more information: 503-452-3443 • bbcamp.org
Camp miriamCamp Miriam, on beautiful Gabriola Island, B.C., offers a diverse Jewish camp-
ing program for children completing grades 2–11. Through creative experiences, and in a supportive community, campers receive a value-based education and, at the same time, gain knowledge of Israel, Jewish history, Hebrew, social justice and the environment.
The program is enhanced with swimming, sports, arts and crafts, drama, camp-ing trips, canoeing, kayaking, Israeli dancing, and music. A Jewish experience not to be missed!For more information: 604-266-2825 • www.campmiriam.org
UrJ Camp KalsmanWhat does a summer at URJ Camp Kalsman look like? Sunshine, swimming,
T’filah on the lake, T’filah in the woods, hiking, climbing, art, sports, Tikkun Olam, rocking song sessions, goats on walks, Shabbat shira, friendships, laughter, and a staff of inspiring Jewish role models. Join the fun for Summer 2015!For more information: 425-284-4484 • kalsman.urjcamps.org
20 The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
SIGN UP.STAY INFORMED.jewishsound.org
O’CL CK
NEWS3
Funeral/Burial Services (continued)
Seattle Jewish Chapel ☎ 206-725-3067
✉ [email protected] burial services provided at all area cemeteries. Burial plots available for purchase at Bikur Cholim and Machzikay Hadath cemeteries.
Hospice & Home Health
Kline Galland Hospice & Home Health ☎ 206-805-1930
✉ [email protected] www.klinegalland.org
Kline Galland Hospice & Home Health provides individualized care to meet the physical, emotional, spiritual and practical needs of those dealing with advanced illness or the need for rehabilitation. Founded in Jewish values and traditions, our hospice and home health refl ect a spirit and philosophy of caring that emphasizes comfort and dignity for our patients, no matter what stage of life they are in.
Nutrition
NUTRITIONISTSusan Price Gins, M.A, M.S., C.N.
FEBRUARY SPECIALFree cookbook with acounseling appointment!
☎ 206-795-8892
✉ [email protected] www.nourish.net
Seattle, Issaquah Schedule a nutritional appointment with me any time in the month of February, and receive my soon-to-be published cookbook as my gift.Delicious, nourishing recipeseveryone will enjoy!
Photographers
Dani Weiss Pho tog ra phy ☎ 206-760-3336 www.daniweissphotography.com
Photographer Specializing in People.Children, B’nai Mitzvahs, Families, Parties, Pro mo tions & Weddings.
Care Givers
HomeCare Associates A program of Jewish Family Service
☎ 206-861-3193 www.homecareassoc.org
Provides personal care, assistance with daily activities, medication reminders, light housekeeping, meal preparation and companionship to older adults living at home or in assisted-living facilities.
Certifi ed Public Accountants
Dennis B. Goldstein & Assoc., CPAs, PSTax Preparation & Consulting
☎ 425-455-0430 F 425-455-0459
Newman Dierst Hales, PLLCNolan A. Newman, CPA
☎ 206-284-1383
✉ [email protected] www.ndhaccountants.com
Tax • Accounting • Healthcare Consulting
College Placement
College Placement Consultants ☎ 425-453-1730
✉ [email protected] www.collegeplacementconsultants.com
Pauline B. Reiter, Ph.D. Expert help with undergraduate and graduate college selection, applications and essays. 40 Lake Bellevue, #100, Bellevue 98005
Counselors/Therapists
Jewish Family Service Individual, couple, child and family therapy
☎ 206-861-3152
✉ [email protected] www.jfsseattle.org
Expertise with life transitions, addiction and recovery, relationships and personal challenges —all in a cultural context.Licensed therapists; fl exible day orevening appointments; sliding fee scale; most insurance plans.
