DECEMBER 22, 2022 | 28 KISLEV 5783 CANDLELIGHTING 4:22 P.M. Rue Landau Kol Tzedek member announces run for PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL SEAT Page 28 Jewish Exponent PHILADELPHIA Publisher & Chief Executive Offi cer Craig Burke cburke@midatlanticmedia.com Associate Publisher Jeni Mann Tough jmann@midatlanticmedia.com EDITORIAL Editor | Andy Gotlieb 215-832-0797 agotlieb@jewishexponent.com Staff Writers Jillian Diamond, Sasha Rogelberg, Heather Ross, Jarrad Saffren ADVERTISING Account Executives Alan Gurwitz, Robin Harmon, Pam Kuperschmidt, Jodi Lipson, David Pintzow, Sara Priebe, Sharon Schmuckler, Samantha Tuttle, Sylvia Witaschek MARKETING Audience Development Coordinator Julia Olaguer 410-902-2308 jolaguer@midatlanticmedia.com 7605 Old York Road, Melrose Park, PA 19027 Vol. 135, No. 38 Published Weekly Since 1887 BUSINESS Accounting Manager Pattie-Ann Lamp 410-902-2311 plamp@midatlanticmedia.com accounting@midatlanticmedia.com Accounts Receivable Specialist Sarah Appelbaum sappelbaum@midatlanticmedia.com Legal Notices legals@jewishexponent.com Main Offi ce: 215-832-0700 editor@jewishexponent.com 215-832-0797 circulation@jewishexponent.com 215-832-0700, ext. 1 sales@jewishexponent.com 215-832-0700, ext. 2 classifi ed@jewishexponent.com 215-832-0749 Connect with us: CREATIVE Art Director | Steve Burke Graphic Designers | Ebony Brown, Lonna Koblick, Jay Sevidal, Frank Wagner, Carl Weigel Digital Media Coordinator James Meskunas If you’re having problems receiving your Philadelphia Jewish Exponent in the mail, and live in an apartment or suite, please contact our circulation department at 215-832-0700, ext. 1 or circulation@jewishexponent.com. JEWISH EXPONENT, a Mid-Atlantic Media publication, is published weekly since 1887 with a special issue in September (ISSN 0021-6437) ©2022 Jewish Exponent (all rights reserved). Periodical postage paid in Philadelphia, PA, and additional offices. Postmaster: All address changes should be sent to Jewish Exponent Circulation Dept., 9200 Rumsey Road, Suite 215, Columbia, MD 21045. A one-year subscription is $50, 2 years, $100. Foreign rates on request. Jewish Exponent does not endorse kashrut claims. To verify the kashrut of goods or services advertised in Jewish Exponent, readers should consult rabbinic authorities. The Jewish Exponent reserves the right to revise, reject or edit any advertisement. PLAN AHEAD FOR peace of mind. W H E N YO U M A K E YO U R F I N A L A R R A N G E M E N TS I N A DVA N C E , you can plan a memorial that truly reflects your faith and passions. Whether planning for yourself or a loved one, rely on your Dignity Memorial professionals to help you design a memorial that honors the customs and rituals you cherish. When you’re ready to get started, we’re here to help. ® FOREST HILLS/SHALOM ROOSEVELT HUNTINGDON VALLEY TREVOSE 215-673-5800 215-673-7500 Memorial Park Memorial Park > DignityPennsylvania.com < 2 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THIS WEEK Local 5 Zoom Beit Midrash Celebrates Kiloversary, 1,000 Days of Meeting 6 Deli Development and Bagel Boom: Area Jewish Restaurants Expand 8 Fun Activities Available for Local Jews on Christmas 9 Local Organizations Receive State Security Grants Happy Chanukah FROM LAUREL HILL Opinion 12 Editorials 13 Letters 13 Opinions Feature Story 18 In Ukraine, Chanukah Candles Are a Lifeline in the Midst of Power Outages Community 22 Obituaries 24 Synagogue Spotlight 26 Calendar In every issue 4 Weekly Kibbitz 10 Jewish Federation 11 You Should Know 20 Arts & Culture 21 Food & Dining 25 D’var Torah 26 Social Announcements 27 Around Town 28 Last Word 29 Classifieds Sending love and peace to your family during the Festival of Lights. 5 Zoom beit midrash celebrates 6 Deli development and bagel 1,000 days of meeting boom: Area Jewish restaurants expand 18 In Ukraine, Chanukah candles are a lifeline in the midst of power outages JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 3 Weekly Kibbitz In Viral Clip, French TV Host Asks Jewish Guest Why He Wears a Kippah in Public you should keep your religion to yourself,” she said. “My name is Cohen! Why would you want me to ‘keep my religion to myself’? I’m coming from Israel,” Cohen responded in exasperation. A clip of the video drew quick con- demnation on Twitter. “Is this 1930s Europe?” tweeted Israeli journalist Emily Schrader. Though brief, the exchange illus- trated the starkly diff erent per- spectives on religious expression in France, the United States and else- where in the western world. Laïcité, or “secularism,” rather than religious freedom, is enshrined in the fi rst article of the French constitution, which also protects the free exercise of religion. The term has long been understood to imply a strict sepa- ration between the private sphere, where religion is accepted, and the Dr. Cyrille Cohen, head of immunology at Bar-Ilan University, reacts to a question on the French CNews program. public, where it is discouraged. Religious minorities have com- plained that French secularism is often gentler with displays of Christianity than other faiths. “If a priest came in here would you ask him to take off his cross, if the pope, would you have him take off his cross and head covering?” Cohen said in the exchange. Since 2004, French public schools have banned all personal displays of religion, including both crosses and yarmulkes. In 2009, debate erupted after a woman was banned from swimming in a public pool while wearing a bathing suit in line with some Islamic interpretations of mod- esty laws. In 2016, the swimsuit nick- named a “burkini” was banned by the mayor of Cannes, a beach town. French Jews also came up against the government’s strict adherence to laïcité when a hearing in the trial of suspects involved in the 2015 shooting at a Paris Kosher super- market, which killed four Jews, was scheduled on Yom Kippur. The French judiciary refused to change the date after requests by the families of the victims, citing laïcité. — David I. Klein Screenshot from Twitter/Sivan Rahav Meir An Israeli professor was asked by the host of a French TV news show why he publicly identifi es his religion by wearing a kippah in a clip that went viral on Dec. 7. “Many people are asking, why a professor wears a religious symbol in our studio,” the host of CNews pressed Dr. Cyrille Cohen, head of immunology at Bar-Ilan University, who was invited to discuss vaccine eff ectiveness against the COVID-19 virus. “For transparency, I wear it every day. I did not put it on especially for this show,” he responded with an air of confusion. But French-Jewish journalist Elisabeth Levy, who was also a guest on the panel, pushed further. “You understand, don’t you, that our non-religious way of life is dis- crete. It’s not against religion, but The eight crazy nights of Hanukkah came early for Adam Sandler when the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced on De. 13 that the comedian and actor would be hon- ored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a ceremony in March. The prize is presented annually to individuals “who have had an impact on American society” similar to that of the 19th-century novelist and humorist, “who startled many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective on social injustice and personal folly.” Sandler, 56, got his start as an actor on “The Cosby Show” and was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” for fi ve years before eventually starring in a slew of blockbuster com- edy movies in the 1990s and early 2000s, including “Happy Gilmore,” 4 “Big Daddy,” “The Wedding Singer,” “50 First Dates” and “Click.” Sandler has also given critically acclaimed dramatic performances, such as one in 2019’s “Uncut Gems,” in which he played a frenetic Jewish jeweler with a gambling addic- tion. Others include roles in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love” (2002), Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” (2017) and Jeremiah Zagar’s “Hustle” (2022). Perhaps unusually for comics of his generation, the Brooklyn-born Sandler often places his Jewishness front and center, as in his portrayal of an Israeli fi sh out of water in “Don’t Mess With the Zohan” (2008) and especially in his performance of “The Chanukah Song,” originally an “SNL” bit in which he name checks dozens of Jewish celebri- ties. His 2002 animated comedy “Eight Crazy Nights” takes place during the DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Hanukkah season. Sandler, his wife Jackie and their two teenage daughters are set to star in a bat mitzvah-themed movie for Netfl ix based on Fiona Rosenbloom’s 2005 novel, “You Are So Not Invited to My Adam Sandler gives an acceptance speech at the Bat Mitzvah!” 2022 Gotham Awards. Previous Jewish win- ners of the Mark Twain Prize include playwright Neil Simon, of controversy when he focused part Lorne Michaels of “SNL,” actors Carl of an “SNL” monologue on Kanye Reiner and Billy Crystal, and come- West’s antisemitic comments and dian Jon Stewart. cracked jokes that suggested Jews run There was no Mark Twain Prize in Hollywood. In the days following the 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 episode, Stewart, a personal friend pandemic. The previous two win- of Chappelle’s, weighed in on the ners before Sandler were 2019’s Dave monologue and defended Chappelle’s Chappelle and 2022’s Jon Stewart. comments. Chappelle was recently the subject — Jackie Hajdenberg Getty Images via Nina Westervelt Adam Sandler to Receive Mark Twain Prize for American Humor local Zoom Beit Midrash Celebrates Kiloversary, 1,000 Days of Meeting Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer Courtesy of Stew Feinberg  T he World Health Organization declared COVID a pandemic on March 11, 2020, 1,016 days ago from this article’s Dec. 22 publication. For more than 1,000 of those days, a Zoom beit midrash has met virtu- ally, gathering to discuss Torah, prayer and Jewish philosophy and culture. The group has hosted Rabbi Irving Greenberg, author of “The Jewish Way,” and Rising Song Institute’s Joey Weisenberg, among other lecturers. On Dec. 16, the group, led by West Chester synagogue Kesher Israel Congregation member Rabbi Dr. Maury Hoberman, celebrated its kiloversary and 1,000th meeting. “It’s really special because their par- ticipation is special,” Hoberman said of the group. “People come at this from different aspects of how they relate the Torah portion to their personal lives and how they relate the history or the music to their personal lives, which makes it fascinating. It’s really a very diverse group.” Beyond philosophical conversations, the non-denominational group made up of mostly 50- to 70-year-olds has music Thursdays, where one participant selects a genre or song to play for the group. Each daily meeting, including abbre- viated Saturday Shabbat services, ends with a misheberach, prayer for healing, and a five-minute meditation. In addition to a regular 10-25 per- son daily attendance, Hoberman pro- vides recordings of the daily meetings to about 20 members who can’t attend the 9:30 a.m. sessions. While many attend- ees hail from West Chester and Kesher Israel, others are snowbirds in Florida or are from as far away as California and learned about the group via word of mouth. “[Hoberman] is really engaging. His mission is to really teach people, and he’s very good at it,” said Neshamah Diana Faraone, a beit midrash member outside of San Francisco. “It didn’t matter to me that it was early in the morning.” Before becoming a rabbi, Hoberman was a surgeon. After retirement, Hoberman, now an octogenarian, pur- sued his ordination and received his semikhah from ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal in 2019. After meeting Faraone at an ALEPH-led Jewish heritage trip to Italy in 2016 and emailing back- and-forth for several years, Hoberman invited Faraone to the beit midrash. Hoberman hosted the first beit mid- rash on March 22, 2020, according to Stew Feinberg, the group’s de facto his- torian and record keeper, who attended that meeting. The group was designed to be a way for Hoberman to foster Jewish commu- nity in a time of isolation and disorien- tation. After advertising the group in a post on the Kesher Israel Facebook page, Hoberman was joined by a couple dozen interested parties. In July, Hoberman had planned to reassess whether the group was still necessary, but people kept showing up. “That was about 950 beit midrashes ago,” Feinberg said. Many members touted Hoberman’s teaching style, which invites partici- pants to join in to conversations after Hoberman introduces various top- ics. Faraone remembers a particularly engaging conversation about whether animals have souls — a topic that emerged after several members had pets who died. “People really feel included and cared for,” she said. Beyond the discussions and lec- tures, the beit midrash has become a social system and support group for some members. West Chester residents attend Kesher Israel services together on Saturday or hang out in each others’ homes. For member Shellie Herdan, who joined the beit midrash a couple of months after it began, the group was a source of comfort after her husband’s death. “I needed to do kaddish, so I did it with them — for 30 days with them, every day,” she said. “And then I stayed.” The Zoom beit midrash, organized by Rabbi Dr. Maury Hoberman, hosted Rabbi Irving Greenberg, author of “The Jewish Way.” The beit midrash was joined by Rising Song Institute’s Joey Weisenberg, who played music for the group. Influenced by his late-in-life journey to becoming a rabbi, Hoberman believes that Jewish adults should have more educational opportunities. “There’s a great hunger for Jewish education in adults,” Hoberman said. “We often get the comment, ‘How come they never taught us that before?!’” For the group’s members, technology, rather than being counter to the spirit of the ancient Jewish tradition, has been a helpful tool. “One of the advantages and the rea- son people show up is because it’s so convenient,” Hoberman said. “The future of Judaism has to do with it using the technology that’s available.” Member Jo Anne Deglin, a snow- bird and Bala Cynwyd resident, believes that technology has made Judaism more accessible to Jews across generations, though she acknowledges that there’s been a shift in what Judaism looks like. “It’s not the Judaism I think my mother grew up with,” she said. As technology opens up more oppor- tunities for connection, conversation and information for the beit midrash, Deglin believes Jews should embrace what the future holds: “All we have to do is open the window to let it in a little bit, and then we’ll see what’s there.” JE srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 5 local Deli Development and Bagel Boom: Area Jewish Restaurants Expand Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer D iners in the Greater Philadelphia area are hungry for more of their favorite Ashkenazi comfort foods, evidenced by the growth of multiple Jewish-owned and Jewish-style food establishments. Last month, Russ Cowan, owner of Famous 4th Street Deli in Queen Village, signed a lease for the space that formerly housed Cherry Hill, New Jersey’s Short Hills Restaurant & Deli in Short Hills Shopping Center. He plans to open a new deli, Radin’s, there in 2023. On Dec. 9, Kismet Bagels opened its second brick-and-mortar location in Rittenhouse Square at 1700 Sansom St., only eight months after the opening of a first permanent location in Fishtown. Owners Jacob and Alexandra Cohen will debut a bialy stall in Reading Terminal Market in January. Spread Bagelry, the Philadelphia- based Montreal-style bagel purveyors, opened a Cherry Hill store on Dec. 5 in Commerce Square. Cowan, a fourth-generation deli vet- eran from Brooklyn, will stock the menu at Radin’s — named after his grandfa- ther’s family name Smoradinsky — with reliable favorites from Famous 4th and the several other delis he’s owned and later sold in various locations in Center City and Cherry Hill, including the Kibitz Room, Pastrami & Things and Bread & Bagel. Radin’s, within walking distance of Cowan’s home, offers convenience for the 67-year-old owner. “I’m not the guy that’s looking to retire, but I’m looking to make my life a little bit easier by having something around the corner from my house,” he said. Cowan recently put Famous 4th Street on the market but doesn’t have plans to close the deli. Michael Kaplan, son of Short Hills Restaurant & Deli owner Jerry Kaplan, said that the Short Hills establishment had to shutter in November 2021 due to the continued financial impact of the pandemic. 