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THE CHICAGO
JEWISH NEWS
May 15-21, 2015/26 Iyar 5775
www.chicagojewishnews.com
One Dollar
PAST
and FUTURE
As Chicago’s Mount Sinai Hospital embarks on
a major expansion project, it opens a
time capsule buried 57 years ago
For Bibi and Obama,
mistrust is personal
Jews who fought insults
with bologna
Rabbi Kurtz on
living in the real world
Chicago native’s new movie
2
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
8 decades later, Holocaust victim’s cry for help is heard at N.C. high school
By Hillel Kuttler
JTA
Shira Goldberg stepped
across the stage at East Hender-
son High School in western
North Carolina and presented a
yellowed letter to Shani Lourie.
The letter’s writer, a German woman seeking help in escaping the Nazis from an
American man she believed was
a relative, was Shira’s distant
cousin. The 8-year-old Florida
girl was entrusting this tragic
piece of family history to Lourie,
an educator at Israel’s national
Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.
The act climaxed a more
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than yearlong search for information about the letter conducted by approximately 60
students – none Jewish – in the
history classes taught by Todd
Singer, a Jewish man new to the
profession.
“I beg you not to put this letter aside without having read it,”
Betty Erb, a resident of Berlin,
wrote on April 17, 1939, to John
G. Erb of 2030 Conlyn Street in
Philadelphia.
In the letter, sent in an envelope whose stamp features a Hitler
Youth postmark, Betty expressed
uncertainty over whether she was
even related to John Erb. She explained that she was “in the greatest misery” and asked John to contribute toward the approximately
$270 she and her fiancee required
to immigrate to Bolivia.
To establish her bona fides
as John’s possible relative, Betty
stated the names of several ancestors and noted that their roots
were in the Polish town of Znin.
She continued: “In the case
that there is no relationship between us, I however implore you
to help me in some way, even
though you may perhaps have
another religion. I assure you
that by your help you would support people whose only hope is to
find kind hearts to assist them to
build up their existence in a foreign country. I trust that in later
times we shall be able to thank
you in another way for any kindness you will show to us.”
Singer purchased the letter
and an unrelated document from
the period online for $20 in
1999. Then working as a lawyer
in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Singer placed it in a folder and
forgot about it until last year,
when he began planning lessons
for his classes at East Henderson.
Singer engaged his students in a
quest to determine Betty Erb’s
fate. The students searched online and checked databases.
Through Yad Vashem’s website,
they learned that Erb and her
husband, Martin Selling, were
murdered in Auschwitz. The students, Singer said, “were devastated” at the news.
Next they searched for a living relative of Erb to whom to
give the letter. Singer’s neighbor
Benjamin Warren, a Houston
philanthropist whose parents survived the Holocaust and who
lives part of the year in North
Carolina, learned of the search
and encouraged another friend, a
top official at Yad Vashem, to
look into the matter.
Through records maintained
by the International Tracing Service, Yad Vashem researchers found
a British man related to Erb, Laurence Asslinger-Hoschschild, who
referred them to his cousin Andrew Blitz in Perth, Australia.
Blitz’s sister, Suzanne Goldberg, who attended the ceremony with her daughter, said the
family didn’t know that Erb existed. But the names Erb noted in
her letter matched some of those
whom Blitz had researched years
earlier. Erb is Suzanne Goldberg’s
second cousin, three times removed.
“The outcome was more than
we could have imagined – that
one day I could meet these people,” said Maria Morava, an East
Henderson senior. “The letter
could not have found its way into
better hands. I didn’t realize how
emotionally taxing it would be.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, a
Republican who represents the
North Carolina congressional
district where East Henderson
High is located and attended the
ceremony with his wife, said the
giving of the letter to Yad
Vashem was the kind of event
that leaves a lasting impression.
“There are only a handful of
events that touch you and will
affect you forever,” Meadows
said. “This was one of those
events.”
Lourie said that the letter’s
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with Suzanne Goldberg and her daughter, Shira. (JTA)
3
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Amid Chinese influx, Brandeis considers its Jewish identity
By Uriel Heilman
JTA
WALTHAM, Mass. – When
Jeff Wang was applying to U.S.
colleges more than two years ago
from his home near Shanghai, Brandeis University was a top
choice.
Like many Chinese students
now at Brandeis, he had discovered the university on Chinese
Internet forums that touted the
school’s academic rankings and
its high faculty-to-student ratio.
Wang noted one other element
that appealed to him: the Jewish
character of Brandeis.
“It’s run by Jewish, and Jews
are smarter – there were lots of
people talking about that in the
forums,” said Wang, now a Brandeis sophomore and a double
major in economics and fine arts.
“A lot of Jews are in very high
positions in corporations, so once
we get to Brandeis we can have
connections to those corporations through alumni relationships.”
Wang is among the fastgrowing number of students from
mainland China enrolled at the
Jewish-sponsored, nonsectarian
university outside of Boston.
Founded in 1948 as a toptier alternative for Jews who
faced quota restrictions at the
nation’s Ivy League universities, Brandeis has undergone a
profound demographic shift in
recent years. Last year, about a
quarter of incoming freshman
were international – with the
largest number of them from
China (about 10 percent of all
freshmen). After China, the top
countries of origin for foreign students at Brandeis are Korea,
India, Canada and Israel, in that
order.
Jews are now thought to
make up a minority of Brandeis’
3,700 undergraduates – 40-45
percent according to many faculty and student estimates. That
figure was said to be upwards of
60 percent just two decades ago.
University officials do not have
precise numbers because Brandeis does not ask students about
religious background.
Brandeis is not alone in seeing an influx of students from
China. During the 2013-14 academic year, there were 274,439
Chinese students at American
universities, including about
110,000 undergraduates. But
questions about the changing
makeup of the Brandeis student
body – and perhaps its leadership
– are particularly resonant here
given the school’s history as a
Jewish institution.
The university is in the
midst of searching for a successor
to Frederick Lawrence, who has
served as president for the past
five years. When Brandeis
provost Lisa Lynch steps in as
acting president in July, she will
be the first non-Jew ever to occupy the university’s top job.
Lynch has said she does not want
the permanent post.
The debate over whether being Jewish is a requirement for the
presidency has “never [been] more
fierce than it is today,” said Jerry
Cohen, a longtime American
studies professor at Brandeis who
is working on a book titled ”Innermost Part: Brandeis University
and the Jewish Question.” “This
question, whither Brandeis, is now
up for definition and debate as we
contemplate a new president, trying to figure out where we are and
who we are.”
The current high number of
international students – the figure has risen 30 percent over the
past five years and now comprises
18 percent of undergraduates – is
something of a fluke that is in
the process of being corrected,
said Andrew Flagel, the senior
vice president for students and
enrollment.
“There was an unusual pattern in the last two years of students accepting our offers,”
Flagel said. “The precipitous increase of international acceptance has caused us to
dramatically decrease the number of offers we’ve put out for international students this year.”
He noted that “a plurality of
our students are Jewish,” and the
number of Jews “appears to be
well over 50 percent of our U.S.
students.”
Percentages notwithstanding, Jewish life is thriving at the
university.
Racheli Berkovitz, a senior
from Newton, Massachusetts,
said that when her father attended Brandeis a generation
ago, the school was about 75 percent Jewish but had no daily
minyan, or Jewish prayer service.
Now there are three daily services, a range of denominational
choices on Shabbat, and Jewish
cultural offerings from theater
troupes and a cappella groups to
a Yiddish club.
“I’m very comfortable Jewishly here,” Berkovitz said. “We
have a very vibrant community
and we’ll continue to have it, despite the percentages.”
There’s also a growing array
of offerings for and by Asian students. In addition to foreign students from China and Korea,
Brandeis has more than 475
Asian-American undergrads.
In one awareness-raising exercise, the Brandeis Asian American
Student
Association
recently decorated a prominent
place on campus with fliers highlighting the stereotypes that
Asian students encounter at the
college.
“Look, it’s made in China,
like you,” the fliers read. “Me
love you long time.” “How do
you tell each other apart?” “Are
there any fat Asians?” “I totally
have an Asian fetish.”
Many Chinese students
complain about not understanding American humor and cultural references, and being
misunderstood by Americans.
They also lament the dining hall
offerings at Brandeis – in a nod
to the university’s Jewish character, they pointedly exclude pork
or shellfish, both staples of the
Chinese diet.
Shanghai native Tianwu
Wang, a sophomore and physics
major, said students from China
tend to stick together, but the
dearth of interaction with American students doesn’t bother him.
For Tianwu, the appeal of Brandeis was its size.
“The small school and very
cutting-edge study and research
is a very good thing here,” he
said. “The physics department is
small, which I like. There’s a lot
of interaction with the professors.”
For universities, the allure of
Chinese students is clear: International students are not eligible
for federal loans and are restricted from most types of financial aid, so Chinese students pay
full freight. And the Chinese
who come to school in America
tend to have strong academic
qualifications, ambition – and
means.
On the downside, Cohen
noted, “many of the foreign students, and in particular the new
group of mainland Chinese students, have a way to go with regard to English-language skills
With 10 percent of Brandeis' freshman class Chinese, the university
bookstore is now stocking Chinese-language college swag. (JTA)
and writing.”
Ariel Kagedan, a Jewish junior at Brandeis, said his training
to become a resident adviser included a session on international
students, but it didn’t prepare
him for two surprising episodes.
One was when a newcomer
from India asked where he could
find drinking water on campus.
The other was when a Chinese
student asked for help choosing
an American name; many Chinese students adopt American
nicknames instead of their given
Chinese names. This student
chose Kyle.
Huilin Gang, a master’s student in computer science from
Xinjiang, China, said she didn’t
know anything about Jews before
she came to Brandeis. Then, last
month, a friend invited her to join
his Jewish girlfriend’s Passover
seder.
