xt7msb3wx87z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7msb3wx87z/data/mets.xml Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass Kentucky Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass 2006-10 Newspaper of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass, previously named the Central Kentucky Jewish Association and Central Kentucky Jewish Federation. Published ten times annually. The Federation seeks to bring Jewish community members together through holiday parties, lectures, Yiddish courses, meals, and other celebrations of Jewish heritage and culture. They also host fundraisers and provide financial assistance for Jews in need, both locally and around the world. This collection is part of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass records, 2016ms010. newsletters 2016ms010 English Central Kentucky Jewish Federation Inc  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass records Jews -- Kentucky -- Lexington Jews -- History Shalom, October 2006 text image Shalom, October 2006 2006 2006-10 2025 true xt7msb3wx87z section xt7msb3wx87z  

NEWSPAPER OF THESCENTRAL KENTUCKY JEWISH FEDERATION
OCTOBER 2006 I . TISHREI-HESHVAN 5766-5767
Practice tikkun clam 3333313333:1333it CKJF Fall

Community Action Council. The

by feeding the hungry salvation/seessesshefeesseseee Concert planned

the homeless in its shelter and to

 

By Karen Patrons Provide snacks for children in the October 22 event free to one and all
. daycare center. The Community , g g
The Somal Action Committees of Ohavay Zion Synagogue Action Council on Georgetown Road
and Temple Adath Israel have several ongoing programs has its own "bread store" where By Barbara 3“”
that help to insure that the hungry in Lexington and clients of the a h
gencycanc ooseatno C t th S” l t C t f th At -

1, essees 3333 $133333
ways in Wthh the JQWISh community helps the hungry, they WOUld like to take home. Orchestra conducpied b Jon 13,0113 "Mufic of the Sta e
1nclud1ng the Kentucky Harvest program, GOd S Pantry Volunteers in this program devote and Screen" will include}: selections from the works ofg
Voluntlefer Night servmg meals at the Hope Centers, and about one hour a month and make a (George Gershwin Felix Mendelssohn Irving Berlin
annua 00d drives. tangible difference to the hungry in Jerome Kern, and many more as well as pieces from Hello

the Lexmgton community. Dolly, An American in Paris, Gone with the Wind, Sliowboat,

Volunteers take part in a "food rescue" program in .
and The Lord offlu’ Rings, to name a few.

conjunction with the organization Kentucky Harvest. A second community-wide project is
Emplovees at local grocerv stores routinely throw their 111 ' s I ~
. - , ~ 1 , e monthly Jew1sh Communlty . . . 1 . .

day-old bread and cake into the garbage unless there is a Night at God’s Pantrv, the third There 15 80 HBQdZ to call in adx ancc 1]”? {om us at 7:50
volunteer to pi 'l. it 1111 111 d trinsport it to someone who 1119qu of each month from 6100 to P m on cto er? Zto enjoy a WON er u w ening 0
“tun“ hentgck) 1111“.“ LOUI 1111 1115 11K 1 r’" x“ 11 U l tote1tai1‘111-111it 1 local t11clit1on sponsored b\ tln Lentral

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_ ,1 c, v . r. . 1 . “ingfvbiu‘fiteéfi frofit‘EI1eIéw1sh ,1 _ 1 , -3 1 kentucky- Jewish federation Following the prqgram‘

. please join us fer a tasty reception with your friends and
SEE lekun 01am, page 3 the performers. Looking forward to seeing you there. 13!

 

community ”rescue" the bread from the Beaumont and

 

A “ oint” to be proud Of: _ CAMPAIGN NEWS _
Building community in fi 1
St. Petersburg and Riga ' ‘

By Susan Caller

On July 24, Steve and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a cruise to
nine Baltic ports. Since this area had been heavily populated by Jews before
World War II, there were many sites of Jewish interest to visit. These included
aging synagogues, Holocaust memorials, a concentration camp, and other
places that were sources of both pride and great sorrow. I will elaborate on
two cities of particular interest to us, St. Petersburg and Riga, because the JDC
(Joint Distribution Committee) has had a profound effect on rebuilding the
Jewish community there.

 

 

 

 

Central Kentucky Jewish Federation "33:33:33
1050(h1noe Road . SUIte 203 ' Lexmgton, KY 40502 P AI D $
Change Service Requested lilll'ltll Susan Caller at Riga Synagogue.

 

 

 

 

A wonderful guide from the JDC met had all her belongings in one room

us at the ship on our arrival at St and shared the kitchen and bathroom
Petersburg, Russia. A private car and with the other families. Pesya was
driver immediately took us to Visit upbeat and delighted to have
92-year-old Pesya Sorkina. Her visitors. We learned that she
apartment was on the fifth floor of graduated from the Institute of

an old, dilapidated building that she Electromechanical Engineering. She
shared with two other families. She 5111,1011“, page 10

 

 

 

 

  

IN THIS ISSUE

8’ nai R’rith revival continues ................... 3
President's Message ......................... 4
Herbert Hoover and the Jews - .................. 4
Campers send cards and spevial greetings to

Jewish soldiers in Iraq ........................ 5
From the Executive Director ................... 6
Third Opinion .............................. 7
Ask a Rabbi ............................... 8
Message from the President of the State of Israel . . . .9
Holidays at-a-Glance ....................... 11
Race for the Cure date conflict pointed out ....... 12

Israel 21c: Israel launches world’s first
underwater museum ....................... 13
History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict — Part Xll . .14

Just for kids .............................. 15
Hlllel starting new year ...................... 15
B’tayavon ............................... 16
Shalom on the move ....................... 16
Around the Community ..................... 17
TAI .................................... 18
Lexington Hadassah ........................ 18
OZS .................................... 19
Lexington Havurah ......................... 19

Community Calendar ....................... 20

l...r—‘vvv---~..—..‘..a. ...........

Published ten times per year by the Central Kentucky Jewish Federation, Inc.
1050 Chinoe Rd., Suite 203, Lexington, KY 40502

Phone (859) 2680672 0 Fax (859) 268-0775
email: shalom@jewishIexington.org

OCTOBER 2006, VOLUME XIII, ISSUE 8
Marty Barr, President
Daniel Chejfec, Executive Director
Jana LaZur, Activities Director
Tamara Ohayon, Office Administrator

SHALOM COMMITTEES

Editorial Board
Ruth Poley, Editor-in-Chief
Mary Heléne Rosenbaum, Editor/Administrator
Marcia Blacker, Editorial Board
Judy Levine, Editorial Board

Advisory Board

Elissa Brown, Gail Cohen, Angie Ornstein,
Janet Scheeline, and Rose Rita Wurmser

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Susan Caller, Barbara Barr, Elissa Brown, Leora Eren Frucht,
Kathy Feinberg, Karen Petrone, Ted Roberts,
Joel Roitman, and Stanley Ned Rosenbaum

Production Services by Direct Response, Inc.

The editorial staff has the right to edit all articles submittedifor publication
in Shalom. The appearance ofany advertising in this publication does not
represent a kashruth endorsement on the part of CKJF or any other agency
or organization. Shalom issupportedrby the'advertisements appearing in
the paper.

. © 2006by Central Kentucky Jewish Federation

2 .’ October 2006 Shalom

‘Wfiat sgoing on wit/i you. Send announcements and ll

 

r ‘1 Have a question? llsk a rabbi

The rabbis are now writing their columns in response
to questions submitted by the readers. We encourage
you—whether you are a member of the Jewish
community or not—to submit your queries on
theology, morality, ethics, religious Observances, etc.
for response by one of our rabbis.

SHALOM

 

If you have an issue you would like to see addressed,

Takin a a e
g p 9 please email it to di-ifr@bardstown.com and put
from the ”Ask a Rabbi” in the subject line of your email. (It may
Herald-Leader take quite a while until your question is answered—-

or It may never be answered, if no rabbi selects it.)
You will not be identified as the writer of the
question to either rabbis or readers, nor will you
be asked to specify which rabbi should answer.

we invite readers to
. send pictures of
themselves on vacation
with Shalom.

CC...0.00.0...0000IOIOOOOOOOCIOOIICOOIOCOOO

 

 

Opinions expressed by writers in ,

Shalom

are not necessarily those of the editorial staff or
advisers, not of the Centrai Kentuéky Jewish
Federation or its constituent communities,
officers, staff, or committee members. Letters to
the Editor are always welcome—send them to
di~ifr@bardstown.com

Please email
digital tiles to
di-ifr@bardstown.com
or send prints to the

I CKJF office. I

Let 115 Know...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ' pictures ofspeczaffizrtfirfays, werfifiruys, Honors, cekfiratzfions‘
nappy undsorrowfidoccasions to rfi—g‘r@5un£stown.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are not receiving Jewish weekly email

and would like to, please email your name
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L24 Central Kentucky Jewish Federation
CKJF President CKJF Board
Marty Barr Ray Archer Jennifer Miller

Judy Baumann
Elissa Brown
David Feinberg
Robert Grossman
Stanley lsenstein
Odette Kaplan
Doug Katz

Mimi Kaufman

Lowell Nigoff
Linda Noffsinger
Angie Ornstein
Rickie Rosenberg
Walter Solomon
Lisa Satin

Carole Wilson

Executive Committee

Michael Grossman, Vice President
Pat Shraberg, Secretary
Ruth Poley, Member At-Large

 

Shalom Deadline

Deadline for articles for the November Shalom is October 10.
Email articles to di-ifr@bardstown.com.
Articles submitted in hard copy should be double-spaced.

 

  

I)...”

 

B’nai B’rith revival continues

By Joel Roitman

At Temple Adath Israel on August
17, members of Central Kentucky’s
B’nai B’rith Stanley Rose Lodge #289
and their guests, about 65 people in
all, attended a cookout steak dimer.
Members had been encouraged to
bring as many guests as possible as
potential members.

Realizing that the Lodge was
becoming moribund, member Leon
Cooper had formed an ad hoc
committee to attempt to revive the
chapter. It consisted of Ernie Cohen,
Marty Kaplan, Norman Reiss, and
Joel Roitrnan. The first step in the
revival was a 10x and bagel breakfast
with members bringing as many
guests as they wished. The success of
that breakfast led to the even larger
steak dinner.

Those working on the cookout were
Ben Baker, Mike Ades, David Rose,
and Abe Rabiner. The way the
charcoal-broiled steaks were gobbled
down indicated the cooks did a fine job.

Speakers who gave brief addresses
included Leon Cooper and Bobbie
Levine, regional coordinator for the

Midwest Region of B’nai B’rith.
Another speaker was John Cohen,
baseball coach of the University of
Kentucky Wildcats, who have just
enjoyed a phenomenal year. Allan
Stein, a member of the Lodge and an
executive with the baseball group
that owns several minor league
teams including the Lexington
Legends, also spoke.

The principal speaker of the evening
was Joker Phillips, the offensive
coordinator of the University of
Kentucky football team, who gave
his forecast for the upcoming season.
While UK is a nationally ranked
basketball power, Kentucky football
normally ranks toward the bottom of
the Southeast Conference (SEC). But
Coach Phillips’ speech was optimistic
in the hope that this year would be
the turnaround year in football, just
as Coach Cohen had done for the
baseball team. And echoing that
theme, all in the audience hoped that
this would also be a turnaround year
for B’nai B’rith in Central Kentucky.

B ’nai B ’rith is the world ’s oldest Jewish
service organization, having been
founded in 1843. The Stanley Rose
Lodge was formed in 1856. $

 

.‘mm IMM R r ()Klull\l(.kl NINE

  
 
 
  
   
 
  
 
 
    

gleam/@726

10 a.m. Saturday, October

Take time out this autumn
to walk with guides on a ton
of The Lexington Cemetery.

Learn about the more than 200 spe
of trees in the 170 acre arbore . ‘-
Bring children to experience autum
collect leaves and enjoy the intense

of nature within our gates.

14613119; on Cemete

lhlabllsl’u‘d IM‘)

Grounds Open 8am-5pm Daily
833 West Main St. ° 255-5522

 

lekyn olam (from page 17)

community work in the warehouse
at God’s Pantry sorting donated food
and packing it in boxes to be
distributed to food pantries that
serve the hungry all across the state.
Sometimes the volunteers are
assigned special tasks, ranging from
office work to rescuing damaged
boxes of cereal to "cabbage duty." In
July, for example, the intrepid
volunteers were charged with
repackaging donated cabbages from
gigantic bins into smaller boxes to
get them ready for distribution. It is a
wonderful feeling to roll up one’s
sleeves and work hard in an effort to
give the hungry access to the food
they need. The Jewish community
labors for an hour a half a month,
and literally hundreds if not
thousands of hungry people are

touched by this labor. _

A third food-related project is
sewing meals at the Hope Center
and the Women’s Hope Center.
Meals are sponsored by Temple
Adath Israel three or four times a
year. The volunteers donate food,
plan a menu, shop for the needed
groceries, cook the meal, and then
serve it to the residents at the two
Hope Centers. It is extremely
rewarding to engage one-on-one
with the clients of the Hope Centers.

 

This project brings the members of
the Jewish comurflyfiosest to,
those who need help. '

Finally, the Jewish community
engages in food drives to benefit
God’s Pantry. High Holidays food
drives have been ongoing for many
years now. Last year for the first
time, the Social Action Committees
of Ohavay Zion Synagogue and
Temple Adath Israel added a second
food drive in the spring, in part
because food donations to God’s
Pantry drop off precipitously after
Christmas. While the results of the
first spring drive were more modest
than the established fall drive, the
organizers hope that next year’s
Purim drive will gain momentum
and help God’s Pantry to meet
community needs.

Please consider taking part in one or
more of these projects. For
information contact: Karen Petrone
(Kentucky Harvest),
petrone@uky.edu; Mollye Schwab
and Karen Petrone (God’s Pantry
night) mollye01@alltel.net or
petrone@uky.edu; Debbie Aminoff
and Bruce Engel (food drives)
kyengels@alltel.net or
dbamin1@email.uky.edu; Nancy
Schoenberg (Hope Center meals)
nesch@uky.edu. IO

www.lexcem.org

 

 

 

Proceeds to benefit local, overseas, and Israeli needs

Grand Prize: $10,000

Second Prize: One week at a condo in
Gatlinburg, Tennessee between
J anuaiy and June 2007

. hFeder *
Q‘qfi‘) 19gb
\ I" Q "I

'9 Only 450 tickets at $100 each.
CE: m“ V5

fifra i Kenxgb Drawing:

Sunday, December 17, 2006
CKJF Community Winter Dinner
Sheraton Suites, French Quarter

You do not have to be present to claim your prize.

Tickets may be purchased:

- online at mwvjewishlexington.org

- from any CK] F Board Member

- by calling the CKJF office at 859.268.0672

- by emailing to ckjf@jewishlexington.org

Kentucky Charitable Gaming License No. ORG0001899

 

 

October 2006 Shalom - 3

 

 

  

President's Message

Marty Barr

 

The High Holidays have ended and we start the New
Year with both hope and trepidation. The world remains
a perilous place with a tenuous cease—fire in place in
Israel, Iraq remaining a quagmire, Afghanistan seeming
to be in a regression, and Darfur still in the headlines. It
seems a long time from when a newsman named H. V.
Kaltenborn used to lead off the evening report with ”Ah
yes, there’s good news tonight.”

I am gratified, however, by the generous response of our
community to both our regular and Israel emergency
campaigns. People have been giving generously to both
and I have high hopes that we will attain our goals in
these areas.

From a local perspective, I am still
bothered by the fact that, except for
the Day of Giving, Camp Shalom,
and a few dedicated people who
shoulder the bulk of the remaining
workload, our volunteer level is so
low. Our ability to add programs and
offer services is directly related to the
number of people offering to help
with time and effort. We have a small
staff and are, we hope, utilizing them
to the fullest capacity.

Second, there are still people in
the community who feel that
we duplicate or compromise
the religious organizations in
fulfilling their mission. To the
extent that this occurs—and I
don’t agree that it does—it is unintentional. The recent
meeting of the Council of Organization Presidents did not
identify any concerns in this area.

As I have said before, if you have any specific
suggestions, complaints, or the like, please feel free to
either call me directly at (859) 278-7078 or email me at
martybarb@insightbb.com. I will respond. é

 

 

Herbert Hoover and

31st president’s deeds should be
remembered

o o 9
By Ted Roberts

Herbert Hoover was not a man blessed with great timing.
He gets elected in '28 and in 1929 he’s smacked with a
World Depression. Three years later he’s booted out of
office by Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a huge plurality
of six million votes. Don’t let the door hit you in the rear
end, said six million Americans. And as the White House

door slammed shut, the song ringing in the ex-president’s .

ear was: Happy Days Are Here Again. His four years
were no Camelot.

Bad timing. Few remembered that he saved millions of
Europeans from the clutches of starvation: first in post
World War I Belgium, and again in hungry Central
Europe. We Jews, who naturally look at the world
through our own ethnic spectacles, consider Herbert
Hoover and say, What’s he got to do with us?

Everything. Because the starving masses he fed in the
early ’ZOs were the bubbes and zaydes, uncles and aunts,

x

the Jews

maybe parents, of many of us. If
Oscar Schindler was pronounced a
hero for saving a few thousand Jews,
Herbert Hoover should be anointed
as the Moshiach, the Messiah, or
maybe granted charter
membership to the Hall of
Righteous Gentiles. His
contribution (”The Great
Humanitarian,” they
called him) is told in the
Hoover Digest, affiliated
with Stanford University.

World War I—"the war to
end all wars”——eventually
brought us World War II,
Communism in Russia, and
the subsequent Cold War.
But its first curse was
starvation in Central Europe.

Between 1919 and 1921 the American
relief effort, headed by Hoover, fed a

J

 

 

4 - October 2006 Shalom

  

1928; courtesy Herbert Hoover
Presidential Library and Museum

million and a half Jewish children, primarily in newly
independent Poland—disgorged from Germany, Austria,
and Poland. The challenge was daunting because Central
Europe was convulsed by warfare. The Russians were
marching on Warsaw, while Russia, roiled by revolution,
was pillaged by rival Royalists and Red gangs. This was
like Katrina relief in the middle of a war.

The easiest part was getting the money to
buy food. Uncle Sam, as usual, was the
first to open his wallet. The US.
Congress contributed 100 million
dollars and the US. Army contributed
a fleet of railroad cars to transport
food to out-of-the-way shtetls like
Pinsk, Bielsk, Siemiatycze, and Brzesc.

Getting the food to starving Polish kids

in this savage political environment had
all the challenges of feeding malnourished
Africa today. Hungry armies, murderous
gangs, black marketeers, corrupt local
officials, and inadequate transport stalked
the cornucopia of nutrition that the American Relief
Agency brought into Central Europe through Danzig.
Somehow, Hoover, who knew more about getting
nourishment into hungry mouths than anyone on the
planet, negotiated this gauntlet of obstacles. In most cases,
the food supplies were shepherded directly to the schools
by the American relief workers. Hoover wisely avoided
government channels. He wanted to feed kids, not enrich
corrupt bureaucrats. Millions were fed.

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University has
recently illuminated this bittersweet chapter in history, an
era that has not found its way into our textbooks. Early
this year they released a report on Hoover’s work by
Elena Danielson. It tells us how she came upon an old
”beautifully gold-tooled leather portfolio” in the archives.
It contained presentations proudly presented by school
kids to the ”Great Humanitarian" upon his Visit to Poland
in 1921. She went to Zachary Baker, curator of Judaica at
the Stanford University Libraries, and also a Yiddish
translator, for help. The portfolio was overflowing with
letters from another world: a time and place called,
loosely, Poland 1921. The land of many of our forefathers—
of shtetls, hasids, cheders, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, and
the Baal Shem Tov, and Sholom Aleichem. And finally, the
very ground zero of the Holocaust.

Here are letters from school children, most of whom
never reached middle age. They write thank you letters to

see Hoover, page 5

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‘7 Some samples:

Campers send cards and
special greetings to Jewish
soldiers in Iraq

By Kathy Peinberg for risking your life over the war,”
”thanks for fiting for USA and I hope
you don’t get hert" [sic], “Happy
Rosh Hashanah. We love you
soldiers, " ”Thanks for protecting the
USA,” and dozens more eloquent

and heartfelt messages.

As a special mitzvah project this
summer, Camp Shalom and Camp
Gesher campers and staff created
cards and warm fuzzies for Jewish
soldiers currently serving in Iraq.

The project also included warm
fuzzy greetings. As our campers
know, warm fuzzies are individual
craft sticks decorated with google
eyes, feathers, and beads with a
saying written on each one.
Greetings included ”Your cool" [sic],
”Your awesome” [sic], "Hi Dude,"
”Shalom,” ”When life gives you
lemons make lemonade," and many
more. Each warm fuzzy can be
tucked into a pocket. Our campers
made 85 of them.'A few raffia
bracelets and small painted wooden
dreidels were also included in the
package to the Jewish soldiers.

The cards included messages of
encouragement and thanks and Rosh
Hashanah greetings. All the cards
were as unique and imaginative as
the campers who created them.
Campers put their own boundless
creativity into each card and the
finished cards (65 in all) were in an
array of colors and decorated with
markers, felt, beads, glitter, feathers,
and many other art materials the
camp provided.

However, as beautiful as the cards
were on the outside, the sentiments
the campers wrote on the insides
were what made them so touching
and showed the compassion and
sensitivity our campers possess.

Camp Shalom and Camp Gesher
campers created a very special
mitzvah project that will surely bring
I smile and pe ‘M‘l aps a ttar to out

. Jewish soldiersserymgg‘nlraq. Our
campers truly know the meaning of
mitzvot. 1:!

Thank you for
fighting for us, " "We are proud of ‘ '
you,” ”Happy Rosh Hashanah, "
"Thank you,” ”Thank you so much

.e a co... w" i” " set. «*3
>© TAI and 025 Sisterhoods
go) to Meet on October 18

       
 

3% There’ ll be festive fun, food, and flowers when
, Q the 028 and TAI Sisterhoods get together on
QQ Wednesday, October 18 for their annual joint
o© meeting. To be held at Ohavay Zion Synagogue
”O G) at 7:00 p.m., the meeting will include
professional presentations and ideas for {g
3 Thanksgiving menus and table decorations a) ,4
QQ as well as an opportunity to shmooze with ' Q
old friends or make some new ones.

Refreshments will be served.

     
 
        
          

I“ .

 
   
 
    
 
     
 

Please join in as we_meet and mingle.

QQ Call Sandee at TN, (859) 269-2979, or @Q
Nancy Hoffman, (859) 268- 1102 or

O ngh1218@aol. com, to let us know you’ re coming.

      
    

f”;

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When an earthquake struck
Western India in January 2001,
Israel sent an entire field
hospital, including medical staff
and equipment, to help treat
injured civilians.

 
        
    
 

l,

  

 

Hoover (from page 4)

the American businessman, Herbert Hoover, who culturally was as unlike
them as a Hindu Maharaja, a continent away in India. They could not imagine
the wealth and freedom of Herbert Hoover or the average American if they
spent a lifetime of study' In their cheder or study rooms. It was beyond their
wildest dreams.

Their letters are perfumed with the innocence of youth and the warm
gratitude of full stomachs. The children elaborately thank the American
businessman. Then proudly demonstrating their newly learned ability, there’s
a scrawl of childish signatures and decorative artwork. Other cards and notes
bear pictures of the children’s school, festooned with American flags.

One letter, in Hebrew, is decorated with a drawing of a can of sweetened
condensed milk. Such cans were used for drinking cups. Tin cans for cups: a
pn\ o I t\ unknown to us \\ as t ndcmir In Central Europe. The (ups came to

cymboiizethenmeriemeffort.: We « vn- a. a. r.
A youngster named Ary Goldman adds a poem to his thanks and does not
forget to ask for money to buy books. It' Is a blessing In disguise that we know
not what happened to Ary and his schoolboy friends when Nazi and
Communist armies carved up their country. His final verse says it all.

Send us "Money for clothes, for rice and other types of food, so that we may
be able to study the Torah without fear. One of the students in the [’insk
Talmud Torah: Ary Goldman, 17 Sivan 5681, June 23, 1921."

Another group of youngsters presents a card vivid with orange cornflowers
and declares. "We the Jewish children signed below of the town of Siemiatycze,
the country of Bielsk, and the land of Grodno, kitchen no. 4 send our greetings
to American children, from Poland to noble America in homage to Herbert
Hoover. On the day of July 4th, the year 192] ." Sometimes the past is as hidden
from us as the future. This mitzvah, this good deed by a Quaker humanitarian
unrecogniZed by the history books. is also unknown to Jewish hearts. #1

 

October 2006 Shalom 0 5

 

  

From the Executive Director

Daniel Chejfec

 

Jewish Ethics and Flight 5191

¢++

As I am writing this article on September 11, we have
been subjected for over two weeks to the coverage of the
Flight 5191 disaster. When both significant events—the
fifth anniversary of 9/11 and a major plane crash at the
Bluegrass Airport—come together, they do bring to my
mind a number of questions.

Let us start with 9/ 11. I still remember where I was—as
probably do you—that morning. I was sitting in front of
my computer in our old offices in Romany Road, when
Lori Zimmerman came in from the front desk yelling,
”A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center.” My
instinctive reaction, as somebody who deals regularly
with anti—Israel terrorism, was to conclude that it was a
terror attack. I still remember Lori’s reaction: ”Not
everything is terrorism; it must have been an accident of
some kind.” Eight minutes later, the question became
moot when the second plane hit.

Lori’s reaction was paradigmatic denial. Before 9/ 11,
America was naive about terrorism, thinking, ”It will
never happen here.” Sure, there were such homegrown
terrorists as Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber, but
they were seen as aberrations, and not part of a concerted
war on America. September 11 changed that irreversibly.

While there are many opinions as “to why September 11
happened and about the best way to address the iSsue of
terrorism, we all agree on one issue: September, 11 is, a.
dividing line in history, and neither the U.S. nor the
world will ever be the same. We are at war.

Yet five years later, we have forgotten an important
lesson: Bad things do happen here. One issue which is
clear when it comes to terrorism is that it cannot thrive
without a perceived—real or not—injustice or inequality.

6 0 October 2006 Shalom

\

Our American society is starting to
show the strain of great inequalities,
and the political discourse is
becoming increasingly violent on
both sides. /et we choose not to see
and not to act, A recent cartoon
published in the Herald-Lender shows
a construction crew building a house.
To the side, two neighbors talk:
”How did you get them to fix your
house so fast?”
Answer: ”I called
Hezbollah.” Under
the cartoon: ”New
Orleans." The
cartoon illustrates
two problems: First,
that those trying to
rebuild their lives a
year after Katrina are
still waiting, and
waiting, and waiting. The second
problem is that the cartoonist found
the name of Hezbollah—a terrorist
organization—adequate to represent
a group quick to come to the help of
those in need, being shown indeed as
some kind of model to follow.

9 Our Am

Second problem: Flight 5191. The
crash of- the plane was indeed a ~
tragedy and should noise» 4 e"? - - ‘ — -
minimized. 'A full investigation needs
to be pursued, and the failure of the
system corrected in such a way that

it does not happen ever again.

Having said that, there is such a

thing as distasteful coverage of

events. Jewish tradition, for example,
makes a point of limiting the active

 

 

grim society is starting to
show'the strain. of great theta-estates,

and the political discourse is becoming
increasingly violent on "both sides. Yet
we choose not to see and not to act.

 

communal mourning period to
seven days of shivah. The
reasons for this are perfectly
clear: On the one hand, the
community needs to have the
time to show support for the
mourners and the mourners need some time to come to
grips with their loss. The focus, however, is also on the
living. After the mourning period, life goes on. Truth, the
mourners will continue to deal with their losses for years
to come and
some of them
might never
overcome them,
but right now
they need the
strength to go on
with their lives
as a tribute to
those lost.

 

Continuously dwelling on pain and suffering in order to
have newspaper-selling front page articles is distasteful. It
is the equivalent of pouring salt on the wound, making it
more difficult for the mourners to deal with their loss,
stretching the story of suffering beyond the boundaries

of good taste, and making a mockery of the loss by
exploiting it for commercial profit.

There is also the fact that as detailed as the coverage of

- death and suffering has been, little attention was paid to

> all the volunteers and neighbors who, without being '

called, came to help. Doctors, nurses, and plain lay people
were there to ease the pain, support the mourners, and
perform the grisly task of identifying the bodies. They
were the unsung heroes of the day, yet they were ignored.
Kindness, it seems, does not sell papers.

Both issues, the plane crash and the anniversary, are

calling us to do our Jewish duty: To listen. To listen to the
strains in our society and to make sure that we don’t reach
the point of not caring and to listen to the small still voice
of kindness and wave it as a standard for people to follow. 1'3

 

Audience listens intently as Rachel Belin facilitates a Community
Conversation of the Hizbollah War, sponsored by the Community
Relations Committee of CKIF.

 

 Third Opinion

Stanley Ned Rosenbaum,

PhD

 

Strange Tentfellows
+ § Q

My alternate title for this column
was: Hezbollah 2, Hamas, 1. Why?
Well, recently Sheik Hassan
Nasrallah, of whom I am no fan, had
the candor to admit that if he‘d
known how strongly Israel would
react, he would not have ordered the
raid that resulted in the capture of
two Israeli soldiers. So, I hear you
asking, why did he do it?

He did it because a month before
Hezbollah’s raid, Hamas had
succeeded in capturing an Israeli
soldier near Gaza. One for Hamas,
But Hamas is a Sunni organization so
Hamas' success was a big boost in
prestige for Sunnis. Hezbollah is
Shiite so it had to outdo Hamas to
regain momentum in its drive to
become numero uno in the Muslim
world. Talk about a battle for ”hearts
and minds,” what’s taking place in
the Muslim Middle
East makes the
sectarian strife between
Catholics and
Protestants in Ireland
look like a debating
society.

People who insist that Israel is ”the”
problem in that part of the world are
mostly ignorant of Arab history,
blind, or Mel Gibson. Israel is only
the part of the iceberg that has
recently stuck itself up above the
water. The Shiites and Sunnis had
already been rivals or at each other’s
throats for over 1,000 years before
1948.

Shiites are convinced that
Muhammad’s nephew and son-in-
law Ali, murdered in 661, was the
Prophet’s true heir. They have a _

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

belief, similar to Christians’ about
Jesus, that Ali‘s last descendant did
not die but will return. Some Sunnis
think that Shiites are infidel