Dentists
Wally Kegel, DDS, MSD. P.S.Periodontists • Dental Implants
☎ 206-682-9269 www.DrKegel.com
Seattle Met “Top Dentist” 2012, 2014Tues.-FriMedical-Dental Bldg, Seattle
Dentists (continued)
Warren J. Libman, D.D.S., M.S.D. ☎ 425-453-1308 www.libmandds.com
Certifi ed Specialist in Prosthodontics:• Restorative • Reconstructive • Cosmetic Dentistry 14595 Bel Red Rd. #100, Bellevue
Michael Spek tor, D.D.S. ☎ 425-643-3746
✉ [email protected] www.spektordental.com
Specializing in periodontics, dental implants, and cosmetic gum therapy.Bellevue
Wendy Shultz Spek tor, D.D.S. ☎ 425-454-1322
✉ [email protected] www.spektordental.com
Emphasis: Cosmetic and Pre ven tive Dentistry • Convenient location in Bellevue
Financial Services
Hamrick Investment Counsel, LLCRoy A. Hamrick, CFA
☎ 206-441-9911
✉ [email protected] www.hamrickinvestment.com
Professional portfolio management services for individuals, foundations and nonprofi t organizations.
Solomon M. Karmel, Ph.D First Allied Securities
☎ 425-454-2285 x 1080 www.hedgingstrategist.com
Retirement, stocks, bonds, college, annuities, business 401Ks.
Investments
WaterRock GlobalAsset Management, LLC.Adam Droker, CRPC® MBA
☎ 425-269-1499 (cel) ☎ 425-698-1463
✉ [email protected] www.waterrockglobal.com
Registered Investment Advisory Firm. Core Principles. Fluid Investing. Global Opportunities. Independent.15912 Main Street, Bellevue, WA 98008
Funeral/Burial Services
Hills of Eternity CemeteryOwned and operated by Temple De Hirsch Sinai
☎ 206-323-8486Serving the greater Seattle Jewish com-munity. Jewish cemetery open to all pre-need and at-need services. Affordable rates • Planning assistance.Queen Anne, Seattle
RESERVE YOUR SPACE NOW
206-441-4553
Connecting Professionals
with ourJewish
Community
Our advertisers are here for you. Pay them a visit!
NEXT ISSUE: MARCH 6AD DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 27CALL KATY: 206-774-2238
Brochures. Posters. Reports.
You name it. 441-4553.
FEBRUARY 20, 2015 THE SHOUK @ JEWISH SOUND
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY to JEWISH WASHINGTON FEBRUARY 20, 2015
Gift Certifi cates Avail able!
www.rentayentaseattle.comLICENSED • BONDED • INSURED
A HOUSECLEANING SER VICE
THEJEWISHSOUND.ORGTHE SOUND.THE NATION.THE WORLD.
THE VOICE OF JEWISH WASHINGTON
Senior Services
Jewish Family Service ☎ 206-461-3240 www.jfsseattle.org
Comprehensive geriatric care manage-ment and support services for seniors and their families. Expertise with in-home assessments, residential placement, family dynamics and on-going case management. Jewish knowledge and sensitivity.
The Summit at First HillRetirement Living at its Best!
☎ 206-652-4444 www.summitatfi rsthill.org
The only Jewish retirement community in Washington State. Featuring gourmet kosher dining, spacious, light-fi lled apartments and life-enriching social, educational and wellness activities.
Seattle206/325-8902
Eastside425/454-1512
HOME FOR SALE!1805 167th NE. Bellevue
5 bedrooms, 3 baths.Gazebo/Hot tub. Interlake High School, Microsoft.
Formal living/dining rooms.Corner lot/cul-de-sac.
Call Rob: 206.790.9162
SoundStudio
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound m.o.t . : member of the tribe 21
jfsseattle.org
Care for mom. Peace of mind for you.We believe it’s possible for mom to live the way she wants and for you to feel she’s safe to do so. Our award-winning home care team can make mom’s goal of living independently a reality.
Our licensed caregivers can work with you to develop a customized plan that may include: m Medication assistance m Transportation m Dressing m Housecleaning m Meal preparation m Bathing m Incontinence care m Companionship
“Mom appreciates the loving care she receives. Her caregiver is skilled, compassionate and filled with warmth and grace.”
