JANUARY 12, 2023 | 19 TEVET 5783 J ennifer A nolik Northern Liberties Resident Guiding the NEXT GENERATION of IMPACTFUL JEWS Page 11 CANDLELIGHTING 4:40 p.m. 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 Saff ren ADVERTISING Account Executives Alan Gurwitz, Robin Harmon, Karina Ingram, Pam Kuperschmidt, Karena Ingram, Jodi Lipson, David Pintzow, Sara Priebe, Sharon Schmuckler, Samantha Tuttle, Sylvia Witaschek MARKETING Audience Development Coordinator Julia Olaguer 410-902-2308 jolaguer@midatlanticmedia.com CREATIVE Art Director | Steve Burke Graphic Designers | Ebony Brown, Lonna Koblick, Frank Wagner, Carl Weigel Digital Media Coordinator James Meskunas 7605 Old York Road, Melrose Park, PA 19027 Connect with us: Vol. 135, No 41 Published Weekly Since 1887 BUSINESS Accounting Manager Pattie-Ann Lamp 410-902-2311 plamp@midatlanticmedia.com accounting@midatlanticmedia.com Senior Accounts Receivable Specialist Grace Hagan ghagan@midatlanticmedia.com Accounts Receivable Specialist Sarah Appelbaum sappelbaum@midatlanticmedia.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 Legal Notices legals@jewishexponent.com 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. Elevated senior living... with just the right amount of care. Personal Care & Memory Care Living An LCB Senior Living Community: More Than 25 Years of Excellence Refined 2 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Select apartments still available at our pre-open rate, including our exclusive Terrace Apartments 610-595-4647 | residencebalacynwyd.com Inside This Issue Local 5 Kaiserman JCC Gets $500K From State for Upgrades 6 Jewish Women International Launching Young Women’s Group in Philadelphia 8 Players Club’s ‘Indecent’ ‘Wrestles’ with Judaism, Queerness, Censorship Opinion 12 Editorials 13 Letters 13 Opinions Feature 18 In Turkey, a festival revives a jewel of the Sephardic world and aims to break stereotypes Community 23 Obituaries 24 Synagogue Spotlight 26 Calendar In every issue 4 Weekly Kibbitz 10 Jewish Federation 11 You Should Know 17 National Briefs 20 Food & Dining 22 Arts & Culture 25 D’var Torah 27 Around Town 28 Last Word 29 Classifieds On the Cover 11 Jennifer Anolik guides the next generation of impactful Jews 5 K aiserman JCC gets $500,000 for upgrades 8 P layers Club’s ‘Indecent’ ‘Wrestles’ With 18 I n Turkey, a festival revives a jewel of Judaism, queerness, censorship the Sephardic world JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 3 Weekly Kibbitz In ‘You People,’ Jonah Hill’s a Jewish Guy Who Finds Love With a Farrakhan Follower’s Daughter Were Jews the “OG slaves”? Can American slavery be compared to the Holocaust? And who gets the last word on Louis Farrakhan? These questions have spurred very serious debates over time — and now will be getting a raunchier take in the new Netfl ix comedy “You People” that begins streaming on Jan. 27. Starring Jewish funnyman Jonah Hill, who also co-wrote the script with “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, the fi lm stars a visibly tattooed Hill as Ezra, a young Jewish man who falls in love with Amira, a Black woman played by “Without Remorse” actress Lauren London. In a new trailer for the movie that opens with a scene shot at the Skirball Cultural Center, a Jewish institution in Los Angeles, Hill’s Jewish parents, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny, seem to immediately bless the union after some awkward comments about hair and rappers. It’s Amira’s parents, Akbar and Fatima (played by Eddie Murphy and Nia Long), who prove a tougher sell — particularly once Akbar, who says he identifi es as “Muslim,” tells them he is a follower of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whose antisemitism is longstanding and well known. If Murphy’s character is following in the long tradition of adopting zany antics to try to prevent a marriage, it’s not clear in the trailer, where he tells Ezra’s mother that his hat was a gift from Farrakhan. “Are you familiar with the minister’s work?” Murphy asks Louis-Dreyfus. “I’m familiar with what he said about the Jews!” she replies. Other awkward moments abound in the trailer, including a dinner-table argument about comparing slavery David Duchovny as Arnold, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Shelley, Jonah Hill (writer/ producer) as Ezra, Lauren London as Amira, Eddie Murphy as Akbar and Nia Long as Fatima in the new Netfl ix comedy “You People” to the Holocaust. (“Our people came here with nothing like everybody else,” says Louis-Dreyfus’s character, to cringes.) It’s all in a day’s work for Barris, whose series of sitcoms are known for prompting uncomfortable conversations about race and culture, and who — in the recent aftermath of antisemitism controversies involving Kanye West, Kyrie Irving and Dave Chappelle — has found quite the moment for a “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”-style comedy about Black- Jewish relations. An earlier trailer for “You People,” featuring only Hill and Murphy, had made no references to the fi lm’s Jewish content. The new trailer’s density of Jewish jokes is sure to fuel an ongoing debate over the “Jewface” controversy and whether it’s appropriate for non-Jewish actors to be cast as Jewish characters. And while Hill himself is Jewish (the star recently petitioned to drop his legal last name, Feldstein, because he has never used it professionally), his on-screen parents are not. But Duchovny and Louis- Dreyfus do have Jewish fathers, as does London. — Andrew Lapin The zoo in Cologne, Germany, has gotten its fi rst check from the $26 million gift promised by the widow of a Holocaust survivor who credited the city’s residents for saving him during the war. Marlar and baby Moma, born in 2017 4 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Elizabeth Reichert willed the funds to the Cologne Zoological Garden in 2017 in honor of her husband Arnulf, who died in 1998. Both Reicherts were born in Cologne and met during World War II, when Elizabeth was part of the local anti-Nazi resistance network and Arnulf, a German Jew, was in hiding with the network’s help. “They only survived the war in Germany thanks to the help of courageous people from Cologne, who off ered hiding places to the Jew Arnulf Reichert,” the zoo said in a statement in German last week. Though they moved to Israel and, after fi ve years, America after the war, Arnulf and Elizabeth maintained aff ection to the city for the rest of their lives. “We were born in Cologne, and we remember forever Cologne,” Reichert said in 2017. In the United States, they settled in New Jersey, where the couple started and ran a successful pet wholesale business. They never had children. Reichert chose the zoo out of all institutions in Cologne because of her and Arnulf’s love of animals. “Arnulf wanted to give the money someplace where it would do good,” Elizabeth Reichert said in 2017 when she announced the planned gift. “When you think about leaving money, memories play a major role.” Reichert died in February 2021 at the age of 96, and it was not until recently that her estate was settled and funds could be disbursed. The zoo reported that it had received the fi rst payment from the trust, of more than $700,000 dollars, and said it expected annual disbursals to top $1 million in the future. The gift, a zoo offi cial said in 2017, was unusual in Germany where large philanthropic gifts are rare and would be used to improve the zoo for animals and visitors alike. The zoo said it is planning to name its South American section after Arnulf Reichert. Reichert had been giving a monthly donation of more than $7,000 since announcing the gift. But her giving to the zoo goes all the way back to 1954, when she and Arnulf donated a soft-shelled turtle they brought from the Jordan River to Germany by boat on a nine-day journey, feeding it cold cuts of meat along the way. Cologne’s zoo is not the fi rst in Europe to be associated with Holocaust survivors. Zookeepers in Warsaw sheltered 300 Jews from the Nazis inside the zoo, in a dramatic story that was the subject of a novel and then a 2017 movie adaptation called “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” starring Jessica Chastain. — David I. Klein 'You People': Parrish Lewis/Netfl ix; Zoo: Michael Kramer via Wikimedia Commons German Zoo Gets $26 Million From Widow of Animal-Loving Holocaust Survivor local Kaiserman JCC Gets $500K From State for Upgrades Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer Photos by Jarrad Saff ren A quick lap around the Kaiserman JCC campus in Wynnewood will leave you with an unmis- takable impression. Inside the facility, you will see a worn basketball court and faded gymnastics equipment, along with dimmed lights overhead. And outside, as CEO Alan Scher himself describes, you will see “dilapidated fi elds” fi lled with weeds and bare patches. The place needs an upgrade, and now it may be getting one. Or at least the start of one, according to Scher. In December, at the JCC’s 50th-an- niversary party, state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, who represents Kaiserman’s Main Line territory, presented Scher with a $500,000 check from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The grant program from the Pennsylvania Offi ce of the Budget goes toward “the acqui- sition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects,” according to pa.gov. All grants must be matched by the institutions that receive them. Scher and his board raised money from donors to match the $500,000, giving the JCC $1 million for renova- tions. A state-compiled list of grant recipients identifi es possible JCC projects as “boiler replacement, roof repairs and lighting upgrades.” Bigger renovations to the gymnasium and preschool also were listed. Between those last two, Scher said the Robert J. Wilf Preschool will likely come fi rst since it has a waiting list of more than 40 families. Specifi cally, the CEO wants to start by renovating the preschool lobby. “It’s an aging infrastructure and facil- ity,” he said of the early childhood center. “We want an infrastructure that’s beautiful and state of the art.” With the school, Scher believes it’s vital to have a facility that meets the quality of the program itself. And he feels the same way about the JCC in general. Camp Kef, Kaiserman’s summer camp, has been full in recent years, with more than 400 kids. And the JCC’s gym sees action seven days a week. But those who use the JCC can clearly see its fl aws. Adam Sherman, a past JCC president and a resident of Lower Merion for 30 years, described Kaiserman as “a 1995 facility in a 2023 world.” Sherman has used the JCC for as long as he’s lived in Lower Merion, and while he now lives in Florida for half the year, he still goes to Kaiserman “sporadically” when he’s on the Main Line. Sherman plays basketball, and he says the fl oor is “playable but not great.” “It needs a refi nishing,” he added. But Sherman still views the JCC as “a great location and a great gym.” And he believes the key to its future is not so much appealing to evening and weekend jump shooters and board crashers, like himself, but to parents who will send their kids to the preschool, camp and youth athletic programs. “If you’re sending your little 5-year-old there, you want to make sure they can swim in a nice pool, have a nice fi eld, proper lighting — all that kind of stuff ,” he said. Cappelletti also sees the JCC playing that role. That was a big reason why she advocated for it even though she’s not Jewish and doesn’t use it. “The JCC does a lot of incredible work in my community,” she said. “They reach all across Montgomery County into Delaware County and Philadelphia County and Southeastern Pennsylvania.” As evidenced by the additional $500,000 that Kaiserman raised, it has people who want to help. Therefore, it may be best to use the state money for practical upgrades, like the boiler, the The preschool lobby inside the Kaiserman JCC in Wynnewood The gymnasium inside the Kaiserman JCC in Wynnewood roof and the lights, that will keep the building open and running, according to Scher. As he put it, “Nobody wants to put their name on a boiler.” Once those projects are checked off , Scher and his team can “invest in our strengths,” like the preschool, he said. A full-scale upgrade is necessary and will likely take several years, according to Scher. The JCC’s goal is to raise an additional $500,000 in the new fi scal year, which started in the fall, and it is already more than halfway there. “It’s not going to be here tomorrow but will be in time if we continue to bring in this kind of investment,” Scher said of the vision. ■ jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 5 Photos courtesy of Jewish Women International local Young Women’s Impact Network San Francisco members enjoy a day at the park. Jewish Women International Launching Young Women’s Group in Philadelphia Learn More About Vibrant Senior Living! Get your FREE brochure from Ann’s Choice® in Bucks County or Maris Grove® in the Brandywine Valley. • See a variety of floor plans • Discover fresh, flavorful dining • Learn about affordable pricing Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer J Call 1-800-989-3958 or visit us at SeniorLivingPA.com. 464548 ANN’S CHOICE, Bucks County MARIS GROVE, Brandywine Valley 6 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT ewish Women International, the Washington, D.C.-based social service organization, describes its nationwide Young Women’s Impact Network as a group that will change your life. An email about the upcoming Philadelphia chapter asks the follow- ing question: “Do you know any Jewish women or non-binary people in their 20s and 30s living in the Philadelphia area who might be looking to create lifelong friendships, find profes- sional mentorship, discover meaning- ful philanthropy opportunities and take part in fi nancial empowerment programs?” But in reality, the impact is a little more practical, according to Meredith Jacobs, the CEO of Jewish Women International. In Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and other cities, the YWIN aims to help Jewish women combat domestic violence, access economic security and create leadership Young Women’s Impact Network Chicago members “We offer tools for women to have options and power and control in their lives ... It’s about being able to build the life you want.” Young Women’s Impact Network New York members gather for a challah bake. opportunities. In doing all of those things, the group helps women become more independent, married or not. And the Philadelphia chapter, the 11th in the world including the one in Tel Aviv, will aim to do the same when it opens with a still-unscheduled launch event this spring. “We offer tools for women to have options and power and control in their lives,” Jacobs said. “It’s about being able to build the life you want.” The YWIN is open to women roughly between the ages of 22 and 34. In many cases, they are new to their cities and looking to meet people. Jacobs estimates that there are 10,000 people on the network’s email list across the 10 chapters and 5,000 active members. Some may have been members five years ago and then aged out. JWI started the YWIN in D.C. in 2013. The international organization supports the local groups with funding from its reserves and with money from donors. In Philadelphia, it is going to open the new network with a two-year grant from Women of Vision, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s advocacy arm for women, worth $45,000 to start a financial literacy series. Jewish Women International likes to emphasize financial programming in its YWIN chapters. One typical series of workshops runs for four sessions and teaches women to create budgets, according to Jacobs. Each session focuses on an important topic like how to save for retirement, how to negotiate for higher pay or how to buy a home. “When you don’t have access to money, you’re vulnerable to being in a dangerous situation,” Jacobs said. “To not having options. To not advancing at work.” Meetings about domestic violence are also important, according to the CEO. She said that women need to know what’s healthy and what isn’t healthy in relationships. So JWI brings in survivors of domestic violence to help YWIN members gain a clearer understanding of what a relationship should and shouldn’t look like. JWI also likes to emphasize leader- ship by organizing talks and network- ing sessions with women who are “role models, mentors and champions,” as Jacobs describes them. The long-term goal of any YWIN chapter is for its members to grow into community leaders themselves. “If the local JCC needs a board member, how do they look at JWI’s members?” Jacobs asked. JWI has about five people interested in joining its Philadelphia chapter, according to Jacobs. But an official announcement is coming soon. If you’re interested in signing up, visit jwi. org for more information. ■ jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 7 local Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer P aula Vogel’s 2015 play “Indecent” is both retrospec- tive and prescient. The Tony Award-winning show explores the real-life controversy that followed the early 20th century Yiddish play “God of Vengeance” by Sholem Asch, which features what is considered the fi rst kiss between two women in a play — one of whom is a sex worker. While “God of Vengeance” intro- duces and grapples with subversive themes in Judaism, “Indecent” deals with the show’s impact on European and American Jewry in a time of growing antisemitism and censorship that foreshadowed the Holocaust. In 2023, another period of heighten- ing antisemitism and discourse over censorship, the 2015 play takes on additional weight. The Players Club of Swarthmore, which opened its 2023 season with “Indecent” on Jan. 6, is aware of its responsibility of produc- ing the show. “Indecent” runs through Jan. 21. “It’s almost diffi cult to think of something happening today that this show does not speak to in some way,” said actor Sofi e Rose Seymour, who is Jewish. Seymour plays Chana Mendelbaum among other characters in “Indecent,” and their involvement in the play speaks to their queer and Jewish identities. Actor Eric Rupp in Players Club of Swarthmore’s production of “Indecent” Celebrating each life like no other. ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL PARK Trevose WE HONOR INTERFAITH MARRIAGES 215-673-7500 Do You Y Have a Plan for the Future? New Cremation Options Private Family Estates Ellipse II Garden Monuments available in various colors Shomer Shabbos orthodox section 8 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Leah Feldman General Manager Mary Beth Madill Family Service Manager Courtesy of Player’s Club of Swarthmore Players Club’s ‘Indecent’ ‘Wrestles’ with Judaism, Queerness, Censorship Sofi e Rose Seymour and Aimee Theresa in Players Club of Swarthmore’s production of “Indecent” “This play allows me to bring more of my history, my family and myself than any other work I have been a part of,” they said. “It is so emotional to play these Jewish and queer ancestors who have been given the chance to step out of the script and the ashes and the closet of history, and to help them live for a few hours more each night.” “Indecent” begins in 1906 and follows a series of theater troupes, all led by stage manager Lemml, as they perform “God of Vengeance” across Europe, and later the United States, during the early and mid-1900s. In between performances over the years, the troupes grapple with the play’s complicated legacy and impact on their lives: whether sex work should be represented and spotlighted in Jewish characters; the love story of two women that exists on and off stage; and the dangerous consequences of performing the taboo play both in the U.S. and in Nazi-occupied Europe. The Players Club production of “Indecent” features a cast of whom half are Jewish and a production crew that is almost entirely Jewish, according to actor Jeff Barg, who is Jewish and plays Lemml in the show. “The whole process, I think, has been emotional for us,” he said. “Because in 2023, there’s a lot of antisemitism in politics and in popular culture, and that makes a lot of lines in the show hit harder than they otherwise might.” On Jan. 5, Florida’s Duval County Public Schools offi cials told performers at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, that they could not continue with their produc- tion of “Indecent,” JTA.org reported. Last year, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education — or “Don’t Say Gay” — Law. The Players Club production of “Indecent” will be performed to mostly a non-Jewish audience and will rely on universal themes to have the play’s message hit home. “The theater is willing to take on work that is more challenging,” Barg said. “No matter what background people are coming to the show with, there’s still a lot of joy in coming together and performing.” Though the themes of lightness and darkness and what it means to be American or a minority can strike a chord with most audience members who walk through the theater’s doors, the specifi cs of the play, personal to the lives of a theater troupe’s Jewish cast and crew, make “Indecent” a once-in- a-lifetime experience for them. “The way that Jewish tradition encourages [us] to wrestle with our angels,” Seymour said, “‘Indecent’ gives its characters a chance to wrestle with what it means to be Jewish, what it means to be queer, to be in love, to be American, to face the horrors of injustice, and throughout it all, how to tell a story that allows us to be all that and more.” For more information about the show, visit pcstheater.org/main-stage/ indecent. ■ Decidedly Different. 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Sign up today at: jewishexponent.com/econfirmation/ srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 9 LIGHTING UP GREATER PHILADELPHIA H A N U K K A H 2 0 2 2 C E L E B R A T I O N R E C A P From candle lighting and prayer to concerts and laser light shows, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia ensured a memorable Hanukkah for all. Throughout the holiday, the Jewish Federation’s various departments, including the neighborhood Kehillot, NextGen and the Jewish Community Relations Council, hosted a number of events to bring the community together and celebrate the Festival of Lights. “It was deeply moving to see how people of all different demographics and backgrounds turned out - in frigid temperatures, no less - to support one another and the community as a whole,” said Max Moline, the Jewish Federation’s director of Community Development. “Collectively, Collectively, the Greater Philadelphia Jewish community showed once again that we are all committed to igniting and carrying the light.” Overall, more than 1,000 community members participated in the Hanukkah programs hosted by the Kehillot, a neighborhood initiative of the Jewish Federation to create vibrant communities throughout Greater Philadelphia. On December 17, the Old York Road Kehillah hosted a Hanukkah laser light show. Nearly 460 people came out to see the dazzling show,presented by Wondergy, at Congregation Beth Sholom. The Buxmont Kehillah hosted an event at the Horsham Center for Jewish Life on December 18, where around 150 community members and residents celebrated the first night of Hanukkah with singing, stories and candle lighting. The children’s choir of Darchei Noam synagogue, along with Hazzan Arlyne Unger, gave a special performance of Jewish and Hanukkah themed songs. Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Catholic School basketball team also attended and handed out goody bags at the end of the program. More than 160 people welcomed the second night of Hanukkah with the Bucks County Kehillah at Shady Brook Farm on December 19. The evening was filled with crafts, candle lighting, music and donuts. The Lower Merion Kehillah brought in Hanukkah at the Narberth train station on December 19. Around 50 people gathered to celebrate with blessings, songs, sufganiyot (jelly donuts). The Center City Kehillah commemorated the third night of Hanukkah with a joyous and meaningful candle lighting at Rittenhouse Square Park. The event brought out more than 100 people on December 20. After the candle lighting, the Jewish Federation’s NextGen and other young professional groups met for drinks at Misconduct. On December 21, the Northeast Kehillah hosted an event at House of Kosher with over 125 members of the community. Participants enjoyed an evening of candle lighting, latkes, donuts and live music by Ken Ulansey. See the full roundup at jewishphilly.org/celebrate. Want to get involved in Jewish life within your community? Contact Director of Community Development Max Moline at mmoline@jewishphilly.org 10 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT YOU SHOULD KNOW ... Jennifer Anolik Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer Courtesy of Moving Traditions J ewish teens today are going through a lot, Jennifer Anolik, fellowship director for Kol Koleinu at Moving Traditions, an Elkins Park-based nonprofit instilling feminist and Jewish values in young people, has observed. Students are navigating a pandemic, schoolwork and sometimes an additional job, Anolik learned. They are concerned with environmental justice, reproductive rights, rising antisemitism and whether they or a loved one will be a victim of a hate crime because of their gender, sexual- ity, race or religion. As fellowship director of Kol Koleinu, a yearlong, nationwide program for Jewish teens, particularly women and nonbinary teens, interested in feminist change-making, Anolik helps the fellows navigate and address these issues through the lens of Moving Traditions’ values of sheimut, personal well being; hesed, caring relationships; and tzedek, justice. By the end of the year, Kol Koleinu fellows design a project to address an issue they deem important. “We teach them transferable skills,” Anolik said. “The experience of creating a social change project that’s part of the fellowship is both an experi- ence where they get to make change in their communities, but also where they get to reflect on that experience, and build skills like partnership: How do we work together to create change? They also build skills of self-care: How do I take care of myself?” Kol Koleinu also builds critical thinking skills and encourages fellows to think about community support. As a Moving Traditions leader for more than seven years and Kol Koleinu fellowship director since 2019, Anolik, a Northern Liberties resident, has done more than guide the next generation of impact-making Jews. The 34-year-old has also experienced her transforma- tion as a Jewish feminist, learning from the teens she’s guided over the years about the “sacredness of community,” self-advocacy and the Jewish value of disagreement. “[I’m] incredibly honored to be able to help teens be able to build those skills so much earlier in life than I did,” she said. Before leading the Kol Koleinu fellow- ship, Anolik rebooted and led Moving Traditions’ Rosh Hodesh program for eighth-10th graders — a small groups mentorship program focused on “helping teens build social and emotional skills, cultivate healthy relationships and build within a Jewish community,” Anolik described. She has continued to lead her Rosh Hodesh group in the Philadelphia suburbs for about six years. Over time, Moving Traditions wanted to enact programs with a greater social change component. Other organiza- tions, such as NFTY: The Reform Jewish Youth Movement, had Kol Isha, a group program that looked at Jewish values and issues through the lens of gender and feminism. Moving Traditions, in collaboration with Union for Reform Judaism and United Synagogue Youth, created Kol Koleinu to fulfill a similar purpose in 2018. Anolik stepped in as fellowship director a year later. Before joining Moving Traditions, Anolik received her bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Though Anolik views her Jewish upbringing as different from that of today’s teens, her connection to her paternal grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, is largely what inspired her to work with young Jews. Born in what was then Czechoslovakia, Erna Anolik grew up in a large family and right before graduating high school in 1944, was sent to a lumberyard, where Nazis kept the town’s Jewish popula- tion for several weeks until they were deported to Auschwitz. By luck, Erna and one of her sisters were sent with 600 other Jewish women to a concen- tration camp in Essen, Germany, where they were forced laborers. The sisters helped each other survive the cold and treacherous conditions and, with the help of a German gentile in a nearby town, were able to escape during a bombing raid and hide at a cemetery three miles away, before staying with the man who helped rescue them. The rest of their family died in the Shoah. Erna later testified in the Nuremberg Trials — in English — at age 21. “I think about her journey often. I think about how she taught me about resil- ience, and how resilience is an incred- ible mindset that I want to impart to the teens that I work with,” Anolik said. “Even though she faced tremendous hardship, it was possible for her to build a life of joy and meaning and for her to be connected so deeply with Judaism.” Anolik’s goal at Moving Traditions is to meditate on and address what “never again” really means. Beyond sharing the stories of survi- vors, “never again” means fostering Jewish pride, standing up against all forms of discrimination and building coalitions with groups outside of the Jewish community — skills that Moving Traditions helps to instill. “We can choose to learn from our own hard experiences and to learn from the experience of our ancestors in order to make ourselves stronger,” Anolik said. ■ srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 11 editorials T he tumultuous process of the Republican Party’s eff ort to elect Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives played out like a slow-motion car crash on a NASCAR racetrack. In a voting ritual that had largely been pro-forma for more than a century — with the party holding the majority of seats in the chamber anointing that party’s consensus choice for the speaker position — a group of hard-right Republican dissidents refused to go along with the majority. Many predicted that the holdouts would relent after a couple of rounds of voting. But that’s not what happened. Late on Jan. 6, after an unprecedented 15 rounds, the ordeal fi nally ended. McCarthy got his majority vote. But the victory came at a price. In addition to the very public revelation of the dysfunctionality of the Republican Party in what should have been a celebratory elevation of one of its leaders, McCarthy was forced to give in to the holdouts on several of the group’s governance and process demands. Those bucking the system were made up primarily of members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. Some holdouts had a score to settle with McCarthy and refused to support his candidacy under any conditions. Others demanded a long list of procedural and operational concessions for the conduct of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is sworn in on Jan. 7. business in the House, which would elevate their infl uence notwithstanding their relatively small numbers and enable them to pursue their agenda without many of the limitations built into past practice. We are concerned that some of McCarthy’s forced concessions could gum up the administrative process in the House and unnecessarily interfere with the orderly operation of important legislative work in the chamber. But there is one concession relating to an expansion of legislative and appropriations opportunities in the House that could benefi t a wide cross-section of House members. Over the last couple of decades, we have seen a signifi cant consolidation of power by House leadership on both sides of the aisle. It began when Republicans were in power in the 1990s and has continued until now. Under this approach, majority and minority leaders in the House exert signifi cant control over rulemaking, the legislative process and the appropriations process. Those not in leadership have little opportunity for input, as many bills and related appropriations decisions are not routinely run through a comprehensive committee process. The holdout group insisted on changes that will decentralize control in the House and open opportunities for a more democratic process, including a more open use of the committee process. McCarthy reluctantly agreed. We recognize that the House Freedom Caucus has a wholly unappealing agenda. We oppose their eff orts to cause chaos