6 Famous 4th Street Deli owner Russ Cowan signed a lease in November to the now-shuttered Short Hills Restaurant & Deli in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Photo by Sasha Rogelberg “We were just doing takeout only for almost three years,” Kaplan said. “We were doing substantial business, but at that location, expenses are way too high.” Kaplan opened Short Hills 2 Go Catering in Marlton in August. The space’s smaller 20-seat dining area and regular customer base have helped buoy the restaurant. Classic Cake Co., which operates out of the former Short Hills Restaurant & Deli space, will move to a different location in the Short Hills Shopping Center. Cowan said that a good deli should rely on the quality of its products, a strategy to which Cowan partially attributes his success. “I tend to keep things very tradi- tional: I pickle my own corned beef; DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM I smoke my own pastrami; we do our own baking, and I try to keep things as I remember it as I grew up with,” he said. While Cowan sticks with old favor- ites, Kismet Bagels has experienced success reinventing the classics, the Cohen couple said. “Once people that own these shops started exploring and trying different concoctions and flavors and not lim- iting themselves to only what they’ve at a New York deli or New York bagel shop, you see the response from cus- tomers, who are so eager for new specials and new things and familiar flavors on a different setting, in a dif- ferent vessel,” Jacob Cohen said. “All bets are off now.” Kismet Bagels pairs bagels with unconventional schmears, such as pickle and spicy everything cream cheeses. Spread Bagelry also has found suc- cess in a new take on bagels, baking the bread in a wood-fired oven and serving unique flavors such as blueberry-lemon bagels and apple brown butter schmear. The Cherry Hill store will be its ninth location and first in New Jersey. For the past year-and-a-half, the Cohens have experimented with bialys, a hole-less baked counterpart to their boiled-then-baked bagel cousins. In October, Kismet hosted a pop-up with Mike’s BBQ in South Philadelphia, slinging burnt end bialys. They’ve also hosted pop-ups alongside Amanda Shulman’s Her Place Supper Club and Pat’s King of Steaks, serving French onion soup and cheesesteak bialys, respectively. Don Needs a Kidney to Save His LIFE! You can give the greatest gift this holiday... Discover the joy of saving a LIFE for a lifetime! Don spends his time helping others. Now he needs your help to save his LIFE! Kidney donors have reported a profound sense of fulfillment. • You do NOT have to be a match to donate a kidney. • It is well documented that we can all live a normal life with only one kidney. • All costs to the donor are covered. • Voucher programs guarantee that the donor or a family member would be first in line for a kidney if ever needed. Kismet Bagels owners Jacob and Alexandra Cohen opened up their second brick-and- mortar location in Center City eight months after their Fishtown shop opened in April. Photo by Mike Prince While Kismet’s Center City loca- tion will continue to operate in the same model as their Fishtown store, with both locations sourcing bagels from Kismet’s commissary kitchen, the bialy stall will feature a more nimble menu, with bialys being made on-site. Customers will be able to watch their bialys being made behind the counter. Kismet’s creative menu gathered a following after the Cohens began sell- ing bagels in a commissary kitchen in Fishtown in May 2020. After nine months of running a Sunday pop-up on Frankford Avenue, the couple opened up their first brick-and-mortar store on 113 E. Girard Ave. in April. While the permanent Fishtown shop stuck to Kismet’s roots, the Center City shop shows the business’ desire to expand its reach. Kismet has operated a stand at the Rittenhouse Farmers’ Market for the past year. “Fishtown is like the newest, cool- est neighborhood in Philadelphia, and then Rittenhouse Square is just such an institutional phenomenon,” Alexandra Cohen said. “The area is just such a famous location and just made the most sense.” JE srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com To learn more, please visit www.Kidney2Don.com or email Ned Brooks, kidney donor & Founder of the National Kidney Donation Organization at nedbrooks@nkdo.org FREE ESTIMATES PERSONALIZED SERVICE SENIOR DOWNSIZING DECLUTTER / HOARDING CLEAN OUTS ALL ITEMS SOLD, DONATED, OR REPURPOSED RESPECTFUL OF HOMES WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF 30+ YEARS JOLIE OMINSKY OWNER SERVING PA, DE, NJ JOCSERNICA@YAHOO.COM arancio / AdobeStock 610-551-3105 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 7 local Fun Activities Available for Local Jews on Christmas Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer nachos and breakfast fried rice, among other items. Lee How Fook has a 4.3 out of fi ve rating from 224 Google reviews. In that Instagram post, Middle Child Clubhouse called it “hands down, my favorite restaurant in Chinatown.” Y ou’re Jewish. It’s Christmas. Few places are open, so what to do? It’s the annual question. Th is year, you can just stay in and celebrate Chanukah, since the fi nal night is on Christmas. But what if you want to go out? Locally, there are more answers than just getting Chinese food and seeing a movie, though that is always a good option. Here’s a brief guide to what you can do in the Philadelphia area on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In the late 2010s, the museum changed the name of this event from Being Jewish at Christmas to Being__at Christmas. It wanted to make it more inclusive to Christians looking for something to do later in the day, to people from other religions and to the non-religious, according to Dan Samuels, the muse- um’s director of public programs. And the activities on the schedule are fun for the whole family. At 10:15 a.m., there’s an interactive kids con- cert with bubbles, balloons and pup- pets. An hour later, the Philadelphia Suns will perform a “1,000+ year old Chinese lion dance” that takes place during the Chinese New Year, accord- ing to an email about the event. And in the aft ernoon, kids and parents can take workshops on hip-hop dance and percussion instruments. If you buy tickets in advance, your kids can get in for $10, and you can pay $15. Th e price goes up to $20 for both groups on the day of the event, unless you’re a museum member, in which case you can get in for free. Find a Light Show Light shows are oft en defi ned not just by resplendence, but by long car lines, too. Avoid those by rolling up on Christmas Eve or Day to displays that remain open despite the holiday. 8 The Being __ at Christmas event at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History event for families. Israeli restaurant Zahav’s “tradi- tional Jewish Christmas celebration returns with dinner and a movie at Lilah,” according to an Instagram post promoting the gathering. Th is event is actually on Dec. 22, but its Christmas theme qualifi es it for this list. Lilah is a venue on North Front Street. Th e evening will begin with a “four- course feast,” as the post explains, that includes fi ve salads, dim sum dump- lings, hot and sour soup, Peking duck, steamed buns and sesame sugar donuts. Th e movie, which will start a half hour aft er the dinner, “is a surprise.” A $150 ticket is for a pair and covers food but not drinks. Watch “The Fabelmans” The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History welcomes everybody to its Christmas Day event for families. Th ere are plenty of options in that category. And those include some of the best, like the Holiday Light Show at Shady Brook Farm in Bucks County, which features millions of lights, the Deck the Hall Light Show at Dilworth Park, which illuminates City Hall, and the West Chester Griswolds, or the local family that imitates the Chevy Chase-led unit in National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation” by brightening its home with “more than 100,000 computer-controlled lights,” according to a Visit Philadelphia listing. Visit Philly also has a full list of light shows that you can visit during the hol- DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM iday season: visitphilly.com/articles/ philadelphia/top-holiday-lights-attrac- tions-in-philadelphia/. The Christmas Eve Chinatown Dinner Middle Child Clubhouse, the bar and restaurant on Front Street, and Lee How Fook, the Chinese restaurant on North 11th Street, are co-hosting an event at which you can pay $55 a per- son and “get everything,” family-style, according to an Instagram post pro- moting the evening. “Everything,” in this case, means a lot of really good Chinese food, like crab Rangoon Steven Spielberg’s “Th e Fabelmans” has not done well in theaters since com- ing out on Nov. 11, making just $8.7 million despite its $40 million bud- get. It’s the worst-performing movie in the 50-plus-year career of Hollywood’s “most commercially successful director of all time,” as Spielberg’s Wikipedia page describes him. Yet despite the poor box offi ce per- formance, the Jewish director’s com- ing-of-age fi lm based on himself is acclaimed by both viewers and critics. It has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an 82% rating on Fandango and a 7.9/10 on IMDb. Time’s Stephanie Zacharek called it the best fi lm of 2022. Th e New Yorker’s Anthony Lane wrote that it was “touched with the madness of love.” You should be skeptical if only the audience or only the critics like a movie. But if they both like a fi lm, it’s probably worth your time. JE jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com Photos by Mario Manzoni Go to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History’s Being__at Christmas Event The Jewish Christmas Dinner and a Movie Event local Local Organizations Receive State Security Grants Andy Gotlieb | JE EDITOR G ov. Tom Wolf announced on Dec. 15 nearly $4 million in funding to support security enhancement proj- ects for 93 nonprofits, including several Jewish institutions in the Philadelphia area. “While it’s a shame this has been necessary, I’m proud to have secured nearly $20 million over the past three years to protect Pennsylvania’s diverse and vulnerable communities from hate-driven violence,” Wolf said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to the day when the goodness of human- ity prevails.” tion category for single bias hate crime incidents,” as identified by the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics publication, such as race/ethnicity/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender and gender identity. Applicants could apply for grant awards ranging from $5,000 to $150,000 for security enhancements. The money can be used for safety and security planning, safety and security equipment and technology, training, building upgrades, vulnerability and threat assessments, and other security enhancements. Local organizations receiving grants include: THE UNWANTED BY PETER CLENOTT AVAILABLE ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE “Germany has just invaded Poland; 14-year-old Hana Ziegler, the product of an illicit affair, is being driven by her grandfather and her psychiatrist to a euthanasia center; 16-year-old Silke Hartenstein graces the covers of Nazi propaganda magazines; Avi Kreisler is a Munich police detective rounded up for Dachau; David McAuliffe’s patrician father wants his eldest son elected first Catholic president of the United States. In the aftermath of war, revenge brings these four people together in ways unimaginable.” Learn more at: https://peterclenott.squarespace.com or Level Best Books: https://www.levelbestbooks.us/ or purchase at Amazon or Barnes & Noble Bucks County Mid-States Habonim Camping Association, Inc., $24,000 Delaware County Judith Creed Horizons for Achieving Independence, $75,000 Montgomery County Brotherhood Temple Brith Achim, $24,814 Congregation Beth Am Israel, $25,000 Kaiserman Jewish Community Center, $40,000 Kohelet Yeshiva, $108,419 Governor Tom Wolf licensed under CC BY 2.0 Gov. Tom Wolf Wolf signed House Bill 859 to create the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in November 2019, one year after the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue com- plex shooting. Administered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the program supports grants to nonprofits that principally serve individuals, groups or institu- tions included within “a bias motiva- Philadelphia County Drizin-Weiss Post 215 Jewish War Veterans of the United States Of America, Inc., $84,333 Penn Hillel, $25,000 PCCD plans to release another Nonprofit Security Grant Fund Program solicitation in January. More information about PCCD’s Nonprofit Security Grant Fund Program and the application process can be found on PCCD’s website at pccd.pa.gov/. JE Exclusive Women’s Apparel Boutique Made in USA Mother of the Bride/Groom, Bar-Mitzvah and all of your special occasions needs. Plus and Petite Sizes Custom Fit Couture Fashion Collection 61 Buck Road Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 elanacollection.com/shop (215)953-8820 By Appointment Only Monday-Friday 10am-3pm JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 9 As 2022 comes to a close, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia reflects on how the community’s generosity has created local and global impact for countless lives over the past year. The following stories illustrate how just some of those people have been uplifted and irrevocably changed through the Jewish Federation’s funded services, programs and organizations. “I serve today, full of pride and love for my country and my people.” Meet Simona. Simona was born in Russia and moved to Israel at three years old to receive treatment for her uterine cancer. She has Jewish roots, but was not halachically Jewish. As an adult, Simona completed the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Nativ program, supported by the Jewish Federation, and learned the meaning of being Jewish, which inspired her to convert to Judaism and become an officer in the IDF. “If not for your help, I don't know how I would make it.” Meet Yakov, 69, from Kishinev, Moldova. During COVID, he was confined to his house, where his diabetes and hypertension impeded his ability to cook his own meals. Through the support of the local Jewish Federation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Yakov received hot meals three times a week and was also given funds to cover the cost of his heating bill during Moldova’s bitter winter. “We are very appreciative that we are able to remain independent and safe in our own home.” Meet siblings Saul and Nina, 91 and 89, who mutually take care of each other at their home in Northeast Philadelphia. For 30 years, they have been a part of the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC), which is run by Jewish Family and Children's Service. NORC, a grantee of the Jewish Federation, provides them with home repairs, winterization efforts and COVID protection kits. 10 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM “I found a non-judgmental Jewish community outside of a synagogue setting where I can participate in my lost Jewish heritage.” Meet Jack, 23, who lives in Philadelphia and is on the autism spectrum and has Rose, ADHD. 30, Having trouble Garden, finding Philadelphia. employment, Rose Jack lost met touch with a Meet from Spring career counselor JEVS Services’ Helping remarried Hands with her Jewish through identity the at the age Human of 11 when her mother program, supported by Rose the Jewish Federation. counselor helped a Christian man. Now is re-exploring her The Judaism through Jack craft a Philadelphia, resume and enroll in an by Automotive class. OneTable supported the Jewish Inspection Federation, where Jack works full-time as a Subaru she now has already hosted three Shabbat Express dinners. Automotive Technician. Whether in person or through screens, in times of peace or in war, the Jewish community does not waver. Support the Jewish Federation's mission to create a brighter future and an even stronger community by making a gift before December 31 at jewishphilly.org/donate YOU SHOULD KNOW ... Sam Salz Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer Courtesy of Sam Salz S am Salz is meticulous in matching his kippah to his football uniform: The white and burgundy of the head covering matches his Texas A&M football jersey and makes it easily visible to a crowd, he said. In a Nov. 26 primetime television broadcast, Salz can be easily recognized by his kippah as he jumps up and down and waves his arms, a victory dance celebrating an Aggies home win against the Louisiana State University Tigers. The 20-year-old sophomore and running back from South Philadelphia plays with No. 39 on his jersey, representing lamed tet melachot, the 39 categories of work forbidden on Shabbat. Salz refuses to play on the Sabbath and is an active member of the Texas A&M Chabad. After joining the Aggies as a walk-on in October, Salz, with his coaches’ permission, missed the first practice with the team to observe Yom Kippur. He’s the second-ever Shabbat-observant NCAA Division I football player. “It’s a good reminder to all the other young Jewish kids who are into sports, who want to play at a high competitive level, that they don’t have to compro- mise on being who they are,” Salz said. Despite attending a Division I school with a 128-year-old football program, Salz began his journey to the sport about a year ago. On Oct. 16, 2021, Salz took a trip to New York with Chabad and talked to a friend about training to join the football team. He said that when he brought up the idea to a stranger on the subway and received their approval, that sealed the deal for Salz. He began training when he returned home. “I would do lots of sprints, lots of running,” Salz said. “I would do like 2½ to three hours in the gym a day, and then I would do about an hour-and-a- half to two hours in the field a day.” When Salz wasn’t running sprints or completing agility training, he was teaching himself the rules of football, a sport he had always enjoyed, and meet- ing with the team’s coaches, who let him join the team of 130 players, 85 of whom were scholar- ship players. While attending Kohelet Yeshiva High School in Merion Station, there was no foot- ball team, Salz said. As the time to apply for colleges approached, Salz was interested in Texas A&M for its tight-knit commu- nity, strong alumni network and cul- ture of football fanaticism. Growing up attending B’nai Abraham Chabad in Center City, Salz enjoyed a hamish community, wanting to find that same warmth wherever he chose to matriculate. Texas A&M’s Chabad, led by Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, felt like what Salz was looking for. “It’s a very, very warm community; everyone kind of knows everyone,” Salz said of B’nai Abraham Chabad. “And A&M is very similar to that.” Lazaroff sees Salz every day at morn- ing prayers, Torah classes and Friday night dinners. For the past 18 months, he’s provided support for Salz, one of about 60-90 Jewish students at Chabad. Despite being one of the largest col- leges in the country composed of more than 56,000 undergraduates, Texas A&M’s Jewish population is small, Lazaroff said. Though Salz believes he hasn’t encountered any challenges bal- ancing his Jewish identity with his role on the football field, Lazaroff said it’s not always easy being a minority. Lazaroff remembers Salz having con- cerns about making compromises to his Judaism to pursue football. “It’s been very beautiful to see some- one like him saying, ‘I’m not going on the field on Shabbos.’ ... He’s not look- ing to bend the rules; he’s looking to play by the rules,” Lazaroff said. Though pursuing a degree in eco- nomics with an interest in real estate, Salz still believes there’s a chance he could become a professional athlete. His next step is to play in a game, competing for one of 11 spots on the field with 129 other athletes, including about 45 other walk-ons. “I’m doing everything I can to com- pete, to make it to that position,” he said. As a backup plan, Salz is interested in rabbinical school, using his experience navigating being a shomer Shabbos Jew and D1 athlete to relate to young people. “There needs to be a rabbi for every generation,” Salz said. “It’s very important that we have rabbis who care about law, are knowl- edgeable and present Judaism well, as well as who can relate to students or assist students, Jewish kids, anyone who’s asking, in a way that you can relate to,” Salz continued. For Salz, the evolution of his identity as a football player is intertwined with his evolution as a Jewish person, he said. If he were to select becoming a rabbi from the many goals he strives toward, he would teach a young Jewish generation informed by the lessons he learned on the field. “You can’t separate the Judaism from the football,” he said. JE srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 11 editorials No ‘One Size Fits All’ in Protecting Minorities T he announcement that the Biden administration is establishing an inter-agency group to coordinate U.S. government efforts “to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination,” shows that the White House is interested in more than a ceremonial approach to address antisemitism. That’s a good thing. But the combination of so many different forms of bias — antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black hatred, anti-Asian hatred, homophobia, transpho- bia and more — into a homogenized melting pot of a response risks not adequately dealing with the complexities of bias against any minority. The announced approach smacks of trying to please everyone. We are concerned that it will result in a response that will please no one. Each minority community that is a proven target of the angry, resentful and mentally unbalanced hate-mongers who are pumped up by the steady drip of social-media content and loose gun laws is different. Each is deserving of individualized atten- tion and the development of a carefully tailored approach and response. Jews are no exception. The attacks on Jews continue, with no end in sight. From spray-painted swastikas and antise- mitic slogans to taunts, heckling and assaults of Jewish children and adults on the streets of our neighborhoods, each disturbing event triggers the Jewish trauma that our community is not safe. While we are pleased by the rise in government dollars earmarked for communal security and the increasing coordination between law enforcement and the security monitoring arms of Jewish com- munities, we worry that much more is needed. Any plan of action must be based on accurate information. But it now appears that those respon- sible for keeping track of hate activity haven’t been able to gather reliable numbers. The FBI, for exam- ple, has been criticized for publishing incomplete data on hate crimes. Thus, the FBI reported a drop in antisemitic acts in 2021, while the ADL reported an alarming rise in such activities during the same time. It turns out that the reason for the disconnect is simple. The FBI relies on voluntary reports from law-enforcement agencies. But several major law-en- forcement regions, including Los Angeles County, New York, Miami and Chicago, did not submit data for 2021. It is therefore no surprise that without reports from the very areas where most American Jews live, the FBI compilations cannot be accurate. Government officials have explained that many states and law-enforcement agencies failed to report on bias and hate activity properly or at all after a shift to a new reporting system. That means that the problem of antisemitism is worse than offi- cials thought and probably closer to what we feel in our bones. And the same is almost certainly true for other minorities who are suffering from rising bias and attacks. The bureaucratic blunder is disturbing. Even with the best of intentions, government cannot solve a problem that it doesn’t fully understand. And with the White House now proposing to deal with all forms of bias generically — rather than with delib- erate focus on each minority community that is being targeted — we worry that the individualized and singular needs of each minority community, including the Jewish one, will not be addressed sufficiently. That would not be good for anyone. JE The United Nations, Disappointment and Irrelevance W e have long been critical of the world body known as the United Nations. Born of a noble purpose as an intergovernmen- tal organization created to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, promote social progress, better living standards and human rights, achieve inter- national trust and cooperation, and be a center for the harmonization of actions and relations among the countries of the world, the United Nations we know today is a mere shadow of the lofty institu- tion it was designed to be. Chief among the reasons for its failure are the institution’s astonishing lack of honor and honesty. The list of U.N. disappointments is long. Two more occurred over the last few weeks and have been largely ignored. Perhaps the lack of protest or comment reflects the irrelevance of the world body. Perhaps it reflects the futility of criticism. Most likely, it’s because no one really cares what the United Nations says or does. On April 26, Israel will mark its 75th birthday. That will be a day of great celebration in Israel and 12 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM throughout the Diaspora. But the anniversary will not be recognized by the United Nations. Instead, earlier this month, the U.N. General Assembly voted to commemorate the same day as the 75th anniversary of the Nakba — the Palestinian term for catastrophe or disaster — the day that marks the destruction of Palestinian society and its homeland that led to the establishment of Israel. The Nakba Resolution was passed by a vote of 90 in favor, 30 against and 47 abstentions. Most commentary on the vote has focused on the lopsided number of countries who voted in favor, including Israel’s two-faced peace and prosperity Abraham Accords dance partners, and the stalwart support of most Western and European Union mem- bers for the Jewish state, who voted against. We agree with those comments. But we are bothered by the 47 abstentions. What is it about this vote that led to the wobbly-kneed refusal of 47 countries to take a principled position? And why is it that Ukraine — a country begging for hard-core Israel support for its war effort — didn’t even cast a vote? And speaking of Ukraine, there’s the upcoming, much-anticipated report of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres about Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. In typical, unprincipled U.N. fash- ion, the secretary-general has yielded to pressure from Russia not to address the issue of Iran supply- ing Russia with drones for the war in Ukraine. Under U.N. Resolution 2231, Iran is prohib- ited from transferring long-range, payload-laden drones, like the ones it has provided to support Russia’s war effort. Russia denies it is using Iranian drones. Iran admits sending some drones but says they were sent before the Ukraine war started in late February. Western states say they have definitive evidence that both Russia and Iran are lying, and are demanding a U.N. investigation. The secretary-general says he won’t conduct an inves- tigation into compliance issues unless the Security Council authorizes it. Russia is a permanent mem- ber of the Security Council with veto power over such a directive. So, nothing will happen. And the United Nations will continue its disappointing tradition of irrele- vance. JE opinions & letters Trump for Sale T here seems to be no limit to former president and current candidate for president Donald Trump’s narcissism. Nor does there appear to be any limit to his quest for cash. In a video posted last week on Truth Social, Trump promised that he would soon make a “major announce- ment.” Speculation regarding the announcement ranged from his possible return to Twitter, a run for speaker of the House or the formation of a third party to compete with Republicans and Democrats. But the consensus was that the “major announcement” would have something to do with Trump’s announced candidacy for president in 2024. But that wasn’t it. Instead, the very next day Trump announced an online store to sell $99 digital trading cards of himself as a superhero, a sheriff, an astronaut, a fighter pilot and a mix of other fantastical figures. The 45,000 Trump action figure nonfungible tokens (NFTs) sold out in one day. The estimated haul was $4.45 mil- lion, plus a percentage of any later sales on secondary markets. But not a penny of sales proceeds will go to the Trump campaign. Instead, the revenue will go directly into Trump’s pocket. His NFT sale announcement was classic hucksterism, peppered with traditional Trump self-aggrandizement. Ranging from claims that his years as president were “better than Lincoln, better than Washington” and prom- ising buyers of his NFTs that they would be entered into a series of small-print limited sweepstakes to meet Trump one-on-one, golf at one of his properties or receive a ticket to a gala at a Trump resort, the sales schpiel had all the charm of a Ronco late-night TV pitch for a Vegematic. Trump critics were gleeful. Supporters were embar- rassed. Critics claimed to be vindicated as Trump’s NFT-gate served as further evidence of the man’s self-ab- sorption and lack of seriousness. Supporters struggled to contain themselves and to avoid criticizing Trump himself for the NFT misstep. Instead, they pummeled his “advisers” and urged the firing of whatever clowns orchestrated the whole plan or wrote the embarrassing copy of the Trump sales pitch. We join the critics. While there is nothing wrong with Trump trying to make money, we still expect a level of dignity and restraint in how the man seeking the highest office in the land conducts himself. We know that Trump has never felt constrained by convention. And we know that he views himself exempt from behavioral or other limitations observed by most others who seek public office. But the over-reaching nature of this effort — with Trump literally promoting himself as a cartoon character just to line his own pockets — seems to go too far. Nonetheless, given the mounting legal challenges Trump is facing and the extraordinary legal fee charges he will be receiving in the months ahead, maybe it’s not such a bad idea for him to do anything he can to make some money. JE Ban Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers By Rabbi Beth Janus and Seth Lieberman R eds, yellows and oranges burst out and dance around us as fall arrives in Philadelphia. But soon after this vibrant display of beauty, the roars of gas-powered leaf blowers seize our attention. Several weeks ago, we read the story of creation from Genesis. Here we learn one of our first com- mandments, “The Holy One of blessing took the first earthling and placed them in the Garden of Eden, to serve it and to care for it.” Living on a healthy planet is crucial for our wellbeing and the survival of all of God’s creation. This obligation to serve and care for the Garden of Eden, with its Tree of Life, prompts us to ask how we are caring for our current corner of the planet. When our beloved trees lose their leaves, do we respond in a way that shows care for our Earth? Too often, we respond with gas-powered leaf blow- ers. As they work, they unleash carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and carcinogenic hydrocarbons into the air that surrounds us, dramatically contributing to climate change. Our holy texts provide Jews with a vital moral perspective. During this time of climate crisis, our voices need to be amplified. Climate scientists tell us that we need to reduce emissions drastically if we are to achieve the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. After 1.5 degrees, irreversible events will occur. These catastrophic events will affect us all but especially those with fewer resources. While curbing climate change can seem over- whelming and complex, there are concrete steps we can take immediately that will have a measur- able effect. Alongside Washington, D.C., Seattle and more than 170 municipalities in the country, Philadelphia can join the growing consensus that phasing out gas leaf blowers will significantly reduce carbon emissions. A 2011 study by the car review company Edmunds found that using one gas leaf blower for 30 minutes generated more hydrocarbon emissions than driv- ing a Ford Raptor pickup truck from Philadelphia to Juneau, Alaska! Transitioning to electric blowers immediately reduces the harm. The Jewish value to protect the earth is clear, but it is just one of the reasons to ban these polluting machines. We also share the value of protecting our community’s residents. The Mishnah teaches us in Bava Batra 2:8,9 that we must distance animal carcasses, graves, threshing floors and tanneries from a city because all of these harm air quality and residents’ health. Gas blowers emit up to one third of the oil and gas used to power them. These emissions cause asthma, cancer and cardiovascular conditions for those who live in places where they are used. They are especially harmful for the workers who strap on the blowers and must breathe their fumes all day long. Many of these workers are low-wage immi- grants who have little choice in what they do to earn a living. The simplest and quickest solution is to transition to electric leaf blowers. We are used to seeing pow- erful electric vehicles, and the same technology is widely deployed for both commercial and consumer leaf blowers. Because of the widespread ban of gas blowers, the technology is readily available and pos- itively reviewed by publications such as Wirecutter. Electric blowers are significantly quieter than gas ones, and their engines generate zero emissions. Because the cost of operating battery equipment is low, the costs will be recouped on average within 10 months. Phasing out gas blowers over a few years allows landscapers time to plan. As United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at the COP27 conference in November, “Human activity is the cause of the climate problem. So human action must be the solution. It is a moral imperative. We need all hands on deck for faster, bolder climate action.” Our Jewish values can power our actions to address causes of climate change. Join our campaign to ban gas powered blowers in Philadelphia … we can protect ourselves, the planet and landscape workers. Sign our petition at QuietCleanPhilly.org. JE Rabbi Beth Janus is a Reform rabbi living and working in Philadelphia. She is a member of the Germantown Jewish Centre’s Green Team. Seth Lieberman is a member of the Germantown Jewish Centre’s Green Team and runs Leadership Breakthroughs, a firm developing scientific and medical leaders. He is a cofounder of QuietCleanPhilly. letters Archbishop Sends Holiday Greeting Together with the people of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, I extend prayerful best wishes as you prepare to celebrate the Festival of Lights in all of its beauty. As you light the menorah and recall the glory of the Temple’s rededication, may you be filled you with joy and hope. May this Chanukah also strengthen the bonds of love and affection you share with family and friends. Shalom Aleichem! JE Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez., Archbishop of Philadelphia Letters should be related to articles that have run in the print or online editions of the JE, and may be edited for space and clarity prior to publication. Please include your first and last name, as well your town/neighborhood of residence. Send letters to letters@jewishexponent.com. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 13 opinion Chanukah Is the Holiday That America Needs Right Now By Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein A 14 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM America needs a Chanukah because when walls and windows are breached and broken, whether in 2021 or 2,200 years ago, it is hard to believe one would ever see light again. That’s why I believe that just as the Jewish peo- ple need a Chanukah to usher in a time for light in the face of much darkness, America needs a Chanukah, too. With ideological and culture wars pinning social groups against one another, many search in the darkness for even a few Maccabees to remind Americans what our democratic seal still stands for. In the year 164 BCE, Antiochus of Greece breached the doors of the Jerusalem Temple, defi ling the sacred, leaving but one fl ask of oil. Though not a direct parallel, in the year 2021 C.E., a dangerous mob of white suprem- acists breached the doors of the United States Capitol building, defi ling democracy and sending defenders running for their lives. America needs a Chanukah because our light still burns strong and we must recommit to the demo- cratic ideals of our nation. America needs a Chanukah so that when we come across darkness and hate in the media, we can com- bat that rhetoric with language of justice, love and openness. America needs a Chanukah because when walls and windows are breached and broken, whether in 2021 or 2,200 years ago, it is hard to believe one would ever see light again. The Alter Rebbe of Lubavitch taught: “A little light dispels a lot of darkness.” The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” For thousands of years, lighting the hanukkiah was an act of protest, reclaiming who we are, reclaiming our stories and rededicating ourselves to the past lights, and the ultimate restoration of the menorah’s light in a rebuilt Jerusalem. A time when systems and structures exist where all people feel like they can bring their light, and that they belong. As we approach the winter months and the year ahead, let us remember there is always light, and we must let ours shine. JE Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein is the rabbinic scholar and public aff airs adviser for the Jewish Federations of North America. tomertu / iStock / Getty Images Plus s a young child, I often wondered why people light the hanukkiah, or Chanukah menorah, in so many diff erent places. Some light the candles on their front porches and driveways, some in the streets, others in city parks and a very select few even light candles at the White House. But with the recent rise of antisemitism, some only shine their lights in the inner chambers of their home, a place that feels safe and secure. As the Shulchan Aruch, or Code of Jewish Law, warned centuries ago, the mitzvah of persumei nisa, or pub- licizing the miracle (Talmud Shabbat 23b), was con- tingent on the dangers of institutional antisemitism and our enemies’ desire to extinguish the Jewish people’s light. (Shulchan Aruch, O.CH, Chanukah 3:5) In America today, our democracy faces a similar problem. The barrage of threats to our civil society, increased polarization and a heightened threat from domestic extremists are pushing the light away, to the detriment of us all. Many Americans today feel that they cannot express their true identities because of how others might perceive or treat them. The fear of rejection, the fear of violence, or worse, cause too many to hide their light, acquiescing to the oppressor. Chanukah literally means to rededicate, rebuild, reconstruct — our institutions and our selves. We are to fi x that which has been broken so we can reimagine what is possible for the future. During