– Daughter
Contact Jewish Family Service for a free consultation,
(206) 861-3193.
Pomegranate Prize winner and a funeral director for the entire communityBy Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Columnist
1 “Incredibly grateful” is how Talya Gillman describes feeling about
receiving a Pomegranate Prize from the Covenant Foundation. The foundation, which sup-ports Jewish education across North America and across denominations, gives this prize specifically to emerging leaders in the field. It’s a companion to the esteemed Covenant Award, which honors three exemplary Jewish educators each year.
Talya had just returned from a foun-dation project directors meeting when we spoke.
“There were a bunch of Seattle people” there, she reported, including Cove-nant Award winner Beth Huppin, Jewish Family Ser-vice fundraiser Galit Ezekiel, and former Jewish Education Council director Carol Starin. The meeting is designed to help newbies “make connec-tions with people who have a wealth of experience” in Jewish education.
Growing up in Bellevue, Talya attended the Jewish Day School, Bellevue High, and
the University of Washington, where she majored in interna-tional studies with a minor in Jewish studies. She’s a full-time employee of the University of Washington’s Carlson Leader-ship and Public Policy Center and just started Seattle Uni-versity’s Master’s in Transfor-mational Leadership program. Prior to Carlson, she worked for four years at the non-profit Repair the World and before that lived in India for a year and
a half as part of an American Jewish World Service fellowship.
With her background in program and curriculum development geared toward social justice, Talya’s primary interest is in bringing a certain “mensch-ness” to schools, adding to curricula the idea that we can “develop positive character traits” in the school setting.
“The bottom line is that I’m interested in helping the Jewish community to think more about what it means to contribute to social justice,” she says.
She plans to use her $15,000 grant primarily for profes-
sional development and is creating “a col-lection of opportunities” in which she’d like to participate. “I already know that one proj-ect...is a facilitation intensive,” put on by the Schusterman Foundation, she reports.
Talya got some more good news recently: She received a scholarship from Seattle U’s School of Theology and the Carpenter Foun-dation, which supports interreligious work.
“I’ve been pretty impressed...by the uni-versity’s interest in creating opportunities for dialogue,” she says, and hopes to participate in those programs, as well.
While she doesn’t have much free time these days, living just a mile from work and a little more than a mile from school, Talya says she’s taken on the challenge of becom-ing a city biker, “trying to conquer” some fear, and to be healthier and more environ-mentally friendly.
2 Most of us swim in a pretty small pond in our Jewish lives. Maybe we swim in our synagogue pond or our
havurah pond, or an organizational pond. But Ross Kling is more of a puddle jumper. For almost 20 years as funeral director for the Seattle Jewish Chapel and Rosebud Funeral Service, he has had contact with all facets and denominations of the Jewish community.
In this role, he helps families and friends perform the most holy of Jewish acts — bury-ing the dead. (Caring for the dead is consid-
ered the ultimate mitzvah, since the favor cannot be returned.)
Ross got interested in directing funerals when a friend passed away and he was asked to assist with the funeral arrangements.
“I immediately discovered that my heart had a natural calling for helping people at this most difficult part of the lifecycle,” he recalls.
It’s somber work, but he appreciates it deeply. “At a family’s time of need, I am invited into their storm of grief, and given the opportunity to do something that is nec-essary and special. And like a thumbprint, every person and every family is unique and special so every call I get is fresh and a new experience.”
His work not only keeps him in touch with families of all Jewish denominations, but he also serves the unaffiliated commu-nity. “I find that no matter the level of obser-vance, families really appreciate and embrace the Jewish traditions for death and dying,” he says. “It gives great spiritual comfort and solace.”
An active member of Temple Beth Am in Seattle, Ross is an avid backpacker and has been the umpire-in-chief for the Roosevelt University Greenlake (RUG) little league for the past 15 years. He lives in a net-zero energy home in Seattle’s Wedgwood neigh-borhood.