in the House. We oppose their eff ort to force a default on the national debt. We oppose virtually everything the group stands for and is trying to accomplish. But some of the governance changes they have demanded could lead to favorable results for rank-and-fi le members in the House — and that could be a good thing. ■ Fulfi lling a Campaign Promise P oliticians like to show voters that they’re living up to their campaign promises. But smart politicians know that governing requires more than pleasing the faithful. When Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, toured Jerusalem’s Temple Mount last week, he fulfi lled a long-standing promise to his far-right supporters. But in doing so, he prompted both expected and less-expected reactions. To his credit, Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount without an advance announcement and did so early in the morning when the holy site was not crowded with the Muslim faithful. He visited with only a small entourage and left after 15 minutes. In the circumstances, the visit was surprisingly restrained for someone regularly described as a “right-wing provocateur.” Thus far, the visit has not prompted a mass backlash from Arab worshippers, similar to the one following the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s more theatrical visit in 2000. Still, there have been predictable international diplomatic reactions. Thus, it was not surprising that Israel’s regional peace partners, new Abraham 12 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Accords signees and potential peace or accord partners, along with the Palestinians, condemned the visit. The United States — following the Biden administration’s promise to judge the new Israeli government not by the makeup of its members but by the actions it takes — issued guarded criticism, calling the move “unacceptable” and urging Israel not to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, which currently allows Jews to visit there but not to pray. In response, newly reinstalled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured critics that there will be no change in the status quo. All of that was largely predictable. What was less predictable were the public, heated reactions of Ben-Gvir’s Haredi Orthodox coalition partners (who together hold 18 seats in the 64-member coalition), who in what appeared to be an orchestrated response criticized the Temple Mount visit in very direct terms. In Yated Ne’eman, the United Torah Judaism’s party newspaper, the visit was criticized as “unnecessary and dangerous provocation” that places the lives of Israel’s Jewish citizens at risk. The front-page article went on to accuse Ben-Gvir of “upsetting the Arab world, angering the world and drawing strong American condemnation.” Similar condemnations were issued by Haredi rabbis and politicians. What drives such criticism is the belief that it is contrary to Jewish law for Jews to visit the Temple Mount. Thus, as stated in the Shas newspaper HaDerech, it “is a duty to protest actions that are prohibited and contrary to halachah, certainly when it comes to the Temple Mount, which has been prohibited by all the adjudicators in all generations.” The proper approach to the undisputed religious sanctity of the Temple Mount is a matter of longstanding debate between the Haredi Orthodox and religious Zionist Jews — particularly regarding the propriety of Jewish prayer at the site. That dispute has now been brought out in the open. The next steps by Ben-Gvir and his supporters need to be watched very carefully. ■ Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom Decentralization of Power in Congress opinions & letters The Pope Benedict I Knew: A Keeper of His Faith With a Deep Respect for Judaism Rabbi David Rosen Rvin88derivative work: Jüppsche, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons I was fi rst introduced to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI, in the late 1980s when he was visiting Jerusalem. Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, was eager for me to meet with the cardinal, telling me that I would discover a very diff erent person from the image portrayed in the general media. He was so correct. That image was in no small part the result of Pope John Paul II having made him the head of the Vatican Offi ce for Doctrine and Faith, to enforce orthodox Catholic teaching. In addition, the fact that Ratzinger was a shy man with a professorial background and attitude often led people to see him as aloof and even cold. He could not have been more diff erent. I discovered a man of warmth and humor whose company was enjoy- able and stimulating. Most signifi cant for me was the discovery of the depth of his respect for Judaism and the Jewish people, something that always impressed me in the course of more than a dozen encounters with him when he was Pope, most of which were in my capacity as the American Jewish Committee’s interna- tional director of interreligious aff airs. He always reiterated his commitment to continuing the path of his predecessor in advancing Catholic- Jewish relations, and he highlighted the unique relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Benedict XVI, who died Dec. 31 at age 95, was the fi rst pope to ever invite Jewish leaders both to the funeral of a pontiff , and above all, to the celebration of his own coronation at which I was privileged to be one of those present. Already during the fi rst year of his pontifi cate, he received many Jewish delegations and notable individ- uals, including the chief rabbis of Israel and the chief rabbi of Rome. In receiving the latter, he declared, “The Catholic Church is close and is a friend to you. Yes, we love you and we cannot but love you, because of the Fathers: through them, you are very dear and beloved brothers to us.” The last time I met him personally was well after he had demonstrated his genuine and impressive humility in stepping down as pontiff and devoting himself to study and prayer. I visited him at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican gardens. While he was physi- cally weak his mind was still lucid. We spoke in particular about the positive treatment of the Jewish scriptures in the work of the Pontifi cal Pope Benedict XVI performs a blessing during the canonization mass in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Oct. 12, 2008. Theological Commission that dealt with this subject, and which was published under his imprimatur. At that time, I recalled our fi rst conversation in Jerusalem when he said to me, “Your duty as a believing Jew is to be true to Torah, and everything that is holy for you must have theological meaning for us.” I said to him, “You know there are many of us who see religious signifi cance in the return of the Jewish people to its homeland.” “Of course, I know,” he replied. “We must also view it as a sign of God’s fi delity to His covenant with the Jewish people that has sustained you, even if we cannot attribute to it the same theological meaning as you might.” Cardinal Ratzinger was a member of the papal commission that ratifi ed the Fundamental Agreement between the state of Israel and the Holy See, establish- ing full diplomatic relations between the two. It was my great privilege to have been part of the Israeli negotiat- ing team that concluded that agreement. One of Ratzinger’s closest Israeli friends, the late professor Zvi Werblovsky of Hebrew University, told me that the cardinal phoned him from Rome to express his joy and congratulations on the agreement, declar- ing it to be a fulfi llment of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council declaration of 1965 that revolutionized the Church’s teaching and approach toward Jews and Judaism. During Benedict’s papacy a couple of serious crises in Jewish-Christian relations emerged relating to the Society of Saint Pius XII and to the wider provision of the Latin Mass and its text. These crises, as much a result of church governance mismanagement as anything else, were followed by clarifi cations that emphasized the Vatican’s commitment to Nostra Aetate; its unqualifi ed rejection of antisemitism as a sin against God and man, and a complete disavowal of proselytization of Jews. Unfortunately, they still did not completely repair the damage to Benedict XVI’s papacy. Nevertheless, Benedict explicitly and sincerely strove to continue to advance the paths of his predecessor, especially regarding the relationship between the Church and the Jewish People. In repeating his predecessor’s dramatic gestures of going to the great synagogue in Rome; of paying homage in Auschwitz to the victims of the Holocaust, and of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he paid respects to the state of Israel’s highest national civic and religious authorities, Pope Benedict institutionalized such steps, demonstrating the sincerity of Catholic- Jewish reconciliation for the Church as a whole. ■ Rabbi David Rosen, former chief rabbi of Ireland, is the American Jewish Committee’s international director of interreligious aff airs. letters Ways to Support Israel I would like to strongly disagree with Jonathan Tobin’s assertion in the Jan. 5 edition of the Exponent (“Can US Jews Love the Real Israel or Only the Fantasy Version?”) that we should support Israel’s new gov- ernment under virtually any circumstances. My father left his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to fi ght in the Israeli army during the War for Independence. I’ve been a member of a Conservative synagogue my entire life, and I read Torah better than 95% of the boychiks in any of the haredi shuls in Israel. Why exactly should I support a government where half of its MPs don’t think I’m Jewish? There are innumerable ways to support Israel without supporting a government that has no regard for democratic principles. To quote my father recently when describing the political situation in Israel, “This isn’t what I went to Israel to fi ght for.” ■ David I. Schutzman, Philadelphia SEND US LETTERS 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 publi- cation. Please include your fi rst and last name, as well your town/neigh- borhood of residence. Send letters to letters@jewishexponent.com. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 13 opinion Israel’s New Government Is Precisely What You’ve Heard A Michael J. Koplow couple of days before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu began his third stint as prime minister, his new double-hatted finance minister and minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal purporting to explain the new government’s motivations. Entitled “Israel’s New Government Isn’t What You’ve Heard,” Smotrich’s aim was to disabuse Americans of the notion that the new Israeli govern- ment is out to fundamentally transform the state and its institutions in ways that may look nefarious from this side of the ocean. In fact, according to Smotrich, the intention of the new government is not to scare Americans, but to emulate them by pursuing a classi- cally liberal agenda of freedom of conscience, free markets, individual rights, and checks and balances directly drawn from the liberal American model. For years, Israelis have told Americans that we have unrealistic expectations that they conform to our democratic model and liberal practices, and lo and behold the paragon of religious nationalist Israeli politics is apparently now on our side! Yet before anyone anoints Smotrich as a modern- day Israeli combination of John Locke and Oliver Wendell Holmes, a bit of perspective is in order. Smotrich’s tendentious op-ed is indeed an Israeli message to Americans, but it is an old one rather than a new one. It continues the dubious Israeli Sallah Shabati tradition of assuming that most Americans don’t know enough to challenge Israeli claims that stretch the truth to absurd proportions. Smotrich has hit upon a clever trick of appealing to notions of American exceptionalism and pretending that Israel wants to be like us, understanding that the key to getting Americans to begin defending unprecedented Israeli behavior will be to do the very thing that Israelis admonish Americans for doing by creating false equivalencies between here and there. In this case, however, Smotrich either does not understand the American system, is deliberately misrepresenting his own plans and policies, or both. Take the paragraph on religion and state. Smotrich locates the new government’s plans in a fundamen- tal American axiom of religious freedom, writing that the only thing being sought is to prevent religious Israelis from being punished for their beliefs without coercing secular Israelis into having to abide by religious dictates. This sounds compelling, and Smotrich claims it is no different than recent U.S. 14 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Supreme Court jurisprudence on religious freedom. Naturally, Smotrich elides that, unlike the U.S. with its separation of church and state, Israel’s system is one where state and religion are deliberately inter- twined, and thus the government is able to impose all manner of religious strictures in ways that make any comparison to American legal principles absurd. But where he truly misleads is in his description of what the government wants to do. The new coali- tion is not interested in preventing religious Israelis from being punished for their beliefs; it is interested in preventing this for only some religious Israelis. If you are a religious Israeli who believes, for instance, that you have the right to take a Torah scroll to the women’s section of the Western Wall, you are out of luck. The new coalition is also not interested in legislating greater freedom of religious expression without coercing secular Israelis, unless your version of non-coercion includes building neighborhoods that can exclude non-haredi and non-Orthodox Jews by law or forcing secular Israelis to sit in even more endless traffic jams because no state-funded public works projects can be operational on Saturdays. But where Smotrich’s op-ed is at its most dissem- bling is in its discussion of Palestinians and the West Bank. The main problem is not, as Smotrich writes, that “a feckless military government lacks the civil-service orientation required for governing civil life.” The problem is that temporary military occupations lack the orientation required to sustain themselves for over half a century, and that keeping 85% of the population living there in a situation of permanent statelessness and with no path to citizen- ship and political rights does not meet any conceiv- able definition of civil life. Smotrich knows full well that Israel will not, as he claims, develop the area for the benefit of all, partic- ularly when the very next paragraph is devoted to complaints about a Palestinian takeover of Area C, which is the 60% of the West Bank over which he has jurisdiction in his new position in the Defense Ministry. Saying that you intend to promote Jewish rights and development while curtailing the same for Palestinians will not comport with American sensi- bilities, and thus Smotrich prepares a word salad of “efficient service” and “individual rights” without saying that he intends this only for Israelis but also without explicitly saying that he intends to apply these standards equally to Israelis and Palestinians. There is, however, one spot where Smotrich is blatantly dishonest, which is in his pledge that his proposed set of reforms “doesn’t entail changing the political or legal status of the area.” Say what you will about U.S. policies around the globe, but whether it is Iraq, Afghanistan, or Guantanamo, the U.S. is clear that it will not annex the extra-territorial spots that it militarily occupies, and it governs them under military administration. Smotrich understands that if he is arguing that Israel is simply trying to emulate the U.S., he has to talk about rights and benefits rather than about annexation and sovereignty. But this is where his stretching the bounds of credulity actually breaks them. The coalition agreement between Likud and Smotrich’s Religious Zionism calls for Israeli settle- ment outposts that are illegal under Israeli law to be retroactively legalized, which certainly qualifies as changing the legal status of areas in the West Bank. It calls for applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, which