Huilin said she was fascinated by the dress, the foods and
the rituals.
“It was my first time to know
something about Passover, about
their customs, about their traditions,” she said. “It was very interesting.”
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Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Contents
Jewish News
■ A 30-year-old man was indicted on charges of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a prominent Boston-area rabbi
who was having an affair with a male teenager. Nicholas Zemeitus, of suburban Boston, was arrested and charged. He had threatened to expose the affair unless he was paid by Rabbi Barry Starr,
who resigned a year ago from Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts. Starr allegedly paid nearly half
a million dollars – taken from synagogue funds and borrowed from
his congregants – to hide his two-year affair with the 16-year-old.
Much of the money came from the rabbi’s discretionary fund, including checks altered by the rabbi. Starr also borrowed thousands of dollars from an elderly congregant, a Holocaust survivor.
Zemeitus claimed to be the older brother of the teen, who was 18
when the affair ended. He was charged with eight counts of larceny, two counts of receiving stolen property and one count of
extortion.
■ Following a protest by a Holocaust survivors’ group in Israel,
the Dutch government reversed its decision to cut pension payments to a 90-year-old woman because she moved to a West Bank
settlement. The reversal was announced in a letter sent by Caspar Veldkamp, the Netherlands’ ambassador to the Israel, responding to a letter sent earlier in the day by Colette Avital, head
of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel.
Avital protested the Dutch government stripping some entitlements from an unnamed Holocaust survivor, who had received a
letter from Dutch officials explaining that the measure was taken
because she resides beyond the Green Line, Israel’s pre-1967 borders. Dutch citizens residing in Israel are entitled to full old-age
pensions from the Netherlands under the countries’ social security agreement. However, the Dutch government does not recognize the agreement as applying to territory beyond the Green
Line. The woman in question received a monthly pension payment of approximately $1,000 after moving to Israel in recent
months, but the amount was to be cut by 35 percent when the
Dutch government found that she was living in the West Bank.
■ Natalie Portman will star as U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a new film. “On the Basis of Sex” will follow Ginsburg’s obstacles-filled career on the road to becoming
the second female justice and the first Jewish female justice on
the high court, Deadline Hollywood reported. President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the Supreme Court in 1993. The producers are hoping to start filming by the end of the year. Portman,
who is Jewish and a native of Israel, is making her directorial
debut with “A Tale Of Love And Darkness,” which premieres at
Cannes. The film is based on the memoir by Israeli author Amos
Oz and is largely in Hebrew.
■ Prosecutors asked a Superior Court judge in Washington to
sentence Rabbi Barry Freundel to 17 years in prison for videotaping dozens of nude women at a ritual bath. Freundel, the former spiritual leader of a prominent Washington Orthodox
synagogue, pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. In addition to prison time, Freundel could be
ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines. The rabbi,
now 64, was arrested last October and charged with six counts of
voyeurism after investigators found hidden cameras in the National Capital Mikvah’s shower room and in his home. He was
fired from Kesher Israel, the congregation he had led for 25 years
and which abuts the ritual bath, or mikvah, soon after his arrest.
Bethany Mandel, who converted to Judaism under Freundel and
has been outspoken about problems with Orthodox conversion
oversight, told the Washington Post that the rabbi’s prison sentence should send a message to other would-be offenders. “If Mr.
Freundel is given a lenient sentence despite the overwhelming
amount of evidence presented here, it sends the message to Jewish victims of other sex crimes that it’s not worth coming forward
in the future,” Mandel said.
■ The president of FIFA reiterated that Israel will not be suspended from international soccer’s governing body. Sepp Blatter
made his remarks in a meeting with the heads of Israel’s soccer
association at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. According to a FIFA
news release, Blatter “reiterated his position that any member association that is fulfilling its statutory duties should not be suspended. This would also apply to the IFA as long as they fulfil
[sic] such duties.” The Palestinian Football Association has
pushed for a vote at next month’s FIFA congress to suspend Israel
from FIFA for “racist behavior against Arabs” manifested through
travel restrictions between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
THE CHICAGO
JEWISH NEWS
Vol. 21 No. 32
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Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
For Netanyahu and Obama, mistrust is personal – and cynical
By Ron Kampeas
JTA
WASHINGTON – Obama
administration officials have
long contended that the friction
between the U.S. president and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is not personal and
that American support for Israel
remains as robust as ever – and
arguably even more robust by
some metrics.
But a year of tense and angry
exchanges between President
Barack Obama and Netanyahu
has yielded an atmosphere of
deep mistrust, with each side insinuating the other is acting in
bad faith. Conversations with
current and former officials from
both countries, as well as with
Jewish community sources, suggest that there is a deeply personal dimension to the mistrust,
with each leader and his aides ascribing malevolent motives to
the other side.
“Part of the reason there’s a
presumption of bad faith is that
the channels of communication
aren’t working,” said Ilan Goldenberg, until last year the chief
of staff on the State Department’s Middle East peace team.
“When you don’t talk to the
other side a lot, you assume bad
faith.”
Accusations of bad faith are
sharpest in conversations behind
closed doors, but the acrimony
has found its way into what
would normally be routine statements of friendship.
Congratulating Netanyahu
on forming a new government,
the White House said that it
“looked forward” to discussing
with Israel’s leaders “the importance of pursuing a two-state solution” – a pointed rejoinder to
Netanyahu, who pledged on the
eve of his reelection not to allow
the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch, though he
subsequently clarified that he remains committed to a two-state
solution but conditions are not
yet ripe for it.
Notably, when another conservative prime minister of an allied nation won a surprise
reelection – Britain’s David
Cameron – Obama’s message
avoided mention of policy disagreements and spoke of “building on an already close
relationship” between the two
leaders, a personal touch that was
lacking from the Netanyahu
statement.
Netanyahu also routinely
laces statements with barely
veiled gibes at Obama and his
team, as he did in a statement in
Jerusalem following a meeting
with visiting Sen. Rob Portman,
R-Ohio. Referring to a possible
nuclear deal with Iran, Ne-
President Barack Obama's statement to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the creation of the new Israeli government lacked
the personal touch that he conveyed in similar statements to other allied leaders. (JTA)
tanyahu pushed back at “those
who tell us that this will not endanger Israel.”
“I have to tell you as the
prime minister of Israel responsible for Israel’s security, it endangers Israel, it endangers the
region, it endangers the world –
the entire world in my opinion,”
Netanyahu said.
The Obama administration
argues that the emerging deal is
the best formula for diminishing
the danger posed by Iran. Still,
Netanyahu is said to bristle at
what he perceives as Obama’s
condescension in dictating to Israel what outcome is best for his
nation.
Netanyahu plans to keep up
the public pressure until the June
30 deadline for a deal and beyond, according to Israeli
sources. The perception in his
camp is that Israel paid a political
price for the prime minister’s
speech to Congress – organized
with Republican congressional
leaders behind the back of the
White House – through the loss
of Democratic support. But the
price was worth it, Netanyahu’s
people say.
U.S. officials believe that
the speech to Congress was little
more than a reelection ploy by
Netanyahu and do not countenance the notion that he is desperate to inhibit Iran’s advance
toward becoming a nucleararmed regional hegemon.
The question among Obama
administration officials is why
Netanyahu is not making his
case in private. Netanyahu is said
to have despaired of the closeddoor route when he found out in
2013 that the United States had
opened a secret channel to Iran
to launch the nuclear talks, and
then again earlier this year when
the U.S. began limiting its reporting to Israel on the talks, citing what American officials said
were distorted leaks of material.
“The Israelis want to make it
better, but they don’t understand
they have to cool the rhetoric
down, that they can’t take it to
Congress and to TV,” Goldenberg said.
Both sides insist that military and intelligence cooperation
are unprecedentedly close. What
is suffering is the diplomatic dimension, which has devolved
from an intimate conversation to
a hostile game of chess, with
each side advancing moves it
hopes will keep the other in
check.
Israelis dismiss Obama’s fury
with Netanyahu for his Election
Day rhetoric invoking hordes of
bused-in Arab voters as payback
for the Congress speech. Not acknowledged is how the first black
American president, who has
written searingly about his efforts
as a community organizer to enfranchise impoverished blacks,
would take Netanyahu’s statement to heart.
Meanwhile, both Netanyahu
and Obama see American Jews as
a natural constituency that the
other guy is trying to muscle. Israelis were amazed last month
when Obama spent over an hour
with Jewish delegations twice on
the same day.
One casualty of the communications breakdown is coordination on pushback against an
intensified Palestinian effort to
corner Israel with hostile resolutions in international forums.
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,
told Congress last month that
the United States would continue to stand by Israel “when it
matters,” suggesting that there
may be some diplomatic actions
targeting Israel that are not
worth the effort to deter.
In a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
Vice President Joe Biden for the
first time explicitly warned Iran
that Obama was ready to go to
war to keep it from acquiring a
nuclear weapon should the talks
fail. But he also twice mocked
Netanyahu in the speech for
overblown rhetoric.
At a speech at the Israeli
Embassy’s Independence Day
party, Biden likened the recent
spat to a family feud.
“We’re like family,” he said.
“We have a lot to say to one another, sometimes we drive each
other crazy, but we love each
other and protect each other.”
“Protect” is still very much
on. “Love” is an open question.
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Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Torah Portion
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By Rabbi Vernon Kurtz
Torah Columnist
Torah Portion:
Behar-Bechukotai
Leviticus 25:1-27:34
One of the most intriguing
individuals in rabbinic literature
is Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. Only
last week on Lag B’Omer, which
is supposed to be the date of his
death, tens of thousands of people came to his tomb on Mount
Meron to remember him for his
devotion to the Jewish people
and to celebrate his scholarship.
Who was Rabbi Shimon bar
Yohai and why is he remembered
by so many? In the Babylonian
Talmud tractate Shabbat the
story is told of Rabbi Judah,
Rabbi Yose, and Rabbi Shimon,
who were sitting together, and
Judah the son of proselytes who
was sitting near them. Rabbi
Judah began a conversation by
observing that the Romans had
erected such wonderful architectural wonders, “They have made
streets, they have built bridges,
they have erected baths. “
Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai
said to him: “All what they made
they made for themselves; they
built marketplaces to set harlots
in them; baths to rejuvenate
themselves; bridges to levy tolls
for them. “ The Talmud reports
that Rabbi Judah related the
words of Rabbi Shimon bar
Yohai to the Roman government. The Romans condemned
him to death.
According to the story,
Rabbi Shimon and his son,
Eleazar, hid themselves in the
study hall, but when the decree
became even more severe, they
hid in a cave. A miracle occurred
and a carob tree and a well was
created for them. They would
strip off their garments and sit up
to their necks in sand and study
for days. According to the text,
they dwelled 12 years in the
cave. One of the reasons that the
memory of Rabbi Shimon bar
Yohai is venerated is that according to a tradition it was during this time he authored the
Zohar, the major text of the mystical tradition in Judaism.
The story then continues
that Elijah told them that the
emperor had died and it was safe
to exit the cave. So they
emerged. Seeing a man plowing
Rabbi Vernon Kurtz
and sowing, they exclaimed,
“They forsake life eternal and engage in life temporal.” Whatever
they cast their eyes upon was immediately burnt up. A heavenly
voice then came forth and said
that they must return to the cave
for another 12 months.
After that period of time
they left the cave. Rabbi Eleazar
continued in his former ways, but
Rabbi Shimon had learned his
lesson. On the eve of the Shabbat before sunset they saw an old
man holding two bundles of myrtle and running at twilight.
“What are these for?” they asked
him. “They are in honor of the
Shabbat,” he replied. “But one
should suffice you,” they said.
“One is to Remember and one is
to Observe.” Rabbi Shimon then
said to his son, “See how precious
are the commandments to Israel.” They were now ready to rejoin the community.
According to this story,
Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai was a
zealot who had difficulty living
in the real world. According to
his view, only by a total – absolutely total – commitment to
Torah study is there a possibility
of redemption.
In our Torah reading this
Shabbat we are told of the laws
of the Shemittah and the Yovel,
the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year. Once every seven
years, and 5775 is one of them,
the land was to lie fallow so that
the children of Israel would recognize they were mere tenants on
the earth. Once every 50 years
the land was to return to its original families and each individual
to his ancestral holding. Thus, in
the 50th year families reclaimed
the land they originally held and
later sold.
While the Sabbatical year is
still commemorated, the Jubilee
year laws are not observed. In
fact, it is not known whether the
Jubilee was ever observed. It is
not mentioned in First Temple
times, and according to the Rabbis, it was not observed in Sec-
ond Temple times. Its purpose
was a utopian one, that is, returning the land to its original
owner and the release of indentured persons. While its purpose
may have been laudatory, it simply became impractical to observe.
It is all well and good to live
in or to dream of a utopian paradise. However, that is not where
real life occurs. Real life occurs in
the real world which is filled
with challenges, difficulties, and
real problems.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai
wanted to live in a utopian
world. He couldn’t understand
why individuals would be plowing their fields when they could
be studying Torah. The story
teaches us that it is impossible to
live in that pristine world. Instead, it informs us that one can
enhance life and create of it a
thing of beauty, but only if one
dirties one’s hands with the real
world.
In their book “How to Be a
Jew: Ethical Teachings of Judaism,” Byron Sherwin and Seymour Cohen write in their
introduction that, “While little
Jewish genius was invested
throughout the ages to create
works of fine art, much Jewish
genius and effort were expended
on the endeavor to create lives
that were works of art. Rather
than concentrating on things of
beauty, Jewish teachings focused
on the creation of people of
beauty. The primary goal was not
physical prowess, or comely appearance, or even commercial
success. Rather, the goal was to
become a shainer yid - a beautiful
Jew - to create one’s life as a work
of art.” “
It is a very messy world in
which we live and it takes a great
deal of wisdom and courage to
make the right decisions. To simply look for utopian answers does
not suffice or bring salvation.
Human beings must act properly
in their every day lives to make a
difference in the world.
The Jubilee year is a wonderful utopian vision but that is
what it is, a vision. We are asked
to live life and to make real decisions in real time. Rabbi Shimon
bar Yohai, the hero of Lag
B’Omer, had to learn his lesson
the hard way. One can make
one’s life a work of art, but only if
one lives in the real world, experiences it, and enhances it during
one’s sojourn in the land of the
living.
Rabbi Vernon Kurtz is the
rabbi of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El (Conservative) in
Highland Park.
7
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Arts & Entertainment
‘Welcome’ to an unusual comedy
Evanston native
directs second
feature film
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
Managing Editor
When Shira Piven first read
the script of “Welcome To Me,”
written by a friend, she knew it
was a movie she wanted to direct
– even though she also that knew
films featuring main characters
with mental illness can be mine-
fields.
The result, with a name familiar to Chicagoans at the
helm, is what Piven describes as
“something you might call a
tragic comedy – it sort of defies
genre.” “Welcome” stars former
“Saturday Night Live” comedian
Kristen Wiig.
Piven, who is Jewish, belongs to one of the area’s theatrical royal families. Her parents are
Joyce and the late Bryne Piven,
founders of the Piven Theatre
Workshop in Evanston, launched
43 years ago and still going
strong; her brother is actor Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”). Shira
Shira Piven
Piven, an original member of the
Workshop’s Young People’s Company, worked as an actor, stage director and acting teacher and
coach in Chicago and New York,
where she directed more than 20
plays, before directing her first
feature film, “Fully Loaded.”
With “Welcome To Me,”
which has received generally favorable reviews in several cities
where it has appeared in limited
release, she ventures into tricky,
if antic, territory. Wiig plays a
woman with borderline personality disorder who lives on disability checks and is obsessed with
Oprah Winfrey and other talk
show queens.
When she wins more than
$80 million in the lottery, she
uses her winnings to fund her
lifelong dream of having her own
talk show and becoming the next
Oprah, much to the distress of
everyone else in her life, including her mother (played by Joyce
Piven).
“We wanted to be respectful
of the mental illness aspect,”
Shira Piven said in a recent
phone interview, conducted
hours before a special showing of
the film to benefit Piven Theatre
Workshop programs.
The Chicago Loop Synagogue Presents
S E E D I R E C TO R
ON
PAG E 8
8
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Arts & Entertainment
Director
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
7
“Kristen (Wiig) and I saw
we had to approach it from a very
sensitive and honest place,”
Piven says. “Any humor in it
comes out of the absurdity of the
situation but we are never laughing at her.”
She and scriptwriter Eliot
Laurence worked with an organization that educates people
about borderline personality disorder (basically a disorder characterized by mood swings,
impulsivity and instability),
Piven says.
“They were very big supporters of the movie,” she says.
“Someone said, you got this
right. The writer wrote a very
real character, but the diagnosis
doesn’t define the person. What’s
delightful about Kristen’s performance is that she is a person
we know, we recognize her, we
see ourselves in her.”
Shortly after reading the
script she realized she had had
Wiig (“Bridesmaids”) in mind for
the leading role all along.
“It wasn’t written for her but
it feels like it was,” she says of the
talented former “Saturday Night
Live” star. “I think she made a
good decision. There aren’t that
many great roles for women. It
reminds me of an ‘Annie Hall.’
(Wiig) gets to play the widest
range of emotions. She goes to
very dark places but also very
funny places.”
Wiig, who is also listed as
one of the movie’s producers,
“was really a delight to work
with,” Piven says. “She has a
high standard and she really
cared about the movie a lot. She
is such a natural born performer,
it’s fun to be on set with her.
She’s not a diva.”
Piven says she’s not especially worried that audiences will
be offended by any part of the
movie. In several cities in which
it has opened, audience members
“both laugh and cry,” she says.
“The emotions run the gamut.
Different people respond differently. Some have a hard time,
others connect with the humorous parts of it. There are very
funny parts and very touching
parts.”
Her own favorite portion of
the film, she says, is “the intersection of mental illness and a
kind of cultural illness. It’s this
narcissism, people wanting to put
their lives on TV. This movie really gets to that reality TV world.
Her show is absurd and she has
no qualms about saying, this
show is about me. It’s hard to fictionalize this stuff. It’s a kind of
self-parody, a mirror image of our
culture. That, to me, is why I
love movies.”
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Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
9
10
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
PAST
and
FUTURE
As Chicago's Mount Sinai Hospital embarks
on a major expansion project, it opens a
time capsule buried 57 years ago
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood
Managing Editor
“Joan Chooses a Career,” a
booklet about nursing; medical
leave records from 1939; memo
from Fannye Stein, director of
volunteers, 1958; 56th annual report and yearbook, Jewish Federation of Chicago, 1956; nursing
pin.
Those – along with a number of annual reports and lists of
volunteers – are some of the
items contained in a 57-year-old
time capsule set in the cornerstone of the Leopold and Nannette Kling Residence, built in
1958 to house Jewish medical
residents, interns and their families. The dilapidated building is
being torn down to make room
for a healing garden and other
improvements at what is now
Sinai Health System on Chicago’s West Side.
Recently, construction crews
located the time capsule, dug it
up and opened it in front of an
audience that included the
granddaughter of Mount Sinai
Hospital’s founder.
How anyone came to know
about the time capsule’s existence is a story in its own right.
s for Sinai itself, the hospital and health center has a
proud history in Chicago’s
Jewish community. It was established in 1912 under the name of
Maimonides Hospital with a
stated mission of serving poor
immigrants from Europe while
providing training to Jewish
physicians. The Douglas Park
neighborhood where it was located was a center of Jewish immigrant life.
Mount Sinai was actually
the second Jewish hospital to be
established in the city. Michael
Reese Hospital, founded in 1881
on the South Side by German
immigrants, did not have a
kosher kitchen, an amenity
union activist and businessman
Morris Kurtzon thought was essential for a hospital founded to
help disadvantaged Eastern European Jews, and one where Jewish doctors could practice
A
Opening the box buried in 1958 are, from left, Sinai Health System Director of Security Scott Levy, Engineering Department member Milan
Marsenic and Sinai Health System President and CEO Karen Teitelbaum.
without encountering anti-Semitism.
In addition, as an article in
a Chicago Historical Society
publication puts it, “Jews historically have viewed the creation
of hospitals as the high achievement of their communities. As
Joseph B. DeLee, a prominent
turn-of-the-century obstetrician,
argued, ‘The civilization of a
community may be measured by
the care bestowed on the sick …
The Jews have always been famous for the care bestowed on
their unfortunates.’”
Kurtzon, vice president of
the Chicago Platers Union in
1890 and the founder of Garden
City Plating & Manufacturing in
1898, bought the bankrupt Maimonides Hospital in 1919 and reorganized it under the name Mt.
Sinai Hospital Association.
After reusing an offer to sell
the hospital property to the University of Illinois, Kurtzon set
about raising financial support
for the new facility and did much
of the planning and designing
himself, with his company,
GARCY, providing custom
stainless steel equipment for the
hospital. He remained president
of the facility until 1945.
The demographics of the
neighborhood soon began
changing as the Jewish community made its way to other parts
of the city and suburbs, but as
(relatively) recently as the 1950s,
Mount Sinai educated many
Jewish physicians, according to
the hospital’s historical documents.
In 1958, the hospital built
the $1.1 million Kling residence,
with apartments that allowed
easy access to physicians and
nurses who were often on call
around the clock. It was financed
with a $600,000 grant from the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and private donations.
“The building was essentially a dorm,” Roberta Rakove,
current senior vice president for
government affairs at Sinai
Health System, says, noting that
a former Sinai president, Benn
Greenspan had an apartment
there when he first came to work
at Sinai.
Rakove has been at Sinai for
25 years and the hospital is interwoven throughout her family’s
history, she said in a recent
phone conversation. Her mother
was born in the hospital and died
there 10 years ago.
“For me personally the history of (Sinai) is very important.
We were an Eastern European
immigrant family,” she says. “My
mother was the first to be born
here. Sinai took care of a lot of
my family, cousins and so forth.
Working here has been pretty
emotional for me sometimes.”
She remembers the Kling
building, the one just torn down,
with a mix of emotions.
“Many years ago it was a
sausage factory, and it was given
to us for a dollar,” she recalls.
“We rehabbed that building with
the (financial) help of the Federation. It had a great big empty
third floor, and our community
health programs, which were
substantial, relocated into that
space.”
Specialty care offices also
moved into the building, but
eventually outgrew it. “We did
the best we could with a difficult
space. It was not optimal,”
Rakove says. Now the specialty
care offices have been relocated
11
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
into a newer space in a rehabbed
building. “There is no further use
for the Kling building,” Rakove
says.
So it was decided to tear it
down, a step Rakove calls “really
an announcement that we are
moving into a really different
stage in our development. It was
time for it to go.”
Meanwhile the team responsible for the changes at Sinai
was trying to track down historical material connected with the
Kling building and contacted
Hal Lewis, president of Spertus
Institute for Jewish Learning and
Leadership, which has a collection of archival material on
Chicago Jewish institutions. He
turned the task over to Kathy
Bloch, collections manager at
Spertus.
Bloch said she looked in the
archives but didn’t find much.
“There was Sinai material
interspersed among the Jewish
Federation collection,” she says.
“Then I remembered a couple of
boxes in the archives that had
some old photos. I found some
bound volumes of the Chart, the
Sinai newsletter that was sent to
donors and potential donors talking about what the hospital was
doing. I went through it and
found several articles announcing plans for the (Kling) building
when it opened.”
One article mentioned the
laying of the cornerstone, “but it
wasn’t the focus of the article,”
Bloch says. “It was the celebration of Mr. Kling’s 80th birthday.
There was a photo of him opening the hall.”
Busy with other projects,
Bloch didn’t have a chance to
read through all the material.
Then she was surprised to receive
a call from a local TV station
asking her to come and talk
about the matter.
“Somebody reading through
it carefully at Sinai saw the existence of this time capsule in the
cornerstone,” she says.
“That’s the benefit of keeping your old papers,” she adds. “If
no one knew about (the time
capsule) it would have been
smashed to smithereens.”
The construction crew
Watching as the contents of the box are unveiled is Marjorie Cohn, the only living child of Mount Sinai Hospital founder Morris Kurtzon.
working on the building teardown found the time capsule,
and Sinai personnel built an
event around it, inviting contributions from fund-raising groups
affiliated with the hospital.
For Rakove, who was one of
many hospital personnel attending the time capsule ceremony
along with Kurtzon family members, the event was particularly
meaningful.
“To be able to have the
granddaughter of the founder of
the hospital and family and
friends of mine, it was really nice
to have that link,” Rakove says.
Morris Kurtzon’s grandson,
Steve Koch, who also attended,
is not only deputy mayor of
Chicago but is still an owner of
the family’s lighting business, lo-
What was in the time capsule?
Among the 20 items in
the Sinai time capsule from
1958:
A book, “The Physiological Basis of Gastrointestinal
Therapy”; agenda from 58th
annual meeting of the Jewish
Federation, 1958; sealed envelope from the Chicago
Medical School; several anniversary memorial books;
volunteer newsletters, Builders; executive committee
meeting minutes; invitation
and donation form for the
March of Progress, Sinai
fund-raiser, no date; several
reports of activities at the
hospital; copy of the Sentinel
Jewish newspaper; several scientific papers; annual meeting reports; School of Nursing
pin, no date.
The items were too fragile to handle, according to
Roberta Rakove, Sinai Health
System senior vice president
for government affairs, but all
were photographed for posterity.
cated several blocks away from
Sinai.
“They have a long involvement with Sinai and it was very
special to have them here,”
Rakove says.
The building itself and its
demolition, she says, “represents
a really great point: that here was
the past of Sinai and here is the
future of Sinai. Having that
building come down – we are
very grateful for all the years we
had it, but it is really an announcement that we are moving
into a really different stage in our
development.”
With a $4 million gift from
Chicago developer Harry Seigle,
“we will have more beautiful
space for our community,”
Rakove says. “We are embarking
on making a lot more improvements,” including an outpatient
center that will house most of
the offices from the Kling building.
A “healing garden” will go
into the building’s space.
“It totally opens up the front
of the hospital,” Rakove says.
“When people come here, we
want it to feel like a really welcoming healing place. We already have a small sculpture
garden and it will be incorporated into the new space. It will
be a place for people to sit outside. It will make the whole front
of the hospital open and beautiful.”
Eventually, she says, the installation will have a special
scent area, a water feature and
other specialized areas.
Personally, “I am feeling
very excited,” she says. “Sinai is a
unique place in terms of bringing
a sophisticated level of care to a
community that might not otherwise have access to it. I’ve always been extremely proud of our
mission.”
She can relate to the economically disadvantaged community Sinai serves today, she
says.
“When my family came to
the hospital this was a poor community too,” Rakove says. “Sinai
was very welcoming to that community. I am proud of our commitment to stay and flourish in
the community. Now we’re one
of the largest providers of health
care for low income patients in
Illinois. That’s in the tradition
my family experienced here back
in 1925.”
Another who has a close
family connection to the hospital, and who attended the time
capsule ceremony, is Anne Cohn
Donnelly, Morris Kurtzon’s
granddaughter and a Sinai board
member. She remembers hearing
about his reasons for founding a
Jewish hospital.
“He founded it because the
community was largely Jewish
and observant and kept kosher,
and he realized the hospitals in
the area didn’t serve kosher
food,” she says. “He felt that wasn’t right. People couldn’t eat the
food at the hospital where they
were getting care. He was very
concerned that people get what
they need in their own communities. The community (the hospital) serves has changed a great
deal but we are still very concerned about serving people in
their own community.”
Donnelly was there, along
with her 95-year-old mother,
when the time capsule was
opened.
“It was very cool that they
invited people to come and
watch,” she says. “I was just
thrilled. None of us could imagine what they put in.”
While the contents might
not have seemed terribly exciting
– annual reports, newspapers,
nursing school yearbooks and
endless reports – “just discovering what was there” was a thrill,
Donnelly says. “When mother
saw them she said, oh of course,
that’s what they would put in –
the knowledge that someone so
many years ago had done this.”
She was also impressed by
“the variety of people that were
there,” she says. “There were
nurses, orderlies, doctors, janitors. It was exciting for everybody, not just for those who
knew Morris Kurtzon.”
And how would her grandfather feel about the hoopla?
“Mother says he was a very
humble person,” Donnelly sys.
“He didn’t do this for notoriety.
He did it to help people. He did
it very quietly, just doing something he thought needed to get
done. Understanding that tells
the whole story.”
12
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Health & Fitness
Healthcare advocate
for Jews
Traditionally, members of
the Jewish community view
health care as a top priority
for themselves and their families. But today, obtaining
quality healthcare is challenging, from choosing the
right providers and treatment
plans to persuading your insurance company to pay.
And for baby boomers
trying to meet their elderly
parents’ health care needs,
the financial ramifications
can be staggering, whether
obtaining care at home or in
an institutional setting,
But a new trend is emerging: the growing field of patient
advocacy.
More
consumers and families are
hiring private professional
health advocates, or PPHAs,
to guide them.
Which is why North
Shore Patient Advocates, LLC
(NorthShoreRN.com), now
has a patient advocate whose
goal is to help Jewish families
in Chicagoland. North Shore
is the Chicago area’s largest
advocacy agency.
“The healthcare and insurance systems have become
so complex and profit driven,
patients get lost in the shuffle,” said North Shore’s advocate assigned to helping Jewish
families. “A patient advocate
will hold your hand and act as
your champion. Even sophisticated, highly-educated professionals need help making
tough healthcare decisions.”
Created by Teri Dreher,
an RN with 35 years of critical care experience, it’s the
only local advocacy agency to
use a team approach. In addition to his fierce advocacy
skills, the advocate for Jewish
families has a Judaic back-
Teri Dreher
ground that serves him well
on the team.
For example, one of his
clients is a 95 year old Holocaust survivor in a skilled
nursing facility. In addition to
overseeing his client’s care
and handling his bills, insurance, and Medicare, he has
helped the family and facility
address the Jewish ethical issues of palliative care.
His other services include: Educating patients and
their families about their
medical conditions; Asking
doctors the questions a
layperson wouldn’t know to
ask; Researching a patient’s
full range of treatment options following a diagnosis;
Researching and identifying
the best doctor, hospital, or
nursing home for a patient;
Helping clients navigate the
Healthcare.gov website and
choose the best insurance
plan.
Doctors and hospitals
step up their game when they
know an insider is watching,
said the advocate – yet another way that patients with
advocates receive superior
healthcare.
For more information,
call (312) 788-2640.
Community Calendar
Saturday
May 16
Temple Beth Israel presents
A Night Under the Stars
featuring small plates,
dancing, drinks and silent
auction. 6 p.m., 3601 W.
Dempster, Skokie. $60.
(847) 675-0952.
Temple Judea Mizpah holds
gala benefiting the temple with dinner, entertainment, bingo and raffles. 6
p.m., 8610 Niles Center
Road, Skokie. $50, $25 ages
14 and under. RSVP, templejm@aol.com or (847)
676-1566.
Sunday
Simon Wiesenthal Center
presents “From Hate to
Hope” featuring Matthew,
a gay hate crime victim and
Tim, his neo-Nazi victimizer
telling their story of reconciliation and forgiveness.
5:30-7 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, Chicago. Registration,
www.prairie.org/events/293
76/hate-hope. or (312) 9810105.
Max and Benny’s Deli and
Restaurant presents author
Charlene Wexler discussing
her family saga, “Lori.”
8:30 p.m., 461 Waukegan
Road, Northbrook. RSVP,
richardreeder@gmail.com.
Wednesday
May 17
Illinois Holocaust Museum
and Education Center
shows film documentary,
“The Flat.” 1-3 p.m., 9603
Woods Drive, Skokie. $15,
$10 members. ilholocaustmuseum.org or (847) 9674800.
Pinstripes Chicago hosts
Mitzvah Showcase featuring bar and bat mitzvah vendors, photographers, event
planners, caterers and more.
Kids can submit essay on
what their mitzvah means to
them and why they would
like to celebrate at Pinstripes
for chance to win prizes.
Send essays to chinfo@pinstripes.com. 3-5 p.m., 435 E.
Illinois St., Chicago. RSVP,
lisa@pinstripes.com or (312)
527-3140.
Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation A.G. Beth Israel
holds Yom Yerushalayim
celebration featuring Kol
Zimrah and Chazan Alberto
Mizrahi. 7:30 p.m., 7117 N.
Crawford, Lincolnwood. $5.
Reserved seating available.
(847) 676-0491.
Monday
May 18
Congregation Rodfei Zedek
hosts Dawn Rubin Torah Institute in panel discussion
on “Sex Trafficking, the
Jewish Responsibility” followed by luncheon. 10
a.m., 5200 S. Hyde Park
Blvd., Chicago. 10 a.m. program is free, luncheon $36
by advance reservation
only. nslgoldberg@comcast.net or (773) 752-2770.
May 20
Chai Tech Professional Networking holds May meeting.
5:30-7:30 p.m., Merrill Corporation, 311 S. Wacker Drive,
Suite 1800, Chicago. RSVP required, bruce.malter@merrillcorp.com.
Jewish Genealogical Society
of Illinois holds meeting
featuring speaker Mike
Karsen. 7:30 p.m., 3610
Dundee Road, Northbrook.
jgsi.org or (312) 666-0100.
Facility opens 6:30 p.m. for
library use and help with
genealogical questions.
Thursday
May 21
The Selfhelp Home hosts
grand opening of its
Health and Rehabilitation
Center with wine, champagne, hors d’oeuvres, and
live entertainment. 5-7 p.m.,
908 W. Argyle, Chicago.
RSVP required, grandopening@selfhelphome.org or
(773) 596-5856.
StandWithUs Chicago
shows film documentary,
“An Open Door: Jewish
Rescue in the Philippines.” 6:30 p.m., Illinois
Holocaust Museum and Education Center, 9603 Woods
Drive, Skokie. Registration,
ilholocaustmuseum.org.
Saturday
May 23
Congregation B’nai Tikvah
holds Tikkun Leil Shavuot
service and dinner with
guest speaker Professor
Meira Kensky speaking on
“The Hand that Rocks the
Cradle.” 1558 Wilmot
Road, Deerfield. Dinner,
$20. RSVP required, (847)
945-0470.
Jewish comedian Debbie
Sue Goodman presents
Evening of Comedy and
Spoken Word. 7:15-8:30
p.m., Uncharted Books,
2620 N. Milwaukee Ave.,
Chicago. (773) 999-2002.
Sunday
May 24
Congregation B’nai Tikvah
holds festival service and
Kiddush luncheon followed
by Shavuot lecture and discussion by Professor Meira
Kensky on “Hagar: The Silenced Matriarch.” 9 a.m.,
1558 Wilmot Road, Deerfield. RSVP, (847) 945-0470.
Am Yisrael Conservative
Congregation hosts Nava
Tehila, a Jerusalem prayer
and study community, for
Shavuot services followed
by Kiddush lunch. 10 a.m., 4
Happ Road, Northfield.
Reservations requested,
nhnevins@amyisrael.org or
(847) 446-7215.
Tuesday
May 26
Keturah Hadassah holds
general meeting featuring
Northlight Theater Artistic Director B.J. Jones.
12:30 p.m., Mayer Kaplan
JCC, 5050 Church, Skokie.
$3. (847) 675-5873.
Northbrook Community
Synagogue Women’s
Havura hosts culminating
dinner featuring Barbara
Sarasin speaking on “Conquering Your Clutter.”
6:45 p.m., 2548 Jasper
Court, Northbrook. $18.
RSVP, (847) 509-9204.
Thursday
May 28
Illinois Holocaust Museum
and Education Center presents conversations with
Holocaust survivors and
World War II veterans.
6:30-8 p.m., 9603 Woods
Drive, Skokie. Free with
museum admission. ilholocaustmuseum.org or (847)
967-4800.
13
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
THEMaven
Chicago Jewish News
IN F
CUS
TOP SPEAKERS HIGHLIGHT
SERIES AT ROSEMONT
THEATRE…
Madeleine Albright
■ The new Chicago Speakers
Series has announced the
speakers for its inaugural 201516 season - seven lectures on
Thursday evenings at 8 p.m. at
the Rosemont Theatre. The series brings to Chicago an impressive roster of celebrated and
influential personalities.
Former U.S. Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright will
open the new Chicago Speakers
Series on Oct.1. Other speakers
to follow include: CNN Chief
Medical Correspondent Dr.
Sanjay Gupta (Nov. 5); futurist
and author Michio Kaku (Dec.
3); political activist and bestselling author Ayaan Hirsi Ali
(Jan. 21, 2016); long-distance
swimmer and journalist Diana
Nyad (Feb. 11, 2016); former
Secretary of Defense Leon
Panetta (March 17, 2016); and
acclaimed author and two-time
Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough (April 7, 2016).
“We anticipate seven powerful and memorable evenings
guaranteed to enlighten and entertain our audience,” said
William Conrow, the Chicago
Speakers Series president.
“Each of these speakers
goes beyond the headlines to
the core of issues affecting our
world. The audience will enjoy
not only the candid unedited
perspectives that our speakers
share, but also have the chance
to participate in the lively Q &
A sessions that close each
evening. We are proud to be
able to present some of our most
popular speakers for Chicago’s
opening season. We just hope
people will order their season
subscriptions early to get the
best seats possible and avoid
multi-year waiting lists like
we’ve experienced in Boston
and Philadelphia.”
The first woman to serve as
U.S. Secretary of State,
Leon Panetta
Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Madeleine Albright earlier
served as the U.S. Ambassador
to the United Nations. Born in
Prague, her family fled the Nazi
invasion during World War II,
and later the Communists, before settling in Denver. A Presidential Medal of Freedom
recipient, Albright currently
serves as a professor at Georgetown University.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the
multiple Emmy Award-winning
Chief Medical Correspondent
for CNN. A practicing neurosurgeon, Gupta has played an
integral role in CNN’s reporting
on health and medical news for
‘American Morning,’ ‘Anderson
Cooper 360’ and CNN documentaries, as well as anchoring
the weekend medical affairs
program, ‘Sanjay Gupta, MD.’
Known as a futurist and
popularizer of science, Michio
Kaku has written numerous
books about physics and makes
regular appearances on radio,
television and film. He is a frequent host of TV specials for
the BBC, Discovery Channel,
the History Channel and the
Science Channel. Kaku also
hosts a weekly, syndicated, onehour radio program called ‘Explorations.’