If you need Ross’ services, you can contact him anytime at 206-525-7800.
CourtESy tHE CovENaNt FouNdatioN
talya gillman, recipient of a 2014 Pomegranate Prize from the covenant Foundation, with foundation chairman eli evans.
M.O.T.: Member of the Tribe
22 deliciously sePhardic The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
KEHILLA • Our Community
Building Friendships for [email protected] 503.452.3443
bbcamp.org
Kol Haneshamah is a progressive and diverse synagogue community that is transforming Judaism for the21st century.
6115 SW Hinds St., Seattle 98116E-mail: [email protected]: 206-935-1590www.khnseattle.org
The premiere ReformJewish camping experience
Join us for an exciting,immersive, and memorable
425-284-4484 www.kalsman.urjcamps.org
Yossi Mentz, Regional Director 6505 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 650
Los Angeles, CA Tel: 323-655-4655 Toll Free: 800-323-2371
Yossi Mentz, Regional Director 6505 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 650
Los Angeles, CA Tel: 323-655-4655 Toll Free: 800-323-2371
Saving Lives in Israel
Where Judaism and Joy are One 206-447-1967 www.campschechter.org
206.323.8486www.tdhs-nw.org1511 East Pike St. Seattle, WA 981223850 156th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98006
Temple De Hirsch Sinai is the leading and oldest Reform congregation in
the Pacific Northwest.With warmth and caring,
we embrace all who enter through our doors. We invite you to share
our past, and help shape our future.
Camp Gan IsraelSeattle, the NorthEnd’s favoriteJewish day camp…Affectionately known as Camp Gan Izzy, Camp Gan Israel Se-attle (CGIS) has been the North End’s go-to summer day camp for over two generations of Seattle area’s Jewish children aged 2-1/2 –12. The Gan Izzy experience is grounded in love and respect for the children, their counselors, families and community. The joys of Judaism come alive through a program that integrates exciting fi eld trips…engaging arts and crafts…involving games, sports and swimming…and captivating visiting special-ists—within a non-judgmental context of the richness and warmth of Jewish values, traditions, and heritage.
Campers from a wide range of back-grounds forge lasting friendships witheach other and delight in the enthusiasticguidance of specially recruited andtrained counselors—some of whomare CGIS alumni themselves.
Camp Gan Israel Seattle:Monday, 06/29/15 - Friday, 07/25/15.Fun that lasts a summer...memories that last a lifetime!
Register now for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 weeks at www.campganisraelseattle.org
t
t i l ttl
tic
In time for Purim: The incredible, edible (and spiritual) foulareBy Shelley Adatto Baumgarten, Jewish Sound Columnist
The festival of Purim falls on the 14th day of the month of Adar, which is early spring-time. Purim, the Hebrew word for lottery, is a great cause for rejoicing. After all, we recall Queen Esther, after concealing her Jewish identity for the sake of safety, approached the king to inform him of the villainous Haman’s plot and date — appar-ently chosen by lottery — to kill the Jews of ancient Persia. Esther’s words prevailed and the king ordered Haman and his sons to perish.
On Shabbat before Purim, known as Shabbat Zachor (when the Torah portion mentions Haman’s ancestor, Amalek), many Sephardim, especially from Turkey and Greece, prepare and eat foulares. A foulare is an age-old savory yeasted pastry, sometimes flecked with bits of cheddar cheese, topped with a hard-boiled egg, and then baked.
In some Sephardic communities, it is cus-tomary to tint the eggs brown using onion skins. The shape of the dough, after being rolled and cut, is intended to represent either Haman’s foot or jail cell. After we form the dough, we fasten the egg, which symbolizes Haman’s head or eyes, to this base. Interest-ingly, the three-step preparation of a foulare follows the process where Haman was cap-tured and arrested (the making and shap-
ing of the dough), jailed (strips of dough placed on the egg), and then killed (baking the foulare).