certainly qualifies as changing both the polit- ical and legal status of the West Bank. It calls for repealing the 2005 disengagement law that made it illegal for Israelis to enter four evacuated settle- ments in the northern West Bank — one of which, Homesh, the new government this week announced its intention to legalize immediately despite the fact that it was built on private Palestinian land — which again qualifies as changing the legal status of areas in the West Bank. Perhaps Smotrich justifies this line because he genuinely views the West Bank as terri- tory that already rightly and legally belongs to Israel, and thus these moves would not change any political or legal status. But by any reasonable and objective definition, he is outright lying, and thinks that he is doing it in a way that is savvy enough to fool all of us gullible English speakers, who don’t know any better. Smotrich has no intention of “bringing Israel more closely in line with the liberal American model,” as he writes, but is looking to craft a new and distinctly Israeli model. It is a model that prioritizes Jewish supremacy, religious observance, and Greater Israel territorial maximalism. As an Israeli minister elected by the Israeli people, he can pursue whatever policies he pleases, but nobody should mistake them as an effort to bring Israel in line with the American political and legal tradition. That he does not want to admit that when addressing American audiences, and instead believes that he needs to dress up his wolf in sheep’s clothing, says more about him than it does about us. ■ Michael Koplow is Israel Policy Forum’s chief policy officer, based in Washington, D.C. This op-ed was originally published by Israel Policy Forum. opinion Netanyahu, now is the best time to act David M. Weinberg T he unjustifi ed wild reaction to Minster of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir’s important 13-minute ascent to the Temple Mount last week tells us one thing: The world holds Israel and especially Israel’s new government in complete contempt. It thinks it can dictate to Israel how it should administer the holiest place (to Jews) in the world, how it should defi ne who is a Jew, where Israelis should and should not live or “settle,” when the Israeli police and army can open fi re against terrorists and more. The world is going to object to almost every policy for which the new Israeli government was elected. My conclusion: Strike while the iron is hot. The new government should move swiftly to make its most important changes while Israeli Minster of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir it is still relatively united, and the world is still reeling. A chorus of international condemnations will follow in any case, and Israel might as well plow through this onslaught in a concentrated fashion. Justice Minister Yariv Levin has set out on this exact path by introducing a cluster of legal reforms that in one fell swoop will properly realign the balance of power between the judiciary, legislature and government. Not everything he is pushing is perfectly wise nor will it pass Knesset exactly as tabled. (For example, a 61-vote Supreme Court override is an overreach; On the immediate agenda is a proposal to expand 70-plus votes would be wiser.) But changing the way justices are selected and canceling the ability of the access for Jews to the Temple Mount. Currently, Supreme Court to super-subjectively and on a whim Jews are allowed to visit only Sunday through strike down Knesset legislation as “unreasonable” or Thursday for a few hours each morning under tight “unbalanced” is long overdue. No other country in and often-abusive Waqf supervision and to enter the world has a Supreme Court so imperious. Israel via only one of the nine gates leading into the Mount. (That is the Moghrabi Gate, whose decrepit should implement its legal reforms as it sees fi t. Additionally, change in the way the Temple Mount and rickety access bridge needs to be completely is administered is long overdue. The so-called rebuilt, despite Jordanian objections.) Israel should “status quo,” which was put in place after the Six-Day roll back these restrictions and revert to the War when Jews and Christians almost always had “status quo.” And while on the subject, I’ll add that I strongly access to the holy Mount without restrictions on days and hours just like Muslims, is long dead, oppose any thought of interfering with Muslim killed by Palestinian and Islamic violence, seditious worship at the mosque on the Temple Mount. But sermonizing and infuriating denialism, outrageous that does not mean that Jewish rights at the site archaeological crimes, Waqf administrative should be delegitimized, denigrated and dismissed, aggression and pugnacious Jordanian mission creep. or that the Waqf can wreak its apocalyptic war against Israel without restraint. I also oppose all extremists, but Ben-Gvir did not violate any status quo by visiting the Temple Mount. Previous Israeli ministers of public security visited the Temple Mount, too. And if the Jordanian and British crown princes and the Turkish foreign minister can visit the Temple Mount without interference, so should any Israeli offi cial, rabbi or offi cer be able to do so. Any Western spokesman who repeats the modern-day blood libel about Israelis “violating” a Muslim holy site or “storming the Noble Sanctuary” is baiting and justifying Palestinian violence. In a completely diff erent direction, reform of the Israeli educational system is urgent. This begins with rolling back the illogical cuts in mandatory high school studies of the humanities and Jewish history that were announced by the terrible previous Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton. It continues with a restructuring of the funding system so that school principals have more latitude in hiring and fi ring teachers and in choosing extracurricular activities. In the economic sphere, resolute action is necessary to end the outrageous tax burden on small and mid-sized Israeli businesses, which pay 23% in tax, while high-tech fi rms get a gazillion tax breaks leading to an eff ective tax rate of only 13%. Small companies and big high-tech fi rms should both be paying taxes of about 17-20%, no more and no less. The Israeli left wing and ultra-liberals abroad already are screaming that the legal reforms to balance power “will bring about the end of democracy,” that the lifting of the Temple Mount restrictions “will bring about regional war,” but all this is simply not true. Israel’s best course of action would be to plow through the overwrought criticism and implement policy change with dispatch. What doesn’t get done in the next six-12 months will get bogged down in internecine squabbling or be impeded by accumulated foreign pressure. ■ Photo by David Danberg / CC BY-SA 3.0hide terms Israel should implement policy change in a concentrated fashion and plow through the chorus of international criticism. David M. Weinberg is a senior fellow at the Kohelet Forum and Habithonistim: Israel’s Defense and Security Forum. Originally published by Israel Hayom. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 15 opinion N Paula Joffe Nothing compares to a trip to Israel to help provide perspective on where you want to be now. So when I returned from a recent visit, I realized that the time was right for retire- ment. People’s inevitable response when I tell them this is, “So you’re moving there?” No, I answer. I can do so much more for Israel and the Jewish people from here. In Israel, middle- and high school-age children are not likely to tell you that their classmates draw swastikas on the bathroom walls and make jokes such as “why don’t Jews like dolphins? Because they are scared when you say ‘a-dolph.’” (These are actual incidents that occurred in our region.) Antisemitism is part of the Diaspora. It is spread by virulent groups on the left and the right, together with misinformation and demonization of Israel and Zionism. In the 3½ years that I served as the executive director of StandWithUs Mid-Atlantic, I’m most surprised at the depth of this hatred — especially as it appears in educa- tional institutions. Middle school, high school and college students are faced with having to battle anti-Israel/ anti-Jewish agendas only to sometimes encounter resis- tance from teachers and administrators to take action. How did this phenomenon happen? I never experi- enced this; neither did my children. But it has turbo- charged us into action, including the formation of StandWithUs in 2001. I was lucky to join this organization that has so many mechanisms and tools already in place. My phone rang almost nonstop with people who needed help. Many, despite their educational levels, had never experienced this kind of hatred and were lost on how to respond. Using SWU resources, we gave real solutions to real people with real problems. Their relief was palpable. I was especially gratified when callers were able to use the information and guidance we gave them to coura- geously tackle the problem on their own. Sometimes, unfortunately, there are less satisfac- tory outcomes, and that was the most dismaying. For example, at Johns Hopkins University, a teaching assis- tant in the chemistry department tweeted a poll asking whether she should give Zionists lower grades. The StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department and Center for Combating Antisemitism wrote multiple letters to the administration, worked with partner groups and community members and generated ample publicity. 16 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT While the administration said it opened an investiga- tion, it did not publicly condemn the TA’s actions. But there is hope because of the dedication and creativity of our students and activists. SWU has a college Emerson Fellowship and Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship. Both programs select and train student leaders from hundreds of schools on how to fight antisemitism and educate about Israel in their schools and communities. They work closely with our campus and high school regional managers. Drexel University’s Emerson fellow devised, “Spread Cheese, Not Hate.” If a student signed up to help fight antisemitism, they got a bagel and cream cheese. More than 300 students said yes! In Baltimore, the Park School was implementing a series of reforms, including to its “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” initiatives due to pressure from a group that denounced Jews as “parasites,” “wealth-hoarding” and “Zionists.” Working with the Mid-Atlantic regional high school manager, the Leventhal intern got the administration to agree to a school-wide assembly with SWU educator Hussein Aboubakr, who spoke about the real-world consequences of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. I’m so proud of this intern and the courage it took for a 16-year-old to stand up to this. A supporter who saw SWU’s meme about the Australian government rescinding its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was so outraged that he called me to take action. Together with activists on the ground in Australia, we took an ad in The Australian, the nation’s highest-cir- culation newspaper. It reminded readers that “Jerusalem was the capital of Israel when Australia’s only inhabitants were the indigenous people of the land.” SWU’s new Holocaust Education Center made a presen- tation to 200 eighth-graders at a predominately African- American charter school in Philadelphia. The lesson began in Namibia, where Germany carried out the 20th century’s first genocide, and also explained that Hitler targeted and murdered Black people even as he planned and executed the ethnic cleansing of the Jews in Europe. Sitting at home, people toured Israel through SWU’s “Discover Israel” live and interactive tours. The Baltimore Zionist District partnered with us on five such trips, including a strategic tour of the border. Many synagogues in the Greater Philadelphia area also enjoyed being in Israel remotely. I am proud of the SWU Mid-Atlantic gala this year, “Athletes Against Antisemitism.” In conversations with college coaches, I realized the reach and impact of collegiate athletes as “influencers” not only is influential at their schools but continues when they leave to become professional athletes, business and/or community leaders. Getting them to realize the truth and beauty of Israel and pass that message to others is very powerful in battling antisemitism. One person who really understands this is the gala’s keynote speaker, Bruce Pearl, head coach of the Auburn University men’s basketball program. He took the team to Israel not just to play ball but to learn about the country. I was thrilled that he made our event his first stop upon returning. The gala was well-attended and memorable. The event’s panel discussion was moderated by former Philadelphia 76ers play-by-play announcer Marc Zumoff. Temple University’s Sasha Westrick explained that she quit the crew team and eventually left her univer- sity because, among other assaults, her teammate took a photo of her and posted it on Snapchat with the caption “I Hate Jews.” Her coach’s reaction to this antisemitic post was to disregard it and call it a “lie.” How many more “lies” do we tolerate? It is incumbent upon us to know the issues and gain knowledge of how to best respond to them. I’ve learned that it’s important that each of us is actively engaged in finding solutions. Get to know your local school board members and elected officials. Use the resources of organizations including StandWithUs, sign their petitions and join their campaigns. Bring speakers to your communities and help educate. Even in retirement, I won’t stop working on behalf of Israel and the Jewish community. Oh, and in my spare time, I am learning Hebrew. L’hitraot! ■ Paula Joffe served as the StandWithUs Mid-Atlantic executive director until her retirement in 2022. Roman / AdobeStock To Israel and the Decision to Retire nation / world Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network Names New Executive Director The Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network announced that it named Neil Spears as its new executive director. The organization provides philan- thropic support, mentoring and other skills to organizations, foundations and individuals to advance and support the international Jewish LGBTQ commu- nity. Members have the opportunity to engage in leadership and advancement Neil Spears in education, networking and giving. Spears most recently served as executive director of the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center. He is a Schusterman Senior Fellow, an alumnus of Leading Edge’s CEO Onboarding Program, a recipient of JQ International’s Inspiration Award and serves on the board of JQ International, a nonprofi t that promotes community, education and support services for LGBTQ Jews. He is also a regular participant at SVARA’s Queer Talmud Camp. "Neil is the ideal candidate to maximize the already considerable impact of the Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network,” said founder Stuart Kurlander of Washington, D.C., a member of the ownership group of Mid-Atlantic Media, publisher of the Jewish Exponent, “to drive grant-making opportunities and to signifi cantly grow partnerships with well-established philanthropists that will meaningfully impact the lives of LGBTQ Jews and enhance their roles in the broader Jewish community.” 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 610-551-3105 Judge Slashes Charlottesville Penalties by 90% The judge in the civil case brought against the organizers of the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in the death of a protester, has slashed the penalties awarded to the victims, JTA.org reported. Victims in the case, brought by two Jewish attorneys who have made it their mission to hit neo-Nazis in their bank accounts, are entitled to $2.35 million, not the $26 million that a jury awarded, Judge Norman Moon ruled on Jan. 3. Moon’s ruling was expected because he hewed to a Virginia law that caps punitive damages at $350,000, The Washington Post reported. The jury in the case, which wrapped up in November 2021, had awarded $24 million in punitive damages. Moon left in place $2 million in compensatory damages meant to replace lost wages and other expenses associated with being a victim, bringing the total owed to the victims to $2.35 million. Courtesy of the Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network Romanian City Council Votes Down Plan to Remove Bust of Pro-Nazi Government Offi cial Watchdogs in Romania slammed an administrative unit of Bucharest’s city coun- cil for refusing to dismantle a bust honoring Mircea Vulcanescu, who served as a fi nance minister in the country’s pro-Nazi government during World War II, JTA. org reported. On Dec. 28, Sector 2 of the city council voted down a resolution to remove the monument from Saint Stefan park in the Romanian capital. The resolution, which attracted national attention, was initiated by a local councilor from the center-right National Liberal Party and failed to be adopted as a majority of councilors abstained. Parliament member Antonio Andrusceac, of the far-right and nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians party, was present at the vote and accused the Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania — a public institution that has long championed the removal of monuments honoring Nazi fi gures and collaborators — of “rewriting Romanian history and demolishing the cult of its heroes and martyrs." ■ — Compiled by Andy Gotlieb JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 17 David I. Klein | JTA.org IZMIR, Turkey — Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has been a popular tourist destination for both Jewish travelers and others interested in Jewish history. The Nazis left many of the city’s synagogues and Jewish sites relatively intact, intending to showcase them as remnants of an extinct culture — and that allows the Czech capital to provide an uncommon look into the pre-war infrastructure of Ashkenazi Europe. Could Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, become a Sephardic counterpart, in terms of history and tourism? That’s the goal for Nesim Bencoya, director of the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project. The city, once known in Greek as Smyrna, has had a Jewish presence since antiquity, with early church documents mentioning Jews as far back as the In Turkey, a Festival Revives a Jewel of the Sephardic World and Aims to Break Stereotypes second century A.D. Like elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire, though, its community grew exponentially with the infl ux of Sephardic Jews who came after their expulsion from Spain. At its peak, the city was home to around 30,000 Jews and was the hometown of Jewish artists, writers and rabbis — from the esteemed Pallache and Algazii rabbinical families, to the musician Dario Marino, to the famously false messiah, Shabbetai Zevi, whose childhood home still stands in Izmir. Today, fewer than 1,300 remain. The establishment of the state of Israel, coupled with a century of economic and political upheaval, led to the immigration of the majority of Turkish Jewry. “From the 17th century, Izmir was a center for Sephardic Jewry,” said Bencoya. “We can’t recreate that, but we cannot forget that either.” Restorations of the Etz Hayyim Synagogue revealed a Hebrew inscription next to the Torah ark that reads “Makom Hashushvinin,” meaning “place of the groomsman.” Whether the specifi c area was used for weddings is unclear. 18 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Synagogues have been home to major events Bencoya, who is in his late 60s, was born in Izmir but spent most of his adult life in Israel, where he led the Haifa Cinematheque, but he returned to Izmir 13 years ago to helm the heritage project, which has worked to highlight the culture and history of Izmir’s Jewish community. During nine days in the month of December that included the week of Chanukah, thousands attended the annual Sephardic culture festival that he has organized since 2018. The festival included concerts of Jewish and Ladino music, traditional food tastings, lectures on Izmir’s Jewish community and — since it coincided with Chanukah and also a Shabbat — both a menorah-lighting ceremony and Havdalah ceremony were conducted with explanations from Izmir’s leading cantor, Nesim Beruchiel. This year’s festival marked a turning point: It was the fi rst in which organizers were able to show off several of the centuries-old synagogues that the project — with funding from the European Union and the local municipality — has been restoring. The synagogues, most of which are clustered around a street still called Havra Sokak (havra being the Turkish spelling of the Hebrew word chevra, meaning “group” or “congregation”) represent a piece of cultural heritage. Once upon a time, the street was the heart of the Jewish quarter or “Juderia,” but today, it is right in the middle of Izmir’s Kemeralti Bazaar — a bustling market district stretching more than 150 acres where almost anything can be bought and sold. On Havra Sokak, the merchants hock fresh fruits and, hopefully, fresher fi sh. One street to the south can be found all manner of leather goods; one to the north has markets for gold, silver and other precious metals; one to the west has coff ee shops. In between them all are other shops selling everything from crafts to tchotchkes to kitchenware to lingerie. Several mosques and a handful of churches dot the area, but the synagogues revive a distinct character of the district that had been all but lost. “The synagogues here were built under the light of Spain. But in Spain today, there are only two major historic synagogues, Toledo and Cordoba, and they are big ones. You don’t have smaller ones. Here we have six on one block, built with the memory of what was there by those who left Spain,” explained Bencoya. Those synagogues have been home to major events in Jewish history, such as when Shabbetei Zvi broke into Izmir’s Portuguese Synagogue one Sabbath morning, drove out his opponents and declared himself the messiah (he cultivated a large following, but was later imprisoned and forced to convert to Islam). The synagogue, known in Turkish as Portekez, was among those restored by the project. These days, only two of Izmir’s synagogues are in regular use by its Jewish community, but the others that were restored are now available as exhibition and event spaces. TOP: Izmir is located on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Photo by David I. Klein feature Nesim Bencoya speaks from his offi ce next to the restored Sinyora Synagogue in Izmir. Photo by David I. Klein ‘It’s good to remember these people and their roots’ Hosting the festival within Izmir’s synagogues has an additional purpose since the overwhelming majority of the attendees were not Jewish. “Most of the people who come to the festival have never been to a synagogue, maybe a small percentage of them have met a Jew once in their lives,” noted Bencoya. That’s particularly important in a country where antisemitic beliefs are far from uncommon. In a 2015 study by the Anti-Defamation League, 71% of respondents from Turkey believe in some antisemitic stereotypes. “This festival is not for Jewish people to know us, but for non-Jews,” said Bencoya. Now, “hundreds of Turkish Muslim people have come to see us, to listen to our holidays and taste what we do.” Kayra Ergen, a native of Izmir who attended a Ladino concert and menorah-lighting event at the end of the festival, said that until a year ago, he had no idea how Jewish Izmir once was. “I know that Anatolia is a multicultural land, and also Turkey is, but this religion — by which I mean Jewish people — left this place a long time ago because of many bad events. But it’s good to remember these people and their roots in Izmir,” he said. “This is so sad and lame to say out loud, but I didn’t know about this — that only 70 years ago, 60% of this area here in Konak [the district around Kemeralti] was Jewish. Today, I believe only 1,300 remain. This is not good. But we must do whatever we can, and this festival is a good example of showing the love between cultures.” “I think it’s good that we’re respecting each other in here,” said Zeynep Uslu, another native of Izmir. “A lot of diff erent cultures and a lot of diff erent people. It’s good that we’re together here celebrating something so special.” Izmir’s history as a home for minorities has not been all rosy. At the end of the Ottoman period, the city was around half Greek, a tenth Jewish and a tenth Armenian, while the remainder were Turkish Muslims and an assortment of foreigners. In the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 (remembered in Turkey as the Turkish War of Independence), the Greek and Armenian quarters of Izmir were burned to the ground after the Turkish army retook the city from the Greek forces, killing tens of thousands. A mass exodus of the survivors followed, but the Jewish and Muslim portions of the city were largely unharmed. Izmir is not the only city in Turkey that has seen its synagogues restored in recent years. Notable projects are being completed in Edirne, a city on the Turkish western border near Bulgaria; and Kilis, on its southeastern border near Syria. Unlike Izmir, though, no Jews remain in either of those cities today. Many have accused the project of being a tool for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government to assuage accusations of antisemitism without actually dealing with living Jews. Losing Ladino and a ‘quiet’ mindset Bencoya lamented that he is among the last generation for whom Ladino — the Judeo-Spanish language traditionally spoken by Sephardic Jews, but only spoken by tens of thousands today — was at least a part of his childhood. “When you lose language, it’s not only technical, it’s not only vocabulary, it’s a whole world and a way of thinking,” said Bencoya. The project is challenging a local Jewish mentality as well. Minority groups in Izmir, especially Jews, “have for a long time preferred not to be seen, not to be felt,” according to Bencoya. That mindset has been codifi ed in the Turkish Jewish community’s collective The Sephardic cultural festival included concerts of Jewish and Ladino music, traditional food tastings and lectures on Izmir’s Jewish community. psyche in the form of a Ladino word, kayedes, which means something along the lines of “shhh,” “be quiet,” or “keep your head down.” “This is the exact opposite that I want to do with this festival — to be felt, to raise awareness of my being,” said Bencoya. One way of doing that, he added, was having the festival refer to the community’s identity “as Yahudi and not Musevi!” Both are Turkish words that refer to Jews: the former having the same root as the English word Jew (the Hebrew word “Yehuda” or “Judea”) while the latter means “follower of Moses.” “Yahudi, Musevi, Ibrani [meaning Hebrew, in Turkish] — they all mean the same thing, but in Turkey, they say Musevi because it sounds nicer,” said Bencoya. “To Yahudi, there are a lot of negative superlatives — dirty Yahudi, fi lthy Yahudi, and this and that. So I insist on saying that I am Yahudi because people have a lot of pre-judgments about the name Yahudi. So if you have prejudgments about me, let’s open them and talk about them.” He added that “I am not so romantic that I can eliminate all antisemitism, but if I can eliminate some of the prejudgments, then I can live a little more at peace.” So far, he feels that the festival is a successful fi rst step. “The non-Jewish community of Izmir is fascinated,” said Bencoya. “If you look on Facebook and Instagram, they are talking about it ... they are fi ghting over tickets, which sell out almost immediately.” Now, he is only wondering how next year he will be able to fi t more people into the small and aged synagogues. “For Turkey,” he explained, the festival is very important because the country can only remain among the enlightened nations of the world “by being aware of the diff erences between groups of people, such as Jews, Christians, others and Muslims.” ■ The Bikur Holim Synagogue is one of the few still functioning in Izmir. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 19 food & dining Chicken soup What to Eat Linda Morel | Special to the JE T he dreaded fi nally happened — I got COVID. Two days later, my husband tested positive. We were baffl ed because we’d been more cautious than most people, masking long after others stopped, avoiding theaters and dining outdoors in restaurants so late in the season that our hands and food nearly froze. Fortunately, we caught what amounted to bad colds. At fi rst, David cooked for both of us. But I took over once his fever reached 100.2 degrees. I won’t kid you: Getting meals on the table with two of us down was tricky. I began by pulling leftovers from the freezer. I ordered meals from restau- rants. I whipped up simple things, such as melted cheese sandwiches and 20 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT scrambled eggs. But as I felt better, I realized it would be smart to prepare large quantities of easy recipes, so my eff orts would last for multiple meals. I simplifi ed old standards, such as chicken soup. I made salade niçoise from boxed lettuce and ingredients I had on hand. I threw together a delicious bowl of penne. Although I fully recovered after fi ve days, David’s case lasted a little longer. I learned several things while going through this ordeal. Even if you get bored with quarantining, fi ght the urge to make elaborate meals as your energy level will probably lag behind your ambitious, well-meaning desires. While experiencing the worst of COVID symptoms, prepare eff ort- less foods that require little cleanup. Think of sandwiches, canned soup or hummus and pita bread. But most importantly, if friends off er to cook for you — say yes! SHORTCUT CHICKEN SOUP | MEAT Serves 8-10 8 1 chicken breast halves pound bag of mini peeled carrots 1 package celery sticks, cut in half 1 small package of diced onion 1 pound baby potatoes, cut into halves or thirds 1 large parsnip, peeled and diced 5 bouillon cubes Salt to taste 1 teaspoon bottled parsley (from your spice rack) 1 teaspoon bottled dill (from your spice rack) ½ teaspoon garlic powder Place all the ingredients into a large pot. Cover the ingredients with enough water so they are submerged by two inches. Place a lid on the pot and bring to a boil on a high fl ame. Reduce the fl ame to medium-low and simmer for 2 hours. Stir often. If the broth is evapo- rating too quickly, lower the fl ame. Check toward the end to make sure there’s enough salt, and add some, if needed. Remove the chicken from the pot with a slotted spoon utensil. Cool the chicken to warm. Discard the skin and bones. With a fork or your fi ngers, shred the chicken and return it to the pot. Serve immediately, or refrigerate. After refrigeration, gently remove the fat with a soup spoon and discard. Heat the soup and serve. Sławomir Fajer / AdobeStock When COVID Hits Home? A SIMPLE RED SAUCE WITH GROUND TURKEY | MEAT Serves 6-8 28-ounce can whole tomatoes 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons 2 pounds ground turkey Kosher salt to taste 1 large onion, diced 5 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried basil 8-ounce can tomato sauce 1 pound penne Dice the tomatoes, preserving the liquid in the can and any that accumu- lates on the cutting board. Reserve. In a large, deep pot, heat 2 table- spoons of oil on a medium fl ame. Add the ground turkey in clumps. Lightly salt the turkey. Sauté until cooked through, breaking up large clumps with a utensil. Using a slotted spoon utensil, move the turkey to a bowl and reserve. Carefully pour out any liquid in the pot and discard. Drizzle 2 more tablespoons of oil into the pot and heat on a medium fl ame. Add the onion, garlic, basil and a bit more salt. Sauté briefl y until the onion and garlic are fragrant. Add the tomatoes, liquid and all. Pour in the 8-ounce can of tomato sauce. Return the turkey to the pot. Simmer for 30 minutes, until the sauce reduces and thickens slightly. As the sauce simmers, follow the directions on the box of penne. Drain the penne in a colander, and move it to a large pasta bowl. Ladle the sauce over the penne, and serve it immediately. SO EASY SALADE NIÇOISE | PAREVE Serves 6-8 5-ounce box of lettuce, any kind 2 hardboiled eggs, sliced 3 (7-ounce) cans of albacore tuna packed in water, drained 1½ teaspoons capers 16-ounce package cherry tomatoes 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced ⅓ cup black olives