xt7n8p5vbc0x https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7n8p5vbc0x/data/mets.xml Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass Kentucky Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass 2008-04 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, April 2008 text image Shalom, April 2008 2008 2008-04 2025 true xt7n8p5vbc0x section xt7n8p5vbc0x

APRIL 2008

Celebrating Yom ha’Atzmaut

from Israel to Lexington
Big plans in the works for 60th Yom ha’Atzmaut

§§4

By Mimi Kaufman and Jana LaZur

Save the date of Sunday, June 1 from We are lucky to live in a community
that is small but lively in spirit. Yom
ha’Atzmaut celebrations have been
happening here in Lexington since
as early as 1990, when Kim Slaton,
wife of Rabbi Slaton, called Israeli
native Aviva Bowling to ask whether
she might perform in their program.
Aviva played her guitar and sang,
giving our community a sample of
the sounds of Israel. That year's party

10:00 am. to 2:00 pm. to celebrate
this year's Yom ha’Atzmaut. We’ll
have a symbolic walk across the land
of Israel at the beautiful Keeneland
racecourse to show our solidarity
with Israel. The Lexington Jewish
Community has held celebrations of
Yom ha’Atzmaut in places such as
the ES Goodbarn, Lexington Senior
Center, Thoroughbred Center, and
the Blue Crass Christian Camp.

sue Yom ha’Autzmaut a 'c 2" . l
. 6. IF .5 4 garage k

— CAMPAIGN NEWS —

Benefactors event promises to be inspiring

By Fran Morris Mandel, Event C0-Chair

On Saturday evening May 10 at 8:00 p.m., our community
will host UJC speaker Sophie Ambrose for our annual
Benefactors event. This event brings together community
members and CKJF donors who give $125 or more to the
Annual Campaign for an evening of education and inspi—
ration.

Sophie was born and raised in the Ozark mountains of
Arkansas, a place where few, if any Jews, lived. For most
of her life, Sophie felt like an outsider to formal Jewish
practice, feeling extremely uncomfortable at worship

services. Then, in 2003 everything
changed when Sophie entered gradu—
ate school and decided to Visit Israel
with the Birthright/ March of the
Living program. Sophie found her
Jewish identity while on this trip, and
she "came back as a proud Jew ready
to learn what that meant and how to
integrate Judaism in her life.”

see Benefactors, page 3

Central Kentucky Jewish Federation
1050 Chinoe Road - Suite 302 - Lexington, KY 40502

Change Service Requested

Non-Profit Org.
US. Postage _

PAID

Lexington, KY
Permit It 719

FEDERATION
ADAR ll-NISAN 5768

Purim food drive
sponsored by 028

and T A1 continues
March 15, 2008 tllrgugh April 13, 2008

The Social Action Committees of Ohavay Zion Synagogue
and Temple Adath Israel, working with God’s Pantry, are
sponsoring a food drive in conjunction with Purim. Put
your donations of canned goods or nonperishable pack-
aged foods in donation barrels in the lobby of the Temple
or Synagogue. To donate online, visit the virtual food
drive at: ‘

http://vad.aidmatrix.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=2639

Here’s why this food drive is so relevant to the Purim .
season: ,

Mishloach Manot: It is a special mitzvah to send food

packages or baskets to friends and relatives on Purim.

This custom finds its origins in the Megillah when _
Mordecai declared the holiday of Purim as a time of l
feasting and gladness and of sending food to one another, I
as well as gifts to the poor. The only requirement is that

the food baskets, or in Yiddish, shalach-manot, contain at

see Food drive, page 16

IN THIS ISSUE

Spotlight: Marcia Blacker ............................... 3
President's Message ................................... 4
Holocaust survivors: The later years ....................... 5
From the Executive Director ............................. 6
Third Opinion ........................................ 7
Ask a Rabbi ......................................... 8
Memoir: My father’s Pesach haggadah .................... 9
TAI Sisterhood joint meeting with Christ the King Women's Club 9
JFS: At Your Service .................................. 10
Camp Shalom remembered fondly as 40th anniversary nears . . 11
A Play: Arthur the Talking Cow goes partially mad ........... 12
A Poem: Childhood Is a Wild Ride ....................... 12
Task force concern on climate change and poverty .......... 14
Sim Shalom begins youth group program ................. 16
The Bats fundraiser a rousing success .................... 16
History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict — Part XXVII ......... 17
March 2: A Super Day for the Jewish Community ........... 21
Israel 21c: Israeli medicine's magic wand .................. 21
B’tayavon .......................................... 22
Holocaust education program held ...................... 23
Lexington Chapter of Hadassah ......................... 25
Lexington Havurah ................................. 2S
TAI. . . , ..................... 276
035.. ...... . . 2

Around Me Community , . . , . , 2
Community Calendar . . . 28

SHALOM

Published ten times per year by the
Central Kentucky Jewish Federation, Inc.
1050 Chinoe Rd., Suite 302, Lexington, KY 40502
Phone (859) 268-0672 0 Fax (859) 268-0775
email: shalom@iewishlexingtoncrg

APRIL 2008, VOLUME XV, ISSUE 3
Linda Ravvin, President
Daniel Chejfec, Executive Director
Jana LaZur, Activities Director
Tamara Ohayon, Staff Associate

SHALOM COMMITTEES

Editorial Board
Ruth Poley, Editor-in-Chief
Mary Heléne Rosenbaum, Editor/Administrator
Marcia Blacker
Judy Levine
Advisory Board
Elissa Brown, Gail Cohen, Angie Ornstein,
and Rose Rita Wurmser

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Ariel Elias, Lynn Furness, Mimi Kaufman, Fran Morris Mandel,
Marshall Roorda, Greta Friedman Rothschild, Judy SiegeI—Itzkovich,
Hanna 8. Smith, and Jesse Weil.

Production Services by Direct Response, Inc.

The editorial staff has the right to edit all articles submitted for publication
in Shalom. The appearance of any advertising in this publication does not
represent a kashruth endorsement on the part of CKJF or any other agency
or organization. Shalom is partially supported by the advertisements
appearing in the paperi

2 | April 2008 Shalom

The June/July issue of Shalom will be

published in early June. If you have an

event in July you wish to have publicized,

the deadline for that material is May 9.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/
Attention proud
grandparents,
parents, and students

VI
4M»

Jonathan Miller identified the Camp

We want to publish any origi-
nal writing produced by our

community's elementary and
high-schooI-age children. If
you’re proud of something
written by one of our kids,

Shalom photo in the March issue as dat-
ing to the early 19705, probably 1972.

ei- \

“WWWW\\\\WW\\\V§R\W\V\W‘\\WWWWW
W“\V\WWW\\W\\W\\\\\\\\\\W\\\\\\W\\\\\\\\Z

ﬁkkuu Lexinng either fiction or non-fiction,
STEWART HOME SCHOOL please email it to
VISITATION SCHEDULE: DI-lFR@Bardstown.com. 2
May 18 “ll 5

May 18 is their family weekend and
the festivities start at 4 pm.

A
,7
The Stewart Home. located ir‘ Firr'2l-rfort . 8%{{/(1/// Bit/(”'11

Kenmcky IS a residi 3t hot-l fOi iridiwcliials

I‘Vlll“ disaiﬂiiiies I: l‘ ui"l“’1:l"(, ml The

country 5)" {in hiv ii'ty Lilian 3 uni; “ xiv

‘ ‘v‘v‘e Hue ? ﬁr»? (twp, 5'? om
students, and attracts :‘ir‘i‘Ople ti Z'iii all and» U1"
country Tikkuti Lexington brings celebration to ever; InfllVIClual and every
the Stewart Home’s Jewishistudents by honoring QLOUE m the community; BU
Shabbat and Jewish hoiidavsml— "‘ ’ "
evening ior all who paruopate, volunteers and
students alike. Caravan leaves the CKJF offices by (peace in the house), please
5:20 pm. and returns by 8:00 pm. appoint only one person
from your organization to

act as liaison to the paper.

L‘. r-J' . A .- '
fort e sake. sh ' *

\cu\'~“‘j;’%r,oO Please call Jana at (859) 268—0672
C LLL-i‘JJ ‘ or email jana@jewish|exington.org

e ‘f . .
\M‘W f°' "‘0“? '“f°'ma“°“ / —

If you are not receiving Jewish weekly email andywould like to, please
send your name and email address to ckif@iewishlexington.org

a5“ "deer/o

15%: a; Central Kentucky Jewish Federation

CKJF President CKJF Board
Linda Ravvin Judy Baumann Jennifer Miller
Elissa Brown Lowell Nigoff
Executive Committee Ronit Eres Linda Noffsinger
Michael Grossman, Vice President Dawd Feinberg Angie Ornstein
Pat Shraberg, Secretary Rose Garden Ricki Rosenberg
Robert Grossman, Treasurer Odette Kaplan Kae Schennberg
Ruth Poley, Member—At-Large Mimi Kaufman David Wekstein
Marty Barr, Immediate Past President David Levine Carole Wilson

' ' " ' Sén/om Deablme j
Deadline for articles for the May-55.31% is April 19.
Email artictes to di-ifrehardstowncom. ‘
Articles submitted in hard copy should he double-spaced.

‘9

Spotlight

By Lynn Furness

Marcia Blacker

+++

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
Marcia Blacker grew up in Omaha,
Nebraska, where her father worked
for the Army Corps of Engineers.
She fondly remembers Central High
School, located across the street
from the JCC, where her older sister
worked and Marcia served in the
Jewish Youth Council as newsletter
editor. During these years, Marcia
was also active in the teen ver-

sion of National Council of Jewish
Women (NCJW) called Councilettes.
In this group, she planned pro-
grams and learned how organiza-
tions work, including the ins and
outs of Roberts Rules of Order.

Marcia graduated from the
University of Nebraska at Omaha
and majored in English. She taught
high school for those years. When

her husband finished medical school,

they were off to Baltimore, Maryland

for his internship and residency

at Johns Hopkins, where Marcia

worked part time at the medical
lrggistrar' 5 office. Her oldest ,

child, Nancy, was born in Baltimore.

Her second child, David, was
born in Madison, Wisconsin dur-
ing her husband’s year and a half
on a post-doctoral fellowship.
While in Madison, Marcia was
very active in Hadassah, in which
she later became a Life Member.

Another year of post-doctoral train-
ing took the family to Montreal.
Her third child, Mimi, was born

in Canada. And in 1967 they

all moved to Lexington—but
only after Marcia pulled out a
map to check where it was!

After settling in Lexington, Marcia
enjoyed being a full-time mom to
three small children. She eventu-
ally earned her masters degree in

‘ English in 1977, and became a part-

time instructor at UK, but wanted

to be working full time. Luckily,
David Wekstein was setting up the
Sanders Brown Center on Aging and
hired her to work part time for the
Center in addition to her teaching.

When the grant money for her
position at the Center ran out,
Marcia became an administrative
aide to Governor John Y. Brown
in Frankfort. She was in charge of
all the correspondence that went
in and out of the governor's office
and managed a staff of six.

Marcia’s working career ended
in 2000 when she retired after
sixteen years as senior edi-

tor for the American Board of
Family Medicine in Lexington.

Throughout her time in Lexington,
Marcia has been dedicated to the
Jewish community. She was on

the first board of the Federation,
known then as JCA. Marcia was
instrumental in the Forum Series
that brought illustrious speak—

ers and performers to Lexington.
When Stan Saxe was president of
the Federation, he invited Marcia to
join the Board and to help revitalize

Benefactors (from page 1)

Since that first trip to Israel, Sophie has been back several times, and has been
involved locally in Hillel as well. She is active in synagogue life, has worked
for Young Judea, and has attended Jewish events such as Hadassah's national
convention and the national Jewish leadership conference. Through her experi-
ences, Ms. Ambrose understands and actively participates in fundraising for
UJC and she speaks to communities around the nation about the importance
of local federations and the need to support them. Her enthusiasm is sure to

be contagious.

We look forward to hosting Ms. Ambrose and seeing all benefactors at the
home of Ricki and Joe Rosenberg, 1070 Lakewood Drive in Lexington, on May
10. Watch for your personal invitation in the mail. If you have any questions,
please email Fran at franvmorrisfmyahoocom or to Bob Crossman at rbgros1@
qx.net. Or contact the CKJF office at ckijitjewishlexingtonorg. Q

Shalom. She has continued to work
as one of the editors of Shalom and
enjoys participating in this way.