The foulare, unfortunately, does not have a well-documented history. Perhaps eating the pastry is a great symbolic way to gob-ble-up and get rid of Haman. However, in his book, “A Drizzle of Honey,” David Gitlitz men-tions that the foulare may be con-nected to Conversos living in Spain around 1492. You can find another theory about their origin
in the article “What’s Inside? Hidden Foods for Purim,” in which Ruth Abusch Magder
draws a parallel between Purim and stuffed or “hidden” foods like hamantaschen with its filling underneath pastry dough. You can possibly categorize foulares as one of these
foods. Although not a stuffed pastry, the fou-lare’s egg is concealed, if you will, because of its shell, making it similar to one of those pastries.
Foulares1/2 recipe basic sweet yeast dough
(recipe follows)12 haminados (Sephardic brown eggs or regu-
lar hard-boiled eggs in their shells)Egg wash (1 large egg beaten with
1 tsp. water)On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out 12 3-inch shapes, either foot-shaped or round cookie cutter. Cut the remaining dough into thin strips. Place an egg, large end down, and press it lightly into the dough. You may have to bring a bit of the dough up around it and secure it with three thin strips in a crisis-cross fashion. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover, and let rise until double in bulk, about 75 minutes.Preheat oven to 350º.Brush the dough with the egg wash and bake until golden brown, about 20-30 min-utes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
Basic Sweet Yeast Dough1 (1/4 oz.) package or 2-1/4 tsp. active dry
yeast1 cup warm water (105 to 115º)1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil2 large eggs1 tsp. salt 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flourIn a food processor, combine flour, salt and sugar (minus 1 tsp. of sugar, which you will use for the yeast).Assemble the eggs and oil and have them ready to use.Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water. Stir in the teaspoon of sugar and let stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes.With the machine on, add the dissolved yeast mixture to the flour, then the eggs and oil.Gradually add enough of the warm water to form a ball of dough that cleans the sides of the bowl. Process around the bowl 25 times then let the dough stand for 2 minutes to absorb any extra liquid. If the dough seems dry, just add a little more water and process.Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise un-til doubled in bulk — 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down. Fold the dough over itself 5 times. Let stand for 10 minutes then use in recipe.Makes 12 pastries.
The foulare is a fun and visually delight-ful pastry to make. Both children and adults will enjoy preparing and forming the dough,
Deliciously Sephardic
SHEllEy adatto baumgartEN
X PAge 23
friday, february 20, 2015 n www.jewishsound.org n The Jewish Sound l ifecycles 23
lifecycles
How do I submit a Lifecycle Announcement? Email: [email protected] n Call: 206-441-4553Submissions for the march 6, 2015 issue are due by February 24. Tell the community about your simcha. Contact [email protected] for costs on death notices. Download lifecycles forms at jewishsound.org/lifecycles-forms/. Please submit images in .jpg format, 400 KB or larger. Thank you!
Express yourself with our special “Tribute Cards” and help fund JFS programs at the same time…meeting the needs of friends, family and loved ones here at home. Call Irene at (206) 861-3150 or, on the web, click on “Donations” at www.jfsseattle.org. It’s a 2-for-1 that says it all.
2-for-1 “ Will You Marry Me?” Cards
Shift Happens!Access peace, personal power, health & prosperity.Let go of anger, judgement, negativity, confusion,being stuck.
Discover solutions to your life challenges as Brendaassists you to empower yourself and to tap intoyour own innate wisdom through the process ofprofessional coaching.
Brenda MillerRadical Awareness® Coach
BrendaMiller.org206.529.8282Call Brenda to see what’s possible for you...
Joan Peters: An Appreciation“In other cases, the more or less universally used description of
‘eligibility’ [to be considered ‘refugees’] included those people who were forced to leave ‘permanent’ or ‘habitual’ homes. In the case of Arab refugees, however, the definition had been broadened to include any persons who had been in Palestine for only two years before Israel’s statehood in 1948…. However, during the…political evolution of a new image for these Arabs, from ‘refugees’ to ‘Palestinian people’ excluded from plots of land inhabited by them from time immemorial, I found myself returning uneasily to that ‘two year’ clause.”