this festival of lights, we are reminded to embrace our unique identities, regardless of what oppressive systems might dictate. As a proud American Jew whose ancestors on one side fought in the American Revolution while other ancestors were enslaved on American soil, and as an Orthodox rabbi working to build communities of the 21st century that work for everybody, I understand the way systems of oppression conspire to extin- guish our lights. Systems of oppression are often described using “the four I’s”: ideological, interpersonal, institutional, internalized. The Greco-Syrians of the Chanukah story opposed the Jewish people’s relationship to God and the Torah (ideological), forced the Jewish leaders to coerce their loved ones to pub- licly defame the Torah (interpersonal), renamed Jerusalem “Antiochus” and decried that Jews remove their mezuzahs, sacrifi ce pigs and write above the door of their houses “there is no God in this place” (institutional). Finally, they caused many Jews to embrace the ways of their oppressors (internalized). opinion Pan Am 103: Prisoners of Hope By Rabbi Charles S. Sherman Air Accident Investigation Branch / Wikki Commons O n Dec. 11, I awoke to the stunning news that the man accused of making the bomb that killed 270 people in 1988, the Lockerbie bombing, was now in custody. On Dec. 21, 1988, I was the senior rabbi of the largest synagogue in Central New York. It was a cold, blustery, uneventful early morning until “that phone call.” It was from Syracuse University, inform- ing me of the bombing. I was told that, among the 270 people killed, 35 were Syracuse students flying home for Christmas after a semester abroad. The Jewish chaplain, a col- league and good friend, was already on his way to JFK to be of assistance. The university, with its large world footprint, wanted and needed to bring its community together almost immediately and asked if I would represent the Jewish community. Thirty-four years later, now living in Elkins Park, I clearly remember putting down the telephone, sob- bing uncontrollably, a transformative moment, one of the most difficult days of my life as a pulpit rabbi — and not exactly sure if I had the content and com- posure to offer the necessary wisdom and context. The bombing, of course, was a tragedy for every- one on board and their loved ones. But when so many young students, at the prime of their lives, were taken, it was especially jarring and unbeliev- able; all of their dreams and potential were gone in seconds. That evening, Hendricks Chapel, a very impressive centerpiece of the Syracuse campus just steps away from the better-known Carrier Dome, was over- flowing; there were students, faculty and members of the larger community — thousands of people, seated and standing in the aisles and thousands more on the campus in silence, in pain and disbelief. Inside the chapel, every faith tradition was repre- sented. Leaders from different traditions and beliefs were all there for the same purpose — sharing the importance of community, at times of a faceless community, where people still feel connected by a culture of reciprocal responsibilities. No political commentary was necessary. The hei- nous nature of the crime was obvious. And I, a “per- son of faith,” seized with anger and disappointment, needed to somehow relay a message of honest belief and confidence. My immediate response was one of reassurance. In part, this is what I said: “There are certain matters of the soul that will always defy mathematical or scientific explanation. We can’t know if there is a heaven or if God exists. We can’t know why bad things happen to good people. Humble acceptance of the limitations of our knowledge is where faith begins. Faith is learning to live in that zone of discomfort. Faith is learning to feel at home there. But faith is also action. It is an act of faith to take what we can know and use it to fulfill God’s purpose on earth. “It’s tempting and understandable to say, ‘Why me? What did I do to deserve this? It’s not fair. It shouldn’t be this way.’ Yet, such sentiments reveal more about us than they do about God. When we say something is not fair or we do not deserve it, we haven’t sat down with a scale and put our merits on one side and demerits on the other side to see our merits outweigh our demerits. No, what we really mean is: I do not want life this way. I want it to be the way I want it. The thing is, life comes as it comes. It is what it is. And faith is our trust in our ability to handle that which we cannot control. It is what God has given us to live fully, bravely and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world.” The late Leonard Fein, a friend, was a brilliant social scientist, a passionate and gifted writer and a veteran social activist. In trying to cope with his daughter’s sudden death, a personal tragedy beyond description — “the permanent presence of an absence” — he confronted one of the toughest questions there is: How can we pick up the pieces of our lives and go on to laugh and love in the after- math of grievous loss? “We live neither in the valley of the shadow of death nor atop the mountain of redemption; that we live instead in a desert of shifting sands where the best we can do as we seek to come to a better place and a bet- ter time is to press our bodies against those who falter and are about to faint, hold them close and upright until we come to the next resting place, there to regather our energy and then to resume the journey.” The news of the man arrested brought it all back. On some levels, it is still very fresh for me. I often wonder how best do we honor those lost that day? How have we resumed the journey? When you enter the “quad,” the Syracuse main campus, bucolic, busy and rooted in tradition, there are some steps you must climb that lead to a centerpiece called The Place of Remembrance. It is a semicircu- lar, extraordinary concrete structure that includes the names of the 35 Syracuse students who died on Pan Am 103. Each year, the Syracuse community gathers in that sacred space during Remembrance Week for a can- dlelight vigil and rose-laying ceremony. It reminds us to look back and act forward in resuming the journey. For in the end, we are Jews, assirei tikvah (pris- oners of hope). We suffer with all who suffer; we remember that we, too, were strangers once, and more than once; we remember the winding through the desert; and we know there is not only a prom- ised land but also a promised time. We know that they who plant in sorrow will surely one day reap in joy! JE Rabbi Charles S. Sherman is the rabbi of Melrose B’nai Israel Emanu-El in Elkins Park. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 15 opinion Why Christian Zionism Is More Important Than We Think By Irit Tratt I n the days preceding his election victory, Israel’s incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed by Christians United for Israel founder and chairman, Pastor John Hagee. The comfortable rapport between the two men was evident throughout their talk. Hagee heaped “God’s prayers” on the Israeli leader “for all the rest of his life.” This display of mutual admiration reflects the years Netanyahu has spent cultivating connec- tions between Israel and the U.S. evangelical community. For example, Netanyahu spoke at CUFI’s 2017 annual conference and told the Christian crowd that they are “Israel’s best friends in the world.” Netanyahu’s address to attendees at the Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem this week indicates that a Likud-led government will remain wedded to safeguarding Israel’s relations with evangelicals. That Netanyahu would take time away from a hectic campaign to speak to Hagee suggests an awareness of the fractious response Israel’s new coalition would soon receive from American Jewish groups. For example, following the electoral success of the Religious Zionist Party, led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the American Jewish Committee released a statement express- ing “serious concerns” over previous declara- tions by RZP members, which conflict with the AJC’s prioritization of “pluralism” and “inclusion.” Indeed, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s incendiary com- ments targeting the LGBTQ and non-Orthodox communities understandably disconcerted the American Jewish establishment. Both lawmakers have since tempered their rhet- oric, with Ben-Gvir disavowing his former associ- ation with the far-right Kahanist movement. Still, the Democratic Majority for Israel maintained that it was “deeply troubled” by an “extrem- ist party” gaining a “foothold in the Knesset.” Unsurprisingly, the Union for Reform Judaism’s chosen language touched on how Likud partner- ing with the RZP would potentially “jeopardize” Israel’s democracy. Yet it was the former head of the Anti- Defamation League, Abe Foxman, who issued the most direct condemnation. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post last month, Foxman said that he would cease supporting Israel if the incoming 16 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM government alters the definition of who qualifies as a Jew under the country’s Law of Return. Such reactions from American Jewish leaders underscore the growing dissonance between U.S. Jewry and Israel’s political class. As a result of this, the Jewish state must reframe its relationship with the U.S. to one that emphasizes boosting ties with reliable evangelical allies as it carefully navigates its struggles with Diaspora Jews. In his book “The Arc of a Covenant,” Walter Russell Mead notes that American Jews have often refrained from pushing the U.S. government to adopt favorable policies toward Israel. Instead, they have tended to encourage the U.S. to mod- erate its pro-Israel positions. Historically, writes Mead, it was not leading Jewish families like the Rothschilds and the Warburgs who strongly advo- stances on issues critical to Israel’s security, notably Iran’s quest to acquire nuclear weapons. Instead, their legislative agenda is dominated by noble yet consensus-driven topics such as the war in Ukraine and combating antisemitism. For their part, organizations like CUFI and the Christian Coalition of America have made lobbying against the revival of the flawed 2015 Iran nuclear deal a cornerstone of their political efforts. While in office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly pointed to the inextricable link between their Christian faith and their affinity for the Jewish people. Lawmakers like Kevin McCarthy are even experi- encing pushback from several Jewish institutions after vowing to remove far-left “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Evangelicals remain the most ardent custodians of the U.S.-Israel bond. By contrast, American Jewish organizations’ public disapproval of Israel’s unwillingness to placate their pluralistic demands is indicative of an establishment more concerned with defending progressive ideologies. cated the creation of a Jewish state but influential Christians like J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller. To date, U.S. Jewry and evangelicals have retained robust differences in their approaches to the U.S.-Israel relationship. While more than half of U.S. Christians backed former President Donald Trump’s 2017 relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, only 16% of American Jews did so, according to an AJC poll. Given that Christians comprise more than 60% of the U.S. population, it makes both demographic and political sense for Israel to nurture its alliance with evangelicals. Israeli tourism figures released before the pandemic show that Christians consti- tute more than half of Israel’s foreign visitors. And with Israel’s Ministry of Tourism introducing initia- tives to lure Christians to the Holy Land — even as Jewish missions like Birthright face financial setbacks — this figure will likely increase. Politically, Jewish groups have softened their Committee should he become majority leader. Despite some troubling trends among their youth, evangelicals remain the most ardent custodians of the U.S.-Israel bond. By contrast, American Jewish organizations’ public disapproval of Israel’s unwillingness to placate their pluralistic demands is indicative of an establishment more concerned with defending progressive ideologies than protecting Jewish interests. Israel must not get bogged down in nourishing such liberal orthodoxies. Moments devoted to fending off such criticism is time spent away from focusing on domestic and international threats. The divisive comments made by American Jewish leaders portend a reality that requires Israel to reorient its connection toward evangel- icals as it seeks to convince Jewish organizations of its centrality and value to the Jewish people. JE Irit Tratt is a writer who resides in New York. nation / world Jewish Exponent PHILADELPHIA Survey: Democrats Much Likelier Than Republicans to See Antisemitism as Problematic A national survey found that Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to agree that prejudice against Jews is a serious problem and that antisemitism poses a growing threat to Jews, JTA.org reported. Th e divide between Republicans and Democrats in the Quinnipiac University survey released on Dec. 14 tracks with previous polling — but it also comes aft er weeks of antisemitic invective from the rapper and designer Kanye West, who now identifi es as a Christian conservative and who has courted Republicans. It also comes aft er former President Donald Trump, a Republican, dined with West, who is now known as Ye, and Nick Fuentes, a prominent Holocaust denier, and aft er multiple government and nonprofi t groups mentioned spikes in reported attacks on Jews. Th e survey showed that 83% of Democrats identifi ed prejudice against Jews as a very serious or somewhat serious problem. Just 44% of Republicans agreed with those assessments. Overall, a substantive majority, 60%, agreed that prejudice against Jews is a serious problem. A similar divide characterized a question about whether antisemitism “rep- resents a growing threat to Jewish Americans,” with 73% of Democrats saying that it does, as opposed to 34% of Republicans. Overall, 51% of respondents said it represented a growing threat. Turkey Arrests 44, Claims They Are Tied to Mossad Turkey arrested 44 people on Dec. 14 for what offi cials claimed was their involvement with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, JTA.org reported, citing Turkish media. Th ose arrested appear to be largely Turkish citizens, and the group includes several private detectives, as well as the director of a private detective fi rm named Ismail Yetimoglu. No Israelis were arrested. According to Turkish media, those arrested are accused of shadowing Palestinians and pro-Palestinian organizations in Turkey. Israel has not publicly addressed the arrests. Th e arrests come at a warm point in Turkish-Israeli relations, as the two countries recently exchanged ambassadors for the fi rst time in years. Th is past spring, Mossad’s collaboration with MIT, the Turkish intelligence service, was touted as essential in ending a plot by an Iranian-backed terror cell targeting Israeli tourists in Istanbul. To Save a Species, a Persian Leopard Moves to Israel Aft er arriving from France, 2-year-old Mademoiselle is acclimating to her new home before meeting her planned mate, Coresh, JNS.org reported. Staff at the Ramat Gan Safari, near Tel Aviv, had asked the public for suggestions for a name for the Persian leopard. She was previously in the Beauval Zoo in France’s Loire Valley, Ynet reported. Th e leopards will be placed in the same den to familiarize themselves with each other’s scent. Once the safari crew determines that the couple is interested in the encounter, they will be permanently placed in a den together. “Th e couple was not chosen as mates randomly,” said safari zoologist Keren Or, accord- ing to the report. “She has been intended for Coresh from birth based on specifi c informa- tion and family ties and has been trained in both French and English ahead of her arrival.” Th e two felines will participate in a project to reproduce the species, which intends to populate European zoos with 200 leopards and release some of them into the wild. UAE Jewish Community Opens First Kosher Supermarket in Gulf More than 100 people gathered in Dubai on Dec. 12 as the United Arab Emirates’ Jewish community opened the fi rst-ever kosher supermarket in the Gulf, JNS.org reported. Th e supermarket, named “Rimon,” will meet growing demand for kosher prod- ucts due to the signifi cant increase in the number of Jews traveling and relocating to the UAE in the wake of the 2020 Abraham Accords. “Our wonderful community, which keeps growing and prospering here in the UAE, most gratefully continues to benefi t from the extraordinary embrace we have received from the Emirates government and local authorities, for over a decade now,” UAE-based Rabbi Levi Duchman said. JE — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb Print | Digital | Reach an affluent audience of 50,000 engaged readers with our print & digital magazine. Upcoming Special Sections Senior Lifestyle January 5 From home health aides to financial planners to nursing homes, this is the perfect venue to show how your business can help our readers find the resources they need. Dining & Food January 13 Help readers find the most flavorful deals in the area for fine dining, casual cuisine, carryout, groceries and spirits. Camps January 19 Parents are making decisions for summer 2023! Advertise in the go-to resource for Jewish families with camp age children. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Contact your sales consultant to schedule your advertising at 215-832-0700 ext. 2, advertising@jewishexponent.