In addition, she was on the board of
Hadassah and crafted its newsletter,
too. With NCJW, Marcia organized

a traveling troupe of actresses who
performed at local schools in such
fairy tales as “The Princess and the
Pea" and ”Rumplestiltskin.” Marcia
also directed original skits for the
Hadassah Donor dinners. As many of
our readers know, her dramatic talent
was also evident at Studio Players,
Lexington’s community theater.

Marcia is a long-time member
of Ohavay Zion Synagogue. She
served on its board a number of
years ago and soon will be con—
cluding another two-year term.

Marcia puts her ”free” time to good
use reading, playing bridge, watching
movies—particularly old ones—or
knitting, but really loves most to
spend time with her children and
grandchildren. Nancy now holds
the rank of lieutenant colonel in the
Army reserves. Currently on agtjye.
duty in Washington, DC, she lives
in Virginia with her husband, Jay
Hancock. David, a professor of the
philosophy of education, teaches

at the University of Delaware in

Mama Blacker

Newark, Delaware. He is married to
Jessica and has two children, Abigail,
15 and Joshua, 12. Mimi lives in
Atlanta, where she is an academic
advisor at Georgia State University.
Her teenaged son, Alex, lives in the
Lexington area. Marcia’s home is
filled with photos of all the family
on various occasions, demonstrat-
ing the importance of the children
and grandchildren in her life.

Marcia’s numerous contributions
have greatly benefited the Lexington
Jewish community. She feels CKJF

is a vital organization serving the
needs of the local Jewish commu—
nity and hopes a new generation
will volunteer to keep CKJF thriv-

»m&.Maman-e

continue to contribute, as she has
agreed to help edit the Hadassah
newsletter again. And, maybe, we
can persuade her to plan skits with
a new generation of thespians! 1:1

Case Management
Programming
Community Outreach
Administration

values necessary

Search Committee
Jewish Family Services

Lexington, KY 40502

Immediate Opening
Professional Opportunity

c/o Central Ky Jewish Federation 0’
1050 Chinoe Road, Suite 302 \ "L99 .,| 0

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April 2008 Shalom | 3

President's Message

Linda Ravvin

Maybe it's the feeling of spring in the air and a sense of renewal that always
seems to overtake me at this time of year. I've been thinking a lot about com—
munity: celebrating what we have and enjoying the wide array of activities
and opportunities within our local Jewish world. It amazes me to realize how
much is going on and how, even in ”small" Lexington and the Bluegrass,

I cannot find the time to go to everything that I want to be part of. We

need to celebrate ourselves—for we are the ones creating all of these activi-
ties, for ourselves, our friends and family, and the community at large.

We have a rich and varied community with two staffed congregations, a
member-led Havurah, a visiting Chabad rabbi from Louisville, Hadassah,
B'nai B’rith, Hillel, and of course, CKJF. The opportunities for our chil-

dren include pre-school offered at both congregations, religious school,
Hebrew school, Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation, youth programs at Temple
Adath Israel and Ohavay Zion Synagogue and Young Judaea, which is

a pluralistic movement. Of course, we also spon-
sor Camp Shalom, the CKJF day camp program.

Also, building on the contemporary,
The Bats provided an exceptional
and fun-filled evening for us as

the headliners at the TAI fund-
raiser. They were truly talented, a
little ribald, and absolutely hilari-
ous—having Marilyn Robie and
Marianne and Harold Sherman on
stage as part of the group added

an extra element of enjoyment to
the whole evening. (Getting the
prize for the ”most romantic couple
on the dance floor" was an unex—
pected bonus for Leon and me.)

The educational and social activities available to adults Together we create a tapestry Of

are rich and varied. In February and March alone,
we kvelled to see and listen to five of our own, as
they brought us wonderful invigorating programs.

Cantor David Frommer was the weekend scholar in

Jewish life in Central Kentucky: a
beautiful, living, ever growing texture
of a small but vibrant community.

residence at TAI; it was an absolute pleasure to listen _ _

to his beautiful voice at services and to share in his joy

and knowledge of the music of Judaism. David’s expla-

nation of the use of trope and his demonstrations of the importance of the
differences in tone and punctuation in Jewish liturgical music were brilliant.

Shir Appeal, a cappella singers from Tufts University, appeared at 025.
Lexington’s Penina Goldstein, a student at Tufts, is a member of the group,
who sang a mixture of traditional and contemporary Hebrew music.

Jewish Family Services
Upcoming Programs

Join or For lunch, ob

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in Beaumont; Center
3030 takeout: Circle

~ lilcdqerdog. npril 30m '
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For more information about these events, to RSVP,
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(859)269-8244 oritsfijewisnfexingion.ore

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4 5 April 2008 Shalom

The upcoming events sched-

uled for the community are as
varied as they are excitin .

The Havurah is celebrating its 30th
anniversary with many people
coming back to Lexington to com-
memorate the event and see old
friends. Rabbi Neal Katz will be
here from Texas to help lead the
festivities and Observances.

Lexington Hadassah will host the
Central States Region Conference
in the fall of this year. The event
will be educationally stimulat-
ing, Zionist oriented, and always a
friendly and fun—filled experience.

CKJF will hold its Benefactors
and Pacesetters Campaign
Events; these are in addition to
Super Sunday, which success-
fully took place in February.

We will observe Yom Hashoah as a
community, in remembrance of the
Holocaust; and we will recognize
the winner of the Emilie Szekely
Holocaust essay contest, which is
open to any student in the Central
Kentucky area. CKJF, in conjunc—
tion with the Humanitarium Center
of Lexington and the University of
Kentucky College of Education will
also have been instrumental in set—
ting up “Echoes and Reflections:

A Multimedia Curriculum on the

l‘iolocaust." This program is a ioin‘.

project of ADL, the USC Shoah
Foundation Institute, and Yad
Vashem; it presents a workshop for
teachers and student instructors
on how to teach the Holocaust.

Yom ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s
Independence Day) will be espe-
cially joyous this year as we cel-
ebrate Israel’s 60th birthday with
community programming for all
ages. We will be participating in a
nationwide activity emphasizing our
connection to and love for Israel as
part of the festivities. Don’t forget
that, through the generosity of Betty
and Lowell Nigoff, CKJF is holding
another essay contest, “What Israel
Means To Me,” which is open to all
children in the Jewish community.

Camp Shalom will also have a spe-
cial birthda this ' er, its 40th,
and plans are underway for not
only a spectacular summer session
of camp, but for a fantastic camp
reunion. Pictures, names, addresses,
and contact information are being
gathered from former staff and
campers so that as many people as
possible will be able to celebrate
with the community as a whole.

We have many other things going
on in the community. Book groups,
arts events, adult education, Yiddish
Club, seniors’ programming, and
lectures and programs offered by
the Judaic Studies Department

at the University of Kentucky

and by Transylvania University,
University of Eastern Kentucky, and
Lentre College are all thriving.
Together we create a tapestry of
Jewish life in Central Kentucky:

a beautiful, living, ever growing
texture of a small but vibrant com-
munity. We need to think about all
the bounties we have available to us.
We need to take advantage of these
opportunities and participate as
much as possible. We especially need
to reali/e how much we have created,
we, ourselves, for each other—that

is the embodiment of community. 7-7

Holocaust survivors: The later years

Oscar Haber’s life journey a testimonial

to skill and courage
O + 0

By Hanna B. Smith

Oscar Haber was born in Poland. He was already work-
ing as a dentist and was married to his wife, Fryda,
when Germany invaded Poland in World War II. Oscar
and Fryda were able to obtain false papers that allowed
them to live in Oscar’s birthplace of Brzeznica, near
Dembitz. Oscar opened a small dental clinic for the
working people in the area. After the arrival of the i
Nazis he was assigned to work in the Pustkov labor
camp and take care of the inmates’ dental needs.

Jewish professionals were permitted to treat only Jews,

not gentiles. Nevertheless, the commandant of the Pustkov
labor camp insisted one day that Oscar treat him for a problem
involving the commandant’s dentures. He claimed that his
well-equipped dentist had not been able to determine why his
dentures were causing him pain. When Oscar was able to diagnose and treat
the problem, in spite of his scant resources, the commandant told him that the
Jewish dentists were superior to the Nazi dentists!

Oscar Halter

Oscar had his Nazi-issued passport revoked in 1942 only to have it reinstated
because his skills were valuable. In 1943 he was denounced. He and Fryda
then fled Brzeznica and joined the Polish underground. Various Polish citi-
zens helped and hid him and his wife.

After the end of World War II, Oscar and Fryda moved to Belgium, where
their son was born. In 1951 the family moved to Israel and in 1980 they came

to the United States. Fryda died
in 2006. The story of one of he

Holocaust survivors whom
Oscar and Fryda met in
Israel illustrates one aspect
of the spirit of Jewish sur-
vival.

Yossl (not his real
name) was in his 70s
and still strong and in
good health when he
became acquainted with
Oscar and Fryda. He had
been born in Poland and
had survived the Holocaust
hiding in the forest, together
with others. Yossl was a vil-
lage Jew, a peasant, religious,
but without formal education.
In Israel he earned a living by sell-
ing chicken meat. The chickens were
slaughtered according to the laws of
kashrut, and Yossl had developed a
circle of customers in those years of
food shortages.

Unfortunately it was not clear wheth-
er the proper authorities had issued
Yossl a permit to sell chicken meat,
and the police would raid Yossl’s

operation from time to time. In spite
of this inconvenience Yossl continued
to sell his meat. Oscar asked him one
day if he was not afraid of the police.
Yossl’s answer was: ”I have fought
the Nazis and the Poles and have
survived. Why would I be afraid of a
Jewish policeman?”

Oscar points out that human beings
have a basic inner strength. That
strength continues to move us on, no
matter what are the circumstances.
”There are wars, atrocities, all over
the world. Yet, people live, have chil-
dren, and the world continues,” he
observes. ”What our parents instilled
in us gives us strength."

Oscar vividly remembers the security
of his parents' home, his siblings and
friends. This world was torn apart
and destroyed with the coming of
the Nazis. Yet he also remembers the
kindness of gentiles in his town who
helped him survive. Other survivors
also reported incidents of receiving
help from gentiles, often from total
strangers. There is no legal opposi-
tion built into a totalitarian regime.
Yet individuals resisted Nazi laws out
of personal conviction, self-interest,
or other, unfathomable, reasons.

see Haber, page 14

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April 2008 Shalom | 5

From the Executive Director

Daniel Chejfec

If Purim did not exist
+ + +

I know it is late to write a Purim

Shpiel because Purim is already over,

so I want to, for a change, seriously
reflect on the meaning of Purim.

While we tend to believe that no
time in human history has ever been
as stressful as the one we live in,

we share that belief with millions

of people who believed the same
through the ages. Stress is brought
about by competing demands from
the world in which we live; they

can be work-related, family-related,
health-related or just plain nothing—
related. It is not so much about what
is going as it is about how we deal
with it. While life in Esther’s time
was not as fast-paced as today, it was
probably as stressful for those living
then as our times are for us. Purim
is a safety valve: a day in which we
have "permission” to misbehave, to
play not quite by the rules, to get
drunk (indeed getting drunk is con-
sidered a mitzvah on Purim) and to

At Toyota Sout,

behave completely out of society’s established structure
and expectations.

The story of Purim in itself is indeed a manifestation of
this behaving outside the established structure: Megilat
Esther is the only ancient Hebrew book that does not
mention God at all. While rabbis have tried to explain it
away by saying that God’s face was hidden, or that God
was acting through the human actors, and so on, the
bottom line is that God is not mentioned, and that the
saving of the people is credited to Esther and Mordechai.
Now let us be honest and accept that the historical value
of Megilat Esther is dubious, that many people are con-
vinced that it is a work of fiction; let us also accept that
even if the book was an historical record, the identifica-
tion of the players and even the likelihood of the plot are
suspicious. So what is the point of the

ideological and political behav-
ior.” How come?

When we read the scroll at
services, it is commanded to
use the gragger (noisemaker)
to shut out the name of Haman, our arch-nemesis. In my
opinion we use the gragger way too much, and I am not
referring to the reading of the scroll. How many times a
day do we shut out the opinions of those who disagree
with us? How often do we label those we disagree with
as "the other” to differentiate ourselves from them? How
often do we ignore the fact that by having a different
opinion they define us as a much as they define them-
selves? Haman defines Mordechai and Esther as much
as Esther and Mordechai define Haman, so each time we
use the gragger we are also

story? As in most Jewish stories, the
point is not about the historical accu-
racy, but about the teaching. The story
of Purim tells us that it is not neces—
sary to wait for God to intervene, but

How many times a day do we
shut out the opinions of those
who disagree with us?

blotting out Mordechai and
Esther—not just Haman. And
we do that every day, by shut-
ting out Obama or Clinton or
McCain (depending on your

people can make a difference. Today
we would call that ”empowerment.”

Purim functions as an empowering tool and an escape
valve. Purim also teaches us about contemporary ideo-
logical and political behavior. Yes, I said ”contemporary

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personal taste); we do it by
defining other Jews as "other”
because they make us uncomfortable: "those people who
dress as in the 19th century and live as in the 18th,” or
”Those people are not even Jewish," and all the gamut in

between.
see Purim, page 7

"e +15. "A

"Beyond your Expectations"

(859) 624-1313 0 Richmond
1-800-688-6968
www.toyotasouth.com

6 April 2008 Shalom

ON THE BY PASS
AT 4 MILE ROADI

At The Corner Of
Four Mile Road 8: The By-Pass

(859) 624-1313 Richmond
1-800-688-6968

www. scionsouthmet

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Third Opinion

Stanley Ned Rosenbaum, PhD

On first meeting
William Yale
+ + +

He was tall, taller than I am—and
I’m 6’ 1”—white haired, imposing. I
judged him to be about 70. I was just
turned 21, a Tulane student in Paris
for my Junior Year Abroad. It was the
spring of 1960.

We encountered each other at one
or another of the many monuments

ers when abroad, we recognized
each other as Americans and began
to chat, but when I told him I was an
American History major he became
quite animated and told me his story.

He was back in Paris for the first
time in 40 years, I think. He'd last
, been there in 1919-1920 as a junior
member of Woodrow Wilson’s staff
I at the Versailles Peace Conference.
Now, Wilson remains my favorite
president. I wish I remember more
details of our talk, but I was too
much in awe of this living link to the
history I had so recently studied.
As the conversation drew to an end
I asked for his name. He replied, ”I
wasn’t that important. You won’t find
me in the history books. I just want-
ed to find someone to whom I could

And for the next 40 years that is
where things stood. Then, quite

by chance, I saw a photograph of
Wilson’s staff and there was this
tall, young man standing behind the
others. His name was William Yale.
Enter the Internet.

I Googled the name and... there
he was, William Yale, 1887 —1975,

American history is fun, but
that dot the city. Like many foreign- compared to JerSh hlStOI'Y?

Captain, on the staff as an expert
in Arab affairs*. He will not have
known what I did with his ”baton."

Before coming to Paris that fall, our
group had spent six weeks in Dijon.
There was a small Jewish community
there, survivors who crawled out of
hiding at war’s end. I marveled at
their persistence. They had a syna-
gogue, but the Nazis had used it as

a stable. In 1959 it was still not fully
repaired, but there they were having
services.

There was a plaque in the synagogue
commemorating those who had pes-
ished and among the names I saw
”Madame ROSENBAUM.” No first
name. I choked back tears—as I am

doing now as I write—feeling that I
had run into my own ghost.

I didn’t go to services in Paris that
year, but when I got back to Tulane I
joined Hillel. Two years later, in grad-
uate school, I abandoned American
History and began the academic
study of Judaism. I received a Ph.
D. In Near Eastern & Judaic Studies
from Brandeis the year after William
Yale died.

American history is fun, but com-

pared to Jewish history? Four hun-

dred years as over against 3,000? As
Harry Austryn Wolfson, the great
Harvard philsopher, explained to me
on the one occasion that I met him,
”Anything that’s happened the last
three, four hundred years is merely
a branch of journalism.”

I was seduced by and continue to
love Jewish history, warts and all.

We were the first people to report our