Thus Joan Friedman Caro, better remembered as Joan Peters, explained the title in her controversial 1984 book, “From Time Immemo-rial.”
Peters died on January 6 at age 78. She left behind her family and a legacy from a distinguished career in journalism. But for her book, it is unlikely anyone other than her friends and family would have noted her passing.
In her book, Peters explains how she originally intended to write sympathetically of the Palestinian narrative. But in the course of her research, she discovered that the UN defined “Arab refugees” from Palestine as any Arab who had been in Palestine for more than two years because thousands of Arabs, mostly from Syria, had immigrated to Palestine during the 1930s. Therefore, a significant portion of the Arab population uprooted during Israel’s War of Independence was not native to the country.
Joan Peters went on to explain that as she delved more and more into the historical record, including British government archives from its 30-year rule over Palestine (from 1917 until 1948), she ended up writing a drastically different book from the one she originally envisioned.
Her book took on other shibboleths of the anti-Zionist narrative, such as the oft-repeated accusation that large numbers of Arab peasants were displaced and rendered destitute by Jewish land acquisi-tions, a claim contradicted by the record.
The book caused quite a stir when it first appeared. Critics from the left ripped the book apart, accusing Peters of everything from sloppy research to intentional distortion of the historical record. She had her defenders as well, but even some of those admitted that in places her research was deficient.
Peters did not publicly engage her critics, but withdrew from public life to the extent she never wrote another book and appears to have stopped working as a journalist as well. She remained involved in pro-Israel advocacy however, and became active in monitoring abuses by UNWRA, the UN organization established to assist Palestinian Arab refugees.
I have to agree the book is not the best written I’ve ever read. The organization is poor and it is difficult to follow. But it is an important and useful book, it is well supported with citations of various records, and plenty of other sources confirm her basic themes.
Four years before Peters published her book, Israeli author Arieh Avneri wrote a book covering many of the same topics, which was translated into English under the name “The Claim of Dispossession.” Although Peters’s book does not mention Avneri, he reached the same conclusions.
I still refer to “From Time Immemorial” when I am researching the Arab-Jewish conflict and I recommend it from time to time, although it is not for readers who are unfamiliar with the Israel’s history or are looking for a brief overview-type work.
But, more importantly, I admire Joan Peters’s courage and tenacity, her refusal to simply accept the “common wisdom” at face value, and her choice instead to dig into the historical record and conform the views to the facts, rather than the other way around, as happens far too often.
— David Shayne
and criss-crossing and fastening the eggs to the base. While it bakes, your house will be perfumed with the most magnificent scent of freshly made yeasted bread. The bread is simi-lar in texture and taste to challah, and because of the roasted egg, each foulare is quite filling, almost like eating an egg sandwich.
When served with a bowl of lentejas (lentil soup) and a simple salad of lettuce and toma-toes, the trio forms a complete meal perfect in protein, carbohydrates and greens. Be sure to eat them while still warm (at their best) although they also taste amazing right out of the refrigerator. You can even get creative — my husband smears spicy brown mus-tard on top!
Avid professional baker and culinary writer
Shelley Adatto-Baumgarten looks forward to
teaching Sephardic cuisine at North Seattle
College and other locations this spring.
Honoring those who servedIf you have visited one of our local
Jewish cemeteries on Memorial Day you will have seen the efforts of a small group of local Jewish veterans who honor their comrades of past conflicts with a flag placed on each of their graves.
In 1996, armed with a list of 58 names he garnered from a hand-inscribed “Book of Honor” on display in the foyer of Temple De Hirsch Sinai and inscriptions on grave markers, Robert Shay, a Viet-nam-era Naval veteran, and his family placed those first flags and have continued the event as a family outing for the past 18 years. With ongoing research, Shay and his wife Marilyn will place 229 flags at Hills of Eternity cemetery this coming Memorial Day, and will be joined by the 7th grade class of the Jewish Day School.