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 17 feature IN UKRA I NE, Chanukah Candles Are a Lifeline in the Midst of Power Outages Steve Lipman | JTA.org Amid the power outages stemming from Russian attacks, the volunteers brought blankets and sweatshirts for the cold, as well as menorahs and kippahs for religious observance purposes. Some 300 boxes of Chanukah candles will also do double duty. These days, the power in Chernivtsi, a city of around 250,000 (before the war) in Western Ukraine, is more off than on. So the candles will do more than allude to the story of the Maccabees; they will help light Jewish homes across the city. “This year, it’s really important” to have and use Chanukah candles, said Lev Kleiman, leader of the city’s Conservative Jewish community, in a recent Zoom interview. Although the need is urgent, “we will hold onto the candles until Chanukah,” he added, his Russian interpreted by Rabbi Irina Gritsevskaya, the Russian-born and Jerusalem-based “circuit rabbi” of the Conservative movement’s Schechter Institutes 18 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM and executive director of its Midreshet Schechter Ukraine. The organizations have been coordinating the move of holiday supplies to Chernivtsi. Among a few “couriers” bringing goods to Jewish communities in Ukraine, Gritsevskaya has made several trips there in the last 10 months. At the start of the war, she urged Jews in other cities to make their way to Chernivtsi, which was far from the intense fi ghting on the eastern border. Chernivtsi, which served as a place of refuge for thousands of displaced people from elsewhere in parts of the Soviet Union threatened by the Nazi army during World War II, is again attracting refugees from throughout the country. Earlier in the war, Kleiman turned his synagogue into a refugee center for some of the millions of Ukrainians fl eeing their homeland. The city also became a gathering site for worldwide faith leaders who have denounced the violence and expressed solidarity with the embattled Ukrainians. Located on the Prut River, Chernivtsi (known at one time as “Jerusalem upon the Prut” for the strength of its Jewish community) is 25 miles north of the Romanian border and home to one of the country’s most active Conservative communities. The city’s Jewish population before the war began was estimated at 2,000, including many Holocaust survivors. And today, following the invasion? The number could be larger or smaller (no one is counting), but some western cities have experienced population growth due to all of the migration. “No one knows,” said Kleiman. “Many left, but many came.” ‘Th ere are a lot of parallels’ As in other Ukrainian cities, many Jews in Chernivtsi, especially women, senior citizens and children (everyone except draft-age males), have migrated. But uncounted other ones have come to a place of relative safety, either renting apartments or staying in ones under the auspices of the Jewish community. Most of the Jews in Chernivtsi now are those exempt from military service, said Kleiman. Others stayed to be with their husbands and fathers who joined the Ukrainian army after the war began or to care for their aged parents. Despite real signs of war — rifl e-carrying soldiers and policemen on the streets, empty shelves in stores because of shortages, people hurrying to Candles: Courtesy of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies; Glow: Vitalii Bondarenko/iStock/Getty Images Plus In the days before Chanukah, which started on Dec. 18, a few men and women from two Conservative institutions in Israel traveled to the small Jewish community in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, with a supply of needed items. Flame: apomares /E+/Getty Images Plus; Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images; Amid the power outages stemming from Russian attacks, the volunteers will have blankets and sweatshirts for the cold, as well as menorahs and kippahs for religious observance purposes. the area, established a ghetto in Chernivtsi where 32,000 Jews, including many from the surrounding region, were interned; from there, they were shipped to concentration camps in the nearby Transnistria area, where 60% died. A third of the city’s Jews survived the war. The population grew to about 17,000 when widespread migration from the USSR began in the late 1980s. Like many cities in the former Soviet Union, Chernivtsi has experienced a modest Jewish revival since communism fell and open expression of Judaism was allowed again. It was largely spurred Even though the need is urgent, Lev Kleiman said his community will wait to use by the arrival of Chabad emissaries and programs the candles until the start of Chanukah. sponsored by the JDC. Though Chabad is the prime Jewish mover in Ukraine, there is also a growing non-Orthodox presence in the country. The Israeli branch of the Conservative movement sent its fi rst full- time representatives to Ukraine a decade ago. The movement’s Jerusalem-based Masorti Olami organization sponsors a network of synagogues, schools, camps, youth groups and kosher- certifi cation services across Ukraine. A few decades ago, Kleiman attended the Midreshet Yerushalayim day school in Chernivtsi and Camp Ramah Ukraine. In addition, the Reform movement’s World Union safety when they hear sirens — Jewish life there for Progressive Judaism has established 10 has continued, said Kleiman. The most active congregations in the country; the movement organizations in the city are the local outpost of estimates that 14,000 Ukrainian Jews identify the Chasidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement, the — and 24/7 lights and heat in the synagogue, he as members. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee- said. Until then, he and the other residents of These are boring days in southwest Ukraine. TV supported Hesed Shoshana Welfare Center and Chernivtsi will shiver. The temperature in the city and radio are only available when the electricity Kleiman’s Kehillat Aviv Synagogue, which sponsors was 29 degrees during the Zoom interview, and a is on, and Internet and cellphone service is spotty. light snow was falling. daily Jewish activities. Kleiman called the war a test of the people’s mettle, Though no Russian missiles have fallen inside a spur to their growing national unity. As a form The synagogue, located near the Chabad center with which it cooperates on relief activities, is Chernivtsi itself, some have reached the outskirts, of solidarity, many have switched the language housed in a small, two-story building that contains causing damage to the area’s infrastructure and of their conversations from Russian — the lingua an offi ce, a kitchen and a large multi-function hall. utilities. Other parts of the country have not escaped franca during the Soviet days — to Ukrainian. Kleiman said this Chanukah will be more important the Russian onslaught; two months ago, more than Nobody in Chernivtsi’s Jewish community is than ever because in addition to its ability to bring 4,000 Ukrainian towns, villages and cities had starving, said Kleiman. Kosher food is available at people together, the holiday also asserts Jewish experienced outages, and 40% of the country’s grid the synagogue, and volunteers bring supplies to survival. “There are a lot of parallels,” he said. was crippled. The bombing of power stations is a people unable to travel. Overall, the morale of the Electricity in Chernivtsi fl ows only a few hours major part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Jewish community is good, he says. Native-born each day, and at night, no street lights are on, plan to weaponize Ukraine’s weather to bully members of the community “support each other,” thanks to incessant Russian bombing of Ukraine’s the country into submission as winter sets in. while some people from other parts of the country, infrastructure and to government-imposed (In addition to candles and other supplies, some separated from their families with fewer personal restrictions designed to conserve available Jewish groups are sending generators and heaters.) connections, are depressed, he said. resources. In the boxes of materials Gritsevskaya has A holiday of lights sans lights? “We’ve never done ‘Support each other’ brought to Chernivtsi from Israel are some Israeli- it before,” said Kleiman, adding that the Jews in his Home in past years to such prominent Jews as style dreidels, whose Hebrew letters stand for the city understand the holiday’s symbolism. actress Mila Kunis, the late Israeli writer Aharon words, Nes gadol haya po: “A great miracle happened Some will come to the synagogue for a Appelfeld, former Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein here.” On dreidels used in the Diaspora, the last communal candlelighting, Kleiman said. Others will and the late poet-translator Paul Celan (born word is sham, or “there.” light their candles at home. Like all other buildings Paul Antschel), Chernivtsi has an honored place The linguistic symbolism in a land under siege in Chernivtsi, Kleiman’s offi ce and apartment are in the country’s history. On the eve of World War is clear, noted Kleiman, who plans to explain the subject to periodic electricity blackouts, often II, some 45,000 Jews lived in the city, about a message to those taking home a dreidel. third of the country’s total Jewish population. The announced in advance. “I understand; they will understand, too,” he says. “With G-d’s help, we will soon have a generator” collaborationist Romanian authorities, who ruled “I hope the miracle will also happen in Ukraine.” JE JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 19 arts & culture Disney+ Doc Traces Idina Menzel’s Rise, From the Bat Mitzvah Circuit to Broadway Stephen Silver | JTA.org B 20 Idina Menzel performs in a scene from “Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage.” playing there was a big deal, and I wanted to film it, no matter what I did with the footage, I know I just wanted to document it for myself, so I could take that in and really just appreciate the moment.” The documentary shows Menzel with her then-preteen son — from her previous marriage to Taye Diggs — and her husband, actor Aaron Lohr, while going through the process of in vitro fertilization. The tour that the film follows arrived in Pittsburgh about two weeks after the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue mas- sacre, and Menzel is shown singing the “Rent” number “No Day But Today” to a crowd at Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena. (Menzel more recently wrote and performed a song called “A Tree of Life,” which was featured in the closing credits of a recent HBO documentary about the tragedy and its aftermath.) In that part of the film, Menzel wears a shirt with a Jewish star that says “Stronger Than Hate.” “That show was all about tolerance,” Menzel says of “Rent” in the film, while on stage in Pittsburgh. “It was about DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM love, it was about community… I’m sit- ting here in this beautiful city, a Jewish girl from Long Island. I thought about how we light candles in the Jewish religion, sort of choosing light over darkness, choosing love over bigotry.” “That particular concert is now trag- ically defined by what had happened in Pittsburgh, and I felt like I couldn’t ignore that, and I felt like that song was the right song for the moment, and that if there was any way I could use my music to help heal, then I wanted to do it,” she said. The documentary also looks back at Menzel’s entire career, from break- ing through in the original produc- tion of “Rent” in the mid-1990s (the “which way to the stage” subtitle, as “Rent”-heads will know, is a reference to what was Menzel’s very first line in that musical), to an ill-fated run at a pop career, to her second big musi- cal smash, “Wicked,” which landed on Broadway in 2003. Viewers also get the story of the “Frozen” phenomenon and its Menzel-performed torch song “Let it Go,” as well as other notable epi- sodes — such as the time John Travolta mispronounced her name at the Oscars in 2014. (Menzel finds the whole thing hilarious.) Menzel’s career is about to come full circle, with another bar/bat mitz- vah-related performance: She is set to co-star in “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” a Netflix movie adapted from the young adult novel by Fiona Rosenbloom and directed by Sammi Cohen. The film will reunite Menzel with Adam Sandler, who played her husband in 2019’s “Uncut Gems” and will do so again in the new movie. “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” does not have a release date but is expected to arrive sometime in 2023. For now, she’s reveling in the documentary. “It was just such a joy because I got to look back on it… I got to see myself as a little girl again,” Menzel said. “How I always believed in myself, even more so than maybe I do now. There was no one who was going to tell me that I wasn’t going to live my dream one day. I believed that I had something to offer the world, and so it was really emotional for me to see.” JE Eric Maldin/Walkman Productions Inc. efore becoming one of the most iconic vocal performers of her time, appearing in Broadway shows such as “Rent” and “Wicked” and voicing Queen Elsa in “Frozen,” Idina Menzel got her start singing as a teen- ager on the wedding and bar and bat mitzvah circuit near where she grew up on Long Island and other parts of the New York area. “It was everything to me, forma- tively,” Menzel said of her early singing experiences. “I believe ... that that had a lot to do with my education in music and genres, but also as a performer. I was so young when I did it ... I would lie about my age, I would be 15 or 16 years old and I’d dress all mature and go in in high heels. I would usually be the only woman in a group of six guys.” In the new documentary “Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage,” which had its world premiere in mid-November at the DOC NYC film festival and is now available on Disney+, Menzel discusses those expe- riences, even returning to the main venue where she used to perform at weddings and bar mitzvahs. The film also shows Menzel in Pittsburgh in the immediate aftermath of the Tree of Life massacre and shows her sharing her thoughts on it as a Jewish person. The film, directed by Anne McCabe, follows Menzel’s 2018 arena tour, along with Josh Groban, which culminated in Menzel fulfilling her lifelong dream of headlining Madison Square Garden. It combines concerts with intimate behind-the-scenes moments, as well as archival footage from Menzel’s early life and throughout her career. “When I heard that the tour was going to culminate at Madison Square Garden, I realized that it was a dream come true — it was a place that I’d always wanted to play, growing up on Long Island, and living in New York City, at NYU and beyond that,” Menzel said. “The fact that I was going to be food & dining Thai Turkey Meatballs with Coconut Curry Sauce KERI WHITE | SPECIAL TO THE JE T his dish is a great way to use ground turkey which, let’s be honest, can sometimes be on the dry, bland side. The curry can be made as spicy or mild as desired and, even though it is a bit exotic, meatballs and noodles are quite familiar, so picky eaters may go for it. I opted to make spice paste, but to simplify the preparation and save time, jarred green curry paste is an excellent hack. Use about a third of a cup of curry paste in place of the garlic/ginger/onion/chilis. This dish was delicious served atop brown rice noodles, but it would be equally swell over rice. I completed the meal with a miso-dressed salad, but the options for veg- gie sides are nearly limitless — greens sau- téed with ginger and garlic, carrots roasted with soy and miso, cabbage sautéed with sesame oil and sesame seeds, et cetera. In a large bowl, mix all the ingre- dients until thoroughly blended. Refrigerate them while you make the curry sauce. Thai Turkey Meatballs in Coconut Curry Sauce In a blender or food processor, puree the chili, onion, garlic, ginger and oil. Pour the mixture into a large skillet, and heat until fragrant. Using wet hands, form the turkey mixture into meatballs a bit smaller than a golf ball, and place the meatballs in the skillet — add more oil to prevent sticking. Sear the meatballs, and turn them over until they are seared on all sides. During this step, scrape the skillet bottom to make sure the seasonings do not burn and to distribute them Serves 2 with leftovers or 4 without Photos by Keri White 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger For the meatballs: 1 pound ground turkey ½ cup finely minced onion 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh chili pepper ¼-½ teaspoon salt 1 egg ½ cup plain panko For the curry sauce: 1 whole hot chili pepper 1 small onion 4 cloves garlic 2-inch piece ginger 2 tablespoons vegetable oil ½ teaspoon salt 1 can coconut milk ½ cup chicken broth To finish: Juice of 1 lime, plus additional wedges for serving 1 handful chopped fresh cilantro, divided among the meatballs. When all sides of the meatballs are seared, shake the can of coconut milk well, and add it to the skillet along with the chicken broth. Stir carefully, making sure not to break up the meatballs. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until done. Five minutes before serving, remove it from heat, add half of the cilantro and the juice of one lime. Stir, cover and let it sit for a few minutes. Serve the meatballs over rice or noodles with additional fresh cilantro and lime wedges. Green Salad with Miso Dressing Serves 4 1 head romaine lettuce or 1 package baby lettuce 2 carrots, grated 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced 1 scallion, white and green parts, sliced For the dressing: Juice of ½ lime ¼ cup miso (any type) 1 teaspoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 teaspoon honey 2 teaspoons rice vinegar 2 tablespoons canola oil Place all the salad ingredients in a large, shallow bowl. Mix the ingre- dients well, making sure to break up the miso, and thoroughly blend it to an even consistency, either with a fork or a blender. Toss it over the salad just before serving. JE JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 21 obituaries CHERRY February 19, 1942 December 15, 02 Palm Beach Gardens Sharon Cherry, age 0, passed away on December 15, 02 , at her home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Sharon, a Philadelphia native, is survived by her husband of 45 years, Martin Cherry, step- children Kim, Ross, and Larry Cherry, seven grandchildren, and four great- grandchildren. Sharon graduated from Temple University and taught at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia before relocating to Palm Beach Gardens. Sharon was an active and ardent supporter of animal rights groups in Philadelphia and Palm Beach. In lieu of ow- ers, donations may be made to Furry Friends Adoption www.furryfriendsadoption.org EVANS DR. LEONARD D.O., formerly of Lower Merion, Pa. passed away December 12 , 02 . Husband of Denise, Father of Christopher, Melanie (Paul M.), and Gabrielle (Christopher S.), Brother of Dr. Barry Evans M.D. (Beth), and loved by everyone’s pets. Leonard enj oyed crossword puzzles, telling okes, coin collecting, and watching sports. Leonard devoted the past 38 years of his life to practicing internal medicine until the very end. JOSEPH LEVINE & SONS www.levinefuneral.com GROSS WILLIAM (BILL) August 13, 1940- December 3, 02 William Sigmund Gross, beloved hus- band, father, grandfather and prominent Philadelphia businessman passed away at the age of on December 3, 02 . Bill was born in Philadelphia to Leon and Rose Gross and grew up in the Wynnefield neighbor- hood. A lifelong Pennsylvanian, Bill attend- ed Gompers Elementary and Beeber Junior High. He graduated from Friend’s Select School in downtown Philadelphia—a n educa- tion which he valued greatly—a nd he would later serve on the Board of Alumni of his high school alma mater. At Villanova University, Bill earned a degree in business. While in college he served as editor of The Villanovan and promoted a series of classical music con- certs on campus. During his senior year in 1962 , Bill would meet the love of his life and future wife, Joan Dolgonos, at a Philadelphia Orchestra concert at the Robinhood Dell, and they married in 1964. Bill and Joan had their first daughter, aren, in 1965 and welcomed their second daughter Elayne in 1968 . Upon graduation, Bill oined his father in his fami- ly’s business, Radio Broadcasting Company, which in its early years supplied background music, public address systems and internal phone systems for businesses. But Bill’s un- daunted entrepreneurial spirit and his love of technology, specifically radio and commu- nications, led him to steer RBC in new and exciting directions. The company became a dominant force in the pocket pager (beep- er) market in the region and in the 198 0s expanded into the as yet not fully realized technology of mobile phones. With Bill at the helm, the family business would expand to found WWSG- TV or Channel 57, which of- fered over- the- air services for HBO, Prism and financial news for viewers without cable TV. Always with an eye to the future, Bill rec- ognized the coming wave of cellular and was on the forefront long before cell phones were in everyone’s pockets. While a young man, Bill belonged to the Vesper Boat Club and en- oyed rowing on the Schuylkill River. He was a member of the Union league of Philadelphia and Rotary, The Merion Cricket Club and Stonewall and French Creek Golf Clubs and served on the Board of the Veterinary School at the University of Pennsylvania as well as the East Nantmeal Planning Commission. Always a student of history, Bill realized a lifelong dream when he and Joan purchased a historic property where he could indulge his love of gardening and watching crops grow. With their two children, Bill and Joan traveled to many destinations around the world, and because of Bill s love of fishing and hunting the family purchased a Great Camp in up- state New York and a beachside home in the USVI. Bill especially loved visiting Alaska and hunting lodges throughout the states. He loved The Three Stooges, The Blues Brothers, science fiction and was an avid collector of vintage coffee mills. Bill was pre- ceded in death by his parents Rose and Leon and his sister, Ladina. He is survived by his wife Joan, his daughters Karen Kent (Mitch) and Elayne Courts (Chris) and his grandchil- dren Nat, Rowan, Parker, Wyatt and Tess. In lieu of owers or gifts, please consider hon- oring Bill by donating to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL- SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com KIRSCHBAUM Phyllis (Taksey) Kirschbaum died peacefully in West Palm Beach Florida on December 1, 02 , at the age of 92 . Born in Philadelphia on June 19, 1930 to Nathan (z” l) and Pauline (z” l) Taksey, Phyllis led a life devoted to her family, friends and the Jewish community. She was the loving wife of Charles Kirschbaum (z” l) for 67 years, devoted mother to Ned (Betsy) and Nancy Kirschbaum, and doting bubbe to her precious grandsons, Sam and Ari. She spent special times with brother Sam Taksey (z” l) and sister- in- law Edith (z” l) by the Florida seaside and held a special place in her heart for her many nieces and nephews from both the Taksey and Kirschbaum fami- lies. Phyllis worked as a bookkeeper for Jurin Distributing Co., a wholesale snack business, much to the delight of her children and their friends. Phyllis served the Jewish community her entire adult life in various capacities. As a young woman, she belonged to the American Jewish Congress. As a wife and mother, she was active in synagogue life at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, serving as editor of the newsletter and on committees devoted to synagogue and community out- reach. After retiring to Boynton Beach, Phyllis continued to serve her synagogue and her community, ultimately becoming President of Temple Torah and a mentor to many. In her final years at the Tradition of the Palm Beaches, Phyllis and her friend, Rita spent hours each week organizing the honors for Shabbat and holiday services. And she made sure everyone who took care of her feel loved and appreciated. After serving others tire- lessly for so many years, you can now rest. May your memory forever be a blessing! KNOPMAN ADELE (nee Markowitz), age 100, died on December 12 , 02 . Wife of the late Aaron Kropman; mother of Martin Knopman, Harriet Bernstein, Phyllis Laufer, Richard Knopman and Ilene Steinberg; also survived by grandchildren and 4 great- grandchil- dren. Contributions in her memory may be made to KleinLife, 10100 Jamison Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL- SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com KUSHNER Maxene Kushner, loving wife, devoted moth- er, sister, sister- in- law, aunt, world traveler, avid reader, and lifetime Philadelphian at heart, passed away peacefully on September 18 , 02 . Maxene was born in Philadelphia in 1930 and married Maxwell Kushner in 1949. Lifelong and inseparable companions, the M&Ms” were looking forward to celebrating their 72 nd anniversary when her husband passed away last year. They were the per- fect example of a team united, connect- ed, devoted, and caring for each other until the very end. Maxene was a kind, generous woman who loved her family, her home, her patio, spaghetti and meatballs, not- quite- ripe bananas, reading books, and playing solitaire with real cards. A champion of the underap- preciated, she told truth to power and never backed down from a fight when she knew she was correct. She saw people as they really were, and liked them in spite of it. It made her happy knowing that she could still scrub a oor and do her own laundry right to the end. She was loved far more than she could ever imagine, and is missed far more than she would ever believe. Maxene is sur- vived by son Brian, brother Ari Fisher, sister- in- law Marlene Wald (yet another Max), and numerous nieces and nephews. A private funeral service was held in Boca Raton. Contributions in her memory may be made to Einstein Healthcare Network' s Andrew Zachary Wald Fund or any reputable cause. LEVIN BETH December 16, 02 of Richboro, PA. Beloved wife of Steven; loving mother of Staci Steinbrecher (Doug), Chad Levin, daughter- in- law Agnes Levin, and the late Dr. Gabriel Levin; adoring grandmother of Jordan, Shane, Ruby, Violet, and Douglas, Family owned and Operated since 1883 22 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Jr.; devoted sister of Sharon Snyderman (Bob); treasured aunt to many nieces and nephews. In lieu of owers, contributions in her memory may be made to Hope For Depression (hopefordepression.org). JOSEPH LEVINE & SONS www.levinefuneral.com LINDER THELMA (nee Elster)- We are saddened to announce the passing of Thelma Linder l, wife of the late Lee Linder l, moth- er of Rhonda (Michael) Yanoff and Sharon (Mitchell) Cohen; Bubbie of Rabbi Eric (Dava) Yanoff, Abby Adam Sher, Adam Samantha Hirsch Yanoff, Joshua Cohen, Jonathan Nikki Cohen, and Jeremy Emily Cohen Big Bubbie of Aiden, E ra, Avi, Anael, Evan, Jacob, Alexandra, Jonah, Gabriel, Theo, Jason, Leo, Julie, Devon, Dana, Drew, and Emmett. Contributions in her memory may be made to Camp Ramah in the Poconos, www. ramahpoconos.org, Adath Israel in Merion Station, PA, www.adathisrael.org, or to a charity of the donor’s choice. GOLDSTEINS ROSENBERG S RAPHAEL- SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com Gaby, and Sylvie. A survivor of the Holocaust. Contributions in her memory may be made to Temple Sinai Holocaust Education Fund, 1401 Limekiln Pike, Dresher, PA 19025. GOLDSTEINS ROSENBERG S RAPHAEL- SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com PERELMAN FLORENCE . - nee assel. December 13, 2022. She was a clerk typist for the City of Philadelphia. Beloved wife of the late Stanley E., Devoted mother of Holly Robert Lankin and Harvey (Ilene) Perelman. Loving grand- mother of Andrea Lankin Leah Garber , Rebecca Mitchell Harris, Elyse Eric Golub and Andrew (Evette) Perelman. Loving great grandmother of Max, Suri, Dani, Sidra and Shannon. Contributions in her memory may be made to Beth Sholom Congregation, 8231 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027 or Crohns and Colitis Foundation, 2 Bala Pla a, Suite LIPKIN DOROTHY GRANT (nee Swift) December 12, 2022. Age 100. Wife of the late Edward Grant, late Martin Lipkin and companion of the late Alex Weingarten. Mother of Rena Grant, Fred Robbi Grant and Robert Miriam Grant. Grandmother of Ronni Temple, Frank Chackler, Alison Adam Masef and Eddie Brooke Grant. Great grandmother of Adam, Shaela, ate, Reilly, Grace, Ella, Troy and Charlotte. Close friend of Gordon and Barbara Weingarten. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Alzhimer’s Association, www.al .org. GOLDSTEINS ROSENBERG S RAPHAEL- SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com MARGOLIS LENORA Norie , nee Sitner , 84, passed away on December 10, 2022 in Boca Raton, FL. Norie was born May 3, 1938 in Philadelphia, PA. She was pre-deceased by her parents, I adore Sophie nee Verbitsky Sitner, brother Morris Sitner, 2nd husband Harris Heshy Margolis, and son Marc Klingsberg. She is survived by her daughter Barbara lingsberg, brother Frank Sitner, 1st husband Evan lingsberg, full time caregiver & loving friend for the last 8 years Claudia Eaton, her step children Robert Margolis Marcia , Stuart Margolis Su ette , David Margolis aren , and 5 grandchildren Caroline Brian , atie, Josh, Lauren, and Taylor along with many niec- es and nephews that adored her. Family & friends were the core of Norie s world, along with her love to travel, and the casinos in her later years). Contributions in Norie’s memory can be made to The Al heimer s Association, or the charity of your choice. JOSEPH LEVINE & SONS www.levinefuneral.com MILNER EDITH nee Grunberger . Dec. 15, 2022. Devoted wife of Israel Milner. Loving moth- er of Reena Brooks Barry , Joseph Milner Allison , the late Jerome Milner, and the late William Milner. Beloved Bubbie of Becky, Happy Hanukkah to you and your family! Our family has provided funeral services and pre-need arrangements for the community for over 5 generations. 215-927-5800 • 800-622-6410 For deaf and hard of hearing 267-331-4243 (Sorenson VP) www.GoldsteinsFuneral.com WERLINSKY REMEMBERING FLORENCE (nee Ginsberg on the fi rst anniversary of her passing. Florence is deeply missed by her friends and family and all of the lives that she has touched. Florence was the daughter of the late Samuel and Betty Ginsberg and sister of the late Morton Ginsberg. She was married to Dr. Samuel Werlinsky for 49 years, until his passing in 1999. Florence was an ambitious woman. She graduated from The Jewish Hospital with a nursing degree and she worked as a nurse, in many different ca- pacities, for many years, until she became a nursing home administrator. She undertook many ventures in her lifetime, including con- tinuing her education into her 90 s. Florence was always there for a friend in need. She utilized her nursing skills to assist friends who required help with medical needs. She was sel ess, generous and had an excitement for life, always ready to take on an adventure. She was a world traveler, even riding an el- ephant in Africa in her late 80 s. She wasn t the type to observe, if she wanted to do it, she did it. Florence was a social butter y with beautiful wings. She was active in her synagogue, Hadassah and her condo s en- tertainment committee, as well as many other things, too many to mention. She was small but mighty, a true force of nature. Anyone lucky to have known her has been blessed. Florence s greatest accomplishments, her children, grandchildren and great grandchil- dren miss her beyond words. Not a day goes by that her in uence has not been felt in our lives. Mom and Grandmom, thank you for all of the wonderful memories. We love and miss you. PHILADELPHIA CHAPEL Carl Goldstein, Supervisor 6410 N. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19126 SUBURBAN NORTH CHAPEL Bruce Goldstein, Supervisor 310 2nd Street Pike Southampton, PA 18966 ROTH-GOLDSTEINS' MEMORIAL CHAPEL Stephen Collins, NJ Mgr. Lic No. 3355 116 Pacific Ave Atlantic City, NJ 08401 May Their Memor y Be For a Bless ing Th e Philadelphia Jewish Exponent extends condolences to the families of those who have passed. To receive our weekly obituary eletter visit www.jewishexponent.com/enewsletter Jewish Exponent PHILADELPHIA jewishexponent.com • 215-832-0700 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 23 synagogue spotlight What’s happening at ... Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel Honors Long History Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer T 24 Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel rabbis Abi Weber and Abe Friedman Among the 400 member house- holds are people who have lived in the city for decades, empty nesters who moved downtown from the suburbs and young families who live in the Graduate Hospital and Point Breeze neighborhoods, according to BZBI Assistant Rabbi Abi Weber. While “a lot” of congregants have joined within the last 10 years, Friedman said, sev- eral have been members for almost 50 years. Certain families are “second, third, even fourth generation in the congregation,” he added. Th e mix has helped BZBI avoid some of the diffi culties that have plagued other local synagogues in recent years. Th e 400-family congregation has remained stable over the past fi ve years, with old members leaving and new members joining each year. BZBI’s early childhood program and reli- gious school have 65 and 45 students enrolled, respectively. And 60 to 70 people attend Shabbat services each week unless there’s a special event like an aufruf, in which case more people attend. Most of that crowd is in-person now, too, since BZBI is back open aft er staying closed or partially closed for much of the pandemic. “It’s people who are committed to DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM BZBI’s new member meet and greet, Sukkot 2022 living in the city. BZBI is their central hub,” Weber said. “A lot of our Shabbat regulars are families who are really committed to being part of the fabric of the city, and that’s nice to see.” Friedman, Weber and other temple leaders are in the process of developing a strategic plan for the 2020s. Th ere are not yet specifi cs to share, but there is a principle to follow, according to Friedman. He wants BZBI to continue fostering a sense of belonging, but to do that for the wide variety of Jewish people today. He mentioned Dwell, a synagogue member for decades in the suburbs before joining BZBI, and Bowler, who started his conversion process in the past decade, as two types of members whom the synagogue should work to accommodate equally. “How do we make BZBI a place where people will feel like they are seen and centered in the experience of our community?” Friedman asked. “In the next 10 years, I’m committed to deepening our investment in terms of belonging as a core piece of BZBI.” Th at is what BZBI’s leaders have always tried to do. Now they are just attempting it with a diff erent and mod- ern population of Jews. “Th ere’s a huge weight of respon- Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Center City sibility to hold true to the past but to help it build for the future,” said Lynne Balaban, the synagogue’s exec- utive director. “So much of what we do is making sure we’re respectful of the culture and community but also help- ing it come into the next age or century for families who will utilize it down the road.” JE jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com Photos courtesy of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel emple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Center City is a combination of three diff erent synagogues that once existed in Jewish Philadelphia — Temple Beth Zion, Temple Beth Israel and the Neziner Congregation. Th e fi rst to open, Temple Beth Israel, did so in 1840. Th at makes BZBI the third-oldest congregation in Philadelphia, according to the history section on the temple’s website. For a religion in which l’dor v’dor, or from generation to generation, is a core principle, maintaining an almost 200-year-old Conservative congrega- tion is a serious responsibility. But BZBI leaders say it comes naturally. You can feel the tradition when you walk through the doors on South 18th Street, according to Rabbi Abe Friedman, the temple’s spiritual leader. People dress how they want to dress, Friedman explained, in everything from three-piece suits to T-shirts. Th ey also sit wherever they want since BZBI members have never believed in mark- ers of status. And when congregant Eileen Dwell joined in 2014, people were friendly right away and quick to reach out. “I feel comfortable there,” she said. “I feel comfortable spiritually; I feel comfortable socially.” Akil Bowler, the chair of the build- ing committee on BZBI’s board of trustees, is a convert to Judaism who joined the temple around the same time that Dwell did. And he echoed her sentiment. “Th e congregation and community as a whole is not cliquey,” he said. How could it be? Th e respective syn- agogues that formed BZBI were places of refuge for Polish, German, Eastern European and Russian immigrants to the United States. Merging was a busi- ness decision, but it also brought those groups together. And today, while BZBI no longer needs to serve as a place of refuge for immigrants, it does remain a melting pot. d’var torah Chanukah and Joseph Inspire Us By Rabbi Linda Holtzman T Parshat Miketz he story of Joseph is a story of dreams: first Joseph revealing his own dreams that antago- nize his brothers, then Joseph finding the meaning in the dreams of those with whom he is imprisoned, and finally, in this week’s Torah por- tion, Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams and finding himself second in command of all ancient Egypt. Dreams in the Torah have power as do all the dreams in our own lives. Miketz falls during Chanukah, so dreams are especially important to us right now. We need dreams to give us the impetus to move ahead, to gain vision, to process all that happens in our lives and our world. This is the time of year that is cold and dark. The days are the shortest of the year. Many of us go out in