Yom HaShoah event recalls Kristallnacht

Published in Volume 64, Issue 10 of Arizona Jewish Post (May 16, 2008)

On Sunday, May 4, community members packed into Congregation Anshei Israel to commemorate Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), which was officially observed May 1. The ceremony held a special significance this year, marking the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht and the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. The ceremony was themed "Kristallnacht Remembered," featuring keynote speaker Gerhard Weinberg, professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

The commemoration began with a Presentation of Colors by the Davis-Monthan Honor Guard and a processional of Holocaust survivors from Hungary, Poland, Greece, Germany and Ukraine. The survivors, escorted by students belonging to the Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition, lit six candles in honor of the six million Jews who perished in the genocide. Two survivors, Inge Schneider and Ester Harris, spoke of the horrors that began with Kristallnacht--the "Night of Broken Glass"--on Nov. 9, 1938, when Nazis destroyed Jewish homes and businesses throughout Germany.

Schneider was a 12-year-old in the German town of Dusseldorf when her family was awakened at 4 a.m. by Nazi troops bursting into their home. The soldiers ransacked the home and arrested her father. In the morning, she saw that the streets were littered with glass and the Jewish school she and Harris both attended had been burned to the ground. Her mother arranged for her father's release and brought Schneider and her two sisters on the ill-fated St. Louis, which sailed for Cuba in May 1939 but was not permitted to disembark upon arrival. All but 28 of its 937 Jewish passengers were forced to return to Europe, where most--including Schneider's mother--perished in concentration camps. "For the Nazis, this was a victory," she said. "It showed that no one wanted the Jews." Schneider survived Bergen-Belsen, but was hospitalized for typhus and tuberculosis after the camp was liberated. After the war, she and her sisters were reunited with their father in New York City.

Although they did not know each other at the time, Harris grew up in Dusseldorf and attended the same Jewish school as Schneider. She, too, remembers the terrifying events of Kristallnacht, when several soldiers broke into the house, brutally beat her father and destroyed the family's dry goods store. Harris had just turned 11. Her father managed to escape arrest because of his service in WWI. The next morning, the Jews of Dusseldorf wandered through the streets surveying the damage. "It was like a ghostly parade from another world," Harris said. Fearing for their future, the family fled to Belgium and then to France in May 1940, when the Nazis invaded Belgium. With the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, they eventually found refuge in Portugal.

Weinberg, a noted WWII historian whose own family fled Germany in 1938, discussed the context of Kristallnacht, explaining that it occurred following the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath, who was shot in Paris by a Jewish youth, Herschel Grynszpan. The Nazis sought to drive Germany's Jews out of the country and plunder their property ahead of the impending war, and used the assassination as a justification.

The program was coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council, the public affairs and social action arm of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.

Local artist adds superhero flair to prayer book

Arizona Jewish Post Vol. 64, Issue 7 (April 4, 2008)

Muscle-bound superheroes and Hebrew blessings may seem like an unusual combination, but to local artist Howard Salmon, it’s a combination that can renew interest in Judaism and enhance Jewish learning. Salmon’s “Comic Book Siddur” contains all the prayers for Saturday morning Shabbat services, printed side-by-side with snappy translations and comic book style illustrations.

The idea came to Salmon in May 2007 as he prepared to become an adult Bar Mitzvah. While studying his Torah portion, he began sketching a mini comic book called “Bar Mitzvah Comics.” It was a small project, encompassing eight pages of cut and paste material, but it sparked the idea of creating a full-length siddur. He brought the idea to Assistant Rabbi Benjamin Sharff of Temple Emanu-El, who agreed to edit the book. “There were a lot of difficult theological decisions” regarding the translations, says Salmon, and Sharff was instrumental in that process.

To Sharff, it is no coincidence that Jewish artists, including Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, have played a key role in the comic book industry. Many of the most popular comic book characters, he notes, “were picked on and faced tremendous challenges but now stand up for what’s right in the world. In many ways, that model is based on the Jewish people.”

Salmon says the siddur is aimed at helping students prepare for their B’nai Mitzvah, just as creating comics helped him prepare for his own Bar Mitzvah. “I wanted to make studying for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah have the thrills and excitement of reading a comic book,” he says. “If you like comic books and you’re struggling to study for your Bar Mitzvah, this book can help you learn Hebrew and study the prayers in an enjoyable way.” The siddur has also proved useful as a prayer supplement for kids, especially those who are having trouble with their Hebrew.

Lori Riegel, an account executive at the Arizona Jewish Post and a Hebrew teacher at Temple Emanu-El, plans to use the comic book with her fourth graders and during the services she leads at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. “It has everything in there,” she says. “It’s entertaining for the kids, but there are layers for the adults, too.”

Salmon graduated from the University of Arizona in 1985 with a degree in philosophy and earned his MFA from the university in 2002. He says he has wanted to be a comic book artist all his life, inspired by Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Captain America artist Jack Kirby, graphic artist Jim Steranko, and pop art pioneers Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Creating the book enabled him “to blend two interests: drawing a graphic novel and engaging my spirituality.”

“Comic Book Siddur” can be ordered online at comic booksiddur.com or purchased at the Temple Emanu-El and Congregation Anshei Israel gift shops. Salmon is available for speaking engagements and other educational events. He can be reached at hsalmon@howardsalmon.com.

Burial society conference at CAI explores the ultimate selfless mitzvah

Published in The Arizona Jewish Post Volume 64, Issue 4, February 22, 2008

Members of the burial societies known as chevra kadisha (literally, "Holy Societies") gathered Sunday, Feb. 10 at Congregation Anshei Israel to discuss "rites, rituals, protection and procedures." The conference took place three days before the 7th of Adar, the anniversary of the death of Moses, which is traditionally associated with the chevra kadisha. Chevra kadisha members often commemorate the day together, and some fast to atone for any disrespect they may have inadvertently shown the deceased. The conference, cosponsored by the Tucson Board of Rabbis, brought together chevra kadisha members from several local synagogues for the first time.

Preparing a person for burial is considered one of the highest mitzvot a Jew can perform. Rabbi Robert Eisen of Anshei Israel explains that it's the ultimate selfless act, "one of the few things you can do for which they can't say 'thank you.'"

The conference began with a demonstration of the tahara, or ritual purification of the body, using a mannequin. During the tahara, the body is cleansed with an unbroken flow of water. The ritual strongly emphasizes respect toward the deceased person, called the met (male) or metah (female). Men perform the ritual for men, and women for women. While performing the tahara, one does not wear jewelry, chat with others, pass objects over the met, stand in direct alignment with the head of the met, or turn one's back toward the body. Before and after attending to the body, the chevra kadisha asks forgiveness for anything that may have offended the deceased person. After the tahara, the met is wrapped in a burial shroud without jewelry or adornments, signifying that all are equal in death.

The demonstration was followed by a discussion in which attendees raised questions and shared advice. Next year's conference, says Eisen, will place a greater focus on exploring personal experiences.

Most local congregations have volunteers trained in the tahara ritual. For many years, Anshei Israel had the only organized chevra kadisha, which has existed as long as the congregation itself. Over the last several years, other congregations have begun forming their own. The chevra kadisha members are not limited to their own congregations, however, and volunteer wherever they are needed.

Max Ellentuck has been the chevra kadisha coordinator at Anshei Israel for two years, as part of his job as ritual coordinator. "It takes a special kind of person [to join a chevra kadisha]," says Ellentuck. "These are the strongest people I know."

Eisen agrees that the volunteers have made a unique commitment. "No matter how many times you do it, every tahara is unique. It's an emotional investment," he says. "It becomes a final tribute that comes from the heart."

Rescuer of art stolen by Nazis to speak at JCC

Published February 8, 2008 in Volume 64, Issue 3 of the Arizona Jewish Post

U.S. Army Capt. James Rorimer oversees removal of looted art from Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany.

Harry Ettlinger, a member of the team assigned to recover art plundered by the Nazis, will speak at two showings of the film The Rape of Europa during the Tucson Jewish Film Festival on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

At age 19, Ettlinger and 2,500 other men of the 99th Infantry Division were on their way to the bloody Battle of the Bulge when he and two others were stopped and ordered off the convoy. Though he didn't know it at the time, Ettlinger was about to become part of a historic effort to rescue cultural treasures stolen by the Nazis. Born in Germany, Ettlinger had fled to the United States with his family in 1938. Because of his fluency in German, the army sent him to Munich to begin an assignment as a translator. "This was of great significance to me and my life," Ettlinger told the AJP, "in light of the fact that there were eight buddies of mine that I had trained with, three of which were killed in action and five of which were wounded. I was spared that sacrifice."

During his assignment, Ettlinger met Capt. James Rorimer, the head of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Western District's Seventh Army. Rorimer took the young soldier under his wing, making him one of 350 men and women charged with protecting the artistic and cultural treasures of Europe. Ultimately, the group--who came to be known as the Monuments Men--recovered more than five million items, about one-fifth of Europe's art.

In the summer of 1945, Ettlinger was given the task of recovering 900 pieces of stolen art stashed in salt mines at Heilbronn, just 70 miles from his childhood home. The mission had been made possible by French art historian and museum overseer Rose Valland, who secretly recorded information about plundered artworks circulating through the Jeu de Paume museum, which the Nazis used as a collection point for looted items. In the summer of 1944, after the invasion of Normandy, she brought the mine activities to Rorimer's attention, prompting him to ensure that the mines were protected and the artworks restored. "She was a great heroine," says Ettlinger.

Among the works found in the mines were a prized self-portrait by Rembrandt and musical instruments such as the rare eight-stringed viola d'amour, but for Ettlinger, one of the most memorable discoveries was the "Stuppach Madonna" by the 16th century painter Matthias Gruenwald. Rorimer, who later became director of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, sought to buy the painting from the Stuppach church to which it belonged for $2 million, but the church turned down the offer.

The mines hid more than cultural artifacts. They had also housed underground factories manned by Hungarian Jewish slave labor. "They were going to go into production building jet engines," says Ettlinger. "If they had been successful, they would have lengthened the war by a year or two" by enabling the Germans to shoot down American planes making advances into Germany. In April 1945, shortly before American troops reached Heilbronn, the 500 to 1,000 slave laborers were shipped to Dachau. Most froze to death along the way.

The story of the Monuments Men entered the public spotlight with the publication of Rescuing Da Vinci, a photographic and historical volume written by former oilman Robert Edsel. In January 2007, Edsel worked with Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth, Texas, to introduce House Resolution 48, honoring the Monuments Men. On June 6, 2007, the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, the Senate passed the similar Resolution 223, sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. The Rape of Europa film, co-written by Edsel and Lynn H. Nicholas, author of a book by the same name, tells the story of the massive theft, recovery and survival of European art during the war.

Ettlinger, now 82, has served as deputy director of a division of the Singer Sewing Company that produced guidance systems for submarine-launched nuclear weapons. His WWII experiences inspired him to participate in Holocaust education and he is co-chair of the Wallenberg Foundation of New Jersey, which promotes the ideals of Holocaust rescuer Raoul Wallenberg.

"The cultural significance of what we did was very unique in the history of civilization," says Ettlinger. "We were the first country in the history of civilization that, in lieu of taking the spoils of war, did not take it. Our mission was to bring culture back to Europe."

Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students, seniors and JCC members. For more information call 299-3000, ext. 200, or go to tucsonjewishfilmfestival.org.

Local business adds personal wedding touch

Published February 8, 2008 in Volume 64, Issue 3 of the Arizona Jewish Post.

A Japanese-inspired huppah created by Original Design Huppah

When Margery and Eli Langner were married in 1989, the two artists decided to design their own huppah, or wedding canopy, rich in Jewish symbolism, combining the words of the Baal Shem Tov with 32 flames--the number that corresponds with the Hebrew word for "heart." The huppah was so admired by guests that the Langners immediately created a new business, Original Design Huppah, and began making personalized huppot for clients around the world.

The huppah, a symbol of a couple's first home together, is a reminder of the tents of our nomadic ancestors. It is also a physical reminder of the couple's commitment to one another as well as a piece of Jewish artwork with special meaning to its owners. Creating a customized huppah can give a couple the opportunity to reflect on the history of their relationship and the places, objects and people that add meaning to their lives. For many of the Langners' clients, the huppah also serves as a family heirloom. Some couples incorporate the huppah into baby-naming ceremonies for their children or use the fabric to create a bris pillow. Others send their huppah back to be adapted for their children's weddings, sometimes having the names of each new family member embroidered onto the fabric. "It's like a fabric record of the important events that happened in the family," says Margery.

To add a personal touch, couples often incorporate pictures of family members or materials that have sentimental value to the bride and groom, such as a piece of clothing, fabric from a mother's or grandmother's wedding dress, or in the case of one groom, a square cut from his baby "blankie."

Jacob Friedman and Marcy Subrin, a Tucson couple whose wedding is coming up in June, have eight friends and family involved in making their huppah. Each person will help design a square with embroidery, hand drawings or transferred pictures. "It's a great way of having everyone's blessing for the wedding," says Friedman. The couple was drawn to the concept of a huppah that will become a lasting part of their home. "We decided it would be nice to have something to hang up in our home afterward," says Friedman.

Often, couples choose to combine personal elements with traditional Jewish symbols and verses, including images of doves, the city of Jerusalem or lines from the biblical Song of Songs. Friedman and Subrin's huppah, for example, will include the imagery of a Tree of Life.

The Langners each bring their own talents into the process of creating a huppah. Margery, a former schoolteacher who also trained at the Parsons School of Design in New York, typically discusses ideas with clients and works on the embroidery. Eli, who majored in drawing at New York's Pratt Institute, where he received a degree in fine arts, does the sketches. "It's a great joy" to be able to work so closely together, says Eli.

In addition to serving local clients, Original Design Huppah works with couples worldwide through its website, customjudaica.com. One of her most enjoyable experiences, Margery says, was where she met three couples for whom she had designed huppot. In each couple, an American businessman had married a Japanese woman who had subsequently converted to Judaism, and the couple wanted a huppah that blended Jewish and Japanese symbols.

The Langners also design religious artwork for synagogues, including Torah covers, tallitot, ark curtains and bris chairs. For Margery, creating the items is both artistically and spiritually significant. "I feel very honored and blessed to have the ability to make objects that get to be used in such an important and spiritual way," she says.

Margery appreciates the opportunity to become part of a family's process of marking important events and creating a legacy. "It really means a lot to me," she reflects, "because I become part of their family tradition."

For more information, contact Margery and Eli Langner at (800) 517-1965 or (520) 749-8111, or e-mail margerylangner@comcast.net.

Making it last: from junior high to grandkids, Tucson couple celebrates

Published February 8, 2008 in Volume 64, Issue 3 of the Arizona Jewish Post.

It all started with a bad blind date at the Jewish Community Center, back when it was still on Tucson Boulevard. Judy, then a 14-year-old student at Mansfield Junior High, was suffering through an awkward evening with another boy at a B'nai B'rith Youth Organization mixer when 16-year-old Tucson High sophomore Ted Direnfeld approached her and asked her to dance. "I wasn't very nice," Ted recalls, chuckling. "I stole her away." The two have been together ever since, sharing more than five decades of love, friendship, and family.

The Direnfelds remember their youth in the 1950s as a time of simplicity. At first, Ted didn't have a car, so the young couple had to rely on Ted's older sister for rides. Like many other young Jews in Tucson, their social lives revolved around BBYO, which frequently hosted social events and community service activities. Ted was involved in AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph), the boys' branch of the organization, and Judy was active in the local and regional chapters of BBG (B'nai B'rith Girls). They talked on the phone every night. "I never dated anybody else," says Judy. "He was the only person I ever dated."

A taste of freedom came along with Ted's first car, an old '36 Chevy Club Coupe. "As we got older and knew we were going to get married," Judy says, "he stayed later at night and snuck out so my parents wouldn't know how late he was there." The car ran so noisily that the only way Ted could leave undetected was to push it down the street, jump in, and get the car going.

In 1956, the year Judy graduated from high school, Ted asked her parents for their daughter's hand in marriage. "I was sitting in her folks' kitchen, and the subject came up as to what I was going to give her for a graduation present," he remembers. "And I said 'a ring, and engagement ring.'" They were married a year later at Congregation Anshei Israel, where Ted had celebrated becoming a Bar Mitzvah. The congregation has since remained an important part of their lives; all of their children have been named, become Bar Mitzvah, or married there.

The couple has three children: Robert, a physical therapist (married to Amy Broad); Debra, a chemical engineer; and Barbara, who works in sales (partner, Sherry Campbell). They also have two grandchildren. Elayna is a freshman at the University of Arizona, and David is a junior at Catalina Foothills High School.

Ted studied at UA for two years while working at Dee's Shoes, the family business. Judy also attended the UA for a year before spending two years working at RCA, a government contract agency, as a typist and proofreader for government manuals for Fort Huachuca. When Ted entered the family business full time, the business kept expanding. As the children got older, Judy began to help by doing the books and sometimes filling in for store workers. Ted is now the sole owner of Dee's Shoes, while Judy volunteers at Tucson Medical Center, where she is a "cuddler" for babies in the nursery.

On Nov. 4, 2007, they celebrated their 50th anniversary at their home with 75 friends and family. They say the event was particularly special because all the original wedding attendants were present, including their best man, who flew in from China.

The secret of a long-lasting relationship, Ted and Judy agree, is "compromise." After five decades of marriage, they still take the time to do little things to show their appreciation for each other. "Ted always helps out around the house," says Judy, and will sometimes surprise her by coming home with flowers. Ted adds that it's important for couples to know that "there will be difficult times" in addition to joyful ones. The Direnfelds' closeness is obvious in their habit of finishing each other's sentences. "After 50 years, you learn to be a mind reader," Judy says. "Sometimes we'll sit in silence for a long time without the need to say anything, and suddenly we'll start to say the same thing at the same time."

Identity to be focus at local Book of Life signing

Published in Volume 63, Issue 24 of the Arizona Jewish Post, December 21, 2007.

"The current generation, in terms of its sense of itself and its relationship to the broader Jewish world, differs significantly from the generations prior," says Jewish educator Arna Poupko Fisher. Fisher will be the keynote speaker at the Jewish Community Foundation's Endowment Book of Life community signing, which will be held Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 5 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Her talk, "The Jewish Journey: Faith, Spirit, and Promise," will explore Jewish identity and how one takes one's place in the continuum of history that links the generations.

Unlike previous generations, Fisher says that younger Jews, including "millennials"--those born between the late 1970s and mid-1990s--do not tend to view their connection to the larger Jewish community as a given. "Young people are not drawn to Jewish commitment unless it brings value to their personal lives, to their professional lives, and to their families," she continues. "It's very personal." The change has become a preoccupation for Jewish organizations seeking to further involvement among young people, giving rise to projects such as birthright israel, which organizes free Israel trips for teens and young adults.

Despite the challenge the organized Jewish community faces in engaging young people, Fisher sees positive trends emerging, including a decreased tendency to place historical persecution at the center of Jewish identity. "We don't want to be defined by our sufferings," she says. "We want to be defined by our triumphs."

Fisher grew up in Canada, in what she describes as "a normative Jewish home where commitment to community and Israel were a given, but religious commitment and observance was done with moderation." During her early teens, she discovered a more intensive form of Judaism and decided to live a more religiously committed life. "I've never looked back," she says of her personal transformation.

Fisher now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she serves as a faculty member at the Wexner Heritage Foundation and the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Cincinnati. She has lectured in over 120 communities across North America and has made numerous appearances on national radio and television.

The Endowment Book of Life began in 1990 as a way for donors to share their personal stories and to affirm their intent to make a contribution to the Jewish community. Dozens of Jewish communities have since undertaken similar endeavors. In Tucson, the personal statements are kept in an archive at the Jewish Community Foundation, and are also available for viewing on the organization's website and at the JCC. Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, director of communications for the Jewish Community Foundation, says that in adding their names to the Endowment Book of Life, signatories "make a promise for the future of the Jewish community, linking all the generations." They are then given the opportunity to work with the foundation in making a "legacy plan," serving as a blueprint for planned giving toward organizations or causes within the Jewish community and beyond.

The free event will include a light buffet dinner, a performance by the Tucson Jewish Youth Choir, and kids' activities and childcare.

NW Transdenominational Congregation Forms

Published in the Arizona Jewish Post August 17, 2007.

Makom Simcha (Place of Joy), a new alternative congregation in Northwest Tucson, focuses upon Chasidic storytelling and music to "bring people closer to G-d, each other and creation through an open, creative and joyous expression of Judaism," says Rabbi Menashe Bovit. He describes the fledgling congregation as "transdenominationa," welcoming Jews of all backgrounds to participate in services. "In my view," he explains, "each one of the established Jewish movements is a piece of a puzzle, a piece of the truth. A transdenominational perspective feels that it's okay to sample from the different movements and also to be creative and generate a new perspective that amplifies the tradition in a positive way."

The Chicago-born rabbi developed a fondness for Tucson as a psychology student at the University of Arizona in his early twenties. The son of a Holocaust survivor, Bovit was raised in an observant home, but despite a strong sense of pride in his Jewish heritage, he found it difficult to connect with Judaism in his youth. Of his early Jewish education, he says, "We learned how to read Hebrew, but there was no attempt at making Judaism a relevant experience. There was no fun in it. It was basically an obligatory experience." At the UA, his alienation from Judaism was turned around when his girlfriend brought him to a concert of "Singing Rabbi" Shlomo Carlebach. He went on to become a student of Carlebach, who ordained him as a rabbi in 1991. During his years studying with the Chasidic rabbi, says Bovit, he was inspired by Carlebach's kindness.

Bovit has served as a congregational rabbi in various communities throughout the United States, including Reno, Nev., and Ft. Collins, Colo. He returned to Tucson several months ago and has since worked toward establishing Makom Simcha. The congregation held its first informal chavurah on Aug. 8, with almost 40 people in attendance. Another chavurah will be held Wed., Aug. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Northwest YMCA located at 7770 N. Shannon Rd.

The congregation also plans to hold alternative Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at the YMCA. The Rosh Hashana gathering is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. A Kol Nidre "Service of Forgiveness and Healing" will be held on Friday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. For more information, call 866-528-9253.

Creating a Facebook Community: Networking Site Changing the Face of Jewish Campus Life

With Sam Guzik, Ben Greenberg, Jordan Magaziner, Daniel Smajovits, and Steven I. Weiss. Published January 9, 2007 in The Jewish Week.

http://joi.org/bloglinks/The%20Jewish%20Week%20Facebook.htm

Jewish life on campus has a changing face because of Facebook.com.

Students and organizations are taking advantage of the social networking site launched in 2004 that allows users to make a profile, create and join numerous groups, and post messages to other members and groups.

“It’s already had a direct effect on the expectations that Hillel is putting into its resources,” said Hillel’s Simon Amiel, who is charged with overseeing the Jewish campus organization’s outreach fellows.

“Ten years ago, 15 years ago, the goal was to get students in the building,” he explained, adding “that’s still a nice goal for us ... but it’s far more of an important goal to say there are 500 students having a Jewish experience every week, inside the building or out.”

Facebook’s ability to create ad-hoc communities is seen as its greatest strength.

When an Iranian-American student was Tasered by campus police at the University of California Los Angeles, thousands of students registered their protest within days by joining groups created to complain about the incident.

Jewish students and groups on Facebook are taking similar advantage of the site’s possibilities. A Jewish group was launched recently to gather right-wing Israel advocates to protest a book signing by former President Carter on the same day in New York City. Another group is called “American Jews Against Israel.”

Along the way, Jewish students are finding new ways to associate with each other and new aspects of their identities.

Janice Hussain is a junior at Brandeis University, and the daughter of Indian and Jewish parents, and until she started using Facebook, she didn’t know there were many other Jews of a similar ethnicity.

“At Brandeis, if I wanted to meet someone who was Asian and Jewish, or Indian or half-Indian, I couldn’t,” she said in an interview.

So Hussain this semester launched a group called “Asian and Jewish,” inviting a handful of people at Brandeis who were of Asian and Jewish descent. Before she knew it the group reached 90 members from various campuses.

Now that she’s had success online, Hussain is considering new endeavors for Jewish life on her campus, with which she’s had little involvement thus far.

“I was actually thinking of maybe starting a club at Brandeis for Jews that are not fully Ashkenazi, or Jews of color, and to have an event or maybe have a lecture,” she said.

Hussain’s experience in finding common heritage is far from unique on Facebook for Jews of mixed descent.

“What seems to be coming up over and over again is a place for students that are from a mixed-parentage family,” Amiel said, noting that Facebook’s self-starting nature allows Jewish students to “make connections that are more organic.”

On Facebook, most of the traditional categories for Judaism and religious activity in general are far less popular than alternative expressions of identity.

Jews on Facebook are using nontraditional identifiers far more than any standard declaration. Several groups are titled “I don’t roll on Shabbos,” after a line in the cult movie “The Big Lebowski.”

Hundreds of students belong to these groups, and most of them belong to hundreds of other groups that express their Jewish identities.

While statistics are not available for the site, an informal survey of multiple campuses has shown consistently that most Jewish students will call themselves “Jewish” or some manifestation thereof in the “Religious Views” box only about 10 percent of the time.

At Indiana University, even the Hillel president, Joanna Blotner, doesn’t call herself “Jewish” on her profile.

“It’s because you don’t want to actively make yourself part of the minority,” she explained. “It’s probably the same reason a lot of gays and lesbians don’t identify themselves.”

It’s a trend that Jewish officials can’t explain.

“Of any place, being on Facebook is one of the most safe places to identify as Jewish,” Amiel said.

At the same time, traditional Jewish institutions have employed the site as well, finding Facebook to be far more effective than e-mail in getting students to attend their events.

“People, in my experience, are more likely to attend an event if they are personally invited,” said Alex Freedman, president of the Jewish Student Union at Washington University. “The group and event invitation serves that function on a grand scale — it allows the word to be spread better among a target audience quicker than any other medium.”

Meanwhile, Facebook’s implementation of a new feature called “News Feeds” allows students to see the groups or events their friends are joining.

“All of a sudden, people no longer had to be individually invited to a group or to an event, they could see what their friends were doing,” said Andy Ratto, Washington University Hillel’s JCSC fellow. “This has been extremely useful because people might be rather unlikely to go to an event where they didn’t know anyone who would be there, but all of a sudden people would find out about an event because their friends were going to it, and then they would want to come, too.”

While those results aren’t the expectation for Hillel events at a given campus, the function still makes a difference, Freedman said.

It “saves us a lot of phone calls, a lot of fliers and a lot of time,” he said.

(CampusJ.com is a Web site that covers Jewish life on college campuses. Reporting by Sam Guzik, Ben Greenberg, Jordan Magaziner, Valerie Saturen, Daniel Smajovits and Steven I. Weiss.)

JFCS Refugee Resettlement Program Ends

Published October 12, 2007 in the Arizona Jewish Post.

http://tucson.ujcfedweb.org/page.html?ArticleID=159949

When Tatyana Nemenman’s family left Kiev in 1992, fleeing anti-Semitism and the Chernobyl disaster, they arrived in Tucson to find welcome balloons at the airport and an apartment with a fully stocked refrigerator. Barred from attending university in the former Soviet Union, Nemenman enrolled in a pre-med program at Pima Community College with the help of Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Southern Arizona. When her grandmother passed away, JFCS made funeral arrangements and organized a celebration of her life. “The first couple of years,” says Nemenman, “without JFCS, we would not have survived. They were so warm, so welcoming.”

Through a partnership with the national Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), JFCS helped resettle more than 2,000 refugees within the past 18 years. The resettlement program provided language instruction, citizenship application, housing, skills-building and job placement, and assistance with the adjustment to life in American society. Often, volunteers opened their homes to the new immigrants. The job placement program boasted a 94 percent success rate.
Within recent years, the resettlement program faced an uphill battle in reconciling dwindling funds with the rising cost of services. In the aftermath of 9/11, the reduction in number of refugees allowed into the country drastically reduced the federal funds upon which the program relied. The agency now faced a heartbreaking decision: continue to provide services at a far lower quality level, or end the program altogether. After lengthy deliberation, JFCS concluded that if the agency was unable to render the quality of service it felt clients deserved, the program would have to be disbanded.

Staff and volunteers express a mixture of pride in the program’s achievements and sorrow over its inability to remain operable. Carol Sack, chief development officer at JFCS, says, “We have been honored and privileged to have participated in refugee resettlement throughout the years we’ve been doing it. It was with great regret that we made this very hard decision.”
CEO Lois Manowitz shares the sentiment. “The agency made a very difficult, painful decision to no longer do refugee resettlement, but we are extraordinarily proud of the program’s history.” She describes the program as “the fulfillment of one of the best Jewish values upon which our mission was based: tikkun olam, or repairing the world.”
The resettlement program leaves behind a long and diverse legacy. Initially, the program aided Jewish immigrants fleeing the former Soviet Union. When these immigrants stopped coming, JFCS extended its services to non-Jewish refugees from Bosnia, Burma, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Burundi.

Recently, JFCS has devoted many of its services to the Lost Boys of Sudan, who walked hundreds of miles to escape civil war. Among them is 22-year-old Bior Keech, a business economics senior at the University of Arizona. At 17, Bior began the long, treacherous journey that brought him first to Kenya, and eventually to Tucson. Of the resettlement program, he recalls, “It was great. They really welcomed us.” He remembers the volunteers with special fondness. “They were one of the things that made our experience a lot better,” he says, during the initial culture shock of coming to the United States. Bior plans to attend graduate school, and to use his education to help improve the economic situation in Sudan as well as to educate Americans about the country’s plight.

Among the volunteers who helped Bior is Jill Rich, who has volunteered for all of the program’s 18 years and has mentored 94 refugees. Rich was immediately captivated by the story of the Lost Boys and has worked intensively with them. She and her husband, Jim, have hosted many of the Lost Boys in their home, leading her to become known as “the ‘mom’ of the group.” For the last six years, Rich reports, “we’ve had a full house.” At first, the Lost Boys’ rural background meant little familiarity with modern technology. Painstakingly, the young men had to learn how to use the stove, refrigerator and can opener — not to mention the computer. None of these challenges stymied them in their desire for an education, and many have achieved outstanding academic success.

While no longer accepting new refugees as of this month, the program continues to work with its current clients while transitioning them to other agencies. Although the program is drawing to a close, the relationships forged between staff, volunteers and the refugees continue to have a lasting impact. Like many volunteers, Rich keeps in touch with her former clients. “They’re very much a part of what I’ll always do,” she says.

Valerie Saturen received her M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 2007. She lives in Tucson.

From Haifa to Kotel, Local Family's Bar Mitzvah Experience 'Transcendent'

Published September 14, 2007 in the Arizona Jewish Post

http://tucson.ujcfedweb.org/page.html?ArticleID=158266

For C.J. Montefiore, becoming a Bar Mitzvah this spring meant being encircled by 50,000 Jews from all walks of life, many of whom had flocked to Jerusalem for the Passover holiday.
C.J. Montefiore with his godfather, Richard Berg and his father David, at the Kotel.

C.J. — it stands for Cortland Jerushalmi — and his family decided to celebrate the occasion in two separate ceremonies in Israel. The first took place on C.J.’s birthday, March 31, at the Reform Or Hadash synagogue in Haifa. The ceremony fell on Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat immediately before Passover. The second ceremony was performed at the Kotel on Thursday, April 5, during Chol HaMoed Pesach, the intermediate days of the holiday.
The family chose to have two ceremonies in order to accommodate guests with differing styles and levels of observance. “As a cantor,” says C.J.’s father, David Montefiore, “I’m sensitive to all spectrums of religiosity and observance. We have friends that span the spectrum, those who are very modern and Reform, and those who are traditional. We tried to cover all the bases.”

The family’s connection to Israel is deeply felt. Abi Montefiore, C.J.’s mother, was assistant to Danny Bobman, who served as director of Tucson’s Israel Center through June. Bobman and Dan Karsh, co-chair of the Israel Center, flew to Israel to attend the Bar Mitzvah. David, a cantor and former president of the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of America, had toured the beleaguered country shortly after its 2006 conflict along the northern border. His visit was part of Mitzvah Emunah, or Operation Faith, which brought cantors from around the world to Israel in a show of support. The tour included a concert at Or Hadash, which had been strongly affected by the conflict.

“I was so impressed with Rabbi (Edgar) Nof and the way we were received,” says David, “that I decided that this would be a great place for C.J. to have his Bar Mitzvah.”
At the Kotel, C.J. recalls, he was surrounded by thousands of worshippers of all stripes, creating an unforgettable atmosphere of spiritual celebration.
“You had every manner of Jew there, particularly the Chasidim,” David remembers. “It was fantastic. It was such a ruach (spirit).” The occasion was made all the more memorable when the family watched a videotape of the ceremony and noticed Israel’s two chief rabbis, Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, standing on the balcony of a nearby kollel, or religious school.
C.J. says that his greatest memories of his Bar Mitzvah are “the Kohanim on Pesach and the 50,000 people praying. We’re just surrounded and swarmed all over, and you hear [the chief rabbis], and you hear the Kohanim, and they’re just chanting. It was just a wonderful feeling.”
“The energy from the thousands of visitors to the Kotel that day was indescribable, totally fulfilling and transcendent,” says Abi.

C.J. Montefiore with his mother, Abi, on the bimah at Congregation Or Hadash in Haifa.
C.J. donated a portion of his Bar Mitzvah gifts to the Friends of the IDF, which supports social, educational, and recreational programs for Israeli soldiers, as well as providing support for widows and orphans of fallen troops. “I wanted to help them out because of the war,” he says. While C.J. says he hadn’t worried about his father’s safety, the conflict hit close to home for the family during David’s trip to Israel with the Mitzvah Emunah project, when a Kassam rocket landed (but did not explode) in Sderot not far from where David was meeting with the city’s mayor, Eli Moyal.

C.J. davens at the Western Wall

The family spent two weeks in Israel this spring, which afforded them plenty of time for sightseeing. C.J., who had not been to Israel before, was especially fond of the Old City of Jerusalem. “It was fun going all around it and through all the Quarters,” he says. “It was such a nice place to be, with lots of people around.” The Montefiores spent time exploring the excavated tunnels beneath the Old City, and also visited several other cities and sites, including Ein Gedi, Qumran, Akko, Tsfat and Tel Aviv.
During Passover, the streets were thoroughly clogged with travelers, but that _didn’t dampen C.J.’s enthusiasm for Israel.

“I had a really wonderful time just being there, going all over and being with my family,” he says. “It was a lot of fun.”

Valerie Saturen received her M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 2007. She lives in Tucson.

CampusJ Archive

A collection of my reporting with CampusJ, a news website aimed at Jewish college students. To view the archive, click the link below:

http://campusj.com/author/vsaturen/