Two years ago, Shay joined Alan Sil-verman, who served during the Korean War era, to form the Jewish Veter-ans Remembrance Project to include all Jewish cemeteries in the region. In their
first, Bikur Cholim cemetery, they started with 58 names and the help of the NCSY youth group. The cemetery is now up to 175 flags. B’nai Torah and Herzl ceme-teries have also joined the group, and this year more veterans from as early as World War II and as recent as the current war on terror have joined the effort.
Shay is now seeking help to add to the list of deceased servicemembers. If you have family members who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and service vet-erans from Allied nations who have died and are buried locally, please contact him.
In particular, Shay has run into a dead end looking for information on one TDHS member who died in World War II: Civilian Max Krom, listed as “Missing or Remains Unrecoverable” after the Jap-anese armed forces took the Philippines in 1941. Because Krom was a civilian, his name does not appear on any war memo-rial, but he was an American lost in war and Shay is determined to see his name on
a memorial that honors TDHS members who made the ultimate sacrifice.
In addition, he seeks four women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Shay has only maiden names for Priscilla Blumen-thal, Dorothy Guthman, Elizabeth Mor-ganstern and Anna Rind, and seeks their married names to add to his list of vet-erans.
If you have information, contact Robert Shay at 206-478-0505 or [email protected].
W DelIcIOUSly SePHarDIc PAge 22
24 the arts The Jewish Sound n www.jewishsound.org n friday, february 20, 2015
You are our
Cjewishinseattle M@jewishinseattle 206.443.5400 www.jewishinseattle.org
Your generosity is what helps us to build a stronger Jewish community.
THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE.THE POWER OF COMMUNITY.OF GREATER SEATTLE
Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m.
Sparks of Glory: Until When?
Concert
Music of Remembrance’s latest
free concert-with-commentary
features two American and two
Israeli composers whose works
touch on the emotional struggle
of loss and destruction, and the
renewal of self and community.
Pieces by Eugene Levitas, Marc
Lavry, Lori Laitman, and David
Stock will be performed by the Seattle Symphony.
At the Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., Seattle.
For more information contact 206-365-7770 or [email protected]
or visit www.musicofremembrance.org.
Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m.
Les Yeux Noirs
Concert
French band Les Yeux Noirs, founded
by violin-playing brothers Eric and
Olivier Slabiak, combines traditional
melodies from Klezmer, Romani music
and Gypsy jazz with modern jazz styles
and turns them into a dizzying journey
through Central European sounds. The
dueling violinists perform globally,
including here in Seattle at the Triple Door and at the Chutzpah Festival in Vancouver.
At the Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit sjcc.org/cultural-arts/music.
• Entire Hotel Kosher For Passover• Less than a 4 hour drive from Seattle• Spectacular Unlimited Kosher for Passover Gourmet Cuisine included
• Take advantage of the Strong US Dollar and Save 25% on Skiing and other Family Activities• Glatt Kosher Supervision• Fabulous Live Entertainment
MENTION THIS AD TO RECEIVE A SPECIALWASHINGTON RESIDENTS DISCOUNT
www.leisuretimetours.comLeisure Time Tours
800-223-2624www.pesachonthemountain.com
Pesach On The Mountain
855-737-2247TOLLFREE
TOLLFREE
PASSOVERFOUR SEASONS RESORT
PASSOVERFOUR SEASONS RESORT
ATTHE
Sunday, February 22 at 2:30 p.m.
Vadim Gluzman
Concert
Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman is a power-
house performer in the grand Romantic
tradition of the 19th century. Gluzman
appears for the first time with the Tacoma
Symphony Orchestra under the baton of its
new music director, Sarah Ioannides,
in Brahms’ Violin Concerto — among the
most lush and deep music ever written for
the instrument. Also on the program are
Finlandia by Jean Sibelius and
Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8.
At the Rialto Theater, 310 S 9th St., Tacoma.
Tickets start at $19, students $12.
For tickets and information visit
tacomasymphony.org/concerts/
brahms-dvorak.