the darkness in the morning and come home from work after the sun has set. Having so little light and so much dark time should give us extra time to dream, but it isn’t always enough. To learn to use this dark time well, we need to pay attention to Joseph and to what helped him look into dreams so deeply and clearly. First, Joseph pays attention. He learns as a boy to notice what is going on with others. His own brothers teach him how dangerous it can be to not pay attention. And when Joseph grows up, he is primed to notice everything in life. There are many writers who see Joseph as a queer man: He loves bright, multicolored coats; he isn’t interested in sleeping with his employer’s wife; he is treated like an outsider. Joseph learns to pay careful attention to everything to help him negotiate the challenging, unaccepting world. As we read the story of Joseph, we can all use his inspiration. We can give ourselves ample time to dream and to hold onto our dreams. We can all try to pay closer attention to what the world is bringing us. And we can all use this time to shine a light on what is truly happening in our lives and our world. It is not a coincidence that the story of the dreamer, Joseph, and the holiday, Chanukah, fall at the same time every year. It is nothing short of a miracle that Joseph, an imprisoned, young, possibly queer outsider, a young man from another land, can use dreams to catapult himself to such a position of power. When Joseph can reach inside and find a way to access the power of dreams, to shine light on the truth, there is no end to what can happen. It is a miracle. When we give ourselves the time to focus on our dreams, when we shine a light on ourselves and our world, there is no end to what can happen. There can be new miracles. It was up to Joseph to persevere, even from deep within a prison, and to find the light he needed to change the fate of an entire people, an entire country. It is up to each of us to give ourselves the time to step back at this cold, dark time and to shine a light on all that we need to see to change our own people, our own country. When we shine our lights in the world, miracles happen. Then we see injustice and we work to fight against it. Then we see how people are mis- treated because of their race or reli- gion or sexual identity or gender and we work to fight against that mis- treatment. Then we stay open to all that desperately needs to be changed and healed in this broken world and we don’t shy away from the work that needs to be done. It is not easy to let ourselves use these short days with so little light effectively, but the conf luence of the Joseph story and the miracle of Chanukah remind us that we can cause miracles. We all have dreams: dreams of a better world, of a com- munity where everyone is treated with loving kindness and respect, dreams of a world where antisemi- tism and Islamophobia and racism and homophobia and transphobia vanish. We can use the inspiration of Chanukah and of Joseph to do our part to bring about the mira- cle of this new world. My hope is that this Chanukah will be the one that inspires us to create a health- ier, kinder and more just community and country. Wishing all of us a Chanukah of great miracles! JE life at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the rabbi of the Tikkun Olam Chavurah. She is a commissioner on the Mayor’s Commission on Faith Based and Interfaith Aff airs and is involved with the Anti-Gun Violence initiative of Live Free/POWER. Th e Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commen- tary for the Jewish Exponent. Th e opin- ions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not refl ect the view of the Board of Rabbis. Linda Holtzman is the director of student JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 25 calendar D E C E M B E R 23D E C E M B E R 29 S U N D A Y, D E C . 2 5 BEING ___ AT CHRISTMAS Being ___ at Christmas is back at The Weitzman. Beginning at 10 a.m., get in the groove at an interactive kids’ concert, a traditional Chinese lion dance demonstration from the Philadelphia Suns, a family- friendly drumming workshop and hip-hop dance workshop with Movemakers Philly. For more information, contact programs@theweitzman.org or 215-923-3811. 101 S. Independence Mall East, Philadelphia. F R I D A Y, D E C . 23 the Zoom link and password. Join Rabbi Alexander Coleman, a Jewish educator and psychotherapist at the Institute for Jewish Ethics, at 9 a.m. for a weekly journey through the weekly Torah portion with eternal lessons on personal growth and spirituality. Go to ijethics.org/ weekly-torah-portion.html to receive MUSICAL KABBALAT SHABBAT PARSHA FOR LIFE Join Beth Sholom Congregation’s Rabbi David Glanzberg-Krainin, Cantor Jacob Agar and the band at 6 p.m. for a musical Kabbalat Shabbat. The community is welcome to attend. Call 215-887-1342 for information. 8231 Old York Road, Elkins Park. M O N D A Y, D E C . 26 MAHJONG GAME Melrose B’nai Israel Emanu-El Sisterhood invites the community to join our weekly mahjong game at 7 p.m. Cost is $36 per year or free with MBIEE Sisterhood membership. For more information, call 215-635- 1505 or email office@mbiee.org. 8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park. T U E S D A Y, D E C . 2 7 BINGO WITH BARRY Join Barry at Tabas Kleinlife for an afternoon of bingo at 12:45 p.m. on Dec. 27 and 28. Free parking and free to play with snacks available on Dec. 28. For more information, call 215-745-3127. 2101 Strahle St., Philadelphia. W E D N E S D A Y, D E C . 2 8 INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM Introduction to Judaism at Congregation Kol Ami is an engaging, multi-session course for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of Jewish life, from Nov. 2-March 8 at 7-8:30 p.m. No charge for congregants. $180 per device for non- congregants. For more information, contact Ruth Scott, director of community engagement at ruth@kolaminj.org. 1101 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. T H U R S D A Y, D E C . 2 9 CANASTA GAME Ohev Shalom of Bucks County Sisterhood invites the community to a weekly canasta game from 1-3 p.m. Open play is $4. Call 215- 968-6755 for more information. 944 Second Street Pike, Richboro. JE ENGAGEMENT J GOULDLINARES ulia and David Gould of Newtown and Lisa and Bryant Linares of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, announce the engagement of their children, Jacqueline Taylor Gould to Cameron Robert Linares. Jacqueline is a graduate of Bloomsburg University with a teaching degree in special education and a master’s degree as a reading specialist. She is a special education teacher in New Jersey. Cameron is a graduate of Fordham University as a business major with a dual concentration in finance and information technology. He is the principal consultant at Wonderbotz. Jacqueline’s grandparents are Fran and Floyd Zonenstein of Boynton Beach, Florida. A spring 2024 wedding is planned. Courtesy of the Gould family 26 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Courtesy of The Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History Instagram socials 1 Courtesy of the Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties Courtesy of Stu Coren 4 2 Courtesy of Rabbi Geri Newburge 5 Courtesy of Debbie Zlotnick Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia Out & About around town 2 Courtesy of Hannah Koval 6 3 1 The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Women’s Philanthropy division held its annual Lion of Judah event on Nov. 10 at Hotel West & Main in Conshohocken. 2 Federation Housing residents enjoyed entertainment from an Elvis Presley impersonator. 3 Cheltenham resident and Penn State University student Hannah Koval made challah turkey for her family’s Thanksgiving dinner this year. 4 The Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties held a turkey drive to help provide 670 meals to local families during the holiday season. 5 KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia celebrated Thanksgiving with more than 130 area seniors. 6 Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim’s beer club had an outing at Tired Hands Fermentaria in Ardmore. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 27 last word Rue Landau Jarrad Saffren | Staff Writer R ue Landau’s father Mike Landau grew up at Har Zion Temple back when the Conservative synagogue was in Philadelphia’s Wynnefield neighborhood. And her mother Dotsy Landau came of age at a Reform temple, Congregation Rodeph Shalom on North Broad Street. But even though they hailed from different denominations, the Landaus preached the same Jewish value to their daughter: tikkun olam. “When I was growing up, my parents taught me that we all have a role to play in healing the world,” she recalled. Since reaching adulthood three decades ago, Rue Landau has tried to do her part. She’s been a housing organizer, an attorney for Community Legal Services and the director of Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations and Fair Housing Commission. And now she wants to try to do her part by serving on the Philadelphia City Council. The 53-year-old announced her campaign for one of the seven at-large seats on the body on Dec. 13 before friends and family members at the John C. Anderson Apartments in Center City. At-large council members represent the entire city. Landau, a Democrat, is one of more than a dozen candidates in the race for those seven seats, including five incum- bent reps in Isaiah Thomas, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, Kendra Brooks and Jim Harrity. If elected, she would become the first openly LGBTQ+ mem- ber of council in Philadelphia history. John C. Anderson, whom the apartment complex is named after, was a gay but not out councilman from 1979 to 1983 before dying of AIDS complications. “Throughout my career, I’ve done work in basically every neighborhood in this city,” Landau said. “Between those connections and my love for every neighborhood, that makes me a good candidate for at-large.” 28 Landau’s parents moved out of the city to raise her in Cheltenham. But after she graduated from the University of Delaware, she moved back into Philadelphia at an apartment at 10th and Clinton streets. She had just come out as a lesbian and felt like there was a “more vibrant community in the city than there was in the suburbs,” she said. Landau received acceptance from her parents and found a gay commu- nity through bars, coffee shops and bookstores. She also started her activist work by assisting Kensington residents in finding affordable housing and by helping to provide social services to DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1998, Landau earned a law degree from Temple University and started a decade-long tenure at Community Legal Services, where she represented low-income tenants fighting evictions. Starting in 2008 and continu- ing into 2021, she served as director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations and the Fair Housing Commission, where she worked with city council to, as a campaign email put it, “overhaul the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance and Fair Housing Ordinance.” Landau’s efforts helped returning citizens get a fair shot in job application processes, provided better housing accommodations for pregnant and breastfeeding women and added eviction safeguards. But she left those commissions to teach housing law at Temple and to become the director of law and policy at the Philadelphia Bar Association. Over the past couple of years, though, she has watched her beloved city fall into a cycle of violence. And now she wants to help. “I want to use my skills to help Philadelphia turn around and become the city we know we are and can be,” Landau said. Landau and her wife, legal aid law- yer Kerry Smith, are raising their son in South Philadelphia. They attend Reconstructionist synagogue Kol Tzedek in West Philadelphia even though Smith is not Jewish. The candidate wants other families to see Philadelphia as a place where you can get married, raise a kid and go to synagogue. To her, this means sup- porting low-income renters, full school funding, increased funding for librar- ies and recreation centers, more street lights and an overall investment plan that includes businesses. “All of those things have been proven to immediately reduce violence in neighborhoods,” she said. Smith met Landau 20 years ago when she was helping a friend sub-lease a New York City apartment to Landau’s friend. As Smith remembered it, her future wife walked in the door and had infectious energy. So they started dat- ing, even though Smith lived in Boston and Landau in Philadelphia. But as their relationship developed, it became clear to the Bostonian that she was going to have to move to Philadelphia. Landau would take her around the city, talk about everything they saw and run into people she knew. “It’s the way she talks about Philly and looks at Philly. She’s like a tour guide,” Smith said. “Here’s our people and who we are.” JE jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com Photos by Wei Chen JEWISH DEMOCRAT ANNOUNCES CITY COUNCIL RUN SEASHORE SALE LOVE where here you LIVE LIV HHT Office 609-487-7234 #1 IN NEW JERSEY FOR LARGE TEAM SALES VOLUME *RealTrends 2021 NEW PRICE! OCEAN CITY $659,000 CHARMING & WELL MAINTAINED 3 BEDROOM, 2 BATHROOM HOME ON BAY AVENUE! NEW PRICE! MARGATE $1,825,000 ONE OF THE LARGEST LOTS IN MARGATE WITH BAY VIEWS! 5 BEDS, 5 FULL BATHS WITH TONS OF UPDATES! www.HartmanHomeTeam.com NEW PRICE! LOWER CHELSEA $710,000 DIRECT OCEANFRONT IN THE BERKLEY! 2 BEDS, 2 FULL BATHS PLUS BONUS DEN OR OFFICE! NEW PRICE! VENTNOR $1,650,000 ONE-OF-A-KIND SOUTHSIDE ON ST. LEONARD’S TRACT! REMODELED 7 BED, 4.5 BATH ON OVERSIZED LOT. NEW PRICE! MARGATE NEW LISTING! $729,000 UPDATED & ADORABLE BEACH HOUSE! 3 BED, 1.5 BATH, OPEN CONCEPT, SIDE YARD, & FRONT PORCH! NEW PRICE! VENTNOR VENTNOR $899,000 ONE VERY SPECIAL PROPER- TY! COMPLETELY RENOVAT- ED 5 BED, 4 FULL BATH JUST 2 BLOCKS TO THE BEACH! NEW LISTING! $1,999,000 ENDLESS DIRECT OCEAN VIEWS FROM THIS 7 BED, 5.5 BATH HOME JUST 2 OFF OF THE BEACH! MARGATE $2,195,000 LUXURY SOUTHSIDE NEW CONSTRUCTION TOWNHOMES AVAILABLE! 4 BEDS, 3.5 BATHS, OCEAN VIEWS & ELEVATOR! 9211 Ventnor Avenue, Margate 8017 Ventnor Avenue, Margate 9313 Ventnor Ave, Margate NEW LISTING! MARGATE $999,000 LIKE BRAND NEW MARINA DISTRICT TOWNHOME WITH ELEVATOR! 3 BR, 2.5 BATHS AND DIRECT BAY VIEWS! NEW LISTING! MARGATE $2,299,000 SOUTHSIDE NEW CONSTRUC- TION! 5 BEDS, 4.5 BATHS, ELEVATOR & AMAZING LOCATION STEPS TO EVERYTHING IN TOWN! NEW LISTING! MARGATE $1,250,000 AMAZING WATER VIEWS FROM THIS 4 BED, 4 FULL BATH TOWNHOME RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE BAY! NEW LISTING! MARGATE $2,599,999 SOUTHSIDE NEW CONSTRUCTION WITH OCEAN VIEWS & POOL! 5 BEDS, 5 FULL BATHS JUST STEPS TO THE BEST BEACH IN TOWN! HOMES FOR SALE FOR SALE BY OWNER MARGATE BEACH BLOCK HOME WITH UNOBSTRUCTED BEACH AND OCEAN VIEWS 111 South Exeter Avenue • Margate, NJ  08402 $2,950,000 PRINCIPALS ONLY - BY APPOINTMENT Contact Alice: 516-287-6808 Request complete spec sheet: beachblock111@icloud.com The DeSouzas are Back on Bustleton! The Holiday Market is Here! Now is the time to list your home with US! Call Andi or Rick DeSouza for an appointment & we will deliver: Results, Not Promises! RE/MAX ONE REALTY Eric DeSouza, Associate Broker Andrea DeSouza, Sales Associate Eric Cell 215-431-8300/8304 • Bus 215-953-8800 rickdesouza70@gmail.com JEWISH EXPONENT CLASSIFIEDS To advertise, call 215-832-0749 This home is the only beach block property currently for sale that has exceptional beach and ocean views. You will have a short walk to the supermarket, restaurants, Margate Library, Senior Center, banks, post office, other core businesses and the Ventnor boardwalk. This home is an “upside down,” classic midcentury modern Deck House home, that features an open floor plan, a designer kitchen, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, an elevator, renovation to ADA accessibility standards, an exterior ramp, a garage and parking for 3+ cars on a shared driveway. HOME SERVICES GOLDEN HARMONY HOME CARE Independence while at the same time improving their quality of life by helping them remain in the comfort of their own homes. Non-medical Home Care • Dememtia/Aizheimer’s Care • 24-hour care/ hourly/Live-in Medication Reminders • Meal preparation/ light housekeeping Transportation/ Doctor’s visit/ Mobility Assistance • Companionship • Shopping and errands License/insured/bonded Call 267-969-8312 for more information www.golden-harmony.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 29 HELP WANTED RABBI / CANTOR Congregation Beth Israel, an unaffiliated congregation following conservative traditions, is looking for an innovative addition to its congregation of eighty families. We have been grounded in Lebanon, PA since 1907, located conveniently between Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. Our neighboring cities include Harrisburg, Hershey, and Lancaster. We are local to Lebanon Valley College in nearby Annville. A renowned hospital and excellent medical services are within the city of Lebanon. The Rabbi/Cantor leads congregation services on Thursday mornings, Shabbat evening and morning, Sunday mornings and all Jewish holidays. He/She reads Torah, serves as a spiritual guide, has a community presence, teaches adult education, and performs all life cycle events. The Rabbi/Cantor is expected to work closely with the board of directors and attend monthly board meetings. The synagogue building has a kosher kitchen, several classrooms, a lounge, a chapel/library, a beautiful sanctuary which accommodates up to 400 people, a social hall/gymnasium, and a large parking lot. Our annual lecture series is well known and includes famous speakers such as Eli Weisel and Wolf Blitzer. We will consider applicants of Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist backgrounds as full time or part time candidates to work 20-40 hrs./week. Salary is commensurate with experience. Benefits are available. See our website for further information: http://www.congregation-beth-israel.org Send resume or cv by no later than December 31st, 2022, to Sammi Parmer, Administrative Assistant, Congregation Beth Israel, 411 S. 8th St, Lebanon, Pa 17042 or beth.israelsynagogue@verizon.net WANTED TO BUY WANTED TO BUY ANTIQUE & FINE FURNITURE Paintings & Sculptures CEMETERY LOTS FOR SALE ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL PARK Selling Mausoleum Crypts: Phase 1 Rows 75 and 76 C Contact Cristy (48 4)68 6- 9595 cristyhollin@ gmail.com SHALOM MEMORIAL PARK FOR SALE GREAT LOCATION IN GABRIEL SECTION TWO LOTS ALL SERVICES AND FEES INCLUDING TRANSFER FEE BRONZE PLACQUE WITH ENGRAVING GRANITE BASE OVER TIME FOR WEEKEND PERPETUAL CARE CALL 48 0- 62 0596 OR EMAIL SIDBE@ AOL.COM ELDER CARE Caring & Reliable Experienced & Trained BONDED & LICENSED Available 24/7 20 Years Experience Very Affordable 215-477-1050 ELDER CARE: 5 years experience taking care of el- ders. Cook, clean, driving to appointments. COVID vacci- nated! Contact Sonia: 67- 679- 3946 HOUSEHOLD GOODS WANTED DOWNSIZING OR CLEANING OUT? 1 man’s trash/another man’s treasure Call Joel 215-947-2817 CASH IN YOUR CLOSET INC. Licensed and Bonded ESTATE SALES MISCELLANEOUS Also Vintage Modern, Mission & Nakashima Etc. HIGHEST PRICES PAID 215-663-1813 30 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Miscellaneous: Become a Published Author. We want to Read Your Book! Dorrance Publishing- Trusted by Authors Since 192 0 Book manuscript submis- sions currently being re- viewed. Comprehensive Services: Consultation, Pro- duction, Promotion and Dis- tribution. Call for Your Free Author` s Guide 1- 77- 670- 02 36 or visit dorranceinfo. com/pasn Miscellaneous: DISH Network. 