Named in 2005 by Time
magazine as one of the 100 most
influential people in the world,
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is known for
her views critical of radical
Islam and its suppression of
women. Born in Somalia, she
sought political asylum in the
Netherlands to avoid a forced
marriage and later was elected
to the Dutch Parliament. Ali is
now a U.S. citizen and her bestselling memoir is titled Infidel.
Diana Nyad came to national attention in the 1970s for
swimming around Manhattan
and then from the Bahamas to
Florida. In 2013, at age 64, she
became the first person to swim
from Cuba to Key West, FL
without the aid of a shark cage.
Nyad also is a journalist who
has been regularly featured on
NPR and on ABC’s ‘Wide
World of Sports.’
Leon Panetta served in the
U.S. House of Representatives
for 16 years before President
Clinton selected him as director
of the Office of Management
and Budget in 1993, and then,
in 1994, appointed him White
House Chief of Staff. President
Obama nominated Panetta to
run the CIA in 2009. He subsequently served as Secretary of
Defense from 2011 to 2013.
Acclaimed author of ‘Truman,’ ‘John Adams,’ and most
recently ‘The Greater Journey,’
David McCullough is the twotime winner of the Pulitzer Prize
and the National Book Award
and has been called a national
treasure. A gifted storyteller, he
has narrated several PBS documentaries, including The Civil
War and Napoleon, and the
motion picture ‘Seabiscuit.’
The Chicago Speakers Series is sold by subscription only
and tickets to individual lectures are not for sale. Subscription prices range from $265 to
$445 for tickets to all seven lectures. For tickets or information, visit www.ChicagoSpeakersSeries.org.
Questions can be answered
by the Rosemont Theatre Box
Office at (847) 671-0300. Call
Ticketmaster at (800) 7453000, or visit a Ticketmaster
outlet.
David McCullough
Louden Weiss recites a Torah passage at the Great Jewish Family Festival. The annual Lag b’Omer celebration, a project of
Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, drew some 3,000 participants.
ORT America’s “Lunch with a Daughter‘s View,” drew 325
guests and raised $123,000 to prepare students in disadvantaged
areas of Israel for successful careers in high-tech work environments. Pictured, from right, are Lori Kahn and Ellen Doppelt,
president and executive vice president, respectively, ORT America Metropolitan Chicago; guest speakers Patricia Volk and
Sonia Taitz; and event co-chairs Roberta Goodman and Gail
Joseph.
Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, Rosh Bet Din of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, was awarded the Yavneh VeChachameha award
at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh’s 2015 Chicago Reception. Pictured, from left behind Rabbi Schwartz, are Rabbi Elisha Prero,
Young Israel of West Rogers Park; Rabbi Marc S. Volk and Rabbi
Ari Katz of Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh; and Rabbi Levi Mostofsky, Executive Director, Chicago Rabbinical Council.
14
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Letters
Jews and
Northwestern
I am dismayed by the cover
article in the Chicago Jewish
News about anti-Semitism at
Northwestern University. This
article does not reflect the current climate at Northwestern
and is, instead, an attempt at fear
mongering.
I had the pleasure to work
with Rabbi Michael Simon, Rabbi
Dov Hillel Klein, and Alison
Pure-Slovin (each interviewed in
the article, though not a single
student had that opportunity)
over the past year – before and after the NUDivest vote – as Northwestern Alpha Epsilon Pi - Tau
Delta Chapter President/ Master.
I can tell you that while students
– myself included – were concerned about growing anti-Semitism on campus, some even feeling
uncomfortable wearing Jewish
symbols or their letters (for those
in AEPi, the Jewish fraternity),
those concerns were furthest from
our attention last week.
Why? Because it was AE
Dog Days and my brothers and I
spent the week selling thousands
of hotdogs and raising tens of
thousands of dollars for Gift of
Life. We wore our letters with
pride, day in and day out. Everyone on campus knew that the
Jewish fraternity was proud to
dominate this campus for the
sake of tikun olam. Why wasn’t
that featured in the article attempting to categorize Jewish
life?
And why was there no outrage a month ago when the graffiti was written? Because, as
Michael said in his interview,
this was an isolated incident that
likely has nothing to do with the
Jewish community. Yes, swastikas
are inextricably linked to the
Nazi regime and the Shoah, but
let us correct for our myopic perspective. Even the ADL’s website
writes that “the swastika has
served as the most significant
and notorious of hate symbols,
anti-Semitism and white supremacy for most of the world
outside of Asia.” Did it say “Die
Jew!” or “Zionism=Naziism!”
next to the hateful symbols? No.
The bigot wrote “Kill the N----s.” How dare we claim to be the
sole victims here.
Further, the article attempts
to link this incident to the BDS
vote that occurred on campus
last quarter. I will not deny the
correlation between swastikas on
AEPi houses and other Jewish institutions and BDS votes across
the country; to do so would be
foolish. But those unfortunate
events occurred within days of
the BDS votes, not months; this
time frame makes no sense. They
were also drawn on explicitly
Jewish institutions, not an obscure wall in a lounge in the library that few people would see.
Don’t make this something it
isn’t and instill fear of rampant
anti-Semitism on my campus.
And if you are going to do so, at
least interview a few student
leaders to get the full perspective.
I am concerned about the
growing climate of anti-Semitism
on campuses in America. I am
concerned that the term “Jew” is
Northwestern Hillel executive director Rabbi Michael Simon.
erroneously becoming synonymous with “the oppressor” in
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some of my peers’ vernacular,
that they will incorrectly think
that because I am a proud Zionist, I am also an avowed racist.
But I am also concerned that
the Jewish community – in
Chicago and around the world –
seems desperate to take advantage of each and every
tangentially anti-Semitic event
that happens. It is crucially important to recognize these incidents and report them and, as
Michael and Rabbi Klein said, to
make sure that these events do
not become a pattern. But this
obsession over our “oppression”
blinds us from the reality that
students like me and my brothers
live in. It blinds us from the hurt
and suffocation felt by our classmates of color.
In the cases where we, Jews,
might actually be oppressed, it
blinds us from recognizing and
empathizing with students who
would otherwise empathize with
us, and us, them, allowing what
has seemingly become the Jewish
“birthright” to oppression to subsume our attention to the rest of
our community.
Don’t cry wolf for the Jewish
students at Northwestern. When
there is a wolf, we will tell you,
and in no uncertain terms. We
know and appreciate the resources – legal and otherwise – at
our disposal should the need
arise, G-d forbid. Until then,
support us in our efforts to bolster
the community, tell the many
stories of our successes – and our
failures – and ask the greater
Chicagoland community to help
us. But an article like this is not
helpful and only hurts the community we strive to be.
Alex Krule
Northwestern University
15
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
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16
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Holocaust
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
2
power lies is in illuminating the
lengths to which Betty Erb went
to save herself and her future
husband. As an educator in Yad
Hashem’s pedagogical institute,
Lourie plans to use the Erb letter
as a teaching tool.
“Jews were not just victims,”
Lourie said. “They were making
choices, trying to get out. …
They struggled for life. You read
this letter, and here’s this woman
reaching out to anybody who
may be able to help her.”
She added, “It’s only when
we zoom in to the story of the individual that we can understand
the meaning of the six million.”
A good deal still remains unknown. Students are working to
procure a photograph of Betty
Erb and to learn whether John
Erb ultimately sent funds to the
Paris address of the Jewish resettlement agency HICEM. They
also hope to uncover the path of
the letter before it was purchased
by Singer. And they would like
to learn about Betty Erb’s life.
At the ceremony, Lourie
asked Morava and another senior who led the research effort,
Breeana Clayton, to complete
Yad Vashem Page of Testimony
forms normally filled out by relatives to establish the identities of
individuals killed in the Holocaust.
The name Betty Erb is
bound to live on in future classes
at East Henderson High, Singer
said – an ironic legacy since the
property where the school is now
located was once used as a prisoner of war camp for German
soldiers captured by American
forces in Tunisia. The first German prisoners arrived in 1943,
the same year that Betty Erb and
Selling were deported to Theresienstadt. The couple died at
Auschwitz the following year.
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Point of View
Jews who fought insults with bologna, not bullets
By Rafael Medoff
Special to Chicago Jewish News
Fifty years ago, American
Jews were up in arms over a
deeply offensive art-and-poetry
display at the World’s Fair – but
unlike some of today’s aggrieved
protesters, they responded with
bologna rather than bullets.
The controversy began
when the government of Jordan
set up a harshly anti-Israel display at its Word’s Fair pavilion,
in New York City in early 1964.
It featured a wall-size mural of a
Palestinian Arab child, flanked
by the text of a long anti-Zionist
poem.
“For centuries,” according to
the poem, Christians, Muslims,
and Jews all lived in harmony in
the Holy Land, “Until strangers
from abroad / Professing one
thing, but underneath, another /
Began buying up land and stirring up the people … The
strangers, one thought terror’s
victims, became terror’s fierce
practitioners.”
The poem also sympathetically portrayed the attempt by
five Arab armies to annihilate
the newborn state of Israel in
1948: “Seeking to redress the
wrong, our nearby neighbors
tried to help us in our cause /
And for reasons not in their control, did not succeed.”
American Jews deluged the
World’s Fair organizers with
angry letters, the Anti-Defamation League denounced the
mural as anti-Semitic, and Israeli
prime minister Levi Eshkol canceled his visit to the World’s Fair
in protest against the Jordanian
insult.
The escalating controversy
took an unusual turn when the
American Jewish Congress applied for a permit to picket the
Jordanian pavilion. The application was denied, but twelve AJCongress leaders – including
folksinger Theodor Bikel and
Democratic congressional nominate James Scheuer – showed up
with picket signs anyway and
were arrested.
“I have been arrested before,
by the Gestapo – so I am not
afraid of that,” declared AJCongress president Joachim
Prinz, a refugee from Nazi Germany. The spectacle of mainstream Jewish leaders knowingly
breaking the law in a political
protest was so unusual in 1964
that the story made the front
page of the New York Times. The
charges were eventually thrown
out by New York City judge
Bernard Dubin, who ruled that
the World’s Fair grounds were
quasi-public territory – comparable to city streets – where peaceful demonstrations were perfectly
legal.
As the controversy dragged
on throughout 1964 and into
early 1965, anti-Zionist Jews and
Arab-Americans mounted a
counter-offensive. Elmer Berger,
leader of a Jewish anti-Zionist
group, the American Council for
Judaism, wrote to the World’s
Fair authorities to endorse the
Jordanian mural and denounce
American Jewry for supporting
what he called “a foreign nationalistic campaign to establish a
foreign state.” Mohammed
Mehdi, head of the American
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The anti-Israel mural at the World’s Fair.
Arab Relations Committee, requested permission to picket the
American-Israel Pavilion, which
he saw as a symbol of “Zionist totalitarianism, which is as intolerant as fascism or communism.”
On April 30, 1965, two
members of Mehdi’s committee
positioned themselves in front of
the American-Israel Pavilion
and began handing out leaflets
urging passersby to refrain from
purchasing Israel Bonds. That
provoked a brief scuffle with
some of the Israeli dancers and
singers at the booth. Pinkerton
security guards quickly separated
the two sides.
Reflecting on that unpleasant flaring of tempers, somebody
in the pro-Israel camp evidently
decided that the way to bring the
controversy to a conclusion was
with a friendly flourish. When
the Arab protesters showed up
the next afternoon, they were
surprised to find a luncheon table
waiting for them, loaded with
bologna sandwiches and bottles
of Israeli beer. A sign on the
table read: “For your misguided
pickets – kosher food, compliments of the Israeli-American
Pavilion.”
The gesture did not resolve
the basic issues at stake, but in
the public relations war, it was an
achievement, especially because
of the Arab protesters’ churlish
response – “Fair Arabs Spurn
Kosher Luncheon,” the Times reported. Those bologna sandwiches reminded the public that
in a civilized society, there are
creative ways to address disagreements without resorting to one’s
fists – or worse.
17
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
By Joseph Aaron
CONTINUED
F RO M PAG E
Get Home Care
18
best looking female in the Knesset. So there is that.
So bad is she, groups in Israel have posted pictures of her on the
internet wearing a Nazi uniform. While I don’t approve of such disgusting tactics, it gives you a sense of how the justice minister of Israel, someone who should be respected as the upholder of the rule of
law, is seen by lots of people. Indeed, Bibi didn’t want to appoint her,
but with 45 minutes to go before his time ran out, he gave in to the
blackmail of the Jewish Home party.
Speaking of elections, watching the farce that putting together
the Israeli government was, made me envious of the British who just
held their election and which, as it almost always does, produced one
party with a majority in the Parliament and so the ability to govern.
While normally I am all for Jews winning elections, I must admit
I was glad the Labor party and its leader, Ed Miliband, lost. On the one
hand, it would have been nice to see Miliband, the son of refugees
from the Holocaust, be elected as Britain’s first Jewish prime minister.
And yes I have heard of Benjamin Disraeli, but he converted to
Christianity as a teenager.
But during the campaign, Miliband went out of his way to let
everyone know he was an agnostic, and even worse, one of the most
publicized moments of the campaign was when Miliband was photographed very inelegantly eating a sandwich. A bacon sandwich.
So not only did he become a national joke for how he eats, but
he did it while eating a bacon sandwich. As you know, I’m big on public Jews publicly acting in ways that honor Judaism. Eating a bacon
sandwich isn’t doing that.
And speaking of Jews running for high office, we now have a Jew
running for president of the United States. Yes, in addition to two
women, two Hispanics, and an African American running, we have
a member of the tribe. That makes me happy.
While I am all for Hillary to win the Democratic nomination and
be the next president of the United States, I’m glad Sen. Bernie
Sanders is running against her. Sure he’s kind of a wacko, calling himself a socialist, being officially an Independent but running for the
Democratic nomination, and with hair that looks like it’s never been
touched by a comb, but it pleases me that we have a Jew in the race.
And speaking of the ugliness of Jews in the Jewish state making
their political point by posting pictures of Ayelet Shaked, a Jewish
woman, in a Nazi uniform, how nauseating is it that it was a Jewish
woman, Pam Geller, who purposely incited hatred to make a political point, resulting in the country being terrified by being terrorized,
and having an absurd debate about free speech when what she did had
nothing at all to do with the First Amendment.
Oh sure, that is what Pam, who is one of ours, hides behind in explaining why she put on a draw cartoons of Mohammed contest in
Garland, Texas. Yes, she is the great defender of free speech, she says,
when in fact she is nothing but a provocateur, someone who set out
to inflame people, to mock their religious beliefs.
Muslims believe it is blasphemy to show any images of their
prophet. That is part of their faith and Jews, of all people, should be
the last to be insensitive to, disrespectful of the religious beliefs of others, promote images that are offensive to others.
How do we like it when someone paints a swastika on something?
Not too much. Yes, they have the first amendment right to do so, but
that doesn’t make it right. And as a community, we rightfully never
show sympathy for those who use that ugly symbol, so hurtful to so
many Jews, so resonant for almost every Jew. There is no justification
for ever using a swastika.
Now, yes I know the difference is that when Jews get upset about
someone drawing a swastika, we don’t load our guns and go shoot the
people who did it. And yes, there’s no justification for Muslims to react violently when they are offended by images of Mohammed.
But the point is there was no point to having an exhibit of Mohammed cartoons. None. It served no useful or constructive purpose,
indeed its only purpose was to offend and provoke. That’s why Geller
chose Garland, Texas, home to a large Muslim community. It would
be exactly the same if someone went to Borough Park in Brooklyn and
held a swastika drawing contest.
Pam Geller is one of those Jews who disgrace all Jews. If she wants
to alert the world to the dangers of Radical Islam, there are ways to
do it, dignified ways, ways that honor the Jewish tradition of protesting, of speaking out and speaking up, without doing so in a way that
demeans us and makes us look like thugs, makes us no better than
those we are opposing.
Geller had the right to do what she did, but what she did could
not be more wrong. And instead of showing the intolerance of Muslims, as she thinks it did, what it did was show the world a Jewish
woman showing no respect for another religion, making fun of one of
the basic tenets of another faith.
That’s not what Judaism is about, that is not how Jews act. By hiding behind the First Amendment, all Pam Geller did was desecrate the
First Commandment.
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18
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
By
Joseph
Aaron
Bacon sandwiches and
Mohammed cartoons
www.
chicagojewishnews
.com
The Jewish
News place in
cyberspace
Jews are endlessly fascinating. And always seem to be everywhere
there’s news.
For example, we’ve just had Ed, Bernie, Pam, Ayelet, Bibi and a
boy named Yvette.
And while I’ll have a bit to say about each of them, I am about
to say something I really never thought I would say. I’m feeling kind
of sorry for Israeli Prime Minister Bibi.
Not to digress, actually to digress, I don’t know what this means,
but I do think it interesting that some of the top leaders of Israel are
known by their nicknames and that those nicknames are Bibi, the
prime minister, Boogie, the defense minister, Boujie, the leader of the
opposition.
Bibi, Boogie and Boujie. Kind of sounds like a comedy team.
And watching the formation of Israel’s new government does make
one want to laugh. Then cry. Which is why I kind of feel sorry for Bibi.
But only kind of, because the truth is he brought his current troubles all on himself. For starters, he dissolved his previous government
two years early, because two of his Cabinet members were actually trying to change Israel’s incredibly corrupt political culture, make life
fairer for all Israelis, not for the small handful who have a chokehold
on the economy, and actually wanted to work for peace.
So Bibi fired them and called early elections. Then just days before the election, as polls showed his party not doing very well, behind
the opposition Labor party and losing support to other right-wing parties, he pulled out all the ugly stops.
First, he said there would not be a Palestinian state as long as he
was prime minister. Thus contradicting his own words of a few years
before in which he pledged to work for a two state solution. But his
new pledge was red meat for the right wingers in Israel. Then on the
day of the election, he went on YouTube to warn Israelis that Arabs,
who are full-fledged citizens of Israel, were “coming out in droves” to
vote. More red meat for the right-wing.
And it worked. Bibi not only won the election but he did so in
what is, by Israeli standards, a landslide. His party took 30 seats in the
120 member Knesset. Meaning he was half way to a majority.
Thing is when you call an election for cynical purposes and you
win an election by cynical means, you show others how to behave.
Which is exactly what the right-wing parties he needed to join his
coalition did.
Bibi was cocky on election night, said he’d have his new government put together within about two weeks. As it happens, it took
him every single second of the month and a half allowed him under
Israeli law. Indeed, he finalized his coalition 45 minutes before the
deadline to do so.
In the end, Bibi could muster only 61 seats, the slimmest of majorities. Only one seat stands between him and having to have another
election. Which means he is totally at the mercy of every one of his
60 right-wing partners, meaning, as one political expert put it, “if one
of them wakes up one morning on the wrong side of the bed, it’s bye
bye Bibi.”
Which would make me feel sorry for Bibi because he will now
spend all his time walking on political eggshells, afraid to do anything
since anything is bound to upset someone. Not a good situation with
the challenges facing Israel. So bad is it that Bibi couldn’t even name
a foreign minister, meaning as we have the whole Iran thing going on,
there is no one in the Cabinet whose job it is to represent Israel’s point
of view to the world.
What Bibi’s desperation to form a government as the clock
ticked louder and louder, resulted in was him offering a Russian thug
named Avigdor Lieberman, whose nickname is Yvette, the job of defense minister, for which he is as qualified as I am. All things considered, you would think the one job that would be outside politics, would
be given to a military expert, would be defense minister. But Bibi tried
to buy Yvette’s six seats in the Knesset with that vital job. Yvette
thankfully said no, since he hates Bibi, who he used to serve as chief
of staff.
Sadly, when Bibi was forced to give the job of justice minister to
Ayelet Shaked, she said yes. Ayelet Shaked, who wants to strip the Israeli Supreme Court of its power, has been an advocate for deporting
African migrants, supported the anti-democratic “Jewish state” law,
and described Israel’s political left as “delusional” and having “lost
every vestige of self-control.” On the other hand, she was voted the
SEE BY JOSEPH
AARON
ON
PAG E 1 7
19
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
Death Notices
Louis H. Lewis, age 100, of
La Jolla, CA, formerly of Lincolnwood. Beloved husband
of the late Annette, nee
Hapner. Cherished father of
Melanie (Harry) Sachsel and
Gary (Barbara) Lewis. Devoted grandfather of David
(Jan) Rosen, Edward (Kristen) Rosen, Mitchell (Elizabeth) Rosen, Heather Lewis,
Philip (Amanda) Lewis and
the late Kenneth Rosen.
Loving great-grandfather of
Matthew, Ryan, Michael, Alison, Cora, Zachary and
Owen. Dear brother of Lee
(the late Robert) Hickey, and
the late Esther (Jack) Green-
berg, Rose (Al) Brill, Milton
(Rae) Lewis and Erwin (Rita)
Herben. Former owner of
Furst & Furst. Louis remained
mentally and physically active and full of life: He loved
to dance, play Bridge, golf
(member of Twin Orchard
Country Club) and loved
everyone. He always had a
smile, was charismatic, genuine, and generous. Contributions in Louis’s name to
Little City (1760 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine 60067)
or JUF (30 S. Wells St., #3134,
Chicago 60606) would be appreciated. Arrangements by
Mitzvah Memorial Funerals.
Warsaw’s Jewish cemetery defender
By Penny Schwartz
JTA
When a Warsaw Jewish
cemetery was vandalized, Anna
Chipczynska, president of the
Jewish Community of Warsaw,
spoke out, noting that it had occurred less than a week after the
70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and that “it is
an invitation to violence and
threats to which we should all be
vigilant.”
Dynamic, straight talking
and a sharp dresser, Chipcyznksa
knows about vigilance when it
comes to Polish Jewish cemeteries. Two weeks earlier, the 36year-old community leader –
whose organization fulfills a
broad array of religious responsibilities and sponsors many social,
educational and cultural programs – gave me a tour of another Warsaw Jewish cemetery.
I first met Chipczynska last
fall, when I was in town for the
opening of the Polin Museum of
the History of Polish Jews. At the
time, she contrasted the celebration of the museum’s opening
with the less glamorous, enormous responsibility her organization faces in preserving and
maintaining the many Jewish
cemeteries in cities and villages
across Poland.
The cemetery we visited,
the 225-year-old Brodno cemetery, is the city’s oldest Jewish
burial ground. The 13-acre
Brodno, which was estimated to
have tens of thousands of gravestones before the war, was destroyed during the Nazi
occupation of Poland. After the
war, under Communist-era rule,
the cemetery was subjected to
further desecration, with broken
headstones salvaged for postwar
construction. By the late 1980s,
a foundation began some initial
preservation, and in 2012, following several years of negotiations, legal ownership of the
cemetery was transferred from
the city government to the Jewish Community of Warsaw,
which is now responsible for
more than 12 cemeteries.
During our late-afternoon
visit in January, there was a biting chill in the air, and
Chipczynska, bundled in a parka
and hat, unlocked the large entry
gate, which is currently being
renovated. From there the
cracked pavement path leads
through the middle of a large dilapidated expanse, overgrown
with trees, the most recent of
which were planted during the
postwar Communist-era Polish
government.
Further back, through the
trees and along the path, thousands of weathered, moss-covered headstones are stacked
against each other, evidence of
an abandoned postwar government plan to construct a park.
“It looks like a kind of park.
But of course, it’s not a park, it’s
a cemetery,” Chipczynska said.
Over the years, the cemetery, like other Polish Jewish
cemeteries, has been vandalized,
often by individuals who have
been drinking.
Chipczynska’s organization
is committed to spending approximately $800,000 to restore
Brodno, but is hoping some of
that funding will come from a
Ministry of Culture grant for
which the group applied recently.
“Receiving this government
grant would be a significant
recognition of the historic value
of this project,” Chipczynska emphasized.
The group wants to open
the cemetery to the public, to engage in educational and communal programs about the shared
Jewish-Polish history of the area,
Chipczynska said.
Like others of her generation, Chipczynka, who was born
and raised in Poland, did not
learn about her Jewish ancestry
until she was a teen.
Simon B. Golden “Sy”, March
18, 1933 – May 7, 2015.
Passed away at Sarasota Hospital, FL. Beloved husband of
Marilyn “Merky” nee Kalish.
Loving father of sons Lonnie
and Craig (Michal). Proud
grandfather of Sara, Carla,
Teddy, Eli, and Talia Golden.
Dear brother of Fran (Dan)
Dvorkin. Sy was born in Brussels, Belgium and came to
Chicago with his parents at
age 15. He quickly mastered
the English language. He
married Merky in 1954, staying happily together sideby- side right through their
recent 60th wedding anniversary. He graduated
from the University of Illinois
– Urbana, College of Engineering with a Civil Engi-
neering degree. He immediately took a job with the Illinois Department of Transportation Public Works and
continued to rise up through
the ranks to become the Bureau head of Electrical Operations and Maintenance until his retirement after 35
years of service to the public.
Soon after he became a consultant in the private sector
as the village engineer for
10 years with the city of
Grays Lake, IL. Sy was a man
of impeccable integrity, social conscience, high intelligence and a genuine caring
for people. He held a strong
commitment to improving
the world around him in any
way he could. He was active
in several organizations,
which embodied his dedication for and love of Jewish
culture, language and humanistic values. These organizations included Ameinu,
American Jewish Congress,
North Suburban Yiddish
School in which he was a
founding member, Congregation of Humanistic Judaism, American Society of
Civil Engineers, and University Place Board AssociationBradenton, FL. Donations in
his memory can be sent to
any organization of your
choice. Services have been
held at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd.,
Skokie. (847) 229-8822, www.
cjfinfo.com.
Frederic Maurice Salkin, age
82. Beloved husband and
best friend for 50 years to
Rose, nee Becker. Cherished
father of Benjamin. Devoted
son of the late Helen and Irv-
ing. Dear brother of Arthur
(Martha) and Michael Salkin
and the late Blanche Shelton.
Frederic loved people and nature. He was always ready to
help. Contributions in Fred-
eric’s name to Skokie Central
Traditional Congregation,
4040 Main Street Skokie, IL
60076 would be appreciated.
Arrangements by Mitzvah
Memorial Funerals.
Why did two Jewish funeral businesses
in Skokie close in the last year?
Perhaps it is in part that we left!
Mitzvah Memorial
Funerals
630-MITZVAH (630-648-9824)
Lloyd Mandel
Seymour Mandel
Bill Goodman
I. Ian “Izzy” Dick
Larry Mandel
Names you have trusted for decades...
Still here to serve you when needed
Mitzvah Memorial Funerals has the most experienced staff of Jewish
funeral directors in Chicago with over 200 years of combined
experience. We have all previously worked at either one, or both
of these businesses that recently closed. The Mandel family
has been in the funeral business for 4 generations!
Lloyd Mandel
Mitzvah Memorial Funerals also provides the lowest price!
In most cases we save families $2000-$5000 versus what
Chicago Jewish funeral homes with chapels charge for the same or
similar services and casket. We do this because we don’t have the
overhead that multi-million dollar funeral homes with chapels have.
As Jewish families often have graveside services, or service from
their Synagogue, using a funeral home with chapels isn’t necessary.
For families that want an indoor service, but that are not members of
a Synagogue, there are several available to non-affiliated families and
several Jewish cemeteries that have chapels that we can use. You can
view how our price compares to all of our competitors by going to
Seymour Mandel
www.comparemitzvah.com
Ian “Izzy” Dick
If your Synagogue has a discounted funeral plan that we are
not currently a provider of you can still choose us.
We guarantee to be at least 25% less!*
If you have already made pre-arrangements elsewhere you can easily
switch to us. In most cases we will refund your family thousands of dollars.
We also offer pre-arrangements and fund through Homesteaders Life.
We also broker graves for sale at most of the Jewish cemeteries
at significantsavings below what the cemeteries charge for these.
* Guarantee is on base price of funeral plan including services, casket and miscellaneous items.
Not included in this are the cemetery charges, vault and cash advance items.
Founder, 4th generation Jewish Funeral
Director, also licensed in Florida
(no longer with Levayah Funerals or
Piser)
3rd generation Jewish Funeral Director,
Past President of the Jewish Funeral
Directors of America (J.F.D.A.)
(Formerly with Piser)
William Goodman
Funeral Director, Homesteaders
Insurance Agent (no longer with
Goodman Family Funerals,
Weinstein or Piser)
Oldest licensed Jewish Funeral Director
in the State of Illinois (no longer with
Levayah Funerals or Piser)
Lawrence “Larry” Mandel
4th generation Jewish Funeral Director,
Homesteaders Insurance Agent
(Formerly with Piser) 847-778-6736
Find out why Mitzvah Memorial
Funerals was entrusted to
direct more than 900 funerals
since opening in 2010.
500 Lake Cook Road, Suite 350, Deerfield, IL • 8850 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL
630-MITZVAH (648-9824) • www.mitzvahfunerals.com
20
Chicago Jewish News - May 15-21, 2015
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