Kosher salt to taste Black pepper to taste ¼ teaspoon garlic powder 15 cooked or raw green beans, sliced, or another vegetable ½ onion, sliced thin ⅛ cup olive oil, or more if needed ⅛ cup red wine vinegar, or more if needed Note: If you’re going to serve this salad a little at a time, saving the rest for subsequent days, only dress as much salad as you’ll consume at the time. Place all the ingredients into a large salad bowl. With salad tossers, mix until well combined. Serve immediately. ■ Nominate someone for the class of 2023 Do you know someone who should be considered for the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame? We are looking for athletes, coaches, media personalities, or anyone closely involved in the Philadelphia sports scene for the Class of 2023. Visit www.PhillyJewishSports.org/Nominations to fill out the Nomination Form Questions: info@phillyjewishsports.org MING UPCO SECTION IAL SPEC Healthy Living January 26 gbh007 / iStock / Getty Images Plus This section offers businesses a superb platform to get in front of thousands of JE readers who are more interested in health care and self-care than ever before. Reach an affluent audience of 50,000 engaged readers with our print & digital magazine. Contact your sales consultant to schedule your advertising at 215-832-0700 ext. 2, advertising@jewishexponent.com Print | Digital | Red sauce with ground turkey JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 21 arts & culture ‘We Are Here’: Concert Featuring Holocaust Songs to Debut at Carnegie Hall Mike Wagenheim | JNS.org T 22 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT “We Are Here”: Songs from the Holocaust banner the music of the Holocaust, but when Ira started telling me what his mission was and about the music, it completely aligned with something that I was passionate about, interested in and already been researching,” explained Savenor, who had recently taught a course on Holocaust memoirs. “This form of resistance is something that really spoke to me. And it felt like something really sacred that we needed to commemorate.” That meant, for Antelis, that the concert was not to be held at Savenor’s synagogue — one of the largest in the United States — or at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Lower Manhattan. He was insistent that the event takes place at the famed Carnegie Hall in Midtown Manhattan, even if it meant a signifi cant amount of money came out of his own pocket. The 7:30 p.m. concert at be held in Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium on Jan. 26 will feature music and readings by more than 30 stars and cantors, including Tony and Grammy Award winners and nominees Harvey Fierstein, Chita Rivera, Shoshana Bean, Andrew Lippa and Brenda Russell; pop stars Wendy Moten and Justin Jesso; renowned Cantors Daniel Mutlu, Danny Mendelson, Rachel Brook and Yanky Lemmer; and His Eminence Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York. ‘A life of its own’ Antelis and Savenor say they have been blown away by the immense response, both in and outside the Jewish community. “The concert has really taken on a life of its own,” said Savenor, who will host what he termed as more of a communal event. “It’s no longer a commemoration of the past. The diversity, and the music and the messaging, is really being elevated and transformed into a statement about confronting discrimination today.” Maddie Burton, a co-producer for the concert, said that Dolan’s appearance, in particular, is “refl ective of the fact that it’s not just Jewish people who are looking to take a stand against antisemitism, that it really is this larger cultural reaction to wanting to declare loud and proud but that the Jews are still here.” With weeks left until the concert, Burton said, “We are putting fi nishing touches on the melodic and harmonic choices that we’re making, and then we’ll really ramp up rehearsals, working with our full orchestra and getting all of our performers together in the room.” There is also outreach to be done with the Jewish community and promotion to fi ll the 2,800-seat auditorium. But Burton said that the response so far from those agreeing to take part in the event is promising for its overall success. “It wasn’t easy, per se,” he acknowledged. But every single person who signed on pretty emphatically said this is something that they not only want to, but need to, be part of.” 1 Courtesy he day Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel died, composer and music producer Ira Antelis said something came over him. “I thought, who carries on the message of the Holocaust? Because in my life, he was the fi gure for me. And I started just researching some things about him,” Antelis said. That endeavor led Antelis to a book Wiesel wrote the forward to called “We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust,” a collection of songs written in the ghettos and concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Europe. After locating the songbook, Antelis decided to organize a concert in his hometown of Chicago, based on the music. It never came to fruition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But following the lifting of restrictions and a decision by Antelis to relaunch his eff orts, he searched online and stumbled upon an article by Bret Werb, staff musicologist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, called “Fourteen Shoah Songbooks.” “I said to myself: There’s a concert. We’re going to do a concert on these 14 songbooks — one song from every book, and honor the writers and people who put the songbooks together,” said Antelis, who produced the concert at Temple Sholom Chicago in April in conjunction with Yom Hashoah, the annual Holocaust day of remembrance. Determined to bring the concert to New York, Antelis revived the pandemic- era idea with an old Chicago friend, Rabbi Charles Savenor, who serves as director of congregational education at Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue. The two had a chance encounter in New York 15 years after their last meeting when Antelis presented Savenor with his vision. “I’m not musical at all. I can’t carry a tune. I have no rhythm. I knew about ADLER FLORENCE (nee Sweet), 97, who re- sided in Warwick, Pennsylvania and formerly of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully on Wednes- day December 28, 2022. She was the beloved wife of the late Dr. Arthur P. Adler. Florence (Flo) was born on Oc- tober 24, 1925, to parents Nathan and Sarah Sweet (nee Billig) in Newark, NJ. After Florence graduated from Weehauken High School in 1943, she attended Rutgers, The State Univer- sity. Florence started her career as a photographer at Kresge-Newark department store based in Newark, NJ. She continued her career in tele- vision at Pathe Pictures in New York City, followed by her antique consult- ing business. Florence was a devoted wife and mother whose passion was her children and grandchildren, espe- cially her special-needs child, the late Robert (Robbie) Adler. She played an active role on the Woodhaven Center Parents Committee for special-needs individuals. She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends, trav- eling to the shore, watching Jeop- ardy and CNN, solving cross-word puzzles, interior design/architecture, fashion and volunteering at the elec- tion polls. She will be remembered for her compassion, generosity, wit, sense of humor, grace, strength and intelligence. Florence is survived by her daughter Jane Firestone, sons Richard Adler and Michael Adler. She is the cherished grandmother of Reed and Avril and grandpups Zorro and Daisy. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Florence’s memory may be made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (https://wish.org/philadesv). JOSEPH LEVINE & SONS www.levinefuneral.com ALGAZY DR. KENNETH M. – Passed away on December 31, 2022. Husband of Lor- raine Algazy (nee Wagman). Father of Jeffrey Algazy and Deborah (Joshua) Fredberg. Brother of Robert Algazy. Grandfather of Samantha, Sophie, Alexis and Riley. Contributions in his memory may be made to American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org, or GBS/CIDP Foundation International, www.gbs-cidp.org. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com BENN SHIRLEY M. (nee Benen) on Decem- ber 29, 2022. Beloved wife of the late Samuel; Loving mother of Lois Cohen (Kenneth) and Debbie Koffer (Perry). Also survived by 5 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and one great great-grandchild. Contributions in her memory may be made to SPIN, 10501 Drummond Rd., Phila., PA 19154, www. spininc.org or American Heart Assoc., PO Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284, www.heart.org or Samaritan Ctr. at Mt. Laurel, 3909 Church Rd., Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054, www.samaritannj.org GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com CONN BLEZNAK STUART GARY, 85, passed away January 1, 2023. He was the son of the late Lenora and David Bleznak. Originally from Woodbury, NJ, he then spent most of his life where he raised his family in Elkins Park, PA. Earlier in his career he built homes and for the past 25 years was a residential real- tor. Stu’s family was the light of his life and he was absolutely adored by all of them. He was such a special per- son and will be terribly missed. He is survived by his loving wife, Marilyn, of 62 years, his cherished sister Barbra Goodfriend (Elliott, dec.), treasured children, Susan Weisberg (Alan), Joanie DeSalvo (Breen, dec.), David Bleznak (Debby), adoring grandchil- dren Samantha Hatt (CJ), Jamie Ritter (Quinn), Max Bleznak, Jarrett Fuhs, Sadi Bleznak and great grandson Jackson Hatt. Stu will be remembered for his infectious smile, kind heart, and warmth toward those dear to him. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the Mont- gomery County SPCA. (Montgomery- countyspca.org) GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com BOWES LEAH MELLMAN, on November 11, 2022, esteemed pianist and vocalist, wife of the late Reginald Bowes; be- loved mother of Kelly (Mark) Turner of Rye, NY and Jim (Monique) Bow- es of Amsterdam and three grand- children; cherished sister of the late Leonard Mellman; survived by sisters and brothers: Rhoda Brown, Sharlyn Weitz, Irvin (Judith) Mellman and Mi- chael Mellman; devoted aunt to lov- ing nieces and nephews and beloved friend to many. From an early age, she studied piano at The Settlement Music School with Madame Simon (Helene) Barere, who recognized and developed her prodigious gifts. An alumna of The Curtis Institute of Mu- sic and student of Rudolf Serkin, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for two years of piano study in Paris. Recognized nationally and internation- ally, she performed throughout Europe and the United States. Contributions honoring the memory of Leah Mellman Bowes may be made to The Settle- ment Music School, Philadelphia, or to a charity of the donors’ choice. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com SYLVIA (nee Muderick), age 97, passed away January 3, 2023. Be- loved wife of the late Joffrey B. Conn, Esq. Loving mother of Richard J. Conn (Janet Belmont Conn), Bennett Conn, and the late Jennifer Conn. Adoring grandmother of Jason (Karen) Conn, Emily (Jon) Gantman, Allison (Josh) Kanter, and Jonathan Conn and great-grandmother of Jack, Laila, Ilana, Jeremy, Abigail, Zoe, and Ezra. Contributions in her memory may be made to SeniorLAW Center www.se- niorlawcenter.org or to a charity of the donor’s choice. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com FREED MARILYN L. (nee Selnick) on Janu- ary 3, 2023. Beloved wife of the late Edward; Loving mother of Marc Freed (Claudia) and Jill Klazmer (Brian); Dear sister of Trudi Helfand; Devoted grand- mother of Jason (Jordana), Adam (Molly), Erica, and Victoria (Xavier). Also survived by 3 great-granddaugh- ters. Contributions in her memory may be made to Barrack Hebrew Academy, 272 S. Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, www.jbha.org GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com GOLDSTEIN LIBBY (nee Cesler). January 2, 2023, 103 years of age, of Philadelphia, Pa. Beloved wife of Walter. Devoted mother of Marlene (Richard) Stern and Simone Woodwell. Proud grand- mother of Allison (Adam), David (Tri- este) and great-grandmother of Ethan and Oliver. The family requests that contributions in her memory be made to the American Heart Association or the Jewish Federation of Greater Phil- adelphia. JOSEPH LEVINE & SONS www.levinefuneral.com HEINEMAN MARLENE (nee Rotman), January 2, 2023, of Bryn Mawr, PA; loving mother of Janice Garnett (Theodore) and Ver- na Swerdlow; cherished grandmother of Miranda Garnett and Theodore “Lucky” Garnett; sister of Phillip Rot- man (the late Carol). In lieu of flowers, contributions in Marlene’s memory may be made to the American Lung Association (lung.org). JOSEPH LEVINE & SONS www.levinefuneral.com HERRING JOHN ALAN, M.D. - 81 - survived by his beloved wife of 28 years Su- san Herring (Perilstein); children Al- lison Poster, Kate Hering, Samantha Mandell, Geoffrey Mandell, Joshua Mandell, and Nathan Mandell; six grandchildren; and countless longtime friends and mentees. His irreverent sense of humor and trove of stories will be forever missed by all who knew him. John graduated from Hahnemann Medical School in 1968 and special- ized in Neurology and Psychiatry. Do- nations in his memory should be sent to Domino Service Dogs; 6505 West Alameda Ave., Lakewood, Colorado 80226, Attention: Barbara Henry; or dominoservicedogs.com. LAUREL HILL FUNERAL HOME www.laurelhillphl.com LEFKOE Barbara Lefkoe (nee Lomas), of Warminster, died peacefully on De- cember 6, 2022, in the presence of her family. Loving mother to five chil- dren – Paul (Barbra) Lefkoe, Bruce (Sharon) Lefkoe, Dawn (Scott) Co- hen, Tracey (Neil) Pelman and Wen- dy (Matthew) Morris. Predeceased by devoted husband, Arthur Lefkoe. Be- loved grandmom to 11 grandchildren - Adam (Inem), Jason (Jourdan), Eri- ca (Stephen), Michael, Joshua, Allie, Jared, Carson, Ryan, Drew, and Wes and one adorable great-grandchild - Cooper. Devoted sister to Manny and Norman Lomas (both deceased), sis- ters, Sarah Vegh, Franny Zonenstein, Myrna Goldberg and Harriet Paley and sister-in-law Trudy Lomas. She was an admired matriarch who will be sadly missed by many. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Ameri- can Lung Association or the Kenne- dy Krieger Institute Neurodiversity at Work Program. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com ROSENFIELD MICHAEL JAY, 60, of Collingswood, New Jersey and formerly of Somers Point, New Jersey passed away on September 21, 2022 at home in Collingswood. A longtime resident of Somers Point, New Jersey, he attend- ed local schools and was a graduate of Stockton University with a BA De- gree in Accounting and Business. Mr. Rosenfield was a highly respected accountant for the CSAA Insurance Company. Surviving are his parents, Alan and Ellen Rosenfield of Somers Point, New Jersey; a sister Sarah De- schane (Brian) and niece Elisabeth. Services and Burial were private at the request of the family. Contributions in Michael's memory can be made to a charity of the donor's choice. RONSON SARA, 96-years-old, originally from West Philadelphia, PA, but living in Newark, DE with her daughters, Na- dine Mandel and Jeri Mandel, died of natural causes December 24, 2022. Sara was previously deceased by her parents, Philip and Lillian Freedman, and her two sisters Gertrude and Edith as well as her ex-husbands Louis Mandel and Larry Ronson with whom she remained friendly throughout their lives. Sara enjoyed playing MahJongg and Rummikub, reading, going to the movies but, best of all, cooking and baking for family and friends. She volunteered at Golden Slipper Uptown Home and was a member and officer of the Jewish Y in Philadelphia and was on her condominium’s board of directors. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Sara’s name to Kleinlife Community Center or the Golden Slipper Uptown Home, both in Philadelphia. SOPIN HARRY “Hal” - On Dec. 222, 2022. Husband of Marilyn (nee Weiner). Father of Craig (Ruth) Sopin, Esq. and Caren (Mitchell) Hartka. Brother of Florence DeSouza. Grandfather of Pamela (David) Miranda, Brooke (Reid) Rosenthal, Carly (Louis) Gold and Robert Sopin. Great grandfather of Vivian, Arlo, Anna, Peri, Jade and Hana. TULIP CAROL S. (nee Snider) on January 2, 2023. Beloved wife of the late Allen; Loving mother of Steven Tulip (Amy), Michael Tulip, and Mark Tulip (Kris- tin); Devoted grandmother of Rachel (Bradley), Lauren, Hannah, and Brett. Contributions in her memory may be made to Alzheimer’s Assoc., 399 Mar- ket St., Ste. 250, Phila., PA 19106 GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com TURNOFF JOAN C. (nee Binnick) on January 4, 2023. Beloved wife of the late Howard Turnoff. Loving mother of David (The- resa Kim), Abby (Mitch Feinman) and Andrea Turnoff; adoring grandmother of Harrison, Drew, Hunter, Ellie and Stella; cherished sister of Steven and Alan (Frieda) Binnick. Joan grew up in Upper Darby and then lived with her family in North Miami Beach. She was an avid tennis player and sang with the Florida Philharmonic and with the chorus at Temple Sinai. Contributions in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, to an orga- nization seeking a cure for Parkinsons or to any music foundation. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com WALLACK DIANE (nee Novack), January 3, 2023, of Marco Island, FL and Jen- kintown, PA (snowbird until the end). Happily summered for many years in Longport, NJ. Adoring wife of Herbert Wallack. Graduate of Temple Universi- ty. Kindergarten and 1st grade teach- er at Philadelphia’s Comly School for 30 years. An avid reader herself, she was grateful to have had the opportu- nity to teach so many children to read. Diane’s beloved parents were Sylvia and Paul Novack. She is survived by four loving children - Richard Forman, Judi Forman (Tom Dalton), Elise Miller (Michael Miller), and Michael Wallack (Per Philsgard). Proud grandmother of three grandchildren - Joshua Miller, Leah Miller and Tilly Forlack. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to Unite For Her, www.uniteforher.org. GOLDSTEINS’ ROSENBERG’S RAPHAEL-SACKS www.goldsteinsfuneral.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 23 synagogue spotlight Congregation Rodeph Shalom Upholds tradition, grows with the times W alking up to Congregation Rodeph Shalom’s main entrance just off North Broad Street is a case study in 21st-cen- tury Jewish awareness. You cannot simply open the doors and step inside. They are locked, and a security guard must let you in — and then you must sign your name into an iPad that records your visit. And even then, you probably need an appointment with a synagogue staff member to go any farther. (In the Jewish Exponent’s case on Jan. 6, that was clergy assistant Sophia Schwab.) But once inside, you will step into a Jewish world that feels like it’s from another century. Old president and confi rmation class pictures line the walls. The sanctuary has a tall ceiling and two-level seating arrangement that give it a feeling of grandeur, not unlike an old European theater. And you can hear people talking or children laughing in diff erent rooms throughout the building. Rodeph Shalom’s 1,000-household congregation is not a community that gathers occasionally, for, say, a bar mitzvah or a High Holiday service. This is a group of Reform Jews that is committed to and engaged with the ongoing life of its 228-year-old synagogue. And that seems to be what they are protecting with those layers of security. “We’re the only Reform congrega- tion in the city, and we’re the only large congregation in the city,” said Senior Rabbi Jill Maderer, who came to Rodeph Shalom in 2001 and assumed her current position in 2017. According to Maderer, the Broad Street congregation may include as many as “3,000 souls.” Within that group are young adults, families with school- age kids, empty-nesters and retirees. Most of them live in Center City. 24 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Rodeph Shalom’s religious school enrolls 300 students. Its Shabbat services attract between 100 and 150 people to that striking sanctuary and another 50-100 people to the livestream. Maderer also estimates that the synagogue hosts between 30 and 35 bar and bat mitzvahs per year. And each Wednesday morning, a group of congregants walks around Philadelphia neighborhoods to distrib- ute fresh food and diapers, among other products, to about 150 people who could use the help. “It speaks to the core values of Judaism. Helping your neighbor. Taking care of your community,” said Heshie Zinman, a member since 2005. In this day and age of rising antisem- itism, Rodeph Shalom is using signifi - cant resources to protect its building and the active community inside of it. But in recent years, congregants say, the community has actually become more open at the same time. Cheryl Dougherty joined in 1998 as “a religious school mom,” she said. The synagogue was welcoming to her non-Jewish husband and his family. Leaders even made a point of including her husband’s family in their daughter’s bat mitzvah process. But the community was still not quite as welcoming as it is now, according to Dougherty. It was bureaucratic and hierarchical. You joined, and you did things how they were done. No higher- ups or longtime members reached out to you to ask how you were doing or where you were in your Jewish journey. So after the mother’s “religious school mom” era, she left Rodeph Shalom for two years. But she returned in 2010 because she felt she still needed religion in her life. And during these last 12 years, she has seen and experienced Rodeph Shalom’s trans- formation into a community that cares deeply for the individual. Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia When Dougherty rejoined, a synagogue leader reached out to her less than two weeks later to see how she was doing. Then she joined an empty-nester group with about a dozen people and built deep connections, as she described them, with people who were in the same life situa- tion. The synagogue's charter promises not to turn anyone away who cannot pay, and today, around 50% of members do not pay a full membership fee, according to Dougherty, though the congregation The sanctuary inside Congregation Rodeph does ask for “meaning- Shalom ful” donations. Now, when Dougherty walks into Shabbat services, she can not. Whatever your notion of what barely take a few steps before saying God is,’” Dougherty said. “There is a desire to really meet members where hello to person after person. “They say, ‘Look, everyone’s on their they are.” ■ own journey here. Whether you’re learned in the Torah or whether you’re jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com Photos by Jarrad Saff ren Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer d’var torah What’s in a Name? Rabbi Maurice D. Harris S Parshat Shemot hemot (Ex. 1:1-6:1) opens with a list of the names of the sons of Jacob who made the journey from Canaan to Egypt and settled there at the invitation of the Pharaoh, whom Joseph had advised. It’s a curious way to open the Book of Exodus because, in the fi nal chapters of Genesis, we were just given an even more detailed version of this list. But the text wants us to note their names, perhaps because it wants us to think about names and their importance. Once Shemot is fi nished listing the names of Joseph’s brothers who came to dwell in Egypt, it moves swiftly into a familiar tale: A new Pharaoh “who did not know Joseph” reacts to his fear of the growing Hebrew population in Egypt fi rst by enslaving them and later by ordering to have their newborn sons murdered. The story then gallops forward. In a handful of verses, we are told about the birth of a son to Moses’ parents, about his parents’ desperate decision to send their 3-month-old baby down the Nile in a basket in hope that someone might show him kindness, about the Pharaoh’s daugh- ter rescuing and then adopting the boy and about her naming him “Moses.” We hear about Moses growing up and venturing out to see his Hebrew kinfolk at their labors, about his killing an abusive Egyptian taskmaster and about his fugitive fl ight into the wilder- ness. We learn about Moses fi nding a new home in the tent of a Midianite priest, Jethro; about his marrying Tzipporah, Jethro’s daughter; about his working years as a shepherd near the “mountain of God”; and fi nally, we learn about his receiving the Divine call to return to Egypt as God’s agent of liberation. Throughout this drama, there is some complex stuff going on with names. First, consider who is named and who is not. Moses, Jethro and Tzipporah are named. So are Aaron (Moses’ brother) and Gershom (Moses’ and Tzipporah’s fi rstborn). Shifrah and Puah, the midwives who refuse to carry out Pharaoh’s infanticidal orders, are named. Pharaoh and the Pharaoh’s daughter are not. Then there’s God. God is named — sort of. At the burning bush, when Moses asks for God’s name, God off ers Moses several names, and each one obscures as much as it reveals. God tells Moses that God’s name is the tetra- grammaton (Y-H-V-H), but God also self-identifi es as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” “I Will Be What I Will Be” and “I Am / I Will Be.” (Ex. 3:13-16) For the humans listed above who are named, their names conceal as much as they reveal. First, there’s Moses himself. We are told that this is the name the Pharaoh’s daughter gave him. Ex. 2:10 says, “She named him Moses, explaining ‘I drew him from the water.’” Moses: a name that is presumably Egyptian, not Hebrew. So what was this child’s previous name, his Hebrew name, the one his birth parents, Yocheved and Amram, had given him? They had their baby for three months before setting him afl oat on the Nile. Surely they gave him a name — a Hebrew name that the Torah conceals. In the moment we fi rst learn the name of our greatest prophet, we actually only learn one of his names — the foreign name given him by an unnamed princess. Let’s turn to the midwives, Shifrah and Puah. The text doesn’t complicate their names, but it does their identi- ties. The Torah tells us that these two brave women were m’yaldot ha-ivri- yot, which can be translated either as “Hebrew midwives” or as “midwives to the Hebrews.” As several biblical schol- ars have noted, they might be Hebrews themselves, or they might belong to some other ethnic group — possibly another enslaved group whose job was to handle the births and the census-keeping duties of the enslaved workforce. Then there’s Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro. Or is that name Yeter (Ex. 4:18)? Or Reuel (Ex. 2:18)? Or was it Hobab (Num. 10:29)? Or one of the other names by which he appears in the Hebrew Bible? We’ll leave him aside for the moment because there are too many possibilities for what’s going on with Moses’ multiple-named father-in- law to explore here. Finally, Shemot gives us an unnamed Pharaoh and never tells us his daugh- ter’s name either. (Centuries later, in midrash, the rabbis taught that Pharaoh’s daughter’s name was Batya, but in the Torah’s own telling her name is unknown.) The Hebrew Bible is generally not shy about telling us the names of emperors who oppressed our ances- tors. We hear about Nebuchadnezzar, Shalmaneser and Akhashverosh. In Shemot, perhaps hinting to us that if the text wanted to it could reveal this Pharaoh’s name, we read that the Hebrew slaves built a city called Rameses, the name of more than one Pharaoh. So the decision to conceal the Pharaoh’s name and that of his daughter is deliberate. We are left to wonder why. Perhaps one of the juiciest questions for us to puzzle with as we re-read the story of the Exodus each year has to be: What’s in a name? ■ Rabbi Maurice D. Harris is associate director for thriving communities and Israel aff airs specialist at Reconstructing Judaism in Wyncote. He is the author of three books, including “Moses: A Stranger Among Us.” The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not refl ect the view of the Board of Rabbis. F TAY-SACHS REE & CANAVAN SCREENING CALL (215)887-0877 FOR DETAILS e-mail:ntsad@aol.com visit: www.tay-sachs.org Screening for other Jewish Genetic Diseases also available. This message is sponsored by a friend of Nat’l Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association of Delaware Valley JE Jewish Exponent PHILADELPHIA Sign-up for our e-letter! jewishexponent.com/ enewsletter/ JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 25 calendar JANUARY 13–19 TU E SDAY, JA N . 1 7 THUR SDAY, JA NUA RY 1 9 WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS TALK Join The Hadassah 4 - Stronger Together, a collaboration of four chapters of Hadassah Greater Philadelphia, at 7 p.m. as we hear from keynote speaker David Meluskey, director of political affairs for the World Jewish Congress. Tickets for this Zoom event are $18. For more information, contact Candice Feldman at candicefeldman@gmail.com or 412-916-4487. BINGO WITH BARRY Join Barry at Tabas KleinLife for an afternoon of bingo at 12:45 p.m. on Jan. 17 and 18. Free parking and free to play with snacks available on Jan. 18. For more information, call 215-745-3127. 2101 Strahle St., Philadelphia. W E D N E SDAY, JA N . 1 8 SISTERHOOD STUDY PROGRAM The Congregations of Shaare Shamayim’s Rabbi Sandi Berliner will teach a class on “Words of Wisdom from Jewish Ethics” as part of the Sisterhood Study Program at 10 a.m. on every Wednesday in January and the first two Wednesdays in February. For further information, call the synagogue office at 215-677-1600. 9768 Verree Road, Philadelphia. ENTERING THE MISHKAN FRIDAY, JA N . 1 3 PARSHA FOR LIFE 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 Torah portion with eternal lessons on personal growth and spirituality. Go to ijethics.org/weekly-torah- portion.html to receive the Zoom link and password. JRA FOOD PACKING Volunteers will assist with Jewish Relief Agency’s pre-distribution preparation from 10 a.m.-noon. Volunteers will tape boxes, pack toiletries and assemble family-friendly food bags. For more information about JRA’s volunteer schedule, visit jewishrelief. org/calendar. 10980 Dutton Road, Philadelphia. MUSICAL KABBALAT SHABBAT 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. Call 215-887- 1342 for information. 8231 Old York Road, Elkins Park. 26 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT INLIQUID EXHIBIT InLiquid’s Ursula Sternberg: Daydream is a celebration of the career of a Philadelphia-area artist, the late Ursula Sternberg, whose life and career spanned many mediums and multiple continents, taking her from Nazi- occupied Germany to Elkins Park. The exhibit runs through Jan. 21 and is open from 12-6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. 1400 N. American St. #314, Philadelphia. ‘LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS’ Walnut Street Theatre presents Jewish playwright Neil Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” a comedy running from Jan. 9-21. Start times and ticket prices vary. 825 Walnut St., Philadelphia. ‘INDECENT’ A Tony Award nominee for Best Play, “Indecent” follows the real-life events surrounding the Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s controversial “The God of Vengeance.” Players Club of Swarthmore will perform the show from Jan. 6-21, with tickets starting at $10. Contact Donna Dougherty at president@pcstheater.org or 610-328- 4271. 614 Fairview Road, Swarthmore. S U N DAY, JAN . 1 5 JRA FOOD DISTRIBUTION Join Jewish Relief Agency from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. for junior and all ages food packing, as well as food delivery to allow recipients to receive assistance directly to their door, alleviating some of the challenges they may face, such as transportation, language barriers or access. Additional delivery opportunities are available Monday through Wednesday. For more information about JRA’s volunteer schedule, visit jewishrelief.org/ calendar. 10980 Dutton Road, Philadelphia. MON DAY, JAN . 16 MAHJONG GAME Melrose B’nai Israel Emanu-El Sisterhood invites the community to join our 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. In this three-part series starting at 10:30 a.m., Congregation Kol Ami and Rabbi Jennifer Frenkel will look at our Shabbat prayerbook, Mishkan T’filah, its design and use, including opportunities for personal and communal prayer and reflection. Register at kolaminj.shulcloud.com/event/ enteringmishkanjan2023. Questions? Email AdultEd@kolaminj.org or call 856-489-0029. INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM Introduction to Judaism at Congregation Kol Ami is a 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 noncongregants. For more information, contact Ruth Scott, director of community engagement: ruth@kolaminj.org. 1101 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. TH U RSDAY, JA N . 1 9 CANASTA GAME Ohev Shalom of Bucks County Sisterhood invites the community to a canasta game from 1-3 p.m. Open play is $4. Call 215-968-6755 for more information. 944 Second Street Pike, Richboro. ■ around town 5 1 2 3 4 6 1 Federation Housing’s staff had a party at Maggie’s Waterfront Café in Philadelphia on Dec. 9. 2 On Dec. 14, Beth Am Israel hosted CeaseFirePA’s Montgomery County vigil commemorating the 10th anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. 3 Tikvah joined in on the Chanukah celebration at the Philadelphia 76ers game on Jewish Heritage Night. 4 Almost 500 Philadelphia-area high school students and educators attended the Anti-Defamation League’s 16th annual Youth Leadership Conference on Dec. 14. 5 On Dec. 19, young professionals from Jewish National Fund-USA’s JNFuture division in Philadelphia came together at the Fitler Club for “Gelt Together,” a night of dinner, drinks and arcade games, while mingling with other philanthropists who are passionate about Israel. 6 Beth Sholom Congregation’s men’s club held a Chanukah luncheon on Dec. 21. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 27 last word Dr. George Trajtenberg Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer D r. George Trajtenberg has already made his mark as a surgeon in Philadelphia. The West Chester resident founded the Chester County Surgical Associate in 1982 and worked with Surgical Specialists, P.C. in Chester County until 2013 when he retired from active private practice. After more than 30 years in the practice, Trajtenberg, 70, still hasn’t hung up his scrubs. For the past 12 years, he and a team of 20-30 surgeons he assembled have traveled to clinics in La Entrada and Comayagua, Honduras a couple of times a year, providing necessary operations to the patients there, sometimes 80-120 in a week. The Kesher Israel Congregation member was doing similar missions outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but stopped due to the ongoing social and political crises in the country, which has all but eliminated travel there from the U.S. Trajtenberg’s patients are poor and come to the clinic via horse, bus or even by foot. In between trips, Trajtenberg works with surgeons and hospitals as part of Project C.U.R.E to collect surgical supplies, many of which are surplus or would have other- wise been treated as disposable. The clinics with which Trajtenberg works often only supply an operating room or two in the back of the buildings. An immigrant to the U.S. from Argentina, Trajtenberg sees this work as a way of giving back to the world that has given him and his family good fortune. “If blessings are money,” Trajtenberg said, “then I’m the richest man in the world.” “You have to give back,” he contin- ued. “You can’t just take, take, take.” Arriving in Philadelphia in 1974, Trajtenberg was 22 and his wife 28 JANUARY 12, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT Adriana 19. Though already a graduate of medical school, Trajtenberg was too young to begin a surgical practice in earnest and instead interned at Einstein Health and joined a residency program at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He moved to West Chester in 1982, the same year he began his practice. “I did everything I could do to be a good citizen,” he said. The sentiment extended to his Jewish life. Trajtenberg, who did not have a bar mitzvah ceremony in Argentina, joined KI’s adult bar mitzvah program at age 30. He joined B’nai Brith and BBYO, and his grandchildren attend Perelman Jewish Day School and Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy. Trajtenberg describes his arrival to the U.S. as similar to the 1939 “The Wizard of Oz” film: In Argentina, things were black and white; upon coming to America, everything turned to color. Growing up in Paraná, despite Argentina being the fifth-most-pop- ulous country of Jews at the time, Trajtenberg encountered antisemitism and political unrest. His relatives came to Argentina from all over Eastern Europe — what is now Russia, Ukraine and Romania — in the late 1800s. Paraná had two synagogues, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardic, and though Trajtenberg’s father was secular, Trajtenberg and his two brothers grew up celebrating Jewish holidays and filled with deep Zionism, in large part because of the strong shaliach program his synagogue had. During Argentina’s Dirty War in the 1970s, Trajtenberg remembered gunshots and fires in the streets. Antisemitism in the Catholic country under heavy policing was partic- ularly prominent then, and both of Trajtenberg’s brother’s made aliyah. Trajtenberg was taunted by compa- triots about the conspiracy that Jews killed Jesus and his so-called dual loyalty — on what side would he fight, should Argentina and Israel go to war? The teenager just continued to study medicine. Though Trajtenberg’s missions to Honduras are a way for him to person- ally give back to the medical commu- nity, he also sees the trips as a chance to open the minds of the younger surgeons he brings along, which has dwindled in numbers over the years. Trajtenberg often thinks of a Mark Twain quote: “Travel is fatal to preju- dice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” A lover of travel, Trajtenberg has visited 65 countries and five conti- nents. His wife is an interpreter of Spanish and English. Beyond helping his fellow surgeons learn Spanish, Trajtenberg helps organize the missions to open others up to new experiences and people they wouldn’t have otherwise encoun- tered in their bubble. “The more you travel, the more you intermingle with different people, different nations, different languages, different colors, whatever,” he said. “You become more human. And that’s good for all of us.” ■ srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of George Trajtenberg PROVIDES SURGERIES WORLDWIDE SEASHORE SALE LOVE where here you L LIVE HHT Office 609-487-7234 #1 IN NEW JERSEY FOR LARGE TEAM SALES VOLUME *RealTrends 2021 9211 Ventnor Avenue, Margate 8017 Ventnor Avenue, Margate 9313 Ventnor Ave, Margate www.HartmanHomeTeam.com NEW PRICE! NEW PRICE! OCEAN CITY $659,000 CHARMING & WELL MAINTAINED 3 BEDROOM, 2 BATHROOM HOME ON BAY AVENUE! MARGATE NEW PRICE! 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The registered office in Pennsylvania shall be deemed for venue and official publication purposes to be located in Philadelphia County. 3630 North, Inc. has been incor- porated under the provisions of the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law of 1988. McCreesh, McCreesh, McCreesh & Cannon 7053 Terminal Square Upper Darby, PA 19082 Notice is hereby given that Articles of Incorporation-For Profit were filed in the Department of State of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for ADAMS Z CORP under the provi- sions of the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law of 1988, as amended. Notice is hereby given that Articles of Incorporation-For Profit were filed in the Department of State of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for NORTH GULPH Z CORP under the provisions of the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law of 1988, as amended. Notice is hereby given that Articles of Incorporation-For Profit were filed in the Department of State of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for SOUTH PHILA Z CORP under the pro- visions of the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law of 1988, as amended. Dissolution Notice Notice is hereby given to all creditors and claimants of Lifestyle Collections, Inc. a Pennsylvania Business Corporation that the shareholders have approved a proposal that the corporation dissolve voluntarily under the provisions of Section 1975 of the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law of 1988. All claims must be pre- sented in writing and must contain suffi- cient information to identify the claimant and the substance of the claim. Mail all claims to: Lifestyle Collections, Inc., 510 Bellevue Road, Wilmington, De. 19809. The deadline to accept claims is 60 days from this notice. All claims will be barred pursuant to 15 Pa.C.S. § 1992 if not received by this deadline. ESTATE OF ANGELA HOWARD, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 payment without delay to LAMONT HOWARD, ADMINISTRATOR, c/o Daniella A. Horn, Esq., 2202 Delancey Pl., Phila., PA 19103, Or to his Atty.: DANIELLA A. HORN KLENK LAW, LLC 2202 Delancey Pl. Phila., PA 19103 ESTATE OF ANNA M. ZIMMIE, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 ANNA McGILL, EXECUTRIX, 67 Vanderveer Ave., Holland, PA 18966, Or to her Atty.: Mark J. Davis Connor Elder Law, LLC 644 Germantown Pike, Ste. 2-C Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 ESTATE OF ASTER TECHENE METIKE, 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, Sisay Beshah, Administrator, c/o John R. Lundy, Esq., Lundy Beldecos & Milby, PC, 450 N. Narberth Ave., Suite 200, Narberth, PA 19072. ESTATE OF CARLOS HUMBERTO RAMOS, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 JECEL KAYLYN RAMOSSEXTON, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Bradly E. Allen, Esq., 7711 Castor Ave., Phila., PA 19152, Or to her Atty.: BRADLY E. ALLEN 7711 Castor Ave. Phila., PA 19152 ESTATE OF CORNETHA MACKEY, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 with- out delay to DARRYL J. MACKEY, EXECUTOR, c/o Daniella A. Horn, Esq., 2202 Delancey Pl., Phila., PA 19103, Or to his Atty.: DANIELLA A. HORN KLENK LAW, LLC 2202 Delancey Pl. Phila., PA 19103 ESTATE OF DANIELLE N. RODIER, 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 with- out delay to KATHRYN KRMPOTICH, Executrix, 82 Strathaven Dr., Broomall, PA 19008 ESTATE OF DAVID EUGENE WARD, 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 with- out delay to CONSTANCE Y. MACK, EXECUTRIX, c/o Adam S. Bernick, Esq., 2047 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19103, Or to her Attorney: ADAM S. BERNICK LAW OFFICE OF ADAM S. BERNICK 2047 Locust St. Philadelphia, PA 19103 ESTATE OF DORIS E. GNIEWEK, a/k/a DORIS GNIEWEK, 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 LAUREEN GNIEWEK, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Harry Metka, Esq., 4802 Neshaminy Blvd., Ste. 9, Bensalem, PA 19020, Or to her Attorney: HARRY METKA 4802 Neshaminy Blvd., Ste. 9 Bensalem, PA 19020 ESTATE OF ETTA MAE TIMMONS, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 with- out delay to MELODY HARTBAUER, EXECUTRIX, c/o Arthur G. Krevitz, Esq., 4230 Bensalem Blvd., Bensalem, PA 19120, Or to her Atty.: Arthur G. Krevitz, Krevitz & Associates, P.C. 4230 Bensalem Blvd. Bensalem, PA 19120 ESTATE OF FANIA LIBMAN a/k/a FANYA LIBMAN, FAINA LIBMAN, 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 EMIL LIBMAN and MICHAEL G. LIBMAN, EXECUTORS, c/o Nicole B. LaBletta, Esq., 200 Bar Harbor Dr., Ste. 400, Conshohocken, PA 19428, Or to their Attorney: NICOLE B. LABLETTA LABLETTA & WALTERS LLC 200 Bar Harbor Dr., Ste. 400 Conshohocken, PA 19428 ESTATE OF GEORGE JOSEPH CURETON, 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 MARVIN DANDRIDGE, ADMINISTRATOR, 3751 N. Bouvier St., Philadelphia, PA 19140, Or to his Attorney: MARK S. HARRIS 920 Lenmar Dr. Blue Bell, PA 19422 ESTATE OF HAROLD LESTER HENDERSON, 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 HAROLD A. HENDERSON and LISA WILKS, ADMINISTRATORS, c/o Jay E. Kivitz, Esq., 7901 Ogontz Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19150, Or to their Attorney: JAY E. KIVITZ KIVITZ & KIVITZ, P.C. 7901 Ogontz Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19150 ESTATE OF HERBERT CATALANO a/k/a HERMAN J. CATALANO, 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 CHRISTOPHER L. CATALANO and JAMIE A. CATALANO, EXECUTORS, c/o D. Keith Brown, Esq., Two N. State St., P.O. Box 70, Newtown, PA 18940, Or to their Attorney: D. KEITH BROWN STUCKERT AND YATES Two N. State St. P.O. Box 70 Newtown, PA 18940 ESTATE OF IVAN GOLOVISTIKOV, 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 MARIANNA DMITRIEVA, ADMINISTRATRIX, 99 52 66 Rd., Apt. 1X, Rego Park, NY 11374 ESTATE OF JANE CHIDSEY, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 payment with- out delay to GAYE ANNE GALASSO, ADMINISTRATRIX, c/o Daniella A. Horn, Esq., 2202 Delancey Pl., Phila., PA 19103, Or to her Atty.: DANIELLA A. HORN KLENK LAW, LLC 2202 Delancey Pl. Phila., PA 19103 ESTATE OF JOHN W. EVANS, III, 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, Wendy Evans, Administratrix, 2879 Angus Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19114 or to their attorney Andrew I. Roseman, Esquire, 1528 Walnut St., Suite 1412, Philadelphia, PA 19102. ESTATE OF JOSEPHINE GIORDANO, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 PAUL DiFILIPO, EXECUTOR, c/o Daniella A. Horn, Esq., 2202 Delancey Pl., Phila., PA 19103, Or to his Atty.: DANIELLA A. HORN KLENK LAW, LLC 2202 Delancey Pl. Phila., PA 19103 ESTATE OF JUANITA LANCIT a/k/a JUANITA WRIGHT, 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 EDDIE B. LANCIT, ADMINISTRATOR, c/o Stephen M. Specht, Esq., 2332 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19145, Or to his Attorney: STEPHEN M. SPECHT GREEN & SCHAFLE, LLC 2332 S. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19145 ESTATE OF KAREN C. HUMBERT, 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, Faith Stallings, Administratrix, c/o John R. Lundy, Esq., Lundy Beldecos & Milby, PC, 450 N. Narberth Ave., Suite 200, Narberth, PA 19072. ESTATE OF MARY CZECH HUNT, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 STEPHEN E. HUNT, EXECUTOR, c/o Robert S. Levy, Esq., 1204 Township Line Rd., Drexel Hill, PA 19026, Or to his Atty.: ROBERT S. LEVY COOPER SCHALL & LEVY 1204 Township Line Rd. Drexel Hill, PA 19026 ESTATE OF RITA A. WENDERWICZ, 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 with- out delay to LAURIE VERBINSKI, EXECUTRIX, 401 E. 80th St., Apt. 34D, New York, NY 10075, Or to her Attorney: JOHN SLOWINSKI SLOWINSKI LAW 3143 Knights Rd. Bensalem, PA 19020 ESTATE OF ROSARIA PENA- MESTRE, 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 Joel Mestre, Administrator, 1626 West End Dr., Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 BUSINESS / LEGAL DIRECTORIES ESTATE OF SALI HELLER NEFF a/k/a SALI NEFF, 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 with- out delay to ANDREW J. HELLER, EXECUTOR, 403 Atwood Rd., Glenside, PA 19038 ESTATE OF SONDRA BARON a/k/a SONDRA D. BARON, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 payment with- out delay to HOWARD M. SOLOMAN, ADMINISTRATOR, 1760 Market St., Ste. 404, Phila., PA 19103, Or to his Atty.: HOWARD M. SOLOMAN 1760 Market St., Ste. 404 Phila., PA 19103 ESTATE OF THIEM OU GOV, 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 JIM ME GOUV, EXECUTOR, c/o Martin J. Pezzner, Esq., 100 W. 6th St., Ste. 204, Media, PA 19063, Or to his Attorney: MARTIN J. PEZZNER GIBSON & PERKINS, P.C. 100 W. 6th St., Ste. 204 Media, PA 19063 ESTATE OF VIDAL MESTRE- HERNANDEZ, 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 JOEL MESTRE, ADMINISTRATOR, 1626 West End Dr., Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 ESTATE OF WALTER J. WATSON, DECEASED. Late of Philadelphia 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 payment with- out delay to HOWARD M. SOLOMAN, ADMINISTRATOR, 1760 Market St., Ste. 404, Phila., PA 19103, Or to his Atty.: HOWARD M. SOLOMAN 1760 Market St., Ste. 404 Phila., PA 19103 JEWISH EXPONENT CLASSIFIEDS To advertise, call 215-832-0749 Careers.com Jewish For Those Who Value Community The preferred career resource for the Jewish community. info.jewishcareers.com 410-902-2300 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 31 Where would health be without care? We believe you can’t have one without the other. Your health is our priority. That’s why we combine world-class doctors and researchers, with state-of-the-art technologies, and bring them closer to you. And care is more than your treatment, it’s how you’re treated. So, where would health be without care? At Jeff erson, that’s a question you’ll never have to ask. 1-800-JEFF-NOW I JeffersonHealth.org/Care uncompromising care