59.99 for 190 Channels! Blazing Fast Internet, 19.99/mo. (where available.) Switch & Get a FREE 100 Visa Gift Card. FREE Voice Remote. FREE HD DVR. FREE Streaming on ALL Devices. Call today! 1- 55- 335- 6094 Miscellaneous: Eliminate gutter cleaning forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris- blocking gutter protection. Schedule a FREE LeafFilter estimate to- day. 15% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Dis- counts. Call 1- 55- 569- 308 7 Miscellaneous: Get DIRECTV for 64.99/mo for 12 months with CHOICE Package. Save an additional 12 0 over 1st year. First 3 months of HBO Max, Cine- max, Showtime, Starz and Epix included! Directv is 1 in Customer Satisfaction (JD Power & Assoc.) Some re- strictions apply. Call 1- 55- 06- 315 Miscellaneous: Prepare for power outag- es today with a GENERAC home standby generator. 0 Money Down Low Monthly Payment Options Request a FREE Quote Call now be- fore the next power outage: 1- 605- 402 Miscellaneous: Replace your roof with the best looking and longest last- ing material steel from Erie Metal Roofs! Three styles and multiple colors available. Guaranteed to last a lifetime! Limited Time Offer 500 Discount Additional 10% off install (for military, health workers & 1st responders.) Call Erie Metal Roofs: 1- 44- 90- 9042 Miscellaneous: Safe Step. North America’s 1 Walk- In Tub. Comprehen- sive lifetime warranty. Top- of- the- line installation and service. Now featuring our FREE shower package and 1600 Off for a limited time! Call today! Financing avail- able. Call Safe Step 1- 33- 437- 142 HOLIDAY GREETINGS To Mr. & Mrs. Leon and Fran Levy and Family Happy Hanukkah with Love Terry To Stuart Bykofsky and Family Happy Hanukkah with Love Terry TUTORING EDUCATION PLUS Private tutoring, all subj ects, elemen.- college, SAT/ACT prep. 7 days/week. Expd. & motivated instructors. (215)576-1096 www.educationplusinc.com Legals Fictitious Name Registration Notice is hereby given that an Application for Registration of Fictitious Name was filed in the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on October 04, 02 for Somar Distribution at 12 42 Balston Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19154. The name and address of each individual interested in the business is Roberto Martinez at 12 42 Balston Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19154. This was filed in accordance with 54 PaC.S. 311.417 Fictitious Name Registration Notice is hereby given that an Application for Registration of Fictitious Name was filed in the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on September 7, 02 for Body Contour Business Academy at 1500 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 . The names and address of each individual inter- ested in the business are Erica Ortiz and Nicole Myrie both located at 1500 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19102. This was filed in accordance with 54 PaC.S. 311.417 Fictitious Name Registration Notice is hereby given that an Application for Registration of Fictitious Name was filed in the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on September 7, 02 for Reeves Training at 7606 Woodcrest Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19151. The entity interested in such business is Reeves Consultants LLC, whose Commercial Registered Office provider’s address is 7606 Woodcrest Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19151 in Philadelphia County. This was filed in accordance with 54 PaC.S. 311. Fictitious Name Registration Notice is hereby given that an Application for Registration of Fictitious Name was filed in the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on September 30, 02 for DreamChaser_Scrubs at 42 13 N Bodine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140. The entity interested in such business is Dream Chaser Cleaning LLC, whose Commercial Registered Office provider s address is 4213 N Bodine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140 in Philadelphia County. This was filed in accordance with 54 PaC.S. 311. Fictitious Name Registration Notice is hereby given that an Application for Registration of Fictitious Name was filed in the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on September 30, 02 for SKS Photography at 112 1 S Clifton St. Philadelphia, PA 19147. The entity interested in such business is AOTS LLC, whose Commercial Registered Office provider s address is 1121 S Clifton St. Philadelphia, PA 19147 in Philadelphia County. This was filed in accordance with 54 PaC.S. 311. Notice is hereby given that Articles of Incorporation for a Domestic Non-Profit Corporation were filed in the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Doshinkan Aikido of North America under the provisions of the Pennsylvania Non-Profit Corporation Law of 198 , as amended. Notice is hereby given that Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 12 /13/2 with respect to a pro- posed nonprofit corporation, CHCS Holdings Corp. which has been incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Law of 198 . NOTICE OF RENEWAL APPLICATION for a Pawnbroker License. Notice is given that Cheltenham Pawnshop LLC did on 12 /1/2 02 , submit to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Banking & Securities, an application for renewal licensure of a pawnbroker office at this lo- cation, which is as follows: 160 Ogontz Aveue, Wyncote, PA 19095, Montgomery County. All interested persons may file written comments in favor of or in opposition to the application for renewal with the Pawnbroker Hearing Officer at PA Dept of Banking & Securities, Non- Depository Licensing Div, 17 N. nd St, Ste 1300, Harrisburg PA 17101. All comments to be considered must be received by the Department within thirty (30) days from the date of this newspaper publication. NOTICE OF RENEWAL APPLICATION FOR A PAWNBROKER LICENSE Notice is hereby given that Olney Pawnbrokers, Inc. did on 12 /01/2 02 , submit to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Banking, an application for renewal licensure of a pawnbroker at this location, which is as follows: 5708 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19141. All interest- ed persons may file written com- ments in favor of or in opposition to the Application with the Pawnbroker Hearing Officer, Pennsylvania Department of Banking, 17 N. nd Street, Suite 1300, Harrisburg, PA 17101- 90. All comments to be considered must be received by the Department within thirty (30) days from the date of this newspaper publication. CHANGE OF NAME NOTICE Court of Common Pleas for the County of Philadelphia, October Term, 02 , No. 002 531. Notice is hereby given that on November 17, 2022 the petition was filed, praying for a decree to change his name from Kharee Basil Ramue- Hart to Kharee Basil Ramsue. The Court has fixed December 16, 02 at 10:00 A.M. in Courtroom 691, City Hall, Phila., PA for the hearing. All persons interest- ed may appear and show cause if any they have, why the prayer of the said petitioner should not be granted. ESTATE OF AARON JENKINS, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia, PA. Letters of Administration on the above estate have been granted to the undersigned. All persons having claims against or indebted to the estate should make claims known or forward payment to, Keisha Jenkins, Administratrix, 1446 W. Sparks St., Philadelphia, PA 19141 or to their attorney Mu’min F. Islam, Esq., MFI Law Group, PLLC, 1117 Ivy Hill Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19150. ESTATE OF ANNA MARIE DeTRANO- ROSSI, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to PASQUALE DeTRANO, EXECUTOR, c/o Howard M. Soloman, Esq., 1760 Market St. Ste. 404, Philadelphia, PA 19103 Or to his Attorney: HOWARD M. SOLOMAN 1760 Market St. Ste. 404 Philadelphia, PA 19103 ESTATE OF BLAKE JORMAN BRADLEY, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to HOWARD M. SOLOMAN, ADMINISTRATOR, 1760 Market St. Ste. 404, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Or to his Attorney: HOWARD M. SOLOMAN 1760 Market St. Ste. 404 Philadelphia, PA 19103 ESTATE OF BONNIE K. CRANER, DECEASED. Late of Telford Borough, Montgomery County, PA LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to BRUCE H. BENJAMIN (a/k/a BRUCE HERBERT BENJAMIN), EXECUTOR, c/o Howard M. Soloman, Esq., 1760 Market St., Ste. 404, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Or to his Attorney: HOWARD M. SOLOMAN 1760 Market St., Ste. 404 Philadelphia, PA 19103 ESTATE OF CECIL EDWARD FLOYD, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to STEPHANIE MARIE FLOYD BROOKS, ADMINISTRATRIX, 16331 Hawfi eld Way Dr., #2412, Charlotte, NC 28277, Or to her Attorney: MARK J. DAVIS CONNOR ELDER LAW, LLC 644 Germantown Pike, 2-C Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 ESTATE OF CECIL FLOYD, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to STEPHANIE MARIE FLOYD BROOKS, ADMINISTRATRIX, 16331 Hawfi eld Way Dr., #2412, Charlotte, NC 28277, Or to her Attorney: MARK J. DAVIS CONNOR ELDER LAW, LLC 644 Germantown Pike, 2-C Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 ESTATE OF ERVIN T. GLENN a/k/a ERVIN T. GLENN, SR., DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make pay- ment without delay to ADRIENNE A. GLENN, EXECUTRIX, 6342 Ardleigh St., Philadelphia, PA 19138, Or to her Attorney: DANIEL BALTUCH 104.5 Forrest Ave., Ste. 10 Narberth, PA 19072 ESTATE OF FAYE A. FLITTER, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia, PA. Letters of Administration on the above estate have been granted to the under- signed. All persons having claims against or indebted to the estate should make claims known or for- ward payment to Andrew M. Flitter, Administrator, 35 Grand Banks Circle, Marlton, NJ 08053 or to their attorney Edward L. Paul, Esquire, 1103 Laurel Oak Road, Suite 105C, Voorhees, NJ 08043. ESTATE OF FRANCES AMELIA DUNMORE A/K/A FRANCES A. DUNMORE A/K/A FRANCES DUNMORE, DECEASED. LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to ERNEST C. DUNMORE, SR., ADMINISTRATOR, 1629 S. 15th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145, Or to her Attorney: David H. Lipow O’Brien, Belland & Bushinsky, LLC 509 S. Lenola Rd Building 6 Moorestown, NJ 08057 ESTATE OF G. STEPHEN TINT, DECEASED. LETTERS of TESTAMENRY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to EXECUTOR, Or to Attorney: DAVID N RUBIN, ESQ 1500 JFK BLVD STE 1030 PHILADELPHIA, PA 19102 215-564-2672 ESTATE OF HAROLD REUBEN STERN, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment with- out delay to GREGORY STERN, ADMINISTRATOR, 19 Moredon Rd., Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 ESTATE OF HARVEY GOLDBERG, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to CRISTINIA LOPUSZANSKI, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Jay E. Kivitz, Esq., 7901 Ogontz Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19150, Or to her Attorney: JAY E. KIVITZ KIVITZ & KIVITZ, P.C. 7901 Ogontz Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19150 ESTATE OF HAZEL LATHAM, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to REID OAKLEY, ADMINISTRATOR, c/o Jay E. Kivitz, Esq., 7901 Ogontz Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19150, Or to his Attorney: JAY E. KIVITZ KIVITZ & KIVITZ, P.C. 7901 Ogontz Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19150 ESTATE OF JAMES C. RUSH, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION DBN on the above Estate have been grant- ed to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to LA-VERN LUNSFORD, ADMINISTRATRIX DBN, 225 W. Hansberry St., Philadelphia, PA 19144, Or to her Attorney: ROBERT DIXON 6800 Clearview St. Philadelphia, PA 19119 ESTATE OF JOHN P. HILL a/k/a JOHN HILL, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make pay- ment without delay to ENEIDA HILL, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Kristen L. Behrens, Esq., 1500 Market St., Ste. 3500E, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Or to her Attorney: KRISTEN L. BEHRENS DILWORTH PAXSON LLP 1500 Market St., Ste. 3500E Philadelphia, PA 19102 ESTATE OF JOSEPH FRANCIS LAWSON a/k/a JOSEPH F. LAWSON, SR., DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to MATTHEW LAWSON, EXECUTOR, c/o Joseph T. Pace, Esq., 8515 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19136, Or to his Attorney: JOSEPH T. PACE LAW OFFICE OF THOMAS J. METTEE, P.C. 8515 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19136 ESTATE OF KEVIN DOERR, JR., DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia, PA. Letters of Administration on the above estate have been granted to the undersigned. All persons having claims against or indebted to the estate should make claims known or forward payment to Kevin Doerr, Administrator, 517 Oak Lane, Tamaqua, PA 19252 or to their attorney Mark Feinman, Esquire, 8171 Castor Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19152. ESTATE OF LOUISE BARLOW, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to AQUILA N. LEVY, EXECUTRIX, c/o Jay E. Kivitz, Esq., 7901 Ogontz Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19150, Or to her Attorney: Jay E. Kivitz Kivitz & Kivitz, P.C. 7901 Ogontz Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19150 ESTATE OF MARIAN SZCZEPANSKI DECEASED Late of Philadelphia, PA. LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION on the above estate have been granted to the un- dersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same, and all persons in- debted to the decedent to make pay- ment without delay, to Administrator, Piotr Bagniewski. Benefi ciaries Renata Iwanska, Edyta Agnieska Zawadzka. The Law Offi ces of Jon Taylor, Esquire, PC, 1617 JFK Blvd., Suite 1888, Philadelphia, PA19103 the estate attorney ESTATE OF MARIE ROSE McBRIDE, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to ALBERT EDWARD MCBRIDE, III, EXECUTOR, 1322 Amosland Rd., Prospect Park, PA 19076 ESTATE OF MARILYN E. GARDELLIS, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to GEORGE C. GARDELLIS, JR., EXECUTOR, c/o Harry Metka, Esq., 4802 Neshaminy Blvd., Ste. 9, Bensalem, PA 19020, Or to his Attorney: HARRY METKA 4802 Neshaminy Blvd., Ste. 9 Bensalem, PA 19020 or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment with- out delay to YOLANDA MORALES, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Daniella A. Horn, Esq., 2202 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Or to her Attorney: DANIELLA A. HORN KLENK LAW, LLC 2202 Delancey Place Philadelphia, PA 19103 ESTATE OF SONDRA BROWNWELL, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia, PA. Letters Testamentary on the above estate have been granted to the under- signed. All persons having claims against or indebted to the estate should make claims known or for- ward payment to Mark Feinman, Esquire, Executor, 8171 Castor Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19152. ESTATE OF SONDRA HARTENBAUM Late of Montgomery County, PA. LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make pay- ment without delay to Executors GLEN HARTENBAUM, 3982 Martin Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 Or DAVID HARTENBAUM, 1600 White House Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002. ESTATE OF TAJ’ANAE SHATAYA VANESSA SILER, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to WILLIAM ANTHONY CALANDRA, ADMINISTRATOR, c/o Kristen L. Behrens, Esq., 1500 Market St., Ste. 3500E, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Or to his Attorney: KRISTEN L. BEHRENS DILWORTH PAXSON LLP 1500 Market St., Ste. 3500E Philadelphia, PA 19102 ESTATE OF TYRONE DAVID TYLER, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to SHARRON TYLER, ADMINISTRATRIX, 4682 N. Sydenham St., Philadelphia, PA 19140 BUSINESS / LEGAL DIRECTORIES ESTATE OF MICHAEL O. DIGGS, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebt- ed to the decedent to make pay- ment without delay to PATRICIA A. DIGGS, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Jay E. Kivitz, Esq., 7901 Ogontz Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19150, Or to her Attorney: JAY E. KIVITZ KIVITZ & KIVITZ, P.C. 7901 Ogontz Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19150 ESTATE OF MONICA ANN HEALEY, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia, PA. Letters of Administration on the above estate have been granted to the under- signed. All persons having claims against or indebted to the estate should make claims known or for- ward payment to Patrick J. Healey, Esq., Administrator, 7104 McCallum St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. ESTATE OF NANCY M. ELLIS, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been grant- ed to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or de- mands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment with- out delay to ANGELA CAROLINE ELLIS, EXECUTRIX, c/o Daniella A. Horn, Esq., 2202 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Or to her Attorney: DANIELLA A. HORN KLENK LAW, LLC 2202 Delancey Place Philadelphia, PA 19103 ESTATE OF REINALDO ALAMO, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia County LETTERS of ADMINISTRATION on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 31 Whether in lockdown or reopening, peace or war, certainty or uncertainty... Our Jewish community is strong. Now, with your help, we go forward. Your gift fuels the Jewish Federation’s critical work to: - care for people in need - create an inclusive and accessible community - foster Jewish identity - combat antisemitism - connect to Jewish communities around the world Make your gift to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia before December 31. jewishphilly.org/donate 215.832